Freyd

It was that time again. Flocks of winged monkey-folk blotted out the skies overhead as Freyd made his way silently to the outskirts of the Forest of Memories. Firm Anima's guild hall was located within the woods and occasionally required someone to clear out the pesky neighbours. Most prominent among them was the Witch of the West - not quite the green-skinned hag of Oz, but equally noxious in her manner. Her airborne servants were even worse, tossing about their waste like it was some sort of confetti. The woods literally stank when their numbers reached a certain critical mass, then cul

Even as the last of The Blight's guardians fell, Freyd felt its hunger seeping through the vile infection tainting his Wrath. The mount stumbled, losing its footing and sinking to its knees. Meanwhile, a sea of sickening black resembling used motor oil mixed with Metamucil and black printer's ink rose to lap at them from below. Screeching in protest, his cries hoarse and alien, it was its very similarity to a keening banshee's wail that somehow pierced the Whisper's addled, murderous haze. Samael's Pride made that same sound when it devoured, unleashing the infinite, consuming hunger of ob

Fighting off the boss while listening to his friend's brief, Freyd found himself smiling and chuckling at the prospect. The cursed serpent, with its multitude of extra limbs and eyes, somewhat resembled a disturbing-looking centipede, as if those things weren't creepy enough already at this size. "Yeah. Okay. That seems fair." A flare of familiar and restorative green signaled his companion's latest support effort. There were few healers of Hirru's calibre, even on the frontlines, and he respected the man's dedication to his chosen arts. Momentarily mesmerized by the glow, the serpen

Grunting an acknowledgement, Freyd didn't appear to buy the prank theory either. His machine-like mind was already dissecting the evidence provided by Katoka and pairing it like sets of misshapen puzzle pieces in his head. Did anything fit with what he'd previously gleaned about the Spire? "My greatest concerns about the curse of the Sundered Spire, or other similar digital - let's call them plagues or viruses - that they might somehow one day manage to infect a player. That could spell all of our doom. We already don't have the numbers to field consistent raid parties. The frontline

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Vestigial awareness of self lingered still in the ravenous form of the Faceless Lord of War as he brutally carved a path from one foe to the next, his companions legitimately worried by his cold, calculating and unrelenting progress across the battlefield. Freyd was no longer himself; perhaps not even any longer in control of his own actions as he propelled himself from one monstrosity to the next. The others wisely steered clear and away from his direct line of sight, the edges of his cowl serving as fortunate blinders to keep him focused on the foolish enemies that kept spawning before him

Freyd might have been found clinging to the ceiling after the pan clattered loudly against the cast iron stove. 'The Beast', as he called it, had proven difficult and expensive to obtain let along haul to the edge of the Fields of Crossing to become part of Witherwind Rest. Though he jumped, his boots managed to remain on the ground. The hamster in his brain, meanwhile, was already running flat out to keep ahead of pending cardiac arrest, hoping to piece together what happened before it lost the race. "Do you mean kids - ?", Wut? You could practically feel, let alone hear, the need

Almost? Halfway?! Freyd knew that Mina meant to be motivating them, but he was struggling to feel it in the midst of dodging lethal antlers and mossy hair extensions that were hellbent on gutting his innards. "Maybe we can catch a lucky break and motivate this thing towards a hastier demise?" Angry braying broke his concentration as the Whisper contorted himself unnaturally to dodge the guardian's latest charging strikes. "How does this thing even move this fast? It's like Bambi's mom's ex drank ninja turtle mutagen and went on a bender after finding out it still had feelings for her,

His hand found hers as they worked, though he wasn't sure how it had gotten there. Instinct, perhaps? His had never been inclined towards empathy. Thanks to her, now they could. It only seemed right to repay her in kind. A degree of personal pain had been evident as she spoke, cloaked beneath the same styled veneer she applied over most of her statements. It had long since become familiar. There was always another layer, though she had finally begun to peel them away of her own accord. "Thank you for that." Superficially, his words replied to her veneer, but his eyes conveyed truth. Th

