#irl-photos
Kitu Nilan
that setup is sick
but why it is all pink and gold?
Sheyna Shadal
Excuse you. What does it matter to you?
Teenam Mortana
Oh, cool poster! Where did you buy it? Sheyna Shadal
Titu Lilin
theres no poster
Guild Leader Sorbanja
Where the fuck is the poster?
What picture are you even looking at?
Jules Jewels
Teenam is messing with us
T wants us to look for a poster that isn’t even in the picture
Manda Munbi
sounds like a Teenam thing to do
Hoedi Kodokki
I wouldn’t trust that thing with my life considering how much T tortures us.
Feni Kunas
Teenam, I thought we were friends. I almost got excited about seeing what the poster was.
Teenam Mortana
Bitch, it’s right there tho
Kitu Nilan
i looked everywhere. there’s no poster
Manda Munbi
one down for the count
Jhi Xedolin
Of course it’s Kitu
Memmi Bvinanka
Which photo are you looking at Teenam?
I wanna know which poster.
Guura Monggaar
that’s three down
Manda Munbi
who’s 3rd?
Guura Monggaar
leader obviously looked. that’s why he’s so mad about it
Sheyna Shadal
What poster?
Guura Monggaar
that’s 4
Jhi Xedolin
To think even the original poster fell for it
Wunar Drondaor
lmfao
Titu Lilin
there’s no poster
Neya Cheola
there’s a frame but there’s no poster
Guild Leader Sorbanja
+1 no poster
Guura Monggaar
5 down
Neya Cheola
+1
Manda Munbi
+1
Guura Monggaar
+1
Kitu Nilan
+9999 absolutely no poster
i’ve been betrayed
Teenam Mortana
Y’all motherfuckers are embarrassing. It’s right there? Are you fucking with me or just blind?
Kitu Nilan
you can’t make me look again. you deceived me once never again
Titu Lilin
drop the act
we know theres no poster
Teenam’s confidence would make anyone quietly scroll up and checked the photo. Even if they never admitted to looking, of course everyone had looked for the poster that didn’t exist.
The photo showed a desk where the tabletop had been painted pink. In a corner stood a massive gold tower with pink led lights, and next to it was a set of screens. The main screen was large and mounted to the wall, while the two flanking it were smaller with gold-painted feet.
All three screens showed the login screen to The Tales of Velkrinni.
In front of this setup, was a pink mouse and keyboard with what looked like white RGB lights. The headphones were just as pink, and were laid on the desk next to a table lamp with a gilded body and a lampshade one might find at an antique store, naturally in a dusky pink with what might just be gold details. The chair, too, had a white plastic frame and had a pink seat with gold accents. It looked custom-made. A light pink cat mug on a coaster was next to a white and gold pitcher on the side, making it look like it was an aesthetic display rather than someone’s setup. There was a subtle mark of red lipstick on the mug.
There was a shelf next to the desk with a selection of texts books on coding, although most titles were obscured or too blurry to figure out. Fairy lights hung off the top shelf and continued along shelves on the wall with various knick-knacks, ranging from figurines of mostly female characters to porcelain cats and dogs. On the other side of the picture,was a sliver of a visible corner from dark, presumably wooden frame. That was all there was.
The caption posted along with the original image was, “Look, we finally set up my proper desk space in our house. 🎮🩷 My sweetheart is the best. 😍”
Scrolling down, Teenam had not settled with doubling down, but was tripling down.
Teenam Mortana
Everyone here is blind
There’s a poster in there
There was a file attached to the message. Looking at the image, Teenam had cropped to about an eighth of it, focused on a corner of the picture. The healer had circled the dark frame corner and what could be seen of what was on display. Whatever was in there couldn’t really be seen and it could really be anything — a copy of some classical art, a photo, anything. It was way too little to go on to determine, really.
There was no poster, so this was the strangest hill to die on.
