Hidden Deep In The Sole

[Xulltana]

Xulltana had heard rumors about this place. But never did he think the rumors to be true. The outside wasn't all elegant as the inside, but everything he had heard was true so far. His feet were starting to hurt as he stepped on stones and branches scattered throughout the town by the wind.

Opening the door, a bell was hit, sending an alarm throughout the store that someone had entered. No one was in here, and why not was a good question. The armor and sheilds were polished so they reflected the light from the window, sometimes into a blinding light you had to sheild your eyes from it. But Xulltana had only one thing in mind, until he saw it.

He could smell the wood from here, as a newly made bow hung on the wall. He had spent so long away from crafting them, that he had forgotten the smell of the wild. Staring in awe, he wished so hard he could afford something as amazing as that bow. He could tell, just from the craftmanship, they had spent days perfecting the recurve and pull on it, tightening the string from maximum power. Arrows littered a small shelf below it, but they were nothing like what he could craft. Maybe, with his ideas, he could work in a place like this. But that would come after years of perfecting his craft. For now, he needed someone else's help.

Xulltana, now barefoot, wondered over to the counter. Every few seconds he would look back at the bow. He placed his boots upon the counter, and kept looking amongst some of more melee based weapons, his downfall.

[AdventWings]

The air within stirred only slightly with the escaping wind, breezing out through the windows opening to the woods. With the last of the fluttering leaves, soft sounds of gentle footsteps echoed through the store.

"Hello, sir." A young elf maiden stepped up to the counter, her bright azure eyes shining behind a cascade of golden blonde. There had not been many customers as of late and she was glad to see another's face. Even though he seemed to be quite older and sporting the strange, black hair on his head.

She had expected him to come looking for the bow, a masterpiece of her father's when he was still at the store. Noticing the customer's boots upon the counter, however, confused her about his real purpose here.

"How my I help you?" She stated calmly, as if having never been worried in her life.

[Xulltana]

Xulltana stood frozen for a moment, before slowly turning his head to look at her. How embarrassing this was to him now. He was barefoot in a store, when the owner had come out, only to find his boots upon her counter. But, he slowly took in a deep breath, and walked back to the counter.

"Uh, sorry about that," he stated calmly, "I need a difficult request filled, and heard this was the best place to do it at." He stood still for a moment, before realizing she would have no idea what he wanted.

"I'm not overly good with the whole melee fighting kind of style, more of a distance kind of person. But, incase I got myself into a sticky situation, I wanted a hidden weapon. So I thought about it a while, and finally came up with something." He looked from her to his boot, and placed on sideways.

"What I would like done, it to have a hidden bolt in the under part of my boot, with the trigger being in the sole. But, I would like it so that I have to hit the sole a certain way, or else everytime I stepped I would fire a bolt. That's where you come in, cause I have no idea how to go about doing that," as he said his idea, he pointed out the part of the boot that work would need to be done to.

"Think you can fill this request?" he asked, with a look of hope in his eyes.

[AdventWings]

Shana listened intently to her customer's request, musing over the idea of having a hidden weapon concealed inside a footwear. Who in their right minds would want a weapon they would simply just step on? To her, a weapon is one meant to be wielded and made known. Also, the shoe is the lowest part of the body, unworthy of having a weapon of its own.

But that was what the customer wanted. What could she say?

"I take it the bolts you refer to are crossbow bolts, sir?" She glanced up from the travelling boots standing awkwardly on her working counter, the sweet stench of old socks and moist earth starting to aggravate her senses. For whatever reason, it was best she tried to fulfill the request before the odor stuck to her wares. Or worse yet, herself.

"I understand, sir. This task will require a good bit of time and expenses, however, and the price tag would not be cheap. By my estimate..." The golden-hair elf took out a small pocketbook from her dress pocket and scribbled small bits of Raiaeran notes onto the paper before returning her attention to the black-hair archer. "...That's going to cost a total of three hundred and fifty standard gold pieces."

She would have to make it clear to the customer that custom-made items are not the norm, but luckily there were plenty of smiths who were up for the challenge. Many of her father's best friends were equally skilled with making bows, some better at one type than another. A miniature crossbow hidden in the sole of a boot... Who would thought of that?

"If the price is fine, sir, then I will need five day's time and a deposit of two hundred gold pieces up front. I can't tell you how many times this store had a custom order where the buyer simply disappeared without paying. For the time being while we work on your boots..." The merchant lady motioned with her hand towards the door, where half a dozen fimsy sandals lined side by side at the door. "You may borrow a pair of shoes for use until the work is completed. I expect them to be returned as well, sir."

