Rhia finished whatever she was doing in her room and shuffled back out to the main space to join us.
Julius had wandered off to browse the assortments of weapons stocked along shelves and racks, but I paid him little mind since I didn't need him to discuss the shards. Not that Capricorn made it seem like it was a super hush-hush secret, but the less people involved I imagined the better.
"Alright ladies, I need to get those shards back from you. It's kinda crucial I get them as soon as I can."
"You need them back?"
I nodded at Rhia, "Yep. Really important."
"Ye' need 'em back… as the shards?"
"Did you manage to do something with them? However they are, I need any and all of their material back."
"Ah. Well, ye' don't hafta worry about that then. Yer' gonnae just have to wait till we start showin' off yer' new loot though."
I sighed.
As long as I get the shards back, in whatever form they're in, that should appease the restless Goddess of Magick.
"That's fine I suppose."
Rhia dragged a cart over that contained a red-marked wooden crate, "We've got a few things for you to get fitted into."
She pried the top open using the clawed end of her hammer and began to pull out its contents.
A cloth-wrapped bundle came out first, followed by one metal plate after another—a breastplate, pauldrons, and finally a twin pair of what I assumed were wristguards.
Rhia brushed away a few stray packing chips that had fallen onto the tabletop while transferring the armor from its box.
"Which pieces do you wanna start with?"
"May I take a look at them before we strap them to my body?"
I tried to give my response a lighthearted chuckle, but it probably sounded more like a bout of nervousness.
"I promise that nothing here will combust into flames when you touch them—"
Rhia's eye darted to the wrapped item. She gently pushed it aside conspicuously, then gestured widely to the remaining pieces.
"—I promise that none of these pieces will burst into flames."
Julius had sneaked up on us, clearing his throat loudly, drawing her attention.
"Really! Honest, these are one-hundred percent safe."
"And the one hiding under the cloth that you've isolated there?"
"Ah. Well, you see—"
"Tha' ones another of our masterpieces. A blend o' true blacksmithin' and master artificin'!"
"Another masterpiece that's likely to spontaneously combust… Are all of your great works subject to such volatility?"
"Ahh, what's a wee bit o' fire 'tween pals?"
Julius rubbed his knuckles against his temple.
"I don't imagine whatever is wrapped up there could burn down the forge, Julius. It's probably okay."
"Aye, listen to the lass, ye'll be fine."
"That said, I would still like to take a look at each piece before I go fitting it to my person."
"Of course, please do. Here, I'll unwrap this one first. This should satisfy your prime concern today."
Rhia gently removed the cover-cloth from the mysterious, probably flammable, object; revealing a sooty colored metal band.
My primeconcern? What is she talking about…
The dark band was almost a full circle made of twisting black metal. A break in the circlet, around where the forehead would be, had two sharp talon-like exaggerations that completed the ends.
It was simplistic from a quick glance, but at a closer look there were veins of red and orange running through the metal.
- - - - - - - - - - - - {LOOTABLES} - - - - - - - - - - - -
[UNNAMED CIRCLET] (Unnamed) {MYTHICAL}
[+5 Wisdom] | [+1 Luck]
An exquisite ebony circlet imbued with the down feathers of a juvenile phoenix.
When struck, the wearer gains BLAZING BARRIER.
(Bound)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Unnamed circlet huh? Imbued with phoenix feathers…
My eyes narrowed in on the two craftswomen. With my suspicions cast on them, both looked away quickly and pretended not to have noticed.
I focused on the BLAZING BARRIER effect and a new window displayed.
- - - - - - - - - - - - {INSPECTION} - - - - - - - - - - - -
[BLAZING BARRIER]: [School: Fire][Class: Passive]
Individuals affected by this spell are protected by a wreath of flames that damages nearby foes.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"I've got a few questions. First, let's talk about the item imbuement. Phoenix feathers? Where did you get your hands on something like that?"
Both Rhia and Dori exchanged glances. Their expressions betrayed them though, since neither had an answer at the ready.
Rhia opened her mouth to speak, but stopped herself.
"Rhia?"
"We… May have asked Commander Brooks if she had any rare enhancement materials for a surprise for you. I'm not sure where she got them from, it never even crossed my mind to ask."
"Of course they're from Hailey…" I muttered under my breath. "Okay. Question two. What in the Aether does mythical mean?"
"Ah, well that probably is because it's made of really unique materials. It might be that the item is so rare that it received the blessings of the Gods themselves."
Which God would bless an item made for me? Not that I expect Capricorn to tell me when she does things, but you'd think this would have come up in conversation this morning.
Did Virgo do something? She's been absent since I returned from our bizarre stay in the afterlife.
"What were the rest of the materials used? I get the phoenix feathers. Those would be pretty rare. But you said unique materials, as in, more than one."
The two looked towards each other once more.
Dori sighed heavily, "Aye. Fine! We'll tell ye', but promise ye' won't get mad about it, wontcha?"
Rhia and Dori explained that with a lot of trial and error they'd managed to get the undefined shards to bind with a platinum alloy.
When heated together in a crucible the platinum mix became unstable, dissolving into a bubbly mess that filled the forge with a strong smell close to sulfur. The metal blackened and eventually the reaction stabilized. Leaving the smiths with a container of an alloy neither of the two had ever seen.
"Sanguinaerite."
"Huh?"
"That's what it was called when I appraised the new metal."
"Didn't I tell you both, explicitly, not to appraise it?"
"Ye' said not to appraise the shards. An' we dinnae appraise the shards."
Julius pointed behind me in alarm. "We can argue over the semantics of your orders once we deal with whatever in the Aether that is!"
Quickly spinning around, I took a leap back to distance myself from whatever had caused Julius to get spooked, but let my guard down once I had clear vision.
An unnerving chill ran down my spine as a portal opened in the middle of the forge. The ripple in the air, paired with the arcs of magick was enough to frighten off the laborers and junior smiths.
Out of the center of the portal, a streak of white fur zipped onto the top of a nearby workstation.
Capricorn loomed down on us, with a look of annoyance that was palpable.
"Airis! Get behind me, take Dori and Rhia out of here. I'll fend off whatever this creature is."
Instead of following the advice of my brave and daring knight, I placed a hand on his shoulder and stepped ahead.
"Leave it, Julius. This one is harmless."
"Harmless? I could level this entire city in an instant. I am the embodiment of the Aether and could call down a spell with such destructive power that generations would talk of the calamity it caused."
Capricorn's voice gnawed at my mind.
"I know you can. But you won't, because it would cause both of us a lot of grief, wouldn't it?"
"Airis, what is going on? What is that thing?"
"Why, Julius, is this anyway to greet your Goddess? After we spent so much time practicing magick together."
Jumping to the table we'd gathered around, Capricorn stuck her snout towards Dori.
"Leave it to a dwarf to find a way to explicate an undefined object." Capricorn paused momentarily, sniffing at Dori. "You're a long way from home, Dwer'in."
Dwer'in… Wait, was Dori a mountain dwarf?
Dori snapped back at the celestial fox, dragging my attention back to the present issue.
"Aye. An' that be my business, lady fox. I'd thank ye' to keep out of it."
"Well, you've delved into my business pretty deep already. Only seems fair I get to do the same. Regardless. I am not a fox. And what you've done here shouldn't have been possible. Yet, here is a functional item made mostly from an undefined object."
Capricorn rolled her eyes and trotted over to the circlet. A swipe of her paw and a window displayed over the item. It was written in the same indecipherable symbols as the time she inspected me, but I could still tell that it showed a whole lot more information than my appraisal did.
Her interface scrolled on for a while as she touched certain blocks and quickly spun incantations. There was a brightly colored line of text that she spent a noticeable amount of time glaring at before making some elaborate swiping motions that resulted in it being removed.
"At the very least, you're all lucky it didn't turn out to be an uncontrollable curio that could cause the end of your little world. Anyway, I've given the thing a name now. You shouldn't get any feedback errors when appraising it."
I pulled up a more detailed appraisal of the circlet.
- - - - - - - - - - - - {INSPECTION} - - - - - - - - - - - -
[CROWN OF RETRIBUTION]
[+5 Wisdom] | [+1 Luck]
An exquisite ebony circlet imbued with the down feathers of a juvenile phoenix.
When struck, the wearer gains BLAZING BARRIER.
(Bound)
» CLASS: MYTHICAL
» STATUS: [ORIGINAL OBJECT]
» MATERIAL: ALLOY [SANGUINAERITE PLATINUM]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
As I was inspecting the newly named item Capricorn jumped through one of her quickly cast portals. Leaving me to deal with the aftermath of explaining the events to the frightened smith workers.
It took some time to convince everyone of our concocted story, that the strange spirit animal that appeared in the middle of the room was a guardian given to me by the Goddesses.
With order restored to the forge, we continued to look through the rest of the new gear. Rhia brought the pieces of plate armor together.
- - - - - - - - - - - - {LOOTABLES} - - - - - - - - - - - -
CHROMASTEEL BREASTPLATE
[+82 Armor] | [+11 Toughness]
An exquisite breastplate of alloyed steel, complete with matching ornately patterned shoulder plates.
- - -
CHROMASTEEL BRACERS
[+36 Armor] | [+3 Toughness] | [+1 Reflex]
Exquisite plate bracers with embossed leather fitting.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Chromasteel? I think I remember seeing this word somewhere before—but where?
I looked to Rhia and Dori for answers.
"Is this chromasteel a kind of dwarven alloy?"
"Yes and no. It's made using a compound metal native to the Dunkreel region in the old empire, chromite. Chromite is an iron rich oxide material that is one of the few sources of proper chromium."
"Aye, the Hill Dwarves o' Dunkreel were the only provider o' chromium in the whole empire. It's basically a dwarven alloy, but this 'ere chromasteel is actually an elvish alloy."
Dori looked downright reverent when talking about the elves and their metal alloy.
Rhia continued on since Dori's attention trailed off.
"The Dunkreel clan have added chromium to their steel since the first forge hearths were given form. It has amazing anti-corrosion properties, and strengthens the steel to boot."
Back to normal, Dori jumped back into the conversation.
If I didn't know better, I swear she'd been possessed by a spirit by the way she raged on about the metal.
"But those crafty elves did beat the Dunkreel at their own game, see. Deep in the heart o' the Aestori grovelands lies the only known, and fiercely guarded, deposit of vanadium. They added a tiny amount in when forgin' their steel, an' the alloy comes out with right proper resistances to shock and vibrations. Ye' could take a blunted swing straight to the chest an' hardly feel a thing."
"While I appreciate the top-tier materials, lets postpone any blunt force trauma testing for the time being. Julius, care to help me into my deathcage?"