[PP:F14:NK] Raiding Castle Blackwatch [Calrex][Complete]

[Opal 0]

Floor fourteen, Opal had yet to see any part of this floor first hand except from casual rumors from the Info Brokers. With a constant flow of energy in the sky and the never ending darkness that seemed to loom, she felt something at peace as she looked up into the thundering sky through a glass window. Violet eyes trickled down to the drink in her as she sat in peace within a tavern in the main settlement of Stonewall. She had heard rumors of some rather nasty undead creatures roaming the halls of the dilapidated fortress known as Blackwatch, it was a good time as any to get some extra training in and to raid the once former and grandeur Castle. However, to take this quest alone would be forfeit. She was confident in her abilities, yet she did not test the waters so to speak on this floor. She could possibly get by carving out a few of the mobs alone but would probably seek the safety of a zone to recover loss HP if she would push herself too hard.

The woman leaned on her right arm as she continued to gaze at the foreboding sky. The veins of crackling yellow lit through the dark clouds, conspiring to rain yet not a single drop had fallen since her time here. The tavern itself was all but bare, save for a few people who seemed tough enough to be on the front-lines, yet no familiar faces in sight. With her hand placing the mug down on the wooden table, the woman set up her menu and down her recent contact list. She scrolled through names and she began to gnaw on her bottom lip, "No one dependable really...Very well cant ask the Twins, they don't do mob runs unless they are hunting for a player. Volcano is out of the question...I can barely stand that guy, Sensui would be of no use either. Oikawa; no. Grave; no. Knights of the Blood, I rarely see their flag these days, I wish they had kept better organized. Someone needs to whip those boys into shape, I wonder why the Commander has been so lax with that recently. Calrex..." the woman's violet eyes rolled as his name appeared on her list, why was he there in the first place? She took a rather long look at his name and prompted the message screen.

 

Quote

From: Opal
To: Calrex
Body: I know I am the last person you might wanna see right now. But you are the only dependable person I know who could do what I am looking for. I need your Tank skills to raid Castle Blackwatch on Floor 14. We both could use the levels, so it would be mutually beneficial for both of us. We'll split the rewards down the middle as well. If you are interested, I'll wait for you until 5pm Server time at the edge of the safezone at Stonewall. I'll see you there...or not, whatevs.

 

 

Opal shuddered lightly having to reduce herself to asking for his help, but at the same time. He was the only one who knew her agenda, and she did feel safe with him around. She had mixed feelings for the guy, he was a breed apart from the others. How he ended up with Tearye...she would never know. That was a personal matter, and Opal...well, she probably isn't something that would be on his mind very much in any sort of romantic endeavor. Not that she would think of such things herself...not with him. Ew...kinda...

Snapping out of her weird daydream, the woman lifted her body from the booth and gave a strong arm stretch as she yawned and rolled her neck over her shoulders, "Alright. Let's see if he will even show up." Equipping herself as she needed, she headed towards the exit and to the edge of the safe zone as she had instructed to meet, "Jaken! Come, we might have a guest coming with us this evening." 

"Yes! Coming Master Opal!" the small familiar waddled towards his so called Master and huffed and wheezed as he leaned on his staff, waiting as she did with his yellow eyes looking forward. 

--

Item Prepared: +4 Dmg Pot
Equipment: Masamune X, Vambraces, Ring of the Blood, Jaken [Familiar] 

Edited October 16, 2016 by Opal

[Calrex 0]

"Hm? Well, this is certainly unexpected..."

Calrex looked down at the new message that had appeared in his inbox, seeing that it had come from a particular white-haired woman that he had met a few days ago. It seemed that Opal was requesting his assistance in a dungeon run, in particular asking for his skills as a tank. The bluenette gave a small laugh to himself as he got to his feet, "Last person I want to see? I don't think I have such a person, although I would have assumed I would be the last person on her list. Especially the way she seemed to abhor the way I carry myself. In any case, she is right, some more skill points would come in handy."

Heading towards the teleportation plaza he swiped on his menu, teleporting to the fourteenth floor, arriving in the settlement of Stonewall. "Hey Roc, go ahead and go on lookout already. If this excursion is going to go the way I think, we're not going to fast time on words and get right to moving. Whatever things we encounter I'm going to need you to get eyes on as soon as possible."

Understanding his words Roc went upwards, soaring into the air and going ahead. With a small sigh Calrex pulled up his contact list, getting the location of his teammate. "Alright, better get moving."

