[PT-PP-F04] Cause and Effect

[Mari 1]

Floor 10

 

Mari was kneeling over the bioluminescent lake on the 10th floor. Staring into its deathly still surface. It looked so inviting in a way - mystical almost. The shimmers reflecting on the surface reminded her of all manner of fairy tales one was told as a child. But, that was a lie. Most often - the pretty things in the world - were the most dangerous. This was no different. Mari would sit against the wall sometimes, and watch creatures wander in, never to return. She had a feeling she knew what was in it. At least in theory. The water was stagnant. There was no telling what matter of fungi and bacteria were in it - the first thought and the most dangerous that came to Mari’s mind was flesh eating bacteria. Atan was already researching this. But..her curiosity.

Imagine a potent poison made of that
      It's for defence - if anyone came after you - you could throw it in their face…the effects wouldn’t be evident for days. You’d be fine. You’d be free

Mari shook her head. The thoughts were becoming more invasive…more frequent lately.
Not once did she entertain them, nor let them win. They were nothing more than lingering notions, and yet… it felt like the more she ignored them the more persistent they became.

Reaching into her pocket Mari pulled out a large  syringe - the kind that you’d use to feed medicine to a kid. Except in place of plastic was glass - Mari carefully dipped it into the lake and pulled a sample of the water. Just to test. Nothing more. She just wanted to know what was inside it.

Mari stood and turned to leave the small cave. She paused at its entrance, a hand leaning on the side as she coughed violently. SO much so that she had to spit to the side. “Eurgh..” Maybe she had been drinking too much, maybe it was the spores. “One more place.”

She didn’t want to be on this floor, not after Freyd had found her here last time. She could only imagine his reaction if he knew she was back here. But her shop was here. There were so…so so many untold secrets here. The acrid stench of the solution she wore on her dark clothes kept the monsters at bay as she made her way to the large hole - the void. Surrounded by echo flowers. The place her and Beat shared a moment, the place she fell.

This pit..had no bottom, to her knowledge Mari and Beat were the only players to ever fall in. Well jump in - willingly at least. Every so often Mari would still feel the effects of that day. Whispers that weren’t quite there, illusions in the corner of her eye. As Mari neared, she stepped through the decayed corpse of a large snake. Pausing, Mari rested a hand on one of its skeletal bones. She ran a hand up and down it, what did this creature used to be?

Tired…

Mari felt tired. Unbelievably so. She leaned her body against it and allowed her eyes to close as her body slumped to knees. Just…a small rest…
 

—

Mari woke. Her body felt cold and sore. Mari lifted her hands, staring at them. They were shaking, and covered in a black filth. Dirty from the floor. She tried wiping it off on her clothing. Then slowly stood. One foot forward then another, then another till she was at the edge of the pit. Her stomach churned. Dread filled her, but it was normal for this place. Crystalline flowers surrounded the area, swaying gently in an unfelt breeze.

‘Leeeroooy Jeennki-’

Mari’s foot came crushing down on that particular flower. Slowly, Mari began to circle the pit, pausing to listen to the echo flowers, every so often she’d stamp out an obnoxious one. Where is it? Blue eyes, tired, darted from side to side trying to find one unique flower out of a field of many. It was impossible to visually tell the difference but…

Sobbing

Mari stilled. Hearing the familiar sound. It was an echo flower that had caught her crying. A sound Mari didn’t know would be recorded. Disgusting. Mari knelt down beside it. It continued to cry, soft whimpers. Mari allowed it another moment before a gloved hand reached out and crushed it.

That wasn’t enough, her fingers dug their way into the dirt, pulling its roots from the ground, then, holding the mangled plant in her hand Mari held it over the pit. She knew it would regurgitate back up, but she didn’t care. It was symbolic. “You’re not wanted here anymore.” She whispered as he released it - and watched the shimmering light grow smaller and smaller as it fell.

‘You’re not wanted either’

 

Mari was used to the whispers on this floor, but this one felt different. Closer - as though she could almost feel the breath tickling the skin of her ear. A spear materialized in her hand as she turned on her heel expecting to see someone. Something.

…..Nothing…

“I need to get out of here…” Mari groaned as she trudged away from the pit. She didn’t need to accidentally fall in.

—

Fourth Floor

Mari was at the frozen lake her house was nestled by - slowly rounding its edges. Her footsteps leaving heavy imprints in the freshly falling snow. Rest. Gods she needed rest…

Her steps paused - swayed as her vision blurred. Crap…she was so close to home- all she had to do was go forward a few more metres then she could safely pass out on the floor. Just a few more feet just a -

 

The world span and Mari fell into the snow with a heavy thud. A smear of black and gold amongst pure white. Her body remained unmoving, unconscious.

Then - a sudden and sickening jolt as the woman regurgitated more black bile, it trickled from her lips into the snow - melting it. The unconscious woman was completely unaware. Her world covered in darkness.
 

