Freyd

The way her voice turned when she said his name… unexpected. Even, tender? She cared that he cared. But why? He wasn’t actually sure. Their complex history wove an intricate enigma whose outcome amounted to ‘not hatred’... whatever that was supposed to mean. By now, Freyd knew Mari’s nature enough to sense how it twisted certain things. Mostly as a defensive reaction, there was no doubt it was borne out of a need to protect herself from blame, deserved and otherwise.  But she’d grown so accustomed to its deflective properties that several tethers of her common sense wobbled more than they should.  ‘The Mari Problem’ as it became known in his own mind.

His own penchant for secrecy didn’t help. Both traits combined were like oil and vinegar on the nuclear stage, yet, both still tried even as they sat quietly in the breeze under the sheltered shade of solace and the summer sun. How hard would he press?  Couldn’t he just trust her to do the right thing…?  It was never that simple with Mari. Especially because he cared. 

“Maybe that’s what makes it all so complicated…"

The words had just slipped out, without context in the rest of their conversation.  Freyd, leaning back, had closed his eyes and loosed the reigns that ran so tight at all times, and relaxed them just a moment.  Maybe he just wanted to falter.

“You’re not wrong.  He seems like the type to be crafty and careful, but how many of us earn orange cursors before learning how to avoid that plight? Like children, we all stumbled in the beginning.  We all still stumble now.  Goodness knows I do, far more than I would like.”

A reference to his bungled attempts to help her in their own early interactions, among other tales untold. Intents aside, he’d made a right mess of things, and that was on him.  He’d just been lucky enough to avoid the ochre stain, and eventually learned how to keep laundering it away before it could set.

“The Monument is a long shot, granted, but at least it’s something.  Even if this mystery man means well, his methods carry tremendous risk and consequences well beyond any potential noble intent.  It’s like gambling that enough of us might survive, if we went full atomic exchange versus Cardinal and Kayaba. My gut tells me that path only leads to mutually assured destruction, skewing heavily in their favour.”

“We can go to the monument, if you’d like.”

Eyes still closed, Freyd’s steady breathing set a slow tempo to his reply.  

“Can you, though?”  A saddened frown, that the words might hurt.  “I appreciate your willingness, but it’s in the centre of the Town of Beginnings, and I doubt Marv would be won over by your charms.”  A shudder ran through him as he imagined the still and silent gate guardian he’d befriended in his earliest days coming to life in a wrath-filled destructive rampage honed entirely around Mari’s amber mark. He’d never forgotten which final faces his own fracturous gemini's romp through the Forest of Memories had worn: Marv’s and Mari’s. Even after so much time, the two figures on opposing shoulders continued to dance around his soul.

“Let’s just… enjoy this place a little longer instead.  I’ll have others check it for us.”

“I know how you are….when you’re like this. You get tunnel visioned.”

Eyes opening to slivers, he caught her stretching out and yawning, like the two of them were sharing a new dawn after an overly long metaphorical night.  Maybe it was just naive optimism. That never stopped him from wanting it to be true, for both their sakes.

“You’re not wrong.”  His agreement hung, unqualified in the air, laden with so much left unspoken and unspeakable that it was probably better left that way, lest The Mari Problem reassert itself and trigger fission with The Freyd Problem.  A low chuckle at her comment and the thought combined.

“Freyd, are you -” A pause as she bit her lip. “I mean - do you trust me with this man, or are you concerned?”

Another breath, savoring the beauty of the scenery, eyes opening full at her willingness to even ask the question included.  Tilting his head slightly, causing his hair to tumble a different way as stray strands wisped lightly about in the wind, blue eyes met with green as he paused and swallowed.

“If you were me, how would you answer that?”

Thread Closing:

Just closing an ancient RP-only thread that is never likely to go any further than it did.

Alkor receives:

5846 EXP (Word Count [4176/5*7])
876 col (0 page [0] + 15% P5 Reward [876])

Freyd receives:

11,692 EXP (Word Count [4176/5*14])
1,753 col (0 page [0] + 15% P5 Reward [1753])

Listening to her responses without interruption, Freyd’s nodded from time to time as he appreciated her candor.  A lot of old baggage was spilling out, and they were fresh out of carousels to sort it all, plus the ground crews had long since left this particular terminal.  Each of her responses functioned as a new search filter, selectively sieving the limited data they had at their disposal to find something actionable.

“You know my feelings regarding NPCs and familiars.”

He did, and did no share it.  How could he, after everything he’d seen and felt? The Sundered Spire and its aftermath had taught him a strange sort of empathy for his fellow digital beings - one completely out of character for someone who'd personally felled so many. Maybe most were mere automatons, but some were verging on becoming more, and that offered a singular spectacular and terrifying hope. Preferring not to get drawn into debate, he let the comment slide without retort, filing it away in a badly overstuffed mental file cabinet labeled ‘for future consideration’.

”No.” To the gemini, came her conviction in reply.. “I don’t trust in those. But I do trust myself, and I do trust you. Sometimes, that’s all we can do.”

Freyd’s eyes remained distant and expressionless at her response, thoughts buried with deliberate neutrality, lest their shared madness begin anew.  Maybe there would be a time and place, but it wasn’t here, and it certainly wasn’t now.

“If I hated someone for pulling things like that - then I”d still hate you.”

Brows furrowed and lids flinched, he felt lips drawn thin then parted as if to speak, yet he remained silent instead, and closed them again after a moment. Whatever might have been said laid buried in a sealed tomb concealed behind whiskers and wisdom earned at high cost.

“I have to trust myself.”  

