[PP-NK-F5] <<Butcher of the Sands>> A new alliance forms!

[Baldur 0]

Baldur hated this floor. He could remember why he was here, in the sand, surrounded by alligators who would make Sobek jealous.

"I hate needing materials." Baldur sighed as he prepared his <<charge>> skill. The blue and orange gaijin samurai flew across the field of sand to attack a group of 4 warrior sand alligators. This had been a strange week indeed. As he unleashed his <<Gen Getsu>> sword art, Baldur tore through the armor and their health bars like they weren't there, his expertly made katana's black blade blazing with blue light. A moment later, silence settled over Baldur as polygons filled the air before they disappeared as well.

Looking through the loot, Baldur saw that he had an item that was flagged with a quest note. <<Butcher of the Sands>>. He had heard about that quest somewhere... He'd have to look it up. Walking over to a near-by oasis, Baldur sat down in the tiny patch of shade and called up his inventory.

"This quest requires a party." Baldur read aloud as he looked through the small book he had gotten from an info-broker a long time ago. It was the first and only quest he had noticed with a requirement for a party. With a wave of his hands, he summoned his friend list and quickly scrolled through it. It wasn't a terribly long list.

"Hmm... I had told Rain that I would go with him to gather some materials. Maybe a quest like this would be a good idea."

Standing up, Baldur made his way back to the settlement. In the info-broker's note, when you got to a ring of spears in the northern area of the floor, the quest would populate, but you had to have a party or it would just teleport you away.

"Well I suppose that's a quick way to get back home."

With a wave of his hand, Baldur called up his chat window and sent a private message to Rain.

Quote

@Rain>> Ohayo! I've got a quest on the 5th floor that should be good for XP and Materials. You interested?

"Hmm.... but what are we gonna do about a tank..."

Baldur walked through the village aimlessly while he was waiting for Rain to arrive when Baldur saw the ominous dark figure who had bravely aggroed Asterios in the last event fight.

" @Xion ??" He called out to the warrior before quickly walking up to him. He would be perfect as their tank!

---

[ID# 64830 BD: 7+3 (hit) LD: 15+5] <<Gen Getsu>> 12+2 x 6 = 84 - 15 = 69 DMG

<<Baldur>> HP: 124/124 NRG: 19/31

<<Sand Gator>> HP: 0/65 | MIT 15 | DMG 15 - drops 2 Mats & 325 Col
<<Sand Gator>> HP: 0/65 | MIT 15 | DMG 15 - drops 2 Mats & 325 Col
<<Sand Gator>> HP: 0/65 | MIT 15 | DMG 15 - drops 2 Mats & 325 Col
<<Sand Gator>> HP: 0/65 | MIT 15 | DMG 15 - drops 2 Mats & 325 Col

Edited July 26, 2016 by Baldur

[Rain 0]

With a big swing of his nodachi, the hafu wanderer, completely and utterly misses his attack. Suddenly a window appears right in front of the wanderer, right as he gets slammed and thrown to the side by the tail of a «Sand Gator». The blow, however, only managed to scratch the wanderer. With the advent of his new gear, these mobs are no threat to the wanderer. But that didn't mean he should take his eyes off the creature. He had noticed that the message was from Baldur. Just what the message had entailed, the wanderer had no time for as he was a little busy with a little mob.

It's somewhat common knowledge that no one like the 5th's floor's sand and heat, but it's even more evident on the wanderer. Compared to his cold home floor of the the 4th floor, this floor is the completely opposite. He had come to this dreadful place since the wanderer had heard a rumor that there was a really strong field boss somewhere here on the 5th floor. The wanderer had no clue just how strong it was, but with recent ascent to level 25, he wanted to test his new gear.

