[F01-SP] - Yields and Expectations <<Earning a Living>>

[Rencesvals 0]

Scouring the outskirts of the floor and map out all the best mining nodes had been the plan.  It started off well enough with a thoroughly boring survey of the boulder fields and quarry face on the western outskirts of Tolbana.  Life got a bit spicy when a raucous pack of wild boars with nasty dispositions showed up and he had to circle the long way around to avoid them.  Having recently fought wolves alongside Illi and Enya was lesson enough that there might be another pack just around the corner and that they were all too squishy to be taking foolish liberties for the sake of a handful of sparkly baubles.

Densely packed maple and ash trees soon gave way to more sparsely spaced pine, their dry needles crunching underfoot as he struggled not to become lost.  At least landmarks were easier to see from this vantage, and the landscapes were breathtaking under the open sky, even if it was only an illusion.  An eagle cried in the distance, appearing to plummet in slow motion the certain dread of some unsuspecting prey.  Fluffy clouds danced with each other in the breeze playing Pictionary as their shapes shifted endlessly to tease the imaginations of upward looking observers.  Beyond them, a brilliant summer sun beamed down its radiance upon the world.

"If it wasn't designed to conceal some maniac's menace, it might actually be a lovely place to visit."

Violet cloth from his mantle and battle skirt billowed behind him as Ren stood on a rocky outcrop, soaking in the scenery.  A few potential sites jotted down in his trusty gazetteer, still very much a work in progress, he was about to clamber back down the hillside when a woman's cry echoed from the surrounding woods.  A startled flight of birds marked the most likely point of origin.  Sword drawn and heart racing, Ren's armor made such a racket scrambling to reach the source that he was convinced he'd alerted half the floor's mobs to his whereabouts.  Tree sap covered most of his face, his hair gunked up with needles and face covered in scrapes by the time he barreled into the clearing.  Only a young woman was to be found within, cursing like a drunken sailor and fiddling with some small widget clenched fiercely in her palm.

"WHY?  Why won't you tell me where it is?!"  Venting her fury, her long blonde braid whirled around as she spun and threw the object, right towards Ren's head.  

*CLANG*

"OWW!  Hey!  Easy!"

Grasping her hands to her mouth pulled the green hood from her head to her shoulders as she shrieked in surprise.  A flash of steel reached her hands as a dagger pulled itself from the sheath beneath her verdant cloak.

"Who are you?  Why are you following me?!"  Panic and fear strained her voice even as the blade's tip visibly shook.

Still rubbing the spot for his next pending bruise, Ren picked up the object she'd launched at him.  It was small and round, like a puck with a leather wrapping.  Flipping it over revealed a glass surface and wildly spinning needle. It was a compass?

***

Rencesvals | HP: 20/20 | EN: 20/20 | DMG: 4 | ACC: 2 | LD: 6

Consumes Gelato (LD 3) - https://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/20186-fr10-cookpk-shop-open/?do=findComment&comment=672905

Spoiler

Rencesvals, Student of Sacrifice
Level: 1
Paragon Level: 0
HP: 20/20
EN: 20/20

Stats:
Damage: 4
Accuracy: 2
Loot Dice: 3+3

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Joyful Tribulations | ACC 2
Armor: Music Box | LD 3
Misc: none

Skills:
Straight Sword R1

Battle Ready Inventory:
Starter Healing Potions x3

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

Wincing slightly, Ren realized that the pain was more instinct that reality.  He'd expected it to hurt, but the game's suppression filters dulled most of the impact.  Hesitantly, he lowered his hand to confirm that there was no cut, nor any blood.  Of course there wasn't.  Not here.  Golden eyes softened as he looked again in her direction.  She was shorter than him by at least a head, wearing green robes consistent with the locals throughout this level.  Bright emerald eyes stared more lethally his way than the dagger still shaking in her grasp.  The yellow icon spinning over her head revealed her as an NPC.

"Relax."  His voice was calm and level, the word spoken slowly to disarm the lingering tension. 

"I was just in the area and heard your scream.  Why don't we both start by putting our weapons away and we can figure this out."

