Oscar

The prompt appeared for Oscar as well as the man's dialogue finished. Oscar hit accept. He was ready to jump into it. He consumed a Focused Chili Dog and an Edge Shard to boost up his damage. Those thieves sounded pretty nasty. He wanted to be able to drop them as quickly as possible. He hoped that with his damage, a single <<Amatsu no Homura>> would be sufficient to bring them down. He turned back to Spencer and Cordelia. "Before we get started, here." He combined two Hearty Meals into a Lesser Feast. Four portions of Mitigation food were laid out before them on the table. "Mitigation food. Just in case this starts to go South." One portion would go to waste, but that was okay. At least they would be able to take a little extra damage and be a little safer for this quest. He scarfed down one of the portions and left the other two on the table, waiting for Cordelia and Spencer to eat them.

FOCUSED CHILI DOG CONSUMED +2 DMG, -20 MIT
EDGE SHARD CONSUMED +2 DMG
HEARTY FEAST CONSUMED + 20 MIT

"Hey Cordelia!"

Oscar and Cordelia had spent so much time together over the past few weeks that he could easily pick her out of a crowd at this point. He ran up to her, a wide grin on his face. Before he could say anything, however, Spencer offered for her to tag along on the quest that they were doing. Having Cordelia along would certainly speed things up. "We're doing Arabian Nights. It'd be great to have you come along." Truthfully, Oscar didn't know how Spencer would handle himself in battle. While he felt confident in his own skills, having Cordelia along would be that extra safety net to prevent any of them from getting into any real trouble. Oscar didn't know what to expect with this quest. He hadn't done it yet, nor had he inquired about it at the Information Brokers. He didn't want to go into something blind without a cushion to fall back on.

Well, I'm falling.

That was the first thought that crossed his mind as the woman dealt the killing blow to the creature. She had used him like a pillar to attack and then promptly attempted to trip him. For the most part, she was largely successful. Tall people had a high center of gravity and proved to be easy to topple. But if she wanted him to eat dirt, she had another thing coming. His hand shot out as he pitched his momentum forward. His legs sailed upwards as he used his hand as a springboard to initiate a somersault. He flipped once in the air and landed gracefully on his feet. He fought back the urge to rejoice, but a pleased grin spread across his features nonetheless. It was a feat of acrobatics he would never have been able to accomplish in the real world. He turned around and sized up the girl. She was cute, but clearly vicious. Like a kitten on the prowl. He didn't know her name, so he just came up with one. One that would probably irritate her to no end.

"Alright Sunshine. You need to calm down."

He cracked a wry grin and headed towards the edge of the arena. At some point a weapon was deposited into his inventory, but he'd check it out later. As he reached the circle of spears, he turned back to see if she was coming along. He sighed when he noticed she wasn't. "Come along now, Sunshine. You helped me out with that quest. I owe you lunch."

Oscar, through great effort and much expended breath, managed to crest the top of the hill. He stood and watched from above as the dark figure danced with the boss, calmly wiping his lips from the hot dog. Once he was finished, he began to slide down the opposite side of the sand dune. From what he could make out, the figure had the fight pretty much well in-hand. But if he were being honest, he simply didn't want to wait on the respawn if they managed to kill it before he managed to score a hit. He dropped down low, guiding his descent with his hand. The hot sand burned and stung at his skin, but he didn't pay it any mind. The pain would fade soon enough. Once he reached the bottom, the azure crusader wove in between the gaps in the spears and set foot in the arena. Now able to see the fight up close, he was in awe of the way the figure - a dark clad girl - danced with the beast. They managed to separate and Oscar saw his chance.

He dashed forward as the beast charged and grabbed the girl by the hand. Together, the two of them twirled out of the way, dancing past the deadly edge of beast's glaive. His arm cradled her waist as they came to a stop, his verdant green eyes gazing softly down at her. "I can see your dance card is full, but do you mind if I cut in?" Without another word, he stepped away. Yukianesa was freed from her scabbard, her biting chill a welcome source of cool in the desert heat. Oscar rushed forward and struck. His blade flowed like water, slicing and slashing in all directions. The fluidity of his motions was matched only by the power of each individual strike. 

