13611/NOOB!

NOOB!
Date of Scene:	11 July 2021
Location:	Clocktower, Gotham City
Synopsis:	Barbara should read the rules before opting to play on an MMO
Cast of Characters:	Wolverine, Oracle

Wolverine has posed:
    The first time that rogue came by she wasn't even at the keyboard. There was a four alarm fire raging in downtown that had two engines dispatched to it and one of the team was on site. That /rightfully/ had her attention instead of the small window that the game ran in.
    She was much too busy to see her character who was walking around gathering resources. Too busy to notice when her life bar started to go down and down lightning quick. Too involved with shepherding a response to the fire crews request for extra help to see the warning that someone was going through her backpack and taking all of the resources she had been gathering for the last five hours.
    So it was likely a shock when she brought that window back up expecting to see her character running the small circuit to pick flowers, mine ore, chop trees, only to see her lying on the ground unmoving with a little skull floating over her icon. Somebody... had ganked her.
    And taken all her loot!
    That jerk!
    It took just a little scrolling up to find the name that was connected to the damage she took.

Vladimir stabs you with his dagger for 487 damage.
Vladimir backstabs you with his dagger for 3845 damage.
Vladimir uses poison blade for 9013 damage!
It is super effective!

You have been slain by Vladimir!
    And then the release button prominent in front of the little monitor. How rude!

Oracle has posed:
"What the hell..."

That summed things up now that the emergency situations were over and everyone was back to normal patrols. Barbara had settled back into her chair, a luxury gaming model she could sit in for hours without having any discomfort. She had gotten a fresh cup of tea then settled in and pulled up the game on her monitor that she had apart from the others, that allowed her to do something somewhat normal.

But instead of relaxation, she found something that shouldn't be possible. At least she didn't think it was possible.

Admittedly she hadn't really read all the rules. She hadn't been that worried about it. It was just a little thing to keep her mind busy at times. She knew there were other players but they never interacted really, except when there was some sort of combat in a public location then others might join in. Yet never had she had anyone kill her character. She didn't even know PVP was a thing on this game.

She pushed the little button to take her back to her 'home' which was actually just a protected campsite in a cave but that's what happened when one didn't toil endlessly to build an actual home.

A quick load took her back to the spot she had been, or close enough. A little trek through he woods to get back to here place. What annoyed hr most was the person had taken all her stuff. Everything. After she'd had it working for so long.

That's when she did something she'd never done on this game. She fired off a message to Vladamir, who it turned out was another player and not a game character.

<<Seriously? Just killed my character and took all her resources when I was obviously AFK? I'll remember this.>>

Wolverine has posed:
There was a time when she wasn't rewarded with an answer. Just silent empty text bar while she was waiting. It was so unsatisfying to be all angry at someone and then have them not respond. Maybe it was some kid who wasn't allowed to talk to other players. Or maybe it was someone who was in another country, the hour was late enough it could be almost anything. Until eventually...

<< Hm? Which one were you? I kill a lot of people out here. >>

That right bastard.

Oracle has posed:
She refused to care. It was nothing. Just a piddly game. She focused on other things. Paying attention to the HUDs of her team, monitoring the traffic from the GCPD radio system and computer systems. The norm. She wasn't even going to look at that stupid game after she got her character picking up resources again. If he didn't want to respond, so be it. Just some jerk anyway. Not worth getting annoyed.

Yet she kept peeking at it. Every few minutes.

When they finally did respond, she let out an upwards puff of annoyed air, her hair at her forehead fluttering a little.

<<The one who was idle. But NVM, you answered it. You just are one of those players.>>

Wolverine has posed:
 Curiously enough it doesn't take as long for the answer to come back, and it's in a tone that was infuriatingly reasonable as his reply seems untinged with emotion or ire or even meanness.

<< Well. I usually make a circuit around the resource areas since a lot of time there are bots being run and that seems like not a good thing for the game as a whole. So I kill them and take their stuff. I probably figured you were a bot. >>

 Like that was supposed to excuse it. He mistook her for a script kiddy robot! The nerve!

<>

 Since that is apparently /very/ important.

Oracle has posed:
<<And we wouldn't want that to happen.>>

That was her typed response as she made a face behind the computer. Going so far as to actually stick out her tongue at the annoying being that was called Vladamir.

<<How about this instead. You see my name, you don't kill me. I just do this for fun and it's annoying that hours of work is now down the drain cause I had to be AFK.>>

That seemed far more reasonable than what he was proposing, right?

Wolverine has posed:
There's a pause there for a time where she's back to going through movements needed to get her character gathering the resources, to perhaps start crafting her gear again. A few minutes of time before she gets the little 'bloop' sound coming from her computer to let her know she has a message sent in the game.

<>

And with that if she tries to send a message through then the response from the game's system will be nothing more than a statement of, 'Vladimir is no longer online.' And leave her there without an outlet for her grumpiness. The jerk.

Oracle has posed:
Protection money? Was he running a racket now? The gall! But then he said he was heading off for the night so she didn't bother trying to type back. Obviously he wasn't going to be polite so she just would have to pay closer attention, when she could, to the game.

