[F08] Die Monkey Die [Monkey King Quest]

[RyujinSeaLord 0]

Today was was beautiful day on the 8th floor of castle Aincrad. I was enjoying a cup of Earl Grey tea in a local cafe and scrolling through the new articles about game updates and extra events coming up. It is Noon and about 28C outside which it rather regular for this time of the day. This was the first time that i had thought about doing quests since i cam back into the works. When the waitress came over and asked if where the nearest quest board was and she pointed to the town center...of course it was there. I got up from my seat and headed towards the board. I walked on over to the board and began to browse the quest options. I had decided on a field boss quest seeing as i felt i could take care of it on my own. I reached out to take the quest paper and the most peculiar thing happened..... @Neopolitan

[Neopolitan 0]

Neo had made her way to the eighth floor after some deliberation. She wanted to solve the mystery that her weapon held inside of it, but decided to put that off for the time being. SHe needed to have some consumables for that and some idiot orange player had cleaned out her stock. They paid well though, so perhaps it was worth it. She was of course wondering if she should've gotten rid of the bulk discount. It was also her raid preparations. But that was the past, and she couldn't change that. So instead she decided to pick a random floor from the first ten and try to do some quests there.

Floor 1? Done everything. Floor 6? She couldn't get off of it fast enough. Floor 4? She'd been here enough, no need for more frigid quests. Floor 8? That sounded like a nice place. After recovering from the shock of all the teleporting, she made her way towards where the quest board was.

Once at the quest board, she was scanning for a quest to do. There weren't that many that seemed more than just pleas for help from players that should know what they're doing. Someone trying to get themselves unpinned from a tree. Another person who was lost in the forest. Then there was the one that actually looked legitimate. Something about a giant monkey king roaming the forest. Reaching for it, she noticed another hand get in the way. She quickly retracted her hand and looked for the owner of the other. Changing the reaching hand into a bit of a wave, Neo motioned for the other person to take it. She could probably find herself another floor to do quests on. No sense in them both going for the same place after all.

@RyujinSeaLord

[RyujinSeaLord 0]

I noticed a small hand reach for the same quest at the same time that I did. I also noticed her retract her had. This made me look in the direction of where the hand came from and I didnt see someone immediately, then I looked down.  I noticed that there was a small girl or at least from what i could tell, that was waving to me then she motioned her hand towards the quest for me to take it. 

"Well thank you." I said as friendly as i could, waving back at her and smiling. I reached up for the quest and a big red warning label came across my screen.

"Warning: This quest may be too difficult for your level, please consider another quest or joining a party" I read the warning label out loud. "Well dang it, looks like I'm gonna have find something else to" I said said before turning from the quest board and getting ready to turn back towards town. "What a disappointment being a lower level is"

As i began to walk yet another strange thing happened... @Neopolitan

Edited March 28, 2019 by RyujinSeaLord

[Neopolitan 0]

It wasn't long that Neo was there before the person was standing there not being able to do the quest. Quickly turning her retracting hand into a bit of a bow, she sent a quick message to the person to let them know that she was willing to go along with them for the quest. If they weren't planning on taking it on solo, she figured that she may as well tag along. She could probably solo it on her own, but there was always a nice safety in numbers. And on top of that, this person seemed vaguely familiar. Perhaps she had seen them at a meeting or some other place. Either way, would be nice to get to know them better. Meetings tended to have a way of shedding the worst of lights on to people. After rising back up from her bow, she quickly flipped her black parasol up and open over her shoulder. The weapon hidden underneath was certainly a strange one to say the least, but at the very least, it seemed to be under control for the moment. No recent urges have come around, but it could just be biding its time for the future.

@RyujinSeaLord

[RyujinSeaLord 0]

It was strange to suddenly receive a message from a player i didnt know, let alone the same one who almost crossed hands with me. I read over her message and turning back to her and smiled. I walked back up to her casually. 

"Are you sure you wouldnt mind tagging along? You seem way more than capable of tackling this monster by yourself despite your short stature." I said jokingly hoping to get a small smile in the least. "Well if you don't mind then.." i started to say before swiping a few times across my menu to find the buttons i was looking for.

Spoiler

I sent an invite hoping she would accept it at least until the Monkey King was killed. While i waited for her response i picked the piece of paper off that would signify the accepting of this quest.I looked back at the female character and realized i never introduced myself. 

