A New Raid Team

Tryouts were set to happen on some random field out in the middle of nowhere, there is a patch of glrassless dirt where people are supposed to meet, but, no Allynna, not yet anyway, a simple message that clearly states that raid tryouts will start soon, and to be in your gear. There does, however, seem to be a table of refreshing drinks and rice balls setup. Sadly, no doritos or moutnain dew.

    Merek takes the time to put on his equipment, and makes his way to the field. It looks like he will be trying out for the thing, and pulls up the hood while he takes the time to relax, and gets something to eat and drink.

    Mizuki is here! The cat ninja arrives in her midnight purple gi, and looks around with hands on her waist, long red scarf flowing dramatically in a gust of wind.

    ...She looks around for the organizer, but Allynna... doesn't seem to be here? "Uhh. What raid are we going to that starts here...?"

    She crouches and sniffs at the ground. "Is there a hidden cave entrance here, or something...?"

    "I have nothing to prove to anyone." lies Fukaziroh, who often does have something to prove but isn't about to admit it. "Everyone knows how good I am. But this sounds kinda fun so why not?" shrugs the smallest Sylph.

    Fuka looks around. "Did the organizer skip out on us or something?" she asks, slightly worried. "Or is this just going to be an eating contest? Or a battle royale over the food until there's only one standing?"

    Raiding!? Yuuki is there!

    Well, here, since here is now there. So yes, Yuuki is here. Of course. Raiding is one of her favourite things to do. Right up along there with sleeping, eating and dueling. Though right now she's only doing one of those things: Eating.

    The sword imp sits on a small mound nearby the gathering area, nomming on a rice ball while she eyes the others who have shown up to try out. Truth be told, Yuuki rarely has trouble finding groups to raid with. But it's always a good idea to keep your options open and numerous. Plus making in an appearance now and then is part of the whole guild leader gig. Even more so for alliance leaders. After all, how can you trust someone you rarely see?

    Yuuki finishes a rice ball then pulls another from seemingly out of nowhere and starts on it. Holding the food in one hand, the other softly pats the sword at her waist, pausing a moment in her nomming to quietly say, "Soon... Soon."

Yeowang has shown up for the tryouts. She is in her normal clothes, the ones she wears normally on adventures, black pants and a white blouse, with a lightweight black coat over it. Her hair is done up in a loose bun, with the remainder spilling out in a ponytail halfway down her back. She arrives and looks around, takes note of the refreshments, and waits. She looks around at the others gathered and offers a nod of greeting. "Good afternoon." She remains calm and quiet, and she's generally considered low key and not very direct, content to be the power behind things, though she's entirely content to punch people in the face as required.

The sound of a bell is heard, in an attempt to get the group's attention as Allynna walks out onto the field with a purpose, wearing her full plate armor and long surcoat combo, Dual razor attached to her back and a pair of smoked glasses over her eyes as she walks up to the group and looks them over. "I, am Allynna Forgrove, I have sixteen years of raiding experience, from text based games to this game, and I've made the call because, hopefully, like all of your, I want to push this game to it's limit, I want to see how deep this games goes, and I want to form a raid team that will help me do it." She then hands a clipboard to her assistant. "I want each of you to state your name, and what raid position you are trying for."

    Merek will nod a little bit to Allynna, "Merek, I work best as a tank, although I can also do DPS," the man notes, while he takes the time to think about it, "Also a healer," then he's watching the place while he will take the time to relax and listen to the woman.

Gwen did seem to have an interest in getting an in alliance raid team going. One that the alliance had control of in the end could be very useful given what might need to be done in the future. She is in full-plate and looking serious. She's looking very serious as she looks over the people who are coming to try out. Her father also a mountain of a sylph is there and he's seeing food, yes he's set up the food stand he sometimes helps Gwen out with.

Gwen meanwhile is looking everyone over for a moment. Her armed folded and there's a shift in the tone of her voice. She's quite serious as she says

"So your the ones who are interested in getting in on this? Hummmm."

She will go silent at Allyanna talking.

Yeowang looks up as Allynna enters and introduces herself. She nods thoughtfully and steps forward immediately. "Yeowang," she replies. "I've got twelve years of mixed martial arts experience and won Wilds League two years ago." Not that it means anything outside her home country, but in Korea, that's a national-level title. "This is my first game," she explains, "but I am learning how to do all the gaming things that seem to be part of the skillset. It has had hiccups, but you might guess I do not give up easily. As a raid member, I will be participating as a Dee Pee Ess."

    Mizuki smiles a bit at familiar faces. This is going to be fun...

    And then...

    And then...

