Sure enough, her blunt entrée hadn't much endeared Pyotr to the strangers. Despite this, the guy didn't seem put off by it and instead provided some... reasonably good excuses. She still held the belief that they hadn't paid any attention to each other before, but didn't push the point; they both seemed to be reasonable people, but in a world where ganking equated murder it wasn't worth taking risks. The guy clearly knew his shit, but something about his attitude just seemed a bit... cold. Clinical. As though he were still treating this as just a game. Beta tester perhaps, or just trying to rationalise things? Didn't matter, the suspicious eyes from the girl made it clear that Pyotr wouldn't be welcome in the group. Understandable, she supposed. No one wanted to be second guessed by an outsider. 'So... you're telling me that SAO doesn't share XP in parties? Not even quest credit? Then what's the point in partying up at all?' Once again playing solo was looking more and more tempting. The point about being paralysed was fair, but any idiot dumb enough to get into that situation simply hadn't the brains to plan properly; who would want someone like that guarding their backs anyway?

The sensation of mental disconnect slowly grew as they explained themselves and, to their credit and her private relief, didn't attack her. They lacked a certain... efficiency that Pyotr prized in others as much as in herself. Not a character flaw in most cases, but she suspected that they were the sort that would rush forward to sacrifice themselves if a friend was in danger and that was hella dangerous. She spoke slowly, trying to talk in a way that wouldn't come off as hostile. It didn't help that her voice had picked up a gravelly accent from all the Russian. 'Your father wasn't wrong...' Not right either; you should be suspecting fucking everyone. '... and I appreciate the subtle sarcasm. Sarcasm is best humour, teh best lolz. I'm Pyotr. Um... Right then. I apologise for being a bitch, but y'know. Can't help speaking my mind, even if it comes out a jumble of shit.' It occurred to her that neither of them had really swore. Confirmation then that they were nice people aka the sort that got conned and taken advantage of. 'But I am a bitch. Or ass, your pick. Call me what you like.' She lapsed into awkward silence again, unsure of where she was going with this. It wasn't as though she wanted to join a party and even if she did, Pyotr would much prefer to be in the company of other self-serving cynical fucks rather than nice people, but her options weren't great at the moment. 'Uh... I take it you guys wouldn't want a bitch on the team, even temporarily..?' Not the best way to broach the subject, but Pyotr had never pretended to be a great orator. She had considered trying to explain herself a little, but what was there to say? Two days into the game and the best she had achieved was hitting the stack limit on the <<Drunk>> status effect...

"It does share EXP in parties, but that's not why parties are important. It's good to have back up" Suki said with a shrug, looking over to Tatsumi as he said that he had finished collecting the boar requirements for the quest. She looked back over to Yui, and saw that the girl was still holding her own.

Suki looked back to Pyotr, not really liking this girl, but Suki reserved judgement for now. It might just be the fear of the game itself, but Suki didn't think so. Some people were just...unpleasant. Suki might be niave. She might be just an inexperienced girl, protected by her brothers and father, but that didn't mean that she didn't know how people could be jerks.

she narrowed her eyes at the other girl, "Oh, jee, a self claimed bitch on the team? Why wouldn't that be fun?" The girl seemed to want them to be unpleasant as well, but Suki sighed, sarcasm not her strong suit, and said wearily "What do you fight with? do you need any health potions I have a few" she offered.

She wasn't given a chance to answer, as a pack of dire wolves appeared, perhaps drawn to them, or maybe the game was just trying to keep them on their toes. Suki shifted quickly, towards Yui to protect her as she continued to fight with the frenzy Boars, counting the dire wolves as they approach.

"There's 12" She said, wondering if that was an large number for a pack in the game or not, not having a lot of experience with them in the game so far.

Weary acceptance over hostility, now there was a novel approach. In her own distrustful kinda way, Pyotr kinda liked Suki, or at least her attitude. The guy (who's name had flown completely over her head) still worried her though. There didn't seem to be any outright threat to her life, but something about him just wasn't quite kosher. 'Thanks for the offer, but I've got supplies. Two-hander, curved.' She drew her sword and waved it around vaguely, not bothering to pretend it was anything special. 'Just the starter weapon, nothing fancy. The skills aren't bad though; got a charge skill and a nice combo thingamajig.' A growling sound pulled Pyotr from her thoughts and her head jerked up; somewhere in the middle of her answer Suki had actually run off. 'Oit, that ain't ni... oh.' Right, yeah. Pack of wolves, that made sense. Well, kinda convenient, right? At least she had her weapon readied... and maybe her earlier comments had hit home, 'cause there was Suki rushing off to do teamwork things. Pyotr would have given an appreciative nod if it hadn't meant that three of the mobs had chosen her to snack on...

