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."

[Revenant]

The awkwardly pleasant smile faded from William's face, replaced by a slight, snarling scowl. It was for the best, really, as the polite, jovial facade was beginning to wear thinly over the boiling cauldron that existed at all times just beneath the Revenant's surface.

"Pardon if I heard that incorrectly," William said, a low growl rumbling in the back of his throat. "But I think you just said that 1350 pieces of gold was a reasonable price to merely tighten and patch up this breastplate while you would only charge 450 more pieces to fashion the entire thing from scratch." A wave of heat rolled off of William's stocky frame, washing over the merchant and plucking beads of sweat from his thickened, calloused hide.

"Your complete lack of willingness to reconsider your price in the least, especially given what I must have clearly misheard, tells me one of three things." A spark burst to life in the depths of William's eyes, the fire within him rising to life like a whisper fanning the fledgling licks of a campfire.

"One, that you're incompetent," William gestured to the wide array of armors lining the wall. "I see that as unlikely."

"Two, you think I'm an idiot," William shrugged, a strikingly genuine gesture. "That's understandable, and there are a lot of people who've made that mistake." William's gaze bored into the shopkeeper, "But it's a mistake few people make twice." William rapped his knuckles on the breastplate's cold titanium shell, filling the shop with a hollow, empty ringing.

"The final option is that you're trying to bilk me," William issued a menacing chuckle, like hunks of coal being scratched on one another. "Honestly, I can't fault you for that one either. You're a merchant, and that means you're supposed to try to squeeze every coin that you can out of me, right?"

Having finished, William swung an arm out to gesture at the Solder Joint's product, hanging like watchers keeping a silent vigil over the negotiations. "Now I'm sure this is the point where you expect me to threaten you and your store. 'I'll teach you if you don't do what I want' and all that nonsense." Somehow, in some disturbing way, William's face became even more dour. "I'm not going to do that, because frankly that's a waste of your talents. What I am going to do is mention that vapid little thing that greeted me on my way in, and what a shame it would be for her and her entire family to meet a rather violent and painful end."

And then, as if it had all been a figment of the shopkeeper's imagination, William's demonic rage and it's tell-signs were gone and there was a pseudo-pleasant smile once more tacked to the Revenant's countenance. "Now, since you were so gracious in refusing to change your price, I'll counter with an offer that's in the same vein. I offered 1350 for the breastplate and the straps last time, and that's what I'll give you for them now."

[Jasmine]

The older man didn't flinch at his customer's display. He had faced numerous dangers in his youth and this did not frighten him.

"If you think threats to my family are going to change my mind, it you who are mistaken. I'm not so desperate for work that I can't turn you away. I do not bilk my customers, either. Such practices eventually wind up costing a man more than he gained. Now, 1350 for the whole thing is not going to work. If you're only going to give me 1350, then I can't put the sifan cloth in the straps. Sifan is just too damned expensive for me to throw it in as an aside. However, I might be able to manage to get the sifan for only 50 extra, rounding the total off to 1400."

[Revenant]

“Huh,” William said, shrugging. If he felt any disappointment at his defeat he didn’t show it. Rather he quietly slipped the breastplate back into its sack, hefted the load, and departed. He didn’t need to look behind him to know that the stoic armorer was just as emotionless and wooden as the revenant himself. It was an uncharacteristically calm response from the warrior, but it didn’t bother him to be so restrained. He had, after all, laid the consequences for unreasonable stubbornness out in front of the man and had put the option in the armorer’s hands.

Within half an hour William had found a secure location to stash the wobbly breastplate and had returned to the Solder Joint, tucking himself securely into a difficult to notice recess. He waited there, unseen and observing, for several hours, until the sun burned low enough to be eclipsed by Radasanth’s taller and more impressive structures. It was then, in the dim haze of twilight, that the shopkeeper’s youthful assistant made her way out of the shop.

“Remember what I said,” the armorer called out to her, his monotone voice blaring from the Solder Joint’s open doorway. “Hurry home tonight and give my note to your father.”

