Karen was devouring a bread roll, still watching sun rise, whilst Bachus paced up and down, trying to prepare for the boss fight as best as he possibly could. He was sending messages left right and center, trying to form as large a unit as possible. The guild was now a hundred strong, but that wasnt enough to guarantee no deaths against bosses. He slammed his fist into a wall. "Karen... I have to be honest. I dont have hope. How can we do this? Think about playing video games as a child, how many times did it take you to beat the boss without dying?" He had a grave look on his face, before going back to drawing battle plans up. The guild now had its own armour. It was pretty basic, but every member had a set, and it was better than the standard game armour. It was crystal turquoise coloured with a white chest plate.

Karen jumped off the wall. "Don't worry!" He smiled with her eyes shut. "I'll protect you!"

Bachus chuckled. "Yes you will, and I you." He smiled too, before returning to the plans. "Our only chance is to have a plan everyone sticks to, if we cannot unite players together in an ordered fashion, we will perish. What do you think?"

Karen paused. "I would suggest, heavy armoured players take the front row and take on close range combat, whilst quicker and lighter players nip in and out with smaller attacks." He sighed. "It'll take a while, but it's the safest way."

Bachus nodded "I agree. I just wish we knew the boss was before we entered the room."

Cash's eyes shifted from side to side as looked at his party members. Cash and the other had already decided not to get involved with this Bachus guy, but something as big as the floor boss can't be passed up. "It would be impossible to avoid Bachus at this point. I don't have to explain to you guys how much his guild has grown in the last week, players are talking about it left and right. Now that Bachus' guild, possibly the biggest in the game, has found the boss floor, I doubt Bachus will let any random schmuck kill the boss and steal the fame." Cash tried to look as if he didn't care, but this persona obviously didn't leave any impressions. Cash bit into the apple and chewed for a little bit. He talked a little more,"Plush, wed ave to go fruu-" Cash stopped for a moment to swallow his apple and continue talking,"Plus, we'd have to go through Bachus to see Karen. It seems like he made her some sort of authority in the guild. So I've heard..."

Cash deleted the message, and looked at the others. He stood up from the couch and paced over to the window. The view was beautiful, it overlooked a vast lake with pine trees lining the shore beyond it. Cash thought for a moment before turning around and speaking to the others,"I don't know about you guys, but I think we should pay Bachus a visit. Maybe give his guild a hand in defeating the first floor boss." Defeating the floor boss could possibly change the way people can see the game. It may even inspire people to join in the fight for freedom, instead of mindlessly grinding and spending their days between fields and Inns. Cash rolled down his menu and retrieved a teleport crystal. He looked at the others with look of uncertainty. "What do ya think?" Cash asked .

Raven munched on his bun as he considered his response, mulling it over their options at this point. A meeting with Bachus was unavoidable if they were to fight the first boss, but he wasn't about to be muscled into joining a guild he had no interest in joining. He'd been doing his own asking around of others, and some hadn't had kind joinings if the rumor mill was to be believed. Still, Cash had a point about Karen and the information he'd found on about that was more concrete. "I say no to meeting him. I've done digging on the Legion of Light when we haven't been grinding and Karen's the second in command. I was talking to a pair of their guild members," he takes another bite out of his bun, "and they said that he never lets her out of his sight. When I didn't believe it, they showed me their guild member list and sure enough, she's a head honcho. "

He shrugs, taking another bite and keeps chewing for just a minute before continuing. "However, we should help with the boss. I mean, the exp and col alone would get us enough to finally get new weapons and armor, assuming we don't get one of the two when we kill the bastard." Finishing the bun, Raven takes a swig of water. "Screw getting fame, I'd rather be an unsung hero than the guy who the devs target for death to draw this out as long as possible." Raven grimaces as he stands and stretches some before re-equipping his chest piece. "I'm sure we've all heard of the PKers looking for the code."

Faeron shrugged, listening to Raven and Cash discuss about the Legion of Light. Honestly, it was quite ridiculous at how large the guild had become. Almost scary even. She took another bite of her bun, chewing it slowly. According to some rather nasty rumors - players were being forced to join that guild? It was rather another ridiculous thought, but not entirely impossible. Before she could fondly think about being reunited with the shy Karen again, Faeron chocked on her bun. Karen? Second in command? She pounded her chest before grabbing a water bottle. She chugged down the water, setting it down on the table.

