Tournament Art

Out in the courtyard of Castle Reach Zorin, along with another adventurer, discuss the area and possible construction options. A third adventurer hammers in marker pegs at various locations some distance away. Nothing is actually being built, but there is at least some discussion and initial planning being done. After some time the adventurer Zorin is discussing with nods and heads back into the HQ while Zorin moves over to lean against the wall and look up at the castle. It was once a majestic building, but it needed some repairs to really be brought back to its former glory.

The weather was downright cold, and a white mist could be seen with every breath, but the layers of armour seemed to be sufficient for the moment for Zorin even in the chill air.

There is a slight tapping sound as a young woman works on posting a couple of new images onto the bulletin board that has been dedicated to the Lost Adventurer Network. A couple of additional faces amongst those already there. Kita is dressed in a simple black dress which has sleeves that go all the way to her fingers, the girl's blue hair visible underneath a witch's hat. As soon as the drawings are posted, she bends down and plucks up another stack of them, heading out of the castle.

She hesitates at the sight of someone leaning against the wall, someone who she had been on the look out for. "Zorin?" She asks. The two had never officially met, but had both been present during the raid on the first floor's boss.

The Imp pushes up the brim of her hat, "I think I have that name right, don't I? I heard that you were looking for someone to do some posters for a tournament?"

Looking down from the castle Zorin inspects the blue haired woman in black attire, quickly inspecting her to see that her name was Kita. In that back of his mind he had to admit that was a nice feature, if only he could have done that back before during business meetings with distant associates. Then focusing back on the present he nods, "Yes, that's right. Oh, I see your gamertag is Kita!" and he grins happily. "I suppose Xander passed on my request then?"

Standing straight, no longer leaning on the wall, he gestures back towards the main entrance to Castle Reach. "I know you were just on your way out, but do you mind if we step inside a moment? It is rather chilly out here right now. And you are quite right that I am looking for an artist to assist with our tournament posters, and also looking for a creative mind that may has some ideas for planning them as well."

"Mmm." Kita gives a small sound of affirmation, "Kita Blackthorne. We were both on the raid team for the First Floor Boss." She explains. Her tail twitches lightly against her ankles as she gives him a small smile, pushing her glasses up along her nose.

"Yes. Xander let me know you were looking for some help. Things have quieted a little bit with the Lost Adventurer Network, so I have a little bit of spare time to lend aid where I can." The offer to go inside is met with a flash of appreciation in her stormy blue-gray eyes. "Please. I'm not a fan of the cold. I can't wait until we start seeing spring temperatures."

The young woman shuffles the papers tucked against one arm, then nods. "I have some time. I was just going over to the Hostess of Fertility to post up some new missing posters, but it can wait." She inclines her head, then retraces her steps back into the relative warmth of the castle.

A flash of recognition crosses Zorin's eyes at the mention of the First Floor boss, "The Boss fight was a close call, much moreso than I would have liked, but we succeeded in the end." And he grins at the imp, "I'm glad you were able to assist there!"

As they continue into the building to get out of the cold he continues, "The Lost Adventurer Network was a great idea. I've been happy to see that our alliance members have been involved with worthy efforts like it. Still, if you could spare a little time for this side project I know I would greatly appreciate it."

"I'm not sure how many of the details you've heard so far, but our alliance is looking to put on a tournament in the effort to draw attention to the alliance and hopefully lead to new recruits or at the least awareness about our tower efforts." Zorin looks around as other adventurers pass by going about their own business. "We've had some degree of success with quite a number of exceptional players joining us from the onset, but we need every hand we can get. Hopefully this tournament will lead to a few more, and at the very least it provides our own people with a safe challenge to help hone their own skills."

Walking over the bulletin board he gestures at it, "I'm sure you are more aware than many just how valuable notices are. We may have the chimlink system, but it only works for people in our contact list, guild, or alliance. We need a way to reach out to adventurers across the kingdoms. The tournament is being organized to take place in one of the Holy Empire Colosseums, and we hope to have posters up in every Root Town Hunters Guild that we can reach." He pauses as he looks at a few of the notices on the board. "We were originally thinking of just having text, but that just doesn't stand out." Then he turns to look at Kita, "And that's were the skills of an artist could really help us out! We need to come up with a poster which can catch people's eyes, draw them in. Then they can read over the details. Do you think this is something you might be able to help out with?"

"It was my first raid, to be completely honest." Kita admits, a soft laugh on her lips. "I'll admit, it was more difficult than I was expecting. I promised my partner I wouldn't get myself killed so I ended up having to withdraw before the end of the fight." Unlike some, she doesn't seem ashamed by this.

"Admittedly, it was a selfish idea, initially. I got separated from my partner during the Apocalypse, and thankfully found them through the postings." Which would explain why she was so invested in the idea. "Though I am glad that it was able to bring other people together. I know exactly what it is like to be separated from someone you love."

As he begins to explain the concept surrounding the tournament, Kita shuffles some of the papers in her arm, starting to stow some of them into her inventory. About halfway through his explination, she just has a single book open, a pencil pulled from behind her ear as she starts to doodle out a basic thumbnail idea. "Well, the Landers have basic printing presses, but they can't duplicate images just now. It's all basic moveable type. So what I would suggest is maybe a single eye-catching poster for each major location, and then the details in text on a separate sheet which we could mass produce."

Her pencil scratches at the page, "We'd want something relatively simple, easy on the details, and easy to reproduce. Maybe... two silhouettes fighting, with a basic backdrop of an arena. Create a stensil, maybe using vellum, which then could be reproduced without having to have an actual experienced artist doing each page." She catches her lower lip between her teeth, thoughtful. "It would still take time and effort to make a lot of them, but not as much as trying to do each one by hand."

