Nikki Styx

I would love to participate in something like this. If anything itll help me get to the front lines faster.

Its a shame yer leaving... We havnt even had a chance to play yet. *Sad Face*

Welcome to the community, as you can see we are a friendly bunch lol ... anyways hope to see you round often, and look foreword to seeing yer charrie

I'm also infuriated when people walk into my room and ask if I'm sleeping. Yeah If I haven't acknowledged you entering, I'm clearly asleep, trying to sleep, or pretending to sleep.

Nikki now turned her attention to the remaining boars, 5 of them. She had been lucky that this one had wandered off on its own, that had left it easy to pull, and easy to deal with. 3 of the closer ones had clumped up, making it more likely that she would attract the attention of more than one if she tried, but on the other side of them another solitary boar had split off from the group. This would be her target.

Nikki brushed a long strand of blue hair from her face, tucking it back behind her ear. She really wished she had cut it a bit before logging on but who would have known there avatars would be turned into themselves. It was also a shame that there existed no way to alter their current in game appearance. There was no time to dwell on this trivial fact however as she was still burning daylight. Without another absent thought she raised her spear and shield and began to circle the boars to get to the singled out creatures.

For safety's sake Nikki chose to keep a fair distance from the MoBs , there was no point in getting ambushed and killed by creatures like these. In real life she wouldn't have been able to deal with the shame of loosing to such small creatures, then again if she did now she'd be dead and wouldn't have to live with the shame. Perhaps that was the lighter side of this whole experience, even if she lost the game she would not have to hear about it. As she crept along Nikki made sure to keep low, as if she were some predator stalking her prey in the tall grass. This would decrease her detection threat, as well as to anyone who saw it looked cool.

Its nice to meet you Shen. I hope you enjoy yer stay here, and that we will get to have many rp's together.

Now she was upset, frustrated beyond belief, and ready to do something stupid to try and finish this fast. No more defense, it was time to assault this animal with everything she had. Nikki intended to use her rapid hit combo again to kill the beast and this time she wouldn't miss., all she needed was one shot, all she needed was one damage but that wouldn't satisfy her now. She wanted to destroy the boar, to overkill it, Land all her hits, as if to set an example and remind all other MoBs why they should lay down and die for her. Nikki let out her breath as she lunged back at the boar again. All of her focus was on killing this one animal, and in her mind nothing else mattered. She didn't even care about the loot or the experience, all that mattered is it would die.

"From hells heart I stab at thee..." She hissed furiously as she rushed foreword assaulting the boar 1 last time. Right off the bat she felt her spear connect. It struck the boar in the right shoulder, causing 1 damage. This was it, She had killed it, but she wasn't letting it off that easily. Instead she struck again, this time missing, her third strike also missed. Even in death this proved to be the most evasive boar in all of SAO. her fourth and fifth attacks landed however striking the boar in left shoulder and left leg respectively.

The boar stood still a few moments as the final damage calculated and then it exploded into pixels. Nikki let out a shout of joy that could probably have been heard at the city gates. It was also then that she got her level up notification, and loot pick up. For a moment she stared at the notifications, almost in disbelief of their appearances.

It took her a second to realize that she could go through and check her inventory now, but once she did she was happy with the results. She had managed to pull a Boar Pelt and a Boar Tusk. Though she hadn't managed to get any G, she was still able to make use of the items she had gotten. With a smile she closed her windows and prepared to attack the next boar.

Slender is also an amazing game. I still jump every time I play it. And that's why I love it, no matter what I panic and have an overwhelming sense of dread.

This was it now, The boar was down to its final hit, and Nikki was not going to let it get away again. Too long it had been lucky, but that was over. The boar continued to paw the ground while she took a couple of quick jumps back giving them both some room. She even began preparing herself now, focusing on the animal preparing for the impacts, and getting ready to end it. For a brief second she even wondered how she would handle the other 5 MoBs if she had such difficulty with this one. She erased that thought from her mind however, as this one was clearly a fluke, and it was done.

The boar continued to paw the ground, looking almost as though it had bugged out and gotten stuck in its pre attack phase. If this happened she would simply need to walk up and poke it to win. At this point that would have been terribly unsatisfying, so instead Nikki prayed it would charge soon. Sure enough a moment or two later and the boar kicked off running full tilt towards her again. Nikki crouched down as she prepared to block.

