Yankee

Cacophony Concord

beta CS...2!!!!!

Name: Amelia Marescol
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Nationality: American
Description:
A down-home girl from the Midwestern United States. Amelia's friendly personality, positive outlook on life, cute face and, frankly, her girl-next-door vibe made her quite popular in the rural little village where she lived. The place had barely 5,000 people residing in it and was home to all the charms of small town living: close-knit and nosy neighbors, a single gas station where local kids loitered, fields of corn and wheat as far as the eye could see and of course, a high school full of students hoping to leaving their hometown far, far behind once they'd graduated. Amelia was no different.

While growing up Amelia had much the same desires as other girls her age... to get whisked away by a nice man, move to a big city and live a more exciting life than she could ever have in a small town like the one she was born in. When she wasn't daydreaming about that she passed her days reading romance novels, keeping up with school and her cheer squad, and... playing videogames?

Her interest started with what is commonly referred to as a visual novel. While on the search for more love stories online, she happened to stumble across one and ended up enjoying it. She considered it sort of like a choose your own adventure book! This led her down a rabbit hole of otome games and mobage. Her gaming hobby, if you could even call it that at the time, wasn't a secret or anything. She even attended her school's gaming club when she had the time between cheer tournaments. The guys in the club introduced her to what they called "real videogames," and they turned out to be a lot of fun. Contrary to what a hollywood high school romcom might have you believe, Amelia's confident, cheerful demeanor meant she could keep up with both her extroverted friend group and the school's gaming fans without coming off as weird to either party. Amelia's summer days were filled with long drives down country roads with local athletes and fellow cheerleaders, and her nights were filled with adventure games and virtual romance.

Once graduated, Amelia took the first opportunity to leave her small town behind with a friend from her cheer squad. They moved into an apartment together in one of the state's larger cities. Amelia enrolled in college and began her search in earnest for a nice guy, cool job, and exciting life... and found none of those things! Going out with friends every now and then was fun, but RPGs were a lot more exciting than her current student life. And her love life was especially dismal. None of the guys she dated could measure up to the SSR cards she'd collected on her phone games. However! She was determined not to give up! She poured her all into school work and speed dating, leaving her little time for hobbies - including games. Unsurprisingly this quickly led to a burnout and a break year.

Two months into the break year, Amelia reconnected with one of the guys from her old high school gaming club. Sean had always been particularly nice to her. He'd lived next door back in their hometown, and let Amelia borrow games when she was still just getting into them. The surprise lunch chat they'd had was the most refreshing conversation Amelia'd had in a while. He recommended a certain game to her by the name of Cacophony Concord - which he had nothing but praise for. The only down side was she'd need a machine that could facilitate a full dive into it's virtual world. MMOs were a genre she'd played a little of, but hadn't really gotten into. However the appeal of an exciting virtual experience was alluring, and on her old childhood friend's recommendation she promised to give it a shot. Her roommate was speechless when not even a week later Amelia lugged a FDD through their apartment.

After setting the game up and logging in for the first time, a sudden whim came over Amelia and she created her avatar to cater specifically to her type - a cute guy with a main character vibe. It'd slipped her mind that this was a VR game... as in, first person. However! She wouldn't let that stop her!

If I can't find my own knight in shining armor, I'll become him! Or something like that.

Since the characters posted are all spread out over the globe I add "gaming forum regulars" to possible explanation for how they are connected.

EDIT: I've rewritten my initial sheet and am much more happy with this version. The build I would be looking to work towards is something like a spellsword. Though the mention of the Star Seer class has given me some ideas too.

Cacophony Concord

Star Seer

@ERode

This might make me switch my vote.

Feast Fantasy

A few awkward words were exchanged with the man already inside the room, and after that... silence. For a while. Now waiting in silence wasn't something that Wilben particularly enjoyed, but he was a grown adult and he could stand to be a little patient. So he sat in his chair with his arms crossed and his chin down and waited. And waited. And waited until his patience was worn a bit thin. The next time the room's door opened, Wilben flicked his head up and intended to give that guildmaster a piece of his mind, but he was surprised to see a beastfolk enter. The gnome wasn't exactly subtle with his staring, his eyebrows perched high over his eyes. It wasn't a hateful look, just one of confusion. Wasn't this a culinary adventure?

