Day 16 Mid-day

Tailpin was not disappointed.  Speed focused and smart with a solid grasp of enemy behavior and the ability to turn the AI's behaviors against it... Good.  The observer stopped in front of him, well within the safe distance.  If this situation had been likely to turn hostile then the archer would have put multiple arrows through the man before he had gotten this close.  Thankfully, that wasn't coming to pass.  The thirty year old archer stood quietly as the man demonstrated one of the great fallacies of game design, the discrepancy between physical appearance and physical ability.  This guy could run just as fast as he did.  The gap between their power was too small to tell without actually trading character sheets.

They looked to be on a similar level when it came to ability within their specialties.  It was unlikely that he'd trained his mapping skill or night vision anywhere near as diligently as Tailpin had.  But, looking at this man's capability and demeanor, Tailpin still had the feeling that he had come from behind to match someone with far longer experience.  It was likely that the archer was actually less advanced in everything but his specialties, and possibly his bankroll.  The other man's quip was a sign of a quick mind but his strategy for clearing a path through the monsters had already made that trait obvious.  Tailpin didn't hesitate to answer.  He had been expecting something of the humorous kind after such a display.

"You just did, but that hardly matters.  I'm more interested in who it is that has found me so interesting lately, and why."  Tailpin was calm and wore a small smile of courtesy and caution. "Curiosity doesn't often spawn its own rumors in places like this."