[F22-PP-ST-PT] A huntress pulls upon the string (What we Fight For)

[Nisahime 0]

The billowing fog of the forest of memories would invite none to travel its troublesome depths. That soft white film spreads thinly through the air, causing the faint obscurity to play upon eyesight. Beneath it the dark oak wood trees would sit vaguely through the mist, drawn loosely as hard to make out silhouettes topped with a rich and dark green that would conceal the night sky. Murmurs of the restless would chatter angrily in faint whispers near impossible to make out, just beyond perceptions enough to understand but vivid enough to confirm the dread of isolation. Worse off, it felt ever silent beyond these sounds. No rustling, no birds. As if time stood still within this forest. It smelled of rot and fresh dew, a pungent scent that seemed to stick to the nose and to clothes warn. Skin would burn under the dimly lit streaks of white that would cause the mists to glow gently.

The occasional glance of a phantom that seemed to look on in a observation or perhaps worse, a woman in white aiming to harvest a soul.

Who would dare threaten their very life by wandering so carelessly within the depths of madness?

---

<<Storyteller System Engaged: What We Fight For>>

Activated:
Library [1/1] -> Once per charge, if a Storyteller is eligible to claim a Guild Token, their character gains +10% bonus EXP at the end of the thread. This buff may only apply once per thread.
Final EXP Reward: +10% Final EXP Reward (Nisahime)

---

The Player spend their first post wandering into the forest of memories

True Tier: 7

[Sam 0]

Today was the day, it had been some time since she had come here. There was something that needed to be found, visualizing it in her mind. Walking slowly behind the guild hall, could see the mist filled air in the distance. Last time she was here, a week had passed with no real time attached for her at least. Stepping into the darken fog that impeded her vision, almost immediately hearing what sounding like chatter filled with rage so far yet so close. Not sure if this was what was heard last time she was here if if it was her mind fighting with reality as she knew it. Taking a deep breath as the smell of rot disturbed her senses. It was different from before yet familiar in a way that this time Sam wasn't in her own head, paying attention to the surrounds this time. Dark shaded figures of trees would be seen, unsure if they sat close or further away from where Sam stood. More over it felt like her skin that lays beneath her robe was burning. A new sensation from before, started to wonder if this was why her skin was so red when exiting the last time.

Continuing into the depths, silence fell. Nothing could be heard beside her own thoughts, at this point, Sam felt truly alone. A hand placed on a tree, it felt rough, trying to grip where she was in the reality that was severally impared at this point.

---

Sam | HP: 840/840 | EN: 122/122 | DMG: 23 | MIT:20 | ACC:3 | AA  | PHASE | EVA:1 | REC: 8 | LD:9 | PROSP:1 | QTY: 2
 

Spoiler

Sam, Raven of Sin
True Tier: 8
Level: 33
Paragon Level: 47
HP: 840/840
EN: 122/122

Stats:
Damage: 23
Mitigation: 20
Accuracy: 3
Evasion: 1
Loot Die: 9
Stealth Rating: 5
AA
PHASE
REC: 8
QTY: 2

Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket:
  - Bhafel, Decree of War (PROJ-T4-Demonic): Absolute Accuracy, Accuracy 2, Phase
Armor/Trinket:
  - Raven's Fickle Fortune - Solera:Loot Dice 2, Recovery 2
Shield/Armor/Trinket:
  - Anathema's Merit:Quality 2, Loot Dice 1, Prosperity 1

Combat Mastery:
  - Combat Mastery: Damage R3

Combat Shift:
  - AOE Shift

Familiar Skill:
  -

Custom Skill:
  -

Skills:
  - Cloth Armor R5
  - Energist
  - Projectile Weaponry R5
  - Quick Change
  - Searching R5

Extra Skills:
  - Hiding R5
  - Concentration
  -
First Aid R3
Inactive Extra Skills:

Addons:
  - Ferocity
  - Nimble
  - Precision
  - Stamina

Mods:
  - Athletics
  - Surpise Attack: Trickster
  - Tracking
  - Vanish

Inactive Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:
  - Acolyte's Light (T4-Perfect-Cloth Armor): Evasion 1, Recovery 2 x1
  - Bhafel, Strand of Vengeance (PROJ-T4-Demonic): Envenom 1, Bleed 1, Frostbite 1, Static 1 x
  - Gold Promise - Din's Flame (T1/Perfect):Accuracy 1, Evasion 2  x