Spoiler

ID# 64835 results: Battle: 5 (2+3) MOB: 7
[Rain] [Level 25] [HP (99/100)] [Energy (23/25)] [DMG 12] [ACC 3] [EVA 0] [MIT 18] [LD 2]
 » Missed
  » -2 Energy; -1 HP

[Sand Gator] [HP 65/65] [DMG 15] [MIT 15]
 » DMG 15 - MIT 18 = DMG 1 (Min)

 

Edited July 26, 2016 by Rain

[Xion 0]

"Huh...hot day" Xion said to himself as he wandered around the town of armadillo on the fifth floor, the harsh light of Aincrad's sun beating down upon the player as his boots slowly kicked up sand around him, some of it getting into his armour, but it didn't bother the player much due to the fact that he had been in much worse situations in Aincrad and some sand in his shoes was the least of his worries. With a sigh the player looked at his stats. "Level 31, 129 HP, 101 Mitigation, 9 damage, 28 thorns and 18 regen..." he said to himself, listing stats that some players would have been envious of, seen as godlike and unobtainable. But they were the lower levels, the weaker of SAO's population. "Still not enough..." Xion said to himself, a hint of anger in his voice as he did, even though the tank had grown rather rapidly in power in a short amount of time he still wasn't satisfied with his standing in Aincrad, he wanted to become stronger, although catching up to the other frontliners was a tall order. With a huff he leant against the wall of a building, a few blonde locks obscuring his face as he heard someone call his name, turning to see a player which he barely recognised. "Baldur..?" he said in response to the player, taking a step forwards as he did. "Why are you here...there aren't many quests left on this bloody floor..."

[Baldur 0]

Baldur let out a silent sigh of relief when Xion acknowledged his hail. He had been half worried he would mispronounce the name, or have remembered it wrong. They had seen each other in boss fights, but there were many people he saw in those but never interacted with. Still, Baldur had seem the man perform in both the floor boss and Asterios fight and had been impressed by him. He had a bit of a temper, or a chip on his shoulder, but he could tell that the man was motivated. Baldur, while not one the front edge anymore, had been there once. People seemed to settle down once they had experienced enough of the front line, and grown comfortable in their shoes. This knight had something to prove, but then, so did Baldur.

"Ah, I was here farming some materials when I found out about a quest. I had forgotten that I meant to take it on. It's called 'Butcher in the sands' and you need a quest to do it or it teleports you out. I sent a message to a friend to help -" Baldur's eyes glanced at the corner of his vision where he was checking to see if he had gotten a message yet or not "- but he hasn't responded yet, nor is he a tank. I was just thinking we could probably use someone who can take a hit to come along with us..."

Baldur hesitated. He felt that his meaning was conveyed, but he would show the man the respect he had earned.

Bowing his head slightly, his hands pressed together, "Would you mind helping us out?"

[Rain 0]

"Shine!" The wanderer becomes overwhelmed with anger. He jumped high into the air and right at the «Sand Gator». With one powerful swing of his new nodachi, he cuts clean through the sand creature. Soon after, the creature breaks into pixels. A little window pops up showing what little loot it gave. "Useless..." he says as he quickly pushes the exit button and quickly navigates himself towards his inbox. With a quick read, he realizes that Baldur is somewhere in the 5th floor already and that he might be also looking for that "Butcher of the Sands."

Without a second thought, the wanderer presses the reply button. Exp is always nice, but materials is what really caught the wanderer's interest.

Quote

To @Baldur,
    Sure... If you're talking about the Butcher of the Sand Quest, let's meet up at the arena entrance. I'm actually already on the 5th floor looking for the place.
                                                              -Rain

 

Spoiler

ID# 65000 results: Battle: 7 Loot: 16 (12+4)
[Rain] [Level 25] [HP (99/100)] [Energy (17/25)] [DMG 12] [ACC 3] [EVA 0] [MIT 18] [LD 2]
 » [Zekkai] DMG 12 * SA (1*7) = DMG 84 - MIT 15 = DMG 69
  » +1 Energy; -7 Energy

[Sand Gator] [HP 0/65] [DMG 15] [MIT 15] DEAD -69 HP

+325 Col

- Rain's Loot -
325 Col

 

Edited July 28, 2016 by Rain

[Xion 0]

