[PP-F4/F5] All about Dat... <<Essence of Steel>> (Takao)

[Lawfer 0]

Setting his guitar down, the reluctant Dragoon simply shook his head. "Well... I'm not going to be getting anywhere with this today." He stated as he stood from his stool. The spear-man had spent the better part of the day trying to replay songs from memory, but had lost the motivation to continue. Thinking back, he remembered that an info broker had told him about a quest that he hadn't yet tried to complete. Raising his right hand, he checked over his inventory and made sure he had the essentials. Scrolling back to his notes, the golden haired spear-man realized that the stats for the boss were just a little bit higher than he felt comfortable with. "Crap... Everyone is on duty today." he commented as he walked to his door. "Whats the harm in trying..." he stopped mid-sentence, that kind of thinking would lead to his untimely demise. As he opened the door to his studio, he paused for a moment as he noticed a familiar face. The brown haired, dungeon diver Takao. 

The two had not been introduced before, but he had seen the man from time to time at different events, just never had the opportunity to introduce himself. "Hey Takao." Lawfer said clearly, and loudly enough to be heard. "I'm Lawfer. I don't think we have met formally, but I was wondering if you could help me out. I was planning on taking Essence of Steel, but I don't think I can clear it by myself. Mind giving me a hand?"

Edited April 8, 2016 by Lawfer

[Takao 0]

Seldom did Takao find himself wandering the fourth floor without good reason. Typically his visits were brief, only staying long enough to visit some of the player shops that had accumulated over the months, but with his gear in optimal condition and his inventory well stocked, he hadn't the usual cause to tour the snowy village of Snowfrost. There was, however, a specific NPC that sold borderline cartoonish ikayaki. Both he and his shoulder-mounted familiar, who was both accompanying him on his excursion to the fourth floor as well as holding an armful of the aforementioned snack foods, thoroughly enjoyed the treat. Takao was just on his way back to the warp platform when a familiar named called out by an unfamiliar voice had caught his attention.

"Uh... Hey-" Takao replied, letting the end of his greeting linger for a moment until Lawfer introduced himself. "Oh, Lawfer. Yeah, I don't think we've met before, I've seen you around though. You were at Mack's hot springs thing, yeah? I think I saw you while I was on the way out." He said. At the mention of the request, Takao exchanged a brief glance with his familiar. The scale clad pain in his butt absolutely despised the fourth floor, considerably more than Takao did, and the dragon was well overdue for being irritated.

"Sure, I'm down for that. I was 'bout to head up to the fifth floor for a quick dungeon run, but I can wait 'til after. You're welcome to come too, if y'want."

[Lawfer 0]

"Yeah... I ended up showing up at the tail end, was pretty hammered so I dont remember too much." The spearman replied as he brought up his hand and scratched the back of his head. As the long strands in front fell forward, he brushed them back. "Sounds good. Wouldn't mind collecting a little bit more SP if I can." Pausing for a moment, the spearman raised his right hand and opened his interface, creating a party, he sent the invitation to Takao. "Not gonna lie I have no idea where to go from here.... All I know is its somewhere out there." Lawfer said as he pointed out beyond the safe zone then moved his finger randomly back and forth. "Mind taking point? I figure this way we wont get lost."

[Takao 0]

"I ended up leaving pretty early on. Had some stuff t'do, so I figured I'd just swing by for a bit." Takao said, taking the first steps in the direction he knew the beast to be. He glanced down and accepted the party invitation as it was offered, then glanced over his shoulder and gestured onward with his head. "Sure thing, I've done this a few times before so I've practically got the way memorized." He said, briefly recalling time he had farmed the quest in order to upgrade some equipment without the need for a craftsman. It seemed like years had passed since then, and yet so little progress had been made overall. Takao started off, delving into the snowy wilderness of the fourth floor.

[Lawfer 0]

Lawfer nodded in agreement as his interface dinged with takao's acceptance to the party. "Appreciate it. I spent a lot of time on this floor, and the thing always eluded me." He briefly commented as he shrugged his shoulders. As he began to follow Tak, he picked up his pace to match his partner. "I heard you were the one that found the Boss room this time around..." the dragoon stated, trying to drum up some casual conversation. "Are you going to be taking part in the boss raid as well?" The spearman asked as he looked around the town of snowfrost before they exited the safe zone. 

[Takao 0]

"It's pretty tough for just bein' on the fourth floor," Takao commented, followed by a shrug of his shoulders. The beast was one of many quest targets that ignored mitigation, which made it quite the daunting quarry. Glancing briefly to Lawfer at the mention of the floor boss, which he took every opportunity to try and forget about, Takao exhaled a plume of white smoke. "Yeah, it was uh... it was actually really easy to find. I dunno why so many people think it's hard to scout for the next floor, it only took me a few hours... But yeah, I do intend on participatin'. If anything goes wrong or if my info is bad, I'd rather be there for it than to skip out, y'know?"