Though it all paled in comparison to the power of his final blow in the combo. A swift, powerful chop cleaved the beast from collar to hip. The wind created by the attack caused the sand to burst out in all directions. Oscar coughed and closed his eyes, trying to keep himself from being utterly blinded by the dust cloud of his own making. It was at that point, the creature struck. It grew in size and its skin darkened. Oscar had inadvertently began Phase Two of the fight the moment it began. The beast smacked Oscar with the flat of its glaive, sending him skidding backwards. He came to a stop next to the dark-clad woman and staggered a bit as his health bar plummeted. Though he was still in the green, the attack certainly had winded him. Oscar turned to the woman with a smile and said, "He's all yours."

@Neopolitan

The wolves were staring holes into Oscar's eyes. He narrowed his gaze into a glare and tightened his grip on his blade. One brave wolf rushed forward and attempted to pounce on him. It was immediately knocked back into the dirt by Oscar's warm-up slashes. He whipped his blade around his body, hoping the other three would run smack dab into the edge of his blade. But they were, unfortunately, programmed to be smarter than that. They waited until after Oscar's last slash went out and then attacked. Oscar was able to dodge two of them, but the final wolf managed to score a hit on him. Again, in the grand scheme of things, he hadn't taken much in the way of actual damage. They hadn't even knocked him down into the yellow yet. Meanwhile, they were just a single hit away from going down. He collected his loot from the first wolf and then turned his focus back on the fight.

Soon enough, Oscar came across a pack of wolves. He drew Yukianesa from his sheath and rushed in. His blade's frigid edge glowed with a pink light as he stopped and performed two warm-up slashes. Then, he whipped his blade around his body three times, dealing heavy damage to the entire pack. In unison, they lunged at him. Oscar was able to dodge two, but the remaining two sank their teeth into him. Despite that - and one of them even getting a Critical Hit - they really didn't do that much damage to him. He hopped backwards, attempting to gain some distance between himself and the group of lupine enemies. He smirked as he saw their health bars firmly knocked into the yellow. The damage buffs had been well worth it. It would just take one more clean hit on each of them and they would be defeated. He was already excited to see how much loot they dropped.

Oscar had kept putting it off, but now he had all but depleted his resources. Thus, it was time for some good, old-fashioned grinding. The NPCs on Floor 10 directed him to a Garden where resources were said to be plentiful. Oscar trekked out into the jungle of Floor 6, searching for this area. Soon enough, he found it. He took a seat on a stump and produced a buffet of consumables. First was an Edge Shard that he'd purchased from Bookworm Laboratories. Then was a Focused Chili Dog. Both of those would improve his damage, the latter at the cost of a small amount of Mitigation. Then, he consumed a Hearty Dog and an Ultra Prosperous Hot Dog. Fully buffed, he set out to find some enemies to take down to get the full use out of them. He hoped to walk out of here with more materials and Col than he'd ever had before. His shop was suffering because of his lack of mats.

EDGE SHARD CONSUMED +2 DMG
FOCUSED CHILI DOG CONSUMED +2 DMG, +1 ACC, -10 MIT
HEARTY DOG CONSUMED +35 MIT
ULTRA PROSPEROUS HOT DOG CONSUMED +3 PROSPERITY

Oscar decided to visit Bookworm Laboratories again. He was in need of some damage buffs and this shop was the only one that seemed to stock them out of all of the alchemists he knew. He picked up the entire stock of Edge Shards that the shop had. It was five in total. He hoped the owner would have time to replenish their stock before Oscar came calling again. He initiated a Col transfer to Benjamin Bookworm - the proprietor of the shop. 2,750 Col was transferred in total. Oscar left with his new consumables, hoping to put them all to good use soon.

