Ariel - The Crowned Lion

"You okay?" she asked more as an unconscious reaction to seeing the tank get jumped on by two mobs, than a solid concern for his health which barely took a dent. It seems that today wasn't the day to set a new record on 'the amount of times they lasted without getting hit'; not with this start at least. She tightened the grip on her white feathered weapon and lunged forward, cleaving her spearhead at his assailants and the rest of their group. Feeling the now familiar resistance at the end of her weapon, she could ascertain that once more she managed to hit all the monsters around them, even without the visual confirmation. She could hear the sound of claws and fangs clicking around them. "It does sound like they're more vicious than before, I'll give you that." she replied as she surveyed the area around them, the cave now echoing with the aforementioned sounds.

Ariel activates Weeping Moon!

• (2,3,2,2) Ariel | HP:1590/1590 | EN:129/156 (-13) | DMG:24(+4) | MIT:79 | ACC:4(5) | AA | LD:11 | BH:79
• (3,3,3,3) Raidou | HP:1032/1170 | EN:94/114 | DMG:21 | MIT:144 | EVA:3 | ACC:4 | TAUNT | BH:58 | VENGEFUL
• Spider 1 | HP: 294/1050 (-252) | DMG: 234
• Spider 2 | HP: 315/1050 (-216) | DMG: 234
• Spider 3 | HP: 216/1050 (-216) | DMG: 234
• Spider 4 | HP: 333/1050 (-216) | DMG: 234

She nodded, surprised to see how he's taking interest in not only her endeavor but also his fellow alchemist's welfare. "He was a little bit prehensive on moving out of his roman inspired design shop, to a more japanese aesthetics location. But luckily Claudia and Darius were more receptive to the idea and after some convincing on their part he cracked." she let out a small laugh, remembering how he came to her and accepted her proposition after initially rejecting it. "He even agreed re-open his shop on the school grounds, for some reason changing the name too. From the fancy 'Regalis quinta essencia' to the more normal 'Lion's share', it cracked me up when I first heard the name; considering that my own tailor shop is named 'The Lion's Den'... he's such a fanboy!" she tittered.

At this point, they started heading towards the now familiar hunting grounds. The tracks lead them straight to a group of spiders which the blonde wasted no time to engage, already familiar with how their group dynamic worked. Charging in the middle of them she concentrated on the highlighted spider, which was the one leaving behind the tracks, first. After getting an easy hit, she continued spinning her weapon in a wide 360º angle in order to hit all four mobs.

Ariel uses Charge and Concentration, activates Weeping Moon!

• Ariel | HP:1590/1590 | EN:142/156 | DMG:24(+4) | MIT:79 | ACC:4(5) | AA | LD:11 | BH:79
• Raidou | HP:1170/1170 | EN:110/114 | DMG:21 | MIT:144 | EVA:3 | ACC:4 | TAUNT | BH:58 | VENGEFUL
• Spider 1 | HP: 789/1050 (-261) | DMG: 234
• Spider 2 | HP: 771/1050 (-279) | DMG: 234
• Spider 3 | HP: 753/1050 (-297) | DMG: 234
• Spider 4 | HP: 753/1050 (-297) | DMG: 234

While not 100% sure, she assumed that he referred to the area skill he just used. With a nod of confirmation, the blonde would engage the mobs herself as her Howl was still on cooldown. She'd watch him attack the mobs 'A little stiff but he'll get the hang of it soon' she mused optimistically before engaging the remaining three herself. For the first time in a long time, she wasn't sure if she could hit all of them, considering that she didn't have anything else to this weapon skill than one rank invested. She still went in, confident that she could manage it somehow. She felt rage taking over her senses as she activated her own area attack, the first plant that crossed her didn't even get time to react, same as the second one; the third however managed to dodge the two strikes that the blonde blindly took at it.

As the sword art ended she felt her mind returning to a normal state. "Huh?" she muttered, looking at the remaining mob, then at her hands and weapon. This was the first time using the sword art and it felt very different compared to rapier or two handed assault spear. "This will need some time to get used to..." she said, more to herself than her combat partner.

Ariel activates Rage Spike!

