[PP-F2-NK] <<Long Live the Queen>> Midnight Rendezvous

[Kooh 0]

As darkness had overtaken the city hours ago, an eerie quiet in the city of Urbus covered the streets like a blanket. In her peak hours of operation, Kooh strolled along the dimly-light walkways, passing by closed shops and restaurants. The rhythmic sound of her boots meeting the pavement with each step was light but audible. The girl continued at a steady pace, garnet eyes scanning the streets in front of her as she walked. Depite her attempt to stay alert, she knew there was no way she would detect Itzal before he would appear from the shadows as he always seemed to.

After she had exchanged a few messages with the raven-haired player, Kooh had agreed to meet him in the second floor's main city after nightfall. She had no complaints with the time and place, and if she gauged the tone of Itzal's messages correctly, her willingness to finally learn a skill or two pleased him, even if she didn't give him an exact reasoning behind her request.

Edited January 13, 2017 by Kooh

[Itzal 0]

Itzal was crouched on one of the stronger branches of a large tree around the center of the forest.  He chose this tree to scout from most of the time due to the fact that it's position allowed him to hear and see most of the forest, especially when he used the <<reveal>> mod like he was now.  He scanned through the trees as if they weren't even there, his purple dragon on the branch beside him, her eyes watchful as well.  It had been some time since he'd seen Kooh and while he didn't know her intentions, he was indeed happy to hear from her again.  The fact that she wanted to learn skills from him excited him even more.  He wondered how she'd react to his progress...  Either way he believed that levels meant nothing.  He wanted her to see him as Itzal, not some powerful player who was going to guide her as if she were weaker than him.  Itzal smiled at the thought of seeing an old friend.  His twilight cloak blowed as the wind brushed against it.  Then he spotted her in the distance.  He took off like a shot, leaping from branch to branch and if a player listened they would hear him, as he hadn't mastered the stealth skill just yet.  He made his way closer and closer until he was above her and said, "Long time no see Kooh!"  When she looked up he smiled.  "How've you been?"

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

From her starting point of the teleport gate, Kooh had slowly made her way outside of town. The forest's perimeter that awaited her was even more quiet than normal during night hours--the light ambient sounds of virtual wildlife and leaves rustling in an occassional breeze being the main sources of any noise. As the blond separated herself from the safety of town and ventured past a few tall trees, she continued scanning the darkness as she walked.

It didn't take long for the two players to meet up. Kooh felt her fingers twitch in the pockets of her thin black cardigan when Itzal's voice cut through the still night air. The girl smirked in response, looking to the trees for the source until she quickly spotted the raven-haired scout. "Now you're the one hanging around in the trees, eh?" She teased a bit, recalling their first meeting that felt so long ago.

With a shrug, she continued with the standard pleasantries. "Ehh, y'know. Same old stuff." She replied vaguely, holding her smirk as she glanced the player over. "Still outleveling me like a champ? You wouldn't surprise me if you said you were the highest level in the game by now." The girl let out a light chuckle as she shifted her weight from one leg to the other.

[Itzal 0]

Itzal grinned at her comment on his living in the trees.  "Old habits die hard I guess."  He jumped from the branch, rolling upon contact with the ground to keep fall damage to zero, and walked over to her with a smile.  "While I haven't stopped training, I've slowed down a bit, mostly because of Kasier, thank goodness.  I doubt I'll ever beat Calrex in level though, seeing as he's over level seventy."  Velnia then leaped through the branches and embraced her, licking her face and then running around her head three times before landing on her right shoulder, cocking her head as she did so.  Itzal laughed lightly and gestured to Velnia.  "She's missed you too.  It really is good to see you Kooh."  He smiled for a moment before stretching.  "Knowing you however, there's something you'd like to do other than talk, am I right?  So what's up?  I'm up for anything."  While he said this, he had no idea what she was about to offer, and the question was:  Would he be ready for it?  He also wondered if he should catch Kooh up on recent events, especially the part about Ulises...

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

Kooh didn't recognize either of the names Itzal tossed out, so she didn't bother with any comments or questions. 'Guess he's been making tons of friends.' She thought with a small smile, not surprised at the idea. Before she had any time to form a reply, a familiar figure appeared from the dense forest, nearly knocking Kooh over as the dragon familiar showed her affection. The slimy saliva on her cheek sent a shiver down Kooh's spine, though she masked a look of disgust with playful laughter as she tried to nudge Velnia away. She finally perched herself on Kooh's shoulder, and the blonde rubbed the back of her hand across her cheek to wipe away Velnia's kisses.

