Etaru stepped off the portal onto the 42nd floor. A cold breeze cut through his clothes; winter still hadn't quite passed. He checked the time-0822-and scowled. What time the party begins raiding would have been helpful information to have. It would probably have been more helpful than the hand-drawn portraits that he was given. Still, it was just early enough that the plaza was mostly empty. Floors this far below the front lines were rarely busy.
He looked around, "I need a high place: somewhere that overlooks the city." Discontented by the lack of any prominent towers, he pulled up his map. "If I assume that they continue their pattern of dangerous hunting, they'll probably head for the area around the floor tower." He dragged his hand over the map following the main path that led that direction. "It's wooded and filled with enough cliff faces that I'll head there first. If I don't see them in twenty minutes, I'll sweep the surrounding area." He tapped a point on his map. "I should be able to get a decent view of the west exit and most of the city from here with decent cover." He turned and quickly headed that way making a point to stick to back alleys and side roads.
He only ran across three or four people and only one of them had even looked his direction so he felt pretty confident he had drawn no suspicion. Stealth would interfere with his tracking and searching abilities-even if only slightly-so he just hid on the precipice of the cliff face that overlooked the city and it's west entrance.
"Patience..." he muttered.
Etaru was about to move position to get a wider view of the surrounding area to see if they had passed through another exit when a small party of six players passed through the gate.
"Two sword and shield users. A pike. An odachi. A mace. ... I think that's a short sword, but I can't make it out. ... Is that a guitar?" Etaru strained to see the distant players as best he could. He couldn't make out their faces and only recognized the weapons based off experience, but that strange shaped box-like item that one of the players was holding couldn't have been a weapon. The way the light reflected off it's sharp curved body and the length of straight wood that led to a ball-like protrusion made it look similar to a guitar. "I guess that would make sense if this is that group, and the rest certainly fit the profile."
Etaru rolled out down the cliff a bit until he was out of view and then ran to the next overlook. He'd have a much better vantage point there and stealthing wouldn't cut into his ability to analyze them. Still, he'd have to be careful moving from that position afterwards. All the dead underbrush would make it difficult to move silently.
After waiting for a few minutes, the party he was tracking turned around a bend in the path and were close enough he could start making out faces. Eulec and Kryoll were in the front walking rather casually and making a loud ruckus. "Laughing? Boasting, maybe?" Etaru listened in as hard as he could and caught a few words and phrases: "did you see?!" "And then you" "Assault team" "soon." "So, infighting seems a less likely possibility" Etaru speculated. Behind Kryoll and Eulec, Ken'ichi and Tarou seemed to be enjoying the conversation and occasionally turning to each other and speaking in a tone that was obviously a cheering volume but was indiscernible. Shashitane and Flig were trailing a few meters behind the main group. Flig wore a peaceful expression on his face and held his odachi lightly with two hands while resting it over his shoulder. Etaru was always taken slightly off-guard by the sheer size of the odachi. Even held by so massive a man, it seemed too large to be practical. Shashitane wore an almost elated face as she moved-no, danced-along the trail. They were close enough now that Etaru could just barely make out the tune over the other party members.
"I know I've heard that tune somewhere..." Suddenly, he had a flashback to a night he had stayed in Taft on floor eleven. At the time, it was a densely populated inn that felt more like a pub. "Is she even old enough to drink?..." Etaru buried his head in the dirt in front of him. "Idiot. This isn't the real world." As he looked back up, the party was just now passing his position. He waited until his position was outside their peripheral vision and then he pulled up the map. There was a choke point in the path about two kilometers ahead where the path was practically cut out of a large hill. "I'd bet anything, that's where they'll get ambushed if they are." He rolled down the cliff again and then carefully made his way to the choke point as quickly as he could.
It was slow going. It was slower than he would have liked, rather. He routinely peeked over the cliff faces to check the progress of the party, but because he was trying to be quiet, he wasn't going much faster than the party and his occasional diversions back to the cliff face, used the rest of the extra speed he had to where he was only barely keeping up. He found a small side path that was mostly cleared of brush and decided to make a run for the suspected ambush point. He came to a small hill right before the entrance point and began surveying the area for any ambush party. Undoubtedly, there would be people on the other side to box them in, but there should be people here too.
