Oscar

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.  I recall watching you face-plant after being punted out of a rowboat not so long ago." 

"Yeah and then I followed that up by throwing an oar sheer across the lake and hitting that fucker in the eye. I recall that saved you from being turned into the King's dinner," Oscar corrected. It didn't take long at all for Freyd to circle back to his prior situation. Oscar let out a frustrated sigh. "I'd really prefer if you stayed out of it," Oscar said with some degree of finality. "It's some real life stuff that's followed me into the game. It would be best if you didn't get yourself involved. For you, your Guild, and anyone else that you might be connected to you. This guy doesn't pull any punches. He ordered my info broker killed and almost succeeded." If Bahr and he had been even a moment later, Conciliator would have been food for the denizens of Floor 25. "It was pure happenstance that I was able to stop him. I'm not sure I'll be so lucky next time."

It took all of Oscar's willpower not to burst out laughing before he got Freyd back topside. Once he had, he completely doubled over. "That fish Looney Tunes'd you!" It was almost unbearable. Tears were streaking out of his eyes. His chest was on fire. Something, something laugh until it hurts. Finally, after damn-near an eternity, Oscar got over himself. He was breathing heavily as he rose to his full height. "Oh that was amazing. Let's get back and turn this quest in Sylvester," Oscar said with a grin. "Kind of a shame we can't keep the fishing rod. That bonus to fishing is pretty nice. All of your problems with fishing bosses would just go up in smoke." He admired the fishing rod for a bit before finally putting it away. They wouldn't need fishing rods where they were going. Oscar especially. He was finally ready to get rid of this blasted 10-SP sink for good. It had brought him nothing but woe. And that was on a good day. The bad days were when it did absolutely nothing for him.

Oscar could have helped out. Probably should have helped out. The fish was absolutely destroyed his questing buddy. But, then again, Freyd was 0-2 for fish-based quests right now. He had no idea whether he'd finished Moretsuna or not, but after this little outing he had to see it if he hadn't. While it would have been so easy for Oscar to simply flick his wrist and shatter the titanic fish with his axe, Oscar decided not to do it. Not immediately anyway.

He was too busy laughing his ass off at Freyd getting his ass kicked by a land-locked fish.

"You can do better than that!" Oscar guffawed. He bent forward, holding his side as a raucous fit of laughter rocked him to his very core. No matter what Freyd did to try and extricate himself from under the fish's taint, he was just immediately slapped across the face with a fin or slammed back into the ground by several tons of unprepared sushi. Oscar would be worried for the man if the fish was doing any sort of real damage to him. Instead, Freyd was simply harmlessly trapped up under the fish, his body being used to create a deeper and deeper crater with every thrash.

Finally, Oscar took pity on him, stepped forward, and brought down the hammer on The Lurker. It was mid-jump when Oscar's blade caught it. It shattered like glass and floated off harmlessly on the breeze. Oscar looked down into the bottom of the crater - which at this point was several meters deep - and examined the situation. "I might have my own share of troubles, but at least I've never got my ass beat by a fish on dry land. Thanks for putting things in perspective buddy." Then, he hooked his axe into the earth and used it to descend some distance down into the crater. He then reached his hand down for Freyd to grab whenever his vision returned.

"You can do better than that."

"Yeah, probably," Oscar responded. "But I didn't feel like it."

Before he and Freyd could continue their verbal joust, the tip of his companion's fishing rod took a massive dip. Freyd made an off-handed comment about a big pile of SP just as the gargantuan creature landed on the beach. For starters, it was about twice the size of the King of Lakes. Although, it didn't have those absolutely creepy nubby legs and a weird fish-stache to make it that much more nightmare inducing. Indeed, it just looked like a giant angler fish. Oscar, for his part, was happy that something was acting normal around here. He dashed forward, cleaving the creatures down with an Explode Catapult. Well, one of them. One of the benefits to being an absolute unit is that it takes a ton to actually kill you. Oscar stepped back and shrugged. Freyd could stun it, but frankly he'd probably get the damn thing so low, why would anyone bother?

