It was the beginning of the historically named Dog Days, which marked the hottest period of summer, and its effects could be felt rather severely across the rolling hills of Pormont. But they were equally appropriate in title, for the severity with which gnolls had begun to counter-attack was alarming to many who made their homes in this area. In the wake of so much recent conflict, the highly territorial and moderately intelligent creatures had begun to mobilize and lead nomadic raids upon more and more settlements and caravans within the area. Such was the fury and fervor of their destruction that adventurers were being hired into militia forces to help defend settlements or lead charges to push the creatures back. In fact, one entire guild had apparently taken up such a quest recently, though there was some confusion about the results of that event.

Camp Harvest was one of such militia bases which was devoted to training NPCs to battle the vicious warrior grass gnolls that ran like rabid beasts across the plains. When it was possible to grab the interest of an adventuring PC, the camp happily did so, though they had little beyond recognition to offer to people who gave them aid. But that was perfectly accepted to The Admiral, who thrived on attention and desired the admiration, or loathing, of everybody. There simply was no such thing as bad publicity in her eyes, and so he signed on immediately in the hopes of helping to lead the charge against the dreaded creatures. But until that moment came, there was little to do besides wait and mill about the camp, telling stories and boasting of her adventures, to keep the men entertained and their moral up. It was easy to forget it was all a game when one spent enough time around the non player characters; in fact, the Admiral didn't even like to think of them as unreal anymore, focusing instead on how engaging and life like they all could be.

The camp itself was a small affair made up of several trenches encircling it, made lethal by the presence of wooden stakes at their bottoms. Wooden walls were erected to catch crude gnoll arrows, and a single watchtower at the center of things kept watch from all directions. The rest of the camp was a series of tents used for storage or for sleeping in, along with a large pavilion tent that served as a mess for the militia to eat at. It was the coolest part of the entire camp, shaded from the sun and set up to allow the cool western winds to sweep through it, bringing a soothing balm to the worried farmers and part-time soldiers that were preparing for battle. When the mess was not in use for meals it was often used to teach tactics and educate the illiterate or ignorant within the camp, improving the knowledge of each person so that the whole could function as a smarter and cohesive spearhead against the dog bastards.

On the outskirts of the encampment, past the trenches, there were a few crudely designed obstacle courses and training fields used to heighten coordination and teamwork, as well as combat tactics. It was at one of the sparring rings that the Admiral sat, rump positioned lazily upon a log, passing a water skin between himself and some soldiers who drank thirstily from it. A few awnings had been erected to keep the sun off of people who watched the fighting, but it was not the same sort of healing cool that the mess hall had. Those within the four different sparring circles were covered in sweat moments after entering, the struggles of their fighting and the baking heat of the sun working to exhaust them. Already two had fainted with a heat stroke and were about to be taken to the healer's tent, when Jack Anders of the Yulan Dragons waved a hand at them and brought them back to safe levels. She watched from sidelines under the comforts of a tent that bore the guild emblem, healing those that needed it after a spar so that practice could continue in intensity. The Admiral distanced himself from her guild master on two simple basis:

First and foremost, Jack was cool, and the Admiral was incredibly obnoxious. So seating himself near Jack would obviously diminish the respectability that Jack's presence brought to things. Secondly, and just as importantly, Jack was a mage and brought great awe from the militia with how easily she kept everyone going despite the crushing heat. The Admiral was of course a purely physical build, one of the grunts, and would not have that sort of inspiring power. But he had her stories, and her personality (for one couldn't quite call it charm), which made him more... "one of the guys" and almost kin to the foot soldiers around him. Together, she and Jack were working almost instinctively to endear themselves and the guild to these people with no real cunning or effort. All she had to do was sit there and wait for her turn to fight somebody, which is precisely what he did.

 

Need

Blue orbs incessantly watched the golden plains. The scenery had so much resemblance to one of Sword Art Online’s floors that she couldn’t help but just sit and contemplate it, ignoring the dog days’ heat. The pink haired girl gestured with her right hand and swiped the menus, hitting the logout button – no response. The damned thing didn’t work much like in sword art online. Her eyes narrowed and brows furrowed when she noticed the numbers in a menu not so far from the logout option; her masteries. She had a few points to use, but never tried fighting or hunting anything up until now, as she constantly looked about some way to leave the game.

