PP - F21 Better Roll the Sleeves Further (Shield) (Completed)

[Calrex 0]

Immediately after dropping off his requests at Macradon's shop Calrex made his way back to the 21st floor. Even though there was enough for what seemed to be a single day's worth of crafting materials, he had a feeling there was a good chance not all of his requested gear could be made with them. The luck in SAO was rather fickle at times, to the point that even the best blacksmiths and other crafters could fail.

Swiping on his menu as he arrived back on the first floor where Tier 3 materials could be scavenged the bluenette sent out a message to Shield once again, equipping the gear he had used last time for their trip, the set that gave him the best chance for finding things. "I kind of feel bad that I keep dragging Shield along for these things, but I guess that all of the professions will need the new level of materials, so at least the two of us will have enough to provide for any things we need."

ID: 85126
Loot Dice: 14 (Search and Detect +3 / Item +3) = 20
Material Found

It seemed things might work out better this time around, since right as Calrex began looking around he found one of the glowing mushrooms that the two had found before. He cautiously reached for it, and found it was not attached to an insect like it was before. Inspecting it the bluenette found it to be good as a material, adding it to his inventory, "Great way to start compared to last time. I swear if I get another one of those disguised bugs again I'm squashing it immediately."

Group Total: 1

@Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 85147 results: Loot: 14 + 3 LD item + 1 skill + 1 expertise = 19 - +1 Material (2 party total)

It didn't take long for Shield to join Calrex, unlike their last little trip where he had been in the middle of scouting. He was already geared to the teeth for the third tier of Aincrad, but with the Merchant profession currently seemingly under construction, so to speak, there was no telling how many materials he would need in reserve.

"You making little six-legged friends without me?" he asked from behind Calrex, approaching just as his Seeking Aura earring lit up. He glanced around, searching the ground for anything that might be triggering such a response, and there at his foot was a chunk of ore that he did not recognize. "If silver and gold can be found in their raw form on this floor, no longer in ore like on lower levels, then I can't even imagine what would still be considered of a higher caliber when even in its ore form."

He picked up the item and found an open slot in his inventory to store it. The trip already seemed to be off to a good start.

@Calrex

Edited May 25, 2017 by Shield

[Calrex 0]

ID: 85190
Loot Dice: 15 (Search and Detect +3 / Item +3) = 21

As Shield came into talking distance Calrex gave a laugh at the man's comment, "Of course. More friends is usually good thing right?"

Right as the armored player made his way to look into a potential item the bluenette did so as well, seeing that there appeared to be a piece of the pyrite-like ore that was stuck in the ground. Pulling it out he felt no wiggling, meaning that it wasn't another insect mimic like he had often found in the past, "In terms of ore I wouldn't be sure, at least if we're going by naturally-made materials. If anything they could just be more purified deposits compared to the ones in the past, at least if we're going by historical standards. We might even get lucky and find some naturally occurring wootz formations to make Damascus out of."

Adding the ore to his inventory Calrex got up and dusted his hands again, "In any case it seems I must have intimidated the fauna with that last trip. So far I haven't found any other insect mimics."

Group Total: 3

@Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 85194 results: Loot: 17 + 3 LD item + 1 skill + 1 expertise = 22 - +1 Material (4 party total)

"Well, we'll see what happens," Shield said, noticing that his earring had yet to stop glowing from his last discovery. He continued to poke around with his boot on the rubble-strewn ground until something glinted in the sharper light of the glowing trinket. Bending down, he fished out an odd solid. It seemed to have the reflective quality of a metal, but it was extremely light, even more so than aluminum. "This is a curiosity," he wondered aloud. "Light as a feather. Almost like how fictional sources describe 'Mithril,' or 'Mithral' in some cases, because apparently 'Mithril' was a copyrighted term or some nonsense."

He polished one of the larger surfaces and shrugged to himself before storing it. Their luck had proven decent so far. He almost wondered whether they had hit a spot just as the loot had respawned from the last group of players. Or perhaps it was altogether new and unfarmed so far.

Impossible to say, really.

@Calrex

Edited May 25, 2017 by Shield

[Calrex 0]

ID: 85195
Loot Dice: 13 (Search and Detect +3 / Item +3) = 19
Materials Found

"Huh, the things you learn. I didn't know that particular word was copyrighted, or had some type of royalty payment attached to it. It's tossed around a lot in more than a handful of fantasy stories, or at least ones that surround the usual elven, dwarven, and other types of lore."

