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

[Calyx 0]

Deciding he might as well try to take advantage of his situation again, Calyx quickly stabbed up at the queen's underside before he made his retreat. The blade found its mark, and slashed at the creature, although not too deeply. Unlike previous attacks, this enraged the queen but didn't disorient her; and by the time Calyx had darted a few feet away and turned to face the giant bug, she had found him as well and looked ready to attack.

 

BD: 7 (+2)

Calyx health: 18

Queen health: 20 - 3 = 17

[Calyx 0]

The queen flew at Calyx, but with what seemed to him to be less force. This time Calyx decided to stand his ground and take the brunt of the queen's attack with his shield, rather than dodging away. The queen ran into the shield and bounced off harmlessly, leaving Calyx within easy striking distance. 

 

MB: 4 (-2)

Calyx health: 18 - 0 = 18

Queen health: 17

Calyx swung his sword out at the queen, but she used her backward momentum from bouncing off the shield to carry her away and out of harm's reach. She glided to a stop some distance away and locked eyes with Calyx, debating whether to attack. Or at least that's what he thought she was doing. There were so many eyes, it was hard to tell...

 

BD: 2 (+2)

Calyx health: 18

Queen health: 17 - 0 = 17

The queen halfheartedly flew at Calyx again, but with the distance that was between them this time, he easily sidestepped her entirely. It seemed as though the creature was losing its steam, but Calyx knew that once a field boss like this was summoned, it would follow a player around and attack until one of them was dead. The creature may have looked passive for the moment, but Calyx knew not to let his guard down.

 

MD: 3 (-2)

Calyx health: 18 - 0 = 18

Queen health: 17

[Calyx 0]

As the queen glided by, seeming mildly disinterested, Calyx decided to give her something to be interested about. He swung his sword around as she passed on his right side and slashed her across the back. The buzzing of the queen's wings sped up, and she seemed to awaken from whatever haze she was in. She darted some distance away and turned around again, no longer looking as passive.

 

BD: 8 (+2)

Calyx health: 18

Queen health: 17 - 3 = 14

The queen flew straight at Calyx, this time with a little speed, but Calyx now knew her strength wasn't quite what it appeared, and he let her harmlessly bounce off his shield again. This put her back in striking range, and he intended not to miss this time...

 

MD: 1 (-2)

Calyx health: 18 - 0 = 18

Queen health: 14

As Calyx swung his sword out from behind his shield to attack the nearby queen, he didn't lower his shield arm enough, and banged his sword arm against his shield's upper left edge. This caused Calyx to unceremoniously drop his sword, and needless to say kept him from hitting his target. The queen took the opportunity to retreat a bit, but not not far enough that she wouldn't be able to attack if she realized that he was unarmed...

 

BD: 1 (+2)

Calyx health: 18

Queen health: 14 - 0 = 14

[Calyx 0]

It turns out that the Cardinal's AI is pretty good, because the queen did indeed realize the implications of Calyx dropping his weapon. Seizing the opportunity, she rushed in as Calyx bent over to pick up his sword, and lunged at him with her stinger as he straightened up. Calyx hadn't seen her coming, and as such hadn't raised his shield. The queen's stinger drove straight into Calyx's chest; and although his armor kept the spike from piercing him entirely, the force did send him flying backwards until he landed on his rear about a meter away.

 

MD: 10 (-2)

Calyx health: 18 - 3 = 15

Queen health: 14

[Calyx 0]

Lockheed chuckled at what had just transpired. Although the dragon hadn't said anything with his mind, Calyx knew the distinct sound of a snort from above couldn't have been anything else. Sore and thoroughly embarrassed, Calyx quickly got up and charged the queen, recklessly attacking to make up for his previous blunders. With his sword raised over his left shoulder, Calyx swung down hard at the queen, who glided to the side to avoid him, but still managed to get grazed by Calyx's blade. 

 

BD: 4 (+2)

Calyx health: 15

Queen health: 14 - 3 = 11

As Calyx glanced off to the queen's side, she struck out at him with her legs, and managed to scrape his torso pretty badly. Had he not been so rash and gone in with his shield up, it likely wouldn't have happened. But Calyx tended to do things like that; especially when he had just lost honor in the sight of his friend. He didn't know why that little dragon spurred him on like he did; but he knew that someday he wanted the satisfaction of proving himself to the beast. 