Housing Buffs:
  - Basic Kitchen: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. This can exceed normal Cook enhancement caps. Ex: A perfect T2 MIT food gives 35 MIT instead of 30.
  - Storage Closet: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
  - Dining Room: Turn 2 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Lesser Feast. A Lesser Feast contains 4 portions of the food items sacrificed. Lesser Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread.
  - Living Room: Increases out of combatHP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
  - Attic (Bedroom): +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cannot boost a skill without ranks, or increase a skill past its maximum rank. Cannot boost a skill the user has not learned yet. Ranks obtained using this buff will make the mods of that rank available for purchase. Mods obtained this way are unusable if this buff is removed until the skill is returned to the appropriate rank by way of SP purchase.
  - Fishing Pond: +2 Fishing EXP per fishing attempt
  - Herbalist Hut: +2 Gathering EXP per gathering attempt
  - Basement: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll
  - Guest Room: Players can have one «Amenity» in a «Guest Room» and the «Amenity» cannot be recovered. Players are allowed to change which «Amenity» is in the «Guest Room». Multiple instances of the same «Amenity» do not stack. This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.
  - Master Bedroom: -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat
  - Master Bathroom: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down)
  - Extended Workshop: +2 Crafting EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
  - Mega Slime Farm: +10% EXP to a thread. Limit one use per month. Must be used on a player's first post in a thread. Cooldown begins counting down when used in a post.

Guild Hall Buffs:
  - Trading Hall: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters and Rank 4 merchants/performers receive +1 crafting/identification attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters and Rank 5 merchants/performers receive +2 crafting/identification attempts per day.
  - Treasury: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Scents of the Wild Totem:

Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:

Gathering Profession:

 

Edited October 16, 2024 by Sam

[Nisahime 0]

As the player would see themselves within the white fog of the forest of memories, they wouldn't help but feel as though they were being watched. Moreover, on their peripheral they would continue to see figures that would seemingly vanish the moment attentions would turn to them directly. Those harsh whispers took volume, almost like chanting or recanting in whispered tones. The mist would continue to trail about limply and swell and fall, stirring through the air with every step. Every step within the forest would leave it sticking or escaping from every footfall, it was so thick that one could almost cut it with a knife. Out of those silhouettes that would assault the senses, the woman in white would join them but it would seem no matter how much the player would seek them out that that figure would always be just out of reach.

Every footstep would see a crunch of leaves or brush, being the only sound beyond a heartbeat. It was cold, and unwelcoming. That smell would be so ripe and fresh, yet muddied with a whiff of decay. As the player would dig deeper into that fog, they would feel themselves turned around. Or were they? Each tree would appear the same, as did all of the surroundings. It was nearly impossible to get a sense of direction, where it all appeared to be more of the same. However the player should be more then familiar, given her prior transits. This would be the first time however that she knew not where she sought, and was threatening to get lost within the halls of memory.

Was it worth it?

Only time itself would tell if this was a mistake

---

The Player must find the gateway to the Memory Chamber (LD 17+ modified by all searching based roll modifiers)

[Sam 0]

Wrapping her arms together, maybe she should of dressed warmer or wore more layers. A shiver down her spine before jerking her head behind her hearing was sounded like whispers. Finding a shadow that was way to close but vanishes with eyes being planted upon them. Another voice that couldn't be made out in front of her, vision shifts forward before they disappears as well. They looked like those things that she slayed here but doesn't recall them trying to speak to her or rather toward her but instead attacking her at just the pure sight of her existence being her, not this time though. They seemed to be just watching her every movement, it was a very harsh feeling, like they were passing judgement on her. What the hell was going on. In the distance, silhouettes of dark figures littered the path beyond and in those groups a woman dressed in white would give a shine before they all were just gone. Sam closes her eyes trying to get a grip. It seemed impossible to know if this was all real or just a figment of her imagination. It was something that Sam was struggling with as of late and all this was not helping.

Standing there for a moment, eyes still shut tight. Steps small feeling leaves crunch beneath her feet, a sudden snap of a branch that finds her jumping just a bit. Slowly opening, those things were still seen in the distance as the voices and whispers that Sam couldn't make out. Glancing to the trees now, they all looked the same. Made her question if she was even going in the right direction, not even sure what the correct way actually was. Sam grabs a small sharp rock from the ground. Carving a line within the tree standing next to her, maybe this will help her navigate better. Looking for something in a blinding environment, it was not in her favor.

After a while of walking and making her marks upon the rot smelling trees, not entirely sure how long she was in this forest. For all she knew it could of been another week... Out of her peripheral vision Sam would see something shinning just meters away. Questioning to herself if that was what she was looking for. Making her way toward it, it looked familiar.