Brushing his hand across the ground Calrex continued to skim the ground. As he did suddenly he felt his palm come across something resistant, as if embedded in the ground. Thinking it was potentially an ore he quickly scraped away the dirt around it, but instead of being greeted by a familiar material, it was one that was rather unusual. It appeared to be made of an ivory-like substance, but was encased almost like it was cast in resin to be on display. Upon fully extracting it from the ground the bluenette saw it emitted an orange and red-like glow with a sense of warmth.

"Huh, think this would be the equivalent to a dragon tooth or dragonstone?"

Group Total: 5

@Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 85196 results: Loot: 2 - No materials (party total 5)

"You've got me there," Shield said, squinting at the ornate new discovery. "I may be a know it all, but that one's outside the scope of my knowledge. Interesting though. Probably useful in trinkets and the like."

Shield, on the other hand, seemed to have hit a wall. His earring had gone dead, telling him that with Calrex storing the most recent find, the area was likely picked clean.

"Seeking Aura tells me it's time to move on," he said, giving his earring a casual flick with his fingernail. "This watering hole is fished out."

He motioned with his head further on down the path, and he began to walk, paying attention to the sides of the tunnel for any signs that his own trinket had spotted anything of use. The path began to widen, expanding outward so that a raiding party could easily and comfortably make its way. It was perhaps an unconventional design choice to put so many bottlenecks in the level design, but Shield supposed every level had its pitfalls.

@Calrex

Edited May 25, 2017 by Shield

[Calrex 0]

ID: 85197
Loot Dice: 4 (Search and Detect +3 / Item +3) = 10
No Materials Found

"Alright then. Good thing you've got that thing with you. Usually I have to make an educated guess if the area is cleared out."

Following behind Shield as the two continued along to the next area Calrex kept using his sharpened sight and scavenging sense to spot any other objects that might be hidden in the wall and other crevasses. Unfortunately, he was also not picking up anything of use. There were a couple of ores that were around, but the smallest indicator that they were mimics was made clear, so the bluenette didn't bother with testing them out.

"Looks like we've still got to cover a bit more distance before we find anything else useful. I wonder if that's just how the spawn time for the materials turned out, or if the designers actually clustered the groupings and spaced them out between certain spots."

Group Total: 5

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 85198 results: Loot: 4 + 3 LD item + 1 skill + 1 expertise = 9 - No Materials (5 party total)

"I feel like if it is a matter of a floor's design, it's probably a random one," Shield thought aloud, frowning a little as his earring failed to notify him of anything noteworthy. He sighed and continued walking. "After all, the dev team for SAO was impressive, but they don't have the time or resources to micromanage drops for one hundred full floors."

The path had begun to retract again, narrowing to the point that now the adventurers had to explore single file. Not only that, but Shield was beginning to have to stoop slightly to advance.

"I'm sure there were advanced algorithms designed, and maybe part of that design was to sort of cluster where resources spawned, much like how enemies tend to spawn in groups," he continued to speculate. "In any case, it seems as if there are at least patterns behind today's drops. It's been pretty black or white so far."

@Calrex

Edited May 25, 2017 by Shield

[Calrex 0]

ID: 85202
Loot Dice: 18 (Search and Detect +3 / Item +3) = 24
Materials Found

"Fair enough, and going from what we can assume, I don't think there's a team waiting to get information back to refine those algorithms. Oddly enough there does appear to be patches that go out every now and then, but I can only guess those are prescheduled or something like that."

Looking around the new area they had arrived at Calrex's vision seemed to illuminate an outline of what appeared to be another material buried in the ground.Walking over he began to dig some of the covering dirt out of the way, revealing what appeared to be another strange material like he had just a few moments ago, "Guess these things are just found in the ground. Strange that their appearance looks like they should be put in a display, or something to that effect."

Adding the item to his inventory he began to continue looking around, "Hopefully if we get lucky we'll find another chest while we're out here as well."

Group Total: 6

@Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 85201 results: Loot: 1 - No materials (6 party total)

"I'd agree with that," Shield added, though he was a little preoccupied keeping an eye out for the glow from his earring. "A dungeon wouldn't go amiss either. Any opportunity for gear is a good thing. I did manage to appraise that armor we found. It's a very aggressive build. Two ranks of thorns and a rank of heavy momentum. For a piece of equipment that's typically defensive, it's pretty offense-focused."

Shield reached up and gave his earring another light flick with his middle fingernail, wondering if the issue was not with the area but with his equipment.