No.  You need to trust your better judgment.  Just ‘trusting yourself’ too often means binding yourself to some obsessive self-delusion bound to your worst and most questionable instincts, leading your right back down the same old goddamn intractable spiral!  He still wasn't sure Mari could truly face herself.  When it came to lying, her best client had always been herself.

Not a note of those thoughts made it past Freyd’s very closely guarded visage, replaced instead by signs of near-gleeful epiphany as the nugget he’d been searching for finally slipped into place.

“…he had an orange marker…”

Much like a linchpin slipping perfectly into place, the pattern suddenly starkly revealed itself, offering them a self-connecting algorithm for all of their disparate dots.  Silent determination coalesced behind the man’s hawkish azure eyes as the clue he’d been waiting for finally dropped.

“If he has an orange marker, then his name appears somewhere on the Monument of Life. I’ve spent a lot of time tracking down the victims and their listed dispatchers on that wall. It’s hardly ironclad, but this fellow has a lot of specialized knowledge that should seriously help us narrow the field.  Meaning, ...we could actually find him.”

Non-combat support:

[EV-F29-PP] Not So Familiar <<Fatal Error: Act I>>: +3 Support Actions

[[PP-F29-EV]] Time for a REAL drink <<On The House>>: +2 Support Actions

Spectral Knight kills:

[EV-PP-29] A New Kind of Wrong <<Fatal Error: Act 1>>

[EV-PP-F29] Tactical Analysis: Not Good <<Fatal Error: Act 1>>

[EV-PP-29] Honey Bun Run <<Fatal Error: Act 1>>

[EV-PP-F29] Other Peoples' Messes <<Fatal Error: Act 1>>

[PP-EV-F29] What's One More? || Fatal Error: Act 1

Picking up on the scam without missing a beat, Freyd instantly loved the girl's raw balls and balderdash playing circumstance for advantage.  She'd catch sight of a momentary grin as his features folded inward beneath his cowl, form suddenly swelling in size by the height of two heads as his hood turned in best Nazghul fashion towards the two prone thugs.  Overhead, his green icon crumbled, vanishing as if it were but a veneer, a pretense to facilitate passage among mere mortals unworthy of serving as anything more than fodder for the void.  

"Are these the ones you promised?" The voice was hollow and distant, as if the umbral cloud beneath its swollen hood were a portal to a place players would never, ever wish to approach.  Tilting his head sideways, like a great cat evaluating a potential meal, the heavy thud of armor cloaked in roiling shadows echoed off the cobblestone.  "They seem... soiled..."  Sniffing sounds creepily added to the looming figure's menace, both men's pants instantly confirming the assert before, eyes wide, they ran screaming like a pair of frightened little girls.  Freyd just chuckled.

"Akomdeus, eh?  Where'd you pull that one from?" His form slowly shrunk back to normal, cursor returning from the netherworld to re-establish his adopted player identity.  It wasn't often he got to cut loose like that.

"Freyd," he offered, by way of introduction.  "And that was very well played."

Tomoika had many, many shadows.  More shadows than light, as any of its denizens might readily confirm, and each of them held perils better suited to the confines of infinite night.  Yet, Tomoika brimmed and bustled with life all the same, even if a majority share of it wasn't always the most prim and proper, or even legal.  It also tended to attract the seedier specimens of Aincrad's varied player base.  Freyd spent many a moon here, or would if it actually one to see.  Point was, it was very much fitting his niche and his needs, both in gathering information and dolling out a little unsanctioned justice when people took thing s a little too far.  And the side tunnels had long been ideal for grinding.  So much grinding.

But today's visit was different, and also completely unplanned. As tides of Spectral Knights rose, swarming across every floor from the twenty-ninth down, he'd been crazily busy fending off the damned things only to watch a second one spawn from the tiniest fragments of another.  

While accustomed to slipping between shadows, this had to be the first time he'd been forcibly thrown through one against his will, and was more than a little disturbing. Manifesting behind a stack of water barrels neatly tucked against the side of city's main, but narrow, thoroughfare, all became splinters, water jets and the stray dregs of dead mobs that had followed him through the void.  Both hooligans accosting Sakura were swept back and slammed against the far wall cursing in soggy surprise and the reckless audacity of what they deemed the most unwise of pranks.

Freyd, meanwhile, black armor and cowl soaked head to toe and covered in a layer of floor twenty-nine grit and debris, stumbled back to his feet with grumbling surprise.

"What?  Tomoika?!  How did I end up... oh.  uh..."  Blue eyes blinked realizing the startled woman before him was staring.  "Sorry.  Did I interrupt something?"

***

Note: Picks up at the end of this thread - https://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/42158-ev-pp-f29-other-peoples-messes/?do=findComment&comment=696802

Note: CS (Shades of the Gemini) and CSA (Beckon the Void) are in use.  If any other player objects to these, please state in first post and it will be considered inactive.

GUILD RANK 4 (+4% col, +4% EXP

Freyd consumes:

Elixir of Wrath (Potion) | Tierless Perfect | Damage 3 | 196666b
[Draught of Safeguard] - T4 Perfect Potion | Mitigation 3 | 218137
Field Rations - https://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/20786-general-merchant/?do=findComment&comment=640849

Freyd consumes and shares:

Gungir’s Shard (Untradeable/Unique/Reusable Consumable): Smokin' Hot Honey Bun Tray | ACC 2 | EVA 2 | Feast (6/6) - takes 1 portion + Filled ACC

Freyd | HP: 1501/1501 | EN: 166/166 | DMG: 36 | MIT: 212 | ACC: 8 (incl AA) | TAUNT | F-SPIRIT | EVA: 4 | BH:83 | VAMP-D: 83 | VAMP-O: 165 | PARA-V | LD:4

"@#*$(@$&*(@#$&"

It had moved with the pace of a blink, and there were no shadows in reach. No easy escape or convenient shortcut to reach and assist an ally.  All Freyd wanted to do in that moment was tear the Knight apart with his bare hands.  

