3624/Merchant Madness

Merchant Madness
Date of Scene:	07 January 2016
Location:	Alfheim Online <ALO>
Synopsis:	More ALO shenanigans. This time, it's time to meet the Merchant!
Cast of Characters:	Tomoe, 162, Karian Icefang, Nagato

---

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe had sent those interested people in the GU invites and is waiting for them in a large market square. She's in the full plate she's known for wearing which is a joint creation of pieces of both Liz and Theo. She'd been said to have the entire set custom made, something about getting tank pants come hell or high water. She's waiting out side the shop which clealry is a PC one given it's actually got posters and such up on it's wall and various sale notices in hte window.

"You see them yet?"

"No I don't Penndraong and you'll keep your inner nerd under control, right dad?"

"I always have!"

"You better"

She scans the skies and the crowd looking for her friends. She's given them all directions with the party invite, it shouldn't be too hard.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Freelia:

    Mistral lands outside the northern part of the city, having flown in from the Sylph capital. It wasn't a massive distance, and using that trick Kirito mentioned, it squeezed the most out of her limited flight time. So she's still got a few minutes of flight left by the time she lands.

    Walking through the city, Mistral follows the route to where Tana is waiting, looking for the tell-tale sign of a party member.

    Once she's there, she lifts a hand and calls out. "HEEEEEY TANA!" which probably calls attention from other Players in the area, though the NPCs just carry on their programmed routines, as programs are wont to do.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian accepted the invite, and not too long after the winged Salamander lands with a thud. He steps into the shop and offers a nod to everyone. "Hello Pendragon, nice to meet you." He says. He quickly begins looking over the stock, pondering if anything struck his needs.

Nagato has posed:
    Tana's foot taps albeit impatiently as she waits for the Sylph to make her entrance, looking around the area with a searching gaze... "Mistral's coming soon and..." she pops open her menu and fiddles around with it. Oh.. skills she forgot to set. Acrobatics... all the pet training skills... "This should get me ready for Staren at least." she nods before floating herself in the air without the controller.

    The shout of her name causes her to turn towards the direction, along with a few other players, and Tana's smile comes to view as she shakily meets up with Mistral. "Hoooi, Mistral!" notably missing on the Cait Sith's person is that assist controller, "Shall we get going, I don't think it's good to make her wait too long for us..."

    And with this, she drops to the ground and offers a hug towards Mistral. "Ready when you are."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Mistral grins, then hugs the Cait Sith. "Sure, c'mon. Y'know that big city around the giant tree? It's a bit of a walk, and I'll need to wait a bit for my flight to fully recharge." she says, gesturing the direction. "But once I'm full, we'll get some flight practice in. Deal?"

    She then turns to start leading the way. "Oh yeah, the wallrunning thing? Best to practice a bit first, before trying to use it in a dungeon. But it's a /really/ useful skill. Only the Light Body races like us have it. Salamanders and Gnomes are too heavy."

Tomoe has posed:
Pendrons avatar is a Gnome whose about as beefy as a Space Marine as he looks Karian over for a moment.

"Welcome aboard, I see your the first one to make it here, humm i should get the stock ready then shouldn't I?"

the man ducks back into the the shop while Tomoe gestures him inside it doesn't take too long for everyone to get sorted out hopefully the shop it self would be full of gear on display, weapons, armor, items of all sorts, even a few posters related to major quest events or tournmnent are here and there. Pendragon is watching with intrest as ICefang Enters while Tomoe contiunes to wait outside to flag down everyone else when they arrive.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian nods. "Aye. LEt me see what you have." He says. He looks over the stock of the store, pulling a few times to the side for potential purchase as he waits for the others. "Where do you get your stock?" He asks.

