"Start" Judy

"Of course I am. Wouldn't have my eyes open if I weren't" Judy sat up with a groan, stretching. She paused and took a moment to loo down at ther arms, marveling at the multicolored feathering for a moment before staring up at the stranger, eyes narrowing. "Now I assume you wouldn't be leaning over me like a creep unless you had something to tell me. So, what gives?" Straight to the point.

Liah looks startled when you respond to her, gruffly, and she takes a swift step back, ducking her head with a dark blush on her cheeks, "M-my apologies! I was just worried, you see... you were found outside the village, unconscious, and you've been sleeping since. You were badly beaten and we weren't sure you were going to be okay." she fiddled with the hem of her skirt and sighed, peeking up at you. "I'm pleased you are awake... How... how are you feeling, if I may ask?"

Hum. Weren't computer games supposed to start with you winning some sort of big battle, not losing one? Grumbling things under her breathe about the unfairness of it all, Judy ignored her question and took a moment to instead look around before finally responding.

"Yes, yes I'm fine." the response was halfhearted, absentminded. Not like she could feel pain in a game like this, else popularity would plummet to zero. "And I'll be fully recovered by the time I'm up, I'm sure." she waited expectantly, looking at Liah. Perhaps it was time to be shown around or some sort.

Liah sputtered a little, looking completely out of practice and she paused, taking in a deep breath, before nodding and walking over to a set of clothes on a wooden chair by the entrance to the hut. "Of course. I patched up your clothing and my grandfather repaired your sword." She walks to the door and turns her head, smiling a little shyly back at you. "Please come outside when you are ready and dressed, the chief would like to talk to you."

Sword? Judy glanced around until she saw it leaning against the wall. Oh sweet, sword! Grinning, a motion that felt altogether odd with too many teeth in her mouth, Judy gave Liah a casual salute and rolled out of bed, pulling unfamiliar clothes on, and a heavy cloak over all that. The sword took a moment to attach properly, and Judy spend more than a fair amount of time staring at her arms, legs, any part of body she could see delighted at the feathers of orange, brown, and white that dotted her in patches. She could grow quite used to this weird dino-human hybrid thingie.

Finally ready, Judy stepped outside and strode confidently forward.

When you leave the small hut you enter a small village filled with straw huts. To the right, you see an open hut with an old grey Dinaurian Raptor working on a sword; to the left you see a larger hut with several wooden and bone Celtic symbols outside; and in front of you, you see a open stable filled with several small Raptor-Saurians.

You notice a sleeping Ptero on the straw roof of the stables and two Dinaurians outside the stables. They were both talking animatedly with one another.

The first Dinaurian you take note of is a green and blue Parasaur wearing a cloth shirt and leather trousers. The second one you note is a black Velon Raptor, who had bandages wrapped around his torso, he also had a thin, beautifully crafted iron longsword attached to his leather pants.

Huh, so no tutorial? She was just supposed to dive into the game? Fair enough. Judy's gaze darted round before she finally settled on the old grey Dinaurian working on the sword. Judy then looked at her own sword. It was okay, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to have a better sword...or even a shield.

Well, worth a shot. Judy trotted over. "You sell weapons?" she asked him by way of greeting. "Or maybe shields by any chance? I don't have anything by way of money right now, but I was hoping to find a shield. Maybe we can make some sort of trade? I do you a favor in exchange for a shield if you have one lying about?" Judy was a longtime player of RPGs, she knew the drill. Better to just skip all the meaningless dialogue and get straight to it.

The Dinaurian growled and snorted, the forece of the whetstone against the sword he was working on rough, but caring to the weapon. "Get lost. I don't sell to anyone without Kora and I don't trade for nothing." he huffed at you, promptly going right back to ignoring you.

