[SP: F1] Bacon hunting!

[Garret 0]

"Time to go get some cash...I need some money if I'm gonna start serious work at alchemy. Ingredients aren't cheap! At least...I'm pretty sure they cost." 

Garret was talking to himself again. He noticed he'd developed a habit of that since he'd been in the game. Or maybe it was before that...either way, he'd walked out to the fields around the Town of Beginnings, and he was ready to hunt some boars down. He'd been itching to fight already, but had saved it for now...now he had enough HP and energy that boars weren't a huge threat...or at least, not so much as they had been.

"I'm gonna make some bacon." Garret laughed, running further into the field, looking for spawn points.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Garret
I got told to put it back by a mod and resolve it differently.

[Garret 0]

Garret ran until he saw a flash of blue off to his right. A boar spawned in- now was the moment of truth. Time to see if he was cut out for this whole combat thing. He rushed the thing, which turned to look at him, and charge him as well.

ID: 54421

BD: 10 (1 + 1 Skill + 2 Crit = 4 DAM, boar dead)

LD: 16 (Mob health x5 col = 20 col)

MbD: 9 (3 + 1 Crit = 4 dam, Garret left with 4 HP)

"Hraaagh!" Garret shouted, stabbing the boar in the face while it lunged in and gored his outstretched arm, knocking his health to an even fifty percent yellow. The boar burst into light shards, and money filled Garret's inventory. "I...I did it. I did it!" Garret shouted, raising his sword in the air excitedly. He realized he'd just killed a single floor one mob, but it was his first, and he'd one-shotted it without a sword skill! Oh...he'd forgotten to use a sword skill...that wasn't very smart. Ah, well.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Garret

[Garret 0]

"All's well that ends well, I suppose." Garret remarked, leaning on his sword and looking around the field. He walked a little further away, trying to find more interesting things than boars to fight. Things that weren't so aggressive and likely to swing back quickly. He trekked out towards the woods again, trying to find something that might be a good gear-dropping mob. "Maybe I can find wolves in the woods...I bet a wolf would drop a pelt I could wear for armor...maybe...I hope." He mumbled to himself, walking towards the edge of the forest and starting to sing a song, "Mother, come bring me my axe and my shield- mother, come bring me my spear, polished bright..." Garret really did love medieval songs, he realized.

(Regained 3 HP, 7 HP left currently)

[Garret 0]

"The Jarl has consented, I'm off to the raids- he says that I'm finally a man." Garret finished his song as he got to the edge of the forest. This was a different area from where he'd gathered his alchemical herbs before. A darker, more forbidding looking part of the forest. "Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe it's meant to scare players away from the good stuff." He pondered, striding into the forest and drawing his blade from its scabbard with a satisfying, "shick" noise of leather on metal. After about two minutes of walking, the canopy of the forest became thick, and not just with leaves, but with large webs. Webs from spiders that must have been the size of Garret.

"Damn...Well, here goes nothing." Garret told himself, walking into an area inhabited by at least one giant spider.

(Regained 3 HP, back to maximum of 8)

[Garret 0]

Garret snuck from tree to tree, looking for his arachnid prey...he thought he was being clever about it, but apparently not enough, as he heard a clicking from behind him and saw a giant spider, and it was a GIANT spider, rapelling down towards him. It was a spider the size of a doberman pinscher. Garret regained his composure, timed his sword art, and attacked!

Snake Bite: 2x1 (2 Energy)

ID: 54432

BD: 9 (2 + 1 Crit = 3. 3*2 = 6 DAM with Snake Bite Sword Art, very dead Spider)

LD: 15 (Mob health x5 col = 20 col)

MbD: 2 (Spider Misses Garret, no DAM)

Lashing out twice in quick succession, Garret put two expert slashes in the spider before it got down from the strand of web it was spinning, and it burst into a beautiful, sparkly death animation.

"Heh. Maybe I'm getting good at this." Garret remarked, spinning his sword around and slamming it back into its scabbard. He was startingto finally feel confident in his abilities. "I'm having better luck with the spiders than the boars. Huh. Maybe I can get some kinda spider bacon from these things." he chuckled, striding further in towards what he presumed to be the nest.

[Garret 0]

Sneaking among the trees, Garret spotted another, slightly smaller spider on the ground, which appeared to be spinning a trap web for unwary...something. Based on his last encounter with a spider, it wasn't feasible to out-sneak them, so Garret did the natural thing, he charged it.

ID: 54433

BD: 9 (2 + 1 Crit = 3 DAM, spider not quite dead yet)

MbD: 1 (Spider didn't hit Garret)

The spider seemed surprised by Garret's yelling and the sword in its eyes. It didn't even retaliate except by hissing painedly and backing off at first, gearing up to lunge at Garret, which worried him slightly. He prepared to sidestep the beast and chop it in half, now that it was most of the way cut through.

