[PP-F10] To Darkness I Return (RGQ) Beatbox

[Ashrah 0]

The darkness that made up the tenth floor of Aincrad was a haggard, horrible wasteland that mirrored hell. It was intended to mimic the mythical underworld from countless cultures, but in actuality it personified the truest terrors of Aincrad. Nightmarish reality made manifest, from the river Styx to the inescapable Tartarus. Arc stood at the edge of the world, where sanity stood still, and he gazed out into the abyss. Without the ability to pierce the veil with the naked eye, the best that the mercenary could manage was to see patches of flame sporadically splotched across a sea of black.

Nothing could have drawn him here without good reason. Floors like this were the bane of a player's existence. Danger lurked in every shadow, and there was no shortage of those to be found. Every step that one took could be the last. He'd answered the call of a player named @Beatbox this time. His name got passed along infrequently, but when it did Arc chanced to get a word from one eager player or another to take a stab at some strange new quest. He liked the intrigue of it.

Having nothing to go on with regard to the other player's appearance, he resorted to utilizing the given information. The quest giver was at the edge of town, purportedly. That was what brought Arc to the precipice of danger, but he could see no NPC to speak of. "Hmph," he muttered as he glanced around. The lights that illuminated the settlement made it a great deal more navigable than the rest of the floor, but the gloom was no less prominent. He disliked the feeling of this floor more than most of the others he'd been to.

To think, this was the gateway to Taft, a beautiful and bountiful city.

I wonder what kind of quest it is.

[Beatbox 0]

Beatbox didn't know exactly why he was roaming floor 10 around this time or why he is even staying here, however he heard his name be called upon... and well, he wanted to go see what the whole ordeal is. He knew he had to go meet up with a player named... @Arc was it? Yeah, he certainly remembers it being Arc. He eventually found the player that was standing at the edge of the world, and being the guy that Beatbox is... he wanted to see what is out in the distance... however... this is not what he was expecting. It was nothing but black, nothing else to be seen... this floor was giving Beatbox the creeps, he did not like this floor one bit. He turned to the player and gave him his information about himself and said after "So... uh, this is a weird floor to be on right now... it doesn't look too friendly don't you think?" with a little bit of concern. A quest is why I am here huh? Well, I hope its worth it and its not a quest we both could die in, the last thing Beatbox wants is to die on a floor like this, he worries he would become one with this floor... that's a scary thought to think about.

[Ashrah 0]

Arc glanced at the man with a baleful expression. "I imagine when you consider the circumstances, all of the floors seem none too friendly," he replied curtly. It was silly to think of one as more terrifying than another, if only because death was just as possible from the lowliest of boars as from whatever lurked in the darkness. Though of course, to say Arc was not stirred to discontent would have been an outright lie.

"So the story I heard was that there was a strange quest on the fringes of this civilization," Arc explained, "and that it wanted for us to go out into the underworld-" he gestured toward the neverending nightmare- "and find some NPC, then escort him back to safety."

Arc turned to regard Beatbox with a direct glance. "Not that it's problematic, but we can't exactly see our noses in front of our eyes in that thick darkness. We need to avoid combat, though."

Easier said than done.

"This map info was provided by an Info Broker who decided to take time out to explore the whole floor, dungeon and all, with Night Vision. It details this prison facility in the heart of the floor called Tartarus-" If Beatbox knew the myth, he'd know why Arc paused for a moment. "-where we'll find the NPC. It'll be nothing short of labyrinthine inside, but there should at least be dim light. Think you're ready for this?"

[Beatbox 0]

"Well, I at least try to enjoy the scenery that mosts floors have to offer, however here its just dark and it has no scenery to see at all except "Death" itself!" he said with a saddened expression on his face. "There is? Where did you hear of this quest because I surely never heard of it, wait... wait, wait... go into a nightmare? Like a literal nightmare? And... guide someone? Well, it's safe to assume that there will be creatures waiting for us to screw us royally over... worst off, me and you aren't really high leveled enough to be fighting them in all fair honesty when you think about it. We have to either be extremely careful or use some stealth in this quest then..." he said as he thought about it in his head. He listened to Arc about the map and the whole Night Vision thing and he whispered to himself "Shoot. I don't have Night Vision as of the moment..." and looked up as he said the name "Tartarus", however that was a name Beatbox is unaware of, he didn't understand of his pause, but he waited for Arc to finish speaking and replied with "I don't think I am aware of this... Tart-arrr--uss? Is he a player... or... someone else? And... well, I am as about as ready as I think I am... I'm not one to back down from a quest so... let's hope that we get this done and over with in a flash" he said with a giggle.

