Rosary

“And now?” Zakariah repeated, “Why, now, you come with me and I show you how to craft a potion.”

She followed behind the old man to learn what she needed to do. He showed her the process and it was a lot more involved than she has anticipated. “Alright, so you want me to throw these little flowers in the mortar and smash them up with the pestle until the flowers begin to release their coloring?”

“Exactly,” the man said and gave her a nod.

“Okay, simple enough.” She went to town smashing the little flowers up like she was making mole. The woman was quite used to working with said items given they were used a lot in Mexican cooking.

“This good?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay, so now I just need to distill it like so.” She continued on.

 

ID # 138352   CD: 2    FAIL

 

Though she’d followed directions, her potion did not turn out. “Damn it,” She sighed.

And just like that, her prayer was answered.

Not but five feet in front of her in a circle of red tipped little clovers stood the tiny little bloom. It was right there, and even marked out for her as if Fortune took pity on her and said, “Look here, dummy.” 

“Oh thank goodness!” She plucked up the last of her ingredients and kissed the damned thing before shoving it in her inventory and running back up the hill and back onto the path which lead her back to town.  After three wrong turns and two helpful NPC’s later she found herself back at the shop.

Valerie practically kicked the door down, much to Zachariah’s shagrin. “No need to break my shop. Come on in and shut the door behind you. No need to behave like a barnyard animal.”

“Sorry…” she apologized and gently closed the door behind her and then tip toed across the floor as to not cause more trouble for herself.

“I have the flowers…” Now what do I do?”

 

ID 138349    LD:18   SUCCESS

5/5 Material Collected

So apparently Valerie’s writer had a real hard on for causing herself trouble. Once more she tried rolling for girf, and once more the dice told her “Bitch, no. Just stop,” thus proving once again, that the SAO roller really does not enjoy being used to roll for girf. But I digress and now, so to Valerie and her dilemma.  

Fortune seemed to have abandoned the woman as there was a shortage of flowers again. Val raised her fist at the sky (and to her writer) and shook it angrily. “I JUST NEED ONE MORE, PLEASE STOP SCREWING AROUND!”((Point taken Val, no more screwing around, promise.)) “Thank you,” she said to nothing and no one. Her intentions now made clear she hoped that her chain would stop being yanked on and she would find that last flower so she could get to potion making. “Just one more…” She pleaded again.

 

ID 138348    LD: 10    FAIL

4/5 Materials Collected

Val’s writer promises to stop playing with the dice roller in insidious ways.

“Oh… Flower!” Val said as she snatched up one more for her collection. Four, there were four now. Just one more to go! The woman did a couple of bunny hops and doing so, lost her footing and slipped down the hillside on her butt. She lay at the bottom laughing as she got back up. Normally [censored] like that would bother the woman, but there was something fun in this. She was questing. A Quest! Years of nothing, and now, here she was, taking her first steps into the game to a life outside of the safe confines of the wall. It would be a lot easier to make money if she weren’t solely based in the Town of Beginnings. She had often considered the same in the outside world, relocating in order to make a better living for the girls. Before SAO she and her oldest had talked about it a bit, but nothing ever got past the discussion stage. But maybe in this place, it was worth taking the time to think about.

 

ID # 13847   LD: 14     SUCCESS

4/5 Material Collected

Guess the dice are nicer when I’m not rolling for girf….

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt for me to go for a little bit…” She said as she got up off the ground finally. There were no little flowers, no blue ones anyway. She dusted herself off and slowly began to make her way down the hill. It seemed the little carpet of flowers also trailed down along the side of the hill. This was an exciting prospect as it now meant she had a larger area to scour for the very thing she’d need, only two more. Just two more little flowers and she could make that old merchant’s potion and be on her way to the next thing. There were little orange flowers, purple one, even light pink, but no blue. Not yet.

“Not yet…” she kept repeating herself.

If she kept saying it then, eventually it would be yet and then she could be one more flower closer to her goal.