The pack split between them as Pyotr found herself isolated and the three with her name on them closed far too quickly. Shitshitshit, fucking mutts! Rather than set her stance and receive the attack, Pyotr leapt forward to activate <<Ura>>, barging forward into the lead wolf. The sword swung round in a wide upward arc, taking a good two-thirds of the bastard's HP with it; not quite enough. But luckily... Once again her sword glowed a dark green, almost as if she had skipped the after-motion effect, and spun about again to finish the mob. As the first wolf disintegrated, Pyotr found herself grinning like an idiot. 'Hah, think you can fuck with this bitch, yah little pup? Well think again, I'm the one who does the fuckin' around 'ere!' Now all she had to do was rinse and repeat... wait. Dafuq aren't my legs moving..? And then it all came back with a damning crash. The skill she had activated, <<Arc>> allowed her to quickly strike again but left a hideously long after-action pause... More than long enough for that second wolf to Holy fuck, itsteetharehuge! Thrown off her feet and with a fair chunk of her HP missing, Pyotr was finally able to pull herself up. With digital adrenaline pumping through her and no small amount of indignant anger, she glared daggers back at her attacker. 'Oh, I'm gonna skin you nice and slow, cyka...'

It seemed that the new person still misunderstood Umichi a little, but Suki cleared it up, explaining the EXP again. "It's in the guidebook the beta players wrote. Information is very important in these situations, although, it should also be taken with caution." As he explained "where" he got his information from, he realised he had yet to see Ayame fight. Did she finish before he noticed, or was there nothing left for her? he pondered for a moment.

The new girl self-proclaimed to be a bitch. He paused for a moment, hearing her call herself an ass afterwards. Not from Japan I guess? he thought to himself, drawing his blade. "Not quite Suki, 20."he called, turning to his back. Eight more had appeared from behind. "By the way, self-proclaimed bitch, I have no problems with you joining the party, but here's the thing. Do you realise that bitch over here in Japan means slut? You should be more careful with your words depending on where you are." he called out to her, out of earshot for Yui, before preparing.

"Tatsumi, your with me here, Ayame, you help Suki keep the Wolves off Yui and help ..." he paused, remembering he didn't catch her name. In fact, did they even introduce themselves? Well it wasn't the time for it. "The new person to our group."

He had taken up the aggro for all eight Dire Wolves, easily letting Tatsumi be able to pick a few off from behind them. As one came to attack, he sidestepped, slicing through the Dire Wolf with an arching motion. It was quick, but not as fast as a <<Sword Skill>>. Back-dashing, he dodged an attack from a wolf, stabbing another that was behind him, but this one did not die on impact. As a slashing weapon, stab motions seemed to deal less damage, it seemed. Cutting out from the stab wound, he had his back to most of the mob.

The new girl activated sword skill after sword skill. <<Ura>> and then <<Arc>>. A bit of overkill on that. Sword skills strained the mind and body, it is more appropriate to interchange between and only use what was sufficient to kill an enemy, as it would strain the mind and body less, leading to less fatigue, and lower chances of collapse in battle. There was some distance between her and the girl, and he noticed something. She was stuck in the post-motion. Picking up a pebble, he activated <<Single shot>>. The wolf that had attacked her was stopped in the middle of it's second attack. "And that's another reason why you have party members, to help in the post-motion." With a short moment of waiting, the wolves were closing in. They came in from high and low, side stepping, he readied his blade for a simple <<Vertical>>, cutting down on the two wolves. What he didn't notice was the one that had come to attack him as he side stepped.

Registering the attack, although the post-motion was short, he still had to wait for a quick moment. As it wore off, he emergency dive-rolled to the side, but the Dire Wolf still got his leg. Rolling away and standing up, he didn't take any significant damage, but took some nonetheless. Guess I lack the training still he took a mental note for himself.

