[PP-F4] Snow Day <<Essence of Steel>> (Mack)

[Grave 0]

I kicked back in my seat in the bustling tavern, boots up on the rickety wooden table , flagon of ale just beside my raised feet. I had finally gotten my gauntlets appraised by Hirru, and all I needed now was something to boost them to a higher rarity to grab some more enhancements without the risk of Locking it. So, I opted to tackle <<Essence of Steel>>, requesting my very own Guild Vice Commander to come with and help me out. Earlier I had sent him a message;

Spoiler

Message To: Mack
Mind helping me beat the crap out of a yeti? Could use the stuff it drops. Thanks.

 I shut my eyes and rolled my head back to 'stare' at the ceiling as I awaited the red haired giant.

[Mack 0]

The presence of the Vice Commander was announced not by the hulking axe man himself, but by his loyal fuzz faced retainer. After accidentally mentioning to the bear that he was going off to help Grave with a quest there was no amount of harsh yelling and ordering in the world that would have convinced the furry freight train to remain behind. With snuffling roars of delight the bear blasted through first one and then another and then another of the many snow hills that covered the ground, each time launching a geyser of snow into the air. Spotting the giver of all things edible, the bear's brown eyes narrowed and he sped off in the direction of Grave. With a roar, Chewie took a flying leap, attached himself to the front of Grave's armor and scrambled up the man until their noses were mere millimeters apart. Opening his pink maw, Chewie bellowed a greeting and directed a clawed toe down his open mouth.

[Grave 0]

Boosh.

Boosh.

BOOSH.

I opened my eyes to look around and seek out the source of the sound, like a cannonball blasting the snow hills, and my eyes met a sight similar to the sound; a large, furry mass of muscle was destroying the mounds of snow near the isolated tavern, and my eyes widened in astonishment; the bear was demolishing the landscape! I stood up to greet the large cub, hoping he might skid to a stop... but I was wrong. The familiar launched himself at me like some kind of flying fox and gripped my coat tight, pushing his face right near mine and gesturing down his maw. "O-oh, hey, Chewie!" I stuttered, placing my crimson palms against the cub's rump to ensure he did not fall off. "Sorry buddy, I do not have anything on me at the moment, I did not think you would be coming!" I disappointed the bear, tilting my head to peer around the animal and at his owner. I removed one hand from Chewie to wave at Mack. "Heyo! It did not take you long at all to get here!" 

[Mack 0]

Chewie blinked large chocolate eyes at Grave as he clung to the front of the man's armor. When Grave moved to divert his attention to speak to the master, Chewie moved and jabbed his nose into Grave's face. "No food".  What kind of an answer was that. With their noses almost touching, Chewie tilted his head back and roared loudly right in Grave's face. Then he opened his mouth and pointed a clawed toe down his throat again. The man was a cook. He definitely had food. Claiming that he didn't was a flat out lie. Everyone knew that.

"My shop's on this floor," Mack rumbled, ignoring the antics of his familiar. The burly blacksmith had, long ago, given up on controlling the animal. Chewie was going to do what Chewie was going to do and, really, there was very little that anyone else could do about that.

[Grave 0]

I rolled my eyes at the heavy bear as he continued to plead to be fed, and I sighed. "What do you say if you behave while we are out, we can go to my shop and I can whip you up something tasty?" I asked the furry creature, hoping it would settle for a bargain like that. Of course, knowing Chewie, he would do anything for a free meal, even if it meant siting absolutely still. Well, I hoped so anyway. I attempted to pry the Familiar from my shirt, as he was beginning to hurt my back, and that was a part of me that was somewhat required to fight.

"Ah, right, forgot about that." I replied to the giant, mentally slapping myself for forgetting where I was in the castle. "Well, ready to beat the snot out of a snowman?" I asked with a chuckle and a fiery eye; I quite felt like knocking a few skulls around... but a large yeti-sized one would make a nice substitute.

[Mack 0]

OOC: @Grave ready to fire this back up now, if you still want to do it.

Chewie considered the proposition for a moment, anyone looking into his chocolate eyes would see the greedy little gears of his mind working. Finally, still clinging to the front of Grave's coat the bear nodded. Releasing one paw, he held it up in the other man's face and ticked off each of his claws, then pointed down his gaping maw again. Chewie assumed the meaning was quite clear. The bear expected a four course meal, he expected to be allowed to eat until his stomach was grossly distended and he had to be rolled, in a very literal sense, out of Grave's cafe. That done Chewie released his grip on Grave and comically tumbled backwards into an enormous snow drift like some kind of cartoon character.

"I've done that quest a few times," Mack rumbled, rolling his shoulders around in their sockets with a pair of audible pops. "With the two of us it shouldn't prove to be much of a challenge with the two of us working together. Lead the way," the Vice Commander concluded, drawing his axe and shouldering the weapon as they prepared to march out to go and deal with what would, likely, prove to be a rather quick quest.