• Ariel | HP:1590/1590 | EN:141/156 | DMG:19 | MIT:79 | ACC:3 | VAMP OFF:238 | HB:48 | TAUNT | REC:1 | LD:5 | BH:79
• ChaseR | HP: 200/200 | EN: 10/20 (+1, -1) | DMG: 8 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2
• Nepent 5 | HP: 0/7 (-7) | DMG: 3
• Nepent 6 | HP: 7/7 | DMG: 3
• Nepent 7 | HP: 7/7 | DMG: 3
• Nepent 8 | HP: 7/7 | DMG: 3

Her eyes widened in surprise, seeing Assassin jump in front of her weapon, too late would she let go as the sword art already took control over her movements. It wouldn't allow her to do anything else until the system finished executing the maneuver. Her first instinct was to start giving her a lecture, similar to the one parent give their kids about crossing the street without holding their hand. She stifled the urge and simply let go of the massive spear, sending it back to her inventory. The action she intended to do before the sword art activated. She let out a soft sigh with her eyes closed then looked at Assassin after making sure Raidou was handling the oversized fish. His words, proving that she had no reason to doubt him.

"There's no rush Sin-chan, Raidou has its attention so we can attack it one after another. We can practice joint attacks some other time, this guy, despite its appearance is quite tough!" she said in a partially scolding tone, more like a teacher telling a student why they failed instead of the discussing the consequences. With a mere thought, she materialized her weapon again and decided to put the fish king out of its misery with one last sword art. The last action of her five part sword art was skewering the fish with her spear through its mouth, having it explode into pixels when the pole pierced about 2/3rds of its lenght.

Ariel activates Dimensional Stampede!

Players:
Raidou | HP: 1040/1040 | EN: 79/104 | DMG:8 | MIT:86 | EVA:3 | ACC:3 | TAUNT | BLD:24 | VAMP OFF:104 | BH:52 | Parry (Active)
Ariel | HP:1570/1570 | EN:114/154 | DMG:19(+4) | MIT:79 | EVA:1 | ACC:4(5) | TAUNT | HB: 48 | BH:78 | +5 LD | Vengeful Riposte (Active)
Assassin | HP:440/440 | EN:33/44 | DMG:9 | MIT:23 | EVA:2 | ACC:2

Mobs:
[11,4,1] King of Lakes | HP: 205/1200 | DMG:125 | MIT:20
<<Body Slam>> On an MD of 9, the boss will jump high into the air and crash down in the center of the players, sending out a shock-wave dealing 120 AoE damage.
<<Dive>> On an MD of 10, the King of Lakes will take the player with the highest hate in its teeth and drag it back into the lake. The player will take 150 unmitigable damage and need to swim back to the shore, missing their next attack.

Finishing off a breadstick, she decided to store the rest of the snack for later. After dozing the aftertaste and cleaning her palette with the potion, she replied "It's coming along well, faster than I expected. One of the perks of being inside a digital world I guess." she offered smile, visibly pleased to be prompted to talk about it: "Claudia's been invaluable in handling the logistics after the three of them moved into the estate. Soon we'll be open for business!" She unconsciously grabbed took the golden orb dangling at the right side of her waist in her hand and started rattling its chains as she turned it around in her hand. "The sakura trees next to the shrine are almost in bloom, I plan to inaugurate it with a Hanami event on the grounds. If I learned something from the past, is that people love a good social event." she said with a grin, expecting the viewing ground to fill up with guests. Deciding to put her new mod to use, she started 'Tracking' the spiders they fought last time they were on this floor. To her amazement she could see highlighted footprints on the ground leading to the farming grounds. She stared at the ground for a few moments in silence with her brows furrowed.

Ariel uses Tracking > Spider!

Ariel | HP:1590/1590 | EN:156/156 | DMG:24(+4) | MIT:0 | ACC:4(5) | AA | LD:11 | BH:79

While amidst preparations to move to her new household, the blonde received a message from Raidou. She didn't think too much before sending him a positive reply. It was thanks to him that she managed to buy the plot for the project she was in the middle of setting up. She wouldn't pass on the chance to help him back, gaining a little extra in the process. She started preparing her gear, for a second thinking of bringing her shield and one handed straight sword along but ended up discarding the thought. Based on their previous trip, she would serve as a blade to cull the mobs, the alchemist proved himself more than enough to manage the aggro, Ariel herself having taken no damage while grouped up with him. 

