Chaos surrounds you as the caravan of NPC workers you were leading scream and try to flee from the ambush you and your team walked into. Instincts kick in and before you can even think you're shouting and moving. "Mae! Serena! Get the workers out of here! Take down anyone who follows! I gotta back up Ryuji!" You call you as your firing off your grapple gun into the ceiling. The wire goes taut and you're already swinging over the wall of ice before they can say anything. Sparks fly as Ryuji's glaive slams directly into his opponent's shield causing the fading mist to light up with every strike. He quickly adjusts his grip to thrust the hilt of his weapon right into the brawler that's attempting to get in a quick hit from behind. The brawler quickly raises his spiked tonfas to parry the attack and allow the fighter to close the gap and swing his blade for a solid hit. "INCOMING!" You shout at the top of your lungs causing everyone to stop what they were doing and look up at you. You pull your knees to your chest and thrust both your legs out with everything you fly straight at the fighter. You can feel your feet strike something solid as your target raises his shield just in time to block the blow. Even so, the force of the blow causes him to stumble backwards just as you hit the ground and get a lungful of poison gas. Ability: Indomitable Will activated. Poison resisted
You cough and wheeze as you feel the burn settle into your lungs. Despite resisting the status effect, every breath felt like you were inhaling fire, tasting pennies, and having that strange feeling one gets before a big nose bleed. You quickly roll to your feet and engage the brawler with a series of punches and kicks. He deftly blocks each attack with one of his tonfas and quickly follows up with the other with a counter attack. It was clear that he had some experience with his class and weapons compared to the other players you fought today. Unfortunately there were not words for how unlucky he was to have you as an opponent, someone who mained brawler in the pro scene for several years. Years of muscle memory take charge and you lean, twist and step away from each attack causing them to miss by mere inches. Behind you, Ryuji is locked in a fierce duel with the opposing fighter. His glaive bend and cut through the air like a whip as he swung it straight down on his enemy's shield only to whip it backwards like a fishing rod and sweep it back around in an upward strike with the momentum. The fighter was locked behind his shield and any time he attempted to strike back, Ryuji would simply step back and keep his distance with his weapon's superior reach. Once, the fighter managed to get an opening and advance with a thrust but Ryuji simply hopped back and thrust his weapon out mid air. He lands and swings his weapon before letting go and walking forward allowing the glaive to spin around his body cutting down on the space it was taking up and letting him close the gap once more. To anyone watching, it was like something straight out of a martial arts movie. The untouchable open palm master and the untamed spear master. As cool as it was, you were at a stalemate and one that was slowly slipping away from you. With poison coursing through your tank's body, his HP was slowly draining away and even if the debuff cleared, there was no knowing if one of these guys or a third party was simply waiting for another chance to drop another poison bomb. It was clear, however, that this was their tactic. Play as defensively as possible and slowly whittle your enemies down via DoTs and attacks from the dark. But the tactic was a double edged sword. They were banking on a domino effect. With every enemy they took down, it only got easier to take the rest down and that principle worked the other way around. The moment their defensive line fell, there would be nothing to keep you and your team from zeroing in on their squishier members. Right now, something had to give and you didn't intend it to be your tank. Party:Regal_20 (John Doe)HP: 85%MP:FullMae Su-Hyun(Gloria)HP:85%MP:FullRyuji Yamada (Roland)HP: 70%MP: 60%Status: PoisonedSerena_StarlightHP: 70%MP: 70%
>What do you do?>Work with Ryuji to swap opponents as frequently as possible. The constantly fluctuating attack styles should be enough to throw off their ability to block. >Fight "dirty". If they want to rely on status effects and items then so can you. Use your Igniter to blast one of them with fire. With your corruption effects, it should slow them down enough to get some solid hits in. >Hold the line alone. Tell Ryuji to use your grapple hook to swing back over the ice wall and back up Mae and Serena. You'll face the two alone and hold them off for as long as you can. >Push your weapon proficiency ability to it's limit. Constantly swap weapons with Ryuji and throw your opponents off. It'll require more coordination than simply trading targets. >Write in. 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, performing another successful disarm/redirection, or being empty handed for a 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.
>>6465227>>Fight "dirty". If they want to rely on status effects and items then so can you. Use your Igniter to blast one of them with fire. With your corruption effects, it should slow them down enough to get some solid hits in.
>>6465275>Fight "dirty". If they want to rely on status effects and items then so can you. Use your Igniter to blast one of them with fire. With your corruption effects, it should slow them down enough to get some solid hits in. Welcome back, QM! Please enjoy this art from Ms Eve of our boy Regal_20.
>>6465382Just woke up to see this. This is awesome! Props to the artist and many thanks! So glad people are enjoying the posts enough to do something like this.
>>6465227>Fight "dirty". If they want to rely on status effects and items then so can you. Use your Igniter to blast one of them with fire. With your corruption effects, it should slow them down enough to get some solid hits in.
>>6465227>Fight "dirty". If they want to rely on status effects and items then so can you. Use your Igniter to blast one of them with fire. With your corruption effects, it should slow them down enough to get some solid hits in. >>6465382I'm suddenly reminded that John's character is literally just him with red hair and green eyes.
>>6465382Man, he really does look like a mage without the belt.>>6465225>Fight "dirty". If they want to rely on status effects and items then so can you. Use your Igniter to blast one of them with fire. With your corruption effects, it should slow them down enough to get some solid hits in.Now is the best time to pull it out, kinda worried about the fuel lines in other areas.
When are we returning, QM?
>>6467593Right now! Sorry about the wait.>>6465382>>6465275>>6465447>>6465751We're lighting some guy up with fancy blue fire. Writing.
