[E3|F1|PP]Tanking<Training Your Friend>

[Zajcica 0]

Yuki seemed hesitant to give up her weapon. She knew she was supposed to leave them alive but the frustration had gotten to her. To be fair though, if those mechanics were being presented right now, she would have only made it worse for herself. With a nervous frown, she chucked her weapon near Shield and picked up the boring looking aegis that was gifted to her. She looked at it with the upset expression she wore and looked back at Aki. This only made her more determined to actually succeed in the combo.

Boars began to spawn again, so no more time to mope about like a child. A heavy sigh escaped her breath and Aki flew back up into position. She had no idea how she was going to control the battlefield without a weapon, but Shield was ruthless and she knew she wasn't going to get that weapon back until they made progress of some kind. She needed to close her excess thoughts and really buckle down to ace this. Aki wouldn't get any experience if she didn't succeed.

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

Searching for Eggs:ID# 141360 results: Craft: 11 [6 Eggs found] Loot: 12+8=20 [1 Material found]

Total Loot:

Eggs: 48
Materials: 7

I know she's probably upset, but that was a lot more painless than I expected. Let's see how she handles this.

Shield's eyes darted back and forth between the action and the perimeter of the badlands, careful to mind the line that separated the biomes and to scan for items along the way, while keeping tabs on the training as well. He reached down and picked up the lance, holding onto it tightly as he paced. This was big. In the time that Shield had spent catching up with Mari, he had mentioned Yuki to her. She spoke of the girl's headstrong nature, and part of him had a feeling that Mari would be the type to back off when she sensed Yuki was wounded. As much as Shield wished he had that luxury...

There isn't time to tend to all of the wounds a player gets, physically or emotionally. As hard as it is - as trying as it is... she's got to get through this, and she's got to see that she can succeed even when the odds are against her.

His eyes snapped onto another basket that had just spawned behind a jagged stone. It was just over the border, so Shield would have to be careful retrieving it, but it was worth taking a little time to do so. He checked his balance and leaned over the line, snatching up the eggs and stowing them away.

"Dialogue! Let's go! What is the full name of the man who created Sword Art Online?"

Edited April 14, 2020 by Shield

[Zajcica 0]

The shield in her hand felt like a feather compared to Icewall. She frowned and looked up to Aki, who seemed as ready as could be. The boars began to surround her again. With the shield raised she began to hold off attacks and attempt to coral the mobs again. This proved much more difficult without a weapon. 

Her focus was slashed when Shield asked her the weirdest question. What was the guys name again? Kiya? Kaiyo? In her pondering, she missed the call from Aki again. Too much thinking got her punished. A boar hit her in the rear and sent her to the floor yet again. She rolled up quickly though to ensure the stun lock didn't ensue for a second time.

"I don't freaking remember." She blurted out bluntly. "Kiyaba Akeko?" That wasn't a name she ever knew but she had no idea, something like that. It had been almost 3 years since he trapped them here and her memory was absolutely awful.

CD: 4; fail
Need 7+

Edited April 14, 2020 by Zajcica

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

Searching for Eggs: ID# 141383 results: Craft: 6 [3 Eggs found] Loot: 7+8=15 [1 Material found]

Total Loot:

Eggs: 51
Materials: 8

Yuki seemed to be getting flustered again, but she didn't let herself get overwhelmed. Flustered okay as long as she keeps thinking. He took a lungful of air and called out, "Kayaba Akihiko!" he corrected, slamming the butt of the lance into the ground. "Don't let them get in your head! Quick! What floor did we meet on?" He did not let up his pressure on the young tank, patrolling still up and down the proverbial sidelines. He was splitting his attention three ways now, between the ground where he might discover more eggs, between Yuki who was still in the midst of her battle, and Aki, who was still struggling to keep his cool in the face of Yuki's struggle.

