[IC] ALFheim Online: Stuck in Limbo

[GrandzHelios]

After leaving the cave Kite decided to grind a couple of monsters before bed. He started off by killing the first monster he could find. that was until he got bored and took flight in the air. Using his high vantage point he was able to scout a group of three trolls. Using his aerial position Kite charged right at the troll while he drew his curved blade. He sliced one dealing a third of its HP as he landed past the group so he could fight on the ground. With their argo on him he braced for the monsters to charge at him. Keeping is eyes on the troll he hit so he could take it down and reduce the amount of hits the enemy could get him for. Then all three of them charged a Kite as he parried one of their clubs and took damage from the other two. Kite swung his blade at the troll he was focusing on until he realized his blade was shorter than the clubs. It would be useful to have something with a longer reach but that was not going to help him now. "Ecce autem Vide Geminus!" Kite yelled his incantation. Then the one Spriggan became three Spriggans. Kite's spell allowed him to create duplicates of himself. Given they were only illusions but they were ll he needed to get a good opening in a battle. The three Sprigans ran in an interlocking pattern and then separated into three directions. As each Troll attacked a different Kite two were sliced through and one was parried. With that using his Quick Dash Kite took the opening and Impaled the Troll in the chest until it disappeared. As the two remaining Trolls saw that Kite was alive and had killed their friend companion h redrew their Argo. An hour later Kite arrived a his cabin. He acquired this place from a Leprechaun who was on the verge of quitting the game. It wasn't big but it wan't too small either. It was a typical one person logged cabin. He rested his blade on a rack he kept attached to his wall as he laid down on the floor. "That was pretty close, huh.?" He thought out loud. Those trolls were not powerful but he still managed to allow his HP to drop to the fifty-five percentage mark. "I guess I could use a better weapon." He said as he logged out. Fifteen Year old Takeshi Klouda pulled the Amusphere off his head as he sat up from his bed. 9:35 P.M. It sure was getting late. It was about time for young Takeshi to head to bed if he was going to be up for school in the morning. As he strolled down the hallway he saw that his mother was still not home yet. Takeshi wasn't exacly sure where his mother was going tonight but it wasn't exactly his problem. All he had to worry about was Food, School, and ALO. After brushing his teeth the young man changed for bed and soon fell asleep. The next day in school was boring as usual. Takeshi Klouda sat through every class with a bored look on his face. Why couldn't people be a bit more passionate like they were in ALO. He spent most of the time his teacher talked doing the assignments that were due the next day. Takeshi had no idea why he showed up since he could probably teach himself the lessons and do the work in quicker time than it took for his teachers to gt the point across. He secretly hoped that school would get harder after he completed the ninth grade but he wasn't holding his hopes up for a challenge. By the time he arrived home all of his homework was completed and he changed out of his school uniform and hung it up. He pulled out the Amusphere from his closet and placed it on his head as he layed on the bed. "Link Start!" He commanded as the electronic machine pulled his conscience into the world of ALO. As soon as Takeshi transformed into Kite he stood up and attached his Curve Blade Sword to him again. He gathered up his item pouch filled with HP and Mana potions. When Kite pulled his screen up to see he got a message from that Cait Sith who friended him last night. He also a couple more friend requests which he deleted on impulse. They were interesting but they didn't all need to be on his list to contact him. Then he remembered hearing something about that Alina thing being a blacksmith. "Maybe I can get a better range from her." He said. Kite soared with his wings to propel himself to the Cait Sith town. He wasn't sure of the exact name since he never comes here. He looked in every blacksmith shop until he found that tiny archer from last night behind one of the counters. It looked like it was a smaller type of shop but it was a shop no less. It bothered kite to see all of the cat people muttering what a Spriggan was doing here but he didn't care. If they started something he may not be able to damage there HP but he sure had the ability to knock them away. "Hey Cait Sith girl, can you make me a couple of daggers. Oh and any tips for long range combat if you have them?" He blatantly said to her.

