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[F21 - PP] <<Trouble in the Mines>>

Bahr

By Bahr,
in Intermediate Floors

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Bahr

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TITAN'S STRENGTH CONSUMED (+3 DMG)
FOCUSED DOG CONSUMED (+2 ACC)
WITCH'S BREW CONSUMED (+1 CD)

It wasn't that Bahr wanted the mines to fall to the Drakelings. It was just that he didn't particularly care. The quest had been out for almost two years, and Bahr knew for a fact that there weren't people out there every day hunting the things, and the mines were still there. If the Drakelings were going to wreak the havoc that the quest promised, then the mines would have been long gone by now due to player neglect.

But the promise of Skill Points and col were enough to draw Bahr to their lair. "Not as many of them as I thought," Bahr noted nonchalantly toward his companion as he unsheathed Dawn's Demise. "Shouldn't take long to collect what we need."

As though to illustrate his point, he ripped the blade through the nearest Drakeling. It burst into pixels, leaving only its hide behind. Bahr picked it up, then nodded toward Oscar. "Easy. Let's get it done."

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It wasn't often that Oscar and Bahr got to hang out nowadays. They both seemed to have their own things going on. Plus, the little fight they had when Oscar threw that dude at Pinball didn't really help matters much. So imagine his surprise when Bahr messaged him one day out of the blue to join him on a quest. Honestly, the two of them had been through enough for such a thing to not really drive too much of a rift between them. But still, best to not let it fester. Oscar wasn't exactly excited to be going on a quest so soon after their blow-up, but he also couldn't think of anything else better to do. So off a message went:

 

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To: Bahr
                 On my way

Expand  

As he passed through the foyer of his home, Oscar tapped the Kumatetsu statue resting there. His damage boosted by the most useful of the Scents of the Wild Rewards, he headed for the door, accentuating that first buff with a couple others. A short walk and a teleport later, Oscar had arrived at the designated place. He waved at the Crimson Marauder without a word and look out over the mines from their perch high above the artificial ravine. Without much reconnaissance, the two of them stepped off the edge and slid down the slope into mine proper. It was there that the drakelings swarmed. A few slices here and there and they had some breathing room.

"Not as many of them as I thought. Shouldn't take long to collect what we need. Easy. Let's get it done."

"Let's go then," Oscar said in response.

TITAN'S STRENGTH CONSUMED [+3 DMG]
KUMATETSU STATUE ACTIVATED [+1 DMG]
FOCUSED DOG CONSUMED

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With a stiff nod, Bahr made his way a bit further into the cavern. It wasn't long before a pair of the mobs noticed them and began to approach, clicking their tongues and raking their grotesque claws against the hard floor; completely unaware that their threatening advance would be one of the final tasks their polygons would perform. Bahr, amused, threw both of his arms to the side as though to challenge the cretins, exposing his torso to any would be attacks in a display of confidence and dominance. Why he was openly taunting mobs? Not even he knew. It wasn't like he had Taunt enhancements, or the Howl skill. At this point, it was more a force of habit than anything.

And then, before they could fully close the distance, Bahr obliterated one of the two. A slow start, but he had a feeling that things would ramp up soon.

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"So I got this new toy," Oscar said. On that note, the obsidian monstrosity that was Tesseleth's Fury disappeared in a flash of light. He tinkered through his inventory before finding the item he was looking for. He tapped it quickly with his right middle finger and held out the same hand as the system generated his weapon. A gaudy golden axe was summoned forth from the ether. The blade was adorned with gems and each swing of the weapon generated the sound of plinking coins. "You know that Simmone chick? Yeah, she just handed this to me one day. We decided to call it the Money Shot." He took aim at a large stone and swung his axe like a golf club. The stone blitzed through the air and slammed into a group of Drakelings. One of the creatures died from the impact, resulting in a shower of golden coins. "Because you take your shot and, look, money."

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"Jesus Christ," Bahr mused as he witnessed the obnoxiously glamorous display of Oscar's new toy. For a moment, Bahr felt as though his own new weapon - Blinkstrike - was horribly inaccurate in comparison. It had no special animations or vanity effects; just a simple red blade that had some moderate damage potential. But the doubt only lasted a moment, and ended right around the time a glint from the proverbial golden goose flashed into his line of vision and temporarily blinded him.

