Baldur

<<Kaajh'Kaalbh - Mother of Smiles>> As the newly buffed MorningStar came for the Mother again, her smiles widened, ready for player with her new round of shields in place, but once again the player's sword arts crashed into her, and while his damage was blocked, her smiles were once again frozen. They tried to writhe with anger, but the paralytic venom held her in place, with his hit, one of the smiles seemed to peel off of her face like a sticker that had lost its adhesive and floated to the ground. "RRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!" It screamed wordlessly at him through smiles that re

Baldur chuckled at Jomei's remarks about the heat in the volcano, "It reminds me of summers in Kyoto." Unlike Hirru, however, Baldur had his <<Survival>> mode on. They weren't likely to be pressed to the brink here, so he didn't need to bring his parry mod. "And yeah, we'll need to fight the bigger version. The trick is that if you get all three of his heads in a narrow health window, he will summon more adds. Once we kill those adds, we'll be able to finish off the quest boss. The difficult part for us, will be doing little enough damage to not simply kill the heads. Thankful

As the <<Phoenix>> dove down to attack them, Baldur stepped in front of Morningstar. It wasn't an act of bravery to protect the man, he obviously didn't need Baldur's help with the Phoenix, other than efficiency's sake. No, Baldur stepped in front of Morningstar so that they were was no question about where the bird would go. Rather than trying to target it with a sword art and guess who it might attack, Baldur put both of them in its flight path. As entered the part of its diving arc where it came straight at them, Baldur sliced the air once, then twice, and as he did so crescent

Baldur returned the bow that Alkor gave him. They had not spoken in a long time, not since their fight. Something about the man had changed, and Baldur couldn't help but want to dig in, and see if the man had stopped letting the expectations of others control him and who he was allowed to be. The gaijin samurai realized he didn't even know where the man had left things with Lessa, which had been a source of strife for the man at the time. "Alkor, good to see you again." Regardless, he viewed Alkor as a peer, and someone Baldur had crossed blades with in a way that was not life or dea

When Acanthus questioned the ability to really know someone, Baldur opened his mouth slightly to release one of the many witty, platitudes he was known for, but when Acanthus recovered and continued it gave him pause. There was a kernel there that needed to be explored, but for now he merely knew there was more to that feeling than a simple platitude could help. Slowly, she released a white knuckled grip on the cup, that had this been the real world, he might have been worried would have broken. She was nervous, perhaps, talking about the frontline. So he let the conversation flow. I woul

<<Kaajh'Kaalbh - Mother of Smiles>> "Welcome back, my dear..." The Mother of Smiles says as Morningstar returns to the fight, but before she can embrace him with a loving smile and hug, the player lands his stunning attack with an explosive sword art. It is then, he notices, that her smile disappears. Did she have more of them before? Then Crozeph came in, playing racquetball with a hex, and while it was effective against the faceless Mother of Smiles, as his attack pushed her health bar down into the second, a shiver ran through her stunned form and her face was once aga

Baldur listened carefully to Acanthus' story and was pleased that she was so willing to open up to him. It felt good to have someone to talk to, both for him and he hoped for her as well. People needed someone to talk to, and a space they felt safe doing so. She had come to the frontline later than some, but there were always new people joining the fight. "I think most people would call me a veteran, but my first involvement in a boss fight was the floor 9 boss... and I didn't even fight it. That's the one where Alkor kinda but not really died. People were going to go into that fight with

When Star brought up Kayaba wanting to experience the game from front row seats, Baldur's mind's eye turned back to Freyd, and seeing him disappear into the boss's embrace, only to reappear somewhere else. Then to watch the man die before he was resurrected right before Baldur's eyes. Perhaps Kayaba was there watching from the front row. "Ope, let's get to it then." Baldur put the lid on the bento as the Phoenix grew closer, then slowly put the food back into his inventory and dusted off his haori before resettling it around his shoulders as the Phoenix screeched and moved into a div

Baldur accepted the tea and sake with genuine appreciation, giving her a slight seated bow as he accepted them from her. He admired each in turn, letting her explain the teas and where they came from, before setting them down on his opposite side. "Thank you very much! I still appreciate sake, even if I can't get drunk form it. Even in the outside world, getting drunk is not an activity I take part in, though warm sake on a cold winter night... it can be difficult not to get a little tipsy." He gave a slight, embarrassed laugh. "I will be very interested to try this Tomioka tenderleaf. I

