Evander

Shoot, Itzal didn't want to take the loot. Evander's stomach churned as he felt even guiltier for his fellow player's kindness towards him. Itzal deserved some sort of repayment. But, well, alright, whatever, he wouldn't argue with him. Evander watched as Itzal charged towards the monster, sword flashing in the light. He activated some sword art and carved out a large chunk of the lizard-man's HP. It staggered back from the blow. This was his chance to charge in and deal some damage! Evander's grip tightened on Retributor, and he charged forward at the mob, as Itzal stepped back. His damage would probably be pitiful compared to Itzal's, but at least it would be something. He looked into the monster's yellow eyes for a brief second, before lashing out with his sword, and activating Star Quint Prominence. The sword glowed, and System Assist took over, tracing a vague star pattern in the lizard man's chest. Evander stepped back, and the lizard man charged forward towards Itzal. It swiped at him, but Itzal dodged it handily. Wow, he really sure was fast, wasn't he. Evander glanced at the mob's health bar. Well, he dealt about half the damage that Itzal did, but at least it was damage.

Combat

[H:1] Itzal: HP: 780/780  Energy: 69/78  MIT: 3  Base DMG: 8

[H:1] Evander: HP: 260/260 Energy: 20/26 MIT: 12 Base DMG: 5

Lizard Man: HP: 298/400 DMG: 10

 ID# 70163 results:

 Battle: 8 (8+1(ACC))

Sword Art Activated: Star Quint Prominence

Total DMG: 5x(3x2)=30 DMG done

Evander's hand tightened around his sword. He jumped to his feet, wobbling a bit before steadying himself. Why did fighting in the darkness have to be so darn difficult? He could barely even make out the outline of the bat anymore. It must be turning night outside, eliminating even that small source of light. Well, that was great. Evander squinted in the darkness. Well, at least this would probably hone his instincts in battle, what with not being able to see. Wait, shoot, did he lose the bat? He couldn't see the outline anymore. Oh, wait, no, there it was. And it was currently speeding toward him. Shoot. Evander rolled out of the way in the nick of time. Alright, alright. He was glad he saw it coming in time. Evander squinted again, focusing on the darkness. Alright, he was pretty sure that blur was it. He didn't really want to waste any energy on this attack, so he hoped for the best. Evander charged forward with his blade, and slashed out at the dim outline. His sword carved a large pixelated gash down the front of the bat. It screeched, then burst in a bright display of pixels. Shoot, now his eyes had to adjust to the dark again. At least he killed the darn thing. Evander sheathed his blade.

Combat

Evander: HP: 235/260 Energy: 19/26 MIT: 12 Base DMG: 5

Giant Bat: HP: 0/50 DMG: 20

 ID# 70132 results:

 Battle: 10 (critical +2) (10-1(bad lighting))

 Loot: 10 (no loot, doesn't reach minimum requirements)

 MOB: 5 (fail)

Total DMG: 5+2(critical)=7 DMG done

The trade notification popped up in front of Evander. "Oh, wow, really? You're just letting me have this sword until I hit Tier 2? Thanks a whole bunch, man. I'll try my best to use this sword well. I'll send it on back to you once I hit Tier 2." Evander hit Accept. The sword materialized in his hands. Retributor, huh? It was a very sleek looking sword. Evander put the <Anneal Blade> back in his inventory and swung the new sword a few times. It moved very smoothly, and was light in his hand. This was a very high-quality blade. It wasn't Perfect for nothing. He would see how he did with it in battle pretty soon. Then, Evander felt a touch of guilt. Itzal was doing such a kind thing for him. He deserved some repayment. "Hey, man, why don't you just collect all the loot from the first few monsters, instead of us splitting it up? We can start splitting up the loot on, say, the third one we take down. I feel kind of guilty for just taking this thing, even though I'm going to be sending it back." Evander followed Itzal into the forest. They stopped when they reached a clearing. There was a mob, standing in the center of the clearing. It was some sort of lizard-man thing, with weapons of its own. Evander looked at its health bar. Holy cow, this thing had more HP than him! He was glad he hadn't found this place while exploring alone. Itzal put on some ring and drew his own blue blade. Yeah, standing back would probably be a good idea. "Will do, man. You go ahead and attack first, then we can see what damage its packing."

