[PP-F11] Scouting the 11th Floor

[Mack 0]

The portal in the middle of the Taft town square on the eleventh floor shimmered and in the space of an eye blink the hulking form of Mack was stepping from the portal and down a short series of granite steps into the square at the heart of Taft. The area was dominated by a massive Cathedral, no doubt this was the Cathedral that Calrex had suggested that they use as a meeting place for the two members of the Crimson Blades to meet up with him. According to the rumors among the player population, the search for the location of the boss, and the boss type, up on the eleventh floor was going rather slowly and had bogged down.

In truth, the massive blonde smith wasn't sure what the hold up was. But, after weighing his options and talking it over with Xion the decision had been made for the two top ranking members of the Crimson Blades to take on, or rather join in, the search for the boss' location provided that either Calrex or Tristan was willing to come along. Not knowing enough about the mobs on the active floor of the front lines for clearing the death game, it was only prudent to include a player that could safely tank while they commenced their own search of the area. Stepping up in front of the church as the bright sunshine shone down on him, Mack slung Guillotine down off of his back and planted the weapon on the cobblestoned street, leaning on the head of the blade and waiting on Xion and Calrex to join him.

[Xion 0]

Xion was stood on the steps of the teleport gate of floor one, the first floor of Aincrad, where the greatest had started their journey. It was ironic really, almost poetic how he was going to be travelling from the bottom of Aincrad, to the highest accessible floor currently: Floor 11."Teleport: Taft!" he shouted, the anxiousness clear in his voice as he disappeared in a brilliant blue glow, before appearing at the Teleport gate in Taft. It was a glorious city, with a large cathedral at the centre, it's dome made of stained glass. "I'm here..." he said, as he slowly took his first steps into the unknown floor, searching for mack, whom he eventually found, encased in his angelic sheath armour. Xion himself had donned his full Maelstrom set, but with a shoulder piece and cloak draped from his left shoulder, emblazoned with the colours of the Crimson Blades, along with numerous badges and awards. Around his neck he wore the crimson shield pendant of the second in command, signifying his position in the guild. 

 

"Mack...we did it. We're on the highest accessible floor of Aincrad, along with the lead group. If we can do it, if we can find it, the Crimson Blades will have earned a place in the front lines..." he said, the smile on his face nearly impossible to hide. 

[Calrex 0]

"Huh, looks like Mack and Xion made it here."

Calrex was over by the gate out into the fields of the 11th floor, awaiting for his two teammates to arrive. He was recently contact by Mack to assist them with searching for the boss room for the next floor, agreeing to do so. "I wonder whatever happened to the meeting for the floor raid. Was no information shared or something to that effect? It's the only thing I can think of that would make sense for requiring another search party."

As he arrived over at the Cathedral he swipes on his menu as his full-body armor, the Grand Chariot, surrounded his body. The Grand Blade and Amethyst Charm were attached to the back of his hip. Upon coming into eyesight of them he gave a wave as he completed his walk over, "Hey, you guys made it. So what's the plan for the search?"

"If the last trek I made with Ariel is any indicator, this floor is still nothing to worry about. However, with the current status of our team, it might be safer for me to take the role of tank for this trip, meaning I should use Howl first thing everytime we encounter any monsters, in order to keep their attention on me."

[Mack 0]

"Yes, we're nearly there but we need to remain focused on the fact that we are the only two. We must divide our time between the front lines and raising an army to clear the remaining floors, the Blades are our army. I admit, if Calrex would join us our Guild would become the supreme force in the game right now," Mack said in a low tone so that only Xion would hear. "Speaking of Calrex, this is our chance to show him that the Blades are something worth being a part of... here he comes."

"Calrex, glad you could make it and are willing to take part," Mack said, greeting the tank as he joined the group. "The plan is for you to tank, Xion to serve as the secondary tank, and I'm the glass cannon as usual. All the guide book says is that there's a quartet of dungeons up in the mountains with caves serving as the entrances. We'll need to find these caves and fight our way to the boss room to scout things out. I have no plans to tackle to boss today, I suspect we won't have the fire power to do the job. No offense intended, of course."

ID: 30044
LD: 10 (I guess we need a fifteen to find the cave entrance, or do we just find it?)

Over the next several, rather uneventful, hours the group trekked through the seemingly untouched wilderness of the eleventh floor. There could be no mistake that few players had come this way so far as the lands didn't have enough of the picked clean look about them. Reaching the foothills of the mountains along the path that they were following the group fanned out a bit in search of one of the cave entrances, though all were careful to stay within easy supporting distance of one another, ready to spring into action if need be.

