Swashbuckler in distress [Hiro]

[Stryke]

After being trapped in Elder Tale for a while now, adventurers finally started to make some steady progress in exploring this new world. After completely exploring the sarum frontier, people were now able to go further ahead and enter the Avon valley, which was the home of a new city and other zones infested with monsters. As usual, after a bit of sightseeing, Leo decided to visit one of the mobs filled zoned to train and learn a thing or two about that strange new place.

As Leo stepped into the riverway he could feel that something was off in that place, it was filled in what was called Miasma, a thick and dense mist that enveloped the area. According to the landers, this miasma had managed to corrupt many if not all the monsters that live there and in turn they became quite strong. Leo didn’t know the exact range of level but he was confident he could take them all, the sarum frontier mobs weren’t that tough at all, if the progression level was somewhat linear in this world then Leo had nothing to fear from that new zone.

Still, that place gave nothing to him but bad vibes. Be it that thick mist or the surreal quietness that enveloped the place, Leo couldn’t help but to paranoically think that something was watching and ready to ambush him. The swashbuckler instinctively reached out for his swords, 2 antiqua aqua longswords that to be honest weren’t the best choice of weaponry for his current level. He bought them from a lander when he was still about level 10 or so, he needed a replacement as soon as possible.

As Leo continued to make his way into that strange place, he suddenly heard a strange noise coming from some bushes near him. That noise was strange, it sounded like a pile of heavy metal hitting the ground, nothing that could pertain to monster Leo had already seen or faced.

Leo heard another heavy step and this time he could see a figure slowly coming out of the bushes, to his surprise it was a full-fledged mech that was apparently targeting him.

“Malicious mech..gr1?”

Leo read with curiosity its name tag, it was a lvl 20 machine type monster, nothing he couldn’t handle. Leo smiled as he prepared for battle, he arched his body forward and crossed his blade in a defensive stance, his intention to study the machine’s attacking patterns before coming up with a battle strategy.

As he crossed his blades his wolf features appeared, a common sign that he was concentrating on the incoming battle.

After a second, the mech took initiative and sprinted in a straight line in front of him. Leo was surprised by its deceptive speed but thankfully he maintained his concentration. When the monster was on his neck and prepared to smash him with its arm, Leo jumped behind and dodged the incoming blow, which left a medium sized hole on the ground.

“That would have hurt”

Leo said with a smirk, thankfully his cloth armor with a movement speed buff allowed him to move with enough agility to easily dodge slower blows. It was his turn to attack now, the swashbuckler jumped again in front of him and used his <mirage dealer> skill. After his blades hit the target with an x shaped attack, Leo’s body was teleported behind the mech, he then took a few steps behind him to gain some safe distance between himself and the mob. Leo was higher leveled but his attack still didn’t do very much to the mech’s HP, maybe the creature was just very resilient or more probably it was his weapons that were just too low leveled.

The mob appeared confused for a moment and then turned around to face Leo again, then something strange happened. The whole monster’s body started releasing high quantities of that same thick mist that enveloped the area, the miasma. Leo crossed his blades and prepared for an incoming attack, but to his surprise there was none,

“huh? What kind of skill is that? A buffing skill?”

He thought while trying to understand what that skill effect was, then he heard another noise coming from the same bushes the mech appeared before. This time it was a long howl and a second later a pitch black wolf appeared out of the bushes. Leo’s eyes widened and stared at the beast’s name tag, its name was shadow wolf, just an ordinary mob with a level of 40.

“f-forty?”

Leo sweated coldly as he stared at the high leveled creature, did that machine call it with that release of miasma? And what was a lvl 40 mob doing here? Suddenly Leo realized that maybe that zone was a little too hard for his current level,

“Uh-oh, this doesn’t look good at all”

Leo thought while slowly retreating without making sudden movements, if he couldn’t do much damage to a lvl 20 mob than what were the odds he could take on a lvl 40 beast? he’d be lucky if the mob wasn’t able to 1 shot him, the chance of victory against this wolf was absolutely 0.

Leo wasn’t one to run away from his fights, but he knew better than fight an impossible battle, he continued to slowly back off till he had just that much distance to run away for his life, that is, unless someone suddenly came over to help him.


WC:912
Tags:Hirosame
PS: Save me hiro sama senpai!....kun

[Hirosame]

A dismal expression found its way across the Monk's face, as the Miasma in the air left a sour impression on him. Hiro was much more used to the bright, colorful, and fresh smelling air that surrounding the entirety of London, save for the few times he'll smell machines bustling and churning within the city. Machines that, of course, he helped create. What kind of a mechanic would he be if he didn't take part in the construction of a good number of those machines? However few and far between they are in actuality, he's had a hand in a good number of them. But, that was beside the point. Hiro was out here in the wastelands that can be called Avon in order to do some research and some understanding. The Wardens probably had a good deal of tech that they haven't let out much of yet, and he wanted to learn about how they operated and worked, based on what he's heard of thus far. But, from what he's seen of this place for right now, it's nothing but deserted and desolate landscapes, as far as the eye could see. This place smelled weird, too.

It was probably the Miasma, as this land has been thoroughly tainted. He sighed, looking at how dismal everything looked. Hiro pulled out his small music box player, opened the interface, and put the song of his choice on to lighten the mood. He figured that this song would do, and he started to bob his head up and down, as the music picked up. Just at that moment, the sun peaked out a little bit, brightening the entire area a little bit. He smiled a little, as his mind made him believe that the air became slightly more breathable. Looking up where the sun shone through, he could see a little touch of blue sky from behind the dark clouds. A shine of hope, as one would assume it to be. The sun glared into his eyes for a few moments, to which he put his hand in front of his face, before the clouds took over once again. He didn't let his mood drop because of it, since the music was firing up within him. He looked ahead with a new purpose, just to see things as they are. Although he was on his way to see the Warden stronghold, something off to the side caught his attention.

