Corvo

"Another good pick, looks like," the redhead commented as he crouched down and scooped up material. The item practically evaporated between his fingers. Corvo frowned.

Hmm...

"Maybe I should slow down a little," he snickered as he pulled the pipe from his cloak and lit the tobacco. Two long drags later, he was back on track and puffing out large plumes of black smoke. "Looks like picking these things requires a more delicate touch than what I've been giving it. Don't wanna ruin any more of these materials."

The assassin stood upright and let out a massive yawn, stretching both arms skyward, fingers knitting between each other as his back cracked loudly in several places. "If'n I take my time here, I can probably get a bit of experience in before the next leg of this quest. All in the name of personal growth, right?"

He fumbled with his dagger for a moment and unsheathed it, taking a look at the weapon and opening the menu to view its statistics. "I'll need to be getting an upgrade here, soon," he commented blandly.

(2/5)

No sooner had Corvo turned than did he spy another, distant shimmering orb. "Looks like it's my lucky day," the assassin mused as he picked his pace up to a jog. Though it wasn't far to go, he wanted to be sure that he grabbed the item before anyone else.

When he reached down to pluck it, the item blossomed into a brilliant light in his hands. The material took shape and he sent it quickly to his inventory. "This one looks a little nicer than the last," he observed. "Wonder if that makes a difference?"

He glanced up and around the meadow again, eyes peeled for any sign of more crafting materials to give Zackariah. "I wonder what he plans to make with these," the redhead pondered aloud as he pivoted in place. Certainly, it was some sort of potion or other conconction that utilized herbs. That's why he was gathering from the field, and not from creature drops.

Or that was what he gathered, anyway.

(2/5)

His first few steps into the field yielded fruit. Rather, he instantly saw a collectable appear in front of him. It took the form of a gilded, shining orb that beckoned him to reach out for it. "What have we here?" the red haired boy asked rhetorically as he reached out and plucked the material from the grass. "A fairly decent quality ingredient, too? Lady Luck is on my side today!"

He sent the material to his inventory and directed his attention back to the field. There was plenty more to gather, and a lot of ground to cover. Success early on was a good sign. It meant that he would be able to finish more quickly-

Provided he continue to come across the more bountiful harvest of the first floor. 

"If this is a chain, then the next quest will likely follow the story from this one, or use an item I gain as a reward. We'll have to see what Aincrad has in store from me when that time comes, I guess."

His grim monologue reminded him that he was in a game, despite how he acted toward others. Corvo had to stay human somehow.

Somehow.

(1/5)

The High Fields of Crossing were still outside his field of vision, but the minimap function indicated he was headed in the right direction. While technically not a safe zone, mobs rarely spawned there, and they were renown for being a quiet place to reflect or enjoy the scenery when there was a lot on one's mind.

Sometimes he imagined that he would go there and find Arc, hidden someplace far away with all his friends. The pipe dream ended when he glanced back over his opened messages and saw the last message that Tobias had sent him.

I'm going, Ev. Don't bother following me. Don't even bother trying. Don't worry, I'm not planning on dying or doing anything crazy. This is just... something I have to do. You know how it is, right?

But he didn't. Corvo had no idea what he meant. This wasn't real life. This wasn't like their world, where there were just "things you had to do."

Was it?

Had the others learned something in their time here that he just couldn't? Somehow, the redhead doubted it. "You guys got lost," he murmured, "but that ain't me. I'm not going out like that."

His grumbles carried him along the path forward.

In a raid, managing your aggro can be pretty tricky. Even with tank skills for threat gain and taunting, there's always those times when DPS can run away with itself and get a little too fast and hard for one guy to keep up with.

So, most MMO games allot for those players to have an "oh crap" option, just in case. 

These skills don't necessarily reduce hate to zero, but they deflate it by a significant enough degree that it becomes manageable. To achieve this, there is an added cost (it takes an action, and expends some form of energy or currency to perform). 

