[Invite] Turns and Twists

[Sophora]

Time was ticking slowly as sunlight crept in from the shadows and through the trees, the wind was blowing gently, and a lone WolfHair had situated herself on the grass with arms behind her head as she faced skyward. The Windsor Greatwood, how the heck did she end up stranded here? One minute she was playing Elder Tale, then the next moment she was living the Elder Tale and it was only going to be a small break. Just a break. Before the phenomenon called The Apocalypse, Sophora had been doing some side work before she headed back into college to finish her degree. Now that "this" happened, it threw a monkey wrench into her plans and she was going to have to deal with it. 

Sitting up from the grass, Sophora looked at the clearing in front of her. It might not have been the best idea to go off course, but there's no turning back and there's an opportunity to clench in this area. In one smooth movement, Sophora moved from sitting up with one arm on her knee to standing at her full height. It's time to get started with adjusting to this new place. 

Moving 10 meters to the north, a Dull Green Slime approached Sophora from behind her. Clenching the tonfa and knife in her hands, she sped into a battle stance with a 180 turn to face the enemy. Expecting an immediate attack she waited in guard position...for 5 minutes of pure inaction.  Sheathing her weapons, the Swashbuckler knelt down to eye-level with the amorphous blob and poked it, repeatedly. Well at lease she knew that if she ever saw another Dull Green Slime she'd be fine. These slimes are going to be good to practice on until I get used to using my weapons. 

Taking her weapons out, the Swashbuckler began her training.

Dull Green Slime Lvl1. 

Using her right hand, there were 3 rapid tonfa punches to the slime followed by 2 long slashes with the knife. Training her mobility, she did 3 quick strides around the slime until she came back to a stop in front of it, then 2 to come to the back of the slime. Thrusting her weapons forward into the slime, she pulled apart the monster from the inside with a forward step. One down, many more to go. For the next unfortunate slime, Sophora tried a rapid hit, slash, and run tactic where she would close on the slime with a forward dash followed by a slash with her knife and a push back hit with her tonfa to keep distance. As more and more slimes were strewn apart, Sophora began to quickly develop her fighting style: quick, close, and rapid fire. 

After a culling a lot of slimes and practicing movement, dodging, and general attack patterns Sophora looked to more stronger opponents. Within the radius of her sight she spotted a Young Pittered Boar. It was such a cute creature though, wobbling around with small oinks and hops. The intense urge to keep it as a pet was holding Sophora back from making a move, but an enemy is an enemy. Cutting in, the Swashbuckler stabbed the knife into the boar followed by a brutal punch with the tonfa to dislodge the other weapon and it sent Sophora back a few paces. The small boar fell within a couple of more hits while trying to auto-attack Sophora. 

Looking around with the immediate area cleared, Sophora pulled up the interface system to check her current skills list. Listed were the skills Sword Rain Flurry, Blind Bet, High Roller, and Prediction. It would be best to read up on them, so for the next few minutes Sophora scrolled through her skills, checked out her inventory, level, and armor.  She had a long way to go. 

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Word Count: 639 Words 
Activated Skills: n/a
Active Skills: n/a
Skills on Cooldown: n/a
 

[Tyonis]

Power perceived is power achieved!

-Tyonis [Samurai]

The Swashbuckler's musings would be interrupted as a human-shaped bullet hurtled out of the forest and into the small clearing. A quick and easy glance at one's HUD would reveal it to be a level 21 Fox Tail Samurai. His sudden entrance was jarring since he was obviously outleveled for this particular area.

He landed hard on his back but recovered into a rolling backflip and grounded himself on three limbs, his longsword still held aloft and ready. There was a glare of unadulterated focus in his eyes and his intense expression remained fixated on the area where he came from. Even if he saw the female Wolf Hair, the Samurai made no attempt at acknowledging her existence.

The wounds he sported and the gigantic gap in his HP bar were the only warnings of impending danger as a Lvl 27 Cursed Wraith exploded from the treeline. Like a stereotypical ghost, it lacked a lower body. Instead, it floated a few feet off the ground, a tattered black and silver cowl concealed its face. In its emaciated fingers, it held a rusted scythe. But unlike the Samurai the Undead facsimile of the grim reaper did not ignore the Swashbuckler as it scanned the clearing.

The Samurai cursed as it turned its head toward the lower leveled Wolf Hair. If he were a crueler player, he would have let the monster auto-agro the Swashbuckler, using her life to buy a few precious seconds for his Skills to come off CD before reengaging the monster. But he was no longer Steve Barnett and this was no longer a mere game.

He pulled himself up, clutching at his wounded side, shutting one eye as a trail of blood dripped off his forehead. Surprisingly enough, he sheathed his sword.

Rumors said that the Samurai's iconic AoE taunt could be accompanied by all manner of strange shouts. From declarations of war, to a string of curses. Tyonis opted to improvise as he activated Ace Move: Bushi Chousen. The wind howled, forming a great gust around Tyonis. Amidst that unnatural torrent of energy, the Samurai's voice echoed, distorted by the twisting air.

"Thou bound in a cage of madness,
I am he who shall free you from those chains.
Your self is under me. Your doom rests with my sword!"

Cursed Wraith turned away from the Wolf Hair, glowing red eyes staring at the figure cloaked by the squall. As soon as the Skill's animation ended, the monster shrieked and lunged at the Samurai.

Their HP was almost equal, but aside from one particular Skill, the Wraith relied primarily on auto-attacks. Although Tyonis was inferior in that regard, by Chaining his Skills appropriately, he could burst down what remained of the monster's HP. Theoretically.

Time seemed to slow down as the Wraith closed in, scythe held high.

1.0s; 0.7; 0.3s; 0.1!

