Hanzoku

Hanzoku gasped. Despite his heavy armor and shield, the storm of bone had cut through steel and slashed at the body beneath. He felt the chill across a half-dozen spots, particularly at the corner of his jaw. He stepped back from the dangerous angel as gloved fingers touched his jaw and came away with bright red blood smeared across them. The pain hit next. The dull throb that presaged the main course - the body warming up the pain receptors as it started trying to tell you that something was WRONG and you were leaking from places you weren't supposed to. "Yesssss. Suffer, human. Scr

Astarion was laughing as he dug his fingers into the edges of his bleeding wound. "Yes, player, blood. You see, it's needed. To see blood flow from your open wounds." he said, pulling his hands - and flesh apart. But instead of guts spilling forth, his flesh ripped and tore, splitting up across his face. What was within was a horror of jagged metal and broken bone, deadly fingers graced with knife-edged talons. Wings ripped from the splitting skin of his back, spreading in a horrific glory of floating shards mimicking wings. "Behold my true form, and despair. For I am Zamariel, the First

"It was Asterion that found me, and the others. He explained to us the truth of the world - that our world is but one of many, and that you Outworlders are parasites that infest these worlds, slaughtering countless creatures to fuel your powers and constantly seeking out new worlds to infect with your taint!" Hanzoku laughed dryly. "That's... certainty one way to look at it." he said, shaking his head. They had been moving as they talked, and he stood with his back to the doors leading to Asterion's chamber. Those doors swung inward now on silent hinges, and she forced her eyes to remain

Lysandra's gaze was haunted as she looked around the abandoned base. "This is a... was a refuge. For those of us who realized the truth of you Outworlders, and the multiple worlds that are connected by the Great Tower." "Huh. I didn't realize that you guys could even think about that. I've tried talking to other NPCs, but their Floor is their whole world, and the concept of other Floors just gets... blanked." Despite herself, Lysandra found herself talking to the human - perhaps the first Outworlder she had ever conversed with. "There is some spell cast over us. Most of my people are

Hanzoku sighed as the angry elven woman stared holes through him. He was sure if her looks could kill, he'd be taking HP damage right this moment. "Looks like this all started when the game was booted out of beta and went live." he said, tapping each of the loot crystals in turn, causing the elf to growl in protest. "Have you no respect for the remains of the dead?" she cried out furiously, and he shrugged in return. "If they left bodies behind and I'd have to go through their pockets to find these things, it'd be a lot harder. Kayaba did a lot to sanitize the experience of the game.

His end came swiftly as the monster used a different Sword Art to replicate its blade sixfold, the strike spearing past his defenses and causing his body to shatter as well. Only Lysandra and the monster remained. He eyed her as she stalked forward, doing her best to conceal the knee-shaking terror that she was feeling in that moment. "Why did you come here, monster?" she spat, slowly circling to his left. He didn't deign to turn to face her, which only spurred her fury to override her terror. "Why do you defile our peaceful forest?" "Peaceful? It's full of psychotic deer, hostile tr

Lysandra beheld the monster once more. He fought with the same berserker disregard for his life and safety that he had shown before - and to be fair, he was in no danger. Even when one of her compatriots caught him in the side of his head with a blow, it left a tiny glowing mark that faded after a second. And the monster's health bar barely dipped. Meanwhile his own blows struck each of them in turn, and three fell to the ground as their bodies shattered into shards and faded, leaving only a strange glowing object behind. "Monsters..." she whispered. Astarion was right - these Outworlders

"...Three - Something's got to give - NOW! Let the bodies hit the floor..." He sang as he fought, sword flashing with the power of his sword art as he fought four at once and was pushing them back with ease. Their blades couldn't make it past his armor, and only one managed to avoid taking massive damage as he forced them back into the corridor they spilled out of. It wasn't even close, the difference in power between them. Perhaps if they had gear or sword arts of their own it would be a different matter, but these elves were simply outclassed. For all that, they fought wi

