[F17] Obsidian Invasion

[Macradon 0]

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133548
LD: 15
Progress: 1/3

Running back through the tunnels, Macradon would come down to the dungeons once again. It was like people were excited to spot the cold mist that would seep out of the tunnel entrances when Macradon approached. The frosty air that surrounded Macradon as he entered the dungeons was met with glee as people surrounded him “Are we to hold hands like the others, sir knight?” one of the older people asked “Uh … yeah, sure, do that.” he replied, “We should probably rush out before someone sees us, so go, I’ll show you the way!” he said and lead a good handful of people with him again, less than the first time, but still a large amount of people. As he ran down the tunnels, he tried to remember the exact path he took going to the dungeons, but with all the tight turns and branching, it wasn’t easy to remember.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Macradon

[Bistro 0]

The woman finally had time to step outside for a bit. As she left her abode, she stuffed the cloth she'd accidentally brought outside into her pockets. A gentle hum, the figure striding over to the teleporter. There would be much to investigate about this new event, and Bistro would want to meet an occasion like this first hand.

An update from one of her contacts -- the invasion had shifted over into its second phase, and resulted in the players' objectives being changed. One mail came in as an update earlier, the town was well defended at this point. Another was about an escape route through the castle dungeons, pertaining towards an escort mission.

Right.

It was fortunate for her to run into such a large crowd right off the bat. The people seemed to be anxious, frantic. Rightfully so, with their homes about to be left in ruins. Clanging a metal skillet in her hands together with a wooden spoon, she caught the citizens' attention. "This way, if you'd follow me, please!"

Quote

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133553
LD: 19
Progress: 1/3
[>> Castle Dungeons] --> [Tunnels] --> [Caves >>]

Edited January 4, 2020 by Bistro

[Basuke 0]

When Basuke opened his eyes, he saw not the pitch black pool anymore. Instead, he was looking at a bunch of mulch on the ground. Was this supposed to be relieving? To be honest, he didn't even know what had transpired during the time he was asleep.

The boy beside him seemed to be excited, though. That got him pumped! It was so nice to feel joy radiating from another person -- incredibly contagious, if you'd asked Basuke. With a hand, he'd pointed over to the other murky pools. There were more?

The boy looked over to the two other players -- Zandra, Anise -- and shrugged with a toothy grin. "Let's go! Wonder what they do!"

As Tsurei shuffled along, Basuke followed. "Not sure. Teleport every floor, saw this. Not normal, sure, so came to..." Ugh, what was the word? "... look around. Yeah, look around!"

They'd stopped at another puddle, and as before, Basuke took his acquaintance's hand in his, reaching out towards one of the other players that had followed along. "Hope this works again."

Quote

Objective: Close Portal
ID: 133551
BD: 10
Group Members: Zandra, Anise, Tsurei, Basuke
Cumulative BD: 10 + 10 = 20

Portals Closed: 1/3

Edited January 4, 2020 by Basuke

[Andromeda 0]

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133485
LD: 9 + 3(bonus) = 12
Progress: 2/3

Down to the castle dungeons with an oil lamp provided by a servant. The passageway to the tunnels was a section of the stone wall on the back of the second cell to the right that could be slid open. Not too different from the usual fantasy stuff, An noted, but an eager smile grew on her face as she ushered her group of NPCs in. But neither was it something she got to see for herself every day! 

"All in? Be careful." And the prison guard slid the wall shut behind them.

Okay, now it was a bit scary. The tunnels were narrow and the sound of every step bounced off the rock walls. They were a good few feet underground and would have been in complete darkness if not for the torches the rest of her NPCs carried. An gave her oil lamp to one of the citizens and held up her map with both hands. Pretty straightforward, the escape tunnel didn't have too many confusing twists or turns. After a routine check on the NPCs still following her, she issued them a reminder. "It's dark and hard for me to keep track of everyone, so please be sure to stick together!"