 

OOC - Sorry @Arc for the wait!

[Ashrah 0]

"Tartarus." Arc repeated the word with the proper amount of Greek inflection. "In the old Mythology, Hades controlled the underworld. Through the depths, five major rivers were said to flow- Styx, the river of hatred and Acheron, the river of pain..." he made a gesture with his hand like spinning in a circle. "Lethe, the river of forgiveness, and the Phlegethon, river of fire. Then you have the Cocytus, river of wailing..." he sounded almost bored as he gave an apt description of what the floor might look like, but for a light source. "All of it is attributed to different things the Greek people believed were associated with death and dying. Plato wrote that the Phlegethon flowed toward the darkest depths of that world- sort of parallel to the Christian Hell. Dante depicted in Inferno how the coldest, lowest, most lonely layer of hell was reserved for the worst sinners, ones who were marked traitor. Cain who slew Abel, and before him, Lucifer who spurned God."

Arc pointed out into the blackness. "If it's even possible to get darker than this, I imagine it would be in Tartaros. In the Greek mythos, that was where the Titans were cast to never be free again." He spared a glance toward Beatbox. "That's where we're headed. Makes it sound super appealing, right?"

His lips stretched into a flat line as the man said he was ready, and Arc shrugged. "No reason to be afraid of things like this," he said. "After all, there are people doing things considerably harder on the Frontlines. Right?" He recalled the information dealer mentioning something about the NPC seeming to be more Japanese than European, which made him wonder about several things. "If this is a blend of cultures, we could be dealing with several different stylized threats," the mercenary mused. "I only remember offhand one Japanese myth regarding the underworld, but it seems out of character for a patterned Greek hell."

Ah well. No use in overthinking it.

As if on demand, an NPC emerged from the darkness. His face was a mask of stoicism, but his shoulders sagged in defeat. "My father," the man said, "he has been interned within Tartaros..."

Well, that solves the riddle of the missing NPC...

[Beatbox 0]

Beatbox waited for Arc to finish talking about a broad explanation over the mythology behind the name and replied with "Oh... Mythology... I never really kept up with that myself, but that does sound rather interesting... and yes, it makes it rather appealing to on this quest, I somehow want to know more about this... because its showing to not just be a simple "guy is missing, go help him" quest..." he stretched his arms and shook his head as Arc talked to him over how he shouldn't be scared over things like this and over more about the mythology "I am not scared of the monsters and the quest, I am more scared of the fact that we could die out there, its bad enough we have people dying often and people being PK'd out there, I don't want to be the next to lose this game." he sighed after having a realization "Oh you're right this could be mixed... making the enemies even more complex... shoot, this may be incredibly difficult... but there is no turning back now." The NPC emerged from the darkness, which kind of spooked Beatbox a bit, but not too much, he got himself cool and listened to the NPC's words and thought to himself "Well, looks like we already solved the riddle..."

[Ashrah 0]

"Slow down," Arc implored the quest giver as he huffed and puffed, clearly out of breath. "We can't help you if we don't know what's going on. Explain the situation, if possible, and leave nothing out." The Mercenary exchanged glances with Beatbox for a moment before the NPC finally caught his breath and began to speak.

"My father came down into the darkness to find my mother," he told them, "but what he found was something else entirely. I'm not even sure of the details myself, but I learned that he was locked away by someone." Arc questioned him with a look, but the man continued. "I don't know how any of this happened, or why. It's pure chaos, and I cannot pass into Tartarus due to a strange incantation. The spell repelled all of my efforts."

Spell? There's no magic inside Sword Art Online. This is...

"Beat," Arc called over his shoulder, "he's talking about a barrier that only lets players through. Aincrad is definitely creating this quest specifically for us."

The NPC stared at Arc for a moment and struggled for understanding. "Will you help me?" he asked. "Please, you must..."

"What do you think?" Arc waited for the other player before giving an answer.