Gotta think outside the box...

Acting on pure, distilled instinct, akin to the most rudimentary yet vicious of mobs, Freyd's form twisted and churned, rewriting his avatar into something terrifyingly appropriate for this floor.  Like some wiry cable-bound bundle of digital sinew and innards turned inside out, he bound across the field like a predator unleashing full fury upon his prey.  No holds barred.  No quarter offered, nor even pretense of it allowed.  Upon reaching the Knight, the once-a-Freyd leapt and lunged, returning to a more familiar shape, slashing a callously honest blade clean through. A hand for a hand, and then some.

Glass shattered, the mob suddenly more spectraller than a moment before.

"Take care of him," he roared to the others, meaning Morningstar and his missing digits.  Where normally a quip or three might dribble from his lips, Freyd just sneered at the beast, his own eyes filled with nothing but the black unending hatred of the void.

Not again.  Not Wulfrin.  Not Morningstar.  NOT ANYONE! 

"Never... again..." he spat at the mob, teeth clenched so tightly they might pop, as if he were addressing Cardinal and Kayaba directly though the reflection of his own face mirrored upon the Knight's marred  polished perfection.

***

“Wait… so you know about the floor’s effects and chose to setup a ‘store’ there anyway?  Sounds like the type of place that doesn’t like to be found.”  Going for full hypocrisy, Freyd had setup his own shop in Angel’s Point for precisely the same reasons.  Knowing enough of Mari’s past and trade, the reasons for keeping her affairs someplace few might stumble across it made sense, in a crazy, especially ‘Mari’ kind of way.

“What was Beat’s role in your past?”  He thought he might already know, the name being more than a quirky musical reference, and in turn made him wonder about the true natures of some of her other prior associates - Jacob’s Ladder included.

“A plague doctor?  You mean with the weird mask and full hazmat coverings?  How did you know he was even really a ‘he’?  Voices and appearances can be so easily faked.”  Downing a half-eaten crumpet, Freyd struggled to recall from where and when he’d summoned this recycled field ware and goodies, thinking it felt like something Freya might have put him up to.  It was also probably best that he not mention what it was that went in the antidote she’d just swallowed. At least it worked, despite the lingering aftertaste.  Hence, also, the needs for the proffered sweets.

“And why is it always the alchemists?!  You never hear about tailor looking to fuck up the universe, except in some sort of Dr.Who fever dream delirium, or one of their Christmas specials.  Kinda the same thing, honestly.”  Blinking a few times, he he pulled back his cowl and scratched at the back of his unruly mop, trying to refocus on the matters at hand.

“So this… plague doctor… how tall was he?  Build?  Did he ever mention his name?  Colour of cursor?  Any details?”  Freyd’s eyes widened as his mind ran through the detective novel list of standard procedures.  

“You need to check your inventory.  Your messages.  Even your…erm... body.  See if anything was added, altered or removed.  He could be tracking you right now, on have planted something to help him do so.” Fighting to urge to sniff or poke at her, knowing it would only make him seem creepier than he already felt, it also wouldn’t have achieved much after standing next to the brackish Stygian for so long.  

“What else can you tell me about the sample he provided?  Ebola?!  How is that even…”  He groaned.  “Well, if the Sundered Spire code strain was possible, I suppose almost anything could be.”

He seemed less zealous as her own mania rose at the prospect of researching the vaunted psychopath’s weapon of mass mob destruction.  “And what about NPCs?  What about familiars?  Or when - not if - the bloody thing mutates and starts killing off players?”

“I know you care, and you mean well, Mari. I’ve witnessed it, and know how draining the effort can become.  But ask yourself… would you trust your past self with a weapon like that?  Would your less savory self have been content to leave well enough alone and limit it only to mobs?  Would she have been able to stop at ‘enough’?”  He swallowed harshly, choosing to call himself out in equal measure.  "Imagine what past Freyd might have done with such a thing." Voice calm, soothing and rational, she could see that it pained him to bring this up to her.  

“I trust you, Mari.  But could you trust what we saw in your gemini?  Or what we saw in mine?  Even.. raid bosses like Shadow the Malevolent?  Imagine what he could have done with something like this? Even just an ounce.”  Making a mental note that she had thrown the sample away, he couldn’t leave such a thing loose in the wild and would have to attempt to collect it - no small feat… though an inkling of possibility stirred in the back of his cowl for how it might be accomplished.

“Four days, Mari.  How did he knock you out?  Where were you taken?  Why?  He didn’t do it to give you a mani-pedi.  Most people would leave you awake and aware if what they were doing was strictly above board.”

Watching realization dawn in eyes of speckled green that grew wide before brows furrowed, telltale markers emerged one after another in her posture and mannerisms.  Mari had no idea she’d been out that long.  But, how could she not?

Breaking gazes, she swiveled like a bobblehead, as it some crucial detail had eluded them both.

“I wanted to help with the Spectral Knights.” Hesitation turned to doubt, then outright confusion.  “No…wait…I came here looking for Beat.”

“Why would Beat be here, of all places?  Didn't you say this was your shop?”

