Durga decided that there was no point in simply standing around waiting for one of his friends to find him out of the blue. It would be easier to find each other if they both managed to track onto the same quest chain. In other MMOs it was often easy to figure out where to pick up and complete quests, simply because everyone else had similar objectives that they were competing for. Although the technology as more advanced, Aiden assumed that the overall game design and mechanics would remain at least relatively similar to games that he had played in the past. So he might as well go out and explore a bit, maybe see what starter quests were available to him. But first things first. He had never gotten a chance to really look at the User Interface for the game. It didn’t seem very customizable but that wasn’t too big of a deal. In Beta your options were always going to be limited, things like UI customization weren’t exactly at the top of anyone’s list as key design features to be implemented immediately. Still, it would be good to familiarize himself with what he had to work with. He swiped his hand from about eye level down to his waist, that opened up the Main Menu. From there he accessed the Player Menu, which had the majority of the commands and functions branching off of it: Map, Inventory, Equipment, Skills, Quests, Friends, Messages, Guild, Party Invites and Duel Challenges. He went through and examined each of them in turn. The Map could be zoomed in or out, giving a very sizable and detailed very of the area around him in the city. Different games operated on different principals but he was willing to bet that this game didn’t provide detailed information on an area until you had personally reached or explored it. Maybe it would give you access to city information right off the bat, but the rest was likely privileged. Given the objectives of the game, i.e. finding boss’s rooms and defeating them, keeping the landscape and layout of the levels a mystery until you uncovered them made a certain amount of sense. And although it lacked details it did seem to have at least a bare bones map of the entire area that made up the first few Floors. You could also zoom in on the map though, not just out to see the whole world view. Zoomed up close he started to see the names of important NPCs around him labeled in white. There were green symbols as well, those were all players. He didn’t seen any orange or red symbols yet, which was probably for the best. It wasn’t really that surprising considering the game had just started. No truly hard core PVPers would have started challenging people to duels right off the bat, they would make sure to get ahead first and become a real threat before they started making their move. Twilight Arbor had been a PvE Guild, or Player versus Enemy/Environment. They didn’t really participate in PvP very much. Durga had always been a little interested in it but ultimately he didn’t have the desire to go bash on other players all day, especially not in systems where it meant that you put your hard earned equipment and money on the line. What Durga had earned he did so for Twilight Arbor, risking it in pointless duels would have been selfish and inconsiderate. Still, he had known some heavy PvPers in his time and they could really make your life difficult if they had a mind to. Luckily Sword Art Online appeared to have fairly widely sweeping safe zones, where PvP could not be initiated except by a Duel Challenge which had to be agreed upon by both parties. So it wasn’t likely something he would have to worry about anytime soon at the very least.
Most of the tabs were pretty self-explanatory. He contemplated trying to add a few friends remotely via the Friend List tag. But he didn’t know what their Avatar names were going to be for sure yet. He had always been Durga when possible and a few of the others were likely the same old. Athena and Ptah for instance were probably still the same. But then again he had been in games where Athena was too widely known so it had been switched. He grinned a little to himself wondering how well she was going to handle a game where she had to actually get up close and dish out some hits to support her team, rather than standing in the back tossing around healing spells. Even as a melee tank, Durga hadn’t been entirely sure how to feel about a game with no magic. After all, he didn’t really use magic in other games as a tank, but it sure as hell affected him! It was often what had kept him alive up on the battlefield when he was going toe to toe with a Dunegon’s Boss. Thinking back to his raid days always left him with bittersweet memories. Nice to think about for a while, but sad when he realized how long ago it had been. But he wasn’t going to let the sadness get to him this time around! He was in a brand new game after all; ready to tackle new dungeons and brand new challenges with his friends. He could hardly wait. The only other menu he paused on was the Guild menu. Of course it had nothing there yet, but he was able to check into the requirements as to forming a Guild. It took 10,000 Col, the money for this game. Currently he only had 1,000 Col on him and he imagined that all other Players started with the same amount. That would mean ten other people giving up their whole starter fund to get the guild up and running again. Durga wasn’t even sure how many people from Twilight Arbor were coming to this game, much less how many new people they could get to join them. And even if he did know, he wasn’t comfortable with asking them for their entire starter allowance of Col. Looks like he would just be saving up and doing some quests for a while before they could afford it. Once they had enough Col they got to design their Guild Emblem and Flag and then at some point they could even opt to choose a Guild Base. There was a small note saying that depending on the location of the Base, that might incur extra charges. Sighing he scratched his head, then took a moment to marvel over the fact that he had just scratched his head inside a video game. The idea that body language could actually be transferred into an online setting was astounding and although he had considered it briefly before, for some reason the realization hit him all over again as he did it. Grinning ear to ear he set off to find himself a Quest. He wasn’t going to just sit back and wait for everyone to show up when he could be earning money to put towards their goals.
As he wandered through the city he experimented with talking to a few NPCs. Not all of them wanted to speak to him but when he did manage to pull one aside, the conversation was surprisingly complex and deep. It was hard to believe that someone had programmed in such a variety of responses and a vast number of options. Different NPCs really did seem to have different personalities. And when one didn’t want to talk to him, it didn’t feel like just another screen popping up telling you that you couldn’t interact with that character yet. Instead it actually just felt like they were a busy, normal person, who didn’t have time to chat with a young man adventuring through the city. The immersion was incredibly satisfying. After he had been wandering around for a while he turned onto a street in time to see a man running off around the corner. About halfway between Durga and the running man, a plump fellow stood breathing heavily—as if he had just been running as well. Durga approached him and asked, “Is something the matter sir? You seem to be in a hurry?”
Very few people had been running, no matter how busy they claimed to be. Durga was getting the sneaking suspicion that he had just found his first quest. His suspicion was confirmed as the man straightened and introduced himself as the owner of a local store who releases copies of the Sword Art Online Manual. He then went on to explain that five very «Important Pages» had been stolen from him. Durga had to suppress the urge to laugh at the stress on the words «Important Pages», it was practically screaming Quest Text at this point. The shop owner said that if Durga was able to retrieve the pages for him, he would be immensely grateful. Of course, Durga accepted. It was his first Quest in Sword Art Online, there was no way that he was going to turn it down to do it later. As soon as he said yes his Quest Log notified him that he was currently a part of the «Collect the Papers» Quest. Durga didn’t waste any time setting off after the thief. The man already had a head start on him and Durga hadn’t picked up «Sprint» or invested many points in Speed as a Stat. Luckily the man didn’t exactly seem like a master criminal. He stayed ahead of Durga for a while but during one long stretch where there were no alley’s big enough to dart down, Durga managed to get a good chance to use «Observation» on the Thief. That gave him a bit of info on his target, which was always handy. Apparently he wielded a dagger and was not considered a difficult opponent. That was good to know. As they were closing the gap to the end of the ally, Durga took his spear off his back and cocked his arm back, getting ready to use «Strike». Apparently the game clued you in on when to launch the attack. As he was running and that ally mouth seemed to be growing wider and wider, closer every second, Durga was beginning to feel like an idiot just carrying his spear—ready to launch but currently doing nothing. Then, at the last second, just before the Thief reached a side ally, he saw a twinkle along the blade of the spear. Without waiting any longer, Durga thrust the spear out to its full length rapidly. The blade pierced right through the chest of the Thief and he fell to the ground at the branch in the ally. Durga walked up and as the Thief slowly started to decompose into bits of colorful data, he laughed and said,“You caught me… but you’ll never catch the rest of my guild!”
The sprite finally disappeared completely and a small window popped up showing the Loot that he had earned for defeating the Thief. 10 Col and a single «Important Page». It wasn’t as if he expected this game to be completely without farming but the quest hadn’t initially seemed as though it would go this route. Still, it was rather interesting to have to actually hunt down the other Thieves in person. The 10 Col was, well, underwhelming but you had to start somewhere after all. Besides—if this was anything like other MMOs—the final quest reward would far outweigh the individual Loot of the monsters that you had to kill to complete the quest. Besides it would give him some practice. The Thief had almost gotten away from him and in his eagerness to ensure he stopped it, he felt as though he had launched his skill a bit too early. The Thief was a low level opponent and it hadn’t been trying to block his attack at the time. If the opponent had been a bit tougher or maintained more agro, that might not have been enough to finish them off. But the only way to find out would be to get out there and find those other thieves!
___________• 「Beta Heavy Mail」 ______________○Rank: F ______________○Placement: Top ______________○Type: Heavy ______________○Armor: 15 ______________○Defense: 15 ______________○Durability: ∞ ______________○Weight: 10 ______________○Level Requirement: 1
___________• 「Beta Heavy Leggings」 ______________○Rank: F ______________○Placement: Bottom ______________○Type: Heavy ______________○Armor: 15 ______________○Defense: 15 ______________○Durability: ∞ ______________○Weight: 10 ______________○Level Requirement: 1
_________TOOLS
___________• «Sword Art Online» Beginner Manual ______________○Rank: F ______________○Contains all basic knowledge needed for the game including, but not limited to: maps, monster data, item catalog.
___________• Beta Starter Cooking Kit ______________○Rank: F ______________○Allows cooking of F Class ingredients and recipes.
___________• Beta Starter Forging Kit ______________○Rank: F ______________○Allows forging and refining of F Class materials, weapons, and equipment.
___________• Beta Starter Fishing Kit ______________○Rank: F ______________○Allows fishing of F Class targets.
___________• Beta Good Luck Charm ______________○Rank: S ______________○A mysterious square metal charm with the kanji for "luck" etched on the surface. Seems to resonate with a subtle energy.
_________MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
_________HEALING ITEMS
Maiden of Mars
Sounds like a plan.
Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2013 1:37 am
"I want something to die for, to make it beautiful to live."
