[PT-PP-F10] Mistakes of Yesterday

[Freyd 0]

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.

To: Mari From: Freyd Get up, slowly, if you're able.

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

Spoiler

Name: Freyd, Bara no kuro kishi
True Tier: 19
Level: 34
Paragon Level: 147
HP: 1320/1320
EN: 164/164

Stats:
Damage: 21
Mitigation: 152
Accuracy: 4+2+1+AA
Evasion: 2+2
Battle Healing: 73
Loot Die: 5
Stealth Rating: -5
TAUNT
VAMP-D: 73
VAMP-O: 145
PARA-V

Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Veritas | T4 Katana) | AA, PVO I, VO I, Taunt
Armor/Trinket: 
  - Negare Omnia | T4 HA | MIT III | VD I
Shield/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Night Shades | T3 Trinket | ACC III | EVA I

Combat Mastery:
  - Combat Mastery: Damage R3

Combat Shift:
  - AOE Shift

Familiar Skill:
  - Grappling Familiar

Custom Skill:
  - Shades of the Gemini (CS)
  - Beckon the Void (CSA)

Skills:
  - Battle Healing R5
  - Energist
  - Fighting Spirit
  - Heavy Armor R5
  - Howl
  - Katana R5
  - Searching R4
  - Focused x5

Extra Skills:
  - Disguise
  - Survival
  - Forgotten King's Authority
  - Meditation

Inactive Extra Skills:
  - Frozen Hide
  - Lady Luck
  - Photosynthesize
  - Brawler
  - Assault Mode
  - Frozen Hide

Addons:
  - Focus
  - Focused Howl
  - Iron Skin
  - Precision
  - Stamina

Mods:
  - Impetus
  - Night Vision
  - Tracking

Inactive Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:
  - Bear Trap (Reusable 1/combat) x1
  - Bear Trap (Reusable 1/combat) x1
  - Crystal of Divine Light (Reusable 1/thread) x1
  - Mass HP Rec [Inst] (+10% HP) x7
  - Meathook (Reusable 1/combat) x1
  - Ordsea Crystal-B (Reusable 1/combat) x1
  - Ordsea Crystal-B (Reusable 1/combat) x1
  - Rhino's Horn (Reusable 1/combat) x1
  - Samael's Pride | T4 Katana | FLN II | HLY II x1
  - Teleport Crystals x7

Housing Buffs:
  - Bedroom: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
  - Bathroom: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 20% (rounded down)
  - Basic Kitchen: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. This can exceed normal Cook enhancement caps. Ex: A perfect T2 MIT food gives 35 MIT instead of 30.
  - Storage Closet: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
  - Living Room: Increases out of combatHP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
  - Attic (Bedroom): +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cannot boost a skill without ranks, or increase a skill past its maximum rank. Cannot boost a skill the user has not learned yet. Ranks obtained using this buff will make the mods of that rank available for purchase. Mods obtained this way are unusable if this buff is removed until the skill is returned to the appropriate rank by way of SP purchase.
  - Basement: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll
  - Guest Room: Players can have one «Amenity» in a «Guest Room» and the «Amenity» cannot be recovered. Players are allowed to change which «Amenity» is in the «Guest Room». Multiple instances of the same «Amenity» do not stack. This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.
  - Extended Workshop: +2 Crafting EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
  - Ornate Fishing Pond: +2 Fishing EXP per Attempt and additional +1 LD & CD to fishing attempts.
  - Dining Hall: Turn 3 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Feast. A Feast contains 6 portions of the food items sacrificed. Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread.
  - Mega Slime Farm: +10% EXP to a thread. Limit one use per month. Must be used on a player's first post in a thread. Cooldown begins counting down when used in a post.