Suki gave a nod of acknowledgement as Umichi called out that there was 20 dire wolves, eight more showing up. She glanced around at them, before picking off a group of three. Which might have been a bad idea. the wolves seemed to adopt a pack mentality, harrying her from three sides. It took a lot of concentration for her keep watch on all of them, but as soon as she attacked one, the other two leaped in to take a bite out of her.

She muttered under her breath, as she turned to keep an eye on the wolves, looking to her health, she bit her lip, worried now. She swallowed, and feeling like she was failing, she leaped towards the closest wolf, her new raiper flashing in the sun, activating <<Above>> she quickly followed the attack up with <<Rip Ravine>> killing one of the wolves, she gave herself some breathing room, and she kept the remaining two wolves in sight.

She checked her health again, biting her lip. It was in the yellow, and she hoped it wouldn't reach the red, she didn't think she could move fast enough to get a healing potion out. She glanced to the two wolves, assessing their health, before choosing one, and attacking again, but ducking when she felt the other one move. She rolled instead, giving herself a few feet as she then leaped up, and quickly got a health potion out.

Drinking it down, she charged the two wolves, hoping to scatter them. But They stayed their ground, one attacking her. She activated <<Penetrate>>, the rapier skill hitting the wolf through times hard, and like its name, penetrating deeply into the wolf, causing more damage, so that it shattered into a million pieces of shining data. And then she only had one wolf left.

She let out a whoop, pleased with herself.

The Small group got through the quest easily enough, and for the next few days, things seemed to be well. Well, no difficulties arose, but on the fifth day of being stuck in the game, an email was sent to a handful of people, from an unknown sender, that was rather suspicious in nature.

To: Umichi, Pryor, Suki, Tatsumi, Yui, Tsukia Ayame, Fujiwara, Yuki, Jax, Tsukiya

From: ??????????
message:
Hello, Dear ones!

I've been watching you! And i have decided that you are worth my notice. You have proven that you can be somewhat of a challenge, and that would be amusing for me. If you would like to accept this challenge, to beat me, and save the game, I suggest you meet. There's a nice little place in Horunka village, where you may just find something to help you one your way!

Mwahaha

---

Suki had gone to bed late, but had woken up early, climbing the roof to watch the digital sun rise. it was something she enjoyed, and Suki found some peace in watching it. It was...beautiful, and hopeful. And she wondered if somewhere, her family wasn't doing the same.

She also took the time watching the sun to let herself think, to let herself adjust and to stablise herself. Today, she sat on the roof, watching the sun, her knees brought up against her chest, and her arms wrapped around her knees. She was contemplating a few things, when the PM came through.

She read it, uncertain, and a little be worried about it. Something didn't seem quite right about the message, and she almost went to see if any of the others had received it as well, but didn't want to scare Yui off, not wanting to break the progress the timid girl had made, nor did she wish to be alone with Pyror-the woman had a large attitude, and she knew Umichi tended to sleep late.

Still, disturbed by the message, she headed inside, into the common room, waiting to see if any of the others would join her, reading it again, and frowning at the amount of names on the message. She didn't recognise at least half of them.

@Little_ninja@Lennon79@liferusher@YipeeXD@Eklispe@PKMNB0Y@chukklehed

If nothing else, surviving until day five had been a pleasant surprise. Pyotr had originally had fears of her real body starving or dehydrating since the family had been away, but somehow she had made it thus far. Not that she had any complaints of course, on the contrary life had picked up a bit since meeting Suki and co. Despite the lingering bad impression she had left (and received), she had put in some effort to build bridges with the others, if only in terms of not speaking her mind quite so often. Still she wasn't close enough to really open up and so spent most of her free time with the tavern's other patrons. This particular morning she was up fairly early and had spent a good hour inhaling a slap up breakfast while chatting with the NPC barmaids. Even though they had only stock lines and limited responses, Pyotr nevertheless found their company to be quite amusing. 'So then. As a non-human person and a person of colour, how do you react when a player says or does something inappropriate?' The maid smiled with a very life-like expression of awkwardness. 'I'm sorry m'lady, but I don't understand. Would you like to see our wares?' Pyotr changed tack. 'Alright then, how do you feel if someone asks for something that you don't normally sell? Like, uh... like a bed warmer.' Teasing NPCs was a dead-end hobby, but it kept her entertained for the time being. As the poor maid repeated her earlier line, a PM notification popped up on Pyotr's HUD and she waved the girl away dismissively.

