[F29/PP] Jetpack? Check. [Scouting]

[Oscar 0]

Oscar kept up the pressure. The beating would continue until morale improved. Oscar's morale. The mimic's didn't matter. Oscar was oddly gleeful, watching the creature's health bar drain. Chunks sliced out of both the Mimic and that red bar that had just dipped into the red. It was almost cathartic. Okay. Not almost. It was definitely cathartic. Oscar had to admit, the Mimic had almost gotten the better of him. Almost. He'd taken more damage from this singular creature than he had in a handful of Boss Raids. Perhaps this creature was the Labyrinth Guardian all along. The lone enemy standing between him and the boss door. This Floor didn't follow the rules. For all he knew, the Labyrinth Guardian was just a random encounter in the field. And what an encounter it was. A shame that it wound up being just like the rest. One hit away from dying with Oscar at full health. 
 

Spoiler

Oscar | HP: 1056/1056 | EN: 67/128 | DMG: 27 | MIT:187 | ACC:5 | AA  | PHASE | EVA:3 | BH:58 | VAMP-O: 174 | REC: 4 | LD:9 | PROSP:3       

AOE-I vs Mimic | ID: 243604 | BD: 5+6-3, Deal 305 DMG

Mimic | HP: 337/2000 | DMG: 360 | MIT: 100 (-60)| ACC: 3 | EVA: 3-3 | MD: 4+3-3, Miss | Shattered 3 1/3

 

Edited May 31 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

This was it. The final hit. Oscar wanted to find something to say. Something that would let him vent all of this pent-up anger and rage and frustration into the air. Get it out of his system so he could return his focus to the task at hand. But only one thing came to mind. And being as it was a treasure chest with arms and legs, it was shockingly appropriate.

"RUN THOSE FUCKING POCKETS!"

His weapon came down like an executioner's blade. The katana sunk deep into the wooden frame, starting at the top of the lid and bisecting the creature completely. It shuddered, it flickered. And then, finally shattered into a thousand glass-like fragments. The music had stopped - a shame, that. But a not-insignificant sum of Col was added to his inventory. It would have almost been worthwhile, did the fight not drag on as it did. Oscar flopped back onto the now empty statue plinth, leaning forward as he attempted to catch his breath.

Spoiler

Oscar | HP: 1056/1056 | EN: 53/128 | DMG: 27 | MIT:187 | ACC:5 | AA  | PHASE | EVA:3 | BH:58 | VAMP-O: 174 | REC: 4 | LD:9 | PROSP:3       

AOE-II vs Mimic | ID: 243605 | BD: 5+6-3, Deal 386 DMG

Mimic | HP: 0/2000 | DMG: 360 | MIT: 100 (-60)| ACC: 3 | EVA: 3:o

Looting Mimic | ID: 243606 | LD: 18+9, CD: 1 - 16,000 Col, 2 Materials

Loot Summary
16000 Col
2 Materials

 

Edited May 31 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

That had been excessive. If he knew Mimics had hands like that, he would have maybe thought to bring a friend or two. Speaking of friends, while Oscar took a moment to catch his breath he decided he wanted to pester someone. At least to have something other than that damned Mimic to think about. He swiped open his menu and went down his contacts. He knew she was busy, but so was he. 

Quote

To @Lessa

If I manage to find this Labyrinth by myself, can I get a dinner date?

He hit send and drummed his fingers on his knees, waiting for her response. He was soaked and probably would have been cold if not for his <<Survival>> skill. But this was a marathon, not a sprint. And after that fight, it was apparent that he should take his time. So as much as he wanted to keep going, he held himself back. Didn't want to pick another fight with low energy.

Edited May 31 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

The chime came quicker than he expected it to. Oscar opened his menu again, reading the response Lessa had sent. She was a real one, private messaging people in the middle of a fight.

Quote

From Lessa:

In the spirit of clearing the castle and getting out of here, yes, you can use me for motivation. I'll take one for the team and suffer through a free dinner with you. Mother Teresa, at it again.

Oscar's nostrils flared as he exhaled a silent laugh. His fingers danced over the keyboard that hovered off to the side of the window. There was a whooshing sound as he sent off his reply:

Quote

To Lessa:

Mother Teresa and use don't belong in this context.

