Pinball

Pinball eyed the last two soldiers, and then glanced between Morningstar and Acanthus. He briefly considered ignoring the kill, and letting one of them finish the job -- what with the competition, and all -- but he got the feeling that that'd somehow come off the wrong way. Pinball instead flipped a pair of daggers into his palms, unceremoniously dispatching only one of the remaining soldiers with two lazy flicks of his wrists. "Whoops. Missed." Totally not on purpose, either. He stared at the two of them, wondering which would jump at it first. Morningstar was at 10. Did that mean Acanthus ne

"Well, that's understandable too," he said. "It's hard to forget that, isn't it?" He wondered if the design of their prison was deserving of any admiration. Pinball dropped it. "So I've gone against the boss before on my own," he said, "and I think the only thing we've got to worry about is its AOEs." They've gone over this before, several times in fact, but he felt the sudden need to alter the course of their conversation and it served as an incredibly convenient substitute. "We've come prepared for that, of course. I'll take the lead with the DOTs. I'll pop the crystals after."

Somehow, Colossus' rocky form shuddered violently. Pinball grit his teeth and dug his toes into a foothold, holding tight. Acanthus must have struck a weak spot. That meant that he was slacking. Pinball slipped down a bit, risking a rather nasty fall in the process. There wasn't much time left to waste. He saw it, glowing beneath the beast's concrete exterior -- a dull red glow, like a beating heart caged in stone flesh. He wondered only briefly if every weak spot looked like that, and then fixed his attention to the task at hand. He didn't dare lower himself further. Holding on as tight as he

He kept climbing. There was no point in dawdling. The sights were nice, yes, but they weren't worth lingering for. He grabbed the next handhold and continued up the Colossus. Pinball wasn't particularly fond of this boss design, but he could acknowledge the fact that it broke the mold. That was something, at least, as it served to break up the monotony of your typical fetch and kill quests. Pinball's cloaked whipped in the wind. He swung from its torso to its arm, and found himself dangling in a way he wasn't completely comfortable with. It didn't last long, though, and he was able to di

He ignored the "Under Construction" notice and slipped inside. He didn't have much left to get identified, but Morningstar had done the work of several people for him getting his horde of equipment sorted, and Pinball didn't want to inconvenience him further. Who did that leave? Nobody that Pinball was aware of. At least not until recently. For a shop that was "Under Construction," the owner sure was doing a lot of work. He felt as though even if the owner decided not to take his order, it was at least worth it to try, even if he ended up losing all the equipment. None of it was especially val

He finished his inventory management and waved the interface away. "I guess not," he replied. He'd entered stealth reflexively upon entering the settlement, and they'd left quickly after. "I hadn't really noticed." He looked at her for a moment and immediately felt that little desire in his chest swell once more. He took it gently in both hands and crushed it. Those thoughts, no matter how pleasant they might be, were not meant for him. But believing that-- wasn't it getting a little old? Wasn't it tiring, denying himself those experiences? He thought of all the pain he'd inflicted on ot

"Uh, yeah. You too." Don't die? What? Pinball grit his teeth and started free climbing while Acanthus got her gear situated. It was the fastest way out of the conversation if not the easiest. The Colossus had fairly obvious hand and footholds, and sometimes even rocky platforms in odd, disjointed parts of its body. He made quick progress, and only stopped for a moment to admire the scenery before setting his eyes on the right hand. He figured if Acanthus was going for the left, he'd go for the right, and then they could meet in the middle and work their way up. He shook his head. How muc

It didn't matter to him if it was Morningstar's first time doing the questline or not. He hadn't expected to find the two of them doing it in the first place; if they hadn't been around, Pinball would have very likely started the quests by himself. It wouldn't have been the first time. But there certainly were a lot of soldiers marching on Snowfrost. He wasn't sure he would have been able to handle so many on his own... at least not while defending the townsfolk, anyway. There seemed to be no real end in sight. Acanthus proposed a game. "Absolutely not," Pinball replied. He'd just fallen

