Fable - Ask Do You Wanna Build A Runesaber?

A roleplay which may be open to join but you must ask the creator first
A cackle followed after Alistair, serrated by the hoofbeats of their horses as they tore off along the road. Ralene did not draw her own sword, but instead waited as they rounded the bend of the forested path to get a better look at what they'd be facing.

They charged upon the scene of a large merchant's wagon beset by a group of elves. The merchant in question had been hauled off the driving bench and tied up under guard while the remainder of the elven raiders tore apart his wares from every chest, every cabinet, every satchel, case, and barrel. It was an absolute mess and they were doing so completely uncontested out here in the middle of roads between settlements.

Ralene split from Alistair and drove her horse forward toward the merchant's cart. It was far too late to take them by surprise with their noise, but the elves hadn't a great deal of time to react, either. Pressing her rein against the side of her horse's neck, she ushered it directly toward one of the raiders who turned at the last moment and spun just in time to narrowly avoid being trampled into the stones. Her left hand out as they surged past, Ral leaned and reached for one of the elves presently clinging to the side of the wagon. Her armored hand snatched him by the scruff and tore him bodily from his present endeavor with a loud caterwaul.
 
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Alistair rounded the bend with a smile on his face at the sight of his new opponents. He had not dealt with elves since he had been on that mission for Lord Banick. He decided not to use magic at the moment. Bandits did not deserve such a waste of energy.

He could not help but wonder how such bandits could be so unbothered in Vel Anir's territory. The city should really send out more patrols between settlements.

He held out his sword in a charged manner and barreled towards the elves guarding the merchant. As he moved by sending one of the elves to the ground, he lashed out and skewered another with his blade.

"I suggest you all turn and run. I wouldn't mind killing each and every one of you, but that would be a waste of my time!" He called out to the remaining elves.

Alistair quickly dismounted his horse while he was near the tied-up merchant. He was a decent horseman, but his swordsmanship truly shined when he was on his own two feet.

By now the elf he had knocked over, along with two more elves had gathered up to face him. They wielded an assortment of make-shift weapons. Nothing to show that they knew how to use them extremely well...They were signing their own death wish.

Ralene
 
The elf in her grasp writhed and kicked, yelling at her in his native language as Ralene slowed her horse to a stop. By the time Alistair had dismounted, Ral's horse stepped around the front of the wagon with the Initiate gripping the elf in her clutches by a choke hold, dagger pressed into his back.

"Since when do elves raid unarmed merchants this far into Vel Anir limits? Hm?" Ralene tightened her cinch around the elf's neck and heard it crack. He gurgled and struggled, growing paler by the second.

One of the three facing off at Alistair turned a heated glare from him to Ralene and back then yelled something in elvish.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that?" a little bit tighter... the elf sputtered.

"Eya! Stop! This merchant has an artifact of our people. It belong's to Queen Eru and we demand he give it back!"
 
Alistair looked between the elves in front of him and then the merchant tied up next to him. He still did not drop his sword. He wasn't an idiot. However, his left hand did drop to his side, closer to the merchant.

"Is that true Mr. Merchant?... Forgive me if I find this difficult to believe. How did this merchant get their hands on an artifact of your people?"

It stands to reason that such artifacts would be heavily protected and this guy did not look like some skilled thief or warrior.

"Someone better start explaining."

Alistair shot a glare at the merchant now too. If this situation had been started because of him, then he would be sure that he received just punishment for his actions.

Ralene
 
The merchant scoffed and shook his head free of the gag that had loosened during the scuffle, "Pah - STEAL! I do not steal anything! I am an honored tradesman, welcomed by Kings and Nobles alike. My wares come from reputable sources from far away lands-"

"Who steal from others! It's still stolen if it doesn't belong to you!" yelled the elf in return.

"Well then," Ralene intoned from where she sat, looking as cool as a gator silently wading up between a herd quenching its thirst, "what is this artifact?" Her grip on the elf in her clutches did not relent, his eyes were beginning to roll.

"It's-" began the elf before Alistair again, giving the pair of them a heated, narrow glare, "it's a diadem."

Ralene snorted.

"Preposterous, that crown belonged to the Lady Enduil of Keth," the Merchant stammered, "I have a patence of authenticity-"

"Keth is a farmer's village south of Falwood," said the elf, "you humans really will believe anything if a lie will make you a quick fortune!"

