[RPG] [Log Horizon] Faceplanting right into the Database

[drakensis]

I ran forwards at the unhurt Warg, swinging Monty VIII through a wide arc at it. I could feel my heart hammering inside my chest. What was I doing? Running towards danger? Was I trying to be some kind of hero or something?

The sword missed and I barely avoided running into the furry, fanged mob. Then the hobgoblin on its back jabbed at me with its spear. "Ow!"

It hurt and it chipped away at my health bar, despite my armour.

Fuck it. Fuck this. Fuck that thing! Was I a tank or wasn't I?

Fortunately my anger has always been a cold thing of focus, not red and unreasoning. I set my feet and tried to split my attention between the warg, the angle of Monty VIII and the toolbar. Could I trigger the skill? I'd better or I'd need to take a hand off the sword and try to get a HoT running next. But for now, do some damage, build up some aggro and hurt that warg.

"Headsplitter!" I shouted and swung the two-handed sword down fiercely.

 

[Dahlia]

Player: Sarasa
Sarasa's finger hovered over the skill button. She wanted to provide casting support. With a group this experienced, they should have been burning down this encounter quickly and easily. But sooner than one could say "Leeroy Jenkins", the others had charged in and likely split the aggro. If the mobs got the party separated, they could be whittled down. Sarasa would not be whittled down by a bunch of hobgoblins who had never heard of a bath. This would not do.

Instead, she moved her finger down the menu to select another skill. The elf's nose wrinkled, only partly due to the smell. The bard skill [Bean Nighe's Jig] went against her sense of what the Elder Tales was went to be. Rather than the weak coming together to defeat a great foe, it was the great foe's maryjanes crushing them in the form of an evasion buff that scaled with the difference between the levels of the attacker and defender. But it would buy time for the tank to get aggro and for everyone to become accustomed to being their roles rather than playing them.

Sarasa began tapping one of her [Leprechaun's Traveling Shoes] to beat that until then existed only in her head. Looking to the others, she said, "Ladies, please leave tanking to Draken-Sis. We will prevail, so keep calm and mind the beat."

Then she dropped her hand to [Younger Sister] and plucked the slow lament that built into a proper jig. Tiny spectral notes scattered from the golden-string harp toward the others who once were players. And if somewhere on a riverbank a woman washing a bloody shroud hearkened to it, who would have known?

 

[Scratx]

GM Post

Aeltara's whirlwind of razor sharp ice rumbled into the group of enemies for a lot of damage... which drew their attention to the squishy sorceror. Draken-Sis fortunately did get the attention of the Warg and rider she was fighting while the golem waded into the brawl, swinging left and right. A goblin died, crushed by the golem's fist as it recovered from the whirlwind.

Sarasa's Song then reverberated throughout the battlefield, imparting upon her team mates the buff. Minako listened to Sarasa's call, but being face-full of Warg, she was not entirely sure how far to drop DPS given she already had its Aggro to begin with.

Everyone, roll 2d100.

(sry for delay, I intended to post yesterday but got derailed entirely by events outside my control)

Minako : [dice]16750[/dice]

 

[Garahs]

Rolling
[dice]16753[/dice]

 

[Dahlia]

Rolled
[dice]16756[/dice]

 

[drakensis]

[dice]16765[/dice]

 

[ECS05norway]

Hmm.

[dice]16776[/dice]

 

[Scratx]

GM Post

More goblins started to arrive at the battle just as the adventurers started pulping their first goblin and warg victims, the sheer level difference making all the difference.

Unfortunately, with numbers against them and the sheer inexperience of actually being there, fighting in the flesh, stressed everyone. While Draken-Sis and Aeltara both heard and managed to coordinate to keep aggro under control, the same was unfortunately not true of everyone else. Minako found herself facing enemies from multiple directions and using her armor and sword both to block incoming strikes, but being steadily whittled down. Tamomo's golem drew attention, but then got swamped and the summoner chased until Draken-Sis managed to get them off her.

Sarasa, while having her own difficulties at actually coordinating at all (mainly due to the others not listening under the din of combat), considered why they had to use the menus to use spells and skills... they were there in the flesh, maybe just trying to do them would work? And with her experiment, she slowed a group of goblins. Draken-Sis, noticing what and how Sarasa pulled it off, tried next with her own skills.

The difference was dramatic, as Draken-Sis' damage and healing output rose dramatically. Which was absolutely fantastic as she was trying to play the role of tank to begin with. All the aggro! ALL. THE. AGGRO.

Minako was paying attention as well, though, and was next, deploying an AoE Purification Barrier on everybody.

