[F2-SP] A Time To Hunt - Bagging up those Wintery Flakes pt.7 Redux

[Brax 0]

     Crawling down into the passageway under the first floor of the watchtower, Brax noticed the lit torches lining the walls.  'I guess this must be an extra area under the tower, some sort of dungeon-like place to hunt around in.  Surprising, but not disappointing.  This will definitely be a good place to explore for my snowflake gathering, and also for desirable loot.'  Brax mused to himself about the viability of the basement of the tower.  Hopefully, they enemies here would not be too difficult to deal with, as a recent update from the Cardinal System's balance division had changed certain aspect of the game, negatively for himself.  He followed the torches warily, keeping his senses on alert while consuming another Potion of Strength in anticipation.

Consumed Potion of Strength (+1 damage for a thread)

Edited January 15, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

ID 45674

Spoiler

BD 4 +3 ACC LD 19 MoBD 6 -1 EVA

Brax 32/32 EN 3/8

Bandit 1 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 2 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 3 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 4 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit Leader 17/17

     The end of the hallway had a door, which Brax opened as carefully as he could.  Throwing open the door, he saw a team of four bandits, most likely associated with the ones up in the tower, with a Bandit Leader amongst them.  They appeared shocked at his arrival, and he took advantage of their confusion.  His axe moved from right to left and back again twice more in concert with his Lumberjack Sword Art, cutting down the four regular bandits in quick order as they scrambled to defend themselves.  Unfortunately for them, their defenses were no match for Brax's axe.  Afterwards, the only one left to kill would be the Bandit Leader itself, and it yelled it's displeasure at losing it's team.

+8 materials

+4 snowflakes

+320 col

Edited January 16, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

ID 45675

Spoiler

BD 7 +3 ACC LD 1 MoBD 2 -1 EVA

Brax 32/32 EN 1/8

Bandit 1 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 2 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 3 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 4 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit Leader 0/17 DEAD [7 + 1crit x 3 Ultimate Breaker - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

     The leader attempted to rush Brax, but it's previous surprise must have slowed down it's movements because he was able to wait out the after-effects of the Lumberjack and raise his axe in protection, catching the attack on the shaft of his weapon without taking damage.  Brax used his character's strength to shove the leader away, and setting his axe low activated the Sword Art Ultimate Breaker, his axe-head turning green with power in response.  He advanced on the bandit fast, pushing off the balls of his feet and bringing his axe into twin uppercuts to its face.  The attack lifted the NPC up, and with a hard slam for a final attack, the leader burst into pixels.  Looking around once more for any surprises, Brax exited the room through an open passageway.

+1 material

+1 snowflake

Edited January 15, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

     He found himself in an open room several floors deep, the main area of the basement.  Several walkways lined the walls, with hallways leading to the ground about three floors down.  Large and small torches were burning in various places throughout the area, lending to the atmosphere of a dungeon in need of exploration and adventure.  The air was musty and thick with dust, a nice touch from the designers, indicating few had walked the area.

[Brax 0]

     Brax saw shadows moving about below, the bandits who called the place home milling about in a standard NPC search pattern.  Most likely, they would leave him alone unless he happened into their range of detection, as they seemed not to see him up above.  The rest of the floor looked good, with ground water dripping from the ceiling in places and pooling on the stone tile work in true creepy dungeon fashion.  He followed the wall to a ladder nearby, clearly intent on exploring more of the faux-dungeon for anything of value.

[Brax 0]

     The ladder was made of wood, the bark rotted through in places as if it would break at any moment.  A strike of his axe, however, revealed an 'Immortal Object' window, which made sense.  'Can't have adventurers loosing their lives so easily, can we, Kayaba?' thought Brax as he climbed down to the second floor of the open space.  There were rooms lining each floor, each one perhaps holding a treasure trove in need of pilfering, or perhaps more bandits to put down.  On his particular rung there were four of them, and he chose the closest to enter, peeking around the opening with care.  The room was empty, only racks devoid of weapons laying about.  A hallway branching off showed some promise, so Brax followed it as it curved around.

[Brax 0]

ID 45676

Spoiler

BD 4 +3 ACC LD 19 MoBD 3 -1 EVA

Brax 32/32 EN 3/8

Bandit 1 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 2 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 3 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 4 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

     There were noises emanating from the end of the passageway, so Brax slowed his pace to investigate.  Turning the corner cautiously he found another group of bandits waiting for him, guarding a room filled with several barrels and crates.  'Storage for the basement, perhaps?' he mused while watching the group.  Their attention was not on him but on the door, indicating that the AI for these guys was relatively dense, too bad for them.  As they eyed the other exit, Brax set his axe low in preparation of another Lumberjack attack.  He knew he could not hide the glow, but these bandits probably wouldn't notice given their detection skills were obviously not on a good level.  Brax charged into the room, and his three swiping blows took the lot of them by surprise, felling them before they could even draw a weapon in defense.  He collected his loot from their pixels as they vanished, looking around the room for anything else to take.

