Mack

ID: 26524
MD: 6
BD: 1
Mack: 12/13 (-1 Dam)
Cardinal: 1/7

In a righteous red fury, the cardinal launched into another attack, aiming its little taloned feet directly for Mack's eyes. Dropping his left hand from the axe's shaft, Mack swatted at the bird with his hand, but he missed as the creature gave its wings one last little flap to rise about the back handed blow from the warrior. Flinching his head to the side at the last instant, the axe-man managed to avoid catching the bird's blow directly in one of his eyes, which would have almost certainly been quite painful. But, he wasn't able to completely avoid the cardinal's talons as one of them traced a line along the right side of his cheek. Mack grunted and resumed a two-handed grip on his battle axe. While he wasn't worried about the bird defeating him, there was still no need to get cocky when one was in a death game like SAO.

ID: 26523
BD: 10
MD: 2
Mack: 13/13
Cardinal: 1/7 (-4 Dam)

Not wasting any time, the cardinal cut loose with a withering barrage of tweets, chirps, and bird song. Of course, Mack wasn't sure what exactly the bird was saying. He didn't speak song bird. But, no doubt from the angry nature of the twittering the bird certainly thought it was causing psychological damage that would last a lifetime. Abruptly, the bird reached the end of its avian tirade and launched a dive bomb attack. Fortunately, this cardinal was nowhere near as quick and speedy as the blue jay had been. As it zoomed at his head, Mack ducked and the bird sailed right on by.

As the cardinal buzzed around to make another pass at his blonde head, Mack swung the flat of his axe blade into the bird's path. It couldn't pull up in time and slammed head first into the steel blade and fell to the ground at Mack's feet. Not wasting any time, he moved forward a bit and brought one of his booted feet down on the bird as hard as he could. As he lifted his foot to see if he had killed the bird it came twittering up at him again, chattering away. Apparently, a curb stomp wasn't quite going to be enough to kill the red missile.

ID: 26522
BD: 7
Mack: 13/13
Cardinal: 5/7 (-2 Dam)

After resting for several minutes, and downing the small container of water from his inventory which evaporated away into nothingness as its durability was depleted, Mack climbed back to his feet using the haft of his battle axe as a walking stick for a moment to get up and moving again. The few minutes rest and water break had worked wonders for him, and he was ready to go find another new NPC mob to kill. So far, on the day, two mobs had dropped loot and two of them had been complete dead ends. Hopefully, whatever he found next would break the streak.

Using his axe as a primitive scythe to check the ground in front of him as he moved along, and make sure he didn't inadvertently come upon any kind of snake or vicious insect unaware since he was moving into an area where the grass was about as high as his waist, the enormous blonde warrior's eyes widened in surprise when the axe blade actually bit into something and an angry red blur boiled up out of the grass, twittering madly at him. As he'd been prodding through the grass with the axe blade, Mack had accidentally swung the blade into a cardinal, and the bird was none too happy about it.

While Mack had enjoyed the fight with the blue jay, in that it had been slightly more difficult than the first three enemies he had encountered, it was still a relative term. He hadn't just been in love with the encounter either. Still, he had finally worked up enough of an exercise from the animal encounters that it was time to take a bit of a breather to allow his hit points to fully replenish before jumping in to the next fight with a wild animal. Standing up straight and tall in the grass, and keeping a wary eye on the sky, the trudged for a handful of yards up a slight incline in the ground before flopping down on his back in the grass and allowing the battle axe to hit the ground next to him with a soft, dull thud. As he lay there on the ground he pulled up his inventory and extracted one of the water items, putting the bottle to his lips and taking a long pull as he waited for his HP to return to full.

ID: 26502 (entered wrong URL)
BD: 10
MD: 4
Mack: 9/11
Boar: 0/6 (-4 Dam)

This was going to take a bit of creativity. Yes, it most certainly was. There was no getting around it. Raising his fists, Mack dropped into a combat fighting stance that he'd learned from his combatives courses in the military. He didn't really think that the game would recognize those skills, since his player character lacked any ranks in a martial arts related skill. Still, it couldn't really hurt, right? Slowly he began to circle away from where his weapon had landed. Apparently, this boar had a smarter than average A.I., he doubted it would let him circle to the axe and simply pick it back up.

