[PP-F4] Blood of the Moon - What is a Hero? - Part 1 (Flints)

[Endilix 0]

Endilix made his way through the frosty town at the center of Floor Four knowing exactly where he needed to go and how to get there. The current mission? Get some apple juice. After that, the world was their oyster. Unfortunately, Endilix had spent little time actually honing his craft as a cook, and so he had to go purchase things for his bar from NPCs or fellow crafters, in the event he was ever actually around to be open for business.

He would occasionally check behind him to make sure that Flints was still there, knowing she was prone to distraction. Steadily he made his way to one of his suppliers and local grocers, a nice NPC named Percy with a little stall in the market.

Edited March 27, 2016 by Endilix

[Flints 0]

Flints' eyes darted back and forth within the town, and occasionally, when she was very sure no one was watching, she would leap into deep banks of snow. Scattering it about and making a mess. She continued until she had her familiar Antillian, doing the same. Both leaped between eachother playing around until Endilix turned to look at Flints. She would quickly pull herself out of the snow and trudge on, looking annoyed by all the white stuff. Hoping it was enough to fool Endilix. As they approached a shop Flints gave Endilix an inquisitive glance. Unsure why they had to visit a shop. When they made it inside Endilix seemed to know the NPC. They held a conversation which made her giggle. She had never seen someone interact with an NPC in this way, but gave them space to discuss their affairs as she wondered the market with Antillian. Eyeing the various fruits and goods on display. "These look real.." She gently prodded the display not understanding its existence before gazing back to Endilix, whining. 

[Endilix 0]

Endilix performed the transaction with the NPC with ease. Endilix appreciated the fact that, while scripted, the NPCs still felt like real people, making the world Aincrad seem more alive. After some swipes of his HUD, Endilix had in his possession a bottle of apple juice. He thanked the NPC and gave the polite shopkeep a bow before turning back to Flints and saying, "Alright, step one of our adventure is complete." Endilix walked up beside her and inspected the fruit that she was. "Hungry? We can grab some fruit for our trip and some for now. It's good to have rations, and we never know how long we'll be out."

[Flints 0]

Flints noticed the exchange between Endilix and the NPC and licked her lips. the closer Endilix got she went from being tense to bouncing on her heels excitedly. "Uh...maybe..." She gave a small whine and looked back at the strawberries and other random assortment. "Yes that would be nice. I wouldn't mind sormthing...sweet" licking her lips she shovled a bunch of the strawberries onto her outstretched clothing, catching the delectable little fruits and walking over to the NPC. Staring at it wide eyed. "Mine?" She stared at it for a while before turning to Endilix again. "How long do you think we will be gone for?" She scrunched her face, lost in thought. Wondering if maybe she should have stopped home before coming along. "Anyways. Where did you want to head off too?" 

[Endilix 0]

Endilix followed Flints as she gathered up the strawberries and went back to the NPC. He chuckled as the NPC smiled at her, awaiting an actual transaction, before opening his HUD and granting Flints the strawberries she desired. As she asked how long they would be away, he rubbed his chin in thought and said, "I dunno. I never plan these things. I just go where the wind takes me and when I come home is when I come home."

Endilix shrugged and grabbed one of the strawberries before popping it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "As for where we're going, I was hopeful we could hear of a rumor or quest in town. That's generally how I get my direction and purpose."

[Flints 0]

Flints watched Endilix steal a strawberry and gave him a little growl. "I see... So then let's head to the center of town and listen for your little rumor. Then set out for...Adventue!!!" Flints shouted as she shoved them into Endilix's hands and gently wiped his cheek. "I hope we have to fight something huge! Or maybe we will find a great treasure! Or...." Flints grew quiet as she noticed a crowd of players surrounding what looked like another player, or an NPC? She stalked her way down towards him but noticed him try his best to sneak off from the hustle and bustle. "Is that who we are looking for?" She shouted back at Endilix. 

[Endilix 0]

Endilix gave a sigh and shook his head at Flints, as he put the strawberries in an actual bag and placed them in his inventory for later. He followed along as Flints headed towards the center of town, and was certainly curious about the odd hustle and bustle going on in the square.

Upon Flints pointing out the player making his way from the crowd, Endilix pushed through to approach him. "Hey! Do you happen to know what's going on here?" Endilix shouted, but he was drowned out by the din. There was no obvious reason for the crowd, but Endilix supposed it was just the normal hustle and bustle of the town, NPCs and players alike. What was off, was someone sneaking away from it like it was bad.

Sure enough, confirming Endilix's suspicions, the sneak noticed the armored man following him and suddenly bolted. Endilix sighed, and turned to Flints, "Alright, a chase it is then!" And just like that, Endilix was in pursuit.

