Ingredient Hunt! [NO MORE PEOPLE]

[Luccio]

Luccio leaned back against a tree, taking a drink of the tasteless normal alcohol and wrinkling his nose. It quenched his thirst, but that was about it. Didn't even have that much of a kick to it. He'd taken it slow getting out into the woods away from the town, determined to find a particular location that he'd heard was rich with boars. Boars dropped better loot than slimes, better loot sold for more money, and money bought the ingredients for drinks. Oh, and better gear. That was important too. Really, at this point, Luccio wanted to be able to really serve drinks again; something normal in the midst of all this madness.

The Assassin's wolf ears peeked out from underneath a messy-looking bandana, starter gear at its finest. His piece-of-crap scythe was slung over his shoulders, blade curving up from his left side while the haft protruded from his right. He put the flask with its tasteless alcohol back onto his belt and smiled as the first boar came into view. The Wolf Hair flipped the scythe off his shoulders with a flourish, rushing at the boar and activating Deadly Dance. He leapt into the air and brought the scythe slamming down on the unsuspecting mob, slicing right into the boar's back before backpedaling and activating the same skill again, pushing off in a leap to the right and swinging the scythe in a wide arc, taking the pig in the underside. The mob looked maimed, but that didn't stop it from charging Luccio and knocking him straight into a tree.

"Dammit! That thing has a good bit of health." The boar gathered itself for another charge, but Luccio planted his scythe in the ground and used his strength against the boar's, stopping the mob short of hitting him again. He rushed around a tree, running straight into another boar. The mob must have construed the contact as hostile, because it slammed its tusks into Luccio's leg, sending him tumbling backwards and just barely out of the path of the first boar's charge. "Can I get a hand over here? This is getting out of control!"

@open

MARI @ GS!

[Ramon]

Ramon tapped at the ground at the edge of road with the butt of his staff, smiling as a small puff of dirt rose in response and continued walking. This world, or game, or whatever it was, was still fascinating to him, and he was glad to finally be away from the city. He figured he had wandered a fair ways outside London's outskirts, by the road seemed safe enough so he wasn't too worried. He had passed other adventurers on the way, both coming and going, and had watched several groups plunge into the woods bordering the road. From time to time, he heard the distant sound of fighting, but hadn't gone to investigate. Oh, he would have to eventually he supposed, but for now he was content to simply examine the terrain around the city and perhaps deal with a monster or two who happened to be near the road.

At least, that was his plan up until he heard a shout for help coming from a dense thicket down the hill from the road. Ramon paused, hesitating. He had never actually been in a fight yet, although he knew the basics of combat thanks to asking more experienced adventurers. He couldn't just leave the other person to die at the hands of whatever mob he had angered, even though a tiny part of him whispered to do just that. The Druid took a deep breath, fingers tightening around his staff. He could do this. It wasn't that hard. Breaking into a light jog, Ramon moved away from the road and approached the thicket were the fight was taking place. It took him a moment to wrestle through the small trees and shrubs, but once he poked his head into the small open area, quickly taking in the scene. One adventurer versus at least two boars, one of which was nearing partial health.

Seeing that the two beasts hadn't noticed him yet, Ramon raised his staff above his head and focused on the wounded boar while his Lightening Fall spell activated. Electricity snapped as the ball appeared at the tip of his staff, then flew towards the wounded boar, who let out a squeal as small bolts of lightening stuck it. Unfortunately, the other boar wasn't close enough to activate the secondary attack programmed into the spell, but that was alright. Seeing that the creature was wheeling around to charge at him, Ramon called to the other player, "I'll take care of this one if you want to deal with its partner!"

[Luccio]

Luccio was equal parts shocked and relieved at the arrival of the figurative cavalry. Death was relatively minor in this game, but it was still unpleasant, and that wasn't even mentioning the embarrassment of being taken out by a pair of the second-weakest monster in the game. He was WeissLuke for Christ's sake, a famous strategist couldn't lose to something that weak!

The newcomer had shot lightning at the wounded boar, which meant he was some kind of spellcaster. Just as well that he'd taken the weakened enemy, then. Last thing that man needed was to be engaged in melee. Luccio's health bar reminded him that he was down 25% already from taking two hits in his crappy leather armor. 75% of his max HP wasn't exactly a significant amount. He was an Assassin,, after all. Squishy was part of the class description.

