Alright. Gonna read everyone's suggestions and get to writing tomorrow. Time to storm the facility proper.

>>6420733
Looking forward to it!

I also just started watching Shangri-La Frontier. Was that by chance an inspiration for this quest at all?

>>6421157
I only ever watched the first episode but I liked the premise. Work and stuff just got in the way of me continuing it. I've always loved the idea of full dive mmos or the isekai'd to an mmo world but for this game my biggest inspirations was a Chinese anime, or Donghua I think is the term or that might be chinese comics, called The King's Avatar. I'll also throw in an old quest Guns x Glory that I used to follow was a big inspiration too, though I don't think I could measure up to their level of writing. Both have the same premise of professional players who are no longer allowed to play the game they used to play in the pro scene so I decided to throw my hat into the mix. I do wish I had more concrete rules and mechanics in mind but I feel like adding rolls and the like now would slow things down even further.

As for loot I think I have this general set up by combing the two most voted on set ups.

>John
Charge Rifle
Minigun (Stored in inventory)
Bow
Throwing Daggers x3
Stun Grenade
(May borrow the Fire Staff if needed)
Potions x2
Bandages x 3

Ryuji/Roland
Cryo staff
Throwing dagger x1
Potions x 4
Bandages x 4

>Gloria
Twinned Scimitars
Flechette Grenade
Alchemist Bombs x2
Throwing dagger x1
Bandages x 4
Potions x 4

>Serena
Inferno Staff
Stun Grenade
Flechette Grenade
Bandages x 4

That being said, I'll need to pop open a google doc and keep track of all this stuff since we still have the loot from the Frozen gorge somewhere in the group's inventory.

>>6421157
>>6421318
I've read the manga, I really should get back to it sometime

As you and your friends divvy up the loot you take the time to bandage up and recover. "That's everything." Ryuji says as he slings one of the staves over his shoulder. You bite the end of your bandage and tie it down before grabbing the charge rifle. "Hey dude, you need any tips- oh..." Ryuji begins but you're already midway through your inspection of the weapon. Born out of a thousand repetition, and a few hundred lectures from Ming, you deftly eject the weapon's power cell and examine charge level. It was fully charged but when you slot it back into the weapon, your HUD indicates that each cell only offered 3 shots each. You lock it into place, snap the safety on and level the weapon to peer down the scope. Old instincts kick in and you can already feel the glare and oncoming lecture about proper weapon modification from Evolution's top gunner. The sniper was either short on money or decide to be frugal with their weapon's scope. The scope was capable swapping between magnifications but rather than gradually moving between magnification levels, it instantly clicked into place. Simply put, all you got was x4, x6, and x10 and nothing in between. The scope wasn't even capable of x1 despite replacing the gun's iron sights. You turn the laser sight off and sling the weapon over your shoulder.

Ability: Weapon Proficiency: Single Weapon Use activated. You're now proficient with Charge Rifles. (1 attack left).

"Did the sniper have any ammo on him?" You ask, finally looking at the impressed faces of your friends.

"Ha! Should've figured you of all people wouldn't need any tips on sniping." Ryuji laughs and rummages through his bag. "We only found 2 other power cells. We think he might have had a bigger stash but the pile is probably atop his hiding spot. Either that or he was running lower on ammo than he was letting on." He says tossing two more power cells, each about the same size as the batteries you see on rechargeable power tools in the real world.

"So 9 shots total...we can do some serious damage with that." You say, catching the ammo and sticking it into your coat pocket. "Problem is I only get one shot every so often. Not sure I can do it quickly in a fight. The scope on this thing isn't exactly made for close quarters fights."

"So you can use guns?" Serena asks. You nod and motion for everyone to start moving.

"Yeah, I can pretty much use anything." You explain, in a hushed voice. "Not for long though. I only get a single attack before I have to swap weapons. Most classes are locked into specific weapons. You can hold and carry other weapons but if you try to use them, you'll be doing minimal damage if you even hit. The game won't assist you in combat with weapons you're not proficient with with." You unsling your bow and hand it to Serena. "Try pulling back the string." Serena takes the bow and immediately seems to feel the difference. Her grip is awkward and she seems to be unsure where to hold the weapon exactly. When she tries to draw the string back, she visibly struggles before handing the weapon back to you. "Felt weird, didn't it?" You ask.

