[SP|F3] <<Escape>> ... Really?

[ChaseR 0]

<<Escape>>

After hearing about a quest involving a group of bandits similar to the one on the ninth, Chase just knew that he had to give this one a try. He quickly headed straight for the third, and began to patrol somewhere outside of the settlement. He never found a thing you. And midway through his search, he was suddenly knocked to the ground from literally nothing, waking up with his arms tied together in some form of a dungeon.

His face, needless to say, was as blank as ever. From all of the inspired quests Kayaba could try to make, he decided that this one was the best result he could get out of his devilish mind. Oh, how glad Chase was to be here right now. Being on the third floor, there were little chances of the quest being even remotely challenging in the first place, too... He knew that the bandits around here, if there even were any and this wasn't the plan of some monsters, would be easy to kill. And there it was, the quest notification he should have gotten in the first place. "Ah. Good to know I didn't really just magically pass out after a stroke."

 

[ChaseR consumes Apple Pie (LD +3)!]
[ChaseR uses Filling on Apple Pie (LD +1)!]

Spoiler

Name: ChaseR
Level: 79
HP: 1610/1610
EN: 158/158

Stats:
Damage: 18
Evasion: 3
Accuracy: 3
BH:80
PARA:1
HLY:12
LD:11

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: <<Fragmented Blade>> (T3/Perfect/2HSS): PARA I, HOLY II
Misc: <<Chained Bracelet>> (T2/Demonic/Trinket): EVA II, ACC II
Misc: <<Silver Earring>> (T1/Perfect/Trinket): LD III

Skills:
Two-Handed Straight Sword [Rank 5]
Light Armor [Rank 5]
Battle Healing [Rank 5]
Searching [Rank 4]
Charge [Rank 5]
Hiding [Rank 5]
Parry [Obtained]
Extended Mod Limit [Obtained]
Fighting Spirit [Obtained]
Howl [Obtained]

Extra Skills:
Familiar Mastery: Fighter
Survival
Disguise
Meditation

Mods:
2HSS Finesse [R3]
Precision
Athletics
Sprint & Acrobatics
Ferocity
Focused Howl



Battle Ready Inventory:
Insta-Life ++ (T2/Perfect/HP REC III)*1
Woodland Armor (T3/Perfect) MIT III (1/3)*1
Teleport Crystal [F21]*1
Imugi's Inspiration (Mass HP Recovery)*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:
Rested: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
Clean: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 20% (rounded down)
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 (Searching): +1 Rank to the Searching 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
Decor [Potted Tanabata Bamboo Tree]: This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild:
Yamata no Orochi Statue: +1 LD for a thread

Wedding Ring:

ChaseR: HP: 1610/1610 | EN: 158/158 | DMG: 18 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 3 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | LD: 13

Edited November 20, 2020 by ChaseR

[ChaseR 0]

Be it because of his level or something else, Chase was able to break out of the shitty binds that the bandits tried to wear on him almost immediately. He looked at his wrists in disbelief, starting to get annoyed that Kayaba even made this a thing in the first place. At least bringing someone else along would make this more interesting, right now it was just... wow.

"The game probably understood just how high of a level I am, didn't it...", he thought to himself and sighed, looking at the lock and scratching the back of his head before he picked up a small needle from the ground. Whatever that was doing there, he felt like he could use it to tweak with the lock a bit. It totally wasn't the notification in front of him that let him know of this, whatsoever. And so, he got to work. That means he started poking around the inside of the lock with the needle, hoping to get some positive result out of it as he just stood there crouched and silent. 

 

---

LD Roll: 8 + 13 = 21>=15

[Chase has picked the lock successfully!]

Edited November 20, 2020 by ChaseR

[ChaseR 0]

And before he even knew it, something did in fact happen. The door opened without even making a noise, which surprised him way too much. He expected it would at the very least creak, given how rusty it seemed to be... Not that he had an issue with that whatsoever. The less noise he made, the less people he alerted. Something he was absolutely fine with.

