[PP-F2] The Mountain's Secret (Keith, Baldur, Tyger)

[Guest]

Keith sat in one of the trees that dotted Floor 2. His legs were on a branch and he hang upside down, staring at the upside-down mountain, from his point of view. He swung back and forth slightly, before exhaling. â€‹"Some of the best mats available, and just one thing keeps me from getting to them..." Keith said with a sigh, before hopping out of the tree and landing on his feet. Between him and the mountain, was a river. And unfortunately for Keith, he couldn't swim. He crossed his arms, mumbling slightly as he scanned around. No bridge. So the only way to reach the mountain, was to try the other side. Keith had just heard news about the rare monsters on the mountain, which dropped excellent mats. From what he understood, plenty of other players could be coming up at any given time.

[Baldur 0]

Baldur fought through some of the brush on his way in search of mobs and materials. His black, gold trimmed armor of overlapping metal plates made him the loudest thing nearby in the forest. Sneaking was really not his forte. Over the armor he wore a blue and white haori, and on his hip was his katana. After finally fighting his way through, Baldur found that he came across a wide river, and it seemed to be quite deep. Was he on the East bank, or the West bank? He shook his head, This isn't exactly the Mississippi. He decided to follow the river a ways and see if there was a bridge or some sort of natural crossing. He was paying too much attention to his map and the river, that when he pushed past a tree, he suddenly found himself standing next another player.

 

An orange player.

 

Baldur hesitated suddenly. It was the first orange player he had run across, and he had done so alone. He seemed to be well geared, but this was the second floor, so he was hoping the odds were likely that he himself was higher level than this orange. Still, Baldur did not want to fight another player, even less so for no reason at all.

 

"Umm.. Ohayio." He gave a polite bow of his head to the boy.

 

"Are you lost?"

[Guest]

Keith jumped slightly, and looked over at the other player. "Huh? Oh, uh, hiya!" Keith said, waving slightly. "Lost? Well, I... Just... Nope. I'm not lost." Keith said, rubbing the back of his head and looking toward the mountain. "...Okay, I'm lost." He said with a sigh, crossing his arms. "Basically, I heard there were some sweet materials that appeared on the mountain, so I wanted to go check it out. But, I ran into this fiasco." He said, pointing at the river. "Anyway... How about you?" Keith asked, looking back to the other player. While most players were caught off guard by his orange cursor, Keith usually tried to numb any first impressions by just doing casual talk, as though there were no cursors.

 

"Oh, and what's your name? My name is Keith, Keith Yudai! Nice to meet ya!" He said, smirking and rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb. With his free hand he offered a handshake. 

[Baldur 0]

Baldur looked out over the river with Keith when he gestured at it as a barrier. "Not all who wander are lost." Baldur said safely, quoting Tolken.

 

"But in this case, I am to. Though... I prefer to call it exploring." He offered the kid an earnest smile. Unless he was being exceptionally deceitful, he seemed to be kind-hearted. He wondered what unfortunate quirk of fate and landed him as an orange. Baldur thought back to his own close call, and it made a shiver run down his spine, but he didn't let it show on his face.

 

"I am Baldur." He took Keith's hand firmly in his own, his silver and gold magic bracers flashing the sunlight which manage to piece through the trees.

 

"It is nice to meet you, Yudai." Baldur half turned so he could survey the river with Keith as well. "I just followed the river for probably about a hundred meters that way." He gestured the direction he had come from, "I didn't see any bridges or anything. I was trying to consider if I could use the <<Charge>> skill to cross it." He rubbed his chin. It would be REALLY cool if he could.

[Guest]

Keith sighed and rubbed his neck. "So... It goes on? Shoot..." Keith mumbled, biting the inside of his cheek. "And... Charge skill to cross? That requires no swimming, right?" Keith said, hooked on Baldur's idea. If there was a way to cross the river without having to swim, and then sink, he was all ears. Keith's biggest stat was his speed, it was his pride and joy. He prided himself on being fast in the real world, and in here was no different. Though, was it possible to move fast enough to cross the water? Video games were famous for making things harder underwater, and Keith wasn't keen on sinking and seeing if that was true. "So how would you propose going about it?"

[Baldur 0]

Baldur rubbed his chin in thought. "Well, ideally, we would find a mob on the other side of the river, and use it as a target to cross. But I think the width of the river is right at the range limit for charge. We'd probably need to use a throwing skill to get it as close as possible."

 

He still wasn't sure if it would work, but if it didn't, then nothing would happened. If you missed, then the worst case scenario is you got wet and had to swim to the shore having already made it most of the way across the river.

