[X] To get the weapons she had recovered from the forest in a good enough shape to be reliable in battle.
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Lirra eyed the area in front of her warily. The heat was sweltering and the overbearing scent of smoke and ash filled her nose, making breathing uncomfortable. Yes, for Lirra discomfort was the theme of this area of the academy. A cacophony of clanking noises and the screeching of metal being sharpened deafened her, and the feel of iron and steel all around her filled her with an instinctive dread. Her gloved hands grabbed the edge of her cape and pulled it closer to her, as if that could hide her from danger, or at least people.
That last point didn't seem to be hard, as everyone here was focused on their projects, shaping steel or maintaining it. The most she had exchanged with one of the people here was when an older student shouted at her to get out of the way before they tempered a white hot piece of metal.
And so Lirra was standing there, at the edge of the massive forge that had spilled from one of the buildings to take up a yard. In the past, it undoubtedly had looked like any other such places that were legion in the academy. A mostly empty grassy field with perhaps a tree or occasionally a stream passing through, but now the earth was black with soot and no trace of greenery was left, except for the handles and hafts waiting for a blade, as well as the firewood.
Eventually, she made her way alongside the edge of the area, and found several grinding mills left unattended. Nobody would mind, right? It wasn't as if they were in use after all.
Lirra nodded then walked up to one of them, before sitting on the wooden stool in front of it then, after carefully checking that her hands were covered by her gloves and that there were no holes that she'd missed in them, she pulled out the two weapons she had taken the other day and put the spear down next to her before raising the sword to her eyes to examine it.
The blade was chipped, and there were flecks of rust where blood had fallen on it. From what she knew, it didn't look like it had been a particularly good piece to begin with. Serviceable, for sure, but the metal was of middling quality at best and perhaps it was its state or simply that Lirra wasn't its intended user but the balance felt off.
Oh, well, it wasn't like she knew how to use a sword anyway, so…
She thought for a bit about what she could do to put it back into shape, and in the end she concluded that since she didn't have any materials or money to buy them, the best she could do was simply to grind the blade until its edge was restored. If she had leather straps, she could rebind the handle, and with a forge and some metal, she probably could do a pommel that would give the weapon a better balance for her, but she didn't have any of this.
Once more nervously checking the state of her gloves, she disassembled the sword until she only had the blade in her hands and got to work. With her foot going up on down on the wheel's pedal in a steady rhythm, she started moving the edge up and down along the stone, as sparks started flying all around her.
It took a few hours until she had a result she thought was satisfying and by then the sun was setting and the only thing she wanted was a bath and a bed. She'd take care of the spear some other day, she thought as she carried her weapons back to her room before taking the direction of the baths.
At this hour she doubted anyone would be there, and so she was surprised to see an ornate dress carefully hanged on the wall. There was only one person who would dress like this in this academy, and Lirra had never seen her in the bath before, unlike most of her female classmates.
She closed the door behind her and started slipping out of her clothes when she heard a splash coming from further in.
"What was..." she could hear mumbling coming from the baths before the voice was louder. "Could there be someone here?"
She sounded pretty alarmed at the idea.
"Ah, uh… it's Lirra," she answered.
"Please do not come in here. I repeat, do not come," Pupa sounded panicked. "Could you, uh… throw my dress this way without looking in?"
Well, that wasn't strange or anything. Still, Lirra could hardly criticize given her own bathing problems. She finished stepping out of her breeches - the last thing she wanted was to trip into the baths during the operation - and grabbed the dress before making her way right next to the second embrasure, making sure to look away.
"Do I, uh… just throw it?" she asked. "It'll get wet and it looks nice, so..."
"Just… wait an instant. And do not look."
There were several clicking sounds on the bath's floor until Pupa started talking again, much closer.
"Please pass your arm in the opening." Lirra did as she was told and the dress was taken off her hands. "Thank you."
After a minute of shuffling, a dry and dressed Pupa came out. She curtsied to Lirra before quickly leaving.
Well, that was a thing, Lirra thought as she finished undressing, but she was too tired to think more about it.
The following day, she was back at the forge, and this time she planned to take care of the spear. As before, she first examined it to see the problems. One of the tip's edge was probably too far gone to save. She should probably try to do some serious modification to change it into a single edge, like some shorter warscythe. Still, the main problem was the haft. It could probably still hold a bit, but there were minute fractures along its length, and the time it spent in blood and the damp forest ground had done it no good. Once more, there was nothing she could do about it for now. Maybe if she got some money at some point she could change it, but she wondered if it wouldn't be better to simply buy a new spear entirely.
