Greg Baxen

Greg had wandered onto the scene while exploring Aincrad, He figured that he would check Floor 1 in case he missed any nooks or crannies that may need discovering. While exploring, he wandered upon a scene in which there were seven other people. He figured it couldn't hurt to approach, though he did so cautiously since he didn't know their level and at the distance he was at, he couldn't tell whether they were green players or not. Trepidation flashed across Greg's face. He wondered what he should do. Approach and introduce himself or keep his distance?

I can't fulfill the 'female' part of it, but for the non-perverted part? Greg definitely doesn't classify as a pervert, so I could help you with that if you want.

Greg realized something just recently, and that's that he wasn't getting around enough. He had heard that somewhere around 13 or 14 floors of Aincrad were available, and amongst these, Greg had only visited the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 9th floors, with a slight visit to the 11th floor, when he attended the wedding of Flints and Tristan, back when he and Shizuka were still a couple. He figured he needed to get around more, so he decided to start off by visiting the 8th Floor. He wondered what he would find there and who he would meet. Hopefully he wouldn't get into too much trouble, though.

Greg smiled. "Thank you." He says, before accepting the trade. To summarize what he had obtained, he obtained 950 Col, and was also one step closer to levelling up! This went, in all honesty, better than Greg had expected it would. "It's good to see that generosity is still a virtue present in the players of SAO." Greg continued. He owed this entire quest's success to Macradon and yet here Macradon was, giving over two thirds of his Col loot to Greg.

Greg blinked and he missed it. One second they were approaching the bandit camp. "Well." Greg said. He really wasn't sure what to say there. "I guess there truly is no kill like overkill." Greg quipped. He came out and looked around, seeing if he could find some Col. He did find some. How much did he find?

ID: 50951

LD 2: 50 Col.

Greg was... honestly underwhelmed. Then again, this could just be his bad luck talking. He seemed to be having trouble with that recently, and not just in actually hitting stuff, but crafting and looting, too. It frustrated him.

"I think I see it, yeah." Greg responded as the camp appeared. Focusing a bit, he took a slightly closer look, and he could faintly make out shapes like those of humans. Greg figured those must be the bandits. He couldn't tell how many there were though, not at this distance. Greg prepared himself in case he needed to mop up any bandits that may survive Macradon's attacks, however unlikely that is to happen.

Greg laughed as he said that he was about to ask Greg's name. "Heh, guess I beat you to the punch, then?" Greg said. This was going well, and he felt confident, and they hadn't even gotten to the quest yet! He was going to return to his training to become a frontline fighter, and force his way through whatever tried to stop him. That of course meaning anything he could possibly power through- things like bad luck, which seemed to be attracted to him as if he were some sort of magnet, didn't apply to his statement.

Greg follows the KoB member. "Warp, Ninth Floor!" He said, the command registering as he was teleported to floor 9. Greg thought for a moment before speaking again. "By the way, what's your name?" He asks. He was legit curious, given that all he knew was that this guy was a lieutenant of the KoB (thanks to his armor bearing the Guild's crest). Greg then introduced himself. "My name's Greg. Nice to meet you." he said, introducing himself to the KoB lieutenant.

Greg thought for a moment. "Yeah, though I recently fell into a fit of inactivity. I've been trying to shake myself outta it, though. Enough to reach Level 16, anyway." Greg said, disclosing his level to the KoB member. He also disclosed his current predicament and that he was making an effort to get out of it. It was tough, but he was going to get there . He just figured this would be the first step in his attempts to get back into the game.

Greg thought for a second, and decided rather quickly. "You can just annihilate them with Sword Arts. I'd much rather not run the risk of dying. Knowing my luck, if I tried to attack, I'd probably miss too much." Greg said. He wasn't exactly confident, and given THE LAST TIME he had entered battle, he didn't want to risk it. Said last time involved him missing his mark eight times straight. Having the Lieutenant do it for him would not only make the process quicker, but safer too. He liked safe. Greg then realized he'd made a mistake on the floor number. "Err, whoops." he muttered, embarassed that he'd made that mistake.

Greg felt relieved. A high-ranking member of the KoB? This couldn't be going better (Well, that's a lie)! "I need assistance with one of the quests on this floor: <Bandit Camp>." Greg told the Lieutenant. He was eager to get this over with so he could level up faster. While he wouldn't tell the Lieutenant, he was planning to apply for the KoB, too. His last guild had fell apart before he even had a chance to do anything and his first attempt to join a guild went badly, so he decided, why not join the oldest and most reliable guild?

Greg was still looking around for someone to help him. Given his lack of mitigation, taking on the <Bandit Camp> quest would be suicide if he did it alone. Looking a bit more, he saw someone from the Knights of the Blood Oath. At least, that's what he thought. The outfit practically screamed KoB. They were high-levelled, right? Surely he could trust one of them to see him through such a quest alive. Greg decided to approach, and make his presence known. "Um, excuse me? You're with the Knights of the Blood Oath, aren't you? Could I get help with something?" he asked the blonde-haired player.

Greg sighed. He'd been too inactive and fallen behind on not only his levelling but just doing anything in general. That was what caused his relationship with Shizuka to collapse, he supposed. To get himself out of the habit of being lazy, he decided to look for a party to do the quest <Bandit Camp> with him. He took a look around the Town of Beginnings, taking a look through the Market. It'd been nearly three years since SAO started and Greg still hadn't reached level 20. He was getting close, but he had a little more to go. He was going to try to apply for KoB, given that it would also help with his inactivity problem but first he'd have to get back into the swing of things, he supposed. Greg took another look around. "Man, it feels so weird resuming work on trying to reach the front lines." he muttered to himself.