"Pit... pat... pit... pat." Echoed the sounds of an adventurers leather boots. His steps were slow and heavy. Not because he was tired, but because he was depressed. He had only been in the game for roughly thirty minutes, and already Luca was feeling as if he had lost a great friend. Luca had no idea what kind of man Devon was, where he lived, how old he was, hell maybe he wasn't even a guy. But this feeling of loneliness, it hung over the player like a pile of bed sheets. No matter how hard you try to get out, you always seem to find a way to keep yourself stuck. And this feeling has clung to Luca, for a very long time. Though it is quite weird to see this side of Luca, well Oliver actually. Oliver in real life, is a quiet young man who stays out of trouble, and doesn't really have a hard time making friends. But keeping them has always seemed to be the challenge for this boy. However, when online, Oliver becomes Luca. An outgoing and charismatic young boy full of spark, and willingness for adventure! Almost as if gaming and being online is his reality.
Luca continued to trudge along the cobblestone pathway that lined the Town's streets, now looking at the ground instead of looking around at the beautiful environment as he did before. This depression was killing him. "Maybe... I'll log off for the night. Or perhaps even return the game. I can't manage to keep a friend in real life, or now even a game, so what's the point if I'm going to be lonely all the time?" Luca mumbled to himself. The disappointed young man continued to walk with his head down, not keeping track of where he was going, and continued to wonder the city's streets. A familiar smell caught Luca's attention. Looking up, Luca suddenly realized where he was at, the food part of the district. Turning his head to the left, Luca saw the robust woman with her fan again, the one that owned the fruit stand that he dam near destroyed earlier today. Her eyes locked onto him, like a predator sinking it's fangs into it's prey. Her stare was as cold as death. A chill rushed down Luca's back, forcing him to hightail it out of the food district.
Luca was still sprinting, not wanting anything to do with that vile woman that owned the fruit stand. ~I swear she's as strong as an Ox! And that fan hurts like hell!~ Luca screamed in his mind. It suddenly started to get more crowded, and Luca was now weaving in and out of the crowd. He wasn't exactly sure where he was going, but everyone else seemed to be gathering some where, so why not see what all the commotion was about? Left, right, between, underneath, and sometimes even over, Luca dodged past other players and NPC's alike, to get ahead of traffic. Thanks to his slender like build, and light weight, it was easy to navigate around people. Unless of course, there is that ONE person who is moving slower than the rest of the crowd. Luca slammed into yet another person who was taller, and bigger than himself. Though the difference wasn't by much, perhaps just a few inches in height, and definitely within fifteen pounds of each other. Though Luca, yet again, found himself lying the floor, after having ran into some girl. "Yachachachacha!" Luca said, rubbing his head as if he were actually in pain, even though everyone knows the amount of pain felt from NerveGear was far from anything close to the real thing. "Hey, there's a flow of traffic for a reason! Moving slow like that is only going to cause more accidents, so either move outta my way, or stay the hell out of the streets! Geez... this is why women can't drive..." Luca said to the gray haired...girl?
Your in the last Paragraph if you don't want to read the whole thing. It might be hard to go off of, since they are just meeting for the first time.
Violent Fox Crew
Familiar Friend
Offline
Enchanted Cherubim
Offline
Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2013 10:58 am
~~~~~~~Koyuki~~~~~~~~ Treasure Hunting Thief
Koyuki was making his way towards what he found out was the Teleportation gate. Not too long ago after completing his first quest, Koyuki read an announcement about a special event going on, and that players were to gather near the Teleportation Gate to begin the event. On his way Koyuki felt someone bump into his back, and would turn around. When he turned around Koyuki's face had a confused look as no one was there, until he looked down. "Oh! I'm so sorry." Koyuki would state and wear a warm smile on his face. Then, Koyuki would proceed to bend over slightly and hold out a hand to the person. "I didn't mean to. You know how crowds are... Can only move as fast as the person in front of you, right?" Koyuki could chuckle. "My name is Koyuki. I'm about to head to this event I heard they're having." He would begin his introduction. "As an apology, would you like to accompany me to the event? I don't have a party, and haven't met anyone else to become friends with to make a party... " Koyuki's face went from warm and friendly to embarrassed and nervous, his eyes closed with a giant smile on his face. "What do you say?" Koyuki would finish his little introductory rant to the boy he just knocked over and wait for the boy to take his hand and give his answer.
Sorry! I tried my best to get as much out as I could.. hopefully I gave you enough to go on to get our posts back up to normal size gonk
Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2013 3:03 pm
For the first time Tremont was starting to get slightly annoyed by the rambling of this 'Kaaz' fellow. They had decided to partake in a duel and yet still he seemed completely incapable of keeping his mouth shut at all. In fact although he was in a state to duel he was still running his mouth and talking about some new nonsense. There was a fear from Tremont that this fight would end with Kaaz shouting something silly and accidentally biting his own tongue. Tremont felt it was unlikely you could kill your own character in SAO by biting your tongue out but still. It was certainly a possibility. One which he was less willing to explore and a reason for which he kept his mouth tightly shut. This time the issue was to be to do with who would take the first strike. Did it really matter? Had Tremont wanted to he could easily fly into Kaaz like a flurry of high speed blows. Simply seeing his heavy armour and cloak meant that Tremont could easily work out that there was no way that Kaaz could even remotely hold a candle to Tremont's speed. Even if he had spent all twenty of his points in agility it seemed somehow doubtful that he could move at any decent speed with what was effectively an elongated pike in full plate armour. Had he known about their statistical difference as well then there was no doubt that Tremont would've attacked right from the beginning. Like the unbridled wrath of an angry god on steroids on a really bad Monday. And Mondays were never good.
As Kaaz prowled around him like a predator with a bad back Kaaz responded with the same. Though Kaaz could be described more like a fat alligator doing the tango. Just to show off his speed as he circled around his opponent he jumped from foot to foot. Almost hopping on the spot as he brought his axe into both hands but with the head no longer across his body but instead the pole which held the head of the axe across his body. Though this made him much more easy to hit he was already showing off his superior speed. Kaaz would think twice about performing a manoeuvre with any unnecessary movements. If he made a single move wrong he'd find himself on the receiving end of the axe's entire weight coupled with Tremont's strength. However Tremont was not confident he could do any serious damage to his opponent without 'really putting his back into it' so to say. Axes were not known for their ability to crush through armour. They were certainly not 'blunt' weapons as some thought. Axes quite unlike their mace brethren were used for cutting. In all that iron plating it was unlikely that Tremont could do anything save for slowly whittle away at the armour and hope that a crack appear in it so that he could sneak his axe inside and knock off one of the legs. There was a difference however in the fact that this axe was totally unrealistic. No human could ever hope to hold it up. With an axe head too wide and too long for typical use but was SAO even that complicated a game though? He had heard rumours but nothing definitive on just how complex the combat could really be. It was a combination of a free form approach in which one could attack as they saw fit but also mixed in special skills. The system was wholly unique in that sense. As the dance continued Tremont's flabby body undulated and danced along with him and each roll on his body curled up and down like a sea of flesh. To see a man that fat move like he was some sort of 'axe dancer' was a sight to behold. His light armour flapping slightly as the dance continued and then with a...
...His clothing was once more blasted up and the axe found itself in the sky but still under the control of Tremont though this was something of an automatic response. Held high for a crushing blow as Tremont moved forward in an explosion of speed though his legs still moved along the ground. This was not a jumping movement but a dash. Not the sprint however as he did not hold that skill. As he moved he saw Kaaz drop his guard and simultaneously dropped his own. Causing him to instead of cut Kaaz in the face go blasting past him with great speed. Tremont had to think fast and quickly threw his axe at the ground to slow himself so he wouldn't knock himself out of the duelling area. That had probably been the skill 'Howl'. When Tremont had looked at the many skills available to him he immediately knew upon looking at Howl that it was a skill that he didn't want. He could see no practical uses to drawing monsters to you and if the monsters were weak enough to scare them away with a shout then surely you would be able to cut through them in the blink of an eye? It seemed to be wholly useless to Tremont and yet someone had managed to use it against him in PvP. Now there was something interesting. It was unconventional, likely unplanned and wholly Tremont's fault for falling for such a taunt yet he was starting to seem some use for it. It was also amazing because it was monotonous and yet still it had worked. Kaaz was truly a wonder to behold in his own way. His own 'special' way.
As Tremont gathered himself up again he heard something about a 'Herald of the New Year' event blinking in his screen also. With a flick of his eyes to bring it into the centre of the monitor screen (would you even really call it a monitor screen? Terminology for what to call a VR set's display was difficult. Technically it was the eyes but it was all just an induced hallucination within his brain. In any case this was a moot point.) and was pleasantly surprised to see that there was indeed a New Years event going on. Presumably for the Gregorian Calender rather than the Mayan, Hebrew or Chinese. Their new years started at different times right? In any case an event was beginning and so early in the Beta too. Well. It wasn't a stress test at any rate. They had to test these bits out. He wondered actually when he'd see the first bug in the game. There was no such thing as flawless coding. There was stable code and there was code that worked but in a game and especially in an MMORPG of this size there would be things that for a start could not be Beta Tested. There would also be the fact that the Beta Test ran for a limited time preventing them from reaching the top floors and Beta Testing those. In addition the fact they were in a Beta Test meant anything could happen. They may find themselves wielding collections of untextured squares instead of swords or having their entire bodies replaced with big black and purple cubes. Currently Tremont was amazed he hadn't seen someone taking off into the air out of nowhere by this point or a critical failure during their duel.
As Kaaz half excused himself to wait for the rest of his party beyond the gate Tremont turned to Azra. Ignoring the request for a draw and putting it to the side. He took his axe and with a motion that would have never caused the thing to stick managed to place it on his back and make it stay there by some unholy will of the computer system that bound the weapon to his back. Not wanting to think about that too long he fully turned his attentions to Azra. Hoping to start up a small conversation before they moved out to visit this event.
