[PP-F4] Shattering The Impossible <Itzal, Aster and Morgenstern> <<Absolute Zero>>

[Aster 0]

Aster let out a small scoff, her voice overwhelmed by the howling blizzard around them. If she knew that her main abilities would have been of so little use, she would have switched her focus to her alchemy skill months ago. She perked to attention when the blonde tank seemed to take charge, calling each of their names alongside a direction. She wasn't about to ignore the man's order, and so with a sideways glance toward the raven-haired scout she put herself into action. Aster ran through the tundra along the monster's right flank, trying to keep up with the other two more agile players for a coordinated attack.

She stumbled a couple of times along the way, but managed to approach the living icicle's leg safely. The girl threw her fists against the hard surface, but the pulse of lightning that she had hoped to see from her handwraps hadn't so much as given off a spark.

ID#: 89820 | BD: 7 - Hit!
(1 Minimum Damage)

[12] @Morgenstern  1034/1134 <> 81/100 | 7 DMG | 8 Holy | 134 Mit | 40 BH | 1 Def. Para | -1 EVA
[8] Itzal 1,220/1,220  <>  34/122
[5] Aster 340/340 <> 21/34 | 3 DMG | 27 MIT

<<Avalanche>>  129/850 75 MIT | 2 Freeze | +50 BD:9 | +100 BD:10

[Morgenstern 1]

The two players quickly decided to take action, as Jonathan took the main front, diverting its attention from its sides completely. "Bring it on ya block of ice!" The creature let out a bellowous moan as its fist hurtled toward him, Jonathan wincing as he raised his shield up, preparing to intercept the blow They had managed to get the hits on the creature with tactic and skill. The giant reared back its hand and slammed it into him. A dreary cold was frosted onto him but he stayed strong, even as he was pushed back several feet. He escaped unscathed and his prepared himself with a smile. "Shear forcewill not always win. A proper strategy will win in the end"  He laughed and charged forward, swiping his blade against the creature's ice body. It angrily made another punch at him, but he dodged and even enjoyed the snow now drifting down. They were doing fine for now, as long as Itzal kept a good flow of damage going inward at the collosal. 

89830 BD:4+2 MD:2+3

1 DMG dealt

[12] Morgenstern  1074/1134 <> 81/100 | 7 DMG | 8 Holy | 134 Mit | 40 BH | 1 Def. Para | -1 EVA
[8] @Itzal 1,220/1,220  <>  34/122
[5] Aster 340/340 <> 21/34 | 3 DMG | 27 MIT

<<Avalanche>>  128/850 75 MIT | 2 Freeze | +50 BD:9 | +100 BD:10

[Itzal 0]

Itzal watched as Aster attacked again, striking the boss but not dealing any paralysis on him.  He was hoping she wasn't getting discouraged in any way, and hoped that she would continue working towards what it was she wanted.  Surely things would get better soon enough.  Maybe there would be an update and she'd have more available to her.  He turned his attention to Jonathan who was doing really well.  Jonathan he could see becoming a good leader, and he hoped that the player could one day gain enough respect from players, maybe even unite all the players and get them to move past their differences.  Of course, he hoped Jonathan could keep his anger for player killers under control when the times came.  If he did take on that role however, Itzal would love to help him.  In the meantime, he released Meteor strike on the icy boss again, dealing another eighty one points of damage.  He jumped backwards and looked at it's health.  "I just need two more hits on that sucker and he should be down for the count!!!"

ID#  900039  BD:  6 

12x11-75=57

[12] Morgenstern  1074/1134 <> 81/100 | 7 DMG | 8 Holy | 134 Mit | 40 BH | 1 Def. Para | -1 EVA
[8] @Itzal 1,220/1,220  <>  23/122
[5] @Aster 340/340 <> 21/34 | 3 DMG | 27 MIT

<<Avalanche>>  71/850 75 MIT | 2 Freeze | +50 BD:9 | +100 BD:10

[Aster 0]

A steady breath escaped Aster's lips, forming a thick cloud of fog in front of the ginger's face before it dissipated into the frosty air. After their last strikes, Itzal's voice cut through the harsh winds and the healer heard him call out what he estimated for his damage output. 'Two more attacks...' She repeated, her eyes running over the hulking ice construct in front of them. "Right then, just keep at it." She muttered under her breath, serving as her own encouragement.

