[PP|F9] <<Guardian of Fire>> Real Talk

[ChaseR 0]

Now that the mystery funds had appeared and helped Chase once he returned from his journey, already uncertain of his current profits, @NIGHT had received a message from the bluehead inviting her over to a mission on the ninth. He had just gotten out of the new estate he bought by the twenty first floor, checking it out to see how it would feel- surprisingly nice and spacey, actually. Then again, it was an estate, so there was no less to be expected. He'd finished decorating his bedroom in the attic, as well as Shay's based on some orders he had made to a few NPCs, and now he was on the teleport plaza of the underground floor.

"Yogan Village.", he said before a blue flash covered him, and he reappeared back in what looked like a literal iteration of hell. Mountains with lava all over, the temperature was much higher and little hills of soot could be seen left and right. Overall, a really high temperature floor. Thankfully for him though, he'd gone through the harsh training to unbearable weathers that the Traveller quest imposed on him, and he felt the difference much less. It was obviously still there, but nowhere near enough to exhaust or tire him out any more than the usual. "... Where's the tracksuit lady..?"

[Mega Slime Farm activated.]

Spoiler

Name: ChaseR
Level: 34
HP: 680/680
EN: 68/68

Stats:
Damage: 14
Mitigation: 12
Evasion: 3
Accuracy: 3
REC:2

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: <<Gust Raiser>> (T2/Perfect/2HSS): DMG II, ACC I
Armor: <<Wind Dweller>> (T2/Perfect/Light Armor): EVA I, REC II
Misc: <<Chained Bracelet>> (T2/Perfect/Trinket): EVA II, ACC I

Skills:
Two-Handed Straight Sword [Rank 5]
Light Armor [Rank 3]
Battle Healing [Rank 1]
Fighting Spirit [Obtained]

Extra Skills:
Familiar Mastery: Fighter
Survival
Disguise

Mods:
2HSS Finesse [R3]
Precision

Battle Ready Inventory:
Starter Healing Potions(heal 50HP)*3
Spyglass (2/3)*1
T1 Rare Health Potions (heal 40HP)*2
Woodland Armor (T2/Perfect) MIT III (2/3)*1
Requires Extended Weight Limit 1
Requires Extended Weight Limit 2
Requires Extended Weight Limit 3
Obtained via Item Stash (Housing)
Obtained via Dimensional Backpack

Housing Buffs:
Filling: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Skylight (-): +1 Rank to the - skill.
Advanced Training: +2 SP to a thread. Limit one use per month [0/1]
Multipurpose: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild:

Wedding Ring:

 

Edited August 23, 2020 by ChaseR

[NIGHT 0]

It was with a raise of her head that she greeted the ninth floor. Yogan Village hadn't changed since she last saw it, and the player had definitely visited the settlement too often for her own tastes. She had the message memorized, that suggestion to meet up with ChaseR, and though she couldn't quite recall under what circumstances NIGHT had met him, she could certainly make the journey over. See if anything might refresh her memory.

Against the barren wasteland, the mix of dull browns and greys, it was easy to spy the man entirely garbed in blue, sticking out like a sore thumb amidst the dissatisfied landscape. NIGHT paused for a moment, wondering if she should wave over to him, but then decided to trek forth in an honest fashion, the woman feeling the dry breeze ruffle through her hair. As she got closer, she greeted the lad with a raised palm. "Yo. What's this about?"