"Forget the menus, we don't need them!"

Aeltara caught on shortly thereafter, with Tamomo eventually figuring it out, too, as she saw everyone else just do it.

The coordination still sucked, but at least all the mobs were focusing on either Minako or Draken-Sis... and they were both built for frontline heal-combat so they were fine... for now.

Half the goblins and both Wargs were dead when the first casualties started bursting into bubbles, the corpses disappearing and leaving loot behind. Apparently the monster corpses had a timer before they released their loot? But the fight was not yet over.

 

[Garahs]

Tamomo struggled to grasp the feeling of casting her magic as she summoned. A sparkle of moonlight appeared over a silver magical circle as Fenrir leaped out of the circle. The purple and silver wolf gave a loud howl as it landed and began a ten second delay charging it's Moonlight Beam, or "loldog lazor" as some popular meme had coined.

"Please avoid hitting our tank." The foxtail summoner smiled viciously as she internally counted down before the dark magic blast was released. At three seconds, she twirled the staff in her hands and raised the golden head high as she activated it's ability to boost her summon's damage with practiced grace.

She was really getting tired of these remaining scrub mobs getting in her way and she wanted them gone with extreme prejudice.

 

[drakensis]

Okay, so the menu wasn't needed. That made it a lot easier to concentrate on building aggro and staying alive. "Shieldbrothers!" I called out, focusing on an area of effect heal over time. It wasn't the most powerful skill I had but it affected all of my party within a fairly generous range of proximity and provided a few moments of slow but steady health and magic points recovery.

I knew I could do with the boost and since most of the others had taken hits, I figured the rest of the group would appreciate it.

Then I jabbed Monty deep into the side of a warg and heaved it up off the ground. Gravity tore the monster off the blade, ripping a deep rent into it. That was... more visceral than I'd expected. Certainly not something game graphics had portrayed.

 

[Dahlia]

Wargs made for terrible dancer partners, Sarasa discovered to her dismay. Their breath far surpassed even their matted fur for an odor of putrescence, and they kept trying to step on her toes - and the rest of her. And while carrying a harp into battle had seemed a good idea at the time, it probably would have been wiser to start off her first real-maybe battle with the hungry forces of fantasy pastiche with her easily-wielded broom. So it was a relief when Draken-Sis and Minako recaptured their aggro.

"Well done, both of you. If we get down to a singleton boss, [Bean Nighe's Jig] will be dropped for [Pavane of the Black Swans] so Aeltara and Miss Tamomo can burn it down - or earlier if you start running dry. So be prepared."

The elf split her attention between the party on the HUD and and the mobs present in the flesh while she worked out the timing for bridging the two songs. She was determined not to let her friends down.

 

[ECS05norway]

Casting without bothering with the menu was so much easier. It reminded me of how much I hated pausing to type chat stuff in the middle of a fight. Glad that I didn't have to bother with it anymore, I continued laying down lashes of wind with quick little whips of my fan.

"I'll keep an eye on my MP and let you know, Sara-chan, don't worry!" I danced away from the one warg that had managed to get through the lines and come after me, another flick of my fan sending an ice-spear through its ribcage to pin it to the ground. "And stay there," I told it.

With a glance at my HUD to check the aforementioned MP track, I did a slow spin to check for other oncoming mobs, then slipped to the side, picking a better angle to continue blasting from.

 

[Scratx]

GM Post

It was practically a foregone conclusion, once the wayward adventurers unlocked their basic potential. Even though their teamwork kind of sucked overall, the level and gear difference was far too high and the goblins not numerous enough to overwhelm them.

Less than ten minutes was what it took for the field to be clear, except for the valiant group. Sure, they were down a chunk of their MP but that was hardly more than a temporary inconvenience. Why, even the bloodstains on their weapons and gear was disappearing! Automatic cleaning magic is awesome! And all the pretty bubbles from the evaporating goblin corpses. And the sound of vomiting.... oh, that wasn't quite as planned. Poor fox-tails Kannagi.

... Not that Minako actually had much to vomit anyways.


The sound of birds chirping returned. Peace had returned. For how long, though, was uncertain.

 

[drakensis]

"I've had... smoother fights," I admit. "Sorry, it took me a while to figure out how to drag the aggro."

I gave Minako a sympathetic look. She wasn't the only one tempted to upchuck. I'd opted out of biology class practicals back at school so actually cutting up monsters made me quite uncomfortable. If I hadn't been angry I might not have been able to keep it up.

"Is everyone okay?" Hit point totals looked out to me, but double-checking seemed sensible. "Heals are just waiting if you need them."