235888 | LD:10+9=19 Success, Gateway found for the Memory Chamber

Edited October 16, 2024 by Sam

[Nisahime 0]

 

Wandering their way through the forest, under a constant and uninviting scrutiny the player would find themselves deeper within the maw of this place. The fog seems to thicken and become even more obscuring, causing eyesight to twist into a blanket of white. Thick enough it would feel almost like a blizzard, yet there was no howl of wind. Instead it sat frozen, absent and empty. Those pale images would continue to appear and vanish the moment they were witnessed, dropping out phrases that would not be understood and avoiding all perceptions enough to discern what they were. The players heartbeat would be pounding in their chest, a harsh reminder just how isolated they were. How alone they where.

The marks she places upon the trees, would fade away as quickly as they are made. For this place would remember not this players interference, this was not for the common man to traverse. The enchantment on this place would not allow it. Frivolously she'd try to no success. The girl would not notice, but as she'd travel those ghosts would follow her path, yet never move to attack her as they had before. Within the depths of the forest, she'd find that which she sought. A small stone structure, one easily missed even when sought directly. Like a doorway it sat in solace upon a small crested hill, surrounded by the very mist that the forest held strong. In its entryway a pale reflection of the forest that surrounded it.

As the player would look upon it, they would see themselves but a child from the real world. That would look back at them with a smile.

The Defenses of Avalon were not easily overcame.

---

The Player Must Outwit their Reflection

[Sam 0]

Wrapping the ends of her sleeve within her fists creating a form of gloves, it was all she had to work with. The pure coldness of this place pieces through her skin causing less body functions than she wanted. Walking up to this mirror, it looked like a younger version of her. The appearance before everything started to go down hill in her life. Long black hair, a purple robe that looked slightly rigid, it was something that Sam had gotten from her parents on her birthday. Remembering that it was worn everywhere they went. It looked to big, her mother wanted it to be something that Sam grew into. Something that would wrap her in love and comfort, to know that no matter what, Sam would never be alone. Something that the girl had long forgotten about. A tear drips down her face, freezing half way.

This reflection of her was smile as was Sam but not fully like this was. Raising a hand, the image does the same. Raising her hand as the other does as well, dropping both, the mimic does as well. Watching the image closely, taking her hand from that sleeve and staring at the palm presented by both. "I have spent my entire life scared, that if I were to walk into the street that I would cause another to fall at my behest. It is why I stayed in my room and ignored the world around me." The memory of that boy laying on the ground, blooded, taking his last breath. "I have recently learned to except what has been done, that I have been given a second chance which most people do not get. To live my life to the fullest as best as I can in the game surrounded by death."

"More over I have chosen to speak less and pay more attention to my surrounding. To listen instead of judge when I am being spoken to." Thinking about Kat, how much Sam didn't listen to what she was trying to say and was just selfish in every way possible. Mother and father, whom cared for her till the very end and all Sam could do was pretend that they were not there. "I am ready to watch and hear what I have been ignoring all these years. To be better, do better." Sam felt like she was speaking to herself, in this reality, in this moment, maybe she was. Shadows filled her peripheral vision but all Sam wanted was to focus on this one moment. "I am not afraid anymore," clenching that fist as does the other.

Edited October 16, 2024 by Sam

[Nisahime 0]

The reflection would look back at her, mirroring her every move despite the obvious height difference. "Then why are you hiding, who do you think your fooling?" the thing would respond in kind with the players voice, as it would start to cry but maintain that smile in a strange mix of emotion. "So quick and brash, so selfish and self serving." the reflection would answer. Matching her every motion, it would express the same level of shock and dismay as it would continue to stare daggers into the player. The sound of shattering glass echoes from the trees, as hisses in the woods would portray an argument. Then shift to pleading but the language wasn't vocal enough to be heard.

Not like the total embodiment upon reflection in front of her. "Katoka was right, your scared. You've always been scared and you tried to push that fear onto her. Aren't we in the forest to escape, to get away? Normally this is none of my business but when has that ever stopped you?" The thing would break the charade for a bitter moment, just to point at its own face. "Where's the robe, where's your family? What LIFE?" the tone would shift to something much more violent, as it would turn almost feral. "You keep on using excuses, keep trying to run away. Stop fucking around with everyone else's life, or trying to insert yourself into theirs and find out how to live your own for once. Stop trying to make everyone else as scared as you. Why the fuck are you here Sam? The last place in the world you need to be. One step forward, two steps backward. Like a broken record. What a fucking waste. STOP LIVING IN THE PAST, FOR FUCKS SAKE!"

It screams at her as the voice becomes more male, and the howls in the dark seem to stir. As if agitated by the sound. A flicker of white light will see the tide simmer, but remain like an audience in a dark theatre. Watching the little play of pretend.

