![Grand Master [2000]](https://i.imgur.com/SGD5XSW.png)
![Master [1000]](https://i.imgur.com/AQXM4xC.png)
![Senior [500]](https://i.imgur.com/Nmfn8cD.png)
![Novice [250]](https://i.imgur.com/lrYlde6.png)
![The Beast [Dungeon; Solo] Empty](https://2img.net/i/empty.gif)
Vincent jumped backwards as the beast lept and clawed at him. Blocking that monster is not going to work out well in my favor. Its physical strength is well beyond anything I'm capable of - at least without any magical empowerment he thought as he ducked under a second swipe which collided with the stone wall of the haunted castle and caused dust to erupt into Vincent. He put his palm against the beast's side and sent a magical bolt of water out from a magical circle at point blank range. The beast took this bolt directly and was sent flying backwards to the end of the hallway in which they fought. It doesn't feel like I did any real damage to this creature. He was right about that, at least. I'm beginning to understand how it managed to best all of the castle's knights. The beast let out a roar from across the hallway and began to sprint at Vincent who pointed his Whirlpool Staff in front of him and let out a cone of frost which intercepted the rampaging beast, freezing it in place just as its overhead claw strike was about to reach him.
"Do you want to know why you've lost so easily when you managed to slaughter the entire royal guard of the castle, beast?" The Crystal Swan mage knew that the beast could still hear and see him, though was incapable of responding. "It's because you didn't use this" he said, putting his index finger over the monster's frozen temple. "You relied on your strength and your speed which, I'll admit, are quite well developed. Any single hit you would have landed on me could've been the only hit you needed. However, what good is that power and speed if you're completely predictable. I don't have to react to your attacks if I just perform the proper dodge before you even raise your arm to attack." Vincent wasn't going to kill the beast - it was too human for him to feel comfortable with that. However, he wasn't just going to let it get away with its crimes. More than likely, he would turn it into the Rune Knights. Before then, though, he would sit against the wall and simply think about the events of the last twenty four hours.
~~~~~
Vincent entered the village sitting at the base of the path leading to the haunted castle. It was a small village whose biggest building was a guild for warriors to prove themselves and train against other warriors. He walked into this building to see if he could get any information about the beast he was tasked with fighting. The interior of the building was split into a large training area with wooden dummies and basic arenas where about fifteen members of the guild were present. A similar amount could be found laughing heartily and eating strange looking food. It's hard to believe that a place like this could exist in such an oppressive environment... "Oi! You a new recruit lookin' to join our ranks?" The wizard turned his head to see a woman in full plate armor who looked as though she'd just finished up in the training area.
"No, thank you. I'm a Crystal Swan wizard and I'm here to figure out what happened to the prince that lived in the castle and defeat the beast who lives there." The entire guild's population looked at him and went dead silent for what felt like hours before erupting in laughter. The woman shoved him before doubling over in laughter. "Sorry, wizard, but you've taken the wrong job. There's no way that you can do anything about the beast that lives in that castle. He's ten feet tall. "And it has bat wings!" "And it has the strength of a thousand men!" It seemed as though just about everyone in the guild had something to say about the beast's strength and appearance. Skeptical, Vincent asked "have any of you even seen the beast?" Nobody responded. "Look. We're all much stronger than you guild mages and not a single one of our guild members have managed to return from the castle. Not single ones and not teams. We just fight off whatever monsters come from the surrounding areas to protect our village and leave the beast alone. I suggest you do the same."
The wizard rolled his eyes and turned around, only to be stopped by the same woman who warned him about the monster. "We're not going to let a visitor throw their life away." "You're not going to let me? I don't have time for this. Let go." she didn't and a couple of shield bearing warriors walked to the exits and blocked them. "You can leave once you promise us that you won't be going to that castle." Vincent didn't particularly like fighting. While he wouldn't admit it, his attitude towards the act has been getting more and more relaxed with each fight. Still, he didn't engage unless he had to. "Look, you can't keep me here against my will, so stand aside." "We've also got an obligation to stop people from getting themselves killed!" she responded.
The mage shook her arm off and transformed into his robes. "Is a fancy little dress after a magical wardrobe change supposed to show me that you're capable of beating the beast?" she asked. He didn't respond and then requipped his Warlock's Armor. She took a step back. "A little wizard like you is strong enough to move around in full plate? That's impressive, but I'm still not convinced." "I'm not doing this to prove myself, I'm doing this to make getting out of here easier." Before she could process what he had said, Vincent had already requipped his Staff of Blazes and fired off a fireball at the wall next to the door, creating an explosion and a large hole in the wall. Everyone began to panic and Vincent called down a bolt of lightning which struck him and radiated outward, shocking everyone in the guild and pushing them to the ground or their knees.
