[F17] Obsidian Invasion

[NIGHT 0]

It -- it was Bistro? NIGHT couldn't believe it -- she thought that the info broker would never leave the first floor, let alone be spotted in the flesh. What was she doing here?

"Uh, hey!" NIGHT replied, stepping behind her acquaintance. They'd venture into the tunnel by now, the adventurer glancing behind her to check if her pack was still trailing behind her. With a nod, she then turned back to the informant. "Yyyou decided to show up after all, then?"

A hum in agreement. "Wouldn't miss it for the world. Ha," the older woman smirked, rubbing her nose. "I mean, it theoretically is the end of the world for this floor. But I've been told that you guys have been doing a great job putting the town back together." She waved her hands, peering over the shoulders of the citizens in front of her. "So that's good."

"Right," NIGHT replied, shuffling along. A moment of silence fell between them, before she spoke up again. "But you're here because of work for the most part, aren't you?"

"Work... yes. Definitely." Bistro placed a thumb to her own mouth, thinking. "It's unprecedented that the system would cause something like this to occur. An invasion like this... is unlike the other seasonal events."

"Yeah. But like, out of all the ones you come out for, it's one that had danger inscribed all over it?" NIGHT laughed, adjusting her scarf, inviting a similar chuckle from Bistro as well. "Well, I was told it would be safe. This part's pretty safe, don't you think?" A thoughtful glance towards the player in black. "You mean to tell me this is your first move during the event? Even after my advice?"

Hands stuffed into her pockets, as NIGHT smiled. "No, no it isn't. Your information's as right as ever, even for something as recent as this."

"The tunnels are safe. I've been here before."

Quote

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133582
LD: 13 (10, +3)
Progress: 2/3
[>> Castle Dungeons] --> [Tunnels] --> [Caves >>]

Edited January 5, 2020 by NIGHT

[Macradon 0]

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133648
LD: 11
Progress: 1/3

After doing his quick tally Macradon would go into the tunnels again “I gotta save more, let’s see if I can make it on the leaderboards!” he said with glee as he went back in to save more civilians. “Leaderboards? What is the young knight talking about?” he elderly civilian asked out loud. There was a lot of work to do even if it was just a single task to escort civilians, he had already done a great job taking care of the skeletal archers that came rushing in, now he was rescuing civilians. With how he had seen the portal closing happen, there was a limit as to how many portals people could do, and it wasn’t a large limit so Macradon was fine doing stuff that he could keep a tally of, that being the amount of archers he annihilated and the amount of civilians he had escorted, it was a nice balance.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Macradon

[Dracul 0]

Listening to Arabelle, with a slight frown, I took a second to consider her words. I haven't really thought about builds that much as a certain maid kept nagging me about it as well. So I kind of instinctively avoided that subject: "Until now I've been focused more on my profession. I am an alchemist you see, chemistry has always been a hidden passion of mine. While those two aren't the same thing, it felt the right thing to do you know?" I pondered some more then replied. "I don't know for sure but I will probably be a tank. Keeping myself alive here is top priority and I need to be able to keep my assistants away from harm." he added. "But when I'll finally decide, can I count on your help miss for some advice? You're obviously more knowledgeable than me. On that theme." The last statement earned me a "HEY! WHAT ABOUT ME?" from the lion sage next to me.
At this point, as long as these portals closed I was willing to put up with all of the magical girl wannabe's shenanigans. Seeing the portal close, I quickly review the event's details. With a short nod I dismiss the HUD and start looking for another portal while saying: "One more to go and we've done our part. There seems to be a limit to how many of those we can close." he ended his statement by pointing at another portal not so far from them. Let's finish this of quickly and then let's focus on evacuating. Nobody deserves to be in a war zone they didn't ask for...

---

Objective: Closing Portals  

ID# 133650
BD Result: 10
Group Members: @Dracul, @Arabelle, @Ariel - The Crowned Lion, @Ronnel
Cumulative BD: 10
[personal portal count: 2/3] 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Dracul

[Alkor 0]

By the time he heard the news, the relief efforts were already under way. The siege brought down immense pressure and made pushing into the town deeply enough to do any sort of fighting a fool's errand. Still, there were things that Alkor could actually manage.

