Anthium

Anthium adjusted his helm squating on his haunches. He used the squared edge of his sword to balance as he observed the gathering bunch. Maddix seemed way too timid to be a practical warrior, but to have survived here meant she had to have some skill. He experession made him think of a shy school girl and his eyes narrowed as the other guy mentioned Stryker taking a moments rest. Shifting toward the other man across from him calling himself Alabastar. This assembly was shaping up to be a mixed pack of hunters. Judging from Stryders current state whatever he'd missed had taken a great deal out of the warrior. Yet he'd never seen or heard of any player ever having suffered from fatigue that lasted long beyond having to rely on their own skills with the sword. 

 "I'm curious to see what Styder plans on having us hunt?" Bracing on the hilt he stood again and shifted as he heard running foot fall coming closer. Further players come to join and reap the spoils and experience. He took a deep breathe and considered the level of conflict needed to slake this groups thirst. Not to mention the beniefts of the mix of skills in use here would prove instructional. 

"I'm curious," He began his voice a base rumble "what kind of skills do you all favor?" The question was casual, and would be beneficial to know what everyone can possibly do. He was working on building up his tank skills and the weapons Mack had given him were proving quite useful.

 William studied the parcel in his calloused hands as he traveled through the streets of of the Town of Beginnings. The old alchemist had seemed generous enough after he'd brewed one of several healing crystals. Those were tucked safely into his belt as he walked his equipment jingled slightly as his great sword clanged against his armor and the crystals clatter together was comforting. His bear helm hung easily at his waist, and it's snarling face stared holes into the cobbles as he walked not wanting to frighten or give someone the idea that they needed to challenge him.

 Anthium came jogging up the road approaching the gates as the group and their slowly moving group. Gritting his teeth he lengthened his stride and broke into a sprint making the two handed sword on his back bounce almost precariously in its strapping. 

"Hey, wait up!" The shout was almost a bellow as he came through the gates and slowed enough not to run anyone over and skidded on the dirt and gravel. Breathing through his nose he gave the group as a whole an appreciative look over. His gear was pretty decent for his level, but studying these players gave him a distinct feeling that he was among some fairly capable fighters and the though charged his blood with anticipation. This might be his first real test of his gear since Mack had handed it off to him.

"Sorry I took so long," His lips peeled back in an eager smile "takes a bit to get here from the center of town." He gave the gate a casual wave as he looked to who he guessed must be styder. 

"Where do you plan on taking this little adventure?" He glanced about taking in his surroundings.

William was walking towards the center of town thinking to jump to the next floor to see who was up for hunting when a broad cast caught his attention. Swiping the channel open he tapped a quick response as he moved out of the flow of traffic like a slow moving leviathan parting a school of fish and headed back towards the front gate.

@Styder

'Headed your way. Be there as soon as I clear the press of people.'

 Satisfied he sent the message and lengthened his stride. Not quite running, but when people saw him move they got out of the way. Didn't help that his armor and sword were like pulling a barbaric warrior from some fantasy novel and plopped him down in the center of this mess. Add in the snarling face of his Bear helm and he cut a pretty intimidating figure as he made his way to the gates.

Anthium scrolled through the morning news feed and inspected his stats and frowned slightly taking a slow pull of his coffee. Combing his fingers through his. Ears to clear the digital crumbs away from his morning meal he watched the passers by. What caught his attention was the guy carrying a pig and his conversation with a blue haired man. 'Probably out for a morning of leveling.' He rose from his table picking up the bear headed helm and equipped the two handed blade and walked toward the pair. Walking through the crowd was like a shark cutting through a school of fish until he caught up with them. Standing at a little over six foot he was easily able to keep tabs on them before they made their way to the gates and the fields beyond. Offering a warm smile he spoke confidently "Out for a bit of morning exercise?" The question was a deep baratone as he held out a meaty hand. "My name is William."

 The look in Ren's eyes put William on his back foot slightly with its eagerness. He was not use to this level of excitement from just agreeing to join this group. Even the walk with Ren towards Atzo revealed so much more than he was anticipating from this group. Hard to believe that the kid beside him was part of the yakuza and trained fighters as well. Could only imagine how wound up their father must be right now. He shared some of his own life with the other speaking of his parents and even his brothers and what they were likely doing in the real world. Standing beside Ren he took in Atzo's appearance and even reappraised him a bit holding the Bear Maw helm in one hand.