[Xion 0]

ID: 30170

LD: 5

 

Xion sighed as the group slowly traversed the the forest surrounding Taft, all of them searching for the dungeon entrances, or anything that may give them an idea of it's location. "The only problem with this being a new floor...there's no map data" Xion said as he scanned the area around them: Nothing. The tank frowned as his search yielded nothing, although that wasn't a bad thing, at the least he didn't find and anger any MOBs, which would have been less than desirable, but on the other hand they had Calrex, a 129 HP monster assisting them, so any potential attackers probably ignored them once they saw him. 

[Calrex 0]

ID: 30234
Loot Dice: 9 (Search and Detect +2) = 11

Calrex gave a nod as Mack informed him of the formation they were going to take as the trio began their search of the floor for any sign of the entrance to the dungeon containing the floor boss. As they exited out into the fields he activated his <<Reveal>> skill as he looked left and right, scanning for any potential enemies that might spawn nearby. So far, there was nothing that could potentially ambush the three.

"Nothing I can see so far. Any luck with you guys?"

Even with his <<Reveal>> skill causing the landscape to be transparent, there was still no sign of the dungeon's entrance, "Shoot, it might still be too far, out of range of my skill's range limits. We'll need to keep looking for now."

Edited September 4, 2015 by Calrex

[Mack 0]

ID: 30291
LD: 1 (Really?!?)

"There may be map data, but since everyone wants to find the boss room for themselves and horde the best spots for looting, they're not sharing the information," Mack answered, calling back to Xion who was complaining about the lack of map data for the eleventh floor. The blonde blacksmith continued searching his own little patch of land, moving slowly from place to place in his continued quest to find one of the entrances to the caves that would allow the party to continue searching through the lairs of the antmen in the search for the boss room themselves. Of course, what they would do with that information once they had it, Mack hadn't quite decided yet. A lot of it would depend on the ease with which they found the room in the first place. "I've not found anything over here, Calrex. How's your search going?"

[Xion 0]

ID: 30329

LD: 6 (Nothing) 

Xion shook his head as he continued to search, desperately looking for anything that would lead them to the boss room. "Nothing over here guys, maybe we're looking in the wrong place?" he called out, after another few minutes of searching had yielded nothing once again. Xion hadn't put any points into skills like <<Search and detect>>, all of his skills where battle related, and only now did he curse that fact. 

[Calrex 0]

ID: 30452
Loot Dice: 9 (Search and Detect +2) = 11 (Exact same roll?! XD)

"Yeah, nothing over here either. We might need to head further away from the settlement. I would guess that the boss dungeon wouldn't be so conveniently located close to the safe zone."

As Calrex scanned the landscape once again with his <<Reveal>> skill powered eyes, nothing even close to a dungeon entrance seemed to come into view, "I don't remember it being this much trouble the last time I visited this floor. I wonder if I should have taken some consumable goods to help boost my Search and Detect ability further than what it's currently at."

He gave a small sigh to himself before swiping on his menu, the Grand Blade vanishing from his back as the Ocean's Defense necklace appeared around him, "This should give a boost to our chances. If we encounter any combat I can quickly switch back to any of the swords in my inventory respective to the enemy. However, with both Mack and Xion here I could likely focus on maximizing damage, rather than inflicting status effects. Oh well, we'll see how it goes."

Edited September 5, 2015 by Calrex

[Mack 0]

ID: 30457
LD: 15 (Found it, course to find the Boss Room we'll need a 20+.)

"According to the guidebook that's available to all players or, at least, the most recent version of it the entrance to the four dungeons is somewhere in this. Still, it's also not exactly specific as to where the precise location of any of the four entrances are," Mack called back to Xion, continuing in his own sweep of the area as he searched out one of the entrances that they were looking for to get into the area where the three of them could begin searching in earnest for the boss room. For several more minutes the three of them continued to search until Mack, at last, spotted what looked like the entrance to a cave hidden behind a veritable thicket of bushes and shrubs.

"Guys," Mack said, raising his voice to be heard over the intervening distance between himself, Calrex, and Xion. "Over here, I found one of the entrances." Mack unslung Guillotine from his back and readied himself to enter the cave as soon as the pair of tanks arrived where he was. There was only one problem with the best laid plans of mice and men. Mack hadn't counted on there being a pair of ant man sentries to come boiling out of the entrance to the cave. Definitely the right place, but since Mack was the closest player to the entrance he was the one that drew the auto aggro from the beasts.