"It felt...different. Harder?" She says with a nod as she struggles to find the words to describe it. "When I swing my staff...I just do it. Everything just seems to work how I want it to. Even using magic just feels like works off what I want to do. I don't even think about it anymore." She admits.

"Yeah, that's the game helping. It's to try and even the playing ground." You explain. "Otherwise, it'd be no fair to pit players who've never fought in their life against say...someone who did archery in school."

"But what if I know how to fight with a sword or a gun outside the game and my class isn't proficient in it?" Serena asks.

"Well...I would think it would feel as easy as it would in real life. But compared to someone who is being helped by the game...I think they still might be at a physical disadvantage." You guess, crossing your arms and thinking. In reality, you never heard of anyone bringing real combat skills into the game during your time. At least outside of regular fist fighting and possibly shooting a gun. The idea of people practicing something like sword or axe fighting in the real world to get better in the game was foreign to you and yet it seemed like the logical thing to do. "But mentally they might have a bit of an advantage. They'd have the instincts and muscle memory to assist them not to mention proper fighting forms. I don't know if that would be enough to allow them to win, especially with the damage penalties the game hands you for having an incorrect weapon, but it could certainly help them stave off attacks and buy enough time to retreat. Do you know how to fight with a sword or a gun though?" You ask with a grin. You had intended it to be a joke but to your surprise Serena nods.

"I know how to fence. My mother made me take classes. I even won a few competitions too." She replies casually. You tilt your head and think for another moment.

"Hey uhh.... Can I borrow one of your raipers?" You ask, awkwardly. Gloria gives you a smirk and draws one of her swords before tossing it at you and sending you a party invite. You catch the blade with one hand and accept the invite with the other.

"Sure." She chuckles.

Party:
Regal_20 (John Doe)
HP: 80%
MP:Full

Mae Su-Hyun(Gloria)
HP:100%
MP:Full%

Ryuji Yamada (Roland)
HP: 100%
MP: Full

Serena_Starlight
HP: 100%
MP: 85%

"I never did ask your in game name after you changed characters." You chuckle and hold the rapier out for Serena. "Try this. Maybe it feels better than the bow?" Serena takes the weapon and holds it experimentally. She holds it confidentially at the ready and takes a few swings and thrusts with it. You didn't know anything about fencing so you weren't sure if what she was doing it correctly. As far as you knew, Lance was the only person who actually fenced outside the game.

"It's a bit heavier than what I'm used to." Serena admits as she flourishes the weapon. "But it's balanced well enough. Swinging it feels...normal. Not easy like it is with staves but it doesn't feel different or weird like a bow. It's just heavier. I think if I had a rapier that was as light as the ones I used for competitions then I don't think it'd feel any different than real life." She turns to hand Mae, her weapon back.

"You weren't lying about fencing in real life. That looks pretty good." She says as she sheathes her blade again. "How come you didn't just pick the swordsman class?"

"Oh...I don't really like fencing." Serena admits. "I just did it because my mom wouldn't let me skip lessons." Mae gives Serena a knowing nod.

"Don't I know the feeling." She agrees with an exhausted tone, yet you get the feeling she knows Serena wasn't telling the truth. "Still, sword fighting is way more fun when you're fighting for your life and there's plenty of variety of blades to use. A lot more fun then just shuffling back and forth on a mat."

"I mean you could always go looking for a master to train you too." Ryuji says. "If you get lucky, you can find a quest to find a subclass and they tend to come with new weapon profs and stuff. They're kinda rare though."

"Should I do that?" Serena asks.

"You should do whatever you want. The game is yours as much as it is anyone else's and that's the best part of it. It's up to you to decide not anyone else's." You say. "Speaking of deciding..." You trail off. As the far back of the facility you stand before the entrance of a large building. The refinery or at least the entrance into the mountain itself. Beside it you see a smaller building and through it's broken windows you can see what seems to be a control panel and the entrance to a lift. Most likely a way for the workers to reach the lower levels of the facility without needing to walk the main area and down tons of stairs. You doubt the lift would take you into the deepest parts of the facility but it could cut out a lot of walking assuming it wasn't guarded somehow. Then again, going through the main building would also mean more chances to get ambushed or run into the rest of the players raiding this place.

