In search of trees... (Invite, Saber)

[tehm]

tehm HP: 100% MP: 100%

+Battle Perception +Drunken Monkey -[BLIND] -[Drunk]

(E3 completed.)

Although it was slow work, tehm was finally making progress in mapping out the new region, Sarum.

There were definitely additional tree types in the new zone that could not be found in the zones closer to Brent or London. A few of the samples he had taken to the woodworker had even been unknown to the knowledgeable lander.

He had thus far been unable to locate any that would be suitable for the construction of his new walking stick, but there was an unknown type of tree that he had taken to calling "staffwood" which looked incredibly promising; it was simply a matter of finding an appropriate sized sapling.

Continuing on to F3 on his player map, tehm again began agilely weaving through the trees on the edge of the zone partition in search of a suitable candidate. Now that he had mostly identified all of the types found in the zone, the mapping was much faster and he could practically run through the forests, relying on his supernaturally enhanced hearing to keep him out of the way of any encounters.

As he neared the center of F3, tehm heard the unmistakable sounds of combat.

"What the hell is an adventuring party doing out here? These mobs are at least level 30 with multiple adds"

Taking a large pull from the gourd secured at his waist, tehm set out.

Making sure not to make any sudden noises, tehm crouched low and scampered towards the sound of the battle.

Word Count: 252

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Saber]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Sparks and debris rained down onto the floor as a massive boulder was pried out from its position at the “head” of one of the massive stone Golem Scouts. The rock rolled backwards from the force applied at the neck point, as well as because of the continuous attacks on the spot, causing it to drop to the ground with a loud BANG. Planting his feet, the Assassin who stood on the now crumbling chest balanced himself, readied his body, and then jumped backwards into the air. The body of the Golem he killed began to crack and fall to pieces, literally, creating a small cloud of dust and dirt in the air where the creature once stood. The cloud didn’t last long, as a pair of two more Golems pushed through it and advanced right towards the nimble player. Saber sucked his teeth and tucked his nose into his scarf, getting himself comfortable as he landed on the floor in a tripod position. Bringing his knife close to his face, the man held his weapon in a reverse-grip.

“This sucks.” Squeezing the pathetic handle of his level one weapon, Saber readied himself for another attack. Two Golems stomped forward towards him with another pair beginning to form behind them. For Saber, this was becoming a common and dull action. Every time he killed one, more spawned. Every time he stepped back, the space filled and more Golem’s spawned. This only added to the stack he had to fight through in order to regain his ground. It wasn’t particularly difficult, but it was tiring nonetheless. There needed to be an easier way to do this…

For nearly ten minutes since his arrival, Saber had been pushing forward into the Golem ranks, whittling the numbers down until he finally had only a handful to deal with at a time. However that caused him to slow his pace which allowed the Golems to gradually push him back a short distance as to refill the space, adding to their numbers again. It was becoming a never ending struggle, and Saber didn’t have an infinite amount of energy to continue to press on the way he was going. To be honest, he didn’t want to even be in the situation he was in. Fighting the Golems head on was something he wanted to avoid at all costs. After taking a few wrong steps and inciting the attention of the wrong beast, Saber had found himself locked in a small war. Yea, it sucked. Sucked horribly, and he groaned as four Golems stomped towards him again.

“Give me a break…” Kicking off the ground, Saber bolted forward and kept himself low to the ground, slipping through the grass like a sprinting fox. Seeing the player coming, the two Golems adjusted themselves and prepared to strike. It was futile. Before the creatures could really raise their fists, Saber lifted his chest and kicked off the ground to launch his body up into the air. With all of his might, the Assassin soared through the open space and slammed into the upper torso of the left Golem, digging his blade deep into one of the cracks in the beast’s body with the assistance of his momentum. The impact shook Saber’s entire body and he could hear bells ring in his ears, but he felt the Golem give. It stepped back and leaned away from the impact point, groaning loudly at the sudden physical slam. Saber hissed and set his feet on the creature’s chest before pushing backwards. As he separated himself, he pulled in his knees and rolled over his head, lifting his body over an incoming fist from his right side.

The Golem which swung at him snarled in his mossy throat and watched as the much higher level Adventurer flipped over his hand, making easy work of the motion. Saber wasn’t so kind as to simply avoid the attack though; no he would pay the monster back in full. As he rolled, he clutched his knife with both hands and lifted it over his head until his muscles restricted him from going any further. Once he was clear of the fist and his body had fully rotated over it, the man brought the sharp metal down and dug into the stony hand. From the force, the knife lodged itself in deep and cut a large gash in the Golem’s hand. Almost immediately, Saber felt the hand beginning to retract as the Golem’s body registered the pain, so he released his knife and dropped to the floor. The knife was far too deep to retract without a good supporting base underneath him, so Saber switched to the second stage of his attack.

