[PP-F01] Making New Friends while <<Feeding Your Enemy>>

[Marius 0]

     Things have seemingly been going better for this old man as of late. Not only has he managed to find a way to ensure that a source of income was being made for himself but he had even gone as far as to open his own shop! Sure, he might not have been doing all that well with the shop at the moment but that was alright. It was just one of those things in which he was going to have to continue working harder and harder until he could come out on top. Not being all that great at crafting things was only a minor setback at this moment. In fact, it was because of this low success rate with his shop that he had been dwelling on what step to take next would be.

    If he could recall correctly, there was supposedly another quest in which he could undertake that would allow for him to gain further assistance in matters along this line. "While I may be wrong, I am almost certain that it should be around here... " Marius had heard rumor of a quest appearing on just about any floor if one were looking in the right places. Said quest was supposed to allow for someone to tame themselves a familiar! Having a familiar would go quite well with his plans for the shop. All that he had really needed to do now was track down the NPC for this quest but... he was having a bit of a hard time going at it at the moment. "C'mon... I'm wandering about in the <<Stone Valley>> and I can't track her down? If she was going around on the first floor, it would only make sense for her to be here. This is just too much."

Spoiler

Word Count: 298

Spoiler

Marius | Lv. 3 | HP: 60/60 | EN: 24/24 | DMG: 1 | ACC: 0 | EVA: 0 | LD: 3

Equipped Items:

• Warhammer | Tier 1 Vanity Two-Handed Warhammer
• Breastplate of Wrathful Protection | Tier 1 Rare Heavy Armor | MITIGATION I | THORNS I
• Small Konpeito Sack | Tier 1 Perfect Trinket | Loot III

Battle-Ready Inventory:

• Healing Potion (3) | Tier 1 Starter Potion | HP RECOVERY I [+50 HP]
• Invigorating Tune | Tier 1 Rare Consumable | HP RECOVERY II [+10% HP]

Consumed Items:

• The Stars Collide | Tier 1 Perfect Consumable | Pheromones' [+1 CD when attempting to tame a familiar]
• Spyglass (1/3) | Tier 1 Consumable | Use to reduce the number of posts required to search for a dungeon, familiar or field bosses by 5 posts]

Skills:

• Heavy Armor | RANK 1/5
  • Mod: 8 MIT

Misc. Buffs:

• Treasury | Firm Anima Guild Bonus | +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Battle Effects:

• MIT: 14
• Thorns: 9 Unmitigated Damage

 

[Freyd 0]

A crash of thunder erupted from the tree line to the west of Marius' position, followed an instant later by the form of a massive green dragon erupting from the woods and flying directly towards him.  Except that its head was point in the wrong direction, and one of its wings looked to be mauled to the point of crippling.  There was also that giant gash in its abdomen and the fact that its lower jaw was completely missing.  Something dark and tiny was also sitting atop the maligned mob's mauled body, riding it like a surf board.  Only a pair of brilliantly burning azure eyes could be seen as they both sailed overhead, temporarily blotting out the bright afternoon sun.

The dragon crashed clumsily into a rocky set of rapids in a nearby creek, shredding itself like cheddar on a cheese grater over the jagged stone and tipping its beleaguered health bar below its remaining tolerance.  It disintegrated, turning into a wave of green fractal shards that instantly started to disperse as much into the wind as the water.  Gingerly, the small creature that rode it to its demise leapt down at the moment of its death, landing on all fours in a convenient patch of long green grasses that cradled its landing like that had always been its intended purpose.  Long and sleek, it was sinuously low to the ground and inky black to the extent that you might mistake it for an animated oil slick.  It paused, having spotted its audience.  Two round blue eyes opened wide, making apparent their horizontal slotted irises at their centre.

"Persi!  I said 'stun it', not make a new crater with its bones!  What the heck was..."  The voice trailed off as a man in black traveling leathers emerged from the same spot as the mob had, a charcoal-coloured cowl draped over his head and obscuring most of his face.  His hands bore a long walking stick, or staff, that was more pitch than the rest of him - so much so that it seemed like a sliver of the eternal void itself.  A green crystal spun slowly over his head, taking away some of his otherwise excessive edge. 

"Don't mind her," Freyd said, jutting his chin towards the small shadow-thingy.  "She only eats field bosses and quest objectives.  You don't look like either, though you're in the right area to accidentally stumble into one."  He spared a glance at the last of the disappearing sparkles. 

"Well, you were."