"Odd. I can't find anyone. Even in a group, there should be a few who I could identify against their hiding. Maybe I was wrong." He looked back down the path to the slowly oncoming party. Out of habit, he pulled out a vial of poison and began dipping his throwing spikes in it. He realized immediately that he only had enough poison for three spikes. "Of course. I knew I'd forget something." He sighed and put the empty vial back in his inventory. If he'd been alone, he'd have just toss it and let it's durability wear out, but even the flash from something so small could give him away. He watched the party enter the enclosed area of the path and then once again scanned for activity. Still nothing.
Etaru carefully climbed down the cliff face onto the area right off the main path. As long as he stayed in the underbrush, he should be able to stay hidden. It was too bright to just follow. He looked up at the sun, "The sun's still far east. Once I get into the enclosed path, there should be enough darkness inside to stay hidden."
The dark path wedged between cliffs ran about a half a kilometer. At the slow pace the party was taking, Etaru felt like this was taking forever and more and more he felt that this was a waste of time barely justified by the pay.
A few meters before they returned to the open path, a man clad in greys and blacks with a white and black detailed mask jumped into the center of the path.
Etaru stopped. All he could see was that bandit that jumped into his path in the forest. He quickly turned to see if they were being surrounded but there was no one behind him. "A frontal assault? That's poor tactics... unless..." He looked up to see another 12 men who wore almost identical outfits with various intimidating masks leaning over the edges of the cliff face on both sides. "Oh damn, I can't believe I missed that." Eulec seemed to be engaging the bandit in talks and was perhaps attempting to negotiate.
Suddenly Kryoll readied his pike and yelled, "No, Eulec! No way in hell we're going to give this scum a thing!"
The bandit raised his hand and then straightened his hand flat and dragged it back down to his side. The canyon was filled with an echoing symphony of battle-cries as the bandits on the ledge leapt down. They all took minor falling damage, but the element of surprise gave them the advantage.
Etaru was still nearly fifty meters behind the party and he took to a full sprint to aid them.
A flurry of panicked combat broke out. The party was surrounded on all sides from the ambush. To Etaru's surprise though, they regrouped surprisingly quickly. Kryoll barked out orders and inspired the group but in reality, the group simply acted in near perfect unison-something almost unseen in even the most seasoned parties.
"YEEAAHRRR!"
Shashitane dropped to an acrobatic crouch and drew her shortsword just as she barely ducked out of the way of a massive blade. Flig had spun in a circle and built up momentum behind his odachi and it was his blade that nearly grazed Shishitane's back destroying the musical instrument that Shishitane had been playing a moment eariler-yet it was no accidental or careless incident of near-friendly-fire. The two acted in a manner that reminded Etaru of a synchronized dance; their movements felt almost choreographed. Flig's odachi cut cleanly through one of the assailants and impacted against the shield of another but the sheer force of the strike threw the assailant against the cliff face. The moment that Shashitane was clear of Flig's blade, she flipped sideways, kicking her legs in a circle to propel her to her feet. Mid-action, she activated an uppercut sword skill that bypassed the guard of the third assailant they faced. Her short sword impacted at the gut level and cut up to the collarbone leaving a long, deep streak of white.
Further forward, Ken'ichi's mace slammed into the shield of another bandit. "Switch!" Tarou slid past effortlessly with a precise thrust. A look of relief crossed his face when he wasn't immediately countered but that relief was immediately wiped away when he noticed an attack coming from his flank. Tarou's blade was still lodged in the first bandit and he wouldn't have time to dislodge it to defend himself. Ken'ichi barely parried the incoming axe with his mace but was knocked down from the force losing a quarter of his health in the attempt. Tarou's blade was freed by an explosion of light and he immediately threw all his weight into a swing that took advantage of the opening Ken'ichi had made. Taken slightly off balance by the desperate attack he had made, Tarou was blindsided and knocked to the ground by a club attack from behind where Ken'ichi would have been watching had he been on his feet.
