(PP-NK-F4) Not dead yet

[Jomei 0]

When Jomei had finally come to, he found himself cuffed in a cold cell, stripped of his armor and weapon. He could not see much from the small slivers of light coming from the cracks in the door in front of him, and the slim window high above him. He could hear the raging, storm like, winds from the outside though. Where was he? Why would someone do this to him. Soon after asking himself these questions, he got the answer he wanted. An all too familiar group of players had taken Jomei prisoner for causing an uproar and freeing many of their slaves months ago. They had been on the hunt for Jomei and Lowenthal, after finding out they were responsible for losing some men and most of their work force, for quite awhile. To Jomei's knowledge, they had been unlucky in finding his sandy haired friend. Jomei on the other hand did not share that luck. He would only look into his captor's eyes and smirk, knowing that he helped foil their operation, and saved his friends. The man did not take too kindly to that..

That was months ago that Jomei was captured. All that time, they tortured him, kept him prisoner, all in the hopes of revealing Lowenthal and the others he freed's location. Jomei wouldn't budge, and kept strong for all that time. Despite not being able to feel any pain in this world, he looked to be hurting a lot. His face showed signs of exhaustion, under the shaggy stubble that had been growing on his face and his bangs that had grown a bit. "You won't get [censored] out of me." 

*Crack*

The guard that stood over him had hit Jomei in the face with his club, knocking the ginger to the ground. The man struggled to get up before collapsing back to the floor. The guard, finally tired of Jomei's stubbornness, decided it was time to rid of the noble player. Grabbing Jomei by the back of his collar, he dragged his seemingly unconscious body towards the cell door. As the keys opened the metal bars, Jomei sprung out of his fake trance. Planting his foot into the ground, he lunged upward, the top of his head colliding with the chin of the guard. The blow knocked the man backwards and to the ground, out cold. Before anyone could see, Jomei fumbled for the mans keys, unlocking his shackled. "Great.. now to find my gear." 

Jomei ran down the hall and came upon a chest, which had his rapier leaning against it. Using the key to open the chest, Jomei found his armor. Some of the smaller pieces were missing, but for the most part it was all there. Under the armor, he found a rag-tag orange poncho, which he threw over his armor. The tired man looked around for an exit, spotting a large door at the end of the next hall. Sprinting as fast as he could in his state, he went straight for the door. He heard a guard call out that the prisoner had escaped, making Jomei run even faster. Soon, his shoulder met the door, and his face was met with freezing blizzard air. Taken aback by the brightness of the outside world, and the snow on the ground, Jomei flinched, but he pushed forward and ran as fast and far as he could.

Jomei had made it about two miles from where he was held prisoner before he noticed his health and stamina were dangerously low. He felt himself slipping out of consciousness. The man wobbled forward and struggled to open his menu with a flick of his wrist, and created a message to any nearby players. 

Quote

To: Nearby
Sender: Jomei

5th floor. Attacked by pkers. Help.

**Coordinates attached**

As the man barely pressed the send button, his stamina bar had hit zero, and he fell into the snow.

Edited April 30, 2017 by Jomei

[Lee 0]

A plate armored foot would fall to crunch the snow beneath his foot, another would follow suit. Lee would look around and raise his head up slightly. He would take in a deep breath and exhale so that his breath would become visible in frost air. It was always nice to walk around the fourth floor as he always tended to enjoy the colder side of the weather and snow was something he always remembered from the real world. It was always a special occasion of sorts when it happened but it was memorable. The scruffy faced player would wish he had some sort of armor that could fit the surrounding area or at least make it so he could fit in a bit more thematically.

It  was in the middle of this winder wonderland dream that a message appeared before him which caught him by surprise. He wasn't really expecting to be contacted by anyone and due to his own settings, only someone on his friends list would be able to send him messages. So it came to a great surprise when he noticed the name he would crack a smile but this would quickly diminish as he would read the following message attached. "Well...fu*k." He would keep the message up and press the map and glance between the two of them, aiming to get the right direction down in which he needed to head. One favor deserves another and he wasn't about to let this particular player die....if he could help it.

