Pushing the Sky!

[Carthrat]

"It's true," muses the crafter. "And soon, I too shall be hanging up my tools. It is... unsettling to think how sticks are used in this age."

[Dracos]

"A few still use them how they were meant to be used instead of hanging them on walls."

Cosgrove leaned back.  "What's your name?"

Dracos

[Carthrat]

"That's exactly it," muses the man. "They use them, but they don't use them properly. Not for the right reasons.

You can call me Smith Black, I suppose. It doesn't really matter. Everything goes into the sticks, you know? Everything. Otherwise they aren't.. right."

[Dracos]

"Mmm..." Cosgrove nodded.  "The way it's always been.  My name is Cosgrove Cromdale."

Dracos

[baka]

Fitz takes a involuntary step backwards. "Jeremy Fitzwilliam... I'm a friend of Richard's." He glances around quickly, trying to see where the man has hidden himself.

[Carthrat]

"Oho. Ah, Richard. Still too timid to come to me himself, is he?"

There's an amused chuckle at that. "So, is that all the importance to who you are? Richard's friend? If so, then tell us what Richard wants.

If there is more, tell that, too, and I may care."

<->

"True, true," replies the man, nodding. "Sticks are made to be used, but they are rarely used as they should be.

Well, Mr. Cromdale, should you ever need a stick, I am not the man to talk to. This one-" he taps the cane as indication, "-is the last one I shall sell for profit.

And I do believe the soon-to-be owner is late. No matter. What brings you here, fellow stickman?"

[Dracos]

"Fresh air and pondering what to do about a group of ruffians that have gotten a bit too big for their britches and trying to gather stickmen to cause trouble for folks.  And longing a bit for the mountains of Ireland.  They're quite nice this time of year.  Annoys me a bit I'm not there to enjoy it."

Dracos

[Carthrat]

"Such is the price of being caught up in these matters," replies Smith. "I suppose it's a blessing that I'm only involved peripherally."

[Dracos]

"Yeah, I can hear that.  But what can you do sometimes.  A stick that's left to rot is little better than a stick that's used wrong.  To see and ignore is beyond some.  Either way though, it's refreshing to relax for a bit."

Dracos

[Carthrat]

Smith chuckles. "There is one thing I plan to do," he says, nodding to himself, and a faint starry look comes into his eyes. "One more thing before I retire for good. I will create the finest weapon... one that only a true warrior will draw.

Yes, it will be a work on par with the swords of legend, but finer still, for it will be used to bring the true spirit back into the world...

...is what I'd like to say, but I do not know how I will accomplish this. Such a weapon can only be brought so far by the creator's hand. It requires the finest material as well, and I fear that such ore will be beyond my reach for many years."

[Dracos]

"One might say I'm a bit of a traveler and such a dream warms my heart, for there are few with such dreams these days.  What ore are you thinking of, in case I cross that ways."

Dracos

[Carthrat]

"Oho! An offer to help? Certainly to be expected of a swordsman," replies Smith, forgetting his earlier innuendo. "But, as is, it is only your kind that have a chance of finding such things for me.

Yes, to find the Five Magical Materials would certainly qualify anyone as a true swordsman in my eyes. But have you heard of them? Could you have?

No, of course not, for they are but legends, and dying ones at that. Listen to an old-fashioned man ramble for a moment.

But yes. The five materials.. Orhicalcum, Starmetal, Moonsilver, Adamant, and Mour-Ferri.. five materials. Five different magics, each as powerful as the next, and today, equally as rare.

I know little but old stories. Only Adamant is obtainable by mundane means, these days, and is as hard as any other. You would need money- so much money, and you would need to buy a thousand diamonds, and find some way to determine which are true Adamant and which are merely imitations...

I can tell you more. Orhicalcum was once in the crust of the Earth. Today, however, it can be smelted from Gold.. that is, if you have a master jewller, an excellent smelter, the greatest technology avaliable to miners today, and the most precise, most carefully aligned mirrors at the place where the sun shines brightest..

Starmetal comes from the stars, and in ancient times, it is said they would fall like meteors to the Earth, and lie until found- or taken by nature. If you were to chase every meteor that ever fell, perhaps one would not simply be rock, and may be what we seek.

Moonsilver is touted to fall from the dark side of the moon, and only in one place, a lake- a lake touted to be somewhere within these isles. This may intrest you- it is said that Excalibur had moonsilver as part of it.

Mour-Ferri, I know nothing of."

[Dracos]

Cosgrove whistles  a touch.  "Hmm, interesting, that is very rare indeed.  Where is the legend of these metals from?"

Dracos

[Carthrat]

"An ancient book, titled 'Before the Stone,'", says Smith. "It is difficult to believe the legends within... at least, it would be, had I not seen Orhicalcum with my own eyes."

[Dracos]

"Where did you see it?"  Cosgrove listened interestedly.

Dracos