[OP-F1]A Late Christmas - CLOSED, No New Entrants

[Mack 0]

OOC: Higher Level Players, PM before jumping in. Thread jacking, which I have seen done in other OP's, will not be tolerated. If the low-level players want free stuff from a Level 7 Blacksmith, you're going to not thread jack.

Five days previously the ginger-headed blacksmith of the fourth floor, Mack, had sent out a private message blast to every player in Aincrad that was still at or below level ten. It was time for time for them to get moving, leave the safe zones, and start pulling their weight. The more players that were out and available on the Front Lines, the better. So, today was free equipment day at the Wandering Forge. Everyone who met Mack down in the portal plaza in the Town of Beginnings would be gifted with free equipment from the shop. The fact of the matter also was that Mack had too much low-level gear cluttering up his shop, and this was a good way to get rid of some of excess stuff to free up more space.

[Dynaon 0]

The Immortal King was merely strolling down the street on this fine day. Nothing grand, nothing too showy.. just wishing to get from point A to point B. However, Dynaon's inbox would receive a new message on this day. One that would change the very course of his entire day's actions. The message was from a player named 'Mack' who offered to gift free equipment to people by the portal in the Town of Beginnings. The only requirement was that the player had be under Level 10. Being Level 5 himself, he knew this was the perfect opportunity for him to get in on something really good. Having more equipment was better than having none, after all! The King would quickly make his way to the center of town, smiling wide all the while. He wasn't just interested in getting equipment, but if this Mack had equipment to blow.. perhaps he was important. Perhaps he was a man of the front lines!

[Hydra 0]

(OOC: If I'm thread jacking please tell me, I'm not sure what it actually is but I'm level 5)

"Uuum... Is this the place?" Hydra stumbled around the town of beginnings looking for what was called the wandering forge. He had received a message inviting him for free stuff. In the real world the spearman would tend to avoid doing this, but here he was in Aincrad and he wasn't so naive to turn down such an offer. Every little thing counted here. 

He spent a few minutes walking around the plaza. Eventually spotting a beast of a player. "That's got to be him". Hydra approached slowly slightly worried he would anger the player for unknown reasons. "... Hi was invited here to take a look around for some free stuff and I was thinking of buying a new spear. I thought it would be a good idea to stop of here first, would you happen to have any?" The spearman said it in his friendliest voice possible.

 

[Mack 0]

"My forge is up in Snowfrost Town, it's the primary town on the fourth floor and it's a safe zone. Once people have had a chance to assemble we'll all be teleporting from the Town of Beginnings to Snowfrost through the portal in this plaza," Mack rumbled, his arms crossed over his chest. "For many of you, it will be the highest floor in Aincrad you have ever reached, but it is quite safe. So long as you all don't get it into your heads to attack a level thirty front liner. That would end... poorly, for all of you." Mack rolled his head around on his neck, producing an audible cracking noise. "I have more information to give out as well, it's time you low level players started pulling your weight. I'm here to help you do that."

[Guest Furia]

Furia checked her messages when something beeped at her. Probably, it wasn't going to be anything that was all that worthwhile, but it never hurt to be thorough. After all, maybe one of the many people she had run across already was waiting to gift her something they had found and didn't need. Tapping the air in front of her, Furia pulled up the message and quickly scanned through it, her violet eyes moving left to right as she read. So, there was a blacksmith that felt the low level players weren't pulling their weight. No arguments there. But, he was going to help them get moving with free gear from his shop. Now, that was something that did catch the attention of the violet haired woman. Free gear, if nothing else he'd be able to get a whip that was better than her beginner's weapon into her hands. Also, you should never turn down free stuff. If nothing else, it would wind up being free money.

Within a few moments she had made her way to the plaza and, quite rudely, brushed past Hydra and Dynaon until she was standing right before the massive blacksmith. "I need a better weapon," she declared, holding out her Beginning Whip for the brutish blacksmith to examine.

