Morningstar

"The things the brokers don't tell you," Morningstar shook his head, listening to Ryland's shouts. Distracted, he suffered a light grazing to his left shoulder. He winced, glancing down at the red particles that floated off of him, signifying the damage he had taken. Calas, uninterested in the pair of players, pushed her way through their defensive wall. Morningstar stumbled back, caught off balance while she raced towards the dockmaster. "Enough of that!" There was not a chance for Ryland to respond to Calas' assault. She bombarded him with strikes, stabbing him through the torso mu

"You're not the first to have been hunted down by those guards. Strange times, strange times indeed," Henry said, pouring tea from a floral pot. He set down a mug for Morningstar, who's nerves were already settling down. The backroom, while small, was quite homely. He assumed that the old man lived there after hours. A carpeted stair case spiraled around the corner, and the blonde imagined a bedroom or a more private living space up above. He sipped his tea. Jasmine. The warmth was an unexpected but not unwelcome change. "Strange times?" Morningstar framed it as a question, as if he were

Wulfrin did well in combat. He was fully capable of holding his own and showed no fear in the face of danger. He was improving quickly. The path of his sword was straight and precise when he swung and his footwork was also quite good. It was a testament to his real world training, Morningstar assumed. When Wulfrin offered him the final strike against the poison snapper, Morningstar shook his head. "Nah, all yours. You need the experience!" He laughed, sheathing his blade. He pulled a bag from his jacket pocket. It was full of rocks that he had collected for the sole purpose of stealing hate. "

He ducked underneath the doorway, covering his unadjusted eyes from the burning sunlight. He patted the burning cinders that stuck to his jacket, a remnant of the fallen blazing treant left behind in the catacombs. Bleeding Giant remained in his grip, although there was no danger in sight. In the forest once more, he smiled and turned to his friend. "Another day, another dungeon," Morningstar said, swiping open his inventory to examine his loot. There was nothing special among its contents but items were items. If he had no use for them, someone else surely would. To his right, quite a wa

"Of course not! I won't suggest it until we're about to die." He dodged one quick stab and deflected another with the flat end of his sword. Calas was skilled, something he found rare in opponents (or perhaps he was too accustomed to fighting alongside Freyd). She left few openings and those that were visible were swiftly covered. They stepped quickly and methodically, weaving around each other's jabs and slashes, blades clashing and sparks flying. Meanwhile, Nari had taken the aggression of the three dock guards, elegantly fending off the group with her war spear and shield. First a

"Yes, sir," Morningstar saluted. Bleeding Giant emerged from its scabbard and in a flash, he was gone. Two wolves approached from their flank. They were smaller than he had anticipated, and far less threatening. The wolves, wild and quick, had yet to realize that their presence had been noticed, nor that one caravan guard had already pressed the attack. Red streaks were painted across their body following the path of Morningstar's blade. They shattered into dust, returning to Cardinal. He skidded through the mud, halting his assault and redirecting his efforts onto the final wolf. This on

"Almost Tier 3, huh? You're climbing levels quickly. I feel like it took me forever, back in the day. Still is, really," he laughed. "I'll have some Tier 4 uniques ready for you when you get to that point." Another alligator scale lay in his path, and so Morningstar scooped it up and stored it in his inventory. He was determined to find some use to them, whether through alchemy or blacksmithing. "Appraising is mostly a gamble, specifically when rerolling enhancements. The cost just gets higher and higher until eventually you're broke with the same enhancement that you started out wit

Morningstar chuckled, dodging a suspicious looking mud puddle. "Yeah, me too. I used to wear heavy armor but it's just too clunky and hard to move around in, especially in places like this. Not my style." Along the path, something caught his eye, hiding from plain view behind strands of long grass. He knelt down, taking a closer look. It was a prowler scale. Not a bad find, he thought, stuffing it away in his inventory for safe keeping. "How's that sword treating you? It was a pretty lucky find, considering its enhancements. I don't come across many blight weapons. Everything seems