Eulec and Kryoll stood back to back fighting off the brunt of the enemies. Where Kryoll was constantly yelling out motivation or battle cries, Eulec was coolly fighting. It was an interesting contrast that reflected what Etaru had read in the dossier. Eulec may have brought the group together, but Kryoll directed it and held it together. Charisma and cunning. Kryoll's pike was difficult to see; when enemies came close, the shape of the pike coalesced into a spinning circle that forged an impressive defense like Etaru hadn't seen of a pike user and when they were more than a meter away, his pike made flashing thrusts and violent slashes. Eulec had a harder time of it lacking the sheer reach that Kryoll possessed. He wasn't able to dodge much with Kryoll at his back, but he made full use of his shield as well as his sword, bashing some enemies back while knocking away the sword of another.
Despite the impressive performance of the party that far exceeded Etaru's expectations of a party so green especially given the situation which would send most people into a panic, they were still outnumbered. Only four enemies had been brought down and Ken'ichi and Tarou were in dire straits. If they fell, the group would crumble under the pressure of division and loss.
Etaru prepared a set of throwing spikes that glowed in preparation for a throw, but just before he released his throw, Etaru saw the lead bandit make eye contact with Eulec who nodded in return. Eulec hopped a few feet, brought his sword around and cut Kryoll in half. As if time stopped, the rest of the party watched with horror as Kryoll's face contorted into an agonized look of shock. The sudden betrayal and loss of a friend drained the color from them and if their fight and spirit had a color, it would have drained to their feet as well. Etaru's throwing blades cut through the frozen scene like bird-shot from a shotgun knocking three enemies that had surrounded Ken'ichi and Tarou off their feet. Before they had even hit their marks, Etaru drew another blade and hit the bandit who had been knocked into the wall by Flig's assault.
The sound of death echoed in the canyon. No matter how many times he heard it, it always sent chills down his spine and threw him back into his dreams of watching Troy die. As the sound faded, Etaru cut through and yelled, "Don't just stand there! Get the hell out of here!" Etaru flew past them towards the the remaining four bandits while Flig and Shashitane helped Ken'ichi and Tarou up. They were all in the red from the fight but were able to quickly retreat out of the canyon.
He couldn't hold it back any longer. The sounds of battle, the smell of sparks coming from clashing steel were enough in the past to throw him into a frenzy of memory, but Etaru's eye's started clouding over with red and murderous intent. Unsure of when he had even struck a blow to either, two more enemies burst into shards. That should have left two enemies, but Eulec was missing. Further angered by having lost his target, he dropped to the ground and dragged his left katar across his enemy's shins and then launched himself up pulling his right katar up the entirety of the last enemy's avatar.
Etaru panted in exhaustion. Between running all day and this intense fight, he had already been more active than his job usually required of him in a day. He turned to see the empty canyon with no sign of the rest of that party.
*SNAP*
Etaru jumped and turned back to the exit of the canyon landing in a crouch to see Eulec, who had changed into a black robe. The part of the sleeve that covered his forearm had white detailing that contrasted the rest of his black outfit: a Laughing Coffin insignia. The fact that a murder guild was involved here, wasn't surprising, but the fact that the largest and most infamous of them was here gave credence to Natalie's story. Etaru's eyes narrowed.
"Ha!" Eulec laughed, his face filled with a cruel mirth. "And here I was thinking I wasted all my time with these people. I might actually look back and enjoy it. Of course that depends on how good of a fight you put up before you die." He began to grin but before it came to fruition, a mask covered his face
"That mask..." Etaru suddenly felt the weight of all his exhaustion fall onto his shoulders. That bandit wore the same mask as the man who killed Troy. Etaru's vision blurred and turned the world into shades of red. Although he was fully aware that it was unlikely for him to be able to beat a sword and shield player, there wasn't a rational thought left in his head. It wasn't even anger against Eulec; for all intents and purposes, Eulec was gone. Etaru just wanted the man wearing that mask dead.