Nikki threw her shoulder into her shield at the last second, slamming the boar with everything she could muster. It bounced back and she quickly fired off a jab in retaliation. Sadly her spear met with nothing but air as the boar bounced back again to safety. Nikki let out a shrill shriek of frustration at her miss. "THERE IS NO WAY THIS IS HAPPENING... DAMN YOU.." She shouted at the animal as she stood up straight to stare at the MoB.

Taking a quick Leap back Nikki prepared to attack now and finish this boar. She had spent too much time fighting with it already and at this rate she was not going to be able to hit her kill quota for the day. She was going to use one of her quick thrust combos that would sacrifice her defense for the chance to score multiple hits. On a perfect run she would score 5 successful strikes at 1 damage each, but if she failed the boar would hand out 2 damage instead. Moves like this were always a gamble, but she felt good about her odds.

Leaning in Nikki pulled her shield to the side as she prepared to push off of her rear leg for the attack. Launching this one requires a small amount of momentum so it was necessary to do it like this. As she fell foreword into her stance she tightened her legs and then in one swift movement she pressed off lunging towards the boar with surprising speed. She also had to time her attack properly, starting too soon meant half of her combo would be guaranteed to miss, and if she started late the boar was guaranteed a retaliation. It had to be perfect and nothing else would do.

She had started too soon, way too soon. 4 of her intended strikes had fallen short of the boar all together. Perhaps she should have used her sprint ability to close the gap faster, especially if she wanted to land all those shots. Still though Nikki had managed to land a single shot, which put her that much closer to finishing this thing off. Naturally she had wanted it done sooner, but now she could do it. She was in range for it. The boar itself seemed to have had enough of her as well as it lowered its head in preparation to charge.

Nikki cursed under her breath as she tried to think of what to do. A small bead of virtual sweat had began to run down her cheek. It was amazing how real the game could feel sometimes, and how much it tried to emulate real life. If she made it out of SAO alive this would be another amazing feature that she would be sure to talk about in her review. For now though she had to fight and she needed a plan.

There was something she had seen in a movie once, a technique that might work here, if she was fast enough. It was an anti-cavalry maneuver that resorted to using spears, pressing their back end into the ground, bracing it with ones foot and allowing the fast moving opponent to run into it. If she used her shield too she stood a better chance of avoiding damage and scoring a hit. Looking up to see a still full health bar Nikki made the decision to try it out.

The boar had started to charge so Nikki only had a second to respond. She spun around on the spot kicking up several small chunks of loose soil as she did. Just like the movie she dug her spear into the ground and stomped her foot down onto it to lock it into place, and finally she crouched down presenting her shield as a target again. She thought for sure this would also increase her defense but there was no stat change.

Nikki had managed to get herself ready just in time and avoid the boars wrath, and as she crouched waiting for it to bounce off her shield again she was shocked to feel the impact on her spear. Of all places it had run straight into the sharpest point of her defense taking 1 damage to itself. She made a mental note of this technique for later battles as it would no doubt have future uses. The boar grunted and squealed its displeasure as it back off of her tip and prepared for another attack. Before it could though Nikki would use this chance to get aggressive and finish it off.

A small grunt escaped Nikki's lips as she continued to push back against the boar, but she would find it impossible to win this pushing match while her feet kept sliding. Instead she would need to change the game and start getting offensive. She had a few options now, the first was to try her Punt technique. Punting is a crowd control option that can knock a single opponent back several feet, or with practice multiple opponents can be hurled great distances. She had only the level to try and push this one back a few feet. Her other option would be to stab around her shield and try to land a shot on the boars face. Hands down this was probably the easier route to go.

The boar continued to push against her, and now like before her feet were slipping again. Nikki needed to decide her course of action fast, or she would be knocked over and take damage. The spear was easier but the punt was safer. If she failed the spear she would be knocked down for sure, but if she failed the punt she may be able to move around again. She would attempt the punt.

