[F24-PP] Duty is heavy as a mountain, death light as a feather [Complete]

[Baldur 0]

Floor 24
Panareze
Late Morning
Post Event Boss

Baldur was the first one there, as he had planned it. The restaurant was not yet bustling with players, since the floor had not yet been discovered by the masses. In fact, it had only really just begun to be explored by the frontline players, though now that the teleport plaza was active and anyone could make it up here, and be safe in the [area] effect of the settlement, low level players slowly began to trickle in.

The restaurant was not immediately on the water, though you had a view off of the main island from the side the faced it. Instead, the restaurant was actually part of the upper level of the unique feature of the floor - the coliseum. From where Baldur had made space, they could see into the arena, and watch as the NPC fights slowly roused and began their training session. Though by now, late in the morning, they were well into it. Baldur had been here to watch them warm up.

He had wanted the time to think.

They should be arriving here any moment now.

Baldur assumed that Shield or Calrex would be the first to appear, as they were a little more aware of his mindset when he had planned this meeting as a quick flash of inspiration when the events of the boss fight against the dark elves had resolved. Then the event against the evil artichoke happened, and it drove the frontliners near death. Dead or dying, only Calrex would have been left alive to finish the fight.

Their morale was a mess. Everyone agreed that the frontline needed direction and organization. Shield and Baldur found themselves in position to be ready for this eventuality, but Baldur had been pushing prep in the frontlines for a long time, and the dark elf fight had been the first time that ever came close to being realized.

But more than anything, they needed unity and a situation report. This meeting was not to talk about their new guild, which had not been created yet, but to talk about the fate of the frontline, how to build trust, and how to move forward.

The azure samurai had reached out to @Calrex, @Shield, @Macradon, @Hestia as the tanks going forward. Though he was not sure if Macradon would come. His fate, and the fate of the Knights of the Blood Oath, was in jeopardy now because of Hirru's action. As an afterthought, Baldur had reached out to @Jomei as the man was a potential decision maker, even if he was busy with his wedding. He would have brought Itzal in as well, and Jonathan, but the former could not be reached, and the later seemed to have cast away the determination Baldur needed in this meeting to drive the frontline forward.

The fact that there were so few on the frontline now terrified Baldur. But this core could identify and build up others to join them, otherwise they were at risk of stalling here.

"I hope they come." The samurai said to an empty room, as he sat at a large, empty, round table.

 

Edited February 12, 2019 by Baldur

[Hestia 0]

I arrive onto the twenty fourth floor's main settlement with a smile upon my face as i look at the coliseum and all of its beauty with a nod of my head i would make my way towards the location where Baldur told me to head towards to meet up with him. My familiar walking right by my side as i would just glance around at the floor just taking my time not finding any huge rush at all in getting towards the meeting place since even if this meeting could be about the future of the frontlines, that is something more deserving of actually talking with the entirety of the frontlines or at least somebody that could represent each group. 'And i don't represent my guild. Far from it really.' I think to myself unable to help think of the fact that Jomei is leaving the frontlines and Ruby and myself at least are actually rather similar or at least she is willing to follow my ideas seemingly whether they be the smartest or the dumbest. Focusing back on the present for the moment i would eventually make my way towards Baldur's location taking the long way around to marvel at every little spectacle that the floor provides and thus easily being the last person to personally arrive at the meeting table alongside my familiar.

[Shield 0]

"Something told me you would be bright and early," Shield said, striding into the reserved space and reaching out a hand to greet Baldur. "I know this all has weighed on your mind, so I'm not surprised. I just hope we have players here that are of like minds. There's already been so much division." He found a seat near where the samurai had sat and made himself comfortable, pulling up a page of personal notes regarding their last several boss encounters. "I don't like having to phrase it that way. I am in favor of free speech and free thought. However, when life is at stake, it's hard to really justify taking time for democratic procedure in favor of swift, decisive action."

It was not a mindset that was easy to express, but he decided it was best to leave it at that before he talked himself into a corner. Order and cohesion would be their allies going forward, but they would need to be careful that such things did not come at the expense of the individual's right to think and act for themselves. Shield folded his hands behind his head, patiently awaiting the arrival of the others Baldur had invited. "How many do you think will come?"

