[PP-F2] Fists of Steel VS Rock of... Rock. (Mack) (Breaking the Unbreakable) [COMPLETE]

[Kalesh 0]

[ID# 28269][BD: 6][MD: 10]

Kalesh didn't feel much like wasting too much time either so he didn't question where Mack was going, focusing on his enemy and readying his blade. He hoped that the wolf's AI would have a failure and he'd get a finishing blow, but that was just him being optimistic. His optimism didn't particularily pay off, however. The wolf managed to pounce past his blade's guard and land a hard bite on his shoulder. Kalesh gave a yell out of shock before composing himself and hacking the wolf in the back with his sword, making the beast yelp and scamper off as it grew closer to death. He one the other hand had to deal with his HP entering the yellow. "Sunnava..."

[Kalesh - 7/15]

[Wolf - 2/8]

Edited August 20, 2015 by Kalesh

[Mack 0]

ID: 28316
LD: 7

"How you doin' with that wolf," Mack called out, making sure to yell loud enough to be heard over the sounds that the wolf was making as it did battle with Kalesh. In truth, the big blacksmith still wasn't overly concerned about Kalesh's ability to handle the wolf. Just looking at the health bars of both of them told Mack that Kalesh only, probably, needed to land one more hit in order to finish off the battle. Swinging Guillotine down off of his shoulder, Mack slammed it into his chosen tree, but this time nothing happened. "If you start getting worried, use the health potion, or tag me in," he said, yelling out instructions. Of course, if Kalesh took one more hit Mack would join the battle and end the wolf regardless. He wasn't going to let Kalesh die from a wolf, but the other player would eventually need to learn how to do things for himself, and this was a safe way to learn.

[Kalesh 0]

[ID# 28318][BD: 1][MD: 6]

He listened and said in turn "Almost done! One more hit and it's done for sure!... As long as he doesn't crit twice in a row he cannot kill me!" He reassured Mack that he had it handled, even if he was inexperienced he knew enough about the basics. He was going to try and avoid using the potion if he could, but one more hit like that would probably put him too close into the red for comfort. Thankfully the wolf failed to land any truly powerful attacks, fangs only grazing him but still doing their job as his health lowered just a bit more... but he showed absolutely no interest in backing down it seemed. In Kalesh's mind, there was no possible way he'd die from even the wolf's strongest attack right now. It was a huge gamble, but it was one he didn't seem concerned about just yet.

[Kalesh - 5/15]

[Wolf - 2/8]

Edited August 20, 2015 by Kalesh

[Mack 0]

ID: 28320
LD: 15 (+1 Mat)

"Keep at it then," Mack called over his shoulder, sparing a glance in the direction of his other party member. Kalesh still seemed to be doing alright, all things considered. Focusing, once again, on the task of harvesting crafting materials from the forest itself Mack swung the blade of Guillotine into the nearest tree. Wood chips sprayed all around him and another piece of lumber splintered from the tree. The blonde man collected it and then added it to his inventory before turning his grey eyes again on Kalesh. "Now might be a good time to use that health potion," he called out to the other warrior.

[Kalesh 0]

[ID# 28322][BD: 4][MD: 4]

Kalesh grit his teeth but had to accept that Mack had a point, as much as he may want to just risk it for another turn, he thought it’d be a bit more irresponsible to gamble his life on someone else’s time. Mack was waiting patiently on him after all so he reached into his inventory and retrieves the bottle of healing goodness before chugging the contents. He felt his health coming back and the wolf seemed too pre-occupied with circling menacingly around him.

[Kalesh - 10/15]

[Wolf - 2/8]

Edited August 20, 2015 by Kalesh

[Mack 0]

ID: 28323
LD: 1

Mack watched the battle for a few more moments. Kalesh had decided to take the offered advice and down the health potion after all, smart move. With his health nearly back up to full now, the other guy should have no trouble at all taking care of the minuscule amount of health that the wolf had left. One more clean hit would finish the canine off and then they could continue on their way to the unbreakable rock that Mack had already broken when he had completed the quest himself. Bringing Guillotine back, again, Mack buried the blade of his weapon in the tree, but nothing happened.

