Aereth

"Us? So you weren't alone?" He asked catuiously as he took another sip from his own cup of tea. "Do you guys even know how lucky you are to be alive right now? I don't know many players that survived an encounter with him. It would take possibly a whole squad of frontliners just to take HIM down. And that doesn't even count the army you would need just to get past his Horsemen..." Of course there was hatred inside of her. But Aereth hoped that she would be strong enough not to hold onto those feelings.

"I know how you feel. But let me tell you something. Revenge can make you incredibly strong. And hatred can be used as a fuel to keep pushing forward beyond your mental limits, but in the end both of those feelings will kill you, and the ones you care for. I'm speaking from personal experience, so believe me. Do not hold onto those feelings. Don't get involved with anything related to Death Adder. Not you, not your guildmates. If he sees that you guys are plotting against him he will pick each and every one of you apart, one by one. You already saw how sadistic that man is... He's going to make you watch while he's..." Aereth had to stop himself from continuing. He wouldn't let that happen. He had a task. A last will to fulfill. He would protect her. "...just don't do anything stupid. I intend on keeping my promise to a fallen comrade. He wouldn't want to see you in such danger. So if I manage to find out that anybody of you guys is plotting against Death Adder and the Horesemen, I will come and pull you out it, understood?" He sighed. Even though his words were harsh and rough, he just wanted to make sure the girl wouldn't get herself in unnecessary danger. Death Adder knew already about them, so it would be an easy task for him to end them all together. "Look... I'm sorry if that as a little bit rough. I just want to make sure that you understand that fighting a war against him is not possible... Not YET." Aereth said with a small smirk. In reality Aereth had been plotting against the horsemen and Death Adder ever since Beatbox died, and he would find a way to get rid of him. But not yet and not alone.

"Then wait until you find an answer. You don't need to know these things to become strong. You can become strong on your own. This is TRUE strength. Tell me about your goals." Aereth replied as she told him how she didn't know yet if she wanted to know about Beatbox' demons. "Once you are completely sure I will tell you everything. Everything about your brother, everything about why he is even more of a hero than everybody who knew him praises him to be, why I'm just a little piece of trash compared to him and why he is the biggest god damned idiot I have yet encountered in this game..." 

@Telrenya

After the second to last answer was given from the blonde, Aereth let out a small sigh. "So she isn't just some imposer..." She had answered both names and the date of birth correctly, just like they were written on the message Beat sent him before his death. But what came next, was something he didn't expect. 

"You met.... Death Adder?" he asked slightly shocked. "How did you even manage to survive, and what did he want from you?" Death Adder... Currently he was most probably the most powerful solo player in the game. Add to that the Horsemen and he was even so dangerous that the Laughing Coffin didn't want to mess with him too much.

After Telrenya was done with her questions and explanations, Aereth took a good sip of his pimped tea and thought about where to start. "First off. I knew you existed. Beat told me in one of his last messages to me that he had a sister named Estelle, in combination with her birth date. But just like him I was unable to track you down. After his passing I brought the information about his death practically to every message board on every floor. In hope that my info broker network would find you. Unfortunately I had to cancel my search because of some.... Let's call it 'issues' regarding my network..."

"And you are right. He had a lot of allies, but are you really sure you want to know about the wars he waged, the battles he fought and how I see him?" If she really wanted to know he wouldn't hold back any details but it would be a very dark and depressing story. "Because I personally think the less you know the better. Yes he may have been a shining knight, but as you can tell by the color of my cursor, he also worked in the shadows at times..."

"That little f*ck was the sickest one from all of those who had some fun with me... I also have a suspicion that he was the one who f*cked me up initially. Backstabbed me when I was trying to get him and a couple of others out of their grasp." Aereth mentioned to the armored redhead. "With that one everything is lost. He doesn't listen to reason, he doesn't care who or how many he kills. He needs to be removed." The brunette mentioned to Domarus while he watched him messing around with Dazia. On one hand he felt bad for her being the one who was going to take one for the team, but the chance to finally tie up this loose end was worth the risk. 

"Tell me how you want to do it. I'll follow your orders and strike everybody down on your call. If you are going to attack as well, just take care not to kill anybody. We don't want to have your name on the monument, or do we?" Aereth asked in a serious tone. Since his rescue mission Aereth found himself more willing to listen to the redhead and following his orders. Domarus knew how strong he was, and he also had the brain to know how to use his strength in the most effective way.