The fresh, unwounded boar readied itself for another charge at Luccio, but he was ready to move this time, gliding to the side with a sweeping flick of the scythe. He needed to conserve his mana a bit, so basic attacks would do for now. The boar checked its rush while Luccio carefully paced to face it again, whirling the massive weapon in a heavy uppercut. That was why he'd picked Wolf Hair: not necessarily the most subtle or agile of races for an Assassin, but the added power meant he could wield weapons like the scythe effectively. The boar was lifted off the ground a little by the impact, and Luccio managed to avoid the brunt of the beast's charge, taking a graze from the thing's tusks that brought him to 73% of his max HP. "Name's Luccio. What's yours? Or should I just call you 'Hero'?"

Ramon

MARI @ GS!

[Ramon]

The boar may have been small, but it was also faster than it looked, so much so that Ramon barely had time to cast Lightening Fall as it charged at him. As before, the electrical orb flew at the boar and shot bolts of energy at it, but the attack wasn't quite strong enough to completely finish off the beast. As such, he didn't have time to block before the creature charged into him, knocking him backwards into the shrubs and taking a fifteen percent chunk out of his HP. Not too bad given his armour and class, but more hits like that meant that he could end up in trouble really quickly. It took a bit of thrashing to get out of the bushes, during which he accidentally kicked the circling boar, but his boot didn't do any meaningful damage to the animal, merely stunning it a little. A pity, since a good kick would have been a nice way to end the battle.

He was back on his feet in time to catch the other player's name and questions, and he answered as he kept his eyes fixed on the boar. "Nice to meet you, Luccio. I"m Ramon." Him, a hero? It was almost funny. Still, it felt cool to interact with another person during the middle of a battle. The boar he was facing had recovered from the kick to the head and grunted, pawing the ground in anticipating of another charge. Ramon eyed its remaining HP and nodded to himself, deciding to attack first this time. Tightening his grip on his weapon, the Druid ran at his opponent and swung his wooden staff at it as hard as he could, just as the boar began it's own attack. His staff granted him a longer reach, and he smiled faintly as the beast exploded into a small shower of coins and materials. One down, one to go.

"Lightening Fall!" This time, he called the spell's name as he cast it, both to alert the other player that he was attacking and to hopefully distract the other boar. As the ball of electricity formed and flew off, he hoped that the boar wouldn't move around too much and cause the attack to miss.

[Okami]

A finger snap. "Frost spear!"

An icicle shot forward, icey trail and impending stabbyness of stabbing inbound for the boar. Spiraling as it went, bits and pieces tearing off as it flew, the elemental projectile cannoned its way through the air right for the poor unsuspecting computer mammal.

The one behind the dark sorcery (at least she liked to think) was a Fox-tail. Darting around the open area, staying out of the general combat zone, her pink twin-tails streamed behind her as she moved. Okami, being a sort of kinda avid gamer was well aware of just how squishy her chosen occupation was. Mages were good for nuking things from a distance, but the moment something big and mean and nasty got a hold of you, you were a dead foxy. Like, crunch, maul, rip and tear kind of dead. And that was terrible. So the little Sorcerer took to hit-and-run, spell cast then run like hell further out of range. Certainly more likely to not be horribly murdered by something if you're on you're toes, you know?

"Hi boys! Don't mind if I help, ne?" She said, toothy grin showing as the Fox-Tail ran around them. Oh, she could see that they were doing just fine-ish. These were tiny boars, after all, creatures meant to raise the adventurer level and help them adjust to the game. They probably did take some hits, she'd wager, but certainly nothing life threatening. But just standing around watching them have all the murderous fun wouldn't be, well, fun. She'd signed up to play Elder Tales with the expectations she'd have to grind, damnet, and she would get her grind on.

Maybe she could team up with them to murder more things? Oh! Oooh! Get them to join her friends list! Then she could murder with them all the time! Because that's what friends were for. Murdering helpless things for fun and profit.

---
Word Count: 319
OOC notes: well it said it was open soooooo.