***

Freyd | HP: 920/920 | EN: 126/126 | DMG: 24 | MIT: 78 | ACC: 6 | BH: 50 | LD: 5 | FLN: 16 | HLY: 16 | PARA IMMUNE | REC: 8

***

Full Stats:

Spoiler

Freyd, Firm Anima O&I Captain
Level: 31
Paragon Level: 68
HP: 920/920
EN: 126/126

Stats:
Damage: 24
Mitigation: 78
Accuracy: 6
Battle Healing: 50
Loot Dice: 5
FLN: 16
HLY: 16
PARA IMMUNE
REC: 8

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Samael's Pride (T4 Hammer | Fln 2 | Holy 2)
Armor: Fallen Angel Garb (T4 LA | Mit 2 | Rec 2)
Misc: The Shadowed Rose (T4 Trinket | ACC 3, Para Imm)

Custom Skill:
Shades of the Gemini

Skills:
Hammer R5
Light Armor R5
Searching R4
Battle Healing R5
Energist
Charge

Active Mods:
Night Vision
Tracking
Meticulous
Untraceable

Inactive Mods:

Addons:
Stamina
Ferocity
Precision
Resolve
Reveal

Active Extra Skills:
Disguise
Survival
Meditation
Forgotten King’s Authority

Inactive Extra Skills:
Hiding R3
Brawler
Photosynthesize

Battle Ready Inventory:
Teleport Crystals x7
Mass HP Rec [Inst] (+30*T HP) x7
Mass HP Rec [Inst] (+30*T HP) x7
Crystal of Divine Light (Reusable) x1
Rhino's Horn (Reusable) x1
T3 Probiotics 3 x2

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)
Working: +2 EXP per crafting attempt
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: +10% Exp 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:

 

[Marius 0]

To say that this elderly old man had been surprised by what had been happening would have been major understatement. To start, the clash of thunder that had erupted from the tree line itself was enough to cause Marius to throw clutch the shaft of his war-hammer while bracing for the impact that had felt as though it would undoubtedly come. What had followed afterward was far more worrying to him though! It was almost as though his eyes had been deceiving him.. Had there been a.... "D-d-d-dragon?!" Not wanting to be swept away by the bestial form that had been falling straight towards him, Marius would immediately run off to the side. He knew that there was no way that he could survive the recoil from the brunt of that thing slamming into him. That said, he so clearly couldn't just jump to the side of it. He was only but a man after all. A lowly, low-leveled man.

Once the impact of the dragon had hit the ground, the old man would go as far as to stop his running and brace himself against the shockwave that had briefly fluttered into existence upon the creature having hit the ground. Thankfully it would go on to disperse into a bout of fractal shards but... It seemed to have left something behind? Something inky black and almost foreboding had been left in its place. If this was a creature that was capable of taking down a dragon than did he really want to try and fight it...? He would have stood no chance of survival. That much was clear to him.

Completely transfixed by what had just transpired, Marius would find himself left standing there. He had wanted to run from the scene but his legs weren't permitting him to leave. He hadn't even known that there were dragons on this floor and now there was one that had simply... died to something far more horrifying. What had follow even that was something that Marius just hadn't been expecting. The arrival of a man in black traveling leathers that seemed to be tied to this horrific creature. What had he done wrong in life to deserve such a fate? Was it all going to come to an end here, despite having just started?

"Don't mind her. She only eats field bosses and quest objectives.  You don't look like either, though you're in the right area to accidentally stumble into one."

Marius couldn't believe what was transpiring at this moment and honestly hadn't been quite sure on how to respond to really any of it. He couldn't just stand there doing nothing though. Sure it would take him a moment to fully recover his bearings but he had to make some sort of attempt at a response for now. The alternative was to stand there. The green crystal that had resided over the mans head was enough to ease his worries at least a bit but that fear had still be laced throughout him. "I... er, right! No minding her here! She's just an inky horror that had managed to kill off a dragon is all! Completely normal..." Overall, Marius had more than likely come off as a bit rude but it wasn't something that he had intended. He had still been trying to push past the trembling in his voice and the fear that had riled him up and he simply wasn't quite all there yet. "I... Where did you guys come from?!" It was rather strange for Marius to be acting this out of place but he had never been as horrified for his life as he had just a moment ago so it was to be expected.

Spoiler

Word Count: 619

 

Edited September 24, 2021 by Marius

[Freyd 0]

Jerking his arm up to point a thumb behind him, Freyd muttered something about a rare field boss spawn that he'd been camping on for awhile.  

"It took forever for that bloody thing to spawn.  Good thing, too.  It might have wreaked quite a bit of havoc on this floor."  A pair of cold blue orbs, not unlike his diminutive pet's looked out at his companion from beneath his cowl.  "You'd be a newbie, judging by your gear?  Or you lost a bet?"  He shrugged while turning his attention to the little inky horror.  "Persi, what they heck were you thinking?  You nearly hit this old man.  No more taking the mobs out for a spin without permission, yeah?"  He grinned through every word, the small creature looking askance with half-lidded eyes, clearly unmoved by his pretense at scolding.  Marius could see her more clearly now.  It took a moment before vague recollections took hold and he could connect her appearance: a mongoose!

