Monday, December 11, 2017
Saturday, March 14, 2015
ch 8 cont
I quickly regained my
balance and started moving through the trees, a little more deftly this time. I thought I could master moving with a cloak
given a few more minutes, but not long after regaining my balance I spotted
Paul and Chelsea sprinting towards coming towards the party. I signaled the
rest of the party that they were headed our way and got back on the ground as I
put away my cloak. We quickly sped up our pace and met up with the two of them
so that we can get their report. Once we got closer Paul started before any of
us could get a word in.
“Three trolls headed
our way, one of them said it smelled us and quickly started to give chase.”
(Paul)
“They’re forest trolls
to be exact, and there’s no way to avoid them. There are two level 28s and one
level 30. They can’t be more than a few minutes behind us.” (Chelsea)
“Well I was hoping to
run into just one of them, as to assess
how we deal with a massive creature, but three of them and one is a higher level than all of us this will be a heck of a
fight.” (John)
“The average troll’s
height is a third of a meter per level, that’s a little over a foot per level!
The strength behind a beast like that is nothing to joke about, I don’t think I
can take very many hits against those!” (Cory)
“That means I’ll tank,
just concentrate on crowd control! Make sure they don’t all come at me at once,
we’ll take them out one at a time. Focus your damage on one level 28 first, and
remember they’re resistant to physical attacks, but especially vulnerable to
status effects, debuffs, and magic damage. Ready or not here they come!” (John)
John didn’t have to say
anything about them coming, it was hard to miss the sound of the trees moving
around and the earth rumbling beneath our feet. We got into position behind
John, and found ourselves staring in the direction of the moving trees as it
got closer and closer. The anticipation of what was to come was making me
anxious, I read about the trolls and knew Cory was right about the height. I
also read that hitting these creatures was like hitting rocks, and thus one got
some damaged from hitting them with their bare fists. Trying to pierce a
troll’s skin was also very hard, and required exceptional strength, sharp
blades made from strong materials, and to make them bleed finding the softer
parts of their skin. This was one of the reasons I got the metal rods, the
other was I had some proficiency in using them. I drew them, and remembered
that forest trolls were especially susceptible to fire, and thus enchanted them
with fire.
I just finished getting
ready, when three figures burst into my line of sight. The foreknowledge of the
size of these trolls really didn’t help in preparing for the shock of seeing
them first hand. It was one thing to read about how big they were, it was
another to have 3 30 odd feet of bulky greenish figures barreling towards you
howling at you. It didn’t help that the faces of these creatures looked like a
sketch straight out of Da Vinci’s grotesque collection. Ugly, gigantic, wearing
a full set of leather armor, and each wielding a club half the size of all the
trees I’ve been jumping around on. These creatures could also move quite
quickly, it was almost cheating! I was in a daze looking at these impressive
creatures, but I snapped out of it when I saw John rushing in to meet them head
on! This isn’t going to be pretty, he’s
either going to go flying or be smashed into the ground once he meets the
trolls, or so I thought. John started
growing as he charged into the first troll, and when he met it he was half the
size of the troll and was only pushed back a little bit as the troll rammed
into his now 15 or so feet steel shield or maybe a more accurate description
would be his steel wall!
This leaves the other
two trolls, and John said to try and control them so they don’t come at him all
at once, probably so he can stay healed up. The only possibility open to me
would be to keep one of them preoccupied by using afterimages, but one hit from
that monstrosity it calls a club and I would most assuredly lose all my HP. I
also don’t doubt that if it hits me with any part of its body I’d die, the
level difference was just too big of a gap, and even Cory didn’t have
confidence in tanking one of these. I
guess all I can do is try my luck on spamming
-After Image-! I turn on -Physical Enchant- and rush towards the trolls,
but before I get to them I see an object fly to the bigger one. It hits, and it
turns out to be a piece of wood?! Wait it looks like it’s Cory’s wooden shield,
I’m confused as to why he would throw his shield away. I rush to try and catch
it so I can get it back to him, but before my eyes the shield starts growing!
It doesn’t stop and starts enveloping the troll, and at the same time it
started to grow roots that was embedding itself onto the ground. Very quickly
only the troll’s head is visible, and the rest of it was enveloped by a huge tree.
Is this what high level skills were like? John growing in size, and Cory
turning his shield into a tree to root an enemy? Monstrous! That’s the only
word I can think of to describe this fight. This left the last one, but not even a second
later I see vines from nearby trees start shooting out at it. Next, roots start
popping out of the ground, and both vines and roots start entangling the troll.
The troll is only slowed down at first as it easily rips off the first wave of
plants, but more and more of them started to try and wrap themselves around its
huge body. I decide that this must be the work of the nature affinity team and
they seem to have crowd control well in hand. I decide to leave things to them
and just focus on dealing some damage on the troll John is fighting.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
SEO ch 8 continued
SEO Ch 8
Part 2
I didn't have to wait long after practice for everyone to start logging back on. The break wasn't all that long, so I was surprised that everyone was getting ready on time. I for one almost didn't have time to practice, as my break was cut from the 2.4 hours I should have gotten to a measly 1.8 which I cut to 1.5 to have some time to practice. Night runs about 15 hours, which is 3 hours in real life. How it does this was beyond me, but I remember something about perception becoming enhanced and making the mind experience time dilation or something really it was above my head. Anyways I only had time to take a 30 minute nap, light exercise, and munching on my taco pancakes. I had precooked them before I started playing an left them covered so that I could eat them quick as I saw something like this happening.Truthfully the last two were just meat pancakes and I didn't bother with the toppings as I was rushing back. Most people think that the idea of my taco pancakes are weird, but once I convince them to try some they loved it. Everyone has their own favorite version though, as I make them so many ways, for example most of the ones I had was topped with lettuce and my own specially made salsa for it with the cheese melted in the pancake with the sautéed meat. John on the other hand likes it when I cook corn with the meat put that into the pancake and top it with molé. As I explained to others as far as my culinary creativity goes this isn't really that creative as it isn't much of a leap from a tortilla to a pancake. I happen to know that sometimes opposing tastes match from working at a genuine Chinese restaurant, like sweet going with sour and spicy flavors, and even putting those sauces to bring out the savory flavors of meat. Asian concept, meets European and Latin dishes oh so good. Wow can I get carried away thinking about food, as soon as I stop thinking about it I realize everyone else was just finishing gearing up and was breaking camp. I hurriedly start helping out, so we could get on our way.A few minutes later and we were all back in formation and headed back towards our destination. We started traversing the forest at a faster rate than day before as we now knew the speed at which we could travel and everyone could keep up. The new members of the party also now trusted the scouting abilities of Chelsea and Paul, so we could travel without having to worry too much about running into unexpected danger. I kept -Physical Enchant- on just in case we do though, which I found myself starting to get bored. I knew if I used -Body Part Enhancement- on my feet with -Physical Enchant- I would be a match in speed with everyone in the group except Paul, who right now was busy scouting. I decided to don my cloak and train with it on by trying to travel on the the trees. I made sure to keep the throwing knives unequipped to get the full experience. It didn't take long for the cloak to get caught on a branch that didn't budge when I moved to the next tree limb. This reduced the cloak's durability and caught me in an embarrassing position of hanging on the tree stuck This drew some laughs behind me, and I hurriedly swung my body to get unstuck.
