Oscar

Though Aincrad vexed him when it came to feeling the effects of his beverage of choice, there still wasn't much that compared to the smooth taste of a cup of black coffee. It was one of the few pleasures that he just couldn't quit. His favorite spot was a quaint cafe on Floor Two. It sat nestled between a flower shop and a bakery. The sweet aroma of honeysuckle blended with the smell of fresh-baked bread, which only served to heighten his enjoyment. He sat at a small table in the shade of a large oak tree, calmly sipping his coffee as he looked at nothing in particular. It afforded Oscar the rare opportunity to just be. And for one walking his path, that was a treat unto itself.

The sharp chime of a received message assaulted his ears. Oscar scowled as he opened his menu with one hand and raised his cup to his lips with the other. Freyd was messaging him? Odd. Oscar had gone dark with Firm Anima for the time being. Must be something pretty important if Freyd was seeking him out. There was a sharp pang in his chest as he feared the worst. Had Tyson managed to gather enough troops to hit Aincrad's most powerful Guild? The message opened on his window and Oscar was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Quote

From: Freyd

Hey. You coming to the Raid? Scout party took down the Guardian.

Oscar placed his cup down on the table, his lips pursed in thought. He'd rather thought that his status as Frontliner had been revoked since he went rogue and slapped five names on the Monument. Him not being told the Guardian had been slain served to solidify that notion. But here Freyd was, going out of his way to let him know things were going down. Interesting. If he'd not burned all of his bridges, the least he could do was help them out. His hand rose up as he typed out his response.

Quote

To: Freyd

Sure. When is it going down?

With that, Oscar returned to his coffee. Perhaps Freyd was heading into the meeting and needed a headcount. He felt rather confident that he would be able to enjoy the rest of his coffee in peace. It wasn't until the chime of a message came seconds later that he started to understand that it just wasn't the day for coffee.
 

Quote

From: Freyd

Now. We're gathering in front of the boss room.

Oscar blinked slowly and sucked his teeth. He let out a heavy sigh as he looked longingly at his still-steaming cup of java. "Fuck," he said firmly before rising from his seat and heading for the Teleportation Platform. Heading back down to his shop, he quickly cobbled together some Feasts before stopping by his house to activate his go-to Totem from Scents of the Wild and to exterminate his Slime Farm. Then, it was up to Floor 26. As he headed for the boss room, the coordinates having been provided by Freyd in a subsequent message, he sucked down enough buffs to make a bodybuilder jealous.

It wasn't long before the group was in sight. Oscar offered a slight wave to those facing his direction. A quick scan of the group showed him that the gang was pretty much all there. "Hope I'm not too late. I brought food," Oscar said to no one in particular. He plopped down his trademark meme Feasts and took his portion of them. "Just put me wherever you guys need me. I'm a tank now, so might wanna bear that in mind."

In response, Simmone pressed an item into his hands. Oscar's eyes lit up as he read the description. "You're shitting me. Seriously?" The last-minute gift was very much well-received. He would have to make a point to pay the Firm Anima treasurer back after the fight. But for now, Oscar would fall in line with his party. Whoever they were. No one tells me shit, he mused to himself as he waited for the fight to begin.

"Other references not suitable for a PG audience?"

Oscar snorted at that. "If only, man. I just broke it off with a girl I met here. You know, typical edgy anti-PKer bullshit." Oscar was cognizant enough to know what he was. Keeping everyone at arm's length except for a few select people would keep the larger whole safe. Or so they had convinced him in the comic books. "In any case, they say the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else, but honestly I just haven't been in the mood." Wild hedonism and Oscar mixed about as well as oil and water. He'd rather make jokes at his own expense - lame and exceedingly dorky ones - than be caught dead in a tantric mingling of bodies in a dimly-lit room behind Firm Anima's Guild Hall. It had simply always struck him as a place that people go to die.

But Oscar had a bit to maintain. Ever the devout adherent to his own brand of humor, he would be damned if he broke character for much longer. "But then I heard about the vampire bitches with questionable morals and asked myself: 'Oscar, when are you going to get a chance like this in the real world?' And here we are."

