[IC] Side Quest - Sword Art Online

[KabenSaal]

Nena looked up as another man joined the party, and took offense to his claims that her rat was rotten. So she put her foot down, and crossed her arms.
"Hey! Dingle-berry! My rat isn't rotten, it's fermented. I doubt such an unfratinized kazbar like yourself would know the difference, but there is plenty of difference. I make Rat cake, rat sorbet, rat pudding, and strawberry tart. A diocisian lumpgrad like yourself wouldn't eat them though, so more for more!" Nena finished. Her...'insults' - if they could be called that - were entirely nonsenstical, as if she had taken a lexicographical hammer and bashed some letters together until bits stopped falling off.

[DestinyStar]

ScarletRain
Day 16 - Night - Level 15
@Tracyarmav@BlackPanther

Scarlet found enough momentum in her movements to keep moving forward for the next few hours. The sun turned the desert turf a reddish hue around her as she sliced her way through beetle, scorpion, and the like. Her hair seemed to blend into the environment almost, like a fire shining as brightly as her passionate fury. Even in the darkness, she seemed to glow as her axe glinted in the moon's soft glow. After about three hours, she was burnt out and stopped where she was. Fresh tears rolled silently down her cheeks as she glared toward the dark ground. Damn it all... Those damn old geezers and their damn opinions and their damn big mouths...! She was frustrated, but by this point her temperament had cooled down into pure exhaustion. After all, she'd been out here fighting most of the day. Her stomach ached with hunger, and now she realized it would be a good five or six hours to reach Bull's Run, again. Not only that, but she'd have to fight through hoards of monsters that she had cleared to get here.

The gorge seemed to run on forever as she pushed forward. Why were things so far apart in this game? It was convenient being to teleport in other games - Scarlet hoped they would have the opportunity to do so later as they progressed in SAO. For now though, she decided to take a break before the monsters in this area respawned. Sniffling, she dug her axe into the hard ground and sat leaning against it, holding her knees to her chest. It was strangely cold out here at night, though not surprisingly she was still extremely parched. It was still a dry landscape, after all. After taking a small drink of water from her inventory, Scarlet buried her face into her knees in an effort to stop the tears. Crying is useless... After all, nobody ever came to her aid when she cried. All those times she cried alone in her bedroom, nobody even knew. Or they didn't care.

However, just as Scarlet was starting to feel that same biting loneliness from the previous evening creep up on her, she heard a noise in the distance. Her head immediately perked up, alert. Now that I think about it... Where am I...? She had barely looked at where she was going as she blasted her way through here. You could say it was almost like she had been throwing a tantrum, but this time an adult wasn't around to stop her so she kept going until she got tired. In a way. Now she knew she was deep into the gorge, but were there any closer towns? Or maybe... maybe she could reach that hidden dungeon she'd heard rumors about? I'm almost level 16, after that... That's a pretty high level compared to a lot of people. I could probably give it a shot... If there was one thing she was, it was confident. Even in a game like this, she knew how to hone her abilities and had done so well. I don't have much food left on me... But I can't imagine a dungeon being too far from a town. Maybe I could finish the dungeon and then head toward the town... I'd be the first one there. The thrill of it kind of excited her. One more adventure for the night to take my mind off of everything.

Feeling a bit better, Scarlet wiped the tears away and leapt to her feet. Just as she was about to move forward though, her heart sunk. That's right... It's said that you gotta travel two or three days, at least, to reach the dungeon... Well that was a bummer. What would she do, now? Guess I'll just have to make it back to Bull's Run. I can't set up camp out here by myself. Suddenly, she heard the noise again, this time a bit louder. What... What is that? She was alert once more as she picked up her axe to squint into the darkness. Monsters...?

Out of nowhere, a huge gush of wind seemed to burst up from the ground, swirling dirt and rocks around as it slammed into Scarlet's petite frame. A gasp instantly escaped her lips as she clung to her axe, attempting to stay grounded with it. However, the dirt quickly dislodged the axe from the ground and the tornado-like gusts carried her up into the air. Her heart raced with fear as she yelped, spinning and thrashing through space. She couldn't tell up from down anymore, and her body became scratched and bruised as the rocks hit her at the same painful speed of the wind. It wasn't by much, but her HP was declining bit by bit. I... It hurts...!

Suddenly, the wind stopped, as if turned off by a switch, and Scarlet felt herself falling through darkness. It was hard to see anything around her, especially as disoriented as she was. Before she knew it her body was crashing into hard rock. It didn't stop, though. The momentum continued as she tossed and rolled, her HP continuing to decline bit by bit as she fell into the chasm of unknown terrors. Her body ached as sharp rocks dug into her ribs, scraped her knees, and such. Flying dirt blinded her eyes even more, and all she could find the will to do was scream with pain. It hurts...! It hurts! A game wasn't supposed to hurt. Games weren't supposed to be frightening (at least not the ones that she enjoyed). Games weren't supposed to be lonely. Games weren't supposed to be able to kill you.