It wasn't long before the bluenette saw Opal come into view, taking a single hand out of his pocket to give a casual wave as he completed his walk over, "Hope I didn't take too long, but I got your message. You said you need a hand with a dungeon?"

[Opal 0]

Opal saw the Tank player coming right from behind her, she offered the slightest of waves as she held up her hand to greet him. He was nice enough to come out all this way to help, she should at least show a bit of respect and appreciation for the help, "Yeah. Castle Blackwatch. Ever been there? Rumors say there is a lot of undead in there, and it was once a former fortress that was quite renowned according to the lore of the land. I am sure we could find some treasure in there too. Old castles always have good stuff, if not, its easy experience."

She had cut straight to the chase, "So, I figured you'd tank and spank. Keep the hate off of me and we should be square. I got a damage pot on hand as well if you'd care to use it. I think I have a few mitigation pots as well if you wanna buff up. I have no use for them since you'll be taking the hits. We can split materials and col down the middle. If we find any other treasure, we'll...I suppose we'll come to some kind of agreement for who gets ownership. Anyways..."

"Ahem." The small Imp next to Opal coughed, having her eyes roll once more the woman introduced her familiar, "Calrex this is Jaken of the Imp Clan. My familiar."

"King Jaken! Well former...all my servants died, you best not get Master Opal injured! I will smack you with my staff!!" the creature lifted his staff as if to his Calrex in the shin, before Opal's boot landed and squished his body down, "Pay no attention to him, he is merely here for my accuracy boost and nothing more. He offers some interesting tid bits every now and then as well."

Opal scooped what items she needed and traded them to Cal for his own personal use during this time or not. Clearing her throat over the rumbling sky above she gestured, "Shall we?" 

======

Traded x1 Rare T2 Dmg Pot [+4 Dmg Pot]
Traded x1 Rare T2 Shard of an Aegis [+36 Mit]
Items: Here  and Here

[Calrex 0]

As Calrex listened to Opal speak he gave a nod, giving a calm smile and a nod, "Tanking and striking? Well that's certainly two things I'm good at heh. I've certainly heard of Castle Blackwatch. It's the main landmark here on the fourteenth floor, and populated with hordes of undead soldiers. But not exactly uncommon. Sometimes I think the designers were going through some kind of tragedy or something."

"Either that or it's just a joke at us being in a sort of gloomy situation."

"In any case, if you are offering the potions, I'll have some relief to have them on hand in my battle ready inventory. As for the spoils of the trek, we can always sort that out afterwards. Let's just make sure we get through the castle safely first and foremost."

Looking down at the impish familiar that Opal introduced Calrex waited for the woman's foot to come off before responding, "Jaken? Nice to meet you. I will do my best to keep your master safe while she's in my charge, although I will not guarantee her coming out unharmed if the monsters we encounter have area of effect attacks. However, I have no doubt she can take care of her own health should that occurrence happen."

Accepting the items into his inventory the bluenette gave a nod, "Sure thing, let's get moving. Let me know if you see any monsters ahead of time and I can preemptively get their attention."

[Opal 0]

Opal nodded, "I'm fine with that. Let's go, Jaken." The woman commanded her Familiar who was a lumpy mess on the rocky floor. He had picked himself up and dusted his robes as he collected his staff and looked at her with a rather harsh looking scowl. "Rude!" he said swiping his little hat off the ground and beating it with the other hand while plopping it once more on his head. 

The female lead them out of the safezone as the thundering sky continued its rumbling energy. She looked up and noticed the lightning flickering more and more as they continued to head towards the Castle itself. Yet with this light show, there was still no rain to be seen. As they continued their journey, Opal's silence was shortly broken as she turned her head to face Calrex, "I never got a chance to hear the details of the raid...I..." she sighed and rolled her eyes, "Apologize for my rude behavior. But to the point, have you all decided on the teams? I know I am not much, but I would still like to join. I know I can be something of a wild card for you all and with being in Laughing Coffin, that doesn't settle well in the bellies of everyone else. I figured after the other night, we would have some kind of understanding as far as my allegiances go. But I guess even that, for myself, is a little on the murky side." 

As Opal began to talk about the Front Lines and rejoining, a massive hulking beast of thing with purple flesh and bulging yellow eyes materialized before them. With a metal mace and standing roughly forty feet tall, this gruesome lumbering troll thing seemed to want play as it bellowed out with a roaring yawp at the intruders embarking its land. 

"Hey Jaken, a cousin of yours?"
"Hmph! Very funny..."

Opal turned to Calrex and gestured, "Do your thing." She said plopping both hands towards her ears to soften the Howl that would eventually come from...well, wherever he executes the skill. 