As she reached the main setlement on the floor below the one where she started laying the foundations of the new martial arts school. It was still a long way from being done, but at least her home was somehow set up. She would look at her health bar and marvel at the new buff icons she now had thanks to her home. Spotting the red clad alchemist from a significant distance, she raise a hand to greet him when she got closer. "Hey, how are you doing?" she accepted the consumables and started nibbling on then, taking extra time to enjoy the palmiers.

Ariel consumes: Titan's Strength (+3 Damage/Potion), Well-Done Steak (+2 Protein/Food), Lemon Berry Palmiers (+3 Loot Dice), Cinnamon Rounded Stick (+3 Prosperity), ≪Udon Bowl with Veggies#151902 [Snack]≫ (+2 Accuracy)

"Believe it or not, running was the best out of the two outcomes I had in mind!" she said with a nervous laugh, taking one last inhale and after letting it out gradually she seemed to calmed down. She started nodding repeatedly: "That's what they kept telling me, again and again. One broke the pattern and said 'We must save my family!'" she raised her voice at end end, trying her best to reproduce the urgent and somehow comedic tone the boy had. Shaking her head, she continued: "When I asked why would the villagers leave, all of them went silent. That only lasted for a moment though, until one of them felt the need to reiterate the quest details and the rest soon followed suit. Man they were so annoying." she ended up with her hands crossed and slightly shaking her head dismissively with a slightly annoyed expression.

Prompted by her last question, the blonde opened her eyes and all the frustration from before disappeared, sign that it was only superficial. She eyed the crystal and them looked her in the eyes, alternating once more in silence before slightly tilting her head. She didn't think about that... Ariel closer her own silver colored eyes and thought for a few moments then opened them up, her whole expression seemed to have brightened up as she delivered the next line: "It says we have to just find it right? we don't technically need to go inside the village. Do we?" she knew it was kind of a stretch, her expression reflecting her thoughts as a mirror.

She let out a small giggle, seems these plants were as weak as she remembered. If she had her other 'shield' on they would've probably kill themselves from just the Frost Thorns enhancement on it. But that particular item hasn't arrived yet so she had to make do with the saya karasu (crow) identified for her. She was going to recover energy with this one instead, not that she needed to. The advantages of being a high level player is that you had a energy advantage; while on that topic she took a moment and noticed that ChaseR's was half depleted only after one AoE attack. "Let me try going on the offensive this time." she chimed as she noticed the mob they were looking for made its appearance after the group died.

She lunged in, channeling in the muscle memory from back in real life where she would wield one handed weapons during her training. More than anything, the system assist kicked in and while looking a little clumsy, she managed to pierce the plant tree times and delete it from existence. Eyeing the ground around them she let out a sigh as she didn't see any drops.

• Ariel | HP:1590/1590 | EN:146/156 | DMG:12 | MIT:79 | ACC:3 | VAMP OFF:238 | HB:48 | TAUNT | REC:3/CD:6+ | LD:5 | BH:79
• ChaseR | HP: 200/200 | EN: 10/20 | DMG: 8 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 3 | REC: 2/CD:6+
• Nepent Variant | HP: 15/15 | DMG: 10 | MIT: 5
  Nepent Variant ignores armor mitigation on a natural roll of 10
  Spoiler

  Loot ID# 156925  LD: 2+5 No <Nepent's Ovule>!

The blonde listened to his inquiry and surveyed they nearby area, thanks to her recently aquired 'Tracking' mod, she could see various highlighted 'footprints' that lead in one direction. "We're almost there." she said with a grin and activated her 'Quick Change' mod. While she was previously unnamed, or better said, she kept her weapon in her inventory; now an ebony sheath materialized at the right side of her waist. Nearby bush movements drew her attention and she reached for her weapon, unsheathing the blood red runed sword but she wasn't done yet. Wanting to put both of her new items to test she also hold in her left hand, the ebony saya that previously hosted the blade, in a reverse grip. This pseudo dual-wielding was something she had in mind ever since she thought of taking a tank role for the next floor raid, today she'll show it off for the first time. With a glance behind at ChaseR she added: "They're in front of us."