[Stella]

Mere hours had passed since Natsuki had woken up, and once again returned to the world of ALfheim Online... Athena marched her way through the halls of the beautiful instanced dungeon, which was designed to resemble a grand palace hall, complete with smooth, ivory-white pillars, polished marbled floors, and curtains accented with gold. The bright light outside streamed in through the gaps of the curtains, filling the hall with a heavenly glow. This deceptively beautiful dungeon was not a particularly high-difficulty area, nor was its treasure particularly bountiful. The true "treasure" that Athena sought was the challenge of putting her newfound blade Wraithslayer, which sat faithfully in its scabbard at her side, to the test against this dungeon's final boss. Moving past the tall stone doors and entering into what appeared to be the palace dungeon's throne room, Athena came to a slow halt as her eyes took in the wonderful sight that lay before her. The grand hall's ceiling towered far above, through a tiny opening, a few bright rays of light shone through, falling upon the two empty cushioned seats, undoubtedly belonging to the King and Queen of the castle. Having already been to this area before through a past quest, Athena already knew that no such King or Queen existed in the game. This room, devoid of any valuable treasures, was designed solely with the intention of being trap for unsuspecting players. "You have trespassed upon hallowed ground, intruder. Your presence will be cleansed accordingly." A loud, booming disembodied voice spoke, filling the room with its presence as the heavy stone doors slammed shut behind her. A slight smirk crept across Athena's face as the boss's AI went through its preset routine. Athena's sword hand remained empty by her side as she waited for the boss to finally make its appearance. Her shield which she carried in her off-hand, had not yet been raised. As the echo of the boss's announcement finally faded, a humanoid shape shimmered into view as the game system constructed the virtual manifestation of the boss's physical form - a giant, silver-plated armored knight that stood easily twice the height as Athena's own character. In its armored right gauntlet, the system formed a giant heavy greatsword, which the armored knight easily lifted upwards with a single hand. Above the boss's head, a green single HP bar filled up, along with the text "Royal Guardian Knight" which indicated the boss's name. "Oh, don't worry about me. I'll be gone before you know it." Athena responded half-heartedly in a bored tone, clearly not the least intimidated by the giant's imposing presence. Of course, the boss's AI was not programmed with enough sophistication to respond to player verbal interactions, and it simply responded by lifting its heavy greatsword above its shoulders, readying its first attack. As the armored knight suddenly swung its greatsword downwards at Athena's head, she responded by drawing out her sword, which instantly wrapped itself in the cloak of invisibility granted by its Invisible Weapon item effect. Fluidly chaining together the act of drawing her sword with the swing of her counterattack, the invisible blade struck against the knight's own weapon. In the real world, one would expect that the weapon with greater mass would easily overpower the one with lighter mass, but the two colliding blades were recognized by the game's system as being approximately equal in terms of raw statistics, with Athena's weapon having the advantage. With a shower of blue and yellow sparks, Athena's Wraithslayer overpowered the giant greatsword, causing the boss's weapon to bounce back with great force, leaving it open to further attacks. My sword has a length of approximately ninety centimeters, I should be able to strike it from this range... Athena thought to herself, as she quickly calculated the approximate dimensions of her invisible blade, and swiftly lunged with the blade with a powerful thrust into the knight's armor, sending its HP bar shooting down by about 30%. The knight responded by uttering out a pained gasp which echoed through its plated helmet, transforming the gasp into a savagely monstrous roar, and immediately counterattacked by blindly swinging down its weapon where Athena stood. Anticipating the counterattack, Athena evaded by stepping to the side, letting the blade smash into the stone floor beneath, instantly causing it to crumble into rubble. Not allowing the knight the opportunity to recover from her last attack, Athena lashed out with her sword with several lightning-quick strikes of her invisible blade, causing the boss's single HP bar dropping in