"Whew. You could say that," She referred to Velnia missing her as she regained her composure. With Itzal's following question, the girl smirked again. "Can't pull one over on you, hm?" She gave the boy an innocent grin. "Wellll, I was just getting a bit bored, y'know? With all those cool skills I figured you could help me out." Again, lacking straight-forwardness was certainly a specialty of hers. Reflecting back on her words, she decided to bypass the back-and-forth that would ensue. "So, wanna show off a bit? I'm sure you've got a fancy ability or two you could help me get, yeah?"

@Itzal

Edited December 30, 2016 by Kooh

[Itzal 0]

Velnia almost nearly purred from the petting, her tail twitching with pleasure.  Itzal shook his head with a chuckle.  When Kooh began to explain he nodded, understanding entirely.  She didn't seem to be the kind of person to sit around all her life.  She liked to keep herself entertained it seemed.  Then she finished and ended with a request.  Itzal blinked with surprise but recovered quickly.  "Oh, ok then.  Uh, which skill would you like seen in action?  I managed to get rank five in my sword skill, although I need rank three martial arts to actually use it's strongest sword art.  I even invented a technique for combat...  Well actually a friend of mine made it.  I've nearly mastered search and detect, only needing night vision and tracking mods now to complete it.  I've nearly maxed out lock picking but the loot in chests aren't that great at all.  I do have rank one stealth though.  I plan on working on that one sometime soon.  Other than that there's just light armor, meditation, and a few other extra skills I've picked up."

@Kooh

Edited December 30, 2016 by Itzal

[Kooh 0]

Kooh brought a hand to her chin, tapping lightly against it with her knuckle. She listened carefully as Itzal listed off the skills he had, perking up as some caught her attention. "Night vision? Does that make your eyes glow like a cat's?" She shifted the same hand up to hold a circle over her left eye with her thumb and index finger. She seemed to glaze over weapon and armor skills, taking an interest in utility. Tapping her finger to her chin again, she continued. "Tracking, search and detect... Do you find anything good? Treasure hunting sounds decent." She frowned in thought, images of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft coming to mind. Lock picking sounded in the same realm, though she didn't call it out specifically. "Stealth, huh?" At this point she was almost mumbling to herself. "Well, they sound useful, for the most part. What's the most fun?"

[Itzal 0]

Itzal first thought about the question on night vision and shook his head.  "To be honest I'm not sure.  I haven't met someone who has it yet.  Either way it lets you see in the dark.  As for search and detect skills, the skill itself helps you find players, materials, dungeons and other things much easier.  Getting the reveal and detect mods greatly helps in dungeon and player searching.  Tracking allows you to insert a player's name and track them down until you find them.  So far as I know the best way to get col is taking down monsters, but for the really good loot bring someone with a high LD so that they can deal the finishing blow, get everyone good loot, and bam you've got col.  You can find dungeons and mark them on maps too, selling them later."  When he reached stealth she seemed particularly interested and thought about it before asking him a question:  Which was the most fun.  Itzal blinked.  "Well that would depend on what you think is fun.  You'll need to give me your version and I'll match that with a skill?"

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

"Hmm..." The girl listened to his explanations thoughtfully, mulling over his words before he answered her question with one of his own. He had a point--she couldn't keep being lazy about what types of skills she wanted. 'Ah, if only they were ranked by cool factor.' She thought jokingly before a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Fun, fun..." She mumbled, tapping at her chin again. She hadn't really thought about what her goals were. The girl was generally just around for a good time, and roaming around the first few floors doing as she pleased was beginning to lose its appeal. If she was going to be stuck in a game she might as well have fun. Of course col was good to have, but being rich would only perpetuate her laziness--she'd just get bored again in a month or two. What is it that she really wanted to do with herself?

"Well, stealth sounds up my alley." Kooh finally spoke up with an impish grin. "Does it make you invisible or something? Plus finding traps, picking locks... I could be like a Rogue-type." The girl pulled up the side of her cardigan to cover her nose and mouth with the black fabric, similar to a face mask. "Wha'd'you think? Pretty cool?" She asked, grinning behind the cloth.

[Itzal 0]

Itzal heard her comments on stealth and thought for a moment.  "Not exactly invisible, but it does prevent you from being seen.  It's mainly about fooling the eyes of others or just plain staying out of sight.  I know a lot about stealth, from games and books, and a little personal experience, but I have yet to fully develop the stealth skill.  Currently I only have rank one, but I plan to change that after getting the last two search and detect mods.  As far as finding traps, that's more of a search and detect thing, although there's no way to dismantle traps....  Yet.  Not to mention that lock picking is mainly for unlocking chests though it might work on doors too...  If you do want to shoot for that build I think that would be pretty neat!  Just, please don't steal from me," he finished with a chuckle.  Then he went back to seriously thinking about the build she suggested.  "If you want that build I suggest first maxing out the rank of your weapon.  That should always be a first, even if you don't want to do combat.  It's a good last resort after all.  Stealth and hiding will be a must for that build, and search and detect would come second.  Lock picking of course for a rogue, and I'd suggest maxing out LA to get the bonus evasion point."

