[PP - F1] Imagine Dragons

[Lessa 1]

I get older and life fades but you remain. Open up again, I believe in second chances.

Floor 10

"And no one has been able to get in, huh?" Lessa stood with her hands on her hips, gaze fixed on the castle's front door. The entrance was massive, looming so far overhead that it seemed to disappear into the cavern's ceiling.

"No ma'am," came the NPC's answer. A citizen of the nearby town, the man had been boasting of his find in the tavern. Having been in the right place at the right time, Lessa overheard, and asked him to escort her. As they'd walked, he'd explained that the castle had simply appeared one day, materialized out of thin air. He had no idea what it was, where it had come from, or how long it would stay. All he could tell her for sure was that it was well guarded.

And why guard something unless it's valuable, Lessa asked herself, leaning closer to examine the lock. It was unique, unlike anything she had ever seen before. Nine individual chunks had been seemingly taken out of the door, arranged in a perfect circle. Reaching out, her fingertips brushed the indent, as if it would provide some sort of clue. "Any idea what these are for?" she asked, straightening once more to look at the NPC.

He nodded. "It appears that a dragon has been located elsewhere, guarding a gem that might fit this slot." He shrugged. "I'm afraid that's all I know."

If Lessa had retained any skill from before Aincrad, it was how to dig. Less than an hour later, she'd asked all the right questions of all the right info brokers, and she was heading to the first floor. On her way to the teleportation gate, she composed and sent a quick message.

Spoiler

To: @Alkor

Stumbled across a potentially interesting quest line. It has dragons.

Want to meet me in the amphitheater in Tolbana? I'll be heading that way in an hour or so.

Let me know.

- Lessa

Spoiler

Level: 40 | HP: 800 | Energy: 80 | Base DMG: 15 | Base MIT: 72 | Acc: 4 | Thorns: 2 | Heavy Momentum: 1 | Bleed: 1
2HSS [5] | Heavy Armor [3] | Protector Familiar [3] | Survival | Howl | Precision
Scarecrow’s Twin [+2 DMG/+1 BLD] | Rose Gauntlets [+2 Thorns/+1 HM] | Rosebud Charm [+3 ACC]

Housing
Rested: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat.
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Clean: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 20% (rounded down).
Col Stash: +5% bonus col from monster kills and treasure chests.
Multipurpose: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll.

 

[Alkor 0]

A message flickered into view in front of him and Alkor stopped. There were only a handful of people who might reach out, and his mind filtered through them all until he read her name. He was glad to have a chance to get normal interactions with her, after all the time he spent being everything but himself. He looked over the words and blinked. Dragons? Well, any gamer had to like dragons. Who didn't like dragons? Alkor liked dragons.

He typed off a quick message and affirming that he would join her, then hurried off toward the teleporter. After a few minutes of travel time, he made it from the Town of Beginnings to Tolbana, most likely fairly far behind the woman. The first Frontliners had met there, in the ampitheater just ahead of him. To think, that's where his journey would be reborn.

The symbolism actually made him snort loudly.

"Okay, now to find Lessa," he muttered to himself as he moved toward his destination, glancing through his inventory as he moved. "Let's see, I have..." He doubted seriously that there would be a real challenge for either of them if the quest brought them to the first floor, but in this world, it always paid to be prepared.

When he arrived, he gave her a nod. "I made it," he announced.

@Lessa

Alkor

Level 22

450/450 HP | 44 Energy | 8 Base Damage | 3 Evasion | 2 Savvy | 21 Mitigation

[3] One Handed Straight Sword [3] Light Armor [Mod] Athletics

Nightbringer: +3 Damage T1 Perfect One Handed Straight Sword. 

Black Lion King's Cloak: +2 Savvy +1 Mitigation T1 Perfect Light Armor. 

Vagabond's Mark: +3 Evasion T1 Perfect Trinket.

[Lessa 1]

“So you did!” The woman slapped her hands on her knees in a gesture that simply oozed Midwest. Then she pushed off them, shoving to her feet, and leaving the bench she’d been waiting on behind. “Glad you were able to.” She nearly gave his upper arm a sturdy pat, as she would in greeting for her other friends, but she quickly decided against it. She’d grown so used to these brief, careless exchanges of physical contact in the past months. But Alkor was different. If he preferred to remain just out of reach, she could respect that. Once, she hadn’t been able to, but the years had changed her in more ways than one.

”So my offer interested you, huh?” Her blue eyes twinkled beneath the first floor’s strong sunlight, eagerness and good humor swirling just below the surface. “I came across a castle on the tenth floor. Apparently it just materialized there one day. No one can open it, but there’s slots in the door for what might be nine different gems. First one is apparently guarded by a dragon somewhere in the plains on this floor.”

