Baldur

"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

Baldur drew the sleeve of his haori across his sweaty brow. It did not bring the same relief it would have in the real world, but the effect it had on his mind still managed to give him a moment of relief. Thankfully he had endless amounts of stamina when it came to hiking across impossibly hot blasted landscapes like this one. Slowly they began to transition from the plains into the foothills on the way to the mountain he had pointed them towards. "My thoughts on Callisto?" The samurai seemed to taste the words, as if evaluating the first sip of wine. "It was kind of nice to find so

Buying the following items: Field Rations | [1,000col] Grants +12% to max HP. Cannot be used in combat. Effect lasts for one thread. A player cannot benefit from more than one Field Rations at a time. This effect cannot stack with Over-Health consumables. Filling may be used on this item, increasing its buff from 12% to 16% max HP. Immolation Potion When used, successful non-critical attacks against you deal (10 * Tier) unmitigated damage to the attacking enemy. Must be of the appropriate tier to use. Effect lasts for one thread. Tier 4 | [1200col] Spyglass (x3) | [80

With all the time Baldur was spending on this floor, he would have to turn in his kimono for a yukata. He had forgotten how hot the floor was. It had been a long time since he had taken damage due to heat, but had forgotten that just because damage wasn't ticking down on his HP bar didn't mean that it wasn't uncomfortable. It reminded him of Kyoto in the middle of summer. Still, this was the place he had asked to meet them. He checked the time and then pulled up the message again, he was early but he wanted to make sure that he had given them the right time. It was just about tim

"Ah, you know Wulfrin and Hirru well then? I just met him in my party for this raid, he was the only one I hadn't fought with before... he..." Baldur knew it was perhaps uncouth to bring up near death encounters, "was a very impressive fighter... I am... glad that he is still with us." He wasn't sure how much the other groups saw about what happened, but Baldur had had a front row seat to the near death of Wulfrin, and the death and resurrection of Freyd. "I will have to extend to them my thanks." They made small talk about the phoenix as they walked before Morningstar brought up his

"Cordelia." The old samurai's face split into a smile that could not contain the pure joy expressed there. In fact, there seemed to be something in his eyes that sought her out, an old haunting that lurked there, and Cordelia's presence was an unexpected comfort. Like a life raft thrown to a drowning man. "It is so good to see you." Whenever Baldur had been about his business, his eyes were always a stately steel blue in color. Focused. Measured. Refined. A swirling tempest of ocean was in his eyes, an unease that she had probably never seen from him before. A slight set to his shoul

Baldur gave a slight chuckle at Morningstar's quip about his fishing pole, and gave the man another look. He would have to reappraise the man. In Baldur's eye, he was still the newbie who showed at the Valentines day tournament, but they had just fought in the trenches together, and in Baldur's world view, that made them brothers. There was also something about the man. While he seemed to be new to the frontline, there was something about him that said he was well prepared for the dangers that faced him. There was a certain special kind of respect that Baldur held for people that were truly co

"Hey, Morningstar!" The voice that suddenly interrupted his day was non-other than the blue haori clad gaijin samurai. He had just emerged from the same antique shop Morningstar himself had left only a few minutes ago. However, Baldur had a very strange item on him. It appeared to be a fishing pole, but made out of some heavy duty metal. When he noticed man see what Baldur was holding, he blushed slightly. "Sorry, I've been craving some spicy tuna fish on @Snow's sushi, and the best place to get it is here. Gotta admit, I never would have expected to find out that it come from Lava T

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Floor 14: Stonewall Sunset BGM Baldur had never returned to this floor for a reason. The 14th floor was an oppressive, monochrome red that only continued to press down on you the more time you spent on this floor. While maybe it felt good to the goths and emo kids, Baldur was not only neither, but this floor had special meaning to the handful of players who were there. This wasn't just a floor, this was a floor where he died. It was the last time someone had died to a floor boss itself. But it wasn't just someone who had died, it was Azide. And how the future of the tower was wov

In response to his question, he heard Lessa's voice pop up. A welcome addition to their merry little party, in this delightfully welcoming floor. Still, he couldn't help but cast a lopsided smile at their very different answers. One embraced, and one abstained. But then Lessa had to make another crack about his age. Her teasing helped cut some of the tension out of the mood of the floor, but he would have to return her teasing with a bit of Star Wars. "When 900 years old you reach, look as good, you will not." While the two ladies moved to investigate the little allies and buildings

A contented smile hung on the weary samurai's face as he let the sentiment of her words linger in the snow covered air. All the years they had been together, this floor constantly brought them back together. It wasn't where they met, and he didn't have his home on this floor, but it was their home. So he leaned against her as they went arm and arm through the snow, and for a moment he let his mind wander. Pictures of a small stone cottage, with a low fence around it. A stable for horses in the back. Warm light leaking out of the windows, and cups of hot chocolate on a table. Just the two

The gaijin samurai nodded as the others came up alongside him and echoed his thoughts. He remembered @Morningstar only barely. He had been at the tournament Baldur hosted a long time ago. He was already on the Frontlines? That was truly an impressive feat. Baldur would need to keep his eyes on this Morningstar. The girl, @Arabelle, who came up and voiced her thoughts next was unknown to Baldur, but she had done well in the raid. So many new faces I need to learn. "any chances this is where the corruption came from? our old friend had his lair right at this floor's gates, after all."

((This thread is open to all participating members of the floor 28 Raid, and takes place immediately following the defeat of Callisto)) ((Official Floor Music)) Typically, when you emerged from the floor boss lair, you were greeted by the blinding light of a new day, or perhaps a bright moon in the sky. Even nights in Aincrad, unpolluted by modern city lights, were brighter than a floor boss dungeon. The floor that always hovered above them in the sky did little block out the beautiful sky box, stars glittering in uncounted multitudes, showing off a sky that rivaled any he had seen

Baldur watched Freyd go. He appeared to be a man haunted, but Baldur had watched him die and then get better. It was beyond suspicious. He had seen too many people die not to wonder why Freyd got a second chance when so many others didn't. That's not entirely fair, some of them did get a second chance. That fight, at least, seemed to have a context that made sense. The one and only thing Baldur could count on for Kayaba Akihiko was that he made rules for his game and stuck with them. They were fair in the same ways that gravity was fair. He wasn't capricious with his death game more