	NIGHT   | HP: 1410/1410 | EN: 153/153   | ACC: 4 | DMG: 19 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 72 | BH: 70   | KEEN: 1 | PARALYZE: 1 | ABS. ACC | TAUNT | LD: 4   | Stealth Detection: 4 | Stealth Rating: 7   | Dungeon Search: 2
—She stole it. Permissions from the system. Now, how did this work again?
[Examine] [Equipment] Dragon's Gaze -- [ Keen | After a successful attack, gain +1 BD until your next successful attack, at which point this bonus is removed. Another successful attack will reactivate this enhancement. ] -- [ Paralyze I | Natural successful attack rolls of 9-10 remove the enemy’s action on their next turn. Paralyzed opponents lose any evasion properties. ] -- [ Absolute Accuracy | +1 ACC. Attack rolls of 1 no longer automatically miss. ] Reinforced Black Tracksuit -- [ Mitigation I | +54 MIT. ] -- [ Evasion I | +1 EVA. ] Silver Crescent Necklace -- [ Accuracy II | +2 ACC ] -- [ Evasion II | +2 EVA ] [Battle-Ready Inventory] [T1E3] Teleport Crystal (1) | Instant | TELEPORT Skills Skills Mod Count: 8/8 Two-Handed Straight Sword | Passive | RANK 5/5 > Ferocity, Precision, Finesse Light Armor | Passive | RANK 4/5  > Athletics Searching | Passive | RANK 4/5 > Reveal Hiding | Passive | RANK 4+1/5 > Blindside, Vanish, Surprise Attack: Trickster Extended Mod Limit | Passive | RANK 3/3  Battle Healing | Passive | RANK 5/5 Energist | Passive [Extra] Survival | Passive  Concentration | Active -- CD: 3 Familiar Mastery: Fighter | Passive | RANK 3/3 Consumed Buffs Spoiler Bialas Statue | +TAUNT - - - - - - Misc. Buffs Spoiler Dimensional Backpack, Item Stash | +2 Battle-Ready Inventory Slots. Well Rested | -1 EN for the first three expenditures of each combat.  Relaxed | +(5 * Tier) HP per out-of-combat post. Full energy restoration occurs after two turns out of combat. Squeaky Clean | -25% DoT damage taken from the first DoT applied to this player in a thread. Skylight: Hiding | +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cooldown of 30 days to reassign. Multipurpose | +1 LD/Prosperity/Stealth/Detection to one post per thread. Can be applied after a roll. Filling | +1 T1 slot to a food consumed by this player in a thread. Can exceed Cook enhancement caps. Col Deposit | +5% col from loot-minimum mobs, +10% col from treasure chests.

[ChaseR 0]

Scratching the back of his head as Chase noticed the swordswoman headed his way, he let out a sigh and looked slightly away. "Nothing much. Just a quest I want someone to tag along, and... Some questions I have. Yeah.", he tried to pass it off as cool, although it was obvious he had something he wanted to know. "Holding up well since the elves, I assume?", the boy then asked with crossed arms, looking at her. His mood shifted almost immediately like that as he waited for an answer, quietly tapping his foot on the ground.

His familiar didn't seem to be there, having been left to play in the court of the new home they now had. His armor, weapon and trinket seemed to be all the same, but he held a more confident stance than that time. Then again, it had been a few days, more than Chase would like, and he'd barely gone through half of the second tier. Still not quite there even now. "The quest is said to give some good experience anyways. I just want to keep climbing up the levels and get to the third fast. Then we can take the boss down."

[NIGHT 0]

Was this man always so... finicky? NIGHT couldn't recall -- or at least, she had no memory of it. But the woman nodded anyway, eyes lit up at the possibility of his queries. Whatever could this other player want with her?

Since the elves?

"Yeah, sure," came NIGHT's quick reply. It was strange to be asked for company, more so because her outings beforehand had required combat experience of her, and that her teller had always been Yuki. The newbie came as a fresh breath to the field; NIGHT relished in the freshman's eagerness to get going on the expedition. She barely gave his equipment a scan before glancing about the town, eyes returning to his form when she realized she wasn't aware which quest they were headed out to.

Whoops.

"Lead the way." Had ChaseR began moving, NIGHT certainly would've followed, though one spoken word caught the machinations of her mind. "By boss, you mean this one, or...?"

[ChaseR 0]

He began to walk right towards the fields quietly, letting a sigh out as he unsheathed his blade and kept it at the ready for any monsters that would show up. Upon hearing the question, he raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder at her. "... I want to get to the third tier to kill the final floor boss. This one shouldn't take more than a few minutes... once we get there. The trek for Cerberus is two days at top speed.", he grunted and almost complained, rubbing the back of his neck and looking around constantly to make sure that nothing would get the jump on them. He could hear growling in the distance but... It would be dealt with shortly if it persisted.

It was somewhere down the path after all. "You know plenty about people. You had an informant after all, didn't you?", he continued his questions almost casually, but the feeling that he was beating around the bush just kept getting stronger and stronger the more he continued. Mostly because he wasn't as talkative as this, and partially due to how general he was being with his questions. 

[NIGHT 0]

When ChaseR shot her a look, NIGHT wondered if her question had been off in some way. Given their current goal once she'd heard it, to the woman it would make sense if their topic had been circulating around Cerberus, that three-headed beast of a simple, finger snap kill. But for the fresh face to quickly jump towards his end goal, the final floor boss was a tad jarring. NIGHT simply nodded, taking note of the man's conviction at the back of her mind.

