[F9-PP] You and what Army? [Bandit Camp] - Yui's Grace #2

[Celeste 1]

Right into the thick of it without a care, as soon as her targets could brandish weapons. They scream out to each other, and a couple manage shields as the others completely lose their heads. With a flop to the floor the two that remain have their respective shields shattered into pieces. "Bring it!" Celeste snaps in a feral bark, her eyes ablaze like candle light. The axe in her grasp washes red, becoming a burning ball of aggression on the end of a rod. The bandits draw their respective steel and eye her, a little discouraged by the player's outrage. The red head just wanted the thrill, the fight. Wanting to bask in overpowering them, as she squared her feet and eyed them both with that same intensity strapped to her face with a furrowed brow. Who was going to make the first move? Celeste could hardly stand the anticipation.

Yui's Grace Used: +1 SP upon Thread Closure

Explode Catapult [x14/AoE], -18 EN (14 + 4 {2 Targets Struck}), Concentration Activated (+1 Accuracy), Concentration CD [0/3]

ID# 185880 results: Battle: 1, Critical Miss vs. Bandit #1
ID# 185881 results: Battle: 1, Critical Miss vs. Bandit #2
ID# 185882 results: Battle: 9, Minor Critical [+1 DMG] vs. Bandit #3 dealing 12x14=168 DMG
ID# 185883 results: Battle: 6+3+1=8, Hit vs. Bandit #4 dealing 11x14=154 DMG

Players:
Celeste | HP:380/380 | EN:20/38 | DMG:11 | MIT:18 | EVA:1 | ACC:3 | BLD:12

Mobs:
Bandit #1 | HP:100/100 | DMG:90
Bandit #2 | HP:100/100 | DMG:90
Bandit #3 | HP:100/100 | DMG:90
Bandit #4 | HP:100/100 | DMG:90

Spoiler

Celeste - The Crimson Tide
Level: 19
HP: 380/380
EN: 38/38

Stats:
Damage: 11
Mitigation: 18
Evasion: 1
Accuracy: 3
BLD:12

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Adrenaline Billhook [T1/2HBA/Perfect] - Damage 2, Bleed 1
Armor: Red Woven Wave - Stampede [T1/Light Armor/Perfect]: Mitigation 2, Evasion 1
Misc: Platinum Buckle [T1/Trinket/Perfect]: Accuracy 3

Skills:
Two Handed Battle Axe [Rank 5]

Extra Skills:
Familiar Fighter (R1)
Concentration
Meditation (Untrained)

Battle Ready Inventory:
Liquor of Light (Potion)*10
Raspberry Smoothie [T1/Dessert/Perfect] - Loot Dice 3 *1
Immolation [T1/Unique] - Thorns 10*1

Housing Buffs:
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Advanced Training: +2 SP to a thread. Limit one use per month [0/1]

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Celeste

[Freyd 0]

From red, rocky the ridge above the battle came a keening wail like the screech of an incoming missile, yet descending behind the bandits like some wayward singularity on the prowl.  Shadows struggled against its unseen pull, drawn towards the point in a manner that called to their dark and intangible nature.  It felt as if someone had ripped a hole in reality that summoned all of the ambient and abundant negative qualities that suffused this world.  Both mobs fell prey to it immediately, turning away from crimson death in female form and lashing out in blind rage at the figure within the black.  They were met with shadow in the form of a blade, turning away their attacks and leaving their backs exposed.  As suddenly as it began, the screeching stopped and was replaced by a calm, quiet voice that was simultaneously surprised and modestly amused.

"Huh.  So that's how that works?  Neat.  Go ahead.  They're all yours."

Spoiler

Freyd uses Howl (-8 EN)

Bandit #1 vs. Freyd: ID #185886 | MD: 6-2=4 (miss)
Bandit #2 vs. Freyd: ID #185887 | MD: 7-2=5 (miss)

Players:
Celeste | HP:380/380 | EN:20/38 | DMG:11 | MIT:18 | EVA:1 | ACC:3 | BLD:12
Freyd | HP:1790/1790 | EN:183/191 | DMG:20 | MIT:79 | EVA:2 | ACC:4 | VAMP OFF:179 | HLY:6 | FLN:6 | LD:5 | BH:89

Mobs:
[0,2] Bandit #1 | HP:100/100 | DMG:90
[0,2] Bandit #2 | HP:100/100 | DMG:90