"I have a solution to this," Ralene casually announced, allowing the now limp elf in her arms to slide free from her grip like a dropped kerchief. He crumpled to the ground and did not move, "we are confiscating the crown by right of proximal authority of Vel Anir. Now hand it over to my noble friend before he pokes you full of button holes."
 
Alistair was currently deciding which ones he disliked the most. The elves or this merchant and it was close to being a tie, maybe he would just kill them both. Thankfully, Ralene suggested a less bloody idea.

He knew the surrounding area pretty well, and the elves were right. Keth was just a farming village, but that really did not matter to them much.

Before the merchant could voice a complaint, he started rummaging around in the bags to find the crown. It looked like the merchant was going to say something, but Alistair looked up in time to say,

"Please, give me a reason to use my sword. I'm really bored." That shut the man up instantly.

With that solved, Alistair went back to digging and eventually found what looked to be the crown in question. It wasn't anything too amazing, simple but elegant in its design.

"I guess this is a case of finders keepers."

Ralene
 
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He found the crown nestled within a velvet lined wooden box made of finely polished mahogany. Ralene only caught a glimpse of the thing, though from the distance she sat atop her horse it looked like any old shiny crown to her. Nudging her horse forward, she made no effort to steer it around the prone elf on the ground, "Take your friend and your dead and leave. The Anirian Guard will hear of your incursion and attack and no doubt there will be a bounty on your very recognizable heads."

She brought her horse to stand beside the merchant on the ground and watched as each of the elves scathingly did as they were bidden - collected their fallen comrades and made a hasty exit. Ralene waited until they were well out of sight before dismounting and untying the merchant.

"We're looking for a merchant named Lemarque who regularly stops at the village of Wiston before heading into Vel-proper," Ralene raised a brow at the man as she tugged him bodily to his feet, "you wouldn't happen to know him would you..."

"My dear Lady, I am Lemarque and I was, indeed, on my way in to Wiston until I was beset upon by those ...those, vagabonds!"

Ral turned a smug look over to Alistair, "Sounds like you're about to give us a really good deal on some items."
 
A big toothy grin was on Alistair's face as he spun the crown around on his finger. The news that this was Lemarque was just the perfect circumstance. He must be pretty lucky today.

He watched the elves leave before digging around in his pocket for a list of items he needed to complete the saber.

"Alright, so here is the deal. You get us all of these at a good price, and you might find that we forgot to take this crown with us."

He was already inspecting the wares that had been left behind trying to spot anything that he knew was on the list. The completion of his project was so close that he could almost taste it.

"Of course, if you give us really bad prices I might call the elves back...I'm just kidding, but we do want to do business with you." Well, he was mostly kidding.

"Ral, do you want anything extra? We might have some money left over."

Ralene
 
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Lemarque looked beside himself and offended but seemed wise enough not to press his luck. He took the list handed to him, pulled out a pair of half-moon spectacles, and gave it a quick read, "I have some of these things you seek..." and gave both of them a wary glance. His gaze then panned around at the mess of his wares left behind by the elves, "if you'll both help me complete my journey to Wiston, I will determine an appropriate discount for your items."

With a wagon full of valuables to slow him down, the remaining trip would take twice as long. Ralene weighed the options before clapping the man on the shoulder, "You have yourself a deal."

His knees buckled beneath him from the strength of her gesture and he nearly collapsed to the ground.

Ralene turned and mounted up again, watching the merchant go about picking up the detritus while she considered Al's question, "If you see anything that will help with my ink," since he'd recommended some rather unorthodox ingredients, "otherwise I just need what's on the list."
 
Alistair was even nice enough to help pick up some of the surrounding supplies and put them back onto the cart before returning to his own steed.

Winston wasn't too far, so if traveling to the place they were likely going to end up in any way for a discount was what needed to be done, then Al was more than happy to help.

"Don't break the man, Ral." He said jokingly before coming to a stop next to her.

The fact that she did not want anything more after her help was admirable, but that only encouraged Alistair to make sure her ink upgrades were something truly impressive...maybe he could add a little more. It would have to be small changes so as not to drastically affect the balance of the formulas.

"Fair enough."

Ralene
 
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"Don't break the man, Ral." He said jokingly before coming to a stop next to her.
Click to expand...

Ral fixed her fellow Initiate with a rueful grin, shameless and guilty.

Behind them Lemarque climbed back onto the driving bench of the wagon, gave one last glance around, then took up his driving reins and clacked the across the horses' backs. The trio set off at a slow but steady pace.

