Mack

OOC: Highest LD gets to attack first.

ID: 76956
LD: 4 (HAH! BEAT THAT @Hydra!)

Chewie wandered around the outside of the dance floor in the enormous castle's hall, surveying the players with his chocolate eyes. The shuffling morass of brown fur, around who's neck Mack had affixed a scarlet and white necktie emblazoned with the guild crest of the Knights of the Blood Oath so that the bear would be formally attired for the party, gave off the very strong impression that he was casing the party and looking for the people that were most likely to be the easiest marks for giving him food. The fact that such was precisely the activity that the bear cub was engaged in was beside the point. Sitting back on his haunches for a moment Chewie sniffed the air. There was good food here, and he knew it. As he was watching the crowd one figure in particular caught his eye and made his lip curl slightly.

@Shield.

Shield the betrayer! Shied the non-giver of food! Shield the tickle monster! On guard!

Scrambling to his feet the bear cub took off like a brown streak of lightning across the dance floor, headed directly for @Shield. At the last second Chewie fired off a battle cry, right before he sank his tiny bear teeth into Shield's ankle. In a flash, the cub had scampered off again to get out of reach. Unfortunately, he made it only a few steps before he stepped on the portion of his formal necktie that dragged along the ground. With a thud the bear tumbled head over heels and slid away, if anything, even faster on his back along the polished surface of the dance floor. Like a fuzzy brown missile he whooshed underneath the refreshment table, paws waving, and managing to miss the table legs and the table cloth as he shot out the other side.

Rolling over a few times, the bear finally came to a stop when he thunked up against @Dominion's legs. Dominion was talking to @Row, the one who was not strong enough to pick him up. But, @Row was big enough to hide behind. Scrambling to his paws, Chewie darted behind Row to conceal his whereabouts from @Shield.

Meanwhile, in the designated dueling hall Mack looked up at the sound of a weapon being unsheathed. His grey eyes swept the room and settled on @Hydra, the only other person holding a weapon. The ginger haired Vice Commander considered Hydra for a moment before nodding his head slowly. Shrugging out of the overcoat that was the basis for the Red Coat moniker that had been applied to the British army in the eighteenth century, Mack draped it over the back of a convenient chair where he also left his axe Invictus propped up.

"I'm ready when you are, Hyrda," the Vice Commander boomed in a jovial tone as he stepped out into the middle of the dueling area with no weapon equipped. The colossal man had been looking forward to testing out the Martial Arts skill that he had been in possession of for some time, without ever having put much work into it. He also assumed that, given his size and being unarmed, there might be a slight psychological edge to be gained in fighting this way. On the one hand, it might breed over confidence or anger in Hydra if he chose to take it as an insult. On the other, there was no denying that when someone Mack's size was in your face threatening you with fists it could be quite terrifying.

Note

"No more difficult than the first encounter," Mack rumbled as Chewie continued to cavort about in the snow. "So, in other words there's no challenge to it at all at our current levels," the Vice Commander continued with a shrug. In truth, they could hardly expect to find a significant challenge on the fourth floor, considering what their current levels were and where the location of the current front line was. Silently the soldier rolled his head around on his neck and popped several vertebrae with an audible cracking noise.

Within a few more moments the pair of Knights had reached the location where the snow beast could be spawned from and Grave was inquiring as to whether or not Mack was ready. "One second," the hulking man said in a low tone, planting Invictus in the snow and leaning the weapon against the pedestal that had the skull on it. Reaching down he grabbed Chewie by the scruff of the neck and heft the little monster with one hand, placing the cub atop the skull.

"Chewie, stay. If you disobey then Grave will not feed you." The bear looked utterly appalled at this threat and seated himself atop the enormous bleached white skull with a huff. "That should do it."

Mack, the ginger-headed and bearded Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, stood just beyond the enormous doors that led into the castle that was serving as the host location for the world of Aincrad's Valentine's Day party. For the evening the soldier had settled on a formal costume that would reinforce the image of a front line fighter while still looking regal and sporting the colors of the guild. To that end, Mack was dressed in the somewhat stuffy formal attire of an English general from the colonial period. There was a long red coat that reached to the axe man's knees with white and blue trim with golden braiding winding up the sleeves and golden buttons. That coat was over a forest green vest trimmed in gold thread and also with golden buttons and the vest was over a light, white cotton shirt with some ruff at the neck. The entire ensemble went with a pair of white pants, somewhat more baggy than the historical standard, and a pair of polished black leather boots that stopped just below the knee. The other non-historical portion of the clothing was the leather wrapped haft of the axe that protruded above Mack's left shoulder.