<<Battle Engaged!>>

Opals HP: 1100/1100
EN: 110/110
Sword Art: --
Hate: --

Calrexs HP: Err...too lazy, you do it. 

Gigantos: HP: 1500/1500 || Dmg: 140 

ID:
BD:
MD:
CD:
LD:

 

Edited September 22, 2016 by Opal

[Calrex 0]

ID: 68288
Battle Dice: 10 (Accuracy +3) = 13 (+2 Damage)
Sword Art <<Meteor Break>> Activated / <<Charge>> Activated (11 Energy Used / 133 Remaining)

As the two began their trek Calrex listened as Opal expressed her thoughts on the raid meeting, giving a small nod. Of course he was familiar with what had happened, since he was the one that was responsible for bringing things back into line, "No, I understand. It's alright. The meeting itself went along about the same as the past ones after you were taken away. As for teams and layout, the main concern right now is if we have enough tanks to handle the boss. Of course, the Spectrum Coalition will have me for their group of six, but with the Knights of the Blood's lessening activity we're not sure we'll be even able to bring a second or third team along. With the way things are set up, the safest method would be to have a tank on each team."

With a small sigh he continued, "I do understand where you're coming from, and of course I would prefer to have numbers on our side, but at the same time this boss is particularly dangerous. There appears to be an environmental aspect, from what information was gathered, that we don't know fully about just yet. So, at the moment it's not much about wanting you to participate, but more if it would be a serious risk for you to do so."

Looking forward at the monster they had encountered Calrex gave a nod as he drew the Grand Blade II from its sheath, giving a calming breath, "Focus..."

He could have used Howl, but from the distance they were at he saw a clear weak point that was easy to exploit, "I've got a better idea. Get ready for a free hit Opal..."

Triggering <<Charge>> the bluenette's suspicions were confirmed. Two blue diamond gateways appeared in front of him, accelerating him to nearly twice the speed of a normal advance. At the same time he readied <<Meteor Break>>, his sword shining gold as he slammed into the weakpoint. Red numbers flew by him as he rapidly cut ten times on the creature before kicking off, landing on his feet. Just like he had suspected, the massive troll remained still, Stunned, while also locking its eyes on him.

Opals HP: 1100/1100
EN: 110/110
Sword Art: --
Hate: --

Calrexs HP: 1490/1490
EN: 135/146
Sword Art: Meteor Break
Hate: 2

Gigantos: HP: 1269/1500 || Dmg: 140 (13+1+2+5 DMG * 11 Art = 231 DMG / Stunned Until Next Turn)

[Opal 0]

Opal had her ears shut and her violet eyes squinted to make sure that loud reverberated howl would not shake her bones. But instead, Calrex had decided to charge at the enemy and released a flurry of strikes with his blade gathering Hate the old fashioned way; brute strength. Opal relaxed her hands from her body and looked down at her Familiar, "Stay put and out of sight, Jaken." 

"Ha! Don't have to tell me twice!" 

He quipped as she unsheathed the Masamune from its saya. Taking in a deep breath, the woman got herself mentally ready to go for the throat, so to speak. Flicking her blade to the side, allowing the glowing sword art to take hold, the woman broke free from the ground leaving a trail of dust behind her wake as she shuttled off and <<Charged>> towards the Monstrosity named Gigantos. Her blade glowing hot with ferocity as she struck the foul creature in the achilles tendon as her blade passed through with a single sweep. She then turned on the ball of her foot and aimed the next several attacks behind the creature. Each sweeping strike of her blade carved more and more lines of orange across its back causing the stunned creature to take on the burden of her attacks without fail. It gave a gravelly growl from the throat as it remained unmoved from the Ultramarine's attack. Coming down from the attack, her lithe body once more side by side of her partner, "Kinda like old times, huh?" 

The blade seemed to die off from the sword art, exhausting the power in a harsh purple aura, leaving the blade in a state of dullness. She shifted on her foot and back into position once more, ready for the next assault. Stunning this thing was a good idea, but eventually that stun would wear off and they'd have a real fight on their hands. 

