48 Vol 1. pt. 48 Patch 9.0: Preparing for the Tournamen (1/2)
Several things must be done before they can register for the tournament. Fenrir has organized it all into a nice checklist in order of importance: one, get cards for Serra, Bonekraka, Oleander, and Corwin – Tabitha already has one alongside Fenrir and Cassiel; two, register the crew for the tournament; three, help Tabitha complete upgrades and modifications to The Shoebill; four, acquire some better fishing gear; and five, find something that Bonekraka will be able to do to make himself useful during the tournament.
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 sexuality. Even if Bonekraka tolerates Oleander's homosexuality, 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 Shoebill 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 identities. 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 Cassiel 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 passed, so four days in-game have gone by since the fight.
Tabitha has given Fenrir a checklist of her own. The Shoebill 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 Cassiel 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 assured 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 massive and has shops everywhere! Apparently, tons of players believe that running item shops is the true endgame.