Aereth

Even if Domarus didn't gave away personal information, he was still trying to gather said personal information through his servant maid. 

Domarus told him that he was living in a big crowded city, and that he didn't really enjoyed it living there. Then he asked Aereth how he grew up and if his live was a little bit quieter than his. "To be honest, I had a really quiet childhood out of the big cities. But after some time when I got 18 or 19 I had to move into a city because my university was there." He also did not intend on telling Domarus the city he was living in. 

"Haha, more personal questions, but at least she brightens up the mood in here." he thought while chuckling. "Her name is Alice. And we met each other while we were learning to dance. After we got together, we even started to do the dancing competitively." Which also was the reason that Aereth had no problem with training so much or with his daily workout. Aereth only gave them her nickname but at this point it didn't matter. After all, he was calling her with this name for years.

After Aereth's question about their relationship the two of them seemed to be a little bit taken by surprise. "Their looks are golden." he thought while still chuckling. "If you both enjoy what you're doing then it's fine. To feel good about what you do is the most important. Doesn't even matter what it is." 

@Domarus

Suddenly Keres sped up her pace to get ahead a little and stopped dean on. After that she dropped the question that she was so eager to know. The real reason why Aereth was training so hard to get stronger. Who he was fighting for. And this time without any bullsh*t. Aereth looked at Domarus shocked expression. He knew that even he hadn't expected such a rather brave question. Aereth chuckled and met her gaze. He looked deep into her eyes and said to her. "I'm fine with cutting the bullsh*t. I'll tell you the reason and the who under two conditions. First, I want to hear your guess, and second, I also wanna hear the reason why you" now looking at Domarus then looking back in Keres eyes. " long to get stronger, what your reason ist to fight. After that I'll tell you my reasoning and who I'm fighting for." He wasn't sure if they would agree with his conditions, but if they were really master and servant, then Domarus as the master had to take responsibility for the actions of his servants. And if they decided to answer, they wouldn't be able to lie to him. He would observe every action and word they spoke in order to differentiate between the truth and lies.

@Domarus

Domarus stated how he was out to the country once for a field trip and that he wanted to build a kind of getaway place out of the city when they finally got back. "Yeah its quite awesome to how up outside of big cities. Where did you grow up if I may ask?"

As Aereth noticed how reacted to this question, he cursed inwardly for being so dumb. But he also had to admit to himself that he wasnt quite over it yet. Sighing he said to Domarus and Keres. "No problem my friend. I guess we all lost something inside this deathgame, some lost more and some lost less."

After some moments of silent drinking Keres decided to speak again in order to break the silence. "Yes, I actually had one before this nightmare started. How about you guys? Is there anything more between the two of you than this master-servant thing or do you have someone else you hold dear back in the real world." 

@Domarus

The thing was, Aereth understood the true definition of power itself very well, but he simply didn't care for it. His goals and plans differed widely from Domarus own ones. For Aereth to reach his goal, he would just need the power to cut down anybody who deserved it to be cut down. And to do exactly this, you just needed the necessary strength and the skill to do it.

"Yeah, if you manage to get a rumor quest before me, I'll gladly assist you."  He laughed and continued to follow the two familiars, so that they did not loose them.

Then out of nowhere Keres asked Aereth if he would mind if she asked him a personal question. Now even Domarus looked surprised at the sudden question of his ever so silent maid. "Aaaahm... Depends on the question I guess, but ask away." He wasn't quite sure how to handle this situation. But at least it seemed that also Domarus had no idea to what Keres was up.

@Domarus

Domarus asked Aereth how he built up his immunity and how long it had taken. Chuckling Aereth answered. "I wouldn't call it an immunity, but I had my first experiences with alcohol at the age of 16. On my birthday to be precise. You have to know that in the country where I come from, you are allowed to buy and drink the weaker stuff like beer and wine when you turn 16. So about the immunity. I didn't build it up on purpose. It just came with the time. Back in the real world I really enjoyed going out with my friends to drink. And belive me, we drank much." He chuckled. "But the real fun starts when you turn 18. When you are 18 or older you are allowed to drink what you want. And somehow after a couple of years, I ended up with this immunity, as you call it."

