3979/Cutlasses 'n Cannons Online

Cutlasses 'n Cannons Online
Date of Scene:	03 April 2016
Location:	Alfheim Online <ALO>
Synopsis:	A group of VR players enter a new MMO to track down some interesting rumors.
Cast of Characters:	Kirito, Tomoe, 162, 215, 437, 707, Yuuki Konno, 922, 960
Tinyplot:	CCO

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Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Weird happenings and changing AI patterns. That's what Yuuki had been told to watch for. Ironically enough, she's one of the Gatecrashers who have never met Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online. She knows little about what he's done beyond the basics, and has only other people's word on how he'd apparently died and been uploaded into the system as a living AI. Even more ironically, she's the only one with a personal stake in hunting this person down. Medicine has saved her, but it can't give her life. It would take something like Kayaba Akihiko's techniques to allow Yuuki to freely live on her own terms.

    She's not really sure how rogue AIs are a sign of Akihiko. She supposes in his current state, he probably has GM powers over all Seed-based VRMMOs. He's also known for meddling, for making the games more realistic and interesting. Good enough reason to check out this MMO, she supposes. Besides, who doesn't like playing as pirates? She'd presented the AI angle to the Gatecrashers, suggesting they come check it out. She mentioned the game to her non-Gatecrasher friends too, perhaps even mentioning the weird AI thing that's worth investigating, though she still hasn't told non-Gatecrashers about her life-threatening illness. They'll probably figure SOMETHING out once they realize Yuuki's actually a VR avatar, once they have CCO characters to compare her to... but that's all right.

    Entering CCO is easy for those with access to Amuspheres or similar devices, which of course the Gatecrashers already have. Not difficult for others either, for that matter. Once the player link-starts they're confronted by the character creation screen. CCO has no races or classes, not as such. It offers complete newbies a skill package, giving them base levels of skills for certain playstyles: merchant, brewmaster, craftsman, rifleman, swashbuckler, townie, and perhaps a few others. For people who enter from other VR worlds, the option to clone their character exists. Physical and utility Skills will convert over; gear and money and magic will not.

    For all characters however, there is a character customization screen. You can do most any look that's at all reasonably period. Yuuki herself has opted for a buccaneer's outfit, somewhat threadbare as befits newbie gear, giving her blouse and trousers, a curved sword, an eyepatch and a flaring buttcape. Her appearance is otherwise fairly similar to Zekken, and still recognizable as such right down to the long violet hair.

    The newbie arrival zone is a huge portside city, one that's safe from PVP. Think 17th or 18th century Carribean. Sea, sand, lots of wooden construction, lots of people of various stripes and colors. And ships, of course. The start zone, up on a hill, has a good view of the sea and a fairly large legion of ships both docked to the port and sailing the seas. The sun is bright, the air warm and humid, the air cool and smelling of salt and faintly of fish.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Zephyr has been playing this game for about a month already, swapping between it and ALO, but keeping her involvement secret from the Gatecrashers. Having said that, she /did/ hear about the group coming over to investigate the weird goings on, and so she weighed anchor and set sail from her homeport a few islands over, to the starting island, bringing her ship into the dock and getting the NPC crew to moor up and wait for their arrival.

    Her avatar is a fairly tall, auburn-haired woman in a white blouse, brown vest top and a loose skirt that billows in the wind. Stockings and knee-high boots. (Something like this. )

    At her hip sits a hatchet, the blade long and curved wickedly, the haft short, so the weapon is more akin to a punch-blade than a true axe, while a brace of pistols sit on a bandolier around her torso. Auralia is her handle-tag, and she's classified as a Merchanter, 'openly hiring', as her NPC crew unload cargo and make the ship ready for sea again.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe has come and used Eisen as a base for her avatar here, though she's mised it up she's wearing shorts high high boots, a bandana, which her long red hair is tied up at the base, said bandan has a skull and crossbone on it. Her sword arm has the long flowery tattoos she's known to sport in SAO and on the other is a beleeding rose an the rose form the shape of a skull. She's gone pretty full on anime for her. She's got a fairly nice cutlass and a pair of pistols storefd in her belt for the moment.

