Slight Repairs

[Revenant]

The avenue of smiths was generally considered one of the safer places in Radasanth’s merchant district, owing mostly to the fact that it was hard to make a fast getaway with a heavy lump of forged steel. Even so, William was sure to keep a tight grip on the thick burlap sack slung over his shoulder. He wasn’t the least bit concerned that someone would actually snatch the prize from him if they tried, but any attempt would just delay him in both the gruesome murder of the offendee and the required questioning from the Radasanth City Guard that came after such an incident. Luckily, any ill-mannered folk on the avenue this day either found him to be too imposing a target or else just couldn’t be bothered to make an attempt on a package the size of the one William was carrying.

So it was that William made it through the avenue and into the armory known as the “Solder Joint” without molestation.

[Jasmine]

A small, pretty brunette girl of about 19 years stood behind the general counter looking quite bored. The armory was filled with a number of stock items for sale but at the moment there were no customers. As the bell above the door jingled, she pasted on a smile to greet the customer.

"Hello! Welcome to the Solder... Joint. Umm, what can I do for you?" she asked. The shop belonged to her uncle. But since she didn't want to do any serious work, he'd made a deal with her parents to let her work as a cashier/secretary for his shop.

[Revenant]

William frowned, eyeing the young girl with a dubious eye. He had been led to believe that, despite the name, the Solder Joint was a place to go for high quality wares, repairs, and customization to armor. The various pieces lining the walls seemed to attest to this fact, the masterful craftsmanship obvious in the slow way that the pieces decayed under the stern gaze of his destructive enlightenment. He was expecting to be greeted by the crafter of those pieces himself, or at least an apprentice. Anyone really, but the bored Coronian girl eyeing him lazily from behind the counter.

"Hrm," William groused, shaking his head slowly. His instincts were to simply turn around and leave the shop then and there but there were few places in Radasanth that he knew of whose owners actually had the time and skill to work on the particular item that he carried in the sack behind him. Heaving a heavy sigh William stepped up to the counter and slung his bag down upon it with a heavy clang.

"I've got a particular piece I need reworked," William's voice rumbled lowly. He slid the corner of the sack back just enough to show the worn edge of a tarnished titanium breastplate. "It's a special piece, somewhat rare, and I need to know if you've got the time and expertise to fix it up."

[Jasmine]

The girl looked at it for a moment then smiled up at William. "Let me go get my uncle. He'll be better able to tell you what he can do."

Without another word, the girl slipped away into the back. A moment or two later the shop owner came out. "What can I do for you? My niece tells me you have something special that needs work. What kind of work are you needing, son?"

[Revenant]

William's frown faded somewhat at the sight of the shop's actual owner. "Well then," he groused, waving at the breastplate on the counter. "This particular piece is titanium but it's quite tarnished and more than a little worse the wear."

"I've been told you've got a bit of talent working with special materials," William said, though a quick browse of the shop showed no similar pieces. Not that that was entirely unexpected given the difficulty both attaining and working with the alloy. "The first order of business would be to ask whether you're capable of working with this piece or not?"

[Jasmine]

The armorer ran his hands over the breastplate, a look of concentration on his face. It wasn't often that he got the chance to work with titanium.

"If you're just looking to get it looking pretty again, that should be no trouble. But you don't strike me as a man that worries overmuch about how good your equipment looks. Are you looking to improve it at all? I can work with it no problem, but I'd rather not guess at exactly what you hope to gain, sir."

He waited patiently for an answer. In the back of his mind he was quite excited to have the chance to work with such a piece of equipment, but he was careful not to let that show on his face.

[Revenant]

"How it looks ...," William trailed off into a grumble as he looked over the grit and other unsavory items marring the breastplate's appearance. He returned his attention to the armorer with a chuckle and a shrug. "Cleaning it up would make it a bit more fashionable I suppose, but you're right that it isn't just a polishing that I'm looking for."

Satisfied that the armorer would be willing to work on the breastplate, though unsure if able, William pulled the piece completely from the bag and held it up. "As you can see," he indicated, wiggling some of the loose plates and rusted mail, "the breastplate itself is still functional but will need some severe work to pull it together again."

He then dropped his pack and slid the breastplate on, scowling slightly at the lines of grime that it left on his clothing. "It's also a bit large and doesn't fit a person my size just right." William demonstrated by shaking a bit and watching the armor weave about him in a fashion that would be more of a hindrance than a help in a fight. Noticing the look in the armorer's eye he continued, "But the size of the armor isn't exactly the problem."

"I need the armor to be able to remain at the size it currently can fit while also being able to retract to cover me as I am right now." He pulled the breastplate back over his head and tossed it onto the counter. "Not that it really matters but I have magical enhancements that make me a bit bigger than normal during combat."

[Jasmine]

The old man raised an eyebrow, "How much bigger? For that it might be best to enchant the straps to adjust to whatever size is needed. For the breastplate itself... hang on a moment and let me think."

He picked up the breastplate and turned it over and over in his hands. His eyes followed every line of the armor, mentally filling in what would need to be done. The metal was still good, if a little worse for wear, but that was not too much of an issue. After a silent minute or two, he set it down and scribbled his notes on a piece of scrap paper.

"The breast plate itself will cost about 1350. What do you want to do about the straps? I can do an enchantment for about 150, that would be the easiest thing to do. Otherwise, I can set up a link system that will let the straps out as you grow. When you get back to your normal size, you'd just need to pull the excess strap back down into place."

[Revenant]

"1350," William mused, pulling at his chin in thought while his free hand idly tapped his gold pouch. William paused, letting his eyes settle on the breastplate. Jomil's cursed blessing weathered the metal in his sight, chipping and scratching at the dull gray metal and revealing the weakest spots within it. Despite it's current condition the metal was still strong and would be hard to break, especially once fixed up properly. There was also the fact that the rare alloy was as light as mythril and highly resistant to heat and explosive concussions, things which were a part of William's very nature. There was a reason that the metal was extremely unknown outside of Alerar, and even in its damaged state the breastplate would be worth a small fortune. Still, even though there were those who would claim that any price was worth it to own such an exquisite piece, William wasn't looking at his investment to be part of a fashion statement.

"That's not going to work, my friend. By Haidia, you don't even have to get any fresh material once it's pared down to the size I need it. I'm not asking you to make me a suit of armor from scratch here, just pull a small section out so that it can be re-sized easily, tighten it up, and smooth out the rough patches." William looked back down at the breastplate, rolling it over to look over the damage again.

"Then there's the straps, or whatever we decide is needed to allow for the expansion. I want to keep enchantments off this if possible. Magic and I aren't exactly fond of each other," William paused, seeing a querulous look from the armorer. "Aside from the battle enchantments," he added.

"This link system that you'd be able to rig up for it," William rapped on the breastplate's sides where the armorer had indicated the links would be placed. "What about putting some small strips of sifan silk inside them? I've heard that sifan silk is tough as cloth comes and stretches easily but completely returns to its normal size once the force on it is removed. I know it's a bit harder to obtain but I'm sure a Radasanthian in high regard such as yourself shouldn't have much trouble getting a few scraps from the silk merchants."

"If you can get the links with the sifan silk to pull itself back into position once the size change wears off I'll give you your 1350 pieces of gold, otherwise with the enchantment that I'm loathe to get, I'll only offer 1200."

[Jasmine]

"I can do the sifan cloth, but it is expensive. I won't need a lot of it to make straps though, so I can probably do sifan straps for 125. Now, for your breastplate itself 1200 is entirely too low. 1350 is quite reasonable. After all a new titanium breastplate would cost around 1800. 1350 for the armor itself and sifan cloth straps would be 1475."