"So you have my name," the merchant spoke up, "to whom do I owe the honor of this safe escort and rescue?"

Blue eyes glanced aside to Alistair, measuring the likelihood that he'd proudly give his entire noble name. Toss up, really, despite his pretty countenance and fancy clothes, Al had never really been terribly snooty. Perhaps that was his saving grace in the eyes of the estranged Banick.

"Ralene," she answered simply without looking back.
 
Alistair took up the opposite side of the wagon to whatever side Ralene took up. A small smile crossed his lips when he noticed Ral did not give her full name. If she had, the merchant probably would have shit himself, but that wasn't how Rale acted. She didn't necessarily even like her family, but even if she did, Al doubted she would have used her full name.

"Alistair, but that doesn't really matter. We're just the people that saved your life."

There was no reason to use his full name. House Krixus wasn't known enough to make this guy suddenly act nicer to him anyways. Not to mention, he would rather not connect his house to two initiates illegally using force outside of mission parameters. Yeah, better just to keep it on the down-low.

Ralene
 
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"Indeed," Lemarque replied quizzically, finding it rather odd that both had only opted to give their first names. He shrugged it off as the casual nature of the young folk. They were both quite short in the horn, so far as he could tell. "Well met, Ralene and Alistair, it is always a good day to meet the brave people of Vel Anir."

"I'm sure you've met brave people from all over Arethil," Ralene replied with a glace aside, "we can't be the only ones."

"For certain, there are brave people everywhere," the merchant nodded, "and cowards as well. These things are universal. Never so strongly as the people of Balta."

"Balta...that's a kingdom along the Cortosi coast."

"Right you are, and if ever there was a Kingdom in need of tried and tested brave folk, it is that one," Lemarque intoned strongly, "never have I visited a Kingdom so lacking in morals or honor in my life."

Ralene's expression flattened as she chewed on that thought. Balta was a bit further west than most Proctor's sent Initiates for missions. She'd been further, but only by sea to help stamp out pirate nuisance near Cerak.

"Why do you suppose that is?" Ral asked.

"In my humble merchant opinion, it is a disease of the crown. What the head suffers, soon corrupts the core, and follows thusly to the extremities."

"And how would you propose curing the disease?" a lofted brow turned to the man over her shoulder.

"Bee in my bonnet, brave Ralene, it is not my place to suppose such things for I am but a servant of the people, feeding them the variety our world has to offer. But if I were to estimate such a cure, it would likely start at the place of origin."

He was wise to guard his words, she thought, but Ral pondered a similar solution: cut off the head and replace it with something stronger.
 
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Alistair looked between the two as they talked during their ride. He did not say much at first, choosing to sit there with a relaxed and light-hearted grin on his face.

"Oh, I'm sure it's just the king having a good time. Then again, that's the problem with kings. That is the reason we went through the whole business of a revolution in Vel Anir."

He was doing his best to come across as a relaxed and not too deep thinker compared to the other two, but Ralene would know better. That easygoing grin never reached his eyes as he looked between the two.

"Where Balta at, again? I could go for a vacation."

He knew where it was. In fact, it sounded like a great target for the Republic. A weak government that could use the guiding hand of Vel Anir. Hell, they could even put Vel in front of the name.

Vel Balta.

Ralene
 
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"Revolution or not," the merchant replied, "Vel Anir still has a King. Only now it seems the people have had their say on the management of their society."

Too right he was, Ral thought to herself. She'd never much expressed her own opinions on the Revolution - didn't seem pertinent for an Initiate to have opinions of those sort of things. The way she saw it, her life had changed rather little: she was still destined for the same fate. Only now? The rules to getting there had shifted. No more killing of her fellow initiates was hardly a difficult rule to follow, if anything it just added to the challenge.

"As for Balta," he continued on, digging into his jacket to produce a smoking pipe, "the western end of the Cortosi coast, past Cortos. It's quite nice there this time of year. The water is blue and clear and the days are sunny and warm. Excellent pasta but even better fishing...if you can get past the slaves and smell at port, anyway."

"What about east?"

"Eh?" Lemarque raised a brow, "East? You mean to the Allir Reach?"

"Beyond that," Ralene answered.

"The Spine?"

"Beyond that."

"No," he shook his head furtively, "never beyond the Spine. That jungle is full of death. You couldn't pay me to go there on my own, but I've picked up plenty of valuables from the Ixchel at port cities."
 