Everything ended as quickly as it begun - in an instant. She felt something sharp jab her in the eye, then something warm followed... and then a cold, hard surface blocked her path. Everything was even darker than before, and she groaned, trying to get a grip on what had happened. The area reeked. Everything ached. What was that...? A sort of game defense system...? It made sense. Some games set up barriers for when you wandered too far toward the edge of the designated player-allowed areas. Usually anything past the barrier was undeveloped or non-existent. In her panic, that was all Scarlet could think that possibly was. Even so, she was in bad shape. Her body felt bruised, scraped, and mangled. Thankfully, her HP was only in the yellow. But where was she?

A sharp pain rushed to the right side of her head as she tried to open her eyes, and she let out an involuntary scream. "Aagh!!!" Her hand immediately reached for her eye, which was covered in some sort of warm liquid. Blood... Fear gripped her as she realized that a rock had actually punctured her eye. Blood covered half of her face, dripping through her fingers before evaporating into pixels. Oh... Oh my god... Although she was afraid, she knew that she needed to know where she was in case monsters were around. So Scarlet carefully opened her left eye to scan the area around her. No monsters. But she did see two dark shadows against the moonlight, along with another small dark shadow. They seemed to have noticed her. Something in her chest panicked. M-Monsters... Her body ached too much to move, though. Fear shook her from head to toe as she struggled to sit up, only to fall over and groan, once more. That cocky teenage confidence from before had now shriveled into the fear and desperation of a child. S-Someone... Help...

[DestinyStar]

Cinera
Day 17 - Morning - Lvl 13
@PyroDash888@Zelosse

Cinera practically jumped 10 feet into the air at the sound of someone shouting. She hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep, much less that anyone would make that kind of noise so late at night... or early in the morning. Was it daytime, now? Sunlight shone through the light curtains, making her squint as her eyes adjusted to the newfound brightness of the room. Her and Delcastle hadn't gotten up from the floor last night, and her back ached from the hard surface of the floor. She did notice that she'd actually readjusted during the night to sleep with her head in his lap, and it made her a bit embarrassed, but now wasn't the time for things like that. What was important now was that Sapphira was awake, and she didn't seem to be doing well.

She was on her feet in an instant, a bit fearful at Sapphira's initial threatening behavior and posture. Cinera's mouth just gaped open as she watched the terror in her friend's eyes. Delcastle stayed silent as well, before she seemed to realize who they were. It was a briefly awkward moment, to say the least. "S... Sapphira..." She took a small, careful step toward the broken figure, not wanting to scare her anymore than she was. Her voice was soft, and caring, trying to be as soothing as possible, but yet there were tears running down her cheeks. Fear or relief, Cinera couldn't tell... Probably both. "It's okay... You're... Y-You're safe..." Slowly, she made her way toward her friend, until she could kneel down right in front of her.

In a time like this, she didn't know what else to say. Her eyes glanced back at Delcastle, who seemed to have a painful look in his eye. She had been so strong earlier; was she really acting like this because of a monster? Cinera got a nasty feeling in her gut, and she knew that Delcastle had caught onto something she hadn't - his face said it all. And it frightened her. What did she mean by 'Haven't you done enough'...? She was lost, and he wasn't saying anything. What should she do? How could she console her friend? Silently, her hand reached for one of the potions as she turned to gently take Sapphira's hand in her own. Very softly, she placed the bottle into her palm and held both of her hands with her own.

"Drink this... Please... Your HP is extremely low..." That was all she could think to say as she now gazed upon her scratched and broken skin, seeing her wrecked fur and bloody body. The tears were almost involuntary as this nasty feeling wouldn't go away. Her words were stopped as she suddenly lunged forward, pulling Sapphira's small frame close to her own in a firm (but not tight) hug. "I-I'm so glad you're safe...!" She knew this wasn't the time or place, but Cinera couldn't help but to cry. It had almost given her a heart attack to see her like that in the dark. She really wanted to ask what had happened to her, but she didn't have the words. Cinera was just thankful that she wasn't dead. She was thankful her good friend had woken up. Thank God... Thank God...!

[pockets]

Mai'lo shrugged. "Well enough I suppose. Hooked up with the world walkers that same day, actually. Del and his brother are a little weird but they're good people. And they're sure efficient." He shrugged again, one shoulder lifting slightly before dropping back down.

He stood, pushing his chair back with a loud rattling noise as the feet scrapped across the wooden floor. "I'm gonna head out and see what kind of trouble I can scare up," he said. "I'll probably be seeing you around a lot more. Del castle tends to get the group together as often as possible to farm experience and loot. We should be heading out looking for some ore or something in the next day or two as I understand it."

[Zelosse]

-Indominus-
Day 16 / Nighttime / LVL 16

[HP]73%///////-[]

Dom stifled a laugh as the fox girl turned around, completely ignoring him, and made a nonsensical insult for the ages that did the arguementive pair proud. If this turned out well maybe she would be able to join their insane little group but that was a chance for the future. Now wasn't the time to give in to that simple urge to forego a fight and laugh!
Dom went in at full power the moment she had turned her back on him. Friendly fight or not, he played to win. Nenas comment ended with Dom's rising fist under her jaw as it connected solid and lifted her from her feet to slam into the ceiling with enough force to crack the stone ever so slightly thus rendering the fox girl out for the count. Dom wiped off his hands and frowned at the heap on the ground. No serious damage had been inflicted, just a long stun and momentary unconsciousness from a heavy hit and what could only be presumed to be malnutrition from so long in this cave.

