The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Mel nodded in agreement as she settled down, getting comfortable and pulling out her own rations. "Yeah, though... It didn't feel like any sort of timeskip when we travelled, it's possible it's been long enough that we really are hungry. Though that begs the question, if we eat this stuff and actually feel sated, what is it feeding us back in reality? Which brings up other questions about the connections. Like our last encounter, how much of *that* was... Aided? Let's call it that, yeah.." She mused, chuckling as she started to eat.

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Liz joined Mel in retrieving her rations and moved to sit beside her, listening to her partner as she spoke. She was about to take a bite when the other woman made mention of the possibility that the machine could somehow be feeding them something in real life while they ate here to sate their hunger, causing her to stop and slowly move the food away from her lips. When Mel then made a similar assumption about what had happened back with the tentacle monster in relation to the real world, Liz’s face paled.

“T-That’s not funny, Mel...” Liz exclaimed, the thoughts running through her mind causing her to visibly shiver in discomfort. “Jeez...now I can’t stop worrying about if something is actually happening to our bodies while we’re in here... I swear to god, if I’m not still a virgin when I wake up from this game, I’m suing this company to hell...” she finished, very tentatively taking a bite from her food rations.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Mel chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I hadn't thought of that, huh." She said slowly, the thought disturbing her a little by the looks of it, but she hardly paused in her ration consumption at all before continuing. "Yeah, chances are they wouldn't then. Still, makes you wonder, doesn't it? I know I zone out when I'm gaming to some extent, but to separate yourself this far is really something else..."

She stayed silent for a long moment, until she had nearly finished her ration. "So, We going to stay here and see if the band passes us by, or continue backtracking and see if we can catch up that way?"

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

“I know, it’s...ugh, I hate to make this comparison, but...it’s almost Matrix-like,” Liz replied, gradually consuming more of her rations. “You’re right, though, I doubt the company would actually risk doing anything like that to its testers... At least...that’s what I’m going to choose to believe...” she finished, pushing her concerns aside as she finished her food. It wouldn’t do any good dwelling on it here anyway, and besides, it wasn’t really fair to make such accusations towards the people overseeing them based only on some potential connection between what happens here and back in the real world that might not even exist.

Liz paused a moment to consider Mel’s question regarding their next move. “Well...it does still seem pretty early in the afternoon, which means it could be a few hours before the group gets here...assuming they’re coming ‘here’, of course,” she said, lightly scratching her chin in thought. “Unless there was something else you wanted to do while we waited, I guess it couldn’t hurt to look around for them a little more. We at least know where this campsite is, so if we can’t find them in an hour or so we should be able to find our way back here.”

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

"That works, spend an hour looking, come back here." Mel replies with a nod, finishing her ration and taking her time standing up and stretching out. She took another look around the camp before going and getting the horses ready to go again, climbing up on hers afterwards. "Okay, let's get moving." She said simply.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

As Mel and Liz leave the potential campsite and wander around, they soon come across some tracks left in the muddy ground by perhaps two or three riders and a bear, all going to the same direction, the bear after the horses. The horse tracks suggest that they were moving at gallop, perhaps being chased by the bear.

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

“Oh, wow, look at that,” Liz said they came upon the numerous sets of tracks in the mud, a moment of study suggesting at least two horses and bear as their cause. “Looks like someone ran into some trouble not too long ago. I wonder who it could have been... More scouts, maybe?”

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

"Looks like, yeah. Definitely looks like they were being chased, and not just followed too, look at the spacing between the prints. Looks like they could use some help." Mel said in her usual casual demeanor, getting back on her horse after inspecting the tracks. "Which reminds me, do you have any idea on the underlying system on this? I kinda like the linear direction so far, having to wander back and forth across an entire area to top off the twenty fetch quests in your journal just bores me to death in most games." Ending her sentence with a chuckle, she went off in the direction the tracks went, pulling her bow off her shoulder to be ready to use, if necessary.

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

“No idea,” Liz replied to Mel’s question about the game-system. “I was honestly sort of expecting it to be like one of those go-anywhere-do-anything sandbox-type games. Who knows, though, maybe it is. Maybe they’ve just done a better job of...immersing us into the game world... Well, aside from the obvious aspect of us almost literally being in the game world,” she added with a chuckle as she followed after her partner along the tracks.

“That’s definitely a good question to ask the programmers once our first test-run is done, though,” she finished, following Mel’s example and readying her own bow for use as well.

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Mel and Liz haven't been following the tracks for long when Liz spots the bear near a tree, only visible because she's looking for it. There's something strange about the silhouette, though, as it looks as if its back was covered in vines or something.

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

“Hey, look. There’s the bear,” Liz whispered, pointing out its location next to a tree to her partner. She took a moment to glance around, then, but didn’t find anything else. “I don’t see any sign of the horses, though...or the riders. Do you think they got away?”