And before him stood a box now, with all of his gear in it. He scratched the back of his head and silently made his way over, picking it all back up and looking all the way back to the cell that was a grand six feet away. "... Was this even necessary, Kayaba..? Is this revenge for letting me talk like an actual friend with Morgiana?", the boy began to wonder, and almost as if he was getting an answer to his question, he could hear a pair of bandits talking to one another and walking around the area. "Right, the residents of this dungeon... I should probably not be seen.", he grumbled to himself quietly and hid behind a column, letting them walk past him and looking at their backs once they'd crossed his cell and... completely ignored the lack of a person inside. Aye, good for him.

[The guards didn't notice a thing. 1/3]

[ChaseR 0]

If anybody knew the way out of there though, it had to have been these guards. With a bit of luck and a lot of incompetence from their part, Chase knew fully well that he could make it out of this place without ever getting caught. Not that he couldn't use the teleport crystal in his inventory, but... He decided the best way out of there would be to follow the guards. And that's exactly what he went on to do. They seemed to chat with one another as per usual, maybe even to an uncanny extent where they were laughing and joking to one another.

"The last time that we were out, I remember at some point you went further away to check the carriage for any spare goods, you remember that?", one with a more gruff voice began. He sounded like... a Frank. Let's call him that, for the sake of referring to each of them. And so, the other one with a slightly more high pitched voice nodded. "Of course I remember that, what about it though? I did found some good jewelry, you know...". This was definitely a Bob.

[The guards didn't notice a thing. 2/3]

[ChaseR 0]

And so, the two continued to talk with one another. Bob and Frank, what a good duo they seemed to be. Already reminiscing about the days that they last took down a carriage which... seemed very unspecific and like generic bandit behavior. Regardless, Chase just followed silently through the shadows behind them, with an eyebrow raised as they continued to talk. "I know you found yourself some goods, but guess what I happened to find, you'd never.", Frank went on to say, only to get a confused look from Bob.

And then, a squeak came from Chase's direction. It wasn't from the blueberry of course, but rather from something further on inside. Bob let out a sigh and began to walk towards it, moving past Chase without noticing and looking around the ground before he turned to Frank. "It was just a rat, no need to worry.", he reassured his friend, who instantly began to clap and nod at him as if he had just gotten something right as an answer.

[The guards didn't notice a thing. 3/3]

LD Roll: 5 + 13 = 18 > 9
Stealth Check Success.

Edited November 20, 2020 by ChaseR

[ChaseR 0]

And so, the airheaded Frank continued to laugh. He almost shed a tear before he was able to inform Bob of the hilarity that had ensued. "H-How'd you know?! It was a rat, but how, ahahaha!". If they were this smart already, especially the beefier looking one, Chase knew that they would lead to the exit of this underground labyrinth all the same. Bob, on the other hand, seemed to put it bluntly, plain disappointed in his fellow bandit and just shook his head in disapproval. "I wasn't trying to guess... I was telling you what made the noise..."

That looked like it had slipped past Frank, but of course it hadn't. He heard of the humble fellow he had trying to turn down all credit for solving the mystery with such ease using his expert intelligence and gave him a hard pat on the back before he started to patrol the corridors of this maze again. "You're still right, just accept that you're smart!". And here stood Chase, dumbfounded and at a loss of words more than anything else.

[The guards didn't notice a thing. 1/3]

[ChaseR 0]

"Just because I'm smarter doesn't mean I'm smart in general...", Bob tried to cut himself some slack and not get on a high horse, but no way Frank was just letting that pass by, shaking his head and making a 'tsk tsk tsk' noise with his mouth. "There you go being humble again, take some credit for your job for once!", he straight out almost ordered his friend, managing to draw a sigh from both Bob and Chase in unison. "For crying out loud, tell me I don't have to sit here and watch this bad sitcom for much longer... I want to go back out there and kill monsters or do something worth my time, damn it...", he nagged to himself, waiting until the single moment they would lead him straight towards the exit. As soon as that happened, he knew damn well he was making a run for it and going right outside where he was no longer surrounded by airheads and idiots.