"Yar and aast yet swaps let say all the things no true pirate said YARR!"

She's certainly having fun already.

Iria (215) has posed:
Another game to play, meaning more entertainment for Iria when she's not hunting bounties or working for the Union. She, too, had been trying out CCO, since it looked like fun. And she, too, had been getting in on the whole pirate attire thing. Wearing a simple white top along with a brown vest, with blue trousers and brown boots, Iria has her cutlass and a pistol both holstered but ready to be used at any time. Her hairstyle very closely resembles her real life one, just without the hair ornaments. Without a bandana or anything like that, her hair blows freely in the wind when it blows.

    "Just glad Fujikuro's not here," Iria says to no one in particular. "He'd be mocking me about talking like a pirate and making me walk the plank." She squeezes one eye shut and goes, "YARR! I'll shove ya overboard, ya scallywag!" Before returning to her normal facial expression. "If I gotta do that, I'll do it, but right now I ain't interested." She takes out her pistol and twirls it briefly before smirking. "So it's time to have a little fun!"

Kain (960) has posed:
    A new adventure... a new location... a new... world. Such as it is. Even though it was built by Kayaba-dono, it's certainly something new and exciting. Because come on! What kid didn't want to be a pirate? The only issue... now he had a choice. Did he want to start over with new skills... or did he want to keep his? Blegh. He'd decided on keeping his skills.

    Now... for configuration of looks. He sighed as he started, starting to go for what his ALO character looks... but he stopped. This wasn't his ALO character wanting to be a pirate... this was HIM wanting to be a pirate... he looked in the configuration options for a way to do what happened in SAO... using his old Nervegear because poor and no money to buy the new Amusphere... not finding it, he just sighed and built HIMSELF as best he could approximate.

    What came out was rather very well done and looked quite like himself as he was now. Which... wasn't too different from how he looked in SAO anyway. Maybe more would recognize him here! Maybe Sasha was here... she didn't die in SAO... so maybe... just maybe... either way, once he was finished, he finally set himself into the game's server! Launching was quick and easy, of course. All the Cardinal games were easy to load into because all of them shared the same basic image cache. But he loaded in, and was quick to look around where he started to see what was up, as well as see his starting gear... very minimal. But at least he had a blade. It was a little thicker than a Rapier, but he did start with a Longsword anyway in SAO. He had SOME skill with it. He was then quick to look around him to see if there were anyone he'd recognize at all...

    Sadly, noone he knew. There was a few others here logging in at the same time... can only assume they were with the Gatecrashers. So it was at least safe to speak with them. He went up to the first person he saw, which just happened to be the boisterous one acting like a non-pirate right off the bat. "Yarr, matey! We but be humble pirates in search of booty!" He made a gesture as if to smack the lady upon the ass, but stops himself, combing his hand through his short silver hair as a fakeout.

Kirito has posed:
As much as Kirito loves his VRMMOs, a world of pirates and ships and cutlasses and guns is... not exactly his style. Thankfully it's MORE his style than Gun Gale Online is, and with Yuuki of all people requesting he check it out...

    Well, he's a lot more willing to port over. After dumping all of his gear and money off with Agil, saving his appearance to the AmuSphere's flash memory, and getting the client installed... he connects with his SAO account. Makes some clothing choices...

    When he joins the group, it's pretty obvious who he is. Kirito's appearance... hasn't really changed. But... he HAS acquired a billowy black admiral's coat with golden lining and buttons, worn over a black undercoat. Black pants... and one of those black triangular hats of the period for good measure. A naval cutlass is sheathed at his side, rather than over his back.

    "You sure found a weird one, Yuuki!" Kirito exclaims to Zekken, who he has no trouble at all recognizing.

    And of course, Tomoe in full pirate regalia has him boggling at her for just a moment.

    "Well, we're all dressed up for the occasion! ... but now what?"

    A bit of fumbling with gestures and Kirito brings up his menu again, thumbing through options while waiting for the rest of the group to assemble...