Evander drew his <Anneal Blade> from its sheath. "This weapon is pretty bad, compared to what you're offering me. It's just an Uncommon, Tier One sword. The only enhancement is +1 damage. So, uh, if we're going to be fighting monsters that are pretty difficult, it may be a good idea for me to borrow your sword, just for these few fights. Three scattered enhancements is better than just one. So, uh, can I borrow the sword for a bit?" Evander put his <Anneal Blade> back in its sheath. Huh, so Itzal was level thirty nine, huh. That was pretty high-leveled. It was three times his level, actually. Wow, okay, that was very high. He was almost at the frontliner level, if not there already. Evander was sure the mobs they were going to fight on this floor were going to be a breeze for him. But, interesting, Itzal didn't seem to be classed as a DPS player or a tank. He was just more of a quick status effect person. But, still, eight base damage was no small amount. At least, for him. "Sounds good. I'll let you deal the last hit on the thing so we can get some good loot. Also, I got a couple of healing crystals in case we need it. So, uh, if we're ready, why don't you lead the way to the place?"

Shoot, Evander didn't really know any places for a good mob fight, especially with a high leveled player with him.  "Oh, uh, I don't have any particular place I want to go to. Do you know a place where we can actually fight some monsters instead of just one-shotting them? My base damage is 5, but that's mainly because of my bad equipment. Or, er, not bad, but, comparatively bad, you know. I'm using the <Anneal Blade> from that one quest. I invested SP for three ranks in the OHSS skill. While I'm certainly not even close to the strongest, it's decent damage." Evander scratched his head. He kind of stumbled through that. Well, it was fine, he got the necessary information across. Sort of. He should probably tell him his level too. "I'm level thirteen. So, uh, yeah. What are your stats?" Oh, wait, wait, there was another way to do this, wasn't there. Evander pulled open his menu and sent Itzal a party request. "Hey, man, just thought of something, do you want to just create a temporary party or something? That way we can see each other's health and things, you know, and it won't be as much as a hassle keeping track of our stats and things."

Itzal changed sets of equipment and put on some other set of gear that made him look like a fairly shady individual. He sure wouldn't have wanted to meet someone in this garb, alone, in a dark alleyway at night. But, how exactly was this going to help them get out? Wait, what?! No way. There was no way that NPCs and players would part around someone because he looked pretty shady. No way. Evander followed Itzal into the sunlight. A bird flew by overhead, chirping wildly. The crowds parted before them. No, no, no way, what in the world, it was actually happening, the crowds were actually avoiding them. Holy cow. Evander was speechless. This couldn't be happening for real. This had to be some sort of elaborate prank or something. There was no way that someone could look so shady that people actively avoided them. Evander scratched his head. Wow. This certainly wasn't something he saw every day. The seemingly crazy method actually worked. The two made their way towards the town gate. Evander's mind still reeled at the absurdity of the situation. "Okay, man, it's pretty safe to say that I didn't expect that. Wow, it actually worked. Alright then, I'm certainly not complaining." Evander ran his hand through his hair. This was definitely something to mull over tonight. The two eventually made it to the town gate. "Thanks, man, for the passage." Since Itzal had helped him get through the crowds, the least he could do is extend the offer to go fighting some monsters together. "I'm sure you're much higher leveled than me, and that if the mobs on this floor are barely anything for me, then they're definitely nothing for you, but do you want to go hunt some monsters together? Maybe we can find some tough field boss or something? Though, as a fair warning, I've never really fought with anyone else in SAO before, so my teamwork skills are probably shoddy."

Evander staggered forward from the wall, and gripped his sword tighter. He didn't see that hit coming at all. He would have thought the giant bat would at least be a bit fazed by his attack, but apparently not. Evander squinted in the gloom at the bat's health bar. It looked pretty low. About another hit should kill it off. Then he could get back to his aimlessly wandering the caves until he found the girl. On second thought, maybe going into this cave without a light source was a bad idea. Oh, shoot, another bad idea was going into this cave without keeping track of where he was going. He didn't even know the way out anymore, especially not after those disorienting hits from the giant bat. Who he was still fighting. Shoot, he needed to focus on the battle, not fretting about being lost in these caves. Thank goodness the bat hadn't decided to attack him while he was distracted. That would have been embarrassing. Evander blinked a couple of times. Good, it seemed his eyes had readjusted to the dark from the light flare of his sword art. Time for another attack, then. Evander charged ahead, and jumped at the bat, sword held high in the air. Evander carved down into the cave wall. Wow, that was a horrendously bad shot. Guess his eyes hadn't readjusted after al- whoa! The bat crashed into him again, knocking him to the floor again. That attack seemed to have more power than the last few he had tanked. What was even worse was that his thorns didn't seem to activate. Shoot! Evander spit out some dirt and scrabbled for his sword. And that was an example of why one should never get too cocky. Evander would be remembering that lesson for the rest of the day.

