[PP-F1-NK] <<The First Few Lessons are Free>> (Floofy)

[Airi 0]

The boar the red-haired player had been watching turned around and began walking towards them. Airi pulled her blade out of its leather sheath and assumed a battle-ready stance, but didn't take any action yet. Maybe it would turn around and go in a different direction? The boar kept walking and she quickly examined the boar's stats. It was just as weak as the boar she had fought earlier, she could probably kill this one with one hit if she got another critical.

The boar let out a grunt as it noticed her and she sprung into action. She charged forward before the boar could hit her with her blade glowing red as she activated her Sword Art <<Rage Blow>>. She moved to the boar's side, dragging the sharp tip of her curved blade through the boar's flesh and backed away. The boar burst into tiny red pixels and she grinned, closing the pop-up window which showed the amount of EXP she just earned. Another critical hit. Would this good luck of hers last?

Spoiler

ID: 80082 (mistakenly labeled as 'Quest Materials') | BD: 9 (critical success, +1 DMG)
<<Rage Blow>> = 2 * (2*1) + 1 = 5 DMG

Airi | HP: 20/20 | EN: 0/2 | DMG: 2

Boar | HP: 0/5 | DMG: 5

(OOC: @Floofy)

Edited March 21, 2017 by Airi

[Floofy 0]

"Nice work taking care of that Boar, Airi!" she smiled before getting back to gathering from the bush. Pulling out some more berries, her smile became a frown. "ugh, no good again.." Her luck had started to look like Airi's. Should this continue, there would be no way the quest would finish in a timely manner. Maybe there was something she was missing, like the more Boars she killed the higher chances of gathering a berry would occur... Ok, that was a dumb theory. She just didn't want to spend the next few days poking around in bushes trying to find five stupid berries. She wanted to start moving through the floors, looking for familiars and rare items!! Sakoda sighed to herself, remind her that everyone needed to start somewhere, and here you started by gathering berries. How else would you learn the gathering mechanics, anyways? At least they had enemies here to break apart some of the monotony.

Spoiler

ID 80084 | LD: 9

 

Quest Items: 0/5

Edited April 4, 2017 by Floofy

[Airi 0]

Airi returned to where her newfound friend was collecting juniper berries (and failing like she did at first, apparently) and stretched. What a boring quest, she thought once again. She hoped that the next parts would contain a little more excitement in them. The fun type of excitement, not the dangerous and deadly one. Try as she might, she still preferred doing something boring and safe than doing something fun but dangerous.

A notification popped up, her partner had accepted the friend request while she was gathering berries. The older girl had introduced herself as Sakoda, but her player name was different. Very different. "Would you mind telling me why your player name's Floofy?" Airi asked. It was an unusual name, kind of cute and weird. After a few moments of thinking, she realized that that was the reason why her companion had introduced herself as Sakoda. Really, saying your name was Floofy would make people laugh and not take you seriously.

Spoiler

EN: 1/2

(OOC: @Floofy The posts have a 150 word minimum, by the way)

Edited March 21, 2017 by Airi

[Floofy 0]

She blushed brightly as she dug around for some more berries. She was starting to get annoyed at her failures, pulling out another handful of no good berries. "err.. well.. to be fair, I wasn't planning on being stuck in here. I chose "Floofy" because I wanted a fun and silly name while playing this. When everything happened, I came up with Sakoda to be taken more seriously. If I was wondering around being called "Floofy", people wouldn't think I took this whole thing serious. I tried to find an in game item that would let me change my name, but I haven't found anything."

She stood up and stretched, "Hey, why dont you try and get the last few berries you need? Im not having any luck at all" She didn't mention that she felt like Airi might get hurt fighting more Boars as time passed. The less combat they did, the less likely the would be to get killed.

Spoiler

ID: 80105 | LD: 6

Quest Items: 0/5

(OOC: @Airi oh sorry, didn't know what else to include XD)

Edited April 4, 2017 by Floofy

[Airi 0]

"Sure. I only need one more, after all," Airi agreed with a nod and began looking around the bushes too. And with a twinge of frustration, she found out that most of the berries in the bush were still growing back. Maybe her previous suspicions were true. Maybe another player had passed by, on the same quest as them, and got all the good stuff. Or maybe her stroke of luck was over. "Nothing here, either." she commented.