Oscar chuckled. "I don't have an Evasion build for nothing." A deft swipe shattered the Fossil Fish, bringing them one step closer to their goal. Though there was no sign of the big boy, Oscar was content to sharpen his blade against the fish scales for the time being. Hard to have an anxiety attack when you're fighting a boss. That being said, he didn't know whether remaining silent on the subject. If someone was going to gun for Freyd, maybe he should know about it. Then again, you'd have to be a fucking idiot to swing into Firm Anima. Oscar was one thing - his Guild was rather dysfunctional and he'd not heard from over half of the members in quite some time. For all intents and purposes, he was on his own. At least Freyd had the benefit of having an entire guild backing him. An entire guild that he doubted Tyson had the balls to step to.

"You're a bit of an odd one, aren't you?"

"Hi pot, I'm kettle," Oscar replied.

"My concern isn't with Sundered Spire at this point," Oscar said. "It's more with some cloak and dagger shit I was dealing with before the concept of sentient mobs came across my desk." Oscar spun his axe over the back of his hand, smiting the helpless fish with more unholy fury than might have been necessary. "Sentient mobs being a useful distraction for my problems to get even more out of control, of course." Oscar restrained himself from breathing an audible sigh of relief as Freyd changed the subject. Oscar didn't really make a conscious decision to join the Frontlines. It was just something that sort of happened - a natural consequence of getting to a high enough level. "I don't know man. Can you really say I'm a Frontliner if I've never set foot inside a Raid?" He shrugged. Was the mere intent enough? "I've been tight with a few Frontliners from my first day taking the game seriously. Macradon made my first weapon for me. Of course, he'd sworn off the Frontlines back then. I suppose the pressure is on now that we're a quarter of the way through."

Trusting in Freyd's ability to kill a helpless fish, Oscar cast his line back into the water. A tug on his line. Oscar pulled, but he could tell from the weight that he didn't manage to catch anything noteworthy. A waterlogged boot rose from the depths. Oscar plucked it from his line and tossed it away with a sigh. It was a this point, Freyd spoke. Expecting some quick quip about his fishing skills, Oscar was taken off guard when the man had cut straight to the quick. Freyd certainly wasn't one to mince words and Oscar could respect that. The giant let out a sigh, shoulders pitching forward. There was a certain exasperation rolling about in his head, striking sensitive mental spots like lightning. "I'm hoping it's just paranoia. Some of those Sundered Spire bosses are still out there, probably planning something. I just can't shake this sense of dread. Like there's something coming."

Oscar accepted the fishing rod as he chuckled softly at Freyd's joke. He seemed to be in a rush. But, frankly, if Oscar had to squelch around in wet clothes while staring down the barrel of another aquatic fight, he would be feeling the heat as well. Especially given that their prior engagement hadn't gone entirely to plan. That being said, Oscar was the first to cast his line out into the water. Moments passed before he felt a tug on his line. With a mighty pull, Oscar pulled a strange-looking fish out of the water. It flopped about on the land helplessly. It wasn't their actual target, but it was certainly forward progress. Oscar couldn't complain about that. He gestured down to the suffocating water-dweller with his eyes. He almost felt bad for the thing. Certainly Freyd would be able to put it out of its misery, leaving Oscar freed up to pull another fish from the depths. If not, Oscar would have to wonder whether the man's previous feats of badassery were flukes or if they applied solely to dragons.

It was time to move to another toe. Oscar had done quite the excellent job at clipping the dragon's nails if he did say so himself. While everyone else was out there being badasses, Oscar was stuck under the dragon making sure that it didn't really have anything to carve his comrades up like roast turkey with. It wasn't much, but it was honest work. Such was the nature of things. Sometimes Oscar dug in deep and got in touch with his inner badass, sometimes it was Freyd. It was mostly Freyd. Dude had to have a jetpack or something as much as he was leaping around. But when it got down to Oscar, he had acquired his target. One of the back toenails, jutting out so perfectly as the dragon was prone. He stepped forward, raised his axe above his head, and brought it down. Instead of shaving off a toenail, Oscar instead shattered one of the crystals. Mmm, whatcha say played in his head as he questioned his own existence as a human being. Looking off in the distance with a thousand-yard stare, Oscar could only hope that his crime against humanity had been completely obfuscated by the dragon's ass. He didn't know how he could look the rest of the group in the eye after this.
 