Combat

Evander: HP: 235/260 Energy: 18/26 MIT: 12 Base DMG: 5

Giant Bat: HP: 6/50 DMG: 20

ID# 70059 results:

 Battle: 3 - 1(poor lighting)= 2 (failure)

 MOB: 9 (critical +1)

Mob DMG: 20+1(critical)= 21 DMG-12(MIT)= 9 DMG done

Ah, so he and the two players he was training were all going to be scouts, and weren't as much focused on damage. Alright, he could see why they wouldn't have wanted to go into a dungeon. Scouts weren't exactly the best at tanking. Though, once someone reached a high enough level, a lot was possible. "Oh, yeah, no problem. I was just trying to help." Evander took another gulp of water. Hmm, so this player supposedly had a way to get to the town gate quickly, and without having to push his way through the crowds, or using parkour. Interesting. Shoot, that was very interesting. His curiosity had been roused. Itzal had to come with him, if he wanted to learn this new way of travel, but that was fairly obvious anyway- how else would he learn it? This guy seemed like a fairly agreeable person, and was certainly an interesting individual. He had no problem with him coming along at all. Unless the guy was leading him into some ambush outside of the safe zone or something, he would be glad to have him along. It would break up the usual monotony of his schedule, too. "Oh, shoot, really? Yeah, of course you could come with me, I'd be glad to have company. Thanks, man." Evander drank the last of his water, and stood up. "So, what are we going to have to do? What are these "means" of travel?"

Ah, so this guy did parkour in the real world too. That would probably explain all of his roof-hopping tendencies. Though, his last statement about it seemed rather ominous. Did something bad happen? Well, it wasn't his place to pry, and the guy seemed generally happy now, so he must have found his peace with it. Probably. Hopefully. Ah, so Itzal was drinking some coffee. Evander scratched his head. To be honest, he didn't really like coffee. Far too bitter, for his tastes, and he never really needed the caffeine boost. Based off the player's statement about it not really changing since his childhood, he probably didn't really like coffee either. Evander reclined back and took a gulp of water. This water was pretty refreshing. The best part about it, though, was that it was free. So, Itzal seemed to be taking a break right now as well. He also apparently had to train some other, presumably weaker, players. That indicated that he was probably pretty high-levelled, and that he was probably a major part of some sort of guild or something. Interesting. "Well, I can't say that I'm much of an authority on training others to fight, since, you know, I haven't actually ever trained anyone to fight, and I don't know who you're training, but if I were training them, I would probably take them out on some easy group outing, maybe in some easy dungeon or something that wouldn't kill them, like the first floor labyrinth. It would help train up teamwork, working together to tank and switch and things, depending on what type of players they are, and provide some nice experience for them in fighting some monsters without much risk. And, if things go horribly wrong somehow, you can always intervene. But, well, that's just my two cents on the situation. You can do whatever you want." Alright, that was far, far more than was asked of him, and he probably overstepped his boundaries. Oh well. "Oh, uh, my day? Well, after the crowds hopefully die down some, I'm probably just going to go out and kill some easy mobs, to get some experience while not having to push myself all that much. If there's some field boss or something, I may go after it."

