The Dauntless

With everyone's assent, the group splits ways, with Dorrak going to Quarters and Bits to sell the loot and buy some new gear with his share, hauling a very full bag of treasures and equipment. He's got a small smile on his face as he pushes the door open, ready to negotiate his way out of being upsold again.

The storefront looks much the same as the last time you came here, and Crink smiles widely as you enter. "Master Hakdarson, good to see you again. How's the shield treating you?"

"Mister Twiddleton," Dorrak nods to him. "Quite well, thank you. I've got quite the shopping list this time, purchasing for more than just myself, but I've got a lot here you might be interested in as well." He lifts up the bag full of loot, opening it, and puts it on the countertop.

"Oh-ho-hoh, we've got a treasure trove here." Crink seems to visibly salivate. His hand comes down on a bell resting on the desk several times, causing a chime that seems to ring through the entire building. After a few seconds an orange-haired dwarven woman emerges from Quarters, scratching with irritation at her beard.

"What do ya want, Crink? Ah was just about ta start up on work," she says irritably.

"Got a big old bag of loot here Sally, and your eye for value is second only to my own. Do me a solid and appraise it all for me while I help our big green friend here with his shopping."

"Last I checked," Sally responds, her voice low. "Ya hired me ta be yer blacksmith, not yer assistant."

"And last I checked, your contract includes appraisal and evaluation of goods," Twink fires back.

"Mah own goods, ya good fer nothin' hímszamár. Bárhol elvihetem készségeimet..." She continues on a tirade in Dwarven, which Crink accepts with a grin and a nod before responding with a single sentence in Dwarven in return. Sally scowls angrily before marching over to the desk, taking a seat, and pulling out a pad of paper and a pen, sliding the loot bag in front of her. Crink looks up at Dorrak with a toothy grin.

"Don't mind Sally, she's a bit of a grump." Sally literally growls at this. "So, chum, what is it you're shopping for today?"

"There's a couple pieces in there that we'd like runes transferred from please," Dorrak requests after listening to that exchange stoically, listing off all the requests from the others first from a note he had made before he came. "And for myself, a rune to empower my blows in this blade," he draws the already magicked sword from his hip and sets it on the counter, "And a proper suit of plate, if you have a set that can fit me."

After resting for a bit Antoinette takes Fleur with her into the woods near town. "Alright Fleur, you always talk about how much you want to hunt and kill. This is what that energy can be put to use in. We're going to catch something nice for the group to eat tonight."

"Oh that's all easy enough," Crink nods, running down the list he's taken himself. "I keep a few sets of plate on hand for folks just like yourself. All battle ready, although when you've got a few days off you should come in and get it personally fitted. Not strictly necessary but it's a lot like a suit, looks much better when it's tailored to you than off the rack. Now, did you want the lesser potency on that plate or the [/i]moderate[/i], and can I interest you in a resiliency rune?"

Fleur looks as though Christmas has come early, and also exists. "Oh boy oh boy oh BOY!" She pounces around Antoinette's legs. "What are we gonna do for dinner? Trolls? Bandits? Dragons?"

Antoinette chuckles. "Ambitious. We will fight some of these things at a later date. Not sure about the dragon for now. We'll have to work our way up to that. Today though, I think we'll just be hunting deer."

Dorrak was expecting to try to be upsold, chuckling and shaking his head. "We're splitting all that," he gestures to the bag of treasures being sorted through, "Four ways, so all the bells and whistles are out of my price range. I'm sure just a finely crafted suit of armour will protect me well enough for now, particularly when I use that shield as well."

"Aw." Fleur paws at the ground in a manner reminiscent of kicking, where she bipedal. "That still sounds fun though. What do we do first?"

Crink grins widely. "Glad to see you're getting good use out of our shield."

"Mah shield," Sally barks without looking up from the pad.

"Yes, yes, whatever. Come with me Mr. Hakdarson, I'll take your measurements and we'll get you in a nice, functional suit of armor that I'm sure you'll be happy to come back and get nice and runed up when you have the gold for it."

