[PP-F10] Banishing the Banshee (Wail of the Banshee)

[Oikawa 1]

Tch. This banshee better be the most horrific thing to walk Aincrad if that old lady is willing to offer 10,000 Col for its removal. Despite it's location though, I doubt this thing is as truly terrifying as it seems...

Padded steps march along the rotting path, leaving light imprints as a trail in the damp earth beneath his feet. Smaller paw prints trail alongside the steps, a sign that the player seemed to be traveling with a familiar for company. The grey snow leopard walked with a since of pride. Grace and elegance shrouded him with every step as he followed behind the even more regal blonde player that led the way. Lost in thought, Oikawa almost forgot to pm a  certain someone he hadn't reached out to since his return. Swiping the air, a digital menu appeared. Cycling through options, he settled on the messenger and selected Ssendom's name. Typing a quick message, he offered a the name of the quest he was helping with and his eventual location where they could meet up.

Tartarus lies just ahead. There we shall meet and locate the banshee that seems to be giving all the npcs the shakes.

[Ssendom 0]

Ssendom had received a message while laying in his bed inside the Guild Hall, his room still yet not seen by another soul in all of Aincrad. He was very territorial over the matter, when those knocked on his door he would send them down the stairs till he was ready and would leave. He was feeling a bit lethargic, but ultimately succumbed to his curiosity and read the message that was sent to him, "Hmmm from Oikawa. He needs assistance in the Depths of Tartarus-" He interrupted himself to sigh, since he had lost his Night Vision due to the Mod release. He lifted himself up and got dressed completely in his unique gear with his weapon adorned on his back, the Hydra skull covering his eyes but not his mouth as the jaw of the Hydra lined along his.

He finished reading the message,  learning quickly that it was to kill the Banshee. The last time Dom had attempted that was with Takao, it was the first time the Berserker had seen himself stand close to death itself. But that was officially before he became the Berserker, in comparison to back then he was far stronger and more powerful, but probably less accurate. He shrugged exiting his room quickly locking the door behind it and quickly got himself teleported to the tenth floor via the teleportation gate in town. Once he had arrived he walked up directly next to the General of the Azure Brigade, "Ready?"

[Oikawa 1]

The sounds of heavy footfalls echoed behind as he turned to see a rather unfamiliar face on a familiar person. Donning the Hydra Skull, Ssendom had arrived decked out in gear the blonde didn't know he possessed. A small roar of discomfort squeaked out from the leopard at his feet. Dropping to a knee, Oikawa retrieved the snow leopard and placed him atop his head. "King, this Dom. Dom this is King my familiar." Having gotten the main formalities out of the way, the blonde approached the Commandant and offered him a fist bump before responding to his initial question.

"Ready is an understatement. I'm actually quite excited to be honest with you. Let's go wreck a banshee." Turning on his heel, the blonde began to head for the pitch black darkness that enveloped the city's edge and beyond. Out there lied Tartarus. The location of the Banshee.

[Ssendom 0]

Dom looked down at the small snow leopard cub, "Uh-" He was interrupted before he said oh as Amethyst, his purple fire phoenix familiar shot out of his chestplate and immediately flew straight to the cub attempting to rub it's face on the snow leopards while chirping happily. Since Oikawa had the cub on his head, Amethyst took the opportunity to rub it's face on Oikawa's. "Well, if we're introducing Familiars... Here is Amethyst, who is far too overjoyed around new people. I swear he's like a people friendly dog who just met a new person. He loves new familiars even more so." He chuckled. The Phoenix's flames were touching the blonde and his familiar though there was no feeling of burning or painful heat, demonstrating the mastery it had over it's own flames.

Dom then looked back at Oink who seemed to be in the same equipment he could remember the man in, it made the Berserker realize just how far he had come. Once, Oikawa was his superior in rank and in strength in Aincrad. But now? The tables have turned, Dom was technically the man's superior in rank, and he was rather certain he was superior in strength as well. He looked down at the Fist-bump and pounded the blonde's fist gladly, "I am glad you're excited, a whole lot has happened in your absence if you couldn't already tell. We have some stuff to chat about while we search for the Banshee." He grinned then started walking in the direction of Tartarus. His back showed that he was no longer using the Dusk Reaver that Oikawa made for him a long time in their past.

[Oikawa 1]

The snow leopard's reaction was one of horror at first followed by calm, and ending with acceptance. The flurry of emotions evident in his adjustments atop the blonde's head with each rub by the phoenix. Oikawa let the bird introduce itself before resuming his pace towards the banshee. "Amethyst eh? Didn't know you were interested in obtaining familiars haha. Though you seemed to have picked a rather nice one. Does he have any special abilities?" Leaving the question kind of up in the air, the blonde moved onto another question all the same. "So what all have I missed in my time away? Aside from the recent happenings, I am clueless as to what is going on nowadays."

