81 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

There seemed to be no end to the troubles that one had to face, when attempting to rectify the issues of the world. The world was a trampling bull, ever eager to gore you on its mighty horns as it thrashed about and resisted your every attempt at rearing it. And so, in turn, trouble reared its own ugly head as recompense for hubris.
At least, that was one philosophy.

Another more common line of thought that had grown in support since such intellectual days of yore was summarized as "fuck it, shit's gonna happen, yolo." While she liked to think of herself as somewhat more eloquent than that, there was an underlying fundamental truth to it that she found comforting. Things would fall apart. Situations became complicated, and at times untenable. And if one stressed themselves trying to control every object in motion within their own lives, they would quickly find it about as effective as solving an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. So she took the practical approach and tackled each issue that she knew to handle, avoiding the ones beyond her depth. Hitting things? That was definitely in her wheelhouse. So, after some wining and dining on the free feast above, she had descended with the aid of a blindfold into the chasms of the Elder Vampire Wurm.

It was dead, but its broods lived on, filling the tunnels beneath Castle Dormont with their vile ilk. Naturally it was a Yulan issue, and so she had volunteered herself to help rid the place of the beasts. But similar to the siege itself, there was all manner of adventurous sorts making a pilgrimage here in order to take the beasts on. It made her worried about security, as there was no definitive way to tell a Player Character from a Non Player Character, short of killing them and seeing if they respawned. That meant there was a high probability that Falderen could sneak a few spies into their midst, to map the tunnels or perhaps lay explosives in the caverns and drop Dormont into the earth itself. But... she was not in charge of security. She didn't know who was, actually. So she had written a friendly list of cautionary warnings for Astor and his Circle of Magitude to take into consideration before grabbing some supplies and heading below. Preliminary reports suggested that the deeper one went, the less stable things became. True, there were danger such as toxic gases and blood-magic wielding wurms, and plenty of other imaginable horrors. But it was the collapse of the entire cave system that worried her most.

So, with fifteen Non Player Characters... or, at least, she assumed they were... in tow, the Admiral took an assortment of supplies down into the depths to shore up tunnels and buttress them against future cave-ins. Others raged in battle about her, running around fighting the things as she and her merry band of builders made their way slowly down into the depths, leaving a trail of fresh supports and lit lanterns in their wake so that there was light to see by. But the deeper she went, the more dangerous it became. None of her crew had died yet, and her own injuries were minimal considering the way she consistently took the brunt of the damage... but the danger of the wurms was impossible to abate without help. That was why she had her fingers crossed that Gwyn and any other capable sorts might make their way down, to help rid the place of the pests. Once they did, they'd find themselves at least marginally safer thanks to the sturdy new supports that she and her crew were putting in, her voice echoing up and down the tunnels as she shouted orders and filling the air with the clamor of tools as they pounded things into place. Who was to say her hammers were only good for smashing heads?

58 + NA = NA (support)
Link to roll
Support (engineering) on Hard
000 / 800
​

@Gwyn ap Herne
@Astor Balthas
@Beretta

 

69 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

Rounding up a massive green anaconda and convincing it to slither down into the deep dark pits of the yawning earth was, as one could guess, quite the task to undertake. The ladders and new scaffolding being thrown up left and right to enable the gathered players to take on their task were sturdy enough to take the weight of the giant snake. She didn't want to know and didn't care to take bets on exactly how close a margin she was pushing with Nathair. It was, admittedly, a little chunky. The recent meal certainly didn't help, but it had made the tamed beast at least a little more cooperative given the circumstances. She had ensured it had quite the meal and the minimum it owed her was to do the job she tamed it for. They both could agree that a battle was a welcome hobby. It was certainly never a chore.