As he stood on the steps of the castle the towering man stooped for a moment and then secured a wriggling morass of brown fur and claws by the scruff of its neck. Nearly effortlessly, Mack hauled the grizzly cub up until he and Chewie could see eye to eye with one another, storm grey eyes boring into chocolate brown eyes. "Normally, I police you very little. Tonight, I expect you to be on your best behavior though," Mack began as Chewie chuffed out a sigh through his nose. "Do not climb up on the food tables, to not jump in the fountains, do not climb other players like trees to demand food from them." The bear sighed again, even louder this time, through his mouth and gave his master a doleful look. "If you break my rules, I will throw you out of the highest window I can find, and there will be nothing for you to eat except plain black bread for a month. Do you understand?" The bear raised one fore paw to his forehead and made a mocking 'salute' gesture. Mack nodded and set the bear back down on the ground. "Now scoot."

Chewie did not need to be told twice, the bear was off like a shot of brown lightning, high tailing it up the stairs and into the castle. Mack followed behind the beast at a more sedate pace. Stepping through the intricate doors, Mack made his way into the ballroom area, nodding occasional greetings to people that he recognized as he passed. After a few moments of familiarizing himself with the general layout of the area the Vice Commander moved off into one of the side halls, noting that the area had clearly been set aside for the purpose of allowing the players to engage in duels with one another. Unsheathing the mammoth axe at his back, Mack planted it on the ground and leaned his forearms atop the bladed head of the weapon, making it clear through his body language that he was prepared to take all comers.

No food. What kind of lie was that. The guy was heading out of town and into the wilderness. Of course he had food. Even if it was only bread. Everyone knew that. Chewie gave Damien a look that seemed to bore into the very soul of the other player. The look that said very clearly, 'Bro, you're going out into the wilderness. You've got food. We both know it. I want some. Now.'

"He's mine," Mack rumbled from where he was standing and observing the scene, though the axe man gave no indicator at all that he was likely to move in any way to intervene regarding the situation. "Mostly he does whatever he wants, you'll do better to give Chewie what he wants and what he wants is food." Calmly the Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath watched the developing situation with storm grey eyes and waited to see what Damien's next move would be in attempting to placate the wriggling mass of fur and muscle.

"I've only done it once, long time ago," Mack rumbled in response, his extra height and longer legs making it easy to at least match the pace of Takao and Aria even though they seemed to have a slightly easier time handling the increasingly rocky terrain due to their lower centers of gravity. "I helped someone knock it out too, can't remember who off the top of my head. That happens as you get older, short term memory's the first thing to go."

Quietly the hulking axe man continued to stomp up the mountain trail that the group was following as they headed for the summit of the mountain on the border of the twentieth floor, using the haft of his huge battle axe as a modified walking stick. There were, after all, certain advantages to using such an enormous weapon, even if they weren't necessarily based within the framework of Sword Art Online's stats. "Sounds good to me, you think we'll be able to see the whole floor from up there," Mack asked, gesturing with a hand in the direction of the mountain top.

"Sounds good," Mack rumbled in response to Alice as Chewie continued to run around the tent trying to beg second, and even third, treats from some of the players though, out of the corner of his eye Mack noticed that the bear had perched himself up on one of Jazz's shoulders. "Yeah, that spear's for you," Mack rumbled, forking the Crimson Lance over to Necryptonix. Next, he considered the requests of @Shizua and @Shield as he moved along behind the various stacks of weapons and considered all of the spears before selecting a rather odd spear made of cherry wood with a weapon head that also appeared to be in the shape of a cherry leaf. "Here," he said in a deep tone, passing Cherry Blossom to Shizua. The burly blacksmith the moved to a different table with weapons of the type that Shield was interested in. "Try this, Shield."

As Shield raised his fists to box with Chewie the bear decided he had had enough. With a rumbling growl of challenge, the cub propelled himself off of Jazz's shoulder and right at Shield's face. There was a lot of snarling and waving of claws and baring of teeth.

