[Group/Guild] Into the Ranks!

[Hirosame]

Hiro wandered out into the fields of Windsor, looking out across, seeing what there was to see. There was a good number of monsters out on the field today, but nothing really that he was worried about. Just a bunch of low leveled hooligans that Hiro could easily end on his own accord, but figured that it would be great practice for the new members who would be showing up later on today. Hiro was on his way to the rendezvous point where he was to meet up with these new recruits, and test their mettle. He wasn't even sure if he needed to give them an opportunity to show how good they were in a fight, as he was more than certain that these young men would probably fit the bill, no matter what he put up for them to do. Nothing too difficult in mind, though, since he was dealing with new recruits, after all. But, giving them a chance to strut their stuff was definitely a good thing for them to do. An ego boost was always something that they could use, even in this world. Hiro stretched his arms up over his head, as the sun beat down on him.

After stretching for a moment, he opened up his list that he had made to keep track of the new recruits. Reading down the list for a few moments, he mentally recorded their names down now. "So, it's Bailin, Nostracatus, and oddytiudnir that I'm to meet up with today, huh?" He asked himself, slightly puzzled. Hiro closed the list, and looked up and ahead again, a smile o his face. "This should be fun. A couple of damage dealers would be perfect to add into the guild, even for just a short while." Hiro had conversed with Bailin before, on a random happenstance encounter. After hearing about their goal of getting up to the level required to start their own guild, Hiro offered Apocrypha for a short time so that they can get used to what it's like being in a guild, as well as gain the bonus experience and such from being in a quest with guild members. This helps everybody out in the end, as it gets them closer to their goal, gets them used to being in a guild with others, and it helps Hiro in the potential of having yet another ally guild somewhere down the road. Worth it in his mind.

All that having been said, Hiro was nearing the rendezvous point where he was to meet up with the three new members of the guild, and to see how they handled in a fight. It would also serve to his own benefit to see how they perform in a group together, to judge their capacity for being in a guild together. Someday, they'll have a guild all to themselves, which meant that they needed to get used to each other's strengths and weaknesses long before they start it up. The thing with Midori and how her and Hiro started up Apocrypha was because they had known one another for quite some time now, and had been trapped in this game together. These guys may or may not have been together when this all started, but the fact of the matter is that they are together now. They must be used to one another by now, at least a little bit, and Hiro had no doubt of their capabilities. He just wanted to see it for himself, once they had the opportunity. Walking up to the point where they were going to meet, Hiro found a tree nearby it, and leaned against it. He kept his eye on the road for a few moments, but soon strayed up to look at the sky. It was bright, sunny, and blue, with nearly no clouds in the sky. A beautiful day, to say the least.

[652 Words]

[Nostracatus]

Nostrocatus walked slowly down the road in company of his friends; Bailin and Oddytiudnir, whom he preffers to call Oddy because his long name was way too difficult to pronounce. It was a warm and Sunny day. One of those days a true werecat would lie in the sun bathing in the warmth. But in contrast to other days Nostrocatus had something to do.

Why did I go whit them again. Oh, yes Bailin said we wanted to join this Hiro guy’s guild. Bailin and Oddy’s voice echoed in his mind when he thought of the conversation the three of them had earlier. It is a good experience Nostro. We learn how to manage a guild, Nostro. We meet a base of operations, Nostro. Thank the great Sphinx there is free food in it. He thought while the party of tree went along the road avoiding the agro of monsters and other beasts. There better be food, he promised there be good meat and fish kinds of food! When a soft breeze flew over the grass he yawned showing his catlike teeth. The only reason Nostro came along was the chance of working in a laboratory for his alchemy skill, the fact that his best friends were joining and not the least unimportant free food.


