[PP-F2] The Matriarch's Descent <<Return of The Queen>>

[Haine 0]

A feeling of something heavy pounces on the woman.

Her figure shot up, sending the culprit flopping onto its back. Haine's eyes widened, heart racing. Her instincts prepared for a fight or flight, only to be met with two beady eyes. "PINGU!" she screeched, hand over her chest. What a way to start the day. Who needed an alarm clock with these things running around? Her blubbery companion was raring to go, wings flailing. It would have been endearing to watch the penguin's chubby self flail on its back, were it not for the way she'd woken up. Haine groaned and cast a sideways glance at the open doorway. Kiluia must've left the door open on his way out. She could hardly keep her eyes open in all her lethargy.

A faint light filtered through the curtains, a signal of early-o'-clock. Hours she would rather be sound asleep. Never a morning person, she operated best come noon. She flopped back, burying herself under the covers. The bird rolled off the bed, landing on the carpet with a plop. A moment of silence, and the woman felt she could finally relax. Amber eyes fluttered shut, and a soft sigh escaped her lips.

Then the demon struck again, beak pecking at Haine's rear. She yelped, shooting up. Hand soothed her back and she winced. "What'd'ya want?" she droned, brows furrowed. A brief glance at the clock revealed the time. An hour before her usual routine. "Can you wait one hour?" She squinted and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. The creature tilted her head and trilled softly. There was something unsettling to such emotion paired with soulless, beady eyes. "Fine, you win. Now get yer butt outta here." She dragged herself out of bed and threw on her robe. An earlier start to the day, as her beauty sleep had been disturbed.

 

Consumed: Damage +3: 181527-2, Mitigation +3: 171425-1, Protein +2: 180859-2 [FILLED], Antidote +3: 149554-2

Spoiler

Name: Haine
Level: 71
HP: 1450/1450
EN: 142/142

Stats:
Damage: 25
Mitigation: 79
Evasion: 1
Accuracy: 4
BH:72
HLY:6
BRN:36
PHASE:1

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: HLY, BRN, PHASE
Armor: Mitigation 2, Evasion 1
Misc: Accuracy 3

Skills:
Two Handed Assault Spear [Rank 5]
Light Armor [Rank 5]
Fishing [Obtained]
Searching [Rank 1]
First Aid [Rank 5]
Extended Mod Limit Rank 3 [Obtained]
Battle Healing [Rank 5]
Energize [Obtained]

Extra Skills:
Familiar: Fighter 3
Meditation

Mods:
Finesse Rank 3
Ferocity
Precision
Athletics
Purify
Barrier Rank 2
Field Medic
Hyperactive

Battle Ready Inventory:
Teleport Crystal*1
Requires Extended Weight Limit 1
Requires Extended Weight Limit 2
Requires Extended Weight Limit 3
Obtained via Item Stash (Housing)

Housing Buffs:
Rested: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
Working: +2 EXP per crafting attempt
Filling: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Angler: +1 material gained when fishing
Basic Training: +1 SP to a thread. Limit one use per month [1/1]

Guild Hall Buffs:
Lucrative: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters receive +1 crafting attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters receive +2 crafting attempts per day.
Col Deposit: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by Haine

[Alkor 0]

In the early morning, most Players were still asleep. The token few who weren't generally spent their time ambling around the higher floors, polishing their techniques and improving their skills through trial and error. Alkor took that time to go through his own skillbook, reviewing the various abilities he rarely used and how they might be useful to implement in rotation. He hadn't put much thought into that sort of thing since the Floor 9 boss, but he was rapidly approaching a time that would see him doing so again.

It never hurt to get back into practice. 

On the second floor, a place where he wouldn't have to worry so much over death if he screwed something up, the golden eyed swordsman carved through weaker monsters like a hot knife through butter. Each skill sent a numeric string of information through his HUD, which in turn gave him the information that he'd use to optimize his build and rotation during raids.

He was consistently hitting, which made things go a bit more smoothly, but he did want to get a bit more resistance from his targets. That was when the idea struck him.

