ii. the search [private]

[Holly]

Holly sighed. He really couldn't believe that the two girls were still mocking his name choice. All the way from the town, the two girls kept saying that it was still girly and Holly defensively would react each time. In his final attempt to defend his 'girly name,' Holly stated."At least it's not some XxYoloswaghotshot360xX or something." Perhaps he should have thought of another name and be a bit more creative, but he was never the type to think up names. At least it wasn't crazy. Nevertheless, it seemed that the two of them were okay with venturing out to locate the red haired girl.

He wasn't even able to take a step before he felt Sanyu pull him by his arm. She was definitely a take charge type of person, but a bit too lively. It wasn't long before the two Windsor Greatwoods. The group seemed a tad bit hesitant to enter, but in the end they knew they would have to to find the red haired girl. When Sanyu had brought up the thought of her possibly dying, he began to wonder again about those possibilities. He hadn't personally seen or heard of anyone dying yet since he had logged into Elder Tale, so he wasn't sure what would happen. In any game like this, if you die you would respawn somewhere. However, since this wasn't really a game anymore, would the same rules apply?

"Does anyone know where she might have gone? She ran out this way, but I don't know where she could have gone," he stated as the group continued to walk around. He wasn't sure himself where she could have ran off to, but this was definitely where she exited out of if she kept running. He just wondered if she was actually okay. Looking to his side toward Aria, he could tell that the girl was somewhat worried with all that was happening. Ever since they actually partied up together, she was quiet and wasn't really that talkative. "You said this is your first game then, huh? Why did you decide to pick up an MMO?" He tried to keep the mood friendly.

361
Sanyu, Aria
happy adventuring

LAIKA OF GS!

[sanyu]

appetizer work hard play hard serve bars stay sharp

"Well she wasn't in town, so that must mean she left to the forest." He said as they ventured out of the safezone. He had his hand on his rapier, prepared for any attacks, but he was so not prepared. He didn't know how to fight in general, let alone a weapon, what if they get attacked by something they can't handle, granted the first area is built for newbies, but they basically give a whole new meaning to the term. "Lets just... not get attacked, ok?"

He jinxed it. A few moments after saying that, four Tanuki creatures appeared. At first, Sanyu thought they were cute, then realized why they were Tanuki. "Thats... kinda... disturbing." He stared them down, not moving in fear of being attacked.

He looked at Holly, hoping he'd get the message. "You're the tank... go draw agro or... something." He didn't really understand how agro would be drawn now that they were actually in the game, but he didn't want to be the target for their attacks.

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

[Aria]

[attr="class","prty"]

Sooyoung couldn’t help but giggle a little as Holly got all defensive over his name choice. ”You probably wouldn’t hear the end of it if you had such a dumb name…” she would comment. She didn’t really care that his name was rather effeminate, in all honesty. It was just a character name, yeah? And besides, the name seemed to suit him one way or another. It’s not like her name was particularly creative anyway. Aria was just related to music, of which she was partially a singer by profession. As they began venturing outside of the town, he asked her a question regarding why she decided to play an online game. She thought about it for a bit, wondering just how she should respond. ”Me? I was just bored and wanted to do something different. I’ve never played video games before so I was like what the hell, why not.” she would eventually respond with a shrug. It wasn’t totally off the mark, but she purposely made her choice sound a lot more whimsical than it actually was. How could she admit that she was tired of putting on a façade in real life as a consequence of the pressure of being an idol? Eventually, the trio would encounter a group of monsters. They were quite cute at first glance. That was until one noticed the tanuki prominent feature. Sooyoung herself was slightly amused and she couldn’t help but make a remark, ”Seriously? Those are some huuuge nuts! Is this even legal?” As for how to battle, well, Sooyoung had no clue what she was supposed to do. But she was a healer class, so it’s not like she had to worry about doing anything just yet. Hopefully the monsters wouldn’t be too strong or her new acquaintances wouldn’t take any damage. After all, the healer didn’t even know how to access her spells…

LAIKA OF GS!

[newclass=".prty"]position: relative; z-index: 2;[/newclass]

[Death Lotus]

WORDS TAGS NOTES LYRICS W/E ?

