{PP-F11} First Day of Official Training <Itzal, Aereth and Birdie>

[Itzal 0]

With Birdie's fear of heights....  Somewhat cleared it was time for the training to begin.  They started with morning training, doing mile jogs, timed sprints, push ups, sit ups, pull ups, jumps, twists, even weights.  When that exhausting part was over Itzal informed them that they'd be going to the eleventh floor to gather materials.  The reason why he chose this floor was because of it's +1 material boost if you were lucky.  (OOC- LD of 20+)  So when they warped onto the teleport pad of Taft, Itzal turned to them.  "Remember, we're not going to fight any mobs.  Once we've collected a good amount of materials then we'll head to floor one, take a lunch break, and start fighting mobs.  I'll be wanting you two to test out different ways of spotting materials, see what works better than others.  Whether you should look closer or father away, whether you should view everything or a small section at a time.  Any questions?"

@Aereth @Birdie

[Aereth 1]

Today was the first day Itzal was training Birdie and Aereth at the same time. The day started with morning workout. Aereth for himself enjoyed this workout very much, since he was also training every morning even before he met Itzal. Next was material gathering, so Aereth equipped his new Discovery ring, and activated his Search and Detect and Gatherer skill. And this payed off, since he was able to find two materials just outside of the gates of Taft.

Itzal told them that they won't be fighting any mobs for now and that he just wanted to test out different ways of spotting materials. Aereth smiled to Birdie and answered. "I didn't ask this earlier, but how did the training to get rid of your fear of heights go?" Aereth for himself was satisfied with the improvements he made since they met the last time. He got two new skills, a profession and met a probably dangerous redhead on which he had an eye for now.

Quote

ID# 70802 results:
Loot: 16 (+1 (Search & Detect Rank 1) +3 (Discovery ring) = 20

Materials: 4 + 1 for a 20+ LD 

OOC: if it has to be a natural 20 then it's just four materials

@Birdie, @Itzal

Edited November 16, 2016 by Aereth

[Birdie 0]

The woman stumbled as she hopped down from Taft's teleport pad, Itzal's extensive exercise session having taken its toll on her. She dread the thought of going into any sort of combat without resting first, and as she went to stretch an arm up over her head, the strength just wasn't there and she let out a tired groan instead.

With their instructions to utilise various different techniques searching for materials, she gave a brisk shake of her head when the Paladin- Itzal- asked if they had any further queries. As she went to speak up, Aereth chimed in with a question aimed towards her. "Oh, it went pretty well, thanks! Itzal did a good job with getting me used to heights, but I wont be doing any sort of tower climbing for a while yet," She smiled back to him, and then glanced to the mentor stood nearby. "No questions from me! Oh, um.. well, maybe just one, actually. What sort of visual clues would you suggest looking out for when gathering? Oddly shaped formations, out of place scenery, stuff like that?"

@Itzal

Edited November 15, 2016 by Birdie

[Itzal 0]

Itzal knew that Birdie was exhausted, but he could tell she was handling it well.  And Aereth seemed to even be enjoying it.  He might need to increase the amount of exercises he did.  He nodded with a smile at the two's conversation.  It was good for them to talk with each other.  When Birdie asked Itzal what clues to look for he chuckled.  "Well there's the the basic idea of looking for three things:  The easiest and what most people choose is looking for something out of the ordinary.  If it looks out of place then it has a good chance of being a material.  Another idea is to look for something of better quality than most.  If you see branches but then see one that looks a little stronger or younger, then it might be a material as well.  And the third basic idea is to look where you expect it.  This is also a popular choice, though the unexperienced mind might mistake a material for a minor trap.  Heh, that happened with me when I accidentally shoved my hand in a different form of poison ivy.  After those basics there's the advanced where you look for very specific materials.  This is a harder stage so we'll worry about that later.  Alright then, let's get cracking shall we?"

