Mack

Chewie gave Samriel a look that said, very plainly, that he did get fed all the time but that, all the same, it was not nearly enough feeding as she shoved him off her lap. Rude. The grizzly cub gave Samriel a deeply hurt look that lasted for all of, maybe, two seconds. As she brushed powdery snow from her legs Chewie compensated by taking a running start and plowing through several huge snow drifts. When the cub re-emerged a few seconds later he looked like a cross between the grizzly bear that he was and a polar bear. Tongue lolling out, the bear cub padded through the snow over to the blonde woman, leaned up against her, and transferred a good amount of powdery snow onto her legs again before following along at her side as she trudged through the snow in the direction of his master's shop. When the blonde pushed open the tent flap the bear scampered in past her and made a beeline for his spot by the nice warm forge, shooting a look at Mack in the process that clearly said, 'See? Look who I found. I'm so good. I need a treat.'

"I see," the Blacksmith rumbled in a deep tone, emerging from the area at the back of the shop where the forge was located. Even though it was quite unnecessary, he brushed his hands off on the blacksmith's apron he was wearing. "I assume he's begged for and received a treat," the towering man continued, completely ignoring Chewie's look that was asking for another treat. Somehow, the ginger man seemed to be immune to the bear, though that may have been because he lived with the creature. "What brings you to the fourth floor today?"

20 March Crafts

Name: Orcish Breastplate
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 80044
Roll: 11 (10+1)
Item Type: Heavy Armor
Tier: 1
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: +2 Mit
Description: Simple Orcish black-iron breastplate.
Post Link: Post

Name: Iron Gauntlets
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 80045
Roll: 8 (7+1)
Item Type: Heavy Armor - Gauntlets
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: +1 Mit
Description: Simple iron gauntlets.
Post Link: Post

Name: Orcish Rapier
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 80047
Roll: 11 (10+1)
Item Type: Rapier
Tier: 1
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: +2 DMG
Description: A simple Orcish black-iron rapier.
Post Link:  Post

Name: Bear's Maw - Anthium
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 80049
Roll: 12 (11+1)
Item Type: Heavy Armor - Helmet
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: +2 Mit, +1 Regen
Description: Black iron helm molded into the roaring visage of a grizzly bear it's maw open and razor teeth ringing around the wearers face. The eyes narrowed in rage glitter with purple inlaid gems that shine with inner energy and impart some of the animal traits onto the wearer.
Post Link: Post

Name: Iron Dagger
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 80051
Roll: 7 (6+1)
Item Type: Dagger
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: +1 ACC
Description: A simple iron dagger.
Post Link: Post

Name: Iron Axe
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 80052
Roll: 9 (8+1)
Item Type: 2H Axe
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: +1 DMG
Description: A simple iron battle axe.
Post Link: Post

Name: Iron Breastplate
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 80053
Roll: 9 (8+1)
Item Type: Heavy Armor - Breastplate
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: +1 Mit
Description: A simple iron breastplate.
Post Link: Post

As the tent flap to the shop opened, a wet black nose poked out from under the display table with the 'Free' items on it. Before Chewie could go rumbling out though, the player had picked up a free item and wandered back out into the cold. Clearly, this player did not understand what 'free' actually meant. 'Free' meant that the player had to give him something to eat. Everyone knew that.

Free items had a treat tax and that treat tax would be paid!

Growing a battle cry, the grizzly cub surged out from beneath the table and rumbled forth out the tent flap in hot pursuit of @Aoda. Given the snowy ground it was not a great challenge to follow the man. With a surge of energy, the cub rounded a corner and plowed headfirst into the back of Aoda's legs. Growling again, Chewie wormed his way around Aoda and then flopped across the man's feet. Pointing one clawed toe at the item that had been taken, Chewie then opened his mouth and pointed down his throat. The meaning was very clear.