Skipping backwards, Saber pulled the bow off his back and snagged the tail of an arrow from his quiver. In a fluid motion, he nocked the bow, drew the string back, and leveled the tip of the arrow head on the Golem with his knife. Taking in a deep breath, Saber steadied his aim. When he released the inhaled air, he released his arrow. The projectile shot forward and slammed into the upper right shoulder joint of the Golem, dealing critical damage and restricted some of the creature’s motion. Saber grinned at the sight and drew another arrow. A second shot slammed into the Golem’s left knee, but it missed the joint and only caused basic damage. The third shot slammed into the Golem’s right knee, locking into the underside of the joint as to restrict the Golem’s movement. Two more arrows slammed into the Golem’s skull, one piercing it’s glowing “eye” and the other digging into just above its neck. With so much damage, two more simple shots to the Golem’s chest depleted the creature’s health bar.
One down, three to go.

Without hesitation, Saber nocked another arrow and shifted left. The Golem he had attacked initially had regained its balance and was coming closer, much closer, and that made it very easy for the hunter to drill two arrows into the monster’s left shoulder joint. A third shot was buried into the hip and thigh joint, and a forth was put right beside it. Nudging at his scarf, Saber readjusted the cloth on his face to more comfortably cover his mouth. Then, he nocked two arrows at once. With a single, hard pull, he drew his bow string tight, leveled the arrow heads on the Golem’s skull, and released. A few moments later, dust and wind flowed through the area. Some of it reached Saber but due to him fixing his “mask” of sorts, he was unphased. He had been through worse.

“Two down…” Slinging his bow back over his shoulder, Saber quickly moved forward and snagged his knife off the floor it had dropped to. He needed a new hobby.

: Post Title :
-Template-

: Word Count :
1139

: Skills Used :
N/A

: Tagged :
Saber, tehm [Currently Unknown]

: Notes :
Two out of Four down at the moment

Coded By Saber of L33T T3@M

[tehm]

tehm HP: 100% MP: 100%

+Battle Perception +Drunken Monkey -[BLIND] -[Drunk]

As he drew closer to the sounds of the battle tehm was startled to discover that it was not a party, but rather a single adventurer--a level 51 adventurer!

(Was he in the beta?...)

<Saber> an assassin seemed caught up in a battle with four high level stone golems. Seeking to avoid immediate danger tehm climbed up the trunk of a gnarled oak at the edge of the clearing and found a comfortable limb to perch on.

It was an interesting thing this 'Battle Perception'; tehm's hearing seemed to extend for nearly a mile, and he could detect the placards over enemy heads nearly as far as he could hear them. But the 'echolocation' which allowed him to make out coarse details such as body position, or movement of limbs seemed to have a sharp edge at exactly 10' away from him. This meant that the nimble assassin kept popping in and out of tehm's range so that he could only "watch" about half of the fight.

In a way, it seemed cowardly to be watching the fight so casually, but given the levels of the stone golems , tehm knew that he could serve only as a momentary distraction to the creatures as any of them could fell him with a single blow.

Since there were no additional mobs in the area and it seemed that the assassin, Saber, had grabbed aggro on the four stone golems before him tehm unfastened the large gourd from his waist and took a long pull of the tepid beer from Brent. Rummaging through his bag of holding, he found the loaf of crusty bread and one of the large spicy sausages that he had purchased for lunch and set about breaking his fast while observing the fight going on just below.

This saber seemed to have decided on the hybrid route. In Elder Tales, assassins had two primary routes, some decided to play the class as stealthy archers, others as something more akin to rogues in other such games. Saber's hybrid style was less common, but hardly unheard of.

As the second golem fell and tehm was just about to start in on a piece of cheese he'd brought forth from his sack he called out to the assassin.

"Fall back a couple yards, there's some more pathing across. Wouldn't want any more adds now!"

Tehm laughed at the ridiculous notion while continuing with his lunch. A few months ago, when this was just a game something like he'd just said would have been a very common occurrence over voice-chat. "Pathing", "adds", these were part of the language developed by gamers to talk about in-game systems that were common throughout all mmos. That such statements were still applicable here, in the Forgotten Kingdom held a strange sense of absurdity to tehm; like a SOCOM player joining the navy and commanding his battalion as if playing a video game.

Finishing the cheese, tehm took another long pull from his beer.

(I could sell tickets to this!)

Word Count: 502

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Saber]

Do you believe in ghosts?

As Saber’s hand wrapped around the hilt of the knife which had dropped to the floor, his mind flicked and he focused on the upper torso of the forward golem. It snarled at him, but Saber only smirked in response. The player sprinted across the soft ground, eyeing the neck area of the Golem as he swiftly zoomed in. Then, like a bullet, Saber shot passed an incoming fist and slammed into the Golem’s chest. His skill, Fatal Ambush, ripped into effect and the player’s knife glowed for a short instant before it was buried into the rocky boulder of a chest the Golem had. A thick, pasty sort of blood-like liquid splattered onto Saber’s face as the Golem’s chest cracked open from the impact. The player grit his teeth and drove forward, pushing the massive creature backwards a few paces as the ‘Critical!’ signal flared on his display. Almost like it had been smashed into by a hammer, the Golem’s health bar shattered on one side and it began to collapse sideways as the game calculated the damage dealt.

