[PP-F5] Trial by sand <<The traveller>> (Tristan)

[Xion 0]

Xion sighed as he drank from a mug on the bar in front of him, the ale tasted bitter, but the player didn't want to waste any more col so he drank it anyway. "Interesting taste...but not my cup of tea" he mumbled to himself, he was 15 in real life, and normally wouldn't touch alcohol unless it was a special occasion, but seeing as this was a virtual body he had decided to try some, although  the NPC serving him gave Xion a funny look, probably because he looked far too young to be drinking. 

 

He took another sip, as he opened his quest log and read the details for a quest called <<The traveller>>, which he was going to complete later that day with a player named Tristan, whom was yet to emerge from his room. They had both spent the night at the same inn, seeing as they had completed <<Blood in the sand>> the previous day and would need to traverse the dunes a second time for <<The traveller>>.  Xion sighed as he finished the drink, for reasons unknown to him he had woken up that day in a particularly sour mood, and thought that a drink may help cheer him up, but all it had managed to do was leave a bitter taste in his mouth. 

[Tristan Delaney 0]

Tristan walked into the bar where Xion had sent a message saying where he was, so that Tristan could meet up with him to do the Traveller quest to get the skill Survival. He thought it odd that he was going to a bar with someone who seemed underage, more so it appeared drinking alcohol, but didn't make much of it. Instead he ordered himself some too, as an englishman and overage far more used to ale beers, and had himself served. He turned to Xion after sitting next to him, ale in hand and said "So how you feeling today?".

[Xion 0]

Xion smiled slightly when he saw that Tristan had arrived "Bitter, in every sense of the word" he said with a small chuckle, looking down at his now empty mug. "Sorry that we had to meet in here, not many places that are both cheap and open at this time in the morning" he said, before the NPC took his mug and offered Xion another drink. "No thanks" he said, the bitter after-taste still lingering in his mouth. "I really shouldn't be drinking this, but the NPC's don't care, col is col after all"

[Tristan Delaney 0]

Tristan chuckled darkly at his double entendre about bitterness and hoped that he would cheer up later. He thought for a moment and then said "Well I suppose we should get underway then, hopefully getting yourself a new skill will cheer you up.". He smiled as he patted Xions back and stood up, placing the now empty ale flask on the table and stretching himself ready to set off. He thought which way would maybe be the best way to go, but was wholly undecided and figured just going out there would do the trick.

[Xion 0]

Xion nodded "A little more strength is always good in this world" he said, before walking out of the inn and looking at the early morning sun in the distance. "Now which way was it again Tristan?" he asked, as the red head had completed this quest before and would know where to go. "Oh and a quick question, does battle healing work in the dunes?" he asked, as he knew of the dangers of travelling in such areas, the wind and sandstorms dealt almost constant damage to you, which would be a problem if Xion's battle healing didn't activate. The boy let out a sigh 'this is going to be painful' he thought. 

[Tristan Delaney 0]

Tristan looked at him and laughed as he realised that Xion had not realised something about the quest. "It seems the developers didn't quite consider the game mechanics when they made the quest, as you heal 1 health point for every once in a while (turn) of combat. Because of this, we can basically do whatever we want for some time and we should eventually find what we are looking for.". Tristan smiled and remembered fighting a monster while doing it with Life. "For reference, battle healing only works in combat though, as it is in the name. We can either just roam the desert or we can fight mobs, its really up to you.".

[Xion 0]

Xion nodded "Your choice, you've done this before, honesty I wouldn't mind either way, as long as death isn't involved" Xion said, feeling himself cheer up a little with the thought of completing another quest, which would bring him one step closer to the front lines. "Eventually..." he said to himself, smiling a little. 

[Tristan Delaney 0]

Tristan chuckled and said "Don't worry, I prefer my quests without death. We'll just explore and see if we find any mobs before we get the cargo we are looking for.". He started walking Xion out the town and into the dunes, the expansive sands going seemingly till infinity. He knew that was not true though, since there were edges to it. Even stories of players being kicked off the edge as a form of PK.

[Xion 0]

ID:26712

CD: 5

 

As they slowly walked deeper into the dunes the wind started to pick up, and before long Xion and Tristan were in the middle of what felt like a sandstorm. "Bloody hell" he said as he shielded his eyes from the sand that was threatening to blind him, luckily he hadn't been hit that hard and had taken no damage. 'but if this carries on' he thought, before pushing his worries to the side, he and Tristan had more than enough health to survive the dunes, even if the journey was rather unpleasant. 

[Tristan Delaney 0]

ID 27633 CD 10

Tristan was not worried at all about the bad weather, since even if he took some damage he'd automatically heal it for being out of combat. Of course if they entered a combat scenario ird be different, but was confident that they would be fine so had no great concern. He looked out to the sand and thought how the lack of mobs was a bit surprising, but they had also not found the cargo which was the quest objective.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Tristan Delaney

[Xion 0]

ID: 26773

CD: 8 

Xion continued to walk, his boots beginning to fill with sand as he did, the tiny rocks seemed to be able to work their way into every single crevice, nook and cranny in his clothing, which was rather irritating to say the least. 

