Acanthus

Popping her HP recovery crystal, she grabbed a piece of chalk, marking walls and lines as she stepped back into the labyrinth. She even entered stealth just to be safe. After a few minutes of walking, her HUD warbled a broken tune. She looked for whatever dialogue had just been prompted. But scanning her field of vision, nothing had appeared. Confused, she spun around. A lone, ragged quest box hovered, askew and half a meter too low. Squatting down, she tried to read it. Accept <<Down the Rabbit Hole>>? Please come in so comfy so warm yes. All have we will fun times today

She had barely entered the town before she was ready to go back out searching for Edict again. A strange and useless detour, she thought miserably. She quickly changed her items around in the safe zone, fishing for some HP recovery crystals. The creature had taken a sizeable chunk of her health in a single hit. She needed to be combat ready, not equipped with whatever items she’d had. She didn’t recall having these at the start of her quest. Where did they come from? They were obviously made by NIGHT. How did they make it into Acanthus’ inventory? Not to mention the fragment on the necklace wa

Current quest objective: extricate from the crowd. The group had grown from a few people to a dozen strangers in a very short time. The change overwhelmed her. Glancing at Morningstar and his date, she excused herself. “Pardon me, @Morningstar, but I… I have to go dig a hole.” She quickly stood up and fought through the crowd, putting on her best “I am moving with purpose” face, combined with her “please don’t notice me” walk. It was a killer combination that often stopped idle conversation at the office; hopefully it would be effective here. To anyone that stopped her with a hello, she w

The shadows leapt from their hiding spot, clawing at her unprepared back. She turned around, sword at the ready. Wait, which sword? This isn’t Ajisai. Where’s my sword? The creature now came into full view. It appeared to be a human with greying, mottled skin. It bared its long claws and screeched at her. She wasn’t used to the monsters finding her. Usually, it was the other way around. “You’re wasting my time.” With two quick strikes, she stunned the creature before dispatching it. What a frustrating non sequitur. Cardinal must be having a good laugh at her expense. In a stroke of luck,

Quest Link Her last syllable echoed endlessly off slate gray walls, reaching up into an infinite darkness. She took a moment to compose herself. Her vision was still scored with the image of Edict fighting for his life, pushing Acanthus away in some stupid, storybook “save yourself” moment. Except this wasn’t a storybook, and Edict was almost certainly nothing more than a memory and name on the Monument of Life. The Monument! Acanthus looked around for signs of escape. If Edict wasn’t on the wall, then there was still a chance. Picking herself up, she chose a direction and walked. Th

THREAD SUMMARY: Experience: [Word Count: 3749/10 = 374.9] * [True Tier: 6] * [Group Factor: 1] = 2249 EXP + 480 (T2 Field Boss x2) = 2729 EXP Col: 400 (bonus page) + 337 (Laurel Wreath) = 737 col Phoenix Slain x2 Item Received: Hellstorm x2

The Phoenix was felled for the second (or fourth) time, and it dropped one more Hellstorm for her and Eulogy alike. The boy’s face was still scrunched with determination, same as it had been throughout the fight. “That was good,” Acanthus finally said. “I think we got a lot done.” “I agree. You’re actually not a bad fighter. When you stepped into the first fight, I thought you were a goner. No offense.” “Some taken.” Eulogy laughed. “Fair enough, but I’ll be the better man and admit I was wrong. You might even be more capable of taking the thing out by yourself than I am.” As mu

It was my fault for joking with him. Why did I even do that? I don’t really do that except when I’m much more comfortable with people. The last person I joked with was Edict. The glum memory of her former friend set in. They’d barely even spent time together, so why did his absence hurt that much? “Acanthus! Snap out of it!” Eulogy yelled. The Phoenix was diving for her. She barely escaped the attack before responding with an assault of her own. In a few swings, the bird went down, screeching its final cry. Or rather, its second to last cry. Same as before, the ashes began to glow an