<<Battle Engaged!>>

Opals HP: 1100/1100
EN: 96/110
Sword Art: San Ge || 14 EN || 20x7x2 = 280 
Hate: 1

Calrexs HP: 1490/1490
EN: 135/146
Sword Art: 
Hate: 2

Gigantos: HP: 989/1500 || Dmg: 140 (Stunned Until Next Turn)

ID: 68289
BD: 5+3 = 8 [Keen Activated]
MD: Stunned
CD: 10 {BH Activated-full health}
LD: --

Edited September 22, 2016 by Opal

[Calrex 0]

ID: 68339
Battle Dice: 8 (Accuracy +3) = 11
Mob Dice: 3 (Evasion +2) = 1 (Disregarded Due to Stun)
Sword Art <<Meteor Break>> Activated (11 Energy Used / 1 Recovered / 125 Remaining)

"Old times? Heh, it's just regular strategy. No change in that when dealing with monsters."

Calrex gave a smirk as he rushed forward once again, albeit not as quickly as when he was able to trigger <<Charge>>. Focusing on the creature that was coming out of stun, he unleashed <<Meteor Break>> once again, opening with the shoulder charge that smashed into the side, then whirling rapidly while slashing in various directions while falling. With the final blow connected he kicked off, sliding to a stop once again.

"Looks like it'll be able to move now. I'll make sure it keeps its eyes on me, so feel free to keep letting loose."

Straightening himself the bluenette gave a calming exhale to center his stance, keeping the Grand Blade II in front of him, ready to strike at a moment's notice once again. The opening critical strike served its purpose in getting him to a higher aggro level than his teammate, meaning that as long as he was able to maintain his pace, he would still be able to fighting without needing to use <<Howl>>.

Opals HP: 1100/1100
EN: 96/110
Sword Art: --
Hate: 1

Calrexs HP: 1490/1490
EN: 125/146
Sword Art: Meteor Break
Hate: 3

Gigantos: HP: 835/1500 || Dmg: 140 (13+1 DMG * 11 Art = 154 DMG / Stun End)

[Opal 0]

It was a sound idea, and at least for right now her ears were saved from his Howl ability. He had taken initiative to gather the hate of the mob and then stunning it, giving Opal enough time to sweep in and make a follow up strike. Unfortunately her attack didn't have the added effect of her charge, but she was still able to draw a sword art. With the blade glowing a hue much to the color of violet, like her eyes, the Masamune swept through the motions of the strikes. She had engaged Gigantos with the confidence she normally carried with herself, while she may have been a Laughing Coffin member, she still held tight to the belief that she was a Front Liner as well. She played dual parts in this game now that Calrex knew her true objectives. 

She was a Guardian in which Aincrad neither cared or wanted for. She silently took out orange players from this game retroactively creating a safer envirnoment for players to go about and questing without being harrassed. These players never thanked her once for saving them, because they never knew she existed to do such things. She was also playing in the hands of the Laughing Coffin Guild, a player killer guild itself. She acted within the guild as Sensui's 'secret weapon' she had done things she did not enjoy under his command, even forced to vile things to other players, but at least they were still alive. But she would soon make her way up the food chain, she would destroy Laughing Coffin from within and rid this Aincrad of its anarchist ways, however, the Coffin guild was merely an organized entity, there were many more orange players who acted without the aid of the guild often times being much more dangerous. 

Her work was never ending, and the weight of so many things bore down on her shoulder. And yet, she did so without grievance or complaint. Someone had to do it. 

Eyes flickered once more as the Gigantos was riled up from Opal's last attack. Now free to attack as it wished, his hate engine was set on Calrex. With the large metal mace pounding the ground, he came roaring towards the Knight and whiffed. 

<<Battle Engaged!>>

Opals HP: 1100/1100
EN: 83/110
Sword Art: San Ge || 14 EN || 18x7x2 = 252
Hate: 2

Calrexs HP: 1490/1490
EN: 125/146
Sword Art: 
Hate: 3

Gigantos: HP: 583/1500 || Dmg: 140 

ID: 68348
BD: 3+4 = hit [Keen Active]
MD: 4 -2 = Miss
CD: 7 [BH Activated-Neglected]
LD: --

Edited September 23, 2016 by Opal

[Calrex 0]

ID: 68351
Battle Dice: 3 (Accuracy +3) = 6
Sword Art <<Meteor Break>> Activated (11 Energy Used / 1 Recovered / 115 Remaining)

As the creature came towards him, the paradox in Calrex's build was expressed to the creature. It was true, he himself had chosen to take up <<Heavy Armor>> a skill which in the name itself means that mobility would be sacrificed. However, because of his mastery over wearing and manipulating what plate he wore, it meant that he was comfortable with sacrificing durability for speed, easily evading the creature's attack. It was part of the basis of his character leveling, to try and make up for whatever weakness by focusing on those area. It would inevitably result in a lack of particular strong points, but the bluenette preferred to have no weaknesses than a single strength.

