Shadows of Darkest Soul (An Elder Scrolls RP)

[SoulofChrysamere]

Lecuaro Sulnair Marczon - Fort Floodgate Mess Hall

 

 

 

"Indeed, I did." Lecuaro answered as he started into his plate.

 

"Now that things should hopefully be quiet for a little while around here, I think we all need to have a discussion about the past few days events. We haven't really had any time for a serious discussion with everything going on." He added.

 

At that point, Serra reached the head of the table where Caius was. "Hey, guys." She said as she leaned her weight onto her left leg.

[Zephyr2011]

Kriak, Fort Floodgate forge

 

Kriak nodded his head deeply to the smith when she gave him permission to use her forge, "Thank you ma'am."

 

Kriak quickly, but carefully set about his work. He rolled up the sleaves of his tunic so that they wouldn't catch fire, unfortunately he wasn't able to have both stab-resistance and fire retardance and considering that he himself was immune to flames, he covered the greater of two evils. He laid his armor out on a large work bench near the anvil and selected several different sized hammers and placed them next to his armor. He then produced a large pouch that he kept with him for occasions such as these. The pouch contained several pounds of fine back powder. This powder was a finely ground version of the same metal his armor was made of, intended for pouring into cracks and crevices then heating to mend damage to the armor. First Kriak had to heat the armor, he started with the breast plate and thrust it into the heat of the forge with his bare hands, he preferred it this way so that he could sense the armor's temperature and he wasn't harmed by the flames anyway. Many believed that the first Sarosians were cast from the volcanic flames of the isle of Saros itself, and the Hellblades out of Inferno's own magma blood, hence the immunity for fire.

 

The woodsman felt the armor slowly becoming hot enough to be malleable, he deemed it ready and placed the piece on the anvil and drew a hand full of metal powder and gently let it fall from the bottom of his fist into the nicks and imperfections of the armor, the heat of the breastplate melting it, he also filled all of the etchings with the powder and as the powder touched the colors of the etching, the etchings seemed to fade into nothingness. Kriak then took the largest hammer he had selected and began forming the new metal to the same contours of the old, quenching and reheating intermittently to retain the hardness and effectiveness of the armor. As the armor became more uniform he switched to increasingly smaller hammers for more precise work until the armor looked uniform. He repeated this process for each section of his raiment. At last he returned all of the hammers to their proper places with his armor in peak condition once more but without the crimson etchings.

 

Now Kriak selected another pouch with a strange, mercurial substance within. The substance was a liquid but did not adhere to anything but itself and flowed very inconsistently while shining brightly, the substance itself was bright white color. Kriak scooped some up, keeping his hand in a cup-like shape, and cast it into the fire. A great rush of air filled the forge room as the fire suddenly roared but it was not like the sudden combustion of an accelerant, adding to the heat of the fire, rather, it seemed cooler than it had been an the lower flames shown bright white. The White flames seemed to expand and push out the normal orange, red and golden hues until the forge fire was a mass of whites, greys and silvers. Kriak then selected a large, rod like instrument with keen point on the end of it meant for fashioning holes in armor for straps, or, in rare instances, etching. He placed the instrument in the fire until it heated sufficiently. Its tip was bright white and Kriak took it to his armor, making intricate, spider-web like etchings all over it. The etchings shown a piercing white, much like the flames and tool. Even when the etchings cooled they retained their sterling hue. After quite some time, Kriak's forge work was complete. He wiped his forehead of sweat from the mental exercise and sat his armor off to the side while he tidied up, washing each tool that he had used meticulously and putting them back in their place. Finally Kriak summoned a small, bright fireball in his hand and cast it into the forge. Slowly the white flames receded and the fire seemed to die. Then, just as slowly and surely, the old flame returned with its oranges, reds and golds.

 

Kriak bowed to the Khajiiti smith and thanked her for the use of her forge.

[SoulofChrysamere]

Tuhkrisi - Fort Floodgate Smithy

 

Tuhkrisi and her apprentices intently studied Kriak's repair methods all throughout the process. For a moment, they were curious as to how his bare hands and arms could tolerate the forge's fires, but they quickly dismissed it as either magical assistance or an inborn resistance. Tuhkrisi in particular noted the way Kriak repaired the notches and cracks in the armor. It was much like the way she learned to fix chips and gashes in ebony. More ebony was finely ground into powder and then heated to a gelatinous consistency before being poured into the crevices. The heat required to make Kriak's armor malleable enough for reshaping dents and depressions was also similar to ebony's. And yet, Tuhkrisi had a gut feeling that the woodsman's armor was something than traditional ebony. Something otherworldly......indeed, Kriak himself appeared fairly alien to her among the other races of Tamriel.