While the walls were hideously burned, most of the flames had been doused and much of the wreckage had been cleared. Players worked together to alleviate the horrific damage that had been done to the Floor Seventeen settlement, and for the first time Alkor had a reason to believe his newfound faith in teamwork was not misplaced.

The golden eyed swordsman scanned the situation and quickly determined the best course of action. For now, making sure the people trapped in the dungeons made it out safely was the most he could do.

"Alright," he steeled himself and drew air into his lungs, then let his voice boom. "Anyone who can hear me, I'm going to make sure you get out of here safe! Hurry up and group around me as quickly as you can!"

There were still threats, like enemies that had yet to be put down. Alkor did what he could with his blade and whipped away at smaller foes, keeping them at bay. He saw people trickling out of hiding and taking shelter behind him, so that was good.

Hopefully, a good number of them would be able to take advantage of his assistance.

 

Objective: Escorting Citizens to Safety

ID# 133652

 Loot: 18

Post: 1/3

Edited January 5, 2020 by Alkor

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

"HEY! What about me?" was the blonde sage's sudden loud outburst but realizing that this wasn't one of their usual 1-1 banters, being accompanied by other players... she didn't continue the thought and pouted. "I can tell you about that stuff too.." she added in a softer voice than she intended. She immediately realized that contrary to her statement, she didn't have much knowledge about tanks. "I know someone... how would you feel about talking with the strongest tank in the frontlines right now. He's more or less unkillable right now, even if he didn't have his.. unique skill." the last part wasn't very known knowledge to people on the lower floors so she hoped that the last bit sparked their interest. She then moved to the next portal and grabbed their hands again, looking around them she noticed that not many portals were left and happily nodded to herself.

---

Objective: Closing Portals  

ID# 133678
BD Result: 1
Group Members: @Dracul, @Arabelle, @Ariel - The Crowned Lion, @Ronnel
Cumulative BD: 10 +1
[personal portal count: 2/3] 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Ariel - The Crowned Lion

[Tsurei 0]

Hearing the two of them call him noob made him kinda pout, “I shouldn’t have said that,” he sighed jokingly, chuckling at himself, well, it was the truth anyhow and he started it. He was pleasantly surprised by Zandra’s playfulness, at least she didn’t seem a bad sort, even if her sense of style is wicked, in a good way.

He knew he was being overly friendly and judging from the little girl’s scowl he wasn’t at all surprised she found it annoying, but it was better to come off as friendly than as a blank slate that he was so used to adopting with strangers.

Rei nodded, whispering back to Anise, “Sure thing,” he was somewhat surprised she told him that, and then added that he should only tell people he trusted afterwards, but he supposed she just liked the business. It wasn’t really a surprise that there was a black market with all kinds of stuff, but in a game like this, just what would need to actually go through a hidden black market anyway?

As they linked hands and concentrated, the next portal closed up just like that,

“This is surprisingly easy, huh?” Rei shrugged with a small grin,

Objective: Close Portal
ID: 133679
BD: 10
Group Members: Zandra, Anise, Tsurei, Basuke
Cumulative BD: 9 + 4 + 5 + 10 = 28 = Portal Closed

Portals Closed: 2/3

Edited January 5, 2020 by Tsurei

[Ronnel 0]

"An unkillable tank?" Ronnel blinked and tilted his head to the side as the louder woman spoke. "Does he focus on out-regenerating the incoming damage, or does he just have obscene amounts of MIT?" That was somewhat the route that he was going, though he didn't know if he was going to be taking skills that generated Hate. More of an off-tank? "Or maybe a healer-tank or something then, for you? Steal away the Hate while you heal someone who was hurt or something. Hmm." But still - hearing the blonde talk about his hidden passion struck something in Ronnel. He'd never really had one of those, and in a way envied the other guy for his.

He relinked hands with the others as they circled the last of the portals. It seemed the boy and one of the girls were fairly familiar with each other, which who knows might have been helping with them closing these portals. That made as much sense as anything else that was going on right now. 