Some dude was being chased by a dark-colored wolf. Hiro looked at the guy that it was chasing, but noticed that he was a Wolf-Hair. Finding it somewhat ironic that the wolf was chasing one of its own, so to speak, he figured that it wouldn't be good to let the two go about their business. Besides, the Wolf-Hair (Stryke) was a good few number of levels below that of the Shadow Wolf, so he should probably step in. After having recently attained level 64, Hiro had a few new tricks up his sleeve. But, he likely wouldn't need them. Hiro crouched down a bit, got into a runner's position, then bolted off towards the two canine-esque beings. Hiro aimed his body for the Shadow Wolf, and shoulder tackled into it with great force, sending it rolling away a good distance. He got back up onto his feet, and struck his battle pose. Hiro then turned to the much-lower leveled man nearby him. "Hey, I wouldn't recommend fighting things that are fairly stronger than you." He began, throwing a teasing grin to the man. "Now, excuse me for just a moment, while I take care of our little friend here. Pay my no mind."

Finishing his little speech, Hiro turned his attention back to the Shadow Wolf, which was presumably just getting back onto its feet. Instead of going to hit the thing as hard as he could, he figured that he'd be a nice guy. Hiro let the wolf get closer to him, before he punched it directly in its snout, sending a ripple effect through its body. He followed up, almost instantly, with a roundhouse kick from his right leg, and launched the beast towards where the Wolf-Hair stood. It staggered to get back up, snarling and growling as it did. Its eyes shone with corruption and stared daggers into Hiro's body, before beginning its attack again. Responding to this without thinking, Hiro caught the enemy in his arms, and used its momentum to slam its body into the ground. The corruption had tainted this animal too much. So much so, that it couldn't be saved any longer. Hiro stomped down onto it quickly, and followed up with an earth-shattering Tiger Echo Fist into its body, causing it to explode into data. He wished it didn't have to end up like this, but what was done was done. He turned to the Wolf-Hair, his facial expression as plain as it could be. "So, what's a level 26 Wolf-Hair like yourself doing all the way out here, with much stronger enemies than you?" Hiro put a hand on his side, waiting for an answer to his fairly simple question.

[857 Words]

((OOC: For the purpose of this thread, I'll be using my most recent AP claim as the basis of this quest. Should be level 64 by the end of it, so yeah. Also, I hope you enjoy the chilled-out groove!))

[Stryke]

After finding the best moment to turn his tail and run away like a scared bunny trying to escape its predator, Leo turned his head over only to see that pitch black wolf slowly gaining terrain over him. Leo wasn’t that surprised, the creature was a lot higher leveled than him and let’s be honest here, how could a human even hope to outrun a wolf?

The only thing Leo could think at this point was that if there was anyone seeing this scene, they would be seeing a black wolf chasing a grown man with wolf ears and tail, a wolf chasing a man-wolf, a rather particular sight nonetheless.

Till that moment, Leo had been lucky enough to stay alive since the apocalypse commenced. He was never sent to the cathedral and he didn’t plan to be sent there anytime soon wither. He knew that adventurers respawned but he wasn’t too prone on finding out how would he would feel on his death, the only player he knew personally that died at least once was Caerbannog, but he really couldn’t ask her how she felt during death because….well….he was the one to kill her in the first place.

The black wolf was so near Leo could feel its chilling breath on his tail, Leo tried to collect all his stamina and strength for one last speedy dash when he heard a strong impact before him. The wolf hair stopped in his track and turned around, the first thing he saw was a red haired man tackling the beast that chased him.

The wolf was sent rolling away and Leo noticed that simple attack was enough to chip out a good chunk of its HP. He turned his around to see the one who tackled the wolf; according to his stat screen his name was Hirosame, a monk level…64?

Leo opened his eyes wide in stupor, that was the highest level he had seen yet, even higher than that overleveled assassin named saber that Leo went on a mission with.

The monk turned around and faced the underleveled wolf-man; the next thing he did was lecturing Leo in how to not tackle opponents too strong for his level, swiftly followed by a teasing grin. Leo Half closed his eyes in annoyance and then gave a quick look at his status screen, especially where his level tag stood. Level 26 Swashbuckler it said, that monk Hirosame was apparently more than 2 times his own level. Leo continued to give quick glances at both his screen and Hirosame’s for a lengthy second, each time with a more puzzled and irritated look on his eyes, he’s wolf ears also started twitching a bit, it was just too obvious that he was extremely jealous.

In the meantime, Hirosame casually dismissed him by telling that he had to care of the wolf and to pay no mind. At that moment Leo wasn’t really sure if he really showed up to help or just to show off, the wolf hair was more inclined on the latter, just because he was extremely irritated by that huge level gap.

Fortunately, something appeared at that moment, the malicious mach had finally caught up with them,

“Well…At least I can this out on you”

Leo said while cracking his knuckles, he couldn’t let that man do the entire job and treating him like a little child, could he?

He dashed on his front and in a matter of seconds he caught up with the mob and clasped his hands together, the motion of his hands activated his skill <Ante up> which summoned 2 additional swords from his inventory, then he started his barrage of attacks on the mob. As he shouted: “Attack!” the swords flew over his head and started attacking the enemy, Leo quickly followed with his own slashes. The attacks were fast enough to chip away the mech’s health little by little but Leo was being too careless. After a few attacks the mob retailed with a fast swing of its arm and knocked off Leo to the ground. Leo groaned in pain and quickly returned on his feet, just in time to dodge another hammer arm of that mech. Without wasting that opportunity, Leo thrusted his left blade forward, which now glowed in a strong blue light. It was his skill <Blind bet>, another skill he had yet to use that greatly lowered the accuracy of enemy attacks. The mob looked in panic at started swinging its arms randomly in the air, Leo grinned and finally took the opportunity to deal enough damage and kill the mech by penetrating both his blades into the mech’s neck base.

Leo sighed and returned to his previous position, not even bothering to look at the mech explode in thousand small pieces. The overleveld monk was awaiting him, having finished his battle much earlier than Leo and asked him what a lvl 26 wolf hair was doing in a place like this much stronger opponents then him. Leo’s wolf ear twitched and he stared back at the monk in annoyance, then he sighed and put his swords back in their sheath, It wasn’t Hirosame’s fault that Leo felt inadequate about this level.

