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People say the honest things when they think no one can over hear them. This city speaks of dread. It whispers it's worries under hushed voices in the back alleys and the darkened corners.
The somber thought occurred to me as I packed a travel bag.
To ensure the safety of my people I have to leave them. A vexing feeling in the back of my mind claws forward ever so often these days…
Am I abandoning them? To seek allies in a time of war is the right course of action. It must be. Without them, surely we cannot stand against the enemy.
After our breakfast escapade with my friends, we met with Viane and Aisling.
If one were to say the conversation went well, I wouldn’t call them a liar… But I also wouldn’t be able to say they were right either. The elves agreed to allow us to meet with their government, a council made up of their strongest political clans.
And if that was the sole outcome, with no other catches, I would have said that things went great.
However there was one catch.
A single drawback which could leave us in a terrible position.
“…and in accordance with the Strifelands-Edendry Defense Treaty of twenty-seven ninety-three, signed with the Van’Ixian Alliance, in which the Aestori of Starfall were incorporated and the Vanixian Empire was formed, we recognize that our nation is under obligation to defend against aggressors opposing the Empire.”
Lady Aisling had been speaking for about ten minutes straight. When she finally came to the conclusion; Julius, Hailey, and I remained silent.
Not too sure what the other two were thinking, but I was having a rough time trying to digest every detail.
I had thought I knew a lot about the Empire, but in as short a conversation as this one, Lady Aisling had referenced a dozen instances I had zero knowledge about.
Julius fidgeted in his seat, though remaining to appear calm and collected. He crossed his hands and spoke concisely.
“But you aren’t able to determine whether or not we can legitimately considered to be members of the Empire.”
Lady Viane nodded her head.
“Regrettably, neither of us can make that determination. Placere—um, please, understand that it has been decades since our people have had contact with any imperial consulars. We must ask that you appear before the Tribunal.”
“And this, tribunal, they will be able verify our claims?”
“So long as what you claim is true, they will be able to confirm it very quickly. There should be no worries on your part—”
Lady Aisling quickly shot her hand up to interrupt her counterpart.
“There is one minor concern. Our legislative body calls for a recess at the equinox of the spring season. If you wish to meet with them while they are in session you will have to journey to the Enclave before then.”
“That’s in less than two weeks!”
“Lady Viane and I would be willing to accompany your delegation to the Enclave. With the two of us, it is unlikely you would be held up in the forests and could make it just before the sessions are over.”
And so, I was now frantically packing my things to depart the city as soon as possible.
I gazed wistfully out the window, peering out upon a sea of clay-tiled homes. Only a few derelict buildings remained to be renovated, testaments to a war once fought against what seemed to be an unbeatable enemy.
Tightening my fists, I resolved myself.
The Axian traitors are not an unbeatable enemy either. We’ll get the elves to aid us. We have to.
----------------------------------------
Civilians of all sorts were bustling around the streets of Tolin. The city’s market district had been revitalized, now a thriving center of commerce. Many stalls had been built to house the few refugees who either were merchants in their past lives, or those who wanted to start a new trade.
Through the efforts of a few talented mages and a handful of veteran fishers we had resolved our people’s food crisis.
The small amount of Republic currency we had in circulation was bolstered with numerous stop-gap policies to prevent the price of goods from exceeding predetermined caps.
The goal was to keep a sense of urban regularity. It seemed to be working for now, though I had little faith our quasi-socialist system would work in the long term.
“You could’ve had whatever this is delivered to the manor. I doubt you really need to go yourself.”
I sighed at the pretentious comment. While my shopping partner was probably correct, I wasn’t walking the streets today to purchase anything in particular.
Julius had insisted on accompanying me through the city, quoting regulations and safety concerns until his face began to turn varied shades of blue.
“And if it showed up with the wrong size fittings, what then? Keep playing delivery tag until we get it right?”
I hadn’t shared my true intentions with him. If I told the newly minted Commander that I intended to disguise myself to spy on the daily lives of my citizens, he most definitely would not have allowed me to do so.
Instead, I told a lie—well, not really a lie so much as it was a truth that made for a good cover.
Rhia and Dori had sent word to the manor that they had completed work on an order I’d placed three weeks ago, and I needed to check in with them about a certain undefined object before a certain Celestial Goddess caused me any more grief.
