Discontinued Western Brisshal On the road

[Hanno Futaba]

Spoiler: Theme

Helping escorting a caravan would usually seem to be a way too low level mission for someone of Hanno's level, but the reality was that doing this mission was just a small part of a greater mission:

Protecting newbies.

It was a small deal, Hanno would help to escort caravans from merchant guilds in Finweald, Astorea, and as exchange he was allowed to let newbies take trips on the merchant's caravans he was escorting. That particular time seemed to be very slow, but in the end they did find one person to give a ride to.

"Just one more hour and we will have a stop." The gruff merchant said.

"Got it, buddy!" Hanno said, laying on his giant shield, Hanno took a bite of his apple, a small mid travel snack just before he casted a glance at the elf woman that was nearby.

He slipped a hand into his bag, pulling another juicy apple and offering it to her.

"It will take a while to get food ready while camping in one hour, so better fill your stomach with something." He said.

@Erendis Ainsley

​

 

[Erendis Ainsley]

The sorrow knight had initially signed on to the quest for the ingredient hunt. Despite her role as a knight she was still someone who enjoyed cooking, it was an activity that let her family that was usually separated and buried in troublesome upper class work meet and work as a team just being humans with each other. The activity naturally had some spiritual importance to Eren which prompted her to join along despite her status as an unaware newbie fresh to the world.

Being offered an apple though, Eren accepted with a small smile and nod. "Thanks. I was hoping to find some good ingredients on this adventure. I'm still not used to the way of things, so it's been a little tough." She spoke, accepting the apple, using her thumbs to try and pry it in half. Once torn, she'd bite one, eating and chewing plump apple flesh while the other rested in her palm. "Brionac, have half." She'd try to offer. One of her spears suddenly bending around, it's body thickening until it transitioned into a serpent, the 5 different points of the spear turning into 2 pairs of mandibles for gripping food and it's head that poked and prodded the apple in confusion.

It took the creature a few pokes to recognize the apple as food before opening it's mouth wide to tare into it, gripping it with the black mandibles as it chewed pieces off, having razor sharp teeth much like a shark instead of the fangs one might expect from a snake as it continued to tare and shred apple flesh while pinning it as if thinking it were prey.

While her weapon ate though she'd glance back to Hanno as she spoke. "What kind of creatures are out there? Will this be a tough exploration or more of a battle?" The desolate knight asked with a small smile to stay friendly. She couldn't help wondering what kind of dangers she should expect though, if it was better for her to move with Brionac in hand or if it was better to mount up as they explored.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

When the knight revealed her newbie nature, a faint smile crossed Hanno's lips, and he shrugged.

"Heh, you will get the hang of it soon enough, buddy," Hanno said, looking at the elf offering part of the apple to her lance, looking at it fairly impressed, and letting out a chuckle. "I guess I'm not the only one that has a hungry combat buddy." He nudged his shield, which rumbled quietly but not daring to wake up just yet.

"Still, that's a very fancy spear. Where did you get that? I suppose it isn't a loot like mine, considering you seem to be a bit more to the fresh side of the deal." Hanno was probably making some assumptions over there, but judging by her words and appearance, it was fair to try and take guesses.

Hanno then crossed his arms, tilting his head in a pensive way.

"Honestly? It should be more exploring than anything else... But there is always danger lurking around, and nothing would stop bandits from ambushing us." Hanno said with a serious expression.

@Erendis Ainsley

 

[Erendis Ainsley]

Eren nodded back, the game was at least running smoothly for her, shew wasn't too afraid of being lost, it was something that would gradually be learned with experience and adventure. Though when talking of hungry combat buddies, Eren nodded trying to wipe the snake's mouth with her sleeve every once in a while. "Brionac is always hungry. Though he tends to like viscera and meat more, he'll eat just about anything." Eren explained, knowing her serpent would chew into trees and dirt if she didn't stop it, it's ravenous nature only grew more brutal when frenzied.

When asked where she got it though, Eren rested a hand on the snake's head as she spoke. "Brionac found me instead. I was leveling up in the rain and trying to make a class for myself, when I became a 'sorrow knight' it reached out to me and I tracked it down and found it chained up to a wall like a decoration. It took a lot of work ripping it off, but we've been together ever since." She explained, but it hadn't been too long ago, a couple days in truth. It was because she got the spear so quickly that she wasn't particularly put off or surprised by it, she just suspected everyone had something special in one way or another.

The talk about less danger made her frown though. She'd been hoping to track down ingredients and fight simultaneously, it seemed like the perfect chance, but if it was more exploring maybe one of those wouldn't be plausible. "I see, that's unfortunate, I was hoping for some excitement too but maybe it's for the best. I guess if it's exploring I can cover a lot of ground if Brionac gets big." She murmured, thinking that if she were to mount up she'd be able to explore a wider area then most, she didn't suspect many would have a mode of transportation at her level.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

As the elf went on, Hanno took bites of his apple, raising an eyebrow when some words caught his attention.