Taking the initiative, he gradually moved the tip of his sword back towards its scabbard, making to sure that both of his hands were in plain sight.

"Are you looking for something?  These things can be rather fragile, I'm afraid."  His gaze pointed towards the compass in his hand.  "Tossing it around might not be the best course of action if you're that desperate to find whatever it's meant to help you find."

Gradually stepping back and standing at the edge of the clearing to maintain quick access to a path of escape, the woman looked him over once before agreeing and returning her weapon to the leather belt around her waist.

"I... I'm looking for someone, not something."  Stammering as she spoke, she wrapped her brown cloak around herself as if it might offer her better protection. It still didn't explain why she threw it at him.  Glancing at the device, he furrowed his brow once more.  Even though it had only been a short while, any cartographer worth his salt would easily recognize that most compasses point north.  This one didn't.

"Is this meant to lead you to them?"

Pursing her lips, she merely nodded.  When he offered to return it, she oddly declined.

"It hasn't been working for me.  Why don't you try it instead?"  Despair clung to her words as she struggled to speak them, the rings and dark bags beneath her eyes speaking to some as-yet unspoken trauma.

***

ID 212714 | LD 6+6=12 (Failure) 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

It didn't take long to find their destination.  Giovanna, who introduced herself after a bit of polite coaxing, claimed to be looking for her husband.  Whatever backbone she still retained melted away when they crested a nearby ridge.  Below, on the floor of a shallow ravine, was a body.  The crevice wasn't particularly wide from their vantage, and easy to overlook.

"Are you alright?" Ren asked, sympathetic to the quivering squeak that was all she managed in response.  "I'll go down and take a look.  There are no signs of battle.  He may simply have fallen."  The fact that a body remained at all did no escape him.  It was not the norm in Aincrad and could easily signal a trap.  Though she was only a program, the raw emotion flowing from his companion was enough to convince him to take a chance.  Cardinal might be manipulating him, but his humanity could not be so easily tossed aside.  He had to check - had to know.  If only to satisfy his own sense of responsibility.

The gorge wasn't all that deep, maybe only thirty feet or so.  By the time he reached the bottom, Ren realized that it was also wider at the bottom and stretch around bends in either direction.  The body itself was of a young male, badly bruised all over and clutching something in his hands.  Rictus forced him to pry the fingers loose to reveal a purplish-black stone, like obsidian with an oily sheen on its glassy surface.  Without thinking, Ren dropped it into his belt pouch and set to checking for signs of life.  There were none, and mere seconds later the figure's skin started cracking and peeling, flaking until nothing but a pile of orange pixelized motes remained drifting off into the wind.

A distant squeak again, from above, then footfalls racing away from him.  Giovanna's nerves had breached their limits.  Was this her husband?  There was no longer any way to be sure.

"Where did you come from," Ren wondered aloud.

***

ID 212715 | LD 12+6 (Success) | CD 9 (Demonic Shard found!)

Spoiler

Demonic Shards: 212715
Materials: 0

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

The ravine walls showed no evidence of a slide or collapse.  No claw or finger marks marred the damp earthen surface to indicate he'd tried to climb his way out.  The mystery man's footprints still lingered, notable in the muddy ground and ending where he fell.  Parting the tall grasses that obscured it, Ren found traces of old cart wheel ruts as well, pulled by booted feet by the looks of them.

"Strange.  Why would anyone be carting anything down here?"  Things didn't add up.  On a whim, he pulled out the strange compass and held it aloft.  The needle spun slowly back and forth, now, going full circle one way then the other.  It seemed to have lost whatever bizarre bearing had once lured it.  

"Could there be lodestones in the surrounding soils?  It might explain its odd behaviour."  

Wherever this fellow had come from, it was up the path before him.  Any answers to be found would likely be in that direction.

"Can't say that I like any of this, but I'm already here.  The boy I just found seemed to be too young to be Giovanna's husband.  Might as well delve a little deeper."  Drawing his sword as a precaution, he pressed on.  The narrow gorge would make it difficult to move or maneuver, or escape if it came to that.  Circumstances were far from ideal.