Fueled by a mix of personal strength and system assist, Tyonis unleashed Bushido: Iaido. The sword exploded from its sheathe, arching high and slicing the Wraith from its shoulder down to the hip. The monster's robes tore, revealing a ghostly skeleton beneath. Despite suffering critical damage, it swept across with its scythe, intending to behead the Samurai.

Even as death raced toward his neck, Tyonis maintained a vicious grin and instinctively activated Ace Move: Go no Sen, a modified version of the basic Parry Skill. The Wraith's scythe met his longsword with an impact so strong it rustled the leaves off the trees. He took a step forward as the second half of his Ace Move triggered; Go no Sen differed from Parry in that it built up momentum, thus allowing for an immediate counterattack. Even as its HP bar was still depleting from the first blow, Tyonis cleaved off more of its cowl, forming an X across its chest.

'"Not yet!'" Tyonis screamed, both inwardly and out.

He pressed forward as the Wraith began to float backward, pushed away by the sheer force from the two-hit combo. Using his new momentum, Tyonis spun as hard as he could, his tail following his movements the tassel of a sword and unleashed another Skill just as it came off CD: Shunsen. The fierce, horizontal slash perfectly bisected the X, pushing the monster further back. This time, however, the Wraith lashed out as it retreated, only to have its attack Parried to the side. The scythe wedged itself into the dirt as Tyonis drove his blade into the Wraith's hood.

"RrrraAAAAHHHHH!" He howled, his Fox Tail features augmented the heightened battle-rage, making him appear feral as he buried his blade into the Wraith's skull seven times in less than 2 seconds with Sword Rain Flurry.

Despite all that damage, its HP rested at 1%.

Tyonis leapt back, leaving his sword embedded in the monster's head, a chant already on his lips. His hands flayed out at the Wraith as it ruthlessly pursued him.

"HOLY BANISHMENT!"

A blast of purifying magic slammed into the chest of the Wraith, erasing the tiny sliver of HP it held. It evaporated along with the spell. The longsword clattered to the ground.

"neeping Elite Quest Mobs..." Tyonis gasped as he fell onto his back, eyes tightly closed.

Level: 21 HP: 32% MP: 44%

Status Effects: None

Skills Used: Ace Move: Bushi Chousen (14s) Bushido: Iaido, Ace Move: Go no Sen (16.5s), Ace Move: Shuusen (17s), Parry (2.9s), Sword Rain Flurry (9.1)

Word Count: 864

Notes: ...

Made by Zirnitra of Elder Tale

[Sophora]

While preoccupied with the game interface, Sophora heard a stampede of noise coming from the west side of the forest and heading her way with alarming speed. Leaves crunching and the heavy, erratic footsteps of someone were closing in as the disturbance of the forest increased. If the monster or whoever was approaching had malicious intents, then she would be prepared to retreat if she knew it was a losing battle. Heroic idiocy wouldn't do her any good at this point, after all retreating to fight for another day was far better then being dead and having her experience drained.  

Finally, shadows appeared and propelled themselves out of the clearing, one man landing on his back before recovering and another large mass sprouting from the treeline, scattering the leaves while creating an imposing and dark shadow. Stunned to see what the commotion had been, she quickly turned her eyes towards the new figure. A level 21 Fox Tail Samurai with white to silver hair, and he looked extensively injured. Then she felt something watching her, and turned around to see that the she had locked eyes with a phantom, red glowing eyes piercing through her being. It almost felt like the monster was smiling a cruel, twisted smirk full of mirth. She was easy prey, especially since looking above the monster the words Lvl 27 Cursed Waith hovered above.

Sophora knew she needed to bolt now or else she'd be dead meat, but before she could move the wind began howling. The menacing specter took its eyes off of the Swashbuckler and focused them on the person to the right. Following the Waith's line of sight she saw the Samurai from earlier shouting a strange chant that became distorted and echoed. With an air piercing shriek the Waith was back on the samurai and lunged toward the warrior, scythe brandished for a kill. Sophora wanted to warn the man, but it looked like he had it covered as his sword exploded forth and cut the monster cleanly, torn robes now showing the ghastly body underneath.


The rest of the fight went by too quickly as the samurai exchanged blows with the weakened monster, the scythe of the wraith parried by the samurai's blade. As the two blades bounced off one another a large wind boom swept the clearing and the ring echoed out. With the next few moves, the Swashbuckler could tell that the Samurai would take this victory, sighing with relief. A large blast of light illuminated the surrounding trees and Sophora covered her eyes as the light died out and the Wraith was no more. Glancing towards the source of the light she saw the man flop backwards in exhaustion with his longsword quite a distance away. 

Sophora approached the longsword, picked it up, and brought it back to the tired warrior that laid in the grass. 

"That was very impressive and thanks for the save earlier, so what brings you to these neck of the woods?" She said as she looked down towards the man with her shadow casting overhead. 

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Word Count: 513 Words

Activated Skills: n/a

Active Skills: n/a

Skills on Cooldown: n/a

[Tyonis]

Power perceived is power achieved!

-Tyonis [Samurai]

Tyonis cracked an eye as the Swashbuckler addressed him, offering to return his sword. The Samurai scowled momentarily. Not at the woman, but at his own carelessness. Not all items were character bound upon equipping. If the Wolf Hair had less savory intentions, she could have just taken his prized weapon, leaving him unarmed in the wilderness. Sure, he still had his Starter Longsword and dagger in his inventory, but he wasn't about to fall back on those unless he absolutely needed to. With a thankful grunt, sat up and took back his sword. After a careful examination of the blade's edge, he sheathed it across his back, watching his HP and MP slowly recover through his HUD.

He looked up at the Wolf Hair and scratched his head. Rather than answer her question, he suddenly said, "I feel like we've met before," unable to completely temper his composure after such an intense battle. "Nevermind." He took a calming breath and waved away the notion. "I've played a lot of MMOs. Probably a mix up or something." The Samurai pushed himself off the ground and dusted himself off. The bleeding stopped as his HP began to regenerate.