 

MD: 8 (-2)

Calyx health: 15 - 2 = 13

Queen health: 11

But of course Calyx couldn't simply learn from this lesson, and instead immediately spun to the left and lashed out at the wasp, who was still in range. He managed to graze her side as well, but this time he noticed his vulnerability, and raised his shield to prevent her probably counterattack. 

 

BD: 5 (+2)

Calyx health: 13

Queen health: 11 - 3 = 8

[Calyx 0]

Not willing to initiate another charge and bounce off Calyx's shield again, the queen tried an effective previous strategy as well. She fired her stinger at Calyx, but this time, at his legs where his shield wasn't protecting him. The projectile struck its mark, and the stinger glanced off Calyx's thigh. He stepped back a few paces to give himself more reaction time, and contemplated the unfairness of enemies with ranged capabilities in a melee game like SAO...

 

MD: 9 (-2)

Calyx health: 13 - 3 = 10

Queen health: 8

[Calyx 0]

"Quit dancing and get it over with. My wings are getting tired.", Lockheed complained. "It's not like I'm trying to miss! I want to finish her off too..." The dragon remained unconvinced. "Hm. Could've fooled me." "Yeah, well, maybe if your wings weren't so scrawny, you'd be able to stay up there for longer.", Calyx jabbed. That should have been his first retort; it was what shut the dragon up. But he never could come up with good quips very fast; and by the time he did, they just seemed mean and out of place, and he knew that was the case with Lockheed now. The dragon's diminutive size wasn't his own fault; if anything it was Calyx's. The creature had shrunken from intimidating beast down to adorable puppy size when Calyx had accidentally bonded with it and become a Beast Tamer a few weeks ago. Since then, Calyx had tried not to poke fun at his size, as it was clear that Lockheed missed being giant and intimidating; but sometimes he got a little big for his scaly orange britches. Suddenly, Calyx was jolted out of his thoughts by the wasp queen advancing toward him again; it seemed he had missed his chance to attack. 

 

BD: 1 (+2)

Calyx health: 10

Queen health: 8 - 0 = 8

Fortunately, it turns out bugs don't have very good memories. The queen went with her tried-and-true head on charge, and Calyx easily blocked her advance. This time he gave her a shove for good measure; and with no friction of the ground to slow her, she glided back quite a ways before she brought herself to a stop.

 

MD: 1 (-2)

Calyx health: 10 - 0 = 10

Queen health: 8

[Calyx 0]

Calyx decided to play it smart this time; he had a moment after pushing the queen so far back. He flipped his sword backwards in his palm, and held it out behind his left side as he crouched low to the ground. The sword began to glow behind him, and he soon heard the familiar hum of a sword skill. As the System took over, he leapt heroically into the air toward the queen, involuntarily raising his sword above his head and holding it in both hands. He came down hard on the top of the bug's head, and the skill connected with the sound of cracking chitin. The sword had been driven into the top of the queen's head, and Calyx kicked off of her face to remove the sword before he staggered backwards across the ground as he landed.

 

BD: 9 (+2)

Calyx health: 10

Queen health: 8 - 5 = 3

The queen slowly buzzed toward Calyx, wobbling in the air as she did so. It seemed like the queen had been disoriented from the last attack, and Calyx knew that now would be a great chance to strike. He took a few strides to the left to avoid the creature, keeping his shield between the two of them, and raised his sword for another attack.

 

MD: 2 (-2)

Calyx health: 10 - 0 = 10

Queen health: 3

[Calyx 0]

Calyx brought his sword down across the queen's right side and made contact. It wasn't a hearty blow, but it turned out to be enough. The queen slowed and drifted toward the ground to her left, shattering just before she made contact. Calyx sighed and lowered his weapons, hoping that nothing else was going to rise from the surrounding field. "About time.", Lockheed thought. "Oh, hush. Just come back and reclaim your perch.", Calyx said as he slung his shield over his back.

 

BD: 4 (+2)

Calyx health: 10

Queen health: 3 - 3 = 0

 

LD: 11

+1 mat 

+Shoulder Pauldron (Good item)

+3 skill points

+ <<The Matriarch's Stinger>> (+1 to DMG for one battle)

[Calyx 0]

Suddenly, Calyx heard a ding and saw a message appear in the air before him: [Quest Complete: <<Long Live the Queen>>]. "Huh. Gotta love freebie quests. I wonder if i got anything special..." Calyx pulled his inventory open and examined the new contents. "A mat, some armor... Hot dog! Three skill points!" Calyx looked back at Lockheed for acknowledgement, but his reptilian face remained the epitome of stoic disinterest. "And... <<The Matriarch's Stinger>>? Well that's ironic. Looks like a buff... But it only lasts for one battle. Meh. Not my style. I guess we can just sell it at the shop."

