[F1-PP] The Final Night...

[Lium 1]

Darkened room, what seemed like a lifetime in this cage. Days of observing the Laughing Coffin troops, walking back and forth in front of his bared interior. Sitting in the corner, counting, taking mental notes. Memorizing who comes into view at each waking moment. How long they stayed to keep watch over him. Seeing them walk away as another approch and sit in their place. Having a clean idea of the timing. Lium sits and waits for the next watch to take place. His head tilted like he was sleeping, his eyes focused on the man in the Laughing Coffin get up. Another guy approched the man sitting. "Have fun, there is not much to watch." They both started laughing and the one sitting tossing a set of keys to the other. Lium just sits there... Waiting...

The new man sits as the other walks off into the darkened tunnels. He counts the paces queitly in his head before they fade off into nothing. Another watch has began. The guy sitting, not paying much attention to Lium. Slowly getting to his feet, quickly Lium pushed his hand threw the wooden bars taking the back of the mans robe and pulling hard. The mans head bashes against the bars and become unconsious. Lium quickly goes through his pocket pulling out the set of Keys. Pulling his hands back in and moving to the lock with a click as it unlatched. With a shift of his hands, the cage is open. Knowing the ways the last guys went, he keeps to the wall to the right. Running low, with each foot fall as silent as possible, he starts to navigate his way out. Giving that he was not awake when he entered the cave, it would be a bid hard to get out...

"THE BOY IS GONE, FIND HIM BEFORE THE BOSS FINDS OUT. HE KNOWS TOO MUCH!" Lium hears from behind him. Running through the halls now as fast as he can, this was only the beginning. Turning a corner, a man, quickly moving his hand to the face, bashing his head against the wall as the body falls limp. He continues to run through the dark halls.

Hikkato | HP: 20/20 | EN: 20/20 | DMG: 1

Spoiler

Hikkato,
Level: 1
Paragon Level: 0
HP: 20/20
EN: 20/20

Stats:
Damage: 1

[Freyd 0]

It hadn't taken much effort to watch and learn.  It never did, yet so few people were willing to put in the effort required, or produce the modicum of patience necessary to reap the rewards.  A woman had died, just now, but not until he'd sat and studied her for the better part of an hour.  There were fidgets and curiosities of speech to be mimicked.  The hair always took a long time to get right, and he was still learning how to refine the details.  The Gemini made it look easy.

Why, thank you!

Freyd suppressed a smirk even as his eyes shifted from red to blue and turned their gaze upward towards a slowly spinning green icon.  As he watched, it slowly darkened and soured, like a fallen leaf shriveling in a fast-motion screen cap of a sped up autumn at play.  An instant later, it was orange, like a malignant tumor hovering over his head.  He'd kept his weapon the same to help his fellow hunter recognize him when the fighting started.  One member of Laughing Coffin was already down, and no one would realize it until it was too late.  They've be taken down by the guise of their own.

"How fitting," he murmured to himself, in her voice.

You're going to add your name to that monument an awful lot of times if you do this.

Yes, Montjoy.  Yes, I am.

***

Freyd | HP: 900/900 | EN: 124/124 | DMG: 24 | MIT: 66 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 4 | BH: 45 | LD: 5 | | FLN: 8 | HLY: 8 | V.O.: 90

Spoiler

Freyd,
Level: 31
Paragon Level: 60
HP: 900/900
EN: 124/124

Stats:
Damage: 24
Mitigation: 66
Evasion: 1
Accuracy: 4
Battle Healing: 45
Loot Dice: 5
FLN: 8
HLY: 8
V.O.: 90

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Samael's Pride (T4-WH, VO 1, HOLY 1, FLN 1)
Armor: Skirmisher's Garb (T3 LA, MIT 2, EVA 1)
Misc: Night Shades (T3-Trinket, ACC 3)

Skills:
War Hammer R5
Light Armor R5
Searching R5
Battle Healing R5
Charge
Energist
Extended Weight Limit
Charge
Extended Mod Limit

