[PP-F7] Vile

[Guest]

Keith followed the glowing footprints on the dirt road on Floor 7. He heard rumors about one of the biggest Player Killers in all of SAO, and he was going to find him. Keith made his way through the large trees on the floor and he kept following the path. However, it faded. Keith wasn't sure if he should be confused or amazed, had this guy really gotten his sneak skill that high? The trail stopped near a village and Keith started to make his way to it. Upon entering, he saw there wasn't a single NPC around. And all the Players looked scared, terrified even. "Hey! What happened!" Keith said, running over to a young girl. The girl yelped and looked up at him. "V-Vile..." She ran off into an inn and Keith scratched his head. "What happened here...?"

[Saix 0]

Saix surveyed the scene with no small measure of displeasure. He sucked air through his teeth with an audible 'tsk', his irritation fuming. Like Keith, he had attempted to follow the culprit, and like the veteran front-liner, he had been unsuccessful. Saix didn't exactly have the highest search skill, but still... Vile must have spent the entire time he had been stuck in the game developing this build for the sole purpose of hunting stragglers. Saix couldn't even begin to imagine the time Vile must have spent honing his Hide and Sneak skills. This had suddenly become a much more dangerous situation, one that he very well might have been impetuous rushing off without the assistance of the rest of his guild. But that was no matter, he had followed the killer this far, and he wasn't about to abandon the pursuit when he would have to start over from scratch. Scanning the sparse crowd, Saix located only one face that didn't bear a look of bone deep terror. Stepping towards the man, Saix sidestepped a young girl who fled to a nearby inn, and focused his attention on The Blue Blader. "Hey there." He called with a wave. "You wouldn't happen to have any idea whats going on, would you?" He asked in a friendly tone. Most of the players in the little village had been more focused on clearing the streets when he attempted to get any information, only blurting the name Vile as they fled.

[Guest]

Keith noticed the leader of the Ebon Vanguard instantly, who was well-known for having one of the most well organized guilds in the game. Keith smiled and waved back and walked over. "I have no idea what happened here, but I think I know what caused it." Keith slid down his menu and sent statistics to Saix. "Vile. The statistics showed a player clad in sleek purple armor, with a crossbow attached to his left shoulder. His helmet had a sleek black visor which covered his face. Perched on his other shoulder, a black bird with a red beak glared with hateful eyes. "He's been praying on lower levels since the game started. I've heard he's responsible for over 250 deaths so far."

[Saix 0]

"Always a pleasure Yudai-san." Said Saix, in a friendlier greeting. Sometimes his impatience to deal with the threat got the better of him, but it was no excuse for ill manners. Keith Yudai was famous for being the current number one player in the game, a position that seemed to fluctuate as the Front-Liners were always improving their levels. Checking the statistics with a serious expression, Saix read through the sparse information, his expression becoming increasingly cold. Most of it was not new, he had heard the rumors plenty of times. However it never failed to provoke his anger when he saw how destructive some players could be, especially when that meant killing their lower level fellow players. That was not to say Saix hated player-killers, he had friendly relations with a few. But wanton slaughter was another matter entirely. Vile wasn't even bothering to loot the corpses he killed, he merely seemed content to kill any hapless traveler he encountered. "Ah, I should have known. I tracked him as far as this village, but I've lost the trail. Something needs to be done about this, before more players end up cowering in Starting City. We need as able players leveling up to head to the Front-Lines as possible, and the fear this Vile is causing is only making that harder."

[Guest]

Keith nodded in agreement and he looked around. "Don't you think it's... Odd. Vile only killed the NPCs, and left all the players untouched." Keith began to think more and then he heard a slight jingle, and he saw he had received a PM. He opened it and read aloud, "If it isn't the Blue Blader himself. I should feel honored that I've sparked you're interest. And not just that, but Saix as well. Two more ice cubes in my drink of success... I heard that you two are fast. Faster than anyone else at that. But let me make one thing crystal clear, no matter how fast, quick, or swift you are, you will never catch me. And to make sure of that, I've set up toxins all around the village, each set to release it's gas in ten minutes. Better act quickly, and I would say it's been nice knowing you, but that would be a lie. It was fun, Little Boy Blue." Keith closed the PM and looked at Saix. "We gotta stop those toxins!"

