[SP-F1] Coming Up for Air (Complete!)

[Aetharan 0]

(ID# 29056 results: Battle: 7 Craft: 7 Loot: 18 MOB: 3)

Aetharan 9/11 HP.  Grey Wolf #1 6/8 HP.

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Aetharan was the first to get back onto his feet, though the wolf scrambled up only a heartbeat behind him.  He actually estimated that this creature outweighed him, but it was a quadruped, and it was using its teeth.  He had a spear.  The advantage of reach.  This time, rather than trying to go beneath it, he aimed straight for its head.  If he was lucky, he figured, he just might be able to finish this quickly.  The creature had certainly hit him harder than the previous wolves, so now he was starting to worry.  It may have lower health than he did, but that wouldn't matter unless he at least matched it blow for blow.  As he lunged forward, it leaped again.

Although Aetharan wasn't able to finish the creature off in a single strike this time, he was more than happy to accept his spear's tip severing an ear and throwing the wolf's lunge off, forcing it to miss him.  The yelp that it let out this time was satisfying.

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(Exchange results: Aetharan's HP remains 9/11 Miss.  Wolf HP drops to 4/8.  Standard hit, 2 damage.)

Edited August 27, 2015 by Aetharan
Describing dice results.

[Aetharan 0]

 

(ID# 29057 results: Battle: 1 Craft: 7 Loot: 19 MOB: 10)

Aetharan 9/11 HP.  Grey Wolf #1 4/8 HP.

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Grip quickly flipped so that his right elbow would lead the next strike and both thumbs faced the butt of his spear, rather than the head.  Aetharan's stance shifted enough to ensure that his next swing would come in toward the creature's right side, the weapon turned so that it would be vertical as he tried to push it past the creature's ribs.  This enemy would not take him, would not end his game.  If he couldn't take iron with him into town, then he could at least bring with him this thing's pretty hide!  As he stepped in to complete the attack, the wolf snarled and snapped at his leg.  He had it cornered, so attack was all it could do now.

Unfortunately for Aetharan, desperation seemed to have an effect on the wolf.  It managed to squirm out of the way of his strike, which generated sparks on the wall he'd thought he had it pinned against, and at the same time sank its fangs into his right leg deeply.  If that wound had been something to hit his mortal body back in that other world, he'd have screamed.  Here?  He just gritted his teeth.

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(Exchange results: Aetharan's HP drops to 5/11 Total Critical hit, 4 damage..  Wolf HP remains 4/8.  Critical miss.)

Edited August 27, 2015 by Aetharan
Syntax corrections.

[Aetharan 0]

( ID# 29058 results: Battle: 9 Craft: 6 Loot: 16 MOB: 4)

Aetharan 5/11 HP.  Grey Wolf #1 4/8 HP.

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After that last hit, Aetharan knew that he was in trouble.  He could only take so much more punishment, and at this point it seemed like the RNG Gods were frowning at him for his hubris in thinking he could take on this opponent.  This much he knew, at least:  His HP was in the yellow, and this creature had just managed to turn the tables so that, in this DPS race, it was now in the lead.  This could be dangerous.  Very, very dangerous.  Now a growl was rising from Aetharan's throat to join that from the wolf, and since he already had that reversed grip, he went for the overhead stab again.

This time, luck was on his side again.  He may have missed the heart and spine, but he again forced his opponent's jaw to the ground as he drove his spear into the meat of its shoulder.  Its health bar was flashing red, on its last hit point.  All he had to do was scratch it again, and this fight would be his!

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(Exchange results: Aetharan's HP remains 5/11 Miss.  Wolf HP drops to 1/8.  Critical hit, 3 damage.)

Edited August 27, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

(ID# 29064 results: Battle: 8 Craft: 9 Loot: 20 MOB: 1)

Aetharan 5/11 HP.  Grey Wolf #1 1/8 HP.

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This could be it.  The final, desperate swing that meant the difference between growing stronger so he could start paying back those who'd cared for him, or dying here and now.  Still, even if he failed here, Aetharan knew that he had won the harder fight.  This wasn't suicide.  If he went down here, he went down swinging.  It may have taken time, and help, for him to get to this point, but now that he was here, he wouldn't let the game push him back under those black waters.  "Duty is heavier than a mountain, and death lighter than a feather.  I have mountains to move first, puppy, so you're going to be the one carrying a feather today!"  With that, he jerked his spear up only to slam it straight back down.

His weapon came down exactly where he wanted it to, and the wolf collapsed without a sound into a swirling pattern of light.  Aetharan had won, if much less cleanly than he'd really hoped to.  Perhaps it was time to re-think that 'going to town empty-handed' thing.  After all, metal or not, his hands weren't exactly empty now, were they?

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(Exchange results: Aetharan's HP remains 5/11 Miss.  Wolf HP drops to -1/8.  Standard hit, 2 damage.)

(Combat results:  Wolf drops 1 Material, and 1 Uncommon Item.)

Edited August 27, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

Tapping the window that showed his mob drops, Aetharan promised himself he'd take a look at it later.  For the moment, what he wanted most was to rest.  Already, his head was starting to pound as he tried to maintain focus.  That fast-moving wolf had been a bit of a struggle to keep track of, to put it mildly, and now he was paying the price for the visual center of his brain having to put in that overtime.  Clutching at his spear as if it were a walking stick, he sank with his back against that rock face he'd been working into when the wolf attacked.

Eyes closed for a few moments, and he tried to catch his breath.  Whatever else he'd done, he now knew that it was time to start thinking seriously about how he was going to both survive, and help pay forward the help that he'd been given up to this point.  He may not be bringing iron ore with him into town, but he supposed that he could trade his furs instead.  Resolved, he turned away from those northern hills and began to walk again, this time straight toward a smaller settlement that he could see from the top of that hill.  Luckily for him, things were quiet until he was in safe territory.  This first adventure in SAO was over.

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Out-of-combat recovery, 1 HP.  Aetharan now at 6/11 HP.

[Aetharan 0]

Summary Post

Kills: 4.  1 3-HP boar at lvl 1.  2 5-HP wolves at lvl 2 and 3.  1 8-HP wolf at lvl 4.

Collected: 1x peach (cooking material), 1x boar meat (cooking material), 3x wolf hide (tailoring material), 1x mining pick (good item), 1x uncommon item. (Currently pending eval.)

Thread Complete Rewards:  +400 Col, +1 SP.

Edited August 27, 2015 by Aetharan