Gwyn didn't envy the NPCs and the various players working magic and technical skill alike to try and preserve the foundation of the castle and the walls of the tunnels below. The Ancient Vampire Wurm and its impressive brood had done quite the number on the grounds beneath the castle. She wondered fleetingly just how old such a monster had been. How long had it cut through the stone leaving pock marked and grooved walls in its wake. Entire highways could have been built in the tracks left behind by the slain creature. She wasn't sure how the Yulan Dragons, and those who claimed themselves Astoreans... Astorans.... whatever they were, managed to get the corpse of the great creature out of the way in the first place. It sounded like one less chore for her to get roped in. Not that anyone demanded she be here now.

The ranger was here for two things. The hunt and curiosity. After the Ancient Vampire Wurm had been slain, her and @The Admiral had descended into the tunnels with their eyes sharp for anything of interest. They had marveled over the power of the beasts to carve homes like the interconnected holes they had drilled with tooth alone and sought out more proof of their lives. Gwyn's eyes had been shamelessly on the possibility of viable eggs still left behind, but their search had come up with a grand total of nil and null. They were dead or already hatched, each and every one they found. While the beast tamer might have been content to keep searching on and on into the dark, common sense and The Admiral had stopped her. That and the shifted of the brood in the dark. The ones summoned in the death throes of their parent had not been the last of the swarm. More remained and so they were to play exterminators. She was still curious as to the tamability of the creatures, but such an odd beast likely required more skill than she currently possessed. A shame, really.

Instead she joined a group of supporting NPCs and the form of The Admiral hard at work, Nathair winding forward to lunge and grapple with one of the spawn that had gotten too close to their on again off again battle companion. The snake didn't like the hammer wielding woman, but there was the undercurrent of respect. It was aware of the danger she could pose to it should she chose to. Nathair delicately avoided threatening her when not behind its master, and even then only did so to be petulant. Gwyn for her part focused on the young Wurms rising to fight. Her volley of arrows flew.

50 + 40 + 20 = 110
World Quest Voucher Used
(Roll) World Quest [8/26]
Fighter
110 / 800
​

 

​

81 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

Caves. Most vrmmorpgs did have the full monty of areas to explore. To give it a complete adventuring experience for whatever setting it was aiming to create. The underground tunnels here were dark and drab, just right. It also stunk, likely due to the wurms on top of whatever else may be down here. Beretta had not been present during the Elder Wurm battle, she did however get a good deal of gossip out of the players and NPCs while still above ground. It looks like this was somewhat finalizing their stamp of conquest over this castle. Astorea would be able to possibly use these tunnels for themselves if they cleared them out enough. Such areas were perfect for unsavory activities though. What people do in their spare time in a game, while not pleasant to think about, it was not her concern. Only if it openly supported activities that the agency proved to be prohibited would she take any actions against it. Even then, it would be better to shut the game itself down for condoning such things than to do anything in the game itself to rectify it.That was the problem though wasn't it? Still no clues as to who made this. No brands, ads, or logos. Nothing that would link it to any particular company. Pretty thorough they were.

Beretta aligned herself with a group of NPC and players. It was fairly easy to tell who was who by how they responded to her carefully directed conversations. However down here the need to stay on guard and fight made it harder. They were moving forward slowly but steadily. Killing the brood as they would crawl out of the tunnels to kill the people invading what was their home. Beretta herself spent some time testing out her fighting capabilities here. The wurms were not that difficult. They were able to be smashed with large weapons, pierced with arrows and spears and cut. A good way to speed up killing was to impale the Oligochaetas into stalagmite with a powerful attack or a throw. So Beretta did this at every available opportunity to avoid tiring from having to just beat the things to death. Having her gun would have made this much easier, unfortunately it was a rare occasion that such a weapon made it into a game like this. It was why she trained in martial arts as well for combat scenarios.