 

"That or swim across or go around. I just don't relish the idea of running around in wet clothes and armor. It chafes." 

 

He looked around them, but didn't see any mobs. "Where's a bee when  you need one?"

[Guest]

Keith crossed his arms and cocked his head, thinking for a bit. "Bee... Bee... Bee... Bee!" Keith jolted up as his eyes trained on a beehive that was on the other side of the river. "Alright, I'll get their attention! Leave it to me!" Keith knelt down and picked up a stone. He tossed it up and caught it again, before standing once more. He closed one eye and stuck out his tongue, reeling back the rock and taking aim at the beehive. The rock began to glow slightly in his hand with a light blue color, showing that a skill was charging.

 

Keith then threw the rock.

 

It hit the hive, and a swarm of bees flew out. "Booyah! Hit it!" Keith said, doing a fist-pump as the bees became aggravated. Looking for the closest unfortunate souls, they took aim at Keith and Baldur. "...Oh, and, uh, you may wanna do that idea before the bees start coming." Keith said, his attention trained on the bees again.

[Baldur 0]

Baldur couldn't quite see what it was Keith was aiming at, but maybe he could see something he couldn't. If they could find one of those <<Wind Wasps>> then they might be able to get it close to the shore with the throwing skill he was charging up, and leap across. That was, unfortunately, not the case.

 

Baldur's eyes went wide when he saw all the angry bees swarming out of the hive. "Bee! Not bees! We can't leap over there now, we'd be swarmed!!" Wide eyed, Baldur glanced back and forth between Keith and the swarm of angry, pointy bugs. The swarm quickly started moving towards them.

 

"We uh... should probably make a tactical retreat." He licked his lips out of nervousness, "A very, very quick tactical retreat." Baldur started to move along the river bank and grabbed Keith by his shirt sleeve to get him moving.

 

"Come on!"

[Guest]

"Quick? Well, I don't like to brag, but when it comes to speed, I'm the be- Wha- Hey!" Keith said, suddenly getting pulled along. He then realized what he did was pretty rash. Just because he had a lot of health, didn't mean bee stings wouldn't apply any pain. "Okay, I totally agree with that plan. Let's make like a banana and split!" Keith said, kicking into faster speed and running along Baldur. He still kept at a pace that Baldur could with him at though.

 

Keith then heard a rumble. 

 

"Say... Is your stomach rumbling? Because I just heard a noise..." Keith said, sliding to a halt once they were far away enough. "...So I really hope that was your stomach. Since we smashed a hive, and hives have honey, the only other thing that sounds like that would be..."

 

Keith perked up and turned around, looking behind them. A large, brown, grizzly bear had followed them. Clearly angry for the loss of his one honey source.

 

"DA BEARS!!!"

[Baldur 0]

The kid was quick, Baldur would give him that. His own long legs make him a natural distance runner, but Baldur had always been more of a sprinter, but no matter how fast Baldur ran, the kid kept up with him. Impressive. Once they had finally gotten what they figured was a safe distance away, Baldur began to slow down.

 

"Much stomach? huh? No... why do you..."

 

When Baldur heard the bear roar a second time, his eyes went wide and he slowly turned around to face the monstrosity. The bear was larger than any he had seen on the floor before, acting out of instinct he drew his Katana, Tsurugi, and stepped in front of Keith to protect the kid from the a bear that was easily taller than they would have been if Keith had stood on his shoulders.

 

"I uh... don't supposed you happen to have any picnic baskets, do you?"

[Guest]

"Ehehe... 'Fraid not. And I don't see any rangers around here to stop this bear..." Keith rolled his arms and stretched his legs. He then looked up and blinked, seeing Baldur had stepped in front of him, drawing his sword in a protecting manner. And frankly, he was genuinely touched by the notion. Even with his misleading, almost fragile appearance, Keith was more than capable of defending himself, but even with his crystal color, this player still found him worth protecting. It was players like Baldur that made this game's end a possibility. "Don't worry about me! I'll go fake out and land a light hit. After that, follow up behind and see if we get anywhere with this bear." Keith said, moving beside Baldur and placing a hand on his shoulder. Keith looked over, though having to look up slightly, and he gave a smirk and a thumbs-up.

 

Keith then drew Astral Blade and got into a running position, before rocketing forward at top speed. Before the bear could even react, Keith was already right in front of it, and brought his sword into a frontal slash. It sliced the bear right across the side, and Keith feinted to the left, looking back to Baldur as the bear's health dropped like a stone. "Switch!"