She's probably here to guide us into unknown beastfolk territory, he thought to himself with a muted shrug. Content with coming to his own conclusion, Wilben watched others begin to file into the room. An oni, and two humans. Oh, and a cat. Great, more fur. The little pastry professional scoffed aloud at the sight and tucked his arms in tighter. Despite the holier-than-thou attitude he put out, Wilben wasn't completely discouraged by the group that had formed in the little room. Most of them seemed well prepared for a journey like the one they were apparently going to undertake. Some even carried the smell of food with them, which was a plus. Dedication to the craft. The large oni woman could even play entertainment on dull nights!

After another little while of silence, save for the notes expertly played from the shamisen, and no introductions, Wilben sighed and stood up on his chair. He barely came to some of the human's heights while seated, let alone the musician's, but still during a lull in her played the gnome cleared his throat in a similar manner as he'd done out in the open guild hall. With on hand on his hip and the other hanging in the area gesturing, he spoke in a deeper voice than one might have expected for someone as small as he.

"Friendly bunch we've got here, huh? I don't blame you, I'm not the friendliest gnome myself. But while we wait for Nivaan to get his slow arse in here, we could do something besides sit around and listen to music." After a moment he blinked and looked at the oni woman. "Which is lovely, by the way. I'd even invite you to play in my café. Speaking of which - "

The gnome proudly slapped his chest, and with a smirk he introduced himself. "I, Wilben Felpip Overtamer, of the Gnomingham Felpips, am the prestigious owner of Le Paradis - a café which needs no introduction for any that considers themself of high culture."

He jumped back into his seat, his smirk still fixed in place. "Naturally a man wants to know what his fellows can bring to the table. So? Credentials. All of you." He pointed at each person in the room in turn, his words not quite a command, but rather a strong suggestion. He was more than used to being the captain of his own ship, and since there were many more people gathered now he didn't see a reason to wait however long Nivaan wanted them to before they got to know each other. In particular, Wilben wanted to know the caliber of each individual signed up for this crazy mission before he committed to going. He wasn't going to waste his precious time going on a wild goose chase with incompetents, after all.

Help me give him a name

Ooooh nice bike!

Since Yamaha is Japanese company, and the black bike's headlight area looks sort of like a hero mask, what about something Japanese hero themed? Like Kamen Rider. Most of the heroes in that various Kamen Rider series use motorcycles too, hence the "Rider."

Cacophony Concord

What nation do y'all wanna citizenship in?
Do you have any particular ideas for how characters would know each other out-of-game?
Got any character concepts you're leaning towards or set on?

@ERode

Personally I'm on the fence with interest but if you wouldn't mind some opinions on these questions...

1. My vote would be Deneb or Alderamin. Deneb seems like a fair starting area for characters that are to be newbies to the game and get their bearings. Alderamin in the same vein as that, I can see either being fun for starting players.

2. Perhaps like a gaming club in college/university? Although I'm sure the bulk, if not 99% of the RP would take place within the game world, having a mention here or there of outside game drama might be fun.

3. I'm considering someone that joins for fun and gets accidentally super strong? Or something like a girl that makes a bishounen-type avatar, acts a bit dorky and doesn't optimize their skills/abilities but somehow it works out. Probably sword user and uses kaomoji (─‿‿─);

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Operation: Ground the Harpy

When the one stage performance ended Taras joined in with the other patrons in clapping quietly. Regardless if he enjoyed the show or not, they were doing their job. Maybe they were doing a bit more than their job too - as the woman stepped up to the microphone Taras thought she might inquire about song requests, though it became immediately apparent that that wasn't the case. The Russian agent couldn't say he was surprised, giving the explosive start to their mission.

