Making the sheaths for the weapons wasn't much of an issue and didn't take a whole lot of effort. The part that sucked though was not getting any experience for creating them. Still, the black Elder Lizardman hide made for excellent looking sheaths. The scales gave the sheaths a high-class look that wouldn't be too showy at first sight. The sheath for the sword was designed to sit against his spine while the dagger sheaths were designed to cross at his lower back. They would be within easy reach but also out of the way.
He used excess leather to make the belt for the sword sheath and strapped it on. The belt crossed over his chest and positioned the sword so that the handle was right behind his head. Media always made it look like drawing a big or long sword from off of a persons back was super simple. It really wasn't. Drawing a shorter weapon wasn't much of an issue though. As for his daggers, he attached them to his belt so they were at the small of his back. He'd be able to grab a dagger with each hand and easily draw them.
He took the sword off after making sure it fit and hung properly. He had one more thing to make, the holster for his revolver. He was slightly worried about carrying the gun out in the open. At the same time, he felt that it would potentially act as a deterrent. He couldn't have all of his actions dictated by the fear of what may or may not happen. Hiding his race was already enough of a secret for him to deal with. Also, he was damned proud of the gun and wanted to show it off at least a little bit.
Making the holster wasn't too much of an issue either. It was essentially a simple pocket that hung from his belt and strapped to his leg. It was only partially formed to help hold the revolver in place while he moved. He was forced to use the boar leather to make the holster as it was a bit more solid and firm. When the holster was finished it didn't give him any experience either. He slipped it onto his belt and tied a leather thong around his thigh to hold it in place. The Peace Maker slipped into the holster for a nice fit that hung on his right hip within easy draw distance of his right hand.
He pulled the Peace Maker out of his inventory and slipped it into the holster. Feeling the weight on his hip was a little uncomfortable but he knew he would get used to it. He stroked the black and white handle of the gun with a smile. As he was thinking about what else he should do before beginning his journey the air inside of the shop rippled. It looked to him like the blast waves from an explosion only there was no force at all. The air just seemed to waver for a moment before passing harmlessly by. There were no notifications, no changes to the character sheet, nothing.
Thomas stepped out of the workshop and into the storefront where he was Hekrin looking around in confusion, "Ya see that kid? What in the nine hells was that?"
Thomas shook his head, "I have no idea. I was coming out here to ask you what it was."
Hekrin shook his head, "Only time I've seen somethin' like that before was from big explosions. But there was no boom and no damage."
The two of them looked at each other and stepped out of the shop and into the streets. They weren't the only ones looking around for the source of the ripple through the air. As they looked around Rock came over to them. The big man was covered in sweat and soot from hard work. He smiled at Thomas and Hekrin as he asked, "You two know what's going on?"
The two of them shook their heads in response. Together the three of them looked around but it didn't seem like anyone knew what was going on. The three of them discussed it for a brief moment. No one had seen the source of the wave and they had all seen the same thing. With no system notifications, it was impossible for Thomas to tell what was going on. It wasn't that big of a deal. He needed to log out soon to resupply the gaming pod and he could check the forums for more information while he was at it.
Though there was confusion about the incident there were no clues. No one knew what happened or how far away it originated from. The biggest clue anyone had was that the wave, or ripple, had originated from the east somewhere. Or maybe it was the northeast. No one seemed certain. There were no signs of any damage, danger, or any noticeable changes from what happened. People just seemed a little weirded out by the whole thing.
With nothing else that could be done, Thomas, Hekrin, and Rock all returned to what they were doing previously. When Thomas got back to the workshop he saw Snowlily still laying down in the corner of the room completely unphased by the event that transpired recently. Though nothing obvious had happened, Thomas felt that it was likely to be a large, even global, event that would have something to do with the story of AoG. It probably wouldn't take long for the players to triangulate the location where the event started.
With others taking care of that, he went back to work. He'd used a fair amount of ammunition in the dungeon previously so he decided to make some new ammo to replace it. The process was fairly simple since he'd done it so many times previously. Making the lead slugs, coating them in copper, grinding Firestone powder, making shell casings and putting it all together with breaks for 'Serenity' to recover. It took him the rest of the day to make himself around two hundred rounds of ammunition. When he finished assembling the last batch it was dark so he started to clean up the shop.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
With that taken care of Thomas and Snowlily walked to The Swans Nest. Thomas had wanted to carry Snowlily but the wolf pup had refused to be picked up. So they walked side by side to the inn. Snowlily still garnered a few looks but anytime someone got too close she would growl at them. With a look of defeat, they would retreat back to where they came from. Aside from the one super annoying woman, no one else acted like an overprivileged princess.
