Aykroyd's Got Nothing On Us [Mentor/Invite]

[Shuwen]

Words: 516

The request appeared on a bulletin board in one of London’s more popular taverns. Apparently, when the area’s nobles disappeared some time ago, a number of their estates and residences were subsequently abandoned for superstitious reasons. Some of those residences now had new occupants. The request was simple; clean out the spookies that had taken up residence in a disappeared nobleman’s abandoned estate. There was a modest cash reward for doing so, as well as a note saying the estate could only be entered after sundown.

Shuwen, who was working at said tavern part time as a chef saw the request when he was helping close up and decided to give it a shot. I need to level up my new subclass anyways. After rereading the quest to make sure there weren’t any undue complications, he turned towards the manager and asked for a few days off.

The next day, Shuwen found himself by the front gate of the estate. It was located deep in Windsor forest, some distance from both London and Warwick castle. There didn’t seem to be any monsters very close by, but he wouldn’t be surprised to see any wandering around. It seemed to be a fairly large estate; he could see the roof of a multi-story main building, and possibly multiple outbuildings, but he couldn’t be sure, as there was a moderately tall (and opaque) wall around the entire property, and wrought iron gate out front that he couldn’t open no matter how hard he pulled.

I guess they were serious about not being able to go in during the day time. He thought, frowning a little at the prospect. Well, that’s hardly unexpected, so I guess all I can really do is wait for nightfall. He decided, just in case to take a quick lap around the perimeter of the estate to see if there were any other openings, or hints of what he would be up against. Needless to say, he didn’t find any, though it was good for him to check. When he was done, he decided it would probably be best to camp out by the front gate. Since there was a road leading up to the estate’s entrance, and it was probably where he’d be able to enter once night fell, that was probably the best place to wait for any other adventurers to join him.

Just in case, he decided to add a little extra incentive for them to find him. Pulling some some uncooked meat, mixed veggies, seasonings, and some cooking gear out of his inventory, Shuwen set up a camp fire and began cooking dinner for himself and whoever might show up. If nothing else, the smell should probably lead someone here. He thought to himself. Hopefully not a monster though. Though he could probably take most of the monster in the forest at his current level, it was unlikely he’d be able to fight and cook at the same time, and taking a break to fight in the middle of cooking would probably ruin the meal. That was never a welcome prospect.

[Sunny]

Sunny has been around the gossip mill a time-or-two-or. . .ten. Rumors are the spice of life. They bring a certain level of excitement to what would otherwise be a horribly quaint life. No one can convince her otherwise.

~*~*~

She'd heard about the haunted noble house from a passing and very superstitious Adventurer during her stay in Londinum. Having not been all that involved in the game until recently, the Swashbuckler found a ghost busting to be the perfect medium to light the fire, so to speak. She'd been planning it from the very beginning, to become a renowned demon slayer, someone akin to Van Hellsing. The prospect just sounded like a blast, and where games are involved all that matters is a good time, right?

Right!

Needless to say, the Brazilian was convinced that this was where her real adventure would begin. Thus, she set-off, equipment secured and a bounce in her step. She had asked the other Adventurer if she'd liked to come along, but the jittery girl had rejected the notion with a sheepish and hurried wave of her hands and a nervous quiver to her voice. Looked like someone was afraid of ghosts. That was too bad. Aw well.

"Wa-wait! You're not going right now, are you, Sunny," her brief acquaintance had asked, eyes darting towards the setting sun. The first star was already visible in the sky, glowing dull against the brilliance of dusk.

"Why not? These things are best suited for night anyway, you know," the Swashbuckler had responded with a good-humored and rather cocky grin as she bid her acquaintance farewell with a wave, crossed her arms, and headed in the direction of the house, leaving the stunned girl behind. To her credit, she actually kept her eyes on the fading Ritualist before scowling and setting her sights to the darkening sky above her.

"It's your funeral. . ."

~*~*~

She found herself just as much following a scent of food as she was the physical trail beneath her feet. Someone else was out here, and whether or not they were also heading for her destination didn't really matter that much to Sunny. Just as long as they were willing to share, she'd be just fine working with someone.

Sure enough, as the house came into the view, growing bigger and taller the closer she came to it, so did the blue-haired Adventurer nestled in front of the gate, cooking away. It was apparent to the Swashbuckler that he was also here for the ghosts. What was not apparent was why he seemed familiar to her. She was good as recognizing faces, but she couldn't quite pin-point his, even as she approached him and his features became clearer.

"Smells good. What is it," she asked, peering at his experiment.

---

words: 467
"Smells good. What is it," she asked, peering at his experiment.
Shuwen

[Valerie]

The dark haired Swashbuckler was wandering around the city of Londinium at about midnight. Most shops and restaurants were closed but few were still open. Valerie had stop outside of the one of the city’s most popular taverns, debating if she should go in. The girl had spent the earlier part of the day hunting monsters and only arrived back into the city a few minutes before. Her stomach growled, longing for meat and food, making the Adventurer grimace from the sound. Amazing smelling food drifted out of the tavern’s door and open window’s luring the girl in, which she eventually did after her impulses won over her worry of going alone into a tavern late at night.

When Valerie had eaten her fill, she relaxed and looked around the half empty tavern. She spotted a quest on the bulletin board and walked up to read it. It was about cleaning out a nobleman’s estate that had taken residence in the abandoned estate. The reward was not a lot, but enough for Valerie to spend a night or so in the quest instead of monster hunting. The Swashbuckler smiled when she saw that the land can only be accessed after dawn and took mental note on the location of the abandoned estate before she left the tavern.