“Didn’t know this place level range, I could take on the beasts in sarum and I thought I could take this zone too without too much trouble, seems I was mistaken”

Leo said while looking around himself, he wanted to be sure no more bad surprises like a mob over level 60 appeared out of nowhere or something like that happened,

“Anyway, thanks for taking care of that wolf over there and….”

Leo stopped for a second to glance over Hirosame’s name tag, that lvl 64 still gave him the creeps,

“You know what? Screw it; how the hell did you get your level so high? It’s 2.5 times higher than mine!”

Leo finally let out what was bugging him and stared at hiro with his cold icy eyes, Usually he didn’t act so emotionally and was much more composed, but he really wanted to know what secret lied in that man’s power.


WC:1024

[Hirosame]

Hiro was actually surprised to see that the Wolf-Hair had already started to fight one of the other monsters in the area, without even saying a thing about it, or at least, not loud enough for him to hear. He watched in somewhat amazement, crossing his arms in front of his chest, as the Swashbuckler, known as Stryke, fought one of the mechanized monstrosities in the area. Without even realizing that there was one there in this place, he just kinda let the Swashbuckler do this thing. He probably felt kinda embarrassed having been saved by someone, as is expected from any guy who is saved by someone else. There's always this sense of pride and frustration when someone comes to your aid, or what have you. Being a guy himself, Hiro was more than aware of such a thing happening to him. This is why he loved soloing so much, as it allowed him to get stronger in his own way and time, while also giving him the rush of trying to get levels quicker. Maybe that's how he got to where he was right now? Whatever, it didn't matter quite as much as he would have liked.

When the Swashbuckler announced that he thought the level scaling was comparable to that of the rest of Sarum, Hiro couldn't help but agree a little bit on the thought. It's a wise enough relation that the level differentials wouldn't be that much different from one section of an area to the other, unless we're talking a section in an area that was meant to be drawn back to, for whatever story there may or may not be. This has shown in multiple MMORPG's before, one of which that Hiro remembered having played a bit of when he was younger. Either way, though, this guy was in the wrong neighborhood, for sure. The next moment, the guy seemed to begin thanking Hiro for helping him. Giving a smile, Hiro nodded to him. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I'm just glad it wasn't anything else in this area. Those two types of monsters we fought are among the weaker ones here." But it looked like this guy wasn't listening to him at all in whatever he was saying. At all. Hiro looked at the guy for a few moments, but noticed that his eyes were fixed entirely on his level and health bar. A moment later, this guy exploded.

Hiro jumped back a little bit at the sudden outburst of words, and somehow he seemed deathly serious. He didn't think that the whole level 64 thing was such a big deal at the moment. Since he knew that Caerbannog had already hit 90, and Hiro was just busy playing catch-up to get to her point, so they could work together on things like dungeons or boss fights, or even the level 91 clearing quests, he as surprised that someone cared so much about his level. Having fixed his stance, he looked at the guy with a rather perplexed face. "W-Well, I do a lot of quests, and..." He paused for a moment, thinking about it a little more. A devilish grin formed on his face. He returned to a relaxed state of being, and tried to play things off as smoothly as possible. "Questing with my guild helped out a good deal, too. There's an in-game mechanic where you get more experience for being in group quests with your guild members. However, as of late, the other members of my guild have been transitioning more towards crafting and research." He paused for a moment, then looked to the Swashbuckler. "There's always room for some more members, if you're interested, good sir." The grin having remained on his face for a little while now, Hiro hoped his ploy of recruiting a new member would work. Because, in all honesty, being in a guild helped out a lot. He wasn't joking about that, not one bit. Maybe this guy could use a guild to quest with?

[672 Words]

[Stryke]

After Leo spoke his mind he started to realize that he probably shouldn’t have talked like that to someone who just saved his life, that and being fixated on level differences was kind of stupid in the first place. Leo scratched his hair and sighed,

“Sorry for that, I guess I’m just not used on having others rescuing me, your level also surprised me, I’ve never seen one so high”

That was the truth, to his knowledge the highest leveled adventurers would be at like level 50 or something and wasn’t expecting something like that, he didn’t know that there were some people who even got to the level cap. To be honest, during those days he felt like many things had changed all of a sudden: many new zones were discovered and Leo started to feel that the average level between adventurers had risen by a lot. It got to the point where people a lot higher leveled than him weren’t much rare anymore, all these changes were making him kinda uncomfortable for a while.

The monk was visibly surprised by Leo’s previous explosion of frustration and backed off for a bit, then he replied to the swashbuckler that he did a lot of guild questing, apparently there was a bonus exp for guild members who participated in battles.

“A guild…huh?”

Leo thought while lowering his sight for a moment, he could still remember when Kumori offered him to join his then in construction guild, but Leo couldn’t let himself join him, not after what he did to Caerbannog. Kumori’s offer was still available but even if Caerbannog completely forgave him he felt that he couldn’t join them, a guild requires a strong partnership and trust between its members and Leo feared there was no space for him there, how could they trust him completely again? If he was in their position he wouldn’t, that’s for sure.

Since the apocalypse, Leo didn’t have many people he could call friends in this world. The apocalypse left him alone in a strange new world and so far only Caerbannog and Kumori were the ones he had a relationship with that didn’t just stop on questing or grinding. The truth was that he wanted some more people he could talk to and share bonds. He liked to be on his own most of time, that’s true, but he also liked the thought of having people to keep him company when he felt lonely, even the wildest wolf needs a pack.

Leo raised his sight again and was surprised to see a big grin on the monk’s face, this time it was his turn to look at him with a perplexed face. The monk didn’t waste any time and went straight to the point, he just offered him a place on his guild. Leo looked at him surprised, why would he offer a complete stranger a place in a guild? Leo then remembered that grin he saw earlier, probably this guy was in a need of new members for whatever reason.

