mrttao
Gone for Good
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how do you know that? maybe spells upgrade into better versions of the same spell as you rank up, rather than just unlocking new spells?
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Dungeon Crawler Quest(Original Fantasy)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
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I meant a B-rank Guardian frost by a level 100 guy with the same gear, race mods and power (8) as a level 10 guy B-rank Guardian Frost will be the same.
Yeah, ranking up the magical skill will rank up the spell, but we are not going to get Ice Magic to A/S/EX, as that means levelling our job that high, so if we want to do any fusions we will probably switch our job at B rank, capping all our magic skills at B for a while.
Darkened
Experienced.
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At present 25hp isn't really viable. Let's see what defense bonuses it has when Sera levels it before deciding. Ultimately white jobs aren't made to be very functional at high levels. Think MMOs where someone using green gear at level 5 is pretty boss and someone using green gear at level 50 is a complete idiot. As you get higher up, you're usually going to shift to rarer gear and classes because the lower stuff won't scale as well as the difficulty/benefits.
Doubling each level would have a C rank earth elementalist getting an extra 75 or 100HP at C and 100 or 200 at B. That's a ton for a low level and I expect somewhat smaller growth.
Right now Glacial Lady should be our first move. It's a confirmed path to a blue which thematically and in terms of synergy and patterns matches well with another blue (Gravelord). Once we have both of those (Potentially not terribly hard if we can get a green dark related job to drop or appear in the shop while leveling up the ice tree) we will have a solid base (4 green, 2 blue) we can use to branch out and experiment.
I imagine by the time we got Gravelord we won't really be bothering with ice golem unless it buffs up a lot by then.
Once we have a nice solid blue job, we're likely to be at that tier for a while, that'll be the open season for experimentation. However, in the interests of staying alive, it probably makes the most sense to head straight there after ice hits B.
So, for now, my suggested plan would be:
Train hexer/water elementalist to C, then both green jobs, then yoink gravelord via training the green jobs, then go experimenting like mad once we have a solid base that will keep us contributing.
So, how long will this take? The big limitation is that while we can train a ton of skills at once, we can only grind one job at a a time.
Each white job is a confirmed 105JP (35+70) So that's 210 on whites+another 70 on leveling ice to b
280 for the white tier.
Now, the white passives are a somewhat slower growth curve of 60-120-240-480 as far as I can tell.
By contrast, the blue passive looks to be an 80-160-320-640 path.
This strongly suggests that a green passive is a simple 70-140-280-560 path.
Small differences at E lead to an 80JP raise at A.
Now, jobs tend to be cheaper. This increase might be smaller.
For white, green, blue, purple, gold could make sense. In practice, I expect that a job will be somewhat less expensive than a similar tier passive skill because they're harder to grind. It's true so far, and I expect it to continue that way.
I don't really expect a blue E rank job to require more than 50-55 jp.
That leaves 40 or 45 for E rank.
At 40, D rank would be 80 and 90 at 45.
So 120JP to level a green to C or 135
X2 because we need to level 2 green jobs
240 or 270 +280 from our white jobs.
280 for the white tier.
Now, the white passives are a somewhat slower growth curve of 60-120-240-480 as far as I can tell.
By contrast, the blue passive looks to be an 80-160-320-640 path.
This strongly suggests that a green passive is a simple 70-140-280-560 path.
Small differences at E lead to an 80JP raise at A.
Now, jobs tend to be cheaper. This increase might be smaller.
For white, green, blue, purple, gold could make sense. In practice, I expect that a job will be somewhat less expensive than a similar tier passive skill because they're harder to grind. It's true so far, and I expect it to continue that way.
I don't really expect a blue E rank job to require more than 50-55 jp.
That leaves 40 or 45 for E rank.
At 40, D rank would be 80 and 90 at 45.
So 120JP to level a green to C or 135
X2 because we need to level 2 green jobs
240 or 270 +280 from our white jobs.
So the quickest we can reasonably expect a blue job is at around: 520-550JP.
Now, at 2 dungeons a day every day+1 encounter somewhere in transitish.
That's 2X10ish JP+2 or 22JP a day.
520-550/22=23 and change
550, meanwhile, would be 25 days. In practice, we'll waste some not rushing and changing jobs every day and with the big event, so call it a full month on either.
At 3 updates for each day, that will be about 84 story posts. At one story post every other day, that would be 168 days of this quest to hit glacial lady.
Doing OD at D rank increases our daily gain to something more like 24+2ish+10-12
So 36-38
520/36=14 and change (15)
550/36=15 and change (16)
Add a day or 2 for overflow and we're at 17-18
18*3 story posts a day=54 story posts or a mere 108 days.
That's 2X10ish JP+2 or 22JP a day.
520-550/22=23 and change
550, meanwhile, would be 25 days. In practice, we'll waste some not rushing and changing jobs every day and with the big event, so call it a full month on either.
At 3 updates for each day, that will be about 84 story posts. At one story post every other day, that would be 168 days of this quest to hit glacial lady.
Doing OD at D rank increases our daily gain to something more like 24+2ish+10-12
So 36-38
520/36=14 and change (15)
550/36=15 and change (16)
Add a day or 2 for overflow and we're at 17-18
18*3 story posts a day=54 story posts or a mere 108 days.
If we go crazy farming with single dungeons for 20+JP, we're likely to fuse up a blue job we know about and can chase directly with no errors (IF IT INCLUDES ICE) in a mere 108 days of this quest.
If we take an easier farming route and don't split the party, take more missions, etc we're looking at 168ish days.