Titu Lilin
do you mean picture?
a poster is not the same as a picture
both are images but one can be all sort of stuff including photos, memes etc
the other is a type of printed picture basically
its an easy mistake to make
theyre similar in meaning and how they look
Kitu Nilan
how are they easy to mistake?
Titu Lilin
youre a native speaker shut up
Teenam Mortana
That’s a poster. I recognise the art.
Guild Leader Sorbanja
How the fuck can you recognised that corner of anything?
Jules Jewels
Teenam is going insane from spending too much time in Misty Haven
Teenam Mortana
Look. It’s a poster of this fan artist’s work. I was wondering where Sheyna got it.
A link was attached and opening it up… It went straight to the portfolio of one of the biggest and most well-known Velkrinni fan artists. This artist in particular had worked more than once with the studio developing the game and had made promotional art for social media or to tease events. In the gallery of guest artists, linked on the site, one could find multiple of their pieces.
Doubt filled the chat. That was an absurd thing to say. Everyone was writing how Teenam was insane or tired. Someone told Teenam to go to bed, it must be night-time for Teenam if the fox was this delirious.
Then…
Teenam Mortana
FOUND IT.
Another link was provided, directly to a piece on the artist’s website. It was a Velkrinni fan art of two NPCs that had been posted over half a decade ago. The corner did look similar to the art, but it sure was a stretch to think one could identify the artwork from seven, eight years ago from a corner with nothing specific on it.
Guild Leader Sorbanja
Teenam GO TO BED. WHAT THE FUCK. You’re insane. There’s no way you coul possibly recognize the piece from a corner.
Even I can tell one is darker than the other sans the dark frame.
Titu Lilin
lmao no way its that
Neya Cheola
who frame a poster anyway?
Vice Captain
Odyja, no caps. You got to bed.
Guild Leader Sorbanja
Fuck off. teenam used caps too. Why are you scolding me alone?
Vice Captain
Because you all provoked T into caps. You had no reason to use caps.
Guild Leader Sorbanja
I’m being provoked by this bs too
Vice Captain
No caps or you’ll be going on timeout.
Guild Leader Sorbanja
Still no way Teenam could identify a print from a corner in a photo where it wasn’t even in focus.
Teenam Mortana
It’s that one. I know it. Prove me wrong. It’s obviously that one. The corner is a perfect match.
Jules Jewels
Perfect match my ass
The channel broke down into everyone tell Teenam that the fox was having too much coffee, not enough sleep, hallucinations and what not.
Fingers flew over the keyboard, using every opportunity to de-legitimise the male moon fox’s sanity.
About half an hour later, the original posted appeared again.
Sheyna Shadal
Oh, yeah. You’re right. I got that poster years ago. I’m not sure where. Some con anyway.
I liked the art.
These got me interested in the game, even though it took a while to get to actually playing it.
And with it was a photo of the frame and its contents…
It was the same artwork as Teenam had linked to.
One could see that it was hung next to something else that was also framed. A second photo showed three posters, all being Velkrinni fan art from some years ago, lined up next to each other. All hung over a second desk which was… black and silver themed. It was less gaudy, that was certain. Based on the stack of various books on classical literature, nutrition, history and philosophy, as well as what seemed like fifteen notebooks, it didn’t seem like the “sweetheart” was a gamer.
“Whatever.”
You are now logged in.
Misty Haven will close in 3 days. Please hurry before it closes. We never know when the gates to the world beyond this one opens once more.
[Guild] Jhi Xedolin: Looking for 40-80 level players for the beginner run. Alts welcome.
[Guild] Jhi Xedolin: Beginner Misty Haven is best run 6-10 players, each party 3 to 5 players.
[Guild] Jhi Xedolin: I’m thinking 4/party.
[Guild] Kitu Nilan: sweet baby, i’m over the threshold. raise it for me, pls
[Guild] Kitu Nilan: i’ve been a good boy
[Guild] Kitu Nilan: kitty is indoors
[Guild] Jhi Xedolin: You’re the exception. You can join this run.
[Guild] Jules Jewels: I’m over too. May I also run? I will run without job rune or any gear except a level one weapon.
