SAO Remastered (Closed for Lucian_Devine)

[Poprockz]

At first Parsley had thought it was a scam when she got the call. Apparently she had won the sweepstakes she had entered into on a whim while going to the arcade recently. She hadn’t thought she would win the grand prize- maybe just the wireless earbuds consolation prize at best. After all, luck had never really been her strong suit.

So naturally when she got the call she had treated it with the utmost skepticism despite the flutter in her heart. That is, until they requested that she come back to that arcade to pick up her prize. They weren’t “requiring only a shipping fee” like a lot of scams would have. It could have been a prank or a bait and switch, but on the off-chance it was legitimate she went to the arcade. There, she stood utterly shocked as they shook her hand and then had her sign a few forms. At the end of It, she left with the equipment, console, and a pre-order of the hottest new game on the market. More jarring still was the fact that it was among the first 100 to be pre-ordered which meant that she would have access to special perks.

There wasn’t much to look forward to in her life, being that she was a 24 year old cashier without a college degree. There were no skills that would help her into a higher paying job, and she wasn’t sure what she would even do if she were able to scrounge up the funds needed to do so. Simply put, she had no direction. She was treading water in a still lake that offered no solutions, nor sign of shore. Still, she found relief by occasionally hanging out with her friend Jenny, spending time with her cat Jangles, and going to the arcade when she had time. The shooter games were second-nature to her now, and her claw-machine technique was exemplary. She didn’t really need any stuffed animals or anything, so she had been saving up her tickets for a high prize. When the sweepstakes was announced, she figured it might be worth a shot.

When she reached her apartment and the shock wore off, she couldn’t help but feel excited. This was the most exciting thing to ever happen to her, and she knew she was in for quite a treat.

….

1 Month later (6 days after the release of the game)

“BBBBBBRRRRR!” The city horn blew loud and ominous, the vibration reverberating throughout the streets. The NPC’s started to scream and scramble to their homes, shouting that “they’re back! They’ve come to raid the city!”

“THEY HAVE A TROLL!” Someone hollered from the wall. “They’re coming! We need archers and spell casters above, and combat fighters below!”

“We can’t do this! We’re too low-level! We have to run o-or hide!” A spear-wielding man whimpered, holding an axe in trembling hands.

There were murmurs of agreement from the other fighters, but one glared at them and stood their ground. He was a tall man with a knight armor set, a traditional sword and shield in hand. “We’re the highest-level fighters this city has! If we don’t fight, that raiding party is going to slaughter all the beginners! And then what? We’ll have less people to fight with us in the future. And in case you haven’t forgotten, people DIE when their HP gets to zero. We have a responsibility to defend this city and its people! You’ve fought goblins before- where’s your courage?!”

“They have a fucking TROLL, man! We’ll never make it!” One of the women hissed back.

“We will make it, or we’ll put everything we have into making sure that as few of them get past us as possible!” The knight stood his ground. He then turned towards the drawbridge and said quietly, “we have to.”

The drawbridge was lowered and beyond it they could see the goblin raiding party hooting and hollering, a large troll lumbering slowly forward with a giant club in-hand.

Thwick.

One of the goblin shamans fell to the ground, the others not noticing for the moment.

Thwick.

The second goblin shaman dropped, and this time both the soldiers and the goblin party noticed that something was happening. With the shamans down, it would make it a lot safer for archers to be on the wall.

Thwick.

The troll roared as an arrow pierced its thick hide, hitting it right in the chest. The party could see its HP go down by a fifth, their eyes widening. There was a higher-level archer somewhere supporting them! Both fear and excitement settled on the group as they continued to wait with baited breath. An archer was bound to take some heat after the shots they made, and currently the entirety of the goblin party was available to focus their attention on that person.

However… it never happened.

The goblins looked around, confused as the arrows continued to come. One. Two. Three. Four! The troll groaned as it fell forward to the ground, dead and defeated. And still, the arrows continued to come.

“Come on! The troll is down and all that’s left is run-of-the-mill goblins! We can do this! We can win this raid!” The knight held up his sword and the group shouted with renewed vigor. The group charged out of the gate, other emboldened archers and spell casters settling on the wall and joining the fight. What might have been a massacre ended up being a victory, yet no one could say who the mystery archer was. When questioned, the other archers said they hadn’t seen anyone else on their part of the wall, but that one of them saw arrows coming from a part of one of the forward towers that was inaccessible to their knowledge.

Some speculated that it was a ghost of the city, or perhaps some sort of machinery set to activate when hostile forces approached. However, the arrows themselves looked to be ones recently purchased from one of the fletchers of the city. A rumor started going around that there was an invisible player within the walls.

The most valuable item from the raid was offered to whoever could come forward and prove that they were the archer, but no one was able to do so and the mystery person didn’t accept the reward.

7 Days later (13 days after the start of the game)

“Will he come?” One of the fighters murmured to their friend as the horn went off once more. The two traded nervous looks as the group waited to see what the watcher on the wall reported.

“We’ve got another goblin raiding party with… THEY’VE GOT TWO WARGS THIS TIME!”

The men and women paled at the news. Trolls were big and hit hard, but they were slow. Wargs were vicious and fairly quick. Once again they went back and forth on whether or not they wanted to stand and fight, but ultimately they decided to wait and see, hoping that the archer on high would assist them again.

They were not disappointed.

Clink. Clink. Clink.

They squinted, not having seen anyone in the goblin’s party having gone down. However, something soon streaked through the air and hit the ground, igniting the bottles of oil that had splattered all over the ground in front of the goblin’s path. The wargs balked, whimpering at the sight of fire, much to the frustration of the goblins.

Thwick! Thwick! Thwick!

Fire arrows started whizzing through the night air, hitting warg and goblin alike until both of the wargs were down and several goblins were screaming and on fire. The fire only lasted for so long though, and soon the path was open to the goblins once more. Either the archer had run out of fire arrows or was trying to conserve them, as normal arrows were now sniping goblins from afar.

“The Ballista is with us! Come on! Let’s do our part!” The knight roared in encouragement, the group surging out once more to defeat their attackers. Only two people were lost during the two raids, which was surprising given the statistics of the other cities.

Once more, people tried to figure out who the person was, mostly by staking out the fletcher to see who bought arrows. No one bought an exorbitant amount of arrows though, so the person escaped notice again.

…

The next day (14 days after release of the game)

Parsley bought plain oatmeal without add-ons, which got her the normal side-eye.

“You sure you don’t want some butter, hun? Maybe a little cream or fruit? It’s only a few coppers extra,” the cook offered, gesturing at the items in question with her ladle.

Though her mouth watered, Parsley shook her head and replied quietly with a polite, “no thank you.”

“Alright, suit yourself. I’m just sayin’- we’re stuck in this game with nothin’ to do but wait for when they figure out a tech fix. Might as well take the extras while we wait, huh?”

She shrugged and took her plate back to her table to eat alone. Blueberries, strawberries, butter, cream… those things sounded really good right now, but she needed to conserve every copper she could. The fletcher had a bow one could purchase with really good damage and scaling on it, and she wanted it badly. The raids were only going to get worse, so she wanted to do everything she could to keep up with the difficulty, come what may.

Another fun little thing the game had done besides making the place a death-trap was restore everyone’s presets so that they looked like whatever they did in real life. Though the caveat to that was that any aesthetic changes to their hair or skin remained the same. Thus, if one had given themselves pink hair and piercings, that would still reflect on their character designs. For her own character’s looks, she had opted to have short, curly turquoise hair but had not gone for any of the tattoos or piercings.

