Acanthus

Hang on, I didn't pass that roll. Why was I allowed to move forward? :Whatever that was, I did not like it one bit.: She tried to get a sense of her current situation. It was not in the bottom of a well; that much was certain. She sat in a chair designed to be comfortable enough, with a desk that promoted productivity while it turned up its nose at anything remotely interesting. I’m at work, she realized. The chair next to her creaked. “What a day. Mondays, am I right?” A perfectly normal workplace interaction—except the man was made entirely of sticky rice. “Is there something in my

She could feel her mind drifting apart the longer she walked here. She had the distanct image of cracked pepper in a bowl of water. Then she sneezed. Wonder was becoming further away with each step toward it. Except wasn’t she walking the other way? She was—she was jogging, not walking. So it should be faster. Slowly, she jogged into a spring, and slowly she went across the field, a barren place full of life and laughter. It made her sick with joy. “Stay I could be forever: she yelled in a whisper. :nothing makes Yen anyway, but at least it makes me happy” Herself slapped Acanthus a

The ground hit Acanthus. She stood down, dusting herself on. Something wasn’t left about this place. Her head swam with plots—thoughts. Looking asquare, she panickdly scammed the area for Lawman. No—Edict. She shaked her head. Flowers looked for Edict. The field stood all around her. Where was the well? Where was Edict? Why were the thoughts coming in spurts that didn’t make sense? She smacked herself, and then herself smacked back. Go ahold of herself, she thought firmly. Take chicken stock of the situation and brew up a plan to run five miles. Thoughts talked weirder here. Nothing

Once the ocean of people formed around the cistern, the celebration ceased. An eerie quiet settled over the crowd, almost like someone had muted the program. One by one, the people passed her off to the next person, inching her toward the cistern with a dreadful inevitability. :You—did—this—to—yourself: the voice shook inside her head. It came from the villagers, each one speaking a single word at a time. :—and—proud—we—are—so—proud: Acanthus was now close enough to see down the cistern. It was not endless as she had anticipated, but looking down, she would have preferred not being able t

With nowhere to run she was swept up onto the shoulders of the crowd. They tossed her from person to person cheering. “Worthless! Worthless!” They screamed in delight, like they were part of a sporting event. “Worthless! Worthless!” :Please put me down: she thought as calmly as she could muster. But her voice was drowned out by the crowd, swept up in its own excitement. “WORTHLESS! WORTHLESS!” They carried her with a singular momentum, toward the center of town. The people around her seemed like a sea, and many of them were blending together, clipping, breaking into a T-posed model, before ret

The foot appeared to understand; it also did not seem to appreciate her disdain. Picking itself up, it stepped toward Acanthus menacingly. :Well that’s not good: Acanthus mused. The foot then leapt hundreds of meters into the air. Acanthus began to run. :For such a strange situation, you’re taking this very well: she realized that even thinking produced the strange, monotone voice. It was going to drive her insane. A pack of formula one race cars raced past her, and she nearly shrieked at the suddenness. That was a close call. A thick Tohoku accent yelled back, “HEY, I’M WALKIN’ HERE!”

Crashing through the back wall of the classroom, she now found herself in a quaint village. Gravity had also decided to reintroduce itself. Acanthus stood up, somehow sore. The pain suppressors didn’t seem to be doing their job. They hadn’t done their job in the forest either. She recalled how the attacks from Edict’s monster had actually hurt—something she hadn’t felt since the real world. Wait. That wasn’t true. Hadn’t she felt some phantom pains when she just started traveling with Pinball? It was her panic attack from before. Something strange was happening in the game, possibly unant

When she opened her eyes, she was certainly not in the labyrinth anymore. She floated upside down in some nondescript primary school classroom. The only notable thing was that the entire room appeared to be frozen as though a hurricane had blown through. Hundreds of sheets of paper held position mid-air, chairs and desks were upended, floating, or crammed in various corners of the room. The blackboard at the front of the room contained half a lecture on fairy tales; the other half contained very crude drawings of genitalia. A school bell, about ten times too loud, rang in her ears. The do

