Goldenflame27

Far From Home

Jason took Kazaro’s chastisement calmly and silently. The man had a valid point, Jason really didn’t have any sway over Nero and Suto. It wasn’t his place to interfere in their squabble, and was rightly called out for it. Jason felt a small surge of anger when Kazaro ridiculed his blame of Kayaba for all the deaths, but he shoved it down and focused on the task at hand. He had said his peace, now they could all get on with clearing this Tower. Jason nodded his acceptance with what Kazaro had said and moved over to join his Lady for the final floor. As he strode over he saw that she was already busy talking with Kimi and stopped short so he could listen in.

Alphard had turned when she heard her name and found Kimi standing before her, back straight and confident. Damn, she thought, this girl’s got guts. Here we are, complaining about ourselves, when this little kid is right out there with us, kicking ass just as well as any of the rest of us. “What’s up, Kimi,” Alphard asked, resting her armored forearms on her tower shield. Kimi gave her request, never faltering once, and then fell silent. Alphard could tell that she was clearly expecting a response immediately, but the tall girl truly didn’t know what to say. She let out a gusty sigh. Well, I guess the truth will just have to do…

“Well Kimi- may I call you Kimi?- you’ve caught me rather unawares by your request, I’ll admit. But it just so happens that what you are asking is also pretty relevant right now. You see, Jason and I were just talking about whether or not we could have more people join us before entering this Tower. He and I are approaching the limit of what we can do alone, so accepting another team member would be rather prudent. The issue, however, is the danger that we would be putting a new teammate in.” Before Kimi could object, Alphard charged on, “Now I know that you can handle yourself, you are a clearer after all, but Jason and I have been- and will continue- taking many of the hardest missions of each levels first. And we usually do it alone. There is no support for us; if we get overwhelmed in the field, there’s no second wave ready to rush in and save us. There’s no one watching our backs but each other. One mistake and we die.”

Alphard shuddered. “It’s a pretty intense way to play this game, but it’s all I know, and Jason agrees with my methods.” She looked deep into Kimi’s determined eyes and sighed. “If all that sounds alright with you, then fight alongside us here in the Boss Fight. If we feel that you can handle the stress we’ll put on you, then you can come with us to go talk to, uhhh, Kazuma! Yeah, that was his name… he’s another person seeking admittance to our little group. My information broker made talking to him the price for info on this place, so we at least have to give him a chance. You will both be tested in a little underground training area Jason and I set up back on 27 and, if you pass, you can come along with us in the future. If not… I’m sure any other sane team would accept you in a moment.” With that, Alphard tugged her helmet on over her long silver hair and walked away.

Once she was out of earshot, Jason paced over to Kimi and clapped her on the back, saying, “Welcome to the team, I’m sure you’ll do fine”

Shingeki no Kyojin - Name Pending - Closed (4-person) RP

Name: Rodrick “Tinker” Driuker
Age: 15
Appearance:


Rodrick- known as Tinker or Tink to his friends- comes from a long line of soldiers. His grandfather was a pikeman on Wall Maria, killed by a jumping aberrant. His father manned a cannon on the same wall and lost a leg when another Titan threw back the cannonball fired at its head. Tink figured that it was his duty to join the army as well. Tink’s house is on the edge of the Shinganshina District, right against the wall.

Tall, with grey, piercing eyes. Tink’s name is well deserved. He is rarely seen in public without tinkering with some new weapon or another. He already sports a fair number of scars from testing out new projectile weapons or blades. Tink decided that he could best serve his city by joining the Scouting Legion. When he heard about the 72nd Expansion Battalion, Tink knew that he had found his true home. A place where he wouldn’t be judged for his antisocial tendencies, a place where he could test his weapons in the field, a group that would perhaps accept him.

The real trick would be to survive it all, though.

Shingeki no Kyojin - Name Pending - Closed (4-person) RP

No. Has to be 60 or more. Probably 70.

Pokémon: Rise of Chaos

I am here, O captain. Command me as you will

Far From Home

Jason had had enough. He squeezed Alphard closely once more and whispered to her that he would be back in just a moment. The tall warrior then strode purposefully over to Suto and Nero. The two boys were standing scant inches apart, practically screaming at each other in pain and desperation. Jason stepped up to them, grabbed them firmly by the scruff of their shirts and slammed their heads together forcefully. They fell away, and Jason towered over them like a vengeful god. He glared down at the two friends and fairly snarled at them “get up, you sons of bitches.”

