_____Boring, the girl sat with a truly tired expression across her face as her tail flicked with a dangerous snap back and forth to show her masked anger at the people sitting on their ship. Resting her back against a small stone wall the women was starting to consider rushing the ship and sinking it with every person on it before they got the nerve to set foot on land. While she might not have looked dangerous with her clothing and appearance, the large weapon resting to her right side was something else. _____She was dressed in in what anyone from the real world would know as gothic attire and her small frame would make most think goth loli. Her black hair waving slowly in the evening breeze and red eyes did not break from the ship that sailed just out of archer range. Resting at her feet was the first person who had tried to raid the city, his blood seeping into the sands and his eyes wide open but devoid of life. His right shoulder was cleanly cut to his heart showing he died a swift death, the girl’s weapon dripping with blood hinting who was responsible as she rose up. _____Her hands reached down to the corpse as she lifted it slowly and threw it across the white sands hissing at the members on the ship she could see. Here she was offering to be their welcoming party, and they refused to come to the shores. Her cheeks began puffing up before she exhaled and took a very deep breath to fill her lungs for her first few words to speak to the crew since she killed the male. ”GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE, IT’S RUDE TO KEEP A WOMAN WAITING ON THE SEASHORE!!!” _____Her words shouted with everything she had towards the crew before she sat back down at the wall and growled to herself for a few moments. Hands reached to pull her weapon closer as she rested it between her legs and ran her hands along the shaft of the weapon. She wanted to fight, she wanted to get hurt and kill people, she wanted to let loose. It was killing her as she lightly moaned and tensed up at the thoughts of the screams they would make and the taste of blood. _____To others arriving at the seen there was no other people that seemed willing to stay on the beachfront. The sun hung directly overhead and outside the wall behind Mary there was no cover. The white sand stretched a good thirty meters before it was broke by some cliffs making it an ideal spot to hold foes back. Water lightly crashed against the sands as more people seemed to show up along the sides of the ship. Roughly fifty it seemed, it would not be a easy fight. @Minerva Fletchgard | @Lucia Mierz | @Roja D. Yuki | @Uma Kha
It would be a while, but finally.... a quest that felt like a true test. Not a rat, or a dog, or some domestic chore. This was going to be like a fortress defense battle. Well, on a beach anyway. Maya needed to make the needed preparations for this. It would be a long battle and if any innocent NPC happened to die on the coast. It would be on her shoulders. Obviously that was not acceptable. Minerva made certain to ask the locals to stay clear of the coast. Without the guard here to help her. This would be near impossible with roaming fishermen and such hanging around. Upon arriving on the beach. Minerva would take in some wonderfully fresh coastal air. The smell of the sea... One of the earliest places she had been in this world was the coastal area of Brisshal. Being at the sea was not something that happened often for Maya. Such a shame that the beauty of this place would be marred by these scum. Her eyes shifted towards a approaching ship. A large group of dirty men were disembarking. This mission was getting underway quickly. Maya had so much pent up stress from her sheltered meaningless life. In this world she would be a NPC's hero... but for these kinds of artificial people... Minerva smirked as she grasped her sword hilt. The practice against wild animals would hopefully have pushed her sword skill up some. Their was no need to show restraint here. It was a melee, a strong point for her character. If any of them were to beg for mercy, she may give it to them. Honestly though she hoped they would not. Maya really wanted to see if she could handle this... survival rush. Immediately Maya would begin analyzing the area. There was not much time. Where to best hold ground and have the advantage as she knocked them out one by one? Minerva's face resisted the urge to openly sigh when she saw a familiar sight nearby. The bratty cat was here. How do they keep getting the same missions. Was she stalking Maya? If so what for? Regardless this wasn't the time. Best try to work together... again.... Minerva was not going to be alone here after all. More people were in her vision as well. She had to be sure a form of order was here. It was her role after all. "Everyone, take defensive positions! Don't charge the enemy! Use your specialities to their fullest!" There was no time to see what each person here's abilities were, so she just threw out a generic order. If they obeyed her orders that would be good, if not and they acted like idiots, she would not risk letting the pirates through just to save a player. Her reputation here was too important. @Lucia Mierz, @Roja D. Yuki, @Uma Kha @Bloody Mary