"Come on, Smart. We're leaving. Takin' her with me. Crazy to leave someone stranded in this sad excuse for a grave."

Dom lifted Nena across his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and started off, carrying her up a small cliff to the gorge exit wasn't exactly 'easy' but it was the fastest solution to their problem of escaping what Dom would later refer to as 'the valley of suck'and demanded it be avoided if at all possible. Dom and Smarter set up camp a short distance from the gorge in an open clearing where grassy field met dusty plateau. The small fire crackled brightly with the smell of roasted pork wafting in air, both men angrily grumbling about how everything they cooked smelled great but tasted like dirt.
Nena was wrapped up in Doms spare blanket on the opposite side of the two elderly men.

"I got 50 gold says she wakes up and fights me again. Gotta be upset about what I did but I ain't got time to talk sense into that scenario anymore."

Dom let out a sigh and stared at the sky, hoping Scarlet was having better luck.

====================

-Delcastle-
-Morning / day 17 / LvL 12-

Delcastle had not slept well that night, uncomfortable with the idea of falling asleep with Cinera snoozing on his lap and Sapphira laying in critical condition just a few feet away breathing steadier but still clearly in pain. Whatever had done this had been thorough about it and likely expected her to die on her way back. No evidence. The thought of it cemented his scowl at the cruelty of other players on the first level of the entire game with life or death on the line. How far the proud fell when faced with desperation.

"Fools.."

Delcastle rubbed his eyes as sleep began to take him but the shouts of Sapphira brought him right back awake mere moments later. Despite the threatening posture he could not suppress a smile of relief as the feisty girl was on full guard. Haven't you done enough..? So it was players after all... Cinera was up in a moments notice to console her wounded friend and Delcastle simple stood up to watch with as disarming a smile as possible, arms crossed over his chest as his eyes drooped uncontrollably but his sheer stubborn streak denied the possibility of sleep just yet.
Instead he brought both hands up, empty, infront of him to show he meant no harm and was simply there to watch.

"You were injured. We found you in the town square with a foot in the grave it seemed. Please, eat and drink to your hearts content." Delcastle could not contain a long yawn as his body demanded immediate rest. "When you are feeling better we can discuss your.. recent events. For now, I ask that you rest and recover on World walkers dime until you are feeling better."

His smile was genuine as he once again motioned to the healing potions and food that had been placed at Sapphiras bedside when they had first gotten to the Inn. Delcastle brought up the menu and shot off a quick PM to the other members of the guild to explain his absence both for their meeting and the likely delay of the adventure to the gorge.

INCIDENT LAST NIGHT @ TOWN SQUARE
WW MEMBERS FINE, CIVILIAN FOUND INJURED
GORGE EXPEDITION DELAYED TILL FURTHER NOTICE
APOLOGIES FOR THE ERROR ON MY PART

A separate PM was sent to Tailpin (@haeo)

TAILPIN,
PLEASE FORGIVE MY RUDENESS
BUT WE WILL BE UNABLE TO LEAVE TILL TONIGHT
WOULD YOU PLEASE SEND A SAMPLE OF
"GREASY DOG FUR" AND "POISON FLESH"
TO ME BY MAIL. WILL EXAMINE LATER

Just as his body hit the spare bed his hand traced one final PM to Emporer

DELAYS OCCURED LAST NIGHT
GROUP EXPEDITION TO DUNGEON POSTPONED
WILL RETRY LATER THIS AFTERNOON
APOLOGIES FOR THE WAIT

@destinystar@pockets@sif@Kabensaal@lightbox

[BlackPanther]

@DestinyStar
Ikanus pauses his attempts to get the smell to leave his nose when he hears a scream. He turns, all thoughts of the entrance to the cave forgotten as he spots the girl. He kneels next to Anubis and does rapid hand movements. He then stands and runs to the girl, slowly seeing the extent of her injuries as he gets closer.....shes totally going to think I'm a monster...crap He makes sure his hood is down and skids onto his knees next to her, Anubis running up next to him. He raises his hands. "I am not a monster...you are safe...the canine next to you is my pet." He then slowly visually inspects the extent of her injuries. He quickly opens up his inventory and gets bandages and potions. Once he has what he thinks is sufficient....which might actually be excessive. He opens up a party invite. His eyes then settle on her worry screaming through them. "Please accept these and the invite...." His eyes plead with her, hoping that she will accept so that he can help her. That and if she accepts the party invite then Anubis can help heal her. Anubis wags his tail as if to show that he is friendly.