It was likely going to be another day of going out beyond the walls and grinding on low-level monsters to get coin and exp. That sort of thing got boring fast, but the fear of her possible demise was a good motivator to keep her on track.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Zayne let out a soft sigh as he opened his eyes, coming out of another short and restless sleep. Unlike most people when they weren't able to sleep though, he knew damn well what was causing it, and a simple turn towards his nightstand was all it took for him to confirm what day today was. He moved his arm across his body to grab the marker he kept by it for this purpose and put an X through another day. His eyes scanned the 14 X's and the words printed between the top lines of the first one, "SAO release date". With another soft sigh, he pushed himself into a sitting position and cradled his head in his hands. He knew what he was thinking was stupid, utterly stupid, but deep down, he knew that he didn't have a choice.

There was a fair bit of stuff that Zayne had to do to pack and get ready for what he was about to do. So he turned on the TV, turned it to the news channel, and started packing. He knew that he wouldn't be able to pack his entire apartment in a single bag, but he at least hoped to get the few things that he truly cared about, pictures of him and his sister, no parents to be seen in any of them, a small stuffed elephant that he stroked lovingly for a few seconds before packing, and as many sets of clothes as he could get to fit. Yes, he naturally wanted to bring more, but he knew that he was going to be a burden as it was, and didn't want to be any more of a burden than he absolutely had to be. He let the news play on as he ate breakfast, and it confirmed that everything was as it had been last night, the last night he'd said he'd give the players in SAO. They hadn't completed a single floor, and as far as anybody could tell, they hadn't even figured out the puzzle that would lead them to the right tower with the boss in it, and all of this just on floor 1. He could only imagine how hard things were going to be as they got higher up.

It was because of the news, and what it was covering, that Zayne was packing his things. He'd been a gamer for as long as he could remember, loving RPG's and especially the puzzles within them. He just had a knack for them, even though he wasn't a savant or anything like that.

The only new information on the news today, was them actually figuring out what had happened within the game, or more specifically why it had happened. Though plenty of people had helped create the game, it was mostly the brainchild of 2 people, Akihiko and Kayaba, though you wouldn't know it from all of the print about the game recently and the financial statements of the company. Akihiko had screwed Kayaba out of his half of the project, and Kayaba was doing this as revenge. Just before the game launched, he snuck a patch in that made it so that the players would go from feeling none of the pain their character felt to all of it. This wouldn't harm their physical bodies, with the system just making the nerve endings fire as though the hits were real. The problem came when the character died...The brain could only take so much stimulation, and character death caused an overload in the system, making it effectively fry the brain of the player. This in and of itself was bad, but it was ESPECIALLY bad when you consider that hundreds of thousands of players had access to it on day one. News of the "glitch" spread fast, but there was no way of knowing just how many people were trapped, because removing the headset while the game was on had the same effect. It was for those people that Zayne was doing what he was doing, stepping in to help, despite the risks. He knew that his parents, neglectful as they were, would never understand. His friends, his coworkers, nobody would understand why he was doing this, except his twin sister.

Zayne turned off the news as he pulled into his sister's driveway. Her house was small but homely, big enough for her needs, which was all that mattered. He parked his car, grabbed his bag and the box that contained the Nervegear and the SAO game, and rang the bell. He took a long and slow breath as he heard movement inside the house, and he offered up a small smile to Zyra when she opened the door. She did the same, but her smile disappeared when she saw what he was carrying. He saw her take a hard swallow before her gaze lifted back up to meet his, a gaze so very much like his own. Still she didn't say anything. She just nodded her head and stepped aside so that he could enter, which he did.

"I don't suppose I can talk you out of it?" Zyra asked with her back to him as she led him through the house to the guest bedroom, where she once again stepped aside, but this time so that he could enter the room first.

Zayne stepped into the room, slung set the boxes on the bed, and slung the bag off of his shoulder. He didn't start setting things up right away, but rather sat on the bed and lifted his gaze to meet Zyra's. "It's hundreds of thousands of people Zy..." He said softly, bowing his head once more. He let his eyes drift closed as his hands lifted to cradle his head once more. What he didn't see or hear though, was Zyra approaching him with that soft step of hers, not until he felt her arms close around him.

"I know...but I had to try..." She said softly to him before taking a step back, moving a hand beneath his chin, and guiding it up to look at her. "Zeke Durran's going to have his hands full this time isn't he?" She asked, a bit more life in her voice this time, and a small smile on her lips. Her words pulled a soft chuckle from Zayne. She knew him so well.

"Heh, he sure does Zy...He sure does." Zayne said, agreeing with his sister about what he intended to name his avatar, a name from their past that had helped them through some rough times. He pushed himself to his feet then, closing the distance, hugging her close, and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead before stepping back once more. "Thank you for this Zy, truly. Nobody else would understand." She simply nodded then, the smile still on her face as she turned around to leave. She didn't want him to see her cry, lest it make him change his mind. She of course closed the door behind her, giving her brother privacy.

Zayne was quick with his preparations then, stripping down to comfortable clothes as he opened the Nervegear box and physically set up the system, complete with plugging it into the wall. It had a backup battery if needed, but he wanted it to be fully charged if the power ever went out, or if his body had to be moved. The last thing he did before putting the Nervegear on and turning the game on, was putting that little stuffed elephant next to his head, for luck.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

(14 days after release of the game)

Zayne breezed through the early calibrations of the Nervegear, but naturally slowed down when it came time for the actual character creation. The first thing he got to pick was his name, which he'd already decided, and of course his Zyra had deduced, Zeke Durran. After he picked his name, it was time to pick the skills. He read every single skill, even though he already knew what kind of character he was going to make. He might not have done so if it weren't for the rumors of players killing other players. He couldn't do anything about the infinite number of unique skills that had been advertised, but he could at least be prepared against the abilities that players had at the start of the game.

Once Zayne was as prepared as he felt he was going to be, he set about actually picking his own skills. There were 4 primary stats, strength, stamina, agility, and intelligence, as well as a variety of sub-stats. He picked stamina as his main stat of interest, because MMORPG's almost always had a shortage of tanks and healers, which was almost certainly going to be the case here, with the majority of people picking their initial character specs before they knew it was a death game. He, thankfully, knew what he was getting himself into, and made his decisions accordingly. For his special bonus, he chose the one that gave him higher health regeneration when his health was low. He was already 14 days behind the people that were going to min-max their stats, which might not sound like a lot, but was. Thankfully though, tanks were an archetype that could do more with less. As long as he had enough health to not get 1-shotted, he could try and avoid taking damage while his heath regenerated. It would naturally slow down as he got closer to full health, but that was when he didn't need it as much.

Once he was done selecting the tank-specific aspects of his character, Zayne moved on to what could be called the profession portion of character creation, more specifically the crafting professions. Now that he'd decided to be a tank, he had to figure out what kind of armor he wanted to wear. Plate armor naturally offered the best protection, but it also only allowed you up to 50% of your max agility while you were wearing it. Scale mail offered less protection, but up to 75% of your max agility, with leather/hide and cloth armor offering the least amount of protection, but allowing you every bit of your agility in return. It made sense of course, the more cumbersome the armor, the better the protection, the less nimble you were, and vice versa. He chose to specialize in scale mail, because of what he saw in the crafting section. When you leveled up your armor crafting skill enough, you could specialize in making one type of armor. The stat bonus you get for wearing your own crafted armor increased, but what he was more excited about was the removal of the agility cap. Well, it actually just increased it by 25%, making plate have the same cap as scale, and scale having no cap like leather/hide and cloth armor. He chose blacksmithing as well, for the ability to make his own weapons. They came with the same stat increase for wielding weapons you made yourself that armor crafting did, and the choice to specialize in a type of weapon that would then let you embed one more gem in it. Most people tended to focus on just one type of crafting, so that they could put all of their time and effort into it, and of course the gathering/mining that you had to do if you wanted to collect your own materials rather than buy them, but with so many lives at stake, this was definitely more of a marathon than a sprint, and he was happy to work harder if it meant more rewards. He'd have to skin animals and mine ore like his life depended on it.