Guild Hall Buffs: [Guild Rank 3]
  - Guild Hall II: Allows a Guild the ability to create up to two Guild Quests. Narratively, it also allows players to teleport back to the Guild Territory when using Teleport Crystals.  
  - Storage Vault: Allows a guild to create a Storage Vault in their Guild Page. Members can use this thread to store and withdraw items. Any items that have trading restrictions cannot be moved to a Storage Vault.
  - Trading Hall III: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (9+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters and Rank 4 merchants/performers receive +1 crafting/identification attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters and Rank 5 merchants/performers receive +5 crafting/identification attempts per day. Appraisers gain an initial additional reroll per identified item at no cost.
  - Treasury: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.
  - Laboratory I: Once per charge, when receiving single-use consumables from Quest Rewards, if a Guild Treasurer were to receive additional tokens, one guild member may claim 1 x (Additional Token / 2) copies of the consumable.
  - Bureau II: Once per charge, if two or more Guild members are present in a thread, allow two dungeons to be spawned/explored in that thread, regardless of Dungeon-searching cooldowns. This buff may only apply once per thread.
  - Library I: Once per charge, if a Storyteller is eligible to claim a Guild Token, their character gains +10% bonus EXP at the end of the thread. This buff may only apply once per thread.
- Armory II: Once per charge, players may submit a Skill Refund evaluation regardless of the 30 day cooldown window. In addition to Armory buffs, when submitting a Skill Refund evaluation, guild members have the option to pay an additional Token to refund up to 30 additional SP.
- Menagerie III: Guild members undertaking <<Feeding Your Enemy>> gain +1 LD to familiar searching rolls and +1 to familiar taming rolls. In addition to Menagerie II buffs, the maximum number of familiars guild members can tame narratively is five (5). Guild officials may also appoint a familiar mascot, shared between their guild members to accompany them narratively in their threads.
 

Scents of the Wild Totem:
  - Tanos
Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:
 - Appraising[3478exp] R5
Gathering Profession:
 - Fishing[576exp] R5

 

Edited Monday at 03:28 AM by Freyd

[Mari 1]

Mari groaned, her head hurt. Her joints hurt. Her arm especially hurt. Fucking doctor…where was she? It took a moment for her eyes to focus - wherever she was, it was much darker than the practically blinding room she had been in.  There was that familiar buzz hitting the back of her head.

Ah

She was on the 10th floor again. Why? A familiar scent hit her nose - the fresh smell of sulfur. It smelt like that very chemical that the doctor had doused her with. Why was it so strong now?  Did he douse her again so she’d be safe? Odd. Mari still couldn’t get a read on him. He had taken her - forced her to look at her own prejeduces. Then had her knocked out again so he could….safely return her to her store? It…didn’t make sense. All his quirks had the markings of a madman out for blood and chaos - and yet. His actions spoke so very differently. Someone alone. Someone obsessed with the sciences. Someone just trying to find their own way to survive.

Mari’s hand twitched and she felt it, a vial. Mari - barely aware of the chittering sound near her lifted her heavy arm to her face. An orange vial. A note… 

 

Quote

 

This is a precursor strain, we need to find a source and way to synthesize a T3SS that functions on game monsters but not people. Drop your findings at the drop box at the Grand Cathedral in Taft

 

~ Good Luck, Rebyonok

 

 

Oh…Oh…

“Oh!” 

Mari felt her heart skip a beat and she went to sit up- but her head spun and she almost fell straight back down. She placed the precious vial carefully away in her inventory so not to damage it.

He wants you to work with him
                Your gamble paid off, huh?

Think of what you could achieve.

“Dammit…” Mari muttered as she shook her head, the thoughts and voices of this floor were always so loud. Mari slowly pushed herself to her knees again and thats when she noticed it.

A figure stood forebodingly over her. Long, black katana in hand. Aimed directly at her. It seemed to quietly shift and follow her. Mari reached for her weapon but realized she didn’t have it…she was still wearing the treated black material the doctor had given her. The rest of her stuff? Where was it? Mari’s eyes shifted to a sack beside her. Ah. Crap.

The figure had yet to attack her. She could see a message notification blinking - but she dare not open it in front of this man. Instead - she sat there - unmoving - waiting to see what he would do.

Should she make a run for it? She was strong enough by now to be able to withstand most attacks - her eyes shifted to the exit then back to him. He …didn’t have a cursor? Her eyes furrowed in confusion. An event? A NPC? What was this?

“Who?” Mari asked. “Are you?” Her voice was heavy.

