[Mechanical Marvels]A bottle, a boot, and an idea.(Alistair)

[Alistair deGrey]

Metalworking is to Everything Else in Existence as Sunberth is to Syliras. Several more chimes had passed before the copper was satisfactorily melted down into a bubbling brassy liquid. The inventor set the gear molds, open, on the edge of the furnace. It took naught but one sixtieth of a chime for Alistair to recall that he had left his ladle inside the workshop. For most projects, it was easier to simply pour the molten metal into the mold, or whatever he was pouring it into. However, if he were to do so here, the end result would indubitably involve Alistair being drenched in boiling copper. So an iron ladle was called for here. On his way out of the workshop proper, Alistair slipped his leather apron and gloves on for a bit of safety. The crucible was a little less than half full of copper, and the metal ominously reflected light as it roiled about the host’s belly. The iron ladle breached the surface of the copper, liquid hungrily filling the new space. Gingerly, deGrey spooned small amounts of copper into the two molds, pressing the other half down. The part of this that Alistair truly hated was trimming the imperfections that inevitably occurred in the its shape. When he pulled the gear from the mold, small ridges would appear where the two halves of the mold met. What Alistair would have to do then, is reheat the gear to make the ridges more malleable, and trim them with a pair of cutters. If Alistair had been more skilled, then perhaps this malady could be avoided. But not only was the inventor not particularly fond of metalworking, but it seemed to resist enlightening him. One day, perhaps, a renaissance would occur, and the esoteric secrets of metalworking might be revealed. But that day was still in coming. So deGrey continued to carefully ladle the molten liquid into the ceramic moldings for what must have been nearly half a bell. The copper did not take long to cool, due to how quickly heat seemed to leave it. It was a simple process, if not slightly dangerous. There was always a slight risk involved when pouring liquefied metals into small containers, and leather usually seemed a woefully inadequate substance to meet the challenge. Easy now. Copper sloshed about the ladle like soup. A small drop of the liquid jumped from the mold as he poured it. Alistair attempted a quick back step to remove himself, but the copper’s velocity exceeded his by far, and the copper landed by the apron’s shoulder to solidify there. Of course, a single drop of copper does not do much harm to a leather apron, but the principle of being unable to avoid the flying metal was a bit unnerving. What if that had hit my eyes… Alistair shuddered at the thought of molten metal on his eyes. Perhaps I should fashion some protection… Alistair considered the thought. He did not wear spectacles, and doubted they would protect against the metal anyway. It was something that he would think about. The first thing Alistair would do after taking a gear out of the mold was trim it. Small chips of copper lay at his feet, struck down by the sharp cutters he now held. The latest gear was not too disfigured, except for a massive ridge that presented itself. It pleased Alistair; the larger protrusions the easier they were to clip. He took his tongs and clamped down on the gear, thrusting it into the fire beneath the crucible. Ten or so chimes later, deGrey removed the warmed metal and rapidly clipped the excess metal. If the device required more precision, Alistair would then proceed to file down the edges. However, this boot knife required little accuracy, it either worked or it did not. Another gear: thrust into the fire, remove, clip, rinse, repeat. The entire process was torturously boring to Alistair, who was almost overjoyed it was over with; or rather, almost over with. The inventor scooped up his twelve gears and moved back to his workshop, depositing the load by the awaiting parchment. He took up the charcoal again, continuing to write underneath the gearing section, Each gear requires clipping. Smelt the copper, spoon approximately one half the ladle into the mold, and allow to sit. After the metal has cooled, reinsert it into the furnace, and remove to trim the edges. Alistair pursed his lips, the short notation left a bitter taste in his mouth. That sounds so, incorrect. He was struggling at the moment, unable to express the concepts he had in mind in writing. Now the inventor pulled a set of thin, copper rods from a particular corner. Each of these would be used as an axle for the gears to spin on. On many machines, the gears would be expected to turn the axle, but not on these boots. No, the axles were solely to keep every component in its place while the alcoholic stumbled about Syliras. Because of the very nature of this project, deGrey had no rods that fit the specifications. There were thin enough pieces, but all were too long. Alistair bent over his design, counting the gears and subjects. For each he made a notation on the side of his parchment, the side without smudges. Twelve Gears, equating to twelve axles. Then we have the weight’s axles, which is another two. Alistair examined the drawing again, wait… I can use rods instead of the curved metal for the rails. The thought occurred to him, that instead of metalsmithing four L-shaped rails for the knife and spring, he could simply create four more rods. Eighteen total, of varying length. But before he finished that, Alistair decided he would like to have a general idea of the remaining dimensions. He would need to get the spring, and toothed bar, and knife to have every component ready. deGrey was sure he had the first two somewhere, digging through a few cupboards. He immediately found the springs, as they were a common enough commodity. He selected a pair of stronger springs, but nothing he believed the drunk could not handle. Actually, he was unsure this customer could manipulate any object with finesse. Regardless… The toothed bars were a bit more difficult to find, as Alistair had only used them once or twice before. Several minutes of searching yielded exactly what he needed, in a sense. They were of different lengths, but not so much as to sabotage the device. As well, if Alistair recalled correctly, all of his gears except a few, which he used for skyrocketing gear ratios, meshed together. Each toothed bar looked something like a square brick that had gear teeth on one side. Near the flat side of each was a slot that ran the bar’s length. Rods could slide into this slot, thus forcing it to either stay still or to slide along a predestined path. Now deGrey lay the remaining components on his table, lacking only the knives. Shortly he would fetch them, but first he measured the diameter of the springs. Four centimeters. That was a bit larger than deGrey had wanted, it meant the iron on the boots would need to be about two inches thick, which would not work. Ah well, I will consider it when I return. Alistair slipped his coat on and grabbed the fat coin purse resting on his desk, but before he left he recorded the various lengths for the axle rods. 12 axles at 4 centimeters. Six at 30 centimeters. Two at 10 centimeters. The notation completed, Alistair secured the paper with a gear and departed Mechanical Marvels.