Without waiting for them to comply, Jason went on in the same harsh tone. “I don’t know how either of you think you can got off saying things like that, but it was uncalled for from each of you. Someone has to set you straight and I gladly accept that position.” First, he set his glare on Nero. “You are completely out of line, asshole. So out of line, I don’t even know where to start with you,” he growled. “No you very well can’t blame yourself. The deaths of your two friends were brutal and horrifying. But they were also accidents. According to what I have learned from Alphard, Yari was killed by a Boss. No one goes up against a Boss unprepared to sacrifice their lives so that others might live. And Yari sounds like she was a truly fantastic person. If whatever I’ve heard is even close to being correct, then Yari was exactly the kind of person that went into each fight ready to die to defend her comrades. Now Kenshin? He was killed by a sick twist of fate or the most sadistic monster programming ever.”

Jason paused for breath, then went on. “Additionally, who the hell do you think you are telling your comrades that you aren’t really their friend? I understand if you don’t consider me a friend, you don’t know me. But these people have fought beside you for longer than any of us care to admit and you just cast them aside at a moment’s notice because you decide to pitch a bitch-fit? NO. The only reason you are alive right now is because they defended you in the fight that just happened. You whimped out, and they saved your ass. Get over yourself and thank them.” As an afterthought Jason added, “And if they weren’t really your friends, why do you feel guilt over the deaths of Kenshin and Yari? Finally, what do I see when I look at you?” Jason put his face centimeters from Nero’s and stared him right in the eye. “I see a scared boy carrying the weight of the world on his back and pushing the friends that seek to help away because he thinks it makes him a man.” He paused to let that sink in. “A real man would know when to go to others for help.”

Next, Jason turned his furious glare towards Suto. “And you. Really? You see your friend hurting and you try to help him. Good, it’s what he needed. And you brought up very valid points. But then you had to try to go all pity party with him too! ‘I’m not strong enough. I’ll get stronger and not let anyone else die.’ Bullshit. Getting stronger may help to save some, but you’re not going to be able to save all of them. More people will die, and it’s highly likely that some of them will be your friends. It’s sad, yes, but it’s LIFE! That would happen even if you weren’t in this game. People die! If you can’t get over that, then something’s seriously wrong with you. You can’t save everyone, I can’t, Alphard can’t. No one can. We can make it as safe as possible, but never promise to save everyone. It’s an unattainable goal.”

Jason stepped back and looked at the two men in front of him. “Neither of you are responsible for the deaths of anyone lest they be at your hand. There is only one person responsible for the deaths that have happened so far. Kayaba Akihiko. He is to fault, ono one else.” A breath, to compose himself, and Jason concluded his rant. “Now, let’s do as Alphard suggested and finish this quest. Then we can all go our separate ways and forget all about each other if that’s what you so desire.”

Far From Home

Alphard’s initial charge was met with a whirling backhanded blow that knocked her to her knees. The crimson straight thrust that followed would have inflicted a bleed effect, effectively making a drawn-out fight impossible. Instead, Jason managed to interpose himself between the blow and its intended target, just barely managing to deflect his attacker’s blade with the head of <Defiler>. Alphard planted her shield in Jason’s back and launched him skyward in an oft-used pincer attack. Usually, the monster would track Jason’s movement, as he was the last one to have inspired any aggro. It was then that Alphard would charge up and release a powerful Sword Art to either kill or severely maim her opponent. This would then draw aggro to her, at which point Jason would descend from the sky like an avenging angel and finish the fight with <Gravity Smash>.

It went significantly differently this time.

As usual, Jason rocketed up and Alphard immediately began <Reave Slash>. Her blade glowed a startling pink and she settled into a low crouch. A savage grin split her face as she prepared to punish the bastard that had dared use her beloved’s body. The grin vanished immediately. Jason wasn’t receiving the aggro! Kenshin had ignored the airborne fighter and sunk his katana deep into Alphard’s thigh, pinning her to the ground. He then jumped back and sent a flurry of stunning picks flying into her chest. Once she was well and thoroughly stunned, the katana left her leg and she was blasted backwards by a brutal hilt smash. The whole ordeal lasted perhaps five seconds. Jason reached the apex of leap and began to fall back down… to the charged and waiting <Ikifune> of Kenshin’s Dark Reflection.