Triggering <<Meteor Break>> once again he shot forward, slamming into the creature before ripping through it with the series of slashes iconic of the Sword Art. After completing it he kicked off once again, landing back on the ground next to Opal, "Alright go for it!"

He already understood that there was some confusion if an onlooker saw him fighting alongside the white-haired woman, as her reputation was not exactly in the best standing among the community. That was part of the reason why he had decided to try and speak with her in the first place. Calrex always wanted to understand more than what was on the surface, what was perceived. Should the woman's words really been true that night, he understood what she was doing was with right intentions, even though the means was not something he could agree with.

However, he wasn't going to let a clashing of ideals be the thing that distracts him from what he needed to do. He was a frontliner, one of the few active tanks, the figurehead of the Spectrum Coalition, and from what he had gained speaking to some lower-level players, a role-model to look up to. Because of that, he needed strength, to be able to continue being what he was, and to have the power to shift things or protect what he needed. Like he had said the night he first killed a person, his ideals were contradictory, but that didn't mean he was not going to strive for them any less.

Opals HP: 1100/1100
EN: 83/110
Sword Art: --
Hate: 2

Calrexs HP: 1490/1490
EN: 115/146
Sword Art: Meteor Break
Hate: 4

Gigantos: HP: 429/1500 || Dmg: 140 (13+1 DMG * 11 Art = 154 DMG)

[Opal 0]

The Gigantos had no time for these pesky humans. More and more of its health was being drained from its pool as they lay upon him the grandeur of their sword arts. One after another, their strikes targeted the vital spots of the Giant, criticals taking effect as it finally fell to one knee after an exhausting round from the two players. Opal would not relent in her attack however, her blade humming with a ferocity glow that engaged in freny of multiple slash attacks. <San Ge> was her only go to attack at this point. With no cool downs, she could just spam this technique until her Energy pool bled dry making most of her other sword arts obsolete and otherwise useless. 

With her blade swung across her shoulder and following forward, the sweeping attacks brutalized the exterior of the creature as his body was littered with more and more damage marks. Flecks of its body's skin started to deteriorate as the duo continued to savagely beat it down into submission. Yet, the creature was not quite dead yet. With an angry glow to its eyes, the Gigantos sought out the Knight of the group. Getting back on both feet, it's anger was unfurled upon Calrex. 

<<Battle Engaged!>>

Opals HP: 1100/1100
EN: 70/110
Sword Art: San Ge || 14 EN || 19x7x2 = 266 
Hate: 4

Calrexs HP: 1434/1490
EN: 125/146
Sword Art: 
Hate: 4

Gigantos: HP: 141/1500 || Dmg: 140 [Achilles [-22] HP  [-266] ]

ID: 68352
BD: 9+3 = +1 Dmg
MD: 9-2 = +1 Dmg 
CD: 
LD: --

Edited September 23, 2016 by Opal

[Calrex 0]

ID: 68387
Battle Dice: 2 (Accuracy +3 / Disguise +1) = 6
Loot Dice: 2 (Search and Detect +2 / Item +1) = 5 (No Bonus Loot)
Sword Art <<Meteor Break>> Activated (11 Energy Used / 1 Recovered / 105 Remaining)

With the monster's retaliation Calrex watched as the incoming strike slammed into him, knocking away a chunk of his HP. However, as he had made note of in the past, it was only a small amount compared to the massive total he possessed because of his level.

"However...I'm not in a good striking spot right now..."

Quickly repositioning himself the bluenette leapt forward, triggering <<Disguise>> as he sailed through the air. Temporarily the illusion of a same-sized monster appeared for a second before he broke the illusion, the Grand Blade II shining with the golden glow of his <<Meteor Break>> Sword Art. Rapidly slashing through the Gigantos for a final barrage, the final blow caused it to shatter into crystals.

Landing on the ground Calrex gave a calming exhale before resheathing his sword, "Alright, well that's one down. Shall we keep moving?"

Loot List:
1 Material

Opals HP: 1100/1100
EN: 83/110
Sword Art: --
Hate: 4

Calrexs HP: 1434/1490
EN: 115/146
Sword Art: Meteor Break
Hate: 5

Gigantos: HP: 0/1500 || Dmg: 140 (13+1 DMG * 11 Art = 154 DMG)

[Opal 0]

Like a creaking ship falling over, the monster exhausted its last breath of life as it pixelated from the power of Cal's last attack. With a thud towards the ground, it had shattered along with it the thundering boom overhead as lightning stretched across the abysmal skies above. Dark clouds hung like a portrait of despair on the floor, a foretelling of endless nightmares that would soon creep up on them. Opal placed her Masamune gently over her shoulder and hummed, "All that hard work and no col from it. What a waste of energy...I suppose it can't be helped though. As you say, we should get moving." 