Vincent sprinted out of the exit he created and up the path to the castle before anyone could realize what he had done and how they could stop him. None of the fighters their were particularly magical - at least not that he could sense, so getting into a fight with them would be pointless. Only fighters of the Pergrande Kingdom were worth fighting without magic, he believed, and someday he would be strong enough to take on their most powerful knights. He got angry as he thought of the kingdom of knights, but this anger would serve him well in the fight to come. He had only learned of the true location and origin of the Academy in which he mastered the magic of elemental manipulation in his final year and, when he did, his disdain for Pergrande was cemented. Right now, he had to focus on his research, but once he made sufficient discoveries he would focus on his own strength and refine it to a point where no one in the ranks of the Pergrande army could stand up to him.
He snapped out of his thoughts on the nation when he arrived at the massive doors that served as the entrance to the castle. Vincent placed both of his hands on either door and pushed open. A smell of death permeated the air and, once he was inside, he could see why. There were decaying bodies on either side of the ostentatious stairs leading upwards to a single entrance to what Vincent presumed was the throne room. That explains what happened to the servants... he thought while slowly making his way up the stairs. He opened the smaller doors and found a long red carpet leading to two thrones. In the thrones he could see two skeletons sitting. Vincent also noticed a third skeleton laying next to the one in the larger throne. The king, queen, and prince presumably. They've been picked to the bone. No crowns, though. Odd. He walked closer to the thrones to examine the bodies before hearing the door shut behind him.
"How do you like my handiwork, mage?" Vincent turned to see a six foot tall beast with brown fur and large ram horns. "It's sickening. It's even worse knowing that you aren't mindless." he said, gazing at the ornate crown which was hanging off of one of the horns of the monster. "And why's that? Is it because you can't hold an animal accountable if it's unintelligent? I was just acting on instinct just like any other beast you might encounter - the only difference being that I knew a good source of food and shelter when I found one. You humans are so fragile - even with your tools and your armor." The wizard nodded at the beast's assessment. Humans were fragile. Even so, they managed to mitigate their fragility and occasionally even use it to their advantage.
Vincent's requipped his Whirlpool Staff and pointed it at the beast. "I'm going to take you in for your crimes, beast. If you're intelligent then you're accountable, that's the trade off." "Oh? So if I'm intelligent then I'm subject to the laws of man? How arrogant. Many have tried to kill me before you, mage, what makes you think that you'll be able to take me alive?" Vincent didn't respond and instead sprinted forward and avoided an instinctive swipe by the beast. It swiped at him again and again, pushing him backwards. I've got a good feel for his effective range and it doesn't appear as though it attacks in particularly different ways. I don't think I have to worry about any magical spells being cast by this creature. With every attack he dodged, the beast got more and more frustrated, and thus got stronger, faster, and sloppier with its attacks.
Vincent, with his additional speed, managed to dodge the speedier blows - but only just. It was attacking more wildly and eventually stopped slashing horizontally with its claws and eventually just lept at him with its claws forward. The wizard ducked and ran forward, down the stairs and into a hallway that branched out of the foyer into a narrow hallway. It was hot on his heels and almost managed to catch him before he was ready to avoid more strikes. "Do you really think you can capture me by just avoiding my strikes? I doubt you'll be able to damage me with any of your little tricks, so it's only a matter of time before I land a strike. Once that happens you'll become my dinner." The mage ignored the beast's threats and taunts, focusing only on gathering information on its attack patterns and relative strength.
Once he had enough information, he smiled and baited the beast into a leap by blasting it to the end of the hallway and putting distance between them that he knew the beast would close with a leaping strike.
