Unbreakable Fate

Arthur logs back in and Artemis awakens in the place she had "fainted" in. She looks around for the one who had gotten the drop on her and after she makes sure she is in the clear once again, she grabs a potion from her pouch and lets the bitter liquid rush down her throat. She then stands there for some time while Arthur begins to distribute the newly acquired stats from the level pack. He brings up the ranged stat and the magic stat. He also sprinkles some points into HP and defense. Overall, she feels stronger. Strange, since she should feel down after that horrific fight.

The arrow flew towards Kritsy as she avoided a rush attack from one of the orcs, catching her in the leg. Her health was instantly halved. She sighed. She was going to die in this fight, but if her teammates arrived, they could probably win if she killed one of them. The Assassin, being a rogue class, had much less health than the others. She winged her way towards him, swinging her axe upwards towards his face as she drew near.

With her chances at death being pushed a bit further away, Artemis continues on her path to kill the Gryphons and with the arrival of a possible hacker, Arthur looks out for this DarkWraith character as Artemis hops from tree to tree.

The axe hit, and while it wasn't enough to restore enough health to turn the tide of the fight, it healed Kritsy a little. Now in range, Kritsy struck the Assassin with the handle of her axe, interupting whatever action he was taking and lowered his block rate, technically making him vulnerable. She only had a couple more seconds before the other three reached her. Crushing Blow stunned the Assassin, and Reave decimated his health, which slowly ticked down from the bleed effect.

She took a critical hit from behind, lowering her health to just over 20%. Surrounded, she spun in a circle, swinging her axe around and striking all four of them. The Assassin died, though the others weren't damaged too badly. Hopefully, her guildmates would clean up.

The forest abruptly ends and opens up to a rather large mountain. A mountain of undeath and other challenges await Artemis as she slowly steps forward, absorbing it all. As she looks up, she can see Gryphons circling overhead. It would be suicide to try to shoot at them from her location, since it would aggro not only the one she shot at, but the others that are with it and from her count, that would be a total of four. Arthur checks their levels. One is at sixty five, another is at seventy and the final two are at seventy five.

There was a dull thud as Kritsy's health hit zero, and she was falling. She sighed, (Mentally, seeing as all of her in-game voice chat had been disabled). She'd been decapitated. Just before she respawned, there was an area announcement.
Noctis has declared war on Iron Champions

Kritsy respawned at her guild HQ and watched as her XP bar drained, until she was at the beginning of level 75. It'd take her a few days, at the least, to get back to eighty. Grinding wasn't something she was keen on doing, not again. She sent a message through the guild's chat.
"RP event at 3:00 AM game time. IRP, I'm dead. Exudar killed me. Veydavin is now leader for RP purposes."
A flood of messages came in. Some were people curious about the RP event, others were concerned that Kritsy was, seemingly, dropping out of RP. Ignoring them, she read Veydavin's PM.
"How big is the event?" He asked.
"As big as possible. Offer a peace talk to Iron Champions and Blacklist."

I have to get that lower leveled one away from the others. Seems simple enough, I guess. Arthur looks through Artemis' available abilities and frowns, seeing nothing that would help Artemis in the slightest in distracting that Gryphon. As he was searching, the beasts flew onto a flat area of the mountain and sat perched above, vigilant, as if they were meant to be protecting something. Arthur had never ran this quest with any of his prior characters before, so the prospect of finding better gear is something he welcomes.

Kritsy yawned and checked the time, she'd been playing for almost an hour. It would be another two (Real) hours before 3:00AM (Game time). She was about to log out, when she remembered the Drider from earlier. Opening the message pane, she typed their username into the "To" field, and sent the message.
"A Formal invitation from Noctis to Artemis the ranger, to act as witness to the peace talks between Noctis, Iron Champions, and Blacklist." It wasn't like the other guilds would refuse, everyone loved big RP events like this, and the only way to get them was to cooperate with other guilds.

The notification sound fills Arthur's ears. His hand goes over to the icon and he clicks it. To his surprise it was from Kritsy, the chick from earlier who helped him with the unicorn.

Code:

A Formal invitation from Noctis to Artemis the ranger, to act as witness to the peace talks between Noctis, Iron Champions, and Blacklist.

"Eh? After that great conversation we had about them, you want to make peace with them?" He makes a puzzled face. "Fuck it, it might be fun being a bystander in what'll be a bloodbath." He replies to Kritsy with "Accepted, will the occasion call for formal wear?"

