[5F - PP - NK] <<The Traveler>> [Completed]

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

<<The Traveler>>

This quest takes place on Floor 5
This quest is repeatable
This RP will not count in the benchmark

A mysterious NPC wearing a thick cloak that wraps around her entire body, including her face, approaches and explains that she has precious cargo in the depths of the deserts, hidden beneath the sand. She has become weak with sickness, and must rest. However, the goods must be recovered within two days. It's up to you to find it.

The trip into the desert will take a day and a night, so you must be prepared to survive. Once in the desert, you lose 10 points of health every time you roll a 1 on your crafting die due to the wind and the sand. If you manage to survive this quest and find the cargo, you will be gifted with the <<Survival>> extra skill.

This skill will give you the ability to survive harsh areas.

Requirements:

-At least two [2] Pages (21 or more posts)
- The cargo must be found
- Repeat completions will not reward the player with additional skill points.

Rewards:

1. Survival: (Extra Skill) No Ranks. Passive. Effect: Increases the health you regenerate per post to 6 when out of combat. Survival also gives immunity to damage dealing environment effects.
2. 1 Skill Point

Parties or Groups are encouraged and all party members participating can earn the skill. Health recovery items recommended.

Recommended Level: 10

It was with increasing unease that Shield had pored over the in-game manuals. As much as he hated to admit it, going tank meant that he was not in a good position to end up with the rewards that were designated 'Last Hit Bonus.' He and Beat had adventured together more than a little since their time in SAO began, but if they continued along their natural progression, even if they worked to maintain equality, he would be at a significant disadvantage in later levels.

It was under this realization that he made the decision to begin pushing out a little further into Aincrad to push his own potential. He had survived on floor 5 before, and although the environmental effects were hardly desirable, it was the lowest level where subdungeons were known to appear. Half way through the day, he found himself sitting in the main square in the desert town of Armadillo, right beside the little fountain. Shield pushed the wily hair back off of his forehead and unslung the large snapping turtle off of his back. With a glance around to make sure no unsuspecting players would accidentally put their fingers within Norbert's nipping range, he lowered the prehistoric-looking reptile into the water to cool off.

"Are you brave, adventurer?" whispered an crackly, unfamiliar voice in Shield's ear.

He jumped, almost losing his balance and keeling over into the fountain. Turning around, he found himself face to face with a heavily masked woman, her brilliant blue wrapped garb concealing everything from head to toe, except for her eyes. Shield squinted at her.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"I have precious cargo that needs to be retrieved, but I have not the means to seek it," the woman explained.

As he was considering how to respond, a quest invitation dialog opened in the air in front of him.

[Would you like to take the quest - The Traveler - ?]

[O Accept - X Decline]

With a slight pause, he tapped the button to accept and began scanning the details of the quest. He frowned.

While I could technically complete this without any help, going without a dedicated DPS would make this quest stretch on for entirely too long.

He nodded to the NPC who turned away from him to prepare to pass her quest on to any other passers by. Turning around, he watched the tips of Nigel's horned carapace trace slow circles in the fountain, trying to consider his options. Eventually, he settled on sending out an open request to players in the area, attaching the details of the quest to the in-game bulletin board before closing out of his menu to wait and watch Nigel's antics. His brow was firm and set as he waited, staring into the water and absentmindedly running his fingers along the scar that ran across his nose and down to the corner of his jaw.

Edited February 22, 2017 by Shield

[Seul 1]

With his arms stretched toward the sky Seul glanced around while leaving the local inn and heading out onto the street for another day of adventure. He was free to do as he pleased and go wherever the wind decided to take him. Or so he thought. That's when the message appeared before his eyes. It was an open invitation from a player named Shield who happened to be looking for a party to take on a quest.

The job sounded simple enough. With his level it'd make for some easy SP anyway. Keeping those two points in mind, he began to walk toward his new destination.

***

Thankfully there wasn't a need to pick Shield out of a crowd since the area wasn't that populated. As he neared the fountain Seul was a bit surprised by the man’s appearance and how vaguely familiar it was.