The brawler continues to block and throw out counter attacks as the two of you duel. Despite not taking any damage directly from your opponent's attacks you can feel the soreness in your arms and legs from slamming them into the metal tonfas. Behind you, the battle between the two tanks was raging on with neither getting an upper hand. You had to push the odds back in your favor and you had only one tool in your arsenal that you think could help. "Ryuji! Use your Steel Cyclone!" You shout. Jumping at the sound of orders, the brawler pushes forward swinging both his weapons high and low. You duck under the first attack aimed for your head and then step back for the incoming jab at your stomach. As you're midstep the brawler briefly blurs and appears right before you as he uses his movement ability to close the gap while your still off balance. He uses the momentum of his sudden movement to swing his arm up wide in a wild uppercut. Everything seems to slow down as your instincts kick in and you twist as you let yourself fall before throwing all your weight on your back foot. You swing your other leg wildly slamming it right into the side of the brawler's head and sending the two of your sprawling to the ground. You pray that Ryuji's attack had moved him in the way you wanted and raise your wrist up. The small nozzle riases up and the tiny pilot light ignites as you fire widly in your tank's direction. "Holy shit! Waitwaitwait. You'll kill us all-" The opposing tank shouts in fear before the sound of fire fills the air and everything is tinted in an eerie blue light. You quickly twist around and scramble to your feet to see the results of your desperation. The Fighter was covered in icy blue flames still desperately trying to fend off Ryuji's onslaught and trying to put the flames out. Each flame left a thick layer of frost on whatever it touched covering the burns underneath them. With every swing, the fighter's movements grew more and more sluggish until he caught a glaive to the side. He stumbles, trying to adjust his footing and position but even that was slowed by the flames that burned him. Ryuji swiftly sidesteps and hefts his weapon with one hand. Skill: Pin activatedThe glaive punches through the fighter's gut as it flies true and slams him against the icy wall, pinning him in place. Ryuji rushes forward with a roar, ramming his elbow into his opponents head and dealing minimal damage but disorienting him enough to pull the weapon free. The fighter falls to his knees, a large red splotch growing from where the glaive held him and dripping on the ground despite there being no visible wound. He tries to get to his feet but is immediately thwarted by Ryuji who rains blows upon him until he stopped moving. You tear your eyes away from that to refocus on the brawler and get ready for a fight only to see him scrambling to his feet and heading towards the dark.
"He's getting away!" Ryuji shouts. He grabs you by the hood of your cloak and pulls you to your feet as the two of you begin to give chase. Party:Regal_20 (John Doe)HP: 85%MP:FullMae Su-Hyun(Gloria)HP:70%MP:FullRyuji Yamada (Roland)HP: 65%MP: 60%Status:PoisonedSerena_StarlightHP: 60%MP: 45%Status:Bleeding"The girls are taking some hits." You say as you glace at everyone's HP. "How are you holding up?" You ask. Ryuji shoots you a big grin and gives you a thumbs up."My nose is on fire. Remember that time I took you out to that sushi place for the first time and I got a mouthful of wasabi? Kinda like that. Also I taste pennies. Do you taste pennies?" He asks and you can't help but snort. "No. I managed to resist the poison. Got any potions to tide you over til the poison wears off?" You say with laugh as you leap over a pipe."Nah, I had to chug em all to stay up. Poison status wasn't counting down while in the cloud but now I got like 20 seconds left on it. This stuff hurts like hell. It ain't the cheap stuff." Ryuji replies, shaking his head as he rams his glaive into the ground to vault over the pipe. You hadn't noticed before but there was a large sheen of sweat all over him as his body tried to fight off the debuff. "Take my last two. We're gonna need everyone up. Got a feeling that we're gonna run into something big soon." You say pulling your potions out and tossing them to Ryuji. "I can hold out. We can finish this fight and I'll just bandage up." Ryuji protests but takes the potions nonetheless. "If you're right, and you always are, we're gonna need to hold out on all of our instant healing.""We could always ice wall and spend a few seconds bandaging up." You counter though Ryuji remains unconvinced."In combat? That's crazy. They'd never let us get away with it. But playing with you is always like that isn't it?" He laughs uncorking a potion and chugging it while pocketing the other one. "Now let's catch this guy before he manages to get away.">What do you do?>Have Ryuji hurl his Glaive at the brawler. If it connects, he'll be pinned to the nearest surface. >Use the ice staff to cut him off with a wall. Might cost a lot of mana to seal all his exits though. >Try and swing to him with your grapple gun. With all the turns your target is taking, you're more than likely to burn it out completely in catching him.>Let him go and regroup with the others. If he's running off to alert more people then you'll deal with that when it comes.>Write in.
>>6467744>Have Ryuji hurl his Glaive at the brawler. If it connects, he'll be pinned to the nearest surface.
>>6467744>We can throw the Glaive right? We should have some mobility options for it to come from an unexpected angle.>Ryuji focuses on running and picking up his weapon as it comes down.Do we still have bow proficiency?
>>6467753Yep. The bow also has a split shot ability.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.
>>6467762So we could just.....shoot this guy. Even fake him out on a fork using this split ability.
>>6467744>Use the ice staff to cut him off with a wall. Might cost a lot of mana to seal all his exits though.
>>6467744>Use the ice staff to cut him off with a wall. Might cost a lot of mana to seal all his exits though. Not like we're using our MP for much else right now.
>>6467873>>6467907>>6467775Using what little magic we got to cut the guy off. Writing.
"Guys, come on!" The brawler shouts as he slides under some pipes in a desperate attempt to put some distance between you. You quickly vault over them as Ryuji pole vaults besides you prompting your target to quickly add, "Seriously, fuck off! You guys won already! Just let me leave!" "Dude! You're the one who started this! You think we're just gonna let you jump us and let you walk away!" Ryuji shouts back. He raises his weapon to try and get a bead on the brawler but you motion for him to lower his arm. "Just ignore him. We're not gonna be able to talk him down." You say coolly. "We need to cut off his escape routes with some ice or at least slow him down enough to catch him." Ryuji swaps weapons twirling the staff as he does so. The crystalline tip glowed with a soft white light as he channels it's magic. A wall of ice erupts directly ahead of you right in the path of the escaping player and causing him to skid to a halt and scramble to change direction. He twists and pivots to run around one of the purifiers before the two of you can catch up. "H-hey! I know people! I've got friends with high level alts and if you don't fucking stop then we'll hunt you out of the server! I'm serious!" The brawler screams as his exit is cut off once again costing him precious distance as he's forced to look for another route. "I'm running out of mana." Ryuji says, swearing under his breath as the brawler manages to scramble away again. "I think I got like one wall left in me.""Use it, then toss it to me. If we can't cut him off by blocking off his exits then we'll just need to wall him off literally." You say. The two of you redouble your efforts and continue the chase leaping over pipes, cutting corners as close as you can, and trying to cut off the brawler off as much as you can. "God damn...does this guy have speed gear or something?" Ryuji pants as he begins to stomp with every step as if trying to kick off of the ground rather than sprint. "Just a bit more..." You say through gritted teeth as you also try to ignore the burn in your virtual lungs. "He's gonna slip up...get distracted.""I'll...I'll report you! Me and everyone here! We'll get you account banned! You hear me! I'll-" The brawler starts again as he looks over his shoulder to shout at you just as he runs into an a particularly tight area of pipes.