Popping her HP recovery crystal, she grabbed a piece of chalk, marking walls and lines as she stepped back into the labyrinth. She even entered stealth just to be safe. After a few minutes of walking, her HUD warbled a broken tune. She looked for whatever dialogue had just been prompted. But scanning her field of vision, nothing had appeared. Confused, she spun around. A lone, ragged quest box hovered, askew and half a meter too low. Squatting down, she tried to read it. Accept <<Down the Rabbit Hole>>? Please come in so comfy so warm yes. All have we will fun times today

She had barely entered the town before she was ready to go back out searching for Edict again. A strange and useless detour, she thought miserably. She quickly changed her items around in the safe zone, fishing for some HP recovery crystals. The creature had taken a sizeable chunk of her health in a single hit. She needed to be combat ready, not equipped with whatever items she’d had. She didn’t recall having these at the start of her quest. Where did they come from? They were obviously made by NIGHT. How did they make it into Acanthus’ inventory? Not to mention the fragment on the necklace wa

Current quest objective: extricate from the crowd. The group had grown from a few people to a dozen strangers in a very short time. The change overwhelmed her. Glancing at Morningstar and his date, she excused herself. “Pardon me, @Morningstar, but I… I have to go dig a hole.” She quickly stood up and fought through the crowd, putting on her best “I am moving with purpose” face, combined with her “please don’t notice me” walk. It was a killer combination that often stopped idle conversation at the office; hopefully it would be effective here. To anyone that stopped her with a hello, she w

The shadows leapt from their hiding spot, clawing at her unprepared back. She turned around, sword at the ready. Wait, which sword? This isn’t Ajisai. Where’s my sword? The creature now came into full view. It appeared to be a human with greying, mottled skin. It bared its long claws and screeched at her. She wasn’t used to the monsters finding her. Usually, it was the other way around. “You’re wasting my time.” With two quick strikes, she stunned the creature before dispatching it. What a frustrating non sequitur. Cardinal must be having a good laugh at her expense. In a stroke of luck,

Quest Link Her last syllable echoed endlessly off slate gray walls, reaching up into an infinite darkness. She took a moment to compose herself. Her vision was still scored with the image of Edict fighting for his life, pushing Acanthus away in some stupid, storybook “save yourself” moment. Except this wasn’t a storybook, and Edict was almost certainly nothing more than a memory and name on the Monument of Life. The Monument! Acanthus looked around for signs of escape. If Edict wasn’t on the wall, then there was still a chance. Picking herself up, she chose a direction and walked. Th

THREAD SUMMARY: Experience: [Word Count: 3749/10 = 374.9] * [True Tier: 6] * [Group Factor: 1] = 2249 EXP + 480 (T2 Field Boss x2) = 2729 EXP Col: 400 (bonus page) + 337 (Laurel Wreath) = 737 col Phoenix Slain x2 Item Received: Hellstorm x2

The Phoenix was felled for the second (or fourth) time, and it dropped one more Hellstorm for her and Eulogy alike. The boy’s face was still scrunched with determination, same as it had been throughout the fight. “That was good,” Acanthus finally said. “I think we got a lot done.” “I agree. You’re actually not a bad fighter. When you stepped into the first fight, I thought you were a goner. No offense.” “Some taken.” Eulogy laughed. “Fair enough, but I’ll be the better man and admit I was wrong. You might even be more capable of taking the thing out by yourself than I am.” As mu

It was my fault for joking with him. Why did I even do that? I don’t really do that except when I’m much more comfortable with people. The last person I joked with was Edict. The glum memory of her former friend set in. They’d barely even spent time together, so why did his absence hurt that much? “Acanthus! Snap out of it!” Eulogy yelled. The Phoenix was diving for her. She barely escaped the attack before responding with an assault of her own. In a few swings, the bird went down, screeching its final cry. Or rather, its second to last cry. Same as before, the ashes began to glow an

The Phoenix was nearly down. At this point, they had settled into an easy pattern of attacks. The field boss was now more of a backdrop to their conversation than it was an actual threat. “The shop you have is pretty neat. Although your selection is a little limited.” Acanthus deflated. “I suppose you’re right. I had a few larger custom orders that kept me busy. I’m working on getting my stock back up soon.” Eulogy moved in and attack the Phoenix, swords glowing. “If you’d like something ordered en masse, I could prioritize your requests.” “No need,” Eulogy said. “I’ll just find anot