Edited December 18, 2018 by Shield

[Baldur 0]

Baldur smiled and stood when Shield walked into the lounge, and took the tank's hand in the firm grip of equals. Shield seemed to be getting close to what Baldur wanted to discuss, but there was a larger framework, that only those who had been longtime veterans of the frontline would understand. Not necessarily of battles, but of the politics that had gotten in the way of battles. That was how Baldur viewed his role. To keep the past from repeating itself, and to do what he could to help shape the future for the benefit of the frontline players. The samurai paid little heed for those who were too scared to leave the settlements. He understood their reasoning, but what was good for the frontline, was in their best interest as well. Only one party was actively helping everyone, and so that put the needs of the frontline, and their supporters, at the top of the pyramid.

"I'm not trying to work around the planning meeting, that'll still have it's course. But we need to know where everyone stands. I wanted to start with the tanks, because as far as I'm concerned, they're the de facto leaders. It starts and ends with you guys. We need to know who we can count on, and who we can't. But with this group of people, I think we will find similar minds. Once we understand where everyone is coming from, then maybe we can talk about how to proceed from here."

When Shield mentioned the thought that was on Baldur's mind, he gave the man a hesitant smile.

"With this group? I think they'll all show. What they'll have to say, however..."

Baldur let the thought trail off.

[Calrex 0]

"...You can count one more at least."

Not long after Shield and Baldur spoke the Ultramarine Knight entered into the "invisible bubble" that was the conversation area. Even though he wasn't far behind the others, it was enough that he suspected they didn't pick up on his presence. This time he was not clad in his full heavy armor, instead opting for his regular attire which actually exposed his face. 

Calrex had been doing his own personal reflections on the past couple of battles, but they were more focused towards his own actions rather than tactics or strategies for others to follow, something that had become second nature for him. As one of the few long-term frontliners at the meeting so far, he had seen these times come and go more often than not, and as such was not surprised when Baldur had previously requested his presence as he began to leave from the aftermath of the floor raid.

As nearly devastating as the Artamiel fight was, it wasn't the first time he had seen a lot of people come under threat, and as such his senses to some level were acclimated to that. The dark elf council fight was the one that had him pause for a moment in surprise. Not once ever in any previous floor raid did a player decide to protect the boss AIs they were fighting.

"Good to see you all."

With that he found a nearby seat before taking his hands out of his jacket pockets, ready to engage with the others gathered.

[Hestia 0]

As i arrive at the area i see Shield nod towards me as i give him a friendly wave as i sit at the table and looks between the two other tanks that are much better than me at this whole thing from hard work, and one having a unique skill that i don't even know how he had gotten and where such skills even come from. 'There is much to wonder really about what has happened during the times i wasn't even present for the fight for Aincrad. I can only be here now though and make sure i leave behind a story worth telling.' I think to myself calmly as i look towards Baldur with a curious look within my blue colored eyes as i gaze between the players once more as my familiar rests at my feet. So than you wanted to talk about something to me Baldur about some kind of future of the frontlines..though i do notice that you only have a interesting small selected group of players. As i gaze between the tanks as i can easily piece the common thread between the three of us which is the standard build framework that all of us have, but beyond that can't figure much else.

[Shield 0]

Shield extended a hand to Calrex as well. It had been some time since they had been face to face outside of a boss or boss raid meeting. "This is probably about the most causal setting we've seen together since we took out those pirates," he joked, giving a slight twist of his lips, which was about as much of a smile as one could typically get out of him. "Speaking of which, I've noticed a pattern of you taking midair tumbles on our outings. Between your fall after I alley-ooped you up into the rigging and you face planting in that fifth floor dungeon, I'm beginning to question if a falcon is a good fit for you as a familiar." He added a well-meaning slug to Calrex's shoulder before turning back to the rest of the room.

Hestia had arrived by this point, and Shield turned to address her as well. "Not sure if this is everyone, but I suppose we can let Baldur decide whether to wait for stragglers."  He took a seat and leaned back in it, making sure he had clear view of both the door and those who were gathered. "Then again, I suppose there isn't a huge rush at the moment, so I'm hardly going to press anyone to spill any beans just yet."

