Rencesvals

Crafting rolls: R3 Blacksmith (T3 gear max, 4 crafts/day) Ambition Tool (+1 EXP) ID 212990 | CD 9 | T2 Uncommon Heavy Armor (+4 EXP) ID 212991 | CD 4 | Failure (Lose mat, +2 EXP) ID 212992 | CD 12 | T2 Perfect Heavy Armor (+9 EXP) ID 212993 | CD 7 | Salvage (LD 11, keep mat, +3 EXP) Cost: 3 materials

Crafting rolls: R2 Blacksmith (T2 gear max, 3 crafts/day) Ambition Tool (+1 EXP) ID 212987 | CD 11 | T2 Rare 1HSS (+6 EXP) ID 212988 | CD 11 | T2 Rare 1HSS (+6 EXP) ID 212989 | CD 12 | T2 Perfect 1HSS (+9 EXP) Cost: 3 materials Rank 3 Blacksmith reached.

Crafting rolls: R1 Blacksmith (T1 gear max, 2 crafts/day) Ambition Tool (+1 EXP) ID 212985 | CD 10 | T1 Uncommon 1HSS (+4 EXP) ID 212986 | CD 6 | Salvage (LD 3, lose mat, 2 EXP) Cost: 2 materials Rank 2 Blacksmith reached.

Crafting rolls: R1 Blacksmith (T1 gear max, 2 crafts/day) Ambition Tool (+1 EXP) ID 212954 | CD 4 | Failure (lose mat, +2 EXP) ID 212955 | CD 5 | Failure (lose mat, +2 EXP) Cost: 2 materials

Austerlitz cursed when the UI popped up with a message notification. He should have suppressed the interface during such a sensitive mission and had forgotten to do so. Hopefully it hadn't drawn anyone's attention and wouldn't get him killed. Something scraped in the darkness to his left: metal against stone. They had found him. Launching himself from his hiding nook, he caught one of the assailants by the neck, shattering his form instantly. Cries of surprise, anger and anguish came up all around. He was far from alone. Barking dogs signaled that they likely had his scent and that thi

Darkness broken by lanternlight greeted him the moment Ren stepped through the portal to arrive in the streets of Tomoika. Were it not for the steam-powered clocks and ability to verify the time though player UIs, you could easily loose track of yourself in this underdark. A few customers were loitering outside the shop when he arrived, waiting to place orders. A bit of banter and assuaging their patience soon had them all heartily filling their scripts and setting deadlines for delivery. Ren knew he'd be busy, yet looked forward to it. This was what he'd wanted and signed up for. Th

Snapping the reigns to pull away from the Daze and hoping to glean some space to think, it seemed appropriate to solicit some advice. "What do you think, Biscuit? Could there be something there?" The oxen farted long and loud in response, dropping a load on the cobblestone as she went. "I... I'm really not sure how to take that." Assuming that she meant anything more by it than simple relief, Biscuit wasn't saying - not that she could. Maybe that was the point? Make of it what you will. It's all the same shit. "Heh. Yeah. Maybe." Guiding her gradually back to the ce

Verdy's gaze seemed to be gauging his response with hesitation. "I know you, Sakata. You were always a good man, and still are. Don't ever doubt that." Leaning over, Verdy kissed him on the cheek before suddenly jumping off the wagon and vanishing inside. Ren hadn't even had a moment to decently blush. Biscuit snorted at the outcome, glancing back at him with dull cow eyes that seemed far keener than anyone had ever considered possible. "I love you too, Kano," he thought, unable to say it out loud in case she heard him. Even Ren's semi-obliviousness could not ignore the signs

It took a short while longer to navigate the main boulevard to the narrower lane whereupon the familiar and colourful façade of the Happy Daze. Verdy's paint job had been deliberately loud, as if the merely looking at the building was meant to slap you silly. The interior was even more intense, but Ren expected to spare himself that psychedelic experience today. "The Biscuit Express will soon be coming to a stop. Please be sure to close and secure your tray tables and collect all of your belongings prior to disembarking. We thank you for riding with us today and wish you a quiet and d

