Xion

Xion stood outside of the entrance to The Blazing Typhoon somewhat awkwardly. The blonde tank had an almost pained look on his face, and shuffled from foot to foot nervously. He was anxious, and it was painfully obvious to anyone that bothered to watch him for even a few moments. His heavy and imposing armour did little to protect him from the feelings of guilt and trepidation that filled him. How long ago had he last entered the shop? How long ago had he last spoken to Macradon? How long ago had he last bothered to speak to any of his former guildmates?

The blonde sighed, and began to play nervously with the half-cloak that he still wore on his left side. Emblazoned upon it were the colours of the Crimson Blades, and upon seeing it the tank felt a pang of regret. He hadn’t treated them as well as he should have, and he doubted that he would ever be able to completely repair the damage that had been done.

“Nothing I can do about that…but I can at least try to communicate from here onwards, I guess.”

He muttered to himself, before he lifted his mailed hand and placed it against the door. Xion took a deep breath in before he pushed the door open, and quickly stepped inside to avoid any more anxiety.

“Macradon…are you here? It’s me, Xion.”



@Macradon

Xion turned and leant against the board with a defeated sigh. As usual his lack of damage once again was a limiting factor. It was frustrating, almost maddening. He needed to fine someone who could help him, but who? Truth be told he was rather lost, and had no idea where to even begin with looking for a willing DPS player. He scanned the area around him, although he wasn’t able to discern much detail in the abysmally dim light of the underdark.

“Dark elf, dark elf, another dark elf…”

He muttered, somewhat irked by the fact that all he could find was NPCs, until he saw a light come into view. The tank squinted, and took a couple of paces forwards. It was a player with a familiar.

“Aha!”

He exclaimed before striding towards the unknown individual. Once he was close enough he put on the friendliest voice he could muster.

“Excuse me there, but could I have a moment of your time? If not that’s ok, I’m just looking for some help with a quest, and I was wondering if you were also here do to some questing.”


@Mars

“I can’t bloody see here”

Xion muttered as he stepped off of the teleport pad on floor 23, the metallic rattling of the tank’s footsteps interrupted the otherwise mostly peaceful ambience of the underdark. It was the first time that the player had ever set foot in Aincrad’s 23^rd floor, and truth be told he was already starting to dislike it. He shrugged, and walked further into the streets. It didn’t take long for him to find a bulletin board, which had upon it all sorts of useful information. Notes from players with items to sell, crafting services, and, most importantly, information on the various quests on floor 23.

The blonde leant forwards, and squinted, his eyes straining to read in the dim light of the underdark.

“I’ll probably need DPS support for all of these, now way that I would be able to survive long enough for thorns to kill any of these…not that I want to go through that particular circle of hell again.” He remarked as he read the board. He momentarily considered contacting one of the players that he had used to run quests with back when he was on the frontlines, but eventually decided against it. There was no reason to drag them back down to his pitiful level.

They were all stronger than him now, and he had to climb back up, he just needed to find someone that could deal damage.

The blonde turned and looked away from the board with a sigh.

“Where would I even begin?”

@Mars

Mob rolls: 
Elvish soldier #4 ID: 136685 MD: 8 (Hit)
Elvish Soldier #5 ID: 136686 MD: 7 (Hit)

 

The pace seemed to be picking up a little, which Xion was grateful for. He hoped that before long the soldiers would be dead, allowing him to take on their leaders.

“I remember quests being so easy…I guess that’s because I had Hikoru with me most of the time”

The blonde then let out a sigh, one which carried with it a hint of regret. “I’m so sorry for how I acted, friend” He said, before he was ripped from his reminiscing by one of the elves moving in his peripheral. Xion pivoted around, and maneuvered his shield to block the strike. He heard a metallic ringing and as he did the elf exploded. He chuckled, before the next elf made its attack. The blade impacted near uselessly against the tank’s armour, and the creature’s HP plummeted into the yellow.

“Finally! Took you some time to warm up huh? Come on, make this quick, I have a king to slay!”

