His hands in the pockets of his trousers, Rivers whistled a tune and kicked his heels as he walked. Class had gotten out early today, so he had some time to kill before Mist got on. They were planning to meet up at a nearby inn, as was common for them. For the past couple of weeks, they'd been adventuring together almost daily, meeting up at the inn closest to where they'd last logged out. Usually, they got on at the same time, but he was early. If it were Zin, he'd text to ask if she could get on early. But, he didn't have Mist's number. He didn't even know her name in real life. Maybe he should learn that, but it also might ruin the magic. If they learned too much about each other it might destroy what they had. What if the girl who liked Rivers didn't like Theo? Shaking his head, Rivers put that from his mind. That wouldn't happen. Then there came a scream. A scream from here?! Someone must be in trouble! Rivers ran in the direction he thought it had come from, throwing caution to the wind. If someone needed him, he'd be there. Rivers continued to run until he arrived at the source of the screams. A small boy, his back to a tree, with wolves surrounding him. Wolves?! Why was it always fucking wolves?! No matter, this was the chance Rivers had waited for. Now he could be a real hero, to this other (presumably) NPC boy. With an acrobatic leap, Rivers jumped between the boy and the attacking wolves. "Don't worry! I've got you." With an exaggerated flourish, he brandished his lance to point it at the wolves. He would handle this in the most heroic way he could. After all, he was a bit beyond the point where wolves were really a problem. His lance could readily deal with them. But, he couldn't afford to slack. Sure, he'd come back to life if anything happened. But for the NPC, it was a different story. Rivers had given up an eye and his sense of taste to save an NPC, he knew how precious their lives were. As one of the perhaps dozen wolves dove at him, Rivers pierced it with his spear. Withdrawing his weapon, it fell lifelessly to the ground. This would be easy peasy. @Sean Poteitoku
Sean wandered through the forests of Astorea, pondering his existence. Why do I still play this game without an interface? Noticing a wolf, he reflexively screamed stabbed it in fear, it letting out a howl as it died. Soon after, the wolf's pack wanted revenge for their comrade. Around twenty or so wolves surrounded Sean, causing him to start to panic. "Too many numbers..." He backed up against a tree and shot some bolts of fire at them using his magical ring, taking out eight of the wolves. Huh, so the ring is good. As the fire dissipated, a person jumped out in front of him to protect him. Sean watched as he cut down a wolf that lunged at him... Wait, is he trying to one-up me? "I don't need help!" Sean put on a fake grin. Seemingly just as fast as the person, he dashed to a wolf and performed an upwards slice on it, the wolf flying through the air before crumpling underneath the impact with the ground, dead. He turned to the other wolves. "Who's next...!?" Deep down, Sean was scared as hell, but he wouldn't let that show in front of competition.
The boy behind him, that he'd thought was an NPC turned out to be a player. Declaring that he didn't need help, @Sean Poteitoku leapt forward and sliced a wolf down. Well, that was handy. If this had happened a few moments earlier, Rivers wouldn't have jumped in and made a fool of himself. But, the damage was already done. He had to steer into the skid. If he backed down now, he'd look seriously uncool. Also, since when did heroes stop saving people just because they were players? Never! That's when. Rivers put on a calm grin. "Alright then. Sorry to intrude. But, now that I'm in the thick of it..." Rivers dashed forward, placing himself between the boy and the wolves once again. He sent a flurry of thrusts in the direction of the wolves. He got lucky on a few strikes, puncturing organs. Luckily enough, he'd managed killing blows on two of the wolves directly in front of him. Of course, Rivers couldn't be one-hundred percent accurate, and several of his strikes bounced off bones. After his display, all the remaining wolves backed up from them. The circle widened except for the now dead wolves. "I'm sure you won't mind if I lend a hand. After all, fighting all of these alone would be an inconvenience for you." Rivers was trying to act cool, but he was fighting off the shakes. Goddamn wolves. Why did it always have to be wolves? He turned to the wolves once again so he could drop the smile. There were still eight wolves left. He could probably finish them off if he didn't let himself get surrounded, but that was likely asking too much. Wolves weren't idiots. What would the boy behind him do? Would he make this easier or only complicate things more? He seemed competent enough with his sword, but maybe that had been a lucky hit. Regardless, Rivers would feel a LOT better once this was over.
As Sean cut down the wolf, the person who came to help him dashed in front of him once more, insisting he help. "You can help..." Sean planted his hand on their shoulder. "But don't get in my way!" He pushed them to the side and swiped his free hand at the wolves, a series of fire bolts taking out four of them. One of the wolves thought it was a good idea to try and attack Sean while he regained balance. It lunged at him, fangs ready to pierce his back and spine... "Heads up, dude!" THUD! The hilt of Sean's sword smashed into the wolf's side, sending it flying towards his companion. Sean was intending to perform a combination attack with him, but at the time it seemed more like he was just tossing the wolf onto him. Done with the minor inconvenience, he turned back to the rest of the wolves, ready to strike. "IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?"
After his attack on the wolves, the boy behind him shoved Rivers out of the way to fire off an attack of his own. Huh, fire magic? That seemed...useful for sure. To be able to hit so many enemies seemed convenient. But... you could also just swing faster. Rivers regained his footing after being shoved out of the way, just in time for the boy to yell to him "HEADS UP". It was never good to hear that yelled at you. "Uh?" Turning to the side, Rivers saw just time the wolf flying at him. Damn, there wasn't time for him to just pierce it in the air, so he did what he could...he grabbed it. In a less than "graceful" motion, Rivers caught the wolf by the midsection and slammed it to the ground. The beast let out a whimper as it hit the ground, right before Rivers pierced it with his lance. "Nice heads up," he called, beginning to dash towards the remaining wolves. To be honest, he was a bit annoyed by the thrown wolf. Sure, wolves could be tough to handle, but you shouldn't throw wolves at people. If anything, you take the bite. That's what you were supposed to do. That was the heroic thing to do. Given, Rivers didn't hold other people to his heroic standards. But still, not cool. "Next time," Rivers called as he leapt up. "Watch your back." Rivers came down on a wolf...hard. He hadn't quite crushed it underfoot, but it certainly wasn't happy with things. Rivers stabbed another wolf that froze up in the surprise. With a quick stomp, Rivers ensured the wolf beneath him was down for the count. "Guess we're just about done." There were only a few wolves remaining, but it still felt like there'd been too many. Rivers was sure he'd counted right the first time. Oh well...
Apparently, as Sean hit the wolf to his ally, another had gotten behind him. He winced as they jumped into the air and crushed the wolf, stabbing another in the process. "I knew it was there... Totally." Sean looked back at the last remaining wolves. Three wolves, all with a desire to kill him. I got an idea. He dashed to one of the wolves, impaled it with his sword, then threw it into another wolf, heavily damaging both of them. He made a quick lunge through both of the wolves as they tried to recover, taking them down for the count. The last wolf jumped onto Sean's back, knocking him down, ready to claw into him. "Oh no you don't!" He spun on the ground, turning an unfavorable situation into a huge advantage. "Stay down." He punched the wolf in the face and threw it to the side, the wolf running away. "So, that went well." Sean walked over to a nearby tree and grabbed a small plush doll. "Don't ask why I have this out... It's complicated."