"NOW!" You shout cutting the brawler off. "DO IT!" "Gottcha!" Ryuji shouts as he slams the staff down and raises another wall. He spins and tosses it at you as he continues running forward. You snatch it out of the air and begin focusing your magic into the item as quickly as you can. Ice Staff proficiency acquiredYou raise another wall of ice, and another, and another still each time cutting off the brawler's exits and finally boxing him off just as Ryuji reaches him. You hear the sounds of bodies colliding and you quickly fire off your grapple gun to zip up and into the box of ice walls you've made. You land to see the brawler sprawled face first on the ground struggling to throw the larger Ryuji off of him. "Quit struggling man! We caught you!" Ryuji grunts as he does his best to keep his opponent's hands behind their back. "You got any rope?" He asks looking up at you. "Or do we just finish him off? Thought we could asking him some stuff.">What do you say?>Use the grapple gun's wire to immobilize him. Start interrogating him. (What do you ask?)>Tie up the brawler and begin walking him back to the others. You might be able to use him as leverage if any of his teammates are still alive. >Finish him off. Take anything useful (or valuable) off of him and get back to the others asap.>Write in.
> "Or do we just finish him off? Thought we could asking him some stuff."Meant to be "Thought we could ask him some stuff." Sorry about that.
>>6468370>Finish him off. Take anything useful (or valuable) off of him and get back to the others asap.We don't have time to interrogate him right now.
>>6468370>>Finish him off. Take anything useful (or valuable) off of him and get back to the others asap.Get his weapons and get going
>>6468370>Tie up the brawler and begin walking him back to the others. You might be able to use him as leverage if any of his teammates are still alive.We gotta tie up every loose end.
>>6468370>Finish him off. Take anything useful (or valuable) off of him and get back to the others asap.He'll probably just ragequit and log off rather than subject himself to an extended videogame interrogation and get a reputation for being a rat IRL.
>>6468838>>6468393>>6468379Taking the guy's stuff. I'll get to writing.
"Nah, let's just finish him and take what we need. We don't really have the time to ask questions and honestly, I don't think he's gonna talk." You say. Ryuji shrugs and levels his weapon causing the Brawler to panic but before he can do anything meaningful you and Ryuji rain blows on him until he dies. You quickly rummage through his gear to grab what you can.The Party Obtains:Blitz Boots: Increases the wearer's sprinting speed. If the wearer is able to learn [Flash Step] (Brawler, Swordsman, Thief, Hero), allows the wearer to recast the skill once while it's on cooldown at the cost of resetting the timer. Once used, the wearer must wait until the skill fully resets before using the magic again. For all other classes, or if the skill is unknown, the wearer can invoke the boot's magic for a small burst of speed, doubling movement rate for 5 seconds (3 minute cooldown).Throwing Belt: Allows the the wearer to throw players and objects twice as far. Increases the effects of skills that force movement upon their opponents.Spiked Tonfas of the Turtle: Has the [Twinned] property. Weapon Ability (Retaliation): Deals extra damage on attacks made immediately after blocking or getting hit (30 second cooldown).[Twinned]: The weapons' weights were balanced for one another. When wielding both partnered weapons in tandem, attack speed is increased slightly. When paired with any other weapon, attack speed is lowered even if the other weapon also has the [Twinned] property. 3x Lesser Healing Potion (Heals 10% HP)2x Diluted Antidote (Cures the poisoned status. Has a slight chance to fail in exchange for more doses when crafted)5x Moderate Poison (Can only be applied to bladed or piercing weapons/ammo. Lasts 1 minute on weapons and a single dose covers 10 shots. Deals moderate damage over 10 seconds. Targets build up resistance after every application during combat making it harder to reapply.)"Guess this is the guy behind all the poison then." Ryuji says as he holds up one of the small flasks of poison. The stereotypical green liquid sloshed around like a thick syrup. You shake your head and stuff the gear into your bag."No. I don't think so." You say as you motion for Ryuji to follow and begin to jog back towards you had started fighting. "It doesn't really make any sense. Why would a Brawler have poison he can't effectively use?""I mean he's got the spikes for that right? Just jam those suckers into your opponent." Ryuji says thrusting fist forwards, imitating ramming it into someone's chest. "You could but bladed tonfas would be a better weapon for this. Or claws. The antidote I get but I'm willing to bet that the Fighter you were going 1v1 with also has a handful of poison on them. Someone else made it and it was probably the thief we missed on the last floor." You guess. "Hopefully, the others managed to take him down along with whoever was firing off arrows."