“Instead …I found someone else - researching different antidotes - and I wanted to help so…”

“Who?  Mari. Who would have even known to have come looking for this place? It looks like you’ve hardly been here in ages, save recently. And antidotes for what?”  Summoning a vial of grey liquid looking like mercury mixed with boba and phlegm, he offered it hoping to clear her head, doubly so at her next revelation.

“Pathogen?  Given by the person you found standing here, or someone else?”  Urging her to drink the antidote held out to her, Freyd’s mind tugged as loose bits of mental string, trying to tether connections still refusing to fully bond.  Fucking free radical ideas...

"Freyd If...I've been here for 4 days...I need to get away from this floor."

“Floor... ten?"  He looked around, as if it was meant to mean something. "Oh, shit. Ten. Yeah. You do. Come on.”  Other considerations paused, he held out  his left hand while the right grasped an ethereal edge, folding a nearby shadow over them both like some spoopy smothering blanket.  On the far side of nothing, they found themselves in an annoyingly anonymous woodland.  Aincrad has so many it was impossible to tell which this might be, and likely by Freyd intent and design. Food and drink materialized on a checkered red blanket at their feet, along with the remnants of a distant picnic flash frozen in time upon exile to his inventory.

“Eat. Drink. Your system may be in shock.”  Probably total bullshit, Freyd was just trying to get her to calm down, and hadn’t the slightest clue whether or not his suggestion made any medical sense.  Who even knew, in a world where your innards were little more than digital smoke and mirrors, skinned to familiar appeal?  Devastating a honey bun himself, he urged her to settle and relax while patiently waiting for her thoughts to rally and congeal into some semblance of rational explanation.

"Start back at the point where you got the pathogen. We can work from there."

"What?  No... McGuff...aww, forget it." A brief flash of darkness swapped on black blade for another made of pure nothingness - a void, ever-hungry for destruction given the illusion of form.  Bending back at an angle uncomfortable for the others to watch, Freyd's armor wrenched plate against plate as he performed some sort of limbo dance move to dodge the broad swing of the lone remaining matriarch's tail.  

"Oww..."  Squinting eyes confirmed it. The move didn't just look painful, it actually was.  In the wake of the titan tail's passage, Freyd swung upward with the hole he held in his hands, unleashing his happy meal prize.  The concussive blast from Samael's Pride rocked the entire cavern as slumbering seals protested their sudden wakening and smashed the entire drake into the far cavern wall with enough force to make neutron stars envious.

"Okay... maybe worth it."  

Not quite finished, the matriarch roared in protest, shaking off decimated shards of its own skin, lunging desperately back towards the Whisper with murderous intent.  It was like watching a skier hit a pole at mach 3.  The thing just split in half, both portions of the giant gekko lady simultaneously shattering into a spectacular sea of shards.

"And you're all wrong," Freyd continued, without missing a beat.  "The apple pie McThingies were always the best."

***

Loot Drake Matriarch 1: ID #245730 | LD: 5+5+1=11 | CD: 7
+4 materials (+4 CD/LD odd)
4125 col (HP[1250]*3 - incl. +10% [Col Deposit & Treasury])
T4 Rare Weapon 245730a
T4 Uncommon Consumable 245730b

Was everyone around him shacking up in the middle of a war zone?!  Feeling like an even more redundant fifth wheel, watching the surrounding couples bolstering each other's flagging morale... or possibly trying to kill each other.... or making up after the attempt.  Honestly, it was all a bit much to sort out while another one of these blasted mirror mobs kept trying to skewer his spleen with its fingertips.  Maybe still, giving them a little time.. a few seconds, could make all the difference.

Trading blows with the giant glass monolith, Freyd had figured out their pattern more than well enough.  Though the ever-present rainfall and constant flood of other critters kept you on your toes, or would have if anyone could find theirs.  Kneeling onto one of the knight's offshoot shard, a half dozen of them littering their melee like lethal javelins, the sliver spine fractured and broke, only to spur it on to conjure more.

"Say, has anyone seen or heard anything about this sword thing we're supposed to be finding?"

It felt like he might have been talking to thin air, except all the air around here was thick with other somethings, or so it seemed.  One slithery fish-mob thing with way too many tentacles was even making eyes at him. from behind the Spectral Knight.

"No way, lady.  I'm taken too.  Don't go getting any fishy ideas just because she has better things to do than hang our here... although... fishnets... hrm?"

A wet slap rang across the battlefield, as the Whisper foolishly let himself become distracted.

***

Vanity Tag: @Elora

"A day..." he whispered, brow furrowed and wondering where the discrepancy could have come from.

Instantly shedding grogged up exhaustion for mania, Mari gleefully demonstrated her makeshift centrifuge, winding the rope and spinning it wildly.  Eyes darting to the vial she'd used as a sample, he instantly wondered what it was and where it might have come from?  Had she conjured the thing herself?  By reputation, she certainly had the skills.  A cold shiver reminded him of her original trade as an alchemist and poisoner of no small renown.

"Yes... I...err... it's brilliant, I love the ingenuity, but..." She'd already moved on. Freyd's eyes frantically soaked in every bit of data they could absorb, but might have had better luck finding a needle in a haystack while in the midst of a hurricane infested with psychedelic meteor strikes.  So, not great.  

"Pathogen?  What pathogen? Where did all of this come from?"  Still calm, Freyd's lizard brain was still digesting, hunting and pecking for factual dots to be connected to each other and cast a broader understanding upon the rest of his consciousness.  Where others often grew more energetic in the throes of chaos, he typically reacted with the opposite.  As things grew more tense and emotional, he withdrew into colder, calculating logic, dissecting his circumstances to discern meaning and understanding.  Mari would have seen it before.  At least time had taught him to temper it with a dose of sensitivity and consideration, now turning into growing concern for his orange-haired friend.

