Ronnel

"Search for a bit before the sun comes down. I honestly won't be too put out if we don't find much - we aren't exactly doing this as our primary goal for today." Ronnel followed a few feet along behind her as the two of them wound their way out of the city. Heading back out without the NPC child hanging onto Cordelia went a bit faster than the path in had been, so they made it to the exit within a few minutes. 

The path under their feet stretched out, flattening within a few meters as they left the city behind. The wildlands around them stretched out, grass swaying in the wind around them as the sun sank closer to the horizon. Ronnel stretched out his shoulders as they went, loosening some of the muscles that had been subconsciously tensing up. He didn't think they'd make it all the way back to the caves before nightfall, so they would probably end up searching for resources here in the grassy plains instead. 

"There's nothing wrong with focusing on yourself, or your own power. I haven't thought that far ahead as to what I'd want to do with power if I had it, but I'm sure you have at this point." Ronnel chuckled and started leading the way through the city back towards where the two had last seen the NPC mother. 

"I know I've seen a lot of all the 'do this for everyone' stuff trying to encourage people to leave the town. Lemme tell ya - not a lick of it made a difference to me." He grimaced and rapped his knuckles on the side of his head. "So to each their own, everyone here has their own reason for pushing onwards." A wry smile twisted his lips as he gave her a jaunty little half-bow as they turned a corner. 

"That said? I would love it if you came to help me do some material searching or whatever we run across. I would rather not die after all." Lips parted as he laughed and shook his head. 

"Not really, no. Just about everything up there would probably turn me to paste if I accidentally caught its Hate for some reason." Ronnel gave a soft, self-deprecating laugh and rubbed the back of his head. And there was no guarantee that whatever they fought, if they did go up there, would have its Hate assigned to Cordelia as things started. And all it would take was one thing deciding he made a more appetizing target and then - boom. No more worries. 

"Ah. Well, I don't know. Any chance you need to stock up on materials? These caves might be a good place to get minerals and ores if your profession is the kind to use them." It wasn't much - and considering her level the woman probably had long moved past the kind of stuff that could be found down here but - maybe not. Maybe she'd focused on combat and let her profession lag behind. 

And maybe later he could ask her for tips about the familiar quest. It looked she'd had a good result from it. 

"Working on it!" Ronnel bit out as he brought his spear around and reset himself. The last of the Nepents was in the middle of its own recovery phase, dragging back from striking at Mari. He let out a grunt as he braced himself. The tip of his spear began to glow as he lifted it up, and began the animation for <Heft> once more. It was a little frustrating using the same sword art but - he needed to. This thing had to die so it wouldn't still attack her, or him, and with what he had available right now he couldn't pull that off unaided.

With a grind of his teeth he brought the blade up, sweeping it in the slicing arc of the Sword Art. This time the spear blade bit in deep as it cut, slicing far enough in that for a moment the Nepent almost doubled over backwards, With a short, sharp tug the spear came loose, ending its sweep as the Nepent shattered into red data. The last few motes and flecks of data drifted downwards to the ground as Ronnel planted his spear butt against the ground and leaned on it. 

"Right." He gave her a tight smile. "Next the variant, right?"

Ronnel's eyes narrowed as the Nepents lifted his partner up and slammed her down. He knew intellectually that she was fine - her health on his vision had ticked down some, but no where near to dangerous levels. But even so, the sight tweaked his nerves. He lowered himself down and darted inwards, planting himself far, far closer to the fight now. No more hanging back, and if she felt he was in the way so be it.

She had plans on the Nepent that she was holding onto, he could see it in her eyes. So that was her target and he would leave her to it. Instead he focused on the one that had avoided his strike earlier even if it had been entirely unintentional. His spear came down, the tip digging a line in the sand - then swung upwards in a vicious arc, following the path of the <Heft> Sword Art once more. He wasn't like Mari, able to take these things down with basic attacks, he needed the boost the Arts provided. 

Which worked, this time. The blade of the spear sliced through the torso-region of the pitcher-plant monstrosity, biting through it and continuing onwards. There was a stutter in the entity's animations before it burst into a shower of red data that quickly faded. He panted as he recovered in the post-attack cool down state. He'd done it. 

