Shay

"It's easier if you just call him Chase." Shay said, offering her own opinion. She knew that it was spelled with a capital 'R' like that, but it seemed like just an aesthetic choice. Chase was just easier.

Looking around the shore a little more yielded even more spoils. She found another cluster stars, which was a subpar find, but digging a little into the sand revealed even more stars hidden underneath. She dug them up and soon she had gotten nearly more than double the last gain she had gotten. She pocketed them for now and looked back to Chaser, who had also found a ton of the stars himself.

"Nice job, I found quite a few as well." She showed him how she had 29 of them now. "Man it feels good to relax a little after all the questing we've been doing." The girl put her hand on his shoulder standing next to him. She whispered quietly to him and showed him a smile. "You really needed it."

Stars: 10+19=29

Shay twirled her blade and slid it back into the saya she respawned in her hand. The girl looked down the the fallen Haine and offered a hand to help her up. Once she was back to her feet, she looked over to Kiluia who was thanking her for some reason, when he was the one assisting her with the quest.

"I did hardly anything compared to you guys and you were the ones who invited me. So I should be thanking you guys for bringing me along." Shay mentioned as she caught up with him. All they had to go to do now was turn in the quest to the quest giver. And get the experience for it.

"You two are a much higher level than me, but at least I wasn't useless for this quest." She said, replacing her katana's saya at her side on her belt holster.

Shay quietly walked around the carnival grounds, looking at all the booths set up selling foods and fabrics of all kind, not to mention a few of them that were handing out sparklers and ones that had fun games set up. If she was younger, she might have wanted to take part in ring toss or something but she felt a little to old to find enjoyment out of something like that now. Her perusing was interrupted by Chase's voice. He was concerned about the developers of the game watching.

"I imagine that machinations of the death game was solely in the hands of Kaiyaba Akihiko. Blaming the coders and developers for this mess hardly seems fair, as they likely didn't know. As for Kaiyaba, I imagine that he is. Perhaps he set up several of these events prior to the game's release. If not, he's still pulling strings from outside the game I guess." Shay said casually, finally finding the Tanzaku table. "Here, write down some wishes and relax a little."

[Receives Tanzaku]

The two women didn't seem that bad. They were a bit too spunky for Shay's style, but at least they weren't annoying by any means. So, they were looking for some golden starts for the event specific quest. It seemed that as long as you participate then you get some of the experience, and she wouldn't miss out on that chance. Especially when the quest was so simple as 'look for event specific items around the area.' They hadn't even been to the proper event yet, but that didn't matter. The quest was in their books and needed to be done for the experience.

Heading along the lake shoreline a little further, the rogue finds a cluster of starts lumped together next to a rock. She crouches down and scoops them up into hand. This seemed much easier than the regular material gathering at least. "I found some over here."

Stars: 10

The intruder was obviously of a higher level if they could maintain stealth the way that they are. Not to mention being able to clear the field of enemies in a single attack. The rogue surveyed the field again, trying to find indents in the ground with the grass to find the location of the pursuer. They should know better than anyone what she needs from her.

"I came here to complete this quest. In order to do so, I need to show the item to the quest giver. I don't care much about it, so if you want it, keep it, but I need it for a short time so that I can get the experience gain." Shay explained, still keeping her hand on her weapon, ready to fight just in case. She wouldn't let this person just make her let her guard down by saying she wouldn't kill anyone. That's exactly what a deranged killer would say to their victims just before they killed them.

With their quest finished, Shay and @ChaseRfound themselves into the celebration proper. Again, Tanabata was a lovely event that even someone like Shay liked, but Chase himself was not as familiar with Japanese culture. His knowledge of event was pretty limited, even though it was one of the very few things that really had anything to do with the game whatsoever.

"Since you don't know a whole lot about Tanabata, I'll lead you through it. The first thing we could do is go an get our wishes hung up on the Tanzaku. In tradition with festival, people will get some papers to write some wishes on and then they get hung up on trees. Once your wish has been fulfilled, you come back to the tree that you hung it on and you take it down." She explained, making her way to the forest proper. She scooped up some of the papers and handed them over to Chase as well.

Easily said, this was Shay's first time on a floor higher than ten herself, so she was just as paranoid as he was. However, missing events in an MMO was a sin to a seasoned player, and she was willing to take the risk to make her way up here. Besides, if there's one holiday she always loved as a kid, it was Tanabata. Making wishes and just relaxing a beautiful night with the stars probably didn't seem like her style. There were worse things on the world.

"We'll be alright. Monsters only aggro to people if you get to close or attack them. I'm also sure that monster spawns were reduced for the duration of the event since it seems to be non-combat related." Shay had come in an elegant kimono, even for this quest. If they were avoiding combat, she wouldn't really need her armor anyways. That being said, she did keep her katana slipped into the sash of her obi behind her back. If she needed to fight, it would be ready at least.

