[F2-SP] Can We Talk About This? <<Return of the Queen>>

[Itzal 0]

Itzal had heard of the quest Return of the Queen a long while ago.  However he wasn't strong enough to solo it alone so he decided to train up a bit more before he took it on.  Well, he was stronger now so he felt it was the perfect time to take on this quest.  From what he heard he had to take on, and slay, five bees before he could take on the boss.  The queen.  Itzal knew he needed to take the bees on bit by bit.  He'd take on one single monster before he took on four.  That way he could use single sword arts, before having to focus on an AoE attack.  He walked across the fields of the second floor with his armor Niger Natio, designed to increase his evasion skills.  Yakimba, a demonic item with two bleed and two paralysis, allowing him more skill in damage and advantages.  And finally Beauty incarnated which amplified his accuracy a great deal.  He also had bonus evasion thanks to the acrobatics mod.

Spoiler

General
Level: 74
HP: 1,470
Energy: 144

DMG: 16 (base 1 damage + 9 dmg (Velnia) +5 sword skill +1 Athletics)

SP Available:  13

Total SP:  394

 

Usual Setup

Yakimba (+2 Bleed +2 Paralysis Tier 2)

Niger Natio  (+3 evasive Tier 2)
Beauty Incarnated  (+3 Accuracy Tier 1)

-------------------------------------------

Looting Setup

Twilight Cloak  (+3 LD Tier 1)
Faithkeeper  (+3 Accuracy Tier 2)
Skyreach  (+3 Col Multiplier Tier 1)

-------------------------------------------

Boss Raid Setup

Hardened Resolve (+56 MIT Tier 3)
Yakimba (+2 Bleed +2 Paralysis Tier 2)
Beauty Incarnated (+3 Accuracy Tier 1)

 

Skills: 

Grandmaster one handed straight sword (+5 DMG) <50 sp>

Grandaster light armor (+25 MIT) <50 sp>

Grandmaster Search and Detect  (+5 LD) <50 sp>

Gatherer (turns each material found into the ammount of 4) <10 sp>

Picking (+3 LD when opening chests) <15 sp>

Velnia (Rank 3 Fighter: +9 dmg) <18 sp>

Grandmaster Charge (+5 dmg first attack) <50 sp>

Grandmaster Battle Healing (+5% total health per combat post) <50 sp>

 

Mods:

Reveal (+2LD when searching for dungeons or players.  Dungeons rolled for every 15 posts rather than 20) <9 sp>

Detect (+1 to dungeon searching, +3 to player, npc, mob searching, all player stealth bonuses are negated) <9>
Night Vision (Ignores any penalties from low light or darkness, as well as negating others stealth bonuses from it) <5>

Dismantling (+2 LD for picking chests)  <8 sp>
Tracking: Allows the player to track another player or monster down by entering their name if the name is known to the player. This negates the targets hiding bonuses and when hunting monsters, guarantees a hit regardless of BD roll, though still requires to roll for a critical. Tracking takes a post action. <12>
Athletics: +1 dmg +10 * tier HP

Spring & Acrobatics +1 Evasion while wearing light armor

 

Extra/locked Skills: 

 

Meditation 0 ranks

Survival <3 sp>

Disguise (when activated, turns Itzal into his opponent, giving him +1 BD and his opponent -1 BD during Itzal's and the opponent's turn.  can only be used every 12 turns

Expert Martial Arts (+3 unarmed damage) <23 sp>

 

[Itzal 0]

Itzal began to move closer and closer to where the queen bee was the last time he had taken the quest long live the queen.  He hadn't drawn Yakimba yet, it wasn't exactly time for it.  He'd only draw it once he reached the destination and, hopefully this wouldn't take too too long.  Then again...  He didn't want to be overconfident, but there was the chance that he was overpowered for this quest.  He learned during the Witch quest that he was stronger than he originally thought.  What if that was the same case here?  Suddenly a massive bee shot at him from nowhere, completely surprising him as he didn't hear anything.  The bee tried to hit him but failed to, and he used his charge skill, releasing Meteor Strike, dealing up to two hundred and six points of damage, not killing the bee but knocking it's health a far greater deal.  So the had mitigation this time around?  This would be interesting...  He hoped he didn't go on another missing spree again.

