Solo Gemcutter

[Ronan]

Gemcutter Timestamp: Late Evening, 20th of Fall, 512 AV The others had fallen asleep, but Ronan remained outside his tent, sitting by the fire and keeping watch. It had been a draining day - his cathartic ride with Tairell still fresh in his memory. The horses were tied to a nearby tree, where they watched him in the twilight. He had brought one of the saddlebags over, hands rummaging in it, when he found the small geodes he had procured back in Riverfall. That day too played on his mind, but it had softened somewhat since the ride. He couldn't waste the geodes, regardless of what they now meant to him. They were Semele's prize after all, the bounty of her hidden beauty. Though he had searched the Zhongjie Warrens long and hard, he had not found a toolkit with which to begin experimenting. Nevertheless, he was determined to try some things with the geodes, he wouldn't be put off by not having the exact tools. In his left hand, he held his dagger, the metal glinting in the firelight. The blade had dulled a little, and next time they were somewhere with a blacksmith or the like, he would give it the whetstone treatment. Until then, he could use the dagger as a tool as well as a weapon. It was a stout sturdy thing, and he figured it would have enough clout to do the roughest of gemcutting. And rough it was, he thought, but he was eager to begin working with the crystals that made up Semele's realm. He had aspirations for it as a craft, and as a business, but in the deepest of ways, he hoped it would connect him to his Goddess on a more intimate level. Just having her mark wasn't enough. He wanted to truly feel her and understand her, and even channel her energies through his being. With that in mind, he shuffled closer to the fire so he could see the geode more clearly, and put dagger to stone, beginning to remove the dull rock from the shimmering quartz.

[Ronan]

It was hard going, he begrudgingly admitted, without the correct tools. But it worked in a roundabout way. He had to stick the dagger point into the edges of the rock, and then slowly tilt the blade. He had to be careful not to damage the quartz - that was not the object of this. Small pieces of rock came away, sometimes in clusters, and as they came away, it exposed more and more quartz surface. The fire only made it more beautiful, light refracting from the myriad of faces. It was slow work, and as he cut the gemstone, his eyes became strained with the work. He knew that professional jewelcrafters had purpose built studios with all the tools needed to work the gemstones into magnificent pieces. No doubt, they had magnifying glasses of some sort to beat the eye strain. It was the big piece he worked on, but he had two smaller pieces too, one in which most of the quartz was covered in rock. It might need cracking to begin working on that one. The large stone however was coming along. A small pile of rock cuttings lay beside him, and he sat cross legged, face a picture of concentration. He began to nick at the smaller more fiddly bits, managing to move only the tiniest grains at a time. There was a lot of crystal buried within the rock. Hiding, much like they all did, beneath the earth. It was beautiful though, revealing it. And the intricacy of the work held its own beauty, as he hacked and cut at the rock, exposing the shimmering treasure beneath. About half way he lifted the dagger to his lips and blew the grains of residual stone from its surface. He'd probably dulled the dagger even more, but a dagger was a dagger, and as long as it retained its blade shape it would still be able to defend him in combat.

[Ronan]