With his skills and professions all sorted out, Zayne was just about done with character creation. The last thing was the appearance of his avatar. It would look like it always did when he made him in a game, short black hair and deep blue eyes, but more importantly, it wasn't going to be the same modest 5'6'' height that he was, or have the wiry, barely noticeable muscles that he had. No, Zeke Durran was 6'6'' tall, broad-shouldered, and had a body that was layered with muscles.

When Zayne's character was finally done, and he loaded into the Town of Beginnings, he looked around before taking his first steps as Zeke. His head swam a bit as he took his first few steps, his brain not used to standing and walking with that extra foot of height. He took the time to admire his hands, once again bigger than he was used to. The best part though, was when he closed those giant hands into fists and could literally FEEL the muscles rippling just beneath the skin. He smiled at that, his blue gaze flicking upwards as he set off at a sprint. He didn't get far though before something strange happened. The first time he passed a reflective surface, the windows of a nearby shop, and saw himself, his character model started to glow with a blue light. It was faint at first, stopping him in his tracks, but when it got to a near-blinding brightness, he had to close his eyes against it. What he saw when he looked into the glass once more surprised him even more. It was...him...the longer black hair that was always getting in his eyes, the light brown eyes, and even the pointy chin. He saddened at the sight though, until he realized what was missing, his glasses. He hadn't been wearing his glasses for the scan, but he could see perfectly now. He couldn't remember the last time he'd truly seen himself without his glasses. Then, as he was looking at himself, he saw what else was different. He looked like him, but he had Zeke's body, the height, the muscles, all of it. He knew that it had to be a bug, that the feature was likely designed for the people who were here on day one, and that it likely didn't know what to do with somebody logging in afterwards, but he wasn't about to complain. Even breathing felt different. He looked confident as he lifted his head, took a breath, and started on his way, and it was then that he decided that he was no longer Zayne, not here anyway. Here, he would be Zeke. He knew how it would sound, but if he was going to accomplish what he'd set out to do, he was going to need to be confident. People wouldn't listen to 5'6'' Zayne, but they'd listen to Zeke.

The first few days were...experimental to say the least, with Zeke trying different weapons, different shield sizes, and of course getting used to the feeling of hitting things and being hit. He'd prepared himself for a lot of things, but you couldn't really prepare yourself for the feeling of a wolf biting into your arm for the first time, the goring tusks of a boar, or the claws of a lioness. Still, he did the best he could, while always making sure to keep an eye on his health bar and making sure to have health potions on hand and keeping an eye out for other players, especially those with an orange icon.

Of all the things that Zayne had expected when he first made Zeke, it was ultimately his weapon choice that surprised him, or rather weapons. Yes, he was a tank, but he found that he was incredibly clumsy with a shield, both in terms of blocking incoming attacks, and attacking while he held one. He loved the feel of a weapon in his hand though. So wielding two of them came more naturally to him than he expected. There were of course things a shield could do that a second weapon couldn't, but he pushed forward all the same. Hell, it would even make specializing in weapon crafting later that much more efficient!

With his gear choices sorted out, Zeke's next choice was how to allocate his stats and what kind of bonuses he was looking for on his weapons and armor. He decided early on that he was going to be putting the fewest points in intelligence. He didn't hate the sword skills, quite the opposite really. They certainly had their uses, but he also didn't like being locked into an attack pattern that he couldn't change until the skill was complete. He'd ended up timing things badly more than once early on, and gotten hit as a result. So with less reliance on sword skills, he didn't need the larger MP pool and MP regeneration that came with intelligence. All three of the other skills were useful though, and he found himself splitting his stat points between them equally. Yes, he wanted to do damage, but you can't do damage when you're dead, and you can't do damage if you're moving too damn slow in your armor. He even doubled down on looking for gear that gave all three stats, even though it gave less points to each stat than if he chose gear that only had one or two stats. Again, he'd never have the highest strength, stamina, or agility among the players, but that wasn't his goal. He was trying to be well-rounded, just in case. He even bypassed the opportunity to take pieces that had all four stats, trading that to other players in exchange for what he was looking for. Yes, he was trading down, but he was making friends along the way, and it was those friends that he told the solution to the first boss puzzle, hoping that eventually word would spread to the people preparing to fight it.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Zeke grinded like a madman those first two weeks, getting more and more frustrated that the boss still hadn't been defeated, or even attempted. He was leveling up fast, and found himself happy with the choices he'd made during character creation, including the 2 crafting professions. If he ever found a player skinning the animals he wanted to skin, he just switched to mining ore, and vice-versa when there was another miner around. Sometimes he even followed players around, with their permission, skinning the animals they killed and giving them the loot from it. He cared less about the loot than he did about leveling up his skinning, and if he could help out another player along the way, all the better. It was another player to rely on if an orange player showed up, and if you can't cooperate in a death game, you don't stand a chance anyway. Still his frustrations over the boss situation continued to grow. He knew from the news reports back in the real world that hundreds had already died day 1, and over a thousand in the first week. Every day they took meant that another person might die.

It was with the idea of stopping the deaths of these innocent players that Zeke found himself in a particular town instead of grinding out experience or crafting materials. The word had finally gone out that somebody had FINALLY solved the puzzle, and that they were organizing a meeting and raid party to take down the boss room after the next round of city attacks. He hated that they were waiting, but he couldn't really fault them for it. The city attacks were one of the most consistent ways to level up, since the attacking mobs were scaled to the average player level of the floor. So, the stronger players got, the stronger they'd become, making them good for experience points, loot, skinning, etc. There was something special about this town though. Every town had casualties, but there was something about this town that was different. It had a lower average casualty rate than the other towns, and everyone here seemed to attribute it to somebody called "The Ballista". The catch was that nobody knew who that person was, or if they were even a real person or just a random NPC that protected this town in particular. So Zeke camped out...and waited. After all, what was a mystery but another kind of puzzle?

Zeke tried not to make himself look too obvious, which thankfully wasn't too hard in his brown drakescale armor and modest bronze swords. Being 14 days behind everyone else had it's advantages and disadvantages, depending on what you were doing. He camped out at a bar across from the fletcher, a mug of ale always in his hand, his mouth always moving as he talked to people who asked him questions, the barkeep and barmaid, who were real people instead of NPC's. He found it interesting that people navigated themselves towards what they'd done in the real world, those that couldn't or wouldn't fight to clear the game anyway, if only to help alleviate the monotony of life here. After all, if you weren't fighting to clear the game, what else did you have but time? As he sat, drank, and talked, he noticed some things, not so much people, but things. You could tell a lot by a person from the gear they chose, how they decorated it, the food they ate, and so on. What he noticed, was a bunch of people going about their day, a bunch of people standing out, a bunch of people trying to figure out who "The Ballista" was, and a girl. She walked with a purpose, shopped with a purpose, and even ate with a purpose, modest as it was. In a world full of people making the most of every meal, trying to stand out among their peers, and going about their daily lives, she seemed to be deliberately trying to avoid drawing attention.