"Sorry about all that Miss Azra." Tremont apologised to her in the way one might expect a Japanese person to. With a little bow. "My friend there he's a bit special." While Kaaz may have thought he had the cunning of a snake Tremont had quite quickly worked out there was something unusual about Kaaz. He obviously couldn't put his finger on it and didn't want to make any strong comments one way or another. That would be totally out of character for him anyway at this point. "He saw you and instantly wanted you in on the party. In light of this would you like to come to the event that's going on with us?" Tremont gave a friendly smile which, would've really probably looked very unusual given he was a man without a shirt on talking to a woman in boob mail. All in all it was sure to be a strange conversation between two people wearing generally not enough clothing and yet trying to maintain a casual façade.
On this note Tremont brought his map up too. "If you'd like I'll walk with you there unless you have business in town and we'll meet up on the other side." Despite the fact that Tremont would usually implode when brought into contact with real women there were two key differences here. First and foremost Tremont did not believe for a second that Azra was really a girl. Usually you could tell through the mannerisms of older male characters if they were played by teenagers but if someone was intent on playing the role of a woman they would use feminine speech patterns if they were good. Tremont always started with the assumption that any woman on any game was a man in disguise. The other factor was that Azra did not look like a real woman. With breasts so large she could turn and thwack someone around the face and red eyes with blond hair. She wasn't human in the slightest. Whereas despite looking larger than life Kaaz was a fairly realistic male to look at Azra just came off as completely ridiculous. Tremont had therefore not made the link between real person and avatar. It was that which allowed him to speak with his uncharacteristic confidence. He was just talking to another of the boys. Some lad who had a thing for blonds with big bosoms and what man didn't? Some guy would tell you that it was all about the personality. Hah! What utter lies. A nice pair of tits was all that counted. That was why Mami was so perfect.
Tremont inexplicably while thinking about breasts found his eyes drawn that way but quickly lifted them again. Well it wasn't really his fault entirely. This was a cunning trick and Tremont would not fall for it while Azra was looking his way. There was something so manipulative about doing this to your own character. Tremont had basically turned into himself in real life without a shirt on but this took it to a different level. With a deep breath Tremont regained his composure. His mind was once again filled with pure thoughts. Valleys, mountains, hills and plains. All things natural. Hopefully Azra hadn't noticed Tremont suddenly losing his marbles for a second. That wouldn't go down well for sure. A party with two crazy people. At least in old MMOs you could ogle without anyone noticing. Why were his thoughts turning to this matter again? Maybe there were telescopes in the game too. Tremont should get one of those. What!? Where was this all coming from? Was there some part of Tremont that had been suppressed for so long?
With another deep breath Tremont suddenly took off dashing like a madman to get away. Though this may have seemed something of a contradiction that was because it was. Tremont had thought to himself that this was certainly a man and yet he still could not for the life of him remove the feminine (though not truly female) image from his mind and the embarrassment it would no doubt accompany.
"You know what I'll met you there!" He shouted back not looking at his map. In this time he had failed to cancel the duel causing Kaaz to lose by reason of exiting the boundaries. The poor guy. He now had a 100% loss rate for duels in comparison to Tremont's 100% victory rate. It wasn't because either of them was bad or good respectively but purely because time had dictated that they must be within a certain range of one another. Maybe one day they could have a true duel though in which they would prove who was the strongest of the two of them. It was probably not going to down well with Kaaz either. He might even be annoyed and how awful that would be. If he was so rude when he was being modestly polite or casual then Tremont dared not imagine the wrath of an angry Kaaz. He may even live up to his self serving and self ordained title of Ultimate.
Tremont had though in a manoeuvre befitting of a new player and one not so great with a map managed to get himself lost within the starting city. Well now. That was certainly a talent. One usually reserved for a very special sort of person. There was only one solution to this. He had to get naked and climb as high as he could so that he may see the town from a higher point. He shuffled through the menus un - equipping both his axe and his trousers as well as his underpants revealing a smooth untextured box where his manhood should have been. Well. It was better than nothing. With one meaty hand he gripped the wall and using a combination of his strength and speed was able to ascend. He paced himself with each grip and as he finally gripped the top he pulled himself up using all his strength. As his equip load was temporarily zero he could use his strength and agility to its' fullest. Nothing was preventing his movements at all. It would be awful if anyone who recognised him saw him though. With that thought he put his trousers back on as he reached the top. No-one wanted to see a smooth crotched man leaping across the buildings.
With a jog Tremont began to build speed up to the edge and then came to a skidding stop. He looked down at just how high he was. Oh dear. This was quite a bit higher than he had expected. Well now. This was to say the least worrying. He was up here with no safe way to get back down. A few deep breaths. A quick look at the map to check he was headed in the right direction. A moment of fear as he realised that he could not perform a Sprint but nonetheless he had 'Acrobatics'. This could work out. This might work out. He took steps backwards as far away from the building he was trying to reach as possible and then broke out into an almighty run. Huffing and puffing for dear life as his body found itself high off the ground. I'm flying! Tremont thought briefly. Well he certainly wasn't flying. That much was for sure and his moment of joy was ruined when he found himself hitting the next roof with a cracking noise. Oh dear. The roof had been wooden and Tremont was no Assassin or light footed man. No sir. It was fortunate he couldn't just destroy the structures owned by NPCs and Tremont gave a sigh of relief. He was sure some guards would be onto him though if he wasn't careful. Guards probably didn't like fat flying men too much.
There was more of this to come. This would not be the final trial. Now he had to edge along a piece of jutting out stone. No way. No way he could do this! This was absurd and yet he had no choice having got himself so high in the air. What had come over him that made him thought that it'd be wise to bring himself to this point. In the words of a famous wizard. It was not the heights he was afraid of but the hitting the ground. He wished he could miss the ground right about now. He unwisely put a foot onto the tiny ledge and a part of it fell away at his touch. The developers had accounted for people skirting along buildings and hanging on for dear life? What sort of monsters had made this ungodly creature of a game? Taking another breath in he skirted along the wall with the slightest of cracks here and there. Fortunately his back was not too laden with fat and most of his mass came to rest in front of him. This was not to say that this wasn't hard to crawl along the wall at any speed beyond very very slow but nonetheless he eventually ended up at his destination.
This had been wholly stupid. Why had he ran away there? If instead of wasting time he had simply apologised again for his conduct no doubt he would be forgiven right? What inside him had told him that the right course of action was to go on a death defying series of stunts across the rooftops. Looking at the maps again it was clear that you could detect your party members or friends on them too. Azra and Kaaz were probably both watching and laughing at his escapades across the rooftops. How would he explain this? No time for that. Instead he'd climb down. Now the final test awaited. He was right next to the teleporter but so was everyone else. He had to get to it somehow. Seeing out of the corner of his eye a man run across people's heads and shoulders Tremont was tempted to try it out for himself. To pass the crowd. Well he'd skirted along narrow alcoves. What could possibly go wrong?
As he leapt into the air someone turned around and pointed their finger. The words that were probably going to escape their mouth were something like "Holy s**t that huge fat guy is flying." but before they could get so much as a word out they found their shoulders being impacted by Tremont. His huge boots crushing their way into his shoulders and knocking him clean onto the floor. However before Tremont could lose motion he leapt again into the air. Using the shoulders to fly up and land his boot on the heads of one player and then his other on the next. There was a gasp from the crowd of shock and horror as Tremont leapt up into the air. Finally impacting with the teleporter. He was tempted to say something to the effect of 'So long suckers' but it seemed inappropriate amongst this crowd of horrified and angry faces. The last thought in Tremont's mind before his matter was disintegrated and placed elsewhere was 'I hope I can run and hide fast enough to get away.'
☓ LEVEL: 10 | ☓ HP: 700/700 | ☓ GUILD: NONE | ☓ WORDS: 1427 [1427] "Someday when I finally go home I'll be waiting for you..."
It seemed the unconfident young player had a growing party of new friends at his disposal now, he let his eyes wander over to the names once more scanning them thoroughly as he did so. Mugen, Caeruleus, Seraphi, and himself, the four of them was well enough for now, anymore members could be a little hard to manage as well as a burden on experience for the lower levels. Menma was all for making friends and enjoying the game but he still wanted to level quickly and not be left out of the front line of the game, even in beta he wanted to make it as far as he possibly could before the game launched, just to say he wasn't worthless at the game itself. He wasn't sure how well he'd be at fighting just yet, the thought itself put a knit in his gut especially after seeing Mugen fight off the false Alpha Tester, he wasn't sure he'd last as long as the man that his party member faced. The young boy just hoped he could watch and learn from Mugen and somehow make a fighting style of his own, a powerful style that would carve a path through his enemies. He could already feel himself itching to practice on his movements and weapons attack patterns, he wanted to be unpredictable to help him against duelists as well as keep the AI guessing his next move, it'd be hard for a computer to calculate sporadic movements in time to counter or block. A true berserker would be able to come up with such movements on a whim, that being the whole point but Menma wasn't sure he could do that, constantly twisting and turning differently, throwing his axe in every which direction he could, he'd stumble and get himself hurt or killed more than likely. It may be better for him to have a planned out attack and defense pattern to use, then although he could be predicted he would have solid offensive and defensive strikes to use against his enemy. Although he didn't want to think about any of this right now fighting wasn't something you could push to the side in an MMO, he would be in the fields fighting monsters soon and although they posed no threat yet if he didn't have a proper way to battle by the later floors he would be dying left and right on his party. He didn't plan to be dragging anybody down, he would have to figure something out and soon or else he'd find himself without anyone willing to party with him for lack of skill, at least in other MMO's he didn't have to use his own body and reflexes, he was so lost here and worried he may fail.
