[PP-F10] The Fall

[Vigilon 0]

Dazia seemed willing enough to enter the ruins, but when the path split, Dazia was silent. Vigilon walked on the right path, and he soon entered a seemingly empty room. "Well, Dazia, it looks like-" Dazia was nowhere to be seen. "Um...where'd you go? Are you in stealth, or did you take the left path? Don't you know it's bad to split the party?"

Well, the room wasn't exactly empty, but what was around seemed to be mostly junk...and weird tiles. The tiles seemed to have holes in them, so that was enough for suspicion. Vigilon slowly placed his right foot on one, and the tile began to sink. Nothing else seemed to happen, so Vigilon moved his left foot to one of the other tiles. As that other tile sank, spikes emerged from the holes.

Ah, so it was one of those kinds of things...and now his left foot had been damaged by a spike from below. "Well, that's not good." He thought aloud. He would need to be cautious around the tiles from this point on, as there would be no way to avoid the tiles if he was to try and reach the other side. Since some tiles had spikes and others didn't, maybe this was...a puzzle?

He looked to the other side, and saw something in the corner. "Is that...?"

ID# 200542 LD: 15+7=22(found a chest!)

Edited November 7, 2021 by Vigilon

[Dazia 0]

Dazia's eyes darted around the room, there did not seem to be anyone in sight. She readied her weapon, just in case, and moved on to the next room.

Dazia looked around again, there seemed to be nothing but shadows. A creature suddenly emerged from one door, and Dazia struck it down. A weaker monster. Pitiful thing was no match. Who she was really looking for, however, was not in sight. Her eyes darted across the room, mainly towards the darker areas with less glowing mushrooms around. "I know you're here!" Dazia called out to seemingly nothing. "Show yourself!" There came no response, but the lack of monster activity kept Dazia alert, due to the fact that there was supposed to be a surplus of activity.

 

Someone was there, all right, but their silent movements kept Dazia guessing. A smile crept upon their lips as they observed Dazia and her actions. Was now the time to act, or was it later? Was this who they thought she was, or was it somebody else?

ID# 200632 LD: 14(could not find stealthed target)

Edited November 3, 2021 by Dazia

[Astralin 0]

Krysta smiled and seemed to be happy that Astralin's build was finally coming along, while Yona was surprised to see Astralin's Skillbook, asking if it was what Astralin herself preferred to interpret it as.

"No no, it's not a unique skill....this book is just...for immersion. I said before that I could strike with my innate power, right? Well, I'm not exactly one for those bulky bludgeons, and I'm not very blade-savvy, either...so I had to work with something else. It might not count as magic in the game and its statistics, but I intend to come as close to it as I can!" Astralin explained.

Soon, the players were off to the location that Krysta was notified about. The trip seemed surprisingly peaceful, there weren't as many monsters as expected...not nearly enough. Something was up, and Astralin needed to find out. "Was the overpopulation going on in all floors but this one? There should be lots of monsters lurking about..."

Upon the players' arrival, there seemed to be something standing in front of the doorway of the structure. It stared at the players, as if waiting for them to make a movement.

[A Skeletal Guardian blocks the way.]

Astralin stopped. It didn't look like this armored undead was going to budge, so if this was indeed the specified location... "It looks like we might have to deal with this guy if we're gonna get in." Astralin noted. She readied her Sword art, and upon the activation, her eyes glowed due to her amulet's vanity effect. "Arrekona!" She called out right before the Sword Art was used. The Skeletal Guardian sidestepped the attack in time, and it was now that the enemy's cursor changed from yellow to red.

 

ID# 200633 BD: 2+3=5(Miss!)

 

[0]Astralin: HP 420/420, EN 58/60 | 20 DMG | 3 ACC | 2 EVA | Freeze: 9-10

[0]Krysta: HP ???/???, EN ??/?? | ????????

[0]Yona: HP ??/??, EN ??/?? | ????????

