EQG: Sword Art Online - Ruby Palace

by Mindrop

Episode 84.1 — Back on the Front

Episode 84 .1 — Back on the Front
Thirtieth Day in the Month of Sakura (April 30) in the Year of the Griffon
Front Line — Floor 60

Bladescape entered Lisbeth's smithy. She was behind the counter, leaning on her arm with her head in her hand. The counter was rather low to be in that position.

She was obviously bored as a customer tried out different axes. Her NPC shop assistant could handle the sale. If she was bored and waiting like she was, that meant she was out of orders or things to do.

Bladescape confidently strode across the shop. Lisbeth looked at her, but didn't move.

"What?" Lisbeth groaned as Bladescape stopped at the counter.

"Can I speak to you, privately?" Bladescape asked.

Lisbeth groaned. "Am I going to like what you have to say? I only liked one of yesterday’s three surprises.”

"I have no idea," Bladescape shrugged. "Probably not, but I'm not here to make an order."

Lisbeth let out a big sigh and stood up, stretching to offset the odd angle she had been in. She focused on her customer. "Look, you can finalize a sale of anything on my shelves through my store assistant. I need to focus on one of my longest and best customers."

"Fine," he said, distracted.

In the back, Bladescape glanced around, being a bit paranoid. She opened her menu and took out Bajutsu. Bladescape extended it to Lisbeth. "Tell me what you see?"

Lisbeth opened the menu and looked at the information. "I don't see anything wrong? Or different? But I barely know this sword. Wait... what is this notation that says it is hardened?"

Bladescape drew Harmonic Salvation and held it out. Lisbeth clicked on it, confirming it was also hardened.

"Wait!” Lisbeth exclaimed, starting to panic. Bladescape grabbed her mouth to force her to be quiet. The door to the forge was open. Lisbeth, as mad as she was, tried to bite Bladescape’s hand but it was cupped properly. Licking it only caused her tongue to drag across the leather of the gauntlet. Lisbeth shot her a very piercing glance before rolling her eyes. She composed herself and Bladescape let go. She lowered her voice. "One hundred! That can't be right! Harmonic Salvation had fifty enhancement slots!"

Bladescape chuckled with a grin. "The quests I was rushing to do the other day, specifically the one on horseback, well Bajutsu performed marvelously. I ended the fight by severing the knight's head without using a sword skill. I received, as a reward for a quest, the strengthening of my swords. There are several judgments the, uh gift, used, but the quality of the blade is one of them.” It was close to the truth, a white lie, and safer with Merlin’s kicking Mo out.

"All attributes were raised, failed enhancement slots were restored, enhancement slots were added, and the blade became hardened. The hardening is something only able to be gained from that quest and now it’s over. It guarantees that an enhancement will never fail on that weapon."

Lisbeth choked on her shock, putting her in a laughing fit over how ridiculous she sounded. "You mean. I could purposefully fail an enhancement, but it would still take?"

"Yep," Bladescape nodded. "I wanted to let you know so that you were not too surprised when I dropped it off next. For either sword. Bajutsu isn’t going to be ignored by me.”

Lisbeth sat down, hard, onto her anvil and groaned. “You're going to make me enhance it all one hundred times.”

Bladescape couldn’t help but laugh. It was true, and without a hardened blade, it was a very stressful thing for a smith to do. It could ruin a sword if too many failed. They would be stress free enhancements but the sheer quantity was a headache to think about.

"So," Lisbeth started. "You plan to take Harmonic Salvation to the Ruby Palace?"

"If I can," Bladescape nodded. "It's a masterpiece. With the boost I got and maxing the sword, I believe it will still be a masterpiece sword worthy of making it to the end."

Lisbeth thought over it. "Yeah, it may be capable of that. We won't know till Floor Ninety and what enhancements you chose, but Harmonic Salvation should still be a very good sword. Never discount Piandao creating something game changing. Although your track record with keeping up with a weapon of sufficient strength is poor."

"I will listen to your guidance, Lis," Bladescape said, bowing a bit to the smith.

Lisbeth just rolled her eyes over the dramatic display. "Why bother upgrading Bajutsu? Are there more quests with horses?"

"Maybe," Bladescape shrugged. "I'm waiting on the next part to unlock. However, I plan to keep riding. I enjoy it and the player who trained me hunts from horseback. There is other stuff to do with horses as well. Riding doesn't require a Skill. More importantly, it's how I will relax and blow off steam. I know Bajutsu isn't the best sword you have made, but Lis, it is the best cavalry sword you have made. Although I never specified it to you, it was designed for use on horseback and it excels at it."

