Darkness and Hellfire

"Be welcome Magus, Marquess, Pilsudski." Margaret greeted the plump and nearly hairless older gentlemen at their gate. She curtsied as she waved him inside. "The Master and Mistress are waiting for you just inside."

"Oh Johny is fine." The marquess, who was also a mid level mage and an expert artificer, replied. To tell even a servant of another house to refer to him by his first name either meant that he was flirting or that he was not a man to stand on ceremony. Margaret got the feeling that he was not flirting with her. "Let's get to it." He said more to himself than to Margaret and walked through the threshold into the front garden.

Margaret did not let it show as she rose and started leading him towards the house, but she was decently surprised that a mage of all people would so casually walk into the V'Nova Wexler manor. Jala had been subtle with her placements of the magical protections but very few of them were actually disguised from perception. Simply the act of having noticeable magical protection was often enough to keep mana sensitive thieves at bay after all.

"Of course, sir." Margaret replied as they finished crossing the small distance. The marquess, Johny, already looked slightly winded, in fact, Margaret got the feeling that he was always slightly winded. The man's sparse white hair and clean shaven face made his slightly bushy white eyebrows stand out. His dull olive green eyes looked as though they took in the entire world around him through his large thick glasses. His lips were chapped like a man who hadn't had a thing to drink in days but he otherwise seemed fine.

Margaret opened the door and led him inside. Once inside the front door, Madeline appeared with a pair of slippers that looked about the same size as Johny's buckle shoes. His shoes looked comfortable for a short walk through a garden but not nearly capable of handling long trips. Somehow they had survived the three day journey from Sapphirestone. "Please, let us help you change into these, m'lord." Madeline said as she sat the slippers down in front of him.

"Oh! Thank you." Johny replied and immediately bent down and unbuckled his own shoes before Madeline or Margaret could do it for him. He easily slipped out of his shoes and into the slippers far faster than someone of his age and mass was expected to.

"O-of course, m'lord." Madeline hitched. She was not used to receiving guests and the plump old man was throwing her off.

Margaret gave her daughter a look that said: 'Just go with it. Some people are odd.' Madeline gave her an almost imperceptible nod of acknowledgement.

Just inside the entryway, was the sitting room where Isaac and Lenna were waiting. They had been able to see the entire interaction but had yet to greet their guest. They had been told almost nothing about the artificer that the Heidenburgs were sending so they wanted to take a moment to try and get the man's bearing before any discussions would begin.

"Oh I'm too fat for a m'lord young lady." Johny told Madeline which made the girl freeze in place as the gears in her brain started to spin in place. The light hearted self depreciation just seemed so out of pocket for a nobleman, and a mage to boot, but somehow it seemed perfectly natural for the scraggly looking man dressed in a fine long sleeved shirt and pants. His clothes were plain save for the copious amounts of visible enchantments sewn into them. The material was only cotton but the amount of gold in them had to double their weight.

Isaac and Lenna rose to their feet to greet their guest, much to Madeline's appreciation, and gave him smiles in greeting. "Thank you for coming all this way." Lenna told him.

"Oh don't worry about it. I needed the exercise, 'cause I'm fat." Johny replied. The back to back usage of the comment just seemed so natural for him that Lenna almost didn't even notice it in the conversation.

"Well, we thank you anyway." Lenna continued. "I am Lenna V'Nova, the paladin in need of a new sword, and this is my husband." She gestured towards Isaac who was standing right next to her.

"Isaac Wexler." Isaac introduced himself but left all of his titles and theatrics behind. The mage in front of him was a casual working man who just happened to also be a noble and the artificer that the Heidenbugs went to for their dawn capacitors. "I trust the trip was a quiet one."

"Indeed." Johny replied to Isaac's comment first before he introduced himself: "Johan Pilsudski. Most just call me John or Johny."

"Please, sit." Lenna told him and motioned towards a two person sofa diagonal from where she and Isaac's sofa chairs sat. There was a small table nestled in the middle of the chairs and sofas and it had been cleared off for the artificer's visit.

"Oh, thank you." Johny exclaimed at the same volume as a casual conversation. He half walked, half hobbled, over to the sofa and practically fell into it. Isaac and Lenna returned to their chairs much more gracefully at around the same time. Johny almost immediately leaned forwards in his seat so he could get a better look at the duo. "So, what can I do for you fine folks?"

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"This," Lenna began and grabbed a sheathed sword from where it leaned against her chair. She handed the longsword to the artificer with one hand and he took it in two as if he was expecting it to be supremely heavy. Apparently he was used to paladins not understanding that normal people needed two hands for most things. "is my new sword. We have a plan for the enchantments but would still be open to your comments and recommendations. We will also need you to make it in a reasonable timeframe."

Johny nodded as he took the sword out of the scabbard and set both of them on the table in front of him. He made a couple measurements with his fingers and looked to be doing some math in his head. "Depending on a few things, we can probably fit twenty two enchantments on this sword." He explained.

"Depending on what?" Isaac wondered. "We were told that based on the surface area, twenty one would be the limit."

"Self repair is one that can be finagled in if we plan the rest of them out carefully. The same goes for hardening." Johny explained. "It'll be tight but we can do it."

Isaac and Lenna looked at each other. "Self repair." Lenna said with wide eyes.