Code:

"Accepted, will the occasion call for formal wear?"

"It's entirely down to your preference," Kritsy replied. "As for RP terms, show that message to any member of Noctis and they'll know that you have permission to be there. I didn't invite you though, seeing as this character is now dead."

Arthur reads over Kritsy's next message. "Sounds like a plan, I'll wear my best silk set. RIP in peace btw." There wasn't much else to say, but he kept the tab open anyway so the notification sound wouldn't play in case Kritsy replies.

Game time: 3:00AM

The first guild to arrive had been Iron Champions, and like the brainless, meathead warriors they were, had chosen to dress completely in brutish, rough-looking armour. Blacklist had arrived next, and although they were all wearing combat gear, it didn't look out of place at an 'official' event. Noctis arrived, every member wearing in dress clothes. Most of them wore a weapon of some kind, but nothing that would look out of place, and their numbers were dwarfed by the other two guilds.
"You took your time, Night-children." Exudar said to Veydavin, and by extension, Noctis. "Still trying to recover from your pathetic raid? I crushed Naluheth like an insect."
Veydavin didn't reply, turning instead to the leader of Blacklist.
"A pleasure to see you again, Laveryn." He said, the politeness dripping off of the words. Laveryn nodded, his character had sworn a vow of silence, and he'd never said a word in game chat. "As you both know, the wars we have between ourselves cost a lot of money, and while you have us beat in terms of numbers, of both soldiers and funds, you have never set foot in our Citadel. I propose a truce, in which we all benefit from being able to build up our power without any focus on wars."

Artemis had arrived to the location of the peace talks pretty early, and stood nearby as the three guilds met. Of course, having to show Kritsy's message to the members of Noctis, avoiding any conflict. Arthur half pays attention to the talks, and mostly focuses on moving around the loot he had obtained from the mountain. Artemis had managed to take out two of the four Gryphons and had managed to lure away the last two away from a corpse being held in a crack in the mountain. Artemis looted the corpse and found a Bow of Ice plus some potions. The haul was alright and she had managed to get the needed items for the quest she was on.

"I propose a three month long ceasefire. Should any member of any guild break this ceasefire, they will be handed over to the injured guild. If they refuse, the two other guilds are obligated to fight a war." Veydavin finished. If Laveryn agreed, he would do anything in his power to uphold it. He was a man of his word.
Laveryn nodded, and he and Veydavin turned to Exudar, who began to protest.
"You want us to hide behind words? The Iron Champions are-"

"The Iron Champions are idiots," Someone shouted, and eyes turned to her.

Ophellia strode forward, every step seeming to radiate arrogance. Blacklist and Iron Champions displayed entirely negative emotions, some looked worried, others just looked angry. Only Noctis had some members who looked glad to see her. "You've got a chance to build your strength, and you're not taking it? I know for a fact that Blacklist would annihalate your guild." She said, a smile appearing on her face.

Just when things were getting to be a little bit boring, a new voice shouted out and became the center of attention. Artemis sighs a bit as she thinks of better things she could be doing. She wonders why she even agreed to this, it wasn't like she was participating for any side present. She had just got caught in with one of their people. Arthur's mindset is a bit different, though. He's entirely absorbed in the conflict.

"If you were smart, you'd take this chance, build your strength, and then manipulate Blacklist and Noctis into going to war, before you mop up what's left.
... But no, you're an idiot." She said, finally reaching the centre. Inside the city walls, she was completely safe.
"You better watch your mouth bi-" Exudar started in anger, before Ophellia cut him off.
"I don't care, I was stating a fact. These two are well aware of it as well." She motioned to the other guild leaders. "Honestly, I'm disappointed in Vey' if this was where he's leading the guild. He got Naluheth killed, somehow managed to fail the raid on your mine, and now he's come up with a boring peace talk." She said, raising her arms in an exaggerated sigh.

Veydavin looked at her calmly, ignoring her criticism. Roleplay-wise, it was entirely his fault, but out of character, the player behind Ophellia held some blame.
"You're looking well-" He started, before Ophellia interrupted him with an overly-loud "Cheers!". "-but I'd like to ask, what alternative would you propose?" He asked, frowning at Ophellia.

"I'm not proposing one," She answered, "I'm just saying. It's so dull. A duel would be better. Winner takes two million gold from each of the losers."

