Pinball

He pushed through the ocean of bears, and killed another four. One, two, three, and four. They all fell with ease. The huffing, puffing, grunting mass of large brown furred bodies did not stop. It did not even lessen in intensity. Pinball resolved himself for a long day. He wouldn't be able to stop until he'd thinned the herd -- no, eradicated all of them. How could he sleep when there was a constant stampede outside? Pinball's knives found their marks and he swam through the ocean of bears again. Again, they didn't seem to pay him much mind. Pinball sighed. How much more of this was he going

More knives, more bears dead. He threw two, cut down another two with a fresh pair in his hands. Like all the others, they didn't offer up much of a fight in response. Maybe it was because there was just so many of them that they didn't notice Pinball mowing through them by the squadron of them, or maybe there just wasn't enough room for them to properly attack in the first place. Pinball himself was having difficulty with just that thing. He was crowded in, boxed in by giant walking tanks of fat and fur. They looked at him with stupid eyes, not recognizing or perhaps not caring that he was in

Another thing to note about the army of bears outside his home was the heat. The heat generated from a hundred something giant, heavily furred, hot-breathed beasts was overwhelming. Pinball would have started sweating if it was the real world, surely, but it didn't make the heat any less uncomfortable. He kept his hands on his knives and kept mowing through them. It did nothing to less the heat. Or the crowding. Whenever he cut down a group of bears, it felt like another group was already there to take their place. When would it end? He'd already cut througha dozen of them, and seemed to make

Big brown furred beasties stretched out across the forest like an ocean of fur. Tooth and claw, thick fat and fur -- it was lucky that Pinball was on a lower floor, and that they were simple trash mobs, or else Pinball might have had a much harder time working his way through that endless sea of mobs. Four had fallen to his blades, and another four quickly followed. He kept his back to the door of his home, Green Garden. At the end of the day, he was horribly outnumbered, and he couldn't afford to draw the aggro of more than a small group of bears at the time. It was lucky then that they showe

He was going to be rolling in col, materials, and loot by the time this was over. Pinball hurried across the stone floors of Green Garden. Outside, the cacophany of snorting and paws and shuffling was unceasing. Pinball made sure his stuff was equipped properly -- he was going to take full advantage of this opportunity, however annoying it might be. His cloak was equipped, and so was the right knife and his new trinket for looting mobs. Pinball nodded quietly to himself, sent a quiet prayer that he wouldn't have to deal with something like this on his doorstep again, and pushed outside. Immedi

He was surprised to find a shop out in the wilds. Usually they were in cities, behind the walls of safe zones, and thus a hassle to get into. He wasn't looking for anything in particular -- but they had such a good stock, it would feel bad if he let the opportunity slip through his fingers. Knowing that he was going to go on a grinding spree, Pinball selected one of the desserts that he had for sale. It had a Prosperity buff attached to it. Hopefully after he was done hunting, he wouldn't have to worry about Col again for a good long while. "Thank you." *** Purchasing:

There was a sound like thunder outside his home. Green Garden was a quiet little place in the woods of the Eighth Floor, and Pinball had gotten lucky and chosen it because of that. It was quiet, and it was hidden. The downside of that was that the stone halls echoed sound like you wouldn't believe. Pinball peeked out the window. It wasn't raining. Then what was all that noise-? He moved to another window to check. Outside was an ocean of stamping, panting, huge brown bodies. Pinball frowned. What the actual fuck. Milling about without space between them was the largest gathering of bears

Pinball exhaled. There was a moment where he hesitated, his brain working overtime trying to find the easiest solution out of this situation. Then Mishiro attacked, and that certainly narrowed down his options. He didn't hesitate this time. Pinball's knives went flying, nailing both archers in the head. They fell backwards from the impact, exploding into fractals before they hit the ground. Pinball replenished his blades. Ahsan blew his horn once more, calling for reinforcements. Zamek cowered in fear. Bandits charged across the dunes, weapons raised, shouting obscenities in a lang

