Baldur

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

"Look out below!" came the confident voice of a man already in flight. From the top of towering cliffs that the Queen was in flight from, a rippling blue and white haori could be seen as a man seemed to be falling towards Bastion and the bee Queen. Bits of white flame were embroidered into the cloth, but seemed to burn as if alive as it rippled. Just as the man was getting too close to the ground for comfort, he seemed to spin slightly into the air so his head was no longer pointed towards the ground, and then he seemed to explode in light. The arc of his sword art seemed to cut through t

Baldur walked up behind Cro with the large black montsuki haori, a symbol of the crow as a mon on both sides of the chest and large on the back and held it so his friend could slip his arms into the sleeves. "It's crazy, even when you rent kimono in Japan, it takes women three to four times longer to get dressed, then you have all the makeup and hair work that goes into it. If you had to fully dress like you would in the real world, it's only slightly more complicated." He patted his old friend on the shoulders once the jacket was on. He then walked around to the front and held up a

Baldur had expected a reaction of disbelief out of Kiru for telling her that Alkor was alive. It had been his own reaction to finding out as well. He did not expect her to confront him and move her hand towards her hip where her dagger was. His eyes widened at her response, but he made no move to defend himself. Baldur knew they were in a safe zone, and he knew he was powerful enough to be confident in his ability to handle any thread that would come his way. Players just weren't as scary as they once were. He knew how fragile life was in Aincrad, but he also knew how to make the system work a

Baldur's eye opened wider when Kiru said she knew Azide and had been a member of the Frontline. Baldur knew almost everyone that had been on the Front, except for those very hazy first days before he had really become active outside of the lower floors. But he did remember Hydra, the battle that killed Rue and Alkor. "You were there for the Hydra then." an almost excited smile flickered across his face for a moment at the realization of connection. "I wasn't able to go to that one, but I became a merchant so that I could sell healing potions and field rations to the raid. Then I worked ha

She seemed to be wary of him now. That was a shame as he was doing everything he could to try and be welcoming and accommodating. To try and help a fellow player work through their grief as well. But he wasn't going to let a little resistance bring his spirits down. Suspicion could mean PK. It was possible that's how she lost someone. Well, she hadn't been the only one. “Who?” She finally asked him. Well, at least she wasn't going to walk away. He took another piece of sushi to give him a moment. He could still see them... the feathers. A whole raid being flung up into their one afte

Baldur listened intently as Star taught him about the floor field boss and its spawning habits. Then the man pulled up a seat and so Baldur did as well, trying to find something that looked the least painful to sit on. His childhood had been filled with playing on lava rock, but he was much older now and that seemed to make a big different. He needed to remember to go find an artisan to make him a kyokuroku chair. "Thanks, if you can imagine it, when I picked up the katana there were only three of us. A guy named Ryujin Sealord, Keith, and myself. It was seen as a bit of a waste of skill

Kiru. Have I heard that name before? The gaijin samurai considered her name for a long moment, but couldn't seem to place where he may or may not have heard it. Some part of him recognized it as a name of days gone by, some part of the old crew, but he couldn't associate her face or her name with anything in particular. Just how long have we really been in here? I feels like years at this point. "It is nice to meet you Kiru-san." He gave her a seated bow, and then a friendly smile. He gestured for her to sit on his jacket turned picnic blanket then gestured, summoning his menu a

"It's a long way down." A voice called out to Kiru as she stood near the edge of the floor. "I can certainly think of better ways to go than stepping off the edge." The blue eyes of a gaijin samurai surveyed the young girl. He stood roughly six feet tall, larger and broader of shoulder than the typical kid that was running around the game. He was obviously a gaijin, probably American features, but he had long dark brown hair and wore distinctly samurai kimono in the colors of sunset, but with a sky blue haori jacket with white flames flickering up from the hems. At his left hip were two k

"Well isn't that a nice trick." A moment later and the Phoenix was back in action, though its health bar was still low enough that it wouldn't last long. Baldur spun around, and before the Phoenix could get much higher into the air, drove his sword straight through to its core. It hovered for a second, its wings no longer flapping, and then exploded into a shower of multi-hued crystals, shimmering in the light of the floors volcanic glow. "huh.." Baldur said once the last hit rewards popped up, "Doesn't look like it drops any <<Hot Wings>>. That's unfortunate. Are you a r

There was something odd about this NPC. In a city that by all appearances was abandoned to the forces of the deep ones, why was this one here? But then Acanthus mentioned the K̸̰̗̱̑̆̊i̶̢̢̡̹̰͎̺̼͙̗͛̑̀͆̇n̶̢̛͉̥͖̙̳͈̳̑̄̒͑̌͋̈̿́̈́g̷̡̡̛̗̖̮̥̜͕͎̖̟̒̉̀̌̚͘͘͜͝ ̷̧̢͉̄̆i̵̢̢̝̠̼̲͚̥͎͓̠̜͌͐̓̉̿̀̓̑̉́͂̈́n̵̝̱͆̈́̾̄̋̓̓̄̍ ̴̧̰̱̻̼͔͚͙̦̊̏̉̈́́͒͒͋̓̕̚Ỷ̸͎̋̎͌͊̂̂̎̿̿ę̵͖̥̓̈̿̾̓̀̋͗̀͝l̶̲̻͙͆͂͑͌͂̚͜l̶̛͓͍̠̝̼̼̣͍̬̃͆͆̈́̐ớ̴̝̖̥̤̳̓̓̓̾̿͗̚͠w̴̛̛͖̩̼̜̤̋̎̓͑̇͑̈́ͅ and everything went sideways. What happened to the NPC next was something that would have been nightmare fuel had it been in the real world, but the separation of game and reality gave Baldur a bu

It was proving his instincts about Morningstar correct .The man knew what he was about, knew to prepare and look ahead into the future, and started fights off with a charge and a stun. All steps that Baldur himself normally followed. Now that it was stunned, it was wide open to any attack that Baldur would level against it. The option opened up to Baldur how he should proceed. He had recently replaced his combat focus from single target to technical. It meant his whole chain of actions was different now. How he would normally have opened up a fight was completely different now. Unlike what Mor