3.9.2024 appraisals

this thread directly follows "the endless maze" ft. freyd & morningstar *** Like magic, the face of his friend morphed into that of his enemy. The last thing he noticed before passing around the corner and out of sight was the Whisper's vanishing cursor and a trio of armed Glyndebourne guards stopping to make sure "she" was okay. He clambered up a short set of stone stairs, bumping into NPCs and players alike, desperate to avoid his pursuers. More guards had caught wind of the chase and decided to join in. He stopped just past an intersection between four streets, panicking

"Yeah, I think that's considered stealing," Morningstar said, eyeing the distant dockworkers. A woman among them, dressed importantly, handed over a hefty cloth bag. An armored entourage surrounded her. Before he could ask who she was, Dockmaster Ryland blurted out the answer. "Calas!" He steamed, pulling the attention of every neutral NPC on Span 17. Calas muttered incoherently to her guards, who drew their blades immediately. A dozen floating cursors turned red to indicate their hostility towards the trio. They were badly outnumbered, with Calas and her corrupt dock guards covering

references . willow & morningstar due to bullying, morningstar is also vash

Wulfrin took the lead, conversing with the NPC like he had done it a million times before. The man was quick to gain confidence and Morningstar respected that. They went on their way, beginning their trek through the swampy wetlands of the eighteenth floor. Hiding beneath the bog, shallows prowlers lurked, awaiting their misstep into their sunken territory. The alligators watched the caravan crew carefully, but Morningstar had spotted them forever ago. He knew of their predatory tricks and how to avoid them. Even so, he kept his hand near his blade, careful not to let them get too close t

"Yeah, I feel you. Scraping the bottom of my col and mat reserves myself. That's life, I guess. I'd take you through a dungeon today if I could guarantee your safety. They're no joke, though. There'll be mobs along the way, I expect. We can try to loot those." Morningstar was glad to see that Wulfrin was acclimating well to his new lifestyle as an adventurer. He had observed so many level one players who had started their journeys only to give up the next week. It made him happy that there was another strong-willed person among the dwindling crowds. He'll be a good asset to the frontlines

"I would say it's natural for us to try and discover what we don't know." That was all Morningstar needed to hear. He would break in someday, he decided. He looked in the direction of the fur-caped man. The dockmaster was strong-framed and tall. His hair was short, unkempt and dark. Scars marked everything his armor left uncovered and a giant of a sword hung by his side. He was rugged, with the appearance of someone Morningstar might have avoided on a long bus ride. "Yeah, that's our guy. Does he really need our help? The dude's bigger than both of us combined. He's the one I'd

Morningstar raised an eyebrow at Wulfrin's new coat. "Nice jacket. Good taste." He summarized the quest that he had accepted for the two of them. Gyrard, the Merchant, had purchased their aid for a fair sum of col. Their job was to protect his caravan from wolves on the long road to Serpent's Pitch. "Flotsam and Dross, the bazaar in Serpent's Pitch, will be starting soon, so he's on a time crunch," Morningstar explained. "I'd normally be fine on my own for a job like this, but I thought you could use the experience. Think of it as training for the big leagues." "Allow me to prepare t

Morningstar, much like the majority of his group mates, did not have tracking. He was perfectly happy with taking the proper road. While he was not against playfully throwing his friend under the bus, he refrained from announcing that he knew for a fact Freyd had tracking. He was pro-drama, in moderation. Krysta and Vigilon took the lead, leaving some space in between the two pairs. The tension in the air was a bit laughable, considering the circumstances. Forty-five minutes away from a boss fight, four frontliners strolled through the hills of the twenty-seventh floor, hunting Team Magma