    He's got a critical eye on whatever he's seeing in it.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
To clone or not to clone? Either option would have its benefits; Xiaomu is sort of tempted to clone her ALO avatar, and Kanokon would at least be readily recognizable to her friends from ALO (and GGO). But there's still something to be said for a fresh start ...

So Sunshower the Brewmaster has been created, a weathered young woman who looks like she'd crumple under the weight of a keg of grog, but her wiry, willowy figure belies the strength (or more accurately, the skill) with which she can toss rowdies and drunkards about. A red sash about her waist supports several sheathed daggers, billowing purple pantaloons gathered at her ankles, and a black sleeveless top covers the essentials while leaving her belly visible; a gray leather vest hanging about her shoulders provides a vague semblance of protection, against the elements - or possibly against people's weapons. (The vest could also hide a brace of flintlocks, if it came to that ... but, her daggers look like they could be serviceably thrown, not merely used up close and personal.

Sunshower is making her way along the boardwalk again, circling back around to the meeting place; her virtual coin purse is considerably lighter than it was when she finished chargen, but if she's going to play a Brewmaster, she really SHOULD have the skills and supplies befitting the part, right?

Weiss Schnee (922) has posed:
    Even heiress huntresses need a break from fighting monsters out to destroy all of civilization, right? At least, that's what Yuuki has managed to convince her of. That's why Weiss, naming her avatar Snowflake, is here fighting... other people! Yay! She's opted to keep her own face, white hair, and huge, irregular ponytail as well as she could, though the rest of her outfit is more appropriate for the setting. She wears a white top with a black vest over it, laced up in the front. Underneath that is a red skirt with some black stripes here and there for good measure. Hanging at her side is a holstered rapier, and two small flintlock pistols are holstered on either side of her chest. "Yarr, mateys," she says half-heartedly as she tries to find what looks like Yuuki's avatar. "...I am not saying that again."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
Hearing that the others were checking out this new world, Annie thought she might as well try it out herself. Carrying over Silverbloom's stats was a good way to get a head start of some kind. She wasn't really sure what sort of outfit would work best for a musician in this sort of setting, but ended up with something that looked nice anyway- a light-blue dress, with a turquoise sash and sandals. For her instrument, she's gotten herself a mandolin. And once again, as she'd done in ALO, she's aged herself up a bit to her early teens. She tags along a bit with Sunshower, figuring music and drinks usually go together in places like these, don't they? Drink up, me hearties, yo ho, and all that.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki's busy examining the scenery, but she turns when Kirito addresses her. "Weird? This isn't weird. That INSECT one was weird!" she insists good-naturedly, grinning fiercely. "This is pretty. Not as pretty as Alfheim Online though, and it's a lot less... well, personal." she muses. Even with all the cutlasses, the whole cannons and ships aspect makes it a bit less her style. A bit more geared to soloing than she'd prefer.

    Yuuki recognizes Kirito, Eisen of course, and Weiss. The latter gets a special grin. "You'll love it, I promise!" she claims giddily, spinning about with her arms wide as if to indicate the entire game world. She gives a look to the others. Iria, Kain, and Auralia, Sunshower and Silverbloom too if they're around. A curious look, not a dubious or suspicious one.

    She finally addresses Kirito's question. "What now? Hmmm... good question!" she says brightly. "I'm really not good at investigating. I guess tradition suggests going to the bar and looking for rumors, but maybe we should just get ourselves hired or rent a ship and go out and play, see things for ourselves? Or... you know, maybe sneak onto a ship and forget about hiring and paying...?" she adds, grinning with a playful malevolence. Then she coughs. "Arr. I mean, if we be about to do scurrilous things like that for fun... well... I be up for it!" she says, breaking into a terrible piratey accent. It's important to remember that they're here to look into a rogue event that's killing ships on the high seas, but... well, honestly she doesn't mind just playing either.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Auralia can instantly tell who Yuuki is, just from the unlimited energy the former-Imp expresses. She's stood up on the forecastle of her little Brigantine, it's a fairly large ship, but not the largest in the game. A step or two up from the starter ship one could purchase for their own.