"O-oh! Hey! Wait, oh wow! You're up!" A voice stops you from voicing any frustration or anger at the older Dinaurian's tone and you turn sharply to see the Dinaurian from earlier- the strange black and white Velon with... hang on, are those ears!? He pants a little when he comes to a complete stop in front of you, his friend, the Parasaur right on his heels, looking a bit put-out and a little more than confused. The Velon though, looks a little off and you can't understand why. "I didn't know you were awake! Guess I wasn't paying attention when you walked out of Liah's hut." he scrubs a hand over his muzzle and then grins. "The name is Kieran! This is Raz, my best friend! Glad to see you're up and about... and that you've already met Master Han here. Rough old man, I know, but he's got a good heart, trust me! And you'll find no other weapon master that cares for his weapons more than he does!"

"Kieran," Master Han huffed and rolled his eyes, "How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me Master?"

Kieran only grinned cheekily in return, "I've lost count, Master Han." he turned back to you when the older Dinaurian grumbled something under his breath and you notice his grin is still a little off. "Anyway, you're new right? So let me and Raz give you a grand tour of Goment, okay?"

Judy stared at the old guy as he growled at her. Oh she liked this NPC! She bared her teeth in what was apparently the Dinorian version of a grin before another voice interrupted whatever response she had planned to give.

Aha, so this was the tutorial NPC she had somehow avoided. He was overly friendly and helpful given she was a complete stranger - your textbook tutorial. "Judy, though I'm sure you already know that." she sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "So were you supposed to keep an eye on me or somewhat?"

"Bluh, nevermind. Nice to meet y'all and all that" Judy inclined her head to the pair. "Sure, show me around. Though I've already got a few guesses" she glanced around and squined her eyes. "Blacksmith here." she pointed to the celtic-hut. "Some sort of shaman or healer. First dinosaur over there in those stables and over there...." Judy squinted at another set of straw houses. "Housing for random villagers?" she guessed.

Kieran smirked here, though it was little, barely a ghost of one, and he snickered, "You're only partially right. Master Han is the blacksmith and those are the stables, yes. But the hut over there with the bone staves and the celtic symbols and all the feathers? That belongs to the chief of this village. And that hut is actually just Liah's. She's nice enough though to let 'random villagers' so you say, stay if they need to. I have my own hut, just behind hers and Raz stays with Dalix, the Stable Master's apprentice and son." He nodded as he finished his count before frowning, like he was forgetting something, but he shook his head after and smiled again. "You'll have to see the chief soon anyway, so that will be the last stop on our little tour. And since you've already met Master Han, we don't have to do introductions here. So let's go to the stables. You'll meet Dalix and Soren there. Dalix's father isn't here right now though, he's in the neighboring village, Oren."

"You're forgetting Siri, Ki," Raz piped up and the Velon bery nearly facepalmed, a grimace on his muzzle which was a strange sight on a Dinaurian, especially one with several sharp teeth.

"Right, we'll need to visit her anyway before we... you... er," he shakes his head again and sighs. "Never mind. Come on."

He and Raz lead you to the stables, where the Ptero is still sleeping on the roof and a human archer is just exiting the stables, putting away a few heavy materials up on the wall beside the large entrance.

"Dalix! Back from the hunt I see!" Kieran grins, his previous grimace completely whiped from his expression. The human turns with a smirk and then frowns when he catches sight of you, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head a little as he crosses his arms.

"Yes, and who, exactly is this?" Dalix asked and before you can answer for yourself, Kieran cuts in.

"Dalix, this is Judy, the one Chief Vinx rescued from the plains. Judy, this is Dalix. The Stable Master's apprentice, and as you've probably guessed, one of the only humans in the village. He's not too bad with a bow though, so we keep him around anyway," Kieran said with a cheeky grin and Daliz huffed in mock-anger.

"Why you little cheeky devil! You'll pay for that comment!" Dalix reaches out for Kieran but the Velon squeaked out a laugh and quickly jumped out of the way, sticking his sharp pointed tongue out at the human as they both laughed, Raz grinning cutely beside you three, seemingly used to their kinship.

Judy's head was swimming by the time Kieran had finished talking. Was she expected to remember all these names in such a short period of time? She squinted above the heads of various dinos around her, hoping to at least see a username pop up or something. Not needing to learn names was practically the whole point of RPGs. Augh.