Skill(s) Being Dropped: Battle Healing - R5 Mod(s)/Addon(s)/Shift(s) Being Dropped: NONE SP Incurred Towards Limit: 36 SP Refunded: 30 Cost: 30,000

She'd already stunned it -- good. That'd let Pinball focus on chopping down its defenses. With a flash, Pinball appeared, vaulting over Kumatetsu's back and raining throwing knives down on the bear's prone form. Many landed -- those that didn't scattered in the dirt, disappearing shortly after. Kumatetsu, brought low by Acanthus' stun, was now bombarded by a colorful array of status effects that absolutely tore through its health. Pinball landed, hopped backwards for distance, and watched as the bear struggled to its feet, it's HP bar dropping in big, dramatic chunks. The bear's form bul

The Endless Maze was a sprawling labyrinth. It was a horrible trap in and of itself; it was filled with powerful monsters, traps, and more dead ends than you could count. Oh, and from what he understood, its layout was also constantly changing. What a fucking headache, right? He'd not been in the maze for long before he saw it. A giant spider, mean and hungry, bearing down on its prey. Normally, Pinball would have slipped away then and there. Where mobs were, players were. And he didn't like being around other players if he could help it. But between its many scuttling legs, and beneath

It was almost closing time when he slipped into the shop. It was raining outside, and the streets were quiet. He pulled down his hood when he entered. He was quiet, but he was always quiet. Pinball inspected the shop for a moment before his eyes settled on a particular crystal lining the shelves. He lifted it to the light, inspecting it. Then he'd turn to Acanthus. "I'll take this." He'd set it on the counter as he opened up his menu for the transfer. Pinball would load up the purchase with way more materials... and a custom order form for fifteen of the same item. A little outrageous? M

Rank 7 Cook | Daily Crafting Attempts: 8 Crafting T4 Meals ID: 227656 | CD: 11 | LD: 3 | Rare ID: 227655 | CD: 5 | LD: 4 | Uncommon ID: 227654 | CD: 4 | LD: 6 | Salvage Fail ID: 227653 | CD: 9 | LD: 8 | Rare ID: 227652 | CD: 10 | LD: 15 | x2 Rare ID: 227651 | CD: 7 | LD: 13 | x2 Uncommon ID: 227650 | CD: 1 | LD: 8 | Critical Fail ID: 227649 | CD: 2 | LD: 4 | Fail Result: +33 EXP | EXP: [1,140/1,279]

When people were alone, they did strange things. Pinball knew this for a fact. He'd been hiding for as long as he could remember. He'd watched countless people from afar, and many from up close, too. It was both interesting and strange to see a person for who they were when they thought nobody else was around. But Acanthus did know this. Pinball frowned. Her reaction was alarming. He almost broke stealth to rejoin her, if not just to put her mind at ease -- but he didn't. A crueler part of him wanted to see how she handled it, it being whatever invisible battle she was fighting. He had a

Other than Mishiro, there were two other players in the building seeking audience with Abdullah. One was Morningstar. The third was a sleazy looking guy in a stupid hat. Well, they had a group assembled, and negotiations (if you could call them that) with Abdullah were underway. Pinball decided it was probably for the best if he slipped out the building before they were finished. He was up and out of the building just as the guards began to (rather aggressively) usher the group of players out onto the streets again. They were given their task, warned of its difficulty, and given a locati

Somebody else was on the path. He wasn't sure how he could tell -- which of his senses it was that alerted him to this fact -- but he just knew. Without thinking, almost reflexively, he'd entered stealth. His body would vanish without a trace, and Pinball would seek cover in the treeline and wait for them to pass. But their approach had been slow. The benefit in that was that Pinball knew that they probably hadn't had time to see him. The problem was that he wouldn't know when it'd be safe to keep moving. A little irritated by this thought, Pinball threw away any thoughts of moving on and inst

