Sebas sat in a meeting room, living wood walls held a dull deep mahogany red bark while the tree’s interior had been altered or magically reshaped to create a rectangular red table that had since been polished, refined, and removed from its natural body, though not in that particular order. Inalos watched as the boy spun around in the chair, his body halfway inserted into the groove of the chair, allowing his foot to properly launch his body in rapid spins that threatened to fling his body into the wall.
“Cut it the fuck out Sebas.”
“You said a bad woooord,” Sebas said with a playful glee in his tone, words sliced into segments as his voice followed his spinning head.
“You’re such a child, can’t you be more,” Inalos gestured with his driftleaf stick, “not yourself?”
Sebas stopped suddenly and stared down Inalos, keeping eye contact with the elven man before launching his body in rapid spirals once again.
“Listen ‘Los, you don’t get it since you grew up whatever is considered middle class around here; I’m different, I never got the chance to act childish whenever I felt like it because I had to make sure mommy and daddy would stop fighting, or because I was,” Sebas took on a grandiose and bolstering voice impression, “Destined for greatness~!”
“Did you just call me poor, kid?”
“No, I would never,” Sebas lied effortlessly.
“Do people ever tell you that you make them not want to have kids?”
Sebas stopped and stared at him, “you have a girlfriend?”
“Easy on the floor, your freaky claws will scuff the wood.”
“… a boyfriend?” Sebas asked cautiously.
Inalos threw a bag at Sebas, intending for the parcel to strike him in the snout, only for Sebas to catch the small balled-up bag with a deft hand, comparable to a thief. Inalos took a long drag of his driftleaf and sighed before speaking, “If I give you that, will you shut your mouth?”
Sebas opened the small bag, dumping out a small pile of flowers, stars, and strange spiral-shaped cookies. “The king… accepts your bribe…” Sebas said as he held a cookie up, spun around once again, and bit into the petal of the flower-shaped cookie.
“Oh, so you’re a king now?”
Sebas nodded as he chewed, a smile crept onto his face.
Sebas held a pair of silver necklaces in his hand, one of tarnished silver with a strange centerpiece; a glass marble eye in the center of eight tentacles, while the other was more beautiful, shiny silver with a bright crystal with rainbows of energy within surging and bouncing around the sharp cone-shaped crystal.
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[Kraken Necklace]
{Rare Artifact}
+2 Dexterity
+1 Wisdom
Effect: Once per day, the wearer of the artifact may breathe underwater for up to an hour.
“Not everything is destined to succeed, just like this pendant’s original purpose was destined to fail.”
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Sebas placed the Spirit Aegis and the Kraken Necklace around his neck, as he went through the rest of the strange magic items and artifacts he obtained from the pirates, but never had the chance to inspect properly.
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[A Map that might lead to treasure]
{??? Map}
Effect: {Unknown}
“A worn, weathered parchment with a faded ink outline of a mysterious archipelago. Symbols hint at traps and treasures, with notes written in an unknown language.”
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Sebas used it as a placemat for cookies, eating a handful as he pulled out a small bracelet with a bright red square stone embedded in its center.
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[Bloodstone Bracelet]
{Cursed Bracelet}
+1 Constitution
Effect: Upon bleeding into the bloodstone, the player will receive a moderate increase in their natural recovery and regeneration.
Curse: {Unknown}
“Her divine anguish brings boons to her followers; The Blood Mother loves all her children indiscriminately.”
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Sebas’ lip turned up in disgust at the pathetic and cursed artifact, tossing it to the side where it clattered against the wooden table.
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[Ivory Spyglass]
{Uncommon Tool}
Enchantment: {Unknown}
“A legacy of the greatest elven artificer, whittled down by time, who wanted to seek the path beyond the mortal coil.”
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Sebas shrugged and placed it back in his magic bag next to the tattered rags of the black canvas shirt, wide dagger, and boots inside.
Sebas looked up at his handler- Warde-… custodian, his custodian, Inalos, and asked the elf a question, “How much are they going to charge me for the service I’ve done to your city?”
“Somewhere between five to ten gold coins is the initial bail they gave you; being a missionary that’s probably closer to one to three gold.”
Sebas huffed at the thought of losing his money and looked over the next artifact.
“Don’t be such a baby.”
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[A Magic bottle of Whiskey]
{Epic Consumable}
Effect: The liquid accumulation enchantment has been modified to hold alcohol content liquids; Bourbon, Rum, and Whiskey.
“Currently filled to the brim (9372ml)”
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Sebas nodded in approval. As he went to pick up the bone chalice, a knock at the door stole his focus from the goblet. He watched with alert eyes as Inalos let in a gnome man, hardly standing at the hip of the lanky elven man when comparing their heights.
Inalos turned, gesturing to Sebas, “This one’s your customer.”