"How did we not think about that for a sword?" Isaac questioned.

"Most people don't." Johny informed them. "Swords can just be sharpened. Knights sharpen their own magical swords all the time. This one will be a bit harder than most, but it is still possible to sharpen it by hand with just a whetstone. I've worked with the Heidenburg family for decades now and they are harder on their swords than anyone else. All of their personal weapons need Self Repair otherwise their blades will be chipped within a week."

"Alright then, here is what we had in mind." Isaac began. They spent the next minute explaining what they wanted. The following hour and a half was spent sipping tea and eating pastries. Isaac and Lenna watched and occasionally made conversation or asked questions while Johny drew out the schematics of where the enchantments needed to go in order to get them all to fit. He was correct that they would be able to squeeze in a self repair enchantment under the condition that the dawn capacitors were not all in a perfectly straight line. It didn't take Johny long to move them around so they would look like the silhouette of flames made of platinum drawn into the sides of the sword.

Once Johny was finished with the schematic, he sat his pen down and sighed. "Alright, look over this one last time to make sure I didn't mess anything up because I'm fat." He told Isaac and Lenna. His casual and light hearted nature had entirely taken over the mood of the V'Nova Wexler sitting room.

"I have been." Isaac replied. "It looks good to me, but I'm not an artificer. From the outside, the internal logic and patterns look good though, so I am going to say that you did everything correctly."

"Thanks." Johny said and then took another bite of pastry. It was his fourth in an hour and a half which showed great restraint considering Isaac and Lenna had each had seven. "Now, I just need one last thing from you. It is the real reason I had to make the trip here." He withdrew a diamond the size of his considerably large fist. It had layers upon layers of platinum enchantments going through it. He had it stashed in his standard Bottomless Bag and it had required the use of both of his hands to extract it. "This is an aura storage device. It will mold to your aura signature and it is what allows me to make dawn capacitors without you needing to be present."

Lenna took the offered diamond. It had as considerable of a heft to it as one would expect of a five inch diameter diamond filled with platinum. "What do I do with it?" Lenna wondered. Her first thought was to just direct her aura towards it but she figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"Just use your aura with it as if it was a sword." Johny explained. "It will absorb and store the energy instead of it just being wasted."

"So, about that…" Lenna spoke with a frown as she stared at the incredibly expensive aura bucket in her hands.

"I need this to stay between us." Isaac told the artificer.

"If you want, I can forget whatever it is when I leave this room." Johny replied. His reply was so matter of fact that Isaac wondered if he was going to use memory magic on himself. "But only tell me if it is necessary to what we are doing here, please."

"Lenna is still recovering from soul damage." Isaac explained. "She'll be fine, eventually, but for now she is banned from using her aura consciously."

"Well, the rock will absorb any amount of aura in close proximity to it." Johny explained. "The only thing will be how long it will take to charge."

"So I can charge it just by releasing my aura?" Lenna wondered.

Johny nodded. "Yep." He confirmed. "You can go ahead whenever you are ready and I'll just confirm that it is working."

"My aura is… scary." Lenna warned him.

Johny took a long pull from the tea next to him and settled into his seat a bit. "Alright. I'm ready whenever you are."

Lenna thought about trying to warn him further but he was a man who was used to paladins so she figured that he would be fine. She took a calming breath and then released her hold on her aura. Her aura rolled outwards from her in all directions like an upside down cup full of water that had just been picked up off of the table. It was weak and different, somehow, to how it had been the last time Isaac had felt it. It felt more sinister, more vicious, than it used to be. Before it was just the fear of being looked down upon by a being that was created to be a predator. Now it was like being lorded over by something so unknowably powerful, that also wanted to play with your corpse like a cat with a mouse. The diamond in her hand started to shift.

Johny grabbed his chest. "That is something fierce." He commented and then focused on the diamond. "It looks like it is working." He told them. "I can come back for it tomorrow or in a few days if you would like. I'll need to schedule a caravan trip back so I won't be going anywhere. I'm too fat to hike."

"That would be fine." Lenna replied.

"Where are you staying?" Isaac asked.

"The Celestial Dawn. Somebody told me that it is the best place in town." Johny informed them.

Isaac nodded. "It is. Celeste, the lady who runs and owns it, is a very good friend of ours." Isaac explained. "When the diamond is charged, we'll get it back to you. If you need to leave before then, you know where we are or we can have it shipped to you via courier."

"Alrighty." Johny told them with a big grin. "I'll-" He cut himself off as he tried to get up from the sofa but failed. He rocked back slightly and then forwards again so his momentum would be able to help him stand. That time he got it. "I'll be going."

"We never talked about a price." Isaac reminded him.

"I only accept payment once it is finished." He told Isaac. "But for a weapon like that…" He started doing math in his head. "Two hundred and twenty thousand plus materials… let's say one platinum bar to be safe and you are giving me the sword to work with."

"We'll get it to you before you leave." Isaac informed him. "Margaret, we'll need twelve platinum bars and the sword in a Bottomless Bag for Johny by tomorrow evening."

"As you say, my Lord." Margaret confirmed her understanding of the following day's main task.

Once Johny had left, Isaac turned to Lenna. "Next up, Edward about Shamesh." He told her.

Lenna stretched. "I think I am feeling up to it. We haven't gone anywhere yet today and it is already halfway to dinner."