It was all over. Kenshin’s blood-hued blade neatly split Jason’s body in twain at the waist, dropping his health instantly into the red and then obliterating it entirely. The bisected corpse shattered into thousands of shining crystals and disappeared. Alphard recovered and charged mindlessly at Kenshin, roaring her despair and hate all the while. Kenshin ducked the first wild slash and spun into Alphard’s guard. The tip of the desiccated katana drove up under her helmet’s lip and through her lower jaw, destroying her brain and shattering her body. Kenshin then moved in and flanked the other group, methodically slaying them one-by-one. Nero’s prone form disintegrated under the first slash. Kenshin took the full brunt of Kimi’s first flurry of stabs and then cleanly beheaded her. Suto rushed in to avenge his fallen comrades but swiftly lost both arms to methodical cleaves. Unarmed, he was easy prey. Kazaro would have proven difficult, as he also wielded a katana, but he was outnumbered and swiftly fell as well. Their work done, the two corpses glided over to their sarcophagi and lay down to wait for their next victims.

This all flashed through Alphard’s mind as she prepared for the end. Just then, the other half of the party defeated Yari. As she dissolved into shimmering powder for the second time in this terrible madman’s game, Kenshin’s doppelganger twitched, as though caught in a spasm. <Ikifune> slashed wide, missing Jason entirely. A primal roar preceded Jason’s attack and he drove Kenshin to the ground under his flurry of heavy blows. Alphard was there in an instant, hooking her scythe into her opponent’s midsection and brutally gutting him. She spun with the momentum of her strike and sunk into a crouch, simultaneously slashing out and catching Kenshin in the legs with a backhanded blow of her pale blue glowing shield. At the same time, Jason wound up like a major league batter and hammered his maul into the back of Kenshin’s head. The simultaneous blows spun him in a complete end-O and killed him.

The glittering dust left over swirled in a hypnotic pattern and slowly dissipated. It was only then that Alphard let the surge of sorrow overtake her rage. She fell into Jason and quietly sobbed for a good while, letting him just hold her and whisper comforting words. When she was finally composed, she turned to the entire party, swiped the last of her tears away with the back of her hand, and spoke loudly and clearly, “Are you guys ready to go kill the sonofabitch that runs this Tower and get out of here? ‘Cause I sure am!”

Far From Home

Jason and Alphard heard Suto’s question, and promptly ignored it. It wasn’t that it was a bad question or that they were disrespecting him, it was simply a matter of the outcome not affecting them. They would continue on as a team whatever the outcome of Kazaro’s decision. They had fought through four floors away from the rest of the team, why would they separate now? As the last <Dark Reflection> was vanquished, a series of stone bricks along the back wall dematerialized, forming a stairway up to the next floor of the Tower. There, the party encountered another long hallway lined with glyphs and torches. This hallway also terminated in a rotunda bearing coffins. This time, the coffins were twelve in number and their occupants were far more lifelike and fluid in their movements. With Alphard leading the charge as always, these <Reflections> were also swiftly dealt with and the party moved down.

After finding the third floor to be nearly identical to the previous two, Jason began to feel a bit nervous. The feeling had no solid grounding, they were clearing the floors at tremendous speed and with little damage to the players. There was no reason that Jason should feel anything but relieved. At most, he might feel a little bored! Then why did he feel more and more uneasy with each passing second? When the coffins, sixteen this time, opened on the third floor, Jason hit on the cause of his distress. It was the Reflections. This time, they had skin tones matching those of the real players and moved with far more grace than any other monster encountered yet. The foes even screamed in pain when injured. It was far too realistic for Jason’s tastes and, glancing about, he noticed that the others clearly felt the same.

Six floors later, even Alphard with her eternal readiness for battle was tired of fighting the <Dark Reflections>. The monsters’ features had only become more and more lifelike as the floors went on. Now, as the adventurers approached the rotunda of the penultimate floor, Alphard thought that after this was all over she and Jason might just need to take a bit of a break from the front lines. This time, the rotunda was larger and more well-lit. And it only contained two coffins. These two coffins were carved from sheer obsidian and ornately decorated with gold and jewels. The party cautiously entered the room and, as always, the coffins slowly crept open.


