[PP-NK-F1] New World, Unknown Dangers (Dominon) {Ask to Join}

[Ignavus_veneficus 0]

Sword Art Online Release Day 2:00pm JST (1 hour after servers open)

Ignavus had managed to get his avatar looking pretty similar to himself, the virtual representation had a few notable differences though. The most obvious was that that the avatar was much more muscular than Ignavus was in real life, broader shoulders, thicker arms, and a chest corded with muscle. Ignavus wasn't a slouch in those departments but he was always more lean and athletic than truly muscular. The avatar also had a full beard and all of it's hair was black as opposed to his naturally brown coloring, he had always wanted a beard but had trouble getting one to grow in properly. The hair on the avatar was also a more sensible close cropped style as opposed to the untamed mess of brown spikes that usually shot off in random places. In all Ignavus's avatar cut a rather imposing figure with the two-handed long sword slung over his left shoulder, Ignavus had chosen to go with cloth armor as well hoping it would afford him greater mobility. Ignavus was surprised with how much variety there had been with the starting gear, Ignavus's avatar was adorned in a bright white cloth vest with matching pants, without any kind of shirt beneath revealing all the muscle beneath. 

 

Looking out over the rolling hills filled with green grass, tinged gold from the afternoon sun blazing brilliantly in the sky. Brilliant waterfalls glittered in the distance feeding into beautiful crystal pools. Ignavus had to admit it was truly a breathtaking scene to behold, when he had first logged in he had planned to rush into the fields and began trying to get as much training in as possible. The city had been a maze and everything had been so detailed and intriguing that he had spent the last hour wandering around in awe trying to figure out what to do and where to go. Initially he had been hoping to find a group to fall in with and have some fun, so far all he had ran into were the worst kinds of mmo players, the ones that would likely kill him for laughs the first time he stepped out of the safe zone, or the weirdos who thought every mmo was a dating game. So for now Ignavus just planned to do a little farming, get some experience with the game under his belt and hope he stumbled onto someone a little more normal.

[Dominion 0]

Dominion had been in the game for a little while now, a little more accustomed to some of the settings on the first floor. Dominion was not a gamer by any means in the real world... except for this game which would be his first. His body was very refined from constant combat with his father and monastery monks, whom had been a traveling martial artist, originally descending from China. Dominion's avatar was much more in the appearance of a blond German kid from America who wielded a 12 foot great axe, but that was only because it was the closest thing that looked like his real appearance. Dominion had tried to test the parallelisms between this game and the real world, which most things were very similar. However, the people in this game ate breakfast, which startled Dominion. He ALWAYS fasted during the morning, as was tradition by his father in the real world. Also, the players seemed to be a lot more self-centered in this game, but that only made Dominion believe that they had teammates with more potential. Dominion had been in the grass lands of the first floor only twice, considering his growth in levels. He saw people one at a time leaving the city alone, which made him confused. His personal philosophy was to go in groups of at least two. "Hey, " Dominion focused his words towards a certain individual holding a large two handed sword, and was clearly more muscular than himself. "What are you doing, going alone out into the grass lands?"

[Kazu 0]

Kazu was overwhelmed by the size of the game he was playing. Although he had played many others before, the MMO genre was one that he had never touched. This was his first time using the NerveGear, and his body felt significantly different than it did in real life. He had chose to wear lighter clothes, along with the rapier as his weapon of choice. The size of the starter town set Kazu off guard, and it took him a while to find the way out. After a series of wrong turns, he left the city and set gaze upon the wilderness. The cool wind blowing on his face and vast fields ahead of him was truly a scene he would remember. This technology felt dreamlike to him, and was something he had fantasized about doing ever since he was introduced to video games. He saw a group of players ahead of him, who looked to be unfamiliar with this game as well. With hesitancy, Kazu set foot towards them, ready for any adventures that lied ahead of him.