[Kalesh 0]

[ID# 28326][BD: 8][LD: 12][MD: 7]

With the potion drained and tossed aside, the bottle shattering in a surprisingly non-glassy way, he placed both hand on his hilt once again and watched he wolf circle, waiting for an opening or moment that he could exploit to his advantage from the beast, assuming it didn't move too fast for him to react. The beast seemed relatively predictable though and, feeling a little cheeky, he lunged his blade forward as the beast leaps to him. The blade goes down the beast's throat, skewering it on the long blade, but managing to go deep enough to bite his hand before shattering apart, making Kalesh gasp at the sensation and drop his blade for a moment as the victor screen appears. "Gragh! What is this, Princess Mononoke?!" He shakes his head and retrieves his blade, noting that he had gained a material for crafting, as well as a new item. It was nothing special or noteworthy, but it beat looking like an utter noob. Before revealing what the item was he started to tap through his inventory and equipped it. It was an iron chestplate, not a well made or spectacular one, but it offered more protection than what he had before, even offering shoulder plates. It looked like it could use some shining. "... Okay, it's dead! Sorry for the wait!"

[Kalesh - 8/15] +1 material, +1 Worn Iron Chestplate

[Wolf - 0/8] Dead

Edited August 20, 2015 by Kalesh

[Mack 0]

ID: 28327
LD: 18

Not bothering to check on Kalesh's progress, as he was no longer worried at all about the other warrior being able to complete the battle with the wolf succesfully, Mack turned all of his attention on harvesting crafting material. Extracting his axe from the tree he was working on harvesting, Mack hauled the blade of the bearded axe back and took a deep breath. With a grunt, he whipped the axe around his body and slammed it into the tree. There was a wild shower of wood chips and a crafting material separated itself out from the rest of the tree. The hulking blonde warrior scooped it up and added it to his inventory. "You got that wolf taken care of yet," he asked over his shoulder, still not really focusing on the fight. He'd given Kalesh all the advice he could, now the other guy needed to put it into practice to win his fight.

[Kalesh 0]

He raised a brow but didn't comment on it at all, figuring he simply didn't hear from the sound of his gathering. He steps over to the player while digging into his inventory. It seemed Kalesh had a potion of his own, not having the opportunity to explain since it was midair by that point. "Here, so we are even!" He smiled, wearing his new piece of armor. Without the heavy armor skill it wasn't overly helpful, but it made him look... less weak at least. "Got a decent loot roll it seems." He chuckled to himself while waiting to see if the taller axe wielder would accept the potion or refuse it. Either worked for him, he just didn't want to pretend like he didn't have one to begin with.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28330
LD: 6

"Keep it," Mack said, pushing the offered potion away. It wasn't that he couldn't take and store yet another healing potion. The simple fact of the matter, though, was that he had never used one since he'd never had need of it. Telling Kalesh that, though, would have been a bit on the rude and dismissive side. No doubt Kalesh needed the potion more than Mack did. Besides that, Mack hadn't offered to come along on the quest and help Kalesh just to take the other guy's items. Hauling back guillotine one last time, Mack slammed the blade of the bearded axe into the tree, but it didn't yield any other items. He shrugged his massive shoulders. "Ready to move on when you are, and after the quest is over swing by my shop in the Town of Beginnings. I'll trade you something useful for that worthless piece of armor."

Edited August 20, 2015 by Mack

[Kalesh 0]

Kalesh nodded softly and stored the item, having had a hunch that he was going to say that, but he didn't have enough of a deceitful streak to hide it away. "Alrighty then. Thanks for the potion then. Kinda wasted it is all." He had after all have been fine for the most part if he hadn't used it, he even leveled up after the fight! When told that he was ready to go, Kalesh nodded and followed the path they were already set on, asking Mack curiously "Oh?... But what do you gain from it? You've already given me a potion, just seems like you are losing a lot of profit, y'know?"

[Mack 0]

"More people better equipped means fewer deaths and more soldiers on the front line to clear the game faster," the smith grunted after a moment's thought. True, it was following the Zerg Blitz strategy, but if people were going to die in the real world when they died in the world of Sword Art Online then the stronger players had a moral obligation, a moral imperative, to aid the weaker players in whatever way they could. An adult gamer, and a veteran of these types of games, had more of a responsibility to the blonde man's way of thinking. "Besides, I can make everything I need or else trade my crafted gear to get it in simple barter. We should be near the rock now, about a quarter mile that way," the smith continued, changing the topic o the conversation rather abruptly and pointing in the right direction to find the quest objective.