[The guards didn't notice a thing. 2/3]

[ChaseR 0]

Then came an interesting piece of conversation though. Frank decided that after having chitchated enough, they would conveniently enough begin to ponder wherever their warden could be, the one that was supposed to be in charge of bluehead right here. And we already know that blue wasn't doing his job sitting down in his own cell and just waiting for... well, waiting. "Say, where did the warden go? He said he had something urgent to go attend to, but he never clarified. So what was it?".

"You're asking as if I'll know.", Bob dismissed the question almost instantly, getting a deep exhale out of the musclehead who seemed disappointed, rubbing the back of his neck and just looking down at the ground. "Well, he trusts you more than he does me with details... I just wish we knew more to be more involved than the casual goons we are...", he started his own ramblings, getting a slight glare from Chase. 

[The guards didn't notice a thing. 3/3]

LD Roll: 13 + 13 = 26 > 9
Stealth Check Success.

Edited November 21, 2020 by ChaseR

[ChaseR 0]

"Maybe he trusts me more because you tend to run your mouth like you are right now... But... he said that he had to look out for someone. I'm not sure who the boss could be meeting, but I hope it's some business partner. More money for us means we can eventually go find an actual job or stop stealing and just lay back altogether.", Bob replied somewhat hopefully, to which Frank simply shrugged in response before the two's stride picked right back up.

They were seeming to go just in circles, but Chase wasn't bothered by that. He was most bothered by the fact it took them this long to circle the same four corridors a single time. He was going to lose it at this rate, he would never get out of here and probably be found by some other bandit sleeping on the corridor in his efforts not to die of boredom. There was no other way for him to die given his battle healing and their... 'damage', if it can even be called that, of course.

[The guards didn't notice a thing. 1/3]

Edited November 21, 2020 by ChaseR

[ChaseR 0]

Despite how confident Chase was about these two being wimps, he knew all of the other guards were the same. And maybe they were menacing opponents for someone else, but definitely not for him. He was less than ten levels below the maximum a player can reach in Aincrad thus far, so it was only natural he could dice up any monster that revealed itself before him. "... I'm actually curious if I can access my inbox down here?", he asked himself and silently began to slide his fingers down, opening his menu and moving on to his friends list.

However, both the Inbox and Friends buttons seemed to be completely striked out. So that meant they weren't accessible during this quest, that was definitely a bit of an issue. There were little things to do but listen in on their idle chitchat like this, and that meant nothing but boredom awaited him ultimately, too. Oh well... he'd eventually get out of here, that much he at least knew.

[The guards didn't notice a thing. 2/3]

Edited November 21, 2020 by ChaseR

[ChaseR 0]

And their trip further down the corridor continued silently. One of the two was starting to hum some form of tune, but Chase was completely unfamiliar with it. That begged a question Chase hadn't managed to ask anybody, himself included thus far. In this world, since Aincrad was completely different from the real one, did that mean that the music and culture of the two worlds was different too? There were no tunes that the bluehead had happened to listen to so far, especially ones familiar or unfamiliar to him.

Likewise, there wasn't anybody other than performers who seemed to be playing their own music, vanity songs or crystals packed with them didn't appear to exist. Some buildings had a specific sort of music, but it only appeared to be when it came to performers' shops and houses... Such as Shay's... Shay's... just Shay's. He hadn't visited any other Performer at any given point in time, well. That was definitely a surprise.

[The guards didn't notice a thing. 3/3]

LD Roll: 10 + 13 = 23 > 9
Stealth Check Success.

