[SP-F5] Hardened Resolve <<The Traveller>> (Complete)

[Birdie 0]

"So you see, I've fallen ill and cannot make the journey across that treacherous desert. A poor old woman like me wouldn't last long in the sands in such a condition!" The old woman pressed her hands together and shook them firmly. "Please, I beg of you, recover my precious cargo?"

"Don't worry madam, I'll make the journey for you!" Birdie accepted the request when a small prompt appeared in front of her, and she watched as her selected quest changed to the one she'd just received. She'd heard that the rewards for this quest were a  well-sought after skill; bonus healing outside of combat and immunity to damage dealing environmental effects, a useful ability to have in the event of certain boss situations.

As she prepared to begin the trek, she was approached from behind by a young woman, about the same age as her if not a little younger. "Excuse me, are you going out on that Traveller quest? Mind if I tag along?"

 

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

"Huh? M-me?"

"Duh, you're the one who just accepted it."

"O-oh, right.." Birdie hadn't quite registered the request properly, and as the woman's words processed in her mind, she turned around to face the stranger. The woman seemed to be wearing light armour with spikes protruding from the shoulders- some form of Thorn enhancement, the bluenette thought. Her red hair stretched far below her shoulders, stopping just above the waist, tipped with a slightly brighter red dye.

"So..?"

"R-right! Sorry, it's just.." 'Weird when a stranger asks to join you on a quest! Doesn't she know about the danger of PK'ers?!" She huffed, "Do you mind if I see your stats? Just for peace of mind, i-if that's alright.."

The woman's eyebrow shifted, before summoning the menu and consequentially the stats tab. "I get'cha. Fine, here."

Birdie circle to the woman's side, and noticed that their stats were far below her own. Although not entirely convinced, she hesitantly accepted the request with a nod. "A-alright, sure thing. Don't try anything though, please?"

[Birdie 0]

The red haired woman seemed to roll her eyes and exhale slightly, "You think I wanna mettle with a stranger? Listen, I'll stand far away if that's what you want, I just want to get this quest out of the way."

"You and me both.." she whispered under her breath. She switched her gaze the town's borders, and then to the vast sands beyond it. Without another word, she gestured for the woman to follow and started moving, making sure to keep an eye on the stranger. She kept silent as she usually would.

"Not much of a talker, huh?" The woman briefly glanced to the bluenette, before focusing on the road ahead. "The name's Loraine, spelt with one R. Sorry if I came out of the blue like that," she looked to Birdie from the corner of her eye to catch any reaction to the pun. "You looked innocent enough and, well.. that's about all I need to trust someone."

"What if I'm a wolf in sheep's clothing?" Birdie sighed, offering Loraine a brief look. "It's fine, I'm just.. not used to forming impromptu parties. I'm more of a friends-only person when it comes to questing... call me Birdie."

Loraine smirked. "Bird.. Birdie?"

ID#70096
CD: 10

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Loraine stifled a laugh. "Y-yeah, no, sure... Birdie." The woman couldn't suppress a snicker after repeating Birdie's name.

"H-hey, what's wrong with my name?" Looking half-offended, she stared down the woman with as imposing a look as she could muster.

"No, it's nothing, it's just.. w-why would you chose Birdie? Isn't there some variation that would've been way better, like Hawk or Sparrow? N-not.. Birdie." Her snickering evolved into giddy laughter.

"I happen to like the name, actually!" She realised her voice had risen and closed her eyes to calm down, shaking her head as she returned her eyes to the path.

Loraine managed to control her laughter, waving a hand as if to dismiss the offence. "Sorry, I didn't mean it in a bad way, it just struck me as odd. I thought maybe you'd chosen the name by accident or something. Did you think you could just make a new account after playing with the game a bit?"

Birdie expelled a sigh. ".. maybe a little."

ID# 70098
CD: 5

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Birdie looked at the red head, her expression easing from her the initial stressed-out look she wore. "To be honest, I typed in the last thing I heard in the real world. Listening to the songs of birds was something I'd do frequently in the real world."

"To escape reality, right?"

Birdie nodded slowly, "I-I guess, I never really thought about that.."

A smile crept onto Loraine's lips. "It's funny how things worked out, then- you got your escape from reality, and now you're the bird that sings for home."

"... huh?"

"Never mind." Loraine's eyes watched the sands in the distance- nothing out of the ordinary could be seen for miles, save for the silhouette of a cactus or two in front of the sun's setting light.

