Oni 0 Posted January 18, 2021 #1 Share Posted January 18, 2021 (edited) The street urchin was back on his grind. While he had been playing it safe for some time, the growing sense of restlessness was finally beginning to win out in Oni's mind. Not only was he not the type to be caged, but he knew he wasn't being himself. As he slunk through the streets, he silently scolded himself. "You're not a punk. Why did you let yourself get so complacent?" He swore under his breath as he turned a corner. He had already spent the last several years bumming around and picking fights with nobodies - but only within city limits. "If I'm going to actually leave, I need to start leveling, and I need to gear myself properly..." He scratched his chin, looking back down the empty square and looking over the empty warehouse and the storage building he had gone though. "If I were a katana, where would I be hiding?" Turning his head, he spotted a number of dark residences that caught his eye. "Maybe..." He looked both ways to make sure nobody was around before jogging over to the nearest of the buildings. As he jogged closer, he could see that the windows were boarded up. That's promising... Nobody there to run into hopefully... It took him some time to find a window with boards loose enough to pry open, but after a lot of prying and yanking, he had freed a couple of planks and slipped into the opening he had made. The house was dark, and like any strategist, he figured he either needed to start at the top and work down or go from the bottom up. Looking around in the gloom, he spotted an open doorway with a downward staircase, which answered his unasked question easily enough. The stairs creaked loudly, but as far as he knew, there were no residents to wake. The basement was unimpressive - piles of empty crates and barrels littered one half of the room. He started on the other side, but as he went to inspect a worn chest that was sitting against the wall, there came a creak from below his feet and then a crack of splintering wood, and a hidden trapdoor covered in layers of dust collapsed beneath his feet and spilled him down into deeper darkness. He was hurt, but not badly so. A few hit points gone, which was an uncomfortable sight, but as he sat and gathered his wits, he could see his precious few hit points begin to refill. He stood up and brushed himself off, looking above him to see a rotted ladder leading up to the now broken trapdoor. Rungs were broken, and the bottom half had rotted out completely, leaving it several feet above his head, well above jumping distance. Again, cursing under his breath, he struck out down the nearest tunnel, which, by the smell of it, was clearly some kind of sewer. "This is not how I pictured tonight going down..." @Etherial @Recon Edited January 23, 2021 by Oni Link to post Share on other sites
Recon 0 Posted January 18, 2021 #2 Share Posted January 18, 2021 A few hours earlier Recon was scouting the city this was a thing Recon did regularly when he was bored. Whilst doing some looking around he never was watching where he was stepping this would be his mistake. After a couple of steps, Recon stepped on a manhole half-open the weight of him pushed down on the manhole cover and there he went straight down. The expression Recon had made was what the hell did I do. "Just my f**king luck." It was like some slide you'd find at a play place in a fast-food restaurant. Eventually, the slide leads to some sort of sewer room. He didn't have a very soft landing and would you know it some hit points were taken away. Recon let out a sigh and lifted himself up the smell hit him hard "Jesus where the hell am I in a sewer or something?" The first thing that he did was look around and a ladder along with a trap door caught his eyes. The ceiling looked like a floor to a building that had rotten away and seemed about ready to give way. Recon moved to the wall and sat down and began to look at his current options. After what felt like an eternity he heard what sounded like footsteps coming from above him. looking up he could see the wood starting to crack "Oh boy." he mumbled then the wood gave way and a boy came falling through. Recon sat there looking at the player who didn't see him at first did he not notice him sitting there if so time to introduce myself. "You come here often?" Recon said sarcastically. Link to post Share on other sites
Etherial 0 Posted January 18, 2021 #3 Share Posted January 18, 2021 (edited) Another day lost in this death game and Etherial was on her way to complete a quest. The quest was quite simple actually it was just searching for an item that was surprisingly hidden inside a bucket of a well. While walking threw the old parts of the town she would all of the sudden hear a crash in an old wore out building. Running over to it she sees a sign that says "Keep Out" and a part of the boards pulled from the window. "Looks like someone doesn't know how to read." She said with a smirk on her face. But without any doubt she decided to walk in to see what was all the commotion about. Walking inside the building she notice the house was falling a part and the floor was about to cave in. Slowly walking down the old stairs that reach the basement she sees a giant hole with what looks like two other players trapped in it. With no hesitation. She spoke up. "Which one of you don't know how to read?" she paused a moment. "Actually by the looks of it you two probably have a surprisingly low education as it is." The white haired grey eye girl said with a little smirk on her face as her left hand is holding on to the sheath of her rapier. @Oni @Recon Edited January 18, 2021 by Etherial Link to post Share on other sites