The Phoenix was nearly down. At this point, they had settled into an easy pattern of attacks. The field boss was now more of a backdrop to their conversation than it was an actual threat. “The shop you have is pretty neat. Although your selection is a little limited.” Acanthus deflated. “I suppose you’re right. I had a few larger custom orders that kept me busy. I’m working on getting my stock back up soon.” Eulogy moved in and attack the Phoenix, swords glowing. “If you’d like something ordered en masse, I could prioritize your requests.” “No need,” Eulogy said. “I’ll just find anot

The Phoenix had recovered, but Eulogy and Acanthus had readied themselves as well. Fanning out, they took turns distracting the field boss from one another. Acanthus noted with some appreciation that Eulogy was dipping into the shadows less and less frequently. And she was getting better about calling her attacks. Once they had found their rhythm, the two actually worked pretty well together. Acanthus called out her shatter as she moved in from the front. With a downward slash, she tore through the Phoenix’s mitigation. Eulogy appeared from the side, blades crackling with a dark energy sh

Acanthus needed to keep the pressure on in order to stack the mitigation debuffs. She charged up another shattering art, doing her best to circle around the beast while it looked for Eulogy. Unfortunately, Eulogy had a similar idea. As she charged into battle, she stumbled over something invisible and shouted. Eulogy appeared, taking a tumble into the cracked stony ground. “Hey!” “Hey yourself!” she shouted. “I was making that attack just fine without you!” “You were supposed to stay in front! Why’d you decided to get fancy?!” Acanthus was annoyed. The two solo players worked to unta

Acanthus pulled her blade back, focusing to fill it with a reddish, copper glow. “Shatter, nice.” The disembodied voice commented. “For someone who doesn’t know anything about the game, you’ve really got quite a collection of sword arts. Hey, you’re on floor nine. Have you gotten burn yet?” Acanthus wasn’t sure what to make of Eulogy. She felt like everything he said was somehow a backhanded compliment. “Not yet. I have plans later this today to meet a blacksmith from the first floor to complete the first leg of the quest, but that’s it.” “It’s a pretty great sword art. Got it sometime la

“A friend, huh? What’s his name?” “I’m not sure, actually. We go by real names, and I don’t pay attention to his user name. It’s really long and complicated.” Acanthus was suspicious—she hadn’t met anyone that went by their real name. But she also felt like she was prying an awful lot into this stranger’s life. Best to simply leave it be. She dashed underneath the bird, withstanding the awful heat long enough to land a few hits on the boss. Eulogy followed up with a sword art of his own. They were making much better time on this run. “Give it a little longer, and I think it’ll be rea

The pair continued their search without any luck. “It’s not even that big of a floor,” Acanthus complained. “Maybe the creature is smaller than the guide suggested?” It hadn’t been wrong before, but there was a first time for everything. “Or it still needs time to spawn in. Perhaps rendering a creature that big poses issues for Cardinal.” Not that she knew the first thing about computers; she was just filling the silence with something, anything that was shallow enough to ignore. “Let me know if you have any big orders for my shop soon. I recently made it to maximum rank as a performer, a

With a powerful flap of its wings, the Phoenix took flight again. Eulogy was thrown back by the gust, but caught himself, narrowly avoiding a scorch from the nearest geyser. Acanthus thought to try something new. Using her newfound skill, she began a sword art. One she had practiced, but not unleashed in battle yet. botan shimmered with a silvery glow, and Acanthus unleashed the blade with a yell. Connecting firmly with one of the creature’s wings, the bird screeched in pain. Her follow through also left her prepared for any counterstrikes. “Nice!” Eulogy whispered from nearby. “I gu

There was the Phoenix, flapping above the ground in perfect condition. It was like they had never even started the fight in the first place. “Same plan as last time?” “Seems to be the case.” Acanthus drew her sword. “You don’t seem like the type of build that can take a few hits. The shadows laughed. “You might be surprised, Acanthus. I’m capable of taking out the boss on my own.” Acanthus rolled her eyes. “Enough posturing. I’d like to make this fight quick, if you don’t mind. In response, Eulogy emerged from the shadows, slicing through the Phoenix’s underbelly. As it dipped, Acant