((Alright, make an affirmation post if this is what you want and have him pay the deposit fee. He can return in 5 IC days and I'll make the next reply. :)))

[Xulltana]

Xulltana listened back, with the same intensity as she did. When she had finished talking, he interupted quickly, to answer her first question. "Yes, just plain and simple crossbow bolts." As he finished speaking, she started again.

When she was finished, he made sure by pausing for a minute. "Hmm, by standard gold what do you mean? 'Cause you see, I have this thing here.." he searched through his pockets until he found it and pulled it out, "Here," he said, trying his best to make the paper flat again.

He held out a type of voucher, saying it was worth three hundred gold peices. "Would this count towards your price? If so, I'll place a down payment of this, and the extra fifty when I return."

Xulltana placed the voucher down on the counter, next to his boots. He wondered to the door, and slipped a pair of the extra sandals on. they felt weird on his feet, as this was an exotic pair of shoes, compared to the ones he was used to.

He looked back a last time, and walked out the door.

((Sorry, edit because of confusion with the bonus gold. Again, sorry :D))

[AdventWings]

((Myao Myao~! Sorry this took so long! :p))

Shana gave the customer a curious look as he placed the voucher down on the table, wondering what on Althanas he was talking about. But before she could interject, the man had already left.

"...Err... sir?" The merchant girl finally found her voice, letting the words hang unanswered in the still air.

...Well, that was odd... She frowned and picked up the piece of paper. Inspecting the item closely, she questioned the reason why such a flimsy object would be worth 300 gold pieces.

Paper money. Now there's something you don't see everyday.

~~~

Five days passed by as if it was a dream and Shana found herself working at the desk once more, the same smelly-looking shoe staring back at her on top of the counter. With a worried frown, she eagerly glanced out the store window to see if the black-hair elf would return to take the item away.

From what she understood from the smith who set the mechanisms in place, the boot had a special trigger at the base of the heel made of extra-strong mahogany. If the wearer was to kick the heels against the ground hard enough, the old smith jokingly referred it as "rock-stompin' hard," a sturdy oak bolt would shoot straight out a small hole at the tip of the boot. He also mentioned that it could be loaded with only one in each boot at a time, although the reloading process was much easier done than the miniature Trakym bow itself.

But she could not believe such a dangerous weapon could be concealed in the most unlikely place...

[Xulltana]

((Sorry, this will clarify the voucher thing, I was confused, so I probably made you confused with it too.))

Xulltana panted for breath. He seemed out of shape for an adventuring elf, but if the rest of the story were known, then it would all make sense. "I..am..so stupid." he said lightly to himself, as a girl walked by and laughed. "Always...making a fool of myself."

It was finally five days later, and he could pick up his order at the local weapon shop.

He came up the other side of the shop, avoiding the windows so he could catch his breath. Once he had, he pushed open the door, hearing the familiar sound of bells of alarm. He looked at the counter, to see his boots, and the female elf hard at work with something else.

Walking up to the counter, he took a look at the wall, to notice the same bow. “I’ll get you one day..” he thought to himself. But now was not the time for this. He needed his boots; these sandals were driving him crazy. “Hello there, again.” Xulltana casual voice called out.

“I’m here for my boots, if there ready of course,” he said reaching down to take the sandals off his feet. “By the way, I made a large mistake last time. That voucher wasn’t worth three hundred gold. That was my pay slip,” he said, turning slightly read. “But here’s the rest of the pay.” And he placed another one hundred and fifty gold pieces in another money sack on the counter.

[AdventWings]

Shana frowned slightly as she saw the black-hair elf enter the store, walk over to the counter, then took off his sandals. The trail of dirt leading in from the door was the evidence she needed to remind herself the floor needed to be mopped again today.

Silently, mostly out of exasperation from the seemingly uncultured male despite being an elf, she counted the coins given to her while chiding herself for being tricked into believing a piece of paper could have been worth three hundred of those golden coins.

"Umm, I'm sorry sir, but that's only 150 gold pieces you gave me." Shana glanced back at the ranger after she had finished counting the bag of gold he had placed on the table. "The full price is 350, of which you are 200 short. I suppose you have it somewhere on you, sir, since you haven't given me anything asides from that slip of paper in your last visit.

The elf girl had to be patient to him. She promised herself she was not going to explode in another customer's face since the last time it happened. All she could do was wait quietly until the payment was done. Then, she would be rid of the "uncivilized" elf as well as his smelly boots.

((Sorry, looks like Shana isn't in a very good mood. :D))