Telrenya

It had been a while, but Telrenya always seemed to find herself coming back to the Town of Beginnings for one reason or another. The city was almost nostalgic in itself, being the longest-standing landscape in Aincrad for players to grow accustomed to. She'd met a lot of people on this floor, and assumed that she would meet many more before their collective adventure would finally be over. Stretching her arms over her head, the blonde stepped down from the teleport plaza in the center of town, giving the front of her pleated white skirt a couple of of quick brushes to needlessly smooth the material. She wore a smile of excitement, one that she had been holding onto ever since she received Embers' message earlier that morning. It had been too long since she had spent some time with the fiery redhead who had helped her so long ago. Keeping in touch was all well and good, and the game's messaging system left them just a few keystrokes away from conversation, but Telrenya felt that a meet-up was long overdue.

Having let Jomei know of her plans to catch up with her friend, her eyes naturally flickered to the top-left of her vision at the thought of the Irishman. They landed on his username, and the familiar green bar that represented his health in her party display. She wondered if the man would spend his time relaxing at home, or if he would make other plans while she was out. A softer smile graced her lips at the hint of curiosity, and the thought of inquiring about her fiance's day as they might enjoy a meal together later caused it to stretch a little wider.

Telrenya passed through the gates that led to the first floor's wilderness, the rolling plains giving her an impressive and unobscured view of the landscape. It seemed there weren't many players that spent their time farming the lowest-level of monsters down here anymore, as she could only spot a figure or two in the distance, slashing at boars and wolves that roamed the fields. Spotting an unmistakable head of vibrant red, Telrenya perked and pushed herself forward to close the distance between herself and Embers. Giving the woman a wave once she was sure the other player would have seen her approaching, she called out. "Hey Embers! Aahhh, it's really been too long, how have you been? Are you doing alright?"

Telrenya's head turned to cast her gaze down the tunnel where Hestia and Kimi had moved along to push forward while the rest of their party hung back. For whatever reason, Kairi seemed to have been having a difficult time, and so they temporarily split up to help the girl to safety. After their detour was taken care of and they could focus on catching up with the group, Telrenya kept up the pace between Spencer and Ryo until the sounds of an echoing battle reached her ears. "Looks like they found some more trouble already." She joked under her breath, and they would hurry to the scene until the masked woman's heels would dig into the uneven earth to bring her to a stop before their new foe.

"Alright, okay," Telrenya breathed out, drawing St. Andrew's Bane from its scabbard as she sized up the monster before them. Rather than a group of patrolling antmen, they were met with a single opponent that looked more menacing than any of the simple spear-wielders they'd taken down thus far. Letting out a steady breath, she lowered her body in order to break into a sprint, joining the fray without hesitation. In her hurry, she hadn't even noticed the additional player that fought alongside Hestia and Kimi, keeping her eyes trained instead on the Adviser. Darting forward, she easily sunk her thin blade into the monster's side, jerking her shoulder back in order to continue with an array of thrusts that would chip away at the large bar of health that hovered beside it.

ID#: 101505 | BD: 4(+4)(-2)=6 - Hit! Over Radiation (x14) +Charge Active | MD; 4(+2)(-3)=3 - Miss!
(15 base) + (3 charge) = (18 DMG) x (14 sword art) = 252 DMG

Group 1~
[H: 3] Hestia | 861/950 | 82/92 | 3 DMG | 1 ACC | -1 EVA | 131 MIT | 24 Bleed (8+) l 28 Thorns | 12 Burn (8+) | Paralyze (8+) | 1 Regen | 1 Recovery
[H: 0] Kimi | 420/420 | 40/42 | 14 DMG | 3 ACC | 0 MIT | 7 Thorns | 12 Burn (8+) | Paralyze (8+) | 2 LD  
[H: 0] Itzal | 1,490/1,490 | 144/146 | 17 DMG | 3 ACC | 3 EVA | 12 MIT | 24 Bleed (8+) | Paralyze (8+)
[H: 0] Ryo | 500/500 | 34/50 | 16 DMG | EVA 2 | ACC 3 | Mit 7

Group 2~
[H: 1] Telrenya | 522/680 HP | 44/68 EN | 15 DMG | 4 ACC | 3 EVA | 86 MIT | 
[H: 0] Spencer | 320/320 | 22/32 | 5 DMG | 0 ACC | 0 EVA | 29 MIT | 1 Regen | 1 Recovery | 14 Thorns

Mobs~
The Queen's Advisor | 545/825 HP | 220 DMG | 55 MIT | 2 ACC | 2 EVA

• Critical (MD 9): Deals (242) DMG to the target with the highest hate. Also deals (121) DMG to every other player.
• Critical (MD 10): Deals (264) DMG to the target with the highest hate. Also deals (132) DMG to every other player.

