Ashrah

"Don't worry," he murmured softly as she turned away, "I won't." Tobias hated relying on others. It was one of the things he gained from a mostly independent lifestyle outside the game; his mother and father spent so much time at each other's throats when he was a boy that he never got used to the coddling most children got. As he grew older and further away, he got along with people less and less. He never expected anyone to do anything for him.

His gaze darkened as the boar charged him, hefting the bulky weapon quickly and ripping it toward the piggish mob. It swiped across his leg with dull tusks that would have hurt, had the system not absorbed the sensation.

The boar let out another yelp as a second line overlapped the first, an x pattern now imprinted in the creature's matted fur. "Yeah," he confirmed, "this is definitely my kind of sword."

Whether it came from natural skill or effort on his part, Arc had grown instantly accustomed to fighting in this style. Strong, deep strokes in lieu of quick, superficial ones appealed to him, somehow. Despite the slight loss of health, he did not appear worried.

"Now, you're going down, pig."

[iD: 21959, BD: 8, Mob: 7] (-1)

[boar: 3/5]

[Arc: 10/11]

Before she spoke, Arc was already driving toward the boar with his weapon cleaving toward it. The boar cried out in alarm as the dangerous blade drew closer, and spasmed as it dug deep into flesh. Despite the darkness, it seemed Arc had properly judged the distance.

"Damn," he grunted as her words hit him.

The boar hobbled after the strike, a thick red line drawn across its hide. It seemed to stare in both hate and sadness at the low level assailant.

"You were saying?" he heaved a sigh as he lifted the weapon skillfully in one hand and watched the boar without an expression.

[iD: 219477, BD: 7] (-1 for Dark Penalty)

[boar: 4/5]

[Arc: 11/11]

Dusk consumed the world.

Stars twinkled high above the Town of Beginnings as Arc took his first few steps back inside after dealing with one of the more dangerous people trapped in Sword Art Online with him. While that should have been more terrifying, he believed people did not do most things without reason. Because of that, he had no right to judge.

The lights that fanned out in braziers above him were candles, which lit up the world with a subtle ambiance rather than harsh, contrived lighting. He wandered through the market filled with many vendors, a place intended for new players to search for things and encouraging them to try it all out.

He found the weapon vendor without much effort. Various weapons were strewn about the stand almost haphazardly. Arc lifted a different one handed sword, testing it's weight. It was a bit heavier than his, but still felt too light.

He took hold of a rapier, but immediately realized that it was much lighter and definitely not suited to his needs. Inspection of a dagger yielded an immediate expression of distaste. Arc let his gaze fall on the heavier weapons, designated for two hand use, and he nodded appreciatively.

"This'll do nicely," he murmured as he lifted a blade much longer than any he had held before. It was comfortable enough to grip with one hand, he recognized, but it's potential lay in commanding the whole of his body to employ it. "Simple Bastard sword," he grunted the name, certain that people would take it as some kind of commentary on his personality.

With a shrug, he unequipped his starter blade and handed it to the merchant; while it yielded him no Col, it was better than letting it sit useless in his inventory. He handed over the hundred col for the basic weapon, and he immediately equipped it.

The weapon hung across his back and added a weight that did not feel as encumbering as he expected. It almost screamed of familiarity, but that might have been the same for any weapon at this point, since he was still untrained.

Once finished, he decided to head back out of town. "Now," he broke into a run, a bright smile across his face, "it's time to see what I can do."

He tugged the large blade free of his back as he exited the safe zone, not caring that he couldn't see as well as before. The nearby mobs were still visible enough that it wouldn't be especially dangerous.

Well... maybe.

[boar: 5/5]

[Arc: 11/11]

As the sun began to dip beyond the fringes of the floor, the woman said something about how she hated some color. Arc turned his attention toward the gilded twilight and his lips set in a firm line. He had an appreciation for nature and all that, but he wasn't a deeply indulgent person. Still, that color was gorgeous for an end to a long day, and it seemed strange that someone would dislike it.

Of course, none of that was his business.

"Hmmm," he opened his inventory window and glanced over the amassed Col. "Maybe this'll be enough to get a better weapon," he stated absently. The starter weapon he had chosen ended up feeling awkward and light to him, so he wanted to give something else a try before committing points to any skills.

When the window blinked out of existence, Arc started toward town again. His thoughts lingered on the enigmatic woman who's personality rubbed him wrong; it occurred to him that she might be lonely, since she was still skulking around the first floor, but he couldn't make sense of why she let her cursor remain orange.

