Pinball

Pinball continued walking, his eyes constantly studying the ground below him. He wasn't even near any town yet, but he observed a sudden increase in the amount of players in the area. There weren't nearly as many as there used to be on the floor, but it was surprising how many others had done the same thing as he had. The same cowardly thing, that is. Hiding in an inn while players scale floors was hardly the right choice. He had hung back, letting the frontliners do the work, then took walks on the floors that they unlocked for the general public. It had taken him so long to realize how lame it was to do that, and had only then even attempted to fight someting. After that first quest had been finished, Pinball had found himself caught up in guilds, fighting, quests, and, unfortunately, gathering. He sighed, as he still couldn't find any materials. He was having really bad luck lately, it would seem.

 ID# 89479

LD: 10+3= 13 (Fail!) 

No T1 Materials Recovered. 

Total T1 Mats: 15/15

Pinball started to make his back to the beginning of the Floor One, aptly named the Town of Beginnings. He knew that the teleporter was there, and so, that was where he was aiming. However, he didn't have any plans on how to spend the rest of the day, and for Pinball, that was a problem. He wasn't much of a planner, but what Pinball was really doing at the moment was avoiding work. He realized this during the walking he was doing, and so he decided to actively search for Materials on his walk back to the town. Yes, technically, he had reached his quota, but it seemed like a waste to simply walk back for the hell of walking back, especially when there was nothing better he could be doing. He cast a quick glance at the ground around him, looking to see if he had missed any materials during his walk. He found none, so he continued to walk. Might as well keep looking, don't want to be one to quit something purely out of laziness. 

ID# 89478 

LD: 4 (Fail!) 

No T1 Mats Recovered. 

Total T1 Mats: 15/15 

Pinball stood, and searched the area as thoroughly as possible, but found nothing. "Well," he said, clapping his hands, "I think that settles that." He had gathered as many materials he could, and after a long, and rather exhausting few hours, Pinball was finished. He started to walk out of the forest the way he came in, not panicking nearly as much now that he knew how to get out. Pinball was excited, but also very dissapointed with himself. Yes, he had completed his task (more or less), but he had also not gathered the extra mats he had promised Hei. To kind of repay that inconvenience, Pinball had vowed to use Hei as his main man for all things tailoring, as well as return the <Cloak of the Harbingers> to the man who had created it for him. Pinball, with his head held low, stepped into the plains, and was carressed by the pleasant breeze of the plains. He would be learning something, and had learnt some things from this experience. The lesson that stuck out at Pinball the most, however, was Don't make promises you can't keep. 

ID# 89448

LD: 8 (Fail!)

No T1 Materials Recovered. 

Total T1 Mats: 15/15

Instead of getting up, Pinball just lay there, envisioning himself placing the orders. With Hei he would be more sullen ordering, he reasoned. It would be hard to show his face without the extra materials he had promised. However, he hoped that the return of his <Cloak of the Harbingers> would kind of make up for it, in a way. He didn't want to dissapoint the man, as he seemed to be friendly enough, but Pinball also really didn't want to gather anymore materials. Pinball thought on this, and decided that Hei would be the only Tailor he ordered from, and that he would make Material donations as much as possible, seeing as how annoying they were to gather starting out. Plus, the man often helped out newer players, which Pinball appreciated very much. Hei would probably put the cloak to much better use than he ever would, and that was for certain. Pinball scanned the area lazily, looking, but not exactly searching for any materials. 

ID# 89447

LD: 1 (Failure!) 

No T1 Materials Recovered. 

Total T1 Mats: 15/18 

Pinball was making his way through the forest, and ended up in a small, circular clearing. He quickly looked around, and found a material growing out of the stump of a felled tree. He rushed over to the material, grabbed it, and put it in his inventory, mentally telling himself that he had just made 15, and that he would be done soon. His expectations were extremely low at this point, morale was dropping fast. Pinball took a seat in the middle of the clearing, appreciating the view of the sky, noticing that it was getting later into the day. I want to hurry up and get this done soon, so I don't have to worry about anything else today. He considered calling it quits now, but ruled against it. He would follow the rule he set for himself. Two more failures, one after the other, then Pinball would call the gathering off. Then, and only then, would he call it off. He stretched his arms, which have gone a bit stiff from tiredness, and stared at the sky. 

ID#  89446

LD: 14+3= 17 (Success!) 

