[SP-F1]Secret Medicine of the Forest [Calyx] (COMPLETE)

[Calyx 0]

Having finished reading his new alchemy book, Calyx wandered down the streets of Starting City, looking for something new and interesting to explore. Suddenly, a man in a long grey coat appeared from out of the crowd on Calyx's left, and sprinted across his path yelling "Out of the way! I'm a doctor; move, move!", and then disappeared into one of the nearby houses. Out of curiosity, Calyx walked over to the house with two crossed swords hanging above the door, and peered into the window to see what was going on.

[Calyx 0]

Through the window, Calyx could see the doctor approaching a cot on the far side of the one-story house. The cot was already closely surrounded by another man and a woman, who stood over the bed with deep looks of sorrow on their faces. Calyx couldn't see what they were so worried about, but he was starting to get the distinct feeling that something was very, very wrong here...

[Calyx 0]

Calyx cautiously entered the house, thinking maybe he might be able to help these people with whatever their problem was. As he quietly crossed the room, he heard the doctor speaking to the man and the woman, "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do right now. This has become very common lately, and it's fixable; but that's just the problem. It's happened to so many people in the past few days that we're completely out of supplies for the treatment..." As Calyx finally drew close enough to the cot to see what everyone was so worried about, he began to understand the situation.

[Calyx 0]

Atop the cot lay a small, fragile looking girl. She didn't appear to be in pain, but she wasn't moving and her skin was a sickly pale color beneath the damp cloth that rested on her forehead. "What ingredients do you need?", Calyx asked, now worried for the girl himself. The other three jumped a bit when he spoke; none of them had noticed him come into the house. "What are you-? Get out!", the man in the black apron roared. The woman put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Now, Tony, be kind. He's got a sword; maybe he's an adventurer that can get what the doctor needs to save our little Lily..." Tony grunted in submission. "Doctor?", the woman asked, hoping he had good news this time.

[Calyx 0]

The doctor paused for a moment in thought, "Well, really the only thing we're missing is . The rest of the components are pretty easy to come by, but the ovules are really rare, and no one's come back with any lately." "Where can I find them?", Calyx asked. "In the forest, to the northwest of the city, you'll find Little Nepent plants everywhere. They're generally harmless, but some of them possess the ability to grow a bud containing a concentrated form of a rare sap used to make healing potions. If you can find one of these Nepents, and bring back one of the ovules that grow within the large flowers that bloom off of the plant, then I can make the remedy this girl needs to recover."

[Calyx 0]

As the doctor finished speaking, a quest box appeared in the air in front of Calyx. "Quest: Secret Medicine of the Forest - Would you like to accept? [Yes] [No]" Calyx tapped [Yes] and said "I'll bring back what you need." The woman looked overwhelmed with joy; "Oh thank you! Please hurry..." The three others in the room turned back to tending to the girl as Calyx made his way out of the shop and back toward the forest again.

[Calyx 0]

As Calyx made his way through the streets of Starting City, he pondered his feelings toward the girl. He felt a little bad that she was sick and that she and her family were suffering, but he felt more upset by how little he felt. No matter how realistic SAO was, he always knew on some level that it was just a game. He wanted to be invested in this world, because he preferred it to his real world life, but he still couldn't stop seeing all of this as just complicated patterns of ones and zeros. He should be able to ignore it, especially after Kayaba Akihiko's announcement had made it clear that this was his reality now; but he just couldn't make himself see today's events as anything other than a run-of-the-mill fetch quest. Calyx sighed to himself at his ever-problematic perspective on things, and pushed the thought out of his mind as he carried on toward the forest.

[Calyx 0]

As Calyx entered the forest, he began to lament his low level. He really wished he could have put a skill level in to help him find these plants, but his encounters so far had taught him that being able to block was more immediately important. Although as it turns out, his current prey was a bunch of harmless plants, so maybe that wasn't his best decision ever. Oh well, he could still find what he needed the old fashioned way. Besides, the forest wasn't that big. How hard could it be to find one of these plants? They were supposed to be everywhere, right?

[Calyx 0]

Two hours later, Calyx had counted thirty-seven Little Nepents, none of which had the blossoms growing on them that the doctor had described. It was a really good thing that these mobs were passive, because if Calyx had had to fight all of them, even though they seemed pretty weak, he probably wouldn't have made it this far. Just as he was starting to think that this quest might not be worth his time, he spotted another group of three Little Nepents beneath a nearby tree. Upon closer inspection, Calyx saw that the Little Nepent in the center of this group had a large, brightly colored flower sprouting out of the center of its head.

[Calyx 0]

Well; "head" being loosely defined. The Little Nepents were more animated plant-looking creatures that had roots clustered into two bunches that vaguely resembled legs, and two large leaves coming of of their midsections that vaguely resembled arms. Above the "arms", they all had a large bud that would have been proportioned largely enough to be considered a head if they had been more humanoid. Calyx wasn't sure how exactly they got around, because the buds didn't appear to have any eyes on them, and there weren't any other visible sensory organs to speak of. Regardless, they seemed to move and interact with things just fine, and Calyx headed toward the center creature to retrieve the ingredient he had come for.