Crafts for 20 March:

ID: 79947
BD: 6 (3+3)
MD: 7 (6+1)

Smash: 1x2x15=30
LD in Spoiler:

[H:7]Mack: 786/1030 44/102 (150-84=66 DMG) (66x4 Ants=244 DMG)
Giant Soldier Ants 1-4: -19/515 (-30 DMG)

Another grey eyed glance at his health bar told Mack that, once again, Anemone had fired off a support effect that had produced an immediate healing effect. As the health bar in the upper part of his field of vision once again filled itself completely full, Mack tightened his grip on Invictus and hammered the axe into each of the giant soldier ants. The insects managed to land a third round of solid attacks that chipped away at the ginger giant's health pool, once again. Unfortunately for them, they would not be having a chance to attack for a fourth time as each of the massive insects exploded in a shower of blue pixels that rained down, ever so briefly, to the ground before disappearing from the digital world entirely.

"Nicely done with the support," the hulking man said, tossing a small salute in Anemone's direction as he stooped and rooted around in the grass for a few moments. With a few seconds of searching the towering man came up with a pair of crafting materials, which were quickly added to his already impressive haul, a rare weapon of some unknown type, and a brown leather sack that was bursting with col. "Now to begin the energy recovery again," the Vice Commander rumbled as Chewie went scampering by and dove, head first, into a blackberry bramble.

The Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath stood at the back of the group of players as they charged into combat and crossed his arms over his broad chest, scowling. The Knights were supposed to be the first ones into combat and the last ones to leave the field when that combat was concluded. The vanguard, not the rearguard. The ginger giant would be having a very serious discussion with Hikoru about this in the very near future. They would also talk about the wisdom of sending the low levels out to fight first. Low-level players were neither skirmishers, nor were they cannon fodder. Hikoru would, perhaps, need to be made to understand this fact. Through narrowed storm grey eyes the ginger headed man watched as Izzrikl was permanently erased from the world of Aincrad while a particularly curvy woman also came perilously close to being killed as well.

It was time to take action.

" @Beatbox and @Macradon," the Vice Commander snapped in a booming tone, his voice cutting through the din of battle. "Target Nato, Baran, and the Minions with AoE," Mack ordered, drawing his Invictus and wading through the chaos in the direction of @Raina. When the Field Commander and Trainee Soldier moved to impede his progress the massive Vice Commander simply bulldozed them, no pun intended. As he shoved through there was no damage dealt to either of the Minions because Mack's focus was drawn to the player menu he had pulled up. Tapping the one useful item he had for this situation, he materialized a simple green bottle filled with potion in his enormous hand, tugging the cork from the bottle with his teeth and spitting it out on the ground as he moved.

Reaching Raina's side the towering figure in the snow white cloak wrapped an arm around Raina's waist and bodily hoisted her out of the way and behind him, upending the Safeguard potion over her head in the process. Probably this was going to result in all manner of foul comments, something about ruining a hairstyle or only the gods knew what. Probably some comments about sexism and chauvinism too, which wouldn't have been far off from the truth. Admittedly, he would have also grabbed Izzrikl, but it was a bit late for that now.

Irrelevant.

"Get behind me if you want to live," the brawny soldier growled, slamming the haft of Invictus into the ground and proudly displaying the Toreador's Cape that was worked with the sigil of the Knights of the Blood Oath. The cape was extremely gaudy and eye catching, sure to draw the attention of bosses in general and Asterios in particular.

Battle Order & Roll:

Mack shrugged his broad shoulders as they passed out of the wrought iron gates that, at some points during the day and evening, blocked people from gaining access to the town and its safe zone. Of course, the heavy gates also kept the monsters out, ostensibly at least, though Mack suspected that Sword Art Online's programming prevented any monsters from appearing in the safe zones. That being said, one would have assumed that the game's programming also would have included a log out button or a way to backdoor out of the game as a safety precaution, but no such luck. Drawing his axe, the towering Vice Commander settled Invictus over his shoulder and settled into an easy walking pace. It wouldn't do any good to move at his usual gait since his longer stride meant that Samriel might have a difficult time keeping up.