 

ID: 8845 BD: 3 (Basic Roll: 3, Vest of the Blue Blader +1, Mach Bracer +1, Precision Skill +1 = 6, Hit)

Damage: 9 (Astral Blade +3, Athletics +1, Katana Skill +4, Base Damage +1 = 9)

 

Da Bear: 6/15

 

Keith: 105/105

Baldur: 27/27

[Baldur 0]

Baldur opened his mouth to tell the kid to stay back and let him handle it, but there was something about the confidence in him that told Baldur he might be able to handle himself. The kid charged in like a blue blurr, weaving under the bear's guard and landing a blow that took out more than half of the bear's health. A moment later Baldur's smile kicked in he held the blade to the side of his face, fingers touching the tip as it glowed blue with the <<Charge>> skill. As Keith ducked away, he called for a switch and Baldur let the skill explode. Both sword and swordsman flashed forward, his blade cutting a crescent arc of azure through the air, striking the bear just as it had turned to strike at Keith.

 

His boots kicking up dirt as he skidded to a stop, Baldur flicked his Katana to the side and then sheathed the blade. As it clicked into the Saya, the bear shattered into a hundred thousand polygons. With a smirk, he turned to face Keith.

 

"Hey, that wasn't half bad... ya know... for a kid." He gave the other player a wink to let him know he was kidding, as if Baldur was capable of holding back a grin.

 

---

 

[iD: 8854 BD: 4 +2 Acc = 6 CD 11 LD 4] Baldur hits for 8 DMG (1 base + 2 skill + 3 weapon + 1 Athletics + 1 Charge)

[Guest]

Keith smirked and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Heh, not too bad yourself, old-timer!" He said, looking back towards the mountain. Keith then blinked as he saw something over the water. He took a few steps closer, trying to get a better view through the trees. And then Keith could finally make out what it was. A bridge. "Hey hey hey! Check it out! Just our luck!" Keith said, pointing at the bridge and looking back to Baldur. Frankly, Keith was happy because it meant he wouldn't have to swim. Or more or less, sink. 

 

"Say, I really don't want to face what may be in there alone. Whatever is in that mountain is waaay tougher than Winnie the Pooh bear here." He said, looking to Baldur.

[Baldur 0]

Baldur's eyes danced with mirth when Keith complimented the 'old-timer.' It was the first time he had ever been called that, but for some reason coming from this kid, it didn't bother him.

 

Baldur was excited to see the bridge as well. He could swim just fine, but fighting in wet clothes was annoying. Plus you never knew what was lurking in the water, it would be his luck that the floor had piranha, and he didn't want to find that out the hard way.

 

"hmm..." Baldur gave some thought to what the boy proposed. He still didn't know much about the kid, and he supposed this could still be an elaborate trap, but as long as wherever they went couldn't two-shot him, Baldur had a teleport crystal in his inventory he could use to get away.

 

That and something about this kid just seemed trustworthy.

 

"Are you sure it's something that the two of us can handle? I'm all for exploring under the mountain though... as long as he doesn't have some elite piglet add." His face split into a grin at his joke.

 

He gestured towards the bridge and started walking again.

 

"What do you know about it?"

[Guest]

Keith closed his eyes and smirked, shrugging in a modest fashion. "Heh. As much as I want to make more Winnie the Pooh jokes, I think that Poo Bear went down the drain." Keith added, still walking to the bridge.

 

He took a step up, the wood creaking slightly under foot. It was wet, and patches of moss grew here and there from the clear water that ran and gurgled underneath. As he walked, Keith looked over the river, seeing a few red bass leap out and then dive back in. "Huh... This floor reminds me of Yellow Stone Park. I've only seen postcards of it, though... Never actually got to visit the place." He said, looking back up and over to Baldur.

 

"Say, what was it like where you were in the real world? I came from Sweden, so it was just ice, snow, mush, and more ice."

[Baldur 0]

Baldur groaned at Keith's joke about Poo going down the drain, but it was followed up with a grin and a chuckle, "Oohh... .That joke was unbearable."

 

He took a minute to examine their surroundings. It really was pretty peaceful here now that they weren't running for their lives from a swarm of angry bees or a giant bear. The bridge looked like it was quite old, covered in moss and slick beneath his feet, and the sounds of the river running beneath them was soothing... even the smells of the forest seemed just right. It did remind him of Yellowstone, and many of the places they had gone camping when he was growing up.

