[OP-F1] The Garden's Blessing <<Nature's Treasure>>

[Astralin 0]

Astralin was back in the Town of Beginnings, wondering what she would do for the day. "I know I can't train, I don't have enough Skill Points to invest into my new weapon skill... What am I supposed to do until then?" She had heard of some Gardens full of materials being around in the first floor, but she couldn't go out yet, she couldn't fight! Would there be someone willing to escort her again? She was unsure about whether or not there would be monsters about, but she felt kind of terrible, always needing to be escorted to places so that she wouldn't be killed... She would head over to the town gate. Surely there would be someone willing to let her tag along with them to the garden she had heard of... But even then, would she be safe, or would she be susceptible to monster attacks? One way to find out...

Stats & Equipment:

Spoiler

Level: 3

Max HP: 60

Max EN: 6

Damage: 1

 

Equipment:

[T1]Gloves of the Astral Storm(1 Bleed, 1 Paralyze)[Equipped]

[T1]Alkarina's Resolve(2 EVA, 1 REC)[Equipped]

Astral Cape(Vanity Clothing)

 

Items:

(3) Starter Healing Potions (Heals 50 HP)

 

Skills:

First Aid Rank 1

Martial Arts[Unskilled]

 

Edited September 6, 2019 by Astralin

[Takao 0]

There was little for him on this level of Aincrad, the place that acted as the front stage to the announcement of the «ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ɢᴀᴍᴇ», and so seldom did he find himself walking the streets of a city still packed by thousands even years later. On this particular day he didn't roam the streets aimlessly, taking in the once-accustomed sights of a settlement whose familiarity had long since passed, and instead he had a purpose here. Twofold was his purpose here, one he had already fulfilled at the «ᴍᴏɴᴜᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴏꜰ ʟɪꜰᴇ», while the other required a greater deal of tact. However, as he neared the closest town gate, the expression that one individual wore upon her face as he passed had caught his attention, so he stopped and twirled about-face on one heel to face her.

"You look lost," He said, calm and even-toned, as emerald eyes to match the mop on his head settled on her shorter features.

"Like you're searching for somebody, but you don't know who yet." His head tilted slightly, recognizing that familiar look that many of Aincrad's low-levelled players wore when the fear of monsters weighed heavy. All too familiar indeed.

"Looking for a party?" Posed half as a question, half as a statement, his levelled gaze searched her face for a response.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Takao

[Cordelia 0]

Cordelia mumbled a few of her silly 'curses' as she kicked a rock away. Poor thing has been being kicked for a solid five minutes. She wondered if it would ever just explode when she had kicked it enough. She was going to test her little hypothesis right here and now. Pacco squawked in his owner's foolishness, but what was he going to do? He was a weird bird with four eyes! 

Kicking harder than she expected to, the girl let out a small groan as she watched the rock bounce over a couple of hedges. "That's no fun, it's going to take me forever to find it," she mumbled hotly, jogging over to go find her rock.

Poor rock. 

When she had skidded to a halt on the other side, she had realized that there were actual people there. One seemed a tad bit familiar to her... she didn't know from where but she guessed that she had seen her face around town before. The other one, however, was a complete stranger to her.

"Oop- uh, hello there!" She chirped, sobering up and offering the two a friendly wave.

[Joanne 0]

Joanne was taking her daily walk around the first town, meditating on her sword arts and body movements while doing so. She was wearing her full suit of silver, spiky armor (as usual) that hid her body shape. Most would not be able to tell who she was until she spoke when she wore it. As she was moving along, the 6 foot 2 woman's (when wearing the armor) ears perked at a conversation between unfamiliar voices. She glanced over to her right and saw two young women and a young man. Hm? Could they be a small group heading out for a quest? Listening just a little bit longer, she overheard the players discussing being low leveled. She checked the stats above their head. All were of a higher level than her, even the level 3 player. However, it seems like said player was looking for a group. 

She thought for a second before unequipping her helmet and walking over to the small group. "Excuse me," she said, "but I couldn't help but overhear that you may be looking for other players to go on a quest with. I may not be of much help, but if you need a companion, I can act as your shield for a few hits." She smiled gently and looked at the three faces in front of her. 

