RP:Enchanting Beginnings
Summary: Alvina summons Nortengaal back to Frostmaw to test out his requested items of interest. A few modifications to be made, and a suggestion to follow up with a more skilled enchanter, sets the beginning of a fruitfully inventive friendship.
Cliff Edge
The area opens wide here, with the side of the road running alongside sheer cliff, a straight drop which would surely kill anyone without the skill or wings to navigate it. Jagged rocks protrude from the cliff side, almost like daggers waiting to stab into a victim's soft flesh as they plunge to their death. As you look closer you can slightly make out old bones and bodies that have fallen in the past, due to slipping, or killed during duels, and just past that border of corpses is what appears to be a massive spire of ice, its point disappearing into the clouds. Strange as the structure seems, it becomes even more so the closer you look, for it appears to be systematically dotted with perfect half-circles, out of which frequently fly dragons, gryphons, and other winged beasts. Is there some sort of multi-species hive lurking within the icy confines? Brave the deadly cliffs if you wish to know more, or take the thin road here that leads east and west, towards the area of the tavern and the main area of town. Another path leads north to a steep hill, and a distant fort.
In The Snow
Alvina'd written to Nort to let him know the preparations were at a good testing point now. Instead of having him meet her at the Towers, she'd invited him to this random cliff side. It's a great place to test the wing's ability to glide with his frame, because of the powdery, sloped hill to the north of them. No true sharp drop offs to threaten his safety! She's standing in the snow, large backpack of equipment slung into the snow. It holds various tools, one can only assume it's a portable 'lab' of sorts, to make repairs or adjustments on the wings or weapons he's requested. The objects of interest are swaddled in wrapping and twine, laid out in the snow. Just a little test of her own, to see if they'd handle indirect contact with the snow before trying to expose them to anything stronger. She'd hate to shatter them as soon as she'd finished! In truth, she should have written Irenic to see how his wings were holding up and what they'd endured. But time demanded she work quickly and efficiently. Her confidence in the project's success was high. Emerald eyes cast around the otherwise barren location. She's still alone. Maybe it would be a good idea to try and test one of the yo-yo's outside the lab. She kneels down, clad in an abundance of navy fluff and cloak, and unwraps one of the weapons. She turns it over, admiring her own handy work, and stuffs the wrapping in her backpack. The buttons click on the side, testing the mechanisms meant to control the length of the string provided to the user. It still sounds functional. The same as in the lab. She ties one end of the string to her finger, utilizing the yo-yo's most basic function. How did he fight with these? She slings it outwards, away from her, like a swing and waits for it to come back. The string is short to accommodate her height. Button pressed, the string tension slacks and the yo-yo's end drops into the snow. "Whoops," she laughs to no one, pulling it out of the circle shaped hole in the snow.
Nortengaal had received the notice from Alvina surprisingly quickly; it seems like only a few days had passed, although with his somewhat lax awareness of time and it’s passing it could very well have been longer. The scheduled meet up time arrived, and Nortengaal has made his way to the cliff side area the engineer has picked for their flight tests. Clothed in just his usual clothes of dark blue vest, pants, and boots, one might think him a bit underdressed for the snow-covered location, and they would be right if he didn't have other ways of keeping himself warm if need be. As it stands now, he’s actually quite comfortable with the bite to the air for now, though that may change as he remains exposed to the elements. Spying Alvina up on the slope, he heads up to where she is, calling out to her with a wave of his hand as he walks, picking his way through the snow laden path with relative ease. “Hey there! You certainly work fast. You must not've slept much these past few days.”
Alvina’s staring at the hole in the snow she’s made when Nort calls up to her. She responds with a large grin and a hearty wave in his direction. “Just in time!” She calls, gathering the weapon back up and waiting for him to join her before continuing their conversation. “I slept, I promise!” Maybe not the recommended 8 hours but she had mom duties on top of this so all her spare time must be used efficiently. Not always the case, but she tries! It wouldn’t affect the final product, she promises! “It’s easy to get caught up when a project’s exciting!” She holds out the first yo-yo for him to inspect before gesturing to the other pieces wrapped and resting in the snow. “A new weapon and new set of wings,” She shakes her head, “Who wouldn’t be excited?” With bated breath, she watches him inspect it. The gems he’d paid her with make up the mechanism that changes the string’s length and also the axle, giving it’s core stability and strength.
