Crafters & Buyers

It was a long week for Shaskur. It felt like she never had a break now, what with the constant game of cat and mouse with her mysterious stalkers while in town. She was now sure it was a /them/. Plural. Apparently multiple Cait Sith. She didn't know why, but she was trying to turn the tables and find out why they were and where they came from. Only mixed success. They were good. Very good.

Regardless of this, life had to go on. XP needed acquiring. New gear too. And that's what lead here today. Some others in the Silver Sword let her know about the New World Alliance effort to gather resources and a new crafter in Grandeur. And this was the dropoff point. It looked like a regular armour shop, but apparently Grandeur had made a deal with the Lander owner and was storing materials in the back.

It was decent sized armour shop in the Town of Beginnings. Various types of armour were hung on the wall or worn by simple wooden mannequins. There was also a much smaller selection of weapons along one wall. This apparently was the storefront, and forge work could be heard from the back room. There was a large wooden counter where sales could be made.

    Currently off in the back, the Adventurer that was the contact was busy crafting back there. Red hair that had seen better days was currently inspecting his major work. It had taken two tries before he was ready. He really owed Shiroe, Jazz, and Shiruba who donated the different plates. Hearing someone come in and knowing the Lander was out, he set the piece of material down and turned to head out the front.

    What emerges from the back is quite frankly a tall Adventurer. And imposing in the 'Don't mess with me way' look of a craftsman. Like seriously, someone randomized the height slider to huge. Not to mention the Were Fang mark on his neck that's visible. Looking around, his eyes land on Shaskur. "Greetings. I am Giganpor. May I help you?"

    He idly puts the smithing hammer back on the belt loop as he folds his arms over his chest. The honest look that he's giving is one eyeing for different equipment from the start, which is probably slightly uncomfortable. As if he was weighing how much to offer and how much to not offer all in a few glances.

Shaskur's attention was initially grabbed by the few weapons on the wall, so she started to walk in that direction when a huge and heavily built adventurers wanders out from the back of the store. Shaskur turns toward him and her head slowly tilts up until she is finally looking at his face. "Wow, big. Err, I mean, Yo." And she lifts her hand in greeting.

There was a few moments of silent before she recognizes that yes, the adventurer had already asked if he could help her. So she continues on, "Ehm, I heard there was a Grandeur crafter here. Was that you?" She looks down at the forge hammer at his waist.

    A tilt of the head is given, before Giganpor nods. "That it is. What can I do for you?" He pulls a stool from behind the counter, sitting on it. At least it doesn't creak or anything, but does bring him more to her height than the usual massive size.

    "Bringing more materials for the project, or here to request something? I'll warn at the moment, I am as limited as others out there so far." He says.

    Looking the imp over again, he seems to consider, "I do not think I have heard you over the chimlink before."

Shaskur nods, "Yeah, I don't talk on the chimlink much." And then she gives a slight shrug. "I still hear a bunch of the public chatter if I don't have it muted." She moves over and leans against the counter.

"I'm mostly looking to find out what is actually possible to craft?" She pulls out some basic steel daggers, they tapper to sharp points, but there is clearly nothing special about them. She puts one of the daggers on the counter, "I really need better weapons. I feel like a newb. What is possible? I hear that the alliance is gather material, but what will it actually turn into?" She tilts her head slightly in question.

    Giganpor looks considerate as he reaches over to inspect the daggers. "Hm. That currently depends upon my other project. And how much time and effort we crafters are willing to put into it." He looks considerate, then sighs.

    "At the moment, we do not want to waste materials on a possible fool's chase. I am guessing you have not heard about what Plant Hwyaden has found out as well?" He frowns a little, looking considerate as he looks at her.

    "You do not seem like daggers this short would suit you. These almost look better for throwing than simply stabbing or cutting. What classes do you use?"

Shaskur taps her chin in thought, "Wellllll, I did go to the grand opening of their crafting complex. They has some interesting look art supplies. I watched some people work on metal for a few minutes." Then waves her one hand in a circle, "It really isn't my thing though. They made it sound pretty complicated."

She lowers her hand, "I draw sketches sometimes for fun, I guess it's considered crafting by some, but it is just a hobby I've had." She pulls out a tome and slips it open to a sketch of a landscape. "I do have artisany skill, but I just draw like I used to before getting stuck here. I haven't really noticed much difference. Maybe it's because these aren't really useful." She shrugs.

"Oh, your other question. I'm a Twin blade and Enchanter." She looks down at her daggers. "I've always used daggers, but these are small even so."

    That earns a bit of a whistle from Giganpor. "That is one hard combination to use. Slayer, right? Probably one of the few that can consider how hard it is to be a Dreadnought, too." He nods, looking considerate. "So you would prefer ones approaching short swords, at a guess? More wakazashi than tanto in length?"