After a delicious meal, they retired to their room for the night. Thomas relaxed as he tried to think of everything he would need for his journey to meet Hekrin's master. Weapons, armor, and ammunition had all been taken care of. Aside from regular supplies he had everything he would need to protect himself. The question now was, should he try to make a real Magitech version of his gun or wait until later? He'd barely put his revolver through the wringer and wasn't entirely sure what its limit would be. He felt it wouldn't be all that strong for very long though.
The biggest reason he thought this was the difference he'd noticed in the attributes of the melee weapons he'd made versus the revolver. The melee weapons had given solid numbers whereas the revolver had been vague. This gave Thomas no real idea of the revolvers power. Given the strengths that people could reach though, he expected a regular mechanical weapon wouldn't last for long. At least not without some major upgrades, like a larger caliber or bigger Firestone powder charge.
None of that mattered though. He had no intention of continuing further down the path of purely mechanical guns. Though he'd seen images of many beautiful or interesting guns, he would use them for inspiration at the most. This was a fantasy game and he had no intention of running around with a modern day armory inside of his inventory. Though he still planned to base the next gun on a break action single-shot pistol. He felt like he could remove a lot of the complex parts from it. Depending on how he designed the shells he probably wouldn't even need a hammer or firing pin. Just a burst of mana to set it off should be enough.
He spent about two hours inside of his blueprint system designing and redesigning the break-action pistol. Honestly, they were so much simpler than the revolver that he regretted not making one of them first. Just a handle, barrel, hinge, and simple mechanism to release the latch to open the gun. Without the need for a hammer and a simplified trigger, the mechanics were greatly simplified. Pulling the trigger would press a piece of it to the back of the chambered round and let him transfer mana into it directly.
Once he'd semi-finalized his design he saved the file and crawled into bed to join Snowlily for the night. Once he was comfortable, he immediately logged out of the game.
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Once back in reality Darren opened the gaming pod and climbed out of it to stretch. He quickly swapped out the nutrient packs and waste disposal. Not the most glamorous thing to do, but necessary if he wanted to keep playing for long periods of time. Once the grunt work was done he stepped out of the gaming room and took a nice long hot shower. He still hadn't gotten his shower spell to the point where it felt like a real shower.
After dressing he stepped over to his terminal and relaxed in his chair. Once logged into the browser it wasn't hard to find topics on the incident at all. Browsing through them, the first thing he noticed was that no one seemed to have any idea what it meant or what caused it. Judging from the various locations people reported seeing the incident from, it was a worldwide incident. The closest people seemed to find to the epicenter of the incident was somewhere in the middle of a country called Kavetia. Thomas had no idea where that was.
No one had anything else helpful to report and it was being labeled as a strange mystery. It was likely only the person who had initiated the event would know exactly what was going on and they either hadn't logged out yet or had no intention of explaining. With nothing left to go on and no clues, Thomas changed into his gym clothing and left his apartment for a little over an hour.
After his workout and a shower to clean off the sweat, he sat in front of his computer again and did some research on break-action pistols. Most of them seemed to be used for sport or accuracy. He pictured the one he made having a barrel more alike to a shotgun than a rifle, so he researched shotgun pistols as well. Once he felt like he had a good understanding of the relatively simple layout of the pistol he logged off the internet. He stripped down to just his boxers and climbed into the gaming pod once again.
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Thomas opened his eyes back inside of The Swans Nest and glanced around. He'd been out of the game for a little over two hours but the sun was already up in the sky. It was always disconcerting to deal with the time differences in VRMMO's but it just took a little time to get used to. Seeing Snowlily staring at him with her bright blue eyes, Thomas smiled at the little pup, "I'm awake. Seems we're a bit late for breakfast."
Snowlily huffed at him and licked her chops. He laughed and climbed out of the bed to get dressed. He slipped his black scale armor over his head and made sure it fit snugly. He added his holster and revolver to his right hip and the twin throwing daggers to the small of his back. The last thing he slipped on was the sheath for his short sword. He wasn't planning for any combat but he wanted to get used to wearing his full kit so he wouldn't find it uncomfortable when traveling.
After stretching, twisting, and turning his body to get used to his slightly restricted range of motion, Thomas collected Snowlily. Together they made their way down to the dining room and had a nice, somewhat late, breakfast together. Orc bacon, eggs, and vegetables. Snowlily was more than happy to eat the orc bacon but had to be bribed with extra orc bacon to eat her eggs and vegetables. When she finally finished cleaning her plate they made their way towards Hekrin's shop once again. Thomas was disappointed that he didn't get to carry the little ball of floof in his arms once again. Independence sucked.