Ronnel grimaced as he watched the four - and he knew they weren't but for the life of him, he could only see then as overgrown pitcher plants - Nepents circle around Mari, trying to catch her with their vines. He grimaced in frustration as he circled around behind them, nodding in response to her shout. The spear- wielder wasn't going to waste time or distract her from dodging the attacks my shouting back at her.

The man planted his feet and braced, feeling the beginning of a Sword Art assist taking hold. He followed the motion of <Heft>, flicking his spear upwards and trying to slice open the back of one of the Nepents. Unfortunately he mis-timed it, the monster leaning forwards before his spear swing. Metal swing through air without touching flesh, and he let out an aggravated snarl. A quick glance at his energy meter - it was down slightly, but recovering. 

If he was going to let Mari keep the Hate of the plants, then he could not risk doing an AOE attack. He'd have to stick for either basic attacks, or trying to get a killing blow off on one. For now, though - nothing. 

Shaking off the phantom sensation of legs flexing against his palm no not legs it was a worm a worm Ronnel decided he'd gotten all of the herbal roots from this particular area that he was going to. With a sigh he stood up and brushed himself off before looking around. He was getting a bit thirsty now, having been digging and plucking weeds for a fair part of the day with the sun beating down, and while the sensations weren't quite right it had had an affect on him. 

So on he walked, until he reached a small stream. He knelt down at the water's edge and started to cup his hands to get some water, when he noticed something stabbing into his calf. With a grunt he leaned over far enough to reach beneath him and pull up whatever was there - and his quest tracker ticked upwards to three. He blinked once, then twice. "Oh, come the -" 

Ronnel jerked upright as he stared at the thing in his hand that he'd just pulled out of the ground. It started to squirm in his hand as he stared at it, and an atavistic shudder of repulsion rolled down his spine. He stared at it for a few long moments and was almost relieved when his quest marker didn't update. The thing started to twist and curl up, coiling around his hand, and with a disgusted yell Ronnel hurled it away, watching it vanish into the grasslands around him. He wiped his hand off on his trouser leg and shuddered. 

"That worm was entirely too large." That was his story and he was going to stick to it. That had been an overgrown worm and nothing else. With a grunt of frustration he resumed his search for more herbs. Hopefully without finding any more wriggling guests that wanted to try getting cozy with him. 

“Yeah.” Ronnel brushed hair back from his face as he hummed in thought slightly. “Yeah, food that can buff nearly any thing that we can do, same for pieces of jewelry. Just got to find the right people who’ve actually got the profession. I’m still trying to decide for mine.” He shrugged one shoulder before turning his gaze to Mari. “None of the food I got us earlier is stat-buffing though, just for hunger and flavor purposes. 

The duo reached the edge of the river that Mari had mentioned and Ronnel blinked at it for a moment before turning his gaze in both directions along the river bank. No sign of a bridge, or even a ford so they’d just have to cross where they were. Bracing himself slightly against the oncoming chill, the dark-haired man waded into the river. It wasn’t too deep on him, but - he paused near the midpoint of the river and held there, waiting until Mari was across. He doubted she’d take help if he offered but even so, he kept an eye on her in case of a stumble or a surge in the current. 

Ronnel hummed in thought as he flicked his fingers through the menu screens. He was growing more familiar both with the in game menus, and with his current compatriot's attitude. Instead of answering her directly, he tossed her an invite to his party - teeming it the 'Is This Good Enough' squad. That done he closed down the screens and nodded slightly. 

"Right. And the Variant, once we find one, only has a small chance of dropping what it is we're looking for for the quest from what the NPC was telling me, something about 'only a few amongst the off-breeds have one'." He frowned. "So this may end up taking a while. Good thing I brought extra food along." He took a few steps away from her to give her clearance, and then manifested his spear and swung it up and across his shoulders. 

"I’ve got a bit of AOE capability but for right now I’d probably be best suited to one on one as well.  This thing isn’t exactly the best quality.” The dark haired man said, a bit distracted as he pulled open one of his screens to check before nodding slightly.

Ronnel groaned and shook his head as he sat back. Weed after weed had come out of the earth as he was working here. With a dejected chuckle he sat back on his heels and looked at his pile of rejects. It was now nearly tall enough that it could be used as a cushion, though it would make a terrible one. 

