[SP - F2] Let There Be Light - Quest (COMPLETE!!)

[Mack 0]

Mack stood in the streets of Urbus as the early afternoon sun shone down upon him. The iron butt cap of Guillotine was planted in the paving stones of the town's street and the mountain of a man was leaning on the blade with his arms across the top of the weapon where the blade wasn't sharp enough to hurt him. His storm grey eyes roved over the quest board and he considered his options. At his level, the pickings down here on the lower levels were beginning to get a little bit on the slim side of things. He was just thinking on moving up to the third floor of Aincrad to see if something up there struck his fancy when a woman came hurrying up to him, in a fit state of hysterics.

"You have to help me! My son's trapped in a cave east of town," she cried out, almost unintelligibly. Mack sighed and looked at the woman. She didn't have a player marker, which meant that she was an NPC and not a real person. That meant her child was also an NPC and therefore, in the grand scheme of things, irrelevant. As he was thinking over this a quest window popped up in front of his face. Well, at least helping the woman would come with the added benefit of some extra skill points.

"Relax, I'll go bring your son back," Mack said, shouldering Guillotine and beginning to head for the gates of Urbus. The quest itself didn't sound like it would be something that would be terribly difficult and it would net enough of a bonus to be worth while.

Edited August 25, 2015 by Mack

[Mack 0]

ID: 27959
BD: 2
MD: 4
Mack: 38/38
Boar: 19/19

Passing through the ancient looking wrought iron gates of the primary city on the second floor of Aincrad Mack checked his map and then turned straight to the east so that the sun was at his back and began marching. It didn't look as if the city was too far from where the city was. It should, to his way of thinking, be a quick in and a quick out. Go find the cave, kill whatever monsters were inside, and return with the kid. Simple. Mack was so focused on the simple and linear nature of the quest that he wasn't completely paying attention to where he was going. Therefore, he never saw the sleeping boar until he accidentally trod on the creature's tail. Both man and beast reacted as one and tried to attack each other in the same instant, with the effect that neither one of them managed to strike the other.

[Mack 0]

ID: 27968
BD: 7 (6+1 Charm)
MD: 6
Mack: 37/38 (-1 Dam, Mit. 2)
Boar: 13/19 (-6 Dam)

As the boar exploded past Mack on its first pass the animal missed him. As the animal bolted several feet further on, Mack turned to face it and readied Guillotine. He wasn't expecting any kind of serious trouble from the boar. But, one could never be too careful. After all, he had yet to fight any boar up on the second level of the tower. The mass of brown bristly hair pawed the ground a few times and then charged. Mack stepped to the side and swung his bearded axe and though he scored a perfectly acceptable hit on the boar he couldn't quite manage to completely escape from the porcine creature's charge and it clipped his right thigh, partially spinning the big warrior around.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28010
BD: 6 (4+1 Charm+1 Concentration) - Begin Cooldown
MD: 7
Mack: 36/38
Boar: 7/19

Using the momentum from the boar's having slammed into him, Mack spun in place and launched a second side shopping attack directed towards the creature. The blade of Guillotine whistled through the air and the blonde warrior managed to catch the boar in one of its rear legs. In the course of ripping the blade free from the creature, Mack succeeded in pulling it partially around. Apparently, the boar decided it would take a page from the axe-man's book and it wheeled at the same moment and sank its dull teeth into one of Mack's calves, clamping down as hard as it could in a clear attempt to break the leg. Thankfully, for Mack anyway, Angelic Sheath saved him from some of the damage, but there was no way to completely avoid all of it.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28028
BD: 9 (8+1)
MD: 8
LD: 6
Mack: 35/38
Boar: 0/19 (-7 Dam.)

As the boar continued to gnaw on Mack's leg it was causing a slow, but steady, drain on the big axe-man's health points. Despite the fact that he was wearing some of the finest heavy armor in the game. If this continued, for another quarter of an hour, the boar might actually succeed in severing the leg from the rest of Mack's body and the warrior had no real desire to see that happen. Raising Guillotine in the air, the smith brought the weapon's iron butt cap slamming down on top of the beast's head. While the creature was momentarily stunned from the blow, Mack reversed his grip on Guillotine and brought the blade of the bearded axe around in a shallow arc so that it sliced neatly into the underside of the boar's neck before traversing through the appendage to sever the animal's head. The boar fell at Mack's feet in a shower of pixels and he retrieved a crafting item from it.

LOOT:

+1 Crafting Material

[Mack 0]

ID: 28040
BD: 6 (5+1 Charm+1 Concentration-1 Darkness)
Mack: 35/38
Bat: 24/30 (-6 Dam.)

