Nathaniel

Battle: 9 (Nathaniel hits for 4 damage, killing the ogre)

Nathaniel saw the Ogre's backhand coming, and stabbed Dusk's Fall into it as it came to meet his body. The beast wailed in pain, trying to back up and away from Nathaniel. It twisted its hand free, but worsened the wound in the process. After the ogre had begun panicking, Nathaniel saw an opening near the ogre's heart, probably over its lung, and he stabbed it there, twisting the blade in the wound. The ogre moaned a more tired, sleepy moan, and then burst into color.

Loot: 20 (submitting Uncommon item for approval)

Looking in the creature's inventory, Nathaniel was expecting to find nothing, or maybe some Col, but what he found instead made him do a double take.

"The Duelist's Hands..." Nathaniel muttered, looking at the item. He'd need to examine this later, it seemed to be an interesting pair of gloves, but he didn't have the time to sit down and check them out right then.

Battle: 2 (Nathaniel misses)

As Nathaniel ducked behind the ogre, and hurt its knee, he began to spin into a backhanded slice at the beast's opposite side, but there was a bone strapped to its loincloth there, and while the strike shattered that, it left the ogre unharmed, and wailing angrily like a child that had had its toy taken away.

Well, a large, man-eating child with a greatclub.

Mob: 5 (misses Nathaniel)

Now very upset, the ogre spun clumsily around, trying desperately to crush Nathaniel with its club. It slammed the great stick into the ground once, then twice, then three and four times, trying and failing to hit Nathaniel, becoming more upset with each failed attempt. After failing miserably at its adaptation of, "whack-a-mole", the ogre swung a backhand at Nathaniel.

Mob: 4 (Ogre misses Nathaniel)

The ogre swung the club lazily by turning its body and holding the club out at arm's length, letting it sweep in a wide arc. A wide arc that Nathaniel had to trouble ducking under, as he twirled his sword in his palm, slammed the pommel of his weapon forcefully into the back of the monster's knee, eliciting a moan of pain.

Battle: 3 (Nathaniel misses)

Sprinting towards the ogre, Nathaniel drew Dusk's Fall back, preparing to plunge it into the ogre's lower back, when the ogre seemed to hear something at the last moment, and turned. When it turned, its arm accidentally swept aside Nathaniel's, as it twisted away from the stab, completely by chance. Nathaniel tumbled to the ground, as a result of his overcommitment. As the ogre picked up a club it had set down nearby, Nathaniel struggled to his feet.

Nathaniel spent the next 45 minutes or so walking at a nice, leisurely pace, up towards the mountainous area where Snaplimb spawned. As he reached the place where the terrain really did become rocky and mountainous, he began hiking up the hill properly, pushing himself up firmly with each stride, and minding his breathing. As he reached the crest of the rocky, scrubby hill he'd just trekked up, he said to himself, "Ugh. The air is gonna get real thin by the time I've gotten to Snaplimb. That's gonna be fun." Pausing to take a short rest, breathing deeply, Nathaniel scanned the surrounding area, looking to see what trash mobs wandered around that area.

Spotting a brown shape that blended in with the terrain shift from a rock, Nathaniel squinted at it, focusing his vision. It was a runty ogre. That said, runty ogres are still pretty big. It was about 6'6". He took another sharp breath in, stood, stretched, and pulled his blade from its sheath, getting ready to charge.

Battle: 10 (Nathaniel hits and deals 5 damage to Dreadfang, killing him)

Loot: 9 (no loot)

Nathaniel dashed under Dreadfang's toothy maw to strike with an overhead slash, splitting his underbelly from his chest to his pelvis. Dreadfang's anguished howl was cut suddenly off as he exploded into color in his death. Nathaniel saw in the loot menu that there was no loot, and that he'd not really gained much of anything in that fight.

"Well, I'm that much closer to level 7!" Nathaniel told himself, chuckling, "Now, I already took out Dry Bones, and he's the only other one near here..." Analyzing his map again, Nathaniel pointed to the nearby mountain pass, "Of course!" he remembered, "I'm right in Snaplimb's neighborhood!"