[Haeo]

@Zelosse

Tailpin
Lvl 11/Day 17/Morning
[HP]100%//////////[]

Well, there had been better mornings. Tailpin awoke to the sound of a pair of private messages arriving, both from his Guild Leader. He was half asleep when he read the guildwide message. Truth be told, he'd forgotten about the meeting while he was hunting yesterday so there was a moment of relief. But that was before he connected the dots back to his own experience.

That blood had to come from somewhere, or someone.

He read the second message. It was thoughtful, especially for the "manager." He pulled up his menu and crafted a message. Attaching items meant it had to go by NPC courier but they were still very fast and they never delivered to the wrong person.

DELCASTLE,
APOLOGIES UNNECESSARY.
EMERGENCIES UNDERSTOOD.
SCHEDULE CHANGE NOTED.
REQUESTED ITEMS ENCLOSED.
REPORT POSSIBLY RELEVANT TO INCIDENT:
BLOOD TRAIL FOUND IN SQUARE, I FOLLOWED IT TO A ROOM ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE INN, THIRD DOOR ON THE LEFT. TRAIL HAD LIMITED PERSISTENCE AND VANISHED AFTER A PERIOD OF TIME. SOURCE UNIDENTIFIED. TIME WHEN TRAIL WAS CREATED UNKNOWN. INFORMATION VALUE = UNCERTAIN.
PERSONAL QUERY (RESPONSE OPTIONAL): WHO WAS HURT? WHAT KIND OF INJURIES INFLICTED THAT WERE NOT POTION HEALABLE? DID THEY BLEED?

With the message complete, Tailpin selected the two items and attached them to the message. The menu closed and a small brown box manifested in a dim light in the palm of his hand. He roused himself fully, went downstairs, found a courier outside the front door of the inn and paid the small fee for delivery. The male NPC politely thanked Tailpin for his patronage and then went... back inside the inn and up the stairs.

There was a sinking feeling in the archer's gut as he sat on a bench facing the stairs and ordered breakfast. Thus, he waited. He wasn't sure if he would get a reply or spot Delcastle. If he didn't, then he had a different kind of training in mind for today. Raw experience would only counter monsters. He needed to be able to fight smarter than everyone else, even if he ended up isolated. If this game included a blood trail then tracking might be possible. He would have to try and see if he could develop a tracking skill somehow.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Smarter'n'me
Lvl 15/Day 16/Night
[HP]100%//////////[]

And... the fight ended with a rat-spit sucker punch. Smarter'n'me wasn't that disappointed though. It would have sucked if the crazy had had a fair fight and died. Well, crazy doesn't exactly get fair, now does it. The trip to the campsite was easy enough for the spry jumper and he actually started setting up before his laden companion arrived. A short time later they were sitting beside a fire and seasoning the pork with their usual flavor of grousing. Sure it always tasted like dirt and it always smelled awesome. Maybe the two of them had both just dealt with too much bull for things to taste better.

"Sure, I'll throw fifty away on that." He said smartly in response to Dom, taking a moment to turn the pork. "Not like either of us are really poor, right?" He knew well enough that for them to both get to their current strength they had to have accumulated a certain amount of extra coin. "This little miss might clean up nice but she's got to have that special nutty flavor, right?" He wouldn't admit it out loud, but Smart was tired. He always tended to shift to puns when he got tired.

While Dom's eyes went to the sky, Smart kept his on the girl. Games could never reduce a person to that. They just... weren't supposed to. His eyes got a little darker as he brooded beneath the shadows of his bushy eyebrows.

[Lightbox]

Emperor - Day: 16: Afternoon
"Alright, should be good fun. I'll see ya then" Emperor said to Mai'lo before finishing up and heading out himself. He then headed to a shop, picking up some supplies to work on a recent order. He'd been asked to make someone a simple cloak with a large hood, the sort of thing that was childs play to do however he'd also been asked to put on a rather complex looking guild insignia though he was pretty sure he could manage it easy enough.

Day 16: Late afternoon
Emperor had managed to complete the order fairly quickly and decided to head out to do a small bit of training outside the towns gates. It wasn't long before he managed to come across a pack of two wolves, he checked around to make sure he had a clear escape route should he need it although wolves were pretty fast. He had potions though and they were weaker than he was so he should be fine. He started his assault hard and fast, holding his blade over his shoulder and activating the Reaver sword skill sending his dashing through one of the wolves, shattering it apart. He then follows up with a quick slash to the other wolf managing to get a critical and wound it badly. The wolf recoiled before lunging at him, Emperor fumbled in side step and fell flat on his face as the wolf sailed over his now prone body. Emperor quickly scrambled up and finished off the wolf.

'That wasn't so hard... I really need to stop worrying so much, low level mobs aren't going to kill me easily anymore' he thought to himself as he sheathed his blade. He'd managed to pick up a pelt from the wolves which would probably come in useful later.

He then continued to farm some of the mobs before heading back to an inn.