Spoiler

 

 

Name: Mari True Tier: 10 Level: 34 Paragon Level: 61 HP: 960/960 EN: 130/130 Stats: Damage: 21 Mitigation: 44 Accuracy: 5 Evasion: 4 Battle Healing: 53 Loot Die: 1 Stealth Rating: 5 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 I Armor/Trinket: - Infernal Shadow-Redemption | T4 | EVA III | MIT I Shield/Armor/Trinket: - Glasses | T1 | ACC III Combat Mastery: - Combat Mastery: Damage R3 Combat Shift: - AOE Shift Familiar Skill: - Rending Familiar Custom Skill: - Skills: - Battle Healing R5 - Charge - Cloth Armor R5 - Energist - Polearm R5 Extra Skills: - Survival - Hiding R5 - First Aid R3 Inactive Extra Skills: Addons: - Focus - Nimble - Precision - Resolve - Stamina Mods: - Athletics - 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 7 hours ago by Mari

[Freyd 0]

Midnight in Ilridge. Less a town than a fortified camp, its hollow ruins remained little more than the frontlines' vanguard outpost and toe hold on a floor seemingly designed to devour their sanity.  Worse yet were the irreplaceable losses, compounded by constant grievous injuries. Too many players were rushing in overconfident and unprepared, returning mauled to within a sliver of total deletion.  They had scouts enough.  What they lacked were healers. Confronted with a need, Freyd did what he always did: he adapted.  Skulking about in heavy armor was a waste of effort anyway, even if the skill package had kept his creaky armor's naturally occurring racket to a more manageable clatter.  

So it was that he found himself kneeling over a wounded blonde woman, a tank by her gear, fear bleeding from her eyes in the form of tears.  Some of her team had not made it, and she'd nearly joined them.  Freyd knew the sensations well, having lived and died by the same prospects during the last raid. Maybe his own maulting at Callisto's hands played some subtle part in it.  How would he know for sure?

"Rest easy.  I can't do this properly if you keep squirming around."  Fierce protest and dismissal failed when she recognized his features.  News of a fallen frontliner tended to spread fast - even more so when the death proved to be exaggerated.  

"Yeah.  I got better," Freyd verbally handwaved, his own digits busy trying to recall the unfamiliar skill activation sequences.  The last thing he needed was to instinctually trigger a sword art and accidentally kill the poor woman. It took a timely false cough to cover up his relief when her health started ticking upward.  "Do us both a favour and work on your battle healing, okay?  It's rather essential for any tank."

As scolding went, his was so tame as to be considered passable bedside manner. Another thing he never expected to find himself doing.  Leaving the healer's shelter, a repurposed inn on the edge of the central square chosen for its virtue of still having an intact roof, Freyd summoned himself a steaming cup of coffee as reward for having done more harm than good, for a change.

Its vanilla-scented vapours barely reached his nostrils before saucer and cup alike clattered and shattered on cobblestones. Something wrenched from within.  Like the sensation of your stomach lurching left when your body moved right, this version would put the g-forces of multi-mach fighter jet maneuvers to shame.  Up became down as Freyd felt his vision pulled toward Montjoy's still standing form while his body stumbled to find the ground.

His shade's silhouette looked equally distraught, gaze set to the distant horizon as if called upon by something darkly disturbing and familiar.  Something they both knew and understood better than perhaps any players in Aincrad was struggling to re-emerge into this world - to break its bonds and run rampant as its had been lured into doing once before.  They had dealt with his own dark manifested impulses, but hers had remained within, suppressed but still seething and eager.

"Mari."

A puff of white powder marked his unceremonious appearance, a full quarter castle floors away from where he'd been a moment earlier.  Distance meant nothing in the void, there being nothing between all the points its connected.  He saw the black bile spew forth, its bearer's tangerine form slumping sideways into the snow.

"No, no, NO!  Mari!"  Clad like a blackened icebreaker, the Whisper rushed towards her as fast as frozen terrain would allow, hoping there was still time.

***

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

GUILD RANK 5 (+5% col, +5% EXP)

Freyd | HP: 1360/1360 | EN: 168/168 | DMG: 21 | MIT:152 | ACC:4 | AA  | F-SPIRIT | EVA:2 | BH:75 | VAMP-D: 75 | HLY: 16 | FRZ: 64 | LD:5

Spoiler

Name: Freyd, Bara no kuro kishi
True Tier: 20
Level: 34
Paragon Level: 158
HP: 1360/1360
EN: 168/168

Stats:
Damage: 21
Mitigation: 152
Accuracy: 4
Evasion: 2
Battle Healing: 75
Loot Die: 5
Stealth Rating: -3
VAMP-D: 75
HLY: 16
FRZ: 64

Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Memento Mori | T4 | AA | FREEZE | HOLY II
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
  - Charge
  - Energist
  - Extended Mod Limit
  - Extended Weight Limit
  - Fighting Spirit
  - Heavy Armor R5
  - Howl
  - Katana R5
  - Quick Change
  - Searching R4