Elvish soldier #1 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #2 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP -7/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #5 HP 29/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 (-36 thorns)
Elvish soldier #6 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 (-36 thorns)

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3  ( 15-97=0 = 2 DMG Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

Mob rolls: 
Elvish soldier #4 ID: 136673 MD: 2 (Miss)
Elvish Soldier #5 ID: 136674 MD: 10 (Crit)

 

                “I wonder if they purposefully made the mobs like this, is this Kayaba’s method of punishing tank players?” Xion asked himself as the two remaining elves readied themselves to assault the blonde once more. He could see that one of them simply needed to activate his thorns once, while the other required two activations. In theory, he should have killed them all by now, but his luck was abysmal. Utterly abysmal.

The cycle repeated itself; Xion waited, the elves attacked, and once again they didn’t activate his thorns. The blonde felt like he was stuck in a loop, cursed to never kill his enemies and never die either.

“Did they change the crit chance since I last did quests? Feels like it.” He muttered bitterly as he kicked at some of the dirt around his feet in a futile attempt to entertain himself. As a tank very few fights were ‘exciting’.

Elvish soldier #1 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #2 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP -7/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #5 HP 29/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #6 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3  ( 17-97=0 = 1 DMG Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #3 ID: 136662MD: 6 (Hit) 
Elvish soldier #4 ID: 136663 MD: 9 (Crit)
Elvish Soldier #5 ID: 136664 MD: 5 (Miss)

This time the elves were far quicker to renew their assault against the tank, which gave Xion some hope that his torture would end sooner. Their attacks were staggered; the first one hit, did some damage, and then exploded into a cloud of data shards, which caused a smile to spread across Xion’s face. The second was a lot luckier, as the sneaky warrior managed to slip their blade between some of the plates in Xion’s armour and failed to activate the thorns enhancement on his equipment. The third…missed entirely, which in and of itself was an impressive feat given that the soldier’s target was stationary and wearing heavy armour. Seriously, it shouldn’t have been so easy to miss a man who was completely encased in plate.

“At least there’s one less to deal with. All that I need is a bit of luck and this will be over, after that I can go on to the larger mobs that I have to deal with…not going to lie, I’m not looking forwards to that one.”


Elvish soldier #1 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #2 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP -7/65 MIT30 DMG 15 (-36 thorns)
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #5 HP 29/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #6 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3  ( 15-97=0 16-97=0 = 2 DMG Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

There was a flash of blue light as Xion teleported into the 10^th floor of Aincrad. He stepped off of the teleport pad, his heavy armour clanking loudly as he did. His entrance wasn’t exactly subtle. It had been a while since he had last visited floor 10, if he could remember correctly his last excursion was back when he was a part of the Knights of the Blood oath.

“Too long…”

He muttered before he brought up his menu and began to scroll through the available quests. One which caught his eyes was <<Leeching nightmare>>, which appeared to be part of a larger quest chain.

“Interesting…no doubt I’ll need a DPS for this one. Gives me an excuse to go to the local tavern or whatever and meet some new people” He remarked with a notably positive tone to his voice, before he began to walk further into the narrow streets of Yomi. Eventually he happened upon a small bar tucked away in one of the many tiny alleyways. It could have only been able to seat about 15 people, max, but it seemed to have a nice atmosphere. The tank smiled, and stopped outside of the establishment to read the menu which had been attached to the window.
 

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #3 ID: 136417 MD: 2 (Miss) 
Elvish soldier #4 ID: 136418 MD: 8 (Hit)
Elvish Soldier #5 ID: 136419 MD: 4 (Miss)

 

Xion pushed forwards a couple of times with his shield in an attempt to goad the Elves into striking. He had hoped that offering them a rather easy strike if they flanked would work, but alas, they didn’t take the bait.

“I really hope that this doesn’t take much longer. This is ridiculous. Like, why are tanks so horrible to level?”

The blonde teen asked no one in particular before the Elves attacked. Two of them glanced off of his armour, while the third struck his shield dead-on and took the full damage of his thorns. Xion smiled, he was at the least one step closer to finishing this frustrating quest. It was somewhat embarrassing, that he, at level 36, was having so much trouble with a beginner quest. It was truly mind-boggling.

“Definitely leveling my spear skill once I am done with armour skills. Definitely”

He muttered with a scowl on his face.