Nagato has posed:
    Tana gives a brief nod, following the more experienced person in front of her. "not a problem, I have plenty of time tonight. Atago is handling base issues right now and I've got everyone working on something so I'm not going to be bothered." though she pauses a bit, listening to the whole 'wall run' explination. "Ah, so just practice it outside of a dungeon? And... exclusive?" she grins slightly, she's going to enjoy some of these advantages.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Mistral turns around, and smirks. "Don't get too happy about it. Plenty of DPS run Cait Sith or Sylph, so you'll be up against others that can Wall Run too." she explains. About five minutes pass before the pair are in the 'clear. "Right, should be able to fly there in Eight minutes... if we can get you off the ground without all that wobbling."

    The Sylph ponders. "C'mon, get your wings out and lets see if we can't get you airborne without looking like a badly animated animatronic."

Nagato has posed:
    Tana gives a bit of a nod, "I see, well then." and once they're in the clear, those wings come out without the assist controller. "Alright then." a pause, "Hey, I'm not THAT bad." she floats up a bit and shakily moves forward... like a badly animated animatronic. "... Okay, you're right..." with that she lands and watches Mistral, that tail twitching in excitement or on its own.. Tana's not mastered that thing yet...

    "HOpefully we won't be TOO long going there, she's waiting for us..." she mentions, "but it shouldn't be too much to get there if we are fast, right?"

Tomoe has posed:
Pendragon replies as he goes to point out a weapon wrack with an assortment large two handed swords and axes, meanwhiole Tomoe has thankful that her dad had made ready knowing what gear some her party was going to be in the market for. She contiuned to wait outside for a moment, at this point she starts to vault up the building without using her wings to get a better look, once she's perched up there like some kinda Western super hero as she gigures the others will be flying in sooner rather than later.

Back inside Pendragon looks Karian over for a moment. "Anything you need? That's not on display?"

Karian Icefang has posed:
    "That depends. I'm looking for either another sword like my current one or a means to make it stronger." Karian says. He carefully draws his sword and holds it out for Pendragon to take a read over it. It would be fairly powerful, and end-game gear, complete with an enchantment for lightning.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Mistral smirks a bit. "See? I told ya." she teases, then hmms a bit. She murmurs something to herself, then smirks while Tana is distracted. She creeps up, and makes a grabby motion for that twitchy tail, aiming to give it a light tug before letting go. She's got an impish little smirk on her lips the entire time.

Nagato has posed:
    Tana gives a brief nod and slowly floats forward, not minding the impish smirk coming from the Slyph. "Nasa makes it sound so easy." she muttered, "But she knows how to fly even outside this place." she grumbles just lightly, oblivious to Mistral... which proves to be her mistake... The tail is tugged gently and Tana's eyes go wide, shivering and making a loud "KYAAA!" sound. The Battleship turned Catgirl turns around very... very slowly to stare at Mistral...

    "THAT FELT WEIRD!" she shouts at her 'teacher', tucking that tail between her legs, frowning, "And who knows if someone made a recording of that..." the one person she doesn't want to get Tana making that sound is her sister ship, Mutsu... much less a picture of NekoNagato. "Sh... shall we just.. go forward?" she questions warily, "You take the lead... so you don't do that again...."

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Mistral giggles softly. "Sorry, sorry. I just heard that Kirito... helped... one of our other Cait Sith players learn to fly by tugging on her tail." she shrugs helplessly. "That and it's a tradition in the GU." the Sylph summons her wings, and takes to the air. Her wings barely move, though Tana might be able to see the play of muscles under the Sylph's leather tunic. "I had to learn how to fly using muscles instead of purely magic. Like Zekken said, just try to adjust the wing angle using your shoulderblades, try doing that without moving your shoulders." she explains.

    THe Sylph, regardless of In Game or Out of Game, is a natural flier, much like Nasa, though she had to learn how to harness Magic to fly outside the game world.

Nagato has posed:
    Tana is definately flying a lot better after that tail pull, however. It's a lot less shaky as she just keeps focused on watching Mistral. "Was still mean..." she muttered, "I'm not even used to HAVING a tail..." and, under her breath, "even if it makes it look cute..." she grumbles a bit, trying to move along with Mistral. "At least I'm not everywhere in the sky now... Shall we get going faster?" she lets out a soft breath and mutters something.

    o O (Maybe I should have gone Undine...)

