[PP-F22] Fishing Trip

[Morgenstern 1]

The blond haired player stood on the southernmost tip of the floor in the teene tiny town of Coral. The place should haven't even been considered a town, seeing as there wasn't much area covered by it. Today, he was taking two players out on a quest excursion. One was Kasier, his best friend's wife and healer extraordinaire. The other person, a man named Hei. Both build and intentions unknown to Jonathan. He hadn't even met the guy. He just offered his help. Having no fear to let some unknown entity join them, Jonathan allowed his involvement. As he waited for the two other players, he wondered to himself if Kasier would want to play tank,or if she would want him to do it. He understood she was capable, but also understood the fear of being a low leveled tank that was supposed to take upon unimaginable odds. Like tanking the Floor 19th Boss at level 36. He shook that scary memory out of his head and continued to wait on his unarrived guests. 

@Hei@Kasier

[Kasier 0]

Kasier sighed, staring at the sky with those dull eyes of hers. She wanted to go out and talk to some people, but she couldn't find the motivation or even the inspiration to force herself to do so. She had no need - She was high-leveled enough that she would be allowed to participate in the boss fights, so she had no point of grinding any further, and although she's low-leveled enough to get killed, perhaps it was even better that way. Kasier felt a tear drop from her maiden eyes before she whipped it off in a routine manner. Kasier was used to random tear drops falling from her eyes, and it was practically reflex at this point.

She stood up from the park bench in order to head to the high floors and grind some levels with other players. She doesn't necessarily need them, but she wouldn't mind coming along, for there was nothing better for her to do anyways. Soon, she reached the twenty-second floor, and without even lifting her head to admire any of the scenery, used her mini-map to pinpoint Jonathan's location. It was when she finally reached him when she looked up. "Greetings," She exclaimed, in a matter-of-fact manner.

(OOC: After the fall of the Ascendants)

@Hei

[Hei 0]

Hei had been gaining some levels lately, so when he heard that the higher level players were doing some quests, he had told them, that he would like to come with them to get stronger and maybe get to know them at least a little, as he had nearly no contact with the front lines by now. So when he had received the message, that had told him that he would be part of a team of players that went to the 22nd floor to do some quest called the King of the lakes, he had been quite excited to be part of it.
Now it was time for him to go and meet the two players, who might even be there already, as he was a little late due to the fact that he had been waiting for Eatos to finish his new shield. Grabbing his equipment and calling Huatli to come with him, he made his way to the teleporter and soon was in a small town or should he better call it a village that was close to a huge lake within the forests of this floor. As this was the first time that Hei had been to the floor, he took his time, looking at the scenery and then started to look for the two he was about to meet. As both of them didn't look like the standard NPC it wasn't to hard to find them, and so Hei walked over to them, followed by the small raptor of his. "Hey there, you must be the other players going on the quest with me. I'm Hei, but you might know that already. And this over here is Huatli" he said, smiling and pointing at his familiar.

[Morgenstern 1]

(OOC: Ugh.... of course XD)

Jonathan would look past the tows and to the dense forests of the floor.  He had been here a few times as of recently, sitting and pondering at the lake of reflection. He found reflecting on the past only brought pain. It was much easier to attempt to just bury it and keep his mind preoccupied. Footsteps were heard behind him and he would turn to see Kasier. The girl would say one word in a tone that would allow the gates of pain to open to wash the waters of torment around him. Kasier's  own sadness was brought from his weakness. If only he could have stopped them... those players didn't have to die. He would turn away, wiping a tear from his eye. "H-hey" he would choke out. His mind had already played over and over again, his one on one fight with Chaos. To be brought down without a second thought, to be too weak to even  deserve death. He would cough before noticing another dark haired man stepping up to them. 

The man would introduce himself as Hei and Jonathan would force a smile. "Glad to meet you Hei and Hulati. Looks like we got everyone here now. I am Jonathan, Tank Paladin of...." He looked down at the ground and kicked the dirt. The introduction had been a habit for a while. "Well... of nothing. My username is Morgenstern to prevent confusion but I usually go by Jonathan unless its a real serious time"   

@Kasier

[Kasier 0]

Kasier looked blankly at Jonathan before another man arrived. He was the third person of the party, and would tag along even though he's not too high leveled. Looking at him briefly, she figured that he didn't look all that interesting and quickly looked back to the same spot that she had been staring at for a bit. 

