[OP-F9] Thrill of the Hunt [FULL]

[Daeron 1]

"Ah, a great day today? Is it not?" he asked himself as he ran his hand through his brown fair hair. As he stood up from his nap, he flicked he collar of his coat, which he used to stay cool on the deserted and heated floor. The ground seemed always so red and easily whipped up into a foggy cloud of red sand. The sun had a high temperature setting that would send most normal people diving into a pool or oasis on a lower floor below. Then there were those few crazy guys that managed to last on the floor for a while to get some higher leveled monsters grinded.

 

As Daeron yawned, he covered his mouth, and then he opened up his menu. There he selected the "Map" menu, where he would be able to see any areas of monsters that hasn't been grinded at the time. "Hmm. North of here are Hell Hounds, but I fight those on a regular basis." he said as he led his finger along a path on the map. "This one looks good. A little bit East of here, but other than that, it's a rather straight run and I can fight a couple Flame Vipers. A vicious animal in this game that has a scary ability to poison AND burn it's target in the same succession.

 

He headed on his way, over to the location. Every now and again, he'd see a monster, and even less often, he would see a player, with sweat dripping pearls off their foreheads. The location he had set a waypoint to wasn't too much further out. Perhaps in a matter of fifteen minutes, he'd arrive. Beneath his feet, he could hear the crunching of the red sand, with each amount of pressure on the ground, he could tell he was leaving slight trails in the sand behind him, a series of footprints that would lead straight to him should anybody want to find him. However, the empty treaded prints didn't last too long, due to a gust of wind, which would cover up his tracks rather quickly.

[Mari 1]

Mari rarely visited the 9th floor. She hated the heat, she hated the gurgle of lava above ground, and the magma below. She hated how dry the air felt and how no matter the time of day, it felt as though there was no reprise from the ferocity. So, if she hated the floor so much, why venture here? Mari knew that Alkor floated around this floor, he spent most of his time here. She hadn't seen him much lately, and after her run in with Life - she wanted to clear things up. They had shared such intimate moments. Mari, was at her weakest when she was with him, and it, in a sense pissed her off. She wasn't sure if he was lying to her - and she was willing to take that risk. 

"Tch..." She slammed her fist into a rock formation to her side, which crumbled and fell behind her; Mari had headed out past the volcanic areas and was again; amidst sand, a sullen and dreary wasteland. She was lost, she was hot, and bothered. Mari pulled out a bottle of water and dumped the whole thing over her head. She heard a low hiss from behind her but paid it little mind. Too annoyed, too frustrated to care.

[Crozeph 0]

Crozeph fell on his back on the ground. He wasn't even paying attention to his surroundings. Floor 9 seemed dangerous from what he heard from the others and the more he heard about it the more he wanted to see the floor for himself. "Everything almost looks the same" he said as he lie down. The place was hotter than he expected but he can survive in it than the coldness of Floor 4. After a few minutes Crozeph sat, opened his menu and viewed the map. Crozeph groaned as he stared at the map "looking on paths is better than maps" he said to himself. Crozeph stood up and wiped the sweat off his forehead "I need to see other people or I'll go crazy" he said. It's been a month since he last entered a settlement and the one on Floor 9 didn't seem like it, it was more like a bunch cages for him than houses. Checking if his sword is strapped properly on his back, Crozeph continued his walk and started making his way deeper to Floor 9 "a little dangerous exploration should be enough" he said smiling.

[Daeron 1]

As Daeron arrived at his desired location, he drew his weapon. Before him stood a single monster, but he knew there'd be many more where that came from. Slashing away at the monster, but not actually dealing much damage, he realized this fight would be tougher than he thought it would, even though he could easily kill it, it was a matter of time consumption he was thinking about. Not only that, but he also didn't feel quite... motivated. To really do the fighting alone. Some company would be nice, he thought, but he knew the odds of that were slim.

 

The monster hissed at him and tried to lunge at his and sink it's fangs into his flesh, luckily he was quick enough on his reaction speed to avoid taking the hit for that. It was that moment of dodging, he turned as he heard a voice coming from the distance. In fact, he heard 2. One was definitely male, but the other sounded softer, a female. He didn't know who they were, nor did he really care up to this point. All he wanted to do was do some 'team based grinding.'

