[PP-F7] Dusty Dudes and Bad 'Tudes <<Case of Wurms>> ~ COMPLETE

[Pinball 1]

Pinball made his way through the main settlement of Floor 7, hoping to get this quest done as quickly as possible. The Quest Boss - it was supposed to be some kind of giant snake/worm thing, from what he had asked around about. For someone his level, it should be relatively easy, even though he had absolutely no protection if the monster managed to land a hit. Still, he hoped his health pool would hold out while he wreaked havoc on the mob's body. Well, I'll see, I guess, he thought with a shrug. He slowed to a walk, taking his spear and sliding it through the makeshift leather tube slung across his back. The sheathe, if you could call it one (it was really just a leather strap he tightened), was fashioned to help Pinball carry his spear more effectively... at the cost of it looking absolutely ridiculous. The spear's length was so great that it stuck out well past his shoulder. He wouldn't be entering any normal door with it like that, but it meant he could stop holding the Cursed weapon, and kept his hands free, so he didn't really mind much. He snapped to attention, and started jogging. Pay attention. Go kill it, then fish for a bit. Wraps up the day nicely. 

@Reinholt

Player Stats: 

Spoiler

Level: 27

Health: 540 | Energy: 54

DMG: 14 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 3

Skills:

Combat skills:

►N/A

Weapon skills:

►<<2H Assault Spear>> [50/50]: Rank 5 - Grandmaster

Armor skills:

►N/A

Extra skills:

►<<Fishing>>

►<<Familiar Mastery: Fighter>> [18/18]: Rank 3 - Grandmaster

►<<Martial Arts>> [0/50]: N/A

Modifiers:

►N/A

Inventory

»[Equipped] [Demonic] Naughty or Nice Blade: +2 Freeze, Phase, Cursed

»[Equipped] [Perfect] Leather Armor of the Amatuer Duelist: +3 EVA

»[Equipped] [Perfect] Warrior’s Focus: +3 ACC

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Pinball

[Reinholt 0]

Reinholt had decided to explore some of the other floors. Atleast the main settlements. He was looking to possibly buy some near gear but mainly just exploring. He was on the seventh floor, just wondering the streets. Every now and then he would step into a shop and browse, but he found nothing he wanted or could even afford.

Nimbus was so much different than the Town of Beginnings. The stone Fortress city was much more to Reinholt's liking than the Starting City was. The feeling of being in a fantasy castle feel Reinholt with joy. Taking in the sites, not really paying attention, he nearly walks into another player but at the last moment he is able to spin out of the way to avoid the collision. "Woah! Sorry bout that. I wasn't watching where I was going!" Reinholt says, slightly embarrassed and rubbing the back of his neck. He looked like a total noob, gawking at a town and not watching where he's going.

[Pinball 1]

"Oh," he said simply, watching as a player spun around him. He wasn't particularly paying attention to his surroundings, either, but he tried not to make it obvious. He stared at Reinhart for a second, a blank expression on his face. Make conversation, a voice in the back of his head whispered. Why? another replied. While he tried to grasp for the right words, he heard a shout in the distance. "PINBALL!" With a great, pained sigh, Pinball slouched. Again? Really? Still? Pinball looked, trying to find the source of the voice, and soon discovered its location. Right down the street, with Reinhart and Pinball in plain view. There were other players on the streets; not enough to crowd the roads, however, and the majority of them looked over to the commotion, trying to piece together what was happening. Pinball whirled around, patting the man on the back. "Heeyyy, pal," he began, trying to gently pull the warrior along with him as he walked, "we should probably dip. They've marked ya. Follow me if you want to live.~" With a small smile on his face, and offering no explanation, Pinball started jogging away. It was a bluff, to be sure, but there was no doubt the man would try to question the player. Plus, he was in the mood for company; he hadn't talked to anyone in a while. 