Lessa tilted her head, her tangle of braids slipping over her shoulder as she eyed her friend. “You up for slaying a dragon?”

[Alkor 0]

The very idea of a Dragon is what made some children fall in love with fantasy. The genre was wild and exciting, and when it was applied to games, they often magnetized new Players. To hear about a Quest line that involved the mythical beasts gave Alkor something to be excited for. It was rare anything beyond leveling up interested him.

But Lessa didn't need to know he was excited, right? She would be content knowing he was in if for the experience. He didn't have to-

"Yeah, I want to fight a Dragon," he admitted.

Okay, way to keep your Poker face up on that one.

"Read a lot of books as a kid with Dragons. I'd never meet one in the real world, but here? That's worth looking into." He rested his arm on the sheath of his weapon and reclined a bit. "Won't get a chance if we don't go for it, right?"

I've got to be more friendly than I used to be, but still set boundaries. We're friends. Friends are nice. Friends talk about stuff like dreams and hopes. Right?

"So, we're looking for a Dragon, probably guarding a gem. Anything else important to know about it?"

@Lessa

[Lessa 1]

Lessa’s smile widened, genuine amusement flushing her cheeks. “My goodness,” she drawled, “am I sensing actual interest?” Her hands found her hips, and her gaze found his, a single eyebrow lifted. “Dare I even say, excitement?” She was grinning by the time she finished. “I’m already enjoying Alkor: Lazarus edition.”

The woman began to walk, giving a slight flick of her wrist to invite Alkor along. “I wasn’t a huge fantasy fan,” she confessed, “but dragons are badass. There’s absolutely no arguing that.”

They matched each other stride for stride as they exited the amphitheater and neared the city limits. “Unfortunately, that’s all I’ve got. The NPC told me about the gem, and I had to bug a couple of info brokers in order to get specifics. Even then, it’s a bit unusual. How has a dragon been hiding in the plains of the first floor this entire time? How has no one seen it? I mean, there’s tons of people here, and dragons are...” Lessa motioned with both hands, “kind of enormous.”

@Alkor

[Alkor 0]

It didn't exactly surprise him when Lessa said she wasn't interested in Fantasy. She always seemed less like someone who would get into an MMO and more like a sporty, horse riding, carefree kind of girl. Well, for what Alkor knew about girls. He only had experience with them limited to twelve years of required school, and even then, he had been ostracized and bullied. Girls didn't show kids like Thom the time of day.

Lessa was nicer, though. She'd always accepted him, and tried to be close. He knew she meant well, even if before he had gone about communicating with her all wrong. Still, when she said it was odd that the Dragon had been "hiding..."

"Oh," he began, "you know about the Cardinal system, right?" He glanced at her and swiped the menu open. "It's the thing that controls everything that we're not in this world. All the NPCs, all the quests, all the mobs. It thinks in real time and responds with new data. It can generate new information on the spot."

He opened the item menu and scrolled through it one last time. Health potions he wouldn't need, but still had were present. The menu flickered closed. "That's how, probably. As we cleared more floors, Cardinal reacted. It could have been programmed in all along, or it responded to a need for new quests."

Alkor blinked. "Also, I understood that reference. The Lazarus thing."

@Lessa

[Lessa 1]

The woman blinked owlish blue eyes at her companion as he spoke. When he had finished, those same eyes rolled heavenward. "I know about the Cardinal system, jackass. I have been trapped here just as long as you have." She smirked a bit as she added, "Longer, when you really consider it. I mean, you napped through a good 75% of it." It was getting easier to make light of his death, and the years she'd spent without him. Every time she cracked a joke, just a bit of the weight disappeared from her heart. But had the wound been too severe, and the damage irreversible? Could she really undo his absence, un-see his body being consumed by the Hydra? The thought caused a shiver despite the warm sunlight, and again focused her thoughts on the present. 

"But I guess I didn't consider how it could spawn irregularly," she finally admitted, ceding the point. "Sources told me it wasn't too far from the town. Maybe it'll spawn now that I've visited the castle?" The idea actually intrigued her. As much as she hated the game, and the predicament they found themselves in, she had to admit that the system was fascinating. "You think it'll come swooping down as we walk across a field? God, that'd be cool."

[Alkor 0]

He tilted his head when she said she knew about Cardinal. Well... it did make sense. Maybe he said too much in explanation? He had been pretty excited to learn about it when they were interviewing Kayaba Akibhiko in that magazine...