Kasier listened as Jonathan made an error in his introductions, as if he had forgotten that the Ascendants had fallen - this angered Kasier a bit... just to even be reminded for the tragedy that had fallen about their guild. She clutched her fist and turned around away from the other two players. "I'm Kasier." She introduced, not feeling the desire to say anything ore than that. She didn't even feeling like going through with this at this point, but she had accepted a while back, and could not back out now, so she would tag along no matter how uninspired she was at the moment.

"Well, no more wasting time. Allow us to go and complete this quest as fast as possible," She concluded, shutting off any sort of friendly conversation the three of them might have. She meant business, and wasting time right now was not something she wanted to do. Then again, not being around anyone was something that she wanted to do, yet that hadn't proved to be very successful.

@Hei

[Hei 0]

So after he had introduced himself, the male player had smiled at him, even though the smile didn't really look all to happy. Hei wasn't sure what it was, but it seemed as if he had to force it, and when he started to introduce himself as "Jonathan, the Paladin of ..."  and then had to stop and correct himself, as there was nothing he was the paladin of, Hei was sure there had to be some reason for him to feel bad. He had seen, how Jonathan had lost the smile when this mistake had happened, and it had not just been him, but the blonde that was standing next to him as well. - Maybe they have been through a hard time together. As it sounds, it could be that they were part of a guild that had been disband lately - he thought, and just in case of this being the case, he decided to not mention it in any future conversation, unless they would start talking about it on their own.
The female that had reacted with Jonathan making the mistake of more or less mentioning their guild was of less words. She simply said that she was Kasier and that was it. Hei was okay with this, as she knew a lot of people which were sparse with words. Besides her not being a person of much words, it seemed she was eager to finally start what they were here for, as she told them to not waste time anymore, and instead head out to complete the quest as quick as possible. "Okay, I am ready to go, just show me where we have to go and I'll follow you two." he told them, and as it seemed they were about to start the quest soon, he quickly changed into full battle gear, equipping the new shield he had gotten from Eatos and getting a better grip on his trident.

@Morgenstern

Spoiler

Hei: 600/600 HP | 60/60 Energy | 3 EVA | 3 ACC | 12 DMG | 54 MIT

Item Stats:
- Trishula, +6 DMG
- Gladiator's Pride +54 MIT
-Scales of Speed +3 EVA
- The Champions Robe +3 LD (vanity/ battleready items)

Battle Ready Items:
The Champions Robe (takes one, even when worn as vanity )
1 Tier One Over-Health Potion (+50 Temp. HP)
1 Tier One Damage Potion. (+1 Damage)
3 charges: Nature's Blessing (healing 15xTier)
<<The Martriarch's Stinger>> (+1 DMG for one Battle)

 

[Morgenstern 1]

As Hei mentioned that he was ready to go, Jonathan would nod, quietly replying, "That would be best" before moving forward. Having been to the quest location several times, he knew exactly where he needed to be going. The Lake of Reflections. A great place to reflect on oneself and your past mistakes. He would begin to walk forward, noticing a sparse amount of monsters within the area. A he looked over at Hei, he noticed that the man was carrying the same weapon that Sey used to, meaning he could expect the same sword arts. He already knew Kasier's capabilities. High mitigation and support skills at the expense of damage. He hoped she would be the one to tank for today. He was the highest level, meaning he would bring the hardest punch. The fight shouldn't prove to be too difficult and manage to be finished with ease. Unlike the prolonged fight with the Night's King that had reduced his damage. 

As they came to a stop on a hill, they were able to look down on top of the lake. "There it is. With luck, we should be able to find the boss and get out of here. I think it was a pretty easy boss if I remember right. Groups of... Level Thirty-Five player? Doesn't matter I guess" He would unsheathe his sword and begin walking down the hill to the mentioned lake. 

@Kasier

[Kasier 0]

Kasier would follow the two players silently. First, the author of this post was simply too lazy to type out a whole paragraph but still wanted to complete the quest because the SP is still there. Plus, the other two needed the posts so they can continue on and not get delayed by the laziness of the writer. Either way, this post was quite forced, and Kasier could really care less about what happens at this point. She just hoped that the other two players would get the job done while she watched from the side or behind... or maybe she can tank if the creature wasn't that strong. Perhaps it was actually a good thing that she had come along on this quest... perhaps Kasier would be able to find some fun and excitement during combat. Perhaps it would bring her old self back just that tiny bit when she was hit by a powerful water attack or something like that. Either way, life takes you to where it takes you, and there's really nothing that you can do about it.

