[PP:F7] Blood Oath Temple Run [Seul, Brax]

[Opal 0]

It was exactly 5 am according the server time as Opal made way to Nimbus City. Prior to the night she had spent at the inn, a request from one of the new recruits within the guild had asked for some training. Opal was not one to let such a request go by her and she took it upon herself as Vice Commander to help the person out. She too needed the experience so it was a win-win situation for her. However to complete a respectful team, a third member was needed to help balance things out. She had taken a chance with a particular axe wielding player she had met not too long ago on a quest for the Survival Skill, Brax. He was a man of few words, but the way he held himself in battles and the confidence he exuded seemed to be on par with what she was looking for. Also a chance to see if he would finally be interested in joining under the KoB. 

The woman had sent a message to both of them on their quest today, it would be a simple invitation to help them all get stronger together and to gauge the abilities of the person known as Seul. In all honesty, she held him in high regard despite knowing very little of him. He was one of the first people under the new regime to seem interested in undergoing the Oath. She owed him that of gratitude and would seek the ends of the world to help his cause. 

The lithe body stretched high up into the sky, pale rays of moonlight showered down upon her body as the armor reflected and gave an ominous sheen to it. She yawned lightly ending with a cutesy noise as she once more stretched her muscles and popped her neck. It was very early, however, dungeon raids could last quite a while almost taking up an entire day of adventuring, however the possibility of gaining an extra amount of skill points was a worthwhile endeavor. She ran a hand down her menu and nodded to herself, she was prepared as well as she could for the upcoming battles and just needed to wait on the two others. 

It was 5 am, and she slated their meeting to be about 6 or 7. She wanted to be the first person there to greet them, as any Vice Commander would want to be in a punctual manner. All that was left was to wait. She smiled to herself, finger rolling into a burning cigarette before the others would arrive. Taking in a small drag, the woman blew gently into the early morning air expelling a mist of orange into it as she allowed the essences within the stick to calm her anxious mood. She was both excited and nervous for the arrival of the others but more so of getting this adventure under way. 

[Brax 0]

     As Brax was waking up after his much needed rest following the previous day's hunting trips on Floor Nine, he noticed his inbox had received a message.  "Now who would be contacting me at an hour such as this?"  he said with no malice in his voice, only intrigue at the idea.  Opening his mail, he found that the missive came from none other than the Lady Opal, with whom he had travelled the deserts of Floor Five some time ago.  She required...someone to round out a dungeon hunting group on the seventh floor, scheduling the meet for about an hour from now.

     Yawning a bit and stretching his limbs, Brax could almost imagine the popping sound his body would be making in the real world when he did this back at Berringer's just before his morning runs.  Lately he had not been waking up too early, unless he found it necessary for hunting in a particularly well traveled location so as to get first crack at the spawns, but at least three times a week he would find himself opening his eyes while the computerized sun still slept, much like today.  Which, of course, was why he saw the message when he did.  Shaking of his tiredness, Brax pulled up his inventory window to re-equip his gear and weapon, his pieces today aimed for accuracy and protection.  While he logically knew Opal was...much higher in level, and thus much more powerful than he, his own Grandmaster axe skills were nothing to discount.  He would simply need to make sure he was able to land a blow if need be.

     Feeling sufficiently prepared for the task at hand, Brax exited the inn and made his way swiftly to the Teleport Plaza.  Stepping beneath the dark metal archway, he called out "Teleport, Nimbus!"  and felt his virtual frame dematerialize, only to reappear in the stone fortress that was the main settlement of Floor Seven.  He strode to the designated meeting place, arriving slightly earlier than was scheduled.  Seeing that the lady had already arrived, Brax called out in greeting to the raven haired swordmistress saying, "Hello, Lady Opal.  I believe...you have a job you wish me to help with?"