Edited January 5, 2020 by Andromeda

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

'By the power of friendship!' the blonde sage thought to herself as they were changing their location to a portal nearby, stifling a laugh. "It's MAGIC!" shouted the blonde in reply to Dracul's rude comment. "You better respect it or you might get eaten by one of these things." she added, slightly tugging on his hand so that he had to bent forward to stabilize himself. That act alone earned a few daggers coming from his gaze but the blonde ignored him and replied to Ronnel: "It's certainly more complex than 'go to this place and kill X number of mobs orr this super mob." she said with a smile then slightly increasing the pressure on her hand as she continued: "This is more fun and personal, I think. Wouldn't you agree... Drake?" the person in question decided to grace the last comment with a grunt then added: "I'm glad to be participating in something that doesn't involve braindead damage dealing for a chance. This is way more pleasant, right miss?" with the last part addressed to the more pleasant girl in their party, at least from his point of view.

---

Closing the Portal! 

ID# 133573 (posted on the wrong char)
BD Result:1 
Group Members: @Dracul, @Arabelle, @Ariel - The Crowned Lion, @Ronnel
Cumulative BD: 6+6+1 (13)
[personal portal count: 1/3] 

[NIGHT 0]

Gods, what was that awful noise? The clatter of metal -- a terrible din -- caused her to look towards the distance, NIGHT spying a player in white and brown on a crate. With a hop, they leapt off, leading -- wait, what the heck? That's a massive crowd! She glanced around, spotting a few stragglers from the herd, and waved them over. No doubt that as a collective, other players were also escorting these civilians out of danger by now. When her line had gathered, she followed the masses, a hand up signaling the people to follow.

Down towards the castle dungeons -- it seems like this place was intentional, then, though she wouldn't put it past her anonymous tipper to give her some lousy info. For a moment, NIGHT wondered how the agents she knew were doing, gathering intel about the event. Then she shrugged the thought off, passing under a set of metal bars that were supposed to keep inmates in.

Quote

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133582
LD: 13 (10, +3)
Progress: 1/3
[>> Castle Dungeons] --> [Tunnels] --> [Caves >>]

Edited January 5, 2020 by NIGHT

[Arabelle 0]

Objective: Close Portal
ID: 133583
BD: 1
Group Members: Arabelle, Ariel - The Crowned Lion, Dracul, Ronnel
Cumulative BD: 6 + 6 + 1 + 1 = 14 (fail)
[personal portal count: 1/3]

It closed.

Arabelle had no idea how it happened, but it just did. She hadn't even been thinking of anything special. Had she? Laughing softly at the incredulity of it, the small purple-haired girl followed her group to the next portal. "I don't know what just happened either. Maybe Kayaba finally got tired of his no-magic-only-swords shtick?" This and the previous event really did delve a bit close into magic -- where before, it was generally believed Aincrad was a fantasy world where whatever had been supplying its magic had just dried up. "Imagine having magic classes though. Spell casters, people who infuse their weapons with runes... It would have been amazing!"

Standing in front of the next portal, the four took the same positions.

But braindead damage dealing is kind of fun.

"What? Like the holding hands to close the portals part? I don't mind though," she teased, her lips quirked into a smile. 

However, it was that exact moment when they took each others' hands and... nothing happened. They waited, for some sort of change, but the ominous portal in their midst remained open. Arabelle dropped their hands and glanced at her portal-mates, a bit confused.

"So should I start off with that line again?"

Edited January 5, 2020 by Arabelle

[Zandra 0]

Zandra had just finished closing one the many poertals, she didn’t knew how many others there was thou, with her questionable friend, or was it friend? Yes, Anise was her friend, one of few in this death game. The other two thou, she had never seen them before. But they seemed determined enough to keep on doing this, helping the citizens and closing portals. Actually, she wanted to go help escort the citizens, she wanted to save lifes. That feeling was something she didn’t recognized. And it looked like there was enough people that did the task to escort as many of those poor citizen to safety. Among them was a few familiar faces, so she could keep try to shut these thingies down. ‘’I’m sorry, spaced out a bit.’’ She said before grabbing one of their hands. ‘’Forced teleportation? That isn’t something normal. That seems strange, will have to look into that later. I am Zandra by the way. Nice to meet you usual noob.’’ She said the last thing with a wink.

