Continuing my Journey on the Path of Virtue...
((This post will ramble and meander around, you have been warned. Things by me as the player will be in parentheses, while things in character will be in quotes.)) ~ Bhenadryl, the wandering Ranger.
"I have continued my journey. Secure in my skill and new equipment I set to venture far and wide. To get a better lay of the land, and to help those I can along the way. I now find myself less a hunter of beasts, and more a hunter of men. I would say that this saddens me, but truth be told, some injustices can only be solved with the end of a rope, point of a blade, or the nock of an arrow."
"While journeying past the cemetery of Vesper I was set upon by a foul hood. The wretch was crafty, and no matter how many arrows I let loose the brigand would mange to slip away and heal themselves in full. I would not win a battle of attrition. While in Britain, I had come into the company of a stalwart paladin. So, I set off an penned a missive and sent it by carrier bird. My missive found its home, and soon I was joined by companion. ((Keeshi, the Anhkless)) Together we burst into the graveyard, hacked our way past the vile undead to find our quarry. The battle was long, and arduous, but towards the end we won the day, and the villain lay vanquished."
((This battle was tough, I quickly jumped behind Keeshi and starting bandaging while letting arrows fly. Then all of a sudden the hood jumps the fence! I keep shooting and poor Keeshi has to run out and all the way around. Finally catching up to the hood Keeshi hits it a few times only for the hood to jump back over then fence, and I watch Keeshi run back again. lol, it was hilarious.))
"I bid my companion farewell, as we both had different destinations in mind, and I readied myself for my return. While I had previously used the Moongate to transport myself to Minoc and Vesper, I though that perhaps I should take the trade road south on my return to Britain. I follow the road and come across more brigands. This land is awash in villainy. With my previous encounter fresh in my mind I make use of the trees. I dart to and fro, like a serpent that has had too much wine. I check my quiver to find that I'm running low... I'll need to save the last few for when I'm most in need. I draw my tree felling axe from belt loop and charge in. Snicker-snack went my axe, the last brigand at my feet. I wipe down the axe head with an old rag, looking at the surrounding carnage. What grim work I have wrought, grim work indeed, but a necessary one."
((trying to solo all those bandits wasn't easy, and by the time I got the last one and the key it de-spawns. Side note, all around town there are bounty hunting posters saying inquire with in. There is no one to inquire with. I already told Arch about how if you carve bandit corpses the parts fall under the bones and makes it damn near impossible to loot the heads. Could we take these heads and then turn them in these bounty offices for gold/fame/karma?))
"I make my way to the bog between Cove and Britain. In my hubris I though that I could cross it quickly and be done with it. I was wrong... Poison! The swamp was a churn with filth and pestilence. I had not done my due diligence and prepared properly. I had forgotten a pair of swamp boots. If it had not been for my hardy constitution I would have sunken beneath those fetid waters. ((It's a cool throw back that swamps are poisonous. Now where do I get swamp boots, and how do they work? Are they made from the hide of giant carnivorous frogs?))
"After making my way free of that accursed place, I traveled towards the coast line. Mostly to wash the filth from myself and grant myself a moment of respite. After a few moments, and feeling much refreshed I returned to the road. On the final length of my journey I heard the crackle and twisting of branches. Yet nothing abounds? Puzzled I look up... the tree is bewitches, a reaper! I grab for my axe, and swing. It has fell many a tree, but I worry... Will it hold against this creature? The blade is dull, yet I swing with all the might I can muster. Crack! It bites hard and deep. I hack, hack, hack again. This tree falls like any others. I muse to myself that perhaps I should dub my axe Treesbane. I laugh out loud in spite of myself. I continue on, to Britain." ((The reaper only drops regular wood, for a magic tree why not magic wood. Reaper Wood.))
((This came about from a long discussion on the discord. There are many skills which are under used, are extremely limited, over lap one another, or are so dependent on each other that you need both but they essentially function as one skill. So why not merge certain skills together. With so many skills being condensed it might be necessary to drop the total skills know down.
*Hide & Stealth together for a true Stealth skill.
*Pickpocket & Snooping into an all purpose Theivery skill.
*Lockpicking & Remove Trap into an all purpose Mechanical skill, or "Locksmithing Skill". It could get a % bonus from Tinkering.
*Herding & Taming into a "Beastmastery" skill.
*Item Identification & Arms Lore into an all purpose Appraisal skill.
*Taste Identification would fall under the Cooking skill. What cook doesn't taste their own fare to make sure it is seasoned correctly, and to make sure it is "not bloody raw".
*Healing & Anatomy into Medicine. One can not heal the body if one does not know the body
*Veterinary & Animal Lore into a condensed Veterinary skill. One can not heal an animal if one does not know the animal.
*Begging transformed into Persuasion. Still functions that if you use it to beg a person then you get coin and a karma penalty. However, if used in an alternate way it could give better buy/sell prices at shops, creating more of a merchant skill. Maybe by saying out loud <shopkeeper i wish to haggle> or something along those lines.
*Fletching, a craft that has barely anything to it's name. Now if the skill was to expand, then I'd say leave it be. There are many types of bows... Short, Long, Great, Hunting, War, Horse, Compound, Recurve, Composite, Siege, Japanese Yumi. There are many types of crossbows... Light, Heavy, Recurve, Compound, Hunting, Repeating, Reverse Draw, Arbalest. Finally, if you are trying to siege a castle, the Ballista. If fletching was expanded, then by all means it should be its own craft, if not then it would be better off under Carpentry.
Sorry if this was a long one.))