[SAO: Digital Deathtrap] Sword Art Online RP (O/A)

[Setsuna42]

«ᴏᴏc» «cнᴀʀᴀcᴛᴇʀ ᴛнʀᴇᴀᴅ»



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It's been two years since the release of Sword Art Online, and the beginning of the infamous death game. 500,000 players were trapped at the beginning of the game, and after two years, that number has decreased by one tenth. Fifty thousand people have lost their lives to the VRMMO and so far the game's only been cleared halfway.

The vast majority of players have left clearing to a select few, the 'lead group' as it's known. This group of players is only 5000 strong and has been struggling to continue forward. It's been a month since the 50th floor was cleared, the strongest clearing guilds are taking time to replenish their ranks and strengthen their forces before they press onward.

The reason for this? Simple: Upon hitting the 50th floor, the game became extremely difficult. The boss was an exhaustingly difficult fight- the battle alone took four hours and half of the raid group died during the battle. There was no guarantee that the following floors would be as difficult as the half-way point, but if they were then the lead group would have to be ready.

Unfortunately, clearing the game isn't something everyone agrees on. There are players who prefer life in Aincrad, and with each floor that gets cleared they become more and more determined to stop the lead group from accomplishing it's goal. Everything that's been accomplished so far is threatening to collapse in on itself.


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This is an Alternate Universe take on Sword Art Online. The premise is basically the same but all the characters and situations are different. For starters, there aren't going to be any special skills that are unique to one character. Anyone can dual wield in this version of SAO, not just the fastest player. That said, certain characters will get special advantages through the types of items explained below-


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Shortly after floors began to be cleared in earnest, players began noticing strange optional boss rooms that had a tendency to disappear without a trace once a certain amount of time had passed. The conditions to enter the boss rooms were always different and the mechanics of the fights were always much more dangerous than normal floor bosses. Eventually, players who were either skilled enough or just plain lucky began unlocking and clearing these optional fights. The rewards were extremely powerful one-of-a-kind items that were know as "Legacy Weapons". While their strength varied, each item altered the mechanics of the game in some way for their wielder, usually at a dangerously high cost. These weapons could be used to help clear the game, though their intended use is ambiguous- and it'd be very easy to turn them on other players. Anyone who got their hands on such an item would be hard to stop either way.


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• No godmoding, obviously.

• Respect the universe of the RP! Remember that PKing is Murder and that players in the Lead Group are stronger than ones who aren't. Make your decisions with those things in mind.

• Remember that in SAO there are no ranged weapons. So don't try slipping one in. The most we're going to allow are throwing weapons. No bows, or anything like that.

• Follow the Gaia ToS.

• Legacy weapons are only given to RPers with the permission of either myself, or Hikari. They're important story line items, so we can't have people making them up out of nowhere! Think of them as a reward for people who stick around in the RP long enough and contribute to the story.


• Killing other people's characters off without permission is against the rules, obviously. You're allowed to kill your own characters off, but please don't do it too much. Make characters you want to RP instead of ones you plan on throwing away.

• Keep PVP status in mind when you're writing your character! In SAO killing other players permanently flags you as a 'red player' which means you can't go into towns, NPC guards attack you on sight, and players can kill you without affecting their pvp status. Assaulting or stealing from other players without killing them flags you as an Orange player, which is basically the same as Red player status except it goes away after a while. Any Red players are free game to be killed by our chief of PVP police, Hirosuke Inuzuka. PK at your own peril.

• You're allowed to make up guilds for yours and other people's characters to be in, but the big guilds are all up to the RP staff.

• If you want a character to be in a big guild, just mention it in their profile, or apply to join in the RP. Applications to Laughing Coffin are going to be restricted.

• Send applications to Hikari Leonhart with the subject: "Welcome to die!"

• Have fun and try not to die!

[Setsuna42]

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The Guilds listed below are the six biggest/most influential guilds in the game. You'll be hearing about them a lot and their actions are going to adversely effect the course of the RP. Each of these guilds probably has around fifty members at the lowest, and several hundred at the highest. Players can join any of these guilds (Though joining Laughing Coffin needs to be approved first).

Players can also go solo or make their own guilds, just remember that the guilds listed below are the big fish.


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"The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without." -Dwight D. Eisenhower

ɢuιʟᴅ ᴛʏᴘᴇ: Defense of the player base, Occasional Clearing.

ɢuιʟᴅ ʟᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ: A surprisingly soft-spoken Japanese player by the name of "Thinker"

ɢuιʟᴅ ᴅᴇscʀιᴘᴛιᴏɴ: The Aincrad Liberation Force, better known as <The Army> Is both the biggest, and longest lasting clearing guild in the game. The Army got it's start as one of the first clearing guilds to form alongside <Templar Alliance> but The Army far outlasted their contemporaries, thanks mostly to it's leader, Thinker.

The army headquarters is the massive Black Iron Palace located on the first floor. From here they police the player base, providing protection for the non-clearing players. They also operate the only prison in all of Aincrad, populated mostly with Red Players who have been captured during the course of clearing.

Players who join <The Army> can still clear but they're more likely to get stuck with guard and peacekeeping duty, patrolling towns and fields in order to help other players in need.



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"It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." -Voltaire

ɢuιʟᴅ ᴛʏᴘᴇ: Anti-clearing

ɢuιʟᴅ ʟᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ: The ironically named player- "Hope"

ɢuιʟᴅ ᴅᴇscʀιᴘᴛιᴏɴ: The Children of Aincrad are perhaps the largest example of Stockholm Syndrome in recent memory. This guild was formed with the intention to gather a very specific type of player: the type that doesn't want to leave the game. Members of this guild are usually people who feel isolated, unwelcome, or just plain hate the real world. Aincrad is the ultimate escape, and whether they're in it by their own free will or trapped there doesn't matter, it's their home and they don't want to lose it.

