3923/A Sylph in time.

A Sylph in time.
Date of Scene:	18 March 2016
Location:	Alfheim Online <ALO>
Synopsis:	Zephyr's playing ALO, and gets herself in a spot of trouble while trying to solo a mid-level quest. Staren, Talken(Yuuki's NPC) and Tomoe step in to help her out!
Cast of Characters:	Tomoe, Staren, 162, Yuuki Konno

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Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    It'd be easy for any of the Gate Crashers, or Sleeping Knights to find Mistral. She's out in the far reaches of Sylph territory, where the higher level spawns are. Her location would be easy to spot from the air, as most of the Mobs are converging on a single fighter, who looks more like a green blur than a 3D avatar. Her HP bar is in the yellow, and she has a Speed Buff up, which is probably the only thing giving her an edge as she parries and dances between the larger, four-armed brutes with giant hammers.

Staren has posed:
    Zephyr has asked for help! And Staren's not really doing anything... there was an invitation to a party in Gensokyo, but he feels like that's just going to result in him saying something offensive to Amaterasu or her family. Gensokyo's safe for now, and that's what matters, the celebration doesn't need him.

    Helping fight monsters is much more his speed.

    Since Mistral's got aggro, when the Cait Sith flies down from the sky, he has some moments of peace to cast spells. First is a shield of darkness that will take some hits for Mistral, then he buffs himself with darkness shield and enlightninged weapon. "Try and line them up! I'm gonna do a lightning bolt! Dodge when I finish the incant!" Staren lands a short ways behind Mistral and holds his hand out, chanting false norse syllables...

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    It's somewhat rare to see a Leprechaun in the Sylph zone. Leprechauns aren't exactly known to be friendly to Sylphs. Then again, given how far apart their lands lie, Leprechauns aren't at war with Sylphs either. A lone member of the race takes their chances, but most players who aren't specifically looking to gank PCs would allow one safe passage. Leprechauns ARE the best makers in the game after all, and a lone member of the race is likely looking to sell some pretty good stuff.

    And let's face it. Talken's not exactly the most threatening of people. He's weedy, wears glasses, and his bronze hair isn't doing him any favours with its front-parted bowl cut. Still, one can't fault his flying speed. He's no sylph, but his flight speed could easily-enough compete with one. He charges on down, having received suggestions where to find Mistral and the others, and circles the area once.

    As Talken circles the area, he simultaneously opens his menu. This CAN'T be easy... doing fine tasks with the fingers while doing voluntary flight. He does it though, and a spear forms in his hand. A monstrous spear easily eight feet long, with a foot-long wedge-shaped blade that's the only thing keeping the weapon from being called a lance.It's a fighter's spear, double-edged and clearly made for slashing as much as for stabbing.

    Closing his menu, Talken takes up that monster spear in both hands and descends, charging into the battle to lance (or spear) into an Urgluk Berserker. The monster doesn't stand a chance. Besides the charge speed, Talken's wielding an Ancient Weapon. Boss Loot from Niflheim. The spear goes right through the beastman's middle, poking out the other side, before the Berserker shatters into red pixels.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Mistral doesn't have time to be relieved, as she gets face punted right out of the middle of the group by a underhand hammer strike. She bounces, tumbles, and comes to a stop, covered in glowing red 'damage markers' which show the lattice under her avatar. "Ow... I actually /felt/ that one." she grumbles, pushing herself up.

    Staren's incantation draws aggro once he nears completion, but he's far enough away that the Mobs can't close in time before the lightning bolt flashes out.

    Talken's end-game gear proves far more than the mid-level mob can handle, and it indeed explodes rather spectacularly. He draws some aggro too, a pair of the creatures swinging their hammers down at the Leprechaun in his totally-not-a-battle-mage attire.

    Tomoe's rain of light bolts helps to confuse the mobs targetting algorithm, they can't reach her, but she's being annoying. That's when they show an odd behavior for regular World Mobs... their pattern changes, and some of them start throwing their hammers up at Tomoe!

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe heard Mistral had got herself into a bit of trouble. So here Tomoe was trying to catch up with everyone else. She had to prehaps dodge her way past various people. No one got pked as the Salamander didn't care about a fight to be hones and was more looking to help a friend. Everyonew who'd have got on her way would have been grey anyhow. She's a bit behind Talken in her arrival and that's when the light rays atart to rain down at the monsters as Tomoe's already casting light spells.

Staren has posed:
    They're... throwing their hammers?! Since when do these mobs do that? "Hmh!" Staren grunts. "That's new!" It's not intimidating, though, he was just getting started. He charges in, trying to get inside the nearest giant's strike range before it can hit him and stab it with his daggers, discharging the electricity he just added to them. That might score him another kill, but without time to cast more spells, he's left trying to use his Cait Sith agility to outmaneuver the giants and stab them until the combined attacks of all his allies bring them down. Oh, that reminds him: "Focus fire!" he calls out. Hopefully he can dodge their attacks -- the darkness shield will help if he messes up a little, but he's /not/ a tank!

