Brazen paused at the north end of the Rome backyard where he’d begun his career as an Enforcer. The tram entry gaped before him, ready to take him deeper into the city. He glanced back at the backyard. Nothing left for him to do here, unless he wanted to keep smashing leets with his bat. And besides, Madam Red needed his services elsewhere.

He looked at the tram entrance again and set his jaw; a dark premonition told him this may be his greatest challenge to date.

Without another thought he entered the tram, and felt g-forces close around his body as he sped off to Omni Entertainment.

The tram doors whisked open and for just a moment he saw the sprawling, active district. For a split second the neon lights and groups of citizens filled his vision but then, suddenly, blackness closed in on him and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

He woke, unsure how much time had passed, to find himself in the exact same spot. However now his head felt dull, almost drugged. He could barely concentrate to check his belongings, concentrate on his skills. He rose but found his muscles responded slowly, sluggishly, as though under a crushing weight. When he at last gained his feet he tried to look around. The ache in his body made this especially difficult, and his vision blurred so that he could only take in his surroundings in disjointed sections, like a movie seen as a series of still frames.

There was a flash in front of him, which he realized after a moment had been a person in armor, running by, yet all he had seen of them was a single flash of their image. With monumental effort, Brazen took a step forward. His footfall sounded heavy beneath him and his body lurched to move forward. “Arrgh, move! Move!!” he told himself. The sound of his second footfall resounded just as loudly.

He stopped and took a breath. He had traveled five feet. He tried to turn, to maneuver around a corner, but this too was difficult, almost impossible. Four more heavy steps carried him to the corner he wanted to round, but as he reached it, the smooth surface of it cool beneath his sweaty fingers, he blacked out again, slumping down against the wall.

He came around again, after several long moments unconscious, finding himself in the same place. What had happened to him? Had he been drugged? He had to find Madam Red. She would find a doctor for him, someone who could diagnose his condition and cure it. He knew Red lived in the Blue district of Rome. He had to hurry, had to find her. Steeling his resolve, he pushed himself from the wall.

Still his body moved as though ultimately encumbered. He struggled, step by agonizing step, up the narrow avenue. How big was this district? He wasn’t sure. He knew only to travel east to find the way to Rome Blue. He had to press on!

Suddenly it was as though his feet gave out beneath him, and he stumbled forward at an incredible speed. The building which had been a distance away was suddenly in front of him, and Brazen tried to stop himself, but to no avail. He slammed headfirst into the building, his whole body pressed into it and frozen there. Taking a deep breath, Brazen blinked, seeing only the prefab surface of the building smooshed up against his face.

He tried to turn around, get his back to the building, or see where the corner of it was, but it was as though the building itself held him in place. Like a fly on flypaper he struggled, pushed, heaved, trying to turn around. His head grew light and he gasped for air. Then he slumped face-forward against the wall, unconscious.

He forced his eyes open, some minutes later, but still felt stuck to the building. He forced himself to turn away from it, and caught a flash of several people passing by. One Atrox was wearing impressive armor, the image of him suspended briefly before Brazen’s blinking eyes. It was the only thing Brazen saw before passing out again.

He shook his head, trying to clear it. How much time had passed? Night had fallen; it had taken him hours to struggle to this point. He was able to step away from the building this time, and breathed deep the cool evening air. He turned in place, feeling slightly more mobile now. There was a nano in front of him, asking questions.

“Do you know where there’s a good store?”

Brazen shook his head feebly. “No, I’m new here. Can you show me how to get to Rome?”

With a friendly smile the Nano said “Sure this way. If you want, we can go hunting later.”

Brazen nodded weakly. “S-sure. Let’s hurry. Got to… get out of here.”

“You all right, buddy?”

“Just… go.”

The nano nodded, looking slightly confused, and Brazen started after him. The nano seemed to know where he was going, which encouraged Brazen. After walking about 60 feet, however, Brazen felt his legs begin to stiffen. “No!” he thought, but to no avail. The city slowed to a halt around him as he struggled to continue, but his head grew thick and disoriented as his legs stopped working. Suddenly the nano was before him again.

“You coming?”

Brazen fell to the street as darkness took his vision again.

He came out of it several long minutes later. The helpful nano was gone.

With a stubborn growl, Brazen lifted himself from the ground and staggered in circles, trying to face himself in the direction the nano had head off toward. He staggered around and around, the world still flashing by uncontrollably, till he caught sight of the angle he’d been looking for; he was pointed east toward the city gates. He could barely see them in the distance, flanked by the glowing blue insurance terminals and mission boards.

With a deep growl, Brazen pushed toward the gates, staggering step by step. He blacked out twice on the way, but each time he woke up he could see the gates beckoning closer and closer. People walked and ran by him, seen only for a flash instant here or there, before vanishing from his sight like strobing ghosts.

Finally the gate to Rome loomed before him, and he literally threw himself off his feet to fall through it. Darkness closed in around him as he did so, but as he blacked out he knew… hoping against hope… that even as he blacked out he had crossed into Rome.

Looks like he is suffering a bad case of overcrowding lag syndrome... lol. Say, when are you on? I can't say a definite time when I am on, but I'm a neutral solitus martial artist, level 9. You'll probably be seeing me around Newland City...

Well currently I am sort of stuck adventuring in the newbie zones. No matter which city I try to move thru it ends up being like that and I hate spending 4 hours just trying to cross a city And as of now Brazen is stuck with the clientR bug anyway so I can't play him. :/

I have clan engineer named Metrics and an Omni nanotech named Entropus, in addition to my Omni enforcer, Braizen. (Spelled Brazen if I can ever get an answer to my naming bug petition grr) I haven't ventured much into the neutral territories because I find they're the most crowded. Because of the obstacles none of these characters has made it over level 4 though

I will give you a tell next time I'm in anyway

If you turn all graphical and enviromental settings down to "shite," then it might decrease your lag. Cuz I have a pretty high end system for AO and I was getting bad lag until I did that. Well anyway, I'm ALMOST at level 11 now. Name is Acceleranto, remember.