[SP - F1] The Adventure Begins - COMPLETE

[Mack 0]

Mack passed through the gates of the Starting City, moving momentarily into and out of the shadow cast by the hulking gates. Since he was going to be stuck in this world for the immediate future he was pleased that the designers of the game had at least taken the time to make sure it looked like a good and real world ahead of the release instead of putting out some kind of half-done product just because they were on a deadline of some sort. Raising his right hand to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun the axe man surveyed the land immediately surrounding the city. For the most part the city seemed to be surrounded by rolling grasslands for a good distance all around, the tallest among the blades of grass were swaying gently thanks to a soft breeze blowing in from the northeast. That same breeze also teased Mack's hair as he surveyed the grasslands and considered his options for moving forward.

"Time to begin the grind," he growled more to himself than to any of the other players moving past him on the path heading out into the grasslands proper as he set off as just another person in the crowd. Within about a twenty minute walk most of the players passing out of the main gates of the city had petered off and headed in their own separate directions, leaving the hulking axe-wielder by himself, more or less, though there were still a few players that he could see who were within easy shouting distance should he have a need to make contact with any of them or, more likely, should any of them require his assistance.

Continuing on his way through grass, occasionally brushing it to this side or the other as was warranted it wasn't long before Mack's storm grey eyes locked onto the first of what would be many, many mobs that he would mercilessly slaughter within the world of this death game. A simple boar with a coarse thick brown coat of bristled fur, a large piggy nose, beady little eyes, and two ivory colored tusks protruding from the corners of its mouth. "With luck, meat's on the menu tonight," Mack muttered to himself, loosing his axe from its sling on his back and bringing the weapon into a ready position.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Mack

[Mack 0]

Mack sat behind the concealment offered by the tall grass and watched the boar for a few moments as it rooted around in the dirt. No doubt the hefty pig-like beast was searching for some truffles or grubs or whatever it was that large boars ate. To be completely honest, Mack had no idea what it was that the squealing, grunting beasts ate. Nor did he much care. Mack's grey eyes narrowed as he continued to watched the filthy beast going on about its search for food. He waited silently in the brush for several more moments, finally rolling his eyes in frustration. Wasn't this stupid pig ever going to turn its back to him? If SAO worked like any other MMORPG then there'd be a substantial critical hit bonus for hitting it from behind.

"Come on, you two hundred pound slab of bacon," Mack growled, shuffling his shoulders and adjusting his feet as he eyed the boar. "Turn around so I can take you to market." Mack shuffled his feet again in his hiding place and then heard the unmistakeable sound of a twig snapping.

ID: 26364
MD: 1 (0 dmg)
Mac: 5/5
Boar: 3/3

At the sound of the snapping of the twig snapping the boar abruptly looked up from what it was doing. With an angry squeal it pelted straight towards Mack's hiding place, no doubt alerted by the combination of him having been talking to himself and the snap of the twig. The massive axe man stood up abruptly from his hiding place and readied his weapon to parry the boar's attack. Just as the brown bristled animal went to lunge it tripped over its own feet, face planting into the ground and skidding to a stop directly at Mack's leather booted feet.

Edited August 4, 2015 by Mack
Didn't have all the necessary dice roll info in the post.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26368
BD: 10 (4 Dam.)
LD: 13
Mack: 5/5
Boar: -1/3 (-4 Dam.)

Mack stood over the boar, swinging the axe gently back and forth in his hands as he studied the creature for a moment. Really? This was, apparently, some kind of death game. But based on what he'd just witnessed from the boar, which was trying to get back on its feet as it wallowed directly in front of Mack after having tripped over its own feet, SAO was either incredibly newbie friendly or pretty poorly coded at the lower levels. The mountain of a man shrugged his shoulders and raised the heavy axe over his head, feeling one of the most basic of his combat skills locking in.

"Your funeral, piggy," he growled, swinging the bladed weapon down on the struggling boar's neck with all of his strength. The soldier was pleased to see that the blow was apparently being scored by the game as a critical hit, as well it should be. The axe cleaved straight down through the boar's neck and neatly severed the head, which hit the dirt covered ground with a dull wet thud. Mack regarded the creature for a second before it shattered into pixelated pieces and disappeared into nothingness.