[Nikodemus_Blackwood 1]

Nikodemus sat and watched the crowd of people pile around the large figure with red hair. Giggling at some unheard joke he leapt to his feet and began to walk briskly towards the group. "I do love the color red. Maybe this will be fortuitous for me." As he approached closer, he heard Mack tell the assembled that he would help them, but that they would need to begin pulling their weight. "I can pull weight Mr. Red. Can I come along? I am quite lowly in level, and my poor axe is basic, rusted, and quite dull."

 

Nikodemus circled the large red headed male and grinned sheepishly from ear to eat as he did. "I promise the birdies won't be a problem for you and your shiny armor." He gestured to nothing at all.

[Sinful 0]

Sinful was taking a nice little stroll along the market, that was until he spotted a shop giving out free items, the mastermind was not one to be fooled, nor was he an idiot. He got his act together, put on his smile, and walked inside the shop. "Hey, I heard you were giving out free items?" Sinful asked with good intentions in his voice, his true intent would not be blatantly obvious. "Wish I brought my friend along here... Guess I've been giving a little bit too much." The white haired boy's clothes were in bad shape, along with his inventory which was basically bankrupt. His bare chest was showing through his ripped rags, but Sinful didn't care, it made him look poor and that was the point. "I mean, sometimes you've got to give to yourself right?" Sinful seemed a bit uncomfortable doing this, he was normally giving to others instead of himself.

[Mack 0]

"I do have a whip that will suit you nicely," Mack rumbled, indicating Furia even as he pushed her beginner's weapon out of the way and back into her chest. "No one handed axes, but I have some shields and heavy armor. I can probably come up with an axe easily enough. No spears either, one handed or two," the goliath of a blacksmith asked. At just a few inches shy of seven feet tall, he was easily taller than almost every other player in Sword Art Online, which made dealing with crowds like this easier. Of course, little did they know that free gear also meant repeat customers. It was baffling that no other shop owners seemed to grasp this fact. When it was time to upgrade, many of these players would return to the Wandering Forge. "You, white haired guy in the ragged clothing. What do you need?"

[Nikodemus_Blackwood 1]

"If you could make me a nice new axe, that would suit me just fine. Thank you Mr. Red." Nikodemus grinned wider and continued to dance around Mack. After a circle of two, he broke off and circled each other player looking them up and down and mumbling hellos to each of them. Getting dizzy, he finally came back around to Mack and then stopped and fell down laughing. "This is such a fortuitous day indeed!"

[Magda 0]

A heated gaze settled over the small gathering at the local blacksmith's shop. Based on the message she'd received from him previously she couldn't believe it at first. It was hardly economical to simply hand things out but then again she could understand his reasoning. Those whose levels were still relatively low, much like her own, might find it difficult if not impossible to gather the necessary Col or resources to trade in place of good equipment. In this it was no different than life where some people just couldn't seem to make any headway no matter how hard they tried. Not until they got some form of break and here Mack offered that break to anyone who saw fit to answer. Though she wasn't disgruntled over that. Oh not by any means, she was just generally heated that she'd arrived so damn late. Who built a city this large to act as a starting point?! Finally though she managed to traverse her way through the myriad of streets that lined the Town of Beginnings and found where Mack was. She grumbled lightly as she made her way through the crowd to stand near Mack.

"Well I'm happy to see you've decided to listen to reason and move your shop to a warmer climate." She offered Mack a slight grin as it wasn't a secret that she couldn't tolerate the cold. A fact that was made all too clear the first time she trekked up to his shop on the fourth floor. That wasn't something she wanted to relive again anytime soon. At least not with about three heavy coats on prior to her arrival. The one good thing he had up there at least was his forge. She nearly melted as she remembered the sheer amount of heat that flowed off of it. It was the only respite she'd found in that frigid place.

[KaraMitskune 0]

Mitsu yawned. A usual custom, even when it wasn't anytime close to night. Her message bar had just received a message, and she was contemplating reading it or not. Quickly, though, she clicked on the message to spare her mind of the arguments.

It was a message out to all under-leveled players. How very kind.

Okay she guessed it was kinda cool. Free crap for under-leveled players? I mean, who could go wrong with that? It was community service.