79 + 30 = 109
Link to roll
Fighter
219 / 800
​

 

85 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

Cobweb and thick dust hindered vision and shrouded the path toward, whatever the party was looking for. Astor couldn’t put anymore words toward describing the tunnel without sounding redundant, even in his own mind. Although grunt work was beneath the golden-haired king, figuratively and literally, he was weary of the talking game he had had to play the past few weeks. First, his advisors had him meet emissaries, then it was some nobles, then dukes, then princesses seeking oodles of admiration. Astor’s true self was not a speaker, but a doer, and even if he absolutely can’t stand the large, stinking snake that looked no different than what they were killing, he put up with it and the gargantuan woman whose identity was unknown to him. He at least trusted The Admiral’s selection of the crew at least. He told himself not to converse with any of these strangers, he was there for the adventure and adventure is what he will get.

Though, amid the exploration of the canal which these vile beasts had made over several years, he couldn’t help but wonder if this space could not be refurbished into living quarters. Certainly they were damp and lack air to breathe, but engineers exist for a reason don’t they? The thought traveled with him ahead, until he spotted a wurm that seemed to be of a modest size, most likely a wurmling if he had to guess. “I’ve got it, press forward, I’ll catch up momentarily,” he said and immediately veered away from the merry band of hapless adventure-thirsting plebeians.

Readying his hands at his side, Astor began chanting a fire spell, though, he stopped almost immediately by closing his hand at the last second, snuffing the growing fireball. “Whoops, almost forgot…” he muttered to himself. They were exploring a small confine deep below ground, fire, in any amount, would burn up the already limited air (which the main group seemed to be completely unconcerned with), if he were to exacerbate it anymore, it could potentially kill them all. He may have thought his ‘subjects’ were stupid, but that doesn’t mean he wanted to kill them.

With renewed concentration, Astor closed his eyes and began to put both of his hands in front of him. With a quiet chant, he forged a large shard of ice out of thin air and suspended it next to his head as he shaped another, while taking active steps toward the feeding wurmling. Astor sent one at the wurm, pinning onto the ground while he aimed more carefully with the second one. The latter shard plunged into the wurm’s head the moment Astor commanded it to. Of course, blood and gore scattered everywhere filling up the canal with a putrid dead smell that he could not handle at all.

Covering his mouth and nose, Astor intended on heading back to rejoin the main group, but he could feel a tremor beneath him, which only took a few seconds before the source revealed itself. Bursting out from the ground was a larger vampire wurm, which seemed to fussed over the dead wurmling. Of course they were attracted to the scent of blood, more so if it was their own.

“Oy, how about some help for your king, huh?!” Astor shouted, hoping the canals carry his voice as the wurm viciously roared as it slammed itself against the icy wall Astor had put up. Although his shield seemed to be holding for now, he wasn’t sure how much longer he would last against the ferocious mother wurm.

80 + 40 = 120
(Roll)
Vanquish

339 / 800
​

 

52 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

It seemed as though her prayers were being answered as several figures began to appear, turning the tide of the wurms away from her and the working crew who continued to put up supports. Cheers went up as Astor appeared, fighting his way down an adjoining corridor as wurm after wurm fell beneath his magical onslaught. The cheers turned to hoots as Gwyn and Beretta made the scene, until a rather stern reminder to be respectful came in the form of the Admiral smashing a boulder with one of her hammers.

"Play nice, boys, and cut the cat calls! Or do I need to increase the working pace since you've clearly got time to spare and oggle?"

As it turned out, they did not, because a massive wurm struck up from the depths and attempted to eat Astor. She and her crew got immediately back to work, fixing things up so that the entire place did not collapse on their heads. Good thing too, considering the near cave-in the large wurm had caused. She and a few of the other men got buried under some falling stones, injured but alive. Brushing herself off, she had the others inspected and realized that two of them were too injured to keep working.. so she sent one man to help guide them to the surface, which meant she was down three souls. Not the best sized work crew, twelve... but it would have to do.