    A self-important armored bun says this isn't the raid, this is *tryouts*???

    Mizuki stares. "Who... are you? What do you mean, pushing the game? Are you taking a run at the tenth floor boss or something?"

    She turns to face Allynna. "Mizuki of the Odysseia Knights. DPS." Confusion and uncertainty change to confidence, and she smiles. "Formerly Mycroft Hellfire of the Black Cloud. I've been playing since Unofficial Circlesoft MUD." Wait... how many years is that? Now Mizuki does the mental math and realizes maybe Allynna really does have more seniority.

    She tries to hide that uncertainty as she approaches Allynna and holds out a hand to shake. "So... what's your idea for pushing the game to its limit?"

    Fuka muses at the instructions of the raid leader, not sure whether to challenge her on it or not. Perhaps later... she's got no reason to be a dick about things, and challenging Allynna's leadership would be that, when the other woman was the one who organized this in the first place. Still, no reason not to be playful right?

    "Yes yes, you all know me, you all love me." Fuka states, fluttering eyelashes exaggeratedly in a way that probably looks more like she has something caught in her eye than that she's trying to be flirty. "I was doing dungeons back when this game was still a game, and I'm not about to let a little thing like reality stop me from dominating this world now! I'm flexible in role, naturally. But I would try out for, let's see... support." she claims, nodding to herself. "Strategic buffs, debuffs, or jumping in to protect or deal damage as the situation requires. I may not have been doing this as long as Ally here, but then I'm not nearly that old!"

    Yuuki's pointy ears twitch at the sound of the bell. She quickly scoffs down the rest of her rice ball before jumping to her feet and rushing over to stand near Allyanna.

    Yuuki grins happily as she listens along, as looking upon the others as they introduce themselves and their experience. Though when it's Fukaziroh's turn, Yuuki playfully jabs with a wry smile, "Who are you again?"

    Finally it comes around to her turn. Yuuki raises her hand excitedly, "Yuuki! AKA, Zekken!" Like everyone here didn't already know that. She continues, "DPS!" Short and sweet. Though she then goes on to explain, "My experience is really just from the SAO beta and here in ETO since launch. I've not actually played other MMOs. Played LOTS of VR games though!"

Allynna blinks as she walks along. "For those who have played Fragment, I was Lady MacNasty, wavemaster and guildleader of Gormet Catastrophe. Here, I have no other real purpose, no guild to lead, no alliance talks, so I can focus my goals on this raid group. I run an open door policy, and am willing to help any player to can promise me that they will give one hundred percent." She says as she looks to Gwen. "Gwen, I'm starting you as main tank, Merek, you'll have to be our main healer until we can find someone who is more quallified." Wow, Allynna isnt going to main tank? well, she does have to do raid call outs, and those do get messy when she also have a boss all in her grill. "The tenth floor boss will be our first target, because heaven knows that there has to be a dedicated kill team since no one has cleared it yet. Any questions?"

    Fuka twitches at Yuuki's playful jab, but she's quick to rise to the occasion. "Hey, Ze..." she pauses, thinks, apparently tries to remember the imp's title. "Ze... Zettouki!" she concludes in triumph. "You should remember me! It may have been well over a year since we last duelled, but that's a year I've had to catch up to you! Who knows who might win if we fight again?" she adds, sagely.

    She's actually kind of surprised at Yuuki's explanation of her experience. That much ability with that little experience? IMPressive!

    Fuka raises her hand like a good little schoolgirl, when Allynna invites questions. "Have you fought the tenth floor boss?" she asks. Because she knows several who have, and it's not a fight that seems winnable just with tactics. They *tried* tactics.

    Merek does look a bit perplexed about Allynna mentioning the tenth floor, though he takes the time to listen and will nod a bit. "Why that target will be the first, that is what I would like to know," he will admit, "And healer works."

Gwen looks to Mizuki "There are more raids than the tower."

She's sizing misuki up some more as well. Yeowang gets a look followe by Fuka.

"Humm? I see."

She looks to Yuuki who gets an approving nods.

She then just gives Merek the look(tm) for a moment. She then nods to Allyanna.

"There is an effort to go after it soon. I don't know what it did to me but I want to make it die for that."

    Mizuki blinks. The first target *will* be the tenth floor? "Um... I'm pretty sure the Alliance is working on it... last time we went the boss did some kinda... Data Drain thing that attacked our cosmospheres, I think somebody might have lost memories, and we had to get bailed out by an admin or someone who was hiding in a weird white portal room."

    Blink. "I'm... not up on the latest, I'm kind of... going through some stuff at the moment, but... how do you plan to deal with the Data Drain issue?"