That last bit referenced more the fact that they had arrived at the Ashen Keep than their currently being on a quest. Undead creatures craned their necks and eyed them with glassy acknowledgement as the pair entered into close proximity. Three rose to their feet, groaning as they shambled towards the two Players. "I'm getting serious Halloween Event flashbacks," Oscar said before quickly dashing into the fray and juggling the zombies with a sick 52-hit aerial combo. As his Sword Art ended and they crashed back down to earth, Oscar called back to Freyd. "Alright dude! Git 'is ass!"

"Good man," Oscar said. 

As far as Oscar could see, there was some strong potential in this Player. Potential that could be tapped assuming Oji could work past his very obvious hang-ups. After all, why would someone leave town and venture this deep into the woods without a weaponskill if there wasn't some dark skeletons in their mental closet? Of all the Players Oscar had met who had done such a thing, they all had one thing in common: severe mental hang-ups. Ceres - for as much as Oscar liked her - had been about as needy as a toddler. Shiina, a monstrous force as far as supports went, was absolutely batshit insane. Somehow, Oscar felt like the Rule of Three would fulfill itself with Oji. In the old days, Oscar would charge a premium for the kind of therapy work some Players needed. But now it was a matter of survival, so he was more than willing to help nudge things along as needed. Though he didn't know exactly what Oji's major malfunction was, he definitely knew it was there.

But, for now, Oscar could focus on getting his grind on. One didn't deep dive into the psyche of a person they just met. It was simply in poor taste. He wasn't comfortable with entering deeper into the forest. Not when he knew the grind would come to him. Marked for Death by the Spider Council as he was, it was only a matter of time before he was set upon by their minions. Descending from the trees on nigh-invincible threads, spiders the size of hogs approached the pair. A smirk crossed Oscar's face as his old nemeses came to greet him. He had not told a soul about what he'd learned of them, but the mere threat of his knowing was enough for the arachnids to chase him across the floors. Unfortunately for them, they were in his house and he had one hell of a rolled-up newspaper.

Oscar drew his blade swiftly, a gale of black snow twisting up from his position on the forest floor. Razor-sharp ice shards tore their webs and the tempest caught them up in its cyclonic force. The spiders were dashed against tree trunks and one another, perforated by shards of ice in the process. With each contact, their health values dipped lower and lower until, finally, they popped. Loot rained down upon Oscar and Oji as a gift from the Gods.

"What was that you said about dying? I think those boars were about the strongest things on this floor," Oscar said. Oscar had failed to mention that those boars were about as strong as any enemy his faced on the upper floors, but the absolute minimum level needed for him to get loot from them was lower. Much lower. "I think we can go one more round and then head back. You still have a quest to finish, no?"

Reroll Request

As Oscar waited for his order to be completed, he was almost worried something would go wrong at the last moment. Perhaps an errant stroke of the hammer or a fumble on the quench would render all of his work gathering those items together a waste. Almost worried, though. If Oscar needed equipment made, he went to Macradon first for a reason. The man's work was without equal. And this was proven when he returned with Oscar's new weapon and his upgraded armor. A slight smile crossed Oscar's face as he paid the man for his efforts and made his exit.

Kyūketsuki acquired
Tactical Under Armor reacquired

Crafting on 11/8/21

<<Gungnir's Shard>> Crafter's Respite used

Oscar watched the scene with between the NPCs and the woman while listening to Freyd's greeting. As she retreated, he heard Freyd say "We get to beat her up later." Oscar snorted, and shook his head. "Beat her up or...?" He let the question hang, chuckling as he approached the Captain. "Sup," Oscar said, the disinterest thick in his voice.  On cue, the NPC began to begin his long diatribe about whatever nonsense they were there to solve. He just droned on and on about Lilith this and Lilith that. Frankly, two sentences in Oscar was already very much Team Lilith. But the quest wouldn't give him rewards if he killed these dudes, so his hands were tied. At least Oscar knew of a tried and true method of getting this asshole to shut the fuck up. He raised his hand and slapped the man dead across the face. "SKIP!'

At his command, the NPC shut up and the quest tracker updated. He turned to Freyd, flexing his bicep. "You gotta keep the pimp hand strong, my friend."

"I seriously owe you for this Oscar, thanks for saving me."

"No you don't," Oscar replied curtly, almost. "Decency doesn't deserve thanks and I don't have time for life-debts. Just be more mindful in the future and we'll call it square." He shoved his hands in his pockets, keeping his eyes and ears sharp in case these mobs had a quick respawn timer. A silence passed between them as Oji stood up and checked his HUD, presumably still intent on finishing this quest. Good man, Oscar thought. Keep on trucking after almost dying. This game won't be taking you anytime soon.