Sometimes, people were beyond his understanding.

Arc blinked at the item that appeared in her trade window and his eyebrow arched a bit, but he said nothing. He began placing the items one by one into his own window, several blips in rapid succession adding a vast assortment of foodstuffs to the list. There were many different things, as she had requested, and visibly more than she probably expected.

When he was finished, he promptly selected "complete trade" and checked his inventory to be sure the Col was there. He scrolled over the item she had sent, a potion of some sort with a warning label that cautioned of addiction. It made him blink.

"Interesting," he mouthed quietly, but he chose not to pursue her reason for the strange concoction. Arc had never been the type to rely on addictive substances or seek a source of temporary freedom from his woes. The item might grab a high price at market, or he might hold on to it until someone he met needed it.

"There," he said finally, after he was sure that everything was sorted. "Done deal. Good doing business with you."

He turned to leave, stretching both arms and yawning softly.

"Ah, I'm Arc," he responded quickly when the man introduced himself. He immediately presumed the man to be proprietor of this forge, since there were no particular NPCs visibly running the show. "Nice place you got here," he praised, though still awkward in his footing. It wasn't everyday a person entered a Blacksmith's shop in the year 2024.

His trade skills were far too low to be of any use identifying or appraising any of the weapons or armor, but most of that information was prelisted nearby for convenience. "I still have starter gear," the man admitted, "so I wanted to see what higher level equipment was like."

"Hard bargain," he replied as she returned fire with her own version of the deal, "but seeing as I don't look particularly good with holes in me, I can live with it."

It was a backhanded acknowledgement of her strength and status above him, but he was sure she knew that it was less from fear than from necessity.

Arc shrugged at her assesment of friendship and accepted the trade, fully intent on fulfilling her request. An assortment of goods to help keep the woman alive was the least he could do, especially since she was actually agreeing to pay him. Arc turned away when she seemed finished, and he headed back for the town.

Once inside the safe zone, he made immediately for the vendor stalls and browsed carefully over the foods he could get the most of for her money.

Fruits, meats, fully cooked foods, various desserts and a handful of outlandish delicacies greeted him, but he reminded himself that he did not intend to sate his own palate. Arc moved through the menu and selected the cheapest foods that did not sound disgusting and deliberated over them.

He bought almost two weeks worth of food with her money and some of the money she had given him for his trouble. While he wasn't exactly on friendly terms with the pink haired girl, he knew that the money she'd given him wouldn't get her enough to hold her for more than a week at most.

When all was said and done, Arc would only have profited 200 col.

He closed his inventory window and turned back toward the entrance to town, striding into the fields without a second thought. "I'm back," he called to her as she came back into view, "sorry it took so long."

It took less than an instant to realize this woman was among those numbers lost to the game. Survival overlapped the way she dealt with people, even to the point where she carelessly brushed off the fact she had killed another player like it was nothing. "Mhm," he muttered in response as she casually insulted him and dismissed her situation as though it was nothing more than an inconvenience.

"Fine," he responded when she finished, rather flatly. "You give me the funds and tell me what you want, and I will bring it back to you." Direct, simple, and without any holes for her to fill in with volatile banter. "In return, 500 Col up front. I won't do it twice if you stiff me, and I know you're going to run out of errand boys as people start distancing themselves from you."

Whether she liked it or not, 500 was a cheap asking price and Arc knew she would realize that his words were true. "And try not to sound so ungrateful when I get back."

He stood straight and met her gaze with a brash defiance that probably made her feel vindicated in calling him stupid. Still, Arc had little fear of falling prey to her dagger; the woman was low on item fetchers as it was.

Arc strode quietly into the Blacksmith shop on the first floor, fully aware that he could not afford anything for sale. The thing that interested him about it was pricing, and how much work he would have to do in order to properly equip himself. While the store looked well and truly outside a price range he would ever meet, Arc still felt at home around steel and fire.

Blacksmith shops in other games felt nothing like the ones in SAO. The smell of a burning forge caused his head to spin with delusions of battle and lined his brow with a crown of sweat. "Hmmm," he scratched his chin intently as his gaze moved over various armors and weapons, all ornate and hand crafted in a way that genuinely felt realistic.