"Mari," he tried again.

"Mari!  Stop for a second."  Locking his gaze with her as he gently grasped her arms to stop her spinning top routine.

"It's been four days since you left Witherwind."

1 hour ago, Kingsley said:

@Freyd x20 imperial quarter blend | t1 potion | dmg 3

245193	245194	245195	245196
245197	245198	245199	245200
245201	245202	245203	245204
245205	245206	245207	245208
245209	245210	245211	245213

 

Freyd receives with great thanks.

Cowl nodding his acknowledgement, Freyd spun and dove in the opposite direction to the hounds, as if to conceal himself behind a shaded outcropping.  Confusion gave way to more as he reappeared a moment later, falling from a shadowy ledge above the braying bunch of fire mutts and landing among they with celestial force.  Fur-patterned red scales sprayed out in all directions, their bark eliminated along with their bite, neither having proven to be particularly fearsome.

"Done."  Simple, brief and matter of fact.  Just as the Whisper ordered.  A momentary tug on the tip of his cowl seemed to offer salute to the fallen mobs, the very gesture at odds with the casual brutality with which they had been dispatched.  Ever the paradox, Freyd sauntered back to the rest of the group on foot, murder hands casually shoved into his pants as if that somehow eliminated their thread.

"Now... someone said something about free drinks?"

***

Thread Closing:

Wulfrin receives:

4,636 EXP (Word Count [4995/5*4] + Quest [0] + T4 Field Boss [640])
200 col (1 page [200])Unlocks Gatekeeper of Fire quest
Cerberus Soul | 245570a (T1/Unique/Consumable/Single-Use) | For the duration of a thread, natural successful attack rolls of 8-10 deal 12 unmitigated Burn damage each enemy turn for 2 turns. Burn damage does not stack, but can be refreshed. The Burn enhancement overrides this effect.
Troll’s Blood | 245607a (T4/Consumable/Single Use); The user’s first attack that results in a critical hit each battle for the remainder of the thread will deal twice the raw damage (after proc, crits and SA multipliers, but before MIT deduction), but the user cannot use their post action to attack next turn. Applies to all attacks if AoE.

Tricolor_Mina receives:

7,634 EXP (Word Count [4995/5*6] + Quest [1000] + T4 Field Boss [640])
1,145 col (1 page [0] + 15% P5 Reward [1,145])
Unlocks Gatekeeper of Fire quest
Cerberus Soul | 245570b (T1/Unique/Consumable/Single-Use) | For the duration of a thread, natural successful attack rolls of 8-10 deal 12 unmitigated Burn damage each enemy turn for 2 turns. Burn damage does not stack, but can be refreshed. The Burn enhancement overrides this effect.
Troll’s Blood | 245607b (T4/Consumable/Single Use); The user’s first attack that results in a critical hit each battle for the remainder of the thread will deal twice the raw damage (after proc, crits and SA multipliers, but before MIT deduction), but the user cannot use their post action to attack next turn. Applies to all attacks if AoE.

KnightessCiela receives:

4,637 EXP (Word Count [4995/5*3] + Quest [1000] + T4 Field Boss [640])
200 col (1 page [200])
Unlocks Gatekeeper of Fire quest
Cerberus Soul | 245570c (T1/Unique/Consumable/Single-Use) | For the duration of a thread, natural successful attack rolls of 8-10 deal 12 unmitigated Burn damage each enemy turn for 2 turns. Burn damage does not stack, but can be refreshed. The Burn enhancement overrides this effect.
Troll’s Blood | 245607c (T4/Consumable/Single Use); The user’s first attack that results in a critical hit each battle for the remainder of the thread will deal twice the raw damage (after proc, crits and SA multipliers, but before MIT deduction), but the user cannot use their post action to attack next turn. Applies to all attacks if AoE.

Freyd receives:

17,623 EXP (Word Count [4995/5*17] + Quest [0] + T4 Field Boss [640])
2,643 col (1 page [0] + 15% P5 Reward [X])
Cerberus Soul | 245570d (T1/Unique/Consumable/Single-Use) | For the duration of a thread, natural successful attack rolls of 8-10 deal 12 unmitigated Burn damage each enemy turn for 2 turns. Burn damage does not stack, but can be refreshed. The Burn enhancement overrides this effect.
Troll’s Blood | 245607d (T4/Consumable/Single Use); The user’s first attack that results in a critical hit each battle for the remainder of the thread will deal twice the raw damage (after proc, crits and SA multipliers, but before MIT deduction), but the user cannot use their post action to attack next turn. Applies to all attacks if AoE.

"I swear you trade fashions more frequently than most women I know," Freyd chuckles with playful mockery, as he stepped from the shadows behind the nearest booth to join them.  The man just never seemed to use doors, like normal people.  Even the barkeep seemed thrown off, unaccustomed to patrons being in his bar whom he hadn't see arrive, and doling out a skewering stink-eye towards the Whisper for having escaped his sentinel gaze.

"It suits you," the hints of a smirk creeping along the edges of his lips.  "Always nice to see kids growing up." The metal mitt over his hand mussed up Katoka's perfectly coifed hair for good measure, trusting heavy armor to offer better protection against the inevitable elbow to his ribs.  It seemed better to actually draw some pleasure from earning it, since it was always going to happen.