2,750 Col Transferred
5 Edge Shards obtained

This freaking desert! Why were there so many useful quests in the desert. Oscar just wanted to hurry up and get this one done. He didn't want to expose himself to the God-awful heat any more than he needed to. But first he had to find the dang arena. The constantly-shifting sands had revealed a circle of spears. Word from the info brokers was that a boss appeared within that circle. Given how the landscape of Floor 5 could shift according to the whims of the winds and the system, Oscar knew he had to jump right on it. All of this despite his lack of affinity with the heat. One saving grace was that now that he was in possession of the <<Survival>> skill, Oscar wouldn't suffer damage from the constantly-whipping sand. In the distance he heard the sound of clashing steel. The unmistakable din of combat. Oscar couldn't exactly run, considering he was climbing a sand dune while munching on a Focused Chili Dog. But he hoped that once he reached the top, he would be able to see whoever was fighting. It was always a rare treat to see someone else in action. Gave him ideas on new things to try. 

Focused Chili Dog Consumed +2 DMG, -10 MIT

Oscar didn't know why he came to Floor 5 of all places. He absolutely hated the desert with a passion. But, here he was, braving the heat once again. As he passed a bench, he noticed that the man sitting upon it had placed an ad looking for party members to do a quest. He accepted the ad without hesitation. He was always down to do a good quest! Spencer was the name of the player. Oscar sat down on the bench next to him and stretched out, Leeroy and Jenkins curling up next to him. "So what quest are we doing?" Oscar inquired. He really hoped that it wasn't <<The Traveler>> or <<Blood in the Sand>>. One, he'd already completed those quests. Two, he didn't want to go out into the sands and deal with all that nonsense again if he really didn't have to. But, Oscar was a kind, generous soul. He'd help if he was asked, but he wouldn't like it. He'd probably constantly complain too.

Thread Summary
4 SP
1 from Thread Completion
1 from Yui’s Grace
2 from Quest Completion
9900 Col
<<Woodland Armor>>
2 T3 Materials
2 T3 Uncommon Consumables

Loot Summary
ID: 123856 LD6, CD4 2500 Col, T3 Uncommon Consumable
ID: 123864 LD4, CD1 2000 Col, 2 T3 Materials
ID: 123874 LD2, CD6 2500 Col
ID: 123892 LD6, CD4 2500 Col, T3 Uncommon Consumable

As per usual, Oscar teleported back to Deepedge and started making his trek home. On the way home, however, he noticed a shop. Peering through the window, he noticed that it was a cook's shop! This was on his route home every day, so why hadn't he noticed it before? He shrugged and would make it a point to visit his "competition" sometime in the future. For now, he was hungry, tired, and in desperate need of some good old-fashioned rest and relaxation. As such, he took the long way home, preferring to take in the sights and sounds of nature to help recenter himself. When he got home, his familiar rushed into the kitchen, pawing his plate expectantly. Oscar quickly whipped up a pair of steaks for himself and his familiar. They ate, Oscar cleaned up, and then he retired to his room. Yukinesa was placed by his bedside and he flopped down onto the mattress, almost immediately falling asleep.

Thread Summary

Oscar
4 SP
200 Col
<<Sand Armor Potion>>

Lessa
4 SP
200 Col
<<Sand Armor Potion>>

"Not long," came Oscar's response as he headed for the front door. "I really had only saved up for a much smaller house. But I got really lucky on the price. Apparently it was owned by a couple and the husband, unfortunately, died. The wife was basically giving it away." Oscar frowned for a moment. "Truth be told, I didn't want to take advantage of the situation, but the wife was crying and I'm a dude. We don't know what to do with crying women. So I bought the place. I can see why she wanted to sell it. It's kinda lonely living here by yourself." Oscar unlocked the front door and held it open for Lessa. Once she entered, he closed the door behind them.

"Feel free to wander around while I make dinner," he said as Leeroy & Jenkins rushed towards the kitchen. With a polite nod, Oscar excused himself and began preparing their meal. It only took him a few moments - cooking in this game wasn't very time consuming. He plated the food and set the table. His familiar and Riker were fed porterhouse steaks, placed on platters in the floor. Meanwhile, the two of them had a T-Bones and roasted vegetables. "I know I promised Hot Dogs, but I figured this would be a little bit better." They ate and talked for quite some time. Just random stuff. Opinions, favorite movies, weird childhood stories. But then Lessa had to go. He bade his new friend farewell and watched her walk down the granite path and disappear around the corner.

