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[OP-F9] Heat


Guest Keith

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Keith walked along the metal road in Floor 9's town. the sound of smoldering lava far below echoed and caused the settlement to shift slightly and groan with burning metal. Keith didn't like it here on this floor. But unfortunately for him, there was a Maverick causing trouble on this floor. And his line of work commanded he go take care of it. Keith stopped in the road and opened up his menu, looking through maps for the location. Nothing. He didn't explore this floor often, so he would have to hope someone with the resources would come by.

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From his shop in the darker corners of the floor's central city, Alkor emerged with a cloth and wiped the sweat from his brow. Unlike normal, his hood was in the down position and left his features, plain beyond striking gold eyes and chestnut colored hair, in plain view.

He walked quietly across the platform that held him aloft as well as all of the structures that made up the town. When he saw a player stopped and seemingly lost, he walked over to him and put up a hand in welcome. "Hey there," he greeted. "You look lost."

Straight to the point. Maybe the player was fine and didn't need any help at all, but this certainly opened up a conversation. The dialogue could be brief, but Alkor couldn't turn down anyone who looked like they needed help. It was in his nature.

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Keith blinked at the player who just entered, addressing Keith with offering of help. While many players don't know where the Maverick would be, knowing the landscape would be something needed. "Actually, I do need a little help. Do you happen to know where the Maverick Player known as "Napalm" would be? He's been causing some trouble on this floor and frankly... I have no clue where this dude is."

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Rebekah sat there on the 9th floor. It was scorching hot, but she had remembered her time in the desert. It was not that bad, as she found somewhere to sit down. She had been sitting there observing, but there have not been many players up here on he his town. She notices a small group gathering over to her side.

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"Na...palm." Alkor rolled the name over his tongue and considered it for a moment. The name, probably with no shortage of irony, fit the floor perfectly. As for the player, he had heard something about mavericks on this floor, but he had not yet encountered one.

Judging by this man's interest in a player killer, Alkor wagered he was probably on the hunt. A higher level character, pointedly policing Aincrad to keep it safe from the demented players who took great pleasure in ending the lives of others. Murderers in the realest sense of the word.

"Can't say I have, unfortunately," Alkor admitted in earnest, "but I can tell you he won't be close to town. The field boss that was recently cleared opened up access to everything south of the city, though." There were a lot of things to the north, east, and west that were commonly explored, including the dungeon and boss room, but there had been more dangerous mobs lurking beyond the talons of the Phoenix.

It was more than likely that this maverick the blue player was interested in took full advantage of the boss' fall to hide himself among the more dangerous landscape and mobs. Alkor brought up his map through the menu and motioned for the maverick hunter to have a look over it. "Here's the layout," he said, pointing to the detailed areas of the floor, allowing the other youth to take the information in.

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Keith nodded, looking over the map and nodding slowly. "Huh... He could be anywhere out there... It's safe to assume he's hiding up in some sort of structure or refuge. Hiding out in the scorching wastes isn't very normal Maverick behavior." Keith looked the mountains and keeps around the floor and he pointed to a few of them. "I want to bet that he's in one of these locations. I could go out and look for him, but..." Keith chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "...I couldn't remember these locations for the life of me. And I never go looking for a Maverick with less than two team members."

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Alkor weighed the situation heavily. Maverick players were most dangerous in groups, but that didn't mean a single player couldn't be dangerous alone. Players were inherently more dangerous than mobs, if only because they could reason and their strength varied. Someone making it alone on the ninth floor was probably reasonably dangerous, given there had been no movement to any higher floor.

"I'll go," the golden eyed swordsman offered. "I've never hunted a Maverick Player, but anyone who intentionally takes the life of another player needs to be stopped." It was so averse to the nature of this game to willingly turn on another PC. It defied every notion Alkor had of clearing the final boss and setting everyone free, he didn't even worry about the fact it might change his cursor from green to yellow, or even orange.

He stopped for a second, then turned to look at the map again. "I mean, if you'll have me. I know I'm not the highest leveled player, but I might be useful to you." Closing the menu, he glanced out toward the floor beyond the volcanic crater. "And it seems like it'd be safer to travel in numbers on this floor, besides."

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Rebekah had managed to hear only parts of the conversation, but she was looking for something to do today, so she decided to join them. She decided to approach the pair of higher level players, well Kieth was the strongest player she knew. "Can I join?" she asked, as she realizes that the boss raids on the front lines was being stalled lately, and this was the other major priority. She had heard about maverick players, but never encountered one before during her experiences.

 

Perhaps she was lucky, or there was no reason to go after her, but she knew this was one of the task that was required especially with the amount of strong players missing in action lately.

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The Maverick Hunter blinked as Alkor and the newly found Rebekah offered to join. They just met him, and were willing to back him up against the Maverick <<Napalm>>. While Keith's popularity was debatable, many recognized him as being on par with the elusive Black Swordsman. "Alright, thank you both. But remember, if things start to get nasty, do what you have to in order to stay alive." Keith reached into his pocket and brought out a blue crystal with a gold base. "This is a <<Prison Crystal>>. With it, we can try and talk Napalm out of his ways and go to jail. But... This almost never works."

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"He might see the allure in not being killed by a large group of players and listen to reason," Alkor suggested. "Either way, if it comes down to it, he has to be stopped for the safety of other players. Who knows how many lives he'd take if left to his own devices?"

Ending the life of another human being was something Alkor refused to take lightly. In the face of a larger number of deaths, however, he was prepared to do it remorselessly. Still, before they could even consider how to take down Napalm, they needed to figure out where he was. "It's a large floor," he said, "we'll have to cover a lot of ground if we intend to find him."