Her familiar wasn't present, Ariel deciding to leave the lioness behind for the trip today. She had to improvise the 'howl'. With a grin, conjuring her familiar's image and behaviour in her head, the blonde let out a powerful predatory roar as if her lion familiar was the one doing it; initially it looked like she successfully scared all the birds from the nearby trees. "GGGGAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"(japanese onomatopoeia for a lion's roar)

She reeled a bit, surprised how well she managed to replicate her familiar roar using the other newly aquired tank skill: 'Howl'. From the nearby bushes, four plant-like walking creatures made their appearance, drawn by the blonde. "I'll keep their attention on me and leave the killing to you!" she shouted as she took a defensive stance with her weapon and 'shield'.

Ariel uses Quick Change! -> New Equipped items, Stats Updated!

Ariel activates Howl!

• Ariel | HP:1590/1590 | EN:148/156 | DMG:12 | MIT:79 | ACC:3 | VAMP OFF:238 | HB:48 | TAUNT | REC:1 | LD:5 | BH:79
• ChaseR | HP: 200/200 | EN:20/20 | DMG:8 | ACC:3 | EVA:1 | REC:2
• [3,0] Nepent 1 | HP:7/7 | DMG:3
• [3,0] Nepent 2 | HP:7/7 | DMG:3
• [3,0] Nepent 3 | HP:7/7 | DMG:3
• [3,0] Nepent 4 | HP:7/7 | DMG:3

Skill(s) Being Dropped: Fighter Familiar Mastery III -> I
Mod(s) Being Dropped:
SP Refunded: 8 +10 (Total: 46)
Cost: 18000 Col

"Yes I'll look for them, yes... yes... yes..." kept repeating the blonde as the NPC townspeople with golden marks (!) above their head kept giving her the quest starting details again and again, no matter how many she meet. At some point she broke into a light sprint, gradually making full use of the mod with the same name and ending up using her charge skill; just to get away from the almost fanatic NPCs. For a second she thought about culling the mob behind her just to blow off some steam but the change in cursor would interfere with her future plans, so she graciously decided to lose them instead using her inhuman speed.

"No wonder people left this crazy town and made a hidden village. If this is what they had to go through every... Mari!" After escaping the mob, the blonde read Mari's reply and was heading towards the exit. She kept paranoidly looking over her shoulder and shook her head while having that little monologue; which she cut off as she exited the town, recognizing the woman taking a rest over a stone. She waved above her head as she drew closer unarmed, with her red cloak billowing behind her. "I'm glad you could make it!" she said with a smile.

The blonde's breath visibly rugged from all the running she did up 'til now. Ariel bent over forwards with her hands on top of her kees, raising her index finger and silently requesting a moment. Then she took several long breaths and exhales to calm down her digital heart who she felt pumping like crazy. Gaining her composure a little, she started fiddling with her HUD, sending Mari a party request and a note with the initial quest details she obnoxiously kept being reminded by almost every NPC she'd meet in town. "You know, by the way those townspeople act, I don't blame the ones who ran away. I kind of get how they felt after spending only five minutes in town." she casually added between huffs and puffs; her breathing slowly normalizing again.

Ariel | HP:1590/1590 | EN:156/156 | DMG:23(+4) | MIT:79 | ACC:4(5) | AA | HB:48 | LD:5 | BH:79

Judging from the white haired's reaction to the oversize fish, the blonde made a mental note to have her as away as possible from floor eleven and eighteen where such mutated creatures were a more common occurrence. While watching her, the blonde could see that she became more capable since the first time they've meet and nodded to herself hoping that she was at least some sort of factor that helped fuel her drive. "It was already dead the moment we lured it ashore." replied the blonde with a grin "We just need to have it accept reality with our blades." 

Nodding at Raidou's words, she dashed with perfect timing past him as she'd done many times before during their joint adventures. She extends her spear and it would've missed as she started thrusting outside the strike range, thankfully the aim assist system kicked in and she felt slightly propulsed forwards, making her sword art connect with its scaled body. Unleashing her blade against the grounded mob, she reduced a chunk of its health once more.

Ariel activates Dimensional Stampede!