In the wake of the boar's disintegration into nothingness a small leather pouch appeared. Cautiously, Mack picked it up from the ground and eyed it, noting that there was the soft tinkle of coins. So, this was the first bit of loot that he would receive then. Opening the pouch he peered inside and discovered fifteen col that was his for the taking. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

Edited August 5, 2015 by Mack
Needed to add Loot

[Mack 0]

With the first boar down in what, Mack hoped, would be an illustrious career within the world of SAO the axe-man sheathed his weapon at his back once more and considered his options. With that first kill he'd made enough experience to level up to level two. There was still, of course, a significant way to go yet before he'd be ready to move out of this area. If this was, indeed, a death game it would be best to not take any chances. That would mean over-leveling before moving on and over-leveling took time.

Standing up from where he had been kneeling next to the dead boar, Mack considered his surroundings. There was a trio of players a little bit to the east, but heading north looked like fairly open ground. That would mean an increased likelihood of finding more mobs which, in turn, meant more experience and more loot and faster leveling though faster was a bit of a relative term since every MMO from the beginning of time had quick leveling at the lower levels before the grind really set in.

As the sun was still making its ascent into the sky, Mack headed off to the north away from the other players. Sneaking and slinking through the grass, at least as much as a man of his size and a new player with his completely lack of skill in the sneak ability could, the blonde man scanned the fields around him searching for his next mob to take down. It wasn't too long before he came upon a somewhat over-sized bumble bee that was buzzing about in the meadow. Killing insects hardly seemed worth it to Mack, but it was a mob and at least this time it had its back to him as it was buzzing away. Scrunching over, Mack drew his axe and began to advance on the insect.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26397
MD: 3
Mack: (7/7)
Bumble Bee: (4/4)

As the hulking behemoth was advancing on the bee he raised his axe, ready to bring it down directly in the middle of the bee's back. Just one more step and he'd be able to swing, a beautiful sneak attack. Then, out of nowhere, there was a gopher hole. Of all places. "What the hell," Mack bellowed as he stepped into the hole. Alerted by the noise Mack was making, the bee whirled around and buzzed angrily in the direction of the axe-wielding, and extremely agitated, warrior. As he tried to rip his foot free from the hole Mack over-balanced himself, likely because he happened to be trying to ready his axe at the same time. As a result he stumbled forward and had to throw out his hands to catch himself to avoid face planting like the boar had done a few minutes earlier. Just as his hands hit the ground the bee when whizzing over his head, missing in its own attack because Mack had been possessed of unsure footing. 

Small blessings.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26399
BD: 1
Mack: 7/7
Bee: 4/4

As the bee went whizzing by over his head Mack regained his footing and stood up straight. Now the blonde warrior was going to show the insect what was what. Raising the axe to one side for a swinging chop, just like a big league slugger, Mack grinned with a wicked glee. If he could kill a boar in one swing then there was no way that this bee could hope to survive. He was going to atomize the little buzzing insect and he planned on enjoying every second of it. As the bee came around for another pass Mack stepped into the swing and launched his attack...

Only to step into the same gopher hole and, this time, he really did topple over and land flat on his back in the grass. Apparently, SAO fighting was geared towards the slap stick comedy end of things. It was the only way to explain what was going on in every fight.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26400
BD: 10 (4 dam)
MD: 8 (1 dam)
LD: 11
Mack: 6/7 (1 Dam)
Bee: 0/4 (4 Dam)

At least his time serving in the military, in a combat role and a combat zone no less, had given Mack exceptionally good recovery reflexes. Rolling from his back to his chest Mack planted his hands on the ground and shoved himself quickly to his feet. Taking his eyes off of the bee for a moment, the soldier moved a few feet to one side to make sure he didn't step into the gopher hole for a third time. The bulky blonde man was just raising his axe above his head to unleash an overhanded chop, like the one he'd used to dispatch the boar when the bee slammed into his chest stinger first.

Mack grunted from the impact of the bee. So, this was what it felt like to be hit by a virtual bee. There was a slight pinching sensation in his chest. "My turn," Mack growled and the bee pulled its stinger out of his chest. As the inspect was backing away to make another attempt at zooming in and impaling him for a second time Mack brought his axe blade down on the bee as the blade skill clicked in again. The blade bit deep into the bee's back, directly between the inspect's wings. It twitched for a moment and then exploded into pixelated pieces. Another one hit kill. 

