Jackpot

Jackpot had two things to send.

First, he sent a '19 Halloween Sticker to @Bahr
Next, he sent back the shield that @Dederick had let him borrow, Inferno Guardian. (Thorns | Thorns | Fireproof)

Name: Jack's Robes of Remorse
Item Type: Light Armor
Tier: N/A
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: Flame Aura | EVA | Cursed
Description: "Into the abyss, thee shall go. A tale of sorrow than none shall know."
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/18213-event-f1halloween-event-19-something-wicked-this-way-comes/?do=findComment&comment=587289

Quote

Come back to Jack's to get your rewards!

Huh. It sure was convenient that Jackpot was in the tent when he got the message, because he ventured a guess that he never would have had the balls to return to this hellhole for a second time. Since he was still around, though, might as well check out the goods.

What was that weapon? What a gross amalgamation of utter wrongness. That wouldn't do.

Heavy armor? Who actually wears that stuff willingly? It was heavy and clanky, and... unpleasant in virtually ever sense of the word. He could hardly bring himself to look at it, much less wear it.

Oh? Ohhh. What was that? What a sensible piece of light armor. Fashionable, lightweight, and with decent enhancements. "Yeah, I'll take this one. Oh, and I wanted to turn in these Achievement Points for a Halloween Sticker. And a Ghost Treat, too!" The clown behind the stand grumbled in response to Jackpot's enthusiasm, but nonetheless retrieved what he had requested and laid them out for Jackpot. Once he had stuffed them away in his inventory, he noticed the clown was still... staring at him. "Yeeaaahhh... Bye now."

What a creep.

"HP Restored (Self)" Achievement Point spent
"HP Restored in a Thread" Achievement Point spent
"Consumables Used" Achievement Point spent

Halloween Sticker acquired.
Jack's Robes of Remorse (Light Armor - Flame Aura | Evasion | Cursed) acquired.
Ghost Treat acquired.

THREAD COMPLETED

Thread net gains:
1050 col
(2) T1 Materials
(2) T1 Rare Trinkets [ID: 128637, ID: 129514]
(1) T1 Perfect Trinket [ID: 128635A]
(1) T1 Perfect Weapon [ID: 128635B]

Thread results:
Zombies Killed: 3
Zombies Last-Hitted: 3
Critical Failures: 0
Critical Evasions: 0
HP Restored (Self): 175 ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!
HP Restored in a Thread: 175 ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!
Comsumables Used: 37 ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!

But then there was the matter of all of these consumables that he had bought for the event but never used. They were disgusting, but something told Jackpot that they would be useless the moment he left the tent. He had already spent the money on them, so why not have himself a gross feast of energy drinks, sub-par funnel cakes and cider? He opened up his inventory and materialized each and every last consumable he had bought during the event's duration. 

By the time he had finished, his stomach was protruding, he felt fat, lethargic, and had absolutely no desire to do much of anything. Nauseous, too. It seemed that the items didn't mix well in one's stomach. Which was odd, because Jackpot had always envisioned food items in Aincrad as being nothing more than data. Could they actually fill his stomach? He had never eaten enough in the past to find out.

With his work there done, he slowly picked himself up off of the floor, dusting the crumbs from his shirt, and slowly waddled his way over to the concession stand to collect his rewards.

SPIDER CIDER X13 CONSUMED.
OFFBRAND ENERGY DRINK X20 CONSUMED.
POPCORN CONSUMED.
 

Wait a second, was it four zombies or only three? Jackpot couldn't remember at this point. Not like it really mattered. He could see the headline now. "Noob salesman selflessly offers himself on the pedestal of danger to fight back the Zombie invasion." Yes. His eyes danced with enthusiasm as he thought about it, almost not taking notice when the foolish zombie came in for what would be its final attack.

All he had to do was hold up the shield. A blue light transferred from the sheen of its reflective surface and into the mob, and then it was over. It disintegrated into a cloud of blue polygonal fractals before his eyes, and a loot panel populated in front of him. Mediocre loot, it seemed. No matter. It was time to get out of here and let the experts deal with this mess. Jackpot had learned through this that he wasn't much a fan of shields, either, so he had plans to return the sheet of metal to Dederick and get on with his life as a meager salesman.
 

Finally; action. It seemed that the zombie was the first to get fed up with the charade, and lurched toward Jackpot with a haunting groan while swinging its claws forward. Jackpot took the hit graciously, but slammed the butt of the shield into the creature's jaw and forced it back. His health was sitting in the yellow now, but he had nothing to be worried about. 

