[PP-F3]Beware of Giants Bearing Gifts

[Piera 0]

Piera inclined her hooded head in acknowledgement of Mack's rank and branch but her eyebrows raised as he explained that he was actually sent out into combat tours. "That's impressive. I know plenty of military guys, Marines, Navy and Army that play games, but they don't have actual combat experience. It sounds like the Crimson Blades are in good hands."  She wasn't deeply familiar with the inner workings and ranks of each military branch but she knew enough that in the Army, the rank of Sergeant meant that Mack must be used to leading and training other people. Something that was dearly needed in the chaos of this death game. As he spoke of his guild's goals and the goals of every player in Aincrad, the brunette surveyed the blonde man with newfound respect but also curiosity. "'Address the wrongs committed by players against one another'. What do you mean by that?" She asked for clarification as they walked.

As the axe wielder stated that he didn't need to contact anyone, the alchemist nodded before letting out a snicker at the idea of randomly running into Mack's second command out here in the snowy area. Glancing sidelong at her companion she asked speculatively, "What, you're not a proper tank?" He sure seemed to tank the damage of four different mobs pretty well, three of them at the same time.

Looking towards where Mack was pointing, the brunette squinted out of habit before simply nodding. Watching the large man casually chop down random tree limbs as they walked, the spearwoman trailed behind him and helped gather what smaller pieces he missed and dumped them onto his much larger pile before he started the fire. Instantly the area felt warmer as the fire grew and lit up the dim area. The young woman simply stood idly by and eventually slipped down the white hood and facemask of the cloak, not sure what to do until she was tossed a bedroll, which was fumbled clumsily in the air a few times before she squeezed it tightly to her chest in embarrassment.

Watching the hulking blonde man get out a frying pan and set chunks of meat in it was entertaining and she couldn't help but laugh as he explained his lack of cooking skill. "Well as long as it's not raw or completely burnt, I'm sure they'll do fine. If you want though, I can keep an eye on them, I invested a few points into Cooking." It had been early on in the game, before she had become an alchemist, when cardboard sounded better than NPC made food. After a few completely dismal experimentations, she eventually got the hang of the game's cooking system. After Mack explained that their campfire should repell any mobs, Piera frowned in considerations. "It might also attract other players." While that wasn't a bad thing in and of itself, she doubted that they would welcome the type of players that wandered around a floor at night and snuck up on other player's campfires. But without the fire, she was pretty sure they were guaranteed to be happened up on by an aggro'ed monster passing by. The lesser of two evils as it were. "Which watch would you prefer to take?" The alchemist asked as she shook out the bedroll and laid it a few feet from the fire, just close enough to enjoy the toasty warmness as she sat down seiza style on it.

When the topic of the blacksmith's familiar was brought up, Piera grinned in amusement. "I don't know how you ever manage to have any food around him. Are you sure he isn't a Black Hole Bear rather than just a Black Bear?" As the clearing began to fill with the smell of the sizzling meat, the brunette inhaled deeply in appreciation before her stomach also voiced her opinion in a tone that didn't sound familiar. Did Kayaba actually add stomach gurgles to the game? She had to give him points for excruciating detail...

[Mack 0]

"I mean protecting the weaker players from the predatory nature of certain other players in the game," Mack replied, still keeping an eye on the pork chops. With no skill, of his own, in cooking he was mostly operating on guesswork when it came to knowing when they were done and, when Piera offered to take over the chore of cooking the hulking blonde man made a gesture with his hands, palms open and spread towards the cast iron skillet, that clearly said 'be my guest'. "We will not tolerate thieving, pillaging, player killing, or any like activity," Mack continued, failing to add the qualifier, 'once we've got enough high level players'. "If that means we have to eliminate a few bad apples from the barrel, so be it. I will happily serve as judge, jury, and executioner."

"As for Chewie," Mack continued, as the smell of cooking meat began to fill the small campsite Mack considered the objection that Piera had raised to camping outside of a safe zone. "He's not a black bear, he's a grizzly and he's also a pig. He'd gorge himself to the point where he could float out on the ocean by his belly," Mack said, expounding upon his familiar's ridiculous appetite. "But, at least he's infinitely trainable as long as food is involved."

