EQG: Sword Art Online - Ruby Palace

by Mindrop

Commercial Break Two

Yay! They finally have a home! I spent way too much time sketching it out for my own organization. Especially considering my lack of skill. But everything is scaled 1/100th, as I ran one centimeter to equal one meter. Those sketches/images will be at the end. Before that, let’s cover the guilds, players, character data specifics, and such.

We will start with information on metals, alloys, and poisons, which I dropped from chapters because there was too much info that was not really relevant.

Metals and Alloys in Aincrad:

Base metals are mostly metals gamers are familiar with. Known base metals are Copper, Iron, Ebony, and Runite. Some metals, like Silver, have special properties. Silver has a high corrosion resistance, but makes for a poor base metal for weapons. Metals like silver and gold have other uses, like jewelry, tableware, and decorations.

Lightweight metals, also known as speed metals, are often found in, or used to enhance, daggers, rapiers, and sometimes longswords, curved swords, and spears. Known metals are Tin, Alcoa, Chiumu, and Kugeki.

Dense metals are more often seen in maces, axes, and war hammers. Known metals include Adamant, Obsidianite, Lead, and Brinite. Both lightweight and dense metals typically are either too brittle or soft on their own, requiring them to be made into an alloy with a base metal.

Alloys are player created with two exceptions, Bronze and Steel. Steel can also function as a base metal. Brass is another alloy readily available, but it is not used for weapons. Alloys require a base metal and at least one other metal.

Metallurgy is a quest locked extra skill that few players have and is required for the creation of alloys. Alloys vary in the ratios required for each metal and crafters who develop an alloy get to name it. They also do not have to share the recipe with others, while still being able to sell it. An alloy’s information does not include the ratio, only the metals in it. Piandao is the top metallurgist creating new alloys, while most metallurgists simply forge alloy ingots for sale, using released ratios. Alchion is an alloy composed of Alcoa, Chiumu, and Iron. Adcoa is a mix of Adamant, Alcoa, and Iron.

Ingots come in three sizes: small, regular, and large. Small ingots are used for jewelry, small daggers/knives, buckles and buttons, certain bracers, and other small things. Regular ingots cover most items. Large ingots are used for two-handed swords, two-handed axes, mauls, two-handed maces, and tower shields. Many times, an item may require two regular ingots or one large ingot. Others will not allow for size substitutions. Alloy ingots cannot be resized.

Layering is a technique when a mix of two or more base metals or alloys are used by the smith, but instead of directly being mixed, they are used only in certain areas. It is no different from using a steel bit in an iron axe head (very common even today because iron flexes more during impacts while retaining its shape) or hardening only the edge of a sword (such as a katana). Adding Alcoa to the edge of a steel sword makes a weapon with higher slash damage, but with the strength of the steel, and adding silver as a coating increases the corrosion resistance of the weapon.

Poisons and the Mixing Skill:

Drugs require a prepared element and at least one agent, mixed together with a “drug mixing kit” (basically think of a chemistry set with all of the tubes and flasks). Higher level drugs require more modifiers and/or a mix of agents. Agents fall into Concentrators or Distillation. Modifiers are a third classification of agents, but never used in simple mixes.

Two final preparation agents also exist, Thickening Agents and Thinning Agents. Thickening Agents are used for weapon poison gels, while Thinning Agents are used to weaken highly concentrated mixes, like while making anti-poisons.

Every organic poison must be turned first into a prepared element. Poisonous plants are organic poisons. Harvested poisons are venom taken directly from the source, or dropped, and they are already prepared. With Cooking Skill and Mixing, the prepared poison can be added to food or water.

Herbalist mixes, like health potions, follow the same principals. The organic element must be prepared, then mixed with an agent.

