4060/A three hour tour, an uncharted isle

A three hour tour, an uncharted isle
Date of Scene:	30 April 2016
Location:	Alfheim Online <ALO>
Synopsis:	Monsters give loot. They also hurt people... a lot.
Cast of Characters:	Kirito, Tomoe, 162, 215, Karian Icefang, 631, 675, 707, Yuuki Konno, 922, 960
Tinyplot:	CCO

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Yuuki Konno has posed:
    While sailing on the digital seas of a virtual Carribean paradise, the heroes of the Windstar (or possibly privateers - the line is narrow) were faced with a bit of a dilemma. While they handily defeated a crew of a few player characters that outleveled them, the battle wasn't easy. Skill counts hugely in virtual battles but gear can't be discounted. While the heroes were limited to aiming for weak points in an opponent's defense, the opponents had no such limitations. They could strike wherever they pleased, making their attacks considerably easier to land with deadly effect. No disparagement to our heroes' skills, but even they have to acknowledge the game's rules when seeking out high-difficulty encounters.

    The dilemma is that, while they can win against a handful, they would be much harder pressed against an entire clan. And that, it seems, it what might be in store for them. The people who witnessed the rogue AI have been hard to identify among the beginner zones. As the heroes advanced through zones, they began to hear more rumors. Now they have some idea of at least one rogue who has reputedly survived the encounter. Well, perhaps survived is the wrong word. He endured the encounter. There were no survivors, but death in this game isn't permanent.

    Genryu, a captain of the Salty Dogs clan, lives on an island with his hearties. That they were able to claim and hold land should be a clear indication of how formidable the clan is. It's not likely to be a handful of enemies in midrange gear... it's likely to be dozens in high-end gear. Even with gear upgrades from fighting the pirates the last time the group gathered, they'll stand little chance in a toe-to-toe fight with an entire raid-level clan. They'll have to upgrade. It's not enough to have just a weapon in the mid-level range. The group needs high-level weapons, or full sets of protective armor. Not heavy plate like Alfheim Online might have of course. Such doesn't work too well at sea... no, vests and charms are the primary armor here. Vests to protect the vitals, charms to provide an overall defense.

    The clan who calls the Windstar their ship have set the time to gather and take on an expedition to equip themselves further. Their goal is one of dozens of uncharted islands in the navalscape. A locale offering mid-to-high PVE content, with suitable rewards and experience. Those who just now sign into CCO will find themselves where they'd last logged out, either on the deck of the Windstar or in an open port. If the latter, they can easily join the crew by means of a teleport summon. Either way, those who didn't join the Windstar at the start of today's sailing will be able to appear on-deck. Probably a good idea for at least a few people to have sailed with Auralia. These aren't safe seas, and the crew could use the speed boost of a couple of good players manning the stations.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    It seemed Karian was also lurking about in CCO, but in a look no one would have expected. Gone was his heavy armor and big, boastful style. Instead was a quiet man, middle aged in appearence. A tell-tale eyepatch on his right eye as well. He wore light clothing, so he could maneuver better. He figured that in a game like this, his tanky nature wouldn't really help. As for his armament? Karian opted to bring a longsword at his hip. Along his chest sat the holsters for 4 flintlocks, and on his back was a lone musket. He joined not long ago, but spent much time working to get on-par with everyone else.
    Today, he found himself invited onto the ship 'Windstar'. "Fancy meeting all of you here." He says, voice gruffed and totally in character.

Kain (960) has posed:
    Popping the helmet back on after a quick dinner, along with the satisfaction of it being the weekend, Kain smiled, used his foot to close the door before saying that old line again: "Link Start!"

    The first thing Kain sees when he logs back in is a rather beat-up crew... Kain just blinks, looking around a bit and wondering just what was going on... he missed a battle just as he was headed to dinner... that was upsetting. "Aww, come on! I missed a battle? Seriously?" He groans. "Darnit... but it was worth it~! Tacooooos..." Kain definitely wasn't in-character right now...

    After hearing what exactly happened from crewmember NPCs, Kain went up to where the rest of the group was, finding a new member among the ranks. He looks to Karian and smiles. "Oh. Hi." He then looked to Auralia specifically. "So... a random thought. Maybe we're not exactly strong enough for PvP. Maybe we should be looking into taking over our own island in some good ol' fashioned PvE. It'll give us some much needed gear that'll help battles like that go much smoother."

Iria (215) has posed:
Iria's also hanging around in CCO, namely to get in some practice on being a true pirate, both in terms of speaking and her skills. She's getting the hang of speaking pirate, although her voice still sounds a bit more like a young teenaged girl, so it's kind of a mixed bag. Nevertheless, the more you practice the better you get. So Iria's starting to get better at this overall. And when she arrives onboard the Windstar, she sounds a little more natural when she talks. "I be gettin' the hang o'this, ya!" She says, trying to put a little raspiness into her voice.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Auralia stands at the helm of her ship. "Boatswain, tack sails for landing approach. Prepare the boat for landfall. Ready to drop anchor." she calls in Command. The NPC crewmen shift their behavior patterns and start preparing the ship to make landfall. It comes up to a fair distance from an island that just screams 'dangerous'. A small rowing boat is slowly lowered into the water, and a rope-net is dropped to allow people to get on board from the deck. "Be careful over there. I will remain here to keep the ship prepared to weigh anchor once you return." she offers to the others.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Sunshower's been making good use of her share of the loot from the fight against the enemy pirate ship - specifically that Brewmeister Vat. She still needs to work up her gathering and crafting levels, but she's been able to start making brews decent enough to trade, and she's sharing some of the coin she earns from those sales with the Windstar's accounts, rather than hoarding all the cash for herself. She's also been training with her knives; it's not so much trying to raise her coded skill level as just getting used to how the knives handle in-game, and learning how to trigger whatever assisted attack skills CCO lets her make use of. It's basically a form muscle memory, just like the command combos in any non-VR game, and *that* is where she can use the practice.

