Day 1 Night Collab between
@Haeo,
@Lightbox,
@BlackPantherTailpin was out of time. Emp had taken a risk but he had defeated the wolf on the left flank. However, Reaper was holding back and the wolf on the right flank survived his hit to land behind them. Those two arrows had found their mark and one of the wolves at 12 was in the red. It was also committed to attacking the archer in the group. That was just great.
He didn't duck. He fell flat. The wounded wolf sailed over him without landing a strike and turned to crouch beside the other wounded one. Tailpin didn't remember getting back up but his back was almost touching Reaper's.
There were three wolves left and two were in the red. That was the good news. The bad news was that those two wounded ones were behind the group. That could not be allowed to continue. Tailpin pulled another arrow and drew it back. Then he hesitated. In that instant, the two wounded wolves lunged forward. He loosed the arrow. It sank into one wolf's chest and sent it back to Kayaba in pieces. But, there was no time to ready another arrow.
Ikanus grips his scythe and whirls turning so that he would take the damage. The attack takes his health down a bit and may also expose his level. With a grunt he spins his scythe to land the only kill he would take for himself. The wolf scatters into shards and Anubis runs to them and does a healing move. Ikanus whirls back to where he is back to back with Tailpin hoping that they didn't notice his HP level. His grip tightens on his scythe as he keeps an eye on that other wolf.
Emperor darted out to the side and then holding his blade over his shoulder it began to turn yellow. The final wolf turned it's head from Reaper to Emperor for a split second before Emperor's sword skill activated, sending him charging through the wolf bringing it's health down quite a bit. Emperor wasted no time in turning around and slashing at the wolf, bringing its health soaring down into mid yellow.
With one more arrow loosed in the wake of Emp's attack, the threat of the last wolf shattered into shards. The rewards window popped up. Tailpin was a little surprised. The wolves gave less money than the Wild Dogs had. Though there were more materials. The experience was about what he had expected too. So there weren't any surprises there. The real question was if there were any differences between day and night. There was only one person in their party who could answer that.
Tailpin looked at Re as he finished checking his loot. "Anything different that you notice, Re?"
Ikanus holds his scythe in one hand and scrolls through the menu with the other. He tilts his head as he does so. "Oddly, it seems that they are in larger packs, have a larger agro area, higher attacks and they flanked us. To top it off, the drops are slightly better in quality." *he collects his loot and closes the menu. Once the window disappears he swings his scythe back across his back and loops his arms on it. "it would seem that night fighting has been designed to be more difficult then day time fighting. Im a bit curious about the other creatures with this in mind" If it wasn't for that mask his face would be showing more of his emotions, but alas, that mask is there and most likely will not be removed for quite awhile.
"So nightime's got both seeing difficulty and mob difficulty it would seem..." Emperor stated. He scratched the back of his neck and looked around "Guess that means that travellin' should best be done durin' the daytime. For a variety of reasons... though guess we know how to get a good challenge. Yeah would be worth seeing if other enemies are similarly tougher."
When what little damage the wolves had managed to inflict was taken care of, Tail, Emp, and Re continued cautiously on their way. There were several more wolf packs that they encountered before coming into sight of the forest edge, north of town. Only one pack managed to do any real damage, it was in a small hollow between two low hills and escaped Tailpin's notice until after the pack had noticed the party. Still, nobody died and that fight had proved the most rewarding. A dagger had dropped from the pack leader, "Wolf's Fang". It seemed like a good dagger, it was level four but it was useless to all three of them. It might prove valuable as a bargaining chip with other players since nothing like it had dropped during the day when Re had been hunting. It was likely that it only dropped at night, and rarely at that.
