(Open) Learning the Ropes

[Nikki Styx]

Nikki looked out over the plains on yet another perfect day in Aincrad. The sun had come up hours ago, and so far only a few lazy clouds tarnished the radiant blue sky.The gentle aroma of wild flowers wafted on the breeze exciting her senses for the day ahead. It was for lack of a better word Perfect today. It was still early as well, roughly around 10 am, so there was still plenty of time in the day.

The blue haired woman had been up for quite some time having prepared herself a rather rigorous training schedule for the day. After nearly two months the first floor had finally been cleared and players were advancing onward with new hope. She wanted to join them on the front lines, to help blaze a trail to the top and eventually be there to help liberate the people trapped in this game with her. Up until now she had done very little, in fact almost nothing. Now though, with the promise of advancement she had the drive to push.

With her Spear and shield equipped she had set off on the road heading west from the Town of beginnings. She had heard of a great spot not far from the town that had a rather high respawn rate for boars. These were at this point roughly the easiest creatures encountered so far, and were a great target for her to practice on. She had asked a few of the more established players about them, getting an idea as to how large their agro radius was, and what there attack patterns were like. This was all useful information as she had no desire to get killed by such weak creatures. She had also learned that given her relatively high defense she should have little trouble surviving a boar or two.

She had already been traveling for about 15 minutes or so when sure enough, as she had been told, Nikki spotted a rather large grouping of NPC monsters. From this distance they had all looked like boars, and as luck would have it they were all spread out fairly well, meaning it would be unlikely she would manage to pull more than one or two at a time. Still though, she had heard horror stories about confident players who had managed to accidentally pull hordes of enemies and not survive. With the warnings to be careful fresh on her mind she diverted off the road towards the boars.

She neared the herd, or pack, or digi herd of boars and began circling around it looking for a target that was far enough out. She also made sure to not accidentally walk into any stragglers she may not have seen. finally though one stood out, far enough away that she could safely pull it alone. It wasn't anything special, just a simple blackish grey boar, standing maybe 4 feet high at its shoulders. Just like the rest it had a pair of gnarly tusks that looked as though it could cause some damage.

Nikki smiled as she felt down along the dirt at her feet until she found a stone. She made sure to not take her eyes off the beast for fear of losing it, or worse being ambushed by it. With stone in hand she stood up, holding her spear and shield in her free hand before whipping the pebble at the pig. It squealed angrily before charging at her rather predictably. Her smile widened as she passed her spear off to her now open hand, and raised the shield in front of her, bracing herself for the impact that was to come.

The Boar smashed into her shield, as the loud crash from the impact echoed out across the fields. Nikki could feel her feet sliding in the loose earth as the boar pushed her backwards. Despite her low level, Nikki was by no means a weak player. In fact her strength was rather high for most, meaning that she was more than capable of dealing with this. The boar continued to squeal as it pushed her back. Then as if it were as natural as breathing, Nikki slipped to the side allowing the boar to rocket past her, but not before she gave it a quick jab with her spear.

The attack had not been a proper sword art, but it wad been effective as she watched the animals life drop nearly a third of the way. The Pig continued on its path stopping some 10 feet back before turning around to face her, grunting angrily. Nikki straightened out her posture, flicking her long blue hair to the side before lowering down behind her shield again, awaiting the next attack.

[Elpharae]

Elpharae ran a hand self-consciously on his bare neck, feeling the air brush on the exposed skin, at which he shivered slightly at. His rapier hung lightly at his side, and he walked around the Great Plains, looking for a decent-sized group of boars, one he wouldn’t have to constantly move away from to find new prey. His Detection skill was enabled, alerting him to the harsh sounds of metal over leather, at which he both flinched away from and was drawn to. Smoothing his low-slung ponytail over his shoulder, he turned to see a blue-haired girl with a shield and spear fighting against boars. Ah, well, no matter. She wasn’t going to finish off a group that size, so he might as well pick off the stragglers, right? At her first move, he raised an eyebrow, noting that one of the boars had been scared off by the noise, and shifted into an offensive position, tracking its movements before disappearing into thin air, leaving a shimmering sense of nothingness behind. He watched it run in his direction, just standing patiently, and then, when it seemed to notice him, he lunged, using his agility to launch him forward to strike wildly at the boar, making a gaping hole in its hide.