Or even better, she could find a new spot to work on her crafting. She spent a good part of her free time the rest of the night finding a new area to work. A good distance from the previous one.

Hopefully this area had less jerk players. Somehow she'd been lucky enough to avoid it before now.

Wolverine has posed:
    It was a good hunting ground. Less jerk players for sure. Sure there were PvPers now and again but the town guards would hunt them down usually and if someone was a dedicated PvPer then they had to avoid civilization for the most part as the authorities would kill them on sight. Still.
    She found a nice plot of land, with good private resources and no neighbors. It was a decently developed place for her to run back and forth and do some adventuring now and again while gathering up those crafting supplies. And for four nice days it was comfy and safe and gentle.
    Until...
    One night after patrol she finally had time to get online. It had been a few days and she likely was wondering how much of her supplies had accrued over time. She logged in, and found her home as she left it. The supplies were still squirreled away in their containers. Everything seemed fine until...
    She went outside and found that her brand new horse, the one she had sold so many of her materials for... was missing.
    Maybe it had gotten loose, but no looking for it found it. What could happen with a horse in this game? She had to dig a little to find out. Apparently... horses... can be stolen.
    Which was what also led her to the command to find out where her horse was now and who was riding it. And when she saw the little image of her horsey and the name attached to it... her anger might rile again. For it said, 'Horse locaion: Northern Badlands. Rider: Vladimir.'
    That jerk had stole her horse.

Oracle has posed:
A quick search had found the info. And she glared at that name displayed on her screen. It had cost her a full day of gathered supplies--24 hours of time on game--to get the resources needed to buy that horse in order to speed up her travel from her resource gathering to her land. She was trying to build an actual house, although she still had her cave setup elsewhere to fall back on as needed.

Things had been going so well until Vladimir. This time she sent a single succinct line. Not that she expected he'd be an adult about it. He was probably some ten year old who got his jollies messing with other players. Such a jerk.

<>

Wolverine has posed:
 The response she got back was delivered quickly.

<< Pardon? >>

 A little bit of time was taken, then a few more minutes later another message comes through.

<< Oh. I didn't know he was yours. I sort of... borrowed him. A lil busy right now, tho. >>

 A likely story, he was probably galavanting around joy-riding on her horse that took her all that time and work to get. Some people really are just jerks. Why can't he be normal and just gather resources and build things. Always gotta be some rotten apples in the bunch.

Oracle has posed:
<<Not hard to tell. It said RedRidingHood's horse when you looked at it. Borrowing means you intend to return him. I have things to do tonight and need my horse.>> The fact she wrote in complete sentences, rarely going to abbreviations, probably let him know this was an adult he was dealing with. In addition to her trying to be logical about things and hoping someone might play fair.

How silly of her.

Course he wrote in sentences as well so she suspected this was not a 10 year old. Which meant he was an adult jerk.

Barbara had to set her character to walk to her usual grounds and set up her normal routine of gathering resources then left it running as she got to work with the important work stuff for tonight. The Crew were going to be taking down a warehouse run by the Triad tonight so she was going to be busy for hours once it started.

Wolverine has posed:
 And then she was left in silence. No answer back, no more words. And no horse. She really shouldn't have such faith in people. She dealt with the worst people in the world on a day to day basis, one would hope that at least in some of her recreation time she might find decent folk to be around. But apparently not.
 A few minutes passed. Some more. The time was coming up soon when she'd be busy. But then she got a message.

<< Sorry. I had escape the watch before I could circle back. >>

 Only this time the words weren't a send sent straight to her from afar. But spoken out loud. Yet she was seemingly alone. Then out of nowhere her horse seemed to appear with a magical shimmer as the rider unstealthed and revealed himself. And there was that jerk Vladimir. Tall and elvish and dashing, with a sort of Clint Eastwood look to his character object. But of course everyone was beautiful and handsome in these games. But the character was smiling.
 He hopped off the horse and then said out loud.

 <>

Oracle has posed:
Escape the watch. Running from the cops. When he appeared there with her horse, she was glaring at the figure on the screen as though he could actually sense her ire through the machine. Of course he couldn't. But it didn't make her glare any less.

She was keeping her character a little distance from him, not wanting to get close enough since he was the untrustworthy sort. <<Perhaps if you stopped stealing things, you wouldn't have to run from the watch all the time?>> See? Makes sense. Just live as nice people and farm mushrooms and make stuff!

Wolverine has posed:
 His response. << LOL. >>

 Which had his character actually lightly touch his belly and then give a laugh animation. It's clear he's higher level than her, and he has some freaky looking gear as if he skinned some black dragon and made a suit out of it. And those daggers on his hips were big enough to be swords. But he wasn't attacking, at least for now.

<>

<< Following that logic though... >>

 She'll see him turn his character to look at her little nexus of gameplay.
 Seeing how she enjoys that whole farming mushrooms and crafting. His character shrugs and then he says, << You must be a test pilot because... wow. >>

 Did he just call her character and gameplay boring? That judgemental jerk!

