1120/Gun Gale Online - Dungeon Dive

Gun Gale Online - Dungeon Dive
Date of Scene:	11 December 2014
Location:	Alfheim Online <SAO> <ALO>
Synopsis:	Guns and dungeons mix well.
Cast of Characters:	Kirito, 2, Tomoe, 215, 236, 325, 385, 395, Riva Banari, 571, 631

---

Reker (631) has posed:
    The SBC Glocken is a hive of activity. People running this way and that, groups meeting up, people logging in and out. Reker is currently sitting on the outskirts of the town, two large troop transport trucks sitting behind him, as he waits for the people who're gonna be coming with him on this dungeon run to arrive. He gave them the time and location, he just hopes nobody got lost on the way.

    He pulls up his menu to check the time. Assuming everybody gets here soon, they should be able to make it to the dungeon within fifteen minutes travel time using the trucks.

Riva Banari has posed:
"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!" Not far from the SBC Glocken, BulletArtist Riva finally gets some vengeance as she shoots a Large Mutated Rat's defeated corpse repeatedly. "THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR CHASING ME ACROSS THE ZONE ALL DAY! NOT SO TOUGH NOW, ARE YA? WHERE'S ALL YOUR RAT BUDDIES?"

The schadenfreude is palpable. However, the monster corpse vanishes, and Riva blinks, realizing something.

"OH GOD, I FORGOT TO LOOT IT! AAAAAAAAAAGH!"

BulletArtist Riva continues to get muted by more people.

A few minutes later, a despondant Riva slumps towards the transport trucks. "Hi guys." Riva says. She's still in stock newbie gear.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis has been around long enough to have managed to figure her way around. For a newbie to this game, she's managed herself fine as a player in this game. Acquiring new loot for her is getting points in stats as well as mods and suplimentary weapons as opposed to replacing her already trusty loadout as it is. That said, an energy weapon might be a good investment sooner or later.

    'Alice' arrives by truck, lightly armored per her somewhat low level and a rifle slung across her back with a grenade launcher and ELCAN DR optic attached to the DDM4 she acquired early, her sidearm a Glock 22. Hopefully she'll find other mods for the rifle that'll do instead of having to swap out weapons over and over.
        Crimson Spectre gives a casual salute to Reker and Riva alike, grabbing a seat somewhere. "Evenin'."

Kirito has posed:
    Reduced to a fairly lost newbie and unhappy with navigating huge, big cities, Kirito's not his usual self in arriving lickety-split. Meaning, he arrives neither fashionably late nor incredibly early, but with the others.

    He's not his usual self for other reasons too.

    The ever-confident Black Swordsman is... nowhere about! At least, he's not for anyone looking around for a tall, young man with black hair and a sword slung over his back.

    There's, uh... there's someone dressed kinda similar around though? Yeah.

    Shorter than normal. The black hair's right, but it's long and feminine, matched with soft facial features and purple eyes. Only the outfit speaks out as Kirito - black shirt, black pants, black butt-cape to give the impression of the typical longcoat, and a metal breastplate. He's got an energy pistol of some kind holstered at his side. And topping it off, a VERY jumpy, nervous expression on his face.

    God. He hates this avatar.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Kagura is still sort of getting her footing in GGO, but she's managed to get some not-quite-noobtastic gear together; she's currently sporting a sleek-looking rifle across her back and a pistol holstered at her right hip. As far as actual *clothing* goes, she seems to be aiming for an aesthetic as close to her Light Suit as she can get - although her vest and shorts are more blue than white, unlike her actual armor. She also hasn't found proper gloves yet, sticking with fingerless gloves rather than the gauntlets she's made no secret of wanting.

"Hey, guys," Kagura greets Reker and the others as she approaches. "And I still say you look good like that, Kirito, stop worrying about it." She grins at the VRMMO veteran. "So, how hard is the dungeon we're heading for ... they *are* still called 'dungeons' here, right?"

Tomoe has posed:
Short and Asian not how one would expect the normally towering form of Sheen be it on ALO or in in the real world but here Esien is and she's got an amused look on her face to move up she tilts her head.

"Pretty universal really going back to EQ and other old MMORPGs."

She has some gear and she looks over to Riva and pauses to open a trade request with Riva.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
    About 96 hours earlier, a grumpy goblin got sent to a particular world to purchase an Amusphere. Said Amusphere was brought back to a certain City of Guilds out in the Northern Ocean. Slight problem, however, with the device. It wasn't made for dragons. Fast forward a few days, the Amusphere that had been purchased had been modified, somewhat extensively by this point, and then, probably for the first time, a dragon dived into GGO.

Another 48 hours passes, and we arrive at this wonderful meeting of a wonderfullly motley crew. There's the loud one, the cool one, the shy veteran one, and the one that went and used the real-money store to get all their gear. At least they have a valid excuse to do so, right? Death Gun? Death Game? Lives on the line? Why grind up gear when you can just go buy it? So, with a familiar load out (a blade and a sidearm,) someone new to the party arrives with a really simple in game name. Rha. Gee. Wonder who that is?

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Psyber has been making unholy amounts of noises about MMORPG stuff. Homura was neck deep in FINALS until today and so hadn't actually set time aside to wander in, although she probably couldn't have right away.

    Now, though, now she can.

    Thanks to the ability to locate other members of the Gatecrashers (and the common sense to google and use a map of the game world correctly), it is not hard for Homura to-- do what she does best and just kind of appear behind Kirito. She is wearing her magical girl outfit because it KIND OF blends in, but it could use some work. The purpose of this field trip is also to determine the variety of outfits players wear so she can have something fancier made. Or if not fancier, at least more suitable.

    "Here we go. Found-- ... you?"
    Wait.

    That's not Kirito at all.

    "... erm."
    She brings up the interface.
    No, that's... that's where Kirito is.

    "... sorry, I was stunned for a second. Kirito?"

Reker (631) has posed:
    "Alright, good to see we have a nice turn out." Reker says, as he looks around at the group that's gathered up, "So the plan for this is pretty simple overall." Reker says, "We're going to hop in these babies." He slaps the side of one of the trucks, "And drive out into the wasteland. There's a dungeon...I'm using that term for the sake of the ALO players, the lore prefers to refer to them as ruins, but you guys get the gist."

    He pauses for a second and then continues on with his train of thought, "Anyway, this one in particular is a bomb shelter at an abandoned military base. The surface fight will consist of raiders, with one big boss raider. After that, we'll head down into the bomb shelter itself. Does anybody have any questions before we get going? Everybody already got their party invites? There's some extra gear in the back of the truck if you haven't armed up with anything better." He looks at Rhapsody in particular as he says that, "Through one way or another."

Riva Banari has posed:
BulletArtist Riva sort of waves at Crimson Spectre. She looks at Kirito, seeing some reflection of her own place in the world and smiling a little. Maybe there is hope after all.

