Foxside: The Temple of Inari 51

[Fenric]

[Sanctuary]

Tsukiko chuckles

So far as I can tell, you are not truly an "undead" in the traditional sense any more than I am. While I have not heard direct statements about nightshades, my father - Orochi - claims responsibility for most of the creatures of shadow and gloom. So if that is corrent then by extention, to a certain approximation, you are my niece by some steps removed.

---

[Forge]

Myobu nods

Precisely. Though once we start the actual enchantments, the methods become critical.

He starts to sort through the metal bars

Most people don't understand that there are two very different ways to enchant an item. The very common but significantly inferior method that most wizards use is to find, commission, or perhaps even make the item. They may take some steps to use special materials or preparations, but regardless of any of that, the item is entirely or mostly mundane. They then use a preparation spell, imbue it with magic, and then use some spell to seal it and make it permanent. Such weapons are at the mercy of disruptive magic and accidents, they may be undone by anti-magic effects, and they are more easily resisted as in the end they are a collection of spells wrapped around an otherwise mundane item.

That is not what I am going to do.

True Enchantment builds the magical effects into the very nature of the item. Disruptive magic can never unmake the item as there is nothing to dispel, anti-magic will suppress the effects but can never destroy the enchantments, and resisting the power is much more difficult as it is intrinsic to the item rather than a spell effect that follows it around. And when I am done with the final step of my crafting, the item will be complete.

[Rebonack]

[Sanctuary]

So according to the fox-gal nightshades may have been created by a big eight headed shadow dragon thing.

For... reasons.

Sunder gives a little nod to that. It should be as true as any other explanation. That's how the Nexus works, after all. All explanations of stuff like this are right. Somehow. She doesn't understand how that works, but she simply takes it at face value since that's what the world she grew up in is like. No point in arguing about metaphysical details if no one is ever wrong about them.

Huh.

That must really irritate the philosopher-types.

"Huh. That's kind of weird, I guess. If I ever... uhh... you know. Eat anyone by accident... Would I be able to bring them here to get them fixed up? I can find you guys compensation for the services or whatever. I know resurrection spells don't come cheap."

[Ionbound]

[Forge]

Almost breathlessly, Hikari says, "Wow...So...When you're done, my swords will be...Magic? That's amazing."

[Fenric]

[Sanctuary]

Tsukiko tries to come up with the best way to answer that question.

Well... that gets down to a question of just exactly how well the Nexus Universal Translation System actually works. You see, in my view of reality, a three-dimensional being, regardless of perceptive limitations, has as much hope of eating a soul as a circle does of eating a sphere. The entire concept doesn't really even make sense. You can eat energies associated with the body, you can eat the copies of the person's memories that are stored physically, and you can eat the energy that drives the quantum entanglement zone that binds their soul to their body... but you would have to leave this realm yourself if you wanted to eat their soul and by the time you got there, you would not remember why you even thought that.

So... if your dead person automatically was imported to my world, then we could try to find the entity that we consider to be the soul that used to be the person, and ask them if they want to come back. The problem is: they may be happier now and refuse, or they may have already decided to come back and have already been reassigned a new body and so are no longer available.

I have a second hypothetical method that would be rather more difficult, but should work even if the former failed...

---

[Forge]

Myobu nods

They will be enchanted.

He goes to the rack where he put his own swords, and carefully removes his katana from it's sheath and offers it to Hikari for examination.

This is Winter Wind of the Mountain. She was forged very nearly six thousand years ago using the methods I described to have an eternally fine edge and to give a deadly jolt of cold alongside each cut and if left in a wound it will drink the very living heat from their body. She can extinguish flames, protects me from fire, and allows me to see and interact safely with the Elemental Plane of Ice. She is named both for the cold, and for the sympathetic idea of the cutting feeling that such an icy wind evokes.

[Ionbound]

[Forge]

Hikari nods as she accepts the Katana gingerly, terrified of accidentally doing something to injure the blade. Eventually, she says, "Wow...It's beautiful. So, you can infuse blades with any element, right? Could you infuse mine with electricity?"

[Lost_Deep]

Courtyard

A flying limousine flies in low, and lands in the courtyard, somewhere out of the way. Gilded Caravan steps out, and looks around.

"Bah, I was hoping that my second visit would be more..."

"Cordial?"

"Garishly jubilant."

[Rebonack]

[Sanctuary]

The pegasus blinks at the fox person.

"Uh... I know what some of those words meant?"

[Fenric]

Since Courtyard isn't an actual location, we'll go with...

[Playground]

Gilded Caravan has an audience of awe-struck little children.

Woah!
A talking pony! That's almost as cool as Sir James!
I still like our dragon best.
This is the best school, ever.

---

[Sanctuary]

Tsukiko considers how best to rephrase that wall of text down into something more approachable, and decides to simply chuck most of it.