The rest of the journey to the cave, given that it wasn't all that far from the town in the first place, proved to be uneventful. Finding the right cave was also pretty simple, given that there was only one in the right location to be the cave for the quest. No sooner had the blonde man entered the cave than he was assaulted by a giant flying bat. No wonder the kid hadn't been able to get back out of the cave. The bat was enormous. With Guillotine already in his hands, Mack swung the weapon through the air in an uppercut type of stroke and he managed to clip the animal and send it careening away for a moment before the bat could right itself.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28061
MD: 6
Mack: 34/35 (Mit. 2)(-1 Dam)
Bat: 24/30

After a few seconds the enormous bat managed to right itself just before it would have slammed into one of the walls of the cavern. With an angry sounding screech, it beat its leathery wings furiously and dive bombed its attacker. As it flashed by Mack's head the little talon finger on the animal's left wing caught the big axe-man across the left cheek and opened a small gash. The bat then flapped its wings furiously to continue with good speed out of its dive and begin to circle around to make another pass.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28074
BD: 5
Mack: 34/38
Bat: 24/30

This was never going to do. Being unable to see the bat meant that Mack was going to be forced to rely on his other senses to kill the animal. Well, those senses and a lot of blind luck. As the bat circled around him and readied itself for another pass the warrior removed his deer antler pendant and, instead, equipped the Angelic Lantern gauntlets. The blonde man was fairly annoyed when the gauntlets' light giving properties were blocked by the cave. Of course, they would be. Still, at least now he'd be able to ramp up his ability to deal damage a little bit higher with the gauntlets' heavy momentum ability. Every little bit helped.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28081
MD: 4
Mack: 34/38
Bat: 24/30

As Mack tightened his newly gauntleted hands around the haft of Guillotine he listened carefully for the fluttering sounds of approaching leathery wings. He could hear the bat flapping around and he knew that the bat would not have any trouble at all with the dark, as the flying mammals were particularly well adapted to operating in the dark. Hearing a sudden change in the way the bat was flapping its wings, Mack gambled and ducked quickly. The bat, which had been executing another dive bombing run on his head missed and, instead of making contact with his head, it went zooming straight on over in a flapping flutter of wings before beginning to circle around for another pass.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28169
BD: 6 (+1 Charm, -1 Darkness)
Mack: 34/38
Bat: 18/30 (-6 Dam.)

Even in the inky black darkness Mack could hear the sounds of the giant bat's leathery wings flapping around. He just had to follow the sound with his ears and adjust the course of his axe to make sure he hit the target. How hard could that possibly be? As the creature flapped around Mack moved his head with the sound and, when he thought he knew where the bat was, he swung Guillotine around in a wide flat arc at just about the height of his own head. There was a wet thwap and a satisfying screech as the steel blade of the axe met the flesh of the bat to score another hit on the winged creature. Now that he knew the trick, it was only a matter of time until the animal was dispatched.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28213
MD: 3
Mack: 34/38
Bat: 18/30

As the bat continued to squawk and carry on Mack followed the noise with his ears. He could tell that the animal was fairly upset at having been hit again. The problem was that its annoyed cries of indignation were making it difficult to keep accurate tabs on the animal in the dark because of the way those noises were echoing off of the walls of the cavern. Sensing somehow, possibly through his real world military training, that it was time to take evasive action, the axe-man ducked again. Just in time. The bat went whizzing over his head again, right where he would have been if he hadn't moved at the last instant. Instead of striking its attacker the animal missed and moved to set itself up for another attack.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28235
BD: 10 (+1, -1)
Mack: 34/38
Bat: 10/30 (-8 Dam., Bleed next 2 rounds)

Mack could hear the frantic beating of huge leather-like wings as the bat tried to wheel itself around in the air. As far as he could tell, there was no better time to strike than right that moment. With a bellowed battle cry, he spun Guillotine through the air and was immensely pleased when he felt the axe, once again, bite deep into the flesh of the giant bat. The winged creature made a number of angry and indignant sounds as the blonde warrior tugged the weapon free from it. Given the slight resistance he felt as he pulled the blade out to ready the axe for another strike, Mack strongly suspected he had landed a critical hit on the creature which would greatly speed up the battle between himself and the bat.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28319
BD: 10 (+1, -1)
MD: 10
LD: 8
Mack: 32/38
Bat: 0/30 (-8 Dam., -2 Bleed)

Mack could hear the frantic beating of the giant bat's wings as the thing circled around him in the darkness. The blonde soldier knew that the bat would dive bomb him again, it was just a matter of when. Then, out of nowhere, the winged creature was upon him screeching madly and clawing at his face with its wing talons. Swearing loudly, Mack dropped Guillotine and reached up with his bare gauntleted hands and seized the creature as it tore at his face. Mack had had just about enough of this darkness, just about enough of the games. Managing to get each of the twisting struggling animal's wings in his hands, Mack gave a savage roar of triumph and ripped the animal limb from limb before dropping it on the ground and kicking its head in with his booted right foot.