Evander steadied himself on the cave wall and held up his sword again. Thank goodness for his cloak. Without it, his health bar would probably be looking a fair bit worse. Jambi's craftsmanship proved itself to be invaluable yet again. Though, he could still probably do this fight without the armor. He was pretty overlevelled for the second floor, and had been for quite a while. It wouldn't do any good to be cocky, though. He could still die. Especially if luck wasn't on this side. The lighting was pretty bad, and mistakes could be easily made. Evander readied himself, holding his sword up before him, and focused on the blurry outline of the bat. The monster was gigantic, at least for a bat, but it was really hard to see in this cave. He hoped he didn't miss again. The darn bat probably wouldn't, since it was used to seeing in this kind of lighting. Evander held his sword tighter, and charged at the dark silhouette of the bat. This attack had better not miss. He was itching to try out his new sword arts. "Star Quint Prominence!" He didn't need to yell out the name of his sword art to activate it, but it made for a good dramatic effect. His Anneal Blade began to glow, lighting up the cave, and Evander jumped. His sword lashed out, tracing a vague star shape in the bat's chest. That was intensely satisfying. And, also, really cool. The light died out from his sword, returning them to darkness. He was temporarily blinded. Well, shoot, there was one downside of usin-agh! The bat knocked into him again, sending him flying back into the cave wall. Well, alright then.

Combat

Evander: HP: 244/260 Energy: 19/26 MIT: 12 Base DMG: 5

Giant Bat: HP: 6/50 DMG: 20

 ID# 70028 results:

 Battle: 8 - 1(poor lighting)= 7

 MOB: 7

Sword Art Activated: Star Quint Prominence

Total DMG: 5x(3x2)=30 DMG + 7(thorns)= 37 DMG done

Mob DMG: 20-12(MIT)= 8 DMG done

Well, that was interesting. He hadn't ever heard of someone who became so accustomed to traveling by roof that it became a deeply-ingrained habit. Allegedly, he didn't even have to think about it anymore. Itzal certainly was an intriguing character. The player was right, though, about the streets being particularly crowded. He didn't spend all that much time in the Town of Beginnings anymore, but it was larger than what he recalled. Perhaps there was a festival going on. Evander took another sip of water. Oh, shoot, he should probably respond to keep this conversation from devolving into some sort of awkward silence that was painful for the both of them. "That's pretty interesting. I haven't really met anyone else that just hops from roof to roof to get to places, let alone someone that does it regularly." Alright, cool, at least it was some kind of response. Though, there wasn't really much anyone could say to that response. "So, uh, what're you drinking? Is it coffee?" Shoot, that was a stupid question to ask to prolong the conversation. It was a simple one word answer. He needed to ask something with more, uh, more information needed? A question that was more, er, personal? He couldn't really think of a word to describe it. Something that required more than a one word response, for sure. "So, what are you planning to do today? Anything interesting?" Sure, that'd work.

Alright, what in the world, did he just see what he thought he just saw? Some guy just jumped off the roof and walked into the cafe rather nonchalantly. Evander waved at him as he walked past. Was this supposed to be a normal occurrence? No one else seemed to react to this random bloke just jumping off the roof. What was he doing up there, anyway? This guy was a player, obviously. If the green floating crystal above his head didn't tip him off, pretty much everything else did, from his unique clothing style to his wholly human actions. Maybe he got to places by jumping from roof to roof, like some sort of ninja or something? As absurd as that sounded, it was possible. Who really knew, with all of these diverse people trapped in the game. Man, he really needed to hang around the big cities some more, instead of just generally being a hermit and training near small towns. Then, he would probably know more about all of these unique players that were trapped in the game with him. Evander sipped at his glass of water again. The roof-hopping guy was sitting at a table relatively close by. It seemed the player was sipping at some coffee or tea or something. Well, if he wanted to, this was his chance to figure out what the guy was doing on the roof. If he didn't, it would probably bug him all day. "Hey, man, how are you? My name is Evander. How come you were on the roof?" Well, that was kind of awkward and to the point, but at least he was being polite.

Evander sat back in his chair, looking out of the window of the quaint little cafe at the hustle and bustle outside on the street. The bright noontime sun shone down on the faces outside. Some he felt as if he had seen before, though he had probably just passed them by on the street, and some were wholly new. People were buying goods from the merchant stalls, talking to one another, looking into the windows of shops, and doing various other things. It was always interesting observing others. Evander picked up his glass of water and sipped at it. When the crowds died down, he would probably go out and continue training. He didn't feel like having to push his way through throngs of people to get out. He scratched his head. He still remembered his first day here in Aincrad as if it had just happened yesterday. He had a long way to go if he wanted to catch up to the frontliners. Maybe he should stop focusing so much on exploring these floors, and instead focus more on speed-leveling? Well, whatever, he could think about this dilemma later. For now, this was his time to relax.

