Andromeda

Thank you so much!

Taking

[x5] Vicious Dragon-Fang Potion (+3 Damage for a thread)

"Eeeeeee! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!!"

Complete panic mode. An thought she had done well the first time she encountered a goblin and she'd even felt a bit confident with the idea of future encounters, but now she realized it just went so smoothly because she had gotten the jump on it. Now that the thing was actually hitting back though? The amateur rapier-user was an absolute mess. She stumbled around the litter on the floor, knocking stacks of items over, and almost backed up into an enormous pile of trinkets she would have had trouble digging out of.

A suit of armor - what was that doing in here?! - clattered to the floor, scattering more junk on where it landed and An pried one crimson eye open, dreading what she would find. 

"I wouldn't have knocked it over if you weren't chasing me!!"

Bad dialogue choice. The goblin looked twice as angry as before! It flew into a rage, howling some sentences that ran into each other to the point of unintelligibility but she thought she at least deciphered the word 'treasure.' 

Somehow, her wild flailing must have had an effect; amidst their struggle, An saw its HP bar drop below half.

Name: Svalinn
Item Type: Shield
Tier: 1
Quality: Demonic
Enhancements: Cursed | Frost Aura | Frost Thorns | Mitigation
Description: "The shield which once stood before the sun and kept the Earth from being set aflame." A small round shield perpetually encased in a thick layer of unyielding ice. Its surface is uneven, with sharp ice crystals jutting out and rising up, and any attack aimed at it would sure result in a nasty counter-effect. Attacks made from afar or otherwise aren't left without retribution either, as the opponent would feel themselves surrounded by an intense chill. When equipped alongside any item with a flame enhancement, the ice becomes dyed with an auburn hue but does not lose any of its intensity. 
Post Link:  http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/18213-event-f1halloween-event-19-something-wicked-this-way-comes/?do=findComment&comment=584727---

-----

Name: Jack's Corrupted Legacy
Item Type: Rapier
Tier: 1
Quality: Demonic
Enhancements: Cursed | [x2] Blight | Burn
Description: [reference] "...and they shall cast them into the furnace of fire, where there was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth." A malicious, unstable weapon hidden beneath a plain semblance. Patterns of vines and fleur-de-lis are etched onto its black swept hilt and its blade is 38 in. long. It takes on a crimson red aura when a Sword Art is activated. At random, unpredictable occurrences, the weapon will burst into flames - sometimes red, sometimes a darker hue, and sometimes a pitch black in color - and inflict a strong damage-over-time effect on its enemy.
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/18213-event-f1halloween-event-19-something-wicked-this-way-comes/?do=findComment&comment=584727

[Note: Using Halloween Sticker to upgrade this to a Demonic. ID: 127878 | LD: 3]

"A small weapon that's strong enough to fight a monster... then, a dagger it is!" And that was final. Bright red eyes shone with interest as she looked around. It was just the two of them left now, weirdly enough, the woman who had initially offered to help her had offered her polite goodbyes and went on her way. Off to gather from another part of the forest, she said.

But where in the world was she going to find a dagger in the middle of a forest?

Maybe it was alright that Kirbs never joined them in the end. So she couldn't witness An completely failing her searches even with her dice equipped. Internally, she apologized to the image of the redheaded crafter in her mind for failing to live up to the pretty trinket she had made at her request... But she was going to push through! An didn't motivate herself to buy an LD trinket and then take a beginner quest for nothing! 

That didn't mean she couldn't complain a bit though. 

"I don't get it." The girl had her cheeks puffed out in frustration as her crimson eyes returned to its normal hue. "We're in the middle of the forest and I can't find herbs. Is there a special trick to all this or something...?"

[ooc: @Dustin. Hydravion is out of the thread due to inactivity.]

"You're safe!" Captain Obvious An walked straight up to Mishiro as soon as they reached the concession stand. She stayed a slight distance from the girl, brow creased with worry at the girl's ruffled appearance. "You fell into that opening, did you? Did you have to get out of there yourself? What was it like? Did someone..." She stopped herself before she could bombard the already overwhelmed girl with more questions. "We're just glad you're okay, me and Arabelle both! Let's tell each other about our experiences when I'm done buying some stuff, okay?"