“isn’t it a bit too preemptive to just give a complete stranger a place in your guild? Also try to see this situation from my point of view; I know nothing of you and this guild of yours”

Leo said to the monk, he then crossed his arms and looked at him with a serious expression,

“if you’re gonna invite me into your guild You’ll have to tell me some things first: Who are you, the reason of this guild’s existence and its goals. This wolf doesn’t just follow anyone he encounters on his path”

He concluded. Leo still didn’t know what to do, he wanted to join a guild but he also didn’t want to lose his freedom, he was free spirit as wild as the wind after all.


WC:638

[Hirosame]

It looks like Stryke had a good bit of sense to him. Good, Hiro was glad to see something like that in someone he just met. Hiro raised his eyebrow again, and stood back up straight. Stryke was pretty iteresting, honestly. Hiro definitely wanted this guy in Apocrypha now. Someone with a good set of sense, as well as a strong arm to fight with. There needs to be some more people like this in this world, or hell, back in the other world, too. Hiro took in a breath to answer Stryke. "Well, you've got me. Call me Hiro, I'm the acting leader of Apocrypha." Hiro began, a smile in his face. "I only say 'acting' leader because in all technicalities, I'm just one of two who lead the guild. Another friend of mine leads our research and crafting division, while I myself lead the exploration division." He thought that that might be something that this guy would be interested in, if he mentioned it. "If there's any other questions you have of me after I explain everything, you're free to ask. I'll do my absolute best to answer any and all questions you may have."

He paused for just a second, before continuing. "Apocrypha's main goal right now is to explore and expand the boundaries that everyone has access to, whether that means going by land, by sea, or by air. To better explain that last part, there's a project that I'm currently preparing for, to allow us to create an airship that will allow us to travel through the skies. It might not take us very high up, but it will carry us over the land, and to new lands, eventually." Hiro was trying to be as honest as he could with this all. "Of course, this won't be done overnight, there has to be some preparations for now. For this, I'm personally working on a project to bring trains to London, and eventually to areas around it. I'd like for things to progress to a point where we can all get where we need to, through cooperation and hard work. That being said, I'm currently undergoing talks with the leader of Aeryn, Kumori, in an attempt to help move along these projects, and to promote unity between our two guilds. As I'm friends with both Caerbannog and Kumori, I feel that they are willing to work with me."

"Lastly, I'll talk a bit about myself." He tried not to sound smug in talking about his own accomplishments. "I'm Hirosame, and as I said, call me Hiro. I am out here today to do some research and development for my crafting class, Mechanic. This will eventually lead to bringing trains and such to this area, which will allow people to get from point A to point B much faster. The main thing I wanted to look into was the effect of the corruption on the monsters, and how it effects the land and the monsters' AI's. If it is deemed too drastic and harsh, then tracks will be made in a way safer for people to get across." Having finished explaining things, he had an idea. "How about this. I'll go along with you and fight whatever it is you want to fight, and if you have any questions about things along the way, I'll answer them. Aside from that, you'll get some decent experience, as well as you'll learn first hand if my motives are true or not. I'll not tell you what to do or what not to do, but I am more than willing to help you out, if it means giving Apocrypha a chance in your mind." Hiro held out his hand for Stryke to shake, doing his best at attempting to give him an aura of understanding and trust. "What do you think?" He kept his hand out, should Stryke choose to accept the deal.

[653 Words]

[Stryke]

Leo was surprised to hear that the monk’s guild had more than one leader, there weren’t many guilds that opted for more than 1 higher power and for good reasons. Having more voices with total command over a guild could often lead to friction. Leo took it as an interesting point in HIrosame’s guild though, at least it showed that the bonds inside the guild had to be pretty close if he was willing to give half of his commanding powers to another person.

Hirosame continued to talk about his guild for a bit, apparently there were two divisons inside this guild, one for adventuring and expanding boundaries and one for research and crafting. Leo immediately thought that he would me more comfortable in the adventuring division; he liked to craft things and spend some of his time relaxing by sculpting little statues with his artisan subclass but he knew that wasn’t his vocation, at least not in this world. Leo’s own sense of wonder and adventure was far greater, he wanted to explore and visit all the places this new world had to offer.

Hiro than went about to talk about the guild’s goals, Leo listened with particular attention that specific point, his eventual decision to join or not the guild was heavily dependent on it. The main goal was to expand the boundaries for everyone, which meant to give access to new areas and stuff like that. Leo was interested in it, it wasn’t common for a guild to have such a goal , one that could potentially help innumerable people and help figuring out the next moves to return to the real world. The wolf hair was thinking about it when suddenly he heard the word airship and his eyes just widened in curiosity.

“Airships? Can they really be made in this world?”

Leo thought without interrupting the monk. To be honest, the idea of having airships soar the sky was an incredibly cool one for Leo, though he had to admit that eve coming up with a blueprint would be something that only the highest leveled crafters could do, if it even was possible. Hirosame appeared positive about this goal though and he certainly knew a lot more about it than Leo, maybe in his guild there were crafters with a level even higher than he could imagine.

Hiro continued talking of the other objectives and goals, such as trains that could bring people to London and other areas, he then mentioned he had underground talks with the leader of a guild called Aeyrin which guild leader was…

“Kumori?!?”

Leo’s eyes widened in surprise, a really strange coincidence that somehow relieved Leo a bit. If the he ever decided to join Hiro’s guild than he could count on an alliance with aeyrin, which meant he wouldn’t have to feel so guilty for choosing another guild. Hiro than concluded by talking a bit about himself, he told Leo that he was on a research mission for his subclass, mechanic. Apparently that research was connected to the trains he talked about earlier, he also wanted to study the effect this miasma had on monsters.

Even after satying in this place for such a small time, Leo realized what Hiro meant by that. If this miasma was indeed the cause of these powerful monsters and their corruption establishing new travelling routes would prove a challenging task.

