The pointy end goes into the other Man- Pig! Whatever!

[Saki]

"It's alright, I am pretty sure you will be able to use it eventually. It sounds really helpful and cool though." Saki said with confidence. This took Saki back to when she couldn't use her own sword skill herself. Right at the first day of the game. The next day she spend almost the entire morning trying to get it right. Which went pretty well after a while. Since than she has been abusing it whenever she saw the chance. It's also a very good escape in dangerous situations because it's range is so far. She was happy enough that they nobody said it was a bad plan, that meant it had to work somehow. Being able to heal with your own attacks could be useful in a game with no actual healing skill. Or at least none Saki knew of. Meanwhile Yorick told her that most people in groups used two handed weapons in games. Saki couldn't really get why as they won't be able to wield a shield that way. She certainly didn't see Fuu block with her greatsword a lot. Then again Fuu... was like the strongest member of the gaming club so no surprises there. At any rate the explanation only lead to more confusion so she didn't ask any further. It probably wouldn't become any better.

"Of course, I don't think either of us are planning on dying today. We'll retreat if it gets to dangerous." At least somebody had a healing skill, but since she never used it it's credibility was debatable. Still, the last thing she wanted to do was worry others, especially cute strangers she only met today. She readied her spear, ready to charge in again if necessary or just follow them to attack together. First they should lure the boars though. 4 to 3 was possible but they probably lose someone while doing that and Saki didn't like that no matter who it was.

"Ready when you are!" Saki said enthusiastically when the other girl draw her blade. Saki didn't like to admit it, but she actually liked to fight. She was against killing so she wouldn't ever attack anyone who actually could die without provocation.

[Takita]

457 Yorick@saki SHIN OF ADOX

Looking around, Takita remembered that Yorick told her to aggro the beast with some rocks nearby. Skeptical to the thought as her sword art might fail. With hesitation, she decided not to follow his advice as she was going to attack the boar without it knowing the woman was there, giving her the element of surprise. The young woman took a deep breath as both her hands gently grabbed the hilt of her Rapier. As she exhaled, a small golden light built up around the blade, following the golden light, a weak energy force field gave away the imitation of a flowing motion. A battle cry left her pink lips prior to the young woman's first attack, she charged against the unknowing boar that was minding it's own business as it ate of the grass provided by the Great Plains. Takita's first attack hit the boars flank, leaving a long crimson gash, vivid in colour. Before the boar could react and counter the young woman, yet another fearsome cut by her blade got left upon it's dark brown fur, leaving the beast in a painful squeal. For every attack and slash the young woman had left on the beast, a warm feeling embraced her hands, spreading through the small body belonging to the female warrior. As her last attack hit, a long crimson gash appeared on the mob’s face, along with a visible drain on its HP bar that quickly dropped down to zero. Almost falling over after the intense sword art, Takita regained her balance rather quickly as in the corner of her eye, a vivid red looked back at her filled with hostility. The battle wasn't over yet. While the warm feeling started to leave her body, another boat had gotten aggroed by the young woman as she stumble upon it's line of view. '' Shoot '' she whispered as she rolled out of it's line of attack as the boar charged against her, landing on her knee for support. Takita snapped her head quickly against the spear users in fear. If they miss their chance to impale the beast.. she thought before shaking her head, forcing the thoughts out of her mind. She didn't want to think about the possibilities of failure as she clenched her teeth. '' Don't let it hit you! '' she cried out as the young woman breathed heavily, watching them with her hazel eyes. The boar got closer in a rapid speed, grunting violently as it was out to kill with it's powerful tusks that could easily kill either of them. It scared the young woman to think that the two new acquaintances could get killed off before her by a gruesome boar that would show no mercy to it's pray.

[Yorick]

A plethora of expletives sizzled around Yorick's thoughts as Takita darted out in front of what was probably going to be one of the sorrier examples of a pike wall in history. She'd taken out the first beast, true, but she'd left herself vulnerable to several of the other animals should they see her. Of course, one had.

Fortunately, it looked like she was able to roll out of the way of the charge with a minimal effort. Unfortunately, that also left the charging swine in a direct line to his shield arm and back, with the spear couched and braced at an almost 90 degree angle out of line, awaiting a charge that was not going to come. A quick shift of his rear foot brought it underneath the haft, and he hastily toed the blunt end of his spear upwards as his rear hand slithered around the haft fighting for a better grip. The blade, now angled down, managed to strike the boar's shoulder, even as he grunted with the effort of launching himself upwards and away in a single frantic leap.

While this certainly at least delayed the boar from striking him at full charge, it left him in a wonderfully exposed situation, flying backward in an arc due to the pig's somewhat depleted momentum. A somewhat irrelevant thought swept into the forefront of his brain, 'Why am I always getting launched around by these things?'

A wide eyed scan of the area saw that the boar would not be able to adjust its charge quite enough to place it in line with NakiSara too, but she would have a chance to strike it as it passed. A quick expulsion of breath followed milliseconds later, just before he crashed to the ground, saving him from getting it knocked out of him before he could frantically try and regain his feet.