It seemed that the conversation between the two players wasn't meant to go anywhere lighthearted in some time. As Domarus asked Aereth about the real first person that was his friend in Aincrad. Aereths expression changed from warm and carefree to a serious and grim one. He downed his glass of whiskey and turned to Domarus. "Belief  me, my friend, you don't wanna know that story. It wouldn't take us anywhere lighthearted for the rest of our evening. It is a story about loss, weakness and stupidity..." Aereth said to his redheaded companion while he refilled his glass.

@Domarus

"Yeah, but the thing is, how long will it take us to get there? It seems almost impossible, but that makes it so exciting." he chuckled. "But lets stay realistic. I guess we both will never be able to get one in our time in here. But that doesn't matter. There are enough other ways to get stronger in here." It was true, an unique skill would make things a lot easier inside of Aincrad. Not only combat wise, also in popularity. If a player chooses to reveal his unique skill to the masses, he or she would be praised, almost worshipped. Aereth however wasn't interested into anything like that, he wanted to have an unique skill just because of its raw combat power.

"Haha. and if you get one before me, then I'd have to congratulate you." He chuckled at his companion.

"Yes of course. I'll do my best to keep their trace." After he said that, he found something that looked like coal nearby a stone formation at the left side of the path Domarus, Keres and he were taking, at stored it instantly into the inventory.

@Domarus

The two of them lived together in Domarus' shop as Aereth expected, and as Aereth suggested to transition to mor lighthearted topics, Domarus seemed to appreciate the suggestion, because his stance seemed to ease a little bit. "Yes, he indeed is a really great guy. And very generous. He was the first friend I had inside this deathgame." A lie. "And now he teaches me to become a good scout. I'm really glad I met him." This however was the truth. Becoming a master scout was only the first step on the road to completing his own goals.

Aereth also had to chuckle at Domarus comment. "It is true. I really enjoy beer. But for me, beer is more to kill the thirst than to get drunk." It was true. Beer wasn't even an alcoholic drink for him anymore, since he tasted it the first time when he was 16 years old. He then poured himself a glass and also slowly emptied it.

Then Domarus told him about his drinking competitions back in the real world. Now Aereth could understand why he was able to drink so much without any problems. "I guess some are blessed with a natural immunity to alcohol." he laughed and refilled both glasses. Aereth stopped gathering information about the two players some time between second beer and now. He already had much more intel on them than he expected to get, so right now he just wanted to enjoy the evening with his two new comrades.

@Domarus

OOC: Is the energy full with the third post or after it?

Aereth saw how Birdie charged at the pig and got distracted from his comment. "S*it, I'm so dumb" he thought and immediately pulled his sword. But just as he was about to help Birdie, she was able to readjust her blade again in order to kill the freaking pig. Relaxing Aereth put his sword back into its sheath. As Birdie finally replied to his comment he had to let out a heartly laugh. "Sorry for distracting you, but that was a very nice safe."

She then asked him if he could spot any chickens form the roof of the farmyard. "On the oppisite side of the farm I spotted some of them. But unfortunately I wasn't able to find any materials. I'm close to max energy, so I'll join you again now." he told his bluenette partner and jumped down the roof. As he made contact with the ground, he rolled himself to soften the impact and made his way to his partner.

@Birdie

It seemed that Aereth made Domarus curious with his last statement about the unique enhancements. "Right now I was referring to the unique enhancements. Like I said, until now I didn't even know how to get those, but thanks to you it's clear for me now. And about the unique skills: I've done some research on them on my own, and what you told me right now isn't the whole truth. It is indeed true that you have to buy the rumor for an absurde amount of Col, and it is also true that the rumor has to hold true, but after that comes the more tricky part. You don't just get the skill, you have to fight an NPC who holds the skill and defeat it in order to get one. And it may seem unrealistic, but when I have the strength and the necessary money, I'll start to hunt for one of my own." It was more than unrealistic, almost impossible to be precise, but that wouldn't stop him trying.

As the two of them continued to make their way through the canyon to find Domarus familiar, Aereth spotted another material on a ledge a little bit above them. "Just wait for me a second." He said as he made his way to the ledge, by climbing the rock wall. As he reached his destination, he grabbed a big emerald-like ore, and stored it into his inventory. "Down should go faster." he grinned and pushed himself away from the rock wall with a back-flip and landed before Domarus and Keres.