[Grave 0]

I groaned and closed my eyes in agitation as the bear used hand signals to get his message across; a four course meal? He had to be kidding... but alas, if I wanted the bear to be a good little child, I would have to acquiesce to his request. And who knows what he would do if I did not hold up my end of the deal? Finally the bear released his death grip on my coat, and I patted myself down of bear fur, although animals never actually seemed to shed in this game. The creature snowballed back to Mack and I balled my hands into fists against my hips. "He is a bit of a problem child. Even Hikari's not as needy as the fluffball."

"I have done it once before." I nodded in response, remembering when we teamed up with Hirru and Xion to take it out the first time. "Yes, with our damage output, the creature really should not pose much of a problem." I agreed, sliding my hands into my coat pockets to stop them from freezing off. I turned and beckoned to Mack as I trudged off through the snowy hills, seeking out the skull that would summon the abominable snowman we were to slay.

 

[Mack 0]

OOC: We'll need to use the September Update specs for this fight, since we were NOT in combat before the update.

At the mention of the name Hikari Chewie's furry head exploded from the snow drift he had tumbled into and the bear looked around greedily. Did Hikari taste like a pork chop? Chewie didn't know, but the grizzly was anxious to find out. Sadly, as the cub peered about he quickly discovered that there was no sign of Hikari. Grunting a snuffling woofing noise, Chewie popped out of the snow drift, his mind already working on what he would eat for his four course meal. Obviously, there would need to be a fish course. And chicken. And pork. And beef. And ham. Probably some dragon. Maybe some unicorn. Was that more than four?

"Chewie does what Chewie is going to do," Mack rumbled, shrugging his broad shoulders as he pulled up the hood of his cloak. "I've given up trying to control him. And no, dealing with this quest's boss monster should not prove to be much of a challenge, unless it's stats have been changed." Reaching back over his shoulder, Mack drew his axe and held it in an easy grip against one shoulder as they exited the safe zone of the town in search of the monster.

[Grave 0]

(I am aware of that, don't worry :D Unless it's an RGQ, I always use either the stats used in the first instance of combat or my current stats if combat hasn't been initiated yet)
 

"If you cannot beat them, let them do what they want, I guess." I shrugged as well in response to Mack's comment, and watched him pull the hood of his cloak up. "Its stats would have been scaled with ours, but apart from that it should be no more difficult than the first encounter." I nodded in agreement and reached into my coat pockets, sliding my hands into the flexible gauntlets within, flexing my fingers to rid them of the cold, tingly feeling from the freezing atmosphere; I had to be armed in case some frost wolf or even a troll lumbered out from the snowfields on our way.

After crossing a few frosted hills and watching the grizzly tumble about aimlessly down them, the glinting skull glimmered into view. "There we go, same spot it has always been." I mused and approached it, standing on the opposite side of the bell-like object, waiting for Mack's confirmation to sound the Snow Beast's instrument of death. "Ready?" I asked in a nonchalant manner, already knowing the answer; this would be a piece of cake as long as the snow was nice to us and Chewie did not get in the way.

[Mack 0]

"No more difficult than the first encounter," Mack rumbled as Chewie continued to cavort about in the snow. "So, in other words there's no challenge to it at all at our current levels," the Vice Commander continued with a shrug. In truth, they could hardly expect to find a significant challenge on the fourth floor, considering what their current levels were and where the location of the current front line was. Silently the soldier rolled his head around on his neck and popped several vertebrae with an audible cracking noise.

Within a few more moments the pair of Knights had reached the location where the snow beast could be spawned from and Grave was inquiring as to whether or not Mack was ready. "One second," the hulking man said in a low tone, planting Invictus in the snow and leaning the weapon against the pedestal that had the skull on it. Reaching down he grabbed Chewie by the scruff of the neck and heft the little monster with one hand, placing the cub atop the skull.

"Chewie, stay. If you disobey then Grave will not feed you." The bear looked utterly appalled at this threat and seated himself atop the enormous bleached white skull with a huff. "That should do it."

[Grave 0]

I tilted my head in a baffled manner as Mack stalled me for a moment, grabbing the titanic cub (as titanic as a cub could get of course) by the scruff of the neck and perching him on the skull. The hulking axeman commanded the bear to stay, providing an ultimatum on my behalf and I chuckled, watching the bear's demeanor become somewhat devastated. "Well, that is one way to deal with him." I stated and shrugged, before turning to the skull Chewie was seated upon. I swiftly opened my menu and equipped my sparkling white armor, the same color as the snow beneath our boots, before ever so slightly knocking the skull with my gauntlet as I might with a door. We waited a second... five seconds... ten seconds... and the earth began to rumble, shaking as colossal feet strode across the snowy landscape, and from the frosty shadows a titanic figure lumbered towards us. "Here is the bastard." I sighed, and took up a fighting stance with both of my fists in front of my face.