The foremost proved fruitful, as he rounded the same log from before, he spotted not a basket, but a few round patches of bright colors. In fact, there were three, with a chocolate bunny nestled among them. He scooped them up before returning his eyes to the combat. Yuki was still holding up fine health wise. Shield was grateful for that.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Shield

[Zajcica 0]

The paladin was nervous to the bone. She was looking like an absolute fool to Shield, even if the goal here was to improve her quality of tanking. That being said, she was just doing absolutely awful. She hadn't had much of this problem whenever she was in an actual quest, but when someone was watching and judging her performance she just melted down and did awful. 

She had to think about that question for a moment too. "Um...20... 21? Yeah, 21 in the cavern." Aki seemed calmer now that Yuki was focusing more on her defense. Keeping her cool was making it much easier on her familiar for sure. As the bird cooled down, sound did it's calls. She was getting better at this for sure, flowing around and watching Yuki's back with ease. Yuki just hoped she could start getting the timing soon. She didn't want to be stuck doing this for hours.

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

Searching for Eggs: ID# 141391 results: Craft: 7 [5 Eggs found] Loot: 8+8=16 [1 Material found]

Total Loot:

Eggs: 56
Materials: 9

Those were the softball questions. It was time to step things up just a little more. Shield patrolled around the edge of the battlefield, watching the action continue to unfold. "Your hippogriff is a mythical hybrid! Two creatures mashed together into one! Name me two other creatures invented by splicing two or more creatures together!" Overhead, Shield watched the small creature circling, keeping watch over the fight.

Good... He seems to have a keen eye, and his signals are strong. We just need to have a breakthrough... It's all going to be in learning the timing...

He took his eyes off of the fight for a few moments, patrolling and sweeping along the edge of the grassy part of the plains. There, in one of the larger, wilder patches of long grass, Shield saw the handle of another brightly colored Easter basket. He rushed over, bending down to recover the items, as well as a handful of the grass itself. He wasn't sure it was valuable or not, but it dropped as an item, which seemed to answer the question.

Edited April 14, 2020 by Shield

[Zajcica 0]

More weird questions were spurted out to her without much notable reason. They seemed distract her more than anything. I guess he wanted to try and teach her how to multitask her thinking while she fought but it only felt like it was swaying her focus away from what she was trying to accomplish.

"Um...A chimera..." She had to think of another one. Dodging another boar just barely before getting a dose of the ground again. "And a Centaur? Does that count? She questioned herself. 

"If we're playing a game of 100 questions, how about this." The girl said with a grin. "What significant person in my life did I name my familiar after? Her focus was still keen on the battle in front of her, but she wondered how Shield would react to the sudden change in interrogation. If she wanted to take something seriously, there had to be some laughs along the way or else she would become a bored board.

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

Searching for Eggs: ID# 141426 results: Craft: 3 [2 Eggs found] Loot: 7+8=15 [1 Material found]

Total Loot:

Eggs: 58
Materials: 10

"When it's my turn to get beat up by boar pups, then you can ask your questions!" Shield called back. She was trying to shift the burden of thinking off of herself and onto him. Shield had to admit that he didn't see that coming, but he was just going to have to keep pressing all the harder. "If you're gonna try to get smart with me, let's see how smart you are! Count to one hundred and thirty by thirteens! Go!" The boars were deafening and relentless. The trampling of their hooves was constant, but it was nothing compared to the squeals, which rang out across the open ground in a deafening chorus.

Shield figured that would keep Yuki occupied for the time being, and he set about searching for more eggs. At the moment, he seemed to have mostly canvased the area, and although some spots seemed to be respawning, they were not doing so consistently, one seemed to have materialized a couple of new additions. Shield grabbed gem up and stashed them away with the rest, along with a bright, reflective stone that was a few feet away from them.

Edited April 15, 2020 by Shield

[Zajcica 0]

Yuki frowned at Shield's unwant to have a quick laugh with her. She knew she was doing serious training to help her tanking ability, but it's not like she was being sent to the front lines just yet. The girl groaned as she found out that hse had to do math now. Whatever, get it over with and pay attention. She spoke in her native language again, as it was easier.