Edited December 19, 2016 by Kazu

[Ignavus_veneficus 0]

Hearing a voice behind him Ignavus turned to see a blond man, with a ridiculously large axe. Ignavus wasn't able to help but smirk, mmo's always had some ridiculously large weapons. Ignavus had studied European style weapons when he had been in college he'd always been a little bit of an otaku and loved melee weapons. One of the reasons he had been so excited for Sword art Online, was because the vast amount of weaponry, normally he played a magic user but cool melee weapons also appealed to him strongly. Ignavus's blade was a simple starter weapon, a fairly realistic claymore, the blade being nearly six feet, with a simple hilt and pommel. A twinge of jealousy shot through Ignavus about the weapon, it did look far more intimidating than his simple claymore, absentmindedly Ignavus's left hand went to the hilt of the blade.

 

"Planning to kill some mobs, maybe find some materials", Ignavus stated simply the hints of the smirk still playing on his face, his hand still lingering on the hilt of his blade. Obviously this other player had already gotten some gear and Ignavus highly doubted that he would be able to take him if this player decided to come after him. Rumor had it that the game already had some players that had preyed on stragglers in the grasslands and Ignavus was just hoping this stranger wasn't one of them. Ignavus had no idea what respawn would be like in this mmo but he would have hated to find out after stepping out of the starting city the first time. Behind the stranger Ignavus saw another player approaching from the city, they were still relatively close after all, Ignavus doubted any creatures even spawned this close to the city. 

 

"What about you?" Ignavus questioned his hand still just short of closing around the hilt of the blade.

[Dominion 0]

Dominion heard the player something about killing mobs and finding materials, which Dominion had started to do with a friend not long ago. Dominion was going to greet the player more respectfully, but then he noticed the player placing his hand near the hilt of the Claymore. The sword seemed to be in the same starting condition as his, except it was only half the size. Dominion put both his hands up as if in surrender and said "I am just looking to help players, I am building my avatar to become a healer class" Dominion was very blunt about why he was only on the first floor. "I have experience on this first floor, but my DMG is really low, like just as low as a starting player. However, I heal damage almost faster than it can be dealt to me on the first floor." Dominion still had his hands above his head, waiting for the other player to move his head from the threatening manor. Dominion saw a slight change in eye glances, which made him turn around. Another player was walking up behind him, which actually surprised him for some reason. Dominion asked both the player who was approaching from the city as well as the Claymore fighter, "Do you two players know each other?".

Edited December 19, 2016 by Dominion

[Kazu 0]

Kazu was heading towards the two players he had seen moments ago. He didn't know how trustworthy they were, for all he knew they were a team who killed all new players that had built enough courage to leave the safe zone. This wouldn't bother Kazu, as he knew that he would respawn at the starter city shortly after. The feeling of pain in a virtual game was something he had wondered about since picking up SAO, and something that he will soon discover. Kazu was approaching the two men, who seemed to be conversing. One was wielding a large axe, another wielding what seemed to be a broadsword. When Kazu reached the players, he was asked if he knew the person he had approached. "Er, no. Sorry if I'm bothering you. I was just looking for someone to team with." Kazu replied nervously. He still didn't know if the men were going to try and attack him or not. "Anyways, are you guys new players as well?" Kazu asked, showing a friendly smile.

[Ignavus_veneficus 0]

Ignavus wasn't sure how he stacked up in a fight yet, he hadn't even been in a duel yet. From what he understood Ignavus should be dealing more damage than most starting players, part of the point with the two handed sword after all. Putting everything out like that put Ignavus at ease though, assuming the guy was telling the truth that is. No way to confirm if the person was telling the truth or not. When the stranger asked if he knew the other person approaching Ignavus simply shook his head, as far as he could remember no one he knew had managed to get their hands on a copy. The newcomer was obviously nervous about approaching them, a reasonable reaction. Ignavus briefly toyed with the idea of going bandit this early on but figured better of it, right now it was more than likely to just get him taken out.

 

"Well at this point aren't we all kind of new? I just managed to get out of the starting city a few moments ago though, place is a maze right", Ignavus quipped a large grin breaking across his face, hand falling from his weapon.