It would simply be too easy if the wanton murder was the only thing Oscar had to do today. He made his way back to town and teleported up to Floor 4. From there, he tracked down the second Dragon Hatchling of the day. Activating Explode Catapult, he drove his axe forward, carving through the hatchling and reducing its health to zero. The quest was almost immediately completed. He sighed as he collected the diamond. He didn't know what was worse. Killing a baby dragon or the fact he was going home to sleep after what he'd wrought today. Jason's family was probably saying their goodbyes right about now. A child that would never know her father, a woman who had lost her love. Five other people who'd never see their loved ones again had been added to the pile. Oscar couldn't completely shed his humanity. A monster he might have been, but he was still a human one. Silent words lifted up a prayer to the souls that had been lost this day. Their crimes notwithstanding, Oscar could hope the next life would be better for them than this one had been.

Rewards
4 SP [2 Quest, 1 Page, 1 Bonus]
1100 Col
<<Icefyre's Diamond>>

Megin-Fi
Talia
Asketil
Phaedra
Adren

Four down and the last target was right in front of him.

"NOOOO!" Talia screeched. She rushed forward, blade in hand. Oscar planted his feet, contorting his body for her blade to pass harmlessly by him. He then caught her wrist and swept her legs with his right foot. He bent her arm back as he drove her face first into the forest floor. When she attempted to rise, Oscar pushed her back down with his foot.

"I don't care what my friends would think. If they come to hate the monster that I am, let them. They will be alive to hate me, then. I will bear the burden of their hate if it means you and people like you don't fucking touch them. After all, the only way to kill a monster is to find a stronger one," Oscar said.

Talia wasn't given a chance to respond. Oscar didn't need her to squirm any further and so Tesseleth's Fury brought about her end. Dead in the dirt - no better than she deserved.

"Let him go! It's me you want!" Talia screamed.

"How would you know what I want?"

A shocking question. She hesitated. Oscar wanted her to squirm for a bit longer. It wasn't enough to simply kill her. She'd helped torment Jason and turnabout was fair play.

"Killing him won't bring your friend back!" Appealing to his humanity. Trying to make him see reason. Not a bad plan, but it was miscalculated.

"I don't want my friend back," Oscar responded. "It's not within your power. Even if it was, it wouldn't undo what you did. What I want is for you to feel what he felt."

"You'd kill a noob just to get back at me? What kind of monster are you? What would your friends think if they saw you right now? Just let him go!"

Oscar pushed, driving his axe into Adren's neck. His health bar tanked almost instantly. His avatar shimmered and then shattered like glass.

"Come on Adren. We're almost to the safe zone," Talia said. A lie. The wildfire cut them off from the town. They were so deep into the forest that it was doubtful that they even knew the way back. She rose to her feet and started off. Oscar dropped from the tree and held his axe to Adren's throat. His voice caught in his throat.

"Come on! We gotta keep moving," Talia said as she turned around. She locked eyes with Oscar, her hand falling to her sword. Oscar made no attempt to stop her. Why would he? They faced off for a long moment, Tesseleth's Fury resting against Adren's collar. Now having a closer look, the dude was level 10. How had he got himself mixed up with these player-killers? It didn't matter, but it was a curiosity. Oscar didn't ask for the simple reason that he didn't want any more information about them buzzing around in his head. He couldn't completely erase their existence, but wouldn't indulge their stories either. He simply didn't care about them.

Snapping back to reality, Oscar almost laughed at how prophetic that conversation had been. Tammy had passed a few weeks after that dinner. The Major had said that she died peacefully in her sleep. They'd gone to bed that night the same way they had for thirty years, with a soft kiss on the lips and falling asleep holding hands. The Major cried loudly and openly at the wake. Rule number eight: cry if you have to. As Oscar stalked Talia and Adren, rule number one bounced around his head. Scorched earth, no mercy. You do what you gotta do. The Major had had Oscar pegged. He was a monster. He'd always been a monster. But it wasn't a self-depreciating realization. It was quite liberating actually. To know that there's no limit to what he would do to protect and avenge the people he cared about. Nothing too low, too base. He would bring every ounce of darkness in his heart to bear to tear open a river of blood. A river he would, invariably, drown Tyson in.