@Reinholt

Edited April 6, 2018 by Pinball

[Reinholt 0]

Reinholt studies the man before him, well that is, the kid before him for a moment. It still amazed him that the majority of players here were teenagers, yet they looked death in the eyes and kept fighting. He knew Police officers that didn’t have that much gall. For a split second however, his heart breaks for this kid. So young and already forced to face the harsh realities of live, even in virtual reality. He watches as the kid’s expression go from blank to pained after someone yells a name. From his reaction it was his name, but Reinholt had already turned, scanning the people behind him for the person who shouted, his hand instinctively reaching for his sword. He may only be level Three, but if this guy needed help he would stand and fight. The kid speaks and starts to pull Reinholt in the opposite direction. Come with me if you want to live? Who does this kid think he is? A terminator? He thinks to himself, but finds himself following after him anyway. Obviously he was in some sort of danger and Reinholt couldn’t just walk away from him. ”Yea sure kid, lead the way. But you’ll have to tell me what this is about sooner or later.”

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by Reinholt

[Pinball 1]

Pinball ducked into an alleyway, eventually letting go of the man and continuing to walk, a grin plastered on his face. Judging by how fast he lost the player who had called his name in the street, causing a commotion, he wasn't one of the White-tipped Ravens' trackers. With a shrug, Pinball gave a little twirl, standing in the alleyway, the street right behind where they stood. "We're good." Pinball scratched the side of his forehead. "Uhh," he began, then stopped, biting his lip. He walked out into the streets, looking left and right. Nobody. "Yeah," he nodded. He turned back to the player he had dragged along with him, feigning confusion. "What are you doing here? I ain't lookin' for any trouble, mister." He chuckled then, but it was emotionless. That wasn't funny, do something funny, he thought. "Well." Pinball was at a loss. He had dragged the man away from whatever he was doing, only to completely forget why he had done it. "I think I'm gonna go now, then." He started to back away, snapping finger guns as he went. "Quests n' stuff. Y'know. Catch ya later.." 

@Reinholt

Edited April 6, 2018 by Pinball

[Reinholt 0]

Reinholt follows the kid into the alley, his whole body on full alert. He didn't know what kind of trouble this kid was in, but at least he knew he wasn't into Pk'ing as his cursor was green. After receiving the all clear Reinholt visibly relaxes. "We'll I guess I get to live another day eh?" He says just before Pinball turns to him confused and asks what hes doing and that he doesn't want trouble. He doesn't want trouble? He dragged me into this and I haven't even the slightest whats going on.. Then the kid tries to leave, but Reinholt moves to block his exit. "Hold it there Mr. Come-with-me-if-you-want-to-live. What in the world is going on? Who was that after you? If you're in some kind of trouble maybe i can help you out of it. I may be low level but I'll help you. Plus if I'm caught up in it now you could at least tell me whats going on so i don't get Pk'ed or some such." He says with chuckle and holds his hand out. "Pinball wasn't it? I'm Reinholt."

 

@Pinball

[Pinball 1]

Pinball cracked a grin when he heard Reinholt's comment. He backed away, shaking his hands in a dismissive gesture. "N-nah, dude, you're fine," he stammered, surprised. "I was just messing with you. You're not caught up in anything, nothin' at all, don't worry about it." Probably. He took a wide step around Reinholt then, a sheepish smile plastered on the boy's face. He gave the man two thumbs up, held below his chest at an awkward angle. "I really need to get this quest done, so, uhh," he said, trying to push past him. "I'm gonna hit the road, toad. Adios..?" Pinball grit his teeth, a strange look on his face. "Really though, don't be worried 'bout it. They gave up on looking for me a long time ago." He shrugged. "No biggie. I'm, uhh... I'm seriously going to go now." He started to walk away. "Gonna fight a giant sand snake thing. Get some venom, probably level up. Some pretty rad stuff. Catch you around, Reinhart." 

[Reinholt 0]

Reinholt raises his eyebrow. He couldn't tell if Pinball was lying to him or just being awkard. With a sigh he nods and moves aside to let him pass. "Fine. If you say it's all good then i guess I'll believe you this time." He steps aside so Pinball could get around him. Giant sand snake? That sounds fun.. Tilting his head Reinholt looks at Pinball. Obviously this was probably much higher quest than Reinholt was but of he could manage to tag along he could get some massve rewards from it. "No risk, no reward.."[/i] He mutters under his breath. "That's Reinholt..and if you' like an extra hand id be more the happy to tag along and kill a giant sand snake thing with you.." He says with a shrug. "Dunno if I'll actually be able to help or not, but I would do my best and you wouldn't have to travel alone.."