And then Rha walks in, sparkling with cash shop gear. Riva might have expendable assets, but not THAT expendable. She stares for several moments, and just sort of slumps again as she sits down in the truck. Things pop up for party invites, and she actually manages to accept that at least. The trade is a little surprising, however. Riva looks up at Tomoe, and blinks. "Um... Hi!" She has no idea what's about to happen here.

Reker outlines the situation. "Well... It's not rats!" Riva calls out. "Um... So we shoot the guys and get their stuff until we get to the end, right? Seems simple!" Hahahah. Haha. Ha.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis is about to respond to Reker for a moment, just before she kind of stares at Kirito's avatar for a moment.

    "...huh." Not one word, missy. Moving on, she listens to Reker's briefing carefully before she gives a neckpop emote and nods. "Let's get this over with." Making her way towards the truck, she counts her blessings the character creator didn't decide to punk her like it did Kirito, before moving along.

    Hopping into the truck, she accepts the party invite in her menu screen as she equips some sort of hefty laser cannon like weapon to go with her rifle and sidearm, grinning ear to ear as it gives a pleasing whine upon activation.

    Now she's ready for work, as she places the laser weapon in her inventory for now. The stat handling carry weight /should/ be high enough in her case to be able to handle the heft this thing gives, equipped or just staying in her inventory.

Rhapsody (325) has posed:
A smirk and a little finger-waggling wave is given Reker before 'Rha' is happy to accept the party invite. "Hey, if I'm going to be going after some guy that MIGHT be able to kill people with a gun, I'm not gonna get caught with nothing to defend myself, you know?" A glance is given everyone else that's here. ... Aaaaand they're all new to her. "Oh, hey, seeing as I don't look like this in-real-life, I'm Rhapsody Mizzet. It only took a day and a half to get the Amusphere to fit. Eh heh.." .... mooooooooooving swiftly on, she just hops into one of the trucks.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"Straight for a dungeon, huh?" asks Kagura - although she's wasting no time in climbing onto a truck and acepting a party invitation. "Guess I'll find out how 'ready' I am for this game's combat ..."

She looks through the available gear in the truck, but she seems content with what she's got. Unless there are spare energy packs for her guns - and yes, she's going with beam weapons rather than anything that shoots bullets.

This may or may not work out for her in the long term; time will tell.

Tomoe has posed:
The first thing Riva would get is a high end energy shield for one, that's like the most imporant thing it reduces howmany things or people could gank her after all. She smirks a little bit as she isn't sure what sort of weapon that Riva would want but she's at least getting some basic greens and a blue chest bit of armor it's not perfect but it's enough to help her not be as badly geared she also ends up getting a pair of very nice MAC-10s it seemed Eisen has paid attention once Riva accepts the woman grins at her.

"Here that should help you a bit before we get into the dungeon. I figure you'd had enough of rat hunting."

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito straightens, though... nearly by jumping out of his skin. The stares from Maaka and anyone else is kind of enough as it is, but he just sort of makes a vaguely distressed face at Homura... and quickly tries to cover it up with an uncertain smile. "So you came in after all, Homura!" Yeah, even his typical attitude's softened considerably like this. He gestures over a shoulder towards Reker. "It's time to get a move on."

    He's not wasint words right now! He just heads to the truck, straps himself in, and checks his gear. A silvery metal cylinder no bigger than his hand comes into view for anyone watching, and he checks its status window. The Kagemitsu G4 is a solid enough weapon if you can USE it right, but it has a battery and heat buildup that needs to be taken into consideration...

    "A bomb shelter, huh?" Cramped, dungeon stuff... this will be interesting!

Reker (631) has posed:
    "I don't think Death Gun is going to ambush a party of newbies trying to hit a ruin. But just because he won't doesn't mean that nobody will." He says, "Which is the main reason I am coming along. There's been a rash of higher level PKers that have been hunting newbies leaving the ruins lately. It's also the reason I brought the trucks, because most folks walk."

    Reker looks across at Kirito again, "Right then, everybody mount up and lets go!" Reker moves up to the driver's seat of the truck...Looks like they might not even need the second one, everybody should be able to pile into the one Reker is driving.

    Once everybody's on board, Reker starts the truck up, but then pauses before he gets going. He swipes open his menu and taps a few buttons. Everyone on board gets to enjoy his traveling music.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    So a field trip already.
    Look at everyone totting guns around.
    Well, that's fine. Homura has her own array she can produce when it becomes relevant; right now she'll probably just watch, vaguely be social, and try to figure out how the game is played, PvE-wise. This seems like a game that wouldn't allow the Holy Trinity of gaming to exist, since everyone has guns and shoots things.

    She nods to Kirito, and then piles into the truck with everyone. She is going to use the time to ask the obvious question:

    "How advanced is the AI, anyway? How much of a challenge are the dungeons? Just large monsters with a lot of health, or tactics on-par with SWAT teams and the likes?" She assumes guns are involved so that was the most obvious example.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Kagura hums along a bit with the intro to the first song, although she falls quiet again when the lyrics pick up and the Multiverse starts making some sense of them for her. It's probably safe to say country-western music isn't one of her preferred genres. Homura's got a good question, too, so she wants to hear the answer to that ...

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva looks over the gear with shock. "Seriously? All of this stuff is, like... super awesome!" Except for people at their level. Twinking lives on IN THIS ARM. Riva accepts the trade request nonetheless, and starts fiddling with her new gear while they travel. "Wow, they feel almost like the real thing! They'll probably kill /so many rats/." She says. On the other hand, Riva doesn't actually shoot bullets from her 'real' guns.

"A bomb shelter, huh? Well, I guess we can roll with it. But PKs? Really? Even at this point?" She slumps a bit. "Some people are just /jerks/."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis kinda just nods to Homura, letting Reker and Kirito respond properly given their experience next to hers. She remains in the truck, quietly seated as she clicks something on privately to listen to. Led Zepplin begins to play, with a twist to it.

    Ah-a-a-a-a-ah~ Ah-a-a-a-a-ah~

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=L0bD4ts8eWY

    "I get the impression we'll be begging for just rats after this." She mutters. "That said, some arseholes will crash a party for even the pettiest of reasons when it comes to these games." The cyborg says to Riva.

Kirito has posed:
    Oh, Kirito's all ready to go! He's found his seat in one of the trucks, and is currently gazing out at the landscape! Okay so most of it outside of Glocken is a wasteland... "I've never heard of a VRMMO with only one real city to speak of." He comments. This'll also be his first time outside of Glocken's training zones on anything serious.

    "What kind of weapons will the raiders be using? All guns?" Yeah, there's no knives or anything at all here?

Tomoe has posed:
Eisen says "Depends on the dungeon but it can be a mix of both and then there's other players depending on where your going, you know? It's the name of the game it's playing this one space game my dad did as a kid. Things got insane there at times. One time a huge corp war got going and one planned to cut the power to the pilot of the enemy flagship's house."