Even if it were a simplified process, Arc felt strongly that a profession in SAO might be right up his alley. His hands settled on a full plate, tracing the pattern delicately as he tilted his head in appreciation. "Beautiful piece," he appraised in a low voice, "the skill of the crafter is apparent."

His lips formed a flat line as he saw the orange cursor over the strange woman's head in the distance. Many players had scurried back behind the safety of the Town of Beginnings' walls, but Arc took an immediate interest in what she was doing on the first floor.

This close to the start of the game, it would do more harm than good for a player killer to do their dirty deeds. The fear made sense; players who were still weak feared death, or did not understand how to become strong. Arc was tired of his own weakness. It was time to go out and act, to do or die, and for better or worse, to leave his mark on this world.

He walked toward her, still low in HP and equipped with his starting weapon. None of his skill points were allocated, and he had almost no Col. "Sorry," he began, "but people aren't very fond of people who's reputations..." he pointed up toward her cursor, "precede them. If you're down here, you must have a reason."

It was bold and probably stupid. If this woman wanted to kill him, it wouldn't take much for her to do it. Still, Arc was unafraid, and if she took pleasure in taking lives, then someone would witness what she had done. Someone would take action.

"If I can ask, that is." He folded his arms and took a breath, more sure of himself than he had any right to be. Fear only stood in the way of advancement, and he saw this as an opportunity to get stronger. "What are you doing here?"

Prestige, Trust.

So, as things are right now, all the weapons do pretty much the same thing with their skills. I was thinking, what if we changed them up a bit to make them diverse, but balanced. For instance:

Two handed weapons could deal more damage, but one handed weapons could be swung and potentially strike more times a turn. That way, say, someone with a 2H sword could deal twice the damage on hit, BUT, someone with a 1H sword could hit twice and do the same amount of damage.

And, as you progress in your skill tree (to make it more gratifying), you could gain different skills.

I was thinking like, increasing the number of attacks, or the ability to hit more than one enemy (at a reduced amount of damage, of course).

We can expound more on this once people start giving some positive or negative feedback.

I will take this, in a party.

I will give this one a crack.

Profile

 Username: Arc, alias "Vanguard"

Real name: Tobias

Age: 28

 Gender:Male

 Height: 6'

About: Tobias is a young man with many issues. Due to his troubled youth and unhappy adolescence, he became obsessed with video games and withdrew from the rest of society. This strained his relationship with both parents and his brother and sister, who ostracized him further.

His family was never really cruel so much as they simply did not understand him. Since they never made an attempt to connect with him or the things he liked, he decided not to do so either.

When his parents divorced, Tobias went with his mother, the more understanding of his two parents. Though she still did not relate to him, she accepted the way he was an allowed it to continue, so long as he contributed to her household and paid for his own hobbies.

Tobias held down a steady job for four long years before the big change came to his life.

MMORPGs became a large thing when he was young, and he spent a lot of time in them getting to know people online- people who did the same as him, escaping from the problems in their real lives for a little bit of time a day.

When VRMMORPGs were announced, Tobias couldn't wait to get involved. He attempted to get into the beta test for Sword Art Online, but when he failed, he just spent more time online reading over notes from the actual testers.

Opening day came, and he got his copy the minute the store opened. Tobias took his full dive and woke to a nightmare worse than he ever imagined in reality.

This was a game he couldn't just leave. This was a problem he had to actually deal with.

Paying for the internet was the least of his worries...

 

Virtues:

Protector- One of the few fantastic things that never changed about Tobias is the willingness with which he will recklessly throw himself between others and danger. Now with his new kit and personal, this seems much less dangerous and much more typical, as though the role were meant for him all along.

 Armchair General: Leftover from his days as an avid Strategy Gamer, Tobias makes cutthroat use of his deductive skills and the ability to perceive and exploit weaknesses in combat. This allows him something of an edge in raid combat situations.

What is Broken cannot Break: While shaped into a strong man outside the world of Aincrad due to hardship and an unkind childhood, Tobias slowly came to understand the gravity of their situation when he realized that there was no coming back. This wasn't a game with respawns and resurrections- if that bar dropped to zero, you spent eternity in a grave.

Nothing can bring him lower than that realization. He knows now, if he dies, there is no path forward. He will do anything to reach his goal, regardless of perceptions of right and wrong.

And nothing and no one will stand in the way.