"What a brilliant display Master Opal!" the little former king Imp rushed passed Calrex who had done the killing blow but acted as if Opal had been one to slay the Gigantos, "Right with power you are, my Lord! Such an incredible amount of power that brewed from your katana! What a marv-" 

"I get it Jaken, I am awesome." The woman said looking down at her familiar whom then turned and looked at Calrex, "Yes, you are. But this one didn't even lift a finger! You should be down on your hands and knees thanking her for her generosi-"

"It's alright, Jaken," the woman's black lips curled slightly into a smile, "He did help a little," she would say with a mildly joking manner, "But enough of that, let's continue forward. What can you tell us about Castle Blackwatch?" 

The familiar yellows eyes on the stranger as he turned with a 'hmph!' and walked side by side his Master. Clearing his throat, "Castle Blackwatch was one the home to some of the best and well known Knights in Aincrad. Some even said they had a powerful mage before the land was not longer ripe for Magic. The king of the castle and his lady were quite revered and rumors say they haunt the halls of the castle even now. A weird spell had set off some kind of decay to the land causing it to look as it is now. But the castle itself is quite large and many adventurers say it is often changing, spending days or even weeks to fully investigate the grandeur of it all. If you are looking for treasures though, you have come to the right place." 

The Familiar had surmised the lore of the land and the castle. As Opal and company set upon foot and sight of the castle, the loud boom of the thunder above their heads brought light to the land for a brief moment illuminating the castle with a streak of lightning. Opal's jaw nearly dropped from the site of it, it was indeed a massive kingdom of itself. 

"It's going to take forever to search through the entirety of that place. I should have brought more people. I suppose we can do a simple sweep of the first floor, do you have any preference on how you wanna enter the stronghold? I suppose we can always go through the front door?" 

[Calrex 0]

Looking down as Jaken had run past him to congratulate Opal on a job well done, the bluenette felt a bead of sweat form on the side of his head as he put his hands back into his pockets, "Certainly an interesting creature Opal has decided to make her familiar. Makes me really appreciate the teamwork that Roc and I have. We might not talk much, but certainly a lot is expressed through our actions."

Listening to the imp speak about the background of the castle they were heading towards the bluenette listened attentively. Since it was coming from an AI, the information that it gave should be right on the money. There was no scripted reason he could think of for the creature to lie, especially if it was supposedly Opal's partner, "Certainly some interesting lore that they decided to cook up for this location. Course the idea of a once great kingdom falling to ruin isn't exactly original."

As the bolt of lightning illuminated Castle Blackwatch he gave a nod to his teammates suggestion, "No way we'd have enough time in a day to cover everything in that castle, so a first floor sweep would be fine. There's always time to return back at later dates to see what else might be inside, but we'd best not push ourselves too far in, or else we might not be able to trace our way back out. As for the approach...stealth is really more your forte than mine. My build, and usual duty, is to get a hold of the enemy attention as quick and fast as possible. That being the case, we might as well go through the front door, unless there's some trick that will prevent us from doing so, or some kind of rigged trap that will go off when we try to force it open."

(6 HP Recovered / 1 Energy Recovered, 2 Turns Until Full Recovery)

[Opal 0]

The woman nodded, "I don't think it would be trapped. Then again, if it's controlled by the undead, I am sure there are plenty of nasty things inside. But I love a good adventure, I haven't been able to explore much because of certain time investments. Its-- nevermind. Let's go." Opal sighed and shook her head, while she was doing this for the experience and the skill points, she honestly was doing it for the fun of adventuring as well. She had always hoped to do some really fun dungeon diving, but she played everything off as it relating back to gaining more power and strengthening her future endeavors. The violet eyes of the woman crossed the field as she gestured for her familiar to follow once more. The trio started with a steady pace, the land becoming more and more decayed and brittle as they began to reach the threshold of the castle, only to be stopped by a rather huge moat of sorts where the castle bridge was locked in place.

She narrowed her eyes and folded her arms over her chest pondering, "Any bright ideas on getting the drawbridge down? I wonder if there is a latch or a lever but that wouldn't make any sense to put it on the outside." Opal's eyes widened once more as she activated her <<Reveal>>, it was a great mod that allowed her to see through doors and structures, hopefully she could find something that would help in them getting across. As she examined the little nooks and crannies of the bridg, her eyes squared on the mechanism that would release the hold and she pointed.