"You've grown into a good man, son. But there's a lot of darkness in you. When I say 'do what you gotta do' I mean that if you gotta tap into that darkness, you do it. If someone steps to your and yours, then it's no mercy, scorched earth. You don't give them a chance to swing again, got it?"

"Wha-?"

"All that shit you went through on the streets has done some real damage. Me and Tammy tried our best, but some wounds don't heal. You may not know it, but chances are, one day, someone's gonna push you over the edge. They're gonna hit you where it hurts and you're gonna snap. I'm telling you that if you're gonna snap, snap hard. When it comes to standing up for the people you care about, get dirty son. You don't need to have clean hands to be a good man. I just need you to know that."

A long silence passed between the two of them. Tammy's sickness had taken much of the life out of the house. Oscar had resolved himself to make this meal the happiest one they'd ever had together. He still held out a glimmer of hope for her recovery, but realistically she didn't have much time left. If she wanted to spend that time making him fucking tacos, he wasn't going to argue with her. Not if he wanted a cast iron skillet upside the head. Finally, the Major broke the silence.

"Listen, son," he said. "I never really told you the whole first rule. You're about to go out into the world. I think it's time I told you."

"Well that's ominous," Oscar said, his voice lifting into a half-laugh.

The Major shot him a glare. He'd seen it plenty of times when he was younger. He'd crossed a line. "We don't fuckin' joke about this."

Cancer. It had hit her lymph nodes before the doctors caught it. She was in the final stages, but much she was going to be damned if she was going out on her back. Oscar had the feeling that she was in the kitchen, pushing her past her limits just to make Oscar a meal. The guilt was overwhelming.

"Maybe I should go give her a ha-"

"Don't you fuckin' dare, son," the Major snapped. "She'd have both our asses if we started fussing over her."

Oscar looked up. The Major's eyes were misty, but fierce. "Rule number one. When you care about someone, you do what you gotta do. If that means busting your ass in the kitchen when you're so weak you can barely stand, you fuckin' do it." He was shaking. He'd lost his composure. They both knew Tammy should be in the hospital, but good lucking getting her there. It was difficult but Oscar relented. He set his jaw.

"Alright."

"Yeah, I'd been tracking him all morning. Almost shook me twice. Tammy's tired of these fucks eating her roses. Figured the smell of blood would keep em away," the Major said.

Smart thinking. Deer were skittish. They smell blood, they run the other direction. "I suppose the rest of this guy is dinner?"

"Nah. We're celebrating tonight! Tammy insisted we make your favorite. Besides, no way in Hell I can skin and gut this in time for dinner."

Oscar's mouth starting watering at the thought. "Tacos? Really? Usually have to beg you guys to make those."

"Yeah! It ain't every day your son graduates! Sorry we couldn't be there for the ceremony. Tammy's been getting worse. She couldn't get out of bed that morning," the Major said, a wisp of mournfulness in his voice. Oscar frowned and watched the blood flow. A bit macabre, but there wasn't much else to look at. It was better than the alternative, certainly.

"Rule Number Seven," Oscar said breathlessly. "Always carry a knife."

The Major cracked a smile and nodded, taking the knife from Oscar. He flipped it open and gashed open the buck's throat. Crimson blood flowed like water into a trough dug into the dirt floor that would carry it out of the building. The Major wiped the blood off on his pants and handed it back to Oscar, blade open. Oscar held up his hand and shook his head.

"Rule Number 18. Never close a knife you didn't open," Oscar corrected. The Major nodded, closed the knife, and handed it back to Oscar who - this time - accepted and returned it to his pocket.

"Hell of a kill," Oscar said. He counted the points on the antlers. "Eighteen-pointer. Might be mantle material."

"Hey Oscar, give me a hand with this!" The Major called. A man of average height and muscular build. He bore the scars on his face and arms like badges of honor. IED from Desert Storm he always said, chest puffed out and pride welling in his eyes. It always came before he mentioned pulling half his buddy out of a ditch after a fire fight. He bore himself with confidence - the trained swagger of a soldier. Oscar had just clambered out of his too-small car. With a chuckle, he dropped his bag on the ground and headed over to the Major's truck. A freshly-hunted buck was laying on a tarp in the bed. The two of them pulled and strained but finally got the thing off the truck and over to a hook in the barn behind the house. The Major patted his pockets and swore. Out of instinct, Oscar's hand shot to his own pocket and produced a knife. He offered it to the Major without a word, leaning against a nearby support beam to catch his breath.