Her first reaction after reading the message was confusion; how in the hell had a PM reached her when the sender had gotten her name wrong..? And what has with that name? A GM..? The only GM the players had encountered thus far had been Kayaba himself and something in the tone of the message suggested it wasn't from him. Too... manic, as if a player had accessed a GM console or something. Still, the possibility that Kayaba may have been responsible was all the reason she needed to delete the damn thing and pretend it never happened. The others had received it apparently, along with a few randoms. No doubt it would be discussed once everyone had hauled themselves out of bed. In the meantime she pulled herself up and stretched, about to go wandering when she Suki came in from outside. There was an awkward moment where neither spoke, each still wary of the other, but in the end Pyotr swallowed her pride and gave a friendly wave. 'Morning Princess. I guess you saw that message too, huh?'

Stifling a yawn, Umichi got up from bed. With heavy eyes, he focused on the top of his vision. It was early in the morning. Just a little after 7:30 AM. With Winter beginning, the sun rose a little later each day. It seemed the world of Aincrad had seasons much like Japan. Or at least it seemed like it at the moment. It was the 5th day since they were stuck in SAO, and each night Umichi was up late, training and completing quests. Last night was later than usual, getting only about four hours sleep. Well, it wasn't much different from the low amount of sleep he had in his everyday life. However, it meant that he was most likely a couple of levels ahead of the others, considering how much more fighting he does in his own time. It is not that he is trying to get ahead, but, that he has trouble sleeping in the first place, so why not spend it productively? Other players were out at night to avoid the larger number of people who train and quest during the day.

Stretching out, Umichi approached the window and opened it. He wondered if Suki was on the roof. It seemed like she did it from time to time, if not, all the time. He bathed himself in the artificial/virtual sunlight, while flicking down the menu with his right hand. Equipping his clothes, armor and weapon, he noticed a notification, correction, a message from someone.

To: Umichi, Pryor, Suki, Tatsumi, Yui, Tsukia Ayame, Fujiwara, Yuki, Jax, Tsukiya

From: ??????????
message:
Hello, Dear ones!

I've been watching you! And i have decided that you are worth my notice. You have proven that you can be somewhat of a challenge, and that would be amusing for me. If you would like to accept this challenge, to beat me, and save the game, I suggest you meet. There's a nice little place in Horunka village, where you may just find something to help you one your way!

Mwahaha

Reading the message, he found everything thing ... odd. With what was said, there was only one person who it could of been, given it wasn't just junk mail of sorts. The fact that there is no sender, makes it more likely that it was him. But ... is this really the way he types messages? I can't imagine that he would write this, but ... who else could it be? Someone having access to a console? But how? Where? Would they not have been locked out afterwards? The Cardinal evolves, so it would most likely block it out ... Umichi was deep in thought.

He checked his equipment once more, his stats and skill slots. Everything seemed in order, even having upgraded the <<Single-handed Straight Sword>> weapon skill twice. Although leveling it has slowed since. Most of Umichi's gear had been random drops, with a number of quest rewards. His Anneal Blade being upgraded was letting him take down enemies very easily. He had heard rumors of Horunka Village having hardly any Little Nepents around, due to a number of people trying to get an Anneal Blade. He was lucky to get one before so many people tried to get it. He did try to get it again, but, he had no luck, instead, he had to help a number of people getting caught in the Nepent trap.

After everything was in order, Umichi headed downstairs, to the common room. Seeing that Suki had only entered the room a little before him, he noticed Pyotr was already sitting down. He heard her call out to Suki, 'Morning Princess. I guess you saw that message too, huh?'.

'Morning Suki, Morning Pyotr.' Umichi called out to the two girls. Walking over to the table, he pulled a chair out for Suki, letting her sit first, before pulling his own to sit down. 'I assume you both have read that message?' he asked. 'Well, we can discuss it once the others wake up.' Continuing he opened up his menu and selected Suki, and offered a trade. 'You have still been using that Stinger haven't you? Here I found this rapier called the Entwining Epee last night. It should be better than the Stinger, at least it was when I compared it to one I saw in the shop.' Umichi would sometimes give some of the drops he had found to the other party members, depending on who used what weapon and armor, etc.

