Pinball

Back in the hellscape. Pinball was none too pleased; but it was the last time they'd be visiting. Ahead of them was the hardest fight yet, and one that Pinball had come prepared for. They'd packed the consumables a long time in advance... and Pinball hadn't considered the fact that most of the potions he'd gathered had been some type of liquor when he'd gotten them. Mishiro looked at it like she was holding something rigged to explode. And gently, she clinked it against the bottle in Pinball's hand. Pinball exhaled sharply through his nose. Was that a laugh? "Cheers," he replied. Pinball

Pinball's line bobbed lazily on the surface of the tranquil, undisturbed, still, perfect water. His frown grew deeper. The best part about fishing was the treasure chests. The worst part about fishing was the actual fish. Most of the time, they didn't want to show up. Pinball exhaled through his nose and leaned back in the boat. If they were going to be there for a while, it wouldn't hurt to get comfortable. He was still completely soaked to the bone, and his cloak was still off and spread out on one of the dinghy's seats to dry. It wouldn't take long. Things dried fairly quickly in Aincrad. B

for @Mishiro x1 creme brulee: acc ii x1 bubbling bourbon: +15% OH [229728] x1 Liquor of Might: +3 DMG Potion x1 T3 Armor-Tempering Tequila x5 Rumbling Rum Party Favor [232970-2, 232970-2, 232972-1, 232972-2, 232987] x1 Teleportation Crystal x1 smores: eva ii

He let the two of them talk. He hadn't spoken to Wulfrin the first time they'd met, and Pinball didn't yet speak to him now, either. His eyes were on the settlement ahead of them. Pinball pulled the hood of his cloak over his head. Morningstar, suddenly curious, asked him if it was safe for him to be here, unstealthed. "Mm. No." Pinball vanished. Shadows consumed him, and he was gone in an instant. Invisible, Pinball was free to roam safezones just like any other players would. Except nobody could see him, and he couldn't interact with anything, for fear of breaking stealth an

A message from Morningstar. Something he wouldn't have expected. Vampires? Pinball shot back a response: pb: k Despite the response that could mean any number of things, Pinball was, in fact, off to Stonewall. If it was for the same quest that he was thinking of (and it should be, given there weren't many centered around vampires), he was in need of the Sword Art that was unlocked through it. He had a Tech Shift. And not only that; Pinball had zero mitigation, and needed to make sure he had a good amount of ways to take some HP back whenever he did take a hit. And he wouldn't have t

Pinball emerged from a shadowed corner of the bar. How long had he been standing there? He didn't mention it. He picked out a few drinks from the bar. A Tier Three Mitigation. A stack of healing crystals. The usual stuff, if Pinball was Tier Three and not Tier Four. Who was he buying that stuff for? Pinball knew. He wasn't going to share it though. He nodded his thanks to Oz. The Sour Rumor was clean, but as grimy in aesthetic as ever. Pinball briefly caught himself thinking that it'd be the type of place you found bikers hanging out at. He looked like he was about to say something, but

[Uncommon T1 TW] Tyrfing: Absolute Accuracy [Item ID#: 224195] Using x1 Essence of Steel obtained here -> [Rare T1 TW] Tyrfing: Absolute Accuracy, Taunt [Item ID#224195]

He had soared through the air atop the fish's back, his blades digging deep into its sides. Acanthus raised her blade and disembowled it, and suddenly, Pinball was riding nothing, and he again slammed into the water's surface. But the most important thing was that the beast was dead. Pinball swam up to the dinghy and climbed back into the boat. He was soaked. He hated it. It was cold, and he was miserable. Pinball was wringing out his cloak when Acanthus spoke up. "What?" A mistake? How could they make a mistake? The quest hadn't updated, true, and the tablet hadn't changed,

He wasn't sure why NIGHT vouched for him. His presence had been mostly glossed over, so when Freyd brought him up, he figured there was going to be a good chance he'd be asked to leave. That would have been fine, too. He couldn't - wouldn't - ever complain about that. He'd never met half the people gathered, he'd only met Morningstar once before, and it was fairly presumptuous of him to show up for a quest like that in the first place. But NIGHT spoke up for him, and that settled that. Pinball himself said nothing in response, and continued on to the fight. The dragon was massive, and ha

More conversation. From Arabelle, of all people. He wasn't sure why he was surprised. She seemed to have her eyes on the frontlines for a long time. But seeing her take an active part in the conversation regarding the raid and team compositions was a little surreal, after all the time that had passed. Then came a visitor. Pinball recognized him, but couldn't remember if he'd had a proper conversation with him before. If he had, Pinball doubted that it had been a friendly one. He hadn't had friendly interactions with most of the people gathered. Pinball continued to listen. He wanted to k

He'd told her that he'd find her when she was out. And he could. He had maxed Searching, and, more importantly, had access to Tracking, an ability he'd made liberal use of in the past. But in truth, Pinball had never left. He'd followed Kagami into the safe zone just a few steps behind her. He hadn't let her out of his sight. Pinball watched as she walked merrily down the streets of Tolbana, and he watched as she spoke to Zackariah to unlock the second part of the quest. When she'd exited the safe zone and called for him, his response was immediate. "Never left." Gone one second, a

Raid meeting, raid meeting, raid meeting; when was the last time he had been to a raid meeting? And what was with the decorations? It was fairly presumptuous, in his opinion. Who were these people supposed to be, again? Pinball had never seen them before in his life. Whoever they were, they certainly thought highly of themselves, centering such an event around their wedding. Maybe he was just being sour, but it left a bad taste in his mouth. And it wasn't because he hadn't been invited. Pinball had snuck into the meeting. It was the easiest way to enter -- the only way to ent