[Baldur 0]

Baldur smiled and stood once more when Calrex came to the meeting. He had been waiting for his kouhai, though the term of endearment still made Baldur smirk at the audacity of it while idly wondering how long Calrex would let the azure samurai refer to the highest level player in Aincrad as thus. He gave the ultramarine knight a bow of respect, formally as master to student, and then sat down when Cal did too.

"Thanks for coming Cal-kun."

He only had a moment though, before Hestia would arrive and Baldur would stand up once more, and give her a hand to shake and a bow of his head and then would sit back down.

"Thank for coming, Hestia-chan."

Once they were all comfortably seated, Baldur gestured for the NPC waiter to bring them by glasses of cool water, and hot green tea. He wasn't sure what they would want specifically, but it was better to have something than nothing. The cups were designed in a very mediterranean style, and had lively colors painted all about them. Then entire restaurant was themed for the style of the floor and of the coliseum. He had chosen, however, a plain red tablecloth and the most simple flatware and cups the restaurant had to offer. He had thought about throwing money at it, but Baldur was trying to combat a potential concern about the elite nature of the this group.

"We're still waiting on a few more. Fewer than I had hoped, but all good people."

He turned to smile at Hestia, who seemed unsure of the gathering, while everyone else seemed to hold a sense of purpose in themselves for being here. Perhaps that was because of how well they both knew Baldur's mind. He considered Hestia a valuable and important friend, but she did not yet understand the Samurai's mind.

"I wanted to keep this small, because with a large group it can quickly dissolve into people not being heard. And for the discussion I want to have about the frontline, these people are key to keeping the whole thing on the rails. I wanted people who already knew and respected one another, so that we weren't starting from square one. I hope we're all on the same page, but that's really what we're here to figure out. Find the common ground, and build from there."

It wasn't his intention to be mysterious about the meeting, but he had been running through what he would say for a while now, and he wanted to say it all at once when everyone was here together.

What was important was that they were together.

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave a smirk as Shield threw a couple of joking moments from their previous adventures, accepting the comedic punch to the shoulder with it, "Heh, well Roc is mainly an extension of my eyes, not my sense of balance, so I could probably see something coming from miles away and stillfind a way to not stick the landing. I guess it would be like a cat who's whiskers have been trimmed. Nonetheless it is nice to be chatting outside of the raids."

As the selection of drinks came around the bluenette decided to opt for green tea. Water would have also been good nourishment for his mind, but this time around the warmth of the tea would have aided to him keeping a calm mind."I mean it's really the sensation and experience of drinking a warm drink now. None of us actually need sustenance in SAO, so all of the things we ingest and imbibe are merely to keep our brains from freaking out."

With that he turned so that his face and body was directed towards Baldur, giving his mentor full attention. It was still a funny dynamic that the Western samurai was the highest leveled player's mentor, but Calrex still recognized it was because Baldur had taught him to improve his mental state, rather than his character stats. The man had been a guiding force for both him and Teayre in some of their more difficult moments, and the bluenette would always appreciate him for that.

"Makes sense. After being through so many raid meetings in the past, this seems like a good thing to try."  

[Hestia 0]

I would look between the members here with just confusion as plain as the morning sun upon my face about what i have even been called here for and the reason behind such a low number of frontliners. Though as it gets explained i just nod my head and just accept that this is happening and just do my best to participate to try and understand what is happening and to represent anybody who could have a similar mindset as myself or trust me with the decisions that i make. Closing my eyes for a breathe moment i take a calming breathe before looking at the people gathered myself wearing a nice black winter jacket with fur along the sleeves of the jacket and lining the inside of the jacket. Not being overly affected from such a horrible fashion choice due to having survival unlocked to make this entirely bearable and even a bit comfortable. So we're here as just the tanks and you to talk about the frontlines. What needs to be discussed? I mean...besides the whole Hirru thing and the subsequent people stabbing each other and fighting amongst ourselves. I ask towards baldur curiously purposefully leaving out the Artamiel from the list of things i could talk about from not wanting to think about that event more than what is needed. My eyes glance over from each person and i can't help but feel..lesser than these titans of legends that i had only heard about, zoomed up to fight alongside with, and now having meetings with and nobody else about the frontlines which is a group effort. 'It's just..i'm like a child at a grownups table compared to them on just pure experience.'