Jax woke up to the ringing sound of a PM. He rubbed his eyes with a sigh and opened it surprised that anyone knew him well enough to send a PM, he had played with a group towards the start of this but lost contact after only a day or two. Reading through it he was even more surprised, this was from some sort of villan? Was it some sort of in-game thing? Or was this another player? Regardless the message was tantalizing, the possibility of saving the game at best, at worst an ambush. Interesting, he made his way into the common room still viewing the message, he absent-mindedly sat at a table and waved one of the npc's over to order a meal still thinking about the offer. He couldn't think of anybody having a reason to want to kill him. Mentally shrugging he decided that he would accept the offer and began making his way there after his meal. Then he heard someone discussing a message with two other players. Coincidence? Not likely, Jax checked their names to make sure, yes they were on the PM list. Interesting, he should probably talk to them about it. Meh, maybe if they began leaving, first he was more concerned with his food. His platter quickly arrived and he tore into it listening to the conversation in case it had any relevant information.

Suki saw pyotr already in the inn, surprised to see the other girl awake and already there. She gritted her teeth at the Princess comment, making it seemed like Suki was a spoiled brat, but she didn't say anything, deciding that would only make things worse. Instead, she nodded "yes, that's way I came inside, to see if anyone else had received the message"

She was saved from saying anything more, as Umichi called out, and she let out a soft, relieved breath, smiling as he pulled out a chair for her, sitting down. She liked to he did those things. She nodded again to him, glad to wait for a little while before speaking anyore on the message. She wasn't too sure what to think of it. maybe this is the reason why we are stuck here. What if it wasn't Akihiko Kayaba that caused this? What if something went wrong? she thought to herself, wondering if it was even possible to hack a nerve gear system.

She shook her head, deciding she couldn't think on that, when there were no answers. They wouldl find out. She blinked as Umichi offered her a trade, listening as he spoke, talking about a better Raiper. "Oh, I can't just take that" She said, amazed that he would even offer that to her. "It must cost alot"

Suki knew that he happily gave things to the group for free, but she didn't want to rely on just being given things.

@Little_Ninja@Lennon79

Pyotr sat back as Umichi appeared, giving him a camp little wave as she withdrew a drink from her inventory. She sipped at it as the two of them chatted, away in their own little world... They had some chemistry for sure, even if they didn't seem to realise it yet. It was quite sweet really, in a realfag kinda way. Well, good luck to them, she thought absently as her eyes roved the room in search of distraction. No-one else had dragged themselves out of bed thus far, but there were a couple of other patrons in the inn. Pyotr observed them with bleary half-interest, wondering if she had any "rare" items she could flog off to them at exorbitant rates. Her stock of trade items had grown significantly since joining the party, as together they were capable of much more efficient farming. The others had mostly just sold the junk to town vendors, but Pyotr had made a point of stockpiling almost everything, only selling the truly useless stuff to pay for food and lodgings. Who knew when a hundred boar's tusks might come in handy?

As she was considering the possibility of selling them as a decorative novelty item, she spied another player wolfing his way through a pub breakfast. One eyebrow slowly rose as she evaluated his youthful face and equipment. Obviously he would be the same sort of level as the rest of them, it was only day five after all, but he didn't seem to have any companions... and as they say, opportunity doesn't knock twice. She sauntered over, pasting a game-winning smile across her face. 'Hey there. Can I interest you in some premium, one-of-a-kind trade items?' She sat down across from him before he could react and began laying out items like a shop bazaar. 'Cooked foods, better than the slop you get in here, quality second-hand equipment and enough novelty boar tusks to equip an army of Vikings.' She laid down a small metal plaque with a flourish, emblazoned with the words 'Pyotr's Emporium'. 'Whaddaya say? Should we talk prices?'

@Eklispe

Jax swallowed one last bite of food and looked at items set before him interested. After all his loot had been surprisingly... lack luster. The only thing he had managed to acquire to far was a slightly improved spear. "I don't see why not. I'll pass on the food and boar tusks." after all he had sold far too many of those to want to buy them back. "Now second-hand equipment, just how second hand are we talking here?", the question was slightly pointless, more to open conversation than anything else. Since anything she showed him he would check with his Equipment Appraisal skill anyway. She was obviously a merchant of some kind, apparently of some experience if she could set up shop so easily. "Oh, and my name is Jax."

