“This is suicide. You'll never make it across. We already lost a squad of our best men and upper brass won't even allow us to retrieve the bodies. What makes you so different? Why would the Inquisition choose you?” The grizzled guard stands firm before you ready to intercept you should you try to push past him. It was a shame, however, that you had already positioned yourself between him and the bridge as the three of you talked. “He’s right. Anyone who’s tried to touch the bodies has been shot on sight.” The promoted E.V.O rookies adds, “You sure they didn’t want us all to rush the bridge?”“No. I’m afraid it was just me she wanted to cross. Any more people and we’re liable to push the enemy into doing something drastic. You guys are to stay here and keep anyone from fleeing.” You explain before turning to face the captain. “As for why me? I’m afraid that’s something only the Inquisitor knows. I will say that the previous squad did allow me to find most of our enemy’s traps. I must admit that even one is enough to take me out. But you don’t need to believe that I’ll make it just that I have not plans on dying right now. Whether I survive or not, part of being an adventurer is having to find out. Now if you don’t mind I have a bridge to cross.” You adjust your cuffs and draw your cloak around your body before flashing a smile and drawing the hood over your head. “Allons y…” You mutter as you turn and start to push through the crowd. You can feel the eyes of everyone on you as they part to let you pass. You can feel your heart rate pick up slightly and you wonder if you would have felt this way had your career truly taken off. Pro teams always stood before the crowd right before the match. You had never played before a crowd before and the several hundred stream viewers always felt so distant compared to everyone around you now. Then again, you never hyped yourself up this much when you did play professionally. Putting on a persona always seemed like too much effort and wasted energy when you could be focusing with your team and practicing. Yet here you were, acting like you were some kind of super player. Did everyone expect you to fail? Did they want you to? You weren’t sure but part of you couldn’t help but feel eager to see how they would react if you did succeed and that seemed to help balance your nerves.
The thin layer of snow and ice crunches as you step on to the stone bridge. Immediately, you feel the weight of everyone’s gazes vanish as you start to formulate your plan. The rifle’s effective range is where the bodies end on my side. Could it be because it accounts for the charge time or was the shot precharged before the first death happened? You think as the bodies slowly inch closer with every step.A base charge rate is roughly 5 seconds to hit max damage with breakpoints at 1, 3, 5 seconds. It could have been modified for a faster shot but the bodies don’t seem to reflect that. You continue to mentally note as the corpses become clearer to you. Most of them were piled in the middle with several scattered on opposite ends of the kill zone. You didn’t let yourself think about the possibility that the bodies were moved to try and trick something thinking the very same thing you were thinking. A cold breeze causes your cloak to flutter around you but the material it’s made of keeps the chill out. You resist the urge to adjust your hood. You wanted to appear mysterious, maybe even inconsequential, and not give away that you were focusing your gaze on your chest as you walked. You step over the first body and your ears strain to hear the sound of a gunshot. Charge rifle shots didn’t have the same velocity as normal rifle rounds but they weren’t sub-sonic. Even knowing this, you still instinctively held on to the false hope that you could hear the shot before it hit. You step over the second body and note that many of the bodies were still wearing good looking pieces of weapons and armor. Things you’d think that players would immediately go after. Some of the bodies didn’t even seem touched. You frown but immediately put aside your ideas as you notice a faint little blue dot appear on your red cloak. Your heart skips a beat and you fight the urge to freeze in place. Everything had to look natural, you had to appear like you didn’t know what was going to happen next. Even so, you couldn’t help but straighten up slightly. As you step over a pile of several bodies at the halfway point of the bridge you start to count. 5…4…3…2…Ability: Repost activated.You snap your arm up and feel the hot ball of energy collide with the back of your wrist. There was no rhyme or reason for the direction or motion only that you had to time it perfectly. You feel a slight resistance before it gives away and you parry the blast. It goes flying wide above the heads of the guards and players behind you before striking the mountain and exploding.