He leaned over towards Lilliane in the middle of the dancer's speech with a raised a brow. "They are quite fond of you, hm?" Although Taras still had his misgivings about her, the attack on both the route to the barn and the cafe didn't make him think she was a double agent - at least, not yet. Instead he thought that perhaps she wasn't as good a spy as he initially gave her credit for. That, or German intelligence had improved a frightening amount in a very short period of time. Obviously he preferred the former to be true.

His eyes shifted to the windows where soldiers were beginning to line up. The outlook wasn't good, but like hell was some sub-par stage act going to be the last thing Taras Tupolev ever saw.

<Excuse me>. As soon as the woman at the mic said her farewell, Taras sighed the words out heavily, giving Yonaka barely a moment's notice to re-position before he slammed his large fist the table. The remains of the group's food and cutlery went flying as the table was upended, landing on it's side and making a shoddy barrier between the agents and the stage. Almost calmly Taras found himself grateful the server had been slow with that coffee refill. They'd been placed closer to the stage than the door - top-notch seats on the house - so there were quite a few tables and fixtures between them and the shooters outside. Soon enough though, they would become shooters inside.

"Well," Taras spoke over the gunfire to his fellow agents, ducking low to avoid the random spray of bullets, "Now we should definitely think about our next move."

Current Mood in One Gif

ꇙ ꒤ ꋊ ꋪ ꒤ ꋊ ꋊ ꏂ ꋪ ꇙ

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^{Sando: Evening}

---

From where Asante was a bit deeper in the stable, he could hear Hawke and Torvin's instructions well even while he diligently continued gearing up his chosen boga. He found himself nodding along to their words, even if neither of them could probably see him from where they addressed the others outside. So they'd be leaving tonight, and they needed to make tracks.

"Aye," Asante sounded off once the veterans were done speaking, letting them know he got all the info. Honestly it wouldn't take the young man more than a few minutes to gather his supplies considering... well, he already had them. He'd been so genuinely excited to get going on his first job that he packed early and took his bag along with him while he waited out on the rocks. Man's really got me pinned already, he sighed to himself, thinking again to Hawke's words about being eager.

Once the others filtered out and away from the area to prepare, Asante peeked his head out of the stable to make sure the coast was really clear. Content at seeing none of the group around (or at least not noticing them), he walked back to his steed and flung her stable door open with a flourish. The boga blinked and walked out, fully decked out in a saddle with Asante's bag secured to it. She looked over to her near future handler and he leaned close to bury his face in the thick feathered mane and let out what could only be described as a half-screech half-groan. To the animal's credit, she didn't seem spooked at all.

"...Okay," the Runner said, voice still muffled, "just needed to get that out of my system." He pulled away from the boga and gave it a grateful pat on it's cheek. The reptile seemed almost pleased.

Asante led the creature out into the open air and continued to speak to it in hushed tones. Words about his thoughts on the mission, and the people in it. Opinions both positive and negative. Speaking to the animals was something Asante had picked up early on during his stay in Sando, though it wasn't something he'd like to be seen doing. "You'd have to be strange to talk to a boga for this long," he said to his feathered companion, and she flicked her tongue out in reply. It made Asante smile.

Eventually once the other riders gathered their things together, they'd be back to choose steeds for themselves. Hawke, of course, Asante trusted to pick a valiant boga. Not that any of the animals in Sando's stables were unsuitable per se, but... he'd gotten to know most of the boga there already. He liked looking after them, sometimes helping around the stable for free. Some of them could be a bit unruly. Those strange women... do they know what they're doing? Asante looked to his own boga of choice as if she could answer him somehow. She only flicked her tail. After a few seconds of intense staring contest between boga and handler, as if they'd had some telepathic communication, Asante swiftly turned around and headed back into the stable. The young man dug around in the storage area and produced a parchment and charcoal. Though his hand was unpracticed, Asante focused hard on scribbling out a few notes to attached them to the pen doors of various boga.

