Baldur

As the white light faded, the world before him resolved into Taran Village. The city made entirely of stone was near the labyrinth dungeon for this floor. The village was smaller than he expected, but it was just meant to be a base of operations for  players to assault the dungeon and then the boss. It had no blacksmith, but the general vendor should be able to sell him some healing potions and a teleport crystal. Assault players always needed to restock those before going into the dungeon.

He walked over to the fountain at the center of the town and sat on the edge as he waited for Tyger to show up.

Tyger and I will be attempting this quest.

THREAD COMPLETE

QUEST <<The GEMINI>> COMPLETE

Rewards:

400 Col (1 Page/20 posts)

<<The Gemini>> - <<Concentration>> Extra Skill Gained

<<Savage Ape>> - 60 Col & 1 Mat

<<Elf Hunter>> - 1 Mat

Completed Quest - 3 Skill Points

Completed RP Thread - 1 Skill Point

The Elf Hunter struggled, but Baldur's fury gave him the strength to keep his grip on the enemy's spear, and he brought his sword down on the elf again, this time hard enough to make it shatter into light. That light, as it mingled with the tiny bits of sun that made it through the leaves, seemed to take his rage away with it. He had fought, and fought, and fought against something seemingly so frustrating, but he was worn out now, and that exhaustion felt good. More than that, this path looked to be the correct one. With a flick of his sword to his side, Baldur took off down the path at a run.

I'm coming home. He said to himself as he ran, the mist parting ahead of him until he could see a village and old stone pillars which had once so intrigued him. He didn't stop running until he got to the teleportation gate.

"Take me home." He told the portal to no effect.

"Take me to the Town of Beginnings."

And with a white flash of light, he and his rage disappeared.

[iD: 7410 BD: 7 LD 2 MD: 4]

<<Baldur>> 7/15 HP Hits Elf Hunter for 5 DMG

<<Elf Hunter>> 0/12HP - drops 1 Material

This creature was beginning to enrage him even further, the futility of beating at it, the frustration of not being able to do anything. He just wanted to get out of here. He wanted to go home. He wanted to forget about this place and to never come back.

"I warned you!" He raged at the uncomprehending NPC, parrying the useless spear then grabbing it under his arm to delay the elf long enough to make it choose between dropping the weapon or taking a scimitar to the chest. He didn't know if it was capable of making that choice, so it chose the sword.

[iD: 7404 BD: 8 MD: 5]

<<Baldur>> 7/15HP hits Elf Hunter for 5 DMG

<<Elf Hunter>> 2/12HP misses

Baldur and the elf came together in a might clash. The spear was a great weapon for keeping distance, and the Elf seemed intent on not letting Baldur close that game anymore. His blade whispered through the air with a cyan slash, but could not find purchase on anything but the bamboo spear half. For his part though, since the elf wouldn't let him close it, it kept Baldur too close for the elf to bring his own weapon to bear and the two seemed to fight to a stalemate.

"If you can understand me, RUN AWAY!"

Baldur thought he could see chips of wood flaking from the spear as his fury beat against the weapon. Today it was a fang of hell.

[iD: 7403 BD: 3 MD: 2]

<<Baldur>> 8/15HP misses

<<Elf Hunter>> 7/12HP misses

As Baldur stalked out of the clearing, a new creature dropped from the trees, this one carrying a spear. Did it... did it have pointed ears? Was it some kind of elf?

"Get. Out. Of. My. Way." Baldur growled at the elf through clenched teeth, but the elf only dropped into a fighting stance with it's wooden spear as the obsidian looking tip threatened him.

"OUT OF MY WAY!" Baldur roared, batting the tip of the spear aside with his sword and lunging in like a fencer, clearing the spear as his blade slashed down the centerline of the <<Elf Hunter>> while it's spear thrust hit only air where he had been standing.

[iD: 7402 BD: 8 MD: 1]

<<Baldur>> 8/15HP hits Elf Hunter for 5 DMG

<<Elf Hunter>> 7/12HP misses

Baldur stood there in the clearing. It bothered him. It was like an itch between the shoulder blades you couldn't reach to scratch, and the noise of nails on a chalkboard, and the smell of curdled milk. It bothered his stomach to be in this clearing, and every shadow looked like that sickly snarling face.

His teeth clenched and ground together. Thankfully that wasn't an issue in this world.

He looked at the two other paths, and picked the one on the right. He always wanted to walk in the right, didn't he? Wasn't that the path?

Then how could he have killed so easily?