Xion stood and listened to Baldur explain himself, the katana user stating that he was going after the butcher in the sands quest, Xion's eyes widening as he heard that. "Butcher of the sands...that's a rather dangerous one you realise that right?" he asked the man, while Xion respected him as a player with power just about equal to his own he head heard of and seen too many players rush to their deaths by taking on quests that they were too weak to tackle, and he didn't want to see the same tragedy play out with Baldur. Luckily the man told XIon that they would be getting help from another player who wasn't a tank, Xion assumed that this meant he was a DPS build, but a healer also would have been a great help. "I'll happily come along, but the butcher, as the boss tends to be called doesn't follow the normal rules of engagement as it were Baldur. It ignores hate from what I've heard and will attack whoever it pleases which means that I won't be as useful..." he told him in a serious tone, the tank sighing as he never liked a situation where he couldn't ensure that the enemy attacked him and no one else. 

[Baldur 0]

"It doesn't follow hate?" Baldur made an indiscriminate sound as he considered the tank's words. That would put a hitch in his plan. PvP mobs tended to be even more difficult to manage that actual PvP fights. They were always the most troublesome in raids. However, with Xion there, that could still improve their odds, if only by adding another target they wouldn't have to worry about.

"Rather than respeccing and rebuilding in order to specifically fight this boss, I think having you along would help because instead of there being a 50% chance that Rain or I would get hit, there's a 33% chance. Also, while I have a powerful attack and stun strike, it's not as effective as an opening move, since having the extra damage from <<Charge>> would be more useful on my most powerful attack."

Baldur tapped his chin as he continued to think out loud.

"So how about this. If I <<Charge>> in with my most powerful attack to make sure we get the damage bonus in, I think I can take out over half of its health at this level. Then you follow me in with your biggest stun attack. Since you're a tank build, we wouldn't lose as much damage as if Rain or I did it. Then Rain can follow in with his most powerful attack. If he connects, that should kill it right there. If you miss your stun, then Rain can follow in with his. If you BOTH miss, then the best precaution would be Rain and I using Safeguard potions. That would buy us another round to stun it and finish it off.

It seemed like a solid plan to Baldur, indeed, he would be staking his life on it.

"What do you think. Are you with us?"

Baldur gestured with his hand and invited Xion to the group.

[Rain 0]

The sandy winds of the 5th floor blew past the wanderer as he slowly made his way to the area of spears. He had told Baldur that he will meet them there. Not wanting to waste any time, the wanderer pushed on through the sand. There was no sandstorm or anything. He was just trudging through the sands since the heat bearing down on him and - after all his trips to this godforsaken floor - he still can't stand this floor's heat. He would rather much prefer the cold winds of the 4th floor. Looking ahead, he can see the opening of the arena now. "Baldur and his group be arriving soon. I should waste any more time," he thought to himself. As the wanderer drew nearer, he began to tinker with his HUD until he took out a potion which he quickly chugged.

- Greater Damage Potion II Used - [+4 Damage]

Edited August 4, 2016 by Rain

[Baldur 0]

Baldur, hopefully with Xion in tow, arrived some time later at the ring of spears. He had worked up what felt like a good sweat and probably would have been over-heating in his armor had this been in the real world. Once he crested a dune and saw Rain not far off, he called out to his friend and gave a huge overhead full arm wave. He would have jogged the last hundred meters, but the mental aspect of the heat got to him and made him think that he was exhausted after the hike to get out there.

"Ohayo." Baldur said while a bit out of breath, "Thanks for meeting us out here. It'll be great having the three of us take on this quest... it shouldn't be difficult now."

Finally, Baldur stood up and pulled out one of the rarely used waters from his inventory and drank it down. He couldn't get dehydrated in the game, but if felt good to drink the water and then pour the last bit of it over his head.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting. The game plan is that I'll use my <<charge>> attack and <<San Ge>> to max out my damage. That should do over half of his HP. Xion is gonna follow up behind me to stun it, while you finish it off. If Xion misses, then you should switch up to <<Iai>> to stun it, and if that doesn't kill it, then you or I can finish it off in the next round. How's that sound?"