Lucia had spent her time from start to finish building array formations, restriction formations, among a great many other things. Unlike the other two, she didn't really take the time to observe, play or shout. One fortunate aspect of her decision was that Malefimancy was one that required stupid amounts of prep-work but was also horrifically toxic and relentless. This type of battle was where she could really shine, one where the enemy left her plenty of time to prepare. The longer it took them to make it ashore, the more horrifying their fates would inevitably be. Though sweat stained her brow when she returned, glancing down at her menu to check her energy levels as a precaution, to make sure she was still fighting fit, she understood how taxing her magic was looking at the finding circle. "That's as much as I can do on my side, now we'll just wait for the fire works I suppose." She exhaled a sigh and snapped her grimoire shut believing this to have been a job well done. 90% of the time, battles were determined before a single person set foot on the battlefield. Preparation was always key. It were a simple fist fight, brawl or cleaning job, Lucia might not have invested so much and would have just relied on her bread and butter skills, but the tides certainly weren't in their favor when out numbered. After all, as much as everyone wanted to be their own main character, blindly diving in head first was for the movies. Shining took work, planning, effort, all of which Lucia was used to but always disadvantaged in because of who she was in reality. With a flip of her silky hair, she made her way back to the pair who she was worried would be choking each other by the time she returned as well as their newest ragtag member. Melody's response wasn't unexpected, this strange girl always said bloodthirsty things as if she were worried people wouldn't find her crazed enough. "Now now, cut all of that out." Lucia spoke using the bound book to lightly tap her head in an effort to admonish her for her actions. As if bopping an over eager dog with a paper. "At least try to approach it properly this time? If you go around assaulting everything with blood in it's body you're going to antagonize the populace." It was something Lucia could only sigh about. IF their quests got interrupted by villagers angry with pitch forks, Lucia could only turn the girl over without resistance since she was a more frightful villain in the eyes of the locals. Though Minerva's response was just as horrific in some ways, equal but opposite of the bloodthirsty one as usual. "Now that's just silly, honor dueling a boat full of raiders? Even if we had incredible skills, it would be difficult. The one on the offensive holds the initiative." Lucia tried to explain, she felt endless amounts of worry for these two as usual, her only hope lied in the mysterious forth member she didn't know as well. That aside though, she at least had the time to prepare well, no matter how much the team clashed this time, there wouldn't be a single person to make it out of the array alive, that much she could guarantee. "Half of the works' already done, now it's just clean up." Lucia explained waiting for the raiders to prepare their landing party and step into the formation. It was set up with 5 layers, each one a prepared AOE field that would drain not only HP, but also Energy, Thirst, Hunger and Rest parameters over time. By the time they charged through it Lucia didn't doubt that their spirit would have dwindled unless they learned to fly. The more important part for Lucia though, was how many souls this would afford her. Looking down at the one that was under Melody's feet, Lucia swept her bound book towards the body drawing green fog and eerie light from it into it's bound pages before glancing back to Melody. "Fighting sick and ailing vagrants starving and exhausted shouldn't be to hard. Right?" @Bloody Mary @Roja D. Yuki @Minerva Fletchgard
What had she been thinking taking this quest? Oh right, she hadn't. Oh no, she was thinking of quest rewards and challenging herself, maybe leveling up her punching skills. Her nose twitched in annoyance. Next time, when the quest NPC said it was challenging, maybe she had better pay attention instead of imagining the feel of gold hitting her paws. If looks could kill, she could incinerated with her cool silver eyes her black-haired cat counterpart and the Blondie No.2. Miss Shiny Haired Pantene Pro-V seemed the only one that was the calm one. Yikes. If they taunt them, they could tank them. She had no intention of getting in their way. A quick scan of her own vitals saw that she could take on a prolonged battle. Uma had plenty of experience sneaking about the game and attacking mobs from the back. Widening her stance, she started to bounce on her toes activating her combat stance in-game. She had no idea what the shampoo model did, but probably it had to do something with magic. Debuffing? What magic skill though? Her ears flattened, tense and ready for the battle to begin. "Let's draw them near the cliffs". If they were debuffed, it might be good to get them even more tuckered out, dancing with their backs there. @Minerva Fletchgard | @Lucia Mierz | @Roja D. Yuki | @Bloody Mary