Birdie kept on staring blankly towards the red head, before averting her gaze elsewhere. A quick scan of the ground revealed no nearby materials, much to the chagrin of the bluenette.

"So, what kinda built you got?"

ID# 70035
CD: 9
LD: 8+5=13

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

"O-oh, it's not really anything special. Mostly scout-based until I get enough skill points to.." Birdie stopped herself, realising that any information she gave away could probably be used against her. 'I don't know that she isn't collaborating with another guild.. what if she's extracting information about other players and selling it to PK'ers?' Shaking her head a little, she wore an imaginary tin-foil hat for the time being.

".. to uh, max out my search skills, then I'll focus on grandmastering my second weapon.." She felt like swatting herself in the face for outright lying to the stranger, but it was better than selling herself as a weakling.

Loraine raised an eyebrow, but was ultimately none-the-wiser. "Sweet, it sounds like you're a strong fighter then, huh?"

"Why'd you ask?" Birdie asked defensively.

Loraine's confident expression faded, "N-no reason, just thought I'd point it out.."

Birdie blinked, looking away in a bout of embarrassment. "R-right, sorry.." As she took another forwards, her food hit something hard beneath the sand. Crouching to her knees, she dug out the solid object and found it to be a bundle of the wood needed for the event quest- after raising an eyebrow in confusion as to why such a thing was out in the sands, she bagged the item and continued moving. "W-what about you? Are you a scout too?"

ID# 70036
CD: 3
LD: 16+5=21 <<Gained 2 Noble Wood and 4 Materials>>

Loot:

2 Noble Wood
4 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Loraine snorted, "Hell no! That's boring as hell! You think I wanna sniff around the fields all day picking up cotton and flowers!?" Although this elicited a look of disapproval from the bluenette, the red head continued. "I'm a fighter too, you've already seen my stats. I just started training a few weeks ago, picked up my first sword earlier this month. I ran a bakery on the second floor before that- enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, but I wanted to see what this world offers. Hard to do that from inside a crappy shop window."

"I see.. wait, you've never gotten into combat before that? At all?"

"Unless you call a punch-out with a drunken customer combat, then yup, that's the case."

Birdie blinked, "Wow.. you seem so.." She choked on her own words for a moment. ".. Fighter-y?"

"Thanks!" Loraine beamed a smile.

'Starting to realise I have no idea how to talk to this girl..' A small patch of brown stuck out from the ground ahead, and Birdie reached down to pick up the materials.

"You're a natural at finding stuff, huh?"

Birdie dumped the items into her inventory and looked to Loraine, a thin smile reaching her lips. "I'm training with the best- or uh, one of them, anyway."

ID# 70037
CD: 5
LD; 14+5=19 <<Gained 2 Noble Wood and 4 Materials>>

Loot:

4 Noble Wood
8 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Climbing atop a high sand dune, Birdie felt an arm slap her chest. "Ow!" She groaned.

"Look down, you dolt."

The girl's blue eyes lowered to the ground and noticed a huge drop, at least ten or so metres straight into the sands below. Eyes widened, she took a careful step back and gulped, looking to Loraine with a grateful look. "O-oh, right.. t-thank you."

Loraine rolled her eyes, "Come on, let's find another way around. The sun's starting to get low so we need to think about shelter, but right now, I couldn't care less about it."

'At least her priorities are straight. Somewhat...' Birdie led the way down the side of the dune, traversing a steadier decline than the abrupt drop she'd have otherwise fallen victim to.

After reaching level ground, Loraine referred to her map to check their progress. "Y'know, we're actually making good time. See this circle here?" The woman pointed a finger and Birdie's curious eyes followed. "That's where we need to go, and we're aaaaall the way over here." Around the half-way point between the town and their destination is where the red-head's finger rested. 

ID# 70038
CD: 10
LD; 1+5=6

Loot:

4 Noble Wood
8 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

"Huh, wow.. didn't the woman say this would take a whole day and night?" 

Loraine shrugged. "Beats me, I just had her skip to the part where she gave me the quest."

"The NPCs explain some important stuff during their dialogues, like the location for certain quest items and stuff.."

".. that would explain why I struggle with like half of my quests.. huh." Loraine swiped the map away and looked ahead, "Let's keep up the pace, I think we can get this done before nightfall!"

"Right.." Birdie looked on in almost disbelief at Loraine's apparent ignorance, but managed to shake the feeling away rather quickly. 'No point in getting mad for reason,' she told herself, scouting the ground quickly for any nearby materials.