[Alistair deGrey]

About three quarters of a bell later… The concept of metalworking is not so distasteful in concept as it is in practice. If I had absolutely nothing better to occupy my time, I would lovingly work the forge day and night. However, I find myself vexed by the immense amount of time the tedious process invariably consumes. I could be designing new inventions, or experimenting with philters. So much to do. The shop was eerily silent, for the running clocks had fell silent during his absence. deGrey sighed, he would have to take the time to go find an accurate clock when he reset them. But that would come later, right now he decided to shove the inconvenience aside and focus on finishing these boots. During the small trip, a crude solution to the problem at hand presented itself to deGrey. As opposed to creating a larger box to accommodate the device, he would simply hollow out a portion of the sole. Since the spring would not extend the entire length anyway, the steel tip was unnecessary. The problem with this was that Alistair was unsure how thick the soles of the boots were. So he walked into the workshop, set the two knives down on his table, and retrieved the boots. Their smell had dissipated, a bit. The boots were thick soled military issue, weight being a secondary concern to the protection offered. There appeared to be about three centimeters of sole, thick enough to allow the soldier to march over nearly any substance: coals, glass, branches and briars, etc… While much of the brilliance these shoes had to them was most likely lost upon the nearly pacifistic Alistair, he still appreciated the larger soles. With a knife he began to draw an outline of where he would cut. After he had the area marked, Alistair took a gouge and began to throw chunks of the cured substance. It was tedium, even worse than the gears. However, after the boots had been hollowed out, Alistair had a full three centimeters, and a bit more even. The next step came in cutting the rods to the proper length. He snatched up the three rods he would need, and moved to the forge. The wood from when he had been forging copper still burned, albeit a bit weaker. However, soon he would need it much hotter, able to heat iron. deGrey threw a few more pieces of wood into the blaze, as well as a chunk of coal. The copper rods, being so thin, were heated to the desired temperature in about thirty seconds, upon which the inventor cut them. The cutters he used pinched the metal together where it severed, but that did not bother Alistair in the slightest. In fact, the sharper edge would make it easier to embed into the shoe’s leather. One, two, three, and on, deGrey cut the small pipes to lengths of four, ten, and thirty centimeters. Because most of the lengths were so small, it took little resources to accomplish. Yet for all the material he saved by having the project be small scale, he realized that these lengths must be precise. So before each snip was made, each length was carefully measured out and then compared with the original. If he had compared the new ones with anything else, he would inevitably accomplish drift in the metal’s lengths. He returned to the workshop with the cut lengths, laying them in neat rows beside the pile of gears. He silently counted the components arrayed before him, twelve gears, two springs, two blades, two toothed bars, twenty axle rods, four… Wait a minute, where were the weights? Damnation. Alistair was sure he had a weighted lever somewhere, he just hoped he had four. His hands rummaged through cabinets, moving and replacing the various objects in his way. Interesting how deGrey’s attention had glossed right over them, for directly to the left of the spring compartment, he found five weighted levers similar to what he was looking for. Each lever was type 2, where the axis was located in the center the force was applied to the opposite end that multiplied it. Except, these levers would not be used to multiply force. They were used as stoppers in this situation, as one end was significantly heavier than the other. Alistair grabbed four out of the five, leaving a single lever that would probably be inadequate for completion of the next invention he would make. Just another problem to come. It appeared that everything was in place now except for the iron casings. These should be simple enough. Trim the width to fourteen centimeters, take the extra metal and merge it with the length to make it thirty four centimeters. Alistair walked back out to his forge, gently tossing a few handfuls of coal into it. The temperature needed to smelt iron was much hotter than what was required for copper and only coal could achieve this heat. Well, magic and philters could as well, but not without expense or effort. The fire devoured the coal, emboldened by the promise of the great heights it would soon reach. Back in the workshop, Alistair picked up two square foot iron bricks. Staring past the dark metal, and back into his mind, deGrey attempted some quick calculations. 30 x 30. Total area of nine hundred inches squared. What, no, centimeters squared. Planned dimensions are… 14 x 34, which equals… 420. Wait, no. 34 x 10 = 340, plus 4 x 34, which equaled… 136. 