Solo Closed Bear Arms

[Fenrir]

​

Spring 89, 125

[Note: My appearance has completely changed since the gift giver thread so it’s impossible to recognize me but I don’t think that’s really an issue cause I don’t expect we’ll interact in that thread anyways]

Fenrir had seen a bipedal bear the other day, and some cursory investigation into him through her spy network revealed that he was some sort of mage smith from another land. The aelf was one that was deeply invested in getting to know foreigners and, usually, exploiting them to the benefit of both her and her country. At the very least it was important to keep tabs on what they were up to, in case they ever became threats.

In this particular case, she intended to see if he was going to stick around for the long term. If so, then she could help him grow so that he might craft things for her. While she was prejudiced enough to think that nothing could beat the craftsmanship of her kin, she also thought that there might be something unique about this bear’s crafting style. There was only one way to find out!

In her natural, original body that she now had she didn’t feel nearly as imposing and aggressive as she had before. Before she was massive, towering, and could crush people with little effort. Now she felt dainty and weak, but better in other ways. It was much more easy to disguise herself as a human now that she was 5’10”. A hood was all she needed to cover her ears and it was fairly trivial to remove the plants that would give her away as a druid. Plus she felt more nimble and quick on her feet, which was always good when you were a ranged combatant.

Today she wasn’t an aelf. She was pretending to be a human who was travelling on behalf of her make believe aelven master. She was dressed in a black tunic with a cloak and armed with nothing but a hunting knife and her bow and arrows. She had so much experience blending in that hardly anyone would bother glancing at her unless they were mystics able to decipher just how much spell reserves she had access to, or happened to notice her white hair that she couldn’t be bothered to dye.

Why bother with the disguise at all? Mostly because the world felt different when you weren’t an aelf. Not in a good way, just a different way. It was much easier to find out certain bits of information when you were just a fellow slave. Plus she found that approaching foreigners was often easier when they could relax a little.

She would walk up to whatever home or establishment that Arcaelum was located in, and try to find him. If he was out in the open she would wave him down or if he was in a room she’d knock on his door. Regardless, when they met she would say, “Hi there, I’m Fenrir. I heard that you were a smith and I was hoping we could have a chat. I don’t believe I’ve ever met someone of your race before and I’m always eager to learn about other cultures. I’ll make it worth your while…”

WC: 541

 

[Arcaelum]

The bear man was outside, he was Studying some of the locals, The Faelnir they resembled the humans Arcaellum had met upon his travels and he wondered what their differences were between them and normal humans, or perhaps there was little, but it was they who helped him understand the common systems of reading and language, and overall a slightly more accepting of outsiders group than the aelves he had encountered in his time here.

The Karhu man was wondering how it was that these people came to grips with being a second class citizen, they wondered if it was the worst life imaginable, contemplating the life of the enslaved and debating on if it had any bearing on himself as a person, surely he wasnt responsible to help these Faelnir break their bonds, but he wondered if that was something they would rally behind or abhor the idea of there was a good portion of their population here, living happily, it was a philosophical question he was tossing around in his head as he watched them at work, and then his musings were interrupted.

"Ah, Hello there, Fenrir you say, I am Arcaellum, And yes i am a smith by trade, i dabble in many things, metalwork, leatherwork, magical wares, arms and armor, all manner of things " His voice was polite and while gruff not as animistic as one might expect from a man or beast of his stature, perhaps a trait he was working to hide? "You are more than welcome to converse with me, i see no harm in it at all." He eyed the stranger, she certainly had an inkling of something being hidden beneath but he was not one to pry, aside from the vibe that this girl was extremely prevalent in some manner of arcana he couldnt nail down precisely what it was. "You said you wished to learn of my culture, you are welcome to sit and join me, i have naught but time right now, i am not well known enough in this place to peddle my wares very far so i have an abundance, what do you wish to know ?"

359 WC

 

[Fenrir]

​

Fenrir nodded and took a seat across from him after taking off her bow and leaning it against a wall. She crossed her legs and kept her hood on. She looked at him with her red eyes and said, “I’m sorry to hear that you haven’t found enough work. But perhaps I can remedy that.”

She pulled out a book from under her cloak that she opened and pushed towards him. It contained various pages with rough sketches and dimensions for armor and weaponry. They were designed for humanoids around 7-8 feet tall but were fairly standard otherwise. One might expect that they were for aelves instead of humans.

“The aelf I work for is looking for smiths to help him craft armor and weapon sets. Whenever you find yourself with some free time, you could work on these and have them delivered to the location on the back page.”

She paused then continued, “what do you look for in terms of compensation? I know little about your race and what your cultural values are. My master typically deals in barters. He could help you find some special fauna or flora if you happen to be an animist, or maybe provide some alkahest, or even some humans to use as you see fit. He is also open to other ideas, although I am authorized to negotiate on his behalf.”

It was a fairly standard offer that Fenrir made to foreigners. There was so much in abundance in aelheim that hardly anything really cost anything. And if it did, it was fairly trivial to accumulate large amounts of valuable things to trade simply by letting a few hundred years pass. Other races could slave away for a lifetime to accumulate what would amount to mere pocket change for an aelf.

WC: 841