[PT-PP-14] Faceless Fundamentals

[Freyd 0]

Fire burns hottest before being smothered beneath its own ambitions or falling to the cannibalistic consumption of the very fuel it needs to survive.  Fire it warmth.  Fire is light.  It is also fleeting, always and inevitably fading back to the eternal, silent stillness of night.  Thus it was that the stage was poignantly set amidst the stagnant black blight known as the Font of Abhorrence on the outskirts of Fourteen.  Said to be the origin of tragic calamity, there could be no better reminder of the stakes and themes for the day's discussion.  Night had already set over the wrecked fuming wreck of a floor.  If any moons shone, they rarely asserted anything more than a haze of red light concealed behind heavy charcoal coloured clouds perpetually smothering any upward glances.  Fourteen felt oppressively low, like some layer of Hell someone had forgotten to record for posterity.  It was just left to bake as an afterthought.

Orangey-red liquid veins snaked their way across the infernal landscape, minor ambient glows flaring with occasional flighty bursts of ember, or the popping cauls of magma splattering up and out to scorch anything nearby.  The place stank of sulfur and desperation, pleasures lost and dreams turned to cinders.  Consequences.

Amidst the arcane pillars of power stood the lone silhouette of a woman, light of build and bundled in just enough snug cloth to fully conceal her features.  She had no face, merely a hood languishing over her head like the head of a serpent; permanently affixed by her role.  No marker spun over her head.  She did not exist, by the system's reckoning, yet there she stood quietly gazing into a pool of perfectly reflecting nothingness.  The curve of a blade upon her back implied a katana, but those who'd met this figure before knew her true armaments were far less obvious and more sinister than a mere blade.  Hers were the hands guiding people as weapons, each finger a deadly instrument tethered to a master string.  

Was she what pulled those strings, or merely some other entity's messenger?  Most favored the latter, thinking her some clandestinely servile NPC.  None who'd dared challenge any presumptions were ever seen again.  Whatever Faceless Lord played with pieces on this particular board, she might be another.  Might.

"You've been busy, it seems."  The voice warbled, carrying hints both male and female, audio-tuned into obscurity by necessity and good measure.  Meant for a figure approaching from the right, he would spot the last vestiges of the site's guardians slinking across the stone and vanishing into the pool of night.  The blackness summoned all life into itself.  They knew their time to be limited by the respawn.  Too long was never a good thing anyway, for many reasons.

***

@Lancaster

Note: CS (Shades of the Gemini) and CSA (Beckon the Void) are in use.  

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

<<Assist System Engaged>> (+5% EXP)
Level: 17
Paragon: 0
Tier: 2
True Tier: 2

Freyd | HP: 1050/1050 | EN: 132/132 | DMG: 15 | ACC:8 | EVA:7 | PARA-IM | FLN: 4 | BLD: 24  | PARA (1+) | LD:6                   

Spoiler

Name: Freyd, The Faceless
True Tier: 20
Level: 17
Paragon Level: 176
HP: 1050/1050
EN: 132/132

Stats:
Damage: 15
Accuracy: 8
Evasion: 7
Loot Die: 5
Stealth Rating: 5
PARA-IM FLN: 4
BLD: 24 
PARA (1+)

Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Forgotten King's Spite | PARA I | FLN I | BLD II
Armor/Trinket: 
  - Aspect of the Void | ACC I | EVA III
Shield/Armor/Trinket: 
  - The Shadowed Rose | ACC III | PARA-Imm

Combat Mastery:
  - Combat Mastery: Damage R3

Combat Shift:
  - AOE Shift

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

Skills:
  - Energist
  - Katana R5
  - Searching R4
  - Unhindered
  - Focused x8 (Specialties)

Extra Skills:
  - Disguise
  - Survival
  - Hiding R5
  - Forgotten King's Authority

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

Addons:
  - Focus
  - Precision
  - Stamina

Mods:
  - Untraceable
  - Vanish
  - Surprise Attack (Assassni)

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
  - Teleport Crystals x7
  - Samael's Pride | FLN II | HLY II

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:
  - Kumatetsu
Wedding Ring:

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

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Freyd

[Lancaster 1]

The slight ever glowing orange of the floor offered a silence upon black sands, a flick of his thumb would see the smoke pressed to his lips lit. "You'll find the coffers rather full il capo, Mirianna found whatever trinket she was supposed to find." He'd exhale a film of soot from his lungs, tapping feverishly with a flick of the wrist to allow it to rain like snow. The woman had long returned to the caverns and down into the bellows. Their resources were more then fit to hold out for whatever the plan was supposed to be. It had been a little ambiguous and some were getting a little wily. Hell just the other day Lancaster was forced to go running to Horunka to ice one of his useless henchmen going stir crazy.

"The construction is underway as well, I'm sure your pleased. Although I must admit the floor is a dump, the booze isn't bad though. Primo stuff." The man would shrug, offering a pair of pointers and some acknowledgement to the freshly primed warp gate on floor 29. The shape that this figure took always left Lancaster's skin to crawl, like an amorphous entity with all the answers. Whenever they needed some cash, it would provide. Whenever it wanted something dead, well they obliged. A symbiotic relationship with only the smallest list of demands. It left their life's fun and their bellies full. Lancaster certainly wasn't arguing. "Pardon, il capo. This seems a little trivial for your caliber no?" The loaded question a little curious as to the reasoning of the visit.

"Ah, before I forget. It would seem that some of those Frontliners are sniffing around. Freyd, I believe. and his little attack dogs I'd imagine. Could prove... le difficoltà."