 

 

Objective: Closing Portals  

ID# 133680
BD Result: 8
Group Members: @Dracul @Arabelle, @Ariel - The Crowned Lion, Ronnel

Cumulative BD: 10+1+8 (19)

(Personal portals closed 2/3)

 

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Ronnel

[Macradon 0]

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133648
LD: 11
Progress: 2/3

As he got out of the tunnels into the dungeons “Alright people, make a line and we’ll get out of here at some point.” Macradon exclaimed and waited for people to get in line “Seems legit.” he said and entered the tunnels again “Ok people, one after the other, let’s get you guys to safety!” “YEAH!” the people exclaimed “We probably shouldn’t alarm everyone above, they might catch on to civilians running away!” another civilian exclaimed “yeah!” the people exclaimed quieter this time. Macradon could only chuckle at the interaction between the pre-programmed NPC characters, probably feeling virtual feelings, it was weird. Were these AI people or are they pre-programmed robots, it was difficult to see through and Macradon began to feel the empathy people had for the 22nd floor bosses, but he still didn’t see why they would protect the enemy, it felt weird, it felt wrong, no matter how lifelike the NPC were.

Edited January 5, 2020 by Macradon

[Bistro 0]

"Good," Bistro replied. "Now, I believe we're here...? Give me a second--"

She picked up her speed, briskly walking ahead of her herd. The long narrow tunnel was starting to open up, with a light in the distance. The warm glow probably meant it was a fire of some sort -- the light outside was more hellish red than cozy orange. A look upwards -- sure enough, with the ceiling being raised, these must be the caverns they were heading into.

"I guess that's the end of our journey," the info broker announced, wandering first into the open space. She approached the crate nearby, taking a seat right next to the lamp, scanning the vicinity.

"So, where's the exit?" One of the civilians began to ask. Bistro pointed over to where a faint red was pouring out of, nonchalant about the scenario. "Go on. Git."

"Git," NIGHT mocked, from the distance. "Really?"

"Yeah, get moving," the informant grinned, smug, looking over to her pack of NPCs, watching as they started to approach the gap in a single file. "Good."

Quote

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

[NIGHT 0]

NIGHT ushered her pack over to the gap from before, keeping count of her party once more. Looks like everyone was accounted for. As soon as the last of her group has left, she turned around to Bistro with a hum.

"So, with that done," she spoke, looking over the lantern. "What exactly are your plans now? Still going to head back into the fray? Escort more civilians?"

"If I had time," Bistro chuckled, shoving her hands in her pockets. "Maybe. But I have to record and relay these experiences myself. And that means heading back." She gestured over to the tunnel, prompting NIGHT to look. "If it's still here by the time I'm done, then, yeah. I'll help."

The adventurer watched as her informant pulled open her menus, bringing up the outline of a rectangle. "I'll be taking shots. I'm assuming you're going back to the warzone yourself?"

"No, actually," NIGHT replied, loosening her scarf. "I think I've had enough of the scuffle for one day." The woman extended a hand with a smile. "I'll join you. It'll be safer, knowing how weak you are right now. No offense, of course. And we can see if anyone else out there needs help."

Bistro returned a grin, pushing a button on her interface. "Well put, NIGHT." She took the knight's hand in her own, shaking it. "Sure. You're welcome to help."

Quote

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

Edited January 5, 2020 by NIGHT

[Alkor 0]

He deflected another blow and looked back over his shoulder. There were so many of them gathered, all apparently rallied with hopeful gazes to watch as he fought off their attackers. "I'll hold them!" he called to the group, "you all need to get into the tunnels! Follow the others, I'll be right behind you!"

They seemed to take to his words with instant certainty, aware that his skill was equal to the task of their defense. The swordsman held against a wave of smaller attackers with his curved sword in hand, slashing and slicing wickedly through enemies as they scurried at him en masse. It wasn't like the fights he was used to: they were weak, but there were so many. Even a single one would spell doom for the NPCs, but to a Player, this was as nothing.

The trials they faced as they cleared floors prepared them for things just like this.

He continued to press back against the enemy forces until the last survivor had retreated to the tunnels. Then, Alkor began to fall back himself. There was little time to waste, and they had no way of cutting off the enemy- they just had to keep moving until they reached their goal.