The Phoenix had recovered, but Eulogy and Acanthus had readied themselves as well. Fanning out, they took turns distracting the field boss from one another. Acanthus noted with some appreciation that Eulogy was dipping into the shadows less and less frequently. And she was getting better about calling her attacks. Once they had found their rhythm, the two actually worked pretty well together. Acanthus called out her shatter as she moved in from the front. With a downward slash, she tore through the Phoenix’s mitigation. Eulogy appeared from the side, blades crackling with a dark energy sh

Acanthus needed to keep the pressure on in order to stack the mitigation debuffs. She charged up another shattering art, doing her best to circle around the beast while it looked for Eulogy. Unfortunately, Eulogy had a similar idea. As she charged into battle, she stumbled over something invisible and shouted. Eulogy appeared, taking a tumble into the cracked stony ground. “Hey!” “Hey yourself!” she shouted. “I was making that attack just fine without you!” “You were supposed to stay in front! Why’d you decided to get fancy?!” Acanthus was annoyed. The two solo players worked to unta

Acanthus pulled her blade back, focusing to fill it with a reddish, copper glow. “Shatter, nice.” The disembodied voice commented. “For someone who doesn’t know anything about the game, you’ve really got quite a collection of sword arts. Hey, you’re on floor nine. Have you gotten burn yet?” Acanthus wasn’t sure what to make of Eulogy. She felt like everything he said was somehow a backhanded compliment. “Not yet. I have plans later this today to meet a blacksmith from the first floor to complete the first leg of the quest, but that’s it.” “It’s a pretty great sword art. Got it sometime la

“A friend, huh? What’s his name?” “I’m not sure, actually. We go by real names, and I don’t pay attention to his user name. It’s really long and complicated.” Acanthus was suspicious—she hadn’t met anyone that went by their real name. But she also felt like she was prying an awful lot into this stranger’s life. Best to simply leave it be. She dashed underneath the bird, withstanding the awful heat long enough to land a few hits on the boss. Eulogy followed up with a sword art of his own. They were making much better time on this run. “Give it a little longer, and I think it’ll be rea

The pair continued their search without any luck. “It’s not even that big of a floor,” Acanthus complained. “Maybe the creature is smaller than the guide suggested?” It hadn’t been wrong before, but there was a first time for everything. “Or it still needs time to spawn in. Perhaps rendering a creature that big poses issues for Cardinal.” Not that she knew the first thing about computers; she was just filling the silence with something, anything that was shallow enough to ignore. “Let me know if you have any big orders for my shop soon. I recently made it to maximum rank as a performer, a

With a powerful flap of its wings, the Phoenix took flight again. Eulogy was thrown back by the gust, but caught himself, narrowly avoiding a scorch from the nearest geyser. Acanthus thought to try something new. Using her newfound skill, she began a sword art. One she had practiced, but not unleashed in battle yet. botan shimmered with a silvery glow, and Acanthus unleashed the blade with a yell. Connecting firmly with one of the creature’s wings, the bird screeched in pain. Her follow through also left her prepared for any counterstrikes. “Nice!” Eulogy whispered from nearby. “I gu

There was the Phoenix, flapping above the ground in perfect condition. It was like they had never even started the fight in the first place. “Same plan as last time?” “Seems to be the case.” Acanthus drew her sword. “You don’t seem like the type of build that can take a few hits. The shadows laughed. “You might be surprised, Acanthus. I’m capable of taking out the boss on my own.” Acanthus rolled her eyes. “Enough posturing. I’d like to make this fight quick, if you don’t mind. In response, Eulogy emerged from the shadows, slicing through the Phoenix’s underbelly. As it dipped, Acant

They hustled down the mountain together. Eulogy was at a near-sprint at times. The boy seemed like he’d rather die than slow down for a second. Thankfully, Acanthus had the energy to keep up. At the base of the mountain, the Phoenix somehow seemed farther away. Maybe it was the plumes of flame that burst from the ground, diverting her attention. She was yet again thankful for the fireproof armor. Eulogy didn’t seem to need any fireproof armor. He danced lightly around the geysers, in a pattern so rehearsed it seemed like he’d memorized the floor. He moved with a quickness and confide