(Completed(Finally!))[PP-10] <<Wail of the Banshee>> Earplugs are OP

[Baldur 0]

Baldur never liked the 10th floor. In fact, he avoided it at all costs. He was, however, at a certain crossroads in his life now which put him here on this floor. If he wanted to proceed forward, he needed to complete more quests. This was one of the only floors with quests left that he had not already completed. He had been wandering the floor looking for quests and secrets when he came across the location of Tartarus. The area was infested with monsters, but thanks to his amulet he hadn't been worried by them. When he investigated further, he found an NPC that offered a 10k reward.

That had scared Baldur witless. A reward that large potentially meant very challenging monsters.

Which is what had brought him back here to Yomi. He needed to recruit a team. Preferably ones who could take a few hits.

"I'm looking to put together a group for a quest in Tartarus!" He called out to players in the square. Hopefully he could find some interested players to go with him.

Edited July 27, 2016 by Baldur

[Macradon 0]

Walking around the 10th floor, Macradon was taking a small hunting trip on the worst floor to do so on. The cave like floor wasn't appealing and not really nice roaming in, but there was this quest he had heard about from the brokers, it should probably be worth something since it was on the 10th floor. Macradon, clad in his heavy armor uniform, would wander around at the town square, hearing someone shouting out about someone who would be able to take a hit, Macradon was one who could take a hit. He would slowly approach in his white and red armor and his helmet on, visor down, to hide his face for now, at least towards strangers. "I hear you need someone who can take a strong hit? I may be the one you're seeking for" Macradon said towards the man.

[Brax 0]

     As Brax teleported into Yomi, he felt a cold chill pass across his heart.  Due to his level and lack of certain abilities specific to his current and future build, he had purposely avoided hunting in the undead cavern of darkness.  However, eventually he would have to brave the place to better understand the natures of every floor possible, for in order to master his hunting capabilities Brax would need to have knowledge of every environment Aincrad had to offer.  Thus he found himself looking out into the inky blackness of the sky above, perpetually in darkness and impenetrable to all but the most acute of vision extraordinaires.  Turning away from the dark sky, he walked through the rough hewn streets slightly damaged due to disrepair, most likely thanks to the fact that the inhabitants...were undead, and largely incapable of regularly scheduled maintenance work.  The entirety of the decaying settlement was filled with undead, selling wares and hosting travelers who were brave enough to visit for longer than a few hours.  Brax observed them all, taking in the full scope of what Yomi was and trying to file it away for future reference if he ever decided to return.  He strode purposefully and quickly to the center of town to peruse the Quest Board there, in search of what tasks a person may be allowed to accomplish in the pervading blackness outside.  Not too much was available, thanks to a decidedly small player population that actually came to do business in the area, but there was one quest that caught his eye: an NPC woman wandered about just outside of town, and was offering a high reward to any that would hear he plea.  She asked that a player or a group of players hunt down a banshee that killed her husband in Tartarus, an abandoned prison structure nearby.  Reading the description, Brax was...slightly ill at ease at the nature of the endeavor.  With so high a prize at the end of the quest, there had to be more to the task than what was being said.  Regardless, a job was a job, and if he wanted to improve his skills he would need to take it on, suspicion notwithstanding.

     Interestingly enough, as he stood there at the Board, Brax happened to hear another player call out in a loud voice saying "I'm looking to put together a group for a quest in Tartarus!"  While the stoic was not one to party with those he had not encountered before and had...some sort of relationship with previous to the questing together, logically he knew that his skills may not be sufficient to completing the task alone.  He would, however, approach the situation cautiously.  Stepping away from the Quest Board, Brax strode over to a nearby NPC vendor and purchased a quick beverage and snack combo, taking a seat on a nearby bench to keep a close eye and ear on the man who was asking for help, the better to see...what sort of crew he might manage to pick up, and if their skills would be capable of completing the job.  Only then would the heavily armored man be willing to offer his skills to aid in their success.  Probably.

[Baldur 0]

Baldur was pleased to see a heavily armored warrior come up to him. Baldur was quite a bit taller than the knight but the heavy armor made him seem a much more physical presence than Baldur in his light armor. It made it easier for him to move, rather than taking a hit at all. Still he was not used to his mitigation being so low. It had made sense when he had had... when he had had her to tank for him.

He turned to the knight and he bowed slightly. "I would prefer neither of us get hit, but if things do not go according to plan, then it is better to be prepared." As he stood straight, he offered the man a friendly smile.

Baldur was tall, and obviously not japanese, though he dressed to fit the setting. He wore a blue haori fringed with white flames burning up from the bottom. Under the coat, he wore thick fabric that only had small plates woven in on the forearms and shins for extra protection, all in the color of the setting sun. At his left him was an anachronistic element. He wore a futuristic katana, and rested his hand on it casually as if it were a part of him. He had had the sword for over a year.