[Piera 0]

Visiting Grave made Piera feel a little braver...a little more bold. So bold as to even venture up a floor. She mainly wanted to appreciate the quietly falling snow but was quickly rethinking that after teleporting in. It seemed that the fourth floor felt a little more violent than usual if the blizzard going on was any indication. Sometimes she appreciated the cycling weather on floors rather than staying the same constantly...this was not one of those times though. But she was here.... Maybe she should finally visit Mack. It had been.... The brunette paused mid thought and realized she couldn't remember. Well she could remember. Their brief argument in her shop..but how long ago had that been?

A strong gust of flurries shook the consideration out of her mind as she shivered, Jareth letting out a whine from where he was crouched, perching on her shoulder. Holding up a hand to press him close to the side of her head, the alchemist pet the owl griffin consolingly. "Here I thought you'd like the snow, heh." She teased before asking, "You wana see Chewie ag-" She cut her sentence off as a message suddenly popped up.

Green eyes immediately focused on the sender's name and she gasped in hopeful surprise, her heart hammering, she continued to read the contents which then caused her to turn as pale as the snow that she was surrounded by. "No..." Zeroing in on the coordinates that were sent, Piera already started running. The thought that this could possibly be a trap on the low end of the spectrum of worries that were flying through her mind. Eyes flicking between the coordinates and the map, she didn't see a snow drift and fell into it before scrambling up, Jareth screeching unhappily before following her via flight somewhat unsteadily due to the wind. Judging the map, she thought she was close... "Nnf!" The healer ran smack dab into a wall of steel and quickly backpedaled, summoning her weapon in her hands with a gasp before relaxing with a shaky sigh. "Lee..." While they may still be fighting, this was more important than that. "Did you get Jomei's message too? I think we're close..."

Glancing around frantically, Piera put away her spear in favor of cupping both hands around her mouth as she called out, "Jomei!" And again, "Jooomeeeiii!" Hoping against hope that he would hear them through the howling blizzard and get towards them, or at least let them know how close he was to them.

[Calrex 0]

After spending a significant amount of the day assisting Shield with the Butcher of the Sands quest Calrex decided to move down one floor, partially to get away from the heat and sand, and a bit to also take a walk down memory lane of when Teayre still had her shop here. Walking across the snow-laden floor he ruffled his hair, grains of sand still falling off in large clouds, "Geezes I thought I was done with taking nose dives into piles of sand. Guess I was proven wrong."

Stretching his arms they reached almost full extension before he suddenly saw a general message appear in his HUD. Lowering a hand he pressed the envelope, which opened to display the contents. The first was the sender, someone he had not seen for quite some time, but it was the body that forced his eyebrows to narrow. It was short and sweet, yet conveyed urgency. Jomei was on the floor, and was attacked by player-killers, "Guess some malevolent ones finally decided to come out of the woodwork..."

He pulled up the coordinates, looking upwards towards what appeared to be whipping winds and snow, "Roc, you're on point."

Hearing a small screech acknowledging the order his familiar soared ahead in the direction of the coordinates. "Second question is whether or not he's still under attack, or just barely hanging on."

The bluenette's mind flashed back to the last night encounter he had with Opal months ago, and the life of the orange player he had taken. Shaking his head he gave a calming breath before pressing forward, "Hopefully it will be the latter, but if it is not I'll need to think of something to drive them off."

Drawing the Grand Blade II he swung it to the side, quickly triggering <<Quick Change>> to swap to the Grand Gauntlets II. If intimidation was going to be necessary, then showing just what he was capable of might be a requirement.

"Probably first things first once I find Jomei will be to pop either a healing or safeguard potion for him. That should keep him out of danger depending on the state I find him in."

Looking forward he could make out two other figures in the snow. They appeared to be heading in the same direction as him, towards the coordinates Jomei had direction, "Well he did put out a mass message, so that could be anyone. Still I wish this snowstorm would let up for a sec so I can figure out who they are."

[Jomei 0]

Jomei laid there, collapsed on the ground as some white snow started to lay a blanket over him. The man slipped in and out of consciousness, seeing and hearing nothing but the raging storm around him. He would push and turn his body to remove as much of the snow as he could, in case anyone came looking for him. Jomei's body shivered from the cold, wet snow around him. That was when he heard an echo. An echo that sounded almost like his name. He could tell it was a woman's voice, but who or where it came from, he could not tell. Someone had come looking for him, he knew he needed to make himself more visible. Using all of his strength, Jomei pushed himself up to his knees. He crawled in the snow as far as he could, until he came upon a large boulder. 