@Aereth @Birdie

[Aereth 1]

As Aereth heard what Birdie told him about the training with Itzal, he smiled and chuckled at the last part. "Glad to hear that. I assume you two were training on the eleventh floor, since Itzal told me in the past about the high buildings." She then asked Itzal which visual clues he would suggest to look out for when gathering, and he talked about the different scenarios where he would search out for materials. Aereth leaned his head to the side as Itzal talked about the materials with the better quality. He never really looked out for stronger or younger branches for instance. He just looked on the obvious spots and where he thought that there would be a material. "I didn't know that you can get better materials on such spots, so thanks for the information, my friend. I'm not an experienced scout like you, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you missed out on one thing. Luck. It's always a game of odds. Sometimes you just walk the same way home or into town as every day, and then, boom. You find a material just before your feet ready for storing it into your inventory."

@Itzal, @Birdie

[Birdie 0]

"Three rules, huh? Sounds easy enough! That'll help a lot," she thanked him, expressing her gratitude for the advice. Birdie's eyes searched the air as Aereth chimed in with an extra rule to follow, and she nodded in agreement. "Luck's a big part of the game in general, honestly. Sometimes a dungeon's full of great loot, and other times there's no materials within a thousand miles. Hopefully that's never actually happened to anyone before, though."

Equipped with the knowledge of where to look for materials, she turned and took charge of the group's search, leading out through the city's gates and into the wilderness surrounding it.

Not long after the material hunt began, Birdie found herself staring at a suspicious pile of leaves, buried behind a bush of white and yellow flowers. She dug through the fauna and found herself in possession of a set of materials as well as some Noble Wood for the event. "Aha! Second find of the day," she boasted, springing back up to her feet as her eyes fell on the other two scouts. "Have you guys done much gathering for the Rovian Wars event? Your group submitted their ship yet, Itzal?"

ID# 70865
LD: 17+(5)=22 <<Gained 5 Materials and 2 Noble Wood>>

@Itzal @Aereth

Edited November 16, 2016 by Birdie

[Itzal 0]

Itzal shook his head firmly but not in a negative manner either when Aereth talked about luck.  "Luck has nothing to do with it.  Without the skill, each player has a twenty five percent chance of spotting a material.  As you train yourself to spot materials you unlock the next ranks of the search and detect skill, which increases the percent chance of finding a material.  It's all numbers Aereth, there's no such thing as luck, though your point is a good one."  As they began walking around the plains Birdie showed them a noble wood she could use for the quest Rovian Wars.  When she asked Itzal if he was participating and if he submitted his ship yet he shook his head.  "Zandra, Beatbox, Hakai, Kasier and I decided to keep gathering a little longer.  We want to really haul in the materials to increase the ship's health and mitigation."  Itzal narrowed his eyes in the area Birdie had searched to see if there was anything else she missed but was satisfied to see nothing.

@Aereth

Edited November 16, 2016 by Itzal

[Aereth 1]

Itzal talked about how there wasn't anything like luck in this game. "I think this is just interpretation. Everything depends on probabilities when it comes to almost everything important in this world. But the RNG that works inside of the Cardinal system is so highly developed, that you can almost say it's real luck, since you can't really predict anything. All you can do is to better the odds of finding something, and even if you have a 99% chance of finding a materials it could still happen that you can't find anything. But enough of that rambling."

Then Birdie and Itzal talked about the Rovian Wars quest and with wich players Itzal would be participating. "Birdie and I are doing it together with Arc and Lessa, but as you can see, we are also still gathering some more materials for the quest." As they walked together Aereth tried to find something along the road, but Birdie seemed to have cleared everything there was for now. Sighing he focused on the way they were walking.

ID# 70870 results:
Loot: 2

@Birdie, @Itzal

Edited November 16, 2016 by Aereth

[Birdie 0]

Birdie spaced out as the discussion on luck turned into a semi-debate, and rather than chiming in, decided to use her time effeciently by focusing on the task ahead of her. She recalled the first rule as told by Itzal. 'Look for something out of the ordinary...'

