[PP-F1] The path to becoming a blacksmith<<Earning a living>> (Takao)

[Xion 0]

Xion sighed as he looked at his quest log, reading the details to a lone quest called 'Earning a living', somehow he had to gather the materials needed for his desired craft "Seems easy enough" Xion said to himself, before looking at his inventory "Not even 5 MATS...crap" he said, he had spent hours fighting boars the week previous, but still he had barely any loot, not enough to make any kind of weapon, shield, or armour. "If I want to be a Blacksmith" he said, opening his map "Then I'll need materials, probably ores...which means..." he said, as he scanned the map for any caves "I need to go here" Xion said to himself, looking at a small cave outside of  the town of beginning.

 

"It looks like it's not that far...but further from the town than I have ever been before... I must be careful, I'm too low a level to even dream of taking on any strong monsters, I'll have to be quick, get in, get the MATS, and get the hell out of there"

 

In theory this plan was fool-proof, but Xion knew that he was not going to be able to get ANY MATS without facing resistance, whether it be from MOBS or other players, there's never an easy way in SAO, all of your loot must be earned, through hard work, blood and pain. 

 

 

It was at this point that Xion had an Idea: he could ask another player for help, he had managed to find higher leveled players in the town of beginnings before, all of which were very helpful and friendly people. So, he decided to sit on a bench near his favourite fountain in the town, and wait, as people usually passed through this part of the town, he was bound to find someone. 

[Takao 0]

The first floor wasn't his first choice when it came to searching for the fine foods Aincrad had to offer, but since the café he usually visited after grinding the morning away was closed, his options for cuisine were limited. He'd opted for a smaller player-run shop in the Town of Beginnings, and although it wasn't his first choice, the sandwich held loosely in his hands was far from bad. He pushed open the restaurant's door with his shoulder and proceeded out into one of the large town's many plazas with the plan to eat his sandwich while enjoying the weather and bustling city ambiance in mind. He ate as he walked, only barely paying attention to where he was going with the occasional fleeting glance.

 

He rolled his shoulders slightly to adjust the fur-lined cloak he wore, emerald eyes scanning over the crowds of people gathered. Some were NPCs, most seemed to be players of greatly varying stature. It was hard for him to remember that not everybody found the same kind of enjoyment from playing the game as he did, regardless of its very dire consequences. It was, after all, everything he'd hoped for and more when he bought the equipment. Emphasis on more.

 

"Man," He spoke aloud to nobody in particular as he chewed, his words slightly muffled by the food in his mouth. Once he swallowed, he continued. "There's so many people around here." Takao's mind began to wander, curious as to what each player did with their time if they didn't hunt and grind like he and so many other players did. He had observed a distinct lack of available seating and had come to the conclusion that standing was his only option.

[Xion 0]

Xion sighed once more, before getting up and walking around, seeing as his usual tactic of 'waiting at the fountain for someone to come along' was not working.

 

 

He walked into the town plaza, where a large amount of players were gathered. Many of them seemed to be a MUCH higher level than Xion, people who had no time for low level players like him. He scanned the crowd, until he saw someone: A lone player eating sandwich. 

 

Xion decided that he would ask this player, weaving he way through the crowd and towards the player. "Hi...." he said, tapping the guy on the back 

[Takao 0]

Takao had found entertainment in coming up with miniature stories about each person that he watched, imagining what their lives were like as he finished off the sandwich. He wiped his face and brushed his hands off just in time to feel a light tap on his back. He first turned his head to glance over his shoulder, then turned the rest of his body after quickly realizing that it was another player. Takao beamed a friendly smile his way and nodded his head in greeting. "Hey!" Although his affable tone wasn't exceptionally loud, it was very clearly an 'outside' voice. "What's up?"

[Xion 0]

Xion smiled as the player responded 'a friendly one' he thought. "Hi, my name is Xion, and I was wondering if you could help me with a quest...please..." Xion said, trying his best to fight back the awkward feeling that was washing over him, twirling his hair a little out of nervousness. He noticed that the man seemed to be a much higher level than Xion was 'perfect' he thought, he would be able to deal with any strong MOBS if need be. 

[Takao 0]

Takao's smile widened a bit at the mention of a quest, and his right hand moved to rest on his hip. "Sure thing, man. I don't mind helpin' out. What quest is it?" He had a rather bad habit of agreeing to things before he knew much about them, but it was his weak spot when it came to quests. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, noting the nervous mannerisms but making no comment. "I'm Takao, by the way." 

