[PP F3] Forest Fire

[chainedplains 0]

OOC:

Starting area - Town of Flora, a medium sized town made up of small and large tents

Quest - To enter the Forest of Wavering Mist. The forest is rumored to contain a great prize, the red eyed Minotaurs that patrol the forest have ensured it stay just a rumor.

IC:

"Boss!" Chain's overly excitable familiar was skipping entirely too close to the housing in this town. Normally it wouldn't be much of a problem, but since everyone who lived there seemed to think they were camping the fire that bound his golem together could cause a problem.

"Boss!!!" the tiny pile of rocks screamed even louder, its high pitch voice at odds with the dark black stones that formed his body, "Did you see the duel they were having back there?"

Of course Chain had, with the large group surrounded the pavilion type structure it would have been impossible to not have noticed it. He didn't want to say so though, because knowing Boulder, this was probably going to be some sort of lame joke that could actively lower any innocent listeners IQ by at least 5 points.

"Boss!!!! Hey boss, did you see-"

"Yes!" The character player cut off his infuriating familiar, "For the love of God yes, I saw the two guys who were trying to kill each other. So please, please, stop talking about it!"

The two foot tall polished black river rock monster stopped skipping adopted what Chain could only assume was a golem's way of pouting, "I just wanted to talk about the fight..."

Was i too harsh? Chain had unofficially vowed to possibly try to maybe be a bit nicer to the guy after he saved him on that last quest. You know, maybe this would go better if we communicated more often, something about bonds of friendship and the like.

"Alright, ill bite, what about the fight back there? What did you think about it?" He used that high pitch excited voice that dog owners often use to try and get their pet happy about getting certain important parts cut off at the vet.

It worked like a charm.

"Oh! Those guys!" The golem couldn't manage the get the words out fast enough, "Those guys, when they were fighting, it was sooooo intense!"

Intense? In tense. In tents... The rage slowly quickly built up in Chain and he began to hate this tent city even more, He did all of that to make a pun because the two guys were fighting in tents?

Chain again found himself brainstorming a rough draft on how to leave his familiar to die.

[Saix 0]

The tip of the artful Rapier rested lightly under the chin of the unfortunate duelist, tapping incessantly as Saix cocked his head to the side, looking down at his fallen foe. "Yield?" He asked, his rich voice low, almost conspiratorial. The fallen swordsman growled, looking angry, and started to heave himself up. Saix merely sighed, and kicked out, knocking his hand out from under him and keeping him firmly seated. "Come on, this wasn't supposed to be a duel to the death, so just yield already." He said, a trace of frustration creeping into his voice.

This was his third duel today, sometimes it sucked being a Guild Leader. When he had created <> with his friends, it had been relatively small scale, and he had never intended to expand. But his focus on leveling safely in groups, using coordinate tactics, had gathered a small fan base. Suddenly he had new members coming out of the wood work, and his little guild had become not so little. While they may not have boasted the high level players of <>, Ebon Vanguard remained one of the largest Guilds in the game.

Thus the headache, he would get duel invites regularly. It must have been something about the leadership status, or maybe the fine equipment. Something usually drew them to wanting to fight him, usually friendly, but sometimes things got out of hand with stubborn people, like this guy. The Duel had been set to <>, but considering the overpowering damage that Guilty Thorn could inflict, Saix was worried that a critical hit could prove fatal. So he was trying to talk his opponent down.

---

A few minutes later Saix was counting his winnings and contemplating moving on to a new city. He had been enjoying some of these duels, using them to improve his timing and speed with his favored weapon of choice, but he had not found many members willing to join up. He planned to take his Guild to the front lines, and there were few players on the lower levels who were really willing to commit to something that dangerous. Still, he wanted to replenish some lost numbers before he started coordinating anything dangerous, so he was putting in the time to try and find fresh recruits.

A shrill voice broke him out of his thoughts, and he found his attention fixed on a small stone creature impatiently following a nearby player. Huh, a golem familiar? Never seen one of those... he thought, his attention fixed on the little creature as it pestered it's companion in a whiny voice. It appeared to be talking about the dueling circle, quite excitedly at that. Saix would have continued on his way despite the strange sight if it weren't for the awful pun that followed when the little creature finally annoyed it's partner into discussing the duel.

