[F1-SP] <The Third Lesson, is just as free> Exploring the cave

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

Ben was walking back to the Town of Beginnings, having acquired the third beginner quest's location, and the package he needed to start it.  He had a package to deliver to a woman named Hannah in the city's park, or one of them at least.  Ben followed his map to the way point indicated, and spotted a young woman painting under one of the trees there.  Ben walked over to her to get her attention.  Hey there.  My name's Ben- I have a package I'm supposed to deliver to you from Lyle.  Um, you are Hannah, right? he said as he handed the package over to her. 

Hannah put her painting supplies down, and took the package from his hands.  Wonderful!  I've been waiting for this. she said as she opened the box, revealing a gold band on the inside. This is exactly what I need to start on the ring I've been working on.  It's so romantic, two love birds revealing their feelings to each other, tying the knot in everlasting matrimony. she crooned on in a sickly sweet voice, carrying on about love and how awesome it was and please let her just finish up and give me the quest already. 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

Oh, yes yes yes- there is one more thing I need for this! she finally got around to the point as Ben smiled politely, hoping that it was done soon.  I need a perfect gem to truly bring out the true love that will flow from this gift.  Fair adventurer, would you assist me is this task, bringing beauty to these love birds?  I need you to just find me the perfect gem for this masterpiece, and I know exactly where to find it!  Please?

Ben sighed as he nodded, almost regretting the decision not to run away as soon as she started talking.  At least nodding yes counted as accepting the quest, and his map updated with the location of the cave he had to go to.  He tuned out Hannah's additional ravings about love and beauty as he checked the quest log for exactly what kind of gem he needed, though it was pretty vague about it.  He would probably recognize it when he saw it- that's the way that most of the quest items work around here.

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

The route to the cave was fairly short, and the walk uneventful.  There wasn't much else in the area besides a lot of rocks and dirt, and no monsters on the route.  It seems the real quest would begin inside the cave.  Which was dark as all get out, and probably full of monsters.  He grabbed the potion he got from the previous quest and drank it, just in case.  No reason to go in without proper buffs. 

He entered into the cave, the darkness making it extremely hard to see.  Unfortunately, he couldn't grab a torch or anything without dropping one of his weapons, and that would probably make things worse.  He just had to wander through the twists and turns... and this was just a straight line.  He walked along the path until he got to a large cavern in the back.  One that had a bunch of shiny gems that looked like they could be easily pried from the wall.  Including one that was larger and brighter than the rest. 

(Used Safeguard Potion)

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

Benjamin grabbed the large gem that was the focus of the cave.  He pulled several times until it finally came loose and fell into his hands.  His quest updated immediately, showing it was the right one to get, as he had thought.  Now he just had to...

And his thoughts were interrupted by a large shadow swooping down, letting out a large screech as it swooped down and smashed it's opened jaws into his neck!  His safeguard shield triggered, turning what would otherwise would have taken a huge chunk out of his health into a fizzled strike.  Wasting no time, Ben swung back with his blade, connecting with the enemy right in the face!  A critical hit knocked the bat-thing back into the wall, where it hovered after a few flaps of it's wings steadied itself.  Even in the darkness, Ben could see the fangs reflecting light off of them as it readies for another fly by.  Ben would have to fight his way through this thing if he wanted to get back out of this cave. 

Battle ready items and stats:

Spoiler

Level - 9
HP - 180 / 180
ENG - 18 / 18
DMG - 3 (1 base + 1 skills + 1 equipment)
MIT - 9 (0 + 9 equipment)
ACC - +1 (1 equipment)
EVA - 0

Equipment:
[T1] Uncommon Heavy Armor] Benjamin's Carapace - Mit 1
[T1 Rare Dagger] Emerald Shiv - ACC 1, DMG 1

Items:
(3) Starter Healing Potions (Heals 50 HP)
+1 T1 Damage Potion (Uncommon) (+1 DMG)
+1 T1 Over-Health Potion (+50 Temp HP)
(1) Teleport Crystal
(8) Basic Healing salve (Heals 40 HP)

~Combat~

Spoiler

Roll ID - 95895

BD - 9-1=8  (crit hit, +1 dmg)

Ben uses Round Accel - -2 EN, (3+1)*2 = 8 dmg

MD - 8 (Hit) (Safeguard negates the blow)

Benjamin :
HP - 180 / 180
ENG - 16 / 18

Cave Guardian :
HP - 12 / 20
DMG - 5

 

Edited February 14, 2018 by Benjamin Bookworm

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

Ben stood his ground in the cave, watching as the monster dodged back and forth above him, looking for an opening before it struck.  Ben had to keep his cool- with the darkness of the cave, it would be very tough for him to score a hit with these conditions.  As the monster swooped in once more, Ben slashed up at the monster's mid section, aiming to put some more hurt into it.  Unfortunately, the darkness had made it that much harder to see where things were going, and Ben wound up aiming for the monster's shadow rather than the monster itself.  His swing went wide, and left him staggering off balance as the Guardian swung around and struck him right in the back with it's full might.  And, it didn't hurt.  At all.  The armor he had gotten last quest took all the damage from the blow, and left him unharmed.  Now he was very glad he braved the misty forest for this- it was great protection for him. 

~ Combat ~

Spoiler

+1 EN at start of turn

Roll ID - 95896

BD - 5-1(darkness)+1(acc)=5  (Miss)

Ben Misses, -2 EN

MD - 10 (Hit)

Cave Guardian deals (5 - 9) = 0 dmg

Benjamin :
HP - 180 / 180
ENG - 15 / 18

Cave Guardian :
HP - 12 / 20
DMG - 5

 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

The cave monster, bat thing, whatever the thing he couldn't see so well in the dark (he would find out what it was after the fight, if he cared to) had just bounced back from its failed attack, readying itself for another run.  Apparently the AI does not have any plans for what to do if it can't actually get through someone's mitigation.  This time, Ben was able to wait, letting the monster come close with several passes, knowing that his armor would protect him from any grazing strikes that the guardian could hit him with.  This was going to be a fun battle to fight.  Finally, after it swooped down several times, Ben managed to get lucky - the Guardian had come down straight and true, right for his center.  Ben stood his ground, letting it fly as fast as it could right into his armored torso, stopping right in it's tracks when it did so.  Before it could right itself from the almost cartoonish failure of an attack, Ben brought both of his daggers down into the guardian's back, taking another third of it's health off with a single attack. 

Spoiler

+1 EN at start of turn

Roll ID - 95944

BD - 9-1(darkness)+1(acc)=9 (Critical Hit, +1 DMG)

Ben ses Round Accel, -2 EN, Deals (3+1)*2=8 DMG

MD - 1, Miss

Benjamin :
HP - 180 / 180
ENG - 14 / 18

Cave Guardian :
HP - 4 / 20
DMG - 5

 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

The cave guardian weaved back and forth a bit unsteadily as it recovered from the last hit it took.  The movements caused it to bob and weave across the darkness, flitting in and out of the light and sometimes going entirely out of sight when it went behind some of the outcroppings in the cave.  Ben tried once more to stand his ground as he did before, but the new attack patterns were just too confusing for his to keep up with.  When he saw his shot, Ben swung hard, trying to end the battle with one more strike.  Unfortunately, what he had taken to be an attack run was actually just another wobbily run by his side, leaving Ben off balance and open to a counter strike.  That is, if the guardian didn't just spin harmlessly by him and weaved about the ceiling a few more times instead.  This might take a while to finish him off. 

Spoiler

+1 EN at start of turn

Roll ID - 95946

BD - 1-1(darkness)+1(acc)=1 (Critical Miss)

Ben Misses, -2 EN

MD - 5, Miss

Benjamin :
HP - 180 / 180
ENG - 13 / 18

Cave Guardian :
HP - 4 / 20
DMG - 5

 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

Ben chased after the guardian as it bobbed and weaved erratically back and forth.  He took another swing at it, knowing there isn't much it could do to hurt him even if it did blunder it's way into his path.  With the darkness hampering his aim, and the many rocks and outcroppings that he just couldn't see as he moved through the darkness.  He kept on tripping over the uneven floor as he went, trying (and failing) to hit the guardian as it flew around.  He was pretty sure that some of the flying swoops it made near him were supposed to be attacks, but it was still moving too unpredictably for him to figure out.  Ben still went further to try and kill it, as there was no way he was making it to the exit in any reasonable fashion with this thing flying around everywhere.  He had to take it down. 