REWARDS:

+2 Mats (1 Spent)

Edited August 20, 2015 by Mack

[Mack 0]

ID: 28321
LD: 7

Feeling that it might be prudent to rest for awhile and allow his health bar to replenish itself outside of combat for a few moments before heading deeper into the cave, Mack decided he would try his hand at a little ore farming. Now that the bat had been killed the Angelic Lantern was working just fine to light up the cavern, at least the parts of it that he could see, it was clear that there were a few nice ore veins running through it. So, why not try to get a little bit of that metal before continuing on deeper into the cavern? Advancing on the nearest of the two ore veins Mack swung Guillotine down into it. There was the ring of metal on stone, but nothing happened.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28332
LD: 8

Growling, Mack swung Guillotine down into the ore vein again. Once again there was the peeling ring of metal on stone. Once again, the game refused to yield its bounty to Mack. Swearing loudly, and not caring if an NPC child happened to overhear what he was saying, which was certainly both salty language and not very flattering of the stone... or the stone's mother, Mack went on a long verbal tirade against the ore vein and all of its relatives. He spat on it, kicked it, stomped on it, slammed the iron butt cap of Guillotine against it and, in general terms made quite a scene. There was just something about mining ore that really set him off when he failed at it. That and there were no pickaxes in the cave to even begin trying to do the job right in the first place.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28335
LD: 17

Breathing heavily and actually feeling a bit winded has his verbal and physical tirade against the ore vein wound down as the frustration and anger petered out. One more time, he'd try to harvest some ore from the vein one more time. Bringing the blade of Guillotine back over the top of his head, Mack tomahawked the blade of the weapon down into the ore vein. This time there was a flash of sparks as the weapon connected with the ore vein and a metallic ingot separated itself from the vein and skittered a few feet away across the floor of the cavern before coming to a stop. "About damned time," the blacksmith grumbled, crossing to the ingot and picking it up before adding it to his inventory.

REWARDS:

+3 Mats (3 Spent)

Edited August 20, 2015 by Mack

[Mack 0]

ID: 28686, 28687, 28688, 28689, 28690
LD: 4, 3, 1, 13, 5

Thinking that he would continue trying his luck a few more times, Mack raised Guillotine up above his head again. Taking a few deep breaths, the blonde man steadied his grip on the axe and then swung the blade again. The heavy steel head of the weapon knifed through the air and struck the ore vein squarely with the resounding peel of metal on stone. Sadly, this time, there was no corresponding shower of sparks and no new crafting material separated itself from the ore vein. Mack threw a few choice words in the direction of the vein and then hauled Guillotine back, preparing to strike at the vein again. Mack repeated the process of attempting to mine the ore vein several more times, always with the same lack of production for a crafting material. After ten minutes of failures, he gave up and flipped the ore vein the bird. "Just go and find the brat and be done with it."

[Mack 0]

ID: 28701
MD: 3
Bat: 30/30
Mack: 42/42

Mack was just turning to go and find the lost NPC child, giving up his ore harvesting as a waste of time due largely to the fact that he had regained enough health points to have a full bar once again, when the lights abruptly went completely out, plunging him into total darkness once more. "Probably another wild zubat," the blonde axe man grumbled to himself, tightening his grip on Guillotine. Sure enough, the sounds of leathery wings beating the air were soon filling his ears. When the sound abruptly stopped, indicating the bat as diving, Mack ducked and the giant bat went zooming past his head, missing completely.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28709
BD: 7 (7+1-1)
Mack: 42/42
Bat: 24/30 (-6 Dam.)

Mack heard the unmistakable sound, in the inky blackness, of the bats wings snapping open and filling with air as the giant winged mammal concluded its diving attack and began circling around for another pass. Turning his head with the sounds of the bat's flapping, the blonde axe wielder tried to gauge where he thought the bat was in the darkness. When he was pretty sure he had the right spot in the jet black cave, Mack swung Guillotine around in a nice even arc right around the height of his head. There was a highly satisfying squeak from the bat as the axe found its mark and bit into the digital creature to score a nice solid hit.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28711
BD: 10 (10+1-1)
MD: 10
Mack: 40/42 (-2 Dam, 2 Mit.)
Bat: 14/30 (-8 Dam., -2 Thorns)

Mack could hear, quite clearly in fact, the sound of the bat's wings madly flapping around in the darkness that surrounded them both. Silently, the hulking blonde warrior tried to guess how long it would take for the bat to complete its circle around him. Taking a guess, the blonde man lunged forward and succeeded only in placing himself directly in the path of the oncoming animal. The bat slammed into the side of Mack's head and succeeded in landing several very solid hits before Mack managed to peel it off of himself and fling it to the ground where he summarily stomped on the creature with one of his white booted feet. Making a highly affronted noise, the bat lumbered back into the darkness.