Birdie's thoughts lied on her companion for a while. 'What's this girl's deal? She approaches me outta nowhere, we get going on a quest, and she talks to me as casually as if she were just a normal friend... she's either got deplorable social skills, or I'm just trusting her way too much..'

ID# 70039
CD: 2
LD; 8+5=13

Loot:

4 Noble Wood
8 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

"So, where do you come from?"

"Huh?"

"You know- in the real world? The game's auto translate makes it kinda hard to figure out people's accents, but you don't look Japanese to me."

"O-oh, right.. I'm from England, my accent's faded a little since coming to this world." Birdie became curious as to Loraine's origins, and as she analysed the red-head's face, she couldn't quite place a race on the girl.

Loraine rolled her eyes, "Australian, but I'm in the same boat as you- I'm not really big on ozzy lingo either."

"I wouldn't have guessed- n-no offence."

"None taken, I get that alot. Isn't it strange though? People from all over the world are trapped in the same game and we can all understand each other. Seems like something out of the future.."

"Y-yeah, it's a strange concept, I guess.." Birdie held her gaze for a few moments longer, unsure of what else to say about the topic.

Loraine sighed. "Sorry, the techy in me just gets all excited when talking about this stuff. Did you know that every one of Aincrad's floors were hand made?"

Birdie expelled a huff, too. 'This is going to be a long day...' She peeked towards her HP bar and noticed it tick down by a few pixels. '... that better not happen a lot...'

ID# 70041
CD: 1 (370/380 HP)
LD: 1+5=6

Loot:

4 Noble Wood
8 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

The sun began to fall behind the horizon, casting a crimson gloom that stretched across the darkened skies. For the two woman, their journey had surpassed the halfway point many miles ago, though with nightfall came the necessity to hunker down and find a spot to shelter for the night. Birdie, the blue-haired brit didn’t so much like the idea of settling down in the presence of a relative stranger, especially not one that she had little common interests with. The red head was an oddball; a brawn in physical appearance, the woman’s interests didn’t align with Birdie’s original reading of her.

“What about this spot?” Loraine called out, gathering the bluenette’s attention as she glanced over. “There’s a big ol’ rock you can perch on and make rooster noises when it’s time to wake up!”

Birdie grimaced at her new ‘friend’. “Thanks…” ‘Why'd I agree to bringing her along again?’ “It’s as good as any, I guess.” She brought up the inventory window, “Have a tent or anything?”

Loraine blinked. “Um...”

ID# 70066
CD: 8
LD: 5+5=10

Loot:

4 Noble Wood
8 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

The bluenette briefly scanned the nearby area, looking for any potential materials beneath the sands. After a bit of kicking around, her foot caught onto something solid, and sure enough, a pile of quest items and materials revealed themselves to the girl.

“Yeah... well, it’s sort of a tent?” Loraine opened up her own inventory and double-tapped on a consumable, summoning a small tent figure into her hands. “Check it!”

Birdie crossed her arms and squinted towards the object. “… that… that doesn’t help our situation, Loraine.”

The redhead rolled her eyes, “just watch!” Kneeling to the ground, Loraine gently placed the figure on the floor and stood back, pulling Birdie away with her. “In three, two, one…”

As if on cue, the item burst into a blinding stream of light, both girls covering their eyes with an arm as a strange noise blossomed in front of them. Ending as soon as it started, they stopped shielding their eyes to get a better look at the object; Birdie staring in wonder whilst Loraine looked on with a satisfied smile.

“That’s how you make a tent!” The redhead gave the newly-erected structure a little push, causing it to wobble a little. ‘Kinda… how you make a tent?’

ID# 70067
CD: 8
LD: 17+5=22 <<Gained 2 Noble Wood and 4 Materials>>

Loot:

6 Noble Wood
12 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

“Where’d you get this?” asked Birdie, unzipping the front of the heavy-duty tent to get a better peek inside. Something beneath the tent tried to poke through, and upon digging beneath the entrance for a few seconds, the girl found a small set of items hidden under the sands. 'Wow, I'm getting lucky today..'

Loraine shrugged, “I handed in a bunch of quests at the same time, it just appeared in my inventory after the first few.”

“O-oh…” The bluenette’s eyes briefly looked back to the red-head in question, before returning to the structure she stood before. Carefully taking a step inside, there was barely enough room to stand, and she found herself having to either crouch or sit down to make herself comfortable.