Nortengaal smirks and chuckles a bit. “No judgment mind you; I keep odd hours myself. Especially when i have something to look forward to.” Truth be told, he had hardly slept much himself, equally excited about the projects at hand. He’d spent most of the time practicing with his old beat up yo-yo, ironing out some new tricks and polishing up old ones. Taking the offered yo-yo in his left hand he hefts it, surprised at how light it feels compared to his old one. He can tell immediately from the feel of the metal that this new one is far more durable however, and the bearman excitedly ties the end of the string into a loop and slips it on over his finger. After taking a couple steps away from Alvina to give himself space to work, Nort begins putting it through its paces, starting simply with just tossing it out and reeling it back, utilizing the switch on the side to modulate the length of the string. Soon he amps up, doing increasingly fancy tricks at faster speeds until the movement of the object is hard to follow. Somewhat abruptly he stops, a flick of the wrist undoing a complicated looking string array that required both hands to do and snapping the yo-yo back to his hand. Grinning excitedly he turns to the engineer. “Well, I have to say i’m extremely pleased with this so far. I can only assume the other one will perform equally as well with the harmless stuff. Now to see how it holds up to the other stuff i have in store.” The hand holding the yo-yo begins to glow a pale yellow, hard to see at first in the snow-reflected light of day, but growing increasingly bright. The hair on his arm starts to raise as a static charge builds up until small sparks of electricity begin to shoot off, surging around his hand and the yo-yo therein, which shoots off some sparks of its own as the man’s energy courses through it. Satisfied, he releases the pent up electricity in a small bolt the strikes the ground near his feet, dissipating into the earth. Next, his hand begins to glow a dull red and quickly starts to heat up, soon reaching uncomfortable levels of warmth. A look of concentration furrows Norts brow a bit as he condenses the heated aura into the yo-yo itself, which begins to glow red with heat. Further concentration increases the level of heat in the item, and the string suddenly bursts into flame, flash burning while the yo-yo seems no worse for the wear. Again satisfied with this result, Nort raises his hand above his head and pushes the heat away up into the sky above, rapidly cooling the yo-yo. Looking almost sheepish he steps back over to her and hands the now stringless yo-yo back to Alvina. “I uh, probably should’ve asked if you could use some sort of wire instead of string. If that’s an option still I'd much appreciate it.” He gestures to the other bundles laying in wait in the snow. “Before we get to the wings, i have one more test of the yo-yos i’d like to do, if that’s alright.”
Alvina watches with growing enthusiasm as Nort handles the modified Yo-Yo with expert skill. She felt like she was at a competition performance! Her children would explode to see skill like this. She can’t stop herself from clapping lightly when he draws it back to a standstill. “You weren’t kidding! Not that I doubted you but still, it’s impressive to see.” He explains his approval of the light level test and warns of putting it more through it’s paces. Alvina blinks, anxiously awaiting the next batch after taking a few more steps back. Her own skin pricked with electricity, the air charged with magic. It wasn’t foes he was worried about in regards to the elements. HE was casting them! Thank the gods they are so conductive. Oh but wait! “The string!!” She’s too late, but is laughing when he brings the yo-yo back to her. “I should have thought of that when you asked it to resist the elements.” She knew better than that! “It’s absolutely an option. You can also get an enchantment on the string if you prefer that kind of mobility. That level of enchantment, I can absolutely handle.” She nods, punctuating her confidence. When he asks to test the yo-yo’s more, the engineer looks puzzled. What else might he be testing? “Oh, absolutely, of course.” She rushes to the other covered yo-yo to unwrap and present it to him. “Should I be concerned?” Alvina asks, one brow raised in question while she steps back to let him do whatever he has in mind.