It came to pass that the game wasn't too hard... Well, the game was hard, but it wasn't outside of her capability to handle. Her body didn't need any time to get warm up to the use of different fighting techniques and abilities. Her body had been part of the game ever since it was created. It was the mind inside the body that needed to become accustomed to telling the body what to do. Previously, telling the body what to do was done through clicking buttons. Like most people, it took some time to figure out the most comfortable way to reach the buttons. Also, there were different rotations that each class used in various situations that arose. Cassiopeia remembered when she was a little nublet that could hardly keep up her dps. Before this whole ordeal, she'd long overcome that. As she walked around the woods, she couldn't help but think about the fox girl she'd just come across. Lucky for her, she seemed nice, even though Cassiopeia didn't wish to stay around her. What would she do if someone were to be not so nice? She rose her finger up, an idea popping into her head like a light bulb flicking on. "If someone were to surprise me, I'm sure I could use some of the assassin's hiding abilities." A solid idea if ever she had one. Assassins specialized in striking quickly and from the shadows. Essentially, they were the melee equivalent of the sorcerer. With high burst damage, great sustain dps, and a small amount of utility, assassins have always been a valued class. Groups normally consisted of at least one assassin, both because having too many melees would destroy the group composition, but assassins often fought over gear. For whatever reason, people playing assassins didn't like to share loot. Cassiopeia was different on the rare occasion she grouped with people. She was very sweet and giving, although that was due to her easily submissive nature. "Ah ha," she said as she sifted through the menus. "I can use all my techniques." It was true, everything from the game was there for her to access. She wouldn't attempt some of the more difficult techniques until she felt more relaxed, but it was nice to know they were there. Luckily, the one she wanted to use was pretty low on the totem pole. It was learned very early, and she remembered using it to hide from people in her shyness when she first started. It became more useful later when scouting and doing different quests. "Hiding Entry," she said softly to herself. On command, her body began to fade as light twisted around her. It felt a little weird, like her body was heating up, but it wasn't enough to bother her. Shortly after, the heating sensation faded away and she felt a little cold. It was as if the sunlight wouldn't even touch her. Strange. a little tiring to hold, but it felt as if she were really doing it. Of course she had no way of knowing if it were really working. She began walking around and by chance stumbled onto a group of people in front of creatures similar to the one she fought. They looked familiar, but she couldn't place their faces. She shrugged it off as she continued to walk by. It seemed neither the group of people or the creatures could see her. That was the intended use of her ability, and it reminded her even more of the early days. Good and bad memories drifting into her mind as she got lost in the woods again.

LAIKA OF GS!

[Holly]

At least someone wasn't ragging on him for his name choice. Well, at least not as much as Sanyu. Either way, he had to let go of the name issue sooner or later. For now, the focus was on finding the red haired girl and also trying to stay alive. Holly was still unsure of what would happen if their hit points hit zero. He tried his best to keep his mind from that, but the truth is that it was something he was most concerned about. The only thing that kept him away from the topic, even if it was for a short time, was his new acquaintances. Having someone else to talk to made him feel comfortable. That being said, Aria responded to his earlier question.

There was very little time to think up a response before the group was startled by a mob of animals. Looking at the creatures, Holly saw that the creatures were a Tanuki, a low level mob. Holly was startled for a moment before Sanyu pointed out what he should be doing. "Right, I knew that," he stated. Stepping forward, Holly drew out his shield and lance and was prepared to start combat. That was at least until Aria pointed something out. "Wait, what?" Her words alone made him lose focus on what he was doing or what he was suppose to be doing. Trying to find his focus again wasn't too difficult as one of the Tanuki leaped forward to attack him.

"Whoa," he stated as he took some damage. "That hurt..I guess we'll be able to feel the pain, huh? Should have guessed that." Stepping forward again, he began to think how to handle this situation, but realized he wasn't sure what to do. The mobs were beginning to attack too quickly and he couldn't access his menu fast enough before they moved. Even with his experience in mmos, this situation was one hundred percent different. "Uhhhh, little help!" He stated, looking behind him. "I don't know how to use skills like this!"

343
Sanyu, Aria
happy adventuring

LAIKA OF GS!

[sanyu]

appetizer work hard play hard serve bars stay sharp

"Yes that is... an amazing observation there..." He really didn't know how to respond to her pointing out he balls of the Tanuki. They were there, so there was no actual way to ignore them, but it just seemed a tad bit unnecessary. It seemed as though he wasn't the only one bewildered by her comment, Holly was taking damage now, too distracted to block. "Great, heal him."