"I am so sorry, pardon me rudeness, my name is Ryujin, but my friends call me Ryu, whats your name?" i asked the tri-hair colored woman in front of me as i extended my had in case she would decide to shake it. @Neopolitan

[Neopolitan 0]

Neo shook her head as he asked about if it was really fine for her to go along with him. It didn't really matter to her whether or not she soloed it. Usually the rewards were either to each player that participated or was something not worth her while anyways. Occasionally both. And if there was the chance that it was something she would actually want that he ended up getting, she would just come back and do the quest again when the creature respawned. The beauty of a video game. No one can claim that they are the only killer of something forever. Except maybe bosses. Or player killers. After the man had introduced themselves, Neo just pointed towards where the top right of his visual field would be . Right about where her name should have just popped up as she accepted the partry invite. She couldn't do her typical move of sending the party invite as her personal introduction, so a little bit of improvisation had to take place.

@RyujinSeaLord

[RyujinSeaLord 0]

She accepted the party invite and pointed to the exact point in which her name would show up on my screen. It was almost as if she really didnt want to speak to me. I shook my head to myself. There was no reason for me to assume such a thing about her maybe theres was something about her. 

"Neopolitan huh? Like the ice cream?" I asked her out loud not sure if she would actually respond or not. "I guess that would explain the try colored hair and the mismatching eyes." I chuckled realizing in my head that I had mismatching eyes. I coughed out of nervousness feeling like i was doing nothing but making a fool of myself in front of her.

"So uhh....." I started to speak and then cleared my throat. " Do you know where we need to go? If so you can lead the way and I'll follow close behind."

"If i have to lead, just remember that if something seems fishy....or banana-y....we are probably in the right place." i chuckled to myself. "Alright lets blow this popsicle stand." @Neopolitan

Edited April 4, 2019 by RyujinSeaLord

[Neopolitan 0]

((I'll go into stealth on my next post and then we can start the boss fight))

Neo shrugged at Ryu's response. It wasn't all that surprising and certainly not the first time that someone had considered her akin to ice cream. And as he started asking about where the boss was, she started to make her way out of the town. He would be able to follow her, even if they weren't in view of each other. THe beauty of hacing an electronic map like that. She considered going ahead and stealthing now, though figured it would probably be better to save that until they were closer to the boss.  With a bit of an eyeroll at his comment on leading the way, Neo pulled up her own map and started to make her way towards the quest marker. The monkey she knew a little bit about its tactics, but hopefully it wasn't as poweerful as some people hyped it up to be. She knew that she could take it, but defending someone she didn't know as well might be a little bit tricky. Either way, she was going to make sure to do her best to get the field boss dead as quickly as she possibly could.

@RyujinSeaLord

[RyujinSeaLord 0]

Apparently she was not a a big fan of ice cream puns or anything to do with that, which means i have to do it more. This made me wonder if she understood sign language. I remembered taking a few lessons back before my parents let me go to public school. I walked next to her trying to catch up and I very lightly tapped on her shoulder to try and grab her attention for a moment. I started signing to her basically asking her if she had any more information on the Monkey King. Health points, relative size, relative strength. I was hoping that she was either paying attention or actually knew sign language or else I was looking like a complete idiot. I wasn't exactly sure how to speak to her but maybe that was part of her life. Or maybe it was a gracious facade put on allowing her body and fighting skills. 

"So, do you supposed this Monkey Man is at the end of this Rocky Road?" i asked her out loud chuckling to myself

@Neopolitan

[Neopolitan 0]

Neo turned as Ryu tapped her on the shoulder. As they started to do what she figured was sign language, Neo just shrugged. She didn't know sign language at all as it had never really been of use to her, but it was nice to see him trying. After that failed little attempt, she looked at her map and shook her hand in a so-so motion at his verbal question. There was no telling for certain, but it was possible. Either way, they were getting close. She crouched down and motioned for Ryu to do the same, after motioning she engaged her hide skill, quickly falling into the shadows. She made her way carefully to what looked like the mouth of a cave. They were right on top of where the quest marker was. This had to be where the boss monster was. If it wasn't, that meant they were going to have to start tracking it.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #114306
LD: 16 + 5 = 21 stealth rating

@RyujinSeaLord

[RyujinSeaLord 0]

It did not seem like my sign language was working. Maybe she didn't know any or maybe it just wasn't a skill she felt the need to learn. Either way the thought mattered to me. She pulled up her map at some point seeing as I completely forgot that the quest marker just shows up on maps most of the time here. Thats when i noticed she had crouched down and mysteriously vanished but not before signaling to to do the same thing. I shrugged my shoulders and followed her lead, as a student would his teacher. I crouched down and suddenly it felt like i was invisible to the outside world. I began to army crawl towards a good surprise location before leaping into a tree high enough that the monkey king probably wouldn't notice. Not a few moments later it looked as though the King monkey had gotten hungry and decided to leave its cave in search of food. I awaited Neos signal before attempting to initiate combat knowing my ninja skills would not last very long against such a beast.

ID# 114308 LD = 20 + 5 = 25 Stealth Rating.

