[PT-SP-01] Nothing is Forgotten <EAL: Alchemist>

[Freyd 0]

The vial in question had been far more difficult to retrieve than most would appreciate, lost at the bottom of the Stygian River, dragged who knows how far by silent but relentless currents.  It had taken him days to scour, collecting all manner of junk in the process, so much that Quip might have blown several gaskets at the mere piles of debris left strewn along the shore.  So much unbelievable junk, oddly including a vast assortment of musical instruments.  Freyd recalled wondering if it was where Performers when to die or throw in the professional towel.  Maybe worth a mental note, if he ever chose to torture all of Creation as Quip had done picking up the bagpipes.  By sheer good fortune or divine intervention, she'd had the decency to move out from Angel's Point a week or so earlier.

Meanwhile, Freyd found himself at Evangeline's doorstep, the heavily lacquered oak threshold and immaculate trim awaiting his advanced as he pondered the terrifying contents of the flask in his gauntleted hand.  

"Mari's far better at this than I ever was.  Even Rai might struggle with it, and I'm planning to tinker with a newb's chemistry kit?  I must be out of my mind."

"Well, if you are," the woman hollered from within, "please be sure to return with the requisite admissions fee.  We're fresh out of charity this morning!"  The lilt in her voice made is sound like 'cherry-tea,' but Freyd knew a quest prologue when he heard one.  Sure enough, the prompt followed seconds later.

***

GUILD RANK 5 (+5% col, +5% EXP)

Objective complete: Talk to Evangeline

Freyd | HP: 1340/1340 | EN: 170/170 | DMG: 20 | ACC:5 | AA  | EVA:1 | LD: 29 | CD: 12 | PROSP:3 | QTY: 2

Spoiler

Name: Freyd, Bara no kuro kishi
True Tier: 20
Level: 34
Paragon Level: 161
HP: 1340/1340
EN: 170/170

Stats:
Damage: 20
Accuracy: 5
Evasion: 1
Loot Die: 9+20
CD: 0+12
AA 
QTY: 2
Keen Sight x10 (Specialties, 50 SP)
Discerning x12 (Specialties, 120 SP)

Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Mentor's Pride - Absolute |  ACC III | AA
Armor/Trinket: 
  - Small Konpeito Sack | LD III | QLTY I
Shield/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Unbridled Potential | PROSP III | QLTY I

Combat Mastery:
  - Combat Mastery: Damage R3

Combat Shift:
  - AOE Shift

Familiar Skill:
  - Grappling Familiar

Custom Skill:
  - Shades of the Gemini (CS)
  - Beckon the Void (CSA)

Skills:
  - Energist
  - Katana R5
  - Searching R4
  - Unhindered

Extra Skills:
  - Disguise
  - Survival
  - Meditation
  - Forgotten King's Authority

Inactive Extra Skills:
  - Lady Luck
  - Photosynthesize
  - Brawler
  - Assault Mode
  - Frozen Hide

Addons:
  - Focus
  - Precision
  - Stamina

Housing Buffs:

  - Bedroom: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
  - Bathroom: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 20% (rounded down)
  - Basic Kitchen: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. This can exceed normal Cook enhancement caps. Ex: A perfect T2 MIT food gives 35 MIT instead of 30.
  - Storage Closet: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
  - Living Room: Increases out of combatHP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
  - Attic (Bedroom): +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cannot boost a skill without ranks, or increase a skill past its maximum rank. Cannot boost a skill the user has not learned yet. Ranks obtained using this buff will make the mods of that rank available for purchase. Mods obtained this way are unusable if this buff is removed until the skill is returned to the appropriate rank by way of SP purchase.
  - Basement: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll
  - Guest Room: Players can have one «Amenity» in a «Guest Room» and the «Amenity» cannot be recovered. Players are allowed to change which «Amenity» is in the «Guest Room». Multiple instances of the same «Amenity» do not stack. This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.
  - Extended Workshop: +2 Crafting EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
  - Ornate Fishing Pond: +2 Fishing EXP per Attempt and additional +1 LD & CD to fishing attempts.
  - Dining Hall: Turn 3 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Feast. A Feast contains 6 portions of the food items sacrificed. Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread.
  - Mega Slime Farm: +10% EXP to a thread. Limit one use per month. Must be used on a player's first post in a thread. Cooldown begins counting down when used in a post.