[Baldur 0]

Baldur looked around the room, the three gathered here, and the time. It would be a very different salon with only the four of them. Baldur had really hoped that Macradon and Jomei would show up to give some additional perspective, but it seemed they may be a no-show. Spirits were down, that much was obvious. How would they handle that going forward? The thoughts and several others raced through Baldur's head, until they began to make him dizzy with anticipation. When he could no longer bear it, he finally leaned forward, lacing his fingers together as he leaned onto the large round table, only half occupied.

"Alright, well, it seems the others are going to be late or not show up at all, but in respect to your time, we'll go ahead and get started."

The samurai took a breath, and then pushed himself to his feet.

"It's only the four of us, so this will be less formal than I had planned. As I mentioned before, I wanted people to get together here who all knew and trusted one another. I at least have put my life in the hands of everyone here, and I personally vouch for everyone's character, skill, and bravery. I don't know how well you all know each other personally, rather than just in the business of raids, but I wanted to make that much clear up front.

As Hestia pointed out, [censored] has hit the fan, and the frontlines are at a turning point. We are currently brittle steel. If we continue to whack away at bosses without a plan, we're going to crack. I'm worried, in fact, that we already have."

His mind moved to the people who had stated they were stepping away. Not all of them were critical, but enough of them where.

"I feel like we are at a cross roads. We can take this battered, almost broke blade of the frontline, and temper it, forge it to be even stronger, or we can keep on as we have been for 24 floors, grasping dumbly into the darkness and hoping that we succeed with the stake of... approximately 7,000 lives."

Baldur didn't look at Hestia when he spoke next.

"I think Artichoke proved we can't do that. I was proud to see everyone come together at the start of Dark Council boss fight. We had a better than ever supplied frontline, and that showed at how effortless we were able to handle the boss. And then Artamiel came around, and we showed up empty handed and unprepared. I showed up not even knowing what the event was about, or with a concern in the world. It was just another fight, not something that could cripple the ability of people to leave this death game alive. The frontline has the honor and responsibility to take this seriously. Our lives aren't just our own, but represent the best chance everyone has to get out of here, and if we allow ourselves to be reckless and preish, it has a ripple effect."

Now Baldur met her eyes.

"We are bound together, through friendship, through being a band of brothers.. .and sisters... but no one carries that risk more than the three of you."

Baldur took another breath, controlling his nerves, and sat down.

"What I want to start discussing is how you three, as our likely tanks going forward, feel about the current morale going forward. Yours, and your perception of the others."

[Shield 0]

Shield followed along with Baldur's words, nodding here and there as appropriate and as he transitioned to new topics. As he came back around to his conclusion, Shield gave one final incline of his head and sat up a little straighter. "This is largely what I came to you about in the first place, Baldur," he said, his dark eyes focused and determined, though not truly hardened. "I have been seeing strands unravel in boss raids. Players are allowed to act how the like, but there have been a number of fights that players have turned up to unprepared - either through buffs or just mentally - and a few of them have been knocked on their asses. Some have actually died. I don't think it's impossible to set our sights on the front lines no longer having players hit zero hit points. Besides that, though, I've seen in the aftermath of the last two fights how the fruits from those branches have impacted players.

"It's... bleak," he said, heavy tone of foreboding behind his voice. "I lose no small amount of sleep over it. We can put efforts towards preparing goods for raids, but as far as players sticking together and fighting peacably side by side... that's not exactly my strong suit. I had hoped that having a raid commander might help us against the elves, but not only did we have an actual mutiny, it was from that figurehead's actual guild. His brother in arms." Anticipating the protests that Baldur might offer, he held up his hand to complete the thought regarding that subject. "And I'm aware that Hirru was an outlier, and that it came from a... misunderstanding... but the outcome was a disaster. We have players who have actually grown to hate other players and wish real harm upon them, and I haven't seen that on the front lines before. Not so openly at least."

