[OP - F3] Elf War: The Jade Key [3/3]

[Takao 0]

[I was reading around on the SAO wiki and I came across a campaign quest that seems really cool, so I figured I'd give it a try as an OP! This'll be an unofficial "quest" that spans over multiple threads and won't be crazy difficult for anybody that wants to join, so STRAP YA'SELVES IN. WE'RE GOIN' ON AN ADVENTURE!]

The third floor was as peaceful as ever. A warm orange glow had set over the vast fields of dandelions as the sun began its descent over the horizon, leaving the sky painted a mixture of blues, purples, and oranges, and a gentle breeze to blow over the tranquil scenery. The town of Delilah had fallen quiet as well, many players had retired to the inns for the day and most of the floor's NPC inhabitants were just finishing with closing their shops and businesses. There were a few who still lingered about in pairs, chatting the remainder of the day away. It was a pleasant, peaceful, and easygoing evening for the town's inhabitants.

However, outside of the town was a different story. A thin mist had set in at knee height throughout the Forest of Wavering Mists, and the sounds of clashing metal rang out through the trees. The monsters in the area had oddly fled from the sounds rather than being drawn to them, leaving the woods eerily quiet and devoid of life save for whatever the source of the sounds were. Takao was one of the few living creatures wandering through the forest, and after hearing the sounds of combat raging on only a short distance away, he had immediately moved in the direction of the source with his own sword drawn. He was fearing the worst, that two players were fighting to the death for some reason, and felt the need to at least see what was happening with his own eyes.

He was greeted by the sight of two humanoid shapes that were locked in combat. One was shorter and of feminine stature, while the other was a bit taller and bulkier, clearly male; both were also easily identified as NPCs. They were exchanging blows left and right, though it was clear neither of them would gain the upper hand despite their slowly diminishing health. Takao stood motionless to the side, unsure of how to act. He cast a glance to his shoulder-mounted familiar. "Do... you think we should intervene..?" His question was met with a nonchalant shrug of its shoulders, and Takao's gaze returned to the dueling NPCs.

Edited September 5, 2015 by Takao

[Kalesh 0]

Kalesh had just gotten himself a new sword and was planning to test it out, but through some oddity of the system, the moment he arrived to begin hunting the creatures of the forest had started to flee! He sighed softly as he came to realize he stood no chance of catching up to the escaping monsters and so his attention soon turned to the cause of their panic. Hearing the sound of weapons clashing he didn't put his blade away and instead carried the heavy greatsword to his side, the tip of the massive blade dragging through the ground as he approached with both hands on the hilt. He saw another player and decided to do some spectating himself, walking up a bit to the side of the other player.

He watched what seemed to be a dark elf woman and a more standard elf male fighting fairly evenly, though of course one would eventually wear down the other. Hearing the other player speak with his familiar he grinned and looked to the side, putting his five col in. "Well, if there is to be an intervention... My money is on girl. Chivalry, honor, all that good stuff." He laughed softly, his reasoning clearly not being related to the words he used. He just liked dark elves, and bonus points since it was a woman. "Kinda interesting though, seeing the system fight itself..." His green eyes stared intently as if he would learn something from seeing how two parts of the game handled another part. All the while the red haired male kept his hands clutched around his greatsword as if expecting they would aggro him at any moment. Obviously he was a weaker player, his armor basic at best, but his weapon was clearly obtained with all his savings to be top quality.

((I am just going off the assumption she is a dark elf like in the original, if I am wrong I will edit as needed!))

Edited September 4, 2015 by Kalesh

[Xion 0]

Xion had been relaxing in the fields of floor three, taking in the crisp air and serene calm of the area. It was something that he didn't do often, so enjoyed the little moments. "This is the life..." he muttered to himself as he lay down, his sword and shield next to him in the grass, the orange glow of the sun reflecting off of the metal objects, as well as his armour. He sighed as he began to relax, even nearing sleep until he heard something... a distant but constant sound, the sound of metal on metal, blades screeching as their wielders fought one another. The tank shot bolt upright, grabbing his gear and running in the direction of the sounds. "A player killer?" he said. running as fast as he could with full armour on. 

 

Before too long he arrived at the location, only to find Takao and Kalesh...players that Xion knew watching two NPCs fight. 'This is it?' he thought, as he approached the players. "Gentlemen..." he said, as he walked up behind them, smiling towards them both. "Is this some sort of quest?" he asked, as he watched the two NPCs battle. One was male and one was female from what he could see, both of them evenly matched. 'But there must be a winner...' he thought, scratching his head. "Should we intervene, I'm assuming this is some sort of quest, right?"