Friday, January 30, 2015
An update
Hey guys got the outline for the first 3 arcs of SEO done, and broke it down to outlines of chapters. Hopefully this will let me release chapters quickly. The prologue for 2 other stories that's just been an idea is now on paper, so look forward to Second Earth Online: E.A.T. and a new dystopian future mixed with fantasy novel yet to be named. Also thinking of revising the intro to the Multiverse series. If anyone has an opinion of which series they want released first feel free to comment!
Thursday, January 22, 2015
SEO ch 8
I'm back from vacation! I'll be updating SEO and I've got an outline for 2 new series! I want to finish the 15th chapter of SEO by Feb 10, and have the prologue and maybe the first chapter of the 2 new series up by the end of Feb. I appreciate anyone reading this and thanks for your support! Feel free to comment and review!
SEO chapter 8
Part 1
I logged back in earlier than the agreed time, I wanted to try moving around with my new equipment. In exchange for some of the clubs, food, and 1 silver I got 2 iron knives, a decent set of linen clothes and wool socks, a leather vest to wear over it, a leather belt, finger-less leather gloves, a hooded cloak made from linen and water-proofed, and 8 throwing iron knives that the cloak had place for. For some rabbit's hides and 2 silver Jessica crafted me 4 sheathes, 2 for knives and 2 for fighting rods. I had her make angled belt loops on all of them, and straps that could go over the shoulder on for the fighting rods. Right now I wore one knife on either side of my hip and the fighting rods were on my shoulders, donned on so that they crossed across my back under my cloak. The group explained to me that equipment was limited to only one's imagination, and that although one had the usual inventory space it was impossible to access it during a battle. This is where creating "quick slots" came in they told me. Any player can store items on their person in whatever way they want to help them access whatever items they may need during a battle. Chie's potion bag and Jessica's giant quiver that held totems were prime examples of this. Jessica told me that she technically could use any item as a medium, but having a made totem made skill use faster and more effective so not to expect all shaman's to be going around with a bunch of totems on their back like she did. This was an idea she came up with herself, and it took a fair amount of strength for her to be able to pull it off.
Movement and fighting both seemed to have one common problem, the cloak. In books and RPGs (MMOs and single-player ones) cloaks have always been a must. They always made the characters seem more impressive, providing various utility like little pockets for items or keeping helping weather changes in climate, using it for a pillow or a blanket while traveling, having some sort of special ability with them, using it to show off a guild emblem, and it was that one extra slot for equipment that could give the character more stats. The cloak also one of the best visual features, which was flowing in the wind. I always thought it looked cool and would imagine myself wearing one while traveling around in an unknown world while my cloak billowed in the wind. That was the exact problem, as soon as I threw the knives that weighed down the cloak it seemed to just catch on random branches. Then there was fighting, while I was practicing I found that the cloak was in the way even when the knives weighed it down. There is an art to fighting with a cloak, and I for one don't know it. The problem was keeping the cloak where it doesn't get in the way, that is to say behind the shoulder. A good cloak is made to keep a person warm in their travels, that is to say there should barely be an opening in the front. This made it easy to hold the cloak down around the traveler and keep the elements from getting to them. This was also the problem when fighting,if caught unaware and forgot about the limitations the cloak just gets in the way. If an enemy were to randomly appear and I was caught unaware there were only a few moves I could use right away. I could quickly thrown a knife, use an elbow, or hit them with a hook quickly as an example. I'd need to throw my cloak back over my shoulder before I could have full range of movement without the cloak being in my way. I could still throw some straights or stab with a knife, but the cloak would just go back to its original position leaving me back to where I started. I tried fighting with the cloak was over my shoulder at first, and some movements would be hindered with my cloak flying every which way. Long story short, I decided to take off my cloak until I could train to fight in it.
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
SEO ch 7
We traveled in a west by southwest direction, through some a large forest. Cory led the way, however Chelsea was scouting ahead with Paul following her close by. We hadn't gotten very far when Paul came back, he reported that they had spotted 6 hobgoblins fighting a pack of 9 dire wolves up ahead. John decided that this would be a good time to test out their combat strategy. He asked Conner which mob he thought his party would be able to handle best, he replied that either would work. He also commented that as they had 2 potential tanks it might be easier for John's group to take the smaller mob. John agreed, as he didn't know the abilities of 2 of his members as of yet. He had Paul lead the way, and not too long later we came upon them.
The hobgoblins looked like a bigger version of the goblins I hunted. Green, bald, with an impish looking face and they also wore the same kind of armor. However, the equipment and weapons they wore seemed to be in better shape than the goblins'. The hobgoblins were all level 24, and was set-up like a balanced party. They had two members with a shield and sword, two archers, two mages, and one person using two slim metal sticks. The direwolves looked like wolves, except they were twice as big, and their fur looked to have a metallic sheen to them. They were all in level 28, except one of them was about 10% bigger than the others and was a level 30. I couldn't tell what any of their HP was, but I was glad I could even see their levels. This must be because I had kept -Analysis- on so much and the level was now 22. The two were locked in combat with the direwolves on the left side and the hobgonlins on the right.