[Beatbox 0]

"What he said." he said to the NPC after Arc had stopped speaking for a few moments. He listened to the NPC closely and tried to remember as much as he could as he spoke... then he had a moment of "wait a minute"... he thought to himself with a confused look... "incantation?"... "spell?". "This should be impossible... there is no such thing of Magic in this game... unless this quest was made specifically for players to go through without NPC's... well... I guess its safe to assume once we cross we wont see as many NPC's..." he looked over as Arc called his name and listen to him speak "that's what I figured, there should be no such thing as magic in this game what-so-ever..." he said to him. He listened to the NPC plea to us for help and he looked at Arc again and listened to him speak "Well, I don't have anything else to really tend to right now, even though this could be potentially extremely dangerous for us to do... I guess this is only a one time offer, so I guess we honestly have to take it." he said to him. "We just have to make sure we don't get into combat, we are not really prepared to really fight against most of the mob's on this floor." he said with a bit of concern in his voice.

[Ashrah 0]

"I can't imagine going into Tartarus without encountering any enemies," Arc muttered, mostly to himself. "Still, why would the game go to all the trouble of a quest with these parameters and give us virtually nothing to go on? It won't do anything to explicitly endanger our lives, but it also won't stop us from dying if we do it ourselves..."

He stopped after a moment and his brows knit together in a deeply contemplative expression. "It's a prison break," Arc announced, "so the idea is probably get in, get out, and avoid encounters if at all possible. I don't have any luck with my sneak and hide skill, but I'm quick on my feet."

Arc's eyes moved over to Beatbox, and he considered the man quietly for a moment. "I get the feeling we'll get some kind of 'hints' from NPC activity. We should be extremely observant, especially once we get inside."

[Beatbox 0]

Beatbox almost wanted to hit himself after hearing Arc talk about a sneak and hide skill, he probably should have picked it up... however, Beatbox did not have the skill that Arc spoke of. "Oh great, I don't have that skill..." he sighed and said "Well, what do you suppose I do? Just try to follow you through the area? Because I don't feel like fighting most of the mob's that may be in there." he said to Arc. He thought to himself for a moment just to calm down and believe that everything should be okay as long as he stays near Arc. He took a deep breath and looked over to Arc as he looked over to Beatbox and said "Indeed, my eyes will be peeled the entire time. We'll need all the information we can get with this quest..." he said before looking forward again. He stretched his arms and yawned one more time and asked "So... where do we head off to? Direction wise."

[Ashrah 0]

Arc gestured into the darkness. "I guess we find the river and follow it," he suggested. "It shouldn't be too hard. It is depicted as a "river of fire," and maybe that's not literal, but there should be some level of illumination to fool around with." He struck off without further ado from the safe zone and into the howling dark. As he led the way, he glanced back only one time to ensure the other man was in tow.

"While fighting may be inevitable, I feel like we can run if things absolutely come to that." He glanced along the path and strained to see the outline of several undesirables along the field. "We should be safe sticking to the path, just like on any floor. There's always the occasional mob spawn, but we shouldn't stress about that unless it happens." Arc made sure that his weapons and items were in place as he walked along.

"The system generally won't force you to use any skills you don't have," he considered, "so while it might have benefited us to have the sneak skill, it's most likely not necessary." He recalled another time, where he had assisted another player with a quest that required some discretion. "Oh, uh," he remembered something else. "We have to be careful," he told Beatbox, "rather, I have to be really careful, so if you do get into any trouble, make sure not to try to play hero."

[Beatbox 0]

"Yeah, I guess that's the only thing we can really follow in this case.." he replied back to Arc, he listened to his words and almost got scared for a second before he explained it "W-what? Lake of Fire? That's a first... oh, not literal huh? That's a little more safe then." he said as he followed Arc into the darkness that was ahead of them. He had a grin on his face as he followed Arc into the darkness, Beatbox hadn't liked this floor and he certainly did not like the silence that came with it, he began to shake a bit as his phobia kicked in, however he tried to listen to his footsteps or anything else that was nearby to calm him down. "Ohh geez, well, I guess running may not be the most heroic or outstanding thing to do, but if we have to to stay alive, then we'll have to. I'm following you, so wherever you go I will go along with." he said with a smile. He had listened to what he had to say and after a bit he started to giggle "Play hero? Well, that's not honestly me, I'd rather stay low and relaxed than to be the first to head into battle... I have a very strict personal policy against suicide mission like that, especially on a floor like this." he said with a smile.