 

 

Spoiler

Name: Mari
True Tier: 9
Level: 34
Paragon Level: 53
HP: 920/920
EN: 126/126

Stats:
Damage: 21
Mitigation: 30
Accuracy: 5
Evasion: 2
Battle Healing: 51
Stealth Rating: 3
AA BLI: 32/-20
ENV-O: 32
PARA-V

Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket:
- Paralytic Contagion | T4 | Absolute ACC I | Paralytic Venom I | Envenom OFF I | Blight 1
Armor/Trinket:
- Infernal Shadow | T4 Perfect LA | EVA II | Holy Blessing
Shield/Armor/Trinket:
- Glasses | T1 | ACC: 3

Combat Mastery:
- Combat Mastery: Damage R3

Combat Shift:
- AOE Shift

Familiar Skill:
- Rending Familiar

Custom Skill:
-

Skills:
- Battle Healing R5
- Charge
- Energist
- Light Armor R5
- Polearm R5

Extra Skills:
- Survival
- Hiding R5
- First Aid R2

Inactive Extra Skills:

Addons:
- Focus
- Precision
- Resolve
- Stamina

Mods:
- Meticulous
- Surpise Attack: Trickster
- Untraceable
- Vanish

Inactive Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:

Housing Buffs:
- Bedroom: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
- Living Room: Increases out of combatHP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild Totem:

Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:
- Alchemist[exp] R10
Gathering Profession:

 

Edited Monday at 12:50 AM by Mari

[Freyd 0]

"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.

[Mari 1]

Mari blinked. That voice. She recognized that voice. Mari went to address him but paused, distracted by a strange giggle- “w-What the?” Mari went to glance under the table but the sudden shift of blade closer to her heart made Mari still. Her eyes shifted back up to the man she thought was Freyd.

“- That should answer your question, Mari-I'm-Mari."

It was Freyd. Relief flooded her system. “Freyd…” She breathed, but…then why was he looking at her like that. Steeled eyes staring accusatorial down at her. “W-what did I…” There was a pang of pain in her chest. She thought they were friends so what was he…

He’s just over your bullshit
  You didn’t message him like you were supposed to

Did you really think he’d be your friend after everything?

Mari shook her head. No. NO. Those thoughts were all wrong. “I…had an overly sweet fruit cocktail.” She knew what Freyd wanted. “Then we had Whiskey. You thought it might have been scotch.”

Freyd was wanting to confirm it was her, right?

Right?

Mari reached out gently, the plat of her palm against the flat of his blade, carefully trying to push it away from her heart. “Please don’t.”

[Freyd 0]

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.

Edited Monday at 02:40 AM by Freyd

[Mari 1]

“What?”

She was confused. Hadn’t it only been a day?

“Of course I’m alive I-” Her eyes widened, oh. She forgot to message him back. He must have come looking. “Oh…oh Freyd…I’m sorry I didn’t message you back yesterday!” She began, to explain. “I got so distracted.” She carefully pushed herself to her feet, albeit she was a little wobbly. It was clear he was still concerned for her. Mari offered him a sheepish grin. Reaching out to run a reassuring hand up and down his upper arm. “Really, I’m okay.” She paused. “I mean…This floor is messing with my head a little - but - it does that to everyone.”

 

What the hell happened here?

 

Mari blinked. Then her smile widened. “Ah! Come see!” She pulled him down with her, so they were both seated by the table that had been placed in the middle of her store. “Look! This was the centrifuge I was talking about.” She pulled the orange vial out of her inventory - and carefully strung it to one side of it. “See, look.” Mari began to wind the string around and around the bottom of her contraption. “I wasn’t able to make like anything using shafts or wheels but this makes do in a pinch when you pull this string it sets off the spinning. Kinda like a spin top.”  She would watch with Freyd, excitement in her eyes until the cycle slowed down. Mari carefully stopped it with her hand then gestured to the liquid - a thin membrane of clear liquid now sat ontop of the orange. “See? SEE!?”

Mari collected the vial and carefully peered into it. “I was using like that to try and get a closer look but it doesn’t work too well.” She was distracted, and had pointed loosely to the set of frames that were stacked on top of each other. 

“I’m trying to figure out a pathogen that would affect monsters. But not people…I’m sorry.. I really should have messaged you.”

Edited Monday at 02:54 AM by Mari

[Freyd 0]

"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."

[Mari 1]

Four days?