Zorin nods along as Kita goes into some more of the details of what could be done. "The limitations of the technology is one of the reasons we were thinking of just using text. I had considered something like a wooden stamp could be used for a simple image, but a stencil likely would product better results. That's a good idea." He hums in thought for a moment. "I do think it would be a good idea to focus on having some large more artistic posters in each of the Hunters Guildhalls, and then leave the smaller ones for other establishments to be simpler."

Zorin then looks at some of the existing notices trying to find additional inspiration before turning back, "I have a few others who are also helping out with various aspects of the tournament, and they may have some additional thoughts. The idea of fighting silhouettes does sound apt. I wonder if some kind of reward, perhaps an image of a chest or gold coins somewhere would also draw attention. Bring focus to the idea that there is a prize for the victor?" He watches closely to see what the artist thinks.

    Wisteria walks through the door with a report on the floor two boss to post. "Wouldn't mokuhanga (Ukiyo-e style woodblock printing) be best? Don't the Landers have that?" she asks as she starts to put up her report. The tall albino girl looks tired which is odd for her but it's been a taxing day. "I'm still thinking an enchanted item or even just a well crafted one would be something we could offer as a prize, I think an enchanted accessory would be best because then it won't matter what class or fighting style someone has."

Zorin's eyebrows raise as Wisteria puts up the report and he grins happily, "Kita, as I was just mentioning one of the exceptional individuals assisting with the tournament planning is Wisteria." And he motions towards the albino girl. "She is well experienced in the tournament process and also has some great ideas for adding some additional flare, she likely could help out with the poster planning as well..?" and her turns to look if Wisteria agrees or not with the thought.

"Wood block printing is certainly a possibility." Kita doesn't deny that much, "...but in my experience they take a lot longer to produce than a simple stencil and ink setup. The carving time is the major difference." The witch looks between the two, not quite certain who exactly she should be addressing in that instance, "If we're just looking to draw attention, I'm not sure we'd need the level of detail that a wood block printing technique would offer." She lifts her shoulders slightly, seeming indifferent. "I can work with either, though."

She inclines her head towards Wisteria then, "Nice to meet you. Kita Blackthorne." She tucks her pencil into the book, then offers out a hand. "I'm sure we can be vague about the exact prize in the advertisements. Most people aren't going to care what the specific rewards is so long as they feel it's worth it." Kita adds, "Though we might want to make sure it is at least valuable enough to cover the cost of the journey, and room and board in the Holy Empire. Otherwise I'm sure people would be plenty salty about that."

    Wisteria nods her head "I'm happy to chime in." she says with a smile. "Yah can't have the winners make a loss." she says "If it's a small loss for participants that's normal." she says "I was just thinking of the best way to do a picture without a printer." she says shrugging. "I was thinking of trying to push our crafters as well as offering a reward and display of what we can do for our members to help drive people to joining in on climbing the tower." she shrugs. She thinks like a sports team captain not like a gamer.

Happy to have brought the experts together to work out the details Zorin smiles. That was a large part of being a manager - having the right people working on the tasks. Still, there were other tasks that needed attention as well.

Turning to Kita he points over his shoulder at Westeria, "Don't let her casual attitude fool you, she is a pro national level kendoka and also a deus. She knows her business when it comes to tournaments." Then turning to Wisteria he continues, "And Kita here is the one that started the Lost Adventurers Network. I'm sure you've seen her artwork - it's high quality stuff even when just sketches."

Then as he looks back and forth between them, "With the both of you working on this I'm confident we will have the best posters possible to get the job done sufficiently with the time and resources we have." He nods as if to agree with himself, but then pauses and looks at them again. "I have some other matters I need to attend to, but I'm glad our alliance has people like you two on it!" Looking to Kita he says, "It was nice to get to know you a little better. If you two need any additional resources be sure to talk with either myself or one of the other players helping with that side of the tournament projects."

Then with a last grin he waves to the ladies as he heads back up to the temporary offices SEA has setup. "Thanks again and talk with you both soon!"

"What about if Scale Emblem actually charters some ships? It doubles as transportation for contestants as well as being able to charge them a nominal fee for the journey. We could even look into making deals with various inns and locations. We guarantee visitors, they guarantee a good price for those who book with us." Kita offers up these tidbits, "It's how a lot of conventions in the real world make their money."

Her head tilts curiously, unable to restrain a small smile, "That's quite impressive. I'll admit, I've never been one for competitive sports. I leave that to my partner, Jurou. They're the athletic one, I'm the artistic nerd." Kita pushes up her glasses.

"Divine Dragons could use a bit more publicity, so getting some of their work out into the world might be a good way to start." The Imp grabs her pencil again, nodding to Zorin. "I'm sure we can work something out. Go, take care of business."

Then, to Wisteria, she offers, "How about I mockup a couple of potential poster options? I'm joining the assault on Floor Two, so it might have to be after we return. So long as that fits into our time constraints..."

    Wisteria nods her head "They use to do that when we had to travel for tourneys." she says "The event would arrange hotel, train and bus at a discount for our club." she says "It's gonna take a few weeks to get everything setup, and I'm going on the raid. I just posted my report on the boss. I got details from King Gilgamesh." she says

"I guess I'll see you there, then." Kita replies, reaching up to tip the brim of her hat. "We'll reconvene after things are taken care of on Floor Two. Decide on final designs, and then start production." That arranged, the Imp swipes her fingers in the air, neatly dropping the stack of Lost Adventurer notices that she had before back into one arm. "I need to go get these posted up. So I'll bid you farewell for now." Then, Kita makes her way out of the Castle, having a busy night before the raid, it seems.