Fae

Fae could vaguely remember the idea of prison teleport crystals. That was back when there was a lot more order among the playerbase and 'police' groups arresting PKers. For how it ruined the experience for said PKers, even if they deserved it, it made sense for those teleport crystals to stop working like that. Fae had missed a good amount of the early changes that happened in the game, but she still knew about some of them at least. As they neared the cave, Fae got a better grip on her dagger and prepared herself just in case something jumped out. Whatever monster was in there would hopefully be going for them soon instead of Koko. Since they would probably lose the quest and have to deal with the guilt of letting an NPC die like that. "Oh the AoEs would have to be annoying for sure when trying to deal with a boss. Everyone probably wastes a lot of items on bosses since so many people get hit don't they? That's probably not ever gonna change, since someone could just howl and be a sole tank." Fae commented, just picturing how expensive all of those items would be. That was another mental note Fae logged into her head, to gather up more items for her future quests for healing.

Fae's eyes lit up with curiosity as Hestia opened up her menu and pulled out a journal. The thought of having one even just for notes sounded fun, so now it was put into Fae's mind for consideration when they would be done with this quest. Judging by the strips of paper that probably served as bookmarks, Hestia had already gotten a lengthy amount of content inside of it. Hearing about the first boss though, that sounded pretty crazy compared to what she heard was on the frontlines now. That kind of manipulation from a boss on the first floor? Talk about a difficulty curve. "Controlling players by lying to them? That sounds pretty harsh, especially since it worked and players died. Do you think the devs realized how messed up that was and toned down the bosses? From what Fae heard, the bosses now are more so just really long fights. Even with the one after Hanzo, that's much more tame." Fae wondered what the thought process was behind making the bosses, although that wasn't a question that was really going to get answered. The movements from Hestia to further show what was up with these bosses helped, with Fae nodding along and paying close attention.

With the system update and her new motivation, Fae had come to floor 10 to do some fishing. Or rather, figure out how to. Fae had just spent a good chunk of her col on a new dagger, so if she wanted to not blow all of that money, she would need to actually start gathering materials instead. She'd go for her own profession later, since getting the materials first was the important part. A lot of people who owned shops accepted them after all, so they had their value outside of crafting. Although as soon as Fae set foot into the main settlement of Yomi after teleporting there, she was hit with instant dread that stemmed from the haunted city and just general malaise made by the environment. But she would just have to try and ignore it if she wanted to make any kind of progress. There were some underground lakes within the Endless Caves that were in the floor, which was what Fae had in mind to fish in. She just had to find them first. Would going alone be the best idea? Probably not, so Fae decided to walk through the ghoulish city of Yomi first to try and find another player.

Stats and Equipment:

@Zandra

Fae didn't know just how much stronger Hestia had gotten since they last saw each other, so she still wanted to be at least somewhat cautious. At the end of the day, she was still fairly low leveled and didn't want to have things take a wrong turn. Listening to what Hestia had been up to, it dawned on Fae just how much things had progressed. Multiple floor bosses had gone by and she just completely missed them since she was just in her own little bubble. "Wow, that's a lot of work you've gotten done! Maybe Fae can get to that level someday. Fae doesn't know how long that would take, but maybe Fae could catch up by the time you all get to floor 40? That sounds pretty fun, getting all that experience and those memories from fighting bosses. But how were those bosses like back then?" Fae replied, sounding impressed with how much Hestia had done. The idea of talking about players who were long gone made her a bit uncomfortable, so she just didn't comment on that part. If someone was long in the past, then could they be dead? Fae just preferred not to have that answer.

Fae wasn't fully aware of everything Pinball had done, as she still saw him as friend who just made some bad choices like she did. Of course, the orange cursor was dead giveaway that he had done plenty wrong, but Fae still refused to believe that her friend was a full on murderer. "Yup! So what have you been up to lately miss Hestia? Just getting stronger and stronger I'm guessing? Fae has just been trying stay out of trouble, so not much to say here." Fae asked, stepping into the fairly lush forests of the second floor once they were out of Urbus. The mountain in the distance Fae could see far off as well, and the map that Choshi had given them clearly indicated that this was the way to find Koko. Over time, Fae would start to skip instead of just walk, looking up at the trees above them and keeping an eye out just in case any mobs were around. The quest did have some kind of bat monster, so Fae wasn't sure if it was capable of leaving it's cave to come after someone when they accepted the quest.