Valerie had begun her day with some morning monster hunting before she started her journey into the Windsor Greatwood forest, where the estate was apparently located. She had walked for about an hour, with some detours, before the Swashbuckler’s nose caught the mouthwatering scent of meat. She had some breakfast about three hours ago but the girl’s stomach can always take more meat. Without another rational thought, Valerie ran ahead, straight into a monk-swashbuckler duo in front of the estate she was looking for. As soon as she saw other people, the Adventurer froze, not expecting other people to be already waiting at the estate’s entrance.

The girl blinked twice as she registered what she had just seen. A wolf hair monk had made a fire and was cooking up some meat and vegetables. From the smell, Valerie assumed he was chef considering how whenever she tried to cook, it never smelled like food. The man was about two inches taller than the brown haired swashbuckler. There was also a female swashbuckler who, by her tattoos, seemed to be one of the rare races, the race of ritual. The girl had dark chocolate colored skin and ochre colored eyes, it was an uncommon sight in Londinium but not unwanted. The ritual girl was an inch taller than Valerie, but it was not by much. Noting their heights, the smallest girl bit her lip, trying to conceal a smile. Most of the people she had met were about six feet tall, making the girl wonder if she had chosen the dwarf race instead of human.

The girl was never one to talk much and walked quietly over to the gate, tugging once but it didn’t budge. She quickly gave up, remembering the note that was on the quest about how the estate could only be accessed at night. Valerie plopped down beside the gate and closed her eyes, ignoring the others and being anti-social. She was still having difficulties getting to know people in Elder Tale and was being stubborn about trying to attempt to make friends in her new world.

Words: 567
OOC: Sorry I couldn't tag you all, tagging from my phone is rather difficult since I don't know your names. So do you prefer me tagging?

[Shuwen]

Words: 426

Luring in other adventurers to party up with took even less time then he expected. Perhaps he’d underestimated how far the smell of cooked food carried. Or it’s effectiveness, or something. Either way, he ended up with two other people on hand surprisingly quickly, though he wasn’t entirely sure if it was a good thing yet.

The first person to be lured in by the food was someone he knew, at least vaguely. The dark-skinned girl was one of the customers who’d shown up one of the nights he’d been working at the Salty Scrub. He hadn’t really remembered her name or anything, but he supposed it was at least someone he knew, sort of. He’d forgotten her name, but the interface was quick to remind him it was Sunny. For some reason she asked him what it was. To be honest, Shuwen thought that was a silly question, considering it was in plan sight in front of her, and that the smell of cooked food was rather distinct, but he chose not to make an issue of it.

“Dinner.”He replied with a grunt. “My dinner, specifically, but you can join in if you’re here to clear the place out.” He didn’t specify where he meant verbally, so he lifted one hand and pointed his thumb back towards the locked gate to indicate what he was talking about.

The second newcomer, who the interface indicated was named Valerie, seemed to be less social. She quickly tried to open the gate, before sitting off to one side. She didn’t say anything, but was most likely here for the same reason. Once the food was finished cooking, he repeated to her; “If you’re gonna help with the estate, you’re welcome to have some.” He then separated out three portions of meat and grilled vegetables onto different plates and passed two of them out to the swashbucklers. Now’s the time to talk to them, I think. Shuwen wasn’t exactly known for being very persuasive, but it would be hard for them to leave or turn him down, at least until they were finished eating. “Hey, uh, would you two mind partying up while we’re doing this? Judging from the size of the estate, I doubt any of us would be able to solo it. If this was still a game, I’d say it has all the hallmarks of a group quest.” Even though the level differences between them would have indicated otherwise, he figured having three of them would still be to his advantage, at least to some extent.

[Sunny]

It wasn't quite the response Sunny had been looking for; she'd really been expecting him to drop a name for whatever concoction he was mixing up, but hey, he was offering to share the meal with her, and Sunny couldn't possibly object with an offer like that on the table. "Oh. . .Well, thanks." She didn't sit right away, instead taking a gander at the rumored haunted estate. As far as looks went, it fit the bill for stereotypical spook houses. Just looking at it made her skin prickle. Of course, that quite possibly could also have been attributed to the cooling air of the ascending night. Either way, the Brazilian rubbed her arms and smirked at the prospects huddled within the four walls of that building.

This would be fun.

Another Adventurer had quietly appeared as Sunny studied the estate. Had she not bothered to fiddle with the locked gates, the Swashbuckler probably would not have noticed her at all. Ochre eyes watched her she settled next to the gate and closed her eyes, never uttering one word. To this, Sunny raised an eyebrow, unsure of what to make of the others. At least the other guy was being generous. It was then she decided to sit with him. Interface offered his name but did little else to jog her memory of where she'd seen him last. The Ritualist pursed her lips and considered just asking him if he recognized her but decided against it. She'd remember. She just needed a boost.

Food was passed around. Sunny uttered a "thank you" and grinned generously before digging-in, nodding at Shuwen's proposition. "Sounds like a plan to me." She didn't know the extent of their abilities, but Sunny had at least one skill that could prove useful for this kind of quest. She took another bite and eyed the estate.

---

words: 309

Shuwen
Valerie

ooc- Don't sweat the tagging, Val. ^^ Do what you can with what you have.

