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[SirAston]

CruXadder blinks at Cynefrith for a few seconds.

"Err... Y'know... Ah, sorry, afk."

And thus, a symbol of a crossed-out NeuroDiver appears over his head indicating that, indeed, the player behind CruXadder is not currently active within the game, with his avatar entering the default idle stance. After about a minute, the symbol vanishes and VR controls return.

"Ah, I see, you were asking for my name! Well, isn't it visib- Oooooh, right, right, right. I forgot, you're roleplayers. Ahem, sorry 'bout breaking immersion! Take 2, now!"
"This simple but hard-working fighter's name is CruXadder. A name I chose for myself instead of walking through this shard with my birthname for personal reasons."

[Chevaleresse]

I'm not sure I'll ever be used to the behavior of Divers. . .
"Well, I welcome you to this small excursion, Crux Adder." She turned to the other newest party member. "Onyx Joker, did you have anything else you wanted to look over before we head out?"

[SOLDIER First]

Cynefrith takes CruXadder's departure in stride, filling the short time he is absent from the game with a few more sentences in their journal. When their question is answered, they can only beam at him.

"Please, no apology is necessary! I can tell you are making ample efforts to accommodate us, and I must offer you my gratitude for that."

They deliberately skirt by what, exactly, he is accommodating - it would be a little silly to break immersion themself immediately after someone else had just apologized for doing the same thing, after all.

"Ah, an alias. A respectable choice, my friend! In times such as this, when threats to the peace and good order of our societies could be found lurking in any shadow, one must take whatever measures of caution they deem fit to preserve their safety. I humbly welcome you to our group, CruXadder the Fighter."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"Uh, well..."
"Did I overhear someone talking about good weapons?"

A Diver approaches the gathered group. Judging from his attire, he seems to be native to the Shard. His username, Melthorion, is pretty clearly displayed, with him being around the middle levels.

"Sorry, I've been having some trouble selling my stuff, what with how many people are here, so I'm angling to make any kind of profit."
"Huh? What you got?"
"Why don't you come and have a look? I promise you, it'll be worth your while."

Alexis, if she is paying attention, for a split second, spies OnyxJoker nodding to someone off in the crowd, just for a split second, before he looks back at Melthorion.
"Sure. Guys, you mind?"

[SOLDIER First]

"Not at all, friend. By all means, if you wish to procure yourself weapons, then do so. The rest of us will be more than happy to accommodate you, I am sure.”

[Chevaleresse]

The glance didn't pass by Alexis's notice. A signal to his heretofore-unseen party member, or someone else? She would have to be wary.
"That should not be an issue."

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"Alright. Lead the way, good sir."
"Excellent! I promise, you won't be disappointed."

OnyxJoker follows behind Melthorion, the group following them, to a small stall- really, more of a table with a dirty red cloth across the table- with several weapons on display. The weapons appear, to the naked eye, to be of great quality, endgame-level stats, but low prices (for endgame, anyway; they're still a pretty penny, somewhere in the thousand-plus noda band).

"Take your pick, good sir. They're all good weapons."

OnyxJoker picks up a fine-looking knife. The hilt is reddish, lined with gold with a golden pommel and a red tassel attached, while the guard resembles a dragon's head, the sharp blade gleaming in the afternoon sun emerging from within the maw of the serpent. The sharply-dressed man tilts his head, examining it closely.

"Hm. Yes...everything seems in place. Nicely-weighted....feels light, the stats don't lie..."
"You like it? I can give it to you. A pair, even. 900 noda for both. Way cheaper than you'd get something with those stats for. If you don't like 'em, you can sell 'em on for more. Though I guarantee you won't bother."

OnyxJoker rubs his chin, continuing to examine the knife.
"Hm. Alexis, would you mind....holding this for me? When you hold it, hold it steady."
He takes out a piece of red ore, handing it to Alexis. It feels cool to the touch, but very, very hard.
"Uh. What is that?"
"Hesperite. I'll explain in a second. It's a really nice-looking knife, you know?"
"What does that have to do with anything? Just buy 'em or don't!"
"Trust me. I'm a professional."

[Chevaleresse]

So that's the game. A classic. Bait the scammer out, and then expose him. I'm more than happy to help.

"I'd hope my hands are steady by now." She did as instructed, anticipating that he was probably about to snap that blade over the bit of rock she'd been presented.

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Testing the blade / A time-honored tradition / Swing with all your might."