Players:
Raidou | HP: 1040/1040 | EN: 88/104 | DMG:8 | MIT:86 | EVA:3 | ACC:3 | TAUNT | BLD:24 | VAMP OFF:104 | BH:52 | Parry (Active)
Ariel | HP:1570/1570 | EN:127/154 | DMG:19(+4) | MIT:79 | EVA:1 | ACC:4(5) | TAUNT | HB: 48 | BH:78 | +5 LD | Vengeful Riposte (Active)
Assassin | HP:440/440 | EN:33/44 | DMG:9 | MIT:23 | EVA:2 | ACC:2

Mobs:
[8,4,1] King of Lakes | HP: 289/1200 | DMG:125 | MIT:20
<<Body Slam>> On an MD of 9, the boss will jump high into the air and crash down in the center of the players, sending out a shock-wave dealing 120 AoE damage.
<<Dive>> On an MD of 10, the King of Lakes will take the player with the highest hate in its teeth and drag it back into the lake. The player will take 150 unmitigable damage and need to swim back to the shore, missing their next attack.

"Umu!"came the blonde's reply alongside a nod as she heard ChaseR put out a summary of pretty much every quest ever created. "In our case this specific monster is not going to appear that easily so we need to wonder a bit through the forest to find it." she said, eyeing the trees nearby, trying to jog her memory to find a way to shorten their search a specific location or route that would lead them straight to the nepents' nest. She let out a sigh as she couldn't think of anything, her shoulders slightly slumping as she started leading the way through the forest, unleashed by the fact that they had to rely on luck to find their target. 

She pulled her out her HUD and her finger graciously started sorting out through the quests she had information about: "Breaking the rock, if he wants martial arts.... let there be light to find the lost girl... the two bee quests... the minotaur was pretty easy too...  " she muttered more to herself but Chase could also hear if he paid attention. After compiling a short list she passed it onto ChaseR and grinned. "These are some starter quests that give you good SP rewards. You should look on finishing them before others. I'll pass on their details to you as extra service." she did it more to fill her time until they found the plants but wasn't about to tell him that.

Ariel uses Tracking on 'Nepent'!

"Yare yare (sigh onomatopoeia)... This way!" she said with renewed vigor, slightly shaking her head at his reaction. The blonde started feeling like she was talking more and more to a tsundere(person with ambivalence) and the mere thought of that visibly raised her spirits. "That's pretty obvious, I told you earlier. The faster you get through the tutorials, the faster you start understanding the game and think about what build suits your style. Investing your SP accordingly, doing quests for sp more effectively and raising in level faster until you get to the frontlines. Once there you can start pulling your own weight towards our goal and ease the burden off of the rest of us front liners." she started explaining with a raised index figure, adopting a teacher-like tone, as she linked facts one after another.  

Meanwhile, the blonde guided them towards a different exit from the town of beginnings, one that leads into a smaller village safezone. The two don't get to make two steps inside the village, when an a NPC with a golden question mark (!) crosses their path and start telling them the quest details. It was all pretty straightforward if not a little different than what she remembered: get the medicine from the mobs from the forest adjacent to the village, it's dropped by a special mob that's easily distinguishable but spawns harder, so they will have to kill some normal mobs before it appears.

"Who would joke about such thing?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, sensing a change in his mood. "If you don't want me as a teacher what would you like onee-san (elder sister/female) to do to you?" she added with a meaningful smile, trying to lighten up the mood. Seems like the idea of belonging to a group really upset him so the blonde started waving her hand dismissively. "Easy there tiger, I was just going on with your joke. You'd still need to pass a series of tests before you get accepted into the Shirajishi-ryu." She puffed her chest and stood a little tall as she delivered her next comment "Despite being a new school, we are backed by one of the biggest merchant guilds Firm Anima, which is also supplying the frontlines with the consumables needed for the fight." She couldn't have guessed he was shy but by judging from his reaction there had to be something more to it than that. "Besides, I said I would help you as an investment right?" she asked in the end with a grin and a raised index finger next to her cheek.

Sending Crow 14.380 Col because he forgot to charge for his services and I don't accept charity.

"Not exactly." mused the blonde with a sheepish smile. "I have three more players moving in at the estate so you wouldn't be the first." With a grin, she flipped the HUD she was mingling with and made it visible for him to see the quest details: "This quest is on this floor as well, it involves combat but you don't have to worry too much about it. Apparently this is a popular low level quest because of the item it gives. Apparently it was pretty good at low level, not sure if its the same quest I took though. Cardinal changed stuff a lot over the years"

While waiting on him to read the details, her mind wandered to the prospect of getting students, at some point she had to go out and make the school public but for now there were still plenty of things to set up. Not to mention the impending floor boss raid that they were preparing to challenge. Though it seemed that information hasn't reached floor one yet.

