[SP-F2] <<Long live the queen>> (CLOSED)

[Calyx 0]

"I know, buddy, but it's for our own good." Lockheed grumbled his unconvinced discontent. "Ever since that last patch, two-handers are nerfed; we're better off going sword and shield from now on. No matter how I look at the numbers, I just can't make it work. I liked Kaeseras too." The large blue greatsword in question was now notably absent from Calyx's back, leaving the small orange dragon without his high perch to ride on. He had now been lowered to clinging to the edge of the shield hung across Calyx's back, and he was thoroughly displeased. "Maybe you just shouldn't be so frail.", the dragon huffed. "It seems like a perfectly viable option to me."

[Calyx 0]

Calyx ignored the dragon's sour mood and continued wandering the fields outside Urbus, looking for more mobs to farm. The fields had scattered <<Wind Wasps>>, and they were low enough level that Calyx could feel pretty safe hunting them on his own for a while. He wanted to train with something easy while he got the hang of his new loadout, and after his recent run in with some elves in the Forest of Wavering Mist, he could use a little quiet predictability. Up ahead in the field, Calyx saw another <<Wind Wasp>>, and drew his sword and shield, leaving Lockheed perchless and forced to circle above during the coming battle.

[Calyx 0]

Calyx raised his shield in front of him and his sword over his left shoulder, and charged the wasp. He had been hunting these things all day and wasn't particularly worked up, so he didn't feel the need to let out a yell and instead just silently ran toward the creature. The wasp turned just as Calyx brought down his sword, and it wasn't able to move in time to miss Calyx's sword slicing into it's side. 

 

 

Battle dice: 4 (+2)

Calyx health: 22

Wasp health: 11 -3 = 8

[Calyx 0]

The wasp's wings started buzzing even faster, and it instinctively lashed out a stinger at Calyx, piercing his armor a bit. Calyx shoved the creature off of him, yanking the stringer out of his torso. He retreated two steps back and took place behind his shield again, wondering to himself why these monsters always seemed to be able to get through his armor a little bit, no matter how much stronger than them he was. 

 

 

Mob dice: 8 (-2)

Calyx health: 22 -1 = 21

Wasp health: 8

[Calyx 0]

The wasp didn't seem sure it wanted to continue fighting, and in that moment of hesitation, Calyx decided he had a chance to charge a sword skill. He held his blade steady out to his side, parallel to the ground, and waited for the hum he knew signaled that the weapon's attack was charging. He held his position for an instant before the blade took over and carried him toward the heart of the wasp. The creature must not have taken the glowing weapon as a signal of attack, because it had hardly moved by the time Calyx's sword made contact. The blade drove clean through the center of the wasp's torso up to the hilt, putting Calyx face to face with his enemy.

 

 

Battle dice: 10 (+2)

Calyx health: 21

Wasp health: 8 -5 = 3

[Calyx 0]

The creature froze, stunned; impaled on the blade. Calyx looked into its giant, black, compound eyes and waited for it to make a move, but it couldn't. The shock of the attack must have frozen it stiff, but Calyx was more than happy to use the distraction to jerk his sword from the creature's chest and resume his defensive stance. As he settled back into position, the wasp's wings began to flutter at their normal, more accelerated speed, and it's stance indicated that it was alert again, and not happy. But if Calyx could land another clean hit, this fight would probably be over, and one of his easiest today.

 

 

Mob dice: 3 (-2)

Calyx health: 21 - 0 = 21

Wasp health: 3

[Calyx 0]

Calyx charged the wasp again, without a sword skill this time; but now the wasp was paying attention. It swiftly dodged to the side and evaded Calyx's entire attack, putting it in a perfect position to jab at his now completely exposed side. Calyx immediately regretted getting cocky, even though he probably wasn't in any real danger. But he always did this; he never just played it safe like a smart boy...

 

 

Battle dice: 2 (+2)

Calyx health: 21

Wasp health: 3 - 0 =  3

[Calyx 0]

The wasp struck out at Calyx as he sailed by, but once he knew he was going to miss, Calyx had leaned to the side, just far enough to keep out of range of the wasp's retaliation. He rolled over his left shoulder and came up in a spin to face the wasp, no longer hiding behind his shield. He was in an offensive stance now, and he cared more about making sure the wasp hit the blade this time than the shield. 