She moved on to the next bush before realizing it was one of the bushes Sakoda had already dug through. She inched to one of the bushes her companion hadn't looked at yet and started searching. "This quest is just the first in a four-quest series, right?" Airi began while looking through the bush. "I wonder if the others would be just as tedious." Then she sighed in slight annoyance. "No wonder they called this the beginner quests. Easy to complete, but extremely boring."

Spoiler

ID: 80152 | LD: 1 (fail)

EN: 2/2

(OOC: @Floofy)

Edited March 21, 2017 by Airi

[Floofy 0]

"I would hope not. They are beginner quests though..." she frowned as she approached another bush and began digging through it, thinking maybe her luck would turn if she gave it one more shot. she groaned as the berry she pulled out was barely short of being desirable. "Stupid NPC and their stupid quest requirements..." She looked around, to make sure no Boars were coming close to them again. The last thing she wanted was to die because a boar sneaked up on them. "are you getting any luck, Airi?" Sakoda asked, tossing the barely bad berry away. It occurred to her that maybe she was tossing good berries away, and that she was just starting to get into the groove of having such bad luck. She shrugged it off, thinking that would be silly! She was more observant than that, right? Yeah, of course she was! After all, she would know when she got a good pull. Sakoda was sure she wasn't that much of an airhead.

 

Spoiler

ID 80153 | LD 14

 

0/5 Quest Items

 

Edited April 4, 2017 by Floofy

[Airi 0]

They were both searching this time. Airi watched Sakoda out of the corner of her eye and watched the other player throw away a juniper berry that looked good enough for the NPC. Was her companion turning careless out of pure boredom? "Hey!" the red-haired player reacted. She caught the purple berry and handed it to the girl beside her after a quick examination. "It's a good one." she said in explanation as Sakoda took the material from her hand. "Examine it more carefully next time, okay?"

Then Airi turned back to the bushes she had dug through. All of them contained the green, immature berries, which unfortunately, the NPC wouldn't accept. "No luck here either. We only have a few more bushes before we have to look for another cluster."  Then she stood up and watched for mobs while walking towards another bush. She sighed as she watched a player kill a weak boar from far off. If she had gone out with another player and killed mobs for as long as the time they spent looking for quest materials, she could've leveled up twice already. And they said quests were the fastest way to level up.

Spoiler

ID: 80154 | LD: 9 (fail)

(OOC: @Floofy The quest only needs an LD of 11+ to get the materials, so the last one was good enough)

Edited March 22, 2017 by Airi

[Floofy 0]

"oh, uh, right, sorry. Guess I wasn't paying attention." she laughed, although apparently it was true that she had started to think that every berry she grabbed was just a bad one. Maybe she was more of an airhead than she thought... "Hopefully this won't take too much longer, right?" She looked around to see any nearby boars, but it didn't look like any had taken interest in them. Once satisfied with the state of their surroundings, she returned to digging through the bushes. She didn't want to toss more good berries and embarrass herself further. Pulling a berry out, she sighed with relief that she had pulled a berry that had just become ready, and that this time she actually noticed it was good. She added it to her quest items, feeling confident that she wouldn't screw up again. If she did, Airi would have her back! Someone needed to.

 

Spoiler

ID 80157 LD 11

2/5 Quest Items

(OOC: @Airi my bad, I kept thinking it was 15 for some reason lol)

Edited April 4, 2017 by Floofy

[Airi 0]

After what seemed like a thousand hours, Airi plucked a mature, unblemished juniper berry and happily kept it in her inventory. She got up and stretched. "That was my last one!" she told Sakoda in a cheery, singsong voice. "And don't worry about the time. The quest isn't on a time-limit and you're pretty close to getting all five too, anyway." 