"Guess so," he agreed. Pinball's chilly demeanor had made its return in full force. He was thankful for the silence that followed. He stood there watching the woman as she fought the boars, woefully unimpressed with the performance. He didn't let that show, however; at least not until she asked what he planned to do now that their conversation was over. "I think I'll watch you struggle to hit a boarlet for a while." He shrugged. "After that I'll have to see." The First Few Lessons was a quest taken by beginners, but the lady didn't seem to be a true beginner. Not like he'd original

"Don't apologize," he replied. He'd figured she'd need to, and it didn't bother him at all. Time was not of the essence; he'd much rather have her with him operating at peak strength. He took a momentary breather himself as Mishiro thrust her rapier forward in graceful flashes. The elegant flourishes spelled the end for one of the two timber wolves, but the last one held on with just a sliver of health remaining. It snapped its jaws at empty air. Wildly whipping its head towards him, the last thing it would see was the pointed edge of a dagger hurtling towards its skull. And that was the

There wasn't much more to say about it. He turned his focus to the wolves who'd, since his last attack, managed to regain their footing. Thankfully, they'd managed to get the drop on them, and so the actual danger of the fight was little to none. No, Cerberus had been much more difficult than the first two waves of the dungeon, and the hardest of the day's fights was still ahead of them. Pinball let his daggers fly. He stayed close to Mishiro, baiting the mob's aggression and paying close attention to any shift in their behavior. Though he was playing the roll of tank, Pinball was on the back

Was this it? Callisto's health was low, and everybody seemed to be gearing up for the final push. All in all, it wasn't too bad, was it? Pinball exhaled. His party -- every party, for that matter -- rushed into the beast's proximity, subjecting it to a veritable light show of sword arts, status effects, and the flashes of item uses. Pinball's strategy, like during the rest of the fight, still remained the same. He hung back, took his knives out, and waited for the perfect opportunity to strike. He did not have to wait long. Pinball capitalized on Jomei's grapple, leaping forward and flipping b

More of the same. Pinball wasn't forced aside, targeted, or otherwise impeded, so his strategy did not change. He hung around in the back, cloak drawn across his shoulders, moving quietly and quickly, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike. He was dialed in, for lack of better words, and he hadn't missed a moment yet. He was aware that he wasn't contributing a lot of damage to the fight, but it seemed like he was providing decent enough utility to not be complete dead weight; and he'd brought such an array of status effects that'd helped cover the gaps of the other teams. He hadn't ne

"Easier than Cerberus, isn't it?" But maybe he was speaking too soon. After they'd made short work of the coyotes, Pinball led the way and they traveled deeper into the dungeon. Descending down the cracked stone stairs, he noticed that despite moving further and further into the dungeon, the light never dimmed. Mighty roots tore through the stone walls, and wildflowers sprouted from the cracks in the floors. In the next room awaiting their arrival was a pair of wolves. He flicked a blade unerringly into each of their russet pelts; he wouldn't give either a chance to attack, if he could h

"A lot of unidentified equipment coming your way," Pinball said. He'd done the tallies for both the weapons and the armors, and for all of it together he was looking at a fairly steep price. It'd all be worth it, of course. Not for him, but for the man he was going to throw it all at. "If you'll take it, I mean." Assuming there was no problems with the transactions, he made the trade. He figured it was going to be a while before Morningstar worked through the pile of equipment, and Pinball wanted nothing more than to give him the space to do so. He briefly lamented his much lighter walle

They were hit with a new lair effect: this time, they'd find their inventories completely inaccessible. That was troublesome, to say the least. As his team seemed fairly occupied with Callisto, still, as did most of the raid, Pinball continued to stay his distance, dancing around the edges of the room and staying out of range as best as he could. Sometimes he'd dart in for a quick slash, as was the case when Callisto's lair effect made him somewhat invulnerable, but he never stayed long. Such was his situation now, and Pinball didn't bother getting close again when Callisto's attention seemed

Callisto made off with half of Jomei's health points and Pinball was finally compelled to a certain sense of urgency. The status effect was something he knew he could counteract fairly easily. He wasted no time in executing that plan. Even though he'd spent most of the fight in the back of the party, Pinball now through himself on the frontlines, getting as close as possible to apply his nullifying effects. He flickered in and out of shadow, vanishing completely before reappearing as he cut across Callisto's flank. He ditched the daggers in the bear's hide and used its mass as a springboard to