[Hirru 0]

((I'm assuming we're going the Dark Elf Route since that one is the only one told within The Concerto of Black and White))

Hirru found himself on the 3rd floor of Aincrad, the floor of the elves, from what everyone was talking about on the other floors.  He wanted to see for himself, and sure enough, all of the denizens were of a different breed than everyone else that he knew.  Though, they still looked like the humans that the young hunter had familiarized with for so long, these people seem much more intellectual.  They seemed to take to talking more easily than anyone else, except for his brothers in Crimson Blades and others.

As he journeyed on, he found the Forest of Wavering Mists that would be a later hunting zone for him.  He kept the place in mind in his map before something caught his eye.  Three friendly blips on the map came up not too far inwards.  Looking into the blips, they were Takao, Kalesh, and Xion.  They seemed to be gathered around a small area of the forest, but for what, he didn't know.  Lowering the map, he continued on towards the friendly tags.

At around this time, Hirru would hear the clashing of steel and tumbling of a fight.  Hirru raced on, hoping that his friends were not facing something that would need help with.  Though, they had Takao with them on the third floor, that didn't mean anything if they were outnumbered.  As he crested a few trees, he found his friends all standing around, which confused him even more than anything.  What was causing this fighting?, he thought as he looked past them.  Two warriors were going at it, one in the armor of the Forest Elves, and another in the garb of a Dark Elf.  Looking on, it looked like the Forest Elf had the upper hand.  If this kept going, one of them was going to die.

Hirru wouldn't allow that to happen.

"What are you doing watching someone fight to the death?!"

He said in a low growl as he pulled Time from its hold.  They may have only been NPCs and would respawn after a given time, but that didn't concern Hirru.  He saw people, and people had lives.  Lives that he would protect.

The two were in a deadlock between blades, but the Dark Elf was getting weak from the wear and tear of battle.  The Forest Elf felt this weakness and pushed harder against the blades causing the dark elf to succumb to the brute force and fall.  Looking on, she watched as the forest elf held his sword high and awaited the cold release of death.  Closing her eyes, she listened as the wind of the sword came down up her, but something else caught her hearing.  The sound of flesh being rent from the body, but she could not feel it.  It was not her body that was cut.  She opened her eyes to find the a warrior standing over her, back facing her, but the blade of the forest elf was deep in his shoulder.  

"Wha..

"What is this?"

"I'm not watching anyone die today."

Hirru ripped the blade from his shoulder and pushed the blade back.  The forest elf jumped back as he tried to figure what was going on, but it would resolve into battle as the NPC cursor turned from yellow to red.

"If you wish to get in my way, to help that harlot, then you shall die here too."

"Very well!"

The dark elf got up from the ground while readying her blade and shield.  She was much more tired than this warrior, but she would not let the forest elf win.  She would take her own life, before she would let that happen.

<<Forest Elf Knight>> HP 50 | DMG 4 | MIT 1 [Will focus only Hirru and Dark Elf]

[ID = 30396]
[BD = 1]
[CD = 2]
[MD = 8-1=7] 4-1=3

[Hirru = 42/45] -3 Hp
[Dark Elf = 25/50]

[Forest Elf = 50/50]

Edited September 5, 2015 by Hirru

[Takao 0]

The sounds of the fighting raged on as Takao continued to watch from the sidelines. It had become immediately clear to him that the two quarreling figures weren't players, given their lack of colour cursors, yet either of their health gauges still displayed an icon indicating a guild affiliation next to their name. It was a curiously interesting encounter, and given that Takao usually wasn't one to rush into things, he had opted to simply watching from a short distance away to see how the fight went. Before the battle could reach its climax, the brunet heard the sound of something along the ground. He turned his head and glanced to the red-haired player that approached with his two-handed sword out. It might've been taken as a threatening gesture to a more paranoid player, but Takao greeted him with a smile and slight wave of his hand instead despite the approaching player's apparent foreignness to him.