    She grabs a line of rigging, and swings down to join the group, landing with a thud of boots and a curtsey and grin. "Well met, me hearties. I couldn't help but overhear ye talkin' about hirin' onto a ship?" she asks, straightening up and gesturing to the moored vessel. It's nameplate is something Kirito may recognize. <Windstar> "I be the captain o'this fine vessel. Not the biggest girl in th'sea, nor the fastest, but she'll get ye to wherever ye want to go... if ye have th'coin, or the skill at rig or cannon."

Kirito has posed:
Being surrounded by everyone getting all goofy and into the spirit has Kirito blinking a bit, wide-eyed, when he has a moment to look off towards the sky.

    He's gonna have to put on a show later or people'll think he's some kind of stiffy, huh...

    But for the moment he puts both hands in his pockets, adopts a slightly chagrined smile (keeping his composure instead of joining in with the goofy is quite difficult) and sticks both hands in his coat pockets.

    "To the nearest bar, then! ... Failing that, a market place. Best place to hunt down rumors is around lots of players." Which is... actually kind of terrifying for him.

    Is he gonna have to go around asking questions of everyone? Oh god. The awkward teen in him does not want to do that AT ALL.

    "All for getting into the adventure part! It'll be hard to accomplish ANYTHING without being used to this game. What kind of combat setup are we looking at?" He again thumbs through his menu...

Weiss Schnee (922) has posed:
    Weiss takes a look around at the landscape, rolls her eyes, and crosses her arms. "Okay, you might have convinced me to log onto this ridiculous game, and you might have convinced me to actually try to have a good time here - but no mater how much like a pirate I look, I will NOT be convinced to speak like one." She says it rather calmly, stressing the 'not' part. "Anyways, you did say there was something fishy going on, right? Who says we can't do a little pillaging on the way?" she says with a smirk. Her attention's then drawn to the captain of the ship ahead. "Well, that takes care of that, doesn't it?"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe grins at Kirito widly.

"If we got to get in on it we need to look the part, right?"

She strikes a pose as she is in good spirit even with the serious issue they are dealing with. She knows some newbies to VRMMORPGs ar here and she looks over to Snowflake with a bit of a grin at her.

"Don't worry I won't press you to say it."

She'll look at Kain's avatr for a moment as she She looks over to him with a grin on her face for a moment and waves him over.

"Well you founf some prime booty here, Seadog, don't be dallying too long!"

She's totally having way too much fun with this and the word play she's attempting. She's not sure for a moment Who Kain is but she does know he's with them from the looks of things but she seems to move to deek out of the way.

"you bes tbe careful you might have to walk the plank if you get too roudwy Now lets get focused on task at hand.

"Heh, it's not even historially accurate it's just how people see them now, I blame the media."

She looks over to Weiss for a moment.

"Then again cutting lose for a bit won't kill you."

She now pauses to bring up the help files and a FAQ from GAMEFAQs.

Iria (215) has posed:
Iria folds her arms at the others for a moment, shaking her head and scoffing briefly. Then she looks to Tomoe and says, "This is just a game, you know. It's just for fun." Unlike the others who are feeling a bit on the goofy side and trying to act like pirates, Iria is not in a pirate's mood right now. She looks around to the others and shrugs a little. "But if you want to do that, go for it. I suppose I'll just have to look like an outsider for now." She runs a hand through her hair

Kain (960) has posed:
    Kain just chuckles. "Prime booty, indeed!" Alright, that was done. "Okay, I'm done trying to force pirate-talk... geez..." He looks at Weiss for a moment, regarding them curiously. "Okay... how'd you get the Rapier? I didn't see the option for it in character creation... unless transferring stats and skills over doesn't let you pick a weapon or something... which that seems a bit iffy."

    He then looked at Kirito finally with a smile, definitely recognizing him and offering that trademark recognizable smile. "It doesn't matter what the combat system is. It's just like... that other game! Swing a sword, use Sword Skills, get awesome loot! And kick the snot outta bullies along the way. This game seems like it'd be rife with PKers. Kind of the name of the game when it comes to pirates."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
"I don't really know a whole lot about pirates myself," Silverbloom admits. "I was hoping they'd let me be a mermaid, but... not that kind of game I guess!" She shrugs. "So I guess I'm just a musician here. It's something to make money with at least!"