@Domarus

"Nope, that cheekiness is reserved just for you." Aereth said, satisfied with the reaction he got out of the purple haired beauty over him. He just lied under her with the most innocent look he could muster, and it even seemed like he was about the get rewarded for his cheekiness as Teion moved in for another intense make out session. Everything felt so natural, so mutual and easy. Just spending all day in bed and enjoying themselves didn't even sound bad. To be honest, he would make no amends to get out and actually do something other than staying exactly like they were right now. "Then don't. Let's just do exactly that. There isn't a single place in this goddamned floating castle that I would want to be right now other than in this bed right now with you."

Suddenly Aereth noticed how Teions gaze was resting on him, while she seemed to think about something. They gave out something new. No pain. No anxiety. No desire. It was curiosity. And as if to confirm his thought, Teion asked him what his favorite color was.

He was stunned for a few moments, because the question came so out of the blue, but quickly managed to put a warm smile on his face while gently pulling her towards him, so she could rest her head on his chest. Right now he didn't know where this was going, he couldn't read her mind after all, but he simply answered her question. "Hmmmm." he hummed thinking about his favorite color. "I'd say blue, but that might change in the near future." The brunette said with a small chuckle, while gently moving his right hand up and down Teions back and the other playing with a strand of her beautiful purple hair. "Your turn. What's your favorite color?" he then added, giving back the question to the beauty on top of him. 

The good boi simply yawned as he noticed how Telrenya was looking warily at him, before finally lying down and pretending not to care in the slightest about what was going on around him. But as soon as Telrenya would avert her gaze to look back at Aereth, he slowly started moving around the corner to make his way over to where her feet were.

While preparing the tea the girl wanted to have, Aereth's thoughts were racing. If Beat really cheated on Thea, he really wouldn't know what to do. Should he tell her? Should he just keep quiet? Damn. That was going to be a rough day....

When he finally was done he placed the two cups on the table and listened to the blonde girl. Then she said it. She was his sister. And everything fell in place. The hair, the greeting and then... The sword... Everything was fitting so perfectly to the discription Beat sent him before he died.

"Did that lunatic really go into battle without either of his weapons. Did he rally have such a death wish. Did he really leave back a girlfriend and a sister. The thought made him scowl. "Damn it Beat. You stupid fool..."

He could already feel the headache emerging inside of his head and let out a heavy sigh while letting his hand slip into another hidden pocket inside of his vest. He usually placed them in every piece of clothing he wore. The little silver bottle got opened with just a couple of swift motions of his fingers, and the golden liquid poured itself almost on its own into Aereth's own cup of tea. "God. How I sometimes wish that stuff was real." he mumbled under his breath barely hearable and set the small bottle on the table so Tel also could take it if she wanted.

He took a good sip from the tea and finally spoke up again. "I need to ask you some more questions before I'm going to share anything with you." he said in a soft tone, careful not to scare her or make her uncomfortable. "First: How is Beat's real name? Second: How is YOUR real name? Third: Your date of birth. And lastly: Where did you get this sword?" 

"Like said earlier, he was a good friend of mine as well as a former guild mate. He also invited me to fight for his cause. Unfortunately he passed before I was ever able to help him..." Aereth said and shook his head shortly afterwards and after Telrenya would have confirmed the information he already had he continued. "Ask away. I'll try to answer as good as I can..."

Fenrir never was the one to give up so easily, so he simply followed Tel as stealthy as he could and placed himself directly to her left as they were done with the introductions and Aereth offered her a seat on the couch, while the brunette himself took a seat in the single armchair. 

He rose an eyebrow at the introduction of the blonde, since somehow the motion seemed familiar. But he couldn't just pinpoint it yet... "No problem. Can I offer you something to drink?" he asked, not wanting to be a bad and rude host. After she would have either said yes or no, and the brunette would have brought her something, he would lean back in his armchair.

"Sooo. You said you wanted to talk about Beat, and that he was a precious person for you... So before I tell you, I'd like to know what your relationship to him was, if I may ask that is..." he said in a cautious tone. From knowing Beatbox as a person he knew that he would have never cheated on Teion, but you never knew...

@Teion

At the feeling of Teions forehead pressing against his, the brunette started to smile. "Honestly? I really don't know." He replied, his smile slowly turning into a smirk. "Somewhere around you entering the room, and us falling onto your bed I lost track of it. So I have that bad feeling that we need to do them all over again, just to be sure." Said and done. Aereth quickly pressed a small kiss on Teion's lips and smiled at her.

When Teion turned around to lie on her back, Aereth never once lifted his gaze from her. Too beautiful was the sight. Too afraid he was that she wouldn't be there anymore if he just looked away once.