Edited November 21, 2020 by ChaseR

[ChaseR 0]

All of the peculiar parts and questions that Chase had about SAO seemed to be coming out right now, too. Even though he knew they couldn't log out, he opened his menu to check the button. It was still the same, the text not even being there. He closed it back up and made sure that he was keeping up to pace with the duo, scratching his chin quietly as he walked through the shadows in hopes of finding more questions he could kill time waiting for the exit to reveal itself, so he could answer them while he was at it too.

The biggest question he had was that vanity item addiction he had a few days ago. Were those items still in his inventory? And the same went for foods he had picked up from Sven, the very same con-artist that tried to steal from him a fair while ago. But... they were days old, yet preserved perfectly. Right?

[The guards didn't notice a thing. 1/3]

[ChaseR 0]

The answer was definitely yes, right as ever. Food never spoiled in SAO unless it was made to spoil, in which case, it probably wasn't for eating. No such mechanic existed unless the crafter wanted it to exist, in which case they were of the most vile beings. He could definitely picture Gaius doing something like that, or Sven even, but the foods in his inventory all appeared to be in pristine condition. Same for the mess of vanity items he'd all sorted nicely in a sub-section of his inventory. The very bottom that he never, ever had to check for any reason and under any circumstances whatsoever. That's why he rarely found the need to use them, and of course that's also why he had forgotten that collection was there. At worst, he'd pick one of the other armors or weapons from the very top of his inventory and that'd be that.

[The guards didn't notice a thing. 2/3]

[ChaseR 0]

Holy gee though, the dungeon was definitely starting to get dark. What dim lighting existed just became even dimmer, making it bothersome for Chase to look around with the same ease as before, considering he didn't possess the Night Vision skill that Raidou had. "I think I can feel wind brushing against my skin from somewhere around here... We must be nearing an exit. I just have to let them continue leading me towards it.", he thought to himself and crossed the both of his arms, making sure to keep being as quiet as he had been this entire time.

Bob and Frank had gone completely radio silent, looking at one another and nodding before they began to change directions- instead of turning left again to circle the same cell block, they finally took a turn to the right and started to head elsewhere. That'd probably lead Chase to freedom at long last- not from the bandits, but from the hellhole they tried to put him in. God knew how many would show up if he even revealed himself.

[The guards didn't notice a thing. 3/3]

LD Roll: 14 + 13 = 27 > 9
Stealth Check Success.

 

Edited November 21, 2020 by ChaseR

[ChaseR 0]

And after a little bit of walking, some bright light could be seen further in the distance. His eyes widened but he quickly came to realise that- finally, it was the actual exit! Now to trick these two, he had to do little other than raise his hand and knock one of the torches down. They quickly turned and began to ran right towards the source of the sound, freaking out at the sight of the fire spreading down onto the ground.

Chase willingly used that distraction to just walk right past them from behind, humming in the back of his head and stepping out into the bright light as he stretched. Finally, he was out of that damned maze and free to go back home and relax- all of the sneaking around tired him enough to make him not want to kill things anymore. Just get some rest and be off with it.

LD Roll: 9 + 13 = 22 >= 17
[ChaseR has found the exit!]

Edited November 21, 2020 by ChaseR

[ChaseR 0]

And of course, this meant there was no better time for the tub of lard to show up; the famed Warden that Bob and Frank had been talking about. A tall and burly man with a round stomach waiting outside of the jail for him, with an club right by his shoulder resting on it quietly. "I knew that you would escape you damn runt. Why else would I wait up here and let the guards look after you- and fail horribly at that?", he began the taunting already, although Chase didn't seem quite as interested.

"The last time I warned a bandit to get out of the way they didn't listen so... should I even bother asking you?", he hesitantly proposed, only to get shouted at by the now livid warden. "How dare you start joking in my presence you pest?! You realise that vermin like you should never leave your cell, ever, cause that's where you trash belong! In cells to rot and die for the rest of your miserable, pathetic lives!". That... wow. "... Sure thing.", the bluehead sighed and turned back around, quietly starting to go down the steps once more.

