PP/NK - F10 Fortress Stygian (Takao)

[Calrex 0]

As he reappeared on the tenth floor once again Calrex gave a calming breath, his avatar's teleportation sequence completed. His feet touched the ground as he entered into the village of Yomi, the undead NPC citizens moving left and right as if it was some regular settlement. Putting his hands into his jacket pockets the bluenette glanced upwards, a distant look on his face as his familiar, the blue peregrine falcon Roc, materialized in mid-air, circling overhead.

"What I am doing here of all places searching for a sub-dungeon beats me. But I guess any floor above 5 is as good as anywhere else."

With a few swipes on his menu he sent out a message over to Takao before making his way over to the nearby drinking area. He had come here once before, randomly running into Baldur while he was here. The two had discussed much that the Ultramarine Knight was still pondering over in his head, much that he needed to think about. But now was not the time for him to be lost in his thoughts. The next floor raid was likely going to happen soon, and he needed to be prepared.

"I need to be prepared...for anything that might happen, and for any action I need to take..."

Ordering a bottle of sake and a saucer he sat on the side, giving a thankful nod to the attendant before taking a swig of the clear elixir, "Now to see if he's actually got the time to come by..."

[Takao 0]

The number of players that Takao felt he could trust had dwindled. Between all the killing and the insults and the conflict, the world had begun to seem like a much more lonely place, yet in an odd way the developments had begun to make him feel safer. To have put his trust so blindly in those around him the move of a fool, and the fact that he had come out unscathed so far was a testament to the sheer amount of luck he shat out on a near daily basis. But the winds were changing, and so too was he.

Yet despite his growing cynicism, there were still some he trusted. He found that those in which he shared similarities were trustworthy. Calrex fit such a description. They both had a desire to progress, to grow stronger and be prepared for the worst. Upon receiving the message, Takao found himself made curious by the venue, but not especially suspicious. That was enough reason for him to justify going.

The light of the warp gate illuminated the dark Yomi's plaza, a settlement that was otherwise quite dark. The soles of his boots scuffed against the cold stone as he stepped through, green eyes squinting to adjust to the low levels of light. He trotted down the dais and softly dropped down from the last step, picking up his pace into even strides as he proceeded toward the drinking area in which Calrex had requested his presence. Upon seeing the familiar blue haired swordsman, Takao's off-hand lazily rose in greeting. "Hey Cal." He said in a simple attempt to pull his attention.

[Calrex 0]

As he downed the last bit of sake in the bottle Calrex looked over as he saw the familiar brown-headed swordsman, giving a casual wave to reflect Takao's own lazily performed greeting, "Hey Tak, glad you could make it. Feeling up for some more dungeon-running. I didn't know if you and Law were still going at it, so I figured it might be a good idea to keep at it, at least on my end."

Getting to his feet the bluenette thanked the NPC attendant before exiting the drinking area, his sword clanking with each step as it lifted and lightly patted against the back of his hip, "In any case, I've heard rumor that the landmark Stygian River actually runs down to a fortress that actually is a sub-dungeon entrance. Might be able to get some good experience venturing through there."

Directing towards the gate leading out of the settlement of Yomi he put his hands into his jacket pockets, making sure that Roc was still hovering overhead, "Hopefully enough no one else has decided to venture inside, as I'm not sure if there's only one entrance inside, or multiple passageways."

[Takao 0]

"Lawf's been taking it easy these past few days, so I've been doin' 'em alone for the most part." Takao replied, hands slithering down into the pockets of his trousers. At Calrex's mention of 'keeping at it', Takao chuckled lightly and tilted his head. "Y'worried you're gonna fall behind or somethin'?" He asked. Questing with the blue-haired swordsman had recently become a rather odd experience for Takao. He had always thought of Calrex as something of a milestone, and it was difficult not to. The highest level player was a challenge to those beneath him whether it was intention or not, and nothing motivated Takao like being challenged. Yet through their questing and dungeoneering, he'd begun to see Calrex as a person and not an amalgamation of numbers and statistics that he aspired to beat. An odd and potentially detrimental realization to make, yet his progress wasn't so linear that he couldn't find motivation elsewhere.

"I don't usually do much on this floor 'cause it's hard to see 'n everything, but I'm down. I can't imagine we'd run into anybody down here, much less lose a dungeon to them." He said, doubting the possibility yet not dismissing it entirely.

[Calrex 0]

"Yeah no kidding, heh. Falling behind? Nah, not at all. I figured that my lead on everyone was going to eventually catch up to me at some point. Better sooner than later."

