PP - F8 Hollow of the Woodwights (Sub-Dungeon Exploration) (Takao)

[Calrex 0]

"Huh, well nothing so far. Might as well keep looking."

After meeting up with Takao the two decided to undertake the venture of trying to find a sub-dungeon on the eighth floor. Their journey took them a decent distance away from any safe zones, into an area known on the map as Woodwight's Hollow. It seemed like a place lost to time, with nature beginning to take back the structures that lay in ruins amongst the giant trees. The bluenette gave a small sigh before glancing back at the brunette with a friendly smile, "Well, at least we found a neat area to explore. If anything it's more than likely a dungeon entrance is around here somewhere."

[Takao 0]

"Whoa, dude." said Takao, his jade eyes examining the similarly hued environment. Nature had long since begun reclaiming the ruins, covering the broken stone and rubble with a plethora of flora. "This place is pretty cool." He'd always a sucker for a nice forest themed excursion. He swiped his hand through the air and listened to the pleasant chimes that rang out, perfectly complimenting the ambient woodland noises if he were to voice his opinion on the matter. His first destination was the map, confirming its location on the floor and examining the map data he'd revealed via his own adventures thus far. "Woodwight's Hollow..." He muttered, then closed out of the map and navigated to his inventory. A simple book was procured from within the confines of the catalog, which he idly flipped through in favour of glancing around.

"Huh. There's nothin' about this place in this floor's guidebook." He said aloud to Calrex, quickly double checking his reading before putting the book away once more. "I wonder if brokers are still buying map data for this floor... I thought maybe this was an instance for a dungeon, but I didn't see that little.. y'know, that like... "vwoop, you're in an instance" effect when we walked in." Takao shrugged and returned his attention to his surroundings. "Well, let's take a look around."

[Calrex 0]

"Yeah, neither did I. I guess this is just an unexplored part of the floor. Of course, it does seem like the info brokers are getting a bit lazy. I haven't seen a genuine map with landmarks and such anywhere since the first floor. I wonder if they're having trouble keeping up with the influx of new floor information or something."

Moving up the cobblestone steps the bluenette made note of the patches of moss that were forcing their way between the cracks in the stone, slowly beginning to separate the footholds into their individual pieces once again. After ascending to the top of what appeared to have been some kind of altar Calrex glanced around at their surroundings, "Still nothing so far. There certainly seems to be a lot of these platforms stretched across the complex though. I guess it's possible some kind of ancient cult or something lived here, at least if we're going by theme."

[Takao 0]

"Hm. Maybe." Takao said in response, shrugging his shoulders. "They might also be holding out on information for their own benefit. There was a lotta' talk of that goin' on in the first couple months. I dunno if they're still doing that though." The brunette set about glancing around the ruins as the two conversed. Every little detail of the location seemed to seamlessly melt together, making small details take a bit more of his attention to spot than normal. As he watched the subtle hints of movement, from the birds in the canopy to the wind rustling leaves, Takao delved into his inventory and procured a waterskin. He took a small drink and grimaced - Alcohol in Sword Art Online didn't necessarily have the same effect on him as it did in the real world... yet the taste was the same, and he despised it.

"Ancient cult?" said Takao as he waterskin disappeared, transported back into the safety of his inventory. "I mean, it's not impossible I guess, but how do you figure that? This place doesn't seem very cult-y to me, just typical jungle-y ruins."

- -

[[ Alcoholic ]] bonus activated. +6 Damage / -3 Evasion for the duration of the thread.

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave a nod as Takao inquired about his conclusion on the layout of the ruins, "Well, at least from this view it seems like these platforms are laid on in a very particular pattern. From what I can see it's likely there's more of these stretched across the entirety of the complex. If they were merely for passage or storage I would guess they would be lower, but there are particularly tall and have a lot of steps, more than likely needed. That would mean it's possible ceremonies were conducted on these that involed a lot of patience, with each step potentially adding to that test."

Moving back down to the bottom the bluenette hopped off at the last few, giving a small sigh, "I guess cult might not be the best term, more like tribe or something to that effect."

