Koga

Koga sat down at Giovanna's bidding, removing his weapon from his belt and laying it across his lap as he crossed his legs beneath him, and he waited patiently as she and Ghost conversed between them about the art of foraging. To be honest, Koga would have probably found foraging more interesting than fishing, but his profession seemed to favor the fishing rod. He'd fished a couple times in the real world, and had always found it incredibly boring, but he'd been younger then. Nowadays...well, he was still getting the hang of it, and hadn't quite settled on an opinion yet.

Foraging on the other hand, he'd at least found entertaining. A lot less staring at water until something happened, and a lot more actually doing something. Searching, to be more specific. If nothing else, it at least forced one to explore their surroundings, see what was out there. Hmm...maybe spear fishing was an option he could pick up...Koga resolved to investigate that possibility later.

A soft smile that lasted for no more than a moment crept onto Koga's face before disappearing. "I'm glad," was his only reply, before falling silent. They came upon the caravan only moments later, and were quite quickly greeted by the NPC. Giovanna. Koga hadn't met this one yet, but she seemed like a pretty standard quest giver, though quite a bit prettier than any of the ones that Koga had had to deal with so far. Except for maybe Brienne but the president could do with a lesson or two in manners.

Gesturing with one hand, Koga bade Ghost take the lead once more. This was her quest after all, he was just...here to spend time with her. A strangely alien concept to the man, given how little time he actually spent with anyone outside of trying to level or fight bosses. Hell, he hardly saw NIGHT outside of that context, if he was being honest. A glance over at Ghost, and the man affirmed his own own thoughts. He enjoyed her company as well.

Koga let out a small huff of amusement as he read the words that Ghost signed. "I couldn't really think up of a name for them. It was the best I could come up with," he explained with a shrug. "Figured you might like them though, they kinda seem up your alley."

The crackling of a campfire up ahead soon faintly entered Koga's ears as they drew near their destination. The figure of a woman move about the campsite could be seen, silhouetted against the painted sky behind her, presumably cooking something, judging from how she kept moving to search for something in one of the many bags strewn about, only to throw it into the cooking pot hanging above the warm fire.

"Ya know you don't really need me for this one, right?" Koga questioned the girl, raising and eyebrow as he did so. "There's not any combat or boulder punching for this. Did you just want some company?" Not that Koga minded serving as aforementioned company, it just seemed the slightest bit odd to him that the girl defaulted to him. She could always ask Nari or NIGHT or any of the other people she surely knew. He imagined she must've been getting bored of him or something at this point.

Koga narrowed his eyes slightly as he listened to what the witch said. 'whatever you hit me will never amount to any kind of victory over me' Hmm. Ominous. What exactly did that mean, the man wondered, his eyes searching over the woman for any kind of weakness, some clue as to how to defeat her.

Moreover, did she seem to mean that attacking her simply wouldn't hurt her, or would it strengthen her? Best not to risk it.

He didn't have much time to ponder it further, as the woman slammed her greatsword into the floor, the walls and furniture suddenly shifting, moving, rearranging themselves into an entirely different format. The ground shook, and Koga found, he had to take a step to steady himself so that he didn't fall over.

"Neat trick," the man the man said once the rumbling had finally ceased and the room had settled. "But you missed. Care to try again?"