Then they reached two potential familiars for Domarus. A dragon and a snake. "Better have to choose, than to have no potential familiar at all." he grinned at his redheaded comrade.

@Domarus

Aereth decided to ignore the cocked eyebrow and to continue the search for Domarus' familiar. Domarus pointed into the direction of a canyon to look there for his familiar. 

As Aereth finished explaining that he wasn't even near the level of skill, as where he wanted (needed) to be, Domarus told him that he also had a lot of work to do for his DPS build. "Yeah I heard about these unique enhancements, but I don't even know how to get them. I assume you have to do some kind of stupid quest, and on the end you will randomly get one?" It was always the same in RPG's. So some stupid a** quest and get rewarded with something in return. And if you wanted to get the good ones the odds would decrease or the quest would get harder. But Aereth also would need som better enhancments if he wanted to do the things he needed to do.

@Domarus

After receiving a solid punch in his face he stumbled back one step, he lifted his arms in defense and said. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to see how far I could go." As @Domarus turned once again to them and warned Aereth he replied "Yeah yeah my friend. I'm just messing around with her a little bit." He put on a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head.

After the situation relaxed again, Keres grinned at him and he gave her a wink. She then seemingly tried to convince Aereth to get a servant for himself, but Aereth again lifted his hands in front of him and answered her. "I see that this whole thing is working out for the two of you, and really, I think it's awesome. But on the same time I know that something like that wouldn't work for me. First off, I'm living in the guest room of my teacher and friend, so I couldn't even get my servant a place to sleep. I know this problem could be solved after I got my own shop but this won't be in the foreseeable future I guess. And second, I'm training almost every day from morning to evening, so I wouldn't have any time to spend with the servant at all." This weren't the only reasons why Aereth didn't want something like a servant. Something like this would make him vulnerable. Right now, that would be no problem, but in the future he couldn't afford to be vulnerable at any point on the path he was going to take. It will be a path full of hard decisions which will change the lives of others for ever. And he was sure that he would have a lot of enemies when this time finally was here...

@Domarus

Domarus thanked Aereth for offering his help to which he nodded. Right now he was far too weak for almost everything. "No big deal my friend. I wish you much luck with the information gathering and rescuing her. But now let's transition to more lighthearted topics. Like where do you two live? I assume in your shop?" he asked his new "friend" curiously.

Aereth got fed up with ordering over and over again, so he decided to order a whole bottle with whiskey. "Hey, bartender! Would you be so kind, as to give us the whole bottle? I'll pay in advance." The bartender nodded, and put the bottle on the table as Aereth finished his transaction. "Aaaah. Much better now we don't have to order new ones every few moments."

"Haha. I see. After seeing you drinking those whiskeys like water, I assume you won more often than not." He laughed. 

@Domarus

As Keres rushed to Aereth and covered his mouth with her hand Aereth realized how f***ing dumb he really was. Then she leaned in and whispered into his ear the reason he failed to see beforehand as to why he should shut the hell up. Aereth moved his own hand up to uncover his mouth so that he was able to whisper something back to her. "I know, I'm sorry. Just as you rushed to me and covered my mouth I realized. But your little stunt, pulled the attention of the others on us, they might be suspecting something if we don't handle the situation the right way." he wanted to point out how close the two of them were. He  grinned and continued. "When I give you the sign, hit me in the face." Then as their faces parted, Aereth put a small kiss on the cheek of the girl. Keres really seemed to be surprised by this action, and slapped him instantly on his cheek. After that Aereth started to chuckle and Keres grinned to cover their traces.

As the situation calmed down again she suggested that Aereth also would need a maid to take care of him which made him chuckle. "Thanks, but I like to take care of my stuff on my own. And I'm not into that master-servant stuff. I like to see woman as an equal partner. But thanks for the offer."

@Domarus

Domraus explained to Aereth how much the tattoos would cost and that they were un removable, unless he would remove them. "The prices aren't as high as I assumed them to be. I'm really tempted to pay you a visit some time in the future to get one or maybe two." He knew exactly what tattoos he would get. One to remember him why he wants to get out of here, and the second to remember the reason why he will be cutting down every orange colored murder inside of this game that is unfortunate enough to meet him.

