[SP-F4] Truckee Lake <COMPLETE>

[Kioshi 0]

ID: 103615

Kioshi: HP 80/80 -- DMG 7 -- MIT 27 -- Energy 6/8

Yeti: HP 40/40 -- DMG 30 -- MIT 0 -- +1 Bleed

BD: 3

MD: 5

Kioshi huffs and puffs as he continues swinging his Zweihander to his first opponent in the fourth snowy floor. The Kelly armour makes quite a bit of clanging noises as he moves around a lot, dodging and deflecting the powerful strikes of white furry arms and hands assaulting him like a tank.

The yeti lets out an awful roar, that of a distorted version of a bear or something as it throws its arms to the air, as if to assert dominance. Kioshi just stands, the blade of his sword constantly point at the creature. Next, the yeti tries to get a grasp on the length of the sword, but to no avail as Kioshi saw that coming. Another overhead swing. Deflected. A quicker one. Also deflected. Alas, it is Kioshi's turn to dodge and deflect the attempted strikes of the yeti.

If there is one thing Kioshi should be aware of, it is the yeti's canines, looking very sharp and menacing. A bite from that would likely cause bleed and a deep cut if unprotected with a shield or at least metal armor.

Edited July 29, 2018 by Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

ID: 103700

Kioshi: HP 77/80 -- Energy 4/8 (Used Straight (x2)!)

Yeti: HP 26/40 

BD: 8

MD: 8

Much to Kioshi's surprise, the yeti suddenly leaps forward and launches a flying kick against his helmet, knocking him slightly off balance and delivering a bit of blunt damage through the helmet to Kioshi's skull. If this armor's quality is as sh*tty as the real one in reality, that kick would leave a big dent and if further weakened, renders the entire suit useless. 

Kioshi's vision is wobbly for a moment while the yeti charges in like a hulk of abomination. Hearing the impending footsteps, he randomly activates his Sword Art and just swings his sword overhead. Lucky for him, for the blade's length manages to land and make a cut across the beast's face, disfiguring it.

Upon noticing his successful hit, Kioshi regains his composure. The yeti does so too in a few seconds, and soon both of them slowly move towards each other, seeking for another chance of attack.

Edited July 28, 2018 by Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

ID: 103701

Kioshi: HP 77/80 -- Energy 2/8 (Used Straight (x2)!)

Yeti: HP 12/40 

BD: 8

MD: 3

Kioshi changes his plan of attack in mind. He slowly lets go of one of his hand from the sword's handle, and in a moment of temporary calmness, stands still while gazing at the yeti through the visor. It lets out a low growl, glaring back at its canned opponent, and deciding that it has enough of waiting, delivers punches and claws to Kioshi, much to its failure as his attacks either miss thanks to Kioshi's constant dodging or they land only on a bit of his spaulders or helmet. 

In retaliation to these attacks, Kioshi's sword suddenly glows into a shade of dark green, and immediately it is plunged into the belly of the beast that tries to lunge forward and bite him earlier. It bellows loudly, the sound echoes throughout the flat, snowy field. The blade cuts deep across its stomach to disembowel it effectively, chunks of its guts spill out of the cavity.

Kioshi gets into another fighting position, aiming for the killing blow with his Sword Art...if luck permits it.

Edited July 28, 2018 by Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

ID: 103702

Kioshi: HP 77/80 -- Energy 0/8 (Used Straight (x2)!)

BD: 8

No hesitation or second though is present in Kioshi's mind as his sword glows again, and before the yeti could let out its final roar, it is suddenly silent. Permanently. The sword had cut through its neck cleanly. In that same instance, the yeti's decapitated head lands and rolls gently across the white powder of the snowy terrain before disintegrating into nothingness. The headless, fury body of the yeti also drops down and shares the same fate as its head.

Kioshi lets out a quiet sigh as he is now at ease, standing over the spot where the corpse fell, awaiting for its loot.

ID: 103703

LD: 14 -- CD: 1

Obtained 120 COL and 2 Crafting Materials!

