Enrique and Mjoll, Featuring Khawill as Kai
Lobria: Markets → Lone Tree Dungeon
After five minutes, I became bored. I messaged my friend Garrot for something to do. After a few more minutes, he sent me information for a quest under the lone tree. I hopped to my feet and began to ran toward the teleporter, accidentally crashing into a couple walking in the same direction. "Oh, my bad." I said with an apologetic smile.
Enrique was walking towards the teleporter, looking forward to some relaxation, when he was suddenly rammed into by a random guy and knocked straight into Mjoll, who responded with a "Hey! Careful, man!" Enrique stood straight and apologized quickly before turning his attention to the guy who'd bumped into him, and once Mjoll realized that it was that guy's fault and not Enrique's, she did the same. He faced them and gave his own apology with a smile.
"Don't worry about it, dude," Enrique answered him with a broad smile.
"You should really watch where you're going, though," added Mjoll, herself already having gotten over it. "This game has some really edgy people you probably don't want to piss off."
I laughed, "I think it is a lot more fun to see who has moxy and who is passive." I looked the two of them up and down, "You two don't look like weaklings, at least, not right now. Are either of you in a guild by any chance?"
"Nope," Enrique said concisely. "Most guilds I've seen have things like leveling quotas, or item collection quotas, or whatever. I kinda like just being able to do whatever I want." Enrique looked towards Mjoll for her answer.
"Me neither," said Mjoll. "Why do you ask? Are you a recruiter?"
"Recruiter?" I shook my head, "I am the founder and leader of the guild Stars of Aincrad! Were a bunch of freelancers, and the guild's only criteria is spirit!" My voice got more energetic and boisterous, and when I said the guild name I pointed toward the heavens, and then poked the boy in his chest when I said spirit.
Enrique's grin grew wider. "I like the sound of that! You seem like a cool guy. I'll keep you guys in mind, but I can't make any promises." Again, he looked towards Mjoll. She didn't really like the way he kept making her answer all of the guy's questions, but she kept quiet about it.
"Aren't you a little too relaxed for a 'spirit'-centric guild?" She commented to Enrique with a nudge before answering the leader guy, whom she found rather over-the-top. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to a guild yet. I have to admit that it does sound interesting, though."
"We have some quiet guys. When I say spirit, I don't mean having tons of energy." I made a fist and placed it on my chest, "Its all in here. If you have the courage to press forward, and the moxie to do what you think is right, then you would fit in with our guild. Spirit is all about aiming high, and going for it as far as I am concerned." I stretched, "I respect your decision to decline the invitation though, where are you two heading?"
Mjoll couldn't help but chuckle. The guy's bright attitude was pretty infectious. "We're just on our way to chill for a bit on floor two," she said. Enrique nodded in confirmation.
"I'm heading down there myself to do a quest, say..." I looked the two of them over again, "Are you two interested in going with me? The reward is 30% xp, some potions, and a Christmas turkey! I'd be willing to let you two have the reward." The experience was the only thing that I cared about, and something to do, "I also kind of want to see you guys fight."
The pair looked at each other for a moment before shrugging in unison. "Sure, why not?" answered Enrique. "We were going to rest after some training we were doing on floor 3, but I think it would be better to enjoy some well-earned turkey while we do! Also, I'm always up for getting to know new people!"
"Count me in, too!" Chimed Mjoll. "Enrique over there didn't make for very good practice. I can try out my new axe on some monsters, instead. And by the way, I'm Mjoll."
"Call me by my real name, Kai." I said, "Nice to meet you both." I took lead and the three of us walked to the lone tree.
Upon arriving, I checked the details of the quest again,"We have to find a reindeer named Rudolf in a dungeon around here. We also have to take care of 5 Tauros and salamander warriors." I closed my menu and drew my sword, "Sounds simple enough. Mjoll, you look like you have spunk, you want to take lead?"
Mjoll pulled her axe off her back, but did so with a slight sigh. "As much as I'd love to take the lead, I think it'd be best if Enrique took the lead. He's got the searching skill to check for chests and traps and stuff, and he's also a lot faster than me if we ever find the need to scout ahead."
Enrique equipped his dagger and buckler, flipping the dagger in the air a couple of times for fun before asking, "On that note, what sorts of skills do you have, Kai?"
"Night Vision, Battle healing, tracking." I replied, "My combat skills are rather high though, oh, my level is 15 if you care at all. Lead on Enrique."
"Got it," said Enrique with a thumbs-up before walking into the dungeon. They wandered around for a bit, passing a few other parties training or exploring. The early areas of the dungeon were mostly clear because of other players, but Enrique figured Rudolph would probably be deeper in anyway.
They continued onward, Enrique keeping his eyes peeled, when he spotted a trio of Taurus standing guard in front of the opening to a narrow hallway, presumably leading into another area. Enrique looked back to the others and said, "Well, the quest said to take down five of these. I think we can take 'em."
