[SP-F9] Hellhound or Love-bug? (Quest)

[Pepper 0]

It had been a long day for Pepper. She spent most of the time working at her shop, all bored with no customers or anything to do. When a gypsy had approached her about a pet, she jumped for joy and made her way to Floor 9. Even though the enemies there would be tough, she wanted a bad-butt pet, and a flame monster? Cool as it could be!

 

Once at floor 9, Pepper spotted a cute little stand run by an NPC with strange vegetables on sticks hanging. She also noticed, over a fire, were some grilling meats. She quickly approached the stand and said, "Give me some food! I'm going to get a familiar." The NPC shop keeper looked at her with an odd expression, then gave her enough meat for a familiar for 200 Col. 

[Pepper 0]

As soon as she stepped out of the safe zone, Pepper froze. She saw all these creepy monsters--large caterpillars with red wires along its body, fluttering demonic pixies, strange looking blobs that resembled a fire, and shadows of even more monsters in the distance. Pepper swallowed nervously, unsure of what to do. It looked like she was going to have to tread carefully and make sure that she didn't run into any mobs she wasn't ready to fight. With her head held high to look confident, she put her dagger away and took the meat out.

[Pepper 0]

Pepper's feet met the hot ground as she exited the hot, metal city. She was careful to avoid any confrontation, slipping past players that were fighting monsters and entering a small cave. She glanced around, noticing how dark it was. Pepper let out a shriek as a cluster of fiery bats flew past her, messing up her hair. However, they seemed harmless enough. She brushed her hair down with her hands, letting out a long sigh. Pepper then continued to make her way down the dark path. 

 

(-1 BD) 

[Pepper 0]

Pepper swallowed as the cave got darker and darker, impairing her vision. Perhaps this was a bad decision. As she walked further into the cave, she also noticed that it was getting quite... hot. Sweat began to swell up on her temple, forehead, and cheeks. Furrowing her eyebrow, she swallowed her anxiety and continued walking. Dim light began to appear up ahead, and Pepper could now see a path forming in the cave. It winded down in almost a staircase sort of formation. Pepper squinted to look, then continued forward. 

[Pepper 0]

Pepper slowly made her way down the winding path, careful to not slip, as the ground was not straight. She put her hand in front of her face to block her vision, afraid of injuring her eyes from the now furiously bright light and burning heat. As she opened her eyes, she knew now why it was getting so hot. There were winding paths that ran through lava a few feet below. It was a mini dungeon. Pepper swallowed—could she make it through this place without fighting any monsters? 

[Pepper 0]

The pathways led to three different corridors. One, which was straight ahead of her, had a sparkling chamber with something that looked like a chest in the back. On the left was another room with a chest, which had rather dark but shiny walls. The third corridor, on the right, had no pretty walls and no hint of a chest. Pepper quickly went over her options. She could either go down a dark, spooky cave; she could go down a very pretty cave; or she could go to a silky smooth cave.

 

Carefully, she ended up deciding to go down the smooth corridor. The dark one seemed too spooky, and the sparkling one was clearly a trap. She slowly made her way along the thin path to the slim, smooth corridor.

[Pepper 0]

The cavern got dark again, and Pepper finally got to the back of the cave. Inside was a treasure chest, which had a red piece of fabric draping over it to hide its figure. Pepper looked around. This wasn't exactly where she wanted to be, but it was good to keep looking no matter where she went. As Pepper approached the chest, she reached forward and pulled off the fabric. As she ripped it off, the chest disappeared... or perhaps there never was a chest. The room lit up with lights as lanterns appeared on the ceiling and lava circled the room. Inside the room spawned a monster--a hell hound. It had large, ugly fangs and two horns protruding on the back of its neck and head. The eyes were full of fire, and it clearly did not want to play any games. Pepper took out her dagger.

 

Hellhound: 18/18

Pepper: 13/13

[Pepper 0]

The hellhound immediately snarled and lunged at Pepper. She quickly side-stepped and stabbed downward, showing this jerk-face mob who's boss. The hellhound whimpered and yelped in pain, stumbling back and shaking its head back and forth, ears pressed back in rage. "There. Now we're even," Pepper said, noting that now their health was the same. The hellhound was not amused. 

 

ID: 9480

BD: 10 (1dmg+2swordskill+2crit=5dmg)

MD: 1 (fail)

 

Hellhound: 13/18

Pepper: 13/13

[Pepper 0]

The hellhound, now furious after Pepper had stabbed it in the face, snapped its jaws around her arm. She watched as her health went down a little bit. "Oh, crap!" she shouted. She then realized that her health only went down by one point, so she was safe... for now. Pepper quickly shook her arm away from the hellhound and stepped back, gripping the red bite-mark in her wrist. It wasn't too bad... but it looked pretty weird. Pepper had never been bitten in Aincrad, only slashed or cut.

 

ID: 9481

BD: 5 (fail)

MD: 6 (1 dmg)

 

Hellhound: 13/18

Pepper: 12/13

[Pepper 0]

The hellhound latched onto her leg, gripping tight with its teeth. Pepper gasped and shook her leg, kicking the stupid dog off of her leg. She then whipped out her weapon and stabbed down on the dog's face again. A large gash appeared on its face, and it whimpered and barked and yelped in pain. The hellhound was stumbling all over the place now, shaking its head and trying to get the wound to heal or something. Pepper smirked as the ugly dog suffered.