"Hmmm?" he replied when her "Hey..." reached him, and she asked if he had something to do for today. "Unfortunately yes... I am busy today..." he said with a sad voice and paused for a few moments. "I have to do a body-guarding job, and I have to go where my client goes. The pay isn't that great, but she's pretty beautiful..." the tone of the brunette now lighter and a small smirk resting on his face again. With one swift movement, he threw the blanket over them and gently pulled Teion on top of him. 

"Sooooo. What wants my stunning looking client to do if we are going to 'stay a while like this'?"

@Teion

Usually Aereth had a very light sleep when he was sleeping outside of his own four walls, if he he even slept at all. But this night was different. The brunette spent quite some time before he passed out with simply watching the sleeping face of his blacksmith, and gently caressing her. And after his eyes finally gave up the fight against his fatigue and tiredness, he fell into a very deep and peaceful sleep. He could always feel the warmth of Thea's body right beside him and it gave him the safety to finally let go of his worries for just the time being. They held each other, slightly shifting their bodies a little bit the one time or the other, and slept peacefully through the rest of the night. 

The next day, Thea was the first to wake up. He could clearly feel her stir a little bit next to him, but this wasn't enough to wake him up. The brunette simply pulled her a little bit closer to him, unconsciously trying to make her more comfortable. 

Some time later he also finally opened his eyes with a yawn. It took him some moments to regain control over his sight, but he immediately noticed the purple mop of hair on his shoulder/arm/chest. Thea's lovely locks were everywhere. "Thank god..." he mumbled in relief as he realized that the girl was still by his side.

"Good morning sunshine." he then said, pressing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I hope you liked your new pillow?"

@Teion

For the first time since who knows when, Aereth felt wanted. He felt needed. It was as if that purple haired woman alone managed to let the sun shine for him again. With every pull on his arm, with every smile he was able to get out of her, with every kiss she planted on his lips.... She managed to bring some peace into his troubled and darkened heart. Oh how many unforgivable sins he committed in the past... It didn't matter. Not now. With just one touch his purple haired blacksmith was able to make them vanish.

The intensity of their kisses quickly reached its climax as the fatigue started to catch up to them. It had really been a long day and both of them earned some rest. Aereth knew that he couldn't keep his word, when he said he would just sleep while sitting at the head of her bed. Nothing in this world would make him leave the warmth, the comfort Teion provided, so he took hold of the blanket and threw it over them before gently placing Teion on his side. He then turned his head to the side and locked eyes with her one last time for today. He said nothing. He simply smiled at her, pressed a last kiss on her lips and watched her as she slowly drifted into sleep, before also slowly passing out...

@Teion

11 hours ago, Domarus said:

Name: Guardian Necklace
Profession: Artisan
Rank: 7
ID:  90550
Roll: 12
Item Type: Jewelry
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: +3 Accuracy
Description: A seemingly bland necklace, with a silver chain holding a small, droplet shaped silver stone.

OOC note:  I don't think Eatos has digital col yet.  If she doesn't, could you add 800 col to my account?

9 hours ago, Domarus said:

Name: Avians' Ring
Profession: Artisan
Rank: 7
ID:  90690
Roll: 12
Item Type: Lucky Charm
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: +3 Loot Dice
Description: A silver sing that goes on the ring finger. The ring is etched with 'See what you want and seize it. Don't ask for it; don't wish for it. Take it' around the inside and outside. 

Approved!

"Me too." Aereth replied as he slightly tightened his hold on the woman. "I could do this forever..." he silently added. Aereth didn't know when voices inside of his head had stopped torturing him, but now he was able to appreciate every moment with the purple haired beauty. Every touch. Every second she caressed his hair. It has been long since he was able to such a level of peace.

This was the reason, he hesitated when Teion started to turn around in order to break his hold on her. "S-sure. I'll wait." Aereth quickly answered and reluctantly let her go. His gaze followed her as she made her way out of the room and as she closed the door, the brunette let out a sigh and changed to some comfortable track suit trousers and a black tank top with a hoodie jacket. God damn it, how long it took for him to actually get behind it on how to create jackets with attached hoodies. 

Just when he was about to go into the second round of rambling about how sh*tty crafting was at times, Teion came back. His mind went numb and he felt the hands of his purple haired blacksmith wrapping them around his waist. "There you are again.." she said in a soft voice as he returned the hug. After that he slowly started to kiss her on the neck, and worked his way over her cheek to her mouth. The kiss started gentle and got more and more intense the longer it lasted. Aereth then slowly started to move their bodies towards the bed and gently moved their bodies onto it.