 

 

Mob dice: 4 (-2)

Calyx health: 21 - 0 = 21

Wasp health: 3

[Calyx 0]

The wasp hadn't waited for Calyx to finish his roll and about-face before it started charging; and by the time Calyx came back up, the wasp had closed most of the distance to him. Without time to properly attack, Calyx dodged to the side, hoping to clip the creature with the sword in front of him, but knowing it was unlikely. The wasp flew over where Calyx had just been, and he again rolled and turned to face the insect, knowing that this time it would have to turn as well, and he could be better prepared for his next attack.

 

 

Battle dice: 2 (+2)

Calyx health: 21

Wasp health: 3 - 0 = 3

[Calyx 0]

What Calyx hadn't counted on was the wasp's aerial maneuverability; rather than stopping and turning like Calyx had to do, the creature simply flew up in a vertical U-turn and flipped itself over as it did. This put it much closer to Calyx than he was expecting, and gave it the higher ground as well. The wasp flew at Calyx again, this time narrowly hitting him before he raised his shield. The wasp glanced off of it, and Calyx was suddenly thankful he had read up on the stat changes in the new update and decided to change weapons. "See? That would've hit me if I was still using Kaeseras.", he thought to Lockheed. "Hm. Have you considered that maybe that would be for the better? You could stand to learn how to take a hit once in a while..." Calyx rolled his eyes at the dragon's utter lack of concern for his safety. Maybe he could look for some armor or something in town that Lockheed could use as a new perch... That might shut him up.

 

 

Mob dice: 7 (-2)

Calyx health: 21 - 0 = 21

Wasp health: 3

[Calyx 0]

As the wasp flew off to Calyx's right, he used his momentum to swing his sword around, following the path of the wasp, and hit it clean across the back. The creature froze for an instant, and then shattered into tiny, glimmering shards. Calyx heard the familiar ping of an item being added to his inventory, and pulled it up to see if he had gotten anything interesting. It turned out to be just a lump of nectar that he could use for crafting later, but that was one thing he really did like about the latest update. Mobs dropping materials so much more frequently now was going to make his life as an alchemist a lot easier. 

 

 

Battle dice: 7 (+2)

Calyx health: 21

Wasp health: 3 - 3 = 0

 

Loot dice: 4

+1 material (nectar)

[Calyx 0]

Just as he was beginning to sheath his sword and Lockheed was gliding down to resume his inferior perch, Calyx heard a buzzing that he hadn't noticed before. He turned to try to find the source, but the noise seemed to be coming from all directions. The buzzing quickly got louder and louder and louder until it was almost deafening; Calyx was pretty sure he wouldn't even have been able to hear Lockheed's voice in his head over the sound. All around him, what appeared to be small bees began to rise up form the field, and gathered together in front of Calyx in a dense cloud. The shape got darker and darker until Calyx couldn't see through the blob at all; and then the bees started to fly away. But rather than the empty space that had been within the mass before, something new remained. As more of the bees flew away, Calyx's eyes grew wide when he realized that from within the mass had emerged a giant insect, at least ten times larger than the one he had just slain....

[Calyx 0]

The remainder of the small bees returned to ground, and Calyx was finally able to read the title above the insect's head: <<Wind Wasp Queen>>. "Ohhhhh boy. Well I've gone and done it now, haven't I?" "Looks like you might get to practice taking a hit after all.", Lockheed said in a voice that Calyx could just hear had a grin behind it. He glanced up to the sky to stick his tongue out at the dragon. As his gaze returned to the queen, he discovered that this wasp wasn't as passive as the others: it had already begun charging at him, and it did not look like it was messing around. 

[Calyx 0]

The queen wasn't as fast or as agile as the smaller wasps, but it was large enough that it wasn't as easy to dodge. Rather than being able to roll to the side as he had done with the others, Calyx's only means of evasion was to hide behind his shield and dive backwards, hoping there was enough room beneath the queen to let her fly over. The shield took the brunt of the force of the charge, and the impact took Calyx off his feet and sent him flying further back than he had intended. Still, the grassy field he was in made for a pretty cushy landing, and he waited for the queen to pass, unscathed. 

