Baldur

Baldur made his way back the NPC vendors who hosted the fishing event, as far as he was concerned, and traded in his eggs for the two new items he was very excited about. Between these two upgrade items, and the one from the Halloween event, Baldur should be able to upgrade his gear quite nicely. Though he was going to wait until after they had run the new special dungeons as well, given their rewards. It was an amazing windfall of items between this event and the previous Halloween one, though he had heard that the Christmas event had given some bizarrely powerful rewards as well. He could only hope that the randomness aspect of some of these would be on his side.

"Alright, now I just need to find someone with some spare eggs for a map, so I can help the next set of up and coming frontliners out when they hit tier 3."

Item's Purchased
Easter Bunny's Favor - Reidentify a single slot on a piece of gear at a Merchant using only their Unique Enhancement table. (Limit 1)50 Eggs
Bunny Stamp - Increase the Rarity of a single item up to Demonic, selecting a normal Enhancement in the process (Limit 1)150 Eggs

Egg Count
252 Eggs - 200 (50 for favor, 150 for stamp) = 52 eggs remaining

Baldur clenched his teeth when Shay got caught up by the Nepent Varient's roots, snaring her feet and preventing her from moving out of them and getting close enough to finish off the creature. Instead of fighting back, he stood there to take the attack, but it couldn't seem to reach both of them at the same time, so the attacks missed Baldur, even as it finally released Shay so that she could finish it off. Baldur raised the tip of his katana in one hand, keeping the point extended out towards the creature.

"One more time. I'm feeling lucky about this one. I think you've got it!"

He smiled now, slowly batting aside the whip attacks as the giant, ugly monsters that somehow looked like an ice cream drink with lips, made its way towards him. Should she miss again, he may need to just finish it off. That way they could get through these a bit faster and play the numbers game.

"If this one doesn't, we'l just start mowing them down en masse."

Shay 76/80 | 5/8 (-1)
Baldur | HP: 1370/1370 | EN: 129/130 | MIT: 79 | DMG: 19 | Absolute ACC: 4 | EVA: 3 | BH: 54 | Conc (2/3) | Parry (2/2) | QChange (1/3) +1 EN

Nepent V.: 1/15 | MIT 5 | DMG: 10

Baldur smiled dotingly at Shion. Ah, the impatience of youth. Baldur was not particularly old, at least he wouldn't be outside of Aincrad, but in here he seemed almost venerable. He wondered if he should see about adding some grey at the temples to match the age he felt around all these youngsters. But that was why he was here, to look out for them, to watch over them, and to help them learn what they needed to stay alive. Baldur wasn't just old in year though, he had grown up playing MMO's, and while he had played games with permadeath before, none had ever been quite so... perma. It lended Baldur a bit of age in that respect as well. There was little other than the immersion that Baldur had not experienced before in other forms, and because of that, he felt almost an air of being a veteran of prior wars. It just added further to his feeling of being so much older than everyone else.

"Well, with teleporters, there's really no floor that is closer or further from the frontline. And I think you can agree that a house on this floor would be much more preferable to a house on, say, the 21st floor, even though that would probably be the most advantageous floor, given the Nature's Treasure quest takes place there."

He smiled again as she indicated he should sit with her, and he did, arranging his two katana to lay down on the ground beside him in a very specific way. She then began to tell her some very slight, but personal facts about herself. He seemed to recall her introducing herself in a very similar way. How odd, that she feels the need to give her true name out to others so easily.

He supposed she may wish people to call her by her name and not by her handle but it was still uncommon.

"As you know, I am Baldur." He gestured at his side, "And as you also know, I am a katana wielder." He gave her a slight smile, "and perhaps I shall soon be a neighbor, though I fear I shall have to go a bit further afield to build my house. Unfortunately I have made friends with several orange players, though I myself would never raise my blade to a living person."

Baldur waited with baited breath for the Nepent Varient to spawn, and when it did, he was quick on the move. He rushed forward, leaping high into the air and over it to avoid the lashing vine whips of arms, and landed behind it, thrusting behind himself with the sword and stabbing it. He felt the rumble response of a critical hit as he withdrew his sword and tumbled away. Once out of range of the vines, Baldur turned back to look at it, it's health bar going down... down... down...