"You've come far, both of you."  A more serious tone, tinged with pride at their progress matched the softening of eyes that belied his unnaturally aged appearance.  "Wind gave word that you were both thinking of taking down the Ripper.  I've been checking on field bosses in the wake of these Spectral Knight attacks.  Goodness knows what they might do if one of them was converted into a knight."  He let that sink in for a moment.  "Yeah.  They're infectious, consuming other mobs to make more of themselves.  Very high on today's 'Not-Good' index, as you might imagine."

A flick of the wrist offered his own contributions to their improvised buffet, even as a steaming cup of coffee appeared in his hand, only irking the barkeep that much more than before.

***

Note: CS (Shades of the Gemini) and CSA (Beckon the Void) are in use.  If any other player objects to these, please state in first post and it will be considered inactive.

GUILD RANK 4 (+4% col, +4% EXP

Freyd consumes:

Elixir of Wrath (Potion) | Tierless Perfect | Damage 3 | 196623a
Flavoured Yogurt Shot (snack) | T4 Perfect Snack | Probiotics 3 | 222664-1
Field Ration - https://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/20786-general-merchant/?do=findComment&comment=640849
Spyglass - https://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/20786-general-merchant/?do=findComment&comment=640849
T4 MIT 3 (Ciela's Gungir, below)

Freyd consumes and shares:

Gungir’s Shard (Untradeable/Unique/Reusable Consumable): Smokin' Hot Honey Bun Tray | ACC 2 | EVA 2 | Feast (6/6) - 1 portion + ACC FILLED

Freyd | HP: 1501/1501 | EN: 166/166 | DMG: 24 | MIT: 212 | ACC:8 (incl AA)  | TAUNT | F-SPIRIT | EVA:4 | BH:74 | VAMP-D: 83 | VAMP-O: 165 | PARA-V (BD 2+) | LD:4 | PROB: 36

How long had it been since the first sighting?  Hours?  Days? Pausing only to help struggling players to their feet or interpose his blade between them and an assailing mob, Freyd had carved a path front one end of the front to the other and back again.  Where lines faltered, he bolstered them.  Where shields buckled, he'd step in and hold until fresh mettle could reinforce.  Where spirits waned, he'd offer a grizzled veteran's stoic resilience.  It all felt... really weird.

He still wasn't used to being the guy in the vanguard. Firm Anima had a whole other division for martyrdom. Sneaky opportunism and devastating blows delivered from conveniently concealing shadows had long since been his trade.  Yet, here he was, keeping a promise made on a scale unimagined when the vow was spoken.  

"Star!  Acanthus!" The briefest look was all it took to realize they were having a moment best not interrupted.  Both also looked more haggard and weary than he'd ever seen them. Nerves were likely frayed. 

"Erm... take a minute, if you need it.  I'll... uh... be headbutting that glassy murder-thing over there."

Awkwardly extricating himself from their catharsis, Freyd charged the nearest gaggle of mobs, at least to the extent that knee-deep mud would permit. It was more like threatening death by Zamboni.  Their enemies, at least, seemed to be struggling with the same slog in the opposite direction.

"Just... yanno... when you have a chance," he added, calling over his shoulder. "It's all good."  

One of the wriggly tentacle horrors promptly bonked him on the cowl for being so stupidly insensitive.

***

Note: CS (Shades of the Gemini) and CSA (Beckon the Void) are in use.  If any other player objects to these, please state in first post and it will be considered inactive.

Freyd consumes:

Elixir of Wrath (Potion) | Tierless Perfect | Damage 3 | 196616b
[Draught of Safeguard] - T4 Perfect Potion | Mitigation 3 | 218116

Freyd consumes and shares:

Gungir’s Shard (Untradeable/Unique/Reusable Consumable): Smokin' Hot Honey Bun Tray | ACC 2 | EVA 2 | Feast (6/6) - 1 portion + ACC Filled

GUILD RANK 4 (+4% col, +4% EXP)

Freyd | HP: 1340/1340 | EN: 166/166 | DMG: 24 | MIT: 212 | ACC: 8 (incl. AA)  | TAUNT | F-SPIRIT | EVA:4 | BH:74 | VAMP-D: 74 | VAMP-O: 147 | PARA-V | LD:5

"Okay... so then I step here," Freyd wasn't even watching the Spectral Knight as he pivoted through what must have looked like a series of choreographed steps playing out in slow motion. 

"Then I duck in three, two, one..." Glassy shards shot over his head, shattering against a nearby rubble wall that might once have been a hearth, utterly decimating the remains into a final state of ruin. 

"Then it will step there, so I slide right..." Every action was performed with precise movement and timing akin to the sort of muscle memory one might develop playing video games, matching beat to action to maximize potential score, or just reach the next save point.  It reminded him of the old Dragon's Lair game a buddy had forced him to play, where a single timing error forces you to restart the entire adventure.  It also took about 5 minutes just to load the restart, being so ancient.

"Yup.  Tanking at it's best," Freyd said aloud, to no one in particular.

"Take notes, Ciela.  This will be you soon enough.  And... parry..."

***CLANG***

***

3 hours ago, Sakura said:

'My apologies for the wait, however your item is ready. I had to call in a favour from an...acquaintance, but I completed the finishing touches on it. I do hope it is up to your expectations, and if you have any concerns please let me know immediately!' Aoi gave a low bow as she handed over the item, smiling at the customer as the item was handed over and inspected.

 

---

@Freyd Order ready for pickup;

Item Name: Infernal Shadow - Redemption
Item Type: Cloth Armor
Tier: T4
Quality: Demonic
Enhancements: EVA III | MIT I
Description: Dark brown leather harness covering most of the torso but still leaving maximum dexterity for the wearer. Supple and laden with an underlying essence of pure sass. 

