[SP-F2] <<Long Live the Queen>> Regicide (Complete!)

[Aetharan 0]

Boss fights.  That's what Aetharan was training himself to get ready for, wasn't it?  This one may be a bit below his level, and was a respawning field boss, but it was still supposed to be a lot stronger than things on its floor typically were.  Far more important, it was a quest that, like any other, would ensure he walked away from it stronger than he'd been before accepting it.  Thus, once the word of it reached him via the rumor mill, he decided that this big*** bee or whatever it was needed to die.  It would be good target practice, right?  Yeah.

It'd been less than an hour since he got back home from slaughtering Gemini when he decided to go for his next kill.  Once again, he closed down the shop for a little while and headed for the warp point, this time going down two floors instead of up.  If he could whistle, he'd be doing so as he walked.  Instead, he was quietly singing Megadeth's 'Kill the King' to himself as he walked out of town and in the direction of where he'd heard the boss spawned.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

If he was going to be honest with himself, this walk through a temperate forest was far, far nicer than the jungle had been.  He needed to get his smithing skills up enough to craft a set of armor that provided as much protection without the extra fluff of wolf-fur making him even warmer.  Oh, it was great on his home floor, standing on the back porch and gazing out over the snow, but the warmer places?  Nooot so good.  Nope.  Still, that was a consideration for later, wasn't it?  Yeah.

More important for the moment was the walk.  Peaceful, really, especially since the typical field mobs here were weak enough that he'd one-shot them, and even their best shot could only deal scratch damage.  Heck, aside from harder spawns like the one he was hunting, he might as well be invincible down here.  Thus, it wasn't all that much work to get where he was going unscathed.

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(Aetharan gained a level.  HP improves to 23/23.)

Edited August 29, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

Once he'd reached the supposed spawn area, Aetharan stopped to look around himself and take stock of the situation.  There were a few trash mobs some distance away from him, but he didn't think they'd aggro on him unless he directly attacked them, now that he over-leveled this floor by as much as he did.  In the middle of this clearing, however, was a big 'un.  That had to be her-- the queen that they'd been telling him about.  It was only confirmed when he closed just enough to see over her head the name, 'The Wasp Queen.'  Yep.  This was his target.

Aetharan readied his half-pike with a malicious grin, and dove in for the first strike.  It wasn't anything particularly special, really, just a jab at her abdomen with the vicious-looking weapon that he was already growing very fond of.  She tried to sting him in return, but in her surprised flailing, all she managed to do was drop to the ground for a few moments.  Poor thing.

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Our contestants:

The Wasp Queen:  HP 30/30, damage 2 for a normal hit.

Aetharan:  HP 23/23, damage 4 for a normal hit.  Mitigation 2.

(ID# 29342 results: Battle: 7 Craft: 11 Loot: 20 MOB: 1)

(Exchange Results: Aetharan untouched.  Critical miss.  Wasp Queen drops to 26/30.  Normal hit for 4 damage.)

Edited August 29, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

There wasn't any sense in treating this like a fair or noble fight.  It was a quest of eradication, and the creature in front of him wasn't going to be a hard one to kill.  All she had going for her was a health pool larger than his.  She had no mitigation, and would have to score a total critical on him to do more than one damage through his armor.  He had a one-in-four chance any given exchange of restoring a hit point on top of that, while she had no regeneration at all.  Yeah, she was screwed.  It wasn't a question of if he would win, but how long it would take.

Even as the queen lifted herself from the ground after that fumble, he was pulling his weapon back and giving a full-body spin to build up extra momentum for the next thrust.  The little flourish gave her time to ready her next strike as well, but he wasn't even slightly worried.  Although she didn't fumble and fall this time, he was able to drive his blade into her hard enough that she lost one of her six legs, along with the chunk of her thorax to which it was connected.

The fact that he'd just knocked off a fifth of a 'boss' mob's health in one strike was worth some laughter!