Never had issues with equipment straight-up not working, but I suppose there's always that chance.

The path rounded another corner before coming to a fork. Shield opened his menu, issuing the light tinkling sound that it produced as he went to make note in his menu of just where they had come from and the paths they had taken.

@Calrex

Edited May 25, 2017 by Shield

[Calrex 0]

ID: 85205
Loot Dice: 9 (Search and Detect +3 / Item +3) = 15 
Materials Found

"Dang, that does seem like an offensive build for sure. Remind me to ask you about the pricing on that later, heh. Might come in handy should I ever find myself in a rather nasty situation."

Continuing to scan both the ground and walls with his improved search senses Calrex found yet another lightly illuminated object in the wall, seeing that another piece of the pyrite ore was growing out of the surface. Walking over he tried to pull it out with his fingers, only to feel strong resistance. However, when gripping it with both hands and wiggling it back and forth the material became looser and looser until finally coming free.

With a swipe he added the material into his inventory with a small sigh, "Looks like I'm finding a lot of the same stuff. Not that I'm not appreciative that we're getting something out of this, but I would hope we'd get more variety than just rocks and mushrooms, heh."

Group Total: 7

@Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 85206 results: Loot: 10 + 3 LD item + 1 skill + 1 expertise = 15 - +1 Material (8 party total)

"Better than more bugs," he said with a shrug. "In any case, it's difficult to put a price on tier three anything right now. It's a new market that hasn't exactly stabilized just yet. I can't make any promises on any sort of Col cost right now, but it took three materials to appraise it, so I'd at least like to make up my losses there."

With a great deal of relief, he saw his earring finally blaze to life, illuminating the path by their feet and allowing Shield to spot yet another molt from one of the odd mimic bugs. He stored the chitinous material and turned his attention back to Calrex.

"In any case, if you want first dibs on it, now's the time to speak up," he said, glancing over at the other player. "I can't imagine I'll keep much tier three equipment in stock for very long."

@Calrex

Edited May 25, 2017 by Shield

[Calrex 0]

ID: 85207
Loot Dice: 9 (Search and Detect +3 / Item +3) = 15
Materials Found

"Heh, fair point. I guess I might as well get invested in the market before the price is determined, right? If it's three materials to appraise it, I'll do you one extra and give four from my half once we're done here."

The bluenette couldn't help but give a small smirk. He hadn't delved into the stock market before SAO, but he had always planned to eventually dabble in it, at least to get some kind of income in addition to a full-time job. "In terms of the materials though, I can agree. I'm having Macradon make my next tier gear, and he ended up having to go through six materials just to get a single weapon. It's like the game decided to make crafting slightly more difficult with the release of the next tier, like some kind of way to maintain the in-game economy."

Looking over nearby where he had just searched Calrex's eyes spotted a glowing mushroom that was highlighted by his vision. It wasn't attached to an insect, making it easy to extract from the ground. "At least with our improved turnaround this time, we could still come out further ahead, heh."

Group Total: 9

@Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 85209 results: Loot: 17 + 3 LD item + 1 skill + 1 expertise = 22 - +1 Material (10 party total)

"I didn't do a whole lot better," Shield said, blowing air out of his cheeks. "It took Teion almost three days' worth of crafting to get my full set of 3 done. Of course, after dumping consumables into her work, then she starts doing well and over producing. I now have an extra shield for when I'm in a situation with long fights and need to rely more on my energizing abilities."

As Shield bent down to pick up a raw silver ingot, the significance of what he had said occurred to him.

"Oh, by the way, I can do that now," he said, dusting himself off, more to straighten out his gear than anything. "If we ever get into fights, I can pass you eight of my energy points at a time. I figure it made sense, since I never use the darn things. Might as well put them to good use so we don't have to stop between each fight."

@Calrex

Edited May 25, 2017 by Shield

[Calrex 0]

ID: 85212
Loot Dice: 12 (Search and Detect +3 / Item +3) = 18
Materials Found

"Heh, so basically you've got a shield that works like a battery? Sounds like something useful, especially if there were any raid battles that drag on longer than expected. I was going to check with Teion as well, but I figured as much that she'd probably be also busy with a barrage of requests coming in from the frontliners. Oikawa is someone that I normally would go to, but he's been in hiding for quite some time that I don't think the first thing he'd want is a crafting request."