"Up to you," he rumbled in an easy tone. If Samriel preferred to wait for a bit until she was a higher level, that was entirely her business. "But, even at a good level parties are usually better than trying to tackle things alone," the cloaked soldier continued, moving from the small fields that surrounded the town of Urbus and into the green leafy forests proper. Within a few seconds they were being beset by a simple grey wolf that had appeared on the path. "Well, you can do it alone," Mack rumbled, gesturing towards the snarling canine. "Go get 'em, Tiger."

ID: 79935
BD: 13 (10+3 Amulet)
MD: 10 (9+1)

Explode Catapult: 2x7x19=266

[H:5]Mack: 782/1030 47/102 (151-84=67 DMG) (67x4 Ants=248 DMG) (+412 HP)
Giant Soldier Ants 1-4: 11/515 (-238 DMG)

After his initial and devastating assault on the ants Mack had waded right into the middle of the creatures. The ants, that easily made one feel as if they were starring in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, continued to rain blows down on the armored Vice Commander. A few particularly strong attacks, strung together, actually staggered the enormous axe man. When his grey eyes darted to his health bar, though, he saw that it had only dropped a few points from where it had been a few seconds before after the initial assault. No doubt that was Anemone's doing. Obviously, the snow haired woman was already doing her part to pull her weight in combat formations and she would, almost certainly, reap the benefits in terms of experience points even if it was others that did all of the actual fighting. With a rumbling roar, the Vice Commander whipped Invictus in an arc and slammed the business end of the colossal axe into the heads of each of the gigantic ants in turn, scoring critical hits and shaving their health pools down to mere slivers. One more solid hit would polish them off.

It was already nearing noon as one of Mack's enormous hands brushed aside some of the leafy underbrush and revealed the lake that he had come in search of. It wasn't as if the location of the lake was something that was unknown, rather it was that Mack wanted to personally check it out before suggesting to his twin that she come down here to try her luck at fishing. The simple truth of the matter was that the ginger giant vastly preferred it if Magda stayed down on the first floor as much as was possible. She seemed to have the odd idea that she wanted to be a tank, but at this point her desire was more of a pipe dream than actual reality. As he emerged into the area where the lake was located a small brown missile shot out of the undergrowth and began looking around inquisitively.

"Chewie, I bet there are fish in that lake... why don't you go look," the soldier rumbled in a deep tone. The bear did not need to be told twice. In a flash of fur, Chewie was scampering down the embankment in the direction of the lake and it's cool blue waters.

Look, there was Samriel and a turtle in his way!

Was that going to slow him down when there were fishies on the line?

Not in the least.

Like a tiny freight train, the bear cub rumbled right on past Samriel, brushing against one of her legs in the process. With a short hop, he landed squarely on head of the turtle she was fighting, driving the turtle's head down into the ground. With an almighty leap, the grizzly leaped into the air and plunged into the lake with an enormous splash howling a battle cry at the fishies within.

For his part, Mack remained on the lake shore and drew his axe before planting the weapon in the ground and leaning on it. Samriel was glittering in the noon-day sun, thanks to the armor and weapons he had given to the blonde as gifts. She seemed to be doing just fine against the turtle for the time being. If the situation changed, of course, he would rush in to help.

It was already nearing noon as one of Mack's enormous hands brushed aside some of the leafy underbrush and revealed the lake that he had come in search of. It wasn't as if the location of the lake was something that was unknown, rather it was that Mack wanted to personally check it out before suggesting to his twin that she come down here to try her luck at fishing. The simple truth of the matter was that the ginger giant vastly preferred it if Magda stayed down on the first floor as much as was possible. She seemed to have the odd idea that she wanted to be a tank, but at this point her desire was more of a pipe dream than actual reality. As he emerged into the area where the lake was located a small brown missile shot out of the undergrowth and began looking around inquisitively.

"Chewie, I bet there are fish in that lake... why don't you go look," the soldier rumbled in a deep tone. The bear did not need to be told twice. In a flash of fur, Chewie was scampering down the embankment in the direction of the lake and it's cool blue waters.

Look, there was Samriel and a turtle in his way!

Was that going to slow him down when there were fishies on the line?

Not in the least.