"Austerlitz would tear a strip off me for coming down here alone."  The very though brough a smile to his face.  Karl had always been the keen tactician in their group.  He always won on nights when their game played strategy games of any kind.  'Foolish sentiment and pride,' would be his retort at Ren's current predicament.

"Yeah.  He'd probably be right."

***

ID 212716 | LD 3+6=9 (Failure)

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

"These look like iron ore deposits.  Could this be why anyone was down here?"  The exposed rock face looked like it was bleeding, with rust-red streaks running down its face as the oxidized mineral was gradually being exposed and washed away.  There were signs that some excavation had occurred, but only at a superficial level.  Soft, moist earth had given way to bear grey rock as Ren climbed higher up the hill, though the ravine still concealed most of this location.  Animals could be heard flitting about above, but ominously preferring to avoid this sheltered passage.

"Out of sight and out of mind, huh?  You'd definitely get some privacy down here, if that's what you wanted."

Collecting a few ore sample for future consideration, he pressed on in search of answers.  The cart tracks he'd seen earlier had worn two parallel ruts in the stone face, suggesting a constant pattern of use over time.  Could someone have built a quarry or mine up here?  It seemed a little out of the way, but that also made it easier to defend.  Resources were still oddly scarce in a world where few sources existed, though thankfully they replenished themselves over time.  It was more a matter of constant effort to keep supply reaching to market.  

"Odd.  I'm not accustomed to seeing a lot of NPCs bringing or like to to light.  Could this all be for some particular quest line, or am I bound for the 'you-no-take-candle' bit?"

***

ID 212717 | LD 17+6=23 (Success)

Spoiler

Demonic Shards: 212715
Materials: 1

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

Branches creaked and snapped overhead, placing him immediately on alert.  By now, the roots of the surrounding trees above had begun growing together, weaving an awning canopy that bridged the gap between both faces of the crevice.  Light still shone through, but only because the sun remained high in the sky.  It had to be close to noon by now, serving as a warning that he could find himself lost in the dark quite quickly if he lingered too long down here.  More cart tracks, and this time a broken iron-shod wagon wheel discarded off to the side. 

"Maybe the ruts weren't made so much by frequent traffic, but by weight?"  It added up.  There were lots of loose pea-sized shards of gravel on the path now.  Likely cast-offs from the main load that were thrown into the cart along with the miners' score.  They naturally filtered their way out as the cart jostled along the improvised path.  More hints of rust along the floor, now made up of crushed rock more than earth.  Plants were few and far between here.

"Suits me fine," he chuckled to himself.  After that ridiculous debacle trying to pull plants with Illi, Dimos and Enya, he'd gladly stick with ores and crystals.  His father was a geologist, and ever-so-proud owner of a major resource company.  Their name was widely known, even beyond Japan.  It wasn't exactly a business that survived by remaining local, especially in a long-settled island nation.  They had contracts all over the world, and Ren had been dragged along.  Curiosity alleviated boredom and he picked up a lot of the family trade along the way, even if his passion lay in history and literature.  One made the other possible.

***

ID 212718 | LD 6+6=12 (Failure)

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

That was where he'd met his peers.  Ironic, given the handle he'd chosen.  Each of them had been major history buffs, favouring foreign studies.  In a total pique of nerd exhibition, they'd all vowed to take on the name of a famous battle, whether real or fictional.  Arguing that some sort of theme or cohesion, Arakawa had convinced them all to randomly determine the country that would have to be connected to the name.  France was selected, much to Kano's delight.  She had long studied the language and quickly chose Verdun as her title.  Everyone just called her Verdy.  A smile came unbeckoned to Ren's lips as he thought about how much more suited she would have been to picking plants.  Verdy's always had the best green thumb out of them all.  Now she put it to good use picking herbs and drying spices to sell at market to help supplement income at the Happy Daze.  She's kindly also given him a room until he sorted out his own accommodations.