“Bails? How far do we need to go? And how do you know this Hiro fellow? For all we know that fellow will kill us as soon as he spots us. As you know I like to meet new people and find new things to do. But why, does it have to be all the way out here? Would it not have been less difficult to meet us at his guild hall? I mean we are low level so what does he expect from us? That we kill some form of mutated poultrrrrry? Poultry, poultry is nice... especially roasted duck whit black bean sauce… The thought of roasted duck made have visions about the once he ate at the local Chinese restaurant back in the real world. Maybe I should have taken cook as my profession. He turned his sight to a tree in the distance. Not paying too much attention to his fellow travellers. After a few miles he spotted a tree whit a man under it. Isn’t that the guy... girl...thingy named Hiro? He said pointing at the slim distend figure leaning against a tree. Oddy.. your oddly quiet, tell me what are your thought about this plan?

WC: 414

[Bailin]

“Are we there yet? And now? Maybe now?” Bailin laughed as he heard Nostro ask how far the three of them still had to go. “As I’ve told you before, it’s somewhere near trees, a very specific tree close on the edge of mobtown, or in simpler terms: There are monsters about and close by, but the place we decided to meet up is more or less easier to reach.” he continued smiling.

“I have my doubts Hiro will kill us, if he were, then why ask us to join his guild, meet him somewhere under the pretence of initiating training? Even if he were to kill us… it would just hurt like crazy, or so I’ve been told, but we’ll revive, on contrary with Landers, the People of the Land. So the worst that could happen would be: Auw that hurt, hitpoints reach 0, blegh, poef and revive.” Bailin said grinning, thinking back on what KittyGrey had once told him.

“I met Hiro on a chance encounter I guess, there we talked for a bit, seemed like a good enough sort. We talked about our plans and he offered to help us a bit on the way in regards of being in a guild and such. Assuming our guild will grow beyond the three of us, I think that’s a mighty fine opportunity to gain some insights, contacts and experience. Think of it as a way to improve ourselves, making new friends and gain new insights into this new world. Me and Oddy have been around a bit longer then you, but there are so many things we don’t even know about or didn’t even consider.” Bailin spoke a bit more thoughtfull.

“Also he made a compelling argument during our conversation: we lack sorely in combat experience and though the three of us will get there in the end… it might be better to join up with someone who has a better idea of what’s going on and what will work.” Bailin continued, rather serious, “Also, speaking of combat.. I think you should be our center and tank, Nostro, I’ll take the left and Oddy the right or go behind any single bastard we find. I have no idea what Hiro has planned, but it’s best to be prepared. Against groups of enemies I think we should either focus on one at a time or have them focus you, Nostro, while Oddy and me take care of the rest.”

“As for your question about why here and not at the guild hall… best way to learn something about someone is to see how they are in reality, in this case: he wants to know how we fight, so best way to see that is to have us fight. So it’s a good plan. Regarding the food: you’re always hungry so… probably you would eat half their food supply as a pre-meal snack…” Bailin joked, whilst grinning from ear to ear.

As they had progressed along the way to the meeting point Nostro pointed out to a figure leaning against a tree. From the current distance it was hard to tell if it was indeed Hiro, though Bailin was pretty certain it was indeed, Hiro, who was leaning against the tree. Polite as Bailin was he started waving towards Hiro, but for some reason he did not get any response

“I think someone learned how to sleep standing. Either that or he’s just not looking at us…” he grinned, wondering what Hiro had in mind.


{WC: 585}

[oddytiudnir]

“Aye I agree with Bailin, the place is easier to reach than when we would be meeting in a monster infested location Nostro.” Oddy grinned as he heard Bailin talking about Kittygrey. “Aye her explanations were quite handy back when we started right? Without her well yeah.” Oddy grinned and left it at that.


Oddy hooked in on what Bailin was telling about guilds. “Leading a guild is not simple but you do need former experience, since we´re literally stuck in this game that job has become more difficult first just the fact that we need some form of communication to actually speak to Members if we have our own guild and this chance will help us with that, as it will be a learning experience for us and we get to experience how it feels to actually meet all the members in person.” Said Oddy while still walking with the small group on the road.


“Learning to work together as a group in combat, that is what we need to strive for anyway we need to learn each other strengths but also weaknesses so that we can handle the situations very well and know when to help each other.” “Alright, I´ll take the right and make pincushions out of those mobs hehe, arrows all the way mate!”