Elvish soldier #1 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #2 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP 29/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #5 HP 29/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 (-36 thorns)
Elvish soldier #6 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3  ( 15-97=0=1 DMG Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #3 ID: 136368 MD: 5 (Miss) 
Elvish soldier #4 ID: 136366 MD: 5 (Miss)
Elvish Soldier #5 ID: 136369 MD: 5 (Miss)

 

Much to Xion’s surprise, while he was waiting for the remaining Elf to kill itself on his thorns another two turned up and surrounded the tank.  He let out a sigh, and stood up.

“You lot better not just crit me endlessly, this has already been an annoying as hell ordeal. I just wanted to complete this quest, get some quick SP. But nooooo, I have to wait for you bastards to mess up enough times to die.”

The tank looked around him, his eyes narrowed, daring the elves to attack.

“Come one, juicy player meat, don’t ya just want to sink your swords in and do some nice, non-critical damage?”

The Elves actually seemed to take the bait and rushed at him. Although, unfortunately for Xion they all managed to either miss completely, or just harmlessly plink off of his armour.

“Are…are you being serious with me?”

He remarked, in disbelief of what he had just witnessed.

Elvish soldier #1 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #2 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP 29/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #5 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15
Elvish soldier #6 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3  Regen turn 1/3

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #1 ID: 136365 MD: 6 (Hit) 
Elvish soldier #3 ID: 136366 MD: 9 (Crit)

 

And so Xion sat playing noughts and crosses with himself to pass the time as he waited for the Elves to kill themselves on his thorns. It was honestly far more exciting than actually engaging in combat with the incompetent mobs.

“Maybe next time I should bring a deck of cards or something to play with while I wait…might actually be a good idea.”

The tank muttered before he heard something; the characteristic ringing of metal clashing with metal, and then a shower of data shards. One of the elves had finally died.

“FINALLY!”

The blonde exclaimed with a smile before he noticed that the other Elf had its blade stuck into his shoulder. He frowned, and batted the mob away with his shield.

“Not cool man, seriously, not cool”

He remarked with a disapproving shake of his head before he went back to his single player game of noughts and crosses.

Funnily enough, he was winning.  

Elvish soldier #1 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 (-36 thorns)
Elvish soldier #2 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP 29/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3 (  15-97=0 16-97=0 2 DMG taken, Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #1 ID: 136363 MD: 3 (miss) 
Elvish soldier #3 ID: 136364 MD: 10 (Crit)

 

Xion let out a rather frustrated sigh and sat down.

“You know what, I’m gonna give you lot a completely stationary undefended target and see if you still manage to fail.”

Xion had become thorough uninterested in the elves and their utter incompetence. Truth be told it was baffling how they only ever hit crits or missed. No normal hits, no thorns procs, oh no just insignificant bits of damage that didn’t matter due to his healing. It was like he was looping through time. Once again the Elves rushed. One missed, one hit a crit.

“Oh come on how does that even happen!?”

He exclaimed in disbelief before opening his menu.

“Is there like a customer service centre I can call for this nonsense? I really hope that there is, because this has ceased to be amusing in the slightest”

Unfortunately for the blonde, no such thing existed, so he had to settle for playing Noughts and Crosses with himself by drawing lines in the dirt below him.

 

Elvish soldier #1 HP 29/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #2 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP 29/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3 (  16-97=0 1 DMG taken, Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #1 ID: 136360 MD: 1 (miss) 
Elvish soldier #3 ID: 136361 MD: 9 (Crit)

 

Of course, Xion was a rather unlucky Brit.


The elves came in, they swung as they had so many times before. One he managed to block with his shield, and the other he did not. Of course, it was just his luck that neither activated his thorns.

Great, just bloody great.

“Kayaba, do you hate me? What have I done to deserve such treatment? I bought your bug-riddled deathtrap of a game, so please; please just allow me some half-decent RNG?”

Xion asked as he lgazed up at the artificial sky of Aincrad. It was beautiful, too beautiful, and was being ruined by the abysmal luck that he was getting with the Elves. Were they coded to just miss or crit? He was somewhat convinced that was the case, as the creatures had yet again avoided death.

“Play a tank they said! It will be fun they said! I’m going to kick my friends in the teeth when I get out of this hellhole”

Elvish soldier #1 HP 29/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #2 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP 29/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3 (  16-97=0 1 DMG taken, Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #1 ID: 136358 MD: 6 (hit) 
Elvish soldier #3 ID: 136359 MD: 10 (Crit)

 

Xion had begun to curse his lack of damage dealing abilities. He had chosen the role of a tank as he wanted to be able to protect people, to be a shield for those who could not withstand the attacks of the enemy. He had chosen this, and yet it was a source of annoyance for the blond teen. Had he even a few ranks in OHAS then he would have been able to dispatch the Elves swiftly. He let out a small sigh.