He used his Interface to quickly scan the Wolf Hair then realized he left her questioning hang awkwardly over them.

"Exorcist Elite Quest. I need to kill these Wraiths with an Exorcist Skill otherwise they just stay at 1%HP. It's suppose to be done in groups of two but I tried soloing it for some quick levels. Had no idea it'd start spawning level 27 ghosts." He facepalmed in exasperation as he recalled his shock when the monster spawned. At least now, he'd be more prepared.

"You're grinding off these mobs, right?" He half-asked, half-guessed. "A few Level 3 to 6 Skeletal Swordsmen haunt the spots where I have to summon these Wraiths. If you are up for a bit of a challenge, I'll let you clear them for some EXP." He invited. Long before he started playing Elder Tale, Tyonis would often idle his time away between raids powerleveling newbs. A bit of altruism made the game more enjoyable for everyone, after all.

"They're just trash at my level, anyway." He added with a smirk. He had to do a project a bit of confidence in his assessment, as befitting a powerleveler.

Level: 21 HP: 39% MP: 52%

Status Effects: None

Skills Used: None

Word Count: 390

Notes: Reference to Tyonis' raiding in FFXIV another MMO.

Made by Zirnitra of Elder Tale

[Sophora]

Before answering Sophora's question, the samurai popped a strange comment on her. Have they met before? It wouldn't be too uncommon given the fact that she had played a lot of other MMOs until her recent hiatus, though the abrupt timing was still strange none-the-less. Luckily she didn't have to ponder on that too hard since the samurai waved off the notion and changed the subject on her. Slowly getting up, the samurai began to eye her a bit, like he was scrutinizing her. 

As he continued to glance at her in silence, Sophora began to feel slightly uncomfortable. Perhaps she was showing a bit too much with her current outfit? They were bit racy after all, but they felt comfortable to move around in. If the awkward silence between the two had dragged on any longer she would've spouted something ridiculous, but it was a good thing that the man spoke again. 


"Exorcist Elite Quest. I need to kill these Wraiths with an Exorcist Skill otherwise they just stay at 1%HP. It's suppose to be done in groups of two but I tried soloing it for some quick levels. Had no idea it'd start spawning level 27 ghosts."  


Ah so that's where the monster came from, although the level jump difference between the Fox Tail and the Wraith was rather immense. It was surprising that he came out of that alive as he did. Usually most players wouldn't be able to bridge the gap between themselves and the monster, but because Elder Tale was no longer just a game, things could happen. With the mystery of the random ghost solved, the samurai began to ask Sophora questions. 


"Yeah, I was practicing on them earlier. I'm not completely used to the combat yet, but I've managed so far." 


When the Fox Tail gave her an invitation to come with him and grind on some harder monsters, a devious smirk grew on her face. It was about time to take on harder challenges, and this was the perfect opportunity, not only that but these monster in the area posed no real combat. They didn't develop her fighting anymore than hitting a training dummy would and it wouldn't be useful in situations where there could possibly be other players or monsters to deal with. Challenges, that word just pumps her blood up more than anything.  

"I'll definitely take you up on your offer. If you don't mind that is. I've been rearing to go at some tougher monsters."


There was a brief pause in Sophora's speech before she snapped her fingers together in clarity and made a brief "Ah" sound. 


"That's right, I forgot to ask, but what's your name? I'm Sophora, nice to work with you." As she finished her small introduction, the Wolf Hair gave an outstretched arm and an open palm towards the other in a friendly gesture. 

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Word Count: 479 

[Tyonis]

Power perceived is power achieved!

-Tyonis [Samurai]

"Good to hear, Sophora. Name's Tyonis, but you can call me Ty. You know, you're about to cross into the realm of 'chainmail bikini's' right?" He pointed out with a playful smirk as he flipped through his Interface to open up the party menu. Although he made an effort to appear somewhat modest, the Samurai was in no position to criticize; his cuirass, modeled after the armor of the Roman and Greek gods, was forged to specifically highlight every inch of his muscles.

When he was ready, the Samurai returned the gesture. As they shook, he used his other hand to send her a Party Invite. As soon as she accepted, Tyonis activated Elder Tale's version of Level Sync, the Mentoring System. His whole body began to glow a bright blue and wisps of power began to leak from his form and disperse into the air followed by a rapid decrease in his HP an MP. His level began counting down until it came to rest at 5. Even his equipment's stats had been lowered.

As he guided Sophora to the next summoning point, Tyonis explained a few basic combat mechanics while he still had the chance.

If you had some prior experience in combat, it was more beneficial to rely on your own instincts than the Auto-Attack system. Using Skills effectively now required finer timing, since you'd be stuck in animation lock for the duration of the Skill. If you mistimed it, you'd be completely vulnerable. Perhaps the most important thing was the differences between her old body and the one she had now. It was obvious each and every single Adventurer in Elder Tale were in prime physical condition, even at level 1. In addition, most players created their characters with some kind of image in mind. Through hours of experimentation, Tyonis discovered the limits of his new body. Since he based his character's appearance on the ideal image of his martial arts instructor, his new body was far faster, stronger, and dexterous than his old one.

The problem then resided within a player's mind which had, over an entire lifetime, subconsciously learned the limitations of the body. So, rather than getting used to combat, it was paramount that one conditions the mind to work in tandem with its new body.

He compared it to building a high-spec computer but installing Windowsill 9, an archaic OS. In order to be more effective in battle, Sophora would have to upgrade her operating system to match the hardware's performance. And the best way to do that was combat. The threat of pain and death can force one to perform feats of physical and mental ability normally impossible. Only by challenging the limits of her hardware and rewriting her software would she be able to fully acclimate to her new body.

