PP - F9 Knights vs. Knights <<The Iron Guardian>> (Tristan, Teayre, Oikawa)

[Calrex 0]

"Man, I wasn't expecting to come back to this floor for a while, especially after taking on that dang field boss. The two day trip on this floor was like camping out inside a volcano."

 

Calrex gave a small sigh as he arrived in the ninth floor main settlement of Vulcan Village, clothed in his casual combat clothing. Equipped on him at the moment were the Grand Blade and Ocean's Defense, with his iconic Grand Chariot armor currently stored in his inventory, "Alright, let's see, supposedly this information states I'm supposed to meet a broker around here somewhere."

 

He scratched the back of his head as he looked around, "Course the problem is that all of the NPCs look too much alike at times that it's nearly impossible to tell one from another. Alright then...usually information brokers are cloaked in black robes to keep their anonymity."

 

With that he looked around, "With that information, let's see who stands out in the crowd..."

 

As his <<Reveal>> skill activated Calrex gave a calming breath as he tried to spy anyone that matched the profile of a broker.

 

"It looks like Tristan, Teayre, and Oikawa aren't here just yet, so hopefully I can find this person before they get here and spare them the hassle of finding the starting point for this quest in the first place."

[Tristan Delaney 0]

If there was someone who stood out from a crowd, it was Tristan. Tall at 6ft 3, flowing long red hair and with jet black armor and a vicious looking large spear (which was somehow one handed, yet to be fathomed how it is possible), could probably be spotted from a mile away.

Tristan had opted to join Calrex and Teayre to deal with the <<Iron Guardian>>, a more formidable boss than ones he had dealt with in the past. However he had little doubt with this fight, since all the players were high level and competent, so should not be of too much of an effort to clear if their aim was true and the enemies not.

 

Tristan waved to Calrex when he saw him, who looked to be scanning the crowd. "Howdy Cal, how are you faring?" He said, approaching with a smile. "You look like you're looking for a needle in a haystack." Except both the needle and hastack were moving objects, so it would not be easy to find them. Unlike Calrex though, he did not have Reveal and thus could not help much in that department, so opted for waiting on Calrex.

[Teayre 0]

A pm came up from Calrex asking her to come to the ninth floor to help him out with something. Rolling her eyes Teayre hops up from her shop stretching before dashing out the door equipping her standard set of equipment as well as setting her damage crystal into her ready slot. “Calrex’s asking for help, this can’t be any small matter then…† As she spawned into the ninth floors teleportation plaza Teayre grits her teeth as the fumes waft over to her, squinting she spots Calrex and heads over to the bluenette.

 

As she neared Calrex her eyes caught sight of a large spear wielded by a red head in some jet black armour, smirking to herself she walks past him pushing him out of her way as she launches herself at her fiancée wrapping her arms around Calrex’s neck and nuzzling him. “Callie-kun! What do you need help with? Are you okay you’re not hurt are you?†Teayre’s eyes narrow as she looks up checking Calrex’s health bar seeing it at full with no signs of status effects the girl sighs. "Good, you got me worried there."

 

Letting go she turns around and notices the other red head’s health bar, “Wait… Who’re you?†Cocking her head to one side she looked at the other party member with her eyes searching into him weighing him up.

[Oikawa 1]

A uniform vanilla white cape flared and flapped in the windy heatwaves whilst trailing a blonde figure as he moved through the slightly crowded plaza. His gaze darted from one person to another as he scanned the masses for a peculiar bluenette. His search was over quickly as he moved through the sea of players and NPCs alike to reach their location.

 

"A tad late. my apologies. Hello Teayre and Tristan." Approaching the giant red-headed fellow, Oikawa stuck out a hand as he spoke. "Don't think we've been officially introduced yet, but I am the newest Commandant of Azure Brigade. Pleasure to meet you." Turning his attention back toy Calrex and Teayre, he made some small talk with the couple. "Been a few you lovebirds! What are we waiting for around here?" 

[Calrex 0]

As the members of his party arrived one by one Calrex made sure to respond to each of them, "Yeah, it kind of feels like it in this case. I'm trying to find the broker we need to talk to in order to initiate this quest. Course, even with the Reveal skill a lot of these NPCs look alike, so I'm still having trouble."

 

Upon Teayre arriving and checking if he was alright he temporarily stopped looking around as he, "Heh, I'm perfectly fine Teayre, just trying to find the starter for this quest called the Iron Guardian. As for the person here, this is Tristan. He's going to be joining us on this quest as well. He's even more of a tank than I am, so we can count on him to watch our backs and front."

