A Specific request...

[DarkStorm]

A sense of baseless deja vu tried to claw its way to the surface. Aiden suppressed the eerie emotion with as much mental strength as he could muster. He had lived for many years and had traveled far and wide across these lands, but his memory told him with absolute certainty that he had never been here before. He knew that it was simply his mind playing tricks on him, like a glimpse of faltering light and swaying shadows in the corner of his eye, startling for a moment then gone. He had been this way for many days. Ever since he had left his son, Chance, with Lillian.

Few things could ruffle the man. He had once been placed into a situation where he had been forced to fight a battle against three enemies, naked, with nothing but a wooden oar. For some reason, that situation hadn't disconcerted him nearly so much as he was now. His mind seemed unable to focus. The only thought constantly in his mind was 'is he okay?' Trying to ignore that nagging question, Aiden Darkstorm pulled open the door of the weapons shop he had been looking for. Funny, how he had no problem killing someone off the street, and yet when his thoughts turned to his young son, he turned into nothing more than a giant teddy bear. Granted, a teddy bear that would hang someone by their own intestines, but a teddy bear none the less.

Inside, light glinted dully off steel weaponry. Spikes, razor edges, chains, and hundreds of other odds and ends met his gaze, hung on walls and laid on display racks. It was as if he had stumbled into a haven for all of his darker instincts, or a shop offering him a thousand new methods of solving his problems. As he stopped before what seemed like a cross between an axe and a sword, Aiden shook his head and felt a great swell of sympathy for the poor bastards that believed, heart and soul, in diplomacy. Nothing was quite so therapeutic as putting someone else in as much pain as you were in.

After a few seconds of ardently examining the weapon, he looked away. His emerald eyes searched among the instruments of death, looking for whatever admirable soul maintained such a lovely shop. When he had located the merchant, he spoke.

"Hail!" Aiden's mane of dreadlocks rustled slightly as he bowed his head in respectful greeting. "Quite a marvelous shop you've got here!"

Aiden approached, and pulled a cloth bag from behind his belt, where it had been hidden by his drab yellow trenchcoat. Pulling open the draw string, he dropped it on the counter.

"I am looking for a very specific weapon. It's called a Torch staff. It's much like a metal staff, except the top has a Torch cage." Aiden wasn't sure if his explanation had been solid enough for the merchant to recognize the weapon. At a loss for words, he used his hands to make vaguely torch-esque movements. "It's like... a torch. With a long, metal handle. As tall as I am... that can be used as a torch... or to hit someone. I want it crafted in as good a metal as three hundred gold can provide."

(Har! Sorry to whatever mod has to read my drivel for this thread. hardyharhar.)

[Artifex Felicis]

The cat merchant watched with interest as the latest customer entered his shop. After working a while in the bazaar, one tended to almost sense when a paying customer would enter into a shop. He sat up from cutting his claws on his hands. The file was made of adamantine, a special gift given to him from a Citadel monk from a long time ago. It was the only thing on Corone that could probably be used to keep his claws manageable.

HE sat up as the man neared, listening to his request with curiosity. It was a strange request, but Lionel had heard harder ones to fulfill, and this one was considerably more practical then adding ninety spikes to a shield in every direction. He had an inward chuckle at that. The man he sold it to had cut himself in several different places before even leaving the shop.

"Well, I can let a Damascas staff go for 200 gold, but what you're asking for confuses me," Lionel said. He got out a pencil and cleared the wooden desk of chain-mail rings. The first picture he drew had a torch attached to a pole with claws, and the torch itself could be replaced by switching the torch itself. The other picture had the end of the staff glowing, as if it was a torch itself. "Which one of these two things did you mean?"