He would position himself so he sat upright, leaning against the large rock. Everything was still hazy, was he dying? Was this it? He shook his head as he heard his name again. A little closer this time. He opened his mouth to try and call out, but nothing but a wheeze of a whisper escaped. His eyes looked to the sky as he slowly brought one hand to his lips. Using his thumb and pointer finger, Jomei tried his hardest to whistle as loud as he could. Come on.. I hope you didn't abandon me too.. he thought to himself.

Moments later, Jomei saw a black dot dive from high above. The dot became more defined, and took the shape of a bird, an owl to be specific. Adere had heard Jomei's call and hovered in front of the man's face. "F....in.d ... h..el..p.." he managed to let out. Immediately responding to his request, Adere shot into the air and began to fly around, looking for anyone in the area to save Jomei. As Jomei watched his owl fly off, he, once again, fell unconscious. 

After flying around for a few minutes, The owl spotted two figures somewhat heading in Jomei's direction. Swooping down, Adere landed on the shoulder of the armored man, seeing the shoulder of the familiar brunette was occupied by an owl griffin. With a few frantic hoots, Adere took off again, keeping just above the heads of Piera and Lee, leading them straight to the rock that Jomei was leaning against. Adere landed at the top of the rock, keeping a higher view of everything. Jomei still sat there, his chin to his collarbone and arms down at his sides, knocked out cold. Snow stuck to his cloak, hair and face and made small piles on his shoulders and legs. 

[Lee 0]

The armored individual continued to trudge through the swamp of snow and wind, an arm raised up to block the wind from the side whilst also squinting to try and find what would be a body of some sort. It was something that wasn't easy as every fallen tree or snow covered bush could be a potential friend-in-trouble. He also kept it a point to look over at his map to adjust his trajectory to the right direction. He would be broken out of his trance as something would slam into his back but he would be unmoved as he would quickly turn to see the object of the attack, with his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it when he would simply stare down at the female player. "Piera..." He would reply as she would say his own name.

Lee would release the sword as she would speak about Jomei and that they should continue together in order to find him. "Right." He would turn back around and as he did, something would catch his eye and he would reach for his sword yet again as the creature would fly at him to which he would draw his weapon but as it landed on his shoulder, it seemed to not be a threat and in more of a panic. As it took off into the air, Lee would nod in the direction of the owl's flight "Welp, it seems to know more than we do." Lee would chase after the bird till they were lead to a rock of which it would take perch, seemingly at the end of its journey. "Well...what now..."

He would look around as if the answer might show itself and it was then that the flicker of orange would cause his eyes to widen just a bit as he would quickly rush to Jomei's side and quickly aim to brush off the snow that was aiming to submerge the player "Yo, Jomei! Wake yo @ss up! This is not the time to be goin to sleep!" Lee would look back to Piera "You have heals, use them Piera!" Though it might have sounded rushed and mean, he was not trying to internationally be, it was just something that he wasn't rightly ready to cope with.

[Piera 0]

Piera paused after calling out her friend's name, hoping against hope that she would hear his voice in reply, something, anything to indicate where he was and that he was okay. Eyes frantically scanning around them, they widened at the same time her heart dropped, spotting in the distance a tall figure with a long weapon. But before she could say anything to Lee, something small and feathered that was not Jareth flew and landed on the armored man's shoulder.

Now that it was stationary, the alchemist immediately recognized the owl. "Adere!" She exclaimed before explaining, "This is Jomei's familiar! She must know where he is." Tall figure momentarily forgotten, the healer ran after her beloved, snow impeding them slightly in their heavy armor. But when they finally caught up where the owl was perched atop a predominant rock.

Through the snow, Piera didn't immediately see the slumped figure against the snow covered rock, being snow covered himself but when she did, the woman lurched forward, knocking Jareth off of her shoulder where he perched close to Adere to huddle for warmth. "Jomei, no no no, please." As Lee tried to get the snow off of him, Piera unequipped her cloak before laying it over the ginger's limp form. Starting at Lee's harsh tone, she simply nodded shakily, using her First Aid skill on her frostbitten friend. The opal heart necklace around her necklace glowed a bright green for a moment as Piera activated the skill. But she couldn't see quite how low his health was since they weren't in a party.