As the two continued along the bluenette continued to glance left and right, making sure none of the undead creatures that populated the area were currently making their ways towards the duo. Of course, it was possible that their high level difference compared to the floor might have a repelling feature to the creatures. "It really does seem like the only time that monsters tend to become attracted towards me is when there are players closer to the floor level in my party."

"I still remember before skill mods and such having Night Vision on the tenth floor was like some kind of necessity in order to survive. Now with us being floor past, it almost seems pointless to have it, since we have yet to see another instance where the skill would be essential to survival."

[Takao 0]

"Guess it's not all bad havin' the right people catch up, 'specially with uh..." Takao began, his voice trailing off as thoughts of the previous boss fights arose. In less than a few months, he and the other front liners had been personal witness to six deaths. It was a testament to their bravery, or perhaps their foolishness, to persist in the endeavour to clear the floors despite the odds that continued to stack against them. "...Well, y'know. Bosses getting harder, there being... less of us around. 'n other stuff too, I guess." A sigh escaped and he shook his head. At least he'd brought the mood down to suit the environment.

Green eyes scanned the environment carefully, watching each of the monsters that shambled and shuffled off upon first seeing the duo. Their cursors were light pink and white, a clear indication of the difference in level, which made for easy travel.

"I'm sure it'll end up having a use again just 'cause you said somethin'. That's usually how our luck goes... 'specially with the string of gloomy ass floors we had a little bit ago. I'm pretty sure those island and Ancient Greece floors are just a calm before the storm."

[Calrex 0]

"Yeah...there's just way too much loss right now. Honestly if I had the chance I would prefer for us to regroup and asses our current situation, rather than moving on to the next raid. We've lost lives on every floor raid for the past three battles, whether it be by the boss' or another player's hand."

With a small sigh the bluenette continued to scan the area, "However, I guess in some ways we don't have the luxury of doing so. With all of the time wasted on the first ten floors, I'm sure many people think we are way behind schedule of escaping this game, and that we need to make up for that lost time."

Calrex gave a laugh at Takao's comment about the previous floor, "No kidding. I would have thought there was enough doom and gloom from the fact we're stuck here. It's like adding insult to injury by making a large chunk of the floors unpleasant to be on."

"In any case, what do you think of the current status of things? Since you and Mack have kind of been running the frontlines show for the past few raids, maybe you've got some insight into the background workings that I haven't seen or heard of yet."

[Takao 0]

"Ah well," Takao said with a shrug, eyes set forward once more. "Guess it's good motivation to keep movin' forward, if nothin' else." Finding light in the worst of situations was a talent he had once enjoyed, but had recently fallen out of practice. It was an interesting and certainly disturbing sensation to be able to call upon the exact moment when he stopped trusting people, stopped seeing the good in them and instead started focusing on what bad they could do. He tried to keep his mind from wandering to that part of his imagination, but it was a bit too overactive for his own good... or perhaps it was a good thing. Too often did he find himself on the fence when it came to discerning such things.

"Not willingly. Nobody else just seems keen on stepping up and taking responsibility. I'd like to just scout the floors and leave the planning to somebody else, but nobody that's reliable has stepped up yet. 'n then I'm always getting hit with that... you found the boss room, its your responsibility horse-hockey. Kinda almost wish I'd kept carryin' on 'stead of planning, somebody else might've stepped up then." Another shrug, and this time a roll of his shoulders accompanied the gesture. His left hand rose and opted to call forth the menu, cycling through options as gentle chimes played with each selection. Through his navigation, the one-handed sword on his back disappeared, and in its place a two-handed sword appeared. They shared the same simplistic scabbard design, nothing too fancy or eye-catching, and the hilt assembly was equally plain. He didn't care for weapons that drew attention to him, or anything that did really. It fulfilled its purpose as a weapon, and that was good enough for him.

"I'm thinkin' about takin' a break from scouting when we clear this next Boss. See if anybody else can step up. It'd be bad if I died and nobody else could do it, y'know? Not that I'm sayin' I'm special or anythin'."

[Calrex 0]

"Yeah, I can definitely see that. I tried doing scouting a while back, but I think I'm too cautious or something, since it seems that the information is already found and dispersed before I manage to get any information about it. In any case, if scouting is getting to be a bit much, I'm sure that someone will step up and take the reins."

Putting his hands into his jacket pockets Calrex continued to scan the landscape, even though it seems that their level difference was doing more than a decent enough job at keeping any of the floor monsters at bay. "Looks like we've still got some distance to cover. I didn't realize that the River Styx was this long. It must extend for most of the entire floor."

"Well, remember that the actual River Styx is supposed to be in the underworld, which would probably be even longer than whatever amount of space the tenth floor takes up."