His name being called was what snapped him out of his ideas of attacking and killing mobs and bosses alike, the younger and newer party member to have joined them seemed to have accepted gladly and was taken in his fellow companions. Menma nodded to his name being mentioned and looked over to Mugen and Seraphi as the blond named the two off as well, judging by voice, height, and other numerous giveaways he could tell this boy was at an even younger age than himself, rare to see in such games, especially betas, usually younger people didn't have the brains to get into betas, especially one as prestigious as this. Caeruleus, it seemed as he introduced himself, was a very lucky boy to get his hands on a beta key, much like Menma was here from a stroke of luck brought to him in his pre-order of the game. It seemed it was also time to enter the Grasslands and begin training, he dreaded this moment with all his being but wasn't worried of dying yet, he didn't expect these monsters to be very strong. The idea of battle both excited him and made him nervous for the future but he couldn't leave his party waiting to go in to the world of SAO lest they leave him behind. It seemed it was time for the real game to begin whether he liked it or not, he would have to go fight some boars, the starter animal of the first and lowest floor, wolves would follow when he was finished until he made his way into the labyrinth of the first floor. "Right, to the grasslands outside, it shouldn't be a problem to kill the mobs there but if it gets slim we'll move as far out as we need to, with the four of us we should be fine" it seemed like the grasslands were the best bet the four of them had for now, at least until they could find appropriate leveling areas or quests away from the population of the beta for better spawns and experience. He couldn't understand why somebody would make a game have limited spawning of monsters due to the fact members would be constantly joining but he liked the further realism it had behind it. Being forced to conserve the maximum amount of experience you gain in the game and the items, money, and monsters distributed as well just seemed like something on a level completely its own. This VRMMORPG brought a whole new height to gaming and just how real a game could become as well, it really brought something new into the world and he wasn't even sure how it could exist, a world as real as the one he lived in back home.
Ready to head out to the grasslands and begin his leveling journey Menma was interrupted by a announcement box which came up in front of him, much like a party invite box it showed in front of his face. An event notification it seemed, he read it silently as his fellow party member Mugen voiced the message himself to everyone else around them, it was a new years event for the beta testers. It seemed relatively soon to be having an event inside of the game seeing as it just launched, although it also sounded like a lot of fun as well, he just hoped that the event wouldn't be too hard to complete at their current skill level with the game. He liked the idea of bonding with his new party members over the event and once his companion voiced his approval of the idea he too was ready to take part in its festivities, with events came prizes as well and that wasn't to be overlooked. "I agree Mugen, lets participate in this event and see what it's all about" Menma decided, as the groups leader his say was final, it felt strange deciding for others but who wouldn't want to participate in an event like this anyways, it was like a grand launch event of sorts just for them. He wondered if it would be rather Christmas-like seeing as it was the beginning of the new year, the idea of snow and presents during an event was nice, special items in gift boxes sounded generic but fun. However in order to get to the event they had to find a teleport gate, he knew he saw one earlier in his adventures across the Town of Beginnings, now to get back there and start this event. When Mugen offered to take them to the event the young snowy fox nodded unsure of how to get there himself through the huge crowd of people now rushing to the gates, he was supposed to be the leader but it seemed like letting others take charge every now and again to make up for his lack of leadership abilities would be fine. "Hai onegai shimasu, bring us there Mugen" he asked the other kindly a little of his Japanese language slipping out in his absense of mind, he was far too busy thinking of the spoils of this event. Any items Menma could find during the beta would be greatly appreciated, especially if the beta testers were to be awarded special items for their participation and help in testing the game, unique beta tester items were always amazing, he had seen a few in other games from beta testers he had met and wanted something like that to hold dear. Perhaps the charm in his inventory was an item like that, he wasn't quite sure what it was that item did for him but it seemed like it had something strange about it and no real use as of yet.
☓ EXP: 0/100 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ☓ STR: 55 [0] | ☓ DEF: 10 [20] | ☓ STA: 25 [0] | ☓ AGI: 20 [0] | "... So then our cherished moments can be frozen in time"
Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:03 pm
♆Durga♆
Durga headed back in the direction that would lead him to the old man’s shop in the market. The quest was likely centered near there so the Thieves should spawn in the nearby area. He remembered what the man he had just fought looked like and felt it was pretty safe to assume that the rest looked at least remotely similar to that one. So he kept an eye out for the ratty scarf and pair of goggles that didn’t quite look like they belonged in a busy market place. It was harder than it would have been in other games. The more complex the games, the more customizable the characters could become. That was pretty obvious. But in a game as advanced as Sword Art Online, the complexity was absolutely remarkable. Essentially, that meant that when he we wandering through the city he saw a plethora of unique looking Avatars that blended in with the NPCs surprisingly well in some cases. Armor was always limited at the start of the game, so most people looked fairly similar. There was some differentiation, but for the most part people were wearing either the light or heavy mail somewhere on them. Searching the city might have been significantly more difficult if he didn’t have the «Observation» skill, it was probably one of the best choices he had made during character creation. Some of the others he hadn’t been entirely sure about, and others he had only taken in the hopes that later he would get to grab more. Like his Passive Technique, «Parry», it sounded incredibly useful but «Howl» also seemed as though it would be an amazing ability for a tank to have. So hopefully he could branch out and pick up those skills or others like them in time. Skill growth was something he didn’t quite understand yet. Of course, he hadn’t actually leveled yet, but still. Most MMOs had a pretty clear linear progression through levels, with abilities being unlocked as you reached a higher level. In Sword Art Online, you leveled, but you also leveled your skills individually. The problem was that Durga had no idea what the difference between say, «Strike» at Rank F and the same skill at Rank S. Presumably it was more powerful, but in what way was it more powerful? He couldn’t find any information on that. Which again, only made sense when you considered that he was currently taking part of the Beta and it was unlikely any of the players had come even remotely close to getting a Rank S skill. Still, there was probably a few people who had managed to level up enough to increase some of their skills to a higher rank. Presumably something like «Observation» would provide more details at higher levels? He supposed that, that would be sensible. Either way, he didn’t have it leveled now but he was getting plenty of use out of it. Durga scanned the crowds as he moved back towards the market district, keeping an eye out for health bars and indicators of NPCs instead of players. Players and Monsters had different colors, as did NPCs. The colors created some conflicts that weren’t exactly easy to understand but if you put your mind to it, it was rather interesting. For instance, White denoted either a NPC or a Monster more than ten levels below you. Green represented either a normal Player Character or a Monster within four levels of you. That meant that in this particular scenario he could ignore the White marked Avatars and focus instead on the Green. Since he was level one and the «Collect the Paper» Quest was likely a low level quest, the Thieves that spawned for it should be within four levels of him. But that would normally mean that he would still have to deal with player characters still. Except, as he had picked up on earlier, you could pick out players because they all carried the same basic sets of Beta Equipment on them. Since he was in town the only Monsters spawning would be for quests. In the end that meant he only needed to find people dressed strangely with the Green coloration tags.
He spotted the second Thief about halfway back to the market area. The Thief seemed alerted to him almost instantly so any plan he might have had to sneak up was ruined almost immediately. He hadn’t actually taken «Observation» anyways so he hadn’t had a great deal of hope for that anyways. The rouge role had never been one he’d taken to very often. The man looked almost exactly like the other Thief, they had to be using the same models to make them a bit easier to distinguish. After all, people had to be able to actually track and fight them without having to constantly rely on the «Observation» skill. At low levels there was no reason to believe that enough people would have it, so it wouldn’t be a requirement for the quest. Durga should have realized that something strange was happening when he charged at the Thief and the man didn’t start running like the other one had. As he closed the distance, out from behind a cart, another Thief popped out and drove a dagger in at Durga’s side. He was caught completely off guard and his Speed wasn’t significant enough to change his course. The heavy mail armor caught the blow and diverted most of the damage but he saw his health drop some anyways. He gritted his teeth and reprimanded himself. When looking at a screen you had a bird’s eye view of your surroundings, being ambushed by mobs had to he handled in a very unconventional way—sudden spawns and the like. But in this game, actually just obstructing yourself from someone’s view meant that you could hide yourself to one degree or another. The «Hiding» skill simply emphasized that and enhanced it. He was going to have to be more careful from now on. He moved slower and circled out away from the second Thief so that he could keep an eye on them both at one time. While he did that he moved to get his back to a wall so that he wouldn’t get another nasty surprise. One was quite enough for him this early on. It was a good thing that he did, because from a side alley, another Thief slowly strode out to meet up with the pair that had tricked him already. The Thieves seemed a bit more courageous in a group than they had alone and they began to approach him with daggers drawn. Despite the situation seeming a little grim, Durga felt himself smiling. This was the perfect opportunity to test out his abilities as a tank. He was supposed to be able to hold the attention of his opponents and defeat multiple at once. As the Thieves closed in to attack, Durga brandished his «Beta Assault Spear» in a «Parry». The thieves were much faster than him obviously, his Speed stat was not very high and it seemed to be their focus. But he had a significantly longer reach. Those daggers had the least reach of any of the weapons available in the starter sets, while his spear had the highest. Knocking their blows away was relatively easy. And each time he did it, the force of his much larger spear and his superior Strength would drive their weapons far up and away from them—leaving them incredibly exposed to a counter attack. Unfortunately «Parry» was an incredibly defensive skill, it didn’t truly allow for much in the way of counter attacking. It was obviously intended to be used with a party, so that you could leave an opening for the DPS to charge in and take advantage of. Lucky for him he had also taken the basic level of «Fighting Spirit». It allowed for better mobility against a number of opponents. In this game, it was likely that he would end up filling the role of main tank—if the game could be said to have such roles—but engaging adds was always a good skill to have if he ever needed to off-tank. Versatility was always best until you could figure out what the best build was.
