Freyd

Audibles screaming in his mind to stop. Spiders still coming, but backlit now by crying voices and light. Fury spent? No. Never. That was always limitless. "Captain! Over here! Quickly! We'll hold them off, just make a run for the tunnel behind us." Familiar sounds funneling their way to his ears and brain though fog and acoustic hellscape that reverberated the clatter of untold feet against stone. No other options. His feet slipped as three spiders struck him at once, their mass and momentum countering his own. A tuck, dodge and roll to get by them. He didn't need them a

Screaming. So much screaming, blended with anger and confusion. Warnings flashing in script that he should recognize. The pattern was unfolding as predicted and reaching the end of its first cycle. Fuel reserves were nearing exhaustion. The spiders... so many spiders. A screen manifested in his mind: two paddles squaring off with a pixel bouncing 'tween them. Everything moved in slow motion and ever time the pixel struck another spider died. Die little spiders, one and one and one again... forever. Was he delirious? Exertion on this level carried consequence in the virtual realm.

But wasn't this precisely what made Freyd a Freyd? Isn't this who I am? Isn't this what I was made to be? Images came flooding of code constructed for a purpose. People in white lab coats... no... hoodies...fed intravenous caffeine and energy bars for the sole purpose of meeting arbitrary deadlines established by the corporate overlord. The game had to be released on time. Communications and marketing were screaming down the house, earning fat salaries for making promises that others actually had to deliver on. Cots in offices. The smell... Snapping back to the moment, Freyd strug

Poking and prodding at various symbols on the cavern wall, Freyd was in the zone and barely aware of Katoka's efforts at his side. Something about these ruins seemed eerily familiar, and not in a good way. But, how was that even possible if this was also new content he had never explored? It was precisely the sort of thing that would nag at him until his lizard brain puzzled it out. Tracing lines of text with gloved fingertips, he also had a dozen open UI windows full of madman's scrawl that might have earned him a prize position at any sanitorium on the outside. Here, it was just busines

It has been too long since he'd indulged in the mired mayhem of the grind. That sublime sense of being in the zone, mashing buttons and executing combos to achieve the desired result. Repetition perfected, harmonious in its impetus towards a stated goal. Destiny must feel the same way, when its hand falls upon you, though perhaps more grandiose in scale and significance. It made him happy. Not the carnage or unfettered violence, but the blissfully serene pattern of intertwined motion and intent. Some couldn't understand it. He, concurrently, often couldn't understand them. This was gam

Freyd leapt off the ledge crashing down and flattening one of the crystal arachnids with the impact of his strike. The surrounding bugs screeched and converged pincers and needle-like legs at the ready. All fell prey to his feint and dropped in droves. He only needed them to cluster in tight quarters and their current tunnel confines did half the job for him. It was a gauntlet run, now, seeing whether he could beat the EN attrition meter or else run into exhaustion and be swept away. The bugs didn't care. Their purpose was simple and clear: get out and devastate. Killing machines always

Watching and waiting, Freyd kept searching for an alternative approach. Could there be a lull in their seemingly endless ranks? Might Litz and Foyle be able to disrupt their flow or buy him a moment to break the tide? He'd tried messaging them, but garnered no response. Wading through the mobs was hardly a concern from a damage output point of view. It was an energy management matter. He already knew that he could wipe them out easily enough, but math governed. After a few dozen, his reserves would be gone and he'd get carried back downstream by the current. Odds were that he'd survive

Spotting a high ledge that traced the same route as the stream of crystals ambling past him, Freyd risked engaging a small group to carve a path. Screetches of surprise were quickly cut short by a roundhouse blow slamming all the reachable mobs into the cave walls and stunning them silly. Focusing on weak points like joints and seams in their chitinous exoskeletons, he soon had them shattered into pieces on the floor. More were already coming, but found nothing save slightly glowing dust suppressed by their own glittering shells as they barreled obliviously through the passage. Freyd picke

