Acanthus

Acanthus on scene: I've made a huge mistake.gif

Despite the damage, Piashuon showed no signs of slowing down. The Champion grinned, preparing to bear the brunt of the charge with her shield. The rhino connected, and the Champion felt the air leave her body all at once. Haru had been hit by a car once while running late to work; the force of Piashuon's impact made that accident feel like a gentle tap on the shoulder. Her feet lifted from the ground momentarily before skidding back into the dirt. Her shoulder braced the shield, and her other hand wrapped around Piashuon's horn. Good thing I didn't take the stupid thing off. Bit by b

For the first charge, the Champion rolled out of the way. Piashuon clipped her as he sailed by, but even the sliver of connection was enough to send her sailing across the dirt floor. The entire stadium gasped at the upset. "A minor setback," she growled. Her mistake was attempting to get out of the way of a moving mountain. To get reset and prepared for the next charge, she'd added about fifteen seconds to her estimate. Not that there was any danger of defeat. Her only metric of success was how quickly she could kill the damn thing. Piashuon rounded the corner, ready for a second hi

Piashuon could tell when it was being mocked. It bellowed and reared up, sending the two handlers flying. One bounced through the dirt and landed with one hand twisted behind his back. The second tumbled and cracked his head into a wall, tumbling into the spectators. The audience was now crying for blood. Pianshuon lowered its head and charged. The Champion had already planned her approach carefully. The horn could be sawed off-in one hit, with good timing and a little luck-but damaging the horn did nothing to Piashuon besides reducing its damage. She had enough health to not worry about

A pair of handlers led Piashuon into the darena. The rhino bucked and growled even as the meek handlers guided it to Acanthus. "That's it? I expected him to be bigger!" The rhino was by no means small: in fact, it was the size of a small shed, if the shed were wrought of thick hide and pure muscle. Every snorting breath pulled the heavy iron chains across its belly, kicking up dust that the rhino stamped back down. Haru would have been frozen in terror. Acanthus would have even experienced some trepidation at the two tons of animosity staring her down. But in the coliseum she was neither.

THREAD SUMMARY Experience | 1344 / 5 = 268.8 * 11 = 2956 + 1500 (quest) = 4,456 experience. Col | 0 (yes I'm ignoring laurel wreath sue me) + 2500 (quest) = 2,500 col. Items | Zero Degree Icicle | T2 Rare Spear | Freeze | Accuracy I Other. 1 mon. <<Frozen Hide>> Unlocked.

The girl stumbled back into the Tavern, heading immediately for the fireplace. Alex couldn't keep the smugness out of his voice. "Looks like you're back for those directions, aren't you? Maybe the quest is a little bit out of your league. I think Kindle needs some extra firewood if you want a simple gathering quest." "Kindle? No, I think I've done that one already. And I'm not here for directions. I killed Absolute Zero." "...Really." The seemed far too disinterested to be lying to him. The system provided concrete proof, marking her as eligible to turn in for quest rewards. "Bu

That bartender really didn't seem to like me. The thought trailed Acanthus as she hiked the southern slope of the mountain. Absolute Zero's location was common knowledge at this point: accepting the quest had been a formality. She did not care to stay and listen for directions. Maybe that was why he didn't like her? Or maybe that she'd asked for the whiskey in her cider. (Oh, excuse me: the "grainol." The game's desire to replace perfectly normal terms with fantasy ones annoyed her endlessly.) The strategy guide mentioned Alexander was a warm and intelligent NPC, though a little stan

OOC: In an effort to accrue Guild Tokens, I'm running a monthly Guild-only private thread where any member of the Tracker's Alliance is invited to post. These threads will open on the first Monday of each month, and I will close and submit them on the following Monday. If you want to join, your only obligation is a single, minimal effort post describing any guild efforts they've taken since the last meeting. Players are welcome to make three posts to meet the experience minimum, but it is not expected. (Because I'll be making the opening and closing posts, I'll probably make a habit of sn

“Every floor. Without reservation, as far as I’m aware.” Acanthus checked her system map with silent concern. What she did not want to express was the scarcity of dungeons on the lower levels. Or rather, the scarcity of Dungeons worth revisiting. New dungeons were getting harder to find as the higher-level floors became more accessible. Many of the players that sat between defenseless and boss-fight ready had enough sense to wait until exploring the new floor, leaving the best locations to Acanthus and the others that were equipped to handle the uncertainties. Floor 21, although one of the hig

For the first time in a long time, Acanthus felt like she was home. Not in a good way, though. The desk in front of her loomed, built of spite and comically tall stacks of paper. Acanthus had surely thought most of them to be blank, but was beside herself to learn that was not the case. Guild token invoices, evaluation reports, guild member feedback forms and construction requests… She had spent two nights fully awake just trying to put things in order. It probably wasn’t even necessary. Baldur ran Jacob’s Ladder, and he seemed far too calm to be going through this much bureaucracy.

