Mortambo

Leaning with my head on the Boulder, pounding my fist against it I just repeated the same litany over and over. Stupid Boulder, stupid Boulder, stupid Boulder. I heard Dustin say something about taking the last hit and I looking up right as he punched it and the Boulder cracked in two. “Thanks man, I wanted the last hit too for posterity, but this stupid thing wasn’t cooperating.” I said kicking one of the pieces. As he walked away I called out “I’ll be sure to send you a message when I’m ready to do some hunting!” It seemed like Dustin was already on his way back to whatever business he had taken a break from to help me out. I walked back over to the NPC and motioned to the Boulder. “There it’s done.” He said, “And have you learned something?” “Yes. That punching boulders is stupid. I’m done with this quest.”

Thread Summary:

Looking over the paper, I nodded. “Family sounds a lot better than some of the other guilds out there. I mean I understand the drive to level, but I also don’t want to feel like just another cog in the machine. I also really like the idea of looking out for each other and taking care of one another. That seems so lacking with so many people in Aincrad.” Stopping for a moment, my eyes narrowed as I thought about it. “I’ve only looked at a few guilds so far, but I think this sounds like the best fit for me so far. What do I have to do to join?” Sunetra, getting restless climbed onto my shoulder and started swatting at the paper. “Hey! Hey! None of that!” I grinned and walked over to the fire place putting them down in front of it. “If you’re restless here. Just don’t burn Miss Neo’s shop to the ground.” They just meowed in response.

@Neopolitan

As she pointed towards her prices, I looked over them. Yeah, I'm definitely going to have to come back when I have some more col and she has some great stuff on sale. I noticed something about a bonus offer. "Oh, I see you have a special for your guild mates. What guild are you with?" As Neo placed the papers down on the counter I looked over them, including the guild pamphlets. Sunetra just had their head on my shoulder watching Neo and I interact. After I looked up from the pamphlets I smiled, “And okay, not just for the discount on your delicious food, but what kind of members is your guild looking for? I feel like I’m ready for something more in this world and to accomplish much of anything I need friends. I’ve started making a few, but I think a guild would be even better.”  

@Neopolitan

“Hey, Miss Neo.” I waved a greeting back. “I heard about your shop and wanted to stop by…” I trailed off as soon as I saw the Golden Toast in the display case and stared for a moment hungrily. “That toast you shared with me was delicious. I might have to get some when I have some more col.” I grinned up at her as I continued, “Anyway, I just wanted to stop by and thank you again for helping me find Sunetra, my familiar. I’ve been doing a lot of quests on my own, and well...it’s really nice having a companion to share my time with.” I felt the warmth on my shoulder as Sunetra put their paws on it and peeked out from my hood. “It’s been tough training them to stay places where they won’t burn everything but it’s been worth it. We’ve been practicing working together.” I kind of shyly brushed my hand through my hair and bowed my head briefly. “Anyway, I just wanted to thank you again for watching my back while I found them.”

@Neopolitan

Name: Battle Axe of Precision
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 2
ID: 111590
Roll: 10
Item Type: 2H Battle Axe
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: +1 ACC
Description: A huge axe that always seems to hit its mark.
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/17427-f1-blacksmith-shop-the-unbreakable-anvil/?do=findComment&comment=567595

Name: Candy Swing
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 2
ID: 111591
Roll: 11
Item Type: 2H Battle Axe
Tier: 1
Quality: rare
Enhancements: +1 DMG, +1 ACC
Description: A big axe made from a candy cane.
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/17427-f1-blacksmith-shop-the-unbreakable-anvil/?do=findComment&comment=567595

Name: Axe of Rending
Your Profession: Blacksmith
Your Rank: 2
ID: 111592
Roll: 9
Item Type: 2H Battle Axe
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: +1 DMG
Description: This large axe is unnaturally sharp so it cuts through things like a hot knife through butter.
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/17427-f1-blacksmith-shop-the-unbreakable-anvil/?do=findComment&comment=567595

I was still trying to fill the order I had so I went back to work making two handed battle axes. It is my first order, and so this could make or break my store! I want people to know that I am reliable and can get their orders on time. Sunetra watched over me as I slaved over the hot forge and my hammer rang out into the morning air as I made two decent quality axes, but not ones good enough to fulfill the order. The last one though, came out perfectly and as it formed it took on the shape and color of a candy cane. “Whew, there it is. The Candy Swing.”