[Seul 1]

Falling out of bed had become a ritual of sorts. It would seem Seul's morning routine just wouldn't be complete without nearly breaking his skull open. Soft groans escaped the boy's lips as he held his head. Despite the general absence of pain, the act was committed as a reflex of sorts. To make matters worse, there was only a five minute cushion between now and the scheduled meet up time with the Vice Commander of his guild. Of course being held six floors above his current one. He cursed under his breath before changing out of his casual clothes into the coat he had dyed to match the guild's color scheme. Soon after he found himself bolting out of the inn and onto the street in the direction of the teleport plaza.

...

Running at full speed, he barely managed to stop before Opal and a man he had yet to meet. His hands fell to his knees as he gasped for air, but he tried his best to sound professional through it all. "Sor... Sorry, I'm.... Late..." Realizing the futility of the act, he stood up straight once more and willed his composure back into existence before continuing. As far as awkward greetings went, he felt this one had to at least receive an honorable mention. This would be his first time working with anyone from the guild, not to mention with the woman who is second in command. He'd have to try his best to not look like too much of a dunce if he could help it. "Anyway... Thanks for agreeing to help me." He said with his breathing now under control while glancing between the pair. "Um... Vice Commander Opal, where are we supposed to be going again?"

[Opal 0]

A spiral of orange mist had encircled from her cigarette as she had burned most of it off by the time she head Brax voice. Turning slightly, the woman nodded to greet him. Her fingers squeezing the small item before flicking it away from her body as it stopped short of the pavement and exploded into data. Tilting her head up, she blew out the remaining amount of citrus tasting smoke from her mouth and greeted him properly, "Good morning, Brax. Actually, I have a bit more of a motive for asking you here today. After your performance in the desert, I had decided to give you a chance to join the ranks of the Knights of the Blood Oath. As you are aware, I am the Vice Commander of the Guild and your skills with that axe have been impressive. I would like to further test you on this Dungeon raid, if you are interested in the application of joining. If not, I will press the matter no further, at least out of today you get a little experience out of the dungeon. I'll let you think about it as we head out." 

The scent of oranges lingered around her body as Seul had finally shown up as well, the poor boy seemed to have woken up only moments ago and was ragged to the bone as he attempted to tactfully apologize for his tardiness with ragged breath. Red lips curved into a smile, showing the whites of her teeth before shaking her head. A thin finger lifted upwards parting the curtain of ebony hair from her amber gaze to him before explaining, "It is alright, Seul. I will expect a more timely arrival the next time on your behalf when we are to do this again. But in all honesty, it was careless of me. I should have made this for a later time in the day, but finding the dungeon can be rather troublesome and could take a whole day to find with only small chances of luck."

Clearing her throat, the woman crossed her arms over her chest and nodded to the two men to approach Seul's next question, "Today we will be heading out to the Temple Ruins in the mountains. I recently went on the same path with Grave and Jevi and we were able to find a small dungeon with some decent loot, albeit the Dungeon Boss was an Ice Drake...But we should be able to find something just as good, hopefully. Sub Dungeons are nothing to laugh at no matter if it's small or complex, we should all be prepared for the worse case scenario. So let us head out and find us a dungeon!" The woman removed her hands from their positions over her chest and turned on the ball of her foot, leading the party out of the confines of Nimbus and towards the rocky terrain of the mountains. With a sweep of her hand over her menu, the Masamune X, in all of its rediculous length materialized in her hand as slid it along her shoulder and carried the weapon lightly with one hand propped over it. 

"Is this your first time seeing me with the Odachi, Masamune X? Instead of taking a rear seat drive in this, I will be accompanying you both in battle which means we'll be triggering some nasty Champion Leveled Mobs. Do not stress over it though, you both are in safe hands." 

The sun was now clearly visible high above the earth casting golden rays upon the land below. The temperature was perfect for such an expedition as this as Opal lead her Guild mate and possible new recruit to the dangerous paths she had lead Jevi and Grave not too long ago. With Masamune X bobbing up and down from her small hold on the black and white saya, the woman continued to lead them into the perils of the unknown world. 