His grin spread as he proceeded to shift around just enough to dodge a blow and knock another attack off course. If he could manage to hit all three weapons into the air at roughly the same time then he would be in a good position to stop using «Parry» and finally launch his attacks. With «Observation» he had already gathered enough information on them to know when they were most likely to launch their attacks and when they would be most vulnerable. But that didn’t mean that he could just launch himself into the assault. He had to be patient and wait for just the right moment to begin the attack. After several passes he started to notice a pattern. If he was willing to take a chance and take a hit he could make this work. It was a little strange to let himself get hit, but then as a tank he use to spend all day getting beat on by mobs. Still, it was different when you were seeing the actual weapons darting in at you. But his health maxed out at two hundred and fifty. The hit before, the one he had never expected, shaved off twenty five points of damage, about ten percent. That was a full on hit to his armor. Presumably another attack would reduce it by a similar amount. Even if it did twice as much damage, he could easily take that without dropping into the red. So he began the defensive motion that would get him into position to attack. He blocked the first two attacks, knocking their weapons wide. And the third, instead of defending against, he dropped his guard and readied his spear for an attack. He thrust forward at the same time that the Thief darted in at him. He left the dagger slash along his arm, there was no pain in the game but the sensation of being hit was important. But while his arm was hit, he slammed the spear’s point through the head of his opponent, the middle thief. He shattered in a burst of colorful data. And then there were two. He had just enough time to «Parry» the blows once the remaining pair got their weapons back under control. After that he focused less on «Parry» and focused instead on «Fighting Spirit», he hadn’t put many points into the technique but anything that would provide even a slight edge was worth it. The nicest thing about «Parry» was that it was actually a Passive Technique, so it was always active and didn’t require him to have to use it. All it meant was that he would be better able to block attacks launched at him. That seemed logical enough to him, not all of the skills did. For instance, «Howl» was actually a Passive Technique despite the fact that it clearly seemed like something you activated. In some ways though he supposed that to «Parry» was a verb, it was an action, something you did. So «Howl», at the end of the day, likely functioned as a periodic taunt. If that did turn out to be the case then he would have to find a way to get access to «Howl» as soon as he could. There wasn’t much time to worry about that now though because he still had two thieves to deal with and his health was down to eighty percent now, or two hundred points. Not bad really, he was still in the green and he figured that with his two current opponents he still had the advantage. Durga stabbed out at one opponent and caught them in the shoulder. It didn’t take it down entirely but it dropped his opponent into the red. Before he could deliver the finishing blow though, Durga had to block a strike by his other opponent. A twist of his spear and a quick jerk drove the opponent off course, stumbling past him into the wall. Durga spun his spear around and then threw it forward at its full extension into the enemy still in the red, sending him up into a burst of data. And then there was just one opponent left in this group. Just two more opponents and his first quest would be complete.
___________• 「Beta Heavy Mail」 ______________○Rank: F ______________○Placement: Top ______________○Type: Heavy ______________○Armor: 15 ______________○Defense: 15 ______________○Durability: ∞ ______________○Weight: 10 ______________○Level Requirement: 1
___________• 「Beta Heavy Leggings」 ______________○Rank: F ______________○Placement: Bottom ______________○Type: Heavy ______________○Armor: 15 ______________○Defense: 15 ______________○Durability: ∞ ______________○Weight: 10 ______________○Level Requirement: 1
_________TOOLS
___________• «Sword Art Online» Beginner Manual ______________○Rank: F ______________○Contains all basic knowledge needed for the game including, but not limited to: maps, monster data, item catalog.
___________• Beta Starter Cooking Kit ______________○Rank: F ______________○Allows cooking of F Class ingredients and recipes.
___________• Beta Starter Forging Kit ______________○Rank: F ______________○Allows forging and refining of F Class materials, weapons, and equipment.
___________• Beta Starter Fishing Kit ______________○Rank: F ______________○Allows fishing of F Class targets.
___________• Beta Good Luck Charm ______________○Rank: S ______________○A mysterious square metal charm with the kanji for "luck" etched on the surface. Seems to resonate with a subtle energy.
_________MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
_________HEALING ITEMS
LindL.Tailor
Sparkly Gekko
Offline
Violent Fox Crew
Familiar Friend
Offline
Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2013 11:13 pm
"I want something to die for, to make it beautiful to live."
A boy? Luca looked up, clearly puzzled that the mans more feminine characteristics. Perhaps he was one of those players who played as female characters, just so they had something nice to look at while playing? Then again, in SAO, it's kinda hard to look at yourself since your are the avatar. Luca held an apologetic smile on his face. "It's fine it's fine! Sorry for my disturbed look, I thought you were a girl." Luca said reaching up and taking Koyuki's hand, allowing the gray haired man to pull him up. "Event? Um sure! I'm Luca by the way." Luca said, shaking Koyuki's hand. Luca started getting back into the flow of traffic around them, and walked with all the other players towards their unknown destination. "Hey, just what kind of event is it? I haven't heard anything all day, is it for the Beta Launch?" Luca asked as he slid his hand down, opening up his player menu. He selected party invite, and invited Koyuki into his party. Now he didn't feel so lonely anymore, even though he had only just left Devon ten minutes ago.
Luca's mind began calculating. Just as it did earlier today when Luca tried to sneak into his room without being noticed by his mother. The man he was walking with wasn't much taller than himself, and probably didn't weigh much more either. He had leather straps across his back, and a sheath for what seemed to be more of a dagger than a sword. Perhaps this player was some type of rogue? Or some sort of other sneaking type of player? It was hard to say, but the sleek body structure of Koyuki really did scream out 'Assassin'. Really only time would tell.
No no! It's fine! Lol. I'm a versatile RPer, I don't care if I make short posts or long posts, so long as I tell the story I want to be told. This to me is the most important part of Rping. Don't forget that ;3 And besides, they only just met, there isn't going to be much to talk about anyways. Next post, since your character knows what's going on, have him arrive at the Teleportation Gate, and pass through, then I'll make another quick post following. Then we'll be set for some great RPing in this event! >:3
Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:16 am
Nox left the conversation just as quickly as Hotaru had started it. She could gather from the get go that the boy wasn't very social and his demeanor was more or less that of a solo player. Like she thought before, being a solo player had it's advantages. But even if she tried, she could never be one, unfortunately. She sighed inwardly and pressed the circular blue 'OK' button to confirm their friendship. It was a nice feeling, to have a friend. Although it was just online and even so, the two barely knew each other. But the though that even across unknown distances friendships could be made... This was a world Hotaru could get used to very easily. She waved goodbye to Nox, though he was probably already too far away to see it. They would see each other again, she was sure of it.
So what would she do now? Although Hotaru was only minutes into her game experience she was already stumped on what to do. There was a ton to do in the game, but she wasn't sure what she wanted to do. She sat down on a nearby bench and while looking through the user menu, considered her options. She could explore the town, which was a good idea for anyone visiting any new area. Familiarizing herself with the town(probably the town she would be visiting most from then on) would get her prepared in case she needed to go somewhere quick. But she could explore the surrounding area and fight as well, gaining levels and becoming stronger. Before the release of the game, Hotaru had heard wonders about this battle system, and although it wasn't too innovative, or too drastically different from most other MMO's battle systems, the girl was excited none the less to fight her way to more floors like the game intended for users to do. She opened the map. The nearest area to the town was the Vast Grasslands, probably filled with boars, this game's necessary equivalent to slimes. They sure seemed more violent if nothing else. Because the area wasn't explored by her yet, nothing but the town and several meters of grassland was filled in. She wondered how far it extended around the town, and where the next area would begin. Hotaru closed the menu. It seemed she'd made her choice on what to do.
But of course, the girl wasn't one to just rush into battle unprepared. Even with the most simple video games, she spent all her money on items and relied on them more than a person should. Though she was stingy about using them, and it more often than not ended her game in the end. Hotaru wasn't very good at video games in general, but they were for fun, right? And she definitely had fun. Even sitting around people watching was fun to Hotaru. So it would appear that her newfound plan of going out into the field and fighting would be delayed by a trip to a store, in which she would inevitably explore the town in an attempt to find one.
The town was a very stereotypical starter town, and although the design of it was rather clever and pleasing to the eye, it was very obviously meant for lower level players. Many of the NPCs just gave you basic tips, directions, and instructions to make your start in the game that much easier. It was sort of nice, if a bit annoying at times, to hear several characters repeat the same phrase about leveling as you passed by them. The streets were busy with both real and not real people, but Hotaru could slip past them easily. She overheard the conversation between a player and a guard. Apparently there was a general store not too far away from where they were. And so she followed the random player to the store, her eyes on the map to get her bearings. This particular shop was on the west side of town in a reasonably busy street. She was looking around when the player in front of her stopped abruptly and swiveled around, and asked if she was following him. "Ah, er, yeah, sorry." She apologized, then shuffled into the store.
This being a general store, it was lined with shelves full of medicine, crystals, and other various miscellaneous items. Hotaru, upon entering the store, walked to the opposite end of the store from the player she followed. It was almost as if he was still staring. Her hands clasped over the price tags, and... she didn't have nearly enough money to buy anything substantial from this store. Every player started out with 1,000 Col, which was presumably the game's currency. She doubled checked in her menu to make sure she had all the zeros right. And indeed she did. She closed the menu and with a sign, tottered out of the store, nearly tripping on the small step down to the street, her eyes glued to the map once again. Now she would be going to the grasslands. Enough detours.
Although she didn't recall any sort of listening skill in the beta character creation options, Hotaru kept picking up bits of conversation as clear as if she were in them. As she meandered her way back through the same streets she walked through only minutes before, two players were discussing an event. A grey haired boy and another male with light blonde/white hair were discussing partying up for the coming event. Hotaru didn't even know there was an event. Without thinking she swerved back around and interjected herself into the conversation. Oh, Hotaru. So polite. "Excuse me for eavesdropping and interrupting, but you said there was an event?" She leaned her weight on one leg, looking slightly troubled. "I think I might have carelessly missed the announcement." Or maybe she didn't know how to check for one. Either way, she was clueless about the event. "This might be a bit "unrefined" of me to ask," She began, forming air quotations with her fingers. "But could I maybe tag along with you two?"
ooc:// rushed post. u vu also i'm still changing around pictures trying to find one that doesn't make her look like a mini baby child, my apologies if it somehow bothers you.