Day 17: Morning

Emperor awoke to a message from Delcastle and promptly replied 'No worries. Shit happens. Hopefully things will go well later'

@Zelosse

[Ookawa]

Sapphira- Day 17-Morning

The calm, soothing voices of her friends had that same effect on Sapphira. Silently she grabbed the potion offered by Cinera and drank it. When she was about to recline again and lie down, she got surprised by Cinera's hug. "Uhmpf...!" Crying Cinera also made Sapphira bawl as well. But when something brushed against her left ear, Sapphira winced and pulled one hand free to open a menu and letting a mirror materialize in her hand.
"My ear!", she yowled. "It's... it's completely damaged! Split!" With that realization, Sapphira started to cry like mad, pressing her face into Cinera's shoulder while mumbling into her "They split my ear in two..., those bastards..."

A bit later, she had reasonably calmed down and started to tell them both what happened, how she got targeted by "Glitch Fixers", as they called themselves. They had targeted her store and in less than a week's time, her store was done for and she began the trek to somewhere else where they would not be. But they had followed her, beat her almost unconscious and then enchanted their leader's weapon with a poison, she only now had found out the use of. To injure people permanently and leave scars and marks, like, in Sapphira's care, a split earlobe...

[KabenSaal]

Nena woke up. It was not really a magnificent wake up, like it wasn't really a magnificent go down, but she woke up all the same, and now she was awake. Then, she saw the two people, and threw her fists in the air, in triumph.
"Haha! They told me I was mad to plant Minion Seeds, but they have grown! Who's mad now?!" She demanded, before another side of her thought outloud. "Well, just having the minion seeds doesn't stop you from being mad, just stops you from being mad about this particular thing" the train of surprisingly good logic ran through her head, before she sniffed, and smelled the meat. "Hmmm...." she muttered, grabbing one of the pieces of pork, seemingly ignoring the fact that it was really hot, and bit into it. However, she spat it out and threw it away moments later.
"Minions don't cook, and this is why" she exclaimed, pushing them away from the fire and taking over. Logically, it should not have made any difference, but this was a Game, and games did not run off logic.

[Zelosse]

@KabenSaal

-Indominus-
Day 16 / Nighttime / LVL 16

[HP]100% / / / / / / / / / /[]

Indominus held back a snicker at the incredulity of a 'minion seed' from the obviously still demented fox girl with the rather revealing dress and low neckline, though not terribly interested in the act itself it was still nice to see that the developers had obviously put a lot of time, effort, and emphasis on character models and realistic displays. Amazing what a bunch of home bound computer geeks could do with a gigantic government grant and a ton of free time. Look at the size of this game and know truly what meant to take every detail into consideration.

"Minion seeds? Forget that drivel." Nena made a backhanded comment about his cooking and Doms metaphorical lid flew off. He stood up and brought has full palm in a heavy slap on the fox girls rump with a loud fleshy SMACK. "Mind your words girly, I been cookin' up rocks what kept us alive for years. You don't see his wrinkly bones fallin' apart at the taste."

As he spoke the thought occurred to glance at Smart just to reconfirm, but frowned a little more when he realized the bastard was likely agreeing with Nena on the taste opinion. Granted he had no skill in cooking, ingame or in reality, but neither did snake pants over there.

"You puss filled sack, like you do any better!"

[Tracyarmav]

Day 16, Midnight
Edgar_Walther
@BlackPanther@DestinyStar

The sound of a scream distracted Edgar, and he almost didn't see the Kobold Guard who's attention had also been drawn to the girl as he raced after Ikanus. The guard was approaching slowly, and alone but he wouldn't be far behind Ikanus and Edgar all the same. Edgar changed course, running to intercept the Kobold guard. He couldn't afford to hold back and fight defensively, He'd have to to make the most of what he'd been taught today. He began looking for week points to exploit. In horror Edgar notices that the Kobold guard is ignoring him. Osik! The injured player has aggro on it. Fan-tas-tic! Well Edgar'd known this wan't going to be easy, but maybe he'd get a free hit before everything went snafu.

"Blood, Blast and Blazes!!"

I thrust the spear at the long, relatively unprotected neck, and score a critical hit. Elated I follow through with several smaller skills that can leave the opponent bleeding. Several do, and it looks like I might have this fight in hand quite easily. Then my feet are swept from under me, I'd forgotten about it's tail. The ground knocks the wind out of me, as I have the foresight to keep my shield over me. It's battered several times, while I catch my breath, and I realize that I can't get up without leaving myself vulnerable to attack, which I felt fairly certain would prove lethal for me. Only one thing to do then, I sit up and roll onto my knees, twisting to keep the shield between me and the irate guard.I use the haft of my spear as a steadying brace, to keep the blows on my shield from pushing me over until I could get my knees under me.

Then with a slight shift in shield position, I jab the spear up into the Kobold's belly, scoring another critical hit. Even as the Kobold finally connect with me directly, whipping his morning-star up and over my shield, and down again onto my helm. For a sizable chunk of health, I might be able to take three or four more hits, but then I'd be done. I should have done more grinding before coming out here... Slamming my shield forward to create some distance, I stagger to my feet and step back, just out of it's tail's reach. Unfortunately my spear was still lodged in it's belly, so I rapidly puled a small ax from my inventory, and brace for the coming follow up attack. It lands, and I strike low, but miss, it's legs are to far back for me to reach. I side step, turning again to keep facing the koblod as it strikes again, and I lash out at a shoulder... I must have scored another critical hit, because I severed the arm, not hesitating I strike again, knowing that I'll need to finish this now. Shield bash, strike, strike, dodge back, charge in with another shield bash, and basic skill. Suddenly I was in the middle of a cloud of exploding shards, startled I stumble back, falling to the ground again. Sitting up I look around quickly, and see Ikanus kneeling over the injured player, and the other guard holding to it's post.

