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beta testing 0.1: tutorial & dungeon
beta testing 0.1
BETA NOTE: This log is being used for Duocaeli’s Tutorial & Dungeon Beta Testing. Please note that some game features are limited and will be noted in this format on pages, and an invitation is still required to play. Thank you and have fun!
"On" Tutorial
It’s pitch black. Is the darkness an old friend or a source of anxiety for you? Who’s to say what you were doing before, but right now there’s only one thing before your eyes: an ominous word over a slowly generating bar.
All at once - you’re plunged into color.
> A1. TUTORIAL START
If you’re lucky, the first sights that greet you are lush greenery, dancing street performers, and a grand statue of an elephant with assorted birds nesting nearby. Welcome to Avisle’s Town Square.After a quick once-over, you’ll find that everything that you had on you before arriving is accounted for–so if you were barefoot and in your pajamas, you might not have much–with one notable addition: a glowing crystal in your pocket. The roughly cut gem fits in your palm and is already fastened on a chain for you. Convenient!
Soon after finding it, the crystal will begin to project information in front of you that is remarkably legible, even if you’ve never seen these particular runes before. It reads: New Worldwalker’s Checklist. Below, a series of tick boxes await you. You may need to start asking around or exploring. Seems like you’ve got things to do!
If you’re less fortunate, it seems you’ve landed just a bit outside the maintained grounds of the city itself. Somehow you’ve spawned in the middle of a pack of wolves. Huh! Well. You can see the city not too far from here, so maybe if you’re quick… Time to learn on your feet!
Whenever you do get to safety and complete the same inventory of your person, the crystal will respond to you just the same. Apparently you just decided to play on Hard Mode.
> A2. THE BUSTLING GUILD TOWN
☑️ Join a Guild
Avis Isle is a deeply uncharted place, welcoming explorers and curious adventurers. The Guilds do their best to provide structure for the city proper and for those getting a grasp of their magic; the Interguild Alliance (IGA) oversees the Guild Hub where quests are posted and dungeon crawls are organized. While there are all sorts of Guilds around, there are five main wings for each of the Grand 5.
Why not get to know them better? NPCs will call you over and try to encourage you to join them, some with challenging jeers and others with sincere, kind invitations–don’t you know that the very first guild that you join is free? Choose wisely! The guild’s mascot animal, some type of Avian, sits upon a very nice and color-coded throne in their respective wing awaiting your choice. Once you’ve made your selection, it will croon (or honk) at you, and your membership is complete. While you can’t actually hear the words, you have a feeling you’ve been told something like, “Now get to work, fresh meat!”
—Though if you're dallying, guilds aren't without mischief. A stray bird (though never The Throned Mascot Bird) may suddenly run by, webbed feet slapping on tile, and steal one of your items before ducking into the respective wing of their guild. The same goes for those that try to leave without joining a guild. Theft is a great marketing strategy, right?
> A3. BEGINNER’S QUEST: DUNGEON CRAWL
For all new worldwalkers, there is one quest that you must complete upon joining the server. Some call it fun-datory, some call it hazing. Don’t worry about it! Your crystal will blink at you before providing the details of the quest:
☑️ Dungeon Mission:
Retrieve the Hiccuping Hifloon
Retrieve the Hiccuping Hifloon
Though should there come a moment that you find yourself low on energy, whether it be from simple exhaustion or magic use, your communication crystal will flash. A new understanding will come to you: it is possible to transfer mana to one another via gestures of affection, borrowing from your traveling partner’s own energy. Why don’t you go and try it now? Holding a hand might just make you feel better, and not just emotionally!
> A4. TUTORIAL END
And with that, you’ve wrapped up the Duocaeli tutorial! Congratulations!! That said, while it's understandable to get off-track—if you outright ignore the prompts from your to-do list, you’ll find yourself respawning in front of the goal you need to accomplish! Come on, work with us a little here. Or don’t? You can be trapped in a loop if you really want.