-Cherry Blossom
-Bleeder

ID: 76617
LD: 15 (+1 Mat)

HP: 726/1030 (+20 HP [Survival], +54 HP [Regen], +60 HP [Battle Healing])
Energy: 20/100 (+1 EN)

"Completely your call, just putting the offer on the table as a firm offer," the soldier rumbled, taking a few long strides to catch up to Takao and Aria as they continued to head away further into the wilds. "And I have no intention of being killed by a few little bugs," the Vice Commander continued with a chuckle, tugging up the hood on his guild cloak up over his head again and continuing along with the group even as his health bar continued to recover from the recent fight with the giant wasps. "I've could go ahead and buff my mitigation though, just to be safe," Mack rumbled, tugging another potion from his inventory and considering it. "And buff my damage. It's just the Matriarch's Stinger potion from that low level quest, but every little bit helps." The ginger giant considered the item for a few more moments before returning it to his inventory. He really did need to stock up on consumables.

"The fourth floor is much better than this hell," Mack grumbled in response to his twin's comment about how preferable the volcanic floor was to the floor where Mack had located his forge. That kind of statement simply was not true. When one was cold they could always put on more clothing until they were no longer cold. But, when one was hot there was only so much they could take off before they were naked, and still entirely too hot. The logic of his position was totally unassailable, as far as the Vice Commander was concerned. "Who's the new guy," Mack rumbled after a few minutes, once the merchant's wagon had lurched into a rickety and bumpy motion. He jerked a thumb in the direction of Beatbox as he rested one arm along the back baseboard of the wooden wagon. At least riding beat walking. "Where'd you find a wagon anyway, Hirru?"

Chewie, for his part, was not easily dissuaded from most people. At least not until he received some form of food offering. Even if it was only some bread. Sitting back on his haunches the little grizzly cub stared around for a likely target, his chocolate eyes finally settling on the form of Damien. With a tiny bear cub roar, the mass of fur, muscle, and teeth set off in the direction of Damien. As he rumbled along like a tiny freight train the cub's tiny pink tongue lolled out like a dogs and he scampered for everything he was worth. Of course, as Chewie was wont to do he managed to trip over his own over-sized paws. Just like that the mass of fur went rolling tail over head until he came to a rough thumping, and upside down, stop with his back against Damien's legs. Roaring a greeting from his upside down position the bear scrambled to his feet, scaled Damien like a tree, and then pointed a clawed toe down his throat.

ID: 76611
CD: 11 (Regen Activates)
LD: 16 (+1 Mat)

HP: 592/1030 (+20 HP [Survival], +54 HP [Regen], +60 Battle Healing)
Energy: 19/100 (+1 EN)

+St. Michael's Fingers, -Golden Axe Amulet

"Never heard of Death Adder," Mack rumbled as Takao shattered the three remaining wasps into blue pixels. Planting the butt cap of his axe in the soft, if digital, grassy earth Mack leaned one arm on the top of the axe head as the pair of gentlemen, or one gentleman and Mack, were rejoined by Aria. Grunting, he swiped through his items until he found St. Michael's Fingers and re-equipped the gauntlets, instantly noting that their healing properties had kicked in. "Sounds like someone that needs some killin', though," the soldier continued, still scrolling through his items and speaking in the same kind of tone one might use if they were discussing the weather.

"How about it, little Mouse," the Vice Commander asked Aria, arching one crimson eyebrow at the kid as he continued scrolling through his inventory until his finger stopped at the Sand Armor potion. Tapping the item Mack materialized it in his hand and flicked the cork from the bottle with his thumb before raising the potion to his nose and sniffing it experimentally. "And just because it's not our fight doesn't mean we're not willing to take part, if we need to. God knows Magda would probably like a few more women hanging around the guild hall so she wasn't the only one," Mack continued, stooping to retrieve the dropped cork, which still had some durability, and replacing it on the potion. Best to wait.

"Come to think of it, though, would putting the two of them together in the same room be wise? I have enough problems with my twin's attitude as it is," Mack grumbled, chuckling softly and returning the potion bottle to his inventory. "Up to you though, the Mouse has a wicked squeak, but I could tolerate it. You don't have to do everything by yourself."

