Randal

During their exchange, Randal learned that the other person’s name was Skylark and that he thought he was better than most players just by the sheer fact that he had been lucky enough to stumble on to the area while other were not able to. He took a very arrogant and self-righteous tone with Randal and believed himself to be perfectly capable of handling at “Dragons” that might be hiding because he was not a “scrub” at the game.

Randal was trying to do a good deed but if the person he was trying to help turned out to be a bad person, Randal also saw no need to go out of his way to trouble himself for someone that he did not like in the first place. Randal was going to continue to uncover more about the secrets of the Garden. If there was a secret hidden in the Garden, Randal would find it and if the other player tried to leave, Randal was sure to be able to hear it from wherever he was.

When Randal finally felt like it was safe for the two of them to talk without being overheard, he finally told the player that Nemo was not what he appeared to be, Randal explained the whole situation to the character who seemed surprised but not deterred by any means. The more Randal talked, the more the other player seemed to look down on him and mock him. It would appear that Randal seemed to look quite weak and the more he told the player about how he was thrashed by the weak looking Nemo, the more the other player believed that the fight itself was easy and that Randal had just been weak. Eventually, despite all that Randal tried to warm the other player about, he was shrugged off and ignored at the end of the day. It was frustrating to have to deal with stubborn fools who were going to get themselves killed but Randal supposed that he had already done all that he could at the moment and had nothing left to do.

Nemo scowled at their actions but did not say anything to stop their actions merely content to watch over them, it dawned on Randal that this player was likely to be here for their first time and was unaware of what would happen to him after he was done and ready to leave. Wanting to save this guy from danger Randal walked up to him and pulled him aside after he was done fighting. There was surprise on his face when he saw Randal, he quickly opened up and poured out his excitement about being here, he had already seen the bountiful loot that erupted from the mobs when killed and was very enthusiastic about the benefits and rewards that he would reap from this experience. All the while he was talking, Randal continued to nudge him closer to the exit, further away from Nemo, as far as he can get.

Randal finds 1 Mat

When he finally emerged from the castle, he saw that Nemo was no longer in the garden and took the opportunity to get closer but before he could really do anything, he saw that there was another name tag in the Garden of Eden. Seeing as how it was a player, Randal grew excited, if it were the player that saved him previously, there was a good chance that Randal could provide him with some consumables that would improve his game and his Quality of life. Unfortunately for Randal, it was someone else, someone that he had not seen before.

The player had abnormally large ears for a player and wore their brown hair in the same way the Chinese emperors used to. A golden crown adorned their foreheads, and they were equipped in a lovely brown sweater to keep themselves warm. They seemed overly enthusiastic about being here and was chitchatting with Nemo without a care, they then went on to start killing some of the monsters that could be found within the area.

Randal finds 4 mat

Every room was meticulously decorated but it was clearly not regularly cleaned, the obvious reason would be that Nemo must spend every waking moment outside ensuring that his gardens grew well and without problems. Moreover, who knew how often he slept in the first place considering that his identity was a dragon.

Randal mused over the idea of directly asking Nemo, but the fear that remained convinced him otherwise, maybe after spending more time they would soon be on talking terms. For now, Randal was content with picking up precious wildflowers from the crevices that ran along the walls and raiding the kitchen for all the meats and ingredients he could find. A dragon must surely have tons of meat in store, right? Wrong, there was barely anything for Randal to take. Randal managed to explore the entire castle and came across a few locked doors, if he could get the keys somehow, he would be able to get in and see what secrets lie around.

The same garden, pond, entrance and exit, the same innocent-looking Nemo and his terrifying menacing alter-ego tending to his herbs. Randal shouted from where he was standing. “You’re not going to attack me again when I try to leave right?”  Nemo sighed and agreed that that was only a trial to prove that Randal was worthy of being here.

Randal came back here with the sole intention of gathering some of the precious materials that could be found just laying about in the garden and hoped that today he would be able to do so in piece. Within the garden there were numerous spots that Randal could go to for his exploration and decided that he would start as far away from where Nemo was working as possible, so while Nemo tended to his garden, Randal went to explore the castle within the area. Previously, the castle was a location of refuge for Randal and that meant that he had not taken the time to appreciate the artwork that hung from the walls or the intricate pieces of furniture that lined the hallways. It was a mystery that Randal was curious about, why was Nemo here and who lived here with him, there were far too many rooms and Nemo did not seem like he was an architect of any kind.