136 + 340 = 476. Excellent, 476 centimeters squared. At least Alistair was quite sure the dimensions would work. The inventor walked back out to the forge, grasping a pair tongs as best he could through his leather gloves. He thrust the iron into the fire, which was almost at peak temperature, but not yet. deGrey leaned over cautiously, grabbing a couple pieces of coal. Righting himself, he fed them to the fire. Several more chimes and the iron was beginning to blush orange. After deGrey had stood idly for what must have been ten chimes, the metal had flushed completely, and was ready to be worked. deGrey sat the metal on the furnace’s edge, and ran back into his shop on a retrieval mission. The man took up a wide chisel, a hammer, and a measuring stick, then jogged back out to the glowing metal. Alistair clamped the 900 square centimeter brick of iron and thrust it back into the embers for a few seconds longer, the metal should be as hot as possible. When the inventor removed it, he measured out fourteen centimeters along its width, careful not to allow the measuring stick to touch the glowing metal. After the allowed length was measured, deGrey took his chisel to the imaginary line, and hammered it down. The glowering metal split like tough wax underneath the force of deGrey’s blow. All along the length he split the metal into a 14 centimeter wide piece, and a 16 centimeter wide piece. This frustrated Alistair, the dimensions of both boots just barely called for two iron bricks. Maybe deGrey could thin out the iron to make the dimensions. Yes, that is what I will try. Alistair measured two centimeters off the larger piece, then cut away to force a departure upon the two centimeter strip. Now deGrey allowed the fire to heat the iron again, causing another blush. After the metal reached the appropriate temperature, the inventor hammered away to stretch the metal the last four centimeters. He only did this near the edges though, for Alistair wanted to leave the bottoms at thick as possible. Reaching the four centimeter goal for both pieces was not difficult. Now the quick matter of attaching the containers to the boots was broached. It would be a simple enough matter with nails. Back to the furnace the iron sheet went, the flames grasping futilely for it. When Alistair returned the metal to the forge’s side, he pulled a few nails from his apron, examining each. I am sure I have the most of this one.. deGrey chose a medium sized specimen, and then used his hammer to punch it through the iron. This procedure was repeated about five times along each side for both boots. The second hole that had to be made was located one centimeter up on the front of the iron. This would accommodate the extension of the blade. Alistair put the iron boxes-to-be in the forge again, allowing them to simmer like meat in a smoker. His retrieval was marked by the chisel punching through the soft metal in the designated spot. deGrey pushed it through until the wedge had widened the hole enough for the blade to move through. In fact, the gap was large enough for the blade to fit through twice over. An identical mark soon appeared on the other sheet of iron. Before the metal could cool entirely, Alistair took the sharp cutters to the metal fringes that were left from the chisel’s assault, and snipped them off with not a small amount of effort. The gap where the toothed bar would slide in and out would come next. Alistair returned to his workshop to examine the design again. Gears take up fifteen centimeters; the bar is two centimeters wide, so the opening should be approximately three centimeters wide, fifteen centimeters back. He returned to his station, and the iron pieces returned to the forge. When they retreated, deGrey measured out seventeen centimeters of its length, and punctured a hole there. He repeatedly withdrew and re-punctured the metal with the chisel, forcing it to open to his specifications. Once again, he snipped the frays the crude puncture wounds caused. Almost finished. Alistair was just about exhausted of his desire to work metal right now, but there were two more quick steps. Back to the fire. Wait. Withdraw. Alistair took the two centimeter excess on the back and one side, and folded them upright. Then deGrey allowed the metal to simmer in the forge’s heat for a few moments as he trotted back to his workshop for the rods. Alongside the rods he brought the four weighted levers, and the springs. Back at the forge, the inventor’s tongs pulled one iron from the furnace, and carefully balanced it on the two centimeter back. Then, the inventor took the three long rods that the spring would slide along, and hammered them into the softened metal at the appropriate diameter. A fourth rod found itself hammered into the iron to support the vertical gears. Alistair sputtered, ran back into the workshop upon realizing he had forgotten the gears, and returned with four of his custom made gearings. He then slid them onto the axle and stoppered them into position. Working quickly, Alistair deGrey turned the half made box and hammered the two smaller rods into place. It was important to complete this step now; otherwise he would not be able to attach the weighted levers and springs. deGrey slid stoppers onto the two widthwise rods, then slid the weights on. He capped the weights with another stopper and plunged the metal back into the fire to heat. Meanwhile, the inventor removed the other piece, anxiously waiting, and repeated the process. Upon removal of the first piece, deGrey measured out the appropriate distances for the gears, and nailed one of the rods to where the axis should be, at least according to his mental calculations. Alistair slid a stopper all the way down the axle, and then slipped a gear on. He added another stopper near the top, enough space to prevent it from causing too much friction and wobble a little bit, but not to disjoint the mechanism. On he went, locking the next gear with the first, and then inserting the rod, removing the gear from the measuring position, and hammering the rod in. Every now and again he would put the iron back in, the bottom facing the fire, to reheat the metal. He hammered the last prong into place, which almost completed the structure. Now deGrey took the last two prongs and hammered them closely together next to the first gear. Last he folded over the last two corners of the box. This one was ready. Now he only had to finish the other one.