"Lulls do happen," Mack agreed, shrugging his shoulders even as the giant wasps assaulted him once more, pushing his health bar down into a solidly yellow range. If there was anything that this experience had taught the ginger man so far it was that he needed greater stockpiles of consumable items. Also, that it would probably be wise to consume a few of the potions he did have on hand to boost both his damage output and his overall mitigation numbers. Especially in the light of how easily Takao had handled the insects while Mack had hammered on each of them three times without successfully eliminating even one of them. "I think things died down a bit with the Knights too, while I've been gone. Going to have to whip them back into shape... starting with this little expedition so they don't forget there's a reason why I'm the Vice Commander."

Grunting, Mack launched into motion again even as Takao continued to evade the wasps. The hardened blade of Invictus hammered into each of the wasps again. The axe head seemingly bit quite deep into each of them and as he released the shockwave that concluded his attack the inspects were bounced and jostled in the air, bumping into one another and briefly giving the appearance that they might be stunned before the righted themselves again. Falling into the cool down for the sword art, once again, Mack considered the tiny slivers of health that each of the wasps had left and grumbled something. "Well, if you're unhappy you know the offer from the Knights is an open one, we even have a guild hall in Taft where you could stash the Mouse when you needed to."

OOC: I've I have botched your post count, meaning you should receive more SP than you did, please PM me and I'll look into it. I also invite everyone that wishes may also PM me and be added to the PM thread with this Boss' full stats.

"Oh man, Super Hero Landing," Mack boomed, clapping his hands before wandering over to Morgenstern and smacking the tank heartily on the back. "Definitely looked like it was hard on the knees," he continued, moving to help Hakai who had also just returned to the ground with a thud and significant damage to her health gauge. However, before the raid leader could offer to help her she had popped to her feet, uttered an oath and a curse, and headed off through the forest to Mack knew not where. Sheathing his own weapon at his back, the Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath moved into the middle of the group of milling players and raised his voice again.

"Thank you everyone for turning up to help us slay Nerius, the Evil Treant. It looks like the fight is over, so this little party is at an end. Any players that want to are welcome to accompany the rest of the Knights back to Urbus, and I imagine the members of the other guilds that are present would also be more than happy to travel back to town with anyone that asks." With that the hulking man moved through the group of players clapping Macradon, Hirru, and his twin sister each on the shoulder in turn before setting off through the forest back to Urbus.

Final Post Counts (determining Thread SP) In Spoiler:

Thread Rewards (Col, Mats, SP, Items) In Spoiler:

Item Drops (Nerius' Strength & Spring's Rebirth):

2 February

Name: Steel Chainmail
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 76401
Roll: 11 (10+1)
Item Type: Heavy Armor
Tier: 1
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: +2 MIT
Description: A simple, sturdy set of chainmail, belted in the middle.
Post Link:  Post

Name: Iron Greatsword
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 76402
Roll: 8 (7+1)
Item Type: 2HS
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: +1 ACC
Description: A two-handed double-edged iron blade.
Post Link:  Post

Name: Cherry Blossom (Shizua)
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 76403
Roll: 13 (12+1)
Item Type: 2H Spear
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: +2 ACC, +1 Bleed
Description: A Japanese style Naginata spear with a black leather wrapped cherry wood haft and a gleaming silver blade shaped like the leaf of a cherry tree.
Post Link:  Post

Name: Steel Helm
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 76404
Roll: 11 (10+1)
Item Type: Heavy Armor - Helmet
Tier: 1
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: +1 Mit, +1 Regen
Description: Simple open-faced steel helmet with a nasal guard.
Post Link:  Post

Name: Bleeder (Shield)
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 76407
Roll: 13 (12+1)
Item Type: 1H Axe
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: +2 Bleed, +1 DMG
Description: A simple ax with a barbed, harpoon-like spike protruding from the center of the striking edge, designed to rend flesh when pulled free after a solid strike
Post Link:  Post

Name: Black Iron Shield
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 76409
Roll: 8 (7+1)
Item Type: Shield
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: +1 Thorns
Description: A simple black iron shield, very heavy.
Post Link:  Post

Name: Iron Long Sword
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 8
ID: 76410
Roll: 7 (6+1)
Item Type: 1HSS
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: +1 DMG
Description: Simple iron long sword with a three and a half foot long blade.
Post Link:  Post

Another day, another set of crafts. Grunting, Mack slipped into the tent that housed his shop on the fourth floor and, just for a few moments, he considered the possibility that it might be time to pick up shop and move to a different location. Just as quickly, however, the ginger giant that was the Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath dismissed the notion as ludicrous. There were a few other places that might not be too bad to house the Wandering Forge, but there were no other winter wonderland floors. At least none that had yet been discovered. Moving to the forge he pumped the billows a few times and fired up the flames before tossing several crafting materials into the glistening ruby-like fires of the forge and setting to work with the rhythmic pounding of a smithing hammer on an anvil.