 

Spoiler

ChaseR: HP: 1610/1610 | EN: 158/158 | DMG: 18 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 3 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | LD: 13

Bandit Warden: HP: 100/100 | DMG: 30 | MIT: 15 | EVA: 2

* The Warden will fully ignore mitigation on critical hits.

 

[ChaseR 0]

If anything, this nonchalant and completely casual response seemed to trigger the Warden's anger even more than anything else he had happened to say or do so far. "I can't believe you're taking your life so lightly... Do you think you can make fun of me just like that, you brat?! Take this!", he shouted out the top of his lungs and began to run right towards Chase, who looked at him in disappointment.

"Can you not..?", the bluehead asked more annoyed than anything else, sidestepping to dodge the all too barbaric swing of the man's club before unsheathing his blade and slashing as weakly as he could right at the warden. "... Sorry, I guess.", he awkwardly added as his health rapidly began to deplete, quickly reaching zero and causing the 'boss', literally and mechanically, vanish into blue shards. "... For real, why do they never listen to me when I tell them not to attack..."

Spoiler

ChaseR uses Galaxy Destroyer on Bandit Warden! (BD: 5+3-2=6)
19 * 13 - 15 = 247 - 15 = 232

ChaseR: HP: 1610/1610 | EN: 149/158 (-9) | DMG: 18 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 3 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | LD: 13

Bandit Warden: HP: 0/100 (-232) | DMG: 30 | MIT: 15 | EVA: 2

* The Warden will fully ignore mitigation on critical hits.

 

Edited November 21, 2020 by ChaseR

[ChaseR 0]

Well, at least he didn't have to waste any more time near this dungeon with all of the stupid guards patrolling without a single idea of who should be in which cage and who's following them, or with a warden that kept cussing his lungs out like a damn sailor and fought as if he was a caveman. An oversized one at that, too. Chase began to go back up the stairs he had started to descend, coming back out fully of the maze again and hoisting his blade by his hip before he snuggly fit both of his hands in his pockets. And with that, came the final notification; the quest reward window. A window he was used to seeing for now, but he knew would quickly vanish. Even in full from his common sightings, seeing how few quests he happened to have left. At least non-repeatable ones, it's not like he was planning to run doubles of any quest right now.

[ChaseR 0]

And finally wrapping up all of his thoughts, he closed the quest window and started to walk away from the confines of the cliffside that the hideout was built in, noticing a forest further on by his position. He quietly opened up his inventory and took out a vanity trinket he had found around these parts, when he was still a much lower level than he currently was. "... I really made a lot of progress throughout this time, huh?", he asked himself and clutched the trinket just a bit tighter before he finally put it back inside of his inventory and set his eyes straight at the settlement that wasn't too far from here. It was time to head back home and call it a day, or at least take an hour long break before going right back out. That must have marked what, week three of levelling? And he was almost done with it too.

[ChaseR 0]

To even think about how much progress the young man had made throughout this whole time... He started off with Ariel and Shay, met a few people here and there, but the only ones that really mattered or made a difference to him were NIGHT and Mari; of which one he had met most recently and even much too few for her to normally make a difference. It was just her motherly effect. As for NIGHT, she was someone that he could definitely trust with his own life, the same way she had with him. "... I'm glad I've made some powerful allies in the meantime.", he said in the back of his mind and raised his head to look at the cloudy sky, just smiling as these happy thoughts kept swirling about his head. "... I'm much luckier than I give me credit for, aren't I?", he joked with himself and chuckled, throwing both of his hands behind his head. "Heh. I'll keep pushing. No matter what."

Spoiler

Thread Rewards:

• 4 SP (2 quest, 1 page, 1 event)
• 400 Col
• 'Bandit's Guile' (Potion/Unique); Gives the user 1 EVA for a single battle.