Known Guilds:

• Wondercolts: WCS — Led by Bladescape, Natora, and Knightstar, they are a strong but small guild of close knit friends. A big player in clearing. Their colors are Navy Blue and Gold.
• Divine Dragon Alliance: DDA — is led by Lind and a council. The next evolution of the
• Dragon Knights Brigade, their change was to separate themselves from the disaster that had been the leadership of the clearing effort. They still use the same colors, silver and blue.
• Aincrad Liberation Force: ALF — Also known as “the Army” because of their steel and forest green colors, the Aincrad Liberation Force was formed by the remnants of the Aincrad Liberation Squad and MTD, the guild run by a player named Thinker. They are there for the common player, to spread information and resources to everyone.
• Meigibu: MGBU — The Woman guild made up mostly of clearers. They epitomize the “art of being human” and are known to dress in traditional Japanese garb, even the males, on and off the battlefield. Lobelia is their leader. Their colors are white and emerald green.
• Imperial Dragoon Guards: IDG — A clearing guild of eight middle aged men, all armed with shields and spears, led by Tagahashi. Their black armor with gold shields make a flashy statement for the lancers whenever they enter a fight.
• Gael: GA — A guild of eleven members, all men, with the colors of yellow and red. They are crisp and sharp in all aspects and march to the tune of a fife played by their youngest member.
• Knights of the Bloodoath: KoB — The top guild and the ones spearheading the liberation effort. Their colors are white and red. They are led by Heathcliff, with Asuna as their Second-in-Command (Leader of Team B), Godfree as the commander of their vanguards (leader of Team A) and in charge of training, and Daizen as their financial officer. Uzala leads Team C.
• Fuurinkazan: WWFM — Named for the war banner of Takeda Shingen which refers to the Art of War, the six member guild of guys is flexible in most combat situations, and very eager to prove themselves.

Players:

• Kirito: Level 56 — One-Handed Longsword — Search — Hide — Parry — First Aid — Sprint — Blade Throwing — Battle Healing
• Asuna: Level 52 — Rapier — Two-Handed Spear — Light Metal Armor — Parry — Sprint — Acrobatics — Cooking — First Aid
• Agil: Level 49 — Two-Handed Axe — Martial Arts — Parry — Leather Equipment — Equipment Appraisal — Purchase Negotiations —
• Klein: Level 47 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Katana — Light Metal Armor — Shield — First Aid — Fighting Spirit

Wondercolts Data:

• Bladescape (Sunset Shimmer): Level 59 — 13110 HP

  • Two-Handed Sword — 660/1000
  • Search — 716/1000
  • Weapon Defense — 426/1000
  • Leather Armor — 530/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 112/1000
  • Sprint — 150/1000
  • Blade Throwing — 101/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Valerian Shashka +17
  • Armor: Leather Lamellar Chestplate +12
  • Legs: Blue hardened leather pants
  • Gloves: Gold hardened leather gloves
  • Boots: Gold combat boots
  • Belt: Blue Leather Belt (Made by Diemond)
  • Helmet: Silver Sagacity Circlet (Boosts Search)
  • Ring #1: Treant’s Heart (Defense +5)
  • Wondercolts Cape: a navy blue cape trimmed in gold.

  Additional armor information: The leather lamellar armor is dyed blue, backed by a gold shirt. The pants have hardened leather plates, also dyed blue, sewn onto blue tights.

  Valerian Shashka: A mostly straight barbarian scimitar, only curving at the tip, but not enough to prevent straight thrusts, like many scimitars do. Its crossguard leaves much to be desired, the base of the blade flaring out wider where it meets the hilt, rather than a constructed guard. The wooden handle has a bronze cap at the crossguard depicting a face on each side. Each side is different, depicting the two faces of the giant it came from. The pommel is also bronze; a flanged circle with a flower bud on the base.

  Silver Sagacity Circlet: A silver circlet with a blue gemstone that matches Sunset’s eyes in the center. The silver is expertly woven into a beautiful pattern that is both delicate and strong.