"I am Baldur, it is nice to meet you.

"I have a quest to go into Tartarus and defeat a banshee, but due to the... nature of this floor... I'd rather not go it alone. I was hoping to take at least two or three others along. I would appreciate it if you would join me."

[Macradon 0]

Macradon would smile, he had to take the role as the tank for this mission, which wouldn't be that bad. The 10th floor wasn't a floor he was a big fan off, mostly because everything was harder to hit and harder to actually do anything to. The amount of darkness in the cave like floor was irritating Macradon, it wasn't his favorite floor, but he still liked it more than the big stupid and cold 4th floor. "I'm Macradon" he would reply to the man known as Baldur. The man would begin to elaborate upon the quest he requested people to join him at, it was something about getting into Tartarus and defeat a banshee. of course none would go that way alone, so requesting people to join him on the journey would be the most logical descision. "Well, I'm willing to join" he would say with a smile and await for more people to join the party so none would be left alone and none will be left in vain.

[Baldur 0]

Baldur was pleased to have someone who appeared to be so good in a fight ready to join him. In truth, the man was probably doing Baldur more of a favor than he needed to, but Baldur wasn't useless in a fight, and from what he could tell, the Katana was still a rare weapon. With a swipe of Baldur's hand, he brought up the menu and created a party to invite Macradon to.

"I don't think I'm familiar with that guild icon next to your name." Baldur said once Macradon was in his party and the symbol was visible to him. "What guild are you with? I'm a former member of both the Guardians of Aincrad, and the Azure Brigade."

He was pleased to have the tank join his party, but it was still a bit awkward to entrust your life to someone you've never met before.

"Looks like we might be it. Maybe we'll find more people closer to Tartarus. Do you have all the consumables you might need? I've got a group healing crystal, plenty of potions for us both, and a couple good ones for myself, but it would probably be best if you had one or two yourself. Also, do you have a teleport crystal?"

[Macradon 0]

Macradon would look at the man Baldure, one not really familiar with the guild icon. Macradon would understand that his guild was not that well known outside of the frontlines. He would sigh lightly with a smile. "It's the Knights of the Blood Oath guild emblem" he said with a proud voice. He had been in this guild for quite a while and he was now Second in Command of the strike team of the guild. 4 people were above him in ranks, the Commander, the Vice Commander and the Strike Force leader. Above that Macradon would be the deputy for field missions if the team leader wasn't available. "I'm Second in Command of the Elite Strike Force of the guild" he would say and smile. He wasn't sure if they had established a name yet for the strike force, so he would just call it by its title.

It was true that not many people had joined this party questing, so they would just have to head to Tartarus and see if there would be any more people who would join the quest and get the banshee down. Macradon was unsure if he would be able to kill the banshee nor was he sure that he would be able to tank all of the damage. From the rumor brokers, the banshee would be able to two shot Macradon if it were to happen that. A safeguard potion would not be useful in this situation, if the banshee were to normal strike Macradon, it would pop the effect of the safeguard and he would be open, so he would need people to be able to get the banshee down while he would stand and tank it all. "Let us go then" he would say, they should be able to find more people at the quest location.

[Baldur 0]

"Knights of the Blood Oath, hmmm?" The name of the guild did sound familiar, but it had been a long time since Baldur had been in the loop as far as that was concerned. "Second in command of the Elite Strike force, eh?" It certainly sounded impressive, especially if it meant he was regularly attending progression boss fights. As they walked along in the darkness that was a perpetual state on this floor, Baldur recalled some cake from his inventory and began to eat a slice of his <<Vanilla Cake With Chocolate Frosting>>. And old friend had made this for him. He hoped she was still alive somewhere. At least the cake's effect would counter that of the darkness surrounding them.

"I hate the darkness here..." The further they got from town, the tighter Baldur's grip grew on the katana at his side. "Do you quest here often? I think Tartartus is..."

A scream generated by the environment, and not a player, echoed around them.

"It looks like we're here."

Before them stood an impressive prison. Baldur didn't even want to reflect on where in mythology it got its name from. Now was the time for positive thoughts, not... death. The large stone structure loomed over them. Baldur was on edge, but he took the moment to look around. "I was hoping we'd see some other players questing by the time we got here. I wouldn't want to risk either of our lives." He recalled another item from his inventory. It was the stinger from the wasp queen... one of their first quests. He applied the poison to his katana and increased his damage. If it was indeed just the two of them, he wanted every edge he could get.

"Don't happen to have any friends on this floor, do you?"

