Reytac

The fact that Mari was the only Pker in the guild actually served to reassure Reytac that he was right in his belief that there was more to her than most people thought. It'd be one thing if she was just one more orange player in a guild of them - but to be the only one in a guild of greens made it much more likely that there was a reason behind the deaths that she was responsible for. He felt another inch of the anxiety and tension in his spine relax at that. Rey did notice that her eyes kept spinning, darting around, after glancing downwards again, not exactly where they were walking a

"Considering I've been...useless, for so long, joining a smaller guild would probably be a good idea. I.. Well, I accept. Don't know if I'd be leaving, though, just abandoning a guild that's helped me feels wrong on several levels. But that would be a concern for the future. Maybe I'll end up kicked out." Reytac let out a small laugh at he thought. Mari had a bit of a lackadaisacal attitude towards her guild, but that didn't mean that everyone in the guild would be as accepting of him suddenly joining as she was. Still - he pulled open the invite that she had sent his way, and pressed the 'acc

At this point Reytac almost wasn't surprised by the fact that Mari was able to demolish these wolves with barely a thought, even the one that went for him was death with by piercing it with the blunt end of a weapon. He didn't know if Mari herself was someone who could be counted as a 'frontliner' but she was clearly strong herself. But it was Mari's words that had almost made him freeze up, something that he hadn't even wanted to think of being an option. He knew about Laughing Coffin. Even as head in the sand as he had been, he knew about the infamous Pker guild. He hadn't ever thought

"I'm sure she did want something. But that's the problem with being sneaky and secretive and not saying what's going on - other people don't know what your motives are, and can only guess. And sometimes that guess is wrong." Reytac shook his head sharply. The purple haired woman had seemed friendly enough at the broil, so he hadn't thought anything of it at the time. But now, he knew he'd been sent to the shop of a pker. Luckily it was Mari, who wasn't a relentless killer, but who knew if the purple haired woman he couldn't remember the name of had known that? Or... "Or she knew you weren

Reytac narrowed his eyes slightly as he processed the way that Mari shut down asking about what he had been saying when he mentioned the fact that he might have had a child. She move on from it quickly, changing tacks almost right away. That was something to put away for later consideration - he and Mari weren't friends, so pushing about why she'd shut that down so rapidly was pushing hard for no reason. Instead he leaned back and rested one hand on the stone, resting his weight on it. "I don't know if I'd say nothing is free, but, this world has definitely made it so small kindnesses ha

"If she was in here with me? I don't think I'd want to leave, either. No kid, not yet at least. At - at least, I don't know." And didn't that thought send a bolt of fear and rage down his throat. That he might be a father, and didn't even know it? Reytac glanced down to see that one of his hands had curled into a tight, hard ball, the veins on it standing out and his knuckles popping white as the hand trembled. He forced himself to relax as Mari continued. And he was thankful he did listen - she gave him a couple names of people he could attempt to track down to get the unexpected windfal

Reytac watched as Mari washed the small clearing she'd led him to in a sheet of flames. The heat coming from it was actually nice, contrasting with the chill air that had been permeating his bones for so long on this floor. He followed her over to the small fire pit, listening to the distinct difference in their footsteps as they moved. The crackle of the burnt embers beneath them was so distinct from the crunch of snow that he was almost amused to be hearing it here. The orange-haired woman definitely had skills and power, that much was clear. As he walked over, he noticed something sti

Reytac flipped the lid off of the beer in his other hand and took a long slow pull of it. Alcohol had never really been a thing he pursued, but at least he wasn't against drinking it socially. Even if he didn't particularly care for the taste. In response to the question she asked, he thought for a moment. "Honestly?" He pointed to the two talking men, then to her. "I've met the three of you, but that's about it." His shoulders rolled in a light shrug. "I... Well, didn't take being trapped in the game well, and shut down for a long time. Honestly, shocked I lived til now thinking back."