• Natora (Ota Natsuki): Level 55 — 10689 HP

  • Two-Handed Spear — 600/1000
  • Purchase Negotiations — 725/1000
  • Sales Negotiations — 710/1000
  • Weapon Defense — 354/1000
  • Light Metal Armor — 290/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 50/1000
  • Acrobatics — 120/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Leaf Bladed Spear +8
  • Armor: Doublemail shift +9
  • Gloves: Ancient Lancer’s Bracers +4 (prevents arms from being severed)
  • Wondercolts Cape: a navy blue cape trimmed in gold.

  Additional armor information: Natora is dressed head to ankle in chainmail, oiled to a dark shine. She wears a blue scapular with a gold center stripe and gold belt with blue pouches. Her boots are blue, as are her gloves.

  Leaf Bladed Spear: The shaft of the spear is wrapped in tan leather and then bound with crossing brown leather cording for a better grip. The counterbalance is a teardrop, made of the same blueish-green metal that the head is made of. The spearhead itself is shaped like a lilac leaf, with the bottom half having a serrated edge.

• Knightstar (Twilight Sparkle): Level 53 — 9280 HP

  • One-Handed Sword — 510/1000
  • Shield — 575/1000
  • Light Metal Armor — 463/1000
  • Appraisal — 724/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 30/1000
  • Acrobatics — 120/1000
  • Extended Weight Carry — 60/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Mercy’s Cross +14
  • Shield: Steel heater shield +6
  • Armor: Chain hauberk +7
  • Wondercolts Cape: a navy blue cape trimmed in gold.

  Additional armor information: Knightstar is covered in chainmail, with steel colored pauldrons and greaves, but no other plates. Over her chainmail is a blue surcoat with a gold belt and pouches. Her gold gloves and boots have metal plates riveted on.

  Mercy’s Cross: A plain player-made crusader’s sword. Constructed in the form of a traditional European arming sword with a straight crossguard and large circular pommel. Its only decoration is a design of a cross inside a heart etched into the pommel.

• Malus (Applejack): Level 56 — 12691 HP

  • One-Handed War Hammer — 240/1000
  • Greatshield — 260/1000
  • Heavy Metal Armor — 480/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Extended Weight Carry — 201/1000
  • Battle Regeneration — 168/1000
  • Fishing — 114/1000
  • Search — 89/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Forge Master's Hammer
  • Shield: Iron Bulwark
  • Armor: Mismatched Heavy Plate Armor
  • Wondercolts Cape: a navy blue cape trimmed in gold.

  Additional armor information: While most of Malus is covered by her shield, without it she is clearly wearing a mismatched set, by style, of heavy plate armor.

• Thunderborne (Rainbow Dash): Level 55 — 9234 HP

  • Rapier — 599/1000
  • Sprint — 780/1000
  • Acrobatics — 737/1000
  • Weapon Defense — 320/1000
  • Light Metal Armor — 412/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 45/1000
  • Armor Pierce — 111/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Serpentine rapier +17
  • Armor: Chainmail Shirt +4
  • Wondercolts Cape: a navy blue cape trimmed in gold.

  Additional armor information: Thunderborne is covered in chainmail, with steel colored pauldrons and greaves, but no other plates. Over her chainmail is a blue surcoat with gold belt and pouches which are either gold or blue. Her gloves and boots are simple leather which is dyed gold.

• Konpeito (Pinkie Pie): Level 55 — 10101 HP

  • Two-Handed Axe — 597/1000
  • Cooking — 765/1000
  • Weapon Defense — 536/1000
  • Light Metal Armor — 528/1000
  • Martial Arts — 417/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 185/1000
  • Music — 333/1000
  • Blade Throwing — 136/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Griffon's Beak +13
  • Armor: Double mail sleeveless shirt + 13
  • Cape: Mantle of Hati

  Additional armor information: Konpeito wears a waist-length sleeveless chainmail shirt with a Wondercolts Blue sleeveless tunic underneath, displaying the tattoos on her arms. Hardened leather bracers cover her forearms and fingerless leather gloves protect her hands. On her legs she wears brown pants reinforced with hardened leather plates and fur-lined leather boots. Around her true waist is a double-wrapped leather belt that is tied instead of buckled, and hanging from it are many pouches dyed in Wondercolts colors. Across her back lies the Mantle of Hati, a Grey Wolfskin Cape from the Floor 8 Boss LAB.