[Sam 0]

Then why are you hiding, who do you think your fooling?

Clenching her fists tighter against her side, she didn't want to hide but this forest gave her comfort. Being alone in a place that no one could see who she really was. Sam realized that the reason she had so little issues with playing those games back then, being fully involved was because only her voice could be heard. There was no chance to be judged by her looks alone, it was why she hid behind the robe all those years in SAO. A small tear falls down her face.

So quick and brash, so selfish and self serving.
Katoka was right, your scared. You've always been scared and you tried to push that fear onto her.

It was the only way Sam knew how to survive. In those other MMO's if she didn't keep her stats up or her armor up to par then death would be the only option. It followed through with what she felt though. Sam was trying to be happy but for the wrong reasons and in her mind it didn't matter who she hurt. Sam wanted this whole life with Katoka that in all reality was not possible. So afraid that they were going to die from doing the most dangerous thing that one player could have done. Sam wanted this normal calm life and thinking that Kat wanted that too, it just wasn't an option that was on the table. Nothing else mattered... That was where Sam was truly wrong...

Where's the robe, where's your family?

Ignoring the fact that there was other people that cared for her, it was said plenty of times, but Sam couldn't hear it. Remembering the pure silence of her house while her parents so desperately tried to get her attention, but again Sam couldn't hear it. Firm Anima has always said this guild was like a family but Sam couldn't connect with that aspect. So distant, it was like calling out from the mist but no one could hear her. The one thing that she did learn from being with Katoka was that she wanted so badly to be loved. Why can't she just let them in, open the flood gates and allow. Why could she not just let her parents love her, all Sam had to do was walk away from the computer.

You keep on using excuses, keep trying to run away.
Stop fucking around with everyone else's life, or trying to insert yourself into theirs and find out how to live your own for once.
One step forward, two steps backward.

When things got rough or tough, something is hard to talk about, Sam finds herself alone once more in a place surrounding by nothingness. Trapped in her own self pity not even trying to make any attempt to change the situation. Keeps saying that she wants to be better to rewrite what damage has been done. It all honestly, running is easier... Sam sits on the ground, legs folding underneath her. Hands placed on her lap as she finds water wetting her cloth. "You are right, I feel empty inside, stuck. The one time I tried to have happiness of my own I fucked it up because I made this imaginary world that nothing bad would happen ever." Taking a deep breath, fingers fiddling with one another as tears drip lightly against her palms. Hearing the voices in the back round very faint. This constant self pity party had to stop, but how. "I am not good with people, I struggle to connect. Maybe I just need to start simple. Figure out what it is that I like doing and share it with another." Closing her eyes, "I want to change," shaking her head, hair falls in front of her face. Tucking one side behind her ear and looking up, "I don't want to hide anymore." Pushing the other side of the long black strand away from her eyes wiping the waterworks from her eyes.

 

Edited October 26, 2024 by Sam

[Nisahime 0]

A somber retelling upon the mirrors reflected face, sporting the same tears to which the girl would wear. Like an outfit, it would appear only for show as it's expression would twist to one much more placid. "So how? How are you finally going to get out of these pathetic fort you've built around yourself." It would turn to look down upon her despite the height difference, her own past staring through her as if it could easily see her fallacy. "Your empty because you don't know what the fuck your doing, what do you have, who are you really? Samantha? Or Katoka 2. Maybe your just Freya or Raidou? Maybe not."

It would kneel folding its legs beneath a purple robe now warn, staring at the girl point blank. "Who are you? Who did I give my life for? Because as it sits right about now, Samantha." It would offer a condescending bite on the retelling. "You look like no one, a pathetic carcass wandering around pretending to be alive. I would know." the child like appearance twists its expression into a sinister yet truthful smile. "You have no place here, and have no right to be looking me in the face. After all that you've wasted." It spat as it would search her expression for something, anything that proved she was actually a living thing and not a ghost wandering around in people's skin.

A pretender.

The shadows would continue to murmur on her peripheral, like an insistent plead as they would repeat the phrases spoken:

Who are you?

Why are you here?

What will you do now?

A cutting voice much more feminine, familiar and yet aloof would sheer through the chorus of darkness and become a resonating truth:

A fate broken, and unbound and yet it remains linked to history. Raven of Sin you have sought the gates of avalon and risk your very soul upon its silver. Find the strength to stand and walk your own path, rebel against your stagnancy and fear or it will consume you.

[Sam 0]

Who are you?
Why are you here?
What will you do now?

Words pushing through, closing her eyes, hold her head.