[DarkStorm]

Aiden leaned closer to stare at the drawings. Though he was interested in the purchase he was attempting to make, he was also greatly interested in the claws attached to the fingers that had drawn the pictures. He could only fathom how useful those would be on the battlefield. How many times he'd had his weapon torn from his hand by a bashing shield, or knocked away by an errant hammer blow... how insanely useful would it be to actually have a part of your body able to act as a weapon? Aiden shook his head slightly in envy. Turning his attention back to the drawing, he tapped the first one with his right index finger, only slightly self-conscious about the dirt under his obviously chewed fingernail.

"This one. I want it so I can change out a torch at the top, but it acts as a Staff in every other sense. Also, how much would it cost to have the non-torch end sharpened, as if it were a spear?"

The idea had come to Aiden without warning, and his eyes positively glowed with the possibilities that such an instrument might bring. Stabbing, bashing, or burning. Heyo! Aiden smiled.

[Artifex Felicis]

"Not terribly much, but it'll take me a little bit to get a worthwhile way for the torch to get set up. I already have a damascas spear or two somewhere in here. Bring it here, come back in an hour, and I'll be able to have what you're looking for all rigged up and ready to do whatever you need. As for price, call it an even 300 for everything that you are looking for," Lionel explained.

He pointed towards where the pole-arms were, and stood himself, tail swishing behind him as he picked up an old failed invention for a weapon of his. Though, it would work more then enough for what the kid would want. Still, he might as well warn him now.

"That reminds me, you'll need to set the claws so they grip the wood of the torch. It ain't gonna be automatic without a very expensive enchantment 'm afraid."

[DarkStorm]

"That's just fine with me. On the battlefield, anything you don't do yourself is a questionable liability, you know? Last thing I want is to get hit with an Enchantment stripping spell, and have my weapon go all to hell."

Aiden moved immediately to where the clawed man had indicated, his eyes searching through the well-crafted weaponry. Pole-arms of all sorts met his gaze, from the simple but elegant glaive to the less common Halberd, to spears of all lengths and heads. It didn't take the man long to single out a Damascus spear that pleased him. As tall as he was, the shaft was a light gray, and felt sturdy, despite its relatively light weight. An old memory told him that this type of metal was well suited to housing magical energies, though that could be good or bad, depending on the situation. He didn't mind.

Walking back to the counter, Aiden passed the spear to the clawed man carefully and slowly, not wanting to cause damage to the merchant helping him. "Here ya go. I guess I'll be back in an hour then."

With little else to do, and no responsibilities waiting on him, Aiden found his way back to the shop before the full hour had passed, his boredom overtaking him. He entered the store quietly, and simply waited.

[Artifex Felicis]

"There we go," Lionel replied with a grin. It hadn't taken long to attach the claws to the pole, and it seemed to be solid enough that it wouldn't shake much. It was fine work, and would probably last for as long as the pole itself would.

"300 gold of course sir," Lionel replied with a grin. He handed the staff to the man anyway. He was sure enough in his own skills that the boy wouldn't be able to steal it. "Though, tell me how it is. I never really seen something like that before."

[DarkStorm]

Aiden took the Spear Torch and held it lightly, examining the clawed end of the weapon. It wasn't exactly as he'd imagined it would be, but that didn't mean he wasn't pleased with it. Smiling at the merchant, he tossed the bag of coins on to the table.

"It's perfect... There should be three-fifty in there. Keep the fifty yourself. I'd give you more, but it's all I have." Aiden smiled again, took his purchase, and left.

(Not sure if you're allowed to personally keep any extra gold made in the Bazaar, but I hope so. Thank you.)

[Artifex Felicis]

"Thanks a lot sir," Lionel replied, pocketing half of the tip and setting rest of the extra gold in a small jar that his assistant would eventually take up and profit from. The gold from the sale went into he barrel where he kept most of that gold. He waved the man out of the store, glad to actually have a customer who thanked him more then with a "I really apreciate it" then later complained about the service.

The cat merchant smiled, then went back to his work on his chainmail, waiting until someone else was ready to buy something.

((Transaction Complete!

350 gold taken away, 200 real gold will remain at time of thread completion. If his request is granted, then 50 to me as well.))