---

<<Assist System Engaged>>
Level: 17
Paragon: 0
Tier: 2
True Tier: 2

---

Lancaster | HP: 220/220 | EN: 42/42 | DMG: 1

Spoiler

Name: Lancaster, The Consuming Tyrant
True Tier: 2
Level: 17
Paragon Level: 0
HP: 340/340
EN: 52/52

Stats:
Damage: 1

Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket: 
  - 
Armor/Trinket: 
  - 
Shield/Armor/Trinket: 
  - 

Combat Mastery:
  - 

Combat Shift:
  - 

Familiar Skill:
  - 

Custom Skill:
  - 

Skills:

Extra Skills:

Inactive Extra Skills:

Addons:

Mods:

Inactive Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:

Housing Buffs:

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild Totem:

Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:

Gathering Profession:

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Lancaster

[Freyd 0]

"Nothing is ever too trivial, consigliere. But you know that."  Unspoken, the obvious inference to Lancaster's own recent dalliances.  It was both warning and permission in a single untaken breath. A missing explanation implied.  Fingers were permitted their own diddling so long as goals were achieved. Loose ends, however... those might need to be tied off with a tourniquet, left to wither and die.  Fingers themselves often didn't bear well against amputation, and functionality was too readily lost.  Better a thousand thousand cuts to make the point.

"What of the others? Know you of their progress as well?" A test or genuine query.  Like both. You could never really tell with this one.  She answered questions with questions, and posed often more when she already knew the answers.

"When will construction be finished.  The are other links to be forged in this chain."  Lies were often more easily revealed by comparing perspectives.  When nine stories matched, and one didn't, time could be easily saved and energies applied most effectively.  She'd probably already had this conversation, and was always having it.  Daintily adjusting serpentine gloves ending in long spider-like fingers, the woman sat like some arachnid measuring pulses within her own web.  Every once in awhile, the web would need repair or expanding.  More rarely, an opportunity would arise for departure from norms.  Or nuisances would arise, like the one mentioned by name.

"Easily managed. Feed them some minion.  Let them give chase to scraps instead of real meat.  Unless..."

The hood turned an inch in Lancaster's direction, to the tune of creaking leather sounding disturbingly like the imagined tightening of a noose.

"Recount."

Glossing over the trivial would prove both unwise and inadequate.

[Lancaster 1]

"Right." The man would hesitate and lean forward with both of his hands raised, pointing to gesture his acknowledgement of the seriousness just from the enigma's tone. "You are right il capo, always right. From what I know, Bran is doing his own research at your directive. Tybalt has been proving an excellent distraction." The man tapped his head trying desperately to paw at the information of crap he wasn't directly privy to. "Genma was hunting those ridiculous attempted PK'ers from the other day, and Hiroshi is continuing to dig into find out what makes people tick." The man was actively counting them out on his hand, it was more like telephone more then anything. They were so subdivided, so compartmentalized, the only person with the whole picture was... The big cheese.

Pulling another heavy puff off that cigarette of his, which was doing basically nothing to calm his nerves given these little meetings were never a cause for comfort. "A day or two at best, as far as I am aware." A bit of hesitation to not wish to be wrong. "3 at best, il capo. Rest assured it will be handled." The man would kneel, to prostrate himself and keep his head. Less he'd become an apple like so many before him. "It will be done, I am sure that Rosaria has plenty of fodder to spare for the frontlines dogs. As far as I know, is only this Freyd who is on our tail. Was sniffing around..." He'd waver, trying to choose his words carefully. "My time off." Trying to avoid the subject for fear of what he would be told to do if the admission was full. Desperate to not be forced to lie, unsure if it would actually slip through the spiders web at all.

[Freyd 0]

"Isn't it curious, mio amico, that even with all of these other busy bees, that this bothersome nuisance should find its attentions drawn to our activities through completely random and alternative means?"  Even through the audio distortions, her meaning was clearer than a cold, still Austrian lake on a winter's morn.  Despite the oppressive literal furnace heat surrounding them, there was a sudden chill in the air, like the void before them had suddenly cooled its temperament.  "It wasn't Bran's zeal, or Rosaria's entourage, or even Tybalt's deliberate distractions that required my direct attentions today, but your lustful dalliances."

"You know better than to delve too deeply into the other fingers' affairs.  It protects us."

"You know better than to poke bears best left passively dormant and distracted with other pastimes."

"You know better, Lancaster.  Or you should.  Than to make me care enough to draw my gaze upon her."  Some random nameless mountain in the background chose that precise moment to blow its top, perfectly timing the spew of ash and fire - the awesome devastation of nature's wrath unfurled, and yet it paled in comparison to the insidiousness threat just uttered barely above the level of a whisper.

"Deal with it.  Wisely and quietly, as you already should have.  Don't draw that fool Freyd any tighter into our orbit by adding insult to indiscretion.  And if you can't, I'll carve your tether out of her hide - or other places - making you wish you hadn't left your barbed dick so brazen laying out in the landscape.  It's the ladies. after all, who suffer the aftermath of its pleasures... and its pains."

A rumbling cloud of ash and destruction washed over them, the consequence of a mountainous monument crumbling under pressure from its own smoldering hubris now spilling forth its contents from miles away.  Turning to face him, the tall, slender woman casually brushed a few flakes off his shoulder as dozens more floated down to lay their own burdens.  Twisting her hand, she traced his chiseled jaw line, fingers barely applying any pressure to his sweaty, swarthy skin and she pinched and extinguished the cigarette still languishing in his mouth. 

Point made.  The hand withdrew, melding back into the rest of her mottled form.  Lancaster was left to his own thoughts for a moment before she plainly asked, in the same tone one might use to address a friendly neighbour who'd accidentally sprayed your freshly detailed luxury car with his busted ass, rusty lawn sprinkler.

"I've always admired both your passions and your brains, my friend.  Take a moment to think with your other head.  Capisce?"