Fae was relieved that Hestia's reaction to her was pretty normal, since her memory of Fae wasn't that vivid. Although she asked for a refresher, which conflicted Fae a bit now on whether or not to tell the truth. If everyone else had a similar view on Fae now like Hestia did, then hopefully there'd be no way to fact. "Well we saw each other at a lot of the holiday events, we did that desert quest in the sand together with Pinny too!" Fae gave her little refresher, leaving out all the other stuff that could make this turn sour. Pinball was someone she had wanted to see, but things between them were definitely complicated. Hestia was willing to accompany her on this quest, which was an offer that Fae just couldn't turn down, since it'd make things so much easier. Maybe she wouldn't even have to use her cookie on this quest. Keeping the quest in mind, Fae started to get back to walking to the main exit of Urbus that led to the cave they needed to go to while looking back at Hestia. "Fae would love having someone come along, so sure! It makes the quest that much more fun if you're doing it with a friend right?" Fae accepted the offer, smiling brightly and then gesturing for Hestia to follow her with one arm.

Fae was about to march off on her own to get this quest done when she heard a different voice tell the same NPC that they were going to be helping her out and find her lost child. It was a familiar voice, and Fae soon recognized it as soon as she turned around and saw her. Last time she had seen her was at that winter festival from what felt like forever ago. Hestia and Fae weren't on the best terms from what she could remember, but being nice could help maybe? Hopefully Hestia wouldn't remember her as well as Fae remembered her. "Hi miss Hestia! It's been a while since Fae last saw you!" Fae greeted Hestia excitedly, waving at her. All she could do was take the optimistic route with this reencounter. Compared to Hestia and her majestic heavy armor, Fae was much less bulky with her tan cloak made of leather. She had her dagger ready inside of her cloak, although like most of her body, it couldn't be seen thanks to the cloak. Fae was wondering what would bring someone as strong as Hestia in her eyes to come down to the 2nd floor. Maybe it was just quest cleanup like Fae?

Fae, a player who was likely just a distant memory for many of the players still in Aincrad, was finally making the decision to come out of her shell again. After a whole bunch of hiding and waiting for everyone to hopefully forget her stupid decisions, Fae decided that now was the time to get back to grinding up. But this time, she wasn't going to let herself mess up just as badly as she had before. She had just purchased her new dagger recently, so she already felt like she was going to get better results going forward. As soon as she walked into Urbus after arriving on the floor, she was greeted by the crying woman NPC Choshi who began to tell her about the situation with her child getting lost in the cave. Normally, Fae would have been much more distraught to hear that this kind of thing had happened, but this was an NPC. It wasn't too bad right? "Don't worry miss! Fae will help you out!" Fae told Choshi, having plenty of energy in her voice as she accepted the quest. Choshi thanked her afterwards and stopped crying, which then came the important part. The location of Koko popped up on Fae's map, which obviously led out of Urbus and to the cave that meat of the quest would take place in. Fae turned around now that she had her quest accepted, ready to head out of the walled city and find this lost child.

Stats and Equipment:

@Hestia

Fae walked into the shop, waving at the two inside with a big smile. They looked like a couple, which was always nice to see for Fae. It made the shop feel more like those family owned businesses in the real world, which made it much more of a comfy shopping experience. "Hi! Fae is just here to look around!" Fae greeted them, speaking in third person like always. She looked around the shop, her eyes going straight to the daggers in the display case. Fae hadn't picked up an actual weapon, since she had prioritized armor, but now seemed like a good as time as any to pick up a dagger with some enhancements on it. There were some in stock already, so Fae didn't need to go through the trouble of placing an order and coming back later. One of them caught her eye in particular and she pulled it out of the display case after opening it. It looked pretty sharp, and the enhancements on it were pretty ideal. Yeah, this would work. Fae brought it to the counter in the back of the shop and placed it on the counter to pay. "Fae will take this one, thanks mister! Have a great day!" Fae thanked Koga, then sent him the col needed for the dagger. After that, she would simply skip back to the front and then out of the shop.