She didn't leave the City much anymore, since that day.  Ren could never push the incident far from his mind.  Kayaba's announcement was barely a week old and players were still trying to process it all.  The trauma was bad.  Many couldn't handle it.  Some broke and tossed themselves over the edge.  Others just snapped and turned to preying on their own, including their friends.  He still wasn't sure what made Waterloo and Dunkirk snap.  That answer might remain beyond reach forever now.  

Everyone thought they were heading out of town for a casual day of training and grinding, learning the ropes in hope of one day making a difference and helping the rest escape their new digital prison.  That changed the moment they were ambushed.  Harfleur and Vindalium both went down.  It was too chaotic to be sure, but Ren thought he'd seen them shatter like glass figuring.  The panic and terror on their faces remains would be burned into his memory forever.

***

ID 212719 | 5+6=11 (Failure)

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

Quick thinking by Austerlitz kept the rest of them alive.  The man was ever sharp.  Agincourt had pulled Ren back by the collar to keep him from diving after the others.  It was already too late.  She saved his life that day.  The sound of blood and rage thrummed in his ears remembering as pulsing adrenaline overrode his good sense.  That and the sound of the rain.  What began as a light drizzle had turned to virtual typhoon by the time the attack came.  No wonder they hadn't spotted the threat.  Their 'friends' had made sure that they'd be easy prey.

The shrill cry of some distant bird of prey rang out overhead and roused Ren from his recurring daydream.  He'd been dwelling since that day, trying to figure out how he might have acted sooner or differently.  How he could have helped to fend off their attackers. 

"Maybe that was why I blurt out my offer to tank?"  It added up. He had no real talent for the job, and his lanky build hardly advertised the part, but that didn't actually matter, did it?  System mastery ruled here.  He just needed the math backing.  Years worth of time wasted in gaming escapism would do the rest.

"And father said that it would never amount to anything..."

***

ID 212720 | LD 2+6=8 (Failure)

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

Light grew brighter ahead as the ravine finally emerged into a wider clearing against the base of a high and broken cliff face.  Things finally started to make sense.  A cleft in the rock face revealed a cavern entrance adapted to serve as a mine.  Remnants of a base camp lay strewn all about: a firepit that hadn't seen use in some time; crates full of equipment and a few rugged carts stained with stone dust and beaten by the bearing of heavy loads.  Something metallic was creaking

Stirring the ashes with the tip of his sword confirmed it.  There were no embers, but a short stack of kindling and logs implied that it was ready for use.  The improvised rotisserie spit setup over it had been picked clean of any remains by the local wildlife.  The lack of footprints suggested birds as culprits.

A deathly silence hung over the scene, which lacked bodies or battle signs.  It felt like a murder scene out of a movie, but critical elements were notably missing.

Only the cave mouth offered any promise of answers.

***

ID 212721 | LD 2+6=8 (Failure)

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

Grabbing and lighting a lantern and slotting a weathered claw hammer into a spare belt loop, Ren found a mine cart full of castoffs still sitting on the tracks that led inside.

"They actually laid tracks.  Whoever did this was serious, or found enough here to make this kind of effort worthwhile."  Aincrad didn't exactly have a lot of heavy machinery available, or the ability to airlft supplies deep into the woods.  Maybe the designers just plunked everything in place, ignoring those types of details?  Regardless, it gave him an option.  Dumping and sifting through the existing contents revealed a few nuggets of useful ore, mostly the same reddish iron he'd seen on the trail, but also traces of something else that he couldn't quite place.

This wasn't actually Earth.  Fantasy materials were a thing here, and he'd need some time to learn to recognize them.  Circumstances aside, if he was to pursue his intentions to become a blacksmith, a source of ore would be essential.

"Looks like some coal in here as well.  No wonder they wanted to keep this location secret."

