Complete Private Western Brisshal Fearless

[Lune]

Bam ba ba ba ba bam ba ba ba ba bam~

Humming a melody, Lune roamed the green fields of Western Brisshal. A rare day when she's taking a break from the magia hunting across all of Vintergard and just taking a slow walk around the more newbie-friendly area in Astorea. Perhaps there was someone stupid enough to log in to this death game today, looking for someone to guide them or something.

Wait, where was the spawn point again? No matter, this was where everyone hunted slimes and wolves, anyway.

Everyone seems to be relegated to the 'starting NPC' role lately, with Hanno training the new knights, Luthien teaching basic survival to the new explorers, and she herself whenever she has time to show the Buddynauts member something useful. Turns out you can't simply teach others how to regenerate yourself or crush your enemies with fancy space magic.

A flock of birds suddenly flew from the distance where a forest was, followed by a couple of distant sounds that her Harmonic-attuned ears picked up. Thuds? Deliberate, slow footsteps.

Her curiosity got the best of her, as the white-haired woman decided to see what was up, as she entered the vicinity of the tall forest.

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

Long ago, Aisling had finally broken free of school. Free of grades, and homework, and the feeling that the rest of her life depended on being able to keep up with all of it. The road she'd fallen to was one where study wasn't necessary, so long as she could get the job done.

And now here she was, staring at far too many tabs containing texts and videos about german longsword fencing, and trying to condense it into a form she could memorize long enough to copy into Ash's notebook.

...the worst part was how much of what she was reading already made sense.​

Western Brisshal

"Okay, it was... roof guard into wrath hew, then... change guard...? Right, let's try that..."

Thunk.

The flat of Ash's longsword bounced off the side of his rudimentary dummy (an old bedroll wrapped around a tree trunk). The sword threatened to vibrate out of his hands on impact, and after a few seconds of struggle he finally gave up and let it fall to the ground.

"Ugh, how do LARPers make this look so easy...?"

Ash bent down to retrieve the sword, then froze. There was a foreign smell and the sound of footsteps somewhere beneath the bustle of nature. In Brisshal that could mean bandits or goblins, or something worse.

And me with assist off, fuck. Ash straightened up and sheathed his sword. Maybe if he was lucky he could just talk his way out of a conflict.

@Lune

 

[Lune]

She would hear another sound, this time of a weapon hitting the ground.

Monster fighting? A duel? Bandit robbery, maybe? Lune hastened her pace, thinking that combat might have broken out in the wilderness. She then reached a pretty open area, where a man was just standing around looking at her.

Ash, Ash Vargold, sheathing his sword.

"Hm? Ash? What are you doing here in the middle of the forest?" Puzzled, Lune asked, tilting her head and looking back at forth at the man and then at the wrapped tree trunk. Is that... a training dummy?

For a while, she would pause, before realizing that the guy might not know or recognize her. The last time they fought together was around last year when she was blue, and then after that, she was red. Now she's white. Turns out that changing your looks a lot makes it harder to build connections, doesn't it?

Just to be sure, the woman pointed towards herself while making sort of an introduction, to jog his memory. "Nexon party? The idol?" Chelsea doxxed her identity during the massive fight, after all, so it should come back easily to the beastfolk.

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash remained tense as Lune emerged from the trees, hand hovering near the hilt of his sword. If nothing else, he could always throw it at her and run. She was unfamiliar, and had none of the usual tells that let him distinguish Lander from player.

"...can I help you?"

Friend or foe? For now he could focus over the drum of his heart, but he had to figure things out quickly-

"Hm? Ash? What are you doing here in the middle of the forest?"

...he knew her? His glare briefly became a frown as he searched his memory. Neither the face nor the smell rang any bells-

"Nexon party? The idol?"

...what.

Wariness became fear became even more fear as he put two and two together. It had been a year ago now, but the memory of the Christmas party was still as bright as the lights once strung across the mansion. Hanno... Brian hand been there, and another one that played the game, someone he hadn't looked into...

"...I'm Ash, yes. I'm sorry, I don't think... we've met."

