HC:Pacifist | Ch. 47 - Appraisal

With a bag full of treasures, Roth sprinted through the woods. He didn't want to risk being caught by Oli. He was in trouble if he broke out of its trap and demanded he return the stolen items. Although, if it did, there was nothing either could do to the other. This was an NPC that was at least at level 99. That meant that if it did break out of the trap, it wouldn't be difficult to catch up to Roth.

But even if it did, what would it do? Kill Roth? He would still not drop any items because of his [Martyr Title]. Roth took a deep breath and calmed down. It was out of his hand. If the cat caught up to him, he could do nothing about it.

Looking at his bag of treasures, Roth decided to take a detour before returning the items to their rightful owners. After all, what harm was there in trying to use these treasures for something other than the quest rewards?

Arriving at Traverse Town, Roth ran straight toward the weapon shop on the side of the road. It was 2 am, but, like players, the NPCs didn't sleep in the game, and he wanted to try this sooner rather than later. He entered the shop and waited for the only player inside to finish shopping before he talked to the dwarf.

"H-Hello? I'm Roth. I tried to speak to you earlier." The dwarf kept both eyes closed and didn't even flinch. Only the slightest movement of the hairs of his beard gave off that the dwarf was breathing and alive. It was all or nothing now.

"I heard that dwarves appreciate fine craftsmanship. I am on my way to return some works of art to their rightful owners. Would you like to take a look?" Still nothing.

Roth glanced at the items he had retrieved from Oli's lair. He could only see what the object looked like. He couldn't even read the items' names. He needed a skill or to fulfill some sort of condition before he read the item's description. Roth pulled one of the enigma diamonds stolen from the ravens and put it on the counter.

"These aren't mine, but I think I can show you before I return it to them." The dwarf sniffed the air and slowly opened one eye. As soon as his eyes landed on the diamond, his eyes widened in shock, and a look of wonder and amazement completely transformed his facial expressions.

He jumped from his stool and took out a magnifying glass with which he began carefully inspecting the precious gems. When he found the engravings in the diamonds, he grabbed a nearby candle lighting the room and pulled the diamond against it. The light filtered by the diamond projected beautiful, exquisite writing on the table where the candle was set.

Enigma Diamond #143 (Quest Item)

Item description: A shiny diamond carefully inscribed with the first of four profound Riddles. The craftsmanship in lapidating the stone is only surpassed by the ability to make such a fine inscription in it.

Item effects: ?????

Roth raised an eyebrow. He was now able to see some basic information about the product. Was it because Red had taken a look at it?

"These are beautiful," said Red in a surprisingly gentle voice. "Thank you for showing these to me. Since I left the mountains, I haven't seen anything near this quality of craftsmanship. Thank you. Do you mind if we go to a side room so that I can appreciate the engraving more?"

Red, the Dwarf is impressed with the fine work of art that you have shown him.

+30 reputation with the dwarf exiles.

"Of course, sir." What a change of attitude! He looked at the new faction he had unlocked on his relationship status. The dwarf exiles? Not all dwarves?

Behind the counter where Red sat when customers visited the shop, there was a furnace that was kept hot. In the corner of the workshop, there was a pile of ingots. From Roth's previous experience in gaming, he guessed they were tin and copper.

There was also a basket full of scraps of beginners' equipment. Roth guessed that these were items sold to him by the beginners. He then melted them down and repurposed them for other uses. Or maybe it was just decorative.

The workshop also had a desk with several cutting tools and files. A contraption supported series of magnifying glasses. It looked like a metal tree giving off glass fruits.

Red grabbed the four diamonds and set them on the table. He put several magnifying glasses on top of each other and stood there for minutes, turning them over under the oil lamp light. Roth now understood the purpose of the contraption. The lenses could be adjusted to allow Red to perform more minute detailed work.

"What bird made these?"

"Excuse me?"

"No one with hands or paws did this. Someone did it with talons. I can tell."

"Ravens."

Red chuckled. "Of course. They do love their shinies. Just like us."

"I have some more things here that you can look at if you want to. I have to take them back with me because they aren't mine. But you're free to look at them if it means so much to you."

Roth pulled the Ratan tapestries and the Fox Tomes. After some thought, he added Prince Piglet's tusk, just in case. Red first grabbed the Ratan tapestries and felt them in his fingers. He then searched the golden thread weaved into them and took a long hard look at the patterns.

Ratan Tapestry 'A mouse king under the moon' (Quest Item)

Item Description: A tapestry made by a master that depicts the weight of the crown and the dilemmas a ruler must face.

Item effects: ????

"Ratans?"

"Yes, sir."

"Of course. Only someone so tiny could make such minute work of this quality. Beautiful."

Red, the Dwarf is impressed with the fine work of art that you have shown him.

+30 reputation with the dwarf exiles.

Red reached out to study the Fox Tomes. "Sir, please don't look into those books. They are sacred to foxes, and they would be upset if I showed it without permission."

Foxes value how you respect the sacredness of the tomes.

+12 reputation with all foxes.

Red searched the engravings in the tomes. He looked at them under the magnifying glasses. "Gold leaf. Fine workmanship."

Fox Tome #03 (Quest Item)

Item Description: One of the treasured books of the foxes. It contains legends and tales of Foxian heroes.

Item effects: ????

+30 reputation with the dwarf exiles.

Finally, he looked at Prince Piglet's tusk. "Hmmm..." Old Red scratched his beard, looking confused.

"What is it?" tried Roth.

"It's just that the diamonds, the tomes, and the tapestries were all done by apprentices of the same master. But this," he said while easily picking the tusk and turning it into the light, "the metal bands were done by someone completely different. Maybe even a dwarf. Not sure. I was just wondering why you would have items that obviously share a history and then a completely unrelated one here." Roth shrugged, signaling his ignorance.

+15 reputation with the dwarf exiles.

You are now friends with the dwarf exiles of the Green Woods.

"Thank you, martyr, for letting me see beauty again. It's been many years since I could behold such fine craftsmanship."

"I am sorry to hear that, sir. What happened to you and the other dwarves living here?"

"Well... we were entrusted with guarding one of our mountain's vaults. But some of its content went missing right from underneath our noses. We were exiled for neglecting our duty."

"I see; I'm sorry to hear that."

New Quest [Dwarf Exiles]

Quest: Dwarf Exiles (uncommon)

Quest description: A group of dwarves has been wrongly accused of neglect. Their sadness moves you, and you decide to investigate this more closely.

Quest objectives: Exonerate the dwarf exiles.

Quest rewards: Unknown.

Although he hadn't unlocked any titles by befriending Red, he had at least unlocked an uncommon quest. Since he didn't go on hunts, he would never pass down the opportunity of gaining some precious XP.

"I will look into it, sir. You seem to have a righteous soul. There's something fishy about this story."

"Thank you, martyr. I appreciate it."

"By the way, I am working as a broker. I am trying to mediate between all the races in the woods, and I didn't want to leave you guys left out."

"Word of advice, martyr, don't say dwarves are from another race. We are still humans. We have just been affected differently by the Rain of Fire."

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know this. You're my first dwarf friend."

"OK. I'm afraid that my budget doesn't allow me to buy anything from you, friend. Business is hard as it is. In these forests, metal is rare, and the materials we have to work with are terrible."

"Well, sir, perhaps, I can help you by selling some of your work to others. I have customers that might appreciate what you have to offer."

"Hmmm... Very well then."

Dwarf Exile Trade Agreement

You have earned the right to represent the dwarf exiles as their broker.

Specialty products:

[ Lapidated Quartz ] - 5 per day

[ Polished Pirite] - 5 per day

[ Tin Pickaxe] - 10 per day

[ Tin Shovel] - 10 per day

Procured goods:

[Empty]

Rate:

You keep 0.5% of all profits generated.

"Thank you, sir, for trusting me enough to sell your goods."

"Aye," answered the dwarf. Roth was delighted at the developments.

"Talking about metal..." Roth pulled out all the junk he had retrieved from Oli's hideout. "I found this pile of stuff in the woods. I don't know if it is of any use to you or if they can be recycled for your business. I can't learn anything about the items when I examine them. I was going to sell them, but if there's a use for them..."

Roth guessed that there might be a better market for this stuff out in the city. But he would be packed to the brim for his next trip there. He might as well get rid of this junk now and use it to deepen the relationship with the dwarf some more. Red sniffed the air again.

"Oh my, I can smell small vestiges of thunder-silver, neo-platinum, and plenty of black iron. There is a use for it if you know how to extract it." He fidgeted around with a seemingly broken box. "You might even be able to salvage some of the less damaged technology in the pile."

The dwarf definitely knew his way around artifacts and the forge. He also seemed to have some sort of appraisal skill. All Roth got from looking at this crap was interrogation marks. What was there to lose here?

"Red, do you think you could take a look at these for me?"

"There's a lot of things to go through. It'll take a while."

"How much for you to take a look at this?"

"Hmmm... if it is usable, I will charge you 1 silver and 20 coppers. If there isn't, I will use it for scraps, and we can call it even." Roth cracked his neck and braced himself for some action.

"1 silver and 20 copper? For each piece? That's too high, old Red. Do fifty copper!"

"How dare you? Even the dwarf lords consulted me in my glory days. This is already the discount for friends and family. 1 silver and 15 coppers and not one cent less!"

"Fine. 80 copper!"

Eventually, after an hour of haggling, Roth managed to bring down the price to 1 silver.

You have managed to haggle with one of the dwarves! That's impressive.

+2 charisma.

"I'll let you take a look at them, then. If there's something here you can use, very well. If you can find something that still works or that I could use, you can let me know next time I come around for a trade. What do you say?"

"Deal."

Roth looked up at the moon and stars above and let out a content breath. He knew that the artifacts he recovered from Oli's hideout would be precious. Roth was so happy that the dwarf had appreciated them enough to allow him to gain a friendly relationship with his faction. It was kind of a cheat. After all, none of the items were his. If he had to wait until he owned items of this quality, it would have taken him ages to gain enough reputation points with the dwarves. By then, it might not even be worth it to do so.

His little experiment had been successful; it was time to return the treasures to the rightful owners.

Ch. 46 - Oli

INDEX

Ch. 48 - Drake