Loraine followed Birdie inside, hovering close to the exit. “Pretty roomie, huh?”

Birdie stared blankly at the woman.

The red head gave a sigh and a shrug. “It’s the best I could do, they didn’t give me a size preference for this thing.”

Birdie held her gaze for a moment, dismissing the topic with a shrug. “It’s fine, as long as it protects us from the outside, right?”

ID# 70069
CD: 2
LD: 14+5=19 <<Gained 2 Noble Wood and 4 Materials>>

Loot:

8 Noble Wood
16 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Minutes passed as Birdie and Loraine made some small talk, landing themselves outside where they eventually sought to get a fire started. Birdie had since found a low-quality log which would make a good fuel for the flame; all they needed now was a way to ignite tinder.

“I hate that there’s no magic in this game- ‘have an MMO with no magic and ranged weapons, people will love that!’” Loraine scoffed.

“W-well, that game is called ‘Sword Art Online’…” Hoping to not sound sarcastic, Birdie continued her search for any materials around the rock they camped near.

“Yeah, I get that, but why not have include some magic? Not like it takes anything away from the experience, even just a few basic spells to integrate into the sword art system would add so much depth!”

“Maybe it’s a balancing issue. I’m sure if one weapon class had more ranged potential than another, there’d be more of an improper balance than there already is?”

Loraine shrugged, “hm… maybe.” 

ID# 70070
CD: 11
LD: 15+5=20 <<Gained 2 Noble Wood and 4 Materials>>

Loot:

10 Noble Wood
20 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Birdie returned to the fire, a few sticks and odd bits in hand that would help them light the fire. “Okay, a few dried vine stems from the sixth floor, sticks from that tree over there, and a piece of flint.”

“… where’d you find the time to go to the sixth floor?”

Birdie sighed, “I had the vines on me already.”

“Oh, that makes more sense… well, what are we waiting for?” Loraine took the items into her own hands, shaping up what would eventually come to be a neat little campfire.

The bluenette took a few steps back as Loraine drew her blade, positioning it just over the surface of the flint.

Granting the jumpy girl a brief look, Loraine smirked. “C’mon, you think I’m gonna use this on ya? I know better than to mess with a rapier Grandmaster.”

“How’d you know that?”

Loraine’s eyes moved to the sword hanging by Birdie’s hip.

“O-oh…'

ID# 70071
CD: 7
LD: 15+5=20 <<Gained 2 Noble Wood and 4 Materials>>

Loot:

12 Noble Wood
24 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

“Aaaand, fire!” After striking the sword’s blade against the piece of flint, and numerous attempts of varying success, Loraine managed to curate a spark and the dried vine caught alight, and an ember was birthed.

Birdie fell to her knees and gave an exhausted sigh, the beginnings of a smile warping her lips. “Thank the gods, I was starting to worry we’d have to go without..” Her eyes hovered over the flame, watching as smoke began to seep out. Nightfall had occurred and the sun was no more. A perfect half-moon took influence over the sky, outlining what few clouds still remained in the desert’s vast and empty sky.

“Takes a lot less effort to light a fire back home but this’ll do nicely. Shame we don’t have any patties to cook up, though.” Loraine pushed herself back and sat with her knees curled up in her arms.

The bluenette nodded subtly, swishing her hands around in the sands. She felt something solid bump into her palms and, after a moment of brief digging, unearthed another set of materials. 'Seriously?!' She quickly put the items away and resumed the conversation. “Y-yeah, I hadn’t quite thought about food…” Looking through her inventory, she spotted very little in the way of nourishment. ‘I definitely need to stock up at a café…’ Sigh.

ID# 70072
CD: 3
LD: 13+5=18 <<Gained 2 Noble Wood and 4 Materials>>

Loot:

14 Noble Wood
28 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

The fire burned brightly in the dark, creating a beacon of light and smoke for any wandering souls. Player killers weren’t much of a worry this far out in the desert, and Birdie knew she’d be able to flee from a potentially distressing situation with the use of her scouting gear. Loraine on the other hand was a little heavier, and as Birdie’s blue eyes looked in the direction of her impromptu partner, she couldn’t help but loose a sigh.

‘Living as a baker for the best part of two years and then moving onto swordsmanship... that’s such a late start, she’s miles behind the rest. And here I thought I was late to the party…' In order to take her mind of things, she stood herself up and stretched her arms, wandering out to the nearby tree to search for materials.