increments of 10% per strike, with such speed that it appeared that she was wielding a whip rather than a sword. With her 7-strike attack, the armored knight froze in mid-motion where it stood, the HP bar above its head now completely drained of green color, disappearing from view moments later. "A knight with an invisible sword? What is this... madness?" The armored knight's booming voice echoed around Athena as its physical form burst into countless shards of blue light, slowly fading into nothingness. As Athena returned her sword to its scabbard, she could not help but pause to think for a moment about the knight's strange remark before its death. It was eerily similar to the corpse monster that she had fought the previous day, where it seemed to act with a strange intelligence unlike any other AI in the game. Athena shook her head in an attempt to shake off the thought. It seemed ridiculous then, and it seemed even more ridiculous now. Besides, it wasn't uncommon for dungeon bosses to speak a line of preset dialogue upon death on occasion. Just as the loot window appeared from where the armored knight boss dematerialized, a second window appeared above it. Curious, Athena tapped open the second window, revealing a short message from Arina, the Cait Sith archer that she had grouped up with just yesterday. "Hey, what's up? Want to meet up again?" The message read. Having her day's plans already set, Athena was almost ready to politely decline Arina's invitation, but then she suddenly remembered the archer's parting words from the previous day. "I don't know what all loot you guys got but if it's a weapon and you would like it improved or enchanted then talk to me! I'm kind of the number one crafter in this game." Well, I guess my sword could use an upgrade if the Cait Sith could manage it. It's weapon statistics are barely better than my old longsword... Athena thought to herself as she glanced at the sheathed sword at her side. For a boss-drop weapon it was rather unremarkable in terms of pure numerical statistics, but the added item effect might also make it more difficult for the average player to upgrade. With her character's skills more oriented towards creating and improving heavy armor, Athena was hopelessly unable to make any improvements herself. Turning her attention back to the boss loot window, Athena tapped through the onscreen menus to retrieve her loot. As expected, the loot wasn't particularly impressive due to the relatively low difficulty of the boss compared to her own character's statistics, but the amount of Yrd that she obtained from the boss would help pay for half a month of rent at a comfortable inn in a capital city. It was a pity that she couldn't make this luxurious palace her own player home - the boss and other monsters would eventually respawn to reclaim its halls within a day's time. As soon as she re-emerged from the palace's outer entrance, Athena stretched out her character's wings and took flight towards Cait Sith territory. Even though the races weren't currently in active conflict, it remained somewhat unnerving to travel to another race's territory, where it was possible to be attacked without the possibility for counterattacking due to the game's safe zone system. Athena hoped that the temporary presence of a lone Salamander character wouldn't raise too much attention by the Cait Sith inhabitants. Using the locator function of her Friend List, Athena made her way through the skies to the town where Arina was located, her eyes easily making out the distinctive appearance of a typical blacksmith shop. Carefully making a discreet landing so as to avoid unnecessary attention by the Cait Sith players nearby, Athena made her way directly towards Arina's blacksmith shop, making sure to close the door behind her rather than letting it close by itself. "Hello, Arina, it's good to see you again. I was thinking about taking you up on your offer from yesterday. The weapon I received from the boss is proving itself to be useful, but it could use some upgrading if you're up for the challenge." Athena greeted the Cait Sith player as she retrieved the Wraithslayer from its scabbard. "...And as you can see, handling it might be a little... difficult." Athena finished her sentence as the sword melted away from sight in her hands. Noticing that she and Arina weren't the only two in the shop, Athena then saw another player standing nearby, who was clearly not a Cait Sith, quickly recognizing him as the Spriggan player that she had grouped up yesterday. "Oh, didn't see you over there. Good to see you again, Kite." Athena greeted the Spriggan with her usual polite manner of speaking.

