The crafting area was still a mess from the aftermath of the Infernal Horde attack. Most of the tents had been put back together, and what supplies could be salvaged had been cleaned up, but there were still places where things were obviously missing. There were a couple of empty spaces where Kaldalis hoped someone had, after the attack, pulled up their station and moved elsewhere so that all the functions of the camp weren’t crowded around a single easily assaulted area.

The alternative was that the person responsible for that station was one of the NPCs that had been laid out on the ground but had never respawned.

The less he thought about that possibility, the better. It was kind of his fault, after all.

“Hey!” someone called from nearby, jerking him out of his guilty thoughts. “Kaldalis! I have something for you.”

A reddish-purple Vathon ran up to him. It took him a moment to place her as the researcher he’d given his notes on the grizzled dragon and the irritator.

“Hello again,” Kaldalis said, giving her his best smile. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, I completed the research on the grizzled dragon!” she said, fishing around in a knapsack. “I finished it last night, and Ikzoz sent me around to hand out rewards to the participants.”

“I thought there were still days to go before that research was finished. What happened?”

“Well, there’s more than just you out here,” she said, finally fishing out a pouch and a little booklet. “Other people brought notes about grizzled dragons, too. With all that information together, the research was a breeze.”

“Thank you,” he said, accepting the pouch and the booklet. “Anything about the irritator?”

“A little.” She looked a little sheepish. “But not enough to finish it yet. Try again in another couple of days? Or you could always hunt another one.”

The wink she added to the end of that statement made Kaldalis grin. It wasn’t enough to get him to go hunting more irritators; he had plenty of other work to do.

Inside the pouch was a decent number of crescents, and the booklet looked to be the compiled notes describing the grizzled dragon. He’d have to review them later, when he had the time or the need.

Right now, though, he wasn’t even going to be headed to the jungle today. He tucked both rewards into his inventory for later.

“I guess I’ll track you down then-” He paused, snapping his fingers. “I’m sorry, I believe I’ve forgotten your name.”

“Don’t worry - I don’t think I told you,” she said with a laugh. “It’s Bangen.”

“Bangen,” he said, both to ensure he was pronouncing it right, and because it was a way to actually remember people’s names. He learned it at some Monsoon-sponsored networking event. “Thank you again. Actually, do you happen to know where I can find Sivima Netherrun? I’m supposed to do her a favor this morning, and I don’t know where to find her.”

“Oh! Of course.” Bangen pointed across the open square, towards one of the tents nearest to the front gate. “She should be over there. Maybe not this early, but that’s where she’s been building her forge.”

“Thanks again,” Kaldalis said, giving her his biggest smile. “I owe you.”

“Not at all. I’m happy to help.” She waved, even though it was just a wiggle of fingers. “But I’ve got to hand out the rest of these. I’ll see you again!” With that, she turned and scurried off.

Kaldalis also turned, intending to head towards the direction Bangen had pointed. But Haldir was standing in his way, staring at him as if he’d just grown a second head.

“What?” Kaldalis asked.

Haldir was silent for a long moment. When he did speak, his voice was toneless. “I’m trying to figure out if I misjudged you.”

“In a good way or a bad way?”

“Either. Both.” Haldir shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s get your favor done so that we can get to the real work of the day.”

He wasn’t sure if that meant Haldir thought he might be an NPC, too, or if it meant he might be some kind of monster for some reason. The things he’d done in the name of progress had been a little… extra.

Either way, it really wasn’t all that important. Haldir could think whatever Haldir wanted, and Kaldalis would just have to be fine with it.

With a slight nod to his companion, Kaldalis returned to leading the way towards the spot Bangen had indicated.

Despite Bangen’s warning, Sivima was in her workshop area, dressed as she had been the day before, in a long thick blacksmith’s smock with no sleeves covering her thick arms. Her hair was a bit better-behaved now, but Kaldalis suspected it was because it was early yet. She probably only tied it back once in the morning, and whatever escaped throughout the day just stayed loose. She had a seaweed-covered lump in the middle of her space, and was sawing away at it with a hand knife.

Kaldalis hesitated, not sure how to best start conversation with someone who was working with a knife. In the end, he decided the best course was the mess with Haldir a little. If the other Vathon wasn’t sure if he was an NPC or not, maybe he could establish some believable repeated NPC quotes.

“I stand ready,” he said, deciding that if he was going to be Kaldalis, he should lean into it.

Sivima looked up, confused, but smiled when she saw him. “Ah, it’s you. Sorry, I’m still working on this.”

“What is it?” Kaldalis asked, stepping up closer now that he was no longer at risk of startling her.

“My anvil,” she said with a grimace. “As soon as the ship split in half, it plummeted to the sea bed, and wrapped itself in about a mile of kelp on the way down. I didn’t get it back until yesterday, but understandably-” she gestured at the surrounding area. “There were some distractions.”

The area was clear, but Kaldalis knew what she meant.

One only had to look outside the door to remember the destruction.

“So what can I do for you today?” Kaldalis asked. “You said you had a task you needed done.”

“Yes, of course.” She shook her head, and flyaway hairs danced out of the confines of her ponytail. “I almost forgot I’d asked you to come by.” She straightened up and brushed the dirt off of the front of her smock. “I had a personal item that was lost in the crash. I would be forever in your debt if you could find it for me.”

“Why did you not notice it was missing until now?” Kaldalis asked.

“It was in this box when we got on the ship,” she said, leaning over and tapping on a nearby crate. “And I didn’t have need to check for it. After the hubbub around the attack, I checked the crate to make sure it wasn’t damaged in the chaos, but there’s no sign of it. It must have been in a different box, or lost in the wreck.”

“It likely either washed up on the beach somewhere,” Haldir suggested, “or else it sank to the bottom and is resting near where the anvil was.”

“Likely the first,” Sivima said.

“What, exactly, am I looking for?” Kaldalis asked.

“A painter’s palette,” she said, holding her hands up to roughly two feet apart. “About so big. Thumbhole. You know.”

“Wooden?” Kaldalis asked. “Shaped kinda…” his voice trailed as he traced in the air in a shape roughly like what he remembered seeing on public TV on days when he was home sick from school as a child. And then later in college when some absolute genius decided that public access painting shows were what the internet streaming community needed.

Sivima nodded. “It was my grandfather’s. His creativity is what inspired me to be a smith in the first place.”

“Sounds important. I’ll find it,” Kaldalis said, reassuring her. “Don’t worry.”

The quest on the right side of Kaldalis’s vision updated from asking about the favor to 0/1 Lost Palette.

“It’s important to me,” she said quickly, “but not important to my duties or anything. It would mean a lot to have it back, but if you can’t find it, I understand. The camp’s needs are more valuable than mine.”

“If it’s important to you, then it’s important to me.” Kaldalis gave her the best smile he could. “I’ll do my absolute best to locate it.”

Sivima looked like she was starting to tear up. “Thank you. I really appreciate it. Um, if you don’t mind, I do have to…” She gestured towards the anvil with the hand knife she was still holding.

Kaldalis nodded, suitably dismissed. He turned around to leave, but saw Haldir giving him that same curious look. Leaning into his persona again, he looked over his shoulder and gave Sivima a wave. “Thus I serve.”

Haldir didn’t say anything until they were out of earshot of the smith’s tent.

“You got her hopes up,” he said at last. “For her sake, I hope that wasn’t a mistake.”

“No mistakes,” Kaldalis said, leading his fellow Vathon through the camp and towards the beach. “Only happy accidents.”