"I'm Freyd, by the way.  This is Persi - my self-declared lord and master in all things of any importance to her.  She keeps me around to fetch her snacks and startle the wildlife when she feels like playing around.  What brings you out to this neck of the woods?  We don't see many low level players wandering around these parts anymore."

[Marius 0]

As the azure eyed individual had continued to speak to him, the fear that held a firm grasp upon Marius had slowly begun to fade away. This individual and his self proclaimed master might have been horrifying due to their combat capabilities but that just meant that they were a much higher level than he had currently been. That was something that he was glad to know because otherwise he might have truly thought them to be monsters. "R-right... I suppose that you could call me a newbie of sorts. When it comes to this game, I haven't quite ventured out too much. Been far too busy taking care of my grandson to really go out of my way and do things like this on my own."

Gesturing to just about everything around him as he had said that last bit, Marius would offer the duo a slight nod. It was now clear to him that that inky horror from before had been something that he had seen once or twice in his life in the past. A mongoose: a highly invasive species back in his homeland of Ireland. Naturally, the one that he had been seeing here was far more of a menace to behold than the ones back home. "It's... good that the two of you had ensured that there wasn't any havoc cast upon the first floor. A horrid thought that such a thing was even possible... Than again, we are quite literally trapped within a death game against our will so I really shouldn't be too surprised."

It was in this moment that something had clicked in Marius' mind. This man had a familiar! Even if he were to truly consider it his master, which Marius' doubted to be the case, it was a familiar that he had managed to acquire via the quest that he had been looking for! Finally taking note of this fact, the elderly gentleman would begin to idly rub at the back of his head while bellowing out a bit of an embarrassed laugh. "I suppose that you could say that I'm out here looking for a woman. A gypsy to be more specific. Admittedly, I'm having a hard time believing that might even really be on this floor at the moment but I had to at least give it a looksie. She's the only one that can really help me obtain a familiar, after all."

Spoiler

Word Count: 405

 

[Freyd 0]

Freyd regarded Marius with casual curiosity, seeming to ponder options before making up his mind.  

"Oh, you mean Lady-what's-her-face?  Yeah.  She hops around between floors quite a bit."  The shadowed cowl swiveled loosely, scanning their surroundings before coming to rest in a particular direction.  "You're on the right track, actually.  She's a few hundred feet that way."  Pointing with death's walking stick towards the sound of the waterfall, upstream from their position, Freyd had already fathomed what the man was after.  "I'll tag along, if you don't mind.  It's always nice to meet someone new, and it's a pleasant rarity to meet an older player."  

It was a genuine offer and comment, though the man's manner of dress and bearing had a tendency to intimidate more than comfort.  Normally, that worked out in his favour.  Persi sauntered over to Freyd's side before melting into a puddle of inky goo and slipping quietly up beneath his armor.  Like the shadows from which she was made, there was no evidence of her presence whatsoever.

"Were you looking for a specific creature type?  I've traveled quite extensively, and have some skill at scouting and tracking.  Maybe I could help you find it?"  

Reaching into thin air, he pulled back a bent and twisted bit of bread.  "Here.  Have some of this.  It will help."

***

 

Freyd offers the following to Marius:

Jackpot Pretzel (Snack) | Loot Die 3 [165672]

[Marius 0]

Although still a little skeptical on whether or not they could trust this individual, Marius had figured that it was best to go along with them for the time being. It wasn't all that safe for him to have been out here on his own, at his current level, and that much had become quite clear to him. Especially considering the fact that there had very recently been a dragon that had almost collapsed atop of him. "Well, I don't really see a reason to turn you down so... I suppose that I would appreciate the help! It'll be nice to have one of the younger generation escort me on this quest so thank you for the offer, Freyd."

It is around this time that Marius would reach forward and accept the pretzel in which had been offered to him. He wasn't quite sure how such a thing was bound to assist him in this particular endeavor but than again, it wasn't too unlikely that it would have a useful effect. With a soft smile, Marius would gingerly partake in the pretzel before going wide-eyed. "O-oh wow! This is surprisingly good!" A pop-up menu would suddenly appear before the elderly man, indicating what purpose the pretzel had had. "And it increases my luck rate! I had no idea that such a spectacular snack was a thing!"

Shaking his head a bit from side to side while trying to keep the ever increasing giddiness at bay, Marius would continue on. "And to answer your question, I was hoping to perhaps find some kind of large moth. I've heard tale of giant insects in this particular valley of the floor so I figured that it just kind of... worked. And if I may ask, how pray tell did you manage to ascertain the location of the woman as quickly as you had? Is that some kind of special ability that your Persi has?" This old man wasn't quite sure that his future familiar would ever be as capable as Persi had seemed to be but the thought alone was enough to interest him.

