The True Endgame

The first task is completed the next day after the fight between Fenrir and Bonekraka. They both needed time to cool down after their fight, but even with cooling down, it is awkward whenever the two are around one another.

Oleander has commented about how it is the worst he has ever seen them around one another. There have been fights before, but never one this bad.

Honestly, Oleander can"t say that it doesn"t make him slightly happy. Sure, he"s great friends with Bonekraka and they"ve known one another for years, but he struggles to always respect and act friendly around a man who hates others of his s.e.xuality. Even if Bonekraka tolerates Oleander"s h.o.m.os.e.xuality, knowing that he still discriminates against others is enough to make Oleander lose respect for the Russian orc.

They also waited a day since Fenrir had to run around the city with Serra helping as many people and stray animals as they could to improve her Standing so that she wouldn"t get kicked out of the city.

As for the cards, Oleander ends up having the highest Intelligence out of everybody, Corwin is all around weak as is Serra, and Bonekraka has stats similar to Fenrir"s but slightly worse.

Bonekraka knowing that he has worse stats than Fenrir only makes him even more annoyed with him.

The next thing after the cards is getting registered.

Fenrir has the crew all gathered on The s...o...b..ll at once. He has to have an inspector come by to verify the existence of both the vessel and its crew to officially register them for the tournament. The inspector goes through their cards one at a time to verify all of their ident.i.ties. Fenrir notices her raise an eyebrow when looking at Corwin"s card, but doesn"t think much of it.

Oleander acts more lovey-dovey with Corwin by the day. For a relationship that is only a few in-game days old, they behave like a couple that has been together for months.

Serra and Ca.s.siel both seem to enjoy watching the two lovebirds do cute things together, but every time Fenrir is around during it, they send him looks that he"s pretty sure he understands the meaning of.

Two days in reality have pa.s.sed, so four days in-game have gone by since the fight.

Tabitha has given Fenrir a checklist of her own. The s...o...b..ll already sounds much less creaky whenever walking along its deck and looks much nicer thanks to a thorough cleaning and new paint job, but now it is time for the actual upgrades. Since they don"t have the money to buy the parts they need, it is up to the rest of the crew to gather the required materials while she does what she can without them.

Her list is a complicated one, too.

Tabitha Strism"s List of Required Materials and Where to Find Them

Oak logs. Go cut down some trees outside of the city. Ask guards if you need to know where you can find them.

Heavy duty bowstring. Probably at a… place.

Small refracting telescope. Somewhere. Check with scholars, but don"t say it"s for me.

Metal chains. The big kind. Actually I can just use the anchor"s chains for that. We don"t really need the anchor, do we?

A giant treble hook like the size of… just, a really big one. Get the biggest one you can find.

your soul

The list starts off helpful enough, but as soon as Fenrir makes it to the second line, he realizes that this girl has no idea where to get any of this which is why she doesn"t already have it.

Bonekraka gathers the wood, Oleander with Corwin and Ca.s.siel split up to find a bowstring, Serra returns to the scholars" office with Rock to get the telescope, and Fenrir deals with the hook.

It is even more awkward now because Bonekraka is the only one who had any coin left to spare. Oleander has to use his for the bowstring, and Serra needs hers for the telescope, so Bonekraka had to give Fenrir his gold for the hook.

Fenrir feels dirty just at the thought of using Bonekraka"s share of the gold for anything, but they both just want this tournament to go smoothly now.

He looks around at blacksmith shops near the docks.

Many of them are selling all manners of hooks, rods, armor, and weapons, but none are selling a giant, oversized hook. Why would they be? Fenrir questioned Tabitha when she requested such a thing, but she a.s.sured him that he"ll be able to find one as long as he looks hard enough. He trusts her, but he just has no idea where to look. It isn"t like this city is small or anything. It is ma.s.sive and has shops everywhere! Apparently, tons of players believe that running item shops is the true endgame.

And then he sees it.

Near the left end of the docks is a small shop with a sign above it that reads "Get your monster-sized hooks here!"

Well, that works.
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Fenrir enters the shop.

Immediately, he notices the walls are lined with ma.s.sive hooks anywhere from being as big as his head to being as big as Serra, there are hooks hanging from the ceiling, and an employee sleeping behind the counter.

Fenrir has to keep his head low to not accidentally get his ears hooked on any of the hanging hooks.

"Hey! I uh, need to buy a hook," Fenrir says to the sleeping employee.

The short and stout man jumps up from his position and rubs his eyes. "A customer! About time. What"d"ya need?" he asks.

Fenrir a.s.sumes that he"s supposed to be a dwarf going by the beard, short yet wide size, and the wannabe Scottish accent.

"I need the biggest treble hook that you have," Fenrir says.

"Custom made or one from the shelves?" the dwarf asks. "Most of our work "ere is custom made upon request with all the shelf items bein" mainly for show, but I a.s.sure ya that the items on display are just as good as rest of "em!"

"One of the already made hooks is fine as long as it"s big enough."

"Well laddy, how big do ya need it to be?"

"She wasn"t specific. Just said the biggest one I could find."

"What"re you fishin" for?"

Fenrir a.s.sumes that this contraption she is building is for capturing the baby sea serpent at the end of the tournament. "The serpent at the end of the upcoming fishing tournament."

"Hah! You tryin" to make it to the end, are ya? I can respect that, that I can! Alright, now the biggest one would be way too big for that and a pain in the a.r.s.e to move from storage to wherever your ship is, but this one "ere should be the perfect size," the dwarf says, coming out from behind the counter and walking to one of the shop"s corners. He pulls a treble hook with each of the hooks being as long as one of Fenrir"s arms off of the wall. "This one "ere should be the perfect size for getting" stuck in its mouth, and the barbs will make sure "at it stays put!"

The size of the hook makes Fenrir gulp. If something this big is required to hook the serpent, just how big is it? At this point, he doesn"t know if he"s excited to reach the final round of the tournament to try and win or just because he wants to see how big the serpent is!

But now for the most important question, "How much does it cost?" Fenrir asks.

"Just four gold"ll do it. It"s worth about thrice that, but it"s been sittin" "ere for a couple o" months now, so I"d rather just get rid of it if ya know what I mean," the dwarf says.

Fenrir breathes a sigh of relief.

"That sounds great. I"ll give you five for it," he says. He knows it might not be the economically smart thing to offer more money than what a seller is requesting, but the dwarf seems friendly and trustworthy enough.

Plus it means not giving Bonekraka any change. Is it petty? Yes. Does it make him feel better about getting punched right in the face? Definitely.

Fenrir places five gold coins on the counter and takes the hook from the dwarf"s hands. "Thanks a ton. Make sure to look out for us on The s...o...b..ll during the tournament."

"I"ll be watchin", as will the rest o" the city! There"s gonna be tens o" thousands watching the show, so make sure to make it entertainin" for us!" the dwarf says.

With hook in hand, Fenrir heads back to The s...o...b..ll and hopes that everybody else has managed to get their designated items.