"Right. At this rate I might as well make this my own private garden, sheesh. I haven't pulled weeds like this since..." He trailed off and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Right. He'd been doing his best to avoid thinking about outside. On top of that, he'd been trying for a lot longer not to think about his family." Right!" he ripped a plant from the earth - and bit back a string of curses. It had been a viable herbal root. Until he literally tore it in half and ruined it. He snarled under his breath and tossed it onto the reject pile. 

With a groan Ronnel rocked back on his heels and rubbed the palm of his empty hand against his eyes. He knew they couldn't all be what he was looking for, but come on, this had been growing right there next to the herbs he'd just harvested! He let out a dejected sigh and tossed the weeds into a spot that he had cleared for just that purpose - a reject pile so he didn't keep looking at the useless weeds thinking that they were good herbs. 

But he couldn't let one failure make him quit the search. There was no way he'd be successful every time he tried something - failure was not an ending, but a step on the path for anything that was worth doing. He wiped his nose clear of some dirt that had gotten stuck when he'd rubbed his eyes earlier, and then knelt down, plucking another set of plants out of the ground. The weird disconnect between 'plant in dirt' and 'plant in dirty hand' of the items being harvest struck him as a little odd, but this wasn't real life, no matter how eerily close it was at times. He was about to toss them over to the reject pile when from the corner of his eye he noticed his quest marker tick upwards.

Ronnel carefully tucked his new-found herbs into his inventory, not wanting to run the risk of accidentally damaging them before he even had a chance to turn them in. But - finding some on his first real attempt for digging into the dirt had invigorated him in his search, and with a soft tune humming under his breath the dark-haired man turned his attention back to the plants around him as he resumed his attempts at harvesting.

Working on the premise that the herbs he was looking for would grow in clumps close together, Ronnel dug up another stall, spindly set of grassy materials and held it up to the light. It took a few shakes to get all of the dirt cleared away from the roots as he was looking at them, and with a hopeful eye he glanced back and forth between his quest tracker and the info screen for what he was looking at. When several seconds passed by with no reassuring ding, Ronnel had to bite back a groan. Sure enough - while they looked similar on first glance, what he was now holding was a lovely, lovely, bunch of weeds. 

Ronnel knelt in the middle of some of the wild grasslands, his hands and knees covered in dirt as he rooted around. He knew vaguely what he was looking for as he did this, so as long as he was diligent he would find it. He turned his head to one side and his eyes lit up as he saw a choice looking clump of strands poking up from the soil. 

It only took a few moments for him to uproot the root system that he had spotted, and he lifted it up to the air and shook the dirt clear so that his basic identify could tell him what he was looking at. Moments passed by - and he felt a swell of triumph as the 'required items' tracker ticked upwards by one. A small laugh fell from his lips as he sat back on his heels and stared at the root network in his hands as the information about it flowed in. Simple root herbs used in potion-making, low quality - but he had them. One step closer.

Ronnel exited Zakariah's shop, rubbing his chin with one hand as he looked at his quest log. The quest itself was just as straight forward as the old man had claimed it was, which made sense for what was supposed to be many player's first introduction to Aincrad's workings. It required leaving town - which, with a nod to the guards, Ronnel was in the process of doing at the moment. There was an odd feeling of liberation walking out of the town if he was honest about it. For so long, Ronnel had been cowering behind those walls, paralyzed by indecision and fear.

But now - now he was out here, breathing in deep of the air. This would be the first time he was trying to gather resources, so he would have to make sure he did well. He didn't want to end up coming back to Zakariah empty-handed after all. So with that in mind he headed into the fields around the Town of Beginning as he began his search. 

After the man had finished speaking, a flashing dialogue box had popped up in one corner of Ronnel's vision - asking he accepted the quest. He reached out and tapped the acceptance button with one finger, focusing his attention on the NPC instead as the man began moving again. The older man rummaged for a moment before nodding and turning to Ronnel with that same benevolent smile stretching his lips.

"Alright young man. I need some herbs for a potion that I'm working on, and I'd appreciate it if you could gather them for me. When you get back, I'll show you a little bit of the potion-crafter's art in exchange." It was the literal definition of a fetch quest but it was what he needed. Right now, Ronnel had nothing to his name - he knew that there were NPCs in this town that were better equipped and stronger than he was. Everyone had to start somewhere, and this, right here? This was his starting point. 

