Beyond Chaos – A DiceRPG

70. Investments

“Right, hold on,” Adam said, rubbing his head. “I should give some money to the Iyr too.”

“We have already taken out what you owe,” Sonarot stated.

“As your nephew, I should give more, should I?” Adam smiled.

Sonarot sighed, placing a hand on his. “You don’t have to worry about that, Adam. I trust that you will treat the Iyr well, so don’t worry about the money. Use that money to fund your adventures, so that you can return to me safely.”

Adam felt the warmth of her hand. “Well, I guess I should save up for plate mail…” Adam paused to think. “How much is plate mail?”

“One thousand and five hundred gold, or so,” Sonarot said.

“Really?” Adam smiled. “How much for dwarven made plate mail?”

“Double or triple that price.”

“Must I also return the item upon my death?” Adam asked, recalling the rules about dwarven made items. He wasn’t sure if he was confusing that with something else, though.

“Yes,” Sonarot confirmed.

“I should probably stick with normal plate mail then,” he said. He felt how heavy his pouch had become, near bulging with the coins. He kept his gems in his pack, but it was becoming quite full and heavy with all the gems. Then he noted the warhammer, tucked away in the corner. “Oh, right. I should probably enchant this too. How much will it cost to use the shrine if I want to enchant a weapon without selling it?”

“As a nephew of the Iyr, you may contribute one hundred gold to use the shrine,” Sonarot said.

“Done!” Adam smiled. “Hmm. I could probably enchant stuff using my gems, but I do want to save them for future use. I should probably find higher value gems too. I need a pearl for Identify too.”

“That is a simple matter to fix,” Sonarot said, brushing his hair. 

“Are there Iyrmen weaponsmiths?” Adam asked, only to blink hard. ‘What a stupid question.’

“Yes,” Sonarot said, carefully. “There are many.”

“Can I pay an Iyrman smith to make a sword for me? I’d want Jurot to make a wooden grip for it too. I’ll enchant it and use it as my main weapon.”

Jurot wanted to speak up, but his mother stopped him with a look. 

“If that’s what you’d like,” Sonarot said, brushing his hair some more. “What of your current sword?”

Adam felt awkward with her brushing his hair, but he didn’t want to stop her. “I was going to hand it to Lucy.”

“Yuck,” Lucy said, grimacing at him. “I don’t want a sword, I want an axe.”

“I can make you an axe instead,” Adam said, nodding his head, having not caught on to the issue.

“Really? I mean a huge one, one as big as an Iyrman.”

“Can you even hold one that big?”

“It was an exaggeration, obviously,” she replied, raising her brow at him.

“Right. I’ll smith you one.”

“Are you any good?”

“I can be.”

“Fine, since it’s from a friend.” She stopped her smile from encroaching on her lips. 

Adam chuckled. "I'll make you a great one, but that means that I'll need to work only when I feel lucky."

"When you feel lucky? Isn't that nebulous?” She stared up at him with a raised brow. 

"I can tell you how I feel after I wake up,” Adam said, with the pair of Iyrmen nodding to confirm. “I don’t feel very lucky today, but I want to make you a great greataxe.”

"Hmm.” She stared up at him suspiciously. “Fiiine."

"You are generous, Adam. Are you perhaps naive?" Sonarot asked, teasing him.

"Maybe I am,” Adam admitted, chuckling. “I trust my friends and my aunt dearly, though."

"Then I will speak with Saerat, as she is well versed in making swords.”

“Rat?”

“Yes,” Sonarot said, smiling. "Jurot, go and ask Saerat if she would be willing to help at my request.”

Adam wasn’t sure if he should go instead, but since Sonarot was asking, he decided against protesting.

“Yes, mother,” Jurot said, quickly leaving.

“Oh, and tell her that I’d be willing to enchant a weapon for her if she makes me a sword and hands over some gems,” Adam called after, with Jurot grunting in response.

“Come,” Sonarot said, bringing him outside so they could eat breakfast.

“Are you sure you should be moving about so much?” Adam said, worried. “It wasn’t long ago you were sick…” 

“I am resting well,” she said.

“Is there anything you need? A blanket, some food, or something else? Since you’re resting, leave it to me.”

“Since you are offering, there is something I do need,” Sonarot admitted.

“What is it?”

"Some ale," she said. 

"Excuse me?"

"When I was pregnant, I wasn't able to drink…" Sonarot smiled innocently.
 
Adam blinked, having not expected Sonarot to ask for alcohol. “Right, I’ll go, uh, ask?”