Reytac frowned as he thought back to the crab broil, to the woman. It hadn't been too long so the memories were still pretty fresh. "Fairly certain her cursor was normal, not orange. She had long purple hair, like, about the same length as she was tall. Purple eyes, or kinda pinkish. Was friendly enough, came up and asked for a drink while I was talking with.. Abel? Abellio? But she didn't pay much attention to him or the other guy I can't remember the name of." He drummed his fingers against the handle of his hammer as he tried to think. As he walked with her, he side-stepped the piles

Reytac looked up as a bombshell on legs walked up next to the two men he'd been talking with for a moment, and asked if she could have a drink. He blinked once, then twice, then gave her a slight smile as he nodded his head. "Sure can. Would you like a beer or some of the mead?" He set the polishing cloth down on the table beside the keg as he focused on her, waiting to see what her response was. It was nice seeing so many people active and moving - far too long spent around the people at the bottom who had completely given up hope, it had made him forget that this place had been meant t

"Mon-ah." The monument to everyone who had died, and what they had died to if it was known. So Reytac was actually walking with someone who, from her own words, was the cause of many names on the monument. But at the same time - she was calling them rumors, and while she was matter-of-fact about it, she didn't seem to take any pride in her name being on there. He also noticed that her eyes kept tightening ever so slightly whenever he started speaking for longer than a few words, so he resolved to keep what he said to a minimum around her for now. "If I remember her name I'll try to send

"I don't have much in terms of anything , yeah." Reytac paused a moment to pick up the other four trinkets that fell into the snow with soft thuds after Mari pointedly ignored them. It was bizarre to him to see these things be left behind so casually, but they didn't even seem to register to her notice as valuable. Still, he said wasn't going to complain about what was essentially, free loot. A scene from a show he'd watched in real life came to mind, of a cartoon dog following behind a hero and picking up all the shiny baubles left behind in the wake, and one corner of his mouth twitched upwa

Reytac had thought he'd seen something after he finished restarting his purpose for being out here to Mari. He couldn't tell if she was dismissive of his actions, and being here, or just thought him an idiot, but he wasn't going to just keep arguing or defending himself to someone he barely knew. So he had turned to start putting action to word to look for something, to actually gather materials. The brief statement, warning, was given without actually responding to him. And it was all the warning he had as one foot suddenly landed on his back. Then he was propelled forward as the wom

For about half a moment, as the fireball was lobbied onto the massive two handed weapon, lighting it in flames, Reytac wondered if he had completely and totally misread the orange-haired woman. Was she a mass-murderer, only calm inside her store? For a brief second, chestnut hair and warm hazel eyes filled his mind as he braced himself for what was apparently going to be his end. But then she was moving past him, flames trailing behind her in an arc as she descended on some wolves that he hadn't even spotted were approaching. As her weapon cleaved through them without even slowing down,

Reytac blinked as he got closer to the orange splash he'd seen. It was indeed familiar, and someone he wouldn't have expected to see again outside of her store. It was the orange haired orange-tagged player, Mari, that he has purchased some confections before. He paused for a moment. This was someone who had done something that had gotten them labeled as a Player Killer - but from what he knew, the system took nothing at all into account. Self defense, or defense of another, none of it would matter. So, jumping to conclusions about this would be a terrible and stupid idea. Besides, she w

Reytac stepped out from the safety of Snowfrost and almost immediately felt nervous energy wrap around him. He wasn't yet to a point where the low floors he was familiar with would be a cake walk for him, so danger still lurked in the wings. But he also knew that if he didn't push himself, didn't try to grow, he never would. And if he didn't get stronger he'd never be able to push towards the front lines, to try helping get them out of this abominable death game. And now that he was coherent, just sitting back and leaving his fate to other people stuck in his throat like a jagged piece of ice.