Crafting Attempts (1/14/19):

TOTAL EXP: 33 + 11 = 44/40

ADVANCED TO RANK 3

TOTAL EXP = 44/80

Created Items:

As I walked through the town of Deepedge on Floor 7 looking for the Tacet Cibum cafe I thought back to the kind of strange girl named Neo who guarded me on my way to find Sunetra. She was certainly an amazing fighter, but never said a word, only sending messages through the system. I heard she owned the cafe I was headed to and I wanted to thank her again for helping me find my companion. Sunetra's company was so wonderful when I was out adventuring on my own I feel like I owed her another thank you. Finally spotting the café, I saw the subtitle “Where our toast is as golden as our silence”. Huh, it sounds like a place to stop and shed your worries and just exist for a little while. I’m sure we could all use that. As I stepped inside the cafe, I felt Sunetra, inside my hood, shift slightly to get more comfortable.

@Neopolitan

Pulling out more scrap materials and my tools again and laying them out next to the forge, Sunetra immediately began nuzzling the material to heat it up to the proper temperature for my hammer. I moved it to the “anvil” and they followed. As I worked if a part cooled, they heated it back up for me immediately. “I think you’ve gotten it. Yeah! We’re awesome.” I leaned down to pat their head and they just meowed at me. We kept it up a little longer working together in tandem like we had been doing this all along. I grinned and tossed the scrap aside. “Okay, I’m ready to go home, how about you?” Sunetra meowed at me as I offered them my arm and they jumped up and scrambled back into my hood. “I thought so.” We quickly headed back down the path to Urbus and on to the Town of Beginnings after having a successful day’s adventure.

Training Roll:

FINISHED TRAINING!

Thread Summary:

We circled back around towards the hill to head back for another round of training, still looking for more materials as we went. My pace slowed and I just enjoyed walking through the forest whistling merrily and looking around. I felt Sunetra playful swat at my ear again and laughed. “Yeah, let’s get this done and then we’ll head back home and just have fun for a while.” Grinning we passed the cave again and I saw a stray piece of ore on the ground. Quickly picking it up and putting in my inventory I continued to climb up to the hill top. Glancing around I took in this part of the forest and oddly except for my fight with the Wolf this had been a very peaceful adventure. “Well let’s get back to training, Sunetra. We should be done soon and then we can head home.” I grinned and lifted her out of my hood setting her back on the "forge" rock.

Gathering Roll:

“I’m sorry, Sunetra, I’ve got to get more used to you being back there.” I felt them playfully swat my ear and it heat up a little. “Ow! Well I’ll take that to mean I’m forgiven. Sheesh.” I felt their warmth on my shoulder as we continued wandering and looking for materials. The forest around us was alive with small animals and birds singing softly although they fell silent as we approached wary of our presence. I scanned the forest floor for good materials while keeping an eye on the hill and staying within sight of it. I found some herbs and bent down, smelling them. They were just like the ones I found in the <<Garden>>. I picked them up to take to a Cook later and get some delicious food made. All I had right now was toast and a few other very simple things. Even the toast could be more delicious though, I thought remembering Miss Neo’s Golden Toast.

Gathering Roll:

As we began wandering into the forest, I quickly realized I needed to put Sunetra back in my hood. I motioned for them to jump up and they leaped onto my arm and scrambled back in the hood sticking their head out and laying it on my shoulder. As we wandered deeper into the forest I tried to keep within sight of the hill to be sure we could go back there to finish Sunetra’s training. Looking around, I was reminded a little of the <<Garden>> I had walked through and started looking for branches as well as ore bearing rocks. I spied some branches up in one of the trees so I climbed up very quickly and retrieved a straight solid piece of wood that would make a great handle for a weapon. Climbing quickly down, I felt Sunetra shift in my hood. Huh, I must have knocked them around some climbing the tree.

Gathering Roll:

We began down the hill again to search around the mouth of the cave for more good chunks of ore. I didn’t want to venture back in the cave and risk getting attacked by whatever was moving in there. Looking around, I didn’t see anything immediately so I plopped down on a rock and took out another piece of toast. Sunetra meowed and put their paw on my arm asked for some. I took a bite before breaking off a piece to offer them some of the toast. As they munched on it their flame grew brighter and they began to pace around the rock I was sitting on just looking around and occasionally nosing or pawing at things. “Getting restless? I am too so let’s keep looking.” I jumped up and Sunetra followed me as I wandered out further into the forest looking for more good materials for crafting.