You look like no one
Pathetic carcass wandering around pretending to be alive
You have no place here

Stop, please stop... A tightness in her chest, as it was starting to become harder to breath. Salt water drips down her face, cheeks redden. Those words on repeat in her mind like it was echoing in the void beyond what couldn't be seen. "STOP..." those phrase silence dead in the water as she smashing her hands on the ground in front of her. Trying to even her breathing, heart pounding against her ribs. It was quiet now, the voices in the distance seemed to even calm for a moment. Getting up to her feet, the rush of knowing that this was all wrong. There was something here that was not right. "I am a friend, a daughter. I am Samantha Rose Valneirr. YOU," pointing to the image in the mirror, "Are a fraud. You sit here an mock me, assume by everything your saying to be crossing the line of ones person boundaries." A glare in its direction, "WE have been yelled at and scolded by many of our friends because of this, or have you forgotten. That was when I stopped meddling with things that did not concern me."

Dusting her hands off on the new robe. "You told me that I had moved one step forward, two steps backward. This is not true, I have taken that one foot forward showing that I can stop grasping secrets that don't belong to me. Another by finding Nisahime, results of her telling me that I control my own fate, I will do just that. No more pity parties, its time to take action Samantha Rose Valneirr." Opening her HUD and pulling out, putting on her old robe, one that was a replica of what her parents had given her as a kid.

Edited October 26, 2024 by Sam

[Nisahime 0]

A glance up at the girl as she stood, clearly the size being incomparable yet it stood adamantly regardless. "Am I a fraud, or am I right? So you have a name, but thats it. A daughter to who? A friend to who? Even now..." The thing would look left and right, around as if peering through the mirror like a window. "Boast all you like, pretender. But by all counts...." It would gesture to the ground at the girls feet. "Your meddling right now? What does this have to concern you? Why are you here?" Placing its hands to the mirror, as if to a window pane. it would look with that uncanny smile with dilated eyes. Almost doll like in its unfazed and unblinking stare. "You have no good answer for anything you do. Do you? Your just going through the motions and just existing."

A stark truth, the girl had no identity and liked to pretend that she did. No names, no personality. "Mimicry tried and true, you just change who you are to match whoever your with. Fuck I'm more real then you are, and IM DEAD" it offered in a shrill retelling, trying to push her to her limits. Make her understand exactly what defined her. The area around the forest would start to blacken, the mist itself seeming to thicken and become almost too hard to breathe within. "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. Truer then any other statement, and you can deny it for as long as you want. We have committed a sin and never figured out how to look past it. Raven of Sin, a failure to fly because you never left the nest. You pretend to be human, by playing mockingbird and repeating everything you think is right like a parrot." it would laugh in a mad cackle, as if it found it humorous at how little the girl had changed at all.

[Sam 0]

Sam was beginning to wonder what being human actually meant. Breathing, thinking, having cognitive thoughts to respond to one another? When this game started everyone shifted back into who they truly looked like in the outside world. That meant that every single person here was real, her true self being exposed. "My father Lance Valneirr, private investigator for a Law Firm across town and my mother Lucy Valneirr, spends her days in the backyard garden. That woman makes the best Rotisserie Chicken." Sam would smile, thinking about her mother. "She would give me a choice of nail polish and I would always chose purple so for my 4th birthday she bought us this dark purple robe." Sam was staring down at her nails now just wishing that they were painted right now. Why was she hiding, who was she hiding from...

"I drank a Caramelized Mocha coffee every morning and even though it doesn't taste the same, it still reminds me of home. Maybe I can get Freya to make me those strawberry scones I liked so much." At this point Sam was thinking out loud. Remembering that there was things that she liked but didn't pay enough attention to know it to be true. It was her brain basically saying -I have to have this but I don't know why.- Walking down memory lane, a tune pops into her head, that smile widens. "Screen Name Cotton Candy, Lead Guitarist of the Top Spot Harlots. Came across her music and fell in love with it. Decided right then that if they ever came to play in town live that I would have left my screen just for that show." Folding her arms across her chest, Sam realized that she was focusing on all the wrong things all these years. Allowing her brain to be fried by mental images painted across a screen instead on seeing the world like she wanted to. Sam graduated the top of her class, she could have gone out to do anything but continued to waist it. "We actually wanted to be like them, do you remember. We had a document with all their lyrics." Looking to the image that was here but spoke like Tuatha... It was a bit weird but she understood. 

"You asked who my friends were. Lium, he kept me on my toes and showed me that I wasn't alone even if I didn't want to see it at first. Eruda, gave us a place to stay here, a girl with the most kindest heart. Simmone, took me under her wing and taught me that I had to put in the work if I wanted to be a true merchant. They have shown me true kindness and all I have done is push them away." Biting her bottom lip, thinking of just how much she owed them for their gratitude.