"Well, I guess talking with Karen will be hard," she muttered. "Well, yes. We all want to fight in the boss battle so that's good. Plus, grinding all day has been a drag," she said. Cash then equipped a teleportation crystal, looking uncertain. She smiled, taking out her crystal as well. "Leggo," she brightly said, somewhat excited for this new change. She also equipped her armor, taking out her weapon as well. "The code? I sure feel bad for whoever has it. Everyone will be after that person," she laughingly said. "But in all seriousness, I hope the devs will give us a little clue as to who has it."

Ryan looked to the others, getting out his own food to eat. "I agree with Faeron, we should get going, I doubt they'll wait forever, most people who want to go are probably on their way... And lots of games have bosses who lock others out of the arena, we should probably get going soon." He took a bite of the boar meat that he had cooked the night before mostly as practice for cooking. He then proceeded to retrieve his teleport crystal and holding it in the other empty hand as he ate the boar meat with the other. He had become accustomed to this group, so doing things like eating boar meat with his hand didn't really bother him in front of them, especially not considering they were in a game, and nothing was actually messy about it. Despite the realism, there was still the disbelief that allowed him to know it wasn't messy, even if it seemed that way.

Raven yawns a bit before pulling out his own teleportation crystal and looking through the Book of Truth, he looks over the the area the first boss door was in and scratches his head in confusion. "Guys, we've been by that spot a least a dozen times in the last two or three days while grinding. How did we miss that door?" Sure, they were pretty focused on grinding at the time, and not all that attentive to their surroundings short of the monsters, but they'd still been in the area and he at least could remember looking right at the spot the door was in. "Anyways, he said sundown, which isn't for a few hours. We want to rest up for the fight or grind most of the day and rest just a bit before?"

The sun was beginning to lower, and the legion were preparing for battle. Weapons of all kinds were being purchased and handed out. Bachus however, was standing at the boss door with Karen. "It's huge... isnt it?" He grunted. karen nodded. The monster within must be huge, considering the size of the door. Bachus folded his arms and turned around, seeing the camp of legion members behind them. He looked to the sunlight. "I dont think the other players trust the legion Karen. Nor do I think they are coming. It's sundown, and it's just us." he sighed. "We are alone." He dropped his head.

Karen smiled, before placing a hand on his cheek and giving him a peck on the forehead. "We can do this. We aren't alone. Us and the 25 guild members here are enough. that boss wont know what hit it!" Although she spoke a little sense, Bachus couldnt help but feel like they had little hope. He watched his inbox and the sun constantly. He muttered under his breath. "Please, god, help us. We need something... anything that will help us." The sun was about to disappear from the sky.

"Well, grinding can be boring, and I think it's safe to assume wee're all high enough level to take on the floor boss." Cash stopped speaking for a second and looked at the people around him. "We should meet up with the legion..." Cash stopped again, to look at them and then continued, "Of course it's not our only option, but they are probably making a battle plan. A battle plan that we will need to know if we want things to go smoothly and keep the death count as low ass possible." Cash bowed his head, almost ashamed to admit that they need the Legion of Light to do this.

Cash scrolled through his menu's and equipped his gear. He'd acquired a set of robes that had some decent stats when he completed a quest in the town they were in. He hadn't worn it before because he never needed to, what would be the point of damaging his good armour on petty monsters? The dark green robe materialized out of nowhere and softly floated into place as it land on Cash. "I'm going. I really hate to say this, but we need that guild if we want to stay alive during this fight." He held up his shiny pink crystal and announced, "Floor boss door!"

In a spectacular show, Cash's body pixilated and vanished from the room at the Inn. He reappeared just in front of the door to the floor boss. Beside Cash was Karen, and a taller fellow. Beyond them was a small army of people with worried and anxious faces on.[i] That must be Bachus...hmmm[/i, Cash pondered as he looked at Bachus. He turned his attention to Karen and spoke again, "It's nice to see you again..."

Bachus felt the data materialize next to him. karen did not. "EEK!" She jumped up in fright, and clinged to Bachus' head. She then saw who it was. "Oh..." SHe clambered down from a very disgruntled Bachus and straightened out her armour. "Hi..." She murmured, embarrassed. "Did... you guys come to help?" She glanced a smile in Bachus' direction. Bachus' face lit up with a bit of joy. She jumped up cheered. "We can do this!" She made the peace sign with her fingers.

Raven watched Cash disappear and sighed before looking at the others. Faeron had also taken out her own teleport crystal and he nods to her. "Meet you there, Ryan. Teleport, First Floor Boss door." Faeron did the same thing and in a flash of light, we appeared next to cash, geared and ready to go. Looking at the door, he whistles and rests a hand on his sword hilt when he turns to face the others. "Cash, you couldn't have at least waited for the rest of us?" Glancing at Karen, he smiles softly. "Glad to see you're safe." Looking at the group of Bacchus' guild members behind them, he snorts and heads to an area away from them to sit and wait in. Pulling up his menu, he sends a message to Faeron.