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Mistral rolls over, so she's flying backward to look at Tana. "Sure, lets kick it up a bit. Fold your wings down a little more flat against the sides, and angle them away from your body, should boost speed a bit."

    She demonstrates, and is soon soaring away rapidly.

Nagato has posed:
    Tana gives a brief nod and follows... but as Mistral starts going off rapidly. "H..hey wait up!" and off she goes as well, those wings folded down some as she tries to catch up to the Slyph.. "We're running late!"

Tomoe has posed:
PEndragon nodded a little bit to Karian.

"Open a tade window so I can inspect the blade you have to see what I have in stock though given the company you keep I might not have anything in that level. Given your connections though to some of the better forgers in the game I doubt it would slow you down if I can't cover this."

Meanwhile outside Tomoe is perched watching the skies for the pair that is for the last two people in the party to arrive.

Zephyr Windstar (162) has posed:
    Unfortunately, Mistral is a bit too quick for her own good and is soon lost in the distance haze. Tana's party tracker also loses 'sight' of the Sylph, so something happened. At least Tomoe's little 'beacon' thing should still be showing, so it'd be a simple case of heading towards it... just keep an eye on the Flight Timer.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian openned up the trade window to let Pendragon get a good look at his sword, and over what he had to offer. "Not bad..I'll take a few things off your hands. I may also link you to my friend, a fairly high level blacksmith that made me my current gear. Should help to improve your stock even more."

Nagato has posed:
    Fortunately, with the newfound speed and straight flight Tana's gotten... she makes it towards the main city and, with the beacon, she tries to pour on a bit more speed. She makes it just in time for the flight timer to expire and, with a loud THUNK... crashes on the roof near Tomoe... "Ita...." she twitches a bit and slides down some... "I'm fine... I promise..." she mutters, looking up towards Tomoe, "Hi."

    She shakes her head a bit more to get her bearings before hopping off the roof... "So this is the Pendragon shop, isn't it? It's... good to see a new place, I was kind of getting tired of seeing Freesia..." she looks up towards the perched fairy, "Want to introduce me, Tomoe? I'm not good at this introduction thing here."

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian looks over and offers a nod towards Tana. "Hello, Tana." He says. He immidiately sends over a friend request to the newbie, and goes about a quick bit of trade management. "I'll be sure to send them your way."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is now hoping Tana is able to get there on their own and it seems that she has as she spots the Cait Sith coming in. She waves for a moment from the top of the store she'll vault down and give her a grin as she'll then show her into the shop.

"This is Pendragon's shop, yes, he's already helping Karian already inside."

The door jingles as the pait enter into the ship while hte deal is going down.

Pendragon nods for a moment.

"Given the lack of a proper exchange, getting more contacts is useful. Bloody Asian MMORPGs of all the bad habits in design for them to keep."

HE pauses as Tana and Tomoe enter.

"Ah I'd take it this is another of your friends Tomoe, but where's Mistral? I thought she'd be here as well?"

he's a large Gnome build like Karian would be in the real world, one might half expect him to have as insane shoulder paldrons as well.

"This is Tana she's new to the guild, Two handed axes are what she's working wuith right now though Tana? This is my Father Pendragon, don't mind him he's old and nerdy. He goes too far give himn a hit up side the head. More seriously what sort of armor are you looking for now?"

Nagato has posed:
    "I see." she walks inside with Tomoe and a smile is given, that tail of hers still between her legs, can't trust anyone anymore with that thing flailing about... She idly looks around inside and a grin is given, the Cait Sith moving to look along any displays or the like to see what's there. All in all, the Cait Sith's in a good place right now. Her ears perk up when she's mentioned again, "Mistral ... crashed I think... I couldn't find her when i lost her party notification..." she shakes her head, "I think she'll be fine."

