Pinball

Mishiro output a much larger amount of damage than he'd expected. That was bad of him. He wasn't sure where the impression that Mishiro couldn't deal damage came from, but he was now resolved to completely uproot that belief. She was holding her own. He was proud of her. As her Sword Art came to an end, he began his. That was the song and dance of combat, especially when it came to Pinball tanking; you couldn't afford to give the enemy time to change their targets. Tanks had Howl, and Taunt, but Pinball only had the former. That meant that if he wanted to effectively body block any attac

Pinball got to work wringing out his cloak. Whatever path Acanthus was going to choose, the fish would be dead. He was looking forward to having his feet back on dry land. This quest had been longer and unecessarily more complicated than all the others, although he didn't want to admit to himself that it was, in part, his fault for not paying closer attention to the quest description. Then Acanthus dived into the water. Pinball's face betrayed his confusion. Acanthus climbed back into the boat. She'd just finished dried off. What was wrong with her? He stared, incredulous, as Acanthus ex

He wasn't going to waste any more time. He saw the fish in the water. The fish didn't see him. Pinball raked its sides with his knife. He dug deep. The blades sunk into its flesh and carved sickly black lines across the fish's flank. Moretsuna was big, and strong, and as soon as it had the chance to wiggle free it did, thrashing about and swimming swiftly into the depths. But that was just fine. Moretsuna was already dead -- it just didn't know it yet. As Moretsuna vanished from his view and disappeared into the shadows of the lake, Pinball ascended and broke the water's surface. H

Pinball nodded. He'd expected as much. He got pretty close to smiling. "Of course," he replied. He didn't protest. Mishiro led the way. Pinball followed. She charged in fearlessly, and Pinball was close behind. He had a knife for each hound. He kept them away from Mishiro and kept them close to him. He was aggressive. Reckless. Usually he'd stay at range, fighting from a distance. It was safer that way, objectively speaking. He abandoned that style now, burying blades in the muzzles and snouts of Hellhounds with rocky, fiery jaws. They went out with a yelp, a whimper, and Pinball d

The Shadow Dragon Matriarch was fairly underwhelming compared to the amount of preparation they had put into hunting it. It was better to be safe than sorry, sure, but the big scary beast was nearly dead after just two attacks from each player. Pinball's knives flashed into his palms. The Matriarch was far, so he threw both blades. They landed where he'd wanted to, but not for as much as he'd hope. Fallen and Holy only activated when they felt like it, it sometimes seemed. He leaped backwards, keeping as much distance between him and the dragon as he could. He was sure there was some fire brea

The villagers were hard at work. Morningstar seemed to follow suit, directing the villagers on their tasks and pitching in himself. They'd formed what looked like a giant assembly line, with the sole task of erecting a wall around Snowfrost. Good. A wall was the most important part. Pinball walked through the town like a shade. His attention finally fell on Acanthus, who was directing a second group of villagers on something new. Wooden stakes... interesting. The villagers seemed confused, but having been whipped into shape, they began putting their best efforts towards following Acanthus's di

His line was slack. He waited. Pinball was nothing if not patient (most of the time -- actually, no, this is false). He ran his fingers briefly through his hair. Almost dry. He almost didn't want to fish it up. In the meantime, Acanthus spoke to him about their first meetings. He stayed quiet and listened. "I understand. And don't thank me." He didn't want thanks. Didn't deserve it. Pinball shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn't used to people being so genuine around him. He kept his eyes locked on the water and wrestled with it for a while. Finally, after a pregnant silence, he sp

Back in the hellscape. Pinball was none too pleased; but it was the last time they'd be visiting. Ahead of them was the hardest fight yet, and one that Pinball had come prepared for. They'd packed the consumables a long time in advance... and Pinball hadn't considered the fact that most of the potions he'd gathered had been some type of liquor when he'd gotten them. Mishiro looked at it like she was holding something rigged to explode. And gently, she clinked it against the bottle in Pinball's hand. Pinball exhaled sharply through his nose. Was that a laugh? "Cheers," he replied. Pinball

Pinball's line bobbed lazily on the surface of the tranquil, undisturbed, still, perfect water. His frown grew deeper. The best part about fishing was the treasure chests. The worst part about fishing was the actual fish. Most of the time, they didn't want to show up. Pinball exhaled through his nose and leaned back in the boat. If they were going to be there for a while, it wouldn't hurt to get comfortable. He was still completely soaked to the bone, and his cloak was still off and spread out on one of the dinghy's seats to dry. It wouldn't take long. Things dried fairly quickly in Aincrad. B

for @Mishiro x1 creme brulee: acc ii x1 bubbling bourbon: +15% OH [229728] x1 Liquor of Might: +3 DMG Potion x1 T3 Armor-Tempering Tequila x5 Rumbling Rum Party Favor [232970-2, 232970-2, 232972-1, 232972-2, 232987] x1 Teleportation Crystal x1 smores: eva ii

He let the two of them talk. He hadn't spoken to Wulfrin the first time they'd met, and Pinball didn't yet speak to him now, either. His eyes were on the settlement ahead of them. Pinball pulled the hood of his cloak over his head. Morningstar, suddenly curious, asked him if it was safe for him to be here, unstealthed. "Mm. No." Pinball vanished. Shadows consumed him, and he was gone in an instant. Invisible, Pinball was free to roam safezones just like any other players would. Except nobody could see him, and he couldn't interact with anything, for fear of breaking stealth an