In a place as vast and unique as Taft's wilderness, identifying something that wasn't meant to be there was no easy feat. She came across bushes that looked as if they were in a state of disarray, oddly shaped trees and strange branches, and other such things, yet nothing turned out to be a material. She sighed.

"Mhm! We're doing the same thing as you- at this point, we really just need more fat to make sure our ship doesn't go down without a fight." In truth, she liked the idea of their ship not being in the limelight of any attacks, but there was no telling what the sea monster's attack patterns would be, or if it even followed the conventional hate system that smaller mobs use.

"Glad to hear there's others building a strong ship too! Here's hoping we can protect the smaller fleets," she said wishfully. As a small fork in the road opened up, she crouched beside a small bush and, on a whim, searched through a small opening in the flowers. Another set of materials and bundles of wood later, she rejoined the others as the hunt continued.

"Hey, have you guys had any luck searching higher ground?" She referenced the trees and other resource pools above. "I've never actually looked for stuff up there before.. think there's more to be found higher up?"

ID# 70874
LD: 15+(5)=20 <<Gained 5 Materials and 2 Noble Wood>>

Birdie's loot:

10 Materials
4 Noble Wood

@Aereth @Itzal

Edited November 16, 2016 by Birdie

[Itzal 0]

He listened to Aereth argue how Kayaba designed this world so well that it duplicated the real worlds luck.  However in order to believe this you needed to believe that luck exists at all.  Itzal did not.  But that was not for him to discuss.  They had both given their points and now it was time to leave the matter to rest.  "Lessa?  I met her but who's this Arc fellow?  It's good to hear that you two have a group though."  As he spoke he kept his eyes out for any materials possible.  As he walked he smiled as he spotted two strong branches with two flowers on each.  He leaped up and yanked the two down and took the flowers off.  The flowers ended up being materials and he even found an extra one.  The two wood ended up being noble wood.  smiling he stored them in his inventory.  "Why yes indeed.  Aereth how are you holding up?"

@Aereth

ID#  70880  LD:  17+8=25

+5 MAT  +2 Noble Wood

Edited November 17, 2016 by Itzal

[Aereth 1]

Aereth nodded at Birdies comment about making the ship as sturdy as possible and that they could maybe protect the weaker fleets. As a small fork on the road opened up, Birdie seemed to be again the more lucky one with the materials, since she found another 5 materials and two quest items.

Itzal then asked who Arc exactly was. Aereth tilted his head a little bit and answered. "Arc's a pretty nice guy from what I can tell. He's using a lance in combat, and looked like he had a solid damage output. Until now, I just met him once unfortunately. But I think Birdie knows him better." 
Itzal then leaped up in the trees and also found 5 Materials and some noble wood.

Aereth did his best to find anything. He looked on the ground and in the trees but couldn't find one single material. He sighed, and answered. "Not so good it seems..."

Quote

ID# 70903 results:
Loot: 8

Materials: 5

@Birdie

Edited November 17, 2016 by Aereth

[Birdie 0]

"Well, he's my boyfriend so I hope I know him more than you," she replied to Aereth, her cheeks glowing a light red from just mentioning the 'b' word. The woman smiled and brought her eyes back to the dirt path. "But yeah, Arc's a really sweet guy. Although he doesn't know much about the guild, he's thankful that you guys can look out for me when he can't." A second passed and she blinked, continuing with a look of reconciliation. ""Not.. not in a creepy way."

Their mentor made a nice find whilst Aereth was still struggling after that first breakthrough. The chances that all of the materials in the vicinity had been cleared out were relatively high, them still being near the city and all, so she decided to push on ahead. A little ways to the left lied a strange set of mossy stone pillars, broken and dilapidated beyond repair. The sun sparkled through the tops of the trees and lit up a small patch of earth beside the stone structures, revealing a set of freshly fallen branches, ripe for the taking.

She approached with curiosity written in her eyes, and waved the other two players over after claiming the materials. "There might be some good stuff over here!"