She walked up to the stand after Arabelle was done and looked at the items. With the free Perfect weapon, it was a no-brainer at this point. Crimson eyes shone with interest at the other useful items in the shop list, but she was firm on her decision to pick the voucher for the shield. With that safely in her inventory, she picked up a Ghost Treat and curiously held it up in front of her, turning it over to look at it from every angle.

An didn't know what they were going to do at this point. Probably, she was going to follow Arabelle's lead. Probably, they were going to team up again and eliminate the zombies remaining. There were even less than before but still too many and other players were still struggling. 

The answer presented itself in the form of the ringleader rising up as the event boss. Vines stretched out from the center stage, creeping towards them gradually, and Arabelle asked her to stay behind.

That was fine. But she was going to help in her own way!

An quickly reopened the shop's catalog. Consumables... consumables... what did Arabelle use the most when they were fighting earlier? At the corner of her eye, she saw the girl phase into her light armor. She withdrew as much as she could with the vouchers she wouldn't have used anyway, stuffed them all into a paper bag, and ran up to the small purple-haired girl - pushing the bag of treats into her hands with a blush reddening her cheeks. "For the boss fight. Good luck!"

Fitting in...? Well, maybe. But it hadn't been a very big concern of hers. Before SAO, all she ever cared about were the things she wanted. She wanted to explore the world! And then she took it a step further and decided she wanted to explore space! Maybe it was still the same. Maybe not. An was gradually growing more conscious of how people reacted to her clumsy actions.

And once again, it was all up to her. An's last kill before she finally received that achievement and it was one whose final blow she was landing herself. How appropriate! "This is my kill now!" the silver-haired player cheered. It wasn't false bravado either. Sprinting forward, right after Arabelle's shockwave shredded through the last zombie and tore its skin only for it to rise up once again, she circled around the zombie until she was right in front of it. She didn't even give it time to move.

The last thing the unfortunate creature saw were the stars shining in her crimson eyes as she smiled and thrust her rapier into its throat.

"Get spooked!"

********

Andromeda

• 2 SP
• 800 Col

@Arabelle

• 2 SP

Zombies Killed: 36

***BINGO BOOK

"Ehh? Is that how girls who like fighting games are seen as?!" Genuine surprise. An tilted her head. It wasn't her that was concerned though. "One of my friends used to like playing fighting games a lot. Of course, since I was her friend, she always tried to drag me into everything and I sort of ended up playing it too... but never when she wasn't around. As a genre itself... I'm not too into it."

An wasn't going to let this fight past her without dealing some damage herself! Swiftly cutting in as the zombie made its way back to Arabelle, she aimed a thrust at its heart. Her glowing rapier sunk into skin and the silver-haired player gave a delighted smile of satisfaction. Pulling her weapon up, she used the last of her Sword Art to aim two more slashes at the zombie before she finally stepped back and allowing room for herself to breathe. And to make way for the much stronger Arabelle.

***BINGO BOOK

Arabelle was already fighting a new zombie. It was plainly evident that they both wanted to get this done as soon as possible. So, An did something she hadn't done in a good few battles... she charged up a Sword Art and aimed a thrust at the last zombie, letting herself go to be guided by the system assist. One hit missed a good few inches, and she readjusted her position to salvage the Sword Art to go for another... but the zombie had already run off to wail on Arabelle. Not that there was much concern, one zombie wouldn't do anything against either of them at this point.

An dropped back, disappointed. "Looks very effective!" she said with a giggle. "Though... to be honest, it probably looked as strong as it did back when you had Paralyze. Maybe it's because of how different it looks from your other moves? ... But it looks close to what a killing move might look like in video games! Or special attacks."

***BINGO BOOK

Three down. One left. And this one was at 1 HP! An had never thought she would be internally celebrating at her event partner's AoE leaving one alive like this, but now more than ever, she wanted to feel useful. "Don't worry about this one, Arabelle!" She dashed forward with her rapier unsheathed, cleanly slicing into the skin of its throat with a swift movement of her blade. It fell before her, and the girl practically had stars in her eyes. That felt so neat! She felt as if being thrust into many life and death situations and situations where she just really wanted to land a hit in general did loads for her rapier-wielding skills. Definitely, she wouldn't be switching weapons as she had gotten too attached to this more than anything. 