Mjoll stepped forward and raised her axe over her head, letting it glow a pale blue for a couple seconds before slamming it into the ground in front of her. Suddenly, a shining pillar of light shot up from the ground yards away next to the trio of Taurus and slammed right into one of them, pushing it away from the others. "Alright, let's do this!"
With the encounter initiated, Enrique rushed forward quickly, charging straight towards another of the Taurus. It swung its hammer at him, but Enrique slid under it, a skill gained from much soccer, before giving it a quick stab with his Sting Sword Art. "Hey, over here!" Having provoked it, Enrique jumped back several steps, separating yet another from the group. "I'll keep this one busy until one of you guys can finish it, okay?"
"Roger!" Shouted Mjoll before she turned to Kai. "Since he's got the one on the right, I'll get the one on the left. You okay with mid, Kai?"
"I'd be ready if you told me to get all of them." I said with a grin. I began to feel the energy build up. I drew my sword and pointed it toward the ceiling, I began to glow red and then swung the sword down hard, taking away a significant amount of health from the Tauro. I sliced it a few more times until its health was low and then allowed it to attack me and drain my health. I watched my health drop to critical before finishing off the monster. I took a quick health potion and laughed. I looked over to Enrique who was still fighting his monster. I took a peek at his level, and realized how much lower he was than the monsters.
After blocking an attack from the hammer of the Taurus she was fighting, Mjoll spun around and delivered a cleaving blow right at her opponent's neck, taking away a large chunk of its health. Not wanting to lose momentum, she continued her spin and came around for another attack. Against a faster opponent it would have been a risky move, but it paid off against the Taurus. Her second sweep had added momentum that made it stronger than the first and hit before the monster could counter, successfully defeating it. She turned and saw that Kai had also defeated his foe.
Enrique was still taunting his enemy, dancing around its hammer while jabbing at it with his dagger repeatedly. It didn't seem like he was in any real danger, but it would be a while before his pokes took down the Taurus. Of course, his usual role was to keep the attention of as many enemies as he could to make the battle easier on his allies, not to actually deal any damage. Mjoll rushed up to the distracted Taurus and delivered a powerful chop right into its back. "What took you so long?" Asked Enrique jokingly as his blade glowed yellow for a lightning-fast jab into the monster's eye.
"Hey Kai!" Called Enrique. "You want to finish this guy or do I leave it to Mjoll? I mean, I could do it too if you want, but I don't think you wanna wait that long."
"Mjoll can handle it." I said with a grin, "You two are together, so it's natural that you share right?"
"Well there's nothing stopping you from being one of us, right? Anyway, finish him, Mjoll!" Shouted Enrique, blinding the Taurus by hitting its other eye before backing away. Mjoll pulled her axe out and backed away as well before raising her axe above her head for the same sword art as before. The Taurus could only swing wildly without its sight, not hitting anyone. This gave Mjoll plenty of time to charge her attack.
"Take that!" She shouted when she finally brought it down, forming a light pillar that drove itself straight between the Taurus' legs, defeating it. With the battle over, each received a results screen listing their experience and item rewards. "I'm liking this axe," commented Mjoll as she closed her results.
Enrique was going to say something when he noticed something in the distance. Namely, a small red light. Anyone who was familiar with the story of Rudolph could guess that the light belonged to the titular reindeer. Something had to be wrong though, for them to find him so soon, so Enrique made sure to look around the area carefully with his Searching skill. He managed to notice something on the floor right at the entrance to the hallway under false flooring. His skill unfortunately wasn't high enough to tell exactly what sort of mechanism it was, whether it was a pitfall, a spike trap, or a wall that would seal them in.
"Guys, I think Rudolph is past there, but something seems off. There's a mechanism on the floor there, though I don't really know what it is." Suddenly, he got an idea. He walked to the side a bit and picked up a rock off the floor. "I'm going to throw this in there. Get ready for whatever happens, okay?" Mjoll nodded, and Enrique tossed the rock. Immediately after the rock went in, a stone wall began rising out of the ground to seal the corridor. He guessed it was meant to trap them inside, but if they didn't move it looked like they'd be stuck outside. "Well, it's now or never!" With that, Enrique vaulted over the rising wall and into the hallway.
As Mjoll moved to follow him in, Enrique saw that the red light suddenly sped in a different direction. "He's running!" Enrique alerted his companions before dashing towards it. "I'll stay on his tail!" Running as fast as he could without waiting for his team, he followed the light in the dark hallway. After a bit, he was met with a group of five salamander warriors in a more open cave area that leapt down from the ceiling in an ambush. He took a hit from one of them, but with some fancy footwork and good use of his buckler he managed to weave his way through them and continue his pursuit of Rudolph. The warriors did not follow.