 

ID: 138346   LD: 6   FAIL

3/5 Materials Collected

The woman glanced around her once more but it was still the same. There were no little blue flowers in sight. It was a strange feeling, being held hostage by something so small. She plucked at the grass idly. What else could she do at a time like this but continue to wait. She began to broaden her view to what was actually around her. The clearing she sat in was elevated slightly. The road she came out of town on extended off into the distance. It wound through the countryside which was slightly hilly with thick patches of trees. It was a very pastoral scene. She half expected to deer or other gentle wildlife appear from the tree line and bounce through the open fields. But no such luck. She wondered if she should explore the area. Maybe there were farms or orchards nearby that she might be able to secure some food for the children.

 

 

ID # 138344    LD: 4     FAIL!

3/5 Material Collected

More time went by. How much? Who knew?  Some time. Not long enough for the woman. Cool down times for games were often ridiculous. She remembered watching her oldest waiting for twenty or thirty minutes just for certain mobs to respawn. Maybe there would be the only flowers she would find today. “That couldn’t be…” she told herself. This was a beginner’s quest. Maybe a quest on like floor 55 would be like that, but not here on the ground floor. Unless…

“Unless…” Val said aloud and sat up.  “Unless that weirdo in the sky that day meant for it to be like this. That not all of us would succeed even here…”

She paused bringing her hand to her face. “What an entirely frightening thought... if he meant to kill many of us off here.”

Well, she wasn’t going to die. She was going to figure this out, get the kids some food, and then find someplace safe for them to go. First, she needed the damn flowers to come back. Looking around, she saw none, YET.

 

ID #138343    LD: 10      FAIL

3/5 Material Collected

As hypothesized, Valerie was correct. After having found several flowers quickly, it appeared that now, there were none. She combed through the grass going from one end to the clearing to the other, but nothing registered. There was nothing else to do but wait. She fell back into the grass and stared up at the sky above. The sky was clear and there was only bright, endless blue. A breeze rustled through the heather and it tickled her face as it brushed against her cheek. It was quiet where she was. No sound of the town, nothing off in the distance, not even birds. Not even the sound of her breath. She wondered if somehow the system were muted. Was there even a way in her control panel to do that? She opened her HUD and clicked around in it. There wasn’t anything that she could see that would allow her to stop the sound.

Maybe in truly was that quiet out here.

ID # 138342   LD: 5   FAIL

3/5 Material Obtained

Things were looking good so far! She hadn’t been looking all that long and already she found near half of the flowers that she needed. But like with anything, all that could change in an instant. What if only a certain number of the flowers bloomed at any given time or even faded away after a certain time of blossoming? Then she’d be working against many annoying variables. Her best hope would be that the gaming system metrics for the little flowers were static. It was entirely unlikely however seeing as everything in the game had so many working parts behind it. In this way, the game was entirely too realistic.

Valerie combed through another couple feet of grass but had not yet come across the thing she needed. “Maybe I’m pressing my luck…” she said softly as she continued her search. Turns out, her luck had not yet run out and she procured yet another of her potion ingredients.

 

ID # 138341     Success!

3/5 Materials Collected

The flower that she held between her fingers was rather pretty. Tiny, blue, the petals so thin she thought that if she touched them they might wilt away from the oils upon her hands. She was not entirely sure just how far the game metrics had been taken so she did not want to wish damaging the delicate little thing. She placed it carefully into her inventory and began to look for more. Valerie kept her dark eyes focused on the ground below, her eyes darting here and there as she kept a look at for more of the minuscule blue flowers. She crept carefully through the grass checking for the flower before she stepped across. She would take no chances on finding one and then ruining it by smashing it all up. She was likely going to need to do something to it to turn it into a potion but she figured the system would only count her find if it we whole. A second flower fell into her sites and she added it to her inventory with the other.

 

ID #138340   LD:14     Success!

2/5 Materials Collected

Valerie followed the instructions and followed the cursor on her map. She’d been lead to a small field of flowers just outside of town. It was a beautiful day; mid-afternoon, and not a cloud in the bright blue sky above.  The tiny flowers that dotted the ground fluttered about in the gentle breeze that swept over the open space. It was really nice here; the kind of place that the kids would love to have a picnic at. But there would be no picnics if she could not earn money to get them food. The soft smile that was painted across the woman’s lips slipped away as she remembered today’s excursion was no sightseeing tour.

