[IC] ~At the bottom of the Stairs~ An S.A.O RP

[Robo27]

Dire Mountain - Labyrinth level 1 - Floor 1

Kei sheathed his sword into his scabbard silently as the mob monster before him shattered into small virtual polygons. In that time the small loot window had popped up in front of him, he scrolled through it to find that he got the usual loot from the mob of that type「Well I guess that is to be expected seeing as we are still only in the lower levels.」He tapped on the close button for the loot window making it disappear into thin air. In the midst of walking towards the labyrinth entrance Kei began to check his equipment making sure he had what he needed on; assuring that he had what he needed he closed the window and drew his sword from his scabbard getting ready as he walked into the labyrinth entrance.「Well it's the same as it was when I was in here the week before so I shouldn't need to be as cautious as I was」Kei relaxed his shoulders, but kept his sword in hand just in case he was ambushed by any of the mobs within the labyrinth.

Taking his time walking he went back to checking his gear since he had nothing else to do and the labyrinth itself was peaceful, as if someone had already gone through before him clearing all the mobs out and then moving on. 「was hoping to get some extra col from the mobs around here…」He scanned his surroundings after closing the equipment window.「…but it seems that won’t be happening any time soon.」Walking through a rock formed arch he heard a few footsteps coming from his side right away he tensed up and got ready for battle. 「Spoke to soon it seems.」In that moment 3 mob monsters came from his right side surrounding him in a triangle formation. Kei looked around him gave himself a brief second to analyze what he was going to do. Right away the mob that was directly in front of him lunged forward at him, he brought his sword into the appropriate pre-motion, from there the system took the rest over and created a blue after image of a ‘V’ The mob was immediately knocked back and then proceeded to shatter into polygons. Drawing his sword back Kei turned around and faced the other two mobs. Just as the first mob did the other two mobs followed suit and lunged forward at Kei, he did the same as he did before taking care of the last 2 mobs in an instant.

By the end of the battle he scrolled through the loot window to find it was the same as always. Kei sighed slightly. 「That’s to be expected…」

Kei had continued his exploration of the labyrinth seeing if there was something he missed during his first trip in here.

[Toaw]

Richard continued to follow the small group as the man, and her now seemed to be working together. It was surprising to Richard that he didn't say no, but he was either to nice or needed all the help he could get. From the sounds of it they were heading off to a decently dangerous hunting area, but Richard wasn't phased knowing that as long as he was using stealth that he should be fine. As the continued moving along the woman called Richard out knowing she was being followed, but Richard was lucky enough that she didn't know who. Maybe it is best to just to come out, but how did she see me no way her perception is high enough? He then looked down, and noticed a broken twig at the bottom of his foot. "You have to be kidding me" he whispered to himself, and sighed. He jumped out of the trees, landing behind her.

"So what are we looking at?" He joked, surprising both the redheaded man, and the girl he had following. "I'm sorry for following you, but I wanted to say sorry, and I have to say it wasn't very hard to do so either" he lied trying to avoid the fact that the real reason was to make sure she didn't hurt anyone else. It probably isn't the best time to tell her the truth he thought.

[Aeris]

Whimsical - Dire Mountain - Floor 1

"Listen," Whimsical said with a grunt. "If you're going to dramatically respond everything I ask, we won't work well together." The thing is; he didn't like her saying these things. She could basically answer yes and no and boom, they'd be friends and hunt together. The simplier, the better- that was how Whimsical viewed conversations and interactions. He took a time to check his exp bar; woah, he was literally a single monster away from level 16. Probably because of that minotaur he had slain moments ago- it did boost his exp pretty nicely. As she began to climb the hill, he was about to follow after, but something kept him from- the way she turned around with her rapier- naturally, his grip tightened around the axe, but yet, he didn't take it on his hands. His confusion became confused when she started to speak.

