[SP-F2] <Earning a Living> Armed and Dangerous

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius had just stepped out of Daeron's shop with his new armor in his inventory. Even though his face was completely slack and stoic, Darius' eyes were like a child's that had just gotten a free lollipop. He walked, slightly faster than normal, to the teleporter in the town square. He called out "Floor Two," as he vanished into green pixels, reappearing in the center of the town that Darius often came to spend his time in when he chose to take a break. He walked to the inn he frequented and went inside. The NPC Barkeep, who had seen Darius countless times, looked up to Darius as he strode through towards the rooms. "Just need to chance real quick," Darius said the NPC, who told him the nearest room that was vacant. Darius headed in that direction.

When Darius reached the room, he entered, closing the door behind him. He unequipped his leather armor to show his normal clothes underneath. He then opened his inventory and dropped out all of his armor and new sword onto the bed. He took a delicate time to arrange it all in a classic style; like a king who died in the medieval times that burned on a pyre, the sword hilt held in both gauntlets as it spanned down the body. Of course it was somewhat awkward looking without anyone in the armor, but Darius didn't care. He smiled childishly to himself. Instead of auto-equipping the armor he would take the time to manually equip it, then go hunting for more to repay Daeron for the armor and then to get himself a cape later.

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius started with the chestplate. He pushed the sword to the side of the bed and hefted the heavy plate metal up, examining it like it was a religious relic. He then lifted it above his head and slipped it over his shoulders, weaving his arms up through the body hole and out through the arm holes, the shoulder guards resting against his shoulders in satisfaction as he felt the wonderful feeling of the metal encasement that would be his new skin. He then picked up the leggings, which were put on in different section. He started with the groin section and locked it on, the waist part overlapping the lowest part of the breastplate to make no weak spot at the waist. He then slid on the thigh pieces, put on the kneecaps, and locked the shin and boots on below it. He lifted his legs a few times in satisfaction, feeling the weight of the armor. He went on to attach the belt, the dragon head buckle starting out with merciless eyes as the crimson thread of the sash below it rested across the armor. Darius then picked up the elbow pieces, sliding them up his arms locking them to the bicep portion of the breasplate. He then locked his gauntlets into place.

At this point, only his head wasn't covered in his plate armor. He eyed himself critically, feeling prideful of his new skin, before looking down at the sword that rest on the bed next to his helmet. He picked it up, looking the red blade up and down and at the dragon-hilt before sliding it into its sheath. He then slowly and gracefully picked up the helmet, looking into its face and through its eyes to the darkness beyond; the eyes and face that would momentarily be his. The small smile that had been plastered across his face up to that point vanished. Darius finally fitted the helmet slowly over his face, looking out of the eye-holes. He slowly raised his head level and put a gauntlet across his heart briefly before lowering it and exiting the inn, heading towards some caves he knew were nearby.

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius had made it to the caves he knew about without incident; unfortunately. He wanted to test his new equipment as soon as possible. Outside of the cave was a shack with an NPC and a quest in it. Darius had never taken it when he was a lower level because it was beyond his level and required teamwork. The cave ahead was filled with spiders and the re-living skeletons of their victims. The NPC wants for a player to slay the spiders and put the skeletons to rest so he could close off the cave to further entry and not have the guilt of trapping lonely souls within. Darius hit the accept button without hesitation. It was meant for three or four Level 2 players, but he was level seven with extremely superior equipment and he needed the spider silk and ingots from the skeletons; a two in one. Darius smirked, his mouth the only visible thing of his features as he drew his sword and entered the caves' mouth, taking a torch from the old man in his free hand and a spare in his inventory.

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius went deeper and deeper within the cave. Only when the light from the entrance disappear did he begin to see signs of the spiders. At first it was only light cobwebs, but as he went further and further in the cobwebs grew thicker. He walked all the way up until he found a wall of spider silk. It was evidently the nest of the foul creatures and the undead remains of past victims. Knowing they couldn't get out to him unless he entered, Darius sheathed his sword and went back to collect all of the silk along the tunnel way.