Stepping back from where she had killed the mob, she watched her event partner's movements with a smile. Whichever mob she chose to pick, An would be right behind her with her weapon at the ready.

***BINGO BOOK

Oh. Another round of standing and waiting. An hated to even think of this around the girl who was doing much more than she was and single-handedly lifting her to a level she normally couldn't reach, but she was starting to get impatient. She shook her rapier in its sheath and-- oh!

"Right, I should. I'm checking it out now!" As Arabelle kept the mob's attention, she opened her menus and navigated to her event tab. As she opened it, she briefly closed her eyes. Please don't be more than twenty. She tapped a button and pried a crimson eye open, almost as if she were afraid to see her progress. Including the kills from her event partner's latest attack, she now only had five more to go!

An grinned as she turned to her teammate. She reported exactly that. Then she noticed the lone zombie. And Arabelle's energy. And the fact that she could only wipe out four at a time.

Somehow, this just got a lot harder!

***BINGO BOOK

A shield... An had been thinking of getting a shield for herself after learning that it was the only thing one-handed weapons had over the superior DPS of two-handed weapons. Where she couldn't dish out loads of damage, she could make up for with survivability. A part-tank build like Leah's. But not a complete tank because she hated the feel of heavy armor. Maybe that meant she could have a good team dynamic with Arabelle in the future! Her eyes brightened at the thought.

"Mhm! If you don't mind, I'm going for an equipment piece. Please help me through the rest!" She didn't know how many more she still had to get through now, since she had joined after Arabelle and Mishiro formed the team. Speaking of the latter... An was glad she was alright after all. The amount of fighting and racing against time that they did had been worth it in some parts and it was the intention that counts. All she knew, was that they would have one long story to tell each other later.

Arabelle's attack killed three and... left one at full HP. Back to standing and waiting it is.

***BINGO BOOK

Why wasn't Arabelle moving...? After all that talk about being reckless earlier - she watched as the girl drew out a cider and drank. Ooooh. Her last two achievements. She could have done it at a later time though... when she needed the regeneration more. Now she was without her armor and with one less cider than before. "You all done with that?" An called out, just to be sure. As the one who was actually wearing armor this time - even as a low level - she thought she was responsible for taking the hits! "Right, then! Come at me, all of you!"

She sunk her rapier into one zombie's chest and drew back. It was no Howl, but... suddenly, all three zombie heads snapped to look at her with hungry grins plastered on their faces. Oh hell no! But before she could run away, they were all over her.

Nothing but scratches. She pried her eyes open and slowly let the unnecessary tension go from her shoulders.

"A shield would be nice," she mumbled to herself absentmindedly.

***BINGO BOOK

An tucked her hands behind her back and watched as the pair left. Her crimson eyes never left them until one eventually melted into the shadows and disappeared. That was a funny cloak. All he had to do was to pull the hood up and he was considered stealthed. Did it have some sort of special property? An was curio--

Her red gaze dropped to the ground a bit and she kicked at a pebble.

Moving on.

"Yeah, that had been mostly my fault," the silver-haired player admitted with a sheepish laugh. She had skipped forward without any heed, almost got herself killed, and a pair of strong players had to flip their strategy around just to save her. ...An was sure stunlocking a boss was never part of the original plan when your party already had a competent tank. "I'm sorry, too! I'll be more careful around dangerous things next time, promise!"

In hindsight, that was not a thing she should be promising. It was already an instinct.

That An was lacking in. Probably.

She took in a deep breath and let it out in a puff of air. Stupid Harriette. Swiftly unsheathing her rapier, she followed closely after Arabelle, watching as she swung her weapon and -- three?! Three were still alive? Was Arabelle still on edge from all that? An gave her teammate a concerned glance before going straight for the mob at low HP and also missing her attack.

***BINGO BOOK

Oh no. Oh geez, oh man. Her only two friends were starting to argue and An didn't know what to do or who to side with. On one hand, Leah did say some things that were totally valid. But on the other hand, the furious guild leader knew too little about this so far.