(Yeah I'm too lazy and tired to do anything lol)

@Hei

[Hei 0]

Hearing Jonathan say, that they had to go down to the lake that lay before them, and that the boss they were going to fight had to be found with luck, he was trying to recollect, what he knew about the quest they were going to do. - I believe it was called the King of Lakes, so it probably is a monster related to the lake, so maybe a fish or some kind of elemental monster. And if it requires luck to find it, we either have to search for it because it's hidden, there might be a chance that it appears when killing smaller mobs, or if it's a fish, we might actually have to fish it up - Hei was thinking while they walked down the road towards the lake.
Once they arrived there, Hei was able to see a middle aged man that was looking at the lake, having a line cast out there. As he had no Idea what to do now, Hei turned to Jonathan and asked him "Okay, so here we are. What kind of Boss is it we are fighting, and how do we find it. As long as it's not this man over there, I don't see anything we could fight:" and he smiled as he said this.

@Morgenstern

[Morgenstern 1]

(That was one of the worst posts I have ever seen Kas XD)

Stopped on the hill, he would hear Hei behind him, asking a  question. "The boss yet.... I am not sure..." He would look down at the lake and its glistening water. "I would believe it to be something aquatic. Perhaps a giant serpent such as the Leviathan. It wouldn't be the J-snake from Norse mythology. Jormandur or something like that? But something like that wouldn't fit in a place such as this" Jonathan racked his brain for the information. Myths were his strong suit, but Norse mythology was one of his first projects and he didn't quite remember it. "Haven't really heard much on the quest yet, so lets just go get it a shot or something I guess" He would say. 

Reaching the bottom of the hill, he would smile to the NPC of the lake as the older man would hobble over. Jonathan knew this NPC as the Old Fisherman, who usually handed out advice. This time, since they had accepted the quest, he would have official dialogue to go by. "Ah, you kids come to do some fishin' today? I find fishin' clears the mind and freshens yer spirit! Fer the three of ya though... hmm, you'll haf to catch the biggest thing in ta water. It goes by ta name King of the Lake. I've tried and tried to catch it, but I have figgered out somethin'. I think that the ol' girl wants a certain kind of food. The red salamander, found just up that thare mountain!" He would point to a near mountain. "Ya find it, and you might just bring her up. I would give anythin' to see that" 

As the dialogue ended, Jonathan sighed and without speaking moved towards the base of the mountain, the damp dirt being pressed into by his own shoes. 

@Kasier

[Kasier 0]

(Shut up, it's really hard to RP someone who's too depressed to talk lol)

Kasier followed the two players until they came to an old NPC who instructed all of the players participating in this quest to go find a red salamander in the mountains. Kasier was not a specialist in finding things, which wasn't surprising as she had no need to obtain skills around that manner. This part of the quest would probably just be done by the two other players, and hopefully, one of them had that searching skill which Kasier thought was pointless unless you are a material gatherer or liked farming for stuff. Either way, she will probably be useless on this quest, just like most other quests that she goes on. Healers in this game don't have a reason to exist until the boss fights, when the bosses deal out damage more than the tanks can handle. Otherwise, all the normal quests in this game can be handled pretty easily without healers. At least, this is what Kasier thought.

Finally, Kasier realized that she had something to ask Jonathan, about the recent attack on their former guild. When he began to climb, Kasier sped up a little bit, catching up and getting alongside him before whispering so the other player wouldn't have to get involved. "Do you know who those people were? The player killers? Why would they attack our guild? You seem to be dealing with it just fine - these aren't questions that I can ask Itzal at the moment, but I need some answers." She said simply, looking at the man in anticipation. She had been confused during the entire battle, and all she wanted to do during that time was to protect anyone she could, not that she could do much. It was probably a miracle that she survived, tanking some of the hits with her low mitigation.

@Morgenstern

[Hei 0]

Hei had asked about the boss, and it seemed that Jonathan wasn't to sure himself, even though he said that it probably was something aquatic, like a giant serpent. Then he mentioned two mythical creatures, just to say, that one of them wouldn't really fit, but who was Hei to judge, he didn't knew any better. Before he could ask any more questions, the old fisherman walked to them, and started talking. Hei had some problems understanding what he said, but he was pretty sure that he wanted them to catch the King of the Lake, which was the biggest catch here, and that he learned that one needed a red salamander to catch it. - Interesting, so we should go and have a look for this salamander before we can have our fight - Hei thought.

When they started walking towards the mountains, Kasier and Jonathan walked ahead, and it seemed they were talking to each other, but Hei wasn't able to understand anything, and that probably was a good thing. - I don't know what they are talking about, but it isn't my concern, if they don't want me to know. Maybe it's got something to do with why they both seem so unhappy - he thought. They started climbing up the mountain to reach the upper level, where they probably would be able to catch this salamander they were looking for.
Hei didn't really want to disturb them in their conversation, but he had to ask them. "Hey you two, sorry for interrupting. Do you think this is where we will find the salamander?" and while they continued a little, he changed his gear, so the shield was in his inventory and he used the active bonus of his cloak.