Silently John along with Yuki and Belle moved closer angling to the right, while the other 3 members of EAT moved closer angling to the left. I noticed that Chelsea started to move on the trees following her group. Chie and Paul noticed what was happening, and started to follow John, with Paul jumping from tree to tree. I decided to go forward on the tree tops taking the middle route to have a view of both teams' tactics. Next thing I knew both parties came to a stop, and Chelsea had her arrow drawn waiting. On John's side side a ball of fire suddenly flew out heading towards the hobgoblins, and at that moment Chelsea fired off arrow after arrow. The ball of fire hit the two lead hobgoblins, and one direwolf. Chelsea seems to have hit all 9 wolves almost instantly. This got each mobs' attention, the hobgoblins were looking towards Yuki and the wolves towards Chelsea. They rushed in, John, Cory, and Kelly all rushing in to meet them.
Next thing I knew John and Cory both scream "-War Cry-" while Kelly called out "-Bear Form-", Kelly mutated and looked like a Werebear standing taller than anyone else. As she changed she let out a growl the echoed through the area. On John's side the lead group of hobgoblins crashed on John's tower shield, and on Cory's side the direwolves seemed to have been stunned in place. I can't quite hear what Jessica is muttering to herself, but totems start sticking out of her giant quiver. As they move up she grabs them and places them on the ground. I see mana surge out from the first totem towards everyone including me, next thing I know I see a small icon pop-up at the top right of my vision. Once I focused on it the buff is labeled as Mana Regen up. It's soon followed by a slew of other buffs as Jessica puts down more totems. At the same time Chelsea seems to be raining death down on the direwolves with her arrows.
I turn my attention to John's side of things John seems to be getting pelted by all kinds of attack, but it doesn't seem to bother him at all. Most of the attacks he was able to receive behind his mammoth of a shield. Yuki seems to be floating up in the air and is casting down a hail of spells. I see her mana depleting quickly, even with Jessica's buff - which I see reaches her - she is burning through mana quick. All of a sudden I see Chie throw something at her that breaks right in front of her and her mana was instantly filled back up. Paul had snuck behind the enemy lines and has jumped down and struck one of the mages. The mages were far enough back that they weren't in the area of Yuki's spells. He was proceeding to hit them with his daggers, when it turned around and blocked with his staff. At this point John yelled out -War Cry-, and it turned back to casting spells on John.
I turn back towards Cory's group, and it seems that the direwolves weren't stunned anymore, but were all now ensnared by vines. Whatever spell that was on them however had now given way and they were now engaging Cory and Kelly. It looks like they had both managed to take half the mob, 4 were fixated on Kelly and 4 on Cory. Wait, where's the big one? It was crouched down and was flanking Jessica! They probably haven't noticed, as it was easy to miss right now as it was somewhat translucent. The only reason I saw it so quickly was that I could see its mana from -Analyze-, and now everyone was trained on the diewolves in front too. It's 6 times as strong as I am, but I'm sure if Jessica went the regular caster stat build she's probably in a more precarious position than I would be if I was fighting it. So, I take of -Analyze- and decide to buff up my -Physical Enchant- to 10x output. Jessica's buffs and my -External Mana Control- feeding into my mana reserves, it seems I can hold this indefinitely!
I was quickly right overhead, and just in time the direwolf was pouncing! I jumped down to meet its course, and right on target I hit its body with a kick. It was knocked down, and I with a flare of -Body Part Enhancement- to my legs I kicked it away with a -Mana Blast-. The crash made Jessica jump, as she realized she almost took a hit. I vaguely heard her say something, but my focus was now entirely on the direwolf, The animal was sizing me up now, circling as I did the same waiting for it to make its move.
I decide I couldn't wait any longer, I cut my output of -Physical Enchant- in half and ran forward. I then activated -After Image- and jumped backwards, ran to the side and hit another -After Image-. As I was running trying to get to its rear the direwolf was looking from one image to the other not knowing which to attack. I kept hitting -After Image-, and then with my 5th one I turned it into a -Doppelganger- instead. I quickly enhanced it with a -Physical Enchant- of its own and multiplied it by 3x. I dashed in with my -Doppelganger-, I took the right flank while it took its rear. We hit at the same time with a superman punch. Ouch! It's fur was hard, but I had no time to think about that now. I had to follow up on my initial hit so I hit it with a two-handed smash from both of us, and it got knocked down to the ground. We promptly stomped on its neck a few times, I thought about trying to finish it this way but decided not to chance it. I grab it from underneath along with the doppelganger and we throw it up high as we can. I have the doppelganger help me with a jump, and cut the mana flow from it. I meet the dire wolf with my knee as I took off -Physical Enchant- and layered on buffs on my hands. -Body Part Enhancement-, -Fire Enchant-, -Wind Enchant-, -Body part Enhancement-, -Wind Enchant-, -Fire Enchant-! As my knee met the direwolf I had my fists clasped together for another downward smash! As I make contact I drain all the mana I had left with a huge -Multi Blast- that used all of the buffs I had on. The pressure of the resulting blasts pushes me back up a bit and back into a tree trunk. I see my HP bar suddenly appear and blink yellow at 45% at the top of my vision and I quickly had to change my -External Mana Control- onto a -Physical Enchant- to try and reduce my fall damage. As I was dealing with that the direwolf's burning body promptly hit the ground hard and disappeared. I too hit the ground and it drops my health down to 15% and promptly my HP went back to full. It seems I had gained an audience as everyone had finished while I still had my attention on my fight. I promptly get some EXP, loot, and skill level up notifications which I dismiss not bothering to look at it as I see the others doing the same thing.
"Chris what was that? There were 6 of you at one point, then there's that massive explosion, and you end up beating a level 30!" (Jessica)
"Some skills I picked up, and I couldn't have done so much without all those buffs especially the extra mana and mana regen."