6 + NA = NA
Link to roll
Support (Engineering)
339 / 800
​

@Gwyn ap Herne
@Beretta
@Astor Balthas

 

48 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

The huntress wasn't the least bit familiar with the strange woman who joined the pair at first. Perhaps a fleeting glance prior to their descent, but nothing more. She appreciated the skill of her strikes all the same. The conservation of energy this far down was important enough and @Beretta's clever use of their surroundings was admirable. Save for the fact that perhaps slamming the wurms into the portions of cave their supporting cast were currently working to stabilize... wasn't the best idea. "Hey miss? Let's not bring down the roof Addy's raising over here." She huffed out as she loosed an arrow into the open mouth of one of the smaller wurms. It writhed horrifically as the arrow skewered it, but she had already moved on to the next to let it bleed out the last of its life. Hemomancy didn't do much when one was too young to use it or busy choking on their own blood.

The king joined them in time. Better late than never and all that. She didn't pay much attention to his attacks and focused on keeping anything headed toward their support either pinned down or put firmly six foot under. Nathair writhed in the dark, needled teeth finding easy grips in the rough skin of the young wurms as its superior size crushed the smaller of the swarm. Gwyn counted her blessings that the beast's love of water meant she wouldn't need to give it a bath after it popped so many juvenile wurms. Gwyn on the other hand? The furious bites of those she couldn't kill before they reached her and the painful rubble that occasionally shook free of the cavern's ceiling were adding up. She wasn't a sentient puddle of blood yet, but she could definitely go with less of that mess.

When the largest wurm they had seen so far made its appearance, Gwyn whistled sharply to catch her tame's attention. "Guard!" She barked and the creature obeyed. It moved closer to the workers and @The Admiral while the ranger shifted her position closer to the newly crowned king. She didn't despise the man, but she had yet to find a reason to hold @Astor Balthas in any sort of high regard. At least he was useful and appeared to be capable of pulling his own weight. Time and effort would tell that tale for him in the end. Until then, they had an enemy in common. His raised ice wall would be a problem, but at her distance she could sidle along to get a better air. When the beast did break through? The archer pulled back, the burn in her muscles a pleasant reminder of her work, and released a Precision Shot. The shot moved like lightning, making a commendable strike through the gaping jaws. Not quite down the middle like she intended, but every now and then a spare would have to do.

78 + 40 + 20 = 138
World Quest Voucher Used
(Roll) World Quest [8/26]
Fighter
477 / 800​

 

​

54 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

As the squad proceeded on. @Gwyn ap Herne one of, what immediately became obvious, the team leaders, cautioned her to cease with her strategy. Beretta was unsure how her tactic would cause that. The operative made a attempt to explain how the impaling of the worms upon the floor worked exactly. Since their bodies were fairly soft rather than hard. Unfortunately a wurm burst from the ground just as Beretta would fold her arms as she always did to speak from behind Gwyn. It tied itself around Beretta's torso and tried to lift her up. Urgh... this was a mistake to hold a tactical discussion down here. She placed both of her hands together, swinging downward with such force that the wurm's body burtssopen. She would fall to the ground but had a good deal of wurm guts on her jacket now.

"Dry cleaning is probably not a luxury here. Perhaps there is a magic solution."

Bretta brushed off some of the goop with her gloved hands and then returned to the task at hand. It was then that she heard a great applause from the supporters.... this was a strange time for that kind of thing? Wait, the man they were applauding. So he was King @Astor Balthas. He was powerful, moreso than the large armored woman who led the supporters and the archer leader. Beretta would need to use this opportunity to gain his trust. Otherwise she would no longer have a chance to "stealth" interrogate him as she normally did. People who seeked to be kings were not the kind of people to allow easy audiences once they obtained that title. Certainly not ones that involved small talk.

As she fought on. Beretta made certain to stay close to him, even by pushing herself harder than she should. He had a non refined way of speaking. He seemed to be enjoying this, well it was a game so that was not too strange. It would take more analysis before she could be sure of anything. It was especially difficult with worms bursting out everywhere.