The guild was founded by a player named Hope, he wanted players who love Aincrad to have a voice, he wanted their concerns to be heard, and he wanted acts of violence against them to stop. He's not a bad guy, really. Despite the guild being set against those clearing the game, he has maintained a strict policy of non-violence. As such, the most this guild has ever amounted to is a nuisance to the lead group. Protests, barricades, propaganda... It's been mildly effective at dissuading some clearers, but the guild's biggest opponents lie in the incredibly determined players of the <Swords of Justice>.

Hope considers Shinobu as something of a personal enemy ever since his attempt to join the guild council was vehemently shot down by her. The Swords of Justice don't acknowledge the Children of Aincrad as a guild with a legitimate goal, and dismisses them as a cult of lunatics. There's a lot of bad blood between the two guilds and Hope knows that if it comes to violence, his guild doesn't stand much of a chance. He's either going to have to find another way to get through to them, or find a way to beat them.


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"There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter." -Ernest Hemingway

ɢuιʟᴅ ᴛʏᴘᴇ: Player Killing

ɢuιʟᴅ ʟᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ: Unknown

ɢuιʟᴅ ᴅᴇscʀιᴘᴛιᴏɴ: Laughing Coffin, a name that inspires fear and hatred in equal amounts. More a secret society than a proper guild, Laughing Coffin's members have no specific association or goal save for killing other players whenever the mood strikes them. The members of the guild can usually be indentified by the brand on their wrists- which they usually keep hidden unless their company is either a fellow guildmate, or about to die.

Members of Laughing Coffin can be found in almost every major guild in the game, though the two most afflicted are The Army and The Merchant Union. The former because of it's immense size, and the latter because of it's penchant for making shady deals. At the urging of the Swords of Justice, the Guild Council has declared that Laughing Coffin members be imprisoned- without trial, the moment they are discovered. All captured members of the guild are imprisoned in one of the lower floors of the Black Iron Palace.

Towns on the higher floors that are controlled by the Swords of Justice have mandatory checkpoints that unidentified players must pass through in order to be allowed entry, this has lead to a sharp decrease in the amount of Laughing Coffin members present in the higher floors. That said, the guild is crafty, and members have been slipping through with increasing frequency of late.


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"It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived." -George S. Patton

ɢuιʟᴅ ᴛʏᴘᴇ: Advanced Clearing and scouting

ɢuιʟᴅ ʟᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ: Alshain, a player who's more a legend than a man.

ɢuιʟᴅ ᴅᴇscʀιᴘᴛιᴏɴ: The Legion of the Dead is a guild that most players know about, but few ever see. They've become something of a legend in Aincrad for their almost inhuman courage and dedication. Upon induction into the guild, a player must renounce all holdings and make an oath to forgo property, leisure, and companionship- to exist solely for the purpose of clearing the 100th floor and winning their freedom. The Legion is named as such because upon taking their final oaths, the player's funeral is held as a symbolic gesture of breaking their ties to Aincrad. They can wholly devote themselves to the fight.

Legion members are rarely seen by those outside of the lead group, the relatively small guild is almost always in the field- it's members are masters of survival and often spend days in hostile territory before returning to a town in order to rest and resupply. Unfortunately, being such a small guild limits how well the Legion can impact boss battles. For this reason, Legionnaires prefer to focus on mapping out floors, clearing traps, and eliminating monsters to help the bigger clearing guilds reach boss fights easily.

The Legion is generally well-liked by other players, but there are some who don't trust their secretive nature. The fact that the guild doesn't have an open recruitment policy is also a point of contention- the Legion replenishes it's ranks by scouting members, often from other guilds. And other guilds don't appreciate having their members stolen.


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"Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant." –P.T. Barnum

ɢuιʟᴅ ᴛʏᴘᴇ: Non-combat, financial focus.

ɢuιʟᴅ ʟᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ: A scummy looking player by the name of Doshking.

ɢuιʟᴅ ᴅᴇscʀιᴘᴛιᴏɴ: The Merchant Union is probably the richest guild in the game. The guild's founder, Doshking, had joined SAO in order to set up a trader network to facilitate RMT (Real money transactions) for in-game currency. That plan went to pot as soon as the death game was thrust upon the players of SAO. But Doshking wasn't a guy to panic in a bad situation. Not being the fighting type, Doshking set to work using his specific skillset to amass a great deal of wealth and connections. From this network came <The Merchant Union>, Aincrad's first and only corporation with Doshking sitting pretty as the CEO.

<The Merchant Union> is basically a guild that exists to make money, shops that work for the union pay a percentage of their earnings to the union in exchange for goods, services, and protection. Shops that aren't working for the union usually find themselves being given a hard time by the Union until they either join up or go out of business. It's a cutthroat world but a lot of players prefer it to the literal cutthroat world that the clearing group lives in.

Players who join <The Merchant Union> probably aren't going to be doing a lot of clearing, they're either focused on making money or doing jobs for the union as hired muscle.


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"Freedom is never given; it is won." -A. Philip Randolph

ɢuιʟᴅ ᴛʏᴘᴇ: Clearing, pure and simple.

ɢuιʟᴅ ʟᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ: A woman with a will of steel: Shinobu

ɢuιʟᴅ ᴅᴇscʀιᴘᴛιᴏɴ: The Swords of Justice is the most powerful clearing guild in the game, it possesses both the highest concentration of high-level players and best equipped players in the lead group. The guild was formed from the remnants of the <Templar Alliance> clearing guild after corruption and self-interest tore it apart. The Swords of Justice have incredibly strict rules and is the only guild to enforce mandatory clearing with it's members. Simply put, if you're in the Swords of Justice, you have to fight.