[Valerie]

The dark brown haired girl sat quietly, sinking into her own thoughts, trying to drown out the smell of food. Valerie tensed slightly as the monk spoke up to her. Her eyes peeked open to peer at the two adventurers in front of her, as she sat up straighter to face the duo. The interface showed the names and levels of the two Adventurers. The monk was named Shuwen and the ritual girl was named Sunny who was also a level one Swashbuckler. Valerie’s eyes throbbed slightly from opening her eyes to stare into the camp fire. The blue haired monk invited the lone girl to have some food on the condition that she was going to help clean the abandoned estate. The swashbuckler’s stomach churned annoyingly, calling out to the food that the monk passed over to her. She willingly accepted it, giving a small smile to him before digging into the meat. “Thank you.” She said, in between bites.

While she ate, the higher level monk began to talk about the quest they had unknowingly gathered together for. He asked if the two swashbucklers would mind if they partied together to clear the quest. Valerie shrugged and kept eating, until all her food was gone and being the first one to finish, and simply sat down and looked up into the sky, wishing night to quickly come. With new energy in her body, she stood up and walked around, pacing the front of the entrance of the mansion. The girl was restless with waiting and she crossed her arms over her chest to prevent her hands from trembling.

Valerie simply walked around and paced through the trees, drowning herself in thoughts before coming to a realization. She remembered that she hadn’t introduced herself to the two other players in the area. While every Adventurer could see another player’s names, it was rude to not introduce herself to someone and being in Elder Tale doesn’t give anyone an excuse to abandon their manners. The swashbuckler walked back and sat down. “Hello. Sorry for not introducing myself earlier. I’m Val.” She introduced, smiling softly but the smile never reached her eyes.

Words: 361

[Shuwen]

Words: 543

Despite the awkwardness of the situation, both of them were quick enough to accept the meal. I guess there’s some things you can always count on. He thought, smiling grimly.

The meat turned out to be pork; it had dropped from a few Pittered Boars he’d killed on the way there. Shuwen tried to cut costs when he could by using ingredient items obtained via field drops, though he still had to buy some things from vendors in order to complete the meal. As for how the food itself tasted, it wasn’t particularly delicious; Shuwen wasn’t exactly an expert cook, and even though it was certainly better then anything a non-chef could come up with, the two Swashbucklers would probably notice rather quickly it wasn’t exactly professional quality cooking. Small sections of the pork where noticeably charred, and the rest of it was unevenly seasoned, but it was still edible.

When he made his proposal, Sunny agreed quickly enough, but Valerie appeared unconvinced, which to Shuwen, seemed more then a little silly. So is she not planning to go in, or does she want to go in by herself? If it was the former, feeding her was a mistake, if it was the latter, then he couldn’t follow her reasoning.

This… isn’t getting anywhere. We’re too alike. Maybe it was because they were busy eating, but no one seemed to be interested in engaging in any conversation, and his own attempt to start dialogues fell flat. Even though the Monk hadn’t partied up with a lot of people in the past, he knew that it was a bad sign. Not as bad as when teammates were fighting of course, but people didn’t talk, it would be little different then playing solo; they might as well be playing alongside AIs. Considering he generally wasn’t any more talkative then they were, it was likely his fault, and as much as he hated it, it seemed to have fallen to him to correct it. This is totally gonna suck, isn’t it?

The second Swashbuckler suddenly introduced herself, her introduction was rather superfluous since she didn’t reveal anything other then her name, which they already knew from the interface, but at least she was making an attempt to be polite. Or was that her own attempt to continue the conversation? Either way, Shuwen jumped on it.

“Hey there, I’m Shuwen.” He said with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. “ I’m a Monk, Chef, and Priest. If we party up, I’ll probably end up taking the role of a tank. My favorite skills are Zoom Attack, Rafting Taunt, and Tiger Echo Fist. H-how about you g-girls?” There. He thought hopefully. He put a bit of himself out there, in hope that the other two would take interest in what he said, or at least feel compelled to do the same about themselves. Was it awkward? Definitely, but if they were going to party up, they’d need to know more about each other, preferably before the fighting started. Unfortunately, his nervousness started to get the better of him again before he was able to finish, and he ended up stuttering a couple times as he finished the last sentence, but thankfully it wasn’t so much that they’d have trouble understanding him.

[Sunny]

There was a heavy silence between the trio, one that Sunny would have ordinarily noticed had she not been stuffing her face and daydreaming about the coming events. By nature, she was a people-person. She just didn't think it was polite to talk with her mouth full. Regardless, she was also almost finished by the time the introductions made their rounds to her.

"I'm Sunny," she started, placing her plate and utensils in front of her lap. "I'm a Swashbuckler and an Exorcist, so I'll be able to add an extra ,how you say. . ."oomph" to our team tonight." She chuckled then, the excitement dripping from her teeth like honey. "It's nice to meet you both." Her eyes went from one teammate to the next, reading their expressions. Hopefully, they'd be able to pull together to complete the quest without tangling each other up too much.

And then ,as she eyed the blue-haired Monk once more, it clicked! The light-bulb went off in fantastical lights, and she could hear the harmonies of Shakira and Rihanna echoing through the back of her mind.

"Oh wait! I know you." Sunny leaned forward, singling out the Monk with her index finger. She'd finally figured it out. "The karaoke bar, right? You were serving drinks." He was also the one she'd whimsically teased during her performance, but she never did see him react to it. That was a wild night. She wondered if he remembered her at all. Sunny was certain that he didn't. If he was a regular at the Salty Scrub, he undoubtedly saw many people night-by-night.

