Monday, June 11, 2018, 9:30 AM Norfolk

I woke up shortly after sunrise, having set a timer for exactly eight hours after falling to sleep, so that I was rested enough to get my meditation done. Rex had made his way out of the hotel room and went to go fishing as soon as sunlight had gotten close to rising apparently. I got up and got dressed, before securing everything that I needed to in my bag. I was going to have to go out and buy more clothes today, in addition to everything else that I needed to either replace or recreate. Unfortunately, all I had was my “adventuring gear” so I was glad that at least, I had the kote which would allow me to change the clothes as what would be appropriate.

Since I ended up ready to go to work a lot earlier than needed, as I was a lot closer to the work building than before, I availed myself of this thing called a “continental breakfast” in the lobby. Juice from multiple fruits, oats that you don’t have to soak for hours to eat, some kind of crispy flakes that other hotel patrons were putting in milk (of course, they were wisely putting the flakes in the bowls first, then adding the milk to the required level), fresh fruit that should be from far away, bacon, ground pork patties, tiny sausage links, and other things. Much different than my former standard of pottage for breakfast. It was all set up on long tables where the people would walk past, collecting what they wanted from each item offered, each before going to their individual tables. I followed suit when there was a gap in people going through the lines and collected a big plate of collected items.

I went to an open table, sat down, and started eating before someone sat down across from me and asked what I might happen to be doing in Norfolk. I looked up and saw that it was a person in a military uniform with a very shortly cut hairstyle, who had their own heaping plate of food. I shrugged and noted that I was out of town for the weekend, in Tahiti, and some criminals apparently burned down my house while I was gone, so my company arranged a hotel stay for me for a period of time. The man who looked to be in the military nodded and noted that the country had certainly gone downhill since the Blip happened. I asked him if he knew much more about it than everyone else around here.

The man looked at me, then looked side to side, and then back to me before he said that he overheard some chatter that some of the Avengers were in Africa, and that there was a large signal of energy over some small country called Wakanda. He added that there was a large spaceship from some other planet had been spotted in orbit over that country, a different style of ship than had been seen over New York City. I muttered incredulously the word, “Spaceship?” questioningly, to which the person I was talking with asked if I had not heard about that either. I told him that I had not, and he explained that there was a spaceship that had hovered above New York City, and that Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Dr. Strange had all disappeared into it, before the ship broke atmosphere and then disappeared.

All of this was news to me, and I didn’t hesitate to look ill-informed in front of this new individual. For the next thirty or so minutes, I got informed about all of the different oddities and weirdness of this country and the world as a whole, from the first time Tony Stark was declared as “Iron Man”, to the resurfacing of a World War II hero (this world had TWO world wars?), to the events of Loki showing up in Germany, and other fantastical things. Eventually, this young military man had to leave, but offered up thanks for getting a chance to meet someone new and the good conversation. I thanked him in turn and wished him well with whatever he was doing today. The man nodded and wished me the same, before him and a few others in the same style uniform all got up and headed out.

With it still being before seven AM, I figured that I could use the time to search online to see what I could do about a space in which I could do crafting without it being at my current place of work. There were a few places where I could rent some kind of storage unit or something, but they all had specific requirements about when you could arrive and leave, none of which were in my wheelhouse of what I could really work with. With my current schedule being more mid-day loaded, it didn’t leave me a good stretch of time to really get into crafting, even if I needed to recollect everything that I could get, to get a working setup for making more magical items. I had a fair amount of need, but not a lot of time to work, so this might even be relegated to “weekends” or a similar concept. At least I have a month through S.H.I.E.L.D.

I didn’t have all that much success, so I decided to start on a list that would help me sort out everything that I would need to make. There wasn’t that long of a list, and on the top of that list was enchanting a backpack to hold stuff in it, maybe I could even make it a handy haversack. Hell, If I can do more, I’ll make bottle that holds more in it too, and then I can have just about everything I could need in one thing. Maybe an enchanted tent that I could put up in abandoned buildings? With some temporary adhesive-based stakes for mounting it to these concrete floors that seem to be all the rage here.

Thinking back on it, I figured that I definitely should not limit the item creation to just me, as Rex could definitely use some magical assistance as well. Definitely some things to improve his capabilities, and if they need some kind of command word, I’ll just put it in the only language he can speak, Draconic. I wrote down the list in the draconic written language as well, and the words would be in the elven spoken language, just as another cypher to make sure that my notes are not easily figured out. After a bit more time, and with breakfast having been done and not needed to be picked up, I decided to head out early and check out the area around work, to see if I could spot some long-term storage options. Doing a fair amount of recon but finding nothing that was really striking, I finally made my way to work and finished up on my notes for the morning.

Monday, June 11, 2018, 8:00 PM Norfolk

*****

Well, that workday was fun, considering that I had all of the rifles already mounted in a new rack that had been placed in my new workshop. I grabbed the first one and started cleaning it and checking the condition of everything, using Prestidigitation and Mending throughout to make everything “brand-new”. Looking it over, I figured out something else that I could do, limiting it just to the scope, but that this was something that I would have to approach with caution. I could turn their scopes into what might be the equivalent of my goggles, but that would be expensive and time consuming, and I would only approach this later on, as they would be OBVIOUSLY magical at that point, and I don’t know if that would spark an “arms race” for magical equipment. I imagined sniper teams with extended reach scopes, cloaks of elvenkind, rings of sustenance or the equivalent, and other things that would benefit them.