“Um… Are you the one who posted the notice?”

Edited January 30, 2017 by Seul

[Shield 0]

Shield glanced up from the fountain to hear who it was who had spoken. The face that greeted him was a familiar one. After all, only a handful of experienced players had been in his shop so far. He nodded, acknowledging the newcomer. It took a good deal of self control to keep his hands from fidgeting with the scar that had been so rudely imposed onto the face that he had originally hoped to use as a mask, before Kayaba's mirror trick had ruined that opportunity for a fresh start.

"I am," he replied. "You were in my shop not too long ago, though I don't believe we exchanged much in the way of pleasantries."

The aspiring tank held out a hand to the new potential quest-mate, figuring it was best to know who one was dealing with. His eyes flickered to the cursor above the other player's head, double-checking the color before getting too friendly. They were in a safe zone, but discretion seemed to have served him well so far.

"I'm Shield. What are you called?"

[Soredell 0]

"What am I even doing up here on the 5th floor? I really should be back down at Floor 1. If only I didn't see that notification on the way out. Ah, doesn't matter. As long as I get good loot from this, I should be good. Better to do something than to do nothing, right?" Soredell says to himself, as he goes throughout the town, looking for this 'Shield' guy who had put out a request for assistance on this quest. As he continues his search for the guy, he replays the details of the quest as he remembers it in his head. "Alright, all we have to do is find the cargo within two days, and it takes about a day to get there, and another day to get back. As long as we aren't fighting anything, I should be good." he says to himself. Eventually, he does find the man he is looking for, at the fountain with another guy. "I guess he's here for the quest too, just like I am." he says to himself as he makes his way to the two of them. "So, I take it you're 'Shield', I got your request for assistance on <<The Traveller>> quest, and I'm here to assist you if needed." he says, standing in the middle of the two. "Oh, by the way, the name's Soredell." he says, extending a hand to both of them.

[Teion 0]

Teion tugged at the thin piece of cloth that had covered her nose and mouth. Letting the red scarf lay loosely on her shoulders, the woman let out a small breath of air as she arrive in Armadillo. She made the trip to the main city from her shop in Fortaleza now and again, so the wasn't too bothered by the desert winds that had become a part of her every day in Aincrad. It wasn't long after she entered town that a notification appeared in front of her. "Hm?" The violet-haired blacksmith mumbled as she read over the message. Someone had sent out a request for party members on a quest. 'Ah, I know that one.' She vaguely recalled completing The Traveler once before. She hadn't gone out for materials in a while, though.

After a small debate with herself, the woman clicked on Shield's name to open up a blank window. She typed out a message, her finger hovering over the 'Send' button for a few seconds before pressing it to dismiss the window.

I saw your message about The Traveler quest. Are you still accepting party members? I can meet you at the north gate when you're ready to leave.'

[Shield 0]

Accepting and shaking the hand that was offered him, Shield looked Soredell over, giving a slight nod, both in greeting and to acknowledge his presence as a welcome one.

"Shield, as you would have seen from the request, I'm sure," he replied.

It seems like he's mainly decked out in starter gear. Looks like it's time to start paying it forward after being carried by other players for so long.

The thought didn't bother Shield. In fact, he quite enjoyed the thought. It had been a while since he had done a good deed like this, so this would hopefully be a good refresher course in humility.

Reaching down into the fountain, he gripped the edges of Norbert's shell and an hoisted his heavy hulk of a familiar out of the water. The turtle snapped at the air, complaining at being removed from its comfortable little swimming hole. Shield had to watch his fingers as he bundled it back up in the leather sling and hoisting it over his shoulder and onto his back. Norbert slowly flailed his legs, attempting to swim up Shield's back.

"Well, we might as well make it official, at least for the time being," Shield quipped, bringing up a his menu and flicking through panels until dialog boxes appeared in front of both of the others present.

[Would you like to join this party?]

[ O     X ]

As he was about to close out of his menus, Shield spotted a notification of his own. Pulling up the appropriate tab, he found the message that Teion had sent. He glanced down at his shield and armor, running a finger over the latter as he remembered the blacksmith who had forged it for him. He nodded to himself and opened up a reply window.