Baldur, his eyes red with from tears and rage stood before the massive beast as it beat its own chest in rage, it suddenly seemed to glow red as it brought its fists together above its head as if to give the ground a massive smashing attack, but Baldur only flicked his wrist and the tip of his scimitar flashed with a cyan blur and bisected the creature even as it's fist was nearing his head. Just before impact, the <<Savage Ape>> was no more, and it's luminous shards mixed with tears as Baldur spun on his heels and walked back into the clearing to try another path.

"I have to get back to her."

[iD: 7400 BD: 6 MD: 9 LD: 11]

<<Baldur>> 8/15HP hits Savage Ape for 5 DMG

<<Savage Ape>> 0/12 - drops 60 Col & 1 Mat

Gritting his teeth, Baldur threw himself at the <<Savage Ape>> as soon as his feet found purchase. His sword was rage. His control was gone, but his form was built of muscle memory and he stuck the Ape with such fury, he should have been the one to wear the tag of <<savage>>. Tears glimmered in his eyes as he ducked low and brought his sword up through the <<Savage Ape>> and pushed it back, even as its fists crushed the earth on either side of Baldur, leaving him unharmed.

"Raaaaaaahhhhh!" Baldur, not the <<Savage Ape>> cried out in the empty jungle.

[iD: 7398 BD: 9 MD: 3]

<<Baldur>> Hits the Savage Ape for 6 DMG

<<Savage Ape>> Misses

<<Baldur>> 8/15 HP

<<Savage Ape>> 1/12 HP

As Baldur was no more than a dozen steps out of the clearing, he realized he had made an incorrect assumption, but he didn't have a chance to go back as a <<Savage Ape>> the size of a Gorilla landed next to him. It looked mean, and steam seemed to come out of its nose as he huffed at Baldur, and its fists pounded the earth of the path, leaving fist marks in the dirt.

"Why can't anything just be easy." Baldur said as he quickly drew his scimitar and with a grim determination he threw himself at the giant mob.

"Aiyah!" Baldur kiai'ed, letting out the frustration and fury he felt inside of him. His sword bit deeply into the Ape, but its backhand also connected and sent Baldur flying. Somehow, he managed to land on his feet, but it was more luck than skill. He said another thanks to Tyger for her armor.

[iD: 7397 BD: 8 MD: 6]

<<Baldur>> Hits Savage Ape for 5 DMG

<<Savage Ape>> Hit's Baldur for 1 DMG

<<Baldur>> 8/15 HP

<<Savage Ape>> 7/12 HP

Baldur raised his eyes from the ground after he accepted the quest rewards and looked around the clearing once again. They had fought all over the area, but now he couldn't tell which way he had come from. The path he had been following split here, so now 3 paths ran out of the sunlit barrow.

"Great, now I'm lost too? I knew I should have gotten a teleport crystal."

He thought he remembered the <<Gemin>> leaning there against that stump, which would mean he came from this path over here. He would go down it and see if it looked familiar.

QUEST <<The GEMINI>> COMPLETE

Reward: Extra Skill: Concentration

"Whaaaa?"

Baldur blinked his eyes and then stood his feet quickly, but almost fell backwards over a moss covered fallen tree backed into.

It.... It was a quest? That wasn't player?! I'm not a killer?!

No. Came another voice in his head.

When you struck that blow, you thought he was a man.

Baldur had to concede to his conscience. It may not technically be PK, he wouldn't be flagged orange, but the truth of his actions was still there. He had struck a finishing blow. He was capable of killing, and that truth chilled him to the bone.

Baldur sat there in the silent circle of green sentinels as the light poured down on him, his shoulders shaking as silent, tear-less sobs wracked his body. He had thought this day might come, but he had never thought it would be like this. He had imagined saving someone, or teaching someone villainous a lesson... not... some petty ruffian on the road. Still, what would have happened if he had fought someone else? Someone who couldn't defend themselves as well? What would they have done? The thought brought Baldur some measure of peace, in spite of now knowing he was fully capable of killing someone for no other reason than self-defense.

"I won't ever duel again." Was it some sort of bug? How had it become a duel to the death? He knew that the invite he had gotten said "First Blood."

Slowly, Baldur opened his eyes and saw a window and his eyes suddenly went wide.

Baldur fell to his knees on the ground, the sword falling to his side and he put his face into his hands.

He had killed someone.

He had really done it.

This wouldn't flag him orange, would it? He wouldn't be able to go into town, he couldn't see Tyger. He would have live out here for days until the status went away.