This is the Nexus, where everything is true. In my world, there's no such thing as eating someone's soul - so we should hopefully be able to go find the people you "ate" and bring them back, assuming that they want to come back, not everyone does.

---

[Forge]

Myobu nods

That is actually one of the easier elements, given metal's affinity for electricity.

He finishes selecting a few bars of metal, then goes to a different rack filled with odd looking bars of many different colors and apparent consistencies - few of them appearing metallic at all.

[Lost_Deep]

Playground


"...Blacktop."

"I was preoccupied. I'll move." Blacktop lifts off to find a better place to park.

"Children, I'm sorry for interrupting your day, but I must speak to the head priestess immediately. It is a matter of life or death!"

[Ionbound]

[Forge]

Hikari nods and steps back, allowing Myobu to do his work. She's never really been able to figure out how to smith, and doesn't want to get in the way.

[Rebonack]

[Sanctuary]

"Oh!" Sunder's expression lights up a little. "Why didn't you say that the first time?"

What is with clever people and using way too many big words?

If they can condense things down into normal-person talk why don't they just do that to begin with?

"I... think nightshades only eat someone's soul when they're making a new nightshade? And barring me smacking some unlucky bastard with a death curse I don't think that'll ever happen. Normally they just make undead shadows or something. Stuff you can smash and then rez the guy."

The pegasus' ear twitches at the rumble of a... car engine? But otherwise she doesn't react to the distant sound.

Cars always seemed weird to her. Probably comes from being a pegasus. Ground pounders are a lot slower, after all.

[Fenric]

[Sanctuary]

Tsukiko smiles

Then everything should be fine. Hopefully this does not happen too often.

---

[Playground -> Priest's Quarters]

This causes much excitement and even more noise

This way!!
Follow us!
We know where she is!
She's asleeping.

The children run toward the Priest's Quarters

---

[Forge]

Myobu's ears flick, and he briefly looks out toward the door

I wonder what got the children all excited?

Then he shrugs and takes a bright yellow bar from among the collection and starts to mark all of the pieces for length.

[Ionbound]

[Forge]

Hikari shrugs as well and says, "Do you want me to go take a look?"

[Fenric]

[Forge]

Myobu shakes his head

Nobody is praying about it, I don't think it is anything important.

He cuts the bars off to the proper length for Hikari's katana, then arranges them on the workbench.

For a lightning blade, we mix this composite of ground shock crystals into the overall composition. Making that is a complex process that I can describe later if you are curious, but it results in a highly attuned material suitable for forge work. In addition...

He opens a cabinet with a number of large buckets, each with a different colored label. He selects the bucket with a yellow label and pours it into the fire, then rakes it around and mixes it well.

Electrically attuned coal goes into the forge. Now, into the fire we go!

And he puts all of the metal bars into the burning coals and rakes the fire over them

We're going to cook those for a bit. Do you have any questions while we wait?

[Ionbound]

[Forge]

Hikari shrugs and says, "I never really was able to get interested in forging. I've always been interested, but I've never really had the patience or strength to do things properly."

[Fenric]

[Forge]

Myobu nods

That's fine. There are a few steps that we can ensure superior results if you are here for them, though, by attuning the blades to you.

He shuffles the rods in the fire and checks their color, then carefully pulls two out plus the yellow material that is now incandescent and looks nothing so much like a bit of lightning caught in his tongs. He makes a sandwich of the three and begins to pound on it while softly muttering a charm in some untranslatable sing-song language, folding and pounding and folding again. Sparks of two very different sorts shoot off while he works: the normal forked sparks of heated iron, and strange tiny lightningbolts that ground themselves to various metal objects.

[Ionbound]

[Forge]

Hikari nods and steps back a few steps from the sparks being thrown off of the hot metal, trying to avoid burning herself on the sparks, waiting for when she would be needed.

[Fenric]

[Forge]

Moybu holds the rapidly cooling bar up, then sets the lock on the tongs and offers the handle to Hikari

Hold it with just your right hand, and point it at the anvil. And, um... brace yourself: this will sting a bit.

[Ionbound]

[Forge]

Hikari clenches her hand briefly, bracing herself for a sting, then swiftly takes the handle, and, as Myobu instructed, points it an the anvil.

[Fenric]

[Forge]

Hikari will feel the blade draw just a bit of her energy: channeling it down her arm and through her hand, down the tongs, across the blade, and into a diminutive lightningbolt that grounds itself into the anvil. As promised, the tiny air gap between her hand and the handle causes enough of a spark that it gives a distinct sharp sting.

Myobu beams as he takes the tongs back

Excellent! It likes you already! Magic is never so simple a thing, and sometimes enchantments can get downright cranky.

Back into the fire it goes.

The next piece to get welded in will greatly increase its elemental channeling ability. Ideally, you will do just exactly the same thing, but with both hands next time... I won't lie: it will hurt quite a lot more, but I assure you that it won't actually harm you.