Guild Hall Buffs: [Firm Anima] 

  - Guild Hall II: Allows a Guild the ability to create up to two Guild Quests. Narratively, it also allows players to teleport back to the Guild Territory when using Teleport Crystals.  
  - Storage Vault: Allows a guild to create a Storage Vault in their Guild Page. Members can use this thread to store and withdraw items. Any items that have trading restrictions cannot be moved to a Storage Vault.
  - Trading Hall III: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (9+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters and Rank 4 merchants/performers receive +1 crafting/identification attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters and Rank 5 merchants/performers receive +5 crafting/identification attempts per day. Appraisers gain an initial additional reroll per identified item at no cost.
  - Treasury: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.
  - Laboratory I: Once per charge, when receiving single-use consumables from Quest Rewards, if a Guild Treasurer were to receive additional tokens, one guild member may claim 1 x (Additional Token / 2) copies of the consumable.
  - Bureau II: Once per charge, if two or more Guild members are present in a thread, allow two dungeons to be spawned/explored in that thread, regardless of Dungeon-searching cooldowns. This buff may only apply once per thread.
  - Library I: Once per charge, if a Storyteller is eligible to claim a Guild Token, their character gains +10% bonus EXP at the end of the thread. This buff may only apply once per thread.
- Armory II: Once per charge, players may submit a Skill Refund evaluation regardless of the 30 day cooldown window. In addition to Armory buffs, when submitting a Skill Refund evaluation, guild members have the option to pay an additional Token to refund up to 30 additional SP.
- Menagerie III: Guild members undertaking <<Feeding Your Enemy>> gain +1 LD to familiar searching rolls and +1 to familiar taming rolls. In addition to Menagerie II buffs, the maximum number of familiars guild members can tame narratively is five (5). Guild officials may also appoint a familiar mascot, shared between their guild members to accompany them narratively in their threads.

Scents of the Wild Totem:
  - Tanos
Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:
 - Appraising[3478exp] R5
 - Artisan [0 exp] R1
Gathering Profession:
 - Fishing [576exp] R5
 - Forager [64 exp] R2

 

Edited August 4 by Freyd

[Freyd 0]

"I don't know how Rai ever found the patience for this sort of thing."  Distant memories resurfaced of endlessly picking assorted fronds and herbs during the First Lessons quests.  It hadn't taken him long or far to travel to find a decent patch of suitable ground, no doubt restricted in proximity to the quest for the sake of new players desperate to cut their teeth on a new profession.  Freyd's interest was similar, but purpose altogether different.

"Shouldn't appraisal help with this sort of thing?"  Prodding a cluster of dandelions to confirm that they were, in fact, nothing more than yellowy weeds provoked his disappointment.  For whatever completely random reasons, however, the patch right next to the one he'd just been preening somehow counted.

"Insufferable.  No wonder I never really catch Elora using her workshop." Yet the utility of the skill was undeniable.  The constant stream of al-*cough*-chemical doo-dads Mari and Rai conjured up on the regular had proven that point more times than he could count.

***

Foraging | ID 248450 | LD 20+ | CD 12+ | Critical forage

Foraging EXP: 80/150 (Rank 2)

2 Mats collected.

Edited August 4 by Freyd

[Freyd 0]

"Lady, I've got a thousand mats right here, but noooooo.... go pick five more she says."

Griping was a sure sign that Freyd felt like his time was being wasted.  Having given up on flowers, he'd switched gears and moved to checking local trees and shrubs for usable resources.  Bark, leaves, berries, even the sap had its potential uses.  Never having spend much time on crafting - actual proper making stuff kind of crafting - had left him woefully unaware of just how many collectible items the game offered.  Wiping a heavy bracer across his brow, Freyd chose to swap out his gear to more suitable garb for field work, even dousing his icon to better fit in with the local NPCs.  Considered an oddity for his seasoned appearance among PCs, he fit in near perfectly among the floors background mobs.

"I can probably purchase most of the lab equipment I'll eventually need, but... maybe a second spare set for tinkering."  Too many years taking things apart made him insatiably curious about the workings of things, and how the system tolerated certain real world devices, but not others.  Showers for example, rarely seemed to rely on the actual required plumbing.  And that was to say nothing of...

***

Foraging | ID 248451 | LD 20+ | CD 12+ | Critical forage

Foraging EXP: 96/150 (Rank 2)

4 Mats collected.

Edited August 5 by Freyd

[Freyd 0]

"Fertilizer?  Nitrates, right?  Ugh.  Forgot about the smell."  High school science class was a long way back.  A few locals traveling to market greeted him as they passed.  A pleasant nod and finger touch to the brim of the broad straw hat he'd picked up from a kindly old man making them by the roadside made him start to appreciate the simplicity of the task.  "Maybe this was what Raidou really needed and wanted in all his endless foraging: a sense of quiet serenity too often lacking in a certain occupation's toil"

He'd had his own brushes with fatigue, increasing in frequency of late.  Mari had noticed.  Part of it was just a load of baggage still slung around his avatar since the last raid.  Sure, he could disguise it, but it was like Cardinal had altered all the default settings on him.  Not really worth all of the conscious effort required to do so, especially if Elora seemed to approve.  Everyone else could suck it.  The slug sliming its way down his fingertip seemed to agree.