Elsewhere... Lysandra was beyond frustrated. She had safely gotten all the civilians out of the way and rounded up the last of the elites in the base, but the stupid knuckleheads weren't listening to her. One gave her a patronizing pat on the head (despite them being the same height) and smugly informed her that no roundear was a threat. The group had hurried off, already looking forward to the glory that would be rained down upon them for being the first to slay one of the dreaded Outworlders. She followed behind at a more sedate pace, sabre out and ready. They hadn't seen slaughter

He made his way deeper into the base, a nagging feeling growing that he was being watched. It wasn't too far-fetched of course - he was invading a hostile base, so it was even to be expected. But after the initial scrum in the entry chamber, the base had been entirely deserted. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something was shadowing his every step as he made his way through one empty room after another. The base was definitely inhabited normally - he came across plates and cups, books and even toys tossed haphazerdly aside. He stepped carefully around a doll lying in the middle of

Hanzoku paused and looked around. The entrance was clear now - there were a lot more elves then he was expecting, but most of them were first or second level and wouldn't be worth loot or EXP if he killed them. Besides the four idiots who had opened the door for him, the rest weren't a threat to anyone who had any business coming up to a higher floor and leaving the safe zone. Humming to himself, he looted the cores left behind by the four terrorists he had killed and looked around. Once again, he was struck that this looked far too organized and polished to be a secret hideout. Fitted st

What Lysandra beheld was nothing less then a monster, every bit as terrible as the ones that roamed the woods. Standing a head taller then his victims and clad in heavy plate armor that denied their every effort to harm him, his bearded face, so unlike an elf's locked in a savage grin as he cleaved his way through the so-called elites like they were chaff. Fear nearly froze her in place, but she forced herself to breath through it to turn and push the last civilian out of the room."Pass the word - full evacuation. Go!" she ordered before turning back to look at the fight behind her. She briefl

"Bar the doors!" Lysandra snapped at the four before turning to help organize the others as they started retreating deeper into the base. The doors were sturdy and with the bar and the four bracing it, whatever was outside would have a hard time making it through the doors, giving them time to prepare a defense and evacuate the civilians. The sound of the bar thumping on the floor made the skin on the back of her neck prickle, and the elven woman whirled around to stare in horror as one of the elites went to open one of the now unbarred doors. "What are you idiots doing, don't-" she start

It took about an hour, but Hanzoku found the clearing with the two towering oaks that grew unnaturally close to the sheer wall of a cliff. Set between them, obvious to even the least observant were two towering wooden doors with gleaming copper fittings. The human couldn't help but cover his eyes for a long moment as he observed what was possibly the least hidden entrance he had ever seen to a hidden base. - - - - - Inside the 'hidden' main base of the Elven Liberation Front, Lysandra was starting to get a bad feeling about this. First Astarion came hurrying back from some mission ou

Using That Idiot's directions as a guide, Hanzoku made his way carefully down the trail. To avoid being seen as easily, he was off the trail and working his way through the thick woods. It made for much slower going, but despite his low opinion on the group's intelligence, it was always possible that there were a few smarter elves involved in this idiocy who would maintain basic concepts of security and keeping watch on potential visitors to the location of their supposedly secret base. There were upsides for going slow through the woods - he came across a patch of rare flowers that he wa

26/8/2024 ID Result CD LD 1 228489 Failure (+2 EXP) 2 1 2 228490 Uncommon (+4 EXP) 10 7 3 228491 Failure (+2 EXP) 1 11 4 228492 Uncommon (+4 EXP) 10 4

Hanzoku stores his empty mug in his inventory and offers the other newbie a hand to shake as Wulfrin points out their destination and takes the lead "Nice to meet you, the name's Hanzoku." he said with an easy smile. Their path lead them to the base of the mountain, which quickly ascended into a steep slope and towering cliffs. "Well, no one ever said they'd make it easy to learn kung-fu." he said as he opened his inventory and stored his heavy plate armor, leaving him wearing the same starting clothes that Kageryu was wearing. "But this is a bit excessive. I'm just glad that the game won

