Index wasn't a completionist as a gamer. He did games on his own pace and never bothered with super secret bosses or anything similar. He was, however, a hoarder. Whenever the promise of rare items presented itself to him, he would almost always go for it. Being trapped in a game further pushed him to this course when he had all the time to visit far flung places of Gargantua.

Today's target was a temple in the middle of the sea. The place was run-down and old and felt like it could collapse with minimal force, but he guessed it helped build the atmosphere with its aesthetics. The place felt like something taken from Tomb Raider, though it needed one more thing to make it complete. He'd be satisfied once he found treasure within the ruins. Anything will do though. He wasn't picky with whatever souvenir he could get his hands on.

Before entering the structure, Index noticed someone else on the island before him. "Hey, are you treasure hunting too?" His hands waved in the air as he called for the stranger's attention. He preferred exploring the abandoned temple alone in case he had to share loot he found within the temple, but company wasn't so bad either. Assuming the player he saw was friendly that is.

towns

//hope you don't mind ;>

Index threw his hands in the air as soon as he found himself with a gun pointed at him. Though he knew players weren't able to hurt other players outside of PvP, instinct still kicked in when confronted with a gun. Sweat rolled down his forehead until the weapon got lowered. His sigh followed after the sharpshooter's, somehow relieved with the reaction he got. "Really? I thought it was better than not showing myself entirely."

Lowering his hands, he started approaching the entrance of the ruins. "Answers for what?" he clarified. "The not-being-able-to-log-out thing? Yeah that was pretty stupid." There seemed to be nothing to learn inside the old temple after all, besides maybe easter eggs that game developers often place in hard-to-reach areas. They often carry messages from the developers too. The deeper levels of the ruins seemed to be a good place to hide those now that he thought about it.

He brought himself past Towns and went straight to an opening, his hand touching a frame of the entrance and his eyes peering in the darkness inside. Heal was cast on the ground beyond the darkness, using its special effects as temporary lighting to check for monsters inside. Upon finding none, he opened up his interface and produced a torch from his inventory. "Wanna tag along?"

towns

A screen popped up from his interface. With a flick of a finger, the invitation for a party was accepted before getting rid of the screens in front of him. "I got the defense and the heals so we're gonna be fine, I think." He wasn't the type to boast his class's abilities, mostly because they were too generic, but he felt the need for reassurance. After all, he was silently hoping for their appearance within the ruins. Rare loot were often guarded with enemies based on his experience with these kinds of games.

As soon as Towns got ready, Index started walking forward. The corridor went straight, though Index guessed it would eventually bring them to stairs that would lead them underground. He paced his self as he went, with his right hand touching the walls and his left holding the torch overhead. While his sword remained sheathed on a scabbard on his side, the paladin remained vigilant for other dangers.

"You think the game developers would leave the answers in an accessible area like this though?" He continued the conversation from earlier. Walking in silence and waiting for something to happen wasn't comfortable. "I, uh, figured they'd release those in a form of some kind of event or something." There was nothing wrong in trying, but Index already gave up on looking for other ways to exit the game aside from beating it.

towns

The corridor continued to a stretch up until to a point where Index started questioning whether he was just too anxious to get to the underground levels or if it was plain long. If the first floor was this big, he would like to know how the floors beneath were. The continuation of the previous conversation was an effort to entertain him throughout the presumed long walk until something interesting happens. At least Towns was kind enough to keep Index from staring at old walls and listening to his feet for today.

Easter eggs for clues to get out were pretty smart, considering the trapped players wouldn't be able to hack from within. He wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, but then again, he wasn't too optimistic from the beginning. "They'd have to hide it in the deepest corners then. I-I'm not good at finding those..." They had only torches as their source of lighting anyways, making hunting for easter eggs much more harder.

"Nah, all my hope for the game died when permadeath was confirmed." His steps stopped as he finished uttering the last word, as they finally reached the steps that led to the underground levels. "Found the stairs." Without waiting for a response, Index started going downwards. His right hand finally grabbed his sword while his left hand still held the torch overhead. There was no telling what they might find here, and it was better to be prepared than not.

towns

The paladin wasn't sure where he was going anymore. He just followed where his sense of direction guided him. They were bound to reach a destination eventually, whether it be a dead end or the stairs for the next floor. A treasure room would be the most optimal for Index based on interests alone, though answers, or even just messages, from the the developers of the game would be as great.

Index's steps stopped for a second, flinching with the statement, before continuing to lead the way as normal. He started playing with the sword on his hand, swinging it carelessly about his feet. "Er, I was just around raids for the loot. I, uh, not sure about being useful in any of them, but thanks, I guess." He wasn't really sure what tanks were supposed to do during raids since the boss's attacks were all too much for a defender without good equipment and that his damage felt like they weren't making a dent. At least he said he was useful.

"Anyways, I might. Wait, are you in a guild or something?" He had enough experience with guilds from the other titles that he had played before. They provide good rewards, whether it be in a form of guild raids or bonus skills depending on the game. He only joined guilds where he knew the owner personally, but given the circumstances, everyone was a stranger now. Index took one glance behind him, though his eyes went back to the front before waiting for the response.

towns

The prospect of joining a guild was appealing. Who would have thought that he would recieve an invitation just from deciding to visit a derelict temple in the middle of the sea. The turn of events got Index thinking of his options, though one of them was clearly superior. "Sure thing. Guilds are always fun stuff." Well, they would be if he'd know what kind of people the members would be, but they'll get to that point. Besides, guild systems often give the player an option to leave in case things do not go as he expected.

"Don't you have friends to start it with? It's already been a while since we're trapped after all." Index shouldn't be the one to talk about friends when his friend list had been completely empty since day one. He could get along with strangers just fine, but that was already the extent of his social skills. To be fair, he'd talk to people he just met too if he was planning on establishing a guild himself. But then again, he probably won't since they cost a lot of money to create.

A fork on the road presented itself, splitting in two paths right before them. "Left or right?" Asking which one to take probably doesn't matter since the both directions led to the unknown, but he felt it was only proper to ask.

towns

Praises were something difficult to get used to. It wasn't like he never got any of them before, but rather because it was hard to reply to them other than giving a simple "T-Thanks." Whether the words spoken by Towns were just compliments to convince Index to join his guild in the making or not, Index decided to just take the compliment without any skepticism. Trying to read beyond someone's character was not exactly his forte. Besides, it wasn't like he'd have any other guild invitations soon.

The passageway from the left eventually led to a door. Getting his sword hand ready, he slowly opened the room, cautious of enemy ambushes that were too common in ruins like this. As the doors went wide open, a completely empty room welcomed the two. No movement of any kind were present, convincing the paladin to walk forward in the middle of the room to take a gander of the inside. "All empty, huh. I guess we got the dead end." He had been too preoccupied with staring at the ceiling that he had not noticed the floor cracking under his weight.

towns