Katagawa

Hokori didn't like that the others gave the woman a promise that it wasn't certain they could keep, but understood why they felt that way. She noticed it more often in men then women, but people always wanted to give false hope to raise morale. She knew better. It was far more important not to give hope that shouldn't be there. Though it was likely the three of them could clear out that entire cave, who knew if there wasn't some overly powered beast lurking in its depths. She did her customary checks of her gear before following the other two outside of the city. "Neither of you had to give her false hope. She may be an NPC but that is no reason to give the chance of crushing her virtual soul should we fail." She knew she would be met with negative responses here, but needed to voice her opinion. "As likely as it is we will succeed we can't give out guarantees on a situation we know next to nothing about!" Hokori drew her sword out of frustration. She wasn't going to swing at either of the players, but she would take point. If they were going to give a guarantee then she was going to do her best to make sure they could follow through on it.

@Dustin

Hokori accepted the handshake, shaking it firmly though not roughly. "Let's" She made her way in the direction of the lake with him, walking side by side with him. It was a little difficult with her sword, so she ended up a little bit behind him. It was fine by her though, the two of them could still chat on their long walk. Seeing the look of concern on Cosi's face, Hokori decided to amek a little bit of small talk. They still had a ways to go, but there was no sense in running all the way there. "You seem concerned about something. I don't wish to press, but what would that concern be?" She had a feeling it was about his seizure and didn't want to make him talk about it so she threw out a random guess. "Is it about the lack of significant progress we've made so far?" It was honestly going rather slowly, but it was understandable. It may not be the most efficient way to make it to the top, but it was the safest. Hokori thought that there would be more death though if they waited. If there weren't so many people out there who were willing to kill for fun, then she felt that slow would work more. As it stood, there would be more death from PvP if they didn't sacrifice a few lives on the front lines.

@Cosi

Hokori was making her way around the first floor helping out the various people she saw in need of it while still getting a fair amount of experience herself when she got a message from one of the first friends that she had made in this death game. Cosi mentioned that the two of them had yet to finish the initial series of quests themselves. It was quite the memory lapse for her to forget something like that. Though she did still want to go out and do it, it would be sad to miss someone else needing help for the moment. In the end, she realized she would need to get stronger if she wanted to help others achieve their goals as well. Sending a message back towards Cosi, she quickly made her way to the front gates. Her sword was strapped horizontally across her back. There was little other way to carry it in such a manner that she could retrieve it in a slight hurry and hindered her way through narrow passages. In the end, it was the best option she had figured out so far. There was the museums that showed the storage of these weapons, but history had never really interested her. She was always preoccupied with the future and didn't wish to look back at the low status that was her past. Arriving at the gates, she greeted Cosi cheerfully, hoping to get the quest moving relatively quickly.

@Cosi

The twip to the second floor felt shorter than Hokori thought it would be. She hadn't really done much of any traveling between floors yet, but had figured out the system rather quickly. A quick shout of your destination would take you wherever there was a transport pad nearby. Though she was usually quite wary of voice commands, it seemed that this game did them rather smoothly. It certainly beat out the horrid menus that they had decided to implement. Shortly after making it there, a woman ran up to the small group of adventurers. After hearing her out, Hokori spoke for the group, though without the intention of doing so. "We'll look for her the best as we can. Just point us in the direction and we'll take it from there." With no sense in denying how little information there was to go off of, Hokori didn't wish to raise the lady's spirits up. If Dustin would accept her coming along with her and Cosi, who she figured would tag along, she would send a party invite to him so that this was an actual group and not a random meeting of players with similar objectives.

@Dustin

Hokori nodded in agreement from the decision for the place to go. From her limited data set, she would conclude the forest was a better location for material gathering. In the end, she had only been out to do this twice and was therefore unable to properly judge which of the two would be better. Ensuring that her equipment was all properly in its place, Hokori made her way with Kimihito to the exit of the Town of Beginnings. It wouldn't be too far of a walk, and she was getting rather used to the need to walk large distances. At least it wasn't like some games that she had heard of where you had to manually get everywhere. Rumor had it you could also have mounts in that game though, so it couldn't be too bad. Pulling her mind towards the quest at hand, Hokori pointed towards the forest. "That's where I went to find materials with the first person I helped. I don't think we will be attacked by anything, but keep a lookout just in case."

@Kimihito

"As Cosi said, my name is Katagawa. My sword currently has no name, as it has no need for one." She found it a little strange to be naming a blade that was not only a virtual construct but also not going to be used for that long. Perhaps it was a male thing. Regardless, there was no harm in being honest and playing along with it. At the very least, it shed light upon the character of the person she was facing. If they were so inclined to name their sword, it would be likely they followed some sort of code. Though not necessarily a samurai code, it could be something much more personal. "Let's get to the teleporters then" She led the way back towards the Town of Beginnings. It was nearby, so she didn't look behind her to make sure others were keeping up like she normally would.