[Xion 0]

As Xion and Baldur walked through the dunes towards their destination the tank noticed the fact that Baldur seemed to be struggling, Xion however was mostly unaffected due tot the survival skill that he had picked up a while back. "Baldur, don't you have survival?" he asked the man before continuing their journey,t he tow eventually reaching the arena of spears that was described in the quest. "That's it right?" he asked the man next to him as they walked over some more dunes, Baldur seemed to notice someone else and ran off, Xion simply sighed as he maintained his own pace. After a while he reached them both, nodding to them as he listened to their plan. "Sounds good Baldur, you know this big bad beast may end up being a pushover" 

[Rain 0]

OOC: Sorry... net problems...

After a few minutes of trudging through the scalding sands of the 5th floor, the wanderer finally makes it to the entrance of the arena of spears. As he arrives, he quickly spots the 2 familiar faces he came here to meet and group up with. "Yo." He quickly says as he raises his hand to wave at them. He wasn't particularly sure he could take on this beast of a field boss, but with these two, he was sure to be able to get rid of the boss easily. "It's fine," the wanderer says, as Baldur tries to apologies of waiting - which wasn't long at all. As the wanderer listens to Baldur's plan, he was sure the idea would definitely work with almost 0% chance of any casualties. "Yeah, that sure awesome. It should work perfectly. Maybe afterwards, we can hit a dungeon." The wanderer then begins to fiddle with his HUD and eventually takes out a potion, which he tosses to Baldur. "Here's a damage potion to max out our damage. I already took one earlier." The wanderer then looks over to his HUD. His energy wasn't completely filled, but it should be more than enough to deal with the boss.

Greater Damage Potion II traded to Baldur [+4 Damage]

Edited August 9, 2016 by Rain

[Baldur 0]

Baldur looked surprised, but smiled when Rain tossed him a <<Greater Damage Potion II>>. With this kind of a combat buff, their battle was sure to be a breeze, as well as any other fights they encountered afterwards in a dungeon should they find one. Baldur tipped the potion back and chugged the contents down, watching as the buff icon appeared in the upper corner of his vision.

"Alright gentlemen, let's check this place out."

With a swipe of his hand, Baldur added Rain to the party so he could see all of their HP bars. Leading the others down, they had to pick their way carefully through the ring of spears. It seems they did not want you to be able to run from this quest. For just a moment, a twinge of doubt crept into Baldur's mind, but he mentally shook it away. He would not show fear or uncertainty to his allies. They had placed their trust in him and his ability, and he placed his in theirs. They could do this, and they could do this easily.

As soon as they entered the ring, a pop-up appeared on his sceen.

"Do you wish to accept the <<Butcher of the Sands>> Quest?" He read the pop-up aloud.

"Well guys, this is it. You ready, Rain? Xion?" His finger hovered over the button.

[Rain 0]

The wanderer's mind and body somewhat tremble at the drop on Baldur's "Are you ready?" Physically, the wanderer was more than ready to take on their fierce field boss. His damage is up there a long with the best of them. He may not have the charge skill yet, but his damage is still a lot. But mentally, the growing rumors of how strong this field boss slowly crept into the wanderer's mind. If he dies here, it's all over. He can never leave this place and he could never see the real world once more. He had told his dead brother, and mother than he's going to survive this godforsaken death game a long time ago in the «Calming the Soul» Quest which brought out your inner demons.

No, he has to fight. He has to survive. More than anything, he needs to live. Not exactly for the ones who are alive in the real world, but more so for the ones he has lost in life. As the group got ready to begin their march in, the wanderer took one more deep breathe in before he followed. "You only live once... Let's go."

Full Energy

[Baldur 0]

Baldur nodded at Rain's words, and then nodded at Xion, letting the tank know that it was was time. He pressed the button and immediately a giant armored crocodile explodes out of the ground, wielding an over sized crescent glaive that reminded Baldur of a Klingon Bat'leth. The beast towered over them, it's giant maw curling into the cruel visage of laughter.

"Welcome to my ring, human tribe! The only way out now, is death! Either yours, or mine!"

Baldur was one step ahead of his future pair of boots. He had been ready to die the moment he stepped through that ring, so its words had little effect on him. Steel blue eyes focused on the mob, causing the orange cursor to appear.