"...Crap." Leah pressed an armored hand to her forehead in exasperation. She turned around to acknowledge her guild member with a frown. "I did it again, didn't I? But you sure as hell came in at the worst of times, you know? You -- " She jabbed a finger at Claude. "-- Need to stop covering for her. And tell me who f*cked up, I'll have a quick word with them later." The guild leader hefted up her spear on one hand and adjusted the shield on her arm. She gave looked at each of the two players in turn. "We're going. Run back to the edges of the tent where it's safer. You can both farm for the drops there."

An inched forward. "Thanks for the save earlier, but hold on..." She glanced at the... fourth of the boss or something... then back at them. "Will you be okay?"

Leah smirked. "Oh, sure. We can take that one on just fine even if it were just the two of us. Right, dear scout?"

The silver-haired player watched the rest, impassively.

--An was unceremoniously dropped to the ground with an oof.

"What the hell are the both of you doing here?!" Leah's red hair swayed as she swiveled around to face them after giving orders, one hand on her hip and the other on her spear. And literally the scariest expression An had ever seen in her life. She quickly stood upright, as if she were facing an angry drill sergeant, but her curiosity became evident when the fiery guild leader's glare turned venomous upon landing on Arabelle. "You - I understand. This sort of event with its weak-ass tier one mobs is practically just a feeding ground to you. But what were you thinking, coming so close to the stage?! And in no armor no less!" ... Did those two know each other? ... "What? Is this some form of bragging to you? This situation is actually serious, last I checked. And did you seriously string a low-level like her into this? There could have been a death if we hadn't intervened, for all I know!"

We? An's crimson gaze strayed to the zombie currently being stunlocked by a group of players. Then snapped back when she felt the guild leader's fury turning onto her. "Leah, I can explain..."

"Explain what?" she asked lowly, and somehow it was scarier than her yelling. "You're a low level, you should have teleported away the first chance you got. But instead, you toddle off with this other girl whose level and pride is too high to understand your position and look where that got you." Then, softer. "Know your limits, kid."

An looked up, somewhat hopefully. Then her hopes dropped when Leah turned right back to Arabelle.

"Well? You were the one with more experience, you should have known this. Explain yourself."

"Oh." An's eyes sort of glazed over at that remark. Yeah, just let her roast you, Harriette. It's not like it's not true or anything. But she did get the point. Cursed equipment, meaning that she couldn't trade it off to anyone but it tiered up with her, so why would she? It was indeed the perfect equipment for a tier one: she needn't guilt herself at having bought it at such a low tier when she ranks up and it turns useless. "Y-yeah, I get it. You're getting one too, aren't you, Arabelle? Or is there something else you might be eyeing?"

At Arabelle's request, she nodded and her sheepish expression turned into one of urgency. It didn't take long to make their way to the stage without any distractions, but she did hesitate at coming so close to an event boss. Should be alright, though? Arabelle was right behind her. And she needed to see just where their teammate had ended up.

When you stare into the abyss, it stares back at you. 

Like she suspected, it was deeper than she thought. Had the zombies underneath been digging downward during the entirety of the period that they stayed down there? An was curious! She leaned for a closer look and barely recognized the blur of black from the edge of the broken stage near her and neither did she register Arabelle crying out to her to stay back -- not until there was a sickening crack and the fist of a gargantuan coming down on her from above.

The silver-haired player froze. To her side, a loud, shrill snapping sound - like a glass tower cracking and collapsing in on itself - and she barely registered the black ice that crackled into existence at the gargantuan's other side, shattered, and then remade itself, expanding to cover more of its oversized body with the same sound from earlier.

Another force grabbed her and roughly tackled her off the stage.

"Keep that thing under control!"

She knew that voice. And An was sweating.

Leah?

"Th-the drops!" An found herself instinctively repeating, at the sheer force and conviction of the way Arabelle said it. That, coupled with the smaller girl slashing her way through newly spawned zombie flesh, was so cool! For a moment, stars shone in her eyes. If she could be as good as her senpai and the drops would help her towards that, An was sold!