The teen drew in a sharp breath through her nose, the chilled air biting at her throat before it entered her lungs. Urging herself forward once again, she kept her arms tucked close to her sides until she was beside the colossal, sliding to a stop among the piled snow. As she prepared to throw her fists forward against the monster, the familiar crackle of lightning caught her attention. As the effect of her handwraps came to life, a smirk spread itself across the alchemist's face. 'About time!' She thought as her arms extended forward at the same time. When her knuckles made contact with the solid surface, the lightning danced from her forearms to Avalanche's body, darting up along its frozen limbs as the paralysis and bleed effects immediately kicked in.

ID#: 90743 | BD: 9 - Critical Hit!

(1 DMG Minimum) (Bleed Triggered!) (Paralysis Triggered!)

[12] @Morgenstern  1074/1134 <> 81/100 | 7 DMG | 8 Holy | 134 Mit | 40 BH | 1 Def. Para | -1 EVA
[8] Itzal 1,220/1,220  <>  23/122
[6] Aster 340/340 <> 21/34 | 3 DMG | 27 MIT

<<Avalanche>> (Paralyzed 1/1) (Bleeding (12 DMG) 2/2) 70/850 HP | 75 MIT | 2 Freeze | +50 BD:9 | +100 BD:10

Edited November 13, 2017 by Aster

[Morgenstern 1]

He stood his ground against his opponent and watched as Itzal manged to get another hard hit on the colossal. The cloaked man voiced that another two hits and all would be finished. Jon nodded and turned to Aster, who wore a look for confidence as she charged forward, slamming her first into the giant and managing to break him apart even more. The beast was getting close to death, and for that Jon was excited. His damage wasn't the best in the terms of now, and he needed to work on that. This quest would go to helping him with that, and he was expecting some good things out of it. If he could get a critical out of the ordeal, he might actually stand a chance of destroying it now, but the chances of that were rather unlikely. "Alright Aster, way to keep the momentum rolling. Keep it up guys, we are almost in the clear!" He  rolled to doge another fierce earth shaking blow and charged forward at the beasts middle. 'Come on! Alright, angels of Aincrad, if one time you could serve me, please let it be right now!' Two hands clutched onto his curved blade as he moved in for another hit. 

He brought his sword down on the enemies chest, but Maiden's Kiss made not even a dent into its cracked body.

90805
BD:3
MD:Paralyzed

 200-134=66+24=90-40(BH)=50 DMG taken

[12] Morgenstern  1024/1134 <> 81/100 | 7 DMG | 8 Holy | 134 Mit | 40 BH | 1 Def. Para | -1 EVA
[8] @Itzal 1,220/1,220  <>  23/122
[6] Aster 340/340 <> 21/34 | 3 DMG | 27 MIT

<<Avalanche>> (Paralyzed 0/1) (Bleeding (12 DMG) 1/2) 58/850 HP | 75 MIT | 2 Freeze | +50 BD:9 | +100 BD:10

[Itzal 0]

Itzal watched as Aster came in to strike this insanely annoying boss yet again, and this time she managed to land paralysis on the creature, preventing it from doing anything else to them, let alone freeze Jonathan again.  Things were once again starting to look good again, what with it having bleed effect on it, as well as paralysis now.  Jonathan called out to them, telling them to keep up the momentum and how they almost felled the beast.  Itzal nodded, finally happy this fight was almost over.  In reality it only took about five to ten minutes tops, but inside this fight it felt like an eternity had passed before they reached this point in the stretch.  Itzal rolled his arm as his sword was starting to get just a tiny bit heavy and charged in again, releasing Meteor Strike, attempting to deal the final blow.  However the monster didn't fall down dead.  His sword bounced off completely.  Of course their luck had to end right there.  At least the bleed still had one more round to go before it died out.