Proofreading it and nodding before sending it, he closes the menu and leans against a rock, closing his eyes and waiting.

As Ryan materialized with the others, he glanced at Karen. "Don't forget about that message, Karen..." He turned and walked over to where Raven was waiting. "When exactly do you think we'll be heading in? I'm sure Bacchus will be the one to initiate the battle, but other than that, and the mention of sun-down, we don't have any idea when he's going in, do we?" He glanced towards the other members of their group, ignoring the Legion's, what he would call, raid group. I just hope that if Bacchus really is untrustworthy that he doesn't do anything during this boss fight...

Once Faeron had teleported, she felt a rush of joy go through her. "Karen!" she squealed, giving her a huge hug before letting go. She glanced around; Raven and Ryan were discussing something.. Probably about the boss battle and Bacchus. The spear user cautiously glanced at the huge man and then back to Karen. "Glad to help!" Suddenly a message popped up. She walked a bit away from the Legion of Light members, pulling up the menu.

She frowned, thoughtfully typing out a response.

present

juno had been slaying monsters to build up as much money as he could, to afford new armor, when he finally had enough, he went to the nearest armor shop, finding a white armor set, it was light, with decent defence but allows for high agility, and was a little better than his current armor, so herein, be bought the armor, and equiped it, and took a look at it.

after he finished, he decided that he was ready for the first boss, and activated his crystal, teleporting to the door to the first boss.
"you all didnt think id let you fight this boss without me, did you? haha, just kidding. but anyways, im ready."
*he looked to bachus*
"i trust you,do not let that go to waste."
he faced the others.
" and i believe in a of you, my specialty is quick strikes with high agility, ill hang back and when i get the chance ill do as much damage as i can without being harmed if i can help it. "

A smile stretched across Cash's face as his friends appeared to his side one after another. Some thoughts went through his mind, changing his smile to something of a frown. Cash folded his arms tightly and spun around to Bachus. "What's your plan..." After saying this Cash had to make sure Bachus didn't get the wrong idea, so he added more, "...For the boss. What's your plan for the boss. Having such a large guild, you must have some sort of strategic plan to keep everyone organized." Cash asked. Cash was dead serious when speaking to Bachus. Cash thought Bachus might not be as bad a guy as him and his group previously assumed. He might even be the nicest guy in the world! Regardless of how he acted, Cash kept his serious persona when talking to Bachus. Giving it up now would only result in embarrassment. Cash looked back at Faeron, Ryan and Raven few a second or two, than looked back at Bachus, listening to his words.

Raven looks at Ryan and nods, still lounging against the rock as the sun goes further down. "That about sums it up. But he's got a fairly large group of people there, so he has to announce it so they can all be ready in time. If anything, my guess is that he's going to put the heavy armor in the front to be damage sponges with damage dealers moving in to take advantage of openings presented during the fight." He smiles and looks back at Ryan. "He can do as he wants with his guild, but our group will formulate their own plan to compliment theirs so we minimize on casualties for everyone. And if it looks like any one, including yourself, is gonna die," he locks eyes with Ryan's, making sure he could see them, "you grab them and teleport out. No arguments, OK?"

In the week this group had been together, he'd come to consider them his family in the game, people he'd trust with his life, although he may or may not have started getting a crush on Faeron, something he hadn't even admitted to himself. Drawing the hand-and-a-half blade, the color being a deep red, he rests it across his lap as he reads Faeron's reply and nods to himself.



Once the message was sent, he listened to the new guy go on about his specialty and snorts, leaning back again and closing his eyes. "Plenty of DPS dealers, don't you think Ryan?" Raven hadn't looked real close at the others in the Legion camp, but he guess it was fairly even on their part for damage and tanks. Their party was high damage output. with a single tank, so it was unbalanced in that aspect, but he'd been working on his acrobatics almost non-stop, so he could dodge most attacks with ease, even sponge most of what he couldn't avoid.

Bachus had kept his arms folded. He listened to Cash, before taking an intimidating step forward. Bachus really was a mountain of a man. He suddenly dropped to one knee, his cloak flailing behind, shaking. "You have no idea what it means to the people of this world, the legion, and to me, that you have come in this hour of woe." He looked up, before standing. "Thank you friends." He put a hand on his sword hilt. "Plan. Right." He grumbled. "This past week, my guild has been practicing a strategy which seems sensible for reducing the number of casualties. When the door opens, stronger parry and shield users form a circle around the quicker and damaging players. As soon as we see what we are up against, and parry away any unexpected surprises, we break formation, and spread out, surrounding the boss. At this point, everyone in the legion will be fighting with a partner. They watch each others backs, and distribute potions to their team mate as required." He grunted. "I guess if you guys dont already have a strategy, I would suggest soaking up the bosses attention and damage in whatever way you can. Apart from that, I cannot say much more without knowing what we are up against." He frowned.

