[PP-F27] Alternative Methods Required <<Scouting the Labyrinth>>

[Hirru 0]

*Disclaimer: Crozeph's AOE shift hits harder than stats shown.  Damage fully killed the sentinels*

With quick actions and precision that would give tells that everyone has had experience beyond their time, one of the Labyrinth's Sentinels had fallen.  Having been cleaved through by the thinly bladed one, the second sentinel was thrown for a loop and drive to it's maker.  Crystalline fractals would be it's only remaining form of the once metallic rock formation.  The other one would not take this loss without causing some sort of discourse.  It would come down swinging towards NIGHT, before it too would find itself breaking down into crystalline mesh.  It seemed that Cro's last attack was more effective than they thought.

Hirru could finally rest from the initial attack.  If this was going to be how things were gonna be, then it was probably going to take them a while to get through these caverns.  He hoped that they could take things at a faster pace, but that would be suicide.  The lack of information and the winding pathways of the cavern could possibly make way to something far worse.  Hirru would look to everyone else through his helm.

"Is everyone good?  That shouldn't have been much of a problem for our energy, I hope."

He would look to NIGHT and then to Cro, whom looked slightly disappointed that he didn't get to eat more.  Their AOE arts would be taking a heavy toll on both of them.  If anything, he figured that they could all continue on, as they had only just entered the caverns not even a few minutes ago.  With that in mind, the hunter signaled for everyone to resume their positions.

It wouldn't take long for their next encounter though.  Possibly a few more minutes into the journey, they would come across a new area.  The cave tunnels widened out into something double the size.  Within this area, the tunnel seems to be perforated in several scorch marks on the left hand side, while the other side was covered in circular holes in random assortment.  In the center of the right side wall, there was a face with flame like hair.  Their eyes were closed to all.

"What the hell is this?  A trap?"

His answer would come in the form of a quick ping to his detection skills.  Two more mobs were on their way from the other side.

"We got mobs too!"

The two were more or less wood elementals, with earthen parts forming a sort of hybrid of wooden mystic and the earthen brawn.  As soon as the mobs were within sight, they would immediately set upon the team.  One would rush in while the other would slowly come up from behind the other.  Immediately, the fiery face would awaken!  Eyes ablaze with fire, several spouts of flames would billow out from some of the circular holes on the right wall; catching the first mob.  It would be consumed in the flames and shatter as it had ran through several of them to cause massive damage until death.

The second of the two would be more cautious.  It walked instead, even more slowly after its fellow kin was burned to ash.  It would creep slowly until it was within range for one of it's dash attacks.  Activating it, the mob would flash forward..

..only to be met with flames.

A glittering of shattered polygons would be the only thing that would reach the group from the smoke.

"Yep.. definitely a trap."

Hirru searches --> [ID: 212412][LD: 8+14=22] STEALTH TRAP!!

Spoiler

 

NAME	CD ROLL	LD TOTAL
CROZEPH	1~3	0
HIRRU	4~6	22
NIGHT	7~9	19
NARI	10~12	0

[0,0] Crozeph | HP: 920/920 | EN: 74/98 | DMG: 23 | MIT: 94 | ACC: 6* | EVA: 4 | FLN: 16 | Phase | REC: 3 | LD: 4| Risky II
[0,0] Hirru | HP: 1104/1104 | EN: 91/104 | DMG: 1 | MIT: 110 | EVA: 2 | BH: 55 | HLY BLS: 44 | MENDING: 2 | REC: 8 | THRNS: 76 | LD: 14 | CLDN [Barrier 2/2]
[0,0] Nari-Lanreth | HP: 966/966 | EN: 89/98 | ACC: 4 | DMG: 23 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 60 | B.Healing [+46] | L.Momentum: 1 | LD: 4 | Bld: 48 | Concentration [1/5] | +4 EN -13 EN
[0,0] NIGHT | HP: 1242/1242 | EN: 115/146 | DMG: 21 | ACC: 7 | EVA: 6 | MIT: 134 | LD: 13 | BH: 68 | VAMP-D: 68 | FS | AA | Stealth Rating: 6

Stealth Trap - The party encounters a threat or obstacle which requires stealth to overcome. Each player must make a post to roll for Stealth against a Stealth Detection of 11+. Players that fail lose 25% of their maximum hit points (rounded down).
Searching cannot resume until all players have made their Stealth checks.

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by Hirru

[Nari-Lanreth 0]

The fight had ended far quicker than Nari had expected, considering how difficult the creatures were supposed to be here. She'd done her part, following direction of their leader. Her eyes had cast towards Hirru as the final creature dissipated into a collection of shards on the air, admiring how calm he remained given the danger they were facing.