She then checked the task list in her quest tab. Gather 5 juniper berries now had a check mark next to it and the text was slightly faded. Under it, a new task appeared. Give the materials to Zackariah. Simple enough. Then she had to craft a Healing Potion and deliver a package of Healing Potions to a local blacksmith. Boring, but could be accomplished a lot faster. "And the next tasks won't require much time," Airi told her companion. "I hope."

Spoiler

ID: 80158 | LD: 14

Quest Materials Gathered: 5/5

(OOC: @Floofy)

Edited March 22, 2017 by Airi

[Floofy 0]

She nodded, listening to Airi explain the other tasks as she rummaged around in another bush, hoping to pull out three more good berries. Instead, she got bitten by some kind of bug, and jumped back in shock and annoyance. "That was rude.." she muttered to herself. "Are there any bushes that have, like, a one-hundred percent chance of giving good berries..?" She smiled, knowing it wasn't likely, but couldn't help but suggest the idea. If such a plant did it exist, players would be all over it. 

Sakoda stretched herself, hoping these next bushes would be the last ones, but doubting it very much. Chances are, she's going to be looking through another ten bushes by the time she gets the berries she needs. She even began to think about telling Airi to go on ahead of her, as to not hold her back. The last thing she wanted was to be a burden.

 

Spoiler

ID 80160 LD 1 (critical fail)

 

2/5 Quest Items

(OOC @Airi

Edited April 4, 2017 by Floofy

[Airi 0]

Airi giggled at Sakoda's idea. It was clear that the girl was slowly getting frustrated from her multiple failures. "I don't think so," she answered honestly. "But I've heard of items that would increase your chances at finding materials or something. I wonder how they do that. Like if you have a trinket with increased chances in finding materials equipped, would it make juniper berries pop out from nowhere as you approach the bush? Or would it just let you see materials that other players couldn't? Like a hidden berry or something."

Sakoda stretched and moved on to another bush. Meanwhile, Airi spotted a nearby boar and pointed at it for her quest partner to see. "I'm pretty bored and it might walk too close to us, so I'll take it on. The extra experience points would be good too. I'll call you if I need help, okay?" Then she unsheathed her curved blade for the third time this morning and activated her strongest Sword Art <<Rage Blow>>. She ran forward and the boar noticed her and she was so sure that it would hit, but the boar moved in a different direction than anticipated and she almost tripped while turning around to face it. Miss! The boar attempted to land an attack but she darted to the side, just barely getting nicked by its right tusk.

Spoiler

ID: 80161 | BD: 5 (fail) | MD: 5 (fail)

Airi | HP: 20/20 | EN: 0/2 | DMG: 2

Boar | HP: 5/5 | DMG: 5

(OOC: @Floofy)

Edited March 22, 2017 by Airi

[Floofy 0]

"BE CAREFUL PLEASE!" She shouted at Airi. Part of her wanted to go help, but she needed to keep looking for berries. They would be here all day if she just gave up and started killing boars. She turned her attention back to the bush in front of her and started digging around for the blasted berries that seemed to avoid her. She grabbed onto...something.. and pulled it out, but it wasn't a berry. Just a strange round creature that she'd never seen before. Before she could get a look at it, it rolled away, never to be seen again. She looked up at Airi, wondering if she saw anything, but she was very much occupied with a boar still. Deciding to keep that little event to herself, for fear of being told she was crazy, she got back to digging around for more berries. Or round creatures. Whatever came first.

 

Spoiler

ID 80171 LD 8

 

2/5 Items

(OOC: @Airi

Edited April 4, 2017 by Floofy

[Airi 0]

Airi looked back to see how Sakoda was doing and nodded at the girl's reminder to be careful. She saw the girl drop another round circular object that looked like a berry, maybe another failure. Then Sakoda looked up to see how she was doing and Airi made a gesture with her free hand that meant: "I'm okay, keep doing your stuff." Her quest partner then turned back to the bushes and continued looking for berries.

The boar let out a loud snort and began pawing the ground, as if reminding Airi for its presence. She turned to face it and noticed the boar readying its next attack. "How polite of you to call my attention before attacking," the curved blade user teased, even though the mob wouldn't understand any bit of it. She paused long enough to check her energy, fully depleted since she had activated a Sword Art, and sighed. She would have to stick to basic attacks.