[Kazu 0]

"Yeah, I assume so." Kazu replied. There's always a few people who get their hands on a game early, or endlessly grind immediately when the servers open. From what it looked like, all of us had yet to progress from our basic starter gear. Their hands that were previously holstered on their weapons were now being lowered to their sides. Kazu started to feel more comfortable around the unfamiliar players. Normally, he would join a new game with friends, but since the price of everything needed to run the NerveGear was a hefty one they were unable to join him on his ventures. This didn't phase Kazu, as he knew that he would still be able to find new friends within the game. He could tell the players were still skeptical of each other, so Kazu tried to approach them in as much of a friendly manner as possible. "I don't think I got your names. I'm Kazu, and you two are?"

Edited December 19, 2016 by Kazu

[Dominion 0]

"Well, I go by the name Dominion". Dominion lowered his hands when he saw the Claymore guy lower his hand from his weapon. "Nice to meet you Kazu. To be completely honest, this is the first digital game I have ever played, but I am starting to become accustomed to the NerveGear settings and controls. My friends went off somewhere, and I will just let them roam around for a while until they return. I'm up for making a group and fighting Mobs if you guys are?" Dominion hadn't bought the game but his friends insisted that he play. So, a group of them had pitched in to buy him the NerveGear and game. So far, the experience seemed otherworldly. Of course, Dominion could not help but begin wondering if there were other worlds outside that of the earth that could sustain life, but he had to stop thinking about that for now. All he needed was more materials to get better gear for himself and other starting players. 

[Ignavus_veneficus 0]

"Really your first virutal game? Been playing games since I was just a kid, even got to try some other vrmmos but nothing has come close to this so far", Ignavus responded as he opened up his menu. Grouping couldn't hurt, if either of these two meant harm they would be unlikely to bother with the ruse, this early on it would be easier to just throw yourself at the starting players and hope for the best. In most mmo's that was the case at least, it wasn't till the game had been out for a while that you had to get creative, Ignavus had played the bandit often enough to know that. It only took a few seconds of prodding after he had finished speaking before two notifications popped to the strangers inviting them to group.

 

"I'm Ignavus Veneficus by the way", He finally explained although they could likely already see that from the invite notification. At the very least these two would make good damage soaks, from what he'd heard even some of the early mobs could be dangerous out here.

[Kazu 0]

Kazu quickly tapped on the accept button. He wasn't sure if he would be able to find anyone else who was this friendly, so he had no choice but to accept. So far, his experience has gone well. Finding allies wasn't as challenging as he first planned that it would be. Kazu thought the two players seemed to be nice people, contrary to his beliefs when first confronting them. After all, the trio might make a better team than he expected. Kazu was eager to commence and see what his acute rapier was capable of. Ultimately, he hadn't even set foot in a VRMMO battle yet. Fighting mobs would prove to be a perfect way to acclimate himself with his virtual body and learn the basics of combat. He has had seldom past experience with swordplay, but still was keen of himself. "Well, what do you guys think? Should we go fight some mobs?" Kazu asked queerly.

Edited December 19, 2016 by Kazu

[Dominion 0]

Dominion quickly tapped the accept icon for the invitation as well. Before going and fighting things, he wanted a general plan of action during a fight. He didn't want his group to die entirely because they didn't know what was going on in the heat of combat. "I think we should go fight some mobs and get Materials and Col and all that, but I need to know what type of building you already have. Have either of you two begun to develop a damage dealing build? I know you are relatively new to this game, but I cannot fit the build of a classic DPS. I can, however, soak up lots of damage myself, which will be good for this type of thing." Dominion needed reassurance that while they were in combat against a basic mob, chaos wouldn't ensue. Dominion lifted his head wondering what types of builds each player was planning on making.