There are players who will utilize this as a strategy to go all out with damage and then reduce mid combat, and there are the more conservative types who use it for it's intended purpose. Either way, it has it's trade offs, and remains balanced. (There's also a cool down in place to ensure people aren't just spamming it.)

Just an idea, of course, but I thought you guys might enjoy tinkering with it.

"Crap!" He snarled as the boar slid past his reach, and the second attempt at a quick thrust failed. Corvo brought the knife under his own gut and up to his side, safely out of his own danger zone. It was a precaution to ensure that his momentum would not see him impaled on his own dagger.

He landed on three out of four limbs, eyes fixated on his prey. The boar had already wheeled around for another pass. Corvo shuffled quickly to his feet and brought the weapon up. "Come on," he growled. "Come ON! I AIN'T GOT ALL DAY, PIGLET!"

The redhead shook his head quickly and let out a sharp snort. "You want a piece or dontcha?"

It barely missed, but miss it did.

And so did he. He brought the dagger downward in an attempt to catch the beast as it raced past him, but because of a miscalculation- or the failure of the boar to stay remotely on course- the counterattack was equally ineffectual.

"Well," Corvo spat, "at least it's somewhat realistic."

Boar: 3/10 HP

Corvo: 18/20 HP // 0/2 E

"Alright," he huffed as the boar picked up speed again. He perceived the angle and took a half step right, staggering his gait so that he could evenly distribute weight between both feet. As the mob encroached, he ducked his weight backward slightly, and he let it rush past his chest, dangerously close.

He was rewarded with a high pitched squeal. 

The pigsticker in his hand skewered upward and into the belly of the beast, illuminating its pixelated form with even more red spots. When he pried it free in one clean stroke, the boar gave a heavy grunt.

It's health meter had run from green to yellow with the last blow, and following this one, it had flickered red. The battle was all but won, provided he keep at it.

"I don't see how these things cause folks so much trouble," he muttered. Of course, there were people in SAO with a great deal less gaming experience than Corvo, and a good number of those had already been culled.

He didn't bother counting.

"Alright, fat lady," he tossed the blade in the air, let it spin twice, then snatched it back. "Time for you to sing."

Boar: 3/10 HP

Corvo: 18/20 HP // 0/2 E

"Y'said we'd make it there together, Cap," Corvo muttered bitterly to himself as he passed through the gates of Urbus and out into the wide, open world of floor two. There were dangers aplenty for a low level character, but he had his own reasons to brave the dangers. "Then you went and died. Serves me right for putting my damn faith in someone else."

He chewed on his bottom lip and spat out another plume of smoke, this one more gray than black. They had all been friends. It was a hard thing to accept, losing that bond. Even harder, perhaps, than accepting he was against this world on his own now.

"Used to tell me exactly where to put the blade," he snorted, and shook his head. "Even though I was better at it than you were. You liked giving us all a part on the team, even though some of us were notorious loners. It was Alky who brought the Brothers together. Should've seen this coming when I heard that damn floor boss took you out."

Corvo threw his hands out to the side and screamed at the top of his lungs.

"I SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!" he roared. "IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!"

But it wasn't.

His shoulders sagged in defeat as he slumped forward and continued on his way. People who had barely known the man had moved past it long ago, and even Arc somehow managed to move forward after the loss of his real life best friend. For Corvo, it was a different kind of loss. It was an utter failure to be there for someone who he befriended, and who he said was like a brother to him. Corvo was a man of few friends, but the friends he had, he would happily bleed for.

Now, he had only himself to fight with.

Alkor × Hydra

These events were fantastic.

He heard "fireworks," and Corvo hardly cared that anyone else was involved.  Summer back home meant warm weather, sunny beaches, and pretty girls- all things this game could simulate, but never really give to the man. He settled for what he could get, considering.

Corvo stoked his pipe, took a long drag, and stared into the starry sky. There was nothing better than a cool, clear summer night, and Aincrad offered phenomenal settings for that. His darkened breath returned to the air rhythmically as he leaned back against a lone tree and ignored the rest of the world.