[Ssendom 0]

Ssendom turned his attention back to the building they were about to traverse. He then started walking forward as the conversation had truly begun to between the two of them, "Amethyst is a special little guy. One of the only familiars I have come across that has the unique ability to restore wounds. Infact he was the reason I was able to overcome the huge level disparity between me and Calrex and caused me to win the fight." He gloated for a short bit before clearing his throat. The entire time of praising the phoenix whelp caused it to dance on his shoulder where it had returned.

Ssendom's tone changed from a relaxed to a more serious one with the need to update the Grand Blacksmith about the things he has missed in his absence, "Well quite a bit. With your departure, I was called up to fill in your position on the team of Commandants. Shortly around the same time Meokka had disappeared and I had an issue with coping over it so I disappeared for a little over a month. But nothing was called to be done in that month." He cleared his throat as talking a lot caused him a slight bit of aggravation due to dry mouth. He dropped his menu down and brought out a water from when he first started his journey and drank it. After which he cleared his throat again, "Sorry about that. Anyways, I quickly rose to the top echelons of players in Aincrad, all three of the top Commandants, myself included, all obtained Unique Skills that none other have. We expanded the guild finally a few months back and brought in brigadiers which has proved to be useful." He finished.

Then he changed the topic to himself for a moment, "Sorry to gloat, but shortly having returned from my mental breakdown I joined the Frontlines. My first Boss fight, I brought the boss down and was the slayer of him. For a bit I was referred to as the Slayer of the Forsaken Crusader, but that yielded me these shoulders." He shrugged his shoulder which was slightly illuminated by the flames of Amethyst, they were in the shape of Dragon Heads without the bottom half of the Jaw which were completely made out of stained glass. "Ever since I got these, I became the richest man in Aincrad surpassing Zelrius in a single hunting session. From that point on I have been a force to be reckon with, again sorry to gloat. Anyways, what did you do while you were on your hiatus from everything? No one could even locate where you were." He quickly turned his self appreciation to a directed question towards him.

ID: 44888 | LD: 7 (No Banshee Room found) 

[Oikawa 1]

Time passed quickly as Dom filled the blonde in on not only his personal progression but the progression of the players around them. Having noticed the shifts within the guild, Oikawa was actually glad to be the General rather than a Commandant. His responsibilities hovered more around doing tasks behind the scenes and not requiring him to take a commanding role in the guild affairs, but simply just give his input where it was needed. He was however, glad Dom achieved the recognition he was meant to have and had striven for so long.

"It's alright to gloat brother. You've achieved a greatness few succeed in accomplishing. You have certainly surpassed me in terms of wealth, strength and recognition, and for that I commend you." explained the blonde as he patted the back of the Berserker. "As for what I did while I was gone, well its kinda of depressing to say but I searched for Ko. She has been off the grid for ages since our splitting apart and furthermore she seemed to have ignored all contact from me. I kind just got depressed searching for her. I stuck to the low levels, living off the bread and water that came with our starting gear and all the food i had received from cooks like you and Beks. After wallowing in my own disappointment for awhile, I guess something n me sparked and required me to get off my ass and make something of myself. I've been through many things here in Aincrad and all though I loved her, she can't and won't be the say all/end all of my existence. So I returned."

The familiars tagged along in silence. King occasionally yawning as they trekked further an further into the forest. Blue eyes bobbled along in the darkness as he scanned for Tartarus. "Haha, my bad. That got a little dark there eh?"

[Ssendom 0]

Ssendom chuckled at the level of detail he got out of his friend whom had been MIA for a long period of time, "I understand what you mean about things getting a little dark. This world, if anything, comes with nothing but adversity. And the one thing you'd like to be there for you seemed to be ever hard to keep planted. At a moment's notice we could be on the ground watching our life bar hit the zero mark, the one thing we'd like to be with someone who'd make us happy and make us forget that such a thing could even happen." He sighed and stretched popping his neck both ways, "But everything is always complicated. But one thing remains the same, the entertainment I get annihilating enemies never changes." He laughed. Dom always kept his eyes peeled just in case he saw the room that would hold the banshee he once slew.

Amethyst perched itself on King's head, sitting idly as it watched it's master and the bird's new friend's master have a conversation as though they have known each other for quite some time. The phoenix whelp tried it's hardest not to disturb it's new found friend by sitting in a manner that would be easy to fly off it's head, though the bird didn't have any quarrels leaning down and rubbing it's face on king's as a sign of affection.