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(ID# 29344 results: Battle: 10 Craft: 6 Loot: 11 MOB: 5)

(Exchange Results: Aetharan remains untouched.  Miss.  Queen drops to 20/30.  Total critical for (4+2=6) damage.)

Edited August 29, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

No mercy.  Not for a mob.  Especially not one this ugly!  He had her on the ropes, already missing a third of her health after only two attacks.  If he could keep this pace up, he'd have her dead even faster than he'd taken out Gemini earlier in the day!  Giving the blade a whirl, he grinned sadistically and took an upward stab at her.  It reminded him, for a moment, of those times long, long ago when he'd had Link learn the 'up-thrust' move in the second Zelda game.  Wow, that was an old one, wasn't it?  He was always grateful to his older brother for having made sure that he got to play those NES gems.

Even as his spear came up after her, the Queen was doing her best to drive that stinger into his body.  He didn't sever any limbs this time, though she did get another good gash along her thorax.  For her part, Her Highness managed her first successful strike on him.  Not that it mattered all that much.  The creature's stinger found his armor and hit it hard, only for what would have been a nasty stab wound to instead become a bruise across the forward half of his left shoulder.

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(ID# 29348 results: Battle: 6 Craft: 10 Loot: 1 MOB: 9)

(Exchange Results: Aetharan drops to 22/23 HP.  Critical hit for (2+1-2=1) damage.  Queen drops to 16/30 HP.  Normal hit for 4 damage.)

Note:  Although Battle Healing triggers with the die roll, I'm treating it as having procc'd before he took the damage.  Thus, it does no good this round, but if next turn would also trigger it, he'll heal now that he's actually damaged.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

Just a little longer, and he'd have her.  He knew it.  This creature didn't stand a chance, and he wouldn't give her one.  Laughing out loud-- after all, he was having quite a bit of fun with this-- Aetharan decided to aim for the root of one of those wings this time.  If he was lucky, he might even be able to maim the mob enough to weaken its flight capabilities, make it even easier to kill her!  That would just be adding insult to injury...  and giant insects deserved that kind of insult, now that he thought about it.  He really hoped that this attack went through!  For her part, the Queen was a single-minded type.  When all you have is a hammer, and all that, right?

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(ID# 29349 results: Battle: 7 Craft: 11 Loot: 12 MOB: 6)

(Battle Healing proc.  Aetharan's HP now 23/23.)

(Exchange Results: Aetharan's HP drops to 22/23.  Normal hit for (2-2=0, min 1) damage.  Queen's HP drops to 12/30.  Normal hit for 4 damage.)

Edited August 29, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

If he kept having fun like this, people were going to start doubting his sanity.  Not that he exactly minded.  He'd not had any lasting talks with any players since he snapped out of his fugue, and until he could prove to himself that he was worthy of joining the ones on the front lines, he didn't really intend to do so.  "Keep training, you crazy b******.  Keep going until you can introduce yourself to them as a worthy companion...  as a ****ing champion among solo players."  He just had to keep killing and building his skills until there was nothing that could stand in his way.

Then, he'd break Aincrad.

Without a thought for the danger, he stabbed for his victim's thorax, even as she did her best to put that stinger of hers in his gut.  Her stinger managed to strike his weapon's head away, forcing him to miss her horribly, but it also meant that she couldn't do any damage to him in the exchange either.

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(ID# 29353 results: Battle: 1 Craft: 5 Loot: 19 MOB: 4)

(Exchange Results: Swing and miss for both sides.)

Edited August 29, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

He was surprised that the mob had even tried to go tactical on him like that, instead of just sting, sting, sting!  Not that she was presenting any real threat yet.  A side-step and he reversed his grip, bringing the weapon at her in an overhead thrust with a playful little snarl.  If he'd known that combat could be this much fun, he might have crawled out of that bed sooner than he did!  For her part, the Queen was showing no sign of slowing down.  Stinger was aimed for his right shoulder this time.  Even if she hit, it'd be skidding along his his rerebrace.

