Freyd

A nod of acknowledgement and his friend was gone, vanished back to Stonewall or whatever other outpost suited him. A quick glance into shadows confirmed where, the info shoved into a pigeon hole labeled 'big man', for later reference. The heat had never really bothered him, even with this intensity, but Freyd had reveled in the climate of Fortaleza on floor five, where he and Persi had first met. This place just traded dust for ash and soot, plus a few rivulets of melted stone. He'd been hesitant to get in on the us versus them entanglement with PKers. Fortunate had largely steered him cle

Silence as the Whisper struggles to fathom with how best to take on such a disparately scattered mystery. He would normally prefer to gather evidence in isolation, but it felt like he was chasing a match for something that had grown into a bonfire. This was too slow, and taking too long. His attention was needed in too many places to the detriment of any given single issue. Fingers rapped against the redwood table before them. "You're right." Fingers paused mid-rap, a quirk of confusion at the eureka tone in his voice. "No, Freya, you you're absolutely right. Think about it: Erud

Entranced in the comfort of solitude, for a moment before Freya would return, Freyd's gaze lingered on the void left by Eruda's departure, like an imprint of her soul had been left behind to be read by those gifted with the right, arcane sight. The irony of her request, met by her own refusal to reciprocate, did little to enhance her arguments. If anything, she had only proved Freyd's point. Faith... trust... goes both ways. But her advice was telling in its own way. Raidou's talent for deflection rivaled his own. That she had managed to pierce it and pin him down amounted to no small ac

“When a cold tells me that it’s a nasal lubrication agent, I don’t believe it. Whoever or whatever she is, and what her actual intentions may be, we have only her words to go on. Words can lie. Code can lie, if programmed to do so. All that I can believe, so far, is that she’s bits of code drawn from sources that could very well be ourselves, and our friends, even our loved ones. You may be prepared to take the chance that she is sincere. I cannot. I must not.” He reclined again, disengaging by body language and signaling to Eruda that he remained unconvinced, yet continued to list

Monitoring reactions, Freyd had already been wondering how many in the group would recognize the woman. Celeste's comments drew attention, in this regard at least. She didn't seem to recognize Nisa's presence. The rest of her bluster never made it through his filters. A charged open-palmed strike squished another snaky-thingy flat, sending a cascading charge through the sand that jolted half a dozen more from their slumber and sent them skittering about. Persi pounced playfully between them, eager to catch the crusty beach mice. It seemed off to spot his aloof familiar being so fri

Grabbing the nearest creepy-crawly, he flung it into the next one, then raced along the sandy beach snatching more and splattering them like some sort of tumbling-based obstacle course. His gestures were practically spasmic, but the Whisper felt contented at simply working off steam by completing a task - even an odd one. Unable to restrain his instincts, he was soon herding the remaining critters towards Griswold and their final end. Only then did he realize that he was doing so alone. "Where did everybody...?" Turning round, he spotted Celeste and Kasumi struggling for breath an

Yeah. This was definitely strange. A gaze returned confirmed Kasumi's concerns, but there was little else they could do about it at the moment. Shiina's harmonizing song only exacerbated previously existing doubts, growing the knot in his non-existing gut at the white-haired woman's presence. They literally had bigger problems to deal with first, so he set his mind to clearing the slate. Pivoting into darkness, Freyd vanished from the floor, only to come hurtling down from the cavern like the 'meteor yeet' Crozeph had once dubbed him. Adding the force of gravity to his fall, his fist

He sat, unmoving, listening, yet slouched with his spindly black fingers interlaced in his lap before him. What at first appeared to be relaxed reclining soon resembled a withdrawn, distanced poise, like a wary spider prepared to pounce if its web was inconveniently wobbled. Freyd's expression never changed as she spoke. The slightly jovial curl remained in his eyes, and at the edges of his lips, but the wheels inside were spinning like one of Willy Wonka's contraptions, ready to explode. "What proof can you offer to confirm your assurance that she is no threat to this guild or the pla

A flash of suddenly engulfing darkness that took his eyes no time to pierce, as accustomed as they were to the void. Freyd instantly knew where they were. When Shiina spoke and Kasumi acted, the thud that followed confirmed all that he needed. He knew precisely where they were and what had made that sound. Spinning and dodging beneath an oversized, grabby hand, Freyd whirled and smashed a kick into the side of the giant troll's face with enough force to knock a few teeth loose. Following through, he grabbed the pair of bushy eyebrows like angry porcupines, bundled their quills in his gras

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: 173496 Witch's Brew: None Identifications: 26x T4 Perfect Items (@3040 col) = 79040 col +390000 col for re-rolls. (26 * 15,000 for 4 rerolls apiece) Total Cost: 469040 col Junking: 14x T4 Perfect Item (@1900) = 26600 col Total Value of Junking: 26600 col

"Hello Eruda," Freyd began, casually, his knee up on the chair as leaned deep against the seatback, partially slouched or possibly seeking to hide within its confines. One could never be sure when it came to the Whisper's intentions. "Thank you very much for joining us." A black gloves hand offered her a seat from any of the many available options. Waiting for her to take whichever caught her fancy, Freyd's gaze traced every motion in silence from beneath the shadows of his cowl. "Freya and I have been swapping stories about recent adventures, and the same figure and name keeps poppin

Griswold held the beast's attention, combusting with intensity as he virtually dared it to turn a single eyestalk to someone else's attention. Sand's Claw was too scared. Kasumi had followed his lead and was steadily amputating legs on its opposite side. Sheer bulk would prove to be its greatest enemy as they literally pulled its legs out from under it. "Shiina! Save the patty-whacks for later! Unless," his eyes screwed up as he realized the effect at play. "Nevermind. Carry on." A semi-sympathetic shrug was all that Celeste would receive. He knew that the whimsical girl's antics

"What even is a ghost? Is it an after-image or an echo created from the memories of the living? How is that really any different in the real world or in here? They're just 'something else' that we don't understand. Tuatha and other similar entities we've encountered could be nothing more than skinned bits of code wrapped in veneers of familiarity drawn from psych profile. Hell, Cardinal could be hacking our brains. Who knows that the Nerve Gear was truly capable of, given that it led to this. It's hard to assume that Kayaba and his digital minions couldn't know us better than we know ou

"Ah nuts. This thing again?!" A grimace set, Freyd rushed forward, tumbling beneath the monstrosity and timing his movements just right to clear the space flattened a instant later by the thing's bulk. Spinning left and kicking of the sands, Freyd spun acrobatically into the air, crashing his leg down on one of the crab's. The appendage shattered into a thousand glittering sparks that danced and skittered off the surrounding beach surface before vanishing into thin air. Landing lightly on all fours, he fell at once into his own shadow and re-emerged elsewhere on the field. Pinning down a

"Right. Right..." His mind kept peeling back layers of fog, finding old movements and routine that had been buried beneath layers of forgotten code. Memories found digital muscle and re-taught them how to move. Another thrust saw his hand strike the boulder at the same moment as Kasumi's, pinching the stone in a pincer between their combined power. It shuddered, shedding dust like dandruff from a hair that had never known shampoo. Also, eww. But Freyd was now too focused to care about the similarity. His eyes saw, as much as his motions felt, the fault lines fracturing in their t

"No, I didn't. It isn't technically me." Turning his hands to that the palms faced upwards, Freya would have recognized the pitch black nothingness that had become his hands. Samael's Pride was subtle in some things, but not others. A flick of his wrist breached the silver seal that separated his bun from oblivious vanished instantly, dooming the poor pastry to an eternity of devouring by something could never actually eat. The void only knew infinite hunger, but hadn't a clue of how to digest. Screeching was the tell. Whenever its wards fell, first as a sword, then a staff, it rev

Picking up the list, Freyd's eyes scanned over it while Freya was spilling out a seeming stream of consciousness, which was fine. Being head of O&I meant being accustomed to multiple threads of data floating around you at the same time, be they the constant pinging of messages, physical documents in hand, live conversation and the distraction of a shadow-induced vision quest. You just get used to it. "What's this about old flames, and your family? Huh?" You got used to it. It didn't mean that you suddenly developed four additional sets of independently functional ears. "Wa

