A Determined Search [SP-F1](Completed)

[Darius Verand 0]

There was an inescapable truth to Aincrad that had existed in the real world too. Money, material wealth, and greed. Everything costs Col or materials, so everyone needed Col and materials. That was why Darius was out on the first floor. Not that he was below searching throughout the first floor for simple materials that he needed, but he needed them to get equipment in order to fight monsters to get a larger supply. Start small, grow big, as his father always used to say. So he set out from the starting city, walking across a large expanse of grassland and flowers, bordering forests and lakes. His feet took him to an outcropping of rocks, one where he might find prospective ores for materials. He took his chances and searched throughout them.

 

ID: 49303
BD: 6
CD: 11
LD:11
MD: 6
 

Edited February 27, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

Not disappointed that he found nothing, Darius continued his search. He knew he could hardly ask for a large bounty of materials in less than an hour searching. Large reward came from hard work. Hard work came from hours of searching, and Darius had been at it for a fraction of the time he needed to be. He walked on, away from the starting city. He did well to avoid various mobs and monsters. Not that he couldn't kill them, but it would take too long to make his venture efficient. He was a tank and had no real damage, nor the thorn to deal significant damage back to attackers. That was why he was out and about, he needed materials for equipment. As he eclipsed a hill, he saw a small patch of trees, not large enough to do anything but cast some shade. He headed there in hopes of finding material.

 

ID: 49304
BD: 9
CD: 3
LD: 2
MB: 7
 

Edited February 26, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

Being unable to find any tree type or lumber that might be of use to him or some craftsman, Darius moved on. As much as a shady glade of trees would be tempting to another player to stop at to rest and relax, Darius did not indulge in such things frequently. He kept moving on, one foot in front of the other at a steady pace. His armor gleamed dully in the sunlight which seemed to always bless the first floor, and its radiance annoyed Darius. While it wasn't particularly hot, the sun warmed his armor uncomfortably, enough to be fairly hotter than what it actually was outside. Yet this did not stop him. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, he plodded on. As he walked, the grass around him filled with more and more flowers until he found himself inside of a large meadow filled with all types of plants. He thought this might as well be a good as spot as any to search for materials. The plants could count as materials in an alchemical sense, so Darius thought he'd give it a go.

 

ID: 49401
BD: 2
CD: 1
LD: 12
MB: 5
 

Edited February 26, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

Zero for three was not a good record. It did not please Darius in the slightest that within this MASSIVE field of flowers he was unable to find one that could be used as a material. In pure scorn for the colorful, soft, pleasant smelling abominations that the flowers were, Darius decided to stomp, kick, and rip them up by the dozens. Even though they were harmless, barely sentient beings, it brought Darius a little pleasure knowing he had enacted some form of revenge on such a simple thing that had thwarted him. He had now been in that pathetic field for over an hour, but decided to try his luck again. Maybe his physical punishment on the allergy-activating curr would give them incentive to provide materials for him. He yet again looked.

 

ID: 49402
BD: 3
CD: 11
LD: 8
MD: 10

Edited February 26, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

And even though he looked, the flowers thwarted his attempts yet again. Smoldering with anger, he went about the process that he had before: tearing, ripping, stomping, kicking, smashing. This continued until Darius was practically panting in a hate-endused frenzy. A large area of the field was now destroyed, the land scarred by Darius and his anger. He spit on the ground in his wake, noting the destruction with a deep satisfaction. He turned to walk off, only to notice a flower that hadn't been there before. It was far larger than the others and seemed to be growing steadily. It took Darius a moment before he realized it was some sort of fauna; a monster appearing due to Darius' actions in the field. At least he would get materials by killing it. He was a tank though... It might take him a while.

 

Monster Appears!

Vine Creature! 
HP: 14
Mitigation: 4
Damage per attack: 4
 

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius exhaled sharply, a haze settling over him. He could feel the natural rage creep into his body as the battle started. He almost thought that he might've been born to fight, and that he was blessed such a thing as SAO existed. No doubt his body would wither back in the real world, but here he could be what he wanted. What he wanted to be was a fighter, strong, towering over any who he so desired. First he had to kill this pathetic plant. His face crept into a grim expression as the monster's grotesque figure slithered closer to him on its dozens of vines. A moment before it came into range, he stepped forward and swung his one-handed warhammer at the bulb that seemed to be it's torso/head. It had a mouth filled with jagged teeth and no eyes, so how it knew where Darius was was beyond him. As he swung his warhammer at the plant monster, it in turn swung one of it's vines at him.