1 T1 Material Recovered! 

Total T1 Mats: 15/18 

Another consecutive fail really dampened Pinball's spirits. It discouraged him so greatly, that he decided then and there that if he had another failure like this, he would quit. He would find a different way to pay back Hei, as painful as the reality was. Pinball just really wasn't cut out for gathering, and anyone aware of how he feels would immediatly know this. Pinball has never been the impatient type, hell, he usually just took things as they came. However, just the monotony of earning, failing, earning, failing, set Pinball's amount of patience critically low. He shook his head, and continued through the forest, his head darting here and there at any slight crack in the branches, trying to stay alert as to any danger while simeultaneuously looking for materials. It wasn't an easy thing to do, and Pinball himself wasn't sure if he would be able to handle it for too much longer. 

ID# 89445 

LD: 3 (Fail!) 

No T1 Materials Recovered. 

Total T1 Mats: 14/18 

Pinball kept walking through the forest, his hands in his pockets and his thoughts drifting into nothingness. He looked upward, out of the forest, and into the sky.. or at least, what was visible of it. The "sky" for the first floor was really just the bottom of the second floor, and Pinball assumed that it would be that way until the 100th floor. He told himself yet again, that he would live to see that sky. That he would take the memory of Aincrad's sky, bring it home, and compare the two, and find that nothing can beat the colors of the true world. Since Pinball was more concerned with his thoughts than actually searching for materials, he couldn't bring himself to focus on anything around him. Therefore, he wasn't surprised when he tried searching for materials and didn't find anything. "It's all good, though," he told himself with a shrug. He would find more sometime or the other, and he only needed 4 more mats until he called it quits. Pinball kept walking. 

ID# 89444

LD: 11+3= 14 (Fail!) 

No T1 Materials Recovered. 

Total T1 Mats: 14/18 

Immediatly after his first success, Pinball took three steps in the direction he was walking, and stumbled upon another material. Pinball lazily smiled, and stumbled over to it, as if he was drunk. As was his usual routine, he crouched, picked up the item, and pocketed it in his inventory. "Easy pickings," he said, counting out the total number of materials he's gathered. "This makes... 14!" He was greatly pleased with this, seeing as he was making progress again. It seemed to him that it wasn't as stressful gathering materials when you had a smaller goal in mind. That is, of course, unless you have enough buffs to continuously gether materials. Next time he goes out, Pinball decided that he would pack an LD bonus, so he didn't have to go through this monotonous process once again. "Alrighty," he said, "time to go deeper into it, I guess." And with those words, he started walking again. 

ID# 89441 

LD: 17 (Success!) 

1 T1 Material Recovered! 

Total T1 Mats: 14/18 

He kept along through the forest, huffing and puffing as he was, until something caught his eye. Something that stuck out. Something that screamed gather me! It was a material! His anger immediatly elleviated, Pinball rushed to the material, crouched, picked it up, pocketed it, and placed it in his inventory. He couldn't help the bubbly feeling in his chest rush up to his mouth, making him exclaim, "Yeah!" He jumped up and down, as his luck had returned. For the most part. He still wasn't sure if It would stick along with him, but Pinball knew that he himself would stick around. He had told someone he was going to do something, so until the job was done, Pinball would struggle along, gathering his materials and walking along, his hands in his pockets, without a solid goal or a particular destination in mind. "Hope I can find some more," he said aloud. "This forest is super gloomy, wouldn't wanna be out here too long again."

ID# 89440

LD: 12+3= 15 (Success!)

1 T1 Material Recovered! 

Total T1 Mats: 13/18 

Three times in a row, Pinball thought dejectedly. He had wandered into the forest as far as he could go without losing the sight of the treeline, but as evidenced by his failure, he would have to go even deeper. Damn it, damn it all, he thought, a bit angry with his luck. If he couldn't get to 18 materials gathered soon, he thought he would just dissapoint Hei, only bringing the bare minimum, and forever be marked as a man who couldn't keep his word. Except you won't do that, silly, he told himself, knowing it was true. It didn't stop him from being mad about it, so with every step he went he let out a huff, a puff, or a grump, quite frustrated that he couldn't go back to his local inn yet. Maybe I'll stop back at the Town of Begginings after this, check the names being marked off. He shrugged to himself, and trudged along. 

ID# 89439

LD: 2 (Fail!) 

No T1 Materials Recovered. 