 

@Pinball

[Pinball 1]

He started walking, and stopped, surprised that Reinholt wanted to come along. He looked back to the man with a concerned expression. He looked him up and down, trying to deduce his level from the equipment he wore; which, of course, wasn't terribly easy to do. Pinball himself was still technically wearing Tier 1 armor and equipment, even though he himself was Tier 2. He considered his options. It'd be too easy to just say "no, thanks, I'm fine." Easy, rude, but straight to the point. He bit his lip. "Alrighty," he said finally. "That's cool, we can do it together." He thought back to his time fighting Byakko with Spangie. He had been able to kill the beast before it had even gotten near her, and it had posed a great threat to the girl. I can do this, too, he hoped. With a skip, he turned back to Reinholt, walking backwards. "Well, nice to meet ya, Reintart. We've got a ways to go before we get to where we need to be, so let's... y'know. Get to it." He spun around, walking ahead. "Should be fun." 

[Reinholt 0]

Fun. This is stupid. I should just go back to the first floor until I'm ready for this. He thinks to himself, yet matches Pinball's pace. This guy was an odd duck, one who Reinholt believed was purposely messing up his name. With a smirk he looks over at Pinball. "So, Pinhead. You did this quest before? What's this sand snake thingy like? You sure I won't be too in the way?"

Reinholt hooks his thumbs into his belt and makes a face. While he did want to power level, this could turn out to be too big of a risk to take. Only time could tell and there wasn't too much shame in running away. Especially from a giant snake thing. He tries not to look like a tourist walking through Nimbus though. Having not left the firsdt floor much it was all new to him. I like it here. For sure my kind of place.

 

[Pinball 1]

Pinball hopped through the streets, walking quickly so as to make good time. He wanted to be back before lunch. He glanced back over at Reinhart, scratching his head. Is he going to be ok? He shook it off, twirling around to face the man when he a yddressed him, a smile tugging at the boy's lips. "Pinhead?" He spun back around. "So mean," he laughed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Shame on you, picking on a helpless kid. For shame, man. Shame." Pinball was far from helpless at this point, and he was nearly an adult as well. He had joined SAO at 15. He frowned, ever so slightly, at the memories that followed the realization. He shook it off, and kept walking. "Nah, I've never done the quest before. I heard it's kind of equal in level to the uhh... the tiger thing," he said vaguely, quickly following up with, "but it shouldn't be that hard. I heard there's some kind of sandstorm thing that follows the monster, but that's about it. It'll be easy. Don't worry 'bout it." 

[Reinholt 0]

Even as big as he was Reinholt kept up with Pinball effortlessly. He chuckles after Pinball calls him mean and then shrugs his shoulders. "You'll be alright." He definitely had to tone himself down from how he used to be IRL. He felt if he treated the other player like he treated young people IRL, It would he bad for him as most if these kids had fought for their lives for almost two years now. So he tried to treat them like adults for the most part. With a shake of his head, he thinks back to the task at hand. Since Pinball had already taken the quest, Reinholt had no problem taking the back seat and following and Pinballs lead. Especially is this monster was a lot stronger than Reinholt was. "Sounds good just let me know what the plan is and I will try to stay out of your way." He says alking alongside Pinball. Since he can obviously take care of himself, I'll follow his lead. For now atleast.