"When it comes to players, most players spend their nights in the safe zones, so the chances of another player running across us are slim. Plus, there are two of us and, for the most part, the player population isn't too interested in killing other players. A few bad apples, but nothing we couldn't handle, given that we're both a bit over-leveled for the fourth floor. Still, we can cross that bridge when we come to it, should the need arise. I'm also happy taking either first watch or second," the blonde behmoth said, snatching his own bedroll and rolling it out next to the fire as well before tugging off his boots.

[Piera 0]

Piera's head nodded faintly as Mack explained his meaning, that he and his guild and surely all players should protect other players from predators and not the mobs. Taking the reins on their meal, the brunette stood before bending over the skillet slightly and using a fork that Mack had taken out to stab the boar chops in turn to flip them over so that they would cook evenly. Then she opened her menu and glanced through her rather small inventory for an item that she hardly ever cooked without, at least when she was feeding Lee. Dismissing her menu a bottle of dark green paste appeared in her hand, which she then applied evenly over both chunks of meat before stowing it away.

 

She continued nodding slightly in acknowledgement that she was indeed listening as he went on to say that the Crimson Blades wouldn't tolerate any illegal or untoward activity, but as he stated that they would also eliminate said bad apples. Her expression drew into a frown at his statement of being judge, jury and executioner. Not looking away from the sizzling meal, the alchemist asked in a somewhat reproachful tone, "You would give a person a death sentence for having an orange cursor? How can you possibly weed out the truly malicious people from the ones that are just trying to get by? How can you know if a person intentionally killed another player or was acting in defense if there are no witnesses? I know there are a few thieves guilds or bandit guilds, but I've always heard they try not to PK. You'd kill them for that? Couldn't you...make a jail or something?" 

 

The aroma of barbecue pork chops surrounded the two as the topic grew a bit darker. Piera wasn't sure how she felt about this all. Of course she didn't condone player killing but especially not as a death sentence...unless perhaps in the most extreme of cases.  The brunette relished the change of topic as Mack brought up his constantly hungry familiar and a small smile tugged at her lips. "Well at least there's that. I guess that's how you were able to tame him, huh? I wonder if you keep feeding him if he'll get bigger..." A snort came out of her at the mental image of a fully grown grizzly bear trying to beg for treats at Mack's forge. "You're gonna need a bigger shop."  

 

A menu popped up to inform her that her attempt at cooking was successful and she accepted and acknowledged the paltry amount of experience before two small plates appeared in her hands, each one having a BBQ boar chop on it along with a fork and knife. Handing the blonde man his portion, she sat back down on her borrowed bed roll, sitting cross legged as she set down the plate and began to cut up the meat. Blowing on the fork impaled meal, Piera glanced over at her companion as he assured her that it was unlikely that they would run into a player out here and even if they did and said player had malicious intentions that they would be able to handle themselves. His assurances calmed her somewhat and she said, "I can take first watch. I'm used to staying up late anyway." The brunette then tentatively took a bite of the boar chop and chewed for a moment before nodding. It was far from fantastic, but it was definitely edible and made more savory with the barbecue substitute.

[Mack 0]

"It is not so difficult to tell the players that PK for fun from the players that have only done it to protect others," Mack said, answering Piera's objection. "It's the same way you can tell a mad dog from one that's just eaten a bar of soap and, like a rabid dog, such players must be put down when it is safe to do so," Mack said, shrugging his massive shoulders as he dug into his pork chop with a nod of thanks in Piera's direction. "As Spock says, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. While we might prefer to toss players into player prison, it must be acknowledged that doing such a thing may not always be an available option and players that would defend the weak from players that would prey upon them must be ready to respond with force, up to and including killing evil players in defense of others, if the need arises. If you refuse, point blank, to use lethal force against another player, even when the situation warrants it, then you prepare yourself to fail." If it came down to killing another living breathing human player in the world of Sword Art Online or himself being killed by another player, Mack would opt for killing the other person every single time.

"As for Chewie," he continued, changing the topic back to his familiar once again. "It's too late, the cub is already the size of Queen Elizabeth, the ship not the monarch," the blacksmith said, taking another bite of his pork chop dinner as he specified what he meant by his remark concerning the bear. "He's also got begging for food down to an art form, I've never seen anything like it. I've been thinking about moving the forge up here to the fourth floor to fix it. Fewer people up here for him to beg from, and we both seem to prefer the cold weather anyway."

"If I'm taking the first watch, I'd best grab some sleep. Thanks for doing the cooking," the blonde man said, scarfing down the rest of the meal in several huge bites and then washing it down with a water from his inventory. With the meal out of the way he removed his Guild cloak and folded it neatly to use as a pillow, though he half considered trying to appropriate Piera's lap for that purpose. Slipping into his bedroll it wasn't too long before the hulking man was fast asleep.