Crafting for 2 February 2017

- COMBAT RESULTS (In Spoiler)-

"So," Mack called as Takao vaulted past him to deliver a death blow to one of the four wasps. "It's basically a guild of solo players who got tired of being bothered to join a guild," Mack asked as Takao landed on the ground next to him and Aria scampered away for cover. "You know," the axe man continued, waiting on the cool down timer for his sword art to expire, "If one of these wasps carries the little Mousey off it's going to take us forever to get her back and I'm not betting on the field and floor bosses, based on what I see here I think you're probably right."

As the cool down time for his sword skill finally came to an end Mack raised the giant battle axe again. Being unable to charge again the attack was a bit lacking in the power of the initial strike. Still, the broad head of the axe made several satisfying smacks against the three remaining giant wasps and drove all of their health bars down into the red zone. With a grunt, Mack slammed the axe on the ground again and unleashed another vertical shockwave that rocked the wasps without causing them to suffer a stun effect before gesturing at the monsters with an open hand to invite Takao to press the attack further at his own leisure.

ID: 76386
BD: 7 (4+3)
MD: 3 (Miss)

[Explode Catapult (AOE): 2x7x20 = 280 DMG]

[H:2] Mack: 1030/1030 (72/100)
Takao

Giant Wasp 1: 430/710
Giant Wasp 2: 430/710
Giant Wasp 3: 430/710
Giant Wasp 4: 430/710

"Did you hear something just now, Takao," Mack asked, turning his head slightly and arching an eyebrow quizzically at the swordsman. "Sounded like rats squeaking, they must grow them big here in Inti," the colossal axe man said in an easy tone, thoroughly ignoring Aria as he slid the haft of his axe along the tops of his shoulders before arching both arms over the newly formed crosspiece giving the impression that he was in some kind of standing stockade that didn't inhibit his movement. "I like that plan, especially since this isn't some kind of desert, volcanic, or tropical hell," Mack rumbled as a soft breeze kicked up. "Spotting a bigass monster should be easy enough though, even for me."

The trio continued to move out at a steady clip from the main gates of Inti as the conversation continued. The Vice Commander shrugged his shoulders at Takao's simple response for babysitting. He doubted the simple response was the full one, but there was no point in prying. If the swordsman wanted to reveal what was going on, then he would. If he didn't, then he wouldn't. It was as easy as that. "I guess the drinks tonight will be one apple juice and two beers then, eh," Mack asked, considering Takao's question on the state of the guild.

"Well, there's no denying that we're a bit leaner, and meaner, than we used to be now that Lowenthal's gone. Several others just up and disappeared too, but with Heathcliff still around, plus Macradon, Hirru, and the others we're getting along just fine I suppose," Mack rumbled. "What about you? I hear you finally joined a guild too, what changed your mind?" As he asked the question a buzzing sound filled the ears of everyone in the party and a quartet of giant wasps, big enough that Aria could have ridden them like miniature ponies, if she so desired, appeared off in the distance.

"Ah, our first catches," Mack rumbled, slinging the enormous axe, that was taller than Aria, down off of his shoulders. "Be right back." With those last three words the colossal man charged across the gap that separated him from the four wasps, closing the distance with large ground eating steps. Once he was in range Mack leaped into the air and swept Invictus back and forth in two savage sweeps that hammered into each of the wasps from both the left and the right. As his feet returned to the ground Mack slammed the butt cap of the axe against the digital earth, sending out a shockwave that slammed into the wasps from below and rocked them off balance, though not significantly enough to deliver a stun effect.

