(OP-F5) Never Again

[DrakeWing 0]

Drake staggered through the endless desert, his scarf wrapped around his head to cover his nose and mouth, and cursed himself for ever travelling to this cursed floor. The sheer heat was tiring Drake out more than actually traveling, and he couldn't see anything around him because sand was everywhere. The wind had swept up quite a sandstorm, and now Drake was lost. The grains in the air pelted him in the face, and led him to close his eyes from discomfort.

 

He fell to his knees and placed his hand on the ground, so as not to fall on his face. Drake promised himself that he would never visit this floor again. He yelled in anger and the wind tore his words from him, leaving him breathless. This was the worst place to be, ever.

[XWuZHeAR 0]

As I layed on the sand I began to truly feel how hot it is. "Damn I wish I had some sunglasses" I kept thinking in my head. I swiped a few times threw the menus and un-equiped my shirt and imediatly felt 1000 times cooler. When I reached for and lifted up my guitar I titled it to the side and about a gallon of sand fell out. "Well new songs not gonna right itself." I said in my head. I began strumming the guitar almost as fast as the sand pelted my skin.

"Sometime... In summer time..." I began to sing.

All of the sudden I saw some dude with blue hair walking around with a blue scarf. It looked like he was busy so I didn't want to bother him. Then again I never really was someone to care whether or not someone's busy so...

"Hey dude! Isn't it a little too hot to be wearing a scarf?" I called out to the guy with blue hair.

[Rebekah 0]

It had been such a long time since she had visited this floor. She still remembered the time when she found the missing cargo for a former quest almost half a year ago. It was something that she had never forgotten about this floor, the scorching heat, but she had no trouble handling the harsh environments. Rebekah left the town, and was heading up a trail. After what it had seemed forever, she was reaching her destination, but she could see in the distance a player struggling in the sand, almost lying face down, with an approaching sandstorm. Luckily the wind was not strong, or else it could have been a lot worst.

 

Rebekah decided to make her way to where she had spotted the players who were having a trouble surviving on this floor, as this floor does not have a lot of visitors for a reason, the harsh temperature was a deterrent to many who wish to visit. When she got within a close distance, she realize that there was not one but two players there.

[DrakeWing 0]

Drake looked to his left, and then to his right, and saw a player with a guitar and a female player. Seeing as guitar guy had no shirt on and looked a touch crazy, Drake decided to talk to the female. He stood, knees shaking badly, and stumbled over to her, saying as loudly as he could without sounding threatening, "Hey! Do you know where-" The wind whipped up into a fury, and the rest of his words were gone. The heat was still diminishing his strength, but he stood there nonetheless.

[XWuZHeAR 0]

Mr. Blue hair decided to start walking away and started to talk to someone who I didn't see so thought he was hallucinating. I decided I need to go help him in case he ran into a mob.

"Hey wait up!" I called out as I ran to catch up to him.

As I got closer I saw a girl. "Sh*t maybe I'm hallucinating." I thought. But as I got closer I could see it was an actual player.

"Um hello there person in the sand. Do you need any help?" I said to the guy kneeling in the sand.

[Rebekah 0]

When she had arrived, she could feel the harsh condition of the desert affecting the players, so she could understand how they are feeling on this floor. She looked at the boy, and handed him some water. "Have it, you will feel a bit better" she spoke, knowing fully well that he needed it more than she did at this point. Besides she always had something useful packed away in her inventory menu. She waited for him to feel a little bit better before asking, "So... What brings you out to the desert?" She was just interested in why these players decided to visit this floor out of the many floors cleared so far by the raiding party.

[DrakeWing 0]

Drake accepted the water gratefully, saying, "Thank you." The cold liquid felt great, and Drake could have purred with pleasure, almost like a cat. As she asked him what he was doing in the desert, he shrugged and said, "I figured I would explore some of the floors, though this floor sucks." He frowned, guitar guy had gotten up and followed him. He turned to face him and said, "Are you insane? Shirtless with all this sand flying about."

[XWuZHeAR 0]

"It's hot out here what did you want me to do?" I replied to the player with blue hair.

I looked at him he seemed to be really effected by the weather. He said he wanted to explore so I thought I should help him.

"Hey man there's this really cool cave with a pool of water great acoustics and I think I saw a mermaid I don't know it could have been a really big fish. It's not too far from here there's just one little problem... It has this wierd ghost skeleton pirate mobs. According to the lore of this floor it all used to be ocean." I said as I kneeled next to the guy with blue hair.

I stood up and pointed in the direction of the cave which just looked like I was pointing into the endless sand.

"I'd be ok with fighting the mobs if you all came with me... Who knows maybe we'll find some treasure." I said as a smirk began to form on my face while looking off into the distance.