@Teion

Quote

LINK to craft
Name: Golden Fleece
Profession: Tailor
Rank: 7
ID: 90613
Roll: 12
Item Type: clothing
Tier: 1
Quality:  Perfect
Enhancements: 3x Loot dice
Description: A golden trench coat with a black shirt and pants. The trench coat and the pants having pockets for items to go. The backside of the trenchcoat has the black outline of a ram on it.
Payment Method: Mats

"Don't worry about it. It's not like work is going to run away from me." he said with a dismissive sigh, putting away the orders and the pieces he already finished. Then he leaned with both hands on his counter and listened to the blonde. 

"A precious person.... Speaking about him.... " he mused in thought trying to recall everything he knew about the charismatic blonde frontliner. Of course. Learning that Beat had passed away was a shock for Aereth, but due to his long past with death, tragedy and murder he was able to recover pretty quickly.

While Aereth was thinking Fenrir made his way over to Tel and nudged his head gently against her upper leg. 

Aereth gave he one more apprising look and shook his head at his familiar before speaking up again. "The name's Aereth. Come." he said and gestured her to come behind the counter, following him upstairs. "Oh and don't worry. He seems to like you."

@Telrenya

She turned. Reached over and placed a hand at the back of his neck. The space between their faces vanished once again, and the lips of the two lovers met in a short but gentle kiss. Aereth totally didn't expect this action and was frozen in place. "Hey, isn't it my job to be the cheeky one?" he asked himself as he just lost himself into her eyes, simply nodding at her suggestion to keep count and experiment. Was this really real? He still couldn't believe that this girl was accepting his feelings, his past, his unstable future.... That she was accepting HIM.

"Four..."

Just the feeling of Teion's hand working its way to find his own hand managed to snap him out of his trance like state. Their fingers intertwined, and Teion once again started to pull him with her. Seems like this was their 'thing' now. This made the brunette smile and he simply followed her. They entered the room and Aereth silently closed the door behind him.

There they were. Together in her storage room/bedroom. The moonlight shone through the window and once more Aereth was just staring at the purple haired beauty in front of him. Instinctively he moved closer to her and hugged her from behind. One hand moved over her stomach and one over her chest gently grabbing her shoulder, while placing his head on the left side of her head. He just couldn't let his fingers from her.

@Teion

Fenrir was resting on his place right beside the entrance when once again a new customer wanted to enter. At first he only opened one eye to inspect the potentially new customer. When she didn't enter however, he opened his second eye as well and rose his head. When the door the closed again with the blonde female retreating, the wolf cast a confused look at his owner before lying down again. Aereth however was too busy talking with Jomei about the armor he wanted, so he didn't even notice how all of this happened.

A couple of hours later, the same person entered the shop once more, now finally having gathered the courage to approach the brunette with the orange cursor. He still was occupied with some work on his counter and didn't look at her when she came in.

"Depends on who's asking." he said before he slowly lifting his head to look at the girl for a couple of moments. He could tell from only looking at her that she wasn't one of the players he would have to be weary around. Too shy. Too insecure. He chuckled. "Just kidding. Yeah I knew him. Was a friend and guildmate of mine. Why you asking?"

@Telrenya

Teion's beautiful purple hair ran like water through his fingers while she was pushing herself to her feet again. He took the offered hand with a smile, careful not to use too much weight on the hand when also pushing himself up from the ground. She too looked very tired as she told him that she really would be ok with him sleeping in the same room as her.

He smiled. "Really? Like I said, I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything." he asked noticing the small frown that worked its way over Teion's face. "I would be fine just sitting on the ground, leaning against the head of your bed. Knowing you're there and that I can protect you." 

"So you can have the bed." Now a Aereth started to smirk. "After all, we only kissed like... three times. It would be weird if we would already be sleeping in the same bed right? I'd say we would need at least...." he paused and moved his hand towards his chin in order to look like he was really thinking hard about what he was about to say next. "... a total of five kisses for it to not being awkward. Or what would you say?"

@Teion

@Daeronand I have talked on the Discord for some time and he has set up another thread where he promotes all of his ideas regarding the whole PKing issue (where the hotfix is about to drop in a matter of hours, days, years...) as well as his ideas how to cooperate "free PKing" with the thread invasion idea. I strongly reccomend to check the thread out and give your opinions on that matter. After I'm done with that post I will also share my thoughts on his ideas. 
So have a LINK to his thread and be sure to check it out!

@Endilix Thanks for the great input on the matter! 