[Piera 0]

Piera's expression was somewhat doubtful as her companion tried to tell her that it wasn't hard to differentiate a murderer from a person defending themselves. At his analogy however, she couldn't help a slight upturning of the corner's of her mouth before shrugging. "Didn't you think I was in a PK guild? What if I had been?" She was curious about his answer but also nearly positive that she herself wouldn't be able to tell a one PK from another unless she already knew them. Perhaps it was a certain animalistic instinct that many warriors seemed to possess.

The brunette took another bite of boar chop and chewed as Mack quoted Spock, making her grin widely until she realized she was exhibiting poor 'table manners' and covered her mouth with her hand as she finished chewing while attempting to listen to him seriously. Her expression steadily became more somber as she intook what Mack was attempting to impart on her. Swallowing thickly, the alchemist nodded reluctantly. "I understand, and honestly agree, with that. I just don't relish having to live with taking another person's life afterward...especially if we ever get out of here."  Piera was sure that if the situation ever arose where she needed to defend herself or someone she cared about and the only other option was to kill, she likely wouldn't hesitate for long. But it also made her wonder what the authorities would do to all the PKs if they ever got out of here. Would they know what they had done? The circumstances? What would be the punishment for murder in such circumstances?

Looking down at her plate with a small shake of her head, the bespectacled young woman poked her meal with the fork before glancing up at Mack as he compared his familiar to Queen Elizabeth, which elicited a confused raised eyebrow from her until he clarified that he meant the ship, making her smile faintly. As the blonde mentioned moving his blacksmith shop to the fourth floor, she said, "You also might have to worry about customers thinking he's a normal monster considering the habitat, heh. Where are you set up now by the way?"

The alchemist was just raising another bite of meat to her lips when she noticed that her companion had already gobbled down everything on his plate and was taking swigs of water from a canteen, making her shake her head in mild amazement. She supposed military habits were hard to quash. "No problem. G'night Mack. Sweet dreams." The brunette tried not to stare as he got ready for bed, folding his cloak to use as a makeshift pillow. She concentrated on finishing her meal, content to take as long as she needed to eat the remaining meat and juices before the plate fizzled into particles not quite like a death animation.

After that, she opened her menu and thought for several minutes before typing up a very official sounding message to the guild's council members. She wasn't sure if all of them were awake, but figured they would reply when they could. Then she sent another message to Lee, more out of boredom than anything, reminding him about things around the shop, asking how his day was and so forth as well as telling him of her minor exploits. After that, she scrolled aimlessly through her menu, glancing through help books, inventory, saved photos and friends list. Nostalgia ended up whittling away two hours and night had fully fallen, the moon drawing up, barely able to be seen through the tree line.

Standing slowly so as to not make much noise, Piera reached her arms up in a stretch before a yawn escaped her and she shook her head in an attempt to stave off sleepiness. She wasn't truly tired yet, more an after effect of sitting down for so long after a meal. Stepping away from her bedroll, the spearwoman walked around the outer ring of the clearing to stretch her legs until deciding that the possible noise and movement would likely just attract...things...and possibly wake her companion. So she sat back down at the fire and poked it with a stick, staring into the flames as she let her thoughts carry her away into a daydream, her thighs pulled up against her chest as she rested her chin on her knees, her green eyes glassy and vacant as she saw things that weren't in front of her.

The scene was shattered though as she heard the echo of a wolf's howl that she hoped was in the distance. It wasn't particularly loud, but it was hard to judge in the snow muffled wilderness. Scanning the trees however, the brunette didn't see any cursors or glowing eyes or hear anything else, so she allowed herself to relax and turned back to the fire, only to find that it had shrunk considerably. She poked it in the hopes to stir it up and make it grow, but apparently that didn't work the same in SAO as it did in the real world. Biting her lip in worry, Piera stood and realized she would need to gather a bit more firewood. Taking her lance in hand, she stood and quietly crept towards the trees, hesitating just in front of them as she squinted and tried to see if there were some twigs. Seeing a few, she quickly picked them up and hurried back to the fire, feeding it a bit more until she realized she'd need more. Grimacing slightly, the alchemist entered the forest by a few feet gathered what easy firewood she could, her spine shivering as she heard another howl before practically running back into the lit clearing. Letting out a shaky breath, she fed the fire and was satisfied that it would last for a while longer.