She's definitely been on board for the voyage to the island - even if she can't do *that* much, she can craft some simple brews and work her way through a surfeit of ingredients she's collected. Depending on how much space the Vat requires, she might do a fair amount of that belowdeck so she's not in other people's way on the Windstar's main deck. With the announcement that they're approaching the island, though, she finishes her last concotion, puts her equipment and supplies away in her inventory, and makes her way around to offer a waterskin - or rather, a wineskin (meadskin? ... whatever) to the other PCs. "Little better than th' healing grog I brought to our last party," Sunshower explains, "but drink as ye need to!"

... did she get another knife or two since last time? They aren't clanking together or anything as she moves, but she might look a little more armed than before.

Reker (631) has posed:
    It's hard to jump back and forth between this game and GGO. Having automatic weapons and explosives is so much easier to kill people than single shot flint locks and swords. Still, Reker does like the setting, so he's once again abord the Windstar.

    He has taken his position at the crow's nest again, looking out over the water towards the island they are rapidly approaching. He's been putting points into shooting skills, reloading skills and the like. Primarily the combat skills he can level up.

    At the moment he's looking through a scope, trying to spot any defenders on the beach. Someone who may have already spotted them and alerted their boss. He has a musket up in the crow's nest with him, just in case someone tries to run to warn the others.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Why on Galanadia is Cirra in CCO?

    'Rogue AIs' is enough reason to get her to switch games for a night. She does however maintain her ALO avatar as transfered. Purple hair in a ponytail folded up back with a hairpin. A long overcoat with embroidary and pair of long brown boots over a pair of pants.

    The one deviation is that she's wearing a black and red corset style top over a white blouse with red embroidary. She doesn't seem to mind, virtual clothing can't be uncomfortable.

    In this world, she's decided to carry a narrow light sword, like a short estoc, or perhaps wide rapier? She's also forgone pistols for throwing knives kept inside her long coat.

    PErhaps counter intuitively, she's bought equipment just slightly above her current skill level. One or two levels at most, with the intent to 'level into it' while just dealing with the penalities. Sure it seems like gamble, she'll just have to poke a lot of things with her pig sticker.

Kirito has posed:
Kirito's been spending an extraordinary amount of time logged into CCO thus far. Although he's not spoken much about why, it's not hard to peg it as for Yuuki's sake. Time he has plenty of.

    And by now his 'wooo, new game' zeal's starting to give way to a more business-like approach to considering his build and gear. He's spent lots of time shadow fencing and the like on deck, getting used to the feel of his weapons. He's tromped every inch of the boat and tested the limits of his acrobatics and climbing skills. Even without enemies to fight there are things he can do to train and prepare. All with a strange focus few players would show.

    The focus of someone who's used to their life depending on complete mastery of every relevant facet of every relevant force in their survival.

    Of course, if any STRANGE SEA MONSTERS or other oddities flopped up onto deck he was right there to deal with it!

    "You knwo we can always just challenge them and shake things up. Duels or a tournament. Any player worth their salt won't turn down a duel, especially if they're confident in a win. Smaller numbers, I've got no problems there. Could really use some better gear though. This stuff's holding us all back."

    Which is why they're headed for an island. For ADVENTURE.

    Which is why Kirito's now standing near the edge of the bow, weapon sheathed and arms folded over his chest, a goofy and eager smile all over his face.

    ADVENTURE TIME!

    He turns about to see who's logging in... "Ohoo..." Kain. Kain's here this time!

    He didn't expect that.

Weiss Schnee (922) has posed:
    Snowflake the craftsprincess, reporting for duty! She's mostly been spending the off-time training her crafting ability and getting good at the minigame, and bolstering the Windstar's hull. She even constructed the landing boat the party's using to board the island (too bad that she hasn't unlocked the ability to add a harpoon gun or any fun stuff like that).
    She -still- refuses to get into piratespeak, though she does seem to be enjoying herself otherwise (which, depending on if your name is evocative of one of three colors or not, is somewhat of a rare sight). Sliding down the rope-net majestically, she brandishes her shiny new rapier (which looks even shinier than when she first got it on her last adventure) in the direction of the island. "Onwards, towards adventure!"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe has been once more in her pirate form she was enjoying the outfit and while the others had been away? Tomoe had got some crazy tribale tatoos on her limbs and possibly more and there was very much a story behing tht she was in good spirits though as she caught up a little bit late with everyone else.

"HEy Kirito! Kain! Check out this! I stumbled into an event nd got these unlocked."

She turns abotu showing off a little bit and was the most bouncy she'd been in a /while/.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Auralia chuckles a bit at Tomoe. "I know that event, it's a weekly repeatable. Knew a guy that did it for six months solid. Completely covered in 'em. Hard-ass bastard to damage now though. Those Tattoos have a stat bonus to Defense. It's not as much as a proper Vest, but it's all-over, not just vitals."

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian looks towards Kain and offers a nod. "Sounds like a good plan." He says. He then walks over and starts to check on his pistols, making sure they were loaded. "How long did you have to hunt for the money for the ship?" He asks of Auralia as they all head for the island.

Kain (960) has posed:
    Kain thinks about it for a bit. "Hmm... I might try that event later. Nice going there, by the way." He gives Tomoe a thumbs up, that trademark smile of his. He then looks out towards the island they were approaching. Once stopped and the boat setting up to hit water, he looked to Kirito and gestured outward. "After you."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Auralia leans over the railing as Karian asks her that question. "Huh... Well I personally got /really/ lucky, hooked up with a Privateer that went out looking for Pirates and Outlaws with big bounties on their heads. We nailed SaltJack Steven, one of the most notorious captains in the mid-level zones. My payoff for helping out netted me a little Sloop all my own... and it just, grew from there to what you see now. She's not the biggest, but she's definitely mine."

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Perhaps surprisingly, Yuuki hasn't geared up much at all. She's got the most reason to take CCO seriously among everyone. The rogue AI issue, after all, may lead to the means to save her life. Paradoxically, she's too busy living to commit much time to saving herself. She's been attending classes at Beacon, meeting with friends, and seeing as much of the Multiverse and meeting as many interesting people as she can.

    She's been here for a while though. When the group decided to meet, she was one of the first to enter. Grinding on her own would be 'playing', and she's got other things to do than play. Meeting her friends however, that's vital. And besides, she IS committed to seeking out a solution to her problem. She's just committed to doing so with friends rather than solo.

    "That's a good idea!" she says to Kirito's suggestion. "I mean, we're not here to take this guy's clan over or anything right? We just want to talk to him." she grins. "Of course he might lie. Arrr, I think they call them 'sea stories'. Or is that fish tales? We need the real story, and to ask questions. For that, we need to get his attention, or we'll just get the same exaggerated tales they tell in the taverns!"

    He's right, too, that they need better gear. If not to take on a pirate clan, then to take on a seemingly-unbeatable encounter. Tomoe seems to have the right idea. "Heeeey, looking nice!" she calls out to her friend and Beacon teammate. There's no reason people can't log in and play the game a little if they want to play, or to take it more seriously instead if that's their goal.

    The island doesn't have any guards. What it does have is a heavy jungle-like growth of trees past the coastline. There's a fair-sized beach suitable for landing boats, if not for docking entire merchant vessels. The beach seems the most approachable spot by far. The rest of the island is girded in cliffs, jagged rocks, and other inhospitable zones. This is a PVE area after all. The equivalent of another VR game's group dungeon run. It's not surprising for it to have an obvious start zone, though experienced players have been known to approach from one of the less-hospitable sides to get a jump on in to the more dangerous and lucrative interior regions.

    Within the island, considering it's a PVE zone, there's likely to be a number of ferocious beasts scaled to dungeon-level content. Occasionally this sort of zone has NPC outlaws. Occasionally as well, one might encounter a PC party, also here to train and loot.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian nods at that and boards the boat to the island. He scans it over and makes a few notes. "Looks like a good spot. How do you want to handle this?" he asks. He takes in everyone's gear, and was already thinking on how best to work together. "Can someone inform me about the group you ran into? Is there any chance they can attack this ship while we're on the island?" He asks.

Kain (960) has posed:
    As the boat lowers down, Kain is still on the ship itself. He calls down to Karian "Of course there's a chance. But then, that's the pirate's life for ye!" He then just jumps off the ship and lands like a leaf in the rowboat to the island, hardly rocking it at all just as it touches water. He looked ahead to the beach area they were approaching. "Well. Guess this is just another Dungeon. Wonder how many times we'll die..." He snickered a bit. Then looked at the others. "Oh, that's something I don't know yet. Game wasn't clear, and it hasn't happened to me yet. What happens in-game when you die? Do you respawn back on your associated ship? Or back on the beach? Or back in the last Free Port you visited?"

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Cirra's rigging skill isn't high, but being fairly nimble outside the game she manages to get down into the boat without emberassment. Except when her boot heel catches on the rigging and she has to pull it off. A built in 'penalty' to not being skilled in climbing.

    "Being covert would benefit us. There's no reason to tell an possibly hostile group of players where we are..."

Iria (215) has posed:
Once the boat lowers, Iria waits to make sure that it's safe before she jumps into the rowboat. "Arr, let us see what kinda loot we can plunder, yar?" She says to nobody in particular. Obviously, while she's into this game, she's still got a bit of practice before she masters being a pirate.

Weiss Schnee (922) has posed:
    Weiss briefly breaks her heroic pose to take a look at Tomoe. "Magic tattoos, huh? Not really my style. Is there a skill somewhere in the craftsman tree for elemental weapon enchanting, though?" She might not be able to use her own Myrtenaster, but she can try to get close. "Maybe I should make my guns use ice shots, then combine my guns with my sword..." She begins leafing through her skillsheet, digging for anything of the sort that she might unlock later.

Reker (631) has posed:
    Whistling a bit to himself as he moves down onto the deck, and then further into the longboat, Reker hopes the gear he's bringing doesn't weigh down the boat too much. After all, with all the pistols and two muskets, as well as hatchet and knives, he's got a lot of steel strapped to his body.

    "So this place, these guys set up a base here even though it's a dungeon? Why did I never think of that.."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Probably gotta run up against enemies who use that before we can learn it, lass," Sunshower remarks to Weiss with a grin. "Still, magic tattoos ... huh. If ye want to ink your skin up, could be useful. Not really for me, though." She shrugs gamely, content to get from the ship to the shore in as quick an order as feasible - possibly helping to get there, if there's anything she can do to help with oars (or sails).

Upon *reaching* the island, she pauses on the beach, inhaling deeply through her nose, as if hoping the scent of the sea or the jungle will tell her something about what to expect. (She doesn't really expect to get much that way, though - humans don't depend on their noses THAT much, and this is a human-designed game ...)

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe grins at Kain for a moment.

"Yup the going native question is fun and it's a boot to rep gains with islanders it's pretty read and these tattos are nice."

That and sh didn't need to feel the pain of actual ones either way she's in good spirits. She grins for a moment at the compliment she gets.

"So this is where we're heading huh a jungle islkand."

She doesn't seem to be ready she pops a buff item which has the form of a orange whic she devours with a grin on her face.

"You got a good point, Cirra."

While she looks over to Weiss for a moment with a grin.

"Fair enough but I can't fault the bonuses it gives, I don't think we have many people going ice sounds like an idea but always keep something off elemental. The Devs like to throw mono element immunes sometimes."

Kirito has posed:
"Uweh... good point there." Kirito's shoulders comically sag for a moment. He's AAAAALMOST forgotten how crazy the higher-ranking players can be about things that might even be REMOTELY seen as competition...

    Been a while since he had to deal with it personally.

    INto the boat he goes! Down with the others to row to shore....

    So here he speaks up. "I'm not letting that happen." The boy in black points out, rather emphatically, like a promise to himself as much as anyone else.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    There are definitely skills available to PCs for weapon upgrading. Most upgrades come in the form of elemental gems, embedded in a weapon's hilt grip or stock as appropriate. The jeweler skill covers that sort of upgrade, and the gems... come from island adventures, happily enough. Charms are another matter entirely, and require their own skill. It works much like the jeweler skill, only it applies to armor.

    "I wonder if I should get a tattoo..." Yuuki muses to herself, arching her neck and twisting her arm up apparently trying to get a clear look at the site. She emits a mischevious giggle. Tattoos, in her culture, really aren't the sort of thing a good girl wears! Or a good guy for that matter."I bet you'd look good with a tattoo, W-Snowflake!" Yuuki adds, her mischevious grin mostly vanishing in mortification as she almost calls her friend by her RL name. It's only a mortifying thing for a true gamer... casuals probably don't care too much. But Yuuki does!

    "We're not at a player-owned island." Yuuki notes to Reker. "Though that WOULD be a great idea! Build a base somewhere no one dares go because the monsters are too strong! It'd be like, having your home on level 91 or something!" she says obscurely.

    Once on the island, the PCs will discover that, well, it's teeming with life. Hunters and cooks may have plenty to do and find. Brewmasters also might find certain plants useful for their brews. Most of the good stuff is further inland however. The beach is mostly safe, and the lizards and turtles seem harmless. Further inland though, one can hear the coughing roar of a hunting cat, which silences the otherwise teeming sounds of birds and other beasts.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian hears the roar and smirks softly. "Well, I hear my target." He says. Though he hears the bits about the gems and also ponders. "Do we have any jewellers?" He asks. The idea of his pistols each being gemmed differently intruiges him immensely. He also began to give thoughts to tattoo's himself. Granted, it wasn't much of a big thing amongst space wolves. "I have to agree. Be great for gear farming too." He admits. But he slowly begins to make his way inland.

Kain (960) has posed:
    Kain just smiles. "Yeah, that'd be pretty neat! Hey, what if we fully clear this place and take it over for ourselves? Wonder what kind of awesome things could be done with this island..." He's silently pondering on the boat ride over.

    Finally, the boat makes land and Kain hops out, drawing out his Rapier and readying for what may lie ahead. "Alrighty. Let's see what kind of ingredients we can get while we're here too. I said so before, but my cooking need leveling as well." He hmms a small bit. "Wonder how well tiger meat would cook... or the equivalent of whatever big cat that was up ahead."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe has her pistol out in one hand and in the other she's got a cutlass and she's moving in with the rest of the group as she seems to be in alert mode.

"Getting the ones here don't hurt and it's doesn't hurt here."

She calls in with Kain and she looks over to Weiss as well. "So how about the three of us push inland and see what we can find?"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
And *that* is why Sunshower was so busy 'cooking' on the trip to the island: she needed to clear up inventory space for the ingredients she expected to harvest here. She even picked up a second pouch for storing ingredients in, and as she surveys the beach and the fringes of the jungle for resources she can collect, she knows that was money well spent. "I think we'd have too many newbies on our lawn to enjoy it," she answers Kain with a grin.

Then she goes to work, She's trying not to get TOO far separated from her shipmates, though, and she's happy to help take out random mobs if needed - she kind of expects to find brewable ingredient drops from some of them, too.

Iria (215) has posed:
Meanwhile, Iria isn't straying too far from her group either. She's polishing her swordplay with some mobs and trying to improve on her techniques, but other than that she hasn't really done too much notable. She's kind of new to the area and getting lost when she's on her own is one of her biggest gripes. If she can avoid getting lost, she'll do that.

Weiss Schnee (922) has posed:
    Weiss grins eagerly as she finds the jeweler skill, just thinking of the possibilities. "As soon as I get my hands on one of those gems, you can bet I'm training that skill. My weapons will be the most finely-crafted across the seven seas!" she proclaims, doing a majestic somersault onto the beach and hoisting her sword into the sky. Looking back and forth between Tomoe and Kain, she nods in concurrence. "Sounds like a plan to me."

Kain (960) has posed:
    Kain looks to Tomoe with a smile and a nod. "Seems a good idea to me. Let's do it!" Rapier out and at the ready, he'd head out with both Tomoe and Weiss. "This is so exciting... hunting in a brand new environment... I wonder how big the animals get here... gotta be pretty big to have a growling sound that loud..." After that, he was quiet so as not to alert the enemies to his presence.

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Cirra's approach to upgrading and crafting skills is 'let someone else do it' She needs those skill slots for immediate battlefield usage.

    She climbs out of the boat and wades the short distance to shore. "If you do-" she regards snowflake, "I'd like you to enhance mine as well."

    She unseathes the estoc and takes a few steps...

    Stabbing the sword into the sand. Skewering a crab.

    She slings the creatures towards Sunshower as it's a valid ingrediant. She took the Tracking skill to make finding mobs for grinding easier, but it also finds the 'resources' creatures as well.

Kirito has posed:
"The only problem with that is getting NEAR your home isn't so easy for YOU either." Kirito comments idly, kind of lost in thought while they come ashore. Once they do land though he hops out too, drawing his saber. He's not too impressed with the weapon and is looking to equip himself with something with more WEIGHT to it as soon as possible.

    On the other hand, weapons that are TOO heavy don't work well for fighting on deck... there's not that much ROOM for the kinds of swings he likes to use!

    A fact that has him gritting his teeth in dismay.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki's not a crafter. She's also not a gunner, and not a whole lot of other things. She's only got a narrow skillset, but she's top of her game in that narrow set. And that's the way she likes it... even if this isn't quite her game.

    "Let's get you LOTS of gems then!" Yuuki says agreeably, violating Weiss' personal space utterly thoughtlessly, attempting to drop a hand in comeradely fashion on her shoulder. It's nothing particularly personal; she's like that with most people, so long as she likes them. But Weiss is pretty notorious for being standoffish...

    The group, or at least some of the group, proceeds off into the trees. There are paths leading through the trees, broad enough for several people to walk alongside. Only rarely do the paths narrow to single-file. There's also trees of course, broad and thick. Quite possible to climb them, though of course climbing's one of those skills that has everything to do with personal ability rather than stats. The path winds through trees, up and down hills, even through unpleasant standing water at the base of some minor valleys. The trail is littered with leaves, broken branches, roots and stones. The footing isn't awesome, but it's not exactly treacherous.

    Unless, of course, you step on something you shouldn't. Tomoe went clear past the hazard, missing it or stepping over it perhaps. Karian, big-footed and heavy, treads right on something he thought was a root. It wasn't.

    With a roar, the root thrashes. Well, the root doesn't roar. Something a good twenty feet away from Karian, well within the undergrowth, roars. Not the roar of a hunting cat either. This is the sort of roar you'd expect from a dinosaur. The tail - yes it's a tail - thrashes, an attack on Karian, Tomoe, and anyone in melee range of the two of them. The thing attached to the other end of the tail whirls around, ripping a sizeable tree clear out of the soft ground as it swings around. Yep, the beast is big and strong enough to uproot a tree just by thrashing and whirling. It's... well, probably it's the biggest damn alligator anyone here has ever seen. At least 20 feet long, massing a couple of tons, with teeth the size of daggers and scales dense as heavy armor. This isn't going to be an easy creature to wound, not on its scaled back and sides at least!

Karian Icefang has posed:
    The tail totally blindsided Karian and sent him careening into the nearest tree. He was stunned for a moment, but shook it off. He pulled two of his pistols and fired a pair of shots at the gator's eyes. "Damn...looks like a tank..Has to be a weak point!" He calls out to his allies.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe says "I can't wait to see wht you can do. You got some skills on top of knowing the game, right?"

After all knowing how to use an actual weapon is a huge edge in a lot games like this one, GGO or ALO. She seems to be in good spirits as the trio seem to head off and she smirks.

"It is. Is it any wonder so many games like this exist? People want to build worlds and now they can do so." She muses as they move a head. She got lucky but well there's something else ocming she sees the thing and fires her pistol without blinking but that's when she's force to start move but she's moves too late and gets smacked by the tail and goes flying into a tree, ow!

Kain (960) has posed:
    Kain is likewise flung into a tree by the surprise tail! Hitting it with a hollow thud, he groans in pain as he rights himself and prepares for combat with the beast! "Give me an opening, and I can get some good hits in!"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Sunshower catches the crab, grinning back at Cira. "Thank you!" She adds the dead crab to her inventory, and continues along with the others - not wanting to get so far separated that she can't assist them, or vice versa, if something happens.

This turns out to be a really good idea, because something does indeed happen, in the form of an oversized alligator taking exception to getting its tail stepped on. Not that Sunshower can blame it; tails are sensitive, especially when mauled, and she has a better appreciation of that fact than most people do.

Fortunately, she's far enough back that the tail-thrashing misses her, and she's able to drop flat so that the passing tree doesn't slam into her either. She's back on her feet as quickly as though she literally bounced, and has a knife in each hand as she sizes up the monster.

"Weak points, huh?" she replies to Karian. She's not sure how much good his bullets will do, but the eyes *are* an obvious weak point; one of her knives goes flying for the more convenient of the uber-gator's eyes when she thinks she has a good angle.

She doesn't trust the other knife to throwing, though; she actually bolts closer to the gator, and instead of going for the eye, tries to jam her knife up the thing's nostril and stab as deep as she can. It might not be a devastatingly effective attack, but noses are sensitive and they generally DON'T close as readily as eyes do.

Kain (960) has posed:
    Kain ignores his need for an actual defense, preferring to just get in and deal the damage... Stepping on the thrashing tail, he uses it as a springboard to push himself upwards and towards the creature. As he was coming down, his Rapier started glowing Red and he lashed out at the monster with a rapid barrage of attacks! 4 hits in total! It would have been 5 damage per hit in total... but the speed at which he was moving caused his aim to go off-kilter and hit a defended spot, which made the 4th hit glance off and deal little damage to it. "Shit!"

Weiss Schnee (922) has posed:
    Weiss nods towards Cirra, sheathing her sword. "Of course, I'd be willing to help out anyone that needed it. But of course, you'll have to find your own gems. Or pay me for 'em. I might give you a crewmate discount," she snarks with a snicker.
    A grin still on her face, she simply dodges Yuuki's arm with a "Nope!" and a perfectly-timed duck. "Yang has given me pleeeenty of practice with that. No touchies." She begins to forge onwards when the tip of a giant tail -smacks her square across the face-. She takes a moment to recover before unsheathing her sword and looking up to the giant reptile with a snarl. "What did I say about no touchies, buddy?" Dashing forwards, she aims to leap onto the creature's tail, climb up its back, and... she'll figure it out from there.

Iria (215) has posed:
Alligators? Here? Why couldn't it be crocodiles instead? Then Iria could do the crocodile rock with them. As it stands, Iria's not exactly up for leatherskinning right now, but she knows that thing could easily be dangerous either way. So she draws one of her pistols and fires at it. "Hey, you big lizard! Pick on someone your own size!"

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    When the beast roars, Cirra's character looks up. Tomoe and Karian were too far ahead for her tracking skill to detect the monster. "Tsk."

    Cirra did however make sure her character was fast. Taking off at a run up the beach and along the path, the Estoc is already drawn as she sees the tree fall to the ground and the giant crocodile expose it's head. "Weakpoints?" she whispers.

    Palmira slides to a stop, Estoc raised high to stabb in at the side of the lizard's neck, trying to skewer it through the jugular.

Kirito has posed:
When KARIAN's avatar goes flying, Kirito pauses in his advance. "what...?!" The roar leaves him stuck tot he ground for one brief moment, eyes going wide. He's fought dragons and stranger things alone before, but... here, he's weaker than he'd like to be. Much, much weaker.

    Of course... he wasn't expecting a HUUUUUUGE not-dragon to be making THAT noise.

    "When they're that big... might as well be a dragon!" He carefully adopts a battle stance, analyzing the creature's general movement and speed for only a few seconds. He's not going to wait TOO long and let others take a beating without risking himself, but these first few seconds are CRITICAL for seeing what kind of behavior the monster has!

    And as soon as he's watched for a bit... Kirito DASHES in with a thrusting strike towards the gator's underside, coming in from the side. He's decided it's better to contend with the feet than the tail or jaws!

Reker (631) has posed:
    Having been trailing behind most of the group, Reker was in a good position to strike at the huge gator when it shows it's face. He jumps backwards when it appears, "Ho crap!" He has one of those flintlock rifles at the ready, and pulls the weapon up to his shoulder.

    He sights down the weapon's sights and then gives the trigger a squeeze, sending off a massive plume of smoke as he fires the lead ball at the gator's head.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki grins as Weiss avoids her handpat, not taking offense. "We're going to have to duel sometime, sword sister." she says in an entirely friendly way to Snowflake, before turning to head after the others.

    Yuuki follows along with the main body of the group, cheerfully letting Tomoe and Karian take the roles of tanks. That puts her a few paces behind them, giving her time to react. Not much time, but she doesn't need much time. She's faster in reactions than anyone she's met, at least in the gameverses.

    Unfortunately for her, leaping back from the thrashing tail isn't entirely a safe move, as the head of the alligator comes around at her. "Wuaaah!" she cries out involuntarily, seeing her friends thrashed. This will be bad for them. The alligator is tank-like. It's quick only in thrashing bursts rather than in something like dodging. It's not just pure armor though. The thing has the strength to casually uproot trees after all. Its tail isn't a bonecrushing club at least so the damage won't be critical, but it can do serious damage. Not pain though. Pain sensitivity in this game, like in ALO and GGO, is dialed down so you notice it but it doesn't actually debilitate. Health bars are going to take a beating though.

Yuuki sees the jaws coming for her, and her rapier flashes out. "Hey you overgrown lizard!" she shouts out. "Stop picking on my friends!" she cries, drawing that blade repeatedly across the crocodile's snout. The resulting red lines aren't bright, but it's enough to get the beast's attention at least at start as she tries to taunt aggro off the de-feated.

    Karian's shots are dead on-target. The beast closes its eyes in reflex, protecting itself from blindness but roaring in pain. Sunshower's thrown blade glances off a brow ridge, but her thrusting knife finds sensitive flesh. Not a crippling wound by any sense, but definitely painful to the beast. Reker shows his long-barrel experience, firing a musket ball squarely into the alligator's jaw. He damages both outside and inside the mouth, making the beast reflexively snap its jaws closed just before it reaches Sunshower and Karian. Instead of a chomp attack which could potentially kill with a single hit, it attacks with jaws barely parted, slashing with dagger-like teeth. Those jaws are still clearly killer weapons, but with good timing Reker saves the pair from facing the true horror the beast could inflict.

    Iria's shots, like Tomoe's, are accurate but they drill into heavy armor rather than any vulnerable points. They're only moderately effective, drilling a couple of dull red points into the armored hide.

    "Look out!" Yuuki cries as the alligator turns from her. She doesn't have her usual aggro skills here, relying instead only on pure damage and presence to attract a monster's wrath. While she can put out a fair bit of damage with her blade, the monsters don't purely respond based on threat. They also react to vulnerability. Kain, remaining relatively stationary to deliver an effective power combo, is vulnerable. The paleolithic alligator makes him the primary target, trying to barrel into him as it thrashes its tooth-filled jaws at Sunshower and Karian. Where they only have to dodge the snapping jaws, Kain will have to defend against the main mass of the beast charging him.

    The beast completely ignores Snowflake, at least for now. She can run gracefully up its spine, but then what? It's back is its best-armored point. She's safe enough for now, but she'll have to leave that place of safety if she wants to do any major damage to the future handbag.

    Kirito has the right idea, but by the time he dashes the beast's already in motion. The vulnerable underbelly flashes exposed, but Kirito's strike lands on the armored flank as the underbelly remains mostly tight to the ground. He'll have to contend with the tail as the massive creature barrels past him, hunting for something to sink its teeth into.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian braces for pain, but is saved by Reker. "Good shot!" He calls to Reker, only to get slashed up by the teeth. He falls back a bit, but watches on. He spots the underbelly, and realizes that it has to be a weakpoint. He takes the last two pistols he had and takes aim. He tried to use a skill and amplify his bullets as he sends them out. "Come on, you ugly lizard...time to be a handbag."

Kain (960) has posed:
    The beast charged... this was not good... he had to think of something! Jumping at the last minute and using the snapping jaws to quickly bypass the huge brunt of the damage... that was his goal here! The gator didn't get to chomp him... but avoiding damage wasn't on the menu, as the force of the Gator's rush was strong enough still that it sent him flying away and headlong into a nearby tree... about as fast as if he'd flown into it from ALO... ouch... slowly sliding down the tree, Kain groaned out in pain... the pain absorbers might have been set high, but he STILL felt that one... while his HP wasn't down, he was for sure out of this fight.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Palmira's attack, cutting at the neck, is somewhat effective. The blade skitters along armored scales, cutting a pixelled red line. There's no great spray of blood, sadly. Judging by the intensity of the damage line it wasn't a critical hit. As a result though, as the creature lumbers past Palmira, one of its flailing feet comes down at her, either aiming to knock her aside in passing or possibly to tread heavily on her in payback for Karian's initial step on its tail. Only much, much heavier.

Reker (631) has posed:
    Showing off his fancy footwork, Reker moves back out of range of the beast, and then drops to a knee, starting to reload the musket. He's put points into reloading, and he's fired muzzle loaders in the real world before.

    That doesn't mean he's going to be able to fire again too quickly, since the weapon will take at least a few seconds to finish loading up a second shot.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Admittedly, Sunshower *was* starting to wonder about the practicality of diving into the monster's mouth, scooting down its throat before its teeth can close on anything, and trying to cut the monster up from the inside ... but that's rarely a practical approach, in games or in reality. If nothing else, very few monsters big enough to eat you whole have a throat with enough room to start wounding them on the way down, and by the time you're in their stomaches, you have to deal with ongoing corrosion damage all around you.

So yeah, that's out.

What she *can* do, on the other hand, is try to slide underneath the beast's jaw - and then to reverse-speedcrawl further down, trying to slice at its neck and upper belly. She's in extreme danger of getting squashed, either via the beast stomping in her general direction or just dropping its full weight on top of her, so *staying* underneath the gator is not remotely an option.

So once she's had the chance to slash a few times, she'll be on her way out from under the gator, trying to come out in between its legs on one side or the other. She might try and climb up on its back, if she has the opportunity.

Iria (215) has posed:
Iria would fire at the alligator again, but this time she finds that her gun has jammed. "Of all the times!" She yells, trying to get it unjammed. Unfortunately, these flintlock pistols aren't easy to get unjammed. It takes her a few moments...

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    A foot. A large foot.

    he sweeping apendage nearly takes Palmira to task for someone else's mistake. Instead the purple haired woman ducks backwards as she bends her knees, letting the claw slice just over her head. She's starting to udnerstand the difference between VR's player skill and equipment stats better since she started in ALO.

    /She/ can choose to move. But eqiupment can make a shot that should hit, miss, or reduce the damage.

    But with the disparity from ear outside her skill range, she can't rdepend on it. she has to -focus- on not getting hit.

    Palmira swings one foot back and steps away from the giant lizard, her Estoc up in a gaurd with one hand as she watches. Neck attack worked. Eye attacks look like they'll work, but they close as soon as they're attacked.. It's maw is open...

    It's mouth is open.

    Palmira reaches into her jacket and grasps three throwing knives, throwing them one at a time as she runs forward.

    Right eye, left eye, right eye.

    Then lunges to jab the point of her Estoc into the back of the monster's throat through it's open mouth.

Weiss Schnee (922) has posed:
    Welp, now what?
    Weiss has grappled onto the back of this huge gator and is only climbing up further from there. It takes all of her strength simply to stay on, what with the battle raging around her and stuff. She keeps sidling up this thing's neck until she reaches its head, deciding against stabbing its neck here and there, as that would probably be counter-productive. Reaching the top, she braces herself for lauch with a winning smirk, then rockets up into the air. Doing a majestic flip at the apex of her jump, she lets out a warrior battle cry as she brandishes her sword straight downwards, aiming to spear the gator's head!

Kirito has posed:
Awwww crap. Kirito arrives but not quite with the angle he desired. Though he tries to abort, all that happens is he scores a glancing blow, suffers nasty rebound off the thick hide... and... "AUGHgph!"

    The sweeping, thrashing tail!

    Though he attempts to leap over it he's not QUITE fast enough and it snags him by the feet. As a result?

    Well, he isn't flung into a TREE, but he is knocked a dozen feet away head-first into the ground with a THUMP, his healthbar careening down badly. But he rises to his feet...

    "Its weakpoint is probably the underbelly! And the eyes! Strike at those - carefully!"

    Of course, REACHING the Underbelly isn't so easy... but he dives in with the same lunging tactic as before, this time adjusting for the creature's movements better. He's going to skewer a blow in if anyone can!

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe Is not having the best of days right now but it could be a hell of a lot worse. She could actually be here and she's far from being along thanks to Weiss Kain and the rest of the pary she's got a chance to get back on her feet and recover and she now get her sword ready the gun will take too long to reload so she's moving in trying to get into close combat again and put her blade to use as she activates an sword art of a sort and launches into a barrage of sweeping strikes.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Karian tries to hit the vulnerable underbelly, but it's a damn tricky shot to make. The creature all but slithers along the ground, making opportunities to attack the belly few and far between. Without some way to set up a moment where it's vulnerable, to have the shot already aimed and ready, what follows is inevitable. The creature's side-to-side gallumphing movement causes the shot to glance off a leg instead, and the leg's as heavy as a tree trunk.

    Palmira's plan seems to pay off, though perhaps not quite the way she'd intended. The knife throws to the eye temporarily blind the gator as it blinks. The third blade strikes as it reopens that eye, gouging a red streak off a brow ridge, making the beast roar. Palmira follows the throws with that Estoc lunge, penetrating the vulnerable tissues of the mouth, and is rewarded with a spray of crimson pixels.

    Weiss takes the opposite approach to Karian and Palmira, disdaining the vulnerable areas; coming at the beast with all her force and all her mass balanced on the point of a blade. Damage isn't all equipment, after all. Speed of an attack, along with power, does make a difference. Snowflake's attack impacts on the armored skull casing, but much of it penetrates. The strike from above makes a brilliant red pixel grid right on the top of the gator's head, and the wound releases a burst of pixellated crimson.

    Sunshower's approach, while it does provide a possible opportunity at a vulnerable area, does put her in range of being stomped on. A knife isn't the best weapon for killing an armored megalithic beast, but if you've got to use it, use it from close range. The beast stomps, thrashes, and then rears up and away from the thing tearing into its soft underside.

    This provides the opening some are waiting for. Yuuki moves with her usual blinding speed, lunging with her entire body behind her extended blade. Beside her, Kirito also lunges. Their speed is equal, and while neither have tremendous gear both have the skill and experience to make their strikes count in the beast's critically-vulnerable underbelly. Tomoe follows them in, carving into the underbelly with a sweeping series of blows.

    Their attacks certainly add to the damage done, but the killing blow is likely to be the narrow sword in the alligator's brainpan. Snowflake, having set up her attack and then delivered it with typical Schnee precision, no doubt expects nothing less. Should she be able to hang on while the beast thrashes out its death throes, the party will be rewarded by the sight of the monstrous reptile bursting into a shower of glowing red pixels.

Shared party loot:
Scales (These can be used to make an armor vest, or a jewel crafter can polish them as ornaments)
Fangs (Can be crafted into lucky talismans, or used as thrusting daggers)
Victim's Blade (left embedded between two scales, this cutlass is the only remnant of the beast's last opponent)
Various body parts and organs too grisly to actually mention (to be sold to collectors, i.e. this is how you get your doubloons from the big monsters)

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian winces as his rounds bounce off the leg harmlessly. "Damn....need to find armor piercing.." He mutters. He planned to go in with his longsword, only to see the gator fall. He gives a cheer and then he spots the shared loot. "THAT is a good improvement." He muses. He doesn't grab anything yet, instead opting to look later. "Who'se up for more?" He asks, running to the group and reloading his pistols.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Getting stepped on wasn't enough to kill her, although Sunshower definitely feels the stomp-dent, even with the pain sensation dialed as far down as it is in CCO. And another step or two might have zeroed her HP anyway.

Good enough. She puts in for a quantity of the scales, and maybe a fang; she'll be willing to relinquish some of the cash to balance things out if necessary - but she'll still want SOME money to show for things (and if necessary, will pay for the surgeon's services out of said doubloons).

Hopefully that's the high point in the island adventures for today; boredom sounds kinda refreshing right about now.

Iria (215) has posed:
Once everyone else has gotten their loot, Iria takes her share. She's not so much after the loot and things like that as she is more interested in getting more practice in at being a pirate. "Nabad day today, arr!" She says in a somewhat mocking pirate voice, before adopting her normal voice again. "I hate talking like that sometimes..."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is still getting into the thiick of things but now they downed the creature and they got osme really nice blade. She looks over the loot list, she wonders for a moment. She laughs

"That was fun! She seems to be in good spirits now.

"That was a hell of a fight!"

Cirra Constantine (675) has posed:
    Palmira exhales as the UberCrocken disapaits into pixels. She's glad to hear over the party chat that her approach to higher level gear wasn't wrong. She was worried the dispairity would hamper her more then she expected. "I'll go back to the ship and prepare to take watch so other players can't attack it. If anyone wants to join me."

Weiss Schnee (922) has posed:
    Weiss holds on to the creature as it flounders, keeping her sword embedded with red pixels flying everywhere. Once it finally collapses and dies, she removes her weapon, sheathes it with a flourish, and snags some scales and fangs for her upcoming forays into the field of jewel-based witchcraft. "Hey Yuuki, what happens to the monster's corpses when they die?" She shrugs, a smirk on her face. "Ah well. I guess the answer's still /up in the air/." Sunglasses, epic leap, explosions, freeze-frame. "Never gets old."

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Sunshower looks askance at Snowflake, "Really? That was the best you could come up with?" It's a good-natured askance, though, and her tone while chiding is equally friendly.

"I was going to say we tipped the scales pretty hard."

Iria (215) has posed:
Now it's Iria's time to get in on the whole pun thing. "Really? I'd think if we had some music we could really play the scales!" She laughs at that a little.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki grins painfully at the puns, groaning theatrically but encouragingly. "I don't know leather or not we should be fighting this sort of thing." she says, then tilts her head. Yes? No? It was a pretty bad pun, but Yuuki's not exactly the punning sort.