Back to business…

What was it she was looking for exactly? There were all sorts of flowers here, so how was she supposed to know which of them she needed? She scanned the grass until a little green symbol popped up over the little blossom.

“So you’re what I need huh?” She said and gathered the flower up and added it to her inventory.

 

ID 138339  LD: 17    Success!

1/5 Materials

Thank You so much Raidou and his band of merry elves!

 

 

The older gentleman NPC stood behind a counter looking at her a if he had been expecting her to show up. "Creepy, but alright," she sighed. There was no time to think about the odd intricacies of such a game. The only thing Val need worry about now was getting this thing going. Approaching the counter, the NPC began to implore her for her assistance. He made a lot of words at her to which she listened to none of it. 

"Come on guy! Just let's go. I've got places to go and people to feed." 

Zechariah gave her a bit of a stare down and harshly spoke again " Alright impatient one, here you go." A screen popped up asking if she would like to accept the quest. "Why yes thank you quest box, don't mind if I do!" She said as she pushed the confirm button. So far, so good. 

It took her a moment, but the woman remembered that she had been given some type of beginner's guidebook some time ago that was written by those already making their way to higher floors. What was it? 24 now? She could hardly remember such things when she had mouths to feed and they were far too young to look out for themselves. She pulled the book from her inventory and began flipping through it until she found what she needed. Turned out that there was an entire series of tutorial quests for someone like her. 

"Perfect," she replied as she snapped the book shut and made her way to find this npc who would help her.

Twenty minutes and several wrong turns later, Valerie foubd herself outside of the shop belonging to the NPC Zechariah. She opened the door, and went inside. She did not take a look around at the place, she was too focused on her mission. All there was now was to get things going.

But how exactly was she supposed to get it? It'd been weeks since the pub had goven her a shift, things had been slow around there recently. She didn't have a profession where she could just start pumping items out and selling them at random. Not that she'd be good at thar anyway since it would take her a while to become proficient in such a thing. So what was left? 

"Come on Val, think..." she said as she ran her small hand through her long, dark hair. 

"Quests!" She piped up. Her voice loud enough to have several passer-byers give her an odd eye for shouting such a thing outloud.  

Quests were a thing weren't they? Of course they were. Every damn game had some kind of storyline for a character to follow to earn currency and level up. But how could she find such things. Never before had she even bothered to look. 

Valerie had to act.

She had been stagnating for the entirety of her life on SAO, but now things were starting to get desperate. Funds at the home were getting low, and if she didn’t help to do something soon, the children in her care would not be able to eat, and she could not have that. Her protective instincts kicked into high gear when it came to children, and just like her very own girls at home, this mama bear would not stand by and watch the little ones go hungry. No, she needed money and she needed it now.

That’s how it all started. Val assessed the situation and she headed out the door, leaving Martha, the sweet elderly woman who also looked after things at the home in charge of the children while she was gone. The dark haired woman ran her slender fingers through her long, wavy hair as she repeated the same word under her breath.

“Money…”

 

Rosary activates Yui's Grace

Rosary earns an additional +1 SP 

5 total/ 4 remaining

 

Profile
Username: Rosary
Real name: Valerie Martinez
Age: 40 (37 at the start of SAO)
Gender: Female
Height: 5’6”
Eye Color/Hair Color: Dark Chocolate Brown

Profession: Not Yet Selected

About: History/personality

Valerie is a stranger in a strange land. The American born, Mexican-American from Los Angeles, California, and her family were stationed at Misawa Air Base located about 400 miles North of Tokyo in the Aomori prefecture in Tohoku. Her estranged husband moved the family out to Japan when he relocated to Misawa four years prior to SAO. Two months before the game was released, she filed for divorce and moved herself and her children into Misawa City proper.