Even looking back, he would never be sure how he'd managed it, but somehow, the spear and shield hadn't gotten tangled in his limbs in his jarring roll to lose momentum and he skidded to a stop in a 3-point crouch, weapon held laterally behind him, fingers ripping grooves into the hard packed loam, and feet splayed out to the sides in a wide stance. A pose that would have been incredibly cool - if he'd intended to end up that way.

A minor drop to his health brought it down to about 62 or 61 percent, matching a drop of about 35 percent on the boar.

[Saki]

With a rather graceful attack the rapier user swiped down one of the boars. One less to worry about, three to go. Still it wasn't over yet and she just used her sword art she might desperately need when her health wen down. Still, Saki wouldn't question her judgement. If she thought this was worth it Saki would make it count. Speaking of which another boar was aggroed by Takita. Saki knew what she had to do, she quickly moved closer Yorick before the boar made the charge.

"Let's do this!" She said as she held her spear with two hands. Now if the boar charged into them they could both hit it at the same time. Or one could stop it and the other one could attack it while the boar couldn't reach them. The reason the spear was one of mankind's first non-natural weapons. firstly it was easy to make, secondly and more importantly it had a very large range, especially compared to the natural weapons, the tusks of a boar. Spears were practically made to hunt wildlife so it should work here too. When the boar finally charged into the spear wall Saki attacked the other shoulder, so basically the same spot as Yorick on the other side. This lowered it's life even further than it already was. Still it wasn't over yet. And somehow everyone and everything in this world was entirely fine no matter how hard they were kicked, beaten up or sliced. From a gameplay design she could see why, but it did feel very surreal to have wounds healed so fast.

As the boar charged into the two she could see from the corner of her eye that Yorick was launched backwards. She could feel that force of the boar was getting to much harder for her to stop. Removing the spear form it's shoulder was on easy feat, but eventually she managed to pull it out, but this made her being hit by the boar again. She lost about another 10% of her total HP from the attack as she jumped backwards, away from the boar. It seemed to be ready to charge again. No fair! Saki could only charge every few seconds or so. At any rate, time to stop it again. It seemed to aim at Yorick, so she could intercept the boar easily. Once the boar was almost in range she was cautious, maybe it could turn just in time to attack her instead. When she was sure it wasn't the case she attacked it's belly. A large red wound appeared when Saki attacked the boar. What she didn't expected was that it didn't stop the charge at first. She could see the hp of the boar dropping from 35% to about 5%. Almost there, but she couldn't stop the boar from charging anymore. it was very unlikely that Takita was close enough as well. Unless she used her sword art there wasn't anything Saki could do. For now she would wait until the charge was complete. Yorick still had a lot of hp left, if he couldn't finish the boar after this charge she would interfere and kill it with her sword art.

[Takita]

335 Outfit SHIN OF ADOX

Takita watched in horror as the boar launched Yorick backwards in a powerful charge that had treated his body like a doll getting thrown around by a child. To her relife, the young man didn't take as much damage thanks to him slowing the charge down, causing the monster before them to drop in health. But it was now charging get again, this time in Saki's direction, the young girl also impaled the beast's shoulder, unfortunatily as she pulled her spear out, the beast manage to hit her. Causing Saki's health-bar to make a visible drop. After it had charged for the girl, the boar was quick on it's feet, yet again charging against the spear users. This time in the direction of Yorick. As the boar passed Saki, the tip of her spear impaled the beast's stomach instead of the shoulder blade that Yorick went for prior to it's attack, causing a drastic health drop from 35% to 5% which should leave the monster to be killed with just  one more hit. She grabbed the hilt of her sword and started to charge against the boar, trying to get there in time for stopping it to hit Yorick yet again. Despite her speed, time moved slowly for the young woman, like she would never get there in time. Rosy cheeks took place on her as the breeze came by, cooling her hot skin. But both Takita and Saki knew she was too far away to reach the dangerous boar. As a lone line of swear words left Takita's lips, she quickly turned her head to Yorick. '' Either hit it or roll out of it's way! '' the young woman cried out as she slowed down, trying not to end up between the two. Who knows how much health the boar could take away from her if she met it head on, without any protection. Takita bit her lip in frustration and concern as she closed her eyes, ready to hear the sound of shattered glass.

[Yorick]

Hearing Takita's panicked instructions, Yorick's eyes snapped to the beady eyes of the boar that was tearing up the ground in its headlong rush towards him. His eyes shimmered for a short moment, touched by the concern that both young ladies were showing for him. He only permitted himself a short split-second of contemplation of that, as his mind caught up to the situation.

There was only one proper response he could make. The fingers of his bracing hand contorted into a claw for a few seconds, he shifted his feet into a runner's crouch, and threw himself forward. A clod of dirt shot behind him in a fountain as he exploded forward in a picture-perfect lunge.

His outstretched spear slammed perfectly into the eye of the boar, and he involuntarily squinted, a rain of collapsing polygons disintegrating in his hair and across his torso as he hurtled through the remnants of his foe. His momentum drew him forward into a much more controlled roll than his last, and he came nimbly to his feet, spear whipping around his forearm in an admittedly theatrical flourish.