Soon enough, the sky would be able, and none of them would be wasting their time talking anyway.

With another deep inhalation of smoke, the redhead closed his eyes and rested his hands behind his head. There was a time when he would have spent these precious nights with a loving, tightly knit family. He hadn't had that luxury in a very long time, now.

He was starting to forget what that felt like.

Corvo was starting to forget a lot of things. The manners of a southern gentleman disappeared behind the cold mask of a rogue. His desire to be around people bled away as he increasingly wanted nothing to do with this false reality. The people may have been real, but they weren't his people.

But these events were fantastic.

"Let's see," he flicked through his inventory screen and over to his status, only half watching as he made his way to the edge of town. Everything looked good, except for the sheer lack of decent equipment. Thankfully, these quests were designed to remedy that ailment, so he didn't complain too much. "These materials should be fairly common just outside the gate." 

The map blossomed into view in front of him, and the assassin glanced over it. "Doesn't look like there are any marked nodes for gathering," he mused, a veteran of many other online games. "I'll just have to look the old fashioned way."

He rubbed his hands together as he stepped out of the safe zone and into the proverbial fire, undaunted by the risks he took in doing so. Many other starting players took forever just to do it, if only out of fear that they might die. For Corvo, that was inevitable.

"Now, where do I start lookin'?"

He wasn't the type for this.

No, really, this totally clashed with his personality.

Corvo stood, pale as a ghost in the midst of a party filled with people, half-dressed and unarmed. The urge to stab people was barely suppressed, and if not for their disarmament clause in the invitation, he would already be swinging his dagger around violently. As it stood, the Assassin had no fangs, and he didn't know anyone.

Why did he do this, again?

Because there's always the chance someone has seen Arc, he remembered. There's still a chance in all of this that I'm not absolutely alone.

Social events were the one part of Aincrad that brought everyone together. They were his last, best chance to meet and mingle-

And here he was, drinking and brooding.

This could only go well.

"Zackariah" proved to be every bit the Merlin-esque old guy NPC everyone ran into at the beginning of their journey. At least, if their journey was in an RPG, and they actually started somewhere in the middle of their life. SAO was that kind of MMO, the sort of game where they gave you a chance to get your feet wet before trying to drown you.

"Just follow this quest chain and you won't die quite so fast."

Convenient. The other player who thumbed him in the direction of this quest was only a few levels higher, but he seemed to be kitted slightly better than average because of it. Corvo figured an opportunity to get an edge on the competition would tilt the odds of survival slightly in his favor, so he stood in front of the enigmatic old man with his arms folded. 

"Hello there!" the old man greeted with a kind smile. "I need some help. Could you run an errand for me? I will make it worth your while..."

The quest prompt appeared in front of him and the assassin tapped the accept icon lazily. "Sure," he said aloud, following the verbal cues. It offered a more immersive experience, and he had no one else to talk to anyway. "I'll help you out. What's the errand?"

"Could you bring me five materials?" Zackariah asked him. "Do that, and I'll fix you up a nice treat."

Corvo nodded, then headed off to work.

It charged toward him recklessly, the same basic attack pattern as always. Corvo counted on that, and when it stepped in just the right place, he dropped his level. When his hip bounced on the dirt, the boar bounded overhead and he thrust his foot out to send the beast fumbling over him. 

Corvo lashed out with the edge of his dagger toward its stomach, and another thin line flickered into existence on the digital beast. Unfortunately for the assassin, his movement came at a price. "Ack," he watched precious points trickle away from his health, an altogether unfair trade. The monsters could respawn. Corvo lacked the luxury.

"Well, alright," he snarled. "Next time, I'll try a different approach." 

He turned his body quickly as the beast whipped around, and he spun the dagger in his hand expertly. The training he had with small arms in the real world did factor into muscle memory translated by the NerveGear, even though it did little for his damage or statistics. Still, he was thankful it allowed him some small advantage in combat, if nothing else.

