Grim Moon(IC)

[Canis Rex]

Link to the OOC viewtopic.php?f=31&t=493577

Acer crossed the town borders, checking her level again with a disappointed look. She had spent all day, a twenty-four hour cycle anyway since there wasn't a sun here for a day/night cycle, grinding the local mobs. They were decently leveled, being between Firelight Compass and Veilheim, but the LV wall was starting to materialize. Not many levels ago she would have shot up one and made good progress on the next. Today she made it only three-quarters to LV 816.
And you weren't even considered an elite player until you hit 850. She could only imagine the difficulty the big guild leaders had gaining EXP. Did they do anything but kill mobs and bosses?
She could always head for the mountains in the north but her confidence in doing something like that by herself was not quite that high. She was good at this game, she really tried to believe that. She was good. But this game also didn't tolerate overconfidence or mistakes. It took far too many people dying for that lesson to sink in.
11,454 was the updated body count. They had dropped like flies for the first few months, a thousand, two thousand, nearly hitting three thousand at one point. But the last few months people seemed to have found their comfort spot, their niche in this new life. Player deaths were down considerably, some were new spouses or parents, jobs had been found, those that couldn't handle it were no longer trying to fight on the front lines nor even dreaming of taking on the Crowned Corpse.
She mostly spent days trying to raise her level and helping out her new friends. The door to one such friend's shop, a blacksmith, opens and Acer calls out since the store seemed to be empty.
"Mira? You here? I got that ore you were wanting!"
"Great!" The response comes from the storage room in the back, a brunette woman a little taller than Acer emerging. "You're always so helpful. I think it was two hundred Rivs per ore?"
"Call it one fifty." Acer offers. "I'm pretty good on money right now and you sending me out there helped me find out something."
"Are you sure...?"
"Positive. On one condition." Acer grins. "Next time you make those little pastries with the jelly topping, can I have some?" Mira laughs in reply and nods.
"Of course you can. I'll make a batch especially for you."
"Thank you!" The pair embrace in an energetic hug, eventually separating to exchange items and currency.
"Will you be staying tonight?" Mira asks.
"Yep, the local inn." Acer nods.
"Nonsense, you can always stay with us. You're a good friend to me and Nars and the girls see you like a sister."
"Wellll I can't say no to free food and a room."
"I'll see you later tonight then, right after the shop is closed up."
"Great. See you later then, I'm going to check the market and see if any of the vendors lucked out on some rare material."
The pair said their goodbyes and the player departed from her close NPC friend. She had to give the nutcase Tobitaba for one thing at least, if not for the little blue indicators that popped up above their heads the locals would be difficult to tell apart from real people. They were the whole reason she was reluctant for the game to end since that very likely meant the whole thing would be shut down and deleted or at least have only its coding and engine preserved as building blocks for future games. She was closer to a bunch of AI here than humans in real life, she didn't want to say goodbye. But escaping or staying meant saying it to one family or another, either the one she was born into or the one she had made here.
She tried to bury such thoughts and instead bought an ice cream concoction flavored with local fruits before strolling around to peruse merchants' material wares.

[American Pere Housh]

