Bahr

Day 6

- 4 T1 Materials

+ 27 EXP

Finally, Bahr had succeeded in creating Perfect Light Armor. He held his creation up to the light to give it a better inspection, a pleased smile stretching from ear to ear. He was proud of his work, but the feeling was melancholy. The first piece of Perfect armor he had created was going to somebody else. To top it off, it had the exact same buffs he aimed to acquire for himself. With a sigh, he packaged the armor and sent a message to Kit.

Quote

To: @Kityuisa

Hey Kit. I managed to finish that armor you commissioned. Feel free to stop by whenever you're ready and scoop it up. It's packaged and ready to go.

- Bahr

With that, he got to work on more armor, hoping he could complete a set for himself sometime in the near future.

Bahr was surprised to see Kit here, considering her low level. At the same time, he wasn't surprised at all. Her fiery temperament wasn't something to be trifled with. If she wanted to participate against the event boss, you'd better be damn sure she would find a way to participate against the event boss.

"Sure, we can party up," he mused, "I just better not have to save your keister every time you get a monster miffed."

"Well, would you look at that."

Seemingly out of nowhere, countless amphibious creatures materialized all around them. Grotesque caricatures of the original, their disgusting heads and appendages superimposed onto minuscule bodies that seemed like nothing more than an afterthought. They clumsily marched toward the party in a sickly manner, wheezing through their revolting gills as mysterious liquids oozed from their every orifice. It was truly a bizarre sight to behold. But when the going gets weird, the weird turn professional.

Right away, the strange looking knight with the blue hair and a hammer clanked their weapon against their shield, the resulting clang drawing the attention of all of the mobs within the viscinity. A perfect diversion, and a brave one, too. After all, who is the happier man? He who has braved the storm of life and lived, or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?

Bahr wasn't going to be one to sit back and allow this nameless knight to steal all the thunder, even though it appeared they were the one generating it. His weapon swelled with a tangerine glow and began to hum, the pitch of the sound it emitted steadily rising until the attack was unleashed. He dashed forward and unleashed his Cyclone, spinning on his heel to spin like a top with his weapon outstretched, the thick slab of metal carving through the first Rain Minion multiple times in rapid succession. It seemed not to pay him any mind, though, still fixated on the hammer-wielding knight.

Action: Cyclone | 18 DMG vs Rain Minion 5 | Keen activated | -4 Energy from Cyclone

Bahr meandered into the shop for what seemed like the umpteenth time, searching frantically for something he could use last minute as a replacement for an item he mistakenly believed he could use. What a stupid mistake, he thought to himself, shaking his head. What made me think I could use a T3 item? And to think, I wasted all of that col...

As his eyes darted from item to item, one in particular stood out among the rest. It read "Immolation Potion," and apparently damaged any mob foolish enough to actually hit him. He greedily snatched up the vial of mysterious liquid and brought it to the counter.

"NEED THIS QUICK NO TIME TO TALK."

He slammed the col down on the table and promptly skedaddled outta there.

-320 col
+Immolation Potion

"Oh wow. Way to kill the mood," Bahr remarked sourly, frowning at the event boss that had appeared. Even though he didn't seem the sort, Bahr was a sucker for romance. The Bridget Jones movies were among his favorites! He had come all the way from Floor One to witness this amorous spectacle, and some gigantic fish man had decided to climb out of its cretinous hole and start producing mutant, scotum-faced, buck-toothed, zit-exploding progeny. Whoop-de-freaking-do. "Guess I better go help," he mused bitterly, opening his inventory panel, "I'll make sure these Star-Crossed Lovers get the ending they deserve." Navigating the panel, he selected several items to materialize and consume.

"There, that oughtta do it," he declared before starting the trek toward the battlefield. Once there, he saw a lot of people lined up to participate in the fight. Some of the faces were familiar, others weren't. Unfortunately for Bahr, it appeared as though everyone had already partied up. His eyes flickered between the groups nervously as he tried to determine if it was appropriate for him to join any of them. With a sigh and a shrug, he crossed his arms and leaned up against a nearby wall to wait. When the battle started, he would just jump in with whoever was available.

As Bahr entered Tacet Cibum, he was once again assaulted by some of the most heavenly aromas in all the galaxy. As a purely Pavlovian response, he immediately began to salivate, gulping so as not to generate a puddle of drool where he stood. As he perused the products, his eyes fell upon several that looked like good picks. Knowing the order would be expensive, he decided to simply make the purchase before he thought too much about it. He approached the shop keeper and slapped the col on the table before he could change his mind.

"Hi again. I'll be taking these products from your general stock. Thank you. By the way, everything looks absolutely delicious."

With that, he scooped up the foods and scurried out the door before he felt compelled to buy more.

