Dungeon Regime.
An mmorpg, dungeon crawler game that suddenly exploded in popularity only a few weeks after its initial launch. Many players flocked to its database due to its unique take on ‘character customization.’
Players do not choose their character name or their appearances, instead, the game itself will give the players options between pre-created characters that exist within the game’s lore. They can reroll their characters infinitely until they find a character that they like.
Each character has their own set skills, personalities, and backgrounds, meaning one could explore an endless style of stories all the while build said character differently each run, even taking them on different paths to see the end result.
[Silas Salvador - RetiZn logged into the game.]
RetiZn, also unknown as Rez, got interested in the game just like any other player. He was a professional fps gamer who retired after suffering an injury to his hands that made it difficult to keep up in a fast-paced situation.
After becoming hooked on the game’s unique style, combined with its easy-to-master controls, Rez breezed through the game as his first character, Javier Gomez, a commoner who became a holy knight after persistent hard work.
Rez resetted the game after reaching a certain point with Javier. Dungeon Regime continuously and automatically pumped content for each character, including each of their paths, so technically he could have played as Javier for as long as he wanted.
Instead, he chose to start again, and went through the game multiple times, choosing a different variety of dialog and key choices. After he got bored with Javier, he switched his character and did the same thing.
Over. And over. And over again.
Eventually, RetiZn became a username standing at the top of the leaderboard…the leaderboard that displays the most number of ”characters played”. Many even gave him the nickname ”Rezet Maniac.”.
Rez had played Dungeon Regime with so many characters, and so many different styles, that none of them could appeal to his boredom. He would’ve chosen to take a break from the game until his eyes caught onto something while on the character choice menu.
”Silas Salvador”
WARNING: This character has a difficulty of 4*. Choosing this character can result in a less than favorable gameplay.
Normally, the maximum amount of difficulty stars a character has is three. This was the first time Rez’s game had randomized a four-star difficulty character for him.
And of course, he chose to play Silas Salvador immediately, not wasting time reading the character’s description.
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[Ruelle Peregrine - Crowfest logged into the game.]
Crowfest is a person one could call a hardcore gamer. They play alone and yet still manage to beat everyone who has a team. Since they tend to mind their own business, not much information is known about who Crowfest truly is.
People have seen the username, Crowfest, in many other games before Dungeon Regime was released. They dominated the leaderboards in dungeon crawler-type games, and even had a spot in the speedrunning community.
Only Crowfest’s close in-game friends know that they're a she. She wanted to play with the sole purpose of having fun, but with so much time on her hands, she just happened to get into top ranks on the leaderboards.
Many had suspected that Crowfest is a woman due to the fact that she only plays female characters in Dungeon Regime. At first, she started out only wanting to enjoy the character stories, but instead got addicted to the dungeon-crawling aspect of the game…much like how she did in the past.
She became the top player regarding the amount of dungeons cleared. This leaderboard combined the statistics of every character played, while also displaying the average clear per character.
Everyone else’s average were only in the tens or at most twenties, but somehow Crowfest manages to reach at least thirty clears per character.
Eventually, after playing with so many characters in order to try different dungeon-clearing strategies…Crowfest got fed up with the repetitive playstyle.
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So when she found out about the sudden appearance of a four star difficulty character, she took on the challenge and created a new character right away.
But there was a catch.
[The Character Silas Salvador is engaged to The Character Ruelle Peregrine.]
…
[The Character Ruelle Peregrine is engaged to The Character Silas Salvador.]
Apparently, one of the reasons why each of them was a four star difficulty character was because a co-op was necessary to progress.
That day was the beginning of an odd frenemy relation between the ex-pro gamer RetiZn and accidental leaderboard grinder Crowfest.
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PM
please be respectful to each other in the private chat.
Saturday, 17th June
[11.56 pm] Crowfest: Are you online yet?
[11.57 pm] RetiZn: Be honest, do you know what color grass is?
[11.57 pm] Crowfest: What?
[11.58 pm] RetiZn: It’s almost midnight…I'm about to head to bed.
[11.58 pm] Crowfest: Srsly? I can't progress through the story because apparently I need Silas to stand next to me for some reason.
[11.59 pm] RetiZn: Can’t it wait until tmrw?
[12.00 pm] Crowfest: Okay…fine…How about we meet ig at 10 pm sunday?
[12.00 pm] RetiZn: Sounds good. K, cya. I’m tired.
[12.01 pm] Crowfest: Gn.
Sunday, 18th June
[10.23 pm] RetiZn: Yo Crow. You up?
[11.25 pm] Crowfest: Sorry, I was sleeping.
[11.30 pm] RetiZn: Did you not sleep last night or smth?
[11.30 pm] Crowfest: I slept in, that's all…Anyway, we ready to do this quest?
[11.31 pm] RetiZn: Yeah, but I have to go in like 30, so let's be quick.
[11.31 pm] Crowfest: ok
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***[ERROR.]***
***▇▇▇▇ ▇▇***
**[ER▇▇]***
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“YOUNG MASTER!”
The sound of a man rang inside his ears. To him, it was as if he’d shouted from all the way across the other side of a mountain. The faded voice, despite being clear and thundering, did not wake him up. He only stirred slightly as he adjusted his arms, burying his head deeper into the makeshift pillows.
It was until something slammed onto the table next to his ears that he finally jolted up from his sleep. He looked around and found his widened eyes met against a pair of frowning fiery red, peaking through the locks of his ash-blonde hair. “Young master Silas…your father will be very disappointed in you.”
He didn't say anything in return, only muttering a faint ‘what’ under his breath as suddenly a massive headache struck his temples. His head landed in his palms, all he could do was wait for the pain to disappear. He recognized the feeling. ”...Hangover?”
”And did he just call me Silas?”
“What, what happened?” He eventually recalled that the red-eyed man was Einar Alston, a renowned swordsman from the Alston County, who was also Silas Salvador’s personal knight.
Einar’s posture remained stern. His personality leaned more towards the serious side, but he was never one to get angry…or this angry. “You got drunk while out drinking, young master, again.”
Silas Salvador was the youngest child from the Salvador March, a delinquent good-for-nothing that became a disappointment for his family. He even got the nickname ‘The Young Mad Dog Marquess’ due to him arrogantly acting as if he would inherit his father's seat.
It was one of the reasons why, despite being of a lower title, Einar Alston showed no respect for Silas Salvador.
”Who would show respect to a trouble-maker child? Noble or not?”
Normally, this would be the time when Silas starts going on a wild temper tantrum for Einar’s rude behavior. Instead, Silas remained quiet. “...Alright, please escort me home.”
The knight appeared surprised by the young master’s calm attitude. Though he merely brushed it off as him being too hungover to properly start screaming. Without saying another word, Silas got up from his seat and headed out the bar, ignoring the broken tables and chairs scattered around the floor.
It was obvious what happened last night.
”I don't know what's going on…but let's just head to the manor first..”