Sivima was already working before the sun was up. She had to be, or else her forge wouldn’t have been warm when Kaldalis arrived. The world was painted in the yellow-orange hues of sunrise, but she was already sweating over a hot piece of steel, hammering it into the shape of a dagger. A thin layer of soot defined the muscles of her bared arms, though as soon as Kaldalis walked in, she self-consciously shoved her sleeves down over them. She tried to hide the motion by reaching out with one hand to adjust the painter’s palette hanging on the wall nearby - the family heirloom Kaldalis had recovered from her after the shipwreck.

“I heard you were back in town,” she said, putting the dull red steel blade back into the forge to heat up again. “Looking to test a new weapon mod?”

“Maybe,” Kaldalis said, “but what I really need is an upgrade. I’ve been using this spear for almost five levels now, so I’m way overdue for a new one. I’m flush with cash and looking to splurge a little.”

“Great to hear,” Sivima said with a toothy smile. She slapped her thick gloves onto her anvil and took a moment to shake the soot out of her curly hair. “Go ahead to the front of the shop and take a look at what I have. I’ll be right behind you.”

Sivima’s shop was much as it appeared the last time he was in town. It looked slightly larger, but only by a few feet. It allowed her to have a little more space, but her impossible work ethic meant that the free space was already filled with weapons.

Kaldalis went to the spears first, naturally. His first priority was finding something at-level. He frowned as he saw that there were only a couple of options at level 15. None of them had Earth Affinity, so he was already at a disadvantage there. The only options that attracted him were Wind, Burn, and Poison. His spear was most potent with damage options, since Sweeping Strikes could let him push a lot of damage on trash mobs and adds. It just wasn’t as useful with disabling debuffs like Seal or Sleep.

While he mulled those options over, he checked out what was available for sword and shield. He definitely wanted a powerful debuff option here, since it was probably the better weapon for boss fights. He also wanted to use it in the upcoming questing in Kayore, so he didn’t want to skimp on the item level. Unfortunately, there were no options with Seal. But there was one that had Slow, which was probably just as good. Slowing a boss down might not stop it from using certain special moves, but reducing its speed would give them a much better chance to avoid attacks that even Seal wouldn’t stop. And for faster foes, it would also increase the entire party’s damage, as they would be much easier to hit.

The weapon set itself wasn’t anything special, appearance-wise. It was a round shield, made of lacquered wood reinforced with metal bands, slightly larger than the targe he’d been using. The accompanying sword was made of fine steel, with a leaf-shaped blade and a backswept guard. The hilt was wrapped in skin that Kaldalis recognized as the pebbled black hide of a daemonraptor. The pommel was a slightly larger knob than normal, and Kaldalis assumed that the extra weight was correcting for something that went wrong in the balancing of the blade to the tang within the hilt, as when he picked the weapon up, the balance was perfect.

Stalling Spatha and Small Round

Item level: 15

Acumen: 15

Clout: 15

Vigor: 20

Attack: 56

Slow Affinity: 56

Resistance: 34

The extra Resistance secondary was a welcome addition. It would make him more resilient to all debuffs, while adding a little extra to his Slow Affinity stat, boosting the proc chance of the debuff.

With his sword and shield selected, he went back to the spears. He found himself looking at the other secondary stats, and they made him gravitate towards the spear with the Poison debuff on it. The Wind spear also had Resistance, but that wasn’t as offensively useful when the associated damage type wasn’t a debuff. The Burn spear had attack speed, which seemed attractive - it matched the attack speed of his current Earth spear - but at this level the bonus was just over 2%, barely enough to notice. The Poison spear, though, had HP on it. It wasn’t a lot, but for how many Armor charms he had stacked, a dozen of his hit points were equivalent to a hundred on a squishy DPS player.

The spear itself was aesthetically pleasing. It had a simple spade-shaped head, and no crossguard, meaning that a thrust could penetrate as deeply as he could stab. There were bolts halfway up the hexagonal wooden haft, reinforcing the spearhead’s long tang, making it extraordinarily sturdy. The wooden haft was very firm, and the weapon felt like even if he were an inexperienced wielder, he could do some serious damage with just the weight of it. At the base of the haft, the butt of the weapon had a rounded metal cap. With no crossguard at the head, he could imagine planting the heel of his hand over the rounded metal cap and shoving the weapon all the way into a monster, reaching the heart of even the largest beast he could imagine.

The only thing that gave him pause was the name.

Intoxicating Longspear

Item level: 15

Acumen: 15

Clout: 15

Vigor: 20

Attack: 56

Poison Affinity: 56

Hit Points: 34

The name made him think of the abuse he’d suffered. The poisons of both Ara and Onirioago weighed on his mind as he examined the weapon.

“Finding everything alright?” Sivima asked, finally entering the storefront.

“Yeah,” Kaldalis said, tearing his eyes away from the spear’s name. “I’d like these two, if they aren’t already spoken for.”

“I think someone was eyeing that spear already,” she said, taking the weapon from it and examining it. “But no formal claim. And, frankly, I like you better. If you want it, it’s yours.”

Kaldalis made the split-second decision to take it despite his misgivings. He would likely be using this weapon for a long while, considering how infrequently he was upgrading. If he saw that word every day for the next few weeks of his journey, he might be able to overwrite the association.

He took the two weapons up to the counter of Sivima’s shop, and paid for them. A few dozen crescents were a pittance after his huge payout from the stream.