    Oh hey, new message. Friend request? Accepted. "AH, yeah, I'm working on those axes." a turn towards Tomoe, "Ah, Mister Pendragon then. Is there an honorific you wish for me to use, sir?" she questions, respect within her voice when addressing him. Though she turns back to Tomoe, "Armor? Just some light metal armor, something more than what I have on under this outfit that is..." she mutters, "I.. kind of fell to some basic mobs..."

Tomoe has posed:
Pendragon smirks. "So long as I keep getting contacts for supplies few will be able to out do me. Damn shame though this game doesn't allow to convert into real money like GGO does. I'd be able to quit my actual job if I could get money out of both."

Tomoe snarks back.

"What you can always live off me if you need to, you know I invested my settlment payment from SAO well."

There's a grin on her face and then she grimaces at Tana mentioning Mistral crashed.

"Hopefully she didn't lose anything. Well then we can see what we cna fight. Ah I see well hey your okay so it's not like how I had to learn. Don't get down on your self some things are pretty tricky. Assesing what you can take or not takes time and experiance to get."

Karian Icefang has posed:
    "Aye. But with time you'll be up there with us." KArian says with a smile. He completes his trade with pendragon, taking a few sharpening items and a few buffing items. "So, you said two-handed axes. More of a strength weapon, if you ask me. I went for the two handers myself, but then my strength rating is insane. Still..." He then looks at Nagato curiously. "Hmm....I thought most Cait Sith started with pets."

Nagato has posed:
    Tana blinks a bit, tilting her head some. "I think she'll be okay." she mutters, "Serves her right for pulling my tail..." a light cough is given and she looks at some of the two handed axes... "Yeah, two handed axes.. I do have a sword as well but I am getting comfortable lugging this heavy thing around. It served me pretty good during my first dungeon run. I didn't get much for the quest but still, the experience was nice." she turns around to look at Karian, tilting her head...

    "I... don't know how to do anything with pets..." she looked a bit ashamed on this, orjealous... or something. "Staren's supposed to teach me more about the pet training and raising soon, so I hope that turns up well. Who knows, you'll see me with something nice later..."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe peers at Tana for a moment.

"She grabbed your tail? That does pretty screwy things to the brain of Cait Sith players. GEtting singals for a part you don't actually have. Hope you made her think twice about doing that again. Hey this is about having fun right? Staren can be good but keep having fun in mind first over being optimized. So you go some cash now right? From what you said it sounds like some armor might be what you need."

Pendragon seems content to be dealing with Karian for the moment.

"Give her time on that, she'll get it and as Tomoe said Staren's pretty much /that/ guy in the guild obessed with numbers over fun. He'd be the guy I'd always be killing if I was running a Table Top game. Until he got the idea of story matters more."

Nagato has posed:
    Tana nods a bit at the confirmation, taking a look away, "Of course it does..." she mutters, "Not to mention it still feels weird even after the fact." she shudders a bit, "But it helped me get to flying better." she gives a bit of a shrug, "Only a bit, not enough to afford anything major. I'm... not used to having to pay for gear when Yuubari just makes it for us." she listens a bit and gives a nod, "Well, I have other reasons I want to get pet training done, having a partner I can rely on is like having my fleet."

"Staren has his quirks but he did buy me my first bits of gear." she offers her two handed axe to look at and unequips her armor to have it looked at. Both peices are incredibly worn with little durability left on them... seems someone's been a bit busy. "It's just basic gear... maybe you can repair it?"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe grins a bit at Tana for a moment.

"You'll hopefully not have it happen again. Most people know you don't do it and anyone in the GU should know better than to do it. Then again with Kirito you best may want to be on your guard. FOr now at least, well we can get you something better I think tht the starter gear you got, also that's not a bad idea, having an AI pet tends to help with things even if it's pulling agro, you can bounce it back and forth between you. Oh he does at that I just mean he gets lost in numbers sometimes."

Pendragon nods for a moment.

"I can do repairs sure let me get a look at them if you like Tana!"