She gets a goofy grin on her face as he moves to get in with everyone else. She's going to have so much fun she seriously.

Reker (631) has posed:
    "The AI will get a bit tougher as we get in. The bandits will mostly use basic cover, except for the ones that are melee based and will charge in with knives or machettes." Reker explains after the music ends, giving them the best help he can, "The boss will have two phases. The first phase will have him using a heavy machine gun, and once he takes enough damage, he'll drop it and switch to throwing explosives."

    "Inside the bomb shelter is an entirely different story, and we'll deal with that when we get there. Lets focus on one fight at a time, alright? As for what guns they're using, yes, it's going to be mostly rifles and pistols and melee weapons, other than the boss. Keep in mind these are real bullet guns, so the shields won't help too much. Use your cover and think before you move."

    The truck rolls to a stop just outside of the ruin, and Reker kills the engine and jumps out, "Alright folks, dismount and lets get ready to roll!"

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"Will using energy weapons against the bandits put us at a disadvantage?" Kagura wonders, unstrapping herself from her seat and waiting her turn to get out of the truck - no point in pushing past anyone else, after all. "Although I gather whatever cover's out there will stop beams and bullets about the same ..." Ahhh, game physics, the ultimate level playing field. Except when they aren't.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Hopping out of the truck, Alexis unslings her rifle and cocks it as she loads up. "Copy that, boss." The use of cover speaks for itself with her, so she's just hearing reruns right now. "Don't get shot in the face, and keep behind anything waist-high, kiddos." She says unhelpfully, intentionally so as she begins to scope downrange until she spots either hostiles or the bomb shelter.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    ... Of all people to run into on the way to a ruin.
    She must have hoofed it all the way here, because as Reker pulls up to the entrance and comes to a stop, the group is suddenly assaulted by a maid. She looks a little dusty from the hike, but there's no mistaking the eye-patch wearing roleplayer.
    Though the keen eye will notice new equipment. Expensive equipment. Someone has been hitting the stores with real life cash for some much better gear than she had last time, sporting a pair of energy SMGs and... Worn slung on her back like a turtle is a heavy, black, riot shield. It matches her maid cosplay somehow.
    "... Aaaaaa...?" Amalie looks SO SURPRISED.
    "You're all here!" She blurts. "--Where's Young Master?" Though this doesn't seem like it's going to stop her as she rambles on in that utterly horrible and clearly fake french accent. "Well! Nevertheless! It's my duty as a maid to help Young Master's associates! I guess there's no helping it! I'll be coming with you!"
    Amalie is demanding entry to the group.

Riva Banari has posed:
bip boop. Riva continues flailing around with inventory as they travel. "I dunnooooooo." She replies to Alexis, and twitches. "I don't think you know them like I do..."

Reker gives valuable information, and Riva nods. "All right! I think we can make this work out just fine. We'll just go in and blow them all away!" Maybe she doesn't really understand how intense these ruins get. "Real bullet guns, use cover, think before you move. Got it." She nods.

As soon as the truck stops, Riva leaps out, brandishing her new guns. "YEAAAAAAAAH! HERE WE GO!" She does, to their credit, run towards the nearest cover.

She stops cold when she sees Amalie the Maid. "You... You're a maid. Why are you dressed like a maid?" Riva says, then ponders. "You're /cute/." She says then, grinning as she leans over. "And check out all that gear! You could probably blow up an army!"

She's still standing out in the open. Maybe if she's lucky no one will agro on her.

Auron (236) has posed:
    There was one member of the group that had just remained quiet. Dressed all in black, like Kirito, but with a coat that only had one arm. it was held on by three red straps. But somehow still had a hood. Reker, at least, would know him-- that guy from before, who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn up close. 'Banken' is his username. 'Watchdog'. Good thing he can watch better than he can shoot, damn.
    But nonetheless he piles out with the rest of them, drawing a pistol. It's newbie gear. He keeps quiet and starts finding cover for the trek into the ruins. He hasn't had the opportunity to greet the others, so he does that, with a simple nod. Now's not really the time for long greetings.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "I see. Alright then. I'll likely stay back due to being here in person, but as I understand it this game favors firearms anyway. And I know my way around cover and guns." A bit more than her way, really, but she doesn't need to be bragging. Homura hops out of the truck, still not producing anything close to a firearm.

    "Will it be just us in there? I don't want to cause Kirito a headache with my powers, but if it's just us then I don't have to worry too much about i--" Pause. Maid. Homura stares and then shakes her head. Nope, don't ask. File it somewhere under 'Kirito is a girl now' and definitely do not ask.

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito hops out of the truck, and only then does he draw his weapons. In one hand, the weird cylinder. In the other... the energy pistol.

    His attention's drawn to the Maid who just came in out of nowhere. HER AGAIN. He boggles, slightly gaping, and... "...S-Sure." He makes a face though. 'Arthur, this is your fault, right?'

    Deeeeeeep breath. Enough with the wimpy, girly act. Time to be tough. Yeah, like Arthur said. needs some MANGRIT.

    Kirito's feminine face cracks a confident grin as he faces down the distant Monsters. "Using magic for something like this seems like a waste. Don't you Puella Magi need to conserve it?" Yeah, he's aware of their problems. Pretty much so, anyways!

    He runs over to be near Riva, the FAR OVERLY ENERGETIC NEWBIE, and asks, "Is this your first time in a party?"

Tomoe has posed:
Eisen was happy to help kit out Riva hey it's what friends are for the energy shield is likely the best quality item it's end game level, she knows Riva will chew through a lot of gear and have to find how she likes to figh here but she's got heck of a better foundation now then comes Medio.

"Hey it's good to see you Amalie."

She looks bck to Riva for a moment.

"Come on this is going to be fun."

She pulls the shotgun off her back, it's time to really cut lose on this as she heads out with the group.

"Dungeons inside are instanced so far as I know outside not so much."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "That's correct, although mine is extremely efficient even by those standards. I can use it pretty trivially-- the basic functions, anyway." Stopping time, no big deal. The weird stuff like looping attacks or firing giant lasers, Kirito's pretty spot on, it'd be a huge waste to use that here. And way too obvious too.

    "Mostly I want to see how this works. A few years ago I would've probably rolled a character out of concern for my safety, but..." It kind of hits her she may have lost a lot of her survival instincts hanging out with the people she does. She sighs. She runs off after Kirito as he catches up to Riva and just slaps a smile on her face. "I should get into the spirit of things, a little gunfight never hurt me."

Reker (631) has posed:
    Okay things are starting to pick up. Everybody is gathered up, Riva is about ready to run into the ruin by herself and then suddenly MAID, "Okay. Hold on here.." Reker says. The first thing he does is send a party invite to everyone's favorite maid, since she wants to help. Once she's in the group, Reker motions towards the entrance, "Okay guys, as soon as we get inside of there, we'll have about thirty seconds to set up before the first group aggros onto us. They're pretty much just trash mobs so we should have no trouble taking them out, okay? As far as your abilities," He says, looking to Homura, "We'll be the only ones in there.." He glances at the maid again, "But try to keep it to a reasonable level."

