if only I were drunk
DruSM157
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STATUS: Today I officially de-fridged the death of a female character who was fridged for RP drama almost 20 years ago. Hopefully it makes sense in the story and comes across as a way better story beat. 8 mos ago
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- Old Guild Username: DruSM157
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8 mos ago
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Today I officially de-fridged the death of a female character who was fridged for RP drama almost 20 years ago. Hopefully it makes sense in the story and comes across as a way better story beat.
4 yrs ago
Jokes on everyone I just look like a sad Travis Touchdown who has really really loud shits
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4 yrs ago
You status bar people sure are a contentious bunch
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4 yrs ago
Adding to that, unless you are exhibiting life threatening symptoms (unable to breathe, etc) go to a rapid test site in your area than going to the ER. Local ERs are swamped and overwhelmed here.
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4 yrs ago
As someone who has been stabbed in the past knives are not kinky
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if only I were drunk
Location: Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria
Great. He didn’t recognize her from the past-he’d played almost completely public games and why should he remember people he attacked for not keeping their DPS up? But now here he was; given a chance. A test which meant that he couldn’t simply bully other players to quit and gather a new party. No, he had to make do with the group he had right here.
He turned to Seele.
"Alright Seele, you're a support. What are your support abilities, and what is your DPS when you're not supporting the party?” He needed to gauge exactly what she could offer to the party; and whether she’d invested enough in magic that she could provide some small DPS bumps when they didn’t need her support magic up. If she had healing capabilities, she could support Kazuki and take the pressure off his brother.
"Well, I've got quite a few spells up my sleeves! Plenty of defensive and offensive buffs, a fair number of stat and ability debuffs, and a healthy amount of crowd-control--oh! and shields. No damage, I'm afraid, or convention heals, but we've got Kazuki for the real stuff!”
No damage. He felt the words rise up in his chest. A snide remark, a venomous barb, anything to tell this little no-nothing plebian that if she couldn’t add to the party comp in a meaningful way, she could fuck back off to the welcome center and relearn the GODDAMN GAME.
Those words didn’t come out. He felt the glances of Aaginim’s party on him. He knew he was being judged. This was his judgment, his grand trial from the gods themselves for all he’d done. And then Rael came up, spitting venom, and she had the gall to smart off to him-in their own mother tongue! He stared her down, but not out of anger; he was frozen. His heartbeat pounded, and the only thing he could hear was the staccato rhythm of his elevated heart levels. He breathed in deeper through his nose, doing everything to keep his composure. He wanted to smart back; he’d had so many insults from school where the bigger boys would push him around on the way home from school, he’d make snide remarks that would end with him getting a blackened eye or pushed down the hill towards the river. But then…she relented. And he realized he had to make this party work, even if he was dealing with at least one useless player.
“Alja, I’m going to need you to run as a DPS for this encounter,” he said almost robotically, doing everything he could to remain at some semblance of calm. He reached into his knapsack and produced a piece of parchment, and quickly began drawing symbols onto it. The symbols represented each of the players: a spear for Rael, a sword for Graves, a bow for Alex, and so on. “This will be our lineup. Rael will the main tank, tanking the front of the party. Her agility makes her suited for reacting to threats first, without putting the rest of the party in harm’s way. At the same time,” he muttered, drawing a long arc away from the party, “I believe Graves’ skills as a solo DPS player would better fit giving him an entire flank to himself.” He pointed to a central location, where both his symbol and Seele’s symbol were. “I will be off-tanking and adding support along with Seele,” he noted. “Shields first, for Rael and Graves, then offensive boosts for everyone engaging with mobs,” he noted to her. “This other flank will be Alja’s, but she’ll be closer to the party. And here-” he noted a symbol of a scythe that was further away from the party, “is Kalie. With the majority of the party grouped up here, mobs will attack the aggro that I and Alja build up. That will give Kalie opportunities to use her assassin skills and increase our DPS.”
Finally there was the backline, which made up Kazuki and Alex. “Alex will act as ranged DPS, but also will cover our backline. You’ll need to keep awareness around you, especially of mobs that try and sneak around to flank the group. Kazuki, I need you to stay aware of this too.” he looked at his brother, nodding. “We are the equivalent of a public party, and we have expert level players, and newbie level players. I know some of you will play high level automatically...and I have to accept some of you won’t. So the majority of the group will remain central, supporting our heavy hitter teammates and keeping them alive until we can scout out whatever bosses are waiting for us.”