Sitting back down she opened her menu to check the time and saw that there was still an hour or so before she would likely need to wake Mack up. Her gaze drifted to the blonde man and she rubbed her eyes behind her glasses sleepily as she wondered what he was dreaming about. Then she noticed that she had a few messages and opened her menu to peruse them. They were replies from her guild, one for each council member...minus one. She frowned as she noticed that Carmine had yet to respond before dismissing that the other woman was likely asleep. But it seemed that the majority vote was to agree to an alliance, though she sent back a reply asking if they had any ideas about what said alliance should involve. Maybe Mack had some ideas; she'd have to ask him in the morning.

She spent the rest of the time using a stick to try and make very poor swirly drawings in the snow that faded after a few minutes of inactivity. Piera's eyes drooped behind her glasses and her head began to nod and she finally gave in. It was only ten more minutes until it had been six hours anyway. Hopefully that would be enough sleep for the soldier she thought as she crept over to his side. Resting a hand gently on the man's shoulder she said in a soft yet still normal tone of voice, "Mack. Sorry, but it's time to get up."

Edited August 28, 2015 by Piera

[Mack 0]

The blonde man's grey eyes snapped open at Piera's touch. Instantly, Mack's hand snapped up and over to latch itself firmly around Piera's wrist. An instant later his right hand had found its way to Guillotine, which had been lying on the ground next to his bedroll. With a firm grip on the weapon near the top of the haft, where he could use it to protect his knuckles and increase the power of his punching. The storm grey eyes were cold and hard as the soldier pulled his arm back in preparation for a strike a blow. As quickly as the surprise had come, the anger disappeared from Mack's eyes as he realized what he was doing and who it was he had pinned with his left hand wrapped in a handful of the fabric of her shirt. Abruptly, the axe tumbled from his hands and he released his grip as he slipped from his perch pinning the woman.

"Sorry, training," the burly axe man said by way of apology to Piera. At least she would feel confident now to fall asleep, right? Yawning, loudly, he rolled his head around on his neck which produced a loud popping noise. Then he laced his fingers together and popped all of his knuckles like a master pianist. That was followed by the blonde man working both of his shoulders in circles, until they also popped with a soft, but clearly audible in the quiet chill of the night air, noise. That done, he flopped down on his bedroll in a seated position as if nothing more serious than a discussion of the weather had just occurred between the two of them.

"Since I needed to sleep, I dropped it at the time," he continued, plucking up the half full canteen of water from the snow where he had left it. "But I do live, in the real world, with the knowledge that I've taken the life of another. In life and death combat, you don't think you just act. When it's you or the other guy, there's remarkably little guilt afterwards... for me at least." He took a canteen draining pull from the thing and then tossed it down int eh snow where it quickly dissolved into pixels.

"Anyway, you should get to sleep. I'll wake you at sunrise."

[Piera 0]

Piera gasped sharply as one moment she was attempting to wake Mack and the next he had her wrist in a vice grip, bringing up his weapon as he pinned her to the ground by the front of her clothing before she could even flinch, though flinch she did. If her avatar could have a heartbeat, it would surely be beating a mile a minute. Face white, the bespectacled woman's eyes were dilated in instinctual fear at the vulnerable position, not able to do anything about it until she saw the blonde man's expression of blank rage morph into surprise, as if seeing her for the first time. After he dropped the axe, releasing her as he apologized, the brunette took a shaky breath as she sat up, adjusting her jostled clothing. 

 

"S-Sorry. Should've been more careful waking you up, heh." Her hesitant chuckle was strained, but inwardly she was cursing herself. He had told her that he was a soldier. That he had seen combat. She could have woken him up a million more gentle ways than that if she hadn't simply forgot or not thought about it. Sitting awkwardly stiff on the ground next to his bedroll, the alchemist watched Mack stretch and wake himself up out of her peripherals. But then she chanced a glance at him as the warrior began speaking; listening quietly and intently. The knowledge wasn't a surprise to her, but it did make a difference having it confirmed and said aloud, to her specifically. Piera stared at her knees for a moment, simply accepting the information and internalizing it, wondering if it would be the same for her if such a thing ever happened.