[Guild] Jhi Xedolin: If we have no one else and need to ask in world chat, I’ll allow it.
[Guild] Jules Jewels: *prays to the Mother Tree* Don’t have enough people, don’t have enough people!
[Guild] Gituda Tuuk: I humbly request you to ask not of Mother to curse your fellow friends and companions.
[Guild] Chu Ghilon: i’m lvl 39…
[Guild] Jhi Xedolin: Not a problem. I already took a look at the stats you showed me earlier. You’ll be level 40 before we finish the run.
[Guild] Feni Kunas: I have a lvl 47 alt. Or, if you want, I can solo tank without gear and just not attack at all
[Guild] Gituda Tuuk: In a pinch I can bring low-level summons to fill out the space.
[Guild] Feni Kunas: sharing brain cells today, Dad.
[Guild] Gituda Tuuk: I would rather say I’ve raised you well.
Jhi Xedolin considered the offer by the two veterans. Vice Cap’s level didn’t affect the output of damage, since Vice Cap used runes that actively lowered the attack damage. If the summons were weak, it was hardly different from having multiple players that were at a low level. That would balance things out.
[Guild] Jhi Xedolin: If no one’s offered in 10 minutes after I’ve posted on Discord, VC, you take the Kitu and Feni.
[Guild] Gituda Tuuk: ok
[Guild] Jules Jewels: 3 elfines and 3 foxes. What an interesting setup.
Jhi Xedolin posted in the #dungeon-run on Discord, waited a whole 15 minutes, then posted to the server-wide chat anyway, just in case there happened to be players who still hadn’t gotten the Misty Haven event items.
[Guild] Chu Ghilon: do we talk in voice or…?
[Guild] Gituda Tuuk: if need be, I can do the chat to communicate outside.
[Guild] Jhi Xedolin: An acceptable premise.
They ended up with two elves, three fae and three red foxes. For simplicity, Kitu was tossed to Gituda Tuuk’s party, while Jhi Xedolin took the additional two they found in the world chat.
One red fox named Rini Denan ran laps around Gituda, in gear that matched the elf’s Beast Tamer gear. This fox was an Enchanter main, meaning a close-combat mage.
It was the one Mage type whose every base skill had been changed, except the mage-only debuff “Petrify”.
“…”
“Feffie, you are so obvious,” Jules Jewels drawled. “Why don’t you two just get married?”
“I proposed to Dad. He didn’t reply, so that conversation is over now.”
“Old man, do specify that you mean in-game,” Gituda Tuuk said dryly. “And when exactly did you ‘propose’ this marriage, anyway? Was it the ‘The marriage bonus would be nice’?”
“Yeah. That time.”
That was not a proposal, in Jhi Xedolin’s humble opinion.
The Vice Captain sighed and, most likely without realising, the voice softened. “Do you really want that marriage bonus that much? For which character?”
The fox began jumping its laps instead. “Do I have to choose? Can I decide which ones get married to who?”
“I’m only asking. I didn’t say I would do it.”
Jhi Xedolin knew it was unlikely that there wouldn’t be an in-game wedding by the end of February, or perhaps March. Likely not with “Gituda Tuuk”, however. Feni Kunas — or Rini Denan in this case — seemed able to get their Vice Captain to do almost anything.
“Vice Cap, is that gear new?” Kitu asked.
Jhi Xedolin paused and studied the gear. It had some differences, such as a fur trim. Gituda Tuuk was committed to the wood elf aesthetic and thus only wore greens and browns, and this was not an exception. Seeing a red fox next to him instead of the smaller white fox variant was strange, however, even if that likely made more sense than the white one.
“It is. T gifted it to me. I had Yeria Quur dye it my colours and just got it back yesterday.”
Chu Ghilon was just as committed to an aesthetic. The pale solar fae with blond hair and yellow eyes and wings wore a fae-only outfit dyed orange, yellow and white, and was equipped with an orange blade.