 

 

Mob dice: 7 (-2)

Calyx health: 21 -  0 = 21

Queen health: 30

[Calyx 0]

The queen was large enough that Calyx had time to get his wits about him while the queen was still flying a few feet above. Deciding not to pass up an opportunity, Calyx found his sword nearby and stabbed it up into the underbelly of the bug as it flew past. For some reason, the chitin on the underside of the queen was softer than he was expecting, and the sword cut deeply into its insides. The queen few higher up, out of reach of the sword, and Calyx finally had the breathing room to get back up and assume a defensive stance. 

 

 

Battle dice: 10 (+2)

Calyx health: 21

Queen health: 30 - 5 = 25

[Calyx 0]

The queen had too much mass to make the aerial flip the other wasp had, and it would take her a while to turn around and face Calyx again. He was about to use the opportunity to launch another attack, when the queen did something entirely unexpected: rather than attack him head-on again or use her stinger like a spear as the other wasps had, the queen glanced backward and thrust her stinger at Calyx, launching the large point at him with lightning-fast speed. The other wasps hadn't been able to shoot their stingers, so Calyx hadn't been expecting it, and the giant needle caught him in the middle of the shoulder and drove straight through his armor. Calyx staggered back from the shock, giving the queen time to round about and face her attacker again.

 

 

Mob dice: 10 (-2)

Calyx health: 21 - 3 = 18

Queen health: 25

[Calyx 0]

Calyx staggered back from the force of the impact and instinctively yanked the stinger out of his arm and threw it on the ground, where it quietly exploded. "Well that was unexpected... At least she won't be doing it again.", Calyx muttered in his mind. "That's... likely not true.", Lockheed replied. "What? But she just shot her only one!" "It would have been, were she not growing another as we speak." The dragon was currently flying behind the queen, and thus had the vantage point to confirm his report. "Crap. Well at least now we know? And knowing is half the battle!" "What? you've only struck it once, the battle isn't nearly over." "It's a reference to- oh, nevermind. Just let me know if it looks like she's about to do anything else sneaky." With a newfound cautiousness and his shield raised in front of him, Calyx charged the queen head-on. At the last moment, he leapt into the air toward the queen's head, and her slow attempts to dodge weren't enough. Calyx's sword drove in perfectly between the queen's eyes and sunk in to the hilt.

 

BD: 10 (+2)

Calyx health: 18

Queen health: 25 - 5 = 20

[Calyx 0]

The queen buzzed loudly in anger and began to fly around erratically to get Calyx off. From where he was, she couldn't hit him with a stinger again; and charging wasn't an option when there already wasn't any distance between the two. Slowly, the queen began to ascend into the air in an attempt to smash her attacker into the ground, but Calyx was wary of heights to begin with, so he quickly withdrew his sword and slid off to the ground before the two got so high that he would have been injured in the fall. He retreated a safe distance from the queen so that he would have appropriate time to respond if she charged him from the air, which she did, but the attempt was only half-hearted. The queen seemed to still be reeling a bit form the last attack, and returned to her place closer to the ground to regain her composure.

 

 

MD: 4 (-2)

Calyx health: 18 - 0 = 18

Queen health: 20

[Calyx 0]

Deciding to try another approach, Calyx ran at the queen before she had too much time to compose herself; this time intending to slide under her and stab at her underbelly again. However, the queen was still on the defensive from Calyx's last attack, and remained low to the ground with her legs out in front of her, waiting to catch her assailant. Her reach was greater than Calyx had anticipated, and rather than sliding under her like he had planned, the queen was able to grab him with her legs and prevent his attack.

 

BD: 3 (+2)

Calyx health: 18

Queen health: 20 - 0 = 20

[Calyx 0]

Unfortunately for the queen, Calyx's sword had been out at his left side and stood between him and the queen's arms. As she tried to grabbed him, his sword sliced against one of her right legs, and she released him out of surprise. Calyx fell the remaining distance to the ground with a thud, and scrambled to get his bearings before the queen got wise and sat on him. 

 

MD: 1 (-2)

Calyx health: 18 - 0 = 18

Queen health: 2