He came out of memory with his heart wavering, but he managed to keep a straight face. She'd never shared the connection with the celebrity at the party, and yet somehow he'd been identified. Had he made a mistake somewhere? Would his half-hearted attempt at denial even work here?

Out of the corner of his eye, he opened his menu and began to navigate for the player settings. Just in case...

@Lune

 

[Lune]

"...can I help you?"

Right. Of course he didn't recognize her. One day she gotta stop swapping skin as if this was a Battle Royale game.

"We... we do?" Even though it's in the heat of the battle, they technically met. Formally? No. "Never had to piece two and two together when Chels said our name out loud like that. During the whole Szofrit thing." The white-haired woman quickly added, "I was blue back then, if it helps."

Upon remembering how many people was involved in that fight, she just gave up immediately.

"Okay, probably not helping. That's not important anyway, so..."

Lune motioned to that one particular tree trunk.

"... Are you battling a dummy in the middle of a forest?" A pitiful dummy, to add. It's not like the man needed basic sword training, to be honest. Pretty sure she had seen glimpses of Ash fighting during all the previous battles and his swordsmanship wasn't bad at all. Impressive, even.

If one were in need of improving an already proficient skill, shouldn't he look for more dangerous monsters or magia?

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash paled with the realization that there was no getting out of this particular boondoggle. He had... honestly forgotten about "Nu" and its abuse of Lady N's memories, including spouting out her name as some kind of intimidation tactic.

He'd kind of hoped that everyone was too busy with surviving to pay attention.

"...you shouldn't use that name in game. There's been enough trouble already." Ash ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I guess there's no use dancing around it, then."

In some ways, it made things easier, but it still made him uncomfortable. Every little slip between Terrasphere and reality was another attack surface.

"As for the dummy?"

Ash looked rather embarrassed as he closed his menu, leaving the settings unchanged. It seemed like all the tension had gone out of him at once, leaving him looking tired instead. He drew his sword, and it was clear that there was none of the grace or control that Lune might have expected. Instead, he held it the way a normal person might hold a costume prop.

"I'm A Rank in Slash Mastery, which should be fine, but..."

"This game loves to mess with the assist functions. And without the assist, I have no idea how to use this thing."

He sighed, letting the sword dangle at his side. "So, I'm trying to figure out the basics on something that won't tear me to shreds."

@Lune

 

[Lune]

Listening to Ash's response, Lune quickly realized that some people are uncomfortable when they have to mix between reality and this place, especially when identities are involved. "Uh, yeah." She rubbed the back of her head, apologizing. "That was my bad, sorry."

The woman watched as the beastfolk drew his sword, raising her eyebrows at how weirdly he handled the blade even as he explained that he was currently A Rank in Slash. "Mm..hm?" She waited, and the answer finally came to her: assist function.

Definitely forgot that the option existed. Special mention to the pain inhibition setting, too.

"Yeah... every time something important happens," Seeing the logic behind trying to learn outside of the provided assist setting, Lune agreed, nodding her head. "They somehow always find a way to mess with the UI. And the whole system."

After some seconds of thinking, the white-haired woman snapped her fingers. "Alright," She continued, offering to give Ash some swordfighting tips. "I don't know how much help I can be, but I can definitely give some pointers." Opening her UI, Lune went through her inventory before clicking on one item, causing a big cleaver to fall down onto the ground to her side. "Not that one... this..." This time, a smaller sword came out and grabbed it.

Both now wielding a sword, she asked the man. "Do you remember any moves from the automatic assist? Moves that your body might be accustomed to and suitable for you?"

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

"Yup. Assist feature."

Ash knew there was no reason to be embarrassed about using it or the pain limiter. It was a game option, as important a tool as Investigation Mode or messaging. But it always seemed to be treated as a crutch for newbies. Like it should be normal for someone to become an expert at fantasy swordsmanship in a way that carried over to real life-

"...that's a big sword."

And there went that train of thought.

Ash boggled at the full on cleaver. Even Lune's second weapon had a distinctly fantastical look that outshone his simple longsword. Speaking of which - Ash adjust his grip on it, holding it in two hands in a way that showed some understanding of how to handle it, but at a level barely above that of a novice.