Edited February 26, 2016 by Baldur

[Seul 1]

It was strange really; in all of the time he spent exploring Aincrad, Seul never once thought of visiting the tenth floor of the castle. Why? It's not like the monsters there were particularly threatening to him now. With each floor one ascend in SAO though the terrain only seemed to become more and more... Foreboding. At least when compared to the cheerful atmosphere given off by the starting city of the first floor anyway. Throughout the entire trip, feelings of being watched, phantom sightings, and false senses put him in a constant state of unrest. Even now as he stood outside of the famed prison, Tartarus, the feeling of dread that lingered in the pit of his stomach swelled. It was no secret that a powerful boss dwelled within the walls of the abandoned establishment, but as one would expect finding it's home would be half the battle.

With that in mind, the young player resorted to doing what he did best: Waiting. Perched on a stone to the side of the entrance, he filled his time by going over a few menus in the hopes that a passing group of players would be wiling to let him tag along for the task at hand. Of course, the whole while being completely oblivious to the pair's presence as they approached.  "Any day now..."

Edited February 26, 2016 by Seul

[Baldur 0]

"Ohayo." Baldur called out to the new player they came across who had been oblivious to their presence. He made sure to stay back a ways once he had verified that it was both a player and not an orange one at that. Baldur stood back, his left hand resting non-threateningly on the handle of his katana and his broad shoulders bound by his blue haori. He tried to appear as friendly as he could while stumbling upon a player in an underground cave full of monsters trying to kill you while trapped in a death game.

"I'm called Baldur. We were just about to try a quest in this area. Are you trying to slay the Banshee too?"

He turned slightly sideways so that his gesture of 'we' could include the large armored knight behind him. "We would love to have more company. I think my friend here is worried I can't do enough damage on my own to kill whatever we face."

[Macradon 0]

[OOC: Getting the heart startes ready ... CLEAR!]

It seems that they didn't have to go too long before they would finally arrive at the big prison where they were to find the banshee, or at least go look for it. As they traveled, the generated scenery was showing how bad of a floor this actually was. The 10th floor, the one with the dark and dim light, making everything more difficult for anyone to really do much about the surroundings. Macradon would sigh as they arrived, being the only 2 there. Then, a sign of life emerged, it was Seul, his guild mate. "Heyo, good to see you, Seul" he would say as they approached him.

[Seul 1]

The boy fell backwards as the pair made their presence known. He quickly scrambled to his feet before getting a hold of the situation. It was none other than Macradon and...  Someone else? His name was Baldur apparently, but at least there was some life to be seen on this floor after all. "Hey Macradon, and it's nice to meet you Baldur. I actually did come here to challenge the Banshee, but seeing as how I didn't bring an organized party with me I figured I'd just wait for one to show up. Lucky me I guess  for running into you both."

[Macradon 0]

It was nice meeting someone familiar, at least when diving into a quest like this. He wasn't really sure what would be there in the old building like that. Nothing really seemed the ordinary, nothing seemed like that in this game. That's at least the konklusion Macradon had established after being in this game for such a long time. He was getting more tired of seeing something that would surprise him, because it was slowly becoming something that was normal, which in turn wasn't surprising.

[Baldur 0]

Baldur was glad to see that Seul and his companion Macradon knew each-other. Assuming that this wasn't some elaborate plan to trap Baldur, and Macradon didn't seem to need help in that, then it meant that they would have a safe companion and hopefully some good synergy. Three is a good number as well. Baldur mused to himself as he gestured with his right hand to call up the menu and invited Seul to the party. Once he accepted, his name popped up in the upper left hand corner of Baldur's vision along with his own and Macradon's.

"Alright gentlemen, let us begin this adventure. Keep your eyes open."

The structure of Tartarus was a major feature of the landscape of the floor. The imposing black walls rose up into the pitch black sky until you couldn't make anything further out. The perpetual darkness of the floor was only made more oppressive with the disembodied howls and cries that lingered on the winds throughout the floor. They explored the side of the underworld prison, looking for some form of entrance, when they came across an arch of skulls. On either side of the entrance were spectral knights standing guard. Baldur focused his eyes on the guards so that he could see their health bars.

<<Spectral Guard>>
HP: 80
MIT: 20
DMG 30

Baldur gestured to the others behind him and whispered softly so that they wouldn't hear him... he wasn't sure if they could, be he wasn't going to take a chance either.

"Mac, you go in first. Seul, you're next. Then I'll come in and either AoE or finish if any of them are left standing."

Baldur led them closer to their opponents until they were just inside <<charge>> range.

"Mac, go!" Baldur said with an emphatic whisper.

 

---

Turn Order: (-1 to all player BD unless they have Night vision)
<<Macradon>>  ??/??
<<Seul>> ??/??
<<Baldur>> 92/92 (+1 BD food buff, +1 DMG stinger poison)
<<Spectral Guard #1>> 80/80
<<Spectral Guard #2>> 80/80

Edited April 11, 2016 by Baldur

[Macradon 0]

Macradon would nod and rush up towards the seemingly weak Spectral Guard, with a quick motion from his <Charge> skill, he closed the distance between him and the guards. With 6 quick and successive sweeps, the guards would be withered to low health, leaving only a sliver yet that would be taken by his bleed. "Just let them have fun against me and let them die bleeding" he said casually and would stand still as the hate was focused on him.