Putting away his menus, he straightened up, and strode out of the forest, off to visit Snaplimb, the ogre.

Mob: 3 (Dreadfang misses Nathaniel)

As Dreadfang bore down on him, Nathaniel thrust Dusk's Fall desperately at his face, stabbing the point right into his front teeth, and cracking them in doing so, causing Dreadfang to pull back and howl in pain and fury. Having bought himself a moment to recover, Nathaniel rolled up from his prone position to stand and face the Dire Wolf.

Battle: 1 (Nathaniel misses)

When Nathaniel was thrown from the spear he'd been using to anchor himself, he tried to stand back up, but Dreadfang was still thrashing around, and he fell from his back, his wild swings clanging off the weapons lodged in Dreadfang's hide. Dreadfang turned to face him as he hit the ground and lost his momentum.

Mob: 3 (Dreadfang misses)

Dreadfang tried in vain to throw Nathaniel from his back, and when he couldn't shake him loose, he snapped desperately at Nathaniel, who swung around on the spear lodged in his back, and avoided his gnashing fangs. Howling in pain and desparation, Dreadfang shook one more time, and Nathaniel lost his grip on the spear, falling into a patch of empty fur on his back.

Battle: 10 (Nathaniel hits Dreadfang for 5 damage)

Nathaniel drove Dusk's Fall straight into Dreadfang's spine, causing the saddest howl of anguish he'd ever heard, Dreadfang thrashed violently, shuddering periodically as he did so from the damage to his spine, but Nathaniel's grip on the spear held firm, and he stayed on his back.

Mob: 7 (Dreadfang misses Nathaniel only due to his Evasion boosts)

Dreadfang pounced at Nathaniel, but was surprised when he avoided his bite and grabbed ahold of his fur, letting his surprised pull-back of his head carry him up to be flung onto his back, where he grabbed ahold of a spear shaft lodged in Dreadfang to get a good grip.

Battle: 1 (Nathaniel missed Dreadfang)

Nathaniel was about to stab up into Dreadfang's belly and gut him when Dreadfang's front paw swept back and slammed into his chest, knocking him to his back behind Dreadfang. Dreadfang turned around and tensed, preparing to pounce on Nathaniel. Nathaniel flung himself to his feet to prepare himself for the attack.

Mob: 1 (Dreadfang misses Nathaniel)

Dreadfang ran up to Nathaniel, raking at him with his paws, and gnashing with his teeth. Nathaniel rolled to stand up underneath his belly, his head brushing the fur that hung from Dreadfang's filthy belly. Dreadfang didn't realize where Nathaniel was until he felt his head brushing against his belly fur, and then he became agitated, and tried to move away from Nathaniel.

Battle: 6 (Nathaniel hits, deals 3 damage to Dreadfang)

Nathaniel rushed quietly up to Dreadfang's left flank, driving Dusk's Fall deep into it, and slicing as he pulled it out and ran past him.

Dreadfang howled in pain, and rage at this sudden attack, seeing Nathaniel, hate filled his red eyes, and he growled a deep, angry growl.

Nathaniel chuckled, "Oh, boy. This is DEFINITELY gonna be good."

Stalking through the forest, Nathaniel heard a howl...deeper than he'd expect from the wolves he'd seen, and closer than he'd expected it might be.

"Sound like we've got our winner." Nathaniel remarked, surveying the area.

As he looked around the clearing he'd just walked up to, he saw a Dire Wolf with black fur, and several weapons lodged in its back. The cursor for that mob identified it as, "Dreadfang".

"And there he is." Nathaniel said, smiling, and becoming excited for the fight that was about to ensue.

Battle: 6 (Nathaniel hits the wolf for 3 damage, killing it)

Loot: 10 (no loot)

Nathaniel brought Dusk's Blade down on the wolf's neck, severing its head, and killing it cleanly.

"Effin' FINALLY..." Nathaniel groaned, flipping open the loot menu to see that it didn't have any Col, and then immediately flipping the menu away again.