"Yeah, I'm good...no harm here. Barely scratched the surface of my energy burn." She had checked her own vitals quickly, glancing down the list at the rest of the party to confirm that no one had stood out as in danger or in need of immediate help. "Good to keep going if everyone else is."

She fell in behind Hirru, noticing as he motioned for them to follow. He moved smoothly, almost like he'd done this time and time again - a reminder that Nari was the newest one here. That she was the one that had something to prove. That she was the only one here who didn't have the experience. And that I'm standing shoulder to shoulder with them. So stop doubting yourself.

Their path led deeper into the labyrinth, Hirru guiding them as they went along. His sudden stop - followed by his softly spoken questions and self-answers - were the only sound on the air for a few seconds. But as he confirmed their concerns, Nari felt herself sliding towards the shadows, trying to make herself disappear in preparation towards whatever was coming towards them. 

The elementals rounded the corner, rushing towards them. Their large mounds of earth-like body stomping on the ground. The sudden flash, the flames that scorched and engulfed them, and then nothing. Nari glanced at the others, feeling her hand tighten on her scythe as she moved forwards towards the area that the elementals had disappeared from.

"Alright...let's...be careful here. I'll...I'll test it..." She held her breath, before trying to slowly lower herself to the ground, rolling through an area that she notices the elementals hadn't touched. She popped up on the other side, sighing heavily before smiling back at the remaining group. "Alright...not so bad. Come on - and try not to get roasted like chicken."

---

ID212493 | LD: 14 | Stealth Check! | Success!

[NIGHT 0]

so she may have flinched, hearing the shatter upon raising the flat of her blade, but never feeling the impact upon her sword. still, night recovered quickly, letting out a breath as she bounced her sword back into her inventory. she shrugged at hirru's comment -- her energy was mostly in tact, and so long as they didn't run into any other enemy groups for a decent amount of time, it would be topped off once again.

if she walked on, it wasn't in remembering she was taking the lead of the scout.

neither would she then notice the enemies tagging along behind her. incidentally, it would've been the perfect opportunity for the monsters to have jumped the tank had she been in their detection range, but for some reason, she had failed to trigger it.

instead, what she did trigger instead was the billowing heat that lashed out at her once she passed a threshold, unknowing, and somehow enveloped her in flames. immediately, all night remembered to do was stop, drop and roll, but those wouldn't put out non-existent cinders on her suit. at best, she got out of the trap unscathed -- save for some small portion of her health. looking back, she realized some foes were not so lucky.

then she remembered her presence in a party, and the fool she just made of herself by stepping through the fire first-hand.

---

ID212494 | ld2+6 = 8 | man.

NIGHT | HP: 931/1242 | EN: 116/146 | DMG: 21 | ACC: 7 | EVA: 6 | MIT: 134 | LD: 13 | BH: 68 | VAMP-D: 68 | FS | AA | Stealth Rating: 6

Edited February 25, 2023 by NIGHT

[Crozeph 0]

"Shit! someone grab a fire extinguisher with a red label" 

Crozeph is no fan of flames, and seeing how Night activated one trap was enough to for him to move forward and try try to push her off. It would be a mistake for him too but his katana was more than generous to actually help him. Night seemed to be fine after that trigger and this time it might be him. In a few seconds after confirming that she's fine, Croeph turned his head and saw that the flames are about to make a rotisserie out of him too.

Ereshkigal turned all black and enveloped Crozeph. Although not completely covered, the flames subsided upon the black liquid covered him and at least made him less detectable. "Well that seemed weird but I'll allow it" he muttered. His weapon had always been a fickle thing and once again it has proven to be helpful at times that he was a complete idiot.

ID: 212495 | LD: 20 | Stealth success.

@Hirru

Edited March 3, 2023 by Crozeph

[Hirru 0]

Hirru watched one by one as each of his party members would make their way through the fiery trap.  Nari seemed to pass through without much trouble at all.  So too did Cro, as he seemed to skate on through.  The only one that would not make it would be their resident stealth user, NIGHT, as they seemingly walked right into it.  Was it that they didn't care for the amount of damage that it would probably be putting out?  They just saw two mobs be completely destroyed by the jets of flame, but NIGHT was able to see that it was much less?  Hirru was right to have her as a forward scout, but she still needed to be careful.  Although the hunter's thoughts were heavily wrong, it wouldn't be long until it was his turn to face the flames.

With heavy heart, and heavier foot steps, the hunter would make his way slowly through the corridor.  Keeping his shield facing the circular holes in the far wall, he would step lightly; well as lightly as a full plate armor donning adventurer could do.  Hirru was about half way through when a jet of flame would burst out one socket in front of him.  Taking action, he would back away by a step to let the fire die down.  He knew that a direct hit to his shield would still count towards a full hit, as he was not a tank build. 