Sebas nodded, “it was so kind of Inalos to introduce me to you and pay for whatever modifications you made for me; I told him he didn’t have to, but he was insistent!”
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
The gnome huffed at Sebas' lie and looked up at Inalos with a raised curved eyebrow.
“Gorbin Cogglefix, This is Sebastian Aren,” Inalos gestured.
Sebas waved at the gnome.
Gorbin walked quickly, his short legs producing long strides relative to his body size. He leaped into the chair beside Sebas at the head of the meeting table.
The gnome looked up at Sebas, offering him a small star-shaped cookie, before raising an eyebrow at his scaled body.
“What are you?”
Sebas shrugged, still holding a cookie out towards the gnome. Gorbin finally accepted the gesture and shook Sebas’ outstretched hand while he held the small pastry with the other hand, Sebas picked up a cookie from the treasure map placemat and held the star-shaped cookie up before looking down at the gnome, “Ignorance,” he began, taking a philosophical tone, “is a virtue to the man who knows everything.”
Gorbin curled his lip out in thought and amusement, “is that your way of saying you’re some sort of mysterious figure?” He took a bite of the pointed star cookie, “my questions aren’t over, creature.”
“You’ve pretty much got me captive until this one lets me go,” Sebas gestured his cookie at Inalos, who rolled his eyes in turn.
“Don’t pin your restlessness on me, you’re more hyper than a three-year-old.”
“Then let’s save the philosophy; you have a mechanical armor prosthetic?”
Sebas didn’t respond immediately, placing the cookie softly in between his fangs like a driftleaf cigar while he dug into the magic bag, pulling out a mechanical arm and slamming it on the table causing a loud metallic clank.
Gorbin’s eyes widened with an almost childlike glee, his hands darting forward to inspect the arm. The prosthetic gleamed faintly, forged from star iron and refined into star steel. His fingers traced the intricate lines etched into the surface, pausing at the two distinct signatures: one engraved on the shoulder joint, and another on the palm.
“Star iron… no… Star steel,” Gorbin muttered, his voice reverent. “And these… these markings. Two makers? No, not just makers- artisans. What story does this tell, hmm?” He looked up at Sebas with a gleam in his eye, his curiosity burning brighter than ever. “Where did you get this? And don’t give me some cryptic nonsense this time!”
Sebas tapped his pointer finger’s claw against the fangs that made up the palm’s insignia, swallowing his cookie, and flashed a horrifying smile with his fangs while pointing at his teeth.
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me…” Gorbin’s eyes widened as he rubbed his finger over the pair of fangs that made up the insignia etched into the palm. “The Monster is the maker? What kind of creature knows a dwarven secret like star steel processing?”
Sebas tapped the angular G at the tail end of a cross that sat on the shoulder of the metal arm without looking, his claw making a small clink against the metal, “G is for Gis, Gis Solina,” Sebas grabbed a small blob lattice-shaped cookie, chuckling at its misshapen construct.
Gorbin tapped against the table as he inspected the insignia, his vision eventually moving into the magic circuits that ran up and down the plates of steel. “I can’t say I’m familiar with ‘em… a hermit?” He asked as his gaze sharpened, focused on Sebas, “or something like you?”
Sebas chewed the cookie slowly, making Gorbin wait for his response. “Gis is a complicated subject,” he finally said after swallowing. “He’s not a monster… though if he got his hands on me, I’d probably react as if a monster had me.”
“Well that clears nothing,” Gorbin sighed, still running a finger over the silvered steel, curiosity still running rampant. “Complicated relationships with whatever you are don’t answer how this arm’s material got made and then forged out of the star steel! It takes dwarves a few decades alone to master creating an adequate alloy, but you mean to tell me that someone put their signature on here as if painting on a canvas?” The gnome grabbed another cookie, and continued his ranting, “You know what this is right?” He pointed towards a rune ᛚ on the back of the metal hand.
“Not a clue,” Sebas said proudly.
“It’s a magic anchor, Lizard,” Gorbin jabbed a finger at Sebas, making him raise his brow, “Someone managed to etch a flawless anchor on star steel, not to mention the circuits that have been installed perfectly- these are practically enchantments that are tied to the existence of this arm!” He smacked the table with the back of the hand’s panel, “So start talking, what’s the connection? Is he some sort of legendary blacksmith I’ve never heard of?” Gorbin tilted his head at the object in front of him, and began murmuring “Maybe he’s an old guild master or… a rogue smith? No- it’s too… mainstream…”
Sebas grabbed another cookie and chewed on it while he watched the gnome, curious about his abilities, but impatient and running low on sweet treats.
“Gis is a dwarf, a gold-rank blacksmith of the adventurers guild in Kladia,” he said while resting his face on his hand.