"What's that, little mousey," Mack asked as the girl dubbed him with his nickname. In truth, the red head had been called worse, far worse, by the junior noncoms that he had been in charge of in the Army. In comparison to the names they had used for him, Wooly was practically cute. "I can't hear your squeaking from all the way up here." As he went to ruffle the girl's hair again, his sisters had always hated when he did that, she darted around to the other side of Takao and out of immediate easy reach. Opening his own menu, Mack scrolled through items for a moment before finally replace St. Michael's Fingers with a simple golden axe amulet which appeared around his neck. Somehow, the hulking man suspected that the accuracy boost would be most welcome.

"I'm in the business of showing the rest of the guild that launching an expedition without their Vice Commander may not be the best course of action," Mack said in a somewhat delicate tone, lacing his now bare fingers together like a master pianist and cracking all of his knuckles before drawing his weapon once more by reaching up over his shoulder and sliding the gigantic axe free of its sheath across his broad back. "Now, if we ignore the mousey this shouldn't be that different from the last time. I grew up with sisters, ignoring mouseys is easy. Just don't feed them attention," Mack rumbled, nodding sagely as they set out for the gates that would lead them to the wilderness beyond.

"So, any ideas on where we need to go? Also, how'd you manage to get saddled with babysitting duty?"

-St. Michael's Fingers
+Golden Axe Amulet (+3 ACC)

"Ah, one of those," Mack rumbled, nodding sagely as a serious look crossed his face and he crossed his arms over his chest. "Sounds like she's more of a sister, I know how those can be... grew up with two of them and one's a twin," the big man said with something like a grimace as he stood up again to his full height which meant that Aria's head came up to just around the bottom of the ginger giant's rib cage. Or there abouts. For a second the blacksmith stared down at Aria with a penetrating grey-eyed gaze. "You're awful short, Mouse, practically travel size. I think I have a big sack in my inventory you'd fit in, so don't tempt me, sisters are annoying." Mack was already recalling the way in which both of his sisters had deliberately followed him into Sword Art Online several weeks after it had been announced that the game was, essentially, a death trap. The Vice Commander grumbled a few more unintelligible remarks, deliberately ruffled Aria's hair again, and turned his attention to Takao.

"Yeah, I had planned on doing some scouting. Both of our Scouts with the Knights are already out with the Guild Master and some of guys from CA, I think," Mack said, speaking now directly to Takao and directly over the head of Aria which was not a difficult thing to do given the vast disparity of their relative heights. "Wasn't invited, been busy. Wouldn't mind beatin' them to the labyrinth and the boss though, nothing we can't handle even if we are babysittin'. Hell, I babysat plenty of Privates in the Army, I doubt this'll be much different. Still, won't find anything without a scout," the cloaked man continued, shrugging his broad shoulders and speaking nothing that was not the plain truth. The ginger man had maxed out a good bit of his combat stats, but he was woefully lacking in other areas of his character build.

"You," Mack rumbled, abruptly lowering his gaze to Aria. "Will behave yourself and do as you're told," he continued in a stern tone, wagging one finger at the girl. "Or I will throw you over my shoulder and we will continue right on searching for the labyrinth. I have done it before as... what did you call him? Freckles? As he can tell you perfectly well, because he's seen me do it." The words weren't true, in a technical sense. After all, when he'd been hauling Shirosu back to the Town of Beginnings, after she'd tried a low-blow in a training duel, there hadn't been any combat. Just a lot of embarrassment for Shirosu. But still, it wasn't that far from the truth.

"I'm ready when you are, I guess. Lead the way."

ID: 76327
BD: 8 (7+3-2)
MD: 1
LD: 17 (+1 Mat)

Mack: 990/990 66/96 EN (+1 Normal EN Regen, -12 EN for SA)
Warden: -132/100 (13x1x19=247 DMG, 247-15=232 DMG)

As the flames exploded from the recently departed bandit warren behind him a low throaty laugh rolled over the area. Mack whirled to see the Bandit Warden standing there, a club tossed easily over his shoulder. "Shoulda known a big 'un like you'd be har..." That was as far as the Warden got with whatever it was he was going to say. With a roar, Mack exploded into motion and charged across the open distance between them. Invictus whirled into motion and the bladed business end of the axe slammed home into the top of the Warden's head as the Vice Commander executed both his most powerful individual attack and the warden all in one fell swoop. The bandit chief exploded into a shower of pixels and Mack slung the axe up over his shoulder.