These were things that Sam had not really thought about in years. Like her brain was on auto pilot, but standing here thinking about it even if it was forced. It opened her eyes to stuff that she actually wanted to do for herself for once. "I did fall," glancing to the image, "I never let myself get back up and I never left the coup even though I wanted to." Pulling one arm down to her side, as the other gripped her sleeve. "You asked why I am here, I guess the real answer would be to find happiness which has been done here." Throwing her hands up in the air, "I want to be a rocker not a merchant..."  

Edited Wednesday at 11:25 AM by Sam

[Nisahime 0]

The mirage would lean back, folding its arms across its chest. "So let me get this straight. Your defining traits are 'I have parents' and 'my mom makes chicken and paints her nails'. I wear clothes and drink coffee." Its deadpan expression would convey a tone of irritation mixed with exhaustion. "Music, is a hobby but isn't what defines us. Why are you in the middle of a forest trying to become a musician Sam? Does that make sense to you?" The reflection tilts its head, honestly curious what rationality the girl would give or what mental gymnastics she'd try to perform to make that make sense. "Are you really this helpless? This misguided? Do we seriously have zero direction if not served it up on a silver platter?" That last phrase spoken with a twist of anger.

The mirror seems to warble and vibrate a little just from the volume. "You're not going to find happiness in a random damn forest talking to a mirror Sam. For the love of all that is holy..." Its arms unfold and clamp to the front of the mirror like it was looking through a window. "Wake up Sammy, nap time is over. You have your own life to live, and it sure as hell isn't found sniffing around in other peoples asses. Stop being a follower, stop just existing and for fucks sake be your own person. Not for your parents, not for appearances, and not for what you think others want you to be."

A harsh wind bleeds past the meadow, sending a handful of leaves drifting harmlessly and with it holding Sam's hair aloft. The faintest glow of silver, like an eclipse at the edge of the mirror as a singular white flower drifts to the mirrors base.

Edited Wednesday at 11:58 AM by Nisahime

[Sam 0]

"I am... was my own person..." voice faded into almost nothing as she falls to her knees.

                         "We all need this potion. It will allow up to inflict freeze on the boss, which he is weak to." Simon, Tack and Luke all nod their heads in agreement. Glancing to Lium, "Whatever you think will give us the advantage."

"I wasn't always this way," staring at her hands as a tear drips down her face.

                         "You two flank left, Lium and Luke flank right. I will move head on and act as a distraction, he can't hit us all."

"I was a leader, their Leader..." Sam's chest started feeling like it was being weighed down by a boulder.

                          "I was out gathering and I found this rare item in a chest, not sure what it does." Luke hands Sam the glowing amulet. Samantha's eyes flash for a moment, "It allows you to be more sneaky. Give it to Tack, he is the Rogue so he will need it more than any of us to give him the upper hand," giving Luke a smile and handing it back. "THAT'S a great idea, thanks Sam," saying at he ran back into the building.

"They came to us for everything even the smallest things because they knew we would know what to do..." Sam says in a jagged crackled voice. When did everything get so different, how did I become the follower.

Taking off the robe, "We had just beaten a game, moving to the next, SAO. I thought it would be like every other game," gripping the robe tighter as she climbs in reverse down memory lane.

                          "Have you seen my friends, their names are Tack, Simon, Luke and Lium," a simple shake of the males head, before they moved on. Sam went to nearly everyone asking around. After what seemed like months had passed by game standards Sam was the girl sitting on the first floor fountain front, waiting.

"I waiting for nearly a year for my friends to find me, meet me in the middle of the first town we spawned in. Started thinking that maybe they didn't want to find me, that I was a bad leader, that they didn't want me anymore." It was the first game that people became there true self in image, Sam had no idea what any of her friends looked like. "This is when Firm Anima found me. I did what ever they asked of me because I didn't think that I was fit for anything else." Thinking about what Lium said to her when they finally reunited.

         "I never stopped looking for you Samantha Rose. We were ambushed a couple weeks in by PKer's. They killed everyone but me. Kept me in a cage for over a year from what I understand. You are what kept me sane Rose."

Every memory recalled showed up on the mirror that sat in front of her. This made it even more real, not just a memory. "When Firm Anima found me it was nice to be wanted again, even if just a little bit. When I found Kat I felt like I was needed." Taking a deep breath with a small sniffle, "A substitute feeling of what I didn't think I could get back so I just went with it. Learned to adapt to the pieces that were given to me, in doing so I lost myself, my true self." Remembering following Eruda and Simmone around like a puppy with the tail between the legs. 