The zombie had taken some damage as well. Down into the last bit of HP it could manage to have, from the looks of it. One more Thorns proc and it would be over. And four Zombies seemed like enough to justify Jackpot's endeavors within the tent. He had no reason to stick around and continue risking his life against mobs that were obviously superior to him just for the brownie points that would come along with it. Anyone who had been here had seen him fighting Zombies. And that was good enough for him.
 

And then, after a long period of simply staring at one another, they... just stared at each other some more.

Seriously, what was wrong with these guys? They're in the middle of a fight to the death and they're both just standing around. Not moving a muscle. Having a staring contest. Was this a pride thing? Or had both of their brains simultaneously ground to a halt? It was impossible to tell. Did the zombie even have brains left? Was that why it wanted brains so badly? Because it had lost its own?

Who knows. The only thing that was certain was that neither of these goons were moving a single muscle. And perhaps it was best this way. The less fighting Jackpot did, the less likely he was to die. And certainly, anyone who viewed this spectacle would know that this was a situation of the utmost importance. One couldn't simply walk away from a staring contest with the undead.
 

Then something truly bizarre happened. 

They just... stared at each other. Unmoving. Unblinking. Staring into one anothers' eyes. Or, in the case of the zombie, eye sockets. His eyes had dissolved into some sort of gelatin the likes of which Jackpot dared not investigate. He was certain his stomach couldn't take it.

But that's all they did. For at least a couple of minutes. Just stood there, silently, staring at one another. It felt like an old school wild west movie where two men stood in the street and waited for the other to make the first move. Except it was with Jackpot and Zombie. Jackpot had a feeling that the latter would be more of a B movie scenario.

This continued on for quite awhile. Truthfully, Jackpot was pleased with the brief reprieve from combat. It gave him an opportunity to take a breather. Which would have been more enjoyable, had the stench of death not been wafting through the area.
 

He managed to get everything sorted out in the nick of time. Moments later, a lone zombie approached him - clearly separated from its pack somehow. Probably because the pack was, well, practically nonexistent at this point. Practically all of them had been vanquished. There was truthfully almost no reason for anyone to be fighting anymore. But for someone like Jackpot, it was the perfect time to shine. To show the world that he had something to offer. That he could be a hero.

Yeah right.

The zombie attacked, and Jackpot instinctively put up his shield to block it. When the claws connected with the shield, the zombie was sent doubling back in pain as a blue light flashed from its metallic surface and into the mob, sapping away its health. At the same time, Jackpot took some damage of his own. Nothing to worry about, truthfully. With only one zombie to worry about, he didn't feel nearly as threatened as before.
 

With that done, Jackpot took the opportunity to sort out his inventory a bit. First, he summoned another Spider Cider and drank it, though he actually took his time this time around. Really took a moment to roll the liquid around in his mouth and appreciate the flavor. The texture. Actually take in what this drink was, what it was all about, and whether or not it was enjoyable.

It was horrid.

Still, it helped heal him up. And that's what he truly needed. Health. So he wouldn't die. And this was the only way. Yes. He supposed he could have let himself heal naturally, but that sucked. Healing naturally sucked. There was no reason to do it if you had healing items around to take advantage of. Even really crappy ones.

Since he had depleted most of his Spider Ciders from his battle-ready inventory, he filled that back up, as well. Yes.
 

So when the other zombie started looking like it was about ready to attack again, Jackpot wasn't even scared. He had been paying attention to how much damage he took with each hit throughout the fight. Occasionally he would get hit with marginally more damage, but this was rare, and even if it happened now it wouldn't kill him. He simply prepared his shield, set his stance, and waited until...

Clank!

The zombie dissolved into azure dust immediately, and another loot panel populated in front of Jackpot. It seemed that this time the equipment he had gotten wasn't as good, but he had nabbed more col. Seemed like a fair trade-off in the end. With that done, it seemed that Jackpot had successfully destroyed both of the zombies without leveling a single attack at them! How fortunate was that!? Even with as lucky as Jackpot was, he had never imagined that he would be able to pull something like that off.
 

That had been an embarrassing blunder and a risky gamble, but at least Jackpot was still alive. He doubled back, opening up his battle-ready inventory once more and producing yet another Spider Cider. He downed the beverage as quickly as he possible could, but not faster than the zombies closed in one him. By the time he had finished drinking the strange liquid, he had two fresh glowing red gashes traced across his back.

But something was different this time. This time, one of the zombies combusted into a cloud of blue polygonal fractals, its loot panel populating in front of Jackpot shortly thereafter. How intriguing - it had actually dropped pretty good loot! Jackpot wasn't particularly happy about getting hit again, but he supposed it was a small price to pay if these were the sorts of items he could get out of it. He almost couldn't wait to get hit again!
 