A small sum of COL and two crafting materials. Not bad, though Kioshi wishes that the loot's value should be higher. He feels that the algorithms of Aincrad can be a d*ck to players sometimes. So much for being a very fair game, as advertised in the marketing. 

After roughly cleaning the bloodstains off the blade with snow from the ground, Kioshi looks around his surroundings. The main settlement of this floor isn't very far away if he knows his currently position...shoot.

Kioshi feels the breeze blowing violently as he anticipates an incoming blizzard. As quickly as he can, he moves on, relying on a slightly visible mountain as his guide to, hopefully, some form of natural or man-made shelter.

Edited July 28, 2018 by Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

The blizzard intensifies as Kioshi's walking pace decreases, owing to himself feeling chilly. Not even the armor can protect him from cold. It ain't enough. As he gets onto his knees and holds onto his helmet, he notices some branches seemingly leaning against a large tree in a peculiar manner. As hurriedly as he can, he rushes to the branches to discover that he is now looking at a crude tepee shelter. All of the branches are arranged closely side by side around the trunk. A tarp is partially wrapped around them. There is a small opening cut just small enough for one person to crawl inside. 

What good will pondering about the lean-to do anyway? Doesn't matter. Kioshi hurriedly gets on knees and palms, crawling into his only hope of saving himself from possible hypothermia. The space inside may not be as big as he thinks, but at least he can still sit and lie down without feeling cramped. 

Taking off his helmet and the rest of the Kelly armour, Kioshi hugs his own body and he sits with his knees up, lying his head onto them while his back is leaning against the park. Still shivering, he simply waits for the blizzard to cool down, sleep soon takes over his mind.

Edited July 28, 2018 by Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

When the blizzard finally stops, Kioshi had just awoken from his nap. Only the chilly wind drowns out the silence of this cold, harsh floor. Kioshi pokes his head out of the entrance to see that it is now nighttime. Tough luck. Staying here is a more viable option now.

Even though the shelter problem has been solved, a second problem arises. This is defined by Kioshi's growling stomach, which is quite audible in his ears. He decides to look around this tepee, hoping to find anything worth taking or even eating. Ran out of rations a while before his encounter with the yeti. As he digs his hand into the snow close to the trunk, he feels something leathery and soft. Two objects it seems. He slowly pulls them out to find a leather waterskin full of water and a cloth wrapping something inside itself. 

Carefully, he pulls it apart, eyes glowing in relief as he discovers a frozen liver and heart. Seems to belong to an animal of some sort. The organs look healthy too. Time for a hearty feast.

Edited July 28, 2018 by Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

Right. Fire. Something Kioshi almost forgets until now. He feels a bit regretful that he didn't try to light one up earlier, otherwise he would not be as cold as he is now. He doesn't mind eating the organs raw, but he decides to not risk getting ill for now. Peeking out of the entrance again, he notices a big branch and a few dead dried leaves...but without any small trees nearby to make a spindle and firestick, he couldn't use the only fire-starting method that he knows very well: the hand drill method.

Sighing, he looks at the organs rather hungrily. These look probably appetizing enough to satisfy his hunger at its minimum level. Getting back into the tepee, he takes the waterskin and opens it, shaking a little to find that there is lots of water left inside. Quite a pity for whoever left his campsite here, having to leave his supplies or whatnot for some reason. Kioshi uses some of the water to wash his food, and begins consuming them to his fill.

Delicious. Maybe not to an average, belly filled person. But still, what else can Kioshi eat? Plants? Most unlikely given the severe winter in this area. Kioshi thinks that it might take a while for his stomach to digest both organs. 

[Kioshi 0]

Quenching his thirst with the remaining water from the waterskin, Kioshi burps quietly and uses both the food's cloth wrappings and the waterskin underneath them altogether to form a padding for his head to lie down on. He tries this by lying down slowly, and rests the back of his head on them, facing the ceiling of the tepee. Doesn't exactly feels like lying on a cushion, but since he is now tired, this would probably do. At least he doesn't have to lie down on the snow to have a literal brain freeze.

Sleep soon feels like only a few hours, yet when he wakes up the next morning, the wind is gone. And the sun has risen up for the morning. Now it feels slightly less cold. 