Tia Ciredi was a floral fae who wore pink and green like it was fae religion. It was equipped with a book and was a Summoner and played Elementalist. The fae was level eighty-two, so Jhi Xedolin looked the other way about being over the threshold. It was barely any difference, regardless.
The final elfine member, aside from Jhi Xedolin, was a Water Elf Mage, called Aqua Nelumbo, who must have the most guide based stats Jhi Xedolin had ever seen. And Jhi Xedolin liked to check guides, too. But unlike Jhi Xedolin, who also got suggestions from the guild, this guest elf certainly had no one to guide them aside from contradictory guides.
Jules Jewels stood completely naked with a level one throwing dagger. Seeing the Firepaw Scout not in half-elf, half-fox form was rather odd, but on the other hand, the elfine illusion would need to run in underwear. Completely naked as a fox was less embarrassing.
The third Firepaw was equipped with a whip and jewellery and not much more.
“Kitu, put on some clothes, won’t you?” Jhi Xedolin said dryly.
“I’m dressed!”
“You’re required to wear the strongest armour you’ve got. Otherwise we won’t bring you,” Vice Captain said seriously.
Kitu grumbled as he equipped a full set of light armour.
“Now pick a different weapon.”
“Geez, you’re so picky.” Kitu equipped a dagger. “Good enough?”
“Only if you don’t die,” Jhi Xedolin replied.
Kitu Nilan did not not die. Kitu Nilan didn’t not die multiple times.
Jhi Xedolin sighed as the fox corpse was resurrected once again after the third mini-boss.
“How do you even manage to die?” Jules Jewels asked, as they all waited for the fox to get ready to continue. “Jhi Xedolin is a level two-hundred and forty Cleric. You still manage to get more damage done to you than you can be healed. Even Teenam wouldn’t be able to carry you.”
“Should I put my summon in defence stance instead of tank? I have plenty of healing potions I can use if I’m not giving commands,” Gituda Tuuk asked. “Feni, can your build tank?”
“Hardly. Rini is a mage, remember? My attack stat is focus and the defence stat is wisdom. One hit and I’ll be half out of HP,” Rini Denan replied. “If Jhi Xedolin lets me build some aggro, I can kite the final boss, though. The two Rogues will have to make sure to work hard, though.”
“Let Kitu die. It’s fine. I’ll revive him once we’re done with the run.”
Vice Captain only needed to hear this before heading down the path that had opened up for them. The Fenrir pup dashed behind its summoner, Rini Denan was right behind the elf, while the rest followed a short distance behind them, with Jhi Xedolin flying at the back, with the elf Mage staying near the back of the group as well.
Fenrir was a monster that certainly wasn’t the most docile of pets to have. As soon as it noticed an enemy it would attack it automatically, regardless of stance.
Seeing as it hadn’t attacked Gituda Tuuk once, however, the relationship was likely good and stable, and Gituda had just not spent much time in battle with it to raise it.
So as soon as it neared the first monster on the path, it dashed to bite the enemy like a ferocious puppy, and inevitably pulled more enemies in that attack. Gituda Tuuk stayed back, creating a good indicator for the newbies where the backline was, while the wolf cub was the frontline indicator.
Kitu Nilan managed to pull aggro away from the violent wolf almost immediately and after two useless attempts to save the dumb fox, Jhi Xedolin let him die.
They finished the beginner run with no other casualties than one fox.
As they finished, both Gituda Tuuk and Rini Denan instantly left the voice chat. The fox wrote in the regular chat before leaving and presumably logging off to change back to Feni Kunas.
Rini Denan: Friend Gituda here and if you ever need help, just send him a /pm and he’ll let me know. I’ll be happy to run any content with you on main if you ever need a tank or DPS.
Chu Ghilon said an awkward, “Thanks for the help. Bye,” after staying silent the whole run, and disconnected immediately after.
It left Jhi Xedolin in voice with the two dumb foxes.
“It wasn’t enough,” Jules Jewels said.