"If we can hit that little spot, it should release the bridge..." Opal searched the ground and found a rock the size of her fist and lifted it up, "I was never good at throwing balls.." the woman took  a few steps back and brought back her arm and threw the stone and lobbed it into the air. It was probably the girliest throw you could see a woman doing and the stone completely dropped half way from the distance of the mechanism, "Oh [censored] me...I guess I am pretty bad at this, why not give it try?" 

[Calrex 0]

As they arrived at the drawbridge connecting their piece of land to the castle Calrex gave a nod as he let Opal scan, seeing the change in the color of her eyes he was familiar with from his own usage of the <<Reveal>> skill in the past. It appeared that she was able to spy the mechanism that triggered the latch that would release the bridge, but it was of course on the castle side of the moat.

The bluenette did his best to stifle a smirk as he was the woman throw a stone to try and trigger the release, the rock only traveling part of the way before falling, "I can't say I'll be any better, but I can give it a shot."

Finding a stone that was large enough to fit nicely in his hand, with enough weight to be partially wind resistant, he turned, trying to line up his trajectory. With a calm exhale to steady his arm Calrex threw the stone, which sailed through the air.

ID: 68419
Battle Dice: 6

The rock did manage to hit the spot where it needed to go, but it only appeared to partially engage the mechanism, as the drawbridge itself only dropped a quarter of the way, "Well, that went ok so far."

Looking up he remembered that Roc was still circling above, giving a small sigh before locking eyes on his familiar, "Hey Roc, think you can take a shot at that thing?"

Acknowledging his teammate's command the blue peregrine falcon flew over to the other side, executing his hunting swoop as the bird of prey extended its claw at the end, slamming into the latch once again. The blow only managed to do a bit more of the work, the drawbridge falling another quarter.

"Huh...this thing really doesn't want to budge."

(6 HP Recovered / 1 Energy Recovered, 1 Turn Until Full Recovery)

[Opal 0]

Opal watched as the bird dove down and hit the latch once more to follow up with Cal's much better rock throw. The woman folded her arms more impressed by the bird than his own strength, "Well, that is one way of doing things." The woman said nodding to the bluenette. However there was only a little bit left to go until the bridge could be crossed. The woman was not going to be in any sort of throwing competition with the player and she didn't wanna spend the entire time throwing rocks at the thing to get it to budge. 

"Alright. Looks like we can get over it with enough speed and mobility." The woman looked around her and took several steps back, Jaken. Stand ten feet ahead of me...and whatever you do...Don't move," the woman had commanded her familiar. Without grievance or refusal the familair eyed his Master and nodded his head, "Yes Master Opal! I shall do as you command! But I must ask what do you plan OH NO!!!" the woman took off at break neck speeds as her body dashed towards her familiar, her boot pushing into the face of the Imp launching her skywards towards the bridge where her light body reached for the edge of the wooden bridge. Her hands came down on top of it, her body pulled into a roll and landed on the other side. 

Jaken's eyes were spinning round and round as his body wobbled back and forth as a boot sized imprint was plastered over his face. His wuzzy body finally fell over with a thud, "how...cruel...to use me as a springboard." he declared. Soon enough though, Opal had managed to break the mechanism, allowing the bridge to drop down towards the ground creating an open path for them to follow. A smug grin on her face as her black lips curled and she waved, "Alright. Everything is good on this end. Should be able to cross without any problems now." 

[Calrex 0]

"This almost feels like something out of a comic or something..."

Even if Calrex was just watching what Opal was ordering Jaken to do, the setup for what she was planning was rather clear. Having the imp stand in front made him a perfect jumping point to reach the partially lowered bridge. The event itself was rather laughable, as the bluenette couldn't help but give a laugh at the situation. Looking over to his right he saw that the white-haired woman had reached the lever, throwing the switch the rest of the way so that the bridge completely lowered, "Thanks. Sounds good so far."

Taking a few steps over he looked down at Jaken, who was still dazed from the affair, "You going to be alright there?"

"Going from the way he behaves, this probably isn't something unusual for him...better leave him be for now."

"In any case, I'm crossing over. You might want to keep up, at least if you want to keep pace with your Master over there."

Putting his hands into his jacket pockets the bluenette walked across the bridge. For being supposedly an old bridge, it was still fairly sturdy, something that he was thankful for. As he crossed the rest of the way he made sure he swiped on his menu, looking over his gear, "With the current amount of health I have, I could probably swap out the Stonewall skill mod for now. Well, we'll see how it goes..."