• Threads based in safe zones are always protected. 
  • Self explaining and I love it. 
  • Earlier today I was also talking to him on Discord and he showed me an amazing game concept that I thought I have to share here. 
    He took a lot of his ideas from the game EVE Online and the idea of Emergent Gameplay. That basically means, that if you want a living, breathing world, you want to create content that has borders, but otherwise allows players to create their own challenges within a reasonable frame. EVE Online does this by having the most rare things out in dangerous space, but allowing players to play the entire game locked away in a safe zone.
    So maybe we could even extend that protected zone from just safe zones on every floor to a general invasion prohibition on floors 1-5 + all other normal safe zones on all floors.
• Invasions should be tied to skills.
  • I also like that idea very very much. Gives stealth more usability besides being all edgy and stuff. Tracking mod would finally become somewhat useful. I like I like.
• Create PVP centric content.
  • Oooooh baby, how right you are. But worry not. As soon as this thread invasion thing is either out and released, or ditched and forgotten I will get to that. I have already talked to some players about that and I want to present it to you guys as fast as possible. (AFTER this thread is done. xD)

@Eatos It seems like you somehow missed the point. This thread is just about the topic of thread invasions WITHOUT actual player killing. The last topic I set up in this section was about the PKing issue on 2.5, and we came to the conclusion that we should never allow players to kill other players without their consent. This hotfix will go out as soon as I get green light from the GM's (They need to check wording, grammar etc.)

@Vigilon, @Jomei and @Morgenstern 

About cooldown and tokens:
Yeah, of course it adds some work to the players as well as the Player Support team, but I feel like the mechanic with the tokens would be the easiest thing to track tbh. If somebody wants to invade, they need to take care everything is correct and they have 3 (or god knows how many, the 3 I wrote was just a suggestion) FINISHED threads that took place AFTER their last invasion. (these threads would of course have to be tagged as such threads in order to keep track of them.) But then its easy to check because time stamps on threads never lie.

Otherwise I could suggest something like this:

• Players once again have full control over their RPs and can state in their journal/profile if they are open for thread invasions.

Just saying that this takes away the purpose of the whole mechanic, since players could do that right now even without that patch. xD

And last but not least, @Macradon and @Ruby

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about why you don't like that idea. You guys have some strong arguments, but thats what those Protection Tokens would be there for. You can protect your really important threads as much as you like (we can even talk about getting 1 Token every 2 threads). And if we add the ideas of @Endilix with using actual skills and the tracking/sneaking skill I'm really thinking that we can use this mechanic in a way to improve the RP experience on the site. 

Additionally to that: If we implement the mechanic and it gets obvious that it doesn't work and that players hate it, we can still push out a hotfix to get back to old rules. (That totally is not happening right now with the 2.5.1 hotfix for 'free PK's for everybody' rule. xD)

And to close that part of my reply: 
I don't want to think that all invaders will do that just to annoy or bother anybody. I do want to put my trust into the community and say that they will use the mechanic to ENHANCE the RP experience and not to destroy it. And if I'm proven wrong, *insert stuff from a couple of lines above* We can still kill the mechanic off if it doesn't work out. 

Soooooooo. Now that I've replied to all of you guys and gals (Don't worry I'll get to your thread @Daeron) I wanna present you with a couple of choices on how to continue with the development of that idea:

• Do you guys want me to flesh out the idea with the tokens
• Do you want me to ditch tokens and start working on:
  • @Endilix ideas
• Or do you want me to throw the idea away. (Don't think that's gonna happen with 11 Yes and 5 No votes, but still. xD)

Be sure to let me know, AND be sure to check out Dareon's thread with his ideas. Until that, see ya next time. xD

"Nononononono." It seemed like his brain was done for today. Was he actually asking a girl he only knew a little longer than a week if he could sleep in her room? She hesitated. She wasn't comfortable. He snapped out of his melancholic mood and put a stupid grin on his face as he slowly rose his head again to lock his brown ores with her cobalt ones. "S-sorry. It seems like I got carried away a little bit. You can have the bed. I'll find a place for the night. I remember days where I even slept on my crafting table, so I'm not really picky..." He sighed. "I was weird, right? You can calm down. See... I'm really really tired, and if im tired my brain tends to stop working. It was thoughtless of me to ask such a thing. As much as I would enjoy that thought of having you in the same room while sleeping, I shouldn't have asked such a weird thing." Aereth said as he ran his fingers through the hair of Teion. "I don't want to make you uncomfortable..."

@Teion

Oh how right she was. Without her he wouldn't be in this world anymore, and nothing more than a crossed out name would have been left. "Yeah. You're the only reason I'm still here. You're the reason I want to fight again. The reason I refuse to die." he answered and started to gently move one of the arms up and down. "And that just from you grabbing my arm back there in that dungeon." he added with a chuckle.