[Calyx 0]

As he approached the Little Nepent, Calyx wondered how he was supposed to collect the . It didn't glow like the he had come to these woods to collect earlier, so he wasn't sure it was an object he could pick up. But he also wasn't sure these were mobs that would drop loot, because they didn't attack anyone, so they might just be AI programs. Calyx reached out and touched the blossom on the plant's head, just in case it disappeared into his inventory like the had.

[Calyx 0]

The creature recoiled from his touch, seeming mildly surprised at the stimulus. Since Calyx didn't get a *ping*, he guessed this plant must drop the item he wanted rather than simply giving it up. "Oh well.", Calyx mumbled as he drew his sword. "Sorry little buddy. But a quest's a quest..." Calyx drew back his sword and swung at the plant, not entirely sure what would happen.

Battle Initiated

Battle dice 8

Calyx attacks for 1 damage, blocks 0 damage

Calyx health: 13/13

Left Nepent: 2/2

Rare Nepent: 1/2

Right Nepent: 2/2

[Calyx 0]

[Left Nepent's turn]

Calyx's sword struck exactly where he intended, and nearly hacked the plant in two. Suddenly, all three plants simultaneously recoiled in pain, planted their roots into the dirt, and assumed what could only be described as a defensive stance. The Nepent on Calyx's left was the first to retaliate, and it lashed vines out of its torso to slash Calyx in the leg.

Battle dice 9

Left Nepent attacks for 2 damage, blocks 0 damage

Calyx health: 11/13

Left Nepent: 2/2

Rare Nepent: 1/2

Right Nepent: 2/2

[Calyx 0]

[Rare Nepent's turn]

The blossomed Nepent started flailing violently at its attacker after it was struck. However, in the time it took to recover, Calyx had been struck by the Nepent on his left, and had retreated just enough that the center plant's undirected attacks made no successful contact.

Rare Nepent misses and does no damage

[Calyx 0]

[Right Nepent's turn]

Attacking nearly at the same time as the left Nepent, the right Nepent also took the opportunity to lash its vines out at Calyx in an attempt to protect its Nepent comrade that had been attacked.

Battle dice 8

Right Nepent attacks for 1 damage, blocks 0 damage

Calyx health: 10/13

Left Nepent: 2/2

Rare Nepent: 1/2

Right Nepent: 2/2

[Calyx 0]

[Calyx's turn]

Calyx quickly raised his sword to block as soon as he realized the neighboring plants were attacking. He wasn't sure if he would be able to stop them in time, but he had to at least try to mitigate some of the damage. Realizing he needed to end this fight as quickly as possible now that he was fighting three enemies instead of one, he quickly chopped at the center plant again.

Battle dice 7

Calyx attacks for 1 damage, blocks 1 damage

Calyx health: 11/13

Left Nepent: 2/2

Rare Nepent: 0/2 (DEFEATED)

Right Nepent: 2/2

Loot dice 13

Rare Nepent drops

[Calyx 0]

[Left Nepent's turn]

Calyx raised his blade just in time to block the right Nepent's attack, and then his second strike fell true into the blossoming Nepent's center. After a brief moment, it shattered into tiny prismatic shards and Calyx heard the *ping* of his inventory being updated. "One down, two to go...", Calyx mumbled. The left Nepent retracted its vines from the first attack, and recoiled in horror as it seemed to feel its neighbor explode. This pause was quickly filled by the other Nepent, rearing back to try its failed attack again.

Nepent does not attack, no damage dealt

[Calyx 0]

[Right Nepent's turn]

Spurred on by both its previous failure to attack the intruder, and the death of its comrade, the Nepent on Calyx's right lashed out with even more fury this time, intent on driving its victim away and keeping him from doing any more damage.

Battle dice 10

Nepent attacks for 2 damage

Calyx health: 9/13

Left Nepent: 2/2

Rare Nepent: 0/2 (DEFEATED)

Right Nepent: 2/2

[Calyx 0]

[Calyx's turn]

Calyx was lashed at from the other side this time, and tried to block the right plant again. He had been turned away, so he wouldn't be able to stop all of the damage, but he might be able to glance the attack. Since the left Nepent appeared to be stunned, Calyx decided to try to take out the right Nepent first; and as soon as he finished blocking, he swung at the creature on his right.

Battle dice 5

Calyx attacks for 0 damage, blocks 0 damage

Calyx health: 9/13

Left Nepent: 2/2

Rare Nepent: 0/2 (DEFEATED)

Right Nepent: 2/2

[Calyx 0]

[Left Nepent's turn]

Calyx couldn't turn fast enough to stop the Nepent on his right from slashing his leg. Turns out the thorns on these creatures' vines were pretty sharp. As he tried to turn and attack, he put weight on the leg and it unexpectedly gave out a little, causing him to miss his attack. By now the left Nepent had recovered and was preparing its own attack; it would have its pound of flesh as repayment for its brother...

Battle dice 1

Left Nepent attacks for 0 damage

Calyx health: 9/13

Left Nepent: 2/2

Rare Nepent: 0/2 (DEFEATED)

Right Nepent: 2/2