[sP-F1] We all have to start somewhere... | Quest: <<The First Few Lessons Are Free>>

[Soredell 0]

Samuel.. Or rather, Soredell hasn't been stuck in Sword Art Online for very long. Even so, if he wanted to get out of here, he needed to progress and get stronger. Only problem is, only way to do that is to level up, and the only way to level up is to take on quests, which he hasn't done yet. That needed to be amended right away.

Scrolling through the available quests, which wasn't much at his current level, he found one quest that caught his eye: <<The First Few Lessons Are Free>>. "Huh, that sounds easy enough. Just need to find an NPC named 'Zackariah' to get started, and he's in the Town of Beginnings." He says to himself, before setting off to find this Zackariah.

It doesn't take him too long to find him in his workshop, brewing potions. "I would correct in assuming that you are Zackariah, and that you need some assistance?" He asks, the old man lifting his head up from his table. "Ah yes, I am indeed Zackariah. And who might you be?" Zackariah says. "Well, my name is Soredell. I'm here because I... Heard you needed some assistance? I'm guessing it would have something to do with these potions here?" He says, pretty sure he got that fact right. The old man's face seems to light up. "Why yes it does! You are quite a perceptive young man. The potions will come later, but for now, I do have a task for you. In my age, I'm afraid I cannot leave the safety of the city to gather the materials I need, which is why I require the aid of adventurers such as yourself to assist me. That's the first step at least. I'll tell you what you will need to do next as we continue, but for now, I need you to go and get me 5 <<Wildflower Roots>> in the nearby forest. It should be easy enough provided you don't get into trouble." The old man says with a smile, as a prompt to accept or deny the quest pops up. "Of course, I'll have those roots to you soon enough." He says to the old man, pressing the button to accept the quest, leaving the shop shortly after. "Not exactly how I thought things would roll, but, we all have to start somewhere." He says, beginning to make his way to the forest.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Soredell

[Soredell 0]

Spoiler

ID: 75532

LD: 20

OOC: Rolls above in spoiler

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In doesn't take long for Soredell to get to the forest where he is supposed to get the materials, considering it was just outside the Town of Beginnings. The forest itself is pretty standard, but looks amazing nonetheless.

"Alright, I'm finally here. Now, where would I find some Wildflower Roots?" He says to himself as he does a basic scan of the area. Almost immediately he finds what he's looking for. Jogging over, he picks one up and stows it away into his inventory. "Alright, one down, 4 to go. Hopefully the rest of this mission should be easy." He says to himself, preparing to search more thoroughly for the next one.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Soredell

[Soredell 0]

Spoiler

ID: 75535

LD: 16

OOC: Rolls above in spoiler

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"Alright, let's do this." Soredell says to himself as he begins a more thorough search for the roots on the forest floor. The sunlight managing to break through the tree cover, providing enough light for Sam in his search. For now at least. After all, weather can easily change in Aincrad. Sam needed to do this quickly.

After a few short minutes of searching, Soredells efforts were rewarded with him finding his second needed material. "Alright, that's two. Maybe this will be easy." He says before looking up. "I guess there's someone out there who likes me." He says, taking a short rest before he can continue.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Soredell

[Soredell 0]

Spoiler

ID: 75549

LD: 14

OOC: Rules above in spoiler

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After his short rest, Soredell continues his search for the next root. His search takes a little bit longer, with the light level decreasing as the day shifts to afternoon. Because of this, his search does take more time, but soon enough, his search ends with finding his third root in the forest. "Huh, this really is easy. I don't know what I was so worried about. I just might have finished this quest and have time to eat." He says to himself, taking yet another rest in the shade of a tree.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Soredell

[Soredell 0]

Spoiler

ID: 75560

LD: 12

OOC: Rolls above in spoiler

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Satisfied with taking his short rest, after having a small snack to recharge his batteries, Soredell looks up into the tree line at the light. It's a lot darker than when he started. By his guesstimation it's late afternoon, early evening. "Oh jeez I must have fallen asleep. I better hurry up with this before it gets too dark." He says, getting back into the rhythm of searching once again.