"Juu-san, Ni-juu-roku, san-juu-kyuu-" 

Caw!

The bird call send the girls eyes into a fierce focused state. Her vision was sharper than a knife and with that power she spun around, slammed her shield into the face of a helpless pig. It was sent to the ground, stunned by the force of her hit. 

Caw, Caw!

Another quick turn of the heel and the shield completely blew off the tusk of the boar. It soared through the air and landed just in front of Shield's feet. The boar itself fell over stunned as well from the paladin's sheer force in the blow. All was quiet for a moment, until she started counting again.

"Yon-juu-ni, go-juu-yon..." The numbers continued perfectly until 130.

CD: 8; Success!

1/3

Edited April 15, 2020 by Zajcica

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

Searching for Eggs: ID# 141484 results: Craft: 9 [5 Eggs found] Loot: 18+8=26 [1 Material found]

Total Loot:

Eggs: 63
Materials: 11

As the tusk landed on the ground at Shield's feet, he gave a nod. "Keep focused! Don't jinx yourself!" Despite his warning and his stony demeanor though, he was extremely satisfied. He took a step and pulled back his arm, launching the lance in his hand like a javelin. It stuck into the hard ground point first directly between Yuki and a nearby boar pup. The little creature narrowed its eyes and pawed at the ground with its hoof before charging towards Yuki. Its legs were much shorter than Yuki's, but it had twice as many, and it had a head start.

Shield took his eyes off the fight to do a quick sweep, spotting a good sized basket of eggs directly behind where he had been standing. He hopped back, making sure to keep facing towards the fight and watch out of his peripherals as he gathered up his finds.

That first success was much needed. Sometimes that little boost in confidence is all you need.

"Think back to the instruction manuals the beta testers handed out!" Shield called out. "What was the name of the first floor boss?"

Edited April 15, 2020 by Shield

[Zajcica 0]

Yuki jumped a bit as her weapon landed between her and her enemy. She smiled and looked back at Shield to give a nod that said something like 'Thank you' and decided to meet the boar head on. The two charged each other, but the girl had one thing the boar didn't - brains. She juked the boars with ease as it charged past her, holding onto the vanity aegis that her mentor had given her. Now these boars wouldn't easily overwhelm her. 

As the battle continued, Shield could see her slowly getting a handle on the situation. The boars were easy to coral together and keep in check, but every so often, one would find a chance to try and sneak by. That's what Aki was for.

"Illfang the Kolbold Lord. He used a simple axe and shield but later switched to using a nodachi type weapon when his health bar began to fall." She said ensuring not to lose her grip on the pack of boars.

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

Searching for Eggs - ID# 141598 results: Craft: 10 [6 Eggs found] Loot: 18+8=26 [1 Material found]

Total Loot:

Eggs: 69 [Nice]
Materials: 12

Bold, but calculated. That's acceptable. Though I can see a little bit of that headstrong nature now that Mari had mentioned. She seems like a very different person with a weapon in her hand. 

Shield used the commotion of the regaining of the lance to sweep his area for eggs. It was a short search, as a nearby stone seemed to be a spawn point for loot. A basket materialized, presenting its bounty of eggs and another chocolate bunny, which Shield gladly claimed. He turned back to the fight.

A little too well managed. Got to keep her thinking. Let's throw a curveball...

"Is a man allowed to marry his widow's sister?" he called out, folding his arms over his chest. It was not a particularly new riddle, so it was possible Yuki had heard it, but its phrasing was tricky enough that in the heat of battle, it would be difficult to sort out the logic of it. "I had better not see a single boar drop, or that lance is coming right back over to me." By this point, it would likely be apparent that those words were not an idle threat. He had done it once. He would do it again.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Shield

[Zajcica 0]

Yuki was calculated and continued to keep all the boars in check. Her shield blocked every attack coming at her. She followed every call that Aki made when it was made.  Anyone could say that she had the making to become a great tank.

"That would be kind of a dick move I'd say." She replied, though it was clear she had no idea if there was a correct answer was.

Things were about to get more hectic though. Perhaps the game realized she was much too high of a level, or that she was just so unlucky that the spawn rate procced. A gaint mother boar spawn and Yuki's attitude spawned in front of her with all the boars around her.

"N-Nande?!" It was 5 times bigger than her. At first she seemed like she was going to back off but her stance seemed to lock and her expression was firm. It was easily much stronger than any other boar here, but she didn't seemed scared of it whatsoever. "You chose the wrong time to spawn stupid!"

Edited April 16, 2020 by Zajcica

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

Searching for Eggs - ID# 141867 results: Craft: 8 [5 Eggs found] Loot: 5+8=13 [No Materials found]

Total Loot:

Eggs: 74
Materials: 12

The new spawn was unexpected, but not altogether surprising. Shield recalled something similar had actually happened when he and Beat had completed the beginner quest, though at the time they assumed it to be an anomaly. Either way, it did not change the exercise going forward. He would need to keep a closer eye on Yuki's health until it became apparent that she could keep up with the new damage.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another splotch of bright color behind a tuft of grass. He jogged over, his eyes still flickering over to the fight now and then, and kneeled beside what was apparently yet another basket. He had not expected today to be as profitable as it was for egg farming, but apparently, Easter was in full swing here.

As he straightened back up, he timed his next bit of dialogue. The mother boar charged, and with the extra layer of distraction, Shield called out over the cacophony of swine noises. "If a man has a widow, it means he's dead! Her sister can't marry a corpse!" This was a riddle that he had personally struggled with for an embarrassingly long time, so he wasn't surprised that Yuki had flubbed it in the middle of a high-intensity fight. "Okay, imagine this! You're driving a bus, and you need to go to ten stops that day! At odd numbered stops, 5 people get on, and at even numbered stops, 2 people get off! So, at the last stop of the day... what color are the bus driver's eyes?" 

Edited April 16, 2020 by Shield

[Zajcica 0]

I hint of fear tingled down Yuki’s spine when she felt the thumping roar of the boars hooves against the grounds of the badlands. Caution and courage are fostered from fear however, so this only made her stronger. The girl grit her teeth, her expression as fierce as the winter cold of Japan.

”A calm but fierce lilac, like the sound thunder before destructive lightning.” 

Caw! 

The boar behind her was almost lucky, trying to attack simultaneously with it’s mother. The Paladin’s sharp reactions, even mid way into a block, were keen. She whipped around and punted the tiny boar meters across the air, the stopped the giant boars tusks with her weapon. After a moment of struggling and being drug across the landscape, Yuki folded the beast to its side where struggled to find it’s footing again. There were no flaws with her resolve. She stood defiant, but she definitely didn’t stop to pose.

@Shield

CD 7; success

2/3

Edited April 16, 2020 by Zajcica

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

Searching for Eggs - ID# 141967 results: Craft: 3 [2 Eggs found] Loot: 4+8=12 [No Materials found]

Total Loot:

Eggs: 76
Materials: 12

"You're not gonna have time to write poems on the front line, kid!" Shield shouted. It was a sharp correction, but it was not angry or frustrated. Shield's demeanor was stern but matter of fact. "What is full of holes but still holds water?" He barked out, pacing at the edge of the badlands. "How much dirt is in a hole that is two meters wide, four meters long, and three meters deep?" His riddles were coming rapid-fire now. As she was settling into the exercise and learning the patterns of both pup and mother boars, the pressure was on Shield to keep the pressure on Yuki.

He turned his eyes forward as he paced and spotted a few loose eggs hiding in the grass. Bending down, he grabbed them and tapped each of them, summoning items menus to store them in his inventory. It was clear that the mission for the day was drawing nearer to its close. There was already considerable progress. If they continued training in the future, Shield was going to have to find a fight that actually required Yuki to work to keep on top of the damage.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Shield

[Zajcica 0]

The boar laid on it's side momentarily trying desperately to stand back up and help its smaller counterparts fight. Yuki continued to pelt off the boars as they came, throwing them to the side and kicking them out of the way. More benign riddles ruined her train of thought but she would get another yell from Shield if she didn't come up with some answer to them.

"Uh, an empty hole holds no dirt? And, I don't know.. is it a sinking pirate ship? That one is pretty tough." Aki continued to call out targets that thought they could get close to her and punish her unawareness. Thankfully, that wasn't going to be happening easily. Any time she heard the caw of her bird, it was timed nearly perfectly, but well enough to deflect the attacks oncoming.

Shield could see it in her breath, she was nearing her limit of stress handling. They had been going at it for awhile now, and while she realized battles on the front lines could likely take hours of attrition, she was still getting the hang of tanking for a small group. A long rest would be needed after this.

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

Searching for Eggs - ID# 142156 results: Craft: 11 [6 Eggs found] Loot: 4+8=12 [No Materials found]

Total Loot:

Eggs: 82
Materials: 12

"Correct on the hole, and the other one is a sponge!" Shield called out. He wasn't terribly surprised that she missed one of them. Both of them required lateral thinking and attention to detail, and she was still in the thick of things, and starting to wear out, from the looks of things. He did his best to read her current situation, assessing Yuki's physical and mental state. It was hard to judge exactly, especially from so far away. On the one hand, she and Aki were working well together. On the other hand, she had just hit a moment of inspiration and then started to tire out. Was she coming down off of her second wind?

Shield paced and practically tripped over another basket of eggs. He gathered them up and turned his eyes back to the badlands battle. "Alright, Yuki! Give me food, and I will live! Give me drink, and I will die! What am I?" This riddle was a classic one, and compared to the last few, maybe a little more of a softball. Then again, that depended on how tired she was feeling.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Shield

[Zajcica 0]

A loud clang sounded between the boars tusk and the paladin's giant weapon. She didn't know if she was allowed to kill it since she wasn't allowed to kill off any of the smaller boars. If it had spawned earlier, she would have no problem dealing with it. However, this long of fighting has actually worn her down. She looked over at Shield while struggling with the giant boar's strength.

"N-nee? Are done yet? Can I kill them?" She asked. She still knew she had to answer the riddles or Shield would get upset again. "I... I don't know. Um...is it...is it fire? You feed a fire to give it life, but douse it's soul with water."

The girl parried the giant boar to the side and breathed heavily. Aki also looked rather tired after all the fighting they'd done. Her second wind was indeed dying after that last fight and if it went on much longer, she would probably have to start killing things and back out.

[Shield 0]

Spoiler

Searching for Eggs - ID# 142168 results: Craft: 7 [5 Eggs found] Loot: 14+8=22 [1 Material found]

Total Loot:

Eggs: 87
Materials: 13

"Correct," Shield called out, giving a satisfactory nod. "And no, you can't kill it! Not yet!" He continued to pace. She was approaching her limit. Shield was not eager to see her fail, but if she could just hold out a little longer... "The one who makes me does not need me! The one who buys me does not want me! The one who uses me does not know it! What am I?" This one was a little more ambiguous. She was tired, but Shield had to keep her thinking and talking. Falling out of communication due to exhaustion could be a death sentence.

Shield was reluctant to take his eyes off of the fight at all, but again, fortunately he didn't have to. His foot bumped into something, and he could tell from the weight and the size of it that it was another basket. He reached down, grabbing for it blindly while his eyes followed the action, eventually managing to get a hold of it and store it away.

Come on... just a little longer....

Edited April 17, 2020 by Shield