Reputation? He mused.
This system had a clever way to piss Table (Blorbo) off, by simply dropping new mechanics like Reputation without bothering to expin what it would entail. He had to go with the assumption that if they failed to sell the cabbages, somehow Rob and Lena would hate him, which would be utterly ridiculous.
Of all the quests he’d received, he would have the least agency in this one. What was he going to do to assist Lena in selling cabbages? Wobbling around would just risk the veggies falling to the ground, and that was about the only thing he could do.
And things were going as well as a typical Blorbo day would. Terrible.
The two women stared at each other so hard sparks of fire could fly between them. The other woman was the first to start loading her cabbage into the stall.
“Good-looking cabbage you have there, young dy, if not a little small.” She dropped a cabbage on the table with a thump. “The leaves have holes on them. Worms thrive in unsound soil, so you best be careful.”
Lena’s smile was razor-sharp as she pced her cabbage on Blorbo’s surface with a loud thud. “Oh, I’m always careful, Marza.” Her voice was sugary sweet. “I leave the house with my scarf on to block the sunlight. But some people are too careful you know? With that amount of make-up you’d expect them to try and cover up all their fws.”
Marza stacked three cabbages in quick succession, each one hitting her table with a resounding thwack. “Funny you mentioned that. I hear some farms have been struggling tely. Too much time spent on ogling trinkets, not enough on growing quality crops.”
I don’t think the rivalry between these two ends at vegetables… What kind of history do they have?
Lena picked up her rgest cabbage and dropped it onto Blorbo with a boom. “I heard heavy polish makes the cabbage unable to stand upright.”
Blorbo was shook, to the point the grain of his wood had frozen and condensed. How the hell can you make a BOOM dropping a cabbage?
That might’ve hit a nerve with Marza. She gritted her teeth as she dropped her biggest cabbage, twice the size of Lena’s biggest. It crashed onto the table with a BOOM (capitalized). “Watch your tone, young dy. I was here first.” But Marza is young herself? She looks no older than 25. Hello?
The sun firmly set its pce in the sky as it swung between the clouds like a hammock. The crowd started to flock in, and the verbal assault gave way to silent gres. “Don’t let her get to your head like st time,” Rob had said. He had also told Lena before leaving to tend to the farm that if she wanted to show Marza who the boss was, she needed to outsell her. And boy, did Lena take it to heart.
The pyramid of cabbages she had meticulously stacked earlier now stood tall and proud, but it wasn’t enough. She needed something more. Something unforgettable.
“Watch this,” A mischievous grin spread across Lena’s face. Before anyone could stop her, she climbed onto the edge of Blorbo and scaled the pyramid of cabbages. The crowd gasped as she banced precariously on the uneven surface and outstretched her arms like a tightrope walker.
Rob walked into the market square, tools strapped to his back. It looked like he had been out gathering some extra supplies to help with the farm. Rob took a step closer, adjusted his tools, and squinted.
“What are you doing?” Rob muttered to himself.
I wonder that too, Rob...
Lena, spotting him, waved like a chihuahua that got rabies. “Rob! Help me sell some cabbages, please! This is the big moment!” She then turned to the crowd before Rob was able to do anything. “Step right up!” Lena called, her voice ringing out over the noise of the market. “The finest cabbages in Iakesi, brought to you by the one and only Cabbage Princess! Only the finest cabbages could withstand the weight of these hands!”
So… heavy! Lena, you need to work out!
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: You have taken damage. STR -1. Strength & Endurance Training Initiated.]
Lena began tossing cabbages to the crowd, each one caught by eager hands. “Catch!” she called, her voice filled with glee. “The finest cabbages in Iakesi! Authentic smell of peasantry and chicken pecks!”
A roar rippled through the crowd.
[Cabbage Counter]
Lena Oakward: 6
Marza Pinely: 0
“Enough!” Marza pulled a rge, ornate box from beneath her stall. The crowd gasped as she opened it, revealing a set of glowing, rune-etched cabbages. Each cabbage throbbed with a mysterious, otherworldly light, and her stall was soon shrouded in such sheen.
“Step right up!” Marza called, her voice rising above the noise. “Witness the enchanted cabbages of Marza’s Marvelous Market! Grown with ancient magic and blessed by the spirits of the harvest! These aren’t just cabbages. They’re artifacts!”
She pced the cabbage on her table and whispered something under her breath. The runes on the cabbage fred to life, and it began to float, hovering a few inches above the surface. The crowd surged forward, eyes in awe.
“Elonus Muskus, Bezos Maximus, Zuckerbergus Prime!” Marza intoned, her voice rising and falling. “Amazonus Deliverus, Tes Drivus, Metaverse Supremus!”
Wait. Is she using actual magic? Yo, can I switch sides? Good bye Lena, imma put my 1 MP to good use.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: You are so dumb. Trickery detection failed. PER too low.]
Trickery? That looks like real magic to me.