[Calyx 0]

Lockheed remained silent and made no eye contact with his bound partner. Calyx hated dealing with emotions and situations like these, but he knew he was in the wrong, and he hated the awkward tension he had created between himself and the dragon even more. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have said what I did about you being scrawny. Kayaba knows I got enough of that myself in my old life, and I of all people should have known better than to pull that on you."

[Calyx 0]

"Let's just go." Calyx knew Lockheed was even less likely to talk about feelings than he was, and the dragon certainly wasn't going to admit to the weakness of having had his hurt. Even if he had been willing to talk, combat was the only thing that had ever been able to redeem Calyx in Lockheed's eyes. Doing things was what mattered to the dragon, not what anyone's intentions were. He responded to actions, not words. 

[Calyx 0]

Just then Calyx had an idea. "Hang on...", he said as he pulled up his stat page and began staring at the numbers. Lockheed remained clinging to the back of Calyx's shield, unfazed. Calyx was a bit of a stat nerd, so this was a common enough occurrence that the dragon thought nothing of it. In fact, when there had been a update to the SAO battle system recently, Calyx had spent hours pouring over all the numbers, trying to reevaluate the optimal build to make sure he stayed ahead of the curve. It was what had prompted him to abandon his beloved greatsword Kaeseras and switch to a sword and shield in the first place.

[Calyx 0]

"If I put some of my new skill points into Extended Weight Limit instead of damage, I can get an extra active inventory slot and do...." Calyx tapped around his menu screens furiously until Lockheed jumped as a large pauldron appeared out of thin air on Calyx's right shoulder. "This." He closed his inventory screen. "There, now you have enough room to sit up on my shoulder instead of having to hang onto my shield. I know it's not as high up as Kaeseras, but it's the best I can do without crippling myself in battle..."

[Calyx 0]

Lockheed looked at Calyx for a moment and then slowly and cautiously climbed up on his right shoulder, as if the pauldron might disappear out from under him at any moment. "Why would you trade power for this? It seems an unwise investment." Calyx shrugged, which now comically caused Lockheed to rise into the air a few inches and lose his balance. "I know how much you miss Kaeseras, and I hate to see you clinging to my shield like that. Well. I can't see you when you're back there, but you know what I mean. Besides, I don't want them to be just my skill points; we're stuck together, remember?"

[Calyx 0]

Lockheed's suspicious gaze finally softened a bit. "Hm. Well I'm still not sure it's the wisest decision, but maybe the extra armor will keep you from getting beaten up so badly when you're fighting. After all, we wouldn't want anything too traumatic to happen to you. I'm not sure what would happen to me..."

[Calyx 0]

The dragon made an interesting point; Calyx wasn't really sure what would happen if he died. Lockheed was ultimately just an AI, so maybe the System would recycle him and put him back in the cave where Calyx found him; or maybe he'd be deleted entirely. There wasn't really any way to know, no one to ask, and Calyx hoped the two of them would never have to find out. That thought aside, what Lockheed had just said was probably the closest thing Calyx had ever gotten to a compliment from him, so he took it as a sign that things were okay again. 

[Calyx 0]

Seeming satisfied with his new home, Lockheed settled comfortably onto the pauldron and began to scan the field ahead for something interesting. The Wasp Queen had been vanquished, most of the lesser Wasps farmed, and Calyx decided it was probably a good idea to head back into town and rest his HP back up. He still had some extra skill points to allocate, even with the few he had spent on the extra inventory slot for Lockheed's pauldron, and he wanted to see if he could find an alternative to his shield. Reaching up and grabbing the one across his back was going to be awkward now with the pauldron in the way, but he had no intentions of saying a word about it in front of Lockheed, or he might feel bad. Calyx was happy to have been able to improve the dragon's conditions, even if he was just an AI, and he marched off to town in search of rest and a new adventure.

[Calyx 0]

RP COMPLETE

 

Loot:

Wasp: 1 mat

Queen/quest: 1 mat, shoulder pauldron (good item), 3 skill points, matriarch's stinger

Completed RP: 1 skill point