Koyuki would help pull the boy up, gripping his hand a tight tightly for a firm grip to make sure the boy didn't slip back down, and Koyuki let out a small chuckle at the boy's disturbed face. After the boy, who would introduce himself as Luca in a few moments, made the comment about thinking Koyuki was a girl and Koyuki couldn't help but let out a solid laugh and shake his head. "Oh don't worry about it." Koyuki waved it off with his free hand. "I chose this look purposely. You see, I'm aiming to be a Treasure Hunting Thief. You know, quick and precise attacks with a habit for hunting rare treasures? Dagger is our choice weapons?" Koyuki would turn around and point to the dagger sheathed on his back, and turn back around to face Luca. "And if this world is anything like the real one, cute faces gets you places." Koyuki stuck out his tongue playfully. The two would begin to wander aimlessly, or so it seemed, but Koyuki decided to take the lead and would subtly choose the direction the two would go, which would be by the teleportation gate. As the two walked, Luca would inquire about the event that Koyuki had mentioned, which was understandable. "Oh, Honestly I don't know much about it myself. I was on a quest not too long ago and I over heard some people talking about an event, and that to activate it, we should head over to the Teleportation Gate. I was on my way over that way when we bumped into each other." Koyuki couldn't help but chuckle nervously when suddenly a pinging noise appeared once again and a small box appeared in front of him, stating that a party request had been made. Koyuki smiled warmly and pressed the circle. "Of course!" Koyuki spoke to it like it was a verbal request.
Just then, Koyuki would stop and turn around at the sound of a girl's voice. The voice sounded a little squeaky and young, but the words it spoke was polite, which piqued Koyuki's interest. When Koyuki turned around he saw a little girl with long blue hair with matching blue eyes. Her face was soft and more innocent than anything he'd ever seen. His heart jumped for a second before Koyuki forced him to calm down. She was a little girl! What was he thinking letting a little girl affect his heart like that? No matter how cute her character was, this was a little girl, Koyuki felt ashamed that he allowed himself to react like that. The girl would apologize for the ease dropping and cutting into the conversation, but as far as Koyuki was concerned, the more the merrier. "Don't worry about those little things!" Koyuki would again wave the issue off as if it was nothing. Again, Koyuki was introduced to the question about the event. This got Koyuki thinking if there really was an event or not, seeing as so little people knew about it. "Ah. Like I was just explaining to my friend Luca here, I'm not too sure on the details of the event myself." Koyuki would scratch the back of his head nervously. "I was on a mission not too long ago and while I was resting before the final fight I over heard some other players talking about some sort of new years event at the Teleportation Gate." He explained once more. Shortly after the explanation, Koyuki couldn't help but chuckle at the air quotes the young girl gave herself. It sure was cute to see such an innocent face with that sort of attitude. Koyuki nodded. "Well, I'm all for it. The more the merrier, right? So if it's alright with my friend Luca here, you're more than welcome to come along." Koyuki would smile and hold out his hand to the girl. "By the way, my name is Koyuki. Future Treasure Hunting thief. It's a pleasure to meet you." Koyuki had a warm and charming smile that made him look even more feminine than he usually did.
Words: 302 + 1030(original 687 x1.5 for party bonus) = 1,332
Violent Fox
Hopefully that can be a bit mroe to work on... Can't wait to restart the details with the new area!
Winevy
not that I'm aware of. And That was a rushed post? God... lol I hope we don't bring your quality down xd
Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 4:18 pm
Words: 637 ||| Total: 3024
Psiren took him with no problem to the wasteland where she did not hesitate at all to begin teaching him the basics. If she was going to have him out there helping her in the event then he was going to need to be useful. First thing was first, teaching him how to attack and defend the whole survival stuff. She too took the advantage to get used to the system which most likely came a whole lot more naturally to her then it did to him. It only took her a few mistakes before getting the grip. The whole time Psiren could not believe how amazing this all was. It was just too cool to literally feel like she was personally making the moves rather than clicking buttons on her computer and watching what they did. She was making it happen. Her movements where what her mind desired and not what some controls allowed. Oh how she was thankful to having won the chance to be in this beta test. This was a historical event for games and maybe even the world. Who knew what kind of adaptations people could make using this gaming technology. Military could use it to train their soldiers in much more realistic situations without risking their physical harm, training their mental capacities to evaluate situations and what not. However Psiren did not really think of such things. Well maybe a little but her mind quickly focused back on the game. The feel of the spear in her hand. The best way to hold it. Which moves she could make. Ever mistake she made only served to strengthen her knowledge and teach her what not to do. Wild animal after wild animal she tested her skills while keeping an eye on her party member to make sure he didn’t kill himself. It was not a good thing to day the first day of a game. Psiren wondered if she could make it through the game without ever dying. Would it be painful? With this realistic gaming method would it really feel like she was dying? Would her mind start to believe this to be reality? All this possibilities were likely but she was willing to take the risk. The game couldn’t kill her. IT was just a game. Just a bunch of data, 0’s and 1’s, nothing more. Every so often she would rest and explain to Coligan that it was smart to do so whenever one got a chance when doing events, quests, missions, dungeons and all that jazzy. You never knew when it was good to have your Hp completely full. It was best to half it full and not heal in a fight then go in a fight with half your Hp and use the time you could have taken to attack to heal yourself, if you got that chance. She also explained the importance of Sp, saying that it was like your stamina. Certain attacks, blocks, dodges required Sp and when that ran low you had to wait for it to reload which could make you quite vulnerable. Traveling in a group, even if it was just with one other person, was never a bad thing for while one rested or healed themselves there was someone watching their back.
Once Psiren felt like he had enough of a grip on the system to not get himself killed (and her too) she lead him back to the town. ”Alright it is time to go for this event. Just remember everything you trained and you should be fine. I’ll watch your back to don’t worry!” She winked at him playfully. ”I just hope there aren’t too many starting it already. Wouldn’t want to miss all the good stuff…” Activating another teleport gate thing their bodies would disappear to the event.
/exit to ze event
Aquos Dragoa
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Commando Omnipants
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:19 am
▅▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅▅▅ ▅▅▅ ▅▅x♦❖♦▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅ ▅▅▅▅ PLAYERx « Apollo » x///xLEVELx 1 x///xSTATUSx[ NORMAL ]
xxxSighing to himself, Riobard looked out of his window and out across the flat's grounds. It was a bright sunny day, but everything was pretty uneventful. The gentle buzzing of the cicadas could be heard as a warm breeze wafted through the latin gamer's open window. Standing to his feet and closing the window, Riobard also pulled the blinds shut before opening the packaging for his NerveGear once more. He had received a text he hadn't been expecting to see, and upon thinking about this a smile stretched across his face. It had been far too long since he'd spoken to any of them. Boy, was he glad that he had indeed given out his number to a couple of the members in that guild. Lifting the NerveGear helmet above his head, he gently lowered it and then laid back on his bed, making sure everything was situated properly. This would be his first time logging onto the game: Sword Art Online. Taking a deep breath as the system started barely, the internal battery keeping it running for the most part, Riobard spoke aloud, but at a quieted volume. "Link Start."
xxx As the visuals faded, so did Riobard's sense of touch. They faded for a moment and then came back to a slight degree. It was indeed an odd feeling, but like so many others, Riobard had tried out the demo equipment and gotten at least a bit used to the feeling by now, but it was still rather odd no matter what. On the screen before him, he was asked to choose a username. "Apollo. A - P - O - L - L - O. Apollo." he spoke aloud to the system, there being little visual at this point as he went through setting up the basic parameters for his character and choosing specific details. Next came the step of choosing his avatar. He jokingly toyed with the idea of choosing a female avatar at first, but after a moment's notice, he decided not to. The 'import your own image' feature went completely unseen by Riobard and he instead decided to filled with the 'randomize' feature until it fell on an appearance he sort of liked. After this point, he spent perhaps an absurdly large amount of time readjusting the specific's of the avatar's appearance. After the massive length of time spent tweaking his personalized avatar, Apollo was just about ready to jump right in. But, first he would need to select a few last finishing touches to his character. His choice of techniques would take a while for him to decide. He picked two movement abilities for his starting combat abilities. He would obviously want to pick up more later on, but since he wasn't going to focus on defense as much with this character, he would need to avoid being hit. His thought basis for this character was to have a high damage per second ratio. To hit hard and hit fast while avoiding being hit with his sprint and acrobatic abilities. He could already see it now. The other skills looked rather impressive, as well, but this is what he eventually settled on after a long matter of deliberation, factoring in which would benefit him the most and which would mesh well together. He also picked the passive ability Battle Healing. It seemed too awesome to pass up at this current point in time. He wasn't too interested in the other defensive abilities that were the other passives, at this point in time, though Delay seemed also beneficial. As for his non combat ability, Apollo opted for Appraisal. He always liked the idea of just . . . having that knowledge. It could come in handy later on down the road and if he knew his friends correctly, they would have someone forging doing all the item creation stuff for them. Familiar contract didn't really interest him at this point in time and neither did fishing, too much. His choice of weapon (and subsequently weapon skill) would be a one handed sword. Not the most creative choice, but for Apollo it was so unlike his normal choices. Normally he would have chosen the two handed blade, but he was looking to expound upon what he liked and didn't like and try new things in this virtual world. If he always stuck to the normal standard, he'd never learn what he really wanted, which was half of the reason he was joining this game. Or at least a third. It was a mix of this and the fact that it seemed like an awesome new MMORPG, but not just that, a VRMMORPG. And then that he would finally get to see and spend some time with some old friends. He could barely wait. As he finalized the remaining details of his character, the screen would go black and then the words finally appeared . . . "Welcome to Aincrad".
xxx At this point, Apollo began to gain control over his body again, or rather, he gained feeling back into his body. He would open his eyes slowly, blinking several times to give them time to adjust. The light settings were rather bright and it took it just a second to calibrate correctly for Apollo. But, when he finally managed to maintain focus, he was practically swept off of his feet. The visuals in this game were amazing! Taking it all in for quite some time, Apollo just stood there, mouth practically hanging agape as he observed the bustling city. The game had just opened, so the Town of Beginnings was packed to the brim with people. It was incredible. Coming to his senses, however, Apollo realized he was still standing there like a dork. Mostly because there were other individuals signing in around him for the first time doing the exact same thing. Clearing his throat and straightening his posture, he headed on. Apollo wanted to really dive right in, and he knew the first thing to do when playing a game like this was to gain some quick levels by completing some starter quests. Not only did they help gain experience and money, they often times were built to show you the ropes and help you get more used to the game. So, that is exactly what Apollo did. He set off to look for some quests within the city's confines, and he did this by exploring all of the main areas.