  Griffon's Beak: A two-handed, double bladed broad axe with blades made to look like steel griffon wings. The eye and cheek are covered by a gold cap shaped like a screeching griffon head, and the bottom half of the ash colored wooden handle is wrapped in steel studded yellow leather.

• Diemond (Rarity): Level 54 — 10457 HP

  • One-Handed Mace — 588/1000
  • Greatshield — 322/1000
  • Sewing — 950/1000
  • Heavy Metal Armor — 436/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 78/1000
  • Light Metal Armor Forging — 412/1000
  • Heavy Metal Armor Forging — 221/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Silver Lining +19
  • Shield: Silverlight Aegis +15
  • Armor: Silver Heavy Plate armor +4
  • Wondercolts Cape: a navy blue cape trimmed in gold.

  Additional armor information: Diemond has matched her armor to her shield. The high gloss silver armor is only noteworthy in its sheen. Her tower shield is equally as brilliant.

  Silver Lining: A six-bladed, curved flanged mace, with the flanges being a black metal, yet the shaft is silver.

• Doombunny (Fluttershy): Level 53 — 9769 HP

  • One-Handed Dagger — 578/1000
  • Hide — 825/1000
  • Fighting Spirit — 439/1000
  • Blade Throwing — 471/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 142/1000
  • Familiar Cooperation — Acquired
  • Mixing — 116/1000
  • Search — 98/1000

  -----

  • Weapons: Arbitration (general knife), White Fang (slashing knife), Rose’s Thorn (DOT thrusting dagger)
  • Armor: Double Cloak +22
  • Throwing Knives: Player made Alchion Throwing Knives & Steel Kunai

  Additional armor information: Doombunny’s look has not changed. The dark blue cloak fully encloses Doombunny with a hidden front slit and concealing hood. It has reinforced shoulders for Colorra to stabilize herself on during swift movement. Under the cloak, Doombunny is wearing a yellow dress with yellow tights. She wears a blue holster on each thigh, with the left holding Kunai and the right holding throwing knives. The White Fang knife is on her left hip, while the Rose Thorn is on her right. She wears blue cloth gloves and blue leather boots.

• Kiefer: Level 53 — 9893 HP

  • Curved Sword — 360/1000
  • Slash-Weapon Forging — 265/1000
  • Light Metal Armor — 487/1000
  • Weapon Defense — 450/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Katana — 452/1000
  • Battle Regeneration — 45/1000
  • Search — 75/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Kamikaze +5
  • Armor: Samurai Lamellar Chestplate
  • Gloves: Bracers of Arivan +7 (Accuracy +15)
  • Wondercolts Cape: a navy blue cape trimmed in gold.

  Additional armor information: Kiefer is in blue samurai lamellar armor with gold accents. The Bracers of Arivan clearly stand out as different from the rest of his armor. They are two-toned silver woven metal surrounded by a band of black steel.

  Kamikaze: A red bladed katana with a black tsuba depicting a dragon, and black ito wrapping displaying a red handle underneath.

• Soryuto: Level 52 — 9240 HP

  • One-Handed Sword — 498/1000
  • Shield — 526/1000
  • Light Metal Armor — 420/1000
  • Music — 365/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Fighting Spirit — 160/1000
  • One-Handed Weapon Creation — 25/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Winter’s Bane +24
  • Shield: Steel Diamond Targe +14
  • Armor: Chainmail Shirt +6
  • Wondercolts Cape: a navy blue cape trimmed in gold.

  Additional armor information: Soryuto is covered in chainmail, with steel colored pauldrons and greaves, but no other plates. Over her chainmail is a blue surcoat with gold belt and pouches. Her gold gloves and boots have metal plates riveted on. Her shield is a diamond shaped targe.