And then stopped, with so little left, that Baldur couldn't tell it had HP left, other than the fact that it didn't shatter into pieces.

Perfect.

"I totally meant to do that." Baldur said, pointing at the Nepent with his sword as it turned to face him, preparing to attack the gaijin Samurai.

"Finish it off! You got this!"

ID#144055 BD: 9 (Crit)
18 (Base) +1 (Crit) = 19 RAW - 5 MIT = 14 DMG Dealt

Shay 76/80 | 6/8
Baldur | HP: 1370/1370 | EN: 128/130 | MIT: 79 | DMG: 19 | Absolute ACC: 4 | EVA: 3 | BH: 54 | Conc (2/3) | Parry (2/2) | QChange (1/3) -1 EN, +1 EN

Nepent V.: 1/15 | MIT 5 | DMG: 10

Baldur looked at the surprising Nepent with a bit of annoyance. He was enjoying this fight, but he didn't like missing. His steel blue eyes narrowed at the sight of the Nepent and the cursor appeared above it, indicating it as the target of his next sword art. With a flash, Baldur's sword flickered, leaving an X of white light hovering in the air for a moment, before it shattered into pieces as well.

"Well, at least that's done. Still, let me land the first hit on the Nepent boss so that I can not get the killing blow, then I'll support you while you finish it off. If you do any damage to it I fear I might kill it."

Glancing around, he looked at her health bar. It was just barely not full. She was doing fine. Perhaps if she ran out of energy fighting the boss Nepent she might have an issue, but at this point, they were in no danger what-so-ever... other than for a grind.

"You ready for our second attempt?"

ID#143856 BD: 10 (crit) (19 base +2 crit = 21x2 Han Ei = 42 damage

Shay 76/80 | 5/8
Baldur | HP: 1370/1370 | EN: 128/130 | MIT: 79 | DMG: 19 | Absolute ACC: 4 | EVA: 3 | BH: 54 | Conc (2/3) | Parry (2/2) | QChange (1/3) -1 EN, +1 EN

Nepent 2 7/7

Baldur smiled as Shay one-shot another Nepent, but he would provide for her now the help that he had promised. He took shay's sword, and stabbed it into the ground, crouching as he did so with his hand on <<Warden's Fury>>. For a moment, energy hummed in the air and the sword crackled with energy. At just the moment when the Nepents had grown just close enough, Baldur launched into the air, spinning gracefully as he activated the sword art <<Tsumuji Garuma>>, the white light of his sword art erupted from the saya as Baldur drew the sword, cut once in a continuous arc that pierced all three remaining Nepents, and was surrounded by a shower of light as they all fell.

Or so Baldur thought. As the lights resolved around him, he saw one was left standing.

"Tsk." He would have to change his trinket out. He hated missing.

"I left one for you." Baldur said with a grin that spoke volumes. He was enjoying himself. This was not a fight to the death for either of them, and the loss of that stress freed him from a burden.

ID#143846 BD 1 vs Nepent 2 (miss) MD: 1 (miss)
ID#143847 BD 5 vs Nepent 3 - 19 Damage 
ID#143848 BD 6 vs Nepent 4 - 19 Damage

Shay 76/80 | 6/8
Baldur | HP: 1370/1370 | EN: 129/130 | MIT: 79 | DMG: 19 | Absolute ACC: 4 | EVA: 3 | BH: 54 | Conc (0/3) | Parry (2/2) | QChange (3/3) -1 EN, +1 EN

Nepent 1 0/7 1+12=-13 DEAD
Nepent 2 7/7
Nepent 3 7/7
Nepent 4 7/7

"I've got everything that I need." Baldur said as he reeled in his line, and began to pack up. "It looks like the event is officially over. I should have enough for what I was after, the upgrade stamp, and the unique enhancement favor. I've got about half of a dungeon map saved up too. If we can collect some eggs from others to finish it off, we might be able to have a map we can use for our guild, when they get to an appropriate level."