[Lawfer 0]

"Thats what I heard... And thats why I knew i needed some help." Lawfer replied, as a slight chuckle followed. Taking note of the mans expression, the spearman tried to hold back a stronger laugh. "Well I guess most people just aren't as lucky, or have the right skill mods." Lawfer said, pausing for a moment to re adjust his armor, that had begun to ride up a bit to high on his neck. After fixing it he shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah I can understand that, come next boss battle I should be in there as well. And hopefully I'll be able to help out a bit. I was planning on trying for this one, but I dont have the right equipment just yet." He partially explained as he let out a sigh.

[Takao 0]

A shrug rolled across Takao's shoulders as they trudged through the snowy wilderness. "Yeah, maybe." From the main path, they strayed into a forest, the sounds of snow crunching beneath their feet drowning out most of the ambient woodland sounds. A clearing neared in the distance as they continued walking, with a large cliff and frozen cave entrance on the west side and a pedestal in the middle. "It's always better to go more prepared than you originally anticipated. Boss raids are a little too unpredictable to go into with the minimum requirements. Anyway, the dude's just up here. I'll spawn him and take the first shot so that he stays on me. Y'ready?"

[Lawfer 0]

"Well I'll take that advice and go with it. I should be level 30 by the next raid, so that should help out significantly." Lawfer stated as looked ahead, the snowy thundra would be growing colder and colder as time dragged on. Raising his hand once more, the spearman checked his equipment once final time. "Yeah i'm ready to go when you are big guy." He replied. "I'll hang back until you draw enough aggro. Should i drop a song on him the first turn to lower his accuracy? Or should I just just follow suit and attack?" He asked as he shrugged his shoulders forward. 

[Takao 0]

"Naw, no need to waste any consumables or anythin'. I'll lead in with a stun and keep it on me, you can attack as soon as you see an opportunity." Takao said as he approached the pedestal. Sitting atop the crude ice plinth was a skull, and leaning against it was a comically large femur bone. "Alright then." He said, a grin growing on his face was he grasped the bone and spun it once in his palm. Reaffirming his grip, Takao swung the bone down onto the skull. A loud, hollow ringing sound resonated from within. It was followed by a few short moments of silence, and then a deep, low rumbling. The ground shook in short increments, alluding to the footsteps of a large creature just beyond the frozen entrance of the cave. The footsteps continued to grow louder and closer, until they suddenly stopped and the clearing fell silent. "Showtime."

In the seconds that followed, the massive behemoth crashed through the ice and sent shards flying. It came bounding from the cave, all four limbs smashing against the ground as it charged Takao and Lawfer, throwing plumes of snow into the air. Unwilling to let the beast strike first, Takao spun his blade up and shouldered the flat. The metal of the blade began to glow yellow, and with the addition of the charge skill, Takao engaged the monster. Eight individual strikes found their way into the large body of the beast, cleaving large red wounds into its icy blue fur. The assault ended with a powerful and concussive hilt blow to the monster's face, knocking it to the ground and stunning it from moving. "Alright, let's out for a bit!" Takao called out as he landed.

ID: 55637
BD: 9 + 3(ACC)
MD: STUNNED

[ H:2 ] Takao: 213/213 HP (40/52) [Sword Art: «Nova Ascension» 9*1*20=180 DMG] (13 Base + 5 Charge + 1 Ferocity + 1 Critical)
[ H:0 ] Lawfer: 92/92  HP(23/23)

«Snow Beast»
70/250 HP [ -180 HP ]

[Lawfer 0]

Watching as the man known as Takao began to tear the hulking behemoth a new one, Lawfer had to purposely make sure his jaw didn't hit the ground in amazement. Shaking his head, he cleared his thoughts, then bent his knees. Pushing off his back foot, he sprinted towards the stunned beast. Aiming for the exposed neck of the snow beast, Lawfer grinned. 'This should work.' He thought to himself. Slinging his Lawbreaker from over his shoulder, the spearman prepared to swing. Trying to put every fiber of strength into his attack, the halberd came crashing down only be deflected off of the tusks that had moved ever so conveniently into the halberd path. "Well.... That really blows..." the dragoon stated with a sense of disappointment as he circled away from the monster.