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

As he joked about her stealing from him, Kooh grinned and snapped her fingers. "Aw, man!" She joked, listening to the rest of his explanations while slipping her hands back in her pockets. She only brought one out again when he'd finished speaking, opening up a floating menu as she tried to wrap her head around everything Itzal said. "Alright, yeah..." She mumbled under her breath, pulling up the section of available skills. "Well I have six points just sitting here..." She noticed that only a fraction of the skills on the list in front of her were highlighted, the rest being grayed out. The girl only assumed she didn't meet some kind of criteria to get them. Studying the text a bit harder, Kooh grimaced at her Martial Arts skill. "Ew, I need ten points to level it up again? Why not just take one of these cheaper ones?" She frowned, getting a bit impatient with the thought of spending a ton of points in one thing. Quantity over quality for skills definitely sounded better in her opinion.

[Itzal 0]

Itzal heard her complaint and smiled.  "Hey don't worry about it Kooh.  I'll help you get that sp.  That's what the guild and I strive to do in the first place!  I can help you get quests done, help you get past dungeons...  With the help of some friends of course.  Jonathan and Beat could help us burn right through em.  I can teach you search and detect as well as stealth if you'd like, and depending on what weapon you use, maybe some swordplay."  It was true.  He was very much willing to help her, and any other player who needed assistance in any way he could.  "I'm not sure what weapon skill you have, but they all cost the same thing, so you'd be spending the exact same amount for any other weapon skill.  So you up for it?"  Itzal was an active person.  He was ready to jump into this but of course, he wouldn't do anything without her permission.  Whether she wanted help or no, whether she chose this path or not, was up to her and he was ready for either path...  To be honest he usually went for a rogue/assassin built in most games anyways.

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

Kooh raised an eyebrow, dismissing the user interface from her view. She didn't recognize even more names he listed off, but then again she didn't expect to. She was sure Itzal had been off training and meeting other high-leveled players while fighting on the frontlines. What she did know is that she wanted access to more skills and things to keep her entertained. Being a master spy assassin or whatever sounded pretty cool, so she might as well give it a shot.

"Well, they took away my badass claw weapons." Kooh blamed the game with a small pout. "So now I just beat stuff up with these trusty old things." The girl held out her leg slightly as if to show off the black combat boot she wore. "The actual skill is Martial Arts, but so far that just means wailing on things without something sharp." She chuckled. Since she knew by now that she'd have to get some sort of equipment, Kooh had considered the common handwraps or gauntlets, but had a more interesting idea in mind, giving her fighting style so far. She'd have to nose around some blacksmith shops later.

"Alright, so you say I need to level that up before anything else?" She reiterated, almost trying to find a way out of the inevitable SP grind. She was willing to accept her fate, though--there didn't seem to be any cheats or tricks that could get her the skills she wanted without working for it.

[Itzal 0]

Itzal listened to her talk about her weapons and nodded sadly.  "Indeed.  I'm still not sure why they were removed in the update, but they were very interesting weapons indeed.  I really liked the design and style to be honest.  I'll find a way to use them in my game for certain."  He was, of course, referring to the video game he wanted to make himself.  He wanted it to be a submersive virtual reality game as well and he had been writing all his ideas for the game in a journal.  However he was beginning to realize that it would be rather hard to memorize the journal before leaving SAO.  When she talked about martial arts he shrugged.  "Personally I think if you can master it, it's a really useful skill.  I've seen lots of real martial arts combat in a couple of shows, and even looked into it a little when I was playing a few games involving it."  When she asked for confirmation Itzal nodded with an understanding smile.  "Ever MMO requires level grinding.  Not the most fun thing, but essential.  Don't worry though, I'll be with you every step of the way.  As your skills get stronger things become easier, and you'll soon find that level grinding might not be as difficult as you originally thought."

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

The girl placed her hands on her hips, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. "Mm, alright. So, what should I do? Just punch stuff until I level up?" She knew that quests existed--she'd even done a couple of them before--but each time it was almost like a random encounter; she hadn't planned out the details. Night had already fallen hours ago, and the forest around them had been quiet save for their own voices. Kooh idly wondered if NPCs went to sleep, too. If so, would it mean that their options were limited until morning? What a pain.

Her interests were typically fleeting, but now she was impatient to get her hands on some new skills. Things were finally getting boring, and she was practically barred from going to higher floors with the interest of her survival. Sneaking around and getting away with stealing treasure sounded like much more fun.