[Brax 0]

     As Brax listened to the woman's explanation of events and her offer for him to apply and join with the Knights of the Blood Oath, he considered the matter quite carefully as he stood stoically still and expressionless of face.  He had been...considering joining with a guild for some time, as he was soon to reach the point where his solo skills would no longer suffice to allow for growth, both of his primary mission of recovering his past and of the discovery and handling of his emotions, if and when they appeared.  And as he had discovered from examining the message boards from time to time, the KoB was on the resurgent path upwards, so the offer to join was...an honor, if his interpretation of both her words and body language was correct.  Though, the logical question still remained buried in his thoughts: even if she considered the man worthy, what did he truly have to offer in return?  Until he was able to answer that particular conundrum, Brax would be...unable to connect her logic and his own.  All this breezed through his mind as the woman spoke to...Seul, he believed she had called him?...and as they headed out he made sure to offer a proper greeting to the individual himself, after Opal had explained what their task was and where they would be headed.  Extending his hand as they walked, he gave only the most perfunctory of proper greetings, stating "I do not believe...the Lady gave my name.  I...am Brax."

     Turning back to the Vice Commander and the impressively long blade she bore, Brax did choose to comment saying, "No, I...don't believe I had the chance to view your blade in action, Lady Opal.  During our...trip in the desert, you were...seemingly more concerned with the heat rather than our...protection.  Though, having said that, we did not overly require your weapon's aid on the journey.  It is...an impressive tool, to say the least.  I have...never seen the like.  The craftsmanship is...both aesthetically pleasing and functional."  Finished with the talk over her particular weapon of choice, and while he was intrigued by the style and wished to delve more into perhaps WHY she had chosen the blade, Brax was more intrigued by where they planned to go for their search.  He had explored the floor not long ago for the first time, and had thought the place quite suitable for dungeon diving himself with the myriad of ruins laying about to hunt through.  He asked the question that bubbled up from his consciousness: "So, what sort of enemies...do you expect us to encounter, both on the way...and in the dungeon proper?  In addition, do you...expect the Champion's to possess unique abilities, or will they simply be...larger and stronger foes?  I ask so as to be well prepared, since...I have never been on such a trip before, nor have I had...the chance to face such leveled beasts.  Any information you possess would be...quite helpful.  Your hands may be safe...but I would wish to trust my own, as well."  It was not that the Stalwart Stoic did not trust the Vice Commander, far from it, but he wanted to...if not prove his worth, as he needed no validation, then to show...that his training and hunting had not been in vain.  For the moment, he disregarded the offer of recruitment so as to focus on the preparation for the dungeon, their task at hand.

[Seul 1]

 The woman's words sunk in rather quickly before their group departed. Temple Ruins... He was unsure what exactly to expect but, cardinal willing, he'd know soon enough. Being in the company of players that gave off such powerful auras didn't hurt either. Apparently the one accompanying them today was named Brax, and although his mannerisms didn't reveal much regarding his emotions, he didn't seem like an unfriendly guy in the slightest. "I'm Seul, nice to meet you." He replied while extending his own hand to complete the shake. The Vice Commander and Brax had already known each other for a while now,  judging by the way they spoke and interacted. With Opal taking the reins of the operation, Seul chose to lag to the rear and observe. Opting to stay quiet during this portion of the trip seemed appropriate as there was nothing to be gained by interrupting their conversation and the only question that currently tugged at his mind was posed shortly after entering by the other male in the party.

[Opal 0]

Opal placed a lithe hand over her head and apologized to the group for not introducing one another, "I just got a little carried away with getting the party situated..." Opal had swept the fabric of hair from her brow as she had said so, once more the hand falling towards her hip as the other was mounted on her shoulder and careful not to whack anyone behind her as she lead them to the unknown rubble of the temples' ruins. As they continued their trek, the temperature of the climate was steadily decreasing. The higher they went the chillier it got, but it was enough for the woman to handle on her own, but she had figured to both as if they were ok.