And it tricked the crowd. They formed a huge circle around Marza’s stall, getting their hands on every floating cabbage they could see. Marza sprung around, skipping back and forth. Her hand suspiciously swiped over the top of the cabbages with a cutting motion, and they dropped to the waiting palms of the customers.
Rob was one of the only people standing outside of the huge circle, scratching his head in puzzlement. “Uh... You could at least question what kind of supposed magic it is, no? Why would someone use magic to sell cabbages...”
[Cabbage Counter]
Lena Oakward: 6
Marza Pinely: 15
The gap wasn’t so bad. Surely Lena could find a creative way to close the gap.
Lena decred, climbing onto Blorbo with a dramatic flourish. She held up a cabbage in one hand and struck a pose. “Listen closely, everyone! For I, Lena Oakward, shall now regale you with the finest vegetable poetry Iakesi has ever seen! One poem for each cabbage!”
Rob buried his face in his hand.
Why the long face, Robbie? It’s just a poem. How bad can it be?
Some people from the crowd in front of Marza’s stall turned to her, and she puffed her chest, unleashing the most historic theatrics in the history of theatrics.
“Oh cabbage, my cabbage, you’re stable like a table,
If you get poisoned while eating it will never be fatal!
Oh cabbage, my cabbage, you’re simply divine,
Will you be my valentine?”
Everyone turned silent.
We’re SO done for.
Blorbo knew he had to do something. He looked at the sun. Maybe if I could just get the angle right…
[SKILL ACTIVATION: Adjustable Angle (2 Degrees)]
The warm rays bathed the vegetables and magically transformed them into plump, crisp, and utterly irresistible cabbages.
The crowd, drawn by the sudden transformation, began to drift back toward Lena’s stall. “Wow, those cabbages look amazing!” someone said, reaching for one. “I’ll take two!”
“Three for me!” another customer called, handing over their shillings.
[Cabbage Counter]
Lena Oakward: 11
Marza Pinely: 15
Ooooh! Despite Lena, we might have a chance.
Master Bimbleton hobbled into the market, leaning heavily on a pair of crutches, one hand gripping the arm of a servant for support. His silk vest looked like it had seen better days, but his smug grin was as infuriating as ever.
“Ah, what a delightful scene!” Bimbleton decred. “Two lovely dies, battling it out over cabbages. How quaint.”
Lena’s eyes narrowed. “What do you want, Sir?”
His grin widened. “Why, my dear Lena, I’m here to support local businesses, of course!” He turned to Marza’s stall and gestured grandly. “I’ll take fifteen of your finest cabbages, my good woman.”
Marza’s eyes lit up like a child on Harvest Day. “Fifteen? Coming right up!”
Lena’s jaw dropped. “Fifteen?!” Her voice rose an octave. “What are you even going to do with fifteen cabbages?!”
But he had already hobbled away. As Marza began stacking cabbages into Bimbleton’s servant’s arms, the Cabbage Counter updated:
[Cabbage Counter]
Lena Oakward: 11
Marza Pinely: 30
Bimbleton, that silk-cd turnip! Fret not. All is not lost. We can still—
“Buy one get one free,” Marza cupped her hands around her mouth and bellowed. “Buy one cabbage, get one chicken!”
Rob was nowhere to be seen.
Buy one cabbage, get one CHICKEN?! Does she even understand the concept of profit and loss?
[Cabbage Counter]
Lena Oakward: 11
Marza Pinely: 44
Yeah… It’s over.
It was already te afternoon, and the sun had dipped low in the sky. No time left. Marza stepped outside of her stall and put her hands on her hips in victory. Her smug grin stretched from ear to ear. “Better luck next time, Lena. If there is a next time,” she said, her voice dripping with triumph.
Whoosh!
An Elviswood table smmed down from the sky. Boom!
The Elviswood table annihited Marza’s stall. The crowd screamed, scattering in all directions as debris rained down. Marza stood frozen, her mouth hanging open in shock. “My stall!” she wailed. “My cabbages! My chickens!”
Lena was also frozen in pce. “Is that…”
That’s… Bimbleton’s table. Surely it didn’t fly around in the sky for a week. What happened to it?
I guess that stall got splinter shocked.
The system notification popped up:
[QUEST COMPLETE: Sell the Cabbage (2)]
Objective: Outsell the competition.
Outcome: Your adversary’s stall ceased to exist. You won on technicality.
Reward: +3 END, +2 PER, 10 EXP, 1 Max MP
[TRAINING COMPLETED]
Reward: +1 END. 1 STR returned
The crowd, now thoroughly entertained (and slightly terrified), began to drift back toward Lena’s stall. “Well,” one customer said, picking up a cabbage from the wreckage and kicking away a piece of wood on the ground. “I guess I’ll buy from you instead.”
NameBlorboRaceAnimated Furniture (Table)CssNoneLevel2EXP18/50HP15/15MP2STR5END16 (+4)AGI18PER13 (+2)SkillsAppraisal (Level 1)
Adjustable Angle (2 Degrees)