"Good to hear from you! You're more than welcome. We'll meet you there."

"Well, it looks like we have a 3rd joiner. We'll be meeting her at the north gate on our way out of town."

[Seul 1]

“I'm Seul.” He said in an idle manner before clicking the accept button on the party invite. To his surprise someone else had shown up too, someone he hadn't met yet during his travels. Now they would all be doing The Traveler together. Funny how things worked out like that.

Having done it before the task at hand was going to be simple enough. Four eyes all searching for a crate somewhere in a desert that went on for as far as the eye could see. It could be anywhere, even under a mile of sand due to a sandstorm or something.

Seul just wondered how the others would handle it if they had to get into a fight. The desert was notorious for being swarmed with monsters and thieves that would slit a person’s throat for less valuable things than the woman’s crate. He really, really, really, really hoped he wouldn't have to carry them all. Really.

Edited February 1, 2017 by Seul

[Soredell 0]

"Shield and Seul huh? Nice names, and nice to meet you both." he says to the both of them. Seeing the notification from Shield about an invite to the party they were forming, he accepts the invitation, pressing the big blue O that appeared in the message box in front of him. His eyes drift over to Shield just at the right time to see that he got another notification. More than likely it was a notification saying that himself and Seul had accepted his party invite, but by the looks of it, it was a bit long to be a simple message. Perhaps it was a message from someone else? Well he definitely didn't know, he certainly couldn't read or speak backwards. Besides, it was none of his business anyway. Just as he was about to forget about the notification, he hears Shield speak once again, informing them that there was a 4th joining the party on this quest. "Well, as they say, the more the merrier. We better head off and meet up with this fourth party member, right?" he says, making sure everything is in place before he can head off.

[Teion 0]

A small smile pulled at Teion's lips as she read Shield's brief message in return. The blacksmith pulled up her menus, tapping a few buttons between her equipped items and inventory in order to swap out her gear to fit the situation. If she recalled correctly, Shield--as his name would suggest--was a tank, so she probably wouldn't need her evasion equipment. She wanted a better chance at materials and also didn't want to sacrifice her other combat stats, so she settled on sacrificing defense.

The woman waited patiently at Armadillo's northern gate, standing beside the border from Safe Zone to harsh desert. It was a group of three other players that she would see approach the town's edge, and once they had closed enough of the gap between them and her, Teion gave a small bow of her head in greeting. She recognized Shield, as the Merchant had visited her shop only a week or two ago. The other two players, however, she had no recollection of. "Hey." She addressed them briefly, waiting patiently for the group to make any preparations before heading out.

Equipment Change

 

• Unequipped Sandstorm - 3 EVA
• Equipped Treasure Hunter's Scarf - 2 LD

Current Equipment & Stats:

 

• Lucent Reaver - 3 DMG
• Waning Crescent - 2 ACC, 1 REC
• Treasure Hunter's Scarf - 2 LD
   
• HP: 380
• Energy: 38
• Damage: 10
• Accuracy: 2
• Recovery: 1
• Loot Die: 4
• Other Skills: Disguise, Survival

[Shield 0]

With an incline of his head and a shake of the hand, Shield acknowledged Soredell's introduction.

"And you as well," he replied, exiting out of his menus before motioning for the others to follow. "I am a tank, and a merchant, if that's relevant. I'm by no means the most experienced at either, but I'm no slouch. I should be able to handle anything we encounter on this floor, excepting certain bosses or the denizens of more advanced dungeons. What do the two of you specialize in?"

As they approached the gate, Teion's hair stood out before Shield even had a decent look at her through the crowd that passed back and forth between them. He returned her bow before beckoning to the others and picking up his pace, his feet itching to get onto the road.

"Good to see you again," he said, tapping the armor that she had commissioned for him not terribly long ago, his trusty 'Barbed Ire.' "Your gear is holding up remarkably well. Even won me a few solo quests."