 

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were working with ebony there. I get the feeling that that's not ebony, though." She commented following Kriak's thank you and bow.

[Zephyr2011]

Kriak, Fort Floodgate Forge

 

"A very accurate observation." Kriak acknowledged, "This is not ebony, but it is forged under fairly similar conditions.The metal is from my realm, Xinos, some call it Armageddon. My armor is forged from a metal known as Ifrit-Baal Corestone. The metal is found in deep, volcanic rifts and ridges where it has been hardened and heated repeatedly over time by the pressure of rock and the tempests of volcanoes before being gradually pushed to exposure in one of these rifts. Only the oxidized portion of the metal is Ifrit-Baal Corestone, it reacts interestingly with the air giving it far different properties than the unexposed metal called only Ifrit Corestone. The Ifrit-Baal Corestone alloy is extremely resistant to damages much like ebony and shares this trait with Ifrit Corestone but Ifrit-Baal Corestone is less than one fifth as dense as its un-oxidized counterpart. The most interesting property is that it shows completely lusterless unless polished with a specific mixture of volcanic sand, oils, and clay. Because of its peculiar properties it is highly prized by thieves, assassins, and otherwise lightly armored combatants." Kriak probably rambled a little much but he knew that the Khajiiti smith would appreciate it and very few people understood the beauty and complexity of the metal he crafted like the smith would.

[SoulofChrysamere]

Tuhkrisi - Fort Floodgate Smithy

 

 

Tuhkrisi was impressed with the material as Kriak went through its creation process and attributes. She came to regard it more similar to adamantium than ebony by the lecture's end. In the hands of a capable smith, adamantium could be forged and molded to offer every bit as much protection as ebony for a fourth of the weight.

 

"So it's more like adamantium then." Tuhkrisi began. "Adamantium results from constant, steady pressure under heat instead of intermittent heating and cooling though. The raw stuff seeps through small cracks and crevices in the rocks and collects in small pockets where it cools mixes with other rocks and metals and becomes crude adamantium ore. Also like that material, the fires have to get quite hot indeed for it to be workable. Some argue it's more of a challenge extracting it from its ore at the smelter than actually fashioning it, though. Most of the time, it's made a bit thick for military officers or important folks' bodyguards, but there are light models for more covert people. Scaled plate models rival even ebony in protection value because of their ability to simply deflect away most kinds of attacks. Usually, you have to slip the blade up between the scales."

 

Tuhkrisi added one more thing as she and her apprentices set about closing up the smithy for the night. "Adamantium's naturally lustrous however, but you can fix that pretty easily by mixing together powders and jellies into pastes and smearing it on. Here on Vvardenfell, scrib jelly and powdered tusks and teeth from things like Kagoutis and Alits are the most popular choices for dulling something's shininess."

Edited August 15, 2012 by SoulofChrysamere

[Zephyr2011]

Kriak, Fort Floodgate Forge

 

"Ah yes, adamntium. I had forgotten about that material, it's so rare that one sees it and I'm not from here either." Kriak remarked, "Ifrit-Baal is much more akin to adamantium than ebony, you are right. Ifrit Corestone is much more like ebony than its oxidized counterpart. It's far heavier, like ebony, and shines like the sun. It is interesting though that Ifrit-Baal only seems to form when oxidized in certain regions, it has to be exposed to air from caverns in a particular region of Saros, otherwise a simple hazy film forms over the Ifrit Corestone. It's quite odd. But both are excellent materials to work with as are adamantium and ebony. I'm not as familiar with the latter two for obvious reasons, do either of them defend well against magic or elements? For example, Ifrit Corestone actually can not loose its temperance, it will only grow harder and stronger from heat to the point of rendering shaping impossible, this makes it quite hard to work with but excellent defense, smiths spend nearly their entire lives to learn the proper magics to work with Ifrit Corestone. Ifrit-Baal isn't as hard to work with but it can not be manipulated by magical means, corrosion spells won't damage it and anything from telekinesis to time magic will be useless against it. These properties make the two Corestones highly prized. Do adamantium and ebony have any similar properties? If I recall, there is a type of ice in this realm called sthalrim, or something along those lines, that does not melt and makes excellent medium weight armors." Kriak's earlier agitation was quickly being completely forgotten as he enjoyed conversing about one of his favorite hobbies that he so rarely got to indulge. And Tuhkrisi was an incredibly knowledgeable smith and very pleasant to converse with.

