Sofia’s first reaction to Karlson’s two raised fingers was to frown.
“Only two thousand?” What is this?! I’m getting robbed!
“Dear god, no! Twenty!” Karlson answered, indignant. Then he explained, “The daggers are rather mediocre, thin coating; I can do a thousand each. Thrombber eyes usually go for around a hundred a piece, so that’s eighteen hundred. The sphere is mass-produced and worth around a thousand. And a Sepulcher bead hot from the hands of the Church can easily go for fifteen thousand. That’s almost twenty, so I rounded up.”
Nevermind! I robbed the Magisterium!
“Is the price fine with you?” the receptionist asked, fidgeting behind his counter.
“Of course!” Are you kidding?
“Then it’s a deal!” the blacksmith approved, going for a handshake.
The three of them then chatted for a while, Karlson giving recollections of his own run-in with Thrombbers in the isles. He rambled on about how the eyes made for good potion ingredients or explosives when ground to a powder. Then the receptionist left to go to sleep, taking the items with him, precising that Karlson would be the one to get the money out of the Guildmaster.
Karlson stayed with Sofia, offering to show her to his workshop inside the guild building.
“I could teach you if you have a free month and classless skill slot, you won’t regret it; life is never the same once you can start making your own enchanted items.”
“I will think about it. Thank you for the offer, Karl.”
The door to the workshop opened with a bang.
“There you are! You darned slack- Neh, Sofia?” Kuli dropped the things she had been holding, and the pile of weird purple rocks fell and rolled on the floor. She disappeared and reappeared on the table Sofia was standing in front of.
Sofia barely had time to understand what was happening as she was locked into a bear hug by the tiny but dangerous rabbit Guildmaster.
“Poor girl. Are you alright? It’s terrible what happened… ”
Of course, she knows…
“I’m- I’m al-... I’m not alright…”
Kuli had ‘spies’ in many parts of Skyreach. She was the one to deal with the information side of the war. So naturally, when intelligence came about ‘A bone armored Saint going around killing paladins’, ‘A 50000 gold bounty for the Saintess of Scripture’ and ‘A temple of the Church reduced to rubble’, she had a clear idea of who was causing trouble, and she had gone to investigate herself.
She had long known about Sofia’s origins in Verenha and the orphanage. Following Sofia’s trail of destruction in reverse led her there again. She had witnessed for herself that only cinders and traces of a destructive battle were left. That gave her a relatively clear picture of what might have happened. She had tried to find if any of the children or villagers had found refuge in nearby villages, only to realize that no one had heard from Verenha for weeks. Powerless to change anything and clueless about where Sofia was, she could only return to her other tasks.
If there was one thing that Kuli prided herself in, it was being good at reading people.
She had been quite shocked by Sofia’s reaction to her attack on their first encounter, and she had since looked more into this intriguing new Saintess.
She had even gone to the orphanage herself, to ask them questions about Sofia and give the children some toys. The more she had learned the worse she felt.
Kuli had gone through her fair share of tragedy. Her life had been long and her position sometimes required her to make very tough decisions.
Looking at her own murder list gave her vertigo.
But when she saw what had become of the orphanage, that had been a tough scene even for her. She could only imagine how devastating it had been for Sofia.
Sofia’s remembrances of the last thirty or so hours were messy. Her head was hurting. She had been comforted by someone she barely knew, they had spent hours reminiscing and sharing old stories. This helped Sofia relativize a bit more. But that was only the first act. And then, a certain Dwarf came running into Kuli’s office brandishing a shining bottle of ‘50 years of age King Thrombber Nectar’.
What followed was an unhinged drinking and singing session in the company of Kuli, Karlson, Karlson’s wife, and the level 140 Dwarf named Drian. A Dwarf who had somehow downed more than thrice his body weight in beer during the night. ‘He’s quite skilled with fireworks’, she had thought at the time. They had emptied the entire alcohol stock of ‘The Dwarven Porthole’ tavern, racking up several hundred gold in spendings.
Then the intoxicated group had gone out to have ‘mock fights’ outside the city.
Sofia had introduced Pareth as her ‘Strongest Hero’, and he was the uncontested winner as the only non-drunk presence, while Sofia laughed from the side. Even Kuli had gotten her ass handed to her in a singular fight, failing to block his great-hammer hits. Dwarven alcohol was just that strong.
No one seemed to care in the slightest that this ‘hero’ had no flesh. Perhaps they were too intoxicated to even realize. He had even been reduced to a party trick as he carried every single one of them at once around the empire’s plains while Sofia gave him random directions.
These were all blurry memories in Sofia’s head. Now she was the first of the bunch to wake up. Karlson’s wife, Karin, was curled up in a ball on her left, her curved Goat-like horns rubbing against her shoulder. Meanwhile, Kuli was sleeping on her right, her belly and face planted deeply in the green rug they were on, while her thin legs rested on Sofia’s thighs. It was like she had tripped on her, and fell on the ground and asleep on the spot.