Gathering Roll:

As I am standing there frustrated I get the pop up for the friend request. Tapping accept I look back at the rock still glaring at it. Hearing Dustin’s offer, I shake my head. “I appreciate it,” I say turning to him and giving him a slight smile and turned towards him, “but I think you’re right. I need to do this part myself. I’m just sorry your stuck here watching me beat myself to death on this STUPID ROCK!” And with that exclamation I spun on my heel and delivered a punch with my whole body all of my frustration channeled through my fists. I watched as the Boulder’s HP dropped to just over half of what it was. "I hate this thing. I see why you wanted to get this over with. I think I’ve learned just about everything I can from it," I said beating my fist slowly on the Boulder as I spoke. 

Punch Results:

@Dustin

Once again I held the scrap up to them until it was red hot and took it over to the rock serving as my anvil. I began to roughly shape it into something and occasionally had Sunetra heat it up again. “Very good job, Sunetra. You are catching on so fast. I’m very proud of you.” I reached down and scratched their head like I might a cat in the real world. They dimmed their flame while I petted them and even so I felt my hand heat and drawing back it was slightly red as if I had sunburned it. “Let’s go take another break and look for more materials. Especially since I have an open order now.” Again they responded as if they understood Sunetra meowed. Smiling, I realized how nice it was to have a companion. I’ll have to thank Miss Neo again for helping me find them.

Training Roll:

Creeping back out the way we came in, I kept an eye out as we reached the mouth of the cave for more materials. Finding nothing useful I sighed. Sunetra and I began wandering back up to the hill. “It’s okay, we’ll look some more after another training session on the top of the hill. I’m sure we’ll be able to find plenty more useful materials. Then when we get back to the workshop you can help me for real instead of just working on this scrap material I have.” Sunetra meowed as we went like they understood me, but I knew it was likely just because I was making noise so they were too. As we crested the hill, I began to prepare to train them again in helping me around the forge. I set out my tools and got some of the scrap material from my inventory ready.

Gathering Roll:

As we slowly crept forward, I stumbled and fell down to my knees. Sunetra stopped as well and looked at me with an almost disappointed look. I shrugged and stood again creeping along the cave. As we looked around I could not see well enough to find any more good ore on the ground. I started to get worried that maybe there would be bats or other monsters in this cave that would swoop down and attack us. “Maybe we should head back, Sunetra, and keep training. I don’t think I can handle another fight like the one with the Wolf.” At that moment, they pawed at something on the ground and I leaned down seeing another good piece of ore. As I bent down to add it to my inventory, I heard something moving deeper in the cave. “Let’s definitely get out of here” I said heading back out the way we came.

Gathering Roll:

“Do you think its safe, Sunetra?” All I heard from behind me was a “Mrow” “I’ll take that as a yes.” Creeping slowly forward into the cave I looked around and saw a lot of deposits in the wall of fine ore. However, I didn’t have a pick or anything to mine it with. Hopefully some of the ore on the ground will be useful. Looking around I found a couple of pieces, but going too far in it would start to get rather dark. Sunetra caught up with me and I realized they could light the way. Duh, cat made of fire. Kind of useful in a dark cave. As they caught up with me I realized it wasn’t really enough light to be useful for fighting but would be enough to let me see if there was more good ore on the ground. We crept forward together at a snail’s pace.

Gathering Roll:

As I praised them for doing a great job, I realized I was a little hungry. “Time for a break, Su.” I flopped down on the ground and they walked over to me and nuzzled my hand dimming their fire so it was tolerable for me. I got some toast from my inventory and shared it with them as a snack. “We’ve had a wonderful little adventure today so far haven’t we? And now we can take a break, do a little training, and maybe even gather some more materials for the shop.” I finished off the rest of the toast and got up from the rock. “Let’s go see if we can find some more materials.” I wandered down the hill a little in search of materials. Near the base of the hill there was a cave but I didn't immediately see anything useful lying around. 

Gathering Roll:

I guess that will come with getting a few more levels. As my thoughts finished, I crested the hill and found the wonderful weirdly shaped rock that almost looked like my forge. I pushed another rock over to be an “anvil” and set Sunetra down. “Okay, now I want you to help me keep this metal heated while I tried to work it into something useful.” Sunetra just stared blankly as I pulled out some of my discarded scrap materials I kept just for this purpose. I held the metal out to them and waited until it was red hot. They looked at it rather confused as I began to shape it and as the metal cooled, they reached out with their paws to heat it up again. I nodded and said “Yep, that’s it exactly. If you can keep it hot then you’re doing a great job.” I grinned. This was going well.