As the Gaijin got his fishing rod put away, he looked towards the exit.

"I guess now is the time to refund my fishing skill, and pick something up to prepare for the floor boss fight. I quite enjoyed this though. We should do something like this again, in the future. Maybe a camping trip or something."

Baldur gave a smile to the group of friends.

"I look forward to getting back together and continuing our discussion of the guild, when we have more to do."

Skill(s) Being Dropped: Fishing
Mod(s) Being Dropped: None
SP Refunded: 10
Cost: 10,000 Col (Sent)

Baldur stood there, his mouth slightly agape when Mari began her confession. He had been completely unaware of her feelings, and completely unprepared for this sudden outburst. As he thought back recently, she had been showing up everywhere he had turned, but then, he still felt that they hardly knew each other. The two of them had one talk, a random encounter at her home; the rest of their conversations had been merely centered around combat. They had never really had a chance to speak person to person before.

Before her words could even begin to resolve in his mind, she was gone. Evaporated like the time of the event, which had also expired. The Samurai looked up at Shield, a dizzied expression still on his face. The tank bashfully explained Mari had been slowly riled up into confessing her feelings to him through a series of subtle verbal jousts and apparently a fishing competition.

The gaijin Samurai's mind whirled around him as he tried to find some point to anchor and which he could even begin to understand the events that had just transpired. Instead, he gave Shield a nod of his head, packed up his fishing gear and headed out to somewhere he could think.

-=Final Egg & Mat Count=-
Materials: 18
Eggs: 46

As members of the party seemed to fumble about, lost in the darkness, their teamwork seemed to be eroding. They weren't working as well together as they had in the beginning. Something was off. Is it fear? Are they afraid because he's an immortal object? Baldur shook his head. Whatever the reason was, they should retreat and regroup. The cohesion just wasn't there.

Then Baldur felt a surge of wind and saw Macradon fly past him, the Knight's health dropping a substantial chunk of his health bar as well. He was more familiar with Mac's health bar than Hestia's. If that thing hit him, it was going to hurt. Baldur could probably only take 2 or 3 of those hits before he bit the big one.

"Come on we--"

Baldur was about to shout out more orders, when Macradon began. Slowly pushing himself to his feet and then charging into the next group of Shadowlings, his blade roaring to life as he smote one with his holy fire.

"Alright then."

Baldur rushed into the group of new shadows. Pulling them away from mucking with the torches was the important part. The gaijin samurai took careful aim, and then activated his AoE sword art <<Amatsu no homura>> and the brilliant white light of his sword art lit the area around the last torched with its brilliant white light, flecked with golden lightning. He felt the crit land on one, but it was almost random. The shadows blending into the darkness made them almost escape his grasp, but he was able to hit all 4 of them and grab their attention. It was then that he noticed the debuff <<Marked for Death>> with 4 stacked. He hadn't realized the danger he had placed Macradon and Hestia and Zandra in. And now myself as well.

Baldur had a thought about safeguards, but with how rare they were, he was not ready to use one on this fight.

"Keep it up! Speed is the key here!"

Baldur smiled as they had made so much progress on this fishing trip that he had somehow accidentally dropped into when he had been exploring the caves for another fishing spot. Then the flume had sucked Baldur back into Shield's hidden grotto. It was a strangely productive day.

"Yea Cal, you're definitely joining the guild." Baldur got a huge [censored] eating grin on his face. "After all, as my kohai, you'll hold a special place in the guild hierarchy." His blue eyes twinkled with mischief as he teased the highest leveled player in Aincrad. How long had it been since he the young Calrex, still in the single digits, had come into Baldur's shop and asked for a healing potion. Baldur had wanted to make sure the young player survived, so he threw in a free extra.

I never would have known or could have expected the friendship I would get out of that.

