[PP-F5] The Desert of Mysteries

[Elessar 0]

'' Maybe we'll find something..? Fine.. Fine.. '' he said while looking down, placing his hands in his pockets. '' Lets search something on desert, without knowing where to go! '' he said quitely while walking past them, now he was in front of them. He kept walking slowly without waiting. He was looking around to find something valuable for their time.

[Saix 0]

"I guess that all depends on what you're lookin for. Not much out here, save for burning sandstorms the like... But, it's a good place to grind levels, since nobody in their right mind would ever want to come visit..." Says a friendly voice nearby. "I'm a little impressed, you guys handled that lizard pretty good. A lot of lowbie players come out here hoping to level up, and the desert swallows them up. But you guys look pretty strong, strong enough to survive the sands anyway." He continues, as a man in black leather armor lounges nearby drinking from a water skin. He was rather handsome, with a sharp face accentuated by piercing golden eyes. His dark hair was rough cut, and styled in careful disarray. The green icon above his head showed that he was a player, just like them. A crimson spear carefully wrapped in oil cloth was stuck butt first into the ground, leaning over across his shoulders as he enjoyed some water and what appeared to be pastry cakes. "You guys want to take a break? I've been farming for XP out here for the past few days, maybe in return you could let me know any news you might have heard." He pauses, and cocks his head, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Name's Nero, it's a pleasure to meet you."

[Ruri 0]

"Hi there Nero, I'm Ruri." The short blue haired girl had said as she looked over to him not really sure what else to do as he talked about a break and news she had heard... She knew that no one else probably knew yet she had wanted to tell others and warn them she didn't move yet looked over to him. "Have you heard about this Vile guy?" She asked as she had looked over to him and had thought about not talking anymore yet somehow pushed herself to do so. "He is the biggest maverick currently, he is my family's arch enemy..." She had said before remembering the scene in the adventure she had had with her brother where the maverick attempted to kill her brother, Ruri saving him as she had battled him. She hadn't won but it had been remembered in her mind as if a movie forever since. She hadn't liked to remember the scene yet that adventure had always came back to her since then.

[Sakuri sashiti 0]

Sakuri noticed the that Ruri felt uncomfortable talking about vile, as she was one of his priary targets, it was easy to understand how she might feel. Sakuri had never seen this player before, but he didn't seem to be one of those mavericks either. He smiled towards the guy who had introduced himself as Nero.

"First of, my name is Sakuri, a pleasure to meet you" He said as he walked up towards him and reached out his hand for a handshake. After he had did this, a more concerned look came to his face.

"Maybe we should go to a more safe place, than standing here in the opening" He said as he looked around himself, knowing that he had before wanted to explore, but now he felt some sort of strange feeling, again..

He wanted to be sure that if they were going to bring vile and the mavericks up, they should talk about it in a more private area.

"I have never really heard or met you before though, how come?" He said with a small laugh to break the all so serious tone they had been talking with.

[Elessar 0]

He carefuly listened what they just talked about, having no idea about the Vile guy they mentioned. He wiped off the sweat on his forehead and looked at Nero. Then to Ruri as she mentioned Vile as a maverick.. And the biggest one of them. After a sigh, he raised his hand towards Nero and waved slowly. '' You seem like you are pretty comfortable here. And with the fact that you approached to us like this, i will think that you are friendly. Well, that green icon helps too. So..Name is Eléssar.'' he said in a rush, his eyes narrowed while looking at Nero, his hands blocking the sun from reaching to his eyes. '' I literally know nothing about the news, been trying to do quests and slaying monsters lately. So, i guess it would be good for me too. '' he said as he turned to his party members. He acts like he was okay with it but he wanted to know more about this Nero guy. He seemed pretty interesting to him.

[Saix 0]

Nero raised a single dark eyebrow at Ruri's mention of Vile. "Oh yeah, I've met the guy. We tangled once before, on Floor 7. He's a tough customer, I was pretty sure one of us would die, but once things got down to the single digits, we ended up going our separate ways with a draw. I guess even the King of Mavericks doesn't want to die." He said with a chuckle, before taking a long drink from his water skin. Looking at the other two members of Ruri's party and nodding a polite greeting. At Sakuri's question, he laughed. "I'm a solo player, I don't have much to do with the guilds." he says, with a shrug.