Mitsu laughed at her own joke. That wasn't even a witty comment let alone a joke. But it got her to laugh none the less. 

Dragging herself over to the blacksmith who had sent out the message, she found her way into the huge line of players that wound up in front of the really tall ( 7 feet? Mitsu guessed) blacksmith. Mitsu grabbed her one-handed straight sword out of a sheath at her pocket and swung it around a bit. Carefully not to chop anyone's head (or any other vital part of body) off, of course. She'd never used it, but it would be cooler to have something less... you know... basic. It wasn't like she cared if she won or lost in the game anymore.

[Hekima 0]

Hekima sighed. The air smelled of joy. It was as if the world was still considering Christmas to be alive... Thinking that Christmas was still a thing. However, Christmas was just another reminder that yet another year had passed for the front liners. What is it? Two years? Maybe three since the players were stuck in this game... Yet, the floors that were reached were still only floor 13 or 14. She hadn't bothered to check... Not until she becomes strong enough to reach the front lines and become powerful, like she had always wanted to be, and should always have been.

Still, progression had become rather difficult. She had no method of combat and no gear either, causing combat to be dangerous and risky. Of course, Hekima, being someone more intelligent than at least 97% of the population knew that fighting a mob at such a low level could only cause herself to face doom, which once again, she would definitely not prefer.

Suddenly, though, she could hear some commotion in the background regarding a few players. It seems as if someone was giving away gear to lower leveled players. Perhaps they wanted to clear up space... Or they could be kind. It was probably the first option. The red haired man who looked like a hairy monkey's tone of speech seemed rather arrogant and commanding. It seemed to give him power over the other players. Phft...

Just as Hekima was about to walk away, she realized that this was a great opportunity. No matter how much she hated being given free stuff and having her self-pride injured, she knew that free gear was definitely good for a gear-less tank such as she. With a sigh, she walked up to the crowd.

"I reckon that I need quite a bit of gear. As you can see, I lack both weapon, which is the one-handed war hammer, heavy armor, nor a shield."

[Hunie 0]

This morning, when the blonde rolled of her bed, she swore she would make a to-do list. There were so many things she needed to finish doing in this game, that it was rather tough to keep track of it all. She splashed water on her face and tidied herself up, just for the sake of it. This was all virtual, no actual grime settled on her virtual body, her blonde hair remained as perfectly clean as they had been on the day she put the nerve gear on her head. She ambled into the town which had grown so familiar, she could probably navigate it with her eyes closed. The Hunie hadn't even browsed through her player interface today. She had received a message earlier in the morning, when she was still curled in bed but in her sleep addled brain, she opened it just so the notification stopped hovering in front of her and didn't actually bother to read it. 

Hunie strolled around, following her usual routine of smiling at everyone to make them feel better, she always assumed no one could be entirely satisfied about being stuck in a game like this. The blonde noticed a decent sized crowd of players had amassed at the plaza. Hunie crossed the plaza almost everyday. Never did it disappoint in hosting one gathering or another. It was one of the most populated regions and something was always up here. She herself had been the reason for a spontaneous gathering a few weeks ago. She heard something about a forgery and was going to brush it off as a blacksmith advertising his shop. She never thought she had garnered enough material or col to go visit one and get what she needs... The blonde paused when she overheard someone say something about free goodies. Although Hunie wasn't naive enough to believe that would happen in a game like this, she also wasn't skeptical enough to not try. 

The thin girl managed to squeeze herself between a couple of players standing around and neared the man making the announcement. He was a large man with reddish hair... everywhere, offering up free items that he had forged. Hunie smiled to herself, grinning wider when she noticed a few other friendly faces, all of them on the lower side of the level spectrum, as she was. There was no harm in trying to get something, although if she did, she made up her mind to help this forger at some point. Hunie raised her fair hand and spoke softly "I'd like a heavy armor set and/or a 2 handed straight sword." She didn't think he'd have heard her so easily, so she kept her hand raised, awaiting him to ask her personally... If at all. 