56 + 30 = 86
Link to roll
Fighter
563 / 800​

 

85 HP

MAX HP

70 EN

MAX EN

Although Astor himself had led quite a few parties as a raid leader by now, he relished at the chance of not having to direct people and being able to enjoy the hunt for what it was, mindless vanquishing of foes that would seek to uproot the castle at its foundation. There was nothing political about killing wurms and it’s something Astor could best enjoy. Seeing the reinforcement clamor his name as he expertly blocked the mother wurm’s attack, he realized that his ice wall was blocking the ranged damage dealers who relied on clear vision. Thinking quickly about his proceedings, Astor decided to drop the wall so others could help him end the large wurm quickly so it doesn’t call for backup, the canal won’t be able to hold out if more of these monsters show up.

Drawing the stale air into his lungs, Astor lowered his ice wall and leaving himself open to the wurm’s angry retaliation. Though, @Beretta stuck close to him, which gave him some assurance about not being eaten if his attack went awry. Whipping his head back at the line of followers behind him, he shouted, “Count to five and then duck or you’re going to melt!!!”

With the verbal warning, which he hoped the others picked up over the loud roaring and dangerous rumbling all around them, Astor began to recite a chant. It was a spell that he had yet to mess around with too often, but it had a chance to end the encounter as soon as possible if he executed it properly.

A massive flame emitted from his grimoire as he read the words on the page, “Asym veraugh vesyn mephestos alys!!!” Once the incanation was complete, two massive pillars of flames burst into two directions with Astor serving as the catalyst in the middle. He was careful in making sure the flame did not touch the walls, ground, or ceiling, to save the support some work, which prompted him to burn the oxygen concentrating in the middle between the ground and the ceiling.

The attack seemed to be amazingly effective as the wurm mother caught aflame and began to thrash wildly on the floor, slamming itself against all direction to alleviate the flesh-melting fire that covered its body. Astor panted after the attack, seeing as how between the concentration and finesse he had to put into the attack, it took a lot out of him. Although he was unable to kill it in one shot, he was confident the rest of his party would be able to finish it and get the hell out of his deep cave before they are asphyxiated by him burning up a lot of the oxygen.

97 + 40 = 137
(Roll)
Vanquish
700 / 800
​

 

33 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

The fighting continued to build up in vigor and intensity as the some of the strongest of Terrasphere fought amidst the confines of the tunnels below Castle Dormont. The Admiral could spare no attention watching, but amidst the crack and roar of shaking earth she could hear snippets here and there. Gwyn sent Nathair to keep the crewmen safe, in theory, but they had to shoo the snake off for fear that it might try to eat some of the mildly injured. Meanwhile, those that could work tried to prop up beams at every four yards or so, moving quickly but carefully. It was not expert work, but it was something; Astorea would need to repair and improve them in the future if they planned to keep these tunnels active.

A half-familiar voice echoed up the corridor and she recognized Astor, distorted but distinct, warning them all to get down. Her eyes widened and she turned to her crew, dropping her tools where she stood.
"Kiss dirt!" she shouted, satisfied when several men understood and immediately fell to the floor and lay as slow as possible. Some did not, and so she grabbed the closest to her and tripped him onto his stomach, then lay down on her own and covered her head with her hands. The air filled with an intense heat as flames spat through the tunnel, avoiding any serious damage to the buttressing but catching the supplies they had brought down aflame. The air was filled with acrid smoke that choked at their lungs and nearly blinded them, and though it hung high in the tunnel, the pocket of breathable air they had would not suffice for long. Some of the supports were aflame, where the fire's heat had caused the lamps spread through the tunnels to shatter and spill their oil and spark. In other words, fubar.

"Hendricks! Pile some dirt on that pyre!" she shouted, pointing to the stack of burning lumber supplies. The man began to shovel some loose earth onto it in the hopes of putting out the flames. In the meantime, the Admiral tried to drown out the noise and focus on a mental blueprint of the caverns they had explored so far. Pinpointing herself on her mental map, she began to crawl twenty meters further up the shaft where the smoke was amassing and at its thickest. She stood, and began to strike at the ceiling with her hammers, shattering the earth and... yes, there it was: a small tunnel the creatures had bored out that ran almost parallel to this one, and was at its closest here. The ground between them shattered in an explosion of rubble and the smoke began to pour up and into the smaller corridor as fresh ventilation was provided. Choking in a gasp of fresh air, she jogged back to where the action was happening and got back to work.