The rock came away, firelight revealing the quartz beneath. Ever since he had been marked by Semele, he felt something around crystals. They were Semele's heart after all, fragments of her manifestation on Mizahar, and the most beautiful aspects of the earth. It was a low vibration. A sense of cold or warmth around the many types of stone. This quartz felt cold. Ice cold. Beyond what one would associate with a physical object normally - unless it had been ice bound in northern Avanthal for centuries, or in similarly extreme conditions. He looked back down at the stone. Once again, he was finding the activity cathartic. Cutting away at the rock felt like he was weeding things out of his life, and cutting away unnecessary worries. These stones had been picked just chimes before he had told Kavala all was said and done, but as he hacked at the rock pieces he felt somewhat more comfortable with the recollected events. He still bore regret though. Regret at having not stood and fought. He had been too cowardly, walking away so soon - but in the back of his mind, he knew even with argument that Kavala's points held too much truth. He turned the geode in his hand, now working on the final section of rock. His slid the blade's point beneath the rock and above the quartz, and drove upwards with the handle. Gritting his teeth, a little force did the trick, moving away another chunk. Residue remained all over the quartz, but he figured a small bath of fresh water would clean them off. They were splendid without the cleaning anyhow. Finally done, he began to work on the smaller geodes, the exposed quartz sat in his lap. These were a little trickier because of their size. He found that out quickly when he managed to hack a piece of the quartz away, leaving a small gap in the crystal's surface. He cursed quietly, and began to concentrate more. His tongue crept from his mouth in a studious fashion, and he hunched over the firelight to see what he was doing. When he finally found a toolkit he could begin to use the gemstones for something more. Jewellery was the obvious choice, since he had heard it fetched a lot of money in the larger cities. Merchants sometimes came to Endrykas with such beautiful items, and the Ankals would buy the necklaces and broaches for their wives. It seemed that the crystals could be applied to nearly anything though, and all the while they would retain their worth. He believed it was because they were a part of Semele. People unwittingly sensed the divinity in the fragments, and thus they were compelled to pay the price for their majesty. He looked down at his work, figuring he could sell the two smaller clumps of quartz neat. He figured when he eventually found a toolkit, it would cost a sizeable sum of his gold coins. The larger piece was something he wanted to save to work on in more depth. It needed cleaning first, then polishing, and then fashioned into a more regular shape. His mind worked like overwrought clockwork, imagining the possibilities of what he could make. Semele's reach was infinite.

[Ronan]

The following day, when they came to a small brook, Ronan told Sam and Mealla he'd only be a moment, and crouched before the meagre waters. He glanced at the reflection. A tired, weathered man he was becoming. He wondered how much he had changed in the last few years, since meeting Sama'el, and all his journeys thereafter. He certainly looked a little older, as far as he could tell. And he needed a shave too. Letting out a small, exasperated laugh, he reached a hand into his bag to dig out the geodes. Here, in the clear water, he would wash them over. Though they were beautiful now, they were still caked in grime and dirt, residues of the earth they had been plucked from. He took the smaller ones and dipped them in the water, scrubbing at the facets with his fingers. They looked even more amazing now in the daylight, and under the rippling water. There was a certain sparkle, something immeasurable, and yet it fuelled him with an unknown emotion. He pulled them both out, and sat them on the grass to dry, and then held the larger geode in the water. It took some work with his thumb and nails to get some of the caked dirt off the surfaces of this one, but in the end it shimmered like the others. The sun caught it even better since it had more surface space to it. He pulled it out and held it up against the backdrop of the sky. He could definitely make something of this. He just needed his toolkit. He placed it down on the grass, hoping he'd be able to find the utilities he needed soon enough. But a part of him knew it would happen when the time was right. In all things earthen, he was guided by Semele. And the earth had a nature of taking it's own sweet time with everything...

[Ronan]

While they were riding, Ronan would keep his eyes open for possible gemstone hiding places. Most of the land was flat, and the striders rode through the grass quite happily, but a few hours later they came across a hillocky area. He made Tairell zigzag between them, so he could inspect the mounds for hollows and crevices. Once or twice, his travelling companions eyed him strangely. Thus far, he had given them no explanation. Tairell too seemed to tire of his dilly dallying. She wanted to run, or something, displayed by a particularly loud snort she gave him. Nevertheless, he kept looking, and eventually found a worthy place. He let the others ride on, and dismounted, foraging in the rough to see what he could find. Finally, something solid. He chipped it away from the ground with his dagger, and procured a stone that had a faint blue tone to it. He held it up to the light, half of it encrusted in ordinary rock. But it was a wonder! It was the first coloured stone he'd managed to find. He guessed it was some sort of sapphire.

[Jackalope]

Ronan

Award

Skill	XP Earned	Lore Earned
Gemcarving	+3	Making Due with What you Have
Observation	+1	Possible Uses for Quartz

Inventory: Change geodes in your inventory to 'refined' or however you want to annotate you've worked on them.
Add 1 unidentified blue stone


Witty Remark Here

Getting your start into gemcarving, huh! Fun little thread, and I can only imagine how tough it would be to deal with gems without the tools, though since it was a geode, it's possible. When it comes to finding stones, I'd like to see a little more about the characteristcs of the area you find the stone in. What sort of environment is it possible to find sapphires in and such, rather than just happening upon them. Keep it up, Ronan! If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.