After he was done with his beer, Zeke stood up, determined to follow the freckle-faced girl, keeping his distance, trying to seem busy, but never losing sight of her, even if it was out of the corner of his eye. He of course let her walk around corners, waited a bit, and followed her, and it was on one of these occasions that he lost her. He wouldn't have thought much of it, but it was awfully close to where people suspected "The Ballista" hung out, but nobody could ever find an entrance that led up to towers, and climbing had proven to be similarly useless. So, with nothing else to do, he waited, stepped back around the corner he'd been around before, ensuring that he was out of sight, keeping his ears perked.

 

[Poprockz]

The raid was two days away, so it was time to check up on her perch. She had finally been able to afford the new bow and damn was it glorious! She had been grinding night and day to level up, get the coin to buy her bow, and harvest wood and materials for her arrows. She had chosen the fletcher skill as her skill of choice, which required cutting down branches and such before carving them. With the amount of arrows she expended, buying them from the fletcher would not only drain her coin purse but also arouse suspicion. Buying no arrows at all as an archer would also call attention to herself, so she supplemented her own arrows with the purchased ones, finding a good balance that worked out well.

As usual, when she approached the room, it was open and inviting. The reason no one had been able to find it yet was because one had to be completely silent to approach it without the door closing. Even the slap of one's feet on the smooth stones would set it off, so she was fairly confident that no one would be able to figure things out. It was only by mere chance that she herself had stumbled upon the place.

Parsley had an advantage- the secret to her success one might say. As one of the pre-order bonuses, she had been allowed to select an item from a list of 100 things. She had ended up choosing "The Soft-Step Ring." It was a ring that not only made one's movements silent, but also significantly decreased one's presence and enemy agro range. It was basically like being invisible without being invisible.

She made her way through the opening and up the winding set of stairs that put her near the middle of the tower. It was the perfect vantage point, facing right where the raids came from at the front of the castle. The new bow was taken from her inventory and she nocked one of her arrows, pretending to aim. The thing felt like a dream to use, like some sort of luxury bow. That there was the difference between a starter bow and a high-quality bow made from a practiced fletcher. It even came with a spell called "arrow storm" that one could use once per long rest. She was playing with the idea of being an arcane archer, so she was interested to see how she liked mixing the arcane and archery.

Satisfied with the way it handled and aimed from her vantage point, she put it back in her inventory and reequipped her starter bow. Walking around with such a nice bow was like putting a neon BALLISTA sign on her back, and that was the last thing she wanted. The woman made her way back down the stairs and exited, intent on heading out and getting some practice in with the new bow on one of her typical afternoon grinds. She walked with purpose, her mind drifting to how many of the tree guardians she'd have to fell to get enough sap for more fire arrows.

Strangely enough, his ears wouldn't have picked up anything to warn him of his impending fate before she turned the corner and crashed into him. It was as though her footsteps didn't make noise at all, completely and utterly silent. Lost in her own thoughts as she was, she hadn't noticed him following her and thus wasn't prepared to have anyone simply standing there.

She bounced off of him and landed on her butt, wincing at the feeling and letting out a quiet grunt of pain. Apparently the original game was supposed to be painless, but the asshole who put the death-patch in also made it so that ever injury whether it be a slap to the face to the ripping off of a limb would be felt by the player. It was terrifying, of course, but she tried not to think of such things.

"Oh! Um, I'm so sorry!" she apologized from the ground, her eyes darting around to check if anyone else was lurking around. Though she perhaps didn't look it with her modest, forest-green leather armor and a starter bow on her back, she was likely one of the highest leveled players in the city. That being said, there were people out there who preyed on people who looked weak and whisked them away for various ominous purposes, and she wasn't about to let herself be dragged away without a fight.

She swallowed nervously. Damn. He was pretty tall and buff, more so from her vantage point on the ground. It was rather intimidating to be honest, and it made her want to reach for her bow. Doing so would immediately escalate things though, so she restrained herself for the moment.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Zeke wasn't sure how long he waited, and with so many things to see, hear, smell, and even touch around him, it was harder than he expected to keep his mind focused on his task. His gaze, as well as his mind, had long-since wandered, made all the easier by the fact that he had to stay out of sight of where he suspected his target might have disappeared. His ears caught the sound of stone-shifting, but with everything else around him to focus on, an active mind to think with, and no approaching footsteps, he didn't really pay it any mind.

The woman suddenly coming around the corner was almost as surprising as the feel of her bumping into him at her full walking speed. Zeke's sturdy frame barely budged, and likely wouldn't have if he'd known she was coming, but with how quietly her step was, he honestly had no idea she was coming. She though, bounced off of him and fell, landing flat on her butt.

Zeke heard the woman's apology, even as he saw her eyes darting around, likely checking for more people waiting to ambush her.

"No apology necessary. It was my fault." Zeke said, smiling as he braced one hand against the wall, leaned down, and offered the other to the woman, one of his bangs falling between his light brown eyes as it so often did. "And no need to be scared, I promise." His smile widened when he felt her take his hand, and a quick and easy flex of his muscles was all that was necessary to help pull her to her feet.

"It's just us out here." Zeke withdrew his hand after he helped the woman to her feet. "I just wanted to meet the famous "Ballista" that everyone is talking about." He gave her a wink then, but said nothing else, curious what she would say or do.

 

[Poprockz]

What she would have liked to say was that saying things like 'don't be scared' and 'we're all alone here,' weren't phrases that particularly sold that sort of sentiment. Still, despite his words being somewhat suspect to her, his body language and tone seemed genuine so she didn't bolt off down the hall like a spooked deer.

“Ah.” She visibly relaxed, confident in her ability to avoid discovery. He wasn't lying in wait to ambush her- just another curious player trying to solve the mystery. One might question why she was so keen to keep herself hidden, but the answer was a simple one: she didn't want to be sent to the frontlines. Sniping from the tower was leagues away from fighting in a real battle. In all likelihood she would slip up and make some sort of mistake and then she... would actually die. This wasn't just a fun game where players collaborated to take down bosses; it was a war that anyone could be enlisted in if they showed a shred of talent. Fame, glory, praise... it meant nothing to her. All she wanted was to survive.

Parsley cleared her throat and said, “well. Good luck to you then. Hope you find him," before moving to walk past him. When referring to the Ballista, she had started to refer to them as a man in the hopes that people would start getting the idea that it wasn't a woman. A couple people had actually seemed to subconsciously absorb that info and refer to "him" when talking about it. Anything to put more distance between the small-time hero and the normal girl she really was.

She wasn't a hero. Not really. A real hero wouldn't have hidden in the dark like she was, nor would they avoid the meeting taking place regarding the boss raid. She would have to leave that sort of thing for those more worthy of that title.

As far as she was concerned, the conversation was over. He could go on chasing ghosts if that was what tickled his fancy, but she had some grinding to do and was keen to start.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Zeke studied the woman's facial expressions as he mentioned the Ballista. Her relaxing surprised him a little, though that could just as much have been from her being relieved that he wasn't there to rape or murder her. "Happy hunting..." He said after he listened to her words, turning around to watch her go. He wasn't checking her out, so much as he was debating going after her, but that came with it's own problems. If he followed her, it might make it seem like he had ulterior motives, which he did, but only if she was who he thought she was. Instead, he chose to walk down where she'd come from. He heard nothing as he trailed his hand along the stone, his gaze on the ground. He was trying to identify her footprints from among the rest, but on it was impossible for him on the dry and well-trodden stone floor. In the end, he left with the same lack of information that everyone else had on Ballista, or close to it anyway. Rather than continuing to waste his time on the investigation, he went to do some grinding of his own. He was focusing on his mining and his skinning right now, killing what he had to, and sharing the kills if there was somebody around to share them with. The wider his circle of friends and influence grew, the easier it would become to get everything that he needed going forward, especially once the first boss was killed, which was hopefully going to be soon.