ID# 70909
LD: 18+(5)=23 <<Gained 5 Materials and 2 Noble Wood>>

Birdie's loot:

15 Materials
6 Noble Wood

@Itzal @Aereth

Edited November 17, 2016 by Birdie

[Itzal 0]

When Itzal heard that this player Arc was Birdie's boyfriend he turned to ask her about it but when he saw the slight blush he knew the feeling.  He smiled.  "I'm glad you have someone in this world Birdie.  That's good to hear."  When Birdie started exploring and found an area with mossy pillars and a few small ruins Itzal nodded.  "It's good to look in areas other players won't think of either.  Most players come here to do combat, not search, and therefore most of the materials have yet to be found and collected."  As he talked he kept an eye out for materials and noticed two more noble wood, grabbing them and adding it to his inventory.  He then noticed something odd about one of the pillars.  He walked closer and observed them closely and noticed that a section was extremely cracked and he carefully pulled out pieces so that the pillar didn't fall over, and spotted five gemstones.  If he wasn't careful the pillar would have fallen and broken the materials.  Nonetheless he had steady hands and pulled the gemstones out, adding them to his inventory.

ID#  70913  CD:  12  LD:  12+8  Of course THIS is when the final CD 12 that I need for that order comes in XD

+2 Noble Wood

+5 MAT

@Aereth

Edited November 17, 2016 by Itzal

[Aereth 1]

Aereth thought that there had to be more than just friendship. The way she was blushing and Itzal was smiling... Aereth was really glad that both of his friends had somebody who got their backs. In a physical and mental way. He also smiled at Birdie and Itzal. It was really important to have somebody to lean on... Then he felt something coming up from deep within him. Something that he had locked away for a long time now. "I'll head up into the tree-crowns, to see if we missed something on the way here." With that he leaped on the nearest branch and got out of the sight range of his two seemingly confused friends. A tear was rolling down from Aereth's face as he tried his best to find any f*cking materials and to relax himself again. He almost lost his composure in front of his two friends. But he was missing her so unbelieveably much... He rested himself against a tree and took some deep breaths.

Quote

 

ID# 70918 results:
Loot: 1 Really?

Materials: 5

 

@Birdie, @Itzal

Edited November 17, 2016 by Aereth

[Birdie 0]

She gave a warm smile towards Itzal, he must've known the feeling.

Hearing the footsteps approach from behind, she listened as the scout paladin explained why these ruins in particular were a good spot to search for materials. "I see.. a lot of people would be both searching for materials and fighting mobs in the starting fields, so that explains why there's always barely anything to find there." The woman smiled to herself for making the find, but turned away so that the others wouldn't catch on.

"Oh, okay!" she replied to Aereth, watching as he jumped up into the tree. Birdie couldn't help but feel his leave was a little abrupt- had they said something to set him off? A seed of guilt planted itself within the back of her mind, and the bluenette went back to her search for materials. Shortly after scouring the ruins, she came across a vine that draped across a crack in the stone. Something sparkled through the hole, and as she investigated further, the opening revealed a set of gems. As she went to collect the items, a set of sticks on the floor almost tripped her up- any irking feeling soon dissipated as she realised that they were quest items for the event, and she stored her findings safely.

"Where do you think Aereth got off to?" she called out to Itzal, asking curiously. She kept voice down. "He didn't sound upset.. did he?"

ID# 70927
LD: 14+(5)=19 <<Gained 4 Materials and 2 Noble Wood>>

Birdie's loot:

19 Materials
8 Noble Wood

@Itzal @Aereth

Edited November 17, 2016 by Birdie

[Itzal 0]

When Aereth spoke to them Itzal could see him struggling to show a straight face.  When he ran off and Birdie asked about him Itzal sighed and patted her on the shoulder as he walked up silently to follow his apprentice.  "I'll handle this, don't worry.  Keep looking for materials ok?"  With that Itzal scaled the trees as if it were like walking.  With his reveal mod he saw Aereth through the trees and made his way through the branches with silence.  As he approached he saw a single streak where a tear had dropped.  He stepped onto the branch Aereth was sitting on and sat down beside him.  "You'll see her again, don't worry.  We aren't going to die here, we'll see our loved ones again."  He smiled to his friend.  "I don't forget things easily, I remember you saying you had a girlfriend in the real world.  I have a sister I need to see again.  Most of us have someone.  And in this world we have others we care about.  I have Kasier.  You have us.  Remember that ok?  We're a family of sorts and if you need help with anything just ask ok?"