[Itzal 0]

Itzal smiled at her comment and shook his head.  "Nah.  While I am willing to assist you with burning through the quests, I could also keep you busy by teaching you what I know.  There's more to it than just getting the skill, although it is vital.  Without the skills, the percentage chance of success is minimal.  Finding materials without search and detect is about one fourth the chance.  With all the skills I possess, there is a very minimal chance that I won't find materials.  Nearly one fourth as well...  It would certainly be if I got the event item...  But Beatbox got a hold of it and while it's a scout item and he's a dps, he insists on keeping it.  It's his choice of course, but I was hoping I could use it."  It seemed that lately Beatbox was becoming less and less friendly to Itzal.  He wondered if it was their arguments in the past or something else, but it bothered him.  He enjoyed hanging out with the player and this tension was getting worse.  He sighed but went no further.  He smiled again as he discovered that Velnia was almost asleep, curled up on Kooh's shoulder with her tail on the other.  It was adorable he thought to himself.

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

Kooh brought up a finger to twirl a lock of blonde hair around it at her collarbone. The way in which non-combat skills worked eluded her, but if it was anything like the other aspects of the game so far, she figured they would just come to her once she invested the points in it. The dragon had made herself comfortable atop her shoulders, but thankfully she didn't seem to weigh all that much when she wasn't jumping around or tackling her victims. The girl frowned, but resigned herself. She'd have to start doing quests sooner or later, and she'd already gotten Itzal out here. "So, you wanna help me with one? Do you know anything quick around here?" She was willing to bet the scout had done a ton of quests, so hopefully there was something easy enough nearby he was willing to help her out with for some easy experience.

[Itzal 0]

Itzal listened to Kooh ask him if there were any quests around.  He nodded with a smile.  "On this floor there are two quests.  One is a quest where you seek out a giant wasp queen and slay it.  And the other is where you enter a pitch black cave to rescue an npc girl from two huge bats.  I don't have night vision yet, but my gear and skills should be enough for the cave one.  Either way I could take the bosses out pretty quick.  And if you ever got spare time there's the rgqs too.  Randomly generated quests that help you level up faster.  Although, I can't do them anymore because I passed the appropriate level for em.  Kinda sucks huh?"  He smiled as he stretched his limbs and adjusted his sword's sheath.  "The cave is towards that mountain over there, and the wasp queen is near that valley.  I actually have the stinger from last time so I can use that to boost my damage, or if you want you could use it.  If we both hit it, the monster should be dead all the sooner."

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

"Pfft, guess you gotta stop being so good." Kooh teased when he mentioned he was too high of a level for some quests. After he explained the quests and pointed out there general location, she stopped a moment to decide. "Hmm. I guess I'll take the giant bug." She shrugged at Itzal when he mentioned an item. "Eh, you keep it. If it drops off this thing I'll get one anyway, right?"

Following the direction Itzal point out, the two eventually crossed through the forest to an open field where, surely enough, several groups of wasps hovered in the air, occasionally buzzing about and shifting their position by a few feet. Standing out from the rest, a large mob, simply labeled "The Wasp Queen" above her floating health bar, patrolled in a lazy pattern across the fields. "Well, at least it was already here. You wanna do the honors?" Kooh held out a hand as she offered Itzal the first attack.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Kooh

[Itzal 0]

Itzal chuckled a bit and rubbed his head.  "It isn't that big of a deal.  It just means that I hit a small roadblock is all.  I want to get stronger so that I can protect others, as well as keep myself from getting killed on any level."  When Kooh said that she'd be the one to kill it Itzal nodded.  "Ok then.  I'll keep it stunned when I can.  Other than that I've got your back.  And nah, I don't need the extra point of damage.  I'm pretty sure I could one shot the boss.  It's literally the easiest boss in the game."  When they approached the area where the queen wasp was, he saw that she was already out and very aggressive.  He was assuming a player had already attempted to take it on but ended up fleeing.  And thus the boss was aggressive with nothing to fight.  Itzal drew Ascendant Rosario and switched his armor to Niger Natio, the black cloth armor covering him head to toe, only his eyes visible.  The wasp noticed the flash of light during the change and directed her attention to him.  The wasp charged him but he easily evaded her attack.  Her eyes widened when she saw how fast he moved and Itzal slashed at the queen himself.  She tried to dodge it but Itzal managed to hit her with his lowest stun art.  Velnia, whose spikes and horns were now translucent and sparking electricity, shot a tiny volt at the wasp from behind and flew over to Itzal's side as he leaped back.  "Alright Kooh, you're up!"

ID#  74268  BD:  3+3=6  MD:  3-3=1  Sword art used:  Horizontal Square  x4  -7 energy -stun-

Itzal:  960/960  <>  89/96

Wasp Queen:  18/50  <8x4=32>  wasp deals 20 dmg

@Kooh:  ???/???  <>  ??/??

Edited January 14, 2017 by Itzal