k o g a the elder wolf Spoiler notes: none Koga, Lvl 32/55 | HP: 900 | EN: 124 | DMG: 23 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 30 | ACC: 5 | LD: 3 | BRN: 56 | FALN: 16 | VD: 99 | B.HEALING: 49/99 equipped battle-ready inventory Tsuki no Hikari | Demonic T4 Katana [ CRSD // FALN II // BRN ] Shuku-ro Coat | Demonic T4 Light Armor [ EVA II // VAMP-D. II ] lupine. | Demonic T4 Trinket [ ACC III // EVA ] Lockhart Gloves | Perfect T2 Martial Arts Weapons [ DMG III ] Something Adorable | Perfect T2 Martial Arts Weapons [ DMG II // ACC ] skills Spoiler | UTILITY Gathering: Fishing I | Successfully forage for materials on a LD 14+ | 0/49 EXP  Searching III | +1 LD per rank. +1 to Stealth Detection per rank. | 14 SP Night Vision | Ignores any penalties from low light or darkness. Negates the bonus Stealth Rating from low light or darkness. | 3 SP | COMBAT Combat Shift: Single Target | For the following Sword Arts, +3 to multipliers and +2 to EN cost; ST-I, ST-II, ST-B. No other Shifts may be taken. | 10 SP Mastery: Damage III | Gain 1 * Tier Damage per rank | 13 SP Battle Healing V | Recover 5% (rounded down) of your maximum HP at the start of your turn | 30 SP Emergency Recovery | When non-fatal damage would leave you with 25% or less of your maximum HP, recover 10% of your maximum HP after the attack resolves. Effect cannot occur more than once per thread.  When activated if the player has lower than 10 energy remaining, simply reduce the player's energy to 0. | 6 SP EN Cost: 10 Energist | Increase Base Energy by 5 * Tier | 8 SP Charge | Perform a single attack/Sword Art with +5 base damage. Charge attacks have a -1 Accuracy debuff and cannot be affected by any auto-hit effects. | 10 SP Cooldown: 3 Posts Howl | Adds +2 Hate each against up to 4 targets. | 10 SP EN Cost: 2, Cooldown: 2 posts | WEAPON Katana V | +7 DMG when equipped with a Katana | 30 SP Stamina | Reduces the energy of all Katana attacks by 2 EN | 4 SP Precision | Gain +1 ACC. | 2 SP Ferocity | +2 DMG when using Katana Sword Arts | 4 SP | ARMOR Light Armor V | +30 MIT when equipped with Light Armor, -2 Stealth | 30 SP Meticulous | +1 DMG when equipped with Light Armor | 4 SP Resolve | +1 ACC and +10 * Tier HP when equipped with Light Armor | 6 SP | EXTRAS Familiar Master: Rending | You and your familiar attack in tandem, applying Rend [7*tier unmitigatable damage] to the target that lasts for two turns. | 10 SP Cooldown: 5 Turns Survival | Increases Healing effects received from all sources by 10%. Grants immunity to all damage dealing environmental attacks/effects. | 0 SP Parry | Apply the energy cost upon proc, not activation. Reduces the final damage of the next successful attack against you by 50% (rounded down) and negates stun/paralysis effects of that attack. If hit by multiple attacks, only apply parry to the first attack against you. Parry lasts for three turns. Cooldown starts when the player activates the Skill. If the player is hit when using Parry, the cooldown is reset to 3 turns. | 10 SP 9 EN, Cooldown: 3 Turns Vengeful Riposte | A successful Parry also returns 50% (rounded down) of the raw damage that would be dealt to you back to your opponent. The reflected damage can be mitigated by the opponent. | 6 SP Cooldown: 4 Turns Justified Riposte | A successful Parry also stuns the target for 1 turn. | 5 SP Cooldown: 4 Turns Frozen Hide | As a free action, apply one slot of Frost Aura and one slot of Frost Thorns equal to your tier to yourself until the start of your next turn. | 0 SP 5 EN, Cooldown: 4 Turns buffs Spoiler | PARAGON REWARDS Lv. 5 | Earn Col equivalent to 15% of player’s EXP earned in thread. Lv. 10 | +1 LD to Looting | BUFFS <<Well Rested>> | -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat. <<Squeaky Clean>> | The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down). <<Filling>> | Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. <<Item Stash>> | +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot <<Tasty>> | Turn 2 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Lesser Feast. A Lesser Feast contains 4 portions of the food items sacrificed. Lesser Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread. <<Relaxed>> | Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts. <<Multipurpose>> | Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll. <<Practiced Angler>> | +2 Fishing EXP per Attempt and additional +1 LD & CD to fishing attempts.

All quiet on the western front. Not a single sound between them, aside from the crunching of boots on foliage. Not that Koga minded, he was quite content with the quiet for the moment, a step removed from the usual insanity that was his day. Constant fighting, farming, questing, it was nice to put that aside for a moment. Admittedly, he was technically still questing now, via moral support, but hey, at least he didn't really have to do anything. Except maybe level his fishing skill...damn, Koga sucked at not working...

Which, mention of work, the man had a couple of pieces of his work he still needed to turn over to Ghostie, almost having completely forgotten that he still needed to deliver the items to her. Blue sparks of light coalesced in his hands, as the man finally broke their silence. "Oh, shit, I almost forgot, here," he said, just as the fragments of light finished solidifying into their final forms. "Here. I accidently made an extra weapon. Figured you might get some use out of it or somethin'."

| Koga gives Lockhart Gloves to Ghost

| Koga gives Something Adorable to Ghost

Item Name: Lockhart Gloves
Profession: Blacksmith
Rank: 7
Roll ID: 208731
Roll Result: 11+1
Item Type: Martial Arts Weapon
Tier: 2
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: DMG III
Description: No Materia Needed!
Post Link: 

Item Name: Something Adorable
Profession: Blacksmith
Rank: 7
Roll ID: 208732
Roll Result: 12
Item Type: Martial Arts Weapon
Tier: 2
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: DMG II, ACC
Description: The enemies will be so distracted by how cute these weapons are, they won't even try to move when you hit them
Post Link: 

Stepping back out from his forge, Koga noticed a slip of paper on his counter. A quick read over, and he was actually a tad bit surprised to realize it was Ghost who had left behind the request. For a moment, he wondered why hadn't gone and knocked on his forge door, considering his hammering was definitely audible, even in the store proper. His second thought was that he needed to remember to start locking the door so no one came in and stole anything...not that there was really anything of much value on display to begin with. It was a good habit to build at least.

