On the run [Closed]

[Patricia Proudhon]

By the goddess Diana!

I cursed as I ran as fast as I could. If I did not speed up I would be found by the ratmen and devoured - or worse. Thus far I had been spared a direct confrontation with them or I would already have been killed. In my old account, before the catastrophe, my character could have easily soloed these caverns. My current character however, a rookie monk, was having difficulty keeping a steady pace without wanting to fall over. 

I took a look back. I could not see any ratmen chasing me. Perhaps more importantly I could not smell any. I took the chance to hide myself behind a large boulder and activated my cardinal rose ability. Almost immediately a compass popped out and its pointer guided me northward. I let out a huff in anger. I had selected the ability in belief that it would be helpful in guiding me whenever I got lost, but in retrospect a navigational tool that only pointed me northward was useless (or at least of limited use) in a three dimensional world. 

But wait- where are my manners? Let me take this moment to introduce myself. My name is Patricia Proudhon, unaffiliated Monk. What am I doing here? I am currently under contract seeking to collect an assortment of raw materials. I was of course too weak to fight anything in the caverns. If I were less stubborn I would be hunting for raw materials in the city underground. Why am I not in the city underground instead? It is true that I would have a chance of at least fighting creatures there, but the monetary reward is pitifully small. If I want to earn enough to pay for my lodgings and other necessities I have to seek out tougher hunting grounds. Why did I not just joi-

Shush!

.

..

...

One..

Two..

Three..

I counted in my mind the number of foot steps I heard. The ratmen were approaching, I could smell as much. Judging from the strength of the stench they were half a minute away before they converged on my location. I still had enough time to activate call of home and escape. If I left with what I had collected thus far I could manage to feed myself for the day, but I would not have enough to pay for proper lodgings. It was late in the day as well so I did not even have the chance to try to collect the difference in a lower leveled dungeon. What to do?

I thought too much. By the time I had began to move the ratmen had honed in on me. I made a sprint for it and held out my right hand. I had no chance in a melee battle, but maybe I had some hope in a ranged battle. No that was stupid. Monks like me were meant for melee battles; our few ranged attacks were largely gimmicks or meant as support.

By the Goddess Diana, what was I going to do?!  

Unable to think of anything else, I reversed my spring and headed straight towards the ratmen with my fists outward. I had no chance of beating them, but the least I could do was go down fighting. 

Word count: 544


OOC: I am basing my post on the bestiary entry for the Old Quarry Caverns (lv15-30). If I'm incorrect in depiction though feel free to correct me. 

[Steel]

“Might as well do something different than usual.” Steel said as he began to go through the Londonium Underground. Normally, he preferred going into the forested areas as he liked the nature and scenery but he wanted to go down to an area he hadn’t been to for a while. He hasn’t been here since that one mission from back when he was almost a beginner. That was with a party though. This was his first time here by himself. He also remembered about the level of the monsters here. “The monsters here are on a much lower level than mine so I think I should give myself a restriction to make it more challenging.” He said to himself with a smile. He would have thought it to be boring without these restrictions. “Let’s see, ah, here’s a good one. I’ll adventure through here without my swords! I have that unarmed combat skill as well as some others I can still use anyway.” He then put away his swords and then began to race through the underground.

A few minutes in, he had already begun combat with a few rats. “Terra Orbital Kick!” Steel exclaimed as he stamped on the ground and broke parts of it and launching the pieces into the air. When they were in the air, he kicked at them as hard as he could, launching the rocks at the rats. Most of them got hit but some were able to dodge in time. Steel engaged them in a boxing stance. “Fold Step!” He exclaimed, propelling his body forward. He threw fast punches at the remaining rats. While he had to admit, they weren’t exactly easy to hit, due to the level difference, he could defeat them in one or two hits. After a few more minutes, the battle was over. “That was harder than I thought but it was really fun!” Steel said with a smile as he caught his breath. “Time to move on I guess.” He said to himself as he started running through the place again. All the while, he was recording the places in his map.