>What do you do?
>Go through the main building. You can search for any survivors/workers.
>Try the lift. The faster you get to the heretics the better.
>Write in.

>>6421418
>Main building

Sweep and clear.

>>6421418
>Go through the main building. You can search for any survivors/workers.

>>6421418
Did the team see any other groups of players on their way in? We can take our time grappling people over to tackle the place from a different angle, somewhere good to use the bow.

>>6421418
>Go through the main building. You can search for any survivors/workers.

>>6421418
>Go through the main building. You can search for any survivors/workers.
Less likely to run into a huge crowd we can't handle without anywhere to retreat. Less likely to get pincered, too.

>>6421418
>Go through the main building. You can search for any survivors/workers.

File: MGSNV.png (54.9 KB)

>>6421445
No your team didn't see anyone along the way. Most of their time was taken up getting gliders ready. They flew in, landed, and rushed to flank. Gloria would let you know that the Gunner wasn't lying about their numbers outside. As far as your team figures, the outside group was just to act as a deterrent or worst case serve to buy time as any invading force manages to fight through the bridge. But it's the risk to the facility itself that was holding everyone up and still partially is. John and co have essentially become an elite task force straight out of games/movies. At least, that's what the rumors are starting to say within the people making their way across the bridge. So, no pressure or anything.

>>6421424
>>6421437
>>6421638
>>6421653
>>6421677
We're taking the main entrance. Writing.

"Front door or elevator..." You thinking out loud for a moment. "We should take the front door. We can search for survivors and clear an exit for them." You decide, motioning to the large double doors. They were tall, almost twice the size of a person and each about twice as wide as one. The ground near them was well worn and scratched from the coming and goings into the facility but you don't see anything to show which way they swung open leading you to assume the slide into the walls themselves. You move to open them when you hear Ryuji speak out.

"Yo, dude, wait!" He says eagerly. "We should talk about call signs before we go in. You know, like in S.W.A.T and movies!" Mae gives him an amused look.

"When's the last time you ever used hand signs for a dungeon?" She asks. Ryuji shrugs.

"Well...never but this isn't a dungeon. We're doing a stealth mission. Gotta be able to communicate with each other without making noise." He insists. "Come on, the pros do it all the time." He adds giving you a knowing look. You just shake your head. "Hey Serena, I bet Rising Dragons uses hands signs right?"

"Oh! Well...I heard some of the older members use them but none of the teams I was on ever did." She says with a start. "But even if we don't talk...aren't there cameras inside?" She asks. You, Ryuji, and Mae look at each other. "Did I say something wrong?" Serena asks, anxiously.

"No...I just didn't think about that." Ryuji admits as he crosses his arms.

"It's more like cameras do and don't exist." Mae explains. "There are items that can act like a camera such as scrying stones or crystal balls with spells. Maybe even some engineering items. The thing is that only Guilds really tend to use them. They take some time to set up, are expensive, have a short range, or only last for a short while. The most important thing is that there has to be someone be manning the scrying. Not many players want to do that because they're vulnerable while doing it or they don't get to participate in a fight."

"Also, unless they have a way to communicate over a long distance then cameras are even more restricted. Teams would need to huddle around the person running the camera in order to know what's going on. So they would need another magic item such as a sending stone or spell and even those have a limit. The spell requires a spell caster running comms and spending mana or burning through scrolls. The item requires far far more investment. The Aethernet Project. Which is why I don't think our invaders will have access to cameras or scrying. It'd be quicker to invest their resources in taking over than trying to fortify it." You explain as you move to open the doors.

"What's the Aethernet Project?" Serena asks.