Randal  finds 2 Mat 

They were very close now, Randal remembered the majority of the way there from this point onwards, Nemo was still indulging his senses with all the flowers that begun to be tenderly cared ever since he was in the area. It would appear that the green thumbs of Nemo was not limited to the area inside the fencing around the Garden of Eden but anywhere that Nemo touched bloomed as it blessed by a Dragon of Nature, of course this was most likely because Nemo is a Dragon of Nature and Wind based on what Randal could remember about their combat encounter.

Although he did try to disturb Nemo along the way, he just got some happy-go lucky answers  that brushed him aside. Soon enough, he stood before the Garden of Eden, the top of the castle still reaching high about the walls of the fence surrounding it. The security was lax, and Randal definitely knew why.

Randal was walking through the plains and watched as some beginners continued to practice their skills against the boars that could be found in the area. Randal was not really sure what they are considering the fact that they have been in this game for just as long as he had, this would probably disqualify them from the title of beginner but they still seeme to be content staying on the first floor. Randal could appreciate a sentiment like that, which is why he created his shop on the first floor too. There was a sense of sentimentality that Randal could not feel anywhere else no matter which floor of Aincrad he was in at the time. Though to be honest he had not been to that many floors either. He too was guilty of loitering around the first floor too often.

In order to answer Nemo’s question, Randal explained all about how he felt and what he thought was going through the minds of all the other players scattered around.

Randal was nearing the end of the plains and now had to go through the canyon. There were more monsters there but none of them posed a threat to Randal, he affirmed this when he was in the area the other time looking for a Demonic Shard.

Along the way, Randal watched as Nemo explored every piece of herb and vegetable along the way and was so adept at it Randal was convinced that he does this all the time when he is not at the Garden of Eden, time flew by quickly if nothing else and Randal would find himself soon inside the Garden of Eden.

Randal’s journey was not going to be a short one, every time that he wanted to visit the Garden of Eden, he would have to travel many many miles to get back there because it really was located at the edge of the floor. The first floor of Aincrad was considered to be the biggest and least discovered because of how wide and barren the complete area usually is.

Randal and Nemo were currently making their way through the plains and Randal decided not to get a cart to bring them to the end of the plains because he wanted to take a leisurely walk there before the horror that awaited him at the Garden of Eden.

On his back, was an assortment of backpacks and canisters that seemed to drop off to the side but the weight of which did not bother Randal in the slightest, helping to cushion all the weight was Mr. Pebbles. Nemo asked Randal about the beginners that could be found all over the plains just outside the Town of Beginnings.

Randal finds 2 Mats (Outside Garden of Eden)

Quest info

Randal looked at his emptying stockpile of materials and his ever-growing need for consumable buffs for both his store and himself when he went adventuring. He did not come away from that place with good memories and a small amount of fear still lingers within him, but based on what Nemo said the last time, he would not try to attack Randal since he had already earned his right to be there.

Taking another long look at his surroundings, Randal began his journey out of Horunka village and towards the edge of the floor. He needed to find the Garden of Eden once more and it would be much easier this time owing to the fact that he had been there once before and could sort of gauge what he needed to do to get there. He looked forward to seeing the same garden, pond, entrance and exit, but he did not really look forward to coming face to face with Nemo again. Eventually he reached the location where he would run into Nemo again and loitered around the area. Low and behold as though the universe was on his side Randal found Nemo who snorted at him and asked “Are you coming back to the Garden? Well follow me then.”

Lvl 25 Randal Info
HP 500/500 | Energy 68/68 | Damage 18 (+2 SA) | MIT 20 | ACC 3 | EVA 4 | LD 6 |

Randal watched as Zero pressed something in the floor before the Dragon, it was a small crystalline items, a healing item presumably. As he did so, a bright light flashed before them and Fuzziel seemed to be getting visibly stronger.

Although she was still unable to leave the nest she was still looking much better than before. As such she looked over at where Zero and Randal stood and a magical wind picked up, gently enveloping the two players and make them move with the blessing of the wind.

Randal and Zero get +1 Eva

Seeing as how Zero was adamant about staying, Randal did not try to persuade him otherwise, he was glad as it was to have some accompany him on his quest. Although the sentiments that were present in Zero’s words were appreciated. Integrity and Reliability were admirable traits.

After departing from the rocky outcrop, the location that Fuzziel marked on the players’ maps could be seen from where they stood, it was near a mountain that was oddly shaped, as if the dragon had breathed fire and molded it into smooth but uneven musings of an architect.