xxx The store was one of which places he decided to check out, and luckily for him, there was indeed a quest to be given out within the store. "So, I just need to track down these thieves and then collect and return the papers, right?" Apollo asked the quest giver, making sure he had the set goals and parameters all sorted. The quest giver responded in agreement, confirming that Apollo had what he was supposed to do dead and he would just need to now set out and actually accomplish this goal. There was a bit of info on his map and in his quest listing area of his menu that would help him along. The map leading him to where the thieves were actually located. The first of which was rather close by located down in an alleyway. This wouldn't really be much of a battle, seeing as the Thieves were enemies located within a safezone, so Apollo could assume the most he had to do was catch and strike them. This really was a starter quest, after all. But, it would give him some practice using the commands in the game, at least. He needed all of the experience he could get. And that could be taken both ways that it could be meant.
xxx Apollo placed his hand on his sword and rounded the corner of the alleyway that his map said the Thief was on and as soon as he came into view, the Thief made a run for it. "Hey, no fair!" Apollo said. Apparently just having the quest active was enough to make the [Quest] Thief make a run for it. It was in the programing and it was only logical, but this game was so realistic, Apollo wasn't expecting it. And man, was that little bugger fast. Apollo made a dash for it, now glad he'd picked the skills he did and allocated his stats the way he did. With a speed stat of 10, Apollo caught up with the first Thief in no time flat. With a single slash of his blade, the Thief dropped 10 Col and one item that read "Important Paper". So, one down and four to go.
xxx The next Thief wasn't located far away from this location, either. There actually seemed to be two of them grouped together in an abandoned building a bit further down the alleyway he was currently on. Apollo bolted for the room, readying to take these guys out as soon as possible. He busted in the room and was subsequently hit by a stray dagger being thrown. "Hey!" the swordsman called out in irritation, his HP slowly regaining from this point on. The hit hadn't taken off much damage, but it seemed the Thieves were busy running around the rafters. It would take a bit more to off these two. Using his Acrobatics skill, Apollo made his way up just a bit higher. At a way higher level of the skill, Apollo liked to think that he could just bound up into the rafters with a single jump. He would have to see. But at his current low level, the most he could manage was jumping from crate to crate located in the warehouse until he was at the same level as his enemies. Using the Sprint command, he caught up with one of them, taking him down in a few strikes. Next would be the other Thief located in the a-- Augh! And with that, Apollo had taken another hit. His HP had already almost fully regained, however. He was lingering well above 200 points of HP, still. These were starter quest monsters, after all. If he had his Battle Healing ability leveled much higher, he would imagine these enemies could hardly scratch him. But, Apollo supposed that was the point to gaining EXP and leveling your skills. Whipping around, Apollo used another Sprint to catch up with ease to the Thief and take him out. As soon as these two were defeated, another 20 Col was dropped along with two more "Important Papers". Also as soon as they were defeated another blip appeared on the map, saying there was another Thief located nearby . . . wait . . . no. Another Thief was apparently located within the warehouse, now. Apollo had never thought that one would spawn so close by. On high guard, Apollo pulled his cloak up a bit, defensively. He didn't own a shield just yet . . . and well, he frankly didn't want one. It just didn't stylistically mesh with his character. Even though the weight of his sword wasn't exactly the lightest of all weapons (those being the Dagger and Rapier), or the strongest, he would just stick with a blade for now. He had the extra equip space to put on some more equipment, but he wasn't too worried about that, right now. Not bogging himself down with equipment meant he could maintain a higher speed. At that moment, however, a dagger game whirring by. Apollo, being on guard, flipped effectively out of the way of the oncoming attack and down on to the ground near the Thief. Rushing forward with sword raised high, it began to glow as he activated his skill "Slant". He tilted his sword at an angle and slashed diagonally with his long sword. The attack automatically connected when he got near and released it, the Thief disappearing and once again dropping some Col and the item "Important Paper". And with that, four were down and only one was remaining.
xxx The final Thief seemed to be located right outside of the shop where the mission began. Which would make completing this quest a lot easier, luckily. Traversing his way back to the starting point of this adventure, Apollo flipped through his Col listing and items settings, familiarizing himself with them. He was already becoming quite used to this game. As an avid MMORPG player, it wasn't hard for him to pick up the reigns on a game like this, he felt he would do just fine. Once arriving back at the shop, a Thief that Apollo could've sworn was taller than the rest appeared. Perhaps it was just his imagination getting the best of him . . . they all were hidden in the dark up until this point, after all. One thing that had surprised him though about this quest or rather, made him realize was that other player characters could not damage other player characters in a safe zone, but during Quests, personal [Quest] monsters were spawned and they could damage you even inside of a safe zone. These battles were actual battles, unlike what Apollo had initially thought. Now, however, he would have to face the last Thief. It didn't seem like it would be that hard, now that the monster didn't have the chance to sneak up on him. And short story shorter, Apollo finished him off with ease. This is generally the portion of a fight were the last one is incredibly stronger and the boss is rather tough and you put up a harder fight at the end and push your limits. Yeah. None of that with this fight, unfortunately. That would come for later. Right now, he just had exterminated the final [Quest] level monster for this Mission and he was returning inside of the store to receive his Col and Experience. He did so and then walked out with a smile. There was quite a nice haul for that particular quest. He still had a decent bit of HP left, too, so he continued to wander around looking for extra quests to complete.
xxx The next place Apollo ended up at was the farm. Apollo accepted the quest "Newbie Banquet" from the quet giver there, the quest being basic enough. Apollo was to head out to the plains and gather meat for a banquet that was being held. He would need to go out and obtain 3 'Frenzied Pig Meat's from the Frenzied Boars out on the plains of level one and then return them to the butcher in town. It seemed easy enough, so Apollo hopped right on it. It was then that he got the notification for the event that was currently on going. Apollo snapped at his horrible timing. Part of him wanted to complete a few more quests and part of him wanted to attend the event. He would at least head out to the plains to do a bit of leveling before the event, but he doubted he would get very far before curiosity got the best of him. And with that, Apollo was off to the Plains to kill him some Frenzied Boars~
╚════════════════════════════════════════════╝
""""
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━◊━━━━━━━━━━━━┓ WORDS IN POST: 2,500 x///xTOTAL WORDS: 2,500 x///xCOL: 1,000 ₡ [+2,050] MISSION STATUS [Collect the Papers! 100%] [Newbie Banquet 000%] ┗━━━━━━━━━━━━◊━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
«Party : None»
➀« Apollo » ➁ ➂ ➃ ➄ ➅
«Inventory Expanded»
_________WEAPONS
___________• 「Beta Long Sword」▪▫ One-Handed Long Sword ______________○Rank: F ______________○Range: Short ______________○Type: Slash ______________○Attack: 10 ______________○Durability: ∞ ______________○Weight: 5 ______________○Level Requirement: 1
___________• «Sword Art Online» Beginner Manual ______________○Rank: F ______________○Contains all basic knowledge needed for the game including, but not limited to: maps, monster data, item catalog.
___________• Beta Starter Cooking Kit ______________○Rank: F ______________○Allows cooking of F Class ingredients and recipes.
___________• Beta Starter Forging Kit ______________○Rank: F ______________○Allows forging and refining of F Class materials, weapons, and equipment.
___________• Beta Starter Fishing Kit ______________○Rank: F ______________○Allows fishing of F Class targets.
___________• Beta Good Luck Charm ______________○Rank: S ______________○A mysterious square metal charm with the kanji for "luck" etched on the surface. Seems to resonate with a subtle energy.
_________MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS
_________HEALING ITEMS
«Skills In Use»
Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:23 am
"I want something to die for, to make it beautiful to live."
Dead on. No miscalculations this time. Luca called it as he saw it, Koyuki was definitely a treasure hunter, and that explained his feminine appearance as well. Luca chuckled at the response Koyuki gave him. The man seemed smart, using real world tactics in a video game. Luca began to wonder just how far that was going to get him. Koyuki took point, and began leading the two through the crowd, headed towards a teleportation gate? "Thank god, if we were going to have to walk to get everywhere in this world, I would have brought my running shoes!" Luca said with a slight chuckle. As the two continued to make their way the crowd, they were suddenly stopped by the voice of a girl. Luca turned as Koyuki did, to see a beautiful young girl with fair skin, brilliant blue eyes, and matching blue hair that seemed longer than normal. If Luca was going to have a nosebleed, now was definitely the time for one, though thanks to this Virtual Reality, it wasn't going to happen. Well, not in this realm anyway. Luca imagined his body, laying on the chair next to his window, with a bloody mess leaking from his nose. "Kawa-!" Luca suddenly slapped his hand over his mouth, quickly stopping himself before he makes any serious mistake.
The girl spoke to the two of them, asking about the event that supposedly was happening. Hm, perhaps Luca had only imagined it? He remembers hearing something about the event, and it seemed that Koyuki knew something about it as well. So Luca couldn't have been imagining it. Koyuki went off explaining the same information that he had told Luca. When all was said and done, the girl asked if she could join the party. Gah! Girls in games! They don't even have to ask! Any guy would roll out the red carpet just to be able to have a girl in their party, and most girls would easily take that to their advantage. Wait, advantage. Luca remembered what Koyuki was saying about how he chose a more feminine appearance because apparently 'Cute faces get you places'. Luca turned another eye to the innocent looking girl. ~Hmm... She could be a guy playing a little girl to gain an advantage! Dam perverts... I'll have to keep my eye on her...~ Luca thought to himself. Without wasting another moment, Luca happily slid his hand down, opening up his player menu. He selected party invite, and invited the girl into his party. What was her name anyway? "As my friend already said, I am Luca. And he is Koyuki, and you are..?" Luca asked questioningly. A sudden announcement flashed on his screen. "Seasons Greetings Player! The Herald of the New Year Event has begun! Please bring your party members to the Teleportation Gate as soon as possible!" Then the message suddenly disappeared. "Gahhh!!!! I can't wait any longer! Tell us on the way! I don't want us to miss the event!" Luca said as he grabbed both Koyuki and Hotaru by the wrists and began sprinting towards the Teleportation Gate, regardless if he was dragging either of them or not. He quickly approached the gate, He threw the two into the gate, and finally leaped in himself. The three disappeared from the Town of Beginnings, and made way for the event.