Objective: Close Portal
ID: 133589
BD: 1
Group Members:Zandra, Anise, Tsurei, Basuke
Cumulative BD: 21

Personal: 2/3 portals closed

Edited January 5, 2020 by Zandra

[Anise 0]

By some, weird reason, that was also not explained to them at all. How did this thing worked? They stood in a ring around a pool of, oil? And why was they doing it? Did the game administrators wanted to teach them to be kind to the environment? Starting some go-green event? This was stupid, so stupid. Not only that, one of the boys was all ‘hey lets be friends.’ Anise just gave him an annoying stare. She rolled her eyes and followed the others to the another, portal? She sighed. ‘’Well hello noob, mind your own business. Zandra, as soon as we are done with this, I am out ofthis stupid thing. Risking you life, for some useless NPC’s? You are even stupidier then I thougth.’’ A short paus as she moved her hands across everyone there. ‘’All of you?’’ and she turned quiet, grabbing a pair of hands. And together with the three other, another portal disapeard.

Objective: Close Portal
ID: 133590
BD: 6
Group Members:Zandra, Anise, Tsurei, Basuke
Cumulative BD: 27 -portal closed

Personal: 2/3 personal portals closed

Edited January 5, 2020 by Anise

[Andromeda 0]

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133485
LD: 9 + 3(bonus) = 12
Progress: 3/3

Reaching the end of the tunnel, An smiled and breathed in deeply...

Only to be greeted by the equally stale air of the large cavern that served as their current evacuation area. So this was it? An thought they had mentioned a cavern, but for some reason, she thought they would end up aboveground at some point again. She stepped to the side and let the NPCs pass, tuning out most of their thanks to admire the new area she had stumbled upon -- stale air and underground or not, this place was something she would likely only see for this one instance! Fires lit at the "camp" they had erected, another medical tent, personal tents for the aristocrats, sleeping rolls for the lower classed, various weapons and tools and equipment that were probably enough for half the town to survive on for a week, and a sizable amount of NPCs settling in -- with chosen leaders directing camp activities.

It was beautif--

A tug on her hand. An looked down at the little girl who plodded in last. It looked up at her with a sweet smile though the sadness in its eyes told a different story. When had these guys started seeming so lifelike? "Thank you for guiding us, ma'am," it rubbed at its eyes. "Can you bring my friend, too? He stayed back in the castle."

AI or not, she felt as if saying no to the poor thing would be completely heartless. She patted the small child's head. "Yeah, I will. Pinky promise!"

More walking.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Andromeda

[Dracul 0]

If this were a anime, people could see a red vein pulsating to the right side of my eyes, clearly being annoyed by Ariel's comments. I give her only the most basic response as the topic of discussion changed to magic... "When I first joined I thought it was that kind of game, then we know what happened.." I added with a dejected smile. "Rather than focused on physical skills I would've much like to learn magic and become a spell caster. " I was getting carried away with the conversation but it was fun on its own. A welcomed break from the constant thought of impending death that hovered over every player. 

Seeing her smile, made my early displeasure almost entirely vanish and my features have soften a bit as well. I didn't even mind the fact that the portal hasn't closed yet, if nothing else we've got more time to hold hands like this.

---

Closing the Portal! 

ID# 133610 
BD Result: 9
Group Members: @Dracul, @Arabelle  , @Ariel - The Crowned Lion, @Ronnel
Cumulative BD: 9
[personal portal count: 1/3] 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Dracul

[Macradon 0]

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133548
LD: 15
Progress: 2/3

While walking back through the tunnels he began to notice many more people down here evacuating and rescuing which was a great help, the more the merrier. With how many he was slowly rescuing, with more people probably rescuing and evacuating at the same time, they would easily be able to get a good flock of civilians to the safe cave. “S-sir knight, do you know the way?” one of the elderly asked Macradon “Uh .. yeah sure. I went this way with the other group and they came out fine, so I’m not sure why this wouldn’t be the way.” he replied, not too confident but still believing that it was the right way “... If you say so, sir knight.” the elderly man replied back to Macradon. “At least getting lost in here for a few minutes must be better than staying in those dungeons amirite?” Macradon said trying to lighten the mood and failed.