ID#  90808  BD:  1

-2 en

[12] Morgenstern  1024/1134 <> 81/100 | 7 DMG | 8 Holy | 134 Mit | 40 BH | 1 Def. Para | -1 EVA
[8] @Itzal 1,220/1,220  <>  21/122
[6] @Aster 340/340 <> 21/34 | 3 DMG | 27 MIT

<<Avalanche>> (Paralyzed 0/1) (Bleeding (12 DMG) 1/2) 58/850 HP | 75 MIT | 2 Freeze | +50 BD:9 | +100 BD:10

[Aster 0]

Just as they had entered the last stretch, each of the players' next attacks fell short. Aster could do little else beside hope for another lucky status effect to proc, but as she followed up for another strike, Avalanche denied her the possibility. She mistimed the duration of her earlier paralysis, and the glacial giant managed to lift its heavy leg before the ginger girl could reach him again. Her jaw clenched, skidding to a stop in the piled snowfall before having to change her course to avoid getting herself crushed beneath the solid block of ice as it crashed back down to the earth.

Her heels dug into the ground as she darted off to one side, losing her balance after she had cleared the breadth of the monster's 'foot' and it collided with the ground to kick up plenty of loose powder. "Bloody--!" Aster held her tongue from slipping out a curse at the frustrating situation, instead letting out a low growl of irritation as she picked herself up to her feet again. Patting her hands against her clothing a couple of times to dust the cold snow away in a slight huff, she hurriedly moved to a safer distance to look for another opening, if the creature would live that long.

ID#: 91276 | BD: 5 - Miss!

[12] @Morgenstern  1024/1134 <> 81/100 | 7 DMG | 8 Holy | 134 Mit | 40 BH | 1 Def. Para | -1 EVA
[8] Itzal 1,220/1,220  <>  21/122
[6] Aster 340/340 <> 20/34 | 3 DMG | 27 MIT

<<Avalanche>> (Bleeding (12 DMG) 1/2) 58/850 HP | 75 MIT | 2 Freeze | +50 BD:9 | +100 BD:10

Edited November 27, 2017 by Aster

[Morgenstern 1]

Jonathan watched as he thought the fierce battle would come to an end, but to no surprise, everything began to go bad. Itzal missed his attack, the finishing blow that they needed. Aster kept trying, but lost her balance during her attack. He shook his head. Neither of them were of the DPS build, but he expected the last hits at least. He shook his head. No need to get judgmental of his teammates. He grasped his sword and charged forward. If he could make a good strong hit upon the opponent and was supported by the heavens of Aincrad, he could finish it off here. He quickly made it through the span between him and the collosal of ice. "THIS ENDS HERE!" He shouted. The beast brought its mighty fist, slamming into his raised shield. It was beginning to crush him into the snow, but he felt a burst of energy gather within him. "GAHHHHHH" He screamed. He pushed the fist off of his shield, the collosal temporarily losing balance. He was now imbued with a strength other than his own. 

The game did everything for him now as he was imbued with the strength of the Angels. His weapons aura had gone around his body, its normal blue hue becoming a gold tint. He charged forward, moving faster as he built up speed charging towards the creature. He leapt into the air, leaping a good ten feet. Now at the enemy's chest he slashed and hacked and mid air, his attacks stronger and faster than normal, until he completely broke through the ice of the monster. He fell to the ground, a shower of blue shards flying into the air that he went through. 

He sheathed his sword and looked back at his teammates. His golden aura was already fading as he had completed what the Heavens had given him the power to do. "Good fight my friends. I suggest we head back to the town from here. From there we can part" He loved the rush of the holy enhancement. His aura had completely faded by now and the cold cut through him now like a knife. Sniffing, he pushed forward. 

