Freyd

"We're holding our ground and keeping a good pace at the same time," Freyd replied, grateful to Baldur for a moment's respite. "This bear seems to have my number, but as long as I can keep soaking up its damage without other ill effect, that lets the rest of you do what you need." Wulfrin had already charged forward, dutifully resuming his assigned task, and the rest of the team quickly rallied behind. "Looks like the other groups have also recovered. I'm not sure if there's more to this thing or not, or if we're simply meant to endure and wear it down while keeping our fingers crossed

Clashing steel against shadow, Freyd spun and switch wielded Pride for Truth instead, the more tangible blade emerging as if from the former. A swift, unexpected kick to a known weak point in the King's shin guard snapped a brittle bone, made vulnerable by age or frozen in that static state by the ravages of undeath. Either way, the mob's leg snapped, toppling him sideways and right into the arc of Freyd's downward swing. Foot stomping against hard flagstone, itself broken by time and design, Veritas returned to a guarding stance out of habit more than necessity. A skull rattled by, turnin

Mental images of a version of himself jumping through the air, gobbling healing Scooby-snacks out of the air, spread a goofy grin across the Whisper's face. Such absurd moments were always the best. But it was time he properly shattered Bob's ambitions, snatching away any dreams of victory the mob might actually have allowed itself. Sidestepping the latest swing of its massive, rusty axe, Freyd's blade parried and offered a swift counter with an upward strike. Samael's Pride loosed its reigns once more and shrieking filled the stale ruin's air as the black sword carved a swath through the

The King advanced, seemingly convinced that he had Freyd on the ropes and the initiative was his to command. One resounding step after another brought with it the clash of steel on steel as the mob's massive greataxe swung down like a guillotine blade intending to slake its thirst of player blood. A rumbling, raspy cackle wheezed from the villain's undead throat. It hadn't felt this glorious in ages, and reveled in the rare sensations of euphoric vigor, pressing its advantage to the fullest. Freyd, meanwhile, seemed unusually calm, giving ground gradually as he measured his breathing a

"Uh... do you think I have it's attention," Freyd quipped, Callisto having just attempted to gather his spleen without even asking permission. He'd made mobs mad before, but this time was aiming for some sort of unofficial record, and they were barely a quarter of the way through its health bars. "I just keep picturing it rolling around on a unicycle, wearing a pink tu-tu." Twin claws made of pure putrid foulness raked their way across his chest plate in response, apparently unappreciative of his imagination. Freyd found himself wishing he'd brought a dozen of those little pine-scented

"It's alright," he replied. "You kinda get used to ~OOF!" The butt end of the king's axe handle smashed into Freyd's abdomen, lifting him a good two feet off the ground with some appreciably uncomfortable hang time before he stumbled backwards to find the ground with his ass. "Ughhh... I hate it when you do that, Bob." Rolling sideways to avoid the mob's follow-up swing, the Whisper soon regained his footing to the tune of a shrieking banshee as Samael's Pride loosed its wards to unleash the black void within. Swinging low, taking advantage of his own compromised position, Fre

"Sorry Freyd.." All pretense to cloak and dagger solutions fell prey to lethal necessity in an instant. A companion blind and vulnerable, fighting at close quarters with numbers in heavy favour to the enemy, Freyd saw only one remaining option. Dashing forward from their flawed foxhole, a shield grabbed and yanked toppled the first unsuspecting knight over a cliff with a drawn out cry of surprise as his final words. The rest reacted faster, closing ranks, or at least making the attempt. Their tactics were better suited to open ground where a phalanx might find better purchase. Narrow

Like an orchestra tuned and primed, each section delivered its intended part to the benefit of the whole. Zandra was first, her infectious zeal imbuing each of the others' spirits with fire and fury to be unleashed upon their gnashing and decrepit foe. Its decomposing scent? Bearly tolerable. Also fortunately flash frozen by Wulfrin's timely strike, and the wretched hankering to hurl subdued to the point of tolerating an angry algid turd. Mac and Baldur didn't disappoint, each devastating their foe the moment it lay exposed, with Crozeph building up momentum behind them both. All tha