The pair of them circled for a few seconds until the weapon was directly behind the boar. Sensing that it had the advantage, the boar chose that moment to charge. "Damn," Mack swore loudly as the boar bore down on him. When it was close the blonde man sprang into the air and did the splits. Or, as close as he could get to the splits. Which was not that close. But, it was good enough. Placing his hands down on the boar's  back he vaulted over the beast in a considerably less than graceful maneuver. Still, it got the job done since the creature missed its attack.

Of course, that didn't mean that Mack landed on his feet. He wasn't exactly a cat, after all. Thudding down on his knees, the warrior scrambled forward and wrapped his hands around the haft of his axe as the boar wheeled around and charged at his exposed back. In an act of desperation, Mack pivoted on his left knee and swung the axe full force across his body. To his shock, the blade slammed into the boar's neck. Mack gave it a rough jerk and heard an audible crack as the boar's neck snapped. The beast toppled over and the warrior rose to his feet.

Problem solved.

Peering around where the animal had dissolved he was disappointed to see that there was no little patch of col. But, at least the rotten beast had dropped a small roll of leather. He snatched it up and added it to his inventory. One item down, now to go and collect the easy stuff.

ID: 26500
BD: 1
Mack: 9/11
Boar: 4/6

This boar was proving to be a major pain in the rear. The first boar had not been nearly this difficult to kill. Why was this second one proving itself to be such a headache inducing pain? It made no logical sense, whatsoever. Growing in frustration the behemoth of a warrior raised his two handed battle axe above his head and, even though he didn't feel a sword skill click into place, he tomahawked the blade in the direction of the boar. Maybe, if he was lucky, it would smack the stupid creature and cause enough damage that it would die.

Apparently, though, the luck gods had completely abandoned him. The bristly brown beast tossed its head in a manner that could only be classified as haughty. It neatly intercepted the weapon and batted it to the side. Now Mack was without his axe and staring down an angry boar. Clearly, the game engine for SAO was not fond of players trying to turn their two-handed weapons into impromptu arrows. Lesson learned, now hopefully it wouldn't prove to be a deadly lesson.

ID: 26499
MD: 7
Mack: 9/11 (-1 Dam)
Boar: 4/6

Mack narrowed his grey eyes and sized up the boar, both of them stopping momentarily in their circling of one another. The boar snorted and the warrior growled right back at it, launching a wad of spittle that landed at the boar's feet. The message was obvious, though Mack doubted that the boar would be able to comprehend the insult. Nobody programmed a boar with that high of a level of A.I. The two combatants, man and beast, continued to glare daggers at one another, considering their next moves.

"Bring it, scruffy," Mack called in a derisive tone, taunting the beast. The boar, it seemed, was all too willing to oblige. It pawed the ground a couple of times and abruptly charged forward. Mack held out his weapon a little to the side, trying to imitate the bull fighters that everyone was familiar with. All he had to do was ole the boar and then smack it in the back. Unfortunately, the boar wasn't having any of that as it charged straight at him. At the last possible moment the blonde man tried to side step the boar, but he wasn't quite able to completely clear it. The animal clipped him with one of its tusks as it sprinted past and half spun Mack around. Quickly enough, though, he recovered from the attack and readied himself for the next round.
 

ID: 26498
BD: 3
Mack: 10/11
Boar: 4/6

Mack and the boar circled each other warily. To this point in their duel to the death each had managed to land one successful strike on the other and, as far as Mack was concerned, he was winning the battle. After all, he had the higher damage rating of the two of them and the deeper health pool. Therefore, there was no good reason why he should lose this match. On top of that, he had no intention of being killed by a digital boar. What an embarrassing tombstone that would be in the real world.

"Here lies Stephen Mack. He died doing what he loved, right up to the point that a digital boar curb stomped him."

How embarrassing. To say nothing of pathetic. No, the little piggy had to die.

As the boar prepared to dart forward again, Mack launched a side swinging attack at the boar. It didn't connect, but that hadn't really been the point of the attack. All Mack had wanted to do was force the boar to back off a bit while he continued to search for an opening in its defenses, and he had certainly achieved that goal. The pair of combatants resumed circling one another.