Saix could have sworn the young man's sigh was audible even from a few meters away. Shaking his head with a chuckle, he stepped forward, deciding that awful pun spouting familiars were worth a closer look. "That was an awful pun, but pretty clever." He said, his red long coat stirring in the breeze as he walked around the little golem. "Pretty unique familiar, I've never seen a golem before. Guess that makes you doubly lucky; not only a beast tamer, but a unique pet to boot. I'm Saix, by the way, what brings you Flora?" He said, introducing himself.

[chainedplains 0]

"Pretty unique familiar, I've never seen a golem before."

So it's finally started. His jokes are officially so bad that they're getting attention. Chain's face rested in its usual location for when he conversed with or about Boulder; in his palm.

After a deep breath, the player composed himself and responded to the duelist, "I hope to God he's unique. I wouldn't wish to place the suffering that is Boulder's company on another living soul."

Or maybe I would... can you sell a familiar?

"As for me, I go by Chain. Not to be rude, but our business here is-"

"To find treasure hidden in The Forest of Wavering Mist!" Boulder Interrupted.

none of yours Chain mentally finished his sentence. Forget selling him, maybe i could pay someone to take him from me? I guess since the cats out of the bag I might as well tell him and hope he doesn't try to PK me enroute.

"He's right. I'm sure you've heard the rumors of powerful items hidden in the forest, and about how it's guarded by insanely strong mobs right? Well I'd planned on creating a diversion and sneaking around during the chaos to see what i could find."

The diversion was going to be a wild fire started by Boulder. Chain knew better than to go around telling people that. He also knew better than to tell Boulder; The golem pile of rocks would run his mouth off to some random stranger about it with no idea that not only should he not talk about it, but probably should do it in the first place.

What i could find left in the ashes that is

[Ruri 0]

She walks over to where the two people had stood. She smiled at them. "Hi there!" She smiled at them as she head boulder say that they were here to find treasure. Ruri frowned, "You aren't becoming a pirate without me are you?" She asked jokingly toward Chained, the friend she had helped out.

[OOC]

[Sakuri sashiti 0]

Sakuri was just aimlessly walking around in the town, doing nothing in particular. He had seen the people which dueled, but that didn't get any attention from him, he rather felt sorry for the people dueling that they had to prove them self towards each other when the goal was to beat the NPC's...

But after a while he had decided to rest at a bench near the dueling area. He closed his eyes for a bit letting his hair fall in front of his eyes while leaning back. Then suddenly the yelling and screaming was over.

Is the duels finally over? He thought to himself while he looked towards the area so the who the winner had been.

He then saw an familiar face..

Could.. Could that be Chain perhaps? he thought.

Chain had been the guy which he got stuck in a cave with, and almost faced death with also.

I wonder how he have been doing ever since that happen. He thought while he found himself walking towards the location he had seen Chain.

He then saw another familiar face which had arrived while he was walking.. It was the girl from the tavern thing if he remembered correctly.

Ru.... Ru... something.. Is it Ruri perhaps? he thought while he was almost there.

He had also seen the duelist standing there with him but hadn't given any thought towards him.

''Hello Chain,Ruri. He said while he nodded friendly towards them all.

''And hello to you to stranger. He said while looking at the duelist.

''Haven't seen you in a while Chain, how are things holding up?'' He said with a rather monotone voice.

[Saix 0]

Saix blinked a few times, clearly surprised by the ballsy nature of the little rock creature. "I'm guessing you had planned to tell me that it wasn't my business, but this little guy let the cat out of the bag. Fascinating, I've never seen a Familiar act with such autonomy." He said, as he touched the little rock creature with one finger, as though giving it a light poke. "Well, no harm done. I'm pretty sure I've heard of the quest you must be doing. That's a tough one to try to solo, the twin Guardians are pretty strong." He said, looking out in the direction of the Forest of Wavering Mist. "You seem like a pretty friendly guy, surely you have some friends to go along with you on this. It would be pretty dangerous otherwise..."