 

Objective: Escorting Citizens to Safety

ID# 133652

 Loot: 18

Post: 2/3

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

<the bit of closing the portal goes here>

After they said they goodbyes, the blonde pulled Dracul by the collar of his shirt and were about to march somewhere inside when they heard a guard shout from up the ramparts. "It's not safe here! You over there!" the he blatantly pointed at the pair."If you two lovebirds finished holding hands, get to work!!!We need get the non-combatants out of here ASAP!" The blonde made a half-mocking military salute: "Ye'sir!!! We're on it!" and started marching in the direction pointed to them while she heard a dejected sigh from the 'cargo' she was still holding by the neck. "We don't get a break do we?" asked dracul while with one hand he was trying to free himself from the lioness' grip and the other scrolling through the event details. "And we still have several hours left!" he claimed in protest. "Please tell me where not going to stay until...." he abruptly cut his words off.

---

Objective: Escorting Civilians to Safety 

ID# 133688
LD Result: 21(14+3[item]+4[cocoa])
Progress: 1/3
[Portals capped] 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Ariel - The Crowned Lion

[Macradon 0]

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133648
LD: 11
Progress: 3/3

After a short journey now that Macradon had the path memorized, he quickly got out of the tunnels with the civilians in tow behind him “Nice.” he thought as he counted them up to make sure everyone he saw follow him from the dungeon were still there. Looking over at his shoulder after he had counted the civilians, he saw that people were still wanting to close down the portals, there were still some left “Damn, maybe I should help them.” he thought and gazed over the cave and what was going on “Ok, there are a lot of people taking care of evacuation now, so that shouldn’t be an issue, let’s get some portals closed!” he thought and went over to the portal area “Alright, let’s get a group for closing the portals! I’m ready when you guys are, who else are up for it?” he exclaimed over the chaos to catch the attention of the people in his vicinity.

[Dracul 0]

<the bit of closing the portal goes here>

I was a bit disappointed that I had to part ways with the pinkette since she proved to be a much, MUCH more pleasant company than a certain blonde that, as we speak, is dragging me around like luggage. "You don't run out of energy do you?" I ask with a raised eyebrow as I dismiss the HUD, finally free myself from her grasp and try to straighten my clothes. Coincidentally we just bumped into Claudia and Darius, my two assistants that stayed behind and helped with the evacuation while we went to fight the skeletons.... and close the portals.

I continued my statement, a little differently than I intended to reply initially: "...we're not going to leave until we evacuate the civilians around here. Like the guard instructed. " Once again, I felt as one of my nerves would burst open as I see the blond stifle a laugh. "As expected from Lord Dracul..." said Darius with a short nod, Claudia mirroring his action. "We were making sure these people are ready to be escorted through the caves." added the crimson haired maid as she adjusted her glasses and gestured at over two dozen NPCs near them.

---

Objective: Escorting Civilians to Safety 

ID# 133693
LD Result: 8
Progress: 1/3
[Portals capped] 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Dracul

[Bahr 0]

Fire, brimstone, and carnage. The stench of rot, the vibrations of animosity that rippled through the stringent air. Blue polygonal fractals fluttered through the area, remnants of the departed who had been annihilated during the skirmish carried along on a gentle breeze.

Bahr was fashionably late, as usual. His red jacket flapped in protest to the breeze as he approached, crimson and verdant orbs flickering about the battlefield as he took in the scene. It seemed that most everything had been done already, and he'd shown up too late. But not far from where he was standing, a lone edifice stood. A window of some sort that peered into the abyss, its veil swirling and whirling as particle effects danced around it. As Bahr's eyes continued to shift around, it seemed that everyone else was too preoccupied to do anything about it.

One step. Then another. Each slowly closing the distance between him and the final portal. He hadn't been able to do much, but he could at least do this. He owed it to his peers, and the NPCs that called this place home. It was time to bring this horrendous story to its conclusion.

[Solei 0]

Solei let out a meek squeaked as a loud voice boomed over the cries of the civilians. How the hell did he get here?  Why the hell was here here?

"It's not safe! I'm calling for an evacuation. Someone get the non-combatants out of here!"

"Uh, what?" He asked confusingly as a child and a mother ran into him. "Hey, hey, hey, slow down!" He exclaimed, grasping the mother's shoulder and the child's hand as he looked outside the town's gates. "What the. . ." he trailed off, his eyes widening as he watched the soldiers literally plummet a few skeletons. "Alright, yeah! Evacuating would be a pretty good idea right now!" He said with a nervous laugh as he started to lead the mother and child back into the castle.