ID: 26497
MD: 6
Mack: 10/11 (-1 Dam)
Boar: 4/6

Faster than Mack would have thought was possible, the boar wheeled around and sank its teeth into his boot protected calf. Of course, since the boots were the simple newbie starting gear, they really didn't offer that much in the way of protection. The warrior swore loudly and smashed the butt of his axe handle squarely into the boar's head right between the eyes. The blow didn't cause any actual damage to the animal, but it surprised the boar for a split second since it clearly hadn't expected the attack. That was all Mack needed to rip his leg free from the boar's jaws. Raising his axe into a ready position, he backed slowly away from the boar and waited for another opportunity to strike to present itself.

ID: 26496
BD: 8
Mack: 11/11
Boar: 4/6 (-2 Dam.)

As Mack crept up on the boar he was careful to watch his step this time. He had a good chance to ambush the creature and, unlike the very first animal he'd ever faced in the world of SAO, he didn't want to alert this one to his presence simply because he stupidly was talking to himself or happened to step on a twig or small tree branch at an inopportune moment. Creeping a little bit closer to the boar, which still had it's back to him, the axe wielder tightened his grip on his weapon and was just about ready to leap from his place of concealment when the animal suddenly turned its profile to him.

So much for being able to launch a backstabbing sneak attack for the critical hit bonus. Mack exhaled softly through his nose.

Still, even without the advantage of a back stab he wasn't about to simply let this boar wander off. He didn't want to have to take the time to try and find another one when this one was ripe for the taking. Bursting suddenly out of the tall grass into a small dirt floored clearing Mack swung the axe in a vicious sideways cleave, slamming the axe head deep into the boar's side before ripping it free.

Emerging from the dimly lit blacksmith's shop back out into the street proper, near noon no less, Mack was forced to squint his grey eyes for a moment as his eyes readjusted to the noontime brightness, even in an area of the city like the market district that was, naturally, going to be a little bit more shade filled than other places. "Two ore, one lumber, and one leather," he muttered to himself, shrugging his massive shoulders and beginning to push through the mass of unwashed flesh that were the shoppers in the market district. "Should be able to get that done by this evening, with a little bit of luck." It would have been nice if his earlier creature slaughtering would have granted him at least one of the items that he needed for the quest, but Mack wasn't that lucky. All he'd made was a little bit of col and a few odds and ends trinkets.

Within half an hour he was passing back out through the gates of the city and into the surrounding grasslands. Obviously, to retrieve the lumber he needed he would have to head off in the direction of some of the forested regions and, since he assumed that retrieving the ore would probably mean he would have to do a spot of mining, it made the most logical sense to head off in the direction of some of the hills that seemed to be several miles in the distance. Finding a boar, or wolf, to kill along the way wouldn't prove to be all that difficult out here in the grasslands.

Following his own sort of direct line path to his destination, and not caring even slightly when his chosen path led him to deviate from the roadway, it wasn't long before the blonde warrior found the first thing he would need in his quest for a new and improved weapon, a hulking boar. Unsheathing his axe from across his back, Mack readied the weapon and began to stalk his prey.

ID: 26489
BD: 10
LD: 9
Mack: 7/11
Blue Jay: -2/6 (-4 Dam)

Mack's grey eyes narrowed in anger at the offending blue jay. True, he had picked this fight all by himself, but fighting a song bird should not be proving to be this strenuous. "Come on, you feathered bastard," he growled, swinging the axe back and forth from hand to hand and waiting for the bird to come in for another attack. After a few seconds of darting around and seeking an opening in the blonde warrior's defenses the blue jay came screaming in, cawing its tiny little head off, like some kind of mad feathered kamikaze.

"Not this time," the olive green clad man roared. Raising his axe high above his head he brought it whistling down on the screaming jay, scoring a direct hit. There was so much force behind the blow that Mack neatly bisected the bird as it and his axe blade hit the ground, burying the blade several inches into the ground. With a savage tug, Mack ripped the axe from the ground as the bird dissolved. Then he growled in frustration and buried the blade in the ground again where the bird had been. Once again, no loot.

ID: 26488
MD: 10
Mack: 7/11 (-3 Dam.)
Blue Jay: 2/6

As the blonde axe man raised his weapon for another strike at his azure adversary the blue abruptly dove forward in a diving attack while Mack was still in the process of readying his weapon. Quickly the feathered fencer darted inside of the axe-man's guard and its feet momentarily found purchase on the neckline of the blonde's shirt, of all places. In rapid succession the blue jay delivered three quick, needle sharp, pecks directly into Mack's throat.