23/8/2024 ID Result CD LD 1 227826 Uncommon Masterpiece (+4 EXP) 9 18 2 227827 Uncommon (+4 EXP) 9 8 3 227828 Salvage (+3 EXP) 7 13 4 227829 Uncommon (+4 EXP) 9 7

Hanzoku is making his way towards the teleporter on Floor 28 when a message pings in the corner of his vision. He frowns as he manipulates the menus with one hand, the other cradling his morning mug of tea. Finding the indicator for a new message, he raises an eyebrow when he sees it isn't from one of his new friends, but from the almost completely deserted new players message board. He had just recently broken through to the second tier with a lot of hard work and the help of other players, so he wasn't sure if he quite fit as a new player... but compared to the monsters fighting on the front

Hanzoku drops by a few days after they completed their first quest together and grabs the pot of tea that had been steeping and after producing a mug from his inventory pours himself a drink for the road, adding a definitely unhealthy in real life amount of sugar to the tea. He does take a moment to breath in the scent of the tea before he takes his first sip of the hot and now heavily sweetened blend and smiles in enjoyment. "Great as always, Kingsley!" he calls out in case the proprietor is around as he places his col in the payment jar. - - - - - Purchased: 1x. 300col s

Hanzoku considered the situation while he methodically looted the four assassin's bodies. By all rights, he should return to the city and pass on the information he recovered to the authorities - both NPC and player alike. Some sort of racist independence group probably needed to be put down, and players needed to be warned to remain distrustful of helpful elves while these idiots were running around. On the other hand, they were easy enough to kill and had better loot than the deer had. So he could just... walk in and slaughter everything that moves. Worst case, he'd have to pull back an

"So... I'm betting its not just the five of you." Hanzoku said conversationally, ignoring the tingles from the strike that got through his guard. In any game without a HP bar, the strike to his throat would have been fatal, and he resolved to correct his defenses before running into something where it did more then chip his health bar. "Our numbers are legion, roundear!" the elf gloated, encouraged by the fierce strike and stubbornly believing that victory was achievable. "From our hidden base, we will raise the banners of liberation and purge the capital of your filth!" Their swords

"Nope, that won't be happening either." Hanzoku said grimly as he lashed out with another cleaving sword art. Three of the elves shattered into nothingness, leaving only their leader alive, casting aside his shield that was destroyed from taking the brunt of the brutal sword arts employed by the human adventurer. "Mon'keigh invader! We, the Elven Liberation Front will cleanse the forest of your taint! Our lands will be purified with your blood, and the blood of every outlander that steps foot in our sacred forests!" the elf ranted as he rained blows down on Hanzoku's guard. "Elven Li

He wasn't truly hiding from them, luckily - his heavy armor did him no favors if trying to engage the stealth systems of the game. Instead, it was a far simpler solution - they simply weren't expecting that the hunters would themselves be hunted. He lunged out from the underbrush at the side of the trail, and his Sword Art slashed across all four surprised elves in a single movement, sending them reeling backwards in shock and pain. "Too late, I'm fully recovered." the human says as he keeps moving, closing in and forcing the two archers in the group to abandon their bows and scrabble for

Overall, it wasn't a bad haul - another 600 col and some materials and unidentified items. He certainly wouldn't have found anything like this if he was foraging. Pleased with the success of his searching, Hanzoku stored the contents of the chest in his inventory and paused to switch his laurel earcuffs for his wolfhead pendant. As he closed his inventory he froze as he heard the sounds of other creatures moving through the woods. "Where is that roundear?" a voice hissed, barely audible above the sound of the winds above stirring the leaves of the trees. Hanzoku faded back into the brush