"Man, they had an archer too? Probably loaded with poison tipped arrows." Ryuji says picking up the pace. "We better hurry then. Poison clouds and weapons...man we really got the rough end of the stick.""Tell me about it." You say and the two of you break into a sprint. The way back feels much longer and the maze of pipes and machinery feels all the more oppressive in the dim light. The silence only adds the weight and the soft sounds of fluids moving feels wrong in some way. It's too calm, too peaceful given that you had just been under attack. Every part of you wants to hear the sounds of fighting, of shouting, or weapons clashing. Something to indicate that people were alive and more importantly, that your side was the winner. Your heart skips a beat and dread settles into your stomach as you arrive to the original scene of the fight. The ice wall had timed out and had melted. Bodies were scattered on the ground and upon inspection you find no wounds on them. "Poison got them." You mutter. "There was another bottle in the air when I came over to help you.""Damn! Is this all the workers?" Ryuji asks as he looks around. "Did they get em all?""No. No, I don't think they did. There still might be survivors. Hopefully they didn't pick them off while the girls were trying to get them to safety.""There's a trail of blood here. It might be Serena's." Ryuji says pointing to some dark spots on the ground. The two of you continue on following the trail deeper into the darkness. Eventually you stop seeing bodies. Your feel your boots splash in something and then feel and ice cold liquid drip on your shoulder. You look up and see an arrow embedded into the pipe above you. You begin to see more and more arrows along with holes and slashes in the machines and pipes. Fuel was spraying and gushing out relentlessly from all the damage the battle waged as the corridors became tighter and tighter. Eventually, you can hear voices in the distance. "Goddamn it, I hate thieves! How many did we lose?""I don't know. How many did we save?""I think like 12. You didn't have to jump in front of those arrows you know. If you went down, we wouldn't have anyone to get you back up.""I know but we promised to help them. It made things...interesting to keep that promise. Even if we didn't get anything out of it." You head an audible sigh. "I'm starting to think Regal's being a bad influence on you.""Huh? Why?""That sounds like something he'd say. Soon enough, you're probably gonna become a magnet for weird and crazy stuff too.""That doesn't sound like a bad thing. If more unexpected things happen, then it just means it's more practice for tougher enemies, right?""...yeah that's what he'd say too."
Ryuji snickers and elbows you good naturedly as the two of you turn the corner and see Mae and Serena covered in bandages. "About time the two of you showed up." Mae says as she tears the bandage she was using off and hops of the large pipe she was sitting on. "Seems like the two of you got the easy fight." She comments eyeing the two of you up."Of course! I had the GOAT himself helping out. Shoulda seen him! Dude was dodging everything like back in his hay day. Real Bruce Lee stuff!" Ryuji says with a grin as he bobbed and weaved before he caught himself. "I mean, you know. Traveler's real good at fighting. You see that video of him fighting in the prison? Basically that." He says sheepishly with a sniff. You just shake your head. "I'm not that old." You say shooting a look at Ryuji. "What happened to you guys?""We managed to save some people. But the players that attacked us refused to engage. All they did was shoot at us and throw poison bombs." Serena starts."And if they weren't aiming at us, they took whatever free shots they could at the workers. We burned through basically all our healing to keep ourselves and them alive." Mae adds."Eventually we managed to force them into close quarters and took them down. We ended up damaging alot of machinery in the fight but we also managed to find that hidden exit." Serena concludes. "The workers were in rough shape though. I'm not sure they trust us all that much.""Not surprising. If we manage to save the facility I'm sure that will change." You assure her. Mae casts a glance at Serena."About that. Are you sure you want to keep going? We're in rough shape and low on heals. Even if we grab what healing these guys had. We don't know what's ahead. Maybe we should pull out and let E.V.O handle it. I'm sure we've taken out enough guys that they can come in and clean up. We've come pretty far.""Yeah but we should keep going. This is fun and I wanna see what they got hidden deeper in the mountain." Ryuji says. "You can't tell me you're not curious.""I am and as annoying as that fight was. It's been a pretty eventful day." She admits."Eventful she says. Come on, just admit it was fun." Ryuji laughs. "We're gonna be talking about it tomorrow at work. I saw you grinning while gliding." Mae rolls her eyes."Alright...it's been fun. Can't say I ever snuck into a government facility before and anything to piss off that Inquisitor is good in my book." Mae says with a smirk. "But the fact of the matter is, I don't think we have the supplies to keep going forward. If we die, then we lose all our gear. I think we should play it safe."
Party:Regal_20 (John Doe)HP: 85%MP:10%Mae Su-Hyun(Gloria)HP:70%MP:FullRyuji Yamada (Roland)HP: 45%MP: 0%Serena_StarlightHP: 60%MP: 5%Inventory:>JohnCharge RifleMinigun (Stored in inventory)BowThrowing Daggers x3Bandages x 2Ryuji/RolandCryo staffThrowing dagger x1Potions x 1Bandages x 3>GloriaTwinned ScimitarsAlchemist Bombs x2Throwing dagger x1>SerenaInferno StaffStun GrenadeFlechette GrenadeBandages x 1Unallocated:3x Lesser Healing Potion (Heals 10% HP)2x Diluted Antidote (Cures the poisoned status. Has a slight chance to fail in exchange for more doses when crafted)5x Moderate Poison (Can only be applied to bladed or piercing weapons/ammo. Lasts 1 minute on weapons and a single dose covers 10 shots. Deals moderate damage over 10 seconds. Targets build up resistance after every application during combat making it harder to reapply.)>What do you say?>Say that you've pushed on far enough. Mae is right. You came here to have a good time and you had it. You don't want to risk the dragon soul you have in your inventory.>Say that you think you can still go a bit further. You've managed to scrape by so far and you think you're nearing the end. Just need to hold on a bit longer. Hint that saving the facility would show up Eleanor by doing something she couldn't.>Tell the others to head back but grab as much healing as you can from them and the dead players. You think you can go on a bit further alone. If anything, they can go inform the group waiting outside to come and regain control of the previous floors.>Write in.
>>6470444>>6470441>Say that you think you can still go a bit further.>Odds are, if we really don't save the facility this city itself might not be salvageable.>That being said, we could pretend I'm the last survivor and give them the runaround for you guys to regain MP and ambush. If I poison them all and dip, we even the resource playing field quite a bit.That throwing belt is gonna be great on Regal. Throwing items is one thing, but proficiency on throwing weapons or maybe even players? I assume giving Mae the boots could let her trigger a control panel or switch they're not expecting.
>>6470445+1, but isn't it better rfor us to wear the boots, since we're on the list of compatible classes?
>>6470459We don't actually have flash step though. I doubt it'll work on the doublejump thing. Can we even do the doublejump thing without the belt?
>>6470460Sorry about the delayed reply. I kinda passed out and went to sleep after posting. But no, you've lost the ability to double jump. It was tied to your transformed state.
>>6470444>Say that you think you can still go a bit further. You've managed to scrape by so far and you think you're nearing the end. Just need to hold on a bit longer. Hint that saving the facility would show up Eleanor by doing something she couldn't.
>>6470444Supporting >>6470445Fuck those dirty rats for killing the npcs. And that brawler started crying the moment things didn't go his way. These guys all suck ass.
>>6470445>>6470459>>6470575Going with this vote. I'm a bit busy today so I'll get to writing tomorrow morning. I can get a list of what interesting gear your opponents had tonight though so you can decide if you want to equip some things and the like.
Here's the items:Thief:Poison Fang Bracer: Made with the fangs of a venomous serpent. This bracer has a small compartment that can fit a single vial of poison into it. With a flick of the wrist, the wearer can quickly or more subtly apply the poison to their weapon. The bracer can also produce a single vial of Weak Poison (1 hour cooldown) on it's own. [Thief] Class only: Cloak of Shadows: A ultra thin cloak that stifles the light around it. When hiding in dim light, the cloak will convert it into pure darkness. Any light sources up to the size of a torch are immediately snuffed out or temporarily shut off. This effect lasts for 10 minutes then it must spend time to replenish it's magic (30 min cooldown). Soft Soled Shoes: A pair of shoes with specially made soles. The wearer's footsteps are muffled and harder to hear. This effect is diminished on harder or looser surfaces. Doesn't not affect sounds caused moving objects due to walking such as the splashing of water or accidentally kicking a rock. Vile Dagger: This serrated dagger is designed to inflict lasting damage. Enemies wounded by this weapon get the [Bleeding] condition. [Thief Class only]: When successfully backstabbing a target while this blade is poisoned, poison is automatically applied and ignores the resistance build up caused by multiple applications. Any other resistances to poison the target has still apply. Ranger:Barbed Arrows x15: Ammo has a chance to cause the [Bleeding] effect. Consecutive hits on the target increase the chance for the effect to proc for a short while (around 5 seconds).Novice Herbalist Gloves: Enchanted to make gathering easier. The gloves give the wearer a small chance to gather extra herbs per attempt and an even rarer chance to gather an uncommon herb. (Limited to nodes levels 1 - 5)Novice Skinning Knife: Knife enchanted to make gathering easier. The knife gives the wearer an increased chance to skin a higher quality pelt or gather extra scales. (Does not work on rare mobs. Limited to mobs of level 1 - 5)Fighter:Scale Mail of Minor Resistance: Spells deal slightly less damage to wearer. Grants the wearer a small bonus to resisting spells and magical effects.Mithril Shield: Made of mithril, this shield is lighter and easier to move around. It is also slightly heat resistant reducing damage from fire and heat for a small amount when blocked with this shield. Helm of Light: When activated, the helm emits a light equal to torchlight. This light produces no heat and does not blind the wearer but otherwise acts the same as ordinary torchlight to others. Consumables, ect:9x Moderate Poison6x Diluted antidote5x Lesser Healing Potion5x Fine Deer Pelts3x Rabbit Pelts
>>6471483Not sure who needs the armorWe can absolutely Bleed/Poison someone while dipping around.If Mae can wear the helmet, I still think a doubledash+flashlight blind is a good shock tactic.Ryuji takes the armor unless there's an angle in making Serena some kind of magic tank to hide that she's out of gas.
>>6471487I agree and thus think we should wear the Soft Soled Shoes for the rest of this mission.
"I think we can still go a bit further. Odd are, if we can't take back the facility then the city itself might not be salvageable." You say as you all collect what you can from the fallen players. "That being said, if things look dire, I could go in and act like I'm a solo. Run them around and whittle them a bit with poison and the like while you guys recover. If we're lucky, it might even the resource playing field a bit." Mae seems unconvinced. "They have a healer though. Not sure if we can out last them with a druid on their side." She says. "Are druids that strong?" Serena asks. "They're a bit more offensive than a regular priest. Trading a handful of their buffs and direct healing for heals over time and poisons. Some of them can also pick up a few spells that sacrifices maximum MP for abilities they can toggle on and off. Sometimes it's the ability to shapeshift into animals or control plants." Mae explains. "Some people say it's stronger but generally it's just going from an ultra specialized healer to a healer with a broader range of abilities.""I think we can take em." Ryuji says with a grin. "Also, we've come this far. It'd be like walking out on a movie just when things were getting good. We should see it to the end.""I want to try and go further too. My guild always has enough items for us to take before playing. I've never had to fight with low resources. I want to see how far I can go." Serena adds. "Well...I guess I'm outvoted." Mae says shaking her head. "Still, I can't just let you go off and go crazy without me so I'm coming along too."https://youtu.be/XGhBEsyIb64?si=i_T7vA87ARf74sBD"Yes! The gang sticks together! This is gonna be awesome. Four against the world!" Ryuji says pumping his fist. He throws his hand forward, holding it out for everyone to join. "Come on team! Let's save this city." "More like let's die trying. But somehow 'it being so crazy it just might work always seems to pan out.'" Mae says with a smirk as she places her hand over Ryuji's. "Let's hope this is just another one of those times." Serena seems to hesitate, unsure of what to do. You're not the best at reading people but even you can tell this seems to be something new to her."I'll do my best to help." She says as she adds her hand to the group. "Come on. You gotta have more energy to that." Ryuji urges. "Gotta really feel it!""Oh umm...L-let's do this team!" Serena awkwardly half shouts before it dies midway and she speaks normally. Ryuji simply gives her a thumbs up for effort. Everyone then turns to you. "Well? You joining in, dude? Can't do it without you." He asks eagerly.