Spoiler

+1 EN at start of turn

Roll ID - 95951

BD - 2-1(darkness)+1(acc)=2 (Miss)

Ben Misses, -2 EN

MD - 1, Miss

Benjamin :
HP - 180 / 180
ENG - 13 / 18

Cave Guardian :
HP - 4 / 20
DMG - 5

 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

Ben chased further into the cave after the monster, not caring if he bumped into a few of the parts of the wall or some of the debris around here while doing so.  He took several huge swings as he tried to keep up with its movements, until it finally swung around and passed him by again.  He was getting angry at this thing.  Ben finally just charged straight at the monster, trying to hit it fast enough that it can't dodge out of the way, and just overwhelm it with a large bunch of hits.  As the guardian turned around with a flap of its wings, readying itself for a staggered charge at Ben, he smashed himself right into the beast.  Ben activated his sword art as he did and slashed into the guardian's body, feeling a surge of satisfaction as it thumped into the wall and disappeared into a shower of pixels.  Finally, the guardian was gone, and the end of this stupid quest was in sight!

Spoiler

+1 EN at start of turn

Roll ID - 96004

BD - 7-1(darkness)+1(acc)=7 (Miss)

Ben uses Round Accel, -2 EN, Deals (3*2)=6 Damage

MD - 7, Already dead

Benjamin :
HP - 180 / 180
ENG - 12 / 18

Cave Guardian : (Defeated)
HP - 0 / 20
DMG - 5

 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

With the Cave Guardian gone, Ben turned to start his way back to the entrance of the cave.  Except, as he looked around at where he was at the moment, he realized there must have been a few side paths to the cave.  And, while he was angrily chasing down the stupid swerving monster, he apparently managed to run down one of them.  For a while.  And was now most definitely lost, in the dark, and there was a better than average chance that there was also a bunch of monsters somewhere in the dark recesses of the cavern. It might take a little effort to get himself out of this.  He gave a sigh as he leaned against the wall to rest for a bit, and checked his map to see if it would help him.  Unfortunately, it just showed the area that he was in, not what the caves looked like. 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

Ben started trying to retrace his steps, working his way back towards where he started.  He went around a few different rocks and outcroppings of the cave, and followed what he had thought was the way he came in.  He went through turn after turn, getting more and more worried as he did.  There wasn't anything familiar about these paths, and he didn't have a good source of light to try and navigate by.  So he doubled back the way he came, trying to find something that would help guide his path.  And did so again, looping around a few of the stalagmites that ran the full height of the cave.  But no matter which way he wandered, he couldn't find the way back to the entrance.  He had thought he went down all of the routes that there were, but he must have missed one of them somewhere.  Or a bunch of them, to be honest. 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

Yep, he was definitely lost by now.  Ben took a few seconds to gather himself, and take a few deep breaths to keep himself from panicking or running about randomly to try and find his way out.  He needed some sort of idea of how to figure out the route back out of this cave, or he would be wandering around for a while.  Actually, he did pick up a teleport crystal before... but those were super expensive, and he didn't want to waste it if it wasn't truly an emergency.  He needed to just keep moving, trying to make his way to a path that he missed and eventually make his way back to the starting path of the cave.  He could not believe he let some stupid NPC bad guy, monster thing, had managed to lure him so far into the cave that he couldn't find his way back out. 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

As he kept on going in circles around the cave, kicking himself some more for being suckered into going this far into the cave and getting himself lost like this, he tried to think about some sort of way that he could find his way back to the exit, get out of this cave, and make his way back to town so that he could finally finish up this stupid quest.  Maybe, maybe if he managed to find his way back to the path, not just focusing on the entrance, he could see if he could find a way back towards the gem deposits at the center of the cave, and then from there head straight back to the exit.  It was a perfect plan- from there it would be simple to get himself out of here.  He just needed to figure out a way to track down where the gem deposits were, and follow them to the main lode. 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

Ben tried to find the best way to track down the gem deposits that were in the caves- they weren't the usual materials that he gathered, so he didn't have a way to actually track them down as if he were gathering materials like he usually did.  I think?  Maybe?  Ben really didn't know a lot of the specifics about the game systems that he would know if he had access to the internet.  Or any other things he usually would have if this was a normal game.  Not knowing how things worked was just driving him crazy- in every game he played he always took the time and effort to track down and find out everything about the system, all the hidden areas, and all of its secrets.  He just couldn't do that here.  It was all a black box to him.  And that lack of knowledge was driving him crazy.