---

91478 BD:10 <<Holy +8 DMG>> MD:7

DMG: 7+8+2)*8=136-75=61
DMG Taken: 200-134-40=26

[12] Morgenstern 998/1134 <> 81/100 | 7 DMG | 8 Holy | 134 Mit | 40 BH | 1 Def. Para | -1 EVA
[8] @Itzal 1,220/1,220  <>  21/122
[6] Aster 340/340 <> 20/34 | 3 DMG | 27 MIT

<<Avalanche>>  0/850 HP 

[Itzal 0]

Itzal watched as the fight had finally ended.  Jonathan dealt the final blow, and he was glad his friend, the tank, was able to get the last hit.  Even if there was no hit bonus for him, it must have been satisfying.  Especially with how annoying this guy's been the entire fight.  Jonathan turned to them and when he talked Itzal chuckled, sheathing his sword and pulling off his hood and mouthpiece.  "Dude you sound like you're from medieval times.  We roleplaying now?"  He grinned as he clapped his friend's shoulder and began to walk to town.  Velnia glided over to Aster and landed on her shoulder, nuzzling against her cheek.  Itzal rolled his eyes as he switched his armor from Niger Natio to Twilight Cloak.  With it he'd be able to gather materials on the way back for crafting, or for giving to other players who need it.  He turned to them as they walked, placing his hands behind his head and rested against them.  "Well that was...  Annoying.  Not really threatening was it?  Just long is all.  I hope Kayaba makes a decent challenge in the future.  Jon you're not even halfway through your health yet right?"

@Aster

[Aster 0]

It was all Aster could do not to fall back into the thick piles of snow at her feet. That fight had been exhausting, irritating, and had it not been for the experience she had received she would have considered it a waste of time as colossal as the icy beast itself. The small ginger began to trudge through the now-empty snow-covered plain to join the other two players on their way back to Snowfrost when the purple dragon appeared seemingly out of nowhere, gliding down and perching herself upon Aster's shoulder. She was surprised at the dragonling, and flinched slightly in reaction to the familiar's sudden affection. She took on a small smile, similar to one that would appear when Reginald might brush up against her leg.

Adjusting the dark-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of her nose, she spoke up with more than a hint of annoyance in her voice as she chimed in on the conversation. "Really, I was under the impression a boss like this would be a bit more intimidating." She lightly scoffed, her volume dropping into a bitter mumble. "Makes me wonder how practical a healing build is, honestly." In an attempt to dismiss the aura of negativity that surrounded her, Aster let out a small sigh and gave a shake of her head, short orange hair swaying gently as she did so. "But I agree on getting out of the snow."

[Morgenstern 1]

The blond tank looked to his too allies, whom had escaped all harm from the fight. Though, they looked rather winded and the snow had ensured to give them a good battering itself. He felt that he looked just the same. Itzal walked forward, taking off Niger Natio's mouth piece and hood to reveal his face with a smile plastered to it. The man spoke jokingly, asking him if they were roleplaying. "I hardly know the concept, but I know the meaning. Perhaps we are, and I am about to summon my horse to carry us to safety" He chuckled, happy for the moments connection between he and Itzal. The only thing they couldn't accomplish when it came to connecting, was to literally connect their minds. He bet the nerve gear could do that though. His green eyes surveyed the trail they had followed. 

Those same eyes drifted to Itzal and Aster as they spoke, relaying their take on the entire battle to him. He gave them each a warm smile, "It was annoying, and not intimidating enough though. More relatable to a stronger common enemy, though we will be receiving a modest amount of experience for it, enough to level me up at least once" He began to step forward, leading the hike back to the town. Perhaps more would be said when his allies weren't suffering from the blunt coldness of the floor. 

@Itzal

[Itzal 0]

Itzal listened to Aster as she mentioned how the boss didn't seem so powerful as she originally assumed and he nodded along with her.  When she mentioned the lack of use for her build.  That's where Itzal shook his head.  "I have to disagree with you there.  The future is uncertain, especially since we're not even a full quarter through Aincrad yet.  I have no doubt that the bosses are going to become more and more deadly.  A player has already been killed in a boss event, and in the end we had to retreat.  Don't doubt your importance because of a quest boss that turned out weaker than we expected ok?  I could have given up on my scout route a while ago but I didn't."  He heard Jonathan's response and chuckled, pretending to look shocked.  "My good sir!  I didn't know you had magic!!!"  When Jonathan mentioned how they'd be getting experience despite the annoyance of this boss, Itzal nodded with a smile.  "Yep.  That's one more quest to cross off.  Believe it or not, I'm getting rather close to the cap of quests.  I wish random quests were still a thing if I'm completely honest.  I once did a quest similar to assassin's creed actually.  That was fun."