Total T1 Mats: 12/18

Pinball reached the edge of the forest grove, and there he stood, staring into the trees. He stood there for a little while, just watching. For what, he didn't know, but the forest made him uncomfortable after his earlier trip through the heart of it. He stood there, not doing anything. After a while of that mindless staring, he forced his eyes away, and decided to search the outermost part of it first, looking for any stray materials that just may have somehow ended up away from the rest of the herd. The term "herd", Pinball was not quite sure fit. After all, he had found most of his materials in very random places, and the placement of the materials, to Pinball, seemed a bit arbitrary. Like Fae ran around scattering them, he thought with amusement, referring to the child in his guild. After nothing was found, Pinball tried to gather up his courage, for he now had to re-enter the forest. 

ID# 89438 

LD: 9+3= 12 (Fail!) 

No T1 Materials recovered. 

Total T1 Mats: 12/18 

Pinball decided to once again head to the grove of trees. On the walk there, he started actively searching for materials, but nothing presented itself. It was sad, really, that his luck had come and went so fast. Seeing as how every attempt he tried on the Plains failed, he believed that the grove of trees he had escaped not too long ago would be the best thing to do. As was stated earlier, Pinball kept an eye out, but found nothing. "Damn," he muttered, as he inched closer and closer to the treeline. "I was really hoping for some materials," he said aloud, as if saying such things into open air would make them more true, or make them more likely to appear. "False hopes for false people," he muttered bitterly, not paying attention to his surroundings as he kicked up a cloud of dirt angrily. 

ID# 89437 

LD: 6 (Fail!) 

No T1 Materials found. 

Total T1 Mats: 12/32 

Pinball, once again, found himself walking forever. That's strange, he thought. Where had his luck gone? It was no doubt not here anymore, as his most recent attempts both failed. It was his fault, he reasoned, for botching his chances on finding any materials. However, Pinball refused to quit. He had come quite far, and he now decided that he would just have to lower his expectations with these materials. He would lower his goal from 32 to 18, and pay for one of the perfect items he would order from Eatos with COL. It wasn't very persiverant of him, but then again, his patience was running out. He did the math in his head, making sure he still had enough extra mats to donate to Hei, as he had promised. He would get 3 spare materials... Not as much as I would want to give him, but I just don't have the patience to keep going with this. Pinball would soon need to find someone to adventure with, as he was getting pretty lonely, and doing things alone generally tended to be quite tedious. 

ID# 89436

LD: 7 (Failed!) 

No T1 Materials Recovered. 

Total T1 Mats: 12/18 

Still a bit shaken up by the Black Boar experience, Pinball pulled himself up into a sitting position, and looked around his general vicinity. It was a flimsy search attempt, and as such, he could see none of the T1 Materials he had hoped to see. Pinball let out a sigh. I guess that's not unwarranted. I just need a couple more, though, and I can finally order my gear. Pinball pushed himself onto his knees, and then onto his feet. His health was still low, but it hadn't hit the halfway-mark, and it was slowly but surely recovering. That's good, he thought. That Black Boar was dishing out some real punishment. If I had better gear, and maybe a familiar, I wouldn't have found myself in a situation like that. With his thoughts concluding, Pinball stuffed his hands in his pockets, and started walking without a clear destination in mind. 

ID# 89435

LD: 10+3= 13 (Failure!) 

No T1 Materials Recovered. 

Total T1 Mats: 12/32

The Black Boar shuffled, and Pinball knew it was going to charge. He quickly sheathed his dagger, and made a rather rude hand gesture at the Black Boar. The Boar charged, and Pinball twisted at the last second, the Black Boar rushing past him, unable to stop in time. Without looking back, Pinball took off, running as fast as he could for as long as he could, only stopping when he decided that he was so tired, he wouldn't be able to fight if the boar was still chasing him. In which case, death would have been inevitable. However, lucky for him, the Black Boar was not still following him. Thank God, he muttered, looking distastefully at the dagger strapped to his waist. I'm going to get a couple of more materials, and then I'm outta here. I've had enough action for today, thank you very much. He collapsed on top of a particularly dense piece of grass, too tired and unmotivated to attempt any further movement. 

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LD: 20 (Success!) MD: 8 (Hit!) 