Out of the two beautiful sarcophagi loomed two of the worst things ever seen by Jason or Alphard. Out of the rightmost coffin climbed a monster labelled <Kenshin Takami> by the player HUD. And indeed, the beast seemed to be Alphard’s husband. It even wore the wounds that cost Kenshin his life. First, the large, jagged hole in its abdomen oozing ichor onto its laquered wooden armor; second, were the terrible burns coating the entirety of its body. The other coffin’s inhabitant was titled <Mizuki Yukimura>. This being carried the body of the friends’ other lost comrade, Yari. Her armor was crushed and crumpled in many places, oozing blood from the joints. Her face also bore terrible bruising and tears, one side of her head being completely caved in. <Kenshin> bore a great scarlet and black katana. <Mizuki> bore her two handed spear. The horrible shadows of the warriors spoke in the voices of the lost companions and used them to casually taunt the party into fighting them. And drew steel to combat their erstwhile companions.

Alphard looked at the thing using her beloved’s body and felt something break inside. The thin veneer hiding her ever-present rage in check shattered, letting it all pour out into the surrounding world. She gripped her scythe tighter and raised her shield into position. Alphard looked to Jason and trusted that he knew what she needed; she was too deep into her rage now to speak. Luckily, her Knight understood and spoke aloud what she could not. “Kenshin is ours, stand back!” Alphard let loose a primal roar and dove into combat.

Far From Home

Jason called for a momentary stop in his and Alphard’s march through the desert and sat down on the hot sand. Peeling his left boot off, he upended it and shook a decent amount of sand out. Alphard chuckled and continued on walking. “What’s this place we’re going to called again, Jason?” she called out behind her.

The American increased his pace and answered her, saying “The location is apparently known as the Tower of Lingering Regrets. I don’t really know what to expect from it, except for the rumors of some giant monster lingering at it’s top. If you were to ask me to guess, I would say that it’s probably a mini-dungeon.” Just then, what was previously only smudges on the horizon reached the Spot check rendering distance for the two adventurers and coalesced into the outlines of four figures. Jason and Alphard immediately drew their weapons and settled into battle stances with the armored woman leading slightly. “Jason, I’ll block the initial attack then you get around me as fast as you can and retaliate.” The woman’s Knight nodded in assent and readied a leaping Sword Art, intending for the attack to carry him over his Lady.

The four figures approached and became clearer, finally getting close enough that Jason and Alphard could make out exactly who they were. Jason carefully released his held Art and calmly strode up towards his erstwhile teammates, Suto and Nero. He also recognized Kazaro from the whole KoB incident. Alphard quietly informed him that the other person was named Kimiko and had run into them once before the battle with Mordred, though even she didn’t know the girl very well. The two parties finally met up and greeted each other.

An entire floor of desert, Suto wouldn’t have believed it existed were he not trudging through it right now. At least his attire was better suited for the environment, though the game still did a remarkable job at emulating heat. He felt sweaty, his mouth felt dry and his skin hot to the touch. Much as he loathed being trapped in a virtual prison this game did still surprise him not and again with its authenticity. Shame it had turned into a hell hole, this could have been a stellar game otherwise.

Were he out here on a cursory, casual training session he might have taken a more relaxed pace, but that wasn’t the case here. Rather than traveling alone as he might prefer he was with Kazaro. Being the man’s personal lap dog of sorts it wasn’t as though he could contest the orders much, he had agreed to the bet after all and would see it through. Joining KoB hadn’t been as bad as he’d imagined, though he did sort of miss the autonomy of being a free player. He hadn’t seen Luna in a while either, or Alphard for that matter. There was the American kid too, though he couldn’t remember his name right now. He was an odd one.

As they climbed over the peak of a sizable dune a pair of shadowy figures caught the group’s eye. From this distance it was nigh impossible to tell who it was, and the sun glaring in their direction didn’t help either. Placing a hand on his brow to shield his eyes he tried to make out precisely who the travelers were, still not able to make them out. The two groups began to converge, and Suto felt like a battle was about to begin. Flexing his fingers reflexively he waited for the order to strike, though quickly relished the fact it hadn’t been. The pair was visible now, and it was none other than Alphard and… Oh, the American, what was his name? Damn it, well this might be a little awkward.

