[PP-F2] Following The Cries in The Dark - Let There Be Light

[Kalesh 0]

He was on the second floor for business, but it was soon interrupted by the tears of a crying NPC. This was the second time he was stopped in his tracks this day because he had seen an NPC performing emotions, simulated or not, that he had no idea they could express! How long before there were NPC that simulated love or something of the sort. Or maybe all of them together for some super-AI. Maybe even a -true- AI he thought optimistically. Noticing that Kalesh had stopped, the motherly NPC ran up to the crimson haired male and said "P-please! My child, my little baby girl, she's gone and run off to play in a cave after I specifically told her not to! Y-you have to help me!" A pop-up appeared for Kalesh with an accept and a refuse. He sighed softly as guilt, not matter how fake, started to fill him. He hit the accept button the female NPC almost immediately grabbing his hand and shaking it with both of her far more dainty hands. "Oh, thank you thank you! Please hurry!" said the NPC to the potential savior of her kin. Kalesh nodded while taking a breath to say "I'll do that is in my power to ensure you see your child again." He smiled, hoping the child and NPC weren't the same person over and over, it would make the quest really hollow.

While making his way towards the cave that the NPC described to him, he soon realized that caves were dark. And many creatures lurked in the dark that didn't appear otherwise on a floor. He was sure considering the floor's number he could easily handle anything here, but it was far better to have someone backing you up and keeping you prepared. He opened up a list full of every person he had ever met, scrolling through before he realized he hadn't really done much with Mack other than visit his shop. He spent a few minutes in debate before finally deciding he would invite the more experienced player along. What harm could come from it? At worst he said no and Kalesh continued on his way.

To: Mack
From: Kalesh
Subject: Up for an easy quest?

Hey, I just got approached by an NPC for a quest called Let There Be Light where I need to track down a child in a cave. Would you be up for coming along? It's only on the second floor, but still, some backup when I don't know what lies ahead would be nice. If you're busy, don't even worry about it, I have a teleport crystal if things do go south.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Kalesh

[Mack 0]

ID: 34774
LD: 8

Mack was just twisting into another axe strike with Invictus on the tree he was working on harvesting when a beeping sound reached his ears. The incoming message alert. When the axe strike failed to produce anything in the way of usable crafting materials the ginger bearded man sighed and then swiped his right hand in front of him to pull up his player menu and access his inbox. Mack's grey eyes quickly scanned the message from Kalesh before he tapped the reply button and typed out a quick answer to the missive.

To: Kalesh
From Mack
Subject: RE: Up For an Easy Quest

Let there be light. Done it. Shouldn't take too long. As luck would have it, I'm already on the second floor. On my way.

Tapping the send button, Mack wrenched Invictus free from the tree and started on his way to meet Kalesh at the cave where this particular quest took place. Enter the cave. Kill a few bats. Rescue an NPC kid. It wasn't exactly a strenuous mission by any stretch of the imagination. Sheathing his axe at his back, Mack went tromping off through the underbrush, heedless of the noise he was making or the mobs he might attract. With his stats being what they currently were he really had no fear of anything on the second floor. Within about a half hour he arrived at the cave where Kalesh was waiting.

"This one's not too hard, we should be able to blow through it pretty quickly," he rumbled, waiting for the other warrior to send him a party invite so they could get the show on the road.

[Kalesh 0]

[ID# 34777][LD: 19][1 Material]

Kalesh smiled happily when the reply message arrived. He calmly waited by for the large man to arrive, deciding to do a little 'lawn care' he slashes his katana through some tall grass and then kicking it around until he found an herb hidden in the grass which he slipped into his inventory. He smirked happily when he noticed Mack approaching, raising his hand in greeting. "Yo!" He smiled as he turned towards the cave's entrance "Yeah, I doubt it's gonna be too tough, but you never know, right?" He gives Mack a nudge with his elbow, a bit more confident in himself than the last time they had met. "Besides, we haven't seen each other outside of your forge for a while, right?" He sends Mack a party invite and points forward with the rare quality sword he held in his hand, made by Mack himself. "Onward to victory and what-not!" He says before leading the way inside. It was his first time, but he did consider himself the group leader this time at the least.

Taking the first steps into cave he noticed how dark it was getting. He didn't feel like he was about to go blind or something like that, but it was definitely going to be harder to see items or even aim at monsters for as long as they were inside. He didn't know if Mack had night vision or not, but Kalesh didn't so he'd have to rely on his accuracy boosting items. He taps his hotbar and a silver metal masquerade mask appears in his hand which is then placed on his face. "Anything I should be on the lookout for? Traps?" he asked the more experienced player curiously while keeping his eyes forward.

[Mack 0]

ID: 35561
LD: 1 (No Mat)

“It’s always good to help a fellow player, even if he has no intention of joining the ranks of the Crimson Blades,” Mack allowed, unsheathing Invictus from his back and running a finger along the axe’s razor sharp bladed head. With the weapon in hand he accepted Kalesh’s invitation to join a party as soon as the other man sent the invitation. Once they were partied up, Mack followed Kalesh into the cave, already knowing what to expect.

“Here, use these,” the massive man rumbled, pulling up his inventory and removing the Angelic Lantern gauntlets. “They grant light in a thirty meter radius and they’ll give you two ranks of Heavy Momentum,” Mack said, knowing that the gauntlets would make the entire ordeal of killing the bosses much easier in the cave. “There are a couple of bat bosses in here, nothing huge and I didn’t find any traps though I completed the quest before the combat system update.”

[Kalesh 0]

Kalesh smiled happily at the offer of helpful armor but he shakes his head and said "Thank you very much, seriously, I appreciate the thought, but I don't have any spare slots, and I'm light armor now." He gestures to the red leather coat he was wearing. "I'd rather keep my plus two accuracy mask on. Even if things get dark, I'll be able to hit things fairly well, and even dodge." He chuckled softly, his stats overpowering the darkness by a slight amount. It wasn't a huge difference but it was enough to make him feel safe and sound as he was. The light and heavy momentum was not worth the lack of mitigation in his opinion.

"Well, then let's hope it stays that way and the only 'trap' are the bats themselves." He says as he leads the way into the cave, drawing his katana and keeping his eyes focused forward and towards any possible forks in the dark cave as they went. For several minutes the cave was pretty empty save for a few mushrooms that emitted a light glow. Not enough to light anything up, just to be noticeable in the dark. Probably more of a distraction than anything else, doubting he could get any real use out of them for himself.

[ID# 35609][LD: 5(6-1)]

((I have changed weapon class since the latest update but I will continue current threads as still having my katana rank 3 and using Darkest Night :P ))

Edited October 20, 2015 by Kalesh

[Mack 0]

ID: 35649
LD: 2

"Suit yourself," Mack replied, shrugging his broad shoulders as Kalesh turned down the offer of the light giving gauntlets. Personally, Mack had found the heavy momentum to be useful when he had taken the quest. But, that had also been before the rebalance and, besides that, he couldn't force Kalesh to use them. As it was so dark in the cave in the almost complete absence of light that Mack didn't have much hope of finding any crafting materials unless he were to literally blunder right into something he could use. But, that was fine since he was sure there would be a few bats flittering around that he could eliminate soon enough anyway. "If your trip is anything like mine, the bats will find you one at a time. Really, though, with the two of us I doubt this will be overly difficult."

[Kalesh 0]

Kalesh nodded in agreement "Yeah, I mostly just prefer to have company when you get down to it." He smiled as he kept his eyes forward, listening closely for any sounds of a child or the bats that Mack described. He was pretty sure they'd be in the same direction of each other. When they reached a fork in the cave Kalesh listened closely, barely hearing a high pitched tone from the right path he says "This way I think." He goes down his chosen path with his pace picking up little by little. With the darkness he didn't really notice the ceiling was getting higher as they went. He did however hear the sound of wind and the scratching of claws on stone from above! "Found it!" He swiftly jumped aside, dodging the bat's attempt at a sneak attack, landing where Kalesh was a moment ago!

With his foe finally vaguely in sight Kalesh quickly noted the beast was at least as tall as himself! That wasn't saying much in this game however, so he charged at the bat which was trying to use the darkness and elevated ceiling to its advantage to evade and hide from the player! Kalesh was eager to get the first hit in before the bat could escape and so he triggered his concentration skill, focusing his attention intently on the bat as he sliced the bat four times without interruption before swatting it out of the sky with a downward chop to its wing! The bat was brought down to half health in the one move, making him grin with a slight sense of pride. "Oh yeah, not a big deal!"

[ID# 35665][BD: 6(4+2+1-1)][LD: 15(16-1, > 11= Bat detected!)][MD: 1]

Energy: 11/16 [-5 Wa Shu(5x5x1)]

Kalesh: 72/72HP [Concentration on CD 5 Turns]
Bat: 25/50HP -25

Edited October 20, 2015 by Kalesh