“Don´t be afraid to call on me or Bailin if you pulled more than you can handle though Nostra, since I have a bow it will take me less time to aid you, we´ll still need a firearm for Bailin though so he can do the same instead of rushing to your aid with his rapier.” Chuckled Oddy.


As Nostracatus said that he could see somebody in the distance at a tree and Bailin confirming that it was indeed Hiro, Oddy started thinking Nostra as the tank…Bailin killing mobs and I killing the mobs, might need a skill called Quick Draw from the adventurers line of skills though, handy if I ever get in melee so I can quickly switch between my weapons heh. I wonder what kind of person this, Hiro fella is oh well guess we´re going to find that out soon enough.


WC 363

Hirosame
Bailin
Nostracatus

[Hirosame]

Hiro had lost himself in the sky for a bit, without even realizing it. His mind flashed over to a time when he was first starting out, and he had come to an area much like this one, with Blue. Their mission was to fight some slimes and such, which wasn't a problem for neither the Monk nor the Bard. He also recalled how he had come back to this area for the world's first Boss Fight, after the Catastrophe. A challenge, yes, but the rewards were well worth it. The amount of times he leveled after that fight, alone, with astounding. Hiro hadn't really done much else in this place, save for the time he came here and fought 10 slimes to gain like 6-7 levels. He had never found that specific quest again, so he just assumed that it wouldn't come back. All this aside, though, his attention very quickly snapped back to those who were coming down the road. Actually, more honestly, he realized he was probably standing there like a nitwit while the three who were there to meet up with him were standing and waiting for him to say something. Awkward.

Hiro turned to the group, and put his hands triumphantly on his sides. All three were present, having appeared all at the same time. Bailin, Nostracatus, and oddytiudnir were all waiting patiently there, or as patiently as he could tell. Despite knowing that their leader-for-now wasn't paying perfect attention to their approach, they probably thought him to be somewhat distant now. Which, in all honesty, wasn't too far from the truth. Hiro got lost in his own thoughts quite frequently, usually having to force himself into saying something after one of these little episodes. But, right now, it just seemed like the obvious thing to do to address the men that had gathered. Hiro had spoken with Bailin before about the situation, as was mentioned before, but had yet to meet his two friends. They seemed like the strong enough and friendly enough sort, seeing as the three all walked up together, talking away. Wait, how did Hiro know that? He wasn't paying too much attention. How'd he know they were talking? Were they even talking? Who am I? WHERE'S HARVEY!?

All jokes and existential questioning aside, Hiro figured he should probably talk and not stand there like an idiot for much longer than was needed. Lord knows he's been standing there for a while with his hands on his sides for a while now, without doing anything. "Alrighty, I guess we're all here, then?" Hiro began, finally. "Bailin, good to see you again. As for the other two, I'm Hirosame, leader of Apocrypha. Just call me Hiro." He thrust a thumb towards himself in his introduction, then put his hand back to his side. "As for the reason why you gentlemen are here today, it's very simple. I'm just going to see how well you guys perform in combat as a unit. When you guys have your own guild, you're going to need to work together in fights, as well as outside of the battlefield. As such, cooperation is an important tool for you guys to have." Hiro was about to finish his little speech, when a slime started hopping its way over towards the group, directly at him. He noticed this little guy, outstretched his arm towards it, and activated one of the Monk's most useful skills, Magnet Grip.

The slime attracted directly to his hand, and he gripped it forcefully. "TO THE MOON, WITH YOU!" He shouted, winding his entire body back, before launching the slime far across the plains with every bit of force his body could muster. Without even opening his inventory, a flash of light appeared in his hand, and a Magnum was flourished to a resting point. While the slime was still in air, Hiro aimed the gun at the green body, and fired. The bullet traveled quickly through the sky, and pierced the slime's body a few seconds later. Hiro dismissed the gun, and turned back to the three before him. Particles of data began to scatter from where the slime was ended, and a small amount of experience appeared on everybody's interfaces. Hiro's smile returned, as he looked at the three. "Now then, as I was saying. It's important to work together with things like combat, as it will strengthen the bond between you, and allow you all to perform optimally whether on your own or in a group. Knowing your roles is also as important as one would expect, so just to save some time, I'll assign everybody roles based on classes."