"Alright, I'll go ahead and take point for now then, just in case anything decides to try and ambush us. If we follow the same strategy as before, we should be fine."

(6 HP Recovered / Full Energy Recovery)

[Opal 0]

Opal Swapping Equipment: Hunting Equipment 
ID: 68423
LD: 16 +4 S&D+2 reveal+2 Equipment = 24 
Advanced Dun Found: 15 Floor Level Mobs
Boss: Floor *70 = HP || Dmg: Floor* 11

Opal had briefly shimmered, her avatar changing from her normal equipment into a long trench coat, and a ring gifted to her by Grave a long time ago when she wanted to become a treasure hunter. She touched the ring on her finger remembering the day he gave it to her. There was a point of sadness to her eyes as she thought about that very day. But violet eyes steeled as Jaken popped off the ground and hurried along with the Tank in tow, "Don't leave me!!" he declared with a shout, raising his over sized staff as he wobbled towards her. 

Attention snapped back to her surroundings as the decayed building was now right in front of her. The stonewalls were black and tainted, there seemed to be some kind of runes etched into the stone. The woman ran her fingers across the patterns as she eyed them closely, "These look like something I have seen before in an old History Book or something." as she ran her fingers across the runes, they began to light up in a particular fashion. 

"Interesting..." The massive doors to the castle finally swung open, out came a flutter of terrified bats as they covered the small space before whipping into the air and out towards the horizon, "Pesky little things," she murmured. But they had finally arrived inside and without a bruise or fatal wound to their HP, but their adventure had just begun. Once more activating her Reveal skill, the woman's eyes danced over the runes that glowed once more, "I can't say I know how to read these words, but for some reason I have a strong urgency to follow them. It's almost like they are guiding me along to somewhere..." almost in a trance like state. The woman kept her hand on the wall as more and more of the runes began to glow and slowly morph into something else. The ground trembled lightly for a mere moment. Opal had stopped and snapped her gaze over at Jaken as her abruptness caused him to hit her shin. 

"Did you feel that rumble? I think we might have just stumbled upon something."

Edited September 24, 2016 by Opal

[Calrex 0]

Following alongside Opal Calrex's eyes continued to scan their surroundings, trying to see if he can get an eye on any possible ambushes that were lying in wait. Unfortunately, with the layout of the area, it appeared that wherever one could be set up would have a lot of cover. Glancing back he made note of Opal using her <<Reveal>> skill once again to keep following whatever runes she had noticed before. With the trembling of the ground he reached back, gently grasping the Grand Blade II's hilt, giving a signal to Roc.

The blue peregrine falcon once again flew upwards, taking up an overlook position above so that whatever creatures may appear, he could get a quick lock on so that Calrex could obtain the Accuracy boost. "Probably. It might also be a warning sign for a potential monster spawn. Better get your sword at the ready."

ID: 68499
Battle Dice: 4 (Accuracy +3) = 7 (Disregarded Due to Howl)
Craft Dice: 12 (Battle Healing Activated)
Mob Dice: 8 (Evasion +2) = 6
<<Howl>> Activated (+3 Hate to All Enemies)

As the words left Calrex's mouth suddenly he saw for creatures drop down from above, "Watch it!"

Quickly he drew the Grand Blade II from its sheath, already swirling with the aura of his <<Howl>> skill. Quickly plunging his sword into the ground he released the energy outwards, gaining the Hate of the group as the four creatures slashed into him. <<Achilles>> triggered after the blows got past his armor, erupting outwards and blasting the creatures back.

Looking at his HP the bluenette gave a small sigh as he saw a decent chunk of his HP was gone, "Well, that's just great. Alright, how do you suppose we handle these guys? I've already got high Hate, but they certainly pack more of a punch than the other ones Ive seen so far."

Opals HP: 1100/1100
EN: 110/110
Sword Art:
Hate: 0

Calrexs HP: 1321/1490 (140(4) - 30(4) / 2 Achilles = 220 / 89 Battle Healing)
EN: 146/146
Sword Art: <<Howl>>
Hate: 3

Lost Vanguard: 723/745 | 140 DMG (22 Achilles)
Lost Vanguard 2: 723/745 | 140 DMG (22 Achilles)
Lost Vanguard 3: 723/745 | 140 DMG (22 Achilles)
Lost Vanguard 4: 723/745 | 140 DMG (22 Achilles)