[Ignavus_veneficus 0]

"My build is definitely more towards dps", Ignavus responded to Dominion as he looked up his stats in the menu. "I deal about four damage a hit", Ignavus further elaborated, as he looked at the other two up and down. Kazu's rapier was unlikely to deal more damage than his sword, Dominions axe looked like it could deal similar damage in the right hands but if the player had built away from damage it was likely that Ignavus may have the strongest damage in the group. However Dominion was the only one that had experience fighting any of the mobs.

 

"Dominion you said you didn't deal much damage so I probably have the highest dps. You said these things can hardly hurt you so getting you to tank is probably the best idea. Draw aggro, then me and Kazu come in and hit it as hard as we can. Don't know how much damage these things deal so me and Kazu should probably stay back and just jump in when we can hit it hard", Ignavus laid out his plan as confidently and succinctly as he could. Sword Art Online may be new but MMO's were where Ignavus thrived, the strategy was basic but should work while they figured everything out.

 

"Unless one of you has a better plan?" Ignavus looked between his two companions at the question, waiting for some kind of response.

[Kazu 0]

"That sounds like a good plan to me," Kazu said willingly. He was ready to fight a few mobs and see how easily he could handle SAO's combat system. His rapier was dangling at his side, ready for action. He thought the weapon was a perfect choice for a fast, lightweight character. Although he was still unfamiliar with how SAO's combat worked, Kazu was filled with confidence and excitement. This was his first VRMMO, which made him eager to explore the vast virtual world. Kazu spotted some mobs in the distance. He wasn't entirely sure, but they seemed to resemble boars. They looked to be a good target for low level players such as ourselves. "Let's head over there, shall we?" said Kazu, pointing at the nearby mobs. With two other people in his party, he knew failure was a slim chance. Kazu put a smirk on his face and set foot towards the closest mob.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Kazu

[Dominion 0]

"Okay, lets head out then." Dominion was further out from the city, so he was slightly closer to the mobs than Kazu. Dominion did need time to create some hate, in order to protect his fellow companions. Walking forward to maintain his shorter distance from the mobs, Dominion cut the path by walking directly to them. He stayed ahead by a little, holding his great axe in his hands. These people seem like they have more experience in digital game fights, or at least Ignavus_Veneficus does. Maybe this Kazu kid will prove to be an accurate sword fighter like the lance fighter I met not long ago. Well, except that guy went with some of my friends to a harder part of this floor. Dominion stopped thinking to himself as he became alarmingly close to the mobs. He was currently just out of range to provoke attack, but that could change if he moved in the slightest.

(OOC- You will need to edit your posts to at least 150 words, Kazu)

[Ignavus_veneficus 0]

As the two accepted the invite Ignavus saw names and health bars pop up in the corner of his vision, he nodded seeing this would make it a lot easier to keep track of the full battle. As the other two began walking Ignavus followed a few paces behind still in his menu, he was more thoroughly checking his stats and committing to memory what exactly each of them meant. Already he was plotting out potential build differences, trying to figure out what stat buffs he would need to make how he wanted to play more effective. All the while he kept just a passing eye on the other two, when they stopped he came up just behind them and finally closed down his game menu. Reaching across with his right hand Ignavus pulled down the two handed weapon from his left shoulder. lifting the sheath slightly on his back and cause the sword to slide from it's protective hanging aided by gravity, his left hand caught it as he came into a fighting stance. He had spent most of the last hour wandering the starting city sheathing and unsheathing his weapon, testing the mechanics of the motions, by now it was fairly practiced from the recent repeated use.

 

"So you wanna get this started Dominion?" Ignavus offhandedly questioned as he stood at the ready. Ignavus didn't plan to jump in till he knew the boar was invested in fighting with, Ignavus had to check his party's health bars to remember the name, Dominion. Only than would he jump in, Ignavus wanted to understand what the boar was really capable of before he put his neck out, in most games fallen party members didn't get any loot after all and that was the  whole point of them grouping up.

