Randal

Quest Info

Lvl 24 Randal Info
HP 480/480 | Energy 66/66 | Damage 18 (+2 SA) | MIT 20 | ACC 3 | EVA 4 | LD 6 |

The inhabitants of the third floor were more than anything that Randal had expected, it was the first time that he was stepping onto the floor and he was greeted with a unique sighting. All around him were goat people, the adults had long curved horns and the children which ran around had humps where their horns were beginning to grow. The local area was populated with NPCs looking for some form of assistance or another and the local inns were touting their business and special crafts.

There were many too who stood around ordered by the invisible marionette strings of Aincrad who sought to inform Randal as to the dangers that lurked around every corner, they sold books and information to help the player to survive should they listen, and Randal did, he spent the first few hours getting himself accustomed to the location. The huge trees that reached up and became the sky as well as the long rope bridges that connected various tree settlements to each other.

Randal soon came across one such NPC who sought to warn him but offered a different kind of tale. This character before him was a faune yet his body was large and built like a very strong human or even a giant form of a faune. He stood tall over Randal and spoke of a legend that was common among the Faune people.  

He was gruff and excitable, constantly asking player’s around him if they would be willing to fulfil the legend of Hoya with him, to kill the mighty minotaurs and become a legend as well. 

@Ivory Lotus @Hakai

“Let’s see what we have here yea?” Randal said as he messes with the lock. Eventually, Randal lifts his lava golem from off its usual perch around his necks and places it close to the lock heating it up. The heat causes the lock to get loose and Randal manages to pry open the chest.

Inside was a substantial amount of col for the floor they were on, three pouches that when opened revealed materials that could be used for crafting and 2 consumable items.

Randal slowly takes them out from the chest and presents them to Hakai, “You can have the col and the consumables, for the company.”

“Well, I need to get going, there are more quests to do out there, come by the shop when you have the time.” Randal said, sending Hakai a friend request. Through that she would be able to contact him and him her if they ever needed assistance with anything. Many of the enemies that exist in this game were difficult to deal with alone and seeing as how strong Hakai was, Randal felt like she was a reliable ally.

Randal opens the chest
LD 9
Chest gives:
Floor 8*75 = 600 col
3 Mats
2 T1E2 Consumables

Randal Summary

NIGHT:

ID: 190172 | LD: 2 | Hakai's Unique Skill.
ID: 190173 | LD: 5 | Randal's Unique Skill.

Randal heard Hakai’s question and stood up, dirt covering his bare upper body and clumps sticking between the creases in his trousers, in his hands was an oval-shaped bean, “You see, something like this, I got no clue what it is but definitely worth experimenting on. I was actually a businessman outside, but here there was never any good food when we were starting out so I decided to make my own, and now I just mess around cause the system lets me” He could not stop smiling at the thought of all the weird things he sold in his shop when he accidentally stepped back and fell into the hole that he had been digging, the ground below softened his fall with a light thud.

Rolling over to see what that noise was, because dirt did not make that sound, Randal swiped at it until a wooden box appeared with a mechanism on it to ensure that it was locked.

Randal finds a treasure chest
LD 12 + 6 = 18

After showing it to Hakai, Randal mentioned “I’m located on the first floor, over by Horunka Village which is a little out of the way, but I consider it home.”

 “Thanks for indulging me in my gathering though, do you want to do something a little more active? We could go up to a higher floor and kill some mobs too.” Randal offered. "Although, we should probably try opening this first though."

Seeing as how Hakai did not take the opportunity to immediately flee the scene, Randal could only assume she made that decision to stay with him because she was not as standoffish as she wanted to make herself appears to others. She was still not very friendly but with certain types of people you must remain optimistic.

“I’m a craftsmen but choice, currently affiliated with the Aincrad Trading Post. What about you?” Randal tossed the question back at Hakai.

They had long lost sight of Sewallus, his artificial intelligence probably not caring about the players now that the quest was over and there was no longer a need to force interaction with them. Now Hakai was trawling after Randal as he dug around in the dirt looking for something he could use to supplement his cooking.