***

Foraging | ID 248452 | LD 20+ | CD 12+ | Critical forage

Foraging EXP: 112/150 (Rank 2)

6 Mats collected.

Edited August 5 by Freyd

[Freyd 0]

"This should be enough, but..." A pleasantly warm summer breeze wafting fresh scents from the nearby meadow.  Snacking on a few scattered berries still left in the bushes by the roadside.  Even the pressing glare of sunlight on his pale skin proved difficult to discount, especially when it also happened to be productive.  Shimmering translucent blue, a pop up manifested to his left, beckoned by stray fingers in search of an excuse to remain.

"Oh, look at that.  We can probably rank up on Foraging if we stick with this a while longer.  Can't miss such a pressing priority, now, can we?"

The boarlet napping on its backside next to him, hoofs huffed up in the air as its tiny form snored in diminutive adorableness left him smiling at the necessity.  Whispers certainly weren't above rationalization.   

"I'm sure it will come in handy for other purposes in the future."  Even as he spoke, Freyd had to admit that materials and collection points seemed to have  grown easier to spot and access after his last rank up.  

***

Foraging | ID 248453 | LD 20+ | CD 12+ | Critical forage

Foraging EXP: 128/150 (Rank 2)

8 Mats collected.

Edited August 5 by Freyd

[Freyd 0]

A portly woman waved at him from a nearby farmhouse, kindly in look and bearing, wrapped in no less than three separate aprons for reasons he could not understand.

"Would you like some water?  I've been watching you toil for hours out here."  She jabbed a heavily calloused thumb over her shoulder.  "My sons and husband are in the far field.  I was about to bring them some, and saw you looking absolutely parched."

"Am I?"  Freyd chuckled, gazing down at his sweat-caked outfit, dirt rubbed in the fabric's every fold from a day spent digging in the dirt.  "Heh.  I suppose I am.  Funny how time flies, eh? oh... and uh... thank you!" Wiping his hands off on the less dirty parts of his tunic, Freyd offered a short bow that only made her laugh more.  

"No need to be so formal.  We get a lot of visitors around here.  Gascard and I have always been friendly sorts.  It's my pleasure to offer what we have for sharing."

***

Foraging | ID 248454 | LD 20+ | CD 12+ | Critical forage

Foraging EXP: 144/150 (Rank 2)

10 Mats collected.

Edited August 5 by Freyd

[Freyd 0]

A second bow, more deeply bent in gratitude for her offering, Freyd felt strangely moved by the old woman's generosity.  

"What have I been missing," he asked himself, as she departed.  Every day since his first foray from the grand gates of the Town of Beginnings, farewells waved to Marv but never reciprocated, he'd been lurching from mission to mission without end.  A few spare moments snared by the virtue of good friends who'd dragged him along, looking out for wellbeing he hadn't fully appreciated.  Reclining in a paltry bit of shade behind rubble field wall, loose stoned shifting at his back as warning not to too thoroughly test their integrity, Freyd was grateful for the brief respite.

He had everything he might have needed in his inventory, being ever the lethal survivalist boy scout, but that was hardly the point.  Too long, he'd interacted with this world like it was just a pale veneer of visual wallpaper over digital frames.  It might well be.  But it was still home.

"That nonsense ends today."

***

Foraging | ID 248455 | LD 20+ | CD 12+ | Critical forage

Foraging EXP: 160/300 (Rank 3)

12 Mats collected.

Edited August 5 by Freyd

[Freyd 0]

Returning to Evangeline's shop as the sun began its downward trek in the western skies, her appointed task didn't bother him in the slightest.  A days sojourn in solitude had done him more good than he could ever have imagined.  Maybe he wasn't quite ready to find the game's perfect panacea, or a conveniently crafted cure for NPC-slaying ebola.  Those moments would come.  More importantly, he'd found a desperately needed reprieve and the wisdom needed to recognize its worth.  It was a good day.

"Here you go, teach.  It's a tad messy, but I'm proud of it nonetheless."  Proffered for inspection, the NPC cocked an eye at the change in his demeanor from his initial arrival.

"How exactly did you find the Philosopher's Stone needed to make that marvel happen," she jeered, pointing to his worn and tattered clothes.

"Just lucky, I guess.  Something about learning to appreciate the time I spent with my nose to the ground, and taking the time to smell whatever roses I might find there.  Even the yellow stinky ones."

***

Crafting Salve | ID 249042 | LD 20+ | CD 12+ | T1 Perfect Salve (Boredom's Absolution)

Eval submitted here

Objective complete: Crafting the item with Evangeline's guidance.

***

Thread Closing:

Freyd receives:

6,615 EXP (Word Count [1500/5*20] + Quest [300] + 5% Guild Rank bonus)
1,041 col (15% P5 Reward [992] + 5% Guild Rank bonus)
16 Materials (Foraging [12] + Quest [5] - craft [1])
Unlock Alchemist crafting profession
Gain crafted item, per eval linked above.
1 Mon

+96 Forager EXP

Edited August 5 by Freyd