(28 days after release of the game)

“BBBBBBRRRRR!” The city horn blew loud and ominous, the vibration reverberating throughout the streets. The NPC’s started to scream and scramble to their homes, shouting that “they’re back! They’ve come to raid the city!” Everything was exactly as it had been the past 3 times, the city horn, the NPC reactions and of course their words. This time though, Zeke was standing at the gates, ready to help fight.

“THEY HAVE A GIANT!” The words rang out from somewhere above and behind him, but even as they processed to him, Zeke saw it. He saw the hill giant, lumbering forward, standing even taller than the trolls that flanked it on either side. Even as he looked at it though, he could barely believe it, let alone think about the goblins on either side of the trolls, the wargs with them, and the warg riders on the flanks. His jaw quaked and his hands shook, but he didn't retreat. He stood firm as others took up positions around him, whispering amongst themselves. They naturally speculated on whether Ballista was here, but mostly they hoped he was, because if he wasn't, they were probably fucked.

 

[Poprockz]

Drip.

There was a thin flash of blue, much like a raindrop but bright with light. A goblin stopped and squinted up at the sky before squealing and starting to run. The rest were too slow as the arrows started raining down, and they were all caught in the storm.

It was glorious, and Parsley’s eyes widened as she watched her own handwork from her opening in the wall. She hadn’t thought that the slaughtering of monsters could be beautiful, but each silvery blue streak of light awed her.

The majority of the goblin party took a good amount of damage, though none of them were felled at this point. A few of the arrows hit the giant before it groaned and lifted its club, using it like an umbrella to shield itself. Only a tiny bit of damage had been done to it from her Arrow Storm spell, which was concerning, but she could always just snipe it from afar.

Thwick!

She shot an arrow at the large beast, but to her surprise and horror, it held up its hand and swatted the arrow, taking a measly 1 point of damage. Its hand must have had some very thick skin to avoid damage like that. Swallowing hard, she started to shoot arrows at different places on it as quickly as she could, but it always managed to swipe the arrow away. Her heart was now beating in her throat and the panic was rising. What would happen if that thing got to the gates?! Why wasn’t anything working?!

…

The brave knight, who had now leveled up to have a tower shield and a flaming sword, watched from the gate, his expression becoming more grim as he witnessed what was going on. His name was Braam, and he had settled in to the position of commander without question.

“The Ballista is trying his damndest, but he can’t do damage to the giant if it keeps blocking like that.” The man turned to the assembled players, who seemed to sense what was about to be asked of them. Each of them shifted on their feet and adjusted their grips on their weapons.

“This is the toughest raid we’ve faced yet, but it is only because we ourselves are stronger that the enemies are as well. We’ve leveled up, sparred, practiced, and faced raids several times before and come out on top. I believe in the power we hold as long as we stand together! None of us are alone- we’re shoulder to shoulder against this cursed game. Leave the giant to me and the Ballista, and kill the rest of the weakened party.” He reached up and bit off a mouthful of a green herb, chewing and swallowing before starting to glow slightly green with stamina regeneration.

The knight raised his sword and hollered, “TOGETHER!”

“TOGETHER!!” The fighters shouted back.

The group started to rush the goblin party, each of them blazing with steely determination.
…

“No no no!” Parsley breathed with fear. The fighters couldn’t come out yet! How were they going to win with a giant like that there?!

She closed her eyes and took a breath. No, she could still help. Every arrow made a difference. Even if the giant were the last thing standing and were to breach the gates, the magic users would probably be able to take it down albeit with high casualties. Every arrow could make a difference.

Having calmed down, she started trying to pick off the trolls and wargs, hoping to at least aid in that part of the battle for now. She would keep an eye open for openings on the giant if possible though.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Zeke couldn't help but smile as he watched the arrow storm. For starters, he'd never seem it before, but it also meant that Ballista was here. It didn't fell any of the goblins, not with how much stronger they'd gotten in comparison to the levels of the players, but that still spelled good for him. They were likely weak enough for him to take them down, maybe not in one hit, but it was better than nothing! The wargs and warg-riders were likely a different story, but he'd worry about those when the time came. The troll took some hits too, and at least groaned in pain, but only a few hits before it lifted it's massive club and used it as a make-shift umbrella.

"Jesus..." Zeke cursed softly to himself. "Even the mobs in this game can improvise...and this is only floor one..." He felt a shiver run down his spine. His blades lowered an inch as doubt started to creep it's way into him.

Braam's words, calling out to the assembled players, pulled Zeke out of his own mind. He listened to the man's words, and they made him grit his teeth, dig in his feet, and grip his swords tighter.

"Together!" Zeke screamed as he rushed with the rest of them. He ran straight into the heart of the goblins, dodging first one blade and then another, intentionally surrounding himself with enemies. His blades glowed blue then, and he whipped around in a circle, slashing every goblin that encircled him not once but twice. The first slash wasn't enough to finish them off, but the second did the trick. There wasn't time to stop and bask in the small victory though, as the goblins kept coming. A crude blade slashed at him, but one of his blades effortlessly knocked it away before he slashed at the offending creature, once with each blade to finish it off. It was in moments like this, fighting against the smaller goblins, that he was glad for his new height. That restricted their attack angles, making his defensive options more plentiful, as well as giving him better options for counter-attacking.

While he was handling the goblins, the rest of the players took care of the wargs and warg-riders. things seemed to be going find until a blood-curdling scream tore through the field. Zeke's head whipped to the right, and he saw the giant's club raising from what remained of Braam's shattered leg. Everything in his body wanted to freeze in shock, but he forced himself to move, forced himself to run. He sheathed his swords as he ran, seeing the giant's club reach it's apex and start to fall again. He urged himself to run faster! He felt himself collide with the heavily armored Braam and the impact knocked the air from his own lungs. The giant's club landed a fraction of a second later, barely missing his own foot.

Zeke struggled to his feet, his limbs either getting tangled with Braam's or sliding off of the man's armor or shield. The giant was already ready to attack by the time he got to his feet and turned around worse yet, the attack wasn't coming at Zeke, it was coming at Braam, because he still had agro. Zeke drew his swords as he stood over the prone man, crossed them in front of him, and braced every muscle and bone in his body.

To say that the impact of that club hurt was an understatement to say the least. It hurt Zeke's arms, his legs, and everything in between. He screamed as he tried to hold the giant club back, knowing that he was the only thing standing between Braam and certain death. Then, almost without thinking, his blades turned blue, he forced them and the giant club to the side, the club hit the ground, his body whipped into a spin, and his blades dug into the surprised creatures leg.

Zeke's vision swam, every muscle burned, but he forced himself to remain standing. Furthermore, as the giant lifted his club once more, it's eyes glowed red as it's head turned towards Zeke. "Mission...accomplished." He said softly, prepared to accept his death until he remembered that the wasn't truly alone. He remembered what he'd seen at the start of the raid. The giant had blocked with it's free hand, but ONLY it's free hand. That meant...