"Yeah. This whole adventure is your idea. Not to mention, you're the one who said we should keep moving too." Mae adds. You don't reply immediately. Your gaze is stuck on the group handshake as something seems to stir in your chest. Like a small ember, something flickers in the back of your head as an old memory rises up in the back of your head. You faintly remember those days around a white board, fervently drawing diagrams in front of everyone as you chatted a mile a minute as you went over strategy and ideas to take down the next opponent. Spending late nights watching low quality streams of matches as you tried to find something to show everyone. You find yourself smiling maybe it was nostalgia or maybe something else. You place your hand with everyone else's."Whatever it takes. We'll push through to the end." You say. "And no matter the result, we did it together.""Hell yeah!" Ryuji shouts throwing his hand in the air. "Let's heal up and get moving."---Your group spends no time in rushing to the second dormitory. The temperature drops even more as you continue but quickly settles into an extremely uncomfortable cold yet not enough to trigger any warnings of a dangerous climate. Entering the dorms, you're greeted to a similar effect like that of the previous living space. Warmth surrounds you and fends off the ambient cold bringing your core temperature to a comfortable level. You look around but can't seem to find source of the heat. There is no special cut out sections of the floor and the torches are not large or numerous enough to heat a space this long nor are there any fireplaces. What is readily apparent is the trail of broken furniture and discarded objects. Dozens of doors are left open or broken off their hinges down the hallway as you suspect that the workers were forced out of their quarters by the raiders. The trail is easy enough to follow as it leads into the far back of the dorms. "Looks like they stopped being subtle about it." You say as you make your way."Where they subtle to begin with?" Mae asks. "Well...maybe subtle is the wrong word. More like they stopped caring if anyone followed or at least they became more thorough in their search." You reply. "It's a bit strange though. I don't see any bodies." Serena says. "The last group killed anyone who tried to flee. Surely they would have done the same here? Especially if they didn't want anyone to warn of the attack.""It was the same in the other dorms." Ryuji says. "Why do you think that is?"
"Not sure. Maybe they forced them to help them search for the secret entrance. Or maybe it was because the raid group was bigger before they split up between floors." You wonder. As you continue searching you come across the end of the trail. Before you is the shattered remains of a wall. False brick and mortar lay scattered across the ground revealing a long vertical passage way. Judging by the ropes that were hanging taut all the way down, it was some kind of elevator just like the one you saw all the way back up at the entrance. The only thing that resembles any kind of control is a lone lever that was pointing down. "Guess they found it." You mutter.Party:Regal_20 (John Doe)HP: 85%MP:10%Mae Su-Hyun(Gloria)HP:100%MP:FullRyuji Yamada (Roland)HP: 85%MP: 0%Serena_StarlightHP: 100%MP: 5%Used 3 bandages to top everyone off.>What do you do?>Pull the lever up and see if it calls the elevator back. It'd be the fastest way to go down and you don't know how much time you have.>Ignore the level and start climbing down via the ropes. You don't want to give away your arrival.>Search the floor a bit more and see if you can find any survivor for information. >Write in.
>>6471809>Pull the lever up and see if it calls the elevator back. It'd be the fastest way to go down and you don't know how much time you have.The others should hide, but nobody contacting them is already suspicious.
>>6471809>Pull the lever up and see if it calls the elevator back. It'd be the fastest way to go down and you don't know how much time you have.
>>6471809>Search the floor a bit more and see if you can find any survivor for information.
>>6471809>Ignore the level and start climbing down via the ropes. You don't want to give away your arrival.
>>6471869>>6471825Going with this vote but stuff's got me busy today. I'll have to do the write up tomorrow.
You peer down the empty elevator shaft to find only darkness greet you. The thick ropes that hung from various gears and pulleys seemed to go on forever only to be swallowed up by the empty void below. You step back before you slip or someone rushes out from behind your team and shoves you off the ledge. "I'm gonna call the elevator up." You say as you move to the level. "Everyone take cover in case someone decides to take the lift up and surprise us." The others quickly back off and slip into a nearby bedroom. You grab the lever and push it up. There's the groan of gears grinding together and in the dim light you can see the ropes beginning to move. You step back and wait...and wait. You wait for a minute or two before the metal lift slowly comes into view, completely empty. You lower your arm, having unconsciously raised your igniter as you waited and inspect the lift. "It's empty..." You hear Ryuji say with a hint of disappointment. "Then they're probably waiting for us at the bottom." Mae says sheathing her blades. "They must've heard the elevator coming up.""Or they might be busy with whatever they're doing down there. If they heard the lift moving it might push them to hurry up. They don't know it's just us. From what you've told me, I think the most logical thought would be to think that an army of players and npcs has arrived." Serena suggests. You pull the small gate open and step inside to investigate. There didn't seem to be any traps or sabotage that you can see. "Lift seems fine. I can't see any traps." You say. "I don't think they'd sabotage their only way out." Ryuji says as the rest of the group steps onto the lift. There's a slight groan of metal and everyone freezes. When the metal settles you all relax slightly. "You guys ready?" He asks once you all step on. "Ready as I'll ever be." Mae says. "I am." Serena replies and you pull the lever as your response. There's another metallic clunk and the lift begins it's slow descent into the darkness below. Light quickly fades to nothingness but before your eyes begin to adjust to the absence of light there's a flash and your eyes water. "Sorry. Figured the light would have been more gradual." Mae says as she awkwardly fits the helmet over her head. You rub your eyes and shake your head. "Don't worry about it." You say and everyone settles into silence again. Only the rumbling of the lift and the slightly shuffling of your group breaks the uncomfortable silence. Eventually, Serena speaks up. "Do you think they're going to be kicked out of the server?" She asks as she uses her skill to regain MP. You all turn to face her. "The team we're going to fight. You once told me that if players make a Guild angry enough, they'll kill them over and over until they quit the server. You also said this facility is important for the city. I'm just wondering if this will cause E.V.O to do that."