"Don't worry about dying though. I won't let that happen, no matter what." His voice was strangely resolute. There was no excess pride or hubris. But his eyes were haunted, and he unconsciously reached for his chest searching for a non-existent hole, where he had been gored to death by a bull within the first day or two of playing.

No, he would never let any member of his party suffer like he did. Not if he could help it.

His explanations ground to a halt as a thick fog crept up from their feet and rested at their knees. A trio of Lvl 4 Skeletal Swordsman emerged from the brush, brandishing their rusted armor. Their presence indicated this was the next summoning point.

"These guys don't have any Skills, but they retain some combat logic from their previous lives." Tyonis warned as he drew his weapons and stepped forward. Since they were just fighting against minions, he opted to dual-wield his Starter Longsword along with Knightsbane for a boost in DPS.

He held out his off-hand and pointed two fingers at the nearest Skeleton.

"Holy Banishment!"

A small bullet of Light magic blasted the Skeleton flat on its back. The other Undead finally agroed the Exorcist. He shot a confident smirk at Sophora and charged forward to meet them. Like he said, the skeletons did nothing but auto-attack. After surviving so many near death experiences, dodging the their strikes was nothing to the Samurai. His swords clashed with the occasional close call, but for the most part, he maintained his area, neither advancing or retreating. It was clear he was dragging out the battle to let Sophora grow accustomed to the intensity of combat against foes with a higher level of intelligence.

[/p]

[/div]

Level: 21 5 HP: 100% MP: 85%

Status Effects: None

Skills Used: Holy Banishment

Word Count: 762

Notes: Reference to Tyonis' raiding in FFXIV another MMO.

Made by Zirnitra of Elder Tale

[/div]

[Sophora]

After the man introduced himself as Tyronis, the samurai commented on her attire. Well, she supposed it was a fairly accurate description of her armor. The WolfHair gave herself a nervous laugh as she rubbed the back of her head in a mixture of embarrassment and unease. "I suppose I overdid it with the chaps right?" If she looked back on it, it didn't exactly make the most conventional of clothing articles, I mean her entire upper thighs were exposed. 

As the two new comrades shook hands, the party menu appeared and Sophora pushed the accept button readily. Oh boy was she in for a small surprise. After accepting the invitation, the samurai in front of her began to glow a blue aura, with flecks of the light floating off him. When she looked at the hp bar and level above the man, she saw the numbers rapidly decreasing until they reached 5 and his hp was a mere fraction of what it used to be. Eyes widening, she took a long stare at the status above her new comrade. Huh, well that's interesting, it looks like something I've seen before in a previous MMO that I was in before. The system was called "level syncing", although there were a few small restrictions in using it, such as being in a drastically lower (5 or more levels above) dungeon or being in a field event where the maximum level was drastically under the level of the player. In Elder Tale, it seems like this version of the "level sync" had no real restrictions on it, though she'd have to ask about the details later. 

When the samurai was ready, Tyronis began leading Sophora into the deeper parts of the forest she hadn't explore yet. They passed by countless trees and clearings full of dull slimes, young boars, and adult boars. The deeper they went in, the darker the area became.

It would be a while until they reached their destination and Tyronis took that opportunity to explain the battle system of Elder Tale. 

When the topic of the Auto-Attack came up, she knew from her experience with other MMOs that auto-anything wasn't a viable way to go about combat. Auto-attack was a rigid and scripted system that relied on the server for attacking, it wasn't dependable at all, like hitting an enemy with the same strike, the same area, and the same time in-between. Sophora had some combat instincts and she could deduct how to create rudimentary attack patterns based on her weapons' strengths and weaknesses. At the current moment she had created a few attack patterns when she was practicing earlier. In her right hand she wielded a tonfa, and in the left a knife. Although not the most conventional combination, the pair did work well together based on their type.


The knife was a pure attack weapon, best used in slashing attacks and some piercing, although lacking the accuracy of some other bladed weapons and it was short which meant that she had to be up-close and personal with her enemy, putting her in attacking distance easily. What it lacked in length, it made up for in pure speed. Because the base of balance was a lot closer to the handle, the knife was a lot lighter and it allowed for quick maneuvers, making it a versatile weapon.


The tonfa was a hybrid defensive attack weapon, best used in blunt force and blocking. Like the knife, the tonfa needed the user to be in close proximity to the enemy, but it had a few more perks than the knife when in close combat situations. With the build of the tonfa having a outer "spike" it was a weapon suited for catching other weapons, disarming an enemy, and even keeping the enemy close with the right angle, and it was also versatile in some instances of length since spinning the handle around would make the short end long and vice versa. 

If the weapons were used in tandem, they created a wide variety of attacks since they covered a wide range of attack types and when the tonfa was used in the "short" version, they were around the same length. With some coordination, the user can hypothetically attack and block simultaneously while still doing ongoing damage with both hands, and the tonfa acts like a shield without the added bulk that a shield has. When the need to dodge arises, the weapons don't hamper her ability to dodge, which is a plus for someone whose defense is weak to say the lease. 

After moving from the topic of general battle to skills, the timer and locked animation was one of the more worrying traits. She'd definitely would have to keep in mind the limitations of using them, of course using them would be inevitable as she progressed to tougher and tougher monsters. Their cooldown and lock left her defenseless and that was a big worry for her. For now, if she could avoid using skills until the last few moments of the mob's hp or if she could inflict a good amount of debuffs she would use them. Hopefully with time, she would become more accommodated in timing her skills. The less vulnerable she could be the better. Though looking at her skills, she could definitely chain some of them so that they would offset some of the timing issues, but none-the-less it had to be carefully timed. 