"Son of a..." the warrior began, the rest of whatever it was he was going to say was drowned out as he released the axe's shaft with his right and and clamped it on the offending blue jay. Cocking his arm back, he flung the feathered missile away from his body with all his strength. Of course, that had no effect on the blue jay since it could fly. In his anger, and desire to get the bird off of him, Mack had momentarily forgotten about that fact.

ID: 26486
MD: 8
BD: 8
Mack: 10/11 (-1 Dam)
Blue Jay: 2/6 (-2 Dam)

If there was anything to be said for the blue jay, it was that it was faster than any of the other animals that Mack had fought thus far. Judging by the way it feinted and dodged in the air, it was also probably smarter. It also didn't seem to be as phased by the fact that the warrior had smacked it with his axe as the other creatures had been. Likely that meant it was a higher level than the boar, bee, and eagle had been. Just as well, increased challenge meant an increased likelihood of being rewarded for his efforts.

Like a fencer with a rapier, the blue jay at last darted forward to attack. Mack swung his axe across his body, trying to pick the little song bird out of the air. But, his swing sailed high as the bird dipped at the last second. The axe-man continued his follow through as he felt the bird's talons, if a blue jay could be considered to even have talons, rake across the flesh of his right arm and as the bird looped around behind him the warrior felt his axe strike its target. What incredible luck! The blue jay had inadvertently flown into the arc of Mack's follow through on his swing and the hulking blonde had managed to score a second hit on the bird. He whirled to face his avian adversary and readied his axe for another attack.

ID: 26484
BD: 7
Mack: 11/11
Blue Jay: 4/6 (-2 Dam.)

Mack growled in frustration and tightened his grip on his battle axe. He hadn't honestly expected to find loot after every creature that he killed. Nonetheless, it was slightly aggravating to get, in his opinion, cheated out of a minute amount of col for having defeated the eagle. Especially since the eagle had ambushed him. Standing up once more, the blonde warrior shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun and scanned his surroundings, resting the haft of his battle axe on the ground as he surveyed everything. His anger at not receiving at least a little bit of the col from the eagle made him ready to lash out at the first thing that crossed his field of vision. Even if the flash of azure made it apparent that it was nothing more than a blue jay, a blue jay that wasn't particularly interested in picking a fight with him.

Hefting the axe in his hands Mack crept forward and readied himself for a sideways chop at the bird as it cut across his path, heading in a completely different direction. There was a slight amount of resistance against the blade of the axe as it bit into Mack's chosen target. The blue jay chattered angrily and wheeled around in the air to face its attacker. "Less nagging, more fighting, bird." Mack growled and raised the axe to strike again.

ID: 26444
BD: 10
MD: 2
LD: 6
Mack: 9/9
Eagle: -2/5 (-4 Dam)

As the eagle whooshed by for a second time Mack reflected on the fact that this was the first enemy he had faced in the game that he had been unable to annihilate with a single strike. That meant that either the animals were getting progressively stronger as he leveled up, which made some logical sense, or that he needed to spend some of the skill points he had earned on perks and upgrades. Assuming, of course, that he had any extra SP to spend at the moment. As he switched his grip on the axe to something that would be more conducive to a side swinging chop the soldier resolved to check out his stats after the battle with the eagle was concluded to see if there were skill upgrades that he needed to purchase. As the eagle swooped in for another strike Mack raised the axe and bore the haft at the eagle which, obligingly, locked its talons around the weapons handle. It a savage downward jerk the warrior slammed the eagle into the ground and then stomped directly on its head. The bird managed a strangled squawk of protest before dissolving into pixels and disappearing. Mack searched the ground where he had killed the eagle, but there was no loot to be found this time.

ID: 26441
MD: 2
Mack: 9/9
Eagle: 2/5

Clearly in an unhappy mood the eagle wheeled around in the air and, rather than trying to gain altitude for another dive bombing attack it beat its wings furiously and made a direct run on Mack again. The eagle raised its razor sharp talons as it bore down on the blonde warrior that had just impaled it seconds earlier. Clearly, the eagle's A.I. had one thought in it's mind, to bury its talons in the chest of the warrior and bear it to the ground where it could savage the axe-man until there was nothing left of what the eagle perceived as an insignificant annoyance. As it screamed in, Mack neatly ducked to the left and the eagle missed wildly for a second time, its talons raking the air in a futile effort to strike the warrior down.