Oracle has posed:
Definitely higher level. She didn't have that sort of animation. Nor fancy gear. She had crafted a few nice things with higher level stats but she didn't really use them. She was actually above the noob levels but a far cry from where he stood in the rankings. She just minded her own business and did her own thing.

Until now.

She moved her character over to take the horse by the bridle and led him back over to tie him to a post she had for that. She hadn't quite gotten around to a fenced area for him yet. Might want to put that high on list. With locks. If that might help.

<<Test pilot???>> She counted to ten and then let herself type again. <<Different people like different things. You like stealing. I like puzzles and formulas.>>

Wolverine has posed:
 She can see the way that elvish assassin stands there silent for a bit, and might imagine any number of ways he took her words. But then when he responds the 'haha' in his text triggers another animation of the character laughing a little.

<< Haha, sorry. I just meant if someone looks for peace in a fantasy game, then they must have a lot of chaos in their life. Is what I mean. I mean. If you look at it a certain way, I'm really calling myself super boring. >>

 Which has him spreading his hands and shrugging in another one of those canned animations. But then suddenly there's the sound off horses approaching, unstealthed this time. The clip-clop canned sound effect coming into range and as soon as he hears it that elf in her garden abruptly stealths, going invisible alost instantly.
 Yet moments later a group of three guards ride up on their horses. Player guards apparently. High level ones too from their gear and the glimmery shininess. They ride up and stop.

<< There's his horse. He's got to be around here. >>

<< You two spread out, use your perception potions. >>

<< What about the noob? >>

<< I'll ask her. >>

 One of the lawmen on his horse rides up and stops in front of RedRidingHood. The horse whinnies and rears back as the man draws a sword that he apparently is very proud of since it glows very brightly.

<< Hey RedRidingNoob. You see one of the Outlaws around here? >>

Oracle has posed:
Noob. Seriously? What was with all these people?! Barbara stared at the little figures on the screen as they began to scatter, searching the area around her little plot of land. But the one in front of her got the narrowed eyes as she read what he typed again.

<<RedRidingHood. And I can tell you where one was.>>

Which was very helpful of her. She didn't motion on screen but she continued to speak. <<The horse is mine. Someone stole it. I found him to the west of here wandering. There was an elf on the ground nearby, had run into a tree branch I think. I grabbed my horse and came back here. So might be your guy. To the west, about four miles.>>

Wolverine has posed:
 The internet is for jerks. Clearly.
 But the trio seem intent on running around her farm and they're busily searching everything, even going so far as to open her containers and leaving some of them ajar while one takes a few servings of crops for himself, perhaps hoping she won't notice. Yet when she tells them about the horse and the tree branch she'll see him do that same animation of laughter as Vladimir gave her, then he says to his crew.

<< Alright guys, off west. Let's go. Without a horse and stealthing he could still be there. >>

<< Awesome. Thanks RedRidingBabe. >>

 And as quick as that the three other players ride of quickly, putting their horses to a gallop and heading to the West end of the valley. A few more moments and she's left 'alone'. Until that elf fades back into view.

<< Aww. >>

 It's all he says at first, but his toon is smiling and looking happy. But there's the little '...' above his head signaling that he's typing something. A few moments later she'll read...

<< Thank you. That was a kindness. But there, wasn't that cool? That was an adventure. >>

 And as he says that he fades from view, disappearing and perhaps heading off. For now at least.

Oracle has posed:
<<RedRidingHood.>>

Not that they notice she wrote it because they are running off chasing the phantom outlaw that was no where near where she had sent them.

When the elf appeared again, she moved over next to her horse and was able to do one of the few animations she had. Which was to pet the horse at the neck. Ash she continued to watch the elf. It would be warily if she had such an expression. She didn't.

<> But then he's gone and she has no idea if he's still around. When he says nothing else, she sets her character back to her tasks and focuses on the other monitors.

Wolverine has posed:
 After that life likely absorbed her attention. There was that influx of the Hand coming into the city and for a time the call of the Bat was more important than the eyes of the Oracle. Hands on time out and about requiring all soldiers on deck and ready to go. It had been a tough time, difficult most likely with little chance of peace or recovery...
 Until finally, the leader of the Hand was defeated in Gotham and there was what passed for normalcy. Peace.
 It was the next time she logged in that she'd find her home unmolested and left as it was. Nothing was out of place, none of her livestock were lost. It all seemed to have gone well with her extended absence. But as she was checking through things she would likely find a small symbol glowing on the outside of her house. In game mail that created a small glowing yellow exclamation point over her mailbox. It shined just for her and only visible for her. When she clicked on it...

<< Hey RRH. Vlad. I told some of my friends about our adventure and told them you seemed down, even if you are a little mean. They suggested I offer to you a chance to join our guild. I told them you mainly liked doing farming and crafting stuff but they said that that was cool. You could just hang out and chat on the guild channel if you're ever bored while you're doing your thing. If not, no worries. Just thought I'd throw that out there. Seeya. >>

 And beneath the small text display of her note there was a glowing button that asked her, 'Join Guild: OUTLAWS!' with a YES/NO underneath she could click on.

13611/NOOB!

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