Not wanting to wake them up by moving too much, she switched to Pareth’s view to look around.
The men weren’t any better. Pareth was sitting against a wall, Karlson sleeping hugging his left arm. Drian was somehow sleeping hanging upside-down, latched by his belt on the ceiling’s brass chandelier.
Somehow her first thought as she observed the scene was: everyone here is above level 100…
Looking around, this was a rather sober yet classy room with clean decoration and dark wood furniture lined in gold that was worth a lot of money. Where is this… She tried hard to remember but no matter what, the last thing she remembered was Pareth jumping over a river while carrying everyone.
Well, at least they seem to be taking well to the whole necromancy thing… I don’t think I can get up without waking up Kuli. Did she really not sleep in years? I guess she deserves this.
Maybe I can get back to sleep…
…
…
This is not working out… I think I am getting punished for wearing the saint set bracelet that reduces sleeping needs.
I don’t feel too bad considering how much I drank. Rune isn’t there anymore… I doubt I died yesterday so I probably canceled it myself… Now that I think about it, uh.
[Pristine essence] : You are the unblemished. Immunity to memory alterations. Augmented resistance to perception alterations.
Yeah, so much for immunity to memory alterations. All it took to bypass this was some dwarven liqueur. What do you have to say for your defense, Mr scribe?
The description changed under her eyes.
[Pristine essence] : You are the unblemished. Immunity to magically-induced memory alterations. Augmented resistance to perception alterations.
That doesn’t feel very honest, but sure… Are there more surprises like this one?
That was when her armor’s description appeared by itself.
[Armor of Bones] : Gather and reform bones to create a blessed bone armor protecting the Saintomancer. The armor can store up to 10000 kg (100*Skill level) of bones to repair itself in combat. Protective strength goes up every level.
Stocked bones : 6445kg.
[Armor of Bones] : Gather and reform bones to create a bone armor protecting the Saintomancer. The armor can store up to 10000 kg (100*Skill level) of bones to repair itself. Protective strength goes up every level.
Stocked bones : 6445kg.
Hey, now! I’m not okay with this one! I pretty much knew there was something like this but this really doesn’t feel like a fair thing to edit so late. Especially when this is becoming one of my weakest skills…
[ERROR]
[Admin action required]
[User in Scribe Only Mode, Admin Notification Sub-System out of reach]
[ERROR]
[User in Scribe Only Mode, Automated Compensation Sub-System out of reach]
[Please wait]
[Opening S5 with order limit : 1 item]
Sofia’s first reaction to Karlson’s two raised fingers was to frown.
“Only two thousand?” What is this?! I’m getting robbed!
“Dear god, no! Twenty!” Karlson answered, indignant. Then he explained, “The daggers are rather mediocre, thin coating; I can do a thousand each. Thrombber eyes usually go for around a hundred a piece, so that’s eighteen hundred. The sphere is mass-produced and worth around a thousand. And a Sepulcher bead hot from the hands of the Church can easily go for fifteen thousand. That’s almost twenty, so I rounded up.”
Nevermind! I robbed the Magisterium!
“Is the price fine with you?” the receptionist asked, fidgeting behind his counter.
“Of course!” Are you kidding?
“Then it’s a deal!” the blacksmith approved, going for a handshake.
The three of them then chatted for a while, Karlson giving recollections of his own run-in with Thrombbers in the isles. He rambled on about how the eyes made for good potion ingredients or explosives when ground to a powder. Then the receptionist left to go to sleep, taking the items with him, precising that Karlson would be the one to get the money out of the Guildmaster.
Karlson stayed with Sofia, offering to show her to his workshop inside the guild building.
“I could teach you if you have a free month and classless skill slot, you won’t regret it; life is never the same once you can start making your own enchanted items.”
“I will think about it. Thank you for the offer, Karl.”
The door to the workshop opened with a bang.
“There you are! You darned slack- Neh, Sofia?” Kuli dropped the things she had been holding, and the pile of weird purple rocks fell and rolled on the floor. She disappeared and reappeared on the table Sofia was standing in front of.
Sofia barely had time to understand what was happening as she was locked into a bear hug by the tiny but dangerous rabbit Guildmaster.
“Poor girl. Are you alright? It’s terrible what happened… ”
Of course, she knows…
“I’m- I’m al-... I’m not alright…”
Kuli had ‘spies’ in many parts of Skyreach. She was the one to deal with the information side of the war. So naturally, when intelligence came about ‘A bone armored Saint going around killing paladins’, ‘A 50000 gold bounty for the Saintess of Scripture’ and ‘A temple of the Church reduced to rubble’, she had a clear idea of who was causing trouble, and she had gone to investigate herself.
She had long known about Sofia’s origins in Verenha and the orphanage. Following Sofia’s trail of destruction in reverse led her there again. She had witnessed for herself that only cinders and traces of a destructive battle were left. That gave her a relatively clear picture of what might have happened. She had tried to find if any of the children or villagers had found refuge in nearby villages, only to realize that no one had heard from Verenha for weeks. Powerless to change anything and clueless about where Sofia was, she could only return to her other tasks.