“I know Uncle,” the girl called back, bored and exasperated. She was so ready to be done with this job the woman and the odd customers that it drew. She was of the opinion, after all, that no rational, stable individual would shop at an armory with a pun for a name. It just wasn’t cool.

Not that it would matter in a couple of weeks, she thought as she tossed her Uncle’s note into a handy rubbish pile. Joshua was only weeks away from proposing and once she was married she wouldn’t ever have to worry about cranky customers with an aversion to being bilked out of their gold by her stodgy uncle. She could settle for letting Joshua pull in the money to keep them afloat while she focused on her real passion, play-acting. She’d already gotten several offers from two notable theaters down in the entertainment district that she’d had to turn down because of the almost slavish hours that her Uncle forced on her. But she was done with that, and things were looking up.

Absorbed as she was in her plans for the future, the girl never noticed William maintaining an easy pace behind her.

It was only a short walk of ten minutes from the Solder Joint back to the girl’s modest apartment, and she remained oblivious of her follower the entire time. Far too preoccupied with her own world to have a clue about what was about to happen to her and her family. It started suddenly, a quiet rush of steps as she opened the front door. Her call of arrival cut off with a strangled gasp as William’s claws suddenly emerged from her chest. On the other side of the room the girl’s mother shrieked, eliciting a savage grin of pleasure from William.

The revenant tossed the lifeless girl to one side like a sack of moldy potatoes, advancing upon the remainder of the family with grasping claws. He was halfway across the room when the girl’s father ambushed him, leaping out of a shadowy side hallway with heavy combat knife poised to strike. Steel flashing, the man cried out in mourning agony as he slashed at the intruding man of char and flame, only to watch in horror as the knife slid uselessly across William’s thick demonic hide. Delighting in the horror, William reached out with inhuman speed and plucked the man’s larynx like a summer harvester plucking fruit from a low-hanging tree branch.

Without their primary defender, the rest of the family fell quickly in a flurry of blood, screams, and tears. The girl’s mother went the easiest, but finding the hiding places of her two younger brothers took a bit longer. Even several of the over-curious neighbors got in on the action, their bloodied corpses adding to the ever growing pile of meat and bone. His work done, William was happily preparing to leave when the sound of a crying baby snatched his attention from the exit door. Grinning, William sought out the source of the sound, finding the girl’s youngest family member rolling around in a terrified panic in her room. She couldn’t have been older than eight months, and couldn’t understand what was going on around her.

William raised a bloody talon until the shadow of it caressed the infant girl but then paused. The spark of an idea flared to life in the revenant’s mind as the child’s screams washed over him. Rather than rend the baby into a slurry of visceral soup William instead brought his claws down upon his own flesh, splitting the thickened hide with only a slight effort. Glowing, molten fluid spilled forth, hot and steaming, and it was this that William flung into the child’s crib with a negligent flick of the wrist. The wound was slight, and his regenerative capabilities closed it quickly, but not quickly enough to keep the sanguine fluid from igniting the child’s blankets. Satisfied with his handiwork, William departed the building, trailed by the pained squeals of the infant burning to death behind him.

Having finished, William slipped out a side window. He didn’t fear the confrontation that would have come with departing the main entrance, but for expediency’s sake he didn’t want to have to slaughter an entire platoon of Radasanth’s guard. Besides they had other things to worry about, he thought as the fire he set in the child’s crib flared to brilliant life, roaring through the apartment behind him.

Two days later, William slipped once more into the Solder Joint, his eyes meeting the red-rimmed ones of the armorer. Keeping his face a mask of stony emotionlessness, despite the overwhelming joy he felt, William nodded once to the horrified, grief-stricken man, and left.

[Jasmine]

(Done. No sale.)

[Skie and Avery]

Plot 8/30
Story 4/10
Setting 1/10
Pacing 3/10

Character 16/30
Communication 8/10
Action 4/10
Persona 4/10

Prose 20/30
Mechanics 7/10
Clarity 9/10
Technique 4/10

Wildcard 7/10

Total 51/100

Spoils
Jasmine receives 711 EXP and 57 GP
Revenant receives 854 EXP and 107 GP

[Letho]

EXP/GP added.