"Maybe someone could use help with one of the stronger field bosses?" he thought out loud. It was a good idea. If he found someone who could trigger the quest, he could spend some of his time roughing up the weaker trash mobs, and even take some aggression out on the field boss if they weren't strong enough to cut it down themselves. "Now, I just have to check the postings..."

Alkor hurried back to Urbus, all the way to the request board where he mulled over the myriad postings for anything related to higher level quests. If there was anything, he hadn't seen it yet. Surely, someone would need to finish the quest.

Alkor Level 48

 

HP: 980/980 EN: 106/106 D: 14 M: 12 A: 4 E: 3 B: 24

Blightsteel (2D/1B/C) / Cowl of the Wandering Warrior / (3E) Eye of Osiris (3A)

r5 Curved Sword / r3 Light Armor / Precision / r3 Finesse / r3 Fighter Familiar / Energist / Extended Mod Limit / Survival

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by Alkor

[Haine 0]

An abrupt start to her morning.

She felt a little pissy, she wouldn't lie, but the mood wore off as she resumed her normal routine. She let her half fogged mind wander as she went about it. She padded to the kitchen and popped open the fridge. A bucket of fish greeted her, eyes wide open, staring into her soul. She ripped open each individual package and scrunched her nose. The two keen familiars about trampled her in pursuit of their breakfast. "H-Hold it--" she stumbled back to the sliding door and felt for the lock. She clicked it open and moved out. She flung the fish at the lawn and watched the two pad away. Next, she'd feed herself, get dressed, and sort through the day's itinerary.

She nursed a mug of coffee while she sought a quest more challenging this time, sometime more than a walk in the park. It would keep her trained and in check, all while reaping the rewards she sought. She wasn't as powerful as she longed to be. Her insecurities became more apparent once she stood among the rest of these front liners, seas of unfamiliar faces, all with an elusive air of strength and fortitude. That was what she aspired to be, or at least, the missing puzzle piece to her stress.

A quest to slaughter a bee matriarch, it sounded familiar. She clicked through it and decided that would occupy her morning. She clicked her tongue and debated. A party request to the guild, or to the public? She felt a little daring that day.

Quote

Need help with Return of the Queen. These coords. Let's have a blast!
Haine

She fired a message to the player request board and made haste for the rendezvous point. It never hurt to see new faces. Often times these random questers didn't stick around, but the few who did made the experience enjoyable. She found a spot near the heart of town, an ornate water fountain. It was hard to miss.

[Alkor 0]

When he made it back to the board at last, Alkor found exactly what he'd been looking for. Specifically, there was a message about the higher level Matriarch encounter and that meant someone looking for a group. He opened the window on his HUD and found coordinates for where to meet the other Player... Haine. 

He wasn't sure of much about who they were, but from the attached message, they were interested in having a good time. A younger Player, perhaps? Or someone who hadn't had a great deal of experience in this world and thus lacked the jaded attitude of some of the more veteran Players? Alkor stopped himself from drawing any further conclusions, because the meeting place wasn't far from where he already was.

As he jogged into the deepest part of Urbus, near that central fountain he saw people talking and flirting. This wasn't an uncommon place to meet for parties or dates, as it was closer than the High Fields of Crossing and made it easier for people to connect right out of the teleporter. His eyes found a lone Player- a blue haired girl from the look of her, but he couldn't tell what her weapon was.

"Hey, uh," he raised a hand to wave. "I'm Alkor. I came here looking to respond to a request board message. I'm looking for someone named Haine- do you happen to know them?" he asked. It was a shot in the dark, but he couldn't just assume that the only person alone in the area was the person he was looking for. 

[Haine 0]

She maneuvered around flocks of parties and couples. She had a clear opening until a wave moved in front of her, shrouding her in the back. She jumped, seeking a view of what lied ahead. To no avail. She huffed and turned to the fountain. It was apparent then how short she was, of only 5'4" in a sea of taller, well armored figures. She would have no chance being found here. She left the fountain behind and weaved through the front of the scene. She'd be noticed for sure, with bright, loud, azure locks.