Link to the OOC viewtopic.php?f=31&t=493577

Acer crossed the town borders, checking her level again with a disappointed look. She had spent all day, a twenty-four hour cycle anyway since there wasn't a sun here for a day/night cycle, grinding the local mobs. They were decently leveled, being between Firelight Compass and Veilheim, but the LV wall was starting to materialize. Not many levels ago she would have shot up one and made good progress on the next. Today she made it only three-quarters to LV 816.
And you weren't even considered an elite player until you hit 850. She could only imagine the difficulty the big guild leaders had gaining EXP. Did they do anything but kill mobs and bosses?
She could always head for the mountains in the north but her confidence in doing something like that by herself was not quite that high. She was good at this game, she really tried to believe that. She was good. But this game also didn't tolerate overconfidence or mistakes. It took far too many people dying for that lesson to sink in.
11,454 was the updated body count. They had dropped like flies for the first few months, a thousand, two thousand, nearly hitting three thousand at one point. But the last few months people seemed to have found their comfort spot, their niche in this new life. Player deaths were down considerably, some were new spouses or parents, jobs had been found, those that couldn't handle it were no longer trying to fight on the front lines nor even dreaming of taking on the Crowned Corpse.
She mostly spent days trying to raise her level and helping out her new friends. The door to one such friend's shop, a blacksmith, opens and Acer calls out since the store seemed to be empty.
"Mira? You here? I got that ore you were wanting!"
"Great!" The response comes from the storage room in the back, a brunette woman a little taller than Acer emerging. "You're always so helpful. I think it was two hundred Rivs per ore?"
"Call it one fity." Acer offers. "I'm pretty good on money right now and you sending me out there helped me find out something."
"Are you sure...?"
"Positive. On one condition." Acer grins. "Next time you make those little pastries with the jelly topping, can I have some?" Mira laughs in reply and nods.
"Of course you can. I'll make a batch especially for you."
"Thank you!" The pair embrace in an energetic hug, eventually separating to exchange items and currency.
"Will you be staying tonight?" Mira asks.
"Yep, the local inn." Acer nods.
"Nonsense, you can always stay with us. You're a good friend to me and Joshua and the girls see you like a sister."
"Wellll I can't say no to free food and a room."
"I'll see you later tonight then, right after the shop is closed up."
"Great. See you later then, I'm going to check the market and see if any of the vendors lucked out on some rare material."
The pair said their goodbyes and the player departed from her close NPC friend. She had to give the nutcase Tobitaba for one thing at least, if not for the little blue indicators that popped up above their heads the locals would be difficult to tell apart from real people. They were the whole reason she was reluctant for the game to end since that very likely meant the whole thing would be shut down and deleted or at least have only its coding and engine preserved as building blocks for future games. She was closer to a bunch of AI here than humans in real life, she didn't want to say goodbye. But escaping or staying meant saying it to one family or another, either the one she was born into or the one she had made here.
She tried to bury such thoughts and instead bought an ice cream concoction flavored with local fruits before strolling around to peruse merchants' material wares.

Izumi was in one of the towns after doing some grinding eliminating nearby mobs. If you looked closer, you will would see twin crimson red katanas strapped to her back and a large combat knife sheathed on her waist. In the time she has been in this game, Izumi became a bloody legend earning her the title of the Crimson Death due to her mastery of her katanas and her combat knife which lead to the deaths of many players and NPCs who thought they could get away with killing her. A week ago, she found a crimson red mask with eye slits and decided it would fit her outfit well. She headed into town to gather supplies, get something to eat, get a hot bath, and get some rest. She was standing at one of the stalls looking the goods when she saw out of the corner of her eyes a fellow player though Izumi couldn't think of what her name was so Izumi walked over and introduced herself, "Hello there I'm Izumi Karasuba. You look familiar but I couldn't quite remember your name."

[Canis Rex]

Acer looked over at the person speaking to her, pausing mid-bite, then quickly crunching what was left of her snack to tuck her hands behind her back and give a shallow bow upon realizing it was a human player.
"Acer Kagigara, at your service!" She reveals. "And thanks, I didn't think many people actually knew me. You kind of look familiar too. I try to keep up with news about famous players, and there's been chatter about a girl that uses red blades. You wouldn't happen to be...?"

[Old Tanokiana]

"The finest Pelts! The cleanest rye! You want it? I got it!" KT was shouting, pushing around the guild cart, "5 Rivs a piece! A deal of a lifetime!" He's been doing this for years, if you can call the cycles that. The money that came in was fine considering he had to share with some 5 other people. Not too many Players come around to buy his guild's products so usually NPCs are his main money tap. He noticed, however, a peculiar character, crimson blades on her back, could this be that fangled whatchamacall her the amateur bounty hunters talk about? Well, might as well try and sell her something, high level players have level pockets. KT rudely butts in on the conversation asking: "Excuse me, I see you're a high profile player! High profile players need to lay low, and I've got just the things! Tell me what you need, veils? Cloaks? Perhaps Lamp oil?" He completely ignored the other person, thinking they're probably an NPC, and would just apologise later.