[Alistair deGrey]

56th of Spring, 510 AV Can anyone not see how this is preferable? Despite the setbacks and early morning haze, I am not assaulted by fire and heat. I am not worn thin by the furnace, rendered incapable by the forge. This is the type of work I enjoy, the quiet sketching and combinations, not the burn of fire. Sleep had overtaken Alistair after the two boxes were finished, at least in regards to their frame. The inventor had locked his doors, slumped into his bed, and slept the rest of the day away. Consequently, he was awake as the sun peaked and dawn flooded the world of Syliras. Now he peered into the two boxes before him, examining their components. One contained all five gears, the weights, the toothed bar, and all the necessary supports. Its metal frame was lined with holes awaiting filling by nails. The only thing missing from its construction was the spring and blade. He glanced at the place where the three rods that would hold the two objects met the back of the box. A stone cold realization dropped into his stomach and onto his brain. I forgot to forge the spring into it.. Alistair had meant to attach the spring to the back of the box via metallurgy; however it appeared to have slipped his mind. Before devising a solution, Alistair examined the second box. This one completely lacked gears, yet the metal rods stuck out at the appropriate distances. deGrey slid a stopper down each and then retrieved the gears from the other side of the time. Only five were left, as the two vertical gears had indeed been placed. Groggily, Alistair slipped each gear into its place, spinning each to ensure their proper direction and smooth spin. Now he just needed to attach the spring somehow, and then nail the pieces to the boots, which stood imperious in their filth on the far table. Alistair considered the various items at his disposal. The search became physical as he began to rummage through various cabinets and cupboards. The answer, presented itself in the form of springs again. As deGrey examined the supplies again, it dawned upon him: all he needed was something to hook the original spring around, and something to stay in place. What Alistair did now, was stretch out the spring past its maximum magnitude, which left the coils with permanent damaged. However, it also allowed him to more easily wrap it. He wrapped the wire around the top two bars where the spring would slide, ensuring its tightness to refuse it the ability to slide back and forth. Now he took his normal spring, and uncoiled a small bit of wire. On the far side of the table were the knives, which were actually designed for throwing in stage shows and such. Each had several finger slots in the handle so the user could perform elaborate hand tricks with the blades. Alistair now wrapped his coil around the knife at an orthogonal angle. Then he lay the cylindrical spring on the rail and hooked it to the wire stretched between the two bars. He tugged on it, making small efforts to remove the spring from its attachments to no avail. Alistair repeated the process on the other boot, quicker this time now that he had solved his problem and did not need to insert the second gear train. He tested the firing mechanism, pushing the spring back to catch on the weight. After deGrey released, the spring jumped forward to hit, and cease motion, on the lock. The entire gear train jerked as force was exerted on it for the first time, and the toothed bar was propelled to the end of its tether. If Alistair had given the iron bar a larger range of motion, the spring might very well have lost all its potential energy as it pushed the gearing system and returned to standard position. However, as Alistair had designed this piece of gadgetry involved the user pulling the toothed bar out to release, and push it in to facilitate its retraction. Alistair was pleased the device worked, quite happy that at least the mechanism inside worked for now. Inevitably, this man would destroy it, which would cause Alistair grief. However, deGrey would readily fix his device if returned to him. The biggest question in deGrey’s mind right now, was whether or not the man would feel comfortable walking in his new boots. Alistair had hollowed out much of the weight, but the removed weight only counted for about one half of the new attachment. So