Flaws:

Cold Rage: Fury is most terrifying when it is prolonged and allowed to fester. For Arc, accepting the truth and finality of his best friend's death triggered a darkness that never manifested before Aincrad. Once a kind, generous man who happily helped others, Vanguard is a cold shell of a human being, who's desire to help others is largely out of guilt and overwhelming grief. Truly horrific is his anger toward the world that has become their prison-

When faced with enemies and trials, Vanguard embraces his hatred and fights his hardest to put down threats. Others tend to view this as irrational and violent.

It is.

The Man with no Face: After the events following his disappearance, Tobias resolved that he would interact with other players only when necessary to move forward with his ultimate goal- clearing the game, and ensuring the overall safety of others. To that end, he speaks very little, and his voice is distorted by the heavy helmet he wears. He does not accept friend requests, and will not willingly join parties. 

He gives the name "Vanguard" when someone asks for his name.

No One Knows Why. He disappeared, and his name went with him. The player known as "Arc" simply vanished, as though he had fallen in battle and his name were wiped from the server. Because of this, others who knew Arc will not recognize him, and he disassociates from his former self. He will go as far as to outright lie if someone confronts him, as it is his sincere wish that no one else be harmed because of his recklessness- and he doesn't want anyone to fret over him.

But it hurts. Underneath all of it, Tobias is still human. Even though he has decided to bear all of this alone, there are things left unsaid- and one day, perhaps, he might be able to say them.

But he can't face those things until he feels like he has succeeded in his ultimate task.

Clearing Sword Art Online.

 

Profession: 

 

Skills

 

Non-combat:

Passive:

Heavy Armor: Rank 3

Combat:

Weapon skills:

Two Handed Assault Spear: Rank 4

 

 

Inventory

Weapons/Tools:

Repeat Offender, perfect two handed assault spear, +3 Damage.

 

 

Roleplays:

A new arc- 1 SP

Bold New Frontier-1 SP

Unconventional Methods -1 SP

To Greater Glory -1 SP

Re: Start - 2 SP

Worn out Welcome - 2 SP

Not Strong at all... yet.[/url] - 1 SP

This can't end well[ - 1 SP

The Battlefield of Broken Blades - 3 SP

Who am I, really? - 1 SP

The Traveler - 2 SP

In Search of the Frostbitten Phoenix - 2 SP

Dark Elves must Die- 2 SP

Paranoia (RGQ) - 6 SP

The Thread of Fate - 2 SP

Jet Force Gemini-6 SP

Colder than Ice - 4 SP

OP Will fix link - 11 SP

Drinks and Deep Thoughts - 1 SP

Meet up - 4 SP

Respite - 3 SP

http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/13372-sp-f2-exterminatus/?page=2#comment-497094 - 4 SP

http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/13415-event-f18-rovian-wars-part-i/?page=2 -1 SP

http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/13423-pp-f1-the-wind-in-her-wings-event-quest/?page=2 - 1 SP

http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/15152-sp-f1-the-dragon-killer/?page=2#comment-523338 - 2 SP

 

Relationships: 

 

@Birdie ...

 

Story Thus Far: Tobias logged into Sword Art Online under the name "Arc." Soon thereafter, he learned the truth about the Death Game and started developing a name for himself as a mercenary, willing to help others in exchange for coin. This allowed for him to get over some of his social shortcomings and meet other players.

During his initial time in Aincrad, he met several players who would leave some kind of mark on him as an individual. The most significant of these was Birdie, who he developed feelings for and shared a romantic relationship.

The happy times were short lived however, when a trusted information broker brought news about the possibility of returning players from death. For Tobias, this was groundbreaking. It changed everything they knew about the game, and it meant that the one thing all players feared might not be so dangerous and long lasting as they feared.

Arc spent months toiling across floor after floor, desperately seeking anything that might vindicate his time, effort, and hope. In the end, the only confirmation he found was what everyone told him from the start. There was nothing that could change fate- if you died in this world, you died in the other one as well.

The light inside Arc flickered out.

Hope no longer drove him, and the desire to help others became a duty. Aincrad had taken something precious from him.

He allowed the persona known as "Arc" to die.

There were others who knew him before. He wanted them to become strangers. No one needed to suffer with Tobias. No one needed to suffer anymore. Aincrad had done enough, to everyone.

"Vanguard" was born. The enigmatic player entombed in heavy armor and armed with a powerful spear appeared one day in the middle of everyone, as though he had simply been there all along.

And as of yet, no one has questioned it...