<div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Roll Result: Vergil1989 rolled: 1d20<br/>Comment: Survival Check<br/>Result: 10 <br/>Total: 10 + 6 = 16<br/>I'm going to take a guess and say that wasn't quite high enough.  Correct me if I'm wrong though.<br/><br/>As a quick side note though, I laughed a fair bit when I saw the QUI joke lol.  Clever there Autocad, cute but definitely clever.    ;D</div></div><br/>Katrianna's little joke, even as the world continued to wobble a little thanks to the alcohol she had imbibed, had Veronica rolling her bottomless black eyes.  Her friend wasn't as funny as she thought herself, but the rookie gunslinger didn't comment on it, this time, choosing instead to begin their journey to the Shanker Mines, albeit by going the long way around given her desire to look through Ediosburg first.  A trip that turned into quite the number of unexpected facts and even a few revelations along the way as Katrianna gave her the ten gold piece tour, explaining the different shops and who owned the areas around them as they made their way down the main thoroughfare.  She could only shake her head in disbelief and a little sadness honestly, having hoped things might have been a little different here with MotHO being a fantasy world, but it seemed some things knew no boundaries.<strong>"At least greed seems to be universally understood.  Still, at least I know where I'll be doing my shopping I suppose, although owning a shop might make life a little easier in the future."</strong>As much as she might not have liked how commercialized everything on the street had been, she had to admit that having everything so well guarded and stats for various items right there in the open was quite useful.  That and it would be a good way to keep the gold flowing for future endeavors as she gained more experience and knowledge about the world she was in.<br/><br/>The trip down the alley and finding a much more open shop put her in a far better mood at least, and Veronica even chuckled a little as she was quickly introduced to the gnome named Thinker.  She smiled but had to shake her head.<strong>"Sorry Thinker, but I'm just getting the lay of the land for now, finding where everything is, but once I've gotten a little coin I'll likely be back pretty quick."</strong>She was quick to reassure the shopkeeper, even if he was an NPC which Katrianna was happy to all but ignore.  Veronica wouldn't be quite so quick to dismiss anyone however, but again it didn't matter because everyone had their quirks.  Besides, Veronica couldn't help but give her friend another amused eyeroll before heading out of the workshop, having made plans to head back as soon as she was able to put something worthwhile together.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The guard checkpoint was about what she had come to expect from her limited experiences with playing video games honestly.  During times of relative peace, it wasn't unheard of for any guards at a 'secure' location to become lax and lazy in actually doing their jobs, doing the bare minimum of work they could get away with.  Despite her normally relaxed, quiet nature, Veronica couldn't stand such blatant disregard to one's station and responsibility, but she told the man where they were going with only a slight glare thrown at the man during the entirety of the exchange.  But when told about the goblins setting up in possible ambush down the road, Elizabeth couldn't help the interest that immediately flashed across her face.  While the forest route would likely see them past the threat without incident, two things stopped her as she glanced at the map again while listening to Katrianna speak.  The first was that she wanted to learn how to fight, she needed to know how lest she wound up in trouble without a veteran like her friend around to help her out.  And two, she wasn't sure she trusted herself to safely navigate through the woods anyway as she quickly tucked the map away once more.<strong>"I didn't let you drag me here to take shortcuts.  We go through the goblins if we have to.  Besides, experience is experience right?  What better place to start than with goblins?"</strong>While Veronica sounded confident, she didn't feel as confident as she had made herself out to be.  The reason was fairly simple though, having always looked at a computer screen up until now, she had never truly been exposed to the death of a person or creature up close before.  Seeing something like that, and knowing it had been her hand to end that monster's existence, had her wonder if she could truly go through with it.  Hence another reason she wanted to find a fight rather than avoid it.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">It's so easy to forget that goblins and the other monstrous creatures out there wish to survive just as much as anyone else.  This might be a game, but I came across the reminder shall we say from an anime called Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.  The first monster they came across fought for its life with everything it had, and while it wasn't enough, you couldn't help but feel truly sorry for the goblin they hunted down despite it trying to kill the heroes.  It screamed, it thrashed about, and they weren't shy about showing it bleed either, and it even jumped up one last time before it was put down for good.  Made me wonder who the real monsters were honestly lol.  Anyway, point here, Veronica won't be approaching this like Katrianna as you likely guessed.  Evil or not, they're just trying to survive in their own way.</div></div>