Evander waited. The flapping noise grew louder and louder as the source neared him. He could barely make out the outline of the creature approaching him now. It looked like some sort of... giant bat? Well, it was a cave, and bats did live in caves, but this thing was gigantic. Ah, the logic of video games. Evander held up his sword before him in the darkness. More likely than not, this giant bat was an enemy. His suspicion was confirmed when it stopped before him and let out a loud screech, then rushed at him. He stepped to the side, barely dodging it. Even this close to the enemy, all he could really see was just the faint outline of its shape. Well, that wasn't good. Fighting would probably be horrendous. He was probably going to miss a whole lot. At least he had invested in his weapon skill, to hopefully take this thing out in fewer hits. Evander gripped his sword tighter, holding it before him, and charged at the blurry outline of the giant bat. Hopefully this strike would hit. Evander's sword cut into the wall of the cave. Shoot, he wasn't even close. Then, he was suddenly knocked onto the floor, as the bat charged into him yet again. He spat out some dirt, and grabbed his sword. He slowly pushed himself to his feet. Well, this fight was going to be loads of fun, wasn't it. 

Combat

Evander: HP: 252/260 Energy: 24/26 MIT: 12 Base DMG: 5

Giant Bat: HP: 43/50 DMG: 20

ID# 69923 results:

 Battle: 1 (critical failure) (BD 1 - 1(poor light))

 MOB: 8

Total DMG: 7 (thorns)

Mob DMG: 20-12(MIT)= 8 DMG done

Evander fell to his knees before a large opening in the mountainside. He had finally found it. Oh, thank goodness. How long had he spent looking for this cavern? He looked to the sky. It was auburn, and the sun was beginning to set. Well. He rubbed his eyes. He had spent around 6 hours looking for these caves. That was... longer than he expected, to say the least. Evander rubbed his face. He had wasted so much time just looking for the darn place. At least he knew the girl was still alive, since he hadn't been notified of a quest failure. Evander got to his feet. There was no time to waste. He had to do this quickly. Evander stepped into the cave, giving one last glance back at the dying rays of the sun. He continued resolutely into the cave. All of the light soon faded out as he stepped deeper into the cave. It was going to be pretty hard to see, wasn't it. He didn't know how he would find a little girl or fight monsters in this sort of lighting. Soon, there was barely even enough light to see the silhouettes of objects. Evander started, as he heard some sort of sudden noise in the darkness. It sounded like... the flapping of wings? It seemed to be getting even closer. He didn't know if it was hostile, but better to be safe than sorry. Evander drew his sword, as he prepared to fight.

Begin Combat?

Evander: HP: 260/260 Energy: 26/26 MIT: 12 Base DMG: 5

???: HP: 50/50 DMG: 20

Evander groaned. This was going to be horribly tedious, wasn't it. Well, at least it was providing him an opportunity to fully explore the area and fill out his map some more. He was sure the girl would be fine while he waffled about the place. It was a Cardinal generated quest- it wasn't like they were going to make it impossible or anything. Right? Evander sighed. No matter how many times he reminded himself that these were just NPCs, he still felt some guilt at not treating them like humans, mainly because of their life-like actions. Whatever. He would hurry to find the girl because he felt obligated to, and it wasn't like that would be a detriment to him or anything. Alright then. He pulled up his map of the second floor. He mainly hadn't explored the western side of this mountain, so it would probably be there, since he hadn't seen any caves or anything on the sides of the mountain he had explored, and because the quest was likely near the town. Nothing to it. All he had to do was just walk around until he found the caves. There wasn't really anything else he could do, right? Evander stretched a bit, and began walking. He would find it eventually. Hopefully.