Zeke turned his head towards the tower that Ballista was in, knowing for a FACT that they were watching, and then he started to move, positioning himself and thus the giant, such that the giant's club hand was facing the town, but it's free hand wasn't.

 

[Poprockz]

She sucked in a breath, as for a moment there she thought they might have made eye contact. That would have been impossible though with the distance they were at- it was just coincidence that they were looking at each other. It could have been her imagination, but almost felt as though he was trying to convey something to her.

The archer watched as he swiveled the giant around to face the other direction, and soon her eyes widened. It was an opening! He was providing her an opening!

She would be a fool to waste this opportunity, so she nocked her bow and started firing like a woman on a mission. Arrow after arrow came down on the giant, the large thing roaring as the arrows sunk into its unprotected, tender flesh. It tried to wave off her arrows with its club, but the club was too heavy to be moved quickly enough to do so.

It growled in frustration as it struggled to divide its attention between the two of them, its eyes glowing red at Zeke before fading again at the contact of another arrow. It was as though it knew that its attacker wasn’t Zeke when the arrow would hit, but wasn’t sure who exactly to focus its aggro on. Any other player might have had a rock thrown at them by now, but she was practically invisible to it. Steadily, its HP started dropping, significant progress being made with each hit they were able to land.

In the meantime, two soldiers had dragged Braam to the side of the battle to safely tuck him away while he drank a healing potion. The knight’s scream as he was crushed under that club would haunt her for a long time, but she was glad he was alive at least.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Zeke didn't hear the arrow fly, but he heard the giant roar and knew it hit it's mark. That made him smile! Arrow after arrow hit it's mark, and he saw the creature flailing with it's club, trying to do with it could only do with it's hand. That's when Zeke flew into action, utterly ignoring everything else around him, save for the giant and what direction it was facing. His blades slashed here and there, even dipping between it's legs to cut behind knees for a second before coming back around, never giving it time to turn around. Then he did it again to get the other knee. That part was harder, but it was impossible for it to turn now! The giant creature was on it's knees, flailing with it's giant club, trying to hit anything, trying to hit everything as arrows and blades cut into any bit of exposed flesh they could find!

The ground shook as the giant club fell to the ground. The giant still stood, albeit barely, but that's when an idea came to Zeke's mind. He didn't know if he could reach it, but it was worth a shot. His legs started to move almost before he knew it. Then he was on the club, running, and then he was at the end, jumping! He leapt off the largest end of the club, leapt as high as he could, barely dodging a hand that tried to swat him away. A sword hand was pulled back, ready to thrust. His other hand sheathed it's sword, giving him a hand to grip with. When he was as close to level with the creature's head as he could get, he thrust! His blade struck true, right into the creature's right eye! He felt resistance, but he grabbed hold of the creature's hair, braced his legs, and shoved! He pushed through the resistance, shoving straight through to the creature's brain as an arrow struck true in the creature's other eye!

The creature stopped flailing then, stopped and went limp. Then it started to fall. Zeke had no choice but to ride it out with the creature, and when it landed the entire battlefield quaked! The impact made him lose his grip on his sword and fall to the ground. He was laying there, just recovering and gasping for breath when a warg suddenly came for him. The sight of it made him jump, but no sooner did he jump than the warg was struck down by another arrow.

Zeke collapsed back against the ground as the rest of the players cheered that the battle was over and won! He lifted his arm though, giving Ballista a thumbs up before forcing himself to roll to his stomach and slowly pushing himself to his feet, and retrieving his sword.

 

[Poprockz]

It was done! It was over! They had won.

Parsley slowly got down off the stone block she used to boost herself up and made her way down the steps as though in a trance. For a while, she simply stared at the subtle outline of the stone door. Her feelings couldn’t be suppressed forever though, and soon a thought bubbled to the surface.

It wasn’t safe. It would never be safe. She would never be safe.

In that moment it all hit her at once and the tears started to pour amidst her sniffles and shuddering breaths.

The enemies were only going to become tough, smarter, more bloodthirsty. It was pure hubris to assume that she could continue to be the ghost in the wall, protecting the low-levelers in the city. Hubris that had almost bitten her in the ass today if it weren’t for the knight commander and the others.

Should she leave? As soon as the other leveled players left to face the boss, the city would only be at a disadvantage as her own level kept climbing. The distance would eventually become such that if she ever failed, they would be massacred and all that blood would be on her hands.

Leaving meant being alone though, and it meant not only the dangers of monsters that could ambush her at any moment, but also the loneliness that came with complete solitude. This past month, she had felt more lonely than she ever had. Yet she had still been sustained by the presence of other people around her, heard the laughter and felt their warmth if only vicariously. If she were by herself out there in the wilderness, she would only have herself to rely on, ever-plagued by her impending death.

It wasn’t fair…

The woman continued to cry until there were no more tears. Only then did she become silent. She should probably head back to her room to sleep. Once she had a good night’s rest, she would figure out her next steps.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Given how loud the celebration on the battlefield was, it was pretty clear that there was going to be a pretty rowdy celebration at the tavern later. As much as he would have loved to join it though, Zeke didn't really feel much like celebrating, especially when all four of his limbs still ached. Yeah, the pain lessened every ten seconds when some of his health passively regenned, and would continue to do so until he was back to full health, but it didn't make this moment hurt any less.

Besides not feeling much like celebrating, Zeke had somewhere he had to be, and walked slowly there. His feet found their way to the corner where he'd first bumped into who he suspected was Ballista, even though his eyes were barely focused on the journey. They then guided him down the corridor that he further suspected there was a hidden door that he just couldn't find.

Zeke's suspicions about a hidden door were all but confirmed, but not in the way he would have expected. After a dozen or so steps down the corridor, he began to hear the sounds of a woman crying, but there was no woman in the corridor. The further he walked, the louder the crying became. It took some time, but he was eventually able to pinpoint which section of wall the woman was behind, even if he couldn't figure out how to open the secret door. Still, suspecting who was crying, he made the decision to sit on the stone floor, lean against the stone wall, and wait.

With no idea how long he waited, or even a care in the world about it, Zeke waited until the woman cried herself out, shedding all the tears she had to shed, and finally fell silent. Then, and only then, after giving her a moment of silence, did he speak.

"Would you like to know a secret?" Zeke asked rhetorically as he drew his legs up a bit so that he could brace his arms on his knees. "It's okay to be afraid. Shit, most of us are...I know I am...but it's not about not being afraid. It's about what you do with your feelings. You could run from it, rage against it...give in to it..." He paused there for a moment. "Or...you could take that fear, and you could channel it into action. You could use it to make you stronger, push you harder, farther, and faster than you ever thought you could go. I can't promise that it'll be easy, but I can promise that it'll feel better...and be less lonely."

Zeke fell silent after that, but didn't leave. Hell, he didn't even get up. He couldn't speak to Ballista's state of mind, but he knew that he wouldn't want to be alone after a cry like that, even if there was a wall between him and the other person.

 

[Poprockz]

She wasn’t expecting anyone to talk to her, so she jumped when she first heard his voice. It wasn’t clear who he was, but his voice sounded familiar.

Was he actually talking to someone else he had with him, or to her directly? She didn’t want to make a fool out of herself and talk through the wall to someone who didn’t know she was there or was trying to have an intimate moment with someone else. As such, she didn’t outwardly acknowledge his words.