***

Spoiler

Freyd
Level: 88
HP: 1790/1790
EN: 191/191

Stats:
Damage: 20
Mitigation: 79
Evasion: 2
Accuracy: 4
BH:89
VAMP OFF:179
HLY:6
FLN:6
LD:5

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Samael's Pride (T3-2HSS, VO 1, HOLY 1, FLN 1)
Armor: Skirmisher's Garb (T3 LA, MIT 2, EVA 1)
Misc: Night Shades (T3-Trinket, ACC 3)

Skills:
2H Straight Sword [Rank 5]
Light Armor [Rank 5]
Searching [Rank 4]
Battle Healing [Rank 5]
Parry [Obtained]
Energist [Obtained]
Charge [Rank 5]
Extended Mod Limit R3 [Obtained]
Hiding [Rank 5]
Howl [Obtained]
Quick Change [Obtained]

Extra Skills:
Disguise
Familiar Mastery: Fighter 3
Survival
Meditation

Active Mods:
Precision - 2HSS
Finesse - Rank 3
LA Athletics
Ferocity - 2HSS
LA Sprint and Acrobatics
Vengeful Riposte
Untraceable
Focused Howl

Inactive Mods:
Vanish
Surprise Attack (Assassin)
Night Vision
Tracking
Emergency Recovery
Bull Rush

Battle Ready Inventory:
Teleport Crystals*5
Gungnir Shard: Haniel's Modesty (T3 Perfect HP Rec [Instant]*5
Flash of Rejuvenation (Mass HP Rec [Instant] (+30*Tier HP)*5
Fruit-Infused Tea (T3 HP Recovery)*5
Imugi's Inspiration (T3 Mass HP Recovery)*5
Mega-Duper... Sauce (Antidote 3)*5
Grave Injustice (T3-2HSS, ACC 1, Keen 1, Abs. ACC)*1

Housing Buffs:
Rested: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
Clean: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 20% (rounded down)
Hard Working: +2 EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
Filling: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Item Stash: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
Delicious: Turn 3 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Feast. A Feast contains 6 portions of the food items sacrificed.
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Skylight (Searching): +1 Rank to the Searching skill.
Angler: +1 material gained when fishing
Advanced Training: +2 SP to a thread. Limit one use per month [0/1]
Multipurpose: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll
Decor [Potted Tanabata Bamboo Tree]: This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.

Guild Hall Buffs:
Lucrative: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters receive +1 crafting attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters receive +2 crafting attempts per day.
Col Deposit: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Scents of the Wild:
Kumatetsu Statue: +1 Base Damage for a thread

Wedding Ring:

 

 

[Celeste 1]

Concentration CD [1/3]

A single shift from the woman as the bandits simply turn to face some unseen combatant, she follows their eyesight to a male covered in as much black as a human could wear. Her face contorts "The fuck are you supposed to be? Wearing that much black to hide the nail polish and edgy teenage angst?" she offers bluntly to the man. "Save it, these ones are mine." Her weapon vibrates and begins to flicker, tendrils of red spin off of its edge in an almost chaotic fashion. An detonation of the violent cleave, the energy trapped becomes thick like a guillotine. The bodies become nothing more then red pixels that cause the girl to vanish into them for but a flash. Destroyed. Her stamina takes a nose dive, and she wobbles a bit panting heavily. On her lips a wide grin, and to her side a falling head of her billhook. Gone and payment was now due.

Explode Catapult [x14/AoE], -18 EN (14 + 4 {2 Targets Struck})

ID# 185894 results: Battle: 9, Minor Critical [+1 DMG] vs. Bandit #1 dealing 12x14=168 DMG
ID# 185895 results: Battle: 3+3=6, Hit vs. Bandit #2 dealing 11x14=154 DMG

Players:
Celeste | HP:380/380 | EN:3/38 | DMG:11 | MIT:18 | EVA:1 | ACC:3 | BLD:12
Freyd | HP:1790/1790 | EN:183/191 | DMG:20 | MIT:79 | EVA:2 | ACC:4 | VAMP OFF:179 | HLY:6 | FLN:6 | LD:5 | BH:89

Mobs:
[0,2] Bandit #1 | HP:100/100 | DMG:90
[0,2] Bandit #2 | HP:100/100 | DMG:90

Edited March 20, 2021 by Celeste

[Freyd 0]

"The fuck are you supposed to be? Wearing that much black to hide the nail polish and edgy teenage angst?"

