Gotta get rid of some deadweight

[Taskmienster]

Lars had been in the Bazaar a few times since he had bought his daggers. The merchants that had bothered him before with their shoddy wares gave him rude stares. They saw countless hundreds of people in the shopping district, plenty of strange people from the nobility and warriors of Raiaera escaping the Forgotten One to the sand rats of Fallien. The hacker, though, was unique in his look.

He wandered into a shop and shoved the end of his cigarette into the wall just outside the door. After flicking it into the small gutter cutting through the streets he walked in with a bright smile on his face. "Sup? Got something to sell, you interested in buyin' shit from peeps, or do you only sell and trade?"

The hacker unwrapped the Plynt long sword. It was thin, something between a rapier and a long sword. Just above where one would hold the weapon there was no guard, but instead a basket hilt made of Plynt and etched with elaborate designs around it. It was a beautiful blade, not a nick on it despite the quick battle that had taken place before he had taken it.

"I need to sell this thing, don't know how to use it really... awkward in my hands. Plus the metal's kinda ugly... no clue what the hell its made out of, but the green tint's not really a color I like." He put it on the counter and pulled out a 3 inch steel dagger of good quality. It wasn't broken, nicked, or blunted in anyway. "And I was wonderin' if I could trade this little thing in for a throwing blade made of something heavy? I need it to be just like these..."

Lars popped out a dagger from his sleeves. A twist of his arms and a quick touch of a certain spot along his arm and a lever and spring system put a steel dagger into his waiting hand. He already had ten of those, five per sleeve, but he needed something to help him out a little with throwing them. "Something heavier than steel, harder to throw distance. I need to work on making my throws quicker and stronger. I figure using and throwing a weighted dagger would make my attacks with this smaller one all the better."


Sword (http://www.althanas.com/world/showpost.php?p=110146&postcount=13) given as a spoil. Dagger (http://www.althanas.com/world/showpost.php?p=110128&postcount=25) rewarded as spoil as well. Only the throwing dagger, not the Delyn Scourge blade.

[AdventWings]

Jirou had the experience of working with various types of people, from the Fallien xenophobes who linger about with paranoid looks in their eyes to the Salvic nobility with their "holier than thou" aura pushing most everyone away. The blacksmith thought he could no longer be surprised.

Of course, he had never seen someone from what planet this fellow came from. The blacksmith did, however, recover his attention quickly enough not to miss any important details.

It took Jirou only a momentary glance to see the Colichemarde was made of Plynt. The basket hilt and broad blade, quite larger at the base than a typical rapier, spoke of the forge it had come from and its creator. If the blacksmith was correct in his assumption, the bladesmith was definitely a Raiaeran.

The dagger, on the other hand, was relatively simple and unimpressive. True, the craftsmanship doing into the small blade was not of anything to be taken lightly. It did, however, lack the flair of the fencing blade lying just next to it on the counter.

To Jirou, it was not surprising for someone to carry items of extreme contradictions together. One was more inclined to use the less elaborate tools more often than a highly-decorated one, after all.

"Alright, sir. I'll buy that sword off of you for three hundred Crowns. Or gold pieces, if you prefer that currency. As for the dagger, I can have it exchanged for a sturdier three-inch design with Dehlar core encased in steel. The price difference is already covered, so no problem with that."

Jirou was going to suggest to the strange-dressed man to use Delyn, but then he realized it was not all that heavier than steel. True, it was more resilient and keeps its edge better, but the weight difference between the two metal types was barely negligible. Dehlar would be better if one was to consider weight being the primary, but it was no metal to be used for such a fine edge.

Lucky for him the blacksmith loved to play around with metals.

[Taskmienster]

The jovial blacksmith or merchant (whatever he was) was more than helpful. His price estimate for the blade was up to par, though still felt a little low. Lars had seen the weapon in battle, the sword one of pair. If he had had both he could only imagine what sort of set perks he would have gotten off of it. Too bad that prick of a warrior had taken the other. “Well, crowns or pieces don’t matter to me as long as they’re the same in the end, right?”

He laughed and put his hand on the hilt and squeezed it. The blade was well weighted, nicely crafted. It might not have been amazingly crafted, or with that mythril metal or whatever, but it was still too good for so low a price. Over time he had come to know quality from just looking at it, the eye of greed was the most useful of skills afforded to a scavenger. But too, he had quickly learned how to get a little more out of the merchants, and for the products he was presenting… “But only three hundred? That’s a nice weapon, I saw it in combat. The weight is near perfect, and without a blemish or mark it’s still in its prime. Hell, you could find some guy who uses his dexterity and speed and that weapon would be off the shelf for no less than five hundred pieces.”

“As for the dagger,” he continued as he mulled over the idea. A dehlar core would make its weight significantly heavier than normal steel, but with a steel coat he could still keep a good edge on it if he needed to. Then again, he had numerous weapons just waiting to be used up his sleeves and hidden in spare sheaths. When he got his gun fixed, or straight up found the other ones he wouldn’t need the weighted blade or the unweighted all that much. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll just take the money for it instead and go ahead and get that off my hands. The extra weight probably won’t be too useful for my balance, since I’ve become rather used to what I have already. I’ll just keep these normal ones and get something better in their place later, something stronger and lighter.”

Lars pushed up his sleeve and placed the loosed dagger back into the holster. It fit snuggly with the other four in the mechanism. “Speaking of which, you got any suggestions as to metals I might want to use in the future?”

[AdventWings]

Jirou could only shrug. It was not hard to figure that the customer knew little of what the blacksmith was offering. The first thing that caught his attention was that the Plynt blade was crafted by a Raiaeran.