[Mari 1]

The hissing died down, and soon sounds of a fight were heard behind her. Mari shrugged and turned on her heel. Black boots pressing hard into the soft terrain as she made her way over toward the sounds. It didn't take long. It was Daeron, brows furrowed as he was in mid battle with a giant monster - the name 'Flame Viper' looming above it's head. Mari equipped her dagger, which was cool to the touch, even amidst this heat - and it had a soft blue hue to it. It had an interesting effect. Frost Touch, and it was more useful than not on the heated floors.

 

"Why if it isn't my favourite arrogant friend." Mari said, approaching Daeron from behind, making herself known, Mari wasn't one to simply jump into a fight. It'd piss her off if someone did it to her, so she would show Daeron the same respect. Since he was one of the few people she actually got along with. "Having fun sweetheart?"

[Crozeph 0]

Crozeph heard a hissing sound from afar, probably the volcano he thought "or a monster." Crozeph quickly ran to where he heard the sound. If he was bad at directions, he's quite good at following strange noises or tracking someone. Crozeph quickly found the place where he heard the sound and saw a monster and two players. One was walking from behind the other "whoa, am I interrupting somethi..." Crozeph then turned his eyes on the the monster before him "that one looks dangerous enough to make me feel on guard" he said. Crozeph pulled out his sword slightly out of its scabbard, ready to shield himself or help them if they need it "am I even fast enough to finish it off if ever?" he thought. This is the first time he went to a much deeper part of the floor if it was the deeper part and it seems there's more stronger mobs here than the ones he heard and saw last time he went here.

[Daeron 1]

Daeron approached Mari, ignoring the monster for a moment. "I am, interested in joining?" he asked her in a kind gesture. It was only a few moments after Mari had arrived another person did as well. It was funny. Somehow, for some reason, people seemed to show up in numbers... they never just showed up alone. They all seem to appear at the same time almost as if they get told to do so under a single leader. There was a male player now there too. When he had asked if he interrupted something, Daeron thought it'd be fun to mess with the unknown soul.

 

Putting his arm around Mari, placing his hand on her hip, he pulled her slightly closer. Turning over to her face, acting like he kissed her cheek, he instead whispered in her ear. "Go along with it for now. I wanna see how he reacts." Daeron then returned his glare at the player, still ignoring the monster right next to him. "No, no. You haven't interrupted a thing." he said as he held Mari with one arm and his weapon with the other.

[Mari 1]

The wild man  gave Mari his undivided attention. A tad unusual, since there was a swaying viper - at least twice his size looming over him. Flames spouting from it's nostrils, gleaming yellow eyes focusing on him as it let out a low hiss. He, with a casual flick of his hair and a cocky grin invited Mari to join. The woman had nothing better to do - it was better than wandering around lost. It was better than dealing with players trying to 'help' her. She was sick of being some sort of patient to others. It was what the woman liked about Daeron, he didn't give her any of that crap.

 

Barely a moment had passed, Mari hadn't even had time to accept his offer before she felt a hand slide around her lithe waist, fingers curling into the pink fabric of her torn skirt. Pulling her close. Daeron whispered in her ear, hot breath tickling the nape of her neck - proposing what he had decided would be a 'fun' game. Typical. What Mari found odd, was how cool his cloak was to the touch. Did it have some resistance to the heat? Where was her damn magical heat negating cloak? Mari would have to question him about it later. For now, she placed a hand over his shoulder. Pulling her face in to whisper her own 'sweet nothings' into his ear. 

"Any excuse eh Daeron? Don't get too cocky." 

She turned her head slightly to note the new player. Adorned in shades of black, black and black, he looked much like she did moments earlier. Struggling with the heat. "Yanno...." Mari began, "Black attracts heat."

The viper went to lash forward; to attack Daeron and Mari. The pink adorned girl wasn't sure who was it's exact target. Nor did she care. Without missing a beat. Without averting her eyes from the new player she struck her dagger out to the side. Landing a direct hit on the large viper, right between its eyes. It gave a gurgled sound before ice began to encase its head. It dropped to the ground with a muted 'thud' 

"Kinda busy here."
 