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Alistair remained silent for most of the remainder of the journey. He was satisfied with the few comments he made earlier and he actually enjoyed listening to Ralene's curious questions about the world. He wasn't sure where such worldly curiosity came from, but he just assumed it was a hungry desire to learn, much like himself.

A couple of times during the traveling, he noticed his horse getting ahead of the other two as he was subconsciously urging his horse forward. He would slow down and get back into line with the others, inwardly willing the group faster. The sooner they arrived then the sooner they got the supplies he desperately needed.

He almost let out a yelp of joy when he finally saw the image of Wiston in the distance. At this point, he was a little bit further ahead of the others. His head turned to look back on them.

"I think we have arrived. Time for a little bit of commerce Mr. Lemarque."

He maintained a calm demeanor, but Ralene would recognize the greed behind his eyes.

Ralene
 
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Ralene snorted in response to Alistair. Some distant part of him must have had goblin origins for the glint of greed in his gaze.

"So it would seem," Lemarque replied, clucking his horse onward into Wiston and bringing the wagon to a stop just outside of the main town square. Clamping his pipe between his teeth, the man disembarked from his seat and pulled out the list which had been given him previously from the breast pocket of his overcoat. Half-moon spectacles settled back over the bridge of his nose, he muttered as he slowly scooted about his wagon, fiddling and rifling through various boxes, crates, drawers, and jars.

With her horse parked just off to the side of the wagon, Ralene watched the man go about his business while pulling up her waterskin for a drink.

"The dragonbone powder," Lemarque pondered aloud, "how much are you looking for?"

"How much do you have?" Ralene raised a brow at him. She intended to use it to refinish most of her ink, but it wasn't easy to come by. Not the quality stuff, anyway. Too many sheisty street peddlars selling cat ashes under the dragonbone meal name.

"Mm," the merchant settled a glass phial onto a balance scale and weighed out the contents, "20 grams. That's all I have. I'll sell it to you for 30% discount."

"Make it 40% and we have a deal."

Lemarque scowled, grumbled, reread the list, and finally gave in with a gesture.

"If you keep it in stock I'll be a regular customer," Ralene added, "for your preferred customer rates, of course."

"I'm certain I can strike a deal with my supplier. Now for the rest of the lot I can do 35% and not a copper more. I need to make some money in order to stay in business, you know..."
 
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Ral's snort was lost on Alistair as he was once again looking over all the materials when Lemarque finally brought the wagon to a stop.

Hungry eyes traced over the supplies hoping to find one last little nugget of gold that could help his project, or even help Ralene's ink. Once he was done with the saber, he would turn his full focus on her. It was the least he could do for her help.

A small part told him to haggle lower, his coin purse begging him to try, but he left it to Ral. She would probably have more success than him anyways. He should have just enough to get everything they needed aaandd this.

"Can I also get a little of this void venom? Only a little bit will do."

Ralene
 
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Ralene had no further haggling to offer. She was content with her deal, now bought and paid for, and sat silent while Al conducted his own business.

Lemarque looked up at the request of void venom, a curious glance overcoming his expression before he gave a nod. He moved to produce a tiny glass phial from a store chest and very carefully transferred over five healthy drops. It was enough to do considerable damage in some ways, but it wasn't Lemarque's place to ask after such things. He drew up the bill and handed it Alistair.

A healthy sum of money to be sure, especially for an Academy Initiate, but the discount was good, all things considered.

Feeling rather good about the deal struck and the extra time spent to get it, Ralene waited until they were well out of earshot of the merchant, on their way east now to leave Wiston for Vel Anir proper, before she looked to Al.

"Let me know what I owe you for whatever other ingredients you added for my ink...what did you add anyway?"
 
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Void Venom was a rare poison extracted from the Ixchelian Cosmic Cobra, a difficult creature to find west of the Spine much less west of Allira. He was aware of some breeders in Oban and Alliria, so maybe this was where it had come from.

As poisons went, it wasn't the deadliest and the unique color made it easy to detect. It caused the target to grow a wild fever that often killed the target within three days if not properly treated. More importantly, it was said that if one did survive the fever and the poison, it increased magical pathways in the body increasing the arcane abilities of the user. How much it was increased depended on the person.

How did he know about this poison? His father had only ever managed to acquire two doses in his shadier dealings in the city. The first dose had been sold to an idiot noble who wasted it on killing a rival. The second had been sold to the Academy. He wasn't exactly sure who it had been used on, but a few weeks later one of his fellow initiates had been reported dead with symptoms that matched the work of the toxin.