After I finished processing the sixteen rifles through the cleaning, mending, and oiling via prestidigitation and mending, I set everything back on the original rack and stepped out to talk to Bob. Bob was waiting in his office, with Doug, and I knocked and waited to be addressed. I informed Bob that I would be working on the special order now, and that I would see how many I could get done. Bob thanked me, and told me that I wouldn’t be bothered, I thanked him and said that I would get as far as I could with them before the end of the day, before addressing Doug to tell him good morning and that I hoped his weekend went well. Doug told me that he heard about my house, and I shrugged, saying that the company that worked to relocate me had owned the house, and while I had lost some things, nothing was lost that couldn’t be replaced.

Bob didn’t say anything specifically about it at that point, and I went on to start work on the rifles. I set up the ritual table, with the required salt and started the ritual for the first rifle. After an hour of meditation, the salt all disappeared into the rifle, enhancing the quality. After that hour, I stood up and stretched before starting up on the second rifle, performing the same ritual again. After that second hour, I unlocked the door and went to use the restroom and get refocused before heading back into my workshop.

I started up on the third rifle, set up the salt circle, and started the meditation for the ritual. The third rifle was just as quick as the first two, also, just as long. Throwing caution to the wind, I decided that I was going to get the fourth rifle in the series done. The ritual’s setup didn’t take any less time, and neither did the meditation, but thankfully, it allowed me to get the fourth of four possible rifles done. Considering that I had another pallet of salt available, taken in advance from my remuneration, I thought about it for a few minutes before going out to talk to Bob again.

Bob was available at that point, and welcomed me into his office, before closing the door. He asked me how it was going, and I told him that I had gotten four of the rifles completed, but that there was another option that could be effective going on from here forward, but that I cautioned him that it might be a bit hard to keep under wraps. Bob asked me what it was, and I told him that since getting back from the island, I had developed the ability to actually enchant non-armor and non-weaponry-based items with effects. Bob asked me what kind of effects these could be, and I pulled off my goggles before handing them to him to try. Bob took off the glasses that he was wearing, and put the goggles on, before being astounded by the level of clarity it brought for distance vision.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

I told him that this was only the beginning, and that there were items that I could eventually make that could make people smarter and would already impress skills into their mind, or give them an increased ability to hide, or increase the carry capacity of people, or many other things. I added that I could even now make belts that would allow those who used them to heal, like I had showed him before. Bob was astounded and asked what kind of timeframe that takes. I shrugged, saying that there was a lot that I was going to have to figure out, not the least of which was where I could set up a secret lair that couldn’t be accessed by anyone but the people I trusted. He listened intently, as I continued with saying that I was going to have to split my time between getting the rifles done, and getting things enchanted, but that just meant that it would take longer, adding that I could probably process something similar to the goggles in five days easily, but something similar to my healing belt in just two.

Bob looked at me oddly, and I just shrugged, noting that there wasn’t anything really all-encompassing for determining how long it would take to enchant something, except for noting that advanced versions of items usually quadrupled the time it took to make the previous item, for likely only a doubling of the advancement. Bob noted that it sounded terribly complicated, and I agreed that it was, and I explained that it was often easiest to try to get the gist of what someone wanted and try to figure out the most efficient way to do so after the desired result is explained. Bob asked me to keep him apprised as to possibilities, but that he’d certainly be willing to look into something that would keep someone from dying if they got shot. I remembered that there were definitely items that could do that, but that there were trade-offs for each, so that you can get that belt that allows you to heal, but at the same time, you can’t also use a separate belt that increases your carrying capacity, or a belt that increases your strength or flexibility. I spoke up and clarified that I needed to make some thing quick, an extradimensional bag, that would allow me to carry my belongings with me everywhere, so that I could easily ensure that I wouldn’t lose everything again.

Bob asked what I needed for that, and I told him that I’d be using the table to start the ritual for it, and I might be able to finish it off after a few days, but that it would not get in the way of working on rifles. I added that I would ensure that I talked every bit over with him before starting a new item, and that I would take any personal requests just providing the materials needed after I get myself sorted. Bob thanked me and told me that he would think long about anything that might request, and that we could talk later about whatever he decided on. I quickly told him that I was going to rush out for food and head right back to try to get started on that enchanted backpack. Bob nodded and recommended the gyro place around to corner for rapid food.

I thanked Bob for the recommendation and got my electric bike quickly and headed over to the gyro place that Bob had indicated. I quickly ordered a gyro and paid in cash, before heading directly back to the store and heading directly into that new workshop. I ate quick and then cleaned up myself and the area before figuring out exactly what I can do. I got two hundred pounds of salt out from my pallet, and started out putting it on the table, fifty pounds at a time, with the chest-pack that I had gotten at the “Thrift Store” (the only thing I think I had left from the thrift store, actually, that I had previously made masterwork via a spell), in the center of the table. Figuring that I would need to get the rest of the salt added on periodically throughout the ritual, I set out to ensure that I knew exactly when and where to put the additional salt and got prepared.