Evander knelt down next to the woman. "Don't worry, ma'am. I'll find her." The woman looked at him, with tears in her eyes. "Oh, thank you so much. I don't know how I can repay you..." Evander stood, scratching his head. "Oh, there's no need for repayment." He knew he was going to get a reward anyway, since this was a quest, but he supposed he may as well be polite. "Don't worry, she'll be back in no time at all. You should just go back home and try to relax. Worrying isn't going to do anyone any good. I'll meet you here in the marketplace when I find her. Check back here every hour or so. I'll be heading off now. You'll be fine, right?" The women got to her feet. "Oh, don't worry about me. I can't thank you enough, stranger. I pray that you find her and return alive and well." The NPC brushed herself off, and walked off. Well, time to get going, he supposed. The sun shone down brightly as he made his way back to the gates of Marome Village. He looked up. The sky was azure, and there wasn't a cloud in sight. That was a shame- he rather liked the rain. Evander exited through the wooden gates of the fortress-like village, out of the small town, and stopped, looking around at the forested mountains. That sense of awe he had felt upon first seeing these mountains had mostly gone, since he had gotten used to it, but sometimes, the view still managed to surprise him. Then, Evander slapped his forehead. He had no idea where the caverns the girl had been lost in were at all, and didn't even bother to ask. All he knew was that they were somewhere in this area. Well, that was great.

The woman broke down into hysterics. Wow, these NPCs were unnervingly lifelike. That was a fact that was constantly being reinforced with every NPC he met. Their programmers must have sunk quite a large bit of time into programming their AIs. Evander put his hands on her shoulders. "Ma'am? Ma'am, I need you to look at me. You need to calm down. I can't help you if I don't understand the situation." The woman shuddered, and took a deep breath. "Sorry sir, sorry, but she's my only daughter. She's the most precious of all my treasures. My husband and I would do anything to get her back." The woman took another deep breath. "My daughter and her friend were playing in some of the caverns near here. Normally, this time of year, they're perfectly safe, but today, to my surprise, my daughter's friend, a lovable scamp by the name of Jack, limped back to our house, covered in scrapes, and told us that monsters had attacked them! The boy told us that she was still alive the last time he saw her, but they were separated, and now she's lost in the caves! Please, mister, please help me find my daughter! I don't know what I would do if she were, God forbid, if she w-were de-" The woman fell to the floor, crying. Evander felt moved with pity. Even though this was just a NPC, she acted so much like a human. The quest notification popped up before him. Evander hit 'Accept' without a second thought.

Evander glanced around at the merchants eagerly advertising various wares on sale in the marketplace. People were bustling around, buying goods, selling goods, and it was just a bit crowded. He almost felt claustrophobic in here. Evander dodged around a gaggle of people gathering around some various trinket or another. Well, he supposed that's would he would get when he walked through town square during the busiest hours of the day. Evander scratched his head. This was rather uncomfortable. It would probably best to try to get out of here quickly. A light tap on the shoulder interrupted his thoughts. Oh, great. It was probably some merchant, wanting to pawn off items onto him. He sighed, and turned around. Oh, hey, that was a familiar face. It was his party member, Shino. He hadn't seen her for some time. "Oh, hey, Shino, what's going on?" Well, wasn't this stellar. He didn't mind so much about meeting a merchant any more. A lot of things would be better than meeting the potentially crazy girl again. Then again, he could just be paranoid- after considering his last meeting with her again, there wasn't much proof to point to that conclusion. She liked red flowers, she tried to get his trust through some convincing acts, which would have been convincing had she chosen to do them at better times and places, she loved ramen, and that was basically it. And, also, she didn't want to go up to the frontlines for some reason or another. Not very condemning evidence. But, he had had a gut feeling, and gut feelings were, more often than not, correct. Of course, it wasn't right to be disrespectful or whatever to her just based on a whim, so for now, he would treat her as any other person. "I was just going to head out to go kill some boars. Do you want to come with me? Could be good for some EXP."

Evander sat at a small table in a cafe, sipping his glass of orange juice and looking out the window beside him onto the streets of the Town of Beginnings. Recently, he'd been mainly just lazing around, doing nothing. He knew he had to get up, do something, but soon after mapping out all of Floor Two, he had lost his drive and motivation. Evander sighed. Every single day that passed, he assured himself that he would get going the next day. Well, no more. He was actually going to get something done today. Perhaps he should switch back to fighting with his right hand, change things up a bit from the usual. Perhaps it was the monotony that was getting him down. After he finished up his orange juice, he should probably go fight some boars, warm up again on his fighting. That was a good plan. He downed the rest of his orange juice, and stood up. He materialized the <Anneal Blade>, looking at the light glint off of the dark metal. It felt like so long ago when he had first gotten it. Not much had changed. The clearers had cleared a few more floors, he had leveled up some, but it didn't feel like they were any closer to actually getting out. Evander sheathed his blade. He left a handful of col on the table and walked out of the cafe into the sunny cobblestone streets. Let's see if he could change that.