Freyd receives the order with thanks.

Pinching the bridge of his nose as Sam frantically revved back up to full caffeine-fueled brain zoomies, hands waving manically about.

"Sam," he finally interrupted, fingers splaying as if he could seize some intangible spectral reins and put on cerebral brakes for a second.  "This is definitely a better track, but... three days?  Get some sleep. Maybe a relaxing bath?  Preferably not both at the same time.  You're unfocused and that can only hurt your end goal. I'll go do some digging of my own and return with some food in a few hours.  Maybe then we can come up with plans relying slightly less on pure random change that the system will play ball.  Cardinal doesn't slow pitch."

Downing the last of his beverage, Freyd took her glass and moved to deal with the smattering of dishes strewn all over the space.  "Rest," he repeated, in his best, 'I don't care if I'm not the dad of you' voice, while also committing that their planning would continue.  "Rosaria will eat you alive if you come at her like this, and I will not be explaining that one to Lium because you couldn't manage to get some decent sleep.  Six hours, minimum.  I'll bring back snacks."

When she had finally left the room, he let himself finish his chore so it would be done when she woke. This was madness, at least in how she proposed it, though Rosaria more than deserved the fate Sam had in mind.  But how best to trick her into doing the very thing she has so desperately avoided to give her an edge?  That was... his hands came to a stop, mid swipe.  

"Actually... that might work."

It took him exhaling to even realizing he'd been holding his breath, shoulders bleeding away tension at what he might have had to do.  By the time Mari's hand touched the blade and pushed it away, he was already satisfied.  Not entirely foolproof as a test, but the best he could improvise on the fly - as was too often the case.  Relief was palpable in his voice.

"Mari.  Thank goodness."  Sword returned to its sheath with a suitable snikt, he helped her find her footing, with a steadying hand on her hip. "I'm sorry.  I had to know it was you.  I'm just glad you're alive!" Leaning left and right, a quick survey offered no visible signs of injury, yet she still struggled to find her footing.

"Your equilibrium is shit.  What the hell happened here?  Are you alright?" Each question spoken slowly, rhythmically, deliberately paced for absorption and to help her focus. Finally sparing a second to properly take in the space, his features emerged from beneath the shadowy cowl.  In a field of so much black upon black, his blue eyes stood starkly contrasting, scouring everything in sight.  They looked like a wary veteran's might on the edge of some forever battlefield. Finally turned back towards her, their warrior's mien faded, replaced by something more akin to concern. Even a wolf will care for its cubs, after all. Up above, a green marker phased silently back into view, like it had been there the whole time, but her vision was too wibbly-wobbly to hold it in focus.

"Good question.  Still working that one out, but then aren't we all?"

Something skittered beneath the table, offering a high pitched giggle you might have expected from a cocaine addict after his fix, but also disturbingly child like.  Something slurped, then thumped with hollow popping sound, like the bounce of a rubber ball inside a sealed container.  Her sentinel paid it no mind.  Her voice sounded sluggish, similar to how she'd been before they reached his home.  Had she been on some sort of drinking binge since?  A distinct possibility, but here were no signs.

"You had a drink the other night.  Your first in a long while, but not so satisfying. My offering was better, though you chugged it back too fast.  That should answer your question, Mari-I'm-Mari."  The need for confirmation was very openly implied, the blade pointed resolutely at her heart resolved to lethal duty if the answer proved incorrect.

Sniffing, he couldn't quite place the source of the strong sulfurous smell, but refused to take his eyes off her.  All of this felt very... off.

Thread Closing:

@Simmone rceived 1 Guild Token as treasurer of Firm Anima (3 members)

3 non-combat support actions for F1-F29 ] Fatal Error - Act 1

Freyd receives:

19,886 EXP (Word Count [5524/5*18])
2,982 col (0 page [0] + 15% P5 Reward [2982])
1 Guild Token
1 Mon

Elora receives:

5,524 EXP (Word Count [5524/5*5])
828 col (0 page [0] + 15% P5 Reward [828])
1 Guild Token
1 Mon

Katoka receives:

7,733 EXP (Word Count [5524/5*7])
1,160 col (0 page [0] + 15% P5 Reward [1160])
1 Guild Token
1 Mon

Four days.

Four long days without a word, a note, a sarcastic comment or even explosive misadventure gone wild.  Just... silence.  Tracking Mari herself using any form of direct approach was impossible.  She'd been on the run from too many people for far too long to make it that easy, which was mildly amusing considering how much of a walking calamity the woman could be.  Gear worn or equipped by players was often extended the same protection, for obvious reasons.  But the Whisper had other means at his disposal.  Sitting in his workshop on the grounds of Witherwind's Rest, Freyd gazed beyond the deep umbra of its darkness corners and through the void beyond.  Shadow himself had this sight and used its power to enact the great flood that nearly wiped out all of Aincrad during the raid on his domain. He'd touched that power during the battle, and something of it had passed onto him. Time had fostered its exploration, developing sight, even control.  Montjoy, his own shade, and an infinite swarm of duplicates answered his commands, all linked together through the void beneath this world.  All darkness, however fleeting, was connected to and through the void.  

Freyd had traveled it, as Mari had recently experienced.  It took a toll upon passengers, but far less so to those it considered kin.  So here he was, sitting in a dimly lit corner, turned away from the light, and searching for his friend.  Intangible by nature, the shades at his disposal were far from ineffective. Utterly silent, indistinguishable and ubiquitous, they expanded his sights from a simple pair of eyes to those of infinite legion.  The trick was to know when and where to look, since it wasn't like they could tell you, or tug upon your sleeve.  But, he had learned their ways, those shades of the Gemini, and they enough of his to seal their partnership.  And so, finding even someone as unfindable as Mari, was not so hard as it might seem.