@Dustin

Hokori had held the stare for a bit longer than she had intended to, and quickly broke it as Cosi did. It seemed he was about to tell her something when they were interrupted by someone walking over to them. As the introductions went around, Hokori gave a slight bow at the mention of her name. "A pleasure to meet you." Even if this game was not the real world, she didn't want to sully her reputation while in it. Perhaps she could use connections in here to help reintegrate herself and others when they would finally be free. Getting ahead of herself, Hokori decided it would be best to stay in the moment. "If we have such a large group, ,we may want to consider going up a floor or two if we want to do a quest together. We should be able to take something on of a higher difficulty between the three of us."

@Dustin

Hokori didn't have to wait outside for too long before Kimihito came back out. She listened closely to his question, as well as making sure she knew what knowledge he already had. "You can get materials from just about anywhere. I've found them in the forest or along the plains for this floor. Only really helped out twice, so I don't know which would be a better one to go for." Hokori smiled as he gave his thanks. "It's not a problem. Everyone should get some help with these earlier quests. Even if they are just basic stuff to do on your own we need to help each other out to have a shot at escaping this death game. Besides, I can do some material gathering of my own while you work on your quest. Not that I have a profession yet. I do plan on going for one eventually though."

@Kimihito

The two of them having just recently finished another quest, Hokori had accepted the offer to relax on the green hills for a bit. She wasn't one to take that much time off, but perhaps it would be a good idea to rest for a bit. She was laying there on the grass, letting the virtual clouds go by. As much as she hoped the world would be immersive, the threat of death kept breaking her out of that spell. She looked over to see Cosi happily staring into the distance. "Speaking of spells." She went to wake him, but decided to let him dream a little bit longer. There wasn't much of a rush, and he seemed to be happy. That's when he went slack. Without warning, the smile dropped from his face, eyes rolling into the back of his head. He shook a little while not giving any sign of waking from his stupor. Hokori knew a little about seizures, having once been through a medical facility, but didn't know how to treat them. Especially being in a game, she had no clue what to do. She quickly began to shake him. "Cosi! Cosi!" He woke up. She could feel how slick his armor was becoming from his sweat, then let go when she realized she was still holding onto his shoulder. She stayed silent, not wanting to pry into his affairs. If he wanted to tell her, that was his decision to make.

@Dustin

Hokori began to lead the way towards the NPC's shop after he had accepted the party invite. She knew that this was the way, having been there quite a few times to help others. She wanted to make sure that she could be as helpful to people as people would be to her. If she didn't teach those below her, the front lines would eventually run dry, no matter how much they tried. Once there, with occasional checks behind her to make sure that Kimihito followed her, she gestured inside. "This is where you can pick up the beginner quest I was talking about. Once you're inside the dialogue should start up. I'll wait out here, but I'll come with you when you need to start up on the objectives." There was little else she could do but wait for them to enter. Perhaps they would turn around now, becoming indecisive. Either way, she made sure that there was effort put behind her actions. No point wasting actions when she didn't mean them.

@Kimihito

"Glad to meet you Kimihito." Hokori put her hand down after shaking hands with him. "Though I have already done it, there is a good line of beginning quests that are still avilable to the low level players. I'd be willing to accompany you on that if it's fine with you of course." At the mention of her not being such a newbie, Hokori's hands drifted subconsciously to her legs to smooth out the dress underneath her armor. "I'm still quite new, though admittedly I seem to be progressing faster than others. If you do want to take on that quest I can send the party invite and we can be on our way." She waited, a little awkwardly, for Kimihito to give his response. She could tell that they were quite shy about things like this, but she had already made her offer. It would be very rude of her to back down now. Regardless, she figured that she could find a few good things while giving pointers to the new player. It seemed to be something she had a knack for.

@Kimihito

With the mimic down, Hokori sheathed her sword sideways across her back. It was a lengthy process to do, but was the best way she had found to store the huge thing while it wasn't needed for a while. "It was certainly a bit more than we bargained for. Though we got it down in the end. Let's head back to town and give these gems to Hannah. I have a feeling we're not quite done here with these lesson quests. They give good experience though." She pulled up her inventory to make sure the gem was still there. Satisfied with her results, she quickly began to make her way back towards town. Though she figured Cosi would follow her, she did make sure that he was keeping pace with her. She wanted to continue onto the likely next part with him, though she didn't want to compromise her speed for it. The faster she could get through this, the better off a start she would have.