Hiro finally finished his long speech and Leo was happy with the information he got, he was still unsure on what to do but now at least he knew what he would be getting into. The monk then proposed him a deal, he would help him fight monsters in this area, all the while responding to whatever question Leo wanted to ask, all this to get a chance for him to join his guild.

Leo looked at the man with curious eyes, he really did want him in the guild for some reasons, unfortunately he couldn’t understand what these were.

Leo feigned a grin and shook the other man’s hand with a tight grip, Hirosame was basically giving him a chance to gain incredible amount of exp for his level regardless of his final answer

“That’s a no brainer, deal”

He said, then he started walking a little deeper into the zone, with Hirosame helping him he was sure he could get a lot stronger that day. As they started walking, Leo put his hands in his pockets and turned his head to look at hirosame

“Alright, first question: what do you think of your guild members? What are they to you?”

Leo asked, he realized that his questions were certainly difficult to respond to but he had to know if this guy could be trusted upon.


WC: 794

[Hirosame]

Hiro felt the sturdy hand of the Swashbuckler meet his, and he shook it with assure determination. "I appreciate it. I look forward to a productive mission with you, Stryke." Hiro said, with a firm nod of his head. Releasing his grip and bringing his hand back to the side, it looked like Stryke was just about ready to move on, so Hiro followed suit. Sure, he wasn't as tall as the Swashbuckler, but in that moment, it had felt like a kindred spirit from a long time past had sparked between them. Hiro couldn't really explain it, but Stryke seemed like the kind of guy whom you could trust with your back, in any situation. It was like they had been together, fighting off some monsters, fist and blade, working side by side. It was a very weird, yet empowering feeling. Hiro could tell that Stryke was a man of his word, and the fact that his eyes lit up a good deal when he mentioned the alliance with Aeryn only strengthened that. He may have had some tie with Kumori or something, so being a battle brother, in a sense, with Aeryn probably put him at ease.

Afterwards, Stryke asked Hiro a question about his belief of his members. Hiro turned to the Swashbuckler with a bit of confusion in his eyes, but soon settled them back to the ground. He never really thought about it before, but he certainly had an opinion of his guild members as they are. Even the newer ones who had just joined up only recently. Even then, they were still valued people to him, as a guild leader, and as a human being. Suddenly, he realized it all. His eyes lit up a great deal, and he looked up slightly. He understood it, what it meant to be a guild leader. Not a great one, not the greatest one, but the mentality that one should have for their guild mates. As their leader, he held a responsibility to them. Hiro looked up to the sky for a moment, stopping in his tracks, as a beam of sunlight shined down into his eyes. Everything made a lot more sense to him now, and he had formulated a new mission. Triumphantly, he turned to Stryke, as the sun's radiance glowed upon them in the darkness of this area; a beacon of righteous light. Hiro smiled at the Swashbuckler, and gave his answer.

"My guild members are not just friends. They're not just people. We're all human beings stuck here, I know that. But, what I want from my guild members is to serve as a shining example of what Unity is. To me, they are the light that shines on the world this glorious idea, that we can all achieve so much more together. As I'm their leader, it is my job to make sure that we all go down the same path, the one that leads us all to the futures we desire. Sure, we might not gain freedom after it's all over, but our job as fellow warriors, brothers, and sisters, is to help one another get along just fine in this world." He looked down for a moment, but continued. "To me, my guild members are my pride." He looked back up with empowering courage. "They are the reason why I want to be out here today. Them, and all the others here with us." Hiro beat his fist to his chest with pride. "If you join us, I'll guarantee that we can accomplish many great things together. Even on your own, you will be carrying the strength and pride of our friends in the guild, and that will always serve as a guiding light to you. Not just our guild, but our allies in Aeryn." With one last note on his mind, he nodded to Stryke, as triumphant and confident as he was before. "Together, we can make this world stronger, and I only have my guild members, and our friends of Aeryn, to thank for giving me the confidence to put my honor behind those words." Hiro stood with power and strength, awaiting Stryke's reply.

[696 Words]

((OOC: Sorry this post is so cheesy, I was listening to this while I was writing it. XD))

[Stryke]

OC: if you think yours was cheesy get a load of this

As Leo continued to talk to and learning about Hirosame, a strange feeling started spreading through his mind. He couldn’t understand why, but that monk gave him a strong aura of reassurance , it felt almost too familiar for him. Maybe it was his high level that led Leo to be more easy going in this area but he wasn’t entirely sure, there was something about Hirosame that truly made him at ease. He felt he could depend on him even though they just met each other, it’s hard to put it in words; he could just feel that if Leo let himself, he could completely trust the monk. Maybe in another time, in another universe perhaps, they were battle brothers trusting their life to each other in order to survive a sick game of death.

When Hiro heard Leo’s question he appeared to be a little confused, Leo had to admit he asked a pretty hard question right off the bat . Maybe the monk didn’t even think about it till Leo brought up his question, many people take for granted their bonds but he was sure Hiro wasn’t one of them, he just had this feeling.

Leo listened silently as the monk gave his exhausting and long response; meanwhile a ray of light managed to get through of the thick mist and enveloped the two adventurers in a bright light. If Leo had any doubts before, Hirosame was quickly clearing any of them at an alarming speed. He thought of his guildmates as a unity, the light that would help bring the future on this world. His goal wasn’t one made of selfness, he truly wanted to help this world and its people move forward.

Leo continued to listen to him, then he heard something that shook him inside, Hiro’s guildmates were his pride, the reason he kept going forward. Leo smiled wildly when he heard that sentence, that’s what he wanted to hear all along, the ultimate motivation he needed.

“Alright, I’ve heard enough”

He said after Hiro was done with his speech,

“Your motivations are noble and you put great trust in your comrades, you have my respect. Before going any further though I think it’s time I tell you something about myself too”

He raised his arm and put his thumb were his name tag appeared,

“As you know, I’m Stryke. I’m not what you would call a really extrovert person, most of the times I like being on my own and go wherever the wind may take me, no roots or bond holding me down on my path. I’m by no means a loner though, I enjoy company and I’ll do anything in my power to help those that I trust and that trust me back. To be honest, one of the things that I missed most when I first entered in this world was a group of people who I could call friends, people I could really trust, not just some superficial relationship. After the apocalypse I found myself alone and the experience has toughened me up, but I could still feel that I was missing something.”