46 + NA = NA
Link to roll
Support (engineering)
700 / 800
​

 

17 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

While Nathair might have been getting its fill of unsettling folks for fun and killing for an instinctive pleasure, it was doing the job she had tasked it with and that was as best she could hope. Luckily for the various non-player characters around, it had quite the full stomach. She hadn't seen it try to actually devour any of the fallen Ancient Vampire Wurm's kin yet which was another blessing in disguise. The nutritional value of the things wasn't exactly readily available in any game's UI and who knew what they could do to its digestive tract, much less it's mind. They knew the elder ones were capable of Hemomancy and so far the record for that breed of magic was a foul one. It wouldn't do to have a corrupted anaconda longer than four of her tall turning on her at any point. Nathair's restraint was appreciated.

Gwyn noted the positions of her companions for the quest as they moved, fought, and all in all fucked shit up. @Beretta moved to aid @Astor Balthas against the mother wurm. The arrow through the back of its throat seemed to have done enough damage as is, but the attacks of the smaller woman and the king were wearing it down heartily. When the king on stolen throne called for them to duck, Gwyn hissed in a breath and dropped. She didn't have to worry about her tame at least. It was farther back with the support and as low to the ground as any creature not a worm or wurm could be. If anything she felt a dull echo through the animal empathy that felt like... enjoyment? "Are you sunbathing in an inferno?" She snapped over her shoulder at the serpent as the roaring of the flames faded. Its coils wound about where it lay near some of the NPCs lucky enough to drop in time. "Brat." The huntress stayed low, pulling herself into a hunched crouch. She saw @The Admiral make a move through the smoke. The heavy tread of her boots was obvious and the sound of rock under fire heralded their savior. With a torrent of wind, the smoke began to vent away.

Nathair had drifted closer to one of the burning piles of supplies the support crew were desperately trying to put out. It didn't intervene, but it definitely seemed to be enjoying the heat put off. There was no time for babysitting the greedy beast, however, as the wurm still lived. Fire ate at its body like a a swarm of its own brood. It would not last long, of that she was sure. The archer took her time to bring up another arrow to fit against the string of the black longbow. The heavy draw weight resisted her, but it was a comforting fight. A subtle testing of wills and worth. Or she was reading too much into it, but she honestly did enjoy it. There were more than a few reasons she had turned off the assisted aiming and automated attacks in the earlier levels. This was one.

When she fired, the Precision Shot stayed true. It shot over the heads of the two melee fighters and once more skewered into the raging creature. This time it made its home sunk into the roof of the wurm's mouth. There was a second of gurgled blood spewing from the orifice before the fight left its body. It fell limply to the floor of the cave and lay lifeless. Their fight wasn't truly over yet, however. "There are still more spawn left. Let's clean up and call it a day!" She crowed, happy with their kills so far. With the adult slain there were no breeding aged ones left. If they could kill the last of its scattered brood then they'd prevent more from growing. A successful hunt, through and through. Minus how she felt like she'd been hit by a ten ton truck, but that wasn't anything unusual as of late.

67 + 40 + 20 = 127
World Quest Voucher Used
(Roll) World Quest [8/26]
Fighter
827 / 800​

 

​

22 HP

MAX HP

100 EN

MAX EN

The mission was reaching it's end with the defeat of Wurm Mother. The emerging wurms were slowing down and the supports were finishing tasks faster with less and less resistance. Beretta was finding a bit less to do herself. Lucky her, because she was starting to tire. Even with pacing oneself. It was impossible to maintain a state of peak health. This was not subduing human beings, but rather giant Oligochaetas. This game seemed to be realistic on the body's condition as well. Some vrmmrpgs would allow you to feel more super human or ignore pain effects. While those did seem to be in play here. Something was off. Even with the option to toggle.