Like a tiny freight train, the bear cub rumbled right on past Samriel, brushing against one of her legs in the process. With a short hop, he landed squarely on head of the turtle she was fighting, driving the turtle's head down into the ground. With an almighty leap, the grizzly leaped into the air and plunged into the lake with an enormous splash howling a battle cry at the fishies within.

For his part, Mack remained on the lake shore and drew his axe before planting the weapon in the ground and leaning on it. Samriel was glittering in the noon-day sun, thanks to the armor and weapons he had given to the blonde as gifts. She seemed to be doing just fine against the turtle for the time being. If the situation changed, of course, he would rush in to help.

Chewie found himself abruptly popped free of Mestophales again. The mass of brown fur rolled over a few times before coming to a stop. As he popped back to his feet the cat woman was taking shelter behind the giver of delicious meat based offerings. Well, two could play at the game of allies! Scrambling to his master, Chewie scaled the towering axe man until the cub sat perched on Mack's shoulder. Holding on with three paws, the bear leaned out into space and made a crude gesture with the middle toe of his right front paw in the direction of the feline woman. He also showed her his teeth again. That would teach her a thing or two. The bear didn't care one way, or the other, about the theft of the weapon. She had not fed him, that was just... just... WRONG!

A few moments later she had dropped back to walk next to them. Chewie gathered his legs beneath him and waited for the right time to pounce.

"Oh, is that why he's going berserk," Mack asked, cocking an eyebrow in the feline looking woman's direction. The Vice Commander shrugged his broad shoulders and considered the scantily dressed woman with a slightly cocked eyebrow. "I don't care about the weapon or any other gear," he rumbled after a few seconds. "I usually give things away to low-level players anyway to help them get started. But, they usually feed Chewie in return. Did you not feed the bear?" At those words Chewie propelled himself from his master's shoulder and pounced on Mestophales, showing her the middle toes of both front paws as he flew through the air, just like Ssendom had shown him. Slamming into Mestophales, Chewie wrapped both his front paws around her neck and then opened his mouth wide and growled with his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

ID: 79632
MD: 5 (4+1)

[H:1] Mack 1090/1090 106/106
Anemone
Tomas 80/80 8/8
Mestophales

Flying Monkeys 1-4: 200/200 [50 Mit, 3 EVA, 70 DMG]

While all this was going four Flying Monkeys appeared, soaring over the tree tops. Abruptly, the creatures dove on the group of adventurers, heading for Anemone. Drawing Invictus, Mack stepped forward and shoved Anemone roughly to one side to intercept the mobs. Sweeping the axe in the air in front of him, Mack forced the winged monkeys to back off and abort their attack before they could actually strike anyone in the group. "Do not attack them until I have drawn their hate, they'll kill the two low-levels," the Vice Commander barked, taking charge of the situation now that the combat had commenced.

ID: 79631
BD: 7 (4+3 Amulet)
MD: 7 (6+1)

Explode Catapult: 2x7x19=266

[H:2]Mack: 786/1030 74/102 (150-84=66 DMG) (66x4 Ants=244 DMG)
Giant Soldier Ants 1-4: 249/515 (-266 DMG)

Mack waved away the formal titles with a dismissive hand gesture. "I'm not that concerned with titles, more concerned with people doing what they're supposed to when we're in combat and following the chain of command. Given the nature of SAO, lives are on the line at that point," the hulking man rumbled as Anemone shook his hand. When she had released it he swiped his finger in the air and pulled up his player menu. After a few quick seconds of scrolling he reached the guild tab and, with another few taps, he had added Anemone officially to the guild's roster. There would, of course, be a more formal swearing in Ceremony at a later date, but for the time being this would mark her as an official Knight of the Blood Oath.

"You will need to be properly decked out in red and white, eventually. That's not practical out here, at the moment anyway," the axe man said, shrugging his broad shoulders and setting off through the undergrowth again with Anemone in tow. "It's more important to understand that the Knights are expected to hold themselves to a standard that is different from other players. We are expected to do the right thing, even when it's not easy. We are expected to be the first boots on the ground in any fight and the last players to leave combat, especially in the event of a retreat. We focus on Front Line clearing, but we also look out for the weaker and more vulnerable players and we address, with force if necessary, those who would exploit or terrorize players weaker than themselves."