[American Pere Housh]

Acer looked over at the person speaking to her, pausing mid-bite, then quickly crunching what was left of her snack to tuck her hands behind her back and give a shallow bow upon realizing it was a human player.
"Acer Kagigara, at your service!" She reveals. "And thanks, I didn't think many people actually knew me. You kind of look familiar too. I try to keep up with news about famous players, and there's been chatter about a girl that uses red blades. You wouldn't happen to be...?"

Izumi smiles at Acer, "I'm known as the Crimson Death because of my two blades and my mask. I'm normally a loner but I was wondering if you want to go kill some mobs as I need to work on my teamwork." While she was waiting for her answer, Izumi hears voice behind her. She turns around and sees a vender talking to her about cloaks and such.

She answered the man, "I'm good sir. I have all the equipment I need and I'm not a person that lays low and hides. If I die in this game then I believe it's time for me to die but I will die fighting." She walks back over to Acer and awaits her answer.

[Canis Rex]

"Ehh..." Acer found herself stalled by the sudden interruption into the conversation, suddenly raising her index finger as if counting and managing to regain her train of thought. "Right! I have heard about you then! Cool to meet you, I hardly ever run into famous players. And sure, I could go for some more mob killing, it's starting to get hard for me to level up anyway. Ooh, first let me get something for my friend. Merchant player!" She called to the guy that had gotten into their talk. "Sorry, don't know your name yet. But could I get a big cloak? I don't mind whatever stats it has, just the biggest one you got."

[Old Tanokiana]

"Oh! You're a player? Well, I hope you aren't offended, the biggest cloak I got is 19 Rivs, and uh... You mind if I tag along the mob grinding? I could really use some XP. Oh and the names' KT. I got red cloaks, I got purple, tell me which you desire, miss... What did you say your name was?"

[Canis Rex]

"Acer Kagigara!" The female gives another shallow bow in introduction. "And no worries, I understand. The NPCs here are super realistic. Hmm, let's see though." Her finger taps at her lip while thinking. "I'll take the purple one, KT."
She opens her menu to make the necessary clicks to go through with the exchange. "As for coming along, I'm fine with it if Izumi is."

[American Pere Housh]

"Acer Kagigara!" The female gives another shallow bow in introduction. "And no worries, I understand. The NPCs here are super realistic. Hmm, let's see though." Her finger taps at her lip while thinking. "I'll take the purple one, KT."
She opens her menu to make the necessary clicks to go through with the exchange. "As for coming along, I'm fine with it if Izumi is."

Izumi thought for a minute be for answering Acer and KT, "I'm fine with KT coming with us." She pulls out one of her swords and shows it to Acer and KT, "I found these swords while searching for one of the mini bosses. When I found the swords, I found it was considered to be the only set in the game plus the damage they can do is phenomenal. I have to ask the two of you: What kind of weapons do the two of you use?"

[Canis Rex]

"Ooh, nice!" Acer's eyes roamed the presented blade. "It's really rare to get an exclusive weapon set, usually only from being the first to beat a boss. Good find." She draws her own blade from the scabbard at her waist, a one-handed straight sword. The design itself was simple but there was obvious craftsmanship. The middle of the blade was lined in gold while shards of inky black grew from it like leaves to the border of the weapon.
"It's called Holy Grail Thorn. Fancy name, but it's just an estoc. It can't do any slash damage but it's magnificent for piercing thick armor or monster hides. Got it from a corrupted knight boss while helping the Silversteel."