And his mom even told him to shut up about it, at one point. 

Okay, yeah. I overshared. Oops.

"I didn't choose to be asleep," he protested. "I didn't even think that was possible. I must have glitched out."

She shifted gears and talked about the quest again, so he followed suit.

"That would be cool," Alkor admitted, "but I honestly don't think so. If there was a mob in the air anywhere, we would be able to see it at some point when we got close enough. The first floor's pretty small, so..."

He moved his finger around in a circle. "...I do wish, though." 

Watch it swoop down, now.

[Lessa 1]

The swordswoman lifted a finger of her own, both to pause her friend, and to gesture to the the clouds. “Ah,” she told him, “but couldn’t it just spawn in over our heads when we’ve met some certain criteria? Standing in the right spot, or maybe spent the correct amount of time searching.” She shrugged. “Something like that.”

The mere thought had her looking skyward dubiously. “That would be terrifying,” Lessa mused aloud. “To just be strolling along, not a care in the world, and then OH [censored].”

The last bit had come as a shout, and while it may have appeared as just dramatic story telling, Lessa actually stumbled backward - she had nearly stepped on a tiny green creature. Her heart thudded, adrenaline pumping like fuel through her her veins. She had nearly missed the hatchling, as it’s scales matched the grass that it lay in. As it blinked wide, white eyes up at her, Lessa muttered, “I didn’t think the first floor had lizards.”

[Alkor 0]

"Uh, hey, are you good?" Alkor took a step toward her with a hand outstretched, only to realize the woman had stumbled over a small green creature. "For some reason," he started as he crouched low to get a better look, "I don't think we're gonna get quite that much of an exhibition."

He tilted his head, fascinated. It was a smaller version of the more exquisite beasts they had been discussing, but it was still within parameters. "I've never seen anything like this on the first floor before. I think you may have literally stumbled upon our quarry."

It did occur to him that the game might have put something infinitely more dangerous than the dangers they were used to in front of them, but he also didn't think it would just randomly spawn something like that on Players that had not gone quite so far as they had. There were rules within the system that prevented random, unmitigated slaughter of low level Players. If they wandered astray on their own, all bets were off.

"What do you make of it?" he asked her.

@Lessa

[Lessa 1]

“That’s a dragon?” Lessa cocked a single skeptical eyebrow, tilted her head, and stared down at the tiny creature. “Nooooo.” But it’s long tail slithered back and forth like a snake through the grass, and it’s nostrils flared as it tasted their scent. “Okay,” she amended. “Maybe.”

She fell to her knees beside Alkor, then leaned forward so she was on all fours. “It does kind of look like one, I guess.” She dropped flat on her stomach to better see underneath it’s small body. “And yeah, that could be a gem it’s sitting on.” A quick push-up has her back at eye level with the baby. She glanced up at her companion. “But it also looks like a scaly puppy.” As if in response, the tiny creature gave a small yip.

Lessa melted. “It’s soooooo cute.” Then her eyes widened. “Wait, do we have to KILL it?” Horror washed over her face. “I’m not killing it. You kill it.”

[Alkor 0]

"I guess you could try to take it with sleight if hand, or just grab it if you wanted?" Alkor tilted his head. "Doesn't look like it's keen on moving, though." He stood up and jabbed his sword toward the creature, which spat and hissed in defiance. Swirls of smoke and miniscule flame spewed from its diminutive maw.

"...no, yeah, I'm pretty sure we have to kill it." He took the blade tightly in hand and glanced toward Lessa. "That doesn't mean you're getting cold feet about it, right?" He kept her in his gaze over his shoulder for a moment.

It wasn't like before. She wasn't terrified, they weren't facing a massive serpent god. He didn't have to protect her.  If anything, she was more heavily armored, and had plenty of time to get ahead of him.

"She could put you in the ground." [Explitive] that guy. What a ponce.

[Lessa 1]

"Aww," Lessa murmured as fire spouted just feet from her face. "You upset it." Despite the smoke that still swirled in the air, Lessa inched closer. Breaking her gaze away from Alkor's, she shifted to get a better look at the half-pint hatchling. "No cold feet," she corrected, pouting a bit as she studied the creature. "Hell, you'd have to have a cold heart to want to kill this little guy. I mean, look at him. He's so little. And precious."

She leaned closer still, now only inches away from the wide, unblinking eyes. She could feel the heat rolling from the paper-thin nostrils as they flared. "I'm going to see if I can talk to it. Maybe this isn't just a typical hack-and-slash quest? Maybe we're supposed to think outside the box? I'm actually pretty good with animals, so I'm going to-"

It bit her face.