After a while, he saw from afar a young woman with rats beginning to surround her. He could see both sides’ levels. The woman was level 1 while the three to four rats were all around level 17. For some reason, the woman was attempting to fight multiple monsters that obviously outclassed her. Steel sprinted towards the battle, wanting to save the woman. At this moment, his Courtesan skill activated to his unknowing. “Terra Orbital Kick!” He exclaimed as he stamped on the ground and kicked the rocks that came out of it at the rat men. It hit two of them and it made the other two cautious and jump back. This gave Steel ample time to get between the woman and the remaining two ratmen. “Are you okay?” He asked the woman, not noticing whatever his Courtesan skill was doing as he wasn’t looking at the woman nor was he aware that it activated. He put his fists up as the ratmen came at him now. With better precision than before as he the monsters were coming to him, he was able to kill off the last two with well placed punches. Once he was done he turned to the woman behind him. “You okay? Man, that was close!” Steel said with a carefree smile. “By the way, my name’s Steel.” He said as he stuck his hand out.

Words: 585
Patricia Proudhon

OOC: It's a running gag for Steel, his Courtesan skill activates on its own for some reason. And as I said on my message to you as Blade, we should probably make this a one on one RP or you should at least limit how many people are in this one.

[Patricia Proudhon]

"How am I?"

I had been about to be devoured by the ratmen when they were defeated by another adventurer. His movement was too quick for me to follow. All I saw was a barrage of kicks and punches. Before I knew it the party of ratmen had been defeated and the adventurer who had defeated them had his hand stretched out towards me. He introduced himself as Steel.

"How am I?" I repeated. My cheeks were as red as french fries drowned in ketchup and my hands were shaking like a bachelor looking at the cost of wedding rings. 

"I am... yo-you kill stealer!"

I struck out my right index finger towards the adventurer and shook it furiously. 

"How dare you! Who do you think you are kill stealing my mob! Do you think just because I have a lower level you can come and kill off my mob? No one steals Patricia Proudhon's mob and gets away with it! That is Patricia by the way. Not Patty. Not Pat. Not P-dog. Not Pippi longstocking. Patricia!"

I was so agitated that I struck out my left index finger and began to wave it furiously as well.

WC: 197

Steel One on one works on my end.

[Steel]

Luckily, in the confusion of everything, Steel was able to turn off the Allure skill having figured out it activated at some point. It thankfully didn’t do anything in the time it was on.

It appeared that the woman in front of him was getting angry, her face practically glowing with rage. At first, Steel didn’t really know why she was so angry. He hadn’t had anybody act like this towards him before in such a situation so he had nothing to reference to help him figure it out. It was then she stuck out her index finger at him and called him a kill stealer. While he wasn’t exactly sure what the sticking up the index finger was for as he was a Japanese from Japan and wouldn’t know about any rude Britain hand gestures, he could figure out the part about being called a kill stealer as he was a veteran gamer. She then began to yell at him about kill stealing and even revealed her name as well as her apparent hatred for people messing up her name and/or calling her by nicknames in the process. It was also made clear to Steel that she had a high level of pride. She then began to stick up the other index finger. Steel was still unsure what this meant but he was sure it was out of anger by this point.

“My apologies Patricia, I did not mean to offend you in any way.” Steel said apologetically with a light bow. “I did not come and fight the rats because I thought I could steal your kill because you were of a lower level than me. I came because I wished to help you. I don’t even care about the money from the mobs or the drops they left, you can take them.” He said as he motioned to the money and the one or two items that was dropped from the defeated rats. “I’m just an idiot who can’t sit back and do nothing when somebody’s in danger, even if we don’t really die if we lose all of our HP here.” He said this with a small smile. “On that note, I hope we can start off on the right foot this time.” He said as he stuck out his hand again for a handshake.

Words: 389
Patricia Proudhon

OOC: I'm assuming that the sticking up of the index finger in britain is the equivalent of sticking up the middle finger in America
         Also, if we're doing this one on one, you might want to change the open part on the title to closed. when something is open, it means anyone can enter in.

[Patricia Proudhon]

My eyes narrowed as the boy explained himself. He claimed to have no ill intent and motioned towards the item drops. Reflexively I moved towards the items before jerking myself back and waving my fingers at the boy again. He had almost had me for a moment there. No doubt he had the intention to attack me the moment I lowered myself to pick up the drops. I bet he was the sort of person who held a football and told you to come kick it. Yeah, he definitely looked like the sort of person to then yank the football and leave you to kick empty air. 