https://youtu.be/G04M09WDdK8?si=K3ZieqR8UaXJlf0bYour adrenaline spikes and everything seems to run on autopilot as you lean forward and break into a dash. Before your mind can process the screaming and shouting of the people behind you, who were almost certainly as shocked as the sniper you had just denied, you duck to the right avoiding a flurry of arrows that were no doubt intended to kill you had you survived getting hit. You leap up, land on the railing of the bridge and continue pressing forward just as a smattering of machine gun fire strikes where you were just standing. The shots are uneven and wild, a clear sign that they were trying to keep up with your movements rather than anticipating them in a desperate attempt to stop you. You can now clearly see some of your attackers on the other side as they leave their hiding spots in a desperate bid to get a better shot at you. You leap back on the bridge to get more room to maneuver but two mages step forward and raise their staves high. A wall of fire erupts from the ground, thinned enough to be able to aim through but still deadly enough to deter anyone approaching, a clear sign of someone who had learned the flameshaper ability. The other mage flings a ball of fire in your direction and from this distance you can see the smirk on his face. It was well warranted, on the bridge you had nowhere to flee to avoid the aoe. The wall of fire prevented you from moving forward and ducking under it and your momentum meant that attempting to turn around would slow you down long enough that it would hit you. Indeed, in every scenario, you were doomed. So it brought you great joy to see the look of confusion as you pressed forward and to the left before cartwheel jumping over the side of the bridge just as the fireball explodes upon the bridge. If it was possible to mute all immediate sounds, anyone listening closely would have been able to hear the sound of a small gunshot going off just as your head crested over the bridge’s railing. If they were paying attention, they would have noted that your arm extending downwards at that exact moment was not you flailing in surprise because you had flung yourself off the bridge but rather because you had pointed a small metallic box, roughly the size and shape of a lighter, right at said railing.
The small hookshot snaps into place as it buries itself into the stone and you can feel the small device whirr as the small metal cable begins to unwind as you drop. You click it once to lock the mechanism in place and the rope catches causing you to swing forward and sling shot yourself under and then over the bridge on the other side. Another click and the hook detaches itself from the stone before zipping right back into the device. You can feel the small motor working over time and growing warm in your hand but you know it was good for at least one or two more shots before it broke down. You aim it straight down at the ranger, who was far too stunned and confused to keep up with what you had just done to notice, and fire. The thin line of metal burst forth and latches onto the metal container behind him before the motor starts up and begins to reel you in. With a shout, you extend your leg out and deliver a powerful kick to their gut before the two of you crash into one another and tumble through the floor. Even if you couldn’t transform, you could still pull off a solid finisher kick. You roll with the momentum, unhooking your grappling hook and lock it in place on your belt. You scramble to your feet and find yourself facing off between a sniper, two mages, a gunner, the ranger you just kicked and who knows how many more that could be hiding. The battle for the facility had officially begun. >What do you do?>Focus fully on defense. Right now friendly fire is your best bet until the others arrive. However long that takes.>Charge the mages. With their aoe abilities, they’re the deadliest ones here but also the frailest. It’s time someone else felt the pain of having little to no armor.>Finish off the ranger. You can steal his bow and arrows to help defend yourself or at least land one well placed shot with your single attack proficiency.>Go for the gunner. Even with one attack, you can fire a barrage of bullets with their weapon. However, you’re not sure what gadgets they might be wielding at the moment.>Write in.
>>6409360>Finish off the ranger. You can steal his bow and arrows to help defend yourself or at least land one well placed shot with your single attack proficiency.Unlucky, buddy.
Did you remember to archive the last thread?>>6409360Finish off the ranger. You can steal his bow and arrows to help defend yourself or at least land one well placed shot with your single attack proficiency.
>>6409360>Finish off the ranger. You can steal his bow and arrows to help defend yourself or at least land one well placed shot with your single attack proficiency.if they panic this much, we can buy time before the mages commit to friendly fire. We might have to hide among the mages and wait for the gunner to fire before using the bow. Once a mage is down, we can throw their staves at the gunner
>>6409360>Finish off the ranger. You can steal his bow and arrows to help defend yourself or at least land one well placed shot with your single attack proficiency.
>>6409360>Go for the gunner. Even with one attack, you can fire a barrage of bullets with their weapon. However, you’re not sure what gadgets they might be wielding at the moment.Spray and pray! It's the great equalizer!
>>6409371>>6409388>>6409408>>6409452>>6409471Poor ranger. Gets Rider kicked and now gets focused on. Well, his fault for attacking a big facility like this. >>6409388>Did you remember to archive the last thread?I didn't. I'm afraid I went to sleep after my post but some kind anon archived it. Always thankful for that.