 

                    Enemies:

Skeletal Guardian: HP 372/372 | 124 DMG | 18 MIT

Edited November 3, 2021 by Astralin

[Krysta 0]

Yona was surprised to see Astralin pull out what appeared to be a spellbook, and Astralin explained what it was for, as well as why.

A battle was anticipated either way, so it was no surprise to Krysta that there would be at least one enemy to fight before entering the structure mentioned within the message. Astralin's attack missed, and then the monster's cursor changed to red, signaling hostility. Krysta readied her own Sword Art, and slashed three times at the Skeletal Guardian, dealing a fair amount of damage to it. The attack was not critical, so there was one thing left to assure. "Hold steady, Yona! Now is not the time!" She called out to the party member who had yet to take action. Krysta then looked back to her enemy. "I will not allow you to harm my allies." She declared as she readied herself for an attack.

ID# 200634 BD: 5+1=6(hit!)

Radiant Blade(ST-I): 21x12-18=234 damage to Skeletal Guardian!

[1]Krysta: HP 640/640, EN 72/84 | 21 DMG | 78 MIT | 1 ACC | 3 LD | Holy: 8 | T4 Bleed

[0]Astralin: HP 420/420, EN 58/60 | 20 DMG | 3 ACC | 2 EVA | Freeze: 9-10

[0]Yona: HP ??/??, EN ??/?? | ????????

 

                    Enemies:

Skeletal Guardian: HP 138/372 | 124 DMG | 18 MIT

Edited November 3, 2021 by Krysta

[Yona 0]

Yona was a bit confused as to exactly what Astralin meant. "Uh, you just described every weapon in the game." She remarked. "Exactly what do you do, then?" She asked.

It wasn't long before the players encountered a monster blocking the way. Astralin tried out something, and it was...odd, how did...was that the martial arts skill she'd heard about? This was starting to get more confusing. Astralin didn't look like the sort to fight with her fists or feet, and yet here she was, using Martial Arts to pull off...whatever it was she tried to do just now. Krysta then managed to actually land a hit against the monster, cutting its HP down to yellow, almost red. All in one attack? Damn...Yona couldn't wait to get that powerful. Krysta told Yona to wait, which was the obvious course of action, due to how aggro seemed to work in this game. Krysta also said something super cliche, along the lines of "I won't let you hurt my friends" or something like that. Nice one, captain obvious. The Skeletal Guardian attempted to strike back, but Krysta blocked the attack and it ended in lock. A seemingly disembodied voice came from the monster as it glared at Krysta. "...Leave..."

Ok, so it just wanted the players to leave. Well, bad news for him, that wasn't gonna happen.

[Yona takes no action]

ID# 200635 MD: 5(miss)

[0]Yona: HP 20/20, EN 20/20 | 6 DMG | 6 MIT | 2 EVA | 3 LD

[1]Krysta: HP 640/640, EN 72/84 | 21 DMG | 78 MIT | 1 ACC | 3 LD | Holy: 8 | T4 Bleed

[0]Astralin: HP 420/420, EN 58/60 | 20 DMG | 3 ACC | 2 EVA | Freeze: 9-10

 

                    Enemies:

Skeletal Guardian: HP 138/372 | 124 DMG | 18 MIT

Edited November 4, 2021 by Yona

[Vigilon 0]

Okay, now was the time for focus, and deep breaths. He needed to handle this carefully, lest he take too much damage from stepping on spikes. Now, how to tell which tiles were spike tiles and which ones weren't? Talk about minesweeper...or "spikesweeper", in this case.

He shouldn't have been surprised when almost a quarter of his HP was lost from all the spike tiles he'd stepped on...in total, of course, the individual spike tiles didn't deal much on their own. With red dots all over the bottoms of his feet(or boots, whatever), he walked up to the chest he'd spotted. "Alright....this better be worth it..." He muttered before opening the chest.

A bunch of tier one gear, he shouldn't have been surprised. He might have use for the consumables, not to mention the materials and col, but the curved sword and the cloth armor? "...I can't use these...gosh darn it."

Well, at least it was better than nothing, and he could probably find a much noobier player to give the tier one equipment to.

