[PP-F7] The Moving Party [Exploring Floor 6]

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius moved throughout the Large Jungle biome. He wondered if there would be maybe a hidden dungeon or something within the foliage of the trees. A thought came to him. He looked up a massive tree strung with vines and began to climb it, Little by little until he, for the first time in the Floor, saw sunlight. With this he quickly grew amazed at the ability to climb the trees.

[Garou 0]

On a distant treetop Garou was looking over at some birds which swooped above the canopy before diving back down. With his acrobatic skills as a Performer climbing and swinging between trees was natural to him. The boy was perched with a cup of tea is his hand. The Chained Werewolf sipped it fondly as an idea popped into his head.

That's it! The perfect weapon!

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius finally made it to the top of a tree. After a very long climb up and through the thick foliage of Canopy, He made it to the top and sat on the firm leaves that rested up there. Zelrius shielded his eyes from that harsh sun shine that came with the tropical weather and climate. Off to a distant tree top, Zelrius saw someone with a werewolf. To this he leaped from tree to tree to reach the boy.

[Garou 0]

Garou twisted his body to see the approaching figure and let out a small smile. He stood up with perfect balance on the tiny tip of the tree and waved over to the boy he had once fought almost to the death. "Good day, Zelrius," he called out. "What brings you all the way up to these heights!?"

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius smiled a bit when he realized it was Garou. He leaped on next to the Chained Werewolf and stood right by him.

"The sun. The sun brings me up here. It's light that never quite reaches the surface of the Jungle. It's so warm up here, How can you stay up here for so long?" He asked looking up at the sun, shielding his eyes with his hands and squinting something fierce.

[Garou 0]

The boy shook his heavy Victorian clothing and massive reinforced silver chains and sighed looking to the ball of burning gas over Aincrad. Somehow, he wasn't even sweating. "I suppose its a mental thing, really. If you let yourself think you're going to be too hot, then the temperature gets to you... I know it sound crazy, but..." Garou let out another sigh and shrugged. "I need to find a town or something soon, I guess."

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius just looked down and closed his eyes in being let down. He had hoped that Maybe Garou had come from a nearby town. He sighed and looked back over at Garou and had to ask the question just to double check.

"The whole point of me being at here is to explore and find towns throughout the Floor and sell the map data. So is there a Nearby town? I haven't found one since I was at the town of the Floor." He said kinda of disappointed.

[Garou 0]

Garou scratched his chin in deep thought. "100 meters to the east is the small village of Barduk. Have you discovered that yet?" He didn't think it exactly right to sell maps, but he figured that a guy has to earn col somehow.

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius was in shock a bit how casual that was. He seemed to know exactly where the town was even though they were hundreds of feet in a tree. He looked around for possible towns then looked back down through the trees.

"Well I am off to go map that and get away from this blasted heat, Wanna come with?"

He asked hoping the answer would be yes.

[Garou 0]

Garou nodded as his green eyes flashed. The boy tilted his ling-brimmed black hat downwards, the memento from the Caped Performer he almost always wore. The sun was starting to bother his eyes...

"Yeah, I need to go there anyway. I'm going to get a new weapon." The werewolf yawned before launching himself down past the treeline and swung off of a high branch, leading the way to the position he indicated.

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius nodded. Without another word he began his slow incline down. After about 5 minutes, he reailzed how slow he was moving and just grabbed a vine, wrapped it around his waste and began to just run down the side of the tree. His agility and speed skills keeping him upright on the side of the tree. He began to gain incredible speeds even with Miles running along his back, He did break sweats however and was drenched half way through as the darkness surrounds him once again.

[Garou 0]

After a few more swings the boy leaped to the jungle floor. Despite Garou's chains, he was pure speed, sweeping between thick trees like a lightning bolt. The green-eyed wolfman vaulter over a fallen branch and made it to the concealed village, skidding to a stop on the numerous leaves that made up the ground. Garou grinned as he waited for the heat-stricken Zelrius to catch up.

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius finally caught up with Garou at the village. All sweaty and out of breath from trying to show off his speed while running down the tree. He stopped, and put down Miles and then stood back up, hands on knees, Panting he could only stay there, breathing in and out. With this he looked around the village. What surprised him about it was the fact that it was at ground level whereas the Starting village to this floor was on Elevated planks and bridges.

[Garou 0]

Garou laughed benevolently at Zelrius' tired state. "You know, you ought to be proud you made it above the canopy. I bet there's only a few others right now capable of making such a vertical trek." Garou walked into Barduk as he yawned once more. "I'm used to the mountains on the Second Floor. They're probably less predictable than these unsteady trees." Garou noticed the Zelrius was puzzled about the village. "Is something the matter, Sir Zelrius?"

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius finally calmed his breathing to a point he could breath from his nostrils. He looked at Garou. Evaluating his assortment of statements and questions. He steadied himself and patted Miles on the head the began to talk

"Well, I guess there aren't many that can, but there are those who can and do it alot better than I obviously. And it was just, I assumed that, like the First City here, That all of them would be on large circles of wood that hung off trees."

[Garou 0]

Garou gave a clever look as he tutted and began walking away. "Well, thats the thing. Even most monsters expect that the people would take to the trees. I assume you haven't encountered the uncommon Hair Howler enemy yet? It can climb the trees and attacks unsuspecting players. But the thing is, this village... It was first set up in the game as an abandoned town for a quest start. Now its grown to the point where players actually use this as a safe grounds as sorts."

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius felt a shiver go down his spine. Things that could climb the trees and attack Villages? That was truly spooky. He had to be weary of this beast. But at the same time he anticipated it's encounter so that he could record it and get all of it's info. That would surely be worth it. He went on to inquire over Garou.

"So is there any open quests or anything to do?"

[Garou 0]

"Yes," the polite boy with purple hair said softly. He led Zelrius to show that the village only consisted of seven torn apart buildings, barely still standing. The buildings were a blacksmithy, a tiny restaurant, a general goods store, a little area for dueling, an alchemist shop, and an empty hut. The hut was the only building unaffected by erosion and the passage of time, though it didn't seem to be in good condition in the first place. "There's the quest," Garou said almost giddily, pointing into the dark hut. "I haven't done it yet because I was waiting to see if anyone else would like to try it. A few had tried before, but..." his voice drifted away as he stared into the foreboding building.

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius smirked. He couldnt deny challenge. He nudged Garou, wondering whether he was up for it.

"So can we do it together, I do not want to die today!" He said cheerily trying to seem like he was both joking and being serious. He half wanted to know what made the quest so dangerous, and half didn't care a bit. Zelrius was eager to being right away.

[Garou 0]

Garou looked down sadly. "Well, you see... a first group went in as a pair, a player named Keyblader92 and his strong girlfriend, FuryCake. They never returned, so a group of three took the quest in hopes of finding them: PainfulExcursion, CarrionCarcass, and NeedleMan. They didn't make it back either..." The boy gulped.