This one is fast but has a temper. This one needs a lot of food or it will not run. This one not good with strangers. And so on for a couple of the harder to handle animals. His scrawl might be a bit hard to read, but he hoped it would be fine enough for the others when it came time. Or, maybe they had their own boga already penned there? The sudden thought made Asante feel foolish and he grit his teeth, quickly tossing the rest of the parchment back into the storage and leaving the stable for the second time that day.

"Come," he commanded the purple maned boga as he passed it, heading toward the city's gates. The boga followed obediently. Together they passed time people watching until the rest of the Runners gathered again.

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^{H e a l t h ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ 100%
E f f e c t s : None
W i t h : None
N o t e s : None}

Feed The Belly, Not The Rage - A Recipe Exchange Topic!

@The Mad Hatter Aw, leave us alone we are a struggling nation that said, I've never met an American that wasn't already a professional chef or baker that owned a kitchen scale. I would like to invest in one soon when I have the opportunity to bake more. I love baking. That said...

@Lady Absinthia I'm going to try this recipe asap! It looks good. Is "soured" milk really what I think it is, and can it be used just like that? Does it need any preparation or anything? I'm also pretty interested in your confectioner career. If it's not too off topic, would you mind talking about it a little more?

As for a recipe I have to share, it's something really simple and I'm sure people have seen it before, but it tastes good and is easy to make, so....

S'mores Cookie

This is a heavy cookie, not for eating a lot of. In fact the base is to go about it like you are making a cake, like so...

2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons butter, yes a lot of butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup milk
4 eggs
(also need some large marshmallows cut in half)

...or you can substitute this with any heavy chocolate cake recipe you like. You can even use a box mix if you want, or are afraid to botch a cake from scratch. Some people boil the water for a cake, which I find tastes very good, but I personally wouldn't if you were going to turn the mix into cookies anyway. You may have to add more egg or other ingredient to let to hold together a bit more though, because you'll be taking this into a dough ball shape and baking it on a baking sheet.

So you're gonna make at 350F or equivalent temp for 8-10 min, until they are done. If they're big or particularly moist, it will take longer, you know the deal. When they start smelling good take them out When you pull them out of the oven, now is the time to use the marshmallows. Take a half of 'mallow and put it sticky side down on the cookies. Turn your broiler on and stick them back in for a few seconds to get a toasted marshmallow look. Pull 'em back out and let cool and you're done!

Disclosure: I am not a professional

World of Light

Encounter EXP: +5 +2
Word Count: 1124 (+2 exp)
Level: 5 - Total EXP: 1/50
Location: No-Man's Land Canyon

LEVELED UP!

New power: Armor Skill Unlock! The latent power of the Ace Cadet's armor set has activated, opening new skills up to him whenever he wears it. Not only his own armor, but other pieces of armor he obtains gain "armor skills" when he dons them. The same skill can be stacked for increased effect.
***

As lightning fell down around the area - and directly onto his opponent - Ace Cadet took the few moments it was stunned to recollect himself. Those stick-like arms were tougher than they looked! It’s head was definitely the spot to focus his attacks on. Still, when the Greap raised it’s weaponry high in preparation for round two, it seemed the hunter’s first instinct paid off. He watched one of the thing’s scythe arms snap with pure glee.

”Haha, yes! Mess with the bull and you get the fangos!”

The greap was undeterred, but one sharp arm was much easier to dodge than two. Cadet’s blade flashed as he danced around the metallic creature’s spherical body, using any openings he could find to propel himself off it’s hard exterior and up towards it’s vulnerable head. Persistent, accurate strikes was the way of the sword and shield, but the battle against the greap was sped up significantly when a strange, segmented ghost floated over and screamed intensely enough to physically damage it. The greap rolled forward, clearly defeated, but just as Cadet was preparing for another battle the ghost floated back towards it’s new master: The Courier. Another friendly? Good news was good news and the red head raised a hand in thanks the cowboy’s way before finishing the great metal hulk off with a well placed sword between its eyes.