@Lennon79

Umichi watched Suki deny her the offer. "Oh, I can't just take that" She said, amazed that he would even offer that to her. "It must cost alot"
"That's irrelevant. If you can make use of it, then do so. I don't need money, nor do I need the weapon. So please, take it." he insisted, since he had no use for it. "And if you are insistent that it wouldn't be right, you can just give me something when something good drops that I can use. Ok?"

Calling over a waitress, Umichi ordered some food, asking Suki if she had eaten, "Eaten yet? If not you should order something." Once he ordered, and if Suki ordered, he asked Suki another question. "Seen Ayame, Yui or Tatsumi? They sleeping in or something?"

He saw Pyotr approach someone else who was eatting their meal and tried to sell them things. "Careful Pyotr. You should use a Vendor's carpet when you display stuff. It's invaluable to merchants. Stops people from stealing from you." Once again, he offerred her advice. "Also, could you see if you could sell this for me? Split the shares, 50/50?" Umichi asked her, sending a trade request and showing her a two-handed spear. It was better than a store bought one, so it would sell decently.

'Weapons, armour. Nothing game-breakingly fantastic I'm afraid but nevertheless some quality bits of loot.' Even that was overstating things a bit. Most of the equipment Pyotr had picked up was average at best, but at least it was better than the starter kit. 'As stock stands, I have two swords and a hammer, all one-handed. Some medium armour, slightly scuffed. Um... boots? Yep, light armour boots. Good for keeping them toes warm, eh?' She gave a genuine smile as he introduced himself; potential customers who introduced themselves were generally customers who would want to buy again in the future. 'Pleased to meet ya, Mr Jax. Call me Pyotr. I se-' Before she could continue her spiel, Umichi cut into the conversation from across the room. She tried to conceal her irritation over his sanctimonious comment, knowing full-well that he meant well... Even if he could come across as condescending. 'I'll invest in one soon, don't worry.' Surprisingly he changed tack, offering an item for her to sell. 'Hm, interesting... Haven't seen many spear users around though, might be a challenge to find a buyer. Unless...' She gave Jax a sidelong look, her eyes drifting to the spear slung across his back. 'Now there's a coincidence, eh Jax? Would you be in the market for a new spear with, oh snap, surprisingly high stats...'

Jax looked at his spear, barely better than start gear, he had received a quest from the first town for a better weapon but it had been a marginal upgrade. While his amour had kept pace with his exploration of the game reasonably well his weapon... not so much. Yet he felt a certain attachment to the weapon, after-all he had gotten this far with it. He grinned, "Quite a coincidence indeed. I would be very interested in looking at this spear of yours." The amour he briefly considered but the spear was what really caught his attention.

Of course Jax preferred one handed weapons and from the glance he sneaked at the trade menu it was a two-handed item. Of course if the stats were good enough and the price was right... He held his hand out making it clear he wanted the spear to be handed over so he could look at it, "Of course I won't steal it, I just want a good look at it." Jax hadn't spent much money since the start of the death game since he'd had no reason to; so the small nest egg he had built up should be more than enough to afford it. If not maybe he could work out some sort of debt thing, maybe loan out his services?

Suki reluctantly took the offered weapon, giving Umichi a smile and a "Thanks" She resolved to try and find something that she could give him. She shook her head, "No, I assume they are still asleep. I hope they didn't do anything foolish like go out on their own" She silent as as Umichi offered Pyotr some advice, glancing abot them, to see if there was anyone else a little disturbed about anything. Like the message, but it didn't seem like it, telling her no one here had been invited...to whatever they had been invited to.

She gave a sigh, looking back to Umichi, Pyotr and the customer, thinking she should really start to do something to earn some coin. She wanted to make more potions, but didn't have the money to do so. Maybe she should see about doing more training to get some more item drops, that she could sell.

She frowned, and glanced about again, feeling like something was wrong. Seconds later, shouts echoed throughout the town.

@Eklispe@Lennon79@Little_ninja

"Hopefully." Umichi replied to Suki, solemnly.