Edge.  Yes.  The right edge of his lips curled upwards as the woman continued her rampage, the threat having been re-directed and unmade, just as the mobs soon were.  Was this what Raidou felt like every time he stepped forward to function as the party's shield.  Tactically useful, but also less satisfying.  This was a job for the noble martyrs and altruists.  Freyd preferred to carve his way forward of his own account, even if it meant having another meat shield in the role.  No one ever said do-gooders couldn't be useful.

"Bit winded, hrm?  No worries.  Take a moment, then you can keep spouting whatever hypocritical nonsense you want."  His voice was cold and laced with a passionless snark.  Freyd had no more time or patience for childish outbursts.  Recent bouts with ChaseR had drained his normal tolerance and raised his angstcon rating to 'irksome'.  His default was simply to bypass, but he'd give her a fair shot.  

"Save it, these ones are mine." 

"Yeah, whatever, lady.  These things aren't really worth my time." And neither are you, if you're this needlessly rabid.

"They're all yours."

[Celeste 1]

OOC EN Regen [1/2], Concentration CD [2/3]

A mess made, she takes the camp for her own taking the first available seat at her side. "The hell you mean hypocritical?" something about that comment had dug under her skin, making her immediately look to her clothes. She liked this one, he wasn't afraid to counter it like the girls she'd become accustom. "So what brings you out here, stretch? You weren't following me were you?" Celeste asked with a twist of her head, as the campfire lit up one side of her face. The tiny ticker of her stamina slowly climbing on her peripheral. Dude did just appear out of fucking nowhere, who knew how long he'd been back there just. Being edgy. A shift of her finger opens her HUD, and her head sinks. These damn things were too weak to drop anything, a bunch of urchins without any coin to fall out of those piñata. It was fun but short, and at the end of it all. It was damn near worthless.

[Freyd 0]

A black booted foot braced against a nearby stone, nary a sound made in his motions.  The tip of a long, black blade like a sliver of void dipped into the sooty soil, his hands still poised vigilantly upon the hilt in case of trouble unexpected.  Was it still unexpected if he was expecting it?  The debate was promptly shoved aside and filed away for inevitable later review.  Such was the substance of his downtime, or would be if he ever allowed himself such a thing.  The file was overflowing.

"Testing ground," was his reply, waving a hand to indicate their surroundings.  "Hard to ruin this place, though I suspect that we both have a soft spot for the colour scheme."  Her snipe about garb was instantly turned about face.  No one deliberately wore this much red unless they REALLY liked wet work.  Given her zeal, she might actually fit that bill.  Another dot in the mental profile already taking shape in his head.  "Besides which, it was on the way.  I had a few things left to check before making my way to the lines, and just thought I'd try out my new dog whistle." 

The sword tip rummaged around through the last few disappearing motes from her kills.  The blade instantly pulsed and hummed, as if catching the scent of battle.  Freyd's gaze drifted to her weapon.

"That's an unusual blade. I don't see too many of those."

***
Freyd activates Vengeful Riposte (-5 EN), because never careless.

Freyd | HP:1790/1790 | EN:180/191 | DMG:20 | MIT:79 | EVA:2 | ACC:4 | VAMP OFF:179 | HLY:6 | FLN:6 | LD:5 | BH:89 | VENGEFUL RIPOSTE

[Celeste 1]

"Testing ground, you know what. That makes sense." She offered rather plainly, closing that menu down a bit perturbed at the lack of any reward from the carcasses she spread everywhere. "I usually use somewhere higher, get something out of it in the meantime. These fucks weren't even worth the swing." Eyeing the dude as he jabbed away at the limbs and bits of bandit as they began to evaporate. "I like this." She offered peeling the front of her clothes forward with a tug before a release sees it snap back. "At least I got a bit of flare, you look like you fell in a vat of black paint." With that second one she smiled, the back and forth spitting fire was kinda her thing. A turn of her axe over and drop of its head into the ground as it's peeled off her lap. "Yeah, and it's fucking heavy. I can barely toss it around like twice before the game starts to complain at me like a damn buzzer. The hell is yours even?" She eyed that sword of his, and it was just this black stuck in a twisting glow stick on a handle.