"Oh god, what am I going to do?" He cried out in English.

Again their swords were a flash of crimson and blue, a flurry of strikes filled the area scaring away any birds and warning any other players to stay away. Steel on steel was dangerous. Player against player was worse. What was it when you fought yourself?

The sickly sinister grin Baldur saw reflected on the face of his opponent made him feel queasy. At least in this world you couldn't vomit. As their blades rang one against the other, Baldur began to remember some of his old fencing days. You never watched the blade, that was impossible, you watched the person, but it was more than that, you learned your opponent, what move did they like, what move did they rely on? The fight was very even, only their gear setting them apart. He would have to thank Tyger, as this gear had probably saved his life.

"You can't have her!" He roared out and the pushed forward, throwing his opponent off balance and closed in closer. Relying on his footwork, Baldur closed in and used a move that was half Akido and half Iaido, whirling their blades together and locked until his ended up on top and with a flicker of motion, Baldur's blade sprang up inside of the Gemini's guard and opened his throat. Or it would have if Baldur's azure trail of light didn't instead shatter the man into millions of polygons. The last thing he heard was cruel laughter filling the air.

[id: 7358 BD: 6 LD: 1 MD: 2]

<<Gemini> Misses

<<Baldur>> Hits Gemini for 5 DMG

<<Baldur>> 8/15 HP

<<Gemini>> 0/15 HP 

Baldur and Dark Baldur came together in another clash of furious blows. The blades were too quick to follow, but the cyan light trail following Baldur's blade crashed into the orange light of Dark Baldur's. The sound of metal on metal rang through the small clearing. Suddenly his swing went wide, and Dark Baldur drove his blade home, whittling away more of Baldur's HP and putting him solidly into the yellow.

But Baldur found the upper hand, bringing his own blade around to take the head off of this monster, but just as the blade was about to strike, Baldur pulled back and jumped away.

"I could have had you there. Surrender. You don't have to die."

Dark Baldur had a wicked smile which had never been seen on his face before. It sent chills down his spine.

"You don't have what it takes to kill someone!" Dark Baldur retorted and attacked him once more.

[iD: 7374 BD:2 MD:9]

<<Gemini>> Hits Baldur for 2 DMG

<<Baldur>> Misses

<<Baldur>> 9/15HP

<<Gemini>> 4/15HP 

Baldur tried to roll forward and gain some distance from his skilled opponent. He hadn't fought anything in the game with moves like this. Despite the fact that his life was hanging in the balance, Baldur started to gain his focus, to get his head into the game. This was a sword fight, and his practiced competitive mentality started to kick in. He could fight people, this is what he was used to.

The <<Gemini>> darted forward, striking at Baldur with an overhead blow, but Baldur saw an opportunity he couldn't pass up. Raising his heavily armored arm, Baldur took the blow but batted the sword to the side and drove his own scimitar into the side of his opponent, solidly landing the strike and throwing his twin away from him.

"I will not let you get away with this. I'll prevent you from hurting anymore people."

[iD: 7372 BD: 9 MD: 6]

<<Gemini>> Hit's Baldur for 1 DMG

<<Baldur>> Hits Gemini for 6 DMG (1 base + 2 skill + 2 weapon + 1 crit)

<<Baldur>> 11HP

<<Gemini>> 4HP

Now that each of them knew the stakes and had traded blows, their tempo slowed down and they faced off against one another silently, each eyeing the other.

"Why do you have my form? What are you? NPC or PC?" Baldur inquired.

"You'll have to kill me if you want to find out!

The demon in his skin ran forward. Baldur tried to go low, but his twin used one of the fallen logs to leap off and over Baldur, his sword snaking down to strike him in the shoulder as he spun over his form and Baldur's sword hit nothing but the air.

[iD: 7369 BD: 1 MD: 8]

<<Gemini>> Hits Baldur for 1 DMG (1 base + 2 skill - 2 Mitigation)

<<Baldur>> Misses

<<Baldur>> 12/15 HP

<<Gemini>> 10/15 HP

Holy mother of zeus, what?!

Had he done something wrong? Did he miss something? Was it a bug? How was this a fight to the death?!

Suddenly someone was charging at him. Where did the stranger come from? As the cloaked was thrown free, Baldur saw only his own form on the field of battle in front of him.

"censored" Baldur cried out, he reached for his sword, but he had been so surprised that his footing was off and his doppelganger slashed through him with amazing strength, the only thing that saved him was the amazing armor Tyger had made for him.