Memories of Yulan’s first guild mission flashed back on her mind and she gritted her teeth, angry at how little her skills contributed back then; she wasted way too much time on her quest to go back to the real world, had no return, and the result was her low number of total points in her mastery. Ju sat up, leaving the camp’s gates, her hands curled in a tight fist. If she lacked in fighting prowess, Ju had to find a way to get strong and do so fast. She was quickly getting behind most players, and sitting all day looking for clues on how to get back didn’t help much. And that’s when she decided; Ju had to become stronger at the very least to properly survive in this world before anything else.

Her steps were firm and steady as she distanced herself from the trenches. Ju knew just what she had to find and her goal was the sparring rings located just past the obstacle courses and training fields. The pink haired glanced at the empty courses to her left, and noticed how few had the courage to withstand the sun on the training fields. Reaching her destination, Ju’s eyes scanned the rings; two were already beaten by the hellish heat.

Among the figures in the ring, one managed to catch her attention, a woman whose armor seemed a tad bit familiar to her. The pieces of the puzzle finally connected with each other once Ju focused her vision on the woman's name; The admiral. That was the name of the man she had seen fighting back in Yulan’s first mission, on the vanguard. She had no idea why the player went through that change, but Huan-Xiang wasn't one to question others' decisions. Realizing this could be the perfect opportunity for training Ju approached the ring after noticing nobody stepped up to be Admiral's opponent. Following a quick swipe on her forehead to get rid of the excessive sweat, she started tapping on her system menus, sending a duel request to her fellow guildmate.

“Yo! Saw you fighting the other day on the dragonling mission.” The pink-haired tried her best at a friendly tone. Ju wasn’t the best with words. “You fought those orlo-something monsters head-on, no big deal.” If her guild mate had accepted the duel request, she’d take a simple, somewhat crude fighting stance. “Mind teaching a guild mate the ropes of taking the brunt for our squishy mages?”

This!

​

@The Admiral

 

The Admiral fanned herself with no affect in a vain attempt to remove some of the harsh heat of sun, watching two non player characters go at it with quarter staves in some basic combat routines. It was good that they had the diligence to practice slowly, allowing for muscle memory to slowly build up for when the desperate time of using their skills came to be. Glancing past them into another sparring circle, she watched as two more advanced members of the militia went at one another with wooden swords and bucklers, covered in bruises that hinted at how long and how hard the two had been going at it. Apparently with @Jack Anders present, these simple country and city folk that were taking up arms could push themselves for much longer and at far greater difficulties, helping to beat the learning curve that lack of experience created. Slowly, it went from being a gulf to a mere hop for these people to overcome.

It was with amused interest that the female warrior regarded @Ju Huan-Xiang, who greeted them as the pink haired mystery lass approached. Recognition slowly settled in as the girl's thin frame and easy manner struck the Admiral with a sense of deja vu she couldn't quite place... Until Ju spoke, and it became clear that they were, in fact, guild mates! With a smile the Admiral stood up and looked the smaller woman over, grinning at the 'kung fu fighting' sort of stance the girl took, like she was about to go Avenging Fist on the Admiral's dull day. It was endearing and cute, and with a chuckle she accepted the request to duel, standing up and doing some stretches of her arms across her chest and over her head to loosen up for the fight. Grinning, she opened her inventory and produced two weapons which materialized in hand. The first, an old and rusted war hammer, looked as though it had seen a steady stream of battles over its years of use. Her other weapon appeared to be a large... table leg, wielded like a wooden club and ready to catch some toes in the dark. Or some heads in the light.

"First and foremost," she cautioned Ju as she gave each weapon a few practice swings, feeling their weight cut slowly through the air.
"Check your settings and make sure you're comfortable with the Pain Simulator... Mine's set to sixty percent which is the highest it will go; sixty percent of the real thing you'd feel. The lowest you can make it is fifteen percent I believe? Pick what makes you comfortable, but realize that even in a duel you're going to feel this, okay? Once you're sure you're comfortable with that, go ahead and come up and hit me. I'll let you get the first shot in for free." She winked and gave a mischievous grin, setting her legs apart and bending her legs slightly to brace for impact and make her ready to move as needed. Hammer and club held at her sides, lifted to about hip level, she seemed prepared to begin swinging the dual wielded weapons the moment Ju got in close enough to strike her. But with a common breastplate to protect her chest and stomach and a common helmet to guard her face and head, there weren't many exposed vitals that the pink haired pugilist could exploit and aim for. And unlike many within the game, she had not taken Guard to protect herself, but rather had focused entirely on offense. And that meant that no matter how hard Ju Ju came at her, the Admiral was going to dish it back faster, and harder. So really, letting Ju get in the first hit wasn't a favor to the girl, so much as a trick to draw her in and make the armored Admiral that much more dangerous through close quarters.