"It is pretty wicked to see it happening at random in the wilderness, innit?" Takao said in response, his voice kept rather low to keep the two dueling elves' attention off them. Takao was alerted to the approaching presence of another entity upon hearing the rattling of metal, likely from heavy armour, and glanced over his shoulder to see Xion approaching. Like he did with Kalesh, Takao greeted him with a warm smile and wave as well. "Hey Xion! I'm not sure what's going on, to be honest. I was just kinda layin' back to see what happens, but I guess we could-"

Takao was interrupted by a low, growling voice. Before he could finish, a third had appeared and immediately attempted to engage one of the battling elves, blocking a blow intended for the dark elf with his shoulder. "...oooor that could happen." Hirru's choice to intervene had done a very quick job of narrowing down the choices of which side to aid. "I guess that makes up our mind then, huh?" He said with a light chuckle as he lifted the tip of his sword and began walking forward. His familiar had caught wind of the hints of impending combat and removed itself from Takao's shoulders and instead positioned itself out of harms way.

The forest elf's attention was very clearly set on the dark elf and her saviour, and his occupied state afforded Takao the opportunity to strike swiftly. He positioned himself in such a way that his blade looked as though it had been placed on the left side of his waist, thus activating the pre-motion of a sword skill. The length of his sword began to glow purple, and after relinquishing control to the system, unleashing a twin-consecutive-hit sword skill that moved at such an impressive speed that it almost looked as though two swords had been used instead of one.

- -

(To keep things consistent, Hirru will roll the MD for the forest elf.)

« Battle Sequence »
Hirru » Forest Elf » Takao

» ID : [[ 30443 ]]
» BD : [[ C.HIT (10 + 3(ACC)) ]]

» CD : [[ 4 ]]

Hirru : [[ 42/45 HP ]]
Takao : [[ 67/67 HP ]] HATE: 2
Dark Elf : [[ 25/50 HP ]]

« Forest Elf »
[[ 40/50 HP ]] (9(DMG) + 2 critical - 1(MIT) = -10HP)

Edited September 5, 2015 by Takao

[Kalesh 0]

Kalesh nodded in absolute agreement with the first unknown player and Xion who knew each other it seemed. "Yeah. Must be a special event of some kind. Maybe faction based, maybe not, but eith-" He blinked when the second unknown player ran ahead of the others in the group. He was about to laugh it off until the player spoke. The tone made him a bit angry, like has being scolded for something he didn't feel responsible for. He saw Unknown#1 attack the distracted elf and he sighed softly as he figured he had wandered into something he would have to take part in.

It didn't take long at all for Kalesh to realize he was the least well equipped of the group, but that didn't mean he was going to cower or run. Instead Kalesh took a deep breath and clenched his hands around his unusually large blade's hilt tightly as he lifted it and began his own charge towards the elf the moment he saw an opening to not cause any friendly fire! He had lifted the tip of the blade as high as his thigh by the time he reached the elf, swinging vertically as hard as his virtual body's arms could, visually strained as the blade swung and skidded to a stop on his opposite side, prepared to reverse the swing, but he avoided it as it would help nothing. The elf had dodged the slower and less experienced fighter of the group, and so Kalesh quickly backed up so that the other could make an attempt safely.

With some safe distance Kalesh says aloud "Hey! After this can we please confirm what is going on rather than running in face-first? I love doing that but we don't even know who started this fight or nothing!" He clenched his jaw and watched the elf, doubting that he himself was threatened or considered a threat. "Though I can admit I'm a hypocrite! Was going to save her anyways!"

[ID# 30447]
[BD = 5][Miss!]

Hirru: [42/45 HP]
Takao: [67/67 HP]
Kalesh: [30/30 HP]
Dark Elf: [25/50 HP]

Forest Elf: [40/50]

Edited September 6, 2015 by Kalesh

[Xion 0]

ID:30528

BD: 6 (5 DMG -1 MIT=4)  

 

Xion shook his head as he watched the group of players run in, swords raised, guns blazing. "I see the DPS builds are having fun..." he said with a chuckled as he drew his blade, electricity arcing from it to his armour and the like. He trained his eyes on the forest elf that the rest of the group was attacking, he slowly walked closer, his speed inhibited by the amount of armour that he was wearing, so he didn't bother speeding up unless he needed to. He watched as both Hirru and Kalesh missed, but Takao took away 10% of it's health in one go. Xion raised an eyebrow, he really needed to respect DPS builds more. 

 

Once he saw an opening he ran forwards, bashing the humanoid with his shield, staggering the elf before slashing it sharply across the chest, doing about half the damage that Takao had dealt. "I couldn't leave all of the fun for you fine gentlemen now could I?" he said. 

