A Fox's Dagger [Closed]

[Ashtver]

Finally, Ashtver had done what he had been meaning to do for such a long time: invite his 'Little Sister' Aria out to the Windsor Greatwood to give her a gift.
     "Brother, what did you call me out here for?  I forgot again..." the young Fox Tail had inquired of Ash as they walked along the treeline.  She skipped along, her small, golden dress, matching golden hair and large red and white striped tail flicking about, her hands behind her back.
     "Remember?  I have a gift to give to you.  You promised you'd let me make it for you," Ash sighed to Aria, stroking her golden locks affectionately.  Aria slapped her palm to her head.
     "Oh, right, I remember!  Back with Miss Pen and that Druid!" she recalled.  Ash had recently taught her a lot about the classes, as her parents and real older brother hadn't been around long enough to do so.  With the information she had been told, she began her training as an Assassin, proving to be able to perfectly replicate Deadly Dance without having to have the skill.  
     Ash suddenly held out an arm to stop Aria moving any further.  He put a hand to the back of his belt, and drew out a long, thin, silver Dagger.  Aria's orange eyes lit up as she gazed in awe at the sun's rays reflecting off the glimmering steel.  Only then did she realize that Ash was rearing his arm back over his shoulder.  In the blink of an eye, Ashtver snapped his elbow forward, throwing the Dagger at a high branch in a nearby tree, the blade sticking in firmly.
     "If you can-" but before he could finish telling her that she'll have it if she can get up there, the Fox Tail girl was off, bolting along the grassy earth.  Ashtver placed a hand to the back of his head.  That's an Assassin-in-training for ya, I guess... Aria was bolting along the ground, her small footsteps barely heard.  She got to the tree and jumped upwards, placing a foot onto the trunk and pushing off towards the branch, sliding the Dagger out of the wood fiercely.  She landed back on the grass, her knees bent and the Dagger held in her hand backwards.  She stood up and gave her big brother a toothy, sweet grin.
     "-reach the Dagger and pull it out, I can have it?  Done, Big Brother!" she continued on from Ash like a Smart Alec.  She opened up her HUD by tapping the air like Ash had showed her, and dropped the Dagger into her inventory, causing it to materialize in a sheath on her right hip.  She slid it back out to feel the weight of it.  She could feel the weight balanced perfectly in the center, and flipped it in the air, catching it by the handle, just to make sure.  Judging by Ashtver's throw, it was balanced just right for throwing too.  She slid it back into her sheath, and skipped up to Ash, hugging him around the waist, "Thank you for my present!  I'll make sure to take good care of it!" she told him.  She pulled away, and grabbed his hand, giving him a cute smile.
     The two strolled along the treeline, the surroundings peaceful.  Aria pointed out many differently colored birds flying away, and stopped to stare at the occasional flowers, the beautiful plants not exactly being as common as they were in the Savill Flower Groves.  Without warning, Ashtver, whipped out one of his Spears from his back after hearing a ringing in his HUD.  Is it a player or a monster? he worried.  He shepherded Aria, who now had her Dagger out, with his left hand, and faced the Spear in his right hand outwards.  Where are they?  
     Suddenly, a red beam slashed through the air, cutting Ashtver's cheek open and depleting his health by a minuscule amount.  Crap, Briar Weasels!  Let's just hope that they're only a low level... Why the hell are they attacking us, anyway?  Ash turned to face the direction the Briar Weasel's attack came from.  A small health bar, name and level popped up in his view, his Pathfinder Passive ability Battle Perception picking it up from a longer distance than usual.  Level 13... that's three levels higher than me!  This is going to take a while... He turned to the Fox Tail, and she nodded.  She swung her arm back, and flicked it forward, sending the silver Dagger directly at the Weasel.  The blade stuck into the small beast's skull, depleting its health significantly and causing blood to dribble from the massive wound on its tiny head.  
     Ashtver raised his index finger and thumb in a firing position.  He pressed his thumb down and fired a bullet of air at the Briar Weasel, knocking it off of its feet, giving Ash time to close the distance.
     "Mirage Dealer!" he shouted, and he dashed forward, slashing with his one Spear and bare hand, forming an X-shape in mid-air, before teleporting a short distance forward, still not within range of the Briar Weasel.  As he landed the teleport, he spun around and faced backwards, then shouted another command, "Discard!", causing him to flip backwards and strike out with the butt of his Spear, giving a concussion to the now recovered Weasel.  He finished off with one final command, "Dart-tack Target!" he called, his newest ability, causing him to rush forward and strike the Weasel four times, only requiring the first three to shatter the Weasel into Anima.  However, he panicked when the fourth strike followed through and stuck into flesh.  Oooooooh no, what did I just impale?  
     The Anima cleared to reveal a not very happy Briar Weasel with a Spear stuck in its head.  Ashtver looked back, a grimace of worry on his face as Aria came rushing up, also noticing the phenomenal amount of Weasels surrounding them.
     "Oh, shit," Ash swore.