 

Head raising when her companion stated that she should sleep and when he would wake her, she nodded stoically and stood, brushing the snow from her person. Walking over to the bedroll he had lent her, the brunette sat down before opening her menu, unequipping her glasses and materializing her old starter clothing and wadding it into a bundle to use as a pillow much like Mack had. Then she slipped off the cloak he had also let her borrow and draped it over her body like a blanket before finally laying down on her side, facing the fire as she stared, thinking about all that had occurred today before her blinks became slower and more numerous before she finally didn't open her eyes again, falling into a deep slumber.

[Mack 0]

ID: 29306-10
LD: 4, 10, 12, 13, 7

For just a few moments after Piera had rolled over and gone to sleep Mack watched the woman. Then it occurred to him that, as he wasn't a sparkly vampire, it was probably just a wee bit creepy to be sitting there watching over her like that. So, much as Piera had done, he pulled up his menu and began checking through several different things. There was an urgent message from someone in the Guild, it seemed that Lindow had managed to get himself killed doing who knew what. Mack would have thought that as an Deputy Police Chief for a major department that the man would have had the wisdom to know what fights he could and could not win.

There was a good bit of Guild Business that would need to be transacted as a result of the death of one of the Council Members. Pulling up the messaging system, the hulking blonde man composed a message to send out to all Guild members to announce that they would be holding a funeral for Lindow as an official Guild event for the Crimson Blades. The funeral would be followed by a Council meeting to discuss the possible implementation of a Guild policy to forbid lower level players in the Blades to journey outside of safe zones on the higher floors without having a buddy with them. Maybe they'd call it Lindow's Law or something. When he had finished composing the message, Mack hit send and it went out to all of the Guild members.

That done, he picked up his crimson guild cloak from the snow and knocked the white powder from it before tossing it around his shoulders to equip the item again. Feeling that a bit of material farming was in order, the hulking blonde man wandered as far away from Piera as he could get while still being in the clearing and began to quietly attack a tree in the search for crafting materials. Of course, when nothing came up after several swings, Mack gave it up as a bad job and returned to the campfire, plopping down on his bedroll to wait for the sunrise and for Piera to awake.

[Piera 0]

Over the course of the next handful of hours after Piera had fallen asleep, she shifted a few times, mainly flipping from either one side or the other, whatever arm that she was laying on, she put under the 'pillow', as if missing a certain presence. She didn't stir at all when the quiet chopping of wood could be heard from the opposite side of the clearing, too deep in REM sleep to stir. Then the clearing was quiet but for the crackling of wood on fire from the center as the sun began to attempt to peak through the thick of the forest's trees, shedding threads of tremulous light on the camp. Piera's face pinched in a frown for a moment, seeming to be struggling with something internally in her unconsciousness until she let out a loud feminine sneeze that echoed in the quiet surroundings. The force of the sneeze caused her body to curl in on itself, ruffling the white cloak laying on her as she squinted her eyes open against the brightness of the fire and sunrise. Letting out a somewhat pitiful moan, the brunette rubbed her eyes tiredly and glanced at Mack, who was still sitting on his bedroll. "S'it time get up?" She asked, her voice thick with sleep as she attempted to sit up, blinking owlishly without her glasses, though she could see fine without them here in the game.

[Mack 0]

ID: 29356
BD: 7 (6+1)
MD: 6
Mack: 49/51 (-2 Dam., Mit. 2) - Hate: 1
Piera: 29/29
Frost Troll: 21/30 (-7 Dam., -2 Thorns) - Target: Mack

"Yes, it's time get a bite to eat and then break camp. We still have a good way to go to reach the cave," Mack replied in a low tone as Piera blinked her oddly protuberant eyes at him. The massive blonde warrior had already toasted and eaten one of his loaves of bread a little bit earlier while Piera had still been sleeping, so he was ready to go. As the dark haired woman was still stirring in the barely lit pre-dawn hours of the morning Mack's attention was drawn somewhere else as his head suddenly snapped to one side and his eyes narrowed. He'd heard the sound of something popping in the forest, something sounded like it was moving over to one side of the clearing.

"Get up, arm yourself, do it now," Mack said in a low rumbling tone, slowly getting to his feet as he wrapped his hand around the haft of Guillotine and taking a few experimental steps in the direction of the side of the clearing where the noises were coming from. As he came closer a massive frost troll barreled into the clearing and took a massive swipe at Mack with its clawed hand. Mack raised his left forearm to deflect the blow from the enormous white beast and the troll instinctively flinched back when it was stung by the thorns enchantment that Angelic Sheath had on it. Shaking his crimson hood of his guild cloak from his head, Mack swung the mahogany haft of his weapon up into both hands before slamming the iron butt cap of Guillotine squarely into the middle of the ice troll's face to make sure that it kept its attention focused on him.