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

Even with the doubts gnawing at his mind, Ben still had to try his best to find out where he was going if he even hoped to find his way out.  The caves were filled with gemstones, and he had found them before.  At least he found the ones that were set up like a tutorial for him to find, that were designed to be easy to find.  I mean, he also had finished the other tutorial quests before this... that basically everyone did.  And had really not fought any big monsters yet.  Maybe he wasn't actually as good at questing as he had thought, and that's why he was not lost inside a dark and possibly dangerous cavern. 

Which... were thoughts that didn't help right now.  He had to track down the best place to find a source of gems, and follow that.  Since they were usually glowing for some reason, Ben decided to try and follow whatever source of light in here was the brightest.  And he would just keep following them until he got to something. 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

After taking a few more turns, and stopping a lot to try and search for any places that seemed to have gems in them, Ben found himself in a cave that had several gemstones sticking out of the wall.  Ben tried to check them out, seeing if they could be harvested, but with no luck.  It seems that these were only materials that could be picked up or used by other crafters- it didn't give him the information on who exactly.  At least this meant that he was on the right track- and the best part was that he could see a few of the other gems further down the path.  He began to follow them, going around a few curves to make his way on towards the central chamber once more.  And hopefully, this would lead him to the exit once he found it, just around the new bend of the cave wall. 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

And around that bend in the cave wall, was the light from the main cavern of gem stones that he had seen at the start of the quest.  As he walked his way there, he glanced over his shoulder, looking around to figure out which way he had gone.  It looked like he had managed to walk down a side path the faced towards the gem cave on the inside, but was partially covered from the outside entrance.  The designers had probably planned that to trick players into getting lost inside here after the quest item was found. 

With a a sigh, he turned back and found the path to the entrance.  It took no effort once he knew where he was going, and he headed back out into the open air.  The last step would be heading back into town and dropping the jewel off at the wierd NPC who gave this quest.  Then, it was time to finish the quest line.

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

Ben's trek back into town was uneventful, and he eventually made it to the park that Hannah was waiting at, and talk to her.  Yep.  Just had to go do that... with the weird NPC that apparently talked only about love and passion and he really hoped that was just for Valentine's day that she was like that.  And so, he approached.  Hannah, I have the item you need.  That should be everything, right?  No more surprises.

Wonderful!  Oh, this will make the most beautiful ring, the couple will be... she droned on, making this entire thing take much longer.  Ben, meanwhile, busied himself by banging his head repeatedly against the tree she was leaning against.  The NPC didn't notice, or possibly did and just didn't care.  It didn't matter.  ...so for your reward, great hero, I can only offer some small trinkets, though I am sure a brave adventurer as yourself would have done the task even without them. 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

Ben looked at the two rewards that were offered him- a pair of items that were both not very useful for him.  There was an accuracy item, which would not stack with his weapon's enhancement and was completely useless to him.  And there was an evasion item, which he could use, but had a much better one ordered in the market already.  So it would be marginally useful for a very short while.  Still, marginally useful was better than completely useless, so he chose the evasion amulet.  Of course, brave hero, I'm sure this charm will... and she's talking again.  Great.  Ben checked his quest log as he tried not to think of why she was still talking.  His log showed that there was one last step in this quest- probably the one that would send him to the final quest in this line.  And he would have to wait until the NPC stopped talking to fins out what is was. 

[Benjamin Bookworm 0]

After a few more minutes of Hannah talking about heroism and love and more boring bits as he searched in vain for a skip button, she finally got to her point.  ...now, I have one final task that I am sure such a brave hero as yourself would of course do for a humble crafter as myself, out of the kindness and love in your heart. OK, just kind of getting to the point at least.  I have made an item for a fisherman by one of the nearby lakes, but I have to begin my work with this lovely gem that you brought me.  I can't just leave either of them without what they need!  Would you deliver this to Old Pete for me, please?  Well, at least once he got the item for delivery, he could get away from here.  Of course, Hannah still droned on some more after he got the item, but Ben was already moving out by then.