[After dice roll reaction:] As Darius made the first move, he landed his blow first, slamming his warhammer into the plant monster. He seemed to hit a critical, but as the monster's mitigation(4) was still above the crit damage(2+1), Darius only dealt one damage. The blow, however, had pushed the monster back so it was unable to land it's attack, leaving Darius unscathed.

-1 to Vine Creature HP

__________________

Vine Creature! 
HP: 13/14
Mitigation: 4
Damage per attack: 4

_____________________

ID: 49403
BD: 10
CD: 4
LD: 17
MD: 5

Edited February 26, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

The fight was far from over, so Darius continued, a zealot in his nature. Zealous to what, he did not know. It was certainly no religion. Unless a religion was doing nothing but grinding your enemies into dust. That would be a bandwagon Darius could hop onto, not that it existed though. The monster before him seemed to gargle hungrily at him, spittle falling from it's mouth. Darius did not hesitate for a moment to snarl back, bearing his teeth at it. It came at him again, it's vines reeling back to try to land another blow. Darius in turn, prepared his warhammer to land an attack on the massive bulb that seemed to be the only thing that he would be nearly capable of hitting with such a thick weapon.

[After dice reaction:] Darius deftly ducked under the vine that swung at his head. As deftly as someone heavy clad in plate armor. It was silly really. Anyone who had seem him tearing up the flowers earlier would've gotten quite the laugh, watching a man in dragon-themed heavy armor stomping on flowers like they were his mortal enemy. After dodging, Darius swung his warhammer at the plant monster, but it had shifted on the bed of vines that served as it's feet. Both missed.

__________________

Vine Creature! 
HP: 13/14
Mitigation: 4
Damage per attack: 4

_____________________

ID: 49404
BD: 3
CD: 12
LD: 6
MD: 6

Edited February 26, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

Fighting the vine monster was already making Darius rather angry. It was going to take ages, even with crits, and not to mention whether or not it dodged his attacks. He spit at it in disgust, and as if reciprocating the feeling, it gargled at him. "Cheeky bastard," was what Darius muttered before hurling himself at the monster, again swinging his hammer at the beast. As soon as he attacked, the monster in turn swung it's vines at him. Both were on a mission to kill the other.

[After Dice roll reactions:] Again, as the first strike, Darius hit a critical. It still did not due much damage due to the monster's mitigation. As before, the monster was knocked back due to the strength of Darius' critical. It hissed more angrily at him, but he didn't give it a reply. It would take him long enough to kill it and he did not want to waste anymore energy than he needed to.

-1 to Vine Creature HP

__________________

Vine Creature! 
HP: 12/14
Mitigation: 4
Damage per attack: 4

_____________________

ID: 49407
BD: 9
CD: 9
LD: 19
MD: 5

Edited February 26, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

As Darius grappled back and forth with the thriving mass of flowers and vines that was his foe, the area around him was torn up more and more. The sunlight beat down heavily on both, drawing sweat on Darius' brow. A faint smell of all of the crushed flowers reach his nose, filling it with a rich aroma. It made him even more mad that this thing that was meant to protect the flowers was only helping in destroying them. He bared his teeth, gripped his warhammer, and lunged forward yet again to try to slam a blow onto the thing that was meant to be his foe. It in turn, generically slapped it's vines at Darius.

[After Dice Roll Reaction:] Darius narrowly missed another blow onto the monster, the warhammer 'swooshing' through empty air instead of making solid contact. Darius' mouth tugged at the edges, as he had missed again. It did, however, make the monster back away to avoid the attack so it too could not land a blow. It was still a stand off.

__________________

Vine Creature! 
HP: 12/14
Mitigation: 4
Damage per attack: 4

_____________________

ID: 49409
BD: 6
CD: 1
LD: 13
MD: 3

Edited February 26, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

Tick tock tick tock. Four turns in and he was barely anywhere. The monster still had 12 HP so that meant the had to hit it twelve more times. Going at the rate he was now, at 50% accuracy, it would take twenty-four turns to kill it. Such a long time, such a long fight, all because he had no damage, no materials, and no equipment. What his armor was was vanity, nothing more. It looked nice, but did little else other than give him his base mitigation from his heavy armor skill. With a grumble, Darius threw himself yet again at the evil, boring vine monster of doom. It in return, again, boringly, did a generic vine swing at his head.

 

[After Dice Roll Reaction:] Darius missed the giant vine monster, it's body shifting away from his hammer as it again 'swooshed' through empty air. This time, instead of backing off, the vine monster lashed out, hitting the side of Darius' helmet, snapping his head to the side. He took a step to orient himself, watching his health meter go down a tick.