Active Mods:
Large Pockets
Ferocity
Stamina
Meticulous
Resolve

Inactive Mods:

Active Extra Skills:
Disguise
Survival
Meditation
Forgotten King’s Authority
Brawler

Inactive Extra Skills:

Battle Ready Inventory:Teleport Crystals: Gungnir: T3 Perfect HP Rec [Instant]: Mass HP Rec [Instant] (+30*Tier HP): Antidote 3:

Housing Buffs:
Rested: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
Clean: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 20% (rounded down)
Hard Working: +2 EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
Filling: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Item Stash: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
Delicious: Turn 3 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Feast. A Feast contains 6 portions of the food items sacrificed.
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Skylight (Searching): +1 Rank to the Searching skill.
Angler: +1 to LD and CD when fishing. 
Advanced Training: +10% Exp to a thread. Limit one use per month [0/1]
Multipurpose: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll
Decor [Potted Tanabata Bamboo Tree]: This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.

Guild Hall Buffs:
Lucrative: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters receive +1 crafting attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters receive +2 crafting attempts per day.
Col Deposit: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Scents of the Wild:
Kumatetsu Statue: +1 Base Damage for a thread

Wedding Ring: n/a

 

[Setsuna 0]

A flicker of bitter chill like the breeze on a cold winter night, a black frost cascading along the floor as Freyd had stolen the woman's appearance. One of many that would find an early grave. Tracing his features of a plump chested woman, marking him as the only that would escape the surgical culling that was about to befall the others. The whisper was in position, ready and taking his footing. He'd play the part of grinder, now all that was left was to herd the cattle into the butchery. A lift of her mask over the bottom half of her face sees her name and cursor erased from view.

Tapping the small glass jar after uncorking it sees that red globule of light fall from it. A twist of her eyes see it take shape, and move to the stars. Vision from above, something that they could hardly decipher at a range. Drawing her blade sees ice solidify and begin to take her shape. A flair of cyan on her iris, and they take to color and become replica of the woman. Her new appearance, her new "age" since the reset being still hard to pluck out. But her speech, her demeaner was not. Clicking the steel back shut sees her and the three vanish, a white fog that disperses like smoke. Out for blood, the stage had been set. From the rough lay in wait wolves, ready to prey on its own kind.

There would be no forgiveness.

Setsuna | HP: 700/700 | EN: 88/88 | DMG: 23 | MIT: 20 | EVA: 4 | ACC: 3 | LD: 1 | BLD: 48 | FLN: 8

Spoiler

Setsuna, Firm Anima Assassin
Level: 31
Paragon Level: 20
HP: 700/700
EN: 88/88

Stats:
Damage: 23
Mitigation: 20
Evasion: 4
Accuracy: 3
Loot Dice: 1
BLD: 48
FLN: 8

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Ebon Edge - Black Frost [T4/Rare/Katana] Fallen 1, Bleed 1
Armor: Cold Fabric Kunoichi Wear [T1/Perfect/L.A] +3 Evasion
Misc: Kunoichi Wrapping's [T1/Perfect/Trinket] +3 Accuracy

Skills:
Katana R5
Cloth Armor R5
Extended Mod Limit
1HCS R1
Charge

Active Mods:
Blindside
Vanish
Surprise Attack (Assassin)
Stamina
Ferocity
Nimble
Athletics

Inactive Mods:

Active Extra Skills:
Hiding R5
Parry
Disguise

Inactive Extra Skills:

Battle Ready Inventory:
The Rising Sun (Mass Heal Crystal): 1
Bird Seed (T2/Rare/Snack) Vitality 2: 2
Teleport Crystal: 1

 

[Lium 1]