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    "Well we DO have to make ourselves targets." Yuuki says suggestively to Weiss. If something's wrecking ships on the sea, the best way to find out what it is is to become a target, or so she assumes. Besides, she likes fights seeking her out rather than the other way around. It's faster, and she has no qualms with having to react rather than being proactive. "And besides, isn't it better to have a little fun once in a while?" she adds half-seriously. Not teasing Weiss so much as stating an undeniable fact.

    The byplay between Kain and Eisen amuses her more than anything. She has no reason to defend Eisen's honor since Eisen's perfectly capable of defending her own booty. She's a partner, not just a friend. Besides Kain didn't actually do anything bad.

    With that, she turns to Auralia speculatively. "Merchant huh?" she asks, eyeing the woman's axe and pistols. Then she laughs. "Nope. We're complete newbies!" she says with undue cheer. Then immediately she steps around Auralia with a casual effortlessness borne of years of VRMMO playing. Not using speed exactly, but using grace and a confidence that dismisses both personal space and personal weaponry as unimportant things. She does this to get a better look at the ship. Now, Yuuki doesn't know ships beyond the ones she learned from history, but they seem important in this game.

    She glances back as Kain asks Weiss about her weapon. "Did you transfer here?" she asks Kain. "If so, the game probably just gave you whatever weapon was closest to what you're used to. Snowflake would've got more configuration than us, I guess." she grins, having had more than a few character transfers in the past.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Minstrels gotta keep their ears open for every legend that drifts 'pon the waves, lass," Sunshower smiles as she walks over to catch up with Silverbloom and the others. "If any man or woman's learned to not just sail over the sea, but delve into the mysteries resting 'neath the waves, it'll be legend tells ye of the where an' the how."

She looks around and waves at the rest of the group; those who've heard Xiaomu's voice before have a pretty good chance at recognizing her (of course) despite the accent she's putting on. "Hail an' well met, be ye boon companions or bitter foes, or yet to know which is which! I be Sunshower, budding brewmaster; need ye a drink to lift your spirits or a stock of grog for the voyage 'head, why I be the one t' ask!"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Auralia turns with a practiced ease, keeping Yuuki in her line of sight during that quick little pirouette. "Anyroad, lassie, if ye wantin' te be a target, then a ship be what ye need."

    To the others. Snowflake, Eisen, Kain, Sunshower. "I have room enough for everyone, if ye be interested."

Weiss Schnee (922) has posed:
    Weiss waves a hand in response to Yuuki, putting the other on her hip. "Please. I can have plenty of fun without making even more of a fool of myself." She draws her rapier and jabs at the air in one smooth, practiced motion. "Drawing some attention shouldn't be too hard, right? Especially now that we seem to have a ship."

    She holds out the sword as if to examine it in the sunlight. "This thing?" She chuckles and sheathes it again. "Who knows?" she responds with a mysterious smirk. "Maybe the game just recognized my true calling and cut straight to the chase." She turns back to Zephyr and nods. "I do think we'll be needing a ship. I'm not half bad with a cannon, and perhaps I can patch up some holes if we take any fire."

Kain (960) has posed:
    Kain just smiles to Auralia and nods. "Yeah, sure. As long as you don't mind newbs learning the ropes of a new game... other than that, it'd be good to at least get a start somewhere. Pretty sure the starting Gold we'd get here wouldn't be enough to cover costs for our own boats... so either we take you up on your offer, or we would probably all pool our gold together to get a very ugly starting ship or something... I like starting out running, so I'll definitely take you up." He gives a bow to Auralia. "Just call me Kain. Because my Legacy speaks for itself."

    He looks incredulously at Weiss just... dumbfounded. "Okay, I'm getting a Rapier before we leave port. No way in hell I'm going without one." He looks at Kirito. "So looks like the Marketplace first, then... rumours abound, as well as gear acquiry."