Nagato has posed:
    "I hope not..." she muttered, Tana's ears pinning down, "I think it was Mistral's way of saying 'keep a look out.'" she shakes her head a bit and offers the gear towards Pendragon, "Thanks." She stretches a bit, looking around the shop some while Tomoe speaks, nodding, "BEtter gear? There's an axe better than this?" she questions, the newbieness showing blatantly in full force... "Anything to help, Tomoe, I'll try to repay in kind."

    Tana moves to poke at one of the axes around the shop... "This looks nice...>"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe says "Yes, there are, though you could likely get this weapon reforged and improved by a Smith if you like. It's all up to you but in time you'll want. None of my gear is starting some of it's even recreations of my gear from SAO. Such as my Naginata Moon Cutter. There's a whole world here it's honestly impressive. One could get lost in such a world and forget reality existed outside it. As for gear it's a thign generally hunting down better gear is one part of the game."

Nagato has posed:
    Tana nods a bit, "You'll forgive me if I do not have an inkling on what you just said to me." she mutters, looking behind her towards Tomoe before staring off at some of the gear in front of her. "I'm not sure what I'm going to need here in Alfheim, but I guess I'll get there eventually. And, with my initial foray into this, I may open it up for the rest of the girls to play for downtime and downtime only." with a curious look, she pokes at one of the axes, "Mind if I pick this up?"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe looks a bit embrassed and well it shows given how the dive system reads her mind's current state. "Sorry old habits, I been playing games like this since I was a kid. It was a way to do things with my dad when he traveled. It would be a good way for your fleet to have some fun and relax."

Pendragon calls out.

"Go ahead and take a look at it, see how it feels for you!"

Tomoe grins at Tana

"Don't worry if your here for fun, we won't drag you into anything serious, if it comes up."

Nagato has posed:
    With the approval, Tana picks up the axe in her hands, hefting it a bit. It doesn't look too fancy but it's definately a few steps up from the one she's got. She turns towards Tomoe and Pendragon, hefting the axe over her shoulder, resting with it... then checks its stats. "Part of the reason to get in this, is to help out if needed. I cannot ask for the Union's help without giving any in return."

    A glance at the stat window for the axe causes the Cait Sith to frown. Needs a lot more skill for this one... Putting it back up, she turns back around and looks towards Tomoe once more, "I don't mind being ... dragged into ... anything related to this. While I am enjoying it, it's another avenue that I can assist. Even if it's a different way than what I do outside."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe says "Ah fair enough, I didn't want to drag you into anything else. Given the swarm of angry ghost ships you got to deal with. Me I'm just a nobody really who fell into things beyond my control. It's funny how that goes you know and as for the axe it looks like you are getting a feel for it."

She looks as Tana puts the weapon back.

"Well then if your willing to help we'll be glad to have it to be honest. Without help? I think we'd have lost a lot more people in SAO...and I'd have been one."

Nagato has posed:
    "I... drag myself into things. Everything is calm now, so it shouldn't be a problem, the Abyssals are in a state of rest it seems and my girls are training hard." when the mention of the axe is made, she chuckles, "I'm still too low of a skill to use this axe. It's a nice looking one too, you know. Perhaps later..."

    "I wish I could understand what happened in SAO, I wasn't there, nor are there reports accessable to myself for anything of the like..."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe Says "Fair enough and all right, well then it's not as much of an issue as I thoguht it would be. Well it eill be there in time or you might find a better one in your adventures. That's haldf the fun, exploring and finding new things. As for that."

She darkens a bit.

"We could explain if you want to know, but the short of it. A simple game became a death trap and the only way out was to clear it. Logged on for a evening of gaming, ended up in it for over two years."

Nagato has posed:
    "Two years of being strapped to your bed, playing a game designed to kill you... does not sound... like it should have existed." she shakes her head, "Let's not dwell on the past, the seas know that we do it all too much. Perhaps we can take a quest or two and get our minds off of it. Maybe we can find a good axe or something."