Staggering back, but drawing his sword, Baldur cried out in rage and threw himself at his double, their blades clashing together, but Baldur was able to land quickly turn the engagement to his favor and landed a heavy slash on his opponent. The demon had dropped his HP some, but he was still in the blue, his blow, on the other hand, had dropped his opponent into the yellow in a single solid strike.

[iD: 7362 BD: 8 MD: 9]

<<Gemini>> Hits Baldur for 2 DMG [1 base + 2 skill + 1 cirt - 2 Mitigation]

<<Baldur>> Hits Gemini for 5 DMG [ 1 base + 2 skill + 2 weapon]

<<Baldur>> 13/15HP

<<Gemini>> 10/15HP

"Hey!" A voice called out to him as he moved into a section of the jungle where a few trees had fallen down, letting more light than usual filter through the trees and into the cluttered clearing.

"Umm... Hi." Baldur greeted the man, walking closer to him but keeping a safe distance.

"It's nice to see someone else up here. You can get lost pretty easily."

Baldur looked around nervously as the strange man spoke to him.

"Tell you what, fight might in a duel to first blood, and I'll give you some info all the awesome stuff I found on this floor so far."

Baldur thought about it. There was no harm in that, right? People duel this way all the time, that way even an accidental string of crits wouldn't kill someone. He rubbed his chin in thought, he wasn't sure if he trusted this guy, but he had heard that many of the higher level explorers treated map data as more valuable than Col.

"Alright..." Baldur replied hesitantly. The menu for the duel popped up and Baldur hit the accept button. The timer appeared, and a loud tone filled the ear as the numbers counted down from ten. When the number struck one, all the sudden the words "To the death." Flashed about them.

The giant stone columns sticking out of the ground in this jungle gave Baldur the impression that he was out exploring some ancient lost civilization. The trees towering over him with vines hanging down and what appeared to be numerous birds and monkeys flying and leaping about high in the trees. He wondered if with enough throwing skill you could take one out. As far as he knew, no one had tried that yet. The jungle here seemed alive in a way that many of the other floors hadn't. Idly, Baldur wondered about the level design of this place.

It was often the fact that as developers learned and got better with the engine, the stuff they did at the end was much better than what they had done at the start. Considering that this castle had 100 floors, he wondered just how spectacular the upper floors must be. On the package, it showed a giant crimson castle at the top. What would they fight at the castle on the top floor?

The main road out of the settlement quickly degraded to what looked just like a dirt path through a jungle, and a fog that he couldn't see around him began to close up the path at the edge of his vision so that he could no longer see the village. Undeterred, Baldur continued to walk down the path, it seemed easy enough, but the path soon began to snake as it hadn't just a few minutes ago. He thought he saw figured flitting through the trees on his peripheral vision, but he couldn't see anything when he looked closer.

Baldur grinned and made a downward swiping motion with his two fingers to open the menu and then equipped the bracers. As they materialized on his forearms, he smiled and modeled them for Tyger by flexing in the most exaggerated way possible.

"They're great! I guess I'm going to go THAT WAY to look for a quest up on the SIXTH FLOOR, with my new awesome VAMBRACES!"

He really hoped he didn't sound like an American pro-wrestler when he flexed while talking with her, but he hoped it made her smile just the same.

"Someone gave me a tip about some good quests on the sixth floor, so I'm going to go check it out." He half saluted, half waved to Tyger as he stood up and began to head to the door, "I'll bring you back all my mats, and maybe some flowers, too." He then blew her a kiss and pushed the door open as he walked out into the sunlight.

Baldur pushed open the door to the shop and walked in like he owned the place. He didn't, of course, but he did live here, so that had to count for something, right?

"Hey Tyger, are you back in the forge?" He was amazed at how well designed these buildings were. Through a closed door you could only hear the sounds of battle, a knock, or a shout. Granted that was game code and not construction technique, but the effect of it still impressed him as a builder.

"Hey pretty lady, I was just coming by to see if you had been able to make that plus accuracy item for me?" He leaned forward on the counter and tried his best to give her the smolder.

"I also thought maybe you could see these, since I don't really have a use for them anymore." With a two-fingered swipe, Baldur called up his <<Swordsman's Cape>> and his <<Sharp Kindjal>> and selected the <<materialize>> option so he could set them on the desk.

I don't even know where to begin with how wrong and misguided your entire post is, so instead I will treat it with the levity I think was your intention.

The answer is no, if he was meant to be gay, the author would have written him gay.