“Hey, Alphard!” Suto shouted, smiling as he waved at the pair. Walking over to greet them he looked at the American boy, his smile waning slightly as a small nervous bead dripped down his forehead. “And uh… James… John… Jack… No, that’s not it…” Dammits, what was his name again? Furrowing his brow in concentration Suto gave his head a rubbing, then with a snap of his fingers he beamed at the pair. “Jason, I knew I knew it!” he declared, feeling rather triumphant. Adopting a more curious look he glanced over the pair, pondering what their reason for being out here was. “Uh… Any reason you’re wandering around in the desert?”

Alphard glanced at Jason and tried to gauge what he was feeling about having his name forgotten. It had happened rather often during their travels, probably due to how different it was in comparison to normal Japanese names, and Jason always seemed to be able to laugh it off. It might be slightly different this time, Alphard thought, because Suto was a pretty good friend. Jason just laughed, however, causing a small sigh of relief from Alphard, and answered Suto’s question.

“We received some information recently about some sort of large monster hanging about in this desert. Apparently, there’s an event area near here called the Tower of Lingering Regrets. We thought we ought to go and check out the monster and possibly take it out. There’s a pretty decent number of NPC settlers and Players scheduled to come up and live here in a couple of days, and we don’t want them to accidentally run into a huge monster that they can’t handle.”

Jason glanced around after his explanation, slightly embarrassed to have been rambling for so long and not quite sure what to say next. He hadn’t really seen Suto since they all split up back in Tarbinal. They had both been in the last couple of Boss fights, sure. But neither had had a chance to talk during those encounters. Alphard saved Jason from the situation, though, and spoke up.

“I see you’ve got the whole crew together, huh Suto? Kimiko, Kazaro, how are you doing? Nero, looking classy as usual. I assume that you all have some place to be, but you know what they say about when you assume so if you guys want to join us in our little Tower adventure, you’re welcome to it!” At the group’s curious expressions and glances, Alphard realized that they indeed did not know what they say about when you assume. Damn, Jason must be rubbing off on me more than I knew, she thought, and launched into an explanation that may actually have left everyone more confused than before.

Quickly abandoning the goal of getting them to understand the joke, Alphard repeated her offer to have them join Jason and herself, and then proceeded to ask them exactly why they were wandering the desert as well.

It was kind of embarrassing, not recalling the American’s name. It wasn’t even that he had a complicated name as it turned out, Suto just never had committed it to memory. Or maybe he had, but with everything that had gone on as of late it’d slipped his mind. Smiling bashfully as he was given a slight reminder he finally nailed it, alleviating the rather awkward moment they had found themselves in. Ah lovely, he probably looked like a total ignoramus right now. Trying to get a change of topic he hastily questioned Alphard and Jason, wondering what the pair was doing wandering out in these sands.

“You’re hunting an event monster, huh…?” Looking over at Kazaro in question Suto smiled, turning his attention back unto his friends. “That’s why we’re out here too, looks like our goal is the same. In that case, might as well join up. I can’t imagine having more able fighters is going to hurt our chances.” Plus he wasn’t overly fond of his current team anyways, it would be nice to have some friends among their ranks. Kazaro and him still clashed, or to be more exact he clashed with Kazaro. He and Nero weren’t exactly close, and he and Kimi spoke politely but rarely. So the addition of Alphard and Jason would be rather nice.

There was the question as to whether the pair of players knew exactly what they were getting into just yet. Considering they didn’t have near the resources that KoB had it was a safe bet they were in the dark. If they were going to be fighting side by side then it was only fair they be enlightened, lest they fall into some sort of trap or succumb to the boss. Before anyone had a chance to shed some light on their current task Alphard went onto some elaborate, overly-explanatory discussion of some joke she’d apparently tried to make. Even after she had told them of it everyone was still more or less lost, awkward.

“Right… Anyways, I suppose we should fill you two in,” Kimi interjected. “The monster we’re after is a boss-creature known as Ramuh. From what information I’ve gathered he’s supposed to be something like a giant sand worm. We’ve only got minimal details on the tower itself and essentially nothing on the fight, other than a few basic moves. Evidently the group I commissioned to gather intel either killed it too quickly or ran off, because the information I got was rather scarce…”

“Suffice to say we’re proceeding with caution,” Kazaro finished, surmising Kimi’s assessment in those few words. The data that they had going into this was minimal at best, hence the ranks they had. Best to send a group of capable players rather than some initiates who may not pull through.

