[PP-F3] Reasons Most Personal «Search for the Hoya» (Jomei)

[Lee 0]

The plate armored individual would stand beside his shield and his sword resting on his shoulder. The man would tilt his sword down so that a finger could scratch the light beard that grew on the mans face as he would look around. He had sent a message to Jomei in hopes of having someone help him with the quest. While he wasn't to scared of his own death, he couldn't help himself in the thought of doing anything by himself for the time being. But he wanted to hit something but not just anything, somewhat that would give him something, something special. He felt that ever since he had, quote 'gotten back into the game' unquote, that things were very different. One of those things being his relationship with Piera and just what kind of things he had to do. He had a solid plan on just what kind of person he wanted to be in the game but of all the things he hated in the game, the worst was yet to come.

[Jomei 0]

As his body materialized onto Floor Three in the center of Delilah, the Irishman took in a deep breath of the fresh air through his nostrils. The atmosphere this low leveled Floor had was much more relaxing than those of the higher up floors, most likely on account of the fields of flowers around the village. Reaching his hands up behind his neck, Jomei grabbed at the olive green hood attached to his cloak and pulled it upwards so it sat atop his head. With a slow stride, Jomei proceeded to step off of the platform of the warp pad and continue forward, searching for the familiar, scruffy faced man he had rescued from the citadel on Floor Four. Jomei was glad that Lee was trying to get himself back into the world after the dilemma he and Piera had gone through for the past five months, and it made him feel even better than he was asking Jomei to help him do so. He was curious as to just what it was they would be doing to accomplish this task. Jomei eventually found the heavily armored man standing at the ready, his sword on his shoulder and shield at his side. Jomei changed the direction of his walk to meet with the gentleman, "Lee. Good to see you up and about. Got your message, so what is it we are going to do today?" 

[Lee 0]

The armored player would be lost in thought till he would hear his name being called to him. He would turn and as he broke from his thoughts that only seemed to grow ever darker the more he fed them, he would flash a smile and raise a hand to his friend regarding his message "Well, I have a whole list of things to accomplish but first things first, I want to hit things till they die. Perfectible with a friend. That friend being you. Jomei." He would nod in agreement with himself with the line he had made to his point, even if it was a line that was a bit long, it was his line and he liked it. "I plan on doing the Hoya quest or as I call it the Hola quest. Beat the ever living sh*t out of both the monsters that are supposed to protect this pendant that I want and then hopefully, god willing, I will feel good today. Sound like a plan or do you want to throw your two cents in?"

Edited April 9, 2016 by Lee

[Jomei 0]

The ginger smiled when Lee called him his friend, and that he had invited him to go and fight some monsters. Months ago, Lee and Jomei were not the closest of friends.. not because they had anything against eachother, but more so just never had the chance to connect much. He figured that, after rescuing him and Piera off of the Fourth Floor, that that would change completely, which was a good thing. Jomei chuckled at Lee's renaming of the 'Hoya' quest to the 'Hola' quest, but that was what he had in mind for the two to accomplish today. Jomei had taken the quest too with Ssendom a long long time ago.. Long before he had even met Piera and Lee. If he remembered, it was far from difficult, and the two should be able to plow through some minotaurs with ease. "Hoya quest huh? Alright, I could go for slashing down some Minotaurs. Take the lead then captain." 

[Lee 0]

Lee was more than pleased at Jomei's acceptance of the quest and it did make him feel better on the inside. He would nod his head affirmatively "Great!" Simple and straight forward, find the monsters and kill them. Monster were simple to deal with for the most part and didn't have any sort of alternative agenda. Getting that pendant at the end was the goal as he felt that he did need to do more for Piera and what better way to do that than to get her a one-of-a-kind necklace that showed he cared? The armored player would then turn his attentions to the faint screams of the forest that it was most well known for but amidst the screams, a snarling roar combo would seemingly grow, overpowering the screams in a rhythmic-like fashion. "No time like the present." He would say as he would enter into the forest and continue to speak as he would keep his shield raised. "So, how things been for you lately?"