And now there were talking to some Dalix fellow and Judy simply crossed her arms (forelegs?) and sighed, waiting for the tussling to be over. Immersion schmersion, this was taking the whole intro-tutorial stuff a bit far. Jud preferred to simply cut to the chase and dive right into things. Seemed like she had no choice on this matter though.

Another thing she didn't have was pacience. "The name's Judy" she cut in, giving the two a sour look at their squabbling. She sincerely hoped the majority of the game wasn't this useless dialogue. "I'm guessing we're here for you to give me some words of wisdom about dinosaurs? Or various other hints or life changing advice? I'm all ears." And then we can move this tutorial along

Kieran's expression turned serious, eyes narrowed as he turned to look at you, and you can't help but wonder if he's actually studying you or not, and what for, is another question.

Dalix snorts at you and rolls his eyes, "Wisdom? Yeah, for you, since you obviously need it: try not to get eaten again when you're back out in the big, scary world." he snickered to himself and Kieran rolled his eyes before sighing.

"Dalix, play nice, now, don't you have somewhere to be?" Kieran smirked, crossing his arms and Dalix scowled at him before huffing and stalking off with barely a glance in your direction. Kieran and Raz turned back to you then and the other Velon nodded towards the Saurian on the roof, "By the way, that's Soren, Dalix's mount and pet, but... it looks like he's passed completely out, so we'll move on to the next part of our tour."

"Siri?" Raz asked and Kieran shook his head.

"She can meet Siri after we're done talking to the chief, so come on, let's hurry before he comes out and looks for you himself," Kieran grins at you and then links his arm with Raz's before walking off towards the largest hut in the village.

Judy spared Soren - the first dinosaur (who wasn't anthropomorphic) she had actually seen in the game - a look of interest, but it seemed that things were finally hurrying along, and she nodded, finally approving. "Righto, village chief." Time to get in on the main storyline, get her first quest, and really start things moving along. "Sure, sure, I'll meet this Siri fellow later." she nodded along, intending no such thing unless it really was required for the quest or something. "Let's see who this big chief is."

She nodded to Kieran then, readjusting the sword on her belt. It still felt weird to be walking around with that thing. He and Raz linked arms and trotted towards the large hut - largest hut? That's kinda egotistical - and Judy followed along, prepared for the next part of her journey.

When you walk inside, you find yourself in a large room that clearly said the hut itself had only one room in it. Along the wall you find many different tribal signs and decorations, as well as horns and plates from what you assume to be the Saurians that roam around the plains that surround the village. You also see a few shelves with various items in which you didn't know what they were, but you also saw a few varied weapons scattered across the room. You find a small bed against the back wall and you see a small table in the middle of the room, with few chairs placed around it.

The very next thing you notice is the large dark green Dinaurian Parasaur sitting in one of the chairs, his eyes closed. He wore a blue gemmed necklace that had a small white cape attached to it. You notice his chest was bare of any clothing, and barely see that he wore dark leather pants. Lying beside him was a long wooden staff with a blue crystal on the end.

"Chief, sir..." Kieran speaks up, before you have the chance to say anything, stepping forward and he bows his head when sharp, piercing blue eyes opened, looking at all three of you.

He holds up one hand and Kieran silences immediately before watching, along with Raz, as he motions towards the two chairs. "Please, sit." He commands, though he says it in a gentle tone.

Judy raised an eyebrow as she appraised the room, saying nothing. At the man's word, however, the velon-pc mumbled something and eyed the two chairs. Two chairs, three people. Great, was this some sort of karma test or something? She nodded to Kieran and Raz and then the two chairs. "Go on" before taking her own place standing behind them. She then eyed the chief expectantly.

"So you're the one who found me unconscious? Suppose I should thank you for that."

Kieran snorted and pushed you to sit in the other chair with Raz, standing up behind you two, muttering something about 'stubborn players', but you're not entirely sure if that's exactly what he said.

The chief looks at you for a moment and then smiles, nodding, "I am, yes. You may call me Vinx, and it is I that should thank you." he doesn't say why, though, and it makes you confused and curious. Instead he continues on, "I imagine it must've been quite a harsh journey from where you had departed to get to here, Arcadia." He adds and Kieran looks to Raz, noticing how he was keeping his mouth shut, so he spoke up.