---

words: 266

Valerie
Shuwen

[Valerie]

Valerie listened carefully to everyone else’s introduction, feeling slightly bad for not saying more. Right after the small swashbuckler finished, the monk, Shuwen, continued. He talked about his class and subclasses before mentioning his role in the possible fight that is to come. It was clear that the man was a chef, considering he hadn’t burnt it to a crisp, but the Priest subclass was not one that she particularly research about back in the real world. He also listed some of his skills, making the girl think back to some monk skills but none came to mind. Next, the ritual girl, Sunny, went as she finished her food. The other swashbuckler was also an Exorcist, making Valerie nod and smile in approval. The subclass name was a clear give-away about the other girl’s skills. It would be useful in a fight in an abandoned building considering the most monsters lurking within would probably be spirit or ghost like monsters.

As the girl was about to speak, Sunny leaned forward and pointed at the monk in recognition. Immediately, Valerie withdrew and waited patiently as the ritual girl seemed to have a bonding moment with Shuwen. The girl smiled briefly at the Exorcist, mildly amused by her actions. Though Valerie looked like the youngest out of the trio, she had a tendency of reacting like an adult watching children play around. She quietly sat and waited until the ritual girl finished her reunion before speaking.

“I’m also a Swashbuckler and a Dancer. My beginner subclass skill can change the nature of any monster in the area. For example, aggressive monster become wary and the wary become aloof, etcetera.” She said, giving a brief overview of her subclasses skill if they wanted to use it in the future. Seeing the dynamics of the trio, the Swashbuckler concluded that the monk could be the tank since he had the most heath and was the highest level Adventurer, the ritual girl could attack alongside Shuwen to exorcise any monsters that she could. Valerie, herself, could watch and support the group when possible since her subclass skill only works on monsters that are not already in combat. The level one swashbuckler had done her research before enter Elder Tale and had guessed this was the best option at the moment without knowing in depth what each player can do, however, the girl never voiced out a single thought about her current impromptu strategy.

Words: 408

[Shuwen]

Words: 607

Fortunately, they seemed to have picked up on his desire for increased dialogue. They didn’t include as much detail as he did, presumably because they hadn’t done much fighting yet, and had yet to develop their builds, so it was understandable. Sunny introduced herself next. He already knew her main class, so that was nothing new, but the fact she was an exorcist was a welcome piece of information, and easily the most notable detail she supplied. That explains why she decided to participate. As a exorcist, she’ll have a definitely compatibility advantage over the undead. That said, due to her low level, she probably hadn’t developed her subclass related abilities yet, so he wasn’t sure how big of an advantage that would be. Not that I’m really one to talk either. He thought ruefully. The Priest’s barrier skill would probably be useful in fighting what they were likely to be fighting, but he hadn’t leveled his subclass enough to use it yet, so he couldn’t really complain about it to someone who was much lower leveled now could he?

She also brought up the last time they’d met, at the Salty Scrub. “Er, yes, that was me” He responded. Wait, she didn’t recognize me until now? He’d read in books that a service industry uniform was almost as good as a disguise, since people didn’t usually pay much attention to you once they could fit you into such a category, but he hadn’t ever had a chance to test that theory. Judging from her reaction, it was at least partially true.

Next, Valerie gave them more information about herself, namely information about her subclass, a rarely taken one called Dancer. If her explanation was accurate, she could apparently reduce the hostility of nearby monsters. He wasn’t entirely sure if that would be enough against what they were up against. With my luck, the monsters will likely be hostile eough to kill on sight. But since he didn’t really have any way of knowing yet, he held his tongue.

As she finished speaking, Shuwen quickly looked up to check the time. He couldn’t see the exact location of the sun due to the trees blocking his view of the horizon, but he guessed they didn’t have a lot of time before sundown. If they were going to discuss anything else before they started, their best option would probably be combat tactics. He briefly took a look at the sheathed equipment at everyone’s sides. Sunny was carrying a grimore and a pistol, while Valerie had a pair of daggers. Shuwen himself was packing a few throwing needles, though they weren’t quite as big or obvious. So Valeries is probably using a typical melee build, while Sunny seems to use a magic/ranged build, or something. The latter was somewhat unusual for a Swashbuckler, especially the ‘magic’part.

“Okay, Sunny, you’re a ranged fighter, right? You’ll probably need this then.” After a quick scroll through his inventory, Shuwen selected an item and retrieved it; a Potion of NightEye. “This potion gives night vision for a short time after it’s drunk. You’ll probably need it more then me, so you can have it. But it doesn’t last a long time, so I’d advise saving it for a particularly tough fight, or something equally difficult.” Sunny was probably going to have the hardest time among the three of them. Despite being an exorcist, the lack of proper illumination would probably hinder Sunny most of all, since she was a ranged attacker. Shuwen also had some ranged options, but the Hearing aptitude skill, combined with some cheap disposable projectiles would probably suffice for him.

[Sunny]

To give him credit, at least the Monk wasn't leaving Sunny hanging. From her view-point, he didn't seem all that impressed by her revelation, which only confirmed her suspicions that he didn't remember her from that night. She couldn't say she was surprised. They'd been at a karaoke bar. The lighting in those places tended to be ,well, nonexistent when one didn't count the stage lights.

Anyway, with that itch scratched, Sunny slipped back into place, relinquishing the spotlight to Valerie. The girl was quiet, but she knew how to get to the point. The Brazilian hadn't done much research on the Dancer subclass, but it sounded fascinating. She didn't know how much use Valerie would be able to get out of her abilities on this particular quest, but the Ritualist was looking forward to finding out. It was going to be interesting seeing how the trio's abilities weaved together, if they did at all, that is to say.