Airi neared the mob, just as the boar started charging towards her. Easy to dodge. The curved blade user skirted to the side and swung her blade downward, missing by inches. She cursed as she moved away. The boar had put on a burst of speed to dodge the attack. Again?! The boar stopped charging a few ways off and Airi faced it with an unimpressed expression on her face. With the way this fight was going, Sakoda would've finished collecting the berries even before she brought the mob's HP halfway down.

Spoiler

ID: 80220 | BD: 4 (fail) | MD: 3 (fail)

Airi | HP: 20/20 | EN: 0/2 | DMG: 2

Boar | HP: 5/5 | DMG: 5

(OOC: @Floofy)

Edited March 23, 2017 by Airi

[Floofy 0]

Fighting the urge to run over to help Airi, Sakoda continued to dig through bushes. Pulling her hands out, she grinned as she finally had found a good berry. Only two more to go to finish her gathering. Hopefully, she would get the last two before Airi took any serious injury. She was about to call over to her partner and tell her she got another berry, but quickly decided against it. She didn't want to distract Airi from her fight, and potentially get her hurt. Instead, she got up and moved to the next bush. If Airi saw her, she could assume that Sakoda had acquired another berry. Kneeling down at the next bush,she glanced up to make sure Airi was still ok. From the looks of things, neither her nor the mob had hit each other yet. Half of that observation was good, at least. The other half... maybe not so much.

 

Spoiler

ID 80254 | LD 19

 

Quest Items 3/5

(OOC: @Airi

Edited April 4, 2017 by Floofy

[Airi 0]

Airi noticed her companion pluck a mature juniper berry out of the corner of her eye. If she was counting right, Sakoda only needed two more. The other player looked up to watch her again for a few moments, maybe to see if she needed help, and Airi made the same offhand gesture that she did awhile ago. "Yeah, she'd definitely finish before I do." Airi muttered to herself as she focused on the still-undamaged boar. She was a bit closer this time, so she didn't need to rush in like she did before. Instead, she just went in nearer and swiftly swung her blade down, watching with a slight satisfaction as the boar's HP decreased by 2.

The boar grunted and quickly spun around, attempting to hit her with one of its tusks. Airi sprung backward and felt the boar's right tusk brush against her. She quickly checked her HP. Still undamaged. The boar wasn't close enough to cut her. She had two more hits to land. Better land it before the boar starts doing actual damage. 

Spoiler

ID: 80288 | BD: 8 (success) | MD: 1 (fail)

Airi | HP: 20/20 | EN: 0/2 | DMG: 2

Boar | HP: 3/5 | DMG: 5

(OOC: @Floofy)

Edited March 23, 2017 by Airi

[Floofy 0]

Sakoda crouched down next to the next bush and dug in, feeling hopeful. Surely her luck was beginning to turn around now! Sure enough, pulling her hands from the bush revealed another healthy berry. "One to go!" She shouted in excitement. She wasted no time in looking for the next berry. One more, and this boring quest would be over... Well, the first part of it anyways. She didn't look up to check on Airi this time, both from trusting she was ok and from the excitement of almost being finished with the collection. As she knelt by the bush, she gulped nervously. This could be the last gather she needed before they moved on, or it could be another flop. With the luck they had earlier, chances are it would result in a dud. Maybe even another weird event occurring like last time. At this point, she wouldn't be surprised if she pulled a Boar out of the bush. SAO certainly wasn't your ordinary MMO. Who knows how many death traps there were, even on a beginners quest?

Spoiler

ID 80292 LD 15

Quest Items 4/5

(OOC: @Airi)

Edited April 4, 2017 by Floofy

[Airi 0]

Airi noticed her newfound friend gathering another good berry. Yup, it was official. Sakoda would finish doing her stuff before she brings the boar down to 0 HP. She sighed. Why was this game's combat just so hard? If she knew better, she would've given the NerveGear and the copy of SAO away. Then by now, she wouldn't be out here fighting for her life. She would be in school, surrounded by people who all knew and loved her, living the dream. What a stupid life decision.