"If you go to the warehouses, you can ask someone there and they will assist you.”

"Alright." Adam hopped onto his feet. "I'll be back in a jiffy." He did as Sonarot asked, heading to the warehouse. ‘Alcohol, huh?’

“What are you doing here?” an Iyrman asked him, noting the half elf near the warehouses.

“I’m looking for some alcohol for my aunt, Sonarot,” Adam said, hoping that mentioning her name would clear out any bother.

The Iyrman squinted at him for a moment, recalling what he had heard recently about an elf and the Rot family. “Okay.” He led Adam into a warehouse and revealed a small cask, and then a small slip of paper and a quill. He wrote something down quickly before entending it out to him. “Please write your name.”

“Okay?” Adam said, taking the quill and writing his name. 

“Adam?” the Iyrman said.

“That’s right.”

The Iyrman nodded, and with that, he led Adam out and left him on his way. 

Adam returned back to the estate, wondering what that was all about. ‘Did I just sign my life away to the devil?’

When he returned to the estate, he noted Sonarot was currently talking to a tiny half orc girl. On her forehead was a red crescent moon facing upwards, with more, slightly more vibrant red crescent moons facing outwards. He had seen the tattoo once before, on an Iyrman known as Takrat.

“Good afternoon. You must be Saerat.”

The tiny orc girl looked up at him with dead eyes and remained silently.

“Uh, so…” Adam glanced to Sonarot, asking for help with his eyes.

“You want a sword,” Saerat said, though her voice was as light as a whisper.

“Yes.”

“Okay,” she said, simply. “Which design?”

Adam hadn’t expected it to be so simple. “Something which makes it obvious that it’s Iyrman in design, using Iyrman materials. It doesn’t have to be puthral or anything, but since I’m trading an enchantment on your weapon, I’m hoping that you’ll be nice.”

“I will use the appropriate materials,” she replied.

“Other than that, I’ll let you design the rest of it. If you want to use a design which denotes your family, you can do that, or a simple Iyrman design is fine too. Jurot will be making the wooden grip of the handle, which will probably be covered by leather or cloth. As long as the grip resembles this, it should be fine.” Adam revealed his current blade, allowing Saerat to see examine it with her dead eyes.

“You will begin enchanting my weapon soon?” she asked, staring at Adam with much more life in her eyes.

“Sure.”

She revealed a pair of daggers. One was made of dark metal, the other of something more light, near white. Each were forged with an almost leaf shaped blade. The pommels each were stamped with the crescent moon of her family, tinged slightly with red. 

“Did you make these daggers?” Adam asked, taking them from her. 

Spell: Guidance
1D3 = 3 (3)
Smithing (Intelligence)
D20 + 4 + 3 = 18 (11)

It was of fine make, though he didn’t recognise the metals used. They were slightly heavier than he expected, not made for throwing, but piercing through someone from beside them. 

“Yes,” Saeret replied, simply. “Will you enchant both of them together?”

“You don’t want them enchanted separately?”

“Too pricey,” Saerat said.

Adam stared at the daggers for a long moment and then back to Saerat. “How about you pay me for enchanting one, and I can impose on you in the future if I need it?”

Saerat narrowed her eyes, and for a moment, glanced to Sonarot, before she stared back at him. “Okay.”

“Do you have any ideas about which enchantments you want?” Adam asked. 

Saerat stared at the daggers and then nodded. “Dark,” she said, pointing to the light dagger. “Light,” she said, pointing to the dark dagger.

Adam blinked at her. “Okay?”

She nodded.

“Is there anything else you want?”

She shook her head. 

“Okay…” Adam blinked at her. “I’ll get started on it soon. Oh, probably tomorrow.” Adam had almost forgotten he had used all his Mana to feed Lucy that morning. “It might take a while since some days I feel unlucky.”

Saerat nodded her head. There was an awkward silence as she stared up at him.

“Is there anything else?” Adam asked.

She shook her head. “You?”

Adam looked at the white dagger, which seemed to be made out of some kind of strange metal. He thought about the kind of damage she wanted on her daggers. “Could you make my weapon out of this metal?”

Saerat remained silent for a long while, staring up at him. “It will be pricey.”

“How pricey?”

“You will receive fewer gems.”

“Sounds fine to me.” Adam smiled. “It’ll be worth it.”

“Okay.”

“Alright. I think that should be it.”

With that, Saerat left.

“Looks like I’m going to be working hard the next few days,” Adam said, staring at the daggers.