[DontCallMeZelda]

There was a loud clang as Arina brought her hammer down on the base weapon in front of her and watched it take the shape of the boring weapon a player in her territory asked her to make. Once it was done she placed her hammer to the side and picked up the sword carefully and gave it a good look over. She cast her eyes down to the work order and then back to the weapon. It seemed to match the customer's specs, so she considered it done. With that she carefully placed the weapon to the side and let out a soft sigh. As if that was timed perfectly she heard the bell at her door ring to tell her that someone had entered her shop. She grabbed a rag from the table next to her and started to wipe her hands down as she came up the stairs and made her way to the front of her shop. She hadn't checked her messages yet so she didn't see any replies or anything. But she recognized the person who was in her shop now. It was Kite. The spriggan from the dungeon the other day. That was a quick response..if he was responding to what she sent to all of them. Arina opened up her mouth to say something but he beat her to speaking and immediately asked about making a couple of daggers and tips on ranged combat. Arina gave him a puzzled look and her ears gave a few twitches as she processed his question. After a few seconds she shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest and decicded to do just what she needed since he was asking for a work order. "Couple of daggers hmm? Well, what kind are you looking for? Daggers are short, so medium short or like..a shiv short? Also, any specific kind of design or effect? I can only give basic enchantments at the moment. Once I get better equipment I can produce high level enchantments. But *ahem* that's.. really..Tips on long range combat? You don't use bows do you?" She cocked her head to the side a bit in question. She didn't know how to really answer this because of the skill system in this game. She knew the skill determined your overall power and proficiency with a weapon type but... "Well, I guess the first tip would be to just stay calm and hold your aim. Know your weapon and its dimensions so you know how far your projectile can and will fly. Also the-.." The ding at the door sounded again and it broke Arina's concentration. Another familiar face had entered her shop! It was Athena. She greeted her and Arina gave a small head nod to accept her greeting. Again she opened her mouth to say her own greeting but Athena beat her to speaking as well. She asked about taking her up on her blacksmithing. If she was up for it. "Hmmph!" She said as she kept her arms crossed and puffed her chest up a bit. "I'm ashamed that you would think I'm not up for it! Ehehe...um..I mean...yes. I'm up for it.." With that awkwardly said she waited to see her weapon. Athena pulled the weapon out and then it seemed to just...disappear. Athena was definetly holding something...but..it was just so strange. Arina blinked a few times and stretched out a hand to try and touch the hilt of the blade that Athena's hand was wrapped around. She surely felt it and once she did she let out a soft gasp and drew her hand back. "You're joking.. Arina dropped her hands and stared at the non existent weapon in the air. "That's...like nothing I've ever seen..in this game. But, I'm sure I can do something with it. While I'm working I won't be..actually touching it if it's with a weapon like this I won't be taking the hammer to it. Where did you get this thing?" With that she gave a puzzled look to Athena and then heard a small ping from her menu that broke her concentration yet again. She swiped her menu down and saw that T1m had replied to her group message. He said he was down but in the meantime he was practicing..backflips? That seemed odd but she didn't question it. She then brought up her keyboard and typed, "Alright, well a few of us are here at my shop in Cait Sith Territory. If you want to stop by then feel free to do so. <point of interest>" The PoI was the location of her shop. After that she swiped her menu away and looked to both of them. "Sorry about that...I had a message. But, um, this actually works out. Two orders at once." She gave a small smile to them. "I'm happy you both took me up on my offer. Just let me know what you would like done, both of you. And now, besides that, what have you two been up to?" She leaned on of her many tables in her shop and let her body rest as she waited for their responses and requests.

[Lord Santa]

“So, what do you think, Steven?” Alex asked the cat. “Meow.” He replied. “Yeah, it’s pretty tough. But it’s good, isn’t it?” Alex asked. “Meow.” The cat said. “Don’t worry, don’t worry. It’s not done yet.” Alex said. He was taking a break and eating a light meal. But if he was hungry now, then he would be hungry in real life. He should log off soon to make dinner, maybe. Suddenly, he got a message from Arina. He opened it to read it.

Alright, well a few of us are here at my shop in Cait Sith Territory. If you want to stop by then feel free to do so.

Arina

There was a point of interest on the message, which was probably Arina’s forge. Alex considered the notion. He wasn’t exactly doing anything at all right now, but his skill wasn’t done yet. There also wasn’t really any real reason to go, but maybe he could get a reaction out of her by showing her his zombie arm. Alex shrugged. He may as well. He’d work on the skill again sooner or later. He grabbed Steven, activated his wings, sprinted off of the cliff and took off, boosting forward quickly, heading directly towards the point of interest. Alex crash landed once again, his favourite method of landing. They probably heard that. Dusting himself off, he put Steven on his head again and opened the door with one hand, opening his inventory with the other. “Hey, anyone want a zombie hand?” He said, pulling out the rotten limb.