Man against nature

When John, three hours after entering Old Fred’s smithy, walked out, it was already starting to get dark. He realized that, A, he had no idea where the hell he was supposed to go, the map he got from Artemis only showing him a very unhelpful: “You are here.” with a small red dot and the surrounding camp. And B, he had not told his mom he was staying out tonight. He took a look at the sets of arrows he had crafted with a lot of pain and suffering. His hands actually had blisters on them when he was finally done, only to see them disappear back into his skin moments later. A fun little status effect being added to his stat screen for the next hour (of which 5 minutes had passed).

Cramped Hands
You either fapped too much or worked on something a long time. Knowing you, I’d say the former rather than the latter.
Fine hand movements impossible while active

He sighed, seeing a pop up appear after he cast observe on his arrows.

Quartz Arrow
Damage: 3 piercing damage
A crudely crafted, sturdy arrow. By having a quartz tip and a sturdy wooden shaft, the arrow is less likely to break and has an easier time penetrating mythical game. Crafted by the Gamer

Achievement unlocked.
By my hands and my hands alone
Craft a stack of a single item
Reward: Agility +1 Strength +1 (Seeing as I did not give you a dexterity stat, agility will do in its place.)

“Thanks, Gaia,” John mumbled as he put his arrow back into the quiver, hearing the soft thud of it falling in place against the bottom. For some reason he found that sound extremely pleasing to hear.

The arrows he had crafted were the same design as the iron arrows he could make before; they were just of a higher quality due to the materials used. The tip was a milky white while the shaft was a slightly darker brown than the ‘normal’ arrows were. The feathers had been provided by Old Fred and were the same as on the previous arrows. All in all, it was three hours well spend; his blacksmithing had leveled up twice, putting it at level 3, giving him the ability to craft a few more items that he, at the moment, lacked the resources for.

With a shake of his head, John focused on the task at hand once again, walking towards the command tent, as he greeted a wounded hunter that was sprinkling a mixture of potions onto a bandage.

“Heya, John, watch yourself; those mercs are nasty bastards. Assholes nearly took my arm off!” the hunter grumbled as John walked past, then he pressed the bandage onto a nast cut just above his elbow.

“Will do. Don’t get yourself killed, okay? Cyn would be sad if you did,” John replied, getting sent off with a wave of the wounded arm.

When John reached the command tent, he saw a pouting Mimi together with his two pets and Marco cleaning up some squashed vegetables. Arnold was sternly looking at them to make sure they were not trying to get off too easy.

“What happened?” John asked as he stepped up next to Arnold.

“Nothing much, they were playing, made a mess, so I am making them clean it up,” the petmaster of the camp responded. Turning to face John he added, “So, John, what can I do for you?”

“Well, I needed to ask you something: where about are the barriers you guys hunt in? I need to go and complete some quests in there, you know, that thing you told me about earlier? Those vision things?”

Arnold looked at him, sighed deeply. ”I… Should have known. Sure, no probs. I’ll show you in a few minutes. After your pets clean up their part of the mess.” Arnold then pulled something out of his back pocket. “If you are going in there, you might find some use for this; I found it while rummaging around my tent the other day; I got an upgrade recently so… If you want it, it’s yours.”

John looked at the thing in Arnold’s hand: it was a simple item, a ring with three leather strips attached to it, at the ends of the leather strips were small metal balls. Observe told him what it was.

Arnold’s Bola
A weapon made by Arnold when he was a fledgeling hunter, it has seen a lot of use through the years. Its use lays in its ability to tangle up prey from a distance.
Properties: Return to Sender: Will return to your belt after 2 minutes if not retrieved.
Requirements: Agility: 5 Strength: 3

“Are you sure you don’t want to give this to Cynthia? This seems like one of those things a dad would bestow upon his daughter and they hug, you know?” John asked hesitantly.

“You watch too much tv, John, and I already offered it to her, but she, like her mom, is way too focused on her archery, no love for the thrown weapons. So, will you take it? Or will I sell it to Old Fred?” Arnold asked with a mock stern voice.

“Oh, I’ll take it alright!” John responded with a laugh, putting the weapon away, promptly getting him the quest completed pop up. After all, while he had worked on crafting his arrows, Ilis had given him the only thing Old Fred didn’t sell: some new traps. He was dying to try them out. With a swipe of his hand, he accepted the quest reward.

Quest completed
You are not prepared!
Prepare for your foray into the unknown by gathering things that increase your survivability.

Traps 3/3
Extra weapon 1/1
Extra set of ammo 2/2
Food 1/1

optional:
Climbing pick 1/1
Rope 1/1
New armor 1/1

Reward: 2 health potions, 2 mana potions, Necklace of the Owl
Optional reward granted: 250 exp

Necklace of the Owl
A simple bronze necklace with an owl’s talon. Provides the wearer enhanced vision in the dark.
Properties: Minor Night Vision: provides 10 meters of sight in dark places.
Restrictions: None

John smirked as he put the necklace into his neck slot, noticing no difference whatsoever.

Mimi and the pets were finally done cleaning up a few minutes later; John in the meantime had called his mom and told her he was going to be spending the night at Cynthia’s place. After promising her to be good and bring her around the house again soon, she had hung up.

“Well, I guess that’s it then, lets go?” Arnold asked John, the boy in question looking around for something as he dismissed his pets. “Where is Cyn? I kinda want to say goodbye to her, as I don’t know how long it will take to actually hunt the animals I need to hunt.”

“Oh, she and her mom left half an hour ago; something about you growing so quickly sparked Cyn’s competitive spirit a bit. You might actually run into them at some point.”

Reassured, John nodded, briefly turning to Mimi. “Mimi, be good now, okay? Jack and Toph will be here to play with you soon again.” John rubbed the little gorgon’s head, the little girl drowsily sitting on the floor, leaning against the tent.

“Okay, good… Goodnight,” she mumbled, rolling up into a small ball and drifting off into a snooze.

With nothing else to take care of, John’s face became resolute.