"Well, what you do is up to you. Just giving a bit of advice. I'll let you handle the spear okay? 50/50 share is good yeah?" He called out to Pyotr. While doing so, he noticed that Suki was watching, observing their surroundings, before sighing and looking at the conversation between Pyotr, Jax and himself. "Is there something wrong Suki?" Umichi turned to Suki, concerned. She began to frown and glance again.

Umichi felt something ominous was coming, standing up and opening his menu, he checked his equipped skills. <<One-handed Straight Sword>> and <<Acrobatics>> were selected. Shouts could be heard, echoing throughout town. Exactly what is going on? he thought to himself, heading to the door. "Man, not even time for some breakfast." Turning his head, "I'm checking out what's going on, if anyone wants to come, let's go." Leaving no time, Umichi opened the door, and looked outside. From where they were, nothing could be seen, but the shouts could still be heard.

Leaving he turned to face the direction of the shouts and started hastily making his way. Did something happen in a town? In a safe zone? Umichi wondered, making his way towards the shouts.

Cam-Cam

Somewhere in a forestry area with a nearby water source echoed a frustrating groan coming from a childish Cam-Cam, who was hanging upside down a thin tree branch by his legs like some sort of monkey. He held out a hand-sewed beanie in front of his face being unimpressed by how shoddy it was.

"Dang it! I just made this too and it's already badly damaged! It's not fair!" He whined. Nonetheless, he put the beanie back on his head and sat back up on the branch checking out his newly acquired sash that was tied around his waist. "Well, its no tail, but it will have to do for now..." He muttered as he stood up now looking off in the distance. A long part of the sash was left hanging behind him, flowing with the wind each time he moves. "Once I get my sewing level up then I will be able to play with fashion! The boss will be dazzled by my looks that it will have no time to-" He started to say until the branch gave way and caused poor Cam-Cam to come crashing to the ground in a comical fashion. Fortunately, he wasn't too high up and only suffered minimal fall damage upon impact. He laid flat on his back with his arms crossed with his tongue pressing against his cheek and looked straight up at the sky in thought. I wonder where that girl went...I made a hat for her and she disappeared on me...Not to mention what the first boss will be like...

She smiled wryly as she produced the spear in question, balancing the need to look completely trusting of Jax as a potential customer and being ready to tackle him should he try to run. It wasn't easy. 'It's a pretty good spear actually, not that I've used them so far. Average DPS is roughly the same as my two-hander, but it's got some reach on it.' Pyotr's smile remained as she kept an eagle-eyed watch on Jax as he examined the item. Annoying though it was to admit it, Umichi had a point. Her little nameplate only put a moral restriction on perspective buyers; in order to get any real protection, she would have to invest in said mat. Would have been easier if she knew where to buy one though...

It was about then that two things happened concurrently. First off Pyotr felt a cold shiver run down her spine, like someone had pranced inanely across her grave. Secondly, someone started kicking off outside, which Umichi took as an invitation to join in. 'Oh, just leave them be man... They're probably just drunks having a punch-up.' Even as she said it, Pyotr knew that probably wasn't the case. She wouldn't have put it past Kayaba to add events to the game, such as, as a totally objective example, a village being attacked by a horde of rabid mobs. If that were the case, then it had bad implications for the use of towns as safe haven... She turned to the others who hadn't rushed outside. '... I guess we should have a look? Never know, might be someone giving out free beer or something.' She chuckled darkly, stood up. 'Ya dolzhna byt' nastol'ko povezlo...'

Suki didn't hesitate, following after Umichi. Something wasn't quite right, and she just couldn't stand around and not figure out what. She had a disturbing thought, and pushed it away for later, when she could contemplate it fully. Right now, the screams and shouts took her attention, and she followed the sounds to the edge of town, stopping just inside the safe zone, staring wide eyed.

There were people-she didn't know if they were players or towns people, but was sure there was some of both there-being mobbed by what seemed like a sea of monsters. Nepents, wolves and boars were swarming over them, and with horror she realised that the players couldn't get into the safe zone, something had happened and they just seemed to pile up.

"What is this?" She breathed in horror, her suspicions slowly becoming confirmed, she looked to Umichi, terrified, "What do we do?" She wanted to go and help, as she looked back to the horror, and actually took a step forward. [i]You'll be killed! do you want that?{/i] but she wasn't sure if she could live with herself if she didn't do something.

@Lennon79@Little_ninja@Eklispe