[SP-F2] Blood on Bark

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius trudged through the vast expanse of woods on Floor 2 looking for something to train on. He needed more training. More leveling. He already heard tales of how strong the top players were and hated himself for being so weak. That's why he was out here alone. No sharing loot or EXP. He needed it all for himself. Whether or not that would come back to bite him in the behind would be decided later on. For know he walked through the woods anticipating a battle from one of the many enemies that hid within.

[2,6,9,10]- NPC Bandits (2)

[1,3,5]- Wolves (2)

[4,7]- Goblins (3)

[8]- Large Snake

[Darius Verand 0]

As Darius trudged through the woods a shadowy figure stepped out in front of him, farther ahead of him about fifteen feet. He heard a stick crack and looked behind him, seeing a second shadowy figure walk out from behind a tree from behind him. If he had chosen 'Searching' he probably could've detected the so he wouldn't have been jumped from both sides. The one in front of Darius wielded a cudgel while the one behind him wielded a curved dagger.

As Darius placed his own hand on his sword hilt, a message appeared before him. It was issued by the 'NPC Bandit' to give the Bandit all of the Cul Darius had, or be attacked. Darius rolled his shoulders, loosening them. He stretched to the side, easing a stitch in his stomach. He didn't have much Cul; however, he had a large confidence in his ability to beat these two. He had a shield and reach advantage with his longsword. They had numbers. Only time would tell. Instead of hitting a button he simply drew his sword, turned so each of his sides were facing a bandit and backed up slowly, keeping each of them in his vision.

Darius' sign of hostility cancelled the request. The battle began.

[1,3,4,6,9]- The bandits walked together, side by side as they approached Darius.

[2,5,7]- The bandits stayed in there respective positions, at the edge of Darius' vision.

[8,10]- One bandit approach Darius from the front as the other quickly moved around to his backside.

[Darius Verand 0]

The bandits stayed in their positions, walking at the edges of Darius' vision. He had turned to position the dagger-wielder on his swordhand side and the cudgel wielder on his shieldhand side. The dagger would be hard to block with its speed and precision so it would be easier to keep at bay with the reach of the sword. The cudgel could be easily blocked at the simple cost of a few jars to his arm and a dent here and there in his buckler.

He rolled his around in a circle, checking behind him while doing so to make sure he had a semi-clear stretch behind him. The feeling of adrenaline; and then rage seeped into him. The liquid fire in his veins turned cold as he became disembodied again, seeing himself like he was someone else. Thoughts that he didn't want to be his crept into his mind. "I've never killed a human before. Not in a way like this where I can see myself hack them down. Not in real life, or in a game. Man I love VR. The realism is to /die/ for." The inner voice cackled before going silent. Darius felt himself lick across his lips. He grinned wolfishly before letting out an inhumane roar and activating 'Howl' to aggro the bandits into attacking him.

[1,3,4,6,8,10]- 'Howl' works, drawing the bandits' aggro as they charge him.

[2,7,9]- 'Howl' isn't effective and they continue creeping ever slower towards Darius.

[5] 'Howl' works, attracting the bandits and a wolf behind some foliage behind Darius.

[Darius Verand 0]

'Howl' had worked and the bandits charged towards him. He stopped moving backwards now, staying on his toes, ready to react to who ever came first. The cudgel-wielder had long legs and was slightly taller, so the man made it to Darius first a step and a half ahead of his friend. The cudgel-wielder (Bandit 1 from now on) went for a simple vertical strike to Darius' skull. Darius reacts by holding his shield up at an angle, hoping the blow will slide of and unbalance 'Bandit 1' so Darius has a second or two to fend off 'Bandit 2'.

[1,4,8,10]- The blow hits the shield and slides off from the angle, making the over-commited strike off-balance 'Bandit 1' as he stumbles forward and tries to regain his feet.

[2,5,7,9]- The hits the shield, but does not glance off and is simply blocked.

[3,6]- The blow overpowers Darius' block, lowering his shield arm and making him open for a counter-attack.

[Darius Verand 0]

'Bandit 1' over-commits to his attack and the blow slides of Darius' shield, making 'Bandit 1' stumble forward trying to regain his balance. While Darius' attention had been turned towards 'Bandit 1', 'Bandit 2' had moved in and tried to go for a stab under Darius' ribs, resonating a battle cry.

Had it not been the battle cry that showed that 'Bandit 2' was attacking, Darius wouldn't have turned with such ferocity and speed. The knife was plunging right for under Darius' ribs on his right side. Darius tried to intercept the attack by pushing his forearm in a vertical motion upwards, under 'Bandit 2's forearm to make the blow not connect, opening up 'Bandit 2' for attack. If the move is successful, Darius would try to use 'Vertical Arc' to strike 'Bandit 2' twice while he was open.

[1,3,7,10]- Darius successfully re-directs the blow and executes both slashes of 'Vertical Arc' dealing heavy damage to 'Bandit 2'.

[2,4,9]- Darius successfully re-directs the blow and executes one slash of 'Vertical Arc', 'Bandit 2' staggering backwards to avoid the second, only getting moderate damage.

[5,8]- Darius successfully re-directs the blow, but 'Bandit 2' jumps back to evade the strikes.

[6]- Darius does not re-direct the blow well enough and is cut across his right side, taking '1 Damage' because of his armor blocking a second point.

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius redirects the stab from 'Bandit two' and slashes the man once in a down vertical from right to left, the man crying out in pain. Before Darius could slash a second time, 'Bandit 2' staggered backwards hastily to avoid it. 'Bandit 2' lost some of his nerve for a second before becoming serious again.