"I will say... I know recruiting can be tough, and sometimes laborious, but I also think back to the first time I met all of you. Calrex hadn't hit double digit levels, yet he's grown to become one of my closest friends. Oikawa was one of the first people I ever partied with, long before either of us were in a guild or had seen the frontlines, yet we learned to stand shoulder to shoulder as brothers. And Shield, you have ended up becoming one of the few people I feel I can truely let down my guard around because we're adults in the land of all these damn kids who won't get off my lawn."

Baldur laughed and threw them all another jovial grin.

"We never know where these bonds will come from, or where they will lead to. But friends are the most valuable commodity in life, and we spend entirely too little time gathering them. With this guild, we're going to build a family, we're going to find new friends, and we're going to move forward so we can get the hell out of this game."

He reeled in his catch, which was much less inspiring than his words were. At least, he hoped.

ID#143143
CD: 6 (1 Material, +1 Housing Bonus)
LD: 8+3=11 (6 eggs)

Baldur's Haul:
Material: 30
Eggs: 68

Baldur gave a soft chuckle as Mari dove into the water to catch her pole. The same had almost happened to him a half dozen times, but he had never actually let go of his pole. Still, she managed to come out of it with quite the haul of eggs. In turn, Baldur reeled in his line, catching almost as many eggs, and a fair number of materials as well.

"I think you're spot on Shield. Focused Howl will let you spend more of your time performing whatever tasks the boss fight demands other than maintaining hate. The less time you have to spend maintaining hate, the more you can spend doing other things. If only you had a spare skill slot to pick up the extended mod limit skill. I've been toying with how to use my last one as well. <<Fighting Spirit>> or <<Searching>> or <<Extended Mod Limit>> myself. I will probably end up going with Mod because of the additional ones I need to pick up. Maybe I'll grab Fighting Spirit at 70."

Baldur tended to his line and threw it back out.

"Sorry Mari, we've thrown a lot of information out at you at once. A polearm isn't a bad idea, if you're comfortable with it. I'm sure someone, maybe even Macradon, has an item that'll change your weapon type into another one."

ID#143091
CD: 8 (2 materials, +1 housing bonus)
LD: 10+3 (6 eggs)

Materials: 18
Eggs: 46

"I think it's more of a matter of pacing. Mari is just as wary of another Azure Brigade as anyone else, so I feel like if we can convince her that is one step towards proving that our mission, and our group, isn't going to repeat the issues of the past. Not only that, but of those who are going to be at the raid, only Macradon and Zandra were around back them."

Baldur cast his line back out into the water.

"Honestly, Zandra is likely to be Hestia's most staunch alley, as Shield can recall from the last meeting. I don't like the idea of treating Hestia as an enemy when it comes to the meetings, but if we can gain the support of the other players before that, then that's one less public fight we have to have. Hopefully our pledge of resources to help the frontline, this time and in the future, will show our sincerity. I just wish we could convince Macradon to join us. It would cement us as the devil in terms of power players, but Macradon I think is respected enough among the others it would lend us just as much if not more weight that what we're trying to do is help everyone."

He began to reel in his line and see what he had and his mind went back to what Shield had said about Beat.

"I'll be good to know Beat is joining us again. The more DPS we have that are willing to work as a team and follow a coordinated plan the better. I wish things hadn't gone down with Hirru as they had, but I'd love to get him back, especially knowing what we know now. And Anemone too. I never quite understood her, but she went all in on the support, and that would be even more invaluable now than it was then. The biggest thing I think we can do though, is reach out to new people. We can't be insular. If we can all agree to try and find one new person to help out between now and the guild getting up and ready for the boss fight, I think that'll be big."

ID#143084
CD:7 (2 mats, +1 housing bonus)
LD:12+3=15 (6 eggs)

Baldur's Haul:
Material: 28
Eggs: 62

"I still don't think you'll use <<Field Medic>> much in the fight. The one taking most of the damage will be you, but then the AoE hits happen, and they will happen, there just aren't enough turns to heal everyone. Now if everyone came fully kitted out and could take care of themselves, or you had your own support, then you can focus on Howling, and Parrying."

Baldur reeled his line back in. The haul was disappointing, but much better than getting nothing at all, as he had gone through several spells of either feast for famine. Hitting the middle ground was better than nothing at all.