[Ionbound]

[Forge]

Hikari nods and says, "It'll be fine. That didn't even hurt...I'm pretty resistant to electricity, actually...It has something to do with my Persona, I think."

[Fenric]

[Forge]

Myobu nods

That would probably do it. I'll make it a little stronger, then.

And he starts by tossing the previously cut-off end of the yellow stuff back into the fire. Once it's ready, he pounds it to match the length of everything else. Then back in the fire, then that, the first piece, and a new rod that is brilliantly shiny despite being red hot come out and are pounded and folded together. Soon enough, he locks the tongs again.

Ok! Let the anvil have it! You can even push a bit if you want: that will make it even better.

[Ionbound]

[Forge]

Hikari nods, and clasps the end with both hands, pushing down on the anvil with a moderate amount of force, not enough to bend the blade, but probably enough to really show on her face.

[Fenric]

[Forge]

Once again, the blade draws energy from Hikari. This time, however, the energy draw is significant, the shock between her hands and the tongs is substantial, and the lightning that arcs to the anvil this time is strong enough to make a modest clap of thunder. The anvil itself is hot and smokes slightly.

Myobu nods and retrieves the tongs again

It responds to you very well - you certainly do seem to have quite an affinity for electricity. And that was the last task for you for a while...

And back into the forge it goes, a bit off to the side where the coals are cooler. Now, he pulls out two other rods and begins welding them together in the same fashion, finishing up by making them wide. Back into the heat, and when good and hot he quickly takes the first piece, lays it in the center of the second, then folds the second over it to make a coating. That is pounded smooth and then shaped into the basic outline of the blade. It is very nearly straight at this point.

Nearly an hour later it is gently cooling on the anvil, and Myobu turns to Hikari again.

So now, decoration! Magical runes and any engravings are best done at this stage - the outer jacket will be too hard after tempering. Did you have anything in mind?

[Ionbound]

[Forge]

Hikari shrugs and says, "I don't know...I guess the kanji for lightning on the Katana, and thunder on the wakizashi would be pretty cool."

[Fenric]

[Forge]

Myobu nods

I can certainly put lightning on the blade to enhance the elemental affinity. Did you mean that to be the blade's name?

Also... as someone who made the mistake of having both weapons attuned to the same element, I recommend against that. Should you come across an opponent who strongly resists your chosen element, you can easily find yourself virtually unarmed. I was thinking that perhaps Air would be a good supporting affinity for your wakizashi. "Thunder" would still be appropriate, since it is the movement of air that causes the sound.

[Ionbound]

[Forge]

Hikari nods and says, "Yeah, that sounds great...I didn't really mean any magical significance, though. Just decoration."

[Lost_Deep]

[Playground -> Priest's Quarters]

This causes much excitement and even more noise

This way!!
Follow us!
We know where she is!
She's asleeping.

The children run toward the Priest's Quarters.

"Children! Directions would be fine!" Caravan says loudly as she rushes to keep up with them. While not as fast as pony children, bipedal children were still startlingly fast.

[Fenric]

[Forge]

Myobu nods

Might as well, though, it doesn't take that much more effort.

And with that, he takes up the blade and a set of chisels, and engraves several places on the blade - chanting in the same sort of quiet sing-song that he had done before. This also takes the greater portion of an hour, after which he takes a file and rasps off the jacket along the edge that will eventually be sharp, revealing the core.

Finally, he mixes up some clay: including they same sort of yellowish powder that has been going into many components so far. He takes the clay and packs it along the blade, then gently lays the whole thing in the fire again and rakes coals over the top. He then proceeds to work the bellows, making sparks fly up the chimney.

Tempering is one of the most difficult steps, but also one of the most important. We need the core to be hard and strong to take a good edge, but not so hard that it shatters like glass. We want the jacket to be softer and pliable, but not so much that it bends and causes the core to crack. The clay helps slow the heating of the jacket while allowing the core to get quite hot. It also protects the jacket from absorbing any more carbon which will also make it harder. You'll notice that the blade is very nearly straight right now? The distinctive curve will form when I quench the blade: the differential cooling causing the metal to contract at different rates and the hardness difference causing different levels of contraction.

---

[Stampede!]

The fox children are actually quite fast with their digitigrade legs - quite a bit faster than their human and elf friends, and soon outpace the main pack. Regardless, the lot of them (around 15 in all) are shouting "Lady Caroline!" over and over at the tops of their little lungs. As Caravan is not a priest, nor a teacher, nor yet Sir James... they don't feel any particular compulsion to listen to her: the great fun of rousing the Head Priestess is now all that matters.

[Lost_Deep]

Stampede

Caravan resists the urge to make unhappy noises. As if today wasn't chaotic enough! All she really can do is follow the children.