[Piera 0]

Piera nodded in acceptance of Mack's words as she rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes. She was yawning and stretching her arms above her head, sitting up but still covered by the cloak blanket when she heard the man's low order. "Wha-?!" Panicking slightly, the first thing the brunette did was look around, her tired mind not quite registering what he had actually said to do, only that it meant danger. But as she saw a frost troll much like the one they had taken down yesterday charge into the clearing, the young woman scrambled for her spear, lunging to its position a few feet form her bedroll.

She kicked to her feet, getting tangled momentarily in the cloak that she didn't have time to re-equip. In the time it took her to grab her weapon and stand, Mack was already clobbering the troll and she hurried to back him up, adrenaline pumping to wake her up as she sunk her hips and knees into a battle ready position. Moving around behind the blonde, she took advantage of his hit and her weapon's long reach, stretching it out to stab the monster in the side. But her attack missed just barely as the troll reeled back from the blunt trauma to its face, the brunette quickly jumped back to avoid drawing aggro, though she couldn't help whispering a handful of choice swear words as she did so.

ID: 29370
BD: 5(+1Acc)

Mack: 49/51 - Hate: 1
Piera: 29/29
Frost Troll: 21/30 - Target: Mack

Edited August 30, 2015 by Piera

[Mack 0]

ID: 29377
BD: 4 (3+1)
MD: 10
Mack: 45/51 (Hate: 1)
Piera: 29/29
Frost Troll: 19/30 (-2 Thorns)

Out of the corner of one grey eye Mack saw the point of Piera's spear snake out as she tried to strike at the troll and wound up just barely missing. As the troll reacted to get clear of the brown-haired woman's attack Mack launched a horizontal chopping attack of his own with with Guillotine. The hardened steel blade of the weapon whistled cleanly over the troll's head as it ducked to avoid the swing from the blade of the bearded axe. As the blow missed its intended target, Mack shifted his hands on the haft of the weapon to better control the back swing of the axe to make sure he didn't accidentally clobber Piera by mistake. Seizing the opening provided by the burly blonde man missing his strike, the troll lunged forward and swung a powerful fist in the direction of Mack's head. The meaty pale white battering ram of a fist collided solidly with the side of Mack's head, spinning the axe-man around and dropping him face first into the snow for a moment.

[Piera 0]

Piera watched as Mack immediately swung his axe horizontally to try and catch the troll unawares as he reeled to avoid her own attack, but that missed as well. As the axe came swinging her way, she blanched slightly but it didn't come close to hitting her thankfully. Finally the troll counterattacked, using the gap of inactivity just after the blonde man's swing to punch him right in the side of his head. Seeing her companion knocked out into the snow, the brunette panicked momentarily before letting out a loud growl (for her at least) and lunged forward, stabbing upwards at the tall monster's throat. "Aaauh!" Her attack was critical due to the position in which she struck as well as causing the wound to bleed steadily. But now she was solely in the troll's view and the one that had managed to bring its health bar into the yellow. Still, Piera didn't back away, not wanting to let it take advantage of Mack's vulnerable position.

ID: 29382
BD: 10+1Acc=11
DMG: 3+2Crit+2Bleed=7
Mack: 45/51 (Hate: 1)
Piera: 29/29 (Hate: 1)
Frost Troll: 12/30

Edited August 30, 2015 by Piera

[Mack 0]

ID: 29386
MD: 4
BD: 4 (3+1)
Mack: 45/51 (Hate: 1)
Piera: 29/29 (Hate: 2) - Crits generate a Hate Bonus
Frost Troll: 14/30 Target: Piera - You don't get to add the bleed bonus until your post after this one :)

As Mack was picking himself up out of the snow the purple clad blur that was Piera went tearing past him. Her spear flashed and with what was, for her, a very impressive battle cry, Mack watched as she jabbed the point of her spear directly into the exposed throat of the troll. As she pulled her weapon free from the beast, it turned its beady black eyes on her, tilting its head slightly to one side as it changed targets from Mack to focus on Piera. With an angry growl, the troll took a swipe at the woman, but she had already nimbly jumped back out of the way of the beast. Shaking his head a few times, Mack picked himself up fully out of the snow and readied his weapon, moving into position to attack once again.

