[OP-F1] [Complete] Awakening in a Digital Prison

[Celestial 0]

Standing in the center of town, Celestial slowly filtered his way through the menu's aiming to become more affiliated with them. A marker on the map section referred to his current location as 'Starting City - Plaza Center'. Tapping the plus and minus buttons clearly controlled the level of map-zoom. After understanding this, Celestial was able to zoom in and out and see the city in greater detail, or even expand out to a 'Floor Map' and an 'Aincrad Map'. Unfortunately, most of the maps in each of these stages were blackened out; clearly the maps would only update as the areas were explored. Interestingly, the presence of a 'Share Map' button was leading Celestial to the conclusion that each map was only updated per player; and that they would have to share map details if they wanted a comprehensive understanding of the floors as the floors themselves were too large to be explored by any one player alone.

After several more moments of fiddling with the menu's, Celestial couldn't help but let out a large sigh. He didn't know if any of this 'death game' stuff was real or not, but judging from the worry on several of the players faces (and the supposed 'live' news reports they still had access too), this game was all too real. He had overheard several players discussing their early trips outside of town and how dangerous it was. The enemies could hit for three damage on a normal attack, often carried some form of damage mitigation, and the game only started the players with four health points...that means the only real way to have a chance outside town this early on was to ally up.

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone in this game. He looked back over the plaza again, hoping to see someone he could approach about going on a hunting raid with.

Edited November 8, 2015 by Celestial

[Amira 0]

Manta gripped the pommel of her rapier, the black metal glistening in the sun. She was in the plaza in the starting city, a few blocks away from her potion shop. Every few days she would come here and look around for players that might want to get started, or just needed help with a quest or the like. She was a relatively high leveled player, nothing like the clearing party, but still pretty impressive. She looked over the crowd, her eyes scanning for anyone she might be able to help. There.

Across the plaza from her was another player, also looking through the crowd. He didn't appear to be looking for anyone in particular, maybe he just wanted someone to talk to, or someone to help out with a material hunt. Manta had taken the whole day off to help anyone who needed it. She would start with this person. She started to wade through the crowd towards the man, mumbling 'excuse me' every time she stepped on a foot or elbowed someone. She eventually made it to the man and held out a hand in greeting, the sun reflecting off of her engagement ring. "Heyo!" She said cheerfully. "What are you looking for?"

[Elul 0]

If any other game had taught her anything about being a medic, it was that big giant muscular guys were the perfect pair for a player who wanted to be a medic. Though that also meant he'd have durable armor too, and the town of beginnings was no place to find either of the two, or so she had thought. While she didn't see a big burly guy in tough armor, she did see a big burly guy next to a lady who had gear that looked like higher than level five gear.

Elul quietly made her way through the crowd, not wanting to be noticed by either of the two. She wanted to see first if they would go out into in the field and if they would even need a medic, she'd rather not have to talk, as she knew that would end in catastrophe. Elul sank into the crowd, using her height as an advantage to watch the two others and see where they'd go.

Elul has a base stealth stat of 10.

[Greg Baxen 0]

Greg popped up in the city. He was feeling rather proud of himself after clearing <Breaking the Unbreakable>, and obtaining the Martial Arts skill. Looking around, he tried to search for a companion to assist him in combat. He thought he saw someone noteworthy over there...

(Action to detect Elul.)

ID: 36740

LD 4 vs Stealth 10: Failure.

He doesn't find anything, and shrugs it off as him seeing things. He continues looking around for anyone who may need his help. He wanted to make some friends soon, so he had to find something of note. He was getting impatient to try out his new skill, dang it! However, as a wise old man once said, it's dangerous to go alone, so Greg was searching for a companion. After all, safety in numbers, and safety is ESPECIALLY important in this death game he and many others call SAO. His <Coat of the Azure Wind> flowed with its namesake blowing against it, the blue contrasting with the sky above. His <Anneal Blade> glistened in its sheath.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Greg Baxen

[Celestial 0]

Smiling and taking the hand of the silver-haired woman who approached him, Celestial quickly answered her question wasting little time on formalities.

"I'm Celestial and I'm actually looking to form a raid party for a bit of leveling. It won't be anything too bad, but I am looking to make a big push over the next few days."

Taking note of the woman's striking beauty, no doubt a driving factor behind the engagement ring she was wearing; Celestial also found himself acutely aware of the blackened rapier she had dangling at her side. Her openness was a good thing, he thought to himself. It meant she would be more invested if they were to go hunting in a group, but also that she wouldn't let herself just be ordered around either. Celestial preferred to work with people who were not afraid to think for themselves more than anything. So far Celestial had been working primarily alone, not finding anyone with whom he meshed well with; but now the prospect of working with a rapier user, the first time he will have done so, was enticing.

"Would you be interested in joining me Miss...?" He let the end trail off, hoping she would pick up that he was trying to get her name.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Celestial

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke had been doing his thing walking the rooftops again and hopping from building to building. He has to admit he loves his Passives and the fact they allowed him to get around faster was great. He was wearing his full combat gear and his hood and mask again which made him look intimidating. He noticed Manta below talking to what seemed a new player so he dropped down from the roof approaching the group of players.