Despite the strict rules, the guild morale is high and the guild has intense loyalty to it's leader, Shinobu. This is mostly due to the fact that the guild is a meritocracy, your abilities and effort will pay off. Each officer was promoted from within purely for their abilities, everyone starts at the bottom and works their way up. It doesn't hurt either that Shinobu spends more time on the front line than nearly any other member of the guild; it's hard to complain about being worked too hard when your boss is working harder than you.

But the guild's rise to power hasn't been completely without problems, Shinobu's refusal to do business with the <Merchant Union> guild as well as her outright disdain for other player groups have burned many bridges for the guild, and if they're not careful they may find themselves with more enemies than friends.

Players who join <Swords of Justice> are looking to clear the game but still want to have a social life outside of clearing. Expect to be put on the front lines and be sent into boss fights on every floor. Unless you're put into one of the more specialized teams, of course.

[Hikari Leonhart]

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If you would like to join the RP, fill out the profile format hidden behind the spoiler tag below and PM it to Hikari Leonhart with the subject "Welcome to Die."

Incomplete profiles will not be accepted, but if it appears that you may have accidentally overlooked something I'll likely return your PM asking for clarification. If you don't hear back its probably because you didn't make the cut.

Because this is an alternate telling of Sword Art Online that is set in the same world but with different people, canon characters will be automatically rejected.

Please make sure to take special care when crafting your characters. Because this is SAO it is expected that some people will die, that said if I feel that you are cheapening the impact of death by killing off characters willy-nilly I'll be less inclined to accept future profiles. Remember, one excellent character is far better than two average characters! Go out, make friends, and have fun!


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ɢᴇɴᴅᴇʀ: [size=10] Easy! [/size]
нᴇιɢнᴛ: [size=10] Its not a race. [/size]
ᴡᴇιɢнᴛ: [size=10] We're all polygons here. [/size][/size]

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ғιɢнᴛιɴɢ sᴛʏʟᴇ: [size=10] [/size]

ɢuιʟᴅ: [size=10] I guess they're kind of like family. [/size]

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[align=right]ɢᴀιᴀ usᴇʀɴᴀᴍᴇ: [size=10] Username here! [/size][/align][/size]




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Here lie our fallen comrades...

Cyrus - former leader of <All Guns Blazing>





«cнᴀʀᴀcᴛᴇʀ ᴛнʀᴇᴀᴅ»

[Setsuna42]

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cᴀʟιʙuʀɴ: A one-handed sword that is currently being wielded by Shinobu, the guild leader of <Swords of Justice>. The blade has good stats, is incredibly light, and deals extra damage to undead and demon-type enemies. Those factors alone don't make it anything special, what makes Caliburn a legacy weapon is it's special ability called "To the Death" allowing it's wielder to ignore cooldowns on their attacks at the cost of HP. It's worth noting that it doesn't have to be the wielder's HP, which has some nasty implications as to how this weapon could be abused.

ᴛᴀʀɴнᴇʟᴍ: The helmet/crown worn by the mysterious player "Red Queen". Nobody knows what it does, but it has been identified as a Legacy Item.

ᴅᴇᴀᴛн ᴍᴀsᴋ: A mask in the possession of an unknown player. It completely shields it's wearer's identity from sight- no name, no pvp status, nothing. Beyond that, nothing else is known about it.

ᴅuʀᴀɴᴅᴀʟ: An one-handed sword that allows it's wielder to endure one killing blow without taking damage once per battle. This sword was obtained by Nero, second in command of <Swords of Justice> during an optional boss fight that was accidentally triggered by a scouting group. The boss was named "The Immortal Watcher" and could not have it's HP dropped to 0 by normal attacks. Nero rescued the group and defeated the boss by making it chase him to a ledge and knocking it off, killing it with fall damage. Durandal is a rare Legacy weapon in that it has no cost or drawback to balance out it's positive effect.

ᴛʏʀғιɴɢ: A sword that was obtained during an accidentally triggered optional boss encounter. The boss was an massive undead beast named the "Corpse Eater", it could only be damaged after it consumed players- killing them in the process. The cost to obtain Tyrfing was high, and it's unknown who initially claimed it, as the blade changed hands numerous times before reaching it's current resting place. Tyrfing is quite possibly the most horrible of all the currently discovered legacy weapons. The sword ignores the pain dampening system SAO has in place, wounds inflicted by the sword hurt just as badly as they would in real life, furthermore these wounds do *not* heal. Normally when a player gets an arm hacked off, it'll regenerate as their HP is restored, but such is not the case with Tyrfing. Wounds inflicted will remain permanently. This applies to the victims of the sword- and also it's wielder, who has their pain suppression completely deactived while wielding the sword. Having absolutely no PVE merit, this sword has been used almost exclusively to maim and murder other players. Luckily <The Army> managed to subdue the sword's last wielder and take the weapon into their possession and keep it locked away in their headquarters.

ᴘнιʟᴏsᴏᴘнᴇʀ's sᴛᴏɴᴇ: An innocuous looking crimson gem that was the first legacy weapon obtained by anyone in Aincrad. It's ability is to convert in-game objects to in-game currency. It doesn't sound that impressive and in some cases it converts items for less than their sell value. Figuring the item was basically useless, the owner pawned it off to it's current owner, Doshking of the Merchant Union. It may have been his good instincts or his ridiculously high appraisal skill, but Doshking knew there was more to the stone than it's simple utility. Turns out the Philosopher's stone turns ANY object that exists in-game into money, including monsters, NPCs, and players. Most people don't know about the philosopher's stone, but if they did they'd probably wonder how much of the gold in the Merchant Union's vaults is literally blood money.

