Benjamin Bookworm

As Ben approached the last part of the tunnels that he had to go through, he began to notice that the plants weren't growing back as fast near the outer areas of the zone.  Maybe this quest had some sort of central area where the materials regrew quickly, and there was a lesser effect as he got further out.  Or maybe he was leaving the quest, so the game changed the rules because of that.  There really wasn't any way to know in this frustrating game.  Still, it did mean that he was having trouble finding anything else to pick up before the trip was done.  His pouch was pretty full, but  hopefully at least the last room had time to recover some more materials for him.  Every little bit counted for his crafts, after all.  And he was going to be crafting a lot once this day was done with. 

Benjamin headed his way back toward the entrance cavern that he came in from, stopping off along the way to grab a few more bits of mushrooms from the cave walls.  It was about time to make sure he could get home, with all the twists and turns of the cave that kept him guessing.  He turned to his familiar, scratching the little guy under his chin as he spoke. Well, it looks like it's just about time for us to start heading towards home.  I promise to make you some good snacks when we get there if you can just hold off on eating anything I've gathered until then, OK?  Sebastian nodded, kind of looking like he understood unless you knew him well.  He was just nodding so that Ben would look away.  All right... but if I catch you sneaking into my bag again there's going to be trouble. 

Benjamin finished sifting through all of the different plants in  the shady area that his familiar uncovered, stopping only to pick the little caterpillar up and keep him from eating even more of his materials before they could be harvested for his use.  Once again, he wondered why he even got a familiar in the first place.  These things were supposed to be useful, not just make cute happy faces and get in his way.  He definitely should have stuck around longer to find a better equipped one to have rather than settling for the first bug who befriended him.  Not like he could change things now though- Sebastian was his little pet, end of story.  Plus with the skills he had right now, he could gather up enough materials that is one or two went missing or found their way into his caterpillar's stomach, it wouldn't hurt him too badly in the long run. 

All right Dazia! Woo!  Encore! Ben cheered after she finished singing.  He figured she would be coming down from nerves after she preformed on stage, and wanted to try and be supportive of her.  He really did hope she won, after pouring out her feelings like that.  It was a good job up there- wish I could sound like that.  I figure I'll just go for an Irish drinking sound, like back home. he paused for a second.  Actually, since we can drink in the game here, maybe I can see about getting everyone to drink along.  It might actually help our chances if we got everyone drunk before they went on.  He was joking at first, but figured that getting a few shots in him while singing would help clear off his stage fright.  He signed up on a whim, but was actually a bit scared of going up there.  So, um, how do you feel about how you did up there? 

@Dazia

Ben's familiar seemed like he was having trouble going back to sleep, and had decided to poke his head out to see what was happening.  And to see what kinds of snacks there were out here for him to steal.  Ben was busy grabbing a couple of bits of mushroom from the floor, so Sebastian hopped down to see if he could stick his head into the material bag and steal some snacks- luckily Ben was on alert for those tricks.  He swatted the little guy away, pushing him onto a nearby rock to teach him a lesson.  The only lesson that he learned though, was that there was a big patch of plants behind the rock he landed on.  Even with Sebastian, munching away, Ben managed to pick up a good amount of stuff for his pouch from there.  His familiar probably didn't actually learn any lessons from the experience though. 

Ben finally managed to get himself out from under the rocks, at least without getting any more slime on him while he was doing so.  Sebastian had decided to watch the whole way, emoting happily as he saw Ben struggling.  Ben sighed as he got himself out and on his feet, picking his familiar back up into his scarf.  This guy was much more likely to just laugh at him than actually help out when he needed.  Well, at least he could start back on his work now.  If Sebastian would stop laughing as he settled in. 

He started heading his way back through the route he took in, grabbing the same spots he first visited on the way in.  It was about time to start thinking of how and when he would wrap this trip up, The mushrooms he could pick up on the way back would finish up what he needed, and afterwards he could finally get on with the crafting he would need. 

Unfortunately, the few plant he did find down here were in a very limited supply.  The couple he had added to his inventory were worth a lot, but he needed to head back out of here to get some more materials.  Ben tried to crawl his way backwards to reach the entrance, but bumped right back into the slime patch that he first crawled under here for.  He didn't want to get that stuff all over himself again, so he tried to maneuver himself around the spots it was at, squirming back and forth on the ground to push his way through.  His familiar decided to pop his head back out while he was doing this, looking at him questionably as he did his best impersonation as he went.  Sebastian, I'm just trying to get out of here without getting all of this muck on me.  Don't look at me like that.  It isn't funny. 