Unsatisfied, Saber gripped onto the Golem’s chest and hefted himself up, climbing up to the ‘head’ of the mobile stone creature. The Golem released a deep, low rumble and stretched a hand upwards as to swat at the flea on its body. Saber spit in the beast’s face and jumped upwards, flipping over the hand and twirled around. Squeezing his knife, Saber held it firmly in his hand in preparation for his coming strike. That strike was more of a cut, as he slammed the knife into the back of the Golem’s neck and dragged the blade down, splicing the rocky beast open wide. A soft chuckle escaped Saber’s lips as he touched onto the ground gently, his toes providing enough support for his entire body because of how much the Golem had slowed his descent. A moment later, the Golem dropped to its knees and then began to fall on its face. Before it could hit the ground; the Golem was rubble.

He wouldn’t lie, Saber enjoyed killing the Golems. They were slow, heavy, and hard hitters but when put up against someone who relied on speed and accuracy; they didn’t stand a chance. It didn’t take much effort to bring the beasts down, and he was more than happy to do so. Every kill raised his level, and every kill brought him closer to the city. Sure, the Golems were already starting to spawn again but that didn’t mean he really had to worry about it. They took at least ten seconds to fully spawn into the world. It took him five to kill one that had already spawned. If he could keep his pace, then he would be able to keep the area clear for a few seconds. What he did with those seconds, Saber didn’t care; it was a break and he needed one of those.

Yet he wouldn’t get one of those yet. As he exchanged his knife for his bow once more, Saber skipped backwards and away from a heavy fist that had been thrown from the last Golem in the wave. Dust and dirt kicked up into the air as the massive rock-fist slammed into the floor, causing Saber to cough for a moment due to him inhaling some of it. Disgusting stuff, but payback was much worse. Saber wasted no time returning the discomfort and fired an arrow into the Golem’s upper right shoulder. The arrow didn’t pierce the stone shell, but it was able to lodge itself into the Golem at least. Firing again, Saber adjusted his aim and was able to, this time, jam a piece of metal into his target’s shoulder. The Golem’s right arm movement slowed slightly and the animated object whined in annoyance. Saber tucked his nose into his scarf and narrowed his eyes.

Drawing another arrow back, Saber fired a third shot, drilling the Golem in the neck. A fourth shot stuck into the creature’s right, floating circle for an eye and made the beast stagger. The red ball flickered for a moment, as if the Golem was blinking and trying to get the arrow out. Adding fuel to the flames, Saber watched as the Golem reached up and simply pulled the arrow free; not smart. Rather than help, the removal of the arrow simply caused the Golem’s eye-light to go out completely. It blinded itself in that eye. Saber shook his head and watched as the Golem cried out in his deep, pained roars, patiently waiting and taking a moment to recuperate. After letting the Golem squirm, sort of, and feel the pain it had done to itself, Saber fired one more arrow into the creature’s skull. The tip of the projectile jammed itself into a small crack, breaking it open more and causing an increased amount of damage. Due to the other arrows in its body, as well as the removal of the one in its eye, the Golem’s health couldn’t hold up. The cries of agony from the stone structure slowly died away and the beast fell onto one knee. Like a fading statue, the rocky figure burst apart and faded with the wind.

“Eight seconds…” Saber thought to himself as he looked through the visible haze of dispersing life. In the distance, about thirty meters away, six Golems were preparing to spawn. Saber was ready for them and he had no qualms with the incoming spawn, but he was more focused on his spectator now.

Off to his right and in the distance there was a player in the trees who had appeared, or had made himself known, just before he engaged the last two Golems. The new face had shouted some gibberish or orders of sorts, but Saber ignored it completely then. Fighting was more important than listening. Now with some time to spare he planned to address the newcomer in his own way. Saber didn’t exactly like being spied on, or watched at all for that matter, especially if he didn’t know the person. It wasn’t particularly nice and if necessary, he had plenty of ways to make the other player leave. For now, he would keep to warnings. Dealing with a player was more fun than dealing with monsters anyways; death was much scarier to a person than it was to an artificial intelligence.

Snapping over to his right, Saber swiftly drew back an arrow and leveled it on the distant figure. Rather than fire straight Saber lifted up and placed his second knuckle on top of his target’s head, compensating for the gravitational effect that would pull on his arrow. Then, he shifted a quarter inch to the left. With another tug the Assassin ensured his bowstring was taut and then released, firing the arrow through the air towards the player. However, rather than shoot right at the man, Saber aimed for the tree trunk right beside him. After his shot, Saber drew another arrow. This time, he aimed for the man’s chest. However, he simply aimed and remained still. Unlike the other player, Saber didn’t say anything. Actions spoke louder than words…

: Post Title :
-The Intermission-

: Word Count :
1195

: Skills Used :
Fatal Ambush

: Tagged :

Saber, tehm [Currently Unknown]

: Notes :
Warning shots fired~

Coded By Saber of L33T T3@M