Greg showed up once again at the shop, as Teayre had finished the requested crafts. "Thanks. These'll go great in my shop." he says, as he takes the newly crafted items. He wanted to let Shizuka know that the bond shared between them was indeed real and not just some temporary thing.

Greg had heard of someone forming a party to raid dungeons and he was interested in that, for two reasons. One was due to the possible loot and experience involved with actually going into said dungeon, and the second was to see who else was joining in, and if possible make some more friends- it was something he needed to work on, after all. Taking a look around, he took a look again at the message which had been sent out to people. This was the place... so where was the person requesting it? "This should be the right place..." Greg murmured. He then noticed multiple people in a group, including who he believed was the one who sent out the request... One was wearing an all-too-familiar pink cloak... so Greg thought there was likely only one person it could be. The question is why would she be hiding her face like that? Was it really her? Well, there was only one way to find out... Greg approached. "Shizuka? Is that you?" He asked the cloaked figure.

Hoo boy. I might be late to post since that time is VERY late where I come from (6AM on Sunday, to be precise).

Let's do it! We've got Two DPS (Me and Undead), two Tanks (Daeron and Trist), Two Supports (Shizuka and Red) and one Dungeon Finder (Davros).

Name: Greg Baxen

Level: 16

Role: DPS.

THREAD COMPLETE!

Both Greg and Ebony recieve the same reward: 200 Col each, 2 SP each and the Survival Extra Skill!

"Yeah. I'm looking forward to relaxing in my shop after this escapade..." Greg said, as he assisted Ebony in securing the cargo.

LATER...

It took the duo the whole night to get the cargo back to the town. It was morning by the time the two arrived at the town entrance. Sighing in relief, Greg let out a cry of "FINALLY!" showing that he was very much tired of trekking through the sands of floor 5. The two got their quest completion award, including the Extra Skill, Survival. Greg figured this one would come in handy- not only would it double his health regeneration but he'd be immune to future environmental damage effects. Turning to Ebony, he extended his hand for a handshake. "Thanks for the help. I don't think I'd have been able to do this without you- due to either health or patience." Greg told her. "We should party up again sometime." he suggested, before walking off, but not before sending a friend request. It seemed he'd been doing that a lot recently, sending friend requests to people he's had one outing with. Shizuka, Calrex and now Ebony. He wondered if it was a way to prevent himself from feeling lonely. It didn't particularly matter what it was, though. He was happy to have a few friends in the death game.

Greg sighed in relief as Ebony healed him. It was really late now and Greg hadn't been paying attention to time. He begun feeling cold, and thus equipped his <Coat of the Azure Wind>. "Thanks." He said, giving her a thumbs up, before continuing looking- 'Wait... is that...?' Greg thought to himself as he glimpsed something in the distance. Beckoning Ebony to follow, he begins to move towards what he saw... and lo and behold, it was the lost cargo! Greg grinned as the two found the lost Cargo. "There's our objective, dead ahead!" Greg said cheerfully, as he begun running towards the cargo.

ID: 41458

CD 10: No damage!

It seems that luck was on the pair's side as there were hardly any bursts of wind to blow sand at the two, and they had successfully located the Cargo.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot that this doesn't always apply real-world logic. I assumed that it would slow the wearer down." Greg said. "My build is basically hit hard, don't get hit. For this, I've got quite high damage and evasion. The mitigation I have is merely an afterthought (15 is pretty good for this point, though, when combined with my Evasion.)." He told her. "I mean, my armor-type that I use is Light Armor." he explained. "I don't plan on getting a Shield, though." He finished.

ID: 41276

CD 10: No damage.

No sand came flying at him this time, allowing Greg to regenerate his health a bit more through natural regeneration.

Greg: 60/64 HP. (3 Regenerated).

"Right. You are around level twenty, though (hence the slip of the tongue)- but that doesn't really unnerve me, being that you're a healer. What unnerves me more than your level is your equipment- I don't know what enhancements they have if any so it could turn out to be something capable of destroying me. The last thing I need is to be paralyzed and bleeding at the same time. (The only way you could kill me that seems viable, seeing as you're a healer, meaning you're more likely focusing points into the First Aid skill rather than weapon skills and I have mitigation. I'm basing this judgement on what skills and equipment my girlfriend has.)."  Greg said, before taking a closer look. "Heavy Armor with a dagger, though? Unorthodox, that's for sure. Not questioning your methods, just curious." Greg wondered out loud.

ID: 41212

CD 3: No damage!

Greg saw his HP regenerate a bit after that last sand blast, and sighed in relief.

Greg: 57/64 HP. (+3 Regenerated)

Greg noticed her slip of the tongue. 'So she's level twenty or so, eh? That's higher than I am. That's actually kinda comforting though.' Greg thought to himself. "I can imagine healers being in high demand- they're useful to have around due to the fact that they keep people alive- which, in a game that kills you when you die, is pretty much one of the most valuable skills ever." he said. Then a cheeky grin emerged on his face. "By the way, I noticed that slip of the tongue there. Not that I mind you being nearly ten levels higher than me (I assume you're level twenty-four, based on the level you chose to tell me), in fact it comforts me actually since it means your healing's gonna be more potent." Greg quipped.

ID: 41211

CD 1: 10 Damage!

Greg grunted as he felt burning sand hit him.

Greg: 54/64 HP.

Greg tried to keep himself occupied just by asking random questions while the two were searching. The next question he asked was "What weapon do you use?". Shortly afterwards, regardless of whether or not he got an answer, Greg would continue. "I personally use a One-Handed Straight Sword. I like the versatility it brings, and it doesn't sacrifice too much damage for it." Greg told her. "It also synergizes kinda well with my evasion-focused build." he continued. "And I'm with you on the whole 'levelling up fast to assist on the frontlines' thing. Only issue is I'm kinda struggling to find anyone to party up with at the moment..." Greg said, sighing afterwards.