It had taken Ronnel a few minutes to find what he was looking for - but he had. The place seemed like it was fairly well traveled, but no one was currently in at the moment aside from one man - who had the familiar quest icon floating over his head. Ronnel took in a deep breath and pushed into the shop. The man at the counter turned his head and his face lit up in a bright smile. Ronnel knew that the man was just another of Aincrad's NPCs, but whoever had programmed their AI interactions had done excellent work. 

"Why, hello there young man! Are you another of the travellers come to our fair town?" Ronnel nodded slowly. "Excellent! If you've the time, I could certainly use your help. I'm certain you won't be disappointed, and I can probably wrangle up an introduction or two for you to help you on your way too." These were the beginner quests - this was the start of the quest line, if Ronnel had read the description correctly. While there were other, more dangerous quests that he would have to handle eventually, these ones were safe enough.  

{{Involved Characters: Ronnel, Mari. Any bunnying during writing is approved by both players}}

One foot in front of the other. This was simple stuff - straight forward. Hunting these Nepents was one of the earliest quests that you could get in Aincrad, Ronnel had just been putting it off because he hadn’t even really known where to look for the creatures. Or what on earth a ‘variant’ was going to be like. It was why he’d first gone into the forest looking for Nepents in the first place, he wanted to try fighting one or two to get a feel for combating them before he tried to take the actual quest.

Of course then he’d gotten lost and not seen a single blasted monster the entire time but - well. It had worked out, he thought. Orange bobbed above orange ahead of him as his ‘escort’ pushed through the forest, following some unseen path that she knew. Either a familiarity with the quest, or she knew an information broker or something - it could be any of them with her he thought. He grimaced as a tree branch swung and smacked him on the shoulder - Mari hadn’t even noticed it, since it was above her head. 

Ronnel dumped the start of things into the trade - three meals, with bread and butter as sides, and then two bags of jerky and a set of the teriyaki kebabs that he was currently chewing on. He swallowed and tapped the trade button, then exhaled slowly. 

"Hiding honestly didn't cross my mind. Feel free to try those later, but I promise I didn't do anything to them." He chewed his lip for a moment. "Before we do any quests, we should probably go to a different floor or something. I heard people in town talking about you being nearby, and wanting to set up for catching you for a bounty or something." A pause and a sigh before he flicked the kebab stick into his inventory. 

“There’s probably already a few on my head. I’m used to it.” came her reply. He felt almost sad, or morose, at her words. She lived expecting people to be coming for her. 

"To answer your question though - I'd like to hunt down the Nepents for the Secret of the Forest medicine or whatever it is, and then maybe a couple of the other low level quests. I still haven't chosen a profession either, so I should do that at some point too I guess." He was standing straighter now, his shoulders squared as he hummed in thought.

“If you become a tailor or blacksmith you’d get steady work.” Mari said as she stood. “Right - you ready? The Nepents are back in the forest we can go do them now.” He took a deep breath, his eyes flicking to the orange gem above her head, then to meet her gaze. 

"I'm ready."

Ronnel flicked the last of the dialogues closed with a deep breath. He'd gone through and hunted down every quest he could feasibly start at the moment - Mari did NOT seem like the type to accept charity, and would probably resent him for wasting time. While he'd been working on picking those up he had also collected a small assortment of dried jerkies, poultry fried and non , including some teriyaki kebabs that he was currently munching on, and the freshest bread and butter he could find.

Ronnel stopped when he heard the chatter, her name ringing in his ears.

“The Pink PKer has been seen around these parts. I hear she’s been on the prowl for new players.”

“What? Why?”

The other girl shrugged. “Probably to lure them into something or kill them. You don’t get that many names on the monument by ‘accident’ “

“Should we try to get a bounty on her or something?”

Ronnel had wanted to hear more, but the two were walking in the opposite direction of him, and whatever else they said on the matter was out of earshot. 

And for a moment, he hesitated. He could turn around, call out to them. Tell them. He knew where she would be, help claim a bounty. But - he'd been where she was. Alone. No one to rely on, or at least it seemed that way. He exhaled slowly and ground his teeth before resolutely striding back along his path. 

He'd have to warn her that people were growing suspicious and believed she was in the area. Even if she didn't care, being attacked was bad news for everyone involved.
 