+8 materials

+4 snowflakes

+320 col

Edited January 15, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

ID 45166

LD 3

     The containers were unfortunately empty, the room long since picked clean by either the bandits in the room or other people who had arrived before Brax.  He exited through the door they had been watching, looking about to see if more bandits lay in wait on the other side.  Satisfied that no one would ambush him, he saw that he had circled around, and the door he had exited from re-entered the walkway he had climbed down to.  That left two more doors to explore before moving down to the bottom level, where most likely the last bandits waited with the best treasure.

[Brax 0]

ID 45167

LD 1

     He chose a door at random, gliding through it with purpose in his step.  The room opened up into a training room, replete with weapons and armor galore, ripe for taking or using as a man saw fit.  They were all rusted through, though, and could serve no purpose to anyone but an opponent or NPC who was able to pick it up and use it properly.  The blades were dull with disuse, and the armor could barely be called armor, looking more like metal plates lashed together with string than a serious suit of platemail.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

ID 45168

LD 5

     The room continued on a good distance, ready for a garrison that never showed up, or was never intended to be utilized.  The attention to detail, as he had previously noted, was exquisite, and it was too bad that very few people relative to the world's population would never see it.  If Brax were an emotional man, he would express a sigh of disappointment at the injustice of it all, the utter sadness of artwork unappreciated in it's time, or even at all.  Instead, he picked at a few of the containers in the room, and finding nothing of worth, actual monetary worth, he crossed to the end of the hall into the next room, around the bend.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

ID 45677

Spoiler

BD 3 +3 ACC LD 3 MoBD 2 -1 EVA

Brax 32/32 EN 6/8

Bandit 1 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Ultimate Breaker - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 2 16/16

Bandit 3 16/16

Bandit 4 16/16

Bandit 5 16/16

     The curving tunnel at the end of the sparring room lead to another wide spacious room, filled with more containers ripe for looting.  It also had a bevy of guards, who noted Brax's entrance and acted accordingly.  Raising their weapons in attack mode, they charged the interloper to begin the battle.  Brax was prepared for the move, though, as he had already raised his own weapon in anticipation of their arrival.  Despite not having access to the parry skill offered by the game system, he was able to deflect every attack that came at him.  The group was larger than what he was use to, so reacting quickly, Brax uppercut the last bandit instead of absorbing the hit, and the Cardinal moved him through the rest of the Ultimate Breaker, thus whittling down his available enemies to a place where on his next turn, he would be able to smite them all with a well placed Lumberjack.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

ID 45678

Spoiler

BD 9 +3 ACC LD 6 MoBD 4 -1 EVA N/A

Brax 32/32 EN 1/8

Bandit 1 -1/16 DEAD

Bandit 2 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 3 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 4 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit 5 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 4 MIT] = 17 DMG

     Turning around, he saw the fear in the bandit's eyes from his display of power.  He wondered briefly at the absurdity of a computer program feeling fear, but thought that it could be no weirder than a human being without the capacity to fear, thus he dismissed the thought as he set his axe low to the right, the glow of green signaling the advent of the Lumberjack.  Just as he did so, though, the mob came to and attacked, his opening stance inviting a hard counter to his previous move.  It almost disrupted his concentration, the power of their retaliation, but as he flew backwards he managed to steady his feet beneath him, and Brax pushed off hard in their direction.  His axe came up in response, moving swiftly through the motions of the Lumberjack, and as they recovered he separated their torsos in half, causing the bodies to explode in a shower of pixels.