The chaos of – what was it, battle? A sign of hostile mobs? They shook her to the core none, the woman's eyes casually set on her companion's build instead. "I– guess– so–?" was all she could come up with to the man's new query – whilst NIGHT hadn't the voice for speaking her mind, the burning curiosity about his other questions still lingered, and so she hurried along beside him, head slightly tilted sideways. "What's this about? You need some information about someone?"

[ChaseR 0]

He stiffened slightly upon seeing her run up next to him, squinting his eyes slightly as he began to sweat out of nervousness. It was... odd, rather embarrassing given what lengths he went to in order to get that much money, yet someone... "... S-Someone gave me money for my house.", he admitted to her, looking over with a surprisingly intense stare. "H-How do I see who it is and how much they gave me?", he asked her with almost despair or frustration in his voice. He really appreciated the help, but added with the fact he never got to see his total income from killing so many monsters.

What was it... Around forty? Thirty five? He had no clue how many monsters he'd killed and how much Col they all totally yielded. He was too tired to even check once he was done, so he'd just exited the cave and gone off right back at Shay's to crash for the rest of the evening and night. As the two continued down the path, the growls got progressively louder and snarls, alongside howls could be heard in the near distance. It'd be but a bit further down the path before they encountered the Hellhounds that were going right for them.

[NIGHT 0]

NIGHT took a moment to observe the player's face. There was a build up of surprise, so much so that the woman was almost afraid ChaseR was about to burst from the anxiety alone. When he dropped his revelation, that was the moment when NIGHT's eyes widened, deeply taken aback by the crux of the issue.

She'd taken two blinks in silence, before releasing a held breath.

Right. She got this.

The menus trailed alongside her fingers, the motions she cast almost calculated, structured at best. As her violets scanned the different options, NIGHT made her best guess; a tap of her wallet in the corner, and her transaction history quickly loaded before her.

There were only a handful of listings made available to her.

The woman closed out of the windows before her companion could take notice. If she could sweat bullets by now, she should be. Instead, all NIGHT did was instruct her revelations to the other; "It's right on currency," she explained, pointing when ChaseR bothered to pull out his interface. "Can't be that difficult to find."

[ChaseR 0]

The tension in his face remained all the way until she told him how. With a deep sigh of relief, he opened his menu and looked up at said wallet, smiling and looking over at her. "A-Ah... I was killing monsters on the eleventh and destroyed some form of camp, so I was wondering who gave me money. I wanted to know my loot and it's kind of embarrassing getting handed over free work just like that, too...", he went on until he opened his currency tab and noticed his transaction history. His expression quickly turned to blank again, as he coughed dryly and stopped to look to his side.

"... N-NIGHT..?", he simply uttered, looking to the side with squinted eyes and a confused expression. "I-I wish I didn't know now... What the fuck...", he mumbled under his breath, ready to go for a full interrogation before seeing four silhouettes further in the distance. They seemed to be the same Hellhounds they could hear this entire time, looking at them from over a hill and inspecting their looks. Not too long after, instead of charging in, they seemed to simply flee and run from wherever they came from. No more howls, growls or noise could be heard, at least from that pack. "... Whatever was that about..?"

[NIGHT 0]

Watching ChaseR deflate from his rigid manner was somewhat of a miracle in itself. With a small smile, NIGHT continued to observe the exploration of his menus, until the look on his face seemed to fall once again, the man's eyes trailing up to meet her own.

—Oh. She sent it? Now it was NIGHT's turn for her expression to turn ever stoic, faded smile now locked in place on her visage. The sudden appearance of the hounds in the distance still altered her behavior none, though as they neared the duo's location and ChaseR shifted his gaze towards them, so too did NIGHT's sights follow, movements mechanical as she continued to process this development in her mind.

Atop a hill, the four black dots stood upright. Then, they turned to leave, much more quiet than they'd arrived.

Huh?

This wasn't behaviour she'd expected when tackling this beginner's quest. NIGHT tilted her head, eying her companion's movements at the corner of her vision. "You want to go after them? ... If this is the Guardian of Fire quest, that... shouldn't be happening."