Plynt, in its usual properties, is extremely flammable and he could think of no Raiaeran bladesmith who would use such a temporary fix. He could be wrong about its origins, but it nonetheless bore the elegance of the elven society.

Even still, it would be worth no more than two hundred pieces in its homeland.

"I really wouldn't be too sure about that, sir." The blacksmith grinned, half-sighing to himself for thinking about haggling to keep the price. "If I were to really buy this as a regular fencer, I would rather throw in about a hundred more and get one of Mythril. Besides, I don't normally want a fencing sword that lights itself on fire as easily as this one."

A burnt Plynt blade was as good as a piece of burnt Cyper stick. Three hundred gold, to him, was a very generous price.

"My appraisal stands at three hundred gold. If you want to sell it elsewhere, I wouldn't know if you can get a better price than this one."

Unless, of course. Jirou mused to himself, waiting for the customer's reply. This man finds a private collector with a deep enough pocket and a shallow enough mind.

[Taskmienster]

Lars raised a brow. “You said light itself on fire? What kinda bull is that? No metal up an’ ‘lights itself on fire’… metal’s not flammable. I mean, it’s greenish, like a green or grass… but those actually burn, this comes from dirt… dirt doesn’t burn, and as far as I know anything you dig out of it doesn’t either.” Of course, the hacker wasn’t privy to the information about the material differences of the metals and other bases that could be found on Althanas. The other servers he had played on had nothing like that. He shrugged though and half-laughed, half-sighed.

“What’s mythril? You said someone’d pay another hundred and get that… it is that much better? Or is the value of a gold piece that low? And I’ll just take the three hundred, whatever you can get me for the dagger, and quit bothering you.” He let his eyes wander around, looking for anything that might be of even the smallest bit of interest. Nothing jumped out at him, but that wasn’t unusual. He saw a few custom knives, curved daggers, hooks and other knickknacks, but a pocket full of gold was always better than second-rate, half-useful shit anyway.

[AdventWings]

Jirou gave up trying to explain Plynt's special property to the man - It was apparent he had never heard of the stuff to begin with. Not unusual, after all, since the metal had become less popular among the mercenaries nowadays.

He resolved to move on and speak about Mythril and the dagger's trade-in instead.

"Mythril is considered one of the best light-weight metal for bladecrafting, sir. Light as a feather, but as hard as a good block of steel if reinforced the right way. And, no, it's not the face value of your money - we just charge less for a lighter blade."

Jirou wanted to raise the price for it himself, but that would mean getting ousted from the competition when the other stores were selling lower prices.

Capitalism... Hah.

"As for your dagger, the price would be fifteen pieces. For a total of three hundred and fifteen, you can afford a good Damascus longsword. Or if there are any wares you are interested in, you can bring it here and I can give it an appraisal for you as well."

[Taskmienster]

Light weight, as hard at steel, it was definitely a possible metal to look into for future purchases. A good light weight dagger would be useful in hand, but maybe not fly so well... but a strong and light bullet, that was an entirely different matter to ponder. Lars smirked and nodded his head to the merchant. The man was helpful in more than one way, leaving the hacker with a slightly better understanding of the intrinsic value of materials to be found and used in Althanas. It was difficult for someone not from the world, and without a set 'background' or in-world 'memories' to know anything without looking like a fool sometimes.

"Thanks for the help mate," the hacker jovially replied with a cigarette already on the move to his lips. "I'll take the three fifteen for now, I got shite to get in the future, expensive shite from the way this all seems to be working. You wouldn't happen to know anything about guns, wouldja?"

Lars let the lingering cig dangle unlit from the tip of his lips. He had grown accustomed to not smoking indoors, despite what world he was in. It seemed that smoking was a universal taboo, be the world fantasy or post-apocalyptic, nobody liked acrid smoke and possible cancer. Instead he slipped his hand inside his jacket and removed the broken "12 mm" from its shoulder holster. "You see, I have this baby, but some pieces have gone... astray we'll say. The firing pin's still in it, but it's cracked so I would have one shot for it to hit the bullet, but it'd just crack and nothing would happen... and I need a new spring and the chambers all sorts of fucked. Would need a new one of those too without damaging the gun itself..."

He quickly removed the pins and opened the gun, letting the merchant see the parts and damage he was talking about. "Assuming you could help me out, or that you know what the hell I'm talkin' about in the first place, how much would fixing those pieces be exactly?"

[AdventWings]

Well, now Jirou knew why this particular man had so little care of metalworks or the art of combat. At least, for a man of military background such as himself.

"No, I can't help you there. I've heard of guns working around here in the Bazaar, but I don't deal in them. I've seen some revolver models over at Weapons of the Outlanders a few doors down, but I can say that the skill required to make those delicate pieces are beyond my own. You could go ask about it over at that place and have them check for you."

What was there to be done, for a blacksmith whose only work was in the forge? He worked with slabs of steel and giant blades... Not springs or pins he could barely hold without breaking them in his fingers.

"Sorry. That's all I can help you with." He gave the man a shrug.

((Wow. A 12 mm semi-auto.))

[Taskmienster]

Lars shrugged, it wasn't much of a surprise that the weapon was all but a loss to the low tech minds of Althanas. The hacker sighed as he replaced his precious weapon. "No worries mate, I'll get it fixed eventually... I guess that's about it then, I don't have anything else I need nor anymore questions. Thanks for your time."

((Yeah, I'm going to kill myself trying to get this fixed, lol))

[AdventWings]

((Transaction Complete

Taskmeinster loses the following items:

- Plynt Fencing Sword
- Steel Dagger

And receives the following:

- 315 GP
- 100 EXP for a juicy IC interaction

Good luck with getting that gun fix'd. :D))