A jolt as the cart passed through the massive limestone gates to the First City was enough to bring Verdy back to her senses. Recognition of the hanging pennants, along with other familiar sights, smells and sounds soon brought her mind back into focus. "Are we back already? How long was I out?" "Three days," Ren replied, without skipping a beat. Verdy's dozy eyes snapped open with momentary panic until she caught the curl at the edge of his lips. An arm with strength like a limp noodle pressed against his should in some pathetic form of rebuke that did nothing, save provoke hi

Traveling back through the Horunkan woods in silence, both driver and passenger sat content to listen and absorb the lush landscapes and scenery. Birds circled overhead or sang from a subset of pre-recorded chirps while woodland critters migrated in predictable patterns along preset courses within designate bounds. It was a beautiful illusion, but worth the occasional moment to appreciate its finer points. Verdy's head started to loll about once they cleared the tree line. Open air, exertion or fitful sleep was catching up with her. Just because ren had rested soundly, didn't mean she had

"You still haven't quite told me what all of this is for," she added, pointing at the load of stone and ore shifting heavily behind them as they resumed their wagon ride. "It's for weapons, tools and armor. To make effective gear to keep you, our friends and anyone else I can alive out there, and to make a difference." She was giving him that look again, that said she was proud of him in a surprised, motherly way. "When did you grow up?" He knocked his knee into hers, elbows not being close enough to ribs at the moment. "In the aftermath, and when I started seeing how many

"Yeah?" She had refused to stray from the first floor ever since her sister died. "Town to town. Safe zone to safe zone. Nothing can happen. I've done it many times, including going up to scout a location My trip to seventeen was probably more dangerous." "You've been to seventeen," she asked, both agog and incredulous. "What... what was it like?" "Very Greek, actually." There may have been variations, but the invitation from Demeter hadn't left much time for sightseeing. "We can go together at some point and check it out. I think you'd like it. There are plenty of fore

"How much of this stuff do you actually need? At this rate, the wagon won't have room for us to sleep another night, and we still need to make our way back." Brushing sweat from his brow, Ren looked overhead to confirm the position of the scorching sun. They'd been at this site for hours, having gathered quite the decent haul from the available nodes. "Spawn rates around here must still be high from when the game first opened. Players would have blitzed this area repeatedly and in high numbers. They've all likely moved on to better fields on higher level floors. Still, you're n

Their morning was spent working kinks out of backs and scrounging more edibles to stave off starvation. Verdy did most of that while Ren re-organized the wagon and took care of Biscuit. She's found a nice and cozy patch of hay and took an extra bit of coaxing to get up and ready. Filled and prepped, they carried on their merry way to the next available resource cluster. It turned out to be an old quarry face with exposed chunks of obsidian and other volcanic deposits. All were oddly out of context on a floor that otherwise lacked any evidence of such activity, but Ren was quickly coming t

"It feels like ages ago." Already bundled under the cart's tarp, she stared wistfully at the slowly emerging stars in the patches of sky visible overhead. Tree coverage was thicker and taller here, blocking more of the view, but there were few lights to obscure the full grandeur of the night. Climbing in as best he could while avoiding stepping on her, Ren thumped into bed at her side. "It was," he said, half joking and pensive. "Who really knows how long we've actually been in here? There's no true way to be certain. In the end, it may only matter if we ever manage to make it back.