One major hurdle that she would face would definitely lie in the mental fortitude of accepting her new body and its new limitations of course. She could feel it, even a few hours of grinding, she wasn't baring the usual burden of exhaustion as she would normally, and from what was told, death was a temporary affliction. Well, that was good news at lease, it allowed her to be more flexible for sure, but to actually get used to it would take a while. Flinches, small hesitations, and general unease she'd have to get over. Her body was built with attack and speed in mind, so she should be able to hit harder and run faster. She wasn't in a world where death was absolute, but those small unconscious limitations are going to be a problem. Though there was some ease as her mentor declared full-heartily that he would not let her die. That was a great relief. 

When the conversation died down between them, Sophora noticed the thick fog that began to sweep their feet. They were getting close to danger, she could feel it on her skin, and when the three Lvl 4 Skeleton Swordsman appeared her instincts were right on the money. Quickly, the samurai next to her explained that these skeletons used auto-attacks, but they retained past memories of other encounters. Her mentor stepped forward and used the skill "Holy Banishment" to blast one of the trio onto the ground, making one of the others begin attacking Tyronis. 

From there on out, her mentor began to engage the skeleton and drawing out the fight. There were a few close calls, but for the most part her mentor was able to maintain his stance throughout the battle and Sophora began to see the attack patterns of the skeleton. With careful observation, she took in all of the information she could read about the monster. However, the last skeleton of the trio didn't let Sophora have all of the time in the world and began to make its way towards her. 

With a rather unsettling clacking of the skeletal head, it swung its blade vertically at Sophora. That was easy enough to read, and Sophora used her tonfa to block the attack before pushing the blade away. Jumping back, she distanced herself from the mob so that she could watch its movements. First it tried closing the distance between the two before it began to swing its sword, while trying to follow through with another swing. Stepping to the left, the first hit missed and with the follow-through it was predictable enough that she dodge rolled out of the way. Because of the amount of force the skeleton swung with, the sword impact made the weapon momentarily stuck in the ground as dust flew upwards. Here was her chance. 

The minute the skeleton took its focus off of her, the Swashbuckler dashed forward, swung her knife at its arm, and rebound with her tonfa to push it away. At initial cut with the knife, the skeleton's arm detached as the flimsy bone fell apart. However, because the weight was off balance now, the skeleton's motion allowed for its shield to block the follow through and send the skeleton's body outward with the shield being lifted back above its head. Shoot, she did not anticipate that the unbalance would work towards the skeleton's advantage. Now the next question is whether or not that thing could reattach its arm lodged with the sword in the ground.

Better not give that monster a chance to retrieve its arm. Sophora stepped forward to block a direct path to the limb as the skeleton charged forward. If she could hit hard enough upwards, there was definitely a chance that the shield would be lifted upwards and allow a full body opening, but first she needed the momentum.

As the skeleton charged forward, Sophora rushed to meet the skeleton. Using the outwards part of the tonfa, she lodged that part under the skeleton's shield and with all her might lifting the shield upwards from the skeletal body. In one quick second she slashed the knife outwards and dislodged a few ribs from the main body that clattered to the ground. Good, it was taking some steady damage now, but she had to get rid of the shield; it was being a nuisance.

Looking back at the dislodged hand/arm, an idea popped into her head. Huh, well that's one way to do it right? As the skeleton recovered from the previous attack, it staggered a bit while trying to get back into a battle stance, however it took a different approach and hid itself behind the shield while charging at her. Great that makes things difficult.

Waiting until the skeleton was no more than 2 meters in front of her, Sophora performed a quick tumble to the side before coming back up behind. The skeleton had too much momentum and weight to turn around and stop, so the Swashbuckler took the opportunity to come up from behind and "punch" the shield forward and down, knocking the skeleton into a "skullplant". With the force of the impact, the shield and skeleton skidded a distance away from Sophora.

Alright, she was getting the hang of battling.

----

Word Count: 1789

P.S. Sorry for the really late reply, today was a busy day for me. Hopefully I won't be as bogged down tomorrow than today. 
 



 

[Tyonis]

Tyonis watched Sophora develop her combat skills from over the shoulders of the two skeletons engaging him. He was almost two heads taller than the monsters, giving him the an advantage of height and reach. Their simple attack patterns made drawing out the battle a trivial concern even though he was close to both of them in stats. In order to maintain enmity and keep them occupied, the Samurai's swords occasionally lashed out to carve a bit of their HP off their bars. But for the most part, Tyonis refrained from inflicting too much damage. This was Sophora's training exercise, after all.

Still, even as he nimbly dodged and blocked the skeleton's attacks, Tyonis found himself surprised at his own prowess. Sure, he had some martial training in real life, but nothing truly extensive. He did not immerse himself in the martial realm like his instructor did. It was a hobby. Yet, here he was, fending off the rusted blades of two undead monsters with a pair of his own swords with a fluid grace his master would never attain even after a lifetime of training.

He wondered how much of it was his own skill. Or was it because his old body was so out-classed.

Tyonis kicked one of the skeletons as it reared up for a vertical slash, sending it reeling into the other and knocking them both down. He took advantage of the lull to survey the Swashbuckler. She managed to literally disarm her skeleton and even knock it down. She was a fast learner. No, it wasn't just that. Her innate control over her character spoke of experience foreign to Elder Tale. Instead of just rushing head on like many new gamers, Sophora knew how to analyze attack patterns and take advantage of linear strikes.

Maybe he wasn't mistaken when he recognized her from somewhere.

"Sophora, try finishing it off with a Skill or two to get used to the animation lock." He suggested as his pair of monsters began shambling back over to him. Once more, he began dancing between their attacks.