"Yeah," he muttered as he rose a hand to shield his optics from the object's heavenly glow. "That's, uh, nifty. Does it do anything cool aside from being a makeshift Glowstone?" Though the comment was made in jest, Bahr's tone probably made it seem like a statement offered from annoyance more than anything. But correcting it now would seem desperate - especially given their recent spat - so he shifted his attention to the increasing volume of mobs that were rapidly descending upon them.
 

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Oscar

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"Does it do anything cool aside from being a makeshift Glowstone?"

"Absolute Accuracy, mostly," Oscar said with a shrug. As more Drakelings rushed towards them, Oscar's attention was grabbed with the thought of cleaving through them. He hadn't really thought much of Bahr's tone in the first place. But being as a bunch of annoying creatures were swarming them, he definitely didn't give a shit. He stepped forward and planted his feet, swinging his lump of gold straight for the Drakelings' throats. One of them died outright. The other barely survived. It was definitely within the threshold for Bahr to be able to kill it. "Alright Bahr, take this one out. Try to get a couple more of these assholes with your swing so I can knock them out," Oscar said with a grin. He took a step back to give Bahr plenty of room to work. Didn't want to get in the guy's way while he was trying to wreck faces.

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As Oscar stepped forward and slaughtered one of the hapless mobs, Bahr was once again struck by the glint of his weapon. It wouldn't have been particularly jarring in a better lit environment; but down here in the mines, where it was dark and muted, Oscar's makeshift golf club was out of place. Perhaps, with time, Bahr could grow accustomed to it. Luckily he didn't have any proclivity toward epileptic seizures or any other such light-induced debilitations, lest Oscar's weapon render him inert before the oh so terrifying lizards that were progressively accosting them.

"Absolute Accuracy, eh?" Bahr inquired idly as he tore Dawn's Demise through another pack of their shared adversaries. "That's like, what, an instant ten percent DPS boost, right? Provided they don't dodge." Expression souring at seeing no Drakeling Skin result in the loot panel following his kill, he dismissed the window and barreled ahead. "Think it's worth it over Fury?"
 

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"Depends on the context," Oscar said. He launched another Explode Catapult at the group of Drakelings that had congregated around them. Two of them died right off the rip, but there were another two that were fresher than the others. Bahr could clean those up. Oscar thrust the butt of his axe into the ground and leaned against the weapon, allowing the Drakelings to flail their wings in his face in protest to their genocide. "In a boss encounter? Not worth it. When we're killing mobs like this? Definitely. It's rather annoying to keep missing mobs when I'm trying to kill them en masse." Oscar picked up a Drakeling Skin off of the ground and tossed it at Bahr. The flap of skin landed on Bahr's head, draping across his hair and face like a towel. "It puts the lotion on the skin or else it gets the hose again!"

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"Gross," Bahr remarked as he peeled the moist scaly pelt from his visage with a slow splick, quickly stashing the item away in his inventory. Despite the remarkable grotesqueness of the meat towel he'd just been assaulted with, Bahr couldn't help but notice how much progress they'd made in such a short amount of time. "That's four skins already," he noted. Then frowned. "A bit below average. Doesn't seem like the potion I took is helping as much as I'd hoped." 

He stepped forward, poured golden light into his blade, and let it rip. Four Drakelings fell and burst into azure dust, leaving behind a pair of skins that brought a smile back to his face. "That's more like it," he chirped as he scooped up the clammy pelts and whisked them away in a ribbon of light.

"I've been fucking around with a new set too," he admitted, planting the tip of Dawn's Demise into the rocky floor and leaning against its firm frame. "It's fun, but sometimes it pays to use this bad boy instead. I think I'd be struggling a bit more against these goons without it."
 

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Oscar

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It seemed that both he and Bahr were in the same situation. They'd both reached a point in their progression that using their best equipment on every occasion just resulted in the combat being more boring than it already was. A set for quests and grinding and a set for actual challenging encounters. "It's rather unreal how quickly you can reach a point where even basic Perfect gear puts you on a level far above everything else." As if to punctuate his statement, Oscar swung his axe into two more Drakelings. A crit from Money Shot - applying bleed - was enough to bring one of them down with a single strike from full health. He let out a sigh and punted the other Drakeling towards Bahr to deal with. Even when he was deliberately holding himself back, combat was still so boring. "Heads up Bahr-Bahr Jinks," Oscar said with a chuckle.