ID# 200642 LD: 17+1=18(2500 Col, 12 Materials, <<Unidentified T1 Perfect Curved Sword>>, <<Unidentified T1 Perfect Cloth Armor>>, and <<Unidentified T1 Perfect Consumable>> x2)

Edited November 7, 2021 by Vigilon

[Dazia 0]

Dazia kept her hood on, her weapon at the ready, and her guard up. There was no way she was going to let anyone try to get the jump on her. To Dazia's surprise, a small frog hopped out of a hole in the wall. It must have been poisonous if it could survive in a floor like this. Dazia thrust her blade downward on it, and it shattered. Just an endemic life entity, nothing more. Soon, Dazia heard a voice at last.

"So, you must be this 'Dazia' I've heard so much about..." 

Dazia readied her weapon and looked towards the possible source of the voice. Out from the shadows came a hooded player, probably female. "Who are you?" Dazia demanded.

"Hold on now...I think I might know you..." The player remarked. Dazia was somewhat confused.

"You're Violet, aren't you?" The player asked. She then took off her hood.

Spoiler

"Long time, no see, eh?" The familiar woman remarked.

"Haimi..." Dazia growled. "Enough games you little shit, what do you want this time? I'm still sick of the constant hell you give me over something stupid, I wasn't even interested in what you wanted."

Dazia's sibling laughed. "Such big talk...even though you're who happens to be the little sister, you've gotten the roles reversed!"

It took so much for Dazia to keep herself from activating her sword art. "Just shut up and tell me what the hell you want so we can get this over with and behind us." She snapped. The woman seemed to be thinking it over. "So...you wanna end this? You wanna...get some resolution to our long, long struggle against one another? Hmm, that sounds nice...in theory...but if you really want to..." Her eyes then lit up all of a sudden.

She'd gotten an idea...an awful idea! Haimi Grace had gotten a wonderful, awful idea! A sinister smile crept on her face, then she spoke again. "You know what, I think I've got something... So, you know how there's been rumors of monster overpopulation going about? Maybe we can fix that." She claimed. "Yeah, let's cut the monsters down to size, kill them all! Tear them all apart, shatter them into shards, disintegrating like dust in the wind!" She explained with glee. "It can be a bit of a competition, if you want! It'll be good training for us both! Come on, I know you want to do it! Let's do it!" 

Dazia simply watched as her sister explained this idea of hers. The woman laughed as she pulled her hood back over her head. "Ahahahahaha, what a wonderful idea!" She said as she practically leapt back into the shadows. "...."

Dazia had nothing to say...but she just might actually do it.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Dazia

[Astralin 0]

Krysta managed to get a better hit against it than Astralin did, and Yona made sure not to pull aggro. Guess the low level player really did know what she was doing, after all. The Skeletal Guardian made a simple attack that Krysta easily blocked with her own weapon. It the proceeded to let out a seemingly disembodied voice. One word: Leave.

Creepy.

Astralin took this chance to try attacking again. She readied her sword art, and while it was the same as before, she hoped it would hit this time. "Arrekona!" She called out as her sword art activated again. She really wanted to finish this, but...

The Skeletal Guardian turned its gaze over to her when Astralin activated her sword art, and after pushing Krysta back, it grabbed her by the arm and swung her away from it, using the force of momentum to throw her further. "AAAAAGGGH!!"

Astralin got up, but she was feeling a bit dizzy from the impact. Was today just not her day in terms of combat?