***

ID 212722 | LD 12+6=18 (Success)

Spoiler

Demonic Shards: 212715
Materials: 2

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

Thankfully, the cart's wheels and bearings were still in good repair.  A quick check of the brake ensure that it was also in good working order.  The last thing Ren needed was some runaway cart going all Indianan Jones on him after he'd loaded it up with goodies.  His sword still hung loose and ready in its scabbard, should he have need of it.  Something had clearly happened here - enough to get that Giovanna woman all worked up and leave at least one miner dead on the trail.  The rest were still missing.  Could they have been raided by other players, or monsters?  Going in here alone wasn't the smartest possible move, but it was really his only option.  Without proper mapping he'd never find his way back, and if there was any chance that someone was still alive in here he had to find them now.  If nothing panned out, he'd draw his maps and return later.

Snaking his way through the instant darkness beyond the cave mouth, only the lantern hanging from a hooked pole at the front of the cart provided any light.  A few spare torches had been tossed in his pack, just in case, along with flint and steel.  Whoever was running this show had apparently been well-prepared and provisioned.

***

ID 212723 | LD 11+6=17 (Success)

Spoiler

Demonic Shards: 212715
Materials: 3

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

Several short side-passages branched off from the main line, each clearly pursuing a vein or prospect and having been mined mostly clean.  'Rock hounds chase the goods wherever they go', or so he'd been told a thousand times at the family business.  Not exactly deep - he snickered at the pun - but accurate enough.  Timber crossbeams lined several parts of the tunnel the deeper he went.

"Did they encounter some instability, or were they just prudent?"  His voice barely a whisper, it made good sense not to make excessive noise, whether to alert anything unsavory that might still linger down here, or else disturb the hundreds of tons of rock now perched overhead.  Pick marks clawed at a scar on the tunnel walls.  Most of the main line looked to have been carved by modest water flow, then expanded by the miners as they went.  A few sharp strikes with his borrowed claw hammer found traces of something silverish with streaks and specks of black within that Ren didn't recognized.

"Great.  Now I'm going to need a lab as well as a house.  Verdy would never let me convert the store room into a rock vault."  He could already hear her indignant screeches in his head, bringing a smile to his lips.  Why did he love aggravating her so much, at least according to her?  Ren swore that he never did so intentionally, which was mostly true.

***

ID 212724 | LD 20+6=26 (Success)

Spoiler

Demonic Shards: 212715
Materials: 4

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

Time lost all meaning in the underground, forcing you to measure it by other standards.  Normally, everyone just wore a watch, but that wasn't exactly a thing here.  Sure, Ren could pop open his UI.  He'd even experimented to see if it would cast light when opened, but the game physics apparently prevented that particular loophole.  He could see the interface just fine, but it shed to additional light upon his surroundings.  Shame.

He'd found a few other metals on the tunnel walls as he went, gradually filling the cart that he would push and park forward a few dozen feet at a time.  It was time-consuming, but gave him a chance to be thorough.  Other than a few stray abandoned tools, there was no further evidence of any original occupants.  No signs of combat.  No bodies.  Nothing.  It also occurred to him that there might be nothing left to find.  Corpses typically vanished wholesale in the game, taking everything with them.  

***

ID 212725 | LD 12+6=18 (Success)

Spoiler

Demonic Shards: 212715
Materials: 5

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

The air was getting thick as he went deeper.  Moisture accumulated on the walls as the temperature cooled and caused condensation. Stalactites were appearing with more frequency and in greater size, gradually connecting their floor-laden brethren.

"Maybe I should have brought a canary."   Toxic gas buildup was no joke and had killed more miners than most were ever willing to admit, or even consider.  If the bird died, you were likely to be next. In its absence, your nose was your next best savior.  Glancing occasionally at the lantern swing from the front end of the cart, he was just as concerned about explosive vapours.  Any of these things could have taken the miners' lives, though at least there was no evidence of a blast in any of the areas explored so far.

Tapping as he went, Ren continued collecting samples.  There was far more mineral wealth here than he could have ever imagined, and of greater variety.  If the mine turned out to be safe, he'd definitely have to consider setting up a stake here in the future.

***

ID 212726 | LD 16+6=22 (Success)

Spoiler

Demonic Shards: 212715
Materials: 6

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

Yanking hard on the brake, Ren once again brought the mine cart to a stop.  It was getting full and growing more vulnerable to a sudden runaway rolling spree if not properly secured.  Smelting all of this stuff would be its own separate challenge, assuming he ever got it all back to the surface.  Figuring out where to setup shop might be a challenge equal to just learning the trade.  A fantasy world offered much broader options for a smithy than just setting up a furnace next to any town, though the neighbours would bring other benefits.