"Making sure we've got good coverage like that will keep the fight from drawing out, or risking people's lives. It's rarely the tank who is in danger, and rather the unsuspecting players standing out in the field when the floor turns to lava, or the giant stone creature causes an earthquake, or a storm of lighting, or a tornado. If you could take <<Field Medic>> without <<First Aid>> then it would be even better as a skill."

Baldur cast his line back out into the pond and tried not to blush further when Mari kept on about how he looked in battle. He cleared his throat slightly, obviously embarrassed.

"The katana is just as much for fighting as the European arming sword, but both have been overly romanticized. The pole-arm was the weapon of choice for both knights and samurai, back in the day. Nothing better than keeping  your enemy at a distance."

ID#142839
CD: 7 = 2 Materials +1 housing bonus
LD: 6+3=9 = 4 eggs

Materials: 18
Eggs: 46

Baldur hefted Shay's sword in his hand as if testing its balance for a moment before he looked up and saw her engage in the fight.

"Alright, here we go!"

Baldur rushed into the fight after Shay, dodging through the flurry of vine whips and root snaring attacks, and then almost tripped over his own feet. What even are the one hand curved sword attacks anyways? He took a moment, but the monster seemed focused on Shay. Baldur stretched with his memory to try and remember any of them. But there was one manuver that was similar to katana, so moved into the pre-motion and activated <<Rage Blow>> one of the first and most basic sword arts. He zipped through the air the rest of the way and landed a double hit blow on the Nepent, and managed to activate the bleed effect of Shay's attack, as well as drawing aggro on the mob.

"I got it, not finish it off if you can!"

And then the Nepent Varient shattered into thousands of little glowing shards of light that seemed to defy gravity for a moment before they disappeared.

"Oops, sorry. I meant to let you get the finishing blow. Looks like we'll have to start over. I'll be more careful next time." Baldur said with a hesitant laugh and putting one hand on the back of his head to show his chagrin.

ID# BD: 8+3=11 (hit)
Rage Blow: 1 (base) + 9 (familiar) +1 (Rank) = 11 DMG x2 = 22 DMG -5 MIT = 17 DMG Dealt + Bleed
ID#142836 LD: 5 (no quest item found)

Shay 76/80 -4 | 8/8 -1+2
Baldur | HP: 1370/1370 | EN: 128/130 | MIT: 79 | DMG: 11 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 3 | BH: 54 | Conc (1/3) | Parry (2/2) | QChange (3/3) | Bleed 2 | -2 EN, +1 EN

Nepent V.: 0/15 | MIT 5 | DMG: 10  17 DMG dealt

Baldur's eyebrows climbed up his forehead when he heard Shield didn't have field medic. Had it really been that long since they had fought together? But then, Baldur rarely needed healing, and Shield could usually get by with just his familiar giving him an injection every once in a while and his battle healing keeping him topped off.

"I guess it has really been far too long since we've fought together if I didn't remember you didn't have <<Field Medic>>."

Baldur began to reel in his line, and was quite pleased with another large haul of materials and eggs. A few more and he would have everything he needed.

"I would guess that vengeful riposte is more useful to you against a tank than Justified, but then it probably wouldn't get over a bosses mitigation unless it was a big one... But the last few Labyrinth bosses have hit pretty hard, so maybe six of one, half dozen of the other? There are plenty of stun attacks in a group, so I could see that being less useful."

"That'll be really helpful Mari." Baldur said when she mentioned having the new skills in time for the raid, "That at least gives us someone with a field medic ability for every party, barring Hestia having respecced out of it."

The floater plopped into the water and bobbed up and down as Baldur stretched his arms and gave a slight yawn, before blushing at Mari's words.

"I usually refer to it as scrapper lock, back from my MMO days. If I'm in a fight, and its to the death, I get into the zone and nothing else goes through my mind. I put myself 100% into it, but it causes just as many problems." He gave a slight chuckle to shake off the nerves.