[Old Tanokiana]

"I bet that sword would sell for thousands..." KT unsheathes his sabre "... While mine is indiscreet and agile, albeit cheaper. I got it off a dying man's wish, or something like that... I also have a knife on my waist, it's just a dagger, really. I have a musket, but that one's at home." KT admired the Crimson red blade, almost hypnotised by its almost flashy appearance. He snaps back, shaking his head, "Where are we heading to to grind, anyway? Slime fields?"

[Canis Rex]

"Sure!" Acer agreed, sheathing her weapon. "That should be a good area to help us level some but not kill us while we're working on coordinating as a team. So long as we're careful of course."

The slime fields were a ways between the small town the group had been in and Veilheim, the proximity to the hedonistic city causing the environment of soft grass and rolling hills to give way to hard stone-lined paths and shards of asphalt that jutted from the ground as if rained from some great structure in the sky. The eternal moonlight washed it all in a pale glow, the stars above lighting their way. The enemies themselves held little defined shape, blobs or slugs of random color that crawled and slithered along the ground into and from hiding places.
The vacant, unthreatening behavior of these things held only so long as one did not peer closely at their transparent bodies. The remains of limbs of less fortunate players floated among the gel in their guts, sometimes still clutched onto weapons as a sign the fallen went down fighting. Their eyes, a predatory glowing yellow when one slipped into a dark space, were not unaware but instead soulless. They killed and ate not because their territory was encroached nor because they felt hunger but because it was all they knew how to do.
On the outskirts of the area resided field bosses known as 'King Serpslimes'. These larger serpentine slime creatures were far more dangerous than their smaller counterparts, boasting enhanced health, attack, agility, a biological armor in the form of semi-solid gel plates, and the ability to spit globs that would restrain a player if struck. Fortunately they also had a lower aggro range and so it was not likely for a player to accidentally draw their attention.
"Alright." Acer already had her Holy Grail Thorn drawn. "Is everyone able to solo the big ones? If so, we can pick one and work towards it and repeat that until we have good teamwork going."

[Old Tanokiana]

"I think I can do fine against the big ones, maximum agility equals maximum dodge chances, right? Haha." His sabre was the perfect spam weapon, dealing damage in rapid succession is its best quality. However this is traded for high damage, so murdering these gelatinous fiends will take a moment. "Yeah I'm sure I can beat big slimes, so long as none gang up on a single player, we should all be fine." He assured both himself and his newfound companions. "...and in case things don't go well, we got Overpowered Big Red, surely nothing can go wrong, right?"

[Old Tanokiana]

"..." Awkward silence fills the air. "Big Red" didn't really answer, so KT is just left to hang. *ahem* "...Right... So uh... I suppose we can go on and y'know, grind?" Clearly this was an uncomfortable situation for him. "Acer, right? Shall we?"

[Canis Rex]

"We shall!" Acer declared and raced towards the nearest slime in their path. These things had decent health for common mobs and no real attack pattern to predict, likely what caught most of the adventurers in their stomachs, but they also weren't the brightest nor most agile. The creatures seemed to have no concept of a plan and tended to throw their entire bodies into attacks, from rearing back to when they landed on a foe or the ground, making them vulnerable so long as a player didn't fight as mindless as the monsters did.
Indeed the first one that spotted Acer rushed towards her, opened its maw wide to reveal strangely solid and thick teeth that contrasted heavily to the rest of its gelatinous form, and sailed through the air intent on literally taking her head off. A sidestep evaded it and caused the blob to crash to the dirt where it slowly rotated around like a turret for another try. Before it fully managed to turn, Acer lunged and sunk her estoc deeply into its body, pulling away after and denying it an easy bite.
Her weapon was unfortunately weak versus the slimy bodies of these things, meaning she couldn't one-shot them, but the majority of its health bar was gone and true to its nature the slime was still fixated on her rather than looking for other possible threats as it bared its teeth once more.