Oscar looked around, noticing that one of the hands from the statue had been left on the ground. He picked it up, turning it over and examining it closely. Never knew what could give you a hint, after all.

Edited May 31 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

Oscar was swapping his gear around when Lessa's reply came in. He quickly finished removing his ring and pulling on his <<Gloves of Caerus>> before opening the menu and reading her message.

Quote

From Lessa: True, but we've never been traditional.

She had him there. The two of them were anything but. Friends then frenemies then wanting to jump each others bones had been a hell of a roller coaster ride. Even now, there was a certain tension. Not that Oscar would ever do anything about it. She was totally into Jomei and Oscar definitely could see why. He was into Jomei. The man was a damn sexual icon. She better hope they stuck together. Oscar would be spoiled for choice if they ever split. Another chime came in, and Oscar couldn't help himself but to chuckle when he read the message:

Spoiler

From Lessa:

And no hot dogs. I want fancy.

Spoiler

swap on gloves of caerus +3 LD, -2 ACC, -2 EVA

 

Edited May 31 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

Quote

To Lessa: Fancy like Applebee's?

 

She had set him up and, in his opinion, he had knocked it right out of the park. He was happy though, that whatever awkwardness that came in the aftermath of their very vivid duel had all but evaporated. He almost closed his menu, but then thought better of it, quickly typing out another message that would come on the heels of the first.

Quote

To Lessa: I got you, though. And if could hook me up with one of your hot friends, I would really appreciate it. I'm way too undersexed for this nonsense. 

Perhaps the biggest mistake he made was not getting laid before he set off on this grand adventure. A decision that he was clearly suffering from making. There were no shortage of sneaky links about the floor and he could have hit someone up beforehand. Cordelia had fallen into this nasty habit of disappearing and reappearing and, quite frankly, it left Oscar wanting.

 

Spoiler

ID: 243607 | LD: 20+15 = 35

Running Total: 65/300

 

Edited May 31 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

Oscar had become accustomed to doing things such as this solo. Whether it be questing or grinding or whatever else he felt the need to do, he was always alone. As such, he had found many ways to entertain himself. Like twiddling his thumbs while he waited to heal up or twiddling his thumbs while he waited for his energy to restore. So much twiddling of thumbs, actually. So it was nice to actually have some connection to "civilization" while he was so far afield. Kinda made the hum-drum nonsense go by a whole hell of a lot faster. Or, if not faster, certainly more entertaining. He heard another chime as he was lifting a wet rock off of the ground. Probably a foolish thing to do given the fact that the thing was barely larger than his foot. But he'd never hunted down a Labyrinth again. Maybe he was supposed to excavate it?

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

Quote

From Lessa:

Have you tried the Oreo shake? It's better than sex.

"Ha!"

Oscar's exclamation attracted the attention of several of the shambling horrors that seemed to be hiding around every corner. As they began to shuffle towards him, Oscar opened his menu completely unbothered by their presence.

Quote

To Lessa:

I don't think that you, nor I, have fucked recently enough to be able to say that with any confidence.

His message was sent off with a whoosh. And it was a similar, stronger whoosh as he broke off into a sprint. The turbulence generated from his sudden launch sent the shambling masses flying in all directions. As he ran, messages flew past his vision.

Quote

From Lessa:

Now I'm hungry.

Pause. He skidded to a stop.

Quote

From Lessa:

For an Oreo shake.

"Aw, lame," Oscar said. He'd fully intended to put a pin in this hunt.

Quote

From Lessa:

Just so we're clear.

Oh they were clear as crystal. And so very disappointed.

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

Oscar's next destination was the ocean. It seemed odd to think that he would find an entire Labyrinth under the beach but this entire floor was odd. Flotsam and ruined planks littered the sands. The ebb and flow of the waves brought ever more debris ashore. In the distance, standing like a monolith against the pitch black skyline was a lighthouse. He knew it to be so because every time a bolt of lightning split across the sky, the white and red tower was illuminated for just a brief moment. He had to wonder if the unlit tower was the reason for all of the wreckage. How long ago had it gone dark? It was certainly a surprise. Oscar slowly lifted the broken mast of a ship, looking up as its ruined sail danced in the winds. All at once, he got the impression that this wasn't how the Floor was supposed to be.