((WC: 347 - Had to go to work, wanted to get this out before I left))

[Sophora]

Shouting out over to the place she was at, Tyronis had advised her to use her skill moves to take down the skeleton before her. Nodding towards the direction of the samurai, Sophora reengaged with the enemy in front of her. After sustaining heavy blows from the last move, the skeleton slowly moved to righting itself up. The bones shook on the skeleton as the shield was dragged along the ground before it was drudged up in front of the monster. At any moment now, the skeletal warrior was going to break apart, and it was weak enough that anymore blows to the body would destroy it. 

Stumbling forward, the skeleton tried to rush at Sophora in a straight line with its limbs wobbling wildly. The dust and fog from the ground were kicked up with the chaos of clacking bones as the skeleton made a desperate attempt. Waiting for the right moment, Sophora dodged the rush and ended up behind the skeleton again, this time intending to take it out in one full out blow. 

Sword Rain Flurry! 


Within the next 3 seconds the skeleton was barraged with pierces as both weapons continued to hit one after another until 5 hits were reached. At 1/2 a second her tonfa slammed into the skeleton's skull, breaking off large chunks of bone and scattering them with one of the pieces making a small cut on Sophora's face as it flew by, and at 1 second her knife pierced the mob's rib cage which effectively broke off almost all of the ribs. At 1 1/2 seconds her tonfa flew in again to knock at the skeleton's spine, cracking the vertebrae, then followed by the knife that stabbed at the junction between the hip bone area and the main spine. With the last hit with the tonfa, the skeleton exploded and the force that held its bones together flew apart at the seams, effectively ending the monster. As the dust, fog, and bones settled, the sound of battle died down as the bones came to a standstill all over the ground around her. Sophora was locked in the pose from the last strike, with her right arm outwards until another 1/2 second passed.

So this was the animation lock that Tyronis was talking about. I see what he meant now when he said that you would be vulnerable until the animation time wore off. Now her skill was on a 10 second cooldown, so she won't be able to use that move anymore. Wiping the sweat from her brow away, she took a look at the mess around her. The pieces of bone were slowly starting to disappear from the field, meaning that the monster was well and truely gone. Now, what happened to the shield and sword earlier? Did those disappear too? Well, for the time being she was done on her side and hopefully her mentor would be done with his soon too. 

Waving over to Tyronis, she gave him a thumbs up. 

---
Word Count: 505 
Skill on Cooldown: Sword Rain Flurry
Skill used: Sword Rain Flurry

[Tyonis]

Power perceived is power achieved!

-Tyonis [Samurai]

Tyonis watched Sophora from afar, always keeping her in his line of sight, lest he have to step in to assist her. But the Swashbuckler managed to pull through without any hint of danger. Tyonis let himself have a moment of respite before he completely obliterated the two skeletons attacking him with a series of critical strikes. He didn't want to put any of his Skills on cooldown, so he relied purely on regular attacks. He was surprised at how powerful he became, even with his level reduced. It made sense - all of his stats had been adjusted to fit the highest possible value available for a level 5 Samurai.

Dismissing the skeletons without another thought, Tyonis replaced his weapons and sent the Starter Longsword back into his inventory. For this next part, he needed an edge in defense and control over raw DPS output.

"You know that outfit is really distracting, Sophora," he quipped, eyeing her up and down with a teasing smirk as he approached. "It's almost unfair you get to abuse your assets like that. I know most monsters won't appreciate the sight, but against other Adventurers or People of the Land, your unique taste in clothing might divert their eyes long enough for you to squeeze a Skill or two in."

He chuckled lightly and pointed at a glowing spot on the ground, his jovial tone and expression turning solemn and serious.

"I'm going to summon the next Cursed Wraith. Give me a three second lead to secure threat, circle around behind it and use everything you've got. I don't think you'll do that much damage with the level and equipment deficit, but anything will help. If I drop below 20%, I want you to run away, as fast as you can. London is that way," he pointed southwest.

The Samurai stood over the glowing point, a hand lifted to the sky. With a simple swish of his other hand, the Mentor System deactivated and his level skyrocketed back to 21. Tyonis craned his head at Sophora, doing his best to project an air of confidence despite the coming challenge.

"Last chance to back out, Soph," he decided on her nickname, then and there.

Level: 21 HP: 100% MP: 100%

Status Effects: None

Skills Used: None

Word Count: 366

Notes: Tyonis prepares to summon the next Cursed Wraith.

Made by Zirnitra of Elder Tale

[Sophora]

After finishing the battle, she wasn't exactly expecting Tyronis' wardrobe input. The comment made her blush and look away, thinking of a small comeback or two. "Well, it's all part of my strategy? Ehehe", she laughed nervously. Hopefully, when she got the right materials and the right skill, she could make herself a variety of vanity clothes to play around with. If anything, she'd at lease have some great distractions ready, and it fed into her fashion-enthusiast side. 

Jokes aside, her mentor was preparing to summon the same phantom as before in the next few seconds. Last time the phantom got too close to killing the samurai, but hopefully by expecting the monster, it would turn out a little less chaotic. Her role in this upcoming battle would be to DPS hard on the monster's back after Tyronis had acquired enough hate. Though one part of his plan didn't sit right with her, which was ditching her mentor if he ever got too low. For one, she knew she was too weak to stand a single hit from the monster, but the concept was extremely against her principals. 

Regardless, it looked like he was determined to summon the Wraith no matter what, and he was giving her the option to back down. Like I would back down. 

"I'm not going anywhere Teach. If you're trying to convince me otherwise, that's not going to work on me, so let's do this. I'll give it everything I've got, so don't try to end up dead on me, got it?" Grinning, the Wolfhair adjusted her cuffs and readied her weapons. 

"Let's get started." 

-----

Word Count: 270

[Tyonis]

Power perceived is power achieved!

