Yamato

OOC: Withdrawing.

As Asterios, seemingly, called the fight to a temporary halt the Irishman sheathed his tomahawk and considered his options. While it seemed likely that he could, at the very least, keep up a combat front against the Field Commander minion that had been spawned earlier in the fight it was extremely unlikely that he would be able to do anything other than get in the way if he tried to fight Asterios. It seemed quite clear that the King of the Minotaurs was beyond his capability to fight in a safe and meaningful way. It would have been like trying to sink a battleship by ramming a wave runner into it and, unfortunately for the blonde man, in that metaphor he was the wave runner. Sighing, the solo adventurer sheathed ran a finger over the blade of the sheathed tomahawk and slung his shield over his back before departing, silently, from the field to observe what remained of the combat from a safe distance.

Battle Order:
 

Yamato's emerald eyes shot in the direction of Izzrikl as the man in his group dissolved in a shower of blue pixels. It was disappointing, and somewhat disheartening, to see a player in his own group killed. Still, the Irishman understood that such was to be expected if someone partook in what was the equivalent of a Boss Raid with gear that was not up to scratch, and Izzrikl had certainly seemed to only be using gear that was of the most basic beginner variety. If the boss used an area of effect attack, as Nato had, then no amount of tanking in all of Aincrad would be able to prevent the players in the group from taking damage and, in Izzrikl's case that damage had proven to be fatal indeed.

With a silent determination, Yamato moved in to assault Colonel Nato once again, drawing the tomahawk in his hand out wide and whipping the heavy axe head across his body to slam into the Minotaur four different times with the final blow slamming into Nato's neck with bone shattering force that produced a brief shower of red pixels that indicated a critical hit had been scored. Raising his shield to a defensive position, the blonde man hunkered down and began to back away from Colonel Nato.

Battle Order and Roll:

OOC: This is one of Mack's alts. In an effort to keep this event moving at a good clip we're going to run the combat posting with the 72 Hours per group rule instead of the 24 Hours per person. From right now, everyone in Group 1 has 72 Hours (3 Days) to get their attacks in or be skipped. Order is irrelevant, the lists only exist so people know which group they are in.

The blonde Irishman simply remained silent, and slightly aloof, from the rest of the players that had assembled for the Boss Raid. Once he had arrived at the marshaling area, he had completely separated himself from the knot of players that he had followed to the location. Happy with the state of his gear and his mental preparedness the Irishman sheathed his tomahawk, crossed his arms over his chest, and waited patiently to be placed somewhere within the Raid Party and be told what to do. The soldier simply nodded his understanding as first Hikoru and then Vargas began issuing orders. As soon as Vargas dashed off to attack Colonel Nato the Irishman drew his Tomahawk and readied his shield before he went pelting across the field of knee high grass to slam the business end of the weapon into the towering brown-furred minotaur several times.

Battle Order, Roll, and Stats:

Yamato stood just inside one of the main gates to the principle settlement on the third floor and checked over his gear, idly running his left index finger over the head of his tomahawk axe the Heart of the Forest. As the blonde Irishman was considering his plans for the day, likely a bit of mob farming on one of the floors anywhere from the fifth on down when a small group of players caught his attention as they passed through the gate and out into the pastoral fields beyond. It was not so much the players themselves that caught the blonde's attention as it was the topic of their discussion. Yamato distinctly heard the word "Field Boss" and that made up his mind for him. Even though he had no intention of joining the group of players, at least not directly, it seemed rather clear that they were heading for something that was a raid level event. The opportunities to farm valuable experience would be plentiful, and the blonde axe man wasn't about to miss the chance. Quietly, he feel into step far enough behind them that he could keep the assembled players in sight and followed them to their destination.

Stats:

Yamato wandered quietly into the midst of the players that were assembling to fight some kind of event boss. Given that he had only just arrived at the party in time to hear the announcement of the coming event the Irishman had not had much of a chance to either make the rounds at the party to meet new players, or enjoy himself at all. Not that he minded such things, given the state of his attire for the party. Calling it "gaudy" would have been an understatement as far as he was concerned. With the Heart of the Forest, a tomahawk, sheathed at his side and the Bramble Patch round shield tossed over his back the blonde soldier was ready to contribute and he silently made his way over in the direction of Mack. The hulking Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath seemed like someone that would be good to follow and, regardless, the big man was sure to draw the monsters in his group which would leave Yamato free to act in relative safety.

Stats:

OOC: Last spot, Group 4.

Yamato was well aware of the irony of his clothing choice for the event. An Irishman wearing a green suit, and not a dark green or even a forest green but a bright almost neon green suit. By the time the blonde had gotten around to heading out to do a spot of shopping for finding something for the event it was a very last minute sort of thing. There had not been a lot of choices at any of the tailors, regardless of whether or not they were the Non-player character or player run shops. On top of all that the suit included a kilt, not suit pants. Not that a kilt was something that bothered the Irishman that much, but it was done up in a plaid square pattern of the same lurid green along with hunter orange and white. So, it looked like nothing so much as if he was wearing a facsimile of the Irish flag.

As he entered the main ballroom one of the guards was stepping forward and making an announcement about some kind of boss. "Excellent," the fighter muttered under his breath, quickly stepping just outside of the castle and equipping all of his proper gear. When the mass exodus of players occurred as they left the castle Yamato would simply fall in with them and head out to fight the boss, easy as that.

OOC: Writing post now, but all the rolling and DMG application are done. @Vargas you can get started.

Yamato ignored, completely, all of the drama that was going on between the front line players that were taking part in this raid. The truth of the matter was that the discussion they were having had little to no bearing on him personally, therefore it was no concern of his. Plus, considering his level compared to theirs the Irishman knew he was, basically, an ant. There were things a man could do, and things a man couldn't do. There were also things a man shouldn't do, unless he was suicidal. Instead he calmly fell in with the group to which he had been assigned and, for the most part, remained silent during the march out to the boss' area.

Quietly, Yamato watched as the combat unfolded though, he had to admit it was somewhat terrifying watching Morgenstern get launched into the sky. If there was one thing almost every player in SAO feared, it was falling damage because there were very few ways to mitigate or remove it. Once again, though, the blonde axe man knew it was better for Morgenstern to get launched than it was for him to get launched. Grunting, once it was his turn to attack, Yamato sprinted out from the cover afforded by the edge of the clearing and launched a strike that scored a solid hit against Nerius.

Battle Order and Roll:

Yamato appeared in the portal plaza of the second floor city of Urbus, with his axe and shield slung over his back. Moving out of the way of any other players that might be using the portal the Irishman swung his head around, scanning with his ice blue eyes before setting off in the direction of the northern gate. Having taken part in some of these event raids previously he had a pretty good rough idea of where he needed to go and, sure enough, it wasn't a great challenge to spot the gathering of players in the northern gate that were gearing up for the raid.

Stats in Spoiler

OOC: Just going to wrap this up so we can be done with it.

With the rising of the morning sun, and the precious cargo they were supposed to be finding stored safely in his inventory, Yamato rose to his feet and signaled the others from the mouth of the cave that it was time to move out. As he stepped out into the early morning sunlight that was already filtering across and heating up the desert Yamato pulled the trusty balaclava up over his nose and mouth once again. Overall the group made good time back across the sand dunes and through the desert wastes. By the time the early evening had rolled around the weary line of warriors had stumbled back into the town of Armadillo, quickly finding the quest NPC and completing the final requirement of the quest to be rewarded.

REWARDS:

Survival Skill - For those that don't already have it
+1 SP - For those that have completed the quest previously.
+2 SP - For those completing the quest for the first time.
+400 Col - Nikodemus Blackwood, because he's already done this quest before.

OOC: @Khrysaor, this round and then the traveling back to town round. 2 more posts apiece and we're done.

ID: 62640
CD: 9 (Safe)

Hearing Rain call out from deeper in the cave that he believed he had found the missing cargo the blonde Irishman abandoned his post at the entrance of the cave and wandered a bit deeper into the temporary shelter, tugging down the balaclava that was covering his nose and mouth as he moved in the direction of Rain's voice. Once he had made his was to Rain's side, Yamato knelt on the ground and tapped the box that he had found. Sure enough, a dialogue box popped up and Yamato's ice blue eyes quickly scanned it. "Good catch," he murmured in a low and lilting tone, clapping Rain on the shoulder. "We'll head back for town first thing in the morning, traveling the desert at night isn't safe. Even with him in our group," the Irishman continued, jerking a thumb in Nikodemus' direction.

OOC: @Khrysaor

ID: 62086
CD: 6 (Safe)

Yamato was no stranger to a desert environment, though it was true he could hardly call such places comfortable or homey it was an undeniable truth that there were worse places in the world to call home. Swiping a finger in the air in front of him, the Irishman called up his player menu. Scrolling quickly through the screens of the menu that was opaque to everyone but himself, Yamato eventually called up what he was looking for. A white balaclava, which he tapped and equipped causing the clothing item to spring into place over his throat, nose, and mouth as the group marched slowly into the desert. Ever the quiet one, the blonde man kept to himself as the day slowly passed with the weather turning more and more foul as a savage wind storm kicked up. With night coming on, Yamato made his way at the head of the group over to what appeared to be a small cave in a sandstone cliff face. Entering the cave, Yamato stationed himself near the entrance and waited for the others to join him.

ID: 61174
CD: 5 (No Damage)

Yamato allowed his ice blue gaze to sweep around the players that were assembling around him. In all honesty, it was a larger group than the Irishman had expected. Not that it mattered, there was strength in numbers as he had said. Even if one of those members had the orange cursor of a player killer. Nikodemus' cursor gave the soldier pause for a moment but at last, he shrugged his shoulders and accepted it in his own mind. With five other people present, they could address Nikodemus if he decided he wanted to get rowdy or out of hand.

"Khry, Helios, Rain, Niko, an'... uh... milady," Yamato replied, nodding his head to each of them in turn and trying to invent a name for Teion since she hadn't offered one up. "This is a larger group than I expected, but a welcome one," the axe man continued, not sounding altogether thrilled with the prospect of working with others, though he accepted that it was a necessity to do so in just about every massively multiplayer online game that had ever been released. Very few of them were designed to be completed by purely solo players.

"I'm Yamato," the Irishman continued in a thick brogue. Swiping a finger in the air in front of him he quickly sent a party request to all of the players that were assembled. "Looks like we're goin' on a camping trip, it says this quest is a day and night journey out into the desert to complete. No point in wasting any further time, we can chat during the walk if we really want to." Without too much more in the way of pleasantries, the fighter drew his axe and shouldered the weapon before starting to march out into the desert.

Yamato wandered through the doors of the pub on the eleventh floor where the Boss Raid meeting was to be held just in time to see a bear cub launch itself through the air to attack a lion cub. Silently, the Irishman wondered if those kinds of actions were the norm. Shrugging his shoulders, the Irishman moved to one of the seats around the perimeter of the bar and settled in, far enough away from everyone that he wouldn't be drawn into any conversations that didn't interest him unless someone else were to join him nearby. He had sat in on the previous Boss Raid Meeting and it seemed wise to sit in on this one. If nothing else it would help him to become a more familiar face among the front liners, even if he wasn't actively participating there.

OOC: Obviously, Yamato doesn't really know any of you guys IC yet... though you all know me OOC. So, there seems but one logical way to go about gathering the group.

Yamato watched through narrowed ice blues eyes as several players began milling about Armadillo. Any number of them might prove to be highly useful allies in tackling the Traveler Quest. The problem was that it would take absolutely forever to go around to everyone one at a time to talk to them about taking the quest. There was a much simpler, and more efficient, way of going about rounding up anyone from the players milling about that might be interested in tackling the quest with him. Stepping out from his place in the shadow cast by one of the buildings, the blonde man moved into the center of the small plaza and took a deep breath. "Attention everyone," he belted out in a thick Irish brogue. "I intend to tackle the Traveler quest, an' anyone that wishes to come along is welcome ta do so... there's always strength in numbers!"

OOC: 48 Hour posting limit or you get skipped.

Yamato stood before the quest board near the center of Armadillo, surrounded by buildings that had been constructed from sand and stone and possibly even sandstone. The blonde man's ice blue eyes squinted at the board as he considered the quests that were available and weighed the benefits and drawbacks to attempting each of them. On of them, simply called the Traveler, didn't look as if it would be all that hard to complete. It didn't seem to call for any combat. But, it would require leaving the confines of the safe zone in Armadillo, so there was no guarantee that there would be no combat.

Truth be told, the Irishman wasn't quite certain that he could handle a base level mob on the fifth floor, at least not quite yet. Still, as long as he was careful there didn't seem to be too much danger that would be involved. It would just require keeping his eyes open for any potential mobs. That, and a group of players to keep watch at night since the quest indicated it would be time consuming to complete. Tapping the 'Accept' button for the quest, the blonde fighter turned and began heading back in the direction of the main portal plaza to see who all he could round up.

Completed with Avilon.

Completed with Avilon.

Avilon's question was punctuated by the sounds of a crying child. The non-player character child emerged from the darkness and threw its arms around Avilon's midsection. "I want to go home to mommy," the child bawled, clutching the woman tightly and sobbing uncontrollably. Yamato sighed, it was a bit over the top on the programming in terms of the dramatics. But, on the plus side, they didn't have to search the entirety of the cave system to find the one quest object they needed to complete the quest and that was definitely a plus.

"We return the lad to his mother, an' we're done."

THREAD REWARDS:
+2 SP (Both Players, 1 Quest & 1 Thread)
+400 Col (Avilon, Thread)
+275 Col (Avilon, Quest)

OOC: I cannot roll for combat to save my life right now.