Any further attempts at warnings were interrupted by the newcomers, who seemed to be familiar with Chain. "Ah! Queue the Friends then. Much better than trying to take on the Guardians alone." Said Saix, with a grin as he turned his attention on the two newcomers. He wasn't familiar with either, but he heard the second fellow refer to the young lady by name, Ruri. Ah, so this was the leader of the Mystic Elements then. Saix nodded his head politely, letting the 3 share greetings before turning his attention on Ruri with a smile. "We haven't had the pleasure of meeting, Miss Ruri, but I have hunted with your brother. It's an honor to meet his younger sister." He felt it best not to bring up Maverick Players, but figured she would understand what the two men had 'hunted'. Continuing on, he introduced himself to both Ruri and Sakuri "I am Saix, I lead a Guild down here on the lower floors and am certainly nobody important."

[chainedplains 0]

OOC: Burn the one who makes short posts! Burn the nonbeliever!!!

IC:

Well this probably couldn't turn out any worse. Chain had settled on pushing Boulder into a shallow pond and watching the fire slowly drain out of the golem's body.

While lacking a governing body or laws besides the game rules, the world they all lived in now wasn't without bodies of authority. In the absence of cops, Guilds had partially filled the gap, often taking it upon themsevles to uphole the standards of society and dish out 'justice' as they saw fit.

The guy is a guild leader, probably one of those 'nice' ones that believes useless sentiment like, "people shouldn't needlessly suffer" or "leaving people to die is not okay" and now he's going to know I was up to something. But... he's alone isn't he? Maybe I could make that work for me?

Sadly, Chains hopes and dreams were short lived.

Hi there!

Chain instantly recognized the young character. It was surprisingly hard for him not to remember the faces of people who'd threatened to kill him, even if it had been in a joking manner. The situation was still salvageable though, as long as she didn't know about the quest it would be a simple matter of avoiding it.

You aren't becoming a pirate without me are you?"

Balls

''Hello Chain, Ruri. It was another familiar face. Chain now deeply regretted not leaving the man to die during their last quest.

At this rate, who's going to show up next? The Brady Bunch?

[Ruri 0]

She smiled at seeing more of her friends. "So... who are you?" She asked as she turned to Saix.

She then saw Kanya jump onto her shoulder. She had wondered so much more about this small group of friends.

How did they meet?

What quest are they on?

And even more questions entered her mind as she kept wondering about them.

She smiled at the boulder she had helped receive.

"So Boulder, how are you doing?" She had asked him in a bit of a more soft voice.

[Sakuri sashiti 0]

Sakuri watched Saix while he was introduced himself, and had a look which seemed like he listened, but the if the truth is to be told, he was in deep thought on why the girl Ruri had turned yellow.

I met this girl once before.... She didn't seem like one of thos who would kill players just for the sake of doing it.. He thought to himself. His focus then quickly switched back to Saix which just had finished saying he was a guild leader.

''Hello Saix, my name is Sakuri'' He said while he nodded friendly towards him.

He then proceeded to scratch the back of his head while looking at Saix.

''Nobody important you say? Well i believe that each and everyone of us are important, and i am happy to hear that people are engaging them self to organize people so we can win at this game!'' He said while his voice slowly raised as he spoke.

''I am honored to meet a guild leader which plays for the better cause'' He said while he tried to force a smile to make the situation less tense.

He then looked back at chain which didn't reply on his question.

''I am sorry if i caused any trouble for you now, i simply just wanted to see how you was doing. By the looks of it, you're about the same guy i saw the last time though.''

He then looked around towards all the people in the group

''Well, it was nice to meet you all, I wish you all luck with whatever you were and are doing!''He then turned around and walked away from the place where they all had met.

[sakuri exit]

[Ruri 0]

"T-Thank you Sakuri." She spoke softly as he had seen him leave.

She smiled at the rest of the people.

"So... um answers?" She asked a bit confused by what had been happening.

She then had awaited their answers as Kanya moved forward from some trees nearby.

She smiled at the dark grey wolf that had jumped onto her shoulder, the pup had been very agile and graceful.

[chainedplains 0]

Surprisingly, Sakuri left pretty quickly. From what Chain remembered of the guy, he was the type to sit by and passive aggressively stare until he got his way.

"So... um answers?" The young player character seemed confused, which was perfectly natural given that Chain had shared absolutely no information. He decided to try and use this as a chance to guide this quest, if anyone chose to participate, in a direction that would be more suitable to him.