With a sigh of relief I collect my loot and spear before shambling over to the Injured player, seeing it's a girl, and flop down next her, maybe a tad to close for personal comfort, but I'm asleep before I hit the ground. Today had drained me more than I had realized, and with all the temporary stat boosts wearing off, it was more than I could do to stay awake of my own accord.

[Haeo]

@Zelosse@KabenSaal

Smarter'n'me
Lvl 15/Day 16/Night
[HP]100%//////////[]

Smarter'n'me just sat through the bustle of the girl waking up. He had to repress a sudden urge to smirk when she dissed Dom's cooking but then barked out a laugh when she got her butt tanned. He was actually amused enough by that sight to let Dom's moment of insecurity slide. Though, he had his own take on being from a minion seed and wasn't going to miss out on the fun. After all, he hadn't gotten to either hit her or hit on her yet and the night was wasting.

"If we grew in your minion garden then you must have watered us with the wrong kind of duck blood. We sprouted old and cranky from the start. You need the PH neutral duck blood with the trace bile and added ginseng." He was trying to divert the conversation away from the cooking issue since he didn't really feel like fighting Dom... again. Besides, the way she was talking sounded kind of fun and mimicking it would probably drive Dom crazy. "You should try stuffing eel livers with braided snake sausage. Then you slow roast it over ice on a hot day and pickle it."

By the end, he was smiling in the way he had when he was being an absolutely cruel man. He did not wear that smile often. He had learned that smile in college. Dom would know well that it was never a good sign.

[KabenSaal]

Nenatalev didn't so much as blink when she got slapped on the ass, engrossed in the cooking. Eventually, she pulled it back out of the fire, and offered it to her minions.
"Apparently, the game lets me cook better than minions. I guess the guy who made this was a minionthrope or something" she said, before looking to the second minion man, who blathered about lots of strange things. Like, duck blood being used to grow seeds. And, some minion cuisine that sounded horrible.
"Are you ok? Do you have brain fever?" She asked, placing a hand on his head. "You are speaking all strange. Maybe it's the dirt food. Eat" She said, pushing the boar into his hands more. It wouldn't be dramatically better, but would taste more like food, and less like dirt.

[DestinyStar]

Cinera
Day 17 - Morning - Lvl 13
@Zelosse@PyroDash888

Cinera found it hard to control the crying as she held her friend. Now they were both crying and holding each other, like a lost mother and child who had just been reunited. There was fear, there was relief, and there was mourning. Mostly for the scar inflicted upon Sapphira's ear. The whole thing was puzzling, and Cinera felt her heart ache at her cries of anguish. She knew that Sapphira really valued her ears and tail, and that the character design was also good for her business. Without them, she looked ragged and beaten down. They had all assumed those would heal once Sapphira drank a potion, but much to their surprise the scars remained even as the blood disappeared.

"How... How could this happen?" Cinera reached up and gingerly touched the cut ear, seeing that the skin had been sealed up even though the ear was split. This was starting to feel even less like a game than it had, before. It was even worse that actual players - real life people - had cruelly done this to her friend. Why would somebody want to do that to another person? She took Sapphira's hand in her own as she sat beside her, keeping her arm protectively around her small, and now seemingly frail, shoulders. "Why would these 'Glitch Fixers' be after you...?" She asked gently, glancing worriedly at Delcastle. Even he was fading fast, as it was now morning. It seemed that he had not slept at all in the night. They certainly weren't in any condition to go exploring today, so she was relieved when he sent out the PM to the rest of the guild. Maybe now wasn't the time to discuss all of this. Sapphira was distraught, and Delcastle was all but half-asleep.

Gently, she turned to Sapphira and placed a hand on one shoulder, using her other to wipe away her friend's tears. "Well, whatever the case, you're safe now. We can talk about it once you're feeling better. For now, we should all probably just rest. You should eat something too, Sapphira." Cinera reached over to grab the tray of food Delcastle had brought and gave it to her friend. "Here. Eat as much as you want. We're not going to leave your side until we figure this out, okay? So don't worry." A bright, comforting smile crossed her face before she turned to Delcastle. "And you." She stood and put one hand on her hip, completely giving into her maternal instincts with these two. "You've been nothing but business for days, now. You barely even gave yourself a chance to relax, yesterday. You need to stay out of your inbox and get some sleep." She gave him an awkwardly stern look, feeling weird telling him what to do, but deep down she was honestly concerned. It wasn't healthy to push yourself too hard. He might be the guild leader, but he didn't need to feel like he needed to do everything by himself. I'm here, too... I can at least take care of this, right...?