ғᴀғɴιʀ: An awkwardly shaped sword that was obtained by Darius while he was still with <All Guns Blazing>. The weapon is named for the boss it dropped from, but the outside of the weapon isn't actually the sword itself. The weapon changes ALL of a player's weapon skills so that instead of whatever effects the skill would normally have, they inflict Fire Damage. In addition to this, the sword itself adds a few unique attack skills to it's wielder's arsenal, the most notable of which is an activated 'mode' the player enters, they transform into a humanoid version of the Fafnir boss, gain increased power and speed, and constantly take fire damage until they either die or the skill is deactivated. It's also worth noting that Fafnir needs an item called a 'Fire fuse' to work properly, after using too many skills or activating 'Fafnir mode', the current fuse burns out and needs to be reloaded. Trying to use any offensive skill without an active fuse makes the weapon backfire, dealing a lot of damage to the wielder.

[Hikari Leonhart]

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These are the people to ask if you have any questions!


Setsuna42 - RP Manager
Hikari Leonhart - Co-manager/Character Profiles
Darius Stormcrow - The Lore Guy
Hirosuke Inuzuka - PvP Police
Shadow Hyukkebein - President Nice-guy




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Aim for this list!




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Don't aim for this one!

[Setsuna42]

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Are you looking for work? A little extra money or adventure!? Well look no further! All of the jobs below are completed on a first-come-first served basis. Be sure to check back regularly for more work, and happy hunting!

~The bottom list is reserved for actual RP character bounties, to add a little extra flavor to the RP. If you'd like to have a bounty on your head, just let me know and I'll see about arranging one.



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Bounty: The Leader of Laughing Coffin
Location: Unknown
Client: Guild Council
Objective: There is a standing bounty on any clues that will lead to identifying the leader of Laughing Coffin. Capturing or killing this player will also be rewarded provided there is ample proof of their position and identity.
Reward: 20,000,000 COR, Dead or Alive

Bounty: Laughing Coffin Members
Location: Aincrad
Client: Guild Council
Objective: Any members of Laughing Coffin who are captured or killed will be subject to a standard bounty upon receiving proof of their affiliation.
Reward: 250,000 Dead. 500,000 Alive.

Bounty: Laughing Coffin Collaborators
Location: Aincrad
Client: Guild Council
Objective: Any green players who collaborate with Laughing Coffin are subject to a COR reward for their capture upon proving their status as a Collaborator.
Reward: 300,000 -Alive



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Bounty: Doctor Bees!
Location: Floor 20
Client: <The Army>
Objective: A tamer by the name of "Dr.Bees" has been making a nuisance of himself. He's been showing up all over Aincrad attempting to solve problems with swarms of tamed bees that attack everything in sight, he's caused a lot of grief for players and has even caused the failure of several major operations undertaken by <The Army> Someone please take care of him. His home appears to be somewhere on the 20th floor.
Reward: 200,000 COR Upon his capture.

Bounty: Clash on the Medium-sized Bridge
Location: Floor 24
Client: <The Army>
Objective: A player by the name of "Gigamash" has become a one man blockade on one of the major bridges out of Panareze, the town on floor 24. He stops any passer by who catches his interest and demands they duel with their weapons as the prize. So far he's defeated several high-ranking guild leaders. We're requesting someone defeats him in a duel and returns the stolen weapons, they mean a lot to their original owners. *Scribbled messily below the original message* Screw that noise! The Merchant Union will buy the weapons off of you for an increased reward!
Reward: 300,000 COR for Returning the weapons. 400,000 For selling them to the <Merchant Union>

Group Bounty: Ghost Busters!
Location: Floor 33
Client: <The Army>
Objective: A group of orange players has been terrorizing a small settlement on floor 33, every night they descend on the village dressed in ragged equipment, and coated in fluorescent ooze, giving themselves a ghostly appearance. Any attempt to fight back has been easily defeated and people are terrified. Get rid of them!
Reward: 500,000 COR Once the group has been captured.

Bounty: None shall pass!
Location: Floor 41
Client: <The Army>
Objective: A player clad entirely in black armor has been blocking a foot bridge on floor 41. Unlike Gigamash, he hasn't taken anyone's weapons- on the contrary, he's attacked any player who's tried to cross with intent to kill. Stop him before he actually kills somebody.
Reward: 300,000 COR -Alive.

Bounty: Death Dealer
Location: Floors 5-15
Client: <The Army>
Objective: There's been a player known as the "Death Dealer" who's been making the rounds between the fifth and fifteenth floors. He poses as a merchant, selling food items that are laced with paralysis poison. He trails his victims until they eat or drink and are subsequently paralyzed, then he forces them to start a duel with him, allowing him to kill them without facing the consequences. Find a way to bring him in, and the reward is yours!
Reward: 300,000 COR -Alive.

Bounty: "Iron Crotch" Caruso
Location: Floor 23
Client: <The Army>
Objective: A player named Caruso has been going around making a nuisance of himself on the 23rd floor. He's earned the nickname "Iron Crotch" because the only armor he wears is a set of steel-plated briefs that he somehow acquired for himself. He claims it's a Legacy Item and has been known to attack anyone who says otherwise. Someone please take care of him.
Reward: 200,000 COR -Alive.