"It was Nevermore's original endgame project." Mae explains. "A huge magical focus that connects any locations that have one. Think of it like a magical radio tower and teleporter combined. Players could attune to it and then burn all their mana to instantly teleport to any other magical focus in the game they're already attuned to. Not only that but you can use the magical energies of it be able to contact other people's sending stones if they're within the range of one of the giant foci. Kind of like a cell phone, you simply attune your stone to someone else's and you're free to communicate across the game. But building one of the foci is a massive undertaking that requires multiple guilds to even attempt. On top of that, a single foci only covers a single region. So say we built one in Valford, we wouldn't be able to speak to anyone in Effelume until they built their own tower and then we'd need to do it again for every other zone in the game. It basically takes everyone pitching in to get the network up and running and thats not even considering getting permissions from the city itself."

"The project doesn't usually start until a few months into the game anyways." Ryuji grunts as he starts dragging the other door open. "Most guilds right now are worried about making a foothold in their territory before diverting excess resources into that and normally the devs give catch up bonuses to new servers so they can get their Aethernet up and running faster but seeing how things are right now with all this new stuff...I don't know if the big guilds are able to get enough of a break to do that. Not with these dragon cultists, the elves, and whatever else is going on in the desert."

The doors creak and groan as you and Ryuji pull them apart. Their size was only matched by how thick they were and as you open them you feel the sudden flush of heat race outside to meet the cold. Even at the entrance, the heat generated by the machinery within the mountain and the doors served to insulate and keep it held in. You reach the end of the door's tracks and they seem to lock in place with an ominous clang. A series of steps is all that is there to greet you and from the unseen depths of the mountain you can hear the hissing and grinding of machinery. "Alright. Ryuji, you take point. Mae and I are going to flank and cover Serena behind you. Serena, for now stick with basic spells and try to avoid machinery. This is still a refinery down there and we can't risk setting off an explosion. Once we find an entrance to whatever secret research facility they have, I think we should be safe. I doubt they would have built it under a fuel refinery without keeping it safe from possible explosions." Your party slowly shifts into formation as you all begin your descent down the stairs. Soon the rock walls give away to more open areas and hundreds of pipes running around all over the place up the walls and on the ceiling. The loud gurgling or pure fuels joins the chaos of noise and heat. Once you finally reach the first floor it's merely a series of walkways that overlook the massive expanse of the refinery. In retrospect, or at least to your untrained eye, this massive expanse of this place made the walkways feel a bit pointless. Even from your vantage point, you couldn't even see the other end of the floor clearly. You had not idea how a worker would even be able to make heads or tails of anything from here.

"Keep an eye out for traps." You find yourself trying whisper and shout at the same time. "This whole place is like a maze!"

"Maybe we should try and find some kind of map? Don't factories usually have one?" Serena shouts over the din.

"We could also try and find a way to shut this place down!" Ryuji shouts. "The less noise the better! I can barely hear myself think!"

>What do you do?
>Continue wandering the walkways level. See if you can find another stairway down without needing to cross the maze of pipes and boilers.
>Search for a map of the facility or at least these two floors. Otherwise, you might be wandering for hours.
>Spend some time searching for some kind of off switch. With all this noise, it'd be easier for someone to sneak up on you.
>Write in.

>>6422869
>Search for a map

Closing the machines off is actually a negative. It alerts them, and they can hear us.

>>6422869
>Search for a map of the facility or at least these two floors. Otherwise, you might be wandering for hours.

>>6422869
>Search for a map of the facility or at least these two floors. Otherwise, you might be wandering for hours.

>>6422873
>Closing the machines off is actually a negative.
True, and when we leave, we want aether production still up and running.

>>6422869
>Search for a map of the facility or at least these two floors. Otherwise, you might be wandering for hours.

>>6422869
>Use the grappling hook to search for stairs, and lead the party in that general direction

Sorry about that. We're looking for a map. I'll get writing.

"We should leave everything on for now!" You shout over the din of machinery. "If anything this helps us keep hidden! They won't be able to hear our footsteps. Not to mention, they'll know we're here if we turn everything off! For now, let's go find a map and get our bearings!" You motion for everyone to move forward and your group proceeds at full pace. The sounds of your boots and shoes are drowned out by the constant slamming of machinery as the ore is being processed on the floor below.