The hell was she going about? Did she notice someone? Well... Whimsical made a mental note to increase his perception skills for things like this. He could be easily followed and wouldn't notice until too late with such low perception, after all. Turning himself, he eyed as whoever was following them showed himself. Whimsical couldn't help but roll his eyes with a loud, audible annoyed grunt. Here we go again...

[Nem]

Nathimys sat down, breathing heavily after that recent escapade with the dire wolves.
"Only five monsters, and I'm acting defeated." He said as the effects of his health potion wore off as he reached 5,000 health. He downed another one after equipping it in his left hand, and at that moment, his blade shattered into thousands of tessellated crystals. He looked through his inventory for the ??? object. As expected, it wasn't there. Nathimys kicked a pebble, and it bounced off the walls eight times before dropping to the stone floor. "I am that pissed.." He said, as if counting the amount of times a rock bounced off the walls after kicking it was a natural way to determine anger.
"I seriously don't even.. I need something to hit." He said, walking through the false wall and into the next room. Dire bats descended down, and he destroyed them in a flurry of kicks. A dire wolf ran out from a corridor to his right, and he kicked it against the wall, stomping on it fourteen times before it exploded into crystals. "Real men.. Don't need blades." He said as another wolf jumped at him. He shoved his hand down its snarling throat, grabbed its tongue, and slammed it against the floor and walls until it died as well.
Nathimys, 5,100 hp ---> 4,800 hp. Yellow zone.
"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" He said, finally coming to terms with his anger. He didn't care if he was heard for miles upon miles, he was pissed. And you don't want to fight a pissed Nathimys. A bat descended down, and Nathimys kicked above his head as it swooped down for him, hitting it against the ceiling and it dropped to the floor. He smeared his boot on it, crushing out those tessellated pixels. He trudged into the room the wolf came out of, spotting a vein of ore coming out of the rock. "Unrefined iron." He said coldly. He marked the location mentally, taking all the loose chunks he could find, eventually coming up with 7 iron chunks, enough for two or three bars. "I need at least four to make a sword.. Should have brought a pickaxe." He shook his head, sighing. He walked out of the cave completely, feeling ready to kill a dire boar with just his hands. "Probably not going to happen" He told himself, punting a frog that had come uncomfortably close to him. He watched the green blob arch over a great distance then splat as it hit the ground.
He smiled as it broke into pixels.
"Frog legs - (2)"
"Frog skin - (1)"
"Frog Slime"
Closing the window with a wave of his hand, the now rather pissed Nathimys went off in the same general direction as the spear wielder.

[Sharnid]

Well that was unexpected... I at least thought I'd get her name. Even though it had been a few hours, Jack was still hung up on his previous encounter with the orange cursor bearing woman. He had expected the talk to be longer and more in depth, but nothing ever seems to go as he planned in his head. Her first response had caught hioff guard. How could someone feel no remorse for killing a man? He had managed to keep his composure externally for the entirety of the conversation, but in his mind his thoughts screamed that she meant danger. The last statement she had spoken was a complete contradiction to everything he had been thinking about the woman. Even though she could kill someone without remorse she still wanted me to help others?

This made no sense... did she want to clear the game for personal reasons, did she actually care about the others, or was this "meeting" a trap set for other people. For all he knew she could be playing him, act like an innocent girl that had been defending herself, or killing for pleasure? Woah, woah, slow down Jack, the cursors don't lie. He knew red players were the real danger. Oranges were mainly just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or had committed a minor crime. Either way, he knew he had to go to this "meeting", to help end this game, or to protect countless innocents from dying if it were a trap.

[Shadowcatcher]

Kiyomi let out a long breath she didn't know she'd been holding in. Sheathing her Rapier, she ignored the apologies of the guy she recognized from the town. She shook her head,not understanding why he would follow her way out here. No doubt he was lying about being sorry, she saw it as a waste of time for both of them. Not wanting to start an argument with the fool, she turned and started on her way.