[Pinball 1]

At their pace, they made it out of the city of stone relatively quickly. Coming through the stuffy caverns and crystal lined streets of Nimbus, the breeze of the open field was a breath of fresh air. The floor was mountainous and rocky, and even in the field the two now stood in was littered with boulders, and mountains surrounded the field on every side. Pinball thought for a moment, trying to decide which way it was he was supposed to go. "This way, I think," he said, making his way through the field, stepping on and around rocks so as to move as quickly as he could without hurting himself or stumbling. "It's through this mountain path, I'm sure," he said, pointing. "We follow the path, and we should come up on a kind of sandy area. That's where the snake will be." He had asked around on the First Floor, picking out the strongest looking players there and inquiring as to what they knew about the quest. Hopefully, they weren't playing some kind of joke on him. "Alrighty," he said, "let's hurry. I wanna get back before lunch." 

[Reinholt 0]

Reinholt followed closely behind Pinball. Far enough that he wasn't stepping on Pinball's heels but close enough to talk without having to yell. He was curious about Pinball. From the chance meeting to running through the streets, to now traversing the seventh floor in search of Glory and Exp, all within a short period of time. While it was exceedingly foolish for Reinholt to take part of this quest with Pinball, he felt like he could trust the kid.

He chuckles at Pinball's 'back before lunch' comment. "What, you got a hot lunch date?" He says, trying to break the ice a little better. " I'm joking. We can go as fast or as slow as you want Party leader. I'm just a long for the ride and have a pretty empty schedule." He pauses for a moment to look out at the mountainous region before them. He liked it up here and if he ever got a house or a shop or anything he'd probably put it in Nimbus.

[Pinball 1]

"Date?" A small smile tugged at his lips, but bad memories of almost a week before resurfaced then. People within his guild; he wasn't looking forward facing them again. He had already seen them, to be sure, but even then, he had left as soon as possible. It was a situation he had wanted to avoid. In as playful a tone he could muster, he replied, "I wish." He hopped from rock to rock, leaving Reinholt's explanation open ended. They were making good time. 

It wasn't too long before they came upon the beginning of the mountain path, where the dirt trail began, and the grassy, rock laden fields ended. Something about this clearing caught Pinball's attention; the sound of rushing water. "Hey," he muttered to Reinholt, hopping into a brisk walk. "One second. I'm gonna check this out." From there, Pinball could make out a stream of bright blue water that seemingly wrapped around the mountain, rushing down the slope parallel to the path, and finally ending up in a relatively small pool of water where Pinball now stood. It wasn't small, per say, but it wasn't quite big enough to be a pond. Still, Pinball stuck a hand in, and, finding it deep enough to fish in, stood with a grin. "Oi, scratch the lunch thing," he said, motioning to the body of water with his wet thumb, "we're gonna go fishing after, if you wanna stick around." Pinball started walking back towards the path, putting his hands in his pockets. "Let's go kill a snake first." 

[Reinholt 0]

Reinholt was pretty good at reading people and could tell that he had touched a sore spot. Letting it slide he watches as Pinball follows the stream to the 'pond' and kneels next to the stream.  He cups his hands and catches water in them and then slurps it out of his hands. Ah, nice and cool..plus I don't have to worry bout it being poisoned. Reinholt chuckles to himself, remembering back home where you had to be super careful about drinking water like this. Pinball starts speaking fishing and Reinholt shrugs his shoulders.

"I haven't fished in game yet, but I'm used to love it IRL. But like I said. I have nothing better to do but adventuring and if that means sitting by a very picturesque pond with a nice view, I'm totally down." He rises to his feet and nods toward the path. "Well lets go then. The sandy snake is a-waitin."

[Pinball 1]

Pinball made his way up and around the mountain, via the dirt path laid out. It was barely a path, in Pinball's opinion; too unpredictable, and it took too many strange and uneccessary turns and directions. Still, the two, at their brisk pace, made good time, and they soon neared the end of the path. As they got closer and closer to where the mountain path finally opened up, sand started to appear in abundance. First, it was only noticeable in small amounts, here and there, scattered along the mountainpath. But very quickly, as if out of nowhere, the formerly miniscule amounts of sand became copious. Pinball took the first few steps away from the pre-marked path, the air swirling with sand that stung his face and eyes. His boots seemed to be sinking slowly into the sand, and he once again longed for the beaches of Florida, not the deserts of some god forsaken game. Pinball looked over to Reinholt, then back over to the dunes, an uncomfortable and almost paranoid feeling settling over him and his words. "Here we are. Watch yourself." 