[Ashrah 0]

"Well, normally I wouldn't have a problem going for a fight," he muttered, "it's against my policy to back down from anything, if I can help it." He leaned backward a bit and glimpsed toward the other player with a leisurely smirk. "But I made someone a promise to be more careful, so unless I'm chargin' someone hazard pay, I'm just not takin' any risks. Wouldn't want to upset her."

He watched Beatbox for a moment, the shape of the man just about the only thing he could see for the darkness that shrouded them. His lips flattened out into a slight frown. "Can't see a damned thing on this floor. Thank god this is supposed to be halfway simple, I guess." His gaze lingered on the man's silhouette for a moment before turning back to the path ahead of them. "I've heard tell that there are some right nasty things lurking out here," he said. All manner of demonic creatures and undead hordes, the sort of things you hope don't come out around Halloween."

There was no sign of any river, nor of light sources that might hint toward the direction they needed to head in. It would be some time before they ended up anywhere near Tartarus. Floor ten was, as alleged, extremely vast. And dark. "So, what do you do in this game?" he asked the man, trying to get a feel for what sort of role his companion would be able to fill.

[Beatbox 0]

"Well... I try to not back down from a fight if it seems good enough... but if I don't like the odds I typically believe its more of a suicide mission." he said with a grin, which changed to a smile and a wink as he finished speaking "Ooooo, you promised a female? Is this a loooove interest?" then giggled as he followed Arc into the darkness. He followed Arc through the darkness and listened to the words that he had to say and with a smirk he said "Yeah, at least its simple, otherwise we would be forever..." he giggled "However its kind of hard to see you in this darkness, this floor is absolutely terrible." he sighed then turned to a smile on the thought of "Halloween", Beatbox loved holiday's and would look forward into the month just to be a part of the holiday events. They didn't eventually find a river yet, this floor is too dark and they could barely find anything of the sorts. "Hm..? Oh, I am a DPS, I don't really find myself the tank type or like trying to find other things, I can barely find materials as is... so dealing good amounts of damage seems good enough for me. How about you Arc?" he asked.

[Ashrah 0]

Love interest...? Arc peered back at the man when he used those words, and he gave a slight snort. "I don't know her well enough to use the word "love," he answered honestly. "I do like her, though, if that's what you're asking." It was the sort of admission that he was unused to making; and it seemed even more foreign now, inside of the world of Sword Art Online. He was happy to make that distinction, though. It made him feel a bit elated. "Enough to promise her I'd be more careful, which is more than I'd do for most people."

It was good to hear the man had a sense of self-preservation. That was important in Aincrad. At least one of the two of them could say that. "I don't mind it taking time," the mercenary said, "it's more that I don't like to deal with things that are stacked against me if I can help it. Fair fights are more fun."

Then, Beatbox admitted he was a DPS type. They had that much in common. "Yeah," Arc replied, "I'm into dealing damage, too. Don't care much about spending my time doing social stuff, really. Well, not so much as other players do. I like to fight it out, since that's the best chance we have at getting out of this world. We can talk all we want back on the other side."

[Beatbox 0]

Beatbox laughed and gave Arc a wink "So you like her, but not enough to love her right now? Or is it that eventually you want to see her as a love interest?" the giggled a bit more. "Don't worry Arc, I too have a love interest here, although we are together... I can say from us being together it gives me a reason to smile and fight even though the odds may be against me." he said with a smile as he followed him into the darkness. "I try to fight as much as I can, because you honestly can't make it in this game if you never fight, and that's the one reason why I even fight at all in this game, and its because I have to." he said with a grin and shook his head. He smirked as he heard that Arc too was a DPS, he looked at him and said "Ah, so we have the same roles huh? It's nice to see people with the same role as another... and well, I find myself relaxing and sleeping more than anything, my true motto in this game is that its not worth trying to fight if you constantly fight and stress out all the time, its good to take breathers every other day, it calms me." he said as he giggled.