So under the pretense that we were going to the blacksmith to have new armor fitted, I set out on the town with Julius.
He shook his head but remained silent.
I purposefully dragged him along the long way through the markets, casually stopping at stores along the way to eavesdrop on the patrons.
My intention was that if the people seemed content with their current situation, I’d be able to set off tomorrow for the elven enclave. But if they were distressed or came off as subversive, then I would postpone the journey until we could resolve any issues.
Either when I was satisfied, or pulled along by my impatient bodyguard, we’d continue on to the next shop.
Eventually we reached the blacksmith—no longer a myriad of tents surrounding a stone forge, but instead a proper brick and mortar smithery.
“Oi!”
A broguish shout greeted us as we entered the shop.
The clamoring of hammers hitting against steel rang throughout the entire building.
Dörien, our Dwarven master artificer approached us.
“Will ye’ look at who just came ‘round! Go on ‘den, welcome the Empress, would ‘ya?”
Our resident Master Artificer shook her fist at a group of apprentices working nearby.
“There’s really no need for any grandstanding, Dori. We’re here as customers, that’s all.” I waved the rushing workers away frantically. “Please, don’t let us disturb your forge!”
“Aye, Aye. If ye’ insist. Here for your order, lass?”
“I am. I also needed to talk to you and Rhia about the shards you’ve taken possession over.”
Dori’s face stiffened at the mention of the shards.
“Aye. Those shards, eh?”
Rhia poked her head out from a side office, but at the mention of the shards she tried to slink back into the room.
“Oh, Rhia! Good. Have a moment? I needed to talk with you as well.”
“Of course, I’ll be right there.”
Rhia finished whatever she was doing in her room and shuffled back out to the main space to join us.
Julius had wandered off to browse the assortments of weapons stocked along shelves and racks, but I paid him little mind since I didn’t need him to discuss the shards. Not that Capricorn made it seem like it was a super hush-hush secret, but the less people involved I imagined the better.
“Alright ladies, I need to get those shards back from you. It’s kinda crucial I get them as soon as I can.”
“You need them back?”
I nodded at Rhia, “Yep. Really important.”
“Ye’ need ‘em back… as the shards?”
“Did you manage to do something with them? However they are, I need any and all of their material back.”
“Ah. Well, ye’ don’t hafta worry about that then. Yer’ gonnae just have to wait till we start showin’ off yer’ new loot though.”
I sighed.
As long as I get the shards back, in whatever form they’re in, that should appease the restless Goddess of Magick.
“That’s fine I suppose.”
Rhia dragged a cart over that contained a red-marked wooden crate, “We’ve got a few things for you to get fitted into.”
She pried the top open using the clawed end of her hammer and began to pull out its contents.
A cloth-wrapped bundle came out first, followed by one metal plate after another—a breastplate, pauldrons, and finally a twin pair of what I assumed were wristguards.
Rhia brushed away a few stray packing chips that had fallen onto the tabletop while transferring the armor from its box.
“Which pieces do you wanna start with?”
“May I take a look at them before we strap them to my body?”
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I tried to give my response a lighthearted chuckle, but it probably sounded more like a bout of nervousness.
“I promise that nothing here will combust into flames when you touch them—”
Rhia’s eye darted to the wrapped item. She gently pushed it aside conspicuously, then gestured widely to the remaining pieces.
“—I promise that none of these pieces will burst into flames.”
Julius had sneaked up on us, clearing his throat loudly, drawing her attention.
“Really! Honest, these are one-hundred percent safe.”
“And the one hiding under the cloth that you’ve isolated there?”
“Ah. Well, you see—”
“Tha’ ones another of our masterpieces. A blend o’ true blacksmithin’ and master artificin’!”
“Another masterpiece that’s likely to spontaneously combust… Are all of your great works subject to such volatility?”
“Ahh, what’s a wee bit o’ fire ‘tween pals?”
Julius rubbed his knuckles against his temple.
“I don’t imagine whatever is wrapped up there could burn down the forge, Julius. It’s probably okay.”
“Aye, listen to the lass, ye’ll be fine.”
“That said, I would still like to take a look at each piece before I go fitting it to my person.”