Despite the initial surprise though, she listened intently to what he had to say. She wasn’t sure what to make of his words. They sounded like they should be inspiring, but her heart felt so heavy at the moment that she struggled to see the point of channeling her fear into more. Wouldn’t it be just as lonely when everyone around her died like-

Parsley shuddered and hugged herself. No, she didn’t want to think about that first day. She didn’t want to remember all the screaming and sounds of tearing flesh.

She was quiet for a while, though she didn’t hear him say anything else yet as though he was waiting for an answer. After a bit, they heard the door scrape open and she looked up to see him sitting directly opposite to her.

It was that guy from earlier in the hall, the one who double-wielded the longswords against the giant that evening! Why was he here? Shouldn’t he be celebrating or finding a cleric to ease his aches? She knew he was curious about the Ballista but hadn’t thought he would stake her out over simple curiosity.

Her heart fluttered with fear now that he knew without a doubt who she was. Even if her location didn’t give her away, the exquisitely carved bow at her side would have been enough of a smoking gun.

“I can expla-!” As soon as she started to speak, the wall closed between them as though offended that she would break the silence.

There was a sigh before she spoke up again, “it’ll only open if things are completely silent, and it closes if any noise is made… I suppose the jig is up, huh?” There was a bittersweet tinge to her voice as she admitted what they both knew.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Zeke wasn't sure how much time passed as the two of them just sat there in silence, but truthfully, he didn't care. He didn't come into this game to worry about time. He'd wait here all night if he had to.

The sounds of the door starting to scrape open was familiar, and it make Zeke raise his brown gaze from where it had drifted to the floor. He looked into the eyes of the freckle-faced girl, his expression soft as he just offered up a small smile.

The woman's words came, and Zeke could swear that he could hear some panic in them before the door cut her off by sliding sliding shut with a grind and a thud. Zeke of course understood the woman's surprise. When last they spoke, he was looking for Ballista, all but accusing her of being that person, with her all but denying it. Now, here they were.

Zeke couldn't help but chuckle at the situation, but he nodded at the woman's words, even though she couldn't see him. "Understood, and that certainly explains why you're the only one who's been able to find it. You have an incredibly soft step. It's uncanny. I heard the door close the other day, but didn't hear a single one of your steps until you came around the corner and bumped into me." He shook his head, chuckling again before rolling his shoulders and getting to the real reason why he was here.

"What I said is still true though. It really is still just us here, and you truly don't have to be scared. So, how about I buy you dinner for saving my life, you hear what I wanted to tell The Ballista, and if you don't like what I have to say, we go our separate ways afterwards. How does that sound?"

Just as he'd done when he finished speaking before, Zeke slowly rose to his feet, letting his words just hang in the air between them, more than happy to do so now, knowing that the door would only open after a specific amount of silence had passed.

 

[Poprockz]

The offer of dinner itself was enough to tempt her. It had been so long since she had a meal that wasn't bland that her mouth salivated at the thought of sinking her teeth into... well, anything that wasn't oatmeal, boiled potatoes, boiled beef, or eggs. Nutrition wasn't a concern in the game, only the amount of food one ate. Thus, she had been able to survive on the aforementioned items and would have been able to do so indefinitely, scrimping in the name of survival.

He could blackmail her if she said something he didn't like, but she got the impression that he probably wouldn't. Besides... something had to change going forward anyway. It wouldn't hurt to hear him out.

"Wait."

Some time passed, the door eventually scraping open to show that she was now standing near it on the other side. A finger was raised to her lips to indicate that he needed to be still before she stepped silently through the doorway.

"Funny you should mention me having a soft step- that's actually the name of my ring," she held up her hand which was adorned on the pinky with a small, inconspicuous silver ring. In the middle of the ring was a band of grey, looking as though there was swirling grey fog on the inside of it, constantly shifting in a slow, barely perceptible manner. One might even question of the fog was moving at all if they weren't paying close enough attention.

"It's the Soft-Step Ring," Parsley explained softly. "It makes your movements and steps silent, and significantly decreases detection and enemy agro range. There's only one in the game, and it was a pre-order gift item I chose from." A bittersweet smile game to her face as she cast her eyes downwards and fiddled with it. "I thought I was so lucky when I won that sweepstakes... hah."

Though he had shown nothing but kindness so far, it occurred to her that he might try to take such a valuable ring from her, so she quickly added, "don't get any funny ideas though. If it's taken from me or I drop it, it returns to my finger if I have a long rest or say the magic words." What the magic words were, she wasn't going to divulge. It was a phrase she had been given the opportunity to choose, and she had wanted to make it something funny. Now though... it seemed more embarrassing than anything else.

"Anyway... I wouldn't mind getting something to eat. Wanna go to the Grub Goblin?" It was the cheapest restaurant in the city, her usual haunt.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Zeke waited as requested, and had specifically gotten to his feet, knowing that it would make sound, and likely reset the timer of the door in the process. So when the door finally opened, and the woman was standing there with her finger held to her lips, he simply nodded his head soundlessly, and made no attempt to move or do anything else that would make a sound as he watched her step silently through it.

The woman lifted her hand as she spoke, and he looked close, studying the fog that BARELY seemed to be moving within it. "He listened to her words, thinking back to how the giant had reacted, seeming to know that he wasn't the one doing the damage, but not quite knowing what to do about it in the moment. "Fascinating..." Zeke said softly in wonderment, tempted to lift his hand up to cup her hand so that he could look at it a bit closer. Whether or not he might have done it though, the world would never know, because he was cut off by the woman telling him not to get any funny ideas, and telling him what would happen if it was stolen or dropped.

"Heh, I wouldn't dream of it..." Zeke started with a chuckle. "...if for no other reason than I suspect that you out level me by a fair bit, and it would be suicide. As for dinner though, he said, taking the lead and trusting her with his back as he started to slowly walk back towards town, I was thinking something a bit more up scale. I don't know about you..." He glanced back over his shoulder to look at her. "...but after a near-death experience, I usually end up craving some wine and a fat and juicy steak." The sounds of the town could start to be heard, namely the celebration going on at the Harpsichord’s Song Tavern, the most expensive restaurant in town. "And if I'm going to have some wine and a fat and juicy steak, I'm going to make it worth my while." He said as he led as he stopped them across the street from the amorous celebration going on. "What do you say?" He asked, crooking his elbow and offering her his arm to place her hand into, should she wish to. "You still up for this?"

 

[Poprockz]

She stared at the restaurant with an expression that resembled a dog watching a human eating roast chicken, one that conveyed a strong desire that bordered on desperation. Usually she was very disciplined and didn't even look twice at this sort of place regardless of the fact that she could technically afford it. Now that the offer was on the table though, her resolve was weakening at the prospect, her mind trying to persuade her to simply eat there just this once.

"I mean... The Harpsichord is really expensive..." It wasn't as though she was spending her own money since he had offered to pay, but she also didn't want to take advantage of him. She soon realized the sort of face she must be making and turned her head back to him, thus breaking the spell.

"If you're sure though, then I guess it's okay," Parsley conceded, taking his arm as offered. It still felt a little awkward to be doing so with a guy she barely knew, but at the same time she didn't think she would be able to convince her feet to take her inside otherwise.

Beyond the price of the place, it was filled with reveling players who were eating, drinking, cheering, and singing to their victory. It wasn't the sort of scene she was used to or comfortable with, but at least she wasn't going in alone.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Zeke couldn't help but enjoy the Ballista's reaction when she saw where he had led her. A smile came to his face as he saw the desire radiating off of her, even if her words did express some hesitation. "Yes, but a single meal won't bankrupt me now, will it?" He asked her before her head turned to him, the spell the tavern seemed have over her seemingly broken. "I am sure."

