- SPOILER - Show Spoiler
- The Knights guild was strong, and bigish, but it was far from the only end game guild there. Just the most well known/respected. And there was at least one known scuffle about someone joining. although we all know the details of that one :p
Temple of Ranma's Sailor Senshi Seifuku
Anime, Scifi, Fantasy Fan and Original Fiction
Lost Days - SAO One shot
52 posts
• Page 2 of 4 • 1, 2, 3, 4
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by WG_Writer » Wed Jul 02, 2014 9:28 pm
- SPOILER - Show Spoiler
Storm trooper effect works against good guys as well.
No matter how strong you are, there is always a teenager able to beat you without breaking a sweat.
A blind Paladin can only hear half truths
A deaf Paladin can only see half truths
Either way the Paladin is a berserker
No matter how strong you are, there is always a teenager able to beat you without breaking a sweat.
A blind Paladin can only hear half truths
A deaf Paladin can only see half truths
Either way the Paladin is a berserker
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WG_Writer
Posts: 1086
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by LawOhki » Wed Jul 02, 2014 9:44 pm
WG_Writer wrote:
- SPOILER - Show Spoiler
I know, but they were one of the big ones who helped reinvigorate things. Considering the list of players actively trying to clear the content, a powerful handful after a big purge of influential characters, wield a huge amount of power.
- SPOILER - Show Spoiler
As for Heathcliff doing the same duel me deal he'd be shooting himself in the foot.
- SPOILER - Show Spoiler
-
LawOhki
Posts: 1591
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by LawOhki » Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:12 pm
Not sure how much of this i'll post before it hits up FF.net, but here's some more and I've updated the other sections with their current versions.
--------
February 5th, Month of White Fir
91 Days since launch
1st Floor
Ranma considered the grand black stone hall containing the Monument of Life to be one of the most wretched places he had ever been. It was inside the Black Iron Palace, a massive complex just to the north of the city center. Constructed from materials that fit the name, it was a heavy oppressive place of reflective black stone and dark iron. The monument sat at the end of the first hall that you entered, the wide black marble block over two meters in height listing every character name currently trapped on Aincrad.
He stood in front of it with Nabiki and easily found where his fiance’s name was etched in white lettering. The name underneath Akane’s had been scratched through and a short description of how the unfortunate soul had died was carved to the right. Everyday they came to this place having no other way to tell if Akane was alive or dead.
“Let’s go.” Nabiki interrupted his thoughts, tugging on his sleeve. He nodded, eager to leave as well. Thankfully it was only oppressively quiet today. On other visits they had to contend with the anguished cries of players who had lost friends and loved ones.
Their footsteps echoed loudly, only a handful of others were briefly visiting the hall. The cool air that hung over everything inside the palace gave way to the warmer weather of the courtyard. It helped improve his mood to be out of the gloom but the bitter reality still remained.
Akane had left them, on the day that everyone else remembered fondly. She hadn’t said a word, silently leaving their guild. Even going so far as to remove both of them from her friends list, blocking any attempts at communication. The two teens had missed the notifications, too caught up in a special city wide event that had been initiated by someone shortly after his duel with the youngest Tendo had finished, and the ensuing festival that had gathered much of the servers population for a brief respite from the game of death.
A very small yellow icon blinked in the upper right corner of his vision. Already suspecting what it was, he opened the notification, and a line of text appeared in front of him. “Alert, Johto has left the guild.”
“He was hitting on me last night.” Nabiki remarked sourly. Not paying any attention to the NPC vendors trying to sell their various items as they passed by.
“Didn’t know him.” Ranma shrugged, having barely been able to keep up with the initial influx of new guild members, and certainly having issues with the rapid dwindling of those same faces.
“Maybe you should have flirted with him a bit, guys like that. Sex appeal, use it if you got it.” He suggested jokingly and laced his hands together behind his head. . Without the curse he was saved from being the eye candy of their outfit. Not that he wasn’t enjoying staying one gender but it was one more thing to remind him that this wasn’t real, and outside his body was trapped helplessly somewhere.
“Keep talking and I swear I’ll find a way to get someone to splash you on the outside.” The middle Tendo sniffed and elbowed him in the side.
“Too late.” He snickered, passing underneath a sign indicating the teleport gate was up ahead. “Just think, you could have tricked me into the game as a girl. What if I had been alone? Who knows what would have happened? I could have become some strange chick!” He exclaimed dramatically.
“So much wasted opportunity-- all that Col.” Nabiki gasped in horror. “Well at least you’re good for attracting girls who attract the guys. Even if we only make up an eighth of players.”
‘Phrasing?’ Ranma raised an eyebrow, curious if she had simply been including herself as one of the females in the game or something else.
“Let’s just hurry and head back up.” She stepped up onto the rectangular stone platform to stand in the center. “Things to do and Col to make.”
“And later, swimming.” He excitedly bounced in place next to Nabiki between the pillars at the four corners of the gate. No curse meant no time spent as a girl, which allowed him to enjoy cold water in his birth form for the first time in over a year.
“Only you would think swimming with barracuda the size of killer whales was a good time.”
“Those little guys? They’re harmless, you should have seen that big rare that came wandering by.”
“You maniac--.” Nabiki face palmed at his casual disregard for his own safety. “Did it at least drop any good loot?”
“Oh, just this.” He drawled while absently linking her the item.
“We’re selling that.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“It’s mine.”
“And when are you ever going to use it?”
“That’s not the point.” Ranma pointed both hands to his chest. “I killed the monster, I got the drop; it’s mine.”
“Alright, you can keep it.” Nabiki crossed her arms. “Teleport: Panareze.”
‘Damn straight I’m keeping it.’
“We’ll wait and sell it later when players have more Col.” She added as they were consumed by white light to take them up to the twenty fourth floor.
--------
February 5th, Month of White Fir
91 Days since launch
1st Floor
Ranma considered the grand black stone hall containing the Monument of Life to be one of the most wretched places he had ever been. It was inside the Black Iron Palace, a massive complex just to the north of the city center. Constructed from materials that fit the name, it was a heavy oppressive place of reflective black stone and dark iron. The monument sat at the end of the first hall that you entered, the wide black marble block over two meters in height listing every character name currently trapped on Aincrad.
He stood in front of it with Nabiki and easily found where his fiance’s name was etched in white lettering. The name underneath Akane’s had been scratched through and a short description of how the unfortunate soul had died was carved to the right. Everyday they came to this place having no other way to tell if Akane was alive or dead.
“Let’s go.” Nabiki interrupted his thoughts, tugging on his sleeve. He nodded, eager to leave as well. Thankfully it was only oppressively quiet today. On other visits they had to contend with the anguished cries of players who had lost friends and loved ones.
Their footsteps echoed loudly, only a handful of others were briefly visiting the hall. The cool air that hung over everything inside the palace gave way to the warmer weather of the courtyard. It helped improve his mood to be out of the gloom but the bitter reality still remained.
Akane had left them, on the day that everyone else remembered fondly. She hadn’t said a word, silently leaving their guild. Even going so far as to remove both of them from her friends list, blocking any attempts at communication. The two teens had missed the notifications, too caught up in a special city wide event that had been initiated by someone shortly after his duel with the youngest Tendo had finished, and the ensuing festival that had gathered much of the servers population for a brief respite from the game of death.
A very small yellow icon blinked in the upper right corner of his vision. Already suspecting what it was, he opened the notification, and a line of text appeared in front of him. “Alert, Johto has left the guild.”
“He was hitting on me last night.” Nabiki remarked sourly. Not paying any attention to the NPC vendors trying to sell their various items as they passed by.
“Didn’t know him.” Ranma shrugged, having barely been able to keep up with the initial influx of new guild members, and certainly having issues with the rapid dwindling of those same faces.
“Maybe you should have flirted with him a bit, guys like that. Sex appeal, use it if you got it.” He suggested jokingly and laced his hands together behind his head. . Without the curse he was saved from being the eye candy of their outfit. Not that he wasn’t enjoying staying one gender but it was one more thing to remind him that this wasn’t real, and outside his body was trapped helplessly somewhere.
“Keep talking and I swear I’ll find a way to get someone to splash you on the outside.” The middle Tendo sniffed and elbowed him in the side.
“Too late.” He snickered, passing underneath a sign indicating the teleport gate was up ahead. “Just think, you could have tricked me into the game as a girl. What if I had been alone? Who knows what would have happened? I could have become some strange chick!” He exclaimed dramatically.
“So much wasted opportunity-- all that Col.” Nabiki gasped in horror. “Well at least you’re good for attracting girls who attract the guys. Even if we only make up an eighth of players.”
‘Phrasing?’ Ranma raised an eyebrow, curious if she had simply been including herself as one of the females in the game or something else.
“Let’s just hurry and head back up.” She stepped up onto the rectangular stone platform to stand in the center. “Things to do and Col to make.”
“And later, swimming.” He excitedly bounced in place next to Nabiki between the pillars at the four corners of the gate. No curse meant no time spent as a girl, which allowed him to enjoy cold water in his birth form for the first time in over a year.
“Only you would think swimming with barracuda the size of killer whales was a good time.”
“Those little guys? They’re harmless, you should have seen that big rare that came wandering by.”
“You maniac--.” Nabiki face palmed at his casual disregard for his own safety. “Did it at least drop any good loot?”
“Oh, just this.” He drawled while absently linking her the item.
“We’re selling that.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“It’s mine.”
“And when are you ever going to use it?”
“That’s not the point.” Ranma pointed both hands to his chest. “I killed the monster, I got the drop; it’s mine.”
“Alright, you can keep it.” Nabiki crossed her arms. “Teleport: Panareze.”
‘Damn straight I’m keeping it.’
“We’ll wait and sell it later when players have more Col.” She added as they were consumed by white light to take them up to the twenty fourth floor.
-
LawOhki
Posts: 1591
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by LawOhki » Fri Jul 04, 2014 11:15 pm
Floor 24, Panareze City
Before the light had cleared from her eyes, Nabiki was already stepping away from the teleport gate. Her face being met by the cool wet breeze off the lake forming the majority of this floor. The city was built on a man made island connected by floating bridges that spread out in all directions to the numerous small islands containing forests with tall trees.
“You can’t just sell my things!” Ranma protested, following quickly after her.
“Somebody has to! Like you’d find someone to pay you anything close to its worth.” She turned enough to playfully stick her tongue out at him, her boots making resounding clunks on the wood supporting her a dozen meters above the lake below.
Panareze may have been one floor behind the latest level but the majority of clearing players were using it as their base of operations. This was because the twenty fifth floor was proving to be a nightmarish maze with a city that had none of the needed resources to support the players clearing it. The normal floor monsters and the terrain itself was dangerous enough that nearly fifty players had lost their lives finding a path leading to the floor’s dungeon.