[Xion 0]

Xion nodded "Thank you Takao, I need some help with the quest 'earning a living'. I want to become a blacksmith and I think it will involve entering this cave" Xion said, before showing Takao his map and pointing out said cave. 

 

'He seems friendly enough... eh I should stop worrying' Xion thought to himself, before noticing that he was still curling his hair and stopped "Bloody hell I really need to stop doing that" Xion said, thinking aloud

[Takao 0]

Takao leaned over and gave the map a thorough glance. Once he was satisfied with what he'd seen, he nodded and turned back to Xion. "Earning a living, huh? That's a good quest to start off with, 'specially if you need to make some extra col." He swiped his hand across the air and opened the menu, the various buttons chiming as he pressed them until a prompt appeared in from of Xion with a party invitation. Takao's hands moved to his pockets afterward, and his attention set back on Xion. "I just recently did that one myself for cooking. It should be easy with the two of us."

[Xion 0]

Xion looked at the party invitation that appeared before him, before accepting it. "Thanks, I think the NPC that gave me the quest will give me some of the MATS that I need to craft my first item, so we should only need to either kill a few MOBS or find a chest or two" Xion said, looking over the quest details once more. 

 

 

"Alright, you ready to go? It should take us less than an hour to reach the cave, and the only MOBS along the way as far as I know are boars so it should be an easy journey" Xion said, looking up at Takao 'Maybe I'll send him a friend request after this Quest, he seems friendly' he thought to himself, smiling a little. 

[Takao 0]

Takao rubbed his chin as he racked his mind, trying to recall the contents of the cave that seemed vaguely familiar but ultimately came up with nothing. "Finding a chest might be difficult, they're usually rather rare. Mobs drop plenty of crafting materials though, so I'm sure we can hammer some out in no time." When questioned if Takao was ready, he held up his hand as if to gesture for him to wait a moment. Having been done with grinding for the day, he figured he didn't have much of a reason to be wearing all of his gear. He'd opted to just wearing the bare minimum of his equipment - the fitted sleeved shirt he normally wore under the rest of his usual getup and the brown pants he kept tucked into his boots. Some quick menu navigation lead to his inventory, and the rest of his equipment appeared on his body like magic. The last to appear was a sword in a scabbard over his right shoulder.

 

"Yup, I'm ready. An hour doesn't seem too bad. Lead the way." He gestured in a random direction with both of his hands, notably in the wrong direction that they were intended to be heading.

[Xion 0]

Xion watched as Takao stripped down to basically the bare minimum of gear "You sure about this?" he asked, before Takao gestured in a seemingly random direction. Xion sighed "Takao that is south, we need to go North-east" Xion said, before walking off and giving the man's sleeve a tug in the right direction. 

 

About forty minutes later, after walking through field after field of boars, they arrived at the cave. The entrance was dark, it looked like the gaping mouth of some terrifying beast, to Xion at least, he had a deep seated fear of the dark, and the cave looked more than a little scary to him. 

 

Xion decided to rest on a  rock that was just outside the cave "We'll rest here a bit and then go into the cave...if that's ok with you Takao?" 

[Takao 0]

( I think I may have confused you a bit with my last post, Takao was actually without his gear to begin with, and then put it on. He's not crazy enough to go hunting with out it! )

 

Takao nodded his head confidently as he adjusted the strap that held his sword to his back. "Ayup! I'm sure." He responded. Upon realizing that he'd been pointing in the complete opposite direction, or close enough to it, he chuckled lightheartedly and rubbed the back of his neck, muttering a quiet "Oops." under his breath. The tug on his sleeve set him on the correct course, and he followed beside Xion. He occupied the long walk to the cave with his usual cordial banter, likely filled with as many terrible puns that happened to cross his mind.

 

His eyes scanned over the cave as they stood in front of it, then moved on to look at Xion when he'd spoken up and recommended a break. The walk hadn't done much to tire Takao out, despite having already participated in vigorous monster-slaying activities earlier in the day. He nodded his head regardless and moved to sit a few meters away from the rock Xion had claimed. "Sounds good to me. I'm not in any hurry to go fightin' in a cave anyways." He gave Xion's equipment a quick glance over and rubbed his chin in idle thought, until he finally decided to speak up. "So, you use a one handed straight sword too, huh?"

[Xion 0]

"Yeah... I considered using a lance but they feel far too awkward. straight swords are well balanced, not too heavy, and have some strength behind the blows. All around I think they're one of the better weapon types" Xion said, before getting up and stretching. 