"Would you please, go find someone else to follow. Someone more interesting than me maybe? You see im with big and bad right here, i'm not going to lay a finger on him. Satisfied?" With a glance back at the man from the town, then her red haired companion Kiyomi continued up the hill and went to her items. She healed herself with her last crystal, nearly forgetting she'd been badly injured. She walked faster than before, tierd of getting dragged into pointless conversation.

[Robo27]

After a few encounters with a few more mobs Keisuke had traveled far enough to enter the second level of the labyrinth「Ah here is the entrance to the second level of this labyrinth.」Before entering into the next level he took a look at his gear and then checked to see that he was ready for whatever was going to be up here.「Ok let’s see here health…check…teleport crystals… check…」His thoughts trailed off at that moment as he did his check when he was done he came back to his senses. Checking his surroundings he stepped foot into the next level. Drawing his sword he was cautious like the first day that he logged into this virtual world, making sure to have health and teleport crystals ready for quick use. Not even after two minutes of stepping into the next level Kei was ambushed by a single mob; he made quick work of the mob within seconds. Sheathing his blade, Sasara, he scrolled through the loot list and found that it was all generic loot and nothing worth actually stopping to look at. With a gesture of his hand he waved the loot window closed and continued along the labyrinth.

After a bit more of exploring Kei stopped and decided to take a small rest to inspect the area, to see if there was anything he missed along the way. Beginning to relax Kei had failed to notice the small footsteps that were coming around him. Without a single notice there was a group of 5 mobs that he had never encountered before and they all seemed like a big threat. Kei quickly drew his sword and attempted to jump back but then realized that his back was to a wall.「Well damn it this is a predicament.」He reached into his overcoat pocket and grabbed a teleport crystal but then let it go. A thought ran through his mind at this moment ‘Nope too expensive to be wasting’ He brought his sword up to his shoulder, in that moment the system recognized that he was getting ready to initiate a skill, in turn the blade of the sword started to glow blue as the sword skill was about to be launched. In that same moment the mobs lunged at him one by one. Right as the first monster was going to hit Kei shifted his arm a bit letting the system take over, the blade swiftly made its way right through the middle of the monsters body cutting it in half, the shining blue trail followed closely behind his blade. Within a moment of hesitation Kei activated the next sword skill making contact with the mob that followed right after the first this time the head came cleanly off. Each successive mob met its end but Kei did not come out unscathed, in a matter of five seconds Kei had taken about ten percent damage, it wasn’t much as he was still in the green zone.「Well that turned out better than expected.」The loot window popped up again he did a quick scroll and then closed it right away as there was nothing worth looking at. Sighing lightly Kei went off in the direction he was headed before he had stopped to take a quick break.

[AliceZaru]

SIREN

Sat at a cliff, seeing as the sun sets down towards this, seemingly endless digital world. Her memories flowed through her mind, seemingly at peace.
Her memories seemingly flowed through her mind, success, regrets, doubts, she didn't care. Her eyes were closed, humming songs she had learned as a small
child, she only smiled. A small tear flowed down, sliding through her face then dripping onto the ground, her mouth opening, " Twinkle, twinkle, little star " reminding her of so many memories, looking up as the stars began to apear in the sky. Though this place felt like hell, it was beautiful.

(( If its not night in the current game, then I am just sitting down, thinking of memories ))

[Toaw]

The group seemed to be displeased with Richards comedic entrance, and quickly shrugged him off. The woman told him that the man she was with would be safe around her, and that no one would get hurt, but she didn't realize who he was really worried about. He didn't want her losing the hope, and will to survive, and to only see the evil in the world. Though guilty himself he couldn't stand watching another person act the same way. Suddenly though they had started to walk away no longer minding Richard.