[Piera 0]

Piera felt like shrinking as the beastly troll stared down at her, glad that she had been quick enough to avoid his swipe. She chanced a glance at Mack as she saw movement in her peripherals and was glad to see him on his feet again. The brunette wanted to ask if he was alright, but knew that now was not the time for chatter and was assured by the green gauge of his health bar. Taking the initiative, the alchemist saw that the frost troll's attention was squarely on her and sprinted three quick steps to her right to get around to the side of the monster. Then she lunged and stabbed at its side, drawing blood that leaked down its pale hairy flesh. As soon as her lance met its mark, she pulled back, feet kicking up snow as she backpedaled.

ID: 29393
BD: 9 (8+1Acc)
DMG: 5 (3+2Bleed)
Mack: 45/51 (Hate: 1)
Piera: 29/29 (Hate: 3)
Frost Troll: 14/30 Target: Piera

{OOC: Ohhh, whoops ^^; Thanks for the correction!}

Edited August 30, 2015 by Piera

[Mack 0]

OOC: Even if you miss, it will take -2 Bleed from you... so it still dies. You dealt 6 Damage last round (4 Base + 2 Bleed).

ID: 29405
MD: 7
BD: 8 (7+1)
Mack: 45/51 - Hate: 2
Piera: 26/29 (-3 Dam., 1 Mit.) - Hate: 3
Ice Troll: 1/30 (-7 Dam.)

Quicker than anyone would have thought possible in a beast the size of a Frost Troll, the creature's hairy right fist shot out and locked itself around Piera's throat as she backpedaled. With a roar, the beast lifted her bodily from the ground by its hand around her neck so that the brunette's legs kicked ineffectually in the air. Pulling her right up to its mouth the beast bellowed in the woman's bespectacled face, voicing its displeasure with the little bee that insisted upon stinging it repeatedly.

From off to the troll's right there was a rage-filled roar and a second later Guillotine scythed across the field of view of both the troll and Piera. The weighted head of the bearded axe neatly severed the arm that the troll was using to hold on to Piera which dissolved into pixels as Piera fell to the ground as Guillotine buried itself in the snow. In less than the space of an eyeblink, Mack had barreled across the intervening distance and buried his shoulder in the side of the troll. His massive legs still churning, Mack actually got the troll off the ground for a second before slamming it down into the snow and beginning to, ineffectually, ram his fists into its face.

[Piera 0]

{OOC: Actually, I still only did a base damage of three, Accuracy enhancements can't give you a critical hit. Sooo it's at two health at your turn, but will still die of Bleed...since I missed...again...}

Piera's eyes bulged as suddenly the frost troll's impossibly large hand shot out and gripped her by her throat. The brunette let out an unintelligible choked protest, unable to speak as the monster squeezed and lifted her up roughly to its face, causing her weapon to slip from her grasp as she clawed at the hair hand. Even though she knew her avatar didn't need to breathe (while not underwater), Piera still felt like she was choking, though she was oddly not much concerned as soon as the troll brought her to its eye level before roaring with force at her face, which immediately went deadly pale from the primal fear that spiked through her. The woman was fairly sure that if it were possible in SAO, she might have wet herself a little.

Though her ears were starting to ring, the brunette was sure she heard something to her left, but couldn't take her wide fearful green eyes off of the monster's until she was suddenly the view was blocked by a passing axe and then she fell. Gasping at both the sudden release of her neck and the short drop to the snow, the alchemist coughed hoarsely, barely supporting herself on her hands and knees which were shaky from her close encounter. Forcing herself to sit up, Piera looked around for Mack and saw that he was on top of the troll and pounding its face in.

Just as she scrambled to find her fallen weapon, she heard the distinctive death sequence play out as the frost troll shattered beneath the blonde man's fists. At first she was stunned, not aware that he had taken a martial arts skill and then she remembered the bleed damage that she had applied earlier. Gingerly getting to her feet by using her lance as a balancing tool, Piera said, "Good j-ob." However her voice was hoarse and it cracked halfway through the word 'job', causing her to wince and rub her throat before smiling in painful amusement. "Well that was certainly a wake up call..."

ID: 29412
BD: 4 (3+1)
LD: 12
DMG: 2 Bleed
Mack: 45/51
Piera: 26/29
Ice Troll: 0/30

Rewards:
Experience - 150 col each - 1 mat

Edited August 30, 2015 by Piera

[Mack 0]

OOC: Pretty sure with the accuracy buff you still get the bonus damage from a crit, you just don't get bleed and paralyze.

Again and again, Mack's fists rained down blows on the frost troll's face. The blonde man took a savage sort of vindictive pleasure in the royal beating he was dishing out on the creature. Blow after blow struck it until the troll disappeared in a rain of pixels, killed not by Mack's fists but rather by the bleed damage that Piera had caused when she had stabbed the creature in the throat. Storm grey eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, the hulking man stood up and carefully surveyed the entirety of their surroundings, looking for any more possible surprises like the Frost Troll as he retrieved Guillotine from the snow and tapped it a few times to dislodge the attached snow flakes. When he was satisfied that there was nothing else to worry about, and only then, did the blonde warrior sheath his weapon at his back.

"Are you alright," he asked crossing the clearing back over to Piera and scooping her up in his massive arms, armor, spear, and all. Carrying the brunette back across the clearing, he situated her, gently, back on her bedroll. Satisfied that she was, for the moment, safe, Mack produced a cast iron skillet and tossed several chunks of what looked like rabbit meat, bell peppers, and onions into the pan before slamming the lid down with a resounding gong and shoving the mixture into the coals at the base of the fire.

"Unlike a regular tank, I don't actually have the howl skill to draw auto-aggro from the mobs. I have to land my hits which, usually, is not a problem," the blonde behemoth said in a gruff tone. "You acquitted yourself well, but you should have fallen back until I could get back in the fight. My health bar is nearly twice as large as yours, I can take the pounding. You can't."

[Piera 0]

Watching Mack pound into the frost troll's face until it finally died from bleed damage was honestly somewhat haunting, but not nearly as much as the expression on his face as he finally turned away from the shattered blue pixels, as if looking for the next fight. Piera could see the warrior in him then. Instead of looking around the clearing with him, her eyes were fixed firmly on him as he stood and retrieved his weapon before sheathing it and approaching her. Blinking, the brunette nodded before her mouth caught up with her.

"Y-Yeah, I'm o-ah!" She squeaked in surprise as he picked her up princess style with no more trouble than scooping up a kitten. Her face blushed hotly as she tried to protest. "I-I can walk, you don't have to- oh." And like that he had already set her down with more care than she thought possible. "Th-Thank you." The brunette managed to get out, staring at her lap in embarrassment.

She felt oddly warm and awkward at his protectiveness. Was it because of the fight? She hadn't come close to approaching yellow so she didn't think so. After Mack walked away, she finally realized that she had yet to really get fully 'up' or ready for the day. She hadn't even put on her glasses! Quickly swiping her menu open, Piera equipped her vanity item and the white cloak, leaving the hood and facemask down as she tried to blame the cold for her pinkened cheeks and ears.

Finally looking up, she noticed that Mack was cooking something, but her attention was drawn away from what he was doing as he spoke. So that's what he meant when he said before that he wasn't a real tank. She took the compliment and chastisement with a small nod, her loose fists resting on her thighs as she sat seiza. When he said the word, 'pounding', Piera winced slightly but nodded yet again. "Sorry... I've never seen a mob do anything like that. I just thought I could take the aggro until you got to your feet again..." Her expression was subservient and regretful.

{OOC:

Name: Accuracy

Cost: 1 Slot

Cap: 2

Effect: Adds +1 to the BD, but cannot cause a critical hit.

Applicable to: Weapons

[Mack 0]

"Don't worry about it," the blonde man said gruffly, abruptly standing up from his place on his own bedroll as some rather enticing smells began to emanate from the cast iron pot. "Just be careful, we're not down on the first or second floor. There are beasts up here that can kill us if we're not careful." Opening up his menu Mack manifested his beginner clothing. At least the garments would now prove useful for something. Wrapping them around his right hand he reached into the coals of the fire and extracted the pan and slid it into the nearby snow to cool down sufficiently as a gentle frosting of snow began to gently rain down from the sky.

"Breakfast," the blonde man rumbled, sliding the cast iron pan in Piera's direction so she could eat. That taken care of, as he was still on his feet, the hulking blacksmith set off around the perimeter of the clearing to check, once again, to see if anyone or anything might be making another attempt to sneak up on them. The forest, clearly, was no place to relax. The only places outside of Snowfrost worth relaxing in were the handful of safe zones that exited on the fourth floor.