[Reinholt 0]

What am I doing? Seriously what do I have to prove? Reinholt thinks to himself as the get closer and closer to the area where the snake is. This game wasn't like real life where everyone was evenly matched. Here a just a couple levels difference and you're screwed. He shakes his head, pushing those thoughts out of his mind. Just think of the XP. I need it. With a sigh he brings his focus back to what was going on around him. He notices that mountains give way to sand and thinks that they most be close. He forces his mind clear and pushes his anxiety away. He was ready.

Pinball announces they were there and Reinholt nods. He reaches up and grabs the hilt of his sword. "What's the plan once the snake spawns?" He asks as he draws his sword. This was the biggest thing he had fought and didn't want to be caught off guard. 

[Pinball 1]

Pinball turned to Reinholt, sliding his spear out of the makeshift sheathe on his back. With a thump, it landed in the sand beside him, the polearm standing taller than both of them. He held it loose in one hand, a stupid grin on his face, his eyes squinted so as to avoid getting too much sand in it. "Right! Game plan. Well, first, I'm going to start with - " A loud rumbling drowned out his words, and from the sand burst a giant, two-headed serpent. Venom dripped from its fangs (on each head respectively), and it gazed at the two players with a flicking tongue. It leapt forward. "Damn it! Watch out!" He put an arm out across Reinholt's chest, trying to push him back a bit, and charged forward himself. His sword activated with Dimension Stampede, his strongest sword art, the spearhead glowing bright purple. But something else caught his eye; two things, actually. His entire spear was enveloped in a white aura. Flecks, and tiny shards of ice danced across the weapon and Pinball's fingers. With a wicked grin, Pinball, using his spear, polevaulted into the air,  just as the monster opened its mouth to swallow him whole. Zomekko, his ghost cat familiar, poured out of the jar on his waist, enveloping his spear in a shadowy fog. 

"Aaand, goodnight," Pinball laughed, still in midair, brought his spear down - hard. A flash of white light, shards of ice, and a burst of shadowy fog followed the strike. With a sickening shriek, the monster froze, then turned blue, then shattered. Pinball fell back to the ground, having nothing to keep him from landing facefirst on the ground. "Umph," he let out, hitting the dirt with a thud, his face sinking a good half inch into the sand. 

-------------------------------------

- COMBAT - 

ID# 99587 

BD: 10 (Crit+2) 

Pinball attacks Amphis Serpens - Dimension Stampede!

Phase activates! (Amphis Serpens' MIT = 22) 

14+2= 16*15 - 22= 218 DMG 

Freeze Activates! (N/A) 

Amphis Serpens is <<DEAD>> 

<< -17 MIT >> 

- PLAYERS - 

Pinball: 560/560 HP | 39/56 EN | 2 (-1)ACC | 2 (-1) EVA 

Reinholt: ???????

- ENEMIES - 

Amphis Serpens: 0/175 HP | 45 MIT | 75 DMG 

Edited April 15, 2018 by Pinball

[Reinholt 0]

His sword held ready, Reinholt waits for the plan, only just as Pinball started talk the damned thing bursts up from the sand. Pinball shoves Reinholt backwards before rushing forward himself. With a shake of his head Reinholt swings wide, hoping to flank the monster and hit it from its side or tail. Where ever was furthest away from the beasties fangs.

He barely notices Pinball flying through the air as he himself surged forward, his sword raised above his head. He is mere steps away from the serpent when the whole thing flashes blue then shatters. He had already started the motion of swinging his sword and the momentum of it, added to the fact his target was no longer there, threw him off balance. After stumbling forward a few steps he topples into the sand. "Ugh. Sand in the mouth." While still in the sand, on his back he looks over and Pinball. "Well Pin, looks like you legit didn't need me at all. Thanks for letting me tag along and reap the rewards of your hard work." He chuckles and rises to a sitting position. He had worried for nothing and this whole thing gave him a great deal of respect for Pinball. Hopefully one day he could return the favor.