ID# 200697 BD: 1 FAIL

[0]Astralin: HP 420/420, EN 57/60 | 20 DMG | 3 ACC | 2 EVA | Freeze: 9-10

[1]Krysta: HP 640/640, EN 72/84 | 21 DMG | 78 MIT | 1 ACC | 3 LD | Holy: 8 | T4 Bleed

[0]Yona: HP 20/20, EN 20/20 | 6 DMG | 6 MIT | 2 EVA | 3 LD

 

                    Enemies:

Skeletal Guardian: HP 138/372 | 124 DMG | 18 MIT

Edited November 4, 2021 by Astralin

[Krysta 0]

A seemingly disembodied voice came from the Skeletal Guardian, telling the players to leave. Astralin prepared to make another attack, but the Skeletal Guardian pushed Krysta back and proceeded to catch Astralin's arm and throw her aside. But by doing so, the monster was left wide open for an attack. Krysta made use of her own sword art again, and her opponent was ill prepared for it. Upon Krysta's final strike, the Skeletal Guardian glared at her. The disembodied voice was heard once more. "Turn...back..."

The monster then shattered, and its shards dispersed as though they were particles of airborne dust.

"Phew...now that's been taken care of." Krysta then looked to both of her party members. "Astralin, are you alright?" She asked. Regardless of whatever answer came, it was time to enter the mysterious structure.

There wasn't very much within the entryway, which seemed to suggest the presence of other players. "Remain on guard." Krysta suggested. "I doubt we're alone."

ID# 200909 BD: 8+1=9(hit)

Radiant Blade(ST-I): 21x12-18=234 damage to Skeletal Guardian!

ID# 200910 CD: 2, LD: 2+3=5(2604 Col)

 

Krysta: HP 640/640, EN 61/84 | 21 DMG | 78 MIT | 1 ACC | 3 LD | Holy: 8 | T4 Bleed

Astralin: HP 420/420, EN 57/60 | 20 DMG | 3 ACC | 2 EVA | Freeze: 9-10

Yona: HP 20/20, EN 20/20 | 6 DMG | 6 MIT | 2 EVA | 3 LD

 

                    Enemies:

Skeletal Guardian: HP 0/372 | 124 DMG | 18 MIT

Edited November 4, 2021 by Krysta

[Yona 0]

Sure enough, Astralin and Krysta continued their assault against the Skeletal Guardian. Astralin failed to damage the target yet again, whereas Krysta finished it off. 

Oh look, experience. Well, guess even just standing around in a party had some value. With things like this going on, a lazy player could lie about his or her level and get carried all the time until he or she reached a desired level...but such a thing would be too dumb, boring and, honesty...just plain petty for Yona. She knew she'd need to put in some work of her own if she wanted to really get anywhere.

Krysta checked to make sure Astralin was ok, then the party entered the ruins. The entryway seemed pretty empty, and Krysta seemed to get the idea that the party wasn't alone.

Plap, plap, plap...

Wait, what was that noise?

Plap plap, plap plap, plap plap...

Yona turned her head slowly towards the direction the sounds were coming from, and she saw two little frogs hopping across the floor...pretty close to the players. The patterns on the endemic creatures weren't that of typical frogs. Yona had heard from one player that the waters of the tenth floor were poisonous...since frogs were amphibians that came from water, then these might be...

*ribbit*

"D'AAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Yona pulled out her weapon, pointing it towards the two frogs...which simply continued to hop towards the party.

[Vigilon 0]

Vigilon continued on, and the next room wouldn't exactly have much, save for a simple frog hopping around the floor. It was probably looking for cave insects, and it was probably fine to just leave it alone. It stared at Vigilon for a few seconds as he passed by it, but then it returned to its usual business. Had someone cleared this place out already? They must not have been looking for treasure, otherwise that treasure chest would have been opened and looted before Vigilon came across it. He pondered over this for a brief moment, then he continued on. The next room would kind of bottleneck, and in the middle of the narrow walkway was a training dummy. Strange, who would leave it there? Soon, Vigilon heard voices. He turned towards the direction they were coming from and saw another doorway. Was that coming from the path Dazia took?

[Dazia 0]

Dazia would walk towards the doorway ahead of her, and once she left the room, The player she had spoken with came out of her hiding place, and began walking towards a crumbling wall. She pulled out a stone, and the portion that was crumbling collapsed, revealing another way out. She left in that direction, as she spoke to herself. "Kill them all, show the rest...soon, Aincrad itself, maybe even the world back where we came from, will be able to take a good, long look at the real Violet Grace... Hehehehehehehe, hehehahahaha!!!!"

