@Zelosse I wasn't offended. It was meant as more a debate starter/joke. Still, with Bull's Run we need to make it a cattle town. That would match the wild dogs around it, especially if there are woodlands on the other side of high-pastures with a level three wolf problem. Repeatable quest kinda deal helping the farmers kill the wolves? It might be enough of a challenge if they're in packs of five or so with a level four alpha in each pack.
@BlackPanther Yup. The trick is to craft a name that doesn't take itself too seriously while being descriptive of what is there.
@gcold Thank you very much. That's a lot more than I knew before. Since Utu hunts on occasion to help Edith with leather and food supplies it's likely that he would have been off the road on occasion, though not overly close to the Redoubt.
Now I just have to get my intro done fast enough to put Utu where he belongs most.
How classy does the name of a secondary town designed to house people for between one to three levels worth of time need to be? This is SAO where they didn't even bother to name anything but the world, the beginning and the end.
But, if Hamheim is too much pork for your sensibilities, there's also options like Harvest, Appleton, Vinburg, and Bull's Run.
I think that they only really started naming things once the series got as far as ALO. Well, the fields around The Town of Beginnings looked vaguely like a highland or fallow plain. What if this town is a farming town? So, Hamheim, pork capital of level one with pig farms on two of its sides, just not the side we approached from.
@gcold, A question if I may. This Redoubt, as far as I can tell, does not exist in canon on any map I have been able to find. So, what do we know about it? Has it been scouted before? Is there a watercourse outside the walls? Are there caves nearby that might allow entry from below?
So far it simply seems that we know that it has a garrison and walls. That isn't much to go on. Anyone patrolling the road would have seen more than that, just in passing.
Tailpin heard the call from behind but only turned long enough to spot the source of the noise. While he'd been involved in the fight and did his best to help he really wasn't a part of any group yet. He had made his contribution to that fight but he wasn't sure it was enough to make him a desirable party member. He kept scanning the open field on either side of the road, spotting numerous monsters wandering about aimlessly. They were probably level two, maybe a few level three. There was nothing like those war-bears and dire foxes. They could hunt this field easily enough.
Mai'lo had stopped walking but Tailpin continued past him. There were no threats on the road or close enough to it to be a threat so there really wasn't a reason for worry but he was frustrated and tense. He spotted a monster that had strayed close enough. He stopped, took his bow in hand, drew an arrow and pulled it back. He took careful aim and yielded the arrow to its flight. It flew true and struck the small wild dog. Its hit points fell deep into the yellow and it turned, beginning to run in an effort to close the distance. His second shot struck before the dog had covered half of that gap and it dissolved into glittering shards. True to form as a level two monster, it didn't even try to dodge and charged in a straight line. That was an easy target. The rewards popped up and were also true to form, a little money and experience with a small scrap of 'Torn Dog Hide'. It looked like a very low end crafting ingredient. But, one thing stood out about those rewards. There was a little more money than he expected for a level two.
He pulled up his inventory and looked closely. He had little money, even after those two high level kills he still didn't have enough to get a better set of gear. His bow would probably be good for the next several levels but he was using level one arrows. He would need about half again the money that he had. He had enough for the arrow upgrade but not for any better armor afterwards. He had to get more money, better gear and more experience. He couldn't stay behind like this. But, the sun was going down. It would be dark soon.
He called out to the others. "Almost there, everybody. It looks like the hunting will be profitable around here too. These dogs have more cash than other level twos." His voice wasn't so harsh anymore. He had recovered his composure. The look on his face and in his eyes hadn't changed though. Then he managed a feral smirk and shouted. "Last one to the first inn covers the tab!"
He started running for the town gate. They had to get into town before the sun set. Monster behaviors could change after dark and he wouldn't be able to cover them as well at night. Hopefully, this little trick would get them all moving. As for him, he had no chance out here after dark. He didn't stop until he hit the safe zone boundary.
He was planning on getting better gear and going back to that hollow once he hit level three. The others knew how to handle the war bears now and he could focus on the foxes. But, he'd need a partner to cover him in case they tried to ambush him. Actually, he needed someone as close as possible to his level. The first person to come to mind was Iris. They hadn't been introduced yet but she would probably be the best candidate. That hollow could be the best training spot for quite some distance. In fact, since they were still on the first level of Aincrad it was amazing that there were level five monsters here at all. It was an expensive discovery, but one that they couldn't afford to leave alone. They needed the boost in power that training there could give them.
There wouldn't be much time before the shops would close. He ran past stall after stall, looking for one specific thing. He paid no attention to whether there were other players or not. In fact he passed a couple girls, one that would have been familiar, but didn't notice. There it was. He ran up to the NPC vender and quickly priced the quivers and arrows in stock. The quiver he had now had unlimited 'training arrows'. The better quivers had limited numbers of arrows that could be regenerated if he leveled up the relevant crafting skill. The best in the store was only a level three quiver but it required level three to use it so it was unavailable until later. He settled quickly on a level two with the largest available capacity and purchased it. He'd have thirty arrows with this quiver and the arrows could be purchased cheaply enough.