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    In social situations, Talken's a wreck. In battle though, while he may be among the least of the Sleeping Knights, he's still a Sleeping Knight. One of the best of the best, able to stand amongst SAO Survivors and Alf warriors alike with head held high. That is, unless he happens to spot a girl. Then his head won't be held quite so high.

    Talken spins his spear, weaving a pattern of steel that easily keeps the two Berserkers' heavy hammers at bay. If they were bosses that'd be one thing, but they're mere mid-level mobs. His spear outmasses the hammers, in game terms if not in reality. They simply can't break through his guard. He doesn't press the attack though. He could murder them easily, given his skill and gear. That isn't the point though. He's not partied with Mistral and so can't help her on her quest. All he can do to help, right now, is hold aggro. If he murders the beasts, the kills are his... and that does no one any good.

    He looks over at Mistral, trying to judge her gear and her skill. Her skill is obviously excellent, probably on his own level, so... why is she having trouble? He stares intently at her gear. This is probably a bad move. Most faerie races are designed attractive after all, and Mistral's a girl. And much of the game's armor is designed to enhance the wearer's appearance, not conceal it. Not to the cheesecake levels of SOME games to be sure, but enough so that Talken's in little doubt that Mistral is, yes, a girl.

    He freezes up, and it lets the Berserkers land several hammer blows on him. He seems stunned. Not by the hammers admittedly, but stunned nonetheless. It's only after he gets hammered several times that he begins to react, more annoyed than hurt thanks to the game's pain blocking and his own end-game armor. He starts up that spear spin once again, lashing out a few times with the pointy end to draw violent red streaks along the mobs in non-lethal hit locations.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is raining well damage down on them and she's trying to keep them off balance hopefully this would take the pressure off those on the ground. It's starts raining hammera from the mobs on the ground, she's seeing they can adapt amd she's going to have to mix things up now as she attempts to dodge the hammers. This does stop her barrage of spells, because she's in no condtion to cast. Sure the hammers might not do much, but they'd keep her from casting anything of note, so she summons her nagitnata Mooncutter and drops into the formation of mobs, after which she rises up in the confusion and starts to attack.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Mistral's gear is only just better than the starting stuff. Probably bought from a vendor in Sylvein with the small ammount of starting cash new characters get. Admittedly, Zephyr hasn't had much time to play, but her skill is easily enough to match or overpower most Mobs, and even some players that have much better gear. She proved /that/ much when she helped the Sleeping Knights get into the Boss Room. Her gear hasn't improved much since then and she still mangaged to hold back seasoned Boss Raiders.

    She's currently quaffing a health potion while the others hold aggro, so she completely misses Talken checking her gear. Once she's finished, she unhitches her twin hand-axes, and dives right back in.

    Staren's got the advantage of self buff spells and the defense of that shield. They're only mid-level mobs, so it should be easy to time their attacks and dodge the hammers. Daggers cut in angry red slashes on the mobs, and cause some of them to back off for a moment, before they charge back in with angry bellows.

    The ones Talken is fending off seem to be getting faster as he blocks attacks, their strikes increasing in strength.... the Berserker-type mob has that special ability. The more you block the 'angrier' it gets, and so its stats increase to a linear cap as that 'buff' builds.

    Tomoe's high level gear would find the Berserkers little challenge. Mooncutter lives up to its name, and cleaves through mobs like a hot knife through butter, leaving several to shatter into red pixels.

Staren has posed:
    Well! Now Staren's got things into a rhythm and can fight the mobs without even thinking about it. "Zephyr!" he calls, as his current opponent is covered in stab-and-slash-marks. "Either party with me or finish this thing off!"

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Talken can take the hits, but the increased force of the Berserker special-ability attacks begin to drive him back, to disrupt his so-elegant spear spin. He continues to strike, switching up between slashes to non-lethal areas and hits with the spear butt or flat of the wedge-shaped blade. He also, slowly, begins to retreat in a circle. "Y-yeah! Hit them h-h-hard!" he stammers. "A-and in the back o-or somewhere v-v-vital!" he suggests. She'll have to get the final blow in, and there's no better way to get the final blow than to kill something in one hit. If you can do it before the mob realizes you're attacking, a tactic the Sleeping Knights absolutely adore, so much the better.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is more than able to cut though them had she been on level with them? It would hav ebene quite the fight? Now not so much but she's keeping tabs on Talken and STaren as they go into furhter she's still looking about for more.