"Hey Babe what's up?" He said as he pulled his hood and mask down revealing his face as he put an arm round Mantas waist.

[Amira 0]

Manta smiled as she shook the man's hand. She had been meeting a lot of taller, bulkier players lately, but so far all of them had been what you might call 'gentle giants'. This man seemed to be no exception. "I'm Manta. Nice to meet you Celestial." She said, introducing herself politely. The man seemed to be just starting out, and she knew how dangerous hunting solo could be at low levels. If no one showed up and accepted his request he was liable to get himself killed. Plus, wasn't this the entire reason she'd taken the day off from her shop? "I'd be up for that. I always try to help out other players as much as possible. We are all in this together after all." She stated.  She looked over to see an extremely intimidating figure drop down from the roof. She wasn't intimidated though, as she immediately recognized them. She turned to face Sousuke and gave him a short gentle hug. "Hey Sousuke. I was just talking to Celestial here about going out and leveling. And you need to stop jumping in front of people decked out in all of your gear. Your going to give someone a heart attack." She said to him, saying the last part in a joking manner. She turned back to Celestial, giving him her full attention. "Of course, if you even want my help. I'll let my baby here attest to my level." She mentioned, tapping her rapier with her one of her hands.

Passive Stealth Check

ID# 36775 results:

Loot: 5 Fail

[Celestial 0]

"I'd be thankful for your company!", Celestial said as he was very excited to finally have someone to raid with. "And it's a pleasure to meet you too Sousuke. What would you two say to getting the hell out of dodge as soon as possible? I'm eager to get some work in today. I do want to be up-front with you, I haven't started leveling yet, so you might feel like you're baby-sitting. I haven't played many games before and I wanted to make sure I had a good grasp of the mechanics before venturing out into the field. I'm ready to go as soon as you are though!"

Passive Stealth Check
#36787 LD 6 Fail!

Edited October 30, 2015 by Celestial

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke felt he was being watched from somewhere in the crowds. Like someone was observing them for some reason. Having special military training meant he was always on alert and even in a game he knew when someone was watching his moves. He searched the crowd with his eyes looking for someone that seemed to be watching them and he noticed a girl staring in their direction.

LD 15 ID 36819 success elul discorvered

"Don't mean to burst your bubble you two but we are being watched you know." He said to the others as he kept his eyes on the girl.

[Greg Baxen 0]

Greg looked around some more, and eventually noticed a group of people standing around. Taking note of them, he noticed that one of them had their eyes on something or someone. He let his eyes travel in the direction the man was looking in, and lo and behold, there was a girl there, staring at the group through the crowd. Greg begun to think. 'Do i walk up to them and try to interact? Or do i keep my distance?' he mused, getting lost in thought.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Greg Baxen

[Elul 0]

Elul looked on at the two who seemed to be having a conversation. It appeared a pact would indeed be made between the players, and if her luck would hold out then they would be heading to the field and not just shake hands as a greeting, and if her luck held out even further than that, then she could be of some use to them. Elul felt a little awkward, she wanted them to be bad so she could help, but if they were bad, then there was a chance one of them could die.

A third member had jumped down from the rooftops, his actions showing that he had a relationship of some kind with the girl. If the shiny object on the woman's finger said anything, then it was probably a closer than normal relationship, he couldn't blame her, she was pretty.. The newer member had turned her way as if he had somehow sensed her presence, and Elul hadn't thought to look away, forcing eye contact.

Elul could feel her heart pound, no no no, don't say anything, write it off as us happening to look in the same direction at the same time. Her heart sank as he immediately turned and spoke to the two players.

[Amira 0]

"Dont worry about it Sousuke." Manta said, smiling goodnaturedly. "Their probably just jealous that im dating the cutest guy in the game." She said, flirting. She wasnt worried about anyone watching them. Most people in the plaza were low levels, and she could almost always hold her own in a PvP fight. She looked over at Celestial. "Dont worry about it. We all started off as level one. The important thing is that you actually are going to try to level. And im ready when you are." She reached a hand up to her neck for a moment, her fingers touching the tiny silver arrow pendant hanging there. Good, she was all set to go. She had loaned her gauntlets to another player, so she was going to stick with her breastplate, pendant, and rapier.

[Celestial 0]

"Ok, let's get out of here! I heard earlier that there was good hunting going on in the plains NW of the Starting City, so let's give that a shot first."

Rapidly filtering through the menu's Celestial issued party-join prompts to both Manta Gaul and Sousuke. After doing so, he began moving in the direction of the North Gate, a large looming tower just a ways in front of them. The entire city was surrounded by a massive circular wall, and technically divided into many different sections, like pieces of a large pie. At the four cardinal points of the city, North, South, West, & East, were gates which would allow leaving the town (and it's system protection), and entering the unknown fields that lay beyond; fields which were supposedly deadly.