+5 materials

+5 snowflakes

Edited January 15, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

 

     Looking around the containers in the room, Brax managed to obtain a little more loot.  This particular group must have kept some of their pillaged goods for themselves, not bothering to give it all to the captain of their particular den of thieves, whom he had yet to meet.  Another door lay to the right, and after gathering all he could, Brax opened it to the sight of another hallway, a light at the end beckoning him forward.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

ID 45183

LD 10

     Various broken jugs lined the dark passageway as Brax walked carefully along it, keeping his weapon at the ready in case something appeared.  They contained nothing of value, neither money or materials, so he ignored them completely, instead striding quickly yet cautiously towards the light at the end of the tunnel.  Clearing it, he found himself again in the open space he had previously already seen, complete with all the torches and water drippings he had already been observing: the two rooms had both circled around to this one place, leading him to believe that the 'dungeon' was not very big at all.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

ID 45184

LD 2

     Brax supposed there was nothing left to do but attack the main mob at the center of the basement, the group whose shadows he had seen at the beginning of his wanderings.  Before climbing down the last ladder to them, though, he searched every container on the stone walkway again, just to make sure that he had found everything worth finding before ending his adventure down here.  The search proved fruitless; the containers possessed nothing more to loot, therefore he climbed down to meet the boss of the room and his mob for battle.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

ID 45679

Spoiler

BD 8 +3 ACC LD 14 MoBD 9 -1 EVA

Brax 16/32 [6 + 1crit - 3 MIT] x 4 = 16 DMG EN 6/8

Bandit Captain 21/21

Bandit Lieutenant 1 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 5 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit Lieutenant 2 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 5 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit Lieutenant 3 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 5 MIT] = 17 DMG

Bandit Lieutenant 4 -1/16 DEAD [7 x 3 Lumberjack - 5 MIT] = 17 DMG

     The Bandit Captain awaited Brax eagerly, with murderous intent gleaming in it's eyes.  Brax could tell this particular mob was more prepared for adventures, as they had much cleaner gear adorning them.  Leather armor wove around their torsos, a small glint revealing simple chainmail underneath.  In each of there hands was a short sword, not quite short enough to be considered a knife but almost.  Some bore two, while others had shields in the other hand, and at his coming they beat on them, the echoes filling the cavernous room.  The four lieutenants moved first, moving to protect their captain from harm, but Brax would not be denied his prize.  He charged them and set his axe low as he ran, the green hue of the axe-head moving as if by it's own accord, which in fact it was, and he clove through the four bandits ranks with his Lumberjack leading the way.  Coming to rest before the Captain, pixels surrounded his frame as the mob burst behind him.

+4 materials

+4 snowflakes

+320 col

Edited January 15, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

ID 45680

Spoiler

BD 10 +3 ACC LD 7 MoBD 4 -1 EVA

Brax 16/32 EN 1/8

Bandit Captain -1/21 DEAD [7 + 2crit x 3 Ultimate Breaker - 5 MIT] = 22 DMG

Bandit Lieutenant 1 -1/16

Bandit Lieutenant 2 -1/16

Bandit Lieutenant 3 -1/16

Bandit Lieutenant 4 -1/16

     The Captain bellowed it's outrage, shouting indecipherably as it charged Brax, and in his post-sword art frozen state he was unable to defend himself.  The blow was slightly lessened by his armor, but of course not as well as he had enjoyed before, due to the system's balance patch earlier.  He weathered the attack, however, and as soon as he could move pressed forward to end the battle fast.  He brought his axe to bear in the Ultimate Breaker move, uppercuts landing twice to the chin of the Captain, dazing the mob into submission, though not for long.  For as it stood there with stars in it's eyes, Brax's axe came down hard on it's head with his finishing blow, and with the attack ended the life of the Captain of these particular bandits.

+1 material

+1 snowflake

Edited January 15, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

ID 41587

LD 3

     With the battle over, Brax took a moment to survey the bottom floor of the area.  It was rather nondescript in it's appearance, nothing Brax had not already seen in his examinations of the upper floors.  Pools of water dripping from the ceiling, far off clanking resonating in the air in classic fear inducing fashion, and of course, a final chest in the room behind the so called 'boss', which may or may not contain loot of a respectable nature.  In this case, it did not, save for an amount of col tied to the strength of the mob he had previously fought.  Not a great reward, but then again, not a great dungeon.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

     Having finished looting the area, Brax went back up the ladder to exit the basement.  He may not have found all he was looking for, but the endeavor had not been entirely without merit.  He had explored a hidden area, fought a decent level of mobs, and collected a fair amount of materials and wintery flakes for the contest he was a part of.  Not a bad amount of work in the time he had done it.  He made his way down the final hallway to the trapdoor where he had first come from.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Brax

[Brax 0]

     Climbing up the steps, he emerged back into the tower's first floor.  Brax peered around the area, making sure none of the mobs he had just slain were quick on their respawning rates, as he was not in the mood to deal with them.  He wanted a moment to rest and consider his next move, where he would need to train next.  Perhaps there was another tower in the area he could explore, much like he had this one, one that perhaps contained better opportunities for battle and loot.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Brax