With his second creature killed and no longer a threat Mack toed around in the grass near where the bee had been killed, searching for loot. After a few minutes of pawing the ground he found another little leather bag full of col. Pulling on the bags drawstrings, Mack opened it and peered inside. There was more col in this bag than there had been in the first one, but not by much. Maybe twenty col, all said and done. Still, every little bit helped. Sheathing the axe again at his back, Mack continued through the grasslands and noted with some satisfaction, that he had crossed another level up barrier which re-filled his hit points to full.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26434
MD: 1
Mack: 9/9
Eagle: 5/5

Two animals down, untold scores still to go. Mack watched his health bar refill the one point that he had lost in the battle with the bumble bee after the striped baron had succeeded in impaling him in the chest with its stinger. So far, in this low-level area, the axe-wielder hadn't really encountered any creatures that had caused him to worry that he might not be able to defeat them. Of course, that was the goal of these kind of low-level areas. Quick and simple and safe leveling early in the game. As he scanned the fields around him, he never bothered to look up to see if there might be an attack coming from above, his only warning was a last second "Screee!" from a massive eagle.

"Damn," Mack swore, flinging himself to the right and reaching over his shoulder to draw his battle axe in one fluid motion. As he rolled back to his feet, axe in hand, the eagle went screeching past his body in a full on dive, slamming into the ground full force with a rather sickening thud. It squawked loudly in indignation and flapped its enormous feathered wings, trying to right itself and get back into the air for another attack.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26439
BD: 9
Mack: 9/9
Eagle: 2/5 (-3 Dam)

The eagle was flapping and squawking furiously as it tried to get itself into the air once again after its ill-fated dive. Had it been a real eagle, and not the game's version of one, Mack would have felt a lot worse about what it was he was getting ready to do. As things stood though, with the racket the eagle was making and the fact that the winged beast had tried to scalp him not even thirty seconds earlier, Mack felt no remorse towards the creature as he raised his axe above his head and brought it down squarely in the middle of the eagle's back. There was a veritable explosion of feathers as the blow connected with the bird of prey and it squawked angrily as it finally managed to get itself back into the air.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26441
MD: 2
Mack: 9/9
Eagle: 2/5

Clearly in an unhappy mood the eagle wheeled around in the air and, rather than trying to gain altitude for another dive bombing attack it beat its wings furiously and made a direct run on Mack again. The eagle raised its razor sharp talons as it bore down on the blonde warrior that had just impaled it seconds earlier. Clearly, the eagle's A.I. had one thought in it's mind, to bury its talons in the chest of the warrior and bear it to the ground where it could savage the axe-man until there was nothing left of what the eagle perceived as an insignificant annoyance. As it screamed in, Mack neatly ducked to the left and the eagle missed wildly for a second time, its talons raking the air in a futile effort to strike the warrior down.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26444
BD: 10
MD: 2
LD: 6
Mack: 9/9
Eagle: -2/5 (-4 Dam)

As the eagle whooshed by for a second time Mack reflected on the fact that this was the first enemy he had faced in the game that he had been unable to annihilate with a single strike. That meant that either the animals were getting progressively stronger as he leveled up, which made some logical sense, or that he needed to spend some of the skill points he had earned on perks and upgrades. Assuming, of course, that he had any extra SP to spend at the moment. As he switched his grip on the axe to something that would be more conducive to a side swinging chop the soldier resolved to check out his stats after the battle with the eagle was concluded to see if there were skill upgrades that he needed to purchase. As the eagle swooped in for another strike Mack raised the axe and bore the haft at the eagle which, obligingly, locked its talons around the weapons handle. It a savage downward jerk the warrior slammed the eagle into the ground and then stomped directly on its head. The bird managed a strangled squawk of protest before dissolving into pixels and disappearing. Mack searched the ground where he had killed the eagle, but there was no loot to be found this time.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26484
BD: 7
Mack: 11/11
Blue Jay: 4/6 (-2 Dam.)

Mack growled in frustration and tightened his grip on his battle axe. He hadn't honestly expected to find loot after every creature that he killed. Nonetheless, it was slightly aggravating to get, in his opinion, cheated out of a minute amount of col for having defeated the eagle. Especially since the eagle had ambushed him. Standing up once more, the blonde warrior shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun and scanned his surroundings, resting the haft of his battle axe on the ground as he surveyed everything. His anger at not receiving at least a little bit of the col from the eagle made him ready to lash out at the first thing that crossed his field of vision. Even if the flash of azure made it apparent that it was nothing more than a blue jay, a blue jay that wasn't particularly interested in picking a fight with him.