[Freyd 0]

Freyd looked down at the blade, the thinnest veneer of white light being all that sealed and separated the hungry nothingness inside from the buffet of existence.  He chuckled, resting into a smirk at her paint bucket comment.  The Hiding mechanic would conceal him even if he'd slathered himself in pink fluorescent dye, wrapped himself in silver garlands and sang Born to Be Wild at the top of his lungs, provided he procced it right.  The garb had been intended to suggest an implication, when he was still far from being able to back it up.  Now that he could, it was about playing to stereotypes, as this one seemed quite content to accept even as she prodded about his sword.

"I suppose you could call it a way out, though not one I would recommend.  It weighs almost nothing, and yet packs one hell of a wallop.  Hungry fucker, too, though that has its uses."  He twirled the blade a few times, prompting a few haunting voices to echo in the parching breeze, even as the hint of angelsong hovered at the edge of perception behind them.  It was part of the look, too, though both were rapidly reaching for truth the longer he played into his adopted role.  "And I choose to look how I look for good reason, as I suspect you do.  Keep at it, and the weapon will become easier to use.  You'll be wading through dozens of mobs in no time."

[Celeste 1]

A lift of one of her eyebrows at that last comment, "So what it's like a giant key that when you shove it in someone you unlock their death?" The little sound produced caused her to look around a bit as if to seek out the voices. "The hell was that? You hear that?" It made her feel a bit crazy, looking back to dude for some confirmation from him. "I swear I heard something." Her eyes scan about and there was nothing to greet her back. "If you say so." Celeste changes subject rather quickly, not wanting to be a nutter. The truth was she'd been heaving this slab of metal quite a bit and even still it was a pile of total ass on her itty bitty stamina pool. Something about that choice in her weapon matched with her recklessness just made it a bitch to handle. "What's the reason you choose to look like that? I don't have a reason. I just like red dude." Her energy was back, but she hadn't even noticed yet. Celeste was somehow stuck on this strange encounter with this walking portable hole that talked back.

[Freyd 0]

"Really?"  The deadpan in his response could have flattened a mountainside.  "No anger management issues?  No fiery temper?  No battle-lust whatsoever, huh?"  The sarcasm was thicker than blood, and just as drippy.  Freyd didn't suffer fools, or those who pretended to be such.  He still wasn't sure about this one's acting skills, but was leaning towards raging idiot.  "Maybe it's just because it matches your hair."  

His expression shifted to a bemused smirk, though little more of his face was visible than from the eyes down, save a bit of unruly brown hair floating in and out at the edges of his cowl.  He looked immovable, in a stoic sort of way, yet also lean and lanky, which was an odd contrast.  Scratching at the back of his hood for a moment, he finally asked the question.

"What's your name, Red?  Or should I just call you that?  You can call me Freyd, or just Black, if you prefer.  I kinda like that one.  It'll go well with the one I previously dubbed 'Orange'."

 

[Celeste 1]

"Really" She could sense the tone of that last inquiry, as if she had just made a very obvious 'no shit sherlock' moment. "Hey man you brought it up, I set the record straight. I go by Celeste in here. I ain't that angry, I just don't put up with bullshit." Gesturing to the small bar on her screen "Like that, bullshit." A drop of the handle of her weapon finds it thud to her side, as she looks into the fire and speaks to Freyd on her peripheral. "Call me Celeste, Freyd. Call me red and you remind me of those idiots that find it an endearing way to make a shot inside my pants." Catching just a glimpse of the man beneath the batman style mask, so there was someone under all those bed sheets. Instead of a huge pile of october spirits desperate to be heard and be different. "So Freyd, you don't strike me as one of those cowards that hide from everything. How goes the rat race?"

[Freyd 0]

"Lovely," he replied to the quip about her underpants.  "Yes, I'm sure you're very popular with the boys."  Appearances were of no consequence to him.  Everyone in here was fake and players had long ago figured out ways to bypass Kayaba's moment of grand reveal.  Even the redness in his own eyes was nothing but a biproduct of a vanity item he'd stumbled across before ever leaving the Town of Beginnings.  It just seemed to suit him.

"So Freyd, you don't strike me as one of those cowards that hide from everything. How goes the rat race?"

"Oh, I'm a total coward, I just got better.  It took a few years.  I think it got lodged in my colon for awhile.  But these, too, shall pass, you know?"  Patting his stomach prompted an annoyed groan from Persi, who was still hiding beneath his clothes.  The depth and degree of vibration produced was both disproportionate and innately unnerving.