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

Inactive Extra Skills:
  - Meditation
  - Forgotten King's Authority
  - Lady Luck
  - Photosynthesize
  - Brawler
  - Assault Mode
  - Frozen Hide
  - Survival

Addons:
  - Field Medic
  - Focus
  - Focused Howl
  - Hyperactive
  - Iron Skin
  - Precision
  - Reveal
  - Stamina

Mods:
  - Barrier
  - Untraceable
  - Emergency Recovery
  - Impetus
  - Night Vision
  - Purify
  - Tracking

Inactive Mods:
  - Detect

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
  - Teleport Crystals x7
  - Tue Light Lantern (+1 ACC, +1 LD to party) x1
  - Veritas | T4 Katana) | AA, PVO I, VO I, Taunt x1

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: [Firm Anima] 

  - 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 1 hour ago by Freyd

[Mari 1]

A small giggle bubbled forth from Mari’s lips as the salt and peppered man approached, skidding down next to her in the snow. The womans form was partially hidden, covered by the powered ice.

“You can’t stop this.” The voice was cold, low and almost melodious. It would have almost been enchanting with the way it practically sang the words, if they weren’t laced with an underlining vitterol.

More black bile bubbled up over Mari’s lips.

The voices rose in Mari’s unconscious mind, drowning out the sound of Freyd’s frantic shouting.

You’re free, you’re so free right now - you can do whatever you like, whomever you like.
      Isn’t this better?
Isn’t this fun?
            Look what you’ve created.  Look what you can achieve if you just let

                                                It…
                                                              All….
                                                                                 Go….

Mari groaned outwardly, her eyes fluttering beneath her closed lids. A long exhale of steamed blume as she let out a shivered breath. Her fingers twitched. She was having fun. She enjoyed experiments. She enjoyed creating things. Her time with Oscar was so sorely needed - but there were lines - expectations - Things she couldn’t do again. Wouldn’t do again. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair. And yet…

Yet you keep wondering what if…

Mari couldn’t focus on what is. Or what could have been. No…she wanted to live in the moment, for the moment. She wanted to protect those she cared about.

And yet no one cares.

Her eyes fluttered open. That thought hurt. A deep pain in her chest.

Mari! Talk to me Mari…

The sound of worry. If no one cared, then why did that voice sound so panicked. “T-Takeshi?” Mari croaked weakly. She felt like she had been hit by a truck. She could taste bile. Did she throw up? Mari struggled to push herself up. She had almost headbutted Freyd. His blue eyes wide, filled with concern as he reached out to wipe something from her face.

“W-What are you-”

Her question disappeared as she looked down at his gauntlet clad hand. Black?

“I…don’t feel too good.” Mari admitted, swaying. Woozy.    

[Freyd 0]

Eyes widening at the implausible sight playing out before him, he'd long since hoped to have put this behind him.  And maybe he had, but clearly not Mari.  Her baggage never seemed to leave, endlessly cycling back around like it was on some sort of infernal airport carousal that simply defied any effort to reclaim or remove it. Everyone was just along for the ride.

“You can’t stop this.”

"Like Hell, I can't."  Freyd's voice sounded more certain than he felt, especially knowing the toll and time it had taken him to overcome what had followed. That catharsis had nearly killed him, more than once, even to the point where his form had literally shattered and been frozen in time on the precipice of existence. It had taken the precious efforts of a rose to pull him back, for which he would be ever grateful.  Whatever he and Mari were to each other - a tangles skein of yarn thrown into a bag of feral cats came to mind - he couldn't leave her like this.  They were too much alike for him to ever give up on her without accepting that he'd be giving up on himself.

"Montjoy.  Please!" Detaching its tethers from his form, Freyd's shadow took on a look less familiar, as if belonging to a different person whose outline was better suited to a world they'd all been slowly forgetting.  Like two magnets of the same pole one shadow pressed against the manifestation of the other of managed to corral it, if only for the time being.  There's too much here for it to stay bottled up forever.  It's amazing she's held it in for this long.

Gathering Mari's crumpled body in his arms, he hefted her free of the landscape's grip and trudged through the remaining distance to her home.  A hefty boot and future apology would serve as key, silently thankful that the system allowed it.  Maybe Mari's presence alone was enough.  Whatever.  He didn't care, save to get her inside and warmed.  Only then did he realize her garb had changed, and not in a good way.

"Amari... what have you done?"  More pleading and concern than anger, Freyd pulled what cushions and blankets were available together and set the hearth ablaze with a not-so-subtle sword art.  Comfort was his priority.  Rest, for poor tired Mari, not that he felt like any amount could ever truly suffice.  That thing inside her wasn't going anywhere.  Cradling her against him, her head lay buried in the crook of his shoulder as he rubbed the quilt wrapped around her hoping to stir her back to consciousness.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?"

A question for you both.

Edited 42 minutes ago by Freyd