[Flints 0]

Flints stepped carefully around the busy life of the town, following the now in pursuit Endilix as he burst through the crowd after the figure. Slinking through them she caught up to the two and sent Antiliian to corner the runaway. Quickly gaining on the figure, Antillian threw himself full force, hurling both himself and his target deep into the snow. "Get him before he makes a getaway!" Flints hissed at Endilix. her excitement had built from their chase, she breathed deeply as she went to pet the wolf and calm it from all the pervious excitement. Whatever they were hiding had better been worth the struggle. What if Endilix had just scared a player? "This could be bad" Flints thought to herself. What if they had just spooked some innocent player? Having some fully armored man charge after you wouldn't exactly make anyone want to stay still and wait to see why they chased you in the first place.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Flints

[Endilix 0]

Endilix watched as Antillian went racing past him to tackle the man they were chasing, and Endilix made his way to the snow pile with a light jog. He knelt down and brushed away the snow from the figure, before saying, "Sorry about the rough landing there, I hope the snow managed to at least cushion the fall." He looked over the man. He seemed to be a lower level player in some starter clothes with a dagger on his hip. "What's your name? And why did you run?"

The man groaned and looked up at Endilix, and before giving any further response he narrowed his eyes and said, "You a guardsman?"

[Flints 0]

Flints stared at the man who seemed to put up a small fight. He didn't seem willing to talk to them. "What's it to you?" Flints bent down and unclipped the dagger from his belt. Curiously watching it fall into the snow. "Answer the question." She growled. Antillian backing up her growl with one of his own. She looked to Endilix curiously not sure on what she should do about the man. Not sure why they had taken so much interest in him. But he had asked if they were guardsmen. What if he was a Pker. "No" flints thought. "Those aren't allowed in towns." She continued to frown at the man. A trickster maybe? "What do you want to do with him Dael? Maybe we should turn him in. Who knows what he's done and tried to get away with." 

[Endilix 0]

Endilix grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and lifted him up out of the snow, before dusting him off once he was on his feet. "I'm not a guardsman. Simply a passerby who found it quite interesting that you ran away from me."

Endilix turned to Flints and said, "He's obviously doing something that would be considered illegal in the real world. Probably pilfering items from people and NPCs in the crowd. Am I wrong?" The last question was directed at the man with a glance.

The man appeared to get nervous at the accusation and said, "L-look. I just don't want to get executed. People don't pay attention in the market. They don't always put things in their inventory either. I've got a quota to meet..."

[Flints 0]

Flints watched the man carefully and took into consideration what Endilix was saying , everything he said was right. This guy was up to no good. Flints grinned and walked close to the scrawny man and whispered in his ear. "What is this quota you speak of? Tell us now, I promise you we are worse than guards." She grinned and flashed him her Abbadon Claws. Their wicked black talons glistened in the daylight and made them seem even more menacing. "If you don't tell us, I can promise you this much." She nodded in the direction of the gates of the city close by "you better pray you never leave the city, I'll kill you before you even realize I'm there." Flints didn't know where her hostility rooted from, but it felt wonderful. She was full of energy. 

[Endilix 0]

Endilix scowled a bit at Flints hostility. For all they knew, this could be a misguided kid, especially with his talk of quotas. He could just be a cog in a larger scheme. Endilix didn't interfere, however, despite his distaste at the threats made.

The thief's eyes grew wide and he shook his head at Flints, "N-no, that isn't necessary! I already am trying to avoid one death!" He was visibly shaken by what he was being told as he looked between Flints and Endilix. "T-there's one of us on each floor. We scour the markets for things to grab from people when they aren't paying attention. But if we don't perform... The Executioner comes after us... Please, don't kill me, I'm just trying to survive!" He tried to break free of Flints' grasp, his eyes still wide with fear.

[Flints 0]

Flints felt the smirk on her face grow into a wicked grin as the words came pouring out of the frightened thief. His honey brown eyes searched hers frantically looking for some sort of pity? Humanity? Forgiveness? Whatever it was she didn't feel for him. Her eyebrow raised as he spoked of his death that wasn't by her hand. "Executioner? And one...on every floor?" Flints considered the dangers of the towns. Of each floor and how at least one of these poor excuses was wondering around, stealing from unsuspecting players. "Maybe you deserve death for not even being able to complete a simple task!" Flints growled. But released him when she looked to Endilix who seemed less than impressed by her actions. "Dael. What do we do? We should...pay this executioner a visit. Give them a piece of our minds." She winked and nudged him gently, hoping he wasn't too angry at her. 

[Endilix 0]

Endilix's scowl remained, but regardless of how much he may not have liked it, he had to admit that it got the job done. He folded his arms across his chest and looked to the kid, "Give me what you stole and tell us the location of this... Executioner, and you can go free. Quit stealing, do the Earning a Living quest, and you'll survive just fine."