[Luccio]

Luccio heard a spell being cast, but he didn't stop his own attack; he whirled his scythe again, getting used to his slow dance around the boar. He activated his one Assassin skill, Deadly Dance, one more time, using the spin for the needed momentum and swinging the massive scythe behind him just as a blast of lightning and, surprisingly, an icicle, made contact with the boar. The lightning had come from behind him, which had the purely aesthetic effect of making his scythe swing appear charged with electricity, through sheer coincidence of timing and grace of the system in not shocking him instead of the pig. He continued the swing gracefully as the triple attack blasted the boar to smithereens, giving his weapon one more flourish before bringing it to a rest, haft planted firmly on solid ground.

He turned to face the hyperactive Fox Tail caster and the much more calm, at least by comparison, Ramon. "Well, hello there. I'm Luccio, and this guy over here," he indicated Ramon with a tip of his head, "is Ramon. Thanks for the help." The Wolf Tail sat down and took a sip of his alcohol. Again, the tasteless, weak concoction seemed to mock him on its way down his throat. He checked the inventory, more to make sure that the loot was actually there than to check what it was, then checked the profile windows for the other two players; sorry, Adventurers, might as well get it right. Satisfied that neither were People of the Land, he clicked a couple more buttons to send out party invites. "At risk of sounding cliche, it's dangerous to go alone. You guys want to hunt as a group? I'm willing to share some of the alcohol I can make when we get back to town. I'm a bartender in real life, I know a bit about making drinks." Not an outright lie, though it was a bit of a stretch; bartending had been his job through college, and a hobby since then. Still, a lot of alcoholics and teenagers were in this game; the one missed alcohol and the other had never tried it. The promise of real hard drinks was a fairly safe recruiting tool.

Ramon
Okami That's perfectly OK.

MARI @ GS!

[Ramon]

Ramon looked around in surprise as a second spell was cast, then sighed when he spotted the user. Her again. Wonderful. Ignoring Okami for a moment, he focused back on the boar, nodding as it exploded into a shower of coins and loot. Good, they were safe, at least for the moment. He rested his staff on his shoulder as he walked over to join Luccio, pleased with the other player's performance. "We've already met the other day. And yes, thank you, Okami," he said, tipping his head towards Okami. Hopefully she wouldn't act too weird this time. With all the people trapped here, what were the chances he'd run into the same player twice within a few days? He'd have to try and calculate it later, since now was not the time.

He waited patiently while Luccio took a drink and tapped at his menu, taking the time to look around a little. Aside from themselves, the immediate area seemed deserted, since he couldn't hear any nearby animals or close-by fighting. That could be either good or bad, he supposed, then glanced down as a party invitation opened in front of him. Ah. Ramon stared at it for a few seconds, then pressed the accept button. Hunting down monsters with these two other players might be fun, and he it would be easier to explore in a group. His gaze slid over to Okami, and he bit back a frown. She had proved herself to be a decent fighter, yes, but her unpredictable nature made him worry that she might get all of them into trouble. But he had already accepted the invite, so what was done was done.

"Alcohol?" he echoed, looking at Luccio in surprise.  He wasn't one to drink much, but drinking something other than water certainly appealed to him. Giving him a very faint smile, he said, "That's quite an incentive you have to get people to team up with you." Better than his sub-classes, anyway. Potions and such were useful, but beer and the like were likely to go over better among certain groups of players.

OOC: Fine by me.

[Okami]

"I know who Rammy is!" Okami gave a spirited wave to the familiar Druid, bouncing on the balls of her feet, "Hi Rammy! And hello to you too, mister assassin sir!" The Fox-tail smiled, quite pleased with his friendliness. "Your both welcome!" Over the past few days it'd seem that people were, well, fleeing in terror of her. She couldn't imagine why, honest. So having someone not sprint in the opposite direction was refreshing. The wolf tail had sat down, pulling from his inventory an alcoholic beverage. A brewer? She'd yet to make friends with one of those!

While Ramon might have decided to stand near the wolf-tail, Okami had taken to a sprint, running towards the Assassin. Willing rolling her-self, yes totally not stumbling during her run, totally, Okami barreled into Luccio's group. Her tumble had ended up right next to him, sitting up-right, treating it like an every day occurrence. "Hehe," she smiled innocently, pieces of grass sticking to her and a small twig sticking out of her hair.