There was no use lamenting, and she started working on the wheel again. This time, while the blade was much smaller, she also had a lot more to remove on one side and so it took her hours to finish her work again. By the end of it, her arms and legs were killing her, and she saw with dismay that quite a few new holes were present in her cape, courtesy of the sparks that flew everywhere.
"Ah, I did think I knew that hood."
Surprised, Lirra turned to see a pale, white haired Svartalf standing next to her.
"Didn't take you for someone who I'd find in a forge, though."
"Ah… hello Melkorka," Lirra said, rising to her feet despite her legs' protest.
"Yeah, yeah, hi Lirra," the Svartalf answered. "So, what are you doing here?"
"I, uh… was trying to put a few weapons back in shape."
Lirra shuffled a bit, as a short silence came down upon the two of them.
"So, what are you waiting for? Give me that so I can take a look."
The Changeling jumped a bit before giving her the spear. Melkorka took it wordlessly and started looking it over.
Given she clicked her tongue, she probably found the same issues as Lirra did before, and more.
"Well… you did what you could. But where did you find this piece of crap?"
Lirra looked away shily, putting her fingers together.
"I… found it. It was, uh... discarded."
"Yeah, I bet, but where? There's lots of blood into that haft, Lirra."
"Ah, the… forest," she finally answered, the last word much quieter than the rest.
Melkorka let out a long sigh, before passing her hand over her eyes.
"Dammit, Lirra, without even going about the whole morality aspect, you went into a damn dangerous place for near useless loot. If you really need money, I don't know, go work at a bar in the harbor during the week end or something."
She looked at the spear one last time before letting out another sigh and pulling out a small carving knife. She spent a few minutes working it on the haft before giving it back to Lirra. She looked at Melkorka's work and saw a few crude runes engraved on the wood.
"Don't take it as encouragement for your stupidity. I just don't want you to die because your shitty pointy stick broke at the first strike. It should last like a regular low quality haft now at least."
Lirra felt tears coming to her eyes and she hugged Melkorka, ignoring the uncomfortable angles of the Svartalf's armor.
"Thank you! It's the first time I got a gift from someone else than my mentor," she bawled over the runesmith's shoulder.
"Yeah, yeah, d-don't cry for the work of a minute, you idiot," answered an uncomfortable Melkorka, as she awkwardly patted Lirra's back. "Come on, people are starting to look at us, s-stop it!"
Eventually, she let go and Melkorka took the opportunity to escape.
And like that, the week eventually came to an end. There should still be around two other weeks for her to get used to life here before classes changed, and still one month after that before instructor Al-Wahid's promised surprise.
But for now, there were more important things to think about; it was the week-end, after all.
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[] Spend some time with your classmates.
- [] Tanwen wanted to go and spend the day at the cliffs.
- [] Pupa wanted to go visit the harbor town. See people, go shopping… the boats probably bring all sorts of stuff.
-- [] Take advantage of the outing to ask her what was going on in the baths.
- [] Furuta will practice her swordsmanship. You're welcome to train with her.
- [] Alvi plans on getting wasted and possibly see if there's a pleasure house at the harbor. While you most definitely won't come along on the second part of his plan, why not party a bit?
- [] You will talk to that elf and she will answer you, even if it's the last thing you do.
[] Empty the graveyard some more.
[] Try to learn about one of the Swords not in your group.
- [] The sun knight
- [] Alvi's sister
- [] The pretty boy who is neither with Dylis or indescribable
- [] The Svartalf
- [] The tan, sharp looking man
- [] The girl who looks like Chloe
- [] The wild looking girl
- [] The… boy who looks like… urgh your head hurts. Seems nice, though.
- [] The giant golem-limbed man
- [] The boy who's always with Dylis
- [] Dylis
- [] The other knight
[] Spend some time with your earlier companions.
- [] Chloe will probably spend her time in the library. With the magical knowledge you obtained from the Pyres came a lot of questions. Maybe she has answers?
-- [] Stay general
-- [] About Elemental magic
-- [] About Illusion magic
-- [] About Alteration magic
-- [] About Mind magic
-- [] About Creation magic
-- [] About Forbidden magic
- [] Melkorka walks pretty slowly. There's no way she can run away once you find her.
- [] Lucilia will probably be at the tavern or in town.
[] Working at a bar or something? Well, money could be useful, probably.
). Being able to use spells to make ourselves a better tank would be awesome!
