SAO: Roleplay

One Week later.
Floor 1

I'd slowly found a routine within the game. Wake up, eat, quest, eat, hunt monsters and then train my proffession skills until I went back to bed. Following this, I'd flown upwards in level, and so had Tavi, meaning that we were both a high enough level to tackle the raid when it was found. I'd given the dagger to a low-level who had apparently been struggling to gear up, and replaced it with a slightly better sword. Moon and Star sat uselessly in my inventory, giving me something to work for. I hit my enemy, a kobold that was a few levels below me, and it shattered, the XP pushing me onto level 14.
"We need to hurry up and find the dungeon," I said to Tavi, "At this rate, we'll be max level before we've even reached the second floor."

[Floor:1]
[Exploring]

Niko sat on a rock, panting. He had just run through a mob of monsters while delving deep into a cave. He was mapping. He had already gone quite a long way down into the cave, yet there was still more to go. It seemed to stretch on for miles. He found quite a few number of loot chests along the way, some of them were traps, but all of them had pretty decent loot. He was questing for a Smith's hammer as well. He had already mapped a number of pitfalls and other traps that weren't related to loot chests, or at least, not that he saw. The cave kept getting darker too. Light didn't penetrate as far the deeper he went.

He had already fallen numerous times and almost died if not for him catching some ledge or root. Eventually his luck would run out. Eventually.

A week had flown by, yet at the same time it almost crawled. But I focused on having fun, leveling up, and enjoying myself in the gilded cage we were all in. Helped keep me sane I guess. Astra and I were quickly joining the ranks of the other high level players, the two of us currently in a dungeon (the kind you fight and explore in, not a prison) and I was currently dealing with a kobold of my own, about to land a finishing blow. "Well there's not that many places left in here!" I called back to her.

"Yeah!" I shouted to Tavi as another Kobold moved to attack me, "Just that big door left!" I heard some other voices, obviously other players. A group of five came around the corner, pausing when they saw us. The leader, a blonde male a few years older than me, smiled and waved as he walked over. I'd killed the Kobold by the time he reached me.

"Hey," He said, "Find anything good?"
"Nope, but we haven't checked the last room yet." I told him, brushing a strand of hair out of my face.
"Alright, wanna go in with us?" He said, smiling.
"Sure, if Tavi wants to." I said, looking over my shoulder at him.

The kobold had exploded in a shower of pixels as I killed it. My vision may have been obstructed by it but my hearing was still fine, which was why I turned to face them and said "Of course. So we doing a raid, or just scoping it out, if it's the boss room I mean."

"There are only seven of us," I pointed out, "We'd wipe."
"She's right," The leader of the other party said, "A boss is something you need a full raid team for. We'd have no chance."

He walked towards the door, and I followed him, sword in hand. Inside, a giant Kobold waited. Illfang the Kobold Lord, same as the beta.
"That's the boss," I said, "We should go get some help."

"No shit," I muttered as I stared at the beet red giant of a kobold, who glared back at us from his throne. Gleaming eyes of ruby red stared us down though he made no move to stand, which made sense. In the beta, the boss would only stand and move to attack when players crossed the threshold of the boss room, and none of us had at all. "Think he's using new weapons, or same as the beta?" I asked the group.

"I can't tell," I said, "He's definitely using the same weapon to start with." I told them, taking note of the weapon it was holding. "But it switched to a talwar once it lost two-thirds of it's health."

"Beta testers?" The party's leader asked, raising an eyebrow. "There's a lot of people who'd be angry at you, you know." He walked out of the boss room, prompting me to follow him. It wasn't like standing in danger was going to help anyone.
"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Some people blame you guys for the deaths of other players, 'cos you didn't help them out and ran off to train yourselves."

"That's a load of crap," I snapped, unable to help myself. "Everyone else had an equal chance, just the same as us, of getting stronger. Heck, even of finding the quests. We all got guide books and those were made because of the beta testers like us." The guide books.....the books handed out for free like candy on Halloween, with information compiled by the beta testers during the beta, including monster info, quest details, and boss stats. It also updated on a regular basis, new data being poured in though how it got recorded was beyond me.

"Don't shoot the messenger," The party leader answered, "I can't blame them though. They've lost friends because they didn't know how to play the game properly. Beta tester's could've helped them." From his facial expression, it was obvious he didn't agree. "Either way, we've found the boss. We need to spread the word."

"Any suggestions on how to do that?" I asked. "Stand in the town square, or try for those newspapers they make?"