Yeowang has not played Fragment and has no idea what that is. But she understands role assignments and nods slowly. As far as goals and objectives go, she seems nonplussed by the idea the Tenth Floor. "I think we should choose a more modest goal for our initial objective. Getting our organization and timing down before we attempt what Scale failed seems like a good plan to me." She looks to Merek, "You were there. Do you know why Scale failed there? That seems important to know before we challenge it."

    "Obviously I would be first, second son!" Yuuki jabs back at Fuka.

    Then Allynna brings up the tenth floor boss as their first target. Yuuki's eyes sparkle for a moment, until she thinks on it, "Waitaminute..."

    She then points at Mizuki, who brings up the issue with that idea, "Yeah, that. Pretty sure we need to Data Drain it back in order to beat it. S'why it's taking so long for us to get past it. We don't have a lot of Adventurers who can do that yet!"

Gwen head snaps about and she looks right at Mizuki who seems to know something. "Wait are you saying that thing ATE PART OF MY MIND?!"
% She's also gone full Texan Accent too...

Allynna listens as they argue, and reaches into her coat and takes out a whistle that has a bunbun design on it, then she blows into it, causing a shrill sound to emit from the whistle. "Okay, last time it was tried, were we all the level we are now? also, we do have an ace card. We will be going at the same time the scailes are going, we are going to march up there and show them how it's done. Yes there are other raids we can do, but for now, That one looks to be the best choice, sink or swim people." She says as she looks around. "Any other questions?"

    "It has Data Drain, and it has a shield which can only be deactivated with Data Drain that protects it. Even with the most skilled fighter it would take a long time to get by that shield without taking care of that," Merek will note to everyone, then he thinks about it, "I was data drain'd. I was trying to protect Amalthea from the second data drain that was going for her." Then he takes a look along to Allynna, "Level won't matter. Although, I'm sure that someone has the ability to take the shield down. I might be able even."

    Fuka grins in delight as the clever imp gets part of her name just right. Ziroh, or Jiroh, is indeed 'second son' where Fuka is 'forbidden'. Why that's her name, well, that's another story entirely. But it's a good chunk of the truth!

    She frowns though, when Allynna explains her plan. "You want to march up to a corrupted boss that an entire alliance hasn't been able to beat, and you think we can beat it now? It's not a question of level! The boss is glitched and it can data drain. Your plan is going to get everyone here suffering cosmosphere damage."

    She shakes her head. "I suggest you go *with* Scale's raid this week and see if it's beatable with a mass group. This isn't some contest of who can beat their chests the hairiest! I may not like Scale's motivations in these things but I do want to see the boss fall... and that's not going to be done by sending in a second team completely unprepared and unaware of the risks!"

    Mizuki looks at Gwen, slitted eyes widening. "Uh... I dunno?! I don't remember exactly what I've heard?! It's not like I have text log files of all my conversations anymore! My memory was never very good for that kind of thing..."

    Mizuki looks back to Alynna. "We've leveled up since then, but I don't think we've leveled enough to make a difference yet..." She nods to Merek.

    She looks to Fuka. "Oh... we're finally doing it this week?" She smiles, "I'm sure we have a plan then!" She turns to Alynna, "You're welcome to join us, I think!"

Yeowang arches a brow as Allynna blows the whistle and declares that we will be going in at the same time as the Scales. "So, will you be slipping in to clear the mission before the Scales, or do you mean working -with- them?" She looks over as Merek explains, and nods slowly. "So, I don't have any of what will be required for this mission," she shrugs. "I would recommend more training before we attempt this, but do as you like. If this is your plan, I will not be attending."

    Yuuki ohhhhhhhhhs, "You're talking about joining the Scalies raid as a group ourselves?"

    Yuuki taps her chin thoughtfully, "Well, that could work. I mean I usually just show up on my own and wing it. Usually works. Though of course we failed the last attempt... So this could be a nice change of pace. And maybe even bring us the victory!"

Allynna motions to Yuuki as she loosk at Fuka. "I never said we'd be doing it alone. Besides, we have a week to work on our organization, and even afterthat, there are still raids that arent part of the tower that have yet to be attempted." She says, because silversword stopped doing raids as a group, which kinda makes her a sad bunbun.

    Fuka nods thoughtfully. Her challenge to Allynna wasn't personal, it was a rational and reasoned objection which the other woman has answered. "Still, we should be under their direction even if we're a team. I believe Prof is running the raid, and he's both smart and experienced with the raid." she notes. "I have no issues with building cohesion as a group, learning everyone's role, and how to best support each other in the meantime of course!"