"I'm... not sure. I can flail this around and more or less hit a target," he said, cycling between a few two-handed guards as he spoke, "But no where near as hard or consistently as with the assist."

He turned towards the dummy and swiped out with the sword. It left a small gash in the futon, but most of the force seemed lost before impact.

"And well... seeing as I am not in fact a six foot tall wolfman in real life, the muscle memory doesn't exactly translate." He glanced towards Lune with a "you know exactly what I mean by this" sort of look, then exhaled. "Which was... kind of on purpose. And bit me in the ass when Szofrit did her thing."

"I've been reading up on some real-world longsword techniques. German fencing. It uh... feels more familiar than one-handed techniques, at least."

@Lune

 

[Lune]

"Don't bother too much with the big one." She chuckled. Even though it's her main weapon, some situations would eventually call for smaller blades. A pack of wolves, goblins, and magia drones would quickly make quick work of her if she insisted.

Lune watched as Ash switched between multiple two-handed guards, showing at very least some knowledge of European sword-fighting styles. "Hm," The stances and guards were accurate to the theory, but as soon as the beastfolk tried to do a simple slash on the makeshift dummy, things fell apart. She took note of what she noticed went wrong.

"Ah." She completely forgot that the real-world counterpart was way too different, probably why some moves translated jarringly. Well, nothing she could do about that.

"Unfortunately, I don't know about German fencing, so I can't comment on the forms and moves." She twirled the sword in her right hand, before gripping it with with both hands. "But," The woman turned to Ash with a bright face. "The basic of swordsmanship is always the same. So let's correct that, shall we?"

Slowly raising her guard up height, Lune explained. "Firstly, the grip shouldn't be too tight. That way you can utilize your wrist more." She explained the wrist flexibility by showing the wrist rotation, allowing the blade to swing both clockwise and counter-clockwise smoothly.

Moving toward a nearby, the woman continued to explain it as simply as possible while motioning to the relevant body parts. "Thrusts and swings are combinations of leg, hip, shoulder, elbow, and wrist. It doesn't have anything much to do with how fast it's done or how much arm strength you have." And obviously, no big moves.

The snow-haired took one, slow step with her right foot, bringing the blade to the left side of her body before executing a horizontal cut. Only the last part of the move, the swing, that had any semblance of speed to it. The cut on the tree trunk was not deep, at most five centimeters, but it was clean.

"Think of sword strikes as more of a curve rather than a straight line." Lune walked back, motioning at the damaged mattress dummy after giving a tip. "Now, how about showing me that German fencing?"

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash nodded, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "I went through a lot of videos trying to pin down something familiar. For some reason, the western styles seemed to... fit better." Like he was just putting names to forms he'd already known, but the idea that, even passively, the game had ingrained that knowledge into his mind.... eugh. Ash watched carefully as Lune went through the motions, watching as she highlighted muscle groups and-

-he flicked his eyes away suddenly, feeling inexplicably uncomfortable.​

The feeling passed. Ash shoved it into a corner to be dealt with never later.

"Loose, not tight. Curved, not straight. Roof guard into... horizontal?"

Shick!

Less of a glance, but still not great. He was getting caught on something in the transition from theory to practice. He was thinking too much, and right now, his thinking was leading down some darker paths.

"...you're not the first person to find me practicing this," Ash muttered. "There was another guy I practiced with, and I thought I had it after that, but the moment I took a break from TS I lost it."

He stuck his sword's tip into the earth to free up his hands. It remained impossibly upright as he pulled out a battered journal. He flipped to a section of hurried notes and crude drawings of stick figure swordsmen. "If I'd known this game would give me homework I would have gone for a spear, or full caster."

(He still could. But the idea of switching felt as impossible as quitting smoking.)

Ash glanced up from his notes and to Lune. "How did you end up with your style? I can't imagine there's a 'school of anime swordsmanship' out there in the real world."