He took off his top hat and reached into it, pulling out a rapier. "Now... how do I use abilities?" He began to open the menu, much like how they did in the game, but realized one of the monsters had turned their attention  to him. 'ok, no time!' He closed the menu and attempted to stab the monster, missing by a margin, but giving it reason to back away. Taking his rapier he charged at the monster, continuously attempting to stab it, to no avail. 

In the game they had to choose the attack, like a lot of mmos, but now being in the perspective of the character themselves, how does it seem to the characters. They don't use any menus, only the players do, so wouldn't it be natural to them? Concentrating, iSanyu pooled energy into his blade. "Thunderclash!" The blade grew bright, momentarily surprising he monsters, allowing him to catch one off guard and kill it. "Well, that wasn't too bad." He turned to the other two. "Don't think of this as a game, you're part of this world now." 

As he was distracted, one of the Tanuki jumped behind him, knocking his hat away and biting his head. "Ohmyneepinggod get it off!" He dropped is rapier, causing it to lose its enchantment.

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

[Aria]

[attr="class","prty"]

The moment Sooyoung heard Holly respond, she couldn’t help but laugh rather obnoxiously. Something about watching some oversized rodent with giant balls leaping forward to attack was hilarious. It could have kept the girl in quite an upbeat mood had it not been for the fact that he had mentioned how it actually hurt to be attacked. ”Hurts to be hit…” Sooyoung would think to herself, allowing a sullen expression to glance over her face before returning to neutrality. Realizing that they could feel pain in this artificial reality inevitably made her wonder if death would be more than virtual. Weren’t video games supposed to be fun? Fearing for life over an uncertain death in a battle against monsters wasn’t exactly her definition of entertainment. But for now, all she could do was do her best to not find out. Hearing the other girl command her to heal him, Sooyoung nodded, intent on making sure she did her job. After all, as the cleric or whatever her class was called, it was her duty to make sure that the health bar of her teammates were maintained at a certain level. In other words, their lives may very well rest in her hands. ”No pressure, huh…?” the girl thought to herself. She knew what it was like for people to have expectations from her. Going out on the stage and performing could be quite nerve-wracking. Earlier in her career, Sooyoung had been terrified even hours before any concerts. Sure, she did get used to it, but the potential consequences of failing her job was incomparable. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like these monsters were particularly powerful. ”Got no clue what the hell I’m doing.” Saying that, she just looked around, wondering what to do. How were skills used in other games? Absorbed into solve this problem, Sooyoung only began paying attention once again after hearing Sanyu freak out. Looking her way, the cleric only saw that the tanuki monster was biting the smaller girl. Running toward it, the girl took her staff, her clear blue eyes locking onto the creature’s balls. ”Take this!” she would shout, using the head of her rod to slap the creature’s nether regions.

LAIKA OF GS!

[newclass=".prty"]position: relative; z-index: 2;[/newclass]

[Holly]

The Tanuki were beginning to surround the three of them and although the three of them weren't taking too much damage, it wouldn't take long before they were overwhelmed and then their HP reduced to zero. Another Tanuki leaped up and attacked him onto the back, causing him to swing his shield to swat him away. "Damn these things. They are so annoying!," he stated aloud. Holly kept thinking to himself how to go about fighting these things properly. It wasn't until he noticed Sanyu use a skill and then speak up that the method of fighting reached him.

'This isn't a game..this is our world..,' he stated mentally before narrowing his gaze and then shouting out. "Anchor Howl!" Before long, the larger majority of the Tanuki were forced to pay attention to Holly. The large shout pulled their aggro and began to focus their attacks onto him. Thankfully, Holly was a tank class and was able to take a lot more hits than the other two. It was also good that they had a healer, but unfortunately for them the healer was still unsure of what to do. His gaze shifted toward her as she began to act in a way that she shouldn't. She attacked a Tanuki, striking it in a place that made even Holly hurt. "What are you doing, Aria? Focus, I know this is your first MMO, but you have power here. Heal us now!" He shouted as the continuous hits from the Tanuki continued to drop his health points.

256
Sanyu, Aria
happy adventuring

LAIKA OF GS!

