[PP-F2] Exterminate! (Long Live The Queen) <COMPLETE>

[Kioshi 0]

QUEEN WASP FOUND IN CAVE NEAR WASP FARM, FLOOR 2

STINGER VENOM ENHANCES WEAPON STRENGTH

The large Courier New font written on a poster is enough to attract the attention of Kioshi, who is still donning armor and carrying his sword even though he doesn't really have a plan in undertaking a certain quest. He silently reads the poster that describes the Queen Wasp in detail. At first thought to be a legend, some information brokers eventually found out that some players had awakened the Queen herself, and for the time being nobody dares to try to kill the wasps. One step into their territory and your entire body will swell in a minute. 

At the bottom of the basic info of the quest is a reward. Whoever kills the Queen gets to keep her stinger, and get paid too. This interests him, and based on the descriptions of the Queen, she seems to be an easy picking...for level eight players that is.

But what does it matter? Kioshi accesses the quest window, and stares at it longingly as he thinks of looking for a companion to assist him. Question is...where? And how would he convince a player to join him?

Maybe I can pay them, he thinks to himself.

 

@Neopolitan

Edited July 24, 2018 by Kioshi

[Neopolitan 0]

Neo was wandering around the second floor, looking to see if she had missed any quests here. She saw an NPC that looked like it was giving out a quest, but it appeared to be part of a quest line that Neo hadn't worked on yet. As she looked around for quests, she noticed a player that was seemingly lost. Wondering if they were looking for some help, Neo walked over to them. Waiting to catch their eye, Neo held back her traditional smile and friendly wave. It appeared as though they were engrossed in their menu for the time being, but she couldn't help built notice the look of struggling on their face. Judging by their gear, it appeared that they were still quite low level, most people had some nice gear before they were even that high. Neo wasn't that high of a level herself, but was high enough that she felt that she could help this person out. Though if they were this low of a level, Neo couldn't help but feel that they should probably be working on some of the quests on the first floor.

@Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

The waving of a female player's arm is visible enough at Kioshi's peripheral vision. He turns his head to his left, and sees her smiling. She seems carefree and cheerful, though she doesn't say a word to express her feelings. He gazes at her for a minute while looking at her gear. Lightly armored. A rapier belted on her waist. A shiny ring and a cloak behind her. 

He doesn't understand why cloaks would count as an equipment. As far as he can tell, they are easy to get tangled in enclosed spaces or by someone's deliberate action. Not very practical in battle even with enhancements...just armor all the way.

He shifts his gaze to the player's face, and notices that the whole time he is staring at her, she doesn't say a word. Not even a grunt or a slight 'hm' seemingly escape from her lips. He wonders if she is as quiet as him...or worse, she may be mute.

Though he may pity her for that, at least he doesn't have to feel awkward if he has to communicate with her. He takes one last look at the quest window and presses the green button.

The adventure for today begins. The color of the sky is that of the blue ocean.

@Neopolitan

[Neopolitan 0]

Neo watched the man, who appeared to be quite old, look at her. It seemed as though he was sizing her up, which felt a little awkward. Neo gave back a quizzical glare, as if to ask the man what his goal was. He appeared to have accepted a quest from his screen, and Neo wasn't sure what quest it was. Figuring that he was low level, there was little chance it was a quest she hadn't already done, but it would be a good idea of her to help them. Neo sent a party invite to them. Though she wasn't certain, if he accepted the quest thinking that there was no need to dispel that assumption. Checking she had all of her gear properly equipped, she prepared herself for the quest to come.

As much as I want to see how well they'll do, I doubt that I'll be able to hold back while making sure that they'll be safe. Guess that means I'll be showing off a little bit then. Let's just hope that nothing goes awry.

@Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

An invitation window. Up until now, Kioshi doesn't think that there exists a system that 'officially' bonds fellow players as a team, let alone identifying them as each other's teammates. Without questions or doubts, he simply accepts the player's invitation. Now he can go and try to defeat the Queen Wasp with her help and his own sword. 