“Not like I’m gonna re-spec now…”

The elves then rushed him again, and he raised his shield. The first came in with an obvious overhead swing, which he was able to block with ease, and much to his delight he saw the mob’s HP drop into the yellow. The other elf flanked while he was dealing with the first one, and managed to strike his side. One again Xion saw his HP drop by a pixel, but the elf remained unharmed.

Thankfully it didn’t matter, his healing kicked in, and he knew that a single hit would kill them both now.


Elvish soldier #1 HP 29/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 (-36 thorns)
Elvish soldier #2 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP 29/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3 ( 15-97=0 16-97=0 2 DMG taken, Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #1 ID: 136272 MD: 3 (miss) 
Elvish soldier #3 ID: 136273 MD: 4 (miss)
 

The tank was in a pretty good mood, he had managed to kill two of the elves, and was left with two to go, pretty good as far as he was concerned, given his painfully low damage output.

“I’ll be done before long, and then I can sit down and have a drink or something. Might even get a meal! I wonder what they have in the taven…”

Xion mused as he stared the two warriors down, practically daring them to attack as he dropped his guard. There was no point in actually putting any effort into this fight; the mobs were so weak that he couldn’t lose. Hell, the strongest mob in the quest was physically incapable of killing him.

Eventually they attacked, but their strikes were telegraphed about two-weeks in advance, they were sloppy, and thus easily blocked. Xion frowned as he noticed that he had taken no damage.

“I sorta wish that you weren’t this bad”

Elvish soldier #1 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15
Elvish soldier #2 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP 29/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3 Regen turn 2/3

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #1 ID: 136268 MD: 5 (miss) 
Elvish soldier #3 ID: 136269 MD: 8 (Hit)

“I need to kill what…two more after I’ve dealt with this lot?”

Xion asked no one in particular as he kept an eye on the pair of Elves in front of him. He circled around as they moved, ensuring that they were both in front of him at all times. It was an old habit that he had picked up when on the frontlines, and found it hard to drop, even when fighting a battle that was impossible to lose. It didn’t take long for the elves to attack again. The battle was somewhat rhythmic, with the back and forth, the ebb and flow. One of them missed entirely, while the other managed to get a solid hit onto Xion’s breastplate. The blonde smiled as he saw the Elf’s HP plummet into the yellow.

“Good ol’ thorns”

He said as the Elf yelled in pain and backed off, the tank raised his shield again in preparation for the next assault.

Elvish soldier #1 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15
Elvish soldier #2 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 (-36 Thorns)
Elvish soldier #3 HP 29/65 MIT30 DMG 15 (-36 thorns) 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3 (15-97=0 1 DMG taken Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #1 ID: 136262 MD: 2 (miss) 
Elvish soldier #2 ID: 136263 MD: 6 (Hit)
Elvish soldier #3  ID: 136264 MD: 2 (miss) 

“It’s always the ones that should be easy that end up critting over and over again. I remember why I hated soloing anything”

Xion remarked with an audible sigh of frustration as he stood, shield raised in anticipation of the coming attack. He needed to learn to have a bit more patience, to be calm and simply weather the storm when things didn’t go his way. He was a tank after all, it was what he was best at doing.

The attack then came. The first two came in quick succession, and Xion was able to block their clumsily attacks with ease, their blades pinged harmlessly off of his shield. The third came soon after, and once again the tank went to raise his shield, but the elven soldier managed to feint to the right, scoring a hit on his shoulder. Usually this would have been cause for celebration, but against Xion a hit that wasn’t a crit was worse than a miss. Moments after the attack landed the mob exploded into data shards.

“Ay, halfway there!”

Elvish soldier #1 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15
Elvish soldier #2 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 (-36 Thorns)
Elvish soldier #3 HP 65/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3 (15-97=0 1 DMG taken Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #1 ID: 136257 MD: 10 (Crit) 
Elvish soldier #2 ID: 136258 MD: 10 (Crit)
Elvish soldier #3  ID: 136259 MD: 1 (miss) 

 

Xion took a moment to look at the situation. He had three opponents left, one of which was below half their HP. So long as they managed to hit and didn’t crit, then he’d be down to 2, and not long after that they’d all be dead.