As they approached nearer, the cruved stone wrapped and slithered around them, ending up use stalagmites that aimed down at the ground and on the unlucky occasion, them.

Before them was a familiar looking creature, Carsar was as Fuzziel mentioned, a dragon. The same kind of Dragon as Fuzziel, he was angrily pacing back and forth, growling and roaring at a specific part of the cavern.

Randal and Zero could spy a flight of hatchlings huddled in the corner of the cave, scrambling closer together each time the intonation of Carsar’s voice rose.

“Damn it, Damn it, Damn it, how did it get like this! She was supposed to be with me, now that fool has gotten himself killed and arghhhh!” Carsar roared at the ground, opting to slam the walls and ground.

“What is the point of all of you if she’s dead!” Carsar roared.

There was certainly more to the story, but they would likely find out if they were to ask. Randal knew that Zero was a low-level character and so decided that there was a role that was more suited for him in this encounter.

“Zero, I am going to try and distract Carsar, you go and save the hatchlings if you can, once they are in a safe place, you can come and help me.” Randal commanded before leaping at Carsar and commencing the distraction.

Combat encounter
Randal tries to attack but misses BD 2 | [-2 EN]

Carsar misses BD 6-5=1

Randal Info Updated
HP 480/480 | Energy 64/66 | Damage 18 (+2 SA) | MIT 20 | ACC 3 | EVA 4 + 1 | LD 6 |
Cooldowns: Dance Macabre [4/3] |

Carsar info
HP 350/350 | Damage 65 | MIT 40

Day 31 (55 exp)

Randal used attempted 8 crafts and failed 3 times. (24 exp from ATP and CAT)
He managed to salvage 3 of the failures, using up 5 materials in total. (6 exp)
He made 5 Meals.

0 T1E1 Meal (0 exp)
11 T1E2 Meal (25 exp)
0 T1E3 Meal (0 exp)

The dragon was tired beyond belief, she had been in a terrible struggle to save her beloved and children but was unable to best her enemy.

“Who are you, why are you here?” A weary voice eeked out from the Dragon.

“We received a scroll that led us here, we do not mean you any harm. Will you tell use what happened?” Randal offered after exchanging a look of understanding with Zero.

“A scroll? Forget that, if you are here to help them, please, a dragon named Carsar has done the unthinkable and kidnapped my hatchlings, save them for me and I will be in your debt.” A raspy voice grumbled from her throat.

“My name is Fuzziel and I am a topaz dragon, my life is not in danger but time is of the essence, please help me.” She begs.

Randal pulls Zero aside and asks, “It’s a continuation quest and it seems to be escalating in difficulty, are you sure you want to come with?”. After hearing his reply, Randal follows up with “I don’t have anything to help her but if you do, you can come by my shop later and take one consumable item.”.

“I used to do martial arts, but I transitioned over to the claws for better AOE Coverage. That was annoying quest to take, have you heard about it? The one where you get the martial arts skill, that is a tough one. Generally, you’ll find me upfront with the enemy, but I just do what needs to be done.”

While they were talking, Randal started to realise that the terrain they were travelling on was appearing more and more familiar. The feeling extended to the point where it felt that he had even been here before. He knew that just over that rocky outcrop was a cave, but he had never ventured there before because nothing required him to and there were no living creatures around the area. He cross-referenced what he knew about the location and the map and figured out that that must be the place the author of the scroll must have been talking about.

Outside the cave, Randal looked at Zero and asked if he was ready for what might appear, getting an affirmation and readying themselves for what might be awaiting them around the corner.

Entering the cave eventually led them to a place where it opened up to reveal a ‘window’ above them where a dragon could fly up. They must have been in the middle of the rocky outcrop now. In the middle of the light laid a wounded dragon, its yellow scales marred with blood and injuries, it coddled another dragon but the other was no longer breathing nor moving. There were broken eggshells everywhere.

When they entered the dragon opened its weary eyes, it did not move but its claws began to come out.

Randal finds the lair

“Ah…That…Well sorry, Hakai was right, it was just a joke, but I will let you know next time if I’m making plans to roll around in the dirt.” Randal was speechless due to Ivory’s reaction to him rolling around in the dirt.  A little embarrassed that the things he did to gather materials really was like rolling around in the dirt.