Baldur gave an unusually boisterous laugh considering his normally reserved demeanor when Star mentioned how unpleasant the labyrinth was. He didn't give any details, but it still gave Baldur a flashback. "You know, when we scouted the labyrinth for the fight against the floor 26 boss, it was in the city sewers." He chuckled some more, catching his breath and then wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of his eye, "We fought a giant sewer rat, a la Master Splinter from the Ninja Turtles." Baldur took another piece of sushi and popped it into his mouth, letting the last bit of his

When Kiru asked that he relay to Oikawa that he would benefit from avoiding her, both of Baldur's eyes raised, though only slightly. He wasn't surprised people would ostracize him for being a PKer, but there was something more personal about this Kiru. He only nodded in confirmation of her request. When she relayed that Alkor wanted to meet somewhere else, Baldur nodded. He closed up the bento box of sushi, slowly stood up and shook out his coat, then threw it back around his shoulders. He picked up his katana, but put them back into his inventory, instead of equipping them. It felt a bit odd

Baldur sat, as he often did, on one of the wooden walkways around one of the buildings of his home, his feet dangling over the water of one of the many fishing ponds, with his shakuhachi in hand. Slowly he ran through sequences of notes, trying to internalize them rather than relying on the system to play for him. Soft, melancholy notes drifted out among the gardens and the trees that covered his home. An island that had once been covered with monsters, but which Baldur had tamed and transformed into his sanctuary, the network of buildings that was his home, and the web of buildings that was t

The figure with the black crystal seemed to smile, though its face was not visible. Another flash of red lightning revealed a face wearing a mask hidden deep in the cowl of its hood. Ẉ̷͖͙̻͋̊̌̊̐̏̕e̵̡̡̨̛̟̫̲̜͖̖̲̙̺͖̩͔̯̣̎̋̏̃̓͝ĺ̵̻̼͉̯̱͇͔͓̙̞̲͉̼̳̟̭͓̗̠̪̏̿̓͒͌̈́̃̆̔̐͘͘͜͠͝͠c̷̲̀̀o̵̧̯̞̮̖̮̤̳̜̐̾̃͊͐́̌̅́̎̌͗͐̈́̿̀͠ͅm̵̜̹̥̟̳̬̟̔̾͛̀ể̵̛̳͖̖̭͓̰̭̭͇̟̠̜̳͎̅̋͆̍̒̆̒̈́͂̏͗̄̓̓͝͝ͅ ̸̫̜̐̇̍͌̍͗̾̊̓̾t̸̡̡̻̺̣̞̬̤̱͚͓̜͓̞̼̜̭̗̗͇̔̾͌̆͋ͅő̶̱͕͕̰̹̹̖̟̺̟̩̠̣̻̍̅̓̋̎͑͜͝ ̸͙̆́͂̍̐̂̽̉̀̇̀̽̕m̷̢̟͈̤̫̑͑̑͋̾͊̃̿͛͂̈̽̋̉̀͜y̷͚͍̬͆̃̅͊̿̿̓̕ ̴̘͆̕h̸̛̰͓̞̻̦͖̽͛͋͐̋̒̈͆̃̂̓͒̅̿̀͛͛̎͠͝o̷̡̡̨̳̲̩͎̯̟̹̙̯͎͕͍̳̦̼̮̓͠m̶̘̟̹̺̫̹̌̀e̷̡̨͔̙̲̻͙̖̬̠͙͕̜̦͓̻̤͋́̏ The words didn't seem to be spoken in

"Thanks Hirru, It feels good to be back out as well... though maybe not on this floor specifically." The gaijin samurai smiled at his old friend and gave him a slight bow of respect and welcome when the Jade Hunter appeared in the town square. A short moment later and the Emerald Duelist appeared. Baldur had surrounded himself with green today, it seems. "Thanks for coming too Jomei. I've recently respec'ed. Actually based on the last boss fight. I was unsatisfied with how things were going, and so I'm trying something a little more my style. To that end, I found out there's a techni

Baldur quirked an eyebrow at her once again. "I have no reason to mess with you. Your name sounds familiar, but I don't remember you from my time in the Brigade." He let out a soft sigh. This conversation was a rollercoaster of emotion. He had hoped that opening up to her would let her open up and work through the emotions that were weighing on her, instead he had opened his wounds anew and she only seemed to feel aggressive and paranoid. He could not entirely blame her, he remembered those days. PKing was much more rampant then, aggression between factions was more common then. Ther