ID: 45490 | LD: 6 (Room not found)

[Oikawa 1]

"Indeed that shall never change hehe." His cape flared ever so slightly as a small gust of wind wandered throughout the forest. An almost eerie chill haunting them with every step as they inched further into the dark forestry. Each step from the blonde, sank into the earth; leaving behind a slightly dampened trail that any competent being could follow. His eyes scanned the the nearly invisible treeline shrouded in darkness, in search of Tartarus. Uneasily, the leopard shifted on his head again. The constant rubbing of the phoenix was beginning to rub him the wrong way. Pawing at the inflamed bird, King playfully pushed it off as he yawned in either boredom or tiredness, or even both being the lazy cat he is.

ID: 45683 LD: 1

[Ssendom 0]

ID: 45751 | LD: 1

Ssendom laughed as Oikawa agreed to exactly what Dom had stated. Amethyst flew of King's head easily at the cat paw'd at him, with this the bird flew over to Dom's shoulder and perched itself upon him again, rubbing it's face against Dom's just as it did to Oink and King. Ssendom laughed again, "Amethyst doesn't even know how to stop loving upon people or familiars, he can be a little much sometimes." He scratched the chin of the bird. The bird hopped back and cawed at Dom playfully, showing it's intelligence to know when Dom was mocking the little guy.

[Oikawa 1]

"I see that haha. King here is so apathetic it's ridiculous. It's like unless it's food, he doe not get excited." Tiny grey ears perked up at the mention of his name, the blue eyed leopard simply yawned and sheepishly laid back down atop the blonde's head. "Shouldn't Tartarus be around here somewhere? I feel like we should've seen it by now. Tch, all this walking for a banshee that may not exist and even if it does were gonna kill her in mere seconds." Visibly bored with how long it was taking to find the mini prison, Oikawa picked up his pace in hopes of spotting the prison before long. Sure enough, the building came into view. Looking over his shoulder, he motioned for Dom to follow. "Found it."

ID: 46018 LD: 16

[Ssendom 0]

(Trying to catch up when I can. Sorry!)

Ssendom laughed at King who had perked up about food, "If I even mention the word f-r-i-e-n-d" he spelled out to avoid attracting the the bird's attention, "This little one loses his mind and wants to rub his face all over the person." After chuckling about the ordeal he looked away from the direction Oikawa was to keep his lookout up, then turned his head when Oikawa mentioned he had found it. Dom stretched as he ripped his blade from it's socket, "Let's do this."

Ssendom walked forward ahead of Oikawa carelessly, and chuckled letting the two front guardians that formed up charge first for the initial attack. As both skeletons got their blades stuck in the crevices of the Dreadnought's armor. He flicked his wrist spinning his blade to where the sharp side was toward the skeleton nearest the blade. Then in one single stroke cleaved through the two and the other two that were just behind them in thousands of data particles. After which his flipped his blade to land on his shoulder, "All you Homie." 

ID: 48386 MD: 8
ID: 48387 MD: 6
ID: 48388 BD: 9 LD: 17

Dom's HP: 193 - 2 + 32
Dom's Energy 25/37 - 12

Skeleton Guardian's 1-4: All Dead {13x6=78-15=63 [40-63=-23]} (40 x 12 =480 Col)

 

[Oikawa 1]

The skeletons appeared from seemingly nowhere. Bones rattled against each other as metal clacked in unison with the movement of the mobs. Dom took the helm on the operation, and charged forward. Drawing his blade as he charged, the Berserker quickly used one large sweeping motion to cut into the first set of mobs. The enormous energy invested in the blow caused not only the demise of the first set, bu the second set of the mobs behind the,. Effectively clearing the Banshee's so called guardians.

After clearing the way, Dom turned the floor over to him. Allowing him the first strike on the banshee as the wither apparition wriggled into view. Smirking, the blonde shouted over his shoulder as he passed the Commandant and drew his blade. "So lets see how rusty I am." <Concentrating> the blonde <Charged> and activated <Over Radiation>, jabbing and stabbing the ghastly woman for thirteen hits. Watching its HP drop, Oikawa was disappointed when he noticed it was still living. "Well damn. All you homie."

Gears:

Spoiler

Clasp of the Progenitor: +2 ACC/+1 LD

Raikiri II: +2 PAR/+18 MIT

Amphibian Teeth: +1 PV/+4 DAM

ID: 48394 BD: 6 (4+ 2 Clasp +1 Precision +1 Concentration - 2 Evasion)

[Over Radiation: 1 Base + 1 Athletics +  4 Weapon + 5 Skill + 2 Charge = 13 x 13 = 169]

Party:

Ssendom: 193/193 | E: 37/37

Oikawa: 149/149 | E: 36/36

Enemy:

Banshee: 81/250 (-169)

[Ssendom 0]

Oikawa landed a rather impressive attack on the Banshee, in fact that giant white ghost was unprepared for his attack. Dom laughed a small bit as he walked forward to the woman who was about to scream their ear drums to death, "Boochie, you aint ready for this shaft." He cackled as he drilled his flaming red glowing blade with a powerful sword art, chunking away the rest of it's health in an instant causing her to explode into thousands of data particles. He flicked his blade on his shoulder and looked over at Oikawa, "Down to look for a sub-dungeon, still kinda ready for fighting. But left, unsatisfied, with it."