"Everything seems kinda quiet, relatively speaking!" Ryuji shouts as wander around the place.

"Right! Let's just tempt fate like that!" Mae shouts back.

"I'm just saying! We've been here for a while! You'd think we'd get ganked by now! Maybe they decided to to leave this floor alone!" He replies.

"Not yet! If there are people here, they're probably waiting for us to get somewhere we can't run away from!" Serena calls out. "It happened a lot in the woods! They'd wait for us to get somewhere with a thick line of trees then jump out at us! Made it harder to run away!"

"Then we'll probably start running into that soon! Any maps for the area will be near the walls which is going to limit us to moving forward, back and to one side at best or only back and forward at worse!" You add. "Keep an eye out, especially for rogues!" Just as you shout out, almost as if on cue, you feel something grab you by your cloak and pull you to a stop.

"Ahh! Something got my hair!" Ryuji shouts as he stumbles to a stop as well just as you feel Serena crash into you from behind. You pull your hood out of your eyes and look around to see Mae holding both your cloak and Ryuji's hair in her hands. She lets out a sigh of relief as she lets go and she points in the direction you were all running.

"We got tripwires!" She shouts and pulls out a torch from her pack. The extra light catches the thin wires at the right angle and for a brief moment you can see brief glitter of the razor thin lines running all over the place. They ran from both sides of the walkway from rail to rail, from the rail to the grated floor, and even from the roof to the ground. You adjust your cloak and take a step forward to study the new maze of wire before you. At first it simply seemed haphazard, with wires just throwing everywhere as most novices tended to do in hopes of catching someone via sheer quantity rather than a well hidden trap but deeper inspection revealed that there was a simple logic to the wires. Each one's opening was covered by the subsequent one's placement. If someone attempted to step over or under a wire, they ran the risk of triggering the next one. With your level in engineering you think you'd be able to disarm them.

"Who ever did this had some experience with laying traps!" You explain. "They're not an expert by any means but they know what they're doing! Do we have an alternative route?"

"There's this path that leads deeper into the center!" Ryuji shouts. "But it's probably what they want us to do! I do think I can see some kind of building in the distance! Like one of those overseer offices!"

"We are close to the edge of this floor! If we can disarm the traps we just run along the walls and probably avoid the majority of whatever they want us to walk into!" Serena suggests. You look around and lean over the edge of the railing. With the light of the torch, you can see the familiar shape of flechette grenades. It seems like even here, the invaders were doing their best to not set the facility off while they were inside it. The explosives would deal damage to anyone who set them off but you think the damage to surrounding machinery would be minimal and worse case it would slow production in this area but not the rest of the floor. You look down to the floor below. It was quite a drop from here but you think that with your grapple gun, you'd be able to zip down and drop safely though it'd take the full length of your gadget's wire to do so. You think for a moment. You could also try and hang from the side and remove explosives rather than disabling the trap from the wires side. It'd take even longer but you'd be able to salvage explosives. Or you would simply ferry your team down to the second floor. You unsling the charge rifle and peer down the scope in the direction Ryuji pointed. You do see a large square room lined with windows that overlooked a section of the facility. It kind of reminded you of a guard tower that was hanging from the roof. It was currently illuminated and you can see signs of it being in use though you can't tell if it was like that before the facility was attacked or if it was being used by whoever was patrolling this floor as an HQ or some kind. Currently it was empty but you can make out what looks to be a map of some kind as well as a series of controls as well.

>What do you want to do?
>Try and disarm the traps then press onward. You want to make a wide berth of where your enemies want you to walk through. It might even let you get the drop on them if you can see them from afar.
>Head towards the room Ryuji saw. It could be a good place to hold up in and draw attention to yourselves then pick off anyone who approaches. At the very least it contains the information you're looking for.
>Zip down and continue on the lower floor. You'll be harder to track down there since no one expects you to just jump over the rails. It'll be more difficult to traverse since you'll be dealing with active machinery but that hopefully applies to your opponents.
>Try and salvage the grenades themselves. It'll take even longer but you'll have more supplies on hand. Hopefully no one comes over here while you do it.
>Write in.