“Surprisingly quick, usually fighting like this to solo quests takes ages. I really need to work on m ylack of damage…although admittedly my ability to tank is far more important.”

The tank sighed as he waited for the mobs to attack, and as he did he started to go through the skills that he needed to get as he leveled up.

“Well GM HA is a definite…fighting spirit…rampar- hey!”

He was interrupted by a pair of the soldiers that had managed t flank him on either side. Xion moved to block, but was only able to block the third one which had rushed him head-on afterwards. He saw his HP go down a pixel, and, much to his chagrin, saw that his thorns didn’t activate.

“Seriously?”

He asked with a  frustrated huff.

Elvish soldier #1 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15
Elvish soldier #2 HP 29/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP 65/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3 (15-97=0 2 DMG taken Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

 

[placeholder for roller)

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #1 ID: 136253 MD: 3 (Miss) 
Elvish soldier #2 ID: 136254 MD: 3 (miss)
Elvish soldier #3  ID: 136255 MD: 10 (crit) 
Elvish Soldier #4  ID: 136256 MD: 6 (hit) 

 

‘Oh they definitely buffed thorns. That hurt ya didn’t it?”

Xion asked as he looked at the health bars of the two soldiers that had managed to deal damage to him. Sure, they were low level so it was expected that his thorns would deal a good amount of damage to them. But he knew the rough HP of the mobs, and his old thorns wouldn’t have done that much damage.

He smiled, and let out a cheerful chuckle.

“Maybe now is a good time to get back into fighting! Sure they’ve nerfed my regen, but thorns got better. “

Moments after the tank spoke the soldiers attacked again. Much like last time, two of them missed, and seemed to curse themselves as they backed off from the tank. Another one came in from the side, and Xion swung his shield around to block the hit. There was a metallic ringing as the blade struck. Xion saw his hp drop by a single point, before his thorns activated and the offending elf burst into a cloud of data shards. While this was happening, the final elf rushed behind Xion and managed to get a hit in as it slipped its blade between the plates of his armour.

“Oh come on, that’s hardly fair.”

Xion said in mock disgust as he watched the tiny amount of damage that he had taken disappear thanks to his regen.

Elvish soldier #1 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15
Elvish soldier #2 HP 29/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP 65/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP -7/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 (-36 thorns)

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3 (15-97=0 1 DMG taken Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

Mob rolls:

Elvish soldier #1 ID: 136246 MD: 5 (Miss) 
Elvish soldier #2 ID: 136247 MD: 6 (Hit)
Elvish soldier #3  ID: 136248 MD: 2 (miss) 
Elvish Soldier #4  ID: 136248 MD: 8 (hit) 

 

The soldiers seemed to be annoyed, they cursed under their breath in a language that Xion would not understand. Regardless, their faces weren’t so mysterious. They were the faces of warriors who were frustrated, warriors who felt angers towards themselves for failing to strike the enemy true.

“It’s maddening, isn’t it, to fail to bring your blade to bear upon the foe before you. Don’t worry, I’m not that hard to hit!”

Xion said in a rather cheerful tone to the soldiers. He knew that they most likely didn’t care. They were mobs, after all. Either way, he was having a bit of fun with his one-sided banter. Ever since he had left the front lines he had become far more relaxed, he wasn’t as uptight and hostile as he used to be. Not to mention the fact that he wasn’t in any kind of danger, the creatures could attack him for eternity and they would never manage to bring his HP to 0.

The soldiers attacked once more, and Xion raised his shield to defend. The first two glanced harmlessly off of his shield, dealing no damage. Their comrades then followed up with successful attacks, and as their blades clashed against the dark metal of Xion’s shield they both lost a chunk of their HP.

“Good to see that hasn’t changed!”