They stopped at the edge of the forest for awhile and took a short break. Tailpin took that chance to switch to his more powerful, newly purchased, arrows and practice drawing them while spotting what he could through the trees. The dark of night was even stronger in the forest. Even the loosely spaced trees at the edge blocked enough of the limited light that it limited vision further. There was movement there, not many but big. When both Emp and Re were ready, the group slowly passed the tree-line and entered the outskirts of the forest. They only entered by a small distance before turning west to continue their circuit of the town but they didn't get too far before there was movement at the limit of vision in their path. They were here to test the monsters so Tail crept close enough to get a clean shot. He had a choice to make. A regular shot would do more damage to whatever was there but the skill glow of an impact shot would give them a flash to see what they were up against.
Tailpin twisted his grip on the arrow and it lit up with the activation of his skill. They needed to see what it was before it charged and they found out the hard way. The arrow streaked through the dark and slammed into the target. The target didn't move. The impact of the arrow wasn't enough to even budge it. The flash showed a silhouette that was unmistakable. It was a bear, it saw them, it started to rapidly lumber toward them. Tailpin began to walk backward, so as to be behind Re's range of attack and out of Emp's way. He also began firing arrows, one after another. He found himself pulling the string as far back as he could, instinctively trying to add power to the shot. The bear was taking damage but it kept coming.
Ikanus does a quick hand movement which seems to switch Anubis from healing to attack. With another hand movement the jackal stays back. Ikanus pulls his blade back and hesitates causing the blade to become a bright blue as his specialty activates. Once activated Ikanus spins the blade one way hitting the bear with a large amount of damage, then the blade does a double hot bringing the bear into red. Ikanus then goes into a defensive type pose so that one of the others can get the kill. However, if the bear lands a hit on him Anubis will attack and hopefully dispatch the bear.
Emperor attempted to flank the bear, hoping to go unnoticed and banking on the bear being preoccupied with tail and re. Emperor held his blade above his shoulder and waited for it to glow yellow before the skill activated, sending him charging through the bear before hearing it shatter behind him. A small smile crept across his face as he sheathed his blade.
Tailpin had put five arrows into that bear by the time it reached them. Yet, it hadn't even hit yellow until Re opened up on it. The difference between their aggressive power was painfully obvious. Even Emp, with a lower level weapon than the one Tailpin was using, was able to noticeably out-damage him. It was a good sign that the three of them fought so well now. Their first encounter with an unfamiliar monster and they had killed it before it even landed an attack. Still, there was one thing that Tailpin had seen before the Moss Bear shattered that made him pause instead of loosing one last arrow. It's right fore-paw had just begun to glow when Emp passed it.
"That Moss Bear... was about to use a skill." He said softly.
He was shaking, a low tremor that didn't want to go away. That monster hadn't landed a hit on them but the amount of damage it absorbed put it in the same class as the bear that dropped his bow. It actually had the same name too. That bear was at least level five but this one had access to an attack skill. The other bears didn't use skills. This trip just got a lot more risky than before. If the difference between night and day was this dramatic then things could get dicey.
Emperor turned back to the others, grinning. "Well, all's well that ends well right!" he exclaimed. He clicked through some menu's of the materials the bear had dropped. Pretty standard stuff this time unfortunately. "Bit of leather and furs. Nothin' rare this time unfortunately... Anyone want any? I got... umm about 2 leather and 1 fur from that guy." he said as he walked over to the other two.
"Also what's our next move for today?"
Ikanus nods. "I'll take those if you don't want them" he then nods to tail acknowledging the statement about the skill. "Possibly the monsters are ramped up at night to discourage night escapades" as Anubis trots to him he holds out his hands and rubs the jackal's head. "As for what is next... Maybe we should keep moving, see what else is different" the bear using a skill has his curiosity now, what if other monsters gained skill use at night.
When the discussion between Tail's party members was over Emp gave the two pieces of leather to Re, opting to keep the fur for himself, and that settled the matter since the gold was distributed automatically. Tailpin had been hoping to gather information on changes in monster behavior at night from the beginning. Yet, he found himself shaken by what he found in the forest. The wolves had only gained a small strategic boost, heightened aggression, and slightly larger numbers. They had also dropped that dagger. That really wasn't a significant increase in difficulty.