 

 

Battle Roll: 9
Sand Viper: 32/50

 

 

(Assuming its already taken Damage from Daeron - just throwing in a random amount of HP there- feel free to pm me to change it)

[Crozeph 0]

Crozeph gave a nervous laugh "yes Crozeph you're interrupting something" he said to himself still smiling and raised both his hands just above his shoulder. Crozeph only wanted to see people messing with mobs, looking for loot, exploring, mapping the area, or even swinging their weapon like SAO is gonna end not two people who seem to get something going on. Crozeph heard the girl say something about his black clothing "it was meant as a camouflage when it is..." suddenly she landed an attack on the monster without looking. As the monster fell to the ground Crozeph felt more nervous "two dangerous people who seem to get something going on, that's the right description right now" he said. From what it looks like, they seem to just be doing these things on a daily basis as if it was nothing to them unlike him who's very presence in the floor seemed like an invitation for the mobs to get in and hunt him, like a rabbit. Crozeph just stood there not knowing what to do "if I walk away there's a chance monsters like that will maul me to death" he thought looking at the viper "if I don't I might end up as a nuisance to this two here" he added. Crozeph didn't know what he was doing as if he's waiting for their reaction.

[Daeron 1]

Daeron simply couldn't keep a straight face. Instead, he let go of Mari to laugh. "Ha. You actually think she'd do me? Or me her? Kid you're funny. As for tagging along, I don't see why not. We will be fighting my favorite field boss though." he said swinging his weapon at the monster. His blade caused a sudden drop in HP of the enemy. However, the viper got him back with a flame bite.

 

He laughed as the fire dissappeared as it touched his robe. Instead of a burn effect, he was left pretty much unscathed. "Look out. It's next attack deals poison debuff." he warned the two.

 

Battle: 6 [8 Damage]

Mob: 8 - 3 = 5 [Miss]

 

Daeron: 74/74

Mari: 61/61

Crozeph: 26/6

 

Viper: 24/50

[Mari 1]

Daeron finally let go of Mari, bursting into a fit of fevered laughter as he stated that the two...simply weren't interested in each other. The Viper went in to attack Daeron, its teeth sinking into his flesh. The robe he was wearing caught alight, but there was little damage done - and it seemed that the burn damage was completely mitigated. Useful.  Mari thought, very useful. She hadn't seen anything like it. Daeron invited both Crozeph and her to join the battle.

Mari shrugged, whipping out her dagger, waiting for the Viper to strike, as it did she tried to land a blow into the thick of it's skull but she just missed her mark. Her dagger bouncing harmlessly off of the bone of the snakes brow. "Tch..." Mari frowned, as the snake tried to strike her. Mari managed to jump back and the Viper landed face first into the ground. At least she wasn't hurt either.

Perma ID:
Battle Dice: 1 +3 = 4 FAIL
Mob 7- 3 = 4 FAIL
 

 

 

Daeron: 74/74

Mari: 61/61

Crozeph: 26/6

 

Viper: 24/50

[Crozeph 0]

Crozeph watched as they attacked the viper and scratched his head "I guess I'm really a kid, thinking like that" he said as he heard what he said "thanks for letting me tag along". Crozeph saw the other one move away from the viper which caused for it to land on the ground, Crozeph knew it was his chance to take the opening it made upon attacking her. "Let's see what this thing can do" he said, Crozeph reached for the hilt of his sword and dashed towards the viper leaving no chance for it to react to his attack once he gains enough distance to hit it "never let it bite you Crozeph" he said. He unsheathed his sword while the viper finally stood up "this is bad" he thought. The viper lunged at him but failed to hit him after he ducked fast enough to dodge it. Crozeph spun around and slashed downward on its back as he completely dodged its attack making it squirm but not fall like how the two did after attacking it "not bad but not enough" he said raising his sword "it still has a lot of HP" he groaned as he looks at the squirming viper.