"Answers? Right, I have those." Chain replied, not exactly sure what the questions were, "Well lets start from the top. I'm on a quest to get into a temple in the forest," He purposefully left out the supposed reward of great treasure, "Boulder here is just doing what he normally does, which consists of being a walking fire hazard and menace to anything with ears."

That was the basics of the situation. Sure Chain had left out a few minor details: the forest was infested with outrageously powerful minotaurs, only one person could get the loot inside the temple, and the temple it's self was less a construction designed for worship and more of a madman's quest to create the perfect deathtrap. It was okay though, Chain was pretty sure those were minor details.

Somehow the situation seemed to be in Chain's favor, even more so than before he'd been bombarded with characters out of no where asking questions.

Nice, I might have actually pulled this off, now if I can get these two to go with me, I'd have more of a meat shield that just boulder in the temple. Then it's just an easy matter of getting to the chest before they do, which wont be hard if they don't know about it.

"Arn't you going to tell them about how..." Chain smacked Boulder on top of the head and roughly petted the bumpy stones on top of the golems head. He'd hoped the move came off as friendly, but really he was trying to shut the familiar up. It wouldn't be the first time it had said something to completely contradict everything Chain had said.

"... we're about to be leaving?" The player character tried to put on a friendly smile, "Well not to rush you two, but we actually are kind of in a hurry, so can I count yall in?"

[Ruri 0]

"Well before I agree on anything, could you let the familiar ask the question?" She asked her eyes glittering in curiosity at what the boulder would say. She had wanted to hear it speak up. Her hand moved through her inventory, carrying her sword. "I-I just want to hear what he wanted to say, please?" She had asked Chained, hoping for the familiar to speak up for once.

She knew it must be something of importance if the boulder wanted to speak so badly. If she were to get into any problems she knew she could count on Kanya, or her sword to get her out of it. Knowing that helps you out and makes sure that you are not killed easily. So she had been quite happy, but at the same time worried about what the boulder had so say...

[Saix 0]

Saix merely shrugs, the universal gesture of 'I have nothing better to do'. In truth, he cared little for the Hoya Stone, and didn't particularly find the area that dangerous. Not with 3 players and a boulder to face down one of the Minotaur guards. Of course, he wasn't going to go with the gear he had on now. A flex of the right hand brought up his menu, and as Chain went on about the details he swiftly navigated his inventory, equipping different armor and a sword better suited for such endeavors. There, he could play tank if he needed too now, without having to sacrifice mobility for the use of his Rapier. In terms of general damage, both his preferred Rapiers were about even, but Bloody Rose;s additional bleeding effect made it the superior weapon. Now that he had finished his own preparations, he could give his full attention to Ruri's question about what the familiar had to say.

[chainedplains 0]

"Well before I agree on anything, could you let the familiar ask the question?" The girl was curious, that meant Chain was acting a bit suspicious.

That wouldn't do. He needed her to have some sort of faith in him, that way if something semi sketchy went down she'd either go with what he said, or wouldn't really notice anything in the first place.

"Oh, you know this guy, half of what he says are lame jokes," and the other half is a bit too insightful for my tastes "I was just trying to save your ears and a few IQ points."

"I-I just want to hear what he wanted to say, please?"

Not budging, eh? That's fine, luckily i've already planned for this type of situation.

Chain turned to his (un)reliable Golem and asked him the code sentence he'd drilled into the familiar over the past month or so that was designed especially for this type of situation. He'd spent countless hours, (well it wasn't exactly countless, there was absolutely a set number of hours spent, but any conversation with boulder seemed endless) making sure that the beast understood exactly what was needed of him.

"Did you have something to say Boulder?"

"Yeah I do actually!" The golem started the phrase off perfectly but paused for a second, as if he forgot his line. He appeared this way because he had, in fact, forgot his line. It was okay though, Boulder was fully confident in his ability to improvise, "do you guys know the difference between my favorite music and my thumb? Nothing, they're both Rock!"

Off a cliff, ill push the idiot off a cliff and he'll be ironically killed by the rocks at the bottom.

"Boulder, sometimes i swear you're stoned," Chain replied with a shell of a smile, he wondered if his two companions could tell how saying that slightly killed him on the inside, "Either way I'm equipped and ready to go, are you in Ruri?"