Seeing another mushroom closeby to where he had found the previous one Calrex immediately notice the highlight marking it as a material, picking it and adding the fungi to his inventory, "If I can get more than eight this time around that would be very useful. At least that way if something doesn't work well with Mac's forge again he'll have enough to make more attempts."

Group Total: 11

@Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 85213 results: Loot: 20 + 3 LD item + 1 skill + 1 expertise = 25 - +1 Material (12 party total)

"You're not the first one to make that observation," Shield commented. "Just be careful with those jokes, or the battery might start running out of charge and losing its voice. Could make howling rather difficult."

The path had taken on a different quality now. The path that they took was clearly the path downward. The tunnel constantly curved to the right and led continually downward. It was as close to a spiral staircase as one would likely find in naturally occurring stone, though whether such a structure would actually exist in nature was doubtful. Still, it was better than a two hundred foot ladder.

As they descended, Shield's earring began to give off the same familiar light that was a precursor to a discovery of some sort. The extra light slid across the ground where they walked until it fell upon another piece of silver metal that did not quite appear to be silver. Picking it up, he found it more likely to be the same light material as before.

"Even a suit of this stuff would likely only qualify as light armor."

@Calrex

Edited May 25, 2017 by Shield

[Calrex 0]

ID: 85215
Loot Dice: 19 (Search and Detect +3 / Item +3) = 25
Materials Found

"I'll figure as much. However, unless we end up fighting some more monsters like we did back on the fifth floor, I don't think you'll need to worry about me running out of energy. Having a high level comes with a lot of health and energy, at least as long as I don't go expending it on groups upon groups of enemies at once."

Seeing that Shield had spotted what appeared to be a silver ore his eyes were immediately drawn to another nearby material that was being dimly illuminated in the ground nearby. Walking over the bluenette dusted off some of the covering dirt and rocks, finding that it was another piece of silver. Adding it to the materials he had already found he stood up and dusted off his hands, "At least we've got some good momentum so far. Let's just hope it keeps up."

Group Total: 13

@Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 85216 results: Loot: 6 + 3 LD item + 1 skill + 1 expertise = 11 - No materials (13 party total)

"I'd say so," Shield said, giving a slight nod of his shaggy head. "We're already doing better than in our last little venture, and if we can find another chest, we'll be in excellent shape."

He wasn't incredibly optimistic. After all, he could count the number of chests he had seen in the game on one hand and with a couple fingers left over. Still, of those three, two of them had been on this floor and both within a day or so of one another. As a point of curiosity, he began searching with more than just his earring. His eyes slid along the walls, looking for any sort of catches or hidden switches that might reveal a hidden chest. Such things were rarely sitting out in the open, or so Shield assumed.

I've been all over Aincrad. If they have been there in plain sight, I certainly haven't seen them.

@Calrex

Edited May 25, 2017 by Shield

[Calrex 0]

ID: 85218
Loot Dice: 6 (Search and Detect +3 / Item +3) = 12
No Materials Found

As Calrex continued to search around the nearby area his eyes continued to dart from one side to another, scanning surfaces and other structures for any indicator of a material stockpile. Unfortunately, it seemed that this time around there was nothing to be seen. Not even a single glowing fungi to be potentially harvested, "I think we might have cleared this area out. Might need to move to another spot if we're going to have any luck."

Dusting off his hands while getting to his feet once again the bluenette proceeded to stretch his arms, "Hopefully we'll luck out again, but if my past luck with these things is any indicator we might not get the same result as last time. Can't really go relying on our chances of finding treasure unless we have a ridiculous search skill boost."

Group Total: 13

@Shield

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

ID# 85220 results: Loot: 2 + 3 LD item + 1 skill + 1 expertise = 7 - No chest

They continued down the passage for some time, but as the path leveled out, it became clear that, at least in the mean time, they were in another dry spot. Shield frowned, but he had to recognize that they had already made a considerable amount of distance and likely mapped a lot of new territory.

"I think we should probably call it," he said with a sigh. "We've made a good push, but I think the well has run dry again. Besides, it's going to be quite a walk back as it is."

He motioned with his head back the way they had come before starting back up the incline. The trip back was slow, but that was largely due to the fact that it was largely uphill. At a couple of points, Shield even considered burning a teleportation crystal. He knew he would likely later regret that though, so he held off, which he confirmed for himself when they finally found the main cavern once again.

"Well, we did alright for ourselves," he said with a sigh. "Nothing groundbreaking, but I suppose that's the way of things. We'll need to keep these up so we can keep ourselves stocked."

@Calrex

Edited May 25, 2017 by Shield