Weapons for a young "warlord"

[Mithos]

Mithos walked into the armory with eager eyes. New weapons were his second favorite thing on earth next to bloodshed. He was in common clothes so it would be a little harder for the common eye to recognize him. His eyes wandered over the small store, at all the weapons and the decorations until his eyes fell on a kusari-gama. Thats it... I'm coming home with one of those, and something else, something small for the ball, easy to conceal. he thought with wandering eyes again. This time he saw on a pair of sais. Ah, I love when its two finds within seconds. he thought to himself with a slight grin.

He walked up to the counter and rang on the little bell. "Hello?" he asked putting his hands in his pockets, checking for his money.

[Taralin]

"Yes, how may I help you?" Taralin stepped out from the back room, a potion book in her visible hand - the other held something out of sight in the lab. Even without his armor and in commoner clothes, the pitch-black wings, eyes and hair were unmistakable. She recognized the Dinduia lord from several nights ago. "Ah, greetings, Mithos. How nice to see you again after our.... enlightening conversation." I didn't think he'd come back, anyway, she thought, dropping the concealed knife on the counter along with unlabeled bottles and vials.

Wiping her hands on a rag stained with many colors from past poisons, she shut the door securly behind her. She noted his eager looks at the gleaming blades resting under thick glass with the grin only a salesperson could manage. "Anything in particular you like?" Walking out from behind the counter, she rattled her nails on the cover of the nearest case. "A pretty toy for the ball, mayhap?"

[Mithos]

Mithos saw the knive drop to the counter. "Concealing a weapon?" he asked with a bit of sarcasim in his voice. "What ever happened to the giant sycthe in the open Taralin we've all come to love?" he asked with a bit of a smirk. "Anyways, I was intrested in getting a little something for me and something easy to conceal for the ball, you never know whats going to happen." he said crossing his arms across his chest. "I was intrested in two, well technically three certain weapons." he said looking back over all the choices.

"There, that, the kusari-gama" he said pointing to it with eager eyes. "Its so brutal looking, yet so simple and so deadly." he said as if he was a young school girl describing one of her perfect men. "I was thinking of getting it a bit customed too, like dying it red and putting some black opals into it. About how much would that cost?" he asked curiously.

[Taralin]

"Who's this 'we' you speak of?" Taralin asked, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, knives are much easier to throw than my scythe is. Don't lecture me about concealing weapons if you're planning to do the same thing," she added with a smirk of her own. "Actually, I'm pretty sure that everyone attending will be bringing at least one weapon. I know I am, but it's a little less conspicuous than a kusari-gama."

"Mmm, Kusari-gamas. They're good weapons, but I suggest you practice with it before you use it in battle. The weight and balance of the blade is much different than a sword, and takes a while to get used to. Throwing it accuractely can be tricky to get the hang of. Opals and color change, that should be about...." She cracked her neck, thinking for a moment. "... ten extra cards. But I'll knock it down to forty-seven. What do you want colored, the blade, the chain, or all of it?"

((Ooo, nice analogy xD))

[Mithos]

"It looks great to use and I always practice with my weapons first, never try to use something you have no idea how to, I was taught in battle." he said with a small girn, taking a bit of a pause. "Probably the only words my father, the former king, said to me with any bit of help." he continued with a bit of depression on his face. He immediatly errased it from his face, thinking showing emotions are a sign of weakness. "Thats beside the fact now, on with the sale. I'd like everything but the handle colored red and the opals placed toward the back of the blade. Fourty seven you say? Yeah, I can handle that." he said sliding the money on the counter.

"I was also looking for something new, something nobody's ever seen before.... you have anything like that?" he asked with a luminous face of eagerness on his face.

[Taralin]

Taralin opened the case, drawing out the kusari-gama. "It will only take a few hours to modify the weapon. Shall I have messengers take it to your kingdom, or will you be picking it up?" Crossing the shop, she opened the back room door again, placing the chained scythe carefully on the marble high-priority table.

"Something... new? Well, I have been tinkering with some ideas..." she said slyly, standing in the doorway. She hadn't turned the light on, but sunlight glittered on metal and gems, vials and bottles, stored on the floor-to-ceiling shelves and scattered haphazardly on the counters.