[Kazu 0]

Kazu and Dominion approached the mobs whilst Ignavus was lagging behind. The two teammates were just out of range from attack, preparing for their first battle within SAO. Kazu swiftly unsheathed his rapier and shortly examined it. The sword was very thin, and it appeared to be lighter than he had first expected. The weapon was sure to be perfect for Kazu's strategies he had initially planned when creating his character. Fast, swift attacks. He gripped the sword tightly and looked behind him. His other teammate, Ignavus, was closing his menu and catching up with his teammates. He approached them and asked if Dominion was ready to begin. Kazu analyzed their plan in his head to prepare for the fight. First, Dominion would draw the attention of the mob. Then, Kazu and Ignavus would plunge in and attack it to the best of their ability. The three teammates lined up next to each other and awaited a response from Dominion to begin the battle.

[Dominion 0]

"Wait a couple attacks so you two don't attract more attention than me." Dominion left the rest of the fight to whatever his partners would decide to do. He clearly gave plenty of warning to them in order to prevent chaos, so, he moved across the line. Immediately, the attention of the boar closest to the three of them became engaged in battle. Dominion shifted his weight into a wide monk stance, one uncommon to any game style of fighting. He would wait for the enemy to attack him instead of him bringing the fight to it. The boar stomped its hoof and charged at Dominion with a startling speed. Dominion made a risky move, throwing his axe to the side, as it would not be helpful. The massive battle axe clanked against the ground as Dominion readied his hands. The Boar was heading directly at him, a perfect chance to stop the boar and generate hate. Dominion leaned back, his blond hair and dirty clothes were still as humble as ever, as his arms moved around it's incoming tusks and he lifted the boar straight up off the ground. The boar was lifted up and thrown backwards onto the ground as Dominion whiped his hands on his new set of leather armor. He glanced at his partners. "I still suggest you wait, but you are players that can make your own decisions." He began to walk over, as the boar was rendered helpless, to retrieve his battle axe from several feet away.

DICE

Spoiler

ID# 72602

Battle: 9 (Critical Success) [1+1=2 DMG to Boar]

Mob: 1(-1=0) (Critical Fail) 

Dominion: 160 HP, 16 Energy, 3 MIT, 1 Eva, 1 DMG (+5 HP from Battle Healing per turn), Hate-2

Ignavus_veneficus: 20 HP, 2 Energy, 4 DMG, Hate-0

Kazu: 20 HP, 2 Energy, 1 DMG, Hate-0

Boar: 78/80 HP, 10 DMG

(OOC-If these stats are wrong, please PM me)

Edited December 21, 2016 by Dominion

[Ignavus_veneficus 0]

"Nice", Ignavus complimented his ally as he let out whistle. It was an impressive display to see the boar hurled backwards with such force, Ignavus had been planning to allow Dominion to get at least two swings in before jumping in himself, couldn't get a good gauge of how the system worked with only seeing one clash anyway. A light breeze blew through the grasslands cause the field of long grass to rustle in the wind with a strange rippling effect. Ignavus noticed a few of what appeared to be flowers interspersed through the grass and couldn't help but wonder about gather able materials. Most games like this would have some scattered around combat zones ripe for the picking so it would make sense if there were a few around here. Ignavus planned to bring it up after they killed the boar, it was likely that they would need to heal after the fight anyway.

 

 

[Kazu 0]

Kazu was waiting patiently from the sidelines, ready to jump in and help attack. He decided to wait at least a few strikes until he joins, or at least whenever Dominion suggests that he should. Kazu watched as his teammate forcefully hit the body of the boar with his enormous battle axe. An impressive display, at best. Kazu studied the attack to further prepare for his own turn at fighting the mob. He wouldn't be surprised if his teammate has had any previous experience with swordsmanship, as it seemed like he was very familiar with what he was doing. Kazu stared into the boar's stern red eyes as it was still recovering from the harsh blow. Even after Dominion's impressive attack, the mob still seemed to be far from an empty health bar. From this information, Kazu concluded that the fight was certain to be a challenging one. He tightened his grip on his sword and prepared for his first battle in SAO.