"I don't know about you, but being together with you, right here, right now feels so damn good." But then, suddenly a yawn escaped the brunette. It finally seemed like the exhaustion was catching up to him. But he didn't want to stop... He wanted to continue just sitting on the floor with Teion on him. Throwing away his doubts just to get tired after some kissing. Pathetic.

Then a question arose in his head. "May..." God damn it Aereth. Just say it. It's not that hard. Just. Say. IT. "May I sleep in your room today?" Phew. Now it was out. "I-I don't wanna be alone tonight..."

God, how creepy he was. "Kissing her and then talking about how you like her hair? God damn it Max. What kind of stupid creep are you?" he heard his inner self yell at him. Still. This was much better than having to listen to the constant doubts and demands to push her away.

But to the hell with all of that. He was thinking that her hair was beautiful. The locks, the length, the color and the bangs. Simply perfection.

"Never." was his quick answer as she told him that she thought about dyeing them. "Although... If you really want to, you could give red a try..." he then added with a smirk. "But I really like them the way they are."

It felt soooo good when she started to move her fingers through his messy hair. He simply closed his eyes and enjoyed the thrilling touch of the girl. No.... His girl.

"Oh you like them? I was thinking of getting some braided man buns in the future..." he replied in the same teasing tone, as his grip tightened again around her waist. "You know what I also like?" Aereth once again used his arms to pull her closer to him and moved in for yet another kiss. God... He could do that all day. Everything seemed so far away every time their lips met each other. Like all the pain and suffering was just a blurry dream.

After they would separate again, Aereth would rest his head once again in the crook of her neck, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Thank you..." he whispered.

Currently Aereth had stopped working on the tier one light armor since it seemed like nothing would come from the many attempts he already wasted on the item. So with a sigh he started to work on the clothing from that girl that came after his other customer. He had sent him a message that the costs for the item may get higher than he had expected but up until now nothing came back.

Fast forward a couple of hours and in front of him, lying on the crafting table was a perfect piece of clothing with three enhancements that should help with finding things. 

Quote

LINK to craft
Name: Golden Fleece
Profession: Tailor
Rank: 7
ID: 90613
Roll: 12
Item Type: clothing
Tier: 1
Quality:  Perfect
Enhancements: 3x Loot dice
Description: A golden trench coat with a black shirt and pants. The trench coat and the pants having pockets for items to go. The backside of the trenchcoat has the black outline of a ram on it.
Payment Method: Mats

Critical Fail[+1 EXP]: 0
Fail [+1 EXP]: 0
Salvage [+2 EXP]: 2 (+1 Mat. on #90606)
Uncommon [+3 EXP]: 2
Rare [+5 EXP]: 4
Perfect [+8 EXP]: 1

Losses: 8 Materials

Gains: 4+6+20+8+9(Bonus) = 47 EXP

There he was again. Staring into those cobalt colored eyes that he felt like he could loose himself in. Those eyes that could make him forget everything inside of this hell. Aereth didn't break the eye contact for even a second. Not even when he noticed that she was stopping  herself from touching him. "Damn it. Why does she smell so good..." he thought. And when her fingers finally toughed his face it felt like electricity was running through them. So intense, so exciting...

"Yeah... I would like that."

"That smile..." he thought as she told him that she indeed wanted him to share his life with her. He slowly closed the distance between them and gently pressed his lips against hers. His arms slightly tightened the hold on her before one of them started to move up to the back of her neck. It was a longer, and even more passionate kiss than before and as the finally parted after some long but at the same time still much to short moments, Aereth smiled back at her. 

"I will give you everything of me. And I will do everything in my power to make you smile like that all the time. I love your smile." he said as his heart was racing and he was still holding her tight. "And I love your hair."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Did I really say that right now?" He asked himself with a mental facepalm. "Here we go... three kisses in and already starting to act weird..."

@Teion

Once again, I want to reach out to you, the playerbase to help me come up with things to spice up the RP on this site. Now that the patch for the PKing rules is almost ready to get out, I want to talk to you guys about the addition of a mechanic that I want to call "Thread Invasions".

Back in the old discussion thread some players liked the idea while others hated it. Now I've come up with something new (thank you @Itzal) that might fix the issues pointed out in the old thread regarding this matter.

--------------------------------------------------

Thread Invasion

Players are now allowed to enter other PP or SP threads where they are not invited in order to attack, scare, etc. other players. Initiating combat against another player outside of a duel must also begin with a similar initiative roll.