Spoiler

ID: 56305
BD: 9-1+1=9, Crit.
CD: 9, Recovery Proc. Regen Proc.
LD: 4+2=6, nothing found.
Sword art used: <Fight Blade> 6x1x(13+2 Charge+1 Crit)-20=76 DMG + Bleed.

Turn Order: (-1 to all player BD unless they have Night vision)
<<Macradon>>  161/161, Hate: 2.
<<Seul>> ??/??
<<Baldur>> 92/92 (+1 BD food buff, +1 DMG stinger poison)
<<Spectral Guard #1>> 4/80 [Bleed, 18 DMG next turn]
<<Spectral Guard #2>> 4/80[Bleed, 18 DMG next turn]

Edited April 12, 2016 by Macradon

[Seul 1]

Seul would follow them inside. Tartarus was creepy for sure, but for some reason he felt somewhat at peace with the environment being the way it was. It wasn't long until that peace was ruined though by the appearance of some lowly trash mobs. He simply shrugged in response to their plan as Macradon had nearly finished the monsters off in a single attack. If they were just going to bleed out anyway there was no point in wasting energy to attack them. Nature would take its course and they'd be bale to continue on their way like nothing had happened, so with that in mind the knight leaned against a nearby wall to watch the battle the inevitable. "Well, that was easy-"

[Baldur 0]

ID# 57034 BD: 10 LD: 3 (Critical hit; nothing spotted) +2 Mats

Baldur had considered letting them do just that, but he wanted to avoid risking a critical hit, or simply being there for long. He took out his katana and with a simple sword spin, he took the heads off of the guards and inflicted far more damage than needed. Blue eyes surveyed the area around them. It was a route into Tartarus.

Once the way was clear, Baldur dismissed the loot window that popped up and stepped inside.

It was dark inside Tartarus, though it was a different kind of darkness that wrapped around them. Outside, it was mearly the lack of light, while inside it seemed to be an oppressiveness built into the walls. What was this place? He hadn't noticed any story in the floating Castle, but a place like this begged the question.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Baldur

[Macradon 0]

Macradon would look as Baldur would finish off the guards just before the bleed would've killed them. It wasn't like they would've hurt Macradon at all, and if they did he would have his regen to trigger. "That was ... boring ... and kill steal ..." he muttered but would shrug it off and continue on with the search for the Banshee. Following in behind Baldur into Tartarus, trying to find their target. The darkness that engulfed the party was unlike any other darkness that filled the empty void where light did not escape from, this was much different.

ID: 57173
CD: 8, Recovery proc.
LD: 11+2=13, nothing found.

Edited April 20, 2016 by Macradon

[Baldur 0]

Baldur wound his small party through the depressing expanse of Tartarus when he saw something up ahead. It appeared to be another player, judging by the green crystal above his head. He looked familiar to Baldur, but it hadn't been someone he had known very well. Looking back at Macradon behind him, and Seul who seemed to be out of his sight now, he decided it was better to risk being discovered than to surprise a high level player like that.

"Ohayo." Baldur called out to Takao, not yelling, but loud enough to attract the man's attention. Lowering his blade, Baldur walked up to the player.

"Hope I didn't surprise you. I'm here for a quest, if you'd like to join us."

[Takao 0]

(Baldur gave me permission to join this thread. he also has my family and told me i'd never see them again unless i posted pls send help)

The tenth floor was typically one he avoided like the plague. Yet after receiving a tip about a potential dungeon via his favoured information broker, which was his typical method of locating dungeons with remarkable success, it seemed like a waste of col not to at least check and see if it was even there. At the least, he could resell the information. So with his sword in hand, Takao left the darkened settlement of Yomi and delved into the shadowed wilderness of the tenth floor, his destination in the area nearby Tartarus. It didn't take long for him to navigate there, even despite the cautious nature he adopted whilst traversing the dark landscape. As he was passing by the abandoned prison, he noted three cursors in the distance well before he himself was noticed, a testament to the search skill's increased detection range. They were all green, yet that didn't stop him from halting his advance and tightening his grip on his sword's handle. When Baldur called out to him and Takao noticed Macradon nearby as well, he exhaled a sigh.

"Oh. Hey." He greeted simply, his off-hand raised in greeting. A quest was mentioned, and Takao's gaze shifted from Baldur to the abandoned prison. "Banshee, huh? I'll pass. I've already done it, 'n I'm on my way to check out a dungeon."

- -

Advanced Dungeon found.

ID: 62081
LD: 31
20(LD) + 5(S&D) + 3(HoM) + 2(Reveal) + 1(Detect)