Hiro looked the three over very quickly, realizing that it was a Monk, and Assassin, and a Warden. Not much in the way of diversity, but enough for this all to work out in a way that they could learn something. Hiro turned to Nostracatus. "Being the Monk of the group, you will undoubtedly be the tank of the group. But, as you may know, Monks can output the most damage out of all the tank classes. Be sure to stay light on your feet, and keep moving. They can't keep up with you." He then turned to the other two. "As for you two, you're DPS classes. Keep the damage coming down so the tank doesn't have to take a lot of damage." With those being said, he turned around to the field, to see a group of 2 slimes. Without turning back around he spoke to the three. "Start small, I figure. There's a group of two Dull Green Slimes over there. How about you start it off with that?" Hiro walked back over to the tree, and leaned against it once again, just so he could keep an eye on the group from a safe enough distance. Should he need to intervene, he'd pull out his guns, Yin and Yang, and fire them away at the monsters. The impact from the specially made bullets would be more than enough to keep them in the database far longer than the adventurers would be.

[1023 Words]

[Nostracatus]

While Nostrocatis listened to the reply’s of his friends. He decided to take a better look at the slimes that here crawling the area. As far as I can see these are not the kind that would mean serious trouble for us. Then again I am not a tracker or something. So there might be some surprises later on. They do have funny shapes and colours. don't they, does that mean there are different types of them? As Nostrocatus was considering whits of the slimes where more dangerous. He indeed saw different types of slimes. Bleu ones, green ones, red ones,  Lean ones, squared ones. Sphered and round ones. Others did not same to have a certain shape but where just a pile of goo moving around. Why must it be slimes. I do not like slimes. They make such a mess when u kill them. At least that is what they did in other games. U always looted something called sticky goo. Might that be where those hair care products come from?
He tought moving his atantion back to the convorsation he had whit his friends.


There both saying the same thing aren’t they. We don’t have the experience and we have not yet fought as a team. what would happen if I go left instead of right.. then Oddy could exedently kill me. I must admit I dont think getting killed is that much fun. Its not, I am sure of it. We need to make sure we function propperly as a team. For that we need experience, and the only way to get this experience is to fight monsters. To bad u do not find those monsters guild halls. He yawned lazy before he answered.



“I guess your two are right as usual.” Nostro Sighted. Why are they always right about these things! It is freaking annoying. `It is better to know all those things before u go fight some raid boss. But I think I know what u need to learn Oddy. U need to learn to be less squishy. So u won’t get beaten in to a sad Oddly looking liquid when there done whit u.” Nostrocatus joked as they moved down the road. “I will keep in mind that u got my back mate. It is very comforting to know someone is pointing arrows at u, while u are busy getting clobbered.” Nostrocatus laught at the Irony as they continued. “Just do not turn me in to a pincushion will you? I don´t think arrows look good on me at all.”



Eventually the group stood before the man who apparently was a guild leader. Instead of introducing himself he just stood there. A bit uncomfortable Nostro waved his arm in front of Hiro’s face. He must be far-out not to notice the tree of us standing before him. Strange fellow thats for sure. Nostro thought frowning. Not knowing what he should do he look at his friends. I know, a good knuckle sandwich would surly wake him up. Glad he had found a solution Nostrocatus smiled as he pulld in his arm. Ah he starts talking when it is about to get fun. To Nostrocatus ignorant Disappointment he disguised the punch by rubbing the side of his neck.



“I guess we are." unless u invited other people to joint this trail of combat. But since that does not seem to be the case we could assume where all here.. until now he does not strike as a  very capable leader. At least the reason he wants us here is reasonable. Nostro crossed his arms in front of him wile listning to Hiro.