Taking this. A fine addition to my collection

He picked up the crystals much in the same way he had picked up the last. He snuck into the place after hours, and, as was usually the case, Acanthus had set aside his order for pick-up. He worked his way through the items, sorting them into his inventory. His hands lingered over the Soundtrack. He hadn't yet paid for it. The show of good faith from Acanthus meant something to him, but he didn't linger over that. He left behind the Demonic Shard she'd have burned on it, and then he vanished. He didn't listen to it until he was on his own, and when he did, he listened to it far more than just o

The food was finished, the words between them had been spoken. Or at least most of them, anyway. Pinball stood, too, as Mishiro handed off the empty trays and platters, and, for a moment, stared longingly at the bed. But there was only one, and Mishiro sat back down at the table, and Pinball wasn't going to just take it for himself. And he wasn't going to sleep unless she did. He wandered the minimally furnished room for a bit before stopping at the window. There was still a slight breeze. He leaned against the windowsill. In the meantime, Pinball was simply content enjoying the breeze a

He saw dark shapes in the water but nothing more. His first thought was one of annoyance -- how had he let this fish knock him off the boat? His second was that Acanthus had been right. It was cold. But there was no use in dwelling on it. He began to ascend, swimming for the surface, looking to recover his place on the dinghy. But something big swam by him. He pulled his knives out. He felt it swimming towards him, some shift in the water warning him. He swam up and as it passed he buried both knives into the sides of it. Air bubbles escaped through grit teeth as the fish thrashed beneat

He'd tagged along for the rest of the quests, too. They returned to find the town of Snowfrost in a state of disarray. It was interesting to see how quickly the atmosphere could change -- change the set piece, set the tone. Pinball wasn't interested in the exposition. What was the goal? It seemed like they were meant to defend the town. Building fortifications wasn't something he'd ever had to do in SAO -- so when the group dispersed, setting themselves to the task, Pinball lingered behind and watched. The guards didn't seem to care about his presence. More pressing matters at hand, he suppose

sending Omen x2 Pilk: +3 LD Dessert [#209489a] [#209489b]

Though Acanthus had taken a tumble into the water, Pinball still remained in the boat. "The water is cold,” she offered. “I would recommend not getting thrown in. Unless you like being cold, I suppose.” Pinball nodded solemnly. "I think you should get back in the boat." She didn't seem like she planned on getting back in, though. At least not yet. Fighting a fish in the water was a bold strategy. They'd see how it worked out soon, Pinball supposed. There was a moment during that silence that Acanthus looked like she was going to ask him something. He waited, but the moment did

"A tier four dungeon." He confirmed. If Mishiro was worried, he didn't notice. His face was buried in his food, and he would never have suggested it if it meant putting her in harm's way. It was when she trailed off that she had his attention. He quietly waited for her to finish. "That's not a problem." Pinball said. "And you won't owe me anything. It's not difficult to get your hands on a map." Pinball went back to his food. His mind went to the next fight ahead of them, and the dungeon they'd take on after. Before he knew it, his plate was empty. He pulled back, puzzled. Had he n

Eventually they rowed the boat out into deep waters. There was no land in sight. He let the oars go slack and let the boat just drift. It didn't take long for the boat to begin to wobble. Pinball frowned. The fish was there already? Moretsuna erupted from the water like a geyser, drenching the two of them in their boat and nearly capsizing them. Pinball let out a brief hissing noise through his teeth. Without stopping to aim, he hurled his knives towards where Moretsuna's body was -- where he thought it was. Pinball knew that if he tried really hard, he'd be able to kill it. It was just

Pinball sat down with Mishiro and started picking out his food. If their lunch was any indication, the dwarves ate much better than he did. It wasn't like it mattered much. You couldn't gain weight, and your health was solely dictated by a green bar in the top left corner of your vision. There was no need to worry about vitamins, protein, fats, or nutrients; Pinball was sure in the real world, his body was enduring much worse on life support. But it was a little embarrassing. His diet consisted mostly of various sweets, and he just didn't get tired of eating them. He liked pastries, mostly, an

They set up the boat quickly. Pinball was fairly eager to set out. Not out of any particular sense of excitement or urgency, but rather for the sole act of completing the quest. After doing different quests for so long, there came a point in time where a good chunk of them began to feel like a chore. He already had the stats, he already had the gear -- and still, progress on the frontlines were slow. He helped out when he could. He was helping out right now. What more could he do? He lost his train of thought as they loaded into the dinghy and cast off into the water. Pinball was silent,

The soldier died quickly. The crystal, like his knives and his arms, disappeared beneath his cloak. Pinball remained motionless where he stood, allowing the two to recover themselves from the heat of battle. Was that the whole quest? Pinball was unfamiliar with the trilogy, despite his frequent visits to the Fourth Floor. He was about to ask as much, but his mouth shut before it could form the words. For one reason or another, he didn't want to ask. Instead, he turned his attention to the performer. "Thank you for the crystals, Acanthus," Pinball said. They had been very helpful, and he

Circe's knives found themselves buried in the back of the Forgotten Time King, but not once did the withered husk of a mob even consider looking back towards her. Pinball was drawing too much aggro. The new player attacking came to Pinball as a surprise, but a welcome one -- their damage wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't inconsiderable, either. Pinball, being used to feeling out the health bars of mobs, felt that she had lined up his kill perfectly. All at once he flickered forwards, his body stepping in and out of shadow. He took two knives by the handle and drove them home into the gut o