'Bandit 1' on the other hand had regained his balance and came now at Darius with a vertical swing towards the side of Darius' next, grunting with the effort of the swing. Darius spun towards his left, attempting to lash out with his buckler to connect with the blow, before it connected with Darius' neck, trying to send it off target. Darius would follow the momentum of the spin and try a 'Horizontal Slash' if his block was successful in knocking the cudgel off target.

[1,5,10]- Darius is successful in knocking the cudgel off course and following up with a 'Horizontal Slash' to 'Bandit 1's chest.

[3,4,7,8]- Darius is not successful in knocking off the cudgel's course and simply blocks the attack.

[2,9]- Darius is barely successful with blocking the blow, the blow jarring his arm and lowering it to leave him open for a follow up.

[6]- 'Bandit 1' gets past Darius' block and hits him, dealing two points of damage.

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius blocks the cudgel's blow. He was about to do a follow up attack when a hot, sharp pain went through the right side of his back. 'Bandit 2' had came up and backstabbed Darius while he was occupied with 'Bandit 1'. Darius took two points of damage as he cried out in pain, but the partial way through it turned into rage.A pure, raw, bloodlust-filled rage.

Darius could feel 'Bandit 2' right behind him, trying to twist the knife around to do more damage. Darius wouldn't let that happen. Darius turned slightly to his right to open up a wider area and then flipped his sword backwards, placing his left hand on the base of the hilt, his right hand gripping the grip of the hilt, as he pushed it back with all of the force he could muster.

[1-10]- Darius impales 'Bandit 2'. From the bandit's angle, he wouldn't be able to see that Darius was flipping the sword around to impale him, and he was concentrated on wrenching the knife around, so didn't see it anyhow.

[Darius Verand 0]

'Bandit 2' was impaled by Darius sword, his eyes going wide at the sudden pain in his stomach as the sword went all the way through his cloth robes. He sobbed once before bursting into pixels, the knife going with it.

'Bandit 1' took his chance now that Darius was wide open. The Bandit (Bandit 1 is now the Bandit since there is only one) swung a horizontal at Darius' ribs. There was little other that Darius could do other than turn into the attack and let his armor absorb some of it.

[1,2,4,6,8,10]- Darius is hit in his less protected side, taking two points of damage.

[3,5,7,9]- Darius can turn in time, absorbing some of the blow on his armor, taking only one point of damage.

HP: 7/9

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius was hit in his unprotected side, taking another two points of damage. A grunt came out from him that turned into a snarl. There was no way he would die from some lowly bandit. A look of malice came over his face, making Darius look more monster than human. Before the Bandit could pull the cudgel away Darius would attempt to grab it and hold it in place so the Bandit couldn't escape.

[1,2,5,7,10]- Darius grabs the cudgel and firmly holds it so the Bandit cannot escape.

[3,6,9]- Darius grabs the cudgel but the bandit lets go so he can escape.

[4,8]- The bandit quickly pulls the out of Darius' reach.

HP: 5/9

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius grabs the cudgel and firmly holds it in place, the bandit yelps, being shocked. Before Darius can strike though, the bandit lets go and turns to start running. To make sure he doesn't, Darius activates 'Sprint' to easily close down the distance and slash at the bandits legs, a blow that is near impossible to dodge with your back to it, running away in panic.

[1,3,4,6,7,9,10]- Darius easily catches up, slashing the bandits legs, making him fall from the pain.

[2,5]- The bandit trips in his horrified fleeing, taking the slash across his back in mid-fall.

[8]- The bandit trips in his horrified fleeing, dodging the slash by centimeters.

[Darius Verand 0]

The man is slashed on both legs, falling from the pain. Now that he is on the ground, he has virtually no chance of escape. The bandit flips over and a message hastily pops up in front of Darius, saying that if Darius spared the bandit it would give him 500 Col. Darius grinned wolfishly, a merciless look clouding over his eyes. In response, Darius drove his sword into the bandit's body, right below the shoulder, all the way through and lodging it into the ground, pinning the bandit.

The bandit cried out in pain, being pinned to the ground. The bandit's HP gauge was now in Red. Darius knelt down, putting either knee on either side of the bandit's torso, making sure the bandit couldn't squirm free. The bandit tried to move, but the sword lodged in his shoulder prevented him from doing so without taking the last bits of damage and dying. He sobbed out a single word: "Please."

Darius' wolfish grin grew even wider. "No mercy," he whispered to the Bandit, before pressing his thumbs into the bandit's eye sockets with great haste. The bandit's cries of terrible pain were the last thing that echoed out of him before he exploded into pixels.

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius stood, retrieved and resheathed his sword, and stopped for a moment, realizing what he had just done. He wanted to sob at how inhumane he was. How merciless he had become. All because of everyone in the real world. That is why he lived here. It was his escape. Or was it? Was it his prison? His punishment for such cruel thoughts and actions? As he contemplated this and watched his hands shake violently, the loot counter came up, spinning through the possible chances of what he could get.

[1,4,7,9,11,12,14,16,18,20]

[2,5,8]- Traveler's Cloak: Simple black cloak with a hood to keep the elements out.

[3,13,17]- Curved Dagger: A 12" long dagger. The hilt and blade made of basic materials. The blade had a slight backwards curve to it. It was regarded as a beginner's weapon.

[6,10,15,19]- The extra Col they got from previous encounters of players that paid their fee. (300-500)

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius received a decent amount of EXP and Col for soloing two bandits, plus the extra item. The dagger that the one bandit had used. Darius wouldn't ever use it. He would probably just sell it to some shop for more Col. Before he hit the close button for the loot screen, he took one deep breath. His hand steadied and a neutral expression washed over his face. He would simply lock all of his feeling down until he could find someone worthy to get rid of them for him. It would be a long walk to the next town on Floor 3. He didn't want any more trouble so he was extra cautious, avoiding all fights.