Running in the pure darkness of these ruthless caverns. Seeing nothing more than his hands attached to him. Running, Lium hits a dead end. A smack of what seem like a hand against a head. "You have the dam tracking skill you dumb shit, use it. He couldn't of gotten far." A voice not far behind him. Lium quickly turns as he makes haste the other direction hoping that he could clear the next turn before he met eye to eye with these devils. A right turn just barely at his grasp when he's grabbed by the fabric of his shoulder blade. A swing to his left punching and making connection to a face as the figure clashes against the walls. "You scum. GRAB HIM!" An outburst as he hears more foot steps heading in this direction. Quickly turning right and making his feet go as fast as they would allow him to. A left then another right. "HE WENT THIS WAY," as feet fall not far behind. Another left, then a break. A light at the end of the tunnel. His adrenaline racing as his chest pounds. It was burning with the air that it couldn't provide him. 

He knew right then that if he stopped runnning now, they would catch him again. Sweat pours down his face, making haste toward this new found light. Hopping that it was no illusion. He couldn't go back into that cage. That fear rose in as he pushed himself to keep going. Mere feet from the exit as his legs began to give in. Afraid that this time he may not make it, this time they might kill him on sight. Exhaust flowed over him but the will to move forward, to stay alive, to one day get revenge on them for the deaths of his friends.

Next thing he knew, light blinded his eyes. He cleared the hole and did not have time to find where he was at. A grab of the scruf of his neck by the cloth he was wearing, he turns quickly and grabs the guys hair and bashes his head against the exterior of the wall. Liums direction shifts to the field nested with trees. He kept moving into the trees, making mental notes of land marks. After a few paces he hits his back against a tree, his breath heavy, as he weighed his odds. Someone had to be out here, anyone... He couldn't move any longer, as his knees began to lock up... He knew right then that he had to fight. Placing his head against the tree closing his eyes. He had to fight or die trying... He was not going back to that hell... 

[Freyd 0]

A slender hand reached out from behind and grabbed Lium by the collar, yanking him with a twist that buckled his knees beneath him and sent him face-first into the dirt, including a complimentary mouthful.  Someone had their shin pressed firmly into his back to prevent him from squirming.  The same figure bent low and whispered in his ear, even as he watched a series of armed shadows walking silently by,

"Stay down.  Don't move.  Keep quiet.  Do otherwise, and they will find you."  The voice was female; the tone cold and lethal.  Something slithered over top of him, covering every inch of his body like a blanket of cold sweat being applied without any effort on his part.  

"Keep him hidden.  If he gets stupid, stun his ass."  The thing spread over top of him rippled in response, and then... purred?  Something engulfed his head and everything went black, but not before he spotted a pair of brilliant azure eyes with wide horizontal slotted irises.  Muffled fighting could be heard, along with... explosions?  Ground tremors followed.  Something hard hit his ribs on the right side, possibly tripping over him, only to crash loudly to the ground on the other side.  There was a shriek and rushing of air like someone had just opened a hatch in a plane at high altitude.  Something warms and tingly touched his hand, but the darkness enveloping him basically shrink-wrapped tight the instant he reached out to feel it.

Blinding brightness followed as the darkness recoiled an instant later, climbing like some demon-thing up into the tree where he'd been leaning.  Those same two eyes gazed down at him from above, even as the woman's voice resumed their previously one-sided conversation.

"You're either very brave, very lucky, or incredibly stupid.  Please don't make it the last one."  Backlit by the sun, the same female figure held out a hand, offering it to Lium.  "Come on.  There might be more.  We shouldn't linger."

To: Setsuna From: Freyd Found some sort of runaway escaping the compound.  The kid looks terrified.  Finish your work and meet us back at the rally point.  I took care of the pack on this side.

@Setsuna

[Setsuna 0]

A rolling head bursts into shards of data. Screaming, in the mass hysteria. "What the fuck is goi-" The sentence cut short, as the player who was speaking it clutches for his throat. A windpipe frozen solid as the frost began to grow and collect more and more space on his skin. Like a statue, a solid block of ice. Brandished blades, quick glances around trying to find the culprit. The monster, or enemy that was doing it. A thick white fog over the field, as they searched through the writhing mass for some semblance, stinking of fear.

