Armory Up

Week 4, Skyblock

"I have a… straight, right?"

"They're all the same suit, Snow."

"Oh, so a flush? That's better, right?"

"Much better, since it's a straight flush. That's one of the best hands in this game."

Gil sighed. He was getting sick of playing cards with Ireena and Snow. The deck of Tarokka cards from the Durst Family smoking room had been a good find, but two weeks is a long time to play cards for anyone.

It didn't help that Snow was a somewhat indifferent player who nonetheless won as many games as she lost. Gil was starting to suspect that Disney Princesses just naturally had superior luck. It was somewhat frustrating to lose repeatedly to someone that was only humoring him, barely even learning the rules.

Cleaning off the silverware using the new dish soap took up a decent amount of time, and was satisfying in its own way, to the point that Gil almost regretted it when they were done. There just wasn't enough to do each day to occupy someone used to constant action. Eventually he fell back on explaining things and debating philosophy.

"The universe is very big, and there are people hurting in just about every world." He explained to Ireena. "In many cases, choosing to kill the right person can reduce that pain."

"Who invested you with the right to make that decision?" Ireena challenged, "you don't seem to be particularly sober in your judgment."

"I did, and The Company did." Gil answered with a shrug. "So did every deity that I can think of, except that one who made it so everything is decided by games. Violence is the great decider. If I can kill someone and I believe the world will be better for it, I just do it."

"What if everyone did that?" Ireena asked. "Killing anyone they disagree with?"

"They did for a damn long time." Gil said with a smile. "They still do, unless they've been convinced that they aren't allowed to. Society is a lot more stable if you aren't allowed to kill, but I'm not convinced it's actually better. There's a lot fewer real assholes when that can get you killed."

"That's not how the world should work." Ireena insisted. "Just because it's the default, assuming you're right, that still doesn't mean we should accept it, or live by it."

"You'd disagree if the person being killed was Strahd." Gil impishly pointed out.

"He's no man." Ireena shuddered. "He's a monster."

"I doubt he's worse than some I've seen." Gil said with a shrug. "I've seen very decent monsters and truly evil men. Thinking someone isn't a person just because they don't think like you is pretty evil too, isn't it?"

"He is a monster because he does monstrous things, including killing my father." Ireena pointed out, red spots appearing on her cheeks. "How dare you!"

"Fair, fair." Gil said, holding his hands up. "You have a personal conflict with him, and it's fully with him as an aggressor. I didn't mean to touch a nerve."

Ireena and Gil didn't talk for a full day after that. Ireena apologized first, in a stiff, formal way. It was clear that she didn't regret anything she said; she simply thought that it would be better to resolve their conflict and put it behind them. Gil agreed, and avoided needling her on morality for the rest of the week. He wanted to get her on the same page as him, and that meant maintaining cordial relations.

Besides, they were all trapped on a single fairly small island together. Slinking away into his tent to fuck Snow was all well and good, but it certainly wasn't going to keep him occupied all week. Rose borrowed his body for an hour or so every day, which was pleasant enough. His fingers were starting to develop early calluses from playing the harp to pass the time.

He examined the Card frequently, considering how to use it. On the one hand, giving Cow Lady's strength to Ireena would be very useful for fights. She'd already proven willing to throw down to protect him, after all. Of course, he also might want to use the card on Rose, or even himself. A large Minotaur form and martial arts training was a rather nice power booster, after all, and few people in the retinue would lose much even on a full power swap.

He didn't feel an urgent need to use the card immediately, as he had 6 days to consider his options. It wasn't like he'd need time to acclimate, not if he used the power swap option. Instead, he put it back in the box for later, and considered what to do with Flechette.

She was a superhero, part of an existing team in a world that was potentially a treasure trove for someone like Gil. Kidnapping her or making her vanish in some other way would be likely to draw unwanted attention to him, and make operating in Brockton Bay harder in the future. There was always a chance he'd been caught on someone's body cam, or noted by someone clairvoyant that he had no chance of avoiding. He was leaning towards selling her, just to avoid upsetting anyone, but he still wanted to chew on it for a while.