ID: 60155
BD: 3
MD: 10 (No Thorns DMG)
CD: 9 (+1 Energy Recover)
[H:5] Yamato: 11/16 (0/4) [14-26=1 DMG]
[H:4] Avilon: 36/36
Giant Bat 2: 14/50

Yamato heard the telltale noise that indicated that one of the two bats had been properly dispatched by Avilon. Just as well, this fight was starting to drag on far longer than the Irishman wanted. In truth, they should have been done with this combat by now. It was the confounded darkness that was slowing them both down in dispatching their foes. The inky pitch blackness made it next to impossible to see their foes as they tried to attack them. With a murderous screech, the lone remaining bat launched a diving attack on the blonde man and, because the game system granted the flying mammal a critical hit there was no retaliatory strike from the thorns enchantment on his armor.

Completed with Avilon.

"Nicely done," Yamato called from his place under the leafy canopy of the forest. Advancing to the spot where Avilon had delivered the final killing blow to the insect the Irishman dropped to one knee and examined the spot for a few moments. "Here," he said, tossing one of the two Matriarch's Stinger potions in Avilon's direction. "To the victor go the spoils, there's one here for each of us," he continued, tapping the potion and adding it to his inventory. "That's three down, one more to go."

THREAD REWARDS:

+4 SP (Both Players, 3 Quest & 1 Thread)
+1 Matriarch's Stinger [+1 DMG/Thread] (Both Players, Quest)
+400 Col (Avilon, Thread)

ID: 60089
BD: 4
MD: 4
CD: 7 (+1 Energy Recover)
[H:5] Yamato: 12/16 (0/4)
[H:2] Avilon: 36/36
Giant Bat 1: 2/50 (-5 DMG)
Giant Bat 2: 33/50

"It's simple enough, lass," Yamato replied, shrugging his shoulders in the inky darkness as the bats continued to flap madly around the two of them. "If you can't see them, then you have to listen for them. Without vision, hearing becomes the next best sense for tracking bats in the darkness sense they don't smell like skunks." The Irishman fell silent for a moment, heeding his own advice and going into tracking mode to try and figure out where the two bats were. With a sudden flick of his arm he sent his axe out, but the weapon failed to find its mark.

ID: 60076
BD: 9
MD: 3
CD: 5 (No Energy Recover)
[H:5] Yamato: 13/16 (0/4)
[H:2] Avilon: 36/36
Giant Bat 1: 5/50 (-5 DMG)
Giant Bat 2: 50/50

"The trick, lass, is to remain as quiet an' still as ye can," Yamato called out, trying to remain patient with the curvaceous woman in the pitch black darkness of the cave. "Ye have to listen an', when it sounds like the beasties are close then ye attack," the Irishman continued, feeling very much as if he was repeating himself. Standing as silently as he could in a ready position, Yamato listened to the now two bats flapping around above him. When the wings sounded close enough to his head he lashed out with his tomahawk and felt the weapon make solid contact with one of the bats which screeched in anger.

ID: 60075
BD: 6 (5+1)
MD: 9
CD: 4 (No Energy Recovery)
[H:1] Yamato: 34/36 5/9 (+1, -2 EN) [Hack: 2x1x4=8]
[H:2] Avilon: 43/44 10/11 (13-32=1)
Queen Bee: 3/50 [Deals 12 DMG per hit] (-8 DMG)

"Agreed, it shouldn' take too much longer," the axe man called out, tugging his tomahawk free from the tree in which it was embedded and whirling around to face the Queen Bee once again. Slowly he circled the insect, looking for an opening that he could exploit to successfully attack. After Avilon clipped the bug again the blonde man saw his opening and dashed forward, drawing his tomahawk back. Once he was in range he cut loose with the attack, slamming the weapon's blade down on the Queen Bee's head and lowering the creature's health bar from the yellow zone to the critical red zone.

OOC: Since you rolled a Natural 10 on your attack you actually hit the Bee for 5 instead of 4, so it has 28 HP instead of 29. :)

ID: 60079
BD: 2 (1+1)
MD: 8
CD: 7 (+1 Energy Recovery)
[H:0] Yamato: 34/36 6/9 (12-26=1)
[H:1] Avilon: 44/44 10/11
Queen Bee: 14/50 [Deals 12 DMG per hit] (-14 Thorns)

"If you say so," the Irishman grumbled. Deciding to take a chance, Yamato cocked his right arm back and launched his tomahawk through the air. The weapon tumbled end over end through the air, missed the Queen Bee by a wide margin, and buried itself blade first in the trunk of a nearby tree. That was definitely not what the blonde fighter had intended to happen when he had made the attack. Dashing forward, Yamato dropped to his knees as the bee dive bombed him, and raised his shield. The Queen's stinger thunked harmlessly off of the shield, dealing back some impressive thorns damage as Yamato popped back to his feet and rushed to the tree to retrieve his weapon.