Total Loot:

• 11,630 Col
• (15) T2 Materials
• [Rare] T2 Weapon
• 2x [Rare] Consumables
• [Rare] T2 Armor/Shield
• 2x [Uncommon] Consumables (Telrenya)

"M-mm, right..." Telrenya's agreeance came quickly and nervously, with a small nod of her head. The pair willed themselves to continue moving through the dark and dreary tunnels in search for a way out while she tried incredibly hard not to think about how she couldn't remember all of the turns and the direction of each fork they had taken in order up to this point. Unless Jomei had an impressive memory, or he had been marking their way somehow without her noticing, heading back the way they came wasn't looking like a reliable option. So, forward they pressed on. They were more cautious now, and Telrenya's eyes scanned the walls and strained against the darkness ahead of them even moreso than they were before.

When a couple of minutes passed without any other alarming sounds or tells of their supposed company in the network of tunnels, Telrenya's brows began to knit. A mixture of confusion and growing impatience as their continued paces didn't seem to carry them any closer toward an obvious exit or goal. Just more dead things scattered over the uneven floors. The corner that they turned next was almost identical to several splits they had taken before, and so Telrenya thought nothing of what might lie around the sharp turn. Her soles scraped against the ground as she skidded to a stop, her body reacting on impulse to just how not-empty the corridor actually was. Her eyes widened as they fell on the gangly humanoid figure in front of them, and she let out a short, involuntary scream from her shock. Her right hand moved to the hilt of her rapier at her hip after her instincts kicked in, though the action was far from smooth. She had only managed to find her grip after a couple of precious seconds, and her slight stumble backwards to catch her balance didn't much help.

The stranger, surprisingly, had a very similar reaction to the blonde across from him. Not quite a man, but not exactly a monster, the creature's arm extended out to one side to catch himself as his own small yelp echoed against the cave walls. A face of mixed flesh and stone that initially bore shock and confusion quickly turned to panic as he registered the players' reactions and steel was sure to catch the torch's light. "W-w-wait!" He hurriedly croaked, the voice that left his throat hoarse and rough. He took a couple of steps back to try and distance himself from the threat of impalement, holding an open palm out towards them as if to ask them to hold their blades. "I'm--not..." He tried to form a sentence with more strained words before one of them would run him through. Having finally freed her weapon from its scabbard, Telrenya's brows furrowed slightly as she was able to take in the sight of the creature. "Oh," They raised again a second later, and the woman reached out to Jomei's arm with her free hand. "Wait, your cursor..." She spoke quietly while her frame slowly but surely relaxed as she stared at the yellow-tinted cursor that twirled above the creature's head.

Telrenya couldn't help but wince when the sound of the rusty hinges grinding against themselves reached her ears. She kept her grip on the Irishman's hand beside her while he worked to illuminate their path. The light from the salvaged torch was both welcomed and regretable as her brown eyes ran over what it revealed of their surroundings. The usual color in her cheeks faded slightly, and her reaction to swallow felt more difficult than normal. "More caves..." She said simply in a small voice. Forcing more words out, she thought back to their adventures in the winding tunnels of the twenty-first floor a few weeks ago. Though their path now was much less natural and riddled with many more corpses, she wouldn't put it past the game to give it plenty of its own surprises. "Wonder if we'll run into any more puzzles, or cultists." She thought aloud, the corner of her mouth picking up into a small smile at the memory of their adventures past.

The couple worked their way slowly down the winding path, hesitating on occasion when they would reach one of the many splits in the network of tunnels before they decided with route to take. Besides how morbid and unsettling the area was, they had yet to run into any surprises for several minutes of walking. At the same time, it was also beginning to feel as though they weren't really getting anywhere in their exploration. Telrenya frowned at the thought, and the blonde took a quick glance over her shoulder, peeking back at the dimly-lit passage for what little she could see. In an attempt to combat a stiff silence, the woman let her thoughts slip out into the air once more. "Maybe it's some kind of labyrinth? It'd be nice if we found something, like treas--"

Before her sentence was finished, Telrenya went rigid at the sound that echoed and bounced off of the rocky walls. A clanging, almost like a piece of metal had fallen and crashed to the ground. The fact that they had been left in silence when the air wasn't filled with their own footsteps or idle conversation, however, immediately led her to believe that they were no longer alone. Her hold on Jomei's hand had instinctively tightened, but she urged herself to relax in order to stay calm. She had unwittingly held her breath for a few moments, straining to hear anything else carried down the catacomb walls.

