[PP - F14] Of Lich Kings and Queens «The Lich King» (Jazper)

[Takao 0]

«The Lich King»

From the moment Takao had set foot in the fourth floor, a grimace had grown on his face and persisted. No matter what the weather was like the previous day, the ground of Stonewall was perpetually covered in a thick caking of mud. The sodden earth was trampled daily by the NPCs and odd player that passed through, and the ambient sounds of hammers bashing metal coupled with the scents of cooking meat helped drive home the ambiance of a war camp. Each step he took proved to further cake his boots in mud, which would eventually simply disappear as per the system's limitations, but was an irritating nuisance all the same. He felt and simultaneously suppressed the desire to shake the mud off each time his leg was raised for the next step.

Morning and afternoon had come and gone, leaving the evening sun to cast a warm orange glow across the fourteenth tier of Aincrad. It was a bit late to be venturing out on his lonesome, but he seldom cared for what was deemed safe and unsafe. He was a solo player after all, and what was a solo player if they didn't take unnecessary risks simply for the sake of doing so? In truth, the item that was given as reward for completing the quest entitled "The Lich King" was what interested him. He already had one on him, but Takao liked to be prepared. If for some reason or another he would find use for the item, he wanted to have a spare on hand. Preparing ahead of time was a large part of what had kept him alive for so long.

Takao stopped just shy of Stonewall's northern exit and raised his right hand, swiping downward to call forth the menu. Gentle chimes played with each button pressed, navigating his way through the windows until his inventory appeared. He scrolled through countless items until he reached what he had desired, Ragnarok. He pressed the window a few more times and the blade that had once rested upon his back and over his right shoulder disappeared with a flash of blue light. In its place and appearing through an identical blue light was a larger sword, whose scabbard was just as simplistic and plain as the last. Ragnarok, his two-handed sword, was better suited for the situation than its one-handed variant was.

Green eyes shifted skyward to the red scale-clad, draconic-themed monster perched on his shoulders. Either of the familiar's legs rested on his shoulders and its body leaned against the back of Takao's head, large snout exhaling small plumes of smoke and yellow slotted eyes glancing from one direction to the next, as if the small beast was in sensory overload. "Relax. We'll be out there for less than an hour, then we'll get something to eat, yeah?" Takao said, earning a huffed exhale in response from his familiar. With his equipment adequately changed and his familiar temporarily sated, the brunet started off outside of the gates.

@Jazper

[Jazper 0]

Jazper was unimpressed.

The entirety of the fourteenth floor was too monotonous to take any kind of real landscaping notes. It seemed the whole floor was designed to turn players around so that they eventually lose their wits. She had taken note of every turn and crevice she had "explored," however, so she hadn't find herself turned around too many times during the day. She brushed a strand of hair from her eyes as she rounded yet another charcoal-black corner. In the near distance she cold see the zones occupied by monsters, and little flashes of blue lights that indicated spawning mobs. She slid down the wall to her bum and equipped her journal and pencil. She began scribbling little notes of the landscape as she sketched the view in front of her. The sun was beginning to set and she didn't have any flashlight-like equipment, so she hastily made work of the final details in her drawing. The sunset lasted much longer in the game, though, so Jazper wasn't too worried.

Of course she could always come back the next day, as her floor mapping usually takes more than one day cycle, however spending just 8 hours on the floor was sickening her. It was yet another level that had such little thought put in to it other than to create a depressing atmosphere to confuse and sadden players. She rolled her eyes at the finished drawing. She stood up and clapped the journal shut before returning it to her inventory.

The sun had almost completely set by the time Jazper had walked back to the main settlement, Stonewall. It seemed most players had possibly returned home or were at least out in the fields, as majority of the population of the army village was NPCs at the time. Some shouted obnoxious jeers programmed in to their dialogue as she walked by. She wondered for a moment if this was the true perception of soldiers, as if they don't abandon most human survival instincts and rush headfirst in to battle for the sake of others... Then again, that's what all of the player's of this game were supposed to be doing on the frontlines. She rolled her eyes at the stereotypical shouting as she passed by a tent bustling with NPC suits of armor. She eventually reached the outer banks on the opposite side of the camp, nearing the small gate. She exhaled softly as she noticed a player standing directly in her way in front of the portal.

She was going to tap the man's shoulder, but as she reached out she realized the small dragon creature perched on his shoulder. "Oh.." Jazper mumbled. "What an interesting design... I haven't seen a familiar with a dragonic model yet. It's possible it's rare.." She was moreso thinking out loud than talking to the man, but her whispers were most likely audible at their current distance.