Freyd

'How did... does... Raidou do it?' He knew the answer: by accepting the price before it need ever be paid, and making preparations for if it ever comes due. Freyd, by comparison, was accustomed to serving as a more invasive tool used to surgically remove obstacles on an as-needed basis. He took risks; often verging on the absurd and by necessity. Certainty was an illusion that prompted paralysis, and paralysis meant death in his world. So, instead, he did crazy things like hunting down massive water snakes in their semi-subterranean caverns solo for obscure trinkets on the chance they it

Reaching the lower swamplands was a priority before even considering what other modes of travel might best be suited. A rowboat or similar river vessel would do the trick, assuming he could find someone crazy enough to risk one on such a foolish endeavor. For now, finding the right dwarven guide was of greater concerned. "I honestly don't even remember dwarves being a thing on this floor," he admitted to Persi once they were away from the main town. "Must be some more recent changes, or maybe in the wake of Shadow's flood." Elora, Katoka and other had shared their traumatic experience

Passage to the sixteenth floor was easy enough to manage. Venrough's unusual construction made navigation more difficult and time consuming by comparison. The whole island felt like some sort of pock-marked massive world-turtle thing, with infinite depths to be plumbed below. It wasn't possible, of course, but Aincrad's rules of physics bent a lot of more standard assumptions. Finding the right bridges to reach the right levels often required a fair bit of trial and error, not to mention patience. Freyd notes that this would be a good place to hide if anyone were ever seeking to avoid a h

"So much for the yard work," he added, the last fragments of Eladriel having vanished and Persi rejoined him on the ground. "Not much else to be found here. Let's head back to Angel Point, then on to Venrough." He knew it mostly for its pirate problem, but Freyd had spent little time wandering the rest of its expanse. It took him five tries to target the right mob while activating his tracking mod. For whatever reason, Hebishinu's name always sounded different in his head and could never be recalled correctly. "Right where he should be. Good." Taking the opportunity to walk and wor

A twinge and flicker in Freyd's left eye pulled the helm taught even as his right fist drove down through the centre of Eladriel's torse. Banshee screams signaled the coming of oblivion. How appropriate. Hand through back, Samael's Pride ate most of him before the balance crumbled to dust and caught in a whirling breeze, drawings it sparkly motes to vanish up into the sky. "You were not my brother," Freyd replied, catching the significance of the eye colour. So, he's still watching, even after all this time. And now I can guess why. Cardinal. Ever-present and watchful, the person

"Wow... I bet you're all the rage with the girls," Freyd taunted, innately sensing the wound in the angel's pride. Vanity? Really? It's always the pretty boys. Refusing to be drawn into some pointlessly lengthy dialogue whose only benefit would be his foe's recovery, Freyd launched a fresh wave to kata at his enemy. A lucky jab struct his arm as he tucked when he should have dipped, but he pressed his assault regardless. Eladriel lunged and faltered, then fell once more. his face eating dirt that looked about as appetizing as his chest. Not standing on ceremony, Freyd drove a knee i

Slipping under its guard, the creature's massive spear stabbing too high to catch a skittish shadow, Freyd brought his fist down just above its knee. Eladriel cried out in pain, collapsing to the ground and losing his shield in the process. The angel's armor was proving to be more a liability than protective, slowing its responses and highlighting weak points for Freyd to exploit. A wild, wide swing sought to buy some clearance and failed. Sailing over top of the swing, his fist found a jaw, angel spit flying along with the continuing swing. Using the spear as a brace, Eladriel pulled

A shrill whistle called for shadow mongoose rain, which instantly pummeled the angel from above, knocking it from the skies. Dazed, Eladriel did exactly as expected and looked up to see what dared assault it. Freyd streaked from his hiding place, ramming his fist into the giant angel's gut instead, folding him in half with a baleful sounding "Heurk!" Relentlessly cascade fast-paced kicks and strikes followed in quick succession, battering Eladriel's form with enough speed to keep him off balance and unable to mount a defense. Initiative was often key, especially when challenging more c