The forest thinned around them as the two walked, the air between them still tense and awkward. Ronnel had tried a couple times to strike up conversation with the orange-gemmed player, but by and large she remained tight lipped on things. Still though, she did give him small points of advice as they made their way through the woods. Mostly in the form of "don't do that, you'll get hurt for being an idiot if you do that." Minus the half a dozen swear words she dropped.

Weirdly enough, he appreciated it more than he would have saccharine-sweet advice. He'd had enough of that from his family trying to cajol him into following in their footsteps, he didn't need even more reminders of it now. Her abrasive nature was refreshing. 

"Alright. This is as far as I can take you. The town is just over there - much closer and the guards will be on me." She deadpanned, turning those cold blue eyes towards him. Ronnel grimaced at the reminder that his current teammate was someone who had killed players on the past. It was one of the topics she had remained silent on when he tentatively asked. 

"Ok." He took a breath and focused himself. "Right. What would you like to eat? Tell me three meals, I'll do my best to get them."

Ronnel paused as she moved forward, hesitating for just a moment. This.. This spot wasn't like the rest of the forest that they'd been traveling through. This part looked tidy, neat - and when his eyes caught the small marker with yellow flowers wrapped around it he felt a sharp pang. This was a grave. Had he inadvertently stumbled onto this PKer while she was mourning someone? He chewed his lower lip for a second before resuming his pace. 

No. No, he was not going to bring this up. They'd only been in this death game for a couple of years now. If this was the grave of someone she cared about, and from the way she slowed as she turned her head in this direction it may very well be, then the death was still recent. Still fresh and painful. If he brought it up now - well. Her surprising patience for an orange player might very well hit its limit, and he would hit the ground shortly thereafter. 

But it just reinforced in his mind that there was something going on with Mari. If she was as cold blooded as the rumors of mass murder made her out to be then she would never have begun to care about some grave in the forest, no matter what its connection to her might have been. She was becoming an engima, a mystery, and he just knew if he let it it would fester in his mind. 

Ronnel drew in a deep breath and let it hiss out between clenched teeth as he forced his spine to relax from the sudden vehemence. He'd thought that tossing it clear of her would make it clear it wasn't intended to be any kind of ill will but - he'd forgotten to remember the fact that she was an orange player. Of course she'd be more high strung than a normal player was. 

"Sorry." He ground out finally. "I - it doesn't matter." He shook his head from side to side, short cropped dark hair swaying as he did. Deep breath in, and he straightened out his clothes with a tug at the waistline. For a moment when she had grabbed him he'd thought that his innocuous attempt at giving her food was going to be what provoked her into gutting him but - it seemed not. He drew in on himself, chewing his lip for a moment before deflating slightly. 

She was right. More so - she was orange and he was green. From what he knew there was no penalty for greens to attack orange players, so for all she knew he had been attacking her. He shook his head again. 
 

"Alright." Ronnel let out a soft breath. He'd been almost testing her right then. When people were provoked they'd sometimes show their true colors, and so he'd done his best without being outright insulting to smart off to her. And all she'd done was get more irritated and insult him. And, more importantly, accepted the invite. 

"Ah. Here." He didn't have much - just some of the ready travel food but - it was at least decent quality. A slight flash filled the area as he pulled an oats/nuts bar from his inventory. 

“Keep it.” Came her response as she continued walking forward. “I want a proper meal.” He snorted. 

"Take it as a down payment then." He hefted the food bar in his hand then lobbed it over her shoulder. "Because I'm going to get you that, too." It just wasn’t right - food was crucial even for those trapped in this accursed game.

"That's… Kind of stupid though isn't it?" Ronnel frowned deeply as he rubbed his chin. "Like - I get it if you're just playing a game normally but - we're trapped in this d**n death game. I know you can't DIE from not eating but - gods that would be miserable." He looked up to her and took a deep breath. In the real world, even convicted murderers still got three hot meals a day, and a safe place to sleep. To be forced to suffer whatever scraps you could scrounge, or just deal with the gnawing in your stomach… 

"Yes. Yes, I accept." He gave her a tight smile. "Here." It took a moment to fumble with the menus - he was still getting used to them after all but.. There. He looked up as he sent the Friend Invite over to her. It was probably a bit stupid, to offer her information on his location like this, but he didn't care. 

Maybe she was playing the long con and planned to kill him later but so far she hadn't been anything but - well, curt and abrupt, but also helpful.