I don't have the stats fully worked out, but it's almost done. As far as the story goes.....
Timeline:
Plot: end of GGO arc to Dec 1, 2030
RP Start: Dec 2, 2030
Plot: After Kikuoka's meeting with Kazuto and Shino, he left to another meeting. Unfortunately, he knew that Laughing Coffin wasn't done with their plans, which was the meaning for his next meeting.
As he arrived at his destination, he noticed all of the security, meaning that his contacts had arrived as well. He got through sec. checks and everything else they made him go through, then he proceeded to the meeting. When he entered the meeting room, his bosses were sitting on the far of the room, all 6 of them. "Kikuoka, you'd better have something this time, or you can kiss you job goodbye." One of the men in the back didn't sound too pleased with Kikuoka's efforts up to this point.
Thanks to Kazuto, however, Kikuoka slammed a file on the desk and slid it across the table to them. "Here it is. All the work done thanks to Kirito. And that's only one of them. It wasn't even PoH. Tell me to do my job, and your sources aren't even reliable." Kikuoka was understandably angry. Through sources known only to his bosses, they were 100 percent certain that the man in GGO was PoH, the leader of Laughing Coffin. Kikuoka continued his complaints, "And of all the people you had me use to find out that it wasn't him, you decide to bring Kirito back into this? He saved thousands and you put him in more danger like that?"
"KIKUOKA!" The closest man to Kikuoka made him stop his complaints on the spot. "Listen. We understand how you feel. Don't misunderstand us. We would have chosen anyone else who knew the people from that guild if we didn't think Kirito could handle it, and we would have chosen someone else if we didn't think it was PoH." All of the men had the look of sorrow on their faces, as if they made the biggest mistake of their lives. "Now, besides that, what did you and Kirito find?" Kikuoka shuddered for a second because of his boss's response to his complaints, then he quickly recollected himself and explained the files he gave them. "So then it's as we feared. Laughing Coffin is surfacing."
Kikuoka was confused. "Umm, it kind of sounds like you know something you're not sharing with me."
The men looked back and forth at each other, then they nodded their heads in agreement. "We've decided on your next task. We need you to find Laughing Coffin's leader, Poh. And we plan on giving you access to all of our contacts and information. So with that, you think you can get it done? ASAP would be preferable, but we just want them caught."
"I thought you would never ask." Kikuoka seemed relieved. He knew his bosses were giving the reins to him, so he could take care of the operation how he saw fit, meaning Kazuto and all of his friends didn't have to be involved. After the bosses and Kikuoka hammered out some details, the meeting ended and Kikuoka began his next job.
It's been a few years since then, and Kikuoka had a neat little "Task Force" of ex-SAO player who knew about LC during their time in SAO. Kikuoka sent all 15 of these SAO players into different games that had whispers of LC, and luckily, one of the games rose major suspicion. When Kikuoka tried to access the logs for the game, his computer became corrupt and literally began to burn. As this set flags off in Kikuoka's mind, his first concern was the player who went into the game. As he entered the player's room, he expected to find him dead, but he found nothing wrong. He checked for everything possible; forced entry, gas leaks, etc. However, he found absolutely nothing wrong. The next thing he checked set off one of the flags in his head.
Kikuoka made sure that each player kept a log of when they logged in and out of the game on a piece of paper or something to keep note of it in case the log files from the game were somehow erased. This particular player's paper showed that he last logged out on Jan. 3, 2029. It also showed that the player logged in again, obviously considering his amusphere was on and working, was on Jan. 15, 2029. The date at that time was Jan. 20, 2029. Kikuoka also explained to the Task Force not to spend anymore than 10 hours in the games. From all of the previous entries from this player, he knew that something was wrong, because the player had followed that rule to the letter, so his 5 days of being in the amusphere raised major concern. Kikuoka's last thought was to remove the amusphere, as he didn't want to do anything that might cause damage to the player's brain. Instead he immediately called for paramedics and had them set up an IV so the player wouldn't dehydrate. Beyond that and leaving round-the-clock guards near the player, there was nothing else Kikuoka felt he could do, so he went home.