“This is the reason I never put anything valuable in the guild bank. You’ll sell it as soon as you can.”
“Valuable does not mean useful! Col is something I can use.” She explained, having spent a great deal of currency upgrading the gear for guildmates. After the incident, she made it her guild’s priority to have every dedicated player properly set up for their level. She wasn’t about to burn out the guild bank providing free gear for players who’d be leaving the next day. If it wasn’t for Ranma and a couple others bringing in rare items, as well as a few of their more accomplished crafters, the guild would have been broke from the expenditure.
“Then sell some of your items.” Ranma suggested with a grumpy frown, nodding to a group of four walking in the opposite direction.
“Morning.” A short man greeted a split second before his companions adding their own.
She nodded to the group as well before continuing. “I’m waiting for the right time.” Nabiki turned to take a set of steps further up into the layered city, making a direct route to their destination.
Rushing head first into the jaws of death by fighting a boss wasn’t her game. Instead she had raised her sneak skill to be able to avoid fighting through every monster she came across when out gathering information to sell. At a reasonable price of course. There were always lower level players willing to pay for information on the best spots to quest and get useful items. If it wasn’t
for some beta tester simply giving out similar, if more generalized, field guides, Nabiki would have been one of the wealthiest players on the server. (2)
“Stingy!” Ranma cursed as he opened the door to their destination.
“It’s called smart economic planning.” She countered, following him into the shop empty save the owner.
“Ahoy! What brings you two my way?” The large black man, Agil, greeted with a friendly wave. “If you’re going to try and swindle me again, Nabiki, you can just walk right back out my door.” He jokingly told her.
“I know, I know. You’re the only one allowed to cheat people under your roof.” She smiled toothily and held up her hands in defeat.
“Ha! Maybe if I can hold you to that, one day I might be as feared as you.” Agil laughed and slapped the counter he stood behind.
“You could never be so cold-hearted.” Ranma disagreed, verbally poking at her. “I can’t imagine you tricking someone to jump out of a plane without a parachute.” He realized his faux pass as soon as his mouth closed. Speaking about events from the outside world was now considered exceptionally rude, especially among the players desperately attempting to clear the game.
“No, can’t imagine I would.” The man took it in stride and didn’t dwell on Ranma’s mix up. Nabiki made a mental note to chide him later on picking his words better.
“I’ll get right down to business.” She started before Ranma could stick his foot any further into his mouth. “We’ve had some difficulties with our guild lately.”
“Sixteen killed-- because you didn’t supply them with blue crystals to teleport from danger.” Agil distastefully summarized what had sparked so many to abandon her guild.
“That’s not true!” Ranma protested loudly before looking away, unable to meet Agil’s eyes. “We thought they knew to bring some.” He admitted weakly.
She struggled to keep herself composed, quickly reaching up to wipe the wetness away from her eyes. Both she and Ranma had always taken others out together to clear areas and since they were so overleveled neither of them had ever had to worry about monsters becoming too dangerous to handle. Eighteen had set out but only two had been able to make it back out of the dungeon alive.
“Sorry-- all I heard were the rumors.” The big man’s hostility
“And it won’t happen again.” Nabiki promised, having been the one to suggest that the large group go clear a dungeon on the twelfth floor. “It can’t.” She was close enough to clumsily reach out and take Ranma’s hand. Her sister’s fiance gently squeezed it for support. “We have too many members and not enough leadership to keep watch.”
Agil raised an eyebrow. “Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”
“You’re good at talking with people, a lot better than I usually am, I just end up starting fights whenever we meet to plan for a boss.” Ranma laughed nervously and scratched at the back of his head with his free hand. “We could really use your help.”
“Was I not good enough to ask before?” The tall man asked curiously.
“We don’t proselytize like The Army does, you’re the first one we’ve ever asked.” Nabiki answered. “One of the few we trust.”
“Hmm.” Agil leaned back and scratched at his chin. “I’ve been trying to stay out of guild business. Too many egos.”
“Unfortunately I’m stuck with the biggest.” She squeezed Ranma’s hand even as made a show of recoiling from her as though slapped. “But we’re here to help as many as we can get out as possible.” Nabiki felt a bit odd proclaiming something so antithetical to how she had always acted but it reaffirmed her decision in the wake of getting so many people killed.
“You may just be trying to get rid of competition and to steal a little off the top but alright, I’ll join your guild.” Agil chuckled to himself while accepting their offer.
‘Oh please, the money in here isn’t even real, I can’t care that much about it.’ She thought to herself, casually opening the menu to send the invite. “It’s not so much an acquisition as much as it’s a merger.” She joked, watching her guild’s icon appear next to Agil’s name as well as the notification of a new member. “We have a meeting tonight at seven, can you make it?”
“I’ll be there.” The bald man nodded.
“Thank you.” Ranma said sincerely and bowed his head towards the much taller man.
“It’s been five seconds, don’t thank me yet. Heh, can’t believe I just joined a pirate guild.” Agil joked, his eyes shifting behind them in response to a bell attached to the door ringing.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” Heathcliff asked upon entering, his calm and measured voice sounding slightly amused. With his wide shoulders and large pauldrons, the impressively built man had to turn sideways to fit through the door. His armor had continued to get more elaborate as they moved up the floors and he now looked like a knight from medieval Europe in red plate. On his back was a long shield with a sword hanging loosely at his hip.
Following behind him was Asuna the Flash, a girl around Nabiki’s own age and height. The girl with long light brown hair had made a name for herself helping to kill the first floor’s boss and being one of the lead clearers. She wore wore light leather armor with a short red skirt and had a rapier attached to her left hip. She regarded them as though they were lower than her and Nabiki didn’t miss how Asuna lingered on both of their golden eyes.
“Business to my shop is never an interruption.” Agil answered, ever the salesman.
“Wonderful.” The grey haired man smiled pleasantly. “I was hoping to talk to each of you so this saves time.”
“What’s up, Heathcliff-san?” Ranma asked, the raven haired teen had got along with the elder. The two seeming to share an interest in discussing the combat systems limitations.
“I’ve come to request your assistance, earlier today the path to the twenty fifth floor’s boss was found.”
“That’s great.” Nabiki said with genuine excitement, naively expecting that the boss was dead so she never had to return to that floor ever again.
“It’s not great.” Asuna replied harshly.
“We barely have enough for a full raid. That is, if-- everyone was willing to fight the boss. Six have already headed down to lower levels to give up clearing.” Heathcliff summarized gravely.
“I’m in.” Ranma volunteered without hesitation.
“If I’m needed.” Agil answered with reservation and all attention turned to herself.
“Uh--.” Nabiki gulped, she was actually pretty good at dealing with normal monsters, being mostly desensitized to the danger that panicked other players. But she had made it a point to completely avoid any boss fight. It was too much like work already to level, she didn’t need to add actual danger to her life.
“She’s in.” Ranma spoke for her with a huge grin on his face and Nabiki froze up completely.
“A meeting will be held in the morning at nine. We’ll discuss what the scouting party found then. Until the morrow.” Heathcliff nodded cordially as he left the shop with his silver cape billowing, and Asuna following shortly behind him.
“I’m what?!” She screeched at him, her voice shaking the various items on display, sending many crashing to the floor.
Before the light had cleared from her eyes, Nabiki was already stepping away from the teleport gate. Her face being met by the cool wet breeze off the lake forming the majority of this floor. The city was built on a man made island connected by floating bridges that spread out in all directions to the numerous small islands containing forests with tall trees.
“You can’t just sell my things!” Ranma protested, following quickly after her.
“Somebody has to! Like you’d find someone to pay you anything close to its worth.” She turned enough to playfully stick her tongue out at him, her boots making resounding clunks on the wood supporting her a dozen meters above the lake below.
Panareze may have been one floor behind the latest level but the majority of clearing players were using it as their base of operations. This was because the twenty fifth floor was proving to be a nightmarish maze with a city that had none of the needed resources to support the players clearing it. The normal floor monsters and the terrain itself was dangerous enough that nearly fifty players had lost their lives finding a path leading to the floor’s dungeon.
“This is the reason I never put anything valuable in the guild bank. You’ll sell it as soon as you can.”
“Valuable does not mean useful! Col is something I can use.” She explained, having spent a great deal of currency upgrading the gear for guildmates. After the incident, she made it her guild’s priority to have every dedicated player properly set up for their level. She wasn’t about to burn out the guild bank providing free gear for players who’d be leaving the next day. If it wasn’t for Ranma and a couple others bringing in rare items, as well as a few of their more accomplished crafters, the guild would have been broke from the expenditure.
“Then sell some of your items.” Ranma suggested with a grumpy frown, nodding to a group of four walking in the opposite direction.
“Morning.” A short man greeted a split second before his companions adding their own.
She nodded to the group as well before continuing. “I’m waiting for the right time.” Nabiki turned to take a set of steps further up into the layered city, making a direct route to their destination.
Rushing head first into the jaws of death by fighting a boss wasn’t her game. Instead she had raised her sneak skill to be able to avoid fighting through every monster she came across when out gathering information to sell. At a reasonable price of course. There were always lower level players willing to pay for information on the best spots to quest and get useful items. If it wasn’t
for some beta tester simply giving out similar, if more generalized, field guides, Nabiki would have been one of the wealthiest players on the server. (2)
“Stingy!” Ranma cursed as he opened the door to their destination.
“It’s called smart economic planning.” She countered, following him into the shop empty save the owner.
“Ahoy! What brings you two my way?” The large black man, Agil, greeted with a friendly wave. “If you’re going to try and swindle me again, Nabiki, you can just walk right back out my door.” He jokingly told her.
“I know, I know. You’re the only one allowed to cheat people under your roof.” She smiled toothily and held up her hands in defeat.
“Ha! Maybe if I can hold you to that, one day I might be as feared as you.” Agil laughed and slapped the counter he stood behind.
“You could never be so cold-hearted.” Ranma disagreed, verbally poking at her. “I can’t imagine you tricking someone to jump out of a plane without a parachute.” He realized his faux pass as soon as his mouth closed. Speaking about events from the outside world was now considered exceptionally rude, especially among the players desperately attempting to clear the game.
“No, can’t imagine I would.” The man took it in stride and didn’t dwell on Ranma’s mix up. Nabiki made a mental note to chide him later on picking his words better.
“I’ll get right down to business.” She started before Ranma could stick his foot any further into his mouth. “We’ve had some difficulties with our guild lately.”
“Sixteen killed-- because you didn’t supply them with blue crystals to teleport from danger.” Agil distastefully summarized what had sparked so many to abandon her guild.