Hefting the axe in his hands Mack crept forward and readied himself for a sideways chop at the bird as it cut across his path, heading in a completely different direction. There was a slight amount of resistance against the blade of the axe as it bit into Mack's chosen target. The blue jay chattered angrily and wheeled around in the air to face its attacker. "Less nagging, more fighting, bird." Mack growled and raised the axe to strike again.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26486
MD: 8
BD: 8
Mack: 10/11 (-1 Dam)
Blue Jay: 2/6 (-2 Dam)

If there was anything to be said for the blue jay, it was that it was faster than any of the other animals that Mack had fought thus far. Judging by the way it feinted and dodged in the air, it was also probably smarter. It also didn't seem to be as phased by the fact that the warrior had smacked it with his axe as the other creatures had been. Likely that meant it was a higher level than the boar, bee, and eagle had been. Just as well, increased challenge meant an increased likelihood of being rewarded for his efforts.

Like a fencer with a rapier, the blue jay at last darted forward to attack. Mack swung his axe across his body, trying to pick the little song bird out of the air. But, his swing sailed high as the bird dipped at the last second. The axe-man continued his follow through as he felt the bird's talons, if a blue jay could be considered to even have talons, rake across the flesh of his right arm and as the bird looped around behind him the warrior felt his axe strike its target. What incredible luck! The blue jay had inadvertently flown into the arc of Mack's follow through on his swing and the hulking blonde had managed to score a second hit on the bird. He whirled to face his avian adversary and readied his axe for another attack.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26488
MD: 10
Mack: 7/11 (-3 Dam.)
Blue Jay: 2/6

As the blonde axe man raised his weapon for another strike at his azure adversary the blue abruptly dove forward in a diving attack while Mack was still in the process of readying his weapon. Quickly the feathered fencer darted inside of the axe-man's guard and its feet momentarily found purchase on the neckline of the blonde's shirt, of all places. In rapid succession the blue jay delivered three quick, needle sharp, pecks directly into Mack's throat.

"Son of a..." the warrior began, the rest of whatever it was he was going to say was drowned out as he released the axe's shaft with his right and and clamped it on the offending blue jay. Cocking his arm back, he flung the feathered missile away from his body with all his strength. Of course, that had no effect on the blue jay since it could fly. In his anger, and desire to get the bird off of him, Mack had momentarily forgotten about that fact.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26489
BD: 10
LD: 9
Mack: 7/11
Blue Jay: -2/6 (-4 Dam)

Mack's grey eyes narrowed in anger at the offending blue jay. True, he had picked this fight all by himself, but fighting a song bird should not be proving to be this strenuous. "Come on, you feathered bastard," he growled, swinging the axe back and forth from hand to hand and waiting for the bird to come in for another attack. After a few seconds of darting around and seeking an opening in the blonde warrior's defenses the blue jay came screaming in, cawing its tiny little head off, like some kind of mad feathered kamikaze.

"Not this time," the olive green clad man roared. Raising his axe high above his head he brought it whistling down on the screaming jay, scoring a direct hit. There was so much force behind the blow that Mack neatly bisected the bird as it and his axe blade hit the ground, burying the blade several inches into the ground. With a savage tug, Mack ripped the axe from the ground as the bird dissolved. Then he growled in frustration and buried the blade in the ground again where the bird had been. Once again, no loot.

[Mack 0]

While Mack had enjoyed the fight with the blue jay, in that it had been slightly more difficult than the first three enemies he had encountered, it was still a relative term. He hadn't just been in love with the encounter either. Still, he had finally worked up enough of an exercise from the animal encounters that it was time to take a bit of a breather to allow his hit points to fully replenish before jumping in to the next fight with a wild animal. Standing up straight and tall in the grass, and keeping a wary eye on the sky, the trudged for a handful of yards up a slight incline in the ground before flopping down on his back in the grass and allowing the battle axe to hit the ground next to him with a soft, dull thud. As he lay there on the ground he pulled up his inventory and extracted one of the water items, putting the bottle to his lips and taking a long pull as he waited for his HP to return to full.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26522
BD: 7
Mack: 13/13
Cardinal: 5/7 (-2 Dam)

After resting for several minutes, and downing the small container of water from his inventory which evaporated away into nothingness as its durability was depleted, Mack climbed back to his feet using the haft of his battle axe as a walking stick for a moment to get up and moving again. The few minutes rest and water break had worked wonders for him, and he was ready to go find another new NPC mob to kill. So far, on the day, two mobs had dropped loot and two of them had been complete dead ends. Hopefully, whatever he found next would break the streak.