A message from Morningstar. Something he wouldn't have expected. Vampires? Pinball shot back a response: pb: k Despite the response that could mean any number of things, Pinball was, in fact, off to Stonewall. If it was for the same quest that he was thinking of (and it should be, given there weren't many centered around vampires), he was in need of the Sword Art that was unlocked through it. He had a Tech Shift. And not only that; Pinball had zero mitigation, and needed to make sure he had a good amount of ways to take some HP back whenever he did take a hit. And he wouldn't have t

Pinball emerged from a shadowed corner of the bar. How long had he been standing there? He didn't mention it. He picked out a few drinks from the bar. A Tier Three Mitigation. A stack of healing crystals. The usual stuff, if Pinball was Tier Three and not Tier Four. Who was he buying that stuff for? Pinball knew. He wasn't going to share it though. He nodded his thanks to Oz. The Sour Rumor was clean, but as grimy in aesthetic as ever. Pinball briefly caught himself thinking that it'd be the type of place you found bikers hanging out at. He looked like he was about to say something, but

[Uncommon T1 TW] Tyrfing: Absolute Accuracy [Item ID#: 224195] Using x1 Essence of Steel obtained here -> [Rare T1 TW] Tyrfing: Absolute Accuracy, Taunt [Item ID#224195]

He had soared through the air atop the fish's back, his blades digging deep into its sides. Acanthus raised her blade and disembowled it, and suddenly, Pinball was riding nothing, and he again slammed into the water's surface. But the most important thing was that the beast was dead. Pinball swam up to the dinghy and climbed back into the boat. He was soaked. He hated it. It was cold, and he was miserable. Pinball was wringing out his cloak when Acanthus spoke up. "What?" A mistake? How could they make a mistake? The quest hadn't updated, true, and the tablet hadn't changed,

He wasn't sure why NIGHT vouched for him. His presence had been mostly glossed over, so when Freyd brought him up, he figured there was going to be a good chance he'd be asked to leave. That would have been fine, too. He couldn't - wouldn't - ever complain about that. He'd never met half the people gathered, he'd only met Morningstar once before, and it was fairly presumptuous of him to show up for a quest like that in the first place. But NIGHT spoke up for him, and that settled that. Pinball himself said nothing in response, and continued on to the fight. The dragon was massive, and ha

More conversation. From Arabelle, of all people. He wasn't sure why he was surprised. She seemed to have her eyes on the frontlines for a long time. But seeing her take an active part in the conversation regarding the raid and team compositions was a little surreal, after all the time that had passed. Then came a visitor. Pinball recognized him, but couldn't remember if he'd had a proper conversation with him before. If he had, Pinball doubted that it had been a friendly one. He hadn't had friendly interactions with most of the people gathered. Pinball continued to listen. He wanted to k

He'd told her that he'd find her when she was out. And he could. He had maxed Searching, and, more importantly, had access to Tracking, an ability he'd made liberal use of in the past. But in truth, Pinball had never left. He'd followed Kagami into the safe zone just a few steps behind her. He hadn't let her out of his sight. Pinball watched as she walked merrily down the streets of Tolbana, and he watched as she spoke to Zackariah to unlock the second part of the quest. When she'd exited the safe zone and called for him, his response was immediate. "Never left." Gone one second, a

Raid meeting, raid meeting, raid meeting; when was the last time he had been to a raid meeting? And what was with the decorations? It was fairly presumptuous, in his opinion. Who were these people supposed to be, again? Pinball had never seen them before in his life. Whoever they were, they certainly thought highly of themselves, centering such an event around their wedding. Maybe he was just being sour, but it left a bad taste in his mouth. And it wasn't because he hadn't been invited. Pinball had snuck into the meeting. It was the easiest way to enter -- the only way to ent

Taking this. A fine addition to my collection

He picked up the crystals much in the same way he had picked up the last. He snuck into the place after hours, and, as was usually the case, Acanthus had set aside his order for pick-up. He worked his way through the items, sorting them into his inventory. His hands lingered over the Soundtrack. He hadn't yet paid for it. The show of good faith from Acanthus meant something to him, but he didn't linger over that. He left behind the Demonic Shard she'd have burned on it, and then he vanished. He didn't listen to it until he was on his own, and when he did, he listened to it far more than just o

The food was finished, the words between them had been spoken. Or at least most of them, anyway. Pinball stood, too, as Mishiro handed off the empty trays and platters, and, for a moment, stared longingly at the bed. But there was only one, and Mishiro sat back down at the table, and Pinball wasn't going to just take it for himself. And he wasn't going to sleep unless she did. He wandered the minimally furnished room for a bit before stopping at the window. There was still a slight breeze. He leaned against the windowsill. In the meantime, Pinball was simply content enjoying the breeze a

He saw dark shapes in the water but nothing more. His first thought was one of annoyance -- how had he let this fish knock him off the boat? His second was that Acanthus had been right. It was cold. But there was no use in dwelling on it. He began to ascend, swimming for the surface, looking to recover his place on the dinghy. But something big swam by him. He pulled his knives out. He felt it swimming towards him, some shift in the water warning him. He swam up and as it passed he buried both knives into the sides of it. Air bubbles escaped through grit teeth as the fish thrashed beneat

He'd tagged along for the rest of the quests, too. They returned to find the town of Snowfrost in a state of disarray. It was interesting to see how quickly the atmosphere could change -- change the set piece, set the tone. Pinball wasn't interested in the exposition. What was the goal? It seemed like they were meant to defend the town. Building fortifications wasn't something he'd ever had to do in SAO -- so when the group dispersed, setting themselves to the task, Pinball lingered behind and watched. The guards didn't seem to care about his presence. More pressing matters at hand, he suppose

sending Omen x2 Pilk: +3 LD Dessert [#209489a] [#209489b]