The blunt end of his weapon's staff cracked into the ground, and a relieved breath slowly seeped through his teeth. His eyebrow arched theatrically and he assayed an amused inquiry. "My, my, Takita. As much as I appreciate your concern, and I sincerely do, I wonder... Just where did you pick up some of those phrases?"

((Word count 241))

[Saki]

The boar ran and ran and... stopped midway towards the charge just before Yorick as it disappeared into many pieces. She always wondered why the dead animation consisted of people or monsters just shattering like that. That was exiting, but at least the charge was stopped properly this time. She certainly didn't want Yorick to die here or anyone else for that matter. Maybe it was Takita's encouraging that made him properly block the attack? She doubted it actually, but a girl could have some wishful thinking, no?

Meanwhile Saki was watching at the other boars. If the accidentally target one of them someone had to warn the other two. Maybe she could even take a large bite out if it's HP with her Sword Art. That would put her in real danger though so she would try not to aggro them if possible for now. Lest the other two would be to late to save her. Because she doubted she could fight those boars two to one.

"I think she was worried about you." Saki answered entirely seriously when Yorick asked if where she got those phrases. What Takita said wasn't really polite but it was probably the stress of possibly seeing someone dying that caused her to utter those lines. Either way Saki would do like she didn't hear what Takita said during the battle.

"Well, these two went ways better than the last two. Shall we attack the final two?" Saki asked. She was ready to go and again was ready to initiate her Sword Art at any second if necessary. She pointed her spear towards the remaining boars.

[Takita]

267 Outfit SHIN OF ADOX

Takita felt how a heavy burden left her shoulders when she opened her eyes to realise that it was indeed the boar that made the ear-splitting sound. She leaned her hands against her thighs, took a deep breath and collected her thoughts. She barely picked up on what Yorick said but yet she chuckled as her hazel eyes looked at the young man. '' Bad friends? '' she said with a laugh, honestly the young woman had no idea where all the swears came from, probably something she had heard her mother say many times as her ''idiotic'' assistance didn't follow her order or got it wrong. The thought of her mother made the young woman sigh. They didn't have a great relationship but it was still something she missed, oddly enough. As Saki asked if the party of three should go for the other two boars in the area, Takita nodded. This time she collected a few stones to have in her hand, in case it would be needed. She turned to look at the beasts with a bittersweet feeling embracing her. She was happy about the EXP it would give her but the worry would always be there. The young woman puffed her cheeks prior to her scolding herself for worrying too much, Things would be fine. They work great together. The smaller rock got thrown up and down as the young woman waited for her comrades to be ready for yet another battle. As she pressed her lips together in a thin line, Takita turned around and smiled. '' Ready? '' she asked, waiting patiently for a response. (I'm sorry for the late respond, I haven't felt motivated the past few days) Yorick Saki

[Yorick]

Chuckling kindheartedly at Takita's tentative response, Yorick fought back the urge to continue with his lighthearted teasing, having noticed that though Takita wasn't too disturbed by his jests, they had made NakiSara somewhat uncomfortable. With a quiet nod, Yorick responded to her unvoiced scolding by dropping the topic.

Idly running his thumbs under the leather straps holding his beginner's breastplate on his shoulders, he winced slightly. He may have been able to mentally ignore the effects of the heat, but physiologically was another matter. Thick bands of sweat had collected under each of the straps, and his adjustment un-stuck his shirt from them, causing his shirt to slap back against his shoulders, even as the straps shifted to a slightly more comfortable position.

Trying not to dwell on the enervating effects of all this heat, he focused once again on the subject at hand - what he'd mentally entitled, 'Try not to Die: 101.'

A quick glance at their respective health bars allowed him to note that of the two spear-wielders, he was currently the healthier, though not by much. Some quick thoughts ran a few scenarios through his head, given what he knew of the other player's abilities at this time, as he followed NakiSara's gesture to the last two pigs of this spawn group.

An abrupt jerk on the haft of the weapon freed it from the heat-dried earth, and he idly tossed the weapon from hand to hand before stepping to the side and slightly ahead of Takita. "Ready," he said, nodding in agreement to the young blade-wielder.

He then pointed out what he believed would be the best option for this skirmish, given that these two boars were far enough apart that the angles they would charge in on would be different enough to make defending against both difficult. "My Sword Art will be able to slow down the second pig's attack. I should be able to keep myself safe and hold its attention for a bit. That will give the two of you enough time to take care of the other one. Try and gang up on it, take care of it as quickly as possible, and we should be home free once we're able to concentrate on the last one."

((No problem - I know exactly how that feels. heck, I got finished with everything I had to do yesterday, and didn't even have the motivation to check the board, much less post anything.))

((Word count: 375))

[[GM] Julie]

Thread closed with spring cleaning. One participants active, One rewards distributed.

[[GM] John]

Thread closed due to spring cleaning. This is a flat reward, no bonuses will be added. I apologize in advance for the cut taken to your hard work of the past, however full credit cannot be issued due to the nature the thread ended in. You will be rewarded similarly to how solo threads do just without the cap, enjoy the xp from dead threads

The following players were credited for their posting: Takita

Takita word count: 2780
Flat XP rate: 278