~~~~~
"Sorry about being so condescending, beast. I should respect your intelligence a bit more, but it's clear that you believed that it wasn't worth developing past a certain point. I merely got a bit upset before entering the castle you took over and took it out on you - it was quite unprofessional." Vincent requipped his Wand of Storms and called upon the wind to lift the frozen beast and have it float behind him as he made the small journey back to the bottom of the path leading to the castle where he saw some warriors fixing up the hole he had left, some noticed him and ran to go get their guild's leader - the woman who had tried to stop him. Before the woman could speak, he threw the beast down in front of him and said "Behold! Your ten foot tall winged beast with the strength of a small army" The previously angry warriors were now silent. They never imagined that an outsider guild mage would be the one to avenge their fallen comrades. The only thing the said by the leader of the guild was a question: "What is your name, guild mage?" "Vincent Gauss." With that, he lifted the beast up and took it with him as he trekked all the way to the nearest Rune Knight outpost to turn it in for its crimes and report what happened to the prince.
WC: 2080
"Do you want to know why you've lost so easily when you managed to slaughter the entire royal guard of the castle, beast?" The Crystal Swan mage knew that the beast could still hear and see him, though was incapable of responding. "It's because you didn't use this" he said, putting his index finger over the monster's frozen temple. "You relied on your strength and your speed which, I'll admit, are quite well developed. Any single hit you would have landed on me could've been the only hit you needed. However, what good is that power and speed if you're completely predictable. I don't have to react to your attacks if I just perform the proper dodge before you even raise your arm to attack." Vincent wasn't going to kill the beast - it was too human for him to feel comfortable with that. However, he wasn't just going to let it get away with its crimes. More than likely, he would turn it into the Rune Knights. Before then, though, he would sit against the wall and simply think about the events of the last twenty four hours.
~~~~~
Vincent entered the village sitting at the base of the path leading to the haunted castle. It was a small village whose biggest building was a guild for warriors to prove themselves and train against other warriors. He walked into this building to see if he could get any information about the beast he was tasked with fighting. The interior of the building was split into a large training area with wooden dummies and basic arenas where about fifteen members of the guild were present. A similar amount could be found laughing heartily and eating strange looking food. It's hard to believe that a place like this could exist in such an oppressive environment... "Oi! You a new recruit lookin' to join our ranks?" The wizard turned his head to see a woman in full plate armor who looked as though she'd just finished up in the training area.
"No, thank you. I'm a Crystal Swan wizard and I'm here to figure out what happened to the prince that lived in the castle and defeat the beast who lives there." The entire guild's population looked at him and went dead silent for what felt like hours before erupting in laughter. The woman shoved him before doubling over in laughter. "Sorry, wizard, but you've taken the wrong job. There's no way that you can do anything about the beast that lives in that castle. He's ten feet tall. "And it has bat wings!" "And it has the strength of a thousand men!" It seemed as though just about everyone in the guild had something to say about the beast's strength and appearance. Skeptical, Vincent asked "have any of you even seen the beast?" Nobody responded. "Look. We're all much stronger than you guild mages and not a single one of our guild members have managed to return from the castle. Not single ones and not teams. We just fight off whatever monsters come from the surrounding areas to protect our village and leave the beast alone. I suggest you do the same."
The wizard rolled his eyes and turned around, only to be stopped by the same woman who warned him about the monster. "We're not going to let a visitor throw their life away." "You're not going to let me? I don't have time for this. Let go." she didn't and a couple of shield bearing warriors walked to the exits and blocked them. "You can leave once you promise us that you won't be going to that castle." Vincent didn't particularly like fighting. While he wouldn't admit it, his attitude towards the act has been getting more and more relaxed with each fight. Still, he didn't engage unless he had to. "Look, you can't keep me here against my will, so stand aside." "We've also got an obligation to stop people from getting themselves killed!" she responded.
The mage shook her arm off and transformed into his robes. "Is a fancy little dress after a magical wardrobe change supposed to show me that you're capable of beating the beast?" she asked. He didn't respond and then requipped his Warlock's Armor. She took a step back. "A little wizard like you is strong enough to move around in full plate? That's impressive, but I'm still not convinced." "I'm not doing this to prove myself, I'm doing this to make getting out of here easier." Before she could process what he had said, Vincent had already requipped his Staff of Blazes and fired off a fireball at the wall next to the door, creating an explosion and a large hole in the wall. Everyone began to panic and Vincent called down a bolt of lightning which struck him and radiated outward, shocking everyone in the guild and pushing them to the ground or their knees.
Vincent sprinted out of the exit he created and up the path to the castle before anyone could realize what he had done and how they could stop him. None of the fighters their were particularly magical - at least not that he could sense, so getting into a fight with them would be pointless. Only fighters of the Pergrande Kingdom were worth fighting without magic, he believed, and someday he would be strong enough to take on their most powerful knights. He got angry as he thought of the kingdom of knights, but this anger would serve him well in the fight to come. He had only learned of the true location and origin of the Academy in which he mastered the magic of elemental manipulation in his final year and, when he did, his disdain for Pergrande was cemented. Right now, he had to focus on his research, but once he made sufficient discoveries he would focus on his own strength and refine it to a point where no one in the ranks of the Pergrande army could stand up to him.