Getting to her feet now she puts her long purple robe back on. Taking a huge deep breath in with her eyes closed, letting it out slowly. "I refuse to be a slave to grunt work any longer. I know for dam sure that I can do more because I have. If Firm Anima won't make me a higher rank in the guild then I will make my own. I will be the Leader I was meant to be." This was a different tone, it was almost demanding and determined. Turning to walk away, she didn't need to be here anymore. Realizing now after all this Sam was the most happiest when she was leading a group, and with this realization it felt like something was lifted of her chest. Turning slightly, "Thank you for making me see what I had forgotten," saying as she starts walking back through the trees. Samantha had some work to do and it wasn't going to happen standing here staring at a mirror.

[Nisahime 0]

A heavy metallic clunk, like a latch being undone. The thin and almost ghostly appendage seeming to pry the door open from the right most seam, transparent and not unlike the mists around them taking a feminine shape. The mirage in the mirror would look down to it, and back at Sam. "At least you finally get it. Only took you damn near 20 years. Remember what you were given, and don't let this place change you or break you down. Eventually you gotta stand on your own two feet, and cut your own path. Instead of holding your breath and hoping someone else does all the work for you. Don't you fucking forget it, or I swear to god..." The sentence cuts short, revealing a passage into the depths inside. The antechamber, that many have traversed before yet had not seen this same composition.

The blurred streaks of color, like a painting that had a cloth rushed across it while it dried. Yet the sounds, would be quite the picture of clarity. "I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be for an archer?" the shapeless frame would speak out toward another. A slink inside of the blurry box, it would keep shoveling out these near shapeless masses. "What the hell are we going to do with all this crap? Maybe we can pawn it off?" The standing silhouette in the back becomes clear as it unfolds its arms. Lium, plain as day.

"Pretty sure that would be stupid, Sam is around here somewhere. I say we keep this garbage until we can finally find out what the hell to do with it all. Wonder who this crap belongs to? Wait, gimme that bow.... Didn't think those existed?" He remarks with a wave of his fingerless gloved finger, drawing a circle to convey pick it all back up and shove it back into the chest while outstretching a hand to take the one thing he'd pocket. Starting to pack it all back inside, piece by piece, before it would stop. "What's this?"

*ring ring*
      *ring ring*
            *ring ring*

A silent jingle, seemingly mundane happens a time or two. Like a bell.

*BOOM*

Whatever the ghost was holding explodes and sends them all in every direction yet seems to leave Sam completely unfazed. As if she was only bearing witness to the chaos. The flash of light clears revealing one on a table, Lium strewn across a tipped over chair backwards. The others were beyond purview. That apparition from before would find itself into Sam's peripheral, standing shoulder to shoulder with her. Leaning down, it would seem to bend the possibility and pick up the bow that screams to life in that same shade of silver.

"Proof that reality is never what we believe it to be, the truth is a hard thing to fathom. They are gone but are still with you in other ways. A coincidence? Or a passage? Were you always going to end up here Sam? What will you do now?" A rip of that string back as the voice reverberates off the walls like spoken from far away. The entire scene transition to an open plateau, a warmth and a field of grass. An array of all colors in a blurry mess that was indistinguishable yet were clearly people.

A turn and a smile would cause that phantom to become clear for but a moment, matched with vibrant blue eyes. "An arrow will always strike true, so stop hesitating and aim. You don't need me to aim for you." A pivot of her hand would see the very same bow that Lium found placed in Sam's grasp.

"Learn to hunt, instead of being prey. Its what they wanted in those final seconds that will exist for eternity. Let go of that sin, for they did."

[Sam 0]

Turning hearing the door open watching the ghostly form come out, confused for a moment but then they started talking and it all made sense now. Nodding in agreement to what was said, as she walks through the memory appears. At first she was conflicted as to what this was because everything was so blurry. Sam walks closer to get a better look. Seeing them dig through the junk and Lium appearing into actual form and grabbing the bow. If that was Lium then those other people must be Tak, Simon, and Luke. 

 *ring ring*
      *ring ring*
            *ring ring* 

Sam put her left hand over her mouth as she could feel herself stop breathing. -BOOM- closing her eyes. "That stupid stupid man,' saying under that hand. Opening her eyes to see Lium not moving and something pick that bow up, walks through the memory and hands her the very same silver white lit bow. Her feelings were all over the place, sad, pissed. Grasping that bow tightly now as a quick glance to Nisahime then back to the memory.

"They have all been lying to me. Lium said they were out in the fields when they got ambushed, also bad mouthed about our friends. They never hated me..." Samantha's eyes were glaring at where the memory took place. "Maybe he just wanted to protect me but GOD FUCKING DAM IT!" Those last few words were yelling. After a moment, she throws that head back and "AAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWW," breath heavy when it finally ran out.