Assuming that she would follow him wherever he goes, he starts walking to the gates of the second floor's city, the plates of his breastplate's tassets grind against each other as he walks, making slight 'klink' noises or whatever those sounds are. He wishes for a helmet as it is a critical part of armor in his philosophy...but even a decent full helmet can be costly. 

Meanwhile, he is slightly worried about the female player, as she seems unprotected from a distant point of view. Even if her armor sacrifices only a bit of protection in favor of agility, would that be enough? 

He stops briefly to bring up the HUD map, and notices a marker pointing to the wasp field. Here, he studies it for a while while pondering any alternative routes.

@Neopolitan

Edited July 17, 2018 by Kioshi

[Neopolitan 0]

After he accepted the party invitation, Neo found out what is name was. He had yet to speak, which suited Neo just fine. As the man took the lead, she couldn't help but worry for him. There would be little she could do if he rushed into battle. He seemed to be the more protective type, which could be an issue as well. If he thought she would need to be protected, he would likely try and block a hit for her. If he did, Neo wouldn't be surprised if he was taken down in one of those hits.

Okay, I'll need to finish things very quickly, don't want another player's death on my hands.

Neo gave a silent, anxious sigh and quickly caught up with the man. Though she may not be up to the task, she would need to carry through the quest with the added weight of someone else.

@Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

Drawing out his sword after he finishes looking at the map, Kioshi moves forward, looking around for any enemy he might encounter in his travel. The sun's rays are shone out partially behind the cloud, though the breeze is still present. This particular weather today seems to blow away whatever worries he is harboring. Everything will be alright.

Surprisingly the field is not as far as he thinks. Beyond the small hills, he could see a large square patch of land just by standing on one of the little summits. A bit of a downward slope to go there, but not too steep enough to climb back up at relative ease.

He takes one step forward when he stops and turns around to check on the female player's condition, to see if she tires or keeps up with her stamina.

@Neopolitan

[Neopolitan 0]

The two had walked the now familiar distance towards the fields. As much as players said to watch out for other wasps, Need had yet to see one while the Queen was spawned. Of course, that could all just be circumstantial, but it was becoming enough times that Neo felt it could be the case. The man was walking ahead of her again, definitely trying to be the leader. Neo let him, though knew she would want to take over for the fight. He turned back towards her, checking on her. She hadn't slowed and was looking around for the Queen. She spotted it in the distance and loosened her rapier in its sheath. It seemed the fight wouldn't be that far off, and the result of the fight wouldn't be much further after that. Either he would hold back a little and Neo could tank, or he would be brave and have to lean on luck.

@Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

With the female player looking alright as far as he can see, Kioshi is about to move on when he suddenly hears an awful rhythm of barks and grass rustling roughly. Turning his head to the west of the wasp field, he sees a wolf sprinting towards him, snarling with its sharp jaws visible. Its fur untidy and dirty thanks to its frequent habit of hiding in bushes and other piles of dirt and vegetation. The canine, mad with hunger, suddenly makes a leap towards Kioshi as it prepares to bite down onto its supposedly latest meal. 

ID: 103318

Kioshi: HP 20/20 -- DMG: 5 -- MIT: 9 -- Energy: 0/2 (Used Straight!)

Mad Wolf: HP 10/20 -- DMG: 9 -- MIT: 0 -- +1 Bleed

BD: 6

MD: 5

Much to the wolf's nasty surprise, Kioshi ducks down quickly and thrusts his sword upwards while at the same time, its blade glows into a shade of dark green. Unleashing his first rank Sword Art for the first time, he drives the long blade right through the wolf's torso. His stoic expression shifts to a mad one as while the wolf is hooked through the blade, he slams its head against the ground like a goddamn mallet before swinging his sword in a wide arc to slide the wolf off his blade. The creature rolls along the ground, a bit of its intestines spill out in the ordeal.

@Neopolitan

Edited July 19, 2018 by Kioshi

[Neopolitan 0]

Neo kept her eyes fixated on the queen, making sure it didn't spot then from too far off. It hasn't shown any ranged attacks the last times she had faced it, but it would be better to play it safe. The enemies if this game always to learn, and she wasn't sure if that carried over to evolving abilities in order to adapt to new play styles. Hearing a crash in the bushes, Neo turns towards the old man, and see a wolf spotted then and attacked. Though he seemed fine, Neo wanted to step in and prevent him being damaged before the main fight. She powered up a sword art and was about to attack, but decided against it. She still felt the drain of the sword art on her, but didn't engage. She wanted to see if he could handle himself in a fight first. If he looked to be in trouble, she would intervene. For now he was doing fine, and the wolf was probably at his level.

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103320

BD: 1 - crit miss

CD: 3 - no recovery

Sword art used: miss (-2 eng)

[H:1] @Kioshi: HP 20/20 ENG: 0/2

[H:0] Neopolitan: HP 360/360 ENG: 34/36

Wolf: HP: 13/20 DMG: 9; Bleed 1

 

[Kioshi 0]

ID: 103321

Kioshi: HP 20/20 

Mad Wolf: HP 3/20 

BD: 10

MD: 4

Despite being disemboweled, the wolf is not giving up for its rather fancy meal, and growls louder as Kioshi is now standing in a peculiar position. His legs stand apart from each other, with the left slightly forward. He is holding his sword in such a way that its blade are positioned horizontally behind him. His scowl retains as he gazes at the wolf like a lion glaring at its helpless prey.

Then, in a flash, the wolf takes another big leap so it would close in faster. Instantly, it breaks into a sprint, aiming for his legs.

But Kioshi somehow saw this coming the moment after it took said leap that would have took him farther to its target. All of a sudden he flips his sword over, holding it with the blade vertical and just brings his sword down without even withdrawing it to put more force against the wolf.

The length of the blade diagonally cuts its skull, effectively stopping it in tracks. Again, he rams his weapon through the side of the wolf and smashes it against the soil before withdrawing his blade and kicks it away with his shoe.

@Neopolitan

Edited July 19, 2018 by Kioshi

[Neopolitan 0]

Neo continued to stand back and watch as the old man continued to best up the poor wolf. She doubted him a little, though she still had some reservations. Though he was at a low level, he seemed to be holding well against an actual enemy. Of course, she doubted he would hold his own against the wasp queen as she was much stronger than the wolf. Neo kept her rapier unsheathed in case the man did falter, but he showed know signs of struggle. Neo took this opportunity to further check her surroundings. Though she thought there would be no creatures near the queen, it appeared that things would be a bit different this time around. Hopefully taking on the queen herself would still be a 2v1.

The game continues to learn, not giving us the opportunity to become complacent. In the end, it's probably a good thing. We wouldn't want to every think we have control of the game. We are only following along its path, able to mildly change our course. In the end we still have to stay off the grass.

@Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

ID: 103389

BD: 4

MD: 3

Kioshi: HP 20/20

Mad Wolf: HP 3/20

It is quite a miracle that a human or animal body would unlock whatever potential it might had to survive at the verge of desperation. Like what happens to the wolf after Kioshi swings his sword for the finishing blow, only to hit the grass as the wolf literally rolls sideways to dodge. In Kioshi's heart, he is bewildered at what he had just saw. No matter after this. Soon the wolf will be exhausted anyway.

He calmly walks towards the creature while holding the sword in a way that he is ready to swing forwards. The now mortally wounded wolf scoots away backwards, snarling hopelessly at the sack of meat that is not meant to be eaten at all. He stares intently at it as he stops. He also notes its thin stomach, a sign of great hunger. Better put this out of misery. Maybe it will find better food in its own purgatory.