They traipsed through the forest for a few more moments until they reached another clearing. Swinging Invictus down from his shoulder, Mack rolled his head around on his neck. "We also work as a team to complete objectives, even if those objectives are something as simple as farming and fathering materials." With a grunt, the big soldier stampeded out into the clearing and proceeded to bury the business end of the axe in each of the four soldier ants that were assembled there.

"To the caves it is then," the ginger man rumbled in a deep tone, choosing to ignore the fact that Samriel had shrugged off his arm yet again. He decided not to mention that he had intended to simply ask his guildmates to provide Samriel with the necessary crystal. Had they refused he had intended to follow up the request with a threat to set loose his fuzz faced familiar, Chewie, in their shops. The grizzly cub, as Mack well knew, would tear Lawfer's and Seul's shops into tiny little pieces in his ever evolving quest to find and devour all the food in Aincrad. The mere whisper of a threat to release Chewie into their shops, unsupervised of course, would have been enough to get them to cave in to what the Vice Commander wanted, although both men were so amiable anyway that they would probably have given into a simple and polite request.

"And I do like you, I never said you'd go to the ninth floor by yourself. That would be suicide," Mack rumbled, nodding sagely, as the pair of them headed for the main gates that led out into the forests beyond the town of Urbus on the second floor. "Obviously, I would come with you and there's nothing on the ninth floor that I can't handle. Except the heat. Volcanic floor, it's the worst," the big axe man continued, making a face of disgust as they passed beneath the stone gates of the town of Urbus and headed out along one of the paths in the direction of the caves that Mack had mentioned earlier.

Mack stood at the deck rail of the trim, if somewhat pink, viking ship and continued to scowl. "Like rats fleeing the Titanic," the Vice Commander growled, grey eyes narrowing as he spotted one of the Knights of the Blood Oath, Beatbox, out among those who were swimming away. In the future, the very near future, for that matter, the ginger giant would be having a few words with one of the guild's newest members. This sort of dereliction of duty and cowardice would, quite simply, not be tolerated. As a Knight of the Blood Oath Beatbox was expected to be the first onto the battlefield and the last off of it. It was an expectation that Mack had for each and every one of the Knights and Beatbox, new as he was, did not get to be the exception to that rule. Glowering, the huge soldier turned to the ship's captain.

"Captain, I again recommend that we withdraw from this combat. Too much of our fighting strength has abandoned the fight. We must regroup with the rest of the fleet."

[Exit 2/2] [Leaves Thread]

At the sound of a female voice a small, round, furry head popped out from underneath one of the display tables situated around the tent-based shop. Issuing a sharp snuffling cry of greeting, Chewie rumbled out from beneath the table and began a bear cubbish charge in Vale's direction, squalling greetings as he advanced. Vale was a woman, anyone could see that. Women gave food treats to cute bear cubs, everyone knew that. Chewie was a very cute grizzly bear cub, anyone that couldn't see and understand that fact was just plain stupid. Reaching Vale the cub proceeded to flop, outlandishly, across her feet and roll around a little bit before opening his snout that was full of sharp teeth and pointing one clawed toe down his throat in a playful, but very important, demand to be given something to eat. Because no one ever fed him. No one. "Feed the bear and they're yours," a voice rumbled from somewhere out of sight where there was a ringing of a hammer striking metal.

@Vale

Crafts for 16 March:

ID: 79541
BD: 6 (6-1+1 Concentration)
MD: 3
CD: 12 (Regen Activates)

[H:6] Mack: 157/157 (37/38)
[H:4] Magda: 20/20 (3/5)
[H:1] Samriel: 16/16 (4/4)

Giant Bat: HP: -10/50 (-13 DMG)

There was a clatter as Invictus fell to the ground and the ginger man placed both his hands over his reproductive anatomy. "Not the baby-maker, I need that for joy and happiness," he called, trying to look both worried and affronted and probably failing spectacularly at it. "I'd be more worried if I didn't know that squirrels were interested in cracking a different kind of nut," the towering axe man continued as the bat flapped noisily around the dim room. After Samriel took a swing at the gigantic mammal and missed Mack flicked out a fist, almost lazily, and caught the bat squarely in the midsection. It exploded in a shower of blue pixel confetti just in time for the blonde woman's angry cursing to be easily heard.