Iria (215) has posed:
"I already came prepared," Iria comments to Kain. "I got myself a sword and a gun. Always helps to have a variety of things to fight with. Namely since sometimes you gotta fight near and sometimes from afar." She does a brief trick with her sword before putting it back. "Don't try this at home, kiddies! I'm a professional idiot!" Then she looks to Auralia and says, "I'll go with you if you want."

Kirito has posed:
Gotta admit it, Kirito's way more interested in the ships than anything else right now. HOW do you do sailing ships on FullDive? Water physics have been a troubling thing for the Seed since Sword Art Online. he'd have to imagine that the ocean itself is highly abstracted, but the ships... that's interesting alright.

    "Yeah, no arguing there. A VRMMO about insects?" Kirito just sounds exasperated at the idea. How does it work? No, he doesn't wanna know!

    A random image goes through his mind of Asuna with ladybug antennae. It's quickly dismissed after he makes a weird face.

    "Haah. It's never that simple. But I bet we'll manage pretty well. Most of us did fine dealing with Gun Gale Online." ... Though that is NOT an experience he wants to repeat.

    Blocking bullets with a laser sword's INSANELY draining.

    Either way his response to Kain comes along with a confident smile of his own! Oh Kirito's eager alright!

    "... I don't know the first thing about wooden ships. Except they have sails."

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
"I suppose I'll come along," Silverbloom says. "Most of us are friends already. So we'd make a good crew, right?" Besides, if something important is happening, she wants to be there to help.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Sunshower gives Kirito a withering look, "An' if ye get tossed in the drink, do ye even know how *not* to sink like an anchor?"

Still, she nods enthusiastically to Auralia. "I've got some supplies already, but if ye anything specific be in your mind for the voyage, best to say now - mayhap I can get the makings ready afore we cast off for our first voyage together."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe looks to Iria for a moment and shurgs a little bit.

"Make a lot of noise and draw out whoever or what ever this is, right?"

She smirks for a moment more and leands back for a moment. She's always recalled to dump her stuff on an alt account, but honestly she's going to push for an account storage bank, for trafers so you can just leave your gear. It's stilly how it is right now in ALO. She looks to XIaomu for a moment.

"So would you be a seafox today?"

She also take note to Aualia and then she looks to Kain.

"Some of us just are born to it matey. Did you not know about the Western internet's talk like a Pirate day?!"

She gets serious for a moment debating something.

"I think we really should look into some formal weapon training at some point."

She's then back to task at hand causing noise to get attention.

Kain (960) has posed:
    Kain just looks at Kirito and Iria. "I just don't feel right without a Rapier at my hip... haven't since... well..." He stopped himself there... before saying anything more. Likely Kirito would definitely know what Kain was getting at there... but for the sake of what he was taught to not speak of it, he kept his trap shut. He coughs to clear his throat. "So if any of you happen to have a spare Rapier on hand, even if it's low-quality and low-level. Then I can just adjust my skills to work properly here instead of using a Longsword, which I haven't used the skill in forever..."

    Imitating Kirito from earlier, he started figuring out the hand gestures to pull up the menu and check out his skills, making sure all of his stuff was still there. He looked at one of his Skills... and smiles a bit. "Well, in any major case of needing a job on the ship, I'm pretty sure I can cook whatever we catch or kill... kinda glad I got to keep my Cooking skill..." Aaaaand that betrayed his 'newb' status... oh well. He wasn't gonna keep that up for very long anyway.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki's not sure why someone would recruit a bunch of admitted newbies as crew, but she's not one to overthink things. Maybe she'll remember that at a later time, but for now she just smiles. "Looks like you've got a crew then!" she says, turning to face Auralia. "I'm afraid I don't know anything but the sword." she claims to the merchant and Iria both, resting her offhand casually on the pommel of her blade. "But I'm willing to learn! And besides, we might get boarded by pirates!" she says enthusiastically. She's not much good with guns or anything of the like, and has been known to bring a sword to a gunfight. And win the gunfight. Her and Kirito both.