Taking a moment to brush off her hair and clothes, Okami had completely missed Luccio's typing, so when his offer for a party popped up mid-grooming, the fox-tail stopped and blinked. Then with all the spirited energy of a crazed fox-tail, clasped her hands in glee, eyes lighting up. "YES! Click click, clickclickclick" She said as she pushed the offer quickly, jamming her finger into the screen to accept the request. Then with a backward roll, Okami shot her-self up to her feet, clicking her feet and giving a crisp salute. "Sorcerer Okami, reporting for duty sir!" She gave an entirely serious expression. As serious an expression that Okami could give, at least. Especially with that twig still stuck in her hair.

"..Eh? Alcohol?" She'd taken alcohol once, in real life. A simple drink, on the weekend when it wouldn't affect her work-ethic. It ended as well as one might expect of someone with her...condition. So Alana had sworn off alcohol for life. But Okami? The Fox-tail grinned. "Bribing us with a buzz, eh? I like the cut of your jib mista!"

---

Word count: 353
OCC: Awesome.

[Luccio]

Luccio chuckled as the Fox Tail practically rocketed in between himself and Ramon. Her hair had managed to pick up a twig with one small leaf still on it, and it stuck up from her hair like a flag as she stood and gave such a stiff military salute that Luccio had to wonder if he was being made fun of. "Okami? I thought that translated to 'wolf', or maybe 'spirit'. Then again, I never did take much Japanese." The wolfish assassin returned her grin, then looked over to Ramon. "Do you know what it means? Mine's just an old Italian name. I figured it sounded better than 'Weiss Luke', really." The assassin's former alias was pronounced in the German manner, so that it sounded like 'Veiss' a habit from his time in that country for college.

He shrugged as he stood up, kicking his scythe into the air and catching it so that it rested, again, across his shoulders. He hooked his arms behind it in a relaxed manner, keeping it still while still ready to draw. "Well then, let's get started!" He started walking forward, deeper into the forest. "I don't have a tracking subclass, so the best we can do is hope for a good amount of boars to plant themselves firmly in our path. I'm a sigilcrafter, so I can give Ramon a boost when we find something. Lightning Fall is a druid spell, right? You won't have as much juice behind your magic as Okami, since you're a healing class, so you could make better use of it. How's everyone's MP?" His own MP hadn't taken much of a hit, and it was slowly creeping back up. Deadly Dance had a low cost; it was a chain-activation skill. The system wanted him to spam it, but a couple hits per mob were more than enough. "Let me know if you see something we can take, or if you aggro something. I'm not much of a tank, but it'd be better if they hit me instead of you."

Ramon
Okami

MARI @ GS!

[Ramon]

There was that ridiculous nickname again. Ramon sighed as Okami wedged herself in between him and Luccio, but elected to remain on his feet. "The meaning of her name? No, sorry. I don't know any Japanese." To be honest, he didn't actually know the meaning of his own username, except that it was a variant of his real name. He had chosen it because it was easy to remember and spell, and it was close enough to his own name that he would respond to it without hesitation. The young man straightened as Luccio stood up, eager to start exploring more. "I'm a Scholar, but my level isn't really high enough to be useful for finding enemies," he said as they started to move, his staff resting easily on one shoulder.

"Yes, I'm a Druid." He probably should have chosen a healing spell to cash in on the stat boost he class would give him, but he had wanted an attacking spell to start off with. His wooden staff wasn't much good in a fight, and it wasn't like he could take a lot of damage anyway. "My MP is pretty good," he added after a quick check. Playing as a Human meant that he didn't have as much MP as some other races, but his class helped make up for that and Lightening Fall didn't cost too much to use.

As they walked through the woods, he kept an eye on both his party members as well as the surroundings, doing his level best not to be distracted by the scenery. It wasn't like the typical English forests he was used to - no, this place was much wilder and rugged, almost like the Scottish Highlands except with more trees. If there were enemies out there, they were either far away or waiting to ambush them, since the thick ground cover provided excellent cover.