Dazia noticed Vigilon was in the room she'd entered. "So the paths meet here, then." She noted, despite that it was obvious now. "Don't suppose you've found anything, have you? I found the one who was clearing the place out, by the way. She wasn't interested in killing any players, so we don't have that much to worry about."

Dazia looked ahead, and saw the dummy in her way. She drew out her weapon, and cut it in half. The training dummy shattered. "Honestly, what kind of dummy would have that in the way?"

There was only the room up ahead now...even if it seemed to be closed off by something other than a typical wooden door.

[Astralin 0]

Astralin watched Krysta finish the battle and ask if she was alright. "Yep, I'm fine, just a non-damage scratch..." She answered. When the players entered the ruins, it was emptier than expected. Krysta warned that the party should be on guard, that they probably weren't alone...and then it happened.

Plap plap, plap plap, plap plap...

Frogs. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't be super freaked out, just mildly squeamish, as frogs are often coated in some kind of mucus. The tenth floor was known for its toxic water, however, so that would suggest toxic waters breed toxic frogs...

*ribbit*

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!"

Yeah, Astralin didn't exactly have any methods for dispatching these frogs that didn't involve direct physical contact, and toxic frogs tended to be externally poisonous. Without a weapon that didn't apply physical contact from her avatar, it would be too risky a move unless she was fine with getting poisoned...which she wasn't. "I'm gonna have to leave them to you two, I can't touch them without getting poisoned and any attacks I make have physical contact!" She exclaimed. The fact that the frogs were hopping toward the players didn't make this any better.

[Krysta 0]

Even within the entryway, the players already were not alone. The timing was absolutely impeccable. The three players all turned their heads towards the source of the sounds nearby.

Frogs, two of them, possibly poisonous. One of them croaked, and they both continued hopping...towards Krysta.

"Aaahh! wh-why??"

Yona drew her blade, Astralin said she would leave the frogs to Yona and Krysta, due to physical contact being her only method of attack. "Why are they hopping towards me?? Yona, why haven't you tried cutting them yet? They're endemic life, their HP is minuscule! You can handle them!" Krysta said as she drew her own weapon, in case Yona still did not attack. She also tried to slowly move away from the two frogs, for she wanted no interaction with the possibly poisonous creatures. Yona was better fit to handle them since they were moving towards Krysta and not Yona.

If it was any consolation, at least they were not spiders.

[Yona 0]

Seriously? Both Astralin and Krysta didn't want anything to do with this. Neither did Yona, so it would be a bit of a stalemate among the party, and those damn frogs were only getting closer! "Are you kidding me?? I don't wanna touch those things! Astralin, I understand if it's because you're using martial arts and don't wanna get poisoned, I don't wanna get poisoned either! Honestly, there's one of us who's capable of taking a status ailment and I know who that is! Let the Princess handle these frogs, 'cause who knows what they really are!" Yona exclaimed, despite somewhat making a reference at the end.

After all the cliche stuff Krysta had done so far, she had a chance to either break the stereotype or follow through with it. Come on, Death game or no, this was still a game! ...And they're just two frogs...potentially poisonous frogs...but still!

[Vigilon 0]

Sure enough, Dazia entered the room. She explained that she'd found whoever cleaned the place out, and that said person wasn't interested in PKing. Dazia then sliced up the training dummy, proceeding to make a negative remark.

"...You do realize we could have just picked it up and moved it, right? You didn't need to do that." Vigilon countered. It was basically a waste of energy destroying it when there could be something up ahead. Vigilon and Dazia would travel to the other side of the room, and there seemed to be something odd keeping the door sealed. There were symbols that looked detachable. Maybe there was a certain order that would open the door?

"...Ok, if there's anything I can guess about it, we'll need the right combination to get this opened." Vigilon noted.

Heart, Creature, Blade, Arms...those were the symbols on the tokens? Vigilon took one out, and turned it around, there was another symbol. Some kind of spark-like thing.