ID#  97749  BD:  5+3  MD:  6-4

16+5x11-25=206 dmg

Itzal:  1,470/1,470  <>  133/144

Bee:  44/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG

[Itzal 0]

This minion seemed like it was getting more active.  The creature tried to stab him repeatedly but he nimbly dodged each and every attack.  He was really enjoying the Acrobatics mod, really really enjoying it.  However when he made his move to attack, he leaped into the air and attempted to make an aerial attack.  The issue was that he had not mastered fighting in the air and thus had made a..  Well a miss.  However the bee wasn't able to hit him either, his reflexes were too quick.  Once he landed the bee knew it had to keep on attacking in the hopes that he couldn't fight back.  He spent the rest of this phase dodging it's attacks by either twisting his body out of the way, sidestepping, backstepping, or parrying the stinger away.  If he parried the Bee would fly back to keep Itzal from counter attacking.  The monster was more intelligent than he originally thought.  He wondered how deadly the queen would be, or intelligent rather.  He was confident he could survive.

ID#  97814  BD:  1  LD:  2

Itzal:  1,470/1,470  <>  131/144

Bee:  44/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG

[Itzal 0]

As the fight continued Itzal made more and more attempts to strike while in the air.  He was beginning to slowly adjust himself to the more lightweight feeling he had while using the mod.  He nearly struck the bee with his sword, convincing him that he could make an attempt with a sword art now.  Once this monster was killed he estimated he'd need a short moment to rest before his energy was fully restored.  After that his energy would either be fully restored or, well, nearly.  Either way it would be enough to take on another monster.  He had to kill four more afterwards so he'd need his energy if he was using his AoE sword skill.  This was going to take a while he thought to himself.  He really hoped he didn't take for-freaking-ever on this quest.  He looked at the straight sword.  This was such a deadly weapon in the real world, so why wasn't it stronger?  Why did his favorite sword with the most variety of techniques, be the weakest sword he could have obtained other than the dagger?

ID#  98092  BD:   9  MD:  2

16+1x3x2-25=87 dmg

Itzal:  1,470/1,470  <>  125/144

Bee:  0/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG

[Itzal 0]

Itzal walked quietly forward, sheathing his demonic blade Yakimba into it's sheath as he did so.  Yakimba had been an incredible help, but if he was going to be taking on tier three bosses from now on, he needed to have tier three gear.  Even when it came to demonic items.  He used to have a snowflake, but had given it away when someone else asked for it.  Itzal wasn't one to hog items to himself, especially if someone else needed it more.  However now he needed it, which was the consequence of being so nice.  He wanted to get a boss drop of his own, but unfortunately his sword arts were so weak that the chances of that happening were very very minimal.  He sighed as he continued to walk, chuckling when Velnia rubbed her cheek against his.  "I know I know, it doesn't help to stay down in the dumps.  At the very least I'm doing minimal damage to the bosses which does help somewhat.  Hopefully this damage buff the boss is supposed to drop will help me out there.  And hopefully I can get my hands on a food buff too."  Itzal spotted three tier one materials and went ahead and added them to his inventory.

ID#  98453  CD:  7  LD:  12+5  +3 MAT

+48 EN

[Itzal 0]

Itzal continued to walk, still wishing he was able to do more damage against the bosses and thus be of more help to others, but quite honestly that kind of thinking would get him nowhere.  He needed to get more damage via skills and mods, and once he did his damage would be... somewhat greater.  The best way to change the outcome was to change his sword skill but he refused.  He preferred the straight sword with it's large variety of options when it came to combat, allowing him to use Soul Barrage, a special technique made by Ulises before he died and passed it on to Itzal.  Suddenly he heard buzzing from nowhere and barely managed to dodge the fierce stingers of two of the bees, before leaping into the air and flipping his body around, completely dodging the other two.  When he landed on the ground he released Shadow Explosion as a fierce counter strike, striking two, missing one, and landing a crit on the last one.  All the bees were almost dead but then a question popped up regarding his sword art:  Why the heck was it called Shadow Explosion?  That made zero sense....

ID#  98454  BD:  6  MD:  9
ID#  98455  BD:  1  MD:  3
ID#  98456  BD:  5+3  MD:  7-4
ID#  9857  BD:  9  MD:  9

16+5x9-25=164 dmg
16+6x9-25=173 dmg

125+1-25=101 dmg each

Itzal:  1,340/1,470  <+72 BH>  126/144

Bee 1:  86/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG
Bee 2:  250/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG
Bee 3:  86/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG
Bee 4:  77/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG

[Itzal 0]

The four bees who tried to attack him were utterly shocked at how they had failed their surprise attack.  Itzal was more agile than they had guessed, and it didn't make sense.  His physical build didn't actually give him a speed advantage so how was he able to evade them?  Itzal knew how of course, it was thanks to the mod Acrobatics.  However now that the shock was over with they had adjusted to his boosted speed and agility.  Itzal tried to zone in on the bee he missed prior, but the creature managed to dodge him again.  The other three rushed in to sting him to death but he was able to dodge each of their attacks.  From the looks of it they targeted critical points on his body which, if they had landed, would result in a critical hit.  He tried to make counter attacks but they weren't giving him any time or room to be able to do so.  It was a real nuisance and he was hoping he could find some weakness or open area he could work around.