"We'd probably have to spread it by word of mouth," I said, "Tell enough people, they pass it on. If it comes to it, shouting about it in the town square wouldn't be too bad an idea."

"Guess that's the best we can do," I replied as we kept walking. It was sorta comforting, being in the group as we walked out of the dungeon. Power in numbers and all. But I got used to fighting alongside Astra, knowing she had my back and I hers. Now to have strangers among us.....it was irrational maybe, but it made me a bit anxious. Maybe that was why I stayed close to Astra. "We should say we found the First Floor Boss, and are assembling a raiding group. The meet date and location will have to be....well, location will have to be in the Town of Beginnings. Date?"

"There's a town nearby," One of the other party members said, "Tolbana, I think. That'd be the best place for the raid team to meet."

"Yeah," I agreed with him, "Maybe head back to the last town and spread the word there? That's where anyone capable of doing the raid would be." It was odd. I hadn't realised how much effort organising a raid was going to need, especially now that loss meant death instead of a few damaged items. "How quickly do you think we can spread the word?" I asked.

"Well if the six of us head back and spread the word, we can probably get it ready in a week or so." The leader answered, "Oh, hey, if we're heading back, I should add you so that I can message you." Soon after, I received a friend request from someone named Zasha, who I assumed was the party leader. I hit accept and I saw him turn to Tavi and repeat the motions. "I'll try messaging a couple of people I met earlier and see if they can do it, too."

The friend request came in, and I hit accept if only because we needed to stay in touch for the raid preparations. "Okay," I said. "So I guess.....between now and then, do our best not to take any risks?" I asked, my way of saying 'don't die,' without trying to sound too grim. Didn't always work.

"I think we should all try to level up between now and then," I said, "Being over-levelled is always a good thing." A couple of Zasha's party murmured in agreement, but some of them were more on Tavi's side, saying that "More people" would be better than a few strong people.

"What if you just do what you think is best?" Zasha suggested, "If you wanna level and take the risk, go ahead. If not, just wait the week out doing something else."

"Sounds good," I said. Yeah, I probably wasn't going to try and take on quests or areas out of my league, but that didn't mean I couldn't still farm a little and earn points at a steady rate that way.

"So it's settled," Zasha said, smiling, "Us six will head back, spread the word. You guys just wait in Tolbana a while. See ya later!" He said, departing with his group.

"We could scout out more of the dungeon," I said, not wanting to contribute nothing to raid-preparation, "See if there are any safer or quicker routes here."

"Well, let's check the map," I said, and opened the map data that we made of the dungeon. It was handy really, that the maps updated in real time as you explored a dungeon, with no need to stop for a tool. "Okay.....I see maybe two, three areas we missed. One of them might be a shortcut to the boss room. Should we check that one out first?" I asked Astra, the map still open in front of me.

"Yeah," I said, "We should be careful though. No point in dying over it."

Grinning a little as I closed the map, the only thing I could think to say was "Well, so long as we keep with what we've always done, we should be fine." I looked back to the entrance of the dungeon, the opening ominous and dark despite the warm sunlight of the outside. "Sometimes it feels like we just throw ourselves into the maw of a monster, doesn't it?" I asked her.

"How else are we going to kill it?" I replied, grinning back at him, "Let's go."

"Hey if nothing else," I said as we walked back to the gates of hell. "We may be able to give it indigestion."

I walked into the room that may have been a shortcut, only to find it was a dead end. There were a few Kobold in there, but they were easy to kill.
"Maybe we'll get some more amazing gear." I said half-heartedly, my voice tinted with sarcasm.

"Yeah, hopefully," I said as I killed my own. "Still, that's one possible down, two more to go. Still wanna check the others.....or would you rather go and grab lunch or something?" Saying it like that nearly made me laugh. It sounded like we were all workers waiting for the whistle to blow so we could eat.

"We might as well finish the map before we leave," I said, "Who knows, maybe we'll kill something good and level up." It was a hopeful statement, and probably wouldn't happen, but I wanted to be as high a level as I could possibly be.

"Alright," was really all I could say. "Let's just hope we don't run into something really bad down here." As we kept moving to the next location, we were attacked by a few more enemies, skeletons that before used to be a problem. Now they were just fodder.

I sighed as I killed the last enemy, they were just annoyances now. It wasn't even fun to beat them.
"I wish that this was still fun." I said sullenly as I attacked another enemy, killing it without taking damage.