@Lune

 

[Lune]

"No wrong choices. I have seen a few using katanas and actual kendo." She grinned at the weapon and fighting style of choice, imagining if the man wields a Japanese sword instead.

"Yes, try it." Examining his move in detail this time, she could see that the start was perfect, but the resulting attack was only slightly better.

Even she didn't know where it went wrong. "Hmmm...." Lune walked closer to the dummy, examining the cut. It had the power, it had the right angle, so what was the exact problem? Hesitation, maybe? Deep in thought, she quickly snapped back to reality as Ash muttered something.

"Perhaps I know this guy?" She asked, curious about the man's previous practice partner.

Writing down sword techniques seemed alien to her, but everyone learns in different ways, so she just let him be while standing around the dummy. "Funny story," After chuckling, the woman wagged her index finger. "Auto Assist is the answer. Obviously, great cleavers do not exist as a practical weapon in real life."

Picking the big blade embedded in the ground, she tried to demonstrate a slow vertical swing with the cleaver. "But with magic, body enhancement, or just sheer video game power, it is a feasible weapon. And the auto-assist function just sort of invented the most suitable moves against different kinds of targets." The blade was then back in its place, halfway into the ground. "Used it long enough, and after ten of thousands of swings and strikes, those became natural to do it myself, so I decided to turn the feature off for more control and freedom."

She stopped to wonder, before suggesting something. "Want to try something more anime, such as dual-wielding, perhaps?"

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash opened his mouth, paused, and closed it with a frown.

"...you know, I don't think I ever got his name. I think he knew me, so maybe he assumed it was the same for me."

It seemed like almost everyone knew his name, nowadays. Probably something to do with his appearances or the fact he kept telling every newbie in spitting distance his name. "Tallish human, redhead. Smelled kind of smoky, so... pyromancer, I think?" He shrugged helplessly before letting Lune take the stage.

"...I guess you were paying more attention to how the auto-assist worked than I did." Ash looked back down to his little book of stances and stick figures. It seemed kind of... stupid now, compared to Lune's basic strategy of playing the damn game. "...again, on purpose."

He didn't want to admit he was starting to regret that choice.

"I think I have dual wielding covered, to be honest." Ash turned towards his upright longsword and squinted. In response, he ghostlike claw holding it became visible and raised the blade just out of his reach. "The, uh, ghosts seem happy enough to grab whatever extras they can. Though after Szofrit, I'd really rather not rely on them anymore."

@Lune

 

[Lune]

"Tallish human, redhead. Smelled kind of smoky, so... pyromancer, I think?"

"Ah... Zelrius?"

For a fantasy game, somehow she never encountered that many fire-swordsman archetypes. Add a tall modifier in there, and she easily recognized who he was talking about.

"Haven't seen him lately. Or almost a year now, I think." Good for him. The fewer people play this depressing death game, the better. A lot of people probably finally realized the risk after fighting against Szofrit, but there were also a lot of idiots like her still playing.

Listening to Ash reminding her that what he did was on purpose, Lune just chuckled lightly.

"Huh," The ethereal claw suddenly appeared out of nowhere and quickly grabbed her attention. "Why not?" Lune closely examined the ghastly limb that reminded her of her old fighting style of summoning multiple arcane weapons. If only she didn't lose her arcanamancy powers.

"Say, how much agency do you actually have over the ghosts?" Because then Ash could just focus on his own one-handed swordsmanship while the ghosts cover his openings or the lack of experienced footwork. Why risk a lunge when the ghosts can deliver a follow-up thrust? "Could be looking at the solution for your own ultimate offensive and defensive style."

Relying on just one power might be dangerous, but using it to offset one another is the answer. "We're fighting against monsters, abominable gods, and robots with lasers and guns. Surely that's only fair."

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

"Hopefully it's just that he's quit this game. That'd be the best case scenario for all of us, really..."

Says the one not only still playing, but trying to get better...​

Ash shook his head, then grabbed his sword from the ghostly limb. Freed from its task it withdrew somewhere beneath Ash's coat, making him shudder slightly. He'd always been used to the spectral chill, but lately...