Boar: 5/10 HP

Corvo: 18/20 HP // 0/2 E

"Fine." His acceptance was flat, emphatic, and final. "I'm not the type to get hung up about this. I'll find out the truth when it's time for me to know it." The way he spoke, it was as though Corvo had come to grips in a one-sided conversation. The reality was something else entirely.

He would have no closure, not for a very long time. There would always be the lingering possibility that everyone he knew was dead, and he would learn that somber fact once he sought the others out on the other side. If Tobias was still alive, he had a profoundly good reason for disappearing the way he did. He knew Corvo would follow without question, and cutting him off ensured that he would never be able to follow.

Instead of dwelling on all of that, the man stretched out his back like a cat and spat ostentatiously in the dirt. His first step was wobbly, but he managed to walk a straight line. The system was dumbed down to the point where you could master it, given enough time.

They had all had all the time in the world.

Corvo hobbled forward to the square and leaned against a post for support. His next move would be to decide what course to take. There was no guild now, nor did he retain the delusion that there would ever be one. He had no intention of making friends, but he knew there would be no shortage of rivals.

People didn't like Corvo. Corvo didn't like people. It worked out.

"Only one way to go," he decided.

To the bloody top.

Threads

The Frost Bites -1 SP

Where'd you get that stick? - 2 SP

The first few lessons are free - 4 SP

7/12 total SP

Level 5

100/100HP

10/10 Energy

False as it may have been, the flavor of virtual mead had drowned out his memory of the genuine article. The familiar buzz rushed across his Heads Up Display and blurred his in character vision, only faintly enough that it simulated the effects of actual drink. Warmth in his cheeks reminded the youth he was alive, and the anger the smoldered in his chest reaffirmed it as truth. Though his flesh in this world did not scar, his mind had many fresh, long lasting wounds that would not heal as easily.

"Would you like another?" the girl asked with a kind smile. Corvo watched her with skeptical eyes, even though her intention ran on codes and loops. Her fate was tied to a string of characters, one that broke down to no more than 0s and 1s. 

To him, she was just another part of the system trying to tear him apart. 

"Yeah," he smirked. "Give me another."

It's not a real buzz. He reminded himself off a hard fact, and one the game simply could not replicate. The inebriation in Aincrad was limited to debuffs, staggering, and drowsiness. The anger is real.

He slammed back another mug and stared into the abyss his drink left behind. Corvo let out a lengthy sigh, pushed the container away, and his face twisted in disgust. "This is getting me nowhere," he snorted.

"Sir?" the girl leaned closer. "Sir, your tab-"

He stood abruptly and tossed the col on the table. "There's your money," he spat sourly. "Thanks for the piss."

She bowed as he left.

"Not a single message."

Corvo flicked through his old mail idly with a bland expression as he considered the endless possibilities. Thom was dead, and nothing could change that. Tobias, god only knows where that boy had gone. The Black Brotherhood had all but disbanded, and the Crow hated it. They had discussed nothing, and without a single word, the only people he knew disappeared without a trace.

"Not one single message, dammit!" The fiery redhead slammed his fist down on the table, so hard that it triggered the message "immortal object." His irate gaze burned into the character name Arc, followed by a string of gray and black. His name had otherwise disappeared from Corvo's friends list.

Had one of his best friends decided to end it all?

He retrieved the pipe and tobacco from his vest and lit the apparatus neatly, dark bags beneath his eyes yielding evidence of his lack of sleep. Even in the game, your consciousness required a break. Corvo found no comfort in sleep.

Especially not a false sleep.

"You dragged me into this world," he spat through gritted teeth. "And sweartogod, if I find you on the other side, you're gonna wish it'd been Aincrad that got you." He puffed a gray-black plume from his nostrils and stared hard out into the distance.

Passersby gave the player a wide berth. Corvo hailed them with the one-finger salute. "Excuse me, sir?" An NPC hovered close and smiled, and the badly mannered player glowered up at her. "You ordered a mug of mead?" she asked as she placed the drink in front of him.