Quick action by his compatriot provided resurgence only for Freyd to catch another glancing blow, this time from the abomination's tail. "Gah! How the heck to Raidou and Eruda stand around doing this all day? Trading blows over a contest of attrition isn't usually my thing." The Whisper narrowly snared a section of said snek and punched hard rapping it against the solid stone walls. Every bit helped lower the beast's failing health, but it was still hovering a third of its total. "We've nearly got it down to yellow," was the best he could muster by way of optimism. They'd win in t

"Lun'Rael?" Freyd often forgot that others didn't indulge... no... gorge themselves on Aincrad's lore to the same extent that he did. "Uh... dark elf queen from floor twenty-three. It's all background info to the floor raid, and before my own active time on the front lines, but..." Freyd's features twisted as he struggled to convey all the raw data in a more concise manner. "Suffice it to say that she seems to have been the source of the Sundered Spire's red crystal curse. Raidou and I led a large contingent of the guild against her, once we'd confirmed it and found her hiding place, and

What little tension remained in him bled away at the touch of her hand taking his. Freyd's innards fluttered in a manner to which he was only slowly allowing himself to consider familiar. It felt good, and he gladly followed. "No, no," he insisted, dismissing her offer to change their intended menu. "I want to try this 'box tie' thing you keep mentioning, even if it prompted our earlier... distraction." A rumbling chuckle resounded in his chest carrying uncharacteristically open sincerity. His honest emotions so rarely shone that it felt odd to witness their blatant expression. Flushin

“I had really hope that Firm Anima had put an end to Lun’Rael’s foul curse,” Freyd muttered, having listened in stillness and silence to the fullness of Katoka’s story. Like a sponge, he’d soaked in every detail, building a memory model in the bag of conniving cats - or maybe mongooses - that passed for the ever-spinning wheel of a Whisper’s mind. But it was the other half at play, not the goofy agent of chaos constantly flirting casually with doom, but his colder, calculating self that was the truly terrifying part of the guild’s head of O&I. Tempered by the influence of his friends,

Still somewhat dazed as his partner helped him back to his feet, she'd whisked herself away to her quarters before his brain's reboot was complete. All he got was something about never bathing and then going to bathe, and 'long promises'. Realizing that he too remained covered in rapidly calcifying goo, he tromped up the same stairs. Turning in the other direction led to his far less sparse quarters. It could hardly have been otherwise. His previous accommodations having been so Spartan as to make Leonidus himself blush out of a false comparative sense of excess. Though he often blamed h

Showing his friend into the living room, without grand ceremony or any semblance of a tour, it was blatantly obvious that Freyd didn't entertain, didn't care too, or - more likely - didn't have a clue that people did such things. That he'd even thought to pour her a hot beverage was progress. Gesturing for this fellow captain to take a seat, the Whisper practically flopped into his own, his eyes flickering repeatedly back to the crystal on the table. "You're looking good, as always, Kat, but something tells me you haven't been getting much sleep lately." Any subtext was left as such

Sitting in the living room at Witherwind Rest, Freyd stared ponderously at an idle bit of crimson crystal in a bell jar sitting at the centre of the heavy oak table. He'd been staring at it for nearly an hour, packaging and unpackaging every bit of data his labyrinthine brain had every squirreled away about an existential threat that had marked his own rise to the ranks of the front lines, and also nearly cost hundreds of fellow players their lives. Katoka would have received his invite by now, coordinates provided with a request for discretion. Though he hated the necessity, Freyd wasn't a

Wheezing out of one nostril, congealing batter assaulting his unruly hair - and possibly actually winning against this otherwise intractable foes - Freyd coughed to clear his lungs as best he could. "Yeah... okay. Not my best plan," he admitted, his voice sounding like it was being compressed through a Victorian sadist's tiniest corset. Blinking and recoiling at the self-inflicted mental image he'd just conjured, he pressed one index finger against the working half of his nose, held his breath and exhaled. The results looked like silly string flailing out the other side and felt even weird

