Sword Apocalypse Online

Chapter Eight

Argo was still reeling as she saw the cursor above Kizmel, a Non Player Character, yet... the event was scripted. No player that she knew of had saved either character. They died, a quest related item dropped. And that was it.

Seeing the bag of leaves that was always an item drop in this event, Argo pointed, "Miss Elf, is that yours?"

The Elf startled, then she bent down to gently pick up the bundle. "... at least we can protect the Sanctuary now," she said as she put the item in a pouch on her belt, then looked up and studied the band of women.

"What would have happened if we picked it up?" Liz asked Argo quietly.

"I don't know, but I think it would be bad," Argo replied softly.

"Hmm," Liz nodded.

"I must thank you," the Elf said as she bowed to them gracefully, "I am Kizmel, of the Elven Royal Guard. The first secret key has been protected." She paused, "Please come with me to our base, and the commander will reward you for your help."

Argo was relieved to see a question mark appear above her. That indicated the Quest was still ongoing... after things played out oddly, she had wondered.

"Now what?" Aiko whispered.

"If we want to continue the quest, we go with her," Argo shrugged.

"We would be honoured," Asuna told Kismel.

"Very well," Kismel said, "follow me."

Once again Argo had to fight back a surprised reaction. All NPCs had, in the beta test, only responded to simple Yes or No answers. Any sort of 'implied' agreement shouldn't have worked. Yet clearly, it had.

'Did Kayaba push through a major upgrade through between the Beta Test and now?' Argo wondered. He'd certainly upgraded the monsters. But if so, why...?

"Come on," Liz said as the group hurried after the Elf and Asuna.

"Right, right," Argo, Yuuki and Aiko hurried after.

Thankfully things played out as Argo remembered, after that. They went to the camp, (With Kizmel kicking a LOT of ass saving them from random monster encounters along the way), the group was presented to the Commander NPC and they each were rewarded with power increasing items.

Asuna, not surprisingly, was OVERJOYED at finding they had a bath...

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Wait, we have to fight GIANT SPIDERS?!" Klein complained.

"Apparently. Could be worse," Dynamm noted.

The first Argo Guide for the third floor was out, including an full explaination of the Guild Quest. Several groups were interested, obviously, including Klein and his group.

"And it takes twenty hours to do all the errands, etc etc to get the Guild Crest?" Dale noted as he read the virtual document.

"Looks like it." Harry One agreed.

Sachi, their newest member, was still being pretty quiet. Understandable, as her friends had been wiped out. Still, she worried Klein a bit...

Hera, the tall woman tank of the team, cheerfully clapped Sachi on the shoulder, nearly knocking her down. "Buck up!" she boomed.

"Ooof," Sachi grunted.

"I saw we level grind around the city first," Klein suggested, "The Dragon Knights and Aincrad Liberation Army are both going to do the Guild Quest."

"Won't we all have seperate versions of the caves, etc etc?" Harry One asked.

"Depends on the timing. Two or even more groups could collide under the right circumstances," Hera noted dryly.

"Makes sense we let the impatient ones go first,." Dale agreed.

Sachi was a spear user, who (understandably) didn't want to get near monsters. She was not bad with the weapon, stabbing at the mobs from behind a tank like Hera or the others.

"It's too bad they don't have range weapons in SAO," Klein muttered.

"Kayaba is a asshole," Harry One muttered as he cut down another monster.

Sachi used her spear to gut another monster. "Do you think Kayaba's in the game?" she wondered aloud.

Several of the group exchanged glances. "If he is, he's probably some kind of end boss,"

"Then I am getting to the end," Sachi stabbed another straight through it's body, "and GUTTING the bastard."

There was a long beat of silence as everyone processed that. "Well," Klein finally noted, "it's good to have goals."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

In another part of the floor, Heathcliff sneezed.

"That happens alot," Agil noted. He and his group of tanks were working with several other players to finish the guild quest for Heathcliff, In exchange, he would provide cash and items he had found.

"I'd blame it on allergies, but..," Heathcliff shrugged.

Agil chuckled. They were heading back to town, having finished the various steps of the quests."You're a Beta Tester, right?" Agil asked.

Heathcliff looked around a bit nervously as he admitted, "Yeah. How did you know?"

"You knew how to complete this quest fast, and got us the rewards you promised," Agil said. He added, "It's okay. I already know a few Beta Testers..."

Heathcliff nodded, accepting that.

(In fact he had taken advantage of his knowledge of the game as it's creator. But he wasn't going to say THAT. He wasn't insane.)

"So, you're starting a Guild?" Agil asked curiously.

"Eventually," Heathcliff admitted.

Agil raised his eyebrow questioningly.

"I want to develop a good reputation first," Heathcliff admitted. "I only want to recruit the top players."

"Good luck with that," Agil shrugged.

To be continued...

Notes: Oddly Kizmel never introduces herself in SAO Progressive. They just read her name off her status. Which seemed odd to me.

Canonly I don't think Klein's group had women. Eh.

I'm STILL not really sure how to write Heathcliff/Kayaba in this. Should he be well intentioned? Or just kind of evil/nuts? Or what? Dunno...