"It would seem, Atzo," William grinned slightly "I've been accepted into your Tank division."

@ren-sama

@Atzo

 William nodded his appreciation at the complement Ren paid him and gladly took one of the offered cookies. His teeth bit down with a crisp snap and chewed slowly studying the other man. His demeanor was easy and his body was in a lull while having this conversation and felt he was willing to work with this individual, or at least with his guild. Tossing the rest of the cookie into his mouth he brushed off his hand with a swift clap and proffered his mit. "If you are as interesting as I hope," his words were a rumble with laughter "I will gladly help your guild in this world. Better in numbers then all alone in this blasted game." Blood began to thunder in his body and he was eager to put his new blade to use who know what glory these people might offer him, and that was an exciting idea in of itself. He would aid these people of that he was certain and with their help he could imagine they would need him as well in much of what they planned to achieve.

@ren-sama 

William nodded along with Ren's words and rubbed his bicep as he took in the requirements. It was typical heavy soldier, and he hoped this guy didn't want just a slab of muscle to throw at anything and hope to God he crushed it. Then there was the cloak he'd taken off and William have an appreciative nod at the idea of having animal traits just form an item. "Doesn't sound like you want anything unreasonable," one hand came off his arm as he spoke palm up "But, I reserve the right to ignore bad orders. Not to say your incompetent, or arrogant, but I don't follow someone blindly." The hand closed into a lose fist and rested his fore knuckle over his lips appraising Ren. The statement came out a bit cool, but by no means hostile this was after all business. "Of all those things you said I'm certain there will be organized hunts and raids to go on and you'll definitely need steel like mine." His hand came back to rest on his bicep allowing for Ren to retort, expound, or possibly get upset.

@ren-sama

William's grin spread to bared teeth at the hand shake and the firm grip telling him a great deal about the odd appearing warrior and crossed his arms over his armor in a casual stance. The choice to remove his helm was a wise one allowing this Ren to see his face was paying dividends. He looked between Ren and the guild leader Atzo and marveled at the fact they were related...no probably not brothers of blood, but by bond. "Impressive title you have there," he began rubbing his chin thoughtfully "I'm fairly certain your division is responsible for drawing attention and soaking massive amounts of punishment." His brow creased slightly pondering what he could ask beyond the obvious. "What would you require in your unit besides the obvious?" Studying the warrior before him he let another question come out because well..he was mildly curious about this guy. "Also, how on earth do you appear like you have a draconic parent?"

  William turned his attention in the direction indicated by the Emerald Harbinger lead. Nodding his thanks he stepped over towards where Ren was holding council. With his current gear and skills he was certain he'd function better as a tank than a DPS in any case. Looking over Ren he let his face relax into an easy grin and offer his hand "I'm William, and I believe you must be Ren," His words were easy and conversational "I was wanting to discuss joining the Tank division of your guild." His posture relaxed the thick plates about his torso catching glints of sunlight as the gems in the bear's eyes glittered in contrast to the dark metal. Now that he thought about it he struck quite the figure adding in the great two handed sword on his back. Besides this place pretty much forced most to band together or perish.

 William walked through the bustle of the crowd most of which took a look at the bear helm and promptly got out of the way. Getting the sudden uncomfortable feeling of so many stares he took the helm off and hooked it to his belt. This seemed to ease most of the players tension since they could now see his face, but with the great sword strapped to his back it made for an intimidating sight. 'come to think of it I probably look like the barbarian from diablo right about now.' His lips quirked as he considered that thought until he noticed a group of players who'd gear far out stripped his own, and the clan tags on display made snagged his curiosity. Walking over confidently he ran a hand over his reddish beard "Greetings. May I ask what's going on over here?" He mentally smacked his own forehead for how utterly pretentious that sounded not to mention a little rude. With a internal deep breathe he hoped they wouldn't shun him like the tool he had just come off as, but there was a chance that they would see his remark as an ice breaker and at least talk to him like normal people.