She shakes her had at the obvious bait and, like a fool, takes it. "You say you aren't proposing an alternative, but you just did. Why shed blood at all if the point is to stop it all in the first place?" She chirps up, trying to be as "one with the crowd" as she can. "No one has to die. We can all do this with peace in mind for all guilds."

"Because the pont of this isn't to avoid bloodshed,' Ophellia replied, "It's so that the next war will be even more brutal. Why wait three months? Unless, of course, you're all scared?" Ophellia accused the leaders, her sharp fangs sticking out of her mouth as she grinned. Exudar could barely hide his anger.
"I'll fight anyone, anytime, and I'll win." He shouted, effectively ending the negotiations. Ophellia looked at Veydavin and Laveryn.
"I suppose we'll have to. Even if we reach an agreement, I know that you''ll tear it apart, Ophellia." He said calmly, as Laveryn nodded in agreement.
"Good," Ophellia said, "My champion will be that drider who so rudely interrupted me."

Oh gods damn it all. This is what I get for trying to make sense of all of this. She sighs and replies sarcastically, "A little drider like me? I don't know if I should be honored or excited for my death." She turns her sarcasm into a sing songy voice accompanied by a sweet smile, "I'll make sure to give it my best."

"Thanks!" Ophellia shouted back enthusiatically, "Unless any of you have any objections?" Naturally, Exudar did.
"You're not the leader of Noctis anymore, why in the seven hells do you get to join in?" He demanded, angrilly /point-ing at Ophellia.
"Cos it's my idea," She replied, "It's fine if you're scared of fighting my champion." She added with a non-committal shrug, an action that didn't match the smirk on her face.

"Why in the nine would you all be scared of fighting a weakling such as myself, you dispatched Neluheth handily by the tone of your voice. So I shouldn't be any problem." Artemis says, trying to put up her most innocent act. "But like I said, I'll give you all my best." She continues with another sweet smile.

Ophellia's smile grew as Artemis spoke, further enraging the Half-giant. He sputtered for a few seconds, before his brain finally caught up.
"Fine!" He shouted, "But you have to pay the two million as well." He said, thinking he'd finally outsmarted Ophellia.
"Naturally," She said, as though two million gold was easy to come by. "If she gets beaten, I'll happily hand over the two million; but she's not going to lose."

"You are all going to do just fine. A little whelp like me doesn't stand a chance, but I thank you, Ophelia, for your confidence in me. I hope I don't disappoint you." Even though Artemis knows it's mostly an act to get under the half-giant Exudar's skin, she is relieved to find that someone has some kind of confidence in her abilities. It seemed to be working. So she continues her own act. She has no allegiances, but this meathead is obviously one to not use his brain much. That's more than enough reason to mock him.

"I take it we're all in agreement then?" Veydavin asked, glancing between Ophellia and the other two guild leaders. "A duel it is. Well, I nominate Villena as champion of Noctis."
"I'll be my own champion." Exudar said, hefting his warhammer onto his shoulder.
"Laveryn will represent himself." Someone from Blacklist said, no doubt Laveryn had messaged him saying as much.
"I think a random draw is far," Ophellia said, taking a small bag out of her inventory, along with a piece of paper and a quill. She split the paper up, and wrote a name on the four pieces, before putting them into the bag. She shook it, before putting her hand in. "First is... Exudar!" She proclaimed loudly, holding up the piece of paper with his name on it. "Pick your opponent," She said, offering him the bag.

"... Villena." He said, showing Ophellia, Laveryn and Veydavin the slip.

Such a fanfare for blood. This is amazing. Arthur thinks. I'll have to come up with a great strategy if I'm going to stand a chance against these heavy hitters. He cracks his knuckles, and if his brain had any knuckles to crack, he'd do the same to them. Of course, Arthur's eagerness is parallel to the feelings Artemis has. She was hoping her innocent act would get her out of the fighting, but no one shouted out for her to be removed. She blows some stray strands of hair out of her eyes. Alright, then. I'll use everything in my arsenal for this. She will have to fight Laveryn of Blacklist.

Ophellia stood with her hands behind her back as Villena and Exudar squared off in the centre, the large duel icon appearing over their heads.
"Don't worry," Ophellia messaged Artemis, "You're going to win."

Exudar rushed forwards, his hammer swinging in a wide arc as he tried to hit Villena. She dodged it easily, being a duelist, her dexterity was incredible. It seemed like a near miss, but the ease that she avoided the attack with told something different. She stabbed at Exudar with both of her shortswords, chipping away some of his health before she rolled away. Exudar was warier this time, and instead of blindly rushing her, he approached slowly, keeping her in front of him at all times. Villena rushed forwards, slipping under his hammer yet again and stabbed him in the back, doubling her damage.