Day 5

Bahr spent some time at his sewing station. Sewing, weaving, pulling, stretching, mending, and assembling. After what seemed like forever, the fruits of his labor finally presented themselves. They were nothing special, just a few basic articles with the occasional breath of brilliance in between. Bahr could feel himself progressively becoming better and better at his craft. Every failure was a lesson. Every success a motivator. Every material snipped, every thread pulled, and every nip tucked. If he continued on his track at a pace like this, it would soon be him pulling the strings behind the Light Armor of Aincrad.

-(4) T1 Materials
+(1) T1 Material Salvaged
+19 EXP

QUEST COMPLETED

Thread net gains:
3 SP
940 col
(2) T1 Materials
(1) Unidentified T1 Rare Trinket
(1) "Beginner Accuracy Band" ring (+1 ACC)

"Let's end this, shall we?"

Bahr charged up his blade and sliced into the plant one last time, the creature finally bursting into a cloud of blue pixels. He exhaled a sigh of relief and checked the loot panel. An annoyed expression crawled across his face as he view its contents. It wasn't quite the haul he had been hoping for, but it didn't matter. He had survived, and he still had a quest to turn in. Without further adieu, he began his journey back to the Town of Beginnings.

He must have looked pretty disheveled when he turned the gemstone in to Hannah, because she looked at him like she had just seen a ghost. As she started to deliver her dialogue, Bahr simply put up a hand to stop her.

"I've gotta deliver a package for you, right? Yeah, just hand it here and I'll be on my way."

She reluctantly held out the package for him to grab. He snatched it quickly and bolted, wanting to get to the fisherman as quickly as possible.

As soon as the Disguise cloak disengaged, Bahr leapt into action, striking the creature's back with the dual hit Blast Sword Skill. Unfortunately for him, the Unidentifiable Plant Creature didn't actually have a back, so it grabbed him and slammed him against the ground anyways. 

A cursory look at the monster's health bar would reveal that it was on the verge of being destroyed. But man, had it done a number on Bahr. Once again, he was only two good hits away from being deleted.

"It's official. You have better accuracy than Swine Jesus," Bahr said very matter-of-factly. "I can't believe I'm saying this, because I really struggled against that pig. But holy cow, you have hit almost every single time you have attacked. Multiple crits. I just don't get it. I mean, I have armor to prevent this sort of thing. The RNG system must really favor you."

The Unidentifiable Plant Creature didn't say anything, but looked flattered anyways.

What was he thinking? Of course it was worth it to drink a potion. If he didn't out of stubbornness and died, what kind of legacy would he leave? Being a level 9 noob two years into Sword Art Online and not amounting to anything? What a foolish notion. He retrieved a potion from his inventory and chugged it without a second thought, restoring 50 HP. It wasn't much, but it was enough to finish this thing off.

- (1) <<Starter Healing Potion

As he finished drinking the potion, the Unidentifiable Plant Creature prepared its next attack. Having not used Disguise in awhile, he decided to activate it and blend into his environment as though he had just dawned the invisibility cloak from Harry Potter. The confused plant creature missed its mark, despite not having eyes, allowing Bahr to get by for at least one more turn unscathed. With both Keen and Savvy now activated, he was ready to do some damage.

Feeling lucky, Bahr attempted to hit the Unidentifiable Plant Creature with another Blast while it was still on the ground. Bad move. While the attack connected, it managed to pick up up and slam him again, as it had done so many times before. How foolish he had been to think that attacking a creature that was clearly not on stable footing would allow him to get by unscathed. What a stupid, stupid decision.

When Bahr got up, he glanced at his health bar. Sweet mother of god, one more hit and he was a goner. He glared at the creature with hate-filled eyes, unsure if using a health potion was worth it. It wasn't like he was swimming in them or anything. They were few and far between for him, and it seemed that all of the shops had been cleared out in anticipation for some sort of event or something.

You know, Bahr was pretty sure he had had a nightmare about this thing before. No, he was actually certain of it. When he was the ripe age of nine years old, he and his family moved into a new home and the unfamiliarity of the environment caused him to have a recurring nightmare about a plant monster thrashing him around with slimey tentacles. He had had to go to a therapist for it and everything. Was Sword Art Online somehow manifesting his worst fears? That couldn't be true, could it?

Wait, no. It was definitely a dream about a clown. Bahr had just gotten beaten up so much at this point that he wasn't capable of thinking straight.

He charged at the beast again, using Blast like clockwork to destroy the vines that shot out at him. And wouldn't you know it? He actually got them all for once! In fact, the monster managed to slip on its own puddle of slime. Bahr laughed cruelly at the creature for its blunder as it struggled to stand back up.