“Callisto was a nymph in Greek mythology, wasn’t she? Transformed into a bear for the transgressions and duplicity of others, as I recall. My parents went on about these things at length,” he added, with a mirthless chuckle. “She was later cast into the sky as the constellation of Ursa Major to prevent her son from hunting her. And all of this occurs just as another Tanabata-like event beings? The coincidence seems unlikely and concerning.” Keeping pace as each group moved forward into position, his muse was racing ahead of his steps. “All of the oddities and mutations I’ve obse

He could see the signs though the welling glaze over her sea-blue eyes, their downturned edges warning of a pending collapse. Keep talking. Don’t let her sink into that darkness. As Elora’s knees wobbled beneath her, his arms were there to cradle and support her. No crashing. Not this time. She was not alone. He knew her. Trial end tribulations, shared, had fostered him out of the denseness of his own dimmed awareness just enough to know one heart in this world: hers. In that moment he finally knew for certain: he would die to protect it. When did that happen? For a

Still slightly dozy, Freyd was slow on the uptake, struggling to find his footing and get in on the fight. Maybe is was the beachwear? The ladies were killing it, after all. Fortunately, that also include the giant fish monster threatening to ruin their day. A weak-hearted blow was all be managed to get in, his loafers catching on some of the deck boards and nearly spilling him into the drink in the process. "Ugh. Just not my day, I guess." he grumbled, trying to unwrench his leg from an uncomfortable looking pose. "Good thinking with that stun, Ciela. Someone want to finish this t

"That's a neurological thing, isn't it?" Medicine and biology had never really been his strong suit, though he recalled that it could be quite debilitating. A flash of concern across his face was soon suppressed. That sympathy struck him at all was remarkable, though perhaps best set aside to be considered when a giant undead quest boss wasn't trying to kill him. "Does it have any impact in here, or have you basically been freed from its effects?" Yup. Big mistake. Seizing on his distraction, the Forgotten Time King slammed him back with the flat of his axe. Partially parried, Fr

"Alright then, Ty. Keep this in mind too: we're fixers, which means that O&I are also home to support-style players. Healers, leaders, and the like, fall under our protective umbrella. None of us can stand alone against everything. We need each other. Whether that's crawling around some dusty dungeon, a back alley, or even the front lines. We're all working together, even when we're apart. And, occasionally, that means helping the newbies face something that would otherwise be impossible." A subtle gesture set them on a rocky trail up to the shattered ruins, climbing along precariou

Something stirred in the clearing beyond. Everyone could feel it as much as hear its approach: the hour of battle was nearly upon them. What more appropriate moment could there be for a ghost to emerge, as if from raids past. "Baldur?!" Not who he'd expected, in the slightest. A quick use of tracking confirmed that it was indeed the legendary swordsman himself. A wry grin crept up the side of Freyd's face, despite himself. Herein lay the capstone, added to an already solid team that was as ready as they could be to face off against whatever festering malignance waited for them just ar

"Already got things set up for others huh, Freyd?" Grinning as the Jade Hunter passed, offloading his comment in passage, Freyd offered his friend a wry grin. "I'll know you'll take care of your team, Vice-Commander. You always do. Just remember to watch out for yourself while you're at it." A quick two-fingered salute was about as formal as he ever offered, yet was also well-earned. Hirru was more a veteran than most here would realize, though quite a few familiar faces were making appearances. Not all had attended the pre-raid meeting, as was expected. He could only hope that

Freyd snorted at his companion's admission. "So, now I guess we know why there were torches along this trail in the first place. But I'd have expected to hear a lot more metallic cliff-bowling sounds if those knight couldn't see in the dark. Also sounds like it would have been a bit of a fatal flaw in Tesseleth's chief minions, given the... you know... dark." Freyd was waving his hands all around them, forgetting for a moment that Jomei couldn't see him, then mentally slapping himself for the dumbkof move. "I have a stash of glowstones in my inventory, if we need them. The floor