"Well, it can be," I said to her. "Here, we make a bet. I bet that by the end of this.......I will kill more enemies than you. Deal?"

"But we both know that I'm going to win!" I exlaimed with an exaggerated dropping of my arms and shoulders, "Deal." I added, attacking the last enemy in the room.

"Alright, so what are we playing for?" I asked as I sheathed my sword. "Money, items, who gets to land the final blow on the boss? If either one of us...."

"What about the pride of beating a girl if you win, the shame of being beaten by a girl if you lose?" I said, finishing off my target with a grin over my shoulder at Tavi, "Even if that girl is the amazing and beautiful Astra."

"Do I look sexist to you?" I joked. "Beating you isn't the same as beating a girl. Just that I beat the talented and beautiful Astra." Smirking at her a little, I started walking for the next area.

"Well you're never going to win like that!" I shouted happily as I ran past him, turning and running backwards just long enough to push him backwards and stick my tongue out as I went through the doorway to the next room.

"Oh hey now you just made a mistake!" I yelled back merrily. "Not you've turned this into a race, which I will win!" Taking out my blade and running after her, we both entered the room. It was fairly large, the size of a basketball court. And there were a lot of enemies in there. Kobolds. "I see your skeletons, and raise you Kobolds," I murmured. Then I darted forward, slashing with my sword and taking out two in a power attack.

I'd already killed one by the time Tavi had arrived, and dropped another during his power attack, which made us even. I grinned, starting my own power attack which I aimed at a conveniently placed group of three. Two of them died from the initial hit, while a quick follow-up slash killed the third one.

I moved for quick strikes at weak points, dashing through the crowd and hitting enemies as I went with my sword. I scored headshots and neck shots, waist shots and strikes to the knees. Four more went down, making it about six for me. The Kobolds tried moving in to surround us, to get the upper hand. And had we been at a lower level this would have been a problem. But right now.....they were simply easy pickings for us.

I struck Kobold after Kobold, each one shattering in pixels. Sensing something else behind me, I span on my heel, ending up with my sword at Tavi's neck.
"I think we've run out of enemies."

[Floor:1]
[Dungeon]

"Where, where did I end up?" Niko looked around, finding himself in some sort of hall. "Where..." He whispered to himself as he walked tentatively down the hall. He checked his map more than once. "I'm back by the Boss Room." He said surprised. Apparently he took a really really long route around the dungeon. "Well, back to Talbana then. I guess that finishes the map of the dungeon."

By the time I had finished killing Kobolds, I was panting heavily. When I felt the sword at my throat, I looked at Astra, grinning and said "Gee Astra, that your sword at my throat or you just happy to see me?"

"That's my sword, actually," I said, acting as though his question had been a serious one. "I lost count of how many I killed, but I definitely won." I added, sheathing my sword on my back.

"Oh really?" I asked her as I sheathed my own. "What makes you think I didn't kill more? Lost count at about fourteen, and there weren't more than thirty in here."

"Because, Tavi," I told him, grinning as I spoke, "I am the amazing and beautiful Astra! I don't just lose." I stuck my tongue out at him. "Wanna head back?"

"Yeah sure," I said. "So wait.....what do you want? You won the wager, so you need to get a prize."

"You can buy me dinner tonight," I said as I walked back to the entrance of the dungeon. There was someone ahead of us, not one of Zasha's party. I stopped, waving to him.
"Hey, if you're scouting the dungeon we've already finished. The raid's going to start in about a week."

"Heh, looking forward to it," I said. When we saw the stranger, I became a little wary if only because they were alone. Solo players were uncommon, but generally friendly enough. As Astra talked, I seized the guy up: armored, strong arms, bit taller than me. Wasn't sure what his name was, but the icon over his head definitely said he was a player.

"The raid? That's rather soon. I don't think I'll have enough weapons prepared in that time..." Niko said ponderously. "Hmmm, ah well, at least some people will have better weapons than the starting ones..."

"You're a smith?" I asked, eyes lighting up. "What weapons can you make?" Smiths were always a useful thing to have as friends or guildmates. Discounted weapons and repairs if you were friends, and even free weapons or armour in a serious guild.

I mostly stayed quiet, letting Astra do the talking. She was more of a people person than I was really. Besides, someone had to make sure we didn't get caught out in the open by monsters.

"That I am, I make slashing weapons mostly, so swords, but I do the occasional armor set if I have the materials. Which, at this floor is really mostly leather or light armor..." Niko trails off as if lost in thought.