It takes a little bit longer than before, but eventually he finds what he is searching for, his fourth Wildflower Root. "Alright, that's four, one more to go then I can finally leave here." He says, taking a seat on a tree root, dusting himself off as he rests.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Soredell

[Soredell 0]

Spoiler

ID: 75569

LD: 11

Holy hell how?

OOC: Rolls above in spoiler

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At this time, night time has fallen, which can only mean one thing: monsters. Lots and lots of them. These monsters only served to shorten his lifespan while in Aincrad. If Soredell wanted to get back to the NPC alive, he had to get this last root quickly.

Rummaging around in the darkness, he eventually finds his last root, and he puts it in his inventory. Upon doing this, he hears snarls from behind him. Turning around he sees monsters hiding in the foliage, eyeing their target. In this case, that would be Soredell. "Nope, I'm out!" He yells out as he hauls ass out of the forest, back to the Town of Beginnings.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Soredell

[Soredell 0]

Soredell continues running, even when he gets to the Town of Beginnings. He runs through crowds of NPC's and Players alike, more than likely knocking some down. Eventually he arrives at Zackariah's workshop, slamming the door shut, perhaps unnecessarily. Zackariah barely reacts, only lifting his head from his workbench with a smile on his face. "Ah, I see that you've returned! That's excellent!" he says. "Yes well, I did have a bit of an incentive to get here quickly. Didn't want something happening to me right as I got your materials. Speaking of which," he pauses, giving the 5 Wildflower Roots to Zackariah and continuing. "Here are your 5 Wildflower Roots, as per your request. Now, you mentioned there being a second part to this quest?" he asks.

"Yes, yes there is. The second part to this is you assisting me in creating a simple potion." 'A simple potion? I could barely mix chemicals in Chemistry all those years ago, how in the hell am I going to make a bloody potion.' he thinks to himself. "Yes, a simple potion is all that you need to create, after that, you'll need to do one final task. For now, prepare yourself, and come and see me when you are ready to start in making a potion." he says, going back to his work, Soredell taking a breath at a nearby seat.

Edited January 27, 2017 by Soredell

[Soredell 0]

Spoiler

ID: 75696

CD: 3

OOC: Rules above in spoiler

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After taking a quick rest, Soredell gets up once again. "Alright, I'm ready. What do I do first?" he asks Zackariah. He looks up from his table, a smile on his face as always. "So you are ready then? Very good. Come, let me show you how its done." he says, as Soredell approaches the table. Throughout the process, Zackariah goes through the procedure of correctly making the potion as best as he can, but in the end, it fails. Soredell has an annoyed look on his face. "Dammit. I knew my luck would run out sooner or later. Should've kept up on those Chemistry lessons..." he mutters. "That's perfectly fine. It is your first time after all. I'll be here helping until it is done, so when you are ready, just tell me." Zackariah says once again.

[Soredell 0]

Spoiler

ID: 75710

CD: 1

OOC: Rules above in spoiler

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Composing himself once again after his previous failure, he goes up to Zackariah once again. "Alright, I think I'm ready once again. I'm ready to do this." he says. Zackariah looking up once again. "Very good, now, did you need my help this time or do you think you can do this by yourself?" he asks. "Uhh, maybe I can try to do this by myself if its ok. I had you teach me before, hopefully I can do it this time." Soredell goes up to the workbench once again, ready to try again.

Soredell goes through the process once again as he remembered being told by Zackariah, but right before he does the last step, he trips on a stool, dropping the almost completed potion on the ground, destroying. "Oh crap, I am so sorry..." he mutters. "That's quite alright, accidents happen." he says, preparing more ingredients should Soredell make a third attempt.

[Soredell 0]

Spoiler

ID: 75760

CD: 8

OOC: Rules above in spoiler

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"Alright, one more time. I'm sure to get it right this time." he says, getting up and making to the workbench, hoping for his sake, as well as Zackariah's sake, that he does it right this third time. "Of course, now, perhaps this time you want me to assist you in creating the potion needed?" Zackariah asks, ready to assist Soredell. "Maybe just one more time repeated to me would help me make sure I nailed it down. Don't want an accident happening again now would we?" he says, getting ready to make a third potion.