-Tyonis [Samurai]

As soon as Tyonis' hand ceased to glow, the fog thickened and rose up to their waists. The Samurai frowned as his eyes cautiously scanned the area around them. He scowled; the subtle nuances in terrain were now masked by the fog. One wrong step could lead to death. He held one arm in front of Sophora, as if to shield her, his other drew his longsword an inch from its sheathe in preparation.

Tyonis felt his eyes suddenly dilate as hours of ingrained senses and reflexes finally began to show their merit. With his outstretched arm, he took Sophora by the shoulder and pushed her aside just as a scythe cut the air between them. Just before the Cursed Wraith could attack again, Tyonis struck with Bushido: Iaido, dealing a bit of damage and generating enmity. It turned its full attention to the Samurai and swung again, only to have its blow deflected and counterattacked by Ace Move: Go no Sen. Tyonis followed through with Shunsen to deliver a powerful horizontal slash across its chest.

Since neither of the blows were critical strikes, the Cursed Wraith's HP quickly stabilized 75%.

Tyonis gripped his sword with both hands and set his feet as the monster lunged, mentally and physically prepping Parry. Knightsbane met the Wraith's scythe with a loud bang. The impact momentarily blew away the fog, clearing the entire area before it swept back in like water filling a gap. As the fog returned, Tyonis unleashed six thrusts into the Wraith's hood, knocking its HP bar down to 45% with Sword Rain Flurry.

The Samurai's timing was slightly off and since the Wraith felt no pain, it lashed out while he was still stuck in animation lock. He suppressed a cry of indignation and pain as the scythe's tip sliced through his left arm, nearly severing it at the elbow. His cuirass kept the weapon from penetrating deeper into his visceral organs. He didn't want Sophora to lose confidence, so he kept his expression as detached as possible.

But when the monster retracted its scythe, Tyonis couldn't restrain himself; he screamed as blood poured freely from the wound. He fell to one knee as the Wraith loomed over, scythe held high like an executioner's axe. Tyonis managed to roll to the side just as the monster cleaved the ground where he once knelt. His left arm hung limb at his side. From the corner of his eye he saw two skeletal hands burrow out from the ground.

Two Lvl 10 Skeletal Swordsmen. Respawning adds. Tyonis cursed.

The Samurai pushed himself off the ground just in time to Parry another one of the Wraith's blows. His remaining arm burned from the effort, as if every muscle fiber were tearing from the bone.

"Sophora, get out of here!" He commanded, as his blade cleaved off another piece of the Wraith's HP. Even if she did decide to run, he wouldn't dare risk Sophora's safety with any of the adds. A great gust of wind exploded out from him, parting the fog once more.

"The Starting Penalty is Seven!
One for each Cardinal Sin!
I, the Incarnation, Command thus:
By mine hand, be crushed!"

Ace Move: Bushi Chousen, the Samurai's iconic AoE taunt, instantly drew all the monsters in the clearing toward him. Holy Banishment blew away the Wraith, giving Tyonis a small measure of respite by knocking it back.

'My HP's at 45%. Left arm crippled. All my Skills on CD. Wraith's at 15%, two adds...' Tyonis smirked and pushed himself off his knee and faced the oncoming undead, sword held aloft.

"Bring it."

Level: 21 HP: 45% MP: 65%

Status Effects: None

Skills Used: ALL OF THEM

Word Count: 603

Notes: The Cursed Wraith attacks and spawns adds post 50%HP!
Cursed Wraith: 15%
Skeletal Swordsman 1: 100%
Skeletal Swordsman 2: 100%

Made by Zirnitra of Elder Tale

[Sophora]

The minute that Tyronis had moved his hand, the fog had thickened to an intense degree. It masked the terrain around them, and even their own feet. The only parts of the terrain that were visible were the trees that loomed overhead. If there were any cliffs nearby, she had to be careful because that could spell death in the battle field. It was lucky that the trees were there, but she'd have to be careful about the range she could see and any major clearings. 

Before Sophora could move an inch, the samurai's arm had shot up in front of her as he drew his sword. They had to be still, the fog was too much of an advantage for their enemies and one misstep could give away their location. Their breathing had slowed down to a single long and silent breathe as the air around them stilled, and not a single movement could be detected. Even the trees had become silent sentries, watching...waiting. The Foxtail and Wolfhair's senses slowly honed themselves to the environment, getting ready to anticipate the enemy. 

Then in a blinding second, Tyronis had pushed Sophora out of the way as a blade swooped down in-between them, cutting the fog. 

It's starting. 

As instructed, Sophora watched from the distance and gave her companion a few seconds to maintain aggro on the Cursed Wraith. The samurai had first used an enmity skill, followed by counter, and another horizontal hit on the monster. When Tyronis had deflected the blow from the wraith, the fog had cleared up just enough around the area to detect the surroundings in a 1 meter radius. When the Swashbuckler looked above the wraith, she could see that its hp was chipped down quite a bit from those 3 moves, and as another blow was coming from the monster, her mentor was preparing for another counter. As the two blades rang outwards, the amount of space she could see pass the fog was far greater, 10 meters. 

That amount was enough of a confidence check to know that she wouldn't encounter too many terrain issues, at lease not the major worries of massive cliffs and the like. Oh wait, there was one other skill she could use to her advantage in this situation. While her mentor was hacking away at the main monster, the WolfHair concentrated her mind, and calmed her breathing down until it was a slow languid pace. The space around her began to clear as she slowly closed her eyes and just...felt her world. A change inside of her occurred that energized her while she opened her eyes again. Prediction. The world came into focus in a 5 meter radius, and transparent figures with timers appeared around the area just behind her mentor. Shoot, those were 2 lvl 10 Skeletal Warriors. 

However, before she could warn her mentor, a loud, familiar scream ripped through the air and Sophora switched her gaze to see the wraith withdrawing its scythe as a cruel chunk of flesh and blood came with it. The material splattered on the ground as her mentor collapsed down onto one knee and the bloody scythe was raised for another strike. As it came down, the blood flew off of the weapon as her mentor rolled away just in time as the mist began to take on a red hue in that area. 

When the wraith withdrew the scythe from the ground, it came up dirty with blood and wet dirt and it once more raised it's weapon towards Tyronis. With a single parry, the swordsman was able to knock the figure back a few feet and he yelled in Sophora's direction. "Get out of here", he said, like that would happen. She knew the risks of staying, but there was still time, and besides he said if he got down to 20%. He wasn't there yet so the previous instructions took precedence over the most recent ones. As the WolfHair came closer to the battle, a large gust of wind began to roar. She'd seen this before, and it was the AoE taunt that she saw in the beginning of their meeting. Now, all focus was on him, but she had to be careful in not exceeding his aggro. 

A Holy Banishment was cast on the Cursed Wraith and it was sent flying out of sight while the two undead were making their way towards the swordsman. This was the time to strike. As Tyronis got up from his kneeling position, Sophora used the opportunity to knock the warriors out of the way. Dashing in, she first knocked one undead's sword away with her tonfa, striking the elbow. Unlike the lvl 5 skeletons, these had tougher bones so she was only able to knock the sword out of the warrior's gasp, but not completely disarm it. Then she came around with her knife to hook it into the curve of the shield while striking the skeleton again with the tonfa. It was pushed back a bit and seemed to be slightly stunned. 

As the other swordsman came barreling in, the WolfHair used her tonfa to hook onto the left leg of the skeleton with the protrusion that the weapon had, and with all her might she flipped the skeleton onto it's back, with the shield landing with a pang onto the skeleton's chest. It would take some time for both of these skeletons to get back up so that allowed the party some leeway in defeating all of the enemies if they did it right. Looking at the skeleton's hp, both of them had only sustained about 10-7% of damage from her maneuvers, barely any damage. The enmity was still concentrated on Tyronis, but she noticed that the enmity was inching upwards; the more damage she dealt, the more likely they would begin to take notice. 

When the Skeleton Warriors were down, the wraith was coming back towards them again. Like an angry phantom, it jetted out of the fog with the cloak billowing hard against the wind and the red eyes were piercing through the haze. As it got into the range of cleaving Tyronis, it stopped as the blade was revved far to the back with the blade in a horizontal position. The revving was too large and exaggerated, so that allowed the Swashbuckler to quickly dive in from the back. High Roller! Sophora's weapons began to take on a blue glow as she struck, 1 second with her tonfa, connecting with the skull, the other second with her knife, stabbing into the junction between the shoulders and spine. That was two direct hits to the phantom, so the debuff was taking place. As she dislodged her knife and jumped off, she turned her attention back to the two skeletons. 

" You've got ten seconds with that accuracy debuff, use it wisely. I'll keep the two skeletons busy for the time being. I'll try not to exceed your aggro, but I'm not sure for how long. Oh yeah, and one more thing, you said 20% and you're not at 20% yet. Good luck", and with that parting, she dove back in two keep the two skeleton's busy with various forms of low damaging trips, leg catches, and stun hits. 

----

Word Count: 1214
Skills Used: Prediction, Blind Bet 
Cooldown: Blind Bet [8 seconds from the last sentence] 

[Tyonis]

Power perceived is power achieved!

-Tyonis [Samurai]

Tyonis couldn't help but smile at his partner's confidence. Although the Skeletal Swordsmen were trained onto him and were single-mindedly determined to cut him down, if she pulled even the slightest bit ahead of him in agro, they would turn to her cut her down in a single strike. Her movements were brutally efficient but held an animalistic grace. Despite the immense level deficiency, she was determined to win and buy him the time he needed to defeat the Cursed Wraith.

How could he radiate anything but confidence when she chose to face such overwhelming odds. The Samurai stood a little straighter, his stance a firmer, and his reply strong.

"Spoken like a true raider. All right then," he began, his endgame spirit rekindled. "Ten seconds is more than enough to make this DPS check!" He charged forward to meet the grim reaper's scythe. In his other hand, his starter longsword appeared in a flash of light. With all of his highest-hitting Skills on cooldown, it would be a contest of pure swordsmanship. It was time to bear witness to the fruit of his experience since being thrust into this new reality. Not as a player, but as a warrior.

The scythe came down. Tyonis crossed his swords over his head and scissored the large base of the scythe between them. His crippled arm began to bleed even more and almost gave out from the strain, but the scythe's tip slowed to a halt a few centimeters from his eye. Yet he did not blink; he could not afford the distraction as the Cursed Wraith retracted its weapon and spun in a wide sweep, intending to amputate his legs at the knees.

Tyonis jumped and brought both blades down across the wraith's chest in a brutal, parallel slash that cut away 3% of its HP. As he landed, the Samurai rolled to the side just as the scythe came to vertically bisect him from head to toe. Thanks to the Blind debuff, he dodged by a hairsbreath and counterattacked with an offhand slash at the offending monster's arm. The blade buried itself into the wraith's bone. Holding Knightsbane above his head like a hammer, Tyonis slammed the hilt of his main weapon over the blade of his off-hand.

The wraith screeched as its arm shattered at the elbow. Its HP decreased by 8%.

Tyonis leapt back as far as he could and dropped his off-hand, holding up the crippled arm with as much strength as he could muster - the Samurai could not afford to relinquish his main-hand weapon lest he be caught completely off guard by a sudden change in the battle. His palm began to glow white.

'Ten seconds. Still got it.' He smirked.

"Holy Banishment!"

Level: 21 HP: 25% MP: 45%

Status Effects: Name (Duration)

Skills Used: Holy Banishment (10s)

Word Count: 456

Notes: ...

Made by Zirnitra of Elder Tale