Leo took a moment and unsheathed one of his swords, he then looked at the blade and continued his speech,

“By fighting I found strength, courage and pride, but fighting alone is meaningless”

He swung his weapon on the ground and continued:

“I’ll acknowledge you, Hirosame, you seem like the kind of guy I could trust, I’ll believe you and your motivations. Try your best to not disappoint me, for this lone wolf is now at your service”

Leo said while extending his other hand, now it was Hirosame’s turn to seal the deal and start a new era broeness, just like long, long ago.


WC: 629

[Hirosame]

Hiro's determined and powerful stance shifted to that of understanding. Stryke was just like Hiro was, back when the game first started. It was nothing like how it is now, as Hiro had founded the guild and met all the friends he has now. Stryke, however, has been a lone wolf, fighting and fending for himself, by himself. That's a fate that he knew all too well, having been adopted by a family who doesn't even consider him a son or brother, but more a responsibility. His actual parents didn't keep him around long enough for him to remember their faces, nor did they make any efforts to try and reconnect with him. Despite this, though, he held no resentment for his family. He didn't have the right to, either way. But, the friends he had made thus far had been supportive and kind, even moreso a family than one would be able to tell the difference from. This feeling he had of always being wanted or needed is a great thing, and he wanted to share it with Stryke. Because, he deserved that feeling himself, as all human beings crave belonging.

Hiro wanted to give him a place to belong. Hiro wanted to share the wonder that is his guild, and forge new friends on his own. With that in mind, Hiro happily took Stryke's hand, and gave it a powerful shake. "Thank you, my friend." Hiro said, nodding. "I will make sure you are no longer alone. We are all here for you now, and we'll always be here with you." Hiro beat his chest again, retracted his hand, and bowed. "This is my pledge, as your new guild leader." Hiro stood back up, opened the interface, and sent the request to Stryke for his acceptance. Not just the party request, either, but the request to add to his guild. "You don't need to say yes to the guild invitation yet, if you don't wish to, or would like some more time to think. Again, it's all up to you." With that having been said, Hiro closed his interface again, and nodded to Stryke one more time, before moving forward a bit. The sun shone down on them for a few more moments before it was covered by the darkness again. But, after what had just happened, Hiro felt that it wasn't very dark anymore. The light of friendship shone brightly in his heart.

Hiro and Stryke continued their stride side by side, as they went further into the land of the tainted earth. Enemies were far off to the sides, but nothing directly in front for a little while now. While they walked, Hiro had begun to direct the direction in which they were walking, just so he could get a good bit of information. He assumed that Stryke didn't mind it all that much, since he was only out here to do some fighting. What better way to kill two birds with one stone than with a really big stone, right? Luckily enough, though, Hiro spotted some enemies on the horizon. Specifically, a few Black Essences and two Malicious Mech GR-1's were out that way. "Ah, good, some action." Hiro said, punching his fist. He lowered himself just a little bit and looked up to Stryke, with a merciless glare in his eyes. "We'll both take one of each?" He asked, before nodding. After Stryke presumably said yes, or failing to wait for a response altogether, Hiro started to dash off directly towards the monsters, aiming for one of the Black Essences first. They would likely be the most annoying, as they have more damaging abilities. At least, that's what Midori had told him before he came out here. The Black Essence noticed the Monk, just as he was jumping into the air to strike. Beat down time!

[642 Words]

[Stryke]

Hirosame shook Leo’s hand and the deal was sealed. It felt strange, Leo wasn’t used in being with a guild, even in other games he tried in the real world he mostly played with random guys or close friends as opposed of joining a guild. He started thinking of all the implications that normally come with a guild, he’d have to take tasks and get along with his new guild members for starters, but the truth is that Leo hardly knew what his current role would be in the guild. He didn’t stay on that particular thought for long though, there was plenty of time to know his own place in the guild and learn what he could do to help it grow.

After the two men shook hands, Leo was particularly interested how Hirosame was already willing to call Leo his friend, even if they just met. Maybe it was a sign that Leo indeed chose the right guild to be, his new leader was already willing to trust him even though he just joined. The monk’s words were reassuring, he and the guild were there to help Leo and never let him be alone again. Being on your own wasn’t a bad thing by itself, but Leo wanted that sense of affinity that he couldn’t get just by being alone, there’s a limit to how much you can accomplish on your own too.

Hirosame introduced himself as Leo’s new guild leader and sent him to invitations, one to form a party and one to invite him into the guild. Even if Hirosame stated that he didn’t have to accept the guild invitation right away , Leo knew what to do,

“I’ve already told you, I’ll believe you and your motivations, my mind is set”

Leo said to the monk while accepting both invitations, the monk then nodded and they both started moving forward to begin the monster hunt. That bright glimmer of light that enveloped both adventurers quickly faded and the river anon returned to its dark and misty state. As they walked through the zone, Leo noticed Hiro seemed to be searching for something, he did say to him before that he went there to study the effect of corruption on monsters. Maybe he was searching for clues of corruption or who knew what, Leo tried to ask him what he was searching in particular but he was stopped by the monk, he indicated some mobs in the distance and punched his fists. Leo grinned and unsheathed his two Windsor long swords, a battle was about to start.

“Alright, one of each it is then”

Leo responded to the monk and then they both dashed towards the monsters. There were some black essences and two malicious mech gr-1 awaiting them, fortunately their levels were adequate to Leo’s own,he didn’t have to worry about being sent to the cathedral in one hit. Hiro decided to start the offence on one of the two black essences, Leo instead decided to start by taking on one of the two mechs. Running at top speed, he trie to stop abruptly and slid a bit on the muddy terrain. The slide left him just a couple of feet from the mech, Leo didn’t lose time and activated his skill <Dart attack> initiating a flurry of sword thrusts to the enemy,

“Over here, you piece of robotic crap”

Leo taunted the mech while his skill took effect, dart attack was a skill to build hate on the targeted monster as swell as to deal moderate damage, this way Leo guaranteed himself the mob’s full attention. Taking heavy steps, the robotic creature followed Leo and sung wildy its arms back and forth . Leo looked over at the other black essence that Hiro left for him, the wolf hair didn’t want to get into trouble like the previous time so he chose to eliminate the mech first and then take care of that floating orb of darkness.