More important a problem was that he seemed to have caught the attention of two more large wasps.  They weren't as big as the Queen, but they certainly seemed like they could be an issue-- especially while he was occupied with whittling down her health!

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(ID# 29355 results: Battle: 5 Craft: 5 Loot: 13 MOB: 6)

(Exchange Results: Aetharan's HP drops to 21/23.  Normal hit for (2-2=0, min 1) damage.  Queen's HP unchanged.  Miss.)

New Contestants: Wasp Princess A and Wasp Princess B.  Each has 16 HP and hits for 2 damage.  Their introduction will necessitate a second roll per turn, starting next round.  Princess A will be represented by the Battle result on that roll, while Princess B takes the MOB result.  Aetharan and the Queen will continue to use the first roll per post as they have been.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

With three mobs now on him, things were suddenly a bit more worrisome than they had been a moment before.  He had to finish off the Queen quickly now, before their numbers alone turned out to be enough to overwhelm him.  Gritting his teeth, he steadied himself and prepared for the next thrust.  "I will not be killed here.  You hear me‽"  There wasn't anything to be done for it except attack, attack, attack!  Pray that his armor and battle healing would be enough to mitigate the problems until he'd gotten rid of his enemies.

Now that they had him surrounded, the three wasps assaulted him in tandem.  He had one stinger coming at his chest from in front, while the others came at either shoulder from behind.  Ultimately, three of those attacks found flesh to bite.  His own weapon was one of them, snipping off another of the Queen's legs and distracting her enough for her stinger to miss, but both of her daughters managed to sting him while he was at it.  He needed to focus and get this done fast!

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(ID# 29358 results: Battle: 7 Craft: 8 Loot: 9 MOB: 2) (ID# 29359 results: Battle: 8 Craft: 8 Loot: 20 MOB: 9)

(Exchange Results: Aetharan's HP drops to 19/23.  Miss.  Normal hit for (2-2=0, min 1) damage.  Critical hit for (3-2=1) damage.  Queen's HP drops to 8/30.  Normal hit for 4 damage.  Both Princesses remain at 16/16.  Not targeted.)

Edited August 29, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

He'd been an idiot to think that he could just charge the boss without clearing out her trash first.  Now he was going to pay the price in virtual pain until he could even the odds again.  Aetharan was cursing himself as an idiot for finally having let himself get surrounded by mobs.  "Overconfidence is the biggest player-killer in this death game.  Can't let it take me.  Can't afford to!"  Uppercut with the blade-onna-stick, he had to keep working on the Queen.  The Princesses had the same pathetic damage potential as she did, so the faster he could score a kill, the less he'd be hurting.  Just had to keep those two in his peripheral vision and try to dodge what attacks he could until the Queen was dead!

For the moment, he seemed to be on the losing side.  The twins at his flanks were too much of a distraction, causing him to fumble pathetically.  Thankfully, the Queen herself seemed too distracted by pain to land a hit either.  One of her daughters got in a strike at his shoulder, though.  Nothing for it but to keep fighting!

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(ID# 29361 results: Battle: 1 Craft: 9 Loot: 19 MOB: 1) (ID# 29362 results: Battle: 8 Craft: 6 Loot: 11 MOB: 3)

(Exchange Results:  Aetharan's HP drops to 18/23.  Critical Miss, Normal hit for (2-2=0, min 1) damage.  Miss.  Queen's HP remains 8/30.  Critical Miss.  Both Princesses remain at 16/16.  Not targeted.)

Edited August 29, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

Now that he was getting used to the idea of being surrounded, he couldn't help but chuckle at the insanity of it all.  "You know, if I was surrounded by humanoid lady-mobs, this would be a lot less disturbing.  Next time I fight a queen and two of her daughters, can I have elves?"  What was that old joke about MMOs?  If you have to stare at a rear end all day, might as well be an attractive one, right?  Yeah.