Oscar had put Oji in the same basket as everyone else he'd saved - that of an inexperienced idiot who scurries off back to town the moment their health drops into the yellow. Not that he would have faulted him for it. This was a matter of life and death. But, despite nearly becoming pig feed, he was still set on finishing what he came out here to do. That had piqued Oscar's interest.

"I guess we ought to head out of this place then eh? Don't need me dying while your around."

For the first time since he'd arrived, Oscar cracked a smile. "What's the rush? You still need materials don't you? You've found one hell of a farming spot here too. I'll confess, I didn't know they had high-level spawns this close to town. Seems like a waste to just turn tail and run now."

Alright dude, let's see what you're really made of. Gonna shy away from danger or are you gonna double down? The man was very clearly not a fighter, but the Frontlines didn't need fighters. There were several things one could do to be useful without fighting, but it all came down to backbone. And the question was: Did Oji have one?

The man's latest identification haul from Freyd's shop had led him directly to Macradon's doorstep. He stepped inside the familiar forge and produced three different weapons. In and of themselves, they didn't appear to be anything special. Indeed, they weren't. But after a peerless Blacksmith worked their magic on them. It would create a weapon that was an absolute gamechanger. After gingerly placing the items on the counter, Oscar waited patiently for the Grandmaster Blacksmith to appear behind it. Today would be a fun day for the both of them. While he was here, Oscar decided it best to go ahead and upgrade his armor for the coming challenges as well, so he unequipped the item and placed it on the counter with the blades.

Fusing
 

Fusing:
 

Upgrading
 

Final Cost: 
2 Demonic Shards
2 Gleaming Scales
10 Materials
30,000 Col
All transferred to Macradon

"Word," came Oscar's reply. A quick and inelegant acknowledgement; the verbal equivalent of the nod Oscar would have given the man if he'd had the time to turn and face him. The boars had other ideas and monopolized his attention. Despite his training and the enhancements on his equipment, Oscar couldn't check out completely from a fight like this. Though he had approached this fight as if this whole situation had been the most routine of farming runs, Oscar was still very much aware that his execution needed to be above reproach. A mere ten seconds ago, a man very nearly lost his life and Oscar wasn't going to give the game up at the five-yard line.

The unfrozen boar had rallied and dashed towards Oscar, a ferocious glint in its eye. Controlled by an unseen compulsion to attack the giant before him, its hooves thudded against the forest floor with a desperate rapidity. As if landing another hit would make Oscar crumble and remove the danger entirely. If that happened, the man cowering behind the tree would be next. Even in the mind of such a mindless creature, it could understand that much. Eyes flashed crimson, something that didn't go unnoticed by Oscar.

He rushed forward and grabbed the boar by the nape of its neck. Then, he flicked his wrist in a manner not unlike how one would throw a bowling ball. The creature was sent rolling backwards ass-over-snout until it collided with the boar frozen to the ground some distance away. Damage from the collision was enough to spell doom for the both of them, the two mobs shattering like glass. Oscar clicked his tongue and let out a heavy sigh. So much for Cardinal's ability to patch those fuckers out, he thought.

After collecting the loot <<Dark Fortunes>> disappeared into the ether in a flash of light. Oscar dusted off his jacket before crossing over to Oji's hiding place, hand outstretched. "Oscar, to answer your question. You'll have to forgive my manners. I was just a little too distracted for introductions."
 

Now that Oscar had a firm grip on the situation, he was able to breathe just a bit easier. His recent build adjustment made situations such as this much easier to get a grasp on, which allowed him to simply focus on the combat. He wouldn't admit it, but he hadn't actually gotten into a fight since Cardinal shifted the Sword Arts around. It would seem he had a bit more freedom in how he attacked now. Rather than the System putting him on rails, he was able to attack as he pleased. That certainly made things interesting.

When it came to combat, Oscar preferred pure, unrelenting punishment until his opponents were reduced to crystal shards and loot. From mere boars to raid bosses, the best way to not die was to cull everything in front of you so it couldn't kill you.