"But that's a lot, why shouldn't we detour for SHINY?"
Because a detour is going to be another 210 JP for a weaker green job that may not even be what we wanted at all our have mechanics that fit our build. SOmething on the order of 18-30 story posts.
Or rather, investigating shiny is simply going to take forever and realistically won't pan out right away. Experimentation will necessarily involve failure, and each failure is a pretty significant detour to reach at first.
However, all evidence suggests that there's a bottleneck at blue jobs. We can't expect to find a purple via fusion in any easy timeframe.
Ergo, rushing straight to blue glacial lady (while hoping to find lucky green drops along the way) and then going crazy with fusions will be our easiest bet.
A lucky polar adept drop in CL D/C rank or the store might cut off 105JP from that total, or just short of 20% of that time.
However, the fact remains that fusion is a very very long grind. We will not be fusing easily or often until we've built up a library of fusable jobs, which we can do by chasing the path we know. .
It's orders of magnitude easier to grind a dungeon like CL C rank and pray for a lucky polar adept drop than farm up water elementalist>Polar Adept.
Leveling jobs with an eye toward fusing is great, but fusing should remain a fallback next to finding or buying the upgraded job crystals, at least until the distant future when we're plateaued.
On the other hand, if JP gains slowly start to rise as we level, this may not be as horrible. It hasn't really looked much like that so far though.
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mrttao
Gone for Good
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Which is why I explicitly mentioned fusions. two white jobs fuse to make a green job, etc. We need to level up the base jobs to unlock the fusion jobs.
That depends on how common advanced/fused jobs are as drops. But I can see the logic here.
Grosstoad
Whimsical Paranoid Creeper
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+looks at the whole theoretical calculation of 100+ days Dungeon-farming+
Ugh. I know about planning something to reach a goal, but this seems excessively planned to minute details.
Anyway, is there any marked increase on JP gain over higher ranked/tier Dungeons?
Ugh. I know about planning something to reach a goal, but this seems excessively planned to minute details.
Anyway, is there any marked increase on JP gain over higher ranked/tier Dungeons?
Darkened
Experienced.
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Not so far on JP increase, though some with higher rank, but not a huge amount. I also did not expect the numbers to be so slow when I started.
It's also less a plan and more an argument that "OH FUSE ALL OF THESE" is a really really really awful plan.
Our best bet is to pick a fusion (Glacial Lady) that we're aiming for and train there as a fallback plan while we hope for interesting green/blue jobs to drop along the way.
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
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Well, while I agree that 'getting greens/blues from drops' would make things much, much simpler, we have seen with GG that D-rank gives something like 21/22 JP, while C-rank gives 50JP.
Another possibility is to increase in our ability to od higher-ranked dungeons quickly, and do C-ranked CL/Drake Nest/Graveyard/Desecrated Fort, which all should give us 20+JP per person per run, if not more.
In those case, we could do this as quickly as 20 or so ingame days (because we need to get there, and people will insist on doing 'new things'), so a bit over a month of RL.
Not those very, very scary 6 months if we don't try and get to C/B-rank dungeons quickly.
Basically, I am /pretty sure/ that getting to do B-rank dungeons will exponentially increase our JP.
Another possibility is to increase in our ability to od higher-ranked dungeons quickly, and do C-ranked CL/Drake Nest/Graveyard/Desecrated Fort, which all should give us 20+JP per person per run, if not more.
In those case, we could do this as quickly as 20 or so ingame days (because we need to get there, and people will insist on doing 'new things'), so a bit over a month of RL.
Not those very, very scary 6 months if we don't try and get to C/B-rank dungeons quickly.
Basically, I am /pretty sure/ that getting to do B-rank dungeons will exponentially increase our JP.
Darkened
Experienced.
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C rank is a 3 man dungeon and presumably gives rewards as a 3 person dungeon rather than a 2 person.
I doubt we'll ever be soloing that. In fact, losing access to EASY E/D ranked dungeons which net us more JP/person may slow this down rather than speed things up.
Grosstoad
Whimsical Paranoid Creeper
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True, Yrs did state that Fusion is a new system, but experimental and still unproven to be truly advantageous compared to drops.
Of course, pure Dungeon-delving is going to be somewhat dull experience over the times, so I am going to suggest for Town/Mission day tomorrow.
Of course, pure Dungeon-delving is going to be somewhat dull experience over the times, so I am going to suggest for Town/Mission day tomorrow.
mrttao
Gone for Good
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that is a good point, losing access to lowbie areas is a bit deal. Especially with the AI upgrades that occur on higher tiers
Guile
Clothes That Kill Virgins
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Aversion therapy. If we just cover her in spider monsters, eventually it'll stop bothering her! It might take a lot of trips through Crystal Lake, though...
GiftofLove
A Gift From The Heart
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She's cured! Wait, no, she's just gone catatonic.
steamrick
Matter: protons, electrons, neutrons and morons
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I'd bet that Glacial Lady comes with a couple new summoning skills. I dunno if yrsillar spoilered anything (I didn't read all the discussion) but to me it seems like Glacial Lady comes with three main areas of skill:
- primarily large-scale debuff
- with a side of summoning ice creatures
- and last and least, some direct-damage abilities, such as ice spikes
... basically, a class that's incredibly useful to a group that only has one tank-type in it.
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
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It's false, so not worth mentioning.
I...What. That's pretty much not what is Glacial Lady.
EDIT: To be clearer, Glacial Lady "Amps Ups" what Polar Adept/Hex Witch does. This mean It focus on Largue Scale Debuff and Large Scale Freezes, using a lot of water/hex spells in order to make Debuff/freeze longer and more common.
It might also do something like "Enemies take more damage when frozen" or some such.
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Garahs
Soil Surveyor
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Of course! That is the sound of forgiveness; screaming and then silence.
yrsillar
Dapper Cthulhu
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"So, what do you guys think, Crystal Lake D? That place has been bugging me since it beat us," Anshelm says, as conversation segues into what you want to do in the afternoon.
"I think we we could manage, between the improvement to my status cure, and your charge to push the spiders out of the way, the spawning room should not be nearly as bad," Shimah responds thoughtfully.
Does she have to remind you of that room… dammit, but Anshelm is right, being beaten by that dungeon bugs the hell out of you, spiders or not, "I'm fine with that," you grumble reluctantly.
Sera eyes you a bit worriedly, but nods her agreement as well, "It should be fine, we've improved a lot."
"True enough," Maya adds brightly, "I think being able to not get bogged down in spiders will make this much easier,"
Well that's decided, you set off in the direction of Crystal Lake, chatting idly among yourselves, Sera does seem pretty keen on hanging back next to you as you walk though.
"Um… Al? Are you sure about this? You seemed a little unenthusiastic about this dungeon…" she asks after a moment of silence passes between you.
"It's nothing, just hate spiders, you know?" you say shortly, glaring down at the sand under your boots, why do there have to be random patches of desert? Now there's sand in your shoes.
"Oh," Sera seems thoughtful for a moment, and shortly after breaks into a small fit of giggles, you glance at her sharply.
"Something funny about that?" so you don't like spiders, so what? Everybody is allowed to have something they absolutely and unequivocally hate.
"Ah, I'm sorry," Sera responds, sounding contrite as she stifles the last of her giggles, "It's just, I really thought you weren't afraid of anything. I really like that about you, but I guess everyone has something they can't stand."
You're a little mollified by the praise, though you never said anything about being afraid, you scoff, "I'm not scared of them, I just hate 'em, nasty creepy little things with too many legs, and have you seen the way they move?"
"They are pretty creepy," Sera says consolingly, "But, you have all of us, and we can burn them to ash together, right?"
"I don't have fire equipped, but I think I get your point," you grumble, "Anything out there you just can't stand?" you ask after a moment, you should probably try to learn more about Sera after all.
"Um… a few things," she hedges, "I… I definitely don't want to go to whatever dungeon that tree monster came from… it was okay since it was just a tree… but I really can't stand um… sick people. That is the thing about being branded that made me really happy, you know?"
You're guessing she isn't just talking about people with nasty colds, immunity to disease no matter how virulent and such is a pretty strong perk of being branded. "Yeah, I can understand that, we'll steer clear of that one if we find it, unless you want to hit it." you offer, you doubt anyone would grumble too hard about that.
"Thank you, I'll have to consider it… facing your fears is important right?" Sera says after a moment, giving you a small smile. Idly, you slip your hand into hers, and suddenly the desert sun seems less uncomfortable, or maybe you aren't paying it as much mind.
The rest of the trip passes pretty easily, no additional enemies crop up for you to put down, luckily or unluckily as that may be. Soon enough you are back at the entrance to crystal lake.
"Time for round two, you guys ready to stomp this place?" Anshelm asks, seeming pumped up.
"Don't be too hasty, we don't know what the parts after the spawning room are like," Maya points out.
"Tch, gotta be the spoilsport," he grumbles good naturedly, even as he activates the dungeon.
The first two rooms pass without great incident, though you make sure to note the colors of the crystal in each room, they've changed order again. Red, then green.
The spiders, creepy little bastards that they are, drop much more easily now. Maya can shatter one with one good stab, aand you and Sera can two shot them with your area spells. The jelly fish things are tough… but apparently weak to lightning, which means Sera reduces them to smoke and cinders in a hurry. Shimah has to keep up on healing poison, though that's mostly confined to Anshelm, but really, it feels a lot less desperate than the last run.
The third room brings you face to face with one of the nest guardians again for the first time since your last run. Well face to… whatever you want to call the mass of eyes and wiggling fangs a spider has. Whatever. The point is, between you, Sera and Maya the thing practically disappears under your damage, even as the 'tank group' of Anshelm, Maya's warg, and your guardian wade in and capture the attention of the rest of the spiders and jellyfish things. The damage from the floor isn't even that bad, you have more health now, and Maya's skill seems to reduce it a good bit, seeing as it should be D rank by now if your Mana absorb ranked up.
Either way, dead spiders, and on to the next room. The one that beat you. This time you are ready for the horde of enemies, activating your cold aura at the same time that Sera brings up her lightning cloak. Anshelm pushes his shield out and steadies his spear before charging forward, flanked by the party's pets. Spiders go flying in every direction as he charges right through the horde, bulling through the eerily silent horde with ease. Your guardian stomps them flat and Maya's warg howls, buffing everyone even as it helps clear the way.
You see one of Shimah's totems for the first time, an odd grinning wooden carving simply… appearing out of the ground near your group. It shines golden, and a healing spell washes over Anshelm. It doesn't take long to reach the first spawner, and the nest guardians standing protectively over it. Maya appears, daggers already cracking one of the things nearly in twain, a critical hit you assume. Before vanishing again in a cloud of smoke that seems to confuse them.
The spiders surging around your group writhe and die as they approach you and Sera, anywhere where your auras overlap enough to almost kill them instantly. Still attacks get through, even as you burn down the spawner and the guardians as quickly as you can.
With the first spawner down, you move to the next, repeating the plan, after all it should only get easier from here, and indeed it seems to be working that way. You plow through to the next spawner and demolish it, and though you need take an amrita, things seem to be going pretty well, the situation repeats for the third spawner… and then fun happens.
Bonus Triggered
Mother is Awake.
"Oh, bullshit," you snap out, there's still a spawner left, why is the bonus… Crap, the spiky, stalactite and web coated ceiling, shifts and moves, heaving downward and casting off its webs…. That is a big spider. It dwarfs Maya's warg.
"Don't get distracted!" Maya yells, "Finish the last spawner, then we can deal with it," she's right… the bonus boss is definitely a threat, Crystal Spider Matriarch, plenty of health and SP, and heavy status resistances, level ten too. Letting the spawner keep pumping out babies to slow and poison you is a mistake though.
Even as the Matriarch drops down, impossibly righting itself in midair before the landing of its eight legs sends a thunderous crack through the crystal cavern. Your party is pushing forward through the remaining spiders. With only one spawner pumping them out, it is almost pitifully easy to break through to the thing.
Then the matriarch lets out a long, ear piercing screech and opens its fang filled maw unleashing a blue white beam of magic as thick as your waist. It scythes through all of you. Holy crap did that hurt, half your life gone. Sera's earth shield is gone as well, everyone seems relatively okay, and with Shimah's healing things are okay soon enough… then the Matriarch spawns another trio of nest guardians, even as you cut the previous ones down and begin working on the spawner, great.
You and Maya direct your pets back to the boss, even as Anshelm turns and makes sure he has its attention, while the rest of you burst down the spawner.
Between the slows, the webs, the occasional laser, and the constant spawning of nest guardians, the thing is a real pain in the ass, plus just keeping Anshelm up takes all of Shimah's time, Maya's Warg nearly dies a couple of times, saved only by a timely totem heal.
Eventually it falls, letting you all breath easy, you need your Ether, and going by everyone else, you're not alone in that. Fuck spiders, fuck spiders forever.
"Everyone ready?" Anshelm asks after everyone has a little breather.
"I am… has everyone else been keeping track of the crystal colors as well, so far I have red, green, white, black."
"The same," you and Shimah say at the same time, ah well, at least the others are paying attention anyway. With that, everyone continues to the next room.
…Dammit, "Sera, are those two big crystal guys riding giant spiders?" you ask, already knowing the answer.
"Um… they are," She confirms, glancing at you with worry as she activates her lightning cloak.
"Kay, just… just wanted to make sure I wasn't seeing things," you answer sadly, raising your staff to start casting. Layout is a bit like a castle foyer, with five crystal warriors acting as a shield wall for a pair of mages and a cleric. Plus you know… two 'Crystal Cavaliers'. You really don't like them.
Luckily Sera seems to cotton on to that and hits the first of them with a charged lightning bolt before it even reaches Anshelm. Sera's pretty great.
That said, you need to help Anshelm out, he's weathering a lot of hits, and although he's pretty tough you need to slow them down, so you do, with copious amounts of artic cold that makes their crystalline flesh crack and shatter. Friends of spiders deserve no less.
Maya tears into the cleric from stealth shortly after that, and although Shimah is kept pretty busy on the healing, the room goes quickly enough. Yellow Crystal for this one.
Next room is much the same, except you know, more mages and two clerics, plus a couple of 'crystal bowmen'. Also two of the warriors have big, nasty looking axes instead of spears, and are labeled as 'Crystal Champions'.
Sigh, the tank squad barges down the middle, weathering fire from all the enemies as they pull the attention and you see to it that they get slowed as Sera starts working on picking off bowmen and mages. You and Sera both eat a couple arrows and acid bolts for your troubles, but nothing Shimah or a vampiric ray can't handle.
Things do get a little dicey when a mage traps Sera in an aqua prison, but that just makes you and Maya gun to put them down harder, and in the end it just serves to extend the fight… luckily they seem to not be inclined to use that spell much. Blue crystal.
The next room is the 'key' room, you vaguely wonder what would happen if you deliberately messed up the colors. You rather decide you don't want to risk it though. You were kinda expecting the puzzle room to be different though… oh right, there's a clock thingy above the key, "Thirty seconds guys." You warn, even as Maya and Shimah hurriedly put the keys in their proper slots.
No problems making it in time though… which just leaves the boss.
The Crystal Lord is everything it was before, but worse, with the addition of bowmen and cavaliers, plus simply having more bodyguards. What a pain.
Frankly, the battle is difficult, but only in the sense of trying to beat down a brick wall with your fists. Your guardian gets popped despite your best attempts to keep it up, and you end up using two more Amritas during the fight just to keep up. The crystal clerics are on the ball with healing, at least until Maya puts them down, and the Crystal Lords power and defense buffs are no joke, not to mention the rain of razor sharp crystal shards it summons down on all of your heads HURTS.
In the end it drops though, even if everyone is pretty drained from the fight.
Congratulations!
You have earned
108 Experience
12 Job points
150 Gilder
The party has looted
5 Potions
4 Amritas
3 Hi potions
2 Ethers
[Crystal Staff] A outgrowth of a larger crystal imbued with the power of water. Value 70
[Crystal Sword] A crystal Stalagmite shaped roughly into a blade and bound to a handle, Cuts easily through armor. Value 70 Cannot Equip
[Spider Silk Robe] A robe woven from the shimmering webbing of crystal spiders. Incredibly tough for cloth and grants an increase to SP as well as a bonus to Earth Spells. 280
[Crystal Vestment] A Clerical vestment with dozens of tiny crystals woven into its tough fabric. Grants a bonus to SP and resistance to acid. 250 Cannot equip
[Arachne Shield]Carapace of the Spider Matriarch, Easily deflects blows and makes the user resistant to poison and acid. 280 Cannot Equip
[Crystalline Race Mod] Strong of will and tough as nails. Superb for those who find endurance the greatest virtue, rather slow though. Boosts affinity of Earth while decreasesing affinity for Wind. 400
[Water Elementalist Job Crystal] Water Magic Adept, decent at control and damage. 300
Looks like a few of your skills ranked up, you'll have to look those over later.
"Pretty nice shield, I think my old one could use replacing," Anshelm comments.
"Mm, nothing of immediate use for me sadly, but I suppose my armor and weapons are quite good for our current level," Maya muses.
"Mm, I wouldn't mind the robe I suppose," Sera says after a moment, "Maybe just to switch out with my current one when I need more defense though…"
"The vestment is an obvious switch, when dealing with acid using enemies," Shimah says with a shrug, "I think the race mod would be quite good for me as well, more health and SP would make me more effective at my role."
Well, anything catch your eye? ...Besides the robe you mean. You absolutely draw the line at wearing something made of spiderwebs. Nope, nope, nope, that one is all Sera's
[]Loot
[]Evening plans
(Note: Gonna just start posting up available missions at the tail end of evening updates, to save time on needing to check them, I feel kinda dumb for not doing this already, but oh well.))
Al Lv6
Ice Elementalist C
Health 60/74
SP 27/96
Maya Lv6
Dual Blade Hunter C
Health 62/81
Sp 24/40
Anshelm Lv6
Spear Warrior C
Health 134/200
SP 24/52
Shimah Lv6
Shaman D
Health 80/96
SP 36/105
Seraphine Lv6
Fire Elementalist C
Health 54/75
Sp 35/87
"I think we we could manage, between the improvement to my status cure, and your charge to push the spiders out of the way, the spawning room should not be nearly as bad," Shimah responds thoughtfully.
Does she have to remind you of that room… dammit, but Anshelm is right, being beaten by that dungeon bugs the hell out of you, spiders or not, "I'm fine with that," you grumble reluctantly.
Sera eyes you a bit worriedly, but nods her agreement as well, "It should be fine, we've improved a lot."
"True enough," Maya adds brightly, "I think being able to not get bogged down in spiders will make this much easier,"
Well that's decided, you set off in the direction of Crystal Lake, chatting idly among yourselves, Sera does seem pretty keen on hanging back next to you as you walk though.
"Um… Al? Are you sure about this? You seemed a little unenthusiastic about this dungeon…" she asks after a moment of silence passes between you.
"It's nothing, just hate spiders, you know?" you say shortly, glaring down at the sand under your boots, why do there have to be random patches of desert? Now there's sand in your shoes.
"Oh," Sera seems thoughtful for a moment, and shortly after breaks into a small fit of giggles, you glance at her sharply.
"Something funny about that?" so you don't like spiders, so what? Everybody is allowed to have something they absolutely and unequivocally hate.
"Ah, I'm sorry," Sera responds, sounding contrite as she stifles the last of her giggles, "It's just, I really thought you weren't afraid of anything. I really like that about you, but I guess everyone has something they can't stand."
You're a little mollified by the praise, though you never said anything about being afraid, you scoff, "I'm not scared of them, I just hate 'em, nasty creepy little things with too many legs, and have you seen the way they move?"
"They are pretty creepy," Sera says consolingly, "But, you have all of us, and we can burn them to ash together, right?"
"I don't have fire equipped, but I think I get your point," you grumble, "Anything out there you just can't stand?" you ask after a moment, you should probably try to learn more about Sera after all.
"Um… a few things," she hedges, "I… I definitely don't want to go to whatever dungeon that tree monster came from… it was okay since it was just a tree… but I really can't stand um… sick people. That is the thing about being branded that made me really happy, you know?"
You're guessing she isn't just talking about people with nasty colds, immunity to disease no matter how virulent and such is a pretty strong perk of being branded. "Yeah, I can understand that, we'll steer clear of that one if we find it, unless you want to hit it." you offer, you doubt anyone would grumble too hard about that.
"Thank you, I'll have to consider it… facing your fears is important right?" Sera says after a moment, giving you a small smile. Idly, you slip your hand into hers, and suddenly the desert sun seems less uncomfortable, or maybe you aren't paying it as much mind.
The rest of the trip passes pretty easily, no additional enemies crop up for you to put down, luckily or unluckily as that may be. Soon enough you are back at the entrance to crystal lake.
"Time for round two, you guys ready to stomp this place?" Anshelm asks, seeming pumped up.
"Don't be too hasty, we don't know what the parts after the spawning room are like," Maya points out.
"Tch, gotta be the spoilsport," he grumbles good naturedly, even as he activates the dungeon.
The first two rooms pass without great incident, though you make sure to note the colors of the crystal in each room, they've changed order again. Red, then green.
The spiders, creepy little bastards that they are, drop much more easily now. Maya can shatter one with one good stab, aand you and Sera can two shot them with your area spells. The jelly fish things are tough… but apparently weak to lightning, which means Sera reduces them to smoke and cinders in a hurry. Shimah has to keep up on healing poison, though that's mostly confined to Anshelm, but really, it feels a lot less desperate than the last run.