The players worked to bring down the pair of elites' health bars as swiftly as they could manage, and Telrenya was able to let out a small breath of relief when she noticed how little damage the monsters were throwing back at them. Keeping light on the balls of her feet, the faux-noirette bounced lightly to keep her balance following her last attack, spinning around to face their foes once again. Behind her silver mask, she cast a sidelong glace to her sandy-blonde teammate, before her eyes darted up to the top-left of her vision to take stock of both of their vitals. With a sharp inhale, Telrenya lowered her torso, left hand reaching down for fingers to graze over the hard-packed dirt while her right gripped the rapier that she held straight out behind her tightly.

Just about to make another straight shot at her initial target, she was instead met with the sight of the purple-haired katana-wielder sheathing his blade. She hesitated with a touch of confusion before she could only blink in surprise while one of two guards shattered into pieces behind him. The corner of her mouth picked up into an impressed smirk, and she had to consciously suppress a chuckle. "The other one, then." She mumbled to herself, digging the toe of her back foot into the ground to push herself into a run. "Not bad!" She called out to Ryo as she darted past him, working to lace a tone into the pair of words that might carry the challenging smirk that she wore behind her disguise without losing the sense of camaraderie that they were meant to hold.

Once her own cheeks had returned to their normal color with the passing of their embarrassing exchanges, Telrenya continued to wear a persistent smile nearly all the way to their destination. The excitement of the adventure that lay before them was almost overwhelming, and her eyes worked more actively than they normally would to explore and take in their surroundings as the scenery changed with their travel.

Upon arriving to the twenty-first floor and straying towards the outskirts of the main settlement, chocolate brown orbs fell upon the skull-shaped carving that was to serve as the entrance to their host's home here in Aincrad. Telrenya had to stop herself from making a face, settling for blinking in incredulity instead while Jomei made mention that this was, in fact, the place they were looking for. "This...is a home?" She asked in little more than a whisper, hardly expecting a response as her gaze ran over the foreboding exterior. Only seconds after she had begun her inspection, however, a stranger approached them. The raven-haired man seemed to be familiar to her partner by way of their introduction, in which Telrenya straightened her spine as the concept of manners returned to her. She right hand lifted to place itself lightly over her heart, and her upper body leaned forward into a bow. "Nice to meet you, Itzal." The blonde greeted with a friendly smile and a small nod.

@Itzal

The pattern continued. Telrenya kept her chocolate eyes busy on the battlefield, eyeing Bialas carefully while the group prior made their moves. The lower the boss' health bar drained and the closer they felt to the end of the fight, the higher her confidence rose. She shot forward for another attack--another set of fourteen strikes directly into Bialas' flank. As she passed by her snowy-haired teammate, she hadn't even noticed the tendrils of electricity that webbed out from his avatar and latched onto hers. Her combination of thrusts and slashes went off just as seemlessly as each of her assaults before, and a smile crept upon her lips as she began to backpedal to a safe distance.

That was when the faint, almost unnoticable tingling sensation caught her attention. One look down at her white and gold-clad body showed the blue tint of a static charge dancing over her form as it gained power. All at once, herself and her teammates lit up with a powerful discharge that had Telrenya's eyes wide with the jolt. The woman dropped to a knee at the new, unpleasant sensation that rocked her virtual body, her jaw clenched until the feeling dissipated almost as quickly as it had appeared.

Bialas' Stats

Combat Roll

Player Stats

Before they'd had much time to breathe, and before every member of their dungeon delving group had managed to fully recover their energy, two pairs of footsteps were already echoing off the earthy walls of the winding tunnels to sound the approach of more ant-like guards. With long curved blades jutting out from a naturally-armored forearm, Telrenya grimaced behind her mask. Of course they'd have to cut through plenty of these monsters if they wanted to get any good experience or treasure out of this endeavor.

"Spencer, we got this! Just follow my lead." She encouraged her friend, leaning forward and breaking into a sprint once the first party had resolved their attacks. Her charge skill kicked in to give her an extra boost, and the girl's lightly-armored form slipped through the other players in order to drive St. Andrew's Bane directly in the center of one of the elite guard's thoraxes. Her shoulder pulled back to rip the rapier free, only to plunge back in with thirteen more consecutive strikes that picked up in speed.

The breath that Telrenya hadn't realized she had been holding finally released in a steady exhale. Her health bar felt as though it had been dancing around, though luckily it never ended up changing its color. Ruby's support abilities pulled her back up to a healthy amount, allowing her to focus her attention back on the beast rather than worrying over hers and her friends' safety. "Thanks again Ruby!" She called out to the dark-haired healer, twisting her wrist in order to flourish her blade at her side.

Telrenya leaned forward, the toe of her boot digging into a section of charred earth that had been marked by a previous lightning strike. She kept her movements fluid and her steps light in order to dash between the electricity that fell from the sky and the players surrounding her on her way to the boss. Following up on the Emerald Duelist's attack, her brilliant golden blade shot forward with an identical technique, piercing Bialas' flesh with fourteen rapid thrusts.

Bialas' Stats

Combat Roll

Players' Stats

Telrenya leaned back, stretching her arm in order to continue holding the dusty tapestry aside while she craned her neck to try to take a look at the mural as Jomei inspected it from a short distance. "Hmm..." She hummed lightly in thought while listening to his theory. Images of the Forgotten, along with the glimpses of the mutated wildlife that they had spotted and passed by on their journey to the forgotten city came back to mind, and her eyes then studied the two smaller figures standing across from the woman inspired by nature. She nodded, "Yeah, maybe... If there's supposed to be some story about how the city got like this, and where those creepy monsters came from, it looks like we found a big hint." She agreed.

"I wonder if there's more to it, or if we just found some kind of hidden decorations." She wondered aloud, taking a couple of steps back across the massive foyer in order to let the dark fabric hang back as it was, being mindful to avoid kicking up a rain of dust and debris as she let go. Her eyes drifted to Jomei as he walked past her, his interest caught by something farther along the wall. Or rather, the wall itself seemed to draw his attention. She cocked a curious brow while her head gave a small tilt to one side, and she watched in patient silence before the ginger seemed to find some sort of hidden passageway. Her opposite eyebrow followed suit and raised, her lips curling into a satisfied smile a second later. "Looks like this city's full of surprises." She chuckled, stepping forward to Jomei's side and tilting her chin to cast him a sidelong glance after her gaze had lingered on the dark hall. Telrenya's left hand reached with a familiar motion, slipping its fingers into the spaces between his and she gave his hand a small squeeze. "Shall we?"

Sidestepping and backtracking among the darkened grove while players went around their rotations and unleashed all manner of attacks around her, Telrenya did her best to keep her focus in one place at a time to prevent the scattered mind that all the new stimuli of a boss battle would have surely left her with. As if to counteract all of her efforts, the flashes of lightning that rained down above them had the girl's chin tilting upwards, chocolate eyes widening in surprise when they met the blinding streak that shot straight forward her. Only a second or two had passed after wrenching her eyes shut, tensing for the damage that the strike would inflict, and she quickly realized that one of the potions she had consumed a short time ago had protected her.

A short sigh of relief slipped past her lips while her feet began to carry her again, automatically at first. The rest of her team had already worked to land their attacks against the snowy-maned beast, and she couldn't let herself lag behind. She pushed forward to weave between other players in the fray and thrust her golden blade forward with another, nearly identical set of stabs and slashes against Bialas' flank. The woman nearly swelled with satisfaction as she had yet to falter in any of her attacks, but as she backpedaled to a safe distance her eyes flickered to the side where the two teammates whom she hardly knew passed by one another. "Wait..." Her brows narrowed as she caught a glimpse of bluish-white sparks dancing between the two avatars, and she couldn't stop herself from calling out. "Careful! Whatever that is--it looks like it's spreading!"

Boss Info

Combat Roll

Player Stats

A soft smile crept upon her lips. She felt the gentle reassurance of Jomei's hand, first on top of her own, and then grazing over the skin of her cheek to cause her lips to stretch a bit wider as his gesture filled her with a new pulse of confidence. "Right." Having retrieved the counterpart to Jomei's masquerade mask from her own inventory, the accessory rested into place in front of her features and she gave a nod just before they would rush in to battle.

Hurrying behind the other players in her assigned group, Telrenya's hand reached for the hilt of Celestial Dawn at her hip and pulled the rapier free just before she had emerged from the short stone staircase and what little remained of the wooden trapdoor that led to the battlefield. She tensed immediately and the sound and sights of the thunder and lightning strikes that littered the air around them, only managing to avoid having her own avatar struck by what she considered sheer luck.

With each player making their first move, Telrenya felt the gentle touch of a woman's hand on the square of her back. She jolted to attention at first before turning to meet Ruby's violet eyes, and she let out her nerves with a small laugh. "Oh, heh, thank you Ruby!" Another smile found her, and she turned her attention back on Bialas. Her legs began to move, carrying her at an angle and gradually gaining momentum while she watched Jomei speed towards the warden and unleash a flurry of attacks. She leaned into her movements, circling around the stormy grove and approaching the unicorn's flank. With her charge skill kicking in midway through her path, she closed the remaining distance in a fraction of a second and drove the tip of her golden rapier through Bialas' side. With the steel giving off a soft white glow, she continued with the most powerful attack she could muster, only backing away once the boss sported fourteen new, bright-red gashes and stab wounds.

Boss Info

Combat Roll

Player Stats

Walking through the dim corridors of the labyrinth aside her fiancee, Telrenya had been holding her hands in front of her torso practically without rest since they had set out from their home in Taft. The fingers of her right hand worked to turn the emerald charm in the shape of a clover that hung from her wrist, a habit that had formed that very clearly displayed just how nervous she was to approach the growing group of frontliners. She swallowed, feeling a bit of resistance from the small lump that had taken up residence in her throat, and winced when a sharp crack of thunder sounded through the layers of earth that stood above their heads. "Guess we're, really doing this, huh?" Her speech faltered for just a short second as she addressed Jomei before they had come within earshot of the other players. Chocolate brown eyes scanned the crowd as they drew closer, the unease and anxiety in her chest calming only slightly when they ran over a few familiar faces.

Stats

"I thought I was supposed to be getting better at this...!" Telrenya rose her voice just slightly before slumping down in her seat, the frustration draining away into melancholy. She sat slouched with her hair tied back into a ponytail and her fingers tired from meticulously setting gemstones and coaxing fine bits of metal to twist and sit in just the right way. Several more amateur pieces of jewelry sat on the workbench in front of her, and for a moment she was tempted to swipe them off the table, throw them on the ground, break them down until their durability hit zero and there was nothing left of them.

No, that wouldn't solve anything. Heaving a large and heavy sigh, Telrenya scooped her failed attempts into her inventory like all the rest, wondering this time if the NPC vendors would give her even a single col this time.

ID#: 98859 | CD: 5 - Fail, no salvage
ID#: 98860 | CD: 6 - Fail, salvage
ID#: 98861 | CD: 8 - Fail, no salvage

Telrenya nodded in another silent response. With the amount of care and kindness Spencer had shown towards her ever since their first meeting, the girl only wished the best for him. The corner of her mouth gently twitched upward into a small smile as she thought back on their brief interactions during their last dungeon delve together. 'A nice day out with ice cream sure sounds nice right about now...'

Forcibly pulling herself away from her wandering thoughts, the pair of players continued to walk the lengths of the twisting and turning corridors of Tartarus. Some areas, Telrenya could have sworn looked the same as the last time she had entered on her own. And then seconds later, any sense of familiarity was gone. Her eyes ran over each of the jail cells they walked past, most empty, and some populated with half-rotted corpses or skeletons hanging over the iron bars. After a few minutes of walking, another soft glow caught her attention. "Oh, hey," She motioned for Hestia to follow her investigation, pushing one of the wrought-iron cell doors open. Taking a couple of steps to the back wall, she looked to the other woman and back to the softly-pulsating rune etched into the surface of the stone. "Another secret passage?"

ID#: 98561 | LD: 14(+4)=18 - Success! Beginner Dungeon Found

Total Loot:

• 750 COL
• (9) T1 materials
• (2) [Rare] Consumables

Telrenya's frown persisted, though no longer because of the lack of treasure or hidden surprises. Instead, she was reminded of a close friend of hers. Or more specifically, the danger he had been forced to face due to having a lower level than most others in attendance at their dungeon delving session. She averted her gaze, despite her altered eyes being hidden away from view. She had mixed feelings on the topic, and for a moment she didn't want to make comment at all. However the more she thought, the more she wanted to say, until eventually the words came spilling out of her. "Spencer is a really sweet person... It's worrying to see him in a dangerous situation, but that goes for any of us, I think. I've seen just how brave he can be, so I hope that he doesn't let numbers like that get him down." She smiled softly, recalling all of the heart-wrenching danger they'd found themselves in so early in their friendship.