    She looks over the crew. She doesn't recognize Xiaomu's voice since she's never met her in any form. Silverbloom's obvious though, and the avatar gets a fond smile. Bards are the best! Kain seems eager enough, though she has no idea who he is. "Hm. If you want to get a rapier..." she muses. "Maybe we split up, meet back here in an hour? Some of us can go drinking and hearing rumors at the bar, some of us shopping, and some can learn the ..." she pauses, glancing back at the ship. "Learn the ropes?" she finishes, giggling. "I'm up for learning about boats!" she claims. "Or weapons-training!"

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Auralia grins a little, and throws her head back in a hearty, full diaphram laugh, which gets some passing players to stop and look for a moment before moving on. "AHAHAHAHAH! I be one of those who can see potential, lass." she says to Yuuki. "Anyroad, aye. I believe those be good ideas. Me ship'll be moored until high tide, which won't be 'til morn'." she offers. "Chance be we will find some rumours of pirates or buried treasure."

    She flourishes and turns to take in the whole group now. "If coin ye need, I can lend it ye, a trade run I just finished paided out handsomely, and as luck would have it, led me right to ye all." she beams brightly then, leaning forward a bit with her hands on her hips. "Fates be praised, aye? I be needin' a crew, an' ye be needin' transportation."

Weiss Schnee (922) has posed:
    Weiss gives Kain a cocky shrug. "If it'll make you feel better, go ahead and find one. I find the one I've got right here to be much more than sufficient for myself." Funny of her to talk so highly of a low-level starter's weapon! "And of course, it couldn't hurt to have a backup plan as well," she says, motioning to the guns at her sides. She might be bluffing a bit about having experience with cannons, or really guns in general, but it's always seemed kind of enticing to her to fire one. And hey, she did put a few skill points into repairing stuff! She attempts to mimic everyone else checking their skill sheets and whatnot - it does look somewhat barren, since she's just begun, but that's nothing she can't fix!

Kain (960) has posed:
    Kain nods. "So we're agreed. Split up, gather info, meet back here in an hour. Sounds like a good time! Maybe there'll be some quests we can pick up for some easy gold or something. Maybe something to learn how combat works here. Either way, I'm off." He waves to the others. "See you all in an hour. Or immediately, if anyone wants to join me for gear-hunting." With that, he'd head off towards the stores in hopes of finding gear he could use.

Annie Sandberg (437) has posed:
Annie decides to group up with Kirito for now. He seemed to have a good plan, and was more experienced in things like this than she was. She was excited to see what they'd find!

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Sunshower grins to Auralia, "Sounds like we have a deal, then. How many barrels should I bring for our first voyage together?" She flicks her menu open, double-checking a couple of crafting recipes, then her stock of supplies ... she really *is* low on funds if she needs to do any more shopping before the group sets sail, and she skimped a bit on her 'armor'.

(Tomoe's joke about her being a 'seafox' didn't draw any particular response, either; she was too busy verbally facepalming at Kirito.)

Weiss Schnee (922) has posed:
    Weiss looks to Yuuki and nods, looking around the port town for the nearest pub. "I think I'll stop by the tavern, pick up on some gossip, grab a drink, perhaps. Maybe we can find some side jobs to help us attract some attention?" She shrugs and starts off that way, twirling a flintlock on one finger with a general disregard for safety. "Maybe we can scrounge up some trouble right here!"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe also gets the idea of bringin a few newbies along might hide the fact many in the group are SAO surivors or Sleeping Knights who are horrors to deal with regarless of level. Hopefully it will help. She's just spent a day or so looking up on how to play and she's having fun with this even if it's a job.

"I got the weapon trianing down it's the boats I need to worry about. The Sea and me we have some issues. I love it, it does not love me."

Splash Padd Mcquak syndrome? Who knows but the redhead pirate is s looking to Auralia for a moment

"The loan would be welcome still."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Auralia, for those that want it, opens trade windows and deposits a modest amount of Dubloons for each person. It'd be enough to get a decent weapon, better than the one the character spawns with at least, some new armour and maybe some consumable items.

