Tristan

"That felt like some good closure," Sophie was saying. "I don't know that there's anything else I really want to do now in Perpetua. What about you?"

Tristan raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is there somewhere else you'd like to go?" Then, to address her question, he added, "There are a few other interesting places, but there's nothing that can't wait til next time."

Reaching up a hand to scratch at the underside of Sneakers's neck, Sophie grimaced. "Well, I do kind of want to go check in with my family--just not my parents," she quickly added. And suddenly it was as if the floodgates had opened. "Maybe my sister, Rina. She's so much more bearable than the rest. Probably because she's the middle child and has all the usual quirks that come with that. Though there was that one time--"

Sneakers pecked the side of her head.

"Ouch!"

Tristan took that opportunity to clear his throat. Sophie had been speaking more and more quickly, and also seemed to get increasingly bothered by what she'd been saying. Tristan had always known her family was a touchy subject, which was why he hadn't pried into it often. It was interesting for her to start opening up about it freely, though there was clearly some baggage to unpack there.

"Sorry," she said after a little pause. "I just get so frustrated by all of them sometimes."

"Yeah, families can do that, I hear."

Sophie smiled a bit sadly. "Is yours like that?"

"No, not at all, really. I guess I'm lucky?"

Sophie sighed. "Must be nice. But regardless, I'd still like to go see her. I guess you're welcome to come too, if you're willing."

Tristan's eyes went a bit wide. He hadn't been expecting that. "You've helped me tackle several of my struggles. It's only fair to help you with yours," he said with a nervous chuckle. "Though there actually is one other thing I think we should handle here before we go."

"Oh?" Sophie asked. "What's that?"

"Well," Tristan said, opening his newly-usable [Endless Bag of Secure Holding] and searching through its contents. He pulled out a small, half-full vial containing a golden liquid.

[Protector's Boon (rare)]: Soulbound

Applying this oil to any item will permanently increase its rarity by one rank and grant it an additional enchantment. One dose. Consumed upon application.

Sophie's eyes brightened as they took in the glowing liquid. "Oooooh, that's right! That's your loot from the Cinderbark event!"

"Yeah, you were talking about 'closure,' and that made me remember that I still had to do something with this."

Sophie leaned in. "Are you considering what I'd mentioned before? That I could buy you something, and then you can try to upgrade it with this?"

Tristan exhaled and put a smile on his face. "Yeah, I think I am. I've been able to upgrade things before to make them Soulbound. Though admittedly that was a long time ago--like back at level 1 or 2--and the items I upgraded weren't very powerful, especially not magically, and I'm not even sure exactly how my Core works with something like this, or what it might do, but..."

Tristan trailed off as Sophie began to laugh. "I guess now it's your turn to ramble on."

Tristan sighed, then couldn't help but chuckle a bit at himself. "Yeah, I guess we both have our... tricky subjects."

"Indeed we do," the astralist confirmed. She pointed at the vial again. "That's a really powerful effect. Are you sure you're willing to risk losing it?"

Tristan scratched the back of his neck and thought about it. Upgrading the rarity of one of his current tools, like his hammer, or even one of his swords could really be a big help. He knew that. But there was something else that was tickling the back of his mind. "I think it's really important to at least try to test my Core's capabilities. I'd like someday to know everything that it can and can't do, and what my own true limits might be as a result. It might set me back now if it doesn't work, but even if it does, I'll still learn something important. That seems worth it, doesn't it?"

Sophie nodded. "That makes sense to me. So, what are you considering for the item?"

Taking a moment to reflect, Tristan went through his Status and examined all of his gear one piece at a time... only to find a glaring weak point in one of them. "Oh, wow. Pants."

Sophie's head tilted to the side, and her gaze shifted, before her head shot back in surprise. "Tristan, your pants don't even have any stats on them!"

"I'm not a leatherworker!" he replied, even though he knew it wasn't a great defense. "Besides, greaves and such are really hard to make for smiths that aren't devoted armorsmiths, at least until tier 3!"

Sophie paused. "I guess that does kind of add a limit for you, doesn't it? It's not like you can just go out and buy an upgrade, like everyone else."

Tristan smiled at her. "Exactly! Even if I'd had the money to do that, which I didn't until very recently, I have to make everything myself, so it wouldn't have mattered."

"That makes sense," Sophie said, turning her attention to her scout astral once again and going quiet while she, no doubt, communicated with him.