ID#142821
CD: 9 = 2 materials, +1 housing bonus
LD: 18+3 = 8 Eggs

Materials: 15
Eggs: 42

"I know how shy you are about having others listen to your music, so I appreciate the gesture."

Baldur was a little bit embarrassed, thinking back about how he had thought the soft violin music trying so hard to push through the snow of the 4th floor to be heard had been the environmental background music, when it had apparently been Mari playing for herself in isolation. The number of times they must have just passed each other would have beggars belief, but the driving snow that far out meant that the visibility was fairly low.

Baldur reeled in on his line, but instead of fish, he got a giant bag of eggs.

That's what I'm here for.

"Going back to the builds though, ultimately the choice is up to you. How far down you want to go down the support path, but if you are able to get Field Medic before the boss fight, that means we can at least have one field medic use per party, with one of them having 2 uses, due to Shield and Hestia also having them."

He quickly baited the line and then cast it back out, listening to the zip of the line as it sailed out over the dark waters of the cave grotto.

"Shield may be an immovable wall, and Calrex may have so much mitigation and hit points without even trying, but the status effects kept him locked down. As the bosses get more tricks up their sleeves, support players become more critical. There have been quite a few fights that we were only able to finish because Shield or Hestia were <<energizing>> me."

ID#142663
CD: 3 (no mats)
LD: 20+3 (8 eggs)

Materials: 12
Eggs: 34

"No, I can't think of anyone Cal. Shield and I even had this conversation before when we were discussing trying to find other new frontliners."

Baldur cast out his line as conversation continued to flow. Oikawa seemed to be a little hard on himself over his orange cursor. Is he being hard on himself? He killed someone. As much as Baldur hadn't cared for Zelrius, he knew that Oikawa and the comandante had been close friends. He undoubtedly carried an appropriate amount of guilt over the issue, it just wasn't useful to Baldur that he felt the guilt so acutely. He had come to terms with Oikawa a long time ago, and decided to throw his lot in with his old friend. It was a settled issue as far as Baldur was concerned, but it didn't seem to be settled as far as Oikawa was concerned.

"Mari?" Baldur seemed surprised. "I hadn't even considered her." That would mean two of their guild leaders would be notorious orange players. Baldur had no problem with Mari, but they were already potentially dealing with an image problem with the guild. Still, people who dealt with Mari would probably come around pretty quickly. Redemption is the maxim of my sword style, how can I let it be any different from my guild? It was the reality of politics. Baldur could pick and choose his students, and teach them and mentor them and guide them, help them slowly build up self confidence and find the path of redemption, but not everyone saw things that way. Itzal and Hestia had been members of a policing guild meant to imprison orange players. But Mari also had Macradon behind her, which would probably make most stay their hand.

"I have no objections to Mari, she may just be a little early in her path along redemption. She has a good energy about her, that I think would be welcome within our very masculine one." Baldur gave a playful smile, "but we may be taking on another challenge by doing so."

Baldur reeled in his line, hoping for another great catch.

"As long as we know that going in... however, we have Macradon to contend with. I don't know if he has any designs for a guild, or if he would be amiable to leaving the Knights. I would love to have him along with us, even if he isn't a Hashira. Still, he is Mari's best friend, and if he were to want her to join him instead, I don't think she would say no."

ID#142662
CD: 8 (2 materials, +1 housing bonus)
LD: 13+3=15 (Eggs +6)

Baldur's Haul:
Material: 25
Eggs: 56

Baldur put his hands down on his knees and pushed himself up to a standing position. He picked up his cup of tea, finished it off in one more sip, and then placed it back down on the table, and bowed to Crozeph.

"Well my friend, you have provided us wonderful hospitality. Perhaps you can allow me to return the favor? My home is still in the works, but I would be honored if you would let me take you there and show it to you. Not even Empress-chan here has seen it yet. I believe I have a room that can be made for your use as well."

He gave his old friend a smile.

"And it would do me great honor for you to be the first guest."