    As for those that decide to remain behind, the Captain swings herself back up onto her ship with an easy shimmy up the rigging rope, an NPC grabbing her hand and hauling her the rest of the way up. "Make ready to weigh anchor! We leave at dawn! Gather supplies for a journey to the next island over!" Her voice holds that keening little undertone of Command. It'd be similar to the Aggro-boosting Shout skills from ALO. Order Skills. The NPCs give off stock NPC confirmations, such as "Aye Cap'n" and "Yes Ma'am." before busying themselves with the tasks. "If ye don't want to be land lubbers, get yer asses up here, an' I'll..." pause to chuckle. "Show ye the ropes."

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    It's fairly easy to get startup gear around here. Being the first actual safe zone, plenty of merchants and craftspeople set up here, though there's no permanent player stores present. High level gear and other items, clearly, have to come from player-controlled islands. Still it's not too tough to find gear that improves on the starter gear, and none of it will burden Aurelia's resources greatly. Merchanting, if you're good and lucky, pays ridiculously well.

    There's tales about, for those with an ear to hear. The tavern is of course a traditional place to share information and tall tales. Any of these surrounding the new incidence of 'unbeatable' attacks however, are of the variety 'I know a guy who knows a guy who was there!' Still, some things are easy enough to confirm through a few stories. An apparently unsinkable ship appears, attacks, and cripples a vessel. It then boards, and monsters attack the crew, killing everyone. The vessel is then sunk, all goods lost, nothing actually taken by the attackers. No one knows for sure why they board a ship if they're just going to sink it without taking anything, but rumors abound. The attackers can only be defeated hand to hand, some assume, and this is a sporting chance sort of thing. The monsters are protecting a particular region of sea, or perhaps protecting something beyond their own mysterious ship. The monsters... well, no one really seems to know much about them, partly because they always seem to attack surrounded by a dense fog.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    In the market, among the NPC newbie shops, are a couple of streetside sellers. They can't display their wares, but they yell what they have to sell in the classic tradition of main square marketers from any MMO that hasn't implemented spammer auto-bans.

    Among these sellers, two stand out in particular. One selling, for an entirely not-cheap price, a charm that's supposed to keep ships safe from what he claims to be the 'ghost ship'. Another is selling weapon oil, supposedly to enchant weapons to harm enemies that can't be hurt by naked steel. This is somewhat more affordable, but still not exactly cheap.

Yuuki Konno has posed:
    Yuuki for her part doesn't accept any gold in trade. She's been in the VRMMO game long enough to believe that there's little point buying gear. That looting it is a far better proposition. Admittedly there's a large number of sword-fighters among this group, but the loot system's probably random anyways based on the standard Seed system.

    Yuuki's definitely appreciative of Aurelia's offer however, even if she's still a bit curious why the woman would offer such things to a group of newbies. A fine eye for talent is one thing, but loaning out doubloons? That's rare. "Aye aye, captain!" she cries out, saluting with more enthusiasm than historical accuracy. She's off to learn how to sail! And probably pump the bilge, or swab the decks, or whatever other nasty job keeps the ship ship-shape.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Sunshower isn't buying gear, really; the Brewmaster starter build isn't really meant for getting up close and personal, but she DOES have her knives and the initial skills for wielding them. What she's shopping for at this point is added supplies - casks, ingredients, other materials or tools that she'll need to keep the crew (PC and NPC alike) at their best through the voyage(s) ahead.

That doesn't stop her from stopping and listening to the possible quest hints. A charm to keep ghost ships away? Meh, let 'em come, no game's so badly balanced as to let you run into something that you can't do ANYTHING about.

The anti-ghost weapon oil .... ehhhh. Supplies are more important, but - she sends an in-game message to Aurelia to see if she thinks it's worth the investment for a flask or two. If there's some truth behind the need for it, they can always look into stocking up on the stuff, right?

Tomoe has posed:
IT's time to go shopping so away she's go well tht's the plan anyhow. She's abke to get some gear but she pauses at some charm about the ghost ship that gets an eyebrow rised though the wepon oil does get her attention however she's going to take a moment to check online to see if this oil is legit or not.