Nikki pressed her weight into her shield, bringing her spear arm up and pressing into it as well. Everything she had went into this attempted attack. Sadly it failed. Luckily though, in her attempt she had managed to gain a better footing thanks to her weight shift and managed to deflect the boar to her left side. That had been another close one. It was hard to believe that such a low level creature was giving her these problems. Still she now faced a bigger problem still, her deflection had put the MoB to her rear flank, and it was geared to attack again. She would need to be fast if she wanted to avoid damage.

Boar. Probably one of the easiest MoBs to kill in the entire game. Depending on the level they had 3 to 5 health, and had a 1 point damage attack. They were predicable and slow, and to top it off they were easily intimidated into fleeing. They would drop Boar Meat and Boar skin, and on occasion Boar tusks, as well as possibly having 1 to 5 G if you were lucky. Most level 1 players with daggers had no problems killing a boar. But when they were in herds with multiple agro, a solo player could find themselves in a heap of trouble really fast. For Nikki however this was no problem, as she had learned how to deal with the them a while back. The secret of course was to pull agro and engage them one at a time. At least until she perfected her crowd control and AOE attacks.

Nikki Crept up on the small herd, making sure to avoid their detection range as much as possible. Like others before she would pull them by entering into the detect range of one and having it follow her to a safe engagement zone. This particular group had no more than 6 boars, there was a lot of experience to be had here, and some decent loot if she could pull it off.

The first boar was easy, he was a lvl 1 that had actually wandered a small distance from the herd. Nikki wasted no time in moving into its immediate range and getting its attention. As all other boars do it challenged her, snorting loudly and pawing at the ground with its hooves. Normally she would then have a few seconds to back away and drop agro, but in this case she wanted him to attack. She waited now presenting her shield as a target for the animal to charge. Sure enough as soon as its attack timer ended it charged.

Nikki took a few steps back as she prepared for the impact. If she could crit hit it, and get a flank bonus, she could end it in one shot. All she had to do was deflect it off her shield and retaliate, press it to the side and she would have her flanking. It wasn't to big of a challenge, and even if she failed miserably she still had plenty of health to keep going with.

The boar plunged headfirst into her shield, this time with an intensity she had no expected. Nikki could feel her feet sliding on the soft earth, and she very nearly lost her footing. Still though she held her self upright and pressed back eventually slowing the boar and then stopping it all together. She was now locked in a pushing match with a miniature tank. She would have to be careful now and put some distance between it and herself so she could try again.

A cool breeze swept across the grassy fields of floor 1, bring the sweet smell of spring flowers with it to all who ventured out of the starting city today. In the sky a few clouds swept lazily along casting obscure shadows as they went. There was no threat of rain today, in fact as far as days went this would clearly be one of the better ones. Out in the fields small herds of monsters roamed about, disinterested in anything accept grazing. It was a day to hunt.

Nikki sat on a small rocky outcropping that stuck awkwardly out of a small grassy hill. From here she could see a large area around her. She was taking an opportunity to have something to eat before setting off on her own private hunt. It had been just over a month now, here in SAO, and she had become fairly well adapted to living here. It was pretty easy actually. Everyday she went out, killed a few dozen mobs, looted them, went back to town, and sold the loot. It would pay for food, and boarding and kept her days interesting. It also provided her the opportunity it level up so that she could get to the front lines and really challenge the game.

A few lazy moments passed as she continued to eat her food, a boar meat sandwich with butter and what tasted like cheese, before Nikki decided that it was time to start up. She still had half the sandwich left, so she made sure to check its durability timer before packing it up. Luckily it still had 3 hours left so she would be able to have the rest later. She smiled at her fortune as she wrapped the article of food up and used her menus to deposit it back into her inventory. She took a few more moments now hovering her fingers over the menu as she read out the few items she had. She did this everyday, checking, rereading, and wondering why she ever needed to have so much in the real world when she needed so little here.

A small cloud passed by overhead casting a shadow over Nikki shocking her back to focus. Right it was time to go, those MoBs weren't gonna clear themselves. She smiled to herself, closing her menus and with a small heave pushed herself off the rocks with her arms. She landed neatly on the ground, touching down with her right hand in a sturdy little three point landing. As she stood she re opened her inventory menu and equipped her weapons of choice, her spear and shield. So far she had proven to be a devastating foe using this combo, taking advantage of the shields defense and the midrange attack options she had, she had also began developing her own attack skills, utilizing the shield itself as a weapon to finish off stagger opponents at close range.