Beretta also witnessed King @Astor Balthas 's power on full display. He was a multi elemental mage, possibly all four primaries. Although the rest were not yet seen if he was. How long had he been here? Since launch day? Was he a beta tester? Beta testing was one of the ways that 'Kirito' aka Kazuto Kirigaya of Sword Art Online fame, prepared himself for the challenge set before him. The stories of good he was were a understatement. However he was just a player. Beretta doubted he was a good fighter in real life. The reports told a less heroic man outside of the game. In which case was Astor similar? A coincidence maybe. From what Beretta could garner, he was indeed someone who had been here since the beginning. He also was a little bit over the top in his characters personality. Maybe it was just his own but many people liked to role play. Either to enjoy the game better or to cover their actual goals. That was still unclear.

"Astor. You are good at this game. You probably would have been a real ace in SAO. You play a lot I take it? Wish I had that kind of time on my hands.... life obligations can be a chore sometimes."

She said once they were traversing a clear area. She learned what happened last time she stopped during battle to converse and kept herself as aware of her surroundings as she could. Beretta was unsure if she could handle another surprise wurm grasping attack.

60 + 30 = 90
Link to roll
Fighter
917 / 800​

 

50 HP

MAX HP

65 EN

MAX EN

Per his expectation, some idiots did not heed his verbal warning and ended up getting roasted alive. If they were players, that would be a nonissue, but it would suck if those that perished in the flame were a person of the land (or so he called them). Either way, the large woman with the stinky snake companion finished off the large mother wurm, one less nightmare to haunt his dreams at night; he really, cannot, for the life of him stand anything remotely wormy, though having to maintain the image of a strong and fearless leader helped him kill these monsters without breaking into sweats. Letting out a sigh as he used another spell to conjure ice shards, which he used to clean out the rest of the tunnels that they visited.

On their merry excursion, the mysterious woman who backed him up in close quarter came and initiated a conversation with him. Of course, like any new person he becomes acquainted with in real life and in Terrasphere, he took a step back and profile them, trying to uncover what their goals are. If there was anything the lander advisors has taught him, it was the memorable quote that went something like: ‘Don’t fight Falderen or Yladia. Fight every battle everywhere, always, in your mind. Everyone is your enemy, everyone is your friend. Every possible series of events is happening all at once. Live that way and nothing will surprise you. Everything that happens will be something that you’ve seen before.’ It was a good quote and helped him keep prepare for every event, the exchange with @Beretta was nothing short of that.

“I suppose so, though I don’t think I would have enjoyed a mindless death trap masquerading as a game like SAO. It started out as a hobby, but I guess I am quite involved in it now… considering an entire nation is named after my character. Though, you don’t need to worry, my playing the game now is part of my job, so I can afford to spend quite a lot of time in this world. Though… my precinct would absolutely tear me a new one if they knew what I was up to,” he said. While adrenaline was coursing through his veins, it seems that he had accidentally hinted at his real life profession. Although it was something he kept to himself for the most part, he didn’t go out of his way to hide the fact.

“So what brought you to my Kingdom? I don’t know you by name, despite being fairly acquainted with all of the skilled players in this area by now,” amid their conversation, he turned his attention to @The Admiral and @Gwyn ap Herne briefly. “I think we’re done here. We should probably head back before everyone chokes to death. Drinks on me tonight,” he said.

39 + 40 = 120
(Roll)
Vanquish
996 / 800
​

 

The fighting escalated for moments more, and then came to abrupt conclusions as the fighters finished putting down the burrowing broods of the wurm. There did not seem to be any fatalities among her working crew, but injuries ranged from burns to broken bones as the men began to carry themselves towards the top levels and the safety of the castle. A glance was stolen in Gwyn's direction to offer the woman a thumbs up in congratulations, before turning her attention on Astor who announced a toast to their victory... more or less.