He snapped out of his thoughts on the nation when he arrived at the massive doors that served as the entrance to the castle. Vincent placed both of his hands on either door and pushed open. A smell of death permeated the air and, once he was inside, he could see why. There were decaying bodies on either side of the ostentatious stairs leading upwards to a single entrance to what Vincent presumed was the throne room. That explains what happened to the servants... he thought while slowly making his way up the stairs. He opened the smaller doors and found a long red carpet leading to two thrones. In the thrones he could see two skeletons sitting. Vincent also noticed a third skeleton laying next to the one in the larger throne. The king, queen, and prince presumably. They've been picked to the bone. No crowns, though. Odd. He walked closer to the thrones to examine the bodies before hearing the door shut behind him.
"How do you like my handiwork, mage?" Vincent turned to see a six foot tall beast with brown fur and large ram horns. "It's sickening. It's even worse knowing that you aren't mindless." he said, gazing at the ornate crown which was hanging off of one of the horns of the monster. "And why's that? Is it because you can't hold an animal accountable if it's unintelligent? I was just acting on instinct just like any other beast you might encounter - the only difference being that I knew a good source of food and shelter when I found one. You humans are so fragile - even with your tools and your armor." The wizard nodded at the beast's assessment. Humans were fragile. Even so, they managed to mitigate their fragility and occasionally even use it to their advantage.
Vincent's requipped his Whirlpool Staff and pointed it at the beast. "I'm going to take you in for your crimes, beast. If you're intelligent then you're accountable, that's the trade off." "Oh? So if I'm intelligent then I'm subject to the laws of man? How arrogant. Many have tried to kill me before you, mage, what makes you think that you'll be able to take me alive?" Vincent didn't respond and instead sprinted forward and avoided an instinctive swipe by the beast. It swiped at him again and again, pushing him backwards. I've got a good feel for his effective range and it doesn't appear as though it attacks in particularly different ways. I don't think I have to worry about any magical spells being cast by this creature. With every attack he dodged, the beast got more and more frustrated, and thus got stronger, faster, and sloppier with its attacks.
Vincent, with his additional speed, managed to dodge the speedier blows - but only just. It was attacking more wildly and eventually stopped slashing horizontally with its claws and eventually just lept at him with its claws forward. The wizard ducked and ran forward, down the stairs and into a hallway that branched out of the foyer into a narrow hallway. It was hot on his heels and almost managed to catch him before he was ready to avoid more strikes. "Do you really think you can capture me by just avoiding my strikes? I doubt you'll be able to damage me with any of your little tricks, so it's only a matter of time before I land a strike. Once that happens you'll become my dinner." The mage ignored the beast's threats and taunts, focusing only on gathering information on its attack patterns and relative strength.
Once he had enough information, he smiled and baited the beast into a leap by blasting it to the end of the hallway and putting distance between them that he knew the beast would close with a leaping strike.
~~~~~
"Sorry about being so condescending, beast. I should respect your intelligence a bit more, but it's clear that you believed that it wasn't worth developing past a certain point. I merely got a bit upset before entering the castle you took over and took it out on you - it was quite unprofessional." Vincent requipped his Wand of Storms and called upon the wind to lift the frozen beast and have it float behind him as he made the small journey back to the bottom of the path leading to the castle where he saw some warriors fixing up the hole he had left, some noticed him and ran to go get their guild's leader - the woman who had tried to stop him. Before the woman could speak, he threw the beast down in front of him and said "Behold! Your ten foot tall winged beast with the strength of a small army" The previously angry warriors were now silent. They never imagined that an outsider guild mage would be the one to avenge their fallen comrades. The only thing the said by the leader of the guild was a question: "What is your name, guild mage?" "Vincent Gauss." With that, he lifted the beast up and took it with him as he trekked all the way to the nearest Rune Knight outpost to turn it in for its crimes and report what happened to the prince.
WC: 2080
![The Beast [Dungeon; Solo] Die_01_42158_sm](https://2img.net/h/etc.usf.edu/clipart/42100/42158/die_01_42158_sm.gif)