ID#  98458  BD:  2  MD:  8-4
ID#  98459  MD:  9
ID#  98460  MD:  9
ID#  98461  MD:  9

125+1-25=101 dmg each

Itzal:  1,109/1,470  <+72 BH>  124/144

Bee 1:  86/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG
Bee 2:  250/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG
Bee 3:  86/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG
Bee 4:  77/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG

[Itzal 0]

Itzal continued to dodge, parry and deflect the stingers of the four bees as they continued their non stop assault against him.  He noted that the system wasn't accurate in the sense of how bees worked in the sense that their stingers weren't barbed like real ones were.  It was probably to keep them from dying after one attack, especially against players who were of a much higher level than they were.  Regardless of the answer to this, and regardless of the answer as to why the sword art was named Shadow Explosion, Itzal targeted the second one again, rolling under the bees and releasing Meteor Strike on his target.  He grinned as he made contact and leaped back, resuming his pattern of dodge, parry, deflect, repeat.  He was beginning to recognize their pattern and soon enough he hoped to finish them off with one more strike of Shadow Explosion.  It was costly but the only sword art that would finish off the one with the most health.

ID#  98463  BD:  4+3  MD:  1
ID#  98464  MD:  7-4
ID#  98465  MD:  8-4
ID#  98466  MD:  4

16x9-25=151 dmg

Itzal:  1,181/1,470  <+72 BH>  124/144

Bee 1:  86/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG
Bee 2:  99/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG
Bee 3:  86/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG
Bee 4:  77/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG

[Itzal 0]

Itzal continued to parry and deflect, biding his time as he kept a sharp eye out for an opening or weakness.  The bees continued to assault him, looking for a weakness in his defenses as well.  However he was getting better at avoiding being hit by any of them, so he continued to keep the work up.  He was waiting for them to be aligned so that he could strike them all with the sword art at once, as it seemed once he'd hit a target they couldn't get away from his sword art.  Soon enough, through much patience, he did see an opening.  They began to align without realizing it and he grinned.  Charging up his sword art Shadow Explosion, he hoped to knock each of these monsters out of the air at once.  However one of them saw his grin and backed up from their attack, using the others as a meat shield.  His sword art struck them all, knocking them all out and shattering the three, leaving one to deal with after.

ID#  98662  BD:  2  MD:  4
ID#  98663  BD:  7  MD:  6-4
ID#  98664  BD:  6  MD:  1
ID#  98665  BD:  9  MD:  5

16x9-25=119 dmg
16+1x9-25=136

Itzal:  1,253/1,470  <+72 BH>  108/144

Bee 1:  86/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG
Bee 2:  0/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG
Bee 3:  0/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG
Bee 4:  0/250  -  25 MIT - 125 DMG

[Itzal 0]

Itzal watched as the bee made an immediate dive for his weak points which he nimbly avoided.  Now that it didn't have to worry about running into it's comrades, the creature seemed to be far, far more aggressive than before.  It wasn't striking, pulling back and striking again, it was full on diving at him and using it's momentum to turn around and strike almost immediately afterwards.  Itzal's eyes narrowed as he focused on physical evasion rather than deflecting since waving his sword around would hinder his movements.  Slowly but surely, he was beginning to see it's pattern.  Bit by bit he analyzed this new fight pattern and before long, he got it.  With a smile he activated Meteor Strike and swung out in front of him though nothing seemed to be there.  When he did, the bee was cut into three pieces and shattered, ending the fight there and then.

ID#  98666  BD:  6  MD:  2

Itzal:  1,325/1,470  <+72 BH>  97/144

Bee ded

[Itzal 0]

Itzal stood there silently before seeing Velnia hover in front of her, seemingly annoyed with him.  ".....what?"  She tapped her foot in the air as if he should get it.  "What?"  She rolled her eyes before Itzal finally got it.  It was petty too.  Itzal sighed.  "Jeez, it was not much of a fight you know?  When we take on the queen bee, then we can fight together ok?  I didn't want to bore you.  Here, take a muffin and be happy ok?"  Her tail shot up when he mentioned the muffin and shot over to devour it.  As she did so he chuckled and rubbed her head.  "You silly girl...  Well, it won't be long before my energy is recharged fully.  Shall we go ahead and search for the queen then?"  Velnia nodded vigorously and he nodded, making his way through the floor hoping to see her soon.  Itzal spotted three materials which he picked up and added into his inventory as they walked..  He had a feeling it would be soon.