Now that he was thinking about it, he probably should have when with an lower level quest for his first quest. Not one that was levels above him like this one. Normally, he wouldn't have made a decision like this so out of impulse, but a lot of the available missions and their party slots filled up pretty fast. This left him with little options for quest and he was desperate need for the EXP. Not like he wanted to stick to grinding on low level mobs for hours. Maybe getting his ass handed shouldn't be the thing too worry about, but instead what how his current team could hold up. The one that worried him the most was the one in black and red with the cat ears. She was blood thirst and chaotic, which was bad for a quest that revolved around working as a team to complete it. Going at it guns blazing wasn't gonna cut it well for them, but they don't have that many options at the moment. His current skills rested in one-handed swordplay, combat based magic, and magecraft. Two combat based skills and one useless as he didn't have any recipes to use. His only option seemed to back everyone up by blasting a few raiders from a far with magic see if he can thin out the herd. "I'll try taking a few out from a range with some magic." Yuki said to his teammates while charging an attack of pure magical energy in his right hand with his short sword in his left.
_____Mary hissed at the women when her head was hit with the book. She also was not happy she was going to be working with others again, but part of her knew one verse fifty was stretching it so early on. Despite this and the warning of magic being set around the beachfront Mary rose to stand and spun her weapon around idly. She wanted to get the fighting started already, hands reaching to her ribbon to uncover her ears and she happily purred at the distant sight. _____The first boat would be moving out soon. All along the small sea craft a number of shields made from tree bark could be seen, mostly used to hide the passengers of the first wave as Mary took into a sprint towards the cliff and slammed her weapon into the ground using it to propel herself into the air dragging her weapon behind her. Whether she was just insane or impatient or a mix of the two was hard to tell but as the cat girl spun in the air approaching the ship she shouted a rather odd sentence. ”Who wants to be eaten first?” _____It was likely the oddest thing to hear from someone her size or build, but as her expression was dead serious and she approached the ship licking her lips her threat seemed rather true. Her landing was nothing short of lucky as her weapon was the first to crash into the shields and into the boat’s hall itself. Water rushing upward from the new changes to the ship as the girl let go of her weapon and took a rather aggressive bite out of a person’s neck. _____Numerous other boats began to sail towards the coast line towards the others while Mary chose to handle her current pray before anything else. Jaw pressing tightly around the NPC’s neck before she pulled away while her hands pushed the girl away also to make it easier to rip the chunk from the enemy. Blood spraying the other passengers as Mary moved the wound opening around to temporarily blind her targets. A small dagger lodging into her right calf from the women as a last rebellion before she was pushed overboard. @Minerva Fletchgard
Aside from the much needed bonk to the head she gave the crazy Felis. Lucia once again dismissed Maya's tactics. Of course, why not? It was just a video game to these people. For Maya this was like real life, it was her second life. Why, if she had to choose she would never take the head piece off! In real life you do not want to die, you do not get to be respawned, and you do not not follow the orders of someone who has more experience! Although in truth, Maya may or may not have had more experience than this Lucia character. Lucia did have a strong head on her shoulders which caused Maya's paranoia to become stronger. As long as Maya was the one who put all her life into this... she will be the star of this world. Minerva will be the knight legend! This was a temporary issue. Just let it slide Maya.... If Lucia's magic and straight disregard for her leadership was not enough... everyone else here continued to just do whatever they felt was best. Minerva shook her head. Fine. The successful mission was the priority here. Her analytical nature took over from here as she drew her sword and saw where everyone was heading. Even if she would not have time to help anyone it helped her personal strategy. The cat was on a boat fighting alone. Wow, who would have thought? Another Felis player was heading for the heading to the cliffs. At least she had the right idea, but it was probably too late for a full defensive. Then there was a male swordsman out there casting spells towards the boats. That probably wasn't the best use for a swordsman in a team scenario., but who could blame him. There was a crazy cat on a boat and her and Lucia were discussing tactics with pirates right at the coast line. Finally Lucia was next to her having just used a magic that seemed much stronger than her level would allow. Not bad... Unfortunately it would not help the mad cat. She did do that to herself though. As for what this situation meant for Minerva? She gritted her teeth and readied her sword in her left hand and shield wrapped around her right arm. Closing her eyes she began to cast a Illumancy spell onto herself. Her body beginning to glow with a golden light. Her protection magic activated as the warm light coated her. Minerva's eyes opened and she straight at the enemy. Lowering her head she spoke one last time to Lucia. "Thank you for your assistance. Now I shall do my job here." Minerva would not wait for the answer. Maya would not wait for it. She would head towards the enemy steadily and maintain a defensive stance. The first enemies (of course drastically weakened) would face her blade as they made their way through the field and Minerva came through the other side. Maya came to this game to be the champion not to clean up after someone else's successes. This was going to be a problem if it continued. For now, she would just finish things and appear content with it. Even if she was far from that. @Lucia Mierz @Bloody Mary @Roja D. Yuki @Uma Kha
Lucia could only shake her head, albeit somewhat bitterly when talk about running from the debuffed enemies came up. While it was sound strategy and a good plan, it wasn't something they were capable of. "It's not that kind of skill-- The Debuff will only last as long as they're within the formation, once they leave it it turns right off. With my ability, I can't really build it any wider then this already." She admitted with a vague shrug knowing she was already pushing things a lot at this rate. But she didn't want anyone to feel like she was just being lazy so she continued with some deeper insights. "Five rituals is about half of my energy, the upkeep is also particularly tragic, specially with all five of them running simultaneously. I've gone through almost half of what's left just now." She admitted, though it did quite a lot to drain her victims of all of their meters, the price was particularly heavy. While she could get her energy back, it made using special archery shots or escaping skills impossible while they would be fighting. "It will do a lot while it's around, but I'll have to turn them off before the tank empties. When that happens, I'll keep people covered with normal poisoned arrows." She offered knowing that even without skills, she was someone who was prepared from a long time ago. She'd already cursed the arrows in her quiver, it was something she did before and after every adventure. In this way even when she did drain herself using her favorite 5 layered formation, she'd still be relevant and useful in a fight. Lucia wanted to drain them all as much as she could up until the last second, so she kept letting her meter wear itself down in wait for the enemies to approach the end of the formation where they stood. Though the talk about using magic from afar made Lucia nod back, it was best to fight with ranged attacks in this situation, anything was useful since melee was a bad move until they came out from the formation. Whether or not there was friendly fire in her skills, Lucia didn't exactly want to find out first hand. "Try to switch to melee when they get closer though-- Unless you can do something like a wall of fire to keep them back, you don't want them to interrupt you." She tried to help, coach maybe, unsure if her advice would be helpful, she was someone who'd wasted her life away with games after all, there was hardly anything she hadn't put consideration into. In the end she did go a similar route to Roja after all, with martial and magic hybrid skills, minus the crafting against her will though. "Mary will probably end up dodging and running more then anything else among them, even if she takes out one or two, it's not exactly the goal. Even if there's a wrench thrown in we can still fix this-- I'll take care of her later." Lucia moved stringing up her bow, a practiced, fluid motion as she gave it a tug when it was ready. For now the Magic formation lasted, but it would only probably make it another moment or two before it finally collapses. "If you have something for ranged, let it all rip now or regret it when they're in your face~" She called out over the sounds of the boat's soldiers spilling out through the formation towards Minerva and them. Lucia did as she promised, firing a single arrow into the crowd, though it had a sinister light to it, it was merely a beginner weapon and tool. When it struck it's target, it became clear Lucia was a terrible shot, her arrow striking the man in the leg above the knee while he was charging. Fortunately though the wound would begin to rot visibly, horrific sores and rashes would spread across the victim's body from the wound little by little as long as the arrow head remained buried. Even if she was a terrible shot there was no doubt her victims would die one way or another even if it took a little longer with poor aiming.