 

[Garahs]

Tamomo turned away from the sight as she waited to see if loot appeared from the corpses. While it didn't physically upset her, it still wasn't something she enjoyed looking at.

"We probably should have discussed our roles in the party. I assumed Drak was a damage dealer primarily, not a tank. I suppose I should focus on damage then if we have a buffer, healer, and tank."

She idly kicked a small stone away. "This was a bigger group of mobs that swarmed us than I remember happening in the game outside of raids. Do we want to switch to horseback now? I think we've adjusted."

 

[Scratx]

GM Post


Loot did appear from the dead monsters as they evaporated... but given they were just a handful of coins per and the occasional really minor potion or crappy rag, it was almost not worth bothering. Still, gold was gold, right?

The kannagi was taking her time to get to grips, but that probably wasn't a terrible idea, anyways.

 

[Dahlia]

When the last notes died, Sarasa noticed that her hand was now clutching the hem of her maid uniform. That didn't happen. That could not have happened until she was somewhere with a roof. And four walls. And a stury door. Some place that wasn't Unsafe.

Having resolved that - having resolved to think absolutely no further on that until that time, she flinched at the sound of Minako's distress. Sarasa found herself approaching Minako with a clean towel summoned from the labyrinthine depths of her inventory.

"It would help, if you had a sip of water to wash that out."

She nodded to Draken-Sis, Tamomo, and Aeltara.

"We should leave. And the sooner the better."

 

[drakensis]

"Horses then," I agreed with Sarasa. She seemed to be holding up well, which was good. Someone had to or we were probably going to wind up in even more trouble down the line.

I started gathering up the loot. "May as well take this - even if it's not much use to us it could help other people."

 

[Garahs]

Tamomo nodded in agreement as she helped collect the drops. "You never know when you might stumble across a quest item and even if the gold is w pithy amount, it adds up over time."

As they continued to collect the items and gold, the foxtail snuck glances back at their healer. "Will she be ok?"

She wasn't any good at comforting people in distress.

 

[Scratx]

GM Post

When the last notes died, Sarasa noticed that her hand was now clutching the hem of her maid uniform. That didn't happen. That could not have happened until she was somewhere with a roof. And four walls. And a stury door. Some place that wasn't Unsafe.

Having resolved that - having resolved to think absolutely no further on that until that time, she flinched at the sound of Minako's distress. Sarasa found herself approaching Minako with a clean towel summoned from the labyrinthine depths of her inventory.

"It would help, if you had a sip of water to wash that out."

She nodded to Draken-Sis, Tamomo, and Aeltara.

"We should leave. And the sooner the better."

Click to shrink...

Minako rinsed her mouth once she thought she was no longer going to be emptying her stomach further, quietly thanking the Meido. Her eyes, though, told a troubled story. She was far from done on dealing with the subject of sticking swords in very much live, monstrous bodies.

She also most definitely put no objections when the others started using their horse summon flutes and used her own as well. Now on horseback, the party resumed travel, their bodies knowing how to ride comfortably even if the players themselves had never been exposed to horseback riding.

Three hours later, forest long gone behind them, the group crested a hill and saw before them a city. A large city, in fact, with an odd layout that would have baffled anyone unfamiliar with the story behind it.

"Shrine City of Hirose", Minako said. "A holy city. Bearer of a magic seal keeping a fire djinn or something sealed up. If there is a better place to take shelter at, I do not know."

Those familiar with the city would recall the quests to farm ingredients for using in rituals to maintain the seal. The shrines laid out at the points of a pentagram seal laid down on the city's streets. In fact, the main avenues being built around the existence of the seal. And, naturally, the very high ratio of holy men per peasant encountered there.

It was likely going to be an interesting thing to see... how much had the world changed, now that they were in it?

Stomachs growled. Had the group even eaten anything yet?

 

[drakensis]

"Better this than some hive of scum and villainy."

My stomach reminded me that it was approximately food o'clock. "Let's see of we can get some food there. Assuming the same quests are available there we should be able to..." I paused and frowned. "Hmm. If the same quests are open, demanding various ingredients to keep the seals going, what would happen if players stop taking the quests. Has that ever happened?"

 

[Scratx]

Minako thought for a moment.

"Well, it's a kind of quest dash event that's used in a lot of places in the game. I don't recall this one in particular ever failing, but I remember a few others failing often due to popularity issues. Or worse, the rewards on beating the failure event being so much better that no organized guild would try to prevent them from failing and even sometimes actively hinder those trying to. If this one were to fail... I would not be surprised to suddenly having a big bad monster boss in the middle of town to deal with."