Bounty: Jacques Knife
Location: Floor 1
Client: <The Army>
Objective: There's been a player named Jacques going around the first floor, mugging low-level players and taking all of their items, equipment, and money. So far he's managed to completely elude regular patrols. Please catch him and bring him to the Black Iron Palace so he can answer for his crimes.
Reward: 300,000 COR -Alive.

Bounty: Lance...man
Location: Floor 17
Client: <The Army>
Objective: A player referring to himself as the "Lanceman" has been attacking players traveling alone through the 17th floor. He seems to specifically favor girls, the encounters begin with his unwanted advances, become increasingly awkward with talk of making this woman he just met his bride, and then quickly swing to violence as he attacks seemingly without rhyme or reason. He's made numerous wild claims as to his strength, all of which appear to be unsubstantiated. Someone take care of him.
Reward: 200,000 COR -Alive.


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXᴛнᴇ ᴍᴇʀcнᴀɴᴛ uɴιᴏɴ


Job Offer: Dosh for the Doshthrone!
Location: Aldebaran, the shining jewel of floor 25
Client: <Merchant Union> Specifically, Doshking.
Objective: The Merchant Union is looking for rare items of all kinds, and is willing to pay cold hard Cor for your rare equipment! Need some extra cash to make ends meet? Then what are you waiting for!? The Merchant Union is a treasure hunter's best friend! *Special priority and consideration given to Legacy Items* No questions asked.
Reward: Will be reimbursed based on appraisal of the item(s) submitted.

Job Offer: Exciting Franchise Opportunities
Location: Aincrad
Client: <Merchant Union>
Objective: The Union is now offering special commission to players who take it upon themselves to convince independent merchants to join up. Stubborn independent dealers ripping you off? Getting them to sign on with us will change their tune! Will offer increased commission for multiple signings. No questions asked.
Reward: 500,000 per signing

Gathering: Need more Golems!
Location: Floor 44
Client: <Merchant Union>
Objective: Did you know that Golem Cores make incredibly hot forge fires? Of course you didn't. If you did, you wouldn't have had to read this to find out why we wanted them! The Union needs Golem Cores to fuel it's forges. We're willing to pay the big bucks, so if you have 'em, bring 'em in! No questions asked.
Reward: 100,000 per dozen cores


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXʀᴘᴇʀ ʙᴏuɴᴛιᴇs


Bounty: Death Mask
Location: Unknown
Client: Guild Council
Objective: This is a standing Bounty for the PKKer known only by the nickname of "Death Mask". Hunters are advised not to pursue this mark, but nonetheless there is a standing bounty for his capture and the recovery of his Legacy Item.
Reward: 15,000,000 COR, Dead or Alive

Bounty: Calami- "Independant Business Demon"
Location: Floor 35
Client: <Merchant Union>
Objective: Calami, a player who operates an independent inn/bar called "Edelweiss" on floor 35 has been adamant in preventing Union businesses from moving into town turning the city into a den of iniquity as a result. She's too proud to realize the damage she's been doing to Mishe, and anyone who can convince her to skip town would find the Union to be greatly appreciative. No questions asked.
Reward: 1,000,000 COR upon her leaving town

Bounty: Darius- "Kleptomaniac Pyromaniac"
Location: Ranges all over Aincrad, lives on floor 35.
Client: <The Army>
Objective: Currently a Freelancer, Darius has a previous criminal record with numerous accounts of assault, theft, arson, destruction of property, and loitering. He may have erased his status as an orange player, but crimes aren't easily forgotten. There's also an outstanding bounty for his Legacy Weapon- Fafnir.
Reward: 500,000 COR upon the retrieval of his equipment

Bounty: Rei- "The Stomach with Legs"
Location: Usually around floor 35.
Client: <Merchant Union>
Objective: This fiery little hellspawn has violated a non-compete contract she held with the Union and has since gone into hiding in the independent city of Mishe on floor 35. She's also Aincrad's most notorious dine-and-dasher, with over a hundred counts on her record from Merchant Union establishments alone. Bring her in so we can discuss some of the finer points of her contract. No questions asked.
Reward: 500,000 COR -Alive

Bounty: Izuna- "Staggering debt"
Location: Aincrad, probably passed out in a gutter somewhere
Client: <Merchant Union>
Objective: Izuna owes the Merchant Union a lot of Cor, his gambling debts alone would be enough to equip an entire raid party. Bring him in to work off his debt and a cut of the interest will be yours. No questions asked.
Reward: 500,000 COR -Alive

[Hikari Leonhart]

This one too! eek

[Setsuna42]

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXɢuιʟᴅs

Smaller Guilds, or those that no longer exist.


<Templar Alliance> - The game's first big clearing guild, formed by the player "Drakeslayer" and his friends. Fell apart due infighting and is no longer active.

<All Guns Blazing> - A clearing guild founded as a gang of players with high unarmed combat skills, hence the 'guns' in "all guns blazing". The leader was betrayed and murdered by his own guildmates.

<Hyper Camelot> - A small guild affiliated with the <Swords of Justice> All of the players are knight-themed, and they help the Swords of Justice handle security on floors they control.

<Love Machine> - A defunct PKing guild. Rumor has it they all disappeared after crossing the <Merchant Union>.

<Frontier> - A monster hunting guild that does work for the <Merchant Union>. It's been alleged they also dabble in extortion for their parent guild.

<Romulus's Wolves> - A small front-line clearing guild that was originally created as a one-man guild, they've managed to make a name for themselves as a force to be reckoned with despite their small number of players.

<Golden Retrievers> - A treasure hunting guild that helped outfit and supply lower level players, was disbanded after a close call during a foray into a dungeon.