"Hey Mistral heard you needed some help!"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    "Use my character name!" Mistral shoots back at Staren. "Not everyone uses their real name y'know!" Granted, 'Mistral' is Zephyr's middle name Real-side, but that's beside the point! She leaps back into the fray, activating a Sword Skill mid-leap, and descending on the damaged Mob with a flurry of slashes with her right-hand weapon... and immediately swings into another flurry with the left, though this leaves her a bit disoriented. "Whoa... didn't mean to do that!"

    After the Skill-stun wears off, she takes a moment to get her bearings, then chants a few false-norse glyphs, and refreshes her speed buff as it runs out, giving her the speed needed to take advantage of Talken's position. She kicks off, and with a rush of speed that would make Zekken blink, Mistral comes around and drives her axes into one of the Berserker's backs, right between the shoulderblades. This sends it falling forwards, and shattering into red pixels just before it lands on Talken. She does much the same with the other, using a Sword Skill as she doesn't have as much of a run-up to add the impact force to her strike. "Whew...!"

    After that, the area seems to be clear for the moment. "Thanks for comin' guys..." she says, looking around at the Cait Sith, Leprechaun and the Salamander. "Lemme check..." she draws up her menu, pulls the quest details up, and grins. "Welp, that did it! Just gotta head back to town to pick up my reward! The weapon for this quest is a really sweet Great Axe! I've been working on that skill along with my hand-axe, so I've got options!" she says, grinning at everyone. It's a big, bright grin, not unlike a certain beast-tamer Cait Sith.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Talken looks at Mistral and then looks away, obviously flustered. "Y-you should g-g-get some armor t-too." he says awkwardly.

    Not that she doesn't have armor. It's a fairly typical light armor, but Talken can tell it's not anywhere near the level this girl fights at. Much like her axe. "I-I mean g-good! A n-new axe will h-help!" he adds, stammering in his haste to get the words out and not sound like a total jerk. He's not a total jerk... but he does have some tendencies towards min-maxing. Hey, everyone wants to be strong, right?

Staren has posed:
    And it's done! "Congrats!" Staren smiles, holding his hand up. "High-five!" At the explanation of the quest reward, he nods, "Nice!" He doesn't really have a lot to say, honestly. It's a new weapon, that's cool, there's no more to say!

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe :looks to Mistral for a moment and seems to be in a good mood as they have cleaned up the mess. She does seem to be keeping an eye out for other things. She looks to Zephryr for a moment grinning for a moment. "I'll give you the drops I got, it's just vendor trash to me but it might be worth while for you, given where you are right now." She's not being rude she's bein honet and she looks to Taklken for a moment grinning. "Not bad Talken."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Mistral leans in and peers at Talken curiously. "You doin' okay over there buddy? It looks like you're having some trouble holding it together." No, No Zephyr, you're not a Love Fairy.

    Staren gets a grumpy look from Mistral. "Still need to use my character name. I come in here to get away from stuff." she grouses, arms folding over her chest with a huffy tilt of her body and cock of her hips to one side.

    Tomoe gets a shrug. "Keep it. Not that I don't appreciate the offer, but it's your stuff." She replies, grinning afterward. "With the Yuld reward on top of the weapon, I should be able to get a new chest piece too! So, double win!"

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    It's not just Mistral that has Talken flustered. Tomoe, when she speaks to him, makes him realize she's also quite ... striking. Tall and ... impressive. It's a Salamander thing. The poor kid's got nowhere safe to look, not between the two of them. Not that looking's really a problem. He's not brimming over with youthful lust or anything. He's just aware, very aware, that they're girls.

    "I-I-I'm f-fine." Talken stammers, if anything even worse than before. Now that he's not in combat, he doesn't at all seem a mighty warrior. Just an extremely awkward and painfully shy young man. "B-but you need t-to get a g-group together. R-raid some dungeons..."

Staren has posed:
    Staren blinks. "Oh. Sorry, Mistral." he lowers his hand. Then he looks between Talken and Mistral. "...Surely she's gone on raids before...?"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe says "Allr ight, I was just offeirng but good your not getting screwed out of gear. I know how that goes." She looks back to Talken and she's ooking down, the poor kid doesn't know that Tomoe is just about as tall in the flesh.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    "Yeah, yeah. I know! But I don't wanna go asking the other 'Crashers, cuz they might be busy, and hooking up with randoms is a good way to get PK'd after getting a good item." replies Mistral, poking her cheek with a fingertip as she ponders.

    Staren finally earns a look at that grin. "Only one I've been on was when we helped the Sleeping Knights get into the Boss Room, and I didn't get any drops off that, because I only did PvP."

    Mistral nods to Tomoe, and gestures back toward town. "I should head back, gonna need to log out soon and I kinda wanna get my new gear before I do." she says. "Any shops you guys suggest for a good set of light armour in Sylvein?"