Looking to the ground now, head pivoting ever so slightly as her irises moves back and forth. Sam was now thinking of all the people that needed to be talked to for information. Lium talked to Freyd and they started hunting while Lium did his own thing. The girl was not going to take no for an answer. They fucked with HER party group, they will pay for what they have done by whatever means necessary. "They will all meet the tip of my Arrow. I hope there ready because they just became the middle of a dart board." Hearing some bushes rustling, turning and seeing a boar charge right at her. Pulling Bhafel up without a though releasing the arrow. The thing goes through the air like a missile at unknown speeds hitting it directly between the eyes before bursting into multiple white beams spilling outward of the arrow, moments later they all come back to the creature hitting it everywhere turning it into nothing. Still in position, "I'm coming for you Rosaria."

Edited Wednesday at 05:11 PM by Sam

[Sam 0]

Rushing through the forest now, with a simple direction in mind, kill Rosaria. The hope was that Freyd, Setsuna and Kasumi didn't already do the honor's. It was not their kill to take. Being out of the tree line now, making quick work to the nearest down for the teleportation pad. There was something that needed to be done first. Stepping on heading to floor one, the monument wasn't to far from the town of beginnings.

Finding the large gravestone of names, kneeling down looking for those names to completely confirm that they were dead. After a little bit, there they were. All lined up like it happened all at one. Falling to her butt now as she twists her body into a criss-cross position. Taking out a little book, writing down exactly what the memory pervade to her. Sam understood why Lium lied to her, if she knew the truth then revenge killing would start. The rage would be consuming every waking moment. Sam knows that's why because he wanted the best life for her, maybe a break from leadership. This question would go unanswered, Lium could never know the rabbit hole that Rose was about to go down. Scribbling what were facts which we not much, soon it would be more even if it made her a target. Good luck finding her...

Glancing back, "I know you can't hear me guys but I will make this better. Rosaria will not hurt anyone anymore, I promise." Touching the stone with a hand before standing up, placing her notebook back in the inner coat pocket. Sam starts heading back to the guild hall.

Edited Wednesday at 05:56 PM by Sam

[Sam 0]

Crashing through the doors, intentional maybe but she was pissed. Walking to the table, there didn't seem like the was anyone here, at least not in the main room. Griswold was likely in the forging area and little Ruru was probably sitting in Raidou's apothecary hard at work. The chair scrapes against the floor, taking a seat as she scrambles through the papers. Sam would looking for any place that was cave like or had a cave within it direct vicinity. A simple location that mention PKer's or people being attacked by the unknown. A place that was forbidden to travel to because of the dangers that lied within. Everything on this red oak was being scattered all over.

Taking her notebook out, scribbling a few gave locations and some dangerous area's. Sam had also written down the location of the cave that Freya, Ruri and Lium were found in or around. From her peripheral vision to the right so could see a hulking form come out of a door. Sam puts a hand up as in stop, "NO don't start, don't talk just leave me be." That was the end of it, Griswold walks back into his work space and gently shuts the door without a word. Good Sam didn't have time for chit chat. On the plus side when someone came into the Guild Hall he could say that Sam did it and not some random foe.

When there was nothing more to gather in this location Sam moved on to her own home. The little time that she had working with Freyd in the so called underdark or whatever they call it these days, Sam had taken some notes.

[Sam 0]

A short jaunt around the corner of Firm Anima, Sam unlocks the door with a squeak at it opened. Closing it behind her, locking it. Heading straight for the bed room. Scooting her bed and getting to her knees. A floor board was lifted as a small chest came to light. Picking it up, with a creak the tiny booklets presented themselves. Leaning against her bed as the pages were carefully picked through. Taking out the book from her coat, writing a few things down as to more possible hideout's that the Pker's might of made a nest in.

After flipping through every notebook, Sam got up and started toward the kitchen. Was unsure the last time she had eaten was. Grabbing a banana from the counter, and started brewing some coffee. While that was going she ate the fruit and grabbed a cup. It was going to be a very long night. Mixing her coffee with cream, grabbing 2 containers from the cabinet. It was was caramel and chocolate syrup. Adding a few squeezes of each and began to stir. Taking a sip with a nod, setting it on the counter. 

Rushing now into her room, Sam grabs a hand full of sheets from the closet and tacks on the top shelf. Walking into the living room, she tacks up that cloth to cover every window, there was three. Pushing her couch against the back wall to make room. Turning now to face the space, trying to calculate if it was enough. 

Edited yesterday at 12:20 AM by Sam