ID#  71077  LD:  2+8  Crap

@Aereth

Edited November 20, 2016 by Itzal

[Aereth 1]

Just before Aereth sat down he was able to find four herbs as well as two noble wood quest items on the branch he was going to sit on. After some moments of complete silence, Aereth saw his friend and mentor Itzal as he was approaching him.

As he mentioned how he would see the girl he loves again, Aereth struggled to keep a straight face. He just wanted to start to cry, to let everything out that was stored inside of him, but somehow managed to restrain himself. "I know that. We will all get out of this f*cking game alive, but... But it's just so hard if you have nobody to talk about everything that weighs on you..." Itzal then began to smile and told him that he also has a sister back in the real which was waiting for his return. As he came to the part where said that they were his family and that if he needed help with anything that he should ask them everytime, he could feel how the big hollow in his heart got even bigger. "D- Did he just say family?" he thought and let his head down. Now he felt even worse than before. Itzal saw him as a part of his family, and Aereth just lied to him back when he initiated him. 

Aereth slowly lifted his head again and looked into his friends eyes. "I lied to you back at the initiation." a short pause. He owed Itzal the truth about him, his past and future goals. "First of all, I have to tell you that I didn't start this game alone. I started it with my best friend Adrian." Aereth told Itzal his real name because it didn't matter if he knew him or not.... "For the first few weeks we stayed permanently inside of the Town of Beginnings, since we were too afraid to go outside to hunt or level up. But after some time we ran out of money and supplies. So we had to go out and grab some of that loot. This even went fine for some time but then...." He paused for a short moment as he felt that the hate and sadness started to emerge. "One day we encountered two hooded players with orange cursors... They easily overwhelmed us, and killed my best fried directly before my eyes without hesitation. I somehow managed to escape. Don't even ask me how, but I think they choose to let me live, since they didn't even chase me. Later I found out that those guys were members of the Laughing Coffin." 

"On this day I swore myself that I will get out of this game alive. But more importantly, I swore protect everyone who can't protect himself. Yes, one of my goals is to reach the frontlines, but my main goal is to get strong enough to purge Aincrad of every red player who killed on purpose. And I will haunt everybody that is willing to harm the weaker ones...." Aereth knew that Itzal could very well turn his back on him because of the whole lying and because of his real goals, but it felt so unbelievable good to share this things with somebody. It felt like a heavy weight was lifted from Aereth's shoulders.

Quote

 

ID# 71128 results:
Loot: 20+4 Would have needed this on my 15 post in my FtE thread -.-

Materials: 5+4+1=10
Quest Items: 0+2=2 Noble Wood

 

@Itzal

Edited November 21, 2016 by Aereth

[Birdie 0]

"Gotcha, I'll keep snooping around." Birdie watched Itzal go for as long as he was within sight, offering a weak smile as the man finally disappeared behind a thick of leaves. "Good luck..." To watch her mentor scale trees was a fascinating show, though nothing she hadn't seen from him before. It wasn't the athletic aspects of her training she truly wished to develop anyway; planning, coordinating, mapping out dungeon layouts- all of these things were the primary focus for her.

She shook her head gently. 'In due time, Ava. Get through the first few sessions first.' A calm breath escaped her lungs as she moved onwards, continuing to circle the mossy structure in search of more materials. Searching high and low, inside and out, nothing of interest seemed to come up, and all was lost for that particular area.

"Your luck was bound to run out some day, Ava." Sigh. She moved on.