Edited March 17, 2016 by Hunie

[Mack 0]

"I have an axe that will suit you just fine," Mack rumbled, keeping an eye on Nikodemus. Something about the guy seemed just a little bit off, perhaps he had gone insane from being trapped in the game. Mack shrugged his broad shoulders, Nikodemus' sanity wasn't the ginger man's concern. He watched as Magda pushed her way through the crowd, at her height her progress was easy enough to track. Naturally, she was still going on and on about the fact that the forge was located on the fourth floor of the tower. Mack wasn't about to move it anywhere warmer.

"Of course I haven't moved the forge," he said in a deep, though quiet, tone. "I'm conducting the first batch to the forge up on four and you are going to catch any late comers and send them along." The crowd was already getting to be rather large, so it was time to do a bit of thinning out and get the first batch of low-level players out to the forge so they could be properly kitted out. "I can arrange that," Mack said to Hekima when she asked about gear. "And there's no need to raise your hand, this isn't a classroom. One moment."

"ALRIGHT," the hulking blacksmith boomed, dropping easily into the drill instructor voice and holding up both hands for silence. "I will be taking the first group of players to the forge now. As I said earlier, it is on the fourth floor in the main town of Snowfrost. At no point will you be required to leave the safe zone on the fourth floor, so there is no danger in the town of Snowfrost. At no point should any of you be stupid enough to leave the safe zone on four. Base monsters there have sixteen hit points, four points in mitigation, and deal twelve points in damage. I don't have to tell you that those monsters can, and will, one hit you if you're idiotic enough to leave the town of Snowfrost and I will not be responsible for that. You need to step into the teleporter and say 'Teleport: Snowfrost' you will then be taken to the town and, from there I will conduct you to the forge. One more thing, don't feed the bear. Magda will remain here to round up the late arrivals."

Suiting action to words, Mack stepped into the portal and boomed, "Teleport: Snowfrost!" A second later the bearded giant was in the wintery wonderland of the fourth floor where a gentle snow was falling to fleck his hair and beard in white. Turning, he prepared to catch any of the low-level players that might come flying out of the portal unused to the experience. Once everyone had arrived, they would be off for the forge.

[Anise 0]

Anise bumped straigth into something big and steady when she exited the warp gate at floor one teleportation plaza. When she loooked up she saw it was a red haired and bearded man, and what a man. She scanned him from top to bottom and bottom to top. He seemed pretty high leveled, and behind him she could spot a bunch of players, thou they was mostly if not all low leveled  as her.''Heya, I guess its you that is Mack?'' she asked him. Herself she already had a perfect greatsword on her back and steel pouldrons on her shoulders, so she wasnt there to get any free items from the blacksmith. She turned to low leveled players behind him.''If you want me to appraise your items you getting from Mack, you can drop by at The Black Market. There Im doing it for only a singel material per try. Looking forward to meet you there.'' she said and smiled a warm smile to the player on the plaza.

[Nikodemus_Blackwood 1]

Hearing the Mack address the players that they were moving on, he hopped up and down slightly on his toes and clapped giddishly. "This will be fun. I do love snow! I have heard that Snowfrost is covered in it!" Nikodemus watched the group bunch around him and then heard Mack command the teleport system. Seeing the large giant of a man disappear before his eyes, Nikodemus was awed. "WOW! He just vanished!" Wanting to try it out, Nikodemus spun around and threw his hands in the air before yelling out. "Teleport: Snowfrost!" 

 

Feeling himself be pulled from floor 1 to floor 4, Nikodemus thought he blinked. When his eyes opened, he was hurtling head first through the air arms splayed before him. With a resounding "Wheeee!!!!" Nikodemus light frame sailed over Mack and then crashed into a bank of snow, his legs hanging out and twitching. Bursting from the snowbank, he shook the snow from himself and squealed with joy. "EEEEE! That was fun! I love snow. Do you love snow Mr. Red?!? The birdies don't like snow much, so they will stay in my head while I'm here." Spinning around in place, Nikodemus took in the whole of Snowfrost.