[Ruri 0]

"Wow, your the second solo player I've seen. I bet it's very dangerous..." She said as she looked over to him seeing the two others being a bit more kind to him she still wasn't sure weather to trust him or not but he seemed like a nice player, still green at least. She saw the dark wolf appear nearby walking toward Ruri. "Oh, this is my familiar, Kanya." She said as she pats her familiar's head the dark wolf looking over to Nero her dark blueish greenish eyes set on him as she looks over to him not sure if he was a threat or not then calming down a little after she knew that Ruri trusted him, a bit which usually meant the player was pretty trustworthy.

[Sakuri sashiti 0]

A solo player... First time i've actully met one of those.. he thougt to himself while Ruri had presented her familiar. He had some problems with the playing solo part in this game, since he belived it was a team effort if they wanted to ever complete this game, which means that all players who rather play alone, than trying to complete the game with the rest of the players, kind of slowed down the clearing.

"May i ask why you prefer going solo? Don't you wanna complete this game?" He said with a kind, but still serious voice. Sakuri didn't wanna say it the wrong way so Nero wiould belive that he disliked him, he rather just disliked his way of thinking. Or how he belived that he thought anyhow.

"Either way, you guys lead the way to a safe spot, since i am rather lost of where we are" he said as he kept looking around.

[Elessar 0]

" Am i the only one who heard that he faced Vile and Vile couldnt beat him? He sounds pretty confident about himself.. Talking about the death of the maverick king.. " he said while sitting on the giant rock nearby. Thinking about how he managed to progress this far on his own and fighting against the guy called Vile.. He knew nothing about him but he could figure that he was strong, being king of the mavericks shouldnt be easy to achieve afterall. Repeating Sakuris question while looking at Nero, wondering why he wouldnt help others at progressing in the game. " Why do yo prefee playing solo? More exp? More loots? "

[Saix 0]

Nero chuckles as he fishes through his inventory and pulls out waterskins for the assembled players, just because it was a nasty stinking desert didn't mean they couldn't make the most of it and have a little picnic. "It can be risky, at times. But I keep a reliable safety margin in place. Part of being an effective solo player is learning the way the skills work, when to move, how to dodge; stuff like that." He says, rather matter of factly, before noticing the wolf cub staring at him. "Kana eh? Well, she is a pretty girl..." A few moments of fishing through his inventory, and he has brought out a <> for the little pup to chew on. Cocking his head to think about Sakuri's question, he finally shrugs and responds. "I'm a pretty irresponsible guy, it's not so much that I don't want to see the game cleared, I just consider myself a realist. Right now, the most important task ahead of us is getting as strong as possible. Trying to rush clearing the game will only end up with unprepared players getting themselves killed. I honestly feel that ensuring I am strong enough to survive battle is my top priority. As far as why I chose to do that solo, well... I figure that I've got no right to risk any life other than my own. Party and Guild stuff is fine for some people, but the idea of having someone else's life in my hand, knowing that if I screw up they would die... Well, that's pretty heavy."

[Ruri 0]

"Nero, someone that is that strong to be a solo player is worried about failures? I have failed once or twice but I always know practice means perfect... I'm sure if you failed you would be able to fix it easily." She smiled at Nero as Kanya started to chew the <> she had been given. Ruri kneeling down next to the cub and patting it's head. She then grinned she had an idea, "How about I invite you into the party and we can battle for a bit, I will show you how you may correct your own mistakes." She smiled as she Opened her hub and invited Nero to the party smiling as the request box had come up in front of him. "I think if you make a mistake a friend will always pick you up and help you out. If I hadn't felt this way I would've never made a guild of my own, I would've been a solo player just like you." She smiled at him hoping to help him think more of himself and not let troublesome thoughts keep him down.

[Zero 0]

Zero had been trekking through the desert floor in search of monsters to fight. He pulled the cloth covering his mouth down and sighed stopping, a black figure among the desolate area with his three swords out as he felt no need to hide his skill any longer. The heat had become a pain like it usually did, but he ignored it, and he searched for anything nearby to distract him spotting a familiar face, a very familiar face. He pulled the piece of cloth back up to his mouth and slowly made his way to the group of players, he stopped once there was only a few feet of distance between them. "Well if it isn't Nero, been a while." He glanced at the other players and gave them a slight wave, not bothering to actually look at them. "Zero's my name just so you don't feel bothered by the need to ask, and I truly hope I'm not intruding."

[catmagnet69 0]

Shaya was training in the desert landscape behind a few hills of sand when she heard a group talking behind her. She decided to go investigate all the commotion and crawled to the top of a hill, laying down she examined the players one at a time. She thought to herself thinking of who she's seen, "No, no, no, no, no... is that Ruri? .... No it cant be. She sees that all except one weren't player killers, she determines that it's safe to approach and she gets up walking down the hill. Then she notices a small furry friend nearby, "Kanya? It is Ruri! Shaya starts to dash down the hill yelling her name, Ruri!!! When se gets to her she hugs the blue haired girl almost knocking her off of her feet.

[Sakuri sashiti 0]

Sakuri got supirsed by the amount of players which had been roaming on this floor, he thought that most player hated thsi floor due to the heath, and all the sand. He looked towards the two new players which had arrived, and with a nod he said.

"Hello, my name is Sakuri" with a calm but focused voice. In his head thoughts was going around, from what Nero had said. Sakuri could kind of relate to what he had said, btu that didn't mean that playing solo was the way to go.

He then realized that he didn't pay attention to what Ruri had said, hopefully it was nothing which concerned him anyhow. He looked with a serious face at Nero.

"I do understand the point of why you are playing like that but you are wrong." He said with a dead serious voice.

"I cannot claim that one mans opinion if wrong, but i do claim that your chain of thought is wrong. When you're not here helping everyone, you are rather letting them die. I am not blaming any deaths on you specificly, but my point reamins that if everyone is not helping out, more lifes will be taken. It's nothing against you or anyone else, but we have to work as a team, if we wanna spare as many lifes as possible." He said while he kept looking Nero in the eyes the whole time as he spoke, not even concidering that he might sound rude. Sakuri felt like this was an important thing to say though, since everyone is needed to complete this without letting to many die.

"I cannot and i will not try to force you, but i will ask you to concider what i have said." He said with the same serious voice as he recently spoke in.

Now, he took a few steps back so he would let the other players conversate instead, as he had talked a lot. But suddenly another player dropped in, which he decided to don't mind and let the rest of the people handle it.

[Guest]

The air grows cold, as a hooded figure, dressed in black approaches. He stands alone as now, the "Walking Reaper" has came, he looks up from his hood, a never ending darkness it held. As he removes it, what would be his face was a mask, a bone mask, that gave his eyes a hellish orange effect, as he walks up the sand dune he spots a small group of player, and one of them he wanted to speak to in person. His coat, as long as his body, as it reached down to his calfs, his waist length jet black hair swaying in the wind as he adjusts his blade, and walks towards them.

"Greeting Ruri, Shaya, long time no see." Grim looks at the others, many of which he didn't reckonize, and one caught his eye, a tall figure with dark font hair, wielding a single red spear, he sensed great power emminating from his being. As Grim bows before him in repect, and turns to Zero, "Zero, finally, I have found you, I wish to challange you to a duel for you unique skill, please will you do me the honor of a warriors duel?" Grim asks as he draws his sword and places it into the ground, as he kneels before Zero. Hoping to accept his challange.

[Elessar 0]

Eléssar was surprsied after all the people gathered on here.. After he thought about what Ruri and Sakuri said he decided not to talk on this subject anymore. Becase he knew nothing about teaming up or having friends. And he knew nothing about the players who gathered around. He didnt even think about greeting them. All he could say that he was agreed with what Ruri and Sakuri said to him. '' I don't really know a thing about teaming up or having friends. But its always good to have someone to watch your back, i learned that from Sakuri in a quest. And Ruri.. She seems like she owns a guild. Maybe you are too high level for us to protect or save.. If you are worried about the lives of your teammates.. The thing is, if you keep playing as a solo player more players will die while they try to progress in the game and rush it. You can lead, you can show what is wrong or right. If you team up with us, you will be the reason that they will stay alive when they clear all the floors or when they fight against Vile. he said kindly and narrowed his eyes. '' I'm just saying that.. If you are worried, be worried.. We are all worried but we still trying to fight for a purpose. I saw players that fight for no reason but only save the other players. Because his life means nothing to him. And im pretty sure that you have your own reasons.. But at the end it all comes to ending this game so.. It will be faster if we team up. ''

[Ruri 0]

She closed her eyes for a moment then started to say "Nero, I shall friend you but there are too many people here. After I do I think I'm leaving." She said as she opened her hub and requested to friend Nero a white box showing up on his screen. After she saw Zero arrive she was surprised by the amazing skill he had. "Would you mind--" She was interrupted by Grim asking for a duel, scooping up the skill before her. She growled for a second wanting to slap Grim for practically taking the skill before herself even able to lift a finger on the subject.