 

"Might as well get going, mind if you go first... I don't want to be the one spawning the mobs seeing as I'm low level" 

[Takao 0]

Takao's jaw set as he listened to him explain his preference for straight swords and nodded along in agreement. While he did so, Takao had opened his menu and steadily navigated to his inventory, swiping up and down through the list of items he had "on him", per say. By the time Xion had finished speaking and stood up, Takao did the same, though an item had materialized in his hand. It was a sword and scabbard, about the same size as the one on his back. "I'd have to agree with you there, though I mostly just use 'em because I was in a HEMA club before all this happened, so they're really the only thing I had any practice with. Anyways, I think this might help you out a bit." Takao tossed the sword to Xion after he'd finished talking, then reached up to his back to grasp the handle of his own. He pulled it free and held it at his side, ready to enter the cave. "It's not a great sword, but it's a bit better than the starter one."

 

He turned and started heading into the cave shortly after, his green eyes squinting in the darkness, trying to make out shapes and silhouettes, and to watch out for movement. Nothing seemed to be lurking around just yet, which gave him the chance to adjust to the sudden change in lighting.

[Xion 0]

Xion inspected the blade as he drew it from it's scabbard "The Impravidor..." he said, admiring it. It was a normal sized blade, with a black metal core running along the blade, it was much like Takao's 'Lightbringer' but a little thicker at the hilt. Xion nodded in thanks and equipped the item, putting his starting sword in his inventory. 

 

The scabbard for the impravidor materialized on his back and Xion drew it, testing the balance of his blade. "A lot more weight than the starter blade...and nicely balanced..." he said before following Takao into the cave, his the sword in his hand, ready to strike any MOBS that would attack them. 

 

But, as they got deeper, the cave became darker, Xion found it harder to see in, and his fear of the dark was threatening to take over, his hands were practically shaking, and his breaths became shallower, and more frequent. "Calm down...just stay next to him and calm down..." he muttered to himself over and over again, trying to control his fear. 

[Takao 0]

(I'll control the monster, so you only need to roll BD. It'll attack based on hate. Feel free to update its health if/as you damage it, though. Also as a note, all of our rolls (Battle/Craft/Loot Die) have a disadvantage of 1 while in the cave due to the darkness.)

 

Darkness crept up on the pair quickly as they entered the cave. The only light came from the entrance that shrank with each step they took. Takao's eyes began to adjust to the low light levels, but unfortunately he hadn't put any work into learning the Â«Night Vision» skill. He could just barely make out shapes in front of him, though he continued to walk forward confidently. His forward advance stopped suddenly as a noise echoed throughout the cavern's walls. It sounded like a low hiss that bounced all around the enclosed cave, which made pinpointing the source quite difficult. Following the hiss was the rattling of metal equipment, slowly growing heavier and louder with each passing second. "Something's coming." Takao said in an unruffled voice, his eyes narrowed and brows furrowed as he strained his senses to locate the source. Luckily for him, or perhaps unluckily, the source had come to them instead. A humanoid shape stood before them, somewhere between their height in stature. It held a small round shield made of metal in its left hand and a curved blade that was vaguely reminiscent of an African Mambele in its right. Takao had noted that it definitely had a tail, and was definitely the source of the hissing, though the finer details of its appearance went unnoticed.

 

Takao's sword arm raised and caught the Lizardman Whelp's sword in a bind. A grin quickly formed on Takao's face as the sparks illuminated his blue, fork-tongued reptilian assailant. His strength was superior to the monster's, which afforded him the opportunity to push the blade aside and step forward with his left foot. He dragged his blade across the humanoid reptile's torso and inflict a moderate amount of damage. "Alright, it's showtime! Make sure to back off after you hit him, I'll take the blows!" Takao's voice didn't hold an intimidating sound of authority, but rather a cogent tone that was spoken clearly even in the midst of combat. After landing the blow, he placed himself between Xion and the Lizardman, ensuring that any aggression would be directed toward him.

 

- -

 

« Battle Sequence Â»

Lizardman Whelp Â» Takao Â» Xion

 

» ID : [[ 25591 ]]

» BD : [[ 7 - 1(Darkness) = 6 ]] 

» MD 3 : [[ *3* - 3(EVA) = 0 ]]

 

« Takao Â»

[[ 49/49 HP ]] [[ HATE : 1 ]]

« Xion »

[[ 19/19 HP ]] [[ HATE : 0 ]]

 

« Lizardman Whelp Â»

[[ 17/25 HP ]] (8(DMG) = -8 HP)

[Xion 0]

ID: 25592

BD: 10 (-1=9) (4 DMG) 

 

Xion turned to see the sparks as Takao struck their assailant, before backing off, and protecting Xion. Luckily Xion was able to track the movement of it's silhouette, and waited for a moment when it's guard was lowered.