"Who is that guy," Adren asked, his voice just a bit calmer now.

"Someone the boss really hates. We've been messing with him and his friends for a while. The boss figured that because he didn't know the patsy too well, it was a safe kill. Just another way to hurt him. All this time I thought the boss had all the answers. I've learned my lesson," Talia replied.

Oscar gasped softly as visions of the past swirled in his mind. He was back home - the home that The Major had raised him in. It was a day he had forgotten until now. Perhaps the most important conversation - and there were many - he'd ever had with the man who sheltered him. Oscar had just graduated from college, job offers were lined up. He didn't know where he was going to go now. The last bit of wisdom the Major had ever given him.

The First Rule.

Leaping from branch to branch was certainly the right way to get around. He covered more ground more quickly than they could ever hope to. The inferno was behind him. The System must have caught on to the anomaly and halted any further progression. Oh well. Oscar was almost upon Adren and Talia. He saw movement below. Moving lower, he clung to the tree to prevent giving himself away too early. He saw Adren curled up on the ground, wild-eyed and panicked. Oscar hadn't even touched him yet and the man had lost his nerve. Pathetic.

"I didn't sign up for this Talia!" He wailed. "We were just supposed to beat up the blonde guy a little bit. No one said anything about killing!" Ironic considering the orange crystal that hovered over his head. Talia stopped cold, looking back the way they came. She looked genuinely concerned. She stepped forward, kneeling down to comfort the man.

"I had different orders. I'm sorry. If I'd known... I didn't mean to put you in danger," she said.

Megin-Fi
Talia
Asketil
Phaedra
Adren

Three down, two to go. But who next was the question. Adren would be an easy kill. Phaedra and Talia had been the heavy-hitters. The other three seemed to only be a part of the group for intimidation. Perhaps it would be best to save him for last? Not a chance. Talia suffers most. How better to further her suffering than to confront her with the deaths of her companions? All of her companions. It was a simple matter of tracking Adren down. Which is where his Searching skill came in. Having come in contact with the Player, Oscar was able to follow a vague trail towards its general direction. He returned to the canopy, eyes glowing yellow as he followed the trail across the forest floor below. But there was an interesting development. Adren and Talia were fleeing together. How chivalrous of him. It was going to get him killed, but it was certainly chivalrous.

<<Just for the Halibut>>

For the next step in their fishy adventure, Oscar and Freyd traveled down to Floor 18. Oscar found it rather odd that of all the quests he'd done involving fish and the like, his Fishing skill - the skill that he had picked up for the third time specifically to get one in particular done - played no part in actually fishing them up. Apparently, the Salamander was some sort of demonic summoning tool that called the King of Lakes from a realm beyond our own. So much the better because there wasn't a man alive who wanted to fight that fucker more than once. At least, he hoped someone like that didn't exist. They would have to be incredibly deranged - perhaps criminally so - in order to take any pleasure in fighting that particular creature. "Alright Freyd. Apparently the quest giver is somewhere around here. You cool to keep moving or do you need to dry off first?"

@Freyd - The Whisper in Shadows

By the time Freyd had made it back to the pier, Oscar had already made the walk back. All things considered, he couldn't really bring himself to be too angry. After all, he wasn't the one who had taken an involuntary dunk into the lake. His hands shoved into his pockets, Oscar watched as Freyd glided onto the pier. It reminded him of a movie he'd seen years ago but he couldn't place it. Either way, they had the quest boss down and could finally be done with this nonsense. So much the better because Oscar had another fish quest to do. In response to Freyd's question, Oscar nodded and then cocked and eyebrow. He opened his menu, scrolling through and highlighting one of the items within. He turned the menu to show Freyd the details of another quest he'd yet to clear. "Lurker?" A simple question. One of them was already soaked. They couldn't get into much more trouble at this point.