[Garret 0]

ID: 54434

BD: 8 (2 DAM, dead spider)

LD: 18 (20 Col)

MbD: 9 (4 DAM, dealt half of Garret's health, Garret still alive)

Garret thought he'd given it enough room to pass him, but apparently he should have sidestepped further away, because he got bitten in the abdomen as he stabbed through the top of the spider, killing it. Panting, he laid down in the grass in the now cleared area. "Damn, virtual spider bites hurt. I hope I can't get virtual STAPH infections..." he worried quietly as he tried to get over this new injury. He stood up and shook himself off, telling himself, "Stop being such a punk and get moving out of here. Don't wanna be here if more spiders come."

[Garret 0]

Garret wandered back out of the spider hollow, wondering whether the mobs attacked each other when there were no players around, or if that was just an overcomplicated idea he'd come up with. Shaking his head again, Garret mumbled to himself, "Thank the gods we heal so fast out of combat...otherwise there'd be no chance of leveling safely." Then he snorted a small laugh. Nothing was safe. If he hadn't been careful to avoid fights after being wounded, Garret would die too. Safe was a joke IRL and a bigger one in this game.

Then Garret spotted a large wolf just up ahead. The ID tag on it read, "Worg". He remembered those things, from some sort of fantasy novel, he was pretty sure. It was a big, vicious wolf. He wondered if it would give a decent gear drop if he killed it...It WAS the size of a bear though, and that gave Garret some pause. He swallowed, Nothing ventured, nothing gained." He whispered to himself.

[Garret 0]

When Garret approached the Worg, it turned to face him, its eyes a glowing, furious red. If computer programs could look hateful, this thing definitely did. Garret stepped up to it and prepared to use his Sword Art to bring the beast down.

Snake Bite: 2x1 (2 Energy)

ID: 54436

BD: 1 (Garret misses with Snake Bite, wasting 2 Energy)

MbD: 4 (Worg misses)

The Worg was clearly smarter than the spiders, because it backed off when Garret's sword glowed, making him waste the use of his art, and forcing him onto the defensive, trying to keep the giant dog back with his not so giant sword. Garret was a little scared...This had better not be the end for him.

[Garret 0]

ID: 54437

BD: 4 (Garret misses)

MbD: 8 (Worg hits Garret for 3 DAM, knocking him down to 4 from 7)

Garret couldn't get a footing to oppose the wolf, and so the monster bit hard on his left leg as he backpedaled away, hurting him severely. His HP bar hit the yellow zone exactly. He stood on his good leg and took a good swipe at the beast, backing it off some while he readjusted his stance to accommodate his injury. He growled in pain, shambling forwards to kill the Worg. "I refuse..." Garret growled, seething wtih rage, "To let some overgrown puppy dog keep me from getting out of this blasted game!" he roared, swinging a wild flurry at the Worg to further scare it, if AI could be scared, before planting his feet to lunge in and stab the monster.

(Recovered 1 Energy)

[Garret 0]

ID: 54438

BD: 4 (Garret misses Worg)

MbD: 3 (Worg misses Garret)

The Worg's attack patterns seemed thrown off by Garret's infuriated display, which also meant that Garret's lunge didn't land like it should have, and they were both back at square one, circling each other and looking for an opening...

"There are girls who bite harder than you, y'know that, you punk little dog? I could kill you with one arm tied behind my back if you would just get over here so I can get a shot at you..." Garret couldn't tell if his taunts meant anything to the Worg, but it growled in response, so maybe...he wanted it to lunge in at him, to go straight into his sword art...he prayed a silent prayer to whatever gods of war may be listening, that he might have a chance of taking this thing down in the next engagement.

[Garret 0]

The Worg lunged, and just then, Garret used Snake Bite, attempting to end the Worg's assault before it ever really begun.

ID: 54439

BD: 7 (2 * 2 = 4 DAM, dead Worg)

LD: 5 (no loot)

MbD: 9 (+1 crit = 4 DAM, dying Garret)

Garret's sword art killed the beast, but not before it ripped at his arm, dealing the rest of his HP as damage, or at least, close to it- Garret wasn't sure if he would be able to heal in time...or if he'd just die out here alone...all alone...

"Someone...please...someone please be out here..." he moaned faintly, hoping that someone would hear him, though nobody was probably there.

[Garret 0]

Garret faintly felt something "thud" into him as the last of his HP drained away, but then felt something being shoved into his mouth, not that he could resist it. A few seconds later, his vision cleared up, his HP gauge was filling back up, and he saw a little NPC girl pouring a healing potion into his mouth. His health was still in the red, but he wasn't dead after all! Someone had been out here, and it was an NPC...was she designed to save players early on, or was it a programming glitch, or what?