Word Count: 992
Stats: Ash: HP: 97% MP: 78%. Aria: HP: 100% MP: 100%
Abilities Used: (Passive) Battle Perception, Wind Bullet, Mirage Dealer, Discard, Dart-tack Target
Notes: Will need Aria Blade to be removed from my inventory if a Mod sees this :P
Post Music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynOhXsPToHc
Tags: None 
       

[Shuwen]

Words: 543

Shuwen was seriously beginning to get bored of farming in Windsor Greatwood. Despite his fear of dying, he probably would have already moved on to a harder area, except he’d been having a lot of trouble getting his hands on leveled equipment. He’d ordered some cloth armor from Zyrune, but he’d yet to finish it. As for throwing weapons, he was unable to find a leveled blacksmith that would give him a decent price, so he’d been force to buy stock equipment from the Warden inventory in Standford. It’s a good thing monks use barehanded attacks. He thought to himself. Or I would have needed to buy from them much sooner. Unfortunately, he didn’t know of any higher leveled stock equipment available, so unless he did manage to overturn his bad luck and find a higher leveled smith, he wasn’t sure how he was going to get anything better then that once he leveled up. As grim as the clouds on the horizon were, Shuwen decided it was best not to think about it too much at the moment. To kill time he decided to try and scope out some of the stronger monsters located in Windsor Greatwood. Namely, Iron-Tusked Gerald and Enemic Buster. Neither one was easy to find though, and he was having a devil of a time trying to locate them.

As he was searching, he noticed that a number of briar weasels were clustered around one spot. Shuwen couldn’t see what they were looking at, but it wasn’t hard to guess; newbies who didn’t know how monsters agro’d, or didn’t know their own limits had a tendency to bite off more then they could chew. Shuwen, who’d made up to level 50 on the North American server, was mostly past that point, at least for this area, but it seemed not everyone who’d decided to join the English server was that experienced. I guess I might as well bail them out. Approaching the monsters slowly, he drew one of his knives and threw it at one of the lower leveled monsters. Even though throwing projectiles were generally secondary weapons that didn’t do a whole lot of damage, the sheer level difference caused it to do quite a bit of damage to the weseal, causing it to turn and bare it's fangs at him. “You need a hand in there?” He called out loudly. Even though his words were directed at whoever was being surrounded by the weasels, he used the yell to activate his Rafting Taunt Skill, preventing the weasels from attacking anyone but himself for the next few seconds. Finding themselves briefly unable to target their intended opponent, they turned towards the monk in order to continue attacking, and lashed out at him with tendril-like vines. Shuwen managed to dodge the first one by swaying to one side. Though the second and third ones managed to hit him, he slammed his fist against the ground, using Tiger Echo Fist sending out a shockwave that briefly scattered them, briefly preventing them from launching any further attacks until they could regain their footing.

With the monsters briefly knocked aside, he took a quick look at the people they’d surrounded, checking their numbers and condition to see how outgunned they'd been.

[Ashtver]

Ashtver heard a call from his right.
     "You need a hand in there?" it was that of a male, seemingly slightly older than Ash himself.  He called back.
     "Cheers mate!" he called back, as he forcefully slid the red-edged spearhead out of the Weasel's head.  He slid his second Spear out and took a defensive stance beside Aria, "I swear, I will not let any of these bastards touch you," he told her.  The Fox Tail girl nodded, a stern look on her face as she stared down the Weasels.  Ash called out his first command, "Fickle Roulette!", and he spun forwards, his Spears against his spine, slashing a couple of Weasels in the way.  He then released them, sending both of them flying, one Spear with a single victim, while the other caught two.  
     Aria then used the thrown Spear as leverage after it stuck firmly in the ground.  She leapt onto it, bending it slightly, before bouncing off at high speed, slashing through the air like a missile, downing two weasels and killing a third.  Bare-handed now, Ash toggled Wind Bullet back on, and set his fingers back into a gun shape.  He bolted at Aria, shooting each Weasel out of the air that leapt at her as she recovered.  One, two, three, they fell like flies, but with Wind Bullet's very low damage were only knocked aside.      
     He reached his first Spear, yanking it from the earth, before Aria jumped onto his back.  He stuck the butt of his Spear into the ground, pivoting him around and keeping his momentum going the opposite way.  He rushed throught the air, ducking under and jumping over the whip-strikes of the Weasels.  He reached his other spear, then looked to his left now, seeing the other player dealing with a bunch of his own Weasels.
     Ah, a Monk, huh?  he thought as he saw the Monk use Tiger Echo Fist.  Ash turned back to his own opponents, and called another command, "Aura Saber!" and he pushed off, his right spear glowing yellow, and slashing forwards, killing two Weasels.  He rotated his body and chained a second command, "Dart-tack Target!", sending him forward again, striking a Weasel twice with his left Spear, dispersing its body into Anima, then striking another behind his victim with his right.  Aria bounced off his back, and jumped to three Weasels, from one to the next, impaling each one in the back of the neck.  She looked around, before her face went wide as a group of Weasels leapt at her Big Brother.
     Acting quickly, she grabbed her Dagger by the tip of the handle, and slung it forwards, slashing through two of the Weasels' throats and impaling another in the ribs.  She waltzed over to the still breathing Weasel, and placed a gentle hand to its head. She leaned down and whispered something inaudible to it, before taking the Dagger out and slicing its throat.  She flung the blood off of her silver Dagger, and slid it back into its sheath.  She turned back to Ash, whose black and white Platemail was bloodstained like his Spears, and gave him a sweet smile.  Ash looked over to where the Monk was to check if he was finished. He called over to him.
     "Hey!  Thank for the help!  Name's Ashtver, but you can call me Ash.  What's your name?"