Elvish soldier #1 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15
Elvish soldier #2 HP 29/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 (-36 thorns)  
Elvish soldier #3 HP 65/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP 29/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 (-36 thorns)

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3 (15-97=0 2 DMG taken Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 2/3

MOB ROLLS:

Elvish soldier#1 ID: 136184  MD: 1 (Fail)
Elvish Soldier#2 ID:136185 MD: 1 (Fail)  
Elvish soldier#3  ID: 136186 MD: 9 (Crit) 
Elvish Soldier #4 ID: 136187 MD: 1 (Fail) 

Xion travelled towards the marker, through the thick plant life of the forest, into more open rolling fields which were equally as pleasant. Seriously, he was rather annoyed that he hadn’t spent much time in floor 3, the place was quite beautiful. Before long he was rather close to the marker.

“Should be in combat before long, which should be short…should be. Knowing my luck the bastards will just keep on critting.”

The tank remarked, and not long after he noticed a patrol of Elvish Soldiers not too Far way. Xion smiled, and raised his shield as he jogged closer to the mobs. Once he was within range he planted his feet firmly in the ground and let out a deafening <<Howl>> to draw their attention.

“Come on, hit me, and make it quick!”

He said in a jolly tone as the four warriors rushed at him. Three of them, much to Xion’s annoyance, missed, while the other managed to find a chink in his armour and avoided the thorns enhancement that he had.

“Of course…my luck is cursed”


Elvish soldier #1 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15
Elvish soldier #2 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #3 HP 65/65 MIT30 DMG 15 
Elvish soldier #4 HP 65/65 MIT 30 DMG 15 

Xion HP 750/750 EN 72/72 MIT 97 DMG 9 Hate: 3 (15-97=0 1 DMG taken Regen activated +10 HP) Regen turn 1/3

Xion drew his glaive and raised his shield on reflex as he heard the voice. It sounded like that of an old man, all hoarse and croaky.

“Fear not, fear not stranger. I mean you no harm. Please, lower your weapon. I have something to ask of you, if you would be so kind as to listen.”

Xion let out a relieved sigh, as he found that the voice was coming from a treant, presumably a rather old one by the sound of it. He went back to a relaxed stance and nodded towards the treant.

“Sorry about that, force of habit. You need something killing?”

It was direct and to the point, the blonde didn’t see any need to beat around the bush. He knew that this was most likely related to the quest, so there wasn’t any point in wasting time with pleasantries.

“You’re a perceptive one, aren’t you?”

The treant responded, before ushering Xion closer with a bark-covered hand. The aged creature lead Xion further into the forest, and eventually he came to a small settlement of sorts. To be exact, it looked like a war camp. He could see treant warriors engaging in weapons practice, and a group of similarly old and wizened treants standing around a large tree stump which seemed to have a map of sorts upon it.

“Stranger, I…no, we come to you in a time of great need. We have been waging war against the horrific elves, which have cut down our kin and destroyed far too much of the forest. We have come to a standstill, of sorts. We cannot push them back any further, and they are similarly unable to break through our defenses. You are a warrior, I take it, stranger. Would…would you be able to aid us?”

The whole war-council of elder treants then looked at Xion expectantly, and as they did the <<treant rivalries>> quest appeared before him. With a tap of the floating menu he accepted, and the wizened treat smiled.

“Our deepest gratitude, stranger.”

The treant said, bowing it’s head as it did. It then ushered Xion closer, and gestured towards the map laid out before them.

“This here is what we believe to be their main base of operations. If we could strike here, we could kill their leaders. Sever the head of the serpent, as it were.”

As the treant explained this to Xion his map was updated, and a small marker had appeared.

“Worry not. I’ll deal with the elves. Don’t send any of your soldiers, I should be more than enough. “

Xion then turned, the ragged half-cloak on his left side billowed slightly as he did, the faded KoB colours on it glinting slightly as it caught some of the light which filtered through the treetops. He strode off towards the marker silently, leaving the treants.

There was the sound of clanking metal armour and rattling chain as Xion emerged from the teleport gate within Delilah. The blonde smiled as he took a deep breath. The air was fresh, clear, and sweet.

“Rather nice, I can’t believe that this is like, the second I’ve been here. Why haven’t I visited more often?”

Xion remarked as he strode away from the pad and opened his menu to check some things as he walked. He scrolled through the list of quests, looking for a particular one. His focus was mainly on the menu in front of him, rather than the street he was walking in, although it wasn’t a massive issue as most people tended to give him a bit of a wide berth.

“No…no…already did that one…” He muttered as he continued to scroll, before he found the quest that he was looking for and let out a pleased “Ah-ha!”.