The boars had begun to rally, but Oscar wouldn't give them an inch. He took a step back and bent down low. He wrapped his fingers around the handle of his blade and held position. The boars charged and two pulled ahead of the pack. Their tusks gored each leg. Unflinching as his health dropped, he sliced the air in front of him. A blizzard of black ice flowed from his blade, blasting back his aggressors. One froze straight to the ground and another gave up the ghost entirely. Completely unperturbed, Oscar stepped forward and collected the loot from the first slain boar.

"Hey man," Oscar called back to the hiding Oji. "I don't really need this Col. You want it?"
 

Cull of the Dead

Since the new Quests came out, Oscar really hadn't paid any of them much mind at all. It wasn't until he looked at one of the new TECHs in his Sword Art list and saw that it was locked behind a quest that he even bothered. Nowadays, though, Oscar wasn't one to embark on quests by his lonesome. He'd already put in his hours as a Solo Player getting himself up to Raid-ready. He very much detested the idea of flying solo on a quest again. Well, that and quests were so much more boring if he didn't have someone to wreck up the place with. In the spirit of wrecking up the place, Oscar's mind turned to the only man Oscar would ever trust to help him steer a ship-turned-fireball into a pirate cove.

Quote

@Freyd

Cull of the Dead? I kinda miss the times when we would just break things. Lemme know.

-Oscar

Why can't I hold all these swords? Black Iron Dungeon had, indeed, been profitable. Of course, the only issue with that was he needed a merchant to identify all of his loot. And that's where Oscar's best buddy Freyd came into the picture. Since his poor showing at the Raid, Oscar had spent many a day dreaming of calling Comcast Customer Support and threatening to slap them with a lawsuit. More for the embarrassment than any actual threat it had posed to his life. In any case, Oscar dashed into Freyd's shop and dropped his stuff on the counter. Then, he placed a vial of goo on top of the pile gingerly and waited patiently for his buddy to take notice.
 

This is annoying, Oscar thought as he put the city in his rear-view. How, exactly, was he meant to find one specific guy in some far-flung corner of the Floor? He didn't even know if he was on the right track. There were about a million different paths one could take once they were out of the city proper. It would almost take searching under every rock and behind every blade of grass. 

He stopped cold, swearing under his breath.

I'm an idiot, he mused to himself.

Dark eyes flashed gold as he activated his Searching skill. He'd never met this Player before, but he would be able to pick up a trail at the very least. Assuming too many people hadn't left town through this gate recently, it wouldn't be too difficult to pick out the tracks left by someone on a quest from the rest of them. Earning a Living had a very distinctive meandering route if prior experience told him anything if you aren't beating your materials out of the boars near the gates. Since Oscar didn't see a newbie getting knocked on his ass by a baby pig, it would be safe to assume his target was going for the foraging route.

A digital net rippled out from his location, revealing more footprints than he would have liked. Most kept to the path, few broke off towards the mobs outside of town. But only one looked like it was heading into the woods.

"Bingo."

He focused on those tracks and allowed the others to fade away. A sudden sense of urgency gripped the man. The woods were definitely no place for a low-leveled Player to be now that the Floor had stronger enemy spawns. With the System corrections following Sundered Spire and Shadow, Oscar hadn't had the opportunity to push the limits of what he could do. When he broke into a sprint, he was pleased to see that he was still capable of going zero to 60 in a few seconds. The forest was a blur around him as he tore through the brush, flattening shrubs underfoot and shattering branches with his face.

Oscar was moving so fast that he almost completely passed the man and his porcine aggressors by completely. Dust and debris from the forest floor billowed out in his wake as his trajectory intersected Oji and his soon-to-be murderers. It was one thing to move in a straight line at a speed that would make a Formula One driver jealous. It was quite another to abruptly change direction and go back the way you came. Impossible, even, without help. That help came in the form of a large tree. Rather than move to dodge, dashed straight up its trunk until gravity began to slow him. The moment he felt himself being tugged back towards the earth, he turned on his heels and used the tree as a springboard to cover the distance again.

Oscar shot out towards the enemies like a rocket. <<Dark Fortunes>> manifested in his hand as he sailed through the air. He landed hard in their midst, his blade leaving its sheath for the briefest of moments. His weapon flicked towards the boars and returned to its scabbard in a flash. The guard clicked against the handle, force rippled out in a wide arc. The invisible strike immediately dispersed the cloud of dust he'd kicked up and dashed the boars against the trees. They made some token effort to rally, but mob AI simply couldn't keep up with an attack like that.