<Skeleton Warriors> - A small six-man PKing guild, they did most of their PKing to steal materials from solo players. They were wiped out by Death Mask shortly after setting up camp on the 31st floor.

<Voodoo Kingdom> - A guild of ex- Laughing Coffin members that utilizes their PKing skills to assassinate specific players. They don't take contracts and their motivations are unknown, however they're among the best of the best, not to be taken lightly.




XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXcuʀʀᴇɴᴛ ғʟᴏᴏʀ


Floor 51: The Frozen Spires- A horribly cold, jagged, and inhospitable mountain range. The biggest danger on this floor is dying from fall damage, and in a cruel twist a lot of monsters on this floor have attacks that cause knockback. Lots of the mountains have caves honeycombed throughout them, giving players a little shelter from the wind and a chance at finding treasure inside. At the far end of the zone on the peak of the highest mountain, there's a temple clearly visible. It's *probably* the way forward.

[Setsuna42]

▁ ▂ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ ѕнιиσвυ █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▂ ▁
Leader of the Swords of Justice

Hit Points: ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇
Resolve: ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇

▐ ▐ ▐ ▐ ▐

There was nothing quite as discouraging as struggling through a difficult boss fight only to be greeted by harsh, frozen mountains immediately afterwards. A month ago, those who survived the battle with the 50th floor boss were handed exactly that miserable sight to reward their hard fought victory. After activating the teleportation portal on the 51st floor, the big guilds retreated to lick their wounds- and Shinobu's guild, the Swords of Justice, was no exception to this. Of the fifty players her guild had fielded for the boss fight, only twenty had survived the encounter. Everyone in the guild knew the risks of fighting in the lead group but the losses during that battle were unprecedented. It was good that the group had avoided a total wipe, but as far as Shinobu was concerned any losses were unacceptable.

After taking a month to regroup, replenish her guild's ranks, and coordinate with the other clearing groups, the time had finally come to strike out and resume advancing upwards. Shinobu was preparing to head through the mountains with a small party of guildmates; the boss room hadn't been found yet, and the steep cliffs made moving in large groups dangerous. There was a small NPC town around the teleport gate, but compared to towns on lower floors, it had nothing to offer. Thanks to that, there really wasn't much of a player presence on the floor yet outside of monster hunters and scouting groups. If Shinobu had to guess, she'd say that the floor was designed with the express purpose of discouraging players after a trying boss battle. What had been going through the game creator's mind when he created places like this? Did he just want to make people suffer? No matter the answer, the situation was thus- there was a temple on the highest mountain in the zone- quite some distance away, and nobody had found a path there yet. The temple was undoubtedly the way forward, and hoping someone else would find the way there wasn't an acceptable course of action.

Shinobu was in the town square standing by a hastily constructed bonfire while the others in her party prepared supplies for the trip. She was currently studying an incomplete map of the floor, The Legion of the Dead had shared what they mapped out, but there was a lot of uncharted ground yet. "Nothing's ever easy." Shinobu said to herself with a sigh as she closed the map and turned to warm her hands by the fire. It may not have been real, but the cold was just as biting as it had been in the Winters she could remember from the outside world. "I suppose I should be thankful that we can't freeze to death, at least."

▐ ▐ ▐ ▐ ▐

Floor: 51
Mission: Reach the mountain temple on the far end of the floor.

[Darius Stormcrow]

◄風 林 =Izuna= 火 山►

◆HP: ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ : 100%
◆Status: Freezin' my a** off.
◆Location: Floor 51- some iced over little town.

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"What the hell kind of NPC shop sells nothin' but shorts and vests on a floor like this!?" Izuna's voice rang out from inside one of the tiny one-story buildings around the town square. He'd gone off to procure some supplies for the upcoming trek across the 51st floor- as he'd opted not to pack anything ahead of time so he could sleep in- But calling the selection in this town minimalistic was an understatement. It was like some designer got bored and copy-pasted all the code from some little podunk town on the fifth floor into this one. Basic healing items, basic utilities, and not one shred of warm clothing for sale anywhere. It's not like he could've afforded anything good, but that's what guild funding was for!

The silver-haired swordsman slunk out of the NPC shop and back into the biting cold. The wind cut right through his yukata and chilled him to the core. Why even make it this cold!? It's not like he was going to get hypothermia. He waved his hand through the air and opened his inventory menu, he was stocked well enough for the trip provided there wasn't going to be any heavy fighting. PKers probably weren't going to be a problem, no one in their right mind would lurk out in the wilderness on a floor like this. Only monsters and environmental hazards to worry about for now, both of which Izuna was confident he could handle. Hopefully the caves in the mountains would be at least kind of warm, maybe full of bats or ghosts... Something to pop out and make Shinobu go "Kyaa!" and latch on to the nearest arm- which was gonna be his. Shinobu wasn't really the kind of girl who did much shrieking or clinging, and chances were that if something popped out at her it'd wind up with a sword through it's face, but Izuna was ever the optimist.

After organizing his inventory for the trip, he made his way over to the bonfire that his fearless guild leader was currently warming herself up by. As he took a position next to her by the fire he cracked a slight smirk. "Kept you waiting, huh?" The others hadn't arrived yet, but it was unsurprising that Shinobu was the first one to be ready, she'd been ready to tackle the floor for a month, but the rest of the guild wasn't. Horrible boss fights that slaughtered the majority of your raid group had a way of taking the wind out of people's sails. "Surprised Nero didn't get here before me, isn't this place basically like his hometown back in the real world?" Dude probably loved this weather. People from cold places were weird.

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Freezing my a** off
The howling wind cuts deeply
Next up: Snotsicles

[Jinpachi Yamazaki]

I'll get us all out of here...