He waved at the guard NPC as he strolled through the gate. His footsteps tapped off of the cobblestone. He looked at the buildings around him. They looked utilitarian, appropriate for a fortress. Most of the stores were geared towards weapons and armor, unlike the more general stores of Urbus. He stopped in the central square of the town. There were a few markets around the plaza, some selling trinkets and such, but most selling weapons and armor. Well, alright then. Marome was pretty small. It hadn't been even a minute yet, and he had already walked through effectively half the town. Well, it was a fortress, but still, he was expecting something more, more grand than just this. Maybe the view would be better from the fortress walls? Or, perhaps he should walk around the whole town, at least, before deciding anything? Choices, choices. A frantic voice interrupted his thoughts. He turned to see a female NPC rapidly approaching him. "Mister! Please, sir, I need help!" The woman stopped before him, tears in her eyes. "My daughter is in danger! You need to help me, please!" 

Evander sat down, back leaning against a tree outside of the fortress-like Marome Village. It had taken quite a long hike up a mountain finally reach the location of the fortress, and he was content with relaxing outside for now. The sun shone quite brightly down, it being noontime, but thankfully the boughs of the tree shaded him. He could see the heavy wooden gates to the fort in front of him. He pulled out his sword from its sheath beside him. He turned it in his hands, watching the sunlight glint off of it. He had invested more skill points into the weapon skill. Hopefully, he would be able to perform even better in combat against monsters. Not that he really needed it- he was basically already sweeping through the second floor. He really needed to move up to the third floor, but he hadn't even explored the whole floor yet. Evander looked at his map. Well, at least he was almost done. After this, there was only about one more village, which was apparently the former raid base location, a few largeish black spots, and the dungeon itself, leading up to the third floor. A few more days, and he should be about done. He sheathed his sword again, and got to his feet. He felt rested enough now. Time to explore the walled city. He began making his way to the city gates.

Summary

Evander: 400 col + 4 SP

<<Long Live The Queen>> Quest Complete!

Quest Reward: <The Matriarch's Stinger>- Applicable potion, +1 DMG for the duration of one thread

Thread Complete!

The sky was dark. His hurried footsteps echoed off of the slick cobblestone street. He glanced up at the wooden signs of the stores he passed, at the hanging lanterns emitting a warm light from the storefronts. Water dripped down the sides of buildings, lightning flashed overhead. There were few people out on the streets, and those few were rushing towards their homes to get out of the rain. Evander skidded to a stop in front of his inn. It wasn't anything flashy or too expensive, but it was a quaint little place. He stepped in. Immediately, he felt the warmth of the fire from the hearth to the side. He waved to the innkeeper NPC as he walked by. It wasn't a real person or anything, and he didn't really have to acknowledge just bits of code, but he supposed the habit stuck. It wasn't like it was harmful or anything. He trudged up the stairs, pulled out his key, and stepped into his room. It was dark, the only light coming from lanterns outside the window. He shut the door behind him and lit the candle on the table. It was barely even a stub of wax and a wick at this point. He would probably have to buy another one tomorrow. Then, Evander came to a realization. He didn't have any spare clothes. He'd just been wearing the same clothes he'd woken up in on day 1. That was great. Well, he could figure that problem out later. He took off his cloak, set down his sword, and sat at the little table in the center of the room, watching the rain streak down his window.

Well, he was pretty sure that any part of walking in the rain that he had considered "refreshing" were long past now. He was soaked through. The water had made it through the cloak, and the whole thing was hanging heavily off his shoulders, bloated with water. Wind constantly blew every which way up on the mountains, allowing water to drench him even faster. It was also pretty dangerous, trying to hike up a slope in the rain. He slipped several times, but thank goodness he was always able to keep from falling down the slope. It wasn't even particularly steep, but the slick mud made walking difficult. Small streams, formed by the rain, washed past him on the sides of the trail. He was tired, and a bit cold too. He couldn't wait until he could lay down in his inn room to rest. Agonizingly, slowly, he made his way up the trail. Eventually, he arrived in front of the gates of Urbus. Evander stood there for a moment, watching his breath come up in puffs. He looked down at his muddied pants for a second, then rushed through the wooden gates into the walled city.