Not wanting to seem weird to her, he explained his process. “I trained myself to be a cook in the game by profession, so I sometimes find materials to cook with. While they are all categorised the same, many of them offer a variety of flavour profiles and stats when cooked. So, every time I get the opportunity to explore a new floor, this is what I do, just look around.”

Randal stepped off towards where Sewallus was leading them but turned to find that Hakai was uninterested in the celebration and while the event itself may have been worth attending had it been for him alone, Randal felt odd leaving the lady behind. She was a big reason the quest had been concluded so cleanly and was not comfortable with enjoying the experience without her so he halted, staring at Sewallus’ back before turning around to face Hakai.

“We don’t have to do the celebration if it’s not your style, there still some things about the 8^th floor that I want to gather so we could keep each other company for awhile.” Randal said, Hakai was an overall confusing individual, at times, she seemed to be battle craze and at other’s would remain still with a pensive look on her face. Her did not know her well enough to make any judgements but if she chose to go off and do her own thing, he would not be jaded by her choice. At the end of the day, many players still remaining in this game were bogged down by the experiences they must have had to endure.

The moment that the Monkey King landed was the moment that it had met its demise, immediately, Sewallus took stance and screamed at the Monkey King, his usual stone-cold demeanour disappearing for a moment to reveal a man who had immense hatred for a beast that had him running with his tail between his legs, as if to reinstate his honour for all of the world (or just Randal, Hakai and the Monkey King) to see. His screamed forced the Monkey King’s attention to be wholly focused on him which provided a crucial opportunity for the duo to make their moves.

Randal turned to Hakai as if to see what she would do, only to be treated with scene out of an anime, she drew her sword extremely quickly, her body flashing in place and a red line cut across the Monkey King, knocking its health bar all over the place until it eventually dropped to below half and turning orange, before he could say anything she turned and basically asked him to show her what he had.

Not one to cower when the odds were overwhelmingly in his favour, Randal unlocked his claws, his familiar glow hot red, hopping off his shoulders to form into a miniature mascot for the fight. Randal leapt at the Monkey King using his Sword Art Dance Macabre, or the Dance of Death, slashing and clawing at all of the vulnerable part that the Monkey King left open while reeling from Hakai’s attack. While his attack was not nearly as quick or cool as Hakai, the way he moved left viewers with the impression they were watching a God of Death reaping an unfortunate soul.

Soon enough, coupled with some paralysis that Hakai had left on the boss, Randal dealt the finishing blow.

Sewallus was not prepared and was left watching the Monkey King fade into nothingness and while he did not get the chance to personally partake in the process, he did not show any hints of disappointment. At that moment, a panel appears clearly listing the rewards that each member would gain from the quest.

Sewallus walks up to the players in a moment of rarity, and spoke the following, “You are all friends of the Florenthian Guard and as such, I will teach you this move.” With that, Randal notices that his skill panel lights up with a new technique <<Shatter>>, looking at Hakai, Randal smiled and said, “This is what you wanted? Nice skill.”

“Follow me, let us celebrate.” Sewallus offers to the duo, clearly implying that there would be something waiting for them back at the Florenthian camp grounds.

ID# 190003 | BD: 5+3=8 (Hit) | DMG: 20 = 20 x 17 =  340 + 48 (bleed) - 75 = 313 DMG

Post Action: Dance Macabre (x17 Focus, 14-2 EN)

Randal: HP 460/460 | Energy 52/64 | Damage 18 (+2 SA) | MIT 20 | ACC 3 | EVA 4 | LD 6 | H: 0

Hakai: HP: 680/680 | EN: 102/102 | DMG: 23 | ACC: 1 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 78 | Bleed: 2 | Paralyze: 1 | H: 0

Sewallus: HP: 400/400 | DMG: 75 (100 on crit) | MIT: 50 | EVA: -1 | H: 5  Post Action: Florenthian Howl (+5 Hate)

______________________________________________________________________________

Monkey King:  HP 0/650 | DMG: 200 | MIT: 75 | ACC: 2 | PARALYZED | BLEED: 0/2

The dragon is renowned to be a strong beast of monstrous proportions but when two dragons fight and covet what rightfully belongs to each other, one of the two are surely to come out weaker than the others.