"That was still impressive, I had my doubts about a level 5 partying with us. After that display though, I don't anymore. Those skills you used, they looked like some skills you get from the Ninja class. -After Image- and -Doppelganger- two fairly low leveled skills right?" (Paul)
"No that can't be right Chris is still a Novice. Also the way he fought definitely styled after the Monk class." (Cory)
"Did you find a mentor from those two classes that was willing to teach you without becoming one of them Chris?" (Chelsea)
"It is -After Image- and -Doppelganger-, but I got them by myself."(Chris)
"You found some skill books? So it had both the prerequisites and the chants to use them?" (Yuki)
"Hey I know you didn't take {Literacy} how'd you learn how to read skill books? We're forgetting the bigger mystery here guys. How'd you deal so much damage to a level 30? How high a level are your skills?" (John)
"You guys make a lot of presumptions.... I started playing the game thinking what the intro said, that all skills can be acquired as long as the proper conditions are met. I've just been looking for those conditions, and I'll leave it at that. As far as my skill levels well the highest right now is around 80." (Chris)
"80?!" (Everyone else)
"Level 80! That's a serious amount of grinding without a class, why don't you hurry and get one so you can level up? I'm sure you meet the conditions to get a few higher leveled skills if you picked the right class." (John)
"I'm enjoying being a Novice at the moment thank you very much. I'll get a class once I figure out which direction I want to go to. I'm going to try and find some mage skills when I have the time next time. I'm liking the Shaman buffs though, I wonder if I can still fight hand to hand as a Shaman."
"Technically you can, but my stats aren't built in that direction and you would severely limit some of the skills and number of buffs and totems you can use at a time if you did that. Unlike other casters a Shaman needs [MND] first and foremost relying on spamming spells if I went solo. I would spam some crowd control skills and what little debuffs and status effects I have. Then I'd start using my offensive magic. [MND] is essential because it takes quite a bit of mana to use totems, granted if you use a mana regen totem you could get them out quickly if you had some time to wait for mana to regenerate. Still the class gets a major [MND] boost every level up and minor [END] and [INT] so its not like it leaves you running without the necessary mana, just not enough mana to have all the totems out unless you work on [MND] quite a bit." (Jessica)
"Oh. I have a question for you guys, how come we didn't concentrate on one target at a time? I saw Paul hitting the hobgoblins that wasn't being hit by Yuki's spells. Then there was Chelsea hitting all the direwolves instead of just one." (Chris)
"Oh my class has skills that add damage over time and debuffs to their arrows using skills. You probably couldn't hear me, but I was using all sorts of different arrows on the direwolves. Paul didn't go into Yuki's attack area because unlike old MMOs there is actually friendly fire here." (Chelsea)
"Oh I see, so party hunting here isn't like how it used to be. Sure tanks and healers still have the same roles, but DPS has to be mindful of their area of attack and the others' to make sure it doesn't hit friendlies. Meanwhile, tanks have to be even more mindful of all the mobs because they can't hit all of them all the time. Basically the tank just has to make sure melee DPS can 1v1 at worst and at best keep their focus on them." (Chris)
"That's exactly it! The only problem is that taunts have a limited range and don't always work. That's how you run into things like that direwolf attacking Jessica. Usually they'd call for help, but actually we were already finishing up the last of the encounter when you engaged. We were ready to jump in, then you knocked it down and then up and Jessica, Belle, Kelly, and Cory buffed you some more just in case. We didn't want to accidentally hit you, so we just stayed out of your way. Well we're burning daylight we better get a move on before we have to set-up camp. Now that you know how a party works you can engage how you see fit as your style is certainly unique. We can discuss more once make camp."
We encountered 6 more mobs before it got dark, and we used basically the same set-up. There were times when 3 tanks were excessive or even 2. In those cases Kelly would use a form that resembled a werewolf or a wereeagle. Kelly's -Wolf Form- is a high speed damage dealer, while her -Eagle Form- is a power hitter. In eagle form she would use power attacks by diving at the enemy from high in the air, or grabbing them with her large talons and dropping them from on high. Cory on the other hand would use two swords, and one of which was the bastard sword on his back, I thought it was impossible, but when he drew it vines crept along his arm and onto his grip like it was helping him wield it. This he said was a skill only taught to other warden's at level 20, and it let him wield two-handed swords with one hand. Unlike other dual-wielders he didn't rely on high speed and dexterity on attacks, but instead used the weight of the bastard sword to help him swing around and use the one-handed sword quickly. He would use the one-handed sword for swift strikes and blocks and when he found an opening used the two-handed sword for massive damage. This tactic definitely worked well. As for me I would usually join the melee damage dealers, sometimes using 3 doppelgangers with no -Physical Enchant- on for kicks and giggles. This made me more aware of my surroundings as I had to keep track of all the other doppelgangers and made sure they were attacking the targets of the others correctly. I also made sure all targets were accounted for and when they weren't would shout at Chelsea at the tree tops that one or some were missing. I would join her and we would try and spot them with me over the support as a quick guard for them. While this happened I orchestrated what my doppelgangers was doing, which definitely strains your mind after a while and resulted in me using vague vocal commands when it got to be too much.
Once it was dusk we set-up camp which started with people rolling up bags in a circle. Then, the two rogues went and set-up some traps while everyone else put some logs out to make a perimeter. While we were finishing up Chelsea came back with a bunch of stones and Paul came back with some branches. Paul set some of the sticks into the center of camp putting the rest nearby, and used Chelsea's stones to make a perimeter around it. They asked Yuki to light it for them, but she said it wouldn't be a good idea for her to use a -Fireball- because the resulting explosion could set the camp ablaze. She didn't have any more basic fire spells and didn't have a finer control of the spell, so Paul took out a flint. I interrupted and set my hand ablaze with -Fire Enchant- and just touched a stick, I guess they really didn't see my buffs up close.
Once camp was set-up a watch schedule so that everyone could take care of their physical needs. Bathroom breaks, food, and a nap was the basics for the night. This also let whoever was on watch to use the time to take care of [SAT] and take out or cook up some food and eat it. We ran into a small problem as there was no way to contact Chie and Paul as they nobody had their real life contact information. It was decided that they take first watch and I just volunteered to do a double as I really didn't like splitting up my break time. This ensured I had a decent time to take a break as I'm sure everyone would want first or last watch. This normally would have been true, but John volunteered for third watch which lead to 3 others wanting to be paired up with him. So that meant they just drew lots, with the only requirements that Chelsea and Cory have their watches together. In the end the watch came out with Chelsea and Cory taking last watch, Kelly and Yuki taking fourth, Belle was with John, and Jessica was with me. That was how watches were going to be set for the rest of the time with Chie and Paul requiring to set-up alarms as to when we would be departing for the next leg.
The hobgoblins looked like a bigger version of the goblins I hunted. Green, bald, with an impish looking face and they also wore the same kind of armor. However, the equipment and weapons they wore seemed to be in better shape than the goblins'. The hobgoblins were all level 24, and was set-up like a balanced party. They had two members with a shield and sword, two archers, two mages, and one person using two slim metal sticks. The direwolves looked like wolves, except they were twice as big, and their fur looked to have a metallic sheen to them. They were all in level 28, except one of them was about 10% bigger than the others and was a level 30. I couldn't tell what any of their HP was, but I was glad I could even see their levels. This must be because I had kept -Analysis- on so much and the level was now 22. The two were locked in combat with the direwolves on the left side and the hobgonlins on the right.
Silently John along with Yuki and Belle moved closer angling to the right, while the other 3 members of EAT moved closer angling to the left. I noticed that Chelsea started to move on the trees following her group. Chie and Paul noticed what was happening, and started to follow John, with Paul jumping from tree to tree. I decided to go forward on the tree tops taking the middle route to have a view of both teams' tactics. Next thing I knew both parties came to a stop, and Chelsea had her arrow drawn waiting. On John's side side a ball of fire suddenly flew out heading towards the hobgoblins, and at that moment Chelsea fired off arrow after arrow. The ball of fire hit the two lead hobgoblins, and one direwolf. Chelsea seems to have hit all 9 wolves almost instantly. This got each mobs' attention, the hobgoblins were looking towards Yuki and the wolves towards Chelsea. They rushed in, John, Cory, and Kelly all rushing in to meet them.
Next thing I knew John and Cory both scream "-War Cry-" while Kelly called out "-Bear Form-", Kelly mutated and looked like a Werebear standing taller than anyone else. As she changed she let out a growl the echoed through the area. On John's side the lead group of hobgoblins crashed on John's tower shield, and on Cory's side the direwolves seemed to have been stunned in place. I can't quite hear what Jessica is muttering to herself, but totems start sticking out of her giant quiver. As they move up she grabs them and places them on the ground. I see mana surge out from the first totem towards everyone including me, next thing I know I see a small icon pop-up at the top right of my vision. Once I focused on it the buff is labeled as Mana Regen up. It's soon followed by a slew of other buffs as Jessica puts down more totems. At the same time Chelsea seems to be raining death down on the direwolves with her arrows.
I turn my attention to John's side of things John seems to be getting pelted by all kinds of attack, but it doesn't seem to bother him at all. Most of the attacks he was able to receive behind his mammoth of a shield. Yuki seems to be floating up in the air and is casting down a hail of spells. I see her mana depleting quickly, even with Jessica's buff - which I see reaches her - she is burning through mana quick. All of a sudden I see Chie throw something at her that breaks right in front of her and her mana was instantly filled back up. Paul had snuck behind the enemy lines and has jumped down and struck one of the mages. The mages were far enough back that they weren't in the area of Yuki's spells. He was proceeding to hit them with his daggers, when it turned around and blocked with his staff. At this point John yelled out -War Cry-, and it turned back to casting spells on John.
I turn back towards Cory's group, and it seems that the direwolves weren't stunned anymore, but were all now ensnared by vines. Whatever spell that was on them however had now given way and they were now engaging Cory and Kelly. It looks like they had both managed to take half the mob, 4 were fixated on Kelly and 4 on Cory. Wait, where's the big one? It was crouched down and was flanking Jessica! They probably haven't noticed, as it was easy to miss right now as it was somewhat translucent. The only reason I saw it so quickly was that I could see its mana from -Analyze-, and now everyone was trained on the diewolves in front too. It's 6 times as strong as I am, but I'm sure if Jessica went the regular caster stat build she's probably in a more precarious position than I would be if I was fighting it. So, I take of -Analyze- and decide to buff up my -Physical Enchant- to 10x output. Jessica's buffs and my -External Mana Control- feeding into my mana reserves, it seems I can hold this indefinitely!
I was quickly right overhead, and just in time the direwolf was pouncing! I jumped down to meet its course, and right on target I hit its body with a kick. It was knocked down, and I with a flare of -Body Part Enhancement- to my legs I kicked it away with a -Mana Blast-. The crash made Jessica jump, as she realized she almost took a hit. I vaguely heard her say something, but my focus was now entirely on the direwolf, The animal was sizing me up now, circling as I did the same waiting for it to make its move.
I decide I couldn't wait any longer, I cut my output of -Physical Enchant- in half and ran forward. I then activated -After Image- and jumped backwards, ran to the side and hit another -After Image-. As I was running trying to get to its rear the direwolf was looking from one image to the other not knowing which to attack. I kept hitting -After Image-, and then with my 5th one I turned it into a -Doppelganger- instead. I quickly enhanced it with a -Physical Enchant- of its own and multiplied it by 3x. I dashed in with my -Doppelganger-, I took the right flank while it took its rear. We hit at the same time with a superman punch. Ouch! It's fur was hard, but I had no time to think about that now. I had to follow up on my initial hit so I hit it with a two-handed smash from both of us, and it got knocked down to the ground. We promptly stomped on its neck a few times, I thought about trying to finish it this way but decided not to chance it. I grab it from underneath along with the doppelganger and we throw it up high as we can. I have the doppelganger help me with a jump, and cut the mana flow from it. I meet the dire wolf with my knee as I took off -Physical Enchant- and layered on buffs on my hands. -Body Part Enhancement-, -Fire Enchant-, -Wind Enchant-, -Body part Enhancement-, -Wind Enchant-, -Fire Enchant-! As my knee met the direwolf I had my fists clasped together for another downward smash! As I make contact I drain all the mana I had left with a huge -Multi Blast- that used all of the buffs I had on. The pressure of the resulting blasts pushes me back up a bit and back into a tree trunk. I see my HP bar suddenly appear and blink yellow at 45% at the top of my vision and I quickly had to change my -External Mana Control- onto a -Physical Enchant- to try and reduce my fall damage. As I was dealing with that the direwolf's burning body promptly hit the ground hard and disappeared. I too hit the ground and it drops my health down to 15% and promptly my HP went back to full. It seems I had gained an audience as everyone had finished while I still had my attention on my fight. I promptly get some EXP, loot, and skill level up notifications which I dismiss not bothering to look at it as I see the others doing the same thing.
"Chris what was that? There were 6 of you at one point, then there's that massive explosion, and you end up beating a level 30!" (Jessica)
"Some skills I picked up, and I couldn't have done so much without all those buffs especially the extra mana and mana regen."
"That was still impressive, I had my doubts about a level 5 partying with us. After that display though, I don't anymore. Those skills you used, they looked like some skills you get from the Ninja class. -After Image- and -Doppelganger- two fairly low leveled skills right?" (Paul)
"No that can't be right Chris is still a Novice. Also the way he fought definitely styled after the Monk class." (Cory)
"Did you find a mentor from those two classes that was willing to teach you without becoming one of them Chris?" (Chelsea)
"It is -After Image- and -Doppelganger-, but I got them by myself."(Chris)
"You found some skill books? So it had both the prerequisites and the chants to use them?" (Yuki)
"Hey I know you didn't take {Literacy} how'd you learn how to read skill books? We're forgetting the bigger mystery here guys. How'd you deal so much damage to a level 30? How high a level are your skills?" (John)
"You guys make a lot of presumptions.... I started playing the game thinking what the intro said, that all skills can be acquired as long as the proper conditions are met. I've just been looking for those conditions, and I'll leave it at that. As far as my skill levels well the highest right now is around 80." (Chris)
"80?!" (Everyone else)
"Level 80! That's a serious amount of grinding without a class, why don't you hurry and get one so you can level up? I'm sure you meet the conditions to get a few higher leveled skills if you picked the right class." (John)
"I'm enjoying being a Novice at the moment thank you very much. I'll get a class once I figure out which direction I want to go to. I'm going to try and find some mage skills when I have the time next time. I'm liking the Shaman buffs though, I wonder if I can still fight hand to hand as a Shaman."
"Technically you can, but my stats aren't built in that direction and you would severely limit some of the skills and number of buffs and totems you can use at a time if you did that. Unlike other casters a Shaman needs [MND] first and foremost relying on spamming spells if I went solo. I would spam some crowd control skills and what little debuffs and status effects I have. Then I'd start using my offensive magic. [MND] is essential because it takes quite a bit of mana to use totems, granted if you use a mana regen totem you could get them out quickly if you had some time to wait for mana to regenerate. Still the class gets a major [MND] boost every level up and minor [END] and [INT] so its not like it leaves you running without the necessary mana, just not enough mana to have all the totems out unless you work on [MND] quite a bit." (Jessica)
"Oh. I have a question for you guys, how come we didn't concentrate on one target at a time? I saw Paul hitting the hobgoblins that wasn't being hit by Yuki's spells. Then there was Chelsea hitting all the direwolves instead of just one." (Chris)
"Oh my class has skills that add damage over time and debuffs to their arrows using skills. You probably couldn't hear me, but I was using all sorts of different arrows on the direwolves. Paul didn't go into Yuki's attack area because unlike old MMOs there is actually friendly fire here." (Chelsea)
"Oh I see, so party hunting here isn't like how it used to be. Sure tanks and healers still have the same roles, but DPS has to be mindful of their area of attack and the others' to make sure it doesn't hit friendlies. Meanwhile, tanks have to be even more mindful of all the mobs because they can't hit all of them all the time. Basically the tank just has to make sure melee DPS can 1v1 at worst and at best keep their focus on them." (Chris)
"That's exactly it! The only problem is that taunts have a limited range and don't always work. That's how you run into things like that direwolf attacking Jessica. Usually they'd call for help, but actually we were already finishing up the last of the encounter when you engaged. We were ready to jump in, then you knocked it down and then up and Jessica, Belle, Kelly, and Cory buffed you some more just in case. We didn't want to accidentally hit you, so we just stayed out of your way. Well we're burning daylight we better get a move on before we have to set-up camp. Now that you know how a party works you can engage how you see fit as your style is certainly unique. We can discuss more once make camp."
We encountered 6 more mobs before it got dark, and we used basically the same set-up. There were times when 3 tanks were excessive or even 2. In those cases Kelly would use a form that resembled a werewolf or a wereeagle. Kelly's -Wolf Form- is a high speed damage dealer, while her -Eagle Form- is a power hitter. In eagle form she would use power attacks by diving at the enemy from high in the air, or grabbing them with her large talons and dropping them from on high. Cory on the other hand would use two swords, and one of which was the bastard sword on his back, I thought it was impossible, but when he drew it vines crept along his arm and onto his grip like it was helping him wield it. This he said was a skill only taught to other warden's at level 20, and it let him wield two-handed swords with one hand. Unlike other dual-wielders he didn't rely on high speed and dexterity on attacks, but instead used the weight of the bastard sword to help him swing around and use the one-handed sword quickly. He would use the one-handed sword for swift strikes and blocks and when he found an opening used the two-handed sword for massive damage. This tactic definitely worked well. As for me I would usually join the melee damage dealers, sometimes using 3 doppelgangers with no -Physical Enchant- on for kicks and giggles. This made me more aware of my surroundings as I had to keep track of all the other doppelgangers and made sure they were attacking the targets of the others correctly. I also made sure all targets were accounted for and when they weren't would shout at Chelsea at the tree tops that one or some were missing. I would join her and we would try and spot them with me over the support as a quick guard for them. While this happened I orchestrated what my doppelgangers was doing, which definitely strains your mind after a while and resulted in me using vague vocal commands when it got to be too much.
Once it was dusk we set-up camp which started with people rolling up bags in a circle. Then, the two rogues went and set-up some traps while everyone else put some logs out to make a perimeter. While we were finishing up Chelsea came back with a bunch of stones and Paul came back with some branches. Paul set some of the sticks into the center of camp putting the rest nearby, and used Chelsea's stones to make a perimeter around it. They asked Yuki to light it for them, but she said it wouldn't be a good idea for her to use a -Fireball- because the resulting explosion could set the camp ablaze. She didn't have any more basic fire spells and didn't have a finer control of the spell, so Paul took out a flint. I interrupted and set my hand ablaze with -Fire Enchant- and just touched a stick, I guess they really didn't see my buffs up close.
Once camp was set-up a watch schedule so that everyone could take care of their physical needs. Bathroom breaks, food, and a nap was the basics for the night. This also let whoever was on watch to use the time to take care of [SAT] and take out or cook up some food and eat it. We ran into a small problem as there was no way to contact Chie and Paul as they nobody had their real life contact information. It was decided that they take first watch and I just volunteered to do a double as I really didn't like splitting up my break time. This ensured I had a decent time to take a break as I'm sure everyone would want first or last watch. This normally would have been true, but John volunteered for third watch which lead to 3 others wanting to be paired up with him. So that meant they just drew lots, with the only requirements that Chelsea and Cory have their watches together. In the end the watch came out with Chelsea and Cory taking last watch, Kelly and Yuki taking fourth, Belle was with John, and Jessica was with me. That was how watches were going to be set for the rest of the time with Chie and Paul requiring to set-up alarms as to when we would be departing for the next leg.
Monday, December 15, 2014
seo ch 6 pt 2
About 10 minutes before we were supposed to meet people started to trickle in approaching the appointed table for the group. The first to arrive Jessica in a leather armor highlighted with furs in a brown and green color scheme. Her outfit was covered up with a brown cloak, but it didn't completely hide the fact that her leathers were quite form fitting enough so that it made me blush a little. She also had what looked like an over-sized quiver that went from a little over her shoulder to a little below her hips. It looked to contain several sticks each uniquely adorned with feathers, furs, and various carvings. I've taken to the habit of keeping -Analyze- on and it looked like each of the sticks had its own mana signature. Jessica's clothing was also coursing with mana, but it looked almost alive. She gave me a quick hug before she sat down next to me.
Next came Chelsea and Cory, both of which had leather armor too. Chelsea had a design reminiscent of a rogue in old MMOs, but in an almost tribal way was also accented with feathers. She also had a dark green cloak on with its hood down, a bow slung over her shoulder, and a quiver full of arrows on her back. Cory on the other hand looked like the barbarian class of old, except he too had feathers where the usual fur should be. He had a sword on his hip and huge bastard sword on his back along with a shield. This was confusing, as for one a bastard sword used 2 hands yet he had other equipment ready to use, and also all his equipment was made out of wood! Their equipment's mana also seemed to be alive, just like Jessica's. They gave hugs all around, of course Cory and I did a bro hug instead. They sat right across from us as we chatted waiting for the rest to arrive.
A few minutes later Kelly arrived, looking like the female version of Cory. There were differences though, as the shoulders of her armor were adorned in fur because it looked to be made of large claws. She also seemed to be completely unarmed, unless she had some weapon hidden on her person. She was greeting everyone with hugs too, when John, Belle, and Yuki came in. They had more atypical attire on, John looking like a knight without a helmet only with somewhat bulkier armor, Yuki dressed in the robes of a mage in red, and Belle I was surprised to find in the robes of a cleric. I always saw her as a warrior type, maybe wielding a +3 skillet lol. We were all greeting each other when a familiar person arrived. I didn't notice at first, but I heard a familiar voice call out.
"Big brother Chris!"
It was Chie of course, she wasn't part of the guild, but was recruited for this outing by John. Everyone was surprised with the newcomer and the sudden familiarity between us. I couldn't help but laugh as I introduced her to everyone, Yuki was also laughing because everyone kept wondering how she could be my little sister. Yuki had to explain some Japanese culture to them, and that it may be a literal translation it was more of a common place honorific in Japan. I figured it was something like that as we have a similar sort in the Philippines. While doing so the last member of our party arrived, another rogue looking character I had none of us had ever met before. The last person John recruited to the party.
"All right everyone as some of us don't know each other let's have everyone introduce themselves with a brief description of their play style. I'll start, I'm John and my class is Guardian. I'm level 29 I play as a tank using the Guardian's renowned high [DEF], taunts, high [END] and heavy armor."
"I'm Belle, and I'm a level 28 Cleric. Of course a healer with some minor buffs."
"Yuki, level 28 Magus specializing in fire, ice, and gravity magic."
"Kelly, I'm a level 27 Druid. I mainly use shape-shifting abilities to act as a tank or melee DPS, I have some minor healing magic and buffs as well. I also wield Earth and Spirit magic, but they're not as potent as my shape-shifting. My nature affinity works well with others with it increasing our skills' effects."
"My name is Jessica, I'm a level 25 Shaman. I'm a support that uses all kinds of different buffs, my highest leveled ones have to do with mana and mana regen. I also have a few healing spells and also Earth and Spirit magic, but the skills I've concentrated on uses the totems I carry around. I have a nature affinity like Kelly."
"Chelsea as with the last two I have a nature affinity with my level 28 Ranger. I mainly add debuffs and damage over time to my arrows, but I minor healing and buff spells. I'm also acting as the scout as I have skills that corresponds to that play style when out of battle."
"Cory, level 29 Warden. Nature affinity melee dps and secondary tank enhanced with buffs and heal."
There was a small lull as it seems the 3 of us outsiders digested the information and thought of how to introduce ourselves. It seems Kelly, Jessica, Chelsea, and Cory use classes that sync with each other somehow. Looks like they know what they're doing I'm suddenly very unsure about this outing. I'll just leave out my level and class, John never said I had to disclose it....
"I guess you guys have done this before.... Well I'm Chris I only started recently, I use melee attacks and high speed to specialize in hit and run tactics when fighting mobs. Fighting one on one I use martial arts to fight my enemies."
"So I'm guessing you're a monk? I'm Paul a level 20 Rogue it seems I'm the only one who hasn't taken up a specialized class yet. I have some handy skills in the field though, and when fighting I use status effects and my two daggers as a melee dps. I'm currently deciding between Assassin, Ninja, or Spymaster if that helps any.
"I guess I'm last, I'm Chie I'm only level 18. I'm a Witch, I'll be supplying potions for all sorts of effects. I have the ability to throw them at you for slightly reduced effects, I also have some that affect enemies."
"Okay so it looks like we have a somewhat balanced group. If we split into 2 parties, with everyone with nature affinity in one group, and everyone else would be with me. Well, other than Chris, he doesn't have experience fighting in a party yet. He'll be filling in the gaps. We have everyone with nature affinity in a group as they all have minor heals, but is more effective when use on each other. Then, we have Yuki in the other group with pure heals, and we use Chie as support. We have Cory or Kelly tanking in one group and I'll be tanking in the other. The others are our damage dealers, of course this is our set-up when dealing with multiple mobs at the same time. When faced with only one we can all group together, I'll be taking the role of tank when that happens. That means Cory and Kelly will be DPS unless in an emergency when I need to recover HP we'll have the two of you alternate. Cory first, and then Kelly okay?"
We all agreed with the plan as it was very sound advice, though I thought to myself that it was horrible that I couldn't be a part of it. I know my level is low, but I wish I could help out some, but then again I might mess up their dynamics. If worse comes to worse I think I can always use -External Mana Control- and move mana in the environment to help people recover MP. I could probably also make it so that the spells are empowered with extra mana if I could match my mana with theirs. Well I guess I'll have to wait and see if I can do anything here, and as I was thinking everyone set of towards the west gate.
Next came Chelsea and Cory, both of which had leather armor too. Chelsea had a design reminiscent of a rogue in old MMOs, but in an almost tribal way was also accented with feathers. She also had a dark green cloak on with its hood down, a bow slung over her shoulder, and a quiver full of arrows on her back. Cory on the other hand looked like the barbarian class of old, except he too had feathers where the usual fur should be. He had a sword on his hip and huge bastard sword on his back along with a shield. This was confusing, as for one a bastard sword used 2 hands yet he had other equipment ready to use, and also all his equipment was made out of wood! Their equipment's mana also seemed to be alive, just like Jessica's. They gave hugs all around, of course Cory and I did a bro hug instead. They sat right across from us as we chatted waiting for the rest to arrive.
A few minutes later Kelly arrived, looking like the female version of Cory. There were differences though, as the shoulders of her armor were adorned in fur because it looked to be made of large claws. She also seemed to be completely unarmed, unless she had some weapon hidden on her person. She was greeting everyone with hugs too, when John, Belle, and Yuki came in. They had more atypical attire on, John looking like a knight without a helmet only with somewhat bulkier armor, Yuki dressed in the robes of a mage in red, and Belle I was surprised to find in the robes of a cleric. I always saw her as a warrior type, maybe wielding a +3 skillet lol. We were all greeting each other when a familiar person arrived. I didn't notice at first, but I heard a familiar voice call out.
"Big brother Chris!"
It was Chie of course, she wasn't part of the guild, but was recruited for this outing by John. Everyone was surprised with the newcomer and the sudden familiarity between us. I couldn't help but laugh as I introduced her to everyone, Yuki was also laughing because everyone kept wondering how she could be my little sister. Yuki had to explain some Japanese culture to them, and that it may be a literal translation it was more of a common place honorific in Japan. I figured it was something like that as we have a similar sort in the Philippines. While doing so the last member of our party arrived, another rogue looking character I had none of us had ever met before. The last person John recruited to the party.
"All right everyone as some of us don't know each other let's have everyone introduce themselves with a brief description of their play style. I'll start, I'm John and my class is Guardian. I'm level 29 I play as a tank using the Guardian's renowned high [DEF], taunts, high [END] and heavy armor."
"I'm Belle, and I'm a level 28 Cleric. Of course a healer with some minor buffs."
"Yuki, level 28 Magus specializing in fire, ice, and gravity magic."
"Kelly, I'm a level 27 Druid. I mainly use shape-shifting abilities to act as a tank or melee DPS, I have some minor healing magic and buffs as well. I also wield Earth and Spirit magic, but they're not as potent as my shape-shifting. My nature affinity works well with others with it increasing our skills' effects."
"My name is Jessica, I'm a level 25 Shaman. I'm a support that uses all kinds of different buffs, my highest leveled ones have to do with mana and mana regen. I also have a few healing spells and also Earth and Spirit magic, but the skills I've concentrated on uses the totems I carry around. I have a nature affinity like Kelly."
"Chelsea as with the last two I have a nature affinity with my level 28 Ranger. I mainly add debuffs and damage over time to my arrows, but I minor healing and buff spells. I'm also acting as the scout as I have skills that corresponds to that play style when out of battle."
"Cory, level 29 Warden. Nature affinity melee dps and secondary tank enhanced with buffs and heal."
There was a small lull as it seems the 3 of us outsiders digested the information and thought of how to introduce ourselves. It seems Kelly, Jessica, Chelsea, and Cory use classes that sync with each other somehow. Looks like they know what they're doing I'm suddenly very unsure about this outing. I'll just leave out my level and class, John never said I had to disclose it....
"I guess you guys have done this before.... Well I'm Chris I only started recently, I use melee attacks and high speed to specialize in hit and run tactics when fighting mobs. Fighting one on one I use martial arts to fight my enemies."
"So I'm guessing you're a monk? I'm Paul a level 20 Rogue it seems I'm the only one who hasn't taken up a specialized class yet. I have some handy skills in the field though, and when fighting I use status effects and my two daggers as a melee dps. I'm currently deciding between Assassin, Ninja, or Spymaster if that helps any.
"I guess I'm last, I'm Chie I'm only level 18. I'm a Witch, I'll be supplying potions for all sorts of effects. I have the ability to throw them at you for slightly reduced effects, I also have some that affect enemies."
"Okay so it looks like we have a somewhat balanced group. If we split into 2 parties, with everyone with nature affinity in one group, and everyone else would be with me. Well, other than Chris, he doesn't have experience fighting in a party yet. He'll be filling in the gaps. We have everyone with nature affinity in a group as they all have minor heals, but is more effective when use on each other. Then, we have Yuki in the other group with pure heals, and we use Chie as support. We have Cory or Kelly tanking in one group and I'll be tanking in the other. The others are our damage dealers, of course this is our set-up when dealing with multiple mobs at the same time. When faced with only one we can all group together, I'll be taking the role of tank when that happens. That means Cory and Kelly will be DPS unless in an emergency when I need to recover HP we'll have the two of you alternate. Cory first, and then Kelly okay?"
We all agreed with the plan as it was very sound advice, though I thought to myself that it was horrible that I couldn't be a part of it. I know my level is low, but I wish I could help out some, but then again I might mess up their dynamics. If worse comes to worse I think I can always use -External Mana Control- and move mana in the environment to help people recover MP. I could probably also make it so that the spells are empowered with extra mana if I could match my mana with theirs. Well I guess I'll have to wait and see if I can do anything here, and as I was thinking everyone set of towards the west gate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)