The only thing that they could find was a single darting cyan line with a metallic tear that struggled to keep pace. Pieces, parts. Limbs. Distraught a brunette male, heavy armor and stature to boot screams toward the others. "Stick close together, it cannot take us all." A sudden mass of white sees a twist, and within it a girl appears as if it was her body. She plants an open hand against a helmet before displacing in a jerk through him. The armor shatters, before a blade slides through his spine. Rushing to his aid was a female with bright red locks, finding an edge in a shower of light. "Tonight you'll dine in hell." Shows a pair of dilated pupils atop a mask of blue on a whisper, fueled by that ice like glow. The woman recoils, her arm falls to the floor and she shrieks in horror at the digital stump. As the phantom ceases to exist.

To Freyd: From Setsuna: 3 left, I will be along shortly.

 

[Lium 1]

Reaching for the hand, he pulls himself up. She had a stern grip. Dusting himself off as Lium says "Very lucky, most definitly. Brave, Try fear of what would have happened if I had stopped running in that cave. Stupid, maybe at one point but far from now." He gestures the lady to start walking as he follows her. Liums eyes dance around his surrounding now... Was he still on floor one. Shifting to the female now. "Tell me, how long has it been since this game as been online?" He needed to get his barings again, not that he had them in the first place. All he knew was that he had to find a way to keep hidden from those freaks. There had to be a skill that allowed this... Another on his to do list once they were in a safe place. "Also, do you know a female by the name Samantha Rose. Long crimson black hair, silver tinted grey eyes. I need to know that she is okay and didn't share the same fate as our friends." His eyes shift to the ground as they walked. Lium hoped to god that she was still alive. He couldn't lose the last remaining fragment that made this game still okay for him. 

[Freyd 0]

"Yo, guy, slow down," the woman called through clenched teeth, snagging him by the back of the collar.  Her eyes were pre-occupied with scanning the tree line and canopy for lingering foes.  This was no place to be careless, and a squad of shadow sentinels already stood around them as pickets in case early warning became necessary.  "You're making a racket and going nowhere fast.  Stop and take a breather for two seconds."  

"The game's been running... uh... a few years now.  I don't really keep track, and everyone seems to have their own, different answer to that one.  As far as the person you're talking about..."  Even as she spoke, her form shifted subtly in detail to match the features that of Samantha, Katoka's statuesque love interest and fellow member of Firm Anima.  "Would this happen to be the person you mean?"  Her smirk seemed out of character, but the appearance was spot on.  "If so, it might please you to know that she is safe and sound, and even a friend of mine."

The mysterious figure's form shifted again, its eyes turning to crimson even as the rotating crystal above its head shifted from a harsh orange to a barely less dangerous green.

"So, who are you supposed to be?"

Edited April 30, 2021 by Freyd

[Setsuna 0]

Ripping the katana with a harsh jerk, a snap sees the howling from a foe stopped. No more screams, fear cut short after it was used to full effect. The last remaining turns to vapor, a thick smoke still holding the field. They were pathetic, ineffectual and unfocused. A standard. Those that would skin another hardly had much direction, or much intelligence. Like carving through a large animal, they were nothing beneath her edge. A slight drag of the blade before she whips it up and slowly slides it back into the saya, a metallic clank. A lift of her hand sees a frozen bird descend with force and perch upon her finger, a sharp beak fiddling with constructed ice that was its wing.

"Did any escape?" she murmurs to it, as it flutters open wings seeing small bits of frost fall in flakes. A solid jerk of its head, a charade of 'No' to its master. "Then we are done." She quips as she slams her hand through the ice creatures form and plucks free the red light in its chest. Back into the vial, as the fog begins to thin out. The copy's stepping from the brush and beginning to melt away as they approached, becoming pools of water that are lapped up by the grass below. So quickly more names were added to that wall, slaughter that came easily. A slide of her finger as she lunges into the darkened trees of the night.

To: Freyd From: Setsuna Handled, Coordinates?

