On Monsters And Upgrades

On Monsters And Upgrades
Date of Scene:	23 October 2012
Location:	Traverse Town
Synopsis:	Mercade checks in with Cid the Engineer in Traverse Town for some possible redesigns on his gear, but finds instead Sarafina and Zeke. A conversation about Sarafina's homeland reveals some of her dark past, and gives Mercade a plan to do something about it.
Cast of Characters:	Zeke, Mercade Alexander, Sarafina Carenze

---

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade's gotten some money ahead.

And what do you do when you get some cash? Let's get upgrading! This is why Mercade is in Cid's Workshop, having talked with him about useful gadgets and gizmos on getting everything he might need.

Unfortunately, this is an RPG, so he needs to acquire a large number of rare materials too. "Mythwhat? Orichalwhat? I've never even heard of this stuff! Well, okay, but in like, Lord of the Rings. Where would I even get this?" Mercade grumps, looking at the list in his hand as he leans on the doorjamb outside.

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
UPGRADES FOR MERCADO!?

Sarafina is saving all her random drops for when she reaches a point she can't proceed with her current gear level just in case there's materials she needs for like high grade gear that she could accidentally waste for mid level gear. She doesn't feel 'weak' enough to need 'upgrades'. SHe's an engineer. She actually thinks like this sometimes. Other times she feels upgrades are neccessary just to spice things up. It's a hard life.

Sarafina is in the area and spots Mercade, aproaching him. "Oi! Mercade!" She says. She's never really quite sure what to call the technomage. "Looking for rare minerals now upon everything else?" She has good, momlike ears.

Zeke has posed:
Zeke... doesn't get the whole RPG thing. Doesn't get the whole 'stuff from one world changes when it hits another'. He doesn't like it. Mostly because those nice super-accurate guns he'd seen demonstrations of he couldn't put on his ship without fear that they'd turn into yet more smooth bore cannons.

So he's out shopping in Traverse. NOt for actual Things, but for builders. If he can't have the finished product delivered then he can have the talent pulled through to build a close approximation!

He heard Mercade's confusion. "Mythril eh?" He looked thoughtful. "I... actually have a supplier I've made friends with. Stuff's not cheap so y'might want to explain to an old salt what ye'd be wanting it for."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
You never know until you can see the whole upgrade chart, right? BUT YOU NEVER GET TO SEE IT UNTIL ENDGAME! AAAAAAAAAAAARGH! Mercade doesn't really know that though, so he's still looking over his materials list. "Oh, hi Sarafina!" Mercade says, smiling. "I was thinking about trying to get my guns chambered to a bigger caliber, but he wants to use some of these minerals I didn't even know exist to reinforce the frame. Things like that. What are you up to, Sarafina?"

Zeke approaches, conveniently offering a potential supply of material! Mercade looks over. "You actually have a supply? Well, I'm trying to figure out weapons to use against the Heartless. My guns work, but they don't have much punch, if you know what I mean?" He squints at Zeke's clothing. "You look like a man of the sea, sir. You've probably been a lot of places and heard many tales, haven't you?"

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
He is
A MAN
Of the sea!

Sarafina knows him too. She looks towards the man and waves a hand Zekewards. "You again." She says. "You are friends with Nagetta, right?" She thinks the lamia mentioned this one, anyway. Unless her player is confused?!?!?! Which might be the case. She smiles faintly at Mercade. Maybe she's happy because he can spell her name as Sarafina instead of Serafina. Way too many people use Serafina. The name isn't that hard!!

"Mm--but--you know that...Keyblade User, don't you?" She says, shaking her head. "You did not seem particularly incapable, but if you don't have punch I suppose it is easy to be overwhelmed."

Zeke has posed:
"I've made it a point to try making friends with my clients in case situations pop up like this." Zeke smiled warmly before switching his attention from Mercade to Sarafina. "And Nagetta is of my crew... I take it by the fact you aren't cursing her name or demanding I pay an outstanding dinner bill she's done right by you?"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Nagetta? That's the young woman who is half-snake, right?" Mercade says. "I've met her myself. She wanted me to find someone for her." He shrugs at Sarafina. "I asked Sora if he could help me with something, but he said he couldn't help me right now. He had to go find some friends of his. It kind of pointed out that there's only one Keyblade User that I know of, and he can't be everywhere. We all need to be able to be effective against the Heartless, know what I mean? Also, I'm tired of getting munchedo n by Shadows. It's unpleasant."

Zeke then responds, Mercade nodding. "I don't have a /lot/ of money, but maybe we can make some kind of a deal. I need to reserve some of my budget for expansion of the Agency."

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
SArafina is quiet for a moment at Zeke's response. "...Should I be prepared for such an eventuality, sir?" She bites at her lip, frowning. She is a lady of principles, after all! She was a soldier, a commanding officer even! She can't just be all chill about things like not paying dinner bills!

And then she chuckles and says, "Well, in all honesty, she was quite nice. We got along well enough." She looks towards Mercade and nods to him. "That's right. She's from my home world. She is what we call a 'Lamia'. Normally, well, we considered them to be monsters--but after meeting someone like Nagetta, I suppose I had to reevaluate my own understanding." She shakes her head. "Of course, strangely she had been raised by one of our dragoons. I had no idea until I met her."