Oni 0 Posted January 18, 2021 Author #4 Share Posted January 18, 2021 (edited) Oni heard not only one voice but a second one coming from above. So much for that going unnoticed. Hunching his shoulder, Oni glared up through the falling dust and splinters towards the voice from above him. "Idunno. Which one of you doesn't know how to mind their own business?" Given that both of them had already addressed him and asked a question no less, the answer seemed pretty clear. "Do you intend to do something to get us out of here, or are you just going to stand up there and try to act better than other people?" From her tone, the latter seemed far more likely, at least in the immediate, so he returned to the task of making sense of his new surroundings. "And no, wise guy, I don't come here often. I'd rather not have come here in the first place," he spat, snarling his upper lip as he continued to look away from either of the other payers. Just my luck I should fall all the way down here and suddenly become Mr. Popular. Typical. Edited January 18, 2021 by Oni Link to post Share on other sites
Recon 0 Posted January 18, 2021 #5 Share Posted January 18, 2021 (edited) Recon looked up at the girl. "Hey, I wasn't the one who decided to enter this building I ended up here because I took a bad step." then he glanced back at the player down there with him "Hey I was minding my own business down here till you decided to bring the building down." He stood up and looked back at the other player who was above them. "Just so you know I did go to school but that's beside the point anyway's would you help us get out of this s**tty situation?" Jeez, these two are a handful and here I thought everyone was nice guess I was wrong. The smell from the sewer was getting annoying. Recon looked up at the trap door "Maybe there might be a way out through that way." he mumbled then he turned to the girl. "So uh what's your name?" Recon turned two the player down there with him. "Also having a nice day down here?" Edited January 18, 2021 by Recon Link to post Share on other sites
Etherial 0 Posted January 19, 2021 #6 Share Posted January 19, 2021 (edited) With the slight annoyance in her face. The white haired girl would look at the two of them. The fact that one had the nerve to say what he did wasn't exactly the nicest thing you can say to a female at this current situation. The other didn't really rest her case but did something she wasn't expecting someone to ask. "Why would I need to tell you my name if you're not capable in introducing yourself first." With a little sign she decided to give in and help look for a way out for them. Without telling she turns around and starts to run up the stairs of the old rundown building to find sheets setting on the chest in front of the old bed. With no hesitation she grabbed it and worked her way back down to the basement. Unlike the men in the sewer she was to light for the wood to collapse in. Reaching down to the basement the two were still standing there. Most likely irritated that she left without explaining where she was going but in return she had bed sheets that were tied together to make it into a rope. "Now I'm not heavy enough to hold you two up but if you give me a minuet I'll try to find something to tie this to." She said as she walks to a old metal pipe that was handing out of the ground that seem to be an old water pipe. @Oni @Recon Edited January 19, 2021 by Etherial Link to post Share on other sites
Oni 0 Posted January 19, 2021 Author #7 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Oni saw the dingy white cloth flutter down out of the corner of his eye and felt some semblance of relief. He had not yet let go of his annoyance at the girl though. He dragged his feet as he made his way over to their means of escape. "You've got a lot of nerve lecturing someone else about manners when the first thing you did upon finding people stuck in a sewer was to criticize them," he retorted, unfazed by her demeanor. He wasn't worried about her attitude. He'd seen more attitude from more intimidating people on almost a daily basis back home. If it meant getting out though, he might be willing to put aside his temper. Maybe. He waited for the okay before taking two healthy handfuls of bed sheet and hoisting himself up off of the ground. This wasn't a terribly difficult task. Although his in-game stats were less than impressive, he had very little bulk to lift. Chalk this up as one of the few times I'm almost thankful to be under 5'10". Even in the depths of his head, he cursed himself for even having a thought like that, but he would worry about beating himself up for that one later. Link to post Share on other sites