[Takao 0]

"That kinda design makes you wonder if whoever made these floors actually thought that deeply into the lore." Takao said as he scratched his chin. "It's really weird, actually. It's sick that somebody would put that much thought into the small details of the world they planned to trap a bunch of people in... and almost kinda... well. It's not the word I wanna use, but it's almost sorta benevolent that they didn't put us all in a totally bland world with nothing interesting." His hand dropped back down to his side as his auditory musings came to an end. If there was one thing he found himself to have an abundance of while trapped in Aincrad, it was time to think. He shook his head and sighed, dismissing the thoughts. The supposed benevolence of his and so many other's captors was irrelevant at any rate, so he shelved the thoughts.

"Hey, sh-sh." He said, hushing Calrex even if the bluenette hadn't been speaking, and listened to the sounds of the forest around them. The faint sounds of chittering amidst the ambient woodland noises began to grow louder, as did the irregular rustling of leaves. There were several sources, though he found himself unable to pick out how many there were, until said sources showed themselves.

«Rogue Chimp»
150 HP
36 Mitigation
24 Damage

"Whoashi-.. Ax wielding monkeys!" Takao announced as the four chimpanzee-modeled monsters leap down from the canopy. Their glowing red eyes pierced Takao's own jade hues, having chosen him as their preferred target. Each of the four apes leapt at Takao and swung at him with ax and dagger alike. As elusive as ever, even despite his apparently hindered state as a result of the alcoholic buff, Takao evaded the four attacks with something that vaguely resembled grace. As their attacks subsided, the brunette pulled his own sword free of its scabbard and prepared a counterattack of his own. The two-toned blade began to glow a mixture of blue and purple as a result of his very precise positioning, and with the system given full control, the teenager was sent through the motions of the high-end sword art. "Boulle tried to warn us about this, man!"

 

 -

» ID : [[ 50127 ]]
» BD : [[ HIT (7 + 3(ACC)) ]]
» MD 1-4 : [[ MISS (5 - 3(EVA) + 3(Alcoholic)) ]]

« Takao »
[[ 169/169 HP ]]
[[ 27/41 Energy ]] «Lightning Fall» used. (-14 Energy)
[[ Hate :: 1 ]]

« Rogue Chimp 1 »
[[ 25/150 HP ]] [[ 13(DMG) + 4(Charge) + 6(Alcoholic) * (1*7) - 36(MIT) = -125HP ]]
« Rogue Chimp 2 »
[[ 25/150 HP ]] [[ 13(DMG) + 4(Charge) + 6(Alcoholic) * (1*7) - 36(MIT) = -125HP ]]
« Rogue Chimp 3 »
[[ 25/150 HP ]] [[ 13(DMG) + 4(Charge) + 6(Alcoholic) * (1*7) - 36(MIT) = -125HP ]]
« Rogue Chimp 4 »
[[ 25/150 HP ]] [[ 13(DMG) + 4(Charge) + 6(Alcoholic) * (1*7) - 36(MIT) = -125HP ]]

[Calrex 0]

ID: 50351
Battle Dice: 4 (Accuracy +3) = 7
Loot Dice: 17 (Search and Detect +2 / Item +1) = 20 (Materials Found)
Sword Art <<Lightning Fall>> Activated / <<Charge>> Activated (14 Energy Used / 45 Remaining)

"Boulle? Who the heck is..."

Calrex gritted his teeth in surprise for a second as their opponents made their presences known, rushing at the two straight sword wielders with axes. With a quick smirk the bluenette looked skywards, already aware what Takao's first move was going to be. With this number of foes, the only reasonable strike would be <<Lightning Fall>>. This was proven when the brunette came down with the lightning charged Sword Art.

Right as if on a metronome the bluenette leapt skywards, doing a quick backflip to orient himself towards the ground. Descending from the air the Grand Blade II lit alight with his own attack. Adding onto the force with his <<Charge>> skill Calrex pierced the ground, sending out another electrical blast which eliminated the rest of the monsters' health. As the primates burst into crystals the bluenette gave a small sigh of relief as he gave his sword a quick wiggle to loosen it from the ground, "Well, that's certainly a spawn I haven't seen on this floor before. Think it has something to do with the theme of this area?"

Loot List:
4 Materials

HP List
Takao: 169/169
   Energy: 27/41
Calrex: 271/271
   Energy: 45/59 (-14)

Enemies:
Rogue Chimp 1: -58/150 (13+4 DMG * 7 Art - 36 MIT = 83 DMG)
Rogue Chimp 2: -58/150 (AOE)
Rogue Chimp 3: -58/150 (AOE)
Rogue Chimp 4: -58/150 (AOE)

Edited March 7, 2016 by Calrex