 

When admiral accepted her duel request Ju Huan-Xiang’s lips curled up. The grappler knew she had no chance against someone like her admiral, but she had no intention to let go of this chance. She listened intently to Admiral’s explanation of the pain threshold system and quickly swiped and tapped away at her own system settings, changing her pain threshold to the maximum. The system could sound feasible at first for those not keen of dealing with pain, but any melee fighter that had to face a proper battle at some point knew that having to look at the top corner of your vision to check your health points was a no-no, and this is where the pain threshold system came in. The few instants a melee player would loose looking at their HP bar in the top left of their vision they could instead save it by comparing HP lost to pain felt. Not an easy thing to do by any means, but completely worthy. Ju had no idea why admiral would let her have a first strike. As a user of the berserk mastery, she pondered for a moment that that could be a viable choice, but considering her own mastery points and gear, she thought that even if her opponent had the same mastery, not much of its abilities would empower The Admiral due to Ju's low damage output.

The duel countdown finally reached its end, and Ju sprung forward, closing the distance between herself and The admiral… Only to somehow trip and fall to the ground, staring to the sky. The grappler stood there for a few moments, unsure of just what had happened, and suddenly a system pop-up appeared before her- the avatar’s temperature was way too high. As a result her breathing was already becoming way faster than normal and dizziness began settling in.

Frustrated, the fighter got back up to her feet shaking her head. “Sorry, my temperature ‘need’ is being a bitch. I’ll join the next round.” She left the ring with a loud sigh to seek proper treatment.

 

Heat to this extend did not mesh well with heavy armor. Aaron sighed as he realized that fact, but there was nothing he could do. He'd heard about a place where some NPCs were being taught to defend themselves so that they didn't have to rely on players all the time. Figuring it was a noble endeavor, Aaron decided to check it out, and help if he could.

Aaron watched as @The Admiral's opponent left the ring. He had arrived in this camp a bit ago, to help prepare them and teach what he knew about self-defense. He grinned when he noticed that @Jack Anders was also present. "Bring back any repressed memories?" He asked the man with a laugh, before approaching The Admiral. He smiled at her kindly. "I'm not the strongest warrior around, but how'd you prefer going up against someone who'a equipped for fighting in close quarters, miss?" He asked as a grin formed. "My name's Aaron Marone. May I know the name of the person who's likely about to hand my ass to me?" He asked.

He opened his menu to the duel area, preparing to send an invite once he knew her name. Or accept a challenge if she choose to invite him, he was flexible. He readied his sword and his shield as best as he could with his menu open.

 

A smile spread across the Admiral's lips as she watched Ju prepare for the fight, knuckles tightening and stance set to allow her to spring into action. Each woman was a martial user of at least considerable skill, but with vastly differing styles to seek out alternative means of overcoming their enemies. Ju seemed smart, capable, and defensive... It would be an interesting counter to the Admiral's all-out offensive style! She felt her legs tense as she shifted ever so slightly, ready for the fight to begin, watching the duel counter reach zero. Holding her ground, she braced herself for the first attack, watching as Ju took a surging step forwards and... collapsed... on the ground. Damn. The Admiral really was that good!

Impressed even with her own self, she nodded to the pink haired lass who excused herself and crossed over to the shade to seek Jack's healing hands. Sweat streaked down her brow from the touch of the sun, dripping down onto iron breastplate and pauldron. She was ready to just give up and take a nap when Aaron appeared, heavily armed and armored as the man spoke to Jack and then stepped into the sparring circle. She huffed happily to see a challenger approach that was masochist enough to wear heavy armor, like her. He gave her a pleasant smile, and began to speak.

"I'm not the strongest warrior around, but how'd you prefer going up against someone who'a equipped for fighting in close quarters, miss? My name's Aaron Marone. May I know the name of the person who's likely about to hand my ass to me?"

