Un: TerribleTinkerer | Text

[badnewsandshitlist]

Assuming the Fae of Auriel share the same aversion to iron as those of the Feywild from where I am from, I am offering to craft temporary weapons and tools from non-iron materials for anyone preparing for the mission. My trade lies in metalwork, with modest skill in wood and leather. Brass, bronze, bone, horn, or seasoned wood are all suitable.

Time before departure is limited, so I can only take a few commissions.

Separately, I am pursuing a personal project involving spell storage and glyphcraft. If anyone has experience in such work, I would appreciate a private exchange of ideas.

Comments

text | @noctgar

[somnifer]

You really think we'll have to hurt them? I thought we were trying to blend in.

[badnewsandshitlist]

That is the goal, yes. With luck, these weapons will never leave their sheaths. But luck is fickle, and preparation offends no one. I would rather we carry the means to defend ourselves and never use them than need them and have nothing at hand.

[somnifer]

I get it, I just [ ... ] wish diplomacy would work more often than it does.

Anyway. Thanks for looking out for people.

[badnewsandshitlist]

So do I. I’ve seen diplomacy work wonders and I’ve watched it fall apart for reasons no one could control. When it fails, people tend to die before the ink dries. Preparation is not defiance of peace, it’s insurance for when peace doesn’t hold.

And you needn’t thank me. I learned the cost of not looking out for people a long time ago.

[somnifer]

Don't have to explain that to me. My whole city was - In my experience, it's the innocent bystanders that get hurt when the plan goes wrong — not the people in charge. They're who I'm worried about.

I'm sorry. Seems like a lot of us have similar stories.

[badnewsandshitlist]

You are not wrong. When a plan collapses, it is rarely the architect who pays the first price. It is the ones standing nearest to the fallout, the ones who never had a say in the matter but end up bearing the consequences nonetheless. That is the part that keeps me cautious. Not fear for myself, but the understanding that someone else might suffer for a mistake I failed to anticipate.

You do not need to apologise. Shared scars only mean we recognise the shape of each other’s caution. If several of us sound the same, it is because we learned similar lessons in different rooms.

What matters now is that we are here with the chance to prevent those outcomes. Preparation is not pessimism. It is a way of refusing to let the innocent be the first to fall again.

[somnifer]

That's assuming the people you're handing weapons to feel the same. I hope they do, but we should keep our eye out in case things get out of hand. Our first priority always has to be the people who don't have anyone in their corner, you know?