Leo jumped at last second when one of the mech’s arms approached him with great speed, after he returned to ground he noticed that the mob had trouble regaining its balance after that wide arm thrust, a perfect chance for a clean hit. Leo position his two swords on his sides, their edges meeting the ground, he then started dashing forward, slicing blades grass with the momentum force his swords acquired from the sprint. He reversed the grip on his swords and started spinning around once he was near enough to the mech. By spinning two times his blades collided with the mob 2 times each, scrapping away some of the mob’s metal armor. After he was done with his attack he took some steps of distance, so far he managed to get some clean hits and considerably lowered the mob’s health not a bad job for him since he only fought that mob type 2 times by now.


WC: 822

[Hirosame]

It looked like Stryke was going just fine in fighting the monsters on his own, especially for being the level he was now. Sure, the mobs around here weren't particularly high leveled for Hiro's own standards, but for someone of Stryke's level, they were just about the right range. Maybe a bit too high for a few of them, but nothing that he couldn't handle too poorly. Well, maybe he could escape from them with a good enough burst of speed in a sprint. Aside from that, though, Stryke was pretty much set with this area. Hiro, however, would be able to kill these monster while studying them without so much as a minor problem. These mobs were basically training dummies to Hiro, which he made sure that they were aware of. Hiro's fist connected with the Miasma of the Black Essence, dealing about 25% of its total health with the combined damage from his attack and the momentum that he had stored up from the charge. One of the best parts of having the Monk class was that momentum transferred to damage with enough force. Best part of having this class, for sure.

Hiro followed up quickly with a powerful roundhouse kick to the monster, and performed a small combo chain that ended up killing it without so much as a moment's notice. The monster had no time to attack the Monk, so he quickly turned his attention towards the beeping bastard off to his right. Hiro smirked and activated Disassembly in order to give a bonus to his attacks against this monster. Hiro began to hop on his feet a little bit as the mechanic monstrosity started to make its way towards him. Man, this thing was creepy looking. But, it wouldn't matter once his fist struck into it a few times. That being said, Hiro's fist collided with it as it got close, and he vaulted over it a moment later. Delivering a few powerful kicks into it afterwards added in the next few dents, and caused it to stagger backwards away from him. This was enough for him to run over and grab onto it using Magnet Grip, and pounded it into the ground a few times in rapid succession. This was more than what it could possibly handle, so soon after this grouping of attacks, the monster exploded into bits of data surrounding him.

Hiro stood back up fully, and brushed his arms off, turning to Stryke. He noticed that he Swashbuckler was still fighting, and decided not to interrupt. Instead, Hiro began to watch the fight as it went on. He saw that Stryke was attacking as swiftly as possible, which was one of the main drives for one becoming that class of fighter. Not to mention that the skills themselves were just as powerful and swift. Hiro was contemplating turning into that class when he first started out, but ultimately went with Monk due to the fist-fighting aspect that he loved so much. Also, the fact that your damage scales with your level, instead of scaling with your equipment. On the topic of equipment, Hiro figured that it might be time to get some winter armor that he could use. Maybe he'd bother Kumori for that soon. But, for now, he wanted to keep an eye on the newest addition of the guild. Hiro folded his arms while he watched, letting the Swashbuckler do what he does best. All the while, Hiro had noticed that a few messages of welcome were coming up on the interface for the Swashbuckler, as a message went out to everybody in the guild when Stryke hit the Guild Acceptance button. Smiling just a little bit, Hiro continued to watch in approval, and also amazement for what this lower-leveled player could do.

[634 Words]

[Stryke]

Leo glanced at Hirosame and saw that he was dealing with those mobs much quicker than Leo could possibly do with his current level and equipment. The monk dispatched the first black essence ridiculously easy with just a few relentless combos, the specialty that rendered the monk class unique. The strength of the class relies on never giving your opponent a moment of respite and continue pummeling with explosive combos. It was a matter of seconds before Hirosame sent even the other malicious mech gr 1 to the elder tale’s version of heaven, Leo instead had yet to kill his first target.

The malicious mech that Leo was fighting didn’t have that much HP left though, just a few clean hits and it would be as good as dead. Leo raised up his blades and gripped them tightly, then he dashed to the mob. To take the mob by surprise he wanted to use his skill fold step, but he had to control his mana usage, he used quite a lot of skills in the previous battles and the current one and his MP was down by half. After he covered enough distance, he jumped and landed right on the mob’s head, the momentum unbalanced the mob and made it fall on the ground. Leo loved how this world incorporated elements on combat that originated both in an MMO and in real life itself, there was a stat and skill system but everything else was up to the adventurers and their own skills / shortcomings, this strategy for example could only work thanks to the real life physics that this world was governed by.

When the mob fell to ground it made a loud metallic sound, Leo still stood on top of the mech and penetrated both his swords into the mech’s armor multiple times, till the mob was nothing but blue sparkles in the air. Leo took a deep breath and then turned his gaze on the remaining black essence, he didn’t like its appearance. The essence looked like a concentrate of this place’s mist, maybe it was these kind of monster that caused much of the corruption on these lands. Leo didn’t have time to think about this, he ran straight to the essence and used his skill <windmill shuffle>, he rotated on himself 4 times and slashed the mob the same number of times. Leo could already tell this monster wasn’t as tough as the malicious mech, Leo’s own damage output appeared higher as opposed to when he hit the mech. The black essence didn’t take much time to retaliate and expelled a black mist, as soon as it made contact with leo’s body the swashbuckler could feel that his limbs instantly became numb. Leo’s stat screen flashed with the debuff stun and showed a little timer that indicated a whole second had to pass before he could move again. Leo snorted and tried to no avail to move his body, meanwhile the essence moved closer to Leo and collided with his body. Leo felt a strange sensation within himself and watched his own HP lower a bit, so that thing really was that corrosive. The second passed and leo jumped back while slashing his blades in an x motion in front of him. That strange sensation slowly disappeared and Leo returned on the offense, he took some steps forward and with each step he slashed the black essence with one of his swords, it wasn’t long before even that mob bursted in blue sparkles, leaving behind gold and items.