“That’s not true!” Ranma protested loudly before looking away, unable to meet Agil’s eyes. “We thought they knew to bring some.” He admitted weakly.
She struggled to keep herself composed, quickly reaching up to wipe the wetness away from her eyes. Both she and Ranma had always taken others out together to clear areas and since they were so overleveled neither of them had ever had to worry about monsters becoming too dangerous to handle. Eighteen had set out but only two had been able to make it back out of the dungeon alive.
“Sorry-- all I heard were the rumors.” The big man’s hostility
“And it won’t happen again.” Nabiki promised, having been the one to suggest that the large group go clear a dungeon on the twelfth floor. “It can’t.” She was close enough to clumsily reach out and take Ranma’s hand. Her sister’s fiance gently squeezed it for support. “We have too many members and not enough leadership to keep watch.”
Agil raised an eyebrow. “Are you asking what I think you’re asking?”
“You’re good at talking with people, a lot better than I usually am, I just end up starting fights whenever we meet to plan for a boss.” Ranma laughed nervously and scratched at the back of his head with his free hand. “We could really use your help.”
“Was I not good enough to ask before?” The tall man asked curiously.
“We don’t proselytize like The Army does, you’re the first one we’ve ever asked.” Nabiki answered. “One of the few we trust.”
“Hmm.” Agil leaned back and scratched at his chin. “I’ve been trying to stay out of guild business. Too many egos.”
“Unfortunately I’m stuck with the biggest.” She squeezed Ranma’s hand even as made a show of recoiling from her as though slapped. “But we’re here to help as many as we can get out as possible.” Nabiki felt a bit odd proclaiming something so antithetical to how she had always acted but it reaffirmed her decision in the wake of getting so many people killed.
“You may just be trying to get rid of competition and to steal a little off the top but alright, I’ll join your guild.” Agil chuckled to himself while accepting their offer.
‘Oh please, the money in here isn’t even real, I can’t care that much about it.’ She thought to herself, casually opening the menu to send the invite. “It’s not so much an acquisition as much as it’s a merger.” She joked, watching her guild’s icon appear next to Agil’s name as well as the notification of a new member. “We have a meeting tonight at seven, can you make it?”
“I’ll be there.” The bald man nodded.
“Thank you.” Ranma said sincerely and bowed his head towards the much taller man.
“It’s been five seconds, don’t thank me yet. Heh, can’t believe I just joined a pirate guild.” Agil joked, his eyes shifting behind them in response to a bell attached to the door ringing.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything?” Heathcliff asked upon entering, his calm and measured voice sounding slightly amused. With his wide shoulders and large pauldrons, the impressively built man had to turn sideways to fit through the door. His armor had continued to get more elaborate as they moved up the floors and he now looked like a knight from medieval Europe in red plate. On his back was a long shield with a sword hanging loosely at his hip.
Following behind him was Asuna the Flash, a girl around Nabiki’s own age and height. The girl with long light brown hair had made a name for herself helping to kill the first floor’s boss and being one of the lead clearers. She wore wore light leather armor with a short red skirt and had a rapier attached to her left hip. She regarded them as though they were lower than her and Nabiki didn’t miss how Asuna lingered on both of their golden eyes.
“Business to my shop is never an interruption.” Agil answered, ever the salesman.
“Wonderful.” The grey haired man smiled pleasantly. “I was hoping to talk to each of you so this saves time.”
“What’s up, Heathcliff-san?” Ranma asked, the raven haired teen had got along with the elder. The two seeming to share an interest in discussing the combat systems limitations.
“I’ve come to request your assistance, earlier today the path to the twenty fifth floor’s boss was found.”
“That’s great.” Nabiki said with genuine excitement, naively expecting that the boss was dead so she never had to return to that floor ever again.
“It’s not great.” Asuna replied harshly.
“We barely have enough for a full raid. That is, if-- everyone was willing to fight the boss. Six have already headed down to lower levels to give up clearing.” Heathcliff summarized gravely.
“I’m in.” Ranma volunteered without hesitation.
“If I’m needed.” Agil answered with reservation and all attention turned to herself.
“Uh--.” Nabiki gulped, she was actually pretty good at dealing with normal monsters, being mostly desensitized to the danger that panicked other players. But she had made it a point to completely avoid any boss fight. It was too much like work already to level, she didn’t need to add actual danger to her life.
“She’s in.” Ranma spoke for her with a huge grin on his face and Nabiki froze up completely.
“A meeting will be held in the morning at nine. We’ll discuss what the scouting party found then. Until the morrow.” Heathcliff nodded cordially as he left the shop with his silver cape billowing, and Asuna following shortly behind him.
“I’m what?!” She screeched at him, her voice shaking the various items on display, sending many crashing to the floor.
-
LawOhki
Posts: 1591
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by Konsaki » Sat Jul 05, 2014 3:44 am
Made quite a few edits/suggestions on the working file.
-
Konsaki
Posts: 726
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by LawOhki » Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:24 pm
The next day
25th Floor, Boss Room Entrance
Nabiki slumped against the crumbling dirt wall outside the ornate black stone gates housing the boss of the dungeon. Even If she couldn’t get really dirty and never needed a bath, she still felt miserably filthy after getting this far. This dungeon maze with a single path through lived up to all the rumors. Traps that could kill you in an instant, poisonous swamps to slowly kill, and packs of roaming monsters that could shrug off the strongest attacks. More than once she had thought to use her blue crystal and return home, but Ranma was always there, and for some strange reason she couldn’t abandon him.
Now that she was at their destination, that urge was stronger than ever. There were over fifty players already gathered, the vast majority all clad in the dark grey plate and black cloaks of the Aincrad Liberation Corps. Following behind were the rest of the clearing guilds, a much larger force that was moving more carefully through the maze. The Liberation Corps had rushed headfirst through the dungeon, intent on charging into the boss before anyone else could arrive.
“Ranma, do we really need to be here?” She whispered to her co-guild master. Heathcliff had made it seem like no one was left to defeat the boss but that clearly wasn’t the case. Though he had understated how weak morale was at the moment, only Kibaou, the leader of the Liberation Corps seemed capable of mustering any drive to continue. Nabiki had witnessed at least twelve players from the gigantic guild fall to traps and monsters just to get to this point, who knows how many had been lost just to find the correct path through the maze.
“We’ll see.” Ranma answered as though he had as much reservation about this as her, his sharp eyes scanning over and analyzing the assembled players around him. Casually twirling one of his fans, while another was tied loosely to his belt, and partially open.
Kibaou was barking orders to his underlings, treating them without any care to what they had gone through to get to this point. “Hurry up and get yourselves together, we’re going in as soon as you all know your jobs!” He shouted, moving animatedly through the assembled raid.
“There’s no need to rush, we should to wait for the others.” Heathcliff spoke up in challenge to the man.
Kibaou sneered openly at the suggestion. “You’re not needed here, old man. And I certainly don’t need any of your damn pirates!” He pointed a finger over towards where she and Ranma were sitting. Most of his guild were ignoring the man but more than a few looked over towards them, and a good portion were likely considering trying to kill them to get out at this point.
“With hair that dumb I gotta give you credit for leaving your house.” Ranma jokingly replied. “And if you weren’t in such a blind stupid rush, nobody would have died getting to this point.” He added cuttingly, making Kibaou recoil at the accusation, and earning dark looks from his own raid.
The leader of the Aincrad Liberation Force had orange hair sticking out all directions in triangular spikes, giving the appearance of a cactus. He had a hard, cruel look to his face, and he spent his time loudly bossing everyone around. More of a thug than a leader, Nabiki held the same low opinion of the man that Ranma did.
“How dare you talk to me like that!” Kibaou yelled, stomping towards them. “And how dare you make light of our sacrifices!”
“Our? I don’t see you leading the way.” Nabiki snorted as she stood up while Ranma remained sitting casually against the wall. “In fact I don’t remember seeing you even lose a single hit point.”
“Pirate bitch.” He spat and made a big show of drawing his right hand across his body to backhand her.
She had heard worse insults hurled at her and wasn’t concerned about an unarmed physical attack that would barely be able to shave ten points off her life. If he was stupid enough to attack first he would turn orange and she or Ranma would freely be able to put him in his place without the same penalty. Then again, it could start an outright riot, and ruin any chance of killing the boss. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the rest of her party consisting of Heathcliff, Asuna, and Agil had moved in close with their hands poised over their weapons.
“Are we here to fight each other, or get this floor cleared?” She asked loudly enough that everyone could hear. “Seems like this a lot of wasted energy to me on a whole lot of nothing.”
Kibaou noticed that the situation wasn’t going his way so he literally spat on the ground at her feet before storming off towards the doorway. “We’ll kill this boss, we don’t need anyone else's help. Get up you lazy bastards! We’re going now!”
“Now?” Asuna asked incredulously. The majority of the raid had yet to fully recover their health and were tired from the climb up the dungeon.
“You can’t go now.” Agil protested, placing himself between the door, and the raid group that was hesitant to move.
“Out of the way.” Kibaou snapped, sidestepping the large man to push the tall black gates open. They swung open with surprising easy with only a dark black void waiting behind. “Forward!”
“What should we do?” Nabiki asked quietly, watching as the underpowered raid filed reluctantly inside.
“Let’s wait and see what tactics the boss will use. If they get in trouble they should be able to retreat.” Heathcliff suggested and Nabiki conceded the wisdom of not rushing to their deaths for people without anything firing between their ears.
Further discussion was silenced when the lights in the boss room suddenly lit up. Braziers high up on the wall bathed everything in light from the blue flames burning within. At the far side of the square platform a huge two headed giant crouched hunched over, with one head regarding the players, and the other looking down at a massive battle ax held in one hand. As the braziers finished coming to life, the cartoonishly muscular boss lumbered up to a standing position, both heads focusing on the raid.
Surprisingly, only two bars of health appeared around the boss’s shoulders, and a status window leapt up just above its four meter tall bulk to announce the name. The Brute Chief.
“Everyone charge! It can’t target if there is more than one attacking!” Kibaou shouted, holding his long sword above his head.
“Can’t target?” Ranma asked suspiciously.
With little coordination between them, the group of forty-two rushed the boss. Battle cries and initiated weapon skills were silenced by the resounding roar that Nabiki felt physically push her back from the door. The boss slammed it’s massive ax down to the floor sending out a shockwave that knocked the entire raid to the ground.
Nabiki recoiled in shock to hide behind Ranma when nearby two smaller single headed giants appeared, mostly nude save for a mix of mismatched armor; each with three health bars. They blocked off the exit and ignored the five of them standing just outside to charge at the raid.