Just like every other enemy, it poofed into the form of a glowy spirit, which the hunter collected. Somehow he managed to resist crushing it right away. He wanted to see what sort of item it would become - one of those big scythes? Or something more like a greatsword? Maybe even a big piece of armor? The mystery was exciting, but there were more important things going on at the moment. Ace Cadet was about to move on and rejoin the group, and if not for a glint of light on gold he would have missed the other item that had been left behind.

What the heck is this? he thought, picking the disc up. It was thick and slightly shiny. He took it with him as well. Might be useful!

”They weren’t so tough,” the Cadet remarked with a smile once he was back with the rest of the squad. His bruised torso said otherwise, and gave weight to the princess’ words. Best to go into whatever was next in top shape. Though far from dire straits, the monster hunter pulled a life powder from his bag and waved it through the air above him quickly. It’s healing dust dispersed around the area, giving all who breathed it in a little boost to their health. Then, they marched.

---

Location: Spiral Mountain Battlefield

Once through the canyon and out in the open, Cadet covered his eyes with one hand and openly looked around. He let out a quiet "Whoa~!" as he took everything about the area in. Besides the "subspace" distortion and the... pretty questionable giant stone face, the area looked pretty nice. Like the kind of place that would be a ton of fun to run around in - and once they got through beating up whatever bad guy they needed to, Cadet made a note to come back and do just that. He'd have to get some insider tips about cool spots from the bear and bird duo who'd mentioned it was their home.

Of course, speak of the Deviljho, at that moment a massive white glove appeared over the curled mountain. The Master Hand wasn't an enemy that the hunter was familiar with, but it didn't take much to realize it was indeed an enemy. Unfortunately not the target of their quest, if the hand's own words were anything to go by. In another blinding flash, the hand summoned an entourage atop a mighty tower wielding bows and bowguns of various makes. The Cadet felt his optimistic mood from moments ago plummet.

At the call to scatter, the red headed hunter did just that. He took off running toward the nearest cover he could find, in this case one of the trees dotting the area. It was poor cover considering, but everything else going on made more enticing targets for the snipers.

Okay, Cadet breathed, peeking out in dismay to make sense of the situation. There was a giant tree and a horde of shambling creatures making for decent shields. That was good. There was a Linkle clone up on the tower, which was bad because that girl was tough. Euden had been completely devastated by the arrow attack, but it seemed what Bowser said was true - touching the trophy base reversed the effect. ...uh, wait, trophy base...? He tucked that train of thought away for later.

It was obvious that Ace Cadet needed to move up. He was much more helpful in close quarters right now, so somehow he'd have to make it to the tower - or, run support. Watching a few of their own get trophy-fied in quick succession made the decision easy.

Cadet pulled the smoke bomb he'd made the night before out of his pack and chucked it hard forward to cover his and anyone still in the immediate area's movement. As soon as the bomb hit the ground, thick white smoke spread throughout the area. The smoke spread wide and quick - it was designed to fool the senses of monstrous animals, but hopefully it would provide some decent cover against human opponents too. Once the smoke bomb was deployed, Cadet sprinted to where he'd seen Blazermate fall and hefted her petrified form over his shoulder. She was a bit heavy, but nothing he couldn't handle - and he seriously doubted she'd appreciate the comment anyway, no matter if she could still hear or not, so he kept his mouth shut as he made his way as quick as he could behind the newly giant tree. He slid to a stop and deposited the Blazer trophy on the ground. Without hesitation the hunter touched the trophy's base, and noted that it was indeed the same kind of thing he'd picked up earlier.

"Ms. Peach!" Cadet addressed her highness quickly, as he thought she must surely know about the whole trophy thing like Bowser had. Though, there was an unspoken 'I'm glad you're alright' in his tone. "I have one of those trophy base things, picked it up in the last scuffle. I was thinking - I mean, what does it do? Do y'think I could give 'em a taste of their own medicine somehow?" Being totally unfamiliar with the subspace activity himself, the Cadet was grasping at straws thinking he could reflect an arrow or something - but he wanted to help in any way he could.