"Now let's get deeper into the woods...on to the REAL fight..." Nathaniel mumbled, walking into the forest, and maneuvering between the aggro ranges of the wolves that wandered, looking for Dreadfang.

Mob: 8 (Hit, 0 damage due to Nathaniel's armor skill)

The wolf bit at Nathaniel's knee, gnashing its teeth and snarling, but it didn't get close enough to do anything but scratch at his boot as he cut off its angle of attack with an upward stroke from Dusk's Blade. As the wolf stalled in place, Nathaniel spun on his heel to bring Dusk's Blade down on its head.

Battle: 2 (Nathaniel misses)

The wolf darted around behind Nathaniel, and forced him to spin around and step back rather than swing because otherwise, the wolf would have gotten him...again.

"You've gotta be f***in' kidding me..." Nathaniel was getting angry with the mob now, "You worthless little piece of-" the wolf snarled at him, lunging and forcing him to back off again, before elbowing it in the snout.

"Shut up." Nathaniel barked, as it whimpered.

Mob: 1 (Wolf done goofed)

Nathaniel easily sidestepped the wolf's lunge, and bashed it behind the ear with the pommel, causing it to wheel away from him while he lashed out with the blade, which missed as the wolf jumped back and away from him.

"C'mon now, puppy, get back here and let's finish this." Nathaniel groaned, stepping into critical distance again, preparing to strike.

Battle: 5 (Nathaniel barely misses it)

Nathaniel swung out at it, but the wolf lunged in at the same time, causing him to miss, and forcing him to push the wolf's head further right and off-line from his belly. Regaining his stance and composure, Nathaniel shoved the wolf away with his foot, only to have it spring back at him, and force him to sidestep.

Mob: 7 (Misses due to Nathaniel's boosted Evasion)

As the wolf lunged from below to bite at Nathaniel's throat, he punched it in the side of the head with his empty left hand, and kicked it in the ribs, making the wolf whimper and retreat a couple steps away from him. The wolf snarled again, and tried to lunge back in, but Nathaniel cut it off with a kick to the jaw with his right foot, making it growl at him.

Battle: 4 (Nathaniel misses)

Nathaniel smashed the wolf's snout with the pommel, making it whimper and let go, but in his frustration with being wounded, he forgot that he REALLY should have just stabbed it.

"Stupid effing dogs..." Nathaniel griped, as the wolf prepared to lunge at him again, and Nathaniel raised his blade.

"D*** it!" Nathaniel shouted, as the wolf wheeled around to attack him, snarling.

Mob: 9 (wolf hits for 1 damage due to Nathaniel's damage reducing skill)

The wolf got a good bite in on Nathaniel's left arm, yanking on it and trying to thrash him around by his forearm.

Having walked a good ways, Nathaniel reached the treeline of the forest. Looking out over the sunny plains nearby, and the wolves wandering about on their patrol routes, Nathaniel took a deep breath, and let it slowly out. He was really beginning to find ways to enjoy his life, screwed up as the whole death game may have been. Unsheathing his sword, he spun it around in his palm a few times before gripping it tight in his hand. He surveyed the area between the road and the forest, and saw a lone wolf that might actually bother him if he tried to go past it. He darted towards the wolf, preparing to strike.

Battle: 2 (Nathaniel misses)

The wolf heard Nathaniel rushing up from the side, and jumped out of the way before he could land his stroke.

Having rested up since his last Quest, Nathaniel decided that he'd put a challenge up to himself, and go look for the Floor 1 Rare Spawns. There wasn't really a lot of POINT to doing it...other than MAYBE a little extra Col on the loot drops...but he wanted to go take Dusk's Fall for a spin, and have some good fights.

"Alright..." Nathaniel mumbled, standing just outside the Town of Beginnings, "Which...one...first...?" He asked himself, looking between his notes and the map, his notes, and the map...finally he decided which one he'd go after first.

"It's off to Dreadfang first!" He shouted, striding confidently out on the road, moving with purpose to the northwest, and to the forest there.