Private Pormont Another Day, Another Job

[Juniper Lockton]

Today's job was straightforward, and now that she'd become more confident in herself and her abilities following a few mild successes, she was happy to go at it alone. But instead she had a companion she was on her way to meet up with. There was a designated meeting spot not far from a camp of bandits that the job contact had helped them communicate. Not too many of them, just enough to be a problem to a village of farmers that had pulled together money for this quest listing.

She was going over her spells as she waited, leaning against a tree near the meeting place, hands half-completing rituals over and over again. It had become reflexive almost now, weeks that she'd been in the game as there were. It felt good to be competent at something, and especially when some told her that she'd picked one of the harder caster classes. It didn't feel that way, especially not when she was looking super cute all the time in witch hats and big dressy robes!

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

On the other hand, Yu was less diligent in practicing his magics than Juniper was. Mostly because every time he did he drained his HP bar, and extended practice on the brink of death wasn't usually recommended by the Hemomancer Safety and Health Association. But, fighting on the other hand. That was about the best practice the man could get. Plus, the farming up gold and exp was nice too. Bless Terrasphere for having a more interesting combat system than most MMOs.

As he approached the girl in the (in his opinion) over the top witch get up, the man would give her a slight wave. "Yo," he'd greet her, his hands disappearing into his pockets again. "Sorry, hope I didn't keep you waiting long." Yu didn't think he'd been that late. Usually, he was the first one to show up somewhere, but not today it seemed. A rare occurrence.

@Juniper Lockton

 

[Juniper Lockton]

Another few seconds, another spell half-cast. It was so satisfying watching the magical effects of the game swirl around her hands and manifest in different ways depending on how her hands moved. It all felt so real, she could practically feel the magic coursing through her anytime she cast a spell. Truth be told, it was almost...addicting.

Not that she had any problems with addiction.

That she knew of.

Finally, her company arrived and she smiled brightly at him on his approach. A small wave before she put her hands behind her back and leaned forward a little bit, inspecting him,

"Not at all! Or at least, not that I noticed. I've just been practicing spells and stuff. I'm Juniper!" She stuck out her hand sharply to shake his, smiling somehow even brighter with her tail wagging behind, "I hope you're doing well? You ready to take down some bandit-y boys?

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

"Yu," the raven-haired man introduced himself to the beastfolk, shaking her hand. "Good to meet you. And yeah, I'm ready when if you are." the man said, readjusting the strap over his shoulder keeping his rifle holster strapped to his back. The rifle's stock pointed up from his shoulder, indicating that he was a ranged fighter, but just beside the rifle also sat the hilt of what one could only assume was a sword.

"Let's head out," he said as he started walking towards the village edge. "So, what role do you usually fill out in a party?" Yu asked, attempting to learn something or other about how his partner typically fought. What to expect so that they could work together efficiently. This was the first time he would be fighting as only a party of two in this game, and though confident that they'd be able to handle a couple of bandits, he'd rather be prepared.

@Juniper Lockton

 

[Juniper Lockton]

He was pleasant enough, fortunately. She always worried when taking jobs that would involve others that it would turn sour or they wouldn't be nice, like Bruce had been to her the second time she logged in. Or like Onyx! Gosh, she still thought about Onyx more often than she might care to admit. Not having a reason to not obey, she followed after him and responded as he asked his question,

"DPS and crowd control! I'm a huge fan of AoE attacks and love chaining combos that deal big damage. We can stay at range, fortunately, too, since I'm a caster. So if you want, we could like, pick them off at range, two by two, or something like that?" Just an idea, in reality and in tone, suggested as if she was nervous about being seen as dumb or wrong. Definitely insecure, but that was seen almost easily if you were wise enough and could see past the seemingly happy shine in her eyes.

"What about you? You seem like maybe a sniper type? Or are you just really good with that thing?"

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Yu chuckled slightly at the thought of being a sniper. "I'm a good shot, but I'm not that good," he responded to the beastfolk. "I'm more of an all-rounder. I just try to fill whatever roll a team need." That, and the fact that the man typically went out on his own, it paid to be versatile. While there was virtue in being a master of one, when you didn't have others to cover some of your weaknesses, it was worth dabbling in a little bit of everything.

"Picking them off at range sounds good to me," the man agreed to Juiniper's initial plan with a nod, too focused on the road to notice anything off about the girl's apparent confidence (or lack thereof). "I can frontline for us once they close distance, let them come to us. Shouldn't be too much of a problem if we can thin them out before they actually make it to us."

@Juniper Lockton

 

[Juniper Lockton]

He was modest, at least, and not full of bravado and confidence. It was a nice change of pace in companion compared to one of the first, most confident men she'd met when she got here. He was flexible, too. She smiled at him, bright and shiny, nodding, "I like that, you seem nice."

"That's a good plan! We pick them off as they come up, then I'll support you from behind with combos and AoE attacks as they approach. I'm stronger than I look, fortunately, so it shouldn't be a problem." And that was true, since she didn't look all that strong. She just looked like a nerd in witch's clothes. A cute nerd, though, at least.