[Okami]

"Oh? My name?" Okami blinked at the sudden interest in her screen name, tilting her head and placing a finger on her chin. "The 'kami' is a part of the Japanese religious beliefs known as 'Shinto'." Okami smiled, realization suddenly hitting her that she could, in fact, explain the little interesting tid bits regarding her name. "Kami are divine beings or spiritual forces found within all things. When people think or hear of 'kami' they come to think of beings like Susanoo or Amaterasu, you know, famous gods. In reality Kami can be found in things like Mountains, rivers, even roads and dirt. Kami resign in all of nature and it's phenomenons. And, naturally, the people of the east worship and exalt these beings." Okami continued, locking both arms behind her back and standing straight to look presentable. "Or at least that's what I sort of remember. It's been awhile since I looked it up! And the 'O' in my name is a reference to Ookami, which is in fact wolf in Japan. But I didn't do that on purpose, per say, my hand slipped when I was typing in the name. I specifically remember that because it was an accident." The fox-tail shrugged helplessly "Whoopsie!"

Having no more to share, or maybe just losing interest on the subject, Okami stared at both of them expectantly. When Luccio gave the signal that they were starting, she squeed in appreciation. Murder. Yeeesss. Let there be death for fun and profit. Bouncing on her heels, listening to Luccio discuss tactics with them, the sorcerer nodded eagerly. "I've got a lot of power in my magical mojo goodness yep yep!~" She agreed, knowing full well that as a sorcerer her sheer offensive magical damage exceeded other mage and healer type classes. At the cost of not having much more than nuking spells. A few simple defensive moves and enchantments, sure. and you could build your-self into things like a magical swords person, yes, but sorcerers were a nuker through and through. Their aim was to destroy the opposition in the most explosive and flashy ways imaginable, while keeping as far away as possible. A sorcerer in close combat was, outside of those rare builds, doing it wrong. Which is why Okami always made sure to be on her toes in a fight. "My MP is grrreeeeaaattt~" She cheered, rolling out the 'great'.

So when they'd taken to exploring the old fantasy forests, overgrown and rough, practically untouched by human hands, Okami took to squirreling behind the boys. They were, after all, made to take hits better than her. She skipped behind them, grimoire in hand. Ears perked an ready for action, the sorcerer took to the future slaughter of innocent virtual piggies like a stroll in the park.

---
Word Count: 465
OOC: startin to get bigger posts wheeee

[Luccio]

The forest air was eerily still; the calm before the storm. Luccio's wolfish ears twitched in time with his tail, in response to his nerves. The sensation was strange, but it was a minor discomfort. He still needed to get used to having a tail. The quiet was far from the normal, soothing silence of the deep woods. It was unnerving; all the quiet noises that broke up the natural forest quiet were gone, leaving only that eerie void.


Luccio moved his scythe off his shoulders and into his right hand, carrying the massive polearm so that he could grip it properly the second something happened. Suddenly, the air was rent with a loud OINK! Luccio turned towards the sound to find a trio of pigs staring at the party. With a half step back, Luccio's hands began trailing energy, and he placed his palm on Ramon's shoulder. "Sigil of Aquarius, Wisdom!" The two jagged lines of the basic Sigilcrafter buff appeared around the druid's upper arm, giving a slight boost to his magical power.


Support skill accomplished, Luccio charged forward with a yell, jumping into the air and activating Deadly Dance. The system helped him perform an acrobatic flip and bring the scythe slicing through the first boar. He activated the skill again as he landed, pirouetting and swinging at the boar to his left before triggering it one more time to give the third boar a whirling strike, aided by the momentum of the first two. His MP had taken a decent his, but the boars probably hated him a fair amount. He'd just have to trust Ramon and Okami to keep him on his feet.

Ramon
Okami

MARI @ GS!

[Ramon]

Ramon mulled over what Okami had said about her name as they walked along, always keeping on eye on the forest around them. He didn't know a whole lot about Japan except that some of his favourite games were made there, but it didn't surprise him that Okami knew more than him. She seemed like the type of person to be interested in that kind of stuff. He glanced back at her occasionally, making sure she never fell behind, but her bright pink hair made it easy enough to spot her amid the trees. Luccio would have blended in better, what with his dark clothing and class type, and even Ramon himself probably would be able to hide fairly well if he had to.