ID: 30457, 30461
BD: 6 (5+1)
MD: 6, 6
Mack: 47/55 (-8 Dam., Mit. 2) - Hate: 1
Xion: 53/53
Calrex: 129/129
Antman1: 12/22 (-8 Dam., -2 Thorns)
Antman2: 20/22 (-2 Thorns)

As the two guardians raised their spears to strike Mack reacted instinctively. He knew that Calrex and Xion were on their way to tank the mobs, but in the meantime the blonde man couldn't just stand there and let the two guards mow him down. As the guards advanced Mack twirled the bearded axe in his hands in a blur of motion and then buried the bladed head of the weapon deep in the midsection of one of the guards. He managed to get himself stuck twice, once by the weapons wielded by each of the guards, but Mack had also already gotten one of the antmen down to the yellow zone on its health bar after one hit. "Guys, could use you doing that tank thing, but no rush," Mack called out to the other two men in the party.

[Calrex 0]

ID: 31555
Battle Dice: 2 (Accuracy +3) = 5 (Disregarded Due to Howl)
<<Howl>> Activated

As Mack engaged the two ant sentries Calrex gave a nod as he quickly drew the Grand Blade, rushing ahead so that he got inbetween the axe-wielder and the creature, impaling his sword into the ground. At the same time the chains quickly formed around his body before erupting from the armor, the explosive noise radiating from the blue-armored knight as his <<Howl>> skill activated, drawing the attention of the two ants, "Alright that should keep them attention off of you."

"We should be able to deal with these guys fairly quickly. They're not strong enough to pose a challenge, and I can easily mitigate whatever damage they throw at me. The only problem will be if they are somehow able to avoid our attacks."

HP List
(Hate: 1) Mack: 47/55
(Hate: 0) Xion: 53/53
(Hate: 3) Calrex: 129/129

Enemies:
Antman1: 12/22
Antman2: 20/22

Edited September 14, 2015 by Calrex

[Mack 0]

ID: 32100
BD: 4 (3+1)
MD: 9
(Hate: 1) Mack: 47/55
(Hate: 0) Xion: 53/53
(Hate: 3) Calrex: 127/129 (-2 Dam.)

Enemies:
Antman1: 12/22
Antman2: 20/22

Even though he was used to the fact that tanks could use the howl skill now, that didn’t make hearing the bellowed cry any less painful when it reached unprotected ears. Shaking his head slightly, to clear the lingering ringing sound, Mack tightened his grip on his weapon and his focus on the task at hand. “Thanks Calrex,” the massive axe-man moved in to press his advantage. No longer having to worry about the axe-men potentially attacking him meant that the Grandmaster of the Crimson Blades could turn his full focus and attention to the task of cutting the enemies down to size. Growling low in his throat, Mack advanced on the insectoid warriors before launching a horizontal slashing attack with Guillotine. It would have been a perfect strike too if the ant warrior hadn’t chosen that precise moment to lurch into motion, causing the attack to sail wide of its target.

[Calrex 0]

ID: 33514
Battle Dice: 6 (Accuracy +3) = 9

Calrex gave a nod as Mack attempted to strike the first antman as he readied his sword. As soon as the monster had leapt out of the way he used his <<Sprint>> ability to quickly close the distance as he cut across it with a horizontal strike with the Grand Blade in a reverse grip. With the creature at only a sliver of health remaining he leapt back, nodding to his teammates, "I'll get started working on the next hound. Go ahead and finish off that first one."

HP List
(Hate: 1) Mack: 47/55
(Hate: 0) Xion: 53/53
(Hate: 3) Calrex: 127/129

Enemies:
Antman1: 3/22
Antman2: 20/22

Edited September 30, 2015 by Calrex

[Mack 0]

ID: 33521
BD: 7 (6+1)
MD: 10
(Hate: 1) Mack: 47/55
(Hate: 0) Xion: 53/53
(Hate: 3) Calrex: 126/129 (-2 Dam.)

Enemies:
Antman1: -5/22 (-8 Dam.)
Antman2: 20/22

No sooner had Calrex landed his blow then Mack stepped straight into the gap that the tank had opened for him. With the sun glittering off of the highly polished carbon steel blade of Guillotine as he raised the weapon into the air, Mack whipped the two-handed bearded axe around his body and slammed it into the antman that had its health bar in the red before the strange insectoid creature had chance to lodge its weapon into Calrex. The axe itself made short work of the antman's remaining health bar, and the soldier exploded in a shower of pixels as Guillotine knifed neatly through it. "One down, one to go," Mack called, glancing over his shoulder for the still absent Xion. What could possibly be holding up his fellow Crimson Blade?

[Calrex 0]

ID: 33523
Battle Dice: 8 (Accuracy +3) = 11

As Mack successfully landed a finishing blow on the first antman Calrex gave a nod as he focused on the second ant. Oddly enough it seemed that Xion had yet to take action on the creatures, but at this point he wasn't concerned with that fact, as he was more than powerful enough to handle the now one remaining creature.