"What took you so long?" Morningstar raised his ruined sheath, shaking his head. "I got robbed. Look what they did to this perfectly good piece of leather! Cut the strap right off of it! This is why we can't have nice things." Fitting the sword between his arm and torso, he scoured his inventory for a quick snack. His fruit stock had been freshly replenished, specifically with dozens of perfect apples. The crunchy to juicy ratio was sublime, he thought, and so he summoned two and offered one to Nari. "Captain Star," he laughed, "I like that. This way, soldier!" He took the lead,

Eriwald. Morningstar had never been to the swampy settlement. It was small, as he had heard, and there wasn't much to say about it. A few shops could be found within its borders, but what they sold was mostly junk. The local tavern, Mucksucker's, was the village's primary point of interest. While the streets and neighboring buildings were quiet, Mucksucker's was often not. At night, the crowd of both players and NPCs was wild and rowdy, as if the gathering in a place where people would normally be intoxicated caused a sort of placebo effect to occur. Morningstar tried to stay away from su

He attacked from the left, before the horseman could break free from its paralysis. With his blade enveloped in a red glow, he struck Death one final time. Steel cut through steel. Death's scythe fell to the dry grass with a thud, and upon Doom's back he crumbled to black dust, mixing with the breeze, defeated. The other fights waged on. Freyd fought War. Nari fought Famine. Katoka fought Pestilence. The riderless horse approached Morningstar, sniffing at him while he watched his comrades battle away. It startled him. Pieces of skeleton were visible where flesh was missing. Green mist pou

Twisting and snaking around his opponents, he took them out one by one. Each of the elementals died in fiery bursts, vanishing into thin air. "Drops are good today," Morningstar said, chuckling. "Must be the gods." "Is that what we're calling the system now?" Willow wrapped her arm around his and together, they wandered deeper into the flatlands. *** Sweltering, they took a break upon a flat crag in the middle of nowhere. Teleport crystals would be their way home, it seemed, as neither of them was very inclined to walk back to Yōgan Village. Star tossed Willow a flask, filled to

In a flash of golden light, Morningstar stunned a squadron of four lava elementals that had grouped up around him. He snuck out from under them, looking around for Willow, who he had lost sight of in the heat (no pun intended) of battle. She had taken a seat upon a slab of long-since hardened magma, where she waited patiently for Morningstar to finish up with his mobs. He rolled his eyes, to which she chuckled. "Gotta be quicker than that," she teased. "You just keep an eye out for your hellcat and I'll take my time with these guys," Morningstar turned back to his fiery opponents. La

As he put the vial away, he heard a raspy sound behind him. Willow yelled for him to watch out. Another elemental had spawned behind him. He spun, dashing out of the lava creature's way, only reengaging once he knew he was in the clear. He cut through it like butter, it's flames fanning outwards as it exploded into nothingness, returning to Cardinal. He read over the loot summary. "Oh, look," he laughed, "it dropped a shard." "What?! Really?! Lucky us!" "Let's finish off these last few, maybe we'll get some more," Morningstar swished the summary away, his sword pointed at the crew of

Phasing through the flames like they were nothing, Morningstar cut down a Lava Elemental. Behind him, Willow clashed with a Magma Golem, it's tough exterior proving to be more of a challenge than Morningstar's adversary. More began to spawn in the distance, rock and lava forming their physical bodies. Slowly, they moved towards the duo. The flatlands were as he remembered: hot and deadly. Monsters had been on their trail ever since they left the village and there was no end in sight. Flames spat out from geysers in the ground, forcing them to watch their step and position far more awkward

Morningstar stood at the city's edge, waiting for Willow. She had stopped in at an alchemist that neighbored the traveling gypsy's tent, hoping to replenish her stock of crystals and potions. Leaning against the gate, inches from the invisible line that marked the safe zone, he glared out at the volcanic wasteland. Images burned in his mind of a time not yet forgotten. The hot sand pressing against his face, his stunned body forced to watch as Grace reached out to him, begging for help. Her body turning to crystal blue dust and mixing with the sandstorm. And then, months later, he stood over t