Recon 0 Posted January 19, 2021 #8 Share Posted January 19, 2021 "Why would I need to tell you my name if you're not capable of introducing yourself first." Recon responded "Well my name is Rec-" She left before he could even say his name "-on at least you know my name whoever you are." He had turned to the other player down there with him. Recon decided to pat down the wall behind him to check if there were any bricks sticking out of the wall. To his surprise there wasn't any on the wall he was checking it was flat. He then made his way over to the next wall and began checking for any bricks sticking out once again. Once more the other wall was as flat as the other one. "Hmm wonder if I could just rock climb out of here. I'm not really looking forward to that ladder." Recon turned back to where the girl was standing and to his surprise, the makeshift rope was thrown down and Recon bowed and said: "Ladies first madam" to Oni. Link to post Share on other sites
Etherial 0 Posted January 19, 2021 #9 Share Posted January 19, 2021 (edited) After giving the signal for the first boy to start climbing up she walked up to the edge of the hole. Seeing as the one that has the big attitude was climbing first. At first it looked like it was going well. While the man was climbing she looked at he other one which looked like he was trying to look for a secret passage to find a way out. But all of the sudden once the older male got close he grabbed onto the rotten ladder before the makeshift rope that was tied to the pipe broke off. With no hesitation though she would run over to the area of the ladder and offer her hand to him hoping she was capable to give him a boost up. Watching the boy holding onto the ladder was more stressful for her to see as he's so close to finally be free from the giant hole. As she looked up at the other boy though, she would respond. "How about we move on from introductions until after we get out of here." As she looks down once to see if he'll accept her hand. @Oni @Recon Edited January 19, 2021 by Etherial Link to post Share on other sites
Oni 0 Posted January 19, 2021 Author #10 Share Posted January 19, 2021 The bottom of Oni's stomach dropped out as the taut sheet gave way. His hand flailed out, grasping for anything that it could hold onto and managed to grab hold of the derelict ladder. His eyes were wide in panic as the adrenaline surged through him, but he swallowed down his feelings and let go of the sheet. It was no longer any use to him and he watched it fall with its connected pipe segment, the metal clattering loudly to the ground. Looking up, he saw the unnamed girl reaching out for his hand. He didn't trust the ladder any more than the metal pipe that had given out, so he took the hand that was offered, hoping to take pressure off of the creaking rung of the ladder. As he began to give the girl a little of his weight and pull himself upwards, there came a wet crack, and the moldy ladder failed, sending Oni and his would-be rescuer hurtling towards the ground. "Son of a bi-OOF!" He landed hard, but much more unpleasant was the girl who landed across his stomach, emptying his lungs of air. He gasped, grateful that this was not the real world as a blow like that would have winded him completely for a long time. Link to post Share on other sites
Recon 0 Posted January 19, 2021 #11 Share Posted January 19, 2021 After Recon watched as the boy climb the makeshift rope he continued to look for a plan B escape. Again Recon started feeling the walls for a brick sticking out and there was a badly placed brick slightly sticking out. The brick was slightly sticking out it was large enough to place the tip of his foot on it. Recon was ignoring the other two while he was looking for a plan B. "Well woul-" Recon was cut off before he could say anything about his findings. Hearing the other two he could already guess what happened to them Recon then turned around and looked at the two. "Ouch...you two okay?" He smirked then commented, "Welcome to the s***tiest place on earth Miss I hope you enjoy your stay." Recon said sarcastically. "So anyone has any other ideas? Cause I have one and it's a great one." Recon then turned back to the wall with the brick sticking out of it. He tugged on it checking if it would give it seemed sturdy enough. Link to post Share on other sites