***

Marius accepts the following and uses it: 

Jackpot Pretzel (Snack) | Loot Die 3 [165672]

Spoiler

Word Count: 351

 

[Freyd 0]

"Tracking."   He spoke as if the single word explained everything, then slowly registered that more details might be required.  "Err.. the Tracking mod under the Search skill.  Sorry.  Force of habit.  I'm never quite sure how familiar people are with the game, and tend to just assume it.  After so many years, it's rare to encounter players who haven't heard it all a thousand times."  Reaching up, slowly, Freyd pulled back his cowl to reveal a plain and fairly unremarkable face adorned with pale skin and steel-blue eyes.  The latter played hide-and-go-seek behind loose strands of hair from an unruly mop of mousy brown.  Harsh, angular features and arched brows gave him a slightly arrogant, predatory look, belied by newfound softness in his eyes.  There was danger in him, but none of it was aimed towards Marius.  

A smirk and light chuckle followed the older player's reaction to the consumable he'd offered.  It wasn't so long ago that he'd first felt the same sensations.  Somehow, it also felt like a lifetime had passed.  Where Marius' digital flesh was more outwardly worn, Freyd felt old in his soul.  Aincrad was good at mixing such things up, and still enabling them to co-exist.

"It allows me to sense the location of creatures and people.  The parameters can vary a bit, but I've encountered her before.  It was necessary when I searched for Persi, as well.  Finding her once means that I can find her again."  One eyebrow arched.  "Can't say that I've ever encountered any giant moths.  Might as well add those to my list."  A gloved hand gestured towards a break in the tree line.  "There she is.  Get your stuff.  Then we'll see about finding you what you seek."

[Marius 0]

A few curt nods would be offered to the mousy brown haired man before him. From the sound of it, this tracking skill was something that would come in handy in the future. Especially considering that it was something that had fallen under the Searching skill that Marius had been aiming for. If he were capable of increasing his searching ability than he would likely have an easier time searching for materials in the future, which would in turn benefit his shop. "I see, I see. I'll definitely have to do a bit more digging into things like this. Find ways to be more useful in the future. Running a shop can only benefit the other players to such an extent, after all."

The elderly gentleman's gaze would slowly begin to drift on over to the break in the tree line that had been indicated to him. "Right. I'll be sure to rush ahead and get what I need from her. Thanks for the assistance..! Guess I'll be back in a few moments." Marius would tan begin to rush forward towards the NPC that he had been looking about for. It wouldn't take more than a few moments for him to reach the <<Traveling Gypsy>> and to awkwardly rub at the back of his head. "Uh... Hello there! You're the <<Traveling Gypsy>>, correct? I was hoping that you might be willing to loan me the <<Familiar Food>> that you use to tame the beasts of the land...?"

Even though he had known that this had been the <<Traveling Gypsy>> given Frey's information and the fact that her name had been hovering above her figure, he had still felt as though it was polite to ask before proceeding onward. Thankfully she didn't seem to have taken any offense to the question, since Marius wasn't quite sure how he would have proceeded if he had messed up the beginning portion of the quest. "I hold no qualms in loaning you the required bait to lure in and tame a beast of the land. Just be sure to return what is rightfully mine once you have done as much." A pop-up menu would than  appear before Marius's gaze, prompting him to accept the item that she had been bestowing him with. He would proceed to accept the <<Familiar Food>> before returning to Frey with a soft smile on his face. "Well than, I suppose that we should go searching for this giant moth now? I'm sure that we could find one in one of the many forests located within this general area."

Spoiler

Word Count: 429
Current LD Modifier: +6
Current CD Modifier for Taming: +1

 

Edited October 3, 2021 by Marius

[Freyd 0]

"Lead the way," Freyd chimed in, his gaze set upon a distant ridge, beyond the tree line.  Some distraction kept his attention elsewhere, though enough focus remained to have followed the completion of Marius' transaction.  "The quest imposes limitations on how much help you can receive.  They," he pointed at the sky, or more likely at some unseen entity beyond it, "don't want us experienced types walking newbies through all the content."

Grasping his staff firmly, Freyd braced it against a nearby log and used it to push himself up to the top of a nearby crop of stone.  It would be easier to survey the landscape from up there, albeit only slightly.  "Take whatever options are available to you," he replied, answering an unspoken question.  "Maybe you'll find your moth, or not.  If we keep at it, you'll eventually find something that suits you best."  He pointed towards the ridge.

"That seems like a promising area.  Why don't we start there?"