Party
[H:0]Grave: 600/600 HP | 60/60 EN | 12 D | 39 M | 2 REC | 1 CC | 18 Regen | 24 BLD | 20 BH
[H:0]Mack: 1090/1090 HP | 106/106 EN

Enemies
Snow Beast: 250/250 HP | D: 160 | Partial Phase: Snow Beast will always deal a minimum of 24 damage, even through Armor and Armor Abilities.

[Mack 0]

ID: 78968
BD: 8 (5+3 ACC)
Screw Dimension: 1x13x20 = 260 DMG to Snow Beast (15 Base + 5 Charge)

[H:0]Grave: 600/600 HP | 60/60 EN | 12 D | 39 M | 2 REC | 1 CC | 18 Regen | 24 BLD | 20 BH
[H:2]Mack: 1090/1090 HP | 94/106 EN | 84 MIT | +6 DMG | +3 ACC
Snow Beast: -0/250 HP | D: 160 | Partial Phase: Snow Beast will always deal a minimum of 24 damage, even through Armor and Armor Abilities.

"And so it is, bet I can kill it in one shot," the Vice Commander rumbled, drawing back the hood on the crimson trimmed cloak he was wearing before tightening his hands on Invictus. With a bellowing war cry the soldier lurched into motion and charged across the ground that separated him from the Snow Beast. Twirling Invictus in a speedy blur, Mack slammed the heavy business end of the weapon into the quest creature. The axe scythed across the Snow Beast's stomach, then hammered into the mangy creature's ribs first from the left and then from the right, before finally Mack tomahawked the axe over his head and buried it in the Snow Beast's skull with a resounding thud that echoed around the small clearing for an instant before the creature exploded in a shower of pixels. Kneeling where the beast had been eliminated, Mack retrieved the item that the monster dropped and tossed it in Grave's direction.

Chewie, for his part, had watched the combat closely. As soon as the monster was defeated the bear cub flung himself off of the skull and onto Grave's back. After a mad scrabbling of claws his head emerged over one of Grave's shoulders and he jabbed his wet black nose in Grave's face and made a grunting noise. The job was done, it was time to commence with the feeding. Everyone knew that.

[Grave 0]

"I do not doubt that," I sighed in response to Mack's comment, and rolled my shoulders back; he was going to go through with his bet, I knew it. The red headed commander clashed with the beast in a blur of light from his enormous axe's Sword Art, and I could only stand dumbstruck as the beast's health plummeted further and further into oblivion, until Mack's brutal weapon shattered the beast into sapphire data crystals with a fatal overhead strike. I slammed my gauntlet's palm into the faceplate of my helmet and groaned in defeat. The metal glove scratched along the ivory steel of my armour as it came away to [censored] the item from the air. I turned my head away sharply at the sensation of Chewie's nose and I grunted. "And here I was hoping to delay the inevitable. Best day ever," I groaned and spun on my heel, trudging back through the snow with a brown hunk of muscle attached to my back like a parasite. My fingers dived through the air in front of me, speeding through my inventory to remove my armour, exposing myself to the cold once more before my coat flashed back around my shoulders. "No time to waste, I guess," I groaned and beckoned Mack along back towards the town.

[Mack 0]

Shouldering Invictus, the mammoth Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath stood from where he had knelt in the snow and regarded Grave for a moment, shrugging his shoulders. “We both know that you could have beat the snow beast all by yourself, so the only reason you asked me to come along in the first place was so I could show off and you could get some pointers,” Mack rumbled in a low tone falling into step with Grave as Chewie flung himself from the totem and began to scramble around on Grave’s shoulders to pester the chef for something to eat.

When Grave indicated that there was no time to waste Chewie issued a hearty woofing sound of agreement. The job was done. Now, there was food to be eaten. Promised food. Large and vast quantities of food. Really, just the most food. The grizzly cub firmly intended to eat until he could hold no more and had to be rolled out of the diner. He wanted more food than he could possibly imagine and, the problem was, that he could imagine an awful lot of food.

[Grave 0]

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, sir," I responded with an acidic tone and reached behind me to hold the bear up on my back and avoid getting a set of baby claw marks down my back. "Alright, furball, let us go," I sighed and turned to shoot Mack a dirty look as if to say 'this is your fault'. We strode through the town of Snowfrost towards the teleport gate, both of Mack's possessions slung across our backs, the one upon coat being quite a nuisance with that cold nose of his. I picked up the pace so I could just get this over with, stepping briskly onto the platform with Mack in tow and calling the teleport command. A moment later we were swamped in sparkling blue light, the system whisking us a floor downwards in the castle.

When the azure haze dissipated the town of Delilah surrounded us, busy as always. Grumbling to myself about the lazy hunk of muscle on my back I led us towards the figurative center of the city where my small, cylindrical shop sat in a clearing. "Welcome to my humble abode," I sighed monotonously as I shouldered the door open, beckoning Mack inside. I set Chewie down on one of the stools in front of the counter and headed to the kitchen in the back, shucking my coat off and wrapping myself in a white apron. "What would my guest like?"