Moving faster than should have been possible, the emerald dragon lashed out, clamping his tiny jaws around her nose. Lessa roared in surprise and anger, both stumbling back and drawing Scarecrow's Twin at the same time. The blade burned hot magenta as she activated <<Galaxy Destroyer>>, her most powerful Sword Art. In fact, the blade had hardly touched the verdant scales before the creature's health bar plummeted into the red. But still, it lived.

"Just stomp on it or something," she roared, clamping her free hand over her nose.

Spoiler

[H: 1] Lessa: 800/800 | EN: 67/80 | DMG: 11 | MIT: 72 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 3 | THN: 18

 ID# 132349 results: Battle: 8 Craft:7 Loot: 19 MOB: 1

<<Galaxy Destroyer>> activated. 13x11=143

Rhaegal - the Emerald Hatchling: 125 -118 (decreased due to 25 mit) = 7/125 HP

[Alkor 0]

"Little and precious, right?" he smirked. There were very few things that caused Alkor to react visibly, but the absolute irony of Lessa attempting to befriend the Dragon took the cake. "Maybe I'll try to be it's friend..."

He brandished the blade and spun it deftly once. It ignited a deeper crimson hue than normal, and in a flurry of motion, he skewered the small dragon five times.

It expired with a pathetic sound- perhaps as cute as Lessa had thought, but only in death. "In Hell, anyway," he shrugged.

He knew the woman thought he was heartless after the whole tournament ordeal. He wondered if that had something to do with how things had happened, and let his mind wander over things briefly before he spoke again.

Alkor looked to Lessa and blinked. "It doesn't hurt, right? You surprised me with that reaction."

 

450/450 HP | 44 Energy | 8 Base Damage | 3 Evasion | 2 Savvy | 21 Mitigation

Lessa: 800/800 | EN: 67/80 | DMG: 11 | MIT: 72 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 3 | THN: 18

Alkor activates <<Star Quint Prominence>>

Rhaegal, the Emerald Hatchling: ID# 132371 result: 9 | Critical! 8-(49-25=24)= 0 DEAD

MD: 1 LD: 12

Rhaegal’s attack misses.

 

[Lessa 1]

"No," Lessa growled through clenched teeth, giving her nose a good rub before letting her hand fall away. "It doesn't hurt. Little asshole just startled me." She glared at the spot where the hatchling had stood only a moment before. Its absence revealed the egg-shaped gem, nestled in a nest of bent grass. Stooping, she picked it up and offered it to Alkor for inspection. The emerald glistened in the midday sun, and Lessa briefly wondered how much a rock like this would cost in the real world. "Kinda want to just pawn it and take the col," she mused aloud. But a quick inspection revealed the 'quest item' descriptor. "Ah, dammit."

The blonde shrugged, dropping the object into her inventory. "Maybe the castle'll have better rewards." Her blue eyes lit suddenly, "Or opening it will start a new and exciting quest line?" It would be nice to do something new. There hasn't really been anything to shake things up around her." A full three seconds passed before the stupidity of her comment dawned on her. With a sheepish smile, she added, "I mean, besides you coming back."

She let the silence fall between them, turning to glance back toward the Town of Beginnings. A warm breeze swept across the plains, shimmering blades of grass bending beneath it. Lessa's eyes closed, and she simply enjoyed the sensation of sunlight on her face. Then, suddenly, "You know, we first met not too far from here. Isn't that a weird thought?"

[Alkor 0]

Alkor saw the item description and scratched his chin. "You said it was on the tenth floor, right?" he asked. "So, why would the quest send us all the way to the first? There must be something to that," he pondered aloud. Alkor had always been an avid fan of puzzles in roleplaying games, and this was just another labyrinth to solve. "Ah, well. We'll know more soon, I expect."

She had mentioned his return like it was some kind of amazing thing, and perhaps for everyone else, it really was. To him, it was just finally the right time to get back to life and business. He wanted to do it right. He should have been able to do that from the beginning-

And there it was. 

The beginning.

"Ah," he mumbled dumbly. "Yeah. The place we first met." His golden gaze trailed toward the Town of Beginnings and he recalled it. How he said he would protect her, and how he had even done his best to do it. All until that hideous moment, when that pompous ass Player Killer got in his face and destroyed everything.

He bit his tongue. He wanted to ask her, why had Daeron come at him like that? Had she asked him? Had she really said all the things he had told Alkor she did? He didn't want to believe that. "Yeah," he said at last. "Kind of weird, looking back."