COMBAT: 

HEALTH/STATS:

This was stupid, he decided. So, so very stupid. Pinball sheathed his dagger, turning to run. He had a very strange instinct to roll to the left, and so he did, and the Black Boar barreled past him, it's tusks pointed outwards, ready to gore him... if it had hit him. Instead, the boar adruptly stopped, and the force of that stop sent it rolling into a tree. Unfortunately for Pinball, the fact that it slammed in a tree did little more than daze it. Jesus Christ, I didn't think It would try chasing me like that, he thought, suddenly anxious. He had no intention of dying to this thing. If worse came to worse, he would just fight it, as dull and tedious a fight that would be. Alright, he thought, pushing himself to do it, get up. Try again, get out of here. You didn't sign up for this. He forced himself to stand, unsheathed his dagger, just in case. He was going to make another attempt very soon, he just needed to wait for the right moment...

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LD: 4+3= 7 (Running Away attempt failed.) MD: 1 (Miss!) 

COMBAT: 

HEALTH/STATS: 

Pinball got into a runner's crouch, his knife over his head and pointed forwards. The blade let out a hum as he activated <Round Accel>. The Black Boar snorted and stomped the ground, looting loose a cloud of dust. Pinball let the sword skill loose, and charged. The Black Boar charged. They collided with enough force to kick up a cloud of dust. Pinball scored a nasty gash on the Black Boar's side, but with his reckless charging, the Black Boar gored his knee, dealing critical damage. "Damn it!" Pinball screamed, the simulated pain a dull throbbing that spread throughout his entire leg. "They sure as hell didn't skimp out on the details, did they," he asked himself, resisting the urge to use a few choice words to talk about the developers. Whatever, he thought. I need to hurry this up. Pinball turned around, his dagger held tightly in his hand. Alright.

ID# 89429

BD: 9 (Critical Hit!) MD: 9 (Critical Hit!) 

COMBAT:

HEALTH/STATS: 

Pinball rushed in for another attack, hoping to get one last good hit in before the Black Boar fully recovered. However, the Boar was faster than he thought, and launched itself into Pinball's chest mid-run. Pinball got knocked onto the ground, and the boar rolled to the side, snorting angrily, hot breath coming out in puffs. Pinball rolled away from the Boar on his back, and launched himself back onto his feet, landing in a crouch and retrieving his dagger, which he had lost in his fall. "Damn it," Pinball muttered, strained for breath. He had missed, and worse yet, the Black Boar had hit him. He needed to finish this soon, but his energy was getting scarily low, when brought into comparison with the mob's health. Pinball grunted, and brought himself back onto his feet, to face the boar that paced back and forth, watching his movements. "This needs to end soon."

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ID# 89428

BD: 4 (Miss!) MD: 6 (Hit!)

COMBAT:

HEALTH/STATS: 

The Black Boar was stunned, as evidenced by the dizziness effect the boar seemed to have. Pinball saw this, and decided to immediatly follow up with his next attack, using <Round Accel> to strike another solid cut along it's side. The Boar grunted, and shook it's head, the stun now almost wearing off. <Side Bite> was a reliable attack, Pinball observed, however, he was running out of Energy to use Sword Skills fast. Soon enough, he would be stuck with basic attacks, and that's where the most dangerous part comes in. The boar isn't affected by any energy limit, or so it seemed to Pinball. Meaning that while Pinball's damage output will be dropping considerably quite soon, the Black Boar's damage will remain constant. His MIT would protect him from the brunt of the hits, but even that won't prevent the Black Boar from killing him if he doesn't land any good hits soon. 

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ID# 89424

BD: 8 (Hit!) MD: 7 (Hit!,  STUNNED) 

COMBAT:

HEALTH/STATS:

Pinball ran up to the boar, and the boar immediatly noticed, becoming hostile. The Black Boar charged, landing a strike on his calf, but Pinball immediatly followed up with <Side Bite> which he had activated before hand, and landed on the boar's side as he charged pass. The boar spun around, then froze as the stunn effect took effect. Pinball glanced at his HP bar, that had taken a tiny dip. My armor is the only thing saving me here, he thought uncomfortably. If I can't land good hits on this thing soon, it might actually be able to kill me... Pinball hopped back, his dagger in hand. The boar was now stunned, but he would have to follow up with another attack soon if he wanted to take full advantage of the stun. "Alright," he muttered. He would have to end this quick. Otherwise, Pinball might not be making it out here in in one piece, judging from the boar's health and damage. 

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ID# 89423 

BD: 5+1=6 (Hit!) MD: 7 (Hit!)