Word Count: 562
Stats: Ashtver: HP: 94% MP: 63%.  Aria: HP: 98% MP: 79%
Abilities Used: Fickle Roulette, Wind Bullet x3, Aura Saber, Dart-tack Target
Notes: None
Post Music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=COlXiFJ2uAg&index=13&list=PLXFGOyb4TlA7LJRmbLuQh_OuZxej2eOQM
Tags: Shuwen

[Shuwen]

Words: 764

When he called out, he almost immediately heard an enthusiastic response, followed by the responder making a swift declaration of protection to someone he was with. Shuwen made an effort not to roll his eyes. Is he trying to fight or flirt? Well, that explains how he got in this mess in the first place.

After Tiger Echo Fist created a whole in the Briar Weasels that surrounded them, he finally got a look at who he was helping out; a teenaged male human that was dual wielding spears, and a noticeably younger female foxtail that was using a dagger to attack the monsters relentlessly. Of course, they’re both damage dealers. No wonder they’re having trouble with so many monsters. That said, even has he thought that, he mentally corrected himself; they seemed to be doing surprisingly fine now. For some reason the Swashbuckler seemed perfectly capable of dodging most of, if not all of their attacks, while killing most of them in just one or two strikes, which he found to be a little odd considering his level, but decided not to comment. Maybe they’re abnormally low leveled for Briar Weasels? Or do they not have the sense to attack consecutively? Either way, it seemed they’d overreacted to the level of danger they’d been in.

Sighing, Shuwen stood back and let three of the Weasels he’d aggro’d charge him again. Backing up a few steps, he made a short hop and came down kicking the ground. Aura Kick didn’t have the knock back capability of Tiger Echo Fist, but it was still a decent area of effect attack. However, as he’d used up both his area of effect attacks, it looked like he’d have to finish the three off with melee attacks. Normally, he’d use zoom attack to try and hit them as they came in, but he didn’t have enough time to use it this time around. Instead, he focused on the mob with the greatest amount of hit points remaining, and used Bullet Punch to punch it in rapid succession.

Unfortunately, the other two weasels managed to get a couple of hits in while he was doing so, but they weren’t able to stagger him and interrupt his assault, and the first weasel went down rather quickly. The second one was a little out of melee range, so he got the first strike in by using Zoom Attack to extend his arm and backhand it as it charged in. Turning his body to maintain the small amount of centripetal force from his previous attack, he stepped in and followed up with a spinning hook kick.

Of course, as he did this, the remaining Briar Weasel lashed at him from behind, striking him across the back and making him stumble. It then jumped on him and bit at his spine. Is it trying to disable me? He wondered curiously, but didn’t have time to contemplate it as his hit points began to decrease. Wanting it off, Shuwen quickly turned again and scrapped his back against a nearby tree, forcing the weasel off of his back. It tried to lash at him again with a vine, but Shuwen saw it coming and dodged behind the tree he’d just used. Pulling out another throwing knife, he quickly took aim and threw it, wounding the creature. He then jumped at it and used Wyvern Kick to finish it off.

By the time he’d finished the last one off, it seemed the other two had finished off all the other Weasels, and hadn’t even taken much damage in the process of doing so. Was there really any need for me to help? Shuwen wondered, feeling a little exasperated with the whole affair. Still, they seemed happy he’d helped for some reason; normally people would simply be mad that he’d stolen their kills, so he decided not to complain.

“Er- Shuw- I mean, mine is Shuwen.” He responded, briefly stumbling over his own words. As he spoke, the interface began to provide him with more information about them. The male was a Swashbuckler, like he’d thought. The Foxtail was an assassin, or at least seemed to be; there was something off about the icon that indicated her class, though he couldn’t figure out what. “You’re welcome, I guess., though you two didn’t seem to be having any trouble.” He’d jumped in partially on a whim, and partially on conditioned reflex, something that had gotten him into trouble before, under similar circumstances, so he was being more then a little cautious regarding the other adventurers’ impression of him.