"Actually, Firm Anima is one of the larger guilds. We're just scattered all over the place doing all the stuff that needs doing, at virtually all hours. You'd be amazed. And Freyd is fine, or 'hey you'. I answer to a lot of different names." She had no idea how many, but time would reveal all things, unless he did his job right. Then it would only reveal the appointed things at their appointed times. Time could be a really uncooperative bitch about such things. "Do you go by any other nicknames? TyphoonFlame is lovely, but also a bit of a mouthful. Ty? Flame? Ty-fly? Work with me

It pained him to be making this much noise wandering through the same misbegotten woods that had dragged him through his original creepy sojourn from Glyndebourne, to Magistrate Aldenbrook's sordid manse, eventually landing in the fight against Owij'be and its prickly head prongs. So far, this floor was not endearing itself. Gone were his days of slinking around in spoopy pajamas, trailing foes from the shadows, killing them. Now he had to do it the old fashioned, noble way: by staring them in the face first. He could feel his eyes' eyes rolling in their metaphorical heads, but said nothin

"Ah. TyphoonFlame, yes? We faced off against Terra Firma not too long ago, as I recall." Dresses in black on black armor, Freyd's welcoming smile was an odd pairing to the strangely slick surface like roiling fog over a sleepy lake in the wee hours of dawn, "The others have been called away on other matter, so it looks like the two of us will be making this trek on our own." A casual gesture suggested their route through the fungal forest the clung to the edge of Tomoika. Being underground, this murky growth of moss, lichen and other unpleasant-smelling flora served as the town's primary

A quick polite entry led to footwear set aside out of courtesy and a bee line approach to finding the desired goods. No time for banter. Not today. If he was lucky, the shelves would not yet be completely bare, though that might be a more likely proposition were this shop devoted to consumables. NIGHT was always thoughtful to keep herself stocked with items to help out new players, which was precisely what he required. Cocking an eyebrow, the specific motif for this latest round of crafts was oddly more evocative than he'd expected. "Is it Harry Potter month, or something? Maybe

"Oh, Persi's a clever one alright. But I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm her familiar, and not the other way around." Freyd's grin was visible even in the dim darkness of the underdark. Jomei was already deep into his next scheme, yoinking a hunk of what looked like pyrite from his inventory and dressing it up as a fancy lure. "Hah! Nice plan," came a whispered reply, appreciating the cunning and appeal to draconic greed - one of Aincrad's seemingly universal truths. Fantasy tropes were truly hard to shake, making his companion's notion to prey upon such expectations all the more idea

News of the pending training mission had gone out to all members of Firm Anima. The guild would be facing its old nemesis: The Time Forgotten King. The proud and terrifying mob seemed to have lost of its luster, from the hey day when Raidou had famously fought it to a standstill, only to have the rest of the guild swarm the monster and bring it to ground. Freyd knew it to be one of his friend's greatest triumphs and a validation of the principles upon which the guild had been founded. Waiting just outside the gates of Tomoika, Freyd had encouraged newer members of the Operations &

The tray vanished into the shadows of Freyd's appointed cubby, prompting the appearance of twin azure orbs with telltale horizontal slotted pupils. Persi gulped down the awaited good, possibly storing them for collection to her master. She was just as likely to have devoured the things, possibly making it very unwise for anything or anyone to stand in her was as she returned to her self-appointed lummox. The tiny shadow mongoose already had a reputation for decimating entire field bosses. Blinking her acknowledge satisfaction - probably the closest she ever offered as thanks - Freyd's sass

Entering Ronbaru, Freyd only just realized how little time he'd spent here since the floor had been unlocked. The whole floor carried a vibe similar to Shitennoji temple, back home, but with its own unique blend of aesthetic. Advancing to the edge of the event grounds, it was instantly apparent that final preparations were being rushed as participants were already actively gathering. Several booths and tables had attracted small groups of hooting and hollering players, some admiring wares while other engaged in good-natured contests and games. A panicked gasp on his left drew one hand to h

Purchase: Deliberate | [1 Token] Gain +1 to CD rolls for one thread, or for a day's allocation of crafting. Stacks with consumables and enhancements. Tag: 235929