Lisbeth sighed, bored. They heard the door open, meaning either a customer had come in, or the one looking at axes had left.

"I have to warn you," Lisbeth prefaced. "Metal prices are spiking. That includes what you will need for enhancements. Piando might be trying to make a new alloy, or other smiths are getting into the market. Maybe some miners dropped out. I don't really know why, only that they are spiking."

"That's okay," Bladescape shrugged. "I will figure that out, but right now, I really need to catch up with the others so I can help progress the game today. My break is over, but I needed to inform you of the change before I forgot."

Bladescape went back to the storefront. Lisbeth followed her. Another two customers had come in and the same guy was still agonizing over the axes.

Bladescape rolled her eyes, unable to bear his stress. He was sweating and overthinking everything. She walked over to his side, but he didn't notice her. Bladescape slammed her palm onto the counter. It made him jump slightly and look at her.

"They are obviously close in stats," Bladescape said. "Just pick the one you want to be seen with. You’re overthinking it and fretting over nothing."

"Th-thanks," he stuttered.

Bladescape walked away. She turned around at the door and walked out backwards as she bid Lisbeth goodbye. Bladescape teleported to the town closest to the frontline and headed out after her friends.

The biggest challenge of a new Floor wasn't the field bosses, or even the labyrinths. There were dungeons that needed conquering too, but the open areas between the villages and dungeons were usually riddled with monsters. That was what most of the Clearers did, clean out the Floor, wiping the area clean of monsters and then eliminating the respawns until they were set into their lower respawn pattern.

Bladescape knew where her friends were from the map on her menu, but until she caught up to them it meant solo fighting the field monsters. Floor 60 was grasslands. Where they were at, it was inhabited by aggressive moose who charged at everything that got too close. Their antlers were spiked and they did a lot of piercing damage on top of the damage from getting rammed. The antler spread was massive. Bladescape quickly learned to lock Harmonic Salvation with them until she could shove them out of the way and run the beast through, or cleave off their heads.

It was tough, battle after battle, until she finally caught up with the others. They had been moving forward without her, as ordered. The tanks made fighting the moose easier, drawing in the charge attacks so the others could flank and finish the creatures off.

"Glad to have you back, darling," Diemond said as she braced for a ramming attack. It was a solid defense. Diemond had progressed a lot. No one was as sure footed as Malus, but Diemond was a force to be reckoned with. She was one of the best tanks in the game.

The moose popped, giving Diemond a break. Natora and Thunderborne had flanked it and made quick work of it.

They had three parties going, centered around their Tanks for efficiency. Even without Knightstar, they knew how to be efficient. They had learned well from her. Malus was with Doombunny and Konpeito. Kiefer, Soryuto, and Reisenki were a team. Natora was heading up the other party with Thunderborne and Diemond. They were well balanced. Bladescape joined up with Natora, choosing to fight with Diemond for a change. It would give Malus more opportunities to strike back, something she didn't get to do enough of.

They made it to the next village in the afternoon, giving them a much needed break. They were the first to arrive. It felt like an old west village, with a dirt road for its main street and an intersecting street, both lined with wooded businesses and houses between one and three stories tall.

After grabbing a late lunch, they began to go through the town, grabbing the quests they could. They had time and the advantage was theirs. A few quests were available; one was a kill quest for the moose, another for gathering supplies from the nearby region, and the third was running off bandits from a farm so the farmers could go back home.

Malus was too slow to make her an efficient gathering player, but her shield was perfect for the kill quest. However, Doombunny was best utilized on the supplies quest. Soryuto and Doombunny were swapped for optimization and then the teams headed on their way. Soryuto's shield would be an added bonus to the kill quest team.

Since they had the advantage of being the group of four, Bladescape, Natora, Thunderborne, and Diemond went after the farm. It wasn't easy to drive the bandits off; more came at them once they had cleaned out the farm, and then a third wave tried to drive them away. The last wave was led by a flag boss.

He died easily as Natora ran him through with her spear and then forced him up against the barn, as high up as she could get him with her spear. He couldn't hit her with his sword because of the length of Blazefury’s Lance. Without his feet on the ground, he was defenseless as the spear ended his reign of terror. The poison on the tip played a strong role too.

It was late when they finished the quest. They grabbed dinner and Bladescape began to prepare their new strategy. Kiefer, Reisenki, and Doombunny joined them, ordering their own late dinner. The rest of the Wondercolts were not too far behind.