[Jomei 0]

The irishman smirked and followed after Lee towards the Forest of Wavering Mist. As they approached, a shrill scream could be heard, followed by a bellowing growl. Seconds later, there was silence. With a frown on his lips, Jomei brought his hand up to his face and scratched at his cheek with his forefinger. It sounded like some poor, unsuspecting player just became lunch for a minotaur... or whatever else lurked in the mists. Jomei gently wrapped the fingers of his other hand, one at a time, around the handle of Saint Andrew's Bane, ready to draw it at any minute. "Me? Oh I've been alright." He did feel as thought he was feeling better day by day, not 100 percent, but better nonetheless. He thought, for Lee's sake and his own, he might as well not bring up what had been bothering him. The fact that he had killed another player and was living with that guilt. In time, he knew he would get over it though. "And how about you? Getting better I presume?" 

[Lee 0]

Lee was all but oblivious to the sounds of the screams and shrieks that come from within the forest and would glance back to Jomei as he spoke of being okay "That's good, that's good." He would then look around as they began to fully enter the forest and notice that there started to be branching paths and made the whole Minotaur thing fit the motif. Jomei would then return the favor by asking Lee how he was holding up to which he would take in a deep breath "Some days are worse than others. Can't really sleep. Can't really talk to anyone about it and even if I could, I wouldn't know what to say. Silence is horrid and most sounds remind me of something I don't want to be reminded of. Sh*t atop a larger, grander pile of shi*." He would then give way to pause, both in his sentence and at a crossroads before him, listening for sounds and more specifically the monster. Upon hearing another roar in a direction, he would turn in that given direction and continue walking "But I mean, besides that, I'm peachy."

[Jomei 0]

Jomei listened to Lee talk about how he was holding up. He felt sorry for asking. Didn't sound like he was doing too well, on the inside at least. But being the man Lee was, he was somehow able to keep a positive attitude and a smile on his face. Most likely just happy to be alive and out of that whole ordeal. Jomei nodded his head in understanding, not sure whether to express how sorry he was that he was going through all of that in his mind, or humor him and his 'peachy-ness.'

From the sounds of the roars, which were getting louder, Jomei figured the two must have been getting close to where the Minotaur were guarding their treasure. Jomei felt a change in subject would lighten the mood a bit. "You know, I took this quest before. A long.. long time ago." he said with a chuckle as he lifted his hand to open his menu screen. With a couple of taps, he was scrolling through his inventory until he came upon 'Hoya of Minos.' "I had planned to give this to someone.." he scoffed, "You might remember the name Ahti coming from Lowenthal and I that day we had first met. I think I went out here to get it for her." Swinging his hand back downwards and closing his inventory, he sighed. "Part of me wants to give it to Zandra, but then I feel like I am just gifting something that was once meant for someone else, and I can't bring myself to do that." He turned his head to look at Lee, "Do you plan on giving the one you get today to Piera?" 

[Lee 0]

Lee would keep his shield up at a halfway point, his eyes constantly shifting around for any sign of movement while his ears were more focused on the conversation. He would momentarily break away from his scout in order to look at Jomei as he said he had taken the quest before some time ago. "Really?" He would then open his menu and could only assume that he was looking at the item he either got from this quest or something that reminded him of the time. He would bring up the first time they had met and the name 'Ahti' to which Lee would laugh hesitantly "I have pi*s poor memory but I'll take your word for it." Jomei would then say that he wanted to give the item to Zandra but it wouldn't feel right and then if Lee was going to give the one he got to Piera "Yeah. If it's one thing I've learned, it's that I need to do more for her now more than ever. She is in that zone where I really have to keep her at the top of my list and do all the little things for her to show her that the world isn't ending and hope that my positive rubs off. One way or another."

He would then stop at a corner and speak "Easy solution, after this, we can go back and do the quest again with you in the lead and poof, new item for Zandra. Easy button."  

[Jomei 0]

Jomei smirked when his companion made note that he did not have the best memory, so remembering the name Ahti was something he did not do. Honestly, he could not blame Lee, for Jomei barely remembered much about the girl. It had been so long ago, probably coming up on a year sooner or later. He frowned at the thought, she was.. an interesting one. Had really caught Jomei's attention early on in the game. He closed his eyes, wondering if the girl ended up dying somewhere. With a heavy sigh, he turned his head back to Lee, who answered his question about giving the Hoya to Piera. The way Lee replied made Jomei smile, it really helped to show just how much Lee cared for her. It made him happy to know that they had each other, both before SAO and during. Their support would carry them far, maybe even to the very end. "I guess thats a possibility" Jomei said, rubbing the nape of his neck when Lee suggested that they could just retake the quest to get a Hoya for Zandra. A pink hue came to his cheeks with a sheepish smile, looking down at the ground as they walked, "..B-But I'm.. thinking about giving her something.. different soon.. if things go well.." 