[Macradon 0]

Walking alone, not with his familiar, not with his girlfriend, not with any of his “guildmates”, none. "Where could this place be ... this place is a mess" Macradon thought, even though his morale was high during the event battle, his mind was tainted, his prestige not there anymore. Everything he thoguht about were the negatives, especially when frontliners were involved, since the last real frontliner battle against the floor boss was a greater mess than that. He would sigh as he walked around,  trying to find out the meeting place designated by Baldur would be. After an hour of free walking through the main settlement of the 24th floor, Macradon finally figured out where the place was. Walking by the giants of the floor, the short knight would try not to be stepped on as he shuffled his way through crowds as he entered the meeting point. Draped upon his body were green and black robes with a hood hanging on his back where his sword harness was placed as well with the Blade of the Dictator in its scabbard. "I'm here ..." Macradon said with a less cheerful tone than he would usually say and would find a seat to place himself at around the table. Nothing designated anything that he was connected with any guild, everything he wore was independant of anything, like he was slowly cutting all ties with his former self over time. "Anything I missed?" he would ask, slightly annoyed by the situation that he was late, even with direction from Baldur, but that seemingly wasn't enough for him.

[Calrex 0]

Calrex let his mind remain open as Baldur, Hestia, and Shield said their pieces. At the same time it appeared that one more person would be joining them this day as Macradon sat down in the circle right after Shield finished voicing his concerns, "Not too much, since we just started actually. Make sure you get something to drink though, I have a feeling our virtual throats might start to run dry with the upcoming discussion."

With that he gave a small sigh before addressing the group, "I can understand where that's coming from Shield, although I should probably voice the concern that what you've brought up isn't exactly anything new, for better or worse. It is true that people started attacking each other in the last raid battle, but there have been more than a handful of floor fights previous to when you joined when players have actually been killed by other players both before and during the battle. In fact, two of the main players that contributed to getting us through many floors to where we're at were killed before a boss fight began. I'm sure Baldur and Macradon are still familiar with that raid, when Zelrius and Ssendom were both struck down, after all it was the same one that Tristan entrusted the Achilles skill to me before permanently retiring."

Giving a brief inhale he continued, "As for your concerns with the representation on Hirru's guild's behalf Shield, as Mac I'm sure is aware, the Knight of the Blood Oath's reputation has been in flux in the past due to the actions of previous members during raids. Of course I'm sure we're all aware at this point that what the Jade Hunter did was of his own accord, and not under the command of someone else. There is, after all, the concept of the uncanny valley, and in the past all of the floor bosses we have fought, spare the massive Spartan army, were nowhere close to human. It might be something we should be prepared for in the future, as there is the chance that this one-off might become a more regular occurrence if we're not careful."

Taking a small gulp from his tea the bluenette gave a small exhale, a brief glimpse of condensing steam becoming visible before he continued, "Part of the reason I think that other players that we've fought alongside seem to have issue, especially as of late, is that ability to listen to the chain of command breaks down right when something unexpected happens in the battle. As much as we do all of the planning ahead of time, and to some level the preparations have improved from what I first started helping, the ability for the others to make decisions while under stress has not been one that I've seen develop as we progress further. With that, people tend to fall back and act upon emotion rather than logic, as we could see with the previous raid. Plus, I'm sure there are still a handful of participants that still don't fully understand the risks we're taking by fighting these floor bosses, and the need for full team collaboration in order to guarantee our survival."

[Hestia 0]