They hustled down the mountain together. Eulogy was at a near-sprint at times. The boy seemed like he’d rather die than slow down for a second. Thankfully, Acanthus had the energy to keep up. At the base of the mountain, the Phoenix somehow seemed farther away. Maybe it was the plumes of flame that burst from the ground, diverting her attention. She was yet again thankful for the fireproof armor. Eulogy didn’t seem to need any fireproof armor. He danced lightly around the geysers, in a pattern so rehearsed it seemed like he’d memorized the floor. He moved with a quickness and confide

Acanthus surveyed the landscape through her telescope. “Before anyone else? Are you saying this field boss is popular?” “That’s exactly what I’m saying. Lots of people hunt this boss. Eighty phase damage isn’t anything to laugh at. It makes burning through low-level monsters a breeze, and lets you land attacks on bosses with high mitigation.” “Phase… I’ve heard that term used before. That means it ignores mitigation, right?” “Yea. How have you made it this long in the game without learning the lingo?” Acanthus frowned. “Not really familiar with video games. And I spent a fair am

Eulogy clambered up to the summit and offered Acanthus a hand. She took it instinctively, letting him hoist her up onto the last ledge. As much as she hated this floor, she had to admit the view was breathtaking. The Volcanic Flatlands seemed so small from up here. She could see all the way to the edges of the floor, as well as the volcanos that jutted up, constantly erupting and shifting the landscape with magma flows. Eulogy took a deep breath, then exhaled. “I love this floor. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something satisfying about all of it; the heat, the constant change, the

“Good eye. I’m looking to do a few runs. I’ve got the tracking skill and a spyglass, so it shouldn’t take us very long at all.” Eulogy appeared satisfied. “Same here; we can use your spyglass if you’d like. I actually forgot mine. There’s a good incline up to a high point. We can use the spyglass up there and shave some time off our search.” Eulogy led the way. “High point” didn’t do the climb justice; Acanthus was panting for air about halfway up the path. The further they went, the rockier it got. “Sorry,” Eulogy said sheepishly. “It’s a little easier when you’re just wearing cloth armo

The bird slowly faded away. Acanthus pocketed the rewards. One down, one to go. With the fight done, she turned to get a better look at the boy. The boy was already staring at her with some kind of fascination. Acanthus frowned; what exactly was he staring at? “Sorry.” He must have noticed her look of confusion. “I had you mixed up with a person I ran into a while back.” “Not to worry. I’ve been told I have a familiar face.” Eulogy stuck his hand out. It seemed professional, out of character for a boy his age. “It’s nice to meet you, Acanthus. I’m Eulogy.” Now that she had a good loo

“No reason to worry at all,” she confirmed. Back when she started this quest with Pinball, the thought of scaling a mountainous monster and risking unavoidable damage—setting aside the fear of falling itself—might have driven her back inside for another year. Acanthus did her best to avoid conversation. She could have sworn Pinball gave her an odd look while she wasn’t paying attention. Odd looks meant odd questions, or unwanted conversation, and she didn’t want to repeat her previous weird, mushy remarks. Even though part of her thought about Pinball as a good friend, she recognized that

10/7 Craft evals All crafts refer to 10/7 crafts. Link is here Name: Breath of Life Profession: Performer Rank: 5 Roll ID: 235048 Roll Result: 8+1/LD:9 Item Type: Support Song Tier: 1 Quality: Rare Enhancements: HP Recovery 2 Post Link: Hyperlink Descripti

Crafting for 10/7/2024 Extended Workshop. (+3 EXP total from Trinket | Tuning Fork + Hard Working) Roll: ID# CD: LD: Quality Count Experience Ambition Mod 1 235048 CD: 8 +1 LD: 9 Rare - 8 (+3 Ambition) 2 235047 CD: 6 +1 LD:

All links refer to 10/6 crafts, found here. Name: First Floor Overture, Accelerando Profession: Performer Rank: 5 Roll ID: 234985 Roll Result: 5+1/LD:20 Item Type: Support Song Tier: 1 Quality: Uncommon (Mast) Enhancements: HP Recovery 1(Instant) Post Link: Hyperlink