[Arabelle 0]

Objective: Close Portal
ID: 133628
BD: 5
Group Members: Arabelle, Ariel - The Crowned Lion, Dracul, Ronnel
Cumulative BD: 9 + 5
[personal portal count: 1/3]

"I'm really gonna say it, you know~?" She let that dangle in the air before broke into a giggle, indicating that she wasn't entirely serious. If the idea of linking hands to close an evil demon portal without really doing... much else was already uncharacteristically cheesy enough, it didn't help that all she could remember was her Catholic school's prayer circles. Just minus the right arm over left arm thing. And with a portal to hell in their center. "But seriously, what did we do differently last time?"

--The informant said something about a strong will, but Arabelle had literally just cracked a joke and stared at the ground.

"That sucks. Having your expectations shattered is one of the worst, though I'm sure you're not the only one disappointed. This game let everyone down in many ways," she remarked with a shrug, but her nonchalant smile kept the conversation light despite the last thing she said. "I know someone who's also into magic. They went the DoT and Healer hybrid route. It's the closest you can get. Planning to do that as well?"

They formed up the circle again and she held onto the fortune teller and the wannabe mage's hands.

A strong will.

Alright, prayers and ritual chanting were likely off. Now for her next best idea to surely closing the portal...

...

Stare at the ground intensely.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Arabelle

[Ronnel 0]

Ronnel frowned slightly at the fact that this portal didn't close as he relinked hands with the open pair. Maybe it was levity in the face of doom or something from the couple of jokes that had been cracked last time, but that couldn't have been it -so many other groups working, there was no way all of them had someone to make others laugh in it. He chewed on his lip.

"Maybe the portals have different levels of strength so how much they need to close changes or something? We are kinda just flying by the seat of our pants with the power of friendship here." He shrugged slightly before raising an eyebrow as the talk turned to magic. He hadn't really been interested in magic overall when he came to this game - he'd actually been hoping to play a ranged class like a bow or cross-bow user, and neither of those had been implemented either. 

"Do we need an old priest and a young priest here now or something?"

 

Objective: Close Portal
ID: 133629
BD: 3
Group Members: @Arabelle, @Ariel - The Crowned Lion, @Dracul, Ronnel
Cumulative BD: 9 + 5 + 3 (17)
(Personal portal Count 1/3)

Edited January 5, 2020 by Ronnel

[Zandra 0]

There, a second succesful closing of a portal. Now there was only, hundreds left? She looked around, the skeletons was gone, but instead, the players have gathered around some different portals, but it looked like it was only three groups that was trying to close them, or destroy them, or whatever. Well, at least the others saved the citizens. Zandra would actually want to do that to, but there wasn’t enough people on portal closing duty, and who knows when they will be activated? Zandra got a feeling that they needed to hurry. ‘’Well, we better head on to next one.’’ She pointed at one nearby and quickly placed herself beside one of its side, if a circle even have a side. She stretched out both her arms like a T, hopefully the others would follow and grab them, or they wouldn’t. She was mostly worried that Anise would just ditch them and run away. Hopefully she wont.

Objective: Close Portal
ID: 133630
BD: 9
Group Members:Zandra, Anise, Tsurei, Basuke
Cumulative BD: 9

Personal: 2/3 portals closed

Edited January 5, 2020 by Zandra

[Anise 0]

Anise could only stare at Zandra. Zandra, the one person she actually did respect. Actually, why did Anise even bothered coming here? What good would this make for her? Right, she came because she herd Zandra was in danger. Thou the danger seemed to be gone now, whatever it was, it had probably been defeated, driven back, or just desapeared. Maybe, it was the presence of Anise the great that had scared it away. A big smile grew on her lips when she imagined herself as a strong warrior, leading armies to battle and be feared by everyone. Then she saw Zandra head over to the closest portal and placed herself there, waiting for the others to repeat the procedure. An idea poped up in her head. ‘’Hey guys. Down at floor four outside the town, there is a cave. If there is anything you need, there is a big chance I have it. I am having good connections with the black market.’’ She said in a whisper to Tsurei and Basuke. ‘’Thou I would appreciate if you not spread it to anyone you cant trust.’’ She finished off before she grabbed Zandras hand.