[sanyu]

appetizer work hard play hard serve bars stay sharp

As the Tanuki continued to bite her head, which slowly lowered HP, he feared attacking the thing worried that he'd hurt himself in the process. Soon the Tanuki was knocked away by Aria. "Uh thanks but..." He watched the Tanuki grasp his private area tightly and cry out. "That was kinda harsh..." 

Taking his lightning charged rapier he quickly put the monster out of it's misery. It was then that he heard Hollow, pfft holly, shout and grab aggro of the other three. Noticing that he was just above half health, he knew Holly couldn't keep taking hits considering he's such a low level still, and his HP was slowly, but surely, dropping.

He turned to Aria, hoping that she'd be of some help. "Look, I know its confusing, but you need to just believe, ok, you just saw what we did, you can do that too, but you need to heal." He looked at Holly's health continue to drop. "Focus on healing him first, they're aggro won't drop if I kill them one by one, but his health will continue to drop and we can't have that."

He noticed the charge in his rapier went out. "Ok, watch me." He slid his hand across his blade once again. "Thunderbolt Crash." His blade was charged with electrical energy once more. "See, its easy." 

He left her to, hopefully, figure it out and go help Holly. "Coming guy!" He took his blade and quickly stabbed one of the Tanuki, causing it to back off, but it didn't die, at which point it switched aggro to him. It charged at him, but it was too quick to hit with his rapier, especially since his skill with one was so abysmal it hurt. Taking example from Aria, he decided to kick the largest target. The Tanuki was in a state of immense pain, which allowed him to stab and kill it.

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

[Aria]

[attr="class","prty"]

”Whatever. It shouldn’t be attacking us then.” Sooyoung would say in response to Sanyu. Admittedly, though, it was pretty amusing to see the creature holding onto its privates and squealing. Unfortunately, it’s not like combat ended there. That was just one tanuki amongst many. Not too far away, Holly was being mauled by a crowd of them, and it was clear that he could very well die if they took too long to do something about it. ”Hah?! If I knew how I would have done it, idiot!” Sooyoung would immediately respond to Holly as he instructed her to heal them. She knew full well that she was a cleric, a support class that focused on restoring the health of her allies. The class description stated as much when she was making her character. But utilizing skills was a different matter to the girl who had no idea how they were even used normally. Fortunately, Sanyu decided to help explain things. It was a pretty vague explanation but she understood the gist of it. ”Alright, alright. I’ll give it a try. I don’t need to shout the skill’s name though, do I? Cause that’s dumb.” Having said that, she focused for a moment, thinking to herself, ”So uh… heal? Restore his health? Maybe if I picture a bright light or something…” Sooyoung stood there silently for a moment, her eyes gazing intensely at Holly as she concentrated. Eventually, as the tank’s health continued to slowly deplete, a warm light would surround Aria, which Sooyoung would notice and respond, ”W-what the hell is this?!” It was surprising to see, but the girl quickly understood that it was her skill starting to cast. Staff still gripped firmly in her hands, she would then point it at Holly, causing particles of light to flow down toward him from up above. ”I did it! Go kill those bastards!”

LAIKA OF GS!

[newclass=".prty"]position: relative; z-index: 2;[/newclass]

[Holly]

Honestly, this fight was starting to make a lot of sense to Holly. The way to fight in this world was to simply abandon all view of this being a game and to look at this as a their new world. This is their bodies now. This is his body and he has control over it. Currently, Holly was tanking all the damage and waiting on to get healed by the healer. Unfortunately, she was struggling. Sanyu managed to attack once again, taking out a few more of the Tanuki, but there were still a few more to take care of.

Holly was slowly losing his health and he needed to get healed quickly. His gaze shifted behind him toward the healer and shouted out. "Hurry up, Aria! I can't keep this up forever!," he stated as he used his shield to knock a few Tanuki down. She seemed to start to try, but Holly's focus turned once again to another Tanuki as he used his lance to strike it. He kept on holding his shield to block the majority of the damage coming, but he knew it wouldn't hold for much longer. Thankfully, Holly felt something hit him in a good way. It was a wave of energy coming from Aria. With a smirk, he responded. "Finally." His health restoring, Holly stepped up and began another assault on the remaining Tanuki.

"Ahh!," he yelled out, using his shield to attack to creatures and defeating another one. "Lets finish this shit up!"

252
Sanyu, Aria
happy adventuring

LAIKA OF GS!