    Opening his menu, he presses a few things before a roll of parchment comes out that he lays on the counter flat, along with a pencil. "Here. Since you're experienced, you probably have a good idea of what you want more than I could. Give me a basic design in length and shape, then I can go through the menu to see what I can do. It won't be anything too fancy, but once we know if the whole hand crafting works, I can probably do better."

    He eyes her for a moment, then sighs, "I take it being Twin Blade you prefer light armor? Those look almost beginner or something the Wave hit."

Shaskur considers the daggers as she thinks about what she wants, "I've used a few different styles of blade pre-apoc, but I like a blade that can be thrust or pierce well, but also have the strength to parry if I need." She picks up the dagger, then flips it around so the blade is pointed downward. "Much of my build is based on stealth and getting in a good strike with the mob unaware, kind of a pinpoint strike to cause a critical."

She takes the parchment and begins to outline a few different ideas as she continues to talk, she appears to be slightly more relaxed and conversational as she draws, "Mostly I use light and mobile armour. Leathers has been typical. This gear I have now is all newb stuff I just picked up, and doesn't offer much protection, but it doesn't hinder me either."

    Giganpor nods, "I can understand on that. I tend towards heavy weapons for a combination of damage, tanking, and aggro."

    He looks considerate as he watches her draw. "Hm. I can probably offer a better leather chest plate, maybe some greaves and bracers. Not sure what the menu will do to them. The same with the daggers... huh. Those look more like dirks so far... I take it your style is more to not be there if something tries to hit you?"

    He is idly glancing at the drawing, and going through the menu. Narrowing down the possible ideas he can make. Slowly but surely as he sees the different designs. It's pretty much a touch and go narrowing as he watches.

Shaskur nods, "Yeah, you have the right idea. I mostly try to evade, but having some reinforced greaves and bracers do sound like a great idea." She taps her lip in thought. "You are collecting the spider chitin, is that right? Is that what you might make it out of?"

"I'm not really very knowledgeable about the different names of daggers." She shrugs and points at the her current ones, "I'm partly basing it off these." Then her eyes widen slightly with a hopeful look, "You don't happen to have any examples of the ones you mentioned that I could try?"

    Giganpor hums, checks his inventory on another window with his opposite hand, then nods, "Oh, a few." He then clicks a few things in the main one, the obvious status bar of automated crafting pops up. Multiple times.

    Soon there's a variety of daggers similar to what she has so far. A lot of them in different forms. Dirks, arming daggers, a wakazashi, short sword, even a pair of sai pop out. He goofs once as a kama pops out. "Whoops." A chunk behind him to have it impaling a wall by accident is given. "Sorry, wrong type. They were fun to play with a little. Felt like real hand claws." He shrugs.

    By the time he's done, there's at least 20 different daggers there.

    He looks over at the small army of knives, then blinks. "Uh... I may have gone overboard."

As all the different blades come out Shaskur's eyes just start to sparkle and then she goes to pick each up flipping it around in her hand and trying out a few practice strikes in the air before moving onto the next. She giggles when Giganpor tosses the kama into the wall. She was having fun.

After some trial she says, "I do think the more thrusting focused daggers will work with my style better." She points to one of the arming dagger, "I especially liked to the feel of that one." She nods in thought and then says, "I wouldn't need any fancy detail at this point, but how easy would it be to add a little detail to make them look fancier? I know it isn't really that helpful, buuuuut if I'm going to be with them awhile I do like the extra attention."

    Giganpor hums, then shrugs, "How about this one?" He taps a few buttons, then out pops a slightly more decorative looking arming dagger, with hand guards and designs on the blades. "Not a lot of trouble. That's supposed to be a green rarity, but usually there's something off about them."

    He inspects it, eyeing it. "No durability troubles... little bit lower attack power, but yeah."

    The dagger is eyed before he tests the weight. "Ah. Heavy on the back end." He makes another, then hums as he does the same check, "That one's heavy in the blade."

    He shakes his head, "I hope my project works now. Knowing for sure that we can get what we need to be Adventurers in this world would be helpful." He offers the two to her, complete with sheathes for them.

    Considering, he looks her over again, "I take it you're not human... eh... not Undine or Salamander. What race so I can try to get some leather out for you?"

Shaskur watches in interest as Giganpor creates a couple new daggers and offers them to her. She then tries out each and practices a few strikes again similar to what she did when inspecting the other daggers. While she is doing this she continues to talk, "Green rarity is definitely better then those newb daggers I have, still do you mean the slightly lower attack power is what you mean when you said something would be off?"

She hums as she continues to flip the dagger around before move to the other and repeating the process. "I like all the attack power I can get, but both of these are better feeling then what I have."

She then pauses and looks over at Giganpor, and pulls down her facemask and gives a toothy grin where her fangs can be clearly seen. "Sorry, I'm so used to this I forget I even have it on. I'm an imp. You can't see them easily under my cloak, but I also have some small wings. Not that they are particularly useful. I guess you are a human yourself?"