The third room brings you face to face with one of the nest guardians again for the first time since your last run. Well face to… whatever you want to call the mass of eyes and wiggling fangs a spider has. Whatever. The point is, between you, Sera and Maya the thing practically disappears under your damage, even as the 'tank group' of Anshelm, Maya's warg, and your guardian wade in and capture the attention of the rest of the spiders and jellyfish things. The damage from the floor isn't even that bad, you have more health now, and Maya's skill seems to reduce it a good bit, seeing as it should be D rank by now if your Mana absorb ranked up.
Either way, dead spiders, and on to the next room. The one that beat you. This time you are ready for the horde of enemies, activating your cold aura at the same time that Sera brings up her lightning cloak. Anshelm pushes his shield out and steadies his spear before charging forward, flanked by the party's pets. Spiders go flying in every direction as he charges right through the horde, bulling through the eerily silent horde with ease. Your guardian stomps them flat and Maya's warg howls, buffing everyone even as it helps clear the way.
You see one of Shimah's totems for the first time, an odd grinning wooden carving simply… appearing out of the ground near your group. It shines golden, and a healing spell washes over Anshelm. It doesn't take long to reach the first spawner, and the nest guardians standing protectively over it. Maya appears, daggers already cracking one of the things nearly in twain, a critical hit you assume. Before vanishing again in a cloud of smoke that seems to confuse them.
The spiders surging around your group writhe and die as they approach you and Sera, anywhere where your auras overlap enough to almost kill them instantly. Still attacks get through, even as you burn down the spawner and the guardians as quickly as you can.
With the first spawner down, you move to the next, repeating the plan, after all it should only get easier from here, and indeed it seems to be working that way. You plow through to the next spawner and demolish it, and though you need take an amrita, things seem to be going pretty well, the situation repeats for the third spawner… and then fun happens.
Bonus Triggered
Mother is Awake.
"Oh, bullshit," you snap out, there's still a spawner left, why is the bonus… Crap, the spiky, stalactite and web coated ceiling, shifts and moves, heaving downward and casting off its webs…. That is a big spider. It dwarfs Maya's warg.
"Don't get distracted!" Maya yells, "Finish the last spawner, then we can deal with it," she's right… the bonus boss is definitely a threat, Crystal Spider Matriarch, plenty of health and SP, and heavy status resistances, level ten too. Letting the spawner keep pumping out babies to slow and poison you is a mistake though.
Even as the Matriarch drops down, impossibly righting itself in midair before the landing of its eight legs sends a thunderous crack through the crystal cavern. Your party is pushing forward through the remaining spiders. With only one spawner pumping them out, it is almost pitifully easy to break through to the thing.
Then the matriarch lets out a long, ear piercing screech and opens its fang filled maw unleashing a blue white beam of magic as thick as your waist. It scythes through all of you. Holy crap did that hurt, half your life gone. Sera's earth shield is gone as well, everyone seems relatively okay, and with Shimah's healing things are okay soon enough… then the Matriarch spawns another trio of nest guardians, even as you cut the previous ones down and begin working on the spawner, great.
You and Maya direct your pets back to the boss, even as Anshelm turns and makes sure he has its attention, while the rest of you burst down the spawner.
Between the slows, the webs, the occasional laser, and the constant spawning of nest guardians, the thing is a real pain in the ass, plus just keeping Anshelm up takes all of Shimah's time, Maya's Warg nearly dies a couple of times, saved only by a timely totem heal.
Eventually it falls, letting you all breath easy, you need your Ether, and going by everyone else, you're not alone in that. Fuck spiders, fuck spiders forever.
"Everyone ready?" Anshelm asks after everyone has a little breather.
"I am… has everyone else been keeping track of the crystal colors as well, so far I have red, green, white, black."
"The same," you and Shimah say at the same time, ah well, at least the others are paying attention anyway. With that, everyone continues to the next room.
…Dammit, "Sera, are those two big crystal guys riding giant spiders?" you ask, already knowing the answer.
"Um… they are," She confirms, glancing at you with worry as she activates her lightning cloak.
"Kay, just… just wanted to make sure I wasn't seeing things," you answer sadly, raising your staff to start casting. Layout is a bit like a castle foyer, with five crystal warriors acting as a shield wall for a pair of mages and a cleric. Plus you know… two 'Crystal Cavaliers'. You really don't like them.
Luckily Sera seems to cotton on to that and hits the first of them with a charged lightning bolt before it even reaches Anshelm. Sera's pretty great.
That said, you need to help Anshelm out, he's weathering a lot of hits, and although he's pretty tough you need to slow them down, so you do, with copious amounts of artic cold that makes their crystalline flesh crack and shatter. Friends of spiders deserve no less.
Maya tears into the cleric from stealth shortly after that, and although Shimah is kept pretty busy on the healing, the room goes quickly enough. Yellow Crystal for this one.
Next room is much the same, except you know, more mages and two clerics, plus a couple of 'crystal bowmen'. Also two of the warriors have big, nasty looking axes instead of spears, and are labeled as 'Crystal Champions'.
Sigh, the tank squad barges down the middle, weathering fire from all the enemies as they pull the attention and you see to it that they get slowed as Sera starts working on picking off bowmen and mages. You and Sera both eat a couple arrows and acid bolts for your troubles, but nothing Shimah or a vampiric ray can't handle.
Things do get a little dicey when a mage traps Sera in an aqua prison, but that just makes you and Maya gun to put them down harder, and in the end it just serves to extend the fight… luckily they seem to not be inclined to use that spell much. Blue crystal.
The next room is the 'key' room, you vaguely wonder what would happen if you deliberately messed up the colors. You rather decide you don't want to risk it though. You were kinda expecting the puzzle room to be different though… oh right, there's a clock thingy above the key, "Thirty seconds guys." You warn, even as Maya and Shimah hurriedly put the keys in their proper slots.
No problems making it in time though… which just leaves the boss.
The Crystal Lord is everything it was before, but worse, with the addition of bowmen and cavaliers, plus simply having more bodyguards. What a pain.
Frankly, the battle is difficult, but only in the sense of trying to beat down a brick wall with your fists. Your guardian gets popped despite your best attempts to keep it up, and you end up using two more Amritas during the fight just to keep up. The crystal clerics are on the ball with healing, at least until Maya puts them down, and the Crystal Lords power and defense buffs are no joke, not to mention the rain of razor sharp crystal shards it summons down on all of your heads HURTS.
In the end it drops though, even if everyone is pretty drained from the fight.
Congratulations!
You have earned
108 Experience
12 Job points
150 Gilder
The party has looted
5 Potions
4 Amritas
3 Hi potions
2 Ethers
[Crystal Staff] A outgrowth of a larger crystal imbued with the power of water. Value 70
[Crystal Sword] A crystal Stalagmite shaped roughly into a blade and bound to a handle, Cuts easily through armor. Value 70 Cannot Equip
[Spider Silk Robe] A robe woven from the shimmering webbing of crystal spiders. Incredibly tough for cloth and grants an increase to SP as well as a bonus to Earth Spells. 280
[Crystal Vestment] A Clerical vestment with dozens of tiny crystals woven into its tough fabric. Grants a bonus to SP and resistance to acid. 250 Cannot equip
[Arachne Shield]Carapace of the Spider Matriarch, Easily deflects blows and makes the user resistant to poison and acid. 280 Cannot Equip
[Crystalline Race Mod] Strong of will and tough as nails. Superb for those who find endurance the greatest virtue, rather slow though. Boosts affinity of Earth while decreasesing affinity for Wind. 400
[Water Elementalist Job Crystal] Water Magic Adept, decent at control and damage. 300
Looks like a few of your skills ranked up, you'll have to look those over later.
"Pretty nice shield, I think my old one could use replacing," Anshelm comments.
"Mm, nothing of immediate use for me sadly, but I suppose my armor and weapons are quite good for our current level," Maya muses.
"Mm, I wouldn't mind the robe I suppose," Sera says after a moment, "Maybe just to switch out with my current one when I need more defense though…"
"The vestment is an obvious switch, when dealing with acid using enemies," Shimah says with a shrug, "I think the race mod would be quite good for me as well, more health and SP would make me more effective at my role."
Well, anything catch your eye? ...Besides the robe you mean. You absolutely draw the line at wearing something made of spiderwebs. Nope, nope, nope, that one is all Sera's
[]Loot
[]Evening plans
(Note: Gonna just start posting up available missions at the tail end of evening updates, to save time on needing to check them, I feel kinda dumb for not doing this already, but oh well.))
Al Lv6
Ice Elementalist C
Health 60/74
SP 27/96
Maya Lv6
Dual Blade Hunter C
Health 62/81
Sp 24/40
Anshelm Lv6
Spear Warrior C
Health 134/200
SP 24/52
Shimah Lv6
Shaman D
Health 80/96
SP 36/105
Seraphine Lv6
Fire Elementalist C
Health 54/75
Sp 35/87
Last edited:
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Joined
- May 20, 2013
- Messages
- 4,204
So, changes:
EDIT: Seems Vampiric Rays and Wave Crash haven't changed, or am I missing something...
Anyway, we are getting soem really nice AoEs there.
EDIT: Seems Vampiric Rays and Wave Crash haven't changed, or am I missing something...
Anyway, we are getting soem really nice AoEs there.
Grosstoad
Whimsical Paranoid Creeper
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
- Messages
- 10,398
Red text! AAAAAA!
Beam sweep! AAAAAAA!
+adrenaline pumps+ AAAAAAAAAAAA!
+reaches the end of the update+
Oh, phew...
Oh... +looks at the DoT and target add on Acid Dart+
The spells actually changed. So not actually static?
Beam sweep! AAAAAAA!
+adrenaline pumps+ AAAAAAAAAAAA!
+reaches the end of the update+
Oh, phew...
Oh... +looks at the DoT and target add on Acid Dart+
The spells actually changed. So not actually static?
Cassiemouse
Experienced.
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2014
- Messages
- 2,843
Alice should take the sword so she will have something to use if we switch over to Sword Fighter for a while. Yep.
Guile
Clothes That Kill Virgins
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2013
- Messages
- 13,733
Ha! Spider cavalry is cool.yrsillar said:
[X] Silk Robe for Sera, Crystal Vestment and race mod for Shimah (alas, there goes the bouncy… I mean, uh…), Arachne Shield for Anshelm, Water Elementalist for Anshelm if he wants to branch into Mana Absorb, sell otherwise. Pretty standard.
[X] Do make sure the Guide is updated with those two new bits of fun: the Mother's ray attack and the Crystal Lord's ice rain could really fuck up a party less prepared than you. Even something as simple as 'pay attention to the crystal color' might be critical for a less on the ball party.
[X] Team dinner out together to celebrate a glorious victory over the spider hordes that beat you before? Or if they've got stuff to do, you could really use a swimsuit...