"I'm done with this, I need a drink," the ginger giant rumbled, shouldering his axe and setting off in the direction of the nearest town.

Thread Rewards:

+Bandit's Guile (+1 EVA for 1 Thread)
+3 SP (1 Thread, 2 Quest)
+400 Col (Thread)
+8 T1 Mats (Thread)

OOC: There's no posting order until we enter combat. These first few should be a breeze, but we still have to hit posting requirement. We'll move out on the next round, summon the dragon on Post Rd. 4, and have it defeated (I think) by Post Rd. 5.

Chewie let out a startled noise as Alice spoke. The bear knew that voice. It was the voice of a food giver. He tried to sound off a bearish greeting, but he forgot to keep swimming as he did so. Consequently, the furry little monster sank to the bottom of the shallow fountain for a moment and received a mouthful of water for his trouble. A stream of bubbles issued from his mouth and sallied forth to break at the surface of the fountain's water before Chewie coiled his legs beneath his body and bounced back to the surface of the fountain, making a bee line for the edge of it.

"Alice," Mack greeted the blonde woman, ignoring the bear as he sank to the bottom of the fountain. The Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath also nodded a polite greeting to Sey, whom he recognized as a member of another guild though he couldn't recall which guild that was off the top of his head. As he had suspected, his booming declaration had attracted several people and, within a few moments, his twin Magda had joined them as well as a slight blonde woman with whom the red-headed giant was unfamiliar, Mack greeted each of the women with a nod of his head.

By the time the Chewie had swam over and scrambled onto the granite lip of the fountain several other people had joined his master, including the twin. The twin always had fishies. Yummy delicious fishies that she caught from Chewie knew not where. Where they came from didn't matter. They were fishies. They needed to be eaten. Bawling a greeting the bear went tearing around the lip of the fountain in Magda's direction. Just as he went to leap on her his feet slid out from under him and he whooshed along the polished granite of the fountain sliding off to the ground with a went flomp. Getting back to his feet he rocketed in the direction of the red-headed woman and launched himself at her, mouth open.

"I think five should be plenty for this quest, even if it will take all day," the soldier grunted, rolling his head around on his neck with a soft popping noise. "Introductions, I think. I am Mack, Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath."

"Mornin' Takao, not a big deal on the wait," Mack rumbled, his grey eyes sweeping over the swordsman as he continued to lean his forearms on the top of the bladed head of his two-handed axe. When his gaze reached Aria, who's comments were either ignored or completely unheard the storm cloud eyes narrowed for the briefest of moments, considering Aria. Then, in a flash of movement, the Vice Commander stood and spun his axe expertly through the air and into the sheath at his back before dropping to actually sit on the gargantuan sun dial at the heart of the stone town of Inti before he flicked back the crimson trimmed white hood of his guild cloak.

"So, you finally found yourself a girlfriend, eh," the big man boomed in a carrying tone, reaching out a massive hand and clapping Takao on the shoulder. "Knew it had to happen sooner or later, good thing for you it's not my twin, I'd hate to half to threaten you," Mack rumbled with a chuckle. "So," he asked, settling the hand he had just clapped Takao with on top of Aria's head and ruffling her hair, "Who's this fair woman that's stolen the musical swordsman's heart, eh?" As he posed the question to Takao the axe man rubbed his bearded chin and waited for the answer. "Prettier than that Gnoll that took a shine to you."

OOC Note: Morgenstern, if you do NOT use this Safeguard in this thread you do NOT get to keep it.

Mack put a hand over his eyes and stared up into the sky as first Morgenstern and then Hakai were launched way up into the sky. It didn't exactly take a genius to see that both of them hand been hurled to a height that would easily kill them when they landed. Growling, Mack motioned to @Macradon to move in for an attack while he swiped the first two fingers of his right hand in the air in front of him to summon his player menu. The Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath was the leader of this raid, any player deaths would reflect poorly upon both the guild in general and his leadership in particular, to say nothing of the loss of life making it that much more difficult to be able to escape from the digital prison in which every player found themselves trapped.