After the last of them ordered food, Malus asked the question. "Overnight trip, or we gonna crash here?"

"I say overnight," Natora said. "We have had enough rest. Let's at least pound the area around the town and clear it for the others. Judging from the directions we believe the major players took, I think we have a good jump on them, so let's milk it while we can."

"You didn't just come back from the kill quest," Soryuto stated. She was obviously tired of the moose.

An NPC approached the table. She didn't have any food and wasn't one of the workers. She bowed, but was obviously trying to mask her concern. "You helped out the others in the village. Can I ask you to help me?"

"What is it you need?" Bladescape asked.

"There is a gang that has taken hold in the old mine to the north of here," she explained. "My brother recklessly went off to join them and he took with him our father's sword. I don't know if they have killed him or actually allowed him to join. My father just wants the sword back, because it is a family heirloom. They had been arguing again. My mother and I want Thomas back too. Can you help us?"

"Yes,” Bladescape said. "We will get your family's sword back and do our best to make sure your brother comes home."

"Thank you," she said, bowing again. She turned away quickly to try and mask her rapidly wetting cheeks.

"I ain't gotten my food yet," Malus stated.

"Come after us," Natora said. "You three can eat, square anything away that you need to, and then join us."

"Sounds like a fun party!" Konpeito said.

They double checked equipment, potions, crystals, and their own minds, and then Bladescape led the two parties out. At this point, it wouldn't matter if they were in two or three parties, but she wasn't going to bother with formally reconfiguring them if she didn't have to.

Kiefer's party had run into the mine while on their gathering quest. They had avoided it and the gang. At the time it held no value and it would have slowed down their job. All of the earlier combat made it easy for them to get to it.

"Alright," Bladescape said to everyone after Doombunny gave them a clear map of the mining camp with Reveal. "It's late. Let's do this smartly, so I'm giving Omega orders."

"Fast as possible and reduce our margin of error," Natora said with a nod. "This is a quest ripe for Omega. We need to watch for Thomas, especially if we want to try and turn his life around."

"I'll scout for him," Doombunny said. "But he has to be deeper in the mine from what I see here."

"I can use a paralyzing throwing pick as well," Bladescape added.

They set their entry points and the time before moving into position. Bladescape and Konpeito were teamed up and in position quickly. Natora and Reisenki were together with Doombunny officially on their insert team. Diemond and Thunderborne were the other team. They had the camp pretty well surrounded since the mine was set into a ridge, blocking off one avenue of attack.

When her internal clock hit one minute before entry, Bladescape applied the poison to Harmonic Salvation. Konpeito was humming "Friendship Through the Ages" while she applied the poison to her axe.

The digital clock ticked one more minute forward and Bladescape silently rushed to her chosen target. Konpeito fell behind immediately, distracted by something. The stab was silent and clean, but Bladescape grabbed his mouth and covered it, holding on tight until the poison knocked his HP to zero. Diemond and Thunderborne were making noise, while Reisenki and Natora seemed to have also started late.

Bladescape rushed to her next target and repeated the stab. Konpeito was loud as she finally caught up, ending Bladescape's silent assault.

These gang members were not like the ones on Floor Twelve. They were on Floor Sixty, the front line. The gang members were level Seventy-Two. Even with poison, killing them quickly meant Bladescape had to deal multiple slashes, hacks, and stabs before they were dead. The same went for the other Wondercolts.

The Wondercolts quickly became out maneuvered as their spread out tactics failed to account for hidden members from the surrounding area. Doombunny's Reveal Skill wasn't close to being maxed yet. Bladescape was without a shield and forced to fight them alone. Konpeito was somewhere. The others had managed to regroup.

That did provide an advantage for Bladescape. She had not used Greatsword yet. Her new Skill was still at 0000/1000. It wasn't that she wanted to keep it a secret from her friends, but she wasn't entirely sure what the skill was yet. Merlin had said she just needed to separate her hands.

With her hands split, she quickly found the trigger position for a cut. It was powerful, as it used leverage to control and deliver a disproportionate amount of damage compared to what her high level Sword Skills in the Two-Handed Sword Skill dealt. She could cut the gang members down with half the effort. Bladescape also realized that with a simple adjustment of her hands, she could switch between the Sword Skills for Two-handed Sword and Greatsword. It was a very versatile advantage.

They finished the last of the reinforcements as their own reinforcements arrived.

"Sorry it took so long, y'all," Malus panted.