Having made their way back to the dark hallway that had led them into the Banshee's lair, Telrenya gave a quick glance down either end of the corridor they had been let out into. Seconds after the two had made it back to the main area of Tartarus, the stone walls behind them scraped against each other until they slammed shut. Pausing for a moment, Telrenya rested a nervous hand on the pommel of her weapon. "Well, guess that's it for the quest room..."

ID#: 98558 | LD: 12(+4)=16 - Success!

Total Loot:

• 750 COL
• (9) T1 materials
• (2) [Rare] Consumables

"Ah, alright." Telrenya nodded in agreement at the idea of sticking around in search of a dungeon. "True, that was pretty exciting." She thought back to their last meeting in the middle of a dungeon on the eleventh floor where the majority of their guild had joined them. Running a gloved hand over the spines of more dusty books, these ones tucked away properly in their shelves, she frowned in thought while wondering just where they might find something similar. The room they found themselves in was already pretty different than the rest of Tartarus she'd seen thus far: more worn down, and even more unkempt. Both abandoned, and falling apart. She pushed away some more fallen debris on the ground, peeked behind unraveling tapestries, and poked around at crumbling statues in hopes of finding anything of interest. "Hmm, I wonder if we'd have any better luck out in the rest of the building than in here..." She finally wondered aloud, looking over her shoulder to see if Hestia was having any more luck than herself.

ID#: 98543 | LD: 17(+4)=21 - Success!

Total Loot:

• 750 COL
• (8) T1 materials
• (2) [Rare] Consumables

Futily poking at the quest details as if they might give her some sort of clue, Telrenya paused when Hestia alluded to the fact that the banshee they fought might be the same old woman who issued the quest in the first place. "Wait... No," She mumbled with a hint of incredulity, refusing to believe that to be the case. Even so, Telrenya squeezed her eyes shut in thought, shifting her weight as she tried to pull up the banshee's appearance from memory. Almost wishing that the monster was still around to give her a better comparison, she opened her eyes again only to see the greyed out quest details still hovering in front of her. "Ughhh, it must have been..." She groaned, dismissing the semi-transparent menus with an annoyed flick of her wrist to the side. With a small huff, she brought a hand to the nape of her neck. "Well...now what? Any more treasure hunting, or do you wanna get out of this place?"

ID#: 98531 | LD: 16(+4)=20 - Success!

Total Loot:

• 750 COL
• (5) T1 materials
• (2) [Rare] Consumables

"Hmm..." Telrenya watched over Hestia's shoulder as the tank worked to pry open the old treasure chest and look over its contents. Planting her hands back on her hips, the woman turned back toward the bulk of the room and gave an inward shrug. "I guess that's not bad for this floor." She tried to stay optimistic in order to drown out her disappointment. Though as she continued with lazy steps around the worn and torn room, Telrenya took on another frown, this one more thoughtful than saddened. "Oh hey, we can go back to that old lady to turn this quest in, right? She said something about col for the reward." She started, dragging a hand through the air to summon her menus. She scrolled through her quest log, only to stop at the one they were currently on, faltering in confusion when her eyes read over the familiar text that read 'Quest Complete'. "Or...huh?"

ID#: 98530 | LD: 17(+4)=21 - Success!

Total Loot:

• 750 COL
• (4) T1 materials
• (2) [Rare] Consumables

A smile stretched across her face as the Irishman closed the distance between them, "Mm, yeah! C'mon Willow," She gave a light jerk of her chin to one side and the wisp obliged by flitting up and looping around the girl's shoulder. Adere followed suit to leave her perch, hopping down to the floor before using her wings to carry her to the back of the chair that was tucked neatly beneath the desk at the edge of the room. Telrenya leaned forward again as she flicked through her menus for a change of clothes herself. Her lips curled into a smile with an outfit whose color palette was just too perfect for the occasion to pass by, and her avatar was soon adorned with a simple white dress with pink accents and a matching pair of tights reaching down her thighs. Pushing herself up to her feet, the blonde stood on her tiptoes and stretched her arms over her head for a long second, letting out a small sigh when she dropped back down.