It was then that he struck out his hand towards me and made another attempt to introduce himself. I took a pause, my index fingers still pointed at him. I knew this was a trap, but it was not like I had many options in the matter. I was too weak to physically resist him if he attacked me. Nor would I gain anything by calling him out on it. My best bet was to play along and hope either to have an opening for my counter attack or for him to grow tired of me and move onto someone else. 

I relaxed my hands and used my right hand to reach out towards his and shake it.

"The name is Patricia Proudhon."

With my free hand I took out a white piece of paper and offered it to my would-be assailant. The piece of paper was no bigger than a candy wrapper and only had a few letters inked on it that read: Patricia Proudhon, PhD Candidate(UCL). 

"I am here as part of a research assignment. I am trying to understand the societal make up of the ratmen you murdered. I am trying to understand how exactly they came into being. It is weird do you not think? I mean, are all ratmen the children of rats and men? Are they infertile hybrids? Or are they a new species altogether that just looks humanoid?"

WC: 343
OOC: Apparently the index finger has been adopted by ISIS.  Steel

[Steel]

It seems that she wasn’t convinced of his sincerity. She had made the movement to pick up the money and the drops but then she stopped herself and then stuck up her index fingers at him again. From her reaction, she still believes that this is a trap. Steel thought to himself, being able to read most people’s thoughts based on their actions and reactions because of his training in martial arts and basketball. I can’t really blame her, a total stranger is saying this to her, no wonder she’s suspicious. For some reason though, she relaxed her hands and shook his outstretched hand and properly introduced herself. She’s well aware of the fact that I’m of a much higher level than her. Since she most likely thinks that I’m the type to attack her when her guard’s down, she will know that there aren’t many other options besides playing along and hoping that I drop my guard. Steel didn’t always like being able to read people’s thoughts (to some degree) as he would rather try to get to know them by himself. Unfortunately, this had become a habit because of martial arts and basketball so there wasn’t much of a chance to drop it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Patricia. Would that happen to be your real name? I’ve met some people that have used their real names for their character before so it’s not exactly strange. In that case, I should introduce myself using my real name. My name is Takeshi Kurogane.” He said with a smile, hoping to dispel the woman’s doubts soon.

She then all of a sudden handed him a small piece of paper that had written on it her name and apparent status as a PhD Candidate of UCL. She then talked about what she came here to do. She had wanted to find out about the societal make up of the rat men as well as how they came into being. Steel became interested in this. “That actually sounds really interesting to research. I’ve heard of some theories about the demi human monsters but I’d like to do some research myself.” He said, his face showing his interest on the matter. He then figured out some things. “Your field for the PhD is Anthropology right? I could tell based on the contents of your research assignment.”

He then took out some paper from his inventory. “If you’re going to be doing research, it’d be best to have a notebook to record your discoveries and observations in. Give me a few minutes to make one. My subclass is scribe by the way.” He then started getting to work on making the notebook he began folding the paper in a way that would make it more sturdy. Now that it had been folded and was now the size of a normal notebook, it was time to bind it and fully put it together. He put a cover over it and began to bind it together. After carefully binding it together, it was now in its finished form, a plain notebook with a red cover. He then took out his Sorcerer Quill, a more advanced form of the normal quill, from his inventory and began to write something on the cover with the ink. He wrote down ‘Patricia’s Research Notebook’. After that he had considered it done. “Sorry for the wait, here you go.” He said as he put in Patricia’s hands the newly made research notebook of rather good quality. It then dawned on him that she also didn’t have a writing utensil to write with.