Vigilon thought for a moment, hopefully this would work.

Upon the door, the holes where the symbols went seemed to be following the pattern of a Pentagon, even though there were no lines connecting the holes. Vigilon Placed the Heart in the top hole, the spark in the upper right hole, the blade in the upper left hole, then he placed the creature in the lower left hole and the arms in the lower right hole. Wait, the larger hole in the center was still empty.

Vigilon looked at the ground and saw a larger symbol, much more complex, too. It had only one symbol on one side, unlike the others, which seemed to be two sided. Vigilon placed the center symbol in its hole, and turned it. Nope, spear-like bars now blocked the way back. Vigilon switched the creature and arms symbols, and tried turning the center symbol again. The spear-bars retracted back under the doorway behind the two players, and the door Vigilon was trying to unlock suddenly started lowering until it stopped when the top of the door was aligned with the floor...what kind of Skyrim-tomb bull was this?

Well, now the next room was ahead...it was dark, but at the end of it seemed to be seven differently colored light sources.

Vigilon walked closer to them, and they seemed to be vials full of glowing...substances...like, what exactly were these? One was Cyan, another was Orange. One was Blue, the other was Purple. Yet another was Green, and one was Yellow. Between the Blue and Purple ones, there was a Red one in the center.

"Ok...what are these?" Vigilon asked.

[Dazia 0]

Vigilon seemed to be against Dazia destroying the dummy. "I wanted to, why does it matter to you?" Dazia asked.

Vigilon and Dazia walked towards the end of the room, where...a puzzle door was. "You should look for clues before trying to solve it...or better yet, just leave it to me." Dazia suggested. Vigilon didn't seem to listen, so Dazia rolled her eyes and began searching this end of the room for hints to the combination. In the bottom left corner of this end, there was an etching of arms on the wall. Dazia ran over to the other corner, just in case, and found the etching of a creature in the bottom right corner. Vigilon got the answer wrong, as expected. "That's why I said look for hints first. From what I could see, The Creature goes in the right, and the arms go in the left." Dazia stated. Vigilon switched the two incorrectly placed symbols, and...then he tried again.

Wait, that worked? The rest of his guesses were right?

Now that the doorway was unblocked, it was time to continue on. Dazia looked around the area and saw two ladders leading to the story above. Maybe it was a way out? Dazia still entered the unlocked room as Vigilon did, just in case. She looked at the vials, and thought they might have some value. She took the red one first, but upon that, her hand passed through each other vial she tried to grab. She pulled out the vial of red and tried to examine it...

Spoiler

<<Red Essence>>

A mysterious compound, few know what it truly is. A Player may carry only one Essence at a time.

"Never give up, Stay Strong. Stay Determined."

Dazia thought for a moment, and decided to keep the Red Essence, since she already had it. "Guess I'll just be taking this one, then." She thought aloud. There didn't seem to be anything else in the room, so it was time for Dazia to leave. She then heard footsteps from above, lots of them. She needed to hide, quickly. She practically vanished, and she might be able to avoid whoever was coming. Only Vigilon had a chance to try and find her...hopefully he wouldn't.

 

ID# 200914 LD: 19+5=24

Dazia's Stealth Rating: 24

Edited November 5, 2021 by Dazia

[Astralin 0]

So, no one was gonna do anything about this? Well, there was one other option...

"Nope, I'm not doing this, I'm out!" Astralin declared, and she ran off...and deeper into the ruins she went.

There was junk laying around, and strange tiles covered in little holes...something wasn't right here. Astralin grabbed a heavy-ish stone, and dropped it on a tile. The tile sank down, but nothing else happened. Astralin picked up the stone again and dropped it on another tile, just in case. The tile sank, but spikes emerged from the holes.

Ah, it was a puzzle, then. Astralin decided to repeat the process in hopes of finding the right path... although she was kinda hasty due to those frogs back in the entryway. If the other players tried to follow her, she'd say to them, "I'm trying to find a path, I'll tell you which tiles are safe!"