---

ScarletRain
Day 16 - Midnight - Lvl 15
@BlackPanther@Tracyarmav

Fuck... Fuck!!! Scarlet sees the shadows sort of jolt as they spot her, and two of them immediately began to move toward her. Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest as she panicked and scrambled, trying to get away before the monsters reached her. The dog-like creature seemed as if it would attack her, and she whimpered in her helplessness. All she could do was flail about, grasping at dirt and rocks in a struggle to at least crawl away, but anytime she moved pain shot through her whole body. Blood gushed through the fingers over her eye as tears fell from her good one. I-I don't want to die here...! As the shadows grew closer, she curled up to protect herself as best she could. Her body trembled as she gaped. "G-Grandpa..." She whimpered pathetically, for once sounding like the little child she was.

Just as she braced for an attack, the shadows stopped beside her and came into view. The dog was actually some sort of strange creature - she couldn't quite place what it was - and the other figure was some sort of masked person. Players... They're players... Tears of pain and relief continued to fall from her eyes as she gazed upon these new faces. As frightened as she was in this moment, they seemed kind enough. It was just difficult to focus on anything with her whole body screaming in pain. "H-Help me..." She sobbed, now reaching both hands to cover the bloody mess on her face. It felt like her face would fall apart if she didn't hold it together. Her face was pale, with strands of red hair tangled and crusted with blood that had already dried. Her body was mangled and scratched from the rocks and covered with dirt. All in all, she was an absolute mess. A frightened, beaten-down mess. Even with her HP at almost half, she was surprised at how painful this felt. It's just a game. It's just a game...!

She saw the window for the party invite and trade pop up, but she had a hard time selecting them. Her vision was blurred and her body wouldn't stop shaking in anguish. Scarlet could barely hear the words of the person helping her through her own sobs and whimpers. "I-I don't wanna die... P-Please...! P-Please, no... I-It hurts! I-It hurts..." This was a rare moment for her, where she didn't try to hold up appearances. All of her fear was on display, all of the pain made visible to the world. She wanted to go back to her room, back where everything was safe and her grandfather didn't act like her stupid parents. Where she at least had one person behind her.

After some effort, she was able to accept the invite. Her arm dropped back to the ground though as her consciousness began to fade. The loss of blood had been slowly draining her HP, and she had now just barely fallen into the red. The stranger seemed to rush and help her, but her gaze was drawn distantly to the fight behind her. Scarlet saw the creature was aiming for her. Who... are these people...? The other player was injured in this battle and fell beside her. She hadn't ever thought people would risk their lives for her, even if she begged like the helpless child she tried so hard not to be. As the warmth of a healing potion ran through her, she closed her eye and drifted off into darkness.

[BlackPanther]

@Tracyarmav@DestinyStar
Ikanus-midnight

Ikanus looks at both of his now passed out party members and inspects them. He goes through motions as he puts bandages on them...actually wrapping their wounds and also having them used as a healing potion.....along with actually giving them healing potions. Once done he stands back and looks at Anubis he had to get them out of here...but how.

He paces a bit thinking before looking back at his canine and snapping. A few moments later he is scrolling through his stats with a glives hand. He nods then pulls out his teleportation crystal. He gently picks up the girl and puts her on anubis' back. He gently ties her there with what appears to be leather strips. He then picks up Edgar with a grunt. He then activates the crystal taking them back to town.

With another grunt he goes as fast as he can...which isn't very fast...to the inn. Getting a room he manages to get there. Once there he plops Edgar on a bed then untied the girl and puts her on the bed. With a small huff he grabs a pillow and puts it down on the floor. He unequips his scythe then pulls off his cape. He looks at Anubis and point to the girl, causing the canine to hop up on the bed and curl up next to her. Satisfied he lays down on the floor using his cape as a blanket. thank god that loop hole worked

[Tracyarmav]

Day 16, Midmorning
Edgar_Walther
@BlackPanther@DestinyStar

The sun was up, and the birds were singing, but I was so warm and cozy in my bed I didn't want to get up yet. I'd had a nasty dream last night, and I didn't want to face the gruesome reality of the death game yet. I roll over and pull the blanket over my head, blocking out the morning light as snuggle closer to the ... warm soft... that not a blanket.... fumbling about in my rather groggy and only reluctantly waking mental state, I push at the bit closest to my head, and feel warm smooth skin under linen bandages, and hair that isn't mine. Finally it all clicks.

Yelping in surprise I jump out of bed, or at least that was my intent. The end result is rather different unfortunately. Still wrapped in the blanket I fall out of bed and onto another body. That of our rescuer and healer, and startled by his sudden appearance I try to scramble away again and end up hitting my head rather squarely on the chest at the foot of the bed. Dazed, with one foot still tangled in the covers, and suddenly reminded of pain, my other wounds chime in their own echoes discomfort, though really I should feel much worse than I do, I lay still on the floor and come to the ever so belated conclusion that last night hadn't been just a nightmare after all. Then I realize I'd just made a fool of myself after having slept with a girl for the first time, even thought this really didn't count since we were both still in our armor from the night before... I'm an idiot all right. Oh well, she's probably already got a guy anyway, so maybe I'm better off over reacting... okay maybe not so much on the overreacting bit.