"A memory? Something familiar about this fight?" Freyd wasn't normally one to hold conversations in the midst of battle, unless they were meant to distract his opponents. In this case, the serpent seemed to have achieved the same against his friend without having to say a word. Knowing something of Hirru's past, he chose to reach out and make certain that everything was alright. Elora, he knew, would want him to. Sidestepping several more serpent swipes, he managed to twist and turn its agility against it, but with limited success. It was just too fast, too agile, for him to pin do

Standing on the outskirts of the Forest of Memories, Freyd's stern gaze pierced the distant foliage with a jumbled mixture of emotion. He'd fought too many enemies in those woods, and too many friends. Firm Anima's guild hall lay within its bounds, yet he found himself there less frequently these days. Too many tasks required him to remain active in the field, or carving out a path for the front lines. He'd never truly envisioned himself as the tip of the spear in such things, but fate could be a fickle bitch. He should know, having met her in person more than a few times. The gentle

It had been too long since Freyd had actually travelled to Angel's Point and visited the paltry arrangement of derelict furniture that passed itself off as Freyd Edges. Honestly, he might have renamed it as Dingo Nap Nook, if the boy hadn't actually taken better to his duties since his sister's departure. Sorting through the carefully crafted mess that was his piling system, something soon caught the Whisper's eye as out of place. "What's this?" A furrowed brow and burgeoning consternation mixed with potential for alarm to form a noxious and deadly concoction. The name alone merited c

Evals: Fusion #1 (Cost 1 gleaming scale) Fusion #2 (Cost 1 gleaming scale) Upgrade: Cost 1 demonic shard Fusion #3: Cost 1 demonic shard, 1 gleaming scale Total Cost: 3 gleaming scale, 2 demonic shard

Rank 5 Appraiser (Base: BD 10, CD 8+ for unique, 10 identifications per day) +1 to CD from Hermes’ Scale +2 EXP: Hard Working (also +1 IDs per day) +2 EXP: Lucrative (Firm Anima) (also +2 IDs per day) +1 EXP: Custom Ambition Tool (bought from own shop 2020-07-16) Identifications: 2x T4 Perfect Items (@3040 col) = 6,080 col Total Cost: 6,080 col Net Cost to Banker: 6,080 col Items #1 - #2

Distilling into Mystic Essences: 223303, 223381 Evals: Fusion #1 (cost: 1 gleaming scale): Fusion #2 (cost: 1 gleaming scale): Upgrade to Demonic (Cost: 1 Demonic Shard): Fusion #3 (Cost 1 demonic shard, 1 gleaming scale): Total Cost: 3 gleaming scales, 2 demonic shards

Ambling casually through the gargantuan halls, he'd slowly been regaining subtle stepping lost to the vagaries of system and popular need. What was a loud Whisper, he would ask, though the question was known to be loaded; apples versus orangutans, etc. Truth was ever more complex than it was credited. Perhaps time could actually fix such things? He should have asked Bob when he'd had the chance, not that he was especially chatty for a 'Forgotten Time King.' Was he forgotten by time, or had he simply lost track of it? Who knew? Bob definitely wouldn't say. What a jerk. "Uh... let's

The towering undead boss stepped forward, blade held high and ready to press its advantage only to feel a hand wrap around it forearm. From the shadows of its own cloak, black on black turned solid and wrenched, locking the mob's joint and forcing it open. Echoes rattled loudly off the stark stone walls as the giant knight's greatsword clanged loudly to the ground. Joint locks were ever so affective against those mostly made of bone. The king's cloak snapped crisply, the flew upward to wrap itself around its wearer's crown to deny him his senses. The Whisper below, in the newly-formed