[Ashtver]

The Monk introduced himself as Shuwen.  Ash bowed towards him, "Nice to meet you, Shuwen.  My name's Ashtver, but you can just call me Ash.  Thanks for the help," he stood back up, as Aria bounded up and down at Ash's side.
     "Thanks, Mister Shuwen!  We owe you!" she thanked the Monk.  I don't know, but he looks like he's suspicious of us... Ashtver thought.  This suspicion was confirmed when Shuwen mentioned the fact that Ash and Aria seemed to have been alright by themselves.
     "Yeah, you're right... it seems we didn't take-" but before he could speak any further, he dropped to one knee and grunted in pain, as blood pooled lightly out of his legs.  He looked down and saw the blood flowing from his armor, then at his health bar, which hadn't moved much.  Ah, right, even if you didn't take much damage, strain on your body still runs you out, he reminded himself.  He looked up at Shuwen, his eyes saying, 'I guess we were worse off than it seemed,'.  Aria seemed to have quite a few slashes on her legs too, as her knees quivered lightly and blood dripping from her calves, "Hey, question... you got any health potions?  We're kinda poor when it comes to health items.  I keep forgetting to grab some," he informed the Monk, a goofy smile across his face.  He picked up his Spears and slid them into the sheathes on his back, while Aria sheathed her new, but now slightly bloody, dagger.


After recovering his health, Ash stood up, feeling fatigued due to the weight of the Plate Armour.  He looked at Shuwen, and decided to mention the armor before anyone the Monk did.  He didn't need a repeat of the same conversation he had with a Guardian friend of his.
     "I bet you're thinking, 'Why the hell is a Swashbuckler wearing Plate Armour and wielding Dual Spears?  What a weirdo,'.  Well, good sir, the answer to that is I am no normal Buckler.  I use my own Crowd Control Buckler build, a mobile tank.  However, I'm not very mobile with this Plate Armour... I should really degrade it to Chain," he told Shuwen, not noticing whether or not he cared.  He also noticed the Monk staring curiously at Aria, possibly noting the strange symbol she had, "Ah, you wondering what that Class Icon that is?  It should be an Assassin icon, but seeing as she started the class late, it seemed to mutate into a different icon.  I'd like to know how you see it, but I see it slightly similar to the Assassin symbol, although the blades look more like fox tails and there seems to be a head of an animal in the center... I guess it could be called the Aria class for now.  Don't think anyone else will have it though..." he rambled on, possibly boring the Monk.  He felt a light punch hit his left hip.  He looked down to see Aria, red-faced and irritated.
     "Big Brother, you sound like you're treating me as an object or test subject... I don't like it," she complained, quite upset.  Ash went red, before he he dropped down and gave her a hug.
     "O-oh, so sorry, A-Aria... I-I didn't mean it to sound like that, I swear!" he flushed very red now, almost like the heads of his Spears.  He pulled away, patting Aria on the head, and turned back to Shuwen, "So, Mister Shuwen, tell me about yourself,"

Word Count: 583
Stats: Ash: HP: 100% MP: 90%. Aria: HP: 100% MP: 100%
Abilities Used: None
Notes: I hope it's okay with you that I had a potion. I couldn't find another way to continue the thread.
Post Music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAGzlZbPGWg
Tags: Shuwen 

[Shuwen]

Words: 532

The Swashbuckler introduced himself as Ashtver, who, upon Shu mentioning how easy a time he had, suddenly doubled over and started bleeding. That was… some strange timing. He knew they’d taken some damage, but it didn’t seem to be more then scratches, so why was he bleeding so much? An invisible debuff or something? When the Swashbuckler asked if he had any potions. “Sure, gimme a sec, but can you add me to your party first?” He quickly sent them a party invitation on the interface, giving them the option of accepting or denying it. If they accepted, he’d pull a single item out of his inventory, one of his Healthy Citrus Pastilles, using the Picnic chef skill to create a duplicate of any food item he pulled out of his inventory for every person in his party. “I’m a chef, so these are easier to come by for me.” He quickly explained before downing the original pastille. Once he was in their party, the information supplied to them via the interface would elaborate; his crafting was some five or so levels ahead of his main class, allowing him to make restorative items above his level. Due to the pastilles being level 40, they’d probably be more then enough to restore their HP to maximum. They probably wouldn’t do as much for Ashtver’s fatigue though.

For some reason, Ashtver started explaining his build, namely his use of spears and heavy armor. Well, I guess that explains why he’s able to fight without a proper tank. It’s still a poor substitute though. “Yeah, you probably should.” He replied to the last comment about needing to downgrade to chain.