Slowly, but surely.

Hirru pulled his leg past the threshold of the final hole, meaning that they were now free of the traps.  He would sigh before looking over to Nari and Cro and nodding to them both before looking towards NIGHT.

"That looks like a good chunk out of you.  It may be good to get some healing."

[ID: 212496][LD: 13] Successful

Edited March 4, 2023 by Hirru

[Nari-Lanreth 0]

They'd all made it through, relatively unscathed. Nari had cast a concerned look over towards NIGHT as the girl found herself engulfed momentarily - before walking out of it all as if nothing had happened. The look on the younger girl's face was enough to convince Nari that there was no immediate need to worry. 

Instead, she turned her focus back towards their task at hand. They'd made it this far into the labyrinth, which meant that they were doing...well, maybe not great - but well enough. There was still a long ways to go, however, and as Nari turned around the following corner, she found herself stopping dead as she came face to face with what was unquestionably another blockade in their pathway forwards.

"Hey...guys, you may want to take a look at this..." She called out behind her, without taking her eyes off the thing in front of her. She was still trying to piece together what she was seeing, what it was that she had found, when she called out to them.

Before her, blocking their way, was what appeared to be a rendition of a large chessboard - pieces in place and set to begin - except for the fact that the squares were coloured differently. Nari noticed that outside of the regular black and white floor patterning, there were a number of squares which seemed to be highlighted in different colours. She peered at the board for a few seconds, before shrugging to herself.

Moving forward, she pushed one of the pawns, trying to force the piece outwards. She was surprised when it easily moved, sliding into the position just ahead of it with ease - and another pawn on the opposite side of the board mimicking in the movement. 

"So...we get to play chess, I guess?" She wasn't sure of what to make of this piece, except that it clearly blocked their way - for the moment. A small reflective surface could be seen just beyond the pieces on the opposite side, a wall that Nari had no doubt they'd be unable to pass for the moment.

---

ID212497 | LD: 2+4 = 6 | Result: The party discovers a puzzle or environmental obstacle. This obstacle may be defined by the party. Each player in the group must each post once, describing their contributions in resolving this obstacle before they are able to resume their search. Players may use this opportunity for rest, but searching cannot resume until this obstacle has been overcome.

Name	CD Roll	LD Total
Crozeph	1~3	0
Nari-Lanreth	4~6	22
NIGHT	7~9	19
Nari-Lanreth	10~12	6

 

Chess Board

 

[NIGHT 0]

night shook her head at the team's concerns. sure, she wasn't particularly worried about damage, but she would've rather forgotten her mistake than realize it by recovering from it herself. her clothes would do much of the healing after some time, and if not, out-of-combat healing would do the trick.

nothing in night's arsenal would explain what she saw next, however.

"Hey...guys, you may want to take a look at this..."

so she did. and night was weary.

chess? chess in a random labyrinth? as a puzzle? night did not play chess. as far as she knew, the knights made an L (haha same), the bishops moved diagonally, and the towers just looked kinda cool.

(-- they weren't even called towers, were they?)

nari moved a piece. didn't know how far it was moved from her perspective -- a large-scaled chessboard wasn't suitable to the human eye from their low angle. what were they expected to do; bump around the pieces until they fit the tiles? did they end anywhere? did they have to follow traditional chess piece rules? wasn't there a first move advantage that nari had completely given up?

night spent a forever looking at one of the black horsies before shuffling over to the pawn beside nari's. she gave that one a push, still concerned about the limitations of the move set, before stepping back to consider what she'd done.

in the end, even after much deliberation, the player just found herself with her head in her hands.

---

[Crozeph 0]

The puzzle clearly gave Cro a shock. something really intricate inside a labyrinth. Whoever was in charge of development probably sneaked in something like this in the future should players dabble their curiosity with exploration. Back he wasn't a hamster trapped in a game, he played this game. The very game where people gave him a disgusted look not by how good he was... it was because without a timer he was stalling the game far too long.

He can't be that overly defensive player this time or they'll be stuck here forever.

Crozeph squeezed himself in and made his way to the knight. "Mimicking movements is nice until-" he grabbed the piece by the nose and hurled it across the line of pawn and landing where he wants it to be, quite a perfect aim for someone with problems with depth perception and that's thanks to Aincrad "developing pieces is a huge part of this shit."