Back at the now-sealed entrance, Mjoll looked over at Kai and said, "We probably shouldn't leave him on his own too long at his level. He's fast, but there's not much he can do once he gets tired." I nodded and with that, we started down the hallway as well.
We came across the five salamander warriors, "This should be easy to beat, it may take a minute though. Can your boyfriend hold out?"
Mjoll looked at Kai with a scowl and a slight blush. "I figured that's what you meant by 'together' back there, I just hoped to god I was wrong. I mean, sure we're together, but we're not, you know,
together together. Just friends who happen to make a good team. Not that there's anything wrong with him, I just-" Mjoll stopped mid-sentence and, after a short pause, sighed. "I'm talking too much. Let's go." She gave him a slight smile so he would know she wasn't mad. It was an easy mistake to make the way they were strolling around.
"Anyway, we stocked up on potions before coming here. He should have enough to hold him for a while if things do go bad." Admittedly, Mjoll was a little worried about him, but she couldn't do anything about it except fight here and now. "Make sure to watch my back!" she shouted to Kai, running into the fray. She swung her axe at the salamander farthest to the right, and though it blocked her attack it was still tossed aside, letting her target another one that leapt at her from the other side. There were still three behind her. Kai would need to take care of those, as there was no way she could fight all five at once. She wasn't sure how she felt about putting her life in the hands of a guy she just met, but trusting a stranger worked out well in Enrique's case so maybe her luck would hold out.
I was not far behind her as she charged in, "Hey don't worry about your relationship, I got tons of just friends that are girls. I'm kind of a romantic haha." I nonchalantly block an attack to her from behind and used my sword art to cut one of the salamander men down. "Look for the star the best suits you I say." I blocked another attack from our side and then stopped, "We could probably kite these guys to Enrique no?"
"I'll try whatever if it helps us regroup faster!" Answered Mjoll as she sliced through a salamander warrior's abdomen, splitting it in half and killing it. There wasn't a moment of rest before the other warrior lunged at her again. "We'll do it on your call, okay?" She knocked the foe aside, but kept her eyes on it.
I nodded, "Keep running forward, kill in front, I'll run backwards and kill the ones behind us." I stabbed a salamander man, taking it down a quarter of its health, "I'm much faster with my weapon, and yours does much more damage, so this should keep us moving." I turned around and put my back to hers, "Go, go!" I was excited.
Mjoll nodded, though she flinched when Kai put his back against hers. She didn't expect him to get so close. It didn't matter though, since she had a job to do, so she gripped her axe and rushed forward, running towards the next area. Two other salamander warriors moved to block her path. "Can't let you do that," she said, spinning the axe in her hands while it begun to glow a blue-green color. She swung horizontally at both of them, but the moment she reached the end of her swing, the double-bladed axe swung back in the direction had come with the exact same speed. This was her Mirror Slice art, one that helped cancel out the long delay between swings that usually came with heavy weapons with an instantaneous second one. While the strikes weren't enough to kill the warriors, they were knocked out of her way, and with their health as low as it was now they might as well be dead already. Without a moment to lose, Mjoll sped past the severely injured creatures. I kept up and finished them off as I passed.
After the cave area was another narrow hallway that had several sharp turns before ending in another cavern. This one was much different though, because unlike the other one, the only solid ground was a narrow bridge shooting off from the hallway, and a small circular area in the center. The rest was just a fall into what looked like a bottomless pit. In the center was Enrique standing in front of a reindeer that could only be Rudolph, with two Taurus walking towards Enrique with their hammers raised. It looked like it was a good thing Kai had that plan, because Enrique was definitely in trouble.
Normally a pair of Taurus would be no problem for Enrique, but it looked like this part of the quest involved protecting Rudolph and he couldn't do that and dodge the Taurus' attacks at the same time. "Enrique!" called Mjoll, before letting out a loud yell in the form of her Howl skill to attract the attention of the monsters. It worked, and they turned towards Mjoll and Kai. "You protect Rudolph, Kai and I will handle these!"
"Yes ma'am!" answered Enrique as he climbed on top of Rudolph. "Maybe I can ride him! You know, in case I need some evasive maneuvers, 'cause there's no way I'm lifting him. Aren't these guys like 500 pounds?" Even in the face of danger, Enrique still smiled like he was having the time of his life.
Mjoll couldn't help but smile too. "I can't believe I actually worried about you, ya goof!" She then raised her axe against one of the Taurus, ready to face her foe. "Let's do this, Kai!"
I laughed a bit at the exchange, I found it cute, but I didn't say anything about it and raised my sword, "Lets finish then, and I'll have gifts for you two." I struck down the leftern Tauros and dispatched it quickly.I tossed Enrique a potion, "Reckless kid, you definitely have moxie." Enrique shined a huge grin at Kai's compliment and grabbed the potion, drinking it to heal off what he'd lost in the ambush.