Nortengaal takes the other yo-yo and loops it around his finger with a slipknot, nodding as he does so. “An enchanted string would be perfect, i definitely need the mobility the string offers, especially for some of the new techniques i’ve been working on.” He chuckles as she steps back again. “Oh, not at all, i’m not about to do anything too crazy. Just a different sort of stress test.” Reaching into one of the many pouches at his waist, he extracts a few stones of various sizes and densities and hefts them a bit, tossing them up and catching them a few times. A wide smile crosses his features as he does this; he’s found quite a lot of idle enjoyment in what he’s about to try now, as the small dings and dents in his old yo-yo would attest to. He uses the yo-yo normally for a few moments, just throwing it out and catching it in various ways before starting the next test. Making sure he’s facing well away from Alvina, one by one he tosses a stone into the air before whipping the yo-yo out to connect with them mid-air. Some crack in half, others are pulverized completely, others still are simple shot off into the surrounding areas to land where they may. Finishing up, a last resounding crack echos throughout the area as the last of the stones is destroyed by the beautiful improvised weapon. And without so much as a light scratch on the shining metal! Extremely satisfied with this test, the bearman dusts himself off and returns to the engineer’s side, handing her back the yo-yo with a smile. “Truly excellent work. These are perfect, a little enchanted string and they’ll be ready for action.” He pauses a moment, thinking. “You didnt happen to name them did you? It’s perfectly fine either way, i’ve just known some Maker’s who have a habit of doing so for their creations, and i want to make sure i honor that if you have.” His smile widens to a full grin, as he grows increasingly excited for what comes next. The main course, the wings, await his perusal, and he cant wait to try them out.
Alvina watches with wide doe eyes as Nortengaal pushes the yo-yo’s to their limits. Maybe not fully, but she’s secretly excited and hopes he’ll compete in a tournament in the future so she can see them at work alongside the wings she’s prepared. The stones rain down, shatter to dust, or speed off out of sight and each hit feels like an accomplishment of hers, though she’s just a bystander at this point. She’s so proud that her weapons are performing so well. Her heart swells, as if they are her children graduating and heading off into the world. She could almost cry! She bridges the gap between them to take the other yo-yo when the test is complete. A nod is given in agreement; enchanted strings it is. “Thank you so much, it means a lot to me that you’re so happy with them!” When he asks about a name she pauses to consider it. “Oh no, I leave the naming to the owners, I leave a little brand on them.” She flips the yo-yo on the side, showing the little filigree, stain glass looking rose hidden there. It was the same design as Demeter’s wings. She drops the yo-yo by the string, feeling the weight of it playfully. “What will you call them, you think?” The engineer tucks the yo-yo’s back into her pack, notes made internally about the upgrades he’d requested before gesturing to the covered wings. Isn’t he bursting at the seams to see them because she’s dying to show them off?! With his approval, she’ll rush, with child like delight, to uncover them. Their design is simple, choosing mostly function over form but still retaining an elegance that promises easy modification if one chooses. The same rose is engraved on the back of one of the ‘feathers’. The straps are made of blackened leather, coated in an enchanted oil to help resist the elements he’s requested. The metal of the wings is sturdy on it’s own but an enchantment or two wouldn’t hurt. They were just out of her pay grade, unfortunately. “Spin around, I’ll help you shrug them on.” They are weighted but not too intensely. Gliding would be possible. The small woman holds up the straps so he might have to stoop to reach through them.
It’s always a good sign when a creator is excited about their works, and Alvina is positively aglow with it. It’s quite infectious, and Nort cant help but feel his own joy growing in conjunction. The yo-yos were everything he hoped they would be, string mishaps aside, and he’s quite certain the wings will follow suit. “I like the brand, it looks good. I’m not too sure yet what i’ll call them; i’m leaning towards something like ‘star shot’ or maybe ‘morningstar’. Something with star in the name. I’ll let you know what i come up with when i finalize things.” The bearman’s eyes light up like a kid on their birthday as the wings are released from their wrapping, revealing them in all their glory. And what glory it is! Gleaming in the sunlight at nearly three quarters his height, they look almost otherworldly. Nort slowly runs his hands over them in wonder, testing the feel of them and moving the various parts before he turns and crouches a bit to slip them into the straps with the woman’s help. After she makes some final adjustments he stands up straight, feeling out the weight of them. Not too heavy, definitely lighter than he was expecting. It feels similarly to wearing a camping pack. He takes a few steps around and hops up and down in place a couple times, getting a feel for how they move with him. Turning towards Alvina with a wild grin he shrugs a couple times to further adjust the weight across his back. “Oh these are brilliant! Before i go jumping off any cliffs though, what can you tell me about how they operate? How do i maneuver them and so on?”
Alvina resists the mounting urge to jump up and down with excitement in the snow. Look at his eyes! He's just as excited as she is! He looks so happy with it, she could explode. "I love that. Star Shot." Repeating it made it sound more magical somehow. He shrugs into the wings, like a natural, and when he's situated and she's sure the straps fit perfectly, she'll step back again. Seeing them in the sun, worn, and stretched out. Honestly, she could cry. She won't but it's so beautiful and satisfying to see. Nort pulls her out of it again, for the hundredth time, and asks how to maneuver them. "OH!" She shouts, digging in her pocket for two magic clips that will go on his wrist. "It's controlled by magic, but these bracelets let you finagle the controls a little better, instead of the standard up, down, left, right. It has a little more roll to it with these." She's clipping the bracelets on his wrists as she explains, pressing the various buttons across the surface to show the different phases. The wings tilt, expand, and contract accordingly. "Maybe don't jump off cliffs but..."
Nortengaal is practically vibrating with excitement at this point, and nearly ready to literally jump off of the nearby cliffside. He’s quite confident that things would turn out ok, but is also not quite foolish enough to actually test that confidence without some practice, and so he restrains himself as Alvina shows him the ropes so to speak, carefully making sure he knows exactly how the bracelets work. “I have to be honest, this is legitimately one of the coolest things I have ever seen, and i’ve seen some incredible sights.” a little shrug lifts the wings a bit. “Maaaaybe i’m a little biased because they’re mine, but still.” The bearman steps away from the engineer and over to the top of the little hillside they’re standing on. It’s large enough that if he wanted he could get a decent running start and really get a good leap in, but for starters he thinks it might just be best to start by facing downhill and trying things from there. And so that’s exactly what he does; taking just a couple steps and pushing off the ground in a powerful jump aided by the utilization of a bit of magic to bolster his leg strength. That kind of leap would normally get him a couple feet off of the ground from a standstill, and combined with the somewhat gentle slope he’s got another foot on top of that. At the height of the jump he activates the wings, flaring them out to catch as much air as possible. Immediately they catch, and his fall is arrested not quite completely but enough to definitely be noticeable. A moment is spent like this, just floating downwards as he marvels at how easily the wings hold him aloft in spite of his size; it’s one of the most freeing feelings he’s felt in a while and it’s caught him off guard. Soon enough he begins manipulating the wings, angling them left and right to move side to side. He lands, folding the wings as he touches down with a small stumble. Face flush with excitement he turns towards Alvina and being talking rapidly as he walks over to her. “Oh my gods this is incredible! I havent felt so free in a long time. Are the bracelets conductive too or should i refrain from using certain magic while wearing them? Can they be made to be conductive if not? I’m already thinking of ways to incorporate these into more of my life!” A pause for breath gives Alvina a space to respond to him before he continues with more questions and thoughts.
Alvina looks pretty pleased with them too, so she understands his eagerness. “Oh stop,” She laughs at the compliment, accepting it with gracious humor. “I’m not judging you if you’re a little biased, I swear.” She was biased too, let’s be honest. Bright green eyes watch him; test the controls, do the mental math of how to test them and then leap into the air to glide down again. It felt like watching one of her kids leave for college, she’s so proud of the work and their design and that it’s WORKING. She didn’t doubt it would work but seeing it work, really work, for who it’s designed for. There’s almost no better feeling. She swears she’s along side him, the sense of freedom and joy threatens to smother her. Nort’s back before she knows it with a babble of questions. “I - am- the best in the business.” The bard says, crossing her arms in a show of being smug before she jumps into answering his questions. “Okay, so I didn’t do this, because I thought it would be better suited to someone with stronger enchantments, but I think you can get a little shield put around them so they’ll be completely safe. The metal -will- be safe for a bit, but extreme temperatures are always a risk with any metal really. So it’ll be a quick fix, I put a light barrier on there for now, but I’d suggest a better enchanter to make it permanent.” She’ll stay and answer any amount of questions he has and take any suggestions too! Her answers are quick, sometimes too quick, when she doesn’t give herself enough time to process the questions! “The bracelets are a lovely fashion accessory too.” She laughs, shaking the light snow that’s falling from her red hair. “You make it look so easy! To fly!”