"I wonder if there are any dwarves or gnomes anywhere in the castle?"  It was a thought worth jotting down, which he did lest it vanish into the sinkholes in his mind.  There were so many floors and areas that he still knew nothing about.  Frontliners were apparently pressing to clear labyrinths as quickly as possible, facing monstrous guardians and other legendary monsters in the process.  

"What could it possibly take to get ready for something like that?  What toll would it take?"  Aincrad was a mind game, after all.  Its worst price was psychological.  Even if they eventually made it out of the maze, how many rats would still be sane by the end?  It was not a pleasant prospect, fortunately interrupted by the clanging of something metallic just up ahead.

 Roused and cursing himself for having drifted into his own thoughts again, Ren left the cart in place and moved forward as quietly as he could, snaring the lantern for light as he passed.

***

ID 212727 | LD 16+6=22 (Success)

Spoiler

Demonic Shards: 212715
Materials: 7

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

"I always feel stupid skulking around in dark tunnels with a bloody spotlight in my hands.  Never makes sense when they do it in the movies. This doesn't seem like any sort of improvement."  The mental image of an iridescent bullseye painted on the centre of his chestplate prompted a morbid grin.

"Who's out there?  Show yourself!"  And do me the favour of sparing me trying to find you amidst all this crap.

Shadows to put a gothic cathedral to shame splayed themselves across the cave walls as light beamed between the stalactite and stalagmites all around him.  Clattering rocks drew Ren's attention to the far end of the chamber, most of which had collapsed.  Bits of flattened gear lay sprawled all over the floor.  Other bits were sticking out from between boulders likely weighing several tons.  Judging by the network of cracks in the ceiling, something had likely given way.  They might have had no warning at all.

"Poor bastards.  So that's what became of them."

Something moved in the darkness at the edge of his lamp light.

"Gadwyn, is... is that you?"  The words were barely more than a hoarse croak.  Unsurprising, considering that most of its owner was buried under a massive pile of rocks.

***

ID 212728 | LD 6+6=12 (Failure)

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

"Sorry, friend.  I've no idea who Gadwyn is, but I'm glad I found you."  Setting his lantern down, Ren crept as close as he dared without risking any further collapse.  "What happened here?  Are there any more of you?" He kept his voice low, just in case.  The man's gaunt face was a mixture of exhaustion and exaltation.  

"I don't care who you are.  Just that you're here!"  He coughed in a wheeze and hacking fit just by trying to laugh at his situation.  Prolonged exposure to this air wouldn't have done him any favours.  The small pool of ponding water an arm's length from him likely kept him alive, though it was hardly likely to be the most thirst quenching drink he'd ever sampled.  "Two of us survived the collapse.  Gadwyn went for help.  Did he not find you?"

The boy in the ravine.  Ren cast his eyes to the ground and shook his head.

"He didn't make it.  All I found on him was this."  As he drew the strange obsidian stone from his satchel, the trapped man gasped in terror and feebly tried to push himself away from it. 

"KEEP BACK!  That damnable thing is cursed.  It did all of this!"

Ren frowned, not understanding.  

"Is this what you were after the whole time?  All of you?"

"CURSED!  Cursed..." Reason returned along with confusion.  "I... I don't crave it anymore!  Oh, thank the gods, my sweet Giovanna, I'm finally free of it!"  He sounded positively gleeful.

"Wait?  What?  Giovanna?  The lady from the woods with the green outfit who threw her compass at me?  What does she have to do with all of this?!"

"Listen, whoever you are.  That thing you're holding is a shard of some greater demonic power.  Do not take its possession lightly and keep it as far from anyone you care about as possible."  More coughing followed.  Though energized by its appearance, the miner also seemed drained and further weakened.

"First things first," Ren interrupted.  "This cave is not stable and I can't dig you out so long as it remains that way.  Give me a few moments to gather some timbers.  Are you bleeding?  Do you need a healing draught?"