After that Domarus asked if he could show Keres one or two things about searching which made Aereth chuckle. "Yeah, sure thing. Just message me and when I've got time, I'll be sure to show some things to her. And thank's for the compliment, but I'm far away from where I want to be as a scout. I have still much to learn. But I'm working on it every day." Laughing, the three of them contiunued their search for Domarus familiar.

@Domarus

Aereth again noticed a pleased look on Keres face as he bowed in front of her. Seeing Domarus nodding to Aereth he returned the greeting with a wave of his hand. Keres told Aereth that they were alright and that Domarus was training nonstop. Although the whole Esther thing still remained unsolved.

Smiling at the maid he answered. "It's good to hear that you two do well. And it seems like you do a good job at looking after him." then the smile left his face. "I don't even want to imagine how he must feel, knowing that his comrade is held as a hostage somewhere here in Aincrad. As I told you the last time we met, if I get any information regarding Esther or her whereabouts, I'll instantly message you or him."

After that she asked how his own training was going. "Thanks for asking, I must say it goes pretty good. We have worked out a hard training schedule, but at least I'm still able to do my workout in the morning every day." It was true. Itzal had worked out really really tight training schedule in order to make good scouts out of Birdie and him.

@Domarus

After getting a brief nod from Birdie, Aereth sheathed his sword and put it back on his back. Birdie had the situation very good under control.

Birdie said to Aereth that he could look around the farm for some materials while his energy-bar was refilling to which Aereth nodded. "That's a good idea. There must be some useful materials around the farm. But don't worry I'm staying in your range so that I can step in if anything happens to you." He gave her a thumbs up with a smile and made his way out of the farmyard. As he got outside, he used a nearby tree to launch himself on the roof of the farmyard to get a better overview over the area. He tried his best to spot anything gather-able, but wasn't able to find just one material. Then he saw his blue-haired partner going after a pig, which made Aereth chuckle. "Looks like we're going to have pork today."

@Birdie

Dismissing the topic from before, Domarus shook his head at Aereth's offer, and told him that he wasn't intending to kill the person that holds Esther as a hostage, but much to Aereth's displease he intended to torture the guy to make him or her pay. Aereth hated everything like that. If somebody needed to die in order to prevent murder or rape he would do it quickly and without hesitation, unless he needed more information. Then Aereth noticed that he was making decisions much to rash. He didn't even know the details about this whole affair. Sighing he took a sip from his next drink to calm his thoughts down. "I need to gather information about this Esther thing first, before I do any rash actions."

"Anyway, if you need somebody to help you with the search, be sure to message me. Even though I haven't much PvP combat experience and are quite under leveled for such a thing, there is nothing that I hate more in this world than PKers and the scum you described to me before."

Now chuckling at Domarus, Aereth said to him: "This isn't a boozing contest my friend. For me this evening is just there to have a good time, and to get to know you a little better." Then he laughed and downed his glass. "Or maybe it is?"

@Domarus

Domarus talked about the different sized tattoos he was able to make, that his only successful customer a girl named Alisa was. He also added, that he was very short on materials, and that he hoped to change this while being on this trip to find his familiar. "I will most definitely get one from you in some time. So you better gather enough materials for me too. How are the prices of the different sizes, if I may ask? And are there any temporary or permanent side effects like stat boosts or something else?" Aereth asked Domarus curiously.

Just as Aereth finished his question Keres seemed to have found something useful on the ground. She was digging with her bare hands into sharp stones, which left red damage marks on the maids hand. The creepy thing about is was, that she seemed to enjoy the pain she was inflicting herself with the rocks, as her smile indicated. "Wow... This girl get's creepier at each second." he thought as she brought a big ruby like crystal back to Domarus.

 As she got back to Domarus, Aereth decided to take a closer look at the hole the ruby like crystal was hidden in. He learned from Itzal, to always double check after finding something really rare, because sometimes there are also other rare materials hidden in the near area. And he got rewarded for his double checking. He a similar stone formation just some steps beside the spot where Keres found her ruby. With one kick he removed the sharp stones and picked up a sapphire like ore, up from the ground and stored it into his inventory.