“Watch out behind you!” Agil shouted too late as the monsters crashed into the players, huge double handed weapons cleaving into their ranks. Panicked screams erupted and immediately flashes of light could be seen as several players were killed.
“Let’s go.” Ranma was gone before she noticed, his high speed carrying him across the distance in a blur.
“Huh? Wait, Ranma!” She called after him and found herself the last one outside of the boss room, the other members to their party having already followed. “Damn it!”
25th Floor, Boss Room Entrance
Nabiki slumped against the crumbling dirt wall outside the ornate black stone gates housing the boss of the dungeon. Even If she couldn’t get really dirty and never needed a bath, she still felt miserably filthy after getting this far. This dungeon maze with a single path through lived up to all the rumors. Traps that could kill you in an instant, poisonous swamps to slowly kill, and packs of roaming monsters that could shrug off the strongest attacks. More than once she had thought to use her blue crystal and return home, but Ranma was always there, and for some strange reason she couldn’t abandon him.
Now that she was at their destination, that urge was stronger than ever. There were over fifty players already gathered, the vast majority all clad in the dark grey plate and black cloaks of the Aincrad Liberation Corps. Following behind were the rest of the clearing guilds, a much larger force that was moving more carefully through the maze. The Liberation Corps had rushed headfirst through the dungeon, intent on charging into the boss before anyone else could arrive.
“Ranma, do we really need to be here?” She whispered to her co-guild master. Heathcliff had made it seem like no one was left to defeat the boss but that clearly wasn’t the case. Though he had understated how weak morale was at the moment, only Kibaou, the leader of the Liberation Corps seemed capable of mustering any drive to continue. Nabiki had witnessed at least twelve players from the gigantic guild fall to traps and monsters just to get to this point, who knows how many had been lost just to find the correct path through the maze.
“We’ll see.” Ranma answered as though he had as much reservation about this as her, his sharp eyes scanning over and analyzing the assembled players around him. Casually twirling one of his fans, while another was tied loosely to his belt, and partially open.
Kibaou was barking orders to his underlings, treating them without any care to what they had gone through to get to this point. “Hurry up and get yourselves together, we’re going in as soon as you all know your jobs!” He shouted, moving animatedly through the assembled raid.
“There’s no need to rush, we should to wait for the others.” Heathcliff spoke up in challenge to the man.
Kibaou sneered openly at the suggestion. “You’re not needed here, old man. And I certainly don’t need any of your damn pirates!” He pointed a finger over towards where she and Ranma were sitting. Most of his guild were ignoring the man but more than a few looked over towards them, and a good portion were likely considering trying to kill them to get out at this point.
“With hair that dumb I gotta give you credit for leaving your house.” Ranma jokingly replied. “And if you weren’t in such a blind stupid rush, nobody would have died getting to this point.” He added cuttingly, making Kibaou recoil at the accusation, and earning dark looks from his own raid.
The leader of the Aincrad Liberation Force had orange hair sticking out all directions in triangular spikes, giving the appearance of a cactus. He had a hard, cruel look to his face, and he spent his time loudly bossing everyone around. More of a thug than a leader, Nabiki held the same low opinion of the man that Ranma did.
“How dare you talk to me like that!” Kibaou yelled, stomping towards them. “And how dare you make light of our sacrifices!”
“Our? I don’t see you leading the way.” Nabiki snorted as she stood up while Ranma remained sitting casually against the wall. “In fact I don’t remember seeing you even lose a single hit point.”
“Pirate bitch.” He spat and made a big show of drawing his right hand across his body to backhand her.
She had heard worse insults hurled at her and wasn’t concerned about an unarmed physical attack that would barely be able to shave ten points off her life. If he was stupid enough to attack first he would turn orange and she or Ranma would freely be able to put him in his place without the same penalty. Then again, it could start an outright riot, and ruin any chance of killing the boss. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the rest of her party consisting of Heathcliff, Asuna, and Agil had moved in close with their hands poised over their weapons.
“Are we here to fight each other, or get this floor cleared?” She asked loudly enough that everyone could hear. “Seems like this a lot of wasted energy to me on a whole lot of nothing.”
Kibaou noticed that the situation wasn’t going his way so he literally spat on the ground at her feet before storming off towards the doorway. “We’ll kill this boss, we don’t need anyone else's help. Get up you lazy bastards! We’re going now!”
“Now?” Asuna asked incredulously. The majority of the raid had yet to fully recover their health and were tired from the climb up the dungeon.
“You can’t go now.” Agil protested, placing himself between the door, and the raid group that was hesitant to move.
“Out of the way.” Kibaou snapped, sidestepping the large man to push the tall black gates open. They swung open with surprising easy with only a dark black void waiting behind. “Forward!”
“What should we do?” Nabiki asked quietly, watching as the underpowered raid filed reluctantly inside.
“Let’s wait and see what tactics the boss will use. If they get in trouble they should be able to retreat.” Heathcliff suggested and Nabiki conceded the wisdom of not rushing to their deaths for people without anything firing between their ears.
Further discussion was silenced when the lights in the boss room suddenly lit up. Braziers high up on the wall bathed everything in light from the blue flames burning within. At the far side of the square platform a huge two headed giant crouched hunched over, with one head regarding the players, and the other looking down at a massive battle ax held in one hand. As the braziers finished coming to life, the cartoonishly muscular boss lumbered up to a standing position, both heads focusing on the raid.
Surprisingly, only two bars of health appeared around the boss’s shoulders, and a status window leapt up just above its four meter tall bulk to announce the name. The Brute Chief.
“Everyone charge! It can’t target if there is more than one attacking!” Kibaou shouted, holding his long sword above his head.
“Can’t target?” Ranma asked suspiciously.
With little coordination between them, the group of forty-two rushed the boss. Battle cries and initiated weapon skills were silenced by the resounding roar that Nabiki felt physically push her back from the door. The boss slammed it’s massive ax down to the floor sending out a shockwave that knocked the entire raid to the ground.
Nabiki recoiled in shock to hide behind Ranma when nearby two smaller single headed giants appeared, mostly nude save for a mix of mismatched armor; each with three health bars. They blocked off the exit and ignored the five of them standing just outside to charge at the raid.
“Watch out behind you!” Agil shouted too late as the monsters crashed into the players, huge double handed weapons cleaving into their ranks. Panicked screams erupted and immediately flashes of light could be seen as several players were killed.
“Let’s go.” Ranma was gone before she noticed, his high speed carrying him across the distance in a blur.
“Huh? Wait, Ranma!” She called after him and found herself the last one outside of the boss room, the other members to their party having already followed. “Damn it!”
-
LawOhki
Posts: 1591
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by ijp92 » Sat Jul 05, 2014 1:53 pm
this story continues to hold my interest.
I assume Pirates are people with Pirated copies of the game.
It was a surprising move on your part to have Ranma and Nabiki form a guild and suffer such set backs. Though in retrospect it shouldn't have. The public duel would have made Ranma popular and Nabiki wouldn't have turned down the opportunity. Nabiki prefers to let other people to fight for her and (co-)leading a guild would be her best option in that regard. Ranma probably didn't care either way and only went through with it because Nabiki convince him (not that I expect it took much to convince him). As for the tragedy, both Ranma and Nabiki strike me as very hands off people and it makes sense that they over-estimate their guildmates competency (not an insult to the guildmates though...).
In short, I'm liking the story and I'm looking forward to seeing where you take it in the future.
...one last question though? Ranma has two fans. Are you interpreting duel weilding as two seperate weapons and the fans are a pair or are you interpretting duel wielding as allowing you to use two weapons without penalty? OR something else?
I assume Pirates are people with Pirated copies of the game.
It was a surprising move on your part to have Ranma and Nabiki form a guild and suffer such set backs. Though in retrospect it shouldn't have. The public duel would have made Ranma popular and Nabiki wouldn't have turned down the opportunity. Nabiki prefers to let other people to fight for her and (co-)leading a guild would be her best option in that regard. Ranma probably didn't care either way and only went through with it because Nabiki convince him (not that I expect it took much to convince him). As for the tragedy, both Ranma and Nabiki strike me as very hands off people and it makes sense that they over-estimate their guildmates competency (not an insult to the guildmates though...).
In short, I'm liking the story and I'm looking forward to seeing where you take it in the future.
...one last question though? Ranma has two fans. Are you interpreting duel weilding as two seperate weapons and the fans are a pair or are you interpretting duel wielding as allowing you to use two weapons without penalty? OR something else?
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ijp92
Posts: 125
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by Konsaki » Sat Jul 05, 2014 2:20 pm
Made multiple edits on the working file.
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Konsaki
Posts: 726
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by LawOhki » Sat Jul 05, 2014 4:21 pm
ijp92 wrote:this story continues to hold my interest.
I assume Pirates are people with Pirated copies of the game.
It does, due to some nagging I dropped the number of them down to around five hundred at the start. To make them far rarer and not a realistic way to go about getting out.
It was a surprising move on your part to have Ranma and Nabiki form a guild and suffer such set backs. Though in retrospect it shouldn't have. The public duel would have made Ranma popular and Nabiki wouldn't have turned down the opportunity. Nabiki prefers to let other people to fight for her and (co-)leading a guild would be her best option in that regard. Ranma probably didn't care either way and only went through with it because Nabiki convince him (not that I expect it took much to convince him). As for the tragedy, both Ranma and Nabiki strike me as very hands off people and it makes sense that they over-estimate their guildmates competency (not an insult to the guildmates though...).
As popular as the duel and ensuing festival made them, it also put a lot of unrealistic expectations on them. Losing nearly three full parties of guildmates through negligence is rather damning no matter how good that initial feeling was. Neither fully think through things and that's the kick in the rear for them to do so.
In short, I'm liking the story and I'm looking forward to seeing where you take it in the future.
...one last question though? Ranma has two fans. Are you interpreting duel weilding as two seperate weapons and the fans are a pair or are you interpretting duel wielding as allowing you to use two weapons without penalty? OR something else?
Two separate weapons. Kirito has the unique skill to wield two 1h swords and gain sword skills that take advantage of them. Normal players only have sword skills for one, so having a second would just incur a penalty without gaining any noticeable dps. Ranma's weapon by contrast is built in to be used as duel weapons. He purposely uses just one to throw people off as a pirate character he wants to keep some secrets to himself. The second has to be out or he would need to take time to equip it, time he's unlikely to have in a fight.
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LawOhki
Posts: 1591
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by LawOhki » Sat Jul 05, 2014 11:31 pm
Stabbing his fan into the back of one of the giants as he vaulted of its back, Ranma twisted himself around as he arced over the monster, and carved down its from. The ugly brute roared in anger at the bright red damage lines bisecting its body and the loss of a chunk of its health meter, immediately trying to to target him as soon as he landed.