He nearly tripped over his own feet as Luccio came to a sudden halt in front of him, having turned his head towards the boar who challenged them. Thankfully, he was able to plant his staff on the ground and lean on it in time in order to avoid crashing into his fellow party member. Focused as he was on the trio of boars, he didn't realize what Luccio was doing until a hand landed on his shoulder, making him jump. "Thanks," he murmured as the other player finished the spell and moved off. Time to kill some piggies.

Backing up to give Luccio room and to ensure he could defend himself against any charging boar, Ramon raised his staff over his head and called, "Lightening Fall!" As the electrical orb zoomed towards the targeted boar, he allowed himself to smile. The animals were close enough together that the attack would hit all three of them, so he watched with satisfaction as lightening bolts leaped out to strike all of the boars. The targeted animal squealed in pain, and, seeing that it was wheeling around to take a go at him, Ramon called out to his other party member. "Okami, lets see if we can kill that one before it reaches me!" Trusting that she would back him up, he raised his staff again and waited for his chance to strike.

[Okami]

The little fox-tail had been enjoying their stroll through the forests. It was maybe around noon if she had to guess from the height of the sun. She could feel the rays of the sun peeking their way through the leaves and branches of the trees, massaging her body with warmth. The sorcerer purred in approval, letting nature work it's magic around her. She stretched her body out, and let loose a drowsy yawn. Okami knew she should be more alert than this, she did, but it was just so hard to focus with all this sunshine. The nice breeze blowing by wasn't helping either, tempting her into getting a bit of shut-eye. It's not like the fox-tail didn't want to go murder spelunking with the others, it's just that today just felt too good not to pass up. She was sure they wouldn't mind...

Colliding into the back of Ramon, Okami let out a squeak of surprise, caught off-guard by the sudden stop. She blinked and quickly lifted her head to look up at the druid, confused. Not getting a reaction out of the man for her crash, she tilted her head around his side to have a look at what he, and she assumed Luccio, were looking at. Fuzzy little orbs of cutness could be spotted in the distance, sniffing and chewing the scenery. She almost let loose a squee of delight at seeing the adorable little <<pitted young boars>> but managed to contain her-self. The last thing she'd want is give the little piggies cause for alarm.

That would make it harder to kill them, after all.

The boys had been quick to react, a sigil out and a flash of lightning shot right at the horde. Okami grinned at them both, pleased with how fast they'd been to let loose the carnage. Ramon had called out to her to strike down that which was attacking him and the fox-tail answered with a maddening smile, lifting her hand up in it's overly familiar imperious snap

"Frost Spear!"

The air sang with her power. From nothing sprung forth a mighty icicle projectile, spiraling forward on a collision course with the intended target. The ice shot pierced its way through the flesh of the charging boar, easily slicing it's way through the body. At earlier levels, it was all she could do to simply stall these beasts in their tracks. But now? Now she tore through them with ease. Her magic had reached a point where these small fry's were little threat to her now. Spikes sprang from the icey corpse, striking out at whatever it could. If they had been together, then sure, it would have been an impressive destruction of the group. But they'd been separated through the others actions, and only one of them got nicked...which seemed to take off a decent chunk of the things Health points.

Okami giggled, "Better do your best to keep up, Rammy~" She teased, amused by her own destruction compared to the men in the group.

---
Word Count: 506
OOC: So uninspired with my death and maham.

[Luccio]

The sheer and sudden murder of pigs behind him caught some of Luccio's attention, though most of it went to dancing around another headbutt from the boar in front of him. His sigil had done the trick: Ramon's lightning spell had shocked even more of the beast's health away. Luccio spun his scythe in an arc and struck it, using the momentum of the hit to carry himself out of the way of another desperate attack, as if the scythe were the leading partner of a dance rather than just a weapon. The damage on a starter weapon was still horrendous, but the balance was good and that meant he could still fight with it, for now.


Luccio grinned and sliced away the last carving of HP his opponent had, turning to see Okami and Ramon facing down one heavily maimed boar. A glance at his MP told him that using Deadly Dance again would be a bad idea, so the Rogue put his weapon on his back, running past the animal and tagging Ramon on the shoulder once again. "Sigil of Aquarius: Wisdom!" The fading black lines reasserted themselves and Luccio stepped back to place himself closer to the boar than the casters, readying his scythe again while keeping out of the line of fire.

Ramon
Okami

MARI @ GS!