Upon noticing Shu looking at Aria’s class icon on the interface, Ashtver started talking about her class and how it looked and such. This guy… likes to talk a lot, or to explain things a lot. Something. Though the way he said “she started the class late” sounded rather odd. Did she do a class change? No, that’s not it. From what he’d seen, when a lander took on a role within a story or world that didn’t necessarily follow one of the classes available to players, they’d often end up with an abnormal class that adventurers couldn’t obtain. Nobles were a primary example of this. It seemed like she was a lander who’d attempted to take the role of an assassin, but ended up with something slightly different for some reason. Meh, it’s probably nothing, just a nerfed reskin or something. He thought as Aria got on to Ashtver for treating her like an object.

Once he finished talking, they seemed to want him to start talking about himself. “I’m an Adventurer, I’m a Monk, I’m a Chef.” He replied with a shrug. “Not much else to say unless you want me to write an autobiography.” As amusing and awkward the conversation was becoming, Shuwen was beginning to get bored. “Alright then, if you don’t need anything else, I’m going to go back to farming.” Assuming neither of them did or said anything to the contrary, Shuwen would manipulate his interface once more to remove himself from the party and turn around to leave.

[Ashtver]

Ashtver waved to Shuwen as he left, not requiring any further help.  He turned back to Aria and gave her a small smile, looking at her icon again.  Shuwen was right... that icon is strange, but it might not change her style at all.  It's not rare that Landers get unique classes unavailable to everyone else, but to have one at this age... he stroked his chin lightly as Aria cowered slightly, before he placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair lightly.
     "Come on, Aria, let's go," he instructed, lightly grabbing onto her hand and walking back towards the treeline.  This is so confusing... we were absolutely surrounded, but the Weasels were too easy to kill. However, we ended up bleeding quite a bit.  It couldn't have been a bleeding debuff or a Heretic spell... I would have seen it on my HUD.  The easiest thing to answer would be the Weasels' aggro.  Aggro could easily be thrown onto another player in the vicinity if the one with aggro gets away, so that's pretty obvious.  Ash decided to just shrug off the problem and blame it all on the armour.  The siblings walked on for a couple of meters before a rustle was heard in a nearby tree, and a Samurai dropped out, Nodachi in hand.  He went to slash at the hands of his two victims, but missed and sunk the blade into the ground as the two split.  Before they could get away though, he used Samurai's Challenge, beckoning the siblings to fight.  Ash looked to Aria, who nodded and drew her Dagger, dashing to the Samurai and accepting the challenge.  He met the young Fox Tail head on, blocking the Dagger with his own blade.  While he was occupied, Ashtver pulled out one of his Spears and charged the predator.  
     To his surprise, a bright aura surrounded the Samurai, increasing his speed.  He dashed away from Aria and around to Ashtver's back, slashing downwards.  Unable to pull his second Spear out in time, he met the blade with his forearm, attempting to take the least damage possible.  The blade cut right through, amputating it from the elbow, and Ash fell to the ground, blood pooling from the stump that was his arm.  Ouch!  Thank God that pain in Elder Tale is softened, Ash noted.  A golden figure dashed over his body and at the armour-clad warrior.
     "No, Aria-!" Ashtver began, but his shout was cut short as Aria's blade was met with Early Bird, Night Owl, countering her powerful strike and sending the Nodachi slashing from her shoulder to her hip.  Furious, Ashtver picked himself up, leaving the Spear and arm on the ground and pointed a finger at the Samurai.  He pushed his thumb down and fired off Wind Bullet, hitting the attacker in the back and stumbling him slightly, "Oi!  Pick on someone your own-" but he was cut off as the tip of the sword was sent through Ashtver's throat.  No, Aria... I couldn't save her... this is the second time in a week... I've come this close to death... this time I will die though, but Aria... will be gone forever... as a last resort, Ash grabbed the blade of the Naginata, the sharp edge digging into his hand.  Aria could be seen in the background, a large, bloody slash along her chest.  She seemed to be staying calm, and nodded at Ash as he looked over to her.  She charged forward, and the Samurai attempted to pull his blade free, but Ashtver's grip was tight.  In an instant, Aria was already back on the ground, a Kunai lodged in her Dagger arm.  He looked back down at Ashtver, his eyes crazy and full of bloodlust.
     Damn it, Shuwen, why'd you leave?!