She tried the same move a third time, elegantly dodging the hammer and slipping into Exudar's shadow. Both of her swords thrust out, but they never found their target. Villena tripped, sending the blades wide, and Exudar didn't waste his chance. The hammer struck Villena in the stomach, sending her in an arc through the air before she slumped on the ground. Raising his hammer above his head, Exudar finished the duel with his next strike.

A healer approached him, earning an audible "Tch." from Ophellia, before Exudar waved the healer away.
"Next bout?" Ophellia asked, offering Laveryn the bag.

A notification appears and Arthur reads it. He has no idea what this Ophellia has planned, but if she ensures him Artemis will win, he has no choice but to listen. However, it still helps having a plan and he is one to make multiple in a "just in case" scenario.

The fight went by quickly and before Artemis knows it, the donnybrook is over with Exudar being the clear victor. She made sure to watch both combatants movements during the battle. Just to know what kind of fighting style they go for.

Laveryn showed his piece of paper to the others, his own name written clearly on it. She then holds the bag out to Exudar, who reaches in, glaring at Ophellia.
"...Me." He says, showing the paper to the others. As he said, his own name was on it.

Another axe swing dodged, figuratively. Artemis breathes a sigh of relief as the papers are revealed and the combatants are chosen. The more they fight, the easier it will be for her to take them on. Whittling down her opponents health is her specialty, and time was also on her side. All she has to do is stack everything and she'll be alright.

Within around a minute, Laveryn had managed to drop Exudar's health to half, while only taking around 20% damage himself. Though, as he went for another backstab, he too tripped and missed his target. From there, it was the same outcome as Villena's fight; Exudar easily crushing the rogue under his hammer.
"I guess you're up, ranger." Ophellia said, smiling at Artemis, "Go get that six million!"

As the fight went on, Arthur had been messing around with armor creation for Artemis. More or less just boosting the defense of the current gear she had on. When she was ready, she went up to the hulking half giant and grabbed for her bow, flashing the same smile she had multiple times prior and taunted him, "May the better freak win." My speed against your brawn, my stalling against your upfront style. This can go either well for him, or death for me.

"Looks like the money is as good as ours," Exudar said, moving up to Artemis, "Looks like Ophellia finally did me a favour." He swung his hammer as he finished, aiming for the drider's torso.

Artemis nods as the swing comes in and just barely manages to jump back in time. She grabs a few arrows from her quiver and fires them at Exudar in quick succession.

Exudar deflected the first arrow with his bracer, letting the other two smash into his breastplate. The damage was relatively minor, because of the level difference, but there was still some.

He charged Artemis, but it was noticably slower than his previous rushes, like he was in shallow water. He raised his hammer above his head, trying to bring it down on the ranger's spider body.

"Come Exudar, you have to be faster than that if you're going to squish this cute little spider." Artemis teases, noticing how slow he is moving. She dodges left and fires another three arrows in his direction. It didn't matter where she aimed, damage was damage.

Exudar shouted in anger, swinging his hammer upwards at Atremis, not caring to block the arrows as they chipped down his health.

Artemis had briefly stopped paying attention at this moment and she unfortunately paid the price as the hammer connected with her head. The force sends her flying upward, near limp. Her health dropped by a massive amount and she is barely hanging on to her life. Despite this, she barely recovers and lands on her many legs. She shakes her head a bit, trying to get her vision back and spits to relieve her mouth of the blood.

"Maybe I shouldn't mess about too much. Nice hit, Exxy." She flashes the same smile, now a bit redder from the blood. She retaliates quickly by placing one single arrow onto the string of the bow and holds it there. The same brilliant white light from the unicorn fight envelops the tip of the arrow head. She's charging for a White Hot Shot. She had the distance between them lengthened by the hit and with Exudar being slowed by... something... she is confident in being able to fire the arrow before he can close the distance.

Ophellia yawned as Exudar's hammer connected with Artemis,
"You're losing," She pointed out to Exudar as he prepared for another attack. A momentary distraction, allowing Artemis' own attack to hit. Exudar lowered his hammer, and ripped a throwing axe from his waist, launching it at Artemis.