He looked among the group; since-apart from Graves-the rest had practically gathered around. “Are there any objections to this plan?”
X
Location: Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria
Benkei will lead Team B. Those words echoed in Benkei’s head louder than his heartbeat now. There was a sense of pride, and of respect that one of the top tanks in Pariah trusted you enough to lead a team into a blind dungeon. At the same time, he looked at who he had to work with.
Kazuki. Backline, of course. As long as he could heal the group, they would be fine.
Rael. Her attitude was terrible, but her skills as a tank were excellent. She would work best taking point for the group.
Graves. The solo player was a wild card for the group, but the fact that he was a solo player spoke for his capabilities as a DPS. He just had to make sure Rael and Graves were separate enough.
Alex. An unknown factor, but he saw his weapon at least. With that bow, he was obviously going to be on the backline. The fact that he could stand alongside the support and healer made Benkei slightly less worried, since if enemies found their way around the archer would be able to deal with them.
Seele. He didn’t know her at all, but she looked like the standard support player. He’d need to talk to her about what skills she used to best fit her into his plans.
Alja. A switch player, capable of playing DPS or Tank. That variation meant she would best fit anywhere in the raid and could fall back to tanking if they were surrounded.
Kalie. The assassin was what worried him. They’d need to create enough diversions for her to strike mobs from the shadows.
”Well, good luck. You’re gonna need it. Don’t fuck it up."
Benkei grinned and nodded to Pris. “Thanks. I’ll do my best not to disappoint.” It didn’t take long for the first member of the group to come looking for him. Of course, people wouldn’t know who he was, and those that did...well he knew his reputation might precede him. Nothing about that now. He had already set the chessboard in his mind at how to arrange all the pieces. He just needed to see what they could do.
”Is Benkei here? Group B support, looking for my fearless leader!” Well, the girl definitely had a good attitude about it. Then again, he’d played with many players who were all “positivity and kindness” at the start of a dungeon, only to end up worthless and crying by the end. Hopefully, she’d be useful. Benkei raised his hand, motioning her over to him.
”I’m Benkei. Nice to meet you,” he started, even if it was just a formality. ”What kind of support do you specialize in?”
Location: Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria
Priscilica definitely kept vague about who Aaginim wanted to bring in as an off-tank, and Benkei wasn’t sharp enough to catch the hints she was dropping. Then again, he was only 17, and woefully still in that teenage mindset that he knew everything. He nodded to the mage and eyed up the others in the room.
”It looks like there’s enough people to field two raid parties. I guess we’ll go over the plans soon enough. Talking to the girl had been a good distraction; his heartbeat was no longer pounding in the back of his head, and he was feeling the tinge of excitement to take on new content. ”I guess this raid will be a good showcase for prospective guild members,” he mused, grinning. The idea of being offered a seat at the table of Mystic Prophecy wasn’t something he considered lightly.
Then he turned to look at Kazuki.
What if they offered him a place in the guild? Would he have to leave Kazuki behind? Those thoughts twisted Benkei’s smirk into a slight frown. He had to push those thoughts down, below the surface. He needed to focus on the raid at hand, not stupid fantasies of being the best.
Location: Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria
“I’m sure it won’t be too much longer, so I’d get your bearings. My names Priscilica, though you can just call me Pris. If you have any luck you’ll be in my group, assuming Aaginim is doing the usual two groups for a blind run approach he likes to do.”
Benkei looked at the other tanks; the other options to run the second path of the raid and who would off-tank for Aaginim. “It’s a tough choice,” he nodded to the girl, who only stood slightly lower than him. It relaxed him somewhat, even though he knew he was talking to a player that ran some of the top content of the game. He started looking between Siegfried and Rael. “On one hand, you need a tank that can give off-tank support that will work well with Aaginim’s tools…” he said, eyeing up the room. There was Siegfried; someone he’d ran a raid with some time ago.
It hadn’t been pretty.