As the ritual went forward, I adjusted the stitching a bit and added a bit more of some of the runes that would be, for the most part replications of the ones that I was making in the salt, stitched in with gold thread. I started running the ritual and the salt was again going in at a very rapid rate, depleting it at a much faster than expected rate. After the first hour, I had to add the first extra fifty pounds. It was at that point that I realized that the magical resonance of using a backpack that had been enhanced by my magic, using tools to stitch it with tailoring tools enhanced with my magic to be masterwork, on a table enchanted to be masterwork by my magic, was causing the enchantment to run even faster than normal. I successfully figured out the cause, and rode the extra magic, further increasing the magic that can be pumped into this backpack.

After the second hour, I had needed another fifty pounds of salt added, which I did, dedicatedly. After that third hour, there were not any fantastic changes, but I felt that the enhancement needed closing. I didn’t know the spell that was required to seal this enchantment in, but I could manipulate the energies my own way, and succeeding in wrangling them, just enough, with my inspiration. The bag was completed, with the two side pouches each capable of holding two cubic feet, or twenty pounds, not the one-quart pouch holders that normally would be held. The central back portion of the bag now can hold up to eighty pounds of material, up to eight cubic feet of material.

The front pouch, which was itself removable, was left non-magical as part of the enchantment, and can thus be enchanted separately, apparently. I resolved to have this set up with its own enchantment, maybe similar to an item termed a “Pathfinder’s Pouch”, but that would take a while, knowing what I know now about the difficulties in not knowing the arcane spells an item relies upon to be created. One positive of the rest of the backpack, was that it was a lot more durable now, having taken some of the physical essence of both the table surface and the salt, making it significantly stronger than just the base material would have normally been. I am certain that this is just due to some residual mystical energy, but the fact that this one time was a happy occurrence, does not mean that the next time will be the same. I resolved to ensure that I had a sufficient ritual table in the next place where I would continue my work.

Getting ready at the end of the day, I packed up all of my stuff into a MUCH LIGHTER backpack now and thought about more improvements that can be made to the bike itself overtime. Making it Masterwork was a given, depending on how much salt it would take. Maybe also enchanting a couple of “saddlebags” to be holding as well wouldn’t be lost. If I can’t find a way to have a good base, I can set up everything to be a mobile base. As I was heading out for the day, Bob stopped me to ask what I was going to plan to do about housing.

As we both stepped into his office, I thought about it for a minute and then I offered up that I was going to use this month that S.H.I.E.L.D. was giving me in the hotel to get all of my plans together, and that after a week, if I could not figure anything out, I would seek out an apartment or something else. Bob looked a bit shady, and mentioned that he had an idea, if I wanted to use it. I told him that I was more than willing to listen to him, and he carefully laid out how I should use the business address to get a post office box for any mail that I might need shipped to me (mail is a thing here?), and also use the address and the post office to try to secure a storage unit at one of the reputable storage places. He pointed out that I could easily use the storage unit to keep any of the non-essential items that I might acquire, or say, make it look like that, and then get a hideaway in the back for when I needed to have a more secure place to rest, and then I could go about resting wherever I could find that would be safe. This seemed to me to be a really rational solution, so I figured that I would start on that tomorrow before I arrived at work.

I thanked Bob for his help, and for the opportunities in doing this, and told him that I would continue to try to figure out more of what I can do to help both him and the “good guys”. This honestly wasn’t an issue of me not wanting to help others, it was more of an issue of me not being able to help on such a high level of quantity. I can knock out four rifles a day, maybe helping one group of high-end soldiers a week. That it to say nothing about the timeframes it would require for actually enchanting items. Then again, if all I ended up doing was mass-producing was a variant of that healing belt which only allowed you to heal three times a day, and even then, if it only did so for one of those times in the instance of falling unconscious from damage or injury, I figure that I could get the quantity of salt required to decrease dramatically, maybe three bags of sand for each belt?

It would have to be limited to honorable service members of the country, or something similar, but then I could reasonably crank one out a day, and those special teams would be so much more likely to survive anything in their missions. Maybe it is just something to ponder. I rode the electric bicycle back to the hotel where I got it back up into the room, before coming back down to get dinner in the restaurant in the hotel. It was automatically charged to the room, since I was a resident, so I enjoyed a burger and fries, with a nice whiskey. After my meal, during which no one bothered me, I went back upstairs and relaxed out of the changed clothing that I was hiding my true status in.

I waited until dusk and let the balcony door unlocked and open for Rex. He seemed like he was happy enough with the arrangement for today, so I noted that tomorrow would probably be a repeat of today, as long as nothing dramatic happens. Rex agreed with the arrangement for at least another day, noting that this at least seemed somewhat right to him, living in a cave high overlooking a body of water that he can go fishing in. I could only feel for him, having probably been born on that smuggler’s ship, away from where his aerie would have been far to the south. I finished up my boring day with cleaning and mending everything to get it ready for tomorrow.