[ChaseR 0]

"It is that quest. We have to end up in a cave two days from here, don't we?", he rhetorically asked and looked at her with the same confusion, warily continuing forwards with his sword held in both hands and his guard higher up than ever. "We have to get there when we do. No way they can run away again, or else Cerberus becomes exposed. We have to kill a few of them, don't we?", he continued with the rhetorical questions, moving forwards at a brisk pace and keeping his eyes on the road, only peeking behind him to ask NIGHT once more.

"Mind telling me whatever your name is doing in my transaction history?", his voice wasn't as annoyed as his sentence was horribly worded. Not like she'd probably have an issue with it in the first place, but regardless, he was still as confused as ever. The timing and reasoning were most of what he wanted to know, he'd pay her back when he managed to get stronger and make that much cash even faster, obviously. "This expedition is going to be a trip, I can feel it..."

[NIGHT 0]

"It is that quest. We have to end up in a cave two days from here, don't we?"

"Yeah, we do." She could still remember the journey, the moments when she'd check her mail incessantly, and the times when she'd rest in a sleeping bag before getting up the next day and getting back on track with her journey.

"No way they can run away again, or else Cerberus becomes exposed. We have to kill a few of them, don't we?"

But that part she certainly couldn't remember. Did this quest alter between the different players that undertook it? "It didn't happen for me," she admitted, glancing over to the road, falling into a pace by his side once again. "Everything I fought, all were housed in that cave."

When the interrogation came, NIGHT ended up fruitless; that stoic smile returned once again, the woman filled with hums while thinking of a way to sidestep the issue. "Call it a stipend," she finally decided, a finger scratching the side of her cheek in a worry. "Or a gift of some sort. Any aspiring novice headed for the frontlines should be guided on their journey by the ones at the top; don't you think so too?"

[ChaseR 0]

"A salary for dragging you behind me on weak quests to ask you about stupid menus..?", he asked her with a slight sigh, agreeing with her last statement. At least a fair bit. He did have his qualms with getting handheld like a child when it came to Ariel trying to recruit him to a school, which... according to Freyd, hadn't worked out too well for her, but he was definitely up for receiving some help. Whenever he needed it at least. "I could do it on my own though, too. Y-Yeah, I would have a bit of trouble getting all the rooms I did..."

"But you didn't have to make it that easy without asking. I didn't know it was you, either.", the bluehead complained, looking at her with furrowed eyebrows before deciding to finally shrug it off. His question had been answered, and as expected of a response as that was from a frontliner, there wasn't much else to ask for. "... Maybe your first time worked off. They seemed to be territorial, like... hounds. Let's just keep up the pace and get this over with."

[NIGHT 0]

"A salary for dragging you behind me on weak quests to ask you about stupid menus..?"

NIGHT snorted. "Is that how you see it? Those questions were no sweat; it's fine to seek help from other players, even if it's about the smaller things." She slung her arms behind her head as she walked, keeping track of their progress at the back of her mind. The woman hummed at the mention of rooms, the detail of a home not leaving her watch. "I didn't even know you were getting a house. What's it like? Are you sharing it with anyone?"

—That last part only dawned on NIGHT that it was just a bit too intrusive of a question to ask. An "Err..." passed through her lips when she'd mentioned it, the woman closing her eyes for the moment, trying to find the words to rescind it. "Scratch that. Only answer it if you're comfortable with the notion. –By the way, my home's barely really shared with anyone, so there's no shame in living alone."

[ChaseR 0]

"Comfortable with..?", he muttered to himself, unsure where she found herself to have said something off. It was very easy to say and come to the conclusion that Chase had a rather different feel for what was and wasn't comfortable to talk over. "Uh... It's an estate. I got a mega slime farm, two kitchens, a basement, an attic with a bedroom for me, a bedroom for Shay and a living room. I live with my... Um... Friend?", he himself began to stammer only once he got to the part where he'd try to find a word for Shay.

Yeah, they were a couple, whatever the hell that implied, but he wasn't really living with her because of it. It just made getting prepared for journeys and resting much better easier. "It's at the twenty first. I could show you around one day. I was taking care of the slime farm just before I messaged you. Some had overgrown and got aggressive, apparently.", he awkwardly began to monologue, tapping his chin thoughtfully now that he'd seen too little signs of life, let alone monsters, around them and felt more at ease. "... I guess Shay is my 'mate' or 'girlfriend' or 'couple'... N-Not sure how to say it..."