Nero
<Swords of Justice>

...Even if it costs my life

Calling the 51st floor unwelcoming would have been an understatement. A month ago, Nero had walked out of the 50th floor boss fight and right into the Alps. Or at least a floor that was trying really hard to pass for them. He'd been to the prolific mountain range a few times with his family whenever they went on vacations, but mountains in the winter all kind of looked the same after a while. He'd been back up to the floor a few times since then, but he'd never ventured too far into the mountains. He'd just done enough to get a feel for the zone, and the whole place seemed to have been themed around cliffs and fall damage. Pathways collapsing underfoot, monsters trying to knock you over ledges, there had even been an avalanche at one point. It was going to be a difficult floor to clear, but he at least knew what to expect.

He'd prepared equipment and supplies well in advance of the expedition, and was wearing armor with fur lining to fight off the chill in the air. It more or less did the trick, and he'd instructed the lower-ranked members accompanying the guild to dress similarly. Unfortunately, it seemed someone hadn't gotten the memo. Izuna was sauntering around in his usual attire, which was more like something you'd wear in the dead heat of summer. If Nero had to guess, warm weather clothing was outside of the perpetually indebted swordsman's price range.

After organizing two parties of lower ranked members and preparing them to march, the blond haired knight made his way over to the bonfire where Izuna and Shinobu were currently waiting. As he drew near, he managed to overhear Izuna's last comment. "The cold, maybe. But I suspect the both of you are more familiar with living near mountains than I am." He grinned at Izuna. "But I suppose someone who never goes outside isn't familiar with the concept of 'dressing for the weather.' " He gaved the silver-haired swordsman a playful punch in the shoulder and then turned to face Shinobu. "The others are in formation, we're ready to march on your command."

[Setsuna42]

▁ ▂ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ ѕнιиσвυ █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▂ ▁
Leader of the Swords of Justice

Hit Points: ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇
Resolve: ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇

▐ ▐ ▐ ▐ ▐

It was already time to go? As much as Shinobu wanted to clear the floor, that meant walking away from the warmth of the bonfire and into the ice and wind of the mountain passes. Even if she'd have rather walked right back to the lodge and sat down by the fire, she didn't let it show on her face, she didn't even look like she was feeling the cold in the slightest, which was a lot harder to do than it might have seemed. Shinobu had to lead by example, so she needed to keep a stiff upper lip and be the unshakeable guild leader. The cold actually wasn't that bad once you realized it couldn't hurt you, anyways. She looked at the officers she'd brought with her, Izuna and Nero, polar opposites. Nero had been with the guild from the beginning, he was very 'by the books' and adhered to a strong ethical code. He was selfless, brave, and a hard worker, a good fit for the guild's upper command structure, though if Shinobu found he was kind of grating at times. You didn't need to stop to get every kitten down from a tree or help every old lady cross the street.

On the other hand, Izuna was more likely to help an old lady cross the street as a pretext for taking her wallet. 'Scumbag' was a bit of a strong word in this case, but it's what immediately came to mind when most people were asked what they thought of him. Shinobu had taken Izuna into the guild after the small time clearing guild <All Guns Blazing> had collapsed. Moral ambiguity aside, there was no denying his skill, Izuna was an outstanding swordsman with a cunning mind. He didn't let things like honor or dignity hold him back, which was a whole set of problems on it's own. Still, as long as he was kept reined in he was good to have around. He could definitely stand to be less creepy, though.

The two officers filled the 'honorable knight' and 'scruffy ronin' roles pretty much perfectly, it made her wonder how they must've been outside of the game. Did Nero go around preaching morals and ethics to everyone? Was Izuna some sort of lowlife thug? Probably not, life in Aincrad had a way of bringing out strange traits in people. Shinobu had found she'd become a much more severe person over the past two years. It wasn't a bad thing, severe and decisive action was necessary at times. It was just the reality of being in a position of authority. On the subject of authority it was time for Shinobu to exercise hers, she stepped away from the bonfire and headed over to the group of players who had come along to continue progressing through the floor. She stood before them in silence for a moment before addressing them in a clear and authoritative tone. "Though it's been a month since the lead group first arrived on this floor the boss room has yet to be reached. There hasn't been a floor that's taken this long to clear since the very beginning of the game. I suspect you all agree with me when I say that this delay has gone on long enough. Every day spent waiting to take action is a day of our lives we can't get back." Shinobu then turned and pointed towards the large wooden gates of the town that now stood open. "To that end, once we leave through those gates, we will not be turning back until we've arrived at the door to the boss room. No matter how treacherous or long the path there might be." She raised her hand slightly, pointing up towards a large temple that was barely visible through the clouds and snow, perched on the distant peak of the highest mountain in the zone. "Our destination lies in plain sight! The path need only be walked!" Shinobu then turned towards the gate and unsheathed her sword, Caliburn, raising it over her head. "Move out!"

▐ ▐ ▐ ▐ ▐

Floor: 51
Mission: Reach the mountain temple on the far end of the floor.

[Setsuna42]

••¤(`×[¤ яει ¤]×´)¤••
Aincrad's Badass Berserker

HP: ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ 100/100

Reige: ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ 10%

▐ ▐ ▐ ▐ ▐

While the tryhards up on floor 51 were striking out to conquer the unknown, the rest of Aincrad was up to old tricks. There was a lot of work to be done outside of clearing floors, even for people in the lead group. That equipment and money didn't just come out of thin air! People worked for that stuff! People like Rei, who was currently claiming a monster hunting bounty. Craftsmen always wanted top of the line materials, but most of them couldn't just stroll out into the wilds and cut down scores of vicious monsters until they had what they needed. That's where monster hunters came in. Rei wasn't really a monster hunter, she didn't do any tracking, trapping, or cataloguing. She was just good at killing stuff, and her 'barge through ___ floor and kill all the bad guys' technique hadn't failed her yet, so what right did anyone have to complain?