First on the agenda was Eladriel, a fallen angel of some notable connection to the lore of floor 13, it had only recently resurfaced. Rumour spoke of it dropping a Fallen consumable that could stack with other effects. Given his plans to set aside Samael's Pride for the coming battle, and having to trim his own damage potential in order to effectively tank, any bit of added oomph was welcome. Even a lower tiered effect would be better than nothing. Offing Eladriel first also made sense. They were practically neighbours, with the celestial known to fly a pattern between several ruined

It felt a bit like getting ready for a shopping trip, at least at first. A list had been made, space cleared out in his inventory, and a travel itinerary prepared. He'd even had his cowl fixed since Elora tore it during their recent encounter. The thought prompted a smile. 'Of course she had,' he chuckled, thinking fondly of her talent for unintended mayhem. Who else could have pulled it off so easily? Today's efforts were focused on a last ditch effort to make ready for the pending raid. He'd already run across half the known floors of the floating castle trying to pull together r

"Well, that was...easy..." "Yes it was, and as it should be. Anyone who tells you we should give the mobs a fair fight is lying to you, or an idiot. You don't win wars by playing fair. We take every advantage at our disposal and use it to our benefit, or we die." Blunt, but that was the theme of any raid season. "Apologies for the brisk pace, but we haven't much time if we want these to be useful. Consumables tend to go wonky in a leadup to a raid and sometimes lose their potency if you don't catch them at the right moment. It's almost like Cardinal sets a limit on when they can be

Even Whack-a-mole had limits to its entertainment value. If not for Shiina's heroic sustenance, the Whisper would surely have waxed and waned already. Boot the whatever, fist to the something... these bloody things had no anatomy to cripple, just an every ready supply of goo ready to divide and keep fighting ad infinitum. A glance spared for the rest of the group summarized the scene: they were holding, health high but energy diving low. Fortunately, the end was in sight. "Just a little more," he yelled, spraying forth encouragement in the form of devastated slime bits that clung to w

"Morning, Morning," Freyd responded, not skipping a beat. "Thanks for being quick to gather. We all want to get to the raid, and there's a narrow window of time to gather a few last items before the clock does whatever crazy elemental nonsense Cardinal has in store for us. I figured that we could all benefit from a bit of practice working together better and coordinating our efforts. Floor bosses aren't known to be especially forgiving to dissention in front line ranks." Apparently, that was it for his pep speech. Having handed out the day's goodies and ensured that everyone was reas

The Knight Shift's heavy oak door slammed shut behind @Van as she entered and delivered her polite introductions. Freyd was also revealed to Ren, who spotted him over the woman's shoulder with widening eyes. The Whisper did have a habit of just showing up at the strangest times, and quite frequently in his shop of late. A deliberate cough revealed his presence as he casually sauntered up to join the conversation. "Good choices, don't you think, Ren?" The blacksmith looked both stunned and confused as to why Freyd would send her here, then also show up himself. Freyd nodded 'yes', p

Note: "Róisín" means "Little Rose". Freyd randomly gave Elora a small copper rose trinket when they first met, over two real time years ago. Thread Closing: All quotes copied between posts have been excluded from word count Elora receives: 2125 EXP (Word Count [7595/10*4*0.7]) 1913 col (1 page [400] + 15% P5 Reward [318] + gift from Freyd [1195]) Freyd receives: 7969 EXP (Word Count [7595/10*15*0.7]) 0 col (15% P5 Reward [1195]) - given to Elora

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) Consuming: Crafting Respite: none Witch's Brew: none Identifications: 12x T4 Perfect Items (@3040 col) = 36480 col +180000 col for re-rolls. (X * 15,000 for 4 rerolls apiece) Total Cost: 216480 col Junking: 7x T4 Perfect Item (@1900) = 13300 col Total Value of Junking: 13300 col