"That would've been really bad dude. Shouldn't really be this far out at level one," Oscar said. "But I've got threat now, so you'll be fine. Maybe just don't aggro anything else until I'm done with these guys?"

Crafting on 10/30/21

Using <<Gungnir's Shard>> Crafter's Respite

Filling <<Gungnir's Shard>>
 

10/30/21 Crafts
 

11/8 Crafts

 

Despite Oscar's attempts to distance himself from the life he'd built on the first Floor, he inexorably found himself drawn back here. He knew that as soon as his former protégé rallied from the damage that he and Firm Anima had dealt to his organization, the boy would be back with a vengeance. Nevertheless, he had commitments here that he couldn't suddenly drop. Chief among them was his work with the orphanage. Somehow, he had gone from merely making a meal for them once or twice a week to completely bankrolling the operation. Which was fine. He had more Col than he knew how to spend and the people in charge of the place weren't bad negotiators. Their requests never hit his wallet as hard as he would imagine. Now, things were almost as they were before. You could find Oscar in his shop, busy as ever in the kitchen.

Of course, being a shadow benefactor came with its own benefits. If a kid doesn't draw attention to themselves, they often escape notice. People would speak freely around them because they assume that a kid won't understand what they're saying. The thing about being trapped in a death game is that it makes one grow up quickly. Perceptions evolve at a rapid clip and things that a kid wouldn't bat an eye at in the real world are suddenly greeted with an preternatural clarity. Perhaps the most tragic thing to come of this entire ordeal. Childhoods were lost just as entire lives were. The dead cannot mourn their lost life, but a child will carry this trauma with them forever. 

So perhaps it was a small mercy that Oscar kept them busy. Honest work for honest pay was often the greatest of distractions. The children of the orphanage were forbidden to leave the city, but they were his eyes and ears within the sprawling expanse of the first town. There wasn't much that went on that Oscar didn't know about and it was never inconsequential.

Little Ophelia sold apples outside of Malachi's shop. She made herself a tidy sum every day, either from hungry Players or those that took pity on her. It was enough to feed herself, but that wasn't why she was there. She made a note, every day, of all the Players who entered the shop. Most days, there weren't any. The majority of Players had already left the Town of Beginnings and already had a profession. But occasionally, someone would enter. Everyone who entered left the town. And those were the people she was interested in. Or, rather, her friend was interested in. So when a well-dressed man entered the shop, she placed a closed sign over her cart and ran off down a nearby alley as fast as her feet would carry her. She dashed through the twisting paths and alleyways that spiderwebbed their way through the Town of Beginnings until she came to a non-descript shop tucked away in one of the darker corners of the city. She burst through the door and:

"Oscar! Oscar," she cried.

Over the din of his kitchen, Oscar heard the call crisp and clean. He killed the flames and stepped into the dining area, pulling off his apron as he did. He greeted the child with a warm smile and pulled a plate out of the serving window for her.

"What is it, Ophelia," he asked as he gestured to the seat.

The girl hopped up to the barstool, folding her hands politely on the counter. "Artisan quest," she responded with a trained quickness.

"I see," Oscar responded, pushing the plate towards her. "Good work. Eat. Don't forget to lock up when you're done."

Without another word, Oscar grabbed his jacket and weapon and headed for the door. It was important that someone kept an eye on the people leaving the town. Especially the lower-levels. Oscar didn't know why, but after the most recent Raid, high-level Mobs spawned more frequently. More often than not, Oscar didn't need to intervene. But he would rather waste his own time than let a preventable death happen. And so, Oscar made his way out of town and began searching for an unfamiliar face. He kept his ears peeled. Perhaps if the worst happened, he would be able to hear a scream.

Oscar doesn't have sexy reaction images, but he's in.
 

With Oscar’s goodbye delivered to possibly the most important person in his life, the rest of them would be comparatively easier. That’s not to say any of them would be easy. The ties that bound his current self to the old needed to be cut if he had any hope of doing what needed to be done. All of his other comrades were unwilling or unable to properly deal with the murderers that stalked the fringes of Aincrad unless they were directly threatened by them. Oscar couldn’t fault them for it. A fight for survival was much more palatable than a war of extermination. He didn’t have to worry over them anyway. The Frontliners were plenty strong enough to handle a Player-Killer.