While the animal raged and charged at him again, he flitted in and out of existence, sidestepping before counterattacking with a strike of his own, which missed the boar, making the edge of its head strike his thigh. A wave of anger lurched in him, tinting the edges of his vision bright crimson. The color of spider lilies, he thought absently, before his ire grew until it threatened to overwhelm him, the brunet sidestepping and dodging the attacks the boar relentlessly threw at him. His fury grew when the monster almost was able to strike him again, suddenly, growing to monstrous proportions. His knuckles turned white. I am better than this, he thought, taken in by this anger and rage and fear and fury. I will utterly annihilate this one boar. I am better than this-how can I let myself be hurt by this simple program? A scowl grew on his face, and he prepared to strike, leaping back a fair bit to avoid the next charge.

Without warning, Elpharae lunged, sword out, metal gleaming in the sunlight. His lithe frame pushed the blade into the boar, as his other hand raised to his chest and twisted his wrist, making his sword art activate. A golden glow surrounded his blade. He bit his lip to keep from panting as the rapier made a sickening squish noise against the boar’s body. Exhilarating. That was what this was. The brunet pulled his blade out, surveying the monster, before withdrawing, understanding that a quick death would be too kind. Players might have been able to not feel pain, but AIs were. He was going to take advantage of that. The crossdresser activated his Stealth again, disabling his Acrobatics. He wouldn’t need that right now. His dark eyes ran over the monster’s position from where it was pinned down, almost dead. Something inside of him smiled approvingly. Yes, it hissed, pleased. Let all swine grovel, the way it’s supposed to.

He toyed with his rapier before finally approaching, making a series of tiny dots across the boar’s hide, deep enough to pierce, but not deep enough to finish it off quickly. The boar had seven health points left. He knocked off a health point with each dot he made, and he made a perfect circle out of six. One health point left. Elpharae kneeled down to the boar’s level, viewing it seriously, the boar’s pupils dilating even though it couldn’t see him. “Die,” He whispered politely, mockingly, sweetly. Then he plunged his rapier through its skull, the hilt lodged through the eye for a second before it disappeared completely. The brunet viewed the whole scene with a face of disinterest, before taking his rapier and beginning to stalk his next prey, a duo of boars. He knew that his sword art could affect up to two opponents, and these two were the most perfect candidates. A wolfish grin grew on his face. Absolutely stunning ones, in fact. They had meandered away from the group, far enough away so that the blue-haired player couldn’t claim that they were “her kill”. Elpharae surveyed her with equal coolness. She was strong, but unrefined-uncouth, to say the least. Rue-the girl he had met at the festival-had emanated strength as well, but she was polite and elegant, able to dance well, manipulative and yet warm. There was a charm to elegance, and so far, she had none in his book.

Elpharae was particularly annoyed today because he had been in the forest, about to kill the last wolf for his quest, when some level two player came and stole his kill. Obviously, he still had most of the quest rewards, but the other had earned something more. A rare drop. Honestly. He gritted his teeth. He did not want to go through that again. But that was done already, and he had told the player quite testily to not interfere with anyone’s quests like that again, or else Elpharae would castrate him. The brunet turned to check on the herd of boars. They seemed well and fine enough, and the girl wasn’t in danger of dying, not really, not yet, at least, and so he turned his attention to the duo, activating his Stealth skill once again, and honing in his Detection to notice anything odd. Nothing. He approached at a steady pace, rapier out and unsheathed, ready to be used. The rather dull metal was still able to catch the light, and he narrowed his eyes at his opponents, ready to strike.

First, he decided to strike the one on the right, taking a long breath to steady himself before materializing into existence, making a messy stab between the eyes that was still effective and using the rapier between the boar’s skull as a sort of lever, which made the boar’s head slam onto the ground, and he used the slight height advantage of the boar, running up its back and dislodging his weapon in order to use the momentum gained to leap over to the other boar, adrenaline pouring through his veins, giving him a pleasant, hazy feeling. He took his hand and twisted his wrist up high in the air, then lunged, making tiny stabs in the boars that were nonetheless effective. But his sword art didn’t perform as planned, which was only to be expected, as he was only a level three player. Cursing through his clenched teeth in French with words that could make a sailor blush furious crimson in embarrassment, and then readied his weapon. He would not be caught off guard again. He glanced at his health bar, checking it. Elpharae had lost two health points earlier with his tussle, but now, even with two opponents, he was going to aim for only losing one.

His leg swept out in a movement that was vaguely familiar to the steps he had performed at the dance and music festival in Tolbana, and he closed his eyes, focusing before switching to his Stealth skill yet again, eyelids opening to reveal a much more calm and composed opponent that Elpharae had schooled himself into. Remember, don’t loose yourself to the bloodlust, he reminded himself, falling into a familiar routine as he lunged towards the boars. Control it, or let it fuel you. Do not loose your control. He made a quick hole in the boar before vaulting over it, using his rapier, which almost bent (he would have to be more careful, he noted), as a pole of sorts for leverage and pulled it out by the time he had reached the boar on the left, which had suffered more damage. He made quick stabs in both of them, noting that they were both around six health points before cursing and barely missing a charge. That was one point from him-the only point he had allotted for himself to lose.

The brunet frowned in disappointment, frowning slightly. He had hoped that he wouldn’t lose a point, but it seemed that he had managed to do so nonetheless. Reading his weapon, a sort of resigned amusement emanating from him, he retreated before looking over his position with a critical eye, noting that the one on the right was now the one with more damage and lower health. Sighing and lowering his Stealth in favor of Detection, the player headed towards his right, narrowly avoiding a mid-air charge with no small amusement and annoyance before stabbing it cleanly through the neck, the sound of metal through rapier unusually loud. Was the other girl done, causing the silence around him, or was she still fighting and he was just imagining it? The boar dissipated into pixels, but it’s friend seemed too far away to notice. A small smirk played on Elpharae’s lips coyly as the crossdresser walked over, his expression the epitome of indifference. The boar roared and reared back, but Elpharae made a quick thrust through its stomach, silencing it and making it limp on his blade before it disappeared completely.

He withdrew, noticing that now, for some reason, he was much closer to the blue-haired girl, and murmured a soft apology that she might have heard for infringing on her kills, since some players, like him, were really testy about that. before sheathing his blade again, about to head a little farther away, where some boars had wandered off from the bigger herd. His gaze flickered briefly to the sky, noting with no little annoyance that it was a perfect day…again. After a lot of sun and blue skies, it was beginning to get troublesome. He smoothed down his hair and sent a curious glance over to the girl, reading her display name. Nikki_Styx? Like the river? Thinking of Athena immediately, his gaze softened slightly. It seemed that there was a fellow Greek mythology enthusiast. He tapped his fingers on his rapier and got ready to leave.

[Nikki Styx]

Nikki hadn't noticed the arrival of the new player. In fact, she had become entirely focused on this single boar, something she had not wanted to do. Honestly the excitement from the fight was kicking in. She hadn't fought much since getting trapped here, and most of it had been on the first day before learning that she could die for real. it was a sense of caution that had kept her safe to this point, but now, so many had died and it seemed that the only way anyone was getting out of here was going to be if everyone stood up and helped. Some had started up shops, and quickly started supplying players with gear. others collected resources to supply shops. But the ones that were needed most were the ones that could fill the front lines, those willing to take the real risks. She had thought about what she could do to help, but in the end the answer was simple. She had no desire to craft materials, never had in any game she had ever played, and she wanted to be more than a supply mule, so that simplified things. She would be a front liner, a tank, a protector.

The Boar charged again. Nikki held her ground waiting until it was almost at her before pressing into her shield again. Like before the animal collided with the plate loudly, forcing her to slide back along its path. This time though, instead of slipping to the side as she had done before she pressed onto it, tipping her weight onto the boars head as they slowed down, eventually coming to a stop. It was at this point that she finally took notice of the other person nearby slaughtering boars like they were nothing. If this herd of boars had been smaller Nikki might have done something about her presence. She had heard stories about players who kill steal and gank experience from others. She had not wanted to contend with that today, but this particular group of animals was large enough to support several players killing them, so there was not too much of an issue. Besides, if this player was nice then they could watch each others back.

The player looked rather pretty as she killed the animals. clearly she had had some practice with this. She had moved nearer now, though it seemed that was just the way her battle had taken her now, as she murmured an apology. Nikki froze a moment at the players words. The voice that carried them did not seem to fit the body at all. The body was clearly female, or at least looked that way, but the voice was definitely male. For Nikki this was confusing as all the players had been forced to reveal their true appearances, rather than sport an Avatar, and as far as she knew no one had been spared. What kind of trick was this?

The Boar let out a squeal of anger reminding Nikki that she had pressed its face into the ground. She blinked a second and looked back to the animal under neath her, before slipping back, and allowing it to take off past her again. She had not managed to pierce it this time, not that she had tried, instead she wanted to do something else sort of a test as it were. Upon starting the game she had chosen her skill sets, and in doing so had earned herself a sword art that related to her weapon choice. Shields had been her first pick right from the get go, and that clearly had counted for something as she had the attack called shield bash. It was a simple maneuver that would drop a lot of damage really quickly and even potentially stun her opponent. She had meant to try it out on the first day, but had been brought back to the town of beginnings for some bad news before she had gotten the chance. But now was the perfect time, a little late, but better than never.

The boar circled around, not losing any of its speed as it turned to face her again, still charging. Nikki braced herself, preparing to attack, but also being ready in case she missed and the boar managed to hit her. As it neared her she had little time to act, so it was lucky that this move required little warm up. She crossed her left arm over her body, winding up, and exposing her side to the charging animal for a moment. She could feel the click that people described when they used their sword arts. That feeling where the system takes over to assist with the attacks. She had been told not to fight it, but rather move with it, allow it to guide you, and put your own strength into it. Her shield began to glow as well, at first a soft blue, which quickly intensified. The Boar was almost on top of her now, too close to bail out, it was all or nothing. In a flash she attacked, swinging the shield around and smashing it into the pig.

The sound was like a shotgun, loud and frightening, as her shield connected violently with the boar. She had put all of her strength into the swing, tossing the animal up into the air before it landed several feet away with a dull thud. She watched proudly as its health bar depleted before it finally exploded into pixel fragments. She had beaten it, and was still OK. This was a good step for Nikki. If she were careful She could Level up out here and gain some much needed practice. But first though she had to ask this new player something.

"Excuse me..." She called out raising her shield hand in the air to try and summon the other girls attention. She had seen this behavior in many games before, and it was often done by noobs asking questions about something she had just done. Despite almost always taking a second or two to answer questions she had always hated when players did this, and now here she was doing it too. At first she wanted to ask about the girls Avatar, though now she questioned if this was a girl or not. Had she not looked into the mirror? or maybe this was something new, a new item that restores your avatar? There was only one way to know, but she wasn't going to open with such a bold question. "Your quite good."

[Elpharae]

Surprised when the girl talked, Elpharae flicked his hair back instinctively and without meaning to, his cheeks pinked, him unused to compliments. He let out a soft, tiny giggle, and his eyes shone with good humor, his earlier tenseness leaving him. "Thank you. From what I saw, you're good, too. Let me guess-since you're a shield-user, and that attack was quite inspired, you put a lot of points in endurance?" He guessed, shyly wringing his hands. His gaze flickered over her taller frame. She was pretty, he thought absently, in a curvy, voluptuous way, and her electric-blue hair especially stood out. He had seen blue hair on another player-Rue, but that was it. It had to be pretty rare...

But no matter. He surveyed her subtly, keeping up polite appearances with a sweet, charming smile and shyly brushing his hair away, but his eyes took her in, scanning, analyzing. A spear and a shield, hmm? Most people he knew with shields would head for a sword, but it didn't really matter-it was a wise choice, at least in his head. You could easily pick off your victims with a more long-distance weapon while keeping up the shield for defense. But if what he saw was any indication-and here he tilted his head, assessing her coolly under a veneer of friendliness that she would be hard-pressed to see through-this girl also used her shield as a weapon. Very, very tactical. She was like Athena in more ways than one, it seemed.

He opened his mouth, about to reply, but a quartet of the boars had wandered off and they were in its line of sight, meaning that...it was liable to attack any second now. Without a word, his eyes became distant and he cleared his throat softly, quietly tilting his head towards the boars to signal that they were coming at them, and Elpharae had barely picked up on it, but thanks to his Detection (which he still thought was remarkable at keeping him alive) he had spotted it. For once. Since there seemed to be a tiny divide between quartet, like they were split up into pairs, Elpharae murmured that he was going to go take the two on the left to Nikki if she didn't mind, knowing that even though he could turn away or leave the immediate vicinity, boars were unsettlingly quick. A quick, almost silent apology (and the volume made his voice more feminine, he cursed, finally realizing), he set off.

His first course of action was to move off to the left. His eyes narrowed on the one on the right-his left-, and with a quick movement, he slid over, twisting his wrist up high in the air and taking a quick moment to admire the golden glow before having to activate his Acrobatics skill and flip over the boars in the opposite direction of their charge in order to dodge an attack. Making a clean stab in both of their backsides after he landed, the boy watched as they fell under his paralysis, making quick stabs along one's neck as he tried to do this as quickly as possible, cuts shearing deep into its flesh as it made a gagging noise, even in it's state. Elpharae would have felt bad if he didn't want it to be over so quickly.

The tough hide was ripped open when he made a cut too close to another gaping hole, tearing off, and Elpharae ignored the rush of exhilaration that ran in him, forcing it down to instead focus. Two more points for this boar. He used the momentum from pushing off on one boar, toppling it over, and used it to push himself at the other boar, defiant and wanting to take it out in one blow, his rapier gleaming wickedly as it hit it's mark, the victim of the blow letting out an agony-filled roar before disappearing into a cloud of blue and white. Elpharae felt something shift, the tiniest of grunts breaking the silence besides Nikki fighting. The other boar-his paralysis must have worn off!

Cursing in his head in violent Japanese, the brunet saw the boar charge at him and stumbled back as quickly as he could, narrowly missing the head-butt that would have hit him with punishing force. He could almost see the air ripple where the boar's efforts had been released in vain. But the porcine peril persisted-it charged after him again, and this time, he had to clumsily flip over it again, his black hair brushing against its back. At least he would probably get some more experience from his Acrobatics skill from this...but no matter. He tried to focus, utilizing his agility to dodge and defend (though weakly, because, well, rapiers weren't made for defending. He was a little wary of his weapon snapping.) against the boar.

Focus, he reminded himself, tilting his head to try to control the spike of anger that flared in him when the boar kicked up dry earth onto his face, and he had to blink the dusty feeling out of his eye. His fury spiked out of control, appearing in erratic intervals, and he was helpless to it, as if he were a mere spectator to the brutality of his mind. His eyes automatically shifted out of their disconnected look, and he felt himself steel, become colder, almost, and more cruel. The brunet shifted into his Stealth skill, disappearing into thin air and leaving the shimmering rainbow-like air behind him as the only sign he was there, the boar pausing mid-charge, confused.

A small, smug smirk grew on his features as he saw the boar prance around, getting close enough to strike, and then lunging forward, sending a barrage of holes onto its side, shallow but various, cutting the flesh open and leaving the stinging injuries exposed to air. It must have hurt, he mused lightly, twirling his sharp blade in between his fingers like a parasol, enjoying the control and fear he had over these creatures, and then shrugged, confident in his ability to remain unseen. Whatever. It wasn't like he cared, anyways.

After all, something dark and foreign in him whispered, smug, it was actually quite amusing to see these monsters grovel in submission out of consideration of their own wellbeing. Elpharae ignored it, however, shimmering back into existence to vault over the monster and slam his blade in, watching it cut through the animal's skull with a sickening crunch that he had the urge to coo at. After a second of him just standing there, the boar disappeared, and he sighed in disappointment and relief alike, sending a curious glance over to Nikki, wondering how she had fared. The cool breeze was an absolute relief, and he wiped away the thin sweat he had worked up with a tiny wince.

It seemed like she had finished, anyways, and Elpharae flicked his hair behind him as he walked, feeling the now rather windblown locks fly out behind him. It seemed that there was a strong wind today. He stifled a giggle, thinking that this was rather like an anime, really, the reality of their lives. Finally reaching the other green player, the brunet tucked a strand of dark hair behind his ear, and beamed at her shyly, eyes seemingly open but guarded. This was just like meeting high-class socialites-you couldn't be sure what you were dealing with. "I'm sorry, were you going to say something? I apologize for my impudence earlier." He murmured softly, shyness lingering on his frame as he hesitantly extended a hand out to the other. "Elpharae. Level three."

[[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: Elpharae

Elpharae word count: 2962
Flat XP rate: 296