January 2, 200X
To All MapleStory Participants-
Congratuations! You have received a new patch for a upgrade to your character. This is because of our new event that is coming up, Da Reaper Saga. With this patch downloaded, you now have the ability to 'kill' other players in your area with the weapons that you have. Although the patch is temporary, PKing being hazardous to new comers, we want you to test it out whenever you can. There are two special rules with this: 1. PKing can't occur in towns. 2. You can't lose experience or items when PKed, but you do have to have 50 HP as a result of respawning.
The purpose of this is a contest of survival. One of you will receive the power to Player Kill Kill, and will be sent unknowingly against other combatants all over MapleStory. Those PKKed by this player will lose both their PKing ability, but also half of their mesos. The one or 'ones' that are left after the period of one year will be rewarded with a rather large sum of mesos and free items from the Cash Shop. As such, we will be monitoring your progress to see if you are cheating at all. Remember, go with the Maple Flow!
-Wizet Corporation
---------------------------------------------------------------
May 3, 200X
Pain. That was what those guys were in for. It was obvious what they were doing, they were staking the place for themselves. The jerks. There were two of them, warriors, with big nasty swords and armor. But lacked an important factor: the helmet.
Flit! "Owwwww-" One down, had to use some mana for that Arrow Blow. The other one is looking for me, but I'm too well-hidden. I-
"You do realize I can see your name underneath the bush." Crud. Forgot that part. Well, the good news is that he's running right at me. Bad news is that my arrows are jammed. What a time to reload, eh? Luckily, I have other ways of hurting him as my bow shifted into a spear in which I ducked over his sword swing and then jabbed right into him. Several times in fact, dumb goof must be having problems with his keyboard. Then, shifting to wooden mallet, dealt the final blow and knocking him to 0 HP. The gravestone fell down and I wondered why he was giving me that scowl.
I returned the scowl with my blank look, as if he was not even a threat despite him being maybe 5 levels above me. I made sure to defame him as well before I PKed him, adding insult to injury. After all, he and his buddy had been killing a lot of people around the Henesys training area, mainly as soon as they exit the warp portal. I made sure to take a cab and go the 'other' way to sneak up on them.
I, Drode of Henesys, am but a normal Level 16 Archer with a high amount of DEX. The kind of DEX that says, "You can't hit me but I can hit you" sort of thing, which is mainly why even if that warrior could have moved, chances are that I would avoid it. I don't like walk-throughs or guides, but I do understand that if I don't have a good amount of health, I won't last long like those muscleheads who basically put all their points in STR and nothing else. Not that I have anything against Warriors, it's just the PKing in general.
Four months ago or later before that, I got the power to kill other players. But I chose not to abuse it. Still, once in a while, I pick off those who get too cocky and take control of my hunting grounds. I suppose later on, I'll have to thank Blood Raine for giving me a Composite Bow. So far, I've been real careful with the money I make, so getting arrows is easy enough to cut down those who hurt others.
The only thing that I don't get is why I haven't heard or seen any rumors of that mysterious PKKer that this event is made for. I mean, the PK part is okay, but I only have 7 more months before this guy hunts me down and 'kills' my ability to PK those jerks. Not to mention take half of the savings that Blood Raine gave me, now that really worries me. And yes, I have no one to back me up, since I'm a person who doesn't like parties or guilds. After all, why split it up when you can take the whole cake?
As I went into the portal, I sighed a breath of relief as I checked over my inventory. Good, room for some new items and arrows. Despite the hacker increase, I found ways of keeping my items close to me since I am a collector of beginner weapons. Well, not all beginner weapons, but those that hurt and butcher. I'm a rather big fan of the Double-Sided Ax, cuts through mushrooms rather well. As well as PKers. When I make enough money, I go from town to town, buying different weapons even though they don't suit my character and then put them in the Free Market containment areas for later. Then I can sell them to other guys at 1.5 times the original price and make a killing as a result. Some of the money I get goes into my arrow supply, the rest into getting new armor and weapons.
Anyways, it is usually a hazard with the green mushrooms, since I was climbing back down the rope from the second training area. So I had to jump 4 stories down and took some damage that would have killed anyone else who had not even bothered to raise their HP by 1 point. Some PKers were thrashing with each other from 'friendly fire', seeing they were snail-hunting and ended up attacking each other. I wasn't going to get involved, so I went into the next portal over. Those two might have respawned by now and regained their health, so high-tailing it was the best solution.
Over grassy plains and rocky meadows, I sprinted using my Nimble Feet skill to get moving and shoot down any monsters in my path. I could already see the dialogue from those idiots going back and forth, as I put their names on my 'buddy list' to listen in. Apparently they were angry and called up a lot of big, husky warriors with the same amount of HP that they do, and were sending them after me. Quite frankly, I was in trouble, but now my arrows had been reloaded in the quiver.
Bounding over a Orange Mushroom, I strafed behind me to launch a new arrow assault on a Warrior with Skull Hat and a red whip of some kind. Did he really think I would be stupid enough not to recharge my Mana by now? I dropped him like a ton of bricks with a Double Arrow Volley, using my Focus to increase my DEX even higher for maximum efficient killing. "Yeah! And stay dead, you jerk! Serves you right for attacking someone who hadn't got past Level 20." I snarled, and then continued through the next portal.
Which awaited me at the top was a red smoke cloud that vertically shot past my head, then vanished off-screen. It looked sort of like a comet, even though I was somewhat doubtful of that since the game never had comets of doom raining from the sky.
"get hm" A new warrior appeared in the portal as I was looking at the cloud's path, hitting me with a powerful saber attack that nearly cut my HP by 3/16s. So I returned the favor with my long sword and then my Double Ax, taking a bit more damage but succeeded in 'killing' him. Whoever these guys are, they were getting on my nerves so I took a few red potions and gulped them down. Lifh Harbor was basically a safe house for those who wanted to stay alive. So after a bit of chopping apart snails and slimes, I made my way to the portal below, bypassing some Sins and Assassins who wanted nothing to do with me. For some reason, they were in a big rush to get away from the portal.
Arriving in the next room, my jaw dropped from the new graphics that was around the area. The red plume of smoke landed in the middle of the area, which appeared to have broken through the platforms and ledges at a 135 degree angle. Apparently when I fought that warrior, that comet hit the place with the impact of a firebomb. And I do mean fire, as the grass around the area was burning and red scorch marks under laid over the soil parts. Half a slime was bouncing around where a ledge once stood, green pus oozing out the severed side, in which I put it out of it's misery.
What worried me the most was the crater that distorted the graphics and cut the sound. I liked that song very much, and the silence was making me nervous as I inched forward.
"hay u! sty awy!" yelled a ghost near the impact site. There were about 6 of them, each having the guild name "OverBearsOfWar", a name that I recall from Henesys's rumor mills. Apparently they were a group of Hermits that gained PKing power, then used their invisibility to deal powerful damage to other players in order to obtain unique items dropped in Henesys. Like my Wooden Sword that I was unable to find in other shops, as it was dropped by a Blue Snail.
I ignored their pleas to leave, walking closer and closer towards the crater. And alo and behold, I came face-to-back with a monster that should not even be around in Henesys territory. With brown fur, a striped fluffy tail, round bear-like ears, and a leaf on it's forehead, it was a menace to anyone below Level 30: The Flaming Raccoon. Let's face it, anything that had 1,200 HP was not worth fighting until I had a really powerful Bow.
That was when it turned to look right at me, and I knew things were never going to be the same again.
"Hello. Do you know where I am? Or who I am?"