”Siegfried will follow orders, but he’s not very dependable when it comes to raid mechanics. Still…” he eyed Rael, “He’s trustworthy and won’t gank the loot.” He looked at the girl, and chuckled. ”Sorry, I got too carried away in thought. Aaginim’s one of the best, and I know he’ll figure out a solid plan.
Location: Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria
Let them fight,” Benkei muttered, crossing his arms, “let the wheat sort themselves out from the chaff.” Of course, it was shut down quick. Luci, the Divine Lady of Swords and Song. Benkei grinned. “Now that’s someone to watch,” he said, tapping his older brother on the shoulder. “Luci, Enos, Pricilica,” he knew their names, he’d read about their gameplay, but he’d never partied with any of them, “You’re looking at the who’s who for practically every role of play in this game. When we finish the raid I want you to look up Enos’ stats and how he heals.”
He then pointed at the blonde knightly looking gentleman with the kind complexion about him. “And that’s my measuring stick right there.” Aaginim, if not the best tank in the game at the moment, was damn close to it. He was one of those players that felt more like a celebrity than just a regular guy; he had such a calm countenance and air about him, that even the casually minded who kept up with ranks knew who he was. “Aaginim, that’s the tank I have to beat to be at the top.”
He’d remembered so many of the arguments he’d had with other players. So many scrubs that talked a big game but always came up short. He hated those kinds of players because they weren’t serious about the game. It was through players like Aaginim and Luci that he saw what true top-level players could be. He didn’t care who was the latest comedian on some stupid NHK variety show, or what new mangas came out every week. Most of them were just rehashes of the isekai formula, and outside of the same jokes circulated online over and over again, nothing was interesting. But these players, they were interesting. In the real world, they could be any boring schlub. But here, in Pariah? They were just as important as a Hollywood movie star, and their words carried so much more weight.
And here, watching them shut down arguments and talk to people around them, Benkei felt how huge that gap between them was. What did he have to say for himself after so much time spent in the game? He’d broken the top 100 for the first time ever, but even that was tenuous at best. Did he have the same staying power as the rest of the people here; everyone who had a sense of personality around their character? What would others see him as?
DPS, start pumping out more damage or just feed yourself to the monster already. You’re useless!
Do you call that support? You’re better off casting a low-level attack spell than trying to buff my defense with that crap.
Kazuki, wake the hell up and start healing the others! You’re going to make us wipe!
He could hear his heartbeat thundering in his eardrums. It felt like back then, when mom and dad used to scream at each other, and he’d hide behind Kazuki. Even when they were in middle school, Kazuki had always been taller. Better. And he was simply small and powerless. Helpless. What if he was the one that fell behind in this raid? What if-what if for the first time, he was just like all the scrubs and parasites he looked down upon. What if he couldn’t rise to the level of those just out of reach?
He looked down to see that his hands were shaking, and Kazuki’s eyes were on him. Not out of anger or confusion, but of concern. I hate that look. Benkei thought. ”It’s nothing,” he attempted to reassure his brother, ”I’m just excited to get started.”
Location: Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria
"I'm here, It looks like I'm in time for...what are we doing here again?"
Benkei wanted to buy his face into his hands. How many times did he have to explain in-game concepts to his older brother? Wasn’t it the older son’s responsibility to be more knowledgeable about the world? Still, this was a game, and it wasn’t piano, which meant it was far away from anything in Kazuki’s wheelhouse.
“We’re going to tackle brand new content, specifically a raid that no one has completed yet.” He scanned the room as more people entered. Here came the clingers he thought, the players who couldn’t perform at the top on their own and used top tier players to help them reach the top. "And here come the parasites,” Benkei grumbled in a low tone. His older brother was just one step above a parasite since he actually healed; at least sometimes.
“The most important thing is that we get that clear. If there’s any healer gear, we both roll for it, and I can trade it with you. I’d like your cast speed to be up by two percent so we can start tackling even higher level content-” He caught his brother before the older one could sigh,“which all you have to do is keep healing me. I’ll handle the mobs, like always.”
The female tank-the rude one-she was already causing trouble, which caused Benkei to twist his mouth into a slight smirk. “At least I’m not the one starting fights tonight.”There’d be time enough for that later.
<Snipped quote by DruSM157>
What's going to happen when Kaz can no longer see statlines and numbers after the glitch solidifies?
Queue panic attack
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