"But, Chief? How do you know she's not from Arcadia?" He asks, nothing in his tone suggesting that he wanted to know or that he didn't already know.

The Chief looks up at Kieran briefly before turning his gaze back towards you. "She has the mark of Orian; she is not of Arcadia, but is from the harsh lands of the southern kingdom, Norath." He explains, to all three of you and Kieran only nods. He doesn't look confused and he doesn't even try to look confused, he just keeps his face straight. "Now then, what is your name, my dear?"

Stubborn play- Judy turned and gave Kieran a suspicious stare. Either a self-aware AI, another player fallen into her game, or a hacker. He was playing the poart of a tutorial NPC though, so Judy had dawning suspicions that it was the latter. She'd have to keep an eye on that one then, and so Judy reminded herself to re install all her usual firewalls when she logged off. A hacker in the game could mean nothing good.

Well, best to act like she didn't noticed anything and let the firewalls kick him out later. Judy swiftly avoided Kieran's push, shooting him an annoyed look - and remained standing, redirecting her gaze to the chief. "What makes you say that?" Judy asked, when he said she had the mark of Or...oran..something. "You only just met me, no? And why are you thanking me? All I've done so far is get this sword from y'all and hassle your blacksmith."

Oh right, right. Questions. "Call me Judy" Perhaps she could have thought of a cooler player name, but eh. Judy was lazy.

Kieran scowled to himself, but stayed, crossing his arms, an annoyed twitch to his ears as his tail flicked back and forth. The chief only chuckles and then nods, "Judy, a lovely name for a young lass like yourself. And allow me to welcome you to Goment." He says and looks to the other two. "I trust that these two have shown you around?"

Kieran nods for you, smiling, though it looked strained, still. "Yes, sir." He trills, and Raz speaks up, this time.

"She has met Dalix, Soren- kind of, anyway- and Han, Chief." The Parasaur says, listing it off and Kieran almost laughs. "And she's been to the stables and the blacksmith's shop. The only one she hasn't met yet is Siri," he adds, smiling at Kieran as the Velon nods in praise.

"Good," Chief Vinx says, smiling at Raz and the younger Parasaur beams. "Now, I see that you have gotten your equipment back from Liah. I would like you to visit Siri, she is our village healer. She will give you everything you need, should you wish to depart our home and set out for the fields."

Kieran hums to himself and nods again, "I'll take her to Siri, Chief," he offered and the chief smiled back at him.

"Get going then, and make haste. Your journey is only just beginning, my dear," the chief says, a twinkle in his eyes as if he knows something that you don't. And with how this conversation has gone, you figure that statement couldn't be any truer now.

Judy held up a hand. "I've a few questions first" she said before they all left the area. "You never said just why exactly you're thanking me for coming in and taking your stuff. And for that matter, how am I supposed to get 'everything I need' from Siri? Or a dinosaur, which I assume I'll need out in the fields. I quite doubt anyone is gonna jump at loading stuff on me for free"

Or, perhaps they might. This didn't seem like a very well put together tutorial to begin with. But damn Judy if she wasn't gonna get her money's worth and make sure this game had enough backstory to satisfy her. And mysteries were not up Judy's alley at all.

Kieran stuttered to a halt, having started making his way towards the hut entrance. "N-nyeh~!?" Kieran jerked his head to look back at you with wide eyes, before they narrowed and a slight glimmer of red flickered in them before they faded back to forest green. "Come on Judy, any questions you have, I'm sure I can answer on the way to Siri's hut. And don't worry about cost, Siri will be worried enough about your health to offer potions you need for free." he said, sounding a little strained as the chief and Raz stayed completely silent, though Raz was a little nervous with how Kieran was acting.

"Ah, I'll stay here, Ki... you can take Judy to Siri, okay? Liah'll be disappointed she missed this meeting, so I'll talk to her when she gets here," Raz offered and Kieran nodded, taking a deep breath before grabbing your arm, his eyes flickering red again, for some reason you can't explain.

"If you really want a Saurian," he stressed the word, with sharp narrowed eyes, flickering red for the third time, and you wonder what's going on, "too, we can go back to the stables to talk to Soren or Dalix about getting you one." His words sounded hard, though, and there was an undertone there, like he knew something you didn't. Everyone seemed to know something you didn't, but you can't help but get the feeling that Kieran knows more than anyone else.

Nyeh? Flickering red eyes? She didn't just have a hacker on her hands. This kid must have been like twelve in real life. Judy had met the kind before. The little kids who were somehow programing whizzes and thought they were the best thing in the world for it. Here was a hacker who was probably self inserting into  her game for laughs. He would start off as the friendly tutorial character, then either destroy everything or pretend to be some marvelous hero who was the only one who could save Judy. And here he was angry that she wasn't playing along.

Oh she had this all figured out. Judy smirked a little at Kieran. A shameless self insert. Of course he would be angry she wasn't doting on his every word. "One, don't touch me." she told him, yanking her arm from his grasp. "Two, you're avoiding the point. People don't just do things for free. What are your motives? And three, of course yes I want a-" and here her voice was laced with sarcasm. "Saurian. But again I don't trust this whole ask-and-ye-shall-recieve thing. What's the catch?"

After a moment of staring him down then, Judy continued on towards Siri's hut. "But fine, fine. We'll go talk to this Siri person. See what they can do about my so called health"

Kieran growled to himself before finally rolling his eyes, watching you go with narrowed eyes. "You're going the wrong way." he said, before turning to Raz, nodding his head at the Parasaur. "Be good," he said with a teasing voice.

He left the chief's hut and turned to make his way towards where Siri's hut actually was, not bothering to check to see if you would follow him.

When he reaches the hut, he goes inside, his tail flicking back and forth in clear agitation.

"Well then you're maybe not the best guide in the world" Judy called back without missing a beat, casually adjusting her course as if that was what she intended all along. When it was obvious which hut they were going to, Judy then quickened her pace so she walked in alongside the other instead of behind. It was very clear at this point how little she thought of this Kieran figure.

"Ello" she said as she walked in, looking around for any sort of Siri. "You'd be the village healer, I was told?" she would say if there was a dinoaurian inside. Otherwise she would wait for any sort of stranger to enter, her own tail swishing lightly.

When you go inside, you immediately notice a pretty, violet-blue, long-necked Dinaurian with long blue hair and a long violet dress. She wore blue-rimmed glasses and her extremely long tail was holding a small book with several strange plant-like pictures in it. She was hovering over a small pot and was looking around with a frown on her face, as if she was trying to find something.

Kieran clears his throat- when she doesn't seem to notice that spoke and he almost looks smug at that- catching the attention of the Dinaurian and almost immediately a smile lights her face. "Hello Siri," he trills and she waves to him.

"Good morning, Ran," she says politely, her voice taking on a motherly tone, "it's good to see you're well and walking." Kieran ducks his head but shrugs and then nods to you.

"Siri, this is Judy, she's the one that Chief Vinx had found out in the fields." He says and the Dinaurian's eyes widen.

"Oh, it's lovely to meet you." She says, dropping the book and she walks over to you and Kieran. "How are you feeling dear? You'd taken quite a beating..." she trails and sighs in relief when she finds nothing physically wrong with you. "Well, I'm glad to see your wounds have healed."

You see from the corner of your eye that Kieran was smirking, his eyes narrowed, at the way Siri was mothering you.

"Not hurt in the slightest right now" Judy assured Siri, shooting Kieran a glare. "I was just told to stop by and say hello to you, then I was planning on getting a saurian. Also, this guy is useless." she shoved her thumb in Kieran's direction. "He won't answer any of my questions properly, so I'll go ahead ans ask you." She was actually speaking more politely to Siri for one, finding that she rather preferred the NPCs to the maybe-hacker at her side.

"I do believe I owe you a favor for taking care for me. I'm also looking to earn a bit of extra coin so I could get myself a Saurian, so do you know if anyone here needs any odd jobs done? Clean the house, catch a wild animal, whatever?" She had positioned herself between Siri and Kieran now, turning her back completely to the latter, quite pointedly snubbing him.