"Kill him! He's just one guy!" One of the mages screams as he waves his staff and winds begin to whip around him sending snow and sleet flying. "You're not the first person to shout that and it's never really ended well for them either." You say you dash towards the downed ranger. Gunfire forces you to skid to a halt and you half crawl half dash as your boots slip and struggle to keep a grip on the icy floor. You rush back and run up a wall before kicking off to leap over the swathe of bullets the gunner sends flying your way giving the ranger enough time to get to their feet as you approach. You grab the bow and the ranger's arm, twisting it out of the way as he let's loose another arrow. A sharp pain flares up in your shoulder and cheek as the arrow somehow becomes two. You fight through the pain as the two of you struggle for control of the bow. "Fucking- Let go!" The ranger growls as he tries to pull the bow free from your grasp but the icy ground also keeps him from getting solid footing for leverage. "How about you let go?" You shoot back. "Do it and turn yourself in to the guards. Maybe E.V.O will go easy on you if you talk. Otherwise, I don't see this going well for you if they have to hunt you down." The ranger laughs at that. "What? Are you stupid?" He asks. "Why the fuck would I do that?""Because I've seen a lot of fighting in my time and I know what strategy you're using. I also know the weakness of your little tactics." You reply. "So you can leave and lose your bow or I can take everything you got.""Stop talking shit. You got lucky once and now you're acting like your hot shit." The ranger hisses. "CAN SOMEONE FUCKING KILL THIS GUY?!" He screams. You shake your head. "If that's your choice. You see, there's always a small problem with strategies that rely on focus fire." You explain. The ranger's face screws up in confusion and irritation as he's unable to believe that you were still continuing with your farce. "What are you-" Ability: Grab activatedThe ranger never gets to finish his question as you lock your grip around the bow. You quickly kick the man's legs out from under him and using the icy ground to smoothly spin around 180 degrees. The ranger instinctively clings to his weapon but before he can place his feet back on the ground you slam your free palm into his chest.
Ability: Flowing Palm Strike activatedYou can see the breath leave the ranger's lungs as a puff of hot mist leaves his mouth. The force of the enhanced attack rips his grip free from the bow and send the player flying right into the barrage of spells and bullets intended for your back. The ranger's spasms and flips from the attacks before falling to the ground in a singed and tattered heap. "Tunnel Vision." You say, crouching down and grabbing a handful of arrows from the ground and concluding your lesson. You obtain:Splitbark Bow: A magical bow that can split a single arrow into two by tapping into the wielder's personal aether reserves. Wielders can toggle this ability at will. Every arrow shot while the ability is active will become 2 and fly in the same direction. Costs 5% mana per shot.Ability: Weapon Proficiency: Single Weapon Use activated. You're now proficient with Bows (1 attack left).There's a split moment of silence as your opponents are attempting to comprehend what just happened. >What do you do?>Press onwards, run deeper into the kill box and try to regroup with your team. Hopefully they've landed by now. >Fire your bow at someone using this brief moment to get a clear shot. (Who do you shoot and do you activate the weapons ability?)>Continue fighting unarmed and reserve your single shot for when you really need it. >Remain on the defensive. By now the sniper should have long recharged his weapon and right now you're wide open. Try and anticipate his next shot and deflect it again. Hopefully you can do it with 3 opponents trying to gun you down.>Write in.
>>6409685>Continue fighting unarmed and reserve your single shot for when you really need it.
>>6409685>Fire your bow at someone using this brief moment to get a clear shot. (Who do you shoot and do you activate the weapons ability?)The Gunner. No more suppressive fire.So much for being the weak link in our party.
>>6409685>Continue fighting unarmed and reserve your single shot for when you really need it.Jump into the mages to deter the charge shot and stall the fight. Once they think they've got a clear shot, that's when you fire the bow at the sniper.
>>6409685>Continue fighting unarmed and reserve your single shot for when you really need it.I don't see weapon proficiency on the google doc
>>6409718We don't have one.The class gets free Proficiency with everything, but only once.Gotta steal weapons and make use of them.>>6409685>Continue fighting unarmedFocus down on the mages
>>6409718Did I make a google doc? I remember a pastebin but I couldn't find a way to update it. It was chosen over permanent proficiency with lances. Here's the ability. Weapon Proficiency: Single Weapon Use: Become proficient with all weapons for a single attack upon disarming an opponent, redirecting a weapon attack, or picking up an unattended weapon. Proficiency may be "reactivated" upon picking up a different unattended weapon, preforming another successful disarm/redirection, or being empty handed for set period of time (roughly 30 seconds). While proficient with a weapon, said weapon may be used with weapons skills/abilities as your unarmed attacks can be.
>>6409689+1>>6409685
>>6409930Whoops, yeah pastebin not google doc