All those feelings went away when the party reached closer to the Forest and Ivory started going on about the topic of loved ones. That was a difficult conversation for Randal to partake in, so he walked a little faster and caught up to Larbrook who had been leading the way. He was far enough to look uninterested, but close enough to eavesdrop. Randal felt guilty, guilty that he felt bad about the love of his life who managed to escape the death game while others had lost their loved ones to the death game. He felt like if he were to bring it up, that they would cuss him out for being so emotional when the person he was talking about was at least alive.

The party had crossed over to the Forest and was now looking for the minotaur.

Post 1/5

Fantastic! The other player was not turned off by Randal forwardness and responded positively and in kind, deciding to send the party invite to Randal and introducing himself.

“Thanks for coming along Zero, my name is Randal. Take a look at the scroll here.” Randal said while taking the scroll out of his inventory and pointing out some features of the map to Zero. He also handed Zero the part of the scroll that jotted down the author’s thoughts about what he would find at the location. “You see this part of the map; I think that it reflects that part of the geographical terrain around us.” Randal mentions while trying to direct Zero’s attention to a series of mountains that formed a range a little ways into the forest. The duo began to make their way towards Randal’s suggestion and constantly checked the map to make sure they were still confident they were heading in the right direction.

“How are your combat abilities?” Randal asked Zero.

Day 30 (47 exp)

Randal used attempted 8 crafts and failed 5 times. (24 exp from ATP and CAT)
He managed to salvage 2 of the failures, using up 6 materials in total. (7 exp)
He made 6 Meals.

2 T1E1 Meal (3 exp)
3 T1E2 Meal (5 exp)
3 T1E3 Meal (8 exp)

Prior to reaching the shack, Randal cocked his head to side while looking at Maxwell inquisitively, “You don’t know what a motivator is? In all honesty because I don’t think I’ll live long enough to get out of this death game, its just someone who takes money from schools and parents who believe that their children need someone to encourage them to do better through fables and stories with lessons.” He said with a shrug, he had been much more passionate about his job before he got trapped in the game when one of his kids gave it to him as a gift.

When they arrived at the house, Maxwell offered to enter after Randal, but was halted at the entrance. “No no, the inside is for the chef only, take a seat over there by the window and give me a hot minute.” Randal prattled quickly before entering the house. After about 10 minutes, he opened the window, and the smell of fried chicken left the house like a dam that had been broken. Randal placed the crispy chicken into a piece of paper for holding and passed it to Maxwell, drizzling some honey and spice on it before inviting him to take a bite.

“Don’t tell me if its bad, only if its good!” He said before taking a seat in front of Maxwell. It was good day, he completed a quest and made a new friend, hopefully Maxwell would feel the same way. Randal sent a friend invite to Maxwell. “Let’s do this again more, there a continuation to this quest maybe we can tackle it together when you’re a little stronger.”

Randal felt pleasantly surprised at the revelation that Maxwell too was a chef, there was quite a number of them present in the game and they were always so different from one another, it was a happy coincidence that they were both cooks too. Randal’s face was visibly brighter as a result of that knowledge and opened up to Maxwell about his life outside the game.

It was normally a difficult topic to go over but when it was on the subject of food, there was no hard feelings. “I did not used to cook when I was outside no, it was because I could not stand the food, they were giving us in here that I decided to become a cook. Before this, I was a motivator for kids. Where is your shop, maybe we can head there after you have something at mine.”

They were fast reaching Horunka village and soon Maxwell could see the shack that Randal called home.

“The company is good, isn’t it? Besides, you never know what’s going to happen in this death game so it’s always good to have a friend watch your back.” Randal explained why he was trying to drag Hakai along with him to fight the Hoya’s. There was another saying in Aincrad that Randal conveniently left out and that was the fact that sometimes players were more dangerous than the monsters they were fighting, Randal definitely did not think that Ivory would do something like that, but he was sad to admit to himself that he did not know Hakai that well. She seemed like someone who could kill another player, so Randal was going to stay watchful of his own back until he could trust her.

“You know, just rolling in dirt as usual, hitting out some quests here and there and making new friends.” Randal jestered, though he was 100% serious about what he had been doing before coming to the 3^rd floor.

The party headed towards Larbrook to initiate the rest of the quest and was instructed to travel to the Forest of Wavering Mists to find the minotaurs, Larbrook seemed excited to be a part of the party so Randal invited him to come along if he would stay quiet.