Ryuji scratches his head. "I dunno. This is pretty big. I mean they haven't really done anything too bad other than lock this place down. I'm sure they've pissed off the NPCs and E.V.O but I don't think they'd go out of their way to chase them all over the server. At most I think they'll kill them on site until they leave the zone.""Unless they succeed. Then they have the whole server coming after them." Mae adds. "If they manage to take down one of the three starting zones? That's big enough to warrant running them out of the server. It's not like they can hide either. If what that guy at the entrance is true and we're going against some streamer? They're probably streaming as we speak and everyone is watching. There's public record of what they look like. Could also be that some of the people we were fighting were also recording too. This whole this is a big publicity stunt.""No such thing as bad press, huh?" You ask. "Even if they don't succeed, plenty of people that root for a bad guy. Plenty of streamers make a living playing a toxic persona. They could be angling for that and that could potentially garner a following that would be willing to fight with them against people chasing them.""Of course, that's a recipe for disaster." Mae adds. "If you build your brand on being an asshole, don't be surprised when the very people who support you are also assholes. Sooner or later that tends to implode.""And people...like playing like that?" Serena asks. "It's a spectrum. Some people like pretending to be villains. Rob other players, kill NPCs, and the like. Out of the game they're just like anyone else but in game, they get the chance to live out a life they could never otherwise. Who hasn't wanted to be a pirate or super cool assassin? On the other hand...some people do it simply because they know it makes people angry. It's less about the fun of the chase and breaking the rules and more about the rush of upsetting people. The same can be said of the opposite. Some people love the idea of being a hero and saviour and others simply enjoy being able to have power others and enforcing what they think should be the rules." You explain. "It's always been like that in any game but the immersion that VR allows amplifies it. It's not just clicking keys on a keyboard. It's actually you running around, getting into fights, and saving the day. Even more so when the game helps you preform feats that you could never do in real life. It's one of the reasons why so many people choose flashy fighting styles.""Is that why you're flinging yourself all over the place?" Mae teases. You clear your throat. "It makes me harder to hit." You lie causing Ryuji to laugh and playfully punch your shoulder."So, why do you guys play?" Serena asks.
"To do cool stuff obviously!" Ryuji proclaims with a grin. "I mean, look at us! We're sneaking into a super secret government facility to fight a group of terrorists and save the day! We once fought a super strong yeti without a healer and came out on top and then beat the hell out of a necromancer lich right after. It's the kind of stuff you can brag about to your friends or post online for everyone to see. It's way cooler when you do it with your friends and then you end the day eating good virtual food and drink.""I just like exploring." Mae says with a shrug. "This game has tons of beautiful locations and secret areas. After a long day at work, it's nice to come home and just relax here. It's like being able to take vacation every night. If I'm in the mood for a swim? Plenty of beaches and lakes to jump into. If I want some quiet then there's the forests of pretty much any kind to wander in. Tons of mountains to climp, cliffs with great views. This game pretty much has it all and it seems like they're adding even more now. Doesn't beat the real world, speaking from experience, but for the price of an account card and a monthly fee that's cheaper than a plane ticket? It's a pretty damn good substitute. I've heard of players actually hosting weddings in game because it's just so much cheaper than all the costs of getting a venue in the real world.""Hey I saw one of those last year!" Ryuji said. "They were handing out invitations to anyone who was interested. Didn't get a chance to visit but my alt on the other server still has the invite. Almost got them to come to my restaurant there." Serena remains quiet for a moment as if processing the information for an exam. "But what about quests and fighting?" She asks. "I was told that those were the best parts of the game.""Sure if that's what you're into." Ryuji says. "I mean the game is a massively popular esport but it doesn't force you to do all that. If you just want to vibe and wander then that's what you want to do. I know of a guy who made a whole fake documentary about some of the more popular locations here. Like straight out of national geographic. I heard he got hired by the marketing team too because a few months after they made an ad for the game just like that guy's videos.""The game is sandboxy enough to make of it what you want." Mae adds. "I've heard of some players making tons of in game money by simply working as interior decorators. Guilds will pay them just to make their guild halls look nice." Serena nods then turns to you. "What about you? Why do you play?" She asks. Ryuji and Mae perk up. "Yeah, dude. Why do you play? Like now I mean." He asks, suddenly eager to hear your response. Mae seems a bit more subdued. "I am curious too. Why did you start playing again?" She asks. The question was subtle but vastly different. You stand there for a moment, feeling the weight of their eyes on you.>What do you say?>Write in
>>6473175>Well I haven't played in a long time, right? To be honest, felt like it's been a big hole in my life the whole time. So I wanted to see if filling that hole was a good idea or not.>It's been pretty great. Rediscovering some bits about me that I forgot, and trying new things that seem neat. I will have to pay back some friends who I ghosted, one way or another, but that'll be a good experience too.
>>6473175Oooh, tough one. What is our driving motivation? We originally really like remastering the combat systems then thought we make money at it, and then... well, we came back on a whim, more or less.>"I guess nostalgia. And fun. Figuring out a new, complicated class with lots of restrictions, playing with friends, RPing, it's all pretty fun! When I originally played, I was so focused on being the best I could be, I guess I didn't really get to appreciate it as just... A hobby. Playing it this way is just fun, you know? Not caring as much about minmaxing as trying out different stuff and seeing what we can achieve if we put our minds to it."
>>6473175>I always liked to play around with the classed, Learn how they work and fiddle with things until they did something interesting. But I starred playing again out of Nostalgia, time allowed and. . I was half curious if my card still worked.
>>6473421I'll support this.Didn't we answer a question like this once before?
>>6474163You did now that I'm thinking about it. Somehow didn't make it into my notes. That's my bad.
Phew. Tough week. I got time to write so let's get to it.
>>6474897Woo, we're back!