Blade was given a wild jab toward the Queen, not even really paying as much attention to what part of her he was aiming at as he was to the simple 'hit her, you idiot' aspect of it all.  Sadly, there wasn't much he could do about the incoming trio of stingers other than hope that they missed.  His strike was surprisingly effective, impaling the Queen in the thorax, but she got hers in return, digging into his forearm gut.  It wasn't deep, but she'd managed to get under his armor that time.  One of the Princesses just buzzed about uselessly over his head, but the other managed a glancing strike across the back of his arm.

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(ID# 29363 results: Battle: 10 Craft: 6 Loot: 12 MOB: 9) (ID# 29364 results: Battle: 1 Craft: 7 Loot: 19 MOB: 7)

(Exchange Results:  Aetharan's HP drops to 16/23.  Critical hit for (2+1-2=1) damage.  Critical miss.  Normal hit for (2-2=0, min 1) damage.  Queen's HP drops to 2/30.  Total critical for (4+2=6) damage.  Both Princesses remain at 16/16.  Not targeted.)

Edited August 29, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

He was close to finishing his original target.  She was in the red.  One more good hit, and he could move on to the adds.  As long as he didn't pull any more like an idiot, this might be something he could come out of alive.  He'd hate for his name to show up on that monument in the starting city with a cause of death reading 'fatally stabbed by a trash mob.'  It would be depressing!

Do or die time.  One more thrust with his half-pike, doing his best to sever the point where the Queen's head attached to the rest of her.  There wasn't anything he could do about those stingers except kill their owners quickly.  As the black iron tip of that weapon sliced through his target and the Queen dissolved into light, even though her stinger was in his leg at the time, he began to think that he just might pull this off despite the extras.  Especially when each of their stingers skipped off of a rerebrace, not quite in sync, but within the same heartbeat.

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(ID# 29365 results: Battle: 8 Craft: 10 Loot: 10 MOB: 7) (ID# 29366 results: Battle: 2 Craft: 7 Loot: 10 MOB: 4)

(Battle healing proc.  Aetharan's HP goes up to 17/23.)

(Exchange Results:  Aetharan's HP drops to 16/23.  Normal hit for (2-2=0, min 1) damage.  Miss. Miss.  Queen's HP drops to -2/20.  Normal hit for 4 damage.  Both Princesses remain at 16/16.  Not targeted.)

Edited August 30, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

One down, two to go, and neither of them as tanky as the first.  Life was good, and so was he.  No fleeing now.  The only way out was to win.  Even if he could run away, there was no way he'd disengage against a couple of bugs when there was a chance he could take them out and, even better, just maybe pull in some extra loot!  Of course, this meant that he no longer had enemies divided by 120º, putting each of the ones behind him in his periphery, but now he'd be swinging at one while the other had his unguarded back to herself.

Spear took an overhead swing at Princess A, even as she and her sister went for his legs.  Luckily, neither of them seemed quite as competent as their mother had been, and his first swing bit deeply into his target, while neither of their stingers even came close to him.

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(ID# 29367 results: Battle: 9 Craft: 6 Loot: 13 MOB: 4) (ID# 29368 results: Battle: 4 Craft: 9 Loot: 11 MOB: 4)

(Exchange Results:  Aetharan's HP remains 16/23.  Miss.  Miss.  Princess A drops to 11/16 HP.  Critical hit for (4+1=5) damage.  Princess B remains at 16/16.  Not targeted.)

Edited August 30, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

There was no longer any fear that he'd die like this.  There may still be two stingers to worry about, but judging by how much that princess's HP had dropped with his strike, these two each had only about half of what the Queen had.  That meant that he was already more than halfway through the fight, instead of just one third.  Cut 'em down.  Swing, stab, and pierce the way through, just as if you were mining in that wall again.  Keep going through the motions, and the quest would pretty much complete itself, right?  Yeah.  All he had to do was kill these two more mobs, and it was over.  He could go turn in for the spoils.

That weapon of his managed another good gouge at the target in front of him, though this time it was in exchange for a good slash from her stinger along his forearm.  He was still at over half health.  He could take this.  Thankfully, her sister hadn't become any more effective with this swing than she'd been with the last.