Now you’re free to explore the rest of town. While there are some land masses in the distance, out past the wolves, it seems they're not quite open to you at the moment. Attempts to wander closer will lead to you getting turned right back around, and some glitchy text coming from your Communication Crystal that reads SERVER TRAFFIC.
If you poke around the options on your Communication Crystal, or just spend long enough logged on confused, you will eventually find it prompting you through the steps of Logging Out. Seems like there’s more still that awaits you.
"OFF" Tutorial
> B1. HOME SWEET HOME
When you awaken in the OFF world, the pressure on the front of your face is a little more apparent. Taking off the digital visor is easy—and it can turn compact right in your hand! Getting it to snap back into your cell phone just right might be a pain, thank goodness it’s durable—oh right, did we mention you have a cell phone? Whether you’re familiar with the device or not, it’s right there in your palm, the same color as your Duocaeli crystal. A closer examination of your clothes will also reveal that while your threads are familiar, they’re not exactly what you had in Duocaeli. Ever heard of a department store? They’re a little more like what you’d find there! Finally, your phone will suddenly beep and provide you with a new checklist, starting with:☑️ Locate Domus Hosus Room
Seems like the first one is to find your room… But as you take a closer look around you, you might finally notice it—the way that the tiles on the floor seem to be shuddering in excitement at your awakening, the opening and closing of windows and cabinets to get your attention and say hi. Not only is the house alive, it seems to be happy to see you! Make your request—maybe a passing soul tells you that the house likes to be called Dodo, rather than the formal Domus Hosus—and see if it can be answered! Dodo so wants you to be comfortable here.
…and perhaps be a little mischievous? As you try to find your room, designated by your name on a plaque, you might be in for a surprise. Maybe the stairs suddenly turn into a slide, prompting you to tumble into another person. Perhaps the doors flicker and switch at the last second, prompting you to find an unfamiliar neighbor instead of your own lodgings. Is this what they call… a meet cute?
> B2. SURVIVE THE INTERNET
☑️ Post on DUONET
You have some questions, right? Don’t worry, whether for the inquisitive mind or the petty complaint, there’s always the internet! Through your cell phone, you’ll be prompted and guided through the steps of posting on DUONET, which is available to your fellow Worldwalkers. Don’t forget there’s also an Anonymous function, though it’s not without its own hiccups!
> B3. HELLO, MY NAME IS
At some point in your exploration, you’ll be interrupted by a neat little beep beep! On the screen of your phone:
☑️ Go to Dodo's Welcome Mingle
Or It'll Be Sad It Worked Really Hard On It :(
Or It'll Be Sad It Worked Really Hard On It :(
O-Oh. No reason not to drop in for a little while at least, right? Heading down to the Lobby of the Dodo House will reveal that it's been spruced up for all the new arrivals—sweet little string lights and dinky party streamers probably look a little silly against the grand art nouveau architecture, but don't you see how the lights surge happily at your arrival? It's the thought that counts!
All arrivals to the party will also find themselves with a name tag that lists one fact about them, regardless of whether it's a closely guarded secret or an actual fun fact! Those are impossible to think of when you're put on the spot—isn't it nice to have one thought of for you?
> B4. THE GOOD FORTUNE CITY
Once you're done partying, you and your newfound friends are free to hit the town. There are an unusual amount of signs that read CLOSED FOR PRIDE PARADE PREP, but you'll at least find that the local convenience stores and basic modern amenities are open.
Perhaps you should focus on the way other people here treat you so familiarly, as though you’ve been here all your life. Maybe some of it is jogging your memory, maybe not. Regardless, it seems that, for now, you’re here to stay. The question is how, or whether, you’ll make the best of it.
OOC Notes
During Beta Testing, we'd like to remind players that we're accepting any and all feedback that could help us improve the game before official start!