He waited for a moment before he accepted it. "Aye," he muttered, "aye, I did."

How long will this be the only life I know? he asked himself. And how long before I accept that fact?

"Ah-" he started to speak, his general loud, comical, and inappropriate routine, and then she said it. Thom's ex-girlfriend. Leave it to both of those clowns to find love inside a virtual world. His expression was one of grim introspection for a moment before he glanced up and narrowed his eyes. "Well damn," he said quietly, "looks like Alkyboy found ya first. Wouldn't you know it. Guy was pretty good at finding treasure in games."

He glanced away, not sure of what else to say. Evan always seemed to find a moment for his friends, even in this world where he willingly scattered his sanity to the winds. Corvo, however, was a fickle fellow. He disliked these overlong, tender moments.

They really cramped his style.

"Listen," he said as he slid his fingers into the waistline of his pants. "I know what happened, and I've done my time crying about it. I'm sure you have, too."

His eyes slid back to the pink haired woman and he gave a lopsided grin. "I ain't in the business of wallowing in grief, and I don't particularly care about no one's rap sheet. So you killed a few c*nts. Bet they had it comin'. I'd've laid waste to a slew of them m'self."

He reached up unbidden, let his fingers touch her cheek gently, and tilted his head. "And well, call me cheeky, but I'll take you for a ride even if my dead buddy got it first."

Corvo let out an inane laugh and tilted his head back as he took a step away from her. "I think we can be friends, Pink!"

"Oh holy hell, I've gone and fallen in love." Corvo reached down and adjusted his pants as Lessa danced out and away from him to conjure a massive blade. The weapon was certainly less finesse oriented than his, and infinitely heavier, but this was a man with a true appreciation for all edged weaponry. "Put it in me, mon chéri," he cackled.

He sighed after a moment and turned his gaze to Beatbox, his expression unreadable. "You sure you wanna dance, pretty boy?" he asked with a lilting tone to his voice. "I can fit you in with the pretty blonde, and we can take turns stabbin' each other. Yer a little girlier than my usual type, but-"

Corvo made like he was spitting in his hand, then clapped and rubbed both his hands together. "-I won't discriminate. I hate everyone equally."

He redirected his attention to Lessa, grinned, and winked.

@Lessa @Beatbox

"Beer, wine, whiskey, whatever," Corvo took a swaying step toward @Lessa and spun on his heel, draping an arm across her shoulders and sagging so that his weight pulled her closer to him. "Whatever wets your whistle, ma'am." The scarlet scandal licked his lips and threw the girl a quick wink; if she pushed him off, there would be no hard feelings. It was just amusing to see what sort of reactions he could get from people.

The man's quick hesitation and willingness to back down from the conversation echoed with supreme modesty, and in some echelons of society, that was a marketable trait. In Sword Art Online, it only got you so far.

Willingness to do dirty kept Corvo's pockets full, among other appetites. The Assassin ran a hand down his leg and stopped over his blade. "D'ya like weapons?" he asked Lessa in a raspy voice. "I really like a good blade, myself. Feels amazing when you thrust one good and deep."

He gripped the hilt of his weapon and lifted it to where she could examine it, close to their now perilously close faces. "How about it?" he crooned. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

The others were all but forgotten for a moment as he smirked and eyed her, then slipped his weapon quietly away. "But really, a drink sounds good."

"Tobes sends his regards," Corvo greeted the group coldly as he flipped the tent flap aside and sauntered inward. He hadn't known most of the group his friend instructed him to meet, only that this was a favor to a Black Brother, and that there might be murder involved. Arc wanted no part of criminal activity. 

Corvo, on the other hand, wasn't in the business of caring. He instinctively lit up his pipe and took a drag off it, eyeing the group with a callous gaze. The broken boy that entered before him bore an unseen burden, and Corvo understood that all too well. This world was a heavy thing, and for some people, staying sane was too difficult a task.

Insanity was a form of freedom all its own.