Word Count: 632
Stats: Ash: HP: 23% MP: 100%. Aria: HP: 15% MP: 100%
Abilities Used: None. In Ash's rage, he forgot he could use abilities and treated it like a real fight to the death.
Notes: None
Post Music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=unzYyQP33YE&list=PLXFGOyb4TlA7LJRmbLuQh_OuZxej2eOQM&index=1
Tags: Shuwen 

[Shuwen]

Words: 548

Before he left, Shuwen’s eyes briefly rested on Ashtver’s status window, more detailed then before due to them being part members. He noticed what the Swashbuckler’s crafting level was, and that it was somewhat behind his main. “You probably ought to focus on leveling your blacksmithing for a while.” The Monk suggested. “I may be a weirdo for keeping one of my subclasses ahead of my main, but being able to craft items at or above your level is a bigger boon then most people realize. Most people are in a rush to level up their main as quickly as possible, but without proper gear, there isn’t much point.” He didn’t really expect the boy to actually listen to him; people rarely listened to his advice, but he ended up saying it anyways out of some compulsion. Was it some facet of his autism, or a psychological characteristic stemming from it? He couldn’t be sure, but it was worth pondering.

Since there didn’t seem to be any reason to stick around, Shuwen removed himself from their party and started on his way. However, he barely made it three meters when he started hearing sounds of fighting from a short distance away; the sound of steel on steel and the sounds of someone terrified. Seriously, are those two some kind of trouble magnets? Sighing, he turned around and headed for the sound of fighting. It seemed Ashtver and Aria hand stumbled across a pker. Their experience in dealing with player versus player was apparently nill, because the male was getting pretty torn up with a blade through his throat. The Samurai was about to issue a finishing strike, when the Monk used Rafting Taunt to prevent him from doing so. Apparently annoying about having been interrupted, the Samurai switched targets, extracting his blade from the Swashbuckler’s neck, forcefully pulling the hand that was immobilizing it off. Normally, Shuwen would have likely been screwed, as his experience in player versus player combat was about the same as Ashtver’s, but since the apocalypse, that had changed. Shuwen was able to apply tactics that couldn’t be used in a proper game, and make use of techniques he’d learned in martial arts, which were much more effective against humanoid foes then most of the differently shaped monsters he normally fought.

The Samurai spun his weapon, activating Whirlpool Spin to keep the other two from escaping as well as to force the Monk forward. It didn’t quite bring him into weapon range, so the Samurai followed up with Divinity Slash, or at least tried to. The Monk didn’t give him a chance to use it. Instead of trying to fight the pulling effect of Whirlpool Spin, he ran forward, using the effect of his opponent’s own skill to increase his speed. When he was close enough, he rammed his shoulder into the Samurai’s midsection, knocking him back about half a meter. It did some damage to, though not a great deal of it. With his chain interrupted, the Samurai was more then a little irritated. He counterattacked with Helm Splitter, but in raising his weapon upwards for the overhead strike, he telegraphed what kind of move he was going to perform next, something Shuwen took full advantage of, sidestepping offline so the attack would miss.

[Ashtver]

“You probably ought to focus on leveling your Blacksmithing for a while. I may be a weirdo for keeping one of my subclasses ahead of my main, but being able to craft items at or above your level is a bigger boon then most people realize. Most people are in a rush to level up their main as quickly as possible, but without proper gear, there isn’t much point," Shuwen had mentioned before they parted.
     "No, you're not a weirdo at all!  I see where you're coming from, and I'll keep that in mind.  It'll be a good idea, thanks," Ashtver gave his gratitude to the Monk.  He made a mental note to try and get his Blacksmith class higher than his Swashbuckler.

Blood gurgled in Ash's throat as the Samurai kept the blade there, slowly draining his life away.  Man, the two of us are real trouble magnets.  Is it something to do with Aria?  Because this has only been happening since I met her, he reminisced.  Before he knew it, the Samurai had switched targets to someone else and pulled his hand with the sword.  Is that...? He turned his head painfully to see Shuwen facing off against the Samurai.  He noticed his use of abilities and real-world techniques.  Oh, right.  This is Elder Tale.  We have abilities, he scolded himself.  He watched as Shuwen skilfully took his opponent head on, dodging and striking when needed.  Wow... what level is he?  I forgot to check that... A golden blur flew past his eyes as Aria bolted towards Shuwen and the Samurai.
     "No, Aria, don't he's got it!" Ash commanded to the Fox Tail, who ignored him and kept charging.  She raised her Dagger above her right shoulder, enchanting with some kind of spell, before throwing it forward, striking the Samurai and binding him with spectral chains.  Holy crap... did she actually just use Atrophy Break?  
     "Mister!  He's slowed!  Take him down!" she called, her cute but serious voice travelling through the forest to Shuwen.  She then placed her Dagger to her side, the blade glowing a strange purple.  What's she doing now?  That's not like any Assassin skill I've seen before... could she possibly be forming her own unique skill?!  The Fox Tail slashed outwards, her blade growing an ethereal, purple extension, yet the whole weapon seemed as light as it should.  As the Samurai was forced to keep fighting Shuwen, he couldn't help but let a drop of sweat fall down his face as Aria came up and speared the Samurai through the spine.
     Smirking, now that the taunt was deactivated, he spun around and grabbed Aria by the head, pulling her away and leaving the blade through his back.  She kicked out into his gut, forcing him to drop her.  She rolled with the drop, straight under the attacker's feet and grabbed the 'Dagger' out.  She charged back in as he spun around and impaled him to the ground.  Amazingly the Samurai was still alive, but Aria's wounds had now started drizzling blood upon the Samurai's body.
     The Fox Tail looked up at Shuwen and gave him the eyes telling him, 'Finish him, quick,'


Word Count: 528
Stats: Ash: HP: 26%. MP: 100%. Aria: HP: 13% MP: 89%
Abilities Used: (Aria) Atrophy Break, Unknown Skill
Notes: Do as you wish in between the parts to Aria's assault :)
Post Music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2OyQgf0EW4&list=PLXFGOyb4TlA4hQKp3wgOXLCv2dTXK84aQ&index=11
Tags: Shuwen

[Shuwen]

Words 514

As Shuwen stepped offline to dodge the Player Killer’s last attack the change in viewpoint caused him to see someone charging the Samurai from behind.

That idiot. He thought with irritably. Rafting Taunt only lasted a few seconds; long enough for him to initiate combat. The only reason the player killer had continued to fight him was because Shuwen was the only person present who’s level was high enough to effectively challenge him; He could finish off Ashvter and Aria afterwards at his leisure. But of one of them genuinely started to make things difficult for him, he’ll just finish them off; their HP was low enough that the Samurai could probably finish them with a single strike; if they were experienced adventurers who could tell when to go for broke and when to cut their losses, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but they were both newbies with demonstrated poor judgment, and one was even a Lander who wouldn’t come back to life if she was killed; it would have been far better for them to retreat while they still had the chance.

Using what he recognized as an assassin skill, The Foxtail stabbed her dagger at the opponent, slowing him down with spectral chains, then followed up with a range-extending skill he didn’t recognize. Dammit, get out of there before he kills you, you stupid girl! Despite being slowed, the Samurai parried her extended dagger. Since he was too far away to counter attack, and the movement debuff would make doing so take too long, so he used his significantly higher strength to knock the extended weapon out of her hand. Extending the range of a weapon could work against someone too; it briefly changed the weapon’s leverage, even if it didn’t change the weight, Aria probably didn’t have any experience dealing with that. The Samurai most certainly did.

He probably would have taken the opportunity to finish her off, but Shuwen had taken advantage of the distraction and slipped behind him, punching him with the Battering Ram Skill. It didn’t do a great deal of damage, but it caused cracks to appear along the player killer’s armor, debuffing it’s effectiveness in defending him. The Samurai spun and tried to counter him with a horizontal slash, but the Monk had gotten too close for that to work. He countered with a punch from the hand on the opposite side, striking the Samuri’s wrist. It didn’t do much damage either, but it got in the way of the player killer’s sword arm and prevented him from executing the slash. Drawing his other fist back, Shuwen executed Bullet Punch, throwing a fast barrage of punches that the Samurai couldn’t quick enough to parry. Between the sheer number of punches, and the Samuri’s reduced defenses, it was enough to reduce the player killer’s HP to zero, causing his body to disperse into anima.

“I would advise using the Call of Home skill as quickly as possible.” Shuwen advised them. “Your HP is in the red, and it seems you’ve a knack for getting into trouble.”

[Ashtver]

Aria backed off from her opponent as Shuwen dealt with him, stopping his attacks and dealing damage of his own.
     "I would advise using the Call of Home skill as quickly as possible.  Your HP is in the red, and it seems you’ve a knack for getting into trouble," he called to the duo, advising them to escape.  Aria looked down at her feet, then at her dagger, which was lying on the grass, no longer extended.  I want to help though... I want to get stronger to help Brother... and to find my real Brother...
     "Aria!  He's right!  We need to escape!  Shuwen can handle the PKer, and if he dies, he'll come back, but you won't!  Let's just get home!" Ash called, desperate to save Aria's life.  Aria's shoulders began to shake as small tears dripped out of her eyes.  As the Samurai had his own problems to deal with, Aria dashed over to her Dagger, snatching it up and sliding it into her sheath.  She made her way back over to Ash and dropped down by his side.  The two began to cast Call of Home, and blue particles surrounded them, transporting their bodies to the cathedral.
     Good luck, Shu.