Richard then noticed that the group had started to walk faster, and got slightly irritated. "Hey your not going to be able to get me off your back so easily" he shouted, but noticed that they where still not paying any mind to him. Well this is a bit awkward, well best to catch up to them they aren't moving that fast. Richard started to run using both his agility, and speed to leap carelessly from tree to tree due to no longer caring about getting spotted, and quickly caught up to them. "Hey did you hear what I said?" he shouted again, and decided to continue "If not, I said I'm going to follow you whether you like it or not."

[Aeris]

Whimsical - Dire Mountain - Floor 1

Whimsical was starting to lose his patience. Even after the girl dismissed the boy and started to walk- eventually faster, and so did Whimsical, raising his own pace- the boy continued following them, screaming like an imbecile behind the pair before claiming that he'd follow them whenever they liked it or not. The red-haired barbarian got easily irritated at this, tilting his head to the side, scratching his chin for a moment. As the party-leader, he simply kicked Kiyomi off the party, frowning. It was not like he cared, really- but at this point, he was beginning to see how problematic she was and how problematic she'd make the simple act of grinding or getting some extra EXP.

"Listen, I was truly inclined to help you get some experience- however, it seems your friends won't collaborate, such as this imbecile right there." He cocked his head towards Richard's general direction, grunting, a scowl forming on his face. "I don't want to bring myself problems, as I have no time for that. Sort yourself with these idiots first, then, I will help you. You do have me on your friendlist now, anyway." Beginning to move in the opposite direction now, Whimsical was focused on walking off without interruptions, his patience was really at it's limits. "Ah! And whenever you get more information about the meeting, message me." That was the last thing he said, smashing a crystal between his fingers, appearing at the starting city. He took some of his time to send Titan an informative message, explaining what had happened and telling him about the meeting which could perhaps lead them to the first boss.

[AliceZaru]

SIREN

Humming, humming letting out the tunes from her mind out, as if the gates of songs were finally letting out. Letting out the lyrics she had learned throught out months of training, singing, fighting, I think it was finally time to calm down, she layed down under the stars, closing her eyes once more, letting her mind explore through her memories. Moments later, thinking of memories, she remembered, a group, a powerful group, is going through the dungeons. She smiled a spark of hope was fixing to light.

"You promised you would never
leave me.....where are you now?"

[TheLonePup]

Dire Mountain

May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh, how far you are from home

The soft lyrics drift their way through the valleys of the mountain... It sounded as if the wind itself were singing, gently weaving it's words into the very fabric of the digital world, anybody with a half decent perception would easily be able to hear the voice... Yet where it came from would be more difficult to figure out... The voice echoed from all angles as if there were an entire chorus filling the world...

Darkness has come
Believe and you will find your way
Darkness has fallen
A promise lives within you now

The deep soothing chords of a lute mingles it's way into the chorus, adding a haunting undertone to the soft, obviously female, voice.

May it be the shadows call
Will fly away
May it be your journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun

Atop one of the peaks, a lone figure sits, her long black robes billowing out around her as she gently rocks side to side, her face concealed by the shadow of her hood. Her fingers the only thing visible under the robe. Resting on her lap was the lute that emitted the beautiful notes, her thin fingers dancing along the strings, picking and plucking them in complex patterns.

Darkness has come
Believe and you will find your way
Darkness has fallen
A promise lives within you now

The cloaked figure seems to expand a little, a long sigh echoing out from her as she bows her head and lays the lute on her lap, hands slowly sliding down the string, allowing the last note to continue to ring out, gently getting deeper.

A promise lives within you now

And with that, the voice and music falls silent. Her hands clasp together, fingers interlocking, as they rest on the main body of the lute and she just sits there silently.

"Whelp... time to get back to work.." she sighs softly to herself a short while later as she brings up her inventory screen. Dragging the slider down, she taps a couple more selections, menus, and then the lute finally flashes and vanishes before she rises to her feet.

"This view already unlocked much of the map data for this sector... I guess it's time to move on..." she mumbles to herself as she starts making her way down the peak...