Alkor waited patiently for Keith to send out party invites; this man was the one leading the charge, and so, it fell to him ultimately to coordinate the players subordinate to him in his duty. Alkor didn't want to get in the way of his justice.

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"Hopefully, we will never know..." Rebekah replied, she could not even think about the amount of desctruction that mavericks could cause if they would continue their ways. They had to be stopped before the situation gets worst. Luckily, the situation has been realtively stable, from what she had heard until now, as there used to be a lot more stronger players active in this game.

 

Now, she waited for the party invites to pop up, as she took out her weapon, as she had to be prepared for anything.

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Keith swiped his index finger in the air and his menu slid open. He pressed a few tabs and then sent party invites to the other two players. "Alright, invites sent. Alkor, if you could lead the way to points of interest, that would probably work best. I can follow and discuss some ways to handle Napalm with Rebekah." He said, looking from Alkor to Rebekah, ready to follow along.

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With a quick motion of his hand, Alkor accepted Keith's party request and started off toward the southern gate to the city. He decided that this might be a dangerous enough encounter to require some extra defense, so he equipped the shield he'd gotten from the boss battle on this floor, and it hung on his back to await use.

As Keith and Rebekah followed behind him to discuss strategies, Alkor moved just slowly enough to overhear their conversation. If he had anything to contribute, he would not hesitate to do so. The problem with their foe this time was that he had the advantage of being able to reason and formulate plans of his own. In fact, Napalm probably already had contingencies in place for being followed.

Alkor knew the way around the level well enough to steer them toward the points where the player was probably hiding, but the enemies scattered around by the system itself might prove difficult for the players lower leveled than Keith. Still, Alkor wasn't about to let that fact stop him from going out into the hellish heat of the floor guns blazing.

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Rebekah was waiting for Keith to tell her what type of strategy that should employ against this maverick. She knew that she had to take extra pre-caution when dealing with mavericks, as they can be unpredictable. She could feel the heat of the floor; it is hot enough to make people not want to explore the far edges of the floor, but she did not mind.

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Keith talked to the two as they went on, making sure they would be well-informed for the fight. If something were to happen on account of his mistake, he would never be able to forgive himself. "The main strategy is to try and talk him out of it. Fighting is a last. Second is to jail him when he's weak. We only have one shot, so if he resists, it's option three. We'll have to put him down." Keith said, his usually chipper tone lowering slightly when he said the last choice. He felt confident in his two allies, and knew they would listen to his words and take them to heart.

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"Seems like you're being realistic about it, at least," Alkor commented. "Someone who's tasted the rush that comes with feeling and isn't disgusted by it is more likely to want to feel it again. It's like a drug. The more you do it, the easier it gets, and the shorter the thrill you get is. You end up having to do it again and again, more and more frequently just to get a fix." The most dangerous of Maverick players were like drug addicts that way; because of how the NerveGear plugged directly into their mind, there was a direct release of endorphins when they did something exciting. Some players got it from boss fights, or from successful crafting, or even doing something as simple as having fun in a safe place among friends. Mavericks, however, turned killing into their opiate.

Sure, there were Mavericks who did it out of boredom, or because they wanted to feel like they were better than others, or purely because they were twisted. To most, however, this had replaced their reality. It was just a game, and just a way to get buzzed. Alkor shook his head. "I can't even imagine. I don't want to kill anyone if I don't have to, but if I do, then it is what it is."

"What can you say to someone that deluded," Alkor wondered aloud. "Have you ever been able to talk a Maverick down, Keith?" If it had been done, then there was hope for their cause yet. To save as many of Aincrad's players as possible, and in some cases, even from themselves.

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Mavericks were by nature, unpredictable, and as a result a threat to the overall safety to the society. However, she knew that Kieth was one of the strongest players in the whole game, and knew that there was a good opportunity that they could resist a fight. Although, she would not expect a maverick to accept being jailed for the remainder of the game. She had heard Alkor ask that question, and was interested in his response to that interesting question. She would expect it depended on the strength of the maverick, of course a low level maverick would probably not bother fighting someone such as Kieth, but these situations are impossible to guess or make assumptions.

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Keith shook his head. "No... No Maverick has ever gone quietly. But it's always worth the try." He said quietly, looking between the two. "So are we nearing any potential locations Napalm may be in, Alkor?" Keith asked, wanting to change the subject. Truth be told, there was one Maverick who accepted jail. But only to use it to his advantage. He killed all other cell mates and busted out in less than an hour. Vile. The man who directed almost all this Maverick controversy. Even outside of SAO Keith had always resented him.

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He listened to Keith and frowned when he said that their only option was practically to kill the Maverick. An eye for an eye seemed like the least tasteful way to deal with the situation. Of course, Alkor had no viable suggestions.

"Several meters from the first one, actually," he replied to the question about their progress. "It's a bit close to the city, so I doubt they'd hide somewhere so obvious, but it's worth a look." Pointing toward the naturally occurring cave in the floor's design, Alkor noted, "if nothing else, there might be something of interest there. Maybe some clue or an item we could use." The likelihood of that was low, but there might be a monster or two lurking in the depths.

"The next couple of destinations aren't for a ways out," Alkor continued, "so a quick skim over the perimeter here wouldn't hurt." The map detailed a several kilometer journey out to the fringes of the floor, close to the dungeon. There might even be areas worth checking out in the dungeon itself, but their group was small. Alkor would defer to Keith in that regard.

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She took a look inside the cave, she could not see much, but it did not feel that many players had visited it. However, she felt the need to take a closer look, as you can never be too sure. She took out her rapier out of her scabbard, just in case. Just before she took a step away from the group, she paused.

Rebekah realized that she should not have been checking the caves like this, she had never levelled up her tracking or vision skills. That would have been a bad idea.

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