Grosstoad
Whimsical Paranoid Creeper
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2014
- Messages
- 10,398
Loot:
[X] Alice: 2 Potions, 1 Amrita, 1 Ether
[X] Anshelm: 1 Hi-Potion, [Arachne Shield]
[X] Maya: 3 Potions, 1 Hi-Potion, 1 Amrita
[X] Seraphine: 1 Hi-Potion, 1 Amrita, 1 Ether, [Spider Silk Robe]
[X] Shimah: 1 Amrita, [Crystal Vestment], [Crystalline Race Mod]
[X] Vault: [Water Elementalist Job Crystal]
[X] Sell: [Crystal Staff], [Crystal Sword]
Social:
[X] You know, that Earth spell, that gives Sera extra HP? It is great, it's awesome, you love it.
- [X] You can't kiss a spell, but you might give a kiss to Sera.
[X] So, let's see how the vestment and race mod look like, Shimah
- [X] You too, Sera
Actions:
[X] Alice promised Sera a date... Uh, where should they go?
[X] Alice: 2 Potions, 1 Amrita, 1 Ether
[X] Anshelm: 1 Hi-Potion, [Arachne Shield]
[X] Maya: 3 Potions, 1 Hi-Potion, 1 Amrita
[X] Seraphine: 1 Hi-Potion, 1 Amrita, 1 Ether, [Spider Silk Robe]
[X] Shimah: 1 Amrita, [Crystal Vestment], [Crystalline Race Mod]
[X] Vault: [Water Elementalist Job Crystal]
[X] Sell: [Crystal Staff], [Crystal Sword]
Social:
[X] You know, that Earth spell, that gives Sera extra HP? It is great, it's awesome, you love it.
- [X] You can't kiss a spell, but you might give a kiss to Sera.
[X] So, let's see how the vestment and race mod look like, Shimah
- [X] You too, Sera
Actions:
[X] Alice promised Sera a date... Uh, where should they go?
Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Joined
- May 20, 2013
- Messages
- 4,204
Spell changes at each ranks. A spell at a specific rank, however, only changes depending on power/gear/job, not levels.
Cassiemouse
Experienced.
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2014
- Messages
- 2,843
Loot:
[X] Alice: 2 Potions, 1 Amrita, 1 Ether
[X] Anshelm: 1 Hi-Potion, [Arachne Shield]
[X] Maya: 3 Potions, 1 Hi-Potion, 1 Amrita
[X] Seraphine: 1 Hi-Potion, 1 Amrita, 1 Ether, [Spider Silk Robe]
[X] Shimah: 1 Amrita, [Crystal Vestment], [Crystalline Race Mod]
[X] Vault: [Water Elementalist Job Crystal], [Crystal Sword],
[X] Sell: [Crystal Staff]
Social:
{X] Thank Maya again about orbing us out the last time. This really could have gone way, way too wrong.
[X] You know, that Earth spell, that gives Sera extra HP? It is great, it's awesome, you love it.
- [X] You can't kiss a spell, but you might give a kiss to Sera.
[X] So, let's see how the vestment and race mod look like, Shimah
- [X] You too, Sera
Actions:
[X] Alice promised Sera a date... Uh, where should they go?
[X] Alice: 2 Potions, 1 Amrita, 1 Ether
[X] Anshelm: 1 Hi-Potion, [Arachne Shield]
[X] Maya: 3 Potions, 1 Hi-Potion, 1 Amrita
[X] Seraphine: 1 Hi-Potion, 1 Amrita, 1 Ether, [Spider Silk Robe]
[X] Shimah: 1 Amrita, [Crystal Vestment], [Crystalline Race Mod]
[X] Vault: [Water Elementalist Job Crystal], [Crystal Sword],
[X] Sell: [Crystal Staff]
Social:
{X] Thank Maya again about orbing us out the last time. This really could have gone way, way too wrong.
[X] You know, that Earth spell, that gives Sera extra HP? It is great, it's awesome, you love it.
- [X] You can't kiss a spell, but you might give a kiss to Sera.
[X] So, let's see how the vestment and race mod look like, Shimah
- [X] You too, Sera
Actions:
[X] Alice promised Sera a date... Uh, where should they go?
Last edited:
yrsillar
Dapper Cthulhu
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2014
- Messages
- 5,170
Alice: *flat stare* You are on the list.
Xicree
Destroy and Rejoice!
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2013
- Messages
- 22,560
[X] Silk Robe for Sera, Crystal Vestment and race mod for Shimah (alas, there goes the bouncy… I mean, uh…), Arachne Shield for Anshelm, Water Elementalist for Anshelm if he wants to branch into Mana Absorb, sell otherwise. Pretty standard.
[X] Do make sure the Guide is updated with those two new bits of fun: the Mother's ray attack and the Crystal Lord's ice rain could really fuck up a party less prepared than you. Even something as simple as 'pay attention to the crystal color' might be critical for a less on the ball party.
[X] Private dinner with Sera... you've put that off too much.
-[X] You don't know how you feel, just that you feel something. You don't know what to do about it, just that you should do something. Curiosity and unfamiliar desire, wars with fear and nervousness. You don't know how to act... but maybe you can learn.
[X] Do make sure the Guide is updated with those two new bits of fun: the Mother's ray attack and the Crystal Lord's ice rain could really fuck up a party less prepared than you. Even something as simple as 'pay attention to the crystal color' might be critical for a less on the ball party.
[X] Private dinner with Sera... you've put that off too much.
-[X] You don't know how you feel, just that you feel something. You don't know what to do about it, just that you should do something. Curiosity and unfamiliar desire, wars with fear and nervousness. You don't know how to act... but maybe you can learn.