Out of Combat Regeneration:

Training Roll:

I opened the chest very wary of any traps and ready to jump back out of the way if anything happened. Sunetra just gazed over my shoulder curiously. I waited a tense moment and nothing happened so I leaned forward to look inside to. “Nice, some more col and some items. Man, is it expensive to get stuff identified though.” I put them into my inventory and then Sunetra and I continued on our way. I started humming a little to myself and enjoying the day as my health began to refill after the combat. I think that fight went surprisingly well. Granted that is mainly due to Macradon’s amazing armor that he made me rather than my skill. I mean if the Wolf had been able to do real damage, the fight took so long that I would have been at risk of dying. I need to learn how to finish fights like Miss Neo.

Out of Combat Regeneration: 

Treasure Chest Opening:

As we began walking, I realized I wasn’t sure which direction to go in now. I stopped for a moment trying to orient myself since we were sort of off the map to find the rock I wanted to train at. I wasn’t sure but after a little bit I set off in a direction anyway. It wasn’t long until I starting seeing some landmarks I recognized. Good I picked the right direction. I felt Sunetra’s warmth as they put their paws and head on my shoulder to watch where we were going as well. Suddenly, they perked up and it caused me to stop and look around. “Wow, a treasure chest. That’s awesome!” I walked over to it to check it out. I wonder if these things can be trapped. How would I even check for that? Shrugging to myself, I began to try what I could to open the chest.

Out of Combat Regeneration:

Treasure Chest:

I slashed again and moved to the right, and the Wolf leaped backwards. I leapt into the air again for an overhead swing and while the wolf easily dodged instead of following through I twisted my slash to the side I saw it dodging towards. As I slashed him this last time, it finally de-rezzed and sighed in relief. I leaned on my Axe, out of breath for a moment before looking across the way to Sunetra, who had woken up from their nap and had at least seen me finish off the Wolf. As I added the loot to my inventory, the fire cat walked up to me leaving behind a trail of cat paws perfectly burned into the ground and let out a questioning meow. “Mrow?” “Yeah, let’s keep going and get you trained up. Hopefully we don’t run into any more of those guys.” They jumped up on my arm and slipped back into my hood, snuggling down In the cloth there.

Combat Results:

Loot Roll:

As I forced its head over, I kicked again this time putting as much force as I could into it with the little bit of leverage I could get. Finally, it forced the Wolf to roll over off of me still growling. I jumped back as it snapped again and brought my Axe around to slash it across the muzzle. It yipped and backed off some giving me some space. Covered in dust and grime, I paced around in a circle again done with this fight now. Its hit points were almost gone and one more strike should do it. I mustered the energy reserves I had left and darted forward my Battle Axe flashing as I slashed at the Wolf yet again. As it dodged I followed that up with a backswing which I then spun into another swing. Pressed into the defensive with this onslaught the Wolf didn’t have a chance to snap at me again.

Combat Results:

I agree, Wolf. It’s time to finish this. I struggled against it again trying to get the upper hand so I could roll back to my feet. The Wolf’s weight was too much for me to push off this time. Apparently the fight had taken more out of me than I thought. Trapped in this battle for advantage both the Wolf and I were getting frustrated. It started trying to rip my Axe out of my hands and I barely kept a hold of it. I began to knee it in the stomach trying to get it to let go and I just couldn’t get leverage to actually do any damage which would get it to let go. I’m sure this looks great rolling around in the dirt with this stupid Wolf, and sadly it wasn’t even about life and death. Shoving my Axe into its mouth again I forced its head to the side.

Combat Results:

I managed to get my Battle Axe up between us holding off the Wolf’s biting by shoving the haft of my Axe into its mouth and pressing. It kept trying at different angles and we were just rolling around locked in this battle of who would get the upper hand. I tried throwing it off, but I didn’t have the leverage at the moment so I kept up my rather weak defense. What else could I do? Every time I roll, it just follows. The Wolf’s angry golden eyes and razor sharp teeth were only inches from my face. Deep in its throat, a low angry growl rumbled outwards letting me know it was enraged that it could finish me off. Not that it would if I let it through my guard, but it didn’t know that. It just sensed that its prey was finally weak enough and it was time to finish this.

Combat Results: