SP: F1- <<Blade of Dreams>> Quest (Complete)

[Nathaniel 0]

Mob: 7 (Misses due to Nathaniel's +2 Evasion)
 

A slower fighter would have been slashed to ribbons by Dry Bones's savage claws, which ripped through the air with incredible speed as it continued pressing towards him, trying to back him into a corner. Nathaniel levered his foot underneath a sizable rock, and flung it into the monster's head with his foot, staggering and surprising it, which created an opening for him to strike.

[Nathaniel 0]

Battle: 4 (Nathaniel JUST misses)

 

Leaping in, Nathaniel's rapid swing ALMOST decapitated Dry Bones, but it was able to dodge backwards just in time to avoid it, and his flurry of follow up attacks pressed the monster back, but didn't land anywhere but its gnarled claws. Before he'd advanced as far as he could, he dropped into a proper stance again, and sprang back, landing in form, and readying to deal with the assault he knew to be coming.

[Nathaniel 0]

Mob: 5 (Misses Nathaniel by a good margin)

 

Dry Bones was dumb, and Nathaniel had learned how long its flurry would last, so it was easy to defend against the constant barrage as long as he reacted quickly and kept stepping offline, when the last swing came in, Nathaniel stepped in, blocking Dry Bones's claw with his sword, and punching it in the jaw with his left hand, hoping to create an opening to strike the killing blow on it.

[Nathaniel 0]

Battle: 4 (Nathaniel BARELY misses)

 

Unfortunately, this time Dry Bones rolled with the punch, and fell away from Nathaniel's "up and to the left" stroke. it came up in a crouched position on its feet, snarling and hissing while it glared into Nathaniel's eyes with pure malice in its empty sockets, which suddenly were filled with fire.

 

"Well, that's probably not good." Nathaniel said, preparing to backpedal and raising his sword to defend against the onslaught again.

[Nathaniel 0]

Mob: 7 (Only misses due to Nathaniel's Evasion buffs)

 

Again, if Nathaniel were any slower, he'd have been mincemeat. Darting back, and parrying the swings that got too close to his throat, he tripped over a piece of the previously shattered mine cart, and flipped himself sideways to roll with the fall, which allowed him to catch the last swing of Dry Bones's claws with his blade. Throwing the monster's claws away with his blade, Nathaniel rolled to a position underneath Dry Bones's hunched form, like a mechanic working underneath a car.

[Nathaniel 0]

Battle: 4 (Nathaniel JUST misses YET AGAIN)

 

Nathaniel tried to swing into the monster's ribcage from his prone position, but couldn't move his blade with enough speed and force to do anything but stagger it away from him, which allowed him to jump to his feet and crouch with his off hand on the ground, hoping to jump below and past the creature's blind assault this time.

[Nathaniel 0]

Mob: 8 (hits Nathaniel for 2 damage)

 

As Dry Bones began shredding the air in front of it and rushing towards Nathaniel, he dove past the monster, and thought he had a moment to breathe, only to be corrected by the raking of a claw up his back, forcing him to spin himself around and block another stroke as he fell, off balance. As Dry Bones came to be almost on top of him, he fully extended his lower body, kicking straight up, and knocking the monster up and into the air. While it flew up and to the side, Nathaniel pushed himself to his feet again, and rushed at the monster as it started trying to roll from its prone position on the ground.

[Nathaniel 0]

Battle: 5 (Nathaniel misses)

 

As Nathaniel tried to bring his blade down on the monster's neck, it raised its hand to block the blade with the back of its claw, and swing with its left arm, backing Nathaniel off and giving its light frame the rotation needed to stand again, readying to rush and slash Nathaniel to ribbons.

 

"I'm not going to let you have an easy time of it..." Nathaniel growled, preparing to evade the onslaught again.

[Nathaniel 0]

Mob: 1 (Misses Nathaniel BADLY)

 

Dry Bones came in to attack again, but this time the beast's advance was clumsy, and Nathaniel was able to knock its first strike into its other claw, cutting off its attack, and then spun around to flat the monster in the head with two hands on his blade, which knocked it down and to the side, leaving it undefended on the ground for Nathaniel to step up and kill.

[Nathaniel 0]

Battle: 4 (Nathaniel misses)

 

As Nathaniel stepped up to deal the killing stroke, YET AGAIN Dry Bones swung the back of its claw in the way of the strike, chipping some bone superficially, but doing no real damage to it, and it swung itself up with another wild counterstrike that probably wasn't even meant to hit.

 

"I'm gonna get you one'a these times, you know that, right?" Nathaniel said, grinning, as the beast hissed at him, and began its advance once more.

[Nathaniel 0]

Mob: 2 (Misses Nathaniel)

 

Dry Bones went scything in again, only to have its slashes parried with hairline blocks, and to be kicked in the pelvis, staggering it back, while an unexpected punch landed on its nose, further disorienting it. It was able to parry the pair of counterattacks that Nathaniel threw at it, but then didn't see the kick to the knee coming, which buckled after the impact of the kick.

[Nathaniel 0]

Battle: 5 (Nathaniel barely misses)

 

Nathaniel almost landed a killing blow, but as he was winding up to deliver it, Dry Bones thrust its claw at his chest, and he had to bend over backwards to avoid the claw, and then put his sword between the claw and his chest to stand back up, and brace. In preparation for the other claw that he knew was coming, Nathaniel kicked the beast in the ribs, staggering it back, and giving him a second to breathe before the monster caught itself again, and tirelessly barreled towards him yet again.

[Nathaniel 0]

Mob: 2 (Dry Bones misses Nathaniel)

 

As the monster got to be ALMOST within striking range, Nathaniel got an idea. He dropped almost to the floor, catching himself with his hand, and sweeping Dry Bones's legs out from underneath it with a kick. Finishing his spin, he stood back up to swipe a swing from prone away, and step to where its head lay against the ground.

[Nathaniel 0]

Battle: 7 (Nathaniel hits for 2 damage, killing Dry Bones)

 

Spinning itself to its feet, Dry Bones hissed in protest as Nathaniel's sword glowed blue with the activation of a Sword Skill. Its block only came halfway up before Nathaniel swung in with the extra speed granted by the system, and slashed through part of its claw, and decapitated it in one clean stroke.

 

Loot: 14 (Darkmetal Ore)

 

Panting, but also grinning, Nathaniel laughed a little as he opened the loot menu, and found the last bit of Darkmetal Ore he needed.

 

"Well," Nathaniel said, throwing it up in the air, catching it, and adding it to his inventory, "I'll remember THAT fight for a LONG time." Surprised at how much he'd enjoyed such a painful and dangerous experience, he decided that he was settling into life in this world just fine after all.

[Nathaniel 0]

A lot of walking later, Nathaniel arrived back in the Town of Beginnings, still covered in slashes and puncture wounds from picks. They started healing when he walked into the safe zone, but they still twinged and were visible. After some painful walking, Nathaniel strode into Sai's Blades once again, loudly announcing, "Sai, I'm back with the materials you asked for!"

 

Sai looked up from the blade she was tempering to see how covered in cuts and stabs Nathaniel was, and his smiling face, and his arms-full of ore and a boar hide.

 

She shook her head, looking back down to her project, "Well, beaten up though you may be, you got back just fine." She smirked.

 

Nathaniel strode up to her workbench, "Mind if I set these here?" He asked.

 

"Oh, absolutely." Sai replied, "Just let me put the finishing touches on this sword, and I can get to yours." She made a couple marks that Nathaniel couldn't identify on the base of the blade, and then held it up proudly, needing only a handle wrap now.

 

Nathaniel set the materials down on the bench, and then sat down on a stool near the bench, far out of Sai's way as she quickly wrapped the handle tightly, and set the blade up on display.

 

"There we go. A good quality longsword. Now, what was I using this Duskmetal you brought me to make? A spatha, wasn't it?"

 

"Er, yeah! Yeah, that's the kind you recommended." Nathaniel said, remembering what she'd said before.

 

"Alright then, lemme just get your weapon done, then..." She gathered up the materials, and let the ore melt in the forge while she tanned the leather, before going back and crafting the blade. Nathaniel watched her put loving detail and work into the weapon, making every aspect of it just right. He was amazed to see an NPC show so much care in a project. Was it because she'd been programmed to act that way, or was there more to VRMMO NPCs than he thought?

 

She finished the blade with a mark at the base of it- "SB".

 

"S B?" Nathaniel wondered aloud, "Oh, Sai's Blades!" He said realizing what it was.

 

"Yup." She replied absently, making sure there were no imperfections all up and down the weapon before she spun the leather wrap onto the hilt. When she was done, the blade was a dark and...well, dusky, weapon. It looked beautiful in a simple way, not being anything fancy, but being exactly what it was SUPPOSED to be.

 

"That's...Beautiful." Nathaniel said, marveling at how perfect the sword looked.

 

"Yeah, it is..."Sai said, looking down at the sword the same way a parent would look at their child. "And now it's yours." She said, holding it out to him, handle first, and smiling.

 

Taking it gently from her, and equipping it in place of his old short sword, he stood to shake Sai's hand. "Thank you very much, I will not forget your kindness." He said, bowing as he finished shaking her hand.

 

"You're welcome." Sai said cheerfully, "Now go waste some monsters with that sword. Name it. Give it a story to tell."

 

"I will do just that." Nathaniel said, looking her in the eye. He then gave another stiff bow, and walked out of her shop, smiling to himself.

[Nathaniel 0]

(OOC Thread Wrap-Up)

 

+ 1200 Col (3 completed pages of RP)

+ 4 Duskmetal Ore (expended to make Dusk's Fall)

+ 1 Boar Hide (expended to make Dusk's Fall)

+ 1 Dusk's Fall (The Uncommon 1H Straight Sword smithed for Nathaniel by Sai)

+ 20 Col (from the chest)

+ 1 level (went from 5-6)

+ 2 XP (1 for completion, one for it being a Quest)