Ranma was able to get two more swift strikes in before having to jump backwards to avoid the giant’s furious downwards counter slam. Yelping in surprise as he bounced back further, the floor shook from the impact of the monsters crude stone two handed mace.
“Hurry and get up!” He shouted, nearly tripping over several Liberation Corps members still trying to recover from the initial attack.
The boss room trembled again as Agil struck the other add monster with a powerful Whirlwind from his two-handed great ax, throwing the giant tumbling end over end.
Ranma was distracted long enough by watching the result of such a strong attack, that he nearly had his chest caved in by the giant he had originally attacked. Sliding into the space between them, Heathcliff intercepted the blow with his kite shield, easily absorbing the blow with barely a hint of damage. Ducking around the much bigger man, Ranma performed a Mourning Crescent that finished taking away the first HP bar.
“Switch with me!” Asuna rushed past him to follow up his attack while he was briefly stunned from using a sword skill. The girl’s rapier cut through the air with incredible speed, delivering a series of slashes ending in a thrust directly to the giant’s heart, scoring a critical hit. A full bar of health vanished but the monster instantly recovered from the blow that had staggered it.
“Its changing attacks!” One of the Liberation Corps members cried out in alarm.
Holding out its heavy two-handed mace in front of it, the giant began to rapidly spin uncontrollably. With frightening speed it then shot off away towards the largest group of ALF troops, catching the players waiting to attack the other monster unaware. One player vanished immediately in a shower of polygonal shards while the others were thrown to the ground screaming in pain.
Rebounding impossibly off some invisible barrier, the giant came back for a second pass. Two Liberation Squad members stepped in to defend their guildmates, forming a wall with their long shields that the giant slammed into. Blows battered the duo’s defense as the giant continued to spin in place, slowly driving them back.
Ranma turned to quickly check what was going on with the other monster. It was being battered by the majority of the Liberation Crops raid group with it’s second health bar about to run out. “Hurry up and kill it so we can get out of here!” He shouted over the sounds of battle.
“No!” Kibaou called out, continuing to attack the giant as it’s second HP bar finally depleted. “We can win!”
“Asshole.” Ranma cursed. The main group was too injured to deal with monsters this strong.
“Watch out!” Someone screamed when the giant broke free of the group about to kill it, crashing through everyone in it’s path towards the two holding back the spinning giant. Swinging it’s huge two handed ax to the side, it caught a player startled by the surprise charge in the face, cleaving through his head to kill him. Neither of the two defending noticed as the giant descended on them, cleaving through both of them in one attack.
‘Ten already dead.’ He realized. They hadn’t even put a scratch on the boss that was perfectly content to just watch and wait.
“Asuna, Ranma, Agil; with me!” Heathcliff commanded, charging towards the spinning giant as it shot towards the largest group of the players.
The grey haired man caught the giant’s whirlwind and slid back a meter before turning his shield to the side and accepting the mace head on. The monster jerked to a stop instantly the moment it was no longer hitting with glancing blows, stunned by it’s weapon skill being interrupted.
“Execution!” Agil announced, coming up behind Heathcliff with a swing of his ax that took the giant’s head off with a critical hit.
Ranma shot past the pair, with Asuna in tow, towards the remaining giant as it struggled to choose a new target. Sidestepping an upwards diagonal slash, he leapt upwards to do two quick jabs to its chest. He had yet to touch the ground again before it was ready to bring the two-handed ax down on his head. Asuna switched in to perform a four hit combo in the fraction of a second between the monster’s attacks, completely stunning it.
“I guess I should help out.” Nabiki stealthily appeared behind the monster. Her blade lashed out with three hits that formed a glowing blue triangle in the air. The giant lurched forward and froze a second before it exploded in brightly colored polygons.
“Wow, Nabiki-san. I didn’t see notice you entering the room.” Asuna complimented the middle Tendo sister.
“She shouldn’t even be here.” Ranma glared at Nabiki. “It’s way too dangerous, get out before anymore of those things spawn.”
“I’m not the only one! You idiots are going to get yourselves killed in here!” She yelled at him.
“Not as quick as you will!” He yelled back at her.
“It’s coming, the boss is up!” Some guy from the ALF yelled right before Ranma felt the powerful knockback from the boss slamming its weapon down onto the platform again.
Next thing he knew, he was laying in a tangled heap with Nabiki, head ringing like a bomb had gone off next to it. Struggling to get untangled, he fought against the status effect that restricted his movement. When it finally released him, screams filled his ears as the boss’ giant great-ax was brought down, killing three players in one blow. Scrambling on all fours, he was up and rushing towards the boss before anyone else was on their feet.
“Over here, you ugly two-faced bastard!” Ranma shouted as loud as he could. One of its heads turned to look at lock onto him and the giant body slowly followed. “That’s it, come get me!” He shouted and bounced around, waving his arms over his head. ‘Good thing it’s slow; I could dodge this guy all day.’
Just before the Brutal Chief got within attack range, it raised its gargantuan ax over its head and brought it down to slam against the floor once more. Ranma was knocked flat on his back again, the closer proximity dealing a much stronger status debuff causing his vision to blur and head swim. Muffled shouted was the next thing he knew; someone was quickly pulling him to his feet.
“It has to be tanked.” Agil’s voice explained as his vision slowly cleared.
“Good to know.” Ranma stood his head beginning to clear and swayed briefly.
Heathcliff stood in front of the boss, expertly tanking every blow from the bosses immense ax. The Chief was slow and easy to predict but every hit sent out a shockwave that knocked back anyone around it. ALS members swarmed like yapping dogs around the giant, attacking without any coordination and getting in each others way.
“Here, you took a good hit.” Nabiki handed him a crystal vial with a red liquid inside.
‘I did.’ He realized in shock, his health had dropped below forty percent. The ten seconds it took for the potion to work felt like an eternity for the sweet liquid to do its work. “I’m good now.” He drew out his war fan, preparing to help finish this boss.
As the bosses health was reduced to a single HP bar, the two-headed giant rocked back on it’s heels and let out a deep roar, mirroring the beginning of the encounter. As it trailed off, the monster fell into a deep crouch while two more adds appeared at the bosses side. The initial charge didn’t catch the raid as off guard this time but there was still one burst of light as someone met their end. Agil immediately returned to the fray, defenses being hastily raised to deal with the high incoming damage.
“Nabiki, are you seriously not going to leave?” He asked in concern, having only suggested she come as a joke and certainly not to get her involved in anything like this.
“Not without you-- I guess.” She admitted.
“Fine. Stick to the boss and see if you can hurt it. Just make sure you keep your eye out for that whirling thing.” He worriedly ordered, glancing at the entrance where the rest of the clearing guilds had finally caught up but were locked out. Only a certain amount of players could enter the room per encounter to stop rotating out for fresh players. “Be careful.” He added.
“You’re telling me that?” She asked incredulously.
“We’ll argue about this later.” Ranma curtly remarked and closed the distance to where add wielding an ax was quickly being killed, purposely leaving the other incase it would switch to the whirlwind attack once again. Falling into a chain of attacks with Agil and Asuna, the giants health dropped so rapidly the other raid members stood back, forgetting to move to the next monster.
Coming to a brief stop after his last attack, he was already trying to find where the other monster add was, ignoring the mesmerized players. ‘No skill and they don’t know how to work together. The only thing they can do here is die.’
“The boss is up!” Nabiki’s panicked voice cut through the sounds of weapons, armor, and shouting.
“It can’t attack if there’s more than one.” He whispered in realization, they should have taken out the two adds at the same time. Nabiki was putting distance between herself and the boss before it had even decided on a target. One of the ALS members stepping up to tank the boss, the rest of his guild being ordered to swarm the giant and finish it off quickly.
“The add!” Heathcliff yelled as the smaller monster suddenly gave up breaking itself against the man’s shield, turning to head for a player a random player. The guild looked so tired that they all stumbled slowly away in a panic, three more players being killed before it could be brought back under control.
Ranma’s party was regrouping around Heathcliff, who was preparing to relieve the ALF tank struggling against the bosses heavy blows. Nabiki and him had the most health left, though Heathcliff was doing amazingly well considering how he was tanking every hit he could. Not even twenty ALF members were still alive; an exhausted eleven trying to manage the smaller giant while the remaining eight stayed back to recover. Everyone should have left long ago but after losing so many, Ranma would no longer accept defeat either.
A scream from the ALF tank keeping the boss under control was all the warning they got before he was thrown aside, his body breaking into polygons at the apex of his flight.
“Let’s go.” Asuna commanded, the girl slightly out of breath.
Heathcliff, Asuna’s guild leader, accepted the order without complaint, rushing forward with a shield charge skill to catch the boss before it could perform any area of effect attacks. A heavy shockwave shook the room as the giant’s downward swing to smash the ground was blocked by the kite shield held up over Heathcliff’s head.
Ranma was the next to reach the boss, letting loose with half a dozen strikes the giant’s stomach. Agil stepped in afterwards to hack at the monster’s knees like a lumberjack while Asuna appeared behind its neck in a burst of speed to trail jabs and slashes as she fell to the floor.
Crouched near the giant’s feet, Ranma leapt upwards his blade raking up the monster’s chest. Reversing his grip as he landed on the monster’s shoulders, he completed his combo, leaving bright blue trails of light cutting through the giant’s heads.
Ranma was able to get two more swift strikes in before having to jump backwards to avoid the giant’s furious downwards counter slam. Yelping in surprise as he bounced back further, the floor shook from the impact of the monsters crude stone two handed mace.
“Hurry and get up!” He shouted, nearly tripping over several Liberation Corps members still trying to recover from the initial attack.
The boss room trembled again as Agil struck the other add monster with a powerful Whirlwind from his two-handed great ax, throwing the giant tumbling end over end.
Ranma was distracted long enough by watching the result of such a strong attack, that he nearly had his chest caved in by the giant he had originally attacked. Sliding into the space between them, Heathcliff intercepted the blow with his kite shield, easily absorbing the blow with barely a hint of damage. Ducking around the much bigger man, Ranma performed a Mourning Crescent that finished taking away the first HP bar.
“Switch with me!” Asuna rushed past him to follow up his attack while he was briefly stunned from using a sword skill. The girl’s rapier cut through the air with incredible speed, delivering a series of slashes ending in a thrust directly to the giant’s heart, scoring a critical hit. A full bar of health vanished but the monster instantly recovered from the blow that had staggered it.
“Its changing attacks!” One of the Liberation Corps members cried out in alarm.