However there are several rules on invading other players threads:

• After a Player has entered a PP or SP without permission there is a 3 thread Cooldown before this player can invade another thread.
  • Cooldown threads must be created after the 'Invasion' (Time Stamps) and must be tagged as such.
  • At your first post of an 'Invasion' you have to link your last 'Invasion' as well as the 3 Cooldown threads. Failing to do so, will result in the 'Invasion' to become invalid and deleted.
• Invading players have to post at least (Max SP available)*20/3 rounded up posts to qualify for SP rewards.
  • Example: Player A invades the SP of Player B. The thread ends at 20 posts; this means Player A has to post at least 7 posts in order to qualify for SP rewards. (Player B always receives normal rewards)
    Example: Player A invades a PP of Player B and C. The thread is already very long and after the thread is done, it has 80 posts. So in order to qualify for SP rewards at least 27 posts must have been made by Player A (Player B and C always receive normal rewards)
• Invaders do NOT qualify for Col rewards, no matter the amount of posts they do in an invaded thread.
• RP combat only.
  • This means that no dice, stats and calculations are used. The combat only happens in the RP so please take care to avoid 'godmodding'
  • In case you feel like somebody is 'godmodding' in your thread, contact the Player Support Team and we will help you.
• And most importantly: NO player can be killed this way without OOC permission of the other participants of the thread. There will be no exceptions made to this rule.

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While this might seem like a cool idea to spice things up on a boring grinding/farming thread, it also comes with he risk of other players ruining really important moments in your RP. Thus I have thought about adding a new tag. 

The "Protected" or [PT] tag. If this tag is used in front of a thread it means that nobody can ever enter the thread without OOC permission.

Now I hear you say: "But Aereth. That is the same as with the old Private and Solo tags..." But let me explain further. 

In order to add the [PT] tag to your thread you must use a so called "Protected Thread Token" on your fist post. These tokens can be earned by something like this: After every x(3?) threads you receive a "Protected Thread Token" to use for protecting your important threads. 

This way players can enjoy the excitement that comes with invading threads, while also keeping their important moments to themselves and the ones they want to share them with. 

Sooooo. If you guys and gals like the idea, pleas vote with Yes, and if you don't like the idea, please vote with No and explain why you don't like it. Really helps me figuring out what the playerbase wants. 

Until that, see ya later.

Like promised all the tags from the previous thread:

 @Jomei  @Kisodeth @Eira @Sey  @Thorsten @Ryo @Paglikha @Kion @Vigilon @Lessa @Ssendom @Genji @Vale  @Endilix @Manta Gaul @Macradon @Hakai  @Seul  @Helios @Azide @Ruby @Opal

Final draft of 2.5.1 Hotfix PK Issue: (I have marked the spots I changed)

Player vs. Player (PvP) combat is almost identical to normal combat. The hate system is ignored, as players may choose their target regardless of who or what has already attacked them. There are two kinds of PvP combat: Authorized Duels and Unauthorized Combat.

Duels:
Duels are consensual battles in which one player challenges another and the opposing party must accept. There are three different types of duels:

• [First Strike]: Whoever lands the first strike wins.
• [Half Loss]: Whoever drops their opponent to 50% or below of their total health wins.
• [Total Loss]: Whoever drops their opponent to 0 HP wins.

Duels may be initiated at any time and place outside of other combat, including in safe zones. When accepting a duel, the challenged party specifies the type of duel. After accepting, players are allowed one round (1 post each) to prepare. During the preparation round, each player should use a LD roll for initiative to determine who goes first. A double-post is permitted in an instance where the last person to prepare wins the initiative roll.

Duels have a time limit (or in this case, post limit) of 15 rounds. If the victory condition for the duel is not met within the time limit, the victor is chosen based on who has the highest percentage of their total HP remaining. In the event of a tie, the duel is considered a Draw. When a duel ends, a large notification will appear between the two players declaring the victor. If the two players are far apart at the end of the duel, they will each receive a notification separately. If a player is killed in a duel, the victor receives the losing player's col and equipped items.

Unauthorized Combat:
We highly encourage players to communicate with others when there is conflict between characters. Whenever one player engages in unauthorized combat with another, it should make sense for them to do so. Using a character to attack or harass another player for OOC reasons will not be tolerated. SAO-RPG staff reserves the right to validate, void, or otherwise make rulings on certain actions that involve unauthorized combat. If you are interested in playing a PKer or 'villain'-type character, check out the FAQ for suggestions involving NPC-Players.

The attacker(s) and the target(s) use a LD result to determine the conditions of the first attack. The attacker must treat the initiative and attack roll as one, and include the details of their intended attack and 'initiative' in the Roll Purpose. If the attacker's result is higher, the attack happens normally. If the target's result is higher, the damage they take from that initial attack is reduced by 20% (rounded down, after mitigation). Unauthorized combat cannot be initiated in a safe zone, and if a player with a green cursor damages another player with a green cursor, the attacker's cursor will change to orange.