@Neopolitan

Edited April 8, 2019 by RyujinSeaLord

[Neopolitan 0]

Neo was ready for the fight to begin. Ryu went into the trees above while she stayed fairly low down to the ground. The monkey king walked out of the cave, they seemed to catch it just as it spawned. She watched its bar of health fill up, not taking that long at all. Should be a fairly fragile beast to take out then. After getting aroudn behind the beast, she disengaged her stealth skill. Flipping open her parasol, black as the caves darkness behind her, she gave a wink in the direction of Ryu. With a thought she called down her familiar from the skies, which whipped the monkey's head aroudn towards her. A smirk formed on her face as she leaped up to greet the surprised field boss. It stood little chance as it immediately dropped into the yellow from her attack. As she landed back behind it, it was recoiling from her putting one of its eyes out. That should keep it occupied for some time to come.

Spoiler

ROll ID: #114338
BD: 10 - major crit (12 + 2 = 14 * 14 = 196 - 50 = 146 damage; paralyze proc)
CD: 9 - recovery proc

[H: 2] @Neopolitan: 840/840 HP | 74/84 EN | 12 DMG | 59 MIT | 3 ACC | 2 REC | 8-10 PLZ | 4 FLN
[H: 0] @RyujinSeaLord: ???

Monkey King: 104/250 HP | 50 MIT | 240 DMG [Paralyzed]

• On MD rolls of 9 or 10, the Monkey King will Pick up a tree or large rock and throw it at the party, hitting and stunning them all for 120 damage.

 

[RyujinSeaLord 0]

ID# 114342 BD = 1 Critical miss (Light Momentum activates next round)

The Monkey King had come out of its hiding hole and it was intimidating to look at. I wasn’t sure I would be able to do any sort of damage to the creature. I took a really deep breathe before rationalizing to myself that i would be over quicker if i were to just get out there and hit it. I saw the parasol open and i knew it was my chance to hit. 

I leapt from the tree i was hiding inside of attempting to use one of my most powerful sword arts.

"IAI SLASH" i called out as i drew my weapon but suddenly i was no longer running towards the Monkey King, instead i had tripped on a rock and immediately came crashing down into the rocky ground below me. 

"Great not only have i made an embarrassment out of myself at the meeting but now I have done it again in the middle of combat." i muttered to myself. I looked up to the monkey and noticed it still wasn't moving  and that its health was already in the yellow zone. I sighed with relief and stood up gripping my sword ready tio fix my mistake.

 

[H: 2] @Neopolitan: 840/840 HP | 74/84 EN | 12 DMG | 59 MIT | 3 ACC | 2 REC | 8-10 PLZ | 4 FLN
[H: 0] @RyujinSeaLord: 680/680   66/68 EP

Monkey King: 104/250 HP | 50 MIT | 240 DMG [Paralyzed]

On MD rolls of 9 or 10, the Monkey King will Pick up a tree or large rock and throw it at the party, hitting and stunning them all for 120 damage.

Edited April 8, 2019 by RyujinSeaLord

[Neopolitan 0]

Neo watched as Ryu quickly tried and failed to get an attack in against the beast. It wasn't much though, as she knew she would be able to take it on her own here. Watching her familiar come in for another pass, she kicked a pebble towards the beast. This got it to move towards her a little bit, still covering its eye with one of its massive paws. As it did, her familiar, a cobalt blue pseudo dragon, came in and froze the feet of the monkey king. Taking this as her opportunity, Neo quickly dashed forward as her blade turned black, springing from her parasol once more. The beams of energy that sprung from her sowrd art were dark, and she leaped through the hole she had pierced through the creature. And instead of shattering as its health hit zero, it shriveled into black nothingness, only a speck of dust left to mark it ever being there.

Returning to a neutral position, Neo flicked her blade clean of what dust was on it then quickly sheathed it back in its parasol. With another thought, her familiar quickly came to curl around her neck, the cool scales caliming her down once more. She gestured with her head for Ryu to get up, the quest was done at this point. They just needed to return to town to claim their reward.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #114344
BD: 6 + 3 = 9 - hit, fallen proc ( 12 + 4 = 16 * 14  = 224 - 50 = dead)
CD: 5 - no procs
MD: paralyzed and dead

[H: 3] @Neopolitan: 840/840 HP | 63/84 EN | 12 DMG | 59 MIT | 3 ACC | 2 REC | 8-10 PLZ | 4 FLN
[H: 0] @RyujinSeaLord: 680/680   66/68 EP

Monkey King: 0/250 HP | 50 MIT | 240 DMG

• On MD rolls of 9 or 10, the Monkey King will Pick up a tree or large rock and throw it at the party, hitting and stunning them all for 120 damage.