He took out a new quill and a small container of somewhat dried up ink from his inventory and got ready to make a new quill pen "I still don't know how this works." Steel muttered to himself as he looked back and forth between his quill pen and the small container of dried of ink. Even if he turned the ink into something more usable, the Swashbuckling Scribe had no idea as to how one put ink into the quill. It was the same issue last time he made a quill so Steel gave up on that and just opened up the crafting menu. "I have no idea as to how do this so I'm just going to give up and use the crafting menu to make this like I did last time." He said to himself as he manipulated the menu and used the system to automatically fuse the two together. The end result was a good quality quill. He then gave the quill to Patricia. “I can tell you don’t have those things.” He said as he put this in her hands as well. He knew that she thought that he was laying a trap. He wanted to get rid of that presumption. “You seem like someone that enjoys to take notes and you didn’t have one out. Even if you were in battle, you wouldn’t have had time to put yours away if you did have one. And I can tell you don’t have a quill or at least a good one from the low quality ink that almost seemed dry used on the piece of paper you showed me. That means it’s either a really bad one or one that was almost used up. Even if you do have one, just take it.” He said with a smile.

He then went to pick up the coins and monster drop from the earlier defeated rat men and put it into a small bag. This too was directly placed into Patricia’s hands. “I’m already guessing you think I’m the type to dangle something in front of you and then pull it back when you try to go for it. Like that Lucy character from that American cartoon Charlie Brown. Hopefully, I’ll be able to convince you that I’m not like that at some point.” He then took out a map he had made a while back. “Okay, since we’re wanting to observe how they interact with each other, I think it’s best to search for a large group of them but be able to observe them from a safe distance. Early on, I was able to observe the rat men going in certain directions and the paths they were headed towards all lead to here.” He circled with his finger a specific area on the map. “I believe that area would be perhaps a nest of theirs. Unfortunately, they greatly outnumber us so just simply walking through the front door won’t be an option. We’ll have to find something that’ll allow us to view them from beyond their detection range.”

Words: 1115
Patricia Proudhon

OOC: I don't know whether or not Steel's deduction made sense about how Patricia doesn't have a notebook or a quill but let's just say that he was able to figure it out somehow. I just thought that they needed a notebook to take notes on their observations and then I realized none of our characters had one. And then I thought it would make more sense for Patricia to have one as she would probably enjoy writing notes down in there. Maybe now that can be like her trademark item that she carries along?

And it may be a bit late to ask but I thought she stopped being that angry and was supposed to have a more whimsical/flirty attitude? Was the kill stealing really that anger inducing to get her to break that attitude?

[Patricia Proudhon]

"Anthropology? N-no!" I said, before quickly adding, "I'm a social anthropology student. There is a difference, I will let you know!"

Granted I suppose few people outside the Commonwealth know or care about the difference. Takeshi Kurogane. I thought back to the name he introduced himself with. He certainly did not have an English name. Was he a migrant? Or was he a foreigner who had been playing outside his home server? At times I felt myself a minority in the Kingdom server. If he was a foreigner he would not the difference between the fields. Even if he was from the Commonwealth it was doubtful he knew the difference unless he was an anthropologist himself. Even our fellow travelers in the other social sciences likely thought us crazy for caring to distinguish our fields of study. 

I did not have much time to elaborate on things before Takeshi handed me an engraved notebook and quill. Upon seeing that the notebook was engraved with my name my face once more became as red as ketchup drenched french fries. This time I was red not from anger but from another emotion. Was this boy trying to pick up girls in a dungeon?! I thought he was a kill stealer, possibly a person killer, but I had not considered the possibility till now that he was a perv! 

Do not get me wrong. It is not that I am not flattered. I am getting more.. experienced and will reach level twenty eight soon. With every level up I got more points to put into things such as intelligence, but the cuteness I had in my youth was starting to fade in comparison to those whose levels were in the lower twenties. It was nice to be complimented every once in a while, BUT STILL! IN A DUNGEON!? That was just lewd.

"Uh thank-" I said.

I shut my mouth tight when I heard Takeshi say that he knew I did not have a quill because of [the low quality ink that almost seemed dry used on the piece of paper you showed me. That means it’s either a really bad one...]. I was wrong about this Takeshi fellow. He was not a pervert trying to pick up girls in a dungeon, he was far worse than that. He was a jerk who was looking to be mean and make fun of other people's talents. 

Yes, it was true that I had low level scribe skills and so my business cards were of poor quality. Still that was no reason to go and make fun of me like that! When my baby cousins gave me one of their drawings I did not rip it to shreds and tell them that they were no match to the art of Leonardo Da Vinci or Michelangelo! What sort of sick twisted person did that? 