 

With that the fourth and last member of their party arrived as Calrex gave a friendly smile to Oikawa, "Hey man, it certainly has been a while!"

 

"Ultramarine, Scarlet, and Citrine, all of the current members of the Spectrum Coalition are here. Heh, this might be the first quest we've taken together in quite some time, but the first officially under our unofficial affiliation."

 

"Alright, with everyone here maybe you all can give me a ha..."

 

"Oh, there you are!"

 

"Hm?"

 

Calrex looked over as he saw the familiar cloak of an information broker as he approached the group, "You are all here about the quest right?"

 

"It appears so."

 

"Alright then, I'll give you the information, but I need you to bring me the item that the field boss involved in this quest drops. Can you do this for me?"

 

"Sure, we can do that."

 

"Alright then, the location you need to go to is a couple of days west of here. You'll likely encounter a couple of monsters along the way, but nothing that you four can't handle. Once you reach the boss and defeat him the item he drops is one that will heal an entire team over time."

 

"Sounds good. Thank you very much. We'll meet you back here in four days time then, at this spot."

 

With that Calrex nodded to the group, "Sounds simple enough, although I hope you guys are prepared for the heat. The ambient warmth of this floor is a killer, especially in armor."

 

"Yeah...I would know from experience."

[Tristan Delaney 0]

Tristan grinned at the complement of his tanking prowess. While not the perfect tank, he was certainly well underway of becoming one with how he was building his skills. Well he had all the skills needed for drawing aggro, so now its just focusing on the skills which improve his actual tanking. He cracked his shoulders slightly stretching and grinned to Teayre, saying "Well, Calrex has already introduced me, but I'll reiterate. I'm Tristan, a tank. More than likely, you take as much damage for hitting me as you would deal to me."

 

Calrex was swift to moving onto the main topic at point, which was meeting the information broker to get them info for the quest as to where they should go for the Iron Guardian. They were clear with their instructions and thus made it simple for them to proceed on. Calrex reminded them of the heat of this place, though with his <<Survival>> skill this mattered little to him, as it helped him cope with crazier atmospherical situations.

He put his hands on his hips and brought his chest out with shoulders wide and said "Ready whenever you are!".

[Teayre 0]

As the blonde boy arrived Teayre turned smiling at him, before looking at him quizzically with her eyebrows raised. "Did he just say Commandant of Azure Brigade... Then that red head would be a member to.... Wait newest commandant... So that guy must be a Commandant as well... Of the joys..." Stepping up to Oikawa she gave him a quick hug before jabbing him in the ribs with her finger. "Congrats I guess Kawi, and well I thek we were waiting for a certain blond to turn up who is always late..." Turning around Teayre pokes her tongue out at him as Calrex introduces Tristan to her.

 

As her fellow red head spoke about his skills Teayre smirked, before punching him on the arm her fist hitting the armour with a little bit of force. "I'd like to test that at some point, but anyway if you let Callie get hurt. I'll hurt you okay?" Smiling wickedly at Tristan before laughing and poking her tongue out at him. "At any rate, now Cal's finished with the broker let's make a move... It's a bit too hot on this floor for my liking and I much prefer the coolness of the fourth floor."

[Oikawa 1]

"Thanks" escaped his lips as he returned the hug and chuckled. The jab was nothing but it was just like her to react that way. Focusing on the task that lay ahead, Oikawa checked his gear and took a mental note on the fact that he was close to maxing out two skills at this point. He listened as everyone gave the A-Okay regarding them being ready and being last as usual he finally chimed in. "Welp lets get this show on the road. It looks like we have quite the trials ahead of us." His thoughts soon drifted to Kotori as they began to head out. I wonder how she is? Is it weird to think about how I miss her. Maybe I should pm? No it might make things awkward...sigh...

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave a nod as Teayre introduced herself to Tristan, with the usual speech of hurting him if he got hurt. He gave a calming breath as he gave a smile, watching Teayre say hello to Oikawa before he looked over towards the gate they needed to head towards, "Alright then, with everyone all set let's get a move on."

 

He made a few swipes on his menu as he summoned the Grand Chariot, the deep sea blue armor surrounding him as he directed the others towards the gate. After the party exited he looked in the direction the broker had directed him towards. With a calming breath he let his <<Reveal>> skill activate, the terrain becoming transparent as he scanned around, "All clear on the way, but it definitely seems like we've got about two days travel ahead of us. Let's go ahead and designate guard shifts during the night while we make our way forward."