+48 EN

1,355 HP (+30)

ID#  98672  CD:   6  LD:  12+5  +3 MAT

[Itzal 0]

Itzal continued to walk around the floor moving closer and closer to the objective of the quest.  The queen bee who somehow survived it's own destruction.  Literally the quest didn't make sense.  The return of the queen?  He could only understand that if the queen bee had a child, and that child wanted revenge.  But if that were the case the infant wouldn't be born until the queen was about to die.  So she wouldn't be able to see or comprehend the death of it's mother.  There were so many holes in this quest it just spun his head around and around.  Oh well.  At least it was experience and that was all that ma-  Suddenly there was a loud buzzing as the queen bee popped out from literally nowhere, and thrust her stinger into his chest.  Itzal's eyes widened at the insane reaction and pulled himself back, drawing his sword.  He then activated charge and landed a solid strike, but she was too quick for him to land a decisive critical hit, let alone a hyper critical.  Now that he knew she was there however, he doubted he'd get hit a second time.

ID#  98673  BD:  6  MD:  10

16+5x11-75=156 dmg

200-25=175  175-72=103

Itzal:  1,252/1470  <+72 BH>  133/144

Queen Bee:  344/500 - 75 MIT - 200 dmg

[Itzal 0]

His health had already begun to rise back up, nearly full health again when the queen tried to make another attack against him.  He dodged it this time and it seemed like most of the threat was in that surprise attack.  Which meant she wasn't an actual threat, the only issue would be her mitigation making this fight slower.  However, since he wasn't fighting a group of enemies and instead just one boss, he had a higher chance of hitting her than he did with them.  Honestly none of this was life threatening to him.  The only thing was it being tedius.  Because of that, Itzal would say that the group of bees was more tedious than the queen.  If that was the sense, then the worst part of this quest was the five bees, not the queen herself.  What a letdown he thought as he released Meteor strike and dropped her health down even further.  If he landed a bleed effect then that was one less attack he'd have to make.

ID#  98743  BD:  6  MD:  2

16x11-75=101 dmg

Itzal:  1,324/1470  <+72 BH>  122/144

Queen Bee:  243/500 - 75 MIT - 200 dmg

[Itzal 0]

The queen bee gave a chilling roar that would have shaken and terrified most individuals, but his experience as a player, as well as the fact that he knew very well this boss wasn't a legitimate threat to him, kept him from it's effects.  The queen took a new stance and moved, similar to the flash step from the anime Bleach.  Itzal's eyes widened at the action and attempted to keep up with the beast, and succeeded.  He parried his attack and attempted a counter attack, but she evaded it very well.  Itzal's eyes narrowed as he analyzed the situation.  Her speed increased greatly, but if she followed the rules they all were forced to, she was using up more stamina in the process.  This meant that she could only go on for so long.  Eventually she would begin slowing down and thus be vulnerable to attacks.  Due to this new information, he'd focus on parrying and evading, making small movements to preserve his own stamina and energy.

ID#  98756  BD:  2  MD:  1

Itzal:  1,396/1470  <+72 BH>  122/144

Queen Bee:  243/500 - 75 MIT - 200 dmg

[Itzal 0]

The queen was definitely slowing down, that much he could tell.  However at the same time, as her speed dropped her desperation rose.  He noted that she was getting closer and closer to landing a hit on him, and thus he made a decision.  Or compromise rather.  He could tell Velnia was waiting for the right moment to jump in so he'd use her right after this.  He knew that she couldn't kill him at this point, so he would let her hit him.  In addition when he was hit he would have a clear shot at hitting her in return.  Once the attack was done she would be a bit stunned and Velnia could strike at her wings so that she would be slower when chasing or evading him.  Then Velnia could join him in the assault and just finish off this fight once and for all, leaving them with an item that he would use in the up and coming boss raid.

ID#  98782  BD:  5+3  MD:  9

16x11-75=101 dmg

200+1-25=176 dmg

Itzal:  1,296/1470  <+72 BH>  122/144

Queen Bee:  142/500 - 75 MIT - 200 dmg

[Itzal 0]

The battle continued to drag on...  Well depending on one's perspective that is.  For Itzal it may have seemed like far longer than it actually was.  In reality the fight was only taking a few minutes, five to eight tops.  When you're in the middle of combat however it's very difficult to keep track of time.  Even when your life isn't in danger.  Itzal continued to evade, parry and deflect the queen's stinger, which as he was surprised earlier, didn't have any barbs on it.  If the stinger did have barbs on it there would be three possible issues.  The first being that it could mean thorn damage.  The second was that the stinger could be used to hook his sword and disarm him.  The third was that the system may keep the mechanic of the stinger being pulled out of it's body as real bees do.  This could be good or bad depending on whether or not the queen has regnerative powers or not.  At any rate Itzal saw another opening and activated Meteor strike, landing another solid hit as a counter attack and dropping her health further, all the way to forty one points remaining.