 

He saw an opening, the beast had raised it's blade, presumably to aim an attack at Takao, Xion charged, runningpast Takao and thrusting his blade into the beast's abdomen, before turning, ripping the blade out of it as he did, retreating behind Takao again.

 

"This new blade is nice... much stronger..." Xion said, his eyes still trained on the lizard.

 

Xion (19/19) [HATE: 1]

Takao (49/49) [HATE: 1]

 

Lizardman welp (13/25)  

[Takao 0]

Takao wasn't much of a defender type, though he certainly found himself adopting the role more and more often in recent times. His role in a fight was usually damage, and he seldom found himself in the line of fire if he could help it. Evasive tactics in the darkness were dangerous, not only for himself but for his party member as well. He needed to make sure that he kept the monster's attention on him, so that when the damage was inflicted, it would be done so on somebody who had a much higher change of survival. When Xion struck the Lizardman and it hissed in pain and anger, Takao was quick to reposition himself while Xion retreated. He put himself in the Lizardman's range and ensured that its aggressiveness would be directed toward him, the closest outlet to its fury.

 

His attempt to strike the Lizardman while he had the chance was forfeited and instead smoothly converted into a block. The Lizardman pulled its shield arm back away from the strike as both Takao and the monster sent their swords forward, the two sharpened pieces of metal ringing loudly as they collided. Takao locked his blade with the reptile and held it stationary, providing Xion with another chance to attack.

 

- -

 

« Battle Sequence Â»

Lizardman Whelp Â» Takao Â» Xion

 

» ID : [[ 25593 ]]

» BD : [[ 2 - 1(Darkness) = 1 ]] 

» MD 3 : [[ *6* - 3(EVA) = 3 ]]

 

« Takao Â»

[[ 49/49 HP ]] [[ HATE : 1 ]]

« Xion »

[[ 19/19 HP ]] [[ HATE : 1 ]]

 

« Lizardman Whelp Â»

[[ 13/25 HP ]]

[Xion 0]

ID: 25594

BD: 4 (-1=3) (FAIL) 

 

Xion tried to take advantage of the fact that Takao had locked the Lizardman in place, and he attempted to stab it while it could not block. But Xion was not able to aim in the dim light, and instead his blade ended up colliding with Takao's sword, creating the usual sparks as a metallic 'Ting' filled the cave and echoed. 

 

"Damn" Xion said, as he retreated behind Takao once more. 

 

 

Xion (19/19) [HATE: 1]

Takao (49/49) [HATE: 1]

 

Lizardman welp (13/25)  

[Takao 0]

Takao struggled to keep the Lizardman's sword in a bind, but ultimately failed when its shield arm swung at him. He was forced to duck and evade, the movement from the Lizardman allowing it the opportunity to evade Xion's swing in turn. Takao tensed his right leg and brought himself back up to stand as their adversary was focused on evasive maneuvers. He used his momentum in the step to swing his blade forward, cleaving deep into the beast's exposed chest. His habitual smile returned at the successful hit, and afterward he put himself back in the line of fire very quickly. His green eyes focused on the health bar and watched it drop and drop, until it was dangerously close to the threshold that would colour it red.

 

"Alright, looks like a couple more hits and we'll have it taken care of!" Even as he spoke, his voice was unshaken, and his attention was very firmly set on the monster before him. He thrived in combat, it was something he could put all of his focus into and keep his overactive mind from wandering freely. Even in situations of extreme distress, fighting would put him at ease.

 

- -

 

« Battle Sequence Â»

Lizardman Whelp Â» Takao Â» Xion

 

» ID : [[ 25609 ]]

» BD : [[ 7 - 1(Darkness) + 1(LMT) = 7 ]] 

» MD 3 : [[ *6* - 3(EVA) = 3 ]]

 

« Takao Â»

[[ 49/49 HP ]] [[ HATE : 2 ]]

« Xion »

[[ 19/19 HP ]] [[ HATE : 1 ]]

 

« Lizardman Whelp Â»

[[ 5/25 HP ]] (8(DMG) = -8 HP)