[PP-F1] The Wind in her Wings (Event Quest)

[Aereth 1]

Aereth was lying with closed eyes on his bed in the guest room of Itzal's shop. Today was his lazy day. He hadn't anything particular to do, so he opted to relax a little bit. Suddenly a message from Birdie, Itzal's first scout apprentice, popped up in front of him. It said that she and another player are working on an event quest and they needed some help. A little bit surprised, but at the same time a little bit happy that they chose him to join their group he pulled out his virtual keyboard and typed.

Spoiler

To: Birdie

Thanks for inviting me to your quest. To be honest I don't have a party right now for the quest, so I would be honored to help you two. It's also a nice opportunity to get to know each other a little bit better, since we will be working together in the future.

I'll head out right now see you there.

 

Best Regards,

Aereth

After that, he got up on his feet and equipped his battle armor. As he got out of the door, he made his way to the F1 southeastern gates and started his search for his new comrades. After a few minutes he found the bluehaired girl and his partner. "Hi Birdie. Thanks again for inviting me." Then he turned to her black haired partner. "And also hello to you, my name is Aereth and it's nice to meet you."

@Birdie, @Arc

Edited October 25, 2016 by Aereth

[Lessa 1]

Spoiler

To: Lessa

Hey, Lessa! If you're free, would you mind coming down to the first floor to help my friend and I with something? Thanks!

She read over the message again, and then once more, for good measure. It hovered in the center of her vision, and she shifted between watching her path and scanning her HUD. It was such a short note, which was precisely the problem. Was he in trouble? In truth, Lessa could think of no other reason why the boy might reach out to her. But on the first floor? He was far too experienced to find trouble among such low-level threats. And there's no urgency in the note, her more logical side rationalized. He would not preface the message with "if you're free," and conclude it with a simple "thanks" were he in grave danger. She knew that, deep down, but her pace remained nothing short of a brisk trot as she cut a path through the crowd.

Fortunately, she had recently added Arc to her friends list. Seeking him out became much easier, as she simply followed the locator that blinked in a separate window beside his note. A handful of fat boars lumbered around her, their sharp hooves and sharper tusks no longer causing her any concern. Rather, she kept her attention forward, blocking out all other sound but the pounding of her boots and her heavy breath in her ears. The space in her mind that was not consumed by concern for her friend muttered something about being painfully out of shape.

When the dark-haired boy finally appeared in the distance, much of the stress fell away. The rest she expelled in a heavy sigh of relief, as she realized the other player was most likely the friend Arc had mentioned. He was fine, and once again, she was silly for worrying so much.

Drawing closer, she watched another player approach, the pair expanding into a small party. Curiosity occupied the space left by the departed worry, as she did not recognize the tall man, or the woman that Arc stood beside. Each member of the group was outfitted in their battle gear, and creeping embarrassment tugged at her when she remembered she had not bothered to change; she still donned the leggings and long, loose-fitting blouse she had bummed around in during her lazy morning.

"Arc," she greeted, smiling away the awkward emotions that lurked below the surface. "You called?"

Edited October 24, 2016 by Lessa

[Ashrah 0]

Arc spun his spear in a tight circle and brought it around to just behind his left foot, then bowed slightly. This newcomer was one of Ava's guild friends, which meant he would probably see more of him in the coming days. Those who fought on the same side often tagged along together, and even if he was without a guild, Birdie sticking around meant he might play party to some of their adventures. Who knows?

"Good to meet you, Aereth," he replied, "name's Arc. Any friend of hers is a friend of mine." The Spearman cocked a smile and leaned back against his weapon as the sound of a familiar voice came from behind him. "Oh, Lessa!" he greeted, "you move quicker than I expected. We were just gearing up to do that event quest everyone's on about, and I figured if you didn't already have a party, you could jump into ours?"

He scratched his nose with one hand as he looked over the woman's attire. "That is, if you were planning to do any fighting today..."

With a glance back to Ava, he gestured for both of the Ascendant's benefit. "This is Lessa," he introduced them. "She's a friend of mine, back from when I was a newbie. She taught me how to play the game, and well, I suppose she's one of the few folks I actually know in the world aside from Birdie and Thom."

"Anyway, the quest involves collection. We've gotta kill mobs and try to grab their drops."