[Kalesh 0]

Kalesh wasn't able to get a word in as Mack thought but he could see several pros to the strategy to go with the cons. More people meant more customers to some people's perceptions, if indirectly. That was just one example, and as Mack mentioned a unit of measurement he never bothered learning, he nodded in a bluff and said "Sweet, just a bit more and we can see about teaching that rock who is boss." He grins as he picks up his pace to a jog, shortening the time it would have taken and soon arriving at the entrance to the dungeon. As expected, the rock had respawned. He hummed in thought as he looked the rock over to see if there was some kinda of structural weakness of the like, just in case.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28366
LD: 16

When they arrived at the rock that was so desperately in need of breaking, Mack swung Guillotine down off of his shoulder and planted the iron butt cap of the weapon in the ground before spitting and then leaning on the top of the bearded axe's head. With grey eyes he followed Kalesh as the other warrior sized up the rock. Then, abruptly, he picked up his axe again and moved to the nearest tree. "Let me know if you want help with it," the blonde warrior called out in a gruff voice. Swinging Guillotine around in a flat arc Mack planted the blade of the weapon in the tree, there was a spray of wood chips and a crafting material separated itself from the tree, which Mack quickly scooped up.

[Kalesh 0]

He nodded as Mack spoke, stretching out before grabbing his blade tight in his hands "For the record, I don't expect this to work." He grinned an raised the blade over his head and slammed it into the rock, only causing him to recoil back harmlessly. "Slashing is a no." He points the tip of his blade to the rock and lunges forward, hitting the sharp end of the blade into the rock and bouncing off all the same. "Piercing isn't working." He changes the grip on his sword, rearing back like he was swinging a baseball bat, the blunt side of the blade crashing into the rock and harmlessly bouncing off like all past attempts, just leaving the blade singing. "Aaaaaand there goes blunt." He chuckles and tosses his sword into his inventory since it was 'useless' and instead thought on what he knew.

He spent several minutes considering what the puzzle would be again. A rock that couldn't be broken by weapons is what it boiled down to, so what could he use other than a weapon? He looks around, scanning the area for any clues, sure that anything he got from Mack would just be the solution or nothing at all. After minutes of consideration he found himself looking at his hands. He slowly closed them into fists as he said under his breath "Worst case I just lose some health..." He jabs forward with his fist, slamming it into the rock and watching in surprise as from the point of impact, the rock starts to crack, spreading throughout the rest of the object before suddenly shattering apart into the crystalline shapes all too familiar to a player! Moments later a pop up appeared congratulating him! "Whoo!~" He exclaims before looking over to Mack. "Okay, broke the rock!" *he smiled pridefully. It wasn't a complex puzzle since the floor level was so low he knew, but an achievement was an achievement.

[Mack 0]

ID: 28514
LD: 1

"Good for you," the burly axe man called over his shoulder, once again fully engrossed in the task of harvesting lumber from the nearby trees. There was a swishing whoosh as the axe knifed through the air and cut into a tree. But, there were no signs that the attempt to loot some crafting materials had been terribly successful. With a grunt, Mack tugged the axe free and considered Kalesh for a moment. As near as the blonde behemoth could tell, they had accomplished everything they had set out to do. "Check your skills list, make sure Martial Arts is there now. Is there anything else you need?"

[Kalesh 0]

Kalesh started swiping his finger in front of himself until he had reached his skill menu, glancing down to see the new skill had indeed been added. He tapped it to read the details before saying. "Neat, got some points too. Can't have too many of those." He closes all the open screens he had and said to Mack "Nah, that seems to be it. Thanks for the assist and advice." He held a hand out to Mack for a handshake. "Best of luck smithing something nice with all those materials you've been gathering." He grinned, sure he'd be able to make at least one item decent enough for his shop. "I myself am probably going to just head back and get myself some food. Noooot confident enough to take on the dungeons." He had no deathwishes or higher grade armor to back them up.

[Mack 0]

REWARDS:

Mack: 4 Mats, 1 SP

Kalesh: 1 Mat, 2 SP (Thread and Quest), Martial Arts, Worn Iron Chestplate

Edited August 23, 2015 by Mack