@Aster

[Aster 0]

Following after the two players, Aster cocked a brow at their playful exchanges. Amber eyes darted from one health bar to the next, noting the identical emblem that rested above each and she was reminded that the blonde and the noirette were guildmates. More than that, they seemed more friendly than most players she had taken the time to observe. At the latter's recount of a boss battle that had gone poorly, Aster couldn't help the frown that worked its way over her features. Her hand hesitantly reached up to the indigo dragonling resting on her shoulder, her fingers continuing to move idly after they had glided over the top of Velnia's scaled skull.

One thing was for certain: she wasn't intending to change anything about the skills she had invested in. If she could, she would take back learning the Martial Arts skill, despite not having put any skill points in it. Perhaps if she continued pouring herself into recovery and support skills and paired it with a higher alchemy level she could eventually justify a build that was void of damage. She followed the duo as they all trekked back towards Snowfrost, keeping quiet halfway as a result of feeling out of place, and half because her mind was too busy with checklists and suppositions to force conversation.

[Morgenstern 1]

As Aster seemed unconfident with the use of her build, Itzal voiced in his opinion that they weren't even a quarter into Aincrad yet. Healers were probably going to much more efficient down the road. With being into the low section of Aincrad, damage didn't phase him, but once the patterns changed then damage would be happening more. He chuckled, his eyes shifting over to Itzal as he spoke again. "Just because I said the word 'summon' doesn't mean I can use magic. A summon skill would be cool though. If you could summon monsters or something to your aid, even if it was to buff you, or give you an extra turn to use items, that would be cool I guess, but would make players Overpowered, so no go." Jonathan frowned as Itzal said he was close to the cap of quests. Jonathan then looked over to Aster and said, "He may be, I still have a good fourth of the quests left." He smiled towards at Itzal and said, "Quests are far to hard until they become way too easy" Jonathan found that kind of boring. He found Aster being relative quiet, so he decided to think of something to include her.

"So, Aster. What is your current goals? Anything in mind?" 

 

@Aster @Itzal 

[Itzal 0]

When Jonathan started speaking he wasn't really adding to Itzal's joke.  This reminded Itzal how horrible he was at making puns in general.  He couldn't get people to laugh, and unless he knew them well he rarely got a joke.  Regardless it didn't mean he shouldn't keep trying.  Maybe one day he'd get good at it.  He smiled and chuckled when he heard Jonathan's words.  "Yeah, but honestly the biggest issue I could see with that could be laziness.  Just' go my minions!  Fight my battles for me!  I have to get back to bejeweled.  Or something like me at my store, instead of getting up and moving pulling out a wand and going 'Accio Guitar!'"  Itzal thought it was funny, but he wasn't sure how Jonathan would react to it.  Let alone Aster, with whom Velnia was enjoying her time.  She gave a dragon like purr, which was kind of like a growl and purr mixed into one sound, as she was being petted by the woman.  Itzal nodded to Jonathan.  "Yeah.  I wish those random generated quests were for all levels back when they still had those, rather than restricting it.  Hated that it just stopped at one point.  So frustrating."

@Aster

[Aster 0]

"Goals?" Aster echoed, having taken a few extra moments to register the question that had been directed to her. The girl frowned in thought. "Honestly, no. At first, I just wanted to be useful. But I'm not a fighter, and alchemy isn't nearly as interesting or rewarding as I thought it would be." She explained with a sour expression. "I'm still only mid-range in level, and that's being generous." She let out a small sigh and picked up her shoulders, the edges of her ginger hair swishing lightly with a shake of her head. "Really, it's hard to tell what's more worth it to pour my time and effort into." The words left her in a defeated tone, but she continued on with her tangent for a short while longer. "So I suppose you could say I spend most of my time researching instead. Mainly looking into different materials for alchemy recipes, but I'm not picking about what I study. Just trying to find where I best fit in the scheme of things."