-54 MIT | +3 LD
OOC: can I search for the salamander in this post, or do we have to have full three posts walking to the mountain before searching?
@Morgenstern

[Morgenstern 1]

They walked up the mountain, Jonathan kicking rocks as he went to ensure a more safe footing. As eh moved up, Kasier came to his side and began talking in a hushed voice. 'Do you know who those people were? The player killers?' The words stung. He knew Chaos, and that was enough to make it his fault. He alone knew the power of Chaos, even if only to an extent. He was the Tank Paladin, the leader in charge of defensive players. It was his job to protect those weaker than him, and here he was perfectly fine, while many of the former Ascendants lay with their names on the Monument of Life. 'You seem to be dealing with it just fine - these aren't questions that I can ask Itzal at the moment, but I need some answers'. She said. He tried to say something but choked on the words. She didn't understand it, did she? She seriously thought he was okay? The burden of several dead comrades was almost too much to carry. He became a tank to protect those he cared for and he failed miserably at it. Perhaps he should throw down his weapons, lay down his tanking career. He had never been good anyway. He could let Hestia in as a full tank, she was probably better than him already.  

No. Kasier didn't understand. No one would understand him. It wasn't their fault. They were grieved by the loss of the Ascendants, but it was even worse for him. Not only did he fail in his own job, he had lost everything that had meant anything to him. The Celestial Ascendants was a symbol that he had made something of himself, and had strove to help push through the prison of Aincrad. "I only knew one of them,"  he told her. "I know he doesn't like me, but I never imagined an assault on our guild". He scratched his head. "The one I took on with the Flaming Sword was named Chaos, an extremely high leveled DPS player. I've fought him before, but I didn't know he..." his voice trailed off as he heard the boy behind him. 

"Yeah, this should be close enough, yeah. You have any searching skills or items Hei?" 

Turn Action: Switching White Edged Blade(+9 DMG) for Searching Stone(+3 LD)

@Kasier

[Hei 0]

Hei still tired to not eavesdrop on the others, as it was their business and not his, but he had to  know if this was where they should start looking. Morgenstern told him that it would be close enough and asked him, if he had any skills or items that would help him with the task. "I don't have any skill that help me searching, but the cloak I am wearing boosts my perception, so it shouldn't be so difficult to fins some red animal on this stone mountain" he said and started looking for the salamander.
Hei was sure he had seen something red running to some rocks not that far away, and so he chased it, but when he was there, there was nothing but stone. Not sure if it had just been able to hide again, or if he had seen something that wasn't there, he returned to the others, that more or less walked behind him in silence.

ID: 108062
LD: 1 -> nothing found
@Morgenstern

Edited October 23, 2018 by Hei

[Morgenstern 1]

As they searched, Hei would mention that his cloak boosted his perception. Nodding Jonathan would hold up his own stone that he held in his hand. "This item does the same" he would tell him before his eyes would advert to the ground. It was obvious Kasier was keeping silent as she thought about what he had just told her. He hated quests like this. Where they had to look for an item and then go and kill the boss. If they could just fight the boss right off the bat, and have this over with he could go back to being alone. He needed time to himself to think. He thought getting out and going on and adventure with some people could help get his mind off things... but it had just proven to fail. As much as he looked, he proved to find nothing. Perhaps it was much more of a rare mob than he had originally thought. Squeezing down on his finding stone, his knuckles would become white. How much longer would finding this salamander take. 

10068 LD:5+3 ~ No salamander found

@Hei

[Hei 0]

Morgenstern told him, that he had an item to boost his perception, too. This wasn't something that surprised Hei, as he was a strong player and it was such a nice to have item. Knowing that they would be looking out for the salamander themselves Hei decided to trail of a little once more, focused on finding the red salamander. He already wished they could have just started the fight, but as it seemed they needed it, he would find the salamander.
After looking for nearly fifteen minutes without finding anything he returned to the others, asking them if they had been more lucky than he had. "So has anyone of you seen the thing? I looked everywhere I could think of but not a clue to where the salamander might be" he told the others, while he still looked on the ground, hoping that just talking about it would make it appear in front of them.