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[Darius Verand 0]

Darius had collected almost every inch of cobwebs in the tunnel, getting <5 Spider Silk>, which took him almost fifteen minutes. Darius then returned to the silk wall, the way into the nest of spiders. Evidently, it was put in place in case anyone wanted to back out and not be mobbed by monsters. Darius didn't have his shield yet, but that wasn't a problem. His armor and the points he had in and along with his higher level would make him near invincible. He stepped up to the silk and slashed his sword along the edges of it, cutting out the entire doorway. The draft from the mouth of the cave made the silk wall blow gracefully inward; revealing an ungraceful sight. There were five spiders on the opposite wall, watching over what looked like eggs sacs, four skeletons at the base of the wall; looking lifeless, but all grasping swords with an iron grip. At the sight of a player entering, the entire place came to life. The skeletons, starting to rise, their creaking bones protesting after getting no use for so long and the spiders chittering at the sight of new prey. Darius snorted. The spiders were already hastily clawing across the walls of the circular room towards the pathway Darius was in.

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius sneered to himself. The battle would be over soon enough. He already had a strategy. The tunnel he was in could fit three men shoulder to shoulder. He started hastily backing up to give the spiders room to get in. They would undoubtedly crawl across every surface towards him, the tunnel being big enough to fit two on the floor if they were half on the wall, half on the floor. Darius looked farther into the room, seeing the skeletons just starting to rise and shuffle towards him. It would take them three or four times longer to get to him than the spiders do. Speaking of the devil, they had already reach the entry to his tunnel, clawing into it on all platforms like Darius predicted; except two on the ceiling and one on each floor and the sides. Darius sighed. It would all be over soon. He charged 'Vertical Square', his red blade already glowing crimson. He the lifted his sword, keeping the torch in his other hand held low and out of the way. As the spider grew within range, he saw their legs bunch, ready to launch at him. He had fought spiders before and knew they wanted to launch at him, so he did what they wanted to do. He jumped at /them/.

[Darius Verand 0]

With a stoic and calculated face, Darius launched at the spiders, activating 'Vertical Square' as his sword slashed out in a large square pattern, going across each surface of the tunnel. Darius caught four out of five of the spiders, knocking them from the wall with the sheer force of the blow from the heavier than average sword, it being made out of dragonheart stones. The fifth, one of the ones on the ceiling, launched at him nearly point blank. Darius last swing had been at the left handed wall, and he didn't have enough time or space for a backslash, so he simply swung his entire arm in a backhand at the speeding assailant. The three spikes along the gauntlets gouging chunks into the spiders abdomen as it collided with his arm. Its fangs came inches from biting his helmet, snapping and spraying spittle over the metal as its legs latched around Darius' arm. Darius bared his teeth, turning his body and swinging his arm with it into the wall to his right, the spider slamming against it. Darius then followed up, slamming a heavy plate gauntlet into the spiders head, caving in part of it as its attack's ferocity almost halved and its legs loosened, the spider falling off and sliding along the wall to the floor. Darius turned to see the other four spiders speeding along the ground in a line at Darius, the skeletons less than twenty seconds away.

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius started to charge 'Vorpal Strike' as the spiders grew closer. The cave was largely untouched by the elements and the floors were dry. Darius lobbed the torch ahead of him, in front of the spiders, making them stop and hiss at the brightness and heat of it. He then charged forward, taking his sword in a two-hand grip. As he got barely out of striking range, he swung a vertical swing. As he was halfway through his swing, it coming on the down arch, Darius activated 'Vorpal Strike', his crimson blade growing twice its normal length, and gaining twice the normal damage, as it cleaved clean through the first two spiders in front of it and heavily damaging the third with a few inches of the top of the blade. The unaffected spider launched at Darius from behind its injured comrade, the skeletons entering the tunnel entrance, in a ragged line than made a 'Z' like pattern. Darius' mouth twitched downward as the spider accelerated towards him.

[Darius Verand 0]

The spider launched towards Darius, but predictably so. Darius had just finished his downward swing moments ago. It was too easy to bring his sword back up and hold it out, grasping it with both hands as the spider's momentum made it impale itself. It hissed, slapping its legs against Darius, dealing barely a nick of damage to him. Darius leg go of the sword with one hand, swiping the spider off, using the gauntlet's spikes along the forearm to impale it. He then continued swinging it and slammed it into the wall next to him, the spikes impaling further before the spider shattered into pixels. Darius turned back to face the spiders, readying himself, a stoic expression on his face, when he suddenly felt a red-hot pain in his leg from behind.