Quest Complete: <<The First Few Lessons Are Free>>

- 5 Tier One Health Potions of Uncommon Quality (+40HP)
- 1 Tier One Damage Potion. (+1 Damage)
-1 Tier One Over-Health Potion (+50 Temp. HP)

2 Skill Points

400 Col

William stepped along the cobbled streets as he chewed on a fresh sandwich. Crumbs drizzled his beard as he walked down the market lane towards where the black smith was said to have his forge. He felt a sharp pain in his heart thinking of Zachariah and how he had reminded him of his own grandfather. A small chuckle escaped his lips thinking of the old bastard and his war stories and odd advice working on cars in the garage. Even though the elder had lost all of the hair on his head the beard he had grown was to his chest and salt and peppered with his years and braided into two forks like some old time viking. His elation fell swiftly into melancholy thinking of family he might never see again and the possible death that dogged his steps in this game. 

 Zachariah picked up the peach colored crystal and watched the light play through the the healing crystal and made an appreciative sound before setting it aside. He moved over to the shelves and pulled down a hand full of crystals and set them side in a small bag then pulled a wrapped parcel from another shelf and tapped it with a calloused fore finger. "I have another favor to ask," His voice was mild and a smile creased his lips and forehead "If you could take this package over to Lyle Tealeaf I'm sure he'd compensate you." William picked up the crystals and set then in his inventory and nodded his appreciation of the new survival tools and took the package from Zachariah. It was slightly heavier than expected and then slid it into his bag "Sure, where would I find Lyle anyways?" William leaned against the counter and eyed the old man curiously Zachariah took to stroking his long white beard pensive and then nodded. "Lyle is the local black smith and if you take this package to him I'm sure he can reward you with either a weapon, or armor of your choice." Upon leaving the shop William felt a sense of accomplishment even with the level of frustration he went through getting the materials, but crafting the potion wasn't hard. "Now, where do I find that blacksmith?"

 William looked over the assembled beakers, viles, burners, and drips. Taking up the first of the materials he gave the whole thing a curious once over trying to figure out how to go about doing....anything with this thing. Strangely enough he eventually saw the menu indicator and opened the window with the typical alchemy set up where he just needed to place the materials. This took a lot of the guess work out of the process, but still was more like skyrim where you selected two ingredients and mixed up until you either had a potion, or ran out of materials. There was series of gurgles and mixing happening as he watched and the drip filled up a container with a greenish liquid until it formed a small crystal.

"It would appear you've crafted a decent health crystal," Zachariah came over stroking his beard and nodding "you have some skill it seems, but nothing too impressive." William felt a prick at his pride until Zachariah turned an old man smile that mildly reminded him of his grandfather back home.

81201

CD 8 (Rare success)

 Zachariah pushed open the back room door and motioned for William to enter before shutting the door. Taking up one wall was a complex mix of alchemist tools and arrangements that sizzled and bubbled with a variety of colors and threads of steam waiffed from a few. To his left was a set of shelves filled with times of every size, spines marked in runes, or common tongue. Along the right wall were drawers and jars of materials that was impressive to William even though this was only a first floor shop. 

"Go ahead and sit here," Zachariah pulled out the worn stool "I have to tend to another project and need you to mix another for me." William cocked an eyebrow and shrugged settling onto the stool and looked at the weird assembly of tubes and such. Zachariah set a small stack of materials at his elbow that looked like the stuff he'd just brought in.

"Impressive aren't they?" William stood up from where he was looking at the damage crystals behind safety glass and turned toward the voice. Zachariah was in his twilight year to be sure with stark white hair and facial hair. Even though it was long it was well maintained compared to the clothes and smock he wore that were singed in places and stained with gods knew what chemicals he used to make his wares. William stroked his own beard and stepped up to the counter easily placing the package of materials on the counter.

"I saw your post in the inn and came to see what you might be offering." He kept his tone light as if the whole idea of him wandering around for hours to get these materials hadn't tested his patients to the limit. Zachariah rubbed his hands on a towel on his belt and picked up the materials opening a window to examin what he had. After a moment of contemplating sounds the alchemist nodded and waived for him to follow. "Come on back," his voice was amused as he lead William back into the lab "a lot of you youngsters have been through here recently. Never though so many people would be so eager to help an old man out with his work."

Waking was a slow drawn out process as his mind clicked into place. Sitting up and looking about with bleary eyed incomprehensible weariness scanning the spartan room he was staying in. Stepping out of bed he equipped clothes and equipment before heading downstairs to the bustle of the morning crowds. Leaving the inn he headed in the direction of Zachariah's shop and got an idea of how the city was laid out. The shop wasn't that hard to find and pushing open the door he was met with the sight of shelves and tables stocked with crystals and other alchemist equipment. Beakers, elymbus, and all manner of chemical do dads one could want. Zachariah was no where to be seen so William browsed the wares on display and felt the acute lack of col in his wallet as he saw the beautiful master craft crystals on display meant for high level players and assorted campaigns into the more dangerous areas of the game. 