ID: 26439
BD: 9
Mack: 9/9
Eagle: 2/5 (-3 Dam)

The eagle was flapping and squawking furiously as it tried to get itself into the air once again after its ill-fated dive. Had it been a real eagle, and not the game's version of one, Mack would have felt a lot worse about what it was he was getting ready to do. As things stood though, with the racket the eagle was making and the fact that the winged beast had tried to scalp him not even thirty seconds earlier, Mack felt no remorse towards the creature as he raised his axe above his head and brought it down squarely in the middle of the eagle's back. There was a veritable explosion of feathers as the blow connected with the bird of prey and it squawked angrily as it finally managed to get itself back into the air.

ID: 26434
MD: 1
Mack: 9/9
Eagle: 5/5

Two animals down, untold scores still to go. Mack watched his health bar refill the one point that he had lost in the battle with the bumble bee after the striped baron had succeeded in impaling him in the chest with its stinger. So far, in this low-level area, the axe-wielder hadn't really encountered any creatures that had caused him to worry that he might not be able to defeat them. Of course, that was the goal of these kind of low-level areas. Quick and simple and safe leveling early in the game. As he scanned the fields around him, he never bothered to look up to see if there might be an attack coming from above, his only warning was a last second "Screee!" from a massive eagle.

"Damn," Mack swore, flinging himself to the right and reaching over his shoulder to draw his battle axe in one fluid motion. As he rolled back to his feet, axe in hand, the eagle went screeching past his body in a full on dive, slamming into the ground full force with a rather sickening thud. It squawked loudly in indignation and flapped its enormous feathered wings, trying to right itself and get back into the air for another attack.

The Knight? Clearly, someone had some delusions of grandeur to be introducing themselves so grandly at the level that both of them were, quite clearly, at. Mack would need to disabuse this player of those delusions and set out, clearly, the expectations for their temporary partnership. This, right here, was one of the reasons why he joined parties so infrequently, because too many low level players had delusions of grandeur. The problem was not one that went away at the higher levels either since the high level players usually added narcissism and just general unpleasantness to the mix.

"You are no knight, Narshe," Mack said simply, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're barely a squire. I am at the same stage. If this truly is a death game then you will need to acknowledge the truth of your situation, at all times, in order to survive. Do not think that you are more than you are, that's how you get killed. Becoming a knight is a worthy goal, with time you will reach it." Or die in the attempt, Mack thought to himself, but he didn't voice that last bit aloud.

"I'm Mack, a low-level fighter like yourself," he hulking blonde continued, offering a hand to Narshe to shake. "I've found some wolf tracks, they should lead us to a small pack. Decent XP, probably not much loot. I suggest we form a party to take them down. Loot will be divided evenly between us from the wolves. In the unlikely event that a weapon drops, if it is one handed it is yours and if it is two handed then it is mine. I'll tank, as much as possible, at such a low level as I'm bigger and have more HP than you do. Do we have an agreement," Mack concluded, regarding Narshe with a penetrating grey-eyed gaze.

Feel free to jump into my open thread. If you follow the link in my signature to my journal you'll find a link to "Defeating the Pack". Feel free to jump in, if you want.

ID: 26400
BD: 10 (4 dam)
MD: 8 (1 dam)
LD: 11
Mack: 6/7 (1 Dam)
Bee: 0/4 (4 Dam)

At least his time serving in the military, in a combat role and a combat zone no less, had given Mack exceptionally good recovery reflexes. Rolling from his back to his chest Mack planted his hands on the ground and shoved himself quickly to his feet. Taking his eyes off of the bee for a moment, the soldier moved a few feet to one side to make sure he didn't step into the gopher hole for a third time. The bulky blonde man was just raising his axe above his head to unleash an overhanded chop, like the one he'd used to dispatch the boar when the bee slammed into his chest stinger first.

Mack grunted from the impact of the bee. So, this was what it felt like to be hit by a virtual bee. There was a slight pinching sensation in his chest. "My turn," Mack growled and the bee pulled its stinger out of his chest. As the inspect was backing away to make another attempt at zooming in and impaling him for a second time Mack brought his axe blade down on the bee as the blade skill clicked in again. The blade bit deep into the bee's back, directly between the inspect's wings. It twitched for a moment and then exploded into pixelated pieces. Another one hit kill. 