Sasaki looked on in interest as Alexis held the hesperite up for Joker.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"A professional? Quit wasting my time!"
"Hesperite is an ore only found on Lugh. It's renowned for being super-hard even in its unrefined form, and the refined form is used to make Impulse Gears, like the one I use. Almost every Impulse Gear has some hesperite components."
He continues weighing the knife in his hands.
"Due to the high melting temperatures and facilities needed to melt it down, only three Shards specialise in actually treating it. Lugh, Cethleann and Oghma. Though, of course, if you're desperate for Hesperite equipment, you can buy 'em off the right merchant in those Shards."
"Eh?"
"Now, Rebel Impulse is the kind of game where stats aren't enough to determine things. It's a realistic game in some senses; for instance, you can target body parts for more damage and if you manually cook or forge something, you can customise it better than if you just use the ingame menu. Including physics. Now, an endgame weapon with endgame materials should have no problem chipping this hesperite; the endgame materials around here being orichalcum and adamant, if this is made of those, it won't even do anything. But if this is made of plain iron like I suspect....."
OnyxJoker changes the grip on the knife to a downward stabbing grip, aimed directly at the rock in Alexis' hand.
"...it'll break like glass when I smash it into this hesperite rock."

Melthorion's eyes widen.
"Hey, listen! You gotta buy that first! No testing!"
"Oh? Are you scared I might find something? Like this isn't actually endgame material? Only one way to find out."
The sharply-dressed man stabs as hard as he can into the rock-
"It's fake! It's fake! I give! Enough!"

OnyxJoker stops short of the rock. He smirks.

"It's fake, huh?"
"Yes. It's fake. It's made of iron and has very low stats. Enough."

The sharply-dressed man puts down the knife, setting it on a nearby table.

"...well, it would've shattered against that rock, if it was actually hesperite. Pretty sure it would've probably split that rock in half."
"Huh?!"
"Feel free to check that rock. It's just a random stone I use to bluff people that I painted red."

Indeed, if Alexis were to inspect the rock with the ingame inspection function, it really is just a random rock. Nothing more, nothing less.

"OnyxJoker, of the Corinth Detective Agency. I believe I just found ourselves the ringleader of that weapon trading scam that's been targeting new players, ladies and gents."
"A detective?! What kind of stupid roleplayer are you?!"

[Chevaleresse]

"The kind, evidently, that is capable of sniffing out rotten souls such as yourself." "Game" or no, her expression communicated the utmost in contempt and disapproval. "I recommend, if you value your own hide as highly as I believe you do, that you cooperate with us from this moment. You are heavily outnumbered."

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Imitation wares / You fraudulent shopkeeper / What is your excuse?"

[IcyTea31]

"Ceiwynn, huh? I'm Gustave Noir. Appreciate the lesson? I don't want them to appreciate the lesson, I want them to..."

Gustave's ear twitches.

"Excuse me for a moment."

Some distance away, there's a scene of some sort. This wouldn't be a big deal, there's always something going on in social spaces like this, but someone made a big mistake.

Gustave distinctly heard someone shout the phrase 'stupid roleplayer'.

Making new friends will have to wait for the moment; this is a matter of honour.

"You! Who do you think you are? You think you have any idea of the things I've seen, the things I've had to do?"

[SOLDIER First]

Cynefrith offers delighted applause as if they were attending a play and not witnessing a scam bust.

"Ah, excellent work, Onyx Joker! What masterful deception! What do you intend to do now?”

[IamanElfCollaborator]

"You....you'll pay for this!"

Melthorion turns tail and runs the minute Gustave shows up, vaulting over the table, only for a cloaked bystander to, as fast as the eye can register, shoulder-check him into the table, breaking the desk underneath him with the weight. The cloaked figure sweeps their cloak aside, to reveal a young-looking woman, with short white hair and thin-rimmed glasses. She adjusts the black dress jacket she was wearing, fixing her cravat and setting it to just below her chin under her neck. Though her features are soft, her red eyes hold the hardness of a woman twice her age. With practised ease, she crouches on their erstwhile escapee, placing one knee on his back and producing a pair of handcuffs to restrain him with.

Gustave realises where this person feels familiar from; while he was stealing things, it was her eyes he felt on him, watching his every move while he stole.

"W-who the hell are you?!"
"As predicted. He was going to make his escape over the back."
"As always, Maya, you're reliable. Thanks, partner."
"Hm."

Joker turns to the others.

"Everybody, this is my partner, Maya. She and I are part of the Corinth Detective Agency. We....well, we investigate whatever we get paid to. I do the talking, Maya's....well, a woman of action. We were here busting this guy for scams."
"You're not even staff! You can't do this! Quit with the dumb roleplay schtick!"
"Right, like fleecing newbies of their hard-earned noda's perfectly acceptable and us busting you isn't. Anyway, we've been tracking this guy for a few weeks now, but our trail went cold until a newbie from Cichol had a friend come to us with the info. We were passing by and seeing if we could bust him here."
"Hm."

Maya picks up one of the fake weapons, inspecting it closely.

"With the level of custom work on these weapons, I'd say he wasn't working alone, Joker. We may be dealing with a ring of scammers."