ID#  98783  BD:  5+3  MD:  8-4

16x11-75=101 dmg

Itzal:  1,368/1470  <+72 BH>  98/144

Queen Bee:  41/500 - 75 MIT - 200 dmg

[Itzal 0]

The queen gave an unearthly screech of sheer pain which, this time, was loud enough for Itzal to be forced to drop his sword and cover his ears.  The screech wasn't for very long, but it was long enough for Itzal to lose his primary weapon.  He was about to grab it when the monster suddenly charged at him, forcing him to back up instantly.  He didn't have his weapon so he switched to parrying and deflecting using the metal on his armor's arm cloth.  Because of this he required more focus than usual.  He needed a way to get to his weapon while also keeping this queen at bay.  It wasn't going to be an easy task, not when the boss was more angry at him than ever.  If he could get her stuck somewhere he could charge for it, but the problem was her stinger being barbless.  Then there was her agility.  He needed to use her rage against her somehow but he wasn't quite sure of what method to use.  Maybe just use counter punches to anger her enough to drop her perception?

ID#  98832  BD:  2  MD:  2

Itzal:  1,440/1470  <+72 BH>  96/144

Queen Bee:  41/500 - 75 MIT - 200 dmg

[Itzal 0]

Soon enough the queen started getting even more riled up than before, making his plan pointless as she was already doing it for him.  She missed him barely and lost her balance because she expected another deflect, which gave him just enough time to leap away from her and grab his sword.  He returned to parrying and deflecting, but he wasn't able to attack...  Yet.  The queen was too aggressive, too fast.  He decided to take advantage of her last mistake and dodge at the last second rather than parrying, which caught her off guard and let him use Meteor strike to finish her off.  When he did he received the item and the experience points.  He stood there for a second before sheathing his blade and turning to Velnia.  "These bosses are better sparring partners than most mobs, but they're still not a challenge you know?"  The purple dragon nodded in agreement and flew by him as they walked to the teleporter.

ID#  98947  BD:  3+3  MD:  7-4

16x11-75=101 dmg

Itzal:  1,470/1470  <>  85/144

Queen Bee:  0/500 - 75 MIT - 200 dmg

[Itzal 0]

As they walked back Itzal adjusted the metal pieces of his armor.  The metal had held steady in the fight against the queen and he wasn't exactly surprised by that.  Ariel had crafted it and although she may be a player he will want to avoid, he could never deny the perfection of her work.  He wouldn't be buying from her ever again but still.  Actually, if Itzal thought about it he hadn't seen Ariel since the last boss raid.  She was frozen in the crystal around the middle of the battle and once the fight was over he shot over to the surface hoping to help find the labyrinth entrance.  He assumed that she was fine afterwards, but she didn't join them at the meeting.  Was she feeling humiliated?  Angry?  Or was she going to drop off the map like so many others had done?  Regardless of what she'd do, if she wasn't with them anymore that was one less front liner which meant things would be harder than normal.  Itzal spotted three materials and added them to his inventory.

ID#  98948  CD:  8  LD:  13+5  +3 MAT  3 total

[Itzal 0]

Ariel had a two handed spear, which was as powerful as the martial arts skill.  The two handed spear was meant for single target enemies, making it perfect for floor bosses.  Now with her gone that was one less powerful weapon on their side.  There was Zandra who had a two handed ax which was also a powerful weapon, though focused on multiple opponent, which was good for if the boss had any minions on it's side.  Ariel and Zandra had been changing in personality for a while now, becoming more distant and proud in nature.  Itzal wanted to avoid them for these reasons.  In fact he'd been seeing negative change everywhere, including in his own guild members.  He was hoping people would work together and be more friendly but the way the front lines was operating right now just wasn't going to allow it.  It seemed that everyone was only thinking about getting stronger in levels, gear or fame.  Nobody cared for others anymore it seemed, only about themselves and what they wanted right then and there.  It was a plague, and he hoped it would stop soon.

Summary

Queen’s Honey: [Perfect Potion: +3 Damage for one thread]

3 sp

3400 col

3 MAT