Objective: Close Portal
ID: 133635
BD: 4
Group Members:Zandra, Anise, Tsurei, Basuke
Cumulative BD: 13

Personal: 2/3 portals closed

Edited January 5, 2020 by Anise

[Macradon 0]

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133548
LD: 15
Progress: 3/3

Smoothly, it all went off smoothly. With everything as is now, it wouldn’t take too long before all the civilians had been evacuated from the dungeons into the caverns, it was great. Macradon was leading his group still and with recognition to what the tunnels looked like the last time he escorted and from his two trips towards the dungeon, he was getting more and more confident on leading the civilians to the safe spaces where they would be able to rest and recover from the horrors of what was happening. Macradon was slowly piecing together what was going on, something about an invasion, something about the royalty of the castle and a bit about the inhabitants that lived in and around the castle. When Macradon had gotten out of the tunnels, he saw the many civilians that had been saved already, this was fantastic, everything was going so great, and the portals had seemingly been closed, so only civilians to be saved now, and with how many were helping, they were bound to get it done.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Macradon

[Basuke 0]

Basuke looked at Anise and Zandra, tilting his head curiously. The English came at him hot and fast -- there wasn't exactly time for him to process their words with care. I mean... what the heck is a 'black market'...?

There was one thing he didn't appreciate, though. Being called stupid and noob. It was a gentle reminder that even in this virtual space, other players could be mean, even if it might've been unintentional.

He followed the two over to another goop puddle, a little put off by Anise's attitude specifically. A nod and a hum to her words, uncertain about what she had said, deciding to piece together the language together at another time. What he could do at the moment though was fulfil what task they had decided to embark on earlier. A little more tentative this time, he grabbed a hold of one of the women's hands, closing his eyes to pray.

Quote

Objective: Close Portal
ID: 133645
BD: 5
Group Members: Zandra, Anise, Tsurei, Basuke
Cumulative BD: 9 + 4 + 5 = 18

Portals Closed: 2/3

Edited January 5, 2020 by Basuke

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

"You never told me you had such aspirations!" claimed the blonde with a smile. "Magic huh..." she listened to Ronnel comment and her smile broadened:
"How about a magical girl!!" she claim enthusiastically with a wink. In her childhood she didn't get much time to watch those kind of shows but she heard kids around her talking about them during recess or when she was on a break at her father's dojo. However, her uprising had been focused on improving her martial arts training; yes fencing is a martial art, or at least the classical fencing in which her father specialized.

She would snap shortly out of the post comment reverie and notice that by her side, Arrabelle was attentively staring at the portal. She was about to ask her not to strain so much when before then the portal closed. "That worked....." she muttered a little perplexed.

---

Objective: Closing Portals 

ID# 133647
BD Result: 7
Group Members: @Dracul, @Arabelle, @Ariel - The Crowned Lion, @Ronnel
Cumulative BD: 9 + 5 + 3 +7 (24, Portal closed!)
[personal portal count: 2/3] 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Ariel - The Crowned Lion

[Bistro 0]

Castle dungeons, castle dungeons. It was difficult to tell where it was, on the account that it was the first time Bistro had even stepped out of the first floor herself. But with the help of her map and the advice from her informants, she made it through. Good.

She'd taken a quick count of the citizens she escorted. Nineteen people -- no, make that twenty, if she'd decided to account for the player tagging behind her. It looked like they had their own party, too. Who was it...?

She was capable of taking a closer look as she stepped into the cell, gesturing the civilians over to the hole in the wall. A glance to their name. Oh? So it was NIGHT. She hadn't actually expected to see one of her agents here in the flesh. A hand upwards to greet her, before she followed behind the last of her line up.

Quote

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133553
LD: 19
Progress: 2/3
[>> Castle Dungeons] --> [Tunnels] --> [Caves >>]

Edited January 5, 2020 by Bistro