  Winter’s Bane: An ice blue arming sword with a snow white crossguard and pommel and leather handle of the same color. The pommel has a snowflake embossed into it.

• Reisenki: Level 54 — 10735 HP

  • One-Handed Axe — 785/1000
  • Greatshield — 256/1000
  • Heavy Metal Armor — 376/1000
  • Equipment Repair — 461/1000
  • Metal Equipment Repair — 221/1000
  • First Aid — Acquired
  • Battle Regeneration — 68/1000
  • Cooking — 210/1000

  -----

  • Weapon: Bloodline
  • Shield: Steel Tower shield
  • Armor: Alchion Plate Armor (player made)
  • Wondercolts Cape: a navy blue cape trimmed in gold.

  Additional armor information: Reisenki wears Alchion plate armor to reduce his weight and increase his mobility, while still being a tank. The design is nothing special, reminiscent in design to a variety of mid-15th century plate armors.

  Bloodline: A Viking style hand axe with a maroon head and brighter red bit.

Wondercolts Headquarters in Mishe:

First Floor

Second Floor

Third and Fourth Floor

Fifth Floor

Comments

[Void Runner]

Divine Dragon Alliance: DDA — is led by Lind and a council. The next evolution of the

Somehow the bullet point got missed on this line.

[Mindrop]

11791280
I thought I had it fixed. But it is now.

[Nephilinae]

• Sprint — 780/1000
• Acrobatics — 737/1000

Dashie you need to chill

[Phara_mine]

Light Metal Armor — 412

Dash's skill counter broke.

Just to be sure, players can mix poisons, anti poisons and health potions. Is that all or there will be more going forward.

The floor plan confuses me since staircase is always on top but the entrance is on the bottom. I think you should've kept them aligned.

[SuperSonicHeroes]

Nice layout for the Wondercolts Guild.

[Mindrop]

11791473
Fixed.
Poisons/antipoison covers paralyzing agents and neutralizing agents for paralysis. Some agents will be able to be drunk ahead of time, adding a status resistance, rather than being taken after to remove the status.

Skill info is still limited and it's a newly recognized skill. There is isn't a lot canonically. I'm sure there will be cooling and heating potions for their respective floors. Buffs come from bards and there is no mana since there is no magic. At this time, I see no others. I'm open to suggestions.

They are two different staircases. I did think about using only one, but it didn't work. The one from the first/ground floor is a grand, circular staircase that is styled for visitors. It also isn't as wide. The one for accessing the other floors is continuous and squared, with the entrance/exit always on the right. Since it is a different design and size, I could not have them stacked, so it was shifted to the "front" of the building, not the back. I hope that helps. Let me know and I'll continue to sort it out.

[Mindrop]

11791546
Thank you. I had fun redesigning it.

[Phara_mine]

11791552
Stats buffing potions can and, in my opinion, should be a thing. It's weird that despite not having conventional magic, bards are still pretty much magical buffers. And don't even get me started on crystals which are undeniably magic.

Maybe add some extra options for weapon coating mixtures to apply some other status effects like burning.

Another option are bomb-like mixtures that can be thrown and upon contact splatter their substance all over the place. This can be hidden under an evolution of mixing skill, something among the lines of "advanced mixing". Maybe make having throwing skill of a certain level one of the requirements for it.

One of us missed there being two sets of stairs in previous chapter. I might check it tomorrow. Too sleepy right now.

[Mindrop]

11791668
I will be doing more with Bard. I hadn't considered those other effects. I'll run them by my editor. May be perfect for post floor 75 game play.

I'll double check the stairs right now too.

[Mindrop]

11791668
11791717
After going back and forth with my team, we've settled on Creating the Extra Skill called "Alchemy." Really good catch! The inspiration credit goes to you, Phara_mine! (We had to cover future plans & spoilers during the discussion).