"Be more careful next time!" the little girl said, pulling the empty vial away from Garret's lips and straightening up. "You could have been killed just now! We need heroes to fend off the monsters in this land." she pouted at him. Garret could tell that she was an NPC more easily than with Arista. this one sounded like it was reading lines off a script, but he still felt a strange sense of gratitude to this computer program for saving his life.

"Thank you for giving me a second chance. I won't make you regret giving me that potion." Garret said, reeling from the near-death experience. The NPC girl turned and walked away, seemingly looking for ingredients for something, as she was carrying a basket and searching along the ground.

(3 HP recovered, total 3)

[Garret 0]

Garret began walking back to the Town of Beginnings, being careful to stay away from known mob spawns and keep safe. He had a newfound respect for NPCs, which one probably has to have after an NPC saves one's life. Garret shook his head, "Damn, that was too close...I can't wait to be at full HP in the Town of Beginnings." Garret shook a little bit, unable again to believe he'd ALMOST GOTTEN KILLED. He slapped himself in the face, "Keep it together, man!" He griped at himself, stalking more angrily with himself towards town and then realizing he was almost sterring into a mob spawn. Sighing, he went around it, going slower and longer.

(3 HP recovered, 6 total)

[Garret 0]

After awhile, and a couple shakily sung songs on the walk, Garret showed back up at the gates to the Town of Beginnings, HP bar filling up out of the yellow range, up to full and into the safe zone. He never thought he'd be so happy to come back to this dull little town. He counted up how much money he'd earned killing the mobs...60 col. He'd nearly gotten himself killed for 60 col. Hadn't he just talked to someone about not throwing their life away yesterday? "I need to start following my own advice..." Garret scolded himself, walking the labyrinthine paths of the city in an effort to find that tavern he'd woken up in again.

[Garret 0]

Finally locating the inn, he sauntered in, feeling recovered from the combats and plopping down at an empty table, he called to the NPC waittress, "One mug of mead." That was one of the nicer things about this game- no stupid laws about alcohol consumption. If everyone in here walks around swinging swords at monsters, they huld be able to have a beer, and since it was VR, they could. It was the little things, sometimes, that got one through the day. The sweet taste of the mead made him feel a little better, "Maybe if I just go back to the field and kill a boar, I'll feel better. It's not a big deal to go fight one more boar..." Garret stood up after his drink, not even buzzed yet, and started back towards the field for one more fight.

[Garret 0]

"Those damn ones and zeroes aren't better than me. I don't have to be afraid of them, I just need to be CAREFUL and this'll be fine." He grumbled to himself, unsheathing his blade and stalking out the gate towards the field. "I'll just kill one boar and go back to the inn to get set up for the night." Garret resolved to himself, promising that he'd be fine. He looked out over the field and waited...waited...waited...there- a flash of blue light that meant a boar was spawning. He rushed at the blue light, charging in with his sword art, "Snake Bite", ready to double tap the pig and make some bacon.

[Garret 0]

ID: 54519

BD: 7 (2 * (2*1) = 4 DAM, dead boar)

LD: 17 (Mob HP*5, 20 Col)

MbD: 1 (Boar didn't even swing at Garret)

Garret was on top of the boar, yelling his battle cry, before it even turned to face him. His sword swung in a loop, swinging into the boar and striking it again after a loop around. The boar froze, then burst apart into light, popping up a notification window about loot. Garret breathed satisfiedly to himself. "There we go, easy as pie." But then another blue light came- one of the aggressive spawns, based on the angry squeal. Garret spun on his heel to face the charging pig and swung into its side.

[Garret 0]

ID: 54520 

BD: 1 (Garret should have sidestepped instead of swinging)

MbD: 7 (Boar hits Garret, 3 DAM, down to 5)

Garret was blasted in the gut with the boar's tusks and snout, knocking him down and back, forcing him to stand up in a position where he was already lunging back towards the boar to divert it to the side, so that the boar exposed its side to him while he reeled from the impact. 

"Hah! I've taken harder shots from my sister!" Garret boasted, preparing to dive into where the boar was heading, so he'd catch it mid-run and take it down.

(recovered 1 energy)

[Garret 0]

ID: 54521

BD: 1 (Garret misses entirely)

MbD: 6 (Boar hits Garret for 3, down to 2 HP)

The boar swung about and whacked Garret with its legs, knocking him back again and taking his HP into the red zone. At this point, Garret backed off and started looking for a way to run away from the beast, refusing to die the same way he almost did before. Then, he spotted another adventurer, a young man with a sword and shield, running up to the monster to kill it! Garret didn't care if it meant no loot, he needed to live, damn it.

"Welcome to the party!" Garret grunted painedly.