The scene before Randal spoke of itself, both Night and Ariel clearly looking to him for direction. “Yes, this is part of the quest, it has to be.” Randal said towards Ariel. Night looked on silently ready for battle but something about the situation did not call for a fight, the dragon was ready for it, but it was not in fighting condition.

The surrounding too directed Randal to lower his guard and kneel towards the dragon, hoping to extend a warmer exchange compared to the frigid atmosphere that lay behind her. “What happened here? Tell us and perhaps we can help you?” Randal asked pointing at the nest that was in disarray and in the general direction of the other dragon’s body.

The darkness and fury in the eyes of the dragon faded as though a ray of hope was shining out from her. “I have been attacked, my children and been stolen from me, my mate has been killed.” A mournful voice cried out from her.

“I am Fuzziel, and I beseech you travellers to find it in your heart, save my babies, I do not long for much in this world except to know they are safe. Please help me by saving them. Time is of the essence and I fear that it will be too late for me to gather the strength to save them.” She growled, lowering her head.

“We will help you, just tell us what to do.” Randal said looking at Night and Ariel for their approval, they were here to accompany him on this quest and so left it to him to control and scenario.

Fuzziel let out a soft purr of delight upon hearing Randal’s words and began to draw a set of directions that located the place where the assailant resided. Carsar was the name of the dragon that did this, he was jealous, and might take out his anger on the baby hatchlings, so time was not on their side and they had to hurry.

Randal turned to both Night and Ariel to ask if there was anything they could do to help her before they left.

 Day 29 (59 exp)

Randal used attempted 8 crafts and failed 2 times. (24 exp from ATP and CAT)
He managed to salvage 0 of the failures, using up 8 materials in total. (2 exp)
He made 6 Meals.

3 T1E1 Meal (9 exp)
0 T1E2 Meal (0 exp)
3 T1E3 Meal (24 exp)

“You seem to be the type that excelled at killing, you can leave the battle... though I think you’re going to have to talk to Sewallus about that.” Randal spoke while staying at the NPC, he stood silent but a burning passion lit up in him and they knew this through the serious and unwavering body language from the man.

Having packed all of his things, Sewallus said, “Come.” 

He navigated the jungle well, clearly there treks through and around the enormous trees were made by him as he expertly navigated and read markings to find his way.

Suddenly, he stopped, “Here.” Pointing towards a large cave entrance which had a notable smell reminiscent of fur and blood. Within the cave there was no movement but the ground shook with small tremors that eventually grew larger. A large shadow blocked out the sun when it flashed overhead. The wind picked up and it’s landing almost lifted the party off the ground.

Randal finds 2 Mats

Sewallus was in the middle of his meal that morning, he enjoyed a delicious mix of berries, herbs, and leafy greens with some bread and water. He would have dug on and installed the food if the momentary serenity of pace which meal time brought was not so rudely interrupted. Entering his tent were a half-naked man and a sharp eyed redhead.
He made no move to say a single word but raised his eyebrows and reached for his weapon. Then they spoke, the spoke a lot, the man spoke long-windedly, as if to speak in a straight forward manner would hurt him.
He preferred the lady, her words were curt and direct, straight to the point much like himself.
They had come in to look for the monkey king, a chill ran down his spine. Randal and Hakai, they wanted to know where the monkey king where was last scene. This was his chance, his opportunity to right the wrong which was his retreat, that battle was the only one that tainted Sewallus’ career and he was not going to leave it be.
No matter what the conclusion, he would go with them and kill the beast, unless they refused his help, he would not stoop so low as to force his presence.

Randal finds 2 Mat

“Can any of us say for sure that something we feel is permanent, that would be too huge a burden to bear for our future selves. The best thing I could do for myself is to embrace the things that I feel in the moment and appreciate that every decision I have made was the right one at the time.” Randal spoke, staring right at Hakai. Randal felt the sincerity of his own words and the times when he did not practice what he spoke, making many regret.