    He moves up to the entrance, which resembles a battered chainlink fence gate with the military base beyond it. Once they go through the gate, they enter the instance proper, which is what cues the spawning of the bandits. Once they clear them out, it's a straight shot to the boss himself at the entrance to the bomb shelter, "I'm on point, you guys all follow in after me."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is moving in and has her shotguin out at this point.

"Kept with in the limits of what's in the game."

Still given the sorts of stunts they can do in game? She grins widly as he now moves in the spaz-12's ready and it's time to deal with them she breaks into high speed movment now using terrain that the mooks might use as cover? Or to block her? As aa means to get to them, she's blasting them in rapid order and never sitting still. Reker might think she could have a build very much like the infamous Pale Rider given how she's moving about.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    That's right. A maid. Just some RANDOM player no less. Though this is the second time now she's just shown up for these little outings. For a good long moment though Amalie is kind of just staring at Riva like she has three heads.
    It might have something to do with the fact that no matter how much Riva's lips move, Amalie can't hear her and--
    Oh shit she muted her earlier, right.
    Making up for this with a quick unmuting, the Maid clasps Riva's hands in both of hers. "Th- The legendary Bullet Artist! I've heard tale of how far and wide your voice has gone /ignored!"
    But then she swings into full on exposition mode: "Of course I'm a maid! It's in my programming! I was designed to help Young Master and his friends because I am AMALIE THE ANDROID COMBAT MAID."
    Sigh. Internet roleplayers. But she's already giving Eisen a proper and ladylike curtsey on greeting, while eyeing Homura.
    No doubt formulating some terrible roleplay background for her as we speak.
    Never the less, she ACCEPTS the party invite.
    "Excellent~. It's time to... Clean house then, yes?"
    Funny though. For some random MMO player she carries herself like a soldier, right out the gate, once Reker takes point, sliding into place smoothly with the group, one SMG held at the ready for now like she knows what to do with the damn thing. As soon as mobs start spawning she keeps her fire to brief, controlled, bursts on anything that spawn in her field of view, SMG snapping from one target to another.

Riva Banari has posed:
Kirito calls out to Riva and asks a RELEVANT QUESTION. "Um... yeah!" She says, scratching her head. "This is my first time playing any of these things." Whether she means 'VRMMO' or 'MMO' is not specified. She does, however, give Tomoe/Eisen a high five. "YEAH! Let's rock this!"

Reker once more reminds them all of what's up. Riva's almost dancing with the chance to shoot something that isn't a rat for a change, and-

And then she slumps again as the Combat Maid informs her she had been muted. "Oh... Right." Maybe she should just make a case for being a mute. Then maybe it won't matter that so many people have her on /ignore. "It's, um.... Nice to meet you, Amalie." She says, regardless, and goes in behind the others.

Riva's technique is, to put it mildly, 'sloppy'. Her gunfire doesn't stay on target, it's like she's not used to dealing with guns with /recoil/. In fact, when she tries to dualie the MAC-10s, she yelps and shakes out her wrists. She pops out from behind a crumbling wall, using both hands to hold a single SMG afterwards. She still wastes a ton of ammo.

Auron (236) has posed:
    'Banken' should hopefully already be in one of the groups. If not? Well, he can function pretty well as a tank. He's good at drawing aggro, at least. And he's smart enough not to get too far from the group, proven when he sticks with Reker, waiting until the signal's given to go.

    Banken gives Amalie a look. What in the hell? Did he miss something? Did they get transferred to a roleplay server or something? Ah well. Long as she's shooting the mobs, there's nothing really to complain about. Besides, it's all kind of funny.

    But once the signal to go is given, he heads in. And starts firing once the mooks show up. Mind you, that doesn't mean he's actually /hitting/ them. But he can at least draw aggro. He might hit three in ten shots if he's lucky. Reker might note that he's at least doing better than last time...

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Kagura is around the middle of the group, guarding the flank to the extent that it actually needs to be guarded. She's using what cover exists judiciously, and alternating between using her rifle and using her pistol as the need presents itself. Her marksmanship is decent enough - she doesn't try anything fancy, just aims and shoots as needed. Nice thing about beam weapons: less recoil.

If she recognizes Amalie in any way, shape, or form, she gives no sign of it except to wave when the android combat maid is welcomed into the party(s).

It's hard to judge how much she's enjoying herself, though.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "This game has... robot maids?" What.
    No, don't ask. Just. Stick with that plan.

    Homura does idly glance at Kirito and Reker just to see if they have an answer though. She might have underestimated character generation.

    "Thirty seconds, got it. And I'll stick to gunfight for now."

    It is once inside, that the magical girl finally produces... two handguns. Black, 9mm. Standard models. Extended clips, at least. Nothing fancy. Nothing that'd stand out in this game. And certainly nothing compared to Reker's personal toy, which admittedly is one of the things Homura wants to keep a close eye on out of curiosity.

    Clearing through the mooks is little problem. She's obviously pretty experienced-- she takes few shots, but they're always aimed for critical spots if she can help it. Always moves from cover to cover, and she's fast enough countershots mostly nick her clothes, if that.

    Not her first rodeo, definitely.

Kirito has posed:
    "Just don't overdo it." Kirito exclaims Homura's way, tone grimly serious. Of course, he knows she's quite competent.... but she's really risking her life here, why wouldn't he be worried?

    "Got it, Reker!" He falls in behind Reker, but honestly, how's he supposed to fight this way? No doubt he'll be running into things if he gets a chance. "Then keep behind the others and be sure to use group strategy!"

    A simple flick of his thumb and *CRACKLE-SNAPHISS!*

    The simple metal cylinder he's grasping projects a thrumming, sizzling magenta beam blade. He scans the area with full alertness... even if this is a fairly newbie zone, he's gonna take it pretty seriously. This is the basics of GGO combat and he needs to get used to them! ... Right?

    And then it's on. The ugly, mook bandits start crawling out of everywhere shouting angry lines about claim jumper jumpers or people robbing their headquarters. Whatever the story is, Kirito's got little mercy for NPCs.

    But the gunfire begins. Energy shots, or physical, it doesn't matter.

    He can see the Bullet Lines. He can dodge them.

    He can see the eyes that aim for him. He can predict the Bullet Lines.

    Consequently, Kirito takes off running when only three Bandits take aim with pistols and a SMG. With dance-like grace he ducks, weaves, and sidesteps the storm of bullets while taking the occasional potshot with his blaster.

    Most of his plasma bolts go wide. Only one finds its mark, depleting a quarter of a bandit's health meter. Big whup, right?

    Well, it's not his main weapon, anyways. Kirito's tremendous speed takes him right up into one of their faces. With a single clean cleave the bandit's bisected at the belly, digital scars glowing on the point of seperation before he explodes into shards of light.