    "While I don't like the idea of making the next Wave, I want to know if we would be able to take back whatever it is that the boss is taking from people," Merek will admit.

Gwen says "It's not a game for me. Also Allynna? If the call to run is given we pull out. You were not there but I was...that thing can't be allowed to exist but we also will face a wave when it happens. We should make sure our allies are ready to deal with it."

She now looks to Merek with intrest. "I'd like what it took back..."

Yeowang gives Allynna a skeptical look now, as her question is ignored. But raids that aren't about the Tower are fine with her, and so she nods, "I will do missions outside the Tower, not a problem," she allows. "But I will have to learn some sort of remedy for their special power before I attempt the Tenth Floor, given past experience. To do otherwise would be foolish for me."

Allynna looks to Gwen and pats her shoulder. "That's why we have chims, though a teleportation device of some kind would be helpful." She says before looking to Yeow as she pats her on the shoulder as well. "Tower raids will be optional, I know how alot of people feel about them. But, if any of you have targets outside of the tower, I'm all ears... no bun pun intended." She says with a smile.

    Merek looks along to Allynna, and will think about it, "We can't use any thing to escape the boss. Though, dungeon pieces do allow people to come back to their Root Town. I'm still working to fix the Chaos Gates. I have enough words that we only need another or two to actually activate it."

Yeowang looks even more skeptical as her shoulder is patted. "I have no problem with Tower raids," she says. "But there are ample targets outside the Tower. And if the tower -is- cleared, there will need to be people ready on the outside to deal with the resulting Wave." As far as targets outside the Tower, she says, "I am looking for those targets also. There are ample opportunities: Karluin, hunting pirates, there's several isolated places in the game overrun with enemies, and there's clearing land in Eastal."

    "Targets outside the tower?" Mizuki looks to Allynna. "Like finding a way to FM World? I want to know if my brother and guildmates are trapped in here too..."

    Fuka peers speculatively at Merek, knowing a thing or two... and not actually blabbing about them! Surprise surprise. "Y'know that would be a great raid idea, after." she notes. "If we have some idea of where the Words are, we could go raiding for them."

Allynna blinks and smiles. "Not a bad idea Fuka, Yeow, those are some good ideas." She says as she smiles at the group. "See, we pick a target and attack, yes, the tenth floor boss is a tough one, but what about the eleventh? twelth? What if a floor boss get's killed, and the game decides to respawn them outside the tower? is the tower dangerous? Yes, yes it is, but anything we do here is dangerous, pull to many mobs, dead, get trapped underwater and your breathe meter goes out? dead. Piss off the wrong PKer? well you know the answer to that, tjhat's why I want to form this group, not as bragging rights, but as a unit that can, and will, get shiz done." She blinks at the censored curse word but continues. "Yes it will be hard, yes we might be overmatched, but you never know if you'll win, if you don't try. Now, scaile retrying? well, we go with them, it's good proactice, and if we are in over our heads, we book it the hell out, if we can."

    Yuuki shrugs, "I'm cool with whatever we decide to target. Assuming it's high level enough to be a challenge! There's no fun in killing low level mobs."

    Yuuki nods knowingly as Allynna mentions all the various dangers they face. Often on a daily basis... Assuming you're like Yuuki who ends up fighting a lot!

    But, as for this idea, "I'm all for it! Working on group tactics can make a big difference in a fight. Teamwork makes the dream work!"

Yeowang nods to Allynna about there being other targets. As far as floor bosses respawning, she says, "While that's possible, it would be the first time it has happenned. As far as other dangers, there are other dangers, but they are unlike what was described on the Tenth Floor." She looks thoughtful, and says, "The other dangers are dispoportionate, I think. But since this is a second attempt, perhaps Scale has worked out what must be done, and I wish you luck. I will be on the outside, ready to combat the wave that will come if the Tower push does succeed."

Gwen says "There are other raids, there are monster nests notably that needs to be cleaned out as well. That can get us in pretty good with the people of the Land helping to reclaim areas. There's also the undead army to deal with once we find their central lair as well." Gwen has her reasons for pushing the tower at least for the moment."

Allynna nods and smiles. "Awesome, well if anyone needs me, I'll be in shibuya, like always." She says as she looks to Gwen. "Hold on to the roster." She says before waving to everyone. "Thanks for comming, and I promise, if you try your best, I'll back you!" She says before she begins to walk off.

Yeowang bows her head as Allynna departs. "Very well," she says, "I will be available when I a needed. Since it seems that's it for now..." She will turn on her heel and stride off.