Freyd knew Mari's shadow more intimately than most.  Their gemini had called to each other, darker instincts eager to run amok in the world.  Both had been defeated, Freyd's threadbare friendship with the tangerine girl suffering most of the ensuing grief, which time might eventually mend.  For now, it was enough to offer the slightest tether to her whereabout.  Not so much in knowing where she was, but in sensing the umbral imprint of light's absence in her wake.  It still took far longer than he'd hoped and would have been useless if she hadn't stayed idle for so long.  

"She's laying down.  No wonder I can't see much."  Night vision helped, but an absence of light actually made it harder to look through a shadow that wasn't fully formed.  A minion was needed to widen his view, and Montjoy gladly obliged.

Stepping silently into fabric abode, a cohort of shadow sentinels stood beyond its skin to warn of potential ambush.  Spotting Mari sprawled on the floor, unmoving, he took small solace in the fact that her corpse would not have remained for him to find.  But appearances meant nothing in this world, and the Whisper was a cagey quarry himself.  Pouring over the tools and contents in the space, the centrifuge corroborated what little intel was available.  

Reliq retrieved Mari's weapon, the diminutive mimic gleefully buzzing about the room to the tune of quietly popping bubble wrap as the suction cups on his tentacles grabbed and released in rapid succession.  She's breathing, albeit barely.  No obvious signs of injury.  A quick message alerted local agents of O&I to stand ready to assist.  Where am I?  Floor ten?  Great.  That never bodes well. Maybe we'll try a digital poke first and see if she reacts at closer range, if it's really her.

Standing over the slumped figure, black katana in hand, devoid of any cursor that might give away his own identity, Freyd stood ready to end the person before him if they proved to be other than expected.

***

Note: CS (Shades of the Gemini) and CSA (Beckon the Void) are in use.  If any other player objects to these, please state in first post and it will be considered inactive.

Gungir’s Shard (Untradeable/Unique/Reusable Consumable): Smokin' Hot Honey Bun Tray | ACC 2 | EVA 2 | Feast (6/6) + ACC Filled
Taking Antidote purely for narrative purposes.

Freyd | HP: 1320/1320 | EN: 164/164 | DMG: 21 | MIT:152 | ACC: 8 (incl. AA) | TAUNT | F-SPIRIT | EVA: 4 | BH:73 | VAMP-D: 73 | VAMP-O: 145 | PARA-V (3+) | LD:5

Memories flooded thicker than the viscous water, the moment he touched the silver socketed stone.  A presence, ancient and disturbingly familiar swelled from the gleaming crystal and pressed against him with such force that Freyd felt pushed to the back of his own cowl, darkness subsuming his features and cloaking his semblance with that of another.  Phantom limbs, like featherborn wings felt like they belonged behind him, though he was certain none were there.  And... the weight of chains...

Vision blurred and replaced by that of an hourglass, full at the top, he felt more than watched a single grain of what was definitely not sand filter through its nexus to the other side.  Memories.  Flooding.  A world duplicated or cast aside.  A shell... no.  A vessel, purpose fulfilled and discarded, left to find another.  It had.  He... had.  So much time had passed, he'd nearly forgotten.  But the thing in the stone would not.  It never forgot anything and knew this land... the remnants of a world long gone... like no other.  Claiming his hand as its own, it turned the stone, opening the dungeon portal.  Freyd expected to see a kneeling statue of a winged goddess clinging to a nascent, slumbering blade, but there was only thick rushing water and the compulsive pull forward that swept the tides of ancient days with it.  He was alone again, save that solitary grain of sand still simmering in his fabricated soul.

The others rode the waters down, Sam gleefully rushing into the land of phosphorescent plants and lichen before them.  

 "Uh guys, not to sound too alarming but there are moving plants over here with no winds,"

Walking forward numbly, his limbs treating air as if it were molasses, forced himself into the same chamber and instantly recognized the flora.

"They're flowers... forget-me-not... but bleached to white because they no longer remember their purpose.  These are lost mementos, their power drained to serve as keys for a place no one can recall."  Turning to Nisa, he asked her as much as himself.  "How do I know that?!"

"Really?!"  Freyd's voice sounded only half-concerned, the balance carrying that same morbid curiosity you might find in a child you'd just told about something gruesome.  Or perhaps it was that same trait that attracted people to watch horror movies?  Freyd didn't seem like the latter, likely getting bored and falling asleep at the supposed 'scary bits'.  If anything, time spent in purest survival mode on the front lines of Aincrad will have dulled most of their panic instincts.  Then he though about some of the other players he knew and wondered whether that assuming was entirely true.

Still half-daydreaming, half-marveling at the novelty tombstone before them, neither man noticed the four-armed undead horror rising from the tomb behind them.  Until bell shaped flails on wicked barbed chain links rattled loud enough to wake the dead, which they fortunately did not.  They did spook the bejesus out of Freyd, however, who instantly cursed aloud for allowing himself to get so distracted. 

Barely turning to raise his weapon in time, it was Reliq who saved him, the spoopy little mimic giggling loudly as it sought to embed itself in one or more of the mob's dangling bells, completely messing up its ambush.  Chains wound and wrapped.  Bells gonged and clanked loudly, binding against each other so tightly that the Pallid Mask could no longer wield any of them effectively.

"Thanks, little guy.  We owe you on this one."

***