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Zhao Xun
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Zhao Xun » Sun May 18, 2008 9:41 pm

When the other member of the group spoke, I listened. Intently. I wasn't about to rule out any option instantly, since only through serious (yet quick) discourse could we make the right call. Asgard came up with three plans, each of which had their individual merits. Dien was for sticking together. But... there was an inherent problem with that in my mind. One so basic that it required a lack of attention to the feelings of one specific person: Nall.

”Hey, guys... I know I'm not really the kind of person a group would usually listen to, but I think everyone's missing something.” I took a deep breath, steadying myself. Sheena wasn't going to like this at all, but I had to say it. ”We can pretty much assume that Nall is in the dungeon, and his two Twilight items are either split between those rooms or stored in a single one. Either way, they're not with Nall.” My hand was shaking. Was I really that afraid of Sheena?

Well, with the fury she's shown going after Nall to this point... I suppose a little fear could be in order.

”Nall risked his life for those Twilight items. I'm sure some of you here did too. Leaving them behind is to undo a lot of work that's already been done by the Freedom Fighters. I don't know him too well, but I don't think Nall would want us to do that. Give those items back to the hackers, and... well, one or two of them just became a whole lot more powerful. After what happened when we were forced to flee Mac Anu, I don't think we want any of them to gain even one iota of power, and even one Twilight item falling back into their hands would be devastating to our cause.”

Here came the hardest part.

”In all honesty... I believe that if Nall was talking to us right now, he'd tell us to forget him and get those items out of here. Don't let them take them back. Now before I die,” I said, shaking, ”I'd like to say that abandoning Nall is by no means what I'm advocating here. I just think it's incredibly important that we do not lose control of those Twilight items. Period. Send a couple heavy hitters and a couple lower levels to support them into the dungeon. That group's job will be one of stalling the defenses they're obviously erecting around Nall right now. The rest of the group must split up and recover the Twilight items. Yes, we've had problems splitting up in the past.” I said, eying Dien as I spoke. ”But it is so incredibly vital to retrieve those items that I think we have no other choice. With that said....” I glanced at Sheena, still scared to death. ”With that said, I volunteer to go in after Nall. I myself can't sit by and wait for them to kill him... or worse. But my tactical mind, which I hope is at least moderately skilled, tells me that we have to split up here. Anything else and we lose one of three very important things.”

That said, I awaited the group's reaction, and hoped to all hell that Sheena would cut me some slack for what I had said.
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Raven
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Raven » Fri May 23, 2008 6:02 am

Raven listened to the arguments each member of the group seemed to be presenting. All of them were interesting, all of them helping Raven to learn a little more about this Nall that he had heard about from Nighthand's flashmail. He was the true leader of this group, he was the most powerful of them all. He had been defeated and captured by these hackers that ran this place. That fact in itself showed him just how powerful these hacker could be, especially after seeing Sheena run through a level 80 monster like it was nothing. If Nall was stronger than that, and he had been beaten, then they had to be nearly impossible. Yet, some of the argments flying around seemed to suggest a way for those hackers to get even more powerful. These Twilight items that they had taken from Nall. If they could do the kinds of things that the rest of the group seemed to think, then Raven was all for keeping them out of the hands of the hackers. If they could prevent them from getting more powerful than they already were, then he would do whatever it took. However, the point stood, if they went after the items first, then they may lose their chance to save Nall. If they tried to save Nall first, then they may lose the items forever. It was a tough choice, one that Raven was glad he didn't actually have to make alone. It was a vote, the group was suggesting things and their leader would finally tell them what he decided on. It was in Nighthand's hands, not Raven's. Did they go after one target all together, or split into groups and go for seperate ones all at once. Raven didn't like the idea of splitting up, but he knew that his opinion probably meant very little to the others if he voiced it.

However, the point stood that if Raven was in Nall's shoes, he would rather the items be taken from the hackers over being rescued. Nall had fought for them, as had many others he assumed, why let all that hard work go to waste? Why let the hackers get more powerful, just to save one guy who had already been defeated by them and proven that he was not capable of defeating them all single-handedly, which was obviously what he had been trying to do when he got captured. Nall had made a serious error in judgment, and had lost a few Twilight items to the hackers as well as getting himself captured. It was his mistake, and as the leader he had to take responsibility for it, and possibly pay the big price for it. That, however, was a hard opinion to voice, especially with Sheena in close proximity. Zhao finally voiced it though, taking the chance with Sheena's wrath on the matter. Raven nodded along with every word, and waited for Zhao to finish before he spoke up himself.

Ah, what the hell...what's a little pain before getting thrown a Resurrect by someone... he thought as he cleared his throat.

"I agree with Zhao. I may not know Nall, or a lot of other things about this group and what you've been through, but I know that a leader has to be responsible for his mistakes. I know this may be pushing it, but he did make a pretty serious mistake. He came here all alone, and expected to be able to take on everything without any help. Not much of a leader if he doesn't trust his own underlings to help him with things. As a leader though, he would probably want to take responsibility for his mistakes. As such, I think the items take priority over Nall. If we can save him too, that's a bonus, but I don't think any leader of any level of competency would be satisfied knowing that he escaped from danger while leaving something that important in the enemy's hands." Raven pointed out, almost bracing for the impact of Sheena's fists.

His mood lightened considerably suddenly, now that he had finished putting in his two cents. The difficult opinion was voiced, now to finish it up.

"So, decide what you will. Go after the items, go after Nall, split up and do it all, whatever. I'm just putting in my opinion. You don't have to listen, you can hate me for it, whatever you want. Just remember that for better or for worse, I'm part of this team too." Raven finished.

All that was left was to hear the responses and Nighthand's final decision. No matter what the decision, Raven would follow the group. If they were splitting up, Raven couldn't see it working well with more than two groups. Put Nighthand and Sheena on two different teams and they'd have power on both teams. However, a third group would be totally without that, and there was a severe lack of major destructive power of those two's levels in the rest of the group. A third group would most likely be easy pickings for the hackers, and since there were three directions to go in, that would likely be the final conclusion of that decision.
Raven
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Skills: Rue Kruz, Juk Kruz, Vak Crack, Rai Rom, Gan Crack, Ap Corv | Skill Drain
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Nighthand
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Nighthand » Sun May 25, 2008 7:14 am

Wordlessly, Nighthand went from door to door, testing their handles. That, for one, was a simple enough way to determine which of the pathways they could take. As it turned out, only one of the doors was locked; Storage, Dungeon, Time. Nall. An examination of the door and it’s lock showed that it was both far more resilient than it looked, and that it wouldn’t be easily unlocked. It was either unlocked from one of the two other pathways, both, or from some object one of the other hackers carried.

That left two paths and one decision.

”I’m going this way!” Sheena declared, and promptly marched down through the door labeled Lab/Earth. Nighthand stared after her for a moment, wondering what prompted that decision, before he spoke to the remaining players.

”I’ll go the other way then. Divide up as you will to get this done fastest, and don’t forget to keep Sheena and myself informed via PMs for new developments.” That said, he turned and walked the opposite direction from Sheena, hoping the decision to split up their forces was a good one.

-=-=-Water/Testing-=-=-

Nighthand didn’t have far to go; the hallway was short and opened into a huge circular ring. Great… a battle room. Well, I suppose that’s testing…

The contents of the arena was an assortment of monsters fit for any otherworldly menagerie. They were obviously experiments, because none of them were familiar, or made much sense. The only ones he recognized were the fire elementals from outside. They were somehow different, though, somehow darker. Also scattered around, were some wolves, some odd cat-like creatures that came to knee-height and had wings, some creatures that looked like merfolk, only swimming through the air, a giant mushroom with stick-arms that ended in scythe blades, and… velociraptors? This certainly was an experiment.

Seemingly as one, the monsters noticed Nighthand, and froze, eyeing him as he watched them. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to face them all alone.

-----=
Monster Count:
Fire Elementals: 3/3
Dire Water Wolves 4/4
Earthen Sphinxes 2/2
Wooden Mer 3/3
Thunder Raptors 2/2
Darkness Shroom Kings 1/1

(All of these monsters have access to level 2 spells of their element, are not weak to any elements (save the fire elementals) and are level 35. In addition, each has a new special move, being that they’re experimental, but that will have to wait to be seen. Please keep this count a the bottom of your posts if you’re in this path.)

-=-=-Earth/Lab-=-=-

Sheena’s decision soon proved to be a stupid one, as she came face to face, at the end of a short hallway, with another door. This one was made of heavy steel and was definitely locked. It only had two fixtures: a keypad with the numbers 0-9 on it, and a phrase etched into the metal.

Code: Select all

 Pi Is Exactly 
.999...  Is Not 
Do Not Divide 
She wasn’t in the greatest mood for thinking and stared dumbly. Then she started examining the code of the Twilight, looking for what, exactly, the keypad did if the proper code wasn’t input. It was definitely something, but what, she couldn’t yet tell. She would leave it up to the others who followed her to guess at the code.

(If you’re going along this path, please leave your code-attempts at the bottom of your post.)


-----------------ooc:
My posting is going to be a little wonky for a while. As usual no one will be penalized for upholding standards I can’t, but I’m still shooting for weekly when I can. Basically I have two faster-paced summer classes that involve a lot of group work, and homework, and significant distractions in the form of my friends whom I now live with. I tend to not get the necessary distractionless time for posting until later at night. Less of an excuse, and more of an explanation and forewarning. Excuse-wise, I was rationalizing my loathing of splitting the party up with not wanting to just post “no, all your ideas are wrong, try again” and no progress. In the future though, especially if this doesn’t work out, splitting up the group is to be avoided. I know it makes in-game logical sense to cover more ground, but ooc-wise split quests tend to fail out on us.

Anyways. One side is a puzzle, the other is a battle. You can at any time retreat and go to the other, though I’d prefer if you didn’t leave only one or two people alone with the designated “leader” character, Nights or Sheena. Also keep in mind that just because the first rooms are puzzle and battle, doesn’t mean the next aren’t opposites.

Let’s see how this goes. It’s a split, but in-thread. Good luck.

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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Asgard » Sun May 25, 2008 4:50 pm

The rationales of the crew were spoken, as to what the division of the forces would be. They all seemed very negative towards splitting up during past endeavors, but in a situation like this, it seemed that in the end, there was no choice. Nighthand tested the handles, jiggled them ever so slightly to test their compliance with artificial human hands, and saw that the time door, the one where Nall was most likely being held, was off limits.

I’m going this way!” Sheena declared, and breached the earth/lab door. Asgard was startled as Sheena moved with purpose towards the door he stated he was going for originally. He got out from a crouched position against one of the walls, and started moving to follow Sheena.

I’ll go the other way then. Divide up as you will to get this done fastest, and don’t forget to keep Sheena and myself informed via PMs for new developments.” Nighthand was quick to split, as he opened the water door to the testing zones. Asgard nodded slightly to Nighthand, and not knowing if he had caught his acceptance of the statement, entered the lab door.

A short hallway, made of the same materials as the previous room greeted him, as well as a Sheena, staring at something at the end of the hallway, blocked by a massive steel door.
"What's the good word?" Asgard hollered as he jogged the hallway to the reinforced entryway. Sheena didn't respond, as she was looking at a square etching of words, right to the side of an etching in the metallic door...

Code: Select all

Pi Is Exactly 
.999... Is Not 
Do Not Divide
"Hmm..." Asgard looked not terribly deep in thought, then chuckled. "To silence a room of scientists. Oh wait, hold on a second." He was lost in his own thought, extending his right arm to the right wall "Gan Weapon!" A third of his SP was lost, but the end result was a bo staff, ornately designed and colored like the wall. His Gan Weapon was powerful, but no brute force was needed in here, but it wouldn't hurt if there were others that needed to get by if the door closed.

"Obsidian Darts!" The bo staff in his hand became to dematerialize and break off into blackened pieces of rock that fell straight for the floor, yet began to crawl up his leg and nest itself near the region of Asgard's right-back side of his hip. The stone began to coalesce into a cross-chest strap bag that was almost like the wildwood satchel strapped the other way. From his new formed bag, he procured a small, slender knife, and began to try and chisel something into the wall.

"Pi is exactly three," he said as he carved the number three right beside the first sentence. It seemed to work, yet was a faded, poorly done '3' in the metal. "Point nine nine nine is not one," he began again, carving a '1' into the metal, parallel to the phrase. "Finally, you can not, and never should, divide by zero." He finished carving the last zero like a diamond, due to the fact that it was much easier to do, and, of course, time was not on their side.

The Fist Fighter slid the knife back into the pouch. "There that should do it." Looking towards the keypad, he remembered before...to keep Sheena and Nighthand informed. But he thought he would wait until they were successful in cracking the first room. He rose his voice to a yell, so that if others went down this road, they could hear him. "Testing a code! Brace yourselves for any backlash!" Asgard looked back to the keypad console and began entering three different numbers: First came three, second came one, last came zero.

===========

ooc: Testing code '310'
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Nighthand
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Nighthand » Sun May 25, 2008 6:04 pm

Asgard's testing finger punched in one number after another. His logic made sense, in an obscure kind of way, and the numbers beeped. Once the third number was pressed, a chime sounded, and the door grumbled to the side.

What was revealed beyond was... another door. A short few feet beyond, barely as much space as an airlock would have. It was exactly the same: A keypad and a clue.

Code: Select all

Penultimate Prime of Three

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Raven
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Raven » Mon May 26, 2008 1:15 am

As Raven braced to get hit, he found himself largely ignored. Perhaps it was just the way things were with this group, but he consistantly found that most of them ignored him whenever he said something. Nighthand moved on to testing doors, something that made Raven cringe a bit. It wasn't hard to trap a door, or to put a sensor on it to alert someone to when its been opened. To Raven, just randomly trying doors when they hadn't come toa decision yet seemed a bit risky. Much to his relief, nothing seemed to happen, but the threat had been there. In the end, it seemed the door through which Nall was being held was locked tight. They were stuck, they only had two options now, and Raven knew very well what the decision would be on that. It was time to split up into two groups. As much as Raven had hated the idea earlier, it was only because on group would be royally screwed. In this case though, Nighthand and Sheena would act as leaders for their own respective groups, and each one would have some decent power behind it.

Nighthand went through the Water Lab door, and Sheena led through the Earth Lab door, followed by another member of the team whose name Raven hadn't learned yet. Raven took a moment to try and decide which way to go, as others began to filter their own ways. On one hand was Nighthand, the leader of the group. On the other was a woman with insane brute strength and a short fuse that seemed to be growing shorter by the minute. They'd need some people to calm her down a bit, but she'd also have the drive to clear the way of all enemies out of anger. He chose her way, not to mention that he wasn't so fond of the water element in the first place. Sure it could be useful and all, but something about them calling a lab in a fire area "Water", made him suspicious. He followed through the earth door and found the first one to have followed Sheena in was already typing things into a keypad. There was a sort of dinging noise, and the door slid open, only to reveal yet another door. Raven let out a sigh and read over the new clue above the keypad on this door.

Penultimate Prime of three? Calculus? Oh man, I thought this coma thing meant I was done with school... Raven thought with a sigh.

Raven mulled that one over for a moment, and then let out a sigh. Prime was used to denote the derivative of a function, so the derivative of F would be F Prime. If this question was looking at 3 as the function, then the derivative was zero. However, you could not take the derivative of zero, so it would end there. It asks for Penultimate though, so the result before the very last where you can no longer find the derivative.

So, that would make the answer... Raven thought.

"Hang on, I think I got this one. I'm new to this whole coma thing, so all that stuff I was studying at school is still somewhat fresh in my mind. Stand back, you know, so only I get hit by something if I'm wrong..." Raven muttered as he punched in his answer.

--------------------------------------------------

(OOC. Test code: 3)
Raven
Level 23 Blademaster
2400 Gold
Skills: Rue Kruz, Juk Kruz, Vak Crack, Rai Rom, Gan Crack, Ap Corv | Skill Drain
Items: x30 Health Drinks, x12 Mage Souls, x5 Resurrects, x4 Gale Breaths, x9 Speed Charms, x9 Meteor Swarms, x5 Warrior's Blood, Nightblight, Plasma Storm, Fire Tempest, x4 Ice Floe, Sprite Ocarina, Fairy's Orb, Fortune Wire, Hermit's Bane, x3 Ice Storm, x2 Ice Strike, Cygnus, Matoi, x2 Dark Night

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Dien
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Part 6

Post by Dien » Mon May 26, 2008 3:53 am

There were two elements to choose from. That was what it really boiled down to. After his opinions went largely unheard, the blademaster was forced to decide between two distinct elements: water and earth. Sheena went one way while Nighthand went the other. For Dien, though, the choice was something that boiled down entirely to personal preference. Since no one really seemed to care about who went where, strategy was utterly thrown to the wind, and there wasn’t a thing that the blademaster could do about it but decide for himself where to go.

This left him with the elements again: water and earth. All at once, water presented itself as an affront to him. It was clear that his affinity to fire would give him an advantage against any enemies that presented themselves in the water room, but at the same time, it would also make him that much more susceptible to their attacks. The trade-off was fare, but in the interest of not dying, he began to look at the other option more seriously. Gan, to his knowledge, was largely unrepresented in their humble group of fighters, and neither was Juk. In terms of combat, the doorway for earth was likely to be a much more even playing field (though with Sheena at the helm, it was kind of one-sided anyway).

So it was settled. Following after Sheena yielded yet another door, which was quickly dealt with by Asgard before the blademaster had even settled in. In passing, he glanced at the note on the keypad, finding its cryptic meaning to be misleading and puzzling, but not altogether undecipherable. Then they were left at the second door, and this time Raven stepped up boldly to give it a go, while Dien merely stared at the puzzle beside the door.

“Penultimate prime of three,” he stated aloud as a single beep elicited from the keypad, followed by…nothing. Dien hadn’t been paying attention to the other blademaster’s attempts in favor of trying to figure it out for himself. It was pure luck that Raven’s attempt hadn’t worked, but perhaps luckier still that it hadn’t had any negative side effects for any of them besides a single solitary beep.

The prime factors of three were one and three, which would repeat indefinitely if the tree continued. Looking at the tree in his mind, then, he couldn’t help but see three digits portrayed. It was a matter of choosing the ‘penultimate’ one: the one that happened right before the last. In terms of the tree, if you were to cut it off before the infinite regress, the penultimate level would be the first one: the number three. Quickly his hand moved to push the button (3), eliciting the same response as Raven’s attempt at the same had. Granted, he hadn’t been watching, so he couldn’t have witnessed his comrade’s failure, but it did not sway him in the least bit. After another moment, he punched in the complete factor tree for the number three, drawing three distinct beeps, but nothing more (331). It was puzzling, and for a while he simply continued to stare at the riddle.

Penultimate prime of three, he thought, twisting the words within his head until they themselves started to lose meaning and become mathematical expressions in and of themselves. He could recite verbatim the ASCII code that would store the phrase somewhere on the World’s hard drives, and knew a dozen more methods by which it could be encoded, along with all the wrappers necessary to turn it into a working document. None of this mattered, though, as the number pad didn’t give any room for hexadecimal input. A moment was taken considering the idea of taking the prime roots of the binary equivalent of three, but it was quickly forsaken for another stroke of genius.

In numbers, the word ‘prime’ meant simply that a number could not be divided. When he had gone to the prime factors, it was an instinct based on years of factoring equations for every level of mathematics higher than Algebra II. Nowhere had the riddle said anything about prime factors. In fact, it wasn’t much of a riddle at all—only a dictation of what the code was. It was the penultimate prime number of three…three what? Digits, most likely, and since wrong guesses didn’t yield any kind of negative response from the door, it was what he’d go with. So then the penultimate prime number of three digits.

Well, the highest prime number shy of 1,000, which he was able to pull from thin air thanks to his background, was 997. But that was the ultimate: he wanted the penultimate. Next one down was 991. That was the penultimate prime number of three digits. In sequence, he quickly pushed in the three digits (991), and after the third beep a chime resounded, which was followed by a brief rumble as the door slid aside.

“Too easy,” he said, his muscles starting to ache from the strain they’d faced in pulling Senna out of her hole earlier as he yawned, “next.”
__________

(OOC: codes entered:
3
331
991)
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Nighthand
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Nighthand » Mon May 26, 2008 6:43 pm

To Dien's pleasure, his final attempt at a code worked, and the door slid open much like the last one. What they were presented with was... Another door. Once again identical to the last one, only the clue was different.

Code: Select all

Fibonacci's Largest Square


Meanwhile, Nighthand was staring down the monsters, hoping for some backup, when it came. Only instead of backup for his fighting side, it was backup for the monsters. A trio of beeps sounded from across the room, and golden rings descended just as though someone were gating in. When the rings finished, two more giant mushrooms and another of the Raptors was present.

"Guys? A little help in here would be great right about now!" He called back over his shoulder.

-----=
Monster Count:
Fire Elementals: 3/3
Dire Water Wolves 4/4
Earthen Sphinxes 2/2
Wooden Mer 3/3
Thunder Raptors 3/3
Darkness Shroom Kings 3/3

Lord Canti
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Lord Canti » Mon May 26, 2008 7:55 pm

(So, when you get right down to it, the whole thing is really just a matter of opinion. Nobody's right and nobody's wrong. It was all in perspective. Three doors to choose from, and they couldn't actually agree on a means for getting around. Well, actually, that wasn't true. Sheena and Asgard had already made their choice, as did Lighteria. That meant if others didn't agree, they could have that even split Senna was talking about. And why not? The fact was...they didn't have a whole lot of time. Nall's life was at stake here. While Nighthand checked the doors, then, Canti quietly asked Reyome on her opinion, just in case she knew something.)

Judging by the way your friend is looking over the dungeon, I'd say its a question of Earth and Water.

Canti: You don't say... Hmmm.

Something wrong?

Canti: You know, you've been awfully quiet lately, Rey.

I have my reasons.

Canti: Any I should be aware of?

Not yet, though I WILL say that I'm working on something...

Canti: Oh yeah? What's cooking?

Uh-uh. That's a secret...

Canti: Oh, come on! Not even a hint?

Nope.

(Just then, he heard Nighthand from the Water element room...)

"Guys? A little help in here would be great right about now!"

(Ah, right. Yeah, he...almost forgot about that. Believe it or not, Canti's attention span was just so, making it possible for something to completely throw his focus. You could even shout 'Hey look! It's a shiny object!' sometimes. Not always. Just when he wasn't properly focused. In any case, this left him to follow Nighthand into the testing room. What he found was pretty plain. It was a battle arena. Perfect. Already suited to him. The only question was...what the hell WERE these things? Test subjects? Very likely. Some he knew and some he didn't. The Shrooms looked familiar. Didn't The World have those already? Canti drew his knives, pointing one at the crowd and speaking with an odd accent.)

Canti: Earth and water... We'll find plenty of that in there.

(Actually, he was pointing at the Dire Water Wolves, drawing back his knives and shouting...)

Canti: THIS...IS...SPARTA!!!

(A very different attitude than from what he exhibited outside, Canti was now joking around as he launched himself at the Dire Water Wolves, staying long enough in their presence to let loose a Flame Dance attack and notice that...there was no elemental critical. What the- Why not? Maybe the bastards were unfinished in their design? Really hard to say. But...wait a second. Just to test it, he threw an Ice Strike at one of the Fire Elementals. Now...THAT had an effect, right?)

OOC: Granted, it's not a very big post, but that's because I'm not entirely sure what I'm getting into yet and can be sure of only a few things. So, until we start laying into them en masse or we just learn more, I'm going a bit light.

Monster Count:
Fire Elementals: 3/3 (1 injured)
Dire Water Wolves 4/4 (2 injuried)
Earthen Sphinxes 2/2
Wooden Mer 3/3
Thunder Raptors 3/3
Darkness Shroom Kings 3/3
I'll have a doozy of a sig later, I swear. It'll reflect ".hack//CODE" an' everything.

Hey look! A profile! It's got items and stats and things! Cool! If it isn't fully up to date, it will be, so don't worry 'bout it.

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Lighteria
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Lighteria » Tue May 27, 2008 12:02 am

There's a certain amount of embarrassment Lighteria felt when he found out the door he so adamantly had chosen turned out to be locked. It almost felt like the entire dungeon had just shouted a giant "FARK YOU" right into his face, but then again he's probably lucky that that's ALL it did. Most dungeons run by the elites usually dispense with the good natured ribbing and personal degradation and instead opt for the much more efficient methods of dealing with intruders. ...Like a narrow hallway trap filled with raining buzz saw blades that would reduce the average player to PC coleslaw in less time than it takes you to say 'You have found a health drink'. Now that Lighteria thinks on that, he's reminded that Nall had actually, at one point, saved him from just that. ...Not that he feels he OWES Nall or anything, considering the fact that he's the entire reason he's stuck in the damn game in the first place. ...Ok, maybe not the ENTIRE reason, but it's close enough.

In any case, Lighteria meekly follows Sheena to the Lab/Earth door since she certainly SEEMED confident in what direction she chose. Unfortunately, all that greets them inside the door is yet another puzzle. Asgard and Dien are quick to solve the first two puzzle doors while Lighteria is still mulling over the meaning of "Do Not Divide" in between shooting embarrassed glances towards Sheena. Before he realizes it, they're already on the third puzzle door with yet another damn cryptic clue. ...Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be any horrifically painful punishment for failure this time.

Fibonacci's Largest Square? Ugh, I'm not sure I'm up for another math puzzle.

He bites his lip, stepping forward to the keypad, his eyes squinting as he racks his brain. First thing is to remember what the hell the Fibonacci sequence is and the second is to figure out where the hell a square sits in this thing. After all, the Fibonacci isn't exactly a geometry concept... unless you could the graphical designs made by it-...

Gah! Thinking too much into this-... just go through it in your head... 1, 2, 3, 5, 8.. 13.. um.. 21... 34... ...uh.. 55... then.. ....89? ..and.. ..crap.. carry the 4... 144... ... then... ...guh. There's no way I'm going any higher than THAT in my head. It's a square number too, right? Whatever, type it in and-..

"Guys? A little help in here would be great right about now!" Lighteria's ears pick up as his fingers graze the keyboard with the numbers. He blinks and looks back towards the meeting room. ...Then back to Sheena. Then back towards the meeting room again.

...

"...Dammit!" The twin blade, says under his breath turning away from the seemingly endless locked doors and rushing to the Testing/Water room. No sooner does he reach the opposite door than he's confronted with the sight of Canti leaping and shouting like a maniac towards a pack of wolves. Really DIRE wolves at that. "Ohmygod." The twin blade states bluntly, just taking in the sight of all the monsters crawling around the room. Much as he'd prefer to mess with brain teasers whilst standing next to a girl, this may not be the best time to indulge in his mind's fantasies. ...While... inside.. a.. game... The twin blade lets out an audible whimper, realizing that no amount of damage the monsters could inflict can hurt worse than THAT irony, so without another word he checks his Akatsuki on his belt and rushes towards the two Earthen Sphinxes. Turning into an aura would do nothing to help the battle at this point, seeing as how the monsters appear to be rather widely spread in terms of elemental affinity... SO really the best tactic is the team's good ol' standard of jumping right in and murdering tons of dudes. The twin blade happily chooses the sphinxes because they’re large and their movements seem rather slow… something the twin blade can usually use to his advantage.

So without so much as a taunt, the brown-haired, blue-eyed shy guy leaps towards the first of the pair of monsters clearing a wide swipe of one of the sphinx’s claws with the jump. His arm extends to the beast’s mane mid-leap and snatches it with relative ease. Though the twin blade’s light weight doesn’t jar the beast too badly, Lighteria clearly isn’t going for simple distraction and annoyance. Using the mane like a really, really short swinging rope, the twin blade flings his unheavy self onto the beast’s back and plants his feet into its back, shifting his left hand to the back of its head and pulling with all his might. The sphinx rears back only slightly and lets out a frustrated roar that doesn’t really phase Lighteria as he pulls one of his Akatsuki from the hilt on his belt and whips the blade down onto the beast’s exposed neck. Now THAT gets it angry. The half lion creature roars out in pain and bucks wildly around to get the twin blade off his back. This is, of course, totally natural and completely expected. The twin blade uses the bucking of the monster to make an extra-high leap into the air, just high enough to clear the attack range of the second sphinx’s claw swipe who apparently didn’t enjoy seeing its comrade turned into a bloody amusement park ride. Unfortunately for the monster, this is pretty much how the twin blade expected it to react. Now with the first one too distracted by pain and also physically pinned by its partner to do anything to stop him, Lighteria lands easily on the second sphinx’s back, plunging his blades into the back of its neck and holding on as tightly as he can.

“Twin Dragons.” He says simply as his blades spark and light a blaze with flames. The sphinx roars out in pain as Lighteria rips into the beast’s head with his rapid, flaming attack. With the other sphinx helpless under the second on, the twin blade’s assault on the thing’s vitals continues uninterrupted until the beast lets out a wail and collapses forward, the back of its head a mess of blood and singed fur, fading away into blackness as familiar with all monster deaths. This leaves Lighteria on the ground, with only an injured sphinx left to face… and anything else attracted by the commotion of course, though the twin blade happily decides not to think on that until the cat-man is dead.


((OOC. Test code: 144

Monster Count:
Fire Elementals: 3/3 (1 injured)
Dire Water Wolves 4/4 (2 injured)
Earthen Sphinxes 1/2 (1 injured)
Wooden Mer 3/3
Thunder Raptors 3/3
Darkness Shroom Kings 3/3 ))
Lv. 37 Twin Blade (180 SP)
Weapon: Rashou (Thunder Coil- 30, Suvi Lei- 20, Mumyn Lei- 30) (Life Drain)
Armor: Holy Tree Mail (Juk Kruz- 20) - Scarab Earring (La Repth- 20, Rip Maen- 40) - Time Sandals (Ap Do- 15) - Forest Gloves (Juk Kruz- 20)
GP: 14384

Wish list (In order of priority): Angel halo accessory, chibi angel wings, Bone Armor, Professional

Lighteria: "Obsessively updating my profile since Fri Oct 01, 2004 7:10 pm"

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Nighthand
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Nighthand » Tue May 27, 2008 2:31 am

Once more the code input caused the door to slide aside, and once more, another door was revealed. The familiar pattern was missed by Lighteria as he rushed to the other side of the dungeon, but those still present were able to read the next clue.

Code: Select all

2222 In the Fifth

Phoenix512
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Phoenix512 » Tue May 27, 2008 5:04 am

Phoenix saw Nighthand trying to open the dungeon door but was unable to. That only meant the first two doors were the only choices to go to. Sheena was probably disappointed that she will have to wait a bit more to rescue Nall but there was no other choice. Nighthand went down to the testing center while Sheena head to the lab. For some reason, Phoenix delayed in following Nighthand even though he had set his mind to the testing center. He probably still was uneasy from Suzaku’s absence as she should be back by now. Mika told me to believe in her but waiting for her is painful.

Phoenix grasped the necklace which was Suzaku before seeing Canti heading down to the testing center as Nighthand needed backup. It was another battle as Canti used his Flame Dance on one of the Dire Water Wolves but it had no additional damage for being affected by the opposite type. The Elites probably found a way to remove an elemental weakness from monsters but it was not the case for the fire elemental.

Before Phoenix could jump into the fray, Lighteria had begun attacking the horde of monsters. He managed to injure another Dire Water Wolf, one of the Earthen Sphinxes, and the other Earthen Sphinx. Lighteria could finish off the other Earthen Sphinx as he has shown himself useful in combat along with Canti. Phoenix has turn towards one of the Thunder Raptors. For once, there were no snakes or freaking dragons in here unless the Elites were using them as guards for Nall. He used the Oberon’s ability to improve his magical defense with Ap Vorma as he was not taking any chances.

The blademaster ran towards one of the Thunder Raptors and leapt into the air. Using another ability of the Oberon, the sword’s blade was covered in darkness which meant it was an Ani Crack. The darkness covered blade went into the Raptor’s midsection but it did not have any additional damage for being a darkness attack. The Raptors must have their elemental weakness removed as well. Regardless of additional elemental damage, the attack has managed to hit it quite a bit. Before the Raptor could respond, Phoenix use BiVak Rom on it and to finish it off, he fired off a Wind Blade at it. The three attacks were enough to bring the Raptor down.

With the death of one of their comrades, the remaining two Raptors use GiRai Rom and MeRai Don on the blademaster to electrocute him for the death of their kindred. Great, they have level 2 spells as well. I need to get away from them. Let’s try the other spell from the Anklets.

“GIGAN ZOT!”

The earth under the two Raptors began to tremble and burst out of the floor. The jagged rocks pierced through the scales of the Raptors along with providing a barrier between the blademaster and the Thunder Raptors. Phoenix could breathe easily for a second before realizing that there were five other types of monsters that want to kill him as well. Suzaku, I really need you for crowd control about now. After Phoenix thought of that, the necklace glow faintly for a second. The glow was not noticed by the blademaster as he was too focused on the current battle as these were not ordinary monsters. Phoenix knew that removing elemental weaknesses was probably not the only thing that the Elites did to them.

OOC.

Monster Count:
Fire Elementals: 3/3 (1 injured)
Dire Water Wolves 4/4 (2 injured)
Earthen Sphinxes 1/2 (1 injured)
Wooden Mer 3/3
Thunder Raptors 2/3 (2 injured)
Darkness Shroom Kings 3/3
Phoenix
Level 48 Blademaster
Equipped Skills: Vak Revolver, Gan Revolver, Dek Vorv, La Repth, Juk Kruz, Rue Kruz, BiVak Rom, GiGan Zot
Other Skills: Rue Kruz, Rip Synk, Rip Saem, Crack Beat, Rue Slash, Ani Slash, Gan Crack, Gan Revolver

Wish List: Phoenix's Fire, Gold Necklace
EX-Spheres: LV 3 - Overdrive, LV 3 - Curative, LV 3 - Elemental Breath

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Nighthand
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Nighthand » Wed Jun 04, 2008 7:09 pm

When some help arrived, in the form of Lighteria, Canti, and Phoenix, Nighthand felt a little better about getting into the fray. It wasn't that he was afraid of dying: even if he did, there were plenty of people around to revive him. It wasn't that the monsters were particularly strong, though they seemed somewhat more resilient than their level indicated. Really, it was just that he didn't want the hassle of killing each of them alone. Besides, they had sort of decided to split up, so it made sense that there were more than just him in this half of the building.

Third, he reminded himself. There was still the other door left unopened, and they had to open it somehow. He suspected, in typical hacker design, that the lock would be half on one side and half on the other. That was the way these things generally went.

Really, I wonder about the hackers sometimes. If they have near-infinite control over the game, why would they hide things in bases like this? I mean really; why even make doors? They can probably phase through walls or make their own doors on command, anyways.

They like the challenge? They're stupid? Maybe they DID once have doorless fortresses, but added doors for the convenience.

Maybe. Still, why make monsters killable? There are plenty of times when our little resistance would have been squashed by a monster that just had it's one weakness removed.

Who knows. Maybe Twilight itself is fucking with them. It seems to be so easily on our side sometimes.

You're giving Twilight a lot of anthropomorphism there. That's dangerous. What if you're right?

Nighthand couldn't answer, because by that time, enough of the monsters had closed in on him that he had to start fighting. One of the flying merman-like creatures dove through the air in his direction, and one of the ponderous mushroom creatures turned and headed his way. On top of that, one of the wolves was running for him.

The merman was the first to debut what was obviously a special attack. It pulled a sort of two-headed spear or trident from nowhere, and swung it in a wide arc towards the heavyblade. A cloud of thorns appeared where it swung and shot towards him, swiftly disappearing. Moments later they reappeared all around Nighthand, and only the fact that he had an excessively wide blade allowed him to swing and scoop enough of them away to dive through the cloud with only taking a few of them.

They each did a single point of damage, the ones that struck, but the number of them could have made it a deadly attack even for someone as high a level as he was. Then... poison. Of course poison. His HP was only dropping by about six per every five seconds, which was the number of thorns that hit him in the first place. But, if the poison scaled with the number of thorns that hit, it was a devastating attack.

Before he could rise to counterattack, he felt his body begin to not respond. Almost instantly it locked up on him, and he soon saw why. The mushroom had cast a spell of it's own, some crazy variation of sleep and paralyze. It didn't show up on his status screen, but it didn't seem to last long; a few seconds? What was the use of that-

A massive column of water, as big around as the wolf that sprayed it from it's mouth, slammed into him and pushed him all the way back out into the hallway. It hurt, more than just his HP, and the fact that he could barely move to recover made it hard to brace himself for the inevitable wall he slammed into. Head first.

Dazed, he stood, noting that the mer was swooping through the doorway and coming after him. So the monsters were capable of leaving the arena. He also noted that his HP was at about half. Well, that part at least wasn't a problem. A quick Ol Repth and he was almost as good as new, though the poison still ticked away at his HP bit by bit. Thankfully enough he was able to stand, and stand he did. Followed by jump, followed by swing, followed by a surprised look on the now one-armed mer. As soon as he landed, he stabbed upwards, his blade piercing the flying creature. He brought it down with a slam, kicking it off the blade, and it didn't move again.

Before more of the monsters could make it into the hallway, he dashed through it, to draw them away from the other half of the group. This wasn't the time for chaos in the hallway, especially with the other half of the team in a narrow corridor that was perfect for the wolf's blasting water.

OOC:

Monster Count:
Fire Elementals: 3/3 (1 injured)
Dire Water Wolves 4/4 (2 injured) (Water column attack)
Earthen Sphinxes 1/2 (1 injured)
Wooden Mer 2/3 (Poison thorn storm)
Thunder Raptors 2/3 (2 injured)
Darkness Shroom Kings 3/3 (Five second paralysis)

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Senna
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Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Senna » Sat Jun 07, 2008 3:19 pm

Senna’d let the others make the decision, more or less. She didn’t care which way she ended up going, being under no illusions that she’d make a difference either way. Her curiosity about the nautre of the place, discussed with Canti and echoed, unknown to her, by Nighthand left her unsure which way to follow as the group split. It seemed like the idea was to give them enough hope to keep them here, but to waste their time, giving more powerful beings time to get here. Not good. Though, were that the case, maybe it was possible to play it in their favor.

So thinking, she finally chose. The fighting side would be the one she took. They had smart enough people down the other side figuring out whatever there was to figure out. And besides, she was trying to gain herself some ability as a fighter, and the best way to go about that was going to be by fighting. She never wanted to freeze up in the heart of a battle. She did enough of that when faced with yawning cavities in the ground. She was beginning to get it now. The spear came alive in her hands sometimes, and her limbs were learning the dance. She’d accepted the need to kill despite the way she could FEEL it now. The only thing left was to hone that.

As she started down the tunnel, a wave of water washed into the common area, wetting her feet with a cold shock. She could hear the sounds of battle, and followed them, sandals slapping loudly into the water that remained from whatever attack had just been used (a monster attack, she’d wager – PC water attacks were actually ice). It seemed someone had decided to tweak with the abilities of the monsters. It should not, she supposed, be a huge surprise. These people seemed to enjoy doing a fair bit of tweaking with just about anything that crossed their paths.

The arena was set up to look like one of the great battle centers, and there was a right old battle going on there, with several members of the group already being involved in their own fights. Senna selected as her target another of the Fire Elementals, like those from outside. There were three of them actually, all in roughly the same area. Focusing on the center of their area, she activated a Rue Rom. the spell supposed should hit them all, but just to be sure, a GiRue Kruz followed, aimed squarely at the trunk of the least injured of the lot. Then, as the spells were coming to life, she was on the move again. No point in remaining in one place and waiting for a return fight unless she HAD to.



OOC:
Not sure what the special attack is on them, so…

Monster Count:
Fire Elementals: 3/3 (3 injured)
Dire Water Wolves 4/4 (2 injured) (Water column attack)
Earthen Sphinxes 1/2 (1 injured)
Wooden Mer 2/3 (Poison thorn storm)
Thunder Raptors 2/3 (2 injured)
Darkness Shroom Kings 3/3 (Five second paralysis)
Senna, level 33 Long Arm (710 HP/180 SP)
Most common kit: Ichigou, Racoon Earcaps, Air Bracer, Snow Panther, Winter Coat, Graceful Book
Spells/Skills: (Critical Hit/Death) Repulse Cage, Ap Corv, Ap Vorv, Rai Rom, Rue Zot, La Repth
Click for full equipment and items
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Lord Canti
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Location: In da' plains of hell, natch.

Re: Gated Folding Stare; Fighting Through Fire!

Post by Lord Canti » Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:08 pm

(The strange nature of these creatures... None of them - except for the Fire Elementals - responded to elemental strikes, not strong nor weak. He could see that as the others got into it. Phoenix, Lighteria, Senna - they sort of proved it, didn't they? Also, there were some unusual attacks being used. So then, that was it, wasn't it? These guys were an unfinished project, incomplete monsters. Perfectly killable, of course, but otherwise...they were trash. However, he had to watch out for some of these guys. They had his own weaknesses on tap. Given that their Fearless Leader was getting a bit overwhelmed by the wolves and such, Canti leapt out and dove right into one, knives first, and ended its life in a Dark Dance after ramming it. It was one of the injured ones, so it was down and out without a fight. That, however, caught the attentions of the other injured one, since the Twin Blade had been the one that started it off in the first place. Heaving, the wolf let off a blast of water at Canti. It had gotten so close that he could smell it. He'd managed to dodge aside, but only just so. It was startlingly accurate, even on a maneuverable guy like him!)

Canti: Okay, so- WHOA! -I get the feeling ya- NYAH! -don't like to play around. Guess I won't either.

(Several near-misses later, the Twin Blade took to the air to get over the Dire Water Wolf. He was gonna divebomb him as well! Only problem was that he'd failed to notice the two raptors that had snuck in from behind...and that one of them had fired a second-level Rai Don spell, dropping the Twin Blade like a sack of potatoes. He convulsed for a couple seconds, as a pair of lizards began to snap his HP away. They would've killed him if they'd thought to zap the meat instead of savoring it. A second later, an angry Twin Blade with half his HP gone grabbed them by the snouts. He had a scary face on now... The kind that makes you wanna wet your pants.)

Canti: Angry Canti is angry...

FWOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHH!!!!!

(Even without being weak against darkness, the black flames killed the last two Thunder Raptors. This brought about a short snickery laugh out of him, especially when he saw one of the Shroom Kings wandering about. Using his wings to assist, he jumped high off the ground and stomped down heavily on the creature, knocking it flat on its face. Laughing, he drew up his knives.)

Canti: It's a-me, Mario!

(Pinned to the ground, the Shroom was unable to scythe him to death, and he stabbed and sliced into it while feeling only minor pain from darkness attacks. When it was through, Canti's apparent temper and lunacy wore off and he wandered why he was standing in rapidly-dissolving fungus-goop. Also, he was concerned for his HP. Looking around for the Diire Water Wolves, he pulled out a Health Drink...and froze.)

Canti: Huh?

(His body locked up on him. And...it stayed locked up. Wait, what? He...just managed to see out of the corner of his eye...the other two Darkness Shroom Kings. They had used their paralysis ability on him. Hang on a second... Didn't Nighthand start moving only a few seconds after it was cast on him? It'd already been TEN seconds and he was still in the same position! That was when he realized why they were standing still. Canti let out a yell through gritted teeth. They were skill-spamming him! Enemies with confusion or berserking powers, creatures that liked to freeze you in place, whenever they were in a group, they LOVED to repeatedly cast the same F-ing thing on you, again and again, and Canti was now caught in it!)

Canti: Dammit, someone get these things OFF OF ME!!

OOC: Your total for today comes to...

Monster Count:
Fire Elementals: 3/3 (3 injured)
Dire Water Wolves 3/4 (1 injured) (Water column attack)
Earthen Sphinxes 1/2 (1 injured)
Wooden Mer 2/3 (Poison thorn storm)
Thunder Raptors 0/3 ("Toasty!")
Darkness Shroom Kings 2/3 (Five second paralysis)
I'll have a doozy of a sig later, I swear. It'll reflect ".hack//CODE" an' everything.

Hey look! A profile! It's got items and stats and things! Cool! If it isn't fully up to date, it will be, so don't worry 'bout it.

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