"What exactly did you have in mind? Small, large, sharp, powerful, projectile, close-range, slice, tear, traditional.... mechanical?" Having flitted around the Ruby Park a good few times, she'd piltered bits and pieces of the rides and twisted them for her own devices.

[Mithos]

"A few hours, huh? I guess I'll swing by then, with the money and pick it up, don't really trust anyone with my personal weapons in my kingdom. I don't have any children, so my weapons are my kids.... Yeah, objects of death and punishment mean that much to me, weird? Just a little." he said with a sly grin on his face. Taralin was probably the closest to seeing the full extent of Mithos' madness.

His eyes were watering slightly as Taralin went over the choices for the new weapon. His smile went from ear to ear, he loved new things that no one has every heard, or seen of, especially when they could be used in battle. "Mechancial, huh? Sounds nice, and sounds completely deadly when combined with powerful and projectile. It sounds like a winning combination to me, the only question is can you do something like that?" he asked with a bit of a sly grin on his face. He was trying to basically trick Taralin into doing it for a lot less.

[Taralin]

Taralin grinned a Cheshire Cat smile, eyes alight with wild happiness. "You've never seen the Wintered Wood's torture chamber, have you? If you had, then you'd see the fun side of madness. Slash, kill, slash kill burn, burn and kill some more, that's all well and good, but have you ever heard a single person scream in fourteen different ways? Though it's a little unnerving to hear you speak of them as your 'children'. I wouldn't want to let my children have all the fun of slicing intestines into tinsel. They're just... extensions of my body."

"You doubt my skill?" Taralin asked in mock outrage. "Mechanical, power, and projectile. I can do that... nothing I've mixed up yet matches that, but it'll be ready when you come to pick up your kusari-gama." She cracked her neck, the cheshire cat smile not leaving her face. Fun side of madness indeed. Oh, this should be good.

"Anything else you'd like me to prepare? Or do you want to buy something unaltered?"

[Mithos]

He smiled menacly. "Oh trust me, I am very familar with the fun side of madness." he said, putting a large amount of emphasis on the word very. "You must not know the joy I get from killing and using weapons. Maybe we should start a war with someone just for fun, then you can see me in true battle, not just feeble training matches." he said slightly serious. "I have a feeling about those prismatic, they're too goody, they're up to something." he said being even more serious. "Perhaps ripping a few of their heads off will expose their true selves." he said laughing a little.

"Doubting your ability? Never, just questioning it a little." he said edging her on more and more. All the peices were falling right into place in his mind. "How much will this mysterious weapon be, that is if you can actually come up with it?" he said pushing the barrier even more so still. "I think that'll be all today, with two weapons and a potion for a tail, its enough money for one day." he said before turning around to leave while the weapons were made. "Oh yes, don't forget to stop by the bar every once in the while, we not only have hallucinigenics, but battle enhancers as well." he said turning around right before the door. "I hope to see you there, and I'll be back in about... how long do you expect this to take?" he asked with one foot out the door.

[Taralin]

Taralin shook her head. "Sorry, Mithos. I've already started my own war plans, and it's not just about smashing heads in. Hate to sound cliche, but it's personal... and I might be able to get rid of two enemies at once. As soon as my buisness is taken care of, I'll take you up on that offer. The Prismatics do need to be knocked down a peg or two or five."

"A few hours, no more. Well, since it is a new model, I'd say about seventy-five cards. Unless, of course, you can't afford it. Now, out of my shop, please -" she shooed him out the door with her hand. "I have work to do."

[Mithos]

"Damn, I really wanted to see those pixies get thiers for once." he said half laughing. "So who do you want to kill? If its the Kirsereg, I'd be delighted to join you." he said with a bit of an evil smile. "I definatly think thier leader has something strong against me... that or he really wants my soul. Its probably a little of both, but either way, I don't like it." he said with obvious anger in his face. "But for now, I'll let you work" he said half walking out, half pushed out.


(Time Lapse... even thought its been like 2 days in real life....)