@Neopolitan

Edited July 20, 2018 by Kioshi

[Neopolitan 0]

Neo continued to watch the older man attack this wolf. It seemed as though it was being weakened by something, perhaps an arbitrary value the game gave it. She wouldn't be surprised, the game seemed to give some lenience to newer or under-leveled players to make sure they didn't die right off of the bat. Even with that though, there was still the risk of dying outright. She knew that this game was secretly putting everyone's lives in a delicate balance. Anyone could quickly find themselves dead if they weren't paying close enough attention. She wouldn't be surprised if this wolf could take out the old man with a single lucky strike. And though she didn't wish that upon him by any means, it would certainly not elicit much of a reaction from her. He seemed to be a little reckless with his attacking, not caring to defend himself. In this situation, it would work, but in others it could sorely backfire if he wasn't caring about his own HP bar as well as his enemies. She leaned against a nearby tree, hoping to see him finish the creature off soon.

@Kioshi

[Kioshi 0]

ID: 103480

Kioshi: HP 20/20

BD: 8

As an act of mercy, Kioshi swings his sword downwards towards the base of the wolf's neck, swiftly driving the blade through the neck's entire flesh cleanly. The body of the decapitated wolf drops dead and in a few seconds, it pops into a bunch of pixels, game data, whatever they call it. The head soon undergoes a similar fate.

ID: 103480

LD: 14

CD: 4

Obtained 2 Crafting Materials!

Obtained 60 COL as standard loot!

A window pops up in front of Kioshi, detailing the loot he receives from his opponent. Two crafting materials and some COL. A decent start for a level 1 player. As he receives these small rewards, he keeps them in a part of his inventory space that keeps economic things, like money or whatnot. The crafting materials comes in small leather sacks, tied neatly in ribbons. Kioshi has no clue what's inside, but why bother. He has no profession in mind anyway, if being a fighter doesn't as one.

He lets out a quiet sigh and glances back on the female player that is watching him since the start of the fight. No help huh? Fine by Kioshi, at least he can fully test his fighting prowess, and he succeeded. He looks back at the patch of land and grips his sword in hand. He moves on, knocking his breastplate for a second.

@Neopolitan

Edited July 22, 2018 by Kioshi

[Neopolitan 0]

As the man finished off the wolf, Neo felt both impressed and relieved. Things truly could be deadly to lower level players, though he seemed to handle it quite well. As he finished looting the monster and looked back towards her, she stopped leaning on the tree and walked back towards him. She nodded her head towards the queen. Even though the wolf came out of nowhere, it was important to focus on the task they set out to do. And though Neo wasn't feeling regret for helping this player, she did want to get back to work on improving herself. Beating up the same boss multiple times wasn't going to help her, even if the game was evolving. It just meant that she had become high enough level for it and its rewards were going to start feeling lackluster for her. The buff it gave out to everyone who killed it was nice though, and it seemed to always drop. It meant that this wouldn't be a total waste of time for her. She was careful to make sure she kept a smile on her face as she was thinking. There was no need to bother Kioshi with any of her troubling thoughts.

[Kioshi 0]

The wasp farm is mostly empty. No nests or vegetation are in sight. Not a single living being, save for Kioshi and the girl, aren't seen here too. It seems as if this place was just about to be established only to be abandoned hastily after the Queen was spawned. Kioshi looks up to the cloudy sky briefly before taking out a waterskin, drinking the cool water to satisfy his thirst. Not much, but just enough to not being thirsty. He is about to offer water to you when suddenly, an obnoxious buzzing noise appears out of the soul. 

And out comes the Queen herself. A large wasp, with a large stinger. Must be a real pain to get stung by this eldritch. Not worth risking oneself to go berserk.

Kioshi lets out a slightly audible 'tch' as he isn't able to fully recharge his energy to fully recharge his Sword Art. So be it.

ID: 103483

Kioshi: HP 20/20 -- DMG 5 -- MIT 9

Wind Wasp Queen: HP 44/50 -- DMG 20 -- MIT 0 -- Hate: 2 to Kioshi

BD: 9

MD: 3

Kioshi simply stands in a battle stance as the wasp launches itself towards his face. Before the stinger is even a few meters away from him, he ducks down quickly and swings his sword to its direction, sending the wasp slightly flying with a cut on its body. The buzzing becomes louder as it is clearly pissed off at Kioshi.

@Neopolitan

Edited July 22, 2018 by Kioshi

[Neopolitan 0]

As the two stood there, Neo realized that the queen was no longer where she thought it was. She had only taken her eyes off of it for a second and it had vanished. She hoped that no other players had taken it down, though she doubted they could've done so without revealing themselves or making so little noise. Suddenly, the wasp queen had revealed itself. Neo wanted Kioshi to hold back and let Neo draw the aggro, but he was going in without any hesitation. Neo went to draw her rapier when she realized it had been unequipped. She wasn't sure how it had happened, but it wasn't there. She scrambled through her menu and made sure to equip everything that should be. Once she was done equipping, she tried to attack the beast, but Kioshi had gotten in the way before she could charge up. Neo just hoped that the beast wasn't able to connect a blow, it would be unlikely for him to survive long taking attacks from it.

@Kioshi

Spoiler

ROll ID: #103484

BD: 1 - Critical Miss

CD: 3 - no recovery

Sword Art Used: Miss (2 eng)

[H: 1] Kioshi: HP 20/20 - ENG: 0/2 - MIT: 9

[H: 0] Neopolitan: HP: 360/360 - ENG: 34/36 (-2 miss) - MIT: 14

Wind Wasp Queen: HP: 44/50 DMG: 20

 

[Kioshi 0]

ID: 103485

Kioshi: HP 20/20

Wind Wasp Queen: HP 39/50 -- Hate: 3 to Kioshi

BD: 7

MD: 1

Seems luck is on Kioshi's side today. Maybe to give the 'old' man a chance to compensate his disease with an outstanding fighting prowess. For now. For a moment, Kioshi notices the girl drawing out her rapier and is now ready to charge in anytime. He looks back at the wasp who is now circling him, looking for a window of opportunity to attack its opponent. Kioshi stands still as he hears the loud buzzing ringing in his ears like alarm bells.

Then all of a sudden, he swings his sword around like a slow tornado, the blade somehow gets in the wasp's way and gives her another painful slash to the abdomen. The wasp gets thrown off by the impact and flies around frantically as it is trying to consider alternative moves against Kioshi.

Kioshi just stares at the buzzing queen, ready to attack again. Rushing in might won't do in his opinion, as that would leave the wasp a chance to sting him.

@Neopolitan

Edited July 22, 2018 by Kioshi

[Neopolitan 0]

Neo looked for an opening as she watched Kioshi get another blow in on the wasp queen. It was getting more aggravated with him, and Neo worried he might get hit eventually. Once he had attacked and dodged out of the way, Neo saw her opening. She quickly charged up her sword art and unleashed it against the wasp queen. First a stab to the abdomen, then one on each wing, and finally a stab to the head. She dodged around the stinger and landed behind the queen. Even though she had done much more damage, it was still fixated on Kioshi. There wasn't much else she could do at the moment to get around the attacks. It seemed her best course of action would be to kill it before it had the chance to kill Kioshi. Any other strategy would likely end up with another death on her hands.

@Kioshi

Spoiler

Roll ID: #103487

BD: 5 + 1 - Hit

CD: 7 - Recovery

Sword Art Used: Quadruple Strike [4 base x 4 = 16]

[H: 3] Kioshi: HP 20/20 - ENG: 0/2 - MIT: 9 (you actually gained +2 hate from the crit you did, mb)

[H: 0=1] Neopolitan: HP: 360/360 - ENG: 34/36 (+1 regen; -3 sword art; +2 recovery) - MIT: 14

Wind Wasp Queen: HP: 23/50 (-16) DMG: 20