That's when they were approached by two blondes. Shay usually abhorred interaction with too many people at once, but she was in a relatively good mood. She'll humor them for now. "Join us if you like," Her callous, but calm tone was still apparent, even on a night like this. "We're out looking for stars."

The mass of elves were dropped in nearly an instant with the collective efforts of the three players. They were absolutely no match for group. When the commander was felled by Kiluia, the king of the elves decided to show himself. He even towered over Kiluia at a stagger six and half feet tall, looking down at the man.

"You will pay grievously for this-!" A grunt of pain escaped his lips as Shay's vibrant red weapon tore across his torso. The blade sang with an uncontrolled hum of power, nearly seeming to parade with the feeling of tearing it's foe asunder. "You bitch!" In retaliation, the King brought his massive two-handed sword over Shay's head, she side stepped it more quickly than the king's eyes could track.

"Too slow." She said, kicking the king's hands free of the weapon. The blade fell into the grass and laid comfortably in the soil.

Shay | HP: 420/420 | EN: 14/42 -(15)+1 | DMG: 9 | EVA: 3 | ACC: 1 | BLD: 12 | REC: 2
Haine | HP: 1170/1170 | EN: 114/114 | DMG: 19 | MIT: 66 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 4 | BLD:36
Kiluia | 780/780 HP | EN:64/78 | DMG: 15 | MIT:41 | EVA: 1 | ACC:2 | BLD:24 | REC:1 

Elvish King | 48/150 -((165-75)-12) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 75 | [BLEEDING: 12] (1/2)

"He is a bit of softie some times, but he does what needs to get done and trying to get stronger. His name is ChaseR." The girl said keeping an eye on the trees around them. Even in the presence of some high level players, she didn't want to let her guard down. A shifting through the bushes alerted her attention. She put a hand on the hilt of her katana and pulled it loose from the saya. "I think we've got company." The raven-haired rogue mentions to the others.

A group of Elvish bandits jumped from the bushes and surrounded Shay specifically. The first one rushed towards her, taking a swing at her chest. She quickly ducked under his attack and slashed through his core, splitting his top half from his legs. The next came at her as well, slashing vertically, she side stepped the attack and stabbed him through the chest. The both of them dissolved at the same time.

The other two attack her at the same time, she retaliated with a wide attack, only hitting one of them but applying bleed. 

Shay | HP: 420/420 | EN: 27/42 -(9+6) | DMG: 9 | EVA: 3 | ACC: 1 | BLD: 12 | REC: 2
Haine | 
Kiluia | 

Elvish Soldier 1 | 0/65 -((11*9)-30) | DMG: 15 | MIT: 30
Elvish Soldier 2 | 0/65 -((10*9)-30) | DMG: 15 | MIT: 30
Elvish Soldier 3 | 2/65 -((9*9)-30) | DMG: 15 | MIT: 30 | [BLEEDING: 12] (1/2)
Elvish Soldier 4 | 65/65 | DMG: 15 | MIT: 30

The moment Night made a sound, Shay whirred her blade through the air with no caution. She didn't feel a connection with anything solid when she made her attack though. Loosening her tensed muscles she did her best to listen for footsteps or a flicker of the figure. But it was no good, the sounds of the ambient forest took over any other sounds for her.

"Hiding in the shadows is pretty cowardly. Is that just for show?" She teased the other player, attempting to make them show themselves. It was hypocritical of her to say considering that she wanted to take the same path of stealth for her own build, but she wouldn't be using it to pray on lower leveled players like this. "If you think it scares me, then you've got a bad impression of me. If you want to fight, why don't you come out in the open and show me what you're made of."

The walk back was really annoying with this sand storm. It had only hit her once, but the fact that her health bar refused to regenerate was what was most annoying. It stayed there with it's missing health points and refused to return to full.

"Are we almost there yet? Jeez." The girl said covering her face as well as the sand storm picked up a little bit more. It was getting hotter than it was yesterday too, making Shay really miss her home on the frozen fourth floor. Well, they were nearly done with this quest anyway, then they could get the hell out of here.

Another hour or so went by and the group could see the safe zone of Fortaleza in the distance. Only a few more minutes of walking and they could put this desert behind them for awhile. She knew there were a ton of quests on this floor to do, but they wouldn't have to worry about them until later.

After collecting her own set of materials from the wreckage, Shay picked up her friend's share and handed it off to him. The group was now ready to head back to the main settlement and get this quest over with. It had been much more taxing than she thought it would be, not only with the two tanks of the group arguing to each other, but with having to sleep on the ground. She could feel the crick in her neck.