Ben tried to wipe to goop from his eyes, smearing it more and more with each attempt.  He couldn't get this slime off without help, so he reached into his pack and rooted around for something that would help, pulling out one of the flasks of water he kept there (which he was very glad to have remembered to pack after the last few times he had forgotten).  It took a bit of work to splash enough water over his face to wash everything off enough that he could clean himself, and he got plenty of grit and dirt caked on himself while he did it.  When he finally rolled to his side, finished, he just felt tired and kind of stupid for getting himself into this situation in the first place.  But, he had some luck- there were some plants below here as well, and they looked like they had some good leaves for him to put into his pouch- and they were worth a lot for him. 

Ben was busy grabbing a bunch of the mossy patches from the rocks, bending over to grab the ones that looked the largest and most full.  He actually found a nice big patch below one of the rock formations that looked like it would work, but he had to really work his way in there to reach it.  He scooched his way onto his back, below the rocks, to try and reach his target.  It took a bit of working to get himself in there, and he managed to see what he was going for, and grabbed a handful of the moss.  Which... didn't go into his inventory as he had hoped.  Instead, the big glob of slimy substance just dripped down, splattering over his face and hands.  This wasn't the moss he had picked up before- it was just a bunch of slime that he now had all over himself.  He would have a hard time wiping this off of him before moving on.

Ben kept on filling up his bag, his thoughts drifting off to the future as he kept on grabbing more of the mushrooms in the caves for himself.  He still had a lot of items to make for his shop right now- even if orders weren't coming in, again.  At least the tier 3 materials would make some good items that could be sold to the front liners- or more likely be given to them, since he wanted to help everyone get out of this crazy game of death as fast as possible. 

He considered those possibilities as he moved along the cavern he was in, checking the rocky formations and stalagmites in the area for any mosses that were growing on them.  He remembered from his first pass through this area that those were actually really good for crafting with, or at least were worth a lot of materials according to his inventory.  So adding a few more handfuls of them to his bag should help out a lot. 

Ben was beginning to get a bit tired from all of the work he had done so far today.  The cave system had been a lot deeper than he had first predicted, and it was a lot more twisty and turning as well.  He could easily get lost in here for days at a time, filling his bag up to its maximum capacity if he wished for it.  It would be great if he had that kind of time to do nothing but gather up bunches and bunches of materials for future crafting with, even if he could get through such a task without driving himself crazy from the tediousness of it.  Today was not the day to consider something like that though, he thought as he kept on adding more and more items to his bag for now.  Maybe another time, when he didn't have more pressing concerns, he would figure out some way to pull off a big quest like that. 

Ben stayed in his stance, tensed up and ready to get hit, for a few more seconds after the minotaur was killed.  He finally let out the breath he was holding, glad that he was not being slammed into the floor like a pancake.  Thanks for the save Dazia.  That... was a bit more of a fight than I'd hoped for.  He looked around at the aftermath of the fight, and quickly checked back to see in Yinangi was still in one piece, which she thankfully was.  Well, I think we take a few seconds to catch our breath real quick.  Then we turn towards that hallway the enemy came from, and start the same search pattern we tried before.  We at least kept our bearings and didn't get lost, so it should give us a good chance of making our way through the deeper parts of the maze without getting lost.  I just hope we can avoid the other minotaur in the maze- I've heard stories of some parties meeting two of them at once. 

@Dazia

Ben kept up his attack against the minotaur, swiping repeatedly with his daggers, trying to keep it's attention.  Dazia was having trouble landing a solid blow on the target, so he was hoping to keep it's attention on him until she could finish this monster off.  Ben knew that his blows would not be able to deal nearly enough damage to down this guy, and was settling for keeping it busy.  Unfortunately, his swipes of his blades were doing nothing but poking at the minotaur's heavily armored skin, making it even angrier- if you could say that the minotaur could be angrier, since it just seemed to be mad at everything all the time.  He would have to stand his ground against the next attack that came so it coldn't get past him to Yinangi, and hope he had the hit points to soak up what this thing could dish out with it's counter attack.