The two bandits slowly made their way out of the armory, and when the latch of the door finally clicked shut, Koga let out a long held breath, and pulled off the heavy plate helmet he'd donned as disguise. "Fuck, I thought those two idiots would never leave," the man said to himself before he head the sound of Okami's whines echoing from the suit of armor across from him. "I'm comin' bud, just hold on a sec," the man said as he pulled off the (slightly too large) pieces of armor and set them aside as gently as he could, careful to not make any sounds.

After freeing Okami from the confines of the armor, the wolf leapt around and growled menacingly at the plates of metal, making his distaste for the suit quite apparent. "Yeah, I know, sorry, but there was nowhere else I could put you," Koga hissed quietly. "I'm surprised that one guy didn't figure out you were in there..." Koga supposed the bandit's intelligence must've dropped a point or ten since the last update. "C'mon, let's go."

The two crept out of the armory and made their way to the next nearest location on the map, the workshop. Treading carefully across the hall the pair had just made it to the door when-

"gods, not even one night and you're coming back for more already? and you had the gall to get a separate room -- don't you know how to keep quiet, honey?"

'What the fuck.'

Koga looked in direction of where the voices were coming from, and saw a cluster of bandits all huddled around each other, with their ears pressed to the door, paying such fervent attention to whatever was going on on the other side, that not a one noticed the player and his familiar standing there in plain view.

"n-no... no and i don't wanna-- mmffh!--"

'Oh my god, they're actually-'

Koga shook his head. Whatever, he still needed to find documents.

Creeping into the workshop, Koga was pleased to find it entirely empty. The scent of sawdust, oils, and various other crafting materials filled the air here, a scent of nostalgia for the man. But he didn't have time to stand here and reminisce. "Okami, watch the door," he ordered as he began to walk around and search through the drawers and cupboards for their lockbox.

Koga's search, however, did not last more than a couple of opened drawers, for as he stood, his eyes caught sight of an ornately carved box with a lock on the front. The man looked at the object skeptically. "No way..." and yet, it was. Score two for Koga.

| 208673, LD nat20
  >> document 3/5 found

Hmm, so this was a newer quest...Koga wondered what exactly it had been that possessed Cardinal to so suddenly push out such a massive content update. Coupled with a revamp and rebalance of systems. It had been a lot for the players to relearn at the same time. Chances were, some had died as a result. Although, Cardinal might've decided they were progressing too slowly, and simply marked those down as acceptable losses. Or, they were moving too quickly. Who knew what the intended timeline was...

"First of all," Koga said, lifting his index finger into the air, "I never assumed you actually liked this floor, I just though you would have cleared it. Two," his middle finger went up to accompany his index, "you'll have to see my room one day. I think you'd be surprised." Lots of plants and art, really. Some books on shelves or his desk. The man actually had a decent sense for décor, and despite what his friend apparently thought, it was neither dark, nor gloomy.

Koga paused a moment, trying to conjure up what little knowledge he had of the franchise NIGHT had mentioned. Which was painfully little, especially so many years. Sadly, there was little the man could recall about the series, aside from its gothic theme and it being a renowned platformer.

"I'd...be surprised," the man answered back to NIGHT, not noticing the shift in her demeanor. "I mean, getting pseudo-immortality via magical infection kinda defeats the whole purpose of this place being perma-death, right?" Well, unless it just killed them, and then took over their bodies, but that was a little too morbid, even for him. "I'm not exactly keen to find out though..."