the boots would indeed be heavier, which is what brought worry to deGrey. As it turned out, deGrey did not have enough nails of the planned type. What he did have though, were a set of equally wide carpentry nails. This left Alistair with a mental note to purchase of the more universal nails when he next went to the Ironworks. Alistair examined the nails, unsure how the extra length would affect the leather sole. Regardless, there was no use dwelling on the topic now. deGrey flipped the boots onto their sides and fit the mechanism to the bottom. Each carpentry nail was rather long, and took some time to nail in. Each boot had ten, five found on each side. Alistair took three or so chimes to finish hammering the awkward nails into the leather, hoping nothing went awry. deGrey did not have the slightest clue how leather would react to being split in such a manner, but did not care to find out. If he were to make a logical guess, it would be that he was fine. The men who made these boots surely must have planned for some degree of penetration damage. All was said and done with the boots. Alistair examined the specimens before him. They looked exactly like the normal boots, except for the two centimeter thick metal plate attached to the bottom. Of course, deGrey foresaw the man adding leather covering to it, but that was none of Alistair’s business seeing as he knew nothing about working leather. Pfft. He recalled awkwardly digging the chunks of leather out of the sole, treating it like it was wood. Truly, leather was foreign. The inventor turned now to the paper, only a quarter filled and sporting smudges on the sides. He grasped his charcoal pencil and began to write once more, Forgot to forge spring into back, instead used wiring to tie the spring to it. The inventor reviewed his pathetic notation again, vexation flashing in his brain. Damnation, this is a failure. deGrey scribbled out the entirety of his previous workings. Nearly unintelligible babble, lacking organization, has no expositive value. I need to find a format to write with. Alistair almost crumpled the paper, but recalled that his design was in the back. Another mistake… He made a mental note not to combine the two on the same parchment again. Tomorrow, he decided, he would design a template for his notations on designs. Then maybe, he could simply fill in the blanks as opposed to rambling on about whatever. Yes, perhaps that will work. Better than useless at least. deGrey set the boots in his office with the design, making a little notation that said 60 Gold Rimmed Mizas in the corner of the page. While he waited for the return of the alcoholic, Alistair decided he should probably clean the store; it was not in the best of conditions since he had tore through it several times. The inventor slipped off his apron and sighed.

[Weyliss]

Weyliss slowly looked up at the sign. Giving a small frown, the man looked down at the paper in his hand. It looked like the label to a bottle of alcohol. In fact, it even had drunken scribbles on the back. He must have been drunk.

Wincing, Weyliss tried to make out the writing. Something about him buying something or other. He didn't remember what he had bought, but then again, he didn't remember ever visiting the shop. However, waking up in the Syliras stables without boots or his sword had been an indication of a rather bad night. The sword was accounted for, and the knights assured him he could pick it up in a few days... after they removed it from a tavern door.

A grimace, and Weyliss opened the door to the small shop.

He wasn't sure what exactly to make of the sight in front of him. The entryway hadn't prepared him at all. In fact, Weyliss almost stepped back out to examine the exterior to make sure he hadn't stepped into the wrong shop. The main thing that caught his eye was... well he wasn't entirely sure what to call it. A.. water feature? It certainly fit the bill. It covered an entire wall, with the water running down the front, and then off the side onto a small set of drums. Yet, it was the things around the room that kept his eye moving. Gears, contraptions, various shelves and things of metal origin. A man seemed to be cleaning out the shop. The warrior studied him for a second, trying to decide if he was the owner, or an employee. Either way, he might be able to help.