Thread Close Word Count 2413 Reytac | [Word Count: 2413/5 = 482.6] * [True Tier: 1] * [Group Factor: 1] = 483 EXP Quest Rewards: 300 XP + 483 Word Count XP <<Forager Profession>> All Gathered Materials: 3 Demonic Shard Gathered <<Gleaming Scale from Fishing Profession Blocked>>

It took Reytac nearly forty minutes of walking in as straight a line as he could to get back to the campsite that he'd departed from earlier. By the time he got back into the warm glow of the campfire, he was counting his lucky blessings that he had avoided any bursts of combat along the way - he was flush from success here, and a fight would just sour the taste of victory. "Giovanna, are you here?" He called out, and from inside the tent came a rustling, before the quest giver emerged from inside of it again, this time holding a warm smile on her face. Or, at least, warmer,. He p

Reytac stepped over a tree log and paused when he heard an odd whirring sound that was decidedly out of place. He looked around, his eyes narrow as his hand dropped down to grip his hammer haft again. It would be just his luck to have some insane nightmare of the tower attack him before - no, wait. He frowned. The sound was.. Coming from him? He started patting at his pockets, and it got muffled for a moment when he put his hand over the pocket that was holding the compass. He pulled it out and looked at it, his eyebrows raising when he saw that the needle inside was spinning in a circle ra

Reytac stood up from the hole, glaring down at it. Emboldened by his success, he'd kept digging, rooting around in the dirt for nearly twenty minutes to see if he could find anything else there, if it was a particularly rich vein perhaps. Unfortunately, there had been nothing else for him in the hole he'd made. He shook his head with a grunt and shoved all the dirt into the hole. It wasn't nice and neatly packed but at the very least there wasn't a knee high pile to deal with in the forest. If it even mattered. "Right. Back on the hunt." Reytac pulled the compass back out of his pocket a

Reytac blinked as he looked down at the hole he had been digging in. While he didn't think the Shard was here any more - the compass wasn't doing the odd spin now - he thought he saw the edge of something else buried in the loose dirt beneath where the last chunk of ore had lain. With a shrug, he started digging again, widening the hole as he tried to uncover whatever else might be down in here. "Even if I'm wrong, it's just a bit of time wasted. Not like I'm losing HP or anything." And, on the off chance he got attacked, at least for things on this floor he should be able to handle hims

Reytac ran one hand through his hair as he knelt down. He'd thought the compass was acting a bit odd, so he'd started digging through the soil near where he was standing when it spun once, to see if the Shard was buried in the dirt. So far though, he hadn't come across anything that he might even be able to loosely call a 'shard' of anything. "Seventh son of a forgotten daughter ow" He'd been looking around as he dug through the dirt with his hands, and he pulled his hand back quickly, shaking it in pain. He'd slammed his knuckles into something hard in the dirt. Was it - Rey care

Reytac ducked under a low hanging tree branch and stepped past some overgrown bramble bushes that were in his way as he followed the direction of his compass. One hand came up and caught a branch that had threatened to whip around and catch him in the face, and he gave it a mock glare. "Knave, you're lucky I've not more time to deal with you - okay I need human interaction for more than a few seconds." Rey shook his head. It was probably not a good thing for him to be talking to digital shrubbery. He cracked his neck as he paused and looked around, sweeping his eyes around - and then his

"Come on you overgrown piece of bark." Rey slid his knife behind the bark of one tree. It had popped up to his gaze as a viable material, overgrown with a moss, so he was trying to snag it along the way. But as he worked his blade down the edge of the bark, he slipped, scraping more than half of the moss away from the wood. "Misbgetton lichen-" The material tag on the item had faded, superimposed with a 'RUINED' label. It was a near thing to keep from throwing his knife down in frustration, but he managed it. Somehow. Probably because right then, he felt like if he threw it down, he woul

Twice now, Reytac had thought he heard someone else moving through the brush near him as he made his way through the forest, but each time he stopped and looked around, one hand dropping to rest on his hammer haft, the sounds stopped abruptly, and it was honestly making him think he was just hearing things. Paranoia about being out with only a weapon to use, perhaps, but either way, he still made sure to be checking his surroundings as carefully as he could. It would be terrible if he ended up dying to some beast alone out in the forest. "Not.. That anyone would really mourn my disappeara