As he waited for the others to draw level with him, he lifted his fist and gave the violet-haired blacksmith a tap on the shoulder before turning so that he could address everyone present. The prospect of tackling the quest finally within sight, he stood up straight and held one hand in his other behind his back, as it at attention. The habits of addressing his old guild from his last game were apparently hard to shake.

"Not to cut pleasantries short, but there's plenty to do and no guarantee that it will be accomplished quickly once begun, so unless anyone has any objections, I say we get busy walking."

Edited February 3, 2017 by Shield

[Soredell 0]

"Well, I don't know what I really can do at this level. I mainly wield a katana, and am more prone to be a bit of a glass cannon, if you can even call it that." he says, patting the sword at his side. "Hopefully this quest will help me level up a little bit, get some good gear, you know..." he says, as the group walks to the gate. He sees who he can only assume is the fourth member of their party for this quest. As they get closer, Soredell recognises who this person is. It's none other than the one who forged his katana. What were the chances. "Oh wow, its you. You're the one who made my katana." he says, holding the weapon out, still resting in its scabbard. "It's served me well during the time I've had with it." he says, putting the sword away. "I have nothing else that I really need to do. No objections here. Whenever we're all ready, we'll head off." he says, preparing himself for the quest ahead.

[Teion 0]

Teion offered a small smile at Shield's greeting as the other players approached, giving a nod of appreciation when he praised the armor she'd crafted. "Of course." The blacksmith offered a simple reply, adding "I'll have to visit your own shop soon. I've got plenty of stale items piling up." She spoke calmly as always. The brunette's nugdge, though gentle, caught her off-guard for a brief moment, but she quickly returned the friendly gesture with another small smile.

When the silver-haired man spoke up after Shield, Teion tilted her head slightly before her eyes fell upon the katana he held. "Ah." She mumbled as she recalled the item along with the player she'd given it to. Another smile pulled at her lips as her pride swelled with his praise. "Thank you." She simply nodded before turning her attention back to Shield. The blacksmith pulled up her menus and after a few quick gestures she sent the tank a request to join their current party. With everything seemingly taken care of at that point, Teion gave a nod and turned to the safe zone border as the group began their trek into the desert.

[Shield 0]

He gave a nod as he accepted the request. Looking up from his menus, he gave the others a sidelong glance and frowned. Someone was missing. Turning his head in the direction from which they had come, and then in the other direction, he saw no sign of Seul. In Shield's haste to meet up with Teion, it seemed as if the other man had been left behind.

I guess I'll send him a message. Maybe he had somewhere he needed to be.

He composed a quick PM, detailing the direction they would be taking and how to find them should he decide to do so. As soon as the message was sent off, he cleared his throat to get the other two's attention.

"Well, I suppose it's down to the three of us," Shield said with a shrug.

He watched the border of the safe zone pass beside them and immediately coughed as tiny granules of sand began to pelt at his skin and into his mouth.

Spoiler

ID# 76976 results:

 Craft: 1 - 10 Damage

 Loot: 7 + 3 = 10 - No materials (0 total)

To Shield's surprise, the top portion of his health actually ticked away. He paused on the spot, a little amazed at first. Even soloing the weak field bosses he had faced so far had not managed to cause him damage that was not immediately replenished. In a way, he was almost impressed.

Well, that's a new feeling.

Edited February 9, 2017 by Shield

[Soredell 0]

As they arrive, Soredell equips all of his gear, his <<Jade Dragon>>, his wakizashi, and his <<Stalker's Cloak>>, and a few other things. "I think I'm decently prepared for whatever we're up against." he says, before looking around, realizing that one of their group members is missing. He too shrugs, simply saying, "Ah well, what can you do I guess?" After making sure he's ready, he turns to the others in his group and says "Well, when you're ready, lets head off." as he steps outside the safety of the town, and right into the desert. Right as he does it, he is hit by a flurry of sand blowing into his face. Thank god he had a mask on otherwise he'd have a mouth full of sand. Looking at his health bar, he sees no change, which is a good thing. He wouldn't want to be losing health before anything happens to him.

Spoiler

ID: 77013
CD: 9 (No damage)

 

Edited February 10, 2017 by Soredell

[Beat 0]

Spoiler

ID# 77087: CD: 2 =  no dmg

"Floor Five!" 

Beat arrived in the town square of Armadillo in a pulse of blue light. He quickly pulled up his menu and located Shield's icon as the quest he had shared with him popped up now that they were on the same floor. He happily hit accept and made his way in the direction the player icon on his map at a run. 

So late! Shield's gonna be mad! 

Beat had originally planned on going on the quest with his regular travel companion, but business in the cafe had kept him far later than he had intended. Shield was a stickler for promptness and had scolded him many times about his habit of being late. At this thought, Beat picked up the pace and Horus soared high in the sky above him, screeching as he spotted the familiar sight of Shield. He slowed to a jog until he had finally caught up, his breath only somewhat short as he gave Shield a sheepish look. 

"Sorry...cafe was nuts today. I meant to send a message, but I got caught up in what I was doing." 

Wiping some sweat from his brow his eyes fell to the two companions that accompanied them. The woman, he recognized as the blacksmith that had made the gloves he wore on his hands. The white haired gentleman, he had not met, but if they were good enough for the ever cautious Shield, then they were good in his book. He greeted the purple haired blacksmith with a friendly smile, brandishing the gloves she had made.

"Good to see you again. Guess you'll get to see your handiwork in action." Turning to the man, he extended a hearty handshake, "I'm Beat, nice to meet you."

Edited February 10, 2017 by Beat

[Teion 0]

Environment:

Spoiler

• ID#: 77158
  • CD: 2 - No damage

Teion lifted a hand to pull up the golden fabric resting at her neck, but before she had done so another somewhat familiar player ran up to the group. The man stopped a moment to catch his breath before addressing them each individually. The blacksmith tilted her head just slightly before Beat displayed the gauntlets he had equipped, and Teion quickly blinked in recognition. She gave a small smile and nodded to the dark-haired man before finishing her original motion to pull the thin scarf over her nose and mouth. "Perfect--I hope you've been able to break them in." Turning to follow the other players as they began their search, she exited the safe zone into the familiar desert landscape.

As the sand kicked up from the regular gusts of wind that passed over the empty desert floor, Teion seemed completely unfazed. Not only was her shop located on the fifth floor, but while she was here she did most of her farming and other necessary tasks on the same level. Besides that, she already possessed the Survival skill, which would keep her safe is the weather truly did get out of hand. The group hadn't gotten far from Armadillo's borders when the girl spotted something out of place in the shifting sands. She took a couple of steps from the group to quickly grab a piece of ore that poked out, quickly letting it disappear from her hand as it was placed into her inventory.

@Shield

Material Gathering:

Spoiler

• ID#: 77158
• LD: 19 + (2 S&D) + (2 Equipped) = 24 - Success!
   
• Teion: (1) T1 crafting material

 

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 77163 results:

 Craft: 7 - No damage

 Loot: 2 + 3 equipped + 1 skill = 6 - No materials (0 total)

As they trekked along the rolling sands, Shield slowly began to adapt to the threat of the winds and weather. It wasn't pleasant, but it was at least tolerable. The more significant damage was to his pride. Though he had never made much mention of it, he had always managed to put himself in the right situations to never take more damage than he could mitigate. Seeing his incomplete health gauge bothered him a lot more than it probably should have.

Boy would those inner demons from that last quest be having a field day with me right now if they were inside of my head still.

Deciding it was best to keep the conversation going, and knowing that Beat would invariably start with the small talk eventually anyways, he figured he might as well get to know a little more about the people he'd be spending the next two days with.

"Well, Beat and I already know each others' stories, but other than Teion being a blacksmith, I can't say I know too much more about anyone else present," he said over the howl of the sands. "He and I were actually rivals in another game and maxed out our skill trees, so we actually came here to try to settle the score on a new playing field. Got a bit of a rude awakening, as you all know. What about you two? What are your stories?"

He squinted through the sand-stained wind at Soredell and Teion as his feet continued to busy themselves with plodding along the shifting terrain.

Edited February 12, 2017 by Shield

[Soredell 0]

Sandstorm Damage

Spoiler

ID: 77188
CD: 4 (No Damage)

Soredell continued to hike through the desert, over hills and through dunes, all while pushing through the desert storm, sand grains flying right into his face and eyes, thankfully not getting in his mouth. Visibility was low for Soredell, with the sandstorm blowing in his face and him using his shield and whatever he has of his cloak to cover his eyes, impeding on his vision. Out of all the quests that he has done, this was probably up there as one of his least favorite, alongside that quest to get his cloak. His blood seemed to boil just remembering that horrible, horrible quest. Hopefully he would get something good out of this quest.

As he walks, he also tries to keep his eye out for anything, monsters, hidden dungeons, the cargo, materials, anything at all. But due to the sandstorm, he sees absolutely nothing. He can barely see 5 meters in front of him. He's sure he's missed something important, but it probably wasn't worth searching in conditions like this.

"Huh!?" he yells out over hearing Shield (he guesses) yell out to them. Not looking back, he tries to recount what he said to them, mainly because he couldn't really hear him over the howling winds. "If you're asking about who I am, there isn't a whole lot too my story. Before SAO, I was a gamer who played FPS games, occasionally RTS games as well. Truth be told I never really liked RPGs, but you know, the NerveGear was- rather is the biggest thing on the market, completely revolutionizing VR with its FullDive technology, so I hopped onto this, and now we're all trapped here." he calls out to them. "Since I've been here. I, like many other players have wanted to get out of here, out of Aincrad, out of SAO. But unlike the players who are twiddling their thumbs in the Tower of Beginnings, I decided to actually get out here, and grind all the way up to the front lines, and help the front liners out. Besides, I'd wager I'm older than a good number of players here, so its kinda also a responsibility for me to get these kids out." he calls out, continuing the trek.

Material Searching 1 (Desert)

Spoiler

ID: 77189
LD: 4 (No Materials)

 

[Beat 0]

Spoiler

Sandstorm damage: ID# 77196: CD- 10 = no dmg

Material search: ID# 77197: 8 (4+4) = no mats

Beat smiled as Shield gave the extremely brief summary of their history. He figured that there was no real need to go into detail, but Beat's mind filled in the gaps nonetheless. The "rude awakening" had happened so fast, that before they knew it, they had been traveling together for weeks. Time truly flew by when everyone's lives were hanging in the balance. 

What a roller coaster ride this has all been...

Soredell spoke as the winds had just picked up, making his tale extremely difficult to hear. By the time the wind died down, he was nearing the end of his story. Beat simply chose to nod politely and keep his gaze forward, doing his best to avoid getting sand in his eyes. He attempted to keep his eyes peeled for materials as well, but with the storm and the unforgiving terrain, he found himself having to focus more on just surviving this test of body and mind, let alone find materials for his shop. 

Edited February 12, 2017 by Beat

[Teion 0]

Environment:

  Hide contents

• ID#: 77533
  • CD: 5 - No damage

Her story? Teion smirked under her scarf before hooking a finger over the thin fabric and pulling it down under her chin. "There's not much to tell." She said flatly, searching her mind for some pieces of information about her that could be thrown out to suffice. "When I first started out, it was a blacksmith that helped me. I guess I was just waiting for someone to rub off on me, and I've spent most of my time here ever since." She nodded slightly, as if to indicate the desert around them as her home. Despite the harsh environment, she often felt like it was. "Before that...?" Teion's eyes drifted upwards to the sky, a small frown appearing as she explored her memories of the real world for anything worthwhile. "I like single player games." She held back a chuckle at the irony of being trapped in an MMO, but a smirk still found its way to her lips.

@Shield

Material Gathering:

  Hide contents

• ID#: 77533
• LD: 4 + (2 S&D) + (2 Equipped) = 8 - Fail!
   
• Teion: (1) T1 crafting material