[SD:SC] A Little Training - Chapter 11

Soon enough, the herd of sheep make it to the town where they’ll be sold. Which is easy enough to see as there are a ton of sheep. All around the town are temporary pens set up and holding herds of sheep. Whether it was a small group of five or masses that Gem can’t even give an educated guess on, the sheep are calm and looking quite well groomed.

Gem turns to the cattlekin cowboy, “So, what are people buying the sheep for?”

The cowboy tilts the brim of his hat up and squints. “Well, most of the ones around us are white sheep, but there are other sheep with different colors of wool. Those are bought to help add variety.

“We also do a bit of trading to make sure our herd isn’t too closely related. Though of course there are those selling particularly superior specimens for breeding. Stud rams can make a bunch of money when your herd isn’t the biggest.

“Finally there are those being sold as food. A rare thing as a sheep’s wool will be worth more over its life. Though some towns do have specialized sheep that have good meat. They are generally the towns with particularly large herds so they can afford such waste.”

Gem shifts on Fresco, “So uh, will I be more of a problem or Fresco?”

The cowboy laughs, “Definitely you! While taming an Inago isn’t common, it does happen. Though you’ll probably be the only one in town. That's more because locals who tame an Inago will stay in their town as they’re quite valuable to have with your main herd of sheep.”

At this point, the herd has arrived at their designated pen and Gem is called over by a grizzled old cattlekin sitting on a pile of boxes. “So, I hear you have a frog ring for sale?”

Gem snaps their fingers, “Oh right! I’d forgotten you guys wanted it. Been a bit busy. But yeah, I’d be willing to sell or trade it. Do you have any fun Wind equipment?”

The old cowboy riffles through a stack of papers. “Well now, I’d say we might have a few trinkets. Air isn’t the rarest element out here. The open plains have a certain windiness to them.

“Hmm, seems I have an amulet that improves one's sense of the air around you. Some boots that probably go well with your air platform skill. Oh, and another ring, this one adds a minor sound kicker to wind attacks.”

Gem’s eyes go wide, “Oooh! The last one, please.”

The grizzled cattlekin laughs, “Well now, hold your horses! The ring is a bit more costly than not.”

Gem squints at him, “What do you want?”

The grizzled cattlekin shrugs, “Well, I noticed you also have a turtle shield you don’t make use of. Err, I guess you do use it in combat? Just not the ability. So, I’ll trade you the ring for your ring and shield.”

Gem shakes their head, “That is too unbalanced. How much money to make up the difference between the rings?”

The cattlekin holds his hands up, “Woah there, I can certainly throw in a bit more. There simply isn’t much with us for your rank. How about a trinket for your spear?”

Gem laughs, “Nah, spears fine. It doesn’t have to be wind, but something for an equipment slot.”

The elder cattlekin snorts, “I can get that. What about a lower-rank amulet, but it ups your shapeshifting?”

Gem shakes their head once, “Another miss. My abilities just improved and I still haven’t fully gotten used to them.”

The elder cattlekin sighs, “How about a ring that boosts mana recovery? It might only get you a single spell’s worth of Mana back during a fight, but it does actually work to refill your Mana during a fight and in situations where chaotic Mana would stop you from doing so.”

Gem smiles and nods, “That sounds worthwhile. What’s the catch?”

The cattlekin tips his hat back and squints into the distance. “Well, I wouldn’t rightly say it is a catch. The level is low, even if the rank is high. Mainly, what holds it back is you need an impressive Mana stat to get the most out of it. If Mana isn’t your main stat, the Mana gain isn’t quite a spell’s worth in a fight.”

Gem shrugs, “Yeah, practically not a catch for me. So to confirm. My Ring of the Frog and Lazy Turtle Buckler for a ring that adds a Sound kicker to wind attacks specifically and another ring which helps with Mana regen, even during a fight. Oh, and a regular non-magical buckler to replace my current one.”

The cattlekin raises an eyebrow, “Well now, I don’t remember offering a replacement shield.”

Gem just smiles.

The grizzled cattlekin sighs, “But not something to be picky about. I’ll take the deal.”

They shake hands on the deal. Then, as the cattlekin digs out his end of the bargain, Gem pulls off their ring and takes their buckler out.

On Gem’s side, there is now a ring and shield. On the other side, the cattlekin has laid out two rings and a wooden shield. With the goods laid out, they Assay the other’s stuff.

The shield was simple enough.

{

Wooden Buckler 12C

A well-crafted buckler made mainly of wood.

}

It was the two rings that got their attention.

{

Ring the Bell 17C+

A ring crafted from a shard of bronze salvaged from a bell that destroyed itself by ringing too loudly. When worn, wind attacks gain a minor amount of Sound kicker damage.

}

{

Ring of Mana 9A

A superbly crafted ring made of magically hardened silver. When worn, it provides a steady stream of Mana based on the wearer’s Mana stat, even when the surrounding Mana is disrupted.

}

Gem nods as they put the two rings on. “So, now that the trade is final, what’s so special about the starter rings? Because my buckler wasn’t worth adding the second ring on.”

The grizzled cattlekin shrugs, “Eh, not the starter rings. It is any piece that provides an unbound effect. The starter item, Ring of the Frog, simply happens to be one of them. With that ring? Your height isn’t specified, rather, the stronger you are, the higher it lets you jump. So even as a level one ring, it is worthwhile at the higher ranks.”

Gem shrugs, “Fair enough. I wasn’t using it or I might have figured that out.”

The cattlekin laughs, “Says the person who complained about an E-rank Body stat.”

Gem crosses their arms, “I’m sure after that last fight that the stat must have grown.”

The elderly cattlekin shakes his head, “Nah, we both know what’s up.”

Gem sighs, “Yeah, you’re right. Well, I better catch up with my group.” And they move over to where they assume everyone is.

How does Gem know that? Well, they don’t, but nothing says “there are players here”, quite like a rowdy crowd forming out of nowhere.

Gem pushes their way through the crowd and yep, the others are there. And yep, they’re at the center of the crowd. Gem considers simply joining them, but holds back to listen in on what is going on.

Though they can’t hold themselves back too long. It was simply a bunch of anti-SAI rhetoric. Stuff Gem had heard before and some new wrinkles introduced by digitization.

Gem pushes through the last few rows of people and joins the others. This does not calm the crowd down. In fact, it does just about the opposite. Seems the sheepfolk had been right. Gem was a known thing and now there are calls of “traitor” going around.

Gem laughs, their jaw opening much too wide, causing the closer people in the crowd to quiet down. “Yo! Whataya jawing about? Sit down and shut up! You didn’t get to choose how I lived before and your yapping won’t change anything now. I don’t tell you how to live, so you don’t get a say in mine. Now let us through, you’re blocking the way.”

Suffice it to say, the crowd does not like that response. In fact, it might have been why said crowd turned into a mob. Though this change doesn’t last, mainly because the crowd didn’t last.

The crowd was blocking the way, and so guards were already on the scene. And official guards have a few extra tricks up their sleeves. Which results in the core rabble-rousers being separated out from the crowd. They haven’t actually done anything besides throw insults, but blocking the road? Especially during the sheep exhibition? Well, you’re going to be pressured to move on.

And so Gem drew up the others in their group, including a few of the players who had gotten caught up in the nonsense, and proceeded to stride into town.

June sighs, “I was trying to get us out of there without added friction.”

Gem laughs, “And we both know that they weren’t going to let you. They just wanted to see if they could force us to throw the first punch. Those guards would have just as happily separated us from the crowd. Whatever worked to clear up the road.”

Samuel nods, “As they should. Whatever it takes within the bounds of the Law. Especially during such an important event! Money flows through places like this and any pebbles that block the flow, no matter how small, should be removed.”

Gem raises an eyebrow, “A little corpo, that, but fair enough.”

June sighs, “We should probably just keep walking right through town. Maybe duck through a few places to try and lose anyone tailing us.”

Emrys, “I seem to have left my mass invisibility spell in my other spellbook, so chances are we won’t actually manage to ditch those who are serious about things. And why were there so many around here in the first place?”

Samuel gestures around at the cattlekin in cowboy hats and the “old timey” buildings. “Cowboys are fun, but they can also gather a certain type of person. Just consider what cowboys are paired with in old-school children’s play in the same manner of cops and robbers. Because yeah, while the actual cowboys were quite diverse, up on the silver screen you get a certain portrayal of them.”

Gem nods, “While you get a bunch of them gathering around things like the god, Thor and that entire culture. There is enough homegrown nonsense in our own backyard. Which, in this case put us on a collision course. So yeah, we should sneak out of town as fast as possible.”

Emrys laughs, “Yeah, ‘sneak’, because that’s possible at this point.”

Gem shrugs, “Then how about a mad dash after we get to a calmer area and our followers have to actually hide a bit. Put them in a situation.”

Emrys shrugs, “That could work.”

Samuel, “And I’m fine with it as long as we aren’t breaking the law in doing so.”

June tilts her head to the side, “I can’t think of any specific laws that would be against this. Well, as long as we are careful not to run into anyone and stay off the roof.”

Gem claps, “Wonderful! Let’s get started on this nonsense!” And they begin to weave through the crowd.

Which brings them to the residential district. A place that isn’t free of traffic, but you can stretch your arms out and not worry about touching someone else.

Gem looks around and nods, “This should be perfect! Fresco, get ready to keep up, we’re about to run!”

Then, without giving the others a chance to respond, they begin to speed up. From a fast walk to a sustainable run. Which given Gem’s low Stamina, is easy enough for the others to keep up with as well. Though even with that in mind, the speed they’re running is quite impressive.

And you would think that once they hit a more crowded area, the four would need to slow down, especially Fresco. What with a sheep’s body taking up quite a bit of space. Except with Gem in the lead, this isn’t quite the case.

They sink into the crowd without a reaction and keep going. Gem is practically pulling the others along, and Fresco is showing why the Inago can hide so well on a herd of sheep. Their fluff-covered bodies being much more flexible than one would expect.

Whatever the case, they make their way across the town and after minutes of reckless running, break through the crowds and out into the open. But not where others might expect. Subtly as they made their way across town, Gem had been pushing them to take more lefts than rights. So now they’ve come out to the side of town instead of straight across from where they started. 

And to compound this, Gem right away starts angling them even further. Though this is more to guide them towards a town that they remember seeing on the map.

During this, Gem asks the others, “So, where to now? I feel like we’re behind enemy lines or some such.”

Emrys laughs, “Just unlucky. We keep going until we find a place to rest. Then a bit of research on current events wouldn’t be out of place!”

The others agree that this is a decent plan, not that it changes their current action of running away.

Got Any Water? - Chapter 10

People Being Nefarious - Chapter 12