As he stood up again, he had to try to collect himself, as he was starting to get dizzy. He had been thrashed around quite a bit. If pain was a thing in Sword Art Online, he would probably be crying like a baby right now, several bones splintered into dust beneath the strength of what had to be the biggest weed in the universe. He eyed the creature, seeing double of it now due to the dizziness. He attempted to use the Blast Sword Skill, but aimed at the wrong one and missed. The Unidentifiable Plant Creature, whether feeling bad for the player or simply having an off day, likewise managed to miss. Somehow. With its myriad of tentacles.

Bahr wasn't complaining. It gave him time to shake his head, the magical cure all to all things dizziness related. Sure enough, his vision returned to normal, and he was able to ready his sword and prepare for the next attack. Keen and Savvy were both activated now, so the likelihood of him missing was slim.

With a war cry, Bahr raised to his legs.

"This is like Swine Jesus all over again! Who the hell do you think you are!?"

Again, the Unidentifiable Plant Creature didn't respond, because it was a plant. It also had no mouth.

"You think you can just stroll along and beat me up while I'm on my way to turn in a quest? Well, you've got another thing coming, mister! I'll show you!"

The Unidentified Plant Creature didn't seem threatened. Although, it was difficult to tell, given it didn't have a face.

Bahr ran forward with another Sword Skill charged, but slipped on a puddle of the goo that had been secreted by the overgrown plant. He groaned as it wrapped its vines around him again and rose him into the air.

"Yeah, yeah! Slam me against the ground! Just get it over with!"

So it did. And it hurt. A lot.

That last attack had put Bahr's HP at exactly the halfway point, putting his health bar into the yellow. A quick glance at the monster's HP revealed that its health was still green. Bahr gritted his teeth, unwilling to accept the fact that his goofy... thing was somehow supposed to be stronger than he was. It was ruthlessly accurate, having hit him every time it attacked. Bahr, on the other hand, had missed one of his attacks, putting himself at a disadvantage. He had nobody to blame but himself.

He picked himself up off of the ground and rushed the monster again, using the same technique as before. If he was lucky, maybe one of these times he would managed to cut off all of the vines with Blast. This time, however, was not one of those times. Instead, the exact same thing happened. Some vines were cut, one got his ankle, he faceplanted and was slammed against the ground once more.

"God, you're so annoying!" Bahr yelled as he got up from the ground, absolutely disgusted by the amount of slime that had accumulated on him. "What if I was a super dry monster and I just, like, dried up all your goo? Wouldn't that just ruin your day?"

The Unidentifiable Plant Creature did not respond, because it was a plant.

"Don't look at me like that!"

It didn't have eyes, either. Wait, how was it even seeing Bahr, then?

"Take this!"

Ah yes, the good ol' 'run in blindly and try to hit it' trick that had been working out so well thus far. Except it hadn't. And this time would be no exception. As the vines closed in, Bahr slashed all of them using Blast, the severed appendages falling to the ground and combusting into a puff of blue pixels. Or, at least, he thought he gotten all of them. One sneaky vine had managed to grab hold of his ankle, pulling it out from under him and forcing him to faceplant before slamming him against the ground.

Bahr was going to need to start getting more tactical with this thing. Most of the monsters that he had fought so far were pretty straightforward. This one, on the other hand, was very dynamic. It had several avenues of attack, and it didn't seem to matter how much Bahr tried to avoid them. One way or another, he was taking damage. The problem was, he needed to get in close to deal damage. Maybe if he stayed at the edge of its range and hit it with the end of his massive sword, he would be okay.

Attempting to put his new ploy into practice, Bahr approached the creature cautiously and charged up his blade. He use Blast at the very edge of his range and... missed. He just missed. Like an amateur! In a turn of events that surprised absolutely nobody, Bahr had misjudged the distance of his sword skill and whiffed the attack entirely. In response, the creature picked him up once more with its gooey tentacles and slammed him against the ground.

Embarrassed by being manhandled by the oversized plant, as well as a little grossed out, Bahr charged up his sword yet again and lunged at his target, plunging his blade deep into its hide. He was proud of the solid hit, but the monster repeated the same attack from before and seized his body and arms, more of its slippery mucus sticking to his clothing as it thrashed him against the ground once more.

He wasn't exactly sure what he had been expecting. You charge straight toward a creature with multiple limbs, and it's probably going to get you. Now he was even more embarrassed. And more grossed out. He did his best to wipe the oil from his clothes, but it had already completely saturated the fabric. Great.

"You better drop the materials I need to either fix this or replace it, you jerkwad! This is my favorite coat!"