ID: 55647
BD: 1
 

[ H:2 ] Takao: 213/213 HP (40/52) [Sword Art: «Nova Ascension» 9*1*20=180 DMG] (13 Base + 5 Charge + 1 Ferocity + 1 Critical)
[ H:0 ] Lawfer: 92/92  HP(21/23) [Miss]

«Snow Beast»
70/250 HP 

Edited April 7, 2016 by Lawfer

[Takao 0]

"Don't worry 'bout it, I got it." Takao said as Lawfer backed off and the behemoth began coming to its senses. Before it could make any moves or retaliate, Takao prepared a second sword art and launched into a combination of seven rapid thrusts. As his sword made the final connection, the beast exploded into a wave of colourful polygons, which seemed to disappear as quickly as they were produced. "Alright, that's that. Time for a dungeon then, yeah?"

ID: 55649
BD: 7 + 3(ACC)
MD: X

[ H:2 ] Takao: 213/213 HP (34/52) [Sword Art: «Deadly Sins» 7*1*13=180 DMG]
[ H:0 ] Lawfer: 92/92  HP(21/23)

«Snow Beast»
0/250 HP [ -91 HP ]

Edited April 7, 2016 by Takao

[Lawfer 0]

"Just that easy..." the golden haired man said as a chuckle escaped from Lawfer's lips when the behemoth of a beast was turned to pixilated dust right before his eyes. It was astounding that he solo'd the field boss that easy. Snapping to his senses, the spear man shook his head.  "Yeah, i'm down for a dungeon." He replied as he swung his Lawbreaker over his shoulder and latched it into its harness on his back. "Point the way and i'll follow." He stated as he rubbed his hands together and then brushed back the stray strands of hair that had fallen forward into his face.

[Takao 0]

"Alright, we'll head up to the fifth floor then." Takao said. He turned and swung his sword up onto his shoulder by the flat, then slid it down into the scabbard no his back. By the time the hilt clicked against the scabbard mouth, he was already starting off in the direction of the warp gate with a bit of haste in his step. He wasn't any more excited for an excursion through the fifth floor, he detested the climate extremes of both the fourth floor and the one that followed. He was, however, happy for a change of pace. Even if he would regret it eventually.

The warp platform was ascended, the words of the fifth floor's settlement were uttered, and a bright, flashing distortion of light whisked him and his traveling companion off to the arid desert of Aincrad. "The one I know of should be pretty close to Armadillo, so we might get lucky." Takao commented as he walked. They quickly delved into the wilderness of the fifth floor and bee-lined for the dungeon. After a few short minutes of travel, Takao enabled the reveal skill and made short work of the dungeon's hidden entrance. "And there we have it." He said, pointing to the cave entrance. "Y'ready?"

- -

Advanced Dungeon found.

» ID : [[ 55736 ]]
» LD : [[ 22 (12 + 2(Vitamins) + 3(Hands of Midas) + 3(Search&Detect) + 2(Reveal))

[Lawfer 0]

"Sounds like a plan." The golden haired dragoon replied as he followed Takao back to town, and eventually to the 5th floor. Like always, it was a unforgiving terrain filled with sand storms and sand... lots and lots of sand. "Well i hope its not too far." Lawfer commented, "I'm not too fond of the 5th floor... the sand gets everywhere. Took me like 3 showers to get it out of my man-" He stopped mid sentence. Takao was able to find the advanced dungeon. "How the hell did you find it so fast?" the dragoon asked, quite puzzled. He had been on countless dungeon searches before and was only ever able to find 1. "You know.... you made that look way too easy right?" 

[Takao 0]

Takao glanced over his shoulder as he hefted his sword from its scabbard. "Just lucky, I guess." He said, shrugging once. Lady Luck had definitely been favouring him as of late, but he was sure that like all good things, it would eventually run out. "It's a pretty big'n, so there'll probably be... maybe a little over a dozen monsters inside before we get to the boss." He said as he began to delve into the cave, sword in hand. "I'll take point, then when we get to the boss I'll have to stop for a minute to rest up a bit. The boss in this one will be a bit tougher than the last guy, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem." Takao explained, pausing momentarily as the skittering sounds of approaching monsters came to his attention. Opting to engage the monsters with a low level sword art, Takao had little problem with dispatching the four of them in a simple pair of strides.

ID: 55774
BD: 7 + 3(ACC)
LD: 10 + 3(S&D) + 3(Hands of Midas) + 2(Vitamins)

[ H:2 ] Takao: 213/213 HP (28/52) [Sword Art: «Deadly Sins» 4*1*18=72 DMG]
[ H:0 ] Lawfer: 92/92  HP(21/23)

«Giant Antlion 1-4»
0/50 HP [ -72 HP ]

Total Rewards

4 Materials

[Lawfer 0]

"Sounds like a plan, big guy" Lawfer responded in turn as he reached over his shoulder and slung his halberd from its harness. "You take the big ones... I'll take the less scary small ones." The performer joked as he watched the swordsman dispatch his foes easily. Looking over to the left flank, he noticed a small pack of mobs that were ready to rush in. His Lawbreaker glowed crimson, as its sword art engaged, slashing the tini-mobs to pieces before they had a chance to further their position. "I'll probably have to recharge as well, if things keep going like this." He commented. "I think we need to grab a cold pint after this.... Its still ballz hot down in this dungeon."