Paying 450 col for:

Current Level: 5
Current SP: 26
Link to SP Tracking: [Journal]

Item Upgrades: 

Fae continued to pull along Stryder now, going over her steps in her head just to be sure that they were going in the right direction. The cool feeling and the lights just made it feel more like an adventure. He answered her question about sleeping, which got her to puff her cheeks for a moment out of jealousy. "Lucky her... well Fae hopes it keeps going well then! Fae used to share a bed with mister Hei, but now Fae just finds a pretty place outside and camps!" Fae explained, speaking very fondly of both cases. She was essentially a bum now, but to her it was all fun still. She went back to skipping along as they started to near the hot springs, with some steam creeping along the ground near their feet. "Oooooh! It's coming up soon! Fae is so excited!" Fae exclaimed, pulling him a little faster. This feeling of excitement was just completely overtaking her now.

Fae led Stryd along through the town, happily skipping which was about as fast as his walk. She was glad to hear that Hei was still doing fine unlike what happened with Eatos. "Well what about you mister Stryder? You seem the same, just a little less happy. Did Fae do something again?" Fae asked as they now had left town and were on the path in the caverns to the hot springs. Fae already had gone before, so she knew the way there. When he said that everyone missed her, that got an even bigger smile on Fae's face, nearly falling over since she stopped her skipping and looked back up at Stryd. "They really do? That makes Fae happy! Ooh, does that one girl still sleep with you? You never told Fae the other way to sleep with people." Fae asked, still curious from the Christmas party. She didn't quite get it and his answer last time confused her.

Fae continued to pet Silver now with both hands, one on her back and one on the head. Fae didn't know what had gone on with her beloved Pinny, so Stryder's change in tone confused her for only a moment. It was quickly dismissed when Stryd said that she was just as he remembered. "Of course Fae is mister Stryder! Why would Fae change? You seem just the same to Fae!" Fae said, now finally taking her hands off Silver as she would start to walk. It was a sort of small town, so getting on their way to the hot springs wouldn't take long at all. "Are things still going okay with the guild? Fae misses everyone there too. Like mister Hei and..." Fae stopped herself once she remembered Eatos. She had seen her name on the monument, and it very much still hurt to think about her. Fae shook it off quickly though and grabbed Stryd's hand to lead him.

Fae was now looking around town for Stryder once he had messaged her back, which had filled her with such immense joy. The added compliment just reassured her that he still cared, so Fae just skipped her way through town happily until she arrived at the warp gate where she assumed he would be. It only took a couple of seconds for Fae to notice him, running over and hopping on his shoulders as always, messing with his hair a bit. "Hi mister Stryder! Fae missed you! Fae is so glad you could make it!" Fae greeted, before hopping off his shoulders and petting Silver, happy to see her again too. "Fae didn't forget you either! You're such a cute doggy!" Fae giggled as she pet her, mostly on the head. While she pet Silver, Fae looked back up at Stryd with a big smile, trying to muster out anything from the millions of thoughts in her head. "So are you ready to go camping mister Stryder? Fae came out to the springs here with mister Pin, and it was super fun! You just get to relax!" Fae said, in an amazed tone as if these hot springs were a gift from god.

Fae was in the main settlement of Tomoika, just taking in the sights of the glowing cavern. She was easily distracted by bright lights and glowing things, so the glowing crystals easily caught her trance. She almost forgot why she came here in the first place. But then it quickly came back, mister Stryder. She hadn't seen him since the Christmas event, so it was a long time to say the least. Opening her messages, Fae found him quickly and typed him up a quick message, hopeful that he would even care.

Fae sent the message shortly after, taking a few deep breaths. She was in a safe zone, so just in case Stryd actually hated her like she thought he did, then she was safe from any harm. She wanted to spend more time with him since she still had her feelings for him, but that didn't matter too much since right now Fae just needed to focus on staying on his good side.

