Good, Blacky nodded to the guildmistress as a thanks. With this info in mind, the gang shouldn't need to worry about traveling across the continent... right? Before long, the two arrived at the treasure vault.
@SAF The guild treasure vault was filled with all sorts of items--both for adventurer rewards and for the guild's members to use. "Now--what would you like?" the guildmistress asked. "Anything without a tag on it is free for any adventurer to take."
Like in the Piquedilly guild, it took Blacky awhile to settle on his rewards. The first thing that drew his attention was the Icebrand, an ice-elemental sword with its blade made of Never-Melt Ice. Good stuff considering there were no Dragon Kings that could resist ice anymore. There's also a scroll containing Aurora Veil near the sword. Blacky himself couldn't use it, but maybe Xuehua could? He picked up both the Icebrand and Aurora Veil scroll, then looked around in case there's anything Aine and/or Atelier might like.
Atelier was still waiting for his turn at the local archmage and then, finally, it came. He approached the archmage and hauled out his four tomes onto the counter. With this many tomes, the repair might be a little pricey. "Hi there. I'd like to repair these and also sell this vest," Atelier said. Balance: 24,520C Inventory: ?x Books and Novels, 1x Journal, 1x Strategy Book, 1x Middle Rune of the Moon, 1x Watera Tome (SotS), 1x Firaga Tome, 1x Lunar Tome (CdL), 1x Ethereal Grimoire, 1x Steel Short Sword, 10x Geo Pebbles, 10x Gravelerocks, 1x Thundara Gauntlets, 1x Fleece Vest, 1x Potion of Fire, 2x Aloe Vera, 1x Grass Materia, 1x Kettle and Cup Set Equipped: Eevee Scarf
@122 Generation "The money this vest would get would easily cover the repair for all of these." the archmage smiled. "So we'll consider it the payment for your repair job."
"I see. It's a deal," Atelier said and handed over the vest. Balance: 24,520C Inventory: ?x Books and Novels, 1x Journal, 1x Strategy Book, 1x Middle Rune of the Moon, 1x Watera Tome (SotS), 1x Firaga Tome, 1x Lunar Tome (CdL), 1x Ethereal Grimoire, 1x Steel Short Sword, 10x Geo Pebbles, 10x Gravelerocks, 1x Thundara Gauntlets, 1x Potion of Fire, 2x Aloe Vera, 1x Grass Materia, 1x Kettle and Cup Set Equipped: Eevee Scarf
@122 Generation The archmage accepted the vest and the tomes. "These should be good as new in a day or two." he smiled. "I will send word when the repairs are complete."
@WavePearl @122 Generation @ChocoChicken One more shuffling later, Blacky found yet another scroll -- this one containing Echoed Voice. Very fitting for Aine, Blacky thought, considering her bardic role. He also found this nature/dark-oriented tome, Brynhildr (Blacky wasn't that sure on how to pronounce it tbh), stowed on another side of the vault. Hopefully Atelier would like it. Now that he felt satisfied with the rewards, Blacky told the guildmistress that he was done with the reward-picking business.
Atelier nodded gratefully at the archmage and made his way out to the town square. With not much to do at the moment, he decided to grab lunch and wrap up with a fire and a nice novel. He would be more than happy to read the next chapter.
@WavePearl @ChocoChicken @122 Generation (For the record, Chief Ampharos will be wherever Aine is, so I'm focusing on Blacky for now. Also, here's the context of Blacky's random memory in this post.) Blacky gratefully thanked the guildmistress, then wandered around the town in search of the Corviknight Taxi station. He and the gang would need it to reach the Isle of Armor in preparations for the Spikeford raid. Oh boy, Spikeford. This sure reminded Blacky of Celine and her aversion to returning to Spikeford. The aversion itself had gotten out of hand to the point of Master Josson orchestrating Celine's, uh, "kidnapping" (for the lack of better words) in an attempt to prevent her problematic birth mother from taking her back about 2+ years ago. Forrest was involved too (he's already a member of the Expedition Society who doubled as a mercenary at the time) which might be why Chief Ampharos didn't ask for either him or Celine to come with him now. Ah, good times. And then Blacky arrived at the Corviknight Taxi station before he knew it.
@SAF The taxi station was surprisingly busy. Corviknights in elegant uniforms pulling equally fine coaches came and went throughout the station. The information desk helped passengers find a Corviknight going to their destination, or where to find their connecting flight if they needed to reach multiple stops.
One queue later, Blacky managed to reach the information desk. "Excuse me," he tried to get the clerk's attention. "Do you have Corviknight for five going to the Isle of Armor?" He needed to get five people there at once, hence "for five".
@SAF The station master nodded. "If you want to go to the Isle of Armor, flights depart there hourly. We can reserve your party seats on the next flight, or a flight of your choice."
"I, uh--" the Umbreon stepped back in hesitation. "I'll go get everyone first," he said before storming out from the station. His allies needed to know this right now! (Who should Blacky find first: Aine, Xuehua, or Atelier?)
@WavePearl @122 Generation @ChocoChicken As usual, Aine had already garnered a lot of audience by the time Blacky got to the town square. All thanks to her daily dose of music. Chief Ampharos was there too, enjoying the show, though he immediately pulled away from the crowd as soon as he saw the blue-rings Umbreon heading his way. The two reunited with Blacky telling Chief Ampharos about the Corviknight Taxi. He seriously couldn't wait to tell the other Eeveelutions about this.
@SAF As the last chord of her song faded away, Aine noticed Blacky approaching. "Oh? Did we discover anything?"