After collecting a bounty for golem cores, Rei had some spending money for the first time in a long time. Equipment repairs after that boss fight on the 50th floor had emptied her pockets, a giant chimera that sprayed corrosive acid? Why not just make it steal gold right out of your pockets instead? It's basically the same thing. That stupid thing had damaged items in her inventory that she didn't even know could TAKE damage! Did you know acid could melt soup? Apparently it was possible... Her part time job had been enough to barely cover the expenses, but the bounty from this monster hunting job finally put her into the black. This was probably a sign to buy a chest or some drawers and start storing her items, people were always giving her crap for her cluttered inventory anyways. But that could wait until later, first things first- she was hungry.

Mishe, the town on the 35th floor was pretty nice, it was in a perpetual state of winter, but the streets were always clear and it wasn't too cold, you could go around pretty comfortably without having to bundle up too much. Furthermore, the place wasn't run by those sleazebags in the <Merchant Union> so things were pretty quiet most of the time. Sure, they had the big bucks, but they were dangerous to work for, especially as a freelancer. Rei used to take work from them, but called it quits once they decided they could trust her more and 'fight monsters' became 'fight players'. So she bailed and got hounded by them for a while. "You signed a contract." "You made a deal." Blah blah blah. Nobody actually reads those things. She probably still would have 'em nipping at her heels if she hadn't decided to shack up in this town. The Union stayed the hell away because apparently they were scared of some freaky ogre woman who lived in the area. Rei had never seen anyone matching that description, but if it kept 'em away then whatever.

Rei finally stopped to get food at a favorite little streetside stall of hers, the dude who worked there specialized in meat skewers, they were cheap too, so you could fill up your stomach without emptying your pockets. It had a weird name though. "Fsteak". The owner must have made a typo when he was naming it and was just too proud to admit it. While she sat and ate, she opened up her inbox, she had a few new messages, one of them was from a mailing list that most of the lead group members belonged to. The message said that the Swords of Justice had gotten back into action, and floor 51 was going to be cleared, so it was time for clearers to step up. "Huh, so we're finally getting back into it? I guess that means I'll hafta start looking for a pick up group." Rei muttered to herself as she picked her teeth with one of the skewers. "Took 'em long enough."

▐ ▐ ▐ ▐ ▐

Where am I?: Floor 35

What's up?: Just hanging out and eating some skewers

[Darius Stormcrow]

◄ =Darius= ►

◆HP: ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ : 100%
◆Fafnir: [Armed]

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After a month of everyone sitting on their hands, things were finally starting to pick up again. Freelancers could really feel it when the big clearing guilds weren't pushing ahead- requests for materials and bodyguards suddenly dried up as a couple hundred of the strongest players in the game suddenly had free time. When work started opening up again, Darius knew it meant that clearing was gonna resume. Word through the grapevine was that the Swords of Justice were finally gonna spearhead an expedition across the 51st floor, and he could tell from his friends list that said expedition was happening this very second. Izuna was up on that floor, and Izuna wasn't the kind of guy to take any sort of personal initiative, so Shinobu must've finally been cracking the whip.

Darius had been up to the 51st floor a few times, once after the boss fight on floor 50 and then a few more times afterwards on scouting jobs. The Legion didn't usually rely on outside help, but that didn't mean they turned it down- especially when the guy offering was a Legacy Weapon user. In exchange for helping Legionnaires scout, Darius got his hands on some decent loot to drag back into town. Materials from the front lines were always in demand after all, and Darius had a lot of expenses to pay- repair costs were usually calculated by an item's rarity, so Legacy Weapons cost an arm and a leg to repair. Fafnir was even worse in that it needed to be freakin' reloaded after every time he activated it, so he had to find a smith who could make an item called a 'fire fuse', which was a stupidly obscure consumable item. It worked just fine if he didn't keep it armed, but the sword had a bad habit of exploding if it was activated without a fresh core inside of it. Those explosions hurt, too, enough to do about half of his max HP in one go.

Having just returned from one of the higher floors, Darius was making his way through the streets of the town on the 35th floor, a lot of people he knew lived here and he could pick one familiar face out all the way down the street. Well- it wasn't so much the face that stood out immediately as it was a vibrant red streak of hair. A former guildmate and real-life acquaintance of his, known for her ridiculous health regeneration, short fuse, and revealing armor- which she wasn't wearing at the moment. "Hey, Ash. Finally got enough money to feed yourself?" Rei, known to Darius as 'Ashley' outside of the game, had started freelancing shortly after Darius came back to the lead group, and her bookkeeping wasn't exactly the best it could've been. The crimson-clad warrior took a seat on some crates a few feet away from Rei and stretched a little, cracking his neck a bit in the process. "Sounds like all the bigshot guilds are finally getting their asses in gear. Y'gonna head up and look for work some time?" Darius was probably going to drop Izuna a line in a bit to see what the deal was, the Swords of Justice weren't the biggest guild in the game, but they had enough power to tackle floors alone if they wanted to. Darius didn't know Shinobu that well, she kept freelancers at arm's length, but he assumed she wouldn't rush headlong into battle after taking so much time off- this was probably a scouting mission.



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◆Status: Casually indifferent.
◆Location: 35th floor, near some place called 'Fsteak'
◆Comment: I'm pretty sure Ashley eats more than anyone I've seen in this game.