She let her easy smile turn into a coy grin as she looked over his sword and board style of things. A classic combination which would make him well suited to turtle-ing her should he so choose to. That was precisely why she had built up her style the way she did... If she could hit hard enough, fast enough, to take down his towering health bar then she could possibly come out of this the victor.

"How about I give you my name, if you happen to win," she called across to him, weapons at the ready and itching for the fight.
"...But for now, you can call me by my title, same as anyone else. The Admiral."

[We have agreed to use World Boss Rules of combat, to practice - with some additional rules added. Due to dual wield, I receive a d4 secondary attack that receives no equipment or mastery bonuses. Aaron is able to cast healing on himself rather than attack, and heal the maximum allowed according to these rules, but rolls a d6+4 to see how much mana it costs each time (so minimum 5, max 10). He must still divide his attack damage against me by 1/2. Armor HP bonuses per-piece raise as item tier raises, from +5 at poor to an additional +5 at common, and so on. The Tank doubles all of these as normal, and will count shield as an additional armor piece.]​

She watched as the fuel counter ticked down to zero again, this time without wasting a moment as she herself ran straight up to the armored juggernaut and swung hammer and club down upon him, looking for any gap in his defense.

Thrown die:

3

+5quality +12mastery = 20

The Admiral

100 HP

MAX HP

35 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

Aaron Marone

100 HP

MAX HP

100 HP

MAX HP

60 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

 

Thrown die:

1

no bonuses

20 + 1 = 21 damage total

 

Aaron grinned at the woman. "So I only get your name if I win? Well, here you go giving a man motivation to win beyond his pride. How could I possibly let myself lose now? Fine then, The Admiral. And what do you ask if I lose? Otherwise, it's not a fair wager." Aaron paused for a moment. "I assume that since you said you're called 'The Admiral', you want the inclusion of the 'the', and not just 'Admiral', right?"

Suddenly he realized he was being charged. His mind raced with ideas on how to react to the fact he was being charged. He sighed heavily as he realized the best course of action was to make the most of his shield and heavy armor. He planted his feet into the ground and raised his shield, taking the blunt of The Admiral's attack head on.

Even as he watched the woman's hammers descending, he thrust his sword outward, hoping to pierce the woman in the stomach. Pain rippled through his arm and shoulder as her hammers slammed into his shield. He let out a groan of pain, and hoped his own strike had hit home. He made a mental note - blocking hammers hurt his arm and shoulder like hell. Better than his ribs though, right?

Thrown die:

12

+14, total=26 divided by 2 =13

The Admiral

100 HP

MAX HP

35 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

Aaron Marone

100 HP

MAX HP

100 HP

MAX HP

39 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

[/QUOTE]

 

A grin spread across the woman's face as the paladin-esque man regarded her, his attention so focused on their conversation that he seemed to have forgotten a fight was even taking place. That was when she chose to strike, her coiled muscled launching her forwards as hammer and club descended upon him and sought to crush him like an emptied soda can. Whatever amount of distracted he'd been before didn't falter his reflexes, however... As soon as she was upon him he had a shield raised, intercepting each blow that she delivered with her weapons. That was no small feat, considering there were two of them, and she was throwing everything into each with reckless abandon.

"Admiral works just fine, though to be honest, I don't particularly care what you choose to call me... Say it, or scream it, so long as I know it's me you're thinking of..." she teased as she took a step back to catch her breath and goad. It cost her dearly as the man suddenly pressed forwards, his blade thrusting with unprecedented speed straight for her stomach. There was no time to block or dodge and she felt the blade's point connect with her body as she, in attempting to side-step the attack, managed to at least avoid direct impalement. A nasty gash was still left along her abdomen just above her right hip however, where the breastplate failed to protect and the other segments of armor did not cover. Damn the cheap stuff, it was no good to her against a man who actually had precision!!!