    But in that very same instant, Kirito takes a hailstorm of bullets from the SMG user and leaps backwards in a panic. Somehow the boy manages to twist his body about in the air and dodge over half of the bullets. Not a one strikes his vitals. He skids off the momentum once his feet touch down and leaps aside, behind a boulder. Cover indeed!

    "Using this thing practically really is tough!" He blurts. "That's way too many bullets..."

    he does take a moment to glance at how the others are dealing with things. His own health was reduced by a quarter and is slowly regenerating. But the Bandit AI's not like a human. It starts closing in... "... only one way to find out if this will work. Here goes...!"

    After sucking in a breath, he leaps over the boulder. As predicted, the bandit just unloads a hailstorm of shots straight up at him. But right as the bullet closes in---

    *VVVVVVVWHM-SPANG SPANG SPANG!*

    The photon saber's interposed with dizzying speed. Sparks fly if it's physical bullets, or energy bolts fly off wildly if it's plasma. But Kirito deflects a dozen or so bullets in under two seconds, and brings the beam blade down to vertically BISECT the SMG bandit.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    MAID.

    Alexis kinda just tries not to giggle or even bother asking too many unneeded questons as she stares at "Amelia" before suddenly the group gets serious again. Joining with Homura and Riva, she keeps her rifle raised as she begins on her way cooly. "Copy that, boss." She says with a nod, stacking up near Reker as she keeps the rifle ready after cutting through the fence with PRESS X TO INTERACT.

    Trash mooks should be a good warmup for this instance, and Alexis has no worries on hand right now.

    Sprinting like crazy, Alexis dives to cover when the battle begins. She pops from a wall of stone she's hidden behind with rifle ready, taking a few shots of .300 Blackout ammo towards the bandits. With Kirito closing in close quarters with that laser blade of hers/his, and others letting loose with bullets, this might be a quick fight.

    Her bursts are quick and disciplined, making sure to drop anybody Kirito misses or leaves wounded but not dead just yet before going back to her own portions.

    "Short, controlled, bursts!" she calls out to Riva upon noticing the girl's troubles with those MAC-10s. Unlike most, 'Alice' isn't the kind of bitch that would put a newb on ignore like that.

Reker (631) has posed:
    The first waves of minions go down easy. They barely put up much of a fight. Everyone who's been playing should be used to the Bullet Line system by now, giving them a chance to get to cover, or in Kirito's case, cut the bullets out of the air with his energy sword.

Reker actually pauses what he's doing as Kirito goes to work with that sword, and shakes his head. He didn't even know the systme could account for that sort of thing. Sure each bullet is an object in the world, but damn. That's just crazy.

    After the first wave goes down, the second wave of minions is arriving. The mid-boss is with them too. Taller than any of the others, he's a huge mass of muscle, wearing what looks like a heavy armored bomb suit, complete with a face mask which hides his face. The suit has been modified with various pointy objects, adding to the crazy raider look. In his hands is a M2-HB heavy machine gun, firing .50 rounds. He fires several shots into the air as part of his introduction animation.

    "Kirito, grab the boss' attention while we finish up with the minon wave!" Reker yells out. He knows Kirito is fast enough to dodge the machine gun's slower rate of fire, and can probably slice any of those rounds out of the air that he can't dodge, "Focus on the minion wave, and then concentrate fire on the big guy!" Reker directs to the others. This whole time he's only been using his 1911, as he drops another one of the melee minions who was right on top of him with a well placed double tap to the chest.

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva blinks as Alexis offers some important information. "Short... OH! Sorry, I forgot!" She fiddles with the MAC-10, and starts cleaning up. Her stance gets better, though she spends more time standing around and aiming right now than taking proper cover or dodging Bullet Lines. She takes several hits, and she grunts, the flashes of pixels and glowing marks on her body showing BATTLE DAMAGE. "OW! Dang! At least it hurts less than in real life..." She ducks around the corner and begins firing again with better gun control. BRAAP! BRAAP! Clickclickclickclickclick!

Riva blinks for a moment, and then shakes her gun. "What gives... Oh right. /Ammo/." She digs around, and reloads the guns. "This would be /so much easier/ if I could just use my Anima guns!" Riva complains in classic noob fashion.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    "A mute?" Amid the din of gunfire and the heated firefight with the mobs, Amalie does call to Riva, "Ah! If you can play it right that would make for some really INTERESTING roleplay!"
    Nevertheless, she's plinking at the mobs, snapping from bandit to bandit within the range of her actual ability to feasibly put shots on target. She pauses only briefly, eye widening as Kirito slashes bullets clean out of the air. "A-ah... How heroic!" Before she can go on in some weird RP spiel... The boss shows up.
    The issue with this is, when the second wave and very large bomb-suit clad badass show up, Amalie is sorely hurting for cover. Nothing within reliable range to leap behind when the introduction sequence starts.
    This could get very bad.
    Until the maid sets her footing. Amalie does not need cover. Not as she unslings that heavy black shield off her back, SLAMMING the bottom of the shield into the ground in front of her, she braces behind it. It's a tall one too, allowing her to comfortably crouch behind it as her SMG pokes out from the side. to pepper the new wave of raiders and keep them off Kirito's back as Reker gives the order to tackle the trash.
    Amalie IS cover.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Focus on the minion wave? Sounds good to Kagura; she swaps charge packs in her rifle while crouching below cover-height, then pops up and fires a few bursts into the mooks - not just holding the trigger down, but measuring her shots. She doesn't always get it right; sometimes she has to pull the trigger again and squeeze off another shot or two to drop a mook.

Fortunately, the party/raid is big enough that any Kagura doesn't get, somebody else almost certainly will. Amalie's use of that shield seems to impress her, prompting a "Woot! Go Amalie!" as Kagura ducks to reload again.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    As stated outwardly, Homura is fairly impressed with Kirito's speed. For a world 'without superhumans', he is putting up a show close enough to it that he may have to reconsider his stance on his world having just normal boring humans in it. Video game or not, those are ridiculous reflexes for 'a human', or you'd be reading way more news articles about how Joe Nobody dodged or parried a bullet.

    She is broken out of her thoughts by Reker, who gets a nod. "Got it, kill adds first. Is weapon-swapping in combat a thing in this game or not?" She hopes the answer is yes, but sticks to the rules for now.

    The two handguns get emptied into the waves of raiders-- still with careful shots aimed for the vitals, or at least the vitals that the game acknowledges. So the head, most likely. And then she reloads... kind of clumsily, compared to her actual expertise at firing the guns.

    Kirito was right, reloading with two guns is a pain.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis continues to keep up the pressure until her rifle goes click. She takes a few shots, but her body armor keeps her torso safe as she feels a few strike her shoulder and arms. Wincing at the pain, she begins to move just as explosives threaten to ruin her cover entirely, and she begins to look rapidly for a place to hide behind.