What drove the final nail into the tree house was when Takeshi assured me that he was not like Lucy from the Peanut's comics. It was clear to me then that he was doing these things intentionally. He was not simply a stupid boy, but he was being intentionally malicious. In that sense he was right not about being Lucy. Lucy would trick Charlie Brown into trying to kick the football before breaking his hopes, but at heart she did that as a child's game. 

I dared not say any of this out loud. Regardless of how much of a bully Takeshi was it was clear he was several times stronger than I and for the time being I was his hostage. All I could do was play along.

"Thank you for the notebook and quill."

I put on the brightest smile I had. 

"Yes I agree that it would be best to find a way to view the ratmen from a distance. Maybe we could draw some of them out into the surface above? Do you have any food traps?"

WC: 660
OOC: Steel Pardon the delay. New Years festivities got the best of me. As for your comment - I view Patricia as being anti-social at her core. The whimsical personality is her attempt at a coping mechanism. That said, since this is a new character I'm still fleshing her out and trying to see what fits best. 

[Steel]

“I apologize for my mistake then as well as my lack of knowledge on the matter.” Steel responded apologetically. This was one of the things from Japan that stayed with him, his manners to some extent. “If I may ask, what is the difference between the two?” He asked slightly curiously.

After he had put the notebook and such in Patricia’s hands in an attempt to show that he wouldn’t try to kick her when she was down or anything like that, she reacted in a way he wasn’t really expecting. She was red in the face once again but this time it wasn’t out of anger. Last time her face went red, Steel could just feel that she was about to explode in anger. This time, he sensed embarrassment coming from her. “Um, are you okay? Your face is getting red.” He asked with a somewhat worried expression.

It seemed that she was trying to say something before he sort of unconsciously explained how he figured out she didn’t have the stuff he gave her but she shut her mouth once he started. Once he finished though, Steel could feel her anger once again. Despite this thought, Patricia was actually smiling and thanking him for the notebook and quill and was discussing the plan with him. But he knew that the smile was a mask to cover up her real thoughts. While he wasn’t the best at reading people in some ways, he excelled at sensing whether someone was angered or irritated or at least he got the feeling that he said something wrong due to not knowing certain bits of information, even if the person in question didn’t say it out loud or didn’t show it on their face. It was just a feeling he got and it was often correct. In his head, information began to flow through at a fast pace in order to figure out what was it that he said that earned her irritation.

As he was thinking, he also talked with Patricia about the plan. “I have some food with me that we could use as bait. Do you have a plan in that smart brain of yours?” He said with a smile. Although he would consider himself a skilled strategist, his strategies were more suited for combat rather than reconnaissance although he was skilled in that too but for a different reason.

After a bit of thinking, he had remembered the moment he began to get that feeling of irritation from Patricia and the words he said at that moment. Okay, I said stuff about low quality ink and how it was probably from a low quality quill or an old one. That means it has something to do with that. He thought this to himself as he analyzed the words he used. It then came to him.

“Pardon me, but I’ll be checking your character profile.” Steel said as he looked at Patricia’s character profile. While this didn’t actually require permission or anything, Steel hardly looked at other people’s character profiles, the screens that showed other people’s class and level as well as HP and MP unless he was working with them or if there was a need to. He would rather get a person’s name from the person themselves. He briefly looked at Patricia’s and checked her subclasses. “I figured as much.” He said as he sighed a little. “I’m so sorry, I did not mean what I said earlier about the low quality stuff in that way. I had no clue you were a scribe.” He apologized showing that he could tell that Patricia was irritated about it. “I thought that you either bought some basic ink and other materials or were given some by somebody to start off with as you probably couldn’t get the more expensive ones due to being level one and I apologize again if assuming things based on level sounded offensive. I was a level one myself and I had to go through that sort of thing. Ah man, what am I saying?” Steel hasn’t acted like this for a while. Normally, he acted more confident and carefree as he tried to imitate his late friend Kyousuke but for now at least, his social problems were coming back again to some extent in finding trouble to find the words he wants to say. “To be honest, I just thought you would have liked a reliable quill and notebook since you just give off the feeling that you would have a huge smile on your face while taking notes.” Steel hoped that this wouldn’t worsen the misunderstanding.