[Shadowcatcher]

Kiyomi - Dire Mountain - Floor 1

As Kiyomi watched her new friend leave, her shoulders dropped slightly. With a sigh she stopped walking and rubbed her head with the palm of her hand. "And here i had just started to enjoy myself a bit." she said looking at the one she was left alone with.

"What do you want from me? We spoke, i yelled at you, you apologized and now everything is fine. What more do you want from me?" she said throwing her hands in the air.

"If you keep frustrating me you'll make me...." she paused and wiped at her eyes. Dammit now he's done it. Calm down Kyomi... she told herself in her head. If she cried now it wouldn't be pretty. Holding back the flood of tears that seemed to be inevitable, she unequipped her armor and went back to her normal clothes. Going farther into a danger zone with no guide or better protection was a stupid idea. She covered her head with her hood and turned to walk back the way she came. Trying not to get too upset about it, shr figured early morning the next day she'd just go to an easier place to level up.

"If you say another word to me, i'll cry. So just...dont." she said, figuring her new buddy would follow her like a lost dog.

[Robo27]

Kei - Dire Mountain - Floor 1

Figuring it was about time to head out from the labyrinth Kei made his way out from the labyrinth coming out to a clearing in Dire Mountain. Kei reached into his overcoat pocket for a second and then the same thought from earlier came to his mind ‘Nope never mind too expensive to be wasting.’ He removed his hand from the inside of his overcoat and started down the path in the clearing. Taking this chance Kei stopped at the top of a hill and sat down slowly sorting his way through his inventory discarding anything that was of no use to him at the moment.

After a short minute of sorting he closed the window and sat back, propping himself up on his two arms and staring up at the sky.「I wonder how long we will be stuck in this world...」He closed his eyes whilst still looking up at the sky not having a care in the world during that time. Pushing himself back up he opened up his equipment inventory and unequipped his armor and equipped his casual wear and then laid back, looking up into the sky.「For it being a virtual world, it sure is realistic, if pictures of both of the worlds were put next to each other I could never tell the difference.」Kei reached his hand out and pretended to grab a hold of the vast sky.

[Toaw]

"Well crying won't do much, I don't plan on letting you walk your path alone" he replied to her with a grim look on his face. "You killed a man who himself was simply trying to get by, and was desperate" he shouted to her, noticing her continue to walk away. His face continued frowning, and he decided to slowly jogged up to her so he could continue. "You thought what you did was right, but in the end who are you to decide who lives, and dies" he continued his train of thought. "In the end if we killed whoever we wish whether or not our reason was just, than we will in the end become the same as they where" his heart started to feel heavy. "People aren't monsters, and neither are you. Whether they have killed or not it isn't your place to decide if they live or die, but for the police outside, and if they never find out then let the people who had killed carry the burden, and not you yourself" he looked down at her face as she kept it cloaked. "And I know that you now have to carry that burden, but you need to listen to me when I say this, you're not a monster, and we can still hope that one day we will get out of this alive." He finished his train of thoughts, and watched her contemplate what to do next.

[AliceZaru]

SIREN

NearDire-Mountain she could her the voice of a woman, soothing tones, of this voice, smilling, humming she stood up and began walking down towards the humngous tower that stood taller than most of the buildings shes seen. Nodding she was ready, ready for anything.

[Shadowcatcher]

Kiyomi - Dire Mountain - Floor 1

Kiyomi turned to him as her tears started to fall. "What are you yelling at me for? Can't you just leave me to my own burdens. You say i cant choose who lives or dies, well then who does!? You expect me to sit around and wait for someone else to stand up and decided? Players kill eachother in droves while you idle fret over one man's life."