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duocaeli duologs duolingosTaken / Applications / Hiatus & Drops
FULL NAVIGATION
no subject
Let's start by not calling that luck. Dying pitifully is embarrassing too, you know?
[but regardless rin will incline her head toward the direction of the hifloon so that they can start on their expedition. also:]
Tohsaka Rin. You are?
no subject
[It's the name she goes by since a whiiiiile ago, yeah.
Let's go blow this popsicle stand, Rin Tohsaka]
So, first time adventuring in this kind of place? Or do you have experience at this?
no subject
I don't have experience, but something tells me it's nothing I can't handle. [a life or death battle between 7 randos and their summoned spirits sounds more dangerous than whatever... this is, so.
though this is around when the cottomari will start wandering toward them, fluffily so fluffily]
Have you seen anything like this?
no subject
Never before saw anything like this one. Step back.
[The cottomari approaching...it gets a thoughtful look. Loremaster slowly begins approaching it. To her credit, she's doing it cautiously, like she expects it to do something awful very quickly]
I could touch it and see if there's any danger to them or if we can ignore them. These arms, they were made to withstand a lot of abuse, I should be able to take it... [But what if they do something else?] Think you can handle me if it takes over my body upon contact or something like that?
[Just because this creature is floating and relatively harmless-looking doesn't mean it won't have terrible effects like invading someone's body to make them attack each other. Appearances can be deceiving]
no subject
what??? what?????????
okay, here's the thing. rin isn't a great person. she's a little mean, rude, and can be awfully insensitive. however she does have a certain level of basic human decency, and that includes protesting when someone is volunteering to get consumed in front of her?]
What are you saying—just blast them away! You don't need to perform any dangerous tests!
no subject
[She turns her head towards Rin]
And, trust me on this one, between you and me, me checking it out instead of you is for the best. Not saying you're going to die if you do; I just have gotten accustomed to a few things. [So confident, perhaps even dangerously so. Even though she's not terribly foolish, she does have a little bit too much nonchalance for danger] Just focus on getting through this quest. You don't want to lose the beginner quest, no?
[More cottomari trickle in, floating in the air. Absolutely easy to defeat]
no subject
[ - she's filing away the idea of increasing power away, but also? she doesn't really care if the response to the idea of it is to leave someone behind.]
If you can't win a beginner quest without losing someone, then the quest is stupid.
[she's just as confident! and rin's answer instead of letting either of them touch the cottomari is simply to lift a finger, concentrate some of her mana at the top, and fire off a blast to one of the cottomari - who then easily explode into a puff.]
There. No pitiful sacrifices necessary, so don't suggest something like that again.
[rin there's more. rin there's more cottomari coming]
no subject
[They're compliant because they want her dead. When everyone wants you to die, they don't really dissuade when you do something that can backfire on you]
Fine. I'll...accept your demand.
[For now. Cottonmari keep coming. Aiming at them with a finger, she focuses, a burst of eerie, dark magic bursting right on the cottonmari. It's not tremendously lethal, but against these low-level enemies, it's enough.
Frowning, she asks:]
Tell me something, did you have any magic before you were brought here?
[Yeah, the magic is a new addition to Loremaster. She always was more of a physical-oriented person, using brute force. Magic...not really something she used]
no subject
she frowns thoughtfully - ]
I'm familiar with it, yes. You aren't?
[and she was? still just going to let herself get glommed by enemies?? make it make sense.]
no subject
[Especially if she augments it with cybernetics. As far as she could see, it was bound to be equally effective here -- crushing these cotton creatures with her bare hands would have worked, and a well-placed punch does wonders against larger creatures]
The guild gave a few pointers, but it feels...strange. Like it doesn't fit me all that well.
[Especially because it's dark magic]
no subject
[it's commonplace here so rin is fine talking about it, but most of her life is spent trying to pass as a normal schoolgirl so....
the difference for her?]
I just think it's more fun to know it, and learn it.