Everything Oscar had done had been in aid of the weak and afraid. His time at the Orphanage and his pastime of helping the lower levels was a testament to that. But the Orphanage was a vulnerability. And it was vulnerabilities that he needed to attempt to do away with. If Oscar could cast aside his friends and allies so freely, Tyson would have no reason to go after them. And the Player-Killers not involved with Tyson would have never known they existed. And so, Oscar traveled down to Floor One. The mountainous landscape of Floor Seven disappeared as he stepped onto the Teleportation Platform. Like swirls of paint upon a canvas, his surroundings danced across his vision against a backdrop of deep purple. Light broke the darkness and the swirls slowed and began to turn back on themselves as if time itself reversed. The familiar sights and sounds of the Town of Beginnings assaulted his senses. From the square, the town splayed out before him. 

Oscar paused for a moment. He gazed out over the streets and buildings, drinking it all in. Then, he closed his eyes and exhaled forcefully through his nose. Without another glance, Oscar turned on his heels and began to move through the streets with a trained efficiency. While the Orphanage was his main goal, Oscar had another stop to make along the way.

►Vitalis
Cost: 10 SP
Passive/Post Action
Requirements - Rank 5 Weapon Skill; Rank 5 First Aid
Effect: On a successful hit, gain one(1) stack of Vitalis. User can only possess three(3) stacks of Vitalis. For each stack of Vitalis, User gains +1 Base Damage. As a Post Action, User may expend all of their held stacks to form a protective shield around their party for 2 turns. Shield strength is equal to 75 HP per Vitalis spent (max 225 HP). Players can only benefit from a shield of this type once every three turns (Cooldown starts after shield is removed).
Description: The pinnacle of a combat healer's art. Draw strength from your enemies to bolster self and allies.
Created by: Oscar
Creation Details: 
 

I suppose there’s no time like the present, Oscar thought. He gathered up his Crystals and rose from his seat. His face bore a somber expression. Letting go was never easy. But Oscar was fully committed to his path and his friends couldn’t follow him. He knew that. But he didn’t want their last memories of him to be stained. It was inherently selfish, but he wasn’t going to apologize for it.

One Crystal remained clenched in his hand as he made his way downstairs from his office. The house was usually well-lit and welcoming. Not so today. Not a single light in the entire manor was on. The darkness was oppressive and stretched on for miles. If not for his recent choice to pick up Night Vision, Oscar would have tripped over his own decor several times over. He descended the stairs and made his way to the room he’d once shared with Cordelia.

It was here and only here that he’d finally turned on the lights. The sudden illumination overloaded his vision, causing the man to recoil and blink away the myriad dots that flashed across his line of sight. But, moments later, it passed. He scanned the interior of the room. It was just as they had left it. The small dining table still held the remnants of the last meal they shared. The bed in the corner went unmade. Oscar closed his eyes. He could still hear the roar of the sandstorm and how her voice stood out against the chaos surrounding them. They had gone on many adventures together. Grown together. Perhaps if things had gone differently, they would not now need to part.

But life was seldom so kind.

Oscar strode forward and placed the Recording Crystal upon her pillow. If and when she ever came home, it would be impossible to miss. Then, he turned on his heels and left, killing the lights and closing the door behind him. 

@Cordelia,
I’ve never been the type to do this sort of thing over a message. You’re worth more than that. And you’re also worth more than any empty platitudes I give you. So I will simply say this: If I close my eyes, I can still hear the day we met as vividly as ever. I remember every conversation. Every expression you made. You were and still are important to me. But paths diverge and even if you were willing to follow me, I won’t allow it. Never let anything extinguish your light. Not even me. Goodbye, Cordelia. I will miss you.
 

Oscar had not wanted this day to come. He’d been putting it off for quite some time, in fact. Perhaps he clung to some hope that everything would eventually go back to normal once the Player-Killer threat was dealt with. His old circles would welcome him back with open arms and forget the list of names he’d personally carved into the Monument. It was a foolish thought. It wasn’t that he thought himself unworthy. He just knew how people were. There were those that would attempt to forgive him. They would try their damnedest to look past it all. But, invariably, their perception of him would be stained red as the blood on his hands. It wasn’t worth the hassle for him or for them. There were also those who would use his friends against him. He’d lost his shadow and now that he was cognizant of the tactics employed by Tyson, it wouldn’t happen again. But so long as there were people who could easily find out where he was, it wouldn’t matter. And so, Oscar needed to take measures against that. Tyson had an axe to grind against Oscar and his friends. While this wouldn’t work on him, the considerable losses his old ward’s organization had taken at the hands of Firm Anima probably meant that they no longer had the manpower to wage a full-on assault against Oscar’s heart. 