Then Hiro start shouting and pulling all kinds of moves. As if he had heard Nostrocatus thoughts.

Where did.. how did he...when did he do that! Rather impressed by the moves of the monk in front of him Nostrocatus looked how the slimy blob was blown to bits. He onley Nodded when Hiro started to assign combat roles. That is impressive. Even for a monk. And those guns look need to. I did not know Gun not to say Magnums where craft able in elder tale. He gave a meaningful grin to Bailin. I know a warden who raly cant wait to get his hands on Hiros guns. A moment he did not get what he just said but then he chuckled silently as it downd on him. I should start paying atention instead of goofing of! He scolded himself. 

“keep the argo and prevent them from hitting me and more importantly my party members. While I am kicking there buts.” He replayed in a clear voice. That is the nice thing about being a monk. U don’t just stand there and get clobber if u play it smart u can really annoy the enemy attackers.



He stretched his back en legs and waved his arms a couple of times to make sure he would be fast and agile enough. “Let us can these pieces of jelly and make a nice pudding out of them.” Nostrocatus said laughing.  Nou that I think of it. they do look like gelatin Pudding. And it is ages since a had some good homemade pudding. The ones mom used to make for charismas semolina whit brown sugar and resins’. Or a good custard. I would almost kill of one of those. But killing is bad. It is in the real world, but in this world the adventurers do not die. That would imply that killing adventurers is not bad. Killing people of the land would be. Because they do not revive. That gives a new view on ethics does it. Still pondering the implications of life and death he stood still and estimated the distance between him and his pray.

“The distance is perfect.” A quick look over his shoulder told him that Hiro stood a bit back observing the team. “Let’s start the hunt.” He mumbled whit a Soft voice.
Then he dropped his laydback attitude took a few steps back. He rushed forward whits got him the attention of the slimes. He jumped up to start his Aura kick and whit a tiger lik. He kicks the ground in between the two slimes whit all his might. A mean looking grin apeard on  his fae when he Somersault Kickt the slime at in fornd of him up in the air.
“Oddy! Here is some target practise for you!” He yelled That would prevent that one from hitting me for some time. Hopefully Oddy’s Aim is still as sharp as he is short. He took a few fast steps to the side. I do not want that slime thing to fall on me. Making my fur all sticky. It is bad enough I have to kick and punch the things. he was now at the side of the slime that was still on the ground. He treated it to a good old fashion punch. Whits made the slime thing wobble.

WC 1.164

Bailin
oddytiudnir
Hirosame

[Bailin]

“Nice to see you again as well, boss.” Bailin said with a wink as Hiro welcomed them, listening further to his words, nodding in general agreement. This was rather old news for Bailin as he and Hiro more or less discussed this before, though for Oddy and Nostro this was new. Slowly from out of nowhere a little slime- blob-thingy tried to backstab Hiro, but Hiro beat the blob to it and sent it flying. ‘Show off.’ Bailin laughed internally as Hiro launched the slime and shot it. “Say boss, where can I get one of those fancy pants firearms like yours?” Bailin asked intrigued, but alas, Hiro continued his speech, ears probably dimmed down a bit due to the bangs of the firearm.


After his speech or well continuing it, Hiro assigned the three of them their roles, Oddy and Bailin would deal the damage, whilst Nostro would tank. As Hiro turned around, showing his back to them he continued with the order to attack two slimes.


“Understood boss” Bailin said nodding, taking out his rapier and preparing for battle.

“Oddy you go on range and just use Nostro as your personal shield, try to draw them into Nostro if you see the chance. I’ll be fine and flank when possible.” Bailin said to his friends, just before Nostro charged, jumping between the slimes and kicking one up. As Nostro had dashed forward, kicking one slim up, there was but one slime monster left. Rushing forward Bailin placed his rapier in front of his chest, the point aiming forward. Slowing down when he passed Nostro’s left; he turned and stabbed the smile, barely scratching it, but scratch it he did.

WC: 281