I look between the players and just listen to what is being said and just take in the information that i can get from people that have probably been around long enough to had been their for the majority of the raids that have occurred within Aincrad's time, or at least seemingly that could be the case since they at least act like they had been around for quite awhile and seen quite a few floors before anyone else has had the chance to do so. I visibly flinch ever so slightly at being reminded of the Artamiel fight and the subsequent almost dying that had occurred during the process that was going through the fight, and the rather anger inducing for at least myself fact that if i could've lived for one more attack i could've stayed till the very end. I close my eyes for a brief moment and take a calming breathe trying to be as discreet about it as possible from not wanting to disturb the flow of the discussion that is happening around the table, and from wanting to prove own image of myself wrong. After listening to anything i look around and realize there is no one else to speak to stall to prevent me from having to say something about the current state of the frontlines. I'm just the newest person within this entire group really from the frontlines, to actually fighting within this world, and i don't know if i am even really qualified to talk about anything on the frontlines from seemingly not being able to really know the others i guess? I've done at least one quest or just had a discussion with basically everyone on the frontlines, sure. Though we don't know each other. One conversation doesn't mean you can say you know that person, you can trust that person, or if the mistakes of the past could come around to bite us again. I don't even know what those mistakes could even be really. Also, taking commands and doing what is necessary over what you feel and think is not something that would happen easily most likely. I'd even say i was the first domino that fell during that raid from just going out of my way to attack issaxi to answer questions that i felt like asking since i saw it as my singular chance to be able to do that. We're humans, scared kids, maybe scared adults on the inside whether we want to admit it or not. None of the frontliners...well okay MOST of the frontlines are probably not soldiers they're not use or maybe even not comfortable with taking orders if they feel like it is wrong..wrong as a action , or not the right course of action. I say calmly as i look among the various tanks and Baldur that is here as i look at them from one to the next.

I know nothing much about any of you, and you really don't know me that well or why i do the things that i do or what i've done during my stay within this game to make me do the things i do. How about i change that now ever so slightly right now. I'm a older sister who is..like 23 years old i think if i got my years right. Hard to keep track of seasons and days when you were on the first floor for the longest of times. Who is just scared and wants to be able to make it back and hopefully live a normal life with my younger sister and just forget about this world in due time. I do the things i've done since i think and hope what i do is able to protect as many people as i can from being hurt, or attacked unnecessarily. With that said i'll say this now while what Hirru did could be seen as stupid, irresponsible, and as treason to some. I'll stand by what he did and agree with the OUTCOME that occurred from that. Will it work again? Probably not. Since it worked that fight though i will at least standby what he did during that fight and support him if anybody would try to attack him for that decision be it verbal or physical. I say rather calmly for the most part having to quickly wipe away a few tears that wanted to form when i thought about just wanting things to go back to normal and at the thought of just being home and enjoying life. After taking a slow calming breathe once more i look towards Baldur. I don't know what you would want me to call the frontlines besides a group of people with their own separate ideologies, beliefs, and perceptions about the world we live and what the correct course of action is at points. Some of us are just children who want to make it back home, but are too stubborn to sit around and let others die for us when we think we can do something to help them.

[Shield 0]

"Hestia, this isn't a meritocracy," Shield said with a sad sigh. "You may be the freshest face here, but fresh eyes sometimes see things that more seasoned eyes will miss. As long as you have the stats to stay alive, even under the attacks of a tier three floor boss raid, then you're qualified to take part in the discussion. It concerns you more than any DPS." He took another breath, resting his broad hands on either side of his warm mug of tea.

"It's true that we're not soldiers. However, at a certain point you have to make a decision of whether you want to be true to your ideals at the end of the day or whether you want to be alive," he said, his tone deliberate and steady. "I know half of the players - more than half of them - are kids. I am painfully aware of that, and my heart breaks watching players like Jonathan crack under pressure. It's not fair that we are where we are... but it is where we are."

He took a moment to take a long draw from his tea. It was just a little hotter than he might drink in the real world, but without actual pain in SAO, it left him with a slight tingling sensation that was almost enjoyable. "We need to both have one another's backs and to learn how to keep a cool head in battle. Does that mean a boot camp and battle conditioning by leading dungeon raids? Who knows? Maybe that's too far. But in the real world, there is a proven method for how to train human beings to survive life or death combat, and we can't treat these fights like they are anything but that."

[Macradon 0]

 

Macradon would sigh heavily after Calrex’s small welcome, he hadn’t expected anything like this, it began to feel tedious, and Macradon had barely joined in on the discussions. Macradon would take his chair and turn it around a 180 degrees and sit back down on it, his arms crossed leaning on the backrest of his chair, then planting his head on top of his arms. Everything everyone said made sense, but it just somehow ticked Macradon, good or bad he couldn’t tell.

