Fantasy World Online II: Second Chance

Day 325-365: Balt

Days went by and Balt continued to forge and sell his craft. On a day similar to all others a representative of Last City Ruling Council asked to talk to the shops manager. He had a request from the top members of the Military: the production of a hundred swords and knife each of different worth and effectiveness to be delivered in time for the approaching event the Mercenary Guild was holding. Since Balt had not heard of the event from the chatter he usual picked up from the shop's client he assumed that the event had not been announced yet and decided that he had enough time to fulfill the request.

To be more exact, Balt later found that the event was being announced by RetroGame in real life as he was speaking to the representative. It was to celebrate the one year anniversary of Second Chance.

So Balt started by selecting fifty standard swords that did not sell in the shop as the lower ranked swords, fifty knifes of the same value and then forged the rest. Until the eve of the event he forged sword after sword, knife after knife. Making them more valuable and splendid each tenth item.
The weapons ranged from dull swords and knifes to the highly decorated ones with golden carvings and jewels on the hilt and guard and patterns on the blade.

As he delivered the two hundred items to the training ground he saw a poster advertising the event. Reading it he realized that it was open to all players no mater their class.
There was no indication on what kind of event this would be but the fact that even villagers, adventurers and crafters were welcome to it proved that you did not need to be a warrior to succeed in it.

"Maybe i will join... it only says to be in the central place at mid day tomorrow..."

After a few minutes of deliberation Balt decided that he had been cooped up in his shop for too long and elected to participate in the event.
He went back to his shop after buying the largest backpack he could find at a tailor shop. He grabbed a ninety-nine iron ingots, his lightest tools, his work clothes and largest hammer, a few swords and knife of every kind and packed it all in the backpack.
Thinking some more he bought a sleeping bag, some dried meat, bread and vegetables and packed them too.
He decided to wear his leather apron, gloves and woolen outfit but added a long sleeved tunic and fur layered jacked and boots to his bag in case the event happened in a cold environment.
Thinking further ahead he realized that he would probably suffer if he played the event solo and decided to look for teammates tomorrow at the central place gathering.

The next day he put on his backpack and walked all the way to the central plaza. He had not been there since the Comming of Age Ceremony and was surprise by all the changes. All the buildings were three story high with balconies facing the plaza, many of their ground floor were shops or restaurants, a large fountain with a lion sculpture was at the center of it and several stands were open around it.

When he had been looking for a place to open his shop it had been one of the possible places but the sheer price of the land in the center of the village -no, Last City was no longer a village but a large town now- had scared him off. For a moment he wondered who could possibly afford to buy the buildings then decided that it did not matter.

From where he was standing he noticed players getting together, forming parties and teams. Most of them were mercenaries that were being hired by adventurers for protection,while he could see a few Darklings lurking around in the shadow. He even spotted a farmer holding a fork with farming tools sticking out of his backpack.
He was sure that there were all other kinds of class present such as crafters, artists and merchants but he could not see them from where he stood.

When the church bell rang twelve o'clock the manors gates opened and a gold decorated carriage came out of it.

"The lord's fortune and standing seems to have grown since the last time i saw him..."