There was no hesitation or complaining, this time. Freyd knew precisely what he wanted and needed, making to bee line towards the necessary object. Plans were unrolling quickly in an improvised state and required all the critical pieces to align. This would be one of the last. "What am I thinking?" A concern thought but not voiced until he reached this fortress of solitude. Thumb and index pressed to temples, tension had been building gradually since the raid meeting. Faces rolled past in his minds' eye, the nightmare plaguing him playing in the background. Now the threat was real

Buying x3: Spyglass (x3) | [800col] Use to reduce the number of posts required to search for a dungeon, familiar or field bosses by 5 posts. Effect lasts for one thread. Roller Tags: 214164a, 214164b, 214164c

It was a ridiculous idea, which was probably its greatest appeal. "I still haven't tracked down a few of these since the last patch. Might as well update my records and see if they've improved their drops at all." Cycling through a catalogue of field bosses, Freyd updated his notes. It was a slow day around Aruyt. Most of the local humans and fauns milled about doing whatever they were programmed to do to make the place look more busy than it actually was. There were few quests in this area, and even fewer reasons for players to hang around unless they happened to like the scenery

Freyd didn't react. He couldn't. But if he could, he would have laughed at Morningstar's upcoming misfortune. Just because he couldn't move, didn't mean he was out of options, and his companion had just baited the one card that he might still have at his disposal. From beneath his clothes, something inky black and formless bled and darted towards this dangled prize. Persi did love chasing shiny things, and this might prove a valuable lesson for Morningstar as well: don't mess with Freyd's spoopy shadow mongoose. All he would see was a roiling mass of slinky black that wrapped itself aro

"I beg your pardon, Freyd, but is Hirru alright? Some of these notes, am I reading them incorrectly, or is this player suggesting we offer healing to the boss? Isn't that the opposite of what we are tying to do?" Still lost in his own analysis, and only half-listening, it took a few seconds for his lizard brain to catch up to Krista's comments. "Hmm? @Hirru? Yeah, he's just wired funny, but it all works out in the end. You have to admire his dedication as a healer, and his decency as a human being. How many of us even give a second thought to the welfare of our enemies?" He cert

"I actually don't know," Freyd replied, running up the gangplank in a crouch to keep from being spotted by whomever remained on the deck. "They've changed a few things in this quest over time, which was why I was curious to check it out again. It really doesn't seem all that different so far." His form vanished as two more awkward gurgly-screams from above signaled detection of several more mobs. A couple of pops and free-floating red bandanas on the wind suggested the expiry of a pair of additional deck hands. Some shrew came spiraling down from the crow's nest in response, then slammed

Opening sought. Opening spotted. Between Raidou and Kasumi's strikes a whirling dervish of shadows reeled and wove themselves into a cascade of fury ready for unleashing. Freyd stepped through, fist first, unloading on the half a slime king until its Jello-O jiggled to its very core. The surge unfortunately pushed its better half away and out of range, but left the recent spawn to take the brunt of his assault. Pooped into existence mere moments before, it might have sought to say hello, or somehow been a more cordial slime than its fellows. It never got that chance. Freyd smeared it on

Rushing into the door, nearly at a sprint, Freyd scrawled an order onto a slip and slid it across the counter with payment. "For a few friends, for the raid. I hope you can spare the time." Sparing himself a few moments to catch his breath, he spent it doing double duty to review his list of outstanding goods still to be obtained by various means. As the beating of his pulse faded from his ears, he also paused to better absorb the details of the place. Koga had been right about NIGHT's insular nature. Part of him felt compelled to probe why. A newer part suggested it was better left alo

"You're an appraiser... that's right. I nearly forgot." A quick mental scan of his inventory recalls that most of his straight swords and heavy armor had already been put to use for the last raid, but not replenished. "Sorry, but I don't have anything that will fit your kit. If anything turns up before the raid, I'll be sure to let you know." Freyd already had his thinking face on, drumming up ideas and opportunities for Morningstar's benefit. The problem was time. It was always time. "Heath? He's just one of a number of bit-time players who sought power in the aftermath of Razw