"Well that was nice."

Oscar twirled his blade around by rolling his wrist. Then, he delivered a powerful onslaught of slashes to the spider. If his blade carving through it wasn't enough, the wind shear cut even deeper and sent the spider flying into a boulder. The creature shattered into a thousand shards on impact, leaving behind nothing but a loot screen for Oscar to interact with. More junk, but the Col was certainly appreciated. He sheathed his blade, his energy almost entirely depleted, and headed back to town. No sense pushing things. He wasn't getting the greatest loot here. If he stuck around, he'd either wind up frustrated or he'd get extremely lucky. It wasn't worth the risk of being overly frustrated over loot drops, hence his heading back to town. Oscar passed through the gates, relieved that he would no longer have to contend with the spiders anymore. At least not on this floor. He needed materials for the lower floors more than he needed higher-tier materials.

His third Amatsu no Homura should have taken down both of the spiders. But that dang second spider liked to skitter about randomly, making it hard to hit. His area-of-effect attack did, however, take down the third spider. He collected his loot. Nothing spectacular. Only 2500 Col. But every little bit helps. The second spider attempted to bite Oscar, but missed by a mile. It was a disturbing trend. Neither one of them were able to hit the other with any reliability. It came down to Oscar's next attack. If it missed, he would have to disengage or hope for a Recovery proc to stay in the fight. He felt confident, however, that he would be able to land the final blow. Bahr would never let him live it down if he was forced to run away from a lowly spider. He was so glad that he wasn't around to see Oscar's epic failure. He took a steadying breath, ready to head into the next round.

He performed his Sword Art once more. Amatsu no Homura cleaved through all of the spiders this time. It successfully felled one that burst into a shower of fractal shards. The other two tried to counter, but Oscar proved a touch too elusive to be touched. Recovery didn't activate again this turn, but that was just fine. There was a chance, if he managed to focus up, that he would end combat next turn. He looked at his energy bar as he looted the fallen spider. He would just barely make it. If he missed, he could probably wail on the enemy with a lesser sword art until it died. He definitely didn't want to be stuck using basic attacks to try and kill a spider. That would be as tedious as it would be unnerving. Either way, Oscar needed to get a grip and focus. He wanted this combat over as soon as humanly possible. As any reasonable human would react to three giant spiders trying to eat them.

Two warm up slices.

Shlip. Shlip.

The spiders advanced. Oscar whipped his blade around his body rapidly, hoping to carve them up with an Amatsu no Homura. Three spins and only one of them was hit. A bummer. But, none of them managed to land a hit on Oscar anyway. This was fine. His energy replenished a bit thanks to his Recovery enhancement. That was even better. By the amount of damage he still needed to do, he would be running on fumes by the time he managed to take all the spiders down, assuming he didn't miss too much more. He steadied his blade and prepared himself for the next round. If Amatsu no Homura connected with the already damaged spider, it would be taken out. It was one less problem that Oscar would have to deal with. Then he would only need to focus on the remaining two.

Oscar just couldn't pull himself way from the hypnotic trance that the falls had him in. The sheer majesty was too much for him to bear. Luckily Leeroy & Jenkins was there for him. The hound grasped a hold of Oscar's coat and tugged hard, snapping him out of his reverie. Oscar turned his gaze down to his hound. And then to the spiders that were boxing him into the cliff he was standing near. Then back to his hound. Oscar drew his sword and nodded. "Good boy," he said. He couldn't initiate combat yet. His energy still needed to regenerate. But once it did, he would go hard and taking them down. One, because they were spiders and it was just the principle of the thing. And two, because they were trying to push him off of a cliff. It was 60/40 principle and death. He'd rather die than be killed by a bunch of dang spiders, that much was for sure.