The newly-engaged couple made their way from their home to the location of the quest in question, nestled conveniently behind the large building where the masquerade ball had taken place. "Hm?" Telrenya was almost surprised by the NPC that seemed to be responsible for the attraction: an incredibly bored-looking teenager who leaned so casually over his simple podium that she nearly mistook him for a player. He looked up at the pair and made no attempt to hide the roll of his eyes that followed. "Yeaah, welcome and stuff," He greeted them with a lazy wave of his hand through the air.

"Ooh, treasure hunting~" Telrenya seemed to take kindly to the idea of searching the room for any hidden loot, bringing the tip of her rapier to its sheathe and sliding the weapon back into place at her side. She watched for a moment as Hestia soothed her familiar. Despite her normal aversion to the large winged lion, as she was apprehensive towards most tamed creatures, the corner of her mouth pulled up into a half-smile at the sight of their exchange.

Turning back to the remainder of the large, eerie room, Telrenya placed her hands on her hips as she walked with slow and steady paces. "Hmmm... Most of the stuff in here looks like junk." She noted with a hint of disappointment in her voice. Nothing so much as a salvagable crafting material stuck out at her as she stepped over the fallen contents of a bookcase at one end of the room.

"Oh, hold on," Something suddenly seemed to grab her attention. She picked up her pace to a haphazard pile of wooden planks and other fallen debris that was coated with a thick layer of dust and cobwebs. Hooking her fingers underneath one of the broken beams, she dragged it aside to unveil a worn-looking wooden chest.

Using Finding Stone +3 LD and Awareness Stone +1 Expertise (Searching)

ID#: 98477 | LD: 11(+4)=15 - Success!
Found treasure chest

Right, yes, that's where she'd heard it from. With Kimi calling her 'Guild Mom' again, and in the midst of company between all of their friends and guildmates, Telrenya's cheeks burned brightly with embarrassment. Not only that, but the casual way in which she mentioned a 'daddy'--whom she assumed was meant to be Jomei--sounded much too awkward coming from the younger player. "O-oh, well s-sorry..." She stammered out in a shy response to Kimi's expressed desire to share a dance with the Irishman.

She cleared her throat in an attempt to shake off the nervous embarrassment, and turned her attention to Hestia, thankful to be able to focus on a different point of conversation. "Oh, of course." The smile she wore became a bit more natural. "Seeing everyone here, I feel like I really have been neglecting getting to know everyone."

The woman blinked in surprise at Ruby's brief call to attention, her brows turning upwards as she let out a small chuckle. "Rubyyy~" She playfully whined at her friend's urging for excitement, which Telrenya was left to assume was brought about by boredom or impatience. "We just came from the dance, I'm all partied out." She admitted.

"Oww..." The girl muttered her discomfort under her breath. Having been released from the Guardian's grasp, her left hand slowly rubbed at the wrist that still held firmly onto her rapier. Taking half a step back, Telrenya blinked with slight surprise at the tension in the air. Hestia was practically giving off an aura of hatred at this point, seething at their last remaining foe as it stubbornly refused to die against the reflective damage of her armor like all the rest of the monsters before it.

"Ahh, right," She replied to the woman's instruction, almost as eager to bring the fight to an end. Telrenya took another couple of steps to the side, positioning herself to take another shot at the shambling zombie without the risk of her blade meeting Hestia along the way. She lunged forward, delivering three quick stabs throughout the Guardian's torso and quickly draining its health.

"Phew... Finally." She mumbled, straightening back up and dropping her blade to her side. "Well, besides that last guy, that was actually pretty easy. You think those were the only enemies in here?" She wondered aloud, turning to survey the rest of the haunted room.

ID#: 98470 | BD: 4(+4)=8 - Hit! Neutron (x5) Active
(13 base) x (5 sword art) = (65 DMG) - (15 MIT) = 50 DMG

• Hestia: 1039/1065 HP | 81/102 EN | MIT: 181 | Thorns: 54 |  Bleed: 36 | DMG: 3 | Regen (Heal 15 HP - 3/3)
• Erin(Telrenya): 740/740 HP | 55/74 EN | 13 DMG | 4 ACC | 3 EVA | 59 MIT
   
• <<Undead Guardian>> 1: 0/40 HP | 120 DMG | 15 MIT
• <<Undead Guardian>> 2: 0/40 HP | 120 DMG | 15 MIT
• <<Undead Guardian>> 3: 0/40 HP | 120 DMG | 15 MIT
• <<Undead Guardian>> 4: 0/40 HP | 120 DMG | 15 MIT
• <<Banshee>>: 0/250 HP | 2 EVA | 200 DMG | MD 9-10 ignores MIT
  • <<Banshee's Screech>>: Screams on a MD 10, paralyzing all players for 1 turn.