"...to be honest, I'm not sure." Ash glanced down at his sword before slipping it back into its sheath. "Normally I just shout commands and they seem to get the gist of it, but..."

He remembered the chorus, a song of anger and woe, rising from background noise to overwhelming volume...​

"The dead that follow me around have always been a little chatty. But Szofrit was the first time I was overwhelmed by them." Ash pinned his ears back as he brushed against his memories of the fight, a collection of muddy reflections and startling clarity. "For a while, I couldn't tell which thoughts were mine and which were theirs."

Ash sighed. It felt weird, talking about this to a relative stranger... but they'd seen each other on both sides, and that provided a strange sense of... allyship, he supposed. They were equally at each other's mercy.

Pack, his heart sang, though Ash wouldn't let that word enter his mind.​

"After things settled, it got me thinking... I only noticed what was happening because what they wanted was so different from what I wanted."

"How do I know I haven't been influenced before? What happens if they do it again, but I don't realize it?"

He took a deep breath, letting the steady beat of his heart calm the frentic thoughts spinning through his mind. It did little to ease his worries, but it did at least let him get things in order. "If I can't trust my own thoughts, then I can't be trusted. And the only way I can think of to solve that is to cut off that attack surface entirely."

@Lune

 

[Lune]

"Agreed." She didn't say more, especially the fact that both of them are still playing the game. Willingly.

Hearing about the consequences and the drawbacks of the ghost power, the woman's confused face soon turned into a concerned one. "Hmmm... " One day, any of them could take over. Or worse, all of them. Having multiple voices inside her head, she knew how bad it could be. "... Using that power sounds like walking on a tightrope."

Unfortunately, Lune didn't have any clue about this kind of magic, so she couldn't propose a solution. "Ultimately, it should just be used in a clutch, not to be made a crutch." The white-haired woman reminded at the very least, knowing how this game is."I trust you can do such a thing in the face of a life-threatening danger."

"Now, back to swords." Decided that learning to be better at swordsmanship is the only way to stop relying on other powers, she explained."Your footwork wasn't bad, the swing was sharp."

"Maybe it's not something physical, but here." Tapping the side of her head, she implied that it's more of a mind-muscle thing. Perhaps the psyche.

"Hesitation?"

Waiting for Ash's answer, she then proposed. "Training against a lifeless dummy will only do so much, so how about a live sparring?" She offered another method of training. Leaving the big blade embedded in the grassy ground, Lune took steps back to grab the smaller sword, bringing it up high.

"Your fighting instinct will help, Ash." Just like speedrunning homework five minutes before the class.

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

"I'd rather not use them at all," Ash muttered, ignoring the vaguely offended murmur in the back of his mind. "I don't remember them being this big an issue when I started playing."

Something had changed between then and now. And as Ash unconsciously pressed a hand to his chest, he felt like he already knew what it was. One foot in death. They'd said something like that back at the river, hadn't they?

The difference between then and now was one death. Only a game death, but...

Lost in this thoughts as he was, Ash didn't notice Lune ready her blade until she spoke up. He stepped back as soon as he saw the flash of steel drawing his sword and assuming a defensive position. It took a few more seconds for his thoughts to catch up to his "fighting instinct", and his stance faltered the moment they did.

"God, warn me before you start waving that thing around."

And yet the reaction had proved Lune's point - that there was instinct, buried as it was under layers of doubt and denial. Ash took a deep breath, watching the light flashing across the surface of his sword, then up to Lune.

"...you know, I've never even fought a person before. It's all been monsters and machines."

"I'm not sure a duel is going to help with hesitation, if I can't even hit a tree correctly because of it."

@Lune

 

[Lune]

Lune left the whole ghost thingy to Ash's decision, but not before reminding him to still utilize any cards he has in case of emergency. "Alright, maybe you'll reconsider once you find some ways to keep them in check."

Upon raising her sword, the man quickly took one step away and raised his sword in a defensive position. A small smile formed on her lips; she was right, there was an instinct behind that.

Now, to pull it out.