"A sorrow knight?" Hanno asked with crossing arms, tilting his head in curiosity while looking the lady up and down. "What would be a sorrow knight, buddy?" He asked, being only able to wonder about it. Would it be a knight who lost their purpose? Who failed when it mattered the most? Or perhaps it was just someone who vowed to protect those who were in sorrow?

Regardless of what it was, it sounded rather tragic

"It is a nice story though. To meet a loyal friend like that." If one could call a weapon a friend. Hanno was just used to do it thanks to Ghast.

Hanno then laughed at her words, nudging with a grin.

"Adventurous type, huh? I get what you mean." He said. "Maybe there will be some room for action, we will find out at the time..." Hanno shrugged, then offering a hand.

"By the way, name's Hanno. Hanno Futaba."

@Erendis Ainsley

 

[Erendis Ainsley]

Nodding at the question about her class, Eren chuckled, wondering if it maybe sounded cheesy as she explained. "Nothing too fancy. Like how a berserker gets stronger from anger, I get stronger and more resilient from sadness. Loss, pain, all of that stuff you know?" Erendis tried to explain. It was a result of being an elf, a power she wanted to make for herself. The deeper the despair and pain, the stronger she could become, it was a double edged sword taking damage and suffering for power and strength. Though it was a bit of a tragic power, it made Erendis feel like she made something for herself.

She nodded along with a small smile though, completely agreeing with the friend portion. It was a pretty odd circumstance for her, but it was nice to meet her partner that way, it gave her a goal to achieve to see if there were others like Brionac as well. "I'd like to some day see if there are more like Brionac out there, waiting to be found and saved. It would be nice to have that kind of goal or dream I think... I still have to figure out how normal players operate though before I start trying to do anything grand though." She chuckled, thinking she was still too weak and low leveled to have those kinds of ambitions. For now it was a pipe dream but perhaps someday she'd venture out to see if she could find other weapons like her spear to take under her wing and befriend.

"Erendis Ainsley. I'm just partial to action because of Brionac though. I'm sure veterans like yourself and others would prefer things being a bit quieter." She spoke thinking that it might be more normal to hope for easy relaxed rewards. Eren's desire for violence after all depended heavily on her need for growth and feeding her partner.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"That sounds hard to deal with, I am not going to lie. If you can manage, you are tougher than I thought." Hanno crossed his arms and tilted his head. He would personally feel less able to fight if he felt sorrow doing it. But he was an energetic person, someone else may be different.

"Well, I do like my share of adventure. My big buddy here too." Hanno nudged the shield, that rumbled quietly as a reaction.

"I would prefer things to be quieter just because less people would die that way. But I do want some fun as well, even if it is an uncommon type of fun." Hanno said, muttering the past bit. He couldn't lie, he felt satisfaction at being a hero sometimes, saving other people's lives and facing danger for their sake.

A weird fantasy of his since he was younger, that turned out to be more real than he expected.

@Erendis Ainsley

 

[Erendis Ainsley]

Erendis nodded when asked if she could handle it, it was an interesting kind of release. a roller coaster of emotion that she couldn't experience outside. "It's not so bad, very dramatic, it makes things very intense and is a lot of excitement, specially if you don't get a lot of that in reality, it's a nice change of pace." She tried to explain. At least for Eren life went too smoothly, having something she could cry or shout or grit her teeth about for once was nice in it's own way.

Though the talk about people not being at risk of dying made her nod in understanding, loss of life was dangerous from what she heard in the game it had real actual consequences that people had to deal with. Eren didn't mind putting herself at risk for her spear and for others, but she could understand if it wasn't the normal consensus on the matter. "I understand, it must be tough if you've played long enough. There are dangers I'm sure for people who risk themselves in these adventures all the time, eventually something will get you if you keep taking chances." She nodded along trying to be understanding. It seemed to be a harsh world in the game after all, each battle she fought was a dance on the razor's edge it seemed.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

"I suppose your life out of here is pretty chill then?" Hanno pondered. A lot of people joined the game exactly because their lives weren't interesting, or needed some sparkle in it. Be it because everything was too boring outside, or just because they needed to forget everything out there, creating the necessity of some escapism.

That game was incredibly dangerous due to it, like cheese in a rat trap, just waiting for the right time to snatch them away forever.

"Just make sure you aren't getting yourself in too much trouble, dying in here ain't good." Hanno said with a sigh.

"Yeah, it is like they say, don't give chance to bad luck." Hanno shrugged with a sigh, peeking at the elf and grinning.

"But considering you are with a great company, I doubt such a thing will happen, right-?" He asked rhetorically before the wagon suddenly halted. Hanno blinked surprised, feeling everything tilting slightly and holding onto the edge of the cart. "W-Wow there buddy, what's up?" Hanno asked.

The merchant muttered a curse, hopping off the cart and feeling his feet sinking into the mud before staggering and trying to move again, tripping with his boot getting stuck in the sand while his feet was now bare. "A feckin' mud, quicksand shit-" He hissed in anger.