Using his axe as a primitive scythe to check the ground in front of him as he moved along, and make sure he didn't inadvertently come upon any kind of snake or vicious insect unaware since he was moving into an area where the grass was about as high as his waist, the enormous blonde warrior's eyes widened in surprise when the axe blade actually bit into something and an angry red blur boiled up out of the grass, twittering madly at him. As he'd been prodding through the grass with the axe blade, Mack had accidentally swung the blade into a cardinal, and the bird was none too happy about it.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26523
BD: 10
MD: 2
Mack: 13/13
Cardinal: 1/7 (-4 Dam)

Not wasting any time, the cardinal cut loose with a withering barrage of tweets, chirps, and bird song. Of course, Mack wasn't sure what exactly the bird was saying. He didn't speak song bird. But, no doubt from the angry nature of the twittering the bird certainly thought it was causing psychological damage that would last a lifetime. Abruptly, the bird reached the end of its avian tirade and launched a dive bomb attack. Fortunately, this cardinal was nowhere near as quick and speedy as the blue jay had been. As it zoomed at his head, Mack ducked and the bird sailed right on by.

As the cardinal buzzed around to make another pass at his blonde head, Mack swung the flat of his axe blade into the bird's path. It couldn't pull up in time and slammed head first into the steel blade and fell to the ground at Mack's feet. Not wasting any time, he moved forward a bit and brought one of his booted feet down on the bird as hard as he could. As he lifted his foot to see if he had killed the bird it came twittering up at him again, chattering away. Apparently, a curb stomp wasn't quite going to be enough to kill the red missile.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Mack

[Mack 0]

ID: 26524
MD: 6
BD: 1
Mack: 12/13 (-1 Dam)
Cardinal: 1/7

In a righteous red fury, the cardinal launched into another attack, aiming its little taloned feet directly for Mack's eyes. Dropping his left hand from the axe's shaft, Mack swatted at the bird with his hand, but he missed as the creature gave its wings one last little flap to rise about the back handed blow from the warrior. Flinching his head to the side at the last instant, the axe-man managed to avoid catching the bird's blow directly in one of his eyes, which would have almost certainly been quite painful. But, he wasn't able to completely avoid the cardinal's talons as one of them traced a line along the right side of his cheek. Mack grunted and resumed a two-handed grip on his battle axe. While he wasn't worried about the bird defeating him, there was still no need to get cocky when one was in a death game like SAO.

[Mack 0]

ID: 26525
BD: 9
MD: 1
LD: 16
Mack: 12/13
Cardinal: -2/7 (-3 Dam)

Still carrying on worse than any chipmunk, the cardinal flapped around in angry circle. Clearly, the tiny kamikaze didn't know when it was defeated. Of course, that was the way that most low level mobs were in games like SAO. Tweeting like the avian equivalent of a berseker, the bird was just launching into another diving attack when Mack swung at it with the flat of his battle axe's blade. There was an explosion of crimson and jet black plumage as the blow connected with the little creature. While fighting another song bird hadn't really been on his list of things to do this morning, when one accidentally attacked a little red baron, there was nothing that could be done about it short of killing the thing.

Kneeling on the spot where he had connected with the bird, Mack searched through the grass and resolved, quietly, that he would find a spot to continue hunting where the grass was shorter. Having to conduct a tedious search in this kind of grass to look for loot was a bit obnoxious. Still, he was rewarded for his efforts in the search with a single crimson feather. The blonde man examined the feather for a moment, it didn't seem to have any kind of special qualities. Probably it was just meant as a trinket item, or something decorative. He doubted very much that it was worth anything.

Absentmindedly he tapped the feather against the haft of his battle axe just under the blade. The feather dissolved for a moment, only to reappear a split second later tied to the battle axe's haft just under the blade head by a slender strip of leather. Just as he'd suspected, the feather was purely decorative. Still, it did spice up the appearance of his beginning weapon just a bit, so that was nice at least. Sheathing the blade once more at his back, Mack set off through the grasslands in the direction of an area where the grass was not quite so tall.