In any event, for the first time since starting this test he was flush with credits. He spent 5 on the armory first, and was rewarded with a small brick building manifesting from the air. If it weren't so blasted hot inside, he'd have probably hauled the bed in there so he could have a nice little love nest.

The Armory contained a large console next to a pair of heavy garage doors, labeled In and Out. Experimentally, Gil tried placing one of the knives he'd picked up into the In compartment, which was about as large as a small closet.

"Valid Weapon detected. Would you like to break down *survival knife* for 20 marks and import blueprint?" A crisp male voice asked him.

"No." Gil answered, before muttering under his breath, "another goddamn currency? Really?"

"You do not have enough credits to sharpen and repair *survival knife.* condition: 96% cost to repair 2 marks. Please remove your weapon."

Gil did as instructed. The girls, who had gathered to watch, were somewhat confused.

"Thank you, sir." Snow said, "Master Gilbert, that was very rude. That poor pillar man was very polite and you didn't even thank him."

"How does this work, actually?" Ireena asked. "It seems magical, but not like anything I've ever seen."

"Thats what we are going to find out." Gil answered with a smile, examining the knife. "Go get some firewood, please? I want to test something."

••••••••••

As it turned out, the armory was not too difficult to game. It didn't take just any stick that Gil tossed in, but he was able to rack up 7 marks by tossing in "improvised clubs" that happened to have a reasonably good heft and balance by sheer coincidence. They sold for one credit and he could purchase them for 2, so it wouldn't be a very efficient way of storing extra firewood.

The metal folding chair he tested on a whim sold for 2 and could be replaced for 4, which would come in handy if he ever needed more seating. Naturally after that he shoved everything he could find into the in compartment just to see. After all, several hours of gathering sticks wasn't a great way to spend a day off the skyblock, but profit was profit and many tools could be improvised weapons in a pinch.

Alas, he wasn't able to find anything edible that could be reproduced. It seemed like actual lethality was an important factor in the matter, as well as the materials and expertise that went into building it. He couldn't get some confused guy to make him an ax out of chocolate and use that, not unless it was actually a plausible weapon. Maybe a club of some kind? It would probably end up pretty wretched tasting, but a big slab of heavily salted meat could probably be boiled long enough to serve as the base for a soup. Or some kinds of fish, maybe?

Armor was a little more complicated. Snow's hunter clothes sold for 25, which Gil accepted in the name of science. She didn't like them much anyway. He could plausibly buy them back for 50 credits, tailored for any member of the retinue except for Rose. When he experimentally put the Bikini armor in for analysis, he was thrilled to see that it could plausibly be mass produced… if he could figure out how to get 20k marks to make one. Assuming that the offered sell price of 10k, which he refused, followed the same rules as other items. Not unimaginable, but he'd need to make a habit of looting anything that looked remotely weapon-like. He continued his spree, checking to see if various things would work better.

Currently burning stick: Valid but no boost in sell price for the fire.

Blackpaw's capture sphere: Invalid

Capture sphere without Blackpaw in it: Invalid

Durst Family Sword: Valid and worth 40 credits, but notes that it will not retain its spiritual connection

Rose's thigh bone: Valid for 5 credits but notes that it will not retain its spiritual connection

Greater Water of Lethe: Invalid

Healing Leaf: Invalid.

Sock full of rocks and one healing leaf baggy: Valid for 1 credit but notes that the plant matter will be replaced with "functionally identical material" which seemed unlikely to be identical for the purposes Gil had in mind. It bore further testing when he had more leaves, just in case.

Laundry Detergent: Invalid

Bleach: invalid

Gil wished that he hadn't used both of his orbs of berserking mist. They were very clearly intended to serve as weapons, and would have been a good proof of concept. He wasn't sure if chemical or gas based weapons were blanket invalid, or if bleach just worked too slow to qualify as a weapon by whatever metrics the armory used. In any event, going through everything they had on hand for analysis ate up most of the day.