ID: 55775
BD: 8
LD: 13

[ H:2 ] Takao: 213/213 HP (28/52)
[ H:0 ] Lawfer: 92/92  HP(14/23) [Sword Art: <Hellish Twice-8EN> 2*2*8=32DMG]

« Mini-Antlion 1-4»
0/20 HP [ -32 HP ]

Edited April 8, 2016 by Lawfer

[Takao 0]

"Balls hot, eh?" Takao responded, chuckling lightly at the wording. "We won't be here for very long. Ten minutes at most, maybe." He said, offering some reassurance that their stay on the fifth floor would be kept as brief as possible. Whilst Lawfer engaged a grouping of four, Takao initiated combat with his own quarries. Four more monsters, much like the previous horde he'd fought mere seconds before, skittered out from the depths of the cave and charged him. His blade adopted a red glow as a result of an activated sword art, and the four monsters fell in rapid succession at the hands of four swift blows. "I think I might have to take a rain check on the drink. I've got some stuff t'do after this, been pretty busy lately." He said, half-lying. Now that he was out and about, fighting monsters and exploring dungeons, he figured there wouldn't be much point in spending the rest of the day relaxing. Might as well make progress whenever and wherever he could. "Boss room's right around this corner, but there's a few more lurkin'."

ID: 55839
BD: 9 + 3(ACC)
LD: 2 + 3(S&D) + 3(Hands of Midas) + 2(Vitamins)

Takao: 213/213 HP (21/52) [Sword Art: «Vertical Square» 4*1*18=76 DMG]
Lawfer: 92/92  HP(21/23)

«Giant Antlion 9-12»
0/50 HP [ -76 HP ]

3/15 Remaining

[Lawfer 0]

"Only Ten minutes or so?" He questioned, as he shrugged his shoulders and looked around. In has last few Floor Raids it took much longer than it did with the Dungeon phenom known as Takao. "Sounds good too me.... We'll grab a drink some other time." he continued as a group of mobs caught his attention in his peripherals. "I'll be back." he stated calmly as he sprinted towards the mobs, while engaging his ,Hellish Twice. As the mobs were cut to ribbons, he turned back to Takao. "Well I think that's the last of them. How are your energy levels?"

ID: 55960
BD: 7
LD: 13

[ H:2 ] Takao: 213/213 HP (28/52)
[ H:0 ] Lawfer: 92/92  HP(7/23) <Hellish Twice> -8EN 8*4=32DMG

« Mini-Antlion 13-16»
20/20 HP [-32hp

Edited April 9, 2016 by Lawfer

[Takao 0]

"Alright then, that's the lot." Takao said as he swung his sword up and shouldered the flat. As he glanced through the door, made possible with the continued activation of the reveal skill, Takao clicked his tongue thoughtfully. "Y'know, I actually have more energy left over than I was expecting. I'll be able to handle this guy without resting. I hope you don't mind takin' the back seat to this again, but I can't maintain hate like a tank can and this guy's gonna be hittin' hard." He responded. Claiming the spotlight for himself was something he seldom enjoyed doing, nor did he intend to find any joy in engaging the monster on his lonesome. However, staying true to his word of being out of the dungeon in ten minutes and preventing harm from befalling unto his temporary dungeoneering companion was a good deal more important.

After taking a few steps back, Takao slammed his foot into the wooden door that separated them from the monster lurking within. His reveal skill was deactivated to prevent it from distracting him, and in its place the charge skill was activated and his heaviest hitting sword art was chosen. He leapt forward and engaged the lion-scorpion hybrid monster that awaited him. Eleven hits tore through the monster, leaving massive red (enabled) scars in its flesh. In return, the monster's tail shot forward and swiped his arm, though the damage dealt was minimal.

ID: 55966
BD: 6 + 3(ACC)
MD: 8 - 2(EVA)

[ H:1 ] Takao: 206/213 HP [ -7 HP (55-48(MIT) ] (11/52) [Sword Art: «Meteor Break» 11*1*19=209 DMG]
[ H:0 ] Lawfer: 92/92  HP(7/23)

«Manticore»
141/350 HP [ -209 HP ]