Guild Name: Tracker's Alliance Guild Quest Rank: 1 Guild Quest Creator: Acanthus Guild Quest Details:

The great combine-ining part 2 Crafting Hyperlinks for Reference: 11/1 11/4 11/5 (I swear I did mats for everything.) Evaluating Perfect Masterpieces (Details at bottom of post) 256572 Perfect (Mast) 11/4 25657

November 5 Crafts (Up to 14 because I've been sleeping on Guild Buffs) Roll: ID# CD: LD: Quality Count Experience Ambition Mod 1 256637 CD: 6 +1 LD: 6 Rare - 12 (+7 Ambition) 2 256636 CD: 5 +1 LD: 10 Uncommon

Another Japanese style house greeted Acanthus as they made the rounds. It was less traditional than the last, but still pleasing to look at. The owner had gone all out on the decorations, but Acanthus was thankful she had not opted to go for the super scary route like Jomei had. The estate felt appropriately festive, from the carved pumpkins to the large bowl of candy. 3ulogy went feral the moment he smelled the sugar. He tore away from Acanthus so quickly that his mask flew off and into the air. She shrugged—it was rare to see him so eager, so she would try not to chastise him. “Try

November 4 Crafts Roll: ID# CD: LD: Quality Count Experience Ambition Mod 1 256577 CD: 7 +1 LD: 12 Rare (Mast) - 10 (+5 Ambition) 2 256576 CD: 4 +1 LD: 13 Uncommon (Mast) - 8 (+5 Ambi

Link to Quest ph NOTE: Custom Skill (Disabuse System) is active. The skill will be considered inactive once any player requests in a subsequent post. Acanthus | True Tier 11 | Lvl 101 (34/67) | HP: 1000/1000 | EN: 132/132 | DMG: 23 | MIT:160 | ACC:7 | AA | THORNS:532 | BH:53 | LD:6

Violence. All of Aincrad's beautiful questions, and she returns to the same answer each time. How could a thousand eyes feel less piercing than two? Hundreds of bodies blocked the world from perceiving her. In the coliseum, Acanthus was not a person; she was an actor, safe from scrutiny underneath a layer of theatrics. She addressed the crowd with a thunderous voice. "I hear you have a new challenge for me!" Electric approval swept through the NPCs. Who cared if they were programmed to cheer her on? "No more men to slay on this floor! None of them are worth my time. It sounds li

Link to Quest Surely Cardinal had not made *all* of the players this dense? "Terrible weather we're having in Snowfrost." It was Alex's surefire opener. Every time he spoke those magic words, players would look up. They would look up, and then see the icon above his head, a glowing reassurance that talking to him was worth their time. Their faces would brighten, and they would inevitably pick up on the hints that led them outside of town to deal with the threat of <<Absolute Zero>>. The players got to slay the beast and save the day, and Alex got to give them their quest

Boop! Another cheerful reminder from her menu that she was not home, and would not be for some time. Acanthus rolled over in bed, her head pounding from an evening swapping information with Argent on floor 22. Kayaba could have at least blotted out the side effects. Groaning, she pushed through two missed system alarms and three unread notifications to glimpse the new message. Reytac again. Her mind caught up slowly. They had already completed the first leg… Was he really so keen on finishing this questline? It was only natural for his excitement to stay fresh for this long.

Boop! Her system menu chirped as she studied the latest batch of crystals from Floor 8. Her last order from the vendor in Ellesmera had somehow been substandard. The concept floored her—the entire purpose of NPC vendors was to have some measure of consistency. But from that last batch, she’s barely made any masterpieces. Each crystal was brittle, and refused to house all but the lowest of enhancements. This new box seemed to have a brighter glow—she could only hope it was her pessimism warning her away from the crafts, and not a sense of intuition. That’s right. The message.

“Honestly, that’s good enough for me.” Acanthus relaxed, sheathing her sword once again. Anything that could form words wasn’t a monster. “We’re going to need all the help we can get looking for this sword. How do you feel about search and rescue for inanimate objects?" Acanthus stiffened up. “I.. wouldn’t call it a drunken romp, exactly. We were questing. The quest just happened to involve getting drunk. And I certainly do not *romp*. Although the time in the carriage might have qualified as cavorting… And then the bathhouse later…” Acanthus cleared her throat. “None of it was a romp.

The great combine-ining (This works better if you say it in a Doofenshmirtz voice) Crafting Hyperlinks for Reference: 6/25 6/26 7/29 7/31 8/1 8/11 8/12 8/18 8/22 9/2 11/1 (I did a bad job keeping track of when I sent materials over to banker. I've added a table below for each of the crafting days above that should make confirming each transaction a little easier.) Evaluating P

November 1 Crafts Roll: ID# CD: LD: Quality Count Experience Ambition Mod 1 256277 CD: 8 +1 LD: 12 Rare (Mast) - 10 (+5 Ambition) 2 256276 CD: 1 +1 LD: 9 Critical Failure - 6 (+

3ulogy’s face scrunched in pure annoyance the moment his shop door chimed. It’s Acanthus, and that means more work. “I’m assuming you heard about the recent profession changes.” She responded by dropping a treasure chest onto the counter. The wood underneath strained with the weight. 3ulogy opened his menu to accept the trade, and his mouth dropped. “Nope. No way. You’re insane.” “It’s just col.” “Just a million col. Right.” 3ulogy counted the money with a shaky finger. “You’d never have to grind again.” “Well, Cardinal thinks otherwise. The appraisals got more expensi