Wave upon wave of crystalline menace rolled past him as he hung from sheer cliffs, ducked in tight crannies and even clung to the ceiling in a spot or two. The sheer number of mobs passing by was concerning, and noisy. Solid rock walls reverberated with the thunder of a thousand thousand chandeliers crashing by a highway speeds as they rolled towards destruction. Freyd played through the pros and cons of mobs not leaving bodies behind as he waited for sequential openings to push a little bit deeper. On the one side, corpses could be used plug the cave mouth. On the other, that might lead

"Did anyone else come to assist, and should I look for them?" While not long, searching through or sending messages to the entire team roster would only waste more time. Judging by the torrent of baddies streaming out of the cave, it was also currently their most precious resource. "Litz and Foyle are around here somewhere," came the reply over the barrage of bursting mobs and rain of multicolor crystals all about them. "They went in earlier to scout a location, but I've not heard from them since. If there's a dungeon in there, it could be blocking communications." A nodded

A pair of cries and flashes to their right signaled danger. Two inexperienced defenders had been overrun and forced to use teleport crystals to escape. "Damn. Running explanation it is. Help me close the gap, then I can make my way inside. You'll be needed out here doing the 'keep on keeping' on thing." Sykes grunted his acknowledgement, both men already moving to intercept the charging death machines - Sykes with little more than a dagger, and Freyd with his fists. Cries of alarm from the rest of the player ranks soon turned to murmurs about a frontliner having joined the battle.

Traveling as quickly as possible from the central plaza in Urbus to a set of pre-arranged coordinates, Freyd found a contingent of players already battling waves of crystalline critters emerging from the aptly named caves. Sykes was busy harassing the few spiders that managed to breach their lines, preventing them from causing mayhem further afield. Dressed in garb that might easily be confused with that of any scout or local hunter, the man had a salt and pepper beard and short cropped hair. He was among the older players Freyd had ever encountered in the game, alongside Griswold and selec

"'What if', doesn't matter." Freyd's voice carried the calm of a stilled sea, the softness of fresh fallen snow and the measured cadence of serenity. "I've spent my entire life running from 'what ifs' as if they were trying to force me down a path not of my choosing. Then, in rage, I defied destiny in favour of imposing my will upon the world, all other considerations be damned." A breath released like a puff of fog dancing in the rain. These types of admissions were hard, raw and brutally honest. They were the kind that spoke to a heart of a person, that core buried so deep down ins

Reports had been pouring in from around Urbus for the last week about increasingly aggressive mob attacks on the outskirts of the settled areas. Urbus itself was well defended and its fields regularly patrolled, but this was something different. Agents of O&I had been dispatched to investigate. Freyd had contacts in every corner of Aincrad, but few that could actually trace an affiliation to the guild itself. It was generally more practical to operate via proxies, mercenaries and other third parties whose actions could not be easily traced back. Every once in a while, something would

Carefully slipping into the shop while Quip had her back turned, Freyd tip-toed to the nearest counter to deposit the gift he knew she'd never willingly accept. Persi stood nearby, on standby to create a distraction if one was ultimately required. Fortunately, Quip was sound asleep, her bagpipes deflated and idle in her lap and nuzzle up against her like the warmest and softest of plushies. Pausing to admire the peace... and also silence - the silence was positively golden - Freyd was heartened to see that she had found her own footing. Giving her a little something extra to help her thriv

"Shit. What's the saying? No plan survives first contact with the enemy? Welcome to that moment." Freyd was instantly working at reading the room and their opponent the instant it revealed itself. Against Shadow and Orgoth, they'd had some room to play, but this thing negated the traditional tank build entirely. Shield, Yuki, even Eruda would have been in trouble against it. Only sheer dumb luck and lack of time had prevented him from modifying his own style as much, plus his preference for a combat style based more closely used by his friendly neighbourhood red wanderer. "We would

Well, there went his one and only good idea. And now his friend was in distress again. Freyd could feel Montjoy glaring through him to do something. Freya was so much an opposite to him with her overflowing emotions that it could sometimes be a struggle to understand where her head was at - just like Elora. Truthfully, that was his problem. It was her heart that needed his attention - just like Elora. He groaned internally, having wisdom enough not to do so aloud. 'The answer is simple,' he told himself. 'I just need to do what Elora would need me to do.' It sounded easy enough.