There was a change in the attack patterns. Lair actions? It wasn't an impossibility, and it looked like a lot of different things started to happen at once. A quick glance around confirmed his suspicions: every other party was dealing with something very similar to them. Pinball retrieved his blades and began to turn his attention to the snares all around them, impeding their progress... but the others were a little quicker to react, given their proximity, and so Pinball returned to doing what he did best. He threw the pair of blades back at Callisto, once again looking to apply the status eff

His damage was buffed. He was quick to throw another attack. He had settled into his role now; the other teams seemed to be on top of popping Perpetuate crystals, so that meant he could take a less active approach to the boss fight and instead focus on helping his party in the best way he could. Delay seemed to be an important effect to try and keep active. He wasn't sure how much it helped, really, but if it could help at all then it was probably something worth doing. The last thing they wanted to do was to face tank another party wide AOE. Watching his health drop down to less than half was

He was mostly unfamiliar with what lighting the lamps would entail. But he didn’t need to. Mishiro was always quick to fill him in on such things. He was not surprised to find that it involved airing out incredibly personal information, but he wasn’t too happy about it either. Pinball tried not to let that show. “You can,” he said. "I'll listen." Pinball got quiet. He let her speak. She had parents. Or did she? Her form lost clarity in the shadows, not entirely unlike the past she couldn’t quite seem to grasp. Pinball watched her struggle with the memories. The disconnect was not lost on him,

He let the others talk. His health was back to full -- like they'd planned for them to, the crystals did their work. Lessa had respecced into a Support role at some point, too, and she played a big part in the restoration of their party. He could breathe easy, for now. They hadn't yet reached half health, which is when there usually was some updated mechanics, but if they could keep the pace without crashing and burning. Callisto showed no real sign of letting up, but neither did the frontlines. It didn't seem as though anybody was in trouble yet. They'd keep fighting for as long as they could

She seemed surprised to see him here. A part of him was surprised, too. Unstealthed in the thick of a festive crowd, it made him feel naked, exposed; it went against his very nature. He focused on her. It grounded him. Made it just a little more bearable. His response was automatic, reflexive, though no less genuine for it: “Of course.” The NPC was hesitant, understandably, but Sibyl offered him his lantern. Pinball nodded, quiet. It had been a long time, and there was nothing he felt he could have said to appropriately fill the silence that followed. They hadn’t talked in weeks. H

The bear flew into a frenzy, hitting the entire party for absolutely massive amounts of damage. Pinball's heart skipped a beat as he watched his health drop to nearly a quarter of what it was -- and then he steadied himself. He couldn't afford to freak out. It was a good thing he couldn't remember the last time that he did freak out. Pinball swiped his inventory open with haste -- Jomei and Bahr were quick with the crystals, and he knew Lessa probably wasn't going to let the AOE slide without healing them back up too. That gave him the time that he needed to redo his antidote. Pinball chugged

He didn’t mesh well with festivals of any kind, really. Too many people. Too many bad memories. Staying home was usually preferable. Usually. He was on the 27th Floor, walking beneath Ronbaru’s perpetual night, and he followed the lights. Pinball walked through the festival in stealth, slipping through the crowds of players and NPCs, taking little notice of the stalls lining the streets. Food, trinkets, clothes -- a colorful assortment of vanity items to clog the inventory of those who were interested in such things. There were games, which seemed to occupy the attention of most of the p

Morningstar didn't respond to Wulfrin's question. Pinball didn't either. His daggers did the talking for him. He didn't like being bunched up around Freyd and Morningstar. They were both swinging swords around, and he didn't want to get caught up with the horde, either. He was probably drawing aggro now, though. He had hit them all pretty hard. Pinball backed up. He weaved through the crowd trying to get some breathing room, give them some space, stay on the outside; if there was one thing that he was certain of, it was that he fought better on the back foot. Pinball exhaled. That