Then she started rummaging through her own inventory, hunting down food items for a meal.

 

[ECS05norway]

Aeltara listens quietly to the discussion of the city, trying to stifle the urge to rush in and find an inn or someplace to get some food into her. She's glad to have left the fight behind, at least, but a fire djinn... her natural enemy, as an ally of the Winter Queen.

"Don't suppose you remember how often it needs to be done, do you?" she finally asks. "I'd hate to see the seal break just as we arrive." Not that she'd object to fighting it if it did - it's just the right thing - but this soon after arriving, she's still not terribly comfortable with it. If only Kairi had been logged in.... well, she still might be on one of the other servers.

"Well, it could be worse. I'd hate to have other players actively trying to keep us from helping just so they can loot the boss..."

 

[Dahlia]

After the party dismounted, Sarasa gave a quick combing and a sugar cube each to the horses before their dismissal and then turned her sights on the others. While they discussed the seal maintenance quests, she methodically and unobtrusively set about fixing hairstyles, brushing tails back to fluffiness, and smoothing outfits wrinkled by hours of hard travel, so as to present Minako, Aeltara, Tamomo, and Draken-Sis as the very picture of genteel adventuresses.

When she was done, Sarasa took a package from her inventory and unwrapped it, revealing a round, fairly dense loaf cut into slices.

"It is difficult to commit until the lay of the land is taken. If it please you, try a slice of seedcake. An empty stomach makes for poor planning, but hunger is the best spice."

 

[drakensis]

"...maid class is scary," I conclude, accepting a slice of the seedcake. "But thank you, anyway."

I looked at the town - what would an NPC city look like? Particularly if a bunch of players were breaking down in the town - or had just vanished into nowhere.

 

[Garahs]

Tamomo passively allowed Sarasa to fix her up and accepted the cake with a thanks. If she liked helping others, Tamomo certainly wasn't going to object.

She did feel bad her own profession was only useful in combat, or at least it would be. How would dragon tamer work now?

"It would be a good idea to find out the process of strengthening the seal. In our current situation, I don't expect anyone sane to want the elemental to break free. And I'm speaking as a summoner who could probably make a pact with it."

She froze when she took a bite of the cake and tried to hold a grimace when she ate.

Why did it taste like cardboard?

 

[drakensis]

I looked at Tamomo's face and lifted the cake so I could sniff it. Was something wrong with it? I didn't think Sarasa would knowingly give us something bad but it might not be to her taste.

I nibbled, chewed... stared at it. It looked like cake but it didn't taste like it. Not horrible just... bleah. The texture was offputting as well.

 

[Scratx]

After the party dismounted, Sarasa gave a quick combing and a sugar cube each to the horses before their dismissal and then turned her sights on the others. While they discussed the seal maintenance quests, she methodically and unobtrusively set about fixing hairstyles, brushing tails back to fluffiness, and smoothing outfits wrinkled by hours of hard travel, so as to present Minako, Aeltara, Tamomo, and Draken-Sis as the very picture of genteel adventuresses.

When she was done, Sarasa took a package from her inventory and unwrapped it, revealing a round, fairly dense loaf cut into slices.

"It is difficult to commit until the lay of the land is taken. If it please you, try a slice of seedcake. An empty stomach makes for poor planning, but hunger is the best spice."

Click to shrink...

Minako for her part took a slice of her own before replying to Aeltara. "Well, I don't recall how often it's got to be done. We should ask."

She was about to take a bite when she noticed Tamomo's reaction.

"Something wrong?"

 

[Scratx]

GM Post

I looked at the town - what would an NPC city look like? Particularly if a bunch of players were breaking down in the town - or had just vanished into nowhere.

Click to shrink...

Well, it was a large city, with an outer wall. Not a tall wall but tall enough to stop even a Warg from jumping over. There were a lot of buildings and streets and, beyond the avenues through which the seals ran and the temples on each of the points, no real apparent attempt to regulate things. So rather chaotic, overall.

Perhaps most notable of all were the large numbers of people in the streets. Far more than anyone can remember being in the city available as NPCs to talk to.

The entrances to the city had guards, too, and then and there on the walls a patrolling guard could also be seen, but they did not look like they were any more than routine.

 

[Garahs]

"Something wrong?"

Click to shrink...

Well that was awkward. How could she appropriately put it into words?

Tamomo sighed. "It tastes like unflavored tofu. Just take a bite and tell me if I'm wrong. I hope it's not just me."

The fox summoner silently vowed to find something edible with taste.