And that was how An strengthened her motivation to climb up Aincrad's level ladder. All in three fourths of a zombie-filled night with a person she barely knew. Sit down, all ye complicated character plots.

With the newly-spawned zombie down, all that was left now was the mob An was supposed to handle earlier. Well, time to fix that. Favoring efficiency and comfort over style for the moment, she went for another rather basic-looking slash that had the zombie falling apart at the tip of her blade. The silver-haired player stepped back with a small, proud smile. The zombie's regen had been a minor hitch earlier, but she knew she could do it!

"Oh, and yeah! I took a quest to become a merchant so I can identify all my stuff and have a chance at getting some uniques."

Wait, but then, if she got a good unique from this event...

Did that mean her half of her merchant venture was now pointless?

***BINGO BOOK

Two of the five?! How did someone like Arabelle have even less? An frowned, trying to recall what the rest of the achievements were. She had finished both for self-healing and total healing, then the consumables... courtesy of her good senpai, and that was it. But now that she thought about it, Arabelle didn't take as much hits earlier and she only drank the ciders... no, An couldn't recall that part. But judging from her performance in combat, she already had the achievement for last hits and just now... was the one for total kills.

"You think more of this fighting is really worth it?!" An called out with a slight hint of exasperation. Not at her teammate, but at the situation. She had gotten some rest earlier and her high energy levels were keeping her up on her feet and her armor keeping her safe, but a repeat of earlier was still something she absolutely did not want to happen. 

Turning to the last zombie left by Arabelle's attack, she strove to cut it down with a swift slash but it regenerated its fatal wound as soon as it stepped back.

"I mean, really?"

***BINGO BOOK

"Yeah, I've got it!"

An got this. She attacked it with her rapier and watched in delight as it gave a wail of pain and exploded into red pixels.

Now that sounded horribly morbid.

Yet another round of mobs had spawned around them and all but one were completely eliminated by Arabelle. Call her a bit selfish, but she was secretly glad one of them survived at 1 HP; An still felt as if she was a bit lacking in terms of contribution so far so any chance to land a last hit on a mob was gladly welcomed! ...if she didn't just end up stealing Arabelle's last-hit achievement or something. She knew the girl had to care: she was the one who had seen the rewards and thought they were important enough to persuade her teammate into chugging seven spider ciders in rapid succession for her own achievement point, and she seemed like the type who was keen on leveling up.

Not everyone could reach that amount of damage output without having put in a lot of effort first. That took a lot of dedication!

"How are you achievements going, Arabelle?" She backed up, keeping closer to her teammate. "Just asking. I've got most of the ones I can possibly get, minus the kill total."

***BINGO BOOK

An looked at Arabelle. Then at the wooden stage. Then back at Arabelle.

"I knew that. I wouldn't have suggested it if there wasn't something different about it," the silver-haired player answered with a slight pout. Having stayed still a bit longer than necessary earlier, she had seen... and she knew the area beneath the stage was a bit different from what one might expect. Her mood, at her idea being rejected by Arabelle seemingly without much consideration, instantly brightened at the girl's addition. "Yeah, I'll show you where it is!"

She said, as an angry group of zombies spawned around them. The silver-haired player quickly fell behind Arabelle and grabbed her rapier, paying close attention to the fight. 

Her event partner swung her scythe... and all of the zombies disintegrated at the smaller girl's attack.

An lowered her rapier with a sheepish smile. Useless Harriette is back at it again!

***BINGO BOOK

Was this the place?

An had shouldered past a group of zombies and almost had to turn around to attack them when a nearby group of players took over. They all looked stronger than her, so she turned right around and followed Arabelle after giving them a few quick words of gratitude. No, for a fact, she felt like everyone in here was stronger than her. Even after all those level ups she got.

Her crimson eyes sort of glazed over. Harriette, you weakling. If you just went out and killed stuff earlier, we wouldn't have anything to worry about right now. We would have been killing mobs niiice and easy, and we wouldn't have been complete deadweight to Arabelle.

She joined Arabelle in her search. Where could one player have disappeared into amid that chaos...? An didn't want to consider it, but-- everything had happened so fast and the girl had been a bit too close to the center...

"Arabelle, remember the hole I almost fell into earlier?"