Looking over at Calrex, Macradon would sigh and try to reply to his comment on the KoB “I’m not even sure what’s gonna happen with it. Hirru might resign as Second in Command, it might just end up being Heathcliff trying to recruit members that haven’t heard of the disaster of the second Vice Commander that murdered frontliners she didn't like, or the third Vice Commander who tried to protect a floor boss  from being attacked by the frontlines …” Macradon could feel his throat drying out, just like Calrex had said, but at this point he was too lazy to order anything.

Looking over at Hestia, Macradon would show a blank face that really didn’t convey any agreement nor disagreement. “What would really give the frontlines a good makeover would be discipline. If people are not willing to follow orders, then throw them into one party where their anarchy gan blossom as much as they’d like. But who am I to say that players would just run it down to the boss and block off everyone again.” he said and cleared his throat with a soft cough.

Listening to Shield, Macradon would rock side to side on his chair as he would begin to like the idea of a bootcamp or any kind of frontliner preparation course. “I like that Idea, it would help teach “newcomers”” he said making air quotes with his hands “what the frontlines might feel like,  how dangerous it may be, and how much teamwork matters in those kinds of fights.” he said and would rest his head back down on the backrest.

[Baldur 0]

Baldur gave @Macradon a broad smile when he saw the template come into the meeting, though when he read Mac's body language, he became concerned for the morale of the frontliner. He had seemed to be defeated at the end of the fight against Artamiel, but during the fight, he had been an amazing force against the artichoke. However, he did not have much time to spare thoughts for Mac without missing out on what the others were saying, so he turned his attention back to Shield, Cal, and Hestia.

They were all touching on aspects that Baldur had already prepared to cover, allowing the conversation to flow naturally in the direction he had hoped it would. It meant he was right when he took the pulse of the frontline, and that he was right to bring these people here. He was saddened that @Jomei had been unable to make it, as he would have provided another piece of the perspective to confirm Baldur's suspicions, but the Guild Leader's presence was that of an influencer, and less for getting to the heart of the matter. These, gathered here, were the heart.

"You've all raised really good points, so me try to summarize where we're at, so we can keep the conversation focused."

Baldur held up his hand, and began to count off on his fingers as he revisited their issues.

"First, we acknowledge that the frontline has a pattern to it. This emphasizes that we're not learning from our mistakes, and there is a lack of legacy between the previous raid... let's call them generations, and the newer generations.

"Second, there is a lack of discipline in the frontline. This shows itself in two forms, the lack of preparation of players when they show up to the fight, creating the necessity to supplement the slackers, at the material and energy cost of those willing to step it up, creating a potential drain on our high performers. The lack of discipline also shows its face in the inability of people to work together as a cohesive unit, and put the team and the frontline in front of their personal decisions.

"Third, we have a... trust and morale issue that ties into discipline. We need the frontliners to trust each other, and more specifically, we need them to trust you. And we need you guys to trust your supporters. This is why I started with you four. You are the core." Baldur paused and looked at each of them, his eyes firmly including Mac in that.

"Mac stepped up in a big way, taking on the role of a tank in the last fight because we needed him to, and that is the most dangerous position, especially for someone who doesn't focus on it. And he spent a lot of skill points to do it. That is the kind of leadership, dedication, and discipline we need. People with these traits are going to make the most ideal frontline team members. But ultimately, the tank is the team leader, no matter what the party menu says. We need you guys to be able to have faith in your teams, and trust in your support, so that you feel safe doing what you do. And we need to build the bond of trust with your teams, so that they can trust you to make the important calls. And we need you guys to feel comfortable making the calls. That's the role of the tank.

"And that, I feel, is where we should start."

Baldur leaned forward on the table again, folding his hands together.

"We need a health assessment of the frontline. Who can we could on to be tanks, and who can we count on to be healer support. The immediate, obvious ones are: Shield as tank, Calrex as hybrid tank dps, Hestia as hybrid tank healer, Macradon as hybrid tank dps, Zandra as hybrid healer dps, Ruby as straight healer, though with good DPS. Unfortunately my suspicion proved correct and it seems we've lost both Morgenstern and Kaiser. Unfortunately, this gives us an awkward setup. We need to build tank healer pairs, and then we need to run those pairs through challenging situations to build up trust and teamwork. Those bonds, and figuring out who works with whom will be important. Because the bond of the tank and healer will reflect on the rest of their party."