"Man, I really didn't expect for us to have to sleep on the ground like that. I wish I had brought something to sleep on." She complained trying to roll the soreness out of her muscles. She looked over to Chase and looked him up and down. "Did you sleep well at least?" She asked, trying to make sure that he was doing better now that they all had gotten some sleep.

Shay yawned as the others greeted her back. They seemed to be having some sort of conversation, but she barely caught any of it. Probably had something to do with the whole tanking ordeal, so she wouldn't really pry.

"Glad to see you two are getting along better now." Shay mentioned while stretching. She took a moment to fix her messy hair while she spoke. "I think we are pretty close to the shipment yeah. The NPC said that this was around the location that they had abandoned it. They weren't able to carry everything, so there is a few things left behind. We should be able to fit it all in our collective inventories and take it back to them. Then once we are done, we will have this skill unlocked finally. I think it's been a little more taxing than I originally envisioned." She admitted summoning her sword into her hand.

The paladin sighed and rested her head against the wall behind her, looking up at the ceiling of the crag that protected them from the bulk of the sandstorm. The sun was going to rise soon, based on the slightly orange-tinted skyline that was forming.

"You're girlfriend, the pianist," She pointed to the tent that Shay was currently resting in. "She is a tough one, I can tell. She's seen these kinds of games more times than once. I bet she has been playing them all her life. MMO's I mean. Even she is still human as a digital body. I came out to her sleeping on watch. You both are going to tear yourselves up if you don't learn to control yourself. That being said, you're both still pretty weak in comparison, but that doesn't mean you can't toughen up. If you don't this world will chew you alive and spit you back into the data you spawned from."

Her words were harsh, but they were meant to be a harsh truth. It was about this time that Shay stumbled out of her tent, looking as though she was the worst morning person you'd ever meet. "Morning."

Shay watched the other two players move into their tents for the night and lay down to sleep. She would have to stay up for a few hours and make sure that none of them lost too much of their health points. Fatigue, however, was overwhelming her. She hadn't realized just how much she was wearing herself out by questing like this. She thought that since she was so used to grinding games like this, that it wouldn't be much of a problem for her. After an hour, she fell asleep herself.

Yuki moved her to her tent, which she didn't even wake up from being moved. The pile of crystals lied next to her, just to be safe if they other two were to fall too low. Luckily, no one would drop a significant amount of health, even though the night. The paladin didn't even bother waking the boy up to do a shift. She would instead stay awake until the group would be ready to move on in the morning and continue looking for the shipment. They couldn't be that much further from it.

Shay followed behind the other two just a few steps back and watched their rear, just to make sure that they wouldn't get ambushed by anything. She listened to the few things Kiluia was talking about but she didn't really have much of a reply for him about the quest details. It looked pretty simple to her was all.

Then Kiluia asked if she was a solo player. Guess she couldn't really say that anymore considering Chase. "I used to be until I met a partner to fight with. He is a damage player like me that is going to invest in some tanking skills later. I'm apart of a trading guild for the benefits that it provides for crafting, but I don't really interact with any of the guild mates. I tend to be something of a loner."

There wasn't much else to say after that. She preferred to be in small groups or just alone more than anything.

"I-I'm fine," Shay says as she tries to rub the sand out of her eyes. The bits of grains burn her crimson pupils for a moment before finally it calms down and she can see clearly again. Chase was now standing on his own, so that was nice to see at least. Rest was need for him at this point with how hard he has been working to level up, he deserves it.

"Let's catch up with the tank, yeah." Shay led the way to where Yuki had gone to see she was already setting up their camp for the night. She took a seat near the tents and sighed. "I'll take the first watch for the night and we can rotate. Probably not a good thing for all of us to be unconscious outside of the safe zone, especially when the weather itself can deplete our health points. I have recovery crystals, so if any of us gets low, I can use one of them then leave them out for the next person."

A social duo. Shay was never fond or really good with words, but she tolerated it for long enough to exchange proper greetings. Her crimson pupils inspected the two. They both looked much stronger than her, likely pretty close to front line level. She was no pushover, however. Her skills had brought her to the brink of the second tiers levels, and soon it would bring her to the third.

"I am fine. Its a pleasure to meet you both." Shay says, shifting the raven-coloured curtain of hair out of her face with her free hand. The other hand held her weapon, snug in it's saya. The sheath of the blade was crimson red, contrasting the green hue of the forested floor.

"Thank you for inviting me. Please, direct me as you need." She was good with these type of games, but she knew when she was outclassed by others. They were obviously stronger than her and more experienced in SAO, so she was subject to their seniority.

Shay caught her charge as he folded into her grip. Maybe she was actually going too hard on him. She had never really though that she was running him this ragged. Guilt was starting to wash over her as she held him up.