Artemis dodges the throwing axe by strafing right. She brings two barbed arrows from her quiver, takes aim and fires towards Exudar once more. Her plan was succeeding somewhat, chipping away at his health on her own was the start, now her attempt at bringing his health down by status effects has started. All she has to do is not get hit one more time. One more hit and she can kiss the six million goodbye, along with her life.

Exudar avoided the arrows by ducking under as he moved in for the final blow. It seemed unavoidable, until Artemis was no longer stood in the hammer's path, having shifted several meters to the right. It almost looked like lag, and earned some booing from the audience.

Artemis' sight is blocked by the half giant, soon, the hammer would end her life. She closes her eyes in response to the oncoming pain, but instead of feeling nothing she can hear the boos of the crowd. Her eyes open quickly and she looks around, visibly confused. She had been seemingly teleported a fair distance away from Exudar. She ignores the booing and capitalizes on the chance by by laying a sticky web at her location and firing another salvo of arrows towards Exudar.

Exudar took the arrows in the chest, shouting angrily as he rushed Artemis. He swung the hammer around again, towards Artemis' face. Again, Artemis teleported.

Once more, Artemis finds herself in a different location from where she had been just a couple of seconds prior. She continues her barrage of arrows. Turning Exudar's frame into a large pincushion.

Exudar, getting even angrier, continued to rush Artemis, who repeatedly 'teleported' away each time.
"It's almost like God is on your side!" Ophellia shouted to Artemis as she neared the outside, "Whatever you're doing, keep it up!"

The "boos" grow louder with each and every teleportation. Would it really be a win if Artemis fell this mighty foe? She doesn't even have a clue how this is happening, let alone how she could "keep it up" despite all of this, she continues to fight. Loosing arrow after arrow keeping herself at a safe enough distance from her foe.

"You'll fall sooner than I will, Exxy. Drop your hammer now if you wish to stop."

"Fuck. You." Exudar roared, swinging for Artemis yet again, only for his hammer to sail harmlessly through the air as she moved outside of the city walls. He roared, charging out of the gates after her. No sooner than he had come back into melee range of Artemis, did a throwing knife pierce his armour and embed itself in his chest. Exudar dropped to his knees, his status bar showing that he was paralysed, and a pair rogues dressed in entirely black clothing stepping out of the shadows. The first was carrying a set of throwing knives, while the other held two daggers in his hands.
"You can step down now, champion," The dagger wielding player said to Artemis, with a respectful bow, as his comrade attacked the vulnerable Exudar.

Stunned by what had just happened and confused as to who these two newcomers are, Artemis can only raise her eyebrow and string her bow behind her back.

"Who are you two and why are you interfering?" She asks inquisitively. She doesn't want to put an edge on her voice to make them think she'll engage them in combat. So she'll just continue with her innocent act.

Exudar's paralysis almost wore off, but was instantly paralysed again by the dagger wielder. The knife-thrower, her face covered by a mask.
"We are friends," She answered, "We simply wanted to be the first to congratulate you on your victory." As she spoke, the threw another knife at Exudar, whose health was almost at none. "I hear Exudar often lies when he loses an easy fight." She said, her mask twitching as she smiled.

Exudar jumped up, trying to fight off the dagger-user, but five knives struck him in the back simultaneously, dropping his HP to zero. As footsteps started to near the gate, the rogues reatreated back into the shadows, hidden from sight. The first to arrive was one of Exudar's orc bodyguards, who stared as the half-giants corpse in disbelief, looking over the arrows riddling him. Oddly, none of the knives were present.

Ophellia was next, grinning ear to ear as she walked into the open.
"Of course my champion won!" She exclaimed loudly, "I'll be expecting our winnings to be sent before 10AM." She smiled at Artemis, "Congratulations on winning!"

Artemis' confusion continues and she turns a bit frazzled as the people reached past the gate. Her face goes red and she bows quickly.

"Y-yes... thank you for the opportunity."

She has no idea how to approach the situation. Should she tell this group about the rogues? Should she keep it a secret and just take the winnings? This is a very perplexing situation she finds herself in.

"Well," Ophellia said, clapping her hands together, "I think we can conclude these peace talks, right?"
"Some peace talk," Veydavin said, "No terms were reached and it resulted in a death. In fact, the only person to benefit here was you, Ophellia." He didn't sound angry, nor did he sound surprised, as though he had expected that this would happen.
"You know me, Vey," Ophellia replied, "I never did care for making peace with my enemies. That's why you exiled me." She turned to her new champion, smiling brightly at her. "If you'll come to my home, I'd be happy to answer them, as well as discuss your reward."