"Here I go!" Baldur yelled to his friends louder than he needed to as he crouched into his <<charge>> skill and flew at the field boss like a streak of blue and orange lightning, his sword blazing with an azure fire as he drove the first blow of <<San Ge>> into the crocodile. Baldur skidded to a halt behind it as the system assist helped him move with inhuman speed, and leaving trails of after-light as he cut through the armor of the beast leaving behind bright red lines.

 

---

[ID# 65805 BD: 7+3 (hit)] <<San Ge>> 12 (base) +2 (charge) +4 (alchemy) = 18 x 12 = 216 - 20 (mit) = 196 DMG

Turn Order:
<<Baldur>> 124/124 HP | 19/31 NRG | 16 DMG | 3 ACC
@Xion ???/??? HP | ??/?? NRG 
<<Rain>> ???/??? HP | ??/?? NRG
<<Sando Satsu>> 154/350 HP | 20 MIT | 40 DMG

Edited August 11, 2016 by Baldur

[Xion 0]

ID: 65903

BD: 3 (Miss)

 

 

(Missed are you bloody happy now?) 

Xion nodded as the trio were lead into the arena by Baldur, the tank gripping his glaive tightly as he waited for the battle to begin, although it looked like the boss had a few words for the player before the actual fighting began which annoyed the tank greatly. "Keep on talking lizard, you'll look nice hung up on my wall..." he said angrily to the boss before Baldur made the first attack, the swordsman charging at the beast and striking it with a sword art which dealt a considerable amount of damage. After which Xion ran forwards and tried to attack it with a stunning sword art, the player's glaive missing as she lashed out twice. "Bloody thing dodged..."  he said, frustrated. 

 

<<Baldur>> 124/124 HP | 19/31 NRG | 16 DMG | 3 ACC
<<Xion>> 133/133 HP | 30/32 NRG 
@Rain  ???/??? HP | ??/?? NRG
<<Sando Satsu>> 154/350 HP | 20 MIT | 40 DMG

 

[Rain 0]

OOC: For someone who's online often, you sure took long to post, Xion. -_-

The wanderer's crimson red eye shadowed over the battlefield as Baldur began the fight by quickly charging right large lizard. With a heavy hitting Sword Art, Baldur managed to cut through more than half of the beast's health. Xion quickly tried following it up with an attack of his own, only to hit nothing but air. Now, the wanderer eyes, the large creature that stood before him. Within seconds, his casual walk became a sprint. Once he was close enough, he leaped into the air. "«San Ge»" he whispers to himself as he quickly draws his crimson glowing nodachi. In a flash of crimson, the wanderer rips multiple cuts on the creature's chest, before he brings down one final swing of his blade, cleaving the creature in two before it blew up in pixels.

As the wanderer lands, he slowly sheathes his blade before turning to the group. "You know, I honestly thought that was going to be harder," he says with a somewhat disappoint look on his face. He had heard rumors that this creature was insanely strong, but before the creature could even do anything, the wanderer and his group managed to defeat it without any problems.

Spoiler

ID# 65907 results: Battle: 7 (4+3) Loot: 17 (13+ S&D 2 + Item 2)
[Rain] [Level 25] [HP (99/100)] [Energy (13/25)] [DMG 12+4] [ACC 3] [EVA 0] [MIT 18] [LD 2]
 » [San Ge] DMG 16 * SA (6*2) = DMG 192 - MIT 20 = DMG 172
  » -12 Energy

«Baldur» 124/124 HP | 19/31 NRG | 16 DMG | 3 ACC
«Xion» 133/133 HP | 30/32 NRG 
«Rain»  100/100 HP | 13/25 NRG | 16 DMG | 
«Sando Satsu» 0/350 HP | 20 MIT | 40 DMG  -172 HP [1 Material; 1,750 Col]

Edited August 12, 2016 by Rain

[Baldur 0]

Baldur breathed a bit of a sigh of relief as he saw the shower of polygons explode around them, the gator was no more. He knew his plan had redundancy, and plenty of room for error, but ever since he took Cygnus on a quest and had forgotten to have him drink a safeguard first, Baldur was leary of the system working against him. One mistake in that fight could have cost his friend his life, and Baldur had had an incredibly hard time trying to land the finishing blow on that field boss... something which was very rare to Baldur.