It wasn't much longer until Mjoll had finished off her own enemy, and the trio was left with Rudolph. "Well, that was fun!" said Enrique. "But what now?" He looked down at Rudolph expectantly. Suddenly, the short ceiling of the cavern began to rumble. Enrique looked up in a panic, realizing that he forgot to scan the area with his Search skill, and attempted to figure out just what was happening. He had his answer soon enough, when a large section of the ceiling had opened up into a massive tunnel leading up.
Enrique then felt himself begin to wobble. He had been too busy looking above to notice what was going on below him. Rudolph had begun to sparkle, and was slowly lifting himself off the ground. Enrique couldn't believe he had forgotten that Santa's reindeer could fly! Mjoll stared at the floating animal with wide, incredulous eyes, and Enrique instantly knew that she didn't believe in Santa. He put a hand on his hip and pointed the other to the sky before saying, "To infinity, and beyond!"
Almost as if it was at his command, Rudolph took to the sky, and with a surprising speed, for that matter. The whole way up, Enrique was shouting with glee until his echoey voice faded in the distance. Mjoll looked at Kai and said, "We'd better not be stuck here." Fortunately for them, Rudolph soon came back, ready to take another passenger to the surface. "You go first, Kai." Said Mjoll. "I still have to get over the fact that they actually put flying reindeer into this game.
I laughed and hopped on, "Tear down the heavens!" I called in similar suit to Enrique. We got to the surface and I messaged a friend of mine. "Can you two wait around for a few minutes?"
"Sure, why not?" answered Enrique. Mjoll arrived in time to hear Kai's request as well and nodded in agreement.
We waited for about five minutes and my friend arrived. He pulled out a red cape with a large star and a compass under it that had the north arrow shaded, "Is this what you wanted Kai?" He said.
I nodded, "Looks pretty good! From now on, all Stars of Aincrad will wear this cape!"
My friend nodded, "We will get people to gather the resources. Here are the three you wanted though." I took the three capes, I put one on, gave one to Mjoll, and finally one to Enrique. "You don't have to join our guild directly, but please accept these. You will be recognized as an honorary member as far as I am concerned. You will be helped by any member of our guild, and even offered discounts for our services."
"I...I don't really know what to say…" Trailed Mjoll, staring at the cape with a look of clear happiness in her eyes. She'd never expected a gesture like this out of a stranger, especially after she refused to join earlier.
"I do!" Piped Enrique. "Thanks! You know, Kai? You're a really cool dude, and this is a really cool cape." Not wasting any time he put it on. "I probably won't wear it for combat, but it's good for walking around town. I'm really considering joining your guild, but I'll see if I can't talk Mjoll into it first." Enrique then held up his hands, showing off his many rings. "If you guys ever need some bling, let me know and I'll make you some. I got some cool things from floor 3 this morning that might make for nice effects!"
Mjoll looked up from the cape. "I'll definitely think about it, though I can't be sure until I meet the rest of the guild. Enrique maybe being there might help a bit." She was about to stow the cape in her inventory when she decided that it wouldn't hurt to try it on, so she did, although she couldn't really be sure how it looked on her without a mirror. "Oh, and before I forget…" Mjoll sent Kai a friend request, and once Enrique saw it he did the same.
I accepted both requests and smiled, "Nobody gets into the guild without my approval, and I only take people who are great at heart! We have guild houses in Urbus and Tolbana, although the capes will be new, the symbols on it are ours. Feel free to stop by and chat, drink, eat, or rest there. Oh, and many of us like to fight, try not to look weak!" The last comment was only half jokingly. "So far I am unbeaten in the guild."
Mjoll smiled and said, "Well I'll just have to break that record then, won't I?" Her expression changed to one of surprise when she suddenly got a message. After reading it, her face changed again, this time to one of alarm. "Enrique, remember how I said I could only chill under the tree for a bit, then I had to meet up with some other friends?" Enrique nodded, indeed remembering it. "Well, I kind of lost track of time with this whole quest, and…" She then turned to Kai again. "Sorry, I have to go. Thanks for the quest, and the cape, and everything, really. Bye!" And with that, she was off.
After waving Mjoll goodbye, Enrique looked to Kai as well and said, "I might be able to take you in a first-strike duel, but probably not anything else." After that, he yawned and added, "But I've been looking forward to some r&r all day, so for now I'm going to go chill under the Lone Tree.You're free to join me if you want, but I get the feeling you'd rather find some more action. In which case, I bid you adieu as well. We'll probably stop by your guild hall tomorrow if we have the chance." With that, Enrique gave him a salute and began walking to the Lone Tree. Before he got too far, he shouted, "You can take Rudolph back to Santa, but don't forget to give us our reward when we come visit, okay?" and soon after, Enrique was gone.