UNID Item fusion: (Note: I mangled some of the roller links, but they all come back to this page and are strictly for reference tagging only, so I've assumed that it won't be an issue) UNID Tier 1 Weapons: UNID Tier 1 Trinkets: UNID Tier 3 Weapons: UNID Tier 3 Armor/Shields: UNID Tier 3 Trinkets UNID Tier 4 Weapons: UNID Tier 4 Armor/Shields: UNID Tier 4 Trinkets:

"Nap? Sleep?" Freyd looked back at Katoka like she was speaking another language. The words simply didn't exist in hi vocabulary, at least in so far as being applicable to himself. Outright denial being true to form, Freyd merely moved on as if the suggestion had never been made. His brow further furrowed when Katoka asked what sorts of hijinks he and Rai had gotten up to. "Does that really sound like a me and Rai thing?" It was amazing that she would even ask it, though now his mind was reeling through its own internal way-back machine trying to recall whether any such moment might hav

The team was coming together and energized, but it didn't take much to sense the undercurrent of tension running between them and everyone else gathering in the chamber. Veterans among them knew enough to be aware that you could never fully prepare for the pending battle. Newer arrivals put on their bravest faces fearing their peers might judge them for inevitable doubts. Smiling as he handed each whatever they requested or required, Freyd read each of their faces in turn to do what he did best: appraisals. Even when set against digital flesh, nuances in tone and body language revealed muc

At first looking like he might protest at the pilfering of supplies under his arm, Freyd suppressed his inner hoarder for the sake of tranquility. If the system somehow interpreted the act as theft, Katoka would meet Marv's bad side and he'd have a very awkward situation on his hands. "Yva, Shrr. Fwy noff," he replied through his overstuffed mouth, his brow flattening with resignation and a sudden gulpish swallowing. "What craziness are we getting up to this time?" A snap of his fingers and his gear instantly swapped to more appropriate adventuring attire. The twinkle in his eye rek

Strolling into the strangely lit cavern, Freyd looked completely underdressed for the occasion, wearing little more than a black leather breastplate and typically spoopy black gear. He didn't even carry an obvious weapon, though both hands were tucked away in a pair of pockets. For those at the planning meeting, it might have been fair to ask whether he'd forgotten his commitment to tank during this particular affair. Pursed lips narrowed as he glanced over the displaced golem, it's mystery having already been solved, his curiosity having been piqued by various oddities of its origins

Man-handling a giant mutant shark wasn't exactly the sort of thing you got to do every day, so why not make the most of it? As Violet spun and drove the creature back his way, Freyd stood at the ready. Persi had already stunned the beast once with her onslaught. Now it was his turn. Crouched in his combat stance with one arm poised to parry and the other set to strike, the Whisper waited for his moment. When that massive maw bearing multiple rows of razor sharp teeth broke ground, Freyd sidestepped instantly and smashed it with his fist. The impact sent a ripple through the mob's entire

The only thing missing was a bathrobe. He had the steaming cup of coffee and his hair was already in a permanent state of helmet head. The package under his arm might also have been confused for a newspaper by those who scurried to get out of his way. Shambling along as he was, one of @Freya's famous honey buns clenched in his teeth, but drooping slightly as if seeking to acknowledge its devourer's fatigue. "Mrnng... Mrvw..." he mumbled, approaching his favourite mob. There were bags under his eyes, yet also a sense of satisfaction at having crossed every item off his to-do list. E

"Baaybeee. shark-doo-doo..." The tune from his childhood was playing itself in an endless loop in the back of his head. Freyd couldn't help himself but sing along as the massive creature barreled through the silty surface towards him. Heavy tremors shook the ground, growing in strength as it approached and causing his boots to start sinking into the ground. A last minute spin and whistle broke the tension. Sidestepping like a maniacal matador, Freyd's call summoned Persi who emerged from the ground like some sort of pent up shadow-geyser. It looked as if they'd struck black gold, whereas