A beak, and a set of razor-like teeth nipped at her ankles. "Ouch!" Haine jumped. Attention fixed on two furry culprits, a pudgy penguin and a polar cub. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "You. How'd you get here?" She pointed at the penguin, whose beady eyes mirrored no emotion. Clever thing followed her up to the teleport stile. Haine clicked her tongue in thought. She found it odd how Kiluia left his familiar behind, not a message as to why. She'd press the question later. For now, she was stuck on babysitting duty.

An approaching figure called her attention, a tall man with dark hair. He seemed intimidating until he spoke. Haine's form laxed, a soft smile following. "Yup, that'll be me! You here for the bee thing Alkor?" A rhetorical question, an attempt at an ice breaker. She parted her lips to speak, only for the cub beside her to leap forward. The bird soon followed, and soon enough, he was the center of their attention. A beak pecked at his shoe laces, followed by a cub smothering fur on his pants.

"Ishouldhaveleftyoubothhome" she muttered under her breath. She snapped for their attention, face stern. "You two. Over here!" The cub knew better than to argue with that face. Ears pressed flat on his skull and he trotted away. As for the penguin, only her owner could manage to tame her. That was Kiluia's headache. Haine laughed nervously. "I-I'm really sorry about that. They just love people. But anyways, about the que-" Pingu let out a guttural squawk as if to assert her dominance, standing firm beside Alkor. She liked him. He smelled like a bakery. Maybe he had food.

[Alkor 0]

Oh, that was lucky.

He tilted his head slightly when Haine declared that she was in fact the person he was looking for. "Well that saves me a lot of time looking," he mused with a lazy smile. "Yep, the bee, exactly," Alkor told her as he opened up his HUD and sent a party request. He wasn't particularly worried about her strength- either she was more than a match for the enemies and they would breeze through the quest without an issue, or he was and he'd carry her through it without much effort. 

Alkor looked down at the familiars as they flocked to him. Only one of them belonged to the woman, but the other, he remained close to Alkor even after being recalled. Who did it belong to...? "That's interesting," he muttered as his gaze moved back to the blue haired woman. "I've never seen this happen before." He laughed. "I know he's with you, but he's obviously not yours. He would pay better attention if he were." Alkor knelt down next to Pingu and reached out to pat the creature on the head. "So, you're pretty familiar with this quest?" he asked. "I mean, with what we need to do to finish it. If not, I can give you the rundown. It's not that hard."

[Haine 0]

"Mhm!" She accepted the request with a simple swipe. The brief exchange was short lived when the rambunctious duo attacked. Her efforts to quell them both were part wasted. She sighed. At least her own remained obedient, as obstinate as they were. It was slightly embarrassing to have them in the way of her questing, terrorizing her now party member. She cringed, waiting for a reaction, filling the moment with what blurb she could to deviate from what happened. The man, Alkor, seemed taken aback for a moment, though not so much so as he appeared pleasant. Maybe it was courtesy. Who would know how to react to being attacked by two wild animals in cub form? She scratched her head and worked out a reply. 

"Yeah, figures. Don't be afraid to shoo them away if they bug you too much!" She played it off with a wave of dismissal. Her train of thought was cut short by the man's comment. "Oh, yeah?" She turned to the meek cub by her side, ears flattened and all. "That one's mine --- you could probably tell. He listens." She jerks her head ahead, a gesture to the penguin waddling in circles by Alkor's side. "That one is my fiance's. When he leaves her back, I babysit the thing." She rolls her eyes. The topic shifts to the quest and she cuts the chit chat. "Ah, yeah, right! The quest." She draws a blank for a moment, letting her thoughts collect. "I know... the gist. But I promise we'll be fine. A matriarch and a couple of minions, yeah?" She rolls her shoulders. "If you have the details, I'm all ears. I think we're more than equipped for it," she continued, sizing him up in the most inconspicuous manner she managed. He seemed to have a head on his shoulders and quality gear, for all it was worth based on assumptions.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Haine