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As Oscar delivered a straggler straight toward Bahr, he readied another Calamity Disaster and struck it before it even made contact with the ground. He then arced the blade in a manner that allowed it to connect with another pair that was fast approaching, knocking them both back before they closed enough distance to pose any meaningful threat. Despite only one of the Drakelings having survived the attack, no skins were left behind to show for it. 

"Meesa think yousa're right," he exhaled in his best Jar-Jar impression. "I've got a pure perfect set of gear that that still puts me leagues beyond most anything in the castle - that we have access to, anyway. No Unique Enhancements or anything, either. I just... don't really need to try anymore." He glanced down toward Dawn's Demise, which was catching specks of gold light from Oscar's weapon. "I'm really only using this thing right now because it's optimal over my other weapon at dispatching these things efficiently. Since we're going for volume, it made sense."
 

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"Honestly I just don't want people to think that I'm good just because Zandra decided to pass me her old weapon," Oscar said flatly. Money Shot arced through the air, the blade taking on a violet hue as his Sword Art spooled up. His weapon collided with a group of Drakelings, dispatching the weakened one and rewarding him with a skin for his efforts. As with the last one, he tossed the skin to Bahr. The Crimson Marauder was keeping up with their total, after all. So much the better because Oscar just wanted to focus on the enjoyable bit of the outing. The sheer catharsis of being able to cleave through hordes of enemies was near-intoxicating. At the very least, it was a good stress relief. "I like to think I play the game well. I just want my skill to outshine my equipment and not the other way around. It's unfortunate that outside of Raids and Event Bosses, there's nothing that really tests your mettle in this game. Honestly, I feel like the death side effect only applies to the lowbies who are one bad hit away from being in a bad spot and not to people on the higher end of progression." He adjusted his gloves, glancing down at his watch in the process. "Which is why we need to make sure we got their backs as much as we can."

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"Yeah, I can see what you mean," Bahr mused as he brought the wedge of steel through a pair of Drakelings Oscar had weakened, dispatching then both and earning another skin for their rapidly rising meat pile. "There certainly is anelement of skill that can be employed in Sword Art. It's actually something I've been trying to convey to a-" pupil? "... friend of mine. She's relying so heavily on the system that she isn't cultivating her natural talent into full fledged skill. Which is a shame, because she's god assloads of potential."

Ignoring a new pair of Drakelings that approached, Bahr leaned against Dawn's Demise once more. "I think it's our responsibility to do so," Bahr continued, circling back to Oscae's point about having the backs of the lower leveled players. "Teach them things like that, I mean. Scarcely will you need to, but there may be times when relying on the system isn't enough, and you've got to fall back on your skill and wit to make it out alive."
 

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She? "Talking about NIGHT, right," Oscar piped up inquisitively. He'd not done much beyond spar with her in the guild training room, but even that was enough to demonstrate her potential. "I really think she has a very solid foundation in her skillset. She just needs to branch out more. It's good to hear that you're taking her under your wing." A second pair of Drakelings joined the first. Oscar spun his weapon around in his hand and delivered a singular horizontal slice to the group. The attack frontloaded the full damage of his Sword Art into the single stroke without requiring him to lock himself into the traditional animation. "I find myself using the system as a crutch less and less nowadays. You really have a lot of wiggle room in how you want to fight. Once someone becomes aware of the fact that they're in an actual video game character, a whole world of possibilities opens up." Oscar thought back to his fight with the Forgotten Time King. He made so many maneuvers that shouldn't have been possible under the guidance of the system. "You don't think about doing things like grappling or punting mobs towards your team mates when you're overly-reliant on the system."

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"Yeah, NIGHT," Bahr affirmed before dislodging Dawn's Demise from the stony floor, resting its flat edge against his shoulder as he waited for the mobs Oscar had knocked down to scramble to their feet. Er... Talons? "Solid foundation, for sure. But I've watched her struggle in situations where more outside the box thinking was necessary. My approach so far has been to ween her off of the buffs and use better discernment for when they're actually necessary, and to what degree. Forcing her to rely more on her intuition has produced some... interesting results."

Another swipe, and three of the Drakelings were felled. In the wake of their polygonal combustion, a skin was left behind. 

"She's a little rough around the edges," he admitted as he bent over to scoop up their ninth Drakeling Skin. "But she's got enough raw potential to outpace both of us if she learns to hone in and focus a bit more."
 