The smile on Zeke's face widened when he felt Ballista take his arm, and he hesitated for but a moment before starting to escort her across the street to their destination proper.

Zeke navigated the crowd with ease, escorting his guest in the process. If the noise from the tavern had been loud outside the tavern, it was practically cacophonous inside. The place was practically filled to bursting with celebrating players, and as Zeke guided Ballista to the bar, he was more than a little worried that there wouldn't be anywhere to sit. It wouldn't make it impossible to celebrate, only a bit less comfortable.

When the pair finally made it to the bar, Zeke was in the act of signaling to the bartender when the pair was approached by none other than Braam.

"I was hoping I'd see you here!" Braam said, dropping a gauntlet-covered hand onto Zeke's shoulder opposite Parsley. "I never did catch your name, or get a chance to thank you for saving my life out there today!

"Heh, and you'll never have to." Zeke said, smiling as he turned to meet the large man. He lifted his hand and offered it to him, and when Braam's hand dropped from his shoulder, it clasped his own firmly and shook it. "My name is Zeke, and I'm just glad I was there and able to help."

"And help you did!" Braam exclaimed, clasping their joined hands with his free hand. "That said, people have been buying my drinks and meals after the raids, but I think it's only fitting that I pay it forward now. After all, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. My booth is yours for the night, and I'll see to it that anything you and your companion order is put on my tab."
"How rude of me..." Zeke started, a slight flush coming to his cheeks. "Please allow me to introduce my companion..." He paused there, the flush in his cheeks deepening as it occurred to him in that moment that he didn't actually know his companion's name, only her alias.

 

[Poprockz]

It was very tempting to simply balk and flee out the door from whence they entered once she saw, heard, and in some cases felt how many people were in that place. Loud and crowded- two things that could make a place decidedly more uncomfortable for her. The place was full of people she had been avoiding: namely everyone. Her only saving grace was that she was attached to the arm of someone who moved through a crowd like a fish through water.

She was starting to wonder if they should go to another tavern when Braam came along. From what she knew of him, he was a very decent fellow. Some even went so far as to call him a hero, and Parsley didn't disagree on that. It took great courage to be on the frontlines, and she had heard on more than one occasion how he would go out of his way to aid other players.

It was rather intimidating meeting him in-person, so she hoped she could get away with not having to say anything. Alas... that was not to be. Soon there was a point in the conversation where she knew she had to step in.

“Hey, I’m Parsley,” she answered, lifting her free hand to give Braam a friendly gesture of greeting. Unfortunately she hadn’t spoken loud enough for him to hear her properly over the din, so he donned an apologetic look and leaned towards her.

“I’m sorry, did you say Patsy?”

“It’s Parsley! Sorry!” This time she spoke up loudly (loud for her, at least) and he got the message.

“Parsley! Ah, nice to meet you!" Before she could react, she too was subject to one of Braam's firm handshakes. It wasn't too tight though, thankfully. "I don’t think I’m seen you with the fighters- are you an archer? Or maybe a spellcaster?”

“I’m an archer!”

“An archer- that’s a fine class! They’re setting up a training camp once we head out for the boss battle, so you’re welcome to come if you want more combat experience for leveling.”

His heart was in the right place, especially since she had (by habit) reequipped her beginner bow to her back. Her profile/stats were still set to private as well, so he could only assume that she was struggling get stronger.

She gave him a small smile and nodded, “I'm sure that will be a lot of help." Nothing more was said about it from her, the woman not feeling the need to correct him in his assumption. Besides, it was absolutely true. A lot of the archers would be very happy to have such a thing, as most were afraid to go out on their own from what she had overheard. Hell, she still jumped at every little noise when she was outside the walls, so she couldn't blame them.

 

[Lucian_Devine]

Zeke was a little reluctant to let Braam shake Parsley's hand, if only because he knew how secretive she was about herself and social situations. It hadn't passed his notice that she'd changed what bow she had equipped and showing, switching back to her starter bow when they'd started heading back into town. In the end though, he did allow the handshake, and was glad that he did. Braam seemed to be a good guy, especially when he mentioned the setting up of a training camp. That would be a VERY good thing for the lower level players that wanted or just needed to learn.

Once the introductions were finished, and Braam went on his way, Zeke moved towards the only empty booth in the place, escorting Parsley as he did so, once again effortlessly navigating the large crowd, despite having the additional person with him. He wasn't surprised that Braam's booth was the largest booth, though he was a little embarrassed that just the two of them would be taking up a corner booth that could likely seat four to six people, pending their size and whether or not they were just showing clothes or full plate armor. Still, he didn't hesitate to finish leading Parsley to the large booth, and only then did he let he move to separate his arm from the hand she'd placed within it. "Ladies first." He said simply, gesturing towards the large booth, giving her the choice to sit on any of the three boothed sides of the large table, with the only side that wasn't part of the large semi-circular booth being occupied by them, naturally so that the server could do the same and serve said table.

Only after Parsley settled herself into the booth did Zeke finally move to do the same, sitting as across from her as possible for ease of conversation. He noted that the aura color surrounding the booth changed, turning from yellow to blue, indicating that the booth was occupied. He also let out an audible sigh as the sound outside the aura was halved by the magical aura, something he figured she'd appreciate as well. It also acted as an aura of silence the other way, ensuring absolute privacy.

"So..." Zeke started, leaning over the large table and looking across it at his companion while they waited for the server to come and take their drink and/or appetizer order. "You're going to the training camp eh?" He continued with a playful smile. "Is that to learn or to teach?"

Zeke didn't hesitate to speak so confidently about such things, because he knew that the aura around then wouldn't let anybody in, including Braam since he'd taken his name off of the booth when he'd given it to them for the night, unless one of them invited the person in. The only exception was the server, but even then, the aura around them would change from blue to green when they were inside, ensuring that they couldn't eavesdrop.

 

[Poprockz]

When offered, she had chosen the side of the booth that let her keep eyes on the door of the place. One never knew what might happen, even in a place as civilized as this. They were in a game, which meant that one should probably keep their guard up most of the time. At least, that was what she was used to. It was difficult to break the inclination to keep on as though it wasn't just her against the game.

The noise cancellation between themselves and the hubbub of the tavern was immediately apparent as it made quite the difference. She assumed it had some sort of spell on it, and she had to admit that it did make things more comfortable for her. It was possible it had the same sort of muffle for their conversation, but she couldn't be sure. Regardless though, the celebration was boisterous enough that she could trust that no-one would overhear them.

Her cheeks flushed at his comment and she sheepishly looked down at her menu. "Oh um, neither. I just didn't want to correct him. I uh..." she glanced at a few nearby partiers before looking back to her menu. "I'm considering moving out of the city. Once the higher-level players leave, there'll be too much of a disparity between myself and the low-level players. It'll end up putting them in more danger if I stay..."

She opened up her inventory and pulled out the map she had made. Map-making was the other skill she had chosen, and it had saved her a lot of time and worry. Once a map was made, one could access it and see where they were in reference to the map, which helped her navigate things easily. In an effort to keep safe, she had painstakingly detailed the different areas she had explored, including enemy locations, ambushes, resources, and items of interest. There was a clearing with eagles in it that she hadn't dared go into (on account of the fact that she assumed sharp-eyed eagles would spot her if she was simply out in the open), but most of the surrounding area of this particular city had been mapped over the last month.

The woman pointed to a few caves, "it might look spooky, but there's a shallow cave that would be good for a small camp. I think that's where I might end up going."