This thing was definitely quite a bit tougher than the Cave Guardian. His successful Straight had barely delivered over a tenth of its total HP in damage. In response, the creature launched several vines toward Bahr. His sword began to shine and emit its signature Sword Skill whistle before he slashed forward twice in rapid succession, severing several of the vines. The ones that had been cut off fell to the ground and exploded into millions of tiny blue fractals.

Unfortunately, as valiant as his efforts may have been, there were still vines that he had missed. A few of the vines wrapped around his arms and torso, the strange oil that coated them allowing them to slide along his body with ease while completely restricting his movement. Once the creature had him, it slammed him against the ground. He bounced off of the ground and out of the monster's slimy grip, coughing as he struggled to regain his breath. 

Finally, after countless minutes of searching, Bahr saw a literal light at the end of the tunnel. He ran toward it, but again slipped on a puddle and fell face first into the rock hard ground. He muttered curses under his breath as he got to his feet, resuming his jog to make it out of the cave. He emerged through the threshold, rays of sunlight shining against him and warming him up instantly. He took a deep, non-mildew smell, fresh breath of air.

And of course, there was a monster waiting for him outside.

It was some sort of... Wait, what the hell was this thing? Was it an... octopus? Tentacle monster? No, it was definitely a weird plant of some sort. It had a myriad of vines protruding from any given place on its body, each one glossy as though covered in some sort of disgusting oil.

Not wanting to waste any time with the creature, Bahr used his Disguise Skill to make himself appear as though he was a part of the environment, inching closer to the creature. Once he was close enough, he used his Straight Sword Skill, striking the creature dead on and forcing it backward.

As Bahr continued to stumble through the cave, he was reminded of a similar experience he had had as a child. He and his friends had discovered a cave of sorts in a small coolie near where he lived. Being the adventurous kids they were, they decided to come back later with some basic equipment the next day and check it out.

But Bahr had other plans. That same night, wanting to get a head start on the others, he grabbed his flashlight and snuck out of the house. As he approached the maw of the cave, he remembered it seeming larger than it had during the daytime, the pitch black beyond its threshold seeming infinitely more foreboding. With a gulp to steel himself, he turned on the flashlight and ventured inside. While exploring around, he didn't find much. But eventually, the flashlight started to dim, and ultimately died entirely. Nervous, but trying not to lose his nerve, he fumbled through the cave, attempting to find the entrance. Suddenly, a huge bang pervaded through the cave, scaring the living hell out of him.

Needless to say, he hightailed it out of there as quickly as he could. When he and his friends came back the next day, they never discovered what the source of the sound was.

It dawned on Bahr that he should probably be looking for some materials while clumsily shambling around the dark cave. He peered around through the darkness, trying to make out anything that looked like it could be useful. Tried as he might, he just wasn't able to find anything. At least not from where he was standing. With the gemstone, he had had the advantage of whatever faint light existed glimmering off of its glossy surface. It was difficult to predict if he would come across any other such materials during his time in the cave.

Having had no luck in the material search, he continued along, clumsily feeling the stoney walls in an attempt to keep his balance while traversing the corridors of the cave. He was starting to hate this place. It smelled like mildew and it had only taken him minutes to get lost. He vowed to, if possible, avoid caves in the future.

Even though that last attack had hurt, Bahr knew he could take another. He couldn't help but notice that a single hit against this thing had dropped its health bar into the yellow. Knowing that Bleed would inflict enough damage within a few seconds to kill the Cave Guardian, Bahr simply but his weapon back into the holster on his lower back and started patting the dust off of his coat. 

When the monster came in for a second attack, Bahr didn't even flinch. It thrust its webbed fist into his stomach and, much to Bahr's surprise, did an absolutely pathetic amount of damage. It almost felt like a light tickle. Needless to say, Bahr was hardly affected and the Cave Guardian died shortly after due to Bleed damage. Chuckling to himself a bit at the ridiculousness of the fight, Bahr exited the chamber and headed back into the tunnels of the cave, hoping to find a way out sometime within the next hour.

As soon as he turned around he found himself face to face to one of the most grotesque monsters he had laid eyes on. It appeared to be amphibious in nature, like a giant frog with a perpetually pissed off face. It sneered at Bahr, apparently not pleased with the fact that he had taken its precious jewel. The stench of its breath forced Bahr to recoil and gag.

"Dude, seriously! Breathmint! Euugh!"

In response, the creature shrieked, its shrill cry reverberating loudly through the cave. In an effort to get it to stop, Bahr lunged at it using the Sword Skill Straight. The blade was driven deep into the monster's belly, scoring critical damage and inflicting a bleed. The monster, in response, thwacked Bahr upside the head with completely unpredicted force, launching him into a nearby wall. He coughed as he stood up, looking at the monster with a shocked expression. Only a few more hits like that and Bahr would be done for.