 

ID: 9482

BD: 10 (1dmg + 2swordskill +2crit = 5 dmg)

MD: 6 (1 dmg)

 

Hellhound: 8/18

Pepper: 11/13

[Pepper 0]

The hellhound lunged again. It bit Pepper's other wrist, and she shook her arm and stabbed down at the same time, dealing some damage to the dog. She paused for a moment as it whimpered and jumped back. Surely this wasn't what she was supposed to be doing? She thought she was supposed to tame the dog, not kill it. But... this animal was so ugly... it'd be a terrible familiar... right?

 

ID: 9483

BD: 8 (1dmg + 2swordskill = 3 dmg)

MD: 7 (1 dmg)

 

Hellhound: 5/18

Pepper: 10/13

[Pepper 0]

In her moment of distraction, the hellhound snapped its jaws around her ankle again. Pepper kicked and stabbed to get the rabid mob off of her. When it tumbled to the ground, the hellhound lifted its head and hissed. As it hissed, its spine spiked up through its back and its face twisted up until it split into three parts, with a large tongue whipping out from the middle. Pepper backed away, her back pressing to the wall. She was terrified.

 

ID: 9554

BD: 8 (1dmg + 2swordskill = 3 dmg)

MD: 9 (1 dmg+1 crit)

 

Hellhound: 2/18

Pepper: 8/13

[Pepper 0]

The strange creature that once was a dog lashed its tongue out, wrapping around Pepper's ankle and tightening enough to deal a point of damage. The monster dragged Pepper forward, her body skidding on the ground. She whipped out her dagger, and with a yell, she sliced the mob's tongue off. It roared in pain, then finally shattered. 

 

Rewards: Dog Tongue (1, cooking mats)

 

ID: 9556

BD: 8 (1dmg + 2swordskill = 3 dmg)

MD: 8 (1 dmg)

LD: 1

 

Hellhound: 0/18 DEAD

Pepper: 7/13

[Pepper 0]

After being thoroughly disgusted by the dog tongue she received and leveling up, Pepper let out a long sigh and ran her fingers through her hair. She was not having the best of luck. The wall that had originally had an opening that also closed when she entered the room slowly opened with crack of stone. As she stepped out, she was met with a figure. It was a smaller dog than the hellhound, but it was still... strange looking. It tilted its head, its muzzle scrunching up as it sniffed Pepper. Pepper slowly took out the meat she had saved.

 

Pepper: 8/15

[Pepper 0]

ID: 9557 

LD: 4

 

The mob sniffed the meat, then looked up at Pepper. It then turned and jogged off before jumping into the lava and disappearing. Pepper groaned and put the meat away, letting out another long sigh. She really didn't want to be fighting another mob, and the darkness of the other cave kind of scared her... though, the sparkling cave would surely be a trap. She didn't have much time to care, though. She made her way to the dark cave, where she at least didn't know for a fact that she'd be faced with a fake treasure chest and a monster to fight.

 

9/15

[Pepper 0]

As Pepper made her way down the cave, the heat from the lava behind her slowly faded away and left her getting colder and colder. Soon, she was trembling and holding herself. It wasn't as cold as snow, but it was more a damp, cold cave sort of thing. She looked around. The tunnel was dark and slimy along the edges, and there was no sign of an end coming soon. She swallowed, watching as her health slowly crept up as she walked. She had to make it just a little longer without fighting a mob and she'd be full health.

 

Pepper: 10/15

[Pepper 0]

ID: 9836

LD: 14 (no material)

 

Pepper slowly wandered through the tunnel, noticing light in the distance. It was dim, but prevalent. The ground was changing beneath her feet with every step--small bits of the gritty ground were becoming smoother and smoother, until the ground was almost... slippery. The slight slipperiness dropped into intense slipperiness, and she fell right on her butt. Through the dark tunnel, she could see... a torch? It wasn't lit. As she stood up and approached it, it blazed suddenly and scared the crap out of her.

 

11/15

[Pepper 0]

ID: 10207

LD: 16 (1 material)

 

Beneath her feet, suddenly... there was wood. They were planks of wood, and they were pretty thick. Just up a head, there was a small tarp of white fabric. Her eyes shot open wide, and she lunged forward to grab it. She quickly picked it up, examining it. It was a little dirty, but she could clean it off. She would be using it for an order of gloves. Lovely!

 

12/15

[Pepper 0]

ID: 10865

LD: 5 (no material)

 

Along with that tarp of fabric, there was another. There were actually a bunch of them, lying on the ground in a row. It was almost like a broken up carpet of some sort. She reached down for the next one, and as she lifted it up... a million little fire ants swarmed out from underneath it. "EW!!" Pepper threw down the tarp to cover the ants back up, stepping away. She took a deep breath, then stomped on the square before continuing.

 

13/15

[Pepper 0]

ID: 10973

LD: 6 (no material)

 

Pepper, noticing another tarp, was unsure if she should pick it up or not. As she leaned down to eat, she heard the sound of a dog. It growled in the distance, then disappeared into the darkness. She looked around nervously, unsure of where it came from and forgot about the tarp. Up ahead, light shined. She took a few more nervous steps toward it.

 

14/15