She briefly turned her attention to the sky above, her mind wandering around various topics locked up in her head. ‘This quest shouldn’t take us much longer, a few miles of walking in the morning and we’ll reach the cargo. Teleporting back shouldn’t be an issue, unless we need to physically carry the cargo with us…’

She decided to leave her thoughts, fearing her mind would stray too far and leave her thinking all night. “Think we should call it?”

Loraine’s eyes bounced from the ground to Birdie, closing them with a nod. 

ID# 70073
CD: 9
LD: 7+5=12

Loot:

14 Noble Wood
28 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

Breaking apart the campfire, the blue-haired brit went about making sure they’d be safe for the night whilst Loraine set up two sleeping bags inside the tent. One brief scan for materials later, and she returned to the tent to ready for the long night ahead.
~
Birdie wouldn’t sleep much that night. Whether it was the idea of sleeping beside a relative stranger or the unease of camping in the depths of a desert again, something kept her awake.
~
“You’re up!” Loraine chimed, Birdie groggily stirring awake.

“Wh.. wha-?”

“About time, I’ve been awake for like an hour! Didn’t wanna disturb ya because you looked so peaceful but it’s high time we get a move on!”

Birdie groaned as the instructions, rubbing her eyes lazily to restore her sight somewhat. “What time is it?”

Loraine opened her menu and read the time. “Um- about 7:30, too early for you?”

“Just a little…” The bluenette pushed herself up from her sleeping bag, stretching her arms out in front as a yawn passed through her mouth. She recalled staying up till at least 3am; her idea of remaining awake all night seemed to backfire.

“The objective is only an hour or so from here, the quicker we get moving then the faster we can get some breakfast in town, so-“ Loraine positioned herself behind Birdie and hoisted the girl up. “-Let’s get moving!”

“H-hey- watch it!"

ID# 70074
CD: 9
LD: 11+5=16 <<Gained 4 Materials>>

Loot:

14 Noble Wood
32 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

“Loraine, you could’ve just asked me to get up…”

“Oh come on, would you have actually gotten up in any reasonable amount of time?”

Birdie huffed. “Probably not…” Since being rudely awoken and forced to her feet, the tent had been packed up and safely deposited back into Loraine’s inventory, and the two found themselves traversing the sands once again. She'd managed to scrounge up some materials and wood from the nearby tree before leaving their campsite, easing the grogginess she felt for being rudely awakened. Sand melded into one solid mass of beige in the distance, and from what Birdie could see, no wagon or cargo seemed to be present.

“How far now?”

“Hm…” Loraine referred to her map to see where they were in regards to the quest objective. “It says we’re… nearly on top of it?” Stopping in her tracks, she took a moment to look in each direction, spotting nothing out of the ordinary.

Birdie joined the search, and after a bit of looking, spotted a small brown dot in the distance. “Over there- think that’s it?”

Loraine squinted to get a better look. “It’s the best lead we got, let’s try it.”

ID# 70075
CD: 12
LD: 17+5=22

Loot:

16 Noble Wood
36 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Birdie 0]

After what felt like an hour of walking but must’ve really been a matter of minutes, the girls found themselves stood before a small wagon covered with a piece of cloth, concealing whatever cargo was held inside. Birdie ran into a few materials along the way, discreetly retrieving them before arriving. “This looks promising,” Loraine commented, grabbing the thin cloth as she began to unveil it.

“W-what are you doing?” Birdie called, having half the mind to stop the girl.

“Huh? Shouldn’t we take a look?”

“Didn’t the woman tell us to specifically not look at the contents?”

Loraine smirked, “Scared of breaking the rules?” She continued to pull the sheet off, taking it in both hands as she unveiled the cargo they’d been tasked with retrieving.

“It’s a… a collection of pots?” The wagon contained a set of brightly coloured pots, each sealed with a lid that seemed to have some form of combination lock made of stone.

Birdie examined it, curiosity getting the better of her and all, but couldn’t discern anything useful from what she saw. “I have no idea… i-it doesn’t really matter anyway, we have the woman’s cargo. Let’s head back?”

Loraine nodded, covering the wagon with the sheet once more.

ID# 70076
CD: 7
LD: 15+5=20 <<Gained 2 Noble Wood and 4 Materials>>

Loot:

18 Noble Wood
40 Materials

Edited October 28, 2016 by Birdie