ID: 48395 BD: 7 + 2 - 2 - 1 = 6

Banshee Deaded

[Oikawa 1]

Oikawa simply smirked as Ssendom made quick work of the sliver of health the Banshee managed to live with. Sheathing his rapier once more, the blonde turned to Dom at the mention of a sub-dungeon. "I think Calrex made mention of those before, though I've never quite went through, or found one for that matter, before. I don't see any harm in searching for them. However, I do need materials, so if I'm slowing you down, I apologize in advance heh." Inspecting the ground, he gestured for Dom to lead the way. Any materials we find along the way would be helpful. I'm going to need some if I am to grandmaster Blacksmithing any time soon.

ID: 48415 LD: 4

[Ssendom 0]

ID: 48497
LD: 10 (No loot found)

Dom chuckled and Oikawa who seemed to not be completely up to date with current events, "Well it did happen before you made your gallant return to Azure Brigade. The talk of the Information Brokers for the longest period of time was me discovering the very first Sub Dungeon in Aincrad. If you've heard Calrex talking about it, I am surprised that he didn't mention me since he was lamenting over the fact he didn't find it first." He laughed for a second as he was about to do rather big and boastful statement, "He might be ahead of me in levels, but I always have achievements over him." He laughed out loud. He knew he was good friends with Calrex and it was more of a challenge to keep edges over each other, but knew that Cal would do the same in return.

[Oikawa 1]

ID: 48556 LD: 15 (+1 Material)

"I suppose I still have much to catch up on then huh?" mused the blonde as he walked alongside the boastful Commandant. "So much has happened in my absence. It is a bit unreal to say the least. We have increased our members, albeit all of them being female, which I'm sure Zelrius had a hand in; as well as our strength as a guild in the form of gaining unique skills and weapons. It's almost too good to be true.." explained the blonde.

A soft purr atop his head, reminded him that King was still very much here and not to be ignored. Petting the miscreant, Oikawa offered a soft smile as he remembered there are still some good things left in this one world, his familiar being one of them. Re-focusing tot he task at hand, the Azure General scanned the are for any signs of materials or this so called dungeon they were supposedly looking for. His search revealed one of the two. "Hey Dom, looks like I gathered a total of one materials hehe." 

[Ssendom 0]

Ssendom laughed out loud when Oikawa mentioned that he had much to catch up on, all Dom could do at that was look at his friend, "You have no clue on how much you have missed." He looked back at their path they were traversing and walked ahead as he was preparing to explain a lot of things, "Not just Zel, a lot of us having been pulling together to scour the prospects that rise to the challenge of Aincrad. Those that are masters of their craft or masters of Combat. Just so happens the cream of crop are females. So I have no qualms about bringing them into the fold." He explained to Oikawa, as if he were acting like a leader. 

ID: 48859

LD: 7 (No Materials)

He kept scanning his surroundings not really worried if he would come across some materials, he always tended to obtain his materials via killing swarms of monsters. He seemed to be dragging himself a slight bit, like he was somewhat exhausted and just all around looking lethargic. He slung his blade around to keep his arm from falling asleep before dropping his blade upon his shoulder as per usual.

[Oikawa 1]

ID: 48874 LD: 4 (No material)

"Well we wouldn't be Azure if we didn't recruit the best of the best now would we?" The blonde smirked as he let the rhetorical question hang in the air like their panted breaths. Taking o last glance around, the 'General' concluded he had nothing else to find here. "Lets go ahead and call it a day man. Im not seeing anything worth our time and you look exhausted anyhow. We should get some rest and recovery." Gesturing for the area leading back out to the main entrance, Oikawa would follow Dom out as they exited.

 

[Ssendom 0]

Ssendom let his blade slide back into's it's scabbard, "I completely agree. We wouldn't be Azure if we allowed just anyone to join the guild." He then began to walk to the exit mentioning the exhaustion that Dom had been feeling, "You're right, I would just get myself in a battle I still couldn't die in." He sighs and laughs, but what came out to be more like a laugh of distress, "I feel like I have reached an unreal point in this game. I've so many ways to restore my health, it seems like death is more of an impossible possibility." He confided into Oikawa as they made their exit to the dungeon.