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

One could say that of course, with there being one hundred floors, that the odd handful or two would not follow the same conventions as the others. But near as he could tell, from the moment they set foot in the floor, there was no Sanctuary. No Safe Zone. His comrades had been immediately beset by mobs as soon as they began their exploration. And it was odd. It wasn't something that, at least as far as he could remember, they had ever had to deal with. One could not say that Cardinal wasn't fair. The opposite was true. Cardinal was fair and lethal in equal measure. It was a massive departure from the norm for Cardinal to not provide at least the most bare reprieve to the battle-weary Players who had just hours prior defeated the most powerful foe they'd faced yet. And he simply couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong about this Floor.
 

Spoiler

ID: 243608 | LD: 7+15 = 22
Obstacle

Running Total: 87/300

 

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

Not glitched. It didn't strike him the same as the spiders with pockets or Sundered Spire. It didn't seem bugged. Everything about the Floor seemed like it had been made intentionally by the System. But the departure from the norm was a giveaway. The lack of some measure of safety as the Frontliners pressed on was glaring. It was almost safer, in his opinion, to simply push through the Floor. To not give it a moment's purchase in your mind. To leave it dead and buried and forgotten. A meaningless footnote in their long struggle. Was this how it was to be as they began to put the first third of the Floors behind them? Pushing from one floor to the next simply because conditions on the Floor itself were wrong? Oscar found himself wondering what had happened. So lost was he in his thought that his grip slipped on the mast he was holding, sending it crashing down and breaking in two upon his head.
 

Spoiler

ID: 243609 | LD: 15-5, fail
Lost 25% HP
Oh no, anyway that was useless

 

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

"Owww," he said as he rubbed the top of his head. His temper flared, as it does when you stub your toe accidentally. Just a moment of blind, undirected rage. The desire to want to hit something. Break something. One that subsided as the throbbing mellowed out. White-hot to red-hot and back to cool. He took a ragged breath and surveyed his surroundings once more. Still depressing. Still rainy. Though he would count his blessings that the rains still fell unending. The cool droplets upon his scalp helped to soothe the hurt and dull the throbbing ache. He fought back the wave of nausea that always accompanied a bonk on the noggin, letting it pass with a heavy exhale. Then, he blinked away the stars that danced across his vision. The bursts of dull, indescribable color that floated across soon began to fade. It all left him with a headache.

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

And that was a first. A headache. Oscar had grown accustomed to not needing to deal with maladies of the flesh. No aching limbs or sore backs. A mercy that Cardinal afforded them. They didn't get fatigued. Their bodies didn't ache. And they most certainly didn't get headaches. He realized then that the mast falling upon his head seemed to have overrode any pain inhibitors Cardinal had in place. He remembered as well that during his fight with the Mimic, the blows he'd sustained had actually hurt. And maybe it was his lack of familiarity with Scouting. Maybe this was simply par for the course. He was sticking his neck out in a big way, after all. But there was some part of him that really doubted that. Surely he would have heard stories that the traps and dangers actually had the ability to cause pain. That information would have been shared around, at least as a cautionary tale, to anyone with any ambition.

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

It only served to highlight how wrong this place felt. As Oscar made that connection, the understanding washed over him. An oppressive, crushing wave of understanding. He was convinced that perhaps this was a place that shouldn't be. Clarity and focus had forced him to pay close attention to it all. To take in things that he might have otherwise missed or ignored. Irrelevancies that he would simply naturally filter out had now had a light shone upon them. Placed on display for all the world to see. Or, at the very least, for Oscar to see. He continued walking pushing through that ominous haze with grit teeth. If he had any sense, he would have done an about face and come back the way that he had came. But he was in too deep - and he had to know. If not for his own benefit, but for the benefit of everyone else waiting for him to find their way.

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

His feet carried him back towards the town. A Labyrinth would not be buried under the beach. He realized that the further he got away from those black waters, the less those *thoughts* intruded upon him. It was as if the waves themselves sang a silent dirge. One that pushed those too near closer to the precipice of madness. He came across a bridge. A high-arched, wooden thing that had somehow survived the ruination that had visited the town. As his feet stepped upon the wooden boards, he peered over the edge into the water. He found himself gripped by a sudden impulse to flee. And another impulse to drink deep of the black wellspring only a few feet below him. Like standing on an edge of a cliff, the urge to run tangled with the call to simply partake of the darkness. His mouth, his throat, were suddenly dry. Instantly prickly.