But, most importantly, the damage bonus would help bring down anything above those level two dogs and keep things safer. It wouldn't be enough to kill with one regular shot but he needed to learn another skill as soon as possible anyway. Impact Sidewinder would only be useful sometimes. He needed either a damage skill or an immobilizer, if there was one. But, he had looked at the skill list. The skills for bows were all concealed. They had to be discovered and unlocked and they didn't show what conditions had to be fulfilled.
@Sif I once wondered why nobody tried to dual wield shields and beat the monsters to death. Or perhaps simply specialize in blocking incoming damage by being a one-person-shield wall.
Basic information: Name: Utu-ja Race: Argonian Age: 25 Gender: Male Birthsign: The Thief Place of Origin: Markarth Appearance: Short for an Argonian and more forward-leaning, Utu-ja naturally moves closer to the ground. His build is lithe and defined though his tail is a little flatter than most. In the eyes of an Argonian, he wouldn't be that handsome or masculine but his looks tend more toward aesthetically pleasing than most and the soothing brown of his eyes can be disarming. His arms are also a little on the long side, almost enough to be touching the ground when he runs. His skin coloration is a non-uniform mottling of dark grays, blues and black. Combined with a swept back head crest he has a very subtle and unusual profile and is difficult to pick out and recognize from a dark background or the bottom of a body of water.
Background: Utu-ja was born in the prison mines owned by the Silver-Blood family. His mother was a prisoner there after failing to pay her husband's debt. She was kind but the work was hard on her and she had little left for her son at the end of the day. He lived and worked there with her until he was fifteen when his mother died in a small cave-in. This would have been a personal tragedy had he not been somewhat distanced from his mother by the extremes of their living conditions. In the mines, where he had been born and where he had only heard of things like weather and the sky, was the only world he knew. Here he learned the art of not being noticed even when he was right in front of someone. He also became strong and patient and honed his observational skills on the many people who were incarcerated during his life there. He picked up a few practical skills from them as well. Lockpicking and the basics of using one handed weapons were the most useful of these skills, though he had only the most simple of locks and shanks or pickaxes to practice with. Thankfully, a few of the guards and inmates treated him with some leniency since he had never been free, though they did tease him often.
The family's debt was mostly paid off by the time of his mother's death but a small amount remained. Since he was already employed there the debt was quietly transferred to him on the books and he continued as a worker in the only world he knew until he was sixteen. A few months after his sixteenth birthday an enterprising hunter by the name of Ulster came and purchased his small remaining debt from the Silver-Bloods. This hunter became the closest thing that Utu-ja would have to a father figure. He was also the man who first showed the argonian youth the sky for the first time. But, before he left the mines, one of the guards gave him an iron dagger to help him in the real world. He and his mother hadn't caused any trouble, a very rare thing in those mines.
Over the next seven years Utu-ja proved a diligent student and a talented one, though more diligent than talented. His master was a skilled enough hunter but needed extra help on longer hunts and it had actually been cheaper to buy out the remaining debt than it was to hire help. In this case, the hunter counted himself very lucky. Utu, as he came to be called by his master for the sake of convenience, was naturally gifted at swimming even in the strongest currents and proved capable with a bow as well as an axe. He made more money on the long hunts of those years than he had hoped for and rewarded his quiet helper with periodic gifts of equipment or trinkets to practice his skills on.
Those seven years of indentured service ended shortly after a bad river crossing when Ulster was attacked by seven slaughterfish and knocked into the deep water. Unable to fight in the water or get away to shore, he would have died if not for the skill of his quick learning servant. Utu dove into the water with his dagger in hand and killed the fish then pulled his master to shore. They were both badly wounded but they managed to reach a small fishing village and survived. After this incident Ulster completed the legal process of declaring the argonian's family debt paid in full. He also offered the young man an apprenticeship. Utu accepted quickly.
The next three years passed quickly with even more successful hunts and the gradual improvement of the skills that had proved vital so many times. However, all good times come to an end eventually. Ulster fell ill and died shortly before Utu would have turned 25. At this time he inherited his master's most prized tool of the trade, one that he had learned how to maintain at some expense and rarely used except when having to deal with some of the more dangerous beasts such as a wandering troll or a particularly strong example of frostbite spider. This tool was an elven bow. However, as his master did, he rarely used it unless he believed he needed its greater range and power to survive a dangerous encounter. In fact, since his master's death, the elven bow spent most of its time in a well oiled roll of leather to protect it from weather and hide it while it sat in camp.