[Birdie 0]

She brought her hands into a thicket and made a gap in the branches, searching for any materials hidden within. 'No luck..' Expelling a sigh from her system, Birdie switched her focus to Arc by twisting around and approaching him, though a sight and sound a little ways out distance caught her eyes and ears. Examining the boy, she realised him to be Aereth by the way he addressed both herself and the mercenary, and a grin breached her lips as she spoke. "It's a pleasure to meet you Aereth- don't mention it, anything to help out a fellow guildie." One hand rested on her hip as she motioned for a handshake.

"Lessa?" the bluenette repeated under the whisper of her breath, turning on the spot as she laid eyes on the approached woman. A subtle look of confusion befell her face as she analysed the friend of a friend's attire, swiftly replaced by a greeting smile as Arc introduced the strawberry blonde. "Thank you for taking care of Arc at his weakest- I'm Birdie, it's lovely to meet you Lessa." Unsure of how to properly greet the woman, she opted for a gentle bow and hoped to not appear rude.

"A-about that," she hesitated. "What type of Fat should we focus on gathering? The highest quality quest items drop from high-level monsters, but me and Arc struggled with a medium-tier boar." She tied her fingers together, fidgeting as she spoke. "Low-heath enemies will sometimes drop regular Fat, we just need more of it to create a sturdy ship." Dividing the workforce would be difficult, and she recognised the first step to be ensuring they all worked towards a common goal; to each gather the same tier of Animal Fat.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Birdie

[Aereth 1]

Aereth nodded and smiled back at Arc as Lessa joined their little group. Arc introduced her to both him and Birdie. Aereth noticed the curious looks from her and decided to introduce himself to her. "Hi, the names Aereth and I'm a guild mate of Birdie. It's nice to meet you, and it looks like our small group is complete for now."

@Birdie "Haha, anyways thanks for the invitation. I hope that I can help you guys with the quest." He said to the blue haired girl as he shook her hand.

Then he turned to all and spoke. "I've read the quest description from the NPC, but what quality materials are we searching for? The noble and premium ones, I assume?"

Just then Birdie said that she didn't know which fat they should be gathering, because Arc and Birdie struggled against mid difficulty boar. "Yeah, that's a good question, because we need all the materials at the same quality..."

@Arc, @Birdie, @Lessa

[Ashrah 0]

"Don't sweat it," he told Ava in a low voice as he placed a hand on the small of her back to offer some comfort. "We got a little too into it and jumped into a fight with an annoying enemy. No shame in that." He stayed close to her side for the duration of introductions, with the hope that his presence might help alleviate some of the duress of introduction- for both of them, not just her.

"I think it might be prudent to look for the regular items," the Spearman replied at the query from Aereth and Birdie's subsequent answer. "They're much more abundant and we can rip our way through mobs to get the number we need quicker. With four of us, that shouldn't be problematic. Though, I think we might have to settle for a slightly smaller ship than I'd originally hoped."

He touched his lip thoughtfully. "We'll just have to see how things turn out when we get done, I think."

[Birdie 0]

Her excitement dwindled a tad as Arc mentioned downgrading their intended ship size, and although she wanted to see him sailing the biggest boat possible, Birdie realised it was down to the effort they put in now. "Let's try not to think about it, for now we should focus on gathering as many quest items as we can." A refurbished smile surfaced on her lips.

"Pouring all of our efforts into collecting Animal Fat would let us finish one half of the quest pretty soon, and that'd just leave the wood bundles to collect." Birdie glanced to her fellow Ascendant and continued. "If you want to, we could arrange a gathering session some time soon. I promise you that it wont last too long, we just need to make sure we collect enough Noble wood to build a 5-seater ship, and that's at minimum. Would you be up for that?" Awaiting Aereth's reply, she held her gaze in hope's he'd accept her offer to go scouting.

The bluenette's eyes returned to the group, and then to the fields that lie beyond. "Well, are we all set to get started?"

(Note: The minimum stats that mobs need in order to drop 1 Normal Fat are 4 HP and 10 DMG (for Floor 1). It's a guaranteed drop, and rolling 19+ on the LD means you get 2 instead of 1. Materials are gained as well as the quest item.