Karen accepted the greetings from her friends she met on the first day. Hugging Faeron back, she heard Raven talking to Ryan. "I'm afraid that is quite impossible." He brought out her book of truth. "When did you last check this?" She pointed to the bottom of a page, and read aloud. "'Once entering a boss room, they may not leave until either dead, or the fight finishes.' So basically, you either leave alive, or dead." Under Bachus' guidance this past week, Karen had become quite a level headed girl.

"Right..." Raven sighed and began reevaluating the best approach for their own strategy. There were four of them and that gave them similar options on a smaller scale to what Bacchus's Legion would be doing. But that wasn't what he was after in this fight, he wanted to give them their own approach to everything, including boss battles. Turning to Ryan, he pulls up the battle plan he'd drawn earlier and took off the teleportation spell part. "Right then, Ryan, you might not like my new idea."

Ryan listened to Raven, nodding when hearing about the DPS of the groups. "Everyone wants to kill the enemies before they can hurt anyone... Specifically them, so they go all-out DPS... But they forget that if you have a good tank, then they're the only one that needs to get hurt. Though, I trust I won't be the only one getting hurt." As Raven suggested Ryan take anyone close to death and leave, Ryan shook his head. He was going to say that he'd take the hits if someone looked close to death, rather than lose the tank as well as whoever was injured, but suddenly Karen had interjected with some information that would take the place of his response. "I guess that's that... I'll just take the hits for them. It's my job to be the one who risks death so the others don't have to anyway." He raised an eyebrow as Raven said something about a new idea. "I won't like any idea that includes the risk of me dying, but I prefer it over all of you dying..."

Cash was taken back by the attitude of Bachus. He seemed loyal to his legion, and by the way he spoke, also very grateful. Bachus spilled his boss plan on Cash, giving Cash slight idea of what Bachus was planning on doing with his guild. I guess this is the best plan you can make when knowing little to nothing about the boss...What worries me is the boss's special..every boss has a special, right?, Cash thought to himself as he looked Bachus in the eye. "Thank you..." Cash said hesitantly as he slowly turned his back on Bachus, keeping an eye on him until Bacchus was out of his peripherals. He walked over to Ryan, Raven and Karen. Hearing the last little bit of what Ryan said, Cash thought it appropriate to chime in. Cash didn't leave out anything when telling the others what Bachus's plan was. Cash even added some thoughts of his own about potions and Bachus' guild defense. "Did you guys come up with a plan?" Cash pondered.

Cash looked at Karen; Slightly shorter than he was, but her guild armour made it seem like she was more muscular than him. Cash ignored the fact by looking at others in the legion. All the people who were extremely thin looked normal with the legions guild armour on, thankfully that was Cash looked a little bigger than that. "About our defence...." Cash stated, regarding Ryan's comment about protecting others,"I couldn't live with myself if I agreed to letting you soak up all the damage and ending up dead." Cash paused for a second to take in a small breath, he then added, "I can try getting the Boss' attention then evading his attacks. My sprint skill increased a lot during our grinding, so I think I can help take some hits off of you Ryan." Cash suggested as scratched the back of his head.

IC: A goblin growled, drawing his sword, the rest of his small group destroyed.

Haunt smirked, spinning his spear in one hand and planting the non-spiked end in the ground. The goblin rushed him, yelling and swinging his blade. Aaron ducked, aiming Fury at the creature's stomach-

And missed, the sword nicking his ear as he rolled out of the way quickly, Aaron's lips opening in a cry of pain as blood started to trickle down the side of his face.

Notes to self: Don't underestimate enemies. Sleep more. All the training in the world is no good if you're too tired to use it.

He shook off the pain, spinning and aiming Fury at the monster, spearing him through the chest before twisting the weapon up and slamming the back end into the ground again, impaling the goblin further before it dissipated into digital dust.

New message.

***

"I can help."

Aaron walked in behind Cash and the others, Fury holstered across his back, hands dangling at his sides. His ear (while healed) hadn't regained the chunk of flesh that had been cut out. Damn realism.

"I'm accustomed to fighting at the front, and my armor type means I can move faster and dodge easier."