"Same shit, different day: watching out for memory-retaining mobs, trying not to fall through any active glitch portals, minding the horde of Gemini in the woods.   You know, the usual."  His delivery was perfectly serious, without so much as a variation in tone or flinch of his gaze.  Her attitude neither surprised him, nor warranted condescension.  She was sparky, just like Hidden and Assassin.  Mari wasn't much better, most of the time.  Freyd was not easily phased.  That, or he was just oblivious to the concept of mood.

"I thought I'd have one more look around and try out some new toys before heading topside of the raid.  It seemed to work rather well, no?"

[Celeste 1]

She eyed over her shoulder toward the guy, his stomach, making some very obtuse and unorthodox movement. "You smuggling a cat in that bag?" As she looked him once over for good measure. "Could have fooled me, you strolled up out of nowhere and drew everything in the vicinity to target you. Cowards don't do that." Her vision trains back to the campfire as she could tell he wasn't joking, completely unaware of the passage of time. She was waiting for something to come that already had, her stamina was recovered a while ago.

"Tell me about it, your in some serious shit. Most I've had to deal with is giant bugs and monkeys. But you're like walking the line of the crazy shit." Wait, there was something at that last bit. "Wait Gemini in the woods? That's not on floor 22 is it? That creepy forest with those weird colorless fucks. They look like a bunch of players with all the color sucked out of them. Is that what those damn things are?" It had been bugging her for a while, the eerie forest with no sound being audible in its confines, this dude looked knowledgeable enough to know about it. "The front lines, one day I'll be up there making few stains myself. Reaping the rewards I deserve, instead of scrounging on the fringe out here like a damn peasant." So this guy was a pusher, one of the group that was working to clear the game on the razors edge. Celeste was a bit envious.

[Freyd 0]

"You smuggling a cat in that bag?"

"Of a sort.  Look, if you want to keep your...*cough*... to yourself, then I'll do the same."  Persi purred and shivered playfully beneath his vest.  Freyd prodded her awkwardly a few times to get her off his bladder.

"Could have fooled me, you strolled up out of nowhere and drew everything in the vicinity to target you. Cowards don't do that." 

"I must just be stupid then.  Call it a tanking concussion.  It also felt... weird."

An accurate description of the plague of Gemini Freyd had unintentionally unleashed in the Forest of Memories was the last thing he'd expected.  His cowl straightened, instantly alert.  "Actually, that's exactly what I mean.  You've met them?"  Red eyes narrowed, scrutinizing her more closely.  "They're a rather devious bunch, and not to be underestimated.  I've been purging them from the woods for months, but their numbers always replenish.  Tell me, what did yours look like, other than their colourlessness?"  Her bluster had become predictable and was instantly dismissed as irrelevant, but the simple fact that she'd already traveled to those woods and faced such a threat merited notice.

"You want some loot?  Come on.  Let's go hunt a couple of Gemini up on 22.  I need to practice my non-cowardice anyway, and they'll make suitable fodder."

[Celeste 1]

"A concussion, sure. Seems like a waste of effort if you can just slaughter them all instead. Also I wont be asking about what you've going on in your pants either, you may just be the manliest woman I've ever met." To Celeste seemed like an unnecessary extra step to reach the same goal. If they weren't strong enough, then it would have been wise to not bite off more than you can chew and she wasn't about to take an earnest eye to see what privates this guy/girl could have. Gender wasn't really relevant here, and she was sure he was a dude despite that last comment.

"I am up for it, maybe we can kill more then like a handful that way. I run out of juice almost immediately, it blows ass. I've been killing the damn things on the daily, and no matter what there is always more of the bastards. I ain't complaining, they are toting around quite the dosh. But there's got to be some reason for them just popping up without an end. Fastest spawn rate I've found yet." She was brutally honest with him, Celeste had no reason to beat around the bush about it. "Mine just looked like a whole fuck load of people, they never look the same. No one I recognize, but they clearly look like players, that someone jabbed a bendy straw into their heads and sucked out all the color. Some have claws occasionally, others actually use weapons that are that same gradient of gray."

[Freyd 0]

[Scene shifts to Floor 22 - Forest of Memories]

Freyd had mixed feelings about the woods.  On the one hand they felt like home, familiar and welcoming.  Firm Anima's guild hall lay within, as well.  But difficult moments from his past also lingered in the disorienting cross-breeze that invariably swept through the place.  Like the wind, this place came at you sideways.  No wonder the Gemini felt so comfortable here.  One of creatures already lay dead at his feet, having chosen to mimic his own face and paid the price with its own pixels.  Another was hard pressed to keep pace as Freyd forcefully battered away the meat cleaver it brandished at him.  Donning the guise of Quaestor, his neighbour and friend, had unleashed his wrath.  The false centurion struggled to keep pace in a manner Quaestor never would have, and recoiled from the Whisper as he closed for the kill.  