"So, what happened to your grand plans for a one-day outing?" It turned out that the inn didn't really have any rooms, but instead offered chairs and benches where exhausted patrons could sack out for a while. The wagon would serve, despite Ren's earlier comments to the contrary. "Tag-alongs dragged me behind schedule," came his reply, along with some exaggerated hand flailing for dramatic effect. Verdy just chuckled. "Do you remember that time we all went to Suzukaze Garden for the weekend?" She'd already improvised a pillow and banket from the assorted goods at their disposal, a

It hadn't taken more than an instant for Verdy to decide that the fare on offer was not up to her standards. Far more skilled at foraging for greens that Ren would ever be, she'd wandered out beyond the walls to find something more palatable to her tastes. He, meanwhile, was quite content to gnaw upon whatever game the locals had roasting on a digital spit. It was little more than a digital skin anyway, in his opinion. This from the man who regularly ate gruel with hearty glee. Some half an hour later, his companion returned with a plate full of berries, herbs and assorted greens, a

Ren's earlier assessment of Horunka wasn't wrong. The village, barely a hamlet, also barely four corners, totaled about seven buildings surrounded by a flimsy palisade of young oak trees. They were stout and rugged, but nowhere near as durable as their elders. Butt ends planted to some depth in the area's black soil, they rose about ten feet from the ground and were lashed together with makeshift rope of questionable integrity. It didn't look like much because it wasn't. The inn at the camp's centre was barely more than a shack and made Verdy positively beam at the state of the Happy Daze

"Do you ever hear much from the others?" Ren knew he hadn't. The strain of past events had pushed them all apart in the same way that losing a child can shatter marriages. Despite all the years together, or perhaps because of them, they could no longer stand the static grief that inevitably built when they were near. He and Verdy had been somewhat of an oddity, both staying at the Daze. How aptly named. "No, not really. I try reaching out every once in a while, but don't get more than a few courteous words in reply. There's no conversation. Everyone has drifted their own separate

Ren just laughed. Verdy always found a way to cull the brooding right out from under him. "I'm not sure that you were really meant to agree with me so readily," he said, his dusty gloved hand reaching up to cover hers, "but thanks, I think." Something snapped loudly from deeper in the woods, followed by the scraping of branch on branch and a heavy thud. Loggers. Hopefully. "We're not far from Horunka, and the day has gotten away from us. Let's pack up what we have and find a safe place with food for the evening. I'm not sure my stomach can stand any more of your cooking." A

"I chose blue because she'd already chosen red." Haltingly spoken, but managed nonetheless. "I'm grateful for what you tried to do that day, Ren. I always will be." "Even if I failed? Even if Aus kept me from getting to her?" The vengeful flame in his heart still burned to be unleashed. He'd fought with every ounce of rage only to see her fractured into a thousand sparkling motes of crystalline light less than a hand span beyond his reach. As calm as everyone always thought he was, the desperate fury of that moment lingered deep within, building like a pressure vessel and wanting t

"Few people understand the need for a sense of self more than someone who shares their face with another." Verdy's voice cracked as she spoke. Grief was still too close to her heart. Like a slowing pulse, the beat of pick striking earth stuttered and stopped. "I'm sorry." A dismissive wave discarded the sentiment. "It's fine. What's done is done, right? I know you didn't mean it that way." Looking back to the cart and Biscuit grazing on the lean tufts of sparse grass that managed to grow by the trail's edge, Verdy pushed it all back down. "She'd kick my ass for clinging to th

"When you spend your life looking at your sister like an image in a mirror, it can be nice to be able to change the reflection." Candid and honest, as was so often the case with her. Ren had always admired how forthright she could be, even if occasionally a little snappish. Verdy's silver tongue had pierced the hearts of a few would-be suitors who proved too bold while bearing super-inflated egos. She always set them straight. If they were decent about it, she'd let them down easy. The brasher crowd were fated to crash and burn in the harshest and most painfully embarrassing ways imagina

"What?" Focused on turning over broken soil and stone as Ren clove the ground apart with a third-rate pickaxe, she clearly hadn't been expecting it. "Ummm... the eyes and hair. You and Vin went very different ways with your looks. Was it because you needed to feel different from each other?" They were identical twins in the real world. Distinct in many ways, yet virtually indistinguishable in physical terms. "It just struck me as curious, and I wondered how you felt about it." Leaning against the tool's worn handle, he allowed himself a moment's respite for a drink of water and res