    Suddenly Amalie provides a perfect oppertunity. Alexis takes it, sliding behind the android maid with the riot shield as she removes the empty mag from her rifle, slamming a fresh one in place and smacking the bolt-catch just as she drops yet another bandit.

    The mini-boss' fire continues to threaten the party, and she ducks down to swap out weapons in her inventory.

    When she pops back up again to shoot, she does it with a big-ass laser rifle, sighting the mini-boss directly before firing off a torrent of laser blasts. The mooks closest to the boss will find themselves showered in lazor as well, burned to slag where they stand.

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito bursts through the vanishing remains of his victim, expression bogged by sudden weariness. Blocking bullets takes INSANE concentration, he can't afford even a flicker of distraction or gap in discipline.

    Thankfully he's taking to the beam saber well. The boy twirls it expertly in his hands while the boss and his goons start fanning out. taking a stance and resting the beam blade horizontally behind his head (wow is THAT ever risky-looking) with his gun hand extended. "His eyes will be on only one person." The swordsman declares cockily, accepting Reker's assignment.

    The heavy machine gun, however, IS something for Kirito to worry about. He at first leaps towards the Boss, firing a few rounds to gain his attention and aggro, and then goes leaping to the side while shots ring out in his trail. He occasional ly deflects a bullet that gets a bit too close for comfort, and a few hit him in the arms and legs when he misses, But Kirito's focused on keeping the boss shooting mostly at empty air! All while slowly getting closer....

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe has to stop her own rampage, wait you can pull a jedi? Okay she might have some new ideas to fight but for now it's time to get back into things. She knows the minions need to go and away she goes she bounding about bringing the shotgun to take down the minion wave. She twist turn and is just not fighting in the way she does in ALO /at all/. She even end sup sliding under one minion between his legs and blasting them from behind with the shotgun blast.

Riva Banari has posed:
"M.... Mute?!" Riva says, shocked, apparently despite bringing it up herself. "But how would I even communicate with people? Or coordinate? Or um... What if I get in trouble?!" OH RIGHT RIVA, SUDDENLY IT'S A BAD IDEA, RIGHT?

Nevertheless, Riva blinks at Amalie's idea of portable cover. "Oh man, that's an AWESOME IDEA." She says enthusiastically, before peeking over the cover again. "Oh hell. That dude is like a walking tank! NERF TANK! TANK OP!" She yells, apparently adapting the lingo fast enough.

Reker (631) has posed:
    The second wave of minions that the team was fighting start to go down, but there's a whole hell of a lot of them. The team seems to be whittling them down but they had better hurry up in order to be able to save Kirito.

    The boss is still focused on the swordsman. That .50 caliber machinegun is chattering away, shots slamming into the ground near Kirito's feet or getting deflected. One shot from this thing might do enough damage to take off a limb, though.

    Seems like there might be one more wave of smaller minions after this one for the team to deal with before they can take out the boss himself. Reker finishes dropping another mook with his handgun and yells out to Kirito, "If you need to switch off, head over here!" He yells out, waving to Kirito. Reker has a way to hold the boss' attention as well, if need be.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Kagura reloads her rifle again, swapping power packs in her pistol as well while she's behind cover, then pokes her head and her rifle up to resume shooting at mooks. By this point, she's also trying to make sure none of the minions get a chance to flank Kirito - but she's mostly dealing with her 'quadrant' of the fight, just sparing attention in other directions when she has a moment to do so.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    More minions. Do they never stop spawning?

    From behind her cover, the Puella Magi discards the two handguns and produces, out of seemingly nowhere, a grenade launcher. It does not take her long to start firing on the minion hordes, trying to put emphasis on clearing them all out at once so that they can switch to helping Kirito faster.

    "These do stop spawning eventually, right?"

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Hunkered down behind the heavy and tall ballistic shield, Amalie maintains her solid position as a steadfast piece of stationary cover for 'Alice' behind her. Crouched low, lone eye peering through the slat for an idea of where the mobs are, she spies Kirito goint right up in the boss' face.
    For the time being, the battle maid focuses her fire on adds that pop up, pelting raiders and psychos with short bursts, aiming for center of mass and assure hits over theatrics and fancy shooting.
    But then she elbows Maaka, a rather un-maidly grunt given flashes a 'ready up' motion, amid pelting bandits.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Taking cover behind her SHIELD MAID, "Alice" manages to swap out weapons after a little hotbar fu. In lieu of her DDM4, she pulls out a massive laser rifle, bulky and heavy but still very effective as she takes a few potshots. It's clear she's appreciative now of her new cover buddy, with all the fire buzzing past.

    The elbow gets Alice' attention, and she nods once as she takes the hint from the maid. "Right behind ya."

    A hand pats Amalie on the shoulder, squeezing to let her know to get going as Alice squeezes off another blast of laser at the heavy bandit.

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito's heart is pounding. The only way he can shave things a little more in his favor is by angling inwards to make the boss work harder to follow him. And he's about as close as he dares get with all of the shots going every which way! "Be ready then, Reker! ...If we could just distract him..." Ugh.

    He nearly falters on some unsteady ground and is forced to parry the following edge of the shots briefly. More sparks fly before he's back in the circling pattern...

Reker (631) has posed:
    The last wave of minions goes down to the withering fire provided by the team, as Reker swaps weapons, pulling out his grenade launcher as Kirito pulls his next circle, "Kirito, now! Break off!" He roars out, as he squeezes the trigger on his weapon and sends one of the grenades at the bomb suit clad boss. The impact rocks him, but a bomb suit is designed to withstand a lof of impacts. This does, however, pull aggro, and the machine gunner turns towards Reker, who ducks behind cover and gets down prone. The machine gun begins to chatter away, tearing apart the cover Reker is laying behind.

    The last of the minions goes down and leaves the rest of the team free to begin to attack the boss, who's now laying down a heavy blast of weapons fire on Reker's position.

    "Now! Hit him with everything you've got!"

Tomoe has posed:
Eisen is still going hog wild at this point she's still making sure to takr down any of the remaining minion waves at this point if there are any left. She heds afte rthem bouncing about their ranks and letting off shotgun blasts as she goes.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"Roger!" calls out Kagura, finding new cover as she fires bursts at the boss, and hunkering down so she can duck if the armored figure turns to aim at her. As soon as her rifle runs out of charge, she drops it and pulls out her pistol, aiming single shots to try and rock the boss as hard as she can.