The Moss Bears in the forest were another matter. At level five, they were the single most powerful monster that Tail had seen on this floor. Their attack power and hitpoints were unrivaled among the field monsters. There might be something stronger in a cave somewhere but, as for things a player could accidentally find themselves fighting, these bears were probably one of the biggest threats outside of the boss's dungeon. You'd have to go looking for trouble to find something more powerful to fight.
The biggest threat from them was their attack skill. While they only had access to it at night it was still a major threat. His spot skill was high enough to give him a name for it the one time that a bear lived long enough to actually complete the attack. Luckily, Emp was quick enough to dodge that hit and Tail got two more arrows into the bear, killing it before it could turn and attack again. Still, the blow had struck a tree and blasted the bark off ten feet of trunk. The shockwave was strong too, like Impact Sidewinder. The thing likely boosted the attack's damage as well as impact force, unlike Tail's own skill which sacrificed power for impact. That hit could probably have put Emp into the red and knocked him ten feet through the air. At least the Moss Bear wasn't a particularly fast monster. Dodging the skill wasn't that hard for an agile fighter like Emperor and Reaper was powerful enough to drop its health very quickly with that scythe. Still, they weren't out here to push their luck.
They didn't linger in the forest. They killed a total of three bears and that was enough for this expedition's purposes. They established one thing that an information broker would pay to know and a solid reason why people shouldn't wander carelessly at night. Between that and the rare drop from the wolf pack leader earlier they had had a productive night already. Still, there was the west and south to cover before they could call the trip over.
The west was no real challenge and didn't have any real surprises. The Wild Dogs were greater in number but not in strength and they didn't fight in groups or use any new tactics. They did drop a little more cash than they did during the day, a thing that Tailpin tucked away to remember for later. They also respawned quickly. The three of them were actually caught by respawns several times before they could get quite out of range. Still, these level two monsters weren't much threat. They didn't do anything more complicated than charge headlong at you.
The south side of town was actually fairly dull. The monsters must have been farther out because the group didn't encounter any. There were several small cattle pastures and farm houses with barred doors and strong fences but nothing seemed active at night so the group continued on.
By the time they had finished their circuit of the town the hint of pre-dawn glow was growing in the east. The whole group was showing signs of fatigue after almost 24 hours without sleep so Tailpin guided the group closer to the walls of Bull's Run on the final leg of their trip. The strategy worked and they didn't stray close enough to any wolves to get their attention.
Day 2 Morning
Tailpin breathed a tired sigh of relief as they entered through the same gate they left by, abandoning the battlefield for now. He found a place to lean against something, a barrel in this case, and began the process of making sure that everyone got the share that satisfied them. He also copied his map data of the surrounding area and gave them copies of it, since his mapping skill was probably better trained than Emperor's and Reaper had clearly put his effort elsewhere. He knew that Emperor had gained a level during their excursion but was too tired to figure out exactly what level that put him at. Tail had gained a level himself so he was level three. Still, he didn't bother to check any of his stats or lists for changes. That could keep till morning. When everyone was satisfied, they parted ways. Each had two new names on their friends list and new knowledge that not many other players had access to so early.
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Day 2 Morning
Tailpin, at least, was thinking of sleeping until noon as he walked away from the East gate into Bull's Run with the rising sun behind him. Thirty year old men don't always have as easy a time with all-nighters as their younger college age counterparts and he was both stiff and grumpy. Tailpin had the dagger, Wolf's Fang, and his share of the money along with some cheap hide components from the west side of town. He didn't want to waste good components on his novice level skill at crafting. But, he wouldn't be able to look at any of it in a positive light until he had some sleep.
He had no way of knowing how last night had gone at the inn but he headed there anyway. He didn't know that everyone was scattered and that he may well never see some of them again. For now, all he could know was that he needed sleep before he would be able to hunt again. At least he now knew where and when. The fee for the room was nominal. The food was tolerable. The bed was divine. The last thing he knew before he fell asleep was that life here might be short but it would never be boring.