Kioshi also feels something on his face and quickly grabs it. A piece of paper. What in the world is it doing here? Perhaps it was already stuck on the tree when Kioshi first entered here. He slowly sits up and reads the paper.

'TO TRUCKEE LAKE FOR CAMP,' it reads. And it points eastwards too, as well as calculating that it is only a few meters...or kilometers away. 

Looks like a place worth investigating.

[Kioshi 0]

Truckee Lake, or rather the campsite on the straight, large pathway to its water, is actually very nearby, the proximity was obscured by last night's blizzard. Even Kiochi couldn't see it very well in addition to having his mindset focusing entirely on finding a shelter from the storm.

Walking along the pathway as he arrives at the site, Kioshi could see the lake itself. Pristine. Clean. Some parts of it frozen, but it looks like it could be a good source of water and food with fish, especially lake trouts, wandering about underwater. The site itself though, looks like a sh*tshow. 

Three cabins. All with torn roofs and built in the form of simple rectangles. All wooden. And have no doors or windows. Just a single opening as an entrance to each of them. Somewhere in the middle of this area, a ruined wagon is still standing on its wheels. Two oxen skeletons lie just in front of the vehicle. Probably eaten up otherwise their corpses would remain intact from skin to bone through freezing. There is nothing to be found inside the wagon...save for a human skeleton sitting and leaning against the wall, its arms wrapped around themselves. It must suck to die in agony while being hungry and frozen, slowly until...poof. Dead. Just like that.

Kioshi now feels uneasy. He dons his Kelly armor that he had brought back from the tepee. His sword still belted around his waist.

[Kioshi 0]

The first cabin has the frozen corpse of an old man and some members of a dead family, including the mother and the husband. What is bizarre about them is that the old man was only a literal half of himself. His legs are gone, most likely eaten by the married couple judging by how thin they really look. Kioshi feels a bit disturbed just by looking at the halved body. While the old man was suffering a painful death, the couple did the opposite by embracing each other, hoping to meet again in the more peaceful afterlife. 

Looking away from the frozen corpses, Kioshi notices a burnt out fireplace and a few oxhide. All burnt to a crisp. Must be their desperate diet. 

Nothing else that is worth investigating is present in this cabin, so he moves on to the second. Second one has a few more corpses, except this cabin has a tiny bit of furniture inside. A single table and around six stools. And these six seats were occupied by the dead. Two more near the fireplace.

So far, all of these dead people are dressed in a similar fashion to American pioneers, and here Kioshi is slightly puzzled about their reason to come here. Maybe they are lost? Maybe they find foolishly find Truckee Lake a good place to live in? Or maybe they stayed here to reorient themselves only to run out of food? However true or false these theories are, it was pretty clear that they had at least one true destination in mind. This place doesn't seem to serve as a good permanent home, thanks to those blizzards and possibly monsters like a yeti. 

[Kioshi 0]

Kioshi exits the second cabin, and is about to move on to the third when suddenly someone appears at the doorway of the crappy building. Tall male. Skinny and pale. Shivering. His hair in a total mess. His eyes wide open and his mouth breathing in and out in a raspy voice. He is wearing nothing but torn gray jeans. Bloodstains present on his body. He appears to be unstable, mad with hunger, isolation and cold.

Kioshi stands still as he gazes at the man, not taking his eyes off him or even turn his head around. Being a standing, bipedal metal to the man seems better than to suddenly move, in fear that he might perceive him as a threat. In the middle of the staring contest, the man slowly walks out of the cabin and approaches Kioshi as cautiously as he can, only to suddenly break into a run and grabs him by the arms with an expression that defines pain and a plea for help.

[Kioshi 0]

"M...e...a...t...more meat, I'm f**king hungry! Feed me!" Yells the NPC, who bares his teeth as he almost tries to bite onto Kioshi's unarmored arm, only to be shoved away. The man starts babbling incomprehensible words, something about in a supposed trip to a new home with his family and taking a "wrong f**king turn" all thanks to a person named Hasting. As soon as he finishes speaking, he suddenly stops for a second before groaning in pain, holding his head.