- Info from the quest's page.)

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Lessa 1]

"You might have mentioned in your message that we'd be fighting," she snarled through a clenched-tooth smile. But the slight hints of venom were caused entirely by her own embarrassment, and while she would most likely scold Arc about it later, she recognized that this was not the place, nor the time. 

Now, she swung her gaze to Birdie, a lovely doe-eyed girl who looked up at Lessa with all the warmth and kindness one could expect in a first meeting. Her hair was a delicate blue, reminiscent of the cloudless sky that sprawled overhead. But judging by armor she wore, and the rapier that clung to her hip, she was anything but delicate. That, Lessa mused silently, was something that the pair had in common. And something that she could appreciate in another woman.

"It's a pleasure," she replied genuinely, giving a small nod to match the other girl's bow. She offered a similar greeting to Aereth, another player who was entirely foreign to her. While perhaps he did not embody the same glow as his female companion, it was his take-charge attitude that impressed Lessa. Many she met spoke too much, but said to little, especially upon initial introductions. He was straight to business. He was also outfitted in his armor, the one thing that still set her apart from her comrades.

With a twinkle of chimes, she called up her inventory, and began to peruse it. "I'm afraid I won't be any help until I know more about this quest," she began as the ribbons of light hugged her body, and left her fully equipped; she felt the sudden tug of Demonic Sword Gram's weight on her back, and when she clenched her hands into a fist at her side, she felt the action slightly hindered by heavy gauntlets. "This is the ship one, right? Would someone mind sharing it with me?"

Edited October 30, 2016 by Lessa

[Aereth 1]

Arc told them that it would be better if they looked for the regular items, instead of the harder ones. @Arc "Yeah, I agree with you in this regard. If we just chop the lower level enemies into pieces, it would be much faster to gain the needed animal fats than to fight with the strong ones."

Then Birdie suggested that she and Aereth could go out and find the noble wood needed for the five seater in a seperate gathering session with only the two of them. @Birdie "This is a very good idea. For the two of us this should be no problem since we both are scouts. So, yeah I'm up for that." He said to her with a confident smile.

After this also Lessa introduced herself to Aereth. Though she seemed to survey him a little bit beforehand, which didn't bother him much since they met just a few moments ago. Additionally she didn't seem to have bad thoughts about Aereth. She also asked about what this whole quest was about so Aereth decided to explain it to her. @Lessa "Yes you are right. We are taking the quest where we have to get the materials for building a ship. These materials can be obtained in to ways. First: going into the forest and looking for <<Wood>> with the desired quality, and second, slaying mobs to get the required amount of <<Animal Fat>>, also in the desired quality. The thing with the different qualities is, that if you get higher quality materials you don't need as much of them as if you would gather the lower quality ones. But in order to get the better ones, you have to be good at finding stuff, or you have to slay higher leveled mobs. Also, all <<Animal Fats>> have to have the same quality and all the <<Wood>> has to have the same quality." he explained to her.

[Birdie 0]

She couldn't hold in a grin. "Great!" With arrangements to meet up at a later date, that was at least confirmation they'd be able to gather more materials should they not find everything today. A flash of light swamped the other woman, causing Ava's eyes to momentarily deviate. Ava's grin grew wider as she laid eyes on the strawberry blonde's fighting gear, the heavy armour indicating Lessa adopted a tank or fighter role. 'Or a healer..' she mused; all would be revealed soon.

A look of nervousness was hinted by the bluenette's eyebrows rising, though Aereth was soon to step in and give any uninformed party members a lowdown of the quest. With each of his points she nodded in agreement, all the way until his final words when she switched to Lessa. "Mhm- while they're still plentiful, we should take advantage of the game's easiest spawns. I can imagine a lot of people will want to farm up for quest items down here." From the corner of her eye, she could already spot a couple of players walking further into the fields. 'More than a lot of people..' 

"If everyone's comfortable, let's get started! Does anyone have any questions before we start hunting?" One hand held the mouth of her weapon's scabbard, the other poised above the sheathed weapon within.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Thread finished:

All get 1 SP, 100 Col.

Arc gets 443 extra Col and 1 <<Tier 1>> Material.

Birdie gets 442 extra Col and 2 <<Tier 1>> Materials.