If there was one thing that Kuli prided herself in, it was being good at reading people.
She had been quite shocked by Sofia’s reaction to her attack on their first encounter, and she had since looked more into this intriguing new Saintess.
She had even gone to the orphanage herself, to ask them questions about Sofia and give the children some toys. The more she had learned the worse she felt.
Kuli had gone through her fair share of tragedy. Her life had been long and her position sometimes required her to make very tough decisions.
Looking at her own murder list gave her vertigo.
But when she saw what had become of the orphanage, that had been a tough scene even for her. She could only imagine how devastating it had been for Sofia.
Sofia’s remembrances of the last thirty or so hours were messy. Her head was hurting. She had been comforted by someone she barely knew, they had spent hours reminiscing and sharing old stories. This helped Sofia relativize a bit more. But that was only the first act. And then, a certain Dwarf came running into Kuli’s office brandishing a shining bottle of ‘50 years of age King Thrombber Nectar’.
What followed was an unhinged drinking and singing session in the company of Kuli, Karlson, Karlson’s wife, and the level 140 Dwarf named Drian. A Dwarf who had somehow downed more than thrice his body weight in beer during the night. ‘He’s quite skilled with fireworks’, she had thought at the time. They had emptied the entire alcohol stock of ‘The Dwarven Porthole’ tavern, racking up several hundred gold in spendings.
Then the intoxicated group had gone out to have ‘mock fights’ outside the city.
Sofia had introduced Pareth as her ‘Strongest Hero’, and he was the uncontested winner as the only non-drunk presence, while Sofia laughed from the side. Even Kuli had gotten her ass handed to her in a singular fight, failing to block his great-hammer hits. Dwarven alcohol was just that strong.
No one seemed to care in the slightest that this ‘hero’ had no flesh. Perhaps they were too intoxicated to even realize. He had even been reduced to a party trick as he carried every single one of them at once around the empire’s plains while Sofia gave him random directions.
These were all blurry memories in Sofia’s head. Now she was the first of the bunch to wake up. Karlson’s wife, Karin, was curled up in a ball on her left, her curved Goat-like horns rubbing against her shoulder. Meanwhile, Kuli was sleeping on her right, her belly and face planted deeply in the green rug they were on, while her thin legs rested on Sofia’s thighs. It was like she had tripped on her, and fell on the ground and asleep on the spot.
Not wanting to wake them up by moving too much, she switched to Pareth’s view to look around.
The men weren’t any better. Pareth was sitting against a wall, Karlson sleeping hugging his left arm. Drian was somehow sleeping hanging upside-down, latched by his belt on the ceiling’s brass chandelier.
Somehow her first thought as she observed the scene was: everyone here is above level 100…
Looking around, this was a rather sober yet classy room with clean decoration and dark wood furniture lined in gold that was worth a lot of money. Where is this… She tried hard to remember but no matter what, the last thing she remembered was Pareth jumping over a river while carrying everyone.
Well, at least they seem to be taking well to the whole necromancy thing… I don’t think I can get up without waking up Kuli. Did she really not sleep in years? I guess she deserves this.
Maybe I can get back to sleep…
…
…
This is not working out… I think I am getting punished for wearing the saint set bracelet that reduces sleeping needs.
I don’t feel too bad considering how much I drank. Rune isn’t there anymore… I doubt I died yesterday so I probably canceled it myself… Now that I think about it, uh.
[Pristine essence] : You are the unblemished. Immunity to memory alterations. Augmented resistance to perception alterations.
Yeah, so much for immunity to memory alterations. All it took to bypass this was some dwarven liqueur. What do you have to say for your defense, Mr scribe?
The description changed under her eyes.
[Pristine essence] : You are the unblemished. Immunity to magically-induced memory alterations. Augmented resistance to perception alterations.
That doesn’t feel very honest, but sure… Are there more surprises like this one?
That was when her armor’s description appeared by itself.
[Armor of Bones] : Gather and reform bones to create a blessed bone armor protecting the Saintomancer. The armor can store up to 10000 kg (100*Skill level) of bones to repair itself in combat. Protective strength goes up every level.
Stocked bones : 6445kg.
[Armor of Bones] : Gather and reform bones to create a bone armor protecting the Saintomancer. The armor can store up to 10000 kg (100*Skill level) of bones to repair itself. Protective strength goes up every level.
Stocked bones : 6445kg.
Hey, now! I’m not okay with this one! I pretty much knew there was something like this but this really doesn’t feel like a fair thing to edit so late. Especially when this is becoming one of my weakest skills…
[ERROR]
[Admin action required]
[User in Scribe Only Mode, Admin Notification Sub-System out of reach]
[ERROR]
[User in Scribe Only Mode, Automated Compensation Sub-System out of reach]
[Please wait]
[Opening S5 with order limit : 1 item]