"We'll be heading up towards a mountain path from here and then there will be a shallow ridge or walkway where we will have to be careful of crossing. It is off the beaten path, so it can prove a little tricky considering the rocky terrain. It also might get a little colder from here on out with the higher elevation." 

She had kept her eyes keen on any mobs that would seem to litter this area. She had come across so many different species on this floor, the variety was astounding. Yet Brax made some good points out of questions and while he could not see it, she smiled broadly to his curiosity, "Glad you asked Brax. While my time training here in the mountains I have come across Naga, Mountain Lions and Goats, Earth Constructs and various lower tier mobs. Wolves, jackals. We can see just about anything up here. As for the Dungeon itself, I can't quite say what we will find there. From the intel I have gathered, Dungeon mobs are random. The last time I was here with a group, we ended up fighting an Ice Drake in one of the rubbled ruins that lead to a freezing cavern...and that was only a Beginner's Dungeon from the looks of it as well. Should we fall into a Superior form...well, perhaps a full blown Dragon?" 

The woman laughed, to fight a dragon in a Sub Dungeon would really intensity the situation however she had to put her party first, Seul being the lower level of the three, she had to chose which targets to accept and which ones would prove fatal. In the end, if she had to, she would force him to sit out of the battle if needed. There was no glory gained if they were dead, and yet she would never allow such a thing to happen. They were her responsibility, she was the Vice Commander and Brax was an invited Guest. She would have to show him proper respect.

"As for the stats of these minion, they'll scale to my level. But they should not prove to be too difficult to handle anymore than your basic lower tier mob. However, if you guys wanna fight something a tad more interesting..." 

The woman stopped at what seemed to be a fork. She turned on the ball of her heel and smiled, "Left is the original path I had planned on taking us. To the right...Well, its the home of a Phantom. I was here with Calrex and my old Master Myoga had told me of a story that he heard from the start of this world about two Lover's Souls. We ended up fighting a Phantom with a mitigation of three-hundred points. The only way to break through it was to stun it and drop its outrageous mitigation points. So I leave this up to you both. We can carry on towards the Dungeon, or we can go ghost hunting." 

 

[Brax 0]

     "Hmmm....." Brax pondered the words Opal had spoken, about both the dungeon she had encountered and the monsters she had fought.  The last time he had been here, he had faced more subterranean foes, including trolls and golems that lived inside the mountains rather than on top of them.  The thought of snake women and mountain lions did hold some appeal, though, at least for some good training if not for the materials they may drop.  All through her diatribe Brax kept absorbing the information like a sponge, relegating it to a corner of his mind for future study when he returned on his own, once his own dungeon diving skills and level had improved.  He could not allow his own training to fall by the wayside, no matter how much it might slow down while he was alone.  However, at that time, his skills might prove...sufficient enough to bridge the gap he saw between who Opal believed him to be...and who he really was.

     Opal continued, sharing some of her experiences on the mountains of Floor Seven, and a journey with someone named Calrex chasing a story about spirits told to her by her...teacher? sensei? he was unsure of the word...and how they had formed a phantom of sorts, with quite a massive amount of protection.  It did sound...intriguing, the chance to fight something more...unique...but while Brax felt a certain amount of confidence in his capabilities to survive, logic dictated that a chain was only as strong as the weakest link, thus it would be up to Seul whether or not they should brave the task.  He shared as much with the party goers, saying "I suppose I would not mind...contending with more interesting fare.  In addition, since dungeons can appear just about anywhere...the two tasks are not mutually exclusive.  However, I do not believe...the decision should be up to me.  In my opinion, I have found...that it is the completion of a job, and not the job itself...that proves a man's worth.  So, I put the question to Seul:  which would you prefer?  The left, or the right?"  As Brax said these words, he turned to face the trailing member of their party, and awaited his reply.