Etherial 0 Posted January 19, 2021 #12 Share Posted January 19, 2021 After the failed attempted of lifting the man up, Etherial would be tugged with him down into the sewers. Although he landed on the hard surface she manage to land on top of him. Opening her eyes all she see is the man's brown eyes. Getting up off of the mans stomach she would brush off the dust as well as offering her hand to him to help him up as well. Although as how the situation been going so far it wouldn't surprise her if he refuses. Although the fear of men is strong with her. She had to get use to it for a while as she was now stuck inside this disgusting area for a while with two of them. While her hand stuck out, she would finally intoduce herself to the older man. "My name is Etherial.. And my apologies for this mess." She said to him as she looks over at the other man that seems to be the youngest one out of the three. Although his ideas are not bad the odds of him finding enough bricks sticking out is slim to none at this point. "You know there's a way out of here. Might have to walk for a while but if you think about it, people would have to come down here to fix it or whatever they do in this." She wasn't sure what way would be the place though so her guess would be just as good as the others. But it's better than sitting here and watching a man fail to climb a narrow path. @Oni @Recon Link to post Share on other sites
Oni 0 Posted January 19, 2021 Author #13 Share Posted January 19, 2021 The hand that was offered to Oni gave him pause, and he looked at it for a few seconds before making up his mind. He grunted, brushing the hand aside with the back of his own, but at the very least he returned the introduction. "Oni," he said simply, rocking back onto his shoulder blades and kipping up onto his feet. "S'not your fault. I'm the one who pulled you down." He refused to make eye contact, jutting out his jaw and turning his head away. "Sorry," he blurted out before turning back towards the passage he had first started down. "Hey, comedian! You can climb if you want to, but I'm gonna walk! Keep up or get left!" He took his time, making sure that the others were close by. As unpleasant as their introduction had been, they were all stuck now, and he didn't like the odds of having to go their separate ways in such an unfamiliar place. "Long as we're down here, might as well work together." He took a breath and sighed as though this was an inconvenience, but this quickly devolved into a coughing fit at the overwhelming power of the sewer air that filled his lungs. Link to post Share on other sites
Recon 0 Posted January 19, 2021 #14 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Recon glanced back to Oni"Really? you'd want to walk in the sewers for however long it would take to exit this place? trying to ignore this terrible smell?" Speaking of the smell it finally got to him he was about to throw up just from the smell but in reality, it was just him gaging. Recon pulled up his neckwarmer to cover his nose this actually helped and blocked out most of the smell. Recon turned back two them "So...Etherial you think there is a way out of here just how long would we have to walk exactly?" His voice was muffled from the neck warmer covering Recon's face. The situation the three were in was terrible they all seemed to hate each other Recon had his thoughts about the two they both were stubborn as hell that's what he got from the two. "If we work together everything would work out smoothly." Recon answered muffled. Link to post Share on other sites
Etherial 0 Posted January 19, 2021 #15 Share Posted January 19, 2021 As expected the older man didn't accept her offer in getting him up, but was nice enough to offer her his name. "Oni" she whispered to herself. Looking at him once more before then following him as he would yell at the other man. In this situation she had to agree with Oni. They need to work together to get out of this smelly place. Even if it is leaving someone behind. But as she started to follow Oni, she heard Recon asked if she really think there's a way out of here. She looked over at her. "Of course. How else would they fix stuff around the city?" Her message was basic but it's the truth. Why would you make a place that wouldn't have an exit. If you keep waste in one place it ends up stinking eventually above and no one want's to smell that. There's either an exit somewhere where it flows into some body of water or other waste or there's a treatment plant. Hopefully she cleared it up better this time around because she wont say it again. @Oni @Recon Link to post Share on other sites
Oni 0 Posted January 19, 2021 Author #16 Share Posted January 19, 2021 To say that the band of players was mismatched would be an understatement. Oni didn't know either of the others, and as far as the girl went, he could tell they were going to have issues. The fact that the very first thing out of her mouth was a challenge to his decision to break and enter was very telling. First rule of the streets is that if you stick your nose in someone else's business, it might get punched. I doubt she's seen much of the streets in her life. In the mean time, he turned his attention back to the trek through the fumes, which was far less pleasant than letting himself stay distracted. "Usually sewers in games have lots of entrances. No telling how far we are from one we can actually use, but we won't know what our options are unless we explore them." He glanced back and remembered who it was who was following him, adding, "And let's try to keep it down a bit. We're still in a safe zone, but we don't know who else is down here..." Oni had made more than a few unfriendly acquaintances in the underbellies of the first floor. Again, although he couldn't be killed here, he still didn't like the idea of being jumped in the dark. Link to post Share on other sites