"Before we get started, though, I have a question." She prefaced, starting to nervously fidget a bit, "What brings you to Terra? I've been asking people to see what kinds of people play and for what reasons. I find it fascinating, really."

 

[Yugam]

"I like that, you seem nice."
"Hmph, not that nice," Yugam replied with a wry smile. If Juniper was able to see through the veneer of a joke, she'd realize that the man meant it more than she'd have initially thought.

Yu moved on from that topic though, his attention remaining on coming up with some semblance of a plan and ensuring that they both wouldn't die. If the beastfolk was as strong as she claimed though, the man was confident that they'd pull through just fine. "Alright then, I'm countin' on you then," the man reaffirmed with a short nod.

"Before we get started, though, I have a question."
"Hmm? Ask away."
"What brings you to Terra?"
Yu bit the inside of his cheek as he exhaled sharply, his gaze drifting down to his feet, then back to the fox's eyes one more. "Personal reasons," he replied curtly. "And for fun, I guess."

@Juniper Lockton

 

[Juniper Lockton]

Not that nice, huh? That was a good defense tactic, even if it was the truth veiled with a joking tone and grin. Keeping expectations real. She'd been friends with folks that weren't everyone's taste before, so she wasn't afraid of taking that chance on him, provided this went well and she didn't make a fool of herself.

The affirmation that he was counting on her made her swell with pride she hadn't earned yet, and she nodded firmly. It was when he answered her following question that she became curious. Personal reasons? She hadn't heard that one yet. For fun, as a follow up, made sense, but what personal reasons could one have for risking their life in a game like this? Hard to say, but she respected his lack of detail on the matter.

"Haven't heard that one before, but I hope everything is okay." She offered, then took a deep breath to steady herself before looking at him, "Okay, I'm ready. Let's get to work!"

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Yu merely smiled in response before nodding. "Right, let's get to it then," he said as he turned in the general direction of the bandit camp and unslung his rifle from his shoulder.

The camp wasn't particularly far from where the pair had met up, but Yu pushed forward, careful to not make too much noise so they wouldn't alert any sentries, or wander into any traps or alarms. Of course, that was assuming that the band of brigands had enough brains to set any, which was unlikely as far as Yugam was concerned, but still. Who knew, it paid to be diligent.

The scent of burning wood reached their noses long before they came into sight of the camp. Yu motioned for Juniper to stay low as he too knelt down and tried to peer through the brush and between the leather tents that had been pitched. "So how you wanna play this? Get the jump on them, and then move in?" the man suggested.

@Juniper Lockton

 

[Chanlye]

Bandit Camp - The Greedy Blade

The Greedy Blade

The Greedy Blade is known for being particularly ambitious and for having no personal code on how far they should go to acquire gold.

Currently, they have as a hostage the daughter of the Golden Leaf farmer, a very prosperous farm that had drawn the attention of many eyes, including ill-intentioned ones. Their plan is to force the farmer to hand them goods and gold as a ransom to free their child... If they will actually free her is another question.

However, the plan hasn't been put into work just yet, and @Juniper Lockton and @Yugam had come just in time to end these bandits' antics...

​

Spoiler: The Map (Optional)

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Enemies

You may decide to face the Bandit Chief head on. He has 850 HP and 400 SP. 3 Movement, +1 Range and summon one Bandit per Cycle, until his SP is dropped to 0.

On top of that, he does one of these four actions per cycle:

1. Sucker Punch - He strikes an unexpected punch on a single target after a feint move, dealing 15 damage. The target must make a DC 60 Reflex Save to avoid receiving 15 damage extra and staggering, being unable to use Special Actions next Cycle.

2. Venom Strike - He strikes a single target with a poisoned dagger, dealing 15 damage. The target must make a DC 60 Fortitude Save to avoid receiving 15 damage extra and be receiving a -20 penalty on next Cycle's rolls.

3. Illusory Camouflage - He disappears using an Illusory spell, striking a single target with a sneak attack, dealing 15 damage. They target must make a DC 60 Will Save to avoid receiving 15 damage extra and be slowed by 1 Movement.

4. Almighty Sweep - He makes a wide sweep maneuver, striking every player in his zone and adjacent ones, dealing 30 damage on all of them. This ability can't happen on consecutive Cycles, having a 1 Cycle cooldown. During a Cooldown, you roll 1d3 for the Bandit Chief Action instead.

If the Bandit Chief can't reach someone, he uses Protect on himself, halving all damage in the Cycle.

A Bandit has 80 HP. 2 Movement and deals 1d20 damage to a random target they can reach every cycle. When summoned, roll a 1d2 and a 1d5 to decide which of the top two rows and five columns they will spawn, respectively (if you are using the map).

The Battle already starts with one Bandit Chief and two Bandits.

The Hostage

You must also save the Hostage, being held at B5 (requires 2 movements without a map). At Cycle 4, if the Hostage isn't freed, a Bandit will summon in her area (regardless of Bandit Chief SP) every Cycle and retaliate by harming her at the end of the Cycle.

The Hostage can only be harmed twice before receiving a third, fatal strike.

You can try to free her from her binds making a Fitness or Knack Check to try to fulfill the contribution roll to free her.

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