k o g a the elder wolf Spoiler notes: none Koga, Lvl 32/55 | HP: 900 | EN: 124 | DMG: 23 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 30 | ACC: 5 | LD: 3 | BRN: 56 | FALN: 16 | VD: 99 | B.HEALING: 49/99 equipped battle-ready inventory Tsuki no Hikari | Demonic T4 Katana [ CRSD // FALN II // BRN ] Shuku-ro Coat | Demonic T4 Light Armor [ EVA II // VAMP-D. II ] lupine. | Demonic T4 Trinket [ ACC III // EVA ] none skills Spoiler | UTILITY Gathering: Fishing I | Successfully forage for materials on a LD 14+ | 0/49 EXP  Searching III | +1 LD per rank. +1 to Stealth Detection per rank. | 14 SP Night Vision | Ignores any penalties from low light or darkness. Negates the bonus Stealth Rating from low light or darkness. | 3 SP | COMBAT Combat Shift: Single Target | For the following Sword Arts, +3 to multipliers and +2 to EN cost; ST-I, ST-II, ST-B. No other Shifts may be taken. | 10 SP Mastery: Damage III | Gain 1 * Tier Damage per rank | 13 SP Battle Healing V | Recover 5% (rounded down) of your maximum HP at the start of your turn | 30 SP Emergency Recovery | When non-fatal damage would leave you with 25% or less of your maximum HP, recover 10% of your maximum HP after the attack resolves. Effect cannot occur more than once per thread.  When activated if the player has lower than 10 energy remaining, simply reduce the player's energy to 0. | 6 SP EN Cost: 10 Energist | Increase Base Energy by 5 * Tier | 8 SP Charge | Perform a single attack/Sword Art with +5 base damage. Charge attacks have a -1 Accuracy debuff and cannot be affected by any auto-hit effects. | 10 SP Cooldown: 3 Posts Howl | Adds +2 Hate each against up to 4 targets. | 10 SP EN Cost: 2, Cooldown: 2 posts | WEAPON Katana V | +7 DMG when equipped with a Katana | 30 SP Stamina | Reduces the energy of all Katana attacks by 2 EN | 4 SP Precision | Gain +1 ACC. | 2 SP Ferocity | +2 DMG when using Katana Sword Arts | 4 SP | ARMOR Light Armor V | +30 MIT when equipped with Light Armor, -2 Stealth | 30 SP Meticulous | +1 DMG when equipped with Light Armor | 4 SP Resolve | +1 ACC and +10 * Tier HP when equipped with Light Armor | 6 SP | EXTRAS Familiar Master: Rending | You and your familiar attack in tandem, applying Rend [7*tier unmitigatable damage] to the target that lasts for two turns. | 10 SP Cooldown: 5 Turns Survival | Increases Healing effects received from all sources by 10%. Grants immunity to all damage dealing environmental attacks/effects. | 0 SP Parry | Apply the energy cost upon proc, not activation. Reduces the final damage of the next successful attack against you by 50% (rounded down) and negates stun/paralysis effects of that attack. If hit by multiple attacks, only apply parry to the first attack against you. Parry lasts for three turns. Cooldown starts when the player activates the Skill. If the player is hit when using Parry, the cooldown is reset to 3 turns. | 10 SP 9 EN, Cooldown: 3 Turns Vengeful Riposte | A successful Parry also returns 50% (rounded down) of the raw damage that would be dealt to you back to your opponent. The reflected damage can be mitigated by the opponent. | 6 SP Cooldown: 4 Turns Justified Riposte | A successful Parry also stuns the target for 1 turn. | 5 SP Cooldown: 4 Turns Frozen Hide | As a free action, apply one slot of Frost Aura and one slot of Frost Thorns equal to your tier to yourself until the start of your next turn. | 0 SP 5 EN, Cooldown: 4 Turns buffs Spoiler | PARAGON REWARDS Lv. 5 | Earn Col equivalent to 15% of player’s EXP earned in thread. Lv. 10 | +1 LD to Looting | BUFFS <<Well Rested>> | -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat. <<Squeaky Clean>> | The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down). <<Filling>> | Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. <<Item Stash>> | +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot <<Tasty>> | Turn 2 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Lesser Feast. A Lesser Feast contains 4 portions of the food items sacrificed. Lesser Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread. <<Relaxed>> | Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts. <<Multipurpose>> | Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll. <<Practiced Angler>> | +2 Fishing EXP per Attempt and additional +1 LD & CD to fishing attempts.

In all his years in Aincrad, Koga could hardly remember visiting the same floor so many times and so frequently. And yet, here he was again on Floor 27 for the...third time? in recent memory. Underground, the only light coming from the glowing crystals embedded into the floor itself. It would have been gloomy and ominous, were it not for how bright the crystals, so much so that it almost hurt to look at them.

But the luminous crystals weren't what drew Koga back here today. Today, it was the rumors of the Kingslayer. Or rather, the Kingslayer's reemergence. There had been tell of a man quite a while ago, a man who'd gone some crusade against...what, the Kings of Aincrad? Aincrad itself? The details had gotten hazier with time. The only solid piece of information (well, as solid as rumors and hearsay got) was that he'd bested the Forgotten Time King. Alone. After which he seemed to just disappear, fading back into anonymity and obscurity.

Until recently, that was. Rumors had rebounded, of sightings man who carried the Kingslayer's weapon. A sword, similar to a katana, though straight edged and shorter. And also, that he had red eyes. Not a lot to go off of, but it was something.

Koga wasn't usually the kind to go looking for people, let alone asking other for a fight but...this was a special case, he'd supposed. A lot had happened in recent times, a lot of, what he hoped, was growth. But how much had changed, how much had he evolved. It seemed the best way to test that was by seeking out those stronger than him, test himself, test them.

And so, when Koga finally set his eyes on a man bearing a straight edged, short katana, with red eyes, he approached the man with little more than a nod as greeting. "Are you the one they call 'The Kingslayer'?"

k o g a the elder wolf Spoiler notes: none Koga, Lvl 32/55 | HP: 900 | EN: 124 | DMG: 23 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 30 | ACC: 5 | LD: 3 | BRN: 56 | FALN: 16 | VD: 99 | B.HEALING: 49/99 equipped battle-ready inventory Tsuki no Hikari | Demonic T4 Katana [ CRSD // FALN II // BRN ] Shuku-ro Coat | Demonic T4 Light Armor [ EVA II // VAMP-D. II ] lupine. | Demonic T4 Trinket [ ACC III // EVA ] none   skills Spoiler | UTILITY Gathering: Fishing I | Successfully forage for materials on a LD 14+ | 0/49 EXP  Searching III | +1 LD per rank. +1 to Stealth Detection per rank. | 14 SP Night Vision | Ignores any penalties from low light or darkness. Negates the bonus Stealth Rating from low light or darkness. | 3 SP | COMBAT Combat Shift: Single Target | For the following Sword Arts, +3 to multipliers and +2 to EN cost; ST-I, ST-II, ST-B. No other Shifts may be taken. | 10 SP Mastery: Damage III | Gain 1 * Tier Damage per rank | 13 SP Battle Healing V | Recover 5% (rounded down) of your maximum HP at the start of your turn | 30 SP Emergency Recovery | When non-fatal damage would leave you with 25% or less of your maximum HP, recover 10% of your maximum HP after the attack resolves. Effect cannot occur more than once per thread.  When activated if the player has lower than 10 energy remaining, simply reduce the player's energy to 0. | 6 SP EN Cost: 10 Energist | Increase Base Energy by 5 * Tier | 8 SP Charge | Perform a single attack/Sword Art with +5 base damage. Charge attacks have a -1 Accuracy debuff and cannot be affected by any auto-hit effects. | 10 SP Cooldown: 3 Posts Howl | Adds +2 Hate each against up to 4 targets. | 10 SP EN Cost: 2, Cooldown: 2 posts | WEAPON Katana V | +7 DMG when equipped with a Katana | 30 SP Stamina | Reduces the energy of all Katana attacks by 2 EN | 4 SP Precision | Gain +1 ACC. | 2 SP Ferocity | +2 DMG when using Katana Sword Arts | 4 SP | ARMOR Light Armor V | +30 MIT when equipped with Light Armor, -2 Stealth | 30 SP Meticulous | +1 DMG when equipped with Light Armor | 4 SP Resolve | +1 ACC and +10 * Tier HP when equipped with Light Armor | 6 SP | EXTRAS Familiar Master: Rending | You and your familiar attack in tandem, applying Rend [7*tier unmitigatable damage] to the target that lasts for two turns. | 10 SP Cooldown: 5 Turns Survival | Increases Healing effects received from all sources by 10%. Grants immunity to all damage dealing environmental attacks/effects. | 0 SP Parry | Apply the energy cost upon proc, not activation. Reduces the final damage of the next successful attack against you by 50% (rounded down) and negates stun/paralysis effects of that attack. If hit by multiple attacks, only apply parry to the first attack against you. Parry lasts for three turns. Cooldown starts when the player activates the Skill. If the player is hit when using Parry, the cooldown is reset to 3 turns. | 10 SP 9 EN, Cooldown: 3 Turns Vengeful Riposte | A successful Parry also returns 50% (rounded down) of the raw damage that would be dealt to you back to your opponent. The reflected damage can be mitigated by the opponent. | 6 SP Cooldown: 4 Turns Justified Riposte | A successful Parry also stuns the target for 1 turn. | 5 SP Cooldown: 4 Turns Frozen Hide | As a free action, apply one slot of Frost Aura and one slot of Frost Thorns equal to your tier to yourself until the start of your next turn. | 0 SP 5 EN, Cooldown: 4 Turns buffs Spoiler | PARAGON REWARDS Lv. 5 | Earn Col equivalent to 15% of player’s EXP earned in thread. Lv. 10 | +1 LD to Looting | BUFFS <<Well Rested>> | -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat. <<Squeaky Clean>> | The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down). <<Filling>> | Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. <<Item Stash>> | +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot <<Tasty>> | Turn 2 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Lesser Feast. A Lesser Feast contains 4 portions of the food items sacrificed. Lesser Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread. <<Relaxed>> | Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts. <<Multipurpose>> | Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll. <<Practiced Angler>> | +2 Fishing EXP per Attempt and additional +1 LD & CD to fishing attempts.

Though it still could not be said that Koga was getting a good night's rest, he was getting a bit more of it, and of better quality. That being said, Koga could still feel that constant exhaustion gnawing away at him as he worked the forge in the early hours of the morning. One hammer strike after another clanged within the small structure, the orange glow of the forge's flames illuminating his work. For once, it came along nicely. Call it inspiration, hard work, whatever. All Koga really knew was that he'd felt better as of late. Maybe that was in thanks to Calming the Soul. Maybe it was something else.

A familiar ding drew Koga's attention, just as he delivered one last blow of the hammer. The ingot glowed light blue before morphing and taking its final shape, that of a katana with blue cotton wrapped tightly around it's hilt, a chrysanthemum flower guard, and small plum flower engraved along it's furnishings. The man picked up the weapon and examined the blade, the tempering line. Like rolling waves crashing onto the shore.

Dispersing the weapon, Koga turned his attention to his new notification, a message from Nari.

"Well that's...ominous..." the man muttered, staring at the message for a moment longer before swiping the window closed. Best to get going.

---

Appearing in Ellesmera, crisp fresh air filled Koga's lung as he materialized. It had been a long time since he'd been to Floor Eight. In fact he couldn't even recall...had it been with Yukiro? Or had he returned afterwards with NIGHT? He couldn't remember, not that it mattered.

The man searched the plaza of the Elven city, taking in the sights and searching for Nari. Okami was the first to lay eyes on her, letting out a gruff grunt before walking in her direction, not bothering to wait his master.

"Hey," the man greeted Nari as he approached, following just behind Okami. "what's going on, Nari, your message was...vague..."

Satisfied with his performance, the man took a step back from the boulder, appraising his work, glee running through his body. He didn't really care what the exact numbers were, or how satisfying it was to finally get back at the thing that had tormented him, the speed at which they were going to finish. Yes, that was more than enough for the man.

Looking over at Ghost though, she seemed less enthused, a slight sheen of wetness in her eyes as she stared up at him, the slightest tremble in her form. Okay, maybe he'd shown off a little too much...A pang of guilt pierced the man's chest, and he reached out and gently rested his hand on the girl's head, a gesture of comfort, as strange as it was. "Hey, I'm proud of you for getting this far on your own," he told her. "We're not done yet though. Go on," he nodded to the boulder again. "Show me what you got."

The man took yet another step back as she delivered a surprisingly powerful blow, a small impact crater of her own left behind, evidence of her having been here. Another small smile snuck onto Koga's face once more, as the Boulder fell dangerously within finishing range. "Hey, look at that," he commented, "we're almost there." He looked at the girl again. "Is it okay if I finish this thing off so we can get outta here?" he asked her. A nod of assent was all that needed, and Koga stepped up once more. One more punch, that was all that was needed, and that was all that was delivered. A swift strike echoed once more through the cavern, and the boulder's health gauge depleted entirely. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, and then a great cracking sound of stone splitting slowly crept into the silence, just before the boulder split in half, the two hemisphere rolling onto their sides.

The unbreakable was broken.

*permission given by Ghostie to take control of her actions in this post

A perk about cliff diving that Koga never really thought too much about was that he was prepped better than most to climb wet rocks while soaking wet himself. He knew how to cling to the slippery rocks, leverage himself so as to not lose his grip. In truth, it wasn't terribly different from normal rock climbing, save for the fact that he didn't have the luxury of friction, and thus, required much more care.

Suffice it to say, Koga made it to the top a bit quicker than Ghost did, and once the man had hoisted himself over the ledge, he glared at the boulder with disdain. 75 HP, now it was nothing to him, but back when he was just a new player, finding his footing, that 75 HP had been 75 HP of absolute pain and frustration. Hopefully now, he'd get his vengeance.

The man turned back to check on Ghost's progress just as she finished readjusting her outfit, and action which the man thought nothing of. Nodding towards the boulder, the man said "Go ahead and start it. It's your quest after all."

The man watched as the girl took a running start at the boulder, winding up and striking it, more than a tenth of it's health disappearing in that instance. That...was actually a decent start. Wordlessly, Koga took up a spot beside Ghost, and fell into a typical mid-guard. A short pause, and fired off a quick cross, every muscle in his body assisting in putting power behind the thundering strike. Power that would not go unfelt by the boulder, which lost almost half it's health in that single instance. The impact echoed through the cavern as shards of stone exploded outwards, a small crater left behind at the point of impact, like some shonen anime. A slow grin spread across the man's face. Oh, vengeance was sweet indeed.

The sound of Master YunXiang's voice reached their ears, and Koga hung his head in disappointment. Of course the old guy was still kicking. Koga wished he could say he was surprised. But, the old man seemed to still have some life in him after all.

Water dripped from Koga's swimwear as he stood, looking up at the elderly man as he said his piece. Wise words, words of caution that Ghost would do well to heed. Even if Koga was not the crazed master's biggest fan, he had to admit that the old man gave some sage advice.

The master then indicated to them their last task, the one Koga dreaded the most. That goddamn boulder. With a sigh Koga stared up at the stupid thing. "We better get up there and get started," he said as moved towards the rock wall to start climbing. "We'll be here all night if we don't start soon."

Though Koga did not miss the repeated signs, nor the words that appeared in the air, Koga made no remark. He just continued to walk along the path, following the others. Stopping within the Garden's premises, NIGHT asked where the ghost was last seen. Before anyone could answer, however, Nari looked past NIGHT and uttered something unexpected. "I…think that may be it…?"

Following the girl's gaze, the man saw...nothing...even as Nari dashed ahead of them to chase after whatever she had seen. "Hey, wait up a sec!" Koga called after her, gripping his weapon to chase after her. "Don't fucking run off like that," Koga chastised her as he caught up, eyes not lingering on any one spot for too long as he searched for any sign of danger. "We don't know what this ghost is, or if they're hostile." Too many unknowns to be running off without thought.

"To your question though, I got some points in Searching, but that's it. No tracking."

Koga followed Ghost's gaze as her eyes drifted away from his and to her shoulder, where a small tattoo of a fox and rose sat imprinted into her skin. Another question drifted into Koga's mind as his eyes flicked back to Ghost's face, but the man held his tongue. There'd be another time and place for those kinds of questions.

"Your hands.. They’re soft," she signed to him, drawing out a quiet chuckle as he finally sat back a little, propping an arm up on his knee. "Thanks, Ghost. Ya know, if you keep giving me compliments like this, I might end up growing one hell of an ego," he joked, before shifting his gaze upwards. "Think the old man fell asleep up there?" Koga whispered to Ghost. "I don't think he's moved a muscle since we started." Not even when Ghost had started to splash about in the water did Koga hear the man stir even a little bit. "Maybe he finally kicked the bucket."

Slowly, her breath slowed down, no longer deep heaving draws of air. Clarity began to return to her pale, lavender and Koga gently smiled at her, brushing some stray strands of hair out of her face and tucking them behind her ear. "There we are. See? You're okay. Everything's fine. It's just us," he said in the most comforting tone he could muster.

The man gently rubbed the girl's shoulders, up and down as she returned to reality. Still shaken, but in reality. The girl reached out towards him, and Koga pulled her close to him, her head resting beneath his chin as he rubbed his hand in large, slow circles across her back in a comforting manner. "You're okay," he gently reminded her, and doing so until she let him go.

Released from her embrace, he gently squeezed her shoulder once more before looking into her eyes with a single question on his tongue. "Are you okay?"

With each breath, Koga envision his emotions, his thoughts, as clouds of smoke, steam and mist. On each inhale, he gathered each of these in his lungs, and with each exhale, he expelled them, releasing them from his body and allowing them to disperse. Again and again he did this, until he was empty, and his mind allowed thoughts to pass through them like the water in a stream. This and that, people, things, acts, all stayed for no more than a moment before leaving. It was a quiet reverie.

And that reverie was suddenly shattered, the sound of frantic splashing breaking through the calm like it was a pane of glass. Blue light materialized Koga's katana as he shot to one knee, blade partly drawn as he searched for whatever target threatened them, only to find none. Looking over at Ghost, the girl wide-eyed with duress, he looked in the direction she was and still saw nothing.

His weapon dispelled in an instant as the man scrambled over to the girl and took hold of her shoulders. "Ghost, calm down breathe," he commanded, voice stern but unthreatening. "Breathe, it's just us."

"Geez, what's got you all riled up?" a near-forgotten voice said from behind Koga. The man whirled around to face the speaker, chest constricting as soon as he set his eyes on that head of brown and hair and sharp green eyes. "Hikaru," Koga whispered, a flood of emotion filling him once again, sitting in his stomach like a lead weight. "Hey, Mas," the man said with a smile as he approached. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Don't fucking do that," Koga said stepping backwards. "Don't you dare fucking use them like that." His voice trembled, wavered as he struggled to form the words and usher them from his mouth.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Sorry. I guess this really wasn't the best choice. Is this better?" The voice shifted, from the upbeat, excitable voice of Hikaru, to being sweeter, kinder. "We've missed you, Masato." Tsukiko said with a bright smile that ate at Koga's soul.

The sight that Koga and Ghost came upon was breathtaking, to say the least. A scene far more impressive than what Koga had experienced however many years ago. He felt the urge to say as much, but was interrupted by the sound of the Master YunXiang's voice addressing him. Koga's eyes shifted to the source of the sound, quick to find the master sitting up at the mouth of the falls, exactly like one would expect him to be in some kung-fu action movie.

Wordlessly, Koga waded into the pools, and sat crossed-legged within in, the water striking his back and cascading around his shoulders. Pressing his fingertips together in his lap, the man closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A slow breath in. A slow exhale out. Though the man found this a tad harder than when he'd been transported within his own mind to literally fight his own inner demons, there was also the fact he didn't have to literally fight his own inner demons. Several breath cycles passed before Koga fell into a rhythm and found the calm empty feeling he'd come to know.

| 208610, LD nat7
| 208611, LD nat20, DMG +2
| 208612, LD nat13, DMG +2

It wasn't more than a few steps before Koga felt a hand grasp his arm. Turning towards the girl who grabbed him, the look she gave him...She smiled, the first real expression she'd ever shown him. A soft smile spread across the man's face, a faint heat burning at the tips of his ears. "Th-thanks, Ghost," the man said softly, before looking ahead towards whatever came next, making no move to remove her hand from his arm.

The roaring of a waterfall soon reached their ears faintly, echoing off the walls as they walked further into the cave. Candles placed into alcoves carved into the wall illuminated their path, a faint orange glow alighting their faces. "Wow...I didn't actually think he'd have us meditate under a waterfall..." Koga muttered quietly, reminded of his own Calming the Soul quest some weeks ago. "I guess the old geezer isn't as crazy as I thought."

Koga stepped out a bit before Ghost, his own apparel much easier to take on and off than her. Leaning against the wall he waited until she stepped out again and the man's eye grew wide, blinked and then grew wider. "Uh, that looks...good on you..." the man stuttered as he struggled to keep his eyes on Ghost's face. A struggle that took all of Koga's willpower, every single second, just to succeed. Yes, it was a bikini, and yes, they were meant to show off a little skin and what not. But for some reason, that fact didn't really make it any easier to take in Ghost's current appearance. Screw making sure his eyes didn't wander, Koga was going to feel worse if his mind did instead.

Turning away and breathing deeply to clear his head, the man exhaled and then gestured for Ghost to follow. "C'mon, don't wanna keep the old guy waiting," he said, before starting towards the far end of the cavern.

Koga kept pace with NIGHT, walking at her side as they followed the worn path towards the distant structure. Dull red tufts of grass, or more likely weeds, sprouted every once in a while along the road's edge, small testaments to what little life actually existed on this floor.

"Mostly bits and pieces," Koga admitted to his companion as they went. "I know that this vamp lady is supposed to be practically immune to anything but a holy weapon, although I'm not actually sure if they mean Holy like the enchantment, or holy like, blessed by in-game God or something. Possibly both. Anyways, that's what were looking to get right now, if I'm not mistaken. Get the superweapon, nuke vamp lady with said superweapon, and then the quest should be done and dusted." As far as quests went, this one was fairly straight forward. The slight detour to obtain an effective weapon wasn't really too far outside of the norm, and so far seemed to be only slightly better than your standard fetch quest. "Have you not done this quest yet?" Koga then asked, a hint of surprise in his voice. "Woulda thought you cleared out this whole floor at least once by now."

Meditation. Yeah, that was definitely new to the quest. Koga could not recall any mention of meditating the first time he'd taken this quest. Admittedly, that part sounded nicer than hours of pounding a stone into sand, but the man knew that that trial still lay ahead.

Turning back to Ghost, the man shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, I guess? Seems like a shitty attempt at 'wise old master' mixed in with 'fucking creep'. But hey, if it gets you the skill, that's all that matters, right?" the man said, before mussing with Ghost's hair, and then walking towards the door. "C'mon, let's go see what the old man has in store for us next."

Bathing suits. The answer was bathing suits.

"You have got to be kidding me..." Koga muttered to himself as he picked up the pair of swim trunks that Master YunXiang had laid out for them, then at Ghost. "There better be a waterfall involved in all this, or I'm punting that old man into an early grave," Koga said before looking around for...well...privacy...The man could hardly imagine Ghost being comfortable undressing in front of him, and he wasn't exactly eager to strip down in front of her either.

Thankfully, it seemed that the pervy master wasn't all that bad, as a set of small changing smalls had been set up against the wall of the cave. "Uh, I guess we should go get changed," the man said as he walked over and entered one.

"Take a look in there!" their captain said.

"Yes sir, great and powerful captain sir!" the two replied back, saluting, and holding their position until their captain rolled his eyes and walked away, before the two stuck their tongues out at him and turned to investigate the room the man had just indicated.

A crashing sound came from behind the great wooden doors as Bozho and Glebu approached. The sounds gave the two pause, as they looked at each other and gulped in unison. Were there guards behind those doors? If so, how many? Was this the end of the great chronicales of Bozho the Great and Glebu the Less Great? (No, we said it was Glebu the Very Great, and Bozho the Meh) But their stories had only just begun!

The two men tightened their grip around their hatchets, nodded to each other and then charged the unleashed their great and mighty war cries (well, anyone in the vicinity might've thought them young maidens, screaming in fright, but allow the two heroes their glories). They charged the door, prepared to face whatever devils they found on the other side. Their bodies crashed into the wood, forcing the doors wide open, where within they were met with armor and weapons. No, no one was holding the weapons or wearing the armor. Just armor and weapons. "It's...an armory..." Bozho said, confused.

"Yes, it's an armory, I have eyes bozo!"

"You idiot, I'm wondering why an empty armory was making spooky sounds!...N-not that I was spooked, but one less courageous than I might've been."

"Ohhhhh, yeaaaaah...Hmm, I wonder what did make that sound..." Glebu replied, scratching his head with the blunt of his his hatchet.

"Well I don't know, maybe we should look around?!"

"Oh yeah, that's a good idea," Glebu replied, earning himself a groan of annoyance from Bozho, before starting down on of the long aisles of armor and weapons.

The man's eyes swept back and forth, inspecting each piece of equipment, looking for whatever intruder might've caused the ruckus (wait, weren't they the intruders?), looking for anything out of place. Armor. Sword. Axe. Bow. Tail. Lockbox.

Wait, tail!?

The man whirled back around to inspect the furred tail that hung between the legs of one of the pieces of armor, kneeling down to trace it to it's origin. Between the legs, up, up, all the way, stemming from the armor's butt.

"Heh. Someone likes to have fun while they're fighting," Glebu chuckled to himself.

"Glebu! Are you done over there!?"

"Eh? Oh, yeah! Nothing over here Bozho! Musta just been the wind!"

"Great, then let's go report back to Captain Turdicus that we didn't find any lockboxes in here!"

"Alright Bozho!"

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