But Oscar’s war went beyond Tyson. It was every Player Killer. As far as they would know, Oscar was always a one-man show. 

The man leaned back in his chair. Dark eyes scanned the walls of his office. Before him were strewn several Recording Crystals, each containing a message that Oscar had spent all night recording and re-recording. He let out a heavy sigh. The house felt dark. Empty. He now knew what Cordelia had meant when she said that she didn’t like large houses. The room he’d built for them to avoid those exact issues had gone unused for a long time. It was good that Cordelia hadn’t come home in so long. It made all of this easier.

How had things become so complicated? He'd finally managed to ditch his shadow and yet he couldn't exactly move freely. Quite the opposite, actually. Oscar's old haunts were off limits until this whole ordeal he'd gotten himself stuck in was over. That being said, Oscar wasn't exactly the type to sit around and wait for the hammer to drop. Having fundamentally changed his appearance and purging his contact list of anyone he couldn't trust explicitly, it wouldn't be a simple task to find him. And after the skirmish on Floor 13, somehow Oscar doubted they had enough dudes to throw at him at this point.

Still, best not to poke at the cornered mutt, Oscar mused to himself as he meandered through Urbus. Having spent so much of his time bouncing between Floors One and Seven, he'd never really taken the time to take in the other floors. He'd quickly discovered that he had done himself a great disservice. Every Floor truly was an ecosystem unto itself. If there was any good to come out of this whole mess it would be that Oscar was forced to slow down, presenting him with myriad opportunities to notice the things that he wouldn't have otherwise given much of a damn about.

Rounding a corner, Oscar heard a familiar script.  "Pl-please. I've been trying to find someone to help me all day. My child--"

His eyes narrowed to a cold glare. Memories of his clash with a pair of malcontents flashed across his vision. That whole situation had become a mess unto itself - one that resolved itself about as terribly as one could expect. If he'd played that one differently, kept a closer eye on the pair, would it have played out differently? Would it have played out better? He couldn't deny the flutter of regret in his chest. Motivated by that (or perhaps his own curiosity), Oscar sized up the person taking the quest. Dark eyes flashed yellow as he activated his Searching skill.

Seraphina. Level... 2?! Aw hell.

Lying low was no longer the objective. This girl was about to get herself killed. Sure, it was only a basic quest on Floor 2, but he'd waited until Level 18 to do it. While it hadn't been intentional, Oscar had been glad he'd done so as the mobs in the quest hit inordinately hard. He really didn't want a newbie's death on his conscience. So he made his approach. Plastering a bright smile on his face, he strode up to the girl and the quest-giver calmly.

"Hi there," he began, doing his best to invoke the general energy of the version of himself that didn't have a body count. But that Oscar was from a lifetime ago and this Oscar didn't have the best recollection of him. "I don't mean to overstep, but this quest is a total noob trap. The mobs are a little too strong for anyone below level 5 or so. If you want to knock it out real quick, I can tag along."

Using Asgard's Finery - Obtained here.

Reroll ID - 198684, LD10 Freeze selected

Using Equipment Change Ticket

The dungeon had been one hell of a roller coaster ride, but it was done. Finished. Finito. Honestly, he was just happy he made it out in one piece. But now it was time to choose his reward. It had been a long and hard-fought process and stepping up to the counter, Oscar didn't know what he was in for. Surely these final rewards would have to be pretty damn good compared to all the consumables from the dungeon, no? As his eyes surveilled the wares on offer, Oscar saw something that immediately caught his eye. It was standard fare, as far as event rewards were concerned, but it was nonetheless extremely powerful. His spirit shards left his hand nearly as soon as he saw it and the item was added to his inventory. Did he have any plans for it at present? No. Did he imagine he would get some use out of it eventually? Absolutely.

Shards obtained here and here.
Obtained 1 <<Asgard's Finery>>