"Nonsense, darling," Diemond said, waving it off. "You arrived just in time. We need to go inside the mine. Now more than ever we need your shield."

"We should split our forces," Natora said. "The mine will be restrictive compared to the field. Plus, we need a rear vanguard. I doubt that was their last counter attack."

"I agree," Bladescape nodded. "Kiefer, Diemond, and Soryuto will hold the entrance while we go in."

"Thank you for keeping me out of the icky mine," Diemond said. She yawned, a good reminder to them all how tired they were and that they needed to be careful.

The mine wound its way into the ground. It soon forced them to split up. Reisenki, Natora, and Konpeito took the right path, while Bladescape led Malus, Thunderborne, and Doombunny went down the left.

The walls echoed with the faint sound of combat. Bladescape urged them forward a bit faster. The mine twisted a bit more and the sounds of combat became louder. Doombunny slipped ahead and scouted.

She came back and reported the situation. "The others are up on a large ledge. We are on the lower part of the cavern. They can't get down easily, but it doesn't matter with the number of gang members they have to clear.

"For us, it's twenty, including the boss. His name is Haskins the Miner. He doesn't actually have armor, just a pair of heavy overalls with a tattoo of a crossed pickaxe and sledgehammer on his left arm. He carries a pickaxe as his main weapon. He has 2 health bars. The rest of the gang are the same as all the others we have killed.

"However, they have three NPCs with them, tied up. One is Thomas. They were putting them through initiation. We can still save Thomas."

"Strategy?" Malus asked Bladescape.

"Malus and Doom go for Haskins,” Blade immediately dictated. “Thunder and I will draw the aggro of the others, and hopefully Natora can soon finish up and then they jump down and join us."

Doombunny nodded in agreement. Malus just shrugged and turned, gripping her hammer tight.

With a roar that echoed off the unstable walls, Malus charged. She rammed into a gang member, not slowing down as she trampled him to get to Haskins. Doombunny was gone and Bladescape applied new poison before charging into the cavern.

"New plan for you dusters!" Haskins laughed. "Kill them and you're certainly one of us."

Gang members cut Thomas and the others free. They shoved pickaxes into their hand and then they charged Malus. Doombunny slashed Thomas with her parrying dagger, taking him out of the fight. The other two she killed with Endbringer. Colorra was impossible to spot in the low light. The only way to tell where she had been was by the poison tags besides their red cursors.

Bladescape was quickly surrounded and free to work with Greatsword. It was the most efficient manner to eliminate them. The sweeping movements of the early skills allowed her to quickly address multiple angles and attackers. She didn't focus on one specific target, that would make her vulnerable to the others, she let the skills flow and shift to address the next issue. She cut them down faster than if she had taken them on one at a time.

Malus was blocking only when she had to, choosing to bash Haskins as fast as she could. Her glowing shield attacks were dealing more and more damage. Thunderborne had gotten forced to a wall and surrounded. Doombunny had turned her attention to paralyzing and then poisoning the others, cutting down on the number of viable attackers while she worked to get to Thunderborne.

With less pressure, Bladescape adjusted to fight the eight gang members focused on her. She quickly finished them off and turned to help Malus. She watched as Malus bashed Haskins and then he retaliated by bringing his pickaxe down onto her head. She saw the bit pierce her helmet. It shattered, destroyed for good, and Bladescape saw the pick stuck in Malus's head. Her health dropped deep into the red.

Malus roared in anger, whipping her glowing hammer up. The powerful blow forced Haskins to lose his grip on the pickaxe. Malus didn't give him the opportunity to grab it or get another weapon. She unleashed a fury of blows with her hammer, pulverizing him into polygons in a way that only a strength focused, war hammer wielding player could.

Bladescape leapt at a gang member that had just recovered from the paralysis effect. He had only a little health left, but she could not let him get near a compromised Malus. One or two good hits and Malus would be dead.

Doombunny was charging with Shadowsong, trying to delay them in an effort to save Malus.

One did get to Malus, from her blind side. The idiot NPC roared as it lifted its pickaxe to attack. Malus spun, swinging the Iron Bulwark as it glowed. The giant hunk of iron cut through the gang member like a sword.

Bladescape let out a sigh of relief and drove Harmonic Salvation down into a paralyzed gang member, ending his existence. He was the last one, outside of Thomas.

Doombunny was struggling to even lift the handle of the pickaxe Thomas had dropped. Bladescape stooped down to grab one of the fallen ones and was shocked at the weight. Even with her strength, she couldn't swing it with precision. The fact that Malus was calmly standing with one in her head meant that Malus had more strength than Bladescape could even mentally grasp. The Iron Bulwark had not split her stat points, putting them almost exclusively to strength.