 

[RyujinSeaLord 0]

The fight was over almost immediately as it got started. I was a mess, my clothes were now dirty and i had embarrassed myself yet again. And in front of a girl no less. 

"Well alright then." I said out loud. "I guess I'm still really out of practice. Im guessing this was a bad show of faith that i used to be on the front lines. Ill have you know that i have no intentions of going back at this rate. I might take Sharks route and just go live in a cave and wait till the game get finished." 

I was losing faith, was I really just a nobody once again. No one knew my name, no one knew my face, no one knew my fall from grace. I just became another character in the crowd of other losers whom have come and gone. I hung my head and lazily gestured my hand towards the exit of the forest knowing that it was already over and there was nothing more i could do about that.

@Neopolitan

Edited April 9, 2019 by RyujinSeaLord

[Neopolitan 0]

Ryu seemed disheartened, but she wasn't surprised about that. Most people who had just watched another solo a boss in front of them would like be in a similar emotional situation. That didn't really change her opinion of him though. Sure he tripped and fell, but that made no difference. Once she actually saw him land a hit she would change her views and see where she lay mentally. For now, she just made her way back towards town and let them move at their own pace. She shrugged at his comment, not really caring whether or not ssomeone had been on the front lines. She had watched enough people fall to nothingness already and she had barely paid enough attention for a couple of floors at this point. She knew that past fame meant little in this little world. There were no historians to record your feats, and they would be comnpletely forgotten once this game was finished and gone.

@RyujinSeaLord

[RyujinSeaLord 0]

The entire trip was spent entirely in silence. We didnt talk about what happened before. We didnt talk about what happened during. We didnt talk about what happened after. Everything was just silent. I let her get a large lead on the distance in between us as i basically was dragging my feet in the dirt. I couldnt tell what she was thinking but after a performance like that she was probably questioning exactly how i had mad it this far. I was afraid to talk to her even though she wasnt going to talk back to him. Her judgment meant a lot but also so little at the same time. I should sincerely forget that the boss fight happened. Was i upset that i didnt get to strike it? Yeah absolutely and i had every right to be, but the fact is that we killed it and no one got hurt in the slightest. Maybe i should change my negative reaction to positive out looks. Neo here was a great companion even though he hair made me wanna bit her to see if she was actually made of ice cream.

@Neopolitan

Edited April 9, 2019 by RyujinSeaLord

[Neopolitan 0]

Neo looked behind her to see that Ryu was dragging himself along quite a bit. She mentally shrugged it off and let him keep going at his own pace, slowing down a little bit so that she wouldn't build too much of a lead. If he wanted to mope around about things he could, but that was up to him. She felt the cold from her neck leave as her familiar took back up to the skies. He seemed to have quite the mind of his own and she didn't really mind that. He was always around when she needed him for that sweet final moment of an attack. There was of course the few tiems he didn't show up, but that was rare and she was usually good at dealing with that. With the slower pacce, she decided to pull open her inventory and do some organization. Noting the small reward they got from killing the creature, Neo shifted the tiem to the side, she could craft something for this if she really wanted to. Most of the time she just wanted to get things like this done on her own anyways. They rarely had good drops and there was no repeat experience for taking them on.

@RyujinSeaLord

[RyujinSeaLord 0]

We finally had reached the edge of the forest and i was starting to catch up bit as i was trying to regain my confidence. I could see the main town from where we stood which meant we were almost back.

"Well Neo...i know it doesnt mean much, but thanks for wanting to come out and kill monsters with me. Its strange but all of my old friends have passed away. I visit the monument of life every day to pay them respects but never in a thousand years did i think i would have to replace my old friends. So...." i paused in the middle of speaking as i got side by side with her. I opened my menu and sent a request to her. "I wanted to know....if you wanted to be my friend...and if you dont i mean thats completely understandable especially after that flop in the middle of a boss fight....but theres something cool about you that makes me feel we would be good friends someday."

I didnt know how she felt. I didnt know how her thoughts worked. But it couldnt hurt to try and branch out and make friends again. @Neopolitan

Edited April 9, 2019 by RyujinSeaLord

[Neopolitan 0]

As the two were approaching the main town, Neo realized that Ryu had caught up with her. She didn't really care so much about all of their friends dying. That kind of thing happened a lot in this game, as that was kinda what it did to people. But she did accept the friend request that he sent. So point in denying that at last. Once the friend request was accepted, she waved goodbye and made her way into town, disbanding the party. They were both safe now, they could turn in the quest on their own. Herself? She quickly turned in the quest and then went down a floor lower to her house to relax for a bit. There was going to be a big fight soon, and she couldn't be too high strung for it if she was going to be ready for it. On top of all of that, she needed to make sure that at least she was ready for it. She also needed to make sure that she could make as many people as she could ready for it.

@RyujinSeaLord