With his second creature killed and no longer a threat Mack toed around in the grass near where the bee had been killed, searching for loot. After a few minutes of pawing the ground he found another little leather bag full of col. Pulling on the bags drawstrings, Mack opened it and peered inside. There was more col in this bag than there had been in the first one, but not by much. Maybe twenty col, all said and done. Still, every little bit helped. Sheathing the axe again at his back, Mack continued through the grasslands and noted with some satisfaction, that he had crossed another level up barrier which re-filled his hit points to full.

Pushing his way through the crowds of shoppers, Mack made his way among the various stalls and shops that made up this particular market district in the city. When it was necessary, he pushed his way through people that were in his way, not terribly caring one way or the other if they were player characters or NPC's. After all, he was in the city right now and the city was a safe zone, so there was nothing to worry about in terms of getting player killed since the only way to fight another player in the city was in an agreed upon duel and, at his level, Mack had no intention of getting into a duel with another player. That was a sure way to commit suicide.

At last, after almost thirty minutes of dealing with the crowds, the tall axe-man spied a sign that had an anvil and two crossed smithy hammers on it. If that wasn't a blacksmith's shop or forge, then nothing was. Pushing his way through the remaining crowd between himself and the shop Mack reached the heavy maple door and, wrapping his right hand around the handle, tugged it open before disappearing into the dark interior of the shop. Mack peered around at the basic goods that were for sale, all of which were outside of his price range for the moment. Even if he were to sell, literally, the clothes off of his back.

"Pretty pathetic looking axe you've got there," the smith said, a wide grin splitting his features. "I'd offer to sell you something better, but you're clearly too poor. Your only hope is to complete a quest for me and craft something better. Do you want to be a smith, or not?"

A window popped up in front of Mack, asking if he wanted to accept a quest called "Earning a Living - Blacksmith". Mack didn't even pause to consider the question, he simply reached out with his hand and tapped the "Yes" button. That done Mack rolled his head around on his shoulders and glared at the smith. ""What do I need to complete the quest," Mack asked in a demanding tone, crossing his bulging arms over his chest.

"You're cocky, this job will fix that problem," the Smith said, nodding in approval. "You need to bring me two ore items, one piece of lumber, and one leather. The leather can be either wolf or boar, it doesn't really matter. Once you have all the items return to me and I'll allow you to use my forge to craft a new weapon." Mack listened to the list of items that he would need to gather and nodded his head once in understanding. It seemed he was going to be headed back out into the wilds beyond the town to gather up the needed materials. Without another word he spun on his heel and exited the blacksmith's shop.

ID: 26399
BD: 1
Mack: 7/7
Bee: 4/4

As the bee went whizzing by over his head Mack regained his footing and stood up straight. Now the blonde warrior was going to show the insect what was what. Raising the axe to one side for a swinging chop, just like a big league slugger, Mack grinned with a wicked glee. If he could kill a boar in one swing then there was no way that this bee could hope to survive. He was going to atomize the little buzzing insect and he planned on enjoying every second of it. As the bee came around for another pass Mack stepped into the swing and launched his attack...

Only to step into the same gopher hole and, this time, he really did topple over and land flat on his back in the grass. Apparently, SAO fighting was geared towards the slap stick comedy end of things. It was the only way to explain what was going on in every fight.

ID: 26397
MD: 3
Mack: (7/7)
Bumble Bee: (4/4)

As the hulking behemoth was advancing on the bee he raised his axe, ready to bring it down directly in the middle of the bee's back. Just one more step and he'd be able to swing, a beautiful sneak attack. Then, out of nowhere, there was a gopher hole. Of all places. "What the hell," Mack bellowed as he stepped into the hole. Alerted by the noise Mack was making, the bee whirled around and buzzed angrily in the direction of the axe-wielding, and extremely agitated, warrior. As he tried to rip his foot free from the hole Mack over-balanced himself, likely because he happened to be trying to ready his axe at the same time. As a result he stumbled forward and had to throw out his hands to catch himself to avoid face planting like the boar had done a few minutes earlier. Just as his hands hit the ground the bee when whizzing over his head, missing in its own attack because Mack had been possessed of unsure footing. 

Small blessings.