Free-Form Fantasy

[Noname]

Youri's blades stabbed the monster, dealing a savage blow! The beast roared in anger and pain, and it tried to attack, but the injuries were too great, even with its unnatural healing and mighty strength. The creature took a few steps forward, howled in pain and rage, then collapsed onto the floor in a bloody heap. It did not rise.

Ophion took a moment to examine the beast, as did Silverfang. After a while, it was Silverfang who spoke first. "I cannot tell if the creature is truly dead or not; the evil magic that permeated its flesh is still present, and I cannot tell if there is any life in that thing. Still, I can tell that it won't be getting up, and if it isn't dead now, it will be soon. Youri, that was amazing. In all my years, I've never seen such a bladesman."

[Mirumoto_Kenjiro]

Youri's blades, unstained with the evil blood, retracted into his arms as Silverfang gave the complement.  "It's exactly what I was made for," he replied.

Halo stood next to Ophion and examined the body.  "Maybe we should destroy the body just in case it might rise as an undead?" he asked.

[Noname]

"I'm not sure if we should" Silverfang replied. "These creatures are often unstable, and on a very low level, I might add. Just because we killed it doesn't mean it doesn't have residual magic in its corpse. If we tried to get rid of it... well, all of that energy has to go somewhere. It might blow up in our faces, or it might disperse."

From behind, a soft but stern female voice could be heard. "Hello! Does anyone remember me?! I'm the one who calmed that thing down to begin with!" It was the dracon from the guild hall! It was a sad but true fact that females were often belittled in Dracon culture, and their contributions all too often ignored.

[Mirumoto_Kenjiro]

Shiana patted the female mage on the shoulder.  "Don't worry.  It takes much for females like us to be better recognized for our merits.  Besides, we're not sure if we're even done with this mess yet."

[Noname]

The silver-skinned female dracon looked Shiana in the eye and responded. "First, you can call me by my name. It's Selene. Second, I'm tired of being overlooked. Do they put females of your kind in light clothing, expect you to act like eye candy, and keep passing you over for recognition because of what's between your legs?!"

Selene was rather mad, and understandably so.

[Mirumoto_Kenjiro]

Shiana looked her right back, but kept cool.  "As a matter of fact, Selene, where I came from, I am judged by my battle prowess rather than my gender.  And for that, I've been selected to soon be Knight of the Cloak.  You earn much respect for valor than for physiology."

Halo soon walked in on the conversation.  "If you hate being here, why stay at all?"

[Noname]

"I don't have much of a choice" Selene replied. "I have magical powers that are a part of me. I was born like that. My parents were nobles and they could afford to pay for me to be sent to a magic academy. They shipped me off for a few years, and when I was to returned, I would be given to an arranged marriage, and expected to keep my powers under control. I hate that. I don't like constraints, and I don't the school they put me in. I never did. My powers aren't something to be repressed or locked up, like they were a curse. I want to be free and revel in my magic, not suppress it!"

Selene took a breath before finishing her story.

"Long story short, I ran away from the school and was taken in by the Silver Order. I have nowhere else to go, really."

Silverfang and Ophion were busy surveying the damage and discussing what to do, so the others could keep on talking for a while.

[Mirumoto_Kenjiro]

"There must be plenty of academies outside the Dracon jurisdiction that could accept you," Shiana replied.  "Unfortunately, we're not spellcasters, so we don't know of anything personally."

"Isn't there a sorcerer in the Knights of the Cloak?" Halo thought.  "I think he's one of the head Knights."

"Yeah, but...  He only takes in apprentices for personal training.  He may be powerful, but he's also a stickler in choosing the right student."

"It doesn't hurt to try."

"True.  But even if you aren't picked as an apprentice, Selene, he has connections to many academies that can teach you like a real sorcerer."

[Noname]

Selene looked at them, a bit upset. "That's not really the problem! I already know how to use my magic! The academy I was sent to was trying to get me to suppress my magic! My father told me that I would never be accepted as a wife if I couldn't control my powers, but I can! He wishes I never had any powers at all."

The young dracon looked sullen and sad, but she continued nevertheless. "I think my parents wanted a son as their eldest child. Well, dad already had three kids, but I was the first my mother ever had. None of my siblings or half-siblings have natural magic, not even my brothers. Dad thought this was wrong, so he doesn't want me to use magic at all. I don't want a master, or a teacher, or anything; I just want to use my powers. It's like... imagine you had wings and you knew how to fly, but your father told you not to fly, and others were telling you how to fly according to their rules. That's what it is like; my magic is a part of me. Not using it would be like telling me to not use my voice or my hearing."

[Mirumoto_Kenjiro]

"Most academies where we came from don't have such restrictions over students depending on gender," Shiana said.  "Some of the most powerful wizards I've read about were female.  Perhaps some time out of Dracon territory will do wonders for you."

"And if her parents find out?" Youri said as he joined in.  "If they were that controlling of their daughter, they could send somebody out after all of us."

"But it's not right for her.  My elven kindred revels in free will and choice.  Isn't that the same with yours, Halo?"

"Yes, but I also know that not all creatures think like us, so they don't sympathize like us."

"So now what?"

"First off, if Selene really wants to go with us, then we could think of a plan to help her leave, but make it more like she's gone to study in a more suitable environment, and not like she's been kidnapped or ran away.  Selene, it's your call."