"Mummy!  Mummy!  Look!  These flowers are so pretty!" a young Aria called to her mother who was striding four paces behind her.  The young Fox Tail's gaze drifted over the hundreds of beautiful and colorful flowers in the Savill Flower Groves.
     "Yes, Aria, they are pretty," she replied, fascinated herself.  Aria felt a head pop between her knees and lift her up onto thick, broad shoulders.  Her brother, Elric, gave her an amazing vantage point of the Groves.  Her golden eyes lit up as she stared at the flora, and occasional fauna, in the fields between the trees.  They walked for a few more meters, then stopped, ready for a rest.  However, before they could take a seat, they heard a rustling from the nearby bushes, and a large group of Goblins popped out.  Instinctively, Aria's father drew his Nodachi while Elric drew a Revolver.  The attempted to fend off the creatures, until one disarmed their father.  The little green men grabbed him and his wife and dragged them into the groves, and Elric held Aria back, both of them bawling, helpless and feeling useless.
     "Elric!  Let me go!  I want to save them!" Aria shouted, as Elric's thick arms held her back.  He fired off bullet after bullet at the Goblins, taking out each of them with precise aim.  A dark figure suddenly swept through, a large Scythe in their hands, and reaped through the creatures, the curved blade dismembering their bodies.  The cloaked figure turned around, unable to be identified as male or female, but all that stood out was the runes along their exposed shoulders.  Finished with their work, the figure leaped up into the trees and out of sight, leaving the sibling to use Call of Home.

     I... I just... I just want to become strong... like Elric, and that person in the cloak... so I can protect those I love... and if they're still alive, save my parents and Elric himself.

Word Count: 529
Stats: Not really needed, due to recalling.
Abilities Used: None
Notes: Well, I guess this marks the end of this adventure here! Hope you had a great run too.
Post Music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWyi5hlBuXI&list=PLXFGOyb4TlA4hQKp3wgOXLCv2dTXK84aQ&index=9
Tags: If you'd like to wrap it up, Shuwen, please do so!
     

[Shuwen]

Words: 770

Fortunately, Ashtver seemed to have more sense, because he quickly disappeared, using special fx that Shuwen recognized from the Call of Home skill. Well, that takes care of those two. With them gone, the Monk was able to finish the fight without having to worry about the other two, and it ended relatively quickly.

Once the fight was over, Shuwen had a fair amount to think about. It had been more than a year since the apocalypse, yet a lot of people still seemed to be having a lot of trouble adjusting to the new world. The two he’d just met was a fair example of that. While player killing stopped being a serious issue a short while after the apocalypse started, there were still a small number of “professional” player killers who were still causing problems, like the one he’d just fought. Since the denizens of Londinium had cracked down on player killing, their numbers had dwindled significantly, but the few that remained were highly skilled at killing and not getting caught. That’s probably why the fight just now hadn’t taken very long; he’d been using a go for broke style that would either bring him victory in the minimal amount of time, or lead to his own quick death. He’d reduced Ashtver and Aria to only a small amount of health relatively quickly, and had in turn fallen to Shuwen in a relatively short amount of time. Barring significant differences in levels, the Monk had always imagined that player versus player battles would be a more drawn out affair.

That led to a second issue Shuwen needed to think about. The Monk wasn’t a fan of player versus player combat. In fact, the fight just now almost made him want to vomit. Fighting another player had been easier then he’d expected, almost too easy. It took him a moment to figure out why that was the case, but once he did, he almost smacked himself for not realizing it sooner. The martial arts Shu had been trained in back in the real world had been designed under the assumption that the user would be fighting human opponents. Between the fact that most of the mobs they fought were very inhuman, and the combat system of Elder Tale overlaying the world they were in, martial arts were of relatively little use. However, the more humanoid an opponent was, the more its conditional usefulness rose, with its peak usefulness being when the user was up against an actual human. I see. I hadn’t realized that before, since I haven’t fought other humans much, and I haven’t done any player versus player combat. That’s why it took me so long to figure out. Shuwen chuckled a bit at that. Well, that’s pretty inconvenient. My skillset is better suited to fighting other players, but my mindset is much more suited to fighting monsters. If it’s like that, I can’t use my full potential either way. Well, at least it also means I can fight at least somewhat decently regardless of what kind of opponent I fight. I wonder if that’s better or worse?

He considered heading back to town to check on Ashtver and Aria, but decided against that. They were almost certainly fine, at least for the time being, and the only good that would do was inform them that he’d won, which felt a little bit too much like showing off, and didn’t seem like it was really all that important in the first place. Besides, Ashtver had struck him as being rather incompetent, and between Aria and the Swashbuckler, those two were a serious magnet for trouble. If he ran into them again, he’d inevitably end up having to clean up after whatever messes they managed to get themselves into, and he’d already done enough of that within the last half hour to already be tired of it. Though the Monk considered himself to be more helpful then the average player, it was partially due to really not liking to see people screw things up, and just enough kindness to feel a strong compulsion to pitch in when he had the power to do so. As cruel as it might seem, Shuwe’s methods wouldn’t help them learn anything, and they’d simply become more and more reliant on him, which would be bad for both of them. Those two wouldn’t learn how to take care of themselves if he was constantly looking over their shoulder. Let them clean up their own messes for a while. With that, he walked deeper into the forest in search of more mobs to fight.