Repairs

Thieves and pickpockets were a natural hazard of living in a thriving city. It didn't matter which city, or on which continent, you could always find them skittering about the crowds like brazen rats. There were even lands where the punishment for thieving was permanent disfigurement and places where it the punishment was even more severe than that. And certainly those laws hampered the efforts of some of society's lower ilk, but even there you could find people whose hands just couldn't stay to themselves when a fat, juicy purse was around. William stayed mindful of this as he carried his heavy burden through the city streets.

His destination today was the avenue of smiths which was fortunate for two reasons. First, the heat of the forges spilling out into the streets served as an ample mask to cover his own molten heat. He was in his human form to conduct today's business, of course, but even with the limitations on his power that it imposed, his heat was still damned noticeable on even a moderately cool day. The second benefit for doing business with the smiths was that it was a damned sight harder for a thief to make a clean getaway while hauling a forty pound sack of chain mail or a heavy lump of forge iron.

Despite the caution that he was keeping to stay away from thieves and the like, William wasn’t the least bit concerned that someone would successfully snatch his hard earned wares from him. The poor sap who tried would find the wrath of a vengeful god falling upon them, but that would lead to hysteria and then a lengthy time spent dealing with the city guard. Today would be a long one. He had places to go and things to do. Also, he had a bit of a headache and wasn't really in the mood for having to deal with things that tried his patience.

William needn't have worried. He arrived at his destination quickly and with only minor delays caused by the crowded streets. The burlap sack over his shoulder and the heavy coin purse at his hip both made it alongside him unscathed. He paused a moment to look at the sign for the establishment which he had been told could hopefully help him with his business. It was a simple wooden sign displaying a welded shoulder pad from a fresh suit of armor and the name read "Solder Joint." Rolling his eyes, William entered.

There appeared to be no one in the shop's common room, though William could hear the steady rhythm of forge hammers ringing from somewhere in the back. He called out to the armorer for assistance and then unslung the burlap sack he carried and laid it heavily onto the thick carved stone counter which served as the Solder Joint's primary transaction table. The bundle clanged against the stone with a ringing metallic sound.

Waiting patiently for the one of the blacksmith's apprentices, or perhaps the blacksmith himself, William casually browsed the wares that the shop had out for display. The Solder Joint was primarily a place to go to get armor, though there were other wares to be found as well. High quality steel chainmail hung on a model next to a shining delyn helmet. Beneath them both was a box filled with iron clamps. Across the store William could see what appeared to be a mythril kite shield, backed by Akashiman redwood, and all kept in a clear glass case which had been ringed with intricate runework. Next to it, a spiked mace pulsed with the light of some internal energy, either a work of magic or a crafting the likes of which William had never seen. At least the shop appeared to be able to deal with enchantments, something which William was unsure whether he would need on this particular trip but something that he would definitely need at some point in the future. It would be good to know a handy place in which to get such things done.

Assuming William could ever find any service here.

"Customer," he shouted to the back, finally losing patience. Hopefully, the sound would carry over the ring of hammers.

In the back, an ancient man who appeared to have no right wielding a hammer at a forge stopped for a moment. "Customer" rung through the newly silenced air and the man grumbled for a bit as he rose from his task, his decrepit joints popping with each step. The back door swung open, and the geezer took a moment to stare at the strange man before him.

"How can I help you?"

The delay made a bit more sense now that William saw the blacksmith. Years of banging heavy metals together in an enclosed space couldn't be good for one's hearing, and the Solder Joint's owner appeared to have had several lifetimes worth of it under his belt. They say that time is the best teacher, so this man either knew his business, and well, or he was really, really stubborn. Either way could be good or bad for William.

"This is something I've been toting around with me for a while," William said, perhaps a bit too loudly. He opened the burlap sack on the stone counter and pulled a tarnished titanium breastplate from it.

"Right now the piece is a bit ragged. And a bit too big for me." William slid the breastplate over to allow the blacksmith to examine it. "I need to get it sized to fit me. But here's the thing, I've got some combat magic that lets me grow bigger when I fight so I need the breastplate to be able to adjust back to this size."

"Is that something that you can do?"

(OOC, can you link me where you got the breastplate please?)

The older man glanced over the armor with a keen eye, running his fingers over the tarnish and such. "good lord, what did you do to this poor peice of armor? Drag it through the mud everyday you've owned it?" The old man tutted and grabbed a brush from under the counter and gave the piece a rough scrub. "It looks like I can peel away most of the damage...but an enchantment..." the man whistled softly.

"You're looking at about... 1,687 gold my friend. No small sum"

Out of Character:

Spoils awarded here. Full description two posts up.

William eyed the man, then the battered titanium breastplate on the counter. Then he envisioned reaching out and snapping then man's fragile neck. Then he sighed and shoved it back down, locking the burning gates behind it. The blacksmith must know his trade well, the quality of the goods in the store around him was evidence of that. Still, from what William knew of the business the price seemed awfully steep.

He hummed a quiet low buzz as his hands turned the breastplate, a sign to the blacksmith that he was thinking the offer over. He eyed the tarnished metal as he did so, his mental eye sweeping away its coating of aged grime. There was certainly work that needed to be done to fix the armor back up to working standards, but it was still already a full man-sized hunk of worked titanium. He could wear it as it was if he wanted to shift up to his war form, though he knew from experience that there would be a slight hanging to one side and that a punched seam in the bottom left would pinch into him.