[SoulofChrysamere]

Tuhkrisi - Fort Floodgate Smithy

 

Tuhkrisi delighted in a discussion on the different armor styles, especially considering the ones about which Kriak spoke were foreign to the realm. "Adamantium has just about the tightest structure of any armor material you can think of. Once forged, you're hard pressed to find a piece of it that will hold water. It sloughs it off better than the Ashlander chitin native to this island. It's reflective property also helps with keeping sunlight off of its wearer, provided you don't rub it down with anti-shine stuff to keep a lower profile. Like most metals though, it's ice cold and burning hot to the touch in extreme conditions. Because of it's ridiculously high melting point though, it's a rare mage that can burn through it. Have to be careful with frost and especially lightning magic though, since it conducts electricity very well like most metals. However, there's a rare way of working it that few know and teach and fewer still master. Supposedly invented by the Dwarves, there's a way of forging adamantium so finely and purely that it stays incredibly flexible even though it's umpteen times tougher than any steel you can find. I spent one year in the Craftsman's Hall in Mournhold as kind of a second apprentice the the Dunmer adamantium worker there -- can't remember his name. One of the High Ordinators preferred the lighter adamntium to the heavier ebony for his weapons, and paid for an adamantium scimitar from the guy. When he forged it and demonstrated it to the Ordinator, he bent the blade completely around the end of the hilt and as far as it would go up the other side. The moment he let go, the blade snapped back straight. Perfectly straight. Then he showed how sharp it was by chopping a good three inches into a block of solid steel."

 

Tuhkrisi doused the forge's fires before continuing. "Ebony's actually purified volcanic rock, not total metal. The biggest known deposits in Tamriel are right here on Vvardenfell thanks to Red Mountain. As far as I know, the one down in Caldera is still the richest vein. Anyway, since it's likewise formed by extreme heat and pressure deep within the ground, you can't very well punch through it with fire, magic or otherwise. Frost magic's still kind of a problem, but it's various rocky attributes help insulate it some against electricity -- still dangerous, but not as much so with something like adamntium. It's not very naturally reflective, so if you're caught out in some heat with it, you can expect to sweat a lot and be chugging water. On top of that as you already know, it's also heavy as hell. It's tough to properly work and smooth ebony, and poorly formed stuff will have lots of small pores. This makes the armor less protective in general, and the pores like to slowly fill with dust, water, and things like that. That just adds more dead weight to the suit. Ebony's also fairly brittle once it's worked, so any serious work requires you to get a very hot fire and reheat it. Trying to hammer out any kinks or dents when its cool will just shatter it, and trying to fill in nicks and scratches while it's cool doesn't always work since it tends to not bond properly with the hot filler. This means that the chunks of filler can just pop right back out during travel."

Edited August 15, 2012 by SoulofChrysamere

[AurianaValoria1]

Velanya Therys, Caius Cosades, and Faeryn Sethandas; Fort Floodgate, Mess Hall

 

"Agreed, Marczon. There's a lot left to do and little time to do it. Things need to get wrapped up here at the Fort if we're heading off to gods-know-where in a few days," Caius drained his wine goblet and winced.

 

Velanya looked up at Serra, grinning when she saw the scout, "Hey there, Serra. Care to join us?"

 

Faeryn said not a word, but scooted down the bench to offer room for Serrabinashiah to sit if she wanted.

[SoulofChrysamere]

Lecuaro Sulnair Marczon and Serrabinashiah Masseribalit - Fort Floodgate Mess Hall

 

 

"Mhmm. We've got the Nerevarine himself locked up in the jail, the remnants of his Ashlander army, the Blackwood Company up here a very long way from home, a bunch of other mercenaries, a potential traitor or group of traitors in the Legion that might have folks here at this very fort, and our own destinies bound up with the fate of the Daedric monarchs in this new war." Lecuaro said in a hushed voice.

 

"Y'know, when you went after the Nerevarine, did you find anything else? Maybe you found his quarters and dug up something? From his behavior, it's pretty plain to see that his personality's been split in two by whatever grip Dagon has on him."

 

Serra quietly took the space offered by Faeryn and waited for the response from Caius. From Lecuaro's words, it was clear that there were strange and horrific things indeed happening on Vvardenfell these days.

Edited August 25, 2012 by SoulofChrysamere

[AurianaValoria1]

Caius Cosades, Fort Floodgate, Mess Hall

 

The Spymaster sighed, "Just that book Kriak found. And Hopesfire, of course. Not sure what happened with Trueflame. I'm a bit worried about the huntsman...have you seen him around? He's been acting even stranger than usual with that odd tome he insists on carrying."