-1 to Darius' HP

______________________________

Darius

HP: 27/28
EP: 7/7
Mitigation: 3
Damage per attack: 2

__________________

Vine Creature! 
HP: 12/14
Mitigation: 4
Damage per attack: 4

_____________________

ID: 49411
BD: 6
CD: 6
LD: 18
MD: 7

Edited February 26, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

"Bloody hell." Were the two words the monster got from Darius. This was worse than watching paint dry as snails raced to see which could beat that paint. It WAS pathetic how slow this was going, and it did little to improve Darius' mood. He really wished that he had his equipment. If he did, he would be able to kill this thing in a few turns. He really needed to get this done so he could get back to gaining materials. When he had enough he could order his equipment and be done with all of this. Again, as grinding goes, Darius threw himself at his target, the vine monster of doom, and that monster threw itself at him.

[After Dice Roll Reaction:] Darius swung at the monster, but the shifting vines were nearly impossible to hit so it evaded him yet again. For a positive note, Darius did dodge it's writhing tentacles, ducking under the evil vines. Both missed.

______________________________

Darius

HP: 27/28
EP: 7/7
Mitigation: 3
Damage per attack: 2

__________________

Vine Creature! 
HP: 12/14
Mitigation: 4
Damage per attack: 4

_____________________

ID: 49413
BD: 2
CD: 4
LD: 6
MD: 2

Edited February 26, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

And the paint kept on drying. It was bad enough when he missed, but when the monster does too it is just monotonous. This was literally ridiculous. No wonder everyone had such a hard time scaling levels if things were like this. Tanks, anyways. He would definitely have to bring people that did damage in his party, otherwise getting materials would always take ages. Ages was not something he had. He had to quickly catch up to the others so he might be of some bloody use in this bloody world. Darius thought he would change it up for once. He would grip his hammer firmly and activate the Sword Art: Power Strike. With the Sword Art activated, Darius would slam his hammer at the ground, hoping it would take affect before the evil vine monster of doom could strike him.

 

[After Dice Roll Reaction:] Darius, having slammed the ground, would miss the monster with his Sword Art, using considerably less energy than it would've if it had hit. As the ground quaked, the vine monster was forced back to dodge, unable to complete its attack.

-2 to Darius' energy

______________________________

Darius

HP: 27/28
EP: 5/7
Mitigation: 3
Damage per attack: 2

__________________

Vine Creature! 
HP: 12/14
Mitigation: 4
Damage per attack: 4

_____________________

ID: 49413
BD: 5
CD: 7
LD: 20
MD: 3

Edited February 26, 2016 by Darius Verand

[Darius Verand 0]

By this point the front liner's probably had another ten floors done. Miss, miss, miss. That seemed to be what he did at best. What both of them did. It had been probably five minutes at this point, and those five minutes were the longest of his life. He would probably be here for an hour trying to kill this god forsaken, world ending vine monster. Darius was certain that he wouldn't try this sort of gig again unless he had someone that was able to deal damage past the monsters' mitigation, or he had his equipment so he might actually be able to kill something for once. He would activate the same sword art as before, trying to hit the vine monster of nefarious intent as it tried to strike him.

+1 to Darius' Energy [(5->6)Turn recovery]

[After Dice Roll Reaction:] Yet again Darius missed his ability and the vine monster was forced to back up, unable to attack.

-2 to Darius' Energy [(6->4)Missed Skill Art]

______________________________

Darius

HP: 27/28
EP: 4/7
Mitigation: 3
Damage per attack: 2

__________________

Vine Creature! 
HP: 12/14
Mitigation: 4
Damage per attack: 4

_____________________

ID: 49419
BD: 5
CD: 7
LD: 20
MD: 3

Edited February 27, 2016 by Darius Verand

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius was unsure if he would die from old age before he finished this fight. Both missed yet again. This was truly, positively pathetic, by all means. Literal degrading enough to bring him a great amount of shame. The fact that a monster on floor one was taking this long to kill made him wonder how long it would take him with monsters elsewhere. He seriously needed that equipment so he could do such menial tasks faster, but first he would have to go through multiple eternities of fighting monsters to get enough materials to be able to buy the equipment he needed. Sighing heavily, he did not even throw himself at the monster. He simple walked towards it, swinging at it as it swung at him.

[After Dice Roll Reaction:] Maybe walking towards an enemy wasn't the best of ideas. The vine monster of world destruction dodged Darius' attack, capitalizing on it's momentum and dealing a critical hit, staggering Darius.