 

[Lium 1]

"Yea your right, I just need to calm down for a moment. Get my head on straight again." A small huff as stared at the person change into Sam... A light smile forms on his face. It was clear that Sam had made somewhat of a name for herself in this game while he was gone. "Yea thats her," he says in almost a whisper. A sigh of content washes over him. With the next question though, introduction was still not made. "I am Lium Hikkato. I was only in this game for a few weeks after it came online, and the message from the large jerk in the sky, before our group of friends were murdered by these low lifes. They threw me in a cage because I was the only one that fought back." He glances around for a moment hearing some leaves crackle against the ground in the distance and gets low. In a much smaller voice saying "From the sounds of it I've been there for a while. They tried to break me but I made it clear that I would never stoop to their level." Images of splattered data against his face and burst of blue crystals shattering, screaming... "That opinion might be changing though..." Remembering what he had to do to get out, 

[Freyd 0]

Freyd's form was engulfed in shadow once more as Persi removed herself from covering Lium's body.  Briefly taking on her favoured mongoose pattern, she leapt up, promptly to engulf her master instead, seeping in behind his clothing as his features altered.  When the shadow was gone, only a man remained, clad all in black and shrouded in pure edge, the same twin red eyes gazing down upon him from beneath a soft, charcoal-coloured cowl.

"You look strangely familiar," he added, a wry grin creasing the left side of his pale, partially hidden face.  "We could be brothers, if I had one."  An amused-sounding snort ended the comparison.  

"Little Sister!" he shouted over his shoulder, confident that the danger had passed.  His companion would not have allowed any to live.  "We're over here"

Turning his attention back to Lium, Freyd wouldn't be one to mince words.  "You've lost time, and quite a bit of it, I'd say.  We can take you to Sam, and offer support to get you back up to speed beyond that point.  Welcome back to SAO, Lium.  I wish I could say that circumstances had improved, but that really depends on your perspective."  He gripped the man's shoulder and turned him towards the proper direction.  "Come on, let's start by re-uniting you with something familiar.  All the technical bits can follow later."

[Setsuna 0]

A sudden beckon draws her from the trees abruptly, like a wisp manifesting from that same cloud of white. "You were lucky to make it out of this alive." Setsuna quipped coyly with a cold bite to the phrase. Eying Persi as she lunges back into the confines of Freyd's clothing. "I wonder if there are any more rats in that nest, that were off hunting. Imagine their fear...Once they realize everyone is dead." Her eyes trail off to the distance toward the compound that Lium was freed from. "A suggestion, get to a safe zone. They are going to blame you if they know your alive." Setsuna looks to the new face, offering a warning toward him.

Bloomed and a shift sees her frustrated, a few lumps of fat that were not their previously causing some irritation as her center of gravity had shifted. It was making her slower, although still blinding she could feel the pacing slowed. She'd need more training, to become accustom to the blackened rains effect it had on her. "Isn't Sam under our division now?" Setsuna spoke the question as her eyes trailed the horizon in that ever vigilant fashion, recalling the redistribution but wasn't one to handle affairs with her directly. That was Freyd's command, all of the strings played on his fingertips. She was just the blade at the end of one. 

[Lium 1]

Glancing to the female that showed, "Luck was a very small piece. Percise planning and my senses is why am am standing, and you guys. I knew that they were going to be out hunting tonight. I knew that there were only going to be a set few in the dungeon area tonight. It was my best chance." Looking to the bodies that were taking their sweet time bursting, "I know of at least 20 orange player that made this place their home, you can do the math from the kills done tonight. The boss lady visited every so often to keep tabs but it was never mentioned where she was held up. I saw her all but once but heard her voice several times..." Eyes shift to the man that looked like him. It was a bit spooky. "Thanks, it might be refreshing to see someone I know. That and food that isn't sludge on a plate..." It sounding like something that would have a chuckle after but he was completely serious. He had to eat something while he was cooped up...

He began to walk toward the direction that was pointed to him, "What is a division?" He turns his head toward the man and female...