Mithos came back in about an hour and a half later. "So Taralin, have you completed the weapons, is the new king of all things deadly ready?" he asked fingering his points.

[Taralin]

The door was firmly closed, and every few moments a shower of sparks spurted through the cracks between the door and the doorframe. Sometimes the fireworks were enhanced as the thin walls rattled with an unknown force. "IT'S.... ALIVE....!!" A fantastic power smashed the door back on its hinges as Taralin's agonized cry rang out. A surge of smoke gushed out of the room, revealing a charred corpse riddled with arrows... Then, a gloved hand shoved the dead human carcass aside, leaving just the Lady of the Mithyas, holding two shrouded objects.

"Good, you're here. I've already sprung that on two other unsuspecting people who near jumped out of their skins," she said, grinning. "No, really, it's quite inanimate. I've created two variations for you to look at," she contined, placing two bundled covered in black velvet on the counter. One was the size and shape of a bowling ball, the second was half the size and flat.

Carefully taking the slightly-singed cloth off of the first weapon, she revealed a large weapon, completely spherical, made of a black stone with a mica-like sheen. Rivets were poised in a straight line all around the sphere, with sharp arrowheads placed on the ends of willow-thin rods. One of the slots was extended slightly. Sunken in the right side of the machine was a deep impression, filled with a sludge-like liquid. "This is the first one. There are slots placed on the outside that hold the darts." Grasping the end of one gingerly in her hand, she pushed it to the side and pulled it out.

"They snap in easily enough, and unless adjusted they won't come out until fired. Basically, they're arrows, but without a feathered end. It fires with enough strength that they aren't needed. The trigger is set in the handhold - that mixture in the hole will conform to your hand as soon as you put it in. After about ten minutes have passed, you can pull your hand out, and it won't change. The trigger will surface once the mixture is set. The extended slot is the one that fires - click the button and it fires, click it a second time to reload. There are fifty shots available before you have to get more darts."

Taking a deep breath (exposition is hard work) Taralin took off the second cover. This machine has visible workings; it was composed mainly of two toothed gears made of steel. The first gear was moved by pressing down on a trigger ('borrowed' from the corpse used for a charred sneak attack), which then pushed the second gear into motion. It was similar to the first weapon; the second gear fired small, two-inch long darts. Each of the gear's teeth had small hooks on the side which drew out a dart from a cartridge attatched to a brass pipe placed in the hole in the center of the gear. The first gear had a similar pipe which held up the trigger mechanism, and the two pipes were connected with a third.

"The first one has more power, but the second one's faster. Pick which one you'd like, and I'll mass-produce the other one."

[Mithos]

He looked at both weapons with wide open eyes and a bit of an evil grin on his face. He went over each of them with his hand and thought about thier potential in battle. He liked the power of the "bolwing ball," but speed is so needed in today's world of battle. "Decisions, decisions, decisions..." he said to himself picking each one up and seeing how it felt with him. "Alright, I've made my choice.... I'll have the one with more speed, its always necessary in today's world. Plus, the other looks a little too funny for my tastes." he said to her with a small grin. He took out a poutch of credits and tossed it to her. "It should be enough to cover the new eight wonder of the world and the kusari-gama." he said picking his newly aquired weapons up and walked off.

[Taralin]

"Pleasure doing buisness with you, Mithos," Taralin said, counting the cards absently. "By the way, if it ever slows down - which it shouldn't, unless you use it in bright daylight too often - just leave it in a dark room for about an hour." As she's once told Torrin, she had no mind for mechanics. The gears and devices worked into the weaponry were all powered by shadows and wired with neon purple string.

Picking up the first heavy weapon, she dragged it into the back room. It would be available if anyone ever asked for a custom job, but for now, she would leave it out of circulation. It was pretty unwielding anyway. Kicking the burned remains carelessly out of her way, she stacked the onyx ball away. Dyes and a few cracked jetstones were scattered everywhere. Reaching to place a crimson berry juice, she shrugged and left them there. The mess wouldn't go anywhere, and she was bored with the stuffy room. Blowing out a lone candle, she left.

((Great ending, ain't it?))