Now, this sounded pretty bad for something that he was planning on mixing into Ralene's ink, but he had a hypothesis that he could dilute the harmful effects of the toxin within the ink. It would not increase Ralene's magic in the traditional sense, but the runes themselves would be able to withstand far more arcane stress...If his hypothesis was correct.

"A rare poison from a creature east of the Spine."

He quickly realized how that sounded and wanted to reassure her of the safety of his plan.

"I will dilute the poison while improving certain properties. It will strengthen the durability of the runes." At least that was how it would work in his head. Besides, if she did get a little sick, Alistair knew how to treat the symptoms before the person died...for the most part.

"Don't worry about it. It's on me...for all the help."

Ralene
 
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That response grew a line of suspicious concern over Ralene's brow that did not seem to abate even with his explanation. Ral could take about as much damage as she could give, which was a significant amount, but there were some things that had proven more than effective against her. Poisons happened to be one of them ... the very reason for the purification ink over her liver.

A few too many poorly planned encounters with the poison and toxin wielding Initiates of the Academy in her earlier years had proven she needed to take extreme care.

She didn't voice this aloud. Even if things had changed within the Academy and they were no longer allowed to kill off their fellow Initiates to gain rank and clout, the deaths still happened. Just not on public display...usually. Alistair was a smart boy and, frankly, she wasn't entirely sure if he wasn't also a bit mad at times.

But weren't they all?

"Alright," Ral answered at length, shifting in her saddle slightly as she prepared to make up for lost time, "if you say so." Not that she was about to pay to be poisoned. She wasn't that mad.

"Come on, we need to get to the city by noon," with an encouraging hiss at her horse and a sharp nudge with her heels, she headed off down the road at an easy lope. No sense in sprinting, it was still a long way to their destination.
 
A wide grin stretched across his face when Ralene assented to the idea. He did notice the pause at first, but he was not worried. He would just show his research and theory on the matter before he did any actual work. That should placate any other worries about the procedure.

If the ink worked, then Alistair would attempt to get his hands on more venom. Creating such an ink would have a drastic improvement on Vel Anir's rune mages. Although there were very few that actually practiced in the city. He would need to practice more to ensure the survival rate of the process was actually feasible.

"Right behind you."

Al nudged his horse to stay in rhythm next to Ralene as they moved off down the road. His mind still racing with his new projects. One second focused on the saber and then the ink, his mind was a jumble of chaotic mess of ideas and even more ideas if the two projects proved to be successful.

Ralene
 
It turned into a long and fruitful day in the city. Both Initiates successful in finding what supplies was needed, and Ralene doubly so in finding more information for her own developing project. With Alistair's idea sketched out and Ral's improvements added, she set to work at her forge for the remainder of the weekend. But an Initiate's days were not always their own and, for certain they knew their lives never would be. Interruptions and delays were to be expected and Ralene had made it plainly clear she would work on the Runesaber only in her spare time when nothing else pressing was on the docket.

Nearly three weeks later she cornered Al in the hall between classes and told him to meet her at her workshop after his last session let out. She'd completed the construction - now it was time to see if it worked.
 
Alistair was a bundle of nerves for those three weeks of construction. He was not a novice when it came to forging, so he would often come by while Ral worked to see what her progress was. There was no point in worry, Alistair knew Ral would perform to the best of her abilities. He was just being nosy.

On the day of reckoning, when Ral finally told him the project was completed, he could not contain his excitement. The rest of the day went by at a crawl, and he even took out some of his frustration during sword training on some younger initiates.

When it was finally time, Alistair was a blur as he quickly knocked on Ral's forge door.

"Ral, it's me. It is ready, right? Can I come in?"

This was his best attempt to be courteous as he might have come in anyway.

Ralene
 
"It's open," she responded from inside.

With the forge presently cooling, there was no dull roar of flames to shout over. Not even the clan of hammer on metal. With the Runesaber's construction complete and her right hand bandanged for her effort, Ral focused on some easily leather work for her own needs until Al showed up.

Standing at a work bench off to the side, she glanced over as Al stepped in and nodded to a work table at the center of the room. Upon the heavily worn and burned wooden table top rested the saber's hilt wrapped in black cloth.

"Everything's there," Ral remarked, "in theory it should work for you. Won't work for me." The bandaged hand said it all, but that was the intention all along.
 
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