Baldur smiled at Macradon. The man had hit the nail on the head, exactly the one Baldur had wanted someone to hit.

"So what are our resources for tanks and healers, and what are our ideal pairings?"

[Shield 0]

Shield raised his hand, interjecting a quick thought into the conversation. "Put me down as tank slash off-healer," he said, his hand glowing as he activated his First Aid skill and then dimming once again as he dismissed the ability. "At a certain point, every player runs out of the skills in their main tree and has to branch out. I don't have the full healer load out, but I have some heals and some support."

With that said, he turned to the list that Baldur had provided, jotting them down in an empty menu screen before dragging and rearranging them into different configurations. Finally, he swiveled his screen around so others could see his work. "We need to pair the players who need the least healing with the players who will make the best use of the time they don't spent healing. That puts Ruby and Zandra with either Calrex or myself. Since Cal is basically invincible with his unique skill, we should put the highest DPS healer with him. Beat is always with me anyways, so with his high damage, whatever party I'm in won't be lacking as much. Plus, putting the glass cannons with me makes sense since I don't spend turns on offense. If things get bad, I can support while Ruby heals. Since Mac is just coming into the tanking role, designating him as an off-tank to Hestia to swap in when she's taken a little bit of heat may be prudent. From there she can work on healing to keep the rest of the party up."

Spoiler

Team 1 - Shield        [tank / off heal]        Ruby          [healer]
Team 2 - Calrex        [tank]                         Zandra      [healer]
Team 3 - Hestia        [tank / heal]             Macradon [off tank]

"It's a rough plan, but it's something," he said, sitting back and looking over the teams he had proposed. "Does anyone else have anything to add?"

 

Edited December 20, 2018 by Shield

[Hestia 0]

I shrug my shoulders as i would glance towards Shield as he would start listing off things he can do which is surprisingly little to at least to my shock since the man seemingly is at least close towards my level and shouldn't have much difficulty in branching out towards other things if he really felt like it. 'Meh probably a difference of what he specialized in when it comes to his pure scout stuff he can do.' I think idly towards myself as i than look towards Baldur and thinks about what has been said mainly and ignores some of the emotions that want to bubble up and just shout at some of these people. Having learned by this point that doesn't do much when trying to prove a point from just viewing things on the frontlines and only having had the victory with Zandra and maybe even that tiny victory of having Baldur on my team for the Artamiel fight by proving things with logic. One handed DPS, Tank, Healer, and just recently rank 5 searching. I can kinda do lots of things depending what would be needed of me the more important question is figuring out if we even have enough players for having three groups in the first place. In the meantime if we're down to two groups make the tanks Shield, and Calrex and you can have Myself and Ruby be healers if need be honestly. Ruby specialized in healing, and i am a one handed DPS i won't be doing much to help anybody in a fight at all. That leaves Zandra with her fallen axe she is going to be a-murdering monsters with ease and you can put myself with Calrex. Put ruby and zandra with shield since i've seen Calrex take attacks like a champ that would've murdered other people loooooong time ago so he won't need as much healing. I say as i look towards Baldur when i say that as i can only think of Artamiel and alongside that the annoying bats.

If we do get three groups than yeah that could work really it is just disappointing that the only other healers we know about from the T1/T2 event boss fight are a long ways away seemingly to joining us sooo losing Kasier is making such things difficult since we're barely scraping by in people within that role. Though if i may. I would rather avoid the whole bootcamp of the frontlines thing the reason i know Itzal told me to avoid the Knights of Blood Oath initially as a guild to join is because you guys were supposedly very military chain of command type people. So if you turn the frontlines into that you might just have people not joining out of the context of avoiding such a environment. I say as i look towards Macradon when i describe his guild from what i remember back when i first met itzal and subsequently when i first left the town of beginnings my very first time. Though from what i understand that might be because of someone called..Mack..not you though since you're Macradon the other guy that i've been told about. I say as i realize the really confusing time it must've been trying to distinguish the two during combat when saying something.