Seeking to rectify that and perhaps also wake the Irishman up, the healer sent him an invite to join her and Lee's party. "Jomei, please." Piera pleaded, nearing tears already. "You need to try to open your eyes. We need to get you out of here." Turning to look at her partner, she asked worriedly, "Can you carry him if we have to? I don't want to stick around here if those bastards are close by."

ID: 81635
CD: 6 + 3 Combat Craft from Healing Heart = 9
Jomei healed for 227 HP

{OOC: @Calrex @Lee. Also, @Jomei, feel free to spawn PKers if you wana. What's a rescue operation without some more drama?}

Edited April 8, 2017 by Piera

[Calrex 0]

While Calrex was still making his way forward, Roc was not as hindered as the bluenette due to his sharp eyesight. The peregrine falcon recognized the owl familiar that had touched down just below from the past meetings with Jomei. It was Adere, and he appeared to be guiding the two people forward, whom he recognized to be Lee and Piera. Releasing a screech loud enough to pierce through the blizzard he directed his teammate further.

Calrex could hear the sound as he looked to his left, "Guess I was a little off the mark." Turning to orient himself towards the origin of the signal picking up his pace, his boots crunching the snow beneath him. Not much long after he could make out the color of his familiar's feathers circling above, indicating that Roc had found the location. Following his position down to ground level he could make out the two figures from before crouched over someone. Cautiously he clenched his right hand around the handle of the Grand Blade II as he moved closer, but his grip relaxed as the shapes finally became more clear.

"Looks like Lee and Piera both were around as well. I guess I should have checked my nearby list before resorting to precautionary tactics. However we're not out of the woods just yet."

Tapping Lee on his shoulder, since Piera was focused on healing, Calrex handed him one of the multitude of Safeguard potions in his at ready inventory, "I've got more than enough of these to tank a floor boss, so if anyone unwanted decides to show up use that on Jomei. I'll stand guard for now."

With that the bluenette took a few steps away to establish a perimeter, swiping on his inventory, "Most likely if any malicious player killers show up they'll be more oriented towards striking than defense. Such is the way with assassin-types, hit hard and fast, dealing as much damage as possible. If I'm going to attempt to pull this off without any bloodshed, I'll need to function like an immovable fortress. That means the Aegis Armament.

Summoning his menu he began to swipe and press like it was second nature, his avatar flashing white with each change in equipment. The Grand Blade II vanished from sight, along with the Grand Dragoon, Amethyst Charm, and Tide Pendant. There were replaced by the trio of the Aegis variants of the Grand Chariot, Grand Guard, and Grand Crest. Finalizing the gear set was a decorative one-handed straight sword with no enhancements to it.

"Only question now is to see what happens next..."

Gave Lee 1x Safeguard Potion

Spoiler

Equipment Change:
Grand Dragoon > Grand Chariot: Aegis (T2 Regen +2 / Mitigation +1)
Grand Blade > Decorative One-Handed Straight Sword (Unenhanced)
Amethyst Charm > Grand Crest: Aegis (T2 Thorns +2 / Mitigation +1)
Tide Pendant > Grand Aegis (T2 Paralyze (Defensive) +2 / Mitigation +1)

 

[Zandra 0]

Snow. I couldnt remember the last time I was here in this snowy winter wonderland. Up until maybe a year ago or something I technically lived on this floor. But with the purchase of the beach-house I habemt been having any business down here. But today I had a day off from the work that came with beeing a frontliner. So I had decided to check out my old store. When I entered the house and unequiped my armour, I got overwhelmed by memories. The main room was filled with several different markings in different colours that have appeared from my many experiments. I let out a smiling sigh. I still remembered every singel one.

I walked over to an empty old bottle that was laying on the floor. I took it up to look at it closer. That was when I got abrupted by a 'beep'. "A mail now. Wonder who that can be from?" I said to myself as my left hand opened it. I took a closer look at the bottle before turning my focus over to the mail. I red what was written. I suddenly froze on the spot, my eyes turned wide open as I red it again. I couldnt believe it.