"Chase..." She stuttered out. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been pushing you so hard like I have been. We can take a few days of rest after this quest, alright? I never meant to run you dry like this. I'm so sorry."

It wasn't that often Junko needed to apologize to anyone, but here was the one exception. She had hardly been thinking about how this game was affecting him just so she could have a person to climb with through it. That made her feel worse than anything. Was she always this selfish with everything that she did? "I will do my best to be more considerate of your feelings." She said, helping him move with the pinkette. The sandstorm picked up for a moment when she turned around, throwing a large clump of grain into her eyes. "Ack!"

Shay | HP:390/400 -(10) | EN:40/40 | DMG: 8 | EVA: 3 | ACC: 1 | BLD: 12 | REC: 2

Delilah was a carefree town full of quiet people. It was probably one of the most fantasy-esque settlements that she had happened upon up to this point. If there were less people living here, she might have actually chose to put her shop on this floor. However, the field of the fourth floor still suited her the best. It was quiet and peaceful there.

Sight seeing definitely wasn't her mission, however. She was here to meet up with some other players. Chase seemed to busy with something today and didn't want to join her for anything. He was catching up to her level rather quickly having done quests without her. She wouldn't keep up if she didn't start doing more than just partying with him.

It took awhile to find the man in question: Kiluia Seiko. She didn't know him much at all, but at least he and his partner would help her complete the quest without any complications. "Morning." Shay mentioned to the man, presenting herself as his query for the quest ahead of them. She opened her menu and offered him a party invite.

Shay sighed as things seemed to calm down. It was nice to see that they were getting along somewhat now. Or Chase was merely tolerating the front liner's presence now. She was worried about him, which felt pretty weird. She never really had to worry about anyone like this. Maybe this is what it was like to have friends.

"Chase, I know you're tired. You're pushing yourself hard to get stronger, and I'm glad to see that. But, please don't snap like that again." Shay asked, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder and giving him a small smile to try and reassure him.

Yuki watched this altercation, not really paying it much mind. It reminded her kind of what her and Crozeph had felt like when they first met. Perhaps they would get rather chummy with one another like the tank and her fiance did. Love was hard to find in a world like this.

Shay sighed, "Chase, she's a tank. She throws herself in front of danger countless times to keep others safe-" Chase probably didn't even hear her. He got up and started to run after her. Hopefully not to provoke her more. If he did that, one of them was going to do something foolish. While she wouldn't normally care, she was growing kind of fond of the boy, and he wasn't going to throw his life away like this.

Shay followed him to watch the scene. If he was smart, he wouldn't do anything to provoke her further. From what she remembered, the tank before them wasn't capable of doing much more than absorbing hits. She likely couldn't beat him without her armor on, but it wouldn't help him feel better to wail on her anyways. She knew that better than anyone after having so many arguments with her own parents.

Shay watched as Yuki walked off back to town. She hadn't expected Chase to do such a thing. It was obvious that she was trying to teach him something, but he couldn't catch on to it. The rouge bent down and retrieved the item that Yuki had left for them. It was a mitigation increasing potion. She could likely make her own if she needed it.

"Well, now that you're done pissing off front liners, what do you have to say?" Shay asked. She truly had no idea what was wrong with this boy. He continued to go on about how he was weak, which made Shay even more annoyed. This boy was so hard to get along with. One moment he wants to get stronger and get out of this game and the next she finds him crying like a baby about how weak he is. She sighed heavily as things seemed to settle down a bit.

Chase was being his usual stupid health, and the tank was willing to show him his faults of letting anger over take his stable mind. Shay groaned annoyingly. If this was what it took to calm him down than so be it. If she remembered correctly, health points wouldn't regenerate while they were stuck in this sand storm. Maybe it'll be a nice wake up call for him to undergo the rest of this mission with only half of his health points. The damage was minuscule to them based on what the tank had told her prior.

Shay folded her arms and moved out of the way to spectate. They had a little bit of free time and this was an important lesson. If he couldn't hold his temper around bosses that were as tough and dangerous as Yuki, then he wouldn't survive longer than a minute in a real fight.

Shay stayed out of the conversation for the most part. She herself had only met a front liner once in her entire career, and they were orange. They all seemed pretty serious, but this one was rather laid back and enjoyed talking much more than the orange player did.

Her focus went back to the caravan leader that led the cart through the sandstorm. "Our supplies are still out there. We had to abandon them to bring back what we could, but this isn't everything. If you can bring them back, we would be in you debt for sure."

"Yeah, yeah. How far?" Shay asked, adjusting the cloak over her face as the storm brewed even worse.

"At least a day's travel there and back. It took us quite some time make it back to town." Shay sighed audibly.

"Let's get this over with then." She said walking towards the gates of Fortaleza.