Looking down, the warrior realized he made for a rather common sight. Green tunic, trousers rolled up at the knee, with high socks and sandals. The rest of his clothing, and armor where drying, they had smelled horrid. Scratching at the stubble on the side of his face, the man gave a weak smile as he raised a hand.

"Ah. Uh. Name's Weyliss. I do believe I ... purchased something. Here. I couldn't tell.. couldn't tell you what however."

He didn't expect the man to address him right away, as he seemed rather intent on cleaning something near a particularly interesting looking clock. So instead he made his way to the counter and continued to look about.

[Alistair deGrey]

What a pleasant surprise

Truthfully, it was a surprise to see the drunken customer again. Even more surprising was seeing him walk in, as opposed to stumbling through the portal. deGrey did not immediately address the man, choosing to instead finish wiping down the counter. While the man who had called himself Weyliss approached, Alistair swept off the last of the dirt from the man's boots and left the room.

Back in the workshop, deGrey sighed. It was one of relief, that this man had actually followed through. On second thought, perhaps it was not prudent to give this Weyliss character any more weapons. Quite frankly, he did not enjoy making weapons for anybody, let alone somebody with the self control of a mentally challenged rodent. Alistair moved into the study, deigning to turn a blind eye to the situation this time. From the counter he picked up the man's waiting boots and the parchment. deGrey winced when he put the boots back on the counter before Weyliss. I just cleaned that...

"This is what you purchased, your boots." Alistair reached down and pulled out the toothed bar. deGrey imagined the gears turning inside the boot, pulling the weight up and releasing the spring. Which subsequently allowed the knife to leap forth, which it now did. "Except, it has a slight modification." He reached forth and released the other knife. Now he compressed the toothed bars back into the boots, and then pressed the knife back into the boot.

"Unless you have decided against it, in which case you may leave anytime. Otherwise, that will be sixty gold rimmed Mizas." Alistair flashed the man a tentative smile, not because he wanted the money though, and definitely not because he was enjoying himself.

[Weyliss]

Weyliss blinked as the man caused two blades to spring out from his boots.

What- Wh- Why would I ask for-

Spinning about, the man tried to survey the shop, obviously looking for weapons of some sort. However, since he couldn't find any, he assumed this stranger had made these special order. He was baffled, and couldn't understand why he would order such things, or why such a man would distribute such things. Pausing, Weyliss drew a hand to his chin, rubbing at the goatee as he bent over, examining the boots. With the blades pushed in, he could study them closer. Grasping one by the top, he used his free hand and drew his leg up, dropping the sandal to the ground. Crouching down, he pulled the boot on, and then proceeded to tie the laces. This accomplished, he mimicked the action with the second boot. Rising to his feet. The warrior studied the boots, not sure what to make of them. He took several steps, almost immediately noticing the added weight, as well as a bit of height. Looking the other man square in the eyes, he bent down and pulled one of the toothed bars. As expected, a knife popped out. Weyliss could only open his mouth. He wasn't sure what to make of it. So instead, he pressed the bar and knife back into the boot.

Rising to his feet, the man gave Alistair a befuddled look.

"Friend, I don't know how, or why, you do what you do. But, this is impressive stuff. Thank you."

Giving the other man a genuine smile, he reached into a pouch near the belt, and counted out the gold miza's. Setting them in small handfuls on the counter. Counting them out to sixty five gold, he brushed the excess back into the bag.

"Windoak bless yae' friend. Have a good one."

Giving a small wave, he made as to exit the store, but not before stopping and looking back.

"Oh... by the by, did I by any chance leave a bottle around here?"

Shrugging to nobody in particular, he left the store.

END

[Dusk]

XP Award! Weyliss XP Award Improvised Weapons: 1 XP Lore Award Drunken Hallucinations Deciphering Drunken Directions Wonders of Gadgeteering Alistair XP Award Drawing: 1 XP Mathematics: 2 XP Gadgeteering: 3 XP Metalworking: 2 XP Lore Award Drunken Customers Dangers of Molten Metal Additional Note Weyliss, I wish there was a Skill for being an awesome drunk, because you would be an expert. Alistair, yet another great making-stuff thread. I wish someone would ask for something other than a weapon. I bet he could make an awesome espresso machine.