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(ID# 29369 results: Battle: 8 Craft: 5 Loot: 5 MOB: 8) (ID# 29371 results: Battle: 6 Craft: 7 Loot: 9 MOB: 5)

(Exchange Results:  Aetharan drops to 15/23 HP.  Normal hit for (2-2=0, min 1) damage.  Miss.  Princess A drops to 7/16 HP.  Normal hit for 4 damage.  Princess B remains at 16/16.  Not targeted.)

Edited August 30, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

He laughed quietly to himself as he brought that half-pike back for another good thrust.  "You girls really are intent on making me commit familicide, instead of a simple regicide, aren't you?  Fine by me.  I killed your momma, I'll kill you both too...  along with any of your sisters that you call in for help."  Just like mowing the grass back in that other world.  Keep pushing, and eventually the job is done.  At least, for the week.  There'd always be need to do it again later, but that was no reason to give up.  Princess A was aiming her stinger at his chest this time, and he could only assume that the one behind him was going for either his spine or shoulder.

Curiously enough, all that resulted from any of the attacks was a whole pile of fail.

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(ID# 29372 results: Battle: 2 Craft: 7 Loot: 6 MOB: 2) (ID# 29373 results: Battle: 3 Craft: 7 Loot: 17 MOB: 3)

(Exchange Results:  A whole lotta nothing.)

Edited August 30, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

Aetharan couldn't help but breath a little sigh of frustration.  This was losing its sense of fun, and starting to feel a lot more like digging down in that mine yesterday had.  If he wasn't careful, he'd start breaking out in song again, just to pass the time!  And that would be bad, mmkay?  No more singing.  At least, not today.  Instead, he leveled his weapon for another strike.  Glow indicated a readied sword-art, and he dashed forward in an attempt to rip that bug a cloaca, even as she and her sister did their best to perforate his torso in return.

Unfortunately for Aetharan, that shot of his went pretty wide.  Thankfully, his target was intimidated enough by it to do a backflip instead of stinging him!  Her sister, on the other hand, actually managed to get that stinger of hers into his shoulder from behind!  It wasn't much, but even scratch damage added up, and he'd taken a decent amount of it since engaging the Queen.

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(ID# 29374 results: Battle: 3 Craft: 1 Loot: 9 MOB: 5) (ID# 29375 results: Battle: 1 Craft: 12 Loot: 2 MOB: 6)

(Exchange Results:  Aetharan dropped to 14/23 HP.  Critical miss.  Normal hit for (2-2=0, min 1) damage.  Princess A remains at 7/16 HP.  Miss.  Princess B remains at 16/16 HP.  Not targeted.)

Edited August 30, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

He could do this.  It was just a matter of viciousness and persistence, and he had plenty of both.  Well, at least he had the former when he was facing computer-generated enemies.  He wasn't sure he could turn on a fellow player, even if they were a PKer.  ♫Just keep swinging, just keep swinging♫...  No, he was not in the ocean looking for a deformed clown fish, but that was a funny bit of internal soundtrack nonetheless.  "Let's see if I can poke a hole in your thorax so deep that I can see daylight through it, shall we?"

A moment of clarity struck him as entirely different music, something soft and calm, drifted into his head.  It guided what would surely have been a miss into a successful strike on the first Princess, dropping her into the red but not yet killing her.  At the same time, she jabbed her stinger into his left leg, drawing a hiss of momentary phantom pain from him.  Her sister buzzed annoyingly past, but missed by a mile with her sting.

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(ID# 29378 results: Battle: 5 Craft: 4 Loot: 6 MOB: 7) (ID# 29379 results: Battle: 8 Craft: 4 Loot: 4 MOB: 4)

(Activating Concentration for +1 to BD.)

(Exchange Results:  Aetharan drops to 13/23 HP.  Normal hit for (2-2=0, min 1) damage.  Miss.  Princess A drops to 3/16 HP.  Normal hit for 4 damage.  Princess B remains at 16/16 HP.  Not targeted.)