When he got home, he found an older computer in his storage, got it working, and logged on to the roleplaying news website. He scrolled threw the usual stuff he would find every day, like player stats, leveling guides, new updates, etc. However, one of the newer posts caught his attention. It was an article about a video........... posted online by The Laughing Coffin Guild. As he read through, he understood why he found out why the player was still in the amusphere. Reluctantly, he played the video........
"Hello World! I'm sure you've heard much about us, but let me just say it out-right. We are The Laughing Coffin. Being as many government officials have been looking for us, it's been hard to move around in your world, so we came to a conclusion. Instead of hiding in the dark any longer, we've decided to recreate 'The Death Game.' Now I know some of you are thinking that you can't die anymore with your new found amusphere, and you would be right. Though, that won't change the fact that once you find out where we are, you won't be able to 'log out' of our world once you're dead. Also, I can hear all of you saying that you wouldn't want to challenge a murderous group of people just to bring them to justice. Well, let's hear you say that when I tell you that this world is exactly like SAO with a difference. Once you've beaten the final floor, you will end up with the 15 billion in cash we have stashed in your world. A little incentive to put your throats at my cleaver, I guess. If you really want to stop us, then come and get us. It's showtime."
The video turned black and stopped playing. Kikuoka continued to read the article and saw the name of the game, Safehold Assult Online: AfterMath, as well as a weird link at the bottom of the article. When he clicked the link, it opened a simple black page with three counters; one for number of players logged into the game, one for the number of "active" players, and one for the number of players killed. Under this counter was a list of names, all appearing to be the players that have died. Among these players, Kikuoka found the real-life name of the player he sent into that game. While he was on the page he saw the numbers:
Playing: 15,958,208
Active: !5,928,200
Dead: 30,008
Kikuoka spent the next few months gathering information and sharing it with the Task Force, and they came up with some interesting stories. They found some people who have died in the game, but even though they were alive in the real world, they came out of the amusphere as a vegetable. There were no signs while the amusphere was attached that there was anything wrong with the people, but they all came out as vegetable when someone removed their amusphere. However, for people who still had NERVGear, they would still actually die.
It is now December 1, 2030, and no one has beaten the game or cleared any floor higher than 20. Unfortunately, one one of Kikuoka's Task Force remains. The numbers on the website:
Playing:17,278,751
Active:15,658,201
Dead:1,620,550
Timeline:
Plot: end of GGO arc to Dec 1, 2030
RP Start: Dec 2, 2030
Plot: After Kikuoka's meeting with Kazuto and Shino, he left to another meeting. Unfortunately, he knew that Laughing Coffin wasn't done with their plans, which was the meaning for his next meeting.
As he arrived at his destination, he noticed all of the security, meaning that his contacts had arrived as well. He got through sec. checks and everything else they made him go through, then he proceeded to the meeting. When he entered the meeting room, his bosses were sitting on the far of the room, all 6 of them. "Kikuoka, you'd better have something this time, or you can kiss you job goodbye." One of the men in the back didn't sound too pleased with Kikuoka's efforts up to this point.
Thanks to Kazuto, however, Kikuoka slammed a file on the desk and slid it across the table to them. "Here it is. All the work done thanks to Kirito. And that's only one of them. It wasn't even PoH. Tell me to do my job, and your sources aren't even reliable." Kikuoka was understandably angry. Through sources known only to his bosses, they were 100 percent certain that the man in GGO was PoH, the leader of Laughing Coffin. Kikuoka continued his complaints, "And of all the people you had me use to find out that it wasn't him, you decide to bring Kirito back into this? He saved thousands and you put him in more danger like that?"
"KIKUOKA!" The closest man to Kikuoka made him stop his complaints on the spot. "Listen. We understand how you feel. Don't misunderstand us. We would have chosen anyone else who knew the people from that guild if we didn't think Kirito could handle it, and we would have chosen someone else if we didn't think it was PoH." All of the men had the look of sorrow on their faces, as if they made the biggest mistake of their lives. "Now, besides that, what did you and Kirito find?" Kikuoka shuddered for a second because of his boss's response to his complaints, then he quickly recollected himself and explained the files he gave them. "So then it's as we feared. Laughing Coffin is surfacing."
Kikuoka was confused. "Umm, it kind of sounds like you know something you're not sharing with me."
The men looked back and forth at each other, then they nodded their heads in agreement. "We've decided on your next task. We need you to find Laughing Coffin's leader, Poh. And we plan on giving you access to all of our contacts and information. So with that, you think you can get it done? ASAP would be preferable, but we just want them caught."
