[PP: F3] <<Worn out Welcome>> (Garret, Nikodemus_Blackwood, Allania)

[Garret 0]

"This little forge was hard to find..." Garret muttered to himself as he came upon the small building at the edge of town, smoke pouring from the chimney slowly, deliberately, as the smith no doubt tirelessly worked inside. "I think by the time I've got all this gear and we've cleared the game, I'll owe my life to computer programmed characters a thousand times over." Garret chuckled as he strode up to the door and knocked. "Come in!" a gruff voice called from inside. Opening the door, Garret was greeted by a warm, beautiful smith's shop, glowing with firelight and coals. There was a large, middle aged man standing at an anvil with a hammer raised over a half-finished sword, and a woman sitting behind him in a rocking chair, whitesmithing some jewelry over a small, more contained forge.

[Allania 0]

Allania looked up from her map, "this looks like it" she commented, seeing the cozy looking smithy on the Towns edge. Allania did not normally frequent this floor, having only been here once before it took her longer than she expected to find this place. Allania was here as she had heard there was a quest to be had, one that was particularly helpful for thoes just starting out in the world. Luckily for Allania, when she had started she lucked out and resulted being a tailor early on, making the armour that she has on now, the Boarhide Bodice in as good of a condition as when it was made. It was one of her treasured possessions. So as a result, Allania was here to see if there was anyone else that needed her help in the quest.

Opening the door, Allania poked her head inside. Just within the door seemed to be another player, further into the store there was a smithy toiling away at an anvil, and a woman positioned behind him working away at a piece of jewelry. "Hey there" she whispered to the player, hoping not to distract the smithies at work.

[Nikodemus_Blackwood 1]

Having heard of a smith who makes items for players, Nikodemus decided he wanted a nice leather coat to wear over his armor and to help with his stats. Deciding to test his luck he made his way from his shop in Nimbus on floor 7, to the Smiths shop. Upon finding it, he slid the door open and walked in silently. Seeing two other players, Nikodemus stepped behind them and watched the Smith and his wife quietly. Enjoying the nice shop and and it's owners, Nikodemus felt relaxed, almost as much as he did when in his own shop, and his broken psyche didn't strain to much against his attempts to rein his insanity in. Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, the chain that secured his axe to his waist jingled lightly as it brushed against his armor.

 

"Hope I am not interrupting much." He whispered lightly.

[Garret 0]

"Hmmpf." the smith said, "I'm Griswold, and this is my wife, Hanna. We make equipment, as you can see." he gestured to the sword he'd been working on and then to a set of plate armor in a display case which looked very expensive and beautiful.

"I suspect you've come here after hearing our offer to make armor for all comers that can collect their own materials, yes?" Griswold continued, and a notification window popped up in front of Garret, reading, "QUEST- Accept?" with two buttons beneath it reading, "Yes" and "No". Likely, two similar windows would appear for the other adventurers. Garret pressed the button reading, "Yes" and waited for the NPC's response quietly.

[Allania 0]

Hearing the smiths spiel, a similar menu popped open in Allania's HUD. Clicking on the Accept button, Allania took on the quest. Once the pop-up had gone, Allania looked around at the two others. One had seemed to already accepted the quest, while the other had yet to take it. "Well, as we're all here at the same time, why don't we work together to do this quest? I don't particularly need the item myself, I came here more to check if anyone needed a hand fighting the monster that will ensue. So, if you'd like to work together, why don't we form a party? That way we'll be able to keep an eye on one anothers health", Allania finished her proposition with a smile spreading on her face, It seemed like she had come to the shop at a good time to be of use.

[Nikodemus_Blackwood 1]

Seeing a pop up box in his HUD, Nikodemus accepted the quest and then looked at the young lady before him. Hearing the proposition she made, he nodded and smiled. "Of course. I would be more than happy to have company. I must give a slight caution, I am quite insane. None of you are in any danger of course... But the further from my shop, or this shop it seems, and I may become alittle... Hmm, whats that word that Mr. Red used, ah yes, Nutty. Most call it impish. Just ignore the mumblings about the rainbow colored birds and what not." With that, Nikodemus opened his inventory screen and scrolled through it. Finding what he sought, Nikodemus pulled a small scroll of paper from the screen and then activated the trade screen and passed it to the blacksmith, Griswold. "This is what I seek Master Blacksmith. It's fairly simple. A heavy leather cloak with layered steel scaling from the neck down to the lower shoulder blades. If you could get an HP Regen enhancement on it, that would be great. The details and design are in the order."

 

After handing off the order slip to the Blacksmith and getting the materials list in return from him, Nikodemus then turned back to the young lady and the other gentleman. "You may wish to place your orders now, so that the smith can get you the materials list needed. Once your done, We can enter a party and begin the search."

[Garret 0]

Hearing the words of his compatriots, Garret smiled and nodded, turning to speak to the blacksmith, "I need a leather jerkin, mobile as you can get it. I wanna be able to dodge arrows at 10 paces with that on."

"Well, as we'll be grouping into a party, it's only natural I tell you my name. I am Garret, and it's a pleasure to meet you two." the young man turned to the other warriors and spread his arms welcomingly. After stopping to realize what he'd forgotten, he gently popped himself on the forehead and opened up a party request for each of the other two there.