Kioshi draws out his sword as the man now cries, "FEED ME, SCUMBAG!" before he undergoes a bizarre transformation into a hideous...bipedal deer-like creature. Skin turns to fur, some which were torn out. The face grows a long snout as a pair of large, blood antlers sprouts out of the man's scalp. His human screams turns into a series of painful bleats as the bones of his legs are twisted in a way that it ends up looking like that of a deer's hind legs. His eyes turn into a pair of milky white, orb-like eyeballs.

Kioshi grits his teeth in his helmet as he now realizes what he is going to fight against. The wendigo bleats loudly as it charges towards its last hope of satiating itself from starvation.

[Kioshi 0]

ID: 103733

Kioshi: HP 80/80 -- DMG 7 - MIT 27 -- Energy 6/8 

Wendigo HP 45/45 -- DMG 35 -- MIT 0 -- +1 Bleed

BD: 2

MD: 5

Kioshi sidesteps to the right to dodge the wendigo's charge while at the same time, attempts to slash it, only to miss. It turns around and starts to hurl kicks towards him, all dodged or retaliated by Kioshi's arm, though he feels that those kicks can hurt, his defending arm starting to get bruised. He stops and slashes his sword towards the wendigo, who also dodges while backing away along the pathway to Truckee Lake. The dodging and swinging is ongoing, neither which are successful, much to the wendigo's frustration.

As the sword is swung overhead, it quickly catches the blade with its bare hand, grinning as it grips it tightly. Kioshi lets out an irritated 'tch' as he couldn't pull his sword away from its grasp easily. His breastplate is at the risk of being attacked as it is now open to the wendigo. It now grasps his helmet in an attempt to pull it off.

Edited July 29, 2018 by Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

ID: 103734

Kioshi: HP 80/80 -- Energy 4/8

Wendigo HP 45/45 

BD: 2

MD: 5

No good. Just trying to land a hit many times would only exhaust Kioshi, now that he realizes this. He kicks the wendigo in the groin, which doesn't really to much damage to its health, but it does let him go as it yells in pain. Kioshi quickly retreats to one of the cabins nearby. The third one where it emerged from earlier. Looking around, he notices a pile of corpses, all frozen and in literal pieces. The worst fact about them is that they all look like as if they just entered the freezing stage. Even their stench still remains in this cabin.

Kioshi quickly turns around to see the wendigo seeing and approaching him. Backing away from the entrance, he holds his sword with the blade pointing forwards, intending to use this as a temporary setback to its advances. He also notes that the antlers look quite long, here's hoping that they are too tall to bypass the opening.

Edited July 29, 2018 by Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

ID: 103735

Kioshi: HP 80/80 -- Energy 2/8

Wendigo HP 45/45 

BD: 2

MD: 4

Unfortunately, the wendigo decides to not duck under the opening, and instead, it grabs the log above the opening and pulls it apart with its bare hands. So much for strategy. Kioshi wonders how long this fight will be, seeing that not only he is a bit more difficult to fight, but because there is chance that if things go south, he might be its latest meal. The antlers alone look sharp enough to cause serious bleeding.

And regarding the weather of this floor itself, the blizzard is pretty unpredictable. Hell, the snowy mountain near the lake might cause an avalanche even though this speculation is nothing more than Kioshi's absurd thought. 

All of these are only parts of a bigger problem: How the hell is he suppose to slay this thing without having his attacks blocked or dodged? He glares at the wendigo in frustration as it lets out a sniff before snarling, preparing to launch itself towards him.

Edited July 29, 2018 by Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

ID: 103736

LD: 19 (Success! Now run!)

As the wendigo prepare to leap towards Kioshi to pin him down, he throws his sword towards the entrance with the creature dodging it out of surprise. He speedily jumps over a stool and steps outside, taking his sword from the snowy ground and soon hears a menacing rumble, followed by a distant boom.

Kioshi looks at a large mass of 'white clouds' falling along the slope of the mountain. F**k it, staying here to fight while a natural disaster is happening is a big no-no and suicidal unless there is some skill that allows a player to endure that sh*t. His legs start sprinting, carrying him as far as he can from the campsite. Meanwhile, the wendigo stays inside, feasting on the remaining human flesh it stored for itself near the fireplace while waiting for the avalanche to die down.