@Domarus

Aereth watched in awe as Jonathan destroyed all the Nepents in one hit with his AoE attack. Now it was only him and the Nepent Variant. He prepared himself to charge at it, and took of in its direction as he finished it. As he got in range of the field boss, he tried his best to get a clean hit on it, in order to destroy the monster. Unfortunately, he missed his hit because the Nepent Variant was somehow able to pull itself out of the hit range. So Aereth's Sword Art just hit thin air and he lost his balance a little bit. Stumbling forward he decided to roll on the ground to regain control of his body movements. Jus as he got up again, he was able to dodge an incoming attack of the Nepent Variant by jumping on on top of it, followed by an quick retreat to Jonathan's side. "Sorry Jonathan. This attack didn't work out as planned. Maybe it would be better if you don't report back to Itzal about my poor performance today." He joked to his blonde friend.

@Morgenstern

Domarus shrugged at Aereth's question and explained that it didn't matter too much for him as long as it is strong and resilient, powerful and persistent. "You are right with the dragons. They do exist. I saw a few players with dragons in the past. Although, the dragons they had weren't as big as you would assume them to be." Now Aereth started to think what kind of familiar he would be getting. He had something in mind for a long time but wasn't quite sure about it. To be precise he had thought about getting a wolf. Maybe the wolf would be able to help him gather materials or finding hidden players but he didn't bother to gather information about familiars up until now.

Then Domarus told Aereth that he was an Artisan with not many customers. "You also do tattoos? That's awesome. Maybe I'll visit you in your shop one day to get one." Aereth said to him while looking around for any materials. Unfortunately for him he wasn't able to find anything.

ID# 70145 results:

 Loot: 7

@Domarus

Domarus was still taking the danger of a forced duel too lightly so Aereth decided to warn him one more time before leaving the matter fall. Even though he was suspicious around the redhead, he didn't want him to die because of the feeling of false safety. "I won't question your strength in any way my friend, but imagine the following situation: One or more players are restraining your movements, and the other ones are forcing your hand to accept the duel. Then the others would continue to restrain you from giving up the duel, since you also need the virtual menu to forfeit. You should never have the feeling of false safety. It will get you killed sometimes..." he said as his last attempt to warn him.

He then heard about the situation his friend Esther was in and frowned. "That's bad to hear. I will never accept such scum. People like them should be erased from this game." He had his own backstory with scum like this in the past. And he had sworn to put an end to all of them who deserved it. "I know, I'm a rather low leveled player right now, but it would be an honor to join you in your search and punishment. Like I said before, I hate players like them. They think just because this is a "game" they are allowed to do anything. They don't realize that this is reality. So I want to help you teach them what reality in here means." He said to Domarus while emptying his beer in one shot.

After that he ordered a glass of pure vodka, and as it arrived he lifted it with his two comrades. "To the ability to help others," he repeated the sentence Domarus said seconds before and downed his glass.

"Chill, my friend. I'm just enjoying it." He laughed at Domarus.

@Domarus

"Even if she's dressed like a maid. I don't give a s*it. For me it will always be ladies first." Aereth said while laughing. Then they finally set foot on the outside of the village. Aereth could totally understand why almost no players were on this particular floor. It was designed in the direct area of a f***ing vulcano.

"Do you have something in mind what kind of familiar you want to have? I guess it will have something to do with fire if we are looking for it up here." Aereth asked his friend.

Then he asked him if he had a place to stay or live in right now. "As for now I have nothing permanent to stay in. But until I open my own shop, Itzal offered me to stay in his guest room." Aereth answered Domarus. "May I ask you if you already have a shop?"

@Domarus

As Aereth retreated back to Birdies side she was seemingly impressed by his little stunt. Smiling but never loosing his focus he answered. "Thanks for your nice words. But right now I'm far away from where I want to be regarding my combat skills and speed."

Just as he finished his sentence another four chicken spawned before them. "I'll use my <<Vertical Square>> skill one more time before I have to regain my energy. I will guard your back then, but won't participate actively in combat unless it's needed. Because if I wait out of combat until my energy is full again, I'm able to do two of my AoE attacks again, which is more efficient than stabbing them one by one."