"How's it going over there, Re....Celeste?"  Last he'd seen she was fighting off two of her own.

[Celeste 1]

Echoing crashes caused what little fauna in the area around them to rush away, but not from the thick seaweed color leaves here. The forest of memories was absent of sound outside what was produced from the conflict. Ripping a chunk out of this thing into a spray of red pixels, the fucking thing was still standing as she dropped a heavy foot into its stomach to break her weapon free. "What the fuck is with these, normally they just die. Now its like they are on overdrive. I am damn near tapped out, I've been running on empty for a hot minute." She barks out with a bit of sweat rushing down the sides of her face, struggling to keep her breathing equal. This dude was no fucking joke, over here she felt like she was going to pass the fuck out, and he didn't even seem bothered in the slightest.

[Freyd 0]

"You're with me.  That makes them nastier, by default.  The Gemini and I have a bit of history between us.  Could also be the level difference, but... nah.  I prefer to think that it's a hate buff."

His opponent overreached, giving Freyd the opportunity he'd been seeking.  A sharp downward drive plunged his pommel straight through the false centurion's head, scattering his horsehair mane into pixels that spread like a broken jar of marbles as they hit the floor.  

"We'll clear these last two out, then you can take a break.  Rage is good, and all, but you need to pace yourself if you don't want to fizzle out in the middle of a fight.  Downside of bringing me along is that thing get harder for you.  Maybe, in time, once you're a little more seasoned, I can help you earn that loot a bit more effectively."

Stepping sideways, into his own shadow cast upon a large projecting boulder, Freyd reappeared an instant later with his sword projecting from the chest of one of the remaining Gemini.  Shock and surprise were that last garbled expressions to grace its face before it fell apart.  The cowl turned and locked upon the final target, twin fingers pointing within then spinning to project his threat.  It also gave Celeste exactly the opportunity she would need to finish it off.

[Celeste 1]

"Gemini's just have hatred boners for you, then? Must be interesting at parties. Got a whole slew of creepy ghost fucks crashing them all the time." The fight was going rather well, but the girl was completely and utterly out of juice. A sharp inhale as she fought against uneasy and struggled breaths. "Sounds good, I ain't that tired." But it was clearly an attempt to convince herself.  The dude moved like a skip of time, it was hard for her to even keep tabs on him as he continued to vanish and reappear around the grounds.

The one he honed upon found the most fitting necktie, before becoming tiny pieces of light bits. An earnest taunt from Freyd sees the last locked to him with intensity, drawing his weapon and beginning to rush the player down. A pivot of her heel sees the weapon burn bright, and a heave of that massive letter of steel slams into his left shoulder. It rips him off his feet as it connects, sending him into a wooden pillar with some serious force. Exploding against it like a grenade, the light fractals flinging away like shrapnel. Her axe anchored there, she moves to it and clasps it with both hands and using her boot to wiggle away at it and tear it clean. "Fuck your dudes, they are way too damn durable. I feel like a weiner. Just what level are you, Freyd?"

[Freyd 0]

"Max."  Plainly asked meant plainly spoken.  The Whisper didn't mince words without a purpose, and even then they were laden with truth, from some perspective or another.  "Jumping tiers makes a big difference, and judging by how long it takes you to get 'not-tired', I'd guess that you're verging on T2?"  How many hours had gone into crunching numbers in his head and watching fight patterns play out over and over again to enable that deduction?  Too many, or maybe just enough?  It was a necessary instinct in this place and to be honed into an art.  A curatorial gaze upon a weapon combined with bits of patterned sword art use spoke volumes, if you knew what to look for, and he'd spent months studying them for precisely that reason.

"Keep storming the castle with that kind of gumption, and you'll be peeling skulls open with the baddest of asses in no time."  He just hoped she wasn't bitch-ass crazy by then, too.

***

Thread Summary:

Celeste receives:

5 SP (1 page, +1 event, +1 Yui's Grace, +2 Quest)
650 col (1 page + 250 per LD roll quest reward) - ID# 186354 results: Loot: 10

Freyd receives:

2 SP (1 page, +1 event)

Edited March 24, 2021 by Freyd