 

Xion (53/53) [HATE: 1]

Hirru (42/45) 

Takao [67/67] [HATE: 2]

Kalesh [30/30] 

 

Dark elf (25/25) [ALLY] 

Forest elf (36/50) 

[Hirru 0]

Hirru figured that they would follow suit with him, but he never would have guessed the next bit of events.  All of them were helping with the forest elf, and it didn't know what to do next.  Being overwhelmed was one thing, having 5v1 was worse.  Though, it was more 4v1 as the Dark Elf didn't know what to do either, except keep a defensive stance during the entire time.

"Humankind!  This is not your fight.  Leave this to us!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not letting anyone die."

"You are the ones that will die, human!"

The Forest Elf Knight sped towards Hirru with quite a bit of speed for a full heavy metal armor.  Easily dodging around everyone else before coming close to the young hunter.  It would be apparent that this enemy was not supposed to be here.  They were way too strong for such a floor.  The Dark Elf would probably be around the same level, but something wasn't right.  How was she losing?

The Forest Elf Knight's blade flashed faster than Hirru ever thought, and ripped through his armor causing a fair amount of damage.  Taking the advantage of this attack, Hirru performed his own <<Slant>> skill against the knight.  It scowled as Time cut through his armor, making him jump back from them.

[ID = 30555]
[BD = 6] Hit
[CD = 3] Okay.. now the regen isn't working..
[MD = 7-1=6] Hit

Hirru: [39/45 HP]
Takao: [67/67 HP]
Kalesh: [30/30 HP]
Xion: [49/49 HP]
Dark Elf: [25/50 HP]

Forest Elf: [32/50 HP]

Edited September 6, 2015 by Hirru

[Takao 0]

Takao observed the others as they all unanimously joined into battle against the forest elf, and inwardly chuckled at how a group of four male players immediately took the side of the damsel in distress. He hadn't necessarily put much forethought into it, and had only decided to act upon seeing Hirru's decision, yet he couldn't claim complete innocence. It was much easier to side with a woman in peril than it was the man who had the upper hand in their battle, though the thought that she might not have been entirely without fault had crossed his mind. He glanced over his shoulder as she spoke and expressed her dislike for their intervention, yet didn't move to stop them or re-engage her Elven assailant. Takao turned his glance to Hirru who spoke up next and chuckled dryly at his comment.

"You're kinda letting somebody die by attacking this guy though, aren't you?" he said before turning to glance over his shoulder at the Dark Elf. "Just hold back for a bit and we'll handle this guy no problem." With that, he turned his attention back to the Forest Elf and felt the system lift its control over his body. He moved immediately afterward and continued to pressure their outnumbered opponent with another sword skill. His blade hacked away another chunk of the pseudo-monster's health and reduced it to around the same point as the Dark Elf's. After his successful strike and the post-motion rigidness momentarily froze him again, he turned to Kalesh and offered up a wide grin. "Running in face first is half the fun!"

- -

« Battle Sequence »
Hirru » Forest Elf » Takao » Kalesh » Xion

» ID : [[ 30651 ]]
» BD : [[ HIT (2 + 3(ACC) + 1(Concentration)) ]]

» CD : [[ 7 ]]

Hirru : [[ 42/45 HP ]] HATE: 1
Takao : [[ 67/67 HP ]] HATE: 3
Kalesh : [[ 30/30 HP ]] HATE: 0
Xion : [[ 49/49 HP ]] HATE: 1
Dark Elf : [[ 25/50 HP ]]

« Forest Elf »
[[ 24/50 HP ]] (9(DMG) - 1(MIT) = -8HP)

[Kalesh 0]

Kalesh watched as the others battled the male elf, rather accepting of the cliche that was occuring here, even if it was a little backwards in that they were saving a dark elf from a non-dark elf. "Weeeell, there is the possibility they will retreat!" He grinned and added while lifting his blade up over his shoulder with some effort "He is outnumbered!" Kalesh then closed the distance between the elf and himself his greatsword being swung down towards the elf when he was in range, but the elf itself was very agile it seemed, rather than a heavy armor and heavy weapon type like he himself was. So far the elf had dodged his greatsword twice much to Kalesh's ire. "Tch. If not out manuevered!" He laughed off his own failings and stepped back a few steps so not to be in the way, greatsword lifted in a defensive stance just in case, though he doubted the NPC had any reason to fear him.

[ID# 30758]
[BD= 4][Miss!]

Hirru: [42/45 HP] [Hate: 1]
Takao: [67/67 HP] [Hate: 3]
Kalesh: [30/30 HP] [Hate: 0]
Xion: [49/49 HP] [Hate: 1]
Dark Elf: [25/50 HP]

Forest Elf: [24/50]

Edited September 7, 2015 by Kalesh