Kiyomi furiously rubbed at her eyes, looking away from him then. She struggled for a moment to find the right words in english. "Why would you waste your time coming all the way out here? I know i'm not a monster. The difference between me and all the others, is that i dont get some sick joy from seeing someone die. I hurt, but it dosent matter. I said it before and i'll say it again. I dont care how many i have to kill.... I dont care if one day someone were to kill me for doing what i do, because i would rather die knowing that i saved someone weak and innocent, just as desperate as you and i are to live, than have to live a single day knowing i could have prevented the deaths of many. How do you not feel the same way?"

She crossed her arms and continued to walk. "You go ahead, wait for your police to come and do the dirty work. By the time they arrive i will make sure that every, single, worthless soul is weeded out of this reality. Only the pure will deserve to live...and if what i am doing makes it so i am not one of them...." she looked back at him with sad eyes. "So be it."

[AliceZaru]

SIREN

She walked down the path..that lead towards the Dire-Mountain sighing, finally reaching the entrance, hearing voices from a far. She couldn't calculate how far they where, so she continued to walk on-wards until she reached the group. As she walked, her steps echoed through out the large, tall hallways that seemed endless.
Hearing voices that seemed to be talking about murder, shrugging, not wanting to get thoughts in her head she would continue walking until she reached the people, that were already inside this deadly dungeon

[Aeris]

Whimsical - Blacksmith - Floor 1

Whimsical firstly needed to take care of business; well, the business being the large quantity of money he had from grinding and the need for an upgrade in terms of defense. His armor was nearly breaking and he didn't want to simply repair it, he wanted another set- one he had laid eyes on before, when he was level two. Too bad, at that time, he didn't had enough for a single piece. It took him a few minutes to walk from the place where he teleported to, to the blacksmith's location, a wide grin on his face once he finally got there. The armor was still there, he could see it from the balcony. Waving a hand, he greeted the player with a smirk. The man was not the best blacksmith in the game, needless to say, but he was one of the few players to have a shop setup already.

"It's still there, I see." As he spoke, the man instantly gazed back at the set of armor, frowning slightly.

"It's the best light-leather set I have-- and the most expensive one, you see..." He already said this to dismiss the red-haired man, knowing that he probably wouldn't have enough to pay for it, judging from the last time...

Whimsical's amber eyes scanned through a plethora of different sets of armor. As a two-handed weapon user, it was expected that he'd go towards the protective, but slow plate-mail heavy set. But... he was different- risky, but useful. He was the type of two-handed user who wanted to deal as much damage as possible and move as fast as, say, a rogue. He cocked his head towards the set, counting exact 15,000col from his inventory as a large back materialized into his hands, he placed it into the balcony with a trade invite, selecting the armor he desired so much.

With widen eyes, the man quickly accepted the money, giving Whimsical the armor in return. Instantly, Whimsical changed piece by piece until he was standing in his new set of armor, the only part missing was the helmet, which he didn't put on right now. Bowing his head mockingly, he vaguely waved before moving back, onto the tavern.

The man sat at a random table, raising his hand, "A mug of the best ale you got and a loaf of bread, if you will! Put somethin' tasty inside the bread, please."

---

Meanwhile, Titan had received his message. He paid it little mind and went back to grinding... The burly Spartan was probably having luck in his hunt, at least in terms of experience.

[Robo27]

Kei - Dire Mountain - Floor 1

After laying there for an extended amount of time Kei sat up and as he stood up his Perception picked up some players nearby, since his skill wasn’t high enough he could just barely sense them. Sitting up he stretched out his limbs, let out a small yawn, and then started towards where the other players were.「Maybe I shouldn’t approach them…」He stood there for a second contemplating whether or not to go and meet up with them, without even realizing it Kei had already walked about half way towards the presence of the other people. Before he knew it they were a good few meters from him.「Well I guess my mind is made up them I am in fact going to go and meet up with them.」

He quietly started to approach them, but then stopped for a second as from what he could see from where he was, it probably wasn’t the greatest time to just come up to them. From where he stood he could see that the female figure was not in a good mood rather she seemed to be crying but she was angry. As for the male figure he was standing there staring over at the female.