Holding out its heavy two-handed mace in front of it, the giant began to rapidly spin uncontrollably. With frightening speed it then shot off away towards the largest group of ALF troops, catching the players waiting to attack the other monster unaware. One player vanished immediately in a shower of polygonal shards while the others were thrown to the ground screaming in pain.
Rebounding impossibly off some invisible barrier, the giant came back for a second pass. Two Liberation Squad members stepped in to defend their guildmates, forming a wall with their long shields that the giant slammed into. Blows battered the duo’s defense as the giant continued to spin in place, slowly driving them back.
Ranma turned to quickly check what was going on with the other monster. It was being battered by the majority of the Liberation Crops raid group with it’s second health bar about to run out. “Hurry up and kill it so we can get out of here!” He shouted over the sounds of battle.
“No!” Kibaou called out, continuing to attack the giant as it’s second HP bar finally depleted. “We can win!”
“Asshole.” Ranma cursed. The main group was too injured to deal with monsters this strong.
“Watch out!” Someone screamed when the giant broke free of the group about to kill it, crashing through everyone in it’s path towards the two holding back the spinning giant. Swinging it’s huge two handed ax to the side, it caught a player startled by the surprise charge in the face, cleaving through his head to kill him. Neither of the two defending noticed as the giant descended on them, cleaving through both of them in one attack.
‘Ten already dead.’ He realized. They hadn’t even put a scratch on the boss that was perfectly content to just watch and wait.
“Asuna, Ranma, Agil; with me!” Heathcliff commanded, charging towards the spinning giant as it shot towards the largest group of the players.
The grey haired man caught the giant’s whirlwind and slid back a meter before turning his shield to the side and accepting the mace head on. The monster jerked to a stop instantly the moment it was no longer hitting with glancing blows, stunned by it’s weapon skill being interrupted.
“Execution!” Agil announced, coming up behind Heathcliff with a swing of his ax that took the giant’s head off with a critical hit.
Ranma shot past the pair, with Asuna in tow, towards the remaining giant as it struggled to choose a new target. Sidestepping an upwards diagonal slash, he leapt upwards to do two quick jabs to its chest. He had yet to touch the ground again before it was ready to bring the two-handed ax down on his head. Asuna switched in to perform a four hit combo in the fraction of a second between the monster’s attacks, completely stunning it.
“I guess I should help out.” Nabiki stealthily appeared behind the monster. Her blade lashed out with three hits that formed a glowing blue triangle in the air. The giant lurched forward and froze a second before it exploded in brightly colored polygons.
“Wow, Nabiki-san. I didn’t see notice you entering the room.” Asuna complimented the middle Tendo sister.
“She shouldn’t even be here.” Ranma glared at Nabiki. “It’s way too dangerous, get out before anymore of those things spawn.”
“I’m not the only one! You idiots are going to get yourselves killed in here!” She yelled at him.
“Not as quick as you will!” He yelled back at her.
“It’s coming, the boss is up!” Some guy from the ALF yelled right before Ranma felt the powerful knockback from the boss slamming its weapon down onto the platform again.
Next thing he knew, he was laying in a tangled heap with Nabiki, head ringing like a bomb had gone off next to it. Struggling to get untangled, he fought against the status effect that restricted his movement. When it finally released him, screams filled his ears as the boss’ giant great-ax was brought down, killing three players in one blow. Scrambling on all fours, he was up and rushing towards the boss before anyone else was on their feet.
“Over here, you ugly two-faced bastard!” Ranma shouted as loud as he could. One of its heads turned to look at lock onto him and the giant body slowly followed. “That’s it, come get me!” He shouted and bounced around, waving his arms over his head. ‘Good thing it’s slow; I could dodge this guy all day.’
Just before the Brutal Chief got within attack range, it raised its gargantuan ax over its head and brought it down to slam against the floor once more. Ranma was knocked flat on his back again, the closer proximity dealing a much stronger status debuff causing his vision to blur and head swim. Muffled shouted was the next thing he knew; someone was quickly pulling him to his feet.
“It has to be tanked.” Agil’s voice explained as his vision slowly cleared.
“Good to know.” Ranma stood his head beginning to clear and swayed briefly.
Heathcliff stood in front of the boss, expertly tanking every blow from the bosses immense ax. The Chief was slow and easy to predict but every hit sent out a shockwave that knocked back anyone around it. ALS members swarmed like yapping dogs around the giant, attacking without any coordination and getting in each others way.
“Here, you took a good hit.” Nabiki handed him a crystal vial with a red liquid inside.
‘I did.’ He realized in shock, his health had dropped below forty percent. The ten seconds it took for the potion to work felt like an eternity for the sweet liquid to do its work. “I’m good now.” He drew out his war fan, preparing to help finish this boss.
As the bosses health was reduced to a single HP bar, the two-headed giant rocked back on it’s heels and let out a deep roar, mirroring the beginning of the encounter. As it trailed off, the monster fell into a deep crouch while two more adds appeared at the bosses side. The initial charge didn’t catch the raid as off guard this time but there was still one burst of light as someone met their end. Agil immediately returned to the fray, defenses being hastily raised to deal with the high incoming damage.
“Nabiki, are you seriously not going to leave?” He asked in concern, having only suggested she come as a joke and certainly not to get her involved in anything like this.
“Not without you-- I guess.” She admitted.
“Fine. Stick to the boss and see if you can hurt it. Just make sure you keep your eye out for that whirling thing.” He worriedly ordered, glancing at the entrance where the rest of the clearing guilds had finally caught up but were locked out. Only a certain amount of players could enter the room per encounter to stop rotating out for fresh players. “Be careful.” He added.
“You’re telling me that?” She asked incredulously.
“We’ll argue about this later.” Ranma curtly remarked and closed the distance to where add wielding an ax was quickly being killed, purposely leaving the other incase it would switch to the whirlwind attack once again. Falling into a chain of attacks with Agil and Asuna, the giants health dropped so rapidly the other raid members stood back, forgetting to move to the next monster.
Coming to a brief stop after his last attack, he was already trying to find where the other monster add was, ignoring the mesmerized players. ‘No skill and they don’t know how to work together. The only thing they can do here is die.’
“The boss is up!” Nabiki’s panicked voice cut through the sounds of weapons, armor, and shouting.
“It can’t attack if there’s more than one.” He whispered in realization, they should have taken out the two adds at the same time. Nabiki was putting distance between herself and the boss before it had even decided on a target. One of the ALS members stepping up to tank the boss, the rest of his guild being ordered to swarm the giant and finish it off quickly.
“The add!” Heathcliff yelled as the smaller monster suddenly gave up breaking itself against the man’s shield, turning to head for a player a random player. The guild looked so tired that they all stumbled slowly away in a panic, three more players being killed before it could be brought back under control.
Ranma’s party was regrouping around Heathcliff, who was preparing to relieve the ALF tank struggling against the bosses heavy blows. Nabiki and him had the most health left, though Heathcliff was doing amazingly well considering how he was tanking every hit he could. Not even twenty ALF members were still alive; an exhausted eleven trying to manage the smaller giant while the remaining eight stayed back to recover. Everyone should have left long ago but after losing so many, Ranma would no longer accept defeat either.
A scream from the ALF tank keeping the boss under control was all the warning they got before he was thrown aside, his body breaking into polygons at the apex of his flight.
“Let’s go.” Asuna commanded, the girl slightly out of breath.
Heathcliff, Asuna’s guild leader, accepted the order without complaint, rushing forward with a shield charge skill to catch the boss before it could perform any area of effect attacks. A heavy shockwave shook the room as the giant’s downward swing to smash the ground was blocked by the kite shield held up over Heathcliff’s head.
Ranma was the next to reach the boss, letting loose with half a dozen strikes the giant’s stomach. Agil stepped in afterwards to hack at the monster’s knees like a lumberjack while Asuna appeared behind its neck in a burst of speed to trail jabs and slashes as she fell to the floor.
Crouched near the giant’s feet, Ranma leapt upwards his blade raking up the monster’s chest. Reversing his grip as he landed on the monster’s shoulders, he completed his combo, leaving bright blue trails of light cutting through the giant’s heads.
-
LawOhki
Posts: 1591
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by LawOhki » Mon Jul 07, 2014 10:36 am
February 7th, Month of White Fir
93 Days since launch
Floor 24, Panareze City
Still wearing her pajamas, Nabiki stepped out onto the balcony overhanging the lake below. Fully awake thanks to the in-game alarm clock, she sipped on some strange brew of tea and leaned on the railing to take in the grand sunrise that was visible through the space between the castle’s floors. The bottom of the next floor was always hanging above as an artificial ceiling, it was high enough that occasionally some clouds would obscure it but the outer edges of each floor were left open to a beautifully simulated sky rotating around the giant floating castle of Aincrad.
‘Another wonderful, fake day.’ She toasted the false sun shining over the various islands and all encompassing lake. The home she rented with Ranma wasn’t the largest or the nicest but, like all the others, it was perched on the edge of the city platform giving them a grand view. She was able to get one that was two stories, with an extra room in case Akane ever decided to be reasonable and return to them.
Nabiki didn’t need to look up, her high perception skill allowing her to notice Ranma above her. The other occupant to the home was perched on the ledge of the roof, silently looking out at the water. “Morning.” She greeted somberly.
“Already?” He asked in mild confusion.
“Have you been up there all night?” Nabiki went back to her tea while waiting for him to respond.
“Not all night.” Ranma slipped silently from the roof to land on the balcony.
“The next clearing guild meeting will be at noon.” She said rhetorically, information that he would already know. “Go get some sleep before then.”
“I’ll be able to sleep later. Right now-- could I go over what I want to say with you?” He asked timidly, obviously embarrassed to ask for her help.
“Well, considering how it’s going to affect my guild, I would hope so.” She answered teasingly, putting her tea down on the railing so she could plant both hands on her hips.
“No charge?” Ranma asked with a shy hopeful grin, rubbing at the back of his neck.
“I’m sure I’ll come up with something.” She answered slyly, just to keep appearances.
zx
26th Floor
There was little time or desire for sight seeing of the new city. Ranma sat down inside the town hall with Nabiki immediately taking the spot to his right, and Agil at his left. Available spots were quickly vanishing as representatives from all the clearing guilds filed into the building. The buildings in this new city appeared deceptively large and spacious but inside they were anyting but. Even the largest, that was actually designed for meetings, wasn’t large enough for everyone to attend. Which Ranma always preferred when attending these things, when everyone could show up, it often devolved into a shouting match of two hundred egos.
It felt like all the representatives had arrived but no one looked eager to speak up first and break the somber mood. He had only been witness to the boss fight so he hadn’t know that another twelve Aincrad Liberation Squad members had died on the march to the boss room, on top of the twenty killed in the battle itself. That alone made it the single most deadly day for the clearers since the first boss fell.