-2 to Darius' HP

______________________________

Darius

HP: 25/28
EP: 4/7
Mitigation: 3
Damage per attack: 2

__________________

Vine Creature! 
HP: 12/14
Mitigation: 4
Damage per attack: 4

_____________________

ID: 49421
BD: 2
CD: 1
LD: 7
MD: 10

Edited February 27, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

This was utterly and truly pathetic and boring. Nothing in Darius' life has been this boring, and he had gone through all of high school. Although Darius was not one for running from a real battle, this wasn't even a real battle. It was a test of how long it takes for Darius to wither to dust from waiting for so long without food or water. Deciding it was better to run away and continue to search for materials on his own, Darius would take this turn to prepare to flee from the vine monster of impending doom. As he was preparing to flee, it took the liberty of grabbing a cheap shot at Darius back.

[After Roll Reaction:] The Vine monster of the dark abyss was sadly too slow to catch up to Darius as he jodged away. While the vine gave it flexibility, they did not give the monster speed and it was sadly not fast enough to keep up.

ID: 49422
BD: 8
CD: 6
LD: 3
MB: 2

Edited February 27, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

Having escaped the seemingly infinite battle with the undefeatable vine monster, Darius wandered for the better portion of an hour. Eventually he came to a small lake; the water a deep blue, trees surrounding the shore, and shade cast down into the cool luscious of the H2O. Thinking for a moment, Darius removed all of his gear and stashed it away. He could kill two birds with one stone. Undoubtedly there would be some sort of valuable stones at the bottom of the lake that could count for materials, as well as Darius getting to relax and swim. Swimming was one of his favorite pastimes, so he always swam when he had the chance.  Wading into the water slowly, adjusting to the cool temperature, he took a deep breath and dove, searching for materials.

 

ID: 49426
BD: 8
CD: 7
LD: 11
MB: 8

Edited February 27, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius didn't find anything in this portion of the lake, but there was still plenty of lake for him to search and energy to search with. Darius didn't complain either. He got to swim. He swam casually along the shoreline, enjoying the feeling of being buoyed up by the water, nothing but the strength of his own arms and legs propelling him. He thought back throughout his time in Aincrad, how uneventful it had been. Everyone else seemed to have magnificent luck when it came to grinding and they were all on the front lines, grinding away at bosses. His slow climb could be attributed to his build as a tank and that he did no damage, as shown in the previous fight. Everyone else was probably a glass cannon. Giving a puff, he took a deep breath and dove again, searching for materials.

ID: 49428
BD: 6
CD: 7
LD: 15
MB: 8

Edited February 27, 2016 by Darius Verand

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius came up, the edges of his mouth turned up in what his version of a grin was. His fist was closed and he waded up to the shore, standing in waist deep water. He opened up his hand to reveal a pearl, a material. He sighed. It was his first so far today. In nearly five hours, he had only gotten one material. He stored it away in his inventory, standing in the water for a bit longer. He continuously cupped some in his hands, raising it and letting it fall out. Over and over, he did it again and again, counting the passing of time. After a few minutes of this, being lost in idle thought, he turned back around and waded back into the deep section, taking a deep breath, he dove yet again in search of materials, hoping for the best.

+1 to Darius' material count

ID: 49429
BD: 2
CD: 1
LD: 16
MB: 1

Edited February 27, 2016 by Darius Verand

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius searched the depths, hands raking over the dirt and muck. The farther in he went, the dark it got. The darker it got, the murky the floor of the lake become. He avoided going too deep, as the mud started to suction him in, and instead raked back and forth throughout the coarse sand closer to the shore. After a few dives, he felt a bump under his hand; something he recognized as a clam. He pried it open, looking inside to reveal another pearl. Plucking it from its perch in the mouth of its creator, Darius kicked up to the shore, again wading to where he could stand. He deposited it into his inventory. That was two so far. This lake seemed to be his source of good luck. Following the old saying, "third time's the charm," Darius went back to search for more.

+1 to Darius' material count (2 overall)

ID: 49429
BD: 8
CD: 2
LD: 5
MB: 5

Edited February 27, 2016 by Darius Verand
Incorporating dice roll

[Darius Verand 0]

Aaaand, the old saying failed Darius. The third time was not the charm. He continuously skimmed the bottom for another fifteen minutes, stopping only for breaths, only to find nothing. He was going to search another time, but he thought better of it. He needed to stop for lunch. Looking up towards the blue sky, he saw, half obscured, the sun and guessed that it was probably an hour past mid day. He waded to shore, shook off, and sat on small sand beach that ringed the lake. Going criss-cross-applesauce, Darius selected some of the standard bread from his inventory and water. It wasn't much, barely enough to call a meal even, but it would get him through until he got back. He sat munching and sipping, contemplating on what his plans were.