Rushing forward he flicked the Grand Blade into a hammer grip as he quickly cut across the ant before kicking it away, giving a quick exhale as he readied himself for any incoming attacks, "You guys holding up alright?"

HP List
(Hate: 1) Mack: 47/55
(Hate: 0) Xion: 53/53
(Hate: 3) Calrex: 126/129

Enemies:
Antman1: -5/22
Antman2: 11/22

Edited September 30, 2015 by Calrex

[Mack 0]

OOC: Calrex, we're at 16 posts. We need a few more to complete the thread. I'm open to ideas.

ID: 33605
BD: 6 (4+1+Concentration) (5/5)(Hate: 1)
MD: 0 (2-2)
(Hate: 3) Mack: 47/55
(Hate: 0) Xion: 53/53
(Hate: 4) Calrex: 126/129

Enemies:
Antman1: -5/22
Antman2: 3/22 (-8 Dam.)

Mack watched as Calrex dealt with the antman soldier in front of him with extreme prejudice. As the tank kicked the beast away it stumbled over its own feet and hit the ground hard on its back. In an instant, Mack had charged forward into the opening. The sunlight glinted off of the wickedly sharp steel head of Guillotine as the weapon flashed in the air a second before descending into the chest of the antman with a sickening squelching noise. Wrenching the weapon free, Mack took a step back to allow Calrex or Xion to dart in and land the final blow to kill the hapless creature, banishing it back to the digital abyss from whence it had come.

[Calrex 0]

OOC: Lol, maybe getting a notification that the boss room had been completely scouted and we start making our way back?

ID: 33707
Battle Dice: 1 (Accuracy +3) = 4 (Or maybe spending a couple of those finishing off the ant XD)

Calrex rushed in as Mack dealt a powerful blow to the single remaining antman, flicking the Grand Blade into a reverse grip as he aimed to finish the creature off. Unfortunately, as he got about half of the initial distance he suddenly got a notification on his menu, the sound interrupting his train of thought as he stopped his movement, "Now of all times? Let's finish this guy off."

"That's odd, I don't believe there's ever been a previous time that I got a notification in battle. It must be urgent."

HP List
(Hate: 3) Mack: 47/55
(Hate: 0) Xion: 53/53
(Hate: 4) Calrex: 126/129

Enemies:
Antman1: -5/22
Antman2: 3/22

Edited October 1, 2015 by Calrex

[Mack 0]

ID: 33724
BD: 10 (9+1)
MD: 0 (2-2)
(Hate: 3) Mack: 47/55
(Hate: 0) Xion: 53/53
(Hate: 4) Calrex: 126/129
Antman2: -6/22 (-9 Dam.)

Stepping back to one side, Mack cleared a path of attack for Calrex as the other fighter came charging in. About halfway through the big swordsman's attack though something clearly happened to distract him. Consequently, Calrex failed to complete a successful attack. "I got this," Mack called, slipping around Calrex and tomahawking his bearded axe, Guillotine, over his head. The steel head of the weapon knifed lethally through the air and slammed into the head of the antman, burying itself deep a second before the creature exploded into pixels.

[Calrex 0]

As Mack finished off the second ant Calrex gave a nod as he swiped on his inventory, pulling up whatever notification was the one that threw him off balance. It was a message, and an urgent one as he opened it. Reading the contents he gave a small sigh as he closed his menu, shaking his head, "Well, it looks like we can head back if you guys want. Apparently the floor boss has already been discovered and fully analyzed, so there's no need for any further information to be gathered on it."

Swiping on his menu he switched back to the Grand Dragoon as his full body armor vanished in a flash of light. Giving a quick stretch he nodded to both Mack and Xion, "Nice work out here today, but I guess we might as well call it here?"

[Mack 0]

"Sounds good to me," Mack rumbled, kneeling on the ground for a moment to check and see if the ant man guards might have dropped any bonus loot that had initially escaped his notice. Finding nothing he stood up once more and looked around for Xion before giving a short sharp whistle as he pulled up his menu. Checking things over and activating the menu with his left hand as he sheathed Guillotine at his back with his left, Mack noticed that Xion had wandered off just far enough to be outside of easy shouting distance. Pulling up the messaging interface, the Grandmaster of the Crimson Blades banged out a quick message to Xion to let him know what was up and that he and Calrex were heading back to town.

REWARDS:

Calrex: +1 SP, +134 Col
Mack: +1 SP, +133 Col
Xion: +1 SP, +133 Col