Kioshi runs back into the tepee he slept in last night, and hurried crawls in, hoping that the disaster doesn't reach far enough to his position. He pants as he sits down and takes off his helmet, then he hugs the tree while standing for some reason. The rumbling continues for a longer time, and it is getting louder...

Edited July 29, 2018 by Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

The tepee is lucky to be built just at the start of a small slope leading towards the straight campsite-covered pathway to Truckee Lake. The avalanche somehow moves the frozen parts of the lake and manages to bury the cabins, although only reaching to the top of the doorways. It finally stops at the middle of the small slope, and the rumbling soon dies down as the disaster settles down. 

Upon realizing what is happening now, Kioshi stops hugging the tree and peaks his head out of the tepee to see the result of the avalanche. He could still see the top of the cabins and the lake. But now the pathway seems thicker, and he could barely notice the slope too. 

The wendigo is probably digging out or waiting for the right time to dig the snow out of the doorway. Or maybe it is still enjoying his feast. At least he is safe...for now. As in he probably have a day at best to stay in here, fearing that the wendigo might find the tepee and attack him in his sleep or during a peaceful mealtime. 

Kioshi dresses himself in full Kelly armour once more before departing from the tepee and this area itself, keeping his sword in hand.

[Kioshi 0]

A question dawns in his mind as he heads back to the direction of the main settlement, which is quite far for a walking distance. How many players spend their time here on an average basis? Or better yet, how many players actually spend their time in the wild like he did regardless of floors? There must be at least a few players that have even the basic necessary skills to survive in the woods, bush, snow, and so on. 

Either way, Kioshi feels glad that the game actually provides some wild food, both flora and fauna. And some other natural materials too to build a fire or whatnot. Wilderness survival isn't really a big part of SAO, but at least they have enough features to make sure players can live off the land just fine. Another thought crosses Kioshi's mind immediately after that remark. Shoot. Hostile players. He almost forgot about them. No doubt they also live in the wild to hide from people, or to ambush victims that happen to trespass their territory.

Come to think of it, Kioshi never encounter any orange players throughout his days in Aincrad.

[Kioshi 0]

As Kioshi is walking across a small clearing with a lone sign pointing towards the settlement, he feels disgusted that whatever crimes that are committed here in Aincrad, there can be no clear evidence of the culprits' misdeeds. Player-killing, or more accurately, murder, theft, arson, sexual assaults, all of these would be done without fear of being intercepted by authorities. Unless those criminals are in a safe zone or in proximity of whatever forces of the law exist here. 

His fists shake as he begin to lose a bit more of his fondness of people. He just remembers another reason why he is mostly solitary. People can sometimes suck in his perspective. It is just not fun to talk or hang out with when these people have seriously negative traits like being shallow or total perverts. Even if they usually do the right things, those are nothing more but cover-ups. At this point it is very hard to find real friends. And this upsets Kioshi.

He sighs quietly in his helmet as he also thinks that maybe his 'old' age disease is no longer a big problem to worry about. Screw that, he has bigger things to be concerned about now.

[Kioshi 0]

Not far to Kioshi's north from the clearing is a lone small house, an unexpected discovery. The settlement must be close somewhere, but this looks like a good place to rest legs now for a while. Kioshi approaches the house's back, walking around it to look at its front. The entire building seems intact, although the stone walls had seen better days. It seems to have only one floor up. The roof is thatched with dried straw. The wooden door is left ajar.

Beside the door is a hung up banner displaying an artwork depicting a knight in 14th century plate armor, shield and lance. He isn't wearing a helmet, instead letting his blonde hair fall on his shoulders. The helmet itself, a pigface bascinet, sits beside his right leg.

This is probably the home of a knight, or maybe that banner is mere decoration and signifies nothing in particular. Kioshi slowly opens the door and steps in, letting it open wide to let in some of the light of day inside.

The living room is totally empty, save for a lone couch and a table.

Edited July 29, 2018 by Kioshi