"I'm sure I'll be happy to once it's saved my life a few times," Dorrak agrees with a low laugh, tipping his head to Sally, "You do fine work," he adds, following along with Crink to get fitted into a proper set of plate.

"Well it's pretty simple," Antoinette replies. "We need to focus on the natural signs around us to figure out where a deer may have passed. For example, look at this."

Antoinette walks over to a bush that seems to have some broken branches on one side. "What do you see here?"

"Yer gods-damned right Ah am," Sally calls back as you leave the room. Half an hour later, Dorrak has been fitted with a suit of plate. As Crink said it's not a perfect fit, but it's on well enough to provide protection and would be easy enough to modify and refit over a few days.

Fleur examines the bush closely, sniffing at it. "Something brushed up against the bush... something tall and kinda wide... smells kinda bad."

"Exactly. You've got better smell than me though, so that's an advantage," Antoinette replies. She walks over to a set of hoof tracks nearby. "Speaking of scent, you might be able to get something we can follow from the tracks over here. That way if we lose the trail, your nose might be able to lead us back to it."

"Now I understand why they had us train by sprinting while hauling stones to repair the temple," Dorrak comments, shrugging and moving his limbs in the new armour. It restricts his movement, but not by nearly as much as it would were he not built like a bear already. "Should I come pick the sword up in the morning?"

Fleur bounds over to the tracks and sniffs viciously at them. "Oooh, that's actually a different smell. Still musky though, the deer need to groom themselves. Let's go let's go!" She begins running after the tracks, nostrils sniffling as she darts away.

"Absolutely, I'll have Sally add it to today's docket. Now, let's get to the rest of your list." Crink leads Dorrak through the stores, piling everything into a basket that he eventually sets on the counter. Sally passes him the pad, done with her accounting, and storms back to the smithy with the items meant for rune transfer in tow. Crink takes a pen and rapidly scribbles numbers onto the pad. "Looks like you came in under budget, so looks like I owe you some gold. Definitely got a good deal though." He winks and pulls a few pre-measured coin purses out from behind the counter, passing them to Dorrak along with a torn out copy of the paper he and Sally had been written on. "Your change and your receipt, master Hakdarson."

Antoinette runs behind. "Wait Fleur, slow down! If you make too much noise the deer will hear you coming and run away!"

"I think we're both walking away happy today, Mister Twiddleton," Dorrak replies with a nod and a small smile, accepting the coin purses and the receipt. "I'm sure you'll be seeing more of me around here soon enough."

Fleur skids to a halt and turns around, looking sheepish. "But... I got the scent?"

"Oh do I hope so, Master Hakdarson," Crink chuckles in agreement. "Any time you come around is a profitable time for me."

"And that's great," Antoinette replies. "But the deer it leads to is fast. While I know you'e not exactly slow, most deer are faster. The only way we can guarantee catching it is if we sneak up on it. Otherwise it gets a head start on avoiding us."

"Oh. Okay. So we go sneaky!" Unfortunately, Fleur is not very good at sneaky, and while the two of you are able to maintain the buck's trail and even get close a few times, her sudden excited yips, hops, and growls constantly alert him to your presence. It isn't until nearly dark that you're able to finally get close enough without her making a sound.

Though the hunt has been long, Antoinette maintains silence as they approach the target. With a quick motion she indicates to Fleur that it is time to strike. She leaps out prepared to bite down on the deer as Fleur flanks.

The buck's reactions are slow, likely from being tired after being hunted for several hours. While Fleur's stalking skills aren't fantastic, her killer instinct is sharp, and she barrels into its side, knocking it off balance while tearing a chunk out of its belly and allowing Antoinette to latch onto its neck and chomp down.

With the buck dispatched, Antoinette takes a moment to try and calm Fleur. "Magnifique. We have brought down this buck. But Fleur you need to not keep tearing at it. This is for the group, not just us. Remember what I said about control. For the hunt we take out our desire to kill. After the kill we compose."

Fleur stops mid-tear, but doesn't pull away for a second. After a moment's hesitation, she lets go and draws back. "... okay. But we get to eat our part later right?"