Val is the mother of two girls, Shannon, age 14, and Teresa, age 6. She makes a living by working at the Commissary on the base. The living isn’t much but it’s enough for her and her children to get by on. In the real world, Valerie isn’t all that outstanding save her oven creativity and sharp mind. She’s a problem solver who thinks outside of the box to get things done. Decently attractive, but not anything most would give a second glance to, she is pretty, soft, and kind.

Originally, Valerie had bought the nerve gear for her eldest daughter’s birthday. During opening day, she wanted to make sure that the game would be safe for her child to play and wasn’t going to subject her to hidden graphic content she might not approve of (An ultra-violent bloodbath was not something she was going to let her child wander around in). She played around for awhile before deciding it would be fine for Shannon to play. She was about to log out so her daughter could see the opening ceremony, but when she tried to log out, she found that she could not. Val found herself back in the main town amongst all the players where she learned from the game’s creator, that none of them were going to go home that day or any day thereafter until the game was won.

Virtues:

Nurturing

 Val is everyone’s mom. Not necessarily the kind everyone wants, but certainly the kind everyone needs. She doles out, affection and advice, but is never afraid to make her thoughts and disapproval known in any given situation. She is the type to never leave any one stranded, especially the children of SAO, many of whom are without adult supervision. She has spent her earlier time in SAO caring for the younger children in the Town of Beginnings in one of the many homes created for the wayward children.

Adventerous

While many did not take to being locked away in a death game, Valerie found herself unafraid. The prospect of living in a fantasy world despite not having really adventured out into it was very exciting to the woman who had known a rather ordinary existence prior to her new life in the game world. Adventure (as well securing financial support to care for the children) is what finally lures her away from the main town and into the vast world of SAO.

Thankful

While things may not be perfect, Valerie is always grateful for everything she has. This mindful behavior helps her to keep optimistic even in the direst of circumstances. It is this willingness of gratitude that has kept her alive for so long. She feels that so long as she stays positive about her experience, she will make it back home to her daughters who are waiting for her in the real world.

Flaws:

Dorky

Although Valerie would never claim this about herself, she is always being told by her eldest child about what a dork she is. She has a passion for learning, but also a love of very nerdy things like literature culture, primarily pertaining to the fantasy world. (The Lord of The Rings was by far one of her most favorite books.) She isn’t convention level crazy, but is one Harry Potter wand away from joining the tribe of dweebs.

Poor Sense of Direction

Valerie couldn’t find her way out of paper bag. If she does not have a map or a route, the woman will find herself lost. Not that she actually minds this, however, her happy-go-lucky ways lead her to enjoy the adventure she has led herself upon. If in a party, do not trust her to lead unless she knows exactly where she’s going, otherwise the whole party could end up in a tight spot. “Not all those who wander are lost”.

Arachnophobia

Val hates spiders. When she was five, she had woken up in the middle of the night to find her older brother’s pink toe tarantula crawling across her face. This was done as revenge for a little Valerie having eaten the pudding cup her mother had given her, which unknowingly to all parties (save her bother), had been previously claimed by himself. After that she was a lost cause to spiders, even freaking out over ones no bigger than a centimeter. ( Note: Please no one tell her that there are giant spiders in this game okay??)

Skill Points

TOTAL: 24

AVAILABLE: 9

USED: 15

Skills
Non-combat:
» Concentration

Passive:
» Gatherer

Combat:
»

Weapon skills:
» Rank One 1HSS


Inventory
Weapons/Tools:

La Espina      +2 Mitigation   +1 Thorns  (Mitigation +18, Thorns [9])

Small round shield that slides over the forearm composed of darksteel, a blackened steel with no sheen and seems to consume the light that hits it. A design on it's front that of roses and bramble in a scatter across its blackish surface and the edge is barbed with protruding barbed 'thorns'. At the back of the shield is the Celtic knot of Tristram steel, just inside of where the shield clasps around the wearers wrist. (Mitigation +18, Thorns [9]) *

 

Paloma      Vanity

A darksteel blade, modest and functional. Was created out of the excess material when forging La Espina, great care was to give the metal sharpness and as such gave the blade a strange Damascus pattern along the flat of the blade. *

 

El Corazon     +2 Evasion  +1 Mitigation (9 Mitigation)