 

[iD: 7819]

Battle Dice: [6] success

3 base damage +2 weapon damage

 

Mob Dice: [4] - [2] = [2] fail

 

Daeron 74/74

Mari 61/61

Crozeph 26/26

 

Viper 19/50

 

(ooc- got nervous when I saw 26/6)

[Daeron 1]

(Remember, since this isn't boss or GM related, worry not about perma-roller. I trust you'll use your actual dice without proof in this thread.)

 

Daeron laughed. Running in at the Viper, he swung his weapon at the viper's body. When the viper took another hit, it let out a cry and the health dropped slightly. The cry wasn't a hiss, but a very high pitched screech. Very annoying. "Not anymore it doesn't." Daeron said as he taunted the viper in a rather malicious attempt to generate more hate. Unfortunately for Daeron, it didn't work. He put a smirk on his face and returned his weapon for the time being until he planned his next strike.

 

Shortly after his weapon had been put away, he saw as the viper went in to strike him yet again. To the Viper's misfortune, it had missed Daeron again like it had every single time so far and there was nothing that it could do about it. The players were simply able to outsmart and outmatch it in this fight, putting up a huge sign of struggle for the viper to even get a single strike in.

 

Battle Dice: 9 [9 Damage Dealt]

Mob Dice: 7 - 3 = 4 [Miss]

 

Daeron 74/74

Mari 61/61

Crozeph 26/26

 

Viper 10/50

[Mari 1]

It was amazing really, how useless the viper was. It flailed and tried to attack Crozeph, fangs dripping with venom but again it had missed. "Useless piece of trash..." Mari muttered under her breath. Crozeph mentioned it had a load of HP and Mari smirked, "No, not really." And she was right, with both her and Daeron in the fight, the slithering reptile wouldn't last long.It seemed that her chestnut haired friend had the same idea as her; he emitted a callous laugh as he struck the viper - stating that it no longer had that much health. Mari figured it'd be one, maybe two more hits till it died. Depending on the strength of her next strike. 

The Viper turned its head to her, beady yellow eyes thinning into dark, unyielding black slights. It gave a small hiss which errupted into a high pitched yell as it arched back before attempting to strike Mari. Mari deflected the bite with her gauntlet - punching its head so it landed fair square into her chest. The small spiked thorns on her armour dealing damage to the beast. Mari then in turn shoved her dagger square down into one of its eyes. The viper helplessly squirmed around before bursting into data. Mari grabbed the loot orb, and it was a small amount of Col.

"Disappointing fight, disappointing loot." She commented, dusting her hands and turning her head to Crozeph, whom she had yet to learn the name of.
"So, what's your name kid?"
 

 

Battle Dice: 6 +3 = 9 SUCCESS
Mob 7- 3 = 4 FAIL

DAMAGE: 9 + 1 Thorns =10

 

Loot Dice: 18 SUCCESS!
+250 Col
 

 

 

Daeron: 74/74

Mari: 61/61

Crozeph: 26/6

 

Viper: 0/50 DEAD

[Crozeph 0]

Crozeph sheathe his sword as the he saw the viper shatter after taking the last blow from Mari "it would normally take two hits for me to kill it" he said to himself. He heard her then ask about his name "the name's Crozeph, it's easy to remember but lots of players spell it wrong..." he then rubbed his chin "must be that stupid z letter I added" he told her. Everything seemed fine with two strong players with him, increasing his rate of survival on floor which can be dangerous for calm, complacent, and lazy person like him "that viper could kill me if I was found lying down a while ago" he thought remembering how he fell on his back because of the heat. He turned his eyes on both players "how about you? what's your name, I remember those looks" he looked at Mari "pink hair, dagger, strong, cold eyes while fighting..." he looked away "I must have seen you doing something terrible because I don't remember much other than what you look" he added. Crozeph has a habit of forgetting bad events, they give him nightmares whenever he tries to sleep. He then turned his eyes on the other one, the guy who looks like someone who can solo a boss himself "he's too fearsome for someone like me" he thought "just looking at how he can shave off the viper's HP is..." Crozeph wiped the sweat off his forehead but he doesn't know if it was because of the heat or he's just trying to ease down the tension "...impressive" he said.

[Mari 1]

(Skipping Daeron as its been over a month)\

 

Mari nodded toward Crozeph, before waving him off as he further explained how to spell his name. "Eh, I don't give two sh*ts on how you spell your name." She muttered.

Mari grinned as Crozeph mentioned he recognized her, "Aww." She gave Daeron a slight nudge; "Lookit that, I'm getting a name for myself." She joked toward Daeron. Mari's smile faded as she turned to Crozeph. "I've done many a terrible thing, I can't tell you what you witnessed. As saying such a thing doesn't really narrow it down."

[Crozeph 0]

Crozeph gave a nervous smile as Mari replied to his explanation of how his name is spelled "maybe, but don't make any mistakes on calling me because I won't give a damn unless I hear my name right" he said. Crozeph then looked around, the place is getting much more dangerous as they stood there but if he was lucky enough he might be able to survive with two players who kill mobs like swatting a fly is with him in the floor. "So is that mob earlier one of the strongest monster here or its a small fry?" he asked them. For them it might me a small fry but for him it might turn out as his ticket for his death in SAO and in real life but he can't just leave a bad impression in them, no one wants to be remembered as a weakling when it comes to hunting. Crozeph gave a quick look at an area where hot gusts spews out and gave an annoyed look "and one wrong step can kill me here" he thought while brushing his hair up.

[Daeron 1]

Daeron chuckled when Mari nudged him. Then turning over to Crozeph, "No, that's a weak monster for me. I fight field bosses on a regular basis as those are the only monsters that pose real threats. And even those aren't strong for me anymore." Daeron noticed the heat had picked up slightly more as the sun had risen to about noon, it's highest point now, meaning the heat can't get much worse. With some sweat dropping down Daeron's face, he took out a bottled water and drank some of it. Then he held it over to Mari if she wanted the rest.

 

"And yes. Anything can kill you on this floor. If it's not the monsters, it's the players, if not that, then it's the heat of the floor alone. Gotta stay hydrated and away from people you don't know." he said, sort of hinting to the player that him and Mari could easily slaughter him in seconds. Though he hadn't any intentions to, he made sure the player knew where his place was in the ranks among players and among these three that he was the lowest of them all.

[Mari 1]

Mari shrugged; "And I don't give a damn if I get your name right or wrong." She said simply. Cold, harsh words that uttered nothing more than truth. Crozeph asked if the viper was strong, for a monster on this floor. Mari pursed her lips as she crossed her arms - with a little difficulty. The sweat causing them to slide off of one another. "I guess it is meant to be one of the stronger things on this floor - but - I agree with Daeron. Feels like small fry to me. "

 

Mari accepted Daeron's offer of water; grinning into the bottle as she drank it; pools of blue floating over to Crozeph; Daeron had hinted that the two PKers were dangerous. Although both Mari and Daeron wouldn't simply kill for the hell of it, Crozeph didn't know that - rather he seemed rather apprehensive of Mari. Recalling that she had done some terrible things. 

"What a day, what a day..." She said in a sing song tone - passing the water bottle back to Daeron.

[Crozeph 0]

Crozeph felt a shiver at what he heard, it was more like a hint of something bad happening to him than a warning "that puts me down at the bottom of the bottom of the food chain" he said as he pulls his sleeve up to his elbow. Crozeph needed to lessen the heat in his clothes now and removing his coat can only mean him lessening his stats "I'd rather die in heat than with monsters" he thought. Crozeph understood what they meant, these two could toy with him before killing him off but that is if he does something that will give them reason to do it "from the looks of it, as long as I don't end up annoying them I'm a little safe" he thought "the only thing is..." Crozeph then opened his inventory and took out a bottle of water, drinking half of it before putting it back in "I better drink mine wisely, I'll keep in mind to be hydrated on this floor" he said. Crozeph brushed his hair up again, his hair was getting in the way and the sweat just goes to his eyes whenever it runs through his hair "I wish I could fight off bosses on a regular basis too but I'd put it aside for now, there are things I can't do at my current state" he said.