 

White knight G1 to F3

Edited April 7, 2023 by Crozeph

[Hirru 0]

It wasn't long before something new and rather unexpected would stop their descent.  A large flat plateau that seemed to be covered in tiles of black and white.  Covering a majority of the tiles on both ends of the plateau were statues, each representatives to a specific color palette: white and black.  They were specifically entering around the side of the white colored statues.  The other side seemed to be blocked slightly by the two largest statues of the other side; one looking like a lithe regal woman, and the other a jovially fat noble man.  Behind them was the exit, but something didn't seem right about the sight of it.  Probably a deterrent form trying to skip the puzzle itself.  All of the other statues seemed to fit a theme of war: two knights on horseback, two robed individuals, two tower like statues, and about eight or so rank and file looking statues.  Their side seemed to have distinctly identical pieces, right down to the jovial fat guy.  Was that a crown on both of their heads?

While Hirru was pondering, Nari went ahead of the rest and had pushed one of the rank and file statues of white.  He didn't know she was that strong!  Though, seeing the opposite end of the field, the opposite black statue moved to mimic the other.  Nari then said something about chess.  What the ever living hell was chess?  He never played..

...

He awaited a painful memory to play out to give some insight..

...

..but nothing came.

From NIGHT's action, to which she seemed just as confused as he was, to Cro's move to literally take the horse by the reins and slam it to a space that seemed like it was not possible to do; Hirru was trying in vain to understand everything before he slumped his shoulders.  He addressed the others as he looked around at the statues.

"I.. honestly have never played chess.  I don't think.. at least."

Looking at the board a bit closer, the hunter saw that there were some weird colored tiles out there too.  He didn't want this to be a trap, and everyone got hurt because he did something wrong.  He moved over to one of the priestly looking statues, and tried to push it slightly, but it did not seem to move forward.  What it did want to do was slightly move diagonally.

"Would you mind explaining a bit before I.."

He leaned in a bit too much as his statue seemed to move over to the next open slot possible for it.

"Uh.. was that bad?"

BISHOP C1 -> D2

[Nari-Lanreth 0]

Nari watched as the others stepped forward, moving their own pieces and eyeing up the board. She giggled to herself as Hirru admitted that he'd never played chess before - Nari had never been good at it, but she'd at least held on until her opponents had defeated her. Usually that had only taken a few turns, depending on who she'd been playing. That said...let's try this.

She stepped forwards and placed a hand on one of the pieces, giving it a soft push in order to force in into the square ahead of where it had been. She had no idea if what she was planning on doing was correct, or if it would benefit their advancement in any way, but the coloured squares had drawn her attention - making her think that their purpose was far more important than the concept of capturing the king.

"Try and move your pieces onto the coloured areas...I think that might be...something." Her voice didn't sound confident - in fact, she wasn't confident - but she figured a plan was better than nothing. "If that doesn't work, we can always just try and win it in the end, I guess..."

---

White Pawn E3 -> E4

[Hirru 0]

It was taking them quite a while to figure this puzzle out.  One by one the puzzle was being solved, kind of.  They were really throwing caution to the wind after a while, since Hirru wasn't keen on the rules and NIGHT had specifically stopped trying to mess with it.  That or they went into stealth to search somewhere else.  The hunter would be glad to hear something along those lines.  After another hour there, they were starting to give up as a message would come to them.

Shield - Hirru, I need your help.
Hirru - Not right now, I'm looking for the boss.
Shield - Well, hurry up then.
Hirru - I can't find it
Shield - What do you mean you can't find it?
Hirru - I can't find it, there's only chess.
Shield - What do you mean there is only chess?
Hirru - It means there's only chess.
Shield - Well go to another area!
Hirru - OKAY!! You don't have to shout at me..
.....
There's more chess.
Shield - What do you mean there is more chess?
Hirru - There's just more chess!
Shield - Go to the next area!
.....
Hirru - Just more chess!
Shield - Where are you?!
Hirru - I'm at the labyrinth!
Shield - What labyrinth?!
Hirru - I'm at boss labyrinth!
Shield - WHY ARE YOU PLAYING CHESS IN THE BOSS LABYRINTH?!!

"Fuck you!"

*above is satire and not apart of the word count*

Summary

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y1kqqOLdD3oS10YmYSoYwZ4ikN-t6Icj7JPaE2hhl8U/edit?usp=sharing

Spoiler

8512 Words
(851.2 Exp)

NIGHT: rolled for loot [here]. splitting col, giving mats + items to crow.

3,400 Col

Group Effort x 0.5

Hirru (T10)

EXP - 4256

Col - 738 (100 + 638[wreath])

@Nari-Lanreth (T8)

EXP - 3404

Col - 611 (100+511[wreath])

@NIGHT (T14)

EXP - 5958

Col - 994 (100+894)

@Crozeph (T8)

EXP - 3404

Col - 611 (100+511[wreath])
Tier 4 Perfect Consumable (1), Tier 4 Rare Trinket (1)
Tier 4 Materials (4), Tier 4 Rare Weapon (1), Tier 4 Uncommon Consumable (1)