"well there is no time like the present." She announced cheerfully, before heading off to the nearest group of boars.

This is Nikki... minus the cool gear...

I really hate it when people point to their wrists when asking me for the time. Its like "Yeah I know where my watch is, wheres yers?"

Welcome to SAO. I know yer gonna have a blast here, everyone is so nice and helpful. I cant wait to get the chance to RP with you too :D

Thank you so much fer doing that fer me :D

Welcome welcome welcome. I look foreword to seeing you around the game. Hopefully we get to quest together. XD

Daeron was fine after receiving the wasps attack, thankfully. This of all things had turned into a cluster jam of massive proportions. Luckily the new player seemed to be pre occupied with the second wasp, which meant that Daeron and her could finish the first and then turn their attentions to the new player. She began looking around again, trying to find the wasps location, but it seemed to have vanished, at least from her sight. She continued to stay close to her partner while he recovered, she was intent on protecting him. Sadly it would be him protecting her again, as he caught sight of the Mob and warned her of an oncoming attack while intercepting it.

He had certainly acted valiantly jumping in to her aid now, and had been punished for it. The wasp that had previously been agro'd onto her, had managed to connect its attack to Daeron, who in turn had struck it back evenly. Of course now it would focus on him when it came back. This is where she would step in and stop it.

It took Nikki only a moment to locate the first wasp. It had circled around, and flown above them, no doubt preparing to dive in for another attack. Her gaze darted from the other player, back to Daeron and then to the opposing monster. She knew it was going to be fast, and sure enough it was. Like a shot from a gun the wasp dove, but instead of shooting straight down at them it turned half way and looped in to attack horizontally, and Nikki was there to intercept it.

Nikki raised her shield throwing all her weight into it. A loud clang rang out through the forest as the wasp collided with the steel disc at full speed. It felt as though Nikki had been hit by a train as the sheer force of the impact pushed her back a few inches. The wasp then hit the ground in front of her and began vibrating angrily. It was not staggered, otherwise she could score an easy crit. Instead it had simply lost all of its flight momentum and was now preparing to take off again. "Oh No you don't..." Nikki hissed as she lunged towards it, jabbing it hard in the face with her spear.

That was it, that was the third hit needed to kill monster. Its health bar quickly dropped to zero and it fragmented into a thousand loose pixels. An icon flashed in the bottom corner of her HUD indicating that she had received a loot drop. However there was no time to look, instead they needed to figure out the next step and fast. Quickly she got back to Daeron's side and adopted a defensive stance again. She had no idea how to address the new player, so she would wait for him to give her some ideas. It was also at this time that she had noticed the player that had thrown the sword had followed them here.

Dimensions are whatever is best to not stretch the board, Colors and effects... Im not even sure. just something that's nice I guess. Blue is always a good choice too. Id like to use this picin some way. And as fer words just Nikki_Styx

Everything else is really artists design.

Nikki heard Daeron shout just in time to look up and see two wasps menacing down on them. They weren't particularly powerful, but they were fast, with high agility, and flight. That on its own meant that they were more than a match for most other creatures of their same level. They were big too, bigger than Nikki had thought they would be, coming in at about 4 feet in length each. Both had 2 sets of massive transparent wings that seemed to reflect the light around them creating a blurred haze. Nikki's anticipation seemed to slip away as she looked up at these creatures, though she could not look for long as they were in full charge towards the players.

The first wasp had dived at Daeron with speed that would have made a cheetah blush. The other wasp had circled around as if it were lagging in its attack. Before Nikki could get to her partner to lend aid however the second wasp caught up and began its attack. In the heat of the moment Nikki had not even noticed the other player approaching them. She had only a second to drop down and raise her shield over her head.

Her defense had been an outstanding success. Nikki had managed to raise her shield in time and brace it against her body. She held tight waiting till the last second, and then, what seemed at the very point of impact, she pressed up sharply adding her own strength to the wasps impact. There was a sickening cracking noise as the creature slammed into the shield much harder than it had anticipated and it was tossed violently to the side. It was disoriented now, staggered much the way she had wanted it to be.