[NIGHT 0]

An estate was the best type of plot to reside on, right? NIGHT ran through the listing in her head; sure enough, she'd recalled the bit of information correctly, and nodded to the player's rooms when he'd revealed his home territory's features. Though, when it came to his living arrangements – huh, there was someone after all – the woman couldn't help but smirk, a hand digging into her suit's pockets ever so smugly.

"The twenty first?" She could scarce recall her time at that floor, but while she was passing through it, most of the sights around that area had been littered with darkness, crystals and stone. "Sounds like a mood killer to begin with; but hey, I'm not here to judge." NIGHT mulled over the idea of living on such a dreary floor for a moment, before it was cut short by her companion's mumbling to himself.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

[ChaseR 0]

His brain shut off momentarily, before he decided to stop looking for a word and put it as it is without sounding like a lizard if possible. "Me and Shay are a couple. That.", he blurted out, ultimately finding himself to have failed at his own goal with a sigh of defeat as he scratched the back of his head. "It's not that much of a mood killer though, we both have ice familiars that are very prone to heat and enjoy the cold more. So it's the best habitat I could find for all four of us.", he nodded to his own words, letting out a sigh.

He couldn't put in human words just how hard it was to find the best floor given which ones he had to work with. At least the natural light necessary to brighten the scene up plenty came from the floor's glowing, colored crystals, which didn't let the fact it was underground show all that much. "Anyway... Where's your home at?", he asked curiously, thinking that now that she knew about his own house which she had funded, it'd be proper for her to reveal her own abode's location too.

[NIGHT 0]

"Eh?"

To NIGHT, it came as a surprise; the woman hadn't taken ChaseR to be much at first glance, and still that perception persisted. Yet the news of his attachment came as a welcome piece of information. "So that's how it is," she commented, eyes to the skies of the landscape before them. With a nod, the traveler added with a grin. "Well, I'm happy for you. Did the two of you start out at the same time or -- what, did you meet in here?"

She hummed at the mention of his familiar and Shay's, the woman noting a missing presence at the side of her pocket. "If it's cold you're looking for, there is the fourth floor. At least you still get sunsets down there, right?" Though she hadn't been exploring there much, it still acted as an option; a popular choice within the Aincrad community, she heard, since it was the only one so far with consistent, reliable snow falls.

He shot her another question, and NIGHT caught it easily. "First floor, Town of Beginnings. It's rather convenient since it's around where most of the shops are. That, and I've got a shop down there too. I wouldn't want to be a few steps away from my workplace given the opportunity, so I decided against picking another floor."

[ChaseR 0]

The grin was enough to get the swordsman blushing and flustered. It's not like he'd talked about this topic much with anyone, even with Shay, so it felt way too off to just make others smile at the mention. "I, uh, we... She helped me start up, she was level sixteen... Now she's a few levels below me because I've been trying to get both of us money and become strong enough to protect her. I don't want to let anything bad happen to her... B-But no, we just met in here. Not in this floor, in er... The first...", he grumbled and scratched the back of his head, letting out a soft sigh.

"It does things to you, getting picked up by someone in a new world and raised like a child to learn everything from scratch in a few days... I'm just glad she was there for me.", he nodded before realising that he'd been monologuing about himself this entire time and trying to snap out of it. More flustered than before too, this time. "A-Ah, her shop is in the fourth but... I could only pick a plot at the eleventh and above..? I would have picked the fourth otherwise, but she hates crowded places anyways... Sunsets are a thing though, yeah. I'll add a workshop to my own house so I can train from there, once I pay you back.", he added in the end, reminding her of the money he now owed her. Although... he was somewhat thankful she'd offered that little financial push.

[NIGHT 0]

For all the worries ChaseR seemed to hold in his system, the story he iterated was still something to behold. NIGHT could imagine the man's first interactions with another player in regards to the start of his adventure; though she wasn't familiar with the handle of 'Shay' before, she at least could agree with his conviction, the want to keep a loved one safe.

It sort of mirrored her own directive, in its own way. At least she could take comfort that she wasn't alone on that front.

"--Speaking of which," the woman added, after listening to him ramble, the bluster becoming obvious on his face. As much as she'd wanted to savour the fluster of yet another embarrassed, when the player finally made mention of the new room to be added to his new abode, NIGHT jumped at the opportunity to spring her query instead, eyes scanning the path ahead of them. "What's your profession, exactly?"

How far along were they on their journey?