"Any sign of it yet?" he asked Tristan, as he scanned what he could see of the horizon, hoping that they would be able to find the cargo soon. But the dunes did seem eerily barren, even the deserts usually have a few mobs scattered around the area, but there was nothing, just the wind and the two players. 

[Tristan Delaney 0]

ID: 27675

CD: 1, 1 damage taken, 1 healed through OOC healing

Tristan was asked if he saw anything, but he shook his head and said "I can't see anything of interest around here.". He felt himself taking damage from the heat, but because he was out of combat so it healed back immediately, making the heat inconsequential. Tristan adjusted his collar in discomfort from the heat, which was making the horizon blurry also and made it difficult to find where it was. "Let's keep looking though, it can't be too far. I mean, it is a quest that is possible seeing as I've done it.". He thought about maybe going further to the west in blind hope for finding what they were looking for.

[Xion 0]

ID: 27678

CD: 11

Xion sighed as he heard Tristan's response, he then looked at the horizon, hoping to see anything. Nothing, not even a mob. Nevertheless the player walked on, undeterred by the sand and heat of the desert. "This skill better be worth it" he said as his foot sunk slightly in the dunes, practically filling his shoes with sand. The boy frowned, before carrying on "if this skill doesn't come with a +9999 damage enhancement I am going to be oh so pissed" he said jokingly, a smile on his face.

 

Edited August 15, 2015 by Xion

[Tristan Delaney 0]

ID: 27702

CD: 7

Tristan chuckled to what he said about a damage bonus, shaking his head. "Sadly it does not give that, though it does give a boost to your health which is always a plus. Then again, I think very little in this game comes for free, so there is always some effort to be done for things.". Tristan thought of how hard it was accumulatively to get to where he was, and that includes the failures he had endured in the past for it has not always been success for him. For what it gave though, this quest always seemed like it was worth the effort since it wasn't hard to accomplish.

[Xion 0]

ID: 27795

CD: 8 

 

"But if everything was free then there would be no point, there would be no limits to break, no milestones to reach. This world would be nothing, just a prison and little more" Xion said, as he pondered the concept. The mere thought of being able to gain all that he wanted with little or no effort was a tempting one, but if that was reality then he would have no real strength in this world, just the illusion of strength. Pushing these thoughts aside, the blonde carried on walking, undeterred by the weather.

[Tristan Delaney 0]

ID: 27811
CD: 1, 1 damage taken, 1 healed through OOC healing

Tristan nodded to what he said and walked on. He thought what they could discuss about, then decided on a topic. "So what kind of build are you going for anyhow? You may have guessed I run a tank build to absorb a lot of damage, which works best in parties so glass cannons needn't worry about being hurt. But I was curious what you were going for, is it still tank like you had spoke of before, or has your focus shifted since?".

[Xion 0]

ID: 27819

CD: 5 

Xion nodded "Yeah still going for a tank build, not sure if I want to just go full damage mitigation or sort of what you do, allow your opponents to attack and let your thorns punish them. Although, I would rather not be a copycat, having my own style would be nice" he said with a smile as they trekked on through the dunes. "Any thoughts?" he asked as he looked up at the red haired giant of a man. 

[Tristan Delaney 0]

ID: 27893

CD: 2

Tristan thought for a moment, stroking his chin as he thought, then had an answer. "Well for tank builds, mitigation is a must. You simply cannot tank without it and thus is necessary. Battle Healing is also a great help. Thorns...is an odd one. I only have such a high level of it due to my unique equipment, so cannot be replicated exactly. Players such as Oikawa though instead of thorns on their shield have paralysis, so that then when they tanked a hit, they could paralyse the opponent. This in itself is a tank strategy, as it means the opponent hits less. Thus I'd say focus on mitigation and for your equipment to have mitigation and maybe thorns, along with either evasion or Block using a shield, so that you are hit less and thus take less damage.". Tristans build was rather optimised and he himself had thought long and hard to make the build he has to this day.

[Xion 0]

ID:27919

CD: 3

 

Xion rubbed his chin as he mused over Tristan's advice "Interesting, I have paralysis on my sword already and it's disgustingly powerful in PVP. But again I don't want to become a copy..." the blonde sighed as he said that, he was a bit 'late to the party' when it came to having his own style, as pretty much all possibilities had been used by other players. "I just need to find something unique" he said with a smile

[Tristan Delaney 0]

ID:27925

CD: 4

Tristan laughed to what Xion said, something he heard a lot. "Uniques are not easy to get all, so hard to do. And don't worry about copies, its inevitable in a game to make the copied meta. Either way, make what works out for you personally, since every build has its advantages and niches. I'm sure you'll turn out just fine though.". He took another look around but could find nothing.