"Ah, the vulgar cries to the dreaded Western European Blonde Headed Rock Squirrel," the soldier commented, opining openly in a clear tone as Samriel's cursing continued to fill the air. "You're no longer stuck between a rock and a hard place. Let's rescue the lost child, return him to his mother, and be on our way," the ginger man said, stooping momentarily to pick up the fallen Invictus from the floor before sheathing it across his back as he stood up again.

@Flints approved.

Chewie watched as his savior abandoned him. How could she do such a thing? But, then she uttered the sacred words about food. Making the loudest sound he could make around the mouthful of drumstick, the cub took off across the creaking deck and launched himself out into space. There was a tremendous splash, as tremendous as one could expect from an overgrown cub, and Chewie set off at the fastest pace he could after Vale. There had been the promise of food, he was not about to let that one go, regardless of whether or not he had a drumstick bigger than his head currently clutched in his jaws. One could never have too much food.

Everyone knew that.

Meanwhile, on the ship's deck Mack moved to the rail and looked out over the lake. "Look at them go," the ginger man boomed, his voice carrying across the water. "One more good attack round and we could defeat the turtle." The soldier spat dismissively out into the water. "As it is, we don't have enough marines left, I recommend a tactical withdraw."

[Retreat 1/2]

ID: 79439
LD: 2 (Nuffink)

Mack: 102/102 (Full EN, 3 turns out of combat)

Chewie tried to pull away from the wiping hands, but to no avail. The cub huffed and rumbled and tried to pull away as Anemone wiped his face, but there was no escape. Like the dwarves of Moria, Chewie was bound to accept the fate of his facial cleansing from the sticky honey residue. When Anemone had finished, Chewie tried to give her a stern look that would convey the fact that, clearly, he had been saving that honey for later and that it was rude for her to deprive him of the treat. The effect of the look was completely ruined when he hand descended on his head and ruffled his fur.

Just who did Anemone think she was?

The giver of delicious meat based offerings. That was who. Chewie decided he could let it slide, this time.

Meat covered in honey. Just like that, Chewie's mind was off onto other subjects.

"We're glad to have you join us then," Mack rumbled, extending an enormous hand to Anemone. "Having a dedicated support player, or players, in the Guild will be immensely useful," he continued, the haft of his axe continuing to root around in the loose soil of the forest and finding nothing. He allowed his eyes to track, for a moment, to the energy bar that was part of his head's up display. It seemed to have replenished itself. Grunting, the Vice Commander shouldered Invictus and prepared to set off through the forest once more. "I'm ready if you are."

Meat! Hunk of meat! Chewie went berserk at the sight of the treat, hopping up and down on his paws then rising up to stand on his back paws and bat at the meat with his front paws while he snapped his jaws in the direction of the treat. Why had it appeared? To be fed to him. Everyone knew that. The second the meat was placed on the ground before him, the grizzly cub pounced on it and began making some truly horrifying sounds as he ripped enormous hunks out of the steak with his teeth. There was little doubt, in the mind of anyone assembled, that if they were so foolish as to try and take the delicious treat from the bear that there would be blood. A lot of it, but none of it belonging to Chewie. As people started to move off and out of Town the bear gave an alarmed sound, snatched up the half-eaten steak in his jaws, and scampered off clutching it in his teeth. When he reached Anemone he popped up on his hind paws and held up his front paws, snack still clutched in his teeth. He couldn't very well eat it and walk at the same time, therefore Anemone would have to carry him. It was only logical, she was the treat giver.

Mack remained rather silent as they marched across the first floor in the direction of the cavern that the first of the dragon hatchlings called home. "Yes, there's several of these quests. I don't honestly know how many, I suppose we'll find out when we get to the end of the quest line though," the Vice Commander rumbled as he led them through the wilderness in a rather uneventful fashion. After about forty-five minutes of walking the little group came to a stop outside what appeared to be a small cave. A small stream of smoke was issuing from somewhere within the darkened bowels of the cave. "Looks like this is it."