The bird-like astral bobbed its beak and took to the air.

"So Sneakers is going to quickly scout for any high quality shops where we might get you some pants," Sophie explained, "and we're going to walk... that way!" She pointed what seemed to Tristan to be in a random direction, though since it would lead them away from the people in the park, he was fine with it.

Though he did have an afterthought, which he asked playfully, "Are you sure you don't want to take a portal?" earning him a light smack on his arm.

- - - - -

The first shop they entered had been only a few minutes down the street, though they hadn't stayed long. The owner was simply too disconcerting. For starters, Tristan never once got a good look at the mysterious figure, as they were totally hidden beneath a long, oversized, hooded cloak. There was something in the way they moved, very slowly and infrequently, that made their body seem disjointed, like it might have been broken and bent in too many places. Their voice was also too quiet and raspy to be clearly heard, and on occasion Tristan could have sworn that it changed timbre entirely.

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It was kind of a shame, Tristan thought, since the few wares he'd taken the time to examine had seemed rather nice... He was just too weirded out to deal with the shopkeeper for any period of time.

The moment they walked into the second shop, the owner, a tall greenish elementus, literally stopped whatever he'd been doing and bellowed at them--Tristan specifically. "By all the gods' names, look at the red radiating off this beefcake! Don't you take another step into my shop, strike-boy! Just turn right on around! Your coin's no good here, no matter how much ya have!"

Everyone from the owner to the handful of other customers in the place were suddenly all staring at him. He couldn't tell how many of them were members of the guild and saw the "red radiating off" him, which he knew was because of the Steelblood strikes, but it didn't matter. The whole experience was horrible.

It was the first time Tristan had ever encountered a consequence out in the world that was caused solely by his Steelblood strikes, and he was unfortunately certain it wouldn't be the last. Not wanting to make any more of a scene, he did exactly as the shop owner had asked, turned around, and walked out.

As they emerged onto the street, Sophie seemed about to ask something, but Tristan started first. "It's because of my Steelblood strikes, though I'd rather not discuss it here."

The astralist nodded at that and looked skyward. "At least Sneakers has already found us another place to check. It's only another couple streets away, though he says..." She stopped and turned her head slightly sideways. "Huh."

Tristan raised an eyebrow. "Well now I'm really curious. What does he say?"

"He says 'the quality of the items looks good, but the place is empty and run down.'"

"Does it have a metal teardrop on the sign?" Tristan asked, pointing out the traditional marker of the Steelblood Guild on the sign of their most recent attempt, a marker that he'd obviously overlooked in his haste beforehand. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

Sophie took a few moments to ask before replying, "He says it doesn't. Ready to give another place a--? Oh, oh wow. This next place is really rough, apparently. He says, 'Its sign is barely hanging onto the wall.'"

Tristan rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. "I guess we'd better go give it a look. Anything will be better than standing around out here." He glanced back at the closed door and was thankful no one else had tried to leave while they'd been standing so nearby.

The walk to the next shop was easy, mostly downhill, and fairly quick. When they neared, however, Tristan could see why Sneakers had sent those few disclaimers.

"The Hiding Place," Sophie read off the front sign, which had at some prior point been broken in half and was now being held together by a pair of leather straps. "Looks rather ramshackle to me."

Tristan checked the sign again, just to be sure, but he saw no sign--present or past--of any metal teardrop on the wood. It should be safe from that kind of trouble at least, he thought.

Sneakers swooped down and alighted on her shoulder, pointing his beak toward the windows, which were themselves nearly boarded up where wooden planks replaced broken or outright missing window panes.

"But he swears the goods are, well, good," she said with a sigh.

Sneakers bobbed his head and pointed again.

Tristan walked over to the window and took a look through the fairly dirty panes, and he could see some smooth, clean garments on the other side. "What's the harm in going in?" he asked, before giving the astral a quick scritch. "Thanks, Sneakers."

"Maybe getting a splinter on the door," Sophie said with clear distaste as they approached.

Tristan chuckled and took the lead, opening the door--which other than a loud creak, did not give him any trouble whatsoever. The smell, on the other hand, was much more unpleasant. It was familiar, too, in its tanginess, though Tristan couldn't quite put his finger on it. Sophie gasped and immediately raised a hand to cover her mouth when she entered. He thought she was overreacting a bit, if he was being honest.