... bullets probably WOULD be better for physical impact shock, wouldn't they? But Kagura's still trying to burn holes in the boss's bomb-proof suit; if nothing else, she's trying to at least help make weaknesses in the armor. Damage the armor enough and the boss will presumably lose much of his protection.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    With Alice readied up, hand on her shoulder, as the mobs die down... Amalie stands. Her shield is lifted just enough to allow for mobility as she keeps her head down... And starts walking. It is not a slow advance, but a trudging hustle, inexorable, bullish, and not going to stop for anything. Amalie turns herself into a mobile slab of cover.
    All the while her SMG is peeking out from behind the shield, now unloading a fully automatic stream of energy fire for the boss as she pulls Maaka along with her. After Reker pulled aggro like that, she is going right for HIM, as the heavy machinegun tears away the pro-gamer's cover, Amalie replaces it, slamming the shield back down to brace on the ground and provide Reker space to join her and Maaka

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "GO."

    'Alice' is right behind Amalie at full sprint. Her laser rifle is right above of Amalie, firing away with a torrent of energy intended to cut through minions and the mini-boss alike. It's not real, per say, but ALice can still feel the thing burning in her hands through her gloves. ALl the same, she grits her teeth and keeps going, pausing only to take accurately aimed shots every so often.

    The minute that Amalie stops, so does Alice. She lets the thing cool down as it vents heat, slinging the weapon on her back as she unholsters her sidearm. Ca-click. With the Glock 22 in hand, Alice takes aim at the mini-boss and fires away with a blazing hail of bullets, only stopping to swap magazines and reload.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Got it." Homura confirms.

    The grenade launcher is replaced by an anti-materiel rifle.
    It's pretty big, as expected.

    The magical girl puts her eye in the scope and locks onto the boss' head. She fires as quickly as she can. It's no energy weapon, but it's big and has enough punch that it shouldn't matter a whole lot too much. She makes sure not to stick her head out of cover longer than she has to, mostly in case the boss decides it wants to start spraying bullets everywhere.

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito LEAPS when he's called for. Leaps straight forward that is, and goes into a roll. But he stays low, kicks off the ground, and goes into a weird sidewinding spin through the air. Without the really heavy swords to weigh him down, he seems to be even speedier than most would've guessed he can be.

    Or maybe he's just trying to show off to compensate for the girly avatar.

    Whatever the case, he re-ignites the photon saber near the end of his leap and lands BEHIND the monstrosity of a boss. The weapon hums and sizzles through the air as he swings it about in a dizzying display of cuts and slashes every which way... then leaps back as even MORE explosive things come flying in.

    He's NOT sticking around for that.

    "Gehh... this weapon's the least practical thing to use with everyone else using guns." He'll need to get more cunning about it...

Tomoe has posed:
That's when Eisen move in at the boss now she sees the boss is laying down fire at Renker and she msirks, that's when she makes for another run she uses some of the terrain again to get auirborn and what is she doing? Why dropping a plasma grenade down on the boss at the apex of her massive leap.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

She's been moving with the stort of skill that seems to incidate this isn't just her avatar

Reker (631) has posed:
    As Reker remains pinned down, he thinks he might get taken out this early on. That would suck, and would be very embarassing. But that's when the shield maid comes swooping in to his rescue, Well the fire from the boss is broken up when gunfire starts to come in at him. Once the shield is there to absorb the fire from the boss, Reker pulls himself up to a knee behind the shield.

    The fire persists on the shield for a few moments more until weapons fire begins to rain in from other directions. The boss turns his weapon on people as they attack him, firing several shots in their direction until someone else strikes him and draws his attention again.

    Kirito is the one who finally sets the boss down as his health bar drops into yellow. He bellows out in pain and throws the machine gun away, reaching his hands up to grab the explosives strapped to himself, throwing them out in an arc around himself. Reker pops out from behind the shield with his handgun and shoots two of the grenades out of the air, protecting the group that's next to him and the shield, "Everybody scatter! Stay away from the grenades!" He calls out, trying to hit a third grenade before it can get near Homura and her anti material rifle. Her shot has managed to knock off the boss' helmet, exposing a weak point, "Aim for the head! We can take him down quicker!"

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Having her pistol in hand is a good thing at the moment; Kagura is able to shoot a grenade down before she bolts for cover -

And another grenade comes down right in her path. **BOOM!!!**

... thank the gods for convenient respawning, right? Although how far away 'convenient' is - well, Kagura's finding THAT out right now.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    There it is, the boss is getting uppity and serious.
    Grenades and a lot of bullets. Homura doesn't doubt one second Reker can nail that incoming grenade, from her claims of being an expert in this game, but does not gamble on it, and just makes a dive from her cover out into the open-- a few bullets graze her, tearing her skirt and sleeves here and there, and she dives behind another railing for more cover afterwards.

    This is a bit harder than she thought, if she skips the cheating. She reloads the massive rifle, and then lines another series of shots for the head, if there's any opening in the boss' firing pattern at all.

    "This is wildly different from what I think about when I think about any form of online game." Namely there's a striking lack of a tank/healer paradigm.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Amalie's shield is durable. But it is not infallible. As she takes up position to soak fire for both Alice and Reker, her HP whittles away. That thing must have cost a pretty penny from the cash shop because it's got a decent absorption rate to it but definitely not perfect as some of that heavy fire pelts through the shield and starts hitting the maid behind it, using her heavier armor and body as a secondary barrier to keep the two behind her unharmed, before the boss decides to change targets and tactics.
    She's gritting her teeth and panting for a moment, but the respite granted by having those two grenades shot clean out of the air is a godsend. On the order to scatter she heaves her ballistic shield back up, ready to move again the instant a chance presents itself. It's now that she actually stops shooting, focusing in holding that shield up for all she's worth. Though she remains right where she is until Maaka and Reker can either break off and scatter or remain behind her as they see fit, before she even thinks of moving.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alice notices the grenades, and she takes the hint as she ducks behind Amalie after a very unladylike exclaimation of surprise and anger. She holsters her sidearm, and fumbles through her inventory to swap back to her DDM4 again, loading up and taking aim.

    The rifle lets off a point-blank burst of fire towards the mini-boss, blasting away as Alice keeps shooting. Ducking behind Amalie after the rifle goes click, she ducks down to stuff another mag into battery, noting her ammo reserves are going to be dwindling hard here.

    Remaining behind Amalie, she calls out to Reker. "You still hangin' in there, mate?!" Right now she's content to stay put, but that remains to be seen whether or not Reker feels the same.

Tomoe has posed:
Eisen has come in for a landing away from the boss and now she's rising up but isn't using her shotgun as she's cleated the blast radius, nope her pistol is in hand and she's opening fire on the boss trying to tag the head even as the battle medio, Renker and everyone else keep at it. She keeps unloading rounds from her pistol and reloading it's also clear Esien is having as heck of a ball here.

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito's not QUITE GLAD he fled. A bit of panic shows on the boy's face as he finishes his backflip and takes another backwards leap to distance himself, while opening fire with HORRIFYINGLY BAD ACCURACY with his laser gun. PEW PEW PEW!

    The boy grits his teeth. He really doesn't wanna get too close with EVERYONE shooting... he'll just get in the way.

    For the first time in a long, long while, Kirito feels somewhat useless in a VRMMO. That's not a good feeling at all.

Reker (631) has posed:
    The boss' grenades are going out rapidly now. The team seems to be able to shoot down some but others need to be scrambled away from. Thankfully each grenade seems to give a blast radius indicator, similar to the bullet line that was generated when he was using the machine gun. Tomoe's shots hit one of the boss' grenades as it leaves his hand, taking out several of the others and making him stumble backwards. Maaka is doing a good job of evading the explosions and her shots stagger the boss again, though he manages to get one more grenade out right before one of Homura's shots knocks him off his feet. The boss starts to get back up quickly but looks hurt bad.

    That grenade drops down right behind the shield that Amalie is using to guard the group. Reker reaches between her legs to grab the grenade and then drops it and kicks it through the air. It sails right back at the boss and explodes in his face, stunning him as he drops back to a knee as soon as he had gotten up.

    "NOW! Kirito! Finish him off!" Reker calls out, trying to direct the swordsman to go for the boss' exposed head. As for poor Yuna, there's no respawn point unless the team wipes. She'll need to wait until they can rez her. Reker's sure he brought a few of the resurrection kits in his bag, as well as medpacks for anyone who's hurt, but he doesn't specialize in medicine so his stats in it won't be that great.

Iria (215) has posed:
    Meanwhile, poor Iria was stuck out of action. The reason? Technical difficulties alas! And no, she can't blow on the cartridge connectors!

Kirito has posed:
    "Easy for you to say..." Kirito mutters under his breath. Rush in with everyone shooting?

    Well, now he has an opportunity. Though he's also pretty MAD. Seeing Kagura go down made a lump go right down his throat and he had to work HARD to remind himself that she will respawn just fine.
R    Some traumas take a while to die down...

    "Huuuurahhh!!!"

    But dash in he does. At tremendous speeds. He runs at top speed, body leaning forward and low to the ground. At the last moment he ignites the weapon and thrusts it forward, practically LEAPING to spear it straight into the back of the guy's head with an amazing lihtshow.

    Because on impact at such an angle, it'll be like trying to drill straight through something with a laser. Light and sparks fly EVERYWHERE in torrents!

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Where most wearing frilly skirts would protest at someone reaching between their legs, Amalie displays an utter lack of care at the act when it means Reker is saving her from an explosive inside her protective radius. It probably would have been really bad for her if he didn't so apparently she can easily live with a little less dignity over it.
    "Nice catch." She does aside. Being minus one eye means she's obviously going to miss some things. But it looks like it's down to the last stretch.
    If anything, she fires a few shots of covering fire for Kirito's approach. But it's all the Black Swordsman's show from here.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Kagura can't really do anything at the moment. Y'know, being dead and all.

It would be more relaxing if she weren't worrying about the rest of the team pulling this off. If there's one benefit to being game-dead, it's the leisure (so to speak) to spectate.

Tomoe has posed:
Eisen is doing pretty well as she manage to pick off one of his grenade before he can get away. She has to admit this is a classic boss but a fun one. The whole bandits in the vault as it were. Still she sees that she keeps firing her pistol intending ot help give cover to Kirito and the others who are up close.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    At this point all Homura really can do is provide a few extra shots to Kirito's attack; it seems like the fight's in the pocket, though, so her immediate curiosity is to see how reviving and healing players works in this game. No doubt that'll get showcased on the boss isn't in a position to possibly recover and do anything to anyone anymore.

    "So, Reker, is Kirito going full-melee like this an actual... intended game function?"

Reker (631) has posed:
    The boss didn't stand a chance after Kirito came in. The sword plunges into the boss's skull and out the other side. A few moments later, the boss explodes in a shower of sparks and light. After the boss' death, the group will have some time to recoup and rearm. Reker emerges from behind the shield and unslings his backpack as he heads over to where Yuna had been taken out by the grenade. Using the revive pack will bring her back to the world of the living, so to speak.

    "Alright folks," Reker says, as he looks around, "That takes care of the easy part." He says, grinning a bit. Turning to Homura and her question, he rubs his chin a bit, "I have no idea. I mean people have bought those swords to dick around before, but I've never seen one used so...Effectively." He says, looking back at Kirito, "You alright man?" He asks, as he looks to the rest of the team, "Everybody recoup and relax, we'll head deeper in once we're all set back up."

Kirito has posed:
    The boss explodes into fading pixels... and Kirito skids to a halt, half-staggering. He raises straight up and promptly executes an expert sword-twirl that leads into trying to 'sheath' the glowing beam-weapon across his back.

    Yeah, Kirito, it doesn't work that way. Muscle memory, it can be a ***** sometimes.

    A half-second later Kirito realizes his mistake, makes a weary and sheepish face and just thumbs the weapon off. The blade's 'sucked' back into the metal cylinder... and he just topples onto his back.

    "... Keeping up with those bullets is beyond tiring... yeah! Just... give me a bit to get my head on after that."

    He did make it look easy. But really, it's NOT. Not at all.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"Sorry about that," are Kagura's first words as her 'corpse' changes back into a living, mobile virtual body. She looks fairly chagrined, too, matching her tone. "Is the bunker going to be that tough to deal with too?"

She's checking to see how well-supplied she is for reloads for her weapons, too. If the mooks didn't drop ammo or something, she may be running awfully low ...

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "I see. So it's unusual then," Homura says, emerging from cover and dismissing the rifle. She looks from Reker to Kirito, then back to him. "Well, if you need a way to lure that Death Gun out, I think Kirito's developing an ability that'll get a lot of players furious if used correctly. It won't be long before peope are talking about 'that one player bringing a sword to a gunfight'."

    Or so she assumes.
    Seems like a thing that gets rumors started.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    As the boss goes down and everyone gets some sweet XP, Amalie lets a slow breath filter through her teeth. Leaving her shield standing where it is, she takes a moment to survey her status. Holstering her SMG for the sake of rifling through her inventory for something totake the edge off the HP she lost from using herself as a mobile cover platform, now that the group has downtime.
    "Impressive! It looks like those space rays boosted your reaction speed to superhuman levels!" She roleplays at Kirito, before she's suddenly UPON YUNA.
    Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaspppppp.
    "Oh thank GOODNESS you're alright!" Blurted as she clasps one of Kagura's hands in both of your own. "We were all so worried when you went down in the firefight. What were we going to tell your ten children and husband, if you didn't make it back!"
    She has yet again forced a terrible backstory on someone.
    Roleplayers.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe sees that the boss is down and is going to go over the loot she takes her cut of the cash but passes on anything else. She looks from one ot the other in a moment

"Not bad, not bad at all."

She shoots Homura a look for a second.

"It's not intended as the primary function no I doubt most players have the response time to try iut, your looking at a very small group of people and not all of them touch this sort of thing anymore either."

She shrugs and wonders if tht alone will get death gun's attention. She pauses, seriously at the medio for a moment and just starts laughing a bit. She's avoided the RPness for the moment.