Spoiler

ID: 243610 | LD: 9+15 = 24, Obstacle

Running Total: 111/300

 

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

He was being stupid. What harm could some digital water do? So long as it wasn't deep enough that he couldn't touch the bottom, he'd be quite alright. Certainly there was no death plane in this small stream? He crossed to the other side of the bridge, kneeling down at the bank. He reached toward the water, hands together so as to scoop some of the liquid and bring it to his lips. His fingertips had almost touched the surface when roiling pain spiked through his head. Like a white-hot knife, hit assailed him. He reeled backward, kicking away from the stream as he clutched his head. Distance, it seemed, was the solution. As he scooted away from the stream, the pain subsided. Only somewhat. Just enough for him to keep moving, but not enough for him to do so comfortably. He checked his HUD, searching for some hidden status affliction. He didn't know to be relieved or concerned when he found nothing.
 

Spoiler

ID: 243611 | LD: 3-5, fail
Lose 25% HP
Lmao

 

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

Oscar took a steadying breath. The stars in his vision were worse than the last time. It took a moment of conscious effort to will them away. Whatever was going on, he was certain it had something to do with the water. Not the rain. But the ocean and the saltwater streams that ran through the town like veins. There was something there. Something that should not be. Oscar had never, not once, been wound in by any sort of illusion.

Wait.

That wasn't entirely true. He had only just been afflicted by Callisto. Halls of Madness had put him under its spell. Was that meant to be a warning? And how would a creature so far removed from the Floor be affected by it?

Gravity.

The answer came upon him suddenly, a word of clarity amidst the storm of chaos in his mind. Floor 28 was below Floor 29. Was whatever that afflicted this Floor escaping its confines?

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

Oscar sat down upon a what used to be the front stoop of a house to think. He needed to gather his thoughts. They were too splintered, fractals that continued to split apart infinitely. Each new experience upon the Floor - every new horror - splitting further. Winding like roots from his mind, choking and blocking and denying light to the rational parts of his brain. Oscar had not remembered a time where it had been so difficult to simply formulate a thought. But here he was, trying to take stock of the situation. But every time he sought to order it, everything slipped through his grasp. It was like trying to grip sand. No matter how much that he tried to claw or scrape, it all filtered through the gaps between his fingers. But there was some small hope. It did not all leave. Stuck fast in his palms, small amounts remained trapped. Difficult as it was, he could build something.

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

He had to build something. Oscar felt it in his bones. He had not lost sight of his goal of finding the boss. That was good. He willed himself to work backwards. He could take stock of what he knew.

First the town.

By the structures, it looked to be just like any other Safe Zone in the game. The buildings, while they were still standing, would have been idyllic. Quaint.

A flash of lightning shot across the sky, illuminating the area around him.

For a split second, the light brought clarity. A vision of what used to be. Or a lie meant to confuse him. Either way, he saw the place as it was. Buildings still standing. Shops and inns and taverns with NPCs milling about as villagers. The vision faded about as quickly as the lightning had streaked across the sky. Present overrode the past as the darkness descended upon him once more.

Edited June 1 by Oscar

[Oscar 0]

Then what happened? If the town was peaceful, surely something had occurred to reduce it to this state. It wasn't a massive leap in logic to assume that the half-human monstrosities that stalked the ruins were once the NPCs placed to give the place life. Lightning flashed again. Another vision. This time of visitors. Strangers. Long coats and wide-brimmed hats. White finery reminiscent of clergy. Each with wicked, serrated weapons at their hips or lashed over their backs. It was an odd sight, to be sure. These strangers in their dark cloth masks, the brass headpieces that covered the eyes of the clergy. The filigree strangely reminiscent of eyes themselves. All juxtaposed by the wicked implements they carried. To call them weapons would be far too elegant for their design. They were saws. And cleavers. Meant to rend flesh and turn a battle into a gruesome festival of blood and gore.

Spoiler

ID: 243612 - LD: 8+15=23, Obstacle

Running Total: 134/300

Edited June 1 by Oscar