The young man nodded to Endilix, and he seemed at least a bit more calm by Endilix's less hostile approach. If nothing else, this had turned into a well played "good cop, bad cop" routine. "The Executioner is on the First Floor. The hideout is in a cave to the north of the Starting City. Hurry though, I hear he's going to kill someone tonight, that's why I'm so scared!" And then the young man pulled out a bag and threw it on the ground before looking to Flints, "Please let me go..."

In response to this, Endilix placed his hand on Flints' wrist and gave her a nod.

[Flints 0]

Flints watched as Endilix gave the small thief a pep talk, the man squirmed uncomfortably, finally admitting where they needed to go, even going to far as to drop a bag of collected items from unsuspecting players. "Do you think the town has a lost and found?" Flints giggled as she released the man, letting him plop roughly into the deep snow. "Well then I guess we better start searching before we lose our chance to catch that executioner." She prepared herself to set off towards the teleporter, grabbing hold of Endilix and tugging him towards their exit, No longer paying the poor soul any attention. They got all they needed from him and some.

"What are we going to do about this? Stop him? I feel letting them free would only allow them to get better at hiding. This is bad. Not only are lives at stake, but so are everyone's pockets." Flints thought about how carelessly she treated her items and things she carried. "We need to hurry...he won't be there much longer!" 

[Endilix 0]

Endilix looked at the man, and he had been considering how best to deal with him when he was wrenched away from his thoughts by Flints. So much for the thief, though he supposed she had a point in that the Executioner character was certainly more important. "Well, if we kill him," Endilix said as they walked, not really making any real attempts to move away from Flints' grip on him, "then can we say that we're much better than he is? We can always take him to the city guard. We should talk to the guard captain before we leave. Jail him or something." Endilix wondered if that would work. Could they incapacitate him long enough to get him to the prison? Endilix had never really explored the idea of the city guards, as they were all player ran. NPCs never left, and therefore had no reason for police.

As Endilix rubbed his chin in thought, following along with Flints, next thing he knew they were at the teleporter. He stepped on it and smiled at his partner, "Off we go then?"

[Flints 0]

Flints eyes stayed settled on Endilix's as he spoke. She hadn't even considered keeping the man alive. She didn't want to be merciful. "Why should we let him live? What if he isn't an NPC. What if he's another player? Killing players. I never said you had to get your hands dirty, but just to stop his tyranny I wouldn't mind giving him a worthy opponent for his anger." As they apperated in floor 1 flints sighed and shook her head. She hadn't realized how different her views were from Endilix's. It wasn't a problem for her but she wondered just how comfortable he was with her. 

"I feel if we tried to reason with the executioner like giving it some of our items or col it would just take advantage of that. And still kill people. We can't let it win.." Flints brow furrowed as she tried to consider any other options but complicating things wasn't worth it. Once she realized she was pacing outside of the gates of the starting city, lost in thought.  

[Endilix 0]

As they reached the city gates, Endilix stood rubbing his chin in thought of what Flints had said. He tapped his foot as he watched her pace back and forth. "I'd like to have a plan of action before going, but we can't dawdle or else we run the risk of another potential victim, provided the intel we received is true." Endilix looked Flints over. As this adventure went on, he realized that he had never truly gotten to know Flints in terms of who she was out in the world. They had always hidden away and only barely explored as a part of the Dapper Rogues. They hadn't truly been a part of the game. How different had she always been from what he thought? And did it make her a horrible person, or just one with her own opinions?

Endilix shook his head. "Let's walk and talk. We're bound to meet some resistance as we get closer to the cave, and the less time we waste, the more time we have to be heroes." Endilix sighed, as he made his way into the hilly plains of the area around the Starting City. "I don't want to become an orange player. It's not so much about getting my hands dirty, but unless he's orange, we can't kill him without risk to ourselves."

[Flints 0]

Flints followed Endilix without question. Walking and talking seemed more productive than pacing be starting city. She scoffed and raised an eyebrow at Endlix's comment on being Heros "Us? Heroes? Hardly. Maybe we would stop someone from being a jerk but Heros seems a tad too far fetched." Flints giggled as her eyes scanned the floor. A part of her hoped this was some how quest related and that her and Endilix had just triggered a series of events and no one was actually getting hurt other than NPCs. But the thought of someone out there killing innocent players, or maybe even not-so-innocent players was chilling. Endilix's thoughts on the matter of being orange was interesting. But then again Flints remembered this wasn't just a game. This were real players. She wouldn't just be going rouge, she would be a murderer if she killed. "No one wants to be orange. But if put in a situation like that, even if it was self induced, I wouldn't second guess it. It's the nature of this world."