The man shook his head 'no' clearly too exhausted by his outburst for any further use of words.

***

ID 212729 | LD 4+6=10 (Failure)

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

A short while later, Ren had managed to brace a few nearby posts against the ceiling and found an old wooden mallet with enough heft in it to pound them into place.  Terenzio, as he barely managed to introduce himself, otherwise remained quiet and borderline unconscious.

"Stay with me!  You can't fall asleep, understand?  Tell me about Giovanna.  How do you know her?"

Terenzio's head lolled to the side as a rare smile creased his heavily parched lips.  

"She's my wife, and was likely the curse's first victim.  That compass you mentioned?  That's how this all started.  It points at the object of a person's greed, but its true purpose it to help uncover those unholy shards.  At least..." he broke into coughing once more.  "At least, that's how it seemed to us.  At first we were elated to have found something so rare and valuable, but then everything went wrong, growing worse with every passing hour.  If you've managed to resist its pull, then please destroy it.  End this here and now."

Pulling the object from his pocket, Ren laid it gently on the cavern floor staring plainly at the unassuming object.  If it could truly find more of these objects, it could...

*SMASH*

The mallet did its job well.

"Yeah.  I've seen Lord of the Rings.  Nice try.  Bloody curses."  It felt a little weird taking to an inanimate and now very busted object.  The needles had fallen out and become lost in one of the water flows when the glass cover shattered.

"Good riddance, and thank you stranger.  You did what we could not."

***

ID 212730 | LD 7+6=13 (Failure)

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

After clearing enough rubble to free Terenzio, their trip back to the surface was no easy matter.   The miner was in no shape to walk, until Ren provided him with one of the healing potions he'd been fortunate enough to receive with his starter kit.

"Thanks again, my friend.  I think I might actually be able to walk with some assistance."

"Good.  If you can walk, then you can lean."  Ren grinned slyly as he pointed to the half-full cart of samples he'd collected on his journey down here.  "You can use it as a crutch and support.  I'll take care of bearing the weight.  It doesn't seem worthwhile to have gone to all the effort of collecting these things and just leaving them down here.  If you don't mind leaving the hard part to me, that is?"

Terenzio wheezed by means of laughing and dismissed any objections with a handwave.

It took them almost an hour to cover the short distance back to the base camp at the cliff face, but they finally emerged to a late afternoon sun staining the sun orange as it readied itself to set.

***

(Ren uses 1 starter healing potion on Terenzio)

ID 212731 | LD 16+6=22 (Success)

Spoiler

Demonic Shards: 212715
Materials: 8

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals

[Rencesvals 0]

"Terence?  TERENCE!!!"

A blur of green cloth broke from the passage Ren had followed to this place, wrapping itself like tape to Ren's ragged companion.  Exhausted, but glad to have reunited the miner and his wife, Ren locked the cart brake one last time and slumped against its side.  His breaths were short and taken through clenched teeth, revealing how much closer to his limits he had pushed himself than he'd been willing to let on.

"Oww!  Careful woman!  I'm pretty sure that was broken for a few days.  It's still tender!"  Mirth overflowed his complaints as Terenzio spoke them.  His wife's frantic tears and kisses threatened to drown or smother him.  And why not?  It seemed to be the day for such things.

"Hey, crazy lady.  You can have your stupid compass back now.  Pretty just you broke it when it hit my head."

She stared fearfully at it for a moment, clearly sharing the same superstitions as her husband.  Terence reassured her that the evil spirit within had been banished.

"Sure. Why not?  We can go with that.  Whatever the case, I've had my fill and want nothing more to do with it."

And, with that, Ren thumped his head softly back against the cart and promptly fell asleep.

***

ID 212732 | LD 6+6=12 (Failure)

Thread Summary

831 EXP (Word Count [5312/10*1*1] + Quest [300])
400 col (400 [1 page]
1x Demonic Shard: 212715
Materials: 8
Gain access to Forager Profession

Edited June 25, 2023 by Rencesvals