Hawthorne

"Well, that was nice." Hawthorne said, meandering back towards the forest again. "That was such fun. Good thing I can't be beaten in combat by any pig of sow born. Sure is handy to have the boon here. It was so useless in the normal world, but not here! Can't possibly go wrong with that now!" Hawthorne's jesting lifted his spirits. He slogged across the grassland to the forest he searched so much earlier, hoping all the loot wasn't just GONE and that there would be spawns. He couldn't be sure how things would work here. It might be fair, it might not be, it was really too early on to tell how things were going to go. Best he could figure, the only thing to do was put one foot in front of the other, get enough quest XP that killing boars wasn't a chore, and move on to bigger and better things.

(ID# 182901- LD 14, failure)

Evidently not in this spot, though.

"I don't think I can take too many more of those." Hawthorne gulped, reeling from the thrashing the boar just gave him. "Looks like you're gonna be either dead before you hit me again, or I'm gonna have to drink one of my, 'Don't Die' shakes." "REEEEEE!" cried the boar. "It is NOT cheating!" Hawthorne shouted, parrying the boar's mad thrashing and making sure he knew where his potions were in his menu. "It's not MY fault you don't have potions, or opposable thumbs! Take it up with management! Heck, tell him I'm mad at him too! Just make sure you really give him a piece of your mind, cause I doubt I could do anything to him, but YOU have some FIRE in your belly!" "REEEEEE!" cried the boar, leaping at me.

(182899- BD 8 HIT AND KILL negates the- MD 9 MINOR CRIT)
Boar 0/10
Hawthorne, 9/20

(182900- Looting from boar- CD 7- LD 14- 30 col + 20 col + 2 materials)

"AT LONG LAST!" Hawthorne fell to his knees, arms spread out like wings against the sky, "I HAVE WOOOOOOOON!" Then he stood back up, brushed off his pants, looked gratefully at the red lines on him that were beginning to disappear with the out-of combat regeneration, and resolved to simply search for materials like a normal person.

"Damn, I never thought being a tailor would have this much violence in it. Maybe that's why I'm making such a bad tailor so far. Maybe I should just do the whole, 'peaceful gathering' thing again. It was getting me a lot more mileage than the pig slaying, and I actually got some DONE instead of just swinging my sword around like a total dumbass." Hawthorne was growing not just tired of this, but unsure of how he could actually improve his striking. At this point, it felt like he'd tried everything. If only this was as easy as real life combat had been. He needed to learn some sword skills, and fast. This was quite a pain, and not in a good way. "REEEEEEE!" squealed the pig, rowdy and hateful as ever. Hawthorne could no longer pretend to know what lay in that little creature's mind. Was it rage? Was it abominable purpose? Was it pure programmed malice? Whatever the motivation this pile of pixels had for wanting him dead, he needed to kill it. Thus, with renewed vigor, he raised his sword and stabbed at the porcine menace.

(ID# 182898- BD 3 miss- MD 9 MINOR CRIT!)
Boar 2/10 HP
Hawthorne 9/20 HP

"Won't be long til I kill you, piggy. Then you'll just be shadows and dust. 'Shadows and dust, Maxiumus'. You ever watch Gladiator?" "REEEEEEE!" "Oh, you should though, it's a really good movie. Cinematography is incredible, timeless dialogue, fantastic characters, it's a great film. Probably one of the best ever." "REEEEEEEEEEE!" screamed the boar, stomping around and throwing its head around like a bladed wrecking ball, trying to come in at Hawthorne, who was just avoiding it and looking for an opening. "Maybe staying in like this will help me get a clean shot on you. Maybe I need to stay within striking range instead of trying to run fadeaways." Hawthorne said, parrying the third consecutive swing of the boar's tusks. "Guess we'll find out!" he said, raising his weapon yet again.

(ID# 182897- BD 7 HIT!- MD 2 miss)
Boar 2/10 HP
Hawthorne 13/20 HP

"HAHA! I'm getting the hang of this, you tasty bastard! I'm gonna kill you and take your skin in no time! You have NO CHANCE, PIG BOY!" Hawthorne pressed in close and kicked the boar in the face, not inflcting any real damage, just spiting the beast because he wanted to.

"Piggy, I'm gonna be honest with you." Hawthorne said, leaning on his sword. "I dunno how the hell I haven't killed you yet. This is some seriously frustrating stuff. Are you frustrated? Do you wanna kill me, or are you not really feeling it? Seems like neither of us is really feeling it. Why don't you just sing some piggy kumbaya song, we'll forget the whole thing happened, and then you go back to grazing and I go back to foraging? We got a deal?" "REEEEEEE!" the pig squealed. "Sounds like a 'no'. Hmm. Well, I guess I'll have to kill you after all. I just wanted to give you a chance to not end up as a bacon sandwich. Guess you just gotta try to take my head. We'll see how that goes."

(ID# 182896- BD 4 + 1 ACC = 5 miss, MD 9 minor critical!)
Boar 4/10
Hawthorne -4 HP to 13/20

"Okay, so you ARE feeling it. My bad, I just thought you were tired or something, or maybe you just wanted to go get a snack, but if you REALLY do wanna hit me like that, I guess I better really put my back into it, because I don't really have the energy supply to use Sword Skills yet."

"Alright, piggy- your time is up. I don't care what you're up to, what you have up your sleeve, I need to get those materials, and I'm gonna take them LITERALLY out of your hide! I cannot believe I am a grown-ass man yelling at a cyber pig, and damn, I am gonna LOVE it when you're dead! You annoying little bastard! I'm gonna stab your face right in, you squalling little piece of meat! You can't stop me! I AM YOUR DOOM!" At this point, Hawthorne could hardly take himself seriously, much less this pig that had only hurt him the once and otherwise just capered around squealing. This was quite possibly the funniest thing he'd done all week, and if he wasn't so hopped up on adrenaline, he'd have been laughing his ass off. "Meet your death!" he roared, as he started towards the pig, sword raised high.

(ID# 182895- BD 1, miss- MD 5, miss)
Boar 4/10
Hawthorne 17/20

Hawthorne's patience -4/10

"This game really takes it out of ya." Hawthorne griped, "Not the body, obviously, but the mind. Damn, I better get strong pretty quick, because if I have to kill like twenty of you bastards to get to level 2, laying down and dying instead is gonna get more tempting all the time." "REEEEEE!" answered the boar, flailing its head around like this wasn't supposed to take so long. Hawthorne panted, out of habit more than anything else. It was so strange going from normal athleticism and having to catch your breath to just...not needing to do that. All these practiced techniques for recovery were just going to make him look ridiculous here.Then again, if they didn't get him killed, it didn't matter. All that mattered was life and death, like the DEATH of this ANNOYING PIG.

(ID# 182894- BD 1, miss- MD 2- Miss)

"Calling this a death game was a COLOSSAL overstatement." Hawthorne shouted. "Not even trash mobs die right in this pitiful little world! I'm gonna beat Kayaba to death with his own keyboard when I get out of here!"

"Wait a minute!" Hawthorne shouted, realizing his error, "I'm not using SWORD ARTS in SWORD ART ONLINE! Ugh, what a moron I'm being!" He braced himself and waited for his energy meter to fill up again. "Then again," he panted, "Should I just stick with one swing and then another and then another? If I start using sword arts, I can't just keep this up, and the boar is gonna get a LOT more swings at me unless I get lucky." He mused. "REEEEEEEE!" replied the boar, unhelpfully. "Yeah, you're just no fun, mister. I don't know WHERE you get all your audacity, but Imma have to start shopping there as well. Must be deals every day, the way you swagger around like you're not just some level 1." "REEEEEEE!" the boar countered, as if to point out that Hawthorne was ALSO just some level 1. Whatever the boar's thoughts, it charged again, and Hawthorne yelled as he struck against it.

(ID# 182893- BD 2, miss- MD 1, miss) 
Boar 2/10
Hawthorne 17/20

"WOULD YOU KINDLY STOP MOVING?!" Hawthorne groaned with exasperation. "Maybe I WILL go back to farming peacefully, that was at least EASIER!"

"The real problem here seems to be that I can't just deal enough damage to you to end you quickly." Hawthorne said, "Sure, I have like, a LITTLE help with this extra-accurate sword, but I think I'd have just killed a real boar if I could have put my IRL strength into its spine." Of course, the obstacles were a little more numerous in real life, so maybe he wouldn't have fared as well as all that...Hmm. The boar didn't seem to care what he said, just kept doing the same stomping, screeing, and running around and then back at him. A little ball of hate, determined to kill this player and go back to standing around in a field. Really, it was probably merciful to save it from such a boring existence. Stepping up and running to it, Hawthorne raised his sword to strike again.

(ID# 182892- BD 1, miss- MD 1, miss) 

As they both juked the wrong way and simply didn't come near enough to strike each other, Hawthorne wondered if this was all some kind of cruel insult. A cheap one, if it was, to be sure.

"There we go, let's take that health bar down a notch!" Hawthorne said, pleased that he put a dent in the damn pig. Although at this rate he'd be out here forever, killing pigs and failing to make leather armor. No, can't think that way. Gotta forge ahead, kill ALL the mobs, make the BEST armor! WIN THE GAME! Hawthorne stepped up and forward to meet the pig again, running at it this time, not waiting for it to come to him. "I'm gonna make you squeal like a- well...exactly like a pig!" he yelled, raising his sword to bring it back down to kill that stupid pig.

(ID# 182891- BD 5 + 1 ACC, Hit!- MD 4, miss)
Boar 6 HP- 2 = 4 HP

True to his word, the boar reeled away, squealing and stomping, furious that it hadn't killed Hawthorne. "Come and get it you overgrown ham sandwich!" Hawthorne shouted, "I'll kill you so hard, you piece of lunchmeat!" It was a little sad to him he'd taken this long to just dip its health into the yellow, but it made him happy he was at least securely and safely taking this thing out.

"It may not be going faster, but it's at least exciting!" Hawthorne said, swinging his weapon around and trying to get a feel for it. It wasn't a bad weapon, just an inexperienced wielder holding it. Seemed that the out of game knowledge of swordplay would be PRETTY useless here. Bad news, but Hawthorne had coped with plenty of bad news in his life. Hardly the straw to break the camel's back. "REE!" the pig agreed, stomping and squealing and pawing the ground with its hoof again. "Oh, piggy- you and I are the only ones that understand each other." Hawthorne said sardonically, trying to find some humour in this sad situation. "I really do hope you actually drop some loot when I kill you, or I'm gonna be SUPER disappointed. It'd be a crying shame to spend all this time trying to kill you and then not get what I wanted out of it. Maybe a good lesson, though..." "REEEEEEE!" said the pig, and it charged again. This time, Hawthorne strode forward to meet it and sidestep, trying to cut at the neck and spin away to safety. 

(ID# 182890- BD 6 +1 ACC, hit!- MD 1- Miss)
Boar: 8 - 2 = 6 HP

Twirling his blade, Hawthorne stood and looked at the boar, trying to understand its methodology. It was just a trash mob in a game, but it WAS supposed to be a fully realistic game. Maybe there'd be some point to looking at its behavior. It seemed like an angry pig, nothing more to say, really, but looking DEEPER was always the more useful way to see the world, especially when the world might come brashly into your guard and rip your guts up. "Just you and me, little piggy. Nobody's comin for you, nobody but me." Hawthorne said, mostly trying to psych HIMSELF up and divert his thoughts AWAY from the possibility of dying an embarassing death. The pig squealed in defiance, or perhaps confusion, before charging yet again. Once more, with a slow breath outwards, Hawthorne readied himself, and prepared to throw an uppercut strike at the boar.

(ID# 182889- BD 2, miss- MD 2, miss)

"Seems like we're gonna be here all day, Mr. Bacon." Hawthorne sighed, as the pig cantered away.

Now that he was in it, he was determined to WIN. He gamboled back and away from the boar, hissing and spitting almost as much as it was. "Some level 1 trash mob will NOT be the death of me!" he roared, "I'll cut your head right off!" he screamed at the snorting pig. It pawed the ground, circled to the side, and squealed. It was looking for a hole to ram its tusk through. "REEEE!" it squealed as it immediately tired of this and charged at Hawthorne's legs. Hawthorne crouched, hoping his real world knowledge to get low would be of use here. He steeled himself for the charge, and readied himself to lunge up and under the boar's tusks.

( ID# 182888- BD 1, Miss, -2 EN- MD 3, miss)

The boar vaulted right over the top of him and came down on the other side, angry at his continued life. The feeling was certainly mutual.

Hawthorne stormed out of the shop and onto the street, yelling in frustration and throwing his sword at a wall. In a safe zone, a little venting was harmless, so no reason not to do some percussive therapy. His sword clanged to the ground, NPCs scurried away, and he picked up his weapon, ready to venture out into the fields just outside the town and hope for better luck with his blade. "You don't get off easy this time, piggy!" he screamed at the first boar he bumped into just outside the walls. Obviously, the boar didn't care, but it made him feel better all the same to yell at it. Just one of those silly things, he told himself. Drawing his blade, he lunged!

[Boar: 10 HP- 3 DMG]

(ID# 182887- BD 8, Hit on Boar for 2 DMG, MD 8, hit on Hawthorne for 3 DMG) 

Boar- 8 HP
Hawthorne, 17 HP 

The blow didn't hurt, but when the tusk slashed against Hawthorne, the severity of his actions fully set in, galvanizing him. This was a fight for real, even as unreal as his surroundings felt. He couldn't afford to lapse in focus here.

"I've got them!" Hawthorne squealed, pushing his way into Rufus Textillion's shop. "You've returned!" beamed the flamboyant shop owner. "You take all the time you need, and be sure to make me proud! My workbench is your stage!" Grateful to the NPC, real though he may not have been, Hawthorne set his leathers out, picking at dyes and threads from the bench and seeing what paired best with his finds. He went item by item, testing the strength, softness, firmness, and so on for many tools at his disposal. He had an idea for how he wanted this to all come together, just not any experience doing it. "Well, nothing to it but to do it." he said to himself, finding the needle he needed to punch through the leather without damaging it. "Now, how good would I look not just in black, but with a little red?"

(ID# 182886- CD 5- Failure, lost materials)

The garment didn't quite come together right, which was bed enough, but then it shattering into a million pixels? That was just cruel. "Okay, system." Hawthorne growled, "Now we do things MY way!"

"Well, I'd usually have given up and gone to stab something by now, but the clarity afforded by the possibility I may DIE if I do that has got my priorities a little adjusted." he grumbled to himself. "I just hope that after this initial start, I won't need to do a lot of NON combat gathering. I am FINE with crafting, it's the long, drawn out resource harvesting I always hated." It had only been a short trip, and he'd gathered quite a lot in a short time, still he was impatient. Hawthorne mained DPS and especially assassination builds for a reason. Damage novas are good, long, drawn out trips walking through the forest, sniffing daisies and skipping rocks, was not his raison d'etere. Hell, he had ONE more item to go before he needed to go back...maybe if he didn't find it soon, he'd just kill a boar? No- too risky. Still no armor. "At LEAST get a set of REAL armor before you go stabbing anything." he grumbled to himself.

(ID# 182885-LD 19- Success! T1 material gathered)

"Pointless question anyways!" he cheered, cantering off towards town with his loot gratefully in his inventory.
 

"Just one more and I can head back to Rufus!" Hawthorne exulted, capering up the stream and looking ever more wildly around for the next item. The LAST item. He'd come so far in so short a time. So heartening, so invigorating. He yearned for the ability to fight monsters on good terms, protected by decent armor and ready as he really could be to face death. Obviously, this frightened him, but his resolve must not break, shaky or not. He'd put in lots of hard work to be as capable and strong as possible so far in his life, and that would NOT stop here! He was going to hack, slash, and gut his way out of SAO, and it was NOT going to be the last thing he did!

(ID# 182884-LD 9- Failure)

Well, he wasn't going to die in this world, but that didn't mean he was going to find a material item every 500 feet. He'd better keep looking, and ensure he got what he needed to take care of his own personal safety.

"Honestly," he said to himself, "I didn't expect this to go so fast. Is it always this easy? Is this why normies just grind away for hours doing things like fishing or what have you in most MMOs? Obviously, it's a commonly done thing, and some folks even just spend MOST of their time gaming doing mundane, ordinary stuff...I just never understood why people focused so hard on stuff they could do in real life in a video game. Maybe it's just that it's so much cheaper and easier to just play a game about it than to make things in real life." he wondered. Scanning the forest floor some more as he walked, he stumbled onto a mossy stone. "Perhaps there's treasure under here. That seems like a good a place to look as any," he grunted as he hefted the massive rock to the side.

(ID# 182883-LD 19- Success! Found 1 T1 material)

"Vin-di-cation!" he exclaimed as he uncovered yet another set of materials under the rock. "Today's my lucky day!" 

"At this rate, I'll be back to Rufus in no time!" he remarked to himself, pleased with his progress and eager for more items. "Without armor, I can only do so much, but once I have a decent measure of protection, I'll be able to start making my way the way I KNOW how. I'll be able to start carving my path through this world, rather than only stitching it." He smiled at that, thinking of his practiced technique and how he'd like to test real-life Langschwert techniques against in-game mobs, before realizing he'd essentially just dismissed his own first task as unimportant. "Well, stitching will still matter. If it's worth doing, it's worth getting good at it, and if I'm starting leatherwork and tailoring, I'll finish leatherwork and tailoring. I bet I can make armor not only statistically powerful, but the envy of all the others with my style and artistic prowess!" he resolved.

(ID# 182882- LD 17- Success! 1 T1 material found)

As if to emphasize his point, he found another item. "Time to move on ahead. 3 down, 2 to go now."

"Onwards and upwards!" Hawthorne said to himself, stowing his newfound loot and seeking more. "Won't be long before I have a whole bunch of these. Soon after, I'll have a good set of armor. After that, I can really start grinding, and...I'm getting ahead of myself, again." He realized he'd better focus up now, or he'd miss his chance to get good materials. Without the imminent threat of danger, and the start of his finished product in hand, he felt less antsy. More willing to keep up with this non-combat stuff he normally eschewed. He hadn't become a skilled fighter by doing this kind of thing, but as he itched to just jump to use his sword, he realized he'd lost out on a more important skill that nearly everyone else must have learned ahead of him- just taking your time to do what you need to do. He was cushioned from the boring, dull part of life by his wanderlust and means to follow it, but he was going to have to get cozy with the idea of just smoothly staying the course.

(ID# 182881-Material Gathering- LD 17- Success! 1 T1 Material gathered)

As he picked up his second item, he smiled to himself, and straightened up. Two down, 3 to go.

Venturing further into the woods, Hawthorne began to wonder if killing monsters for loot might not be a more effective method for acquiring the materials he needed. Yes, it was risky, and yes, he DID prefer to be armored if he was going to fight, but if it was going to take all day for him to just scrap together enough materials to make a single piece of equipment, might it be better just to kill a boar and take its hide? He hadn't done any fighting yet, so he wanted to be extra careful- without firm understanding of the danger he was in, exactly, it was downright foolhardy to attack a mob. "That's right." he told himself, "I mustn't become impatient and risk my life, that'd make this whole venture worthless, and I have to live or I'm just wasting my time here and now." as he scanned the forest floor for items.

(ID# 182880- Material Gathering- LD 17- Success! Found 1 T1 Material)

There! He found a small bundle of leather hidden in the nook behind a tree. Well, since he could take it, it must not belong to any other players. He stashed it away and walked on, glad to be rewarded for his efforts.

It was then Hawthorne came to a stream. Far away from civilization, no others around, he pulled his hood back, and stooped down to drink some water and wash his face. He didn't get dirty in this game, it wasn't out of necessity, but the simple pleasure of feeling some cool water against his skin. At least the sensation was fairly realistic here. Except with pain, which he was part grateful for, part resentful of. Without the full sting of failure, it'd be harder to physically recoil from threats. The sensation of pain was a hardwired tool for primal survival, and it set him ill at ease that such a crucial tool was out of his reach as he ACTUALLY fought for his life. What he wouldn't give for any advantage he could have right now. That's precisely why he was out here- never having been keen on crafting things for himself before, with death looming on the horizon as a distinct possiblity if he wasn't careful enough, armor was FAR more important here than in any game he'd played previously.

(ID# 182879- Material Gathering- LD 7- Failure)

Which was exactly why he had to keep searching.

Leaving the Town behind, Hawthorne walked the road out to the grasslands, and began searching for materials. He returned to his earlier train of thought- wondering how he could hope to get through 100 bosses in a game where dying once meant he'd be dead forever. He'd never beaten any game with just one life, though part of that may have been his proclivity for PvP games, where death is the norm. He wondered vaguely whether he'd have been good at survival games if he'd tried to play them. He never did focus much on things like crafting before, even in MMOs where they were important, focusing mostly on questing and hiring himself out to group who needed a strong player for a particularly nasty dungeon or boss. That was, of course, all before the days of LFG programs that made mercenary players like him a thing of the past. Nobody will pay for good quality goods when they can have mediocre quality goods free.

(182878Material Gathering- LD 6- Failure)

Speaking of mediocrity, this grassland appeared to barren of loot. He'd have to press further on to get the materials he needed.

Striding out of the neat little shop owned by Rufus Textillion, Hawthorne lifted his face to the sky and took a deep breath. It would be a peaceful day, today. Simly gathering the necessary supplies to stitch himself up some armor and the hard work to put it all together. Surely, Rufus would be of some help on that front, boisterous and kind as he was. Programmed to be so, NPCs certainly are sincere and diligent. As Hawthorne walked out of the Town of Beginnings amidst the bustle of streets, he reflected on how funny it was to be not only accepting help, but seeking it, from a walking, talking computer program. At the same time though, wasn't that all he was anymore? Just digits and code, trying its best to forge a path out of this digital world. Well, with plenty of hard work, determination, and MORE than plenty of luck, he'd get out of here at some point.

I'm Tom, new here- not even confirmed on my Journal submission, actually, but I imagine I'll be RPing with you all soon. :) I don't have any real experience with forum RP, so any recommendations or advice are welcome, and I am excited to join your community! I'm not exactly a social butterfly, so I'll be staying mostly to RP posting, but if you find you like RPing with me, feel free to invite me to more RPs if that's your fancy!

Have a good one!