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius looked around his shoulder to see the injured spider from early, its fangs stuck into his calf. A poison indicator popped up in the top right of his vision. The spider half also done a damage point from its fangs. Darius could hear the skeletons nearly on top of him as he looked down at the spider. Darius did a simple backhanded slash, cleaving through the spider's body and shattering it. He dropped a shoulder, tucked his head down,and charged forward without looking. He felt something grate against him, losing another health point; presumably a sword; before bowling into something, then another, another, and another, scattering the skeletons. The last spider; the one damaged from the edge of his 'Vorpal Strike' could be seen on the ground in his path. He fixed his posture, and as the spider prepared to launch towards him, dashed forward, punting the spider out into the main room, a pointed boot stabbing into it. He charged out after it.

Darius' HP: 17/19

Rare Armor Affect: +2 HP Threshold

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius would charge out into the middle of the room after the spider he had just punted. The circle space was fairly big, being about forty feet in diameter. The spider had been recovering, but Darius had caught up to it. He pushed a boot down onto its back and drove a sword through it, shattering it to pixels. He turned and opened his inventory, taking out his second torch and dropping it in the dimly lit room. The room lit up pretty clear, revealing the few eggs sacks of the spiders and cobwebs all around. The poison indicator was still in the top right corner of his vision and he watched his health, rest at a stalemate, his combating the status, meaning he gained no health passively for the time being. His armor was glowing fiercely white, the damage seeming to activate it as the HP it gave Darius had drained. Darius then looked to the skeletons. They were re-entering the room and preparing to fight him. They would be easy enough to slaughter.

[Darius Verand 0]

As the skeletons charged mindlessely towards him, Darius' sword began to glow crimson. He started to charge 'Serration Wave'. As the skeletons drew closer, he stabbed his sword into the ground, activating the ability. A force wave emitted from his sword, pushing outwards in a circle around him at mid-shin level. The skeletons, not being smart enough to dodge, had their legs taken out from under them, falling in a heep onto one-another. That would be all Darius needed to finish them. He charged forward at them as they started to untangle themselves, his blade glowing crimson yet again. He was charging 'Vertical Arc' as he grew nearer to the skeletons who were now on their hands and knees. As Darius grew closer, his mouth split into a grin, and he activated 'Vertical Arc', creating a 'V' that crossed over three of the close-bunched skeletons, knocking them back to the ground. He stepped up to the forth, punting it in its rib-cage and sending it skidding across the floor.

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius looked down to the three helpless skeletons on the ground. He spit on them before simply horizontally slashing each one, the skeletons shattering into pixels. While he did this, the fourth skeleton had gotten up. It charged towards Darius, its sword held in a stabbing position. Darius simply stood there and laughed, letting it plunge its sword into him, his armor absorbing almost all of the skeleton's attack. Since it was a considerably lower level, it only dealt a small, barely seeable, tick of damage to his health. He continued laughing as he grabbed onto its shoulder bone and headbutted it, breaking the part where the skeleton's nose should have been into hundreds of fragments. It staggered back and he followed up with an upward, right to left, vertical slash, shattering the skeleton to pixels.

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius stood in the now empty circular cavern. He nodded to himself, proud of his work, when the after-battle indicator came up, telling him he had gained 7 spider silk and 4 iron ingots. He closed it and looked around the room, it being heavily coaked with the spider silk. He began collecting it, the process taking a large amount of time as he got as much as he could reach. [One per every multiple of 3 on the loot counter.]

[Darius Verand 0]

Darius had thought that he might get a large yield of silk, but the spider silk was so old that it crumpled into pixels in his hand as he tried to harvest it. He shook his head to himself as he picked up his torch from the center of the room where he had dropped it previously. He then went about exiting the cave, approaching the quest giver who awarded him 200 Col for completing the quest. He then went about heading back to town.

[Darius Verand 0]

After Adventure Information:

5 silk from harvesting the cave wall.

7 silk from beating the spiders and appropriate loot die.

4 iron ingots from defeating the skeletons and the appropriate loot die.

200 col for completing the quest.

200 col for completing the adventure, which was short so reduced Col.

No Col from monsters as they were too low of a level.