"Morning... I'ma go back to sleep now."

Edgar Walther kicked his foot out of the blanket and rolled under the bed where it was cool and dark, and propped his head on an arm, facing the wall. His face was a wonderful shade of scarlet as he considered just how close he'd come to doing something inappropriate with a complete stranger. His mother was going to kill him when he got home, if this game didn't kill him first.

[DestinyStar]

ScarletRain
Day 17 - Morning - Lvl 15
@Tracyarmav@BlackPanther

Mmm... So warm... Scarlet did not awake easily from the deep unconsciousness she had fallen into. There were no dreams, no images, yet her body felt the weight of a long night's sleep. As she began to break through the haze of her slumber, she felt a heat beside her that was foreign, yet oddly comfortable. It was only when she felt a warmth in an unusual place that she began to realize that she was not somewhere familiar. Her mind slowly awakened as she peeked open one eye, afraid of the bright light that would greet her. Much to her surprise, she was instead met with the face of a very flustered man close to her own. However, by the time her brain understood just what was pressing against her breast, the man disappeared.

Startled, she sat up quickly to see him on the ground and immediately regretted her decision. A stifled scream escaped her lips as she bent over, hugging her arms around her aching body. Nothing was scratched or bruised, but everything ached as if she had just gotten done with a terrible workout. Damn this realistic game! Carefully this time, she sat up and gingerly lowered her arms. An unexpected breeze then caressed her bosom, and she looked down to see most of her clothing had been replaced with bandages. That's right! I got hurt... Her face flushed red at the realization that there were two men in this room. So one of them... One of them must have...

Now Scarlet was on red alert. She immediately leapt from the bed to press herself against the wall, one hand wrapped around her barely-covered chest. Her skirt and gloves remained on, but her stockings, armor, and shirt had been removed to apply the bandages. She was a mess of dirt and tangled hair, and even though she was completely covered by the bandages she did not trust these men. In fact, she didn't trust anyone. Never again. Her gaze darted around for her axe, which she was relieved to see sitting in the corner of the room.

As all of these surprises greeted her, however, something much more astounding came to her attention. The hand she had pressed to the wall slowly dropped as she relaxed out of her tensed state. A look of confusion washed over her expression instead, and she gazed long and hard at the masked man before finally speaking.

"My vision..." Her shaking hand reached up to her right eye as the realization set in. "It's... dark..." Scarlet's heart sank for a single, terrified moment. "I... I can't see out of it... I-I can't see...!!

It was true. Looking at her, you could see all of the scars and wounds were gone with the bandages and potions, but her right eye now appeared duller, as if covered with a milky film rather than shining the beautiful amber color it had been, before. What is this?!?!

[BlackPanther]

@Tracyarmav@DestinyStar

Anubis manages to wake up and avoid being stepped on and rolled on. The canine huffs and hops off the bed. With another huff he looks up at scarlet then trots over to her axe and sits in front of it.

Ikanus however, gets stepped on which wakes him up a bit...what wakes him up fully is scarlet yelling about her eye. He sits up and puts his cape in his inventory. He then slowly stands, without his cape his physique is more noticeable. Once standing he slowly walks over to scarlet and stands right in front of her. He gently used on hand to make her head back and forth. "You suffered eye trauma....the damage to it means that you won't be able to see out of it much like...reality." He takes his hand off of her. "I believe there may be some sort of special potion or something to help get rid of alignments like that.....but I'm not certain" he then glances at her bandages and then his eyes stay firmly on hers. Even as he opens the inventory and produces more bandages. With extreme speed he changes out her bandages. So quickly it's hard to even tell that he changed them quickly. He then steps back. "Well now that you both or somewhat awake....how are you feeling...other then traumatized"

[Tracyarmav]

Day 16, Midmorning
Edgar_Walther
@BlackPanther@DestinyStar

Traumatized just about summed it up. Though it looked like she wouldn't be killing him any time soon for his honest mistake, but she wasn't likely to forget it anytime soon either. Well... smashing first day in town there Edgar, you got your ass kicked and then woke up groping a complete stranger... You do like your entrances but really? Was all that really necessary? What, you think I planned for all this? I just wanted to get some of the iron ore, which I still don't have, so I could advance my smithing skills. Well, that's not going to get done with you hiding under the bed, lets go. Edgar checked the position of feet in the room and crawled out on the far side of the bed, just in case she felt any sudden violent urges... He considered making a bolt for the door and then just pretending none of it had ever happened... but he couldn't bring himself to just up and leave Reaper like that, the man had saved his life a few times over just yesterday. Edgar owed him big time, so he stood slowly and stretched his sore muscles popping a few loose joints. Turning to face the other two players in the room he sheepishly introduced himself.

"Hi, sorry about that. I'm Edgar. And uh, you kinda fell into the party last night. He patched you up awhile I dealt with a ... loose end, and then... actually I don't remember what happened next, until this morning. What did happen out there Reaper?"