Marching up to the looming gate, his confidence swelling, Celestial couldn't help but proclaim, 'I hope those monsters are ready, they haven't fought anyone like me yet!', and just like that, he took his first steps outside the North Gate.

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke made eye contact with the girl for few moments before he told the others Manta didn't seem worried however and admitidly neither was he since he had seen her before and she was quite timid that time so he figured she was just shy. He accepted the party invite and followed them to the gates. As he passed the girl he motioned for her to follow them. Even if she was trouble he doubted she would be able to take all three of them and if she wanted to join in she could.

[Elul 0]

Elul peeked out of the crowd, the smaller of the two men had waved for her to follow. Well, it would be rude not to follow. Elul took a step out of the cover of the crowd, if the anyone didn't notice he now, then it was because they simply didn't care. She began to follow the group, making sure to keep her distance. Elul seemed to recall the woman saying something about someone being jealous, but at the time she couldn't make out her words. The words were clear enough from her distance, making her feel like she was guilty of eavesdropping.

[Amira 0]

Manta smiled and followed Celestial. She liked how confident he was, but hoped that he was just joking around. If he wasn't, he would be in for a shock. In this game, at starting level, the boars could one hit kill you if they got lucky. Fighting mobs wasn't something anyone should make light of, except in jest, even when it got to the point where you didn't have to worry about getting one shotted. She unsheathed her sword, the ivory colored blade glinting in the sun, as they exited the north gate. The mobs in this area were no threat to her, but she wanted to make sure that Celestial didn't get overwhelmed or surprise attacked.

[Celestial 0]

Putting himself slightly ahead of the triumvirate so as to hopefully attract the first Boar, Celestial made sure to not get **too** far ahead. Keeping the distance to less than 25 meters seemed wise, a distance allowing the game to spawn enemies closer to his level, but not so far away that help couldn't arrive quickly if it was needed, and it was likely he was going to need it. Eyeing the first target grazing the fields, Celestial used the diamond indicator to gauge its strength relative to his own, in luck, this boar seemed to be a perfect first-kill. "Ok, I'm going in!"

The green grass beneath his feet was blowing softly as Celestial charged the boar. He suddenly had a million thoughts racing through his mind, regrets of spending his skill points into a weapon skill instead of into armor, regrets of not procuring any armor, the dawning realization that even though he had been carrying around this giant axe for days now, that he had zero idea of how to fight with it. In fact, before this game, he had never even held a weapon like this. Still, Celestial forced himself to focus on the creature calmly grazing in front of him. Please don't turn around!

Having closed the distance surprisingly quickly, Celestial raised his giant axe slightly above his shoulders and brought it crashing down into the beast. Feeling the vibrations signaling an impact, Celestial immediately jumped back and took stock of the creature's health bar. It tickled down by only one point. Staring at the creature in front of him, Celestial prepared himself for a counter attack!
 

ID 36904 BD 8

Boar : 3/4 (-1 = 2 - 1 DamageMit)
Celstial: 4/4
Manta: 64/64
Sousuke: 69/69
Elul: 8/8

Image of our Boar (Grrr)

 

Edited November 1, 2015 by Celestial

[Celestial 0]

Enraged, the creature turned and rushed Celestial. It's attack was fairly straight-forward, just the mindless rush of a charging wild animal. Step Breathing heavily, Celestial braced his weapon in-front of himself. Step The creature moved closer, as if running in slow-motion. Step  Exhaling just before the impact, Celestial took the rush at full-impact! Feeling the creature smash against his blade, Celestial was knocked back several steps but turned the creature towards its' right, sending it off running in that direction. Not beaten yet, the creature was now making a wide-arc in an attempt to turn-around and charge Celestial again. Celestial had little delusions of his surviving another hit, he was most certainly on the cusp-of-death.

 

ID 36912 MD 6
Boar : 3/4
Celstial: 1/4 (-3)
Manta: 64/64
Sousuke: 69/69
Elul: 8/8

Edited November 1, 2015 by Celestial

[Sousuke 0]

Sousuke stood at the ready drawing his blood red blade waiting for the man to make his move he wasn't going to attack just yet but he wanted to be ready just in case. He pulled up his hood and mask and gave a nod to the man to show he was ready.

Ooc I have 69 hp btw

[Elul 0]

ID: 36915

BD: 7 (1 damage)

+1 hate

1/2 Energy

Elul felt her bones lock still at the sight of the giant's health bar turning red, think rationally Elul, your first aid skill won't do him any good if he gets attacked again, it would be better for me to reduce its health than heal him by one point.

Elul rushed forward while unsheathing her dagger, running in between the lovers to slash across the boars belly. Elul looked on as the boar continued to rush past her, unable to move at the end of her attack. Elul hoped it would turn to attack her instead of the bigger man, he was scary, but that didn't mean he knew how to fight yet. Who was she kidding, she had never attacked anything in her life.

(Ooc: How do we determine who gets attacked when we have equal hate?)

Edited November 1, 2015 by Elul