Words: 772

Patricia Proudhon

OOC: It's fine, it happens to all of us. Happy New year by the way!
        I see, now I get it.
    

[Patricia Proudhon]

The man went on about how he was sorry about calling her business card low quality. Upon hearing this I could only come up with one response. 

"Huh?" I said. 

I attempted to stretch my smile wider by pinching the two sides of my mouth with my left and right hands respectively. 

"What are you talking about Mister? Don't cha see I am as happy as an kid who has been told that he will inherit the world's largest candy making company?"

I was not however as happy as the tax collector who dreamed of the fat estate tax that would be coming his way soon. 

"Now if you are done being a silly willy we can focus on tricking the ratmen into becoming underpaid workers for the candy com- Er no ignore that. I have been re-reading Dahl a lot recently."

When people, especially fantasy enthusiasts, thought of British literature they tended to think of such writers as Tolkien. Tolkien was a fantastic world builder and it is easy to spend a lifetime studying his literature, but studying was hardly fun. Every once in a while I preferred to read someone, like Dahl, who could write fantasy literature that the every womyn could appreciate without learning Quenya.

"Ratmen would be awful candy makers. They are hairy all over. Now you said you had some food. Is any of that cheese?"

WC: 231

Steel  

[Steel]

“Oh never mind.” Steel said with a sigh. His little bit of panic was practically waved away by the woman in front of him as she gave him an even bigger smile and said that she was as happy as a kid getting a lot of candy. It sort of just put him off and he returned to his normal state of mind and demeanor. However, even though Patricia looked so happy and cheerful, Steel just couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a fake smile meant to be used as a mask for hiding her unhappiness.

She then started talking a bit weirdly using terms like ‘silly willy’ as if she was trying to sound cute and then started talking about tricking the rat men into becoming underpaid workers for a candy company. For some reason. She then stopped herself and explained the reason for mentioning the rat men working for the candy company bit by saying that she had been reading a lot of books from an author named Dahl. Steel was actually familiar with this author as the books he wrote were of the first books he read in English back in the real world as he was learning the language. “Are you a fan of Dahl? For me, I have more of a nostalgic feeling for those books as most of the first books I read in English while I was learning the language were by him.”

She then commented on how the rat men would make awful candy makers. “Indeed, they’re not exactly Oompa Loompas. Also, I wouldn’t want whatever they’ve been touching down here in my candy. I remember seeing them touching some really gross stuff down here last time I was here.” Patricia then asked if Steel had any cheese on him. “Yeah, I have some. Not too much though.” He said as he pulled it out of his inventory. “So what’s the plan Patricia?”

“By the way, why are you down here alone even though you’re still level 1?” Steel asked a bit later. “A majority of the monsters here are over level 10. I would imagine it makes it inefficient and difficult in terms of combat and earning loot. I had a hard time last time I came here and I was level 15 then. I’m actually impressed that you didn’t get killed today.” The expression on his face showed his sentiment of being impressed but it also showed concern at the same time.

Words: 413

OOC: I apologize for taking so long.

Patricia Proudhon

[Patricia Proudhon]

"Your favorite books are from Dahl? Really? Samuel Clemens is my favorite."

I shrugged. He claimed that Dahl's works were among the first books he had read in English. Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were all popular children books, but I had not known that they used to teach foreigners English. I always assumed they read stuffy literature like Shakespeare or the King Jame's version of the Holy Bible. I suppose it was only a matter of time before foreigners were taught with more contemporary books, such as The Legend of Daichi the Steel Legged. 

But that is beside the point. What matters most right now is the-

"The cheese. Good, good, so you do have some cheese."

I stroked my chin. It was at times like these that I wished I had facial hair, so that when I stroked my chin it was emphasized that I was thinking. As it was, I was a beardless womyn who seemed to have an itch.

"So the plan is- wait you think I am level one? No no. Let me correct you there. I am level one and nine tenths. I just need one more kill and I will be level two!"

I raised my head proudly.

"But enough about of me. What we do is make a trial with the cheese and use it to separate the ratmen. That way we do not have to worry about them mobbing us. Do you have a knife as well? I fear monks do not carry weapons around since.. well we do not exactly get any buffs from them."

WC: 272
Steel