Once she and any other players following her got past the puzzle, there seemed to be two trapdoors that led downwards. She opened one, and there was a ladder there. She dropped down quickly, and now was the time to explore...a strange dark room?

Not only that, Vigilon was there. "Oh, hey Vigilon! Nice to see you again!" If any players followed Astralin down the ladder, she'd call out to them, "Hey guys, I think it's safe, Vigilon's here!"

She then turned her attention to the odd glowing Vials...how interesting... "Whoa...what are these? ...I like the purple one, I'll take a look at the purple one..."

She took the vial of the purple substance, and examined it...

Spoiler

<<Purple Essence>>

A mysterious compound, few know what it truly is. A Player may carry only one Essence at a time.

"Read your surroundings, the path to victory will be clear."

Only one? Oh well... "So, what essence did you get, Vigilon?"

[Krysta 0]

Yona dared to suggest the unthinkable. "Heavens, no! I shall do no such thing!" Krysta reacted. Astralin managed to run away and into the next room. Honestly, why had Krysta not thought about that before? "I am getting out of here!" She said as she began to follow Astralin.

Astralin was trying to solve a tile puzzle, from what Krysta could observe when she stopped so suddenly. Time was of the essence, she and Yona had to catch up with Astralin before those frogs did. Astralin was able to help Krysta get across the puzzle unharmed. "Thank you so much for finding the solution to what could have been a much more difficult problem, not only for you an I, but Yona especially." She said to Astralin, before the players descended to the lover level of the ruins.

Astralin went on ahead, and called out that Vigilon was there. Krysta quickened her pace to meet up with her boyfriend. "Vigilon, it is good to know that you were able to get here...these ruins were mostly empty, save for a frog or two, but I now believe I know why. Training, I assume?" She greeted.

Astralin turned her attention to some odd vials with glowing substances inside, and they seemed to catch Krysta's attention, too. "Vigilon, do you, by any chance, know what these are?" She asked. Upon learning that he did not, Krysta decided to take a closer look at one of them. She picked out the Cyan one, and examined it...

Spoiler

<<Cyan Essence>>

A mysterious compound, few know what it truly is. A Player may carry only one Essence at a time.

"Hold steady, for the opportune moment will arrive shortly."

What an odd item it was...

[Yona 0]

Both Astralin and Krysta just noped out of the situation, just like that, leaving Yona with the frogs...or so one might think. If running was a valid option, then it was a damn good option, as Yona was not gonna stick around with a pair of toxic frogs. She bolted for the doorway that led further into the ruins, hopefully the frogs would lose interest and hop somewhere else, so that she wouldn't have to deal with them again when it was time to leave at the end of the investigation. Yona would enter the next room to see Astralin and Krysta frantically trying to solve a spiky tile puzzle. "Can I ask how frequently puzzles like these show up? Are they normal, or are they usually saved for higher level zones?" Yona questioned. Knowing whether or not traps and tricky puzzles were scattered around all levels and areas of Aincrad might prove to be useful information.

Once the puzzle was solved and the party managed to get away from the frogs by going down a ladder covered by a trapdoor, Astralin went on ahead and spoke of some person called Vigilon.

When Yona entered the dim room, she saw not only the rest of the party, but also who she could only assume was Vigilon. Well, they knew him, but Yona didn't. The two party members greeted the guy casually, so Yona didn't see anything more...yet.

More importantly, what were those odd vials? The players were already taking some, so Yona needed to take her share quickly! She walked right up to them and took the Blue one. Something stopped her from grabbing another, so she might as well take a look at the one she did manage to grab...

Spoiler

<<Blue Essence>>

A mysterious compound, few know what it truly is. A Player may carry only one Essence at a time.

"Leap across the chasms that are your challenges, and keep your enemies on their toes."

"One per player? What is the meaning of this?" Yona thought. Well, it didn't look like she was getting more than what she now had, so she pocketed the Essence she'd grabbed and looked over to Vigilon. "I don't think we've met. I go by Yona." She said in introduction.