"Honestly, I don't mean to tell you your craft, smith, but the price seems fairly high for a repair job. How much of that is the specialized sizing requirement and how much is the cost of fixing it back to full strength?" William paused for a moment more, his mind churning. His own inherent toughness already served quite well as armor for him, and his own bone carapace was already hard as steel and was more than up to the task of deflecting all but the most potent of weapons.

"Not saying that I'm offering to sell it," he continued, "but would you be interested in purchasing it if I were?"

William pushed the armor piece over the counter to allow the old blacksmith a better chance to examine it. Perhaps having to appraise it would change the man’s mind a little. William was certain that a piece of titanium, even one that battered, was worth quite a pretty little handful of coins. Maybe a pretty big handful of coins if the blacksmith’s initial repair estimate had been correct. Thinking about the price tag that he’d been quoted William wondered if he couldn’t simply purchase another piece of armor for that same amount, one that was already whole and wouldn’t require several weeks of repair and refitting.

He walked around the shop with the blacksmith did his work. There were several suits of armor that he hadn’t examined already. Perhaps it would give him a better idea on what to do, as well as give him a closer look at the old man’s handiwork. He only wished that he knew when the blacksmith had forged some of the pieces. Age didn’t always mean a loss of skill in matters such as these, but William couldn’t help but think that there was bound to be a loss of a certain something where swinging a hammer was concerned. Especially when the blacksmith was old enough to be a great-grandfather.

Sighing, he let his hands run over the first piece. It was a gleaming steel chest piece, not unlike his own. Though this one did lack years of encrusting mire that tended to accumulate when things became lost and forgotten underground. William wondered, for the first time in a long time, about the fate of the titanium breastplate’s owner. It hadn’t done much to keep that man alive, so why should the revenant believe that it would do any more than him? Though to be fair, despite the banged up nature of the breastplate, there were no obvious puncture wounds. A breastplate does only cover so much area, after all. Shrugging, William moved on. The gleaming steel was nice and pretty and all, but William was strong enough to tear a hold in the steel without a second thought. He would need something more durable for the situations which he tended to end up in.

Next was a worked plynt hauberk. Definitely not, William thought. The naturally flammable nature of the green metal would make it somewhat ridiculous to wear over his own burning frame. He idly wondered what would happen if he were to spill a little of his blood across the piece. Plynt was highly absorbent, from what he understood, but also burned to nothing once lit. His own blood burned hot enough to light things on fire with direct contact. He was fairly certain what would happen and thus moved on, idle curiosity left to drift. After all, nothing would get done with his breastplate if he burned the Solder Joint down.

Last was an excellent piece that appeared to be made of Delyn. It was intricately carved and William understood the alloy to be easily enchantable. Plus it also resisted magic to a certain degree. Not that that mattered too much to him, whose own magic nullifying soul gave him a measure of natural protection. But then he remembered that Delyn was rumored to have a rather explosive nature when pierced. Once again his destructive urges goaded him, telling him to transform and put his claws through the metal to see what would happen. But just like burning the Solder Joint down, William didn’t think he’d accomplish much if he blew the plate to rubble.

“Oh well,” he murmured, eyeing the Delyn piece one last time before returning to the counter. There would always be the chance to wreck things. He was here to see to some creation for once, another facet of himself which he often wholly ignored.

“So, smith,” he said as he settled back up to the stone counter. “What can you tell me?”

The smith shrugged for a moment and glanced at the piece of armor for a moment. "Cleaning up the armor would be part of the process for making your changes my good man. It's a package."

The old man rubbed his chin, "It should take me about a week"

(Sorry for the short reply, I figured I'd better get this up and moving)

William frowned and rubbed his chin. It would be easy, so easy to crush this pathetic man's skull. Instead, he shrugged and asked, "how much of the cost is going into the resizing ability?"

"Also, I didn't hear a quote for buying it, does that mean you're not interested in purchasing?"

William waited patiently for a reply.

He looked at the old man with mounting exasperation. This conversation was dragging on for what felt like weeks.

"Perhaps you didn't hear me," William said, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice. The man was old and likely hard of hearing after all. "How much of your quoted price is for fixing the titanium breastplate and how much of it is for the resizing ability? And, on the other hand, how much would you be willing to pay for this lump of titanium if I were interested in selling it instead?"

The man snapped to attention, annoyed this rude mad had interrupted his impromptu nap. "I don't know where your manners are SONNY" the ancient man grunted rising from his seat. "But where I come from we respect our Elders" Gritting his teeth the old man continued.

"The repair is included in the resizing ability, I'm not going to sit and modifiy a piece of junk. If you wanted to pawn this thing off on me I could only afford to pay 1,182 Gold for it."

The man grunted and spat on the ground, "Take it or leave it, I'm not haggling my prices"

Frustration flashed into anger. The blacksmith's lackadaisical demeanor had certainly not engendered any good will within William, but the smug self assuredness with which he spoke simply made William want to tear his head from his shoulders. He wanted it so badly at that moment that he found his hands already twitching in anticipation. Realizing this, William forcibly calmed himself. He was no longer a creature to be ruled by simple aggression.

Besides, he needed this man's skill and could always kill him after the product was finished.

"Fine, fine," he growled, waving an errant hand at the old man. "See to your work, blacksmith. I expect and will accept nothing but the highest quality."

Transaction complete~

1,518 Gp to be deducted from Revenant (price discounted 10% for both your patience and for Rping it out)

Link here as proof of purchase

Transaction complete!