COMBAT: 

HEALTH/STATS: 

Pinball stopped mid-stride, as a material caught his eye. He crouched, sheathed his dagger, and picked up the material, just to make sure it was a material. It sure was. He put it in his inventory, suddenly losing all interest in fighting the boar. "That's twelve," he said aloud. He yelled at himself for being stupid. He had no idea why he thought he would be able to beat the Black Boar. He didn't even know the boar's stats, after all. It could end up killing him. But then again... He needed the COL. Not as enthusiastic as the last time he decided to do this, he gripped his dagger.He was going to kill this mob, and then he was going to walk away, alive, with his rewards for killing it. "Alright boarsie pie, it's your time to die." He stood up, walked up to the boar, who had yet to notice it's presence. "Let's get it done, for real this time." 

ID# 89422

LD: 15 

1 T1 Materials Recovered!

Total T1 Mats: 12/32

Pinball started walking again, his hands in his pockets, as per usual. He stopped when he couldn't find anything on the immediate floor, he decided to head to the edge of the forest grove. He walked alongside that edge for a while, and still couldn't find anything that screamed, "Hey, I'm a material, pick me up!" He finally stopped, and stared up at the boars roaming the fields. Particularly, the black variant. Alright, he thought, a grim determination swelling in his belly. I guess it's time. He pulled out his dagger, the green blade catching the sunlight and shining. "Alright, black boar, it's your time to die." He pointed at the black boar, who still hadn't taken notice of the teenager. The boar lumbered around, wandering around without much of a goal in mind. Kinda like Pinball was, not too long ago, when he was out looking for materials. But the time for material gathering was over. It was time to fight. "Let's get this over with." 

ID# 89421 

LD: 4+3= 7 (Failure!) 

No T1 Materials Recovered.

Total T1 Materials: 11/32

After that inner-monologue, Pinball straightened out and started walking again. He had not taken more than three steps, when he immediatly found another material. "Wow," he said to himself, "that's eleven, I guess." He was making good time, and he was certainly getting materials at a decent rate. His thoughts drifted back to the boar. I'm sure that if it drops any loot, then I'll be able to get even more materials faster. But is it worth the risk? He was going to find out soon enough. Pinball crouched, and picked up the material, putting it in his inventory. Well, I'll stay true to my word. Next failed search, I'll fight one. He spotted a particular type of boar, who instead of the usual color, was a jet black. Must be stronger than the usual. Certainly looks that way. He decided that that was the boar he was going to go after. 

ID# 89420 

LD: 20 (Success!) 

1 T1 Material Recovered! 

Total T1 Mats: 11/32

Pinball crouched, placing the newly found material in his inventory. This one had been a bit harder to find, as it was in a bush, wrapped up in the branches, and... the thorns. Pinball stood, the breeze blowing his hair to the side. He was by the edge of the same grove of trees he had left earlier, looking out at the plains. Boars still littered the plains, and they still made Pinball a bit uncomfortable. However, he didn't feel like fighting anything at the moment, since he had only just made it out of a sticky situation. He turned, looking back into the forest. The next time I can't find anything, he decided, I'll go and fight something in there. He nodded, now set on doing so. His damage might be exceptionally low, but he might be able to defeat a monster for loot if he uses his stun sword skill. It made him uncomfortable to think about, but he might be caught in a bad situation if he isn't able to kill it fast enough. 

ID# 89413

LD: 17 (Success!)

1 T1 Material Recovered! 

Total T1 Mats: 11/32

Pinball, as seems to be the norm, tripped over yet another lump on the ground. "Oh," he exclaimed pleasantly. It didn't really come as a surprise this time, as he had uncovered 2 others in just this manner. Either way, as was customary, Pinball dropped a knee, picked it up, and placed it in his inventory. "Well, well, well, that makes ten," he continued, standing up again. He shook himself, wiping the dirt off his pants. Can't wait to get that new leather armor from Hei, he thought, imagining the man's reaction when Pinball orders the armor, but gives him 9 extra materials as a side donation to his shop. I've read the guy's sign, he offers free items to new players. That's super kind, and he let me have this cloak free of charge as well. Pinball, dismissing the thoughts, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and once again, he started walking, not a particular destination in mind. 

ID# 89412

LD: 15 (Success!) 

1 T1 Material Recovered! 

Total T1 Mats: 10/32