“Take your time,” Sonarot said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “There is no need to rush.”

Omen: 14, 18

Adam awoke feeling lucky that morning, so he quickly finished working out, which caused the other Iyrmen to frown. He had said that he was going to train with them, but they understood he had work to do. 

Mana: 8 -> 5

Adam quickly fed Lucy, too, who went to digest the Mana by relaxing under the sun.

“You sure are pretty chill considering you almost wet yourself when you saw them massacre so many hundred soldiers,” Adam said, biting into the meat. 

Lucy raised a brow at him for a moment, her eye peeking open as she stared at him. “I’m not going to pick a fight with the Iyr,” she replied, simply.

Adam continued to eat, dwelling on what she said, before nodding his head. He sped his way to the shrine to begin enchanting. 

Mana: 5 -> 4
Enchanting
D20 + 6 = 18 (12)
Omen: 14, 18 -> 14
18 + 6 = 24

He plucked a Thread of Fate.

The man, who had quickly acclimated to this new body of his, plunged his blade deeply into the side of the manticore, as the woman managed to slip away under the trunk of the tree, towards her darling son. He was sure that she wasn’t going to make it, but he felt something odd at that moment.

‘Did someone shift her fortune?’ he thought, glancing aside, unknowingly staring at the Iyr, though it was far beyond the horizon’s horizon.

“Azazel?” the woman called from within the tree. “Is it safe?”

“Yes,” the stranger said. “It is.” 

As she stepped out, she noting how he was dripping blood from head to toe, though he had never seemed to mind that. However, more surprising, was the smile on his face, the second smile she had seen since she had met him a couple of months ago. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” the man said. “Nothing at all.”

Mana: 4 -> 3
Enchanting
D20 + 6 = 21 (15)

Noting that he was still fine, and still had a pretty decent Omen roll, Adam continued to enchant. 

It was dark by the time Adam crept back towards the estate, noting a few Iyrmen about, though he was escorted by someone who was assigned to him that day. When he returned, he saw Lucy staring at the stars above. 

“What are you doing?” Adam whispered.

Lucy snapped back to reality and stared at him. “Nothing,” she said. 

“Are you okay?” 

She had sensed something which had gazed at the Iyr earlier that day, and though the gaze had fallen quickly, it still unnerved her. “Yes,” she said, looking back at the stars, looking beyond them. “I’m fine.”

Adam could see she was deep in thought, so left her be, heading towards the Rot family estate. As he stepped inside, Jurot and Sonarot opened an eye.

“No, I will slay the Demon Lord,” Turot mumbled in his sleep.

“You are back late today,” Sonarot whispered. 

“Yeah, sorry,” Adam replied quietly, carefully shutting the door behind him. “I was feeling really good about the weapon so I spent some extra time today.”

“You gave Lucy your magic too. You must be careful.” Sonarot pet his head. “There is food in the cupboard.”

“Oh, I’m not that hungry.” Adam had worked hard today, which had filled him up.

“There is food in the cupboard,” she repeated, smiling at him.

Omen: 1, 10

Adam wondered if he should enchant. ‘Well, the average should still be pretty good…’ He trained with the others lightly again.

Mana: 8 -> 5

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Adam asked, feeding Lucy with some of his mana. 

“I’m fine,” she said, rubbing her stomach as she napped under the sun.

Mana: 5 -> 4
Enchanting
D20 + 6 = 18 (12)

[Would you like to spend XP to empower the weapon?]

‘Sure, let’s spent 100.’

XP: 1250 -> 1150

Dagger
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon.
Deals 1D3 piercing + 1D3 radiant damage.

[Would you like to name the weapon?]

“No.” He wasn’t sure he should since it wasn’t his weapon.

XP: 1150 -> 1450

“How was it?” Sonarot asked as he returned. 

Adam revealed the dagger, handing it to her. “It’s a great dagger, that’s for sure.” He had expected it to be greater, considering how well he had rolled, but realised he didn’t have any spells which inflicted radiant damage. ‘Did the DC increase?’

Omen: 2, 5

“I feel really unlucky today,” Adam said in the morning.

“Since you won’t be enchanting, why don’t you take a break? You’ve been working too hard.”

Adam could feel how light headed he had become after spending so much time working. “I think you’re right. It’s just, when I enchant, it feels like the day is passing by so quickly. Each day that happens, I’m close to seeing my new sword!” 

Sonarot brushed his hair, smiling at him. “There is no need to rush.”

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