When really realising what the mail was saying, I turned on the spot and darted towards the door. Right when I was outside there was a sound from crash of glass inside the store, thou I didnt cared of it. Now there was only one thing on my mind, "Jomei!" I shouted while increasing speed.

I ran thru the snowcovered forest, high brown boots making footprints in the snow. There was a floating map infront of me that marked where my loved one was. Thou I didnt have to use it since I almost knew this floor like my own pocket. But just to be sure I ran in correct direction. As I ran, activating my charge skill as soon as its cooldown was out, I felt my cheeks beeing whipped at from the tree branches. Thou I barely felt them. What I felt was warmth. Warm tears was rolling down my cheeks."Dont die Nick. I cant lose you. If you die away from me I Will kill you." I said between my deep breaths that left clouds in the air behind me. More then once I tripped on snowcovered roots and planted my face in the snow. But it didnt stopped me. I just pushed myself up and continued to run.

After what I thougth must have been at least ten minutes, a group of players appeared. Four of them to tell from the floating crystals. And they was just on the spot where Jomei was. Had the player killers already taken him? The crystals was all green, but it could be new ones that just havent done their first kill yet. And this would be their debut. It was in this moment I realised my armour was still unequipped. Thou there was no time to lose since there seemed one of them was sittingbin the snow beside someone who laid down. So all I did was equipping my Darkened Battleaxe and then charged the group. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!" I screamed to draw the attention away from him and on me instead. There was one standing like he was guarding the group and looked for any threats. He was standing in my way so I tackled him with full force with my right shoulder first.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei heard the sounds of muffled voices in front of him, and, through his hazy eyes, he could see the outline of two.. now three people. Had the player slavers found him again? Or was this the "light at the end of the tunnel." Jomei closed his eyes and exhaled, realizing he suddenly felt much better. He opened his eyes, and as they focused on the world around him, he noticed his status bar in the corner was reaching its peak. Both his stamina and health were being replenished, and thanks to a First Aid Skill. His eyes rolling back to his front, he saw three familiar faces. Calrex standing off in the back, as well as Piera and Lee. "P-Piera? Lee?! A-and Calrex! I can't believe you guys are here! I-" As he began to push himself up to greet the three properly. He heard the sound of someone shouting to get away from Jomei. He immediately recognized the voice, but did not see the woman. He then noticed the girl charging towards Calrex, about to tackle him. "Z-Zan wait!" It was too late, her shoulder connected with Calrex's ultramarine armor... not really doing much. Though Cal seemed to react, possibly letting the woman move him to the side. He stopped Zandra with a hand on her shoulder, "Easy now. Its alright. Its just Calrex, Piera, and Lee. They came to help me. I'm happy you're here too." 

Jomei then felt a strange presence and he turned his head to look off into the distance. Standing just over a hill about 20 meters away, he saw 5 figures with cloaks whipping in the wind. He immediately recognized them as the player slavers from before. They had not made their move however, seeing that Jomei had risen to full health, and was accompanied by four other people. They matched in bodies, but knew immediately they were out skilled. The five figures then disappeared into the blizzard, back down the hill where they came from. Jomei let out a sigh of relief. "Guess they knew not to mess with us."

[Lee 0]

Lee would keep a hold of Jomei's shoulder to keep him steady and so he wouldn't fall in the unfortunate accident that he may kiss the snowy ground or worse, a rock of some sort hidden by the white blanket of snow. There was a tapping on Lee's shoulder that he was legitimately shocked at as he was so into the moment that he didn't even hear the player approach. He was about to shoot up and draw his sword but all that was stopped as he turned to look up to see Calrex which automatically put his mind back at ease as Lee would move his free hand to his chest as if to stop himself from having a heart attack of sorts "Oh thank God." He would then take the item that Calrex handed him and would keep it on hand just in case something were to happen and, as if on cue, something did.

A darkened figure would yell out and come rushing toward the group. "Oh fu*k no!" Lee would stand up quickly, drawing his sword and keeping the potion in his other hand as the player would slam into Calrex but then, Jomei's voice would echo out telling the other person to stop and that they were all friends here. Lee would quickly glance between Jomei and this Zan player a couple of times before Lee would notice Jomei looking off into the distance in which Lee could see what looked to be other players and once they had disappeared, Jomei would speak of them not wanting to fight the group now they the numbers had evened out and he was in fighting condition.

Lee would tap his chest a few times and hold his arms out in a boasting position "Yeah, fight me bruh." He would say this though it wasn't anywhere near as loud as he could as he wasn't rightly sure if he wanted a fight. He would nod his head as if he had done something and looked back to Jomei and, after sheathing his weapon, reaching a hand out to his friend's shoulder "Yo, you gonna make it there Colin Farrell?"

[Piera 0]

Piera kept her focus solely on Jomei, rubbing his arms through the blanket that was her cloak draped over him, knowing logically that the motion wouldn't help at all since they were in a game, but the emotional part of her brain encouraged her to do something. She heard Lee speak to someone and took a moment to glance behind her, not too concerned because Lee's tone didn't seem worrisome, and took grateful note of Calrex's presence. Feeling a distinct amount of relief at the higher leveled player's presence. If the PKers were still after Jomei, at least now they had viable backup to defend them.

Her head whipped around back to the ginger when she heard something she hadn't heard in what seemed like a very long time, that familiar Irish accent. Gasping in relief, Piera exclaimed, "Jo-!" Before she was cut off by someone yelling. A voice she didn't recognize. Instantly on alert, the brunette equipped her Bleeding Lance, mouth open and about to issue a harsh warning to the intruder. But Jomei sat up, resting a hand on the intruding female player's shoulder as he explained the situation.

Now that she was closer, the alchemist recognized her as a former Velvet Room member, Zandra. Relaxing slightly but still alert, Piera's head turned to see what Jomei was looking at, expression hardening. "We need to report this to someone. Anyone. What good are a bunch of people that can clear the game if the rest of the players aren't safe on even the lower floors??" Biting down on her tongue to physically stop herself from going off on a rant, the bespectacled woman unequipped her two handed spear with a sigh, turning a concerned expression on her friend.

"We need to get you out of here. Somewhere safer. ...Not to mention warmer. Our place is closer, just a floor down." She suggested, glancing at Lee before looking back to the ginger. "Can you walk okay?"

[Calrex 0]

It seemed that it wouldn't be a long period of time that Calrex would be on watch before someone decided to attack, or at least in this case charge at him. Without his <<Reveal>> skill the bluenette didn't foresee Zandra's initial charge from out of the snow, but he did thank the fact that the young woman decided to tackle him with her shoulder and not her two-handed axe head. That would have shaken him a lot worse than an unpowered attack. Nonetheless he was quickly able to discern the purpose, letting her push him to the side so that she could reach Jomei, "Good to see you too Zandra, heh, didn't mean to block the path."

Turning back to face away from the group he managed to glance the figures in the distance whom seemed to be observing their position. His eyes narrowed for a second as his thought processed through his conscious mind, "Guess there's still more of those types wandering around. Ever since Opal's death it seems Laughing Coffin has been fairly dormant in their activity. Sad to see there's still more of those types around..."

His thoughts were broken by Lee and Piera's plan to move Jomei to a safer location, giving a nod, "We'd best make for Snowfrost Town then. That way he'll be out of harm's way. I can take point while you guys stay near him. Hopefully no person or creatures decides to cause trouble on the way back, but if that becomes the case I can hold them off while you keep moving."

"Hopefully enough our sheer numbers and presence is more than enough. There's more than enough strength among the five of us, so I wouldn't doubt anyone is willing to risk the potential loss. I think Jomei has the Survival skill, so it's not like he's going to be taking environmental cold damage at any point, and we aren't close to any of the field boss spawn areas."

[Zandra 0]

Stupid me, this wasn’t reality. Your attacks depends on stats and just a normal tackle that probably would have pushed the opponent back a meter or two barely moved the man. Yes, now when being closer I knew it was a man. I didn’t realized it before it was to late and I would be unable to stop myself. I felt my right side coming in contact with Calrex’s armor. ‘’Fan!!’’ I cursed on my own language. Thou Calrex seemed to have recognized me and just let me down in my slowed down speed. He even apologized for standing in the way. I felt my face being red of shame. But before I could say something I herd a voice I haven’t herd in months. I immediately turned to the man with the irish accent. As I looked into the green eyes I couldn’t stop the tears from starting to roll down my cheeks. Jomei’s looked away towards a hill, but I couldn’t get my eyes from him. I couldn’t believe it. He was actually standing right here infront of me. Then I couldn’t hold it back anymore. With open arms and threw myself forward and embraced the man I love. ‘’JOOMMEEII!!!’’ I shouted as I hugged him and gave him a long kiss on the lips.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei was surrounded by a good number of friends, so he felt much safer. Especially being the enemy group had wandered off once they got a glance of their numbers. The ginger let out a sigh of relief and looked at the four for a moment, before the whole situation seemed to settle in Zandra's mind, and she immediately leapt onto Jomei, wrapping her arms around him and planting her lips on his. The man was completely taken off guard by the kiss, but accepted it nonetheless. After the two separated, Jomei smirked and looked back to his other friends. "Yeah, we should definitely get out of here. I've had enough of this floor.. About.." He cut short, realizing he did not even know just how long he had been locked away for. It felt like ages, but was it only days? Weeks? He swiped his hand up to open his menu and he checked the date. His eyes widened. "F-Four..months..? I've been gone for that long?" He turned back around, still solemn in his expression before looking at the ground and shaking his head. "So much probably happened... But.. nows not the time to talk about it. Lets get back to somewhere warmer, the Survival skill can only do so much out in this weather." Jomei decided to take lead and walk ahead of the group. He looked over his shoulder at the group accompanying him and smiled, "Heh, Its like the old gang is back, plus Calrex. All thats missing is Lowenthal. Probably still living the retired life with Shizuka, huh?" 

[Lee 0]

Lee would shake his head as Piera would comment about how they needed to tell someone about the nefarious deeds that were going on to which he would scoff "Oh yeah, because that is something that hasn't been done before. I'm pretty sure that telling the police about crimin-." He would forcefully silence himself as going on a tangent as it was not the time nor place. Calrex would agree that them waiting out in the middle of the open snowfall wasn't the best of ideas and that they should find their way to the town to be safe. Lee would nod his head in agreement "Sounds like a plan. I'd like to think they would be more opportunists and that opportunity passed them by now."

Just as he finished, the other player that had showed up, Zandra, dove at Jomei to embrace him, Lee would quickly turn away from them as well as Piera as they were currently not on the best terms themselves at the moment so it was between Calrex or some trees. He was brought back to Jomei as he heard him speak aloud about how long he was abducted to which Lee wasn't able to hold back "Welcome to the club my friend. It is a very exclusive one. Benefits are sh*t." They would soon begin walking, Jomei speaking about the group coming together without the exception of Lowenthal whom was probably off with his significant other to which Lee would chime in "That is a possibility."

[Piera 0]

Hackles instantly raising upon hearing Lee's scoff at her suggestion, Piera glared at the man sidelong before shaking her head as he cut himself off wisely. Her focus shifted to Calrex for a moment as he offered to take point to defend the lower leveled group. Smiling with gratitude, the brunette told him, "Thank you Calrex. I'm glad that out of....well pretty much most of the player base, that you were one of the people close by."

Wincing slightly at Zandra's loud exclamation, she wished that she could say she was annoyed at the other girl...but looking at her tackle Jomei reminded her all too well of her own reunion with Lee on this very floor with help from the very ginger she was kissing so fiercely. Glancing at the scruffy tank, Piera then quickly averted her eyes with a swallow, her eyes seeming sad somehow.

Trying to collect herself as Jomei spoke, she watched solemnly as he realized how long he had been gone. The corner of her mouth twitched in spite of herself as Lee jokingly welcomed him to their exclusive club to which she added, "We have a cool secret handshake though, so there's that."

Nodding eagerly at the Irishman's agreement to get to warmth and safety, Piera snorted as he spoke of the Survival skill only doing so much for the weather. "Speak for yourself. Cali girl over here is freezing. So get yer butt movin'." The alchemist teased with a small smile at her friend, poking his arm. Following along behind Jomei and making sure not to walk too close to Lee, the beginning of the ginger's statement caused a melancholy smile to grow on the brunette's face before it went slack in shock as he mentioned Lowenthal. Her feet grew slow in the snow as green eyes flicked to Lee as he said that Jomei's theory was a possibility.