"I'm right behind you!"

An was not right behind her.

No matter how much she tried to put some more speed to her steps, An always found herself falling behind the smaller, much more agile girl. At that point, she was barely paying any attention to her surroundings - not even when they gradually drew closer to the boss mob - and kept her red eyes on the girl in front of her. Arabelle knew where to go. If all An did was follow her, she could keep up the pace just fine--

Her event partner took a sudden turn and An almost crashed straight into a group of zombies. 

She very inelegantly skidded to a stop and righted herself. "Sorry!" she yelled to a group of nearby players whom she'd cut off from their targets. Spinning around to face the right direction, An took off after her faster teammate once again. 

An tried and failed to withhold her blush. 

"Th-thanks," she mumbled. Was she grinning? Gosh, she must looked so stupid right now. "You did really good, too. As always."

They were going to do it again: running to their destination while trying to make sure Arabelle wasn't hit by anything. Unexpectedly, An found that it was easier than it sounded. Without her scythe and the need to make attacks, the small purple-haired girl was adept at darting out of every mob's reach and still leaving the slower An with enough space to attack and defend herself. But, that meant Arabelle was fast enough to lead her behind - and An thought she was the one supposed to fight mobs in case they drew any of them closer? "Wait, waiiit! I can't cover you if you're right in front of me!"

That was an interesting coincidence.

"I have a brother, but he's definitely not here." He didn't like video games. As a matter of fact, none of her family really did; the video games she had only came from her performing well on tests or birthday gifts or what she bought with her own allowance. She had that freedom, at least.

But, God, did she miss them.

"Besides, my hair color isn't natural!" Duh. "But hey, what if it actually comes with the appearance?"

"For single-player RPGs, only one. Ah, but if there's bonus content on replays or branching paths, I'd end up doing as many as needed just to play through them all." If it was something new to look forward to, something that would add onto and even change her experience of the game, another thirty hours of repeating the main story was worth it. An secretly smiled to herself as her event partner took care of another mob that drew near. This conversation was flowing nicely, even though they were mid-combat. She felt like she was learning more and more about the girl in front of her!

But of course, she still had to step off this cloud nine. There was one zombie left and it was at one HP. It wailed at the loss of its fellow undead and tried to attack Arabelle, but An was already there to meet it. She sunk her rapier into the vermin's throat and got rid of the blood and foul-smelling liquids on her blade with a swift flick. Her crimson eyes shone with pride and a little bit of anticipation as she briefly looked over to her event partner.

That one actually felt natural! 

Notice me, Arabelle-senpai.

"Ehh? So you were trying to get me drunk on purpose?" Her head whirled and she knew, she definitely knew she was pouting. "Arabelle, you meanie! You're not being a very good senpai! What if I actually got even more drunk from that?" 

***BINGO BOOK

An dismissed her menus. Lucky for her, none of the zombies even seemed to realize she existed. They were all steadily focused on the much stronger player killing them in droves and while every attack coming towards the purple-haired girl filled her with instinctive worry, she had already seen that even four of them dealing criticals at the same time wouldn't even faze her. 

"Really? I think they're an important part of the game, but I really didn't pay much attention to it." Once again, Arabelle's scythe cut a path through the horde - separating zombie heads from bodies like an executioner and gracefully leaving the rest with near-fatal wounds. "I think bragging rights are cool, but the grind is totally boring! I mean... you can only go through a game's content so many times without getting sick of it, you know? But to each their own! Even though I don't have much interest in it, I can understand wanting to be the very best at something."

Pokemon reference unintended. An was just having trouble stringing together better words mid-combat.

"Those people?" Unconsciously, her lips were forming into a pout. "That's super vague! Should I be worried?"

Her rapier penetrated through skin, going straight to the zombie's non-functioning heart. The thing was practically half-dead already, where she already hit it didn't entirely matter, but she always thought her attacks had more impact when she went for the vital spots. Adding in that kill... she had to be at eight last-hits. 

An was not going to go out and hunt forty-two more. But there was another achievement she had completed by accident - like how she did with her other video games - and that was attributed to her having to fight without armor on.

Blessing in disguise?

***BINGO BOOK