Recon 0 Posted January 19, 2021 #17 Share Posted January 19, 2021 (edited) Following the two he heard Oni go on about entrances and keeping down because of possible 'threats' "Hey I don't really think anything that's out for blood is down here unless you are scared of some rats." Recon responded to him. "Anyways you two hear the story of the three players who were stuck in the sewers?" Recon looked at the two who were walking before him and answered his question "Well I didn't cause it was a s***ty story." He gave a short snicker after that little pun he made. "Anyway's jokes aside how are your day's going? Hopefully, fun cause being stuck in a death game sewer wasn't on my list of plans for the day." That thought was still in his head the fact that he's been stuck inside of this game for how long Recon still remembered that announcement. Being stuck in this game wasn't on his life plans at all neither was being able to smell sewers was on that list as well. Edited January 19, 2021 by Recon Link to post Share on other sites
Etherial 0 Posted January 19, 2021 #18 Share Posted January 19, 2021 With a large sign after hearing both of the boys, She would finally reach out and talk one more time. "You know. I should be getting ready for college right now." she waited for a moment. "Matter of fact I shouldn't of joined this dumb game in the first place. The only reason why I did is because my stupid father bought everything for my brother and he was so hyped about playing the game." She paused for another second before having memories of her brother getting all excited about being able to play it. "I can't imagine what he's going through right now knowing his younger sister is trapped in here instead of him." But besides the point no one here would really care why they all joined the death game. At this point in time she needed to escape this horrible place and get away from these two. Oni wasn't much of the issue right now as he's trying to be serous but Recon and his annoying jokes started to get on her nerves, but instead she decided to keep everything to herself from here on out. It's not like they'll have any company up ahead where she'll have to use her rapier anyways. @Oni @Recon Link to post Share on other sites
Oni 0 Posted January 23, 2021 Author #19 Share Posted January 23, 2021 Oni slumped on at the head of the group, keeping his eyes sharp while trying not to look like it. "This is a safe zone, bro," he answered to the notion of rats. "There are no monsters. They don't spawn here. But the monsters aren't what I'm worried about. Do you really want to deal with players who would want to be down here by choice?" It was a thin story, but one he hoped would make enough sense for the others to agree to keep their voices lower. Oni silently rolled his eyes at the joke, not bothering to turn around and show his reaction. "Are you sure you don't belong here? Because your jokes certainly do." As they walked, he also kept his eyes peeled for anything that could be signs of treasure. It wasn't much of a hope, but as long as he was still out "adventuring," he might as well try to complete his objective. I doubt anyone is going to keep a weapon just lying out in the middle of nowhere, especially in a sewer, but who knows? Crazier things have happened in games. As Etherial spoke of her life before SAO, Oni buttoned his lip. This wasn't the kind of conversation he was good at to begin with, but on top of that, he didn't know these players or if they were worth trusting. He gave a short grunt to acknowledge her story, but he did not know what to add. "Well," he began, grasping for words, "I don't think anyone could plan for a sh*t show like this..." Link to post Share on other sites
Recon 0 Posted January 24, 2021 #20 Share Posted January 24, 2021 Oni made a point about what kind of person would want to be down here let alone live down here. If you were some person with poor social skills I'd understand why they would live down here. Recon read the room and decided to get serious he didn't want to be down here either he has much more important things to do than walking in a sewer. Recon heard what Oni said and responded "No not down here they belong someplace lower like the abyss." Recon had to keep an eye on the ceiling to dodge pipes sticking out the last thing he would want is to hit his head on some sewer pipe. Lucky those two being short in this kind of situation. Recon listened to Etherial go on about how they ended up in this game and one of the things she said stuck in his head. School Recon was supposed to be experiencing the so-called epic high school life "Yeah I was supposed to be in school now but here I am. To be honest, how could any of us have known that we'd be stuck in a game." Link to post Share on other sites
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