The problem was, Mack wasn't all that sure what he could do about the predicament. It wasn't as if he carried around generous stores of potions that dealt with falling damage. After all, the ginger giant was a blacksmith, not an alchemist. As he quickly scrolled through the items in his list, considering and discarding ideas as his eyes flicked through the items his storm grey eyes finally came to rest on a stockpile of Safeguard Potions. Ten of them, in fact. Mack knew he did not have that number of safeguards in his item storage. Tapping the potions, he quickly read the brief flavor text.

Special stockpile of Safeguard Potions given to the Raid Leader for the Nerius Event. These items may only be used during the Nerius Event and they will disappear afterwards if not used. Use these potions wisely.

Without a second thought Mack tapped the Safeguard potion again, followed by the trade button. Then he tapped Morgenstern's name to send the trade request, offering him the potion for free. Since Morgenstern had been launched first it stood to reason that he would return to the ground first. Therefore, it was important to prioritize safeguarding the tank and then getting another potion to Hakai as quickly as possible.

-1 Safeguard to Morgenstern

Battle Order:

ID: 76211
LD: 17 (FOUND THE FREAKIN' EXIT!)

Exit Search: 3/3
Mack: 990/990 77/96 EN (+1 Normal EN Regen, FULL HP)

Rounding another bend in the cavern corridor Mack finally spotted what he had been looking for. It seemed as if he had been wandering in circles for days. It was the exit. It was right there, he could clearly see the night time sky beyond the barred door. Swiping his fingers from his right hand in the air before him, the giant of a man summoned his menu, pulled up the map tab, and marked the location. Any quest this aggravating deserved a significant amount of revenge. Destructive revenge. The fact that the map was probably an instanced location and, therefore, the revenge would only effect this singular version of it was beside the point.

Knowing the location of the exit, Mack snatched a torch from its wall sconce and then returned through several corridors. As he moved through he used the torch to set fire to absolutely everything that would burn. Before long there was a very merry blaze going throughout the entire hide out, though the Vice Commander had been very careful to make sure he left himself an easy way out. With the caverns filling with flame and smoke Mack returned to the entrance of the cave system and slammed his way through the exit, blasting the barred door off of its hinges and emerging out into the cool evening air as a warm cherry glow and billowing smoke poured out from behind him.

ID: 76204
BD: 6 (5+3-2)
MD: 10 (3+1)
LD: 18 (+2 Mats)

Exit Search: 3/3 (Conducted after Combat)
Alert: 3/3 (ALERT!)
Mack: 986/990 76/96 EN (+1 Normal EN Regen, -6 EN Sword Art) (Lumber Jack: 3x1x19) [-2 DMG, Bandit Hits]
Bandit 1: 0/30 (3x1x19=57 DMG, 57-20=37 DMG)
Bandit 2: 0/30 (3x1x19=57 DMG, 57-20=37 DMG)

Once he had backed off to what he assumed was an acceptable distance from the bandits Mack swung Invictus threateningly and bellowed a challenge at the bandits as he charged forward. It was true that both of the bandits shoved the business ends of their weapons through his chest. Unfortunately for them, that really didn't matter since Mack swept the nasty bladed end of his axe through each of the bandits' heads. Each of the guards exploded in a shower of blue pixelated confetti. Growling, Mack extracted their weapons from his chest and watched in narrow eyed satisfaction as each of the weapons dissolved in a shower of pixels. Then, kneeling for a moment, the large blacksmith gathered up the dropped crafting materials and stored them in his inventory before cracking his knuckles and continuing on his way.

ID: 76198
BD: 4 (3+3-2)
MD: 10 (9+1)

Exit Search: 2/3
Alert: 3/3 (ALERT!)
Mack: 988/990 80/96 EN (+1 Normal EN Regen, -2 EN Miss)
Bandit 1: 30/30
Bandit 2: 30/30

Continuing on his rampage through the bandit caverns Mack continued in all his non-efforts to be silent and sneaky. He cursed the very life force of whoever it was that had dreamed up this quest and envisioned doing violent things to them in retribution for this manner of evil. As he was muttering darkly to himself about bandits, bandit leaders, and game designers the ginger headed Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath was not paying all that much attention to where he was, where he was going, or what he was doing. The predictable result was that he was soon ambushed by another pear of spear waving bandits. Each of them appeared from one side of a blind corner as Mack rounded and and jabbed a weapon into the red-head's side. Sighing, Mack readied his weapon and backed off from the bandits to create space and ready a counter attack.