Ok, as much as I hate doing what I just did, we don't have much time left until the event is over. So sorry for literally dragging your RPC's with mine xD You guys can make one last exiting post, then join me in the Event forum : D
Enchanted Cherubim
Winevy
Violent Fox Crew
Familiar Friend
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Winevy
Shirtless Wife
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Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 4:58 pm
A gracious smile stretched between Hotaru's cheeks at the sincerity of Koyuki's statements and introduction. She shook his hand and retreated back into her default standing position, arms at her side and legs drawn together, meeting at the knees. Under the cloak however, she looked like a pile of cloth with a face and a blue head of hair. It looked rather silly, but Hotaru was all smiles anyway. "Weird. I've just been hanging around in the town, and I still missed it." She said regarding the event announcement, giving a nonchalant shrug. Her head turned to the blonde at Koyuki's mention of a Luca.
This boy's reaction was... slightly different, one could put it. It was nice and great and positive which was good for Hotaru's situation, but she felt like he was potentially hiding information about the girl that she herself didn't even know about. It was just a feeling, she got those all the time about people, so Hotaru shook it off. Her eyes focused to the party invite screen in front of her and confirmed her decision to join. "O-Oh! Right, yeah, my name's Hotaru!" She said as cheerily as she could after remembering that not everyone knew her name like in her own real world. She'd have to get used to introducing herself. Especially as with a name that wasn't really hers. She would get used to it with time, hopefully. "Nice to meet you b--" Her sentence was interrupted by a message flashing up in front of her eyes, the contents telling everyone to get to the teleportation gate. Though startled, she quickly recovered. "Both," she finished, eyes still on the message as it disappeared.
Luca shouted something Hotaru didn't fully hear, and the next thing she knew she was being pulled towards the center of town. The boy's grip on her wrist was firm and sudden and she tripped over her own legs trying to go straight from standing(diagonally, thanks to Luca) to running. The portal gate wasn't too far away fortunately and once there Hotaru hurriedly half-jumped half-fell into the portal, making her way to an unknown destination, not even a little bit informed on what would be happening there.
xxxx Word Count: 2919 + (381 x 1.5 party bonus, 571) = 3490 words
Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 5:23 pm
~~~~~~~Koyuki~~~~~~~~ Treasure Hunting Thief
Koyuki shrugged his shoulders at the girl mentioning missing the announcement. He was in the same predicament after all, he had only just logged in not but a few hours ago and just started his adventure, maybe it had come before they logged in completely? It was always a possibility. "I've been here the whole time as well, as I said I just finished a quest. The quest coincidentally took place here in the town." Koyuki chuckled a bit. Soon after the little conversation the girl would introduce her name to be Hotaru. What a pretty name. Compared to Koyuki, which didn't really seem to have any meaning other than his own last name, but Koyuki would never let that go. Koyuki could only wish he had the creativity of some of the other people. After the introductions were out of the way, a loud ping went off, interrupting Hotaru's words. It was the announcement of the event. Koyuki became a bit confused. how did the players he over heard find out about the event if it was just now being announced? Things were strange, maybe the person he over heard was an admin of sorts? Ah well, all that mattered was getting to the event now. "Please treat us gently." Koyuki said jokingly with a charming smile on his face.
The pleasantries didn't last for long. soon, the once timid and soft spoken Luca broke out of his shell after the announcement and Koyuki felt Luca's hand grasp his wrist. Looking down at his wrist to see Luca gripping him was all he could do before he was literally swept off his feet and pulled through the air, like one would see in a comedy anime, where the person doing the dragging had pinwheels for legs, and the one being dragged looked like a cape flapping through the wind. "Whoa~~~" Koyuki's words seemed to extend with the race to the Gate. Luckily, Koyuki wasn't the flying flag character for long, since they were fairly close to the Gate after all. However, when Luca let go and ran into the gate, Koyuki went flying and missed the gate, but fell onto the ground and did a few rolls before slamming into a wall not too far passed the Gate. "Ah tatata..." Koyuki would say as he got up and rubbed his head with one hand and brushing himself off with the other. "Jeez, what got into that boy? I wonder if it was the sudden appearance of the cute girl?" Koyuki could only chuckle as he made his way into the portal, following his new found team mates.
A party had formed with much more interesting people to explore this new game with. Traveling this land and this world of Aincrad to discover treasures, dungeons, monsters, and much more. She grew slightly excited at this thought as she relaxed in her seat on the lightly tan brown stones of the long stretch of pathway down from the center of the world. She looked around by shifting her eyes to the left and right side of her vision field to see the amount of people around the area. She was still amazed at the amount of players and the colors of the world. Amazing, she thought with a smile and wiggled in her spot. She noticed her name being called by one of the members of her newly formed party named Kaaz. She heard his name as "I am Ultimate Kaaz" and she snickered within her own thoughts and a smirk came across her face. She listened to him talk about wanting to achieve a title within the game, whether or not it actually existed was a different story. She listened to him continue on about the other party member, Tremont, and she nodded to him with a causal smile. She heard him go on about weapon choices and nodded in tune with his words until he started to talk about the rapier that she had choose. She was waiting for him to continue on, whether or not it would be positive was entirely a different story. As she nodded, she watched Kaaz get distracted by a duel with Tremont.
This was a sight to be seen. Two obvious 'champions' were battling to test their skills against one another. She noticed that Tremont allowed the first move in the duel, and thought it was rather cocky of him to allow that, or did he do it on purpose to maybe test the skills of his opponent. Kaaz seemed to be a talkative bunch considering he let his failed plan be reveal by talking about he wanted to judge his opponent's movements and judge their abilities. Azra continue to hear him go on about how he felt very resistant and hesitant to attack Tremont who barely had any armor.
As she watched the battle continue on, she gasped a little to notice the field surrounded them to prevent any interventions.
Azra continued to watch the duel as Kaaz turned almost into a predator watching his prey, circling Tremont to analyze him. She could tell he was counting the different ways to attack Tremont and different elements of his opponent by the prowling around he did. This is the stance of a warrior, thinking before he attacks, she thought, as she went back into her mind to imagine movies and books she spent her time enjoying that described a warrior's life and his antics.
She studied his movements, waiting for him to make his move. Waiting was taking far too long, and Azra was getting severely bored of this duel as Kaaz just continued on with his movements.
Suddenly, she heard a scream drag itself out of Kaaz's mouth and she jumped slightly in her spot, only to moan at the rough stone below her bottom. Quite a scream she studied Kaaz and remembered during character select that there was a skill called Howl. She wondered if this was the skill in question.
The duel was put on hold again, as Kaaz pulled up an announcement about an Event, and started mentioning the event to the two of us. She heard his wishes for the holidays and she scoffed mentally at this notion. She had started to celebrate the idea of the holidays, but it was not a strong suit in her collection of days to remember and put forth the effort to be merry and celebrate.
Azra took the time to navigate her own menu by moving her hand down to bring up the menu in front of her. She noticed the event announcement and smiled. An event? A game wide event it seems. This should be fun, especially since I have a party now, she pondered on the aspect of the event, and looked through the announcement to see that this was a collecting event of some sort. Oh great. Collection… oh…, she looked down to see what was needed to be done to complete this event. Should be simple enough, she stated mentally while making her way back through the menu to close it.
Azra took the time to look up to her party members and study them slightly. She heard Kaaz go on about continuing the duel another time, which seemed to be a reasonable request, until he mentioned Vikings. What is this guy, she gave him a small, concerned look at Kaaz, and relaxed as he stated this party should head off to the teleportation gate to start the Event. This was a reasonable comment, and she smiled, with a pleasant look on her face. Excitement filled her as she thought more about the Event, and brought up the Event information again. "Herald of the New Year", she stated in a low voice, almost just mouthing the title of the Event.
Azra noticed that Tremont had turned his attention to her, and heard him refer to her again as 'Miss Azra'. She noticed his bow, and his half apology for his friend, Kaaz. In response to Tremont's next comment and question, Azra nodded and smiled almost in a smirk. "I would love to join you in the event", she stated firmly, and stood up off the stone ground. Brushing off the dust that had found its way on to her bottom, she took the time to pat the dust off, and then brushed off some dust that had found its way on her breast. Why did I have to make this so big, she moaned slightly in thought, but then she looked at them and blushed a little that no one would really notice unless they were in her face. I love how detail these graphics are…, she thought while making sure she did not have an blood coming from her nose, while slyly making it seem like she was just check for dust.
She did not feel very unusual while talking to Tremont, but could sense a hint of awkwardness from her party member. Is he judging my character she questioned him, while continuing to listen to him, as he offered to walk with her towards the other side. He had his map out, and looked to be finding a path way to get towards the Event area. She could still sense something arise with Tremont, but she paid no mind.
She noticed a few characteristics of him, besides the shirtless appearance of his character. He kept making small glances up to her, and taking deep breaths which completely annoyed her, as she tried to see if he was hinting to her appearance again. She studied him closely, and then jumped a little bit when he stated he would just meet her there without walking with me. He disappeared from her sight to continue on towards the Event area, and then noticed in the distance that he was taking off his armor. What… the , she thought as she turned away, and just walked in the other direction. I'll need to circle around, she thought as she made her way through the alley ways, and down past where Tremont continued to do his business. I'll just find my way, she stated in a whisper, and continued to walk past vendors and players who were seemingly interested in only socializing or the duels. A few were leaving to the teleportation station as well, so she took time to follow them down through the alley ways and back on to the main pathway. She eventually found the teleported and walked in through it to be teleported with her party members, Kaaz and Tremont.