Edited April 30, 2021 by Lium

[Freyd 0]

Freyd spawned a honey kruller from his inventory and tossed it at him.  Freya had sold him on the damned things, and he now kept a stock.  Yet another reason never to leave this place: he'd probably end up weighing three hundred pounds due to terrible dietary habits.  Would they even remember the taste of things?  Could he truly even recall the taste of 'real' food after all this time, or was he just thinking he did?

"You're clever."  It was a statement, possibly even a compliment.  Freyd didn't hand those out casually, as Setsuna would certainly have noted.  "But it was also auspicious that our assault was timed on the same evening.  You'd probably be dead, or wishing you were, if we hadn't been around.  Still, well done for taking the calculated risk."  The Whisper walked in silent consultation with his own thoughts, giving Lium a few precious moments to scarf down something with actual simulated flavour. 

"You've had the very great pleasure of being accidentally rescued by two elite members of the Operations & Intelligence division of the guild known as Firm Anima.   We go by O&I, because spies apparently love acronyms, or so I'm told."  Despite the odd candor, it was tough to tell if Freyd was being self-deprecating or actually serious.  Nothing in his tone made it obvious.  "If you're resourceful enough to get yourself out of that hell hole, we might have a place for you."  The hood and eyes turned to track Lium's.  "And I already know that you're not afraid to do whatever must be done."  A further notch to the right locked his gaze with Setsuna's, as if requesting to hear her thoughts on Lium's potential as a candidate.

Edited June 20, 2021 by Freyd

[Setsuna 0]

"Or stupid." Setsuna murmured with a snap as she slid around the male. As he'd start to scarf down his given meal. "The chance of you escaping was slim, your speed is lacking. At least three were on your heels. Unguided, clumsy. But..." She'd usher past with that frost drawing pins and needles across the males ankles. "Demanding, defiant. Resistant. Not something that can be taught but learned. Once your given a weapon, there may be a place for you. Even if it is just as bait." Setsuna wasn't enjoying the numbers, given what he had said there was a few that were not within the compound. That meant that her job was not over, there were more lambs for the slaughter. A stroke of bad luck, if he was to try and leave earlier. They may have all been in one fell swoop, but now they were divided.

They'd know an edge before long, but it was a waste of effort that could be placed elsewhere on another head. A glance to Freyd "He'll work, but he needs training." Her eyes snap to Lium as if there was a threat laced in her eyes. "Are you willing to kill them, are you willing to push yourself to the brink of death?" Expecting like so many before him for his will to break the moment it was challenged. It was no place for the old Kasumi.

[Lium 1]

Wiping his face after eating whatever that was like an animal. "I'm not going to lie, it was pure coincidence that you guys were here tonight. I would have kept fighting and running even if it killed me. Simply because anything would have been better than spending another night in that cage, even death." He begins to think about what the man had said about the O&I of Firm Anima. Sam was always good at that shit, but Lium always one upped her. "No weapon, my hands will do just fine." A almost glare from the girl as she spoke. "Those basturds don't desearve a place in this world. I watched them put my friends to their early graves for reason but that they wanted to. They will be treated with the same fate without a choice because I did not get one." This came out almost harshly like it was an obvious statement. Any Orange player that dared to show their face would not live to see another day. Lium had already made up his mind on this. In a calmer but more serious voice, "If pushing myself to the brink of death is what it would take in any given situation, then you will get 110% from me." He wipes some dirt off his cheek. "What should I call you guys?"

Edited May 24, 2021 by Lium

[Freyd 0]

"Well, this got dark fast.  No, wait.  PK murder-spree.  Sorry, I almost forgot what we were doing, for a moment."  Freyd grinned as he spoke, deliberately trying to lighten the mood with a little sarcasm.  "You can call me Freyd.  As for her," he glanced at the white-haired frosty woman with the newly redistributed body fat and chuckled.  "You can call her whatever she lets you without cutting off a body part.  I suggest narrowing down the options quickly."  Freyd led them swiftly back to the main gates of the Town of Beginnings, waving to one of the NPC guards as they passed.  