Instead of dwelling on it, Tristan decided to reserve judgement until he could see the wares for himself. He walked into the shop as he would any other--and immediately had to catch himself, as his foot found a hole or broken board beneath the worn rug that was now slightly askew, since it was poorly pinned on one corner, underfoot. Glancing at what he could see around the rest of the floor, there were lots of other rugs. In fact, they probably covered the majority of the floor, which now seemed... questionable.

"Don't step on the rugs," he said quietly as he moved fully inside, carefully avoiding stepping on every rug he could.

Sophie, didn't respond aloud but seemed even more concerned as she nodded unsteadily.

Tristan began looking at the few display garments hung on the nearest wall, which had a sloppily painted "Tiers 1-2" sign hanging by two small straps. He couldn't tell what to think, since each of the examples he came to seemed to be of incredible quality. Then again, there were so few, perhaps these were just the show pieces.

The closest to the door was a cloak that appeared at first to be pitch black, but as soon as Tristan's eyes moved away from it, it seemed to blend back into the wall.

[Shadowskin Cloak (rare)]: [Hide in Plain Sight], [Agility Boost I], Intended

A cloak made from the pristine hide of an ambush predator that enhances the stealthiness of its wearer.

Tristan was really intrigued by the final property, in part because it wasn't expandable. It sort of reminded him of the Soulbound property his Core relied upon. But this one was slightly grayed out. Maybe he'd ask about it later. For now, he was eager to see how that first property worked, too.

[Hide in Plain Sight] While wearing this item, you get +1 Stealth at all times and an additional +1 Stealth against anyone not paying direct attention to you.

Tristan could tell it would be really useful in certain circumstances, especially for someone like Chessa or Shadow. But since it was for him, there were other considerations to make, like what he'd have to give up to wear such a piece. Would he be willing to give up on looking for new pants for it? Cloaks almost always functioned as neckpieces, for starters, and he wasn't sure he wanted to lose the 5% critical strike chance his current [Pendant of Lesser Targeting] granted, even for the 20% boost to Agility. Though if he didn't find anything else, maybe he could ask Sophie if she thought it would be an upgrade or not.

The next item several more paces down the wall was a beautiful, smoke-gray chestpiece with layers of protective leather making an impressive cross-woven pattern.

[Tunic of Shadowcraft (rare)]: [Vanish], [Agility Boost II], Intended

A durable leather chestpiece that can temporarily call the shadows to its wearer.

[Vanish] In a puff of smoke, the user disappears, becoming invisible from most forms of detection and reducing damage taken by 20% for 3 seconds. Afterward, the user gains +2 Stealth for 12 seconds or until dealing or taking damage. Cooldown: 5 minutes.

It was another great piece of gear, with the same grayed 'Intended' property at the end. Definitely a pattern, Tristan noted. This one would shine for sneaky types, or perhaps just people that might find themselves in situations they wished to escape. He was just about to examine the third piece of gear farther down the wall when Sophie drew his attention instead.

"Wow. It's all rare," Sophie said in an awed whisper through her makeshift mask.

"Wait, you mean all of it?" Tristan asked, gesturing in a wide circle as he began quickly scanning all the items on display.

Sophie continued slowly turning. "Every single piece," she replied, "at least rare. Those are epic."

Sure enough, as Tristan followed her lead and used [Identify] on all the displayed items, he found that each and every one was rare or better... and they all shared the Intended property.

So why isn't this place packed with people? Tristan wondered. Does it have something to do with that property?

A call came from much deeper in the shop, likely from the room through the doorway behind the counter. "Those better be real customers I hear wandering around out there! If you're just here to cause trouble, then you'd better get out of here before I lay eyes on you, or you'll be sorry!"

Sophie's eyes flashed briefly from Tristan back to the door, almost asking him if he wanted to go, but the smith shook his head. Maybe his curiosity was getting the better of him, but he also had a task to accomplish, and he'd never really gotten to do the whole shopping-for-gear thing before.

Besides, he really did need better pants, and from all the evidence displayed around the shop, Tristan could do a lot worse than this crafter. The appearance of the shop, and the owner's gruffness, were almost irrelevant.

"Since I haven't heard the door squeal again, I'm assuming you're still here," the voice from the back said again, though this time it was definitely drawing closer. "Which means you're real customers, thank The Crafter! And that means you've found the best leatherworker in all of The Sovereign's domain! What can I do for you?"

And out from the back room came one of the strangest elves Tristan had ever seen.

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