Soredell begins, and goes through the process of creating the potion, with Zackariah walking him through the process every step of the way. He shakily pours the potion into the last vial, and with that, the potion is complete, the vial containing it glowing. "It seems as though you've done it, quite a great batch I must say." Zackariah says, with Soredell yawning from all of the work that she has done. "You're tired I see, potion making is a lot of hard work. Perhaps come tomorrow for the final part of this task. It won't do you any good if you are exhausted." he says. "Good idea, I'll see you tomorrow I guess." Soredell says, leaving the building.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Soredell

[Soredell 0]

Bright and early the next morning, Soredell makes his way over to Zackariah's workshop, where he finds him hard at work making more potions. Looking up, he smiles, saying "Ah, you've returned! I see you're ready for the last part of this task?" he asks. "Yeah, refreshed and ready. Now, what is it that you need me to do?" Soredell asks in reply.

"Yes, about that..." Zackariah says, pulling out a package of some sort. "Like I told you when you first came to me, because of my age, I'm afraid I can't really leave the Town of Beginnings to do the work I need to do. Unfortunately, that also includes delivering packages to old friends." he says, passing the package to Soredell. "In a nearby town, about a day's trip at most, is a blacksmith. He goes by the name of Lyle Tealeaf. I simply need you to deliver the package to him." he says. "What kind of package is it?" Soredell asks, slightly itching to get his hands on whatever is inside, although it probably has no value to him. "Oh, nothing important really. All that matters is that you get it to him. For compensation for all of the hard work you've done, you will be rewarded as soon as you have handed the package to him." he says, beginning to get back to his work. "Now, I'm afraid I must get back to work, but best of luck to you." he says, going back to work, and Soredell leaving through the door.

[Soredell 0]

Soredell makes his way outside, and begins his journey to the blacksmith Lyle Tealeaf. First step? Getting out of the Town of Beginnings. That wasn't easy, navigating the streets was like trying to make your way through a labyrinth. Now imagine that labyrinth was crowded with thousands of people, and NPC's. That's what making his way through the Town of Beginnings in the day was like.

As he tried to push through the crowds, he kept bumping into more and more people and NPC's alike. But him staying here wouldn't get that quest done. He had to get out of here soon with the package. It's not like staying in the Town of Beginnings would get him out of this damn game any faster. "Guess I'm gonna be stuck for a little bit, just until I get out of here." he says to himself as he continues to wander.

 

Edited January 29, 2017 by Soredell

[Soredell 0]

By the middle of the day, Soredell is still wandering around the Town of Beginnings. "God, I'm never going to get out of here..." He mutters to himself. "If I'm ever going to get out of here, then I'm going to need to get some help. Question is, who?" he says to himself. Looking around, he sees about a thousand players all around him. He could simply ask anyone, but... "I really don't want to be talking to anyone right now. If I don't I'm gonna be stuck here forever..." he says, approaching the first person he sees. "Hey. you have any idea where the nearest exit is?" he asks that player. "Yeah, its over that way" the player says, pointing at a direction. "Thank you." he says heading off towards the gate.

[Soredell 0]

It takes a little more time, but eventually, Soredell finally gets to the gate. A path that goes through the land, and goes over the horizon. He could only guess that following the path would eventually lead him to the town where the NPC Lyle Treeleaf was. All he had to do was walk. More time wasted not getting to the frontlines, and getting out of this game. "If I want to get better, I need weapons, to get weapons, I need to find a blacksmith, a player blacksmith. I'll find one as soon as this mission is done." he says, before beginning his walk down the path. With any luck, he'll be done by sunset. "I need to get a move on, don't want to get a repeat of last night..." he mutters, watching the sun in the sky.

[Soredell 0]

Soredell continues his walk through the path. The sun now beginning to slowly dip down towards the horizon, indicating that it is the afternoon in Aincrad. Much like when he first started, he couldn't help but be amazed at how amazing Aincrad looked. Even though this may be one of the deadliest games of all time, it didn't mean it wouldn't look amazing. "Who would have thought that a game as beautiful as this, could be so deadly?" he says to himself. "What was that guy thinking? That... Kayaba dude, why would he go through the trouble of trapping 10,000 players in a game?" he says to himself. "Ah, I shouldn't think about this, I should be thinking about how to get to the front lines, as soon as possible. To do that, I need a weapon, something better than what I have now." he says, patting the sword at his side. "Maybe a katana and a wakizashi would do me some good. As soon as we're done here, we'll look for some better weapons." he says to himself as he continues walking.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Soredell

[Soredell 0]

As Soredell continues walking on path, he eventually finds himself at the entrance to another forest. "Well, this is a familiar sight, isn't it?" he says to himself. He looks up to the sky, and the sun is further down, closer to the horizon. "Late afternoon, I better hurry this up and get back to town." he says, beginning to enter the forest.