ID# 71215
LD: 3+[5]

Birdie's loot:

19 Materials
8 Noble Wood

@Itzal @Aereth

Edited November 22, 2016 by Birdie

[Itzal 0]

Itzal listened to Aereth as he told him something he did not before.  He stayed calm as Aereth shook with emotion.  When his friend finished Itzal was silent for a moment, then gave out a sigh.  "You remind me of someone else I met.  Her name was Opal.  She wants to hunt down every player with an orange cursor no matter what and she's prepared to take all the hate along with her.  The difference between you two is that while she has nothing to lose in the real world, or at least she thinks she doesn't, you do.  You have someone waiting for you.  You need to take this into account.  Another thing you need to ask yourself is this:  Despite all that they had done, those red players.  Is it worth it to lose yourself in killing them as well?  I believe that the only justifiable reason to kill someone else is if you or someone else is in mortal danger because of that person:  Self defense.  I don't want to tarnish my soul out of revenge or something like it.  I can't choose what others do, and maybe the time will come when we can't ignore them anymore, but until that day arrives I choose to stay my blade unless I have no other choice.  And besides, not all red players are bad.  Hikoru got his because a quest tricked him.  Beatbox had a nervous breakdown when a player came at him and he lost control of himself.  It kills him.  Teayre has an issue that she admitted to Calrex, or so he told me, and is working on it with him.  So I'm going to ask you the same thing I asked Opal:  Please hear their side of the story first, and if you see hope for them...  Take it.  But don't let this one event ruin your entire life ok?  It does not help to continue dwelling on the past, especially if it's dark.  If I thought about my parent's death all my life you would see a very different man than you see today.  Who would you like to hang out with more?  Someone social who's friendly and strong?  Or someone dark who will do anything to kill killers?"

@Aereth

[Aereth 1]

As Aereth finished his story he was still shaking. He didn't knew how Itzal would react to it and what he would do afterwards.

Then his friend gave out a sigh and answered. He told him many things. He talked about a friend of him who choose to take a similar way, he asked him if it was worth loosing yourself in killing, and how some of his other friends also had and have red cursors because of their own reasons.

Aereth frowned slightly, as Itzal came to the part where he talked about how the time wasn't here where they couldn't ignore them anymore. In Aereth's mind this time had come a long time ago. He took some moments of silence to reflect all the things Itzal said once again.

"I know that I have somebody who is waiting for me outside of this game. But I also have people inside here, who I care about and that need protection. And to answer your first question: Yes, I think it is worth killing them, if there is no other way to stop them. We have long reached the point where you can't ignore them anymore. Laughing Coffin, is a huge guild with only one true goal. To kill and to torture people. So how can you say, that the point where we can't ignore them isn't reached already. When would it be reached in your opinion?" Aereth then wanted answer his question by himself but refrained from it.

"And it's not like I'm starting to mindlessly kill everybody with a red cursor. Before such a decision can be made, you need lots of information. That's the reason why I want to become a scout. I want to be able to gather all the information that is needed to track down players who only intend to harm the weaker ones. I don't care about red people if they got a red cursor because of a quest or a situation that couldn't be handled otherwise. I'm just after the disgusting scum that uses their power to oppress, torture and kill people that are weaker than them. I don't want to let something like that what happened to Adrian and me, happen to anybody else, if it can be avoided. I'm very your parents got killed, but if this means, that I have to walk a lonely road and that I have to work in the darkness, then I'm willing to embrace the darkness for the sake of all the other players in here." He looked deep into Itzals eyes. His own brown eyes radiated many different emotions. Hate, grief, the feeling of loss, but also warmth, hope and concern. Aereth didn't want to just revenge the death of his best friend. He wanted to make Aincrad safer. He wanted to make clear that you can't kill without the fear of justice. And he knew, if you want to kill, be prepared to get killed yourself. 

He then lowered his head and his messy hair started to cover his face. "He gave me a chance to step back from my goal and I didn't back away. It seems like I'm really doomed to walk this road alone. Maybe it's my punishment for not being able to safe Adrians and many others lives..."

@Itzal, @Birdie