He gave his old friend another deep, respectful bow, and then turned to his kohai, Cordelia. "I would love it if you would join us as well, Cordelia-chan. If you have other plans as well, that's fine with me." Baldur walked his way back to the door, a gesture to show he was planning to leave and take them with him right now. Fortunately the weather on floor 24 was much nicer than floor 10. Though it may be a bit of a shock to Crozeph to see so much daylight.

"It's nothing much yet, but I hope that soon it'll have all of the rooms finished out.

Baldur held up his hands in a placating gesture when she seemed to double down on the fact that she didn't want any help fighting, and didn't need any help from anyone. It was a shaper response than he had expected, especially when you consider that he hadn't actually done it. After a moment, the fire died down and he lowered his hands.

"Woah, it's okay. I wouldn't have hopped in unless I had asked or you were about to die. I've played a fair share of MMO's before this one, and there's a certain etiquette to be followed, unless you're actually trying to kill steal, or ambush a player. As I want to do neither, I follow etiquette."

When she mentioned her home on the floor, Baldur's memory flashed back to her fancy house warming party. With the events of the frontline, it really did seem like it was a long time ago. How much time has passed? Did it really fly away from me so quickly? 

"I was exploring the floor a bit more. After seeing what you did with your house, and the view from up here, I've been trying to see if I'd like to put my own house up here. There's a lot to work with, and there's something about this islands that draws me, and the view simply can't be beat." He walked across the clearing where Shion had done her battle and moved near the end, but still a safe distance away. The view that stretched before him was otherworldly. Not simply because there was the bottom of the 25th floor visible instead of a sky, or because the land stretched out between the disks, but because it was impossible and unearthly. This was a scene that could never be replicated in the real world, and yet the familiar biome of islands, water, and a Colosseum in the distance grounded it in earth's mythology. 

"If  you couldn't already tell, I'm someone who loves a good juxtaposition. The impossible vista, the unearthly quality, and yet remnants of the familiar. Out of all 25 floors, and I have explored them all in depth, this is perhaps my favorite. It calls to me in a way others haven't. I look forward to seeing what lays on the other floors, but it's past time I held out for just the right one. There happens to be a perfectly good one right here."

Each of the three men there gave the answer Baldur had expected. He knew at this point, that Calrex was set into a path that was going to be difficult for him to break free without some further motivation. He was pleased that he was right in how Shield and Oikawa answered. Now it would just be up to them in order to actually follow through. But still, Baldur wanted a fourth. Someone else who could help shoulder the burden.

"So, we have three of our four Hashira. Without Calrex, we need to come up with a fourth. Preferably someone who can inject a bit of idea and life into our tired old bones."

He then listened to the rest of what Shield had to say.

"I had a jacob's ladder as as toy when I was a kid, but I have to say, the allusion is spot on. We lay asleep in our hospital beds, dreaming of the next world. I like it a lot, actually." Baldur let his pole slack for a moment as he withdrew deep into thought.

"As long as we're not confused with the toy, I think that's a great name."

Baldur reeled in his line, reset the bait, and then cast it out again. Nothing had bitten in a while. he still needed to get more eggs while the event went on. He had become quite the fisher through all of this however.

ID#142344 CD: 2 (no haul)

Baldur's Haul:
Material: 25
Eggs: 50

When Baldur heard the rustling in the brush of someone attempting to sneak up on them, he whirled about, ready to draw his sword once more, but instead stopped himself mid draw, a foot of the brilliant steel reflecting sunlight when he saw it was another player, and this one also not being particularly high level. She carried a katana, and seemed to offer it up to Shay without any form of introduction or explanation. And before he could process what was going on, she was gone again.

"The katana is the weapon I wish to master." Baldur said, and then looked around the glenn to see if another small girl would show up to deliver him a sword.

"I guess it only words for you." He gave a slight chuckle and seemed to visibly relax after a moment.

He glanced around, and he could spot the top of the Nepent varient coming to find them.

"Alright, here it comes. I don't have a way to not one shot the creature, but I think it's better for the drop for  you to be the last hit. Loan me that wakizashi you're not using anymore."

Baldur held out his hand for her other sword. Now that she was using the katana, if he used her blade, he might be able to help without stealing the last hit she needed for her drop.