Mimicking his subordinates movements, his actions fell back into patterns lost to time and obsolescence. He'd learned to fight like this before, yet somehow forgotten it. Was it like riding a bicycle? It didn't really feel like it. Bicycles didn't normally shatter the very fabric of reality when you rode them, yet that was what this felt like. Striking with a tightly clenched fist, Freyd's shoulders pivoted in a counterbalanced motion. Hips swiveled and followed. His feet stayed stubbornly where they were, as they should. *CRUNCH* At first, he was sure that he'd shattered his

Something about that laugh made even his unruly mop fall in line and stand on end with the rest of his hair. Kasumi's cry of alarm brought him back to reality just as a spray of splinters peppered the ground where he stood, instantly locking his sights on the immediate threat. Celeste's disinterested comments rang in the hollow between his ears. Now was not the time. A turn and dash brought him in close to the Ancient's frame, where he could inflict some real damage. Slipping from shadow to shadow, Freyd seemed to be everywhere around it at once. Bark shattered and burst to pieces al

"Look," he said to Setsuna as she muttered her complaints. "I grabbed the first one listed. It's alpha-numeric, and not my fault that the smelly one ended up at the top of the list. I'll tear it up, though so it doesn't happen again." Glancing over to Mina's fallen form, he watched as she started to rouse herself and berate him about stuff. He wasn't quite paying attention, at first. "Yes, she's fine. Let's get her back on her feet first and make sure she gets out of here. This area of Floor Thirteen is especially inhospitable." He sniffed at the wind, then spat out whatever had g

"What the... Nisa?! How the... why the... What are you doing here?!" Freyd suddenly lost all focus and attention on the raid-level battle that was already unfolding before them. To have experienced what he recently had, then have the very woman invading his dreams appear randomly on some beach was just a little too convenient. Scanning the shadows confirmed what his eyes saw, though he scarcely believed either. "Where did we see each other last? What were your final words." His tone verged on the threatening and demanding, too troubled by her sudden appearance to acknowledge a

A relaxed smile curled extra-high at the corners when Koga declared his penchant for trouble, mixed with confirmation that he had no intentions of endangering others in the coming battle. The man meant every word, without doubt, but misfortune also tended to follow those who anchored themselves to such habits. They could only hope that he'd fully shaken free of its influence and learned his lessons. Otherwise, the players at his side would be the ones to suffer. If he'd truly rewritten his decision-making algorithms, all the better. "Agreed," he spoke, firmly reinforcing Baldur's poin

"Yes. That's the place." He wasn't quite sure why his tracking wasn't narrowing down the quarry's position more accurately, given that he'd already faced it before, but the whole thing had seemed too much like a dream. Maybe it was? Facing this monstrosity again was inevitable. He'd likely do so again in the future, many times. For now, Freyd followed the ironclad before him that was father to his friends, and the best damned smith he'd ever seen craft steel. It was said that Griswold could sweet-talk metal when no one was looking. Freyd also believed that he shaped it with his ba

Surveying the devastated landscape of the vale, Freyd's icy gaze swept the ruins laid was by Lun'Rael's pride, ambition and self-loathing. The elven queen had chosen suicide as a vessel for vengeance in defeat, and been denied her accepted fate. Twisted into some malevolent, reincarnated thing, she turned upon her own kin, infecting and exploiting them and any other mob desperate or gullible enough to follow. He couldn't help but see a risk that Nisa could bear the same curse, but targeting players instead of mobs, and starting with those closest to him. She wanted something, or different

Struggling to keep it together was a little too literally applicable in this case. Freyd's hands were crumbling under his own weight, and his arms threatened to follow. There was no true pain, but the effort was taking its toll. Closing his eyes, the Whisper's consciousness drifted, listening to the sounds of Eruda's relentless efforts, Kasumi's perfection of form and technique, and the water flowing over Lium as he struggled with the falls. Persi's gentle hum - the closest thing she ever made to an actual sound - hovered around him as she inspected his form. Even with his eyes closed, Fr