Telrenya felt the corner of her mouth pull up into a smile with Hestia's friendly banter, and her expression stretched into a more confident one as the Banshee was felled by the defensive damage of the woman's armor. With only one of the undead guards remaining, Telrenya gave another quick turn of her wrist and shifted herself into a better position to move in for an attack. "Yeah, you're right. I don't think I have a single area attack to my name." She replied with a small chuckle. "Would you believe me if I said I just picked rapier because I thought it looked cool?" She admitted with a rhetorical question, dashing in towards the last remaining target.

Thrusting forward with the tip of her thin blade, Telrenya's eyes widened when the Guardian dropped down to avoid her strike. She hadn't thought the creatures quick enough to be able to dodge, but this one in particular seemed more able than its fallen companions. Wrapping its decaying fingers around the girl's wrist, Telrenya winced with discomfort as her arm was then wrenched to the side, nearly forcing her to lose her grip on the hilt of her weapon.

ID#: 98468 | BD: 1 - Critical Miss!

• Hestia: 1039/1065 HP | 81/102 EN | MIT: 181 | Thorns: 54 |  Bleed: 36 | DMG: 3 | Regen (Heal 15 HP - 3/3)
• Erin(Telrenya): 740/740 HP | 59/74 EN | 13 DMG | 4 ACC | 3 EVA | 59 MIT
   
• <<Undead Guardian>> 1: 0/40 HP | 120 DMG | 15 MIT
• <<Undead Guardian>> 2: 0/40 HP | 120 DMG | 15 MIT
• <<Undead Guardian>> 3: 40/40 HP | 120 DMG | 15 MIT
• <<Undead Guardian>> 4: 0/40 HP | 120 DMG | 15 MIT
• <<Banshee>>: 0/250 HP | 2 EVA | 200 DMG | MD 9-10 ignores MIT
  • <<Banshee's Screech>>: Screams on a MD 10, paralyzing all players for 1 turn.

Telrenya felt the chilly stare of the Banshee upon her for only a moment before Hestia pulled its attention back onto her. Letting out a silent sigh of relief, she twisted her wrist to turn the weapon in the air while her mind worked to avoid the same outcome as her last attack. Her feet moved, one crossing over the other, as she circled around to the Banshee's back with a duelist's stance, staying careful so as not to displace or trip over the mess of debris that littered the ground at her boots.

"There!" She urged herself into action. The Banshee's nearly-skeletal hand raised up as she moved to strike at Hestia, and for a fraction of a second Telrenya spotted her ethereal form flickering. Luckily for the tank, the undead woman's claw-like nails phased right through her heavy armor. And unluckily for the Banshee, Telrenya timed her attack in just the right moment as her figure seemed to shift back between planes. The tip of her thin blade pierced through the monster's back and emerged through the center of her chest before the motion repeated. A string of slashes and stabs drained the Banshee's health until it was deep in the red and the glow of St. Andrew's Bane faded away. Telrenya took a step and a half back, wearing a confident smirk behind her mask.

ID#: 98427 | BD: 5(+4)(-2)=7 - Hit! Over Radiation (x14) Active
(13 base) x (14 sword art) = 182 DMG

• Hestia: 1056/1065 HP | 83/102 EN | MIT: 181 | Thorns: 54 |  Bleed: 36 | DMG: 3 | Regen (Heal 15 HP - 3/3)
• Erin(Telrenya): 740/740 HP | 60/74 EN | 13 DMG | 4 ACC | 3 EVA | 59 MIT
   
• <<Undead Guardian>> 1: 0/40 HP | 120 DMG | 15 MIT
• <<Undead Guardian>> 2: 0/40 HP | 120 DMG | 15 MIT
• <<Undead Guardian>> 3: 40/40 HP | 120 DMG | 15 MIT
• <<Undead Guardian>> 4: 0/40 HP | 120 DMG | 15 MIT
• <<Banshee>>: 14/250 HP | 2 EVA | 200 DMG | MD 9-10 ignores MIT
  • <<Banshee's Screech>>: Screams on a MD 10, paralyzing all players for 1 turn.