[Old Tanokiana]

Seeing as Acer is already preoccupied with one slime, KT was thrilled to fight the one close by, something he hasn't felt in a while. He approached a slime carefully, seeing what looks like the remains of a recent victim inside of it. He hopped on his two feet left and right, preparing himself, "It's a f*cking slime, Calm down" he told himself. The slime lunged at him, as he went under it with the backswing of his sabre nearly hitting, "Don't get too cocky, don't show off." He spins and flutters his sabre as he psychs himself up, another hop in his feet and he charges for a side swing angled up, this time successfully cutting the slime in half. He looks over to see Acer absolutely breezing (or at least that's how he sees it) the fight with the slime. He turns back to his gooey opponent, who, once more, lunged towards KT, hellbent it would seem. KT's agility based build helped him in this situation as to dodge the slime, catching his hat and mauling at it. "That was my favourite hat damnit!" He shouted for no real reason other than obviously being pissed, in which he'd continue to dice the slimey bastard. He took a full 14 hits to kill the damn thing. "Were slimes always this difficult!?" He loudly asked Acer.

[Canis Rex]

"When being careful, yes!" Acer called back, squaring up with another opponent. It was an unfortunate truth to dealing with the things. They were simple but hardy, a good way to test one's understanding of the game mechanics. It also meant dealing with them the smart way took more time and care than brawling with them.
It didn't help to see pieces of people still stuck in the things. Players normally disintegrated upon death so the game creator had to have made that feature in the slimes purely for psychological warfare.
She manages to dodge the attack from her current enemy and sink her estoc deep in the top of its head in response, a couple more similar exchanges ending it. But this one did not die in silence. When its HP bar hit zero, just before the creature evaporated into nothing, it screamed in a distorted nails-on-chalkboard voice. Acer covered her ears and wondered aloud about the oddity once it was finished.
"What was that? They've never done-oh. No. Heads up!"
One of the King Serpslimes had suddenly taken interest in the adventuring party, looking over at them from its field and quickly starting to close distance.
"That should not happen! We are way outside their aggro range! More of the small ones are turning on us too! Tobitaba you bastard!"

[Old Tanokiana]

"Oh what the fuck!?" KT shouted in shock as he sees what his companion is distressed about. "God I wish I had brought my damn musket" he thought to himself. The "Serpslime" was focused on the party. "Ace, can you handle the big guy? I'll try and distract the little guys!" He shouted over to Acer as he starts sprinting away from the Serpslime's wrath of no rhyme. KT unsheathes his knife from his waist and spins his sabre, going through his pep prep for his step, albeit a little panicked, he has never seen such Bullshit before.

[Canis Rex]