    Giganpor shakes his head, "Usually it's something about the feel, but you get things like durability being lower or attack power being lower." He seems to consider, then shrugs, "Green is better, but it's kinda weird how the system does it. If the hand crafting works, though, I may have to relearn things the hard way."

    A small smile is given, then he tilts his head so the lion tattoo can be seen. It's obvious what it is. Were Fang. "Not quite. I am a Were Fang. Tusked Snow Lion species." He grins a bit. "I usually stick to the human form. Only use it for the Rage, Keen Senses, or Splitting Bark these days."

    His eyes look at her and he hums. "Female Imp..." Opening the menu, he looks at her, then at what he has again in his gaze. Finally he hits some items. "These should be light enough." A stylized leather chest plate, matching bracers, and greaves.

She nods at Giganpor's explanation, "You seem pretty knowledgeable about all this stuff already. If anyone can figure it out, I bet you could." She then sets both daggers down on the counter. "I like them both, I'm a little stronger in my right arm so the blade heavy one is more comfortable for me in that hand, but the the hilt weighted one is a bit more maneuverable and works well for my left hand." She grins down at the daggers.

Then she looks back up at Giganpor, "Oh, right, I see. My mistake. I bet you look rather dashing in your Snow Lion form." And she grins impishly. And then the armour comes out and her grin widens. Was today Christmas? It kind of felt like Christmas. She proceeds to check the armour and appears to be quite pleased with it.

And then her grins fades a moment, "Soooooo, how much will all of this cost?" She waves her hand to indicate both daggers and the armour.

    Giganpor looks considerate, "Well, I was going to head for the Alne crafting center to see if this pans out." He looks over at the back, then to her. "As far as price, eh... 10 gold. Most of that's from materials I had just laying around. I tend to go out and help when I can to mine. Just pass it on whenever you out level it or the like."

    Eyeing her, he sighs, "Yes, and no. I'm told it's intimidating." He looks considerate, then shrugs. "I tend to help out those I can to survive here. Much as it will seem odd, I like this world and I want to see more of what it has to offer rather than try to get out like some others. But my circumstances are a bit... different."

Shaskur taps her lip in thought. "How about 7 gold? And I will consider you my preferred smith, we are in the same Alliance afterall. I'm sure having me as a repeat customer will more then make up the difference down the road." She grins impishly up at the large man once again.

Then her grin turns into an understanding smile, "You are perhaps even a bit intimidating as a human, I suppose it would only be moreso when you transform.. Still intimidating the enemy will likely encourage your allies all the more."

And then her smile turns to a grimace. "I think we are stuck her for good. Or at least nothing we do inside the game is going to help." She pauses a moment to reflect before continuing, "I know there are some that are hopeful that what they do he could have some actual impact, but I think that is kind of ridiculous. We are here, whatever is wrong with the servers or the Dive Gear isn't going to be effected but what we do." Sadness clouds her face, "I think we just have to accept the situation and make the most of it. This is our home now."

    Giganpor looks considerate, "8 gold?"

    The Were Fang looks at her, raising an eyebrow, "Actually... a little secret. I do not believe the Landers are NPCs or AIs in the sense we know them. They are something... more." He looks out the window, "One of my contacts is an orphanage runner. When you receive some of the questions you do while telling tales and having to recount them to others. It's kinda weird, but... no AI that I know of was that advanced."

    He shrugs, "But... 8 gold?"

Shaskur taps her lip once again, repeating her early look of consideration, but then smiles and shrugs, "Sure, that sounds fair! It's pretty much all I've made so far that I haven't already spent, but it seems like a good investment." She guesters at her menu and then pulls out 8 coins that she lines up on the counter.

She then nods slowly, looking serious as Giganpor talks about the Landers. "I've noticed something similar actually. They seem.. Too autonomous. Too much personality. Sometimes I wonder.." but then she shakes her head, "No nevermind. But anyway, I think you may be right about them.. I think I may need to investigate them further."

She inspects Giganpor a moment, "You know Giganpor, you're a good guy." She gestures at her menu some more and sends Giganpor a friend invite. "I'd like to keep in touch. I will need more equipment later, but also I think we should chat more if we find anything else."

    Giganpor nods, picking up the coins. "Not a problem." He hits accept on the friend invite.
    "Well, not much more I can do to help on that one. She mostly gives me information more than anything. You'd be surprised how much an orphanage runner hears. Or rather, the kids hear from time to time." He shakes his head.

    "But, thank you for the compliment. Least I can do is help with the equipment. And the 10 was with a discount." He shrugs, "Just be careful out there."

She gives Giganpor one last smile before she lifts her facemask to conceal her further once again and equips the new equipment. "Thank you for your help Giganpor. I will catch you later." She raises her hand in parting and then continues on her way back out to the street.