What? Expression tight with several conflicting emotions, Piera said not a word, though she couldn't control her hands from developing into fists. As the party continued through the blizzard, Adere and Jareth flew close together above the players. Lee obviously wasn't going to tell him. But considering where they were and Jomei's possibly precarious mental state, that was probably a good idea. Though it pained her to omit the truth from her friend. Walking more quickly, Piera spoke up, "W-We should be nearly there." Her voice shaky, though it could easily have been from the cold.

[Calrex 0]

It seemed that the supposed "more dire" part of this excursion had passed, and rather smoothly if the blunette was being honest. If he was honest with himself, he would already prefer to avoid confrontation of these types of sorts than have to actually address them. With the level he was at, clearing out lower level player-killers like the ones that were supposedly torturing Jomei would likely not have posed a problem. However, just like it was currently with his wife, it was SAO's mechanics that made things more complicated.

"I've already killed one person. I have no intention of making a habit of it."

He watched as Jomei decided to take point for the group as they made their way back, Calrex himself taking a brief moment to look across the group that had gathered. His mind made note of the awkward vibe he had gotten from Lee and Piera at the moment, something that he decided to refrain from thinking about, "Must be something they're currently working through."

However, as Jomei spoke about the group, minus himself, past as the Velvet Room, a name was brought up, something that was related to fairly current events. The bluenette was present when Ariel made the announcement at one of the event boss raids, and the thought had not left his conscious mind. Upon hearing Lee's response he was able to quickly understand. While he wanted to chime in, say exactly what had happened, but he could still recall the last time he had to break some bad news to Jomei in relation to the Akusumaru floor raid.

Piera's stuttered statement followed softly afterwards, seemingly as an attempt to progress the conversation to another topic, and at that point the blunette decided to continue along, "Hopefully that's the case. I'd really hate having to encounter Avalanche or the Night's King's minions right now. Those things seem to pop out of nowhere."

[Zandra 0]

My chest was filled with warmth as I felt the lips of the human most important to me at the moment answer my kiss. After a few wonderful moments I released him and took a step back. My lips was turned into a smile stretching from ear to ear. It felt so relieving to finally being together and knowing where Jomei was. Next thing he mentioned was that we should get away from here and the others seemed to agree. Myself I wouldn’t mind staying here. Well, if following their arguments. Since those player killers didn’t bothered me and the warmth in my chest and beating heart kept me warm enough. But I didn’t argued with any of them, just agreed to follow with them was the best thing to do. I gripped Jomei’s hand and walked by his side when he took the lead.

I still had a smiling face when Jomei started talking about the group all together, and Calrex as well. I nodded in agrrement. But what he said next, completely changed my mood. My smile disappeared from one moment to the next. That Jomei didn’t knew about the status of his closest friend wasn’t that strange after all. Like why would a player killer tell him. I gulped and my steps slowed down a bit. I hand slipped out of Jomei’s as it turned almost dead. I looked at the other players around me as I listened to their replies. None seemed to want to spill the information to him. Not now at least. Or maybe they didn’t knew it either. I took a second look at Calrex to try to get eye-contact to hopefully see what he thougth. Different from the others thou, my lips was sealed without a single word leaving me. My slowed down speed have also took me from the second first to the last person in the small party.

[Jomei 0]

As the group walked, the ginger felt a strange tension in the air. He thought, at first, maybe the group had seen something, or the cold weather was getting to them. The warmth of the fireplace at Snowfrost's main inn was probably on all of their minds. However, when Zandra's hand slipped from his own, and her walk slowed he became more suspicious. The man stopped in his step, hoping the rest of the group would follow. He refused to turn around to look at their faces. As the tattered beige poncho he wore over his armor blew in the winds he closed his eyes and took a breath in through his nostrils before speaking. "What aren't you guys telling me?" His tone was different than it had ever been. Much more serious and demanding, most likely a change that developed deep in him during captivity. He knew things must have happened in the four months he was gone, and he immediately regretted asking his friends. The silence from the others would eat at him the whole rest of the trip, so he needed to ask. He felt the virtual heart in his chest beating faster and faster with anticipation. "Well?" he spoke up again, more demanding than last time, still facing away from the others.