Leo took another deep breath, sheathed back his blades and arched his back behind to relieve some of the pressure and pain he gathered in the combat, with the tail of his eye he could see that hirosame had been observing him.

“Hope I wasn’t too slow taking down these guys”

He said to the monk, he knew that waiting for a lower leveled party member to finish up his own battle was tedious but there was nothing he could do right now, he just had to level more and become less of a burden.

“Anyway, I noticed you seemed to follow some clues before we stumbled on these monsters, do you already know what to search in particular?”.


WC: 712

[Hirosame]

Hiro watched the Swashbuckler move, and found himself quite amused by the motions that Stryke made. He'd never actually seen a Swashbuckler fight before, and it was something that he was somewhat sad that he never had the opportunity to see. Now, as he watches it unfold right in front of him, it dawned upon him that he had actually seen another person fight like this before. However, it was such a long time ago, and he hadn't seen hide nor hair of the woman in his mind. Although they had talked only a few times, having been on only a few quests or jobs together, he figured that she was the kind of person to unfold like this in an enemy. She was proclaimed the Grand Duelist by some, even by him, as he hadn't seen anything quite like it before. It reminded him of his sister, in a sense. She used to love to fence, and found great joy in the art. His parents loved every second of her displays, showing off great talent and skill in her form, and how she carried herself. Unlike his parents distrust for him, they loved their daughter with everything they had.

Hiro never let it bother him, though, as she deserved the love. But, that's all in the past now. For now, Stryke was just finishing up with the last of his own monsters to deal with, and Hiro stood back up fully to greet the man, walking closer. Hiro nodded to him in approval, and then started to go back to the way he was going just a moment ago. "You took them out skillfully, my friend." Hiro said in response to Stryke's worry. "An artist takes time to perfect his art." That was the last he mentioned anything of the battle. Any more would just be over-glorifying the situation. Either way, though, it seemed that the Swashbuckler had caught onto Hiro's little game. He was, indeed, following a few clues, but it wasn't the order by which he followed. It was probably the look in his eyes when he saw something that interested him out here. But, that's beside the point. Stryke had noticed that Hiro was looking for one thing in particular, and that was enough of a cue for Hiro to turn and explain things to this man. Taking a moment to put his hands in his pockets, and another quick look around the area just to see what was there, he began.

"You caught me." He started. "I've had a friend of mine, Midori, do a little preemptive research on the area, looking for the highest concentrations of Miasma in specific parts of the Avon area. It suffices to say that this may be one of the most contaminated areas, which would mean building tracks and a train here would prove to be the toughest area to construct in." He pulled his right hand out of his pocket, and placed it upon his chin. "That being said, though, after looking around here as much as we have, I've begun to notice that there's some places that don't seem to have much of an effect. Like there's some spots that seem almost completely clear of the Miasma effect. It's perplexing, to say the least." His eyes stayed focused ahead and a bit towards the ground, as he began to speak to himself. "So what would cause such a phenomenon to occur, though? I haven't the slightest of ideas. Perhaps it has something to do with the amount of monsters around here. If that's the case, though, then the amount of monster in a given sector would correlate to the concentration of Miasma in said sector. So, perhaps if there's a route through these lower-density sectors, then perhaps construction would be possible after all..." He snapped back to reality. "Sorry about that, just had a small epiphany." He turned to Stryke, and gave a wry smile. He didn't mean to suddenly burst into Miasma mumbo-jumbo on the spot, and felt legitimately bad about it. Hopefully, Stryke didn't mind it all that much.


[684 Words]

[Stryke]

Leo smiled as he saw Hirosame lost within his own discussion. It was clear that the monk had a great interest in these sort of things and also that he really cared about his mission to put this much dedication over it. Hiro mentioned that this area was the most contaminated one in Avon, honestly Leo could tell it by just looking at this place. The thick mist enveloped the entire area and there were black spots everywhere, it really wasn't a clean zone. Even though, according to Hirosame there were spots that looked untainted by the miasma and even the monk didn't know exactly why. He just theorized that if the density of mobs within these zones was low enough then building a route even in a place like wasn't so impossible after all.

Leo crossed his arms and thought about it, he obviously couldn't come up with a direct answer to Hiro's problems as he knew next to nothing about miasma corruption and route planning,

"well, you sure are dedicated to this matter, I'll give you that"

He responded to the monk with the same wry smile. Looking Hiro's motivation, Leo began thinking about how he had been living since he entered the game. He only thought of himself and his own survival , what others did was a thing that didn't interest him. Hiro instead wasn't the same, Leo could tell he wanted to actively improve the lives of the adventurers in London, he wasn't acting out of selfishness like Leo did during his time in elder tale.

Leo indeed wanted to help though, it's just that he felt helpless alone, how could he improve the lives of others on his own? It was better if he left that part for people who had the resources to do that. Leo glanced over his status screen, his guild tag flashed with the apocrypha insignia, that's right, he wasn't alone anymore, he finally had the tools to help others.

"Actually, your speech has interested me. I may have just joined, but I'd like to help you guys out from the start. I don't know anything about miasma or train construction, but if there is anything that could require some help I'd be happy to give my assistance. I could finally do something productive for everyone here instead of just thrashing mobs around."

Leo concluded, being in a guild was becoming more and more interesting to him by the minute.



WC: 409

OOC: feel free to wrap this up if you want, we can continue but i'm running out of ideas for this thread :3