As if on cue a furry brown face popped up over the edge of the cart just before it lurched into motion. Chewie squalled loudly until one of Mack's enormous mitts descended on the bear and grabbed the cub by the scruff of the neck. "Why don't you ask him yourself," the Vice Commander rumbled, tossing the grizzly in the direction of his twin's lap. Chewie thudded down into Magda's lap with a heavy thud and, realizing on whom he had been foisted off, he mass of brown fur promptly rolled over onto his back, opened his mouth, and demanded a fishy offering as he flopped outrageously across Magda's legs in a manner that indicated that he knew very well that his demands were going to be met. Maybe even there would be more than one fish, the jackpot.

Mack, having secured his familiar in the wagon, proceeded to ignore the bear's antics. He had, long ago, given up on ever being able to give the cub anything like basic manners training. The hulking axe man simply nodded a greeting to Beatbox when Hirru introduced him. "Welcome to the band," the ginger giant said in a soft rumbling tone. "You ever going to tell us where you got this wagon, Hirru?"

ID: 78968
BD: 8 (5+3 ACC)
Screw Dimension: 1x13x20 = 260 DMG to Snow Beast (15 Base + 5 Charge)

[H:0]Grave: 600/600 HP | 60/60 EN | 12 D | 39 M | 2 REC | 1 CC | 18 Regen | 24 BLD | 20 BH
[H:2]Mack: 1090/1090 HP | 94/106 EN | 84 MIT | +6 DMG | +3 ACC
Snow Beast: -0/250 HP | D: 160 | Partial Phase: Snow Beast will always deal a minimum of 24 damage, even through Armor and Armor Abilities.

"And so it is, bet I can kill it in one shot," the Vice Commander rumbled, drawing back the hood on the crimson trimmed cloak he was wearing before tightening his hands on Invictus. With a bellowing war cry the soldier lurched into motion and charged across the ground that separated him from the Snow Beast. Twirling Invictus in a speedy blur, Mack slammed the heavy business end of the weapon into the quest creature. The axe scythed across the Snow Beast's stomach, then hammered into the mangy creature's ribs first from the left and then from the right, before finally Mack tomahawked the axe over his head and buried it in the Snow Beast's skull with a resounding thud that echoed around the small clearing for an instant before the creature exploded in a shower of pixels. Kneeling where the beast had been eliminated, Mack retrieved the item that the monster dropped and tossed it in Grave's direction.

Chewie, for his part, had watched the combat closely. As soon as the monster was defeated the bear cub flung himself off of the skull and onto Grave's back. After a mad scrabbling of claws his head emerged over one of Grave's shoulders and he jabbed his wet black nose in Grave's face and made a grunting noise. The job was done, it was time to commence with the feeding. Everyone knew that.

ID: 78966
LD: 19 (+1 T2 Mat)

Mack: 46/102 (EN, +1 Out of Combat)

"No one succeeds at everything one hundred percent of the time," the hulking Vice Commander said in a resonating rumble as he jabbed at the dirt with the haft of his axe. "I have my accuracy stat about as maxed as it will go, I still miss my attacks some times," he continued, shrugging his shoulders as the haft of the axe continued to probe in the dirt at his feet. Within a few more seconds there was a soft thunk and the big man knelt to retrieve another hunk of ore that glittered with a soft golden glow. "You're obviously not a total failure, otherwise I'd still be waiting for my health points to recover as well as my energy," the soldier concluded in a somewhat bluntly logical tone as he tapped the mysterious looking ore and added it to his inventory storage.

Meanwhile, Chewie remained resolutely where he was, stuffing his maw with honey. Right up to the point where one of the bees stung the grizzly cub on the nose. The bear let out an alarmed sound, scooped up what was left of the hive, and flung it away from his body. Rising to his feet the cub, who was a sticky and gooey mess, took off in the direction of Anemone as fast as his paws could carry him. Diving behind the woman, Chewie took cover and began to sneakily wipe off his paws on face using Anemone as a napkin.