@Cosi

As Hokori approached the person on the bench, they stood up. She wasn't expecting them to, but continued to make her way towards them. After they greeted her and sat down again, Hokori gave a nod. She remained silent until they asked about the weather. "Bright, sunny, and a good temperature. Pretty normal for this floor. The name is Katagawa by the way." She extended her hand out towards them in an offer to shake it. "Saw you alone and figured you were a lower level player like me by the quality of the gear you have. If you have the time, I would suggest finding some of the player run shops around here, there's quite a good selection. For now, I thought I'd ask to join you if you were looking for some help in anything. I may not be the most powerful player out there, but I've learned my way around the floor pretty well."

@Kimihito

It was a close scrape, but Hokori managed to dodge out of the way of the mimic before it locked its teeth onto her. Without any further hesitation, she quickly swung her blade around in a full three-hundred sixty spin right back at the chest. With the one smooth movement, she had avoided the attack and sliced the top of it clean off. There was some clear pain on the chest now, and it's health bar was barely visible to her. The chest came to a halt. It had stopped moving without giving any resistance. "Finish it off now. It shouldn't be much of a problem if we take it out before it fully recovers." There was a good chance one more hit would kill the thing, though Hokori didn't want to take her chances. It would be a much safer idea to ensure that there would be no more ways for the chest to strike. She quickly made her way around it to get into a flanking position and prevent the mimic from running.

Hokori was coming back from finally being able to get some downtime. Though she had mostly just been helping people who were slightly lower level than herself, it was still giving her some decent progress. There was something to be said about teaching others to gain a better mastery of a subject yourself. It really meant she had to question why she did things besides blindly follow other teachings. Perhaps there was some place or puzzle in the game she could apply that more. Filing it into the back of her head, she walked out into the Town of Beginning's Central Plaza. She noticed that there was someone who seemed to be on their own at the moment, just eating bread on a bench in the plaza. There weren't many people milling around at the moment, and she noticed that they still had fairly basic gear. She decided to approach them, thinking what's the worst that could happen. She was in a safe zone, so there was no way she could die unless it was in a duel loss. With no intention of dueling, Hokori knew that she should at least try to extend her network. Though she knew she would need to meet with some higher level players sooner than later, it would be best for the moment if she could just make new friends.

@Kimihito

Hokori let the mimic come to her, ready for another attack. She hefted up her blade and let it hang in the air while the mimic ran right too it. It's teeth were gleaming a pungent yellow as she rammed her blade straight through its mouth. She quickly pulled it out, not wanting to be bitten so easily by the beast itself. It continued to gnash its teeth at her, coming ever so closer. She could tell it was starting to hurt from its wounds though as it slowed in its approach. Perhaps it was growing wary of her blade, or maybe it was just slowing down and starting to mimic an inanimate object again. Either way, it seemed to be favoring Hokori much better than she would've hoped. Though Cosi could probably tank the hits better than her, she knew she could still take quite the beating before going down herself.

Not wanting to seem completely useless, Hokori decided she would do her best to provide some advice while recovering her energy. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any larger boars approaching so she could afford not to engage for now. “Strike in the way that you have the least chance of missing. These enemies are short, go for a vertical strike. Really tall enemy? Go horizontal. Unless you put the odds in your favor, they will go against you.” Hokori let Pure talk for a little bit himself. “They may look like adorable little balls of fluff now but they’ll grow up to be the most threatening noob killer in the game. Of course, you probably could tame them, but that will only take one boar off of the table. Not the time to focus on that though. Right now you need to take those boars down as quickly as you can.”

As Hokori was digging out the chest, she was suddenly tackled to the ground by Cosi. Before she could even ask why he was doing it, she heard the gnashing of teeth and saw what she thought was the chest trying to attack Cosi. He lunged out of the way, but Hokori had no such luxury. With the chest bearing down on her, she quickly grabbed at her sword and ran it through. It didn't shatter like she had hoped, but the eyes on the sides of what seemed to be wood rolled back for a little bit. She quickly pulled out her large sword and backed away from it. "I think it's down for now, but it is certainly not dead yet." She was fairly certain that it was from the special effect she had asked for on her blade. Though she was hesitant to put something luck based on, it seemed to really be paying off right now.

Hokori took a knee after taking out the boar pups. She smiled tiredly as Pure layed on the praise. "Don't praise me so much, I just used a simple sword art. If these things were much higher of a level, I'm pretty sure they would still be standing." She picked herself up, staying a little ways back so that Pure could engage freely. Once he had spotted a couple of boar pups, Hokori put her blade into the ground a little bit and leaned on it. She gestured for him to go on. "I'll have your back if you need me to. You should be fine though, let the game guide you and you'll be taking the boars down without much of an issue." She knew that she would want to recover more from her major attack before letting herself rejoin the fight. Though if something tougher wandered along, she wouldn't hesitate to take it out.

