Needing a Skilled Craftsman

[Storm Veritas]

The thought of gloves hadn't even occurred to Storm; he wasn't sure how a craftsman could possibly be that good. The scales were hard to move and ultra strong; Storm had to work just to bend them at all.

Upon second thought, he couldn't well bend iron without use of his abilities either, so perhaps he was just stupid with relation to the skilled arts.

"That would be tremendous; I can be flexible with coin if you are as good as you seem to think you are. My lone request is that the gloves be separate from bracers. There are times I will want just the bracers so I can wear them under dress clothes; discretion isn't as possible with gloves on. Other times, both will be very useful."

Storm Veritas found himself full of unusual optimism at the promise of more work being turned over.

[redford]

John grabbed the other scale, holding it up in the light like the first. If the wizard had enough dragonscale, John could make the segmented bits necessary to cover his fingers and craft a pair of gloves.

He nodded to Storm, taking his instruction. He'd have to make them smaller to fit under clothing, which actually worked in his favor.

"If you've got enough scale here, I think I can. I'll get some leather for them, arctic beast would work best for the gloves under the scale." He raised an eyebrow at the sorcerer. "If you're flexible enough with the coin."

[Storm Veritas]

The confidence and keen eye of the blacksmith was reassuring. The small conformations of his hand and ad hoc measurements that John was making lent a great deal of effort to fine details; it was clear he was collecting sufficient minutiae to execute. Storm was a little concerned about the cost, given the difference in complexity. Regardless, the value was clear.

"You can see the scales I was able to pluck. The rest of the scales were being burned in Jormungstadt, so I'm afraid what you see is what you get. In terms of flexibility, I can go up a good deal from the 100 I had mentioned. That said, I don't let anyone f*ck me unless they buy a dinner and bottle of wine first."

Storm joked, but kept his eyes serene and fixed on the blacksmith. The titanic worker seemed as though he was being straightforward, but if he grew nervous, it would be a dead tell that he was hiding exorbitant costs.

[redford]

John raised an eyebrow at Storm. Though a little surprised at his remark, the half-giant could hardly blame him for trying to ensure good craftsmanship at a fair price. He spoke to the wizard as plainly and honestly as he could.

"Didn't plan on it. A good piece of hide'll be about one hundred, call the work worth one-twenty-five, and ye'll have yer bracers, plus a pair of shiny gauntlets. I'll need to get some tools, but that's something I been meaning to do for a while."

He turned the scales over, mentally slicing them apart into the pieces that would become the sorcerer's bracers. He was convinced he could do it.

[Storm Veritas]

It seemed too good to be true, but he wasn't about to tempt the fates. If the blacksmith was as good as he estimated, the job would be within his means.

"Done." He smiled as he stepped back politely, releasing his fingers from the ultra-precious scales.

He smiled as he popped out his cherrywood pipe; within seconds a thin plume of blue-grey smoke wafted up evenly aside the booth.

[Storm Veritas]

(Is this done?)

[redford]

(I thought so, let's finish it out.)

So agreed, John gets the allotted gold, and Storm gets the specified items.

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Transaction complete!