Edited February 13, 2016 by Brax

[Seul 1]

The question had caught him off guard. Until that point his thoughts had idly drifted across various topics, but now faced with the branching paths it would seem the choice was his to make. It didn't take long for him to decide though. "That's not even a contest; I'm all for taking on something worthy of having an entire story devoted to it. It's like facing a living legend! Well... Not really living, but you know what I mean. I think." He took a moment to clear his throat before pointing down the rightward path. "Anyway- I'm certain the three of us together are capable enough to handle it."

Edited February 14, 2016 by Seul

[Opal 0]

Opal had heard from both of them and nodded her head, "Alright. Ghost hunting it is..." Turning about once more, the woman gestured for the group to follow her. The path was less rickety than the mountain path they had recently been traveling on and the climate once more shifted back to a warm setting. The sun was still prevalent in the sky, becoming high noon for the party as they kept a good pace of time with that of the day. Opal taking lead as she had done before, didn't turn her head but indeed spoke up to Seul.

"When we get the point of interest, Seul. I'll need you to take off your armor and clothing. You will be requested to do The Dance of Summoning for the Phantom and a proper sacrifice of a young male is needed. Looks like it's your lucky day..." The woman didn't change her tone, she was as serious as she normally spoke. But the smile etched on her face was far and wide across it, would she wanted to know more about the people in her company and cracking a small joke hopefully would alleviate that she was not a woman who was always strict and power hungry with her position. 

"As for you Brax, I know you are quite the well spoken gentlemen. I'll need you to clap your hands six times in the air as loud as you can and yell the words; ' ...my cock rages on, my cock rages on. I put you down, I give you [censored]. I piss on your grave for the sport of it. When I die I expect no less. My cock rages on! My cock rages on!!" 

Opal, same tone as before as serious as the manner would be expected from the Vice Commander, after that there was silence to allow the humor to sink it. Opal brought a hand up to her face, her jaws and cheeks burning from stifling as much laughter as she could from her little joke. Clearing her throat, they continued their march through the temple ruins. Massive pillars of stone that once stood erect now came into view as broken memories of its former self. Statues of unnamed Gods broken and rusting over as if to give the area a unique yet foreboding feeling. The time for jokes was now over, they would have to becareful of this Phantom should it wish to appear as such to them. 

[Brax 0]

     "If that is required of me...then it will be done," said Brax to the job presented by Opal.  As he was travelling behind her, he did not see the wide grin and stifled laughter she was suppressing.  As well, it took him more than a few moments of contemplation before he realized...she had been joking.  He wasn't embarrassed, per say, by the fact that he had not caught the humor quickly, but he did recognize the awkwardness of the situation since he was...lacking in the emotional depth to laugh with sincerity.  Trying to engage with a proper response, he managed to raise his eyebrows, put on a robotic smile, and then open his mouth to say, "Right, you were joking.  Hah-Hah-Hah."  HIs chuckling was definitely stiff and mechanical in nature and louder than expected, almost as if he was...unaccustomed to the sensation, which in fact he was.  It also sounded almost rehearsed, as if it were a programed response, rather than a natural effect.  Snorts of affirmation, nods of acknowledgement, and other specifically designed body language signals were like second nature to Brax, but those were more extensions of his words rather than expressions of his heart.  Laughter, tears, smiles, emotions themselves were unfortunately beyond him, or rather beyond his ability to control and execute upon.  It was his burden, the result of his Alexithymia, and after his face had returned to it's more natural stoicism, he logically knew there would be questions asked and answers given.  No matter; Brax had nothing to hide, nor did his mental reasoning believe that any harm would come to him by sharing.  As the woman stopped shaking with barely contained glee, an odd sight that he had not expected from the normally hard nosed Commander, and they took in the sight of the broken statues and ruined pillars that defined the devastated temple they trekked through, Brax said what he could most assuredly predict was running through their heads now: "You are most likely wondering as to the nature of my reaction, why it sounded...relatively unnatural."