A comprised leather suit of legs and torso, darkened leather claims most of the piece. Coming separated are small guards that clasp around the wrist and latch to the shoulders are darksteel plates the wearer can attach on a whim, adding some much needed protection where it matters. Some well made boots of similar make accent the piece with matching plating on the fronts. (Eva +2, Mitigation +9) *

 

La Madre Rosario     +3 Accuracy

A beautiful rosary of amethyst and and pale lavender crystals with the Our Father beads as merano beads with small pink roses upon them, the centerpiece depicts the Virgin holding the baby Jesus and crucifix and centerpiece are made of sterling silver *

 

La Andenza Apoyo      +3 Loot Die

A small silvered cat, seeming in a stretch on a silver chain. Eyes of ruby that seems to draw the gaze of all who look upon the piece. Simple but alluring all the same. *

 

DONOR PACKAGE

Top Tier Donor Package with some serious goodies!

 

 

 Little Bits      +2 Damage

Starter weapon, a fine steel blade with a razor sharp edge guaranteed to cut your enemies into little pieces

Vanity Light Armor

 

1 Spyglass (3 charges) - Use to reduce the number of posts required to search for a dungeon or familiar by 5 posts. Effect lasts for one thread. Item is destroyed once all charges have been used. *

1 Glow Stone (single use)-While holding a Glow Stone, the area around you is illuminated. You and players near you do not suffer any penalties for darkness or low-light conditions. Cannot wield a weapon while holding a Glow Stone, but it can be swapped out and and back in to continue its effect. Effect lasts for one thread. *

2 Teleportation Crystals (single use)-  Use a post action to activate a teleport crystal. Teleports the player to the town or designated teleportation area they specify. *

Troll's Blood: A unique consumable that, when applied to a weapon, adds +2 DMG for the thread *

 

Potions

 

COL

4,483 Col

MATS

25

Roleplays
» [solo F1] Doin' Time <<The First Few Lessons Are Free>>  ((Completed   Consumed: 1 Yui's Grace      Earnings: 5 - Tier One Health Potions of Uncommon Quality (+40HP) * 1 - Tier One Damage Potion. (+1 Damage) * 1 - Tier One Over-Health Potion (+50 Temp. HP) * 400 Col * 5 Skill Points ( +2 from quest completion, +1 for page count, +1 quarantine bonus, +1 Yui's Grace) ))

» [solo F6] Seeya <<The Gemini>> ((Completed   Consumed: 1 Yui's Grace, 1 Immolation Potion, 1 Potion of Iron Flesh     Earnings: Extra Skill <<Concentration>> * 1000 Col * +6 SP (+3 from quest, +1 for page count, +1 quarantine bonus, +1 Yui's Grace))

» [private F23] <<Ugzeke the Mighty>> - ((Completed     Earnings: Troll's Blood * 2633 Col * +5 SP (+3 from quest, +1 for Thread +1 quarantine bonus) ))

» [solo F1] Just Like Honey <<Nature's Treasure>> - ((Completed   Consumed: 1 Yui's Grace     Earnings: +25 Materials * 63 Easter Eggs (not collected in time for bonus) * 3 SP ( +1 Yui's Grace +1 for page count +1 quarantine bonus) ))

» [private F1] Feed Me Seymour <<Secret Medicine of the Forest>> - in progress  ((Consumed: +1 Yui's Grace))

»[open F1] New Faces. - in progress

» [private F3] After Hours <<Worn Out Welcome>> - in progress

 

» [private F2] Majesty <<Long Live The Queen>> - in progress

»[solo/private/open] LinkedTitle - in progress

» [solo/private/open] LinkedTitle - in progress

» [solo/private/open] LinkedTitle - in progress

»[solo/private/open] LinkedTitle - in progress

» [solo/private/open] LinkedTitle - in progress

» [solo/private/open] LinkedTitle - in progress

»[solo/private/open] LinkedTitle - in progress

» [solo/private/open] LinkedTitle - in progress

 

(no "in progress" means its complete; "incomplete" can mean one or the other person stopped replying for a long time)


Relationships (optional)



Story Thus Far (optional)