Zeke has posed:
"Well... She's a hard worker and is skilled at what she does in spite of her lack of worldly experiance." Yes, says the captain that's in his mid twenties. Zeke snortlaughed. "It's just give her half the chance and she'll eat you out of hold and home. Dunno where she puts it all but-"

He turned attention back to Mercade. "And deals are what I do Sir. Lost most of my contacts when I had to flee port royal, so always willing to trade favor for a favor." He smiled and offered a hand. "Captain Ezekiel Fawkes of the Reliant."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Really? She's from your world? We had visited Baron recently, I never would have imagined." Mercade says, rubbing his chin. "That's pretty facinating. There's all kinds of people out there. She was pleasant enough to be around, but her adventures in ice cream were... interesting." He chuckles for a moment, thinking back.

Zeke introduces himself, and Mercade grins, shaking his hand. "Mercade Alexander, Detective with the Twilight Detective Agency of Manhattan." He flicks a hand, clearly a move he's practiced a lot, and produces a business card, which he offers to Zeke. "So what kind of deals and shipping do you do normally? You're a merchantman?"

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina Carenze thinks about Maira, who Nagetta sort of reminds her of. She's probably flopping so much right now.

"You visited Baron recently?" Sarafina asks guardedly. "What was it like?" She turns on Mercade suddenly, the man having much of her attention. "AH I suppose that is a strange question--but as I mentioned my family before." She frowns. "Ah--I suppose I should've mentioned them after all, given you that information." She shakes her head. "But in any event..."

She looks towards Zeke. "Good meeting you again, I suppose." She pauses. "I cannot say where they put it, but I imagine--ah--nevermind." She shakes her head again.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
He knew that would get her attention. Mercade nods, pocketing his materials list for now and gesturing to Sarafina. "Baron seemed like a nice place. Very peaceful and orderly, but there were a lot of soldiers. It had a... feeling to it. It felt like it was on edge, waiting for something to happen. It felt like fear." Mercade shakes his head. "I can go back there anytime, whenever you feel comfotable with telling me the information... But something makes me wonder." He watches Sara carefully, at this point. "Why don't you go back to Baron? Were you exiled?"

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
Sarafina looks away for a momentb efore turning back to Mercade. "...You noticed that there were a lot of soldiers. This is not unusual for Baron--before the Heartless invasion, we were the strongest nation--in the world. Now, of course, there are many more nations and I could not say whether or not that is still the case. I would say that our chief rivals were the monk nation FAbul and Mysidia. In any event, " She sighs. "--These wings? I am not like your friend--I was not born with these." Of course neither was DEidra, but Sarafina seems to be assuming otherwise. "It's a long story, but Baron has been acting strangely--both its King and its men. I cannot say what is happening with our King, but--" She sighs. "--but some of our own men--were replaced by monsters. Monsters that could disguise themselves as human!" She frowns. "A strange man--foreign to Baron, as far as I know, has taken control of our Red Wings--I was a Captain amongst them, in other words I was in charge of a single ship. our Commander was the adopted heir of the King, Cecil Harvey. For disrespect to his liege, he was disavowed from his position."

She crosses her arms. "But I am loyal to our King. Or at least I was. It wasn't until I found out about the monsters--and our employment of the Heartless to our own ends--that I rebelled. And that is why I have these wings. I was captured, and this was done to me. I am glad Baron is--...orderly. But something's rotten there."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade listens to Sarafina's story, nodding. "This makes sense... And after visiting there, I am definately in agreement. But the King dismissed him just for disrespect? I don't know your King very well, but this must be odd for it to be a marking point like this... And then the monsters."

Mercade grits his teeth. "They experimented on you and forced that upon you? That's terrible! All right, something has to be done to get to the bottom of this. Do you want some help looking into this, Sarafina? You're well known, obviously, as you were a Captain in your military. But maybe I can help get in and get you information that you can use to uncover the truth."

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
"Well, I admit I wasn't privy to that meeting. Anything I know would be hearsay." Sarafina taps her chin lightly. "Of course, it actually isn't too odd. Imagine if you talked back to your own father in front of his own employees. It could be a rather big deal for them, and you. If it's impertinent enough, it could make the owner--or king--look weak, or bad, or foolish."

She frowns, though, and adds--"But naturally... That is not how we understood our King. And in a sense, not how I understood Commander Harvey."

She frowns for a few moments, thinking about the offer. "I do not have much money." She says. "...But I am willing to lend the ship to you should you ever need it. It is limted to where it can go, The World of Ruin as it's called--but anything you could find, I would be grateful."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"This is something that's more important than money. Don't worry about it." Mercade replies. "We might need your ship at some point, though." He pauses. "Man, a flying ship. That's pretty awesome. Ours don't look nearly as neat as yours... And with the help of your ship, we can try exploring places that we couldn't before. There might be something out there that can give us a clue on how to beat the Heartless. At the same time, if you need help in Manhattan, we'll be happy to give you and your crew a hand."

Sarafina Carenze has posed:
"You have a ship?" Sarafina asks.

She nods slowly, though, that seems like a reasonable agreement. "I might," She admits. "Manhattan is such a strange city. I have never seen a place like it. Those giant pillaring towers, the strange air...And all the noise, the vehicles..."

She pauses, blinks.

"Well, the vehicles are fascinating." She admits with a wry smile.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"We have... aerial vehicles on our world. They don't work like yours do. But you seem to be good with mechanical equipment. I mean, that chainsaw you use, wow... " Mercade shakes his head. "Maybe if we have a chance, you might be able to get ideas on things you can do with your ship to make it better."

Or maybe we'll glue Gummi Blocks all over it. That's cool too.