“That’s a very practical way of handling the lives of NPCs, do you not feel like their lifelikeness is too real to be just data?” Randal asked, less to extract an answer from Hakai, but more of a discussion into the ethics of her mentality and a question made to probe and affect his own decision.

“Hi, hello, can you direct me to Sewallus?” Randal asked a Florenthia’s Guardsmen at the front of a military outpost located in the woods. Numerous tents with green flags adorned with golden borders littered the inside of the camp. Hopefully, they could enter without fuss.

Randal and his company chatted about the things that they did in recent memory, the high-level players discussed front-line raids while Randal paid close attention, hoping to glean some sort of insight, and finding it incredibly interesting all at the same time.

Eventually the cart reached the mountain and the party alighted from the cart. They moved through the jungle, frequently checking the map for directions and notable landmarks. With the prowess of Night and Ariel combined, very few troublesome opponents appeared, more so since Randal himself could dispatch any enemies that were unlucky enough to cross paths with them.

As they went along, signs of monstrous activity and strength could be spotted along the trees where long claw marks were seen marking the territory. No enemies spawned in the area or stalked them as they entered, drawing closer to the location marked on the map.

Soon, they reach a dead end, a large rocky outcrop near the forest did not show signs of any dragon living there until they spotted an entrance into the outcrop.

Randal turned to look at the names listed at the corner of his HUD while she spoke to him. Hakai was an interesting name if anything. “I am trying to improve myself. I have been levelling on the lower floors for some time now, taking on simple quests to build myself up but I have never tried to venture much higher than that. Recently, a new burning hope to change that appeared in me.” Randal said seriously.

“What about you…Hakai, where is your name from?” Randal asked curiously.

Right now Randal and Hakai were headed towards the Florenthia’s Guard to find a man named Sewallus. He was the other person in the party when Remington encountered the Monkey King. Randal listened to what Hakai said about herself very careful, she gave off the impression that she could be a slightly brash person but perhaps not mean everything that she says.

Just before reaching Sewallus, Randal spoke, “I also heard you mention you want an extra skill, what do we have to do to get that?”

Randal finds 2 Mat

Day 28 (50 exp)

Randal used attempted 8 crafts and failed 3 times. (24 exp from ATP and CAT)
He managed to salvage 1 of the failures, using up 7 materials in total. (4 exp)
He made 5 Meals.

4 T1E1 Meal (9 exp)
1 T1E2 Meal (5 exp)
1 T1E3 Meal (8 exp)

“Marks…Marks…Sort of like targets? That is what games before this called targets that assassins had to kill, isn’t it?” Randal pondered as Maxwell’s words struck a chord in his brain and his mind went at a million miles per hour.

Randal tried a variety of ways to decipher the code, but the one that worked in the end was to replace the most common letter with E, he had read somewhere that that was the most common letter used in the English language and so he hoped that the Cipher were symbols that represented the English Language.

Luckily, it worked out well, in the end, the tablet warped and changed, and Randal called out to Maxwell to see. “Look! I did it!” Randal announced. The words on the tablet reflected a series of puzzles maybe that the player would have to undergo and solve to get, no not puzzles, these were descriptions of creatures that he would have to defeat to het the marks. On the plus side of taking on difficult trials set by the Cardinal System, the players would be able to harness the power of Nature to their benefit. Sounds good.

Randal Deciphered the tablet LD 17+6=23 | 67/60

Randal followed after his ally towards the center of the cavern. His eyes traced the runes that were engraved on the stone tablet. Randal was uncertain about the origin of the tablet nor of any cultural heritage that Aincrad had sought to insert into the world but Randal decided to look around for inspiration. He explored every inch of the cavern. He nimbly climbed the great tree that stood still in the silence to survey the surrounding but came up mostly empty handed. However, he did spot the same kind of markings on the tablet as on the large stone door opposite the entrance, the fact that symbols appear more than once in the cave is no coincidence.

“Maxwell look, over by the door there are symbols just like the ones on the tablet, I think that they mean something, are you able to interpret the words that are on the tablet, there must be a cipher located nearby.” Randal informed and advised.

Randal was not a linguist but he thought himself semi-intelligent and figured that there was no way an unsolvable quest would be given.

Randal deciphering tablet LD 11+6=20 | 27/60

Randal smiled at the two ladies in front of him, there were many things to be appreciative of right now. Randal himself was a big fan of cats and here was both a lion cub and a cat.

“Night and I were just about to head towards that mountain over there.” That is the topography that the map is hinting us to go towards, the general shape and slope steepness reflected the directions that were prominent on the map. “I’ve actually seen the location that is portrayed on the map that dropped and can say for sure that we can follow my lead.” Randal and his two companions started of their journey by finding a cart that would bring them to closer to the location.

While they travelled Randal sought to find out more about how Night was doing, other than the quest they did together some many days ago. “So how have you been, have not spoken to you in awhile to be honest, take a look at this new familiar I found just the other day.” Randal brought out a piece of rock. It glowed in pulses, fading and burning. All of a sudden it began to slide higher up Randal’s body to get away from the other familiar that were playing in the middle of the cart.

“So how did you managed to find your way back to the first floor Ariel?” Randal asked at another instance.

This was the second Maxwell was thinking about leaving the group. Randal wanted his new friend to stay for awhile longer, partly because the company was always good, but mostly because at moments Randal felt some disconcertingly off with the man’s moods. He seemed neither here nor there, neither caring nor uncaring.

“I’m always up for a good questing and exploring, I was here for the intention of it anyway. Just come along and let us see what all the other players are struggling at.” Eventually the line dwindled down and was shaved off by the progress of time bit by bit.

The duo upon reaching the front of the line, checked the time in the interface and were asked to keep it to 30 minutes or less for the sake of others behind them. When they finally entered, they saw what stood before them. The cavern opened from where a rock wall used to be. Now light was trickling in from the top of the room, a hole to the outside acting as the ventilation for the whole area. A tree majestically grew despite the surround darkness under a stream of sunlight, bouncing off it is leaves to reveal a greenish hue over the surroundings. A small underground river gurgled along the side.

Day 27 (62 exp)

Randal used attempted 8 crafts and failed 2 times. (24 exp from ATP and CAT)
He managed to salvage 2 of the failures, using up 6 materials in total. (4 exp)
He made 6 Meals.

1 T1E1 Meal (3 exp)
3 T1E2 Meal (15 exp)
2 T1E3 Meal (16 exp)

“For sure I am, don’t worry I should be able to dish out a decent amount of damage onto the boss monkey thing. One moment.” Randal said oblivious to the true thoughts of the person he was speaking to. The dead-eyed glare that she was giving him despite her positive words were written-off as something that she probably does to every one and Randal did not take it to heart.

Randal proceeded to speak to the NPC named Remington who quickly got on his nerves with his know-it-all attitude. Randal was trying to speed through the conversation when he noticed the Remington was a bit of a Tsundere, every time Randal tried to end the conversation to speak to the red-head, Remington would try to draw his attention back to himself.

Randal glanced back at the lady and said, “My name is Randal, send me a party invite and let us find Sewallus as the quest expects us too.”

Randal finds 2 Mat

This person, Ariel looked like she came out of a Battle Angel movie with her long katana by her side and long white cape. She walked with the majesty of a lion, oh wait, that was just the lioness that was running towards them. Randal was afraid that something was going to happen now that they were stopped outside of a Safe Area and while Night was strong, he did not know if there might be more enemies laying in wait for them to put their guard down.

Luckily, it appears that the cub was merely interested in sniffing at Nights Tracksuit, similar to how Randal’s real life cat would act when he got home from work, so Randal concluded that they knew each other.

Randal looked at Night with a pensive look and asked “Is that your friend? If she is, shall we ask her along on this quest? It appears to involve fighting some dragons? I’m not sure but we have to look for the location marked on this map too.” Randal saw that Ariel was still a little away so he looked up and down his map interface to see if he could glimpse any hints from it.

Randal finds the location of the lair
LD 13+9=21

“No, No,” Randal quickly spoke surprised at how fast they had assimilated in the queue. “The quest marker is definitely ahead of us, and this looks like the location of the famous hunting ground. Look over there.” Randal pointed to a path of grass that was uninterrupted by the trees creating an open space where monsters used to spawn.

“Watch.” Randal said and hit up a conversation the player ahead of him. A blue-haired player in blue and black garments turned to face the duo and Randal asked him what the queue was for.

The man proceeded to laugh stating that young fools that join queues not know what they were queuing for was only looking for trouble, but then continued to explain. “When the update on the 25^th floor first came, many changes occurred all over Aincrad, this was one of them, not wanting to miss out, my guild and I are here to check out the place. The queue is here because no one else has managed to get into the dungeon yet, and each party is only given 30 mins at a time to figure it out. The queue formed as a result of a squabble that occurred over entry rights, someone almost died, now we abide by the rule to avoid unfortunate events.”

Randal Equipment

Lvl 23 Randal Stats
HP 460/460 | Energy 64/64 | Damage 18 (+2 SA) | MIT 20 | ACC 3 | EVA 4 | LD 6|

Skills and Mods

Today was the day Randal tackled the infamous Monkey King Quest that he heard some of the other players on the 8^th floor. After spending what was a day of two in Ellesmera, the main settlement, Randal was finally ready to set out into the dense jungles that populated the entire area. Having spoken with the brokers of the floor, he knew lots of general knowledge about what kind of enemies to expect and prepared as thoroughly as he could, packing comfort food and comfort items into his backpack.

By the descriptions brought up by the NPCs, one would think of the giant ape rather than the small lean and mischievous mythological monkey king, Randal was definitely nervous and was hoping that when he got to the quest giver that other might be willing to take him into their party.

When he finally reached the NPC he saw a red-headed lady ahead of him but no one else in the vicinity, not know the whirlwind his new companion would be, Randal reached out to her first and proposed to work together if she did not mind.

“Hey there, are you here to hunt down the monkey king?” Randal asked.

“Pleasure to meet you, Randal here.” He said with a smile, accepting the handshake of his almost cowboy sounding new companion.

“I am headed towards one of the areas over by the great valley, there is mentions of a place where the forest and valley where there it’s something worth exploring. Maybe you have been there before? It used to be a popular farming ground.” Randal slowly persuaded his already convinced ally.

They walked as they spoke, sharing their details and forming a party as they went, Randal sent a friend request so that they wouldn’t lose track of each other as they traveled.

Eventually they come up on the location mentioned by the brokers and in place of the usual mobs and first floor players that crowded the place on a typical day was an atypical entrance, crowded by players of the middle and upper tier and trying to enter and it snaked into a long queue of players all trying to enter. 

Oddly enough, there was as many players coming out as there were going in, maybe there’s limited space?

Quest Info

Randal Equipment

Lvl 23 Randal Stats
HP 460/460 | Energy 64/64 | Damage 18 (+2 SA) | MIT 20 | ACC 3 | EVA 4 | LD 6 |

Skills and Mods

Battle-Ready Equipment

The ongoings inside Horunka village were in a fluster, everyone was preparing for a festival that day as frontline teams had cleared the 25th floor, Randal wondered when he would be able to join them and start to make progress in the game again.

Nonetheless, refusing to let this get home down on such a special atmosphere, Randal decided to check out the information brokers to see if there is anything new that has happened and low and behold there really was. A sudden cave had appeared somewhere on the first floor.

While he was deep in thought about what to do with this information, he spots  someone wandering the streets nearby. Running up to them, Randal starts up a conversation, “Hey there, you seem to be wandering around loitering with nothing to do? I was just about to run a quest, if you’re not too busy you wanna just tag along? It is not too far from here and we can make in a day.”

@Damien