@Erendis Ainsley

 

[Erendis Ainsley]

Erendis nodded, a small smile on her face as she thought of her family. She came from a house no different from modern day royalty, inheriting land holdings and businesses that essentially ran themselves, parents who weren't satisfied and happily continued to work and grind for the benefits of themselves and their employees treating others as family. Though they didn't have much time for her they found and made time, even forcefully when necessary to cook with her and share meals somewhat regularly at least. Her reality was a heaven she'd never be able to see beyond without a game like this. "I just felt like it was good to try to do something myself, with my own power. Make friends with my own charisma or fail because of my own shortcomings at least... The friends part is harder then I thought it'd be though." She offered with a friendly wink despite her faint smile.

Hearing about the odds though, Eren glanced up with a musing expression. She'd heard the same things a few times, there were warnings about the game out there naturally. "Mm, from what I gather I have a few chances to experience adversity. I won't push myself too far beyond that at least... until I reach that point though I want to challenge myself to be great at least-- If it doesn't work out I can just log out when I need to and put it down." She spoke, setting a hard limit for herself from the moment she tried it. all of the rumors said the heavy consequences don't start until after the second death, as long as she put some breaks on after the first, she thought she'd be okay, if she stopped playing after the second, or at least stuck to safe gameplay at that point it would be perfect.

When he mentioned good company though, she nodded clapping his shoulder with a firm pat, the woman wasn't necessarily incredibly strong as someone low level, but as someone with the strength of a berserker it likely wasn't anything to scoff at for her level either. "Exactly, while we're together, looking out for each other is important, even if I'm weak, I have some special skills." She spoke, despite trying to be optimistic and peppy though her character seemed limited on how much happiness it could display, a faint smile on her face as she tried to stimulate comradery.

When the cart suddenly tilted though, Eren faltered, almost falling were it not for Brionac increasing his thickness by almost double to grab her. Seeing Hanno jump out, particularly after the mud, she cringed slightly knowing she didn't want to succumb to the same fate. "Brionac... mind carrying me for a bit?" She spoke, it was a benefit of being a mounted knight. When Brionac was a serpent, she would naturally ride him into battle as cavalry as well, but she wasn't simply limited to that. Instead when she picked up the serpent letting it turn back into a spear, she dropped it off the side of the cart causing it to freeze in air after coming to the same height as her ankles for her to step on. One foot on the blade, the other higher up on the body as it lowered her down just above the mud to join Hanno and see what the problem was. "Are we stuck? Can I help?" She tried to offer, Brionac could try to push it if he got bigger, but she wasn't sure what the protocol was, if they needed to scout or be careful of an ambush.

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

325 / 325

Still unaware of the danger

Hanno laughed heartily, especially at the wink the elf had done. "Hella, friendship is a hard deal, buddy. But you will soon get used to it. I mean-" Hanno shrugged. "If you'd ask me, I wouldn't mind calling you a friend already, but I may be too easy of a person for this kind of stuff." He said, knowing very well that he wasn't exactly the most complex person to befriend, at least compared to others that hardly opened up.

As he finished speaking, he hopped off the cart as well, crouching near it and trying to analyze what exactly went wrong, even if he wasn't exactly skilled in this sort of thing.

It seemed that most of the wheel was shoved deep into the mud... Though a more attentive person would realize that it has been rather dry days lately, and if there was no lake in the surroundings, this amount of deep mud was... Intriguing at least.

Taking the boot of the merchant off the mud and tossing it toward the man, Hanno grinned at him. "Sorry about your boot, buddy. But there you are-" He said, approaching the cart and getting ready to hold it tightly.

Hanno glanced at @Erendis Ainsley, flashing her and the Brionac a grin. "That sure would give help, I think we will need all the muscles we have for it... On one?" Hanno asked, before starting to count down.

However, within the bushes and trees, a big, eight feet tall muscular figure appeared, holding a giant ax and being followed by a group of smaller figures.

While the faerin was preoccupied with the cart, he never noticed the incoming goblins and one fearful champion among them, with malicious expressions on their faces as they saw the cart filled with expensive goods, and innocent merchants and punny looking adventurers to play around with, using their weapons.

Play Sheet

---

Spoiler: Battle Theme

Goblin Champion

❰ 1000 / 1000 ❱

Every cycle, a d20 will be rolled to decide what action the Goblin Champion will do:

(1-2) War Cry: Gives the Goblins a 20 damage bonus this cycle. Can't be taunted.

(3-10) Tantrum: Makes three 15 damage attacks at random targets. The same target can be hit more than once. If taunted, it will deal all three attacks to the taunter instead.

(11-17) Cleave: Makes a wide arc attack, dealing 10 damage to all player characters. If taunted, it will deal 40 damage to the taunter instead.

(18-20) Trampling Charge: Deals 30 damage to a random target. If taunted during this attack, it activates a Taunt Buster, targetting and dealing 90 damage to the taunter instead.

Taunting this enemy is DC 50 against the taunter's Defense Mastery check

Goblin Minions​

❰ 200 / 200 ❱

Every cycle, the goblins deal 5 damage to every player character in the field. They recover 10 HP per cycle as part of the reinforcement until their HP reaches 0. Due to their great numbers, they cannot be taunted.