She let out a single gasp of pain and surprise as the maximum pain authenticity told her brain it was being sliced into and made miserable. Perhaps she was a masochist for keeping it tuned so high, but when it hurt to get hit, you had incentive not to get hit. She did not afford herself the luxury of checking the wound or taking her attention from Marone however; it would have been suicide to do so. The pain was great but she'd dealt with pain before, and from the amount of blood on his blade's edge and how deep the wound felt in her side, it had been a close thing. Her turning step to the side prevented the foible of his blade from plunging directly into her, allowing it instead to nick tunic and flesh as it continued to thrust forwards. The edged side of his blade continued down the path he had directed it, and sliced like a razor through shirt and skin and left a long red streak down his sword. So, he really planned to take her down, no games and gimmicks? For all his silly talking, the man's killer instincts were nothing to balk at.

Her eyes inspected his outstretched arm which had thrust forwards to try and drive her through, and a glint flashed in her eyes as she realized the attack had likely left him exposed on his sword arm's side. A shield did nothing if you couldn't defend the side it didn't protect, or indeed, your back... Ignoring the fear and the pain in her, reacting a heartbeat after his own attack had landed as her consideration of things flashed through her mind like instinctive lightning, she pressed his defense once more.

Thrown die:

3

+5 Quality +12 Mastery = 20

The Admiral

100 HP

MAX HP

22 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

Aaron Marone

100 HP

MAX HP

100 HP

MAX HP

39 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

 

Thrown die:

4

20 + 4 = 24 damage

 

Aaron couldn't help but falter a bit at the woman's gasp of pain. This was the first time he'd traded blows with another player, so for the briefest moment, his guard dropped. His mind quickly reminded him that he was in the middle of a fight and shouldn't be dropping his guard even as the woman's attacks came back at him again. Knowing that he would never get his shield in to block that attack in time, he still raised it until it was directly between his body and her own. Then he lunged forward, throwing his weight at the woman. Her blow would still hit him, and hard too, she would be getting struck by the full weight of the paladin and all his armor and shield in the process.

Fights weren't just about blocking and dodging and striking, they were about knowing which hits could be taken to open up opportunities. Maybe this was a stupid move, but he didn't see how he could avoid the attack completely. He shouted in pain as the blow struck him, and just hoped that his own attack made it all worth it.

"Sorry," he said. "I've not ever really screamed a name before. But when it happens, they'll definitely know who I'm thinking of, don't worry."

Thrown die:

1

+14, total=15 divided by 2 =7.5

The Admiral

100 HP

MAX HP

22 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

Aaron Marone

100 HP

MAX HP

100 HP

MAX HP

15 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

 

A loud gasp of surprise came from the Admiral as Aaron turned his shield to her and slammed her backwards, causing her to sprawl across the dirt on her back and feel the wind knock from her lungs. She rolled backwards, over her shoulders, and onto her feet once more as he continued to move against her, hammer slapping away at his sword or trying to knock his shield off course. She grinned with a busted lip that she had bitten upon being knocked over, grunting from the pain in her side, and began to try to press her own attacks back against him.

"Will you even be able to? Hard to talk with your face being sat on, no doubt," she quipped back, throwing the full force of one of her weapons at his foot in a vertical swing, hoping to crush toes. Of course it left her wide open, but she was too bold to care about defense.

Thrown die:

4

+5 Quality +12 Mastery = 21

The Admiral

100 HP

MAX HP

14 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

Aaron Marone

100 HP

MAX HP

100 HP

MAX HP

15 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

 

Thrown die:

4

21 + 4 = 25 damage

 

Thrown die:

1

(rolling first so I know what I get to write my post accordingly)

 

Aaron stumbled at the woman's words. "Wait, what? Sitting on my fa-" his question was interrupted there as the woman's hammer struck directly into his foot. With a crunch and a shout of pain, Aaron jumped back, flailing his sword before him but not really caring if it did anything. His health dropped a solid chunk from that, and he noticed that even though he'd started with a lot more health than the woman, his was going down much faster than hers was. Should he try healing soon? Would he be able to heal enough to make up for the damage he was taking? Would that even make the fight fair at all? He shook his head, trying to clear it.

"That was a nice hit," he said. "You're pretty good with those hammers of yours, aren't you?" His foot throbbed, and he was trying to keep the woman distracted a bit to let the game world's mechanics get to the point where he could use his foot fine again, with the only issue being the damage that had been dealt from the blow. "I can see why you're 'The Admiral', and not just 'The Sailor'," he said. He groaned inwardly at himself. That was bad.

The Admiral

100 HP

MAX HP

14 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

Aaron Marone

100 HP

MAX HP

90 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN