Floor 52 - Front Line Floor 59
April 16 – Year 2
Floor 52 was a quiet floor. In the north there were the volcanic hills. A wilderness of dead trees, various creatures that were always hostile, and a smoking mountain that was certainly mimicking an active volcano, just without lava. The ashen landscape was famous for being the home weyr of the vicious black dragons, led by the even worse King Black Dragon. Because of that, most players avoided it or the three dungeons in the north half of the Floor.
Bladescape saw the first target. It helped that Doombunny pulled out Endbringer, her "hunting" knife. It was her poison knife, which was supposed to have one purpose; to be her last resort. That appeared to be slightly different now, however. The target was a pack of black wolves. Her search quickly added their name and info. They were level 88 Dire Wolves. They were almost ten levels above Bladescape and they would certainly not make for a good target to hunt.
Doombunny took her headband off and tied it around her forehead, like Klein did. It turned her look upside down and made her look less like a girl, and more like a rogue warrior. One who wouldn't hesitate to kill you if you crossed her.
As soon as it was tied down, Doombunny was on the move, forcing Bladescape to draw her blade as she ran after her. She shakily applied the poison to her blade as she ran. The wolves charged them, snapping and growling. Harmonic salvation glowed and Bladescape sliced the side of the targeted wolf. It turned on her and Bladescape thrust the blade into its chest. The two strikes and the poison finished it. The other four were already reduced to polygons by Doombunny and Colorra.
"What is that in your left hand?" Bladescape asked. "Is that another dagger?"
"Not exactly," Doombunny said. "When I hit Level 70, I got my next Skill Slot. I was looking at getting Blade Throwing like you and AFCK, but that still left me open. I had no defensive skills. I was browsing what I had available and I found Fencing. It took Argo a while to track down the info, but she was well compensated for it and for her silence. There is the playing style as a "fencer" with a rapier, like Thunder or Lightning Flash Asuna. Those are names we gave them, but there is also an official Skill called Fencing.
"I appear to be the first to unlock it. The prerequisite is completing the One-Handed Dagger skill. No one on the front line has completed it, since a dagger is a relatively ineffective weapon compared to the other options. I can do it because of you guys and Colorra. Completing it unlocked the Fencer Skill. It is a defensive skill where a player can use either a special metal gauntlet, a tiny shield, or a dagger in their off hand. It was designed to be used with a Rapier.
"Since my only offensive skill is One Handed Dagger, I have no other choice but to use a dagger as my main weapon. Argo tracked this down for me. It is called a main-gauche parrying dagger. I think it is a custom-made weapon. It is almost exclusively for deflecting and blocking an incoming attack. That is why it has a wide, narrow crossguard and plate that wraps around my hand and anchors to the pommel. It is there to protect my hand from a weapon, like a shield, but around the handle.
"But for the wolves, the dagger actually becomes a minor offensive weapon."
"So you are using two weapons at once?" Bladescape asked.
"No," Doombunny said, shaking her head. "While the wolves do cut or impale themselves on the blade, the blade is to direct and defect incoming attacks, and control their direction with the crossguard and shielded grip. It is a defensive tool used in traditional fencing with a full rapier instead of a buckler. It is supposed to be used by someone like Thunderborne who needs speed for their rapier. It is their shield, but it doesn't slow them down.
"However, for the system to actually allow me to activate the defensive stab skill, it is a very particular set of circumstances. I have done it once. The enemy has to be in the right position compared to the quillon and they have to be in a delay from their attack. If they are not in the delay, I cannot counter thrust. It isn't much of a thrust either, but it will hurt, and its blade is set to paralyze."
Bladescape grinned. "It still looks like you are duel wielding daggers."
Doombunny opened her menu and then the main-gauchen parrying dagger disappeared. It was soon replaced by a heavy gauntlet. The fingers were together, like a mitten. It was stiff and went all the way up to her elbow. There was no using her left hand.
"This is a legendary piece of armor that Argo tracked down for me, Wyne. It's for the Fencer Skill, but the player who acquired it had no idea of its purpose, so they sold it. We know that because I can't grip anything in my left hand while wearing it. It's a thick gauntlet that is more of a shield than gauntlet. It is designed for taking blows like a shield, just without the size. Again, it's for a fencer to keep their speed. It is not as heavy as it looks."
It disappeared and was replaced by a small circular metal plate with a center dome. It was no more than 10 inches in diameter and all metal. "This is a buckler, not a small shield. A true buckler. It isn't attached to my arm; it's held in my hand by a single grip. Again, in a very specific circumstance, I can bash an enemy with it. But the entire point of using it is to guide the attack with a quick movement rather than hold a shield and block. I move the strike out of the way with the buckler, not block it. I hold it out from me, not close like a shield."
"Argo got this equipment for you?" Bladescape asked.
"Mhm," Doombunny nodded, back to her sweet usual self. "I don't know who her supplier is, but I paid her up front a good deal and I paid her to keep quiet. You know she will sell info about who asked for something. I have her paid to not tell."
A howl interrupted them, alerting them of the seven wolves charging at them. Bladescape launched herself into battle. Doombunny was very aggressive with the buckler. Bladescape saw her push away a jumping wolf so she moved it around her instead of jumping onto her. In the process, she stabbed it several times and then immediately stabbed and gashed open the next Dire Wolf. Bladescape killed two wolves to Doombunny's three and Colorra took out the last two.
"That is incredible," Bladescape said, panting a bit. "That little shield made all the difference for you."
"I'm a lot more effective," Doombunny agreed. "But it isn't a shield. It doesn't shield me anymore than your crossguard shields you."
"Fair," Bladescape conceded.
Doombunny began to run off to the next pack of wolves. The time to talk was over. It was a good thing they were in a party. Doombunny and Colorra were doing 80% of the work. Bladescape was fast, but a two-handed sword was designed to use its weight to its advantage. Doombunny was literally stabbing and slashing on the run, letting the poison do most of the work for her. Whatever she was using, it was very effective. It probably was what Bladescape had applied on her blade, but Harmonic Salvation was doing most of the damage to each wolf in its few swings.
Doombunny was also scoring repeated critical attacks. Most of her attacks dealt critical damage. She was accurate on top of the speed. Daggers were great against a soft target like the wolves.
After a while they climbed into a dead tree and sat above the ground while they ate a snack they had grabbed right before heading out of the small town, Edgeville, A pack of wolves soon wandered by and were circling the tree, howling and jumping to try and bite their feet. They were too high up to be attacked.
"There's a Black Dragon," Bladescape said, pointing off into the distance. "Have they ever bothered you?"
"No," Doombunny snorted. "They would have to find me. The first few encounters were terrifying, but they can't attack what they can't see. You however, they could easily spot. Max Hide is the only reason I can go completely undetected."
"Then we will have to be careful," Bladescape sighed.
"I don't doubt we could take them," Doombunny shrugged. "I am not suggesting we try, but your weapons defense should be able to block a fire breath attack, right?"
"Yeah," Bladescape nodded. "It will. When timed right."
"And I would just need to get inside it's attack range, nice and close. A stab from my dagger in its underbelly will put enough poison into it that we can take off some real HP."
"I'm tired, so let's not," Bladescape chuckled. "Now, how are we going to deal with these wolves? I could use my throwing picks."
"Colorra has it," Doombunny shrugged.
Colorra had been happily coiled around a branch. She was a tree snake after all. She waited a moment and then dropped right onto a wolf. It never saw her coming. She curled around the body so the wolf couldn't bite her and the others had nothing solid to attack. In the low light, it was a black snake on black fur and Colorra practically disappeared. Then it was a quick slither to the next, the black ash giving her more cover. Colorra was able to dart out of the way of an incoming bite and then strike right at the throat. She curled around the wolf again for protection. She repeated the process three more times until all five wolves were dead. The screen popped up in front of Bladescape showing her the XP, Col, and items gained from the battle. It was an impressive XP haul, good Col, and the pelts they had been getting had to be worth something good. Also dropped were Dire Wolf Canine Teeth. That was an unusual item with no immediate worth, but it had to be useful somehow.
Doombunny dropped out of the tree and Bladescape followed. Doombunny switched from the buckler to the parrying dagger. She was still learning to use them. She had gotten the dagger only a week ago. It had taken a while for Argo to track the info down.
Bladescape did her best to watch Doombunny while she pulled her weight against the wolves. The parrying dagger was never once thrust into a wolf. It was just like the buckler, it helped direct the swipe of the paw or the clap of the jaws. When a wolf jumped at Doombunny, it did impale itself, but all Doombunny did was hold the dagger out to block. No skill was triggered as it impaled itself to the hilt. The Wolf couldn't move because of the paralyzer on the parrying dagger. Doombunny cleanly slit its throat with a calm ferocity that was disturbing.
Despite the lack of sleep, they stayed in the field until 9pm, which meant they got back after 10pm. They were avoiding the situation as long as possible. When they got back, no one was there. They got dinner in a local shop, celebrating with some cheesecake, and then they went to bed.
In the morning Bladescape was up at her usual time. Knightstar was at her usual seat in the guild hall and AFCK was cooking. Bladescape decided it was best to carry on as normal. Knightstar was doing calculations on some paper. Bladescape opened her menu and pulled out a canine tooth. She had acquired a few hundred from the drops. Doombunny had to have thousands.
Knightstar put down the pen and plucked the tooth out of Bladescape's hand. "Intriguing," She said after examining its menu. "I didn't know any teeth were ever dropped by monsters. Where did you get this?"
"I got a few hundred in the northern wilderness on Floor 52."
"The black dragon area?" Knightstar asked, confused.
"Yep," Bladescape grinned. "Doom and I were speed hunting there. Well, I was trying to keep up with her and Colorra. They were killing four for every one wolf I killed."
"You were hunting Dire Wolves?" Knightstar asked, getting excited.
"Yes, we were. Doom can dart in between a whole pack, stabbing and slashing for critical strikes and then she just lets the poison knock off the rest of their HP. That is without Colorra."
Knightstar was shocked. "She hunts them herself‽"
"Yep," Bladescape nodded.
"I have a quest for her!" Knightstar squealed. "It's a kill quest. An NPC in Algade wants 100 heads. No one wants to hunt them because of the Black Dragons. It is too much of a risk for the mid-level players, and the clearers don't want to bother with the dragons. It is still a big risk."
"Doom's Hide skill has kept her safe," Bladescape added.
"I'm still mad," Knightstar stated after a moment of hesitation. "I can't get a hold of BB either. I did get AFCK, Diemond, Joltron, Thunder, and Astro to the sand crabs. Kiefer and Lessa stayed home. We were there all night and only got in about an hour ago. BB isn't back yet and she won't answer any messages."
"Look," Bladescape said, trying to steer things to a constructive path. "Why don't you go with Doom and do that quest. See what she can do. She has a new defensive skill, that isn't Parry or Weapon Defense."
"What‽" Knightstar exclaimed excitedly. It immediately died. "Look, I can't compete with a dragon if we get caught. You can, I can't."
"Doom is skilled enough to make sure you won't have to fight one," Bladescape assured her.
"No, I can't," Knightstar sighed.
"We had a fight," Bladescape shrugged. "Our first real fight in 18 months. Think on that. We have made it 18 months in a high-stakes, anxiety provoking, death game, without getting into any major arguments. We were a well-focused, single minded machine. We still are."
"No," Knightstar said, sliding forward onto the table, head on her crossed arms. "I got us to the sand crabs, but Thunder and Astro went off on their own. AFCK just built sand castles. Diemond just sat there too, sunbathing, at night, in an actual bathing suit. Joltron and I were the only ones working."
Bladescape chuckled.
"It's not funny!" Knightstar growled, on the verge of tears.
Bladescape rolled her eyes. "I have been afraid to take AFCK to kill the sand crabs because I knew she would just build ridiculous sand castles instead. She can make them amazingly detailed! I can barely keep a tower together."
Knightstar chuckled once. "She did build the Town of Beginnings. And then a copy of Mishe. It drew a crowd. She charged a small admission fee to see that and several other creations she made. Those waiting for a respawn actually paid because it was some entertainment in the downtime."
"See, it's not all bad," Bladescape said. "Go do the quest, I'll deal with the others."
"No," Knightstar said, shaking her head which was still on the table. "I can't. Not after yesterday."
"We had a fight," Bladescape said again. "A fight. One. She isn't holding it against you."
"I don't want to," Knightstar said firmly. "I drove her to being so mean. I fractured us. BB isn't going to come back."
Bladescape sighed and crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair.
Knightstar tried to sniff back the tears. "Guilds split all the time. A big argument like yesterday's statistically ends a guild. We won't be Wondercolts for long. I'm looking at how we can divide up the guild's assets fairly."
Bladescape groaned. "It's not the end of the Wondercolts."
AFCK had been hopping through with food and halted. "Why would it be the end?"
"The fight yesterday," Knightstar mumbled. "When I tore us apart."
"Oh yeah," AFCK shrugged. "I forgot about that."
She walked over to them and put a breakfast pie in front of each of them. AFCK had figured out how to make a personal sized pie full of eggs and cheese and other breakfast foods. It was like eating an omelet, but in a pie. They were wonderfully delicious.
"Look, Knightstar," AFCK said as seriously as she could in her good mood. "Friends fight. And we hurt each other's feelings. But we are all here and all still friends. You are taking this way too seriously."
"She ripped into all of us," Knightstar sniffed. "She ripped into you."
"So?" AFCK asked.
"What! Do you not remember anything from yesterday morning?"
"Well duh. It was only yesterday. But I took out the trash and let it go. That is how AFCK does things. She cooks for her friends and then fights beside them. Cause I want to go back to being a baker."
Knightstar snorted. "You didn't fight at all yesterday."
"Nope! I was playing in the sand. Was I supposed to not be playing in the sand? I thought that was why you brought me. Besides! I made-"
"Stop!" Bladescape ordered. "Like I said, Knightstar, that is what I figured AFCK would do, build sandcastles."
"I need to get these pies to the others. I can hear them all in the dining room." AFCK stopped and turned back to them before squealing. "Also, Kiefer and Lessa are finally together!"
The news only made Knightstar groan sadly. AFCK backed away slowly and went to finish her job.
Bladescape stood up and picked up her pie. "Look Knightstar, it is done and over. Doom isn't mad at you. At this point, the only one mad is you, and at yourself. Hot words were all that were exchanged. I'm going to go eat with the others. It sounds like it is a fun morning. You really should join us."
Bladescape joined her friends to eat. There was a lot of laughter and fun surrounding Kiefer and Lessa finally getting together. Joltron had been waiting for them to get together. He had been trying to push them together by annoying Kiefer into making a commitment.
The only spots empty at the table were Knightstar and Backbreaker.
After breakfast, they formed two parties and headed to the Labyrinth. The first was headed by Bladescape, the second by Kiefer. Knightstar had disappeared from the guild hall. Bladescape guessed she just needed some time. She pushed herself hard and now she was punishing herself on top of it.
On the trip to the Labyrinth, Doombunny explained to the others what her Fencing Skill was and how she could use either the buckler or the parrying dagger. Her demonstrations were exciting. Thunderborne was jealous, but knew that it was going to be impossible for her to train a dagger to max at the point they were at in this death game.
Bladescape (SS): Lvl 79 – Two-Handed Sword – Search – Weapon Defense – Leather Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Sprint – Acrobatics – Blade Throwing – Extended Weight Carry
Knightstar (TS): Lvl 69 – One-Handed Sword – Shield – Equipment Appraisal – Parry – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Search – Armor Pierce
Thunderborne (RBD): Lvl 72 – Rapier – Sprint – Acrobatics – Armor Pierce – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Leather Armor – Weapon Defense – Extended Weight Carry – Search
Backbreaker (AJ): Lvl 75 – Heavy Shield – One-Handed War Hammer – Extended Weight Carry – Heavy Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Fishing – Search – Martial Arts – Acrobatics
AFCK(PP): Lvl 72 – Two-Handed Axe – Parry – Cooking – Weapon Defense – Martial Arts – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Thrown Weapon – Musical Instrument
Diemond (R): Lvl 72 – Heavy Shield – Mace – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Heavy Metal Armor – Tailoring – Light Metal Armor Forging – Heavy Metal Armor Forging – Jewelry Making – Extended Weight Carry
Doombunny (FS): Lvl 74 – One-Handed Dagger – First Aid – Hide – Search – Listening – Battle Regeneration – Fighting Spirit – Familiar Communication (Colorra) – Drug Mixing – Reveal - Fencing
Astro (PS): Lvl 72 – Two-Handed Spear - Purchase Negotiation – Armor Pierce – Acrobatics – First Aid – Light Metal Armor – Battle Regeneration – Weapon Defense – Parry – Extended Wight Carry
Kiefer: Lvl 69 – One-Handed Curved Blade – Parry – Weapon Defense – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Light Metal Armor – Slash Weapon Forging – Katana – Martial Arts
Lessa: Lvl 69 – One-Handed Sword – Shield – Light Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Equipment Repair – Metal Equipment Repairing – Armor Pierce – Search
Joltron: Lvl 73 – One handed Axe – Heavy Shield – Heavy Metal Armor – First Aid – Battle Regeneration – Metal Refining – Cooking – One Handed Weapon Creation – Two Handed Weapon Creation – Extended Weight Carry