[Lee 0]

Lee would start to lean his head out when Jomei seemed a bit interested in the idea of getting another pendant to which Lee would reply "You could also just give the one you have to me and I can try and sell it at my shop. For those that would want to get it without the risk and what not." He would notice his fellow looking at the ground as he spoke of giving Zandra something else if time permitted it to which a gin would slide its way onto Lee's face "Oh ho ho~ Special lady gettin a special gift." Lee would close his eyes and take in a deep breath "They grow up so fast." He rose his shield arm up to wipe away a false tear as he pretended to get emotional but would just as quickly erase it "But in all seriousness, you do you and I'm pretty sure that whatever it is that you plan on doing is going to be very..." He would pause as he would attempt to think of a word "...wooifying."

Lee would then walk out from behind the corner and as he turned it, would hit a wall or so he thought it was at first. Upon turning his attentions to it, Lee would let his head rise as the supposed wall would begin to turn and was rather angry that it was ran into for this was not, in fact, a wall but a massive creature that they had actually been searching for. Once it had registered in Lee's head the monster had brought up a fist the size of a boulder to bring down upon him. Lee would bring his shield up above him to take the strike but was felt in waves. "F*cking Found You! Finally!" Lee would take his sword back and in one fierce swing, slash at the monsters legs in a powerful swing. The critical strike would cause the creature to freeze and twitch, being forced to succumb to the paralyses.

Spoiler

Caliburn = Sword (BLED+2; PAR+1) Activated on a roll of 9-10 with one slot, or 8-10 with two slots. Removes 4 more points of damage for 2 turns for the enemy/mob; Removed enemy action for 1 turn afterwards on a roll of 9-10. Removes evasion properties from opponent while paralyzed.
Pridwen = Shield (PAR+1; THRNS+2) Removed enemy action for 1 turn afterwards on a roll of 9-10. This only applies to natural rolls (unmodified). Removes evasion properties from opponent while paralyzed; Deals (2 x 2) damage when Mob die/Enemy BD is a 6-8 after any modifiers such as evasion (modified)
Plate Armor = Armor (MIT+3) Removed 9 points of damage from every hit to you. No matter how much damage mitigation you have, however, you will always take at least 1 point of damage.

ID:56725  BD:10  MOB:6
Lee
HP:36  EN:9/8 (9(DMG)-35(MIT)=1)(36-1=35)
Jomei
HP:174  EN:43 ()

Minotaur One
HP:89 (3(DMG)-22(MIT)=1+4(THRNS)=5)(89-5=84)
[BLED 2][PAR 1][THRNS]

Edited April 16, 2016 by Lee

[Jomei 0]

The Irishman chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "W-well the gift I'm talking about is an en-"  He cut his sentence short when Lee had turned a corner and smacked into some sort of object, large enough to be a wall... Wait.. a wall? In a forest? Jomei's eyes widened as he saw the object begin to stir and rise, revealing to be quite alive. As it turned around to see just who had bothered it, Jomei realized that they had found the minotaur they were looking for. "Bigger than I remembered.." Jomei said with a smirk. Immediately, the beast brought its boulder like head down on top of Lee, who blocked the attack with his shield and returned fire, bringing the horned beast to its knees. Jomei reached across his body to grab his rapier from its scabbard and pulled it out, the sound of metal scraping echoing through the forest. I could take this thing out in one hit.. Jomei thought to himself.. But.. I think it would be a lot more rewarding to Lee if he got in the last hit. Charging up a mid ranked sword art, Jomei jabbed his rapier forward as it began to glow a gold hue. As his sword connected with the beast's chest, four bright gold streams speared the beast around the point of contact. The force of the blow knocked the minotaur backwards, crashing into the ground, still paralyzed and just waiting for the last hit that would finish him off. "Of course a critical hit.." Jomei mumbled to himself as a bead of sweat dropped from his cheek. "Alright Lee, finish him off." 

ID 56907
BD 10(+4) = 14 ((Of course when im trying to lightly tap it...))
Neutron: 5x13(+2) = 75

Lee
HP:36  EN:9/8 
Jomei
HP:174  EN:38/43

Minotaur One
HP: 14(75 dmg)
(Paralyzed)