Player Killing:

Generally the rules for Player Killing are the same as for unauthorized combat, with the addition that NO PLAYER CAN KILL ANOTHER PLAYER WITHOUT OOC permission. SAO-RPG staff reserves the right to validate, void, or otherwise make rulings on certain actions that involve Player Killing without OOC permission, so if you have problems with unauthorized Player Killing immediately contact the Player Support Team and we will help you.

Safe Zones:
Player shops and most settlements are classified as safe zones. Players that are in a location designated as a safe zone are protected by the <Area> effect. This prevents damage from being done to a player outside of a duel. A player may still attack NPCs and other players while in a safe zone, but the target will only receive an unpleasant feedback from the attack.

Cursor Colors:
A player's cursor can be one of two colors: green or orange. An orange cursor indicates that the player has committed some type of crime, and the duration of the orange cursor depends on the nature of the crime and how many infractions the player has had in the past. Examples of what would cause a player's cursor to turn orange would be:

• Attacking a green player outside of an authorized combat
• Physically harassing another player
• Stealing

For the first three infractions, a cursor changes colors until the end of the thread in which the crime was committed. Cursor color changes must be noted in the summary once a thread is completed. Afterwards, a player's cursor will turn back to green. On the fourth infraction, a player's cursor turns orange indefinitely. The only way to revert to a green cursor at this point is to complete the <<Redemption>> quest. After a fifth infraction, or after the first instance of killing a green player outside of a duel, a cursor will become permanently orange. Nothing may revert a permanent orange cursor back to green. Players may choose to track when and how many times their cursor color changes in their journal.

If your cursor would turn indefinitely or permanently orange, a PST member will have your on-site cursor color changed. Temporary cursor changes (infractions 1-3) should simply be roleplayed and noted in the summary of the individual thread. An on-site cursor color will remain green until a player has met the conditions of an indefinite or permanent orange cursor.

Orange Players:
Players with an orange cursor have a more difficult time getting around in Aincrad. Not only are orange players widely regarded as criminals, but most safe zones will have NPC guards that will act hostile towards them.

Orange Players are also always at risk of getting killed, since there are no penalties for green players if they attack orange players. This means Orange Players can still get killed even without OOC permission. 

Just remember: 
Using a character to attack or harass another player for OOC reasons will not be tolerated. SAO-RPG staff reserves the right to validate, void, or otherwise make rulings on certain actions that involve such actions.

NPC Guards:
In order for an orange player to enter a guarded safe zone, they must sneak past the guards. An orange player will always be at risk of being captured by NPC guards unless they enter a building or until they leave the safe zone. NPC Guards will not leave the safe zone and cannot deal or be dealt damage.

On the post in which an orange player would enter a safe zone, they will be immediately captured if they do not use an action to successfully stealth past the guards. A player must succeed on at least two consecutive stealth attempts in order to safely reach a building or leave the safe zone.

If an orange player fails a stealth attempt or leaves stealth, they will be captured unless they Run Away with at least partial success on their next post. Successfully Running Away allows the player to safely enter a building or leave the town. The guards will continue to search for a player if they have not entered a building, left the safe zone, or entered stealth. Successfully Running Away allows the player one post before they must use another action to deal with the guards.

A guard's Stealth Detection is Floor number divided by 3.
Ex. 8 on F26. 0 on F2.

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This is going to be the final draft of the 2.5.1 Patch. I removed thread invasions for now just so I can push the much needed updated to the PK rules out there. There will be a new thread where I will propose a different approach to the matter in combination with a poll. I'll tag every player that was nice enough to respond to this topic in the new one as soon as it goes up. (Additionally I will also put a new announcement up then.)

So thank you players for your input and ideas on the matter, and see you in the next thread.

And if anybody still has something to say about this topic just shoot me a PM on site or on Discord. I'm always there to talk. xD

Wow. He didn't expect that. "I would never do that." he said with a smirk, as Kooh told him how she thought that Leyna was pretty cute. "Pictures. Get. Out. Of. My. HEAD." he mentally screamed at the same time.

"Oh really?" he asked in surprise as she said she would move out to make the world hers. But she was quickly to correct herself. Aereth chuckled. "That sounds more like you. But just take care not to overdo it again, I won't be there every time you need a bodyguard." 

Suddenly they got interrupted by Leyna's body dropping to the ground from a tree. "Finally found you." Aereth said with a sigh. "I was just fearing that something happend to you, since that message sounded a little bit... forced?" Aereth replied with a smile. "But yeah, we're heading off. Going back to our normal business. Thank you for letting us stay at your place."

@Teion