As he continues to walk down the path, he notices that something doesn't feel quite right. As if someone is following him. He looks back, and he feels as if there are figures running through the forest, watching him. Could be NPC's, monsters, or even worst, PKers, the absolute scum of SAO. Something was watching him, and he needed to haul ass and run for the next town before anything happened. So he ran through the forest. About halfway there, he felt something heavy ram his side, knocking them both down, and causing Soredell to knock the package out of his hand. The figure then grabs the package and runs off into the forest. "NO! Get back here!" Soredell yells out, pulling out his sword and chasing after the figure in the forest.

[Soredell 0]

Soredell is in hot pursuit of the culprit, but thanks to the dense foilage and the shadows growing larger at the setting of the sun, it grows increasingly harder to find the culprit. The chase can only go on for so long, and before Soredell realizes it, he's lost the culprit, and he himself ends up inside a dark clearing. "Dammit! Why is everything in this game trying to screw me over!?" he yells to no one in particular. Looking down, he notices footprints in the ground, human footprints. Not much of a surprise there, but why would another player try and take his stuff? Anyone else who would take the quest would get the same package, so why take his? It didn't matter at this point, all that mattered was that he got that package back so he could finish the quest. "Alright, whoever you are, I will find you." he says before following the footprints, to wherever they lead.

[Soredell 0]

Soredell continues to follow the tracks of the player who took his package, for reasons unknown to him still. He had never been good at tracking, whatever he knows about the subject was all from fiction like TV shows and video games. All he really knew was to keep following any kind of tracks like footprints or blood. So follow the footprints is what he did. He seemed to be following the trail for what was like an eternity. Even when it is past sundown, into night, he still hasn't found anything. Lucky for him, nothing he doesn't want to have to deal with hasn't found him yet. Hopefully he would be getting close to who he's looking for, for his sake mainly.

[Soredell 0]

Its late into the night in Aincrad, although that isn't the only thing that is keeping Soredell back from finding the culprit behind his theft. The darkness and the dense foilage all around him hampering his movement, and subtle sounds and movements by enemies, causing him to hide and wait it out. He couldn't fight these things, not quite yet. When he gets better weapons, then he can, but until then, he needs to wait things out.

So, Soredell continues to silently, and patiently search for the assailant, through the forest. As it would turn out, the tracks lead back to the main road, having no other choice, he goes down the path. Eventually, he sees a hooded figure silently walking on the road, package in hand. "Alright, this ends now." he says as he charges the figure, tackling them to the ground. First off, he quickly secures his package, before finding out who the figure is. Just as he's about to, the figure vanishes in a flash of light. "DAMMIT! I WAS SO CLOSE!" he yells, before he hears snarls from around him. Monsters. "Damn it, I better run." he says, running back through the track, to the town, and hopefully without any sidetracking, with monsters on his tail.

[Soredell 0]

Soredell finally makes his way into the town, where thankfully for him, the monsters have stopped chasing him, and no hooded figures have taken his package for the second time. After entering the safe zone, he takes a seat on some nearby crates, to catch his breath. Just like back in the Town of Beginnings, he was exhausted. "Yeah, this really does confirm my suspicions, NerveGear does somehow track your physical ability. Thank you Kayaba you creep." he mutters, as he takes a break. Soon enough, he goes to find the shop.

Unlike the Town of Beginnings, the streets are pretty much empty, devoid of life. It really shouldn't come as any surprise considering how late it is. It doesn't take Soredell too long to find the place, but one more obstacle stands in his way. The store is closed. "Ah dammit. Guess I'll just have to wait here for the night." he says, sitting down in front of the shop, and nodding off for the night.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Soredell