ID# 110449
LD:  8+ 3 = 11 -> not found

@Morgenstern

Edited December 14, 2018 by Hei

[Morgenstern 1]

Hei would walk off in his own search for the salamander so Jonathan would as well, leaving Kasier behind to think to herself. She had been quiet even since he had told her that he knew Chaos. Maybe she was starting to blame him for the loss? Pushing the thought away from his mind, he began once again to look for the Red Salamander. After a few failed tries he looked at the map to ensure they were searching in the correct area. To no surprise, they were in the right area. Which meant that they were utterly failing at finding it. Returning back to the meeting point, Hei would report that he had found nothing. Jonathan's posture drooped. "Neither did I. I wonder why we are having such a hard time to find this. I figured it was just going to be a fight, not an hour long session of searching for something. Sometimes, I think Kayaba is this cruel just to have a good laugh" 

110487
LD:8+3=11

[Hei 0]

While Hei had been searching for the salamander and left the two players that knew each other search for themselves, Morgenstern hadn't found anything, so when they met again, he told Hei, that he wondered why they had such a hard time finding it, as well as that he had thought there would have been a fight and not just searching for a damn salamander. "Yeah, I thought that too, but it seems we were wrong. And I don't think he really did, but then I don't know what he was thinking at all. Do you think Kayaba is sitting somewhere, watching live feeds from SAO and laughing at them?" he continued the talking. He just shook his head a little, just by thinking about the scene when eh noticed something small and red right behind Morgenstern.  - This can't be the salamander, can it - he thought, wondering if Kayaba really watched them and made fun of them like this. He mad a large step and caught the salamander in his hands, showing it to the others. "Well, I got it, just as we were talking about it. Wanna go back to the lake to finally get our fight?"

@Morgenstern

ID# 110713
LD: 15 -> found the salamander

ID# 110715
CD: 11 -> caught the salamander

Edited December 20, 2018 by Hei

[Morgenstern 1]

@Hei would make a quick and sudden move towards him that would cause the apprehensive boy to jolt back and reach to his weapon. However, Hei turned up with a large red salamander in his hands. Smiling, Jonathan would begin to praise the man. "Nice, we can finally move and get this quest over with" Afterwards, he would lead the man back to the old fisherman. "Ye got the salamander did ye'? Well, lets get this show on the road! I'll cast out and you can see if can catch her!" The man would cast out before handing Jonathan the pole. "Well, lets hope this goes quicker than the searching" As he waited a few minutes, nothing would happen and he would eye the old man. "You know, this job has been a real pain" The old man would just laugh at him. "It takes patience my boy! I've been looking to catch this beast for twenty years!" Jonathan's eyes would widen. "I am not sitting here for twenty years... Hei, you give it a go and take the pole" he would then offer the man the rod. 

110801 LD:5+3=8

Objective List

• From receiving the quest from the fisherman at the Lake of Reflections, the player(s) must write three posts (combined) of travel to the base of the mountain.
• The player(s) then take turns rolling the LD to find the Red Salamander. (LD 13+)
• Once the Red Salamander is discovered, it will try to run from you. Roll a CD (6+) to capture it alive before it gets away (5 Posts)
• Travel back to the Lake of Reflections with the Red Salamander, and take turns rolling the LD (15+) to fish up the King of Lakes.
• Kill King of Lakes

Spoiler

<< The King of Lakes  >>
Statistics:
HP: 1200
DMG: 125
MIT: 20
Abilities:
<<Body Slam>> On an MD of 9, the boss will jump high into the air and crash down in the center of the players, sending out a shock-wave dealing 120 AoE damage. 

<<Dive>> On an MD of 10, the King of Lakes will take the player with the highest hate in its teeth and drag it back into the lake. The player will take 150 unmitigatable damage and need to swim back to the shore, missing their next attack.

[Hei 0]

As they had returned to the lake, the old man had asked them for the red salamander, and as Jonathan had handed him the small beast, the old man quickly hooked it onto the pole and handed it back to Jonathan, after he had cast the pole. Now they just had to wait for the king of the lake to bite. As they were waiting Hei could see how Jonathan already was loosing his patience already. After just a few minutes he told the man that this was a real pain, and when he told them, that he was hoping to catch the King for the last twenty years, Hei saw that Jonathan wasn't happy.

The paladin handed him the pole, hoping that Hei would have more luck with catching the monster, but it was the same with Hei. The pole was not moving and there was no sign that this would change anytime soon. "Damn, I think it's sleeping or something like that. Maybe if you reel it in again and cast it out another time we can get it to notice the salamander" Hei said, as he gave it back to Jonathan.

ID# 110997
LD: 5+6 = 11 -> not fished up

@Morgenstern

Edited February 13, 2019 by Hei