Nortengaal laughs at her boast, nodding his agreement. “You certainly are! I’m very glad i came to you first.” The exhilaration is palpable between the two of them as they chat, and he nods along with her words before launching into his next set of questions and comments. “Maybe I do, but it’s only because you made it easy for me to fly Alvina. I cant thank you enough for taking this on, you’ve done a truly marvelous job.” He smiles at her, positively beaming with joy. “Ok, so i’ll refrain from doing too much heat based things until i can get them a little better protected. I assume the same goes for the wings themselves, and the straps. Do you have someone in mind who can take on the level of enchanting i’ll require for this?” He pauses here a moment, trying to get his thoughts in order enough to get them out in a coherent fashion. It’s hard, these wings have opened up a whole new world of mobility and the possible applications are myriad. “So my next question is this; I have the ability to manipulate my body's spiritual energies and the energy of the immediate area around me. Can i use this to generate my own lift? Can…can i have true flight?! And even if not, i should at least be able to extend my air time under the right conditions right? Next question; how extensively can the wings be enchanted? If compression magic or something of that sort exists, could these be enchanted to shrink down so that i could always wear them, or at least always have them on my person in say, a pouch or bag of some kind?” Nort peppers the engineer with questions rapid fire, his mouth barely able to keep up with his mind as thought after thought comes to him. He’s most assuredly going to push these wings to their limits, though hopefully not beyond the breaking point.
Alvina waves her hands at him. “Okay, okay enough flattery. I’ll float away with that ego if you keep inflating it.” All these jobs were really strengthening her confidence in herself again. In her ability to contribute and invent and find joy in things again. Did she deserve joy? After all she’d done? All those thoughts are far away right now, blissfully. Did she know anyone who could do the enchanting? “Gods, uh, I’m not sure but I know Khitti’s amazing with magic. She might have something for it or maybe know someone else? I’m a little out of the loop these days, magic wise.” She rocks her palm back and forth to illustrate her shaky knowledge of enchanters. His question about ‘lift’ make her think seriously about the applications of the wings. She’d designed them as if they -would- facilitate flight but there were more elements required that she didn’t fully possess. The hardwear, she’d knocked out without missing a beat. The magic… “The metal is resilient and flexible. It’s lightweight for what it’s doing so I think it can absolutely be manipulated with magic to give a more extended flight time. Fire, for an updraft, wind, any kind of action that serves as a propelling, forward momentum function.” Emerald eyes study the thing with what could only be described as a mother’s pride. “It holds up extremely well to enchantments. It’s specifically made for that actually.” This metal was forged in Frostmaw, which meant it had to be dependable and flexible to multiple applications. “You’ll have no problem getting enchantments to hold.” He asks about shrinking them and Alvina’s blown away. “WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?!” She shouts, both horrified and excited at the prospect. “Oh, but yes, I think so, absolutely, it could be done, it’s already designed to accommodate multiple forms, so you’d really just need to, find a way to, manipulate the size as a whole.” There goes her own mind, off at the races about it. The plans Nort had for these wings was magical, no pun intended. “And just in case you get a little crazy and the wings might need fixing,” she’s grinning, showing it’s only a teasing nod to his big ideas, “you better bring them back to me to fix them.” Truly, she can’t wait to see what he does with these. “The yo-yo’s will be done before you know it. I’ll send them to you so you don’t have to make the trip again. Try them out and let me know.” It was a simple fix, the strings, so she guessed no changes would be made after that.
Nortengaal is all ears as she answers his questions to the best of her ability, nodding along as she speaks. Now, thanks to Alvina, he not only has some truly excellent equipment to play with, but he also has the name of someone who might be able to help him further expand the capabilities of said equipment. “Khitti eh? I dont think i’ve heard of them before, but to be fair i havent heard of most people. I kinda keep to myself more often than not. How might i best reach this person? Is she someone Escher could find for me, or is there a simpler way to reach her?” He pauses, realizing that she has no idea who he’s referring to, and gives a whistle that starts low and rises sharply. Out of his shadow a moderately sized hellhound emerges, huffing his displeasure at being summoned into the snow. Nort reaches into a pouch on his left hip and pulls out what appears to be a small bone of some sort and pats his waist, calling the hound to heel. Escher sits and waits obediently, if somewhat impatiently, and Nortengaal gives the beast the bone, scratching behind his ear as he crunches happily away. Returning his attention to Alvina, Nort introduces the hellhound. “This is Escher. He’s pretty good at finding people, even if i’ve never met them before. It does help if i have, but with some direction he’ll do fine.” After letting the two of them greet one another, Nort gives another whistle, this one starting high and shifting low, and the hellhound steps back into his shadow and seems to melt into it, disappearing in moments. “I’ll most definitely be sure to come to you with any repairs that need doing, and with any other crazy ideas i come up with that i need help making a reality.” He smiles widely, and after a short moment his eyes light up again. “Oh! I almost forgot in my excitement, but i have something for you.” He pats a few of the pouches on his waist and his pockets a moment, as if searching for something before he remembers exactly where it is, and pulls a folded slip of paper from one of his back pockets. Excited, he hands her the paper as he speaks. “So I contacted my mother about the transformation clothes thing, and she got back to me! I honestly don’t understand much of the nitty gritty of the process, as i’m not exactly a witch, but at base you need some fairly simple and form fitting clothing that you either made or was made specifically for you for this purpose. That part is important apparently, the intent is part of the overall magic of the thing. It doesnt work on shoes unfortunately, but if you can find someone to do the spellwork you should fairly easily be able to get a set of clothing that you can transform in without it getting destroyed.”
Alvina knew that feeling well. “She has a bakery in Cenril, Gingersnaps. It’s lovely. They can probably point you in the right direction? She’s been quite a busy bee these days so I’m not sure where she’ll be.” She blinks at the name ‘Escher’ because it sounds familiar but she can’t place it. The hellhound appears, okay that is not what she thought this name was attached to but she’s pleasantly surprised all the same. Could a hellhound find Khitti? “Honestly? I haven’t the slightest…but try the bakery for sure. Escher could pick up a scent there?” The bard leans down to let the beast smell her hand and pet him cautiously, with both pet and owner's permission. Escher retreats into shadow and Alvina’s watching the pawprints it left in the snow. So cool!! When Nort promises to bring all his crazy invention ideas to her, Alvina claps her hands together excitedly. “I should hope so!” It’d be lovely to have another partner in crime in regards to inventions. She sure did miss her old friend Linn in moments like this. That guy had the wildest ideas. She blinks rapidly while Nort pats himself down for the paper, staring wide eyed at it once it’s extended to her. “Oh my gods, really? For me?” She takes it like it’s the holiest item she’s ever handled. “Thank you so very much. You didn’t have to do that.” But he’d be kind enough too and she appreciates it immensely. “And please thank your lovely mother for me too. It’ll be perfect for my horrible werewolf children.” For spellwork, she knows a few witch types who could help out or point her in the right direction. Hell, she might even bother Khitti if the other redhead had time. She hops back to pick up her pack and tuck the yo-yo’s and paper inside it. Straps hiked over her shoulders, she reached out a hand for a farewell handshake, smiling ear to ear. “I’m looking forward to working with you more in the future.”
Nortengaal’s ears visibly perk up at the mention of where he might find the next person on his list. A bakery! Baked goods are a weakness of his, one might even call it a vice when he really gets going. “Ooo a bakery! I like the sounds of that. Thanks for the direction, i’ll have to head there and try my luck, among other things.” He laughs lightly, and moves to clasp the engineer’s outstretched hand in a firm grip, matching her own strong grasp. “You can count on it. I’ve already got something percolating in fact. I’ll be in touch!” Releasing her hand he walks over to where he made his first test flight, flexing and moving the wings as he goes just for practice sake, and gets ready to get a little more flight time in before adjourning to one of his usual haunts for a drink.