Despite his wanting to hang out and talk about weapon mods, he only had her do the same Double Jump Charge mod as he had on his earth spear. If he started to poke around in her big book of sidegrades, he was going to be here literally all day. He had business to take care of.

“Oh,” Kaldalis said before leaving, “before I forget, I wanted to run something by you.”

“Yeah?” Sivima said, tilting her head curiously. “What’s that?”

Kaldalis was about to blurt out that he was holding two War Weapons, and he wanted information about them. He knew he could trust Sivima to be discreet - she owed him for recovering her grandfather’s palette - but he had to consider the potential consequences.

What if they were too big of a problem for her to ignore?

What if her discretion was the last favor he was going to get from her?

In the end, he decided to chicken out and ask something else.

“Do you have anything for painting?” he asked. “I met with Haldir’s sister in Baimer, and she’s a painter. I was thinking about trying to send her something, but I don’t know where I’d even begin for something like that. I thought because of your grandfather, you might have picked up something from osmosis. Something that excited him.”

“Oh,” Sivima said with a grimace. “Sorry, I never had the touch for it. I remember watching him work, but…” she shook her head. “I don’t really remember. I think there’s a hobbyist painter somewhere in town, though. I can ask around for a name and point you their way.”

“Sure,” Kaldalis said. Even though a gift for Haldir’s sister was a spur of the moment cover story for not wanting to ask a question that might be illegal, he wasn’t opposed to following through. “I’d appreciate that.”

“Not a problem,” Sivima said with a smile. “If you don’t mind, then, I have a pair of daggers to finish.”

With his new weapons in hand, Kaldalis stepped out and headed towards the pier where his friends were probably waiting. He took a moment to check his stats.

Kaldalis, Level 15 Bodyguard

HP: 3277/3277

Aplomb: 100/100

EXP: 2010/4000

Acumen: 285

Clout: 300

Vigor: 486

Armor: 419

Attack: 334

His Elemental Affinities were at 177, except his Earth Affinity, which was at 241, due to the affinity stat on one of his charms. His Debuff Affinities were at 181, besides his Poison Affinity, which was increased to 237 by the attribute on his spear. Changing to his sword and shield would cost him a little bit of HP, but would increase his Debuff Affinities through the Resistance stat, and swap Poison for Slow.

Kaldalis was feeling pretty good about himself for the moment. He felt much more powerful with the huge Attack increase afforded by the upgraded weapon, and his secondary weapon was now up to speed, so he had no excuse not to finish leveling his skill with it.

He was actually feeling positive until he ran into a familiar-looking robed Talsar.

“Ah, Kaldalis,” the Contender said calmly. “I was wondering when I would run into you.”

Kaldalis’s first instinct was to duck and run. It wasn’t a smart move, so he didn’t, but he had to acknowledge that when it came to this guy, his fight-or-flight instinct had made its choice.

“I was hoping we could continue our conversation from Baimer,” the Contender continued. One of his hands dropped to rest on the scepter on his hip. “Are you available?”

“Oh, I wish you’d touched base with my secretary,” Kaldalis said quickly. “I’ve got a pretty full schedule, so…” He started to step around the Contender, taking a purposeful step towards the docks.

The Contender made no move to follow, and Kaldalis awkwardly stopped in place, compelled by social norms not to just walk away from him.

“I wasn’t aware you had a secretary,” the Contender said with a polite smile. “I wasn’t aware you had a position here in Cotanaku that merited one.”

“Well, I’m still negotiating with Garyung for my support staff needs,” Kaldalis said. The longer he dragged out his bullshittting, the longer he could go without the man circling back to the Lataxinan abilities. “As soon as I-”

“Oh, of course,” the Talsar interrupted, tapping his forehead as if remembering. “That fiery Finnian woman, right? What was her name… Heluna? She’s with you, right?”

“She’s not my secretary,” Kaldalis said quickly, and more forcefully than he intended. “She’s my… uh… friend. Uh.” Kaldalis immediately stumbled over his words.

“Ah, of course,” the Contender said with a nod. His voice took on a mocking tone. “Your ‘uh friend.’ I see.”

“Listen, I’m really happy to see you here,” Kaldalis lied, making the lie as apparent as possible in his tone. “But I’ve got to catch a boat to Huajia. My friends and I haven’t seen Kayore yet, so I was hoping to scoot on over there and take in the sights.”

“Oh, of course,” the Contender said, his smile turning thin. “By all means. Don’t let me keep you.”

Kaldalis turned and started for the docks immediately, seeking to use his long legs to put as much distance between him and the scepter-weidling priest as fast as possible.

“Oh, Kaldalis, one more thing,” the Contender called, snapping his fingers. “It’s the darndest thing. I hope someone told you.”

Kaldalis felt the man’s sheer force of personality make him stop and turn back.

“When you get to Kayore, make sure not to go too far out of town,” the Contender said with a wisp of a smile. “Until we see this investigation through to the end, there’s not to be any exploration around Zaran towns. This includes any Lataxinan ruins.”

“I heard,” Kaldalis said with a grimace.

“Good, good,” the Contender said, his smile turning into a smirk. “I’m glad you did. I would hate to hear that you’d been caught violating the rules you hadn’t been informed of. The punishment would be the same, but it still just wouldn’t be fair to you, would it?”