Kibaou, the one who had caused the massacre, was bold enough to leave his place to address the group. “So-- uh, I just wanted to say--.” He started before Ranma rudely cut him off.
“No one cares what you have to say!” Standing up as he yelled out, Ranma breathed heavily through his nose as he jumped over another teen boy sitting in front of him to land next to the ALS leader. “After what you did, do you really think any of us care what you have to say?” Getting right up in Kibaou’s face, the slightly shorter man instinctively backed away from the sudden verbal attack.
He heard quiet murmurs of agreement and louder ones telling the cactus haired man to get out.
Kibaou looked to the group with his eyes darting fearfully about before he tried to find his spine. “I got the job done, that’s what happened! Over the dead bodies of my men you stole our glory!”
“Your raid was already on it’s last leg when you decided that you had to be first!” Agil called out in support against Kibaou. “If it wasn’t for us you would have been dead to the last man.”
It was the first time he had seen the large man actually get angry and Ranma was happy to have him on his side. Being one of the largest and most distinctive character in the game, Agil’s voice alone was more imposing that most of the teens trying to play soldier like Kibaou.
“You stole every last hit bonus, every bit of experience! No surprise from a bunch of pirates!” Kibaou looked desperately around the other guild representatives for anyone to agree with him. Unfortunately for the orange haired man, the main force had arrived in time to see him doggedly refusing to leave the room.
“These pirates are the only reason you’re alive.” Nabiki stood up on her seat, responding evenly to his accusation that they had only helped out to steal those bonuses. Being one of the four women in the room, her voice cut through the cacophony of whispers and demands as much as Agil’s did. “After what he did, are any of you insane enough to be in a party with him?”
At Nabiki’s question, everyone stopped talking in defense of Kibaou or denigrating him, plunging the crowded room into silence. It was one thing to talk about losing the Aincrad Liberation Squad, openly calling him out to be ostracized was another. They were the largest guild on the server and held an incredibly amount of power if they acted as one.
“To hell with you all!” Kibaou declared hatefully, his mouth turned back into a sneer; preempting anyone from calling for his departure. Loudly stomping his plate boots against the wooden floor, most guilds didn’t even look at him as he left, but Ranma watched him the entire way.
Unfortunately, while no one much liked Kibaou, he was the most vocal voice pushing everyone to continue and was considered an unofficial leader for the clearing guilds. Ranma became acutely aware of how eyes were starting to fall upon him as he stood out in the only open space in the room.
Gulping, Ranma realized that they were waiting and many likely hoping that he would be the one to replace Kibaou to take up the cause.
Armor sliding and clanking against itself drew eyes to Heathcliff as the powerfully built man rose to step forward with Asuna alongside and even slightly before him. The man’s armor was different today, a bright crimson with white or silver accents. Asuna as well had replaced hers with a set that was white with red accents, and a skirt wrapping around the back of her legs down to her knees.
“Friends-- we all suffered a great setback yesterday. But I believe we are stronger now that our nose has been bloodied.” The grey haired man grandly addressed the hall before turning to look directly at him with his brass colored eyes. “Ranma, the Giant Slayer, will you help me lead the way to freedom? A combination of your guild and mine, The Knights of the Blood Oath, would be a powerful force that an unorganized mess like the ALS could never match.”
Ranma was frozen in shock at the sudden request. Whispers broke out and questions about this newly created guild. Heathcliff being as well known as he was, had always remained unaffiliated with any single group. He didn’t miss that the somber and recently confrontational mood of the room had shifted to one that was more hopeful. A combination of forces like that to help lead the clearing would be exactly as Heathcliff described.
So it hurt that he had to dash it to pieces. “Can’t.” Ranma admitted quietly.
“What?” Heathcliff asked in annoyed surprise, clearly having expected him to jump at the chance.
“Nabiki and I have decided that the Emperor’s Children will-- not be taking part in any clearing until we are sure that-- incidents like yesterday can’t happen again.” He nearly messed up the prepared line feeling many start to look at him with the same distaste as Kibaou had received.
“You’re going to turn your back on us?” Asuna asked in disbelief. The other teen had always been exceptionally hard and driven to clear, but had actually warmed up to Ranma and Nabiki after they had help make the difference yesterday.
“We will--.” His voice failed him briefly, having to swallow his pride, and turn away from a fight. “We will provide all the help we can, our crafters will provide discounts to anyone of you on equipment, potions, and crystals.” Ranma struggled to recall the rest, wanting to leave rather than be the focus of everyone’s attention.
“That’s regrettable.” Heathcliff’s voice was filled with disappointment and Ranma found that he didn’t like the feeling of letting these players down, to leave them to the dangers of the front line.
“It is.” Nabiki took the steps to reach the floor and came up to stand next to him, reaching out to take one of his hands in support. “We can’t expect anyone to come and help us and our greatest asset that we have to protect-- is each other. Neither of us wants to stop, to put off our lives anymore than they have been. We just feel that a slower pace with more preparation is the way we should proceed.”
“We’re sorry-- and wish you all the luck in the world.” Ranma bowed his head towards the assembled group respectfully before as they had scripted, calmly made their way from the room. He didn’t care to listen to the ensuing chaos but Heathcliff’s voice rose only once and then it quieted. ‘That guy will be able to do it, but I just can’t be the leader they’re looking for.’
“You two really know how to make a scene.” Agil commented after catching up to them.
“Kicking someone when they are down will do that.” Ranma answered, having serious second thoughts to the direction he had decided to take. In the heat of battle he had completely set aside his feelings on witnessing each of the ALS deaths. But as his adrenaline had left him, he could do nothing but replay the shattering of their digital avatars and the screams of terror through his mind.
“Well then, giant slayer, where does the guild head from here?” The large dark skinned man asked.
‘That’s a good question.’ He admitted in his mind. As the reality of this false world slowly settled in, he found himself making a lot of uncomfortably big decisions.
93 Days since launch
Floor 24, Panareze City
Still wearing her pajamas, Nabiki stepped out onto the balcony overhanging the lake below. Fully awake thanks to the in-game alarm clock, she sipped on some strange brew of tea and leaned on the railing to take in the grand sunrise that was visible through the space between the castle’s floors. The bottom of the next floor was always hanging above as an artificial ceiling, it was high enough that occasionally some clouds would obscure it but the outer edges of each floor were left open to a beautifully simulated sky rotating around the giant floating castle of Aincrad.
‘Another wonderful, fake day.’ She toasted the false sun shining over the various islands and all encompassing lake. The home she rented with Ranma wasn’t the largest or the nicest but, like all the others, it was perched on the edge of the city platform giving them a grand view. She was able to get one that was two stories, with an extra room in case Akane ever decided to be reasonable and return to them.
Nabiki didn’t need to look up, her high perception skill allowing her to notice Ranma above her. The other occupant to the home was perched on the ledge of the roof, silently looking out at the water. “Morning.” She greeted somberly.
“Already?” He asked in mild confusion.
“Have you been up there all night?” Nabiki went back to her tea while waiting for him to respond.
“Not all night.” Ranma slipped silently from the roof to land on the balcony.
“The next clearing guild meeting will be at noon.” She said rhetorically, information that he would already know. “Go get some sleep before then.”
“I’ll be able to sleep later. Right now-- could I go over what I want to say with you?” He asked timidly, obviously embarrassed to ask for her help.
“Well, considering how it’s going to affect my guild, I would hope so.” She answered teasingly, putting her tea down on the railing so she could plant both hands on her hips.
“No charge?” Ranma asked with a shy hopeful grin, rubbing at the back of his neck.
“I’m sure I’ll come up with something.” She answered slyly, just to keep appearances.
zx
26th Floor
There was little time or desire for sight seeing of the new city. Ranma sat down inside the town hall with Nabiki immediately taking the spot to his right, and Agil at his left. Available spots were quickly vanishing as representatives from all the clearing guilds filed into the building. The buildings in this new city appeared deceptively large and spacious but inside they were anyting but. Even the largest, that was actually designed for meetings, wasn’t large enough for everyone to attend. Which Ranma always preferred when attending these things, when everyone could show up, it often devolved into a shouting match of two hundred egos.
It felt like all the representatives had arrived but no one looked eager to speak up first and break the somber mood. He had only been witness to the boss fight so he hadn’t know that another twelve Aincrad Liberation Squad members had died on the march to the boss room, on top of the twenty killed in the battle itself. That alone made it the single most deadly day for the clearers since the first boss fell.
Kibaou, the one who had caused the massacre, was bold enough to leave his place to address the group. “So-- uh, I just wanted to say--.” He started before Ranma rudely cut him off.
“No one cares what you have to say!” Standing up as he yelled out, Ranma breathed heavily through his nose as he jumped over another teen boy sitting in front of him to land next to the ALS leader. “After what you did, do you really think any of us care what you have to say?” Getting right up in Kibaou’s face, the slightly shorter man instinctively backed away from the sudden verbal attack.
He heard quiet murmurs of agreement and louder ones telling the cactus haired man to get out.
Kibaou looked to the group with his eyes darting fearfully about before he tried to find his spine. “I got the job done, that’s what happened! Over the dead bodies of my men you stole our glory!”
“Your raid was already on it’s last leg when you decided that you had to be first!” Agil called out in support against Kibaou. “If it wasn’t for us you would have been dead to the last man.”
It was the first time he had seen the large man actually get angry and Ranma was happy to have him on his side. Being one of the largest and most distinctive character in the game, Agil’s voice alone was more imposing that most of the teens trying to play soldier like Kibaou.
“You stole every last hit bonus, every bit of experience! No surprise from a bunch of pirates!” Kibaou looked desperately around the other guild representatives for anyone to agree with him. Unfortunately for the orange haired man, the main force had arrived in time to see him doggedly refusing to leave the room.
“These pirates are the only reason you’re alive.” Nabiki stood up on her seat, responding evenly to his accusation that they had only helped out to steal those bonuses. Being one of the four women in the room, her voice cut through the cacophony of whispers and demands as much as Agil’s did. “After what he did, are any of you insane enough to be in a party with him?”
At Nabiki’s question, everyone stopped talking in defense of Kibaou or denigrating him, plunging the crowded room into silence. It was one thing to talk about losing the Aincrad Liberation Squad, openly calling him out to be ostracized was another. They were the largest guild on the server and held an incredibly amount of power if they acted as one.
“To hell with you all!” Kibaou declared hatefully, his mouth turned back into a sneer; preempting anyone from calling for his departure. Loudly stomping his plate boots against the wooden floor, most guilds didn’t even look at him as he left, but Ranma watched him the entire way.