-----------------------

+1 EN at start of turn

ID# 101887 BD: 4+1=5(Miss)

-2 EN

[1] Benjamin: HP 360/360, EN 29/36 | 3 DMG | 3 EVA | 1 ACC

[1] Dazia: HP 202/220, EN 14/22 | 5 DMG | 14 MIT | 1 ACC

                  Enemies:

Hoya Minotaur: HP 19/45, 30 DMG [Stun immunity: 2 turns]

@Dazia

Ben got himself back to work, picking his way through the cave system.  There were tons of the little yellow mushrooms from earlier for him to collect, though individually they did not make up enough to count as a single material.  He had to grab them up by the handful at a time to make any progress.  Even so, it was steady progress as he went along- he had a lot of good spots to search through- under the bigger rocks, in the shadowy parts of the caves, and just growing up the cracks of the walls.  And as he grabbed them up, and judged when he finally got enough to craft with before sending them off to his inventory again, he kept on moving his way back towards the entrance to the caves, ready to start bringing these assets back home to work with.  It would be time to craft soon enough. 

Ben breathed a sigh of relief as Yinangi got back safely.  That girl would wander off at the drop of a hat.  OK, Yinangi, I'm sure that you'll be careful next time, but remember that we're here to help out as well.  I don't like to have anyone wandering off alone if we can help it.  This place is way too dangerous for any of us to take that kind of risk. Ben told her, a look of worry crossing over his face as he addressed the little one.  He was hoping that the combined concern from Dazia and him would get her to listen, or at least to take the ideas into consideration the next time she was going off to get into some more trouble. 

But Vigilon's right- we should move on from here- that familiar won't find itself, will it?  So we'll follow your lead Dazia.  Hopefully all of us together, as a group. 

@Dazia@Vigilon

Benjamin listened to Dazia's plan- it was crazy, but it sounded like something she would do.  All right, ready! he shouted as she prepared for her strike, and gave her the push she needed to jump at the minotaur and score a big hit.  Before a cheer could come out of his mouth, the monster slammed her into the wall once again.  You're going to pay for that you stupid pile of pixels. Ben yelled, propelling himself forward to strike the enemy in the back, and hoping that would get it off of Dazia for a bit.  His strike hit home, and he twisted the blade into the minotaur's side, knocking it off balance from the pain.  He hoped it would buy them enough time to take this thing out before it's next attack.  Especially now that the minotaur was turning back to look at him, angrily.  Time to finish this thing off Dazia... please?  

@Dazia

--------------------------------------------

+1 EN at start of turn

ID# 101792 BD: 6+1=7(Hit)

Side Bite Sword Art: 3x2=6 

Hoya Minotaur is stunned!

-5 EN

[1] Benjamin: HP 360/360, EN 34/36 | 3 DMG | 3 EVA | 1 ACC

[1] Dazia: HP 202/220, EN 15/22 | 5 DMG | 14 MIT | 1 ACC

                  Enemies:

Hoya Minotaur: HP 19/45, 30 DMG [Stunned]

Ben gave Dazia a little push forward as she bounced back to give the Minotaur another thrashing.  Unfortunately, in just a few seconds after he healed her up she got slammed back into the wall, hard.  Dazia, oh gods are you OK?  He quickly ran back up behind her, letting her use his help to regain her balance.  How about we try this a different way- I'll stay right behind you and help give you a boost.  Or patch you up if need be.  He put his hand against her back, enough that she could feel him behind her.  I know you can do this, just keep your wits with you, and we'll take that monster down.  He pushed some more of his energy through to her, making sure that she was topped up on health.  She was quite confident, but he was still worried about a big fight like this.  Ben didn't want to think about what he would do if anything went wrong because he dragged them here.

-----------------

+1 EN at start of turn

Ben used first aid on Dazia - +16 hp recovered!

-1 energy for using first aid

Benjamin: HP 360/360, EN 34/36 | 3 DMG | 3 EVA | 1 ACC

Dazia: HP 220/220, EN 18/22 | 5 DMG | 14 MIT | 1 ACC

                  Enemies:

Hoya Minotaur: HP 45/45, 30 DMG

@Dazia

Ben gasped in horror as Dazia was slammed into the ground, a chunk of her health gone with one hit.  OK... That's not good.  Are you hurt there Dazia? he called out, worriedly trying to keep himself in front of Yinangi.  She still looked fine, but with a monster that big it wasn't the time to take chances.  He pushed himself forward to get within arm's reach, and activated his first aid skill.  His hand started glowing with a soft light, pulling in a bit of his energy for the skill, and lit up Dazia's back as he helped her up.  There you go- all healed up.  We have your back, so just keep going.  I know you're better than some monster, so kick his butt!  He saw her health rise all the way back up to full, and let out a smile.  He hadn't gotten much of a chance to use his healing skills yet, and it felt good to help out.