@Stryder

Fae's Stats:

Running, taking a fast stroll, hiding, whatever you wanted to call it, that's just what Fae was doing. She wasn't the best with decisions either and found herself now on the 24th floor. She wasn't that high levelled, so she figured no one would come looking for her here. It was just a few people like miss Hestia that she was scared of, but that was enough to make her want to get away from everything. The island with the pit seemed like an ideal spot to hide out at for a while since it was less explored compared to the others, so Fae headed across the bridge and began to look around once she reached the other side.

A forest like this was welcome on Fae's mind since it provided plenty of nice spots to hide. She could probably find some good materials up here too, so that was a plus. After a few minutes of looking around, she finally found the pit. But what concerned her more than the deep darkness was the figure that was standing and looking down at it. Fae skipped over to them and poked their arm, not realizing it was her old friend Pinball. "Hi mister, what are you doing here? Fae was just looking around." Fae asked him, keeping one hand inside of her cloak ready to pull out her dagger if she needed it. It probably wouldn't help at all considering who it was if they got in a fight.

Fae's Stats

Fae was a little bummed out that Barney didn't know too many games, but she liked the idea of playing Marco Polo with him. Simple and fun, that's what Fae liked! "Okay mister Barney! We can play Marco Polo if you want! Fae doesn't have too many friends in here either, so you wanna be friends mister Barney?" Fae asked excitedly, hopping up and down again with excitement. She listened to him explain what Valhalla was and tilted her head in confusion for a moment, stopping her joyous bouncing. "So the guy from earlier died? Sad... Fae feels bad for him. But Fae hopes to go there someday too! Maybe that mister Odin guy can be Fae's friend too!" Fae turned things right back to a positive in her eyes as she hopped down from the rock she was standing on, tossing off her cloak and diving into the water. "C'mon mister Barney, let's play!"

Fae listened to him and looked all the way up once he stood. He mentioned Valhalla and Fae just seemed confused. She hadn't heard of that place before anywhere in Aincrad. Her mind went plenty of places before deciding that it was just a code word. "Nice to meet you Barney! That sounds just like that purple dino guy! But what is Valhalla? That sounds like a cool place kinda. Fae wants to know!" Fae was hopping up and down with excitement now. "Do you know any fun games mister Barney? Fae doesn't have anything else on her mind at the moment." Fae asked, tilting her head while she climbed up onto a rock so she could be closer to eye level with Bjarni, who was now officially Barney for her. Whether he liked it or not, the one glorius viking guy was now a purple dinosaur in her vision. Fae looked up at him in awe, amazed at the imaginary Barney's presense.

Fae didn't hear any of what had happened. The crash of the weapon, the shouting, the shattering of Ike, Fae had heard literally none of it. "66... 67... 68... 69! Ready or not, here Fae comes!" Fae finished counting and opened her eyes, but she was quickly greeted by the sight of Bjarni instead, which didn't seem to faze her. "OOH! Did another person come along to play with Fae too? That's great! Sorry mIster man, Fae was just about to go looking for her buddy. Could you give Fae any hints if you saw him?" Fae asked, blissfully unaware of what had just happened to Ike. She just assumed that he had gotten himself a really nice hiding spot.

Fae watched Ike get out of the water shirtless, staring him up and down for a moment to see if he had any poopyhead guild tattoos or anything of the sort. She didn't spot any, so she continued to smile at him as she looked up to see his face. "Yup! Fae is Fae! Fae wants to play hide and seek this time! Do you wanna hide first? Fae knows this area very super duper well, so it wouldn't be for Fae to hide first. You ready? Fae is gonna count to 69, that's a magic number some guy told me. So ready, set, go!" Fae exclaimed, naming the game and starting it all at once. She put her hands over her face to cover her eyes, waiting for him to go hide. "One... two... three... four..." Fae began to count sort of quickly, although she couldn't help herself. She was just so eager to play.