[Hunie 0]

Hunie paid attention to the rule Mack laid out, they were fair and easy to follow. They sounded a little like the kind of orders a teacher gave to a bunch of students on a school trip, at least from what the blonde had seen in movies, having never actually attended a formal school. "Stay safe, don't get leave crowd and engage mobs..." she repeated in her head. Definitely doable. She clearly enunciated her destination upon using the portal, much like those before her. Upon teleporting Hunie wished she had something warmer to don. Though the cold didn't damage her as much as it would have in real life, she still felt a considerable bite and even noticed goosebumps on her arm. By looking at the blizzard prone area, Hunie was sure that had this been a real life expedition, she would have died of frost bites... Ah the boons of gaming. She mused.

Then recalling that she was here to get some armour, potentially to be able to fend off mobs, because dying here, could mean death in real life, she felt a twinge of sadness. The fact was a constant thorn in her thoughts. In any case, the freebies seemed to be a real thing and Hunie felt excitement bubble in her heart as she waited for her turn to receive the items she had requested... Can't wait to get a chance to use these things, only on mobs of course. Hunie had been meaning to collect some better equipment so she could finally try her hand at some of the quests, without being scared for her life. This was really nice of Mack, to help the poor low levels this way, especially since many accused the higher ups to have stolen the farming spots in order to level up faster. Hunie didn't agree with such allegations though and was whole heartedly gracious for the equipment she was waiting on. 

[Hydra 0]

Hydra watched as the ginger man disappeared, "should I follow?" A small cry from his pocket signaled him to go forward "Alright pal, let's go.. thinking of this you've never been to another floor have you?". To any bystander the spearman may seem insane talking to his pockets. A few moments later Hydra's familiar emerged and coiled around the spearman. "Maybe he can make us a spear at his forge?" Hydra whispered, stepping onto the portal zone.... *sigh*, "I guess going to see the floor itself would be a treat, Ive not seen snow for so long"... He took in a deep breath and called out "Teleport: Snowfrost!"

It was brief experience but one he would not forget, the spearman felt as though he were free falling before being erupted out of a portal on the other side "Ahhhhhh!", Hydra covered his eyes in fear he would fall, instead he was suspended in midair momentarily as his familiar frantically flapped his wings to try and keep him up eventually dropping him into a snow drift headfirst "No No NO AIM FOR THE BIG GUY, THE BI..." The spearman landed next to the other player stuck in the snowdrift but upside down. Tumbling down the bank he rolled to the Ginger players feet, his head still spinning but otherwise fine, his familiar quickly settled in his pocket.

Edited March 17, 2016 by Hydra

[Magda 0]

Her eyes narrowed when he mentioned that he didn't move his forge in a manner that made it sound like it should have been obvious. She didn't get agitated so much as she dreaded going back to that place, and it was Mack who gave her an out from going to the fourth floor. So he wanted her to stay here and relay any other players who came along for the free gear and send them up? Now that's something she could do. Manage. She could definitely manage. Like her brother Magda was rather tall. While she wasn't exactly the same height she did stand at a little over six feet. Now that she had something to put her attention on she turned around while Mack explained what was going on and what  her fellow low level players should and should not do. Her arms were folded across her chest and an aggressive grin spread across her face as she waited there. One by one the others tarted to vanish through the teleporter. Eventually she'd be left alone which wasn't all that bad really. She much preferred relative solitude to snow. Actually she preferred just about everything to snow.... and now she just waited.

[Sinful 0]

Sinful still looked uncomfortable as Mack asked him what he needed, never before has anyone ever given him a weapon of any sort. "Ehh... I guess I need a one handed straight sword, it's about time I start pulling my weight besides cooking in the kitchen." This white haired boy didn't seem very confident of himself, sure he was helping others, but what crossed his mind was 'Could he help others if he didn't help himself?' At this point in time, he donned his mask perfectly believing it was real. Sinful stepped back and bumped into Magda, falling down. "Oww... Sorry..." He got back up and apologized to her, soon after he pulled out a plush dog and offered it to her with a friendly smile on his face.

Edited March 18, 2016 by Sinful