"Y-Yeah, I got it!" Acer's reply didn't sound confident even to her own ears. Sure she soloed these things on occasion but that was always after clearing the area around them of mobs. They were dangerous on their own since they could leave a player stuck in place and giving them help was a unjustifiable risk. The vision of her making a mistake only to be bound and set upon by wide maws with blank faces made her hands shake.
This was a mistake. The rules of engagement had changed, they needed to retreat. But could they? How surrounded were they? Would one of those things lash out from under a slab and chomp their ankle as they fled, rendering them helpless food?
The giant Serpslime crying out to signal it was attacking yanked her harshly back to reality, the girl not breaking her fear-induced paralysis in time to avoid a headbutt, only able to cross her arms in defense and get slammed into the hard stone beneath them. Fortunately it seemed the creatures had not received a attack buff, a worrying chunk of her health being taken out, but she was still alive. She gathered her wits enough to roll out of the way of the first attempt to pin her down, a dense glob of dark slime landing on the ground where she had just been. She hoped KT truly did have a handle on the smaller slimes because the possibility of not being able to watch this thing and them too was appearing very real.
"Come on." Acer tried to coach herself. It was just an AI change. She had gotten too use to their patterns, taken the danger for granted and treated them as puzzles rather than enemies. She had to remember these were still life-and-death fights.
The thing whips its long tail at her and she manages to avoid it as well, waiting until it pulled the appendage back to leap in and stab at one of the more solid plates on its body. The section under and around them was more solid, allowing her sword to find better purchase and deal more damage as it sunk deep. The attack garners a response, the Serpslime vomiting out more goo practically on itself to get her. She lunges backwards to escape the trap, nearly tripping on second hop when her opponent unfurls and slams its body downwards.
It hits the stone with a wet thud and she takes advantage by shoving her estoc straight into the listless orb that was its eye. There was no visible reaction but its health took a dive even as it opened its mouth to catch her by surprise with its tongue. The gel-like whip caught her ankle before she could retreat after sinking her weapon so far in, yanking her off her feet and threatening to take her leg between its fangs.
With her weapon useless as a cutting tool she can only scream and jam the blade between its jaws to stop from losing the limb. It would regenerate should she survive, but to see and feel her flesh be chewed on like finished prey under that soulless gaze may just be the tipping point of her panic threshold. She was too vulnerable. Caught, on her back, who knew how many smaller enemies she couldn't see right now that could end her just as easily in this position as the boss creature...
Her distress turns into frantic action, yanking her sword from the field boss's head and sinking it back in at the same time it bit down. Blood arced into the air from below her knee. She screamed. She stabbed again. Its health was dropping.
Sixty-five percent. Forty-nine. Thirty-five. Eighteen. Two.
The monster disintegrated into crystals the moment the bar hit zero, leaving it dead, the party with new EXP, and Acer clutching the stump in tears as she clumsily tried to scramble to her remaining foot to escape death from any vultures that would swoop her into their gullets in her damaged state.

[Old Tanokiana]

KT did his best in trying to rally the slimes' attention towards him as Acer brutally fought the giant goo serpent. He never extensively fought in PvE battles, but everything felt off about this particular encounter. Seeing the absolute kefuffle "ending", he snagged what remained of his hat and his comrade's severed leg, treating her stump with some cloths he would've sold. "A shame" he thought, good money could've been made with them. He threw the remains in his little bag where he previously kept the cloths, picking up Acer into a bridal carry. "You deserve some rest after this, and Tobitaba a boot up his ass." Trying to lighten the mood, Acer doesn't look amused. "Don't worry, I'll get you to an Inn or whatever you call a hospital in this game, just... Grit your teeth." His mind is just as panicked, going "Shit, Fuck, Shit..." On loop in his cranium. "Crazy fella" he jokingly thought looking down at Acer. Reaching the nearest town, he starts looking for whatever the fuck a hospital is in this game. An Inn? Does sleeping heal? Oh fuck... He snatches the closest NPC to ask them where can one get treatment. He gets pointed to a direction and runs, barging in, it's a bar. "Medical treatment not Beer treats, Damnit, NPCs..." He muttered. Surely there's something in the bar that could be of use? He looks back at Acer for a response...

[Canis Rex]

"F-Food." Acer managed a nervous response. Technically, she was fine. Her health wasn't dropping, the leg had regrown to where she at least had her knee back(though the full process would take much longer if time was their only remedy), and she wasn't at risk of going into shock anymore. That was all physical.
Mentally, she had resigned herself to being carried around by someone she only met today and was still chastising herself over how badly a change in enemy behavior had gotten to her. She points out the bartender to hopefully clear up her previous answer.
"They should have bar snacks. Eating will regrow the leg. And...thanks for having my back today. I shouldn't have freaked out like that."