Chewie slid back several paces as the cat woman planted her feet against him and shoved him back. Tumbling backwards, tail over head, a few times the grizzly came to a stop and righted himself before popping up onto his hind feet which put his furry face just about level with Anemone's stomach. Growling, the cub repeated the crude gesture with the middle toes of his front feet, taught to him by Ssendom. Thudding back down onto the ground, Chewie charged down Mestophales again and slammed into her right let. Having learned from the first experience this time the cub slammed into the woman's leg and then wrapped all his paws around her limb before sinking his tiny white fangs into her knee cap.

"What on earth did you do to him," the blacksmith asked, quirking an eyebrow at Mestophales. Now that he was done outfitting Tomas the towering man had his storm grey eyes focused on the cat woman. "Chewie doesn't usually display such naked aggression," he continued, declining to comment further about the feline-esque woman's somewhat lewd actions in reaching under her loin cloth.

As he waited for a response from the cat-like woman Mack noticed two things. First, that Tomas was one of the only people that didn't offer some kind of thanks for the instant gear upgrade that he had just received. Second, he noticed that the snow-haired woman among them was holding a small dog and that her lips were moving. Unfortunately, thanks to the ruckus being raised by Chewie and Anemone's quiet nature, the bearded man had no idea what Anemone had said. The axe man took in a big breath and then boomed in his best impression of a Drill Instructor, "QUIET! Holding up both hands the command even succeeded in getting Chewie to stop making noise, though the cub remained steadfastly attached to Mestophales' leg with his teeth buried in her knee, doing no damage to her health bar at all.

"What was that you said, Anemone?"

ID: 78780
LD: 18 (+1 T2 Mat)

Mack: 45/102 (EN, +1 Out of Combat)

The hive went soaring out into space and then plummeted from his sight. The grating sound of the cub's claws on the tree bark was clearly audible around the little forest glen as Chewie slid down the outside of the tree like it was a pole in a firehouse. Reaching the leaf strewn, glass covered ground again the grizzly cub let out a howl of delight and scampered off in the direction of the bee hive. Sure enough, he had succeeded in breaking it open. Brazenly ignoring the buzzing anger of the bees, Chewie rammed one clawed paw into the midst of the hive's contents and then crammed the paw into his mouth, sucking the honey from his claws one at a time.

"Yeah, I'm resting again," the Vice Commander called, checking his energy reserves and moving to lean against the same tree Chewie had climbed, though on the opposite side from the one the bear was sliding down. "A lot of games use a cool down system, that would be more efficient," the towering man said, shoving the haft of Invictus into the soft earth at the base of the tree and rooting around for a few seconds until he heard a soft, but distinct, thunk.

"Thanks for the healing and, you know, if you enjoy our company all that much you're welcome to join," the soldier rumbled, stopping to retrieve a hunk of some kind of metallic looking ore which found its way into his inventory. The ginger man had not actually heard Anemone's expressed desire to maybe join the guild, but it was clear that she had top notch healing skills and there were a precious few such players around. "You wouldn't even be the only female in the guild, my twin's one of our members too, and you've obviously got some useful talents. Aren't many support players in the game." The hulking man shrugged his broad shoulders. "And if Chewie gets stung, maybe he'll learn a valuable lesson."

The Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath had received the notification of yet another newly appeared sub-boss having been discovered. He was slightly miffed that the Knights had not been the ones to discover its location. Still, they could hardly be expected to find all of them all and the Celestial Ascendants were a sizable and important guild in their own right. Shouldering Invictus, the towering soldier, and his faithful familiar, Mack made his way across the third floor in the direction of the location that the message had indicated. When he arrived at the designated location he began pulling items from his inventory and activating them for the upcoming fight, nodding a greeting to Hikoru in the process. The main items that were retrieved from the inventory were a couple of potions that had been purchased from Zandra's shop a few days ago when Mack had realized he was running low on consumable items. In short order the ginger man had increased his damage output by four points and upped his hit points by a nice round hundred.

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