 

"At least the heat seems to have reached full strength just yet. Maybe i might have been just in the direction towards the Inferno Cavern."

[Tristan Delaney 0]

Tristan smiled and readied himself for travel, seeing his fellow guildmate Oink (as he liked to call him) and another redhead in the group, clearly cared for Calrex a lot too. He felt as though if Calrex died, she was ready to make him very comfortable with a noose and put him on a very strong sleep.

 

With full battle gear ready, Tristan walked behind Calrex to follow where he went, since their Reveal meant his seeing strength was far better than his own. Not to mention that in the real world, he wore low power glasses for minor shortsightedness. Luckily not an effect in Aincrad, but the placebo was nonetheless there.

"Well, I don't mind staying awake for most part of the night."

[Teayre 0]

As Calrex equipped the Grand Chariot Teayre slipped next to him gently tapping him on the arm and pointing to his hand before slipping her own hand into his. “Callie, you’ll be hot in that… Why not take it off for now and then put it on when we get closer to the cave? It’s not like Oikawa, myself and the masochist there can’t handle anything that comes our way on this floor.†Glancing her head back round to Tristan, Teayre smirks before looking back where they were heading.

 

 Looking between the two brigadiers the small red head catches the taller ones eye, “So Tristan what do you want to do here, in this place. This lovely piece of heaven.†Teayre’s voice had no tone of sarcasm to it, a genuine smile crossed her face as she spoke about Aincrad being a piece of ‘heaven’.

[Oikawa 1]

The quest was set to get underway. Bringing up the rear of the group, Oikawa meandered behind as he pondered spaciously. The Iron Guardian seems like a difficult quest but regardless I'm sure our group can handle this. Absent-mindedly, he had tuned out the others as he continued to follow them. The volcanic ridge expanded into a plane as well as the temperature rising in conjunction with their positioning towards the volcano itself. Keeping a hand on his hilt, he subconciously remained aware of his surroundings.

[Calrex 0]

"Yeah, I can probably hold off on equipping the Grand Chariot for now. Even with the Survival skill this place gets really hot, and I don't think we've even gotten to the hottest areas of the floor just yet."

 

With a few swipes on his menu Calrex switched back to his casual combat clothing, although he opted to keep his light blue jacket off in the meantime, clothing in his white shirt and grey pants tucked into dark brown boots. However, he kept the Grand Maelstrom and Grand Riptide on his person as he gently continued to hold Teayre's hand, addressing Tristan's response, "That sounds good, but it would be a good idea for all of us to get a full night's sleep. Best not leave anything to chance right? If anything we can have Teayre take the first shift, then Oikawa, then myself, ending with Tristan. Does that sound good?"

 

"Tristan certainly seems like a more hardy character of all of us, so likely he could go with taking the last shift without any hindrance. Since Teayre and Oikawa are the damage dealers of this group it'd be best if they got the most sleep. Since I fall somewhere in the middle I can take the second middle shift."

 

As the day continued to progress Calrex made not of night starting to fall. Since he was using his <<Reveal>> skill to keep an eye out for any enemies, they were able to avoid them monsters that populated this area so far, "Alright, I guess now would be a good time for us to start looking for some shelter for the night. Anyone see any good areas that we could camp out?"

[Tristan Delaney 0]

Tristan nodded in response to the allocation of shifts. He usually got good sleep and while sometimes dreamt and was never too fussed on when he woke and such. He for one didn't mind the heat so much, but decided to follow suit of Calrex and also change clothing to something more casual.

"I suppose us all sleeping would be beneficial, that is true." he admitted to Calrex regarding when to sleep, since this wasn't exactly a fight they could lay back with.

 

Tristan looked around the area, scratching his head in terms of ideas for shelter. He wasn't sure how much real life logic applied with how mobs worked, which depended entirely on mob placement in the game. If they were to say protect themselves from PKers though...

"I'd say edge of an forest. Good visual protection from possible enemies where it applies."