Buying 44 T1 Materials from @Simmone's merchant store for 13200 Col.
Adding 2x Teleportation Crystal for and extra 1600 Col.

Using ≪Heart Sticker≫ obtained http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/14223-f4-event-boss-true-love-strikes-harder/?do=findComment&amp;comment=506849

Quote

A Sticker that when applied is absorbed it will allow the player to transform one item to another type within its typing. [Ex. One Handed Straight Sword -> Dagger, Light Armor -> Heavy Armor.] [If it has a exclusive enhancement to that type, this item will not work on it.]

on ≪Mothra’s Antenna#84766≫ obtained http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/14734-br-f20-paving-the-way-to-floor-21-floor-20-boss-battle-mothra-the-magnificent/?do=findComment&amp;comment=517819 to change it from a two handed assault spear to a one handed straight sword

She stood there, after already having filled the recipient's name, all she had to do is to add the message and a title, if you felt like it. Yet Ariel couldn’t find the words to fill in the blank space. She knew the topic: her intention of inviting Mari to do a quest with her on the 21st floor. Maybe she couldn’t write anything because the blonde had a more personal reason for meeting her, the quest being just a means… an excuse to get them to work together towards a common purpose.

While she was in solitude on the floor just above this one, she was reflecting over her past actions and her interactions with the former pinkette weren’t… the most friendly. Recent random encounters with her, during her impromptu visit at Baldur’s home or at the raid meeting, made the blonde consider reaching out and trying to mend the type of relation they had. She wasn’t expecting them to become friends but she wanted at least to disperse the weird atmosphere she felt when the two would meet; even if it was something one-sided.

With a sharp intake of fresh air and a long exhale she began tipping: ‘Hello Mari, I hope this message finds you in good health’ she deleted the last part with a small frown, “too tradicional...” she muttered as she continued typing: ‘I’ve got my hands on information regarding a well rewarded quest and I’d like to ask if you want to help me complete it.’ She nodded, thinking that despite the few words she got the intention across. ‘I’ll be in Tomoika to pick it up from the local NPCs. - Ariel’.

Signing it off, she picked up the cup of tea from the table and read it once more. Thinking of nothing more to add, she pressed ‘sent’ and looked out the window. The sakura trees surrounding the valley were almost in bloom; she’ll have to start planning for that particular ‘event’ later. For now she grabbed her cloak, checked her inventory and walked out of new household on the 22nd floor, silently waving on her way out at the crimson haired maid and her brother; that were busy setting up their new accommodations.

"Setting requirements... I like that approach." she said as she picked another stone and after seeing him flop one straight into the river, she unsuccessfully tried to make it skip three times. "But I still think we shouldn't hold back on details for the next meeting. Anything that we pass off as insignificant or too scary for whatever reason, others might make connections or draw better conclusions than us. We were there to scout after all, gather information about the next boss... " her serious tone partially faded as the ends of her mouth turned slightly upwards.

"Think of labyrinth scouts as journalists, we first need to present the facts in every detail we can, then have people draw their own conclusions. We can't brush off facts just to cater to others." She folded her hands and closed her eyes: "Maybe have a smaller meeting right after the scouting with some players that have a keen mind prone towards strategy... like Shield, Raidou and even that new T3 girl with the black hair!" a little bit surprised that those two came in mind first. "Have them help with the initial processing of the raw info, make some initial conclusions and map out the course for a bigger meeting afterwards. One where we present our conclusions and take suggestions from the rest." however she looked at it, that last meeting had too many people which resulted on the topics being derailed too often or be redundantly discussed, causing it to last longer than it should have.

She smiled at his last statement: "I have big plans for its 'unveil', I'll be taking advantage of the natural sakura trees on the domain and organize a open house Hanami event. One of the things I need is make people aware that this will be a place where you can come and get help, or refuge, regardless of your level... or crystal color. It's one of the reasons I picked a valley outside the safe zones."