William felt a great sense of relief as he walked back into town and noted the darkening of the sky. Who knew that gathering those materials would take so long to accomplish, but with the utter lack of a tracking system it was utterly up to the system to not only place what was needed, but for the player to persist regardless of outcome. Pushing back into the inn he set up in a room for the night and fell asleep after a few minutes staring at the ceiling. His restless mind turning over what his friends were doing right now, and how his family was holding up with his sudden entrapment here in this virtual prison. With that his brain immediately compared this to anime like Deadman Wonderland, or worse what this would mean for when they finally got out of this world. Envisioning government secret agencies snapping up people for questioning and possible experimentation were some dark thoughts to fall asleep to.

Back tracking through the woods was mind numbing as each spot was in fact empty. The little hope he had was flickering as he walked back out into the fields and took up his sweeping search. Thankfully none of the monsters were anywhere near him as he kept sweeping aside tall grass and peering around bushes. After several minutes he threw up his hands in frustration and even hefted a rock and chucked it in a random direction. Rubbing his face he trudged back to town vowing to come back later. As he neared the gate he caught sight of what he was after and sighed with amusement. There right next to the gate was the last piece he needed to go to the alchemist. 

81020

LD 19

Anthium smacked a meaty hand against yet another tree as he kept looking. This was slowly forming into a pattern as he kept walking through the woods. After falling enough to make him want to rip his beard out was enough to make him take some deep breathes and just take a moment. There had to be another flower either here close or back out where he had started. 'Just one,' he thought raising one finger as if admonishing the trees 'one stinking flower is all I need.' Failing to find the coveted ingredient anywhere close he walked out of the trees with a look of bitter disappointment.

81019

LD 1

Stepping around and over the over grown roots proved to be a  it of a hassle as his boots were too big to navigate some of the places easyily. More than once he'd slid and cracked his head against a tree trunk or root adding to his frustration. Thankfully he didn't really feel the sharp impacts otherwise he might have taken up cutting down the trees in a fit of rage. A thought struck him then about how the system was designed to keep the person from feeling the damage of the game in real life. Keeping the nerves from spasming from every impact definitely helped separate the player from the virtual, but at the same time could possibly lead to a feeling a immortality to some degree. Such desensitized methods kept the flow going, but with the threat of death should you drop below zero meant you were dead in the real world.

81018

LD 1 

The light was minimal in the shade of the trees which made him slightly uncomfortable, but he was certain that these flowers probably grew in less sunlight than normal. As if to prove this theory he stepped around another trunk and was rewarded with the flowers growing in the midst of the roots. With a short laugh he let the materials gather in his inventory and noted he only needed one more. This had eaten up a massive chunk of his day and that was irritating beyond reason, but then such were the way of low level quests. It was just finding these flowers were starting to tip over into tedium and just wandering was a waste. Didn't help that the map wasn't worth much in this instance, but so long as he kept gathering he'd be able to endure it.

80973

LD 17 (1 Material gathered)

Anthium's jaw sagged ever so slightly as the armor settled on the table and snapped shut again on seeing the stats of the heavy armor and then the huge sword. These were exactly the kind of tools he needed to go anywhere he needed to. Before he could equip anything though there was a whine from about knee level and his gaze fell upon a young bear cub. It's claws pointing to it open mouth that was flecked with crumbs already. Confused for a moment then it struck him and he opened his pack and dropped two sandwiches. Then he equipped the armor and sword feeling the strength fill him as the armor enclosed his body and settle into place. 

"Now this is a good start."

Walking into the woods seemed like the next step in this ludicrous adventure if you were drunk enough to even call this an adventure, or even put it withing spitting distance of it. He shaded his eyes with one hand and scanned back and forth before stepping around the first tree and was surprised to find what he was looking for. Squatting down he gathered up the ingredients and looked around tapping out a random beat on the tree trunk. So far it was almost impossible for him to figure out where the flowers would spawn of be found in abundance. Or maybe that was the idea rather than do like blizzard and the ingredients set in clusters and readily spawned for them to just pick them up. 

80400

LD 16 (1 Ingredient gained)