"I thought you would never ask." Kikuoka seemed relieved. He knew his bosses were giving the reins to him, so he could take care of the operation how he saw fit, meaning Kazuto and all of his friends didn't have to be involved. After the bosses and Kikuoka hammered out some details, the meeting ended and Kikuoka began his next job.
It's been a few years since then, and Kikuoka had a neat little "Task Force" of ex-SAO player who knew about LC during their time in SAO. Kikuoka sent all 15 of these SAO players into different games that had whispers of LC, and luckily, one of the games rose major suspicion. When Kikuoka tried to access the logs for the game, his computer became corrupt and literally began to burn. As this set flags off in Kikuoka's mind, his first concern was the player who went into the game. As he entered the player's room, he expected to find him dead, but he found nothing wrong. He checked for everything possible; forced entry, gas leaks, etc. However, he found absolutely nothing wrong. The next thing he checked set off one of the flags in his head.
Kikuoka made sure that each player kept a log of when they logged in and out of the game on a piece of paper or something to keep note of it in case the log files from the game were somehow erased. This particular player's paper showed that he last logged out on Jan. 3, 2029. It also showed that the player logged in again, obviously considering his amusphere was on and working, was on Jan. 15, 2029. The date at that time was Jan. 20, 2029. Kikuoka also explained to the Task Force not to spend anymore than 10 hours in the games. From all of the previous entries from this player, he knew that something was wrong, because the player had followed that rule to the letter, so his 5 days of being in the amusphere raised major concern. Kikuoka's last thought was to remove the amusphere, as he didn't want to do anything that might cause damage to the player's brain. Instead he immediately called for paramedics and had them set up an IV so the player wouldn't dehydrate. Beyond that and leaving round-the-clock guards near the player, there was nothing else Kikuoka felt he could do, so he went home.
When he got home, he found an older computer in his storage, got it working, and logged on to the roleplaying news website. He scrolled threw the usual stuff he would find every day, like player stats, leveling guides, new updates, etc. However, one of the newer posts caught his attention. It was an article about a video........... posted online by The Laughing Coffin Guild. As he read through, he understood why he found out why the player was still in the amusphere. Reluctantly, he played the video........
"Hello World! I'm sure you've heard much about us, but let me just say it out-right. We are The Laughing Coffin. Being as many government officials have been looking for us, it's been hard to move around in your world, so we came to a conclusion. Instead of hiding in the dark any longer, we've decided to recreate 'The Death Game.' Now I know some of you are thinking that you can't die anymore with your new found amusphere, and you would be right. Though, that won't change the fact that once you find out where we are, you won't be able to 'log out' of our world once you're dead. Also, I can hear all of you saying that you wouldn't want to challenge a murderous group of people just to bring them to justice. Well, let's hear you say that when I tell you that this world is exactly like SAO with a difference. Once you've beaten the final floor, you will end up with the 15 billion in cash we have stashed in your world. A little incentive to put your throats at my cleaver, I guess. If you really want to stop us, then come and get us. It's showtime."
The video turned black and stopped playing. Kikuoka continued to read the article and saw the name of the game, Safehold Assult Online: AfterMath, as well as a weird link at the bottom of the article. When he clicked the link, it opened a simple black page with three counters; one for number of players logged into the game, one for the number of "active" players, and one for the number of players killed. Under this counter was a list of names, all appearing to be the players that have died. Among these players, Kikuoka found the real-life name of the player he sent into that game. While he was on the page he saw the numbers:
Playing: 15,958,208
Active: !5,928,200
Dead: 30,008
Kikuoka spent the next few months gathering information and sharing it with the Task Force, and they came up with some interesting stories. They found some people who have died in the game, but even though they were alive in the real world, they came out of the amusphere as a vegetable. There were no signs while the amusphere was attached that there was anything wrong with the people, but they all came out as vegetable when someone removed their amusphere. However, for people who still had NERVGear, they would still actually die.
It is now December 1, 2030, and no one has beaten the game or cleared any floor higher than 20. Unfortunately, one one of Kikuoka's Task Force remains. The numbers on the website:
Playing:17,278,751
Active:15,658,201
Dead:1,620,550