Quest information

Randal Equipment

Lvl 24 Randal Info
HP 480/480 | Energy 66/66 | Damage 18 (+2 SA) | MIT 20 | ACC 3 | EVA 4 | LD 6 |

Skills and Mods

Randal had been hunting in the forest of the first floor for some time now, his objective was neither col not items that he could use to boost his battle statistics but rather, he wanted to get some materials from the enemies around the area. He hunted for wild boar meat which was one of the most common monsters that could be found on the first floor. 

Randal saw another player doing something similar to him, they were either looking for materials or practicing some form of dance or combat ability, as though to temper themselves through repetition. He was working hard and Randal was somewhat interested in the player. 

However, before Randal could approach any closer to him, the boar that Randal was hunting burst into pixels upon defeat and in his its place was not the usual material that Randal had been looking for but instead was a scroll of some sort. Randal unfurled the scroll in his inventory and read it, it prompted Randal to accept a quest, it involved using the scroll to find the location of something that seemed to be a dragon's nest?

Randal did not desire to do the quest alone and seeing as how he was about to reach out to the other player anyway, he decided to invite the player to join him.

"Hi, excuse me, do you wanna do a quest with me? I happen to come across a random one, and I do not like to them alone if I could avoid it." Randal said a little sheepishly, he realized that he was asking a random stranger to follow him which was pretty weird.

@zero_lost04

Seeing his partner’s disapproval was not pleasant, but Randal figured that every person had their own preferences and lines that they would and would not cross.

“Haha, great follow me, you’re probably going to love it, the initial concept was for the shop to be aa snack shop which incorporated all the snacks that I could remember from the old world and recreate them here in Aincrad. I have made replicas of hotdogs, chicken kaarage, onigiri, coffee, donuts, and bagels, generally feature snacks that are likely to be found in Asia though, I do not have much experience of food outside that region.” Randal explained while leading Damien out of the cave and past the other players who gleeful entered after Randal. Please at the fact that the duo was leaving early before the allotted time was up. They would need to take a few moment to get out of the forest and back towards Horunka Village.

At the moment when Randal managed to decipher all the words on the stone tablet, the information in his quest log changed, he no longer needed to make sense of the tablet but to hunt down the marks and return a collection of them to this location.

Randal pondered over Maxwell’s question, he could very well get some col from the sale of the information and he should very well try, failure did not implicate Randal in anyway. “Yea, you and I should try to sell the information assuming the quest did not auto update for everyone.” The time they had left inside the cave was still enough for them to take their time but there was no reason for them to linger.

“I definitely would like to try to take them on if I could, if nothing else, just to check out what they were.” Randal replied to Maxwell. “After we try to sell the information, do you want to stop by my shop? To celebrate our success.” Randal offered.

Randal had just managed to secure an ally in Ivory when he spotted the very person that he had messaged not more than a few feet away from them. Unfortunately, she was not vibing very well with the Faune people. She was chasing away the Faune when she made eye contact with Randal and did a sort of half-hearted wave.

Randal turned to Ivory, “Erm, this is going to be a bit hard, but you see that lady with the black armour and red-hair, she’s kind of a violent person but she is really strong so we could use her on our team. Also, I don’t know if she has any other friends either so let us go and say hi.”

Randal placed Ivory in front of him and gently pushed and guided her towards Hakai who looking rather bemused at the little white haird girl that Randal was pushing towards her.

“Heyya Hakai, long time no see, I dropped you the details of the quest in your interface.” Randal spoke quickly to Hakai in a sing-song manner. “This here is Ivory, she will be joining us if you decided that you want to come along.”

“Hey Ivory, you’re just in time” Randal glowed at her. Seeing that Randal had found an ally that he knew, some of the other players that were talking to him said farewell and good luck before leaving. So, with that, Randal was able to provide his full attention to Ivory.

“There’s quest here, this NPC Lorbak wants to find something to go kill a minotaur with him, I decided to do so, do you wanna come with?” Randal asked towards Ivory. While explaining the situation to her, Randal was fiddling with his interface to send a message to Hakai, the details of the quest were included with an offer to join, there was killing to be done and she would definitely find some joy in that. He was unaware the target of his invite was just several feet away.

While Randal and Ivory were talking about what to do, a Faune had started to walk up to Hakai, telling her that she should not have any open fires in the Forest, all of their houses and structures were made of wood and could catch fire, the main thing was that the entrepreneurial Faune wanted to sell her a pipe that would prevent embers from falling unlike her cigarette.