His gaze shifted next to the hulking Domarus, a man who appeared as imposing, but directed that wrath away from him. That was fine. Corvo wasn't going to get in the way of his axe. 

Finally, he turned to...

"Pink?" he asked with a dry laugh. "Why didn't he say so? This one's on the house, sugartits." Corvo practically beamed.

"Hey... HEY! DON'T GO WALKIN' AWAY!" Corvo waved his arms comically, fighting for her attention as she denied it to him in the cruelest of fashions. This world already drove him to the fringes of his sanity, and the few moments he had where he could have some kind- any kind- of correspondence with another thinking, rationalizing, functioning human being gave him a reason not to start cutting people down like trees. "It's a lonely fuggin' world, pink," he mewled, more to himself now that she was too far to hear. "And yer only makin' me lonelier."

With a despondent sigh, the Assassin picked up his carefree façade once more and struck off after the woman. "It's Corvo," he called after her loudly. "COR- VO. That's an easy one, ain't it? Don't even gotta think hard."

He heard her say Arc, and his ears perked up. The redheaded lunatic sidled up beside her and opened his menu, flipped to his good friend's name, and opened a message template. "What, you wanna invite good ol' Arc, too? I'm down. Might be fun to do a tour de France- ever seen the Eiffel Tower?" he asked absently.

"Wait, no, he's got a girlfriend- I don't think he'd go for that." Corvo considered the notion briefly. "Sheeeeyit, if only Thom was here, I'd've talked him into it. Probably. Well. Maybe not."

Corvo shrugged. "Neither of them was all that great with girls."

He howled when she struck him again, not in pain, but excitement. The woman manhandled him in a way few girls ever had, in the game or outside. He absolutely loved it. He ate it up. "Yeah," he hissed when she started talking down to him, treating him like some kind of subhuman piece of garbage. "That's the stuff, lady. GIVE IT TO ME!"

She pulled her own dagger and pushed him down, and Corvo pitched the biggest damn tent he ever had. Might be she even felt it. (Somewhere outside Aincrad, the nurses watching his body got a real surprise.)

"You got a real good bedside manner," he told her in a raspy voice as she went on about how she could kill him, "but you ain't stabbed me yet."

She said it was all nothing, but then, if she truly didn't care she wouldn't have even bothered to try intimidating him. She would have killed herself a long time ago, lost in the futility of life inside SAO. No, Corvo saw through that.

There was a stark difference between being bored and being hopeless.  She was somewhere lost in between the two extremes. She probably wasn't even sure which direction was up anymore.

"Real busy," he sneered as she started off, "when you can tease a poor sod's ****, but not finish the job. Fox."

He shook his head and slid the dagger back into its sheath. "Just you wait," he called after her, "Imma make you scream my name one way or the other, pink!"

Ha. Haha. Hahahhaha!

Was she serious? The woman asked him to disrobe, so the obvious course of action was to comply. When her fevered response was flustered and she practically forced him to stop, Corvo could do nothing but let out a loud guffaw.

She turned away and said a few things, biting and intent on driving a wedge between them. This girl was great at pushing people away. Unfortunately for her, Corvo didn't give a damn about that. 

Hell no.

This was too much fun. "Looks to me like you do 'em just fine," he indicated her cursor, stained orange by system outlawed actions. Murder or otherwise, Corvo didn't particularly care. It never once bothered him that someone might do something in this game to get them in trouble. Hell, he half expected to leave Aincrad with a tarnished cursor of his own.

As she turned, he took a step forward and grabbed a healthy handful of her rear. "Ain't no one asked for you to be civil," he told her with a wink, he let out a wild laugh when the instinctive slap rounded and took him in the cheek.

He only grinned. "I been bored, see," he told her, "and I saw me an opportunity to change my luck. You wanna stab me, go ahead. Wanna take this back to an inn? Be my guest."

Corvo spun his dagger idly and pointed it toward her thoughtfully. "Your move, pink," he said, "either way, I got no reason to be scared. My death waiver was signed the minute I logged into this game. Might as well let a pretty lady do for me."