"Well...I hadn't played the game in a long time. To be honest, it's felt like this big hole in my life the entire time. So I wanted to see if playing again would fill that hole. It's been pretty great. Rediscovering some bits about me that I forgot, and trying new things that seem neat. Figuring out a new, complicated class with lots of restrictions, playing with friends, RPing, it's all pretty fun! When I originally played, I was so focused on being the best I could be, I guess I didn't really get to appreciate it as just... A hobby. Playing it this way is just fun, you know? Not caring as much about minmaxing as trying out different stuff and seeing what we can achieve if we put our minds to it." You say as you find the words just slipping out with little effort. You feel like you can speak for hours about the game, not just the raw mechanics but the different zones and stories. You keep yourself from gushing and finish with, "So I guess my reason to play is a bit more personal than any reason about the game itself." Ryuji wraps his arm around your shoulder."Hey glad to have you back." He says with a large grin. "Game's not been the same without you.""I'm not trying to go back to competitive. I'm just...playing the game like anyone else." You say awkwardly but Ryuji is unfazed. "Hey it doesn't matter. Seeing you fight again is wild." He says. "Not to mention you got server first on two dungeons back to back. That in itself is crazy!""It was just plain luck." You protest. "I didn't intend for any of that to happen.""Yeah but Mae is right. You got this knack for getting into some wild adventures and that's just as fun as any competitive match." He says with a laugh. "Once we're done with this, we should check out the other zones. See what other trouble you can wrangle up. Right guys?" He asks looking at Mae and Serena. "We haven't even faced these guys yet and you're already wanting to get into more crazy situations? How about we take a break and do something relaxing instead? Show Serena that the game isn't entirely about murdering one another?" She asks. "Hey, not a bad plan. We should go camping or swimming. Maybe go check out and see if anyone has built like a restaurant or something." He says. "I'd like to go gliding again." Serena says. "I liked it.""Yeah! Plenty of other mountains and cliffs we can find. Maybe ones with more scenic views." Ryuji nods excitedly. "I'll search around online for some good spots." You open your mouth to suggest a location but before you can say anything a quiet whine fills the air. You all go quiet as you strain your ears to listen. Eventually you notice that the sound seems to be on a loop just as a faint red light begins to bleed into the lift. You all draw your weapons just as the sound becomes clear enough to discern as the wail of alarms going off."Great. So they know we're here." Mae says as she looks around the small lift completely on edge.
"We're about to find out." You say as the red light begins to grow brighter and fill the lift more and more. It blinds you for a moment and through the glare of red, you can see the lift clear the tunnel it was descending down. You find yourself hanging hundreds of feet above the largest cavern you've ever seen in your life. Below, you see a series of rooms interconnected with hallways forming a smaller facility. Damaged unmanned automatons wander the open grounds outside of the facility, some entering through one of the many doorways, while others seem to wander aimlessly as they search for intruders."It's like a mini dungeon..." Mae says as she cranes her neck to see as far as she can."More like a moon base kind of deal." Ryuji adds in awe."And I'm guessing our target is that room." You say pointing to the largest one in the center of the whole maze. Even from this height you can see the numerous heavy pipes and wires pouring in and out of it. All of them are directly connected to a large metallic structure that housed a large blue crystal the size of a high voltage pylon. It glowed with an ominous blue light that seems to burn through the dark into your very core. "Is that..." Ryuji starts as he follows where you're pointing. "No way..." Mae breathes."The Aethernet Project?" You say as you feel sweat trickle down your neck despite the cold. You wipe it away only to find yourself feeling off balance and stumbling slightly. "Hey! Dude, you ok?" Ryuji asks as he quickly grabs your arm. Everyone quickly turns to grab and pull you back onto the lift before you stumble off of it. "You said you weren't poisoned!""It's not that." You mumble as you feel something sear into your side. You dig into your pocket and pull free the dragon soul. It burns red hot lacking any of the freezing properties it's owner used to have and you see it glow just like the large crystal below you. You couldn't help but feel like there was something angry about the way the light faded in and out of existence. Perhaps it was the red emergency lights mixing with it but you couldn't help but feel there was something deeper than that.Party:Regal_20 (John Doe)HP: 85%MP:10%Supressed (Anti Dragon Protocols)Mae Su-Hyun(Gloria)HP:100%MP:FullRyuji Yamada (Roland)HP: 85%MP: 0%Serena_StarlightHP: 100%MP: 45%Suppressed: While in the suppression field speed, attack, and defenses are reduced by 25%. Penalties may increase under prolonged exposure in certain suppression fields. "The heretics and raiders have to be there. Anti Dragon magics are in effect. Must be the giant crystal in the middle." You grunt as you struggle to your feet. Ryuji quickly helps you to your feet and helps steady you."Then we gotta shut it off! You can't fight like this. Maybe there's like an off switch somewhere in the compound." He says. "If the heretics haven't done it then that means they don't have any dragon magics, right?"
"Or it means whatever they're planning is more important than shutting off an alarm." Mae says. "They might not have planned it but if we shut off the suppression field then we may end up helping them. They might have more of those guys who can turn into crazy half dragon people. This field might just be keeping that at bay.""The magic around here isn't natural..." Serena says as she reads a popup in her HUD. "The game is telling me that there's something going on with the ambient aether but I'm not high enough level to know what it is. Is it because of the suppression field? Any why isn't it working on us?""Long story short, last adventure left me a bit tainted. Whatever affects dragons works on me as well. So if this magic field is meant to weaken them then it's weakening me too." You explains."We need to make a decision." Mae says as she looks down at a handful of automatons limping their way in your direction. "We've been spotted and we only have a few dozen feet left before we touch down." >What do you do?>Work your way through the facility and try to find a way to turn off the security. In your debuffed state, you're not sure how much help you can be.>Fight your way to the center chamber. This anti dragon effect might even the playing field if your enemies can't use any dragon transformations.>Search the facility for any workers. They might be able to help you somehow if they've been working down here all this time.>Write in.
>>6475041>Fight your way to the center chamber. This anti dragon effect might even the playing field if your enemies can't use any dragon transformations.Those dragonmen are tough when they transform so it's better the suppression field stays on for now.
>>6475041>Fight your way to the center chamber. This anti dragon effect might even the playing field if your enemies can't use any dragon transformations.
>>6475041>Work your way through the facility and try to find a way to turn off the security. In your debuffed state, you're not sure how much help you can be.If it's affecting the dragon soul, there could be a hint to finding something for the resurrection.Do we have a sufficient amount of explosives? The other option is blowing up the big crystal directly. As long as the Aethernet node stays active, there will be big guilds willing to take the reputation hit to take over the entire city.
>>6475041>Work your way through the facility and try to find a way to turn off the security. In your debuffed state, you're not sure how much help you can be.I agree: if their transformations were a gane-changer, I think they'd have already done this.
