Walykos the Blazing Heart, Marked by the Third.

[Warsor]

Its been months since I played Walykos and I want to say I played him for 7-9 months or so in total making him my longest lived pc on EFU. I always meant to finish his story with an Obit post to give others a place to remember and enjoy all the things he'd done but after running all 100 rings I was in need of a much needed vacation from EFU. It felt like I couldn't express everything I could possibly say about the character in one post. I will say it has been a great experience and I know from talking individually with DMs and players that Walykos meant a lot to them and affected the server even though me as a player am not a very big on conflict type. I'll follow others into it but Waly survived so long because he made himself two rules. Never get involved in house politics. Never give up no matter how many times you fall down. In the end I think I had somewhere around 300 or so individual quests as Waly was deleveled from Prestige classes to getting crushed by some bad fortune in a quest or DM event. I know for sure I had hit 10k+ permanent experience at some point thanks to the many many DM events he got to experience.

I'm really bad at this sort of thing with obits so I'll just say thank you to everyone who made this character so special for me to play. Maybe you'll see him again some day if the Third face isn't done with him just yet, the Sixth face springs hope eternal.

I want to give a thank you to in particular the DM team, Halfbrood, Akke, Abala, Bearic, Secutor, Dillusionist, YMD, and the players of Pyke, Vivian, Odette, Ishraq, Marleigh, Alyssa, Tiktika, Gaddiel, Maksim, Coates, Gilthalas, Aatish, Francine, Aeryn, Erschel...yeah I know we don't have all day so lets just say a large portion of the player base pcs at one point or another. They all had a great impact on me even if it was just an exchange of words and RP.  Sorry if I forgot anyone.


So...Walykos was a fighter Bravo awoken who came to the city missing his left arm. I made him not as a throw away character but also not expecting him to become anything special especially considering how weak he was in the beginning. Maybe 3-4 weeks later he was sitting at the feast and watching people getting obliterated left and right(apped characters even) and he rolled a 9 sided die to see if he should just throw himself at the next item and get it over with...he didn't think he'd survive. To my amazement he bid 3 rolls on a magic cloak that changed his life, made him the envy and target of many but also stayed with him through his many adventures. The final roll was a 3 and it was then that Walykos was marked by the Third, somehow surviving a battle to earn the clock with no blur, a bunch of moderate healing, and random potions.

Time passed and he joined a ring runner group The Blazing Headless Chickens(or the Blazing Hearts) which was my first true ring runner experience. He went beyond 90(the furtherest I'd ever gotten thanks to my colorblindness) and had many adventures with the Hearts. Walykos had been working hard for months at the point and gathered all the pieces of the darksteel fragments but decided instead of combining them in the logical way he was going to pray to the nine faced god for a miracle, a weapon that he could wield. Something that would get him all the way to the King. The Foil of Three Faces was more then I had imagined and the beauty was when Bearic started the magic show in the temple I rolled two nine sided dice at the start and the end and the third face came up each time.

[hide=The Third Face watchs as the sword is forged]
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Then politics starts infecting the group. Ishraq was less and less around, Vivian and Odette were out ring invested in everything from Razor Web plot to fighting the Count and the Pallid Prince. During this time Walykos didn't waver in his desire to reach Ring 1 but he also started to develop feelings for a certain healer who he would have protected with his life. Be he resolved to keep his feelings to himself, her path wouldn't allow for any romantic ties and it was enough for him to have her go with him into the deep rings. This culminated in heartbreak when a rift formed in the group, the entire group except Walykos pretty much went back out ring to fight and kill the Grand Vizier which ended the life of his friend and companion Pyke, made Vivian the Auger and unable to continue ring running, and then a few days later got her killed by Aeryn the insane mage. Walykos tried to defend her coming on the scene and was beaten down for his trouble and nearly permanently killed. Rescued moments too late to stop Aeryn from ending Vivian's life he fell into a bit of a depressed time.

[hide=Captured and helplessly forced uncounscious as he tried to stall for time to save Vivian][/hide]
[hide=Vivian set free her burden laid to rest...]
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Odette and the others lost their lives assaulting the Pallid Prince's stronghold to kill him. Walykos was along again but he was encouraged by Maksim and his company never to give up and as they headed inward they gave the responsibility of the Grey Keep over to Walykos, making him a little Baron alone in the rings without any companions left. I'm still amazed nobody came to kill him for personal ambition but holding out he was multiple times tried to be recruited by a gnome's ring running group but he didn't trust them for personal reasons. He tried to merge with the Grim Groats but they too fell apart and his groat wasn't destined to be his. Finally he returned to 99 and began to earnestly find young awoken and runners having middling success until his unusual method of awarding keys to the keep lands allowed him to impress Alyssa the Silverhat and she offered him a final place on her group heading in ring toward Ba'zeel.

[hide=Defending the keep from splitting regenerating trolls][/hide]

Making it to Ba'zeel was pretty damn emotional moment I felt like I'd accomplished something huge no matter what came next. And to top it off I rolled the nine again on entering the city and...yup 3rd face. You can't force this kinda fated luck.

[hide=Funny moment as we left the the city][/hide]

Well it was a epic journey with tears and laughs and heartwarming moments and genuine surprise that Walykos achieved his goal in the end...remember the final roll of the sixth face...

I know I've left so much out but if I tried to cram it all in this post would never be made as I tried to capture it all. In the end thank you EFU for a wonderful story and experience. More pictures will come in separate post as they are on two different computers I need to compile and see what is usable.

[hide=Some Walykos poses requested by artist]


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[hide=Trashshots?][/hide]
[hide=Here is some DM loot to tide you over]







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[Don Nadie]

Ma boy! Sorry plot and character development kept me from joining you to ring 1 with Isaiah (and that life kept me from going much further with Ganimedes). It was always a joy to be with you, as a fellow ringrunner through so many PCs.

Enjoy a well-deserved rest! I'm sure the King's Court has good wine! :D

[Ramc]

Walykos was always this weird distant institution to Mebril. Eventually finding her investigation notes she gave to him in the Grey Keep was a very :) moment

[MonsterMoose]

I had a blast playing with Wacky-los, great fun and a wonderful companion out in the rings.  Glad you made it!

[-UnholyWon-]

Bring him back! Bring him back! Bring him back! No wonder Luna's access to inner ring wares and gemstones dried up. He was an amazing character, and I hope its not the last we see of him!

Cheers!

[Gordan]

I'm soo proud to have been a part in your story

[Nazey]

My dear headless chicken!  I thoroughly enjoyed our adventures, though I wish I could've joined you all the way.  So it goes on EFU!