What I can directly answer is that the Quest would be on Floor 75. It will allow for weapon coatings to be made, as well as a list of elixirs that are not health potions, antipoisons, or antiparalysis mixes. I'm working on plotting that quest and building materials lists, as well as a general sense of the coatings and elixirs. It's going to be interesting to develop. We have some cool ideas.

No bombs, because that becomes AOE damage and it works against the system of physical skills. Even when magic is used in canon, swords and spears are directly able to counter it. And blade throwing has always been a very damage-limited skill and never was intended for primary combat.

Also, we have always seen Bard as inspiration, not magic. Inspiring the players to be stronger/faster/etc. and where the Bard is able to inspire groups. The elixirs are individual use.

[jardex22]

Seeing how the headquarters looks, I think it was designed to be a player run inn, judging by the facilities and number of rooms available. It's a perfect fit for the Wondercolt's needs though. At some point, Doombunny might need a space to experiment with Mixing (and potentially Alchemy).

11792009
There's a lot of potential with stat altering potions. Off the top of my head, there could be something similar to caffeine that boosts focus and/or agility, but has a withdrawal period once the boost ends.

There could be some overlap between cooking and mixing to create custom drinks as well. Martinis would be an early example, but it could later develop into energy drinks, soda, fancy coffee, etc.

[Mindrop]

11792141
Yep. And they have both back rooms and another front room on the second floor for her to do it in.

As to the cooking, well I haven't considered expanding it into drinks in that way. There is a reference to player made saki requiring a quest. I think there is a space for many more custom drinks, especially for sodas and coffee, but I don't know how much of an effect they would have. Alcohol in SAO can make you feel a little tipsy, but you can't lose yourself ever. It's very minor. I see the system doing the same for caffeine and such, because of the crashes. You can't have players crash in a game of swords. Not without clearing defining lines. Neither which alcohol or caffeine have.

[Phara_mine]

11792009
Feels nice to contribute to a project like this

I checked previous chapter and yeah, I was the one to miss the second staircase. In my defense it was a single and fairly small paragraph, such could be rather easy to miss or forget.

[jardex22]

11792159
Part of it would just be recreating food and drinks that don't exist in the game's setting, like how Asuna made soy sauce. Players would probably pay just as much for coffee and carbonated drinks, among other drinks.

As for the effects, I was thinking more along the lines of stat buffs and debuffs, rather than actually affecting a player's mental state. The debuffs would be to discourage overuse in a short period of time. I used caffeine as an example, but to would probably be something more along the lines of an herb that causes AGI boost or a monster part that increases health regeneration rate.

[Mindrop]

11792257
I am trying to get more explicit with Konpeito and the flavor recreation system. Kitchen chapters can be fun, but they also can be hard to write and read. It's much easier and cleaner to write end results that the list of ingredients that make up the recreated soy sauce. More fun to read as well. I try and pop in the random bits when I can or drop references to the complex system.

And now I see what you mean by the buffs and debuffs. It's an interesting idea. We do know that there are some dishes/drinks that provide minor buffs, both temporary and permanent, one time only boosts. And that's just what is dropped in game or provided by NPCs.

Ruby Ichor (ルビー・イコール, Rubī Ikōru?) was a type of wine that could be dropped by certain monsters in Sword Art Online. Drinking the wine raised the player's maximum Agility value by one point. After the drop rate for the wine was patched some time after February 23, 2024, it became practically impossible to obtain the wine from monsters. As such, a single glass of the wine since the patch could cost in the range of a million cor.

[Mindrop]

11792234
You should feel good!

Also, upon rereading it myself, I could have specified directly in between the front rooms. I didn't, it was implied, but I forgot I had the back rooms. It's easy to miss things as a reader. Especially in complex stories. I certainly do when I read and I love complex and immersive stories.

[Vibrant lies]

Is the black cat group Kirito joins included? Or have they been wiped out? Bit fuzzy on the timeline

[Mindrop]

11802573
They were wiped out June 22nd while it is September 8. So about three months prior they were killed.