@Astralin @Takao @Cordelia

[Astralin 0]

A player with green hair and eyes would approach Astralin, saying that she looked lost. "Eh? I'm not lost, I know full well where I am." The green haired player would continue, saying that Astralin's expression stated that she was looking for someone, but didn't know who. He would then ask her if she was looking for a party. "You got all that from looking at my face? That's actually impressive enough to almost make me think you can read minds." She commented. "...Because you are absolutely right. I have no chance of lasting out there for very long. Maybe on the sidelines as a healer, but..." She took a deep breath, and would admit her exact position in all of this. "I heard that there was a garden bustling with materials of all sorts, but I am in no condition to fight, it is impossible for me to go alone. Sure, I found someone who helped me gain the Martial Arts Skill, but I need more skill points before I can use it. I used the rest for the healing skill. I'm not very blade-savvy, you see..." Two other players would come up, one saying hello, and the other offering to join. "Hello! I um, was going to head for a Garden that is said to be bustling with materials...but I am in no condition to go alone. You can join in, if you'd like."

@Takao @Cordelia @Joanne

[Takao 0]

Gloved hands dropped to his pockets while his eyes set on the incoming rock that skipped and landed unceremoniously beside them, garnering his attention enough to make his eyebrows scrunch together in momentary confusion. Ultimately, he looked away, and settled his gaze back on Astralin. An unexpected snort and chuckle snuck up on him at her telepathy comment and Takao shrugged, dismissing the notion with the gesture.

"Lucky guess."

His head tilted at her explanation of purpose, that there was a garden rife with materials for the taking, but the potential threat of monsters made it more risk than reward. Shortly thereafter, they were joined by two others: one offered a simple introduction, to which Takao raised a stationary wave at half-mast to in response, and the other offered to join, to which he inferred the ultimate decision to Astralin.

"I've never heard of this garden place," He admitted, having honestly never heard of it, but then again he didn't often comb through quests on the first floor anymore.

"But it seems like we've got a decent party started then--" Takao's attention shifted then to Cordelia. "You in?"

@Astralin @Cordelia @Joanne

[Cordelia 0]

Cordelia tilted her head before giving an assuring nod. "Yeah, I'm down," she pipped, giving each of the people a small bow. "My name is Cordelia. Pleasure to meet you all!"

She didn't really see why they would need a party to do this quest. It was really just simple gathering, but maybe they were looking to actually fight something? She wasn't sure if the two were really fit to be fighting anything at the moment, though. Cordelia internally shrugged. People were complicated and she didn't really want to dwell on it much longer. 

"Bah, nonsense!" She chirped, patting Astralin's shoulder with a small smile. "You've survived this long, I bet you'll be fine! Plus, you can always send me a good ol' message if you're ever in a tight situation," she added. "I might not be the strongest player out there but I'm always willing to help," she mumbled sheepishly, scratching the side of her cheek. 

[Astralin 0]

The green haired player would claim he made a lucky guess, and he also admitted that he'd never heard of the garden that Astralin spoke of. The player who stopped by to say hello would agree to join, and there, that was three players willing to join! The player introduced herself as Cordelia, and would try to reassure Astralin on her situation. "Well, yeah, but I've only reached level three from healing players, and by punching a rock that a stronger player escorted me to. I've never left the safe zone without someone else, and without a single rank in a weapon skill, how am I supposed to fight?" She was probably sounding ridiculous right now, saying she didn't have a weapon skill. "I...I'm not very blade-savvy, you see... I was never one to use a blade in RPGs. I was kind of disappointed when there wasn't a single damage skill that I preferred."

@Takao @Cordelia @Joanne

[Takao 0]

"Sword Arts make it so that you don't have to have any actual skill with the weapons, so as long as you have points built into the skill, all you have to do is activate them and the Sword Art will automatically take your body through the motion. All you need is a little grit to get over the initial adrenaline from fighting." Perhaps it was a useless explanation and her apprehension from combat was not skill-based but preference, but once he started, he followed through.

"You could build into tank skills too and just let enemies kill themselves when they attack you-- but, anyway." He sucked in a breath, stopping himself from falling into the bottomless pit of discussing theoretical builds, and forcefully refocusing himself on the task at hand.

"Why don't we party up," With his attention fully focused on Astralin again, rather than dipping between her and his own wandering thoughts, he dug into his menu and inventory with practised motions, and equipped himself with «ʀᴀɢɴᴀʀᴏᴋ», his two-handed straight sword. "And you lead the way?" He said again to Astralin. Even though he had other things to be doing, this seemed like a diversion entertaining enough to leave him eager.

@Astralin @Cordelia @Joanne

Edited September 9, 2019 by Takao