Malus stepped over to Doombunny, taking the pickaxe she was trying to lift in one hand and flung it across the room with ease. Bladescape met them and used a red crystal on Malus.

Congratulations and fanfare began as Natora killed the last gang member. Bladescape pulled the pickaxe out of Malus's skull. The removal tore a sizable chunk out of her restored health. The pickaxe was even heavier than the other ones and it slipped out of Bladescape's grasp, thudding onto the ground. It was a very good thing that Malus had been the one to fight the boss.

Malus picked the pickaxe up with ease and brought up the menu. “Huh, says it’s ‘Haskins’ Pick.’ Looks like it's got some buffs for minin. The weight’s mighty high. I ain’t got no use for it, but I’m sure we can find someone who can.”

“Hey, you’re the only one who can hold it,” Bladescape pointed out. “Do what you want with it. Well earned.”

Bladescape bent down in front of Thomas, who was no longer paralyzed, but unmoving because Colorra was coiled up, nicely, on his back, guarding him

"So, Thomas, did you learn your lesson?" Bladescape asked.

"Lesson?" Thomas stuttered.

"Your sister sent us," Bladescape explained. "She said that you and your dad had a fight, you took the family sword here, and they want both the sword and you back."

"My sister sent you?" He asked.

"We had helped others in town already, so she thought she could trust us," Bladescape said. "Your dad might still be angry...well family is family and important. It's worth fighting for, not against. Conflict is natural, but stealing from family and running to join up with murderous thugs is not an approved method of conflict resolution. Now, what did you learn?"

Thomas sighed deeply, obviously feeling regret. "I'll head home and sort things out with my dad."

"You might want to bring the sword back," Bladescape said. "Where is it?"

"It's in a shed on the surface, with a bunch of other supplies."

"Let's go get it," Bladescape said, extending her hand to him. "And get you on your way home."

"Okay," Thomas said, taking her hand. Colorra got off him so they could pull him to his feet.

"Um, girls," Doombunny said. She held up a rock. "Do you see this?"

"I can see you and you are holding a rock," Bladescape said, putting her hands on her hips. She could not see much in the low light.

"It's a metal ore," Doombunny stated. "One not known before. At least not before this Floor."

Bladescape glanced around. Search gave her night vision, even in low light areas like the mine. There were rocks strewn about along the edges of the walls. Not many, but enough.

"This is an active mining location," Doombunny added. "First mapped by us. The value of this location and data is huge. There are several guilds that would drop some serious Col to not only get their hands on the raw ore we can gather, but a map to and of this location."

The Wondercolts usually traded or released Labyrinth map data for free and sold the maps and data for dungeons for below average cost. They wanted to progress the game and not strain the costs the Clearers already had to put out for equipment and supplies. Location data for a mine was completely different. They would cash this in for its full value to help. It would all go to the guild coffers.

"Gather what we can," Bladescape ordered. "If we need to pull the guard team in we will. I doubt it though, since Malus is with us. Let's load up and get going."

"Blade," Doombunny said. "I'll cover the leak. I know exactly who to go to get the info out and start a bidding war on what we have."

"Let's load you up," Malus said, tossing a large rock to Doombunny.

Doombunny shrieked and barely sidestepped it. The rock thudded onto the ground.

"Right," Malus chuckled. "I forget my own strength in here too. I'll let ya pick up what ya can."

"Thank you," Doombunny said as she tried to pick up the stone. She did better with it than with the pickaxe. Once it was in her inventory, the system calculated it into the load bearing algorithm and it didn't burden her. Doombunny was their weakest member for raw strength, tied with Thunderborne. She had enough to unlock Extra Weight Carry, a natural development from leveling through combat, but otherwise her stats were primarily speed and agility. She focused on the smaller stones that would be good for samples.

They quickly picked the place clean. Thomas followed them out. It was almost dawn when they hooked back up with the defense team. They had been aware that the battle was over, since they were from two different parties.

"What happened to your helmet?" Diemond immediately asked Malus.

"You did a good job, but so did his pickaxe," Malus said.

"Fine, I'll make you a better one," Diemond said, waving it off. “One harder than your thick skull.”

Doombunny distracted them. "I'll meet you at the Teleport Plaza."

Doombunny teleported out while the rest of the Wondercolts went to the supply shed. Malus broke the lock with her hammer and they raided the storage shed for everything of value. Thomas took the sword and rushed off, heading back home.

