You motion for Gloria to enter the shop. "Just call me The Traveler." You say. Gloria pauses for a moment and bursts out laughing.

"No." She says with a smirk. "Just, no."

"Come on. I think it's kinda cool." You argue. "Besides, it's just like any other username except with not numbers. Also, it helps keep me anonymous."

"Come on. Everyone in Valford knows who you are. I was just at the Aurora's Gaze and everyone was trading stories between drinks about The Traveler and how he lead a small squad against an army of dragons." Gloria says. "Not much for anonymity."

"Hey, it's like those hero stories. The man without a name, stopping evil and helping the helpless." You protest. "Like, it's not my real name so I'll just be a story. Plausible deniability." Gloria shakes her head and shrugs.

"Alright Traveler. Just add me to your party." She sighs and pulls up her friend and party windows. It was slightly jarring to see someone know how to navigate the menus but it was also reassuring. You quickly open your menu and accept the friend request and party invite.

Irene d'Ange has joined your party.

"So, what are we doing?" Irene asks. "We running the Frost Caverns for some loot? Maybe a secret boss?"

"Right now I'm waiting for some clothes. Otherwise I'm gonna freeze to death." You say, motioning to the tailor shop. "Might take a bit. I traded that Alpha Boar hide for it. The tailor says he's willing to be my personal clothier if I keep giving him materials." You grin. "But I gotta ask, did you run into wyverns on your way here from tutorial island?" Irene shakes her head.

"No and it's not something that happens in the other servers either." She says as she draws a deck of cards from a box on her hip and begins to shuffle them. "This is new Jo- err Traveler, to the game entirely." She seems lost in thought for a moment.

"So the city being so worn down, the dragon attacks prior to the game's current timeline. Was that an event in the other servers? Maybe they're doing like a recap sort of event. So that players new to the game can catch up to the other server's progress?"

"No. If it was we'd probably heard it from Roland long ago. Whatever is going on is a completely new thing. Unannounced even." Irene says as she draws a card and shuffles it back in. "Whatever the devs have planned, they're keeping quiet about it. We can ask Roland about it tomorrow. Maybe this kind of stuff is starting to happen in the other servers too." Irene stows her cards away. "Whatever it is, I bet there's a big update that's gonna happen."

"Yeah, there's no way they're just quietly adding new content without it culminating to something. You hear about the other zones? They have their own things going on as well." You explain what the captain told you on the ship before the wyvern attack. Irene's brow furrows at that.