Their little journey was quiet, and unimpeded. Pinball wasn't paying much attention to the scenery, however. Not because its beauty was lost on him, or the fact that he'd seen it a million times before; but because nothing was jumping out at him. He hadn't been assaulted by a single mob since they'd gone deeper into the forest. No wolves, no ents, no forest spirits... in fact, he hadn't even seen a single one. It was enough to confirm his suspicions. The mobs in the area probably weren't spawning because they'd been scared off by something bigger. "Alright," Pinball suddenly said, slowin

As they exited Ellesmera, Pinball's pace would finally slow. He'd stop and allow Acanthus to catch up and nod as she did. She thanked him for bringing her along. She was wearing new armor. She must have leveled up a bit. "It's no problem," he replied. He left it at that and began to walk again. They'd have quite a bit of walking ahead of them, if his information was correct. It was at that moment Acanthus mentioned the Forest of the Great Tree, and how it shouldn't be hard to find a bear the size of an elephant. "Right. No. Shouldn't be hard at all." He didn't tell her that he also had the sea

Pinball watched from the bottom of the dune as Mishiro finished mopping up the mess he'd made. He was impressed. He didn't get to fight with her often. Certainly not with a rapier. Pinball opened his mouth to speak, but before he could make a sound, the deep, reverberating hum of a horn gave him pause. Figures on all sides emerged from the sands. They were humans, dressed in light browns and tans, wielding an assortment of weaponry: spears, bows, curved blades, and knives. They were a ragtag group of bandits, for sure. But each and every one of them had a cruel look in their eyes. T

<<THREAD SUMMARY>> Pinball Receives: Pinball | [Word Count: 4284/10 = 428.4] * [True Tier: 8] * [Group Factor: 1] = 3427 EXP + 240+240+240 (T2 Field Boss Bonus EXP) +1,600 EXP (Yui's Grace) = 5,747 EXP Laurel Wreath: 514 col x3 Hellstorm: (T2/Consumable/Single Use); Apply an additional (20*Player's Tier) unmitigated damage to every attack for a single thread.

It was finally time to leave. The burn damage subsided, and his health began to heal slowly but surely. Pinball let out a breath of relief. He finally had them. The three Hellstorms that the Phoenix had dropped would help him a lot in the future, he was sure of it. He was gearing up for a massive hunt. He was low on col, and had a desire to gather as many Demonic Shards and Gleaming Scales as he could - but he wanted to make sure that he did it as efficiently as possible. The Hellstorm would help make sure he could take out a mob in a single hit. Pinball nodded, let his health heal up a bit mo

He hadn't told her how difficult it was for him to navigate safezones. Maybe it was because she was new, and this was only really the start of their interactions, and he hadn't wanted to make her worry about something other than the quests. But the unfortunate reality was that orange cursors and safezones mixed like oil and water. There came the flash of a player teleporting into the safezone, but Pinball was not there. He was used to this song and dance. Use the teleporter, flash onto the floor, and the very instant his body rematerialized, he'd vanish. He had to make it quick. He

Pinball accepts

Well, he wouldn't have to worry about it. Pinball put a safe amount of distance between them again, and like every time before, waited patiently for the phoenix to respawn. That perfect window of opportunity was there, and he wouldn't mess up... there was a split second where Pinball worried that something unplanned would happen a second time. Maybe the ground beneath him would just open up and douse him in flame, or multiple copies of the phoenix would descend from the heavens to burn his unfortunate form to a crisp. But that wasn't the case. Just as the last two times he'd fought him, he let

Pinball stayed his distance. The phoenix attempted more fly by attacks, but Pinball dodged and weaved, until he realized that the phoenix was almost exclusively going for those attacks. Pinball had an idea. He waited patiently for the phoenix to approach, standing his ground. He only needed one more attack anyhow -- and when the phoenix was practically right in his face, Pinball let his attack fly. And then the unthinkable happened. Instead of turning into a clowd of ash, the phoenix exploded. At point blank range. The blast took Pinball completely off his feet and sent him sprawli