"Hey Marv.  Keep it real."  

Once they were safely into the City, he surreptitiously sent a message to his guildmate, thinking it best to let her decide how this would play out and do so on her own terms.

To: Sam From: Freyd Found this kid named Lium.  Says he knows you from old days.  Called you Samantha Rose.  Setsuna and I have him in the Town of Begs.  Do you want us to bring him to you, you come to him, or should we just cut him loose?

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by Freyd

[Setsuna 0]

A soft patter of her feet in tow the the others, dwelling on the few stragglers that were more then likely going to return to their little destroyed nest. Like rats in a cellar, they'd die the same. Setsuna was content with such a simple focus, and although her shape may have changed in this jump forward. Her motives and mindset had not. Into the ripe walls of the Town of Beginnings, still abustle with the common fare. The players who saught shelter from the rest of the hardships of the game. Trapped here for what they assumed eternity, unknowing to the few that broke a path through that soft tan stone that would be burning down the walls of their little confinement. A word not spoken to any, the circles of their division and the guild as a whole would be left in obscurity.

A lunge toward the perch that she found more comfortable, waiting for when her captain to make the next choice. For who would live, and who would die. She just needed the direction.

[Freyd 0]

"Grab some grub, Lium.  It's on me.  Give us a few minutes to see if we can track down your old companions."  Freyd gestured casually to the shop owner to confirm his statement, and order himself a cup of coffee at the same time.  The boy's discovery was unexpected, but could also offer insight into PK activity throughout the floor.  And, if he really did know Sam, that could prove even more interesting.  Hardly had the thought crossed his mind when his eyes drifted to the sudden appearance of a notification in his message UI.

To: Freyd From: Sam Bring him to the Guild Hall.  I'll be there.

"On second thought," he added aloud, "why don't we get those to go?"

It took no time at all to reach the central portal plaza and then watch as the scene of a bustling metropolis gave way to the sublimely rural streets of Coral.  The scents of the city were replaced with a refreshing breeze, cooled by the waters of the nearby Lake of Reflections.  It soothed Freyd's soul to see it repaired, though he worried still at the state of the powers that had ruined it, not so long ago.  Leads remained to be followed and verified.

"We'll be passing through the Forest of Memories.  Try not to unleash a self-replicating horde of Gemini, won't you?  Once was enough."  The confused look on Lium's face was enough to garner a subtle turn of the Whisper's lips as he walked.

[Scene moves to Floor 21]

[Lium 1]

Grabbing his coffee as it seemed that sitting was not an option... A ping of the dude's HUD as they rush out the doors. A step through the forest, the beauty was outstanding. The comment that the man said made Lium a bit confused, what the hell was a Gemini... He was gone for a large amount of time and he knew that he had catching up to do. Taking in the scenery as they pass through tree after tree... Where were they going... Just outside the forest lines laid a very large building that looked as though other building attached to the sides. The man opens the doubled doors and Liums eyes widen in amazement. He had seen nothing like it, but then again, he hadn't seen much of anything as of late.

"SHIT," followed by a crash of items was heard from the back of the hall. A large red oak table littered with papers that was unknown to him. A figure comes around the corner... "Samantha..." Her eyes turn wide and watery. Lium approaches the crimson black haired female. His chest becomes full of relief. He finally found her and she was okay. Pulling her into a hug, at first it was willing but then he gets pushed away abruptly. Next thing he knew a fist was swinging right at him, instinct kicks in and he catches her fist just holding it there in the air and says "Easy on the precious cargo will ya..." a pause from Sam before her face turns to anger as tears drift down her face. "I waited every day for months... You and those slackers never showed... What the hell are you doing here..." Liums face turns sour now. "I looked but never saw you, and then shit hit the fan. I am sorry..." He was not going to mention where he was just yet. Lium was just going to let Samantha soak it what she was seeing first.