Fae was also at the waterfall, well, right by the waterfall. Why was she there? Well because of a poopyhead named Outlander, Fae had been on the run for a while. But for around 2 months now, Fae had lived a simple hobo life on floor 6, people just giving her food and stuff because she was a little kid. It was super easy and fun for her, getting to play around as much as she wanted. She was hanging around her campsite when she heard someone jump into the water. Stepping out in only her cloak with her underwear beneath it, Fae waved at the guy resting. "Hi there mister! Did you wanna play with Fae? You came to Fae's spot, so you gotta play!" Fae giggled a bit while running over to him with a big smile on her face. It had felt like forever since she last played with someone else that wasn't a child NPC. But now was her chance to finally play!

Fae stopped sniffing once Stryd told her that he didn't hate her, smiling as he picked her up again. It was so relieving to finally have someone who understood her. Fae hugged Stryd as he held her, now beaming happily, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "Mwah! Thanks mister Stryder! Fae is so happy to hear that! We can all go camping together, it'll be super duper fun! You can trust Fae on that! Fae loves you so much!" Fae said, giggling before a snowball hit Stryd's chest. Fae hopped back down and started making snowballs with Stryd when he said it was payback time. "Fae's got you covered mister Stryd! Prepare to go down miss cat lady!" Fae said pointing at Jinx with a bit of a determined look now. Snowball fights were serious business for her just like any kid, so she had a pile of decent sized snowballs ready within the minute, handing a couple to Stryd while throwing a few at Jinx. Fae was still much weaker than Stryd despite throwing overhand, but she was still having loads of fun.

@Stryder @Jinx

Fae nodded her head in compliance when Stryd told her she didn't have to give him anything. "But Fae doesn't need it! Fae doesn't like big scary dungeons... they're too scary for Fae. The only thing in here Fae might use is that tent! Fae could go camping with you, or maybe miss Embers! Fae hasn't played with either of you for a while! But, Embers thinks that Fae wants to hurt her or somethin', it's dumb. Fae saw that these meanies were trying to start a murder guild, so Fae joined them to just infiltrate them and maybe take out their leader, but then everyone hates Fae! Do you hate Fae too mister Stryder?" Fae asked, letting all her thoughts out now. It was weird to have to say all of this now, but it was better now than risk never getting to explain at all and end up on the end of someone's blade. That made Fae shudder with fear. "That's why Fae didn't wanna talk to miss Krysta, or mister Vigilon, they hate Fae too, so does miss Hestia. Fae just wanted to help..." Fae trailed off, sniffing a few times.

@Stryder

Fae listened to Benny announced the results of the raffle, and much to her surprise, she won the Adventurer's Pack. It wasn't a major win, but it was still cool to win something. Fae hopped off of Stryder's shoulder's once she was called, running over to Benny to get her prize. Once she took the backpack from him, she slung it behind her, it being very heavy for her. "Thanks mister! Fae says Merry Christmas!" Fae thanked, lugging the backpack as she walked slowly, nearly losing balance a few times. It was sturdy and heavy, considering all it contained, especially the tent. Being as small as she was, Fae was barely strong enough for it. After walking back to Stryder after a minute, Fae took off her pack and held it up to him. "Hey mister Stryder! Fae won a prize! Here you go! Fae wants you to have it!" Fae said, smiling up at him. The cat lady from earlier had won a prize too, so Fae gave her a brief thumbs up before going back to holding up the pack for Stryd to take.

(OOC:@Benny claimed the Adventurer's pack)

@Stryder @Jinx

Wow, so Vigilon and Krysta were here? They were a perfect couple, and the missiletoe just fit them perfectly as well. While Vigilon she was fine with being here, since he knew, although just him knew, another person who knew started to put Fae on edge. When Krysta greeted her, Fae let out a low growl before waving back at her. "Hi miss Krysta! Fae is glad to see you again too! You and mister Vigilon hooked up huh?" Fae greeted back, smiling from atop Stryd's shoulders still. Thankfully, not too much attention was given to Fae from her, so she sighed with relief. She was trying to fix things, and the last thing she needed was one of those two do-gooders ruining things with her and Stryd. Yinangi came up to them as well, and Fae waved down to her. "Hi! Fae remembers you from the Valentine's party! Fae is Fae, nice to meet you!" Fae introduced herself cheerfully, recalling her saying hi to Fae at that party.

@Krysta @Vigilon @Dazia @Stryder