“Of course, please do. Here, I’ll unwrap this one first. This should satisfy your prime concern today.”
Rhia gently removed the cover-cloth from the mysterious, probably flammable, object; revealing a sooty colored metal band.
My prime concern? What is she talking about…
The dark band was almost a full circle made of twisting black metal. A break in the circlet, around where the forehead would be, had two sharp talon-like exaggerations that completed the ends.
It was simplistic from a quick glance, but at a closer look there were veins of red and orange running through the metal.
LOOTABLES
ITEM
ATTRIBUTES
DESCRIPTION
UNNAMED CIRCLET
+5 Wisdom
+1 Luck
[UNNAMED]
{MYTHICAL}
An exquisite ebony circlet imbued with the down feathers of a juvenile phoenix.
When struck, the wearer gains BLAZING BARRIER.
Bound.
Unnamed circlet huh? Imbued with phoenix feathers…
My eyes narrowed in on the two craftswomen. With my suspicions cast on them, both looked away quickly and pretended not to have noticed.
I focused on the BLAZING BARRIER effect and a new window displayed.
INSPECTION
SPELL
SCHOOL
CLASS
DESCRIPTION
BLAZING BARRIER
Fire
Passive
Individuals affected by this spell are protected by a wreath of flames that damages nearby foes.
“I’ve got a few questions. First, let’s talk about the item imbuement. Phoenix feathers? Where did you get your hands on something like that?”
Both Rhia and Dori exchanged glances. Their expressions betrayed them though, since neither had an answer at the ready.
Rhia opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself.
“Rhia?”
“We… May have asked Commander Brooks if she had any rare enhancement materials for a surprise for you. I’m not sure where she got them from, it never even crossed my mind to ask.”
“Of course they’re from Hailey…” I muttered under my breath. “Okay. Question two. What in the Aether does mythical mean?”
“Ah, well that probably is because it’s made of really unique materials. It might be that the item is so rare that it received the blessings of the Gods themselves.”
Which God would bless an item made for me? Not that I expect Capricorn to tell me when she does things, but you’d think this would have come up in conversation this morning.
Did Virgo do something? She’s been absent since I returned from our bizarre stay in the afterlife.
“What were the rest of the materials used? I get the phoenix feathers. Those would be pretty rare. But you said unique materials, as in, more than one.”
The two looked towards each other once more.
Dori sighed heavily, “Aye. Fine! We’ll tell ye’, but promise ye’ won’t get mad about it, wontcha?”
Rhia and Dori explained that with a lot of trial and error they’d managed to get the undefined shards to bind with a platinum alloy.
When heated together in a crucible the platinum mix became unstable, dissolving into a bubbly mess that filled the forge with a strong smell close to sulfur. The metal blackened and eventually the reaction stabilized. Leaving the smiths with a container of an alloy neither of the two had ever seen.
“Sanguinaerite.”
“Huh?”
“That’s what it was called when I appraised the new metal.”
“Didn’t I tell you both, explicitly, not to appraise it?”
“Ye’ said not to appraise the shards. An’ we dinnae appraise the shards.”
Julius pointed behind me in alarm. “We can argue over the semantics of your orders once we deal with whatever in the Aether that is!”
Quickly spinning around, I took a leap back to distance myself from whatever had caused Julius to get spooked, but let my guard down once I had clear vision.
An unnerving chill ran down my spine as a portal opened in the middle of the forge. The ripple in the air, paired with the arcs of magick was enough to frighten off the laborers and junior smiths.
Out of the center of the portal, a streak of white fur zipped onto the top of a nearby workstation.
Capricorn loomed down on us, with a look of annoyance that was palpable.
“Airis! Get behind me, take Dori and Rhia out of here. I’ll fend off whatever this creature is.”
Instead of following the advice of my brave and daring knight, I placed a hand on his shoulder and stepped ahead.
“Leave it, Julius. This one is harmless.”
“Harmless? I could level this entire city in an instant. I am the embodiment of the Aether and could call down a spell with such destructive power that generations would talk of the calamity it caused.”
Capricorn’s voice gnawed at my mind.
“I know you can. But you won’t, because it would cause both of us a lot of grief, wouldn’t it?”
“Airis, what is going on? What is that thing?”