“A dwarf in the north continent? What on Starrous is he doing there?”
“An elf; he’s doing an Elf.”
Inalos spoke up first before Gorbin could make any rash comment, “It makes sense why he wouldn’t be known on the Eastern continent then, the older generation would most likely consider that a “taint to their bloodline.”
“Supremacism, how noble…”
“Shut up Sebas,” Inalos sighed.
“I can’t! I’m nearly out of cookies! You didn’t bribe me enough!”
“How did you manage that, I gave you about forty…”
“I’m sharing with a friend, duh,” Sebas gestured at Gorbin.
Gorbin looked up at him from his prodding of the arm and his studying of its circuits to Sebas’ gesture, a cookie sat in between three fingers as his gaze turned to Inalos.
“What?”
Inalos shook his head back and forth and walked out of the meeting room, leaving the pair within.
Sebas spent his time inspecting the final artifact… of the pirate raid.
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[Bone Chalice]
{Rare Magic Tool}
Effect: Consumed liquid that has been inside of the Bone Chalice will have a small chance to provide visions of the past… at a cost.
“A twisted masterpiece of macabre artistry.”
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Sebas squinted and very slowly, hesitantly turned the magic bottle of whiskey upside down and filled the chalice with alcohol before gingerly dipping a flower cookie in the mixture of bourbon and rum.
“Drinking at noon?”
“I’ve had a very long day,” Sebas said matter-of-factly as he crossed his legs and bit into the cookie.
Gorbin snorted at Sebas, shaking his head as a grin crept onto his face, “Listen up cookie monster. Your arm here- it’s a fucking marvel, but it’s not a finished one,” He tapped the small G at the bottom of Gis’ insignia, “This Gis Solina individual made you something useful, the whole thing is modular; an experienced smith couldn’t make something so customized as easily as this, it’s as if the gear was made to expand and evolve- it can be better than what we’re looking at now if you know what you're doing.”
Sebas’ interest was piqued, leaning forward to look down at the Gnome’s rapidly gesturing hands, but he didn’t let his expression change to show any specific emotion, remaining a teasing casual. “Well, Gorbin, do you know what you’re doing?”
“I’ve got a few ideas…” Gorbin said to Sebas, as he held up the plate pieces and each segment that linked each other, “As I said this was made to… be adjusted, it’s designed to conform and be adjusted to its wearer as they grew, or at least if need be, they could change out the plates for sturdier metal… not that you could find many… or if one of your arm’s cables snapped, it could be replaced easily by someone who knew what they were doing.”
“Someone is you right?”
“I want to switch out all of these aluminum cables with Mithril, along with any new plates that would be added in between your new prosthetics’ current plates, making a unique-looking mechanical limb that shouldn’t weigh much more than it currently does…”
“How much would that cost?” Sebas asked in a horrified tone.
“A little over 2,100 gold coins, why?”
Sebas sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, lightly massaging the scales on his face as he closed his eyes.
“Ah… a lack of funds?”
Sebas nodded, not speaking further on the matter.
“It’s an… expensive thing to strive for, we could always use pathetic materials in the meantime until you find a way to get me enough money?”
“No, that’s not necessary…” Sebas sighed, “Is there somewhere nearby where I could fight monsters and make money? Or possibly mine my own mithril?”
Gorbin chuckled, “You’re piss outta luck on the mithril front unless you unearth the tenth mine for the mineral; but if you can fight with your dinky little arm situation, you’re bound to be able to make… enough money to buy your arm back.”
“Thank you for your consultation…”
Sebas pulled his bag out from under his chair. A greatsword’s pommel stuck out of the black sling bag.
“Whatcha got there lizard?”
“A secret,” Sebas said directly, shutting the gnome down as he held the broken sword handle up.
“Seems like someone stiffed you on the blade part of your deal, pappy always said to unsheathe the sword at the smithy.”
Sebas chuckled darkly, “Yeah, something like that,” he wasn’t paying attention, focusing his attention on the handle.
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[Fractured Judgement]
{Broken Greatsword}
+ 0 Attack
“A blade broken by the weight of love and betrayal, its shattered pieces forever bound by an unyielding will. From the depths of darkness and light, it whispers the sorrow of two souls entwined in a tragic fate. Once wielded by one who went against destiny it judges with the fury of its past, however, the power within it remains cursed; Forever fractured, Forever cursed.”
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Sebas sneered and dropped the broken blade into his magic bag, and pulled out a small crystal ball with a light blue light emanating from within its gray and shiny exterior.
“Where the fuck did you get one of those?” Gorbin asked in a muted hiss.
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[Skill Orb]
{Rankless Artifact}
Effect: Grants the user access to a new skill, enhances existing skills, or pushes a skill past its natural progression limits.
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