-----------------

+1 EN at start of turn

Ben used first aid on Dazia - +16 hp recovered!

-1 energy for using first aid

Benjamin: HP 360/360, EN 34/36 | 3 DMG | 3 EVA | 1 ACC

Dazia: HP 220/220, EN 19/22 | 5 DMG | 14 MIT | 1 ACC

                  Enemies:

Hoya Minotaur: HP 45/45, 30 DMG

@Dazia

Ben was waiting for Shield to arrive, and glad he could count on a friend for assistance.  Hey again yourself. he answered, going a bit flush at the mention of staying back for his safety.  That... I mean I usually do stay near the back, but that's only because I focus on the first aid skill and keeping everyone healed up to full.  I don't need to be watched over, it just wouldn't feel right.  Honestly, it would feel good to have someone take care of everything for him, but it would be too much of a hit to his pride to admit. I am ready for the battle ahead- I don't have the damage to take out something that big, but I got a few pocket fulls of items.  Actually about fifty or so uncommon items left in my inventory... nobody ever wants to buy those it seems, so I have a bunch of them left for personal use.  But anyways, it's good to have you along for the help. 

@Shield

Ben let out a heavy sigh.  His thoughts had swirled back to some of the more depressing ones that he had been trying to avoid lately.  He had spent so much time crafting for other players lately that he felt almost as if he was running in place, not getting anywhere.  He had to calm himself a bit- even though his luck had been great in gathering, it sometimes didn't make up for the fact that it felt like he was going nowhere while he crafted.  Sure, there would be a ton of players he could help in boss fights, but between them there wasn't much that he could do.  He really hoped that the extra high tier items would bring more players into his shop during the down time between bosses... it would be really hard to upgrade his lab at this point in time if he didn't get more sales, and that was the sticking point.  He crafted, he didn't grind for col.  Without customers, he really couldn't ge as much done as he would like in his shop.  Not at all. 

This quest line was a real help to all of his material finding, even if going at his own pace was a bit of a drag sometimes.  Though he walked to the beat of a different drummer enough times to know that he did his best work alone a lot of the time.  And with the deadline for the new floor boss fight coming up very quickly, he had to act fast if he had a hope of making enough healing crystals for everyone to use in the battle.  It was already getting into the mid twenty floors- things were going to be much more dangerous from here on out, and there weren't a ton of other dedicated crafters for players to rely on in these times.  And truthfully, he really wanted to feel important.  Like he was doing something that mattered, and that people would remember it... not like in the real world where he was just so forgettable. 

Ben grabbed a couple more bits from the floor that he was checking out, picking up a little more in the way of materials before he finished up.  This room was done (once again).  But, he remembered that there was a nice side room, or side cavern I guess it would be called down here, that held a lot of smaller mushrooms for him to grab up.  With no preferences on where to go next, he decided to make a nice little detour to grab up what he could from there.  His pack had started to fill up to bursting once again, which was going to force him to empty it out once again.  It was a good day when he had the problem of having to clear out all the items he gathered too many times.  Even if taking on these kinds of quests with just him and his familiar got boring after a while. 

Benjamin was finding a lot more places to gather from on the way back to the entrance of the caves that he was in.  Since he knew about all the good places he had previously looked at, it was easy enough to start moving on down the same spots as they grew back, grabbing the amount of materials it would have taken an hour to get when he was first starting out in just a few minutes.  With these parts, he would be able to fill up all the orders he had for the foreseeable future.  Plus a few extra boss battles full of healing crystals if he got lucky with his crafting attempts.  He gave his familiar a nice scratch on the head as he went along, filling up his bag.  Now all he had to do was keep up this rate of success for the walk back, and he would have enough to craft for a long time. 

Ben and his familiar got to the end of the hall, and back to the nice searchable rooms full of materials that they came to this part of the world to gather.  The small mushrooms that were in the cave had already started to grow back a bit, and they were coming in as thick as ever.  Ben popped open his pouch, already seeing some good spots to grab materials up by the handful.  The first bunches of blueish little spores he got off of the ground fit in easily, and filled his pouch up nicely.  He then moved on to the walls, quickly adding some of the next few bits from there.  After that, he started heading back towards the entrance he came from.  By now, the things at the entrance would have started to regrow enough for them to be harvested a second time.  Minimal effort for lots of materials would be what he got. 

Sending items to @Vigilon

(Hope you don't mind that one is a bit higher rarity than you ordered and paid for.  I guess it came out better than expected.)