Despite knowing that a couple more good hits would do him in for good, Jackpot was beginning to feel a bit cocky. If he dodged the attack of the first zombie, then let the second zombie hit him, he was pretty sure he could get the second zombie to burst into pixels before his eyes. Then he would only have the one to deal with, and he could simply heal himself on the following turn.

When he tried to employ his scheme, however, things didn't go according to plan. As the zombies closed in on him, he became frightened, dodging the wrong zombie's attack. As he did so, he planted himself within perfect striking range of the other zombie with his back turned. The zombie, of course, took advantage of this and raked its sharp claws against his back without so much as a second thought. No thorns damage delivered back this turn, it seemed.
 

That being said, they had still dealt a considerable amount of damage. Jackpot couldn't very well stand there and allow himself to continue eating hits like that, lest he be reduced to azure fractals and carried out of the tent in a dustpan. So he quickly accessed his battle-ready inventory and selected one of the Spider Ciders, materializing the item in front of him and downing it as quickly as physically possible. He felt his vitality return, but this pleasant sensation wouldn't last long.

While he had been distracted summoning his consumable, the zombies had closed in again, leveling another succession of attacks at the violet haired goofball before he could react. They both scored a direct hit against him, causing his HP to plummet back down to half as quickly as it had been replenished. Just as before, the shield flashed with a blue hue and transferred this energy into the bodies of his aggressors, causing them both to double back in pain as their HP was sapped away.
 

Despite truly wanting to feel like a hero, Jackpot was anything but. When a pair of the ghoulish fiends took notice of him and began to close in, he immediately broke out into a cold sweat and the hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. How could he ever hope to stand up to such fearsome and disgusting monsters!?

He couldn't. All he could do was raise the shield the Dederick had so graciously lended to him and pray to whatever gods there may be that he could make it out of this alive. As they raked their sharp claws against his body, he yelped out in pain, watching in terror as his health bar plummeted to less than half in an instant. By pure instinct, he shoved the shield forward to push them back and allow himself some distance.

But something strange happened. It appeared that that action had actually inflicted some damage against one of the goons. Perhaps there was something more to this shield than met the eye!
 

So, the zombies were still flittering about, were they? It seemed that it was only stragglers by now. Jackpot saw his opportunity to enter the fray and play the role of the hero now that things seemed to be considerably safer. It also helped that Dederick had graciously offered his shield to Jackpot as a temporary situation to help him in this endeavor. Jackpot had never really been the kind of guy to appreciate the utility or aesthetic of shields, but in this case, it was probably best that he simply took the help and ran with it.

Before he got started, he wanted to power himself up. In accordance with this, he opened up his menu and navigated to the inventory panel, selecting a Funnel Cake that he had purchased earlier and populating it in front of him as the screen dismissed. He scarfed the entire thing down in no more than three mighty bites, feeling the power it provided surging through his veins shortly thereafter.

FUNNEL CAKE CONSUMED (+3 DMG | +1 ACC)

Jackpot accepts the gift and assures Dederick that this will only be a temporary arrangement.

Sleeping at the counter again? Of course he was. 

"Mmlrem?" Jackpot driveled as he stirred, his eyes still closed as he slowly lifted his head from the table, a trail of drool connecting his lower lip the the tabletop. He slowly pried his eyelids apart, though only on a squint, peering through the slits toward the source of the noise that had woken him. After a few blinks, his eyes slowly widened and a grin danced between his cheeks. 

Who was this goddess standing before him?

He hastily wiped the tendril of saliva on his sleeve and perked up, straightening his back and giving the gorgeous blonde a stiff nod. "Right away, miss!" The line was delivered with enough enthusiasm that he could have sworn an involuntary salute would have followed. Luckily, no such goofiness occurred. 

Pulling out one of the drawers lining the counter, Jackpot produced a succession of five crystals, which he laid neatly in a row on the table. 

"For someone as stunning as you, the first purchase is on the house. No payment necessary."

Jackpot sends a piece of equipment Dederick's way in the hopes that he can get the boy to forgive his misdeeds. 

Name: Battleplate of Deaf Honor
Your Profession: Merchant
Your Rank: 3
Acquisition Roll ID: 124881A
Identification Roll ID:
124894 | LD5 = Regen
124895 | LD19 = MIT
124896 | LD14 = MIT
Item Type: Heavy Armor
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: 
Description: "Only the honorable my dawn this plate armor. Its defensive effects make death a fantasy."
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/18214-f10-r1-merchant-youve-hit-the-jackpot/?do=findComment&comment=582877

"Spelunker?" the man's voice inquired, his goofy expression fading into one of neutrality. "Spelunker?" he repeated, leaning forward as his visage became more sour, a tinge of venom added into his inflection. 