Without a master he found that his apprenticeship proved a handicap. He couldn't get good prices for meat or hides and his fortunes dropped considerably. Without knowledge of reading or writing he had little alternative but to continue on as he was. Soon he was only able to afford short hunts and had to live in the warrens, back underground and only seeing the sky when he could manage to get out to hunt.
Things were not improved by the worsening political climate. However, with the arrival of war there arose new opportunities for his existing skills to turn a better profit. Unfortunately, his illiteracy and general ignorance about the larger world caused him to fare little better in his search for a profitable mercenary position. He was shunted into a mismatched bunch of mercenaries who generally fit each other like poorly sized boots. At least the looks on a lot of their faces reminded him of the look that others had when they said their boots were too tight. With the kind of work that was likely to need doing, Utu has taken to carrying the elven bow and leaving the hunters bow in camp, though he does carry both arrows for men and for beasts. More food and hide in camp was almost always welcome.
Personality: His time in the mines taught him to learn the behaviors of others quickly and to keep his head down and his mouth shut. He is one to work well but he never gives his all to a single task so that he has enough left to take a beating or handle other unexpected trouble. While he is illiterate, he has a bookish mentality. He studies by observation and has a keen eye for behaviors and trends in everything.
His natural instinct for survival leads him to act quietly and quickly without advertising his efforts whether he's setting up a campsite, picking a lock, or shooting a hawk on the fly. In short, you are most likely to realize that he entered the fight when an arrow flashes past you to strike an enemy that was paying too much attention to you and too little to the shadows in the background.
He also lacks any real sense of honor but respects power of all forms. As a misshapen argonian raised in a prison mine in Skyrim he has neither a personal culture nor anything to gain by the glorified high-horse that is a noble reputation. He has nowhere to go. With every step away from the abyss the edge gets that much closer.
Capabilities: Skills: Expert Marksman- All of his hunting and almost all of his fighting have been at medium to long range since his scent spooks game before he can get close enough for easy shots. Adept Athletics- He can run or hike long distances without notable difficulty and traverse rough terrain without trouble. Most significant is that he is a very adept swimmer and is able to fire his bow from deep water while using his tail and feet to maintain his balance and buoyancy. However, this is difficult and cannot be done in flowing water with noticeable current or at long ranges. Adept One-handed Blade- He is competent with an axe but lethal with a dagger, especially if he can get his opponent into the water. Apprentice Sneak- It's amazing sometimes how much easier it is to sneak up on people rather than animals. Apprentice Light Armor- Normal clothing and fur keep moisture next to his skin so he just wears leathers, as he has since he was given his first set. Apprentice Smithing- He knows his leather and his bows but has little experience with any other metals above iron due to a lack of funds or raw materials. His iron knowledge is largely limited to maintenance of his dagger and axe though he could probably make a shiv if he had to. He does have a decent eye for where the ore is likely to be, though that has little likelihood of being useful in mercenary work. Novice Lockpicking- Some of the trinkets that were given to him by his master were locks to practice on. You could encounter a lot of interesting and valuable things if you hunted in less traveled places. Novice Acrobatics- He had to jump well enough to cross rivers by hopping stones without getting the furs he was carrying wet. But, his unusual body shape prevents him from jumping high. Novice Alchemy- He knows how to find the ingredients for, and make, simple health potions and poisons but that's all.
Weaknesses: Illiterate - He wouldn't even know his own name or age on paper. Abnormally low natural mana - Even if he could read the books he couldn't make the spells work. Relations to Other Characters: Due to the present xenophobia in Skyrim Utu has kept to himself, worked harder than most in camp, and taken care to be seen as reliable and capable to those with rank. Specifically, he has used his natural skills to be of use to Ashav whenever called for. However, most of what could be idle time has been spent helping Edith with food and leather supplies and Daelin with any scouting too dangerous for booted humans. Affiliation(s): N/A Spells (if any): N/A Combat Style (or the Lack of): Stealth and long range archery and ambush dagger work comprise most of his fighting experience. His axe work is pretty crude though unusual. He tends to swing sideways instead of down, using his tail to add force. It's how he learned to use a pickaxe when he was young. Other Capabilities: Natural Water Breathing, resistant to disease.
Inventory: Cash: 30 septims Keys and Lockpicks: 20 lockpicks Clothing and Armor: oiled leather hauberk, oiled leather greaves, oiled leather helm, oiled leather bracers Weapon and Ammunition: Elven bow, Hunters bow, 20 iron arrows, 16 steel arrows, iron war axe, iron long dagger ~12" Potion and Arcane Supplies: 2 vials of poison, 1 Frostbite Venom, 1 health potion, 4 self-made health potions Jewelry and Novelty Items: N/A Books and Documents: N/A Food, Drinks, Provisions: smoked venison, smoked salmon, skin of cheap wine, skin of cheap ale Bags, Pouches, Packs: 2 large oiled knapsacks on a belt with leg straps, one for each hip. Other:
Red Gypsy