Frontier Online

Urginok Part 10

Rydr followed after Syrna and left the graveyard. As they stepped out, it was like a veil lifted, and the sounds of the city rushed in to greet his ears. He wondered at the spawn point's preternatural silence but shrugged it away as he heard something he didn't expect.

"Are you looking for more DPS in your party? I'm a level three dagger user who can make dungeons that much easier. I won't steal loot like some rogues do!"

"If you're dying too quickly, please consider adding me. A quest gave me a healing spell, and your leveling speed will be sure to take off if you don't die as often!"

"I'm skinny to the eye, but I can tank hits like a champ! Come to me if you need a meat shield at the front! My shield makes me way better than those other wannabe tanks!"

Everywhere Rydr looked, divers hocked...themselves. It was like prostitution for party members! A hand landed on his shoulder, and Rydr found the much shorter Syrna was trying to throw an arm around his shoulders. At best, she hung off him like a weird, off-shoulder human cape.

"Squat down a little, you freak." Rydr would do no such thing. He might not have back problems in-game, but his seven-foot, ten-inch frame was based on his real body. His real body had authentic back problems. Rydr did not squat. Although Rydr bent several times before now, he did it without realizing it. 

Syrna huffed and let go. "I bet you missed this when you barreled out of town, didn't you?"

 Rydr silently nodded. 

She snorted, "Friggin, noob." She smiled at him to take the heat out of the insult. Then Syrna focused.

Syrna grabbed his elbow and walked him around the town square, "Okay, let me break it down. Some shmuck in this crowd is a tank that can't do anything on its own. We are here to provide DPS for them. They are here to provide a useful distraction for us while we lay the beat down."  

"Right now, there isn't anyone, including u...." she looked at the arm she held and down at her damaged armor, "including me, that can amount to much in a party. Think basic Dungeons&Dragons set up: tank, healer, mage, physical DPS."

Syrna patted Rydr's arm and started to pull him towards the group of folks advertising themselves as tanks. "I'm willing to bet that your strength score is a lot higher than you want people to know right now?" 

Rydr nodded again. He had begun to feel distinctly like a bobblehead around Syrna.

"That's okay. Trust has to be built in any party,"  she paused for a moment and continued, "thank you for telling me about feats, by the way. A lot of divers would let me storm off and keep that information to themselves."

Rydr shrugged, "I'm not so good with people in real life."

The giant looked sideways at Syrna, "Thanks for not holding me over the barrel...I would have said almost anything to keep you from going." 

He looked down at his feet, "I would have gone after my pickax on my own and died a lot if you had left. I get a little one-track-minded." Rydr was becoming more aware of how much he stood out in the crowd. People looked at his height and shirtless, newly ripped figure and held whispered conversations while they kept an eye on him.

"Titan-Classes shouldn't be allowed in this game..."

"Look at the friggin' cheater!"

Rydr wanted a shirt very badly. Amongst the complaints, Rydr heard a title rarely said in real life. 

A title I never lived up to. 

Syrna patted his elbow again, above the Stone-Guard Vambraces.