Glancing around the arena to make sure nothing further was happened, Baldur finally nodded to himself, reassured that it was safe, and whipped his black and red katana around as he sheathed it.

"Good. I'm glad that went according to plan. "

He smiled at Rain's comment about the fight being more difficult.

"There are few bosses that can stand up to a well coordinated alpha strike. I was lucky enough to kill the <<Monkey King>> in two blows, but landing an <<Iai>> stun and then following up with <<San Ge>> and I didn't even need consumables or a crit. I say lucky, because if I had missed, he could have stunned me, and I would have had a worse time."

He chucked, but it was half hearted. The nerves from combat were still with him, as if the adrenaline hadn't yet died down. He had not been entirely worried for himself, this boss's damage was reported as being pretty low, which was due to it bypassing mitigation. They could have all had time to teleport out before anyone had a chance to die, but Baldur was always worried about that one in a hundred chance that something would go wrong. It was the little, unexpected things that always caused problems.

"Regardless, having so many chances to stun, and doing this quest with 3 people meant that we were well within the margin of safety."

Glancing around, he held a hand up to the glare of the sun.

"Well, shall we head back to the settlement now?"

[Xion 0]

Xion sighed as the battle was over before it started,the tank strapping his glaive to his back before speaking to the others. "I'm disappointed. That beast was far too weak...AI don't even know why people make such a fuss about the quest, the entire time I thought we would have to fight tooth and nail for survival against this thing but all ti took was two katana sword arts" Xion said, kicking at some of the sand as he was bored due to the ease of the quest, although that was explained by Baldur as according to the swordsman many bosses were easily killed by an 'alpha strike' as he called it. "Either way even if we didn't stun the thing couldn't do much to us, 40 damage is weak even if it ignores mitgation. Anyone of a high enough level and the sense to invest in some regen armour could have taken it down" he said before Baldur mentioned leaving for the settlement. "We should, the sooner we claim the rewards of this quest the better" 

[Baldur 0]

Baldur watched as Xion showed his disappointment in the quest, and he could certainly understand the warrior's feeling. They were actually under-leveled for what the quest recommends, but they were easily able to defeat the supposedly tough monster. When Baldur himself had played tanks in the past, he remembered the feeling of disappointment when they would get to fights and he may as well have not had a role. The tank mentality meant that he had sacrificed personal gain to play an essential role in the group, and when that role couldn't be executed, it often felt like you had made that sacrifice for nothing. Even though their blows had landed true in what was basically the best case scenario, had Baldur himself missed, and Rain as well, they could quickly be put into a dangerous position. Rain's damage potions just served to tip things even further in their advantage by front-loading Baldur's damage. This prevented the boss's increased damage and mitigation from kicking in since they never entered that range.

"I agree that for a boss that has a rep of being challenging it was a disappointing fight, however, I prefer those to life or death ones... even if my warrior's spirit does agree with you."

Looking around at his two companions, Baldur nodded to both and began to head towards the main settlement of the floor.

"Good work though." He said over his shoulder at the other two, "We completed the quest, and no one got hurt. Ultimately, that's the goal, right?"

 

[Rain 0]

Rain looked over to his two companions. It seems everyone's disappointed at the quest. They had all thought that this boss was going to be a challenge. And rightfully so it would have been, had it not been for the wanderer's potions and Baldur and Rain's straight up raw damage. The creatures health and mitigation just couldn't handle the duo's raw damage. The wanderer looks back to the group and give them both a quick nod. "Yeah... let's go." True to his way of acting more than talking, the wanderer began to lead the group back to civilization. He didn't to stay there in the scalding heat while being idle and discussing about the quest. He didn't want to be rude, but the heat was never a place the wanderer ever wanted to be, but sadly, many quests can be found here. Seriously, why are a lot of quests found on the second floor, why not the lovely cold 4th floor?