They had just started their friendship over, fresh, and he didn't want to hurt that with a question that might make her hostile or defensive. His gaze had become a stare, and the horizon almost magnetic. "Everything got so broken," he spoke, barely above a whisper. "I pushed everyone away, and I almost died. All because of that conceited prick..."

@Lessa

[Lessa 1]

Lessa nodded along as Alkor spoke. "Yeah, there were nine slots in the door. I'm gonna guess that means there's eight more gems out there.“ She stretched her arms out wide, brought them over her head, and clasped them behind her neck. “Question is where they’re at. Are they all on the first floor? Or are they scattered between here and the tenth floor? The latter might explain why an upper level quest sent us down here.”

Alkor’s demeanor change caught the girl off guard. Blinking, she cast a glance toward him. “Yeah,” she echoed, blue eyes narrowing a bit in confusion. “Weird.” What was up with her friend’s sudden nostalgia? If that was what it was - he was as difficult as ever to read. She didn’t recall him being the sentimental type, but why else would his mood shift so drastically? 

Everything got so broken.

It had, hadn’t it? The flame of their friendship had burned too hot, scalding them both, before being extinguished entirely. And worst of all? The relationship’s end had come even before Alkor’s at the hand of the Hydra. Why, she never fully understood. But the feel of his hands on her face, his eyes drilling into hers, was something she’d never fully shook. And his words. Poison.

All because of that conceited prick…

Lessa’s breath hitched. Wait, what? Now she was officially confused. Was she mistaking his meaning, or was he really referring to her as a conceited prick? She’d been wrong to smother a man who needed needed space, but was his assessment of her really fair?

“Hey now,” she said on a forced half-laugh, “that’s not a nice thing to say about me.”

[Alkor 0]

"Nine more," he muttered thoughtfully. That hardly seemed like coincidence. Somehow, he doubted the gems would all be in the same place. Her second guess was most likely the correct assumption. "I guess that's something we'll have to check more into," he said finally.

When she spoke again, he looked at her. "What?" His head tilted. "Why would I be talking about you? That's not something I'd say if I wanted to be someone's friend."

He seriously intended to do right by Lessa- so why did she think that he meant her? "I'm talking about Daeron. He messaged me out of nowhere to meet him after the Twinfire Phoenix fight, then started getting in my face about-"

Alkor looked back at her like he was piecing together an ancient riddle. "You mean you didn't tell him to threaten me to leave you alone? You didn't tell him I was messing with your head? That I was trying to make you fall for me, and playing with your emotions?"

Well, I was going to wait on that conversation, but I guess it's happening now.

"He told me he'd kill me if I didn't leave you alone," he said, "and he tried to fight me to the death. It didn't make sense. It's never made sense. I got that you were upset about the fight in that tournament, but it still..."

Alkor's eyes fell to the ground.

"..."

@Lessa

[Lessa 1]

This time, when the pair was plunged into silence, there was nothing companionable about it. Granted, Lessa hardly noticed, as her mind was a million miles away. Or, more accurately, years in the past.

Was there any truth to what Alkor had said? Had Daeron truly said those things to him? Threatened him? Driven him to extreme measures?

And all in her name?

The woman’s throat constricted, and she tried and failed to swallow around the newly formed lump. It couldn’t be true... could it? Years of blaming herself for his actions, but it had been something else entirely? How could she not have known? 

Why had no one told her?

For a moment, Lessa simply focused on her breathing; each inhale filled her lungs, each exhale expelled negative energy. But today, it just wasn’t working. She couldn’t bail the water out of her sinking ship as quickly as the waves filled it. And the haphazard patch-job on the hole itself was beginning to come loose.

Alone, the storm would overwhelm her, and she’d be swallowed whole.

”Let’s head to the second floor and see about the next gem,” she heard herself say. “Wonder what this one will be. Sapphire, maybe? A ruby?”

Without another word, she turned her back on Alkor.

[Alkor 0]

There was little more to say. She had no answer for him, and there was nothing for him to go off of. If he made an assumption now, there was a chance he would be wrong. She had already blasted him once for that. So, he would wait for answers. He had already waited literal years. So had she.

They would come with time.

Lessa broke the fragile silence first. The woman he remembered- the friend, who he protected back then- she had always been much more outgoing. She had personality where he did not. And in spite of the gulf between them, she spoke first.

As expected.

"Yeah," he replied softly. "Let's go. I'm sure the next one will be a little more more impressive." He said, as if that were the elephant on the first floor.

They moved in awkward silence back toward the town, and the teleporter that waited there. She did not look back at him, and the entire time, her back was his lone companion. He chewed on his own thoughts, manic as ever.

@Lessa

Edited December 20, 2019 by Alkor