@Morgenstern

Edited January 28, 2018 by Aster

[Morgenstern 1]

He turned to Itzal as the man spoke, speaking truthfully about the factor of laziness, but then mentioned something about bejewled. "Be-jewled? What are you bejewling? I thought you were a performer not an artisan!" He did manage to understand the second one though. "The second one doesn't sound too bad... OR, I could get up, utter some words, and have a muffin. That would be nice!" He chuckled. "Harry pooter" As Aster spoke, she released the information that she wasn't a fighter, and also just liked to research nowadays. Jonathan nodded and replied, "At my place back in the real world, we have a huge library that I would spend my time in, learning about random things that happened. I plan to someday recreate said library and put it in my house here, but of course have SAO related information" They were getting close to the town. In fact, he could see its lights now. "I think we are getting close to the end of our journies here!" It was definently a long one. 

@Itzal @Aster

[Itzal 0]

Itzal blinked at Jonathan.  "Wha- no!  Bejeweled is an app game.  Of course I'm not an artisan.  Despite the having no customers thing, I love my profession.  Come on man, gotta give me something."  Itzal listened as Aster seemed to beat up on her build once again but he couldn't really do much to help her with that.  It was her choice really.  She talked about how alchemy wasn't as rewarding as she thought it would be and how she would more than likely just rather research the ingredients and type of alchemical creations she could make.  Itzal heard Jonathan jump in, talking about how he wanted to have a massive library full of books involving SAO info.  Itzal nodded.  "That would be pretty sweet Jonathan.  Though I personally like stories myself..  Hey I got it!  How about we work together and publish some books for Aincrad!  Aster could help write the catalogues of the floors such as the plants, materials and mob.  Jonathan, you could write about the many skills, enhancements and such and how to use them properly.  And then I can write stories!  I kind of want to talk with the other frontliners, learn more about the other floor bosses.  It could be like our own little side project...  I mean, it's a thought that is.  What do you guys think?"

@Aster @Morgenstern

[Aster 0]

"Ahh, it was the same for me, too!" Aster's interest seemed to genuinely peak when Morgenstern described a library, recalling the study that she would spend so much of her time in back home. "I'm not picky, so I would read about practically anything. Of course medical texts ending up being a large focus of mine..." As she mumbled out the last few words, her hand finally parted from Velnia's scaled head to adjust the position of her dark-rimmed glasses before it would fall back to her side as she continued walking.

"Publish our own books?" Aster echoed with a hint of incredulity. Was such a task even possible here? After a few moments of thought, the ginger supposed it wasn't such a strange thought. After all, she often took plenty of notes for her research, and the leather-bound pages littered with recipes she often poured over back in her shop was essentially a self-written book. "An interesting thought..." She said in a small voice, amber eyes drifting towards the blonde man as if to gauge his reaction before she would agree to this little project they'd come up with on the spot.

(ooc: next post is 60, fine by me to close it up)

Edited February 2, 2018 by Aster

[Morgenstern 1]

The library idea seemed to peak an interest for both players. Aster seemed infatuated with the idea of medical books while Itzal seemed to want to write his own stories. "No worries, the library will be open to you at all times!" Itzal next spoke of writing their own books, and gathering information from the other frontliners themselves. "Not a bad idea, but for the majority of it,  will be having Information Brokers write a bit of the information, or get me the books about it. They already have many books out there" Amber eyes seemed trained on him , making him a bit embarrassed. She was an alchemist too huh? He was never in his shop, so he never really worried about the competition. As they would walk into Snowfrost town, a message would be received. It was most likely from Rin. He would return his gaze to his allies and say, "Well the journey ends here. I have places to be now, so enjoy the rest of your day! He chuckled and began to sprint away, heading for the teleport pad.

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