Mari froze. No…No it hadn’t, it’d been a day…right? Her gaze met Freyds - his hands gripping her arms tightly, almost so tight that they shook. Was he…scared? No…worried.

“Four…days…?” Mari asked quietly. Now that the man seemed to have more of her attention he let go. Mari slowly sat back down. Her brows furrowing. “How…” She rose a hand to her forehead. “It didn’t….feel like that…”

If it had been that long…no wonder Freyd was so panicked. Mari would have been the same if her friend just up and disappeared after a series of messages like that. “Freyd…I had no idea…” She said quietly.  “I….” she glanced around her store. Everything looked the same. As though no time had passed. Her usual attire still in a sack to the side. Blue eyes shifted down to her current attire. No wonder he had initially met her with hostility.

“I wanted to help with the Spectral Knights.” Mari began. Trying to piece together bits of information.  “No…wait…” What was she doing before that?

Beat.

“No…I…I came here looking for Beat.” Mari reached out to the sack, and pulled out her regular clothes -and with a flash of pixels she was wearing her usual orange garb.

“Instead of him…I found someone else - researching different antidotes - and I wanted to help so…” Mari groaned as she rubbed her temple. This floor was really messing with her.

4 days… that was her mental limit for this place. 

“I was given this pathogen - with a note asking to decode it - so I did - and - the plan was to figure out a way for it to affect monsters, but not people. That….Ahh…that really excited me! I love picking things apart like that - and…but…4 days???”

It was clear Mari was still struggling to put together a coherent series of events for Freyd. But she was trying. "Freyd If...I've been here for 4 days...I need to get away from this floor."

Edited Thursday at 05:19 AM by Mari

[Freyd 0]

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."

[Mari 1]

Mari shivered as she rubbed her arms - Freyd mode of...transportation always felt like she had taken a dip in an ice bath. "Not many people realize..." Mari began, her head already feeling clearer - "But Flooor 10 has an adverse affect on cognitive ability. It's normally not too bad, because most people spend a day or two there - but the longer you're there its like..." Mari pursed her lips as she continued to run her hands over her arms. "It feels like you hear voices - it feels suffocating."

Now the two were away from all that, sitting on a checkered blanket. Mari couldn't help but snort in amusement. It felt like a calming picnic. Maybe that's what Freyd thought she needed.  

Mari reached for a hot drink first; then the vial of  grey liquid. She shifted so she sat cross legged, slowly- Mari began to piece things together more coherently for Freyd. "Beat and I would go to the 10th floor together sometimes. We'd sit by the echo flowers before that great big void. I went to the floor to search for him. But instead of him I ran into...." Mari paused at this. How should she explain that enigmatic man?

"I ran into someone who looked like a plague doctor. They were researching the Stygnian River - and its adverse affects on monsters." Mari paused to take a long drink. Then she popped open the cork to the vial. She gave a disgusted look as her eyes shifted up to him, then back down to the vial. Then - Mari threw it back, without question. She started coughing as she thumped her chest. "Holy fuck..." Whatever it was, it was nasty. 

"He showed me this chemical he was working on." Mari waved her hand over her form. "That's probably why I stink. It...Freyd...it seemed to practically melt the monsters that drew near. Do you...have any idea how useful that would be?" She asked. Mari's eyes lit up - as she started on a mild tangent. "Think about it! Imagine those too scared to leave the lower floors - or the issue with the Spectral Knights? Imagine the confidence and freedom people would have if they had access to something like that!? The man gave me this little vial to research!" 

Her eyes shifted away, as though she was remembering it fondly. "It...I didn't believe it, but it almost looked like Ebola - which sounds insane. But, I mean..." Her fingers trailed the rim of the cup she held. Her voice grew quiet. "You're...aware of my past..." She didn't want to outright say it, that she had experimented on people - and on herself. Just how far she had pushed the limits of the games coding.

"At first...it was scary - I threw away what I had in that River but...then...it was made clear to me that it was meant to help people. Yanno thats how medicine works....it can do a wealth of good in the right quantities."

 

“Eat. Drink. Your system may be in shock.”  

Mari glanced at the food. She had to admit...she was hungry. "Oh. Oh...Four days....that's right...I was knocked out. I was in this very brightly lit workshop."

[Freyd 0]

“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.”