Unfortunately, while no one much liked Kibaou, he was the most vocal voice pushing everyone to continue and was considered an unofficial leader for the clearing guilds. Ranma became acutely aware of how eyes were starting to fall upon him as he stood out in the only open space in the room.
Gulping, Ranma realized that they were waiting and many likely hoping that he would be the one to replace Kibaou to take up the cause.
Armor sliding and clanking against itself drew eyes to Heathcliff as the powerfully built man rose to step forward with Asuna alongside and even slightly before him. The man’s armor was different today, a bright crimson with white or silver accents. Asuna as well had replaced hers with a set that was white with red accents, and a skirt wrapping around the back of her legs down to her knees.
“Friends-- we all suffered a great setback yesterday. But I believe we are stronger now that our nose has been bloodied.” The grey haired man grandly addressed the hall before turning to look directly at him with his brass colored eyes. “Ranma, the Giant Slayer, will you help me lead the way to freedom? A combination of your guild and mine, The Knights of the Blood Oath, would be a powerful force that an unorganized mess like the ALS could never match.”
Ranma was frozen in shock at the sudden request. Whispers broke out and questions about this newly created guild. Heathcliff being as well known as he was, had always remained unaffiliated with any single group. He didn’t miss that the somber and recently confrontational mood of the room had shifted to one that was more hopeful. A combination of forces like that to help lead the clearing would be exactly as Heathcliff described.
So it hurt that he had to dash it to pieces. “Can’t.” Ranma admitted quietly.
“What?” Heathcliff asked in annoyed surprise, clearly having expected him to jump at the chance.
“Nabiki and I have decided that the Emperor’s Children will-- not be taking part in any clearing until we are sure that-- incidents like yesterday can’t happen again.” He nearly messed up the prepared line feeling many start to look at him with the same distaste as Kibaou had received.
“You’re going to turn your back on us?” Asuna asked in disbelief. The other teen had always been exceptionally hard and driven to clear, but had actually warmed up to Ranma and Nabiki after they had help make the difference yesterday.
“We will--.” His voice failed him briefly, having to swallow his pride, and turn away from a fight. “We will provide all the help we can, our crafters will provide discounts to anyone of you on equipment, potions, and crystals.” Ranma struggled to recall the rest, wanting to leave rather than be the focus of everyone’s attention.
“That’s regrettable.” Heathcliff’s voice was filled with disappointment and Ranma found that he didn’t like the feeling of letting these players down, to leave them to the dangers of the front line.
“It is.” Nabiki took the steps to reach the floor and came up to stand next to him, reaching out to take one of his hands in support. “We can’t expect anyone to come and help us and our greatest asset that we have to protect-- is each other. Neither of us wants to stop, to put off our lives anymore than they have been. We just feel that a slower pace with more preparation is the way we should proceed.”
“We’re sorry-- and wish you all the luck in the world.” Ranma bowed his head towards the assembled group respectfully before as they had scripted, calmly made their way from the room. He didn’t care to listen to the ensuing chaos but Heathcliff’s voice rose only once and then it quieted. ‘That guy will be able to do it, but I just can’t be the leader they’re looking for.’
“You two really know how to make a scene.” Agil commented after catching up to them.
“Kicking someone when they are down will do that.” Ranma answered, having serious second thoughts to the direction he had decided to take. In the heat of battle he had completely set aside his feelings on witnessing each of the ALS deaths. But as his adrenaline had left him, he could do nothing but replay the shattering of their digital avatars and the screams of terror through his mind.
“Well then, giant slayer, where does the guild head from here?” The large dark skinned man asked.
‘That’s a good question.’ He admitted in his mind. As the reality of this false world slowly settled in, he found himself making a lot of uncomfortably big decisions.
-
LawOhki
Posts: 1591
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by WG_Writer » Mon Jul 07, 2014 11:10 pm
So... Giant Slayer huh... Sounds good.
Storm trooper effect works against good guys as well.
No matter how strong you are, there is always a teenager able to beat you without breaking a sweat.
A blind Paladin can only hear half truths
A deaf Paladin can only see half truths
Either way the Paladin is a berserker
No matter how strong you are, there is always a teenager able to beat you without breaking a sweat.
A blind Paladin can only hear half truths
A deaf Paladin can only see half truths
Either way the Paladin is a berserker
-
WG_Writer
Posts: 1086
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by LawOhki » Tue Jul 08, 2014 6:14 am
WG_Writer wrote:So... Giant Slayer huh... Sounds good.
Till something better comes up. Can have multiple titles, he is sitting close to that same lofty stratosphere as Heathcliff and Kirito.
And... big time skip.
--
March 2nd, Month of the Yew
485 Days since launch
48th Floor, Lindas City
Letting the door swing closed behind her, Nabiki stepped into the blacksmith’s shop with a pleasant smile gracing her lips. The city had a quaint Bavarian village feel to it, spacious with an abundance of canals being endlessly churned by water wheels that every home seemed to posses. It had immediately become the home for any crafting profession that needed large machinery to produce items. And being that her guild had a significant number of crafters, Nabiki found herself here often.
“Welcome to Lisbeth’s Smith Shop. How many I help you?” An NPC standing behind the main counter running through it’s programmed greeting upon her entrance.
“Is the owner in?” Nabiki asked, idly inspecting the weapons inside a glass case.
“I will see if she is accepting patrons.” The NPC girl bowed respectfully before dutifully marching her way into the back.
‘Hmm, that one looks nice.’ She thought looking at an elegantly crafted wakizashi next to a deep red scabbard. ‘I’ll have to ask for its stats.’
“Is there something I can help you with?” A different voice cut into her musings. Stepping through the curtain to the back room was a girl with short pink hair with the bangs pinned to one side of her pink eyes, and wearing a red maid themed dress.
‘Pretty.’ Nabiki quickly sized up the owner of the shop. Physically a couple years younger than her but a players age on Aincrad no longer meant much after being trapped here for over a year.
The girl gasped and quickly rushed out from behind the counter to bow to her. “Welcome to my shop, Nabiki-san. My name is Lisbeth and I’m at your service.”
“Thank you for such an enthusiastic greeting.” She answered the girls flustered reception in amusement, nodding her head to the girl.
“Wha-- what can I do for you?”
“I was just in the neighborhood.” She answered absently, her eyes returning once again to the wakizashi that would make a perfect replacement for her current one. “And I saw that your shop had just opened so I thought I would come out and see the competition for my smiths.”
“Hopefully I’m up to the task.” Lisbeth summoned up a menu over the case and a moment later the weapon Nabiki had had her eyes on appeared in the blacksmith’s hands. “Do you mind if I inspect your blade?”
“Not at all.” Nabiki enjoyed talking to this girl much more than the flustered one who had first appeared. Handing over her wakizashi, Lisbeth allowed her to inspect the one from the case. ‘Not the best stats for me but it would be a slight upgrade. Although it wouldn’t be worth the cost without more done to it.’ She quickly dismissed the idea of purchasing the skillfully crafted blade.
“This is from a boss.” Lisbeth whispered with a hint of reverence in her voice while inspecting the pearly white blade.
“The twenty fifth, actually.” She volunteered, having gained it from a last attack bonus against one of the add monsters. It had taken a month to raise her stats enough to be able to equip the drop, and she had reinforced it in order to keep the item relevant up until now.
“Unacceptable!” The pink haired girl announced and quickly switched weapons with her once again before pausing. “Um-- were you looking to buy something? Even with metal prices being so high I’m sure I could craft you a superior blade for the best price.”
“Truth be told I was looking to purchase a gift.”
Lisbeth narrowed her eyes suspiciously and absently put the wakizashi back in the display case. “Why not one of your own blacksmiths?”
“Secrecy. There are four in my guild capable of producing what I’m interested in. But I’m sure rumors would spread and ruin the surprise.”
“I may be able to accommodate you.” The blacksmith summoned up a list of items she could craft. “If you tell me what you want, I could tell you the cost.”
“You’ve spent a lot of time acquiring recipes.” She noted, impressed with the selection as she casually scrolled through the list. “As expected of someone who does business with Asuna.” Nabiki slyly remarked.
“I didn’t know you two knew each other.” Lisbeth took the reveal of her dealings well, her voice only cracking at the start.
Nabiki hadn’t dealt with a crafter outside of her guild in some time so it was refreshing to have a new face to deal with. Of course the girl would have to know that she could have her driven out of business and out on the street again if Nabiki felt that she was being cheated. ‘It was just that one time and he deserved it.’
“I’ve known her for some time.” Her hand came to a halt on a set that would be perfect. “Do you have the material for this?”
Lisbeth quickly checked the recipe from her side where it would show the required ingredients. “Not all-- and it will take four weeks to craft the silver borous ore into usable ingots.
“And to get the rest?” Nabiki asked, not happy about the wait but it was an uncommon item, and she didn’t want to simply get the required materials from her guild.
“I can’t, you need to get them from someone with the sewing skill.” The blacksmith admitted. “No matter what this will be expensive. Some of these I have only two or three of, they are incredibly rare.”
“If you get started on the ore, I’ll get the rest.” She knew that they had a couple with the sewing skill but to keep it out of guild, Nabiki would need to go to Ashley in this same city, and see if she would be willing.
“Ah! Don’t you want to know how much?” Lisbeth asked in concern.
“I’ve been saving.” She waved off the younger girl’s question. “And I know you wouldn’t want to gouge me on the price--.” Nabiki left the implication hanging, giving the girl a polite bow of her head before leaving to go speak with Ashley for the rest of the ingredients.
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LawOhki
Posts: 1591
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by Suryn » Wed Jul 09, 2014 6:45 pm
Yay Lizbeth! A month to make the item? That is a serious time commitment. Considering Kirito's sword only seemed to tame a short period of time (a day?) I wonder what is being built.
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Suryn
Posts: 23
Re: Lost Days - SAO One shot
by LawOhki » Wed Jul 09, 2014 7:12 pm
Suryn wrote:Yay Lizbeth! A month to make the item? That is a serious time commitment. Considering Kirito's sword only seemed to tame a short period of time (a day?) I wonder what is being built.
Well it's a month to make the ore into usable material. Actually crafting her order won't take more than a few minutes.
I put that more that it's getting the rare item that makes his sword hard to make. So it requires a party capable of beating the dragon on top of a blacksmith of high enough skill. Which in SAO with battle and trade skills sharing the same limited spots seems like a reasonable restriction. Also, it's not said what other ingredients were needed and if she had them on hand or not.
Not sure if Lisbeth will be joining into Nabiki's guild or not. I don't want to have all the side characters showing up get swallowed up by them. Since I don't want to affect or get involved with canon events tooooo much.
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LawOhki
Posts: 1591
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