"Who said this was a duel?" The woman twirled the longsword once, grinning at the man as her eyes suddenly turned sharp, staring right into the beastfolk's own pair.

"This is an enemy, coming right for your life." That was the only warning she gave, before promptly dashing and closing the distance between the both of them before delivering a vertical slash from above, the first one meant to be easily blocked.

She quickly followed through with flurries of one-handed slashes. There was no intent to kill behind the strikes, but Lune's attacks were still aimed toward Ash's body, forcing him to either block, dodge, or parry if he didn't want to get hurt.

"Forget about thinking, let your body move and defend itself."

Rolls

Roll Result
1d100 (35) = 35
Lune | Fearless

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

Clang!

Ash was immediately on the defensive. He switched to a two-handed grip to block the overhead strike, bracing against the ring and vibration of metal on metal. That, of all things, was something he'd gotten used to. It didn't count as pain, so it wasn't caught by the limiter wait fuck he'd turned that off too-

"Wait, I-

He didn't have a chance to finish. The next attack landed, catching him between one thought and the next. Lune wasn't aiming to kill, but the last time Ash had felt pain this vibrant was against an opponent that very much was. He pulled back, hissing sharply as his thoughts flooded with memories of airless darkness and screaming metal.

He needed to get away!​

He needed to end this.​

​

Fight, flight, or freeze - this round, flight took the win. Ash focused solely on making space between him and Lune. He had an advantage there, a combination of height and blade length that would force her to come to him if she wanted to keep her attack going.

"Time out! My limiter's still off!"

Learning to sword fight was one thing, but this was ridiculous!

Rolls

Roll Result
1d100 (30) = 30
Ash | Fearless

@Lune

 

[Lune]

Ash successfully blocked the overhead slash, causing both the weapons to clang and vibrate. She recognized this sensation in her chest; steel. A pretty well-made steel sword, considering she didn't hold back her strength at all. Or rather it's the fact that he managed to block it perfectly.

"Nope," The quick succession of slashes caught him off-guard, as shallow cuts appeared on his body. She didn't let up the attacks, but the beastfolk made the right move by creating space between them. His long legs, combined with proper footwork actually made it quite hard for Lune to get in more follow-up attacks.

Switching to a one-handed stance, her left hand made a gripping motion, healing Ash's fresh wound as fast as it formed. It was apparent that she would do this as long as she wanted if necessary.

With one big lunge, she dashed forward trying to close the distance, this time she aimed downwards with a couple of wild slashes toward his thighs. Whether the attacks connected, she would raise her left hand again to heal the wounds.

"Want a timeout? Earn it, then." She stared at Ash, expecting him to go on the offensive while ignoring his request. Limiter makes the stake lower, and people perform best under pressure.

Well, some people. It's a 50-50.

"One stab, one slash, one strike. Anything!"

@Ash Vargold

 

[Ash Vargold]

One moment his thoughts were almost entirely occupied by pain. The next moment, it was nothing more than an echo, leaving a papercut-thin scar in its wake. Did... she she healme?

Of course, confusion meant pausing, and pausing meant that Lune had a brand new opening to exploit. He was fast enough to lower his blade in an attempt to block, but there wasn't enough strength behind it. The impact knocked the blade aside, and Ash yelped in pain when the next strike landed.

And then it was healed just as quickly again, and the situation Lune had put him in dawned on her.

"Okay, this is fucked up. I'm not participating in this!"

Ash was still refusing to make any attacks, but he was more than demonstrating the rest of his "instinct". He was more than capable enough in things that didn't involve actual attacks - those things that the auto-assist wouldn't do for him. Between moments of distraction he kept his distance, watching Lune's movements in an attempt to see where the next hit would come from.

Thu-thuthu-thump... thump He could feel worsening stutter start in his chest, beating in time with his growing fear that Lune wasn't on his side here. A drum that stirred up a desparate need for alliesfriendspack, and in response...

danger? help?

"Stay out," Ash growled, trying to push away the familiar sensation of foreign concern at the back of his thoughts. They were the last thing he needed now, and it only added to the growing frustration becoming apparent in his body language.

@Lune