[Old Tanokiana]

"Well... If you say so." He finally puts down Acer on a chair after causing a commotion and walked towards the bartender. "You heard the lady, whatever tasty snacks and food items you have you put on her and the bill on me... And uh... You take credit?" The bartender shrugs off the last part as a joke and has a waitress take the food to the two. After collecting himself from the most panicked state he just experienced, along with probably shitting himself, he sits next to Acer. "You freaked out? My heart's racing at what I can guess 160. Did it hurt? If you don't mind me asking. I haven't seen that much blood come out of one person since... Well... Veilheim has plenty of that kinda action, right?" He lets out a deep sigh of relief, before getting off his chair, "I'm going outside for a word of air, you regenerate I guess and after that, we'll figure this out because that wasn't fucking normal. I'll give you time to think where we head next." He stepped out from the bar, legs shaking, and his breath becoming deeper. "Well that was awful..." He thought aloud. It could've been worse, they could've both died and became Slime shit. Well, metaphorically anyway. Acer is one crazy sonnuva bitch cutting off her leg like that, then again, the idea of self preservation is lessened when all you have to do is bite down on a steak or two to regrow a broken spine. All that matters now is to figure out what the fuck happened and head for the next town to grind, where hopefully the monsters aren't as batshit crazy. He walks back inside and sits back down next to Acer, seeing the food is already on the table, he helped himself to some bread. "Well?" He asked, looking at Ace.

[Canis Rex]

Acer sat quietly for a few seconds at first, still nibbling on a bowl of seasoned fruit and nuts along with a dish of fried meat chips the bar had provided. Her leg was restored at least, the eating at this point being more for comfort than health.
"I was planning to visit my friend after grinding." She looks to KT. "She's a NPC that runs the blacksmith shop in this town. I don't know if you socialize much with the NPCs but I can introduce you if you want. I'd also like to check and make sure that ai change didn't affect them, hopefully it was just an update to some monster behaviors."

[American Pere Housh]

Acer sat quietly for a few seconds at first, still nibbling on a bowl of seasoned fruit and nuts along with a dish of fried meat chips the bar had provided. Her leg was restored at least, the eating at this point being more for comfort than health.
"I was planning to visit my friend after grinding." She looks to KT. "She's a NPC that runs the blacksmith shop in this town. I don't know if you socialize much with the NPCs but I can introduce you if you want. I'd also like to check and make sure that ai change didn't affect them, hopefully it was just an update to some monster behaviors."

OOC:I'm back.

IC:Izumi wakes up after sleeping for a few day because of that big fight with the Slimes. She opens her menu and puts a clean set of clothes on then puts her swords on her back and her knife in its sheath on her hip. She heads downstairs then out of the inn. She headed out to a nearby bar then walks inside and to the bar were she asks for a meat and cheese sandwich, some fries, and a glass of beer. After waiting ten minutes, she got her food and drink then walked over to a table and sat down. Izumi ate wondering if Acer and KT who she noticed coming in would notice her.

[Old Tanokiana]

"I was planning to visit my friend after grinding." She looks to KT. "She's a NPC that runs the blacksmith shop in this town. I don't know if you socialize much with the NPCs but I can introduce you if you want. I'd also like to check and make sure that ai change didn't affect them, hopefully it was just an update to some monster behaviors."

"Well, I don't mind, extra points if that friend has anything shiny to offer." He was still a little tense, but was able to relax onto his chair. When out of the corner of his eye, he sees the Sore thumb that is the Crimson lady. He looks in her direction, trying to make out her face, or figure, or the massive swords on her back. He gets up to get closer and lo and behold, it's her. "Look who's on time, it's Big Red. We really coulda used your help while we were having our asses handed to us by giant slime snake things." He said with a tone of frustration, "If you haven't noticed, Acer lost her leg, and my precious hat got torn. Where were you? Frolicking in the Badlands?" KT stands there in anxiety, realising that he caught the attention of a good amount of the people inside the Bar, he quietly slips onto a chair near Crimson. "Look..." He said, embarassed, "... I haven't caught your name, nor are we sure if you're actually with us. Leaving us in the Slime fields to wander off makes me trust you less and less, you got a reason?" KT slowly readies his hand onto his knife's handle, Just in case.

OOC: Sorry if I'm coming off as an Arse, Housh.