[Saix 0]

Saix cursed, which in and of itself was something of a rare event. Normally cool and collected it took a lot to rattle the <>, but the prospect of a village full of players about to be gassed into oblivion was about enough to do it. However, perhaps they had a chance. "If it's gas, it's going to be in the open so that it can properly disperse in a cloud, most likely upwind so that the gas cloud will travel further with the wind. We also need to check largest building where the most players will be waiting, if he wants to use poison he is aiming to catch as many possible in the cloud." He said, quickly accessing the situation from a practical standpoint. This was his greatest strength, pulling a situation apart quickly and thoroughly.

[Guest]

Keith nodded and pointed at the main hall. "Let's try over there!" The two ran towards the building and Keith burst through the door climbing the ladder to the roof with Saix. At the top, Keith looked around and then heard a rumbling. He stopped and looked at the bell tower n the building, as something made noise behind it. "Let's try back there!" He said, starting to run over as the noise made itself present. A player crawled from behind the pillar, both of his legs had been removed and a pack releasing purple fumes was strapped to his back. "P-P-Please... M-Make the pain g-go away..." The player begged, as he was revealed to be part of Vile's sick game.

[Saix 0]

Saix was quick to follow, the two men rushing to the nearest place one of Vile's bombs might have been planted. Saix was confused at first, wondering if he had over-thought the situation. Would Vile know the specifics behind a gas attack, what if he had just scattered them around haphazardly and was hoping for the best? However, Saix's line of thinking was cut off when they found the legless player, strapped to the device that appeared to be releasing the poison gas. Drawing his sword, and pulling free his cloth scarf to muffle his face as he held his breath, Saix rushed forward to cut the pack free in the hopes of being able to disable it. If they were timed to go off, there had to be some method of shutting the flow off, otherwise the gas would have leaked away before ever going off. Through it all, one decision weighed heavily on Saix's mind. Vile would die for this.

[Guest]

Keith helped Saix remove the pack but was stopped as he saw three large pikes forced it into the player's back, pulling was useless, and only caused more pain. "They must have some kind of thorny design... Like a fishhook." Which meant that pulling it out was useless. Keith drew his Katana and opened up a small panel on the pack, looking at copper wires that ran around the pack. Vile planned ahead more than anticipated. He stripped all the wire colors and made it that much worse to find out. Keith gulped and closed his eyes. He cut a wire. The fumes and humming from the pack stopped, and the player's breathing slowed. "Just in time..." Keith said with relief. "Where did Vile go to?" Keith asked the player. "Over to that old temple... Please... Stop him..."

[Saix 0]

With the deadly gas trap thwarted, Saix glanced at Keith, his dark eyes shimmering with anger. The normally stoic leader of the Ebon Vanguard was for all intents and purposes, pissed. "Vile dies today." He muttered, his tone clipped and cold as the inside of a tomb. His hand gripped the leather wrapped hilt of Guilty Thorn hard enough for his knuckles to go white under the force of his grip. Simply put, Saix had no remorse when it came to a man consumed by slaughter. There were orange players, and there were red players; Saix would not suffer a mass murderer to live. Standing, his deep red coat billowing softly in the breeze, he set his gaze on the Old Temple that had been pointed out. It's a trap. You know that, right? He added, as he forced himself to calm and look at the problem rationally. "It is all a game, he is provoking us and trying to get us to rush in foolishly. So, what do we do?"

[Guest]

Keith scratched his chin and thought for a while. "He seemed sure that the gas would have killed us, but he knew when it would go off. We stopped the attack in about six minutes, which means we have four until he checks our status. We'll have to hightail it over to the temple if we're going to get in before he tries another trick. You ready for another run?"