Edited August 30, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

He had that first Princess on the ropes now.  All it would take is one more hit, and he'd be down to just one enemy again.  Just one more strike, didn't matter where!  She was in the red. All he had to do was finish her, and it'd be an incredibly one-sided, unfair fight again...  with the advantage to him.  No more distractions, no more being flanked.  Just stabbing at something with less health, less mitigation, and less damage potential than himself.  Farming trash mobs.  If it wasn't so boring, he could do it all day, one at a time.  He just hated messing with them like this.

Sadly enough, he didn't get the hit he was after with this exchange.  Princess A danced just barely around his half-pike, and managed to dig her stinger into his forearm for his trouble.  Thankfully, her twin seemed to have stung a rock as hard as she could, which was giggle-worthy.

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(ID# 29380 results: Battle: 5 Craft: 2 Loot: 16 MOB: 4) (ID# 29381 results: Battle: 9 Craft: 1 Loot: 14 MOB: 1)

(Concentration cooldown, round 1/5.)

(Exchange Results:  Aetharan drops to 12/23 HP.  Critical hit for (2+1-2=1) damage.  Critical miss.  Princess A remains at 3/16 HP.  Miss.  Princess B remains at 16/16 HP.  Not targeted.)

Edited August 30, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

"Oh, come on.  Stop dodging!"  He really needed to work on his accuracy if he wanted these fights to go quicker.  Damage was great, but not enough on its own.  All the damage per hit in the world was worthless if he couldn't actually make the strike!  That was going on the list of stats to find a way to improve, then.  Concentration helped, but only one attack in six at best.  If the ability hadn't been on cooldown, he was sure he could have gotten around that little bit of evasion just then!  Deep breath, lunge again.  Finish her off, so he could focus her sister and call it a day!  That was all he had to do, right?  Yeah.  Just two kills, then he could go to bed.

Spear slammed through the first Princess, but the distraction of watching her dissolve gave her sister all the opening in the world to manage the best hit a wasp had pulled against him through this whole, stupid, long fight.

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(ID# 29384 results: Battle: 7 Craft: 1 Loot: 7 MOB: 2) (ID# 29385 results: Battle: 2 Craft: 7 Loot: 5 MOB: 10)

(Concentration cooldown, round 2/5.)

(Exchange Results:  Aetharan drops to 10/23 HP.  Miss.  Total Critical for (2+2-2=2) damage.  Princess A drops to -1/16 HP.  Normal hit for 4 damage.  Princess B remains at 16/16 HP.  Not targeted.)

(Effective loot roll on killing blow: 8.  1 Material drop, no bonus.)

Edited August 30, 2015 by Aetharan

[Aetharan 0]

Now it was go time.  The most damage the remaining enemy could possibly pull off was two at a time, and that was half the output of a normal strike for him.  A third of his best hits.  She might have more health than him for the moment, true, but she'd have to hit him five times to finish him even if his battle healing didn't kick in at all, and he only needed four to slaughter her.  If he got really lucky, he might do it in three.  If the Lady didn't turn against him, then he'd be alright.  Squaring against her, he braced his half-pike to wait for her to charge, readying himself to counter as hard as he could.  The exchange was about as pretty as it could get.  The Princess managed to skewer his shoulder as well as her stinger ever could, but at the same time, that readied half-pike ran straight through her lower abdomen.  It wasn't a fatal blow on its own, but it was harsh.

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With only one enemy remaining, I'm going back to rolling once per post.  She can have the die that used to belong to her momma.

(ID# 29387 results: Battle: 10 Craft: 6 Loot: 15 MOB: 10)

(Concentration cooldown, round 3/5.)

(Exchange Results:  Aetharan drops to 8/23 HP.  Total Critical for (2+2-2=2) damage.  Princess B drops to 10/16 HP.  Total Critical for (4+2=6) damage.)

Edited August 30, 2015 by Aetharan