Freyd

A minor explosion of col at a nearby vendor's stall barely forestalled the system triggering a theft, and all of the unfortunate consequences that would have followed. Instead, Freyd came racing around the corner into the open street with his pockets turned out, chasing a small zigzagging shadow of pure darkness bearing two mischievous and very self-satisfied azure eyes. Precariously perched in its tiny maw, and leading the bizarre procession, was a small and very startled looking rainbow trout. "PERSI! Get back here with that fish before you set us both in a giant heaping load of trou

"Yeah... sure," Freyd gladly responded jovially, tamping out sparkly mob bits drifting like embers down onto his clothes. "Uh... how about we head up to that new floor we just helped open and see what's poking around there?" Lite'tara wasn't a large settlement, and also located just outside the labyrinth's gates. It took them mere seconds to reach the teleportation arch in the main square. "Oh, crap... what was it called again? Ummm... something Wizard of Oz meets spy movie... Oh! Right. Glyndebourne!" The dull and ominous greys of floor 25 faded from view to be replaced by far mor

"I swear that they're just using AI art generation rejects at this point, you know?" By the time Hirru would turn, he was already gone. Having closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, Freyd caught their would-be assailants off guard and turned the very same tactic against them. Snaring the nearer naga-thingy by the edge of the cleft of its malformed figure, he barreled high into its chest knocking it prone on its back. Then, using his momentum, he summersaulted over top of it grabbing onto its shoulders and used his own momentum to launch the startled mob right at its partn

"I have one very simple goal, though most people think I have more schemes than they have items on their grocery lists, just because of how I dress. To be perfectly honest, I usually prefer to foster those assumptions and let their hang-ups paralyze them so that I never need to. All the spoopy cloak and dagger stuff aside, we all need to get out of here and the clock is ticking. Beyond the challenges of time, there is one very finite resource available to us in this game: ourselves. Players, to state it more specifically. We're non-renewable. Every one of us we lose it one person less to

Sighing and laughing simultaneously, Freyd knew exactly how Wulfrin felt. "Yeah. I get why they were designed it this way, but these intro quests can be absolutely brutal. This one's probably the worst, since there really isn't much you can do to circumvent the requirements. I've probably helped dozens of players get through it, and it still feels brutal every time." Pensive for a moment, Freyd seemed to be weighing options. "There's another quest up on... floor five?" It wasn't clear who he was meant to be asking, when something shifted beneath his clothes then slunk out like a syr

"Meh," the fisherman snubbed, dismissing his companion's comments about being rusty. "In here, your muscles are digital, just like the rest of... well... everything. I've been a swordsman, a staff-wielder and a martial artist. There's definitely value in practicing, but I wouldn't say that any of it was inherently carried over from the 'real' world." Freyd's line went sailing casually through the air as he spoke, plunking into a swirling part of the brook by the far bank. "My point is: be who you choose to be, and give yourself time to get there. Progress rarely happens overnight. I

A woman, regal and matronly, sat quietly upon said throne, wrapped in endless layers of cloth straining the eyes as they covered every imaginable shade from terra cotta to deepest maroon. He hair, replete with symbols of office and intricately delicate decorations, was splayed over the seat back and merged into all of the surrounding fabrics. It took little effort to realize that the entirety of the chamber and all he had witnessed beyond originated here. All of those sickly gossamer strands and glowering filaments originated here, of the top of this singular mob's head. Thousands of s

Spiralling stone tunnels soon turned into stairs, ever changing in direction, yet consistent in the pace of their upward climb. The filaments pulse more loudly and steadily now, their rhythmic pattern falling into the familiar cadence of a heartbeat. "Yeah. That's not creepy at all," Freyd muttered under his breath, wondering where this was all leading. He had joined a few raids, but never hunted or face a labyrinth before and wasn't quite sure what to expect. All reports received to date suggested that these mobs could be entirely unique, on par with raid bosses in that respect. I