“What?” Both Jhi Xedolin and Kitu Nilan asked.
“The gear. The kit here died, so the gear change wasn’t good enough.”
This made Jhi Xedolin laugh. “Very true!”
“Hey, don’t mock me. I’m not used to run with armour and a knife.”
Jhi Xedolin cast a protective spell on the dumb fox before leaving the instance. “Yes, yes. You’re only good when acting like a barbarian, I understand.”
Jules Jewels said, “Keeping you alive is like identifying the framed item by the frame in a blurry periphery of a photo — impossible. We can look at the bigger picture or the tiny details, but all we’ll see is just the frame, not the content framed.”
“I hate you. I’m not talking to you two ever again!” Kitu Nilan replied before the fox fell silent. Neither Jhi Xedolin nor Jules Jewels said anything. After a couple of minutes, Kitu Nilan retracted that statement and asked, “Hey, wanna run a dungeon a dungeon to level with me?”
“I gotta go,” Jules said and was out of the call the next second.
“I guess not…” Kitu Nilan sighed in disappointment.
“All right, fine,” Jhi Xedolin said. “If nothing else I can try bonking your head every time you do something wrong. Maybe it’ll stick then.”
“Give me a moment, I’ll just buy better accessories and a new whip!”
“…” Jhi Xedolin disconnected from the voice chat right then. There was not enough patience in this fae for that.
#general
Gituda Tuuk
Why the fuck is there a whole new channel??
I do one dungeon run and which mod decided we need #velkrinnis-coolest-comouter?? You couldn’t even spell it correctly.
Come out.
I won’t beat you.
Feni Kunas
Dad, you sound like you’re going to spank them into submission tbh
Gituda Tuuk
If that gets people not to randomly creating channels under the Event category, I guess I can even bring a ruler to teach them how to behave.
Doamannu Graolla
Are my eyes deceiving me? Did I just read that?
Gituda Tuuk
Yes.
Feni Kunas
Oh no
Neya Cheola
now it’s getting juicy
Doamannu Graolla
Boy, do you have no shame?
Gituda Tuuk
My face is thick.
Doamannu Graolla
Who raised you?
Gituda Tuuk
You and Teenam.
Doamannu Graolla
…
I have no words.
Feni Kunas
Teenam and Cap are my grandparents? What a good lineage I’m from!
Guild Leader Sorbanja
Gituda background lore?!
Neya Cheola
quick! someone write it down!
Titu Lilin
now writing 100k fic about vc’s childhood as the elf son of a male bear and a male fox
Feni Kunas
Will the sequel have Feffie in it?
Titu Lilin
obviously
Feni Kunas
waiting impatiently for the sequel
Doamannu Graolla
You are all menaces
Jhi Xedolin was at loss for words. But while the Vice Captain was too busy being a gremlin on main, Jhi Xedolin went to look at the Velkrinni’s coolest “comouter” channel.
Sheyna Shadal
3 screens is pretty much maximum isn’t it? Most will be good with just 2
Guild Leader Sorbanja
Teenam Mortana claims 4 screens. Seems to be for work ALLEGEDLY. If not proven now, I will assume it’s fake info
Teenam Mortana
I’m not required to prove anything to idiots.
I actually have four screens. Or displays if you rather use that word.
But if I show my desk, you’ll ask for my whole office
I’m not showing my office
Or my home
Or my desk
I never invited anyone of you into my home and I’ll keep you outside of it as well.
Guild Leader Sorbanja
You’re running an MLM aren’t you? Or some crypto scam.
Teenam Mortana
You’re employees are the cockroaches crawling the kitchen of your office
Guild Leader Sorbanja
Your*
Teenam Mortana
You’re the employees who are the cockroaches crawling the kitchen of your office
Papa Woohra
How did you two start fighting over screens???
Jhi Xedolin stared at the channel for a long time before returning to the game window.
“Whatever,” Jhi Xedolin, waiting for the fox that couldn’t keep from dying.
At least that one was consistently not-alive.