After that he sped again towards the low leveled chickens with his sword art charged. And again after he released his sword art, all the chickens were split into half. Retreating back to Birdies side he took an defensive stance behind her and started to regain his energy.

@Birdie

"Seems like nobody gets spared in this regard..." he answered his fellow redhead in a sad tone.

"Naive." Aereth thought at Domarus' counter argument. He smiled and answered calmly. "Yes we may be in a save zone, but have you ever heard of a forced total loss duel?" He asked in a grim voice. "It's when another player forces your hand to accept their duel invitation. And this, my friend, is the reason you should also be careful in safe zones. And for me it doesn't matter if they are low levels or high leveled. I never take any player lightly. I always plan for the worst case scenario. Although I have to say thank you for the information about the potions. I didn't know you could do so many bad things with them. I will be more careful from now on." He noticed as Domarus talked about Esther, his eyes showed some signs of worry and anger. "About that Esther girl, I assume you saved her? And is she ok?"

After that he apologized and answered Aereth's question about his goals. "You would be surprised what this AI is capable of." he said in a thoughtful tone. "But I won't deny your statement about Kayaba either. It could very much be possible that he is tweaking the game with a game master console right now as we are talking, but I know that Cardinal is able to react to almost every little change in the game caused by the players and their actions..." After that Aereth finished his first glass and ordered another one.

"Yeah I guess that's what everyone wants. Nothing is more aggravating than being useless." 

@Domarus

"From past experience? Care to tell me about?" he asked curiously as Domarus still scanned the bar. "So where should I  start... Let's start with all the other players inside here. I count three real persons, being the two hooded players and the bartender, as well as five NPC's. From the looks of the two hooded players, I would guess that they are even weaker than us, since their starter armor is shining under their hoods, although it could all be faked and they are higher leveled players acting as weaklings, which in return wouldn't be healthy for the three of us, I assume. For the bartender I'm not sure. He is wearing some normal bartender clothes, but I saw a dagger flashing under his apron. Maybe for self defense. But who knows. Second: our surrounding area. It's obviously a bar, this means one main entrance as well as one backdoor on the back left of the shop. On the front side are two medium sized windows. And finally one door at the back of the counter to an unknown room. In my calculation this means three possible escape routes. First the direct way to the front door, second the direct way to the backdoor, which wouldn't be smart since the two players are sitting more in the back of the bar and we would have to get past them, and third, the way out trough the window, since they are breakable. The way through the door behind the counter is a risky one. It may also lead out of the bar, but it will most definitely be a dead end. Tables and chairs are not locked in place either, which means we can use them as projectiles to slow our hunters down if worse comes to worse. And we could also use the NPC's as a distraction to escape. Fighting in here would be no good idea, since we would have to protect Keres. As far as possible poisoning goes, I can't find anything that indicates something like poisoning from the bartender. So as long as the two shady players stay quiet, we should have a good time in here. If you enter a building you should at first get to know how to get out of it again the fastest way." He said to Domarus in a calculating tone while never breaking eye contact. Scouts are trained to notice everything and to come up with plans and strategies according to the situation. "So what do you think?"

Then he answered to Aereth's statement about what he was doing after he finished his training. He had some interesting points but Aereth wasn't impressed at all by his reaction. It was impulsive and emotional. He noticed that this player seemed to be calm and collected most of the time, but if he was about to prove somebody wrong things would get impulsive and emotional. And right there he would get him. When he got emotional. "Don't understand me wrong again my friend. I'm not a dreamer. And I never said that I'd walk up to the frontlines in no time and show them how to do their job. I know that you have to consonantly grind and train in order to get stronger inside here. It's the reason I am training and working out every day. And the steps you can make are unbelievable small ones, but every step counts. Unfortunately I had to learn this lesson the hard way a long time ago. And to be precise, it's not Kayaba who is adjusting the game dynamically. This is made by an AI called Cardinal. It manages everything that happens inside here. Adjusting boss and mob difficulty, day and night cycle, everything." After finishing his answer they got their drinks and and Aereth took a large sip of his beer. Chosing to ignore his last statement Aereth answered. "What are your goals? What will you do after you became a DPS unit?"

@Domarus