"I don't think you're going to get a lot of use out of charge with the dagger, if I'm being blunt." Baldur frowned at the words. He didn't like being blunt, especially with someone else's build, but she seemed to want input.

"If you went with the trickster build, then you could keep the dagger, because the physical damage is irrelevent compared to the DoT damage it unleashes. But at that point, you also don't need charge. If you wanted to go with a more consistent damage type build, and keep charge, then you're better off going with Rapier, or switching to two-hand all together."

Baldur reeled in his line to see what he had gotten this time.

That was when Mari shyly offered him the recording crystal. Baldur had remembered when he met her about how self conscious she was about anyone listening to her play. It showed her face now, she was embarrassed that anyone would want to listen to her music, or listen to it in public. But Baldur enjoyed the music, it had set the tone for that part of the 4th floor for him.

"Oh wow... thank you! I look forward to having my own on demand background music whenever I want."

Baldur picked up the crystal, and then hit the play function, so that they could enjoy it. It really was a pleasant, subtle tone that didn't take away from what was going on around them, but had a self reflective melody.

"I love it."

ID#142243
CD: 5  (Material +1)(+1 housing bonus)
LD: 2+3=5 (Eggs +2)

Materials: 12
Eggs: 26

Baldur clapped slowly as he emerged from the edge of the floating island, having witnessed the climactic end to Shion's struggle against the lizard creature. It had been quite the intense battle the two had had, but other than the falling damage, Shion had come out on top quite handily.

"You seem to have improved quite a bit since we last fought together on the castle ramparts."

The gaijin samurai gave Shion a friendly smile, and then a tug on his blue and white haori to free it from where it had gotten caught on some of the underbrush he had emerged from. He took a moment to readjust his appearance so it maintained his perfectly composed, stylized appearance. On his hips rested the two customary katana, one light, and one dark, that he always wore. The inescapable blue hoari with the white flames hung about Baldur's shoulder now, after so many years, as if that's where it was meant to be. In spite of his body being digital, and not real, there was something about the gaijin samurai that said he just fit the look he wore, and the body he inhabited. Perhaps being on the frontlines so much and for so long gave him a comfort with his skills and abilities that only came with time an mastery. There was not an ounce of awkwardness in his body... except for when he had to tug on the haori to free it form the brambles.

He gave a slight, embarrassed smile, then returned to his typical friendly impassiveness.

"What brings you to floor 24? I was just exploring a few of these islands that dot the floor. I've always loved them. Something about their beauty due to their impossibility, and their inability to exist in the real world. I just find them fascinating and beautiful."

Baldur watched as the girl had it in hand. He had to remind himself, it wasn't necessarily this batch that was the problem, but when you got to the 6th one, you would be glad for company and for help. He walked almost lazily over to the next one, and hacked it in half with a single basic attack from his sword. The final Nepent shattered, and he gave the young woman a pleasant smile.

"No need for apologies, there's just certain nicitest and protocols to follow and I didn't want to make a bad first impression."

He gave her a friendly smile and then continued. "Oh and Sorry, I didn't catch your name. I'm called Baldur. Oh, and the big one should be spawning right about now too."

Baldur turned, just in time to see a larger Nepent appear with a flow bud on the top of its head.

"Hopefully this will be the one you need, and the quest will be short. If it doesn't, we'll have to aggro another group of regular Nepents before we can try again."

She was wielding a Wakizashi. She must be going for Katana then. Her styling seemed somewhat familiar too, but if anything it just meant she was closer to his style, than to the largely western-centric appearance of most of the other players.

"Are you working on unlocking the katana?"

@Shay

ID#142167 BD: 3+4=(hit)
Basic Attack = 18 Damage Dealt

Shay 76/80 -4 | 6/8 -2
Baldur | HP: 1370/1370 | EN: 129/130 | MIT: 79 | DMG: 19 | Absolute ACC: 4 | EVA: 3 | BH: 54 | Conc (1/3) | Parry (2/2) | QChange (3/3)

Nepent 4 7/7 -18 Damage