The young girl went in to attack the boar once again, letting the system assist (for players who didn't know how to use swords) take over as she swung her blade downwards. She missed once again and cursed her terrible combat skills. For one, she didn't know how mobs moved in a battle. The boar let out a triumphant grunt as she sliced at thin air and attempted to headbutt her. Airi stepped to the side and let the mob charge past her. "And we're back to missing each other's attacks again." Airi groaned as she turned to face her enemy.

Spoiler

ID: 80293 | BD: 1 (fail) | MD: 2 (fail)

Airi | HP: 20/20 | EN: 0/2 | DMG: 2

Boar | HP: 3/5 | DMG: 5

(OOC: @Floofy)

Edited March 24, 2017 by Airi

[Floofy 0]

Sakoda dug around in the potential final bush, begging to pull out one last good berry. As she pulled her hand out slowly, her eyes brightened up. As luck would have it, she had grabbed a berry that had just barely become good. "YES!!" She shouted, jumping up in excitement as she added the last berry to the collection. Going to her quest tab, she only continued to smile as she saw the task had a check next to it, like Airi's did. Running over to nearby, as to not distract her or get the boars attention, even though she probably did that with her shouting earlier, she waved to Airi to signal that she had finished the task. She was now one-hundred percent free to help Airi, should she request it. Once this Boar was out of the way, they could finally continue their quest and actually made decent progress. Now that she thought about it, the hardest part was actually done now.

 

Spoiler

ID 80294 LD 11

Quest items 5/5: COMPLETE

(OOC: @Airi

Edited April 4, 2017 by Floofy

[Airi 0]

The girl whose player name was 'Floofy' finished collecting her materials and was now watching Airi fight the boar, as if waiting for a signal to join or something. Airi hated her luck. She was doing fine, one-shotting the mobs, just minutes ago; and now she couldn't land a damn hit. She was glad her bad luck was apparently contagious though, the boar had no luck in hitting her as well. "Join in!" Airi told Sakoda. "I've been fighting this thing for too long."

She stopped right in front of the boar this time and swung her starter sword downwards. The boar let out a disgruntled snort as she cut through its snout. Finally! Airi leaped to the side, but the boar recovered too quickly and headbutted her, sending her flying a few feet away. Automatically, she let out a weird, high-pitched sound of pain, even though pain didn't really exist here in SAO, and checked her HP as she stood up. The boar had done five damage to her and she could only take two more blows. She noticed Sakoda's worried glance. "It has 1 HP left. Go finish it off." Airi ordered. "It still has its attention on me, so it won't damage you even if you walk right in front of it."

Spoiler

ID: 80296 | BD: 7 (success) | MD: 8 (success)

[H:2] Airi | HP: 15/20 | EN: 0/2 | DMG: 2
[H:0] Floofy | HP: 20/20 | EN: 2/2 | DMG: 2

Boar | HP: 1/5 | DMG: 5

(OOC: @Floofy)

Edited March 24, 2017 by Airi

[Floofy 0]

Sakoda nodded and pulled out her Starter Spear, charging at the boar and then leaping into the air, swinging her spear so it pointed downwards, aimed right at the boars back. She suddenly screamed in fury, getting into the mood for combat, as her Spear drove deep into the Boars  spine. Before the boar exploded into pixels, it reared back and kicked Sakoda in the stomach, knocking her away and leaving her spear stuck in the dirt. Looking up at Airi and grinning, she pulled her spear out of the ground and offered her hand "Hey, are you alright? You look like you took a lot of damage from that last hit. Oh, speaking of last hits, do you want whatever the Boar dropped? You did the most damage to it after all. It isn't right that I take your hard earned items, even if it is just Boar meat," Sakoda told her, before laughing.

Spoiler

ID 80297 | BD: 8 | MD: 7

[H:0] Floofy | HP: 15/20 | EN: 2/2 | DMG: 2

Boar Slain

LD: 18 CD: 11 | Reward {Uncommon Consumable}

(OOC: @Airi would you check and make sure I got everything right?)

Edited March 24, 2017 by Floofy