 

"What was it like?" Baldur repeated the kids questions as he tried to think of a good way to answer it. "I've lived in a lot of different places. Some nicer than others. This floor though, reminds me of when I lived in the mountains with my family. We'd go camping every summer way up high where there were hundreds of tiny lakes no one ever thought to look for made my the snow melting. I could be 37 degrees outside, blistering hot, and yet the water would be barely above freezing! By the end of the summer it had warmed up enough to swim, but if you jumped in, you'd jump right back out again!" He laughed, thinking about the time he had his best friend had dared each other to jump in one of the creeks. He felt like he jumped out of the water so quickly due to the cold that he must have just been put on 'rewind.'

 

"Sweden, eh? I always liked your chefs." He flashed a kid a smile, hooping he would get the joke. Please tell me he gets that joke.

[Guest]

The Swedish Meatball. That's what Baldur must have been referring too. "Ah geez... Trust me, there would be more Pooh than just that bear if I actually tried cooking." Keith burned everything he tried to cook. Even water. Yeah, that's just how bad he was. Ironically, he still loved eating though. But when you run around everywhere as much as he does, you're bound to build up a huge appetite. 

 

"Huh. Swimming? Never liked doing that too much. I would much rather run." Keith said, looking back towards the mountain and stepping off the end of the bridge. He looked back towards the mountain, which was closer now. Plenty of pine trees were around, making the mountain only slightly less visible. "Well, hope you're up for a walk." Keith said, stretching his legs as he looked at the mountain. He then looked around and picked up a pine stick, which was about four feet tall. Keith held it like a walking stick and get ready for the trek.

[Baldur 0]

Baldur laughed when Keith mentioned burning food. "Well, I take it that means you didn't take the cooking skill in this game." He followed the kids lead, assuming he knew where he was going. "Our guild's cook is a baker though... it's dangerous. Everything she cooks is cookies, or cake, or chocolate... I'm just glad that you can't get fat in this game." There were just so many good things to try. And you could eat as many as you wanted. He wouldn't even have to feel bad about it. "Do you think you could get addicted to cakes through this game?"

 

He chuckled softly.

 

"You don't like to swim? Oh man, I grew up by the ocean. I'm pretty sure there's photographic proof that I could swim before I could walk." He really did miss the beach, and swimming in the ocean. He would be out there for so long snorkeling that his back would get burned.

 

"I guess the water is a bit colder in Sweden, isn't it?"

 

When Keith picked up what looked like a walking stick, Baldur looked up at the mountain.

 

"Ah geeze. I guess I've technically climbed higher, but this is going to be an all day thing." That was a big mountain.

 

"Are we going all the way to the top?" Baldur started up the mountain as well. He didn't need a walking stick. Two wheel, foot, drive was enough for him.

[Tyger 0]

Tyger toiled tirelessly tacking tips off of the bit of rock she was mining in. With the ground as rough as it was, digging was impossible. However, one could mine into the side of the mountain if they were careful enough. Icarus did his best to help, often spitting little bits of magma onto the spots she was hitting with the pick. It softened the rock long enough to hit before hardening once more. The process was long, but she was alone on the second floor in the mountains, where she was enjoying the day. The air was just right and there was enough scenery to keep her happy for days to come. When they could afford to get a house, Tyger would argue the case for a house on the 2nd floor. Or the 4th, perhaps. However, she was brought back to her musings when Icarus let out a happy gurgle. A material could be seen in the rock, so she picked around it as best she could until she was able to pull it from it's hidden rocky prison. Dropping it into her inventory for future use, Tyger rubbed her forehead against Icarus's affectionately.

 

"Thanks bud! I wouldn't have even noticed it there! Good job!"

 

She was dirty, and covered in soot from head to toe from her familiar, but it didn't matter to her, as she wasn't going to see anyone on her way back down the mountain to the first floor, right?

 

"C'mon coal butt. Let's get home and washed up." 

 

Two pair started their descent back down the mountain and towards the floor portal. It would take a bit of time, though.

 

ID 10901, LD: 19

+1 Material Found

[Guest]

"Yup! We're climbing this mountain and then some!" Keith said to Baldur, as he walked along the mountain path towards the... Mountain. Usually, most players didn't go all the way up there. Which meant that there were mats that hadn't even been touched yet. So of course, Keith felt inclined to do what others haven't yet. It was that feeling that he was the first to do something that he liked. 

 

"But if you get tired, I'm not gonna carry you back down." Keith said over his shoulder, climbing up a rock and stretching his arms, looking at the long way ahead. But, he saw something else on the path. After a while, he saw it was someone. 

 

"Huh. Someone else up here?" He said with a shrug, and then looked to the figure, waving his hand. "Hi there! You exploring too?"