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Oscar shrugged. "I don't think an over-reliance on buffs is the issue here. I use them in almost every outing and I've got to this point," he said. As more Drakelings congregated around them, Oscar found himself quite pleased that there was no shortage of enemies. Between the two of them, they were able to remain still and let the little shits come to them. One of his biggest frustrations was having to hunt down dense enough packs of mobs. He swung Money Shot into this newly-formed group and got a skin for his trouble. This one he, again, tossed to Bahr. "I suppose it's just a natural consequence of my chosen profession, though. In a day, I craft so many buffs that I could basically carry all of the Frontliners through my efforts alone as far as Cook buffs go. It's more a 'I have them, why not use them' situation." Oscar wasn't going to get into a too in-depth debate on buffs. He and Bahr both had their own preferences. But Oscar couldn't imagine a situation where not being buffed was a testament to skill. Especially when, at the upper echelons, it was more a matter of execution than statistics.

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Seemed nobody was particularly keen to see Bahr's vision. With a sigh, he brought Dawn's Demise through another pack of Drakelings and watched idly as the disintegrated, leaving not so much as a single Drakeling Dkin behind. It wasn't that Oscar was particularly wrong, he just wasn't understanding what it was that Bahr was trying to say. Was it a matter of pride? Or was Bahr simply not articulating it well enough to be on the receiving end of so much opposition by everyone he expressed his views to?

In the end, it didn't matter. Bahr's abstinence from buffs - though not static - had forced him to think outside the box and become more fluid to whatever situation he found himself in. That was the core of the contention. If nobody could be convinced through words alone, then he'd just have to illustrate his point through his actions. Though, not against mobs so pitiful as these. Even without buffs, or with basic weaponry, they wouldn't provide a real challenge. 

"Maybe you'll see what I mean someday. Until then, just do you."
 

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"I suppose. It's just a weird fuckin' line to draw in the sand," Oscar responded. Money Shot hummed as it sliced through the air, tearing through another group of Drakelings with unerring focus. Much to his chagrin, however, the one he managed to slay didn't cough up a skin as a reward for his efforts. "Don't get me wrong. I can see the appeal. Gotta play better to make up for the loss of buffs. But even with base stats, you're still busting heads at a break-neck pace. There's a pretty narrow window where quests offer enough of a challenge to justify that sort of thinking. Even in a place as dangerous as the Endless Maze, I don't feel like the Floors we're on can generate enemies with stats significant enough to challenge us. Perhaps that won't be the case once we reach the higher floors." Oscar chuckled at the thought of vanity weapon only against a mob from Floor 99. It would be interesting to say the least. But somehow he doubted they would, even then, be that terrifying.

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"That's a part of the problem," Bahr responded, tracing a line with the tip of his blade across another collection of Drakelings. As they dissolved into clouds of oceanic dust, Bahr craned his head toward his companion. "You get comfortable in that mindset. That self assurance that you're so strong that it doesn't matter. Then, sooner than you expect, something catches you off guard. If you've let your focus and skill slip then, well, what are you going to do in a situation like that?"

He cocked his head to the side a bit, as though to illustrate that it was an earnest question. "When the system can no longer save you and only you can do it, it's not going to matter what consumables you brought along. And if you stay in that chronically buffed comfort zone, there's a chance you won't have honed the skills necessary from what previously would have been surprises."

"I'm not saying not to ever use buffs. I still use them here and there - I'm no purist. But there's utility in recognizing your intrinsic strengths and weaknesses outside the cocoon of safety buffs provide."
 

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"Yet if you continue to push yourself to the limits of what's possible with the additional power bump and become accustomed to operating on that level, it becomes easier to make that mindset the norm," Oscar said. He twirled his weapon over his head and spun around, stepping into a powerful blow that delivered shattering force to a trio of drakelings that had surrounded him. "Consumables are no replacement for skill. We can agree on that. But the fact they make you lazy is just ludicrous." Oscar really couldn't say that word without 'Luda!' blasting out suddenly in his mind. Early 2000's music was a wild ride, that was for damn sure. Despite the intrusive thought, Oscar was able to continue. "If you make it to Level 50 without getting at least halfway decent at playing the game, your death is impending and there's not a damn thing you can do to stop it, hot dog or no hot dog."

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