"Yeah, don't look behind you. . . just keep going!" He muttered, ushering the two with his hands as he visibly sweat-dropped. How the hell did he even get into this situation?

Objective: Escort Civilians to Safety
ID: 133700
LD: 2
Progress: 1/3

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

Seeing the two siblings brightened the blonde sage's mood tenfold. While the alchemist trio began talking she sneaked behind the maid surprised her by wrapping her arms around her, making their way dangerously towards her bosom. Luckily her progress has been forcibly halted as the maid, after the initial shock, quickly recovered and started to twist the blonde's right wrist before anything not pg-13 could happen. "Lady Ariel..." she started, irritation audible in her tone and her expression: "I have told you many times to refrain from such actions."

Taking the cue the blonde removed herself from her, with a dejected "Boo... kechida!" Then after stretching her arms she summoned her massive spear and planted the blunt side on the ground while the flag on top fluttered freely in the wing. "Okay everyone! I want you all to organize in 3 rows. All that are able to walk by themselves help the ones that can. Maintain a steady pace and we'll be out of here in no time!" commanded the blonde, smiling as the civilians did as they were told 

---

TL Note: 'kechida' - jap. petty, mean-spirited, narrow-minded, stingy (your pick)
Objective: Escorting Civilians to Safety 

ID# 133688
LD Result: 21(14+3[item]+4[cocoa])
Progress: 2/3
[Portals capped] 

[Alkor 0]

The most annoying thing was how far he lagged behind the group. It was difficult to discern how quickly they were moving, and impossible to tell if they had run into any trouble along the way. He kept himself operating on the assumption that if he were still able to advance to the rear, they had not stopped in any significant way. 

That was the only thing he had at this point, because other Players had already hurried ahead of him to secure the refugees. Every so often, he stopped and turned to run to keep the distance between himself and the group as small as he could; but the reality was, this was an exhausting battle. A losing battle.

Victory came in what they manage to scrounge from the losses. Everything left behind when the chaos passed meant hope would flourish again. Even though they were not Players, the denizens of Aincrad deserved better than to suffer at the whims of Cardinal. In that way, they were United.

Alkor snapped around one last time and began railing against the encroaching line, browbeaten but hardly defeated. The light of dawn would come soon- proverbial at least. He knew it would. 

With that thought, he heard it.

"We're saved!" came the relieved outcry from the people he had escorted. "We're not going to die!"

When he glanced back, he saw why.

A line of guards, all ready and waiting to defend the people.

Objective: Escorting Citizens to Safety

ID# 133652

 Loot: 18

Post: 3/3

[Macradon 0]

Rushing from the safe caves where he had escorted a good handful of civilians, Macradon would come to the aide of the portal closing team “Alright, Macradon at duty. Let’s kumbaya the heck out of these portals!” he said as he arrived at the many otherworldly portals that were still open. There was actually only one portal left “Oh” he said and walked over to that “Hey Bahr, here to close portals?” he asked “We need two more for this, but it seems like we're gonna clear this unless another phase pops up.” he said with a chortle “I haven’t seen if there were others that had time to help us, but let’s see if anyone’ll show up.” he said with a somewhat nervous chuckle, hopefully more people would show up since not many had any time or resources left to close down the portals, Macradon had been busy with archers and civilians and now he was about to help with portals as well, doing all he could.

[Switching to Portals]

[Lessa 1]

Lessa was surrounded by red. The flames that licked the buildings, climbing into the dark sky. The sizzling embers of fires finally doused, and the palms of her hands as she lugged stone after stone to the wall. Even the edges of her vision were tinged scarlet. But it felt that hours had passed before she caught sight of the crimson she'd looked for.

"Bahr."

The word left her lips like a whispered prayer, and it was stolen by the chaos as she ran to him. Thoughts of repairing walls, healing citizens, and fighting archers were forgotten as she closed the distance between them. Her boots left prints in the ash blanketing the ground, her breaths coming fast and shallow. Whether he heard her, or simply sensed her presence, the white-haired swordsman turned just as Lessa collided with him. Her hands snaked around his torso, pulling him against her in a fierce hug.

"There you are," she managed, her face pressed against his shoulder. "I wasn't sure you were here. I hadn't seen you." She pulled back, looking him up and down before she asked, "Are you okay?"

@Bahr