While he waited for his energy to regenerate, Oscar decided the prudent course of action was to try and find some materials. But given the darkness of the cave and the sheer amount of spiders wandering around, he couldn't find anything that he could safely gather. So he decided to admire the scenery. Then he saw it. The massive underground waterfall, wreathed in glowing crystals. The light refracted from the crystals gave off soothing hues that dyed the rushing water in their colors. He stood slack-jawed as the water thundered down. It was an awe-inspiring, calming thing that more than made up for the nasty spiders that roamed this area. He watched the falls for what felt like hours, letting the thundering waters wash away his worries and troubles. Nature was a miraculous thing that never failed to calm him down, real world or otherwise.

Oscar tried again. His blade shot out like lightning, slicing through the spider like a hot knife through butter. But that wasn't all. The follow-up slice finished carving the deadly X in the creature's hide. It exploded in a shower of glass-like fractal shards. Oscar collected his loot, which was only a meager T3 Uncommon Consumable that he couldn't even use yet. Then there was the Col. A whopping 2500 Col was deposited into his wallet. That doubled the amount of cash he was carrying around and then some! Oscar whistled a tune as he ventured further away from the town. He didn't want to go too far. The spiders here were nasty. But he could poke his head out a little bit. So long as he kept the town in sight, he would be more or less safe from all of the arachnid adversaries wandering about the place. He sheathed his blade and started exploring.

With the spider's health being so low, Oscar decided the prudent course of action was to use a weaker sword art to finish it off. Han'ei had been oh-so-reliable in the past. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of those times. Han'ei completely missed the target. Oscar was overextended and a sitting duck for the spider now. Fortunately for him, the spider derped hard and completely missed its attack too. Oscar corrected his posture and focused on the enemy once more. Those clacking mandibles were seriously giving him the creeps. Like, why Kayaba? What possessed the man to make such creepy spiders. Of course, what possessed the man to create a literal death game? There was a lot of messed-up junk going through that dude's head. Oscar wondered what his home life was like. Maybe if there was a good social worker in his life growing up things would be different.

The moment he set foot outside of the city, a spider came skittering up to him. Oscar didn't hate spiders, but he certainly didn't enjoy their presence. He drew his blade and delivered a powerful barrage of strikes the moment it was in range. He punctuated this onslaught with a final vertical chop. The spider's health was knocked into the red and it just barely clung to life. Despite that, it lunged at Oscar, who danced out of the way of the attack. He wheeled around, facing the spider as it turned around and clicked its mandibles together. That was extremely unnerving and sent chills down Oscar's spine. He needed to deal with thing and deal with it quickly before he had to keep looking at this disgusting thing any longer. Honestly, he was about to vomit at how disgusting the thing was. But, he'd have to steel his stomach because it was spiders as far as the eye could see.

Oscar stepped off of the platform into the Mining Town of Tomoika. He had never been up this high before. He took some time to marvel at the sights and sounds of the city. He marveled at the architecture. Building their main structures into stalactites was inspired and made for a wondrous sight to behold. The glowing mushrooms illuminated the path to the gate that Oscar walked. The pale blue light cast upon the stone path was quite beautiful to look at. But Oscar wasn't here purely to take in the sights. He had to fill his empty wallet somehow. And the monsters on floor 21 had to drop tons of Col, right? They would definitely drop higher quality materials. Which in and of itself was a good thing. Oscar arrived at the gates and saw the spiders roaming just outside the boundary of the city. He took a deep breath and dove right in.

Oscar was showered with praise and awarded the <<Woodland Armor>> item. He added the item to his pack and bade the Treants farewell before heading back to Delilah. Jason was waiting for him at the gate, waiting to hear the story. He told him about how he cleaved through the ranks of the soldiers and laid the commander and King low. Jason listened intently to the story, a bright smile on his face. Oscar could see how happy it made him to hear the tales people had of their time in Aincrad. It was probably a welcome distraction from being stuck here. So he told him about a few other quests he'd completed. But soon, he had to go. He bade farewell to Jason and devoured an Ultra Prosperous Hot Dog on the way to the platform. There was money to be made on Floor 21. He was strong enough to handle the enemies there now. And so, in a flash of light, he was off.

UP TO FLOOR 21
ULTRA PROSPEROUS HOT DOG CONSUMED