Nikki took a second re orienting herself with the battlefield before she followed up with her attack. The other wasp was hovering nearby, but looked as though it had received some damage. She smiled assuming that Daeron had managed to cut into himself. This smile quickly vanished when she noticed the other players health bar had dropped a fraction. What was going on here, everything had happened so fast. If Daeron had been hurt, then who hit his wasp. That's when she noticed the new player.

This was not a good scenario to be in, for her or her partner. So Nikki's first response was to run to Daeron's side, ignoring her own staggered opponent for the time being. "are you ok?" She asked while holding her shield up defensively towards the other player. She wasn't concerned about the other wasp just yet, in many games agro usually went to the player who had done the most damage, so Daeron's wasp would be focused on the other girl, and her own wasp was still staggered for a few more seconds.

Nikki smiled again as Daeron caught up to her. One thing she had noticed since getting trapped in SAO was that she was smiling a lot more than she used to while playing games. Perhaps she had started taking them so seriously that they weren't as fun as they used to be, but since coming here, with the realization that this could be her last game, she just felt like smiling a little more. It certainly was strange to her, but something she wouldn't be too concerned with.

As the pair walked Nikki kept close to Daeron. She chose to stay on his left side as she carried her shield on her left side, so if anything were to attack them from that side she would be ready to protect both of them if need be. She also took the opportunity to look over at him quite frequently. Up until this point her player interactions in this game had been few, and now here she was actually interacting with one. She had watched other player before but never this close, and not in a scenario like this. She could see the way he moved, how it looked just like the NPC's around the town of beginnings. It was odd to think that the NPC's moved in an identical fashion, or maybe it was them who moved like the NPC's, some days she couldn't tell.

Suddenly Nikki was snapped back to reality by Daeron's voice. Quickly she looked away, blushing a little and wondering if he had seen her staring at him. She hadn't meant anything by it, it was just a curiosity, still people could get the wrong impression very easily. She answered his question quickly hoping that that might take focus away from her stare and back to something else. "I do, and I don't." She stopped herself after that taking a moment to think. "I know it sounds weird, but this place kinda feels right. Maybe I'm crazy, but I could stay here longer if I need to."

As they entered into the forest itself Nikki could see wolves darting about inside the tree line. They like the boar she had killed were disinterested in the intruders now entering the forest and she knew it was because they were too far away to pull agro. Agro had always been a wonderful system in the game that she was fond of exploiting. In fact using the right pull methods one could eliminate large groups of creatures. Still though she had no idea what the range on a wolf was and made a mental note to be extra cautious around them. "So tell me Daeron. What brings you to SAO?" She was trying to make light of the situation now. Obviously as nothing was attacking them, it wasn't so bad, but being surrounded like this was enough to stress people out.

Moments later Nikki heard a buzzing sound. It was not too close, but if it could be heard it certainly was not so far either. Back in the real world a buzzing like this would get her heart racing and she would panic. Bee's and wasps frightened her. Here though, her heart raced alright, though this was in anticipation and excitement. Daeron had pulled out his sword, and Nikki followed suit drawing her spear and adopting a battle stance with her weapon pointed out and shield raised. Her first step now was to make sure their immediate area was clear, from there they could begin hunting the source of the sound. With shield and spear ready she began visually scanning the area. With her detection and tracking skills she knew that anything hiding nearby wouldn't be hidden for long.

As she looked around Nikki drew closer to her partner. She had been in many MMO's and was fully aware that her job at the moment would be a tank, she had the shield and he didn't, so she would be ready to block for him, then he could launch his attacks. "Tank n spank Daeron. Ill be tank, n you switch in after it swings." She had assumed already that he knew how things worked, and in truth her mentioning the plan was little more than a verbal conformation for her than anything. After a moment or two however she could not locate the source of the buzzing, meaning they could relax and search for it. They were lucky this time, and hadn't been ambushed, though Nikki now wondered. If they could hear it, how "BIG" was this thing.

I was actually wondering if anyone would be willing to make a signature image fer me. I admit I have absolutely no talent with such things, and would be so appreciative if someone could.

Hands down the entire Dead Space Saga. I love how desolate and alone you feel in it. And especially how the lack of ammo, and difficulty of the necromorphs helps to create a sense of dread every time you enter a new room.