"Menus are just the teensiest bit important in Aincrad, wouldn't you say?" Garret chuckled, "Can't JUST say things here, gotta back it up with the System."

[Allania 0]

Turning to the smith, Allania quickly thought, what will a beginner in this world find most useful in a piece of armor. Quickly settling within her mind that a piece of armour with some mitigation on would be best. "Would I be able to get something simple. Nothing fancy. Just a set of light leather armour that would be able to offer the wearer some form of protection". When this item was crafted she would carry it until she met a player that was in need of it. "Yeah, the system is rather finicky about this like that" she said, a smile on her face as she opened the pop up that had appeared on her HUD. "That should about do it" pressing the accept button, a new health bar appearing under her current one, reading the players name.

[Nikodemus_Blackwood 1]

After the others players had placed their orders and his HUD popped with the <Party Invite> Nikodemus smiled and gently brushed the <ACCEPT> button. Stretching in his armor, Nikodemus then gave a curt bow to the two players. "My name, in case in my lunacy I forgot to mention it, is Nikodemus Blackwood. Or you can call me Niko the Mad for short, or Niko for shorter. I will respond to any of them. I have even answered to-" Clears his throat to make it deep and burly in an attempt to mimic a certain large behemoth red headed blacksmith. "-A right little Nutter!" With a smile spreading over his face and stifling a giggle, Nikodemus straightened himself up and ran a hand through his hair. "Pleasure to meet you both"

[Garret 0]

OOC: Terribly sorry for the long delay- had little access to the internet for a bit there.

"I'm Garret, nice to meet the two of you. I look forward to working with you and getting this quest completed." the young man said, smiling and extending his hand to shake. "Hopefully this Quest will go smoothly and easily. I wouldn't want any unnecessary complications to pop up."

 

[Allania 0]

Taking his hand in the shake Allania smiled "yeah, let's hope that all goes well, I wouldn't want anyone to get injured on this. The monster I hear we fight shouldn't be able to take any of us down immediately but you guys should probably let me take a few of its blows first, I'll be able to withstand them with or without my armour. I wouldn't want you two to get injured. I don't like it when party members get hurt.". It was probably slightly overbearing, but Allania was not bothered. What she spoke was the truth, the one time she thought her friend Hydra had been seriously injured she rushed to his side, disregarding the battle. Luckily he had been fine, but that incident played on her mind a lot. As did the incident with Hunie, something had come over her that day that she did not want to repeat.

[Nikodemus_Blackwood 1]

(OOC: No problem Garrett, I was out all weekend, and I believe Allania was also. So it's all good.)

 

Nodding to Garrett and Allania, Nikodemus smiled and then dug into his inventory and equipped himself accordingly. His axe, <Ent's Bane> was strapped to his side by the length of chain, and a rounded bronze shield, <Thunder>, appeared on his back. His armor was already on and ready to go. "Well, let us get going to the forest. Should be a simple trek, and then we must find the nuisance of a mob, this <Dark Elf>, that is our target. I have some healing items if we need them, but between Allania and I's mitigation, we should be fine." Turning towards the forest, Nikodemus began the trek and prepared himself by readying his weapon and shield.

[Garret 0]

Garret followed in suit behind Niko and drew his blade as he began his journey from the shop.to the <Dark Elf>'s lair. He wondered whether his compatriots really did outclass him so much in gear and XP, or whether they were embellishing themselves slightly. Either way, he figured he'd do things their way, and let Allania and Niko tank the Elf while he went to work from the flank. Overall, this seemed to be a simple takedown."Seems like this will be a breeze." Garret remarked, almost to himself, striding up to walk just behind Niko on their trek.

[Allania 0]

Allania opened her menu and changed her equipment set up. Taking off her bodice and replacing it with a light wispy cloak. "I don't want the Elf to die when it punches my armour, so I thought I'd put this on" she said, twirling the cape about her. "It'll make me harder to hit, so should work out well. Hopefully". With her equipment in order Allania followed after the duo of players as they walked out of the shop and towards the forest. "This fight should be relatively safe for us, there are three of us. I won't use my dagger though, that would end the fight just a bit too quickly, so I'll be using these" she said, reaising her bare fists, "they'll get the monsters attention but do minimal damage to it, so you can finish it off".

[Nikodemus_Blackwood 1]

Well, Unfortunately, this armor and shield are my only ones, and both have a nasty <Thorns> effect on them. They will tear through the <Dark Elf> if he hits me. I may want to attack last in that case." Nikodemus spoke softly as they began to enter the Forest of Wavering Mists. He knew the route to <Dark Elf>'s lair would be fairly simple and no mobs normally spawn in the area, so they wouldn't have to worry about that much. Their main concern was getting turned around in the mists, finding themselves back at the edge of the forest. "Be sure to watch for any undergrowth so you don't trip, and keep yourself oriented in this general direction. Try not to make to many sudden turns. You could end up going in a circle and coming back out of the Forest nearby the settlement." Nikodemus smiled and pointed in the direction they needed to go.