As far as strategies went, Sunny was all-ears. She knew her build well enough, as underdeveloped as it currently was, and knew her place was beyond the reach of the beasties. She wasn't entirely confident that her gun would make much difference this time around, but the grimoire would do in a pinch. When offered the potion, the Swashbuckler accepted it with a nod -"Thank you"- eyeing it curiously as she turned the bottle in her hand. When she got her fill of it, the potion disappeared into her inventory, saved for a rainy day.

The trio sat at the edge of impending night. Sunny was half-expecting a clock tower to mark the hour, unseen but definitely heard. It only seemed appropriate, given the theme of the quest. "So have either of you come up against anything like this before?

---

words: 299

Valerie
Shuwen

[Valerie]

While Valerie was thinking of battle strategies, she noticed the blue haired monk glancing at both girls and his eyes seemed to rest on their weapons. As he begun to talk to Sunny about her abilities and the girl’s lips quirked up in a small grin as she realized he was doing the same thing as she was, analyzing his companions to find their ideal place in battle. Shuwen offer the Ritualist a potion that enables night vision for the user who accepted it and the potion disappeared into the other Swashbuckler’s inventory and silence returned.

Valerie’s dark violet eyes scanned over the area and waited patiently for dawn to arrive. She was normally quite impatient and restless, being the active and energetic girl she was, but around strangers, the girl did nothing but sat incredibly still and sank into her thoughts. If she were alone, the girl would have probably started to hum a familiar tune and dance the day away until the gates opened, but she was not alone, so she left the dancing to remain in her head. She summoned up a song that she distantly remembered from the real world and hummed it softly, almost inaudible except to herself. As the song stabilized, she began to choreograph a dance for it and closed her eyes, sighing softly, as her body ached to move and dance.

As she was almost finished with her dance, she heard a distant female voice and her eyes blinked open to stare at the dark skinned swashbuckler. Sunny had asked if they had every encountered such a quest, or that was what Valerie had thought she had asked. “Uh, if you mean a quest that asked to clear out an area, then no, I have not.” She told the other girl as she turned her gaze to stare at the abandoned estate. The dancer stared into the horizon, wishing the sun would just disappear so they could enter the estate and get on with the quest.

Finally after a relatively long mental debate, the Swashbuckler finally made the decision to ask the other two a question. “Hey… Um, do you know when the gates will open?” She asked, glancing back and forth between the two Adventurers, hoping for an answer that sounded a lot like moon. The setting sun was getting on her nerves, as every beat of her heart told her that she was wasting time waiting when she could have been elsewhere fighting other low level monsters to level up. Being a level one Swashbuckler was getting on her nerves, not being able to do anything but use the same four skills during a fight. Valerie was a Swashbuckler and her class was one that had a rich repertoire of skills but being stuck with three was beginning to irk her but the antisocial girl shook her head to clear her thoughts of angry and frustration as she refocused herself onto the incoming fight.

Words: 494

[Shuwen]

Words: 738

As he continued to talk, the others began to open up a little more, though not as much as he would have liked. Sunny started off by asking about their experience regarding what they were about to deal with. “Nope. That’s one of the reasons I’m doing this.” He responded quickly. While he'd had that stint in the miasma realm, they'd probably be dealing with a different sort of monster then that. Well, that and to level up my priest subclass. He added silently. There weren’t a lot of demands amongst the Landers for a priest’s services, and those that were tended to be things like dealing with corruption from the miasma realm. Shuwen found that to be a little odd, since last he checked, Priests were supposed to do a bit more then that. Regardless, after the amount of time he’d had to spend in the Miasma realm for that quest, he wasn’t really interested in setting foot there again for a while. Dealing with a haunted country estate looked like a much tamer option, a good way for him to level it up more casually.

Valerie asked about the gate, and when they'd be able to go on in. He guessed she wasn't interested in chit chatting, and wanted to get over and done with the whole affair. It made the Monk a little sad to be honest, but he concealed that behind a fake smile. “My guess is after sundown. That’s what the ad said, right?” He turned westward. They couldn’t see the sun’s location, due to the trees of Windsor obscuring the horizon, but judging from the sky’s color, it was probably pretty close to sundown. The western sky sill had streaks of red and pink, while the eastern half was a dark blue. “Most of the things inside are supposed to be spookies, right? Ghosts and zombies and all that. I’m guessing either whatever’s supposed to open the gate can’t come out before dark will open it, or the things inside don’t want to deal with both whoever challenges them and the daylight at the same time.” Generally speaking, that would be a bad sign; having to fight the enemy on it’s own terms or not at all, but the fact that whatever they were challenging couldn’t bring itself to face them during the day indicated it was likely relatively weak. So the implications couldn’t really be said to be particularly good or bad.

Almost on cue, the gates opened, groaning loudly as they did. There wasn’t any apparent reason for them to open; like as not, they’d simply opened themselves, a mechanic Shu had seen before in “haunted” areas of certain video games. In his experience, it was simply best not to dwell on it. “The sun must have set, or something.” He said redundantly. However, instead of heading in right away, Shuwen stayed seated, making sure to finish off his portion of dinner, taking a moment to do so. When he was done he returned the cooking gear back into his inventory. “Sorry for the wait, but there’s not much point in rushing into a dungeon unless there’s a time limit.” He tried to explain, though he wasn’t sure if they’d care or not. “Now then, we’d better…” His voice trailed off as he began to manipulate his interface. A few seconds later, both Sunny and Valerie would receive party request notifications, allowing them to decide whether to join up in a party with the monk or not.

As they walked through the gate, they would be able to see more of the estate, that had previously been obscured by the barrier around it. A winding pathway led from the gate to the main building, which was three stories tall, and wide enough to occupy most of the area. The house's exterior was decorated in a gothic style, quite fitting for a haunted house. As expected, it was also wasn't in very good shape; vines grew all over the walls, tiles, windowpanes and other things could be seen in various states of disrepair. Around it were several modest outbuildings of unknown purpose and function. There didn’t seem to be any monsters or anything else in the area, at least none that they could see, but now that the sun had gone down, the area was beginning to rapidly grow dark. Soon, it would most likely be unquestionably as dark as night.

[Sunny]

The idea of the quest being a new experience for everyone pumped Sunny's blood. She liked mystery, shedding light on the unknown. More than anything, she liked doing all that with a group. Just like-. . .What was that old American cartoon called again? The one with the talking dog and the van? Scoobadee? She couldn't remember off-hand. At any rate, soloing was boring. Games were not meant to be played by yourself. What kind of fun could anyone possibly have going in alone? She didn't get it, but then, Sunny really, really liked people. She was sure that played a huge factor in her style of gaming.

. . . .

No wait. . .It was "Scooby Doo". That was the name!

At Valerie's question, Sunny was reminded of the details that the frightened Adventurer had given her regarding the spooky mansion, but she recalled nothing about the gate. Perhaps, she'd been in too much of a rush to get to her destination to listen any further, or maybe the other Adventurer had just forgotten to mention that crucial point, being as shaken up as she had been. Either way, the Swashbuckler had no clue. That being said, she wasn't honestly shocked when the Monk mentioned sunset playing a factor. It made sense, setting the mood of the quest and all that. It wouldn't feel like a real ghost hunt if done in the middle of the day.

Speaking of setting the mood. . .At the sound of moaning hinges, Sunny glanced towards the gates, smirking as they opened at a creeping pace. The Swashbuckler stood and stretched before making her way to the open gates, only pausing when she realized that not everyone was ready. She was excited, not impatient, so she leaned against the wall and waited, eyes darting between the darkening sky, the Monk, and Valerie.

With dinner wrapped and party requests sent and accepted, they were ready to set out. On the path, the Ritualist watched the house, studied its windows , and kept her senses open for any ambushes hidden along the path.

"You think the Lady in White is strolling around here," Sunny asked jokingly, a mischievous glint set in her eyes as she grinned.

---

words: 372

Shuwen
Valerie

[Valerie]

Apparently, the monk had never done such a thing as well, but the Swashbuckler was not too surprised. It wasn’t like there were countless abandoned Lander estates that were waiting to be cleaned out. After Valerie’s question about the gate, the monk replied with a strange smile on his face. The Swashbuckler’s mind spun, trying to find a reason the monk was smiling. Maybe he was just super friendly, but many times, smiles were used to cover something up, but Valerie just shrugged it off. There was no way, she was going to ask a new acquaintance the reason for smiling. His answer was simple and pretty much in line with what the ad had stated and Valerie nodded. As he continued talking about the quest, Shuwen seemed rather wary, and almost anxious about the quest. Perhaps it was the ghost like monsters and zombies that caused the monk to be wary, but those things didn’t faze the girl, not in the game. The only thing she worried about was if the zombies smelled bad.

After a bit, the gates swung open, sounding an eerie creaking sound. Valerie’s head snapped over at the sound, thinking there were monsters, but she only saw the gate open, revealing the estate. The Swashbuckler turned to the higher level Adventurer and saw him finishing his meal and cleaned up his gear. Her fellow Swashbuckler stood up immediately, ready to go, but waited along for her two other companions, so Valerie stood up and brushed off her clothes and waited along with Sunny. As the monk finished packing, he apologized for the wait but Valerie shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.” The Swashbuckler said softly as she turned away to face the estate, scouting out the areas she could see. A few seconds later, a party request popped up in front of Valerie and it asked if she would like to join Shuwen’s party. The girl tapped accept and the screen disappeared as suddenly as it had previously appeared.

Then the party stared walking into the estate, passing by the gate to see the rest of the semi-hidden land. There was a twisting path that led the group to the large mansion. The building stood quite high and bore an overgrown gothic appearance, fitting for the quest, with different kinds of vegetation growing around the abandoned building. The area surrounding the path appeared to be free of monsters at the moment, but as the night falls, who knows what will pop up from the ground. Then the Exorcist began to joke around, asking if the Lady in White would be around. Valerie simply chuckled softly under her breath at Sunny’s comment. “Perhaps she will be the first one to greet us.” She teased back softly and kept walking. The Dancer was never one to talk much, but the light hearted atmosphere made it easier to joke around, which the girl will likely to add to the jokes. Valerie was horrible at making jokes, but pretty good at making them better or continuing them.

Words: 509

[Shuwen]

Words: 528

They walked through the gate. Nothing jumped them right away, which Shuwen was half expecting to happen. Perhaps they weren’t going to be assaulted until they reached the house? Sunny made a comment about the ‘Lady in White’, which sounded vaguely familiar, but from where he couldn’t say. Was that a reference to something? I can’t recall Valerie seemed to know what she was talking about, and Shuwen didn’t want to kill the mood by being the idiot who asked for the source, so he didn’t say anything. He could always mull it over later. Or right now. Grrr, what’s it from? He hated when he couldn’t pick up on references like that.

Fortunately, he was broken out of that irritating stupor by the sound of the earth around his feet cracking, and a bony hand grabbing one of his ankles. “Gyah!” Surprised by both the suddenness of the attack, and the very unpleasant feeling of a skeleton’s hand on his leg, he stumbled backward and landed flat on his butt with an “Oof.” His sudden change in orientation broke the hand’s grip on him, but he’d soon have bigger problems to worry about.

Four skeletons, their bones long since bleached white quickly dug their way out from the ground in front of the trio, the closest being the one that had grabbed Shuwen’s ankle. They were both armed and armored; their armor consisting of incomplete piecemeal sets of rusted iron. One was armed with a sword and shield, another with a long spear. A third carried a large hammer with both hands, while the last one wielded an axe in each hand. They didn’t speak, merely making rattling and clicking sounds as their bones moved against each other. With their skin and muscles gone, they couldn’t make expressions, but their exposed teeth and jaws were locked in the shape of menacing grins. All in all, it was a rather creepy sight.

“Well, here’s the welcoming party.” Shuwen growled. The closest one swung it’s sword down on him, but it’s movement was stiff he managed to evade by rolling to one side. The others looked like they were about to go for the other two adventurers, but Shuwen yelled “Come and get it!” using the Rafting Taunt skill to force them to focus on him for the next few seconds. During that time, Shuwen would scramble to his feet and start backing up, giving Sunny and Valerie a shot at their flank.

Let’s see how they handle themselves. He thought grimly. The skeletons didn’t seem to be very high leveled, but they could do quite a bit of damage if they ganged up on a single opponent. Shuwen could have probably handled them through careful use of his area of effect attacks and kiting so they’d be forced to fight him one on one, but he wanted to see how the two Swashbucklers handled themselves, so he decided to let them make the first move on the enemy monsters. Besides, he’d already said he’d play the role of a tank; it was best to let the damage dealers be the ones that actually dealt damage to the enemy.

[Sunny]

The glint remained, twinkling as Valerie joined in the teasing. There was a partial seriousness to Sunny's comment. She wasn't completely knowledgeable on the game's bestiary outside of what she'd seen hanging around the outskirts of Londinium. The Swashbuckler secretly hoped they'd encounter something from popular legend. She'd be surprised if she saw anything from Brazilian folklore; that'd be asking for too much, she supposed. The Lady in White was something wide-spread, however, a legend shared nation-by-nation, even if the differences were in the details. At any rate, the Ritualist kept her hopes high and her eyes level with the playing field, not wanting to be ambushed by brain-craving zombies or something-whatever.

Speaking of the devil. . .

It started with the sound of caving earth, but it didn't register to Sunny that they were under attack until moments later, when the Monk cried out and fell backwards. She saw the hand extending from the ground and instinctively lost it.

"Nossa Senhora!" Not that a saint could help them with a game. . .

Eyes wide, mouth slightly jarred, the Brazilian leapt backwards and immediately went for her gun, waiting for Shuwen to move it so she could blow the thing's arm clear-off. Only thing was, limb-by-limb, it proved that it wasn't alone. It had friends. That was nice. Sunny couldn't tell if her nerves were flared from fear. . .or just plain excitement. Either way, she prepared herself, eyes narrowing in the grinning face of the undead. When the Monk called attention to himself using a taunt, the Ritualist took advantage of their turned backs and -instead of popping a cap in one of their bony bodies- activated her one-and-only Exorcist skill: Holy Banishment. Hand glowing in the shadow-bathed area, she unleashed a holy laser directed at the ax-wielding skeleton. Despite being out-leveled by the monster, Sunny's attack did its job and pushed the skeleton backwards, tacking-on elemental damage for tops.

In the midst of the cool down, she kept herself prepared to dodge as the thing turned its blood-lust on her and began its approaching lurch, ax slicing through the air.

---

words: 353

Valerie
Shuwen

[Valerie]

Soon after Valerie’s comment about being greeted by the Lady in White, who the Swashbuckler only assumed was a female ghost from the little words given by the Ritualist, the ground began to rumble and a white boney hand sprouted from the ground and latch onto Shuwen’s leg. The monk fell over with a yelp and Sunny said something in a different language she didn’t understand, causing the Swashbuckler to jump slightly in surprise, more from the sudden sound than the slight off bones sprouting from the ground. The Dancer took a step away onto studier land and steadied herself, widening her base and quickly withdrew her twin daggers, one right hand holding a black dagger that blended into the night and a pale silver one in her left that shone under the moonlight. She saw Sunny out of the corner of her eyes as noticed the girl do the same, jumping back, drawing her weapon.

Her eyes scanned the rising monsters in the area, spotting four skeletons with mismatched armor. One with a sword and shield, one with a spear, one with a two handed hammer and the last one who dual wielded to axes. The armor on the bones, along with the clashing of jaws, created a dry rattling sound mixed with inconsistent clicking. It was a song without a steady rhythm, the beat misplaced and random, making Valerie’s jaw clench angrily.

According to the monk, the four skeletons were the trio’s welcoming party and the Swashbuckler just laughed dryly as she eyed the sharp ends of the skeleton’s bones. From her spot, she watched as the sword bearing monster swung at Shuwen, who rolled away, avoiding the attack before taunting the pale white skeletons with his words and an unfamiliar monk skill that seemed to draw attention to the monk. The Dancer saw the opportunity open before her eyes and hummed a quick thank you to Shuwen, before darting around to popped up behind the monsters and launching herself onto the back of the closest monster, the hammer wielding skeleton.

Valerie slashed both daggers down along its back before darting around it and jumping into the middle of the four skeletons, falling into a crouch and stretched out her arms, pointing her daggers outward and activated [Shuffle Windmill], rising up into a standing position. The skill made the girl spin around four times, cutting all four monsters around her. Once the skill ended, Valerie jumped out of the group of skeletons, dragging her daggers out of the side of the two back skeletons, the dual wielding and hammer skeleton.

Considering Sunny seemed to be taking on the dual wielding monster, the Dancer whirled around to face the hammer wielding monster. Since the monster used a large hammer, it would be rather slow with its attacks, but one hit would be deadly for the level one Swashbuckler. Valerie slowly led the monster away from the rest of her party, so that it would be easier to uses attacks like Straights and Shuffle Windmill without having to worry about hitting Sunny or Shuwen. The Swashbuckler danced around the skeleton, slashing the pale white bones that made up most of the monster. As she made her way to the front of the skeleton, she slashed her daggers on its forearms, or rather where the monster’s forearms were supposed to be while it still had flesh, using [Viper Raise] to slow the monster even more. Though the monster had no flesh, the skill animated blood flowing from the skeleton’s forearms.

Words: 589
OOC: Val will finish off the skeleton in the next post. By the way, what level are the monsters? because it would be easier to write the fight...
[edited to place brackets over skills. I will only bracket the ones used, not mentioned]

[Shuwen]

Words: 512

Sunny only reacted to the ambush marginally better then Shuwen did, but once she recovered, she acted the most unexpectedly; she fired a beam of light from one hand, striking the axer, dealing significant damage and knocking it back.

The skeletons were relatively close together, but not so close that Valerie could hit all four of them at once with a melee attack; her daggers didn’t have nearly that much reach.. She was able to get in between and strike two of them with Shuffle Windmill, but the others were too far away to do so. The skeletons probably would have counter attacked; they were slow, but not that slow, but Shuwen’s rafting taunt briefly kept them from targeting anyone but the monk, so they went after him, not sticking around to take the full brunt of Valerie’s attack. But once the taunt wore off, the ones closet turned back towards the other two and began attacking them. Valerie used another skill to slow down the hammer wielding skeleton, tryin to take advantage of the difference in their attack speeds, but instead of taking the time to bring it’s hammer up and hitting her with the head, it attempted to bash her head with the handle instead. As she was in the midst of attacking at the time, it would be extremely difficult to dodge under those circumstances, interrupting her in the mid-strike.

Shuwen, meanwhile noticed that Rafting Taunt had worn off, and needed to do something else to grab their attention in order to maintain his role as the party tank. Circling around, he got roughly in the middle of the four skeletons, then quickly jumped up and came down using Aura Kick. Unlike Valerie’s Windmill skill, Aura kick was an area of effect attack with a range of one meter in all (presumably horizontal) directions. It functioned similarly to the Tiger Echo Fist skill, which was a favorite among monks, except rather then inflicting knock back, it drew agro in addition to dealing damage, which was Shuwen’s primary intent in using the skill. What he didn’t count on was the sheer amount of damage it inflicted due to the level difference. It completely wiped out the remaining HP of the axer and and the hammer wielder, who had already taken major poundings from the two swashbucklers. The remaining two, the sword and shield wielder and the spearman, lost significant amounts of HP, the swordsman less so since it had raised it’s shield to reduce the incoming damage, but still had some fight with them. “Eh… oops.” He thought, scratching his head awkwardly. He hadn’t counted on doing that much damage to them, and disrupting the fight as it was.

“Er… s-sorry for kill stealing.” It wasn’t as big a deal this time since experience points were shared more or less equally amongst party members, but he’d been scolded for it in the past. He was going to say more, but he was interrupted by the sound of the two skeletons coming after him, their agro now firmly locked on Shuwen.

[Sunny]

Teeth-grit and eyes narrowed in keen focus, Sunny anticipated the skeleton's strike, the dual-axes catching the moonlight on their smooth, sharp edges. She ignored the gooseflesh prickling along her neck and just waited, numbers counting down in her head.

-7. . .6. . .-

It struck, twin blades slicing the air as the holder spun in a cutting whirlwind. Dodging was a feeling rather than a thought or order, her body flying backwards, hair beating against the back of her head.

-3. . .2. . -

She drew her gun, finger already on the trigger. She aimed. . .

-1.

There was a cracking sound, but it wasn't from a bullet hitting bone but rather from a cutting shockwave. The skeleton fell, didn't get back up, and bubbled into the air, down for the count. Sunny's narrowed eyes scanned the scene, noted the two remaining foes and Valerie, and then landed on the Monk. He'd probably think she was angry with him. She was just caught up in the heat of the battle. Nothing more. The Ritualist nodded at his apologies and prepared to finish the fight.

"Heads-up," she'd call-out, aiming her pistol at the sword-wielding skeleton. With its attention drawn to Shuwen, it was doubtful it'd have the sense to block whatever attack that was coming from beyond its locked-target. Lips pursed tightly -as if that would help her aim- she fired, Magnum Shot sending a single bullet into the armed skeleton. It chinked against the old armor, but that didn't discourage the Swashbuckler in the slightest as she watched the skeleton slide across the floor. The nature of the attack wasn't necessarily damaging; like the preceding Holy Banishment, it had more of a knock-back effect than anything else. Sunny wanted to catch it off-guard so that the Monk could catch his breath and finish it off before another attack came his way. Or perhaps even Valerie. Sunny had to make a note of watching her teammates, try to weave her attacks with theirs, so that they wouldn't tangle up one another or waste an attack.

---

words: 347

Valerie
Shuwen