The passage itself was quite tight, most of it already choked by the same thick translucent strands that he'd been encountering since he first entered this forest. A sickly, pinkish-red hue clung to them, providing minimal amounts of light that made him feel like he'd just entered a submarine rigged for battle stations. Hints of worked stone poked through, here and there, but most of the available space was consumed by the threads, which wove themselves into patterned bundles as they clung to the corridor walls and ceilings. Heat? It was also uncharacteristically warm in here, with increas

More howling broke the silent solemnity of the scene. "The wolves," Freyd declared, cursing his luck. "Look like I didn't manage to lose them after all." A second call echoed from farther to the east. Then a third, closing off the only remaining option for escape. "Cornered. Great." Taking stock of the dwindling options, Freyd realized he hadn't yet checked on his fighting partner since Delilah's passing. "Persi, are you okay?" Shadow mongoose never made any vocal sound, but she came close and pressed her muzzle against his forearm, wrapping herself around and ultimately slink

Kneeling down at Delilah's side, Freyd had watched the last of her health bar vanish, a telltale sign of impending and inevitable end. "You're okay now," he consoled, more gently and quietly, taking her hand in his even as her skin began to flake away and turn to dust. "It's gone, and can't hurt you anymore." Delilah cried, her body convulsing in the motions but voice already gone, tears streaming down the broken orange mesh of her avatar, revealed along the near side of her face. "I'll find your mom, Delilah. We'll stop the thing that did this to both of you, I prom..."

Red thread monster clashed against Whisper in Shadow, both roiling, dancing, stabbing and thrashed violently, each seeking to gain the upper hand. Delilah kept trying to engulf her target with her weavings, only to have them unravel in the face of a swift parry or dodge. Freyd was just too many places at once, too quick for her to corner. Beyond that, his own strikes now turned her strength against her. Every blow drained a little more colour from her sinewy armor, restoring Freyd's health in the process. All of the cuts and contusions inflicted upon him were slowly fading as his health ba

"I'm sorry, kid," Freyd started, climbing back to his feet after having spilled out of Persi's digestive tract in reverse. He never wanted to do that again. "I can't pull this same trick on you. And that only leaves on option. This thing," he added, pointing at the lattice of interwoven filaments overhead. "It needs to die. And I am very much afraid that doing so might kill everything... and everyone... who is still connected to it." Pangs of something unfamiliar gripped Freyd's chest as he spoke. Though he never realized it himself, the Whisper had a serious soft spot for children,

A chorus of screeching voices cried out as Persi's bindings were ripped from her through the force of Freyd's attacks. Clenching his teeth to fight back doubt, he lunged for the ground behind Delilah, entering her shadows in a desperate gambit he prayed might somehow spare his longtime friend. She was the one who'd shown him how to navigate the void between shades, his eyes finally opened and understanding after touching that very substance in the battle against Shadow the Malevolent though its possession of Orgoth, the minotaur champion. His target was they very shadow he was trying to sav

A whip-like lash struck at him from the right, Persi streaking across the field and trailing unraveling threads like she was weaving a dreamcatcher as she went. Several strands snared and cut at Freyd's form, sizzling with acrid smoke wherever they touched. Their affliction was less pain and more numbness, as if the red threads sought to drain its victims very identity to absorb it into its own. Every such moment matched a pulse in the gossamer filaments overhead. This thing was learning, growing, becoming more dangerous with every entity it touched or absorbed - woven into itself, quite l

"And now it's going to be your turn, mister. You've made a mess of my room, and I'm going to make you clean it up." Delilah stood, filaments still linking her fingertips to Persi's gradually corrupting form, her voice reverberating across the webs wrapped all around the clearing and linking to what he'd first thought was the base of a massive tree. "The Labyrinth." It all came together now. This wasn't even its heart, merely the gatehouse to the true threat that lay within, meaning that Delilah was just as likely a victim. "What happened to your father? Where is he?" "Father?

Bursting into a web-laced clearing from where he'd last heard sounds of combat, Freyd finally found his enemy, and also his worst nightmare. Sickly slurping sounds echoed around the open space as a small hunched figure wrapped in coiled sinew-like fabric, bearing an overwhelming similarity to muscle flayed free of any covering skin. It was feasting, or sounded like it, causing Freyd's heart to drop into his stomach at the thought of its potential victim. "You get away from her," he growled, the timbre of his voice darkening to a low and hateful growl. The slurping stopped as whatever t

Sparing only an instant, Freyd snatched and spread a pair of healing salves over his wounds as he ran. 'These thing were ancient, having sat in his inventory for some unfathomable duration. I really hope they don't expire,' he thought, inwardly cringing at the concept of 'lich loogeys gone worse.' While he carried a ridiculous assortment of these things, Freyd forever clung to what-if scenarios playing out in the back of his mind, hinting that they should always be preserved in case they were needed for more dire circumstances. Nope. Not this time. This whole mess officially counts

Landing with an awkward tumble managed to dull some of the impact, but still left him surrounded by a host of angry spectral dread wolves. Startled and leaping back from the crash, he knew their moment's hesitation would be all he had to make his break and try to reach Persi's position. Hopefully, she had managed to lead their foe somewhere more manageable for a final showdown. He just needed to give these beasts the slip. "Sorry pups. No time to play today." Raking his hands across the leaf-covered ground, Freyd took full advantage of the Fall's offering and filled the air with clou

These aren't what attacked me. But who or what are they hunting? The grim beasts meandered along the floor, sniffing as they went, but it wasn't clear that they were actually looking for him. Could whatever was playing cat to his mouse equally provoke the native mobs? Could whatever twist and turn these filaments contrived conspire even against Aincrad's unnatural order? Wouldn't that be interesting...? As one, every wolf's head turned in a common direction. The pack moved as single unit, of one mind and guided by instincts combined with programming. Sensing opportunity, Fre

Snarling at his own indecision, Freyd turned back to his original course. If something had happened, there was little he could do about it while fighting on enemy ground and on the enemy's terms. Flitting across the twilight terrain in the manner his shadow mongoose had taught him, Freyd blended in with the undergrowth. No footstep, no broken branches or snapped twigs. No sign that he even existed was left behind. Finding a safer perch and observation among the higher boughs of the trees, he had previously avoided climbing out of concerns about the increases presence and density of the go

"Persi," he called out, his trusty familiar never having wandered too far afield, "See if you can buy me some time." Her scurrying form was instantly lost among the other roiling shadows, their enemy likely using the same for cover. And be careful, he added, only to himself. They had faced countless dangers together, but something about this mysterious threat seemed to break or even exist outside the regular rules and conventions of Aincrad's digital existence. Anything could happen. Dashing deeper through the tree line, Freyd was searching for advantage - any advantage - he could use

It was small, fast and light on its feet, crawling about in the treetops and clever at hiding itself. The strands provided a passing degree of ambient light. Freyd's darkvision managed the rest, giving him a clearer view than his pursuer might realize. Moving as quietly as he could to put a few of the more substantial tree trunks between himself and their suspected locations, he sought to lose them by manipulating shadows to create duplicates of himself. Nothing happened. A second confirmation that something was off, but he'd taken the chance and risked tipping his hand. Snarling from

Racing recklessly through the underbrush, Freyd couldn't even tell what he was meant to be running from. No enemy had shown itself. Other than the ruddy gossamer netting strewn overhead and all around, and a few stray wolf calls, he hadn't actually seen a single soul. The house that tried to eat him was an obvious exclusion, that being more a facet of weird vector-based environmental hazards, at least in his tech-addled mind. Slowing his pace, and his breathing, it felt weird to feel his pulse crashing against his temples like a hurricane. What the hell? This isn't like me.

"Not a place to linger," Freyd instantly decided. Dashing into the woods instead, his general lack of familiarity with the floor left him with no destination in mind. Glyndebourne was still too hot, and he'd not yet heard from Foyle or the others. Haunting woods filled with creepy fibrous badness in the dead of night really also didn't seem like the best place or time to check his messages. I need to find shelter, then hopefully contact the others. They may have found out more while I've wandered aimlessly into the wilderness. At least the notes he'd found in the Lord Magistrate's p