“<<Treant rivalries>> Low level, easy for me to solo, and one that I haven’t actually completed before. It’ll be rather boring, but at least I’ll get some sp, maybe even some loot out of it. And, if I remember correctly, the item it gives you can be used as a nice little boost for tanks, if my info is correct.”

He then consulted his map. It was a bit of a walk, but it was nothing that Xion was incapable of. He kept the map open in his peripheral as he walked through Delilah and made his way through the twisting streets and alleys to emerge into the pleasant woodlands of Floor 3.

“Right, so I have to talk to some treants, and then kill some elves for them; should be easy enough. Hell, I can probably afford to go for a pint after this one!”

Xion said to himself as he walked through the forest, the unnatural scraping sound of his armour was a rude disturbance which cut through the natural serenity of the wild.


“Stranger…why do you come to this place?”
 

“Nice to meet you, Cordelia. It’ll be good to have a decent DPS behind me. While I can survive most fights, they take forever, so I’m glad that we bumped into each other.”

The tank let out a chuckle before he looked at the small bird that was perched on Cord’s arm.

“Hey there little guy. You alright?” He asked, and extended a mailed finger towards the familiar as he did, which pecked at the armour a few times, before losing interest.

“Can’t please everyone it seems.” The blonde remarked with a shrug, which caused the plates of his armour to scrape against each other noisily. It wasn’t pleasant, but he had grown used to it.

“You lead the way, I’ll tag along and give you a hand.”

Xion said as he gestured towards Cordelia, the blonde tank waited patiently for the other player to begin their journey. They were the one who knew the most about the quest, and thus he was fine with deferring to them when it came to decisions etc.

“Oh, by the way, I’ll be happy to do more quests after this if you need a meatshield. I need to get myself back up there in terms of level myself, so we can help bring each other up!” Xion added with a warm smile and a slight tilt of his head.
 

“Wail of the banshee huh?” Xion relied, before going silent for a few seconds as he tried to remember the details of that specific quest. “Oh yeah I remember that one. I take it you’re looking to take the banshee on?” The blonde asked, before he noticed the outstretched hand. With a smile he gripped Dustin’s hand firmly and shook it.

“I’m Xion, nice to meet you Dustin.” He said, before letting go of the other player’s hand. The blonde then took a swig of the drink that he had ordered, and took a moment to appreciate the taste. Sure, it wasn’t as good as in real life, but the devs had managed to get the taste not too far off the original.

He let out a sigh, before turning to Dustin again.

“If you’re looking to take on that one, you’ll need some help. Looking at you…you don’t seem like someone that’s set up to take a lot of hits. DPS build I take it?” he asked as he looked the other player over. Xion could have been wrong, of course, looks could often be deceiving in Aincrad, but he was pretty confident of his assessment. He’d spent a fair amount of time among frontline fighters, and knew the general look of different builds pretty well.

He went silent for a few moments again as he thought. He could offer the player help, as he was pretty sure that he could tank something like the banshee comfortably with a decent DPS behind him to take her down. What worried him was the fact that he was quite rusty. His reflexes weren’t what they used to be, and he hadn’t engaged in combat since he’d left the frontlines all that time ago. Xion let out a sigh and shook his head.

“Don’t know anything until you try eh?” he mumbled under his breath before he opened his menu, and sent Dustin a friend request.

“If you need some help, then I can probably lend you a hand. I might not look it but I’m actually a tank, so I can provide some protection, if you want to take me up on my offer that is…”

Xion tilted his head a little as he listened to the other player speak; they seemed to be somewhat nervous, although the tank couldn’t really tell why. Was it the armour? No, he was far too short to actually be intimidating       

“A giant fish you say?” he asked with a slight smile, before Cord continued to talk about the quest a little more. “I’m fine with it being tedious, so long as I get something out of it. Although…I would be lying if I said that I’m not looking for a fight.”

The blonde then extended his hand, offering it to Cord.

“I’m Xion, by the way. I’m a tank, so if you need someone to take hits then I can help. Don’t count on me for damage though. I, uh, specialised a little too much I guess.”

He let out an awkward chuckle before he opened his menu, and sent Cord a party request, wicch he waited for them to accept. He also sent them a friend request.

“Feel free to deny that one, but I figure it’d be useful to stay in touch if you ever find yourself in need of a shield.”