[Saix 0]

Saix shrugged at that, and gave one final cryptic warning before beginning the madcap rush towards the abandoned temple. "He is pretty smart, I don't think it would be wise to assume anything other than he is prepared for the unexpected. It could still be a trap, just a contingency plan should we survive his Gas Attack. Or at least, that is what I would do." He said, before sprinting after Keith in the direction of the Temple. Saix had founded the Ebon Vanguard on the basis of using coordinated tactics to bring down any enemy, and while he had never used those tactics against another player, seeing Vile's mad scheme unfold was an uncomfortable look into the direction his own guild tactics could go if he ever crossed the line and went too far.

[Guest]

Keith slid to a halt at the temple as they reached the entrance. "Maybe you're right... We'll have to be cautious about this" Keith's ears twitched and he looked up with quick speed at a tree, just as a bird flew out and toward the back of the temple, it's blood red beak cawing as it left. "...He's been watching us this whole time. That bird was watching us ever since we went into the town..." Keith balled his fist and looked back at the entrance. "Det här är inte bra ..." He mumbled.

[Saix 0]

Saix watched the bird lazily fly away, as his compatriot muttered in Swedish. So they had been spotted. Vile had left a lookout, clever. They would have little time to catch the man unaware now, but they had come this far. We won't have much time, but if we can get inside fast enough to confront him, then even the warning from his bird won't be enough to give him any more advantage then he already has. Alla sätt är bra utom de dåliga." said Saix, giving a look in Keith's direction, as he quoted a fairly old Swedish Proverb. Sometimes being the son of a Foreign Minister could be useful.

[Guest]

Keith smiled and gave a thumbs up. "Well, let's see how fast we can really go!" He looked back into the entrance of the temple and got into a running position, stretching his legs before he got ready to take off in a sprint. "Ready Saix? We're gonna need to be quick if we want to reach this guy before that chicken gets to him. And from what I've heard, this temple is packed with poison darts and pikes. So this should be a walk in the park! Let's go!" He said, rocketing off in a sprint.

[Saix 0]

It was difficult, but Saix managed what he hoped was a confident smile. Oh, he was confident alright that wasn't the issue, it was just the rage that was choking his heart like a fiery fist made smiling difficult. Saix had wanted to kill Mavericks before, if only to spare the players trapped in Aincrad from their marauding ways; but he had never wanted to kill a man so badly. Bitter black rage was filling him, and he felt as though his skin might split and burst at any minute. Vile's game thus far had been utterly depraved, and in the face of such calculated madness and cruelty, Saix felt as though their was no other recourse but death. If only to spare another victim the pain of Vile's machinations. "Ready..." he replied, racing after Keith into the trap laden Cathedral.

[Guest]

"Alright, let's go." He said, walking through the empty temple with Saix. Traps were more than likely to happen, and there were even more so to be many. Keith stepped carefully, and after they made their way through the entrance, they came to a tunnel, leading deep down. there may have been stairs once, but it was now eroded away, and left a slope-like surface down to darkness. "Should we go down it?" Keith asked Saix, looked down into the darkness that Vile was more than likely in.

[Saix 0]

Thus far they had not encountered anything too dangerous, and as Saix stared down the sloping stairs that led into darkness his brain was a whirl with scenarios. The most likely scenario was that Vile was using the lower levels as his base of operations for this game, and that he had another entrance into the abandoned building. After all, climbing up and down that slope would prove a poorly accessible base. It would certainly explain why they had encountered no traps yet, and would likely mean that the most dangerous resistance would be once they reached the sublevels, where a competent huntsman would ensure his traps were ready to pick off unwary prey who had traveled their way down that slope in the dark. Saix cocked his head at Keith's question. "I don't see any other way to find him... But it's probably going to be trapped at the bottom. I don't think Vile has been using these upper levels at all. So he probably has another entrance somewhere, and was free to trap this obvious one."