They walked back, dealing with the moose whenever they had to. It was a little past dawn when they arrived back in town. Doombunny was waiting for them by the teleport plaza. She nodded to them that the job was done and they headed into an NPC restaurant for breakfast.

They were tired, but on a new 36-12 rotation. They had done this plenty of times before. They would push into the afternoon and then call it quits. The fields still needed to be picked clean. Being as far ahead as they were, they decided to focus on just that. It was an important part of clearing a Floor and would help out the next clearers who arrived.

Thomas' sister found them and thanked them. It officially ended the quest, which they had forgotten to turn in.

BLADESCAPE: Level 80 — Two-Handed Sword — Searching — Weapon Defense — Leather Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Sprint — Blade Throwing — Extended Weight Carry — Acrobatics — Greatsword
NATORA: Level 76 — Two-Handed Spear — Purchase Negotiations — Sales Negotiation — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Acrobatics — Armor Pierce — Sprint
MALUS: Level 75 — One-Handed War Hammer — Heavy Shield — Heavy Metal Armor — First Aid — Extended Weight Carry — Battle Regeneration — Fishing — Search — Martial Arts — Rend
THUNDERBORNE: Level 75 — Rapier — Sprint — Acrobatics — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Armor Pierce — Martial Arts — Blade Throwing
KONPEITO: Level 75 — Two-Handed Axe — Cooking — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — Martial Arts — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Music — Blade Throwing — Bard — Extended Weight Carry
DIEMOND: Level 76 — Mace — Heavy Shield — Sewing — Heavy Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Light Metal Armor Forging — Heavy Metal Armor Forging — Extended Weight Carry — Jewelry Creation
DOOMBUNNY: Level 79 — One-Handed Dagger — Hide — Fighting Spirit — Blade Throwing — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Familiar Cooperation — Mixing — Listen — Reveal — Main-gauche
KIEFER: Level 73 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Slash Weapon Forging — Light Metal Armor — Weapon Defense — First Aid — Katana — Battle Regeneration — Slash Weapon Forging — Blade Throwing — Armor Pierce
SORYUTO: Level 71 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Music — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Fighting Spirit — Armor Pierce — Acrobatics — Extended Weight Carry
REISENKI: Level 73 — One-Handed Axe — Heavy Shield — Heavy Metal Armor — Equipment Repair — Metal Equipment Repair — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Cooking — Metal Refining — One-Hand Weapon Creation

Comments

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

Bladescape chuckled with a grin. "The quests I was rushing to do the other day, specifically the one on horseback, well Bajutsu performed marvelously. I ended the fight by severing the knight's head without using a sword skill. I received, as a reward for a quest, the strengthening of my swords. There are several judgments the, uh gift, used, but the quality of the blade is one of them.” It was close to the truth, a white lie, and safer with Merlin’s kicking Mo out.

Even if she's partly lying, she's doing it for the sake of good.

"If I can," Bladescape nodded. "It's a masterpiece. With the boost I got and maxing the sword, I believe it will still be a masterpiece sword worthy of making it to the end."

Let's hope so.

"However, they have three NPCs with them, tied up. One is Thomas. They were putting them through initiation. We can still save Thomas."

Welp, there goes the mission being an easy one.

With less pressure, Bladescape adjusted to fight the eight gang members focused on her. She quickly finished them off and turned to help Malus. She watched as Malus bashed Haskins and then he retaliated by bringing his pickaxe down onto her head. She saw the bit pierce her helmet. It shattered, destroyed for good, and Bladescape saw the pick stuck in Malus's head. Her health dropped deep into the red.

Uh oh!!!

[AdverseFlower95]

"There is a gang that has taken hold in the old mine to the north of here," she explained. "My brother recklessly went off to join them and he took with him our father's sword. I don't know if they have killed him or actually allowed him to join. My father just wants the sword back, because it is a family heirloom. They had been arguing again. My mother and I want Thomas back too. Can you help us?"

Do I smell a Fallout 4 reference?

[Mindrop]

12010463
Yes! It's absolutely a Fallout 4 Reference. Also Red Dead Redemption, Man is Born Unto Trouble at Gaptooth Breach Mine.

[Doll maker]

When her internal clock hit one minute before entry, Bladescape applied the poison to Harmonic Salvation. Konpeito was humming "Friendship Through the Ages" while she applied the poison to her axe.

;-; that is a terrifying image.

[Mindrop]

12079676
Absolutely terrifying. lol.