[Teayre 0]

Slipping her arms around Calrex’s now unarmoured bicep Teayre  smiles up at him, resting her head on his shoulder. “Nuh uh, I’m taking the second shift. Oikawa can have first.†As she eyed Calrex a small blush came to her face causing Teayre to avert her gaze. Calling out she looks over at her fellow red head. “Tristan! You haven’t answered my question you know. What do you want to get out of this lovely piece of heaven?â€

 

 Looking back towards Oikawa Teayre lets go of her fiancée’s arm before gently skipping over to the blonde hair boy. Poking him in the chest she begins to walk with him. “Say Kawi-kun, what’s on your mind. You are being unusually quiet, could it be you’re besotted with Tristan and don’t want to say?†Leaning into the blonde she whispers in his ear, “Remember one word about -that- to Callie and I’ll feed you a very familiar delicacy okay?†Blushing a bit more she averted her gaze from Oikawa as she started to walk off slightly trailing off from the rest of the group.

[Oikawa 1]

I wonder what we're in store for. Hardly have I ever been so...worried...I guess for lack of better words. I mean not scared in the least, but concerned at the least. Anyway I wonder how this group even came about. Not that I'm complaining. I've been long overdue for something new and challenging. Suddenly his blade was drawn and at the ready as Teayre approached him. "Ah my apologies. I'm a little out of it to say the least." Sheathing his blade, his face became that of confusion as Teayre whispered to him. Unsure about what she meant, he simply nodded and continued to follow the group. His feet dragging him forward as they continued along the volcanic planes.

[Calrex 0]

Taking into account Tristan's suggestion Calrex gave a nod as he looked around, "That sounds like a good idea. The last time I did a quest that required travel on this floor I found a rock formation that served to keep me out of sight, so if I can find either one of those places we can set up camp there."

 

He looked over and gave a nod as Teayre decided to switch shifts with Oikawa, "Alright, sounds good." After Teayre spoke to Oikawa and began walking he noticed she was walking a bit astray from the group as he gave a nod to Tristan before making his way over, "Everything going alright?"

 

Calrex adjusted the gauntlets on his arms as the group continued moving through the area, making note of the fact Oikawa seemed to be a bit on edge for one reason or another, but for now he let that thought pass. After a few more hours of walking the group happened upon an area of the floor that did in fact have a forest nearby. With that Calrex directed the group over to it as he scanned around, "This area seems to provide a decent amount of cover. I think we should be safe from any potential threats over here."

[Tristan Delaney 0]

Tristan raised an eyebrow quizzically at Teayre as she asked again a question he had obviously missed the last time. Piece of heaven...Aincrad? He supposed it was one of those odd turn of phrases to say what he had sought for here. "I don't seek anything, I just protect my friends. It's not in my nature to be the one seeking for my own gain." he smiled gently to her. It was just within his selfless nature to be so, such was the reason he was a aggro tank.

 

Tristan walked with the group casually, looking over the group. Oikawa seemed a bit out of it, but he was probably thinking on something else. Maybe their Season match? He didn't dwell on it and moved on walking, which did in fact lead them to a edge of a forest as he suggested. Well then.

"In that case let's set up camp now and start our shifts." he said with not haste, though clearly not wanting to have them dilly-dally any further on it.

[Teayre 0]

As Oikawa drew his blade Teayre shot him a deadly glance before she carried on with what she was saying. As she began to meander away from the group she sighed. “Kawi… I hope you’re okay.†She muttered to herself as she looked up again the girl found she was in sight of the boys but a bit too far away in case anything came up. Running back over to them Teayre leapt at Calrex hoping that she could catch him by surprise.

 

 â€œRight, so we’re setting up over by the woods? Sounds good to me.â€

 

 Teayre fell into line walking along side Tristan, looking up at him she mulled his answer over in her head. “You know, We’re kind of alike Tristan. For starters we have the most awesome hair colour and secondly we will protect our friends. Although I think that’s in different ways. I hope I fight you in the tournament though. It’d be fun to see what’s stronger your defence or my attack.†Winking at him Teayre settled herself against one of the trees. Looking over at Calrex Teayre patted the ground next to her, smiling at the boy.

[Oikawa 1]

Oikawa took Teayre's glare with a grain of salt. He knew it was just her natural reaction and his reaction to being approached was a bit excessive. Shaking the moment away, he took Teayre's suggestion and decided to go ahead and get some sleep. The trek was already weary and furthermore he was just tired. Both mentally and physically. Nestling into the base of a tree not to far from where Teayre sat, he pulled over his hood and laid back to base in attempt to nod off. It only took minutes before he found himself in a dream world. One that was perfect for him and the girl of he loved more than strawberry creme pie, Kotori.