[Noname]

"I'd just like to go somewhere and just... just practice magic in peace. I'm not looking for a school. You know I can control my magic by now; I was the one who cast that spell on that... mage-monster, or whatever it is called. And, although going abroad sounds interesting, I'll have to pass on that, Youri. I don't really have the funds to go to another land, or much money at all, really. I do tasks for the guild, and they give me a place to stay, plus some food and a little stipend. See these clothes?" Selene indicated her garments, which were nothing more than a blue-colored top on her chest and a loincloth around her waist, and the latter was little more than a blue rope with a cloth on either end, with a hole for her tail on the back end.

"Besides these, and a few personal items, and a tiny of silver coins, that's all I've got. The one asset I have is my magic, which come from me personally. As it is, my mother has no real power over me, nor do any of my dad's other wives. My father only cares about me to marry me off to some male somewhere. He's expecting to pay a dowry that comes with any marriage, and then wants me to bear grandkids. I don't think he'll come looking for me, though. I never really saw him all that often. He never really cared about my sisters or half-sisters either."

[Serris]

Torvin had finished the sword just as the customer, a wiry dark-skinned Human came in.

"Your sword, sir," Torvin said, polishing it.

"Thank you, Torvin," the man replied, placing a bag of gold coins on the counter.

Torvin counted the coins up and handed the sword over.  

"Wow! This is high quality!" the man said. "Also, your draft animal in your paddock is really knowledgeable about metals. We just had a discussion about the merits of Darksteel in weapons."
 
Torvin nodded and went to the back. "Alima! Cassia! What do you want for breakfast?" he asked.

[Noname]

The female equine bolted up from her seat, eager to get some food. "Do you have oats? I like mine mixed with water and salt, or... sugar! Do we have any sugar to mix with the oats?"

Alima got up as well, following Cassia, walking on the cold stone floor. Did Torvin know how cold his floor was? No, he wouldn't. Those hooves couldn't feel it like her kobold feet did. Oh well...

"Do we have any pork?" Alima asked Torvin that before pausing to think about what she had asked. The request for meat was given to a herbivorous creature. Pigs and horses were related in a way. How embarrassing.  :blink:

[Serris]

"I can't eat meat so I don't keep it around," Torvin replied.

He then rummaged in the nearby closet and found a bag of oats, which he scooped into a pot, filled with water and placed it on the stove and waited for it to cook.

The Strutho stuck his head through a window. "Torvin, I decided to look through your metal stock. You're running low on Mirrodin," he said.

"Oh great," Torvin said.

Mirrodin was a volatile liquid metal that was useless in its pure form but when alloyed with other metals, it gave them the ability to store a magic charge and release it at another time.

[Noname]

Mirrodin... where has Cassia heard of that metal before. Wait a minute...

"I think I know where you can busy some" the female equine responded. She left the table where the oats had been laid out and returned with her recently-polished rapier.

"My blade is a steel-mirrodin alloy. I got it from a smith from Minbenthac, in the metals district. I'm sure they must have a supply there. How expensive is this stuff, anyway? I've heard that most blades that marry a magical charge don't use mirrodin, but the ones that do are often of very high quality."

[Serris]

"Mirrodin is found only in the Limefrost Spiral mine in the northern regions. Even though there are large veins of ore in that mine, even the richest ores yield very little Mirrodin when they are smelted. Mirrodin also has the habit of gradually evaporating at high temperatures," the Strutho said.

Torvin was doling out the oat porridge. "What about the cost?"

"Mirrodin, surprisingly, is not extraordinarily expensive but that is only due to its low demand; it is useless unless alloyed with other materials and few smiths want to work with it because pure mirrodin tends to destroy tools."

[Noname]

"I know about those mountains!" Cassia replied, suddenly interested. "The Limefrost range is very tall, so much so that even in this desert, there is snow on its peaks. Right now, a single noble controls many mines up, even though he lives far away from them."

Truth be told, those mountains were far from any of the major dracon cities, and access to the metals from them was only possible by shipping them by sea via the coastal towns near the mountain range, or by caravans traveling across a long road.

"There is a catch, however. While he lives in Minbenthac, the smiths and metal dealers under his patronage are involved in some sort of political mess and they aren't working. I know who he is because I've met his daughter, a sorceress. I believe her name was Minna, and the noble was Tallon. He must have access to a supply of mirrodin."

Alima has only one thing to add to the conversation, as she entered the room, hopping from foot to foot. "Where did you get the mirrodin in the first place, Torvin?" It was a very useful question on her part.

[Serris]

"So does that mean that we have to ration Mirrodin supplies?" Torvin asked, eating his porridge.

"You have 4 vials of Mirrodin. The ratio of Mirrodin to other metal depends on the type of metal," the Strutho replied.

"So I guess that's a yes? Pity. Mirrodin alloy weapons are the favorite of mages and they sell well."

"You do know that you can simulate a mirrodin alloy weapon by melting  orichalc, mithril and steel in proportions, right?"

Torvin sighed. "Yes, I do. The only problem is that this alloy reacts strangely to certain spells and the charge does last as long," he said.

[Noname]

Mages like Ophion and Silverfang didn't use Mirrodin. Then again, few mages used weapons in close combat, although Silverfangs blades kept a charge based on their mithril alone. Nevertheless, it was one of the largest metals around for the purposes of storing a magical charge in a weapon or suit of armor.

"Where do you buy your Mirrodin from, Torvin? Alima had a good question." Cassia added. Maybe his source would not be out of the metal yet. Until the dispute was over, the supply would be short.

[Serris]

"I buy it from a Dracon dealer named Sy'Thet," Torvin replied finishing his porridge.