"SPELUNKER!?" he practically shouted, an expression of pure rage now slung across his face, teeth bared toward his 'customer' and pounding the counter.

He hastily snatched the equipment the man had laid before him and retreated into the back room, mumbling things to himself about how stupid customers could be and how he never should have become a merchant in this wretched world. He emerged only minutes later, tossing the equipment onto the counter and casting a glare toward the newcomer. One thing was for sure - when he was angry, he could actually get stuff done quickly.

"Here's your crap," he spat, leaning against the counter with a single elbow. "For future reference, we don't say that word around here." As the youth began to open his mouth to respond, Jackpot quickly interjected. "Spelunker, spelunking, whatever. Not allowed. Ever. If you can't keep it out of your mouth, don't return. Bye now!" With that, he only offered the kid a dismissive wave, obviously done with the conversation and wanting nothing more to do with him.

+42 EXP
 

Kids. Gross.

"Eeehhh yeah. I bet," he replied flatly, doing the bare minimum to feign interest. As luck would have it, a pair of goons had been closing in on them during the trading process. Certainly a Zombie attack would be enough to wrestle Jackpot free of this uncomfortable conversation, right? "Hey, look! Rotting flesh bags! Let's get 'em!"

As if he was going to give the azure-haired weirdo time to respond. Blegh. Kids? Who willingly spends time with kids that they aren't obligated to take care of? It sounded fake.

But Zombies. Ahh, Zombies. Jackpot could see himself taking care of one of these, if it really came down to it. A little scratch behind the ear, taking it out to the park on a leash, making sure it was always fed and watered (What would a zombie eat, anyways? Brains? Where would he even find those?), or maybe-

Slice!

Carving into it like a hot knife through butter with his sword. Yeah, that last one really seemed to fit.
 

Jackpot struck a wild kung-fu pose of his own in response to Solei's, and maintained it until the boy had dropped the act and assumed a more friendly demeanor. Once they had both relaxed, the blue-haired weirdo described himself as a healer, not a fighter. Great, Jackpot thought to himself, someone as wimpy as me. Though we might be able to make something out of this...

"Here," Jackpot said, opening a trade menu and dumping in some items, including the trinket he had identified not long before. His finger hovered hesitantly over the accept button for a moment before finally relenting it and sending the items away. It wasn't like he was going to use the trinket in the end, despite its cool enhancement. "We can use these to make things a little easier. Little something extra in there for you as well."

He then navigated back to his inventory and took out one of the consumables he had purchased before; the Funnel Cake. Supposedly it was meant to up his damage, so he downed it all in a single bite - somehow - only briefly savoring its sweet flavor and soft texture. Weird aftertaste, though. "You should eat yours, too," he suggested with a loud belch.

FUNNEL CAKE CONSUMED (+3 DMG)
SPIDER CIDER X7 SENT TO SOLEI
POPCORN SENT TO SOLEI
FUNNEL CAKE SENT TO SOLEI
OFFBRAND ENERGY DRINK X10 SENT TO SOLEI
AMBULANCE CHARM SENT TO SOLEI

A zombie event. How original. Jackpot wasn't particularly impressed by the setting or overall vibe, but he had to admit that the ghoulish mongrels shambling about sent a chill up his spine. Had he been a lesser man, he would have turned around and high tailed it out of the tent by now. Hell, if there weren't other players fighting, he probably would have. But there was a sense of security in numbers, and he felt that if things went south he had a decent chance of someone saving the day. Everyone in Aincrad wanted to play the hero, after all.

There was one particular youngster who seemed to stand out from the crowd - a bit out of place, as it were. He didn't seem like the type to get off on slaying the undead, but Jackpot had been wrong before. "Salutations, fellow noob," Jackpot bellowed as he reached the youth's side, revealing his basic scimitar from its scabbard and pointing it toward the horde. "Given that I'm such a low level, I feel like I could use some help with this. Something tells me they won't let us leave easily. Mind lending a poor feeble Merchant a hand?"

@Solei

Name: Ambulance Charm
Your Profession: Merchant
Your Rank: 3
Acquisition Roll ID: 119698A
Identification Roll ID:
125702 | LD19 = EVA
125703 | LD1 = Keen
125704 | LD15 | BD10 | CD12 = Life Mending
Item Type: Trinket
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: EVA 1 | Keen 1 | Life Mending 1
Description: "This simple charm in the shape of a green plus sign turns you into a walking ambulance."
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/18214-f10-r1-merchant-youve-hit-the-jackpot/?do=findComment&comment=583302