“Why, Julius, is this anyway to greet your Goddess? After we spent so much time practicing magick together.”
Jumping to the table we’d gathered around, Capricorn stuck her snout towards Dori.
“Leave it to a dwarf to find a way to explicate an undefined object.” Capricorn paused momentarily, sniffing at Dori. “You’re a long way from home, Dwer’in.”
Dwer’in… Wait, was Dori a mountain dwarf?
Dori snapped back at the celestial fox, dragging my attention back to the present issue.
“Aye. An’ that be my business, lady fox. I’d thank ye’ to keep out of it.”
“Well, you’ve delved into my business pretty deep already. Only seems fair I get to do the same. Regardless. I am not a fox. And what you’ve done here shouldn’t have been possible. Yet, here is a functional item made mostly from an undefined object.”
Capricorn rolled her eyes and trotted over to the circlet. A swipe of her paw and a window displayed over the item. It was written in the same indecipherable symbols as the time she inspected me, but I could still tell that it showed a whole lot more information than my appraisal did.
Her interface scrolled on for a while as she touched certain blocks and quickly spun incantations. There was a brightly colored line of text that she spent a noticeable amount of time glaring at before making some elaborate swiping motions that resulted in it being removed.
“At the very least, you’re all lucky it didn’t turn out to be an uncontrollable curio that could cause the end of your little world. Anyway, I’ve given the thing a name now. You shouldn’t get any feedback errors when appraising it.”
I pulled up a more detailed appraisal of the circlet.
INSPECTION
ITEM
ATTRIBUTES
DETAILS
CROWN OF RETRIBUTION
+5 Wisdom
+1 Luck
An exquisite ebony circlet imbued with the down feathers of a juvenile phoenix.
When struck, the wearer gains BLAZING BARRIER.
Bound.
» CLASS: MYTHICAL
» STATUS:
» ORIGINAL OBJECT
» MATERIAL: ALLOY [SANGUINAERITE PLATINUM]
As I was inspecting the newly named item Capricorn jumped through one of her quickly cast portals. Leaving me to deal with the aftermath of explaining the events to the frightened smith workers.
It took some time to convince everyone of our concocted story, that the strange spirit animal that appeared in the middle of the room was a guardian given to me by the Goddesses.
With order restored to the forge, we continued to look through the rest of the new gear. Rhia brought the pieces of plate armor together.
LOOTABLES
ITEM
ATTRIBUTES
DESCRIPTION
CHROMASTEEL BREASTPLATE
+82 Armor
+11 Toughness
An exquisite breastplate of alloyed steel, complete with matching ornately patterned shoulder plates.
CHROMASTEEL BRACERS
+36 Armor
+3 Toughness
+1 Reflex
Exquisite plate bracers with embossed leather fitting.
Chromasteel? I think I remember seeing this word somewhere before—but where?
I looked to Rhia and Dori for answers.
“Is this chromasteel a kind of dwarven alloy?”
“Yes and no. It’s made using a compound metal native to the Dunkreel region in the old empire, chromite. Chromite is an iron rich oxide material that is one of the few sources of proper chromium.”
“Aye, the Hill Dwarves o’ Dunkreel were the only provider o’ chromium in the whole empire. It’s basically a dwarven alloy, but this ‘ere chromasteel is actually an elvish alloy.”
Dori looked downright reverent when talking about the elves and their metal alloy.
Rhia continued on since Dori’s attention trailed off.
“The Dunkreel clan have added chromium to their steel since the first forge hearths were given form. It has amazing anti-corrosion properties, and strengthens the steel to boot.”
Back to normal, Dori jumped back into the conversation.
If I didn’t know better, I swear she’d been possessed by a spirit by the way she raged on about the metal.
“But those crafty elves did beat the Dunkreel at their own game, see. Deep in the heart o’ the Aestori grovelands lies the only known, and fiercely guarded, deposit of vanadium. They added a tiny amount in when forgin’ their steel, an’ the alloy comes out with right proper resistances to shock and vibrations. Ye’ could take a blunted swing straight to the chest an’ hardly feel a thing.”
“While I appreciate the top-tier materials, lets postpone any blunt force trauma testing for the time being. Julius, care to help me into my deathcage?”