Once the second troll was defeated by Cosi, Hokori relaxed herself a little bit. She didn't think they were in the clear yet, but the hardest challenge was most certainly over. She made her way out of the cave, giving cursory glances to make sure that Cosi was still behind her. She didn't think that there was any need to stay in a particularly tight formation, as it was unlikely they would get attacked again. Once out of the cave, Hokori gave a look around her surroundings and saw something strange poking out of the ground. She moved over to it and planted her sword into the ground. As she looked at it, she relized it may be some sort of treasure chest. It certainly appeared to be a form of container to her. Beckoning Cosi over, she began to dig it up out of the ground. "Looks like this game can be kind to us after all."

@Cosi

Hokori didn't follow quickly, instead just hefting her sword up onto her shoulder. She was still a little unfamiliar with its weight, though was starting to get used to it. She hoped that eventually she would be able to swing it around on the front lines, but that would be quite a ways away. She followed him into the forest, not where she had found the boar pups but certainly not an impossibility. Sure enough, he found four without too much trouble. She grabbed her sword with both hands, letting it charge up for her attack. If he wanted a display of power, she would give the most efficient one she could. She had recently gotten a few new sword arts, but she decided to try and take care of all four with a single blow. The blade glowed with a blue light as she unleashed the attack. With a visceral scream, she quickly slashed at all four boar pups at once. They were caught unawares, even with her scream, and the first ended up flying into the air. Coming full circle with her blade, Hokori came downwards with a second slash. This attack slammed the first boar into the ground, which shattered on impact, and quickly sliced the remaining boars in half. Though one seemed to linger for a bit, it dissolved as well while Hokori was shouldering her blade once more. "And that's how it's done, at least for me. Let's find some more and see what you've got, eh?" There appeared to be no tusks left over, so Hokori figured it would be best if she left the actual killing to Pure. She knew that she would take these boars out in one hit.

Maybe I can take on a few of their guardians. I know that many of the pups have fully grown boars around them. I could probably take them on while I let pure take out the pups. Sounds cruel now that I think about it, but it would certainly be more practical.

Still recovering from ducking away from the creature's heavy blow. Hokori tried to return in kind. She hadn't quite gotten her balance back though and ended up swinging short as she over-corrected it. She managed to stay on her feet, but the beast was still standing. It seemed that not all blows were that easy to hit, even against such a large target. Maybe it was just the game itself giving her an arbitrary miss or perhaps skill did actually factor into the mix, but it certainly didn't change the outcome regardless of what it was. She tried to put herself between the monster and Cosi, willing to take the hit before he made his attack. She knew that she still had the safeguard effect, but hadn't seen if Cosi was hit before he struck down the other one. Being so busy getting out of the way of a speeding club would do that to a person, but she made a mental note to be more aware in a fight so she could keep track of these things.

Hokori gave a quiet little laugh at the thought of being a squire to someone in this game. Once she had regained her composure, she gave her response as curtly as possible to glance over the fact she had just been laughing. "I doubt I would really be your squire. It would more likely be that you'd be my apprentice than anything. I'm level 8 right now, by the way. Though at this point, that level gap doesn't really mean much. I'm pretty sure you could just catch up by doing these starter quests with me, you'll be getting the quest experience after all." Hokori took a pause, not wanting to leave him out of the conversation. "Let's head out now, those boars certainly aren't going to kill themselves." She made sure that all of her equipment was set for the battle ahead. She knew it was likely to be easy, but in a game where death meant the loss of your actual life, one could never be too careful.

@pureblade

Hokori stood back a little ways, letting Pure talk to the NPC. Once he had finished his chatting, she quickly got up and began to follow him towards the fields once more. She wasn't sure whether or not he wanted help taking on the boars while she was there, so she figured she may as well ask. "So, if you want me to I can help take on a few of the boars with you. I may not look it, but I am decent at combat. At least on this floor, that is. If you want to take them on yourself by all means I won't stop you. Whichever you want just let me know if you change your mind, don't want to deprive you of the personal experience but don't want you to die either." She tried to leave the question as open as she could, so that Pure was free to answer either way without fear of giving a seemingly wrong answer. She knew that she wouldn't be able to loot anything off of this floor right now anyways, so may as well let him fight if he wanted to. She did want to accompany him though to make sure he wasn't killed by one of the boar pups.

@pureblade

Hokori looked up to see the two lurking figures in the darkness in front of her. There wasn't much for her to see besides their massive forms. With a gulp coming from her throat, she quickly swiped the gems. Tossing one to Cosi and pocketing the other, she pulled out her sword and gave two massive swings of it as fast as she could. She wasn't sure if she would be able to pull it off as well as she did, but it ended up being just enough to swing through the enemies. They seemed quite hurt, but they weren't down yet. "They shouldn't be up for much longer. Hit one and the other should die to recoil. Just don't get hit in the head by those clubs, doubt it would be good for your brain capacity." They may seem to be staggering from her initial blows, but she still worried about just how hard they would be able to hit her if she didn't have her safeguard up.

@Cosi