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Mel takes a moment to pick it out, nodding once she spots it. "Looks almost like they're hiding in the tree from here." She points out. "Horses would have ran if that's true. And I have the feeling it's another one of those 'not out to eat us' monsters, look at it's back. How many shots do you figure we can get in before it turns around and reaches us?"

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

“Well...only one way to find out, I guess...” Eliza replied softly, grinning playfully as she slowly and quietly notched an arrow, waiting for Mel to do the same before taking aim at the mutant bear.

Once her partner was ready, Liz would let her arrow fly, hoping offhand that the game would grant them some sort of attack or damage bonus for seemingly having the element of surprise on their side. If Mel said or motioned for her not to fire, however, Liz would stop immediately and follow the other woman’s instructions, not wanting to needlessly draw them into a fight unless they were both up for it.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

Mel nodded and smiled, taking a bit longer to set up her shot. She tapped a fingar as a silent countdown, releasing her shot on the third count. After that, she just tried to put as many arrows into the air as possible, nudging her horse with her feet to convince it to back away to buy herself a little more time to do so...

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

L 20 vs 19 M 5 vs 12
L 2 vs 19critmiss M 19 vs 18
Liz: 5/5 Mel: 5/5
Tentacle bear: 9/11
Eliza's arrow sticks into the bear, causing it to roar - more in annoyance than pain - while Melbara's arrow flies wide. As the bear charges towards them, Eliza's bowstring snaps while Melbara's arrow pierces the thick hide. Then the bear is almost upon them and the frightened horses try to turn and run, almost throwing their riders off.

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

“Oh no! My bowstring!” Liz cried, panicking slightly as the string on her bow snaps before she can fire her second shot. By that time, unfortunately, the bear had closed the distance between it and the two women, startling their horses and nearly throwing them clear.

Knowing there was no time to restring her bow, and with the bear likely being just as fast as their horses would be, Liz quickly decides to dismount and draws her sword, moving to flank the beast before going in to continue her attack, keeping an eye out for the tentacles on its back. “Hyah!” she exclaims, striking at the mutated animal with her sword.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

"Gah, what happened to trained horse, curse it!" Mel yelled, ducking off of hers as well. Since she still had her bow, she nocked another arrow and fired. damn that thing moves fast, caught up with them a lot faster than she expected...

 

[Hentaispider]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

L 15 vs 7 M 12 vs 10
B 19 vs 9 | 17 vs 1critical
L 5 vs 20counter M 20 vs 19
B 9 vs 11 | 7 vs 9
L 17 vs 18 M 7 vs 6
B 18 vs 4 | 12 vs 13
Liz: 5/5 Grappled: -3 to escapes, can't attack Mel: 5/5
Tentacle bear: 5/11
The horses bolt almost before the girls have gotten out of the saddle, but Melbara's shot still hits the bear just before one of the tentacles lashes at her, wrapping around her legs and making her almost fall down. Eliza's sword easily leaves its scabbard and cuts through several tentacles, but one of them dives under, catching a hold of her other arm. Melbara manages to shoot the bear twice more and falls back wards, the tentacles letting go as the bear focuses on Eliza, who overextends her strike and gets her sword arm tangled. Another desperate attempt sends her stumbling right towards the bear and its tentacles, which start wrapping around her tightly, making it hard to move.

 

[xgkf]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

As Eliza’s swing sliced through some of the bear’s tentacles, her satisfaction was dampened as one of them slipped underneath, taking hold of her arm. As Mel’s arrows landed, Liz felt the bear react and decided to lunge forward with another swing of her sword, disregarding the tentacle on her arm as she attempted to take advantage of the perceived opening. She overextended on her attack, however, missing and leaving herself open for another of the bear’s tentacles to wrap around her sword hand. As she tried to break free, the tentacles seem to begin focusing on her, and in no time she finds herself entangled in their wriggling grasp, making it hard to move.

It was not unlike the situation the pair had found themselves in with the tentacle monster earlier, only their roles seemed to be reversed. As she thought back on that experience, there was a moment where Liz wondered if this bear would provide her with the same heights of pleasure as that monster had. She also remembered the disappointment she felt at loosing so easily to their first enemy in the EGG, and she didn’t want to let that happen again. After a moment, Eliza gathered herself and began struggling against the tentacles, trying to break free of their hold so she could attack again.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Art of War(Melbara/Shrike7 & Eliza/xgkf)

((*Facepalm*))

Mel kept her bow in the air as she went down, scrambling back to her feet as she tried to put some distance between herself and the creature before getting another shot, using Liz's struggle to her advantage. If the thing wouldn't let her, then it was time to switch to her sword, which she probably should have earlier, since she was in reach of the thing the entire time.