Suto nodded in agreement, glancing back at his friends hopefully. “So there you have it. We’re sort of blind going into this, though I can’t imagine you two are much better off. Maybe if we pool together what we know we’ll have a better chance at this, yeah?”

Jason grinned at Suto’s joining the team and together, the six adventurers set off the Tower. On the way, there were two or three Monster encounters, but they were dealt with easily enough. These battles also served the purpose of getting the warriors reaquainted with each other’s fighting styles again. Jason in particular had a difficult time realigning his style with the DPS builds for Kimiko and Suto. Alphard had significantly less trouble, as she just charged into battle headlong as she always had.

Roundabout forty minutes later, the party had made it all the way to the Tower. It was an impressive structure, shaped like the floating castle of Aincrad itself- excepting the fact that it was anchored to the sandy floor beneath it. Stopping only briefly to prepare for the inevitable battles ahead, the party strode resolutely through the main gate of the lowest floor. The inside walls of the structure were tall sandstone blocks with iron torches bolted on every few feet. The first hallway of the lowest floor let out into a well-lit circular rotunda containing eight coffins. As Alphard led the way into the room, the coffins all sprang open and let loose a very startling variety of enemy: human analogs. The monsters were based on the standard builds for starting players, one with each of the main weapon types. All stood at normal height for a teen and had pale, slightly greyish skin. Jason’s HUD display denoted these monsters to be <<Dark Reflections>>.

The Reflection bearing a spear led the charge, attacking with a long forward thrust to Jason’s belly. Utilizing his great agility, Jason leapt up over the spear wielder and swept its legs out from behind it. Alphard stomped heavily down upon it’s throat with a purple-glowing boot, finishing it. She then raised her shield to eye level and blocked a wild sword slash from the next enemy, opening just enough time for the rest of the party to leave the entryway and counterattack. And now, the battle had begun in earnest.

The Tower was a rather impressive dungeon, even if only cut out from sand and stone. It had its own certain majesty to it, and reminded Suto quite a bit of the Egyptian pyramids he had studied before in history class. There were even hieroglyphs adorning the walls, albeit these were markings found in Sword Art and not actual writing in of itself. It had an eerie sense to it as well, with the torches casting long, ominous shadows over the expansive rooms. Overall the atmosphere of this place was both mesmerizing and unsettling, and this was only the first floor. With an estimated ten in all it was bound to be quite the long excursion.

Their first encounter with some of the dungeon’s creatures came rather swiftly, and in a manner right out of a horror movie. Eight grotesque figures dubbed <<Dark Reflections>> emerged from sarcophagi, resembling fallen players. They were perhaps the first creatures Suto had seen that donned gear much like their fellow players, and they were uncannily made to resemble teenagers no less. A reminder to themselves that they were naught but pixels and the battle began, courtesy of an overzealous opponent. Jason was the first to be turned on, and the creature’s folly of striking first would be its undoing. A combination of attacks between himself and Alphard sent the wallowing beast into oblivion in no short order.

Not to be outdone, and keen to share his new abilities Suto promptly moved in to engage another. This one was a two-handed sword user and wore some moderately heavy armor, definitely the tank of the group. Despite that fact the martial artist smiled excitedly, he loved fighting against opponents like this. The Reflection opened up with a wide cleave, which Suto readily ducked under to evade. Sidestepping a shoulder charge he used a quick, single jab to the monster’s side to chip away some health and push it back. In reply the enemy made a high, overhead arcing swing, trying to drop its heavy blade onto Suto. Using the flat of his hand to push the blade aside he grabbed the shoulder of the creature, using his agility to jump up and over the Reflection. Activating a skill immediately upon landing, <<32 Point Strike>>, his hands began to move in a flurry of blue attacks, totalling to 32 consecutive blows in all. While relatively weak even altogether they were too swift to counter, and immediately once done he finished with a hard kick, sending the beast tumbling into a wall before it shattered.

Far From Home

Sounds good to me, you gotta tell me how a collab works though. never done one before

Far From Home

I thought the same exact thing. I give you free reign to move my dead character :)