[Ashrah 0]

"I've found more and more that I don't mind taking a break from the workload once and a while, at least where..." he almost said 'she's involved,' but he stopped himself. There was no point in saying that, especially since the man seemed so adamant about love and relationships. Playing into that sort of talk was sure to get gushy, and he wasn't interested in going down that rabbit hole. Not in the middle of the tenth floor. "I mean, I like her a lot," he said, "but I don't really know what constitutes love just yet, or if I do, I haven't quite gotten a handle on it. I don't want to out and say one way or the other, because I definitely don't want to jinx anything."

He'd heard from other people in real life that people tended to move too quickly in relationships. He didn't want to fall into that trap. Rushing things wasn't necessary in the least. Getting to know the person, developing a stronger bond with them, and spending time together were all important steps in the process. "If it does go well, then I'm certainly not averse to saying I'm in love with her. She's a really great girl, and I could see myself with someone like that in the long term, but I've never even had a girlfriend before. I think that it's important to keep yourself grounded, especially when your head's in the clouds."

You say that, but when you're with her it's like you're walking on air.

He glanced at Beatbox when the conversation shifted a bit, back to the part about DPS roles. "I like to be in the face of my enemy, but not the way a tank does. I think DPS fits me more than anything because I've had anger problems most of my life. Channeling that into the fight, it's almost... erm..." he searched for the proper word. "Therapeutic, I think."

[Beatbox 0]

"This game isn't worth it if you are fighting all the time. Taking breaks are needed and most players don't realize this." he said as he kept following Arc into the darkness. He smiled and giggled as he talked about this whole "love" thing and how it is and how he describes his situation with the player. "I see, you've either haven't developed those feelings to her, or you might even see her as an un-biological sister to you. It's all good, it just means your emotions are adapting, sometimes for the better but..." he said with a disappointed look "...don't feel too down if they just up and disappear.". He had kept following Arc with a disappointed look, Beatbox had almost looked angry. "I've had one I really loved just up and disappear, gone without a trace. I don't know what had happened, but I just blame myself for it. Love is something everyone should experience especially in a death game like this, It just sucks that not always will things fall into place like you want it to. It gives me the belief that I am just a play-toy to Kayaba." he said with an angered look. He looked to Arc completely disregarding his last statement "Where the hell is this lake anyways." he said.

[Ashrah 0]

"Mmmm, I would definitely say that it's not a sisterly type of affection," Arc tried not to laugh, but failed. The chortle escaped his lips quietly. "No, I do like her, I'm just not at that point yet where I feel comfortable saying there's more to it than there is. I don't want to get ahead of myself and start imagining feelings and overcomplicating the relationship between us before I can actually develop something genuine. I think she would appreciate that on my part, at least." He lowered his head. "I want to give her a real friend, not some guy who's just a part of the game experience," he spoke softly. "And if I'm going to fall in love with her, I think it's only right that I do it for real."

He stopped himself and shook his head, laughing again. "Listen to us, talking about love like it's some kind of rational thing, and like we have any control over any of this."

The green eyed boy wiped a tear from the edge of his lashes. "Look, man," he said as Beatbox seemed to grow disconcerted. "I get it, people go through rough times. Don't let life sour you for yourself." He turned all the way around and almost bumped into his new ally. "I had my best friend to die in the ninth floor boss fight," he revealed, "and it's taken some time, and I might never really get over it... but..." Arc shrugged, though Beatbox most likely did not see. "...you can't live like that, soaked in things that you can't control. That's why people jump over the edge."

When the man seemed to get angry, he tilted his head. "We've come a ways," Arc replied. "Ought to see something soon...."

[Beatbox 0]

Beatbox had listened to Arc speak... and to his own surprise... he heard him laughing? Was this... funny to him? Then after hearing Arc speak to him about his feelings toward this player and he started laughing, this was a weird situation to him. But he figured to speak up about it "I see... that's how I felt about the female I had gotten together with... I wanted to give her a friend, someone to go to... someone to stand by their side through thick and thin. You can't blame me for that can you. And I understand that love happens on the normal, heck it happens every other week in this game..." he laughed before turning sad over what he had said about the other player just up and leaving, he listened to what Arc had to say... and he only got more and more sad at himself "I understand Arc, but when you don't have answers... you tend to blame yourself. And I hate that I have to default blame myself." he said as he stopped walking as Arc almost bumped into him. Beatbox continued to look down, he didn't dare look up... he kept looking downward to the ground and said to Arc after saying it was close "Then lets get a move on..." and started to walk forward.