[Rebekah 0]

Rebekah knew that it sounded way too good to be true. She wondered if the other player had seen an mirage. She knew that your eyes like to play tricks with you, especially if they are struggling in the heat. She was about to say what she had thought of her in her head, but she had forgotten to introduce herself. "Oops... I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Rebekah," she spoke as she waited for a reply from both of the other players.

[DrakeWing 0]

Drake nodded as she told him her name, and said, "Well, Rebekah, I'll have to pay you back for this water sometime." He had already finished it, and felt a little guilty, seeing as there were two other players out in the desert with him. He shrugged, it's not like they're going to die without a little bit of water. He shook his head about the cave and said, "Not possible, I've been wandering this area for... maybe a few hours... and I haven't seen a thing." He was interested though, and looked at Rebekah, hoping she would get things moving. After several moments he took a step towards where the cave supposedly was, and said, "Are you guys coming?"

[XWuZHeAR 0]

"To the cave then!" I yelled as I began walking to the cave.

The cave was were I originally wanted to write the new song. Seeing now that I stood a chance against the captain I might just get his treasure too. The damn pirates were enough trouble as is but the captain oh he was the worst. It's actually pretty ironic how I'm a cutlass user and there's going to be pirates well dead ones at least.

"Hey I didn't introduce myself either. My names XWuZHeAR but everyone calls me X because seriously that username is atrocious." I said trying to sound funny as I continued walking.

[Rebekah 0]

Rebekah quickly followed after them, she knew from a quick glance of their equipment that they were not very high level, perhaps just barely higher than the floor level, which made it difficult for them to fight against any monsters. She knew that a hunt for treasure chests could be dangerous, especially with higher level mobs which are associated with these higher floors. Besides, all she would have done today, was hunt for a few monsters to receive some mats, so it does not make a difference where the monsters were from.

[DrakeWing 0]

Drake didn't understand X's humor, and shook his head. As they continued onward, Drake tripped here and there, and he cursed the floor under his breath. The sand storm had died down a bit, and Drake could see a bit further ahead now, but there was still no cave. He looked at X with concern and said in an irritated voice, "You better not be a liar. I might just gut you with my sword if this cave doesn't exist."

[XWuZHeAR 0]

The blue haired kid was getting a little irritated at me. That kid Arek did say not everyone would like me I mean he was originally talking about Kiru but I think she might come around some day. Hearing a threat I instantly thought of getting into a fight. However then I remembered people actually die in this game so I let it go. It didn't matter anyways the cave was literally three steps away of course they couldn't see it. This cave was pretty well hidden honestly I wouldn't even have noticed it with out falling in by accident.

"Stop! *pauses for an ironically funny amount of time* me first!" I yelled as I jumped into the cave hidden beneath the sand.

The cave had some sort of tube so I put my hands up and began screaming"Whoooo!"

When I reached the bottom I looked out into the spacious cave containing a huge pool of water and a wrecked pirate ship. Then on the other side of the ship I swear I could spot the mermaids.

"Guys! I see the mermaids! Get down here quick the slides not that bad!" I yelled up the tube hoping they could hear me.

[Rebekah 0]

She was not planning on entering the cave, but realize, might as well, what is the worst that could happen.

 

The rather dip in the temperature inside this cave had take her by surprise, she was expecting it to be another warm and humid cave, but the water below made it a lot cooler, which she enjoyed. However, she was a bit concern with this behind a hideout, per say, for some sort of group, as caves were excellent hide places for monsters and player killers alike. She knew that this player was crazy just by going off on a tangent about mermaids. Those just never exists at all, but she was not going to start a fight, at least not out here in the wilderness.

[DrakeWing 0]

Drake had gone with the players, but refused to enter the cave. He was unsure of what to think about the player. Jumping into a cave and rambling about mermaids, real normal. Drake looked at the girl and said with caution, "Is he crazy? I mean... he seems... a touch crazy." He was still irritated by the weather, but he was willing to stand in the heat rather than share a cave with a lunatic.

[XWuZHeAR 0]

(Wait what? Who is drake talking to? She jumped in is this a play on Drakes hallucinations?)

"Yo come on blue hair were waitin on you! These pirate NPCs ain't gonna loot themselves for us! Or... Will they?... Hey I think they might actually turn on eachother given there space! No wait... There NPCs there probably programmed not to... Just hurry up and get down here!" I yelled up the cave.

The cave was pretty spacious there was a waterfall behind the wrecked pirate ship which was broken in half. The pirate spawns were pretty cool looking skeletons with pirate clothes and cutlasses. The captain I could see from here standing behind the wheel drinking a bottle of rum. No doubt that bottle has something to do with his special attack as a dungeon boss.