"Us three girls, doing jello shots off of you? That sort of thing?" she asked much to her own amusement, though the concept of a 'jello shot' was foreign to the non player characters. She put it on her list of must-do's in the game: introduce jello, assuming they had a basis for gelatin already. If not, then make margarine. And then the radio. Then she'd be able to rule the entire god damned world in this game, with those two powers under her belt. If she felt like it, at least.

"I'm more of a whiskey man, if you'll take no offense. But I appreciate the invitation to have drinks on you." She gave a wave goodbye and sauntered after her working crew, desperate for a shower.


@Gwyn ap Herne
@Beretta
@Astor Balthas

 

Gwyn snapped her fingers to summon Nathair closer to her and out of the way of the people now milling about with the last of the wurms dealt with. All in all she'd say they were rather successful. She was almost a little disappointed that they hadn't put up the fight that their elder kin had before them. Still to young and weak, likely. It was for the better that they weren't. The vast majority of people didn't exactly share her opinions on the hunt, much less her general attitude towards a fight, challenge, or death itself. Nathair slid across her boots with a rasping hiss to draw her attention, eyeing the corpses of the wurms. "You already ate. Eat more and the ladders and scaffolding won't hold up on the way out. I think Addy's done enough," she spoke lowly to the tame as she knelt to pet over the smooth scales. Well, the scales not soaked in slick and gory monster guts.

The ranger looked up when the king of Astorea and what was that over dramatic "weeb" title she had people talking about before? Elder Dragon? Something along those lines. The king and guild leader of Yulan called out to her and @The Admiral. She scowled for a moment when the armored woman started up talk of jello shots all the sudden until two and two added up to four. Ah, drinks on him. She snorted, "More of a mead and lady lady myself. And Addy, you should join Sera and I for a drinking contest sometime soon." She straightened up as she spoke, Nathair settling down as it accepted her decision.

She watched the woman leave before glancing back to @Beretta and @Astor Balthas. "Pleasure fighting with you both. Don't wait up, Nathair and I are probably going to poke around a bit longer in case there are any stragglers. Oh! Nathair, think there are any eggs in this tunnel?" A mild excitement lit back up in her eyes as she looked down at the anaconda. From the connection through her animal empathy it seemed that... well, Nathair wasn't exactly too excited about staying down in the tunnels longer. Or it was jealous it would possibly be replaced by an overgrown, armored earthworm. "Fine, fine. We'll head back. You need a bath." That? That it liked even less, but it went without too much of a fuss. Only a hiss or three, which she figured was generous of it all things considered.

 

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The mission was concluded successfully. It looked like Astorea would now be free to convert tunnels into whatever they wished. It was just a artificial construct in a virtual world but it still felt like this had all happened for real. It was more like a time machine then a game sometimes. Especially at this moment. The following was a tell tale clue that there was a elite group in this game. Whether for good or ill was uncertain. Checking her information pane to faux check her needs meters. She would see that the people considered in her party were The Admiral, Gwyn ap Herme and Astor Balthas. They were all strong and knew each other. That would be normal to some degree but they all were helping out Astorea. Interesting how the strongest players she had encountered so far were into or willing to support this idea of creating a home here to call their own. Odd but not enough to make any final judgments about. Astor was not shy about giving his reply. In fact he gave away quite a bit of information very willingly. Peculiar for a man playing a prohibited virtual program. Closing the screen Beretta let herself relax but still looked tense. She was always tense looking really. It was not her fault. She had a kind of tense and stiff face. She was born with it.

"Beretta. I'm not new to these games so I know my way around one. I sought out the latest event as a way to meet the devoted player base that were putting time into the game to see how they played. I like to learn a game from the front. So I go where the action is."

As the other two left hastily and it would just be her and the King for a short moment. She reached out her hand to him.

"A officer... my father was in the force. I will remain in this area for awhile. So perhaps we will meet again. I do not drink unfortunately so I must pass."

After a handshake if, he would do so, Beretta would keep what she heard here in mind and and head back out of the tunnels. He was playing the game as work? Hmmm... the plot thickens.

@Astor Balthas

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