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Customizing || Bow
Luck Stat || 20+2
Item Durability || 11
Rolls Needed || 70-100
Rolled || 84
Outcome || Success
Resulting Item Tier || Tier 3

Dyakida hadn't thought of him in a while, the Shifter male she'd once known in her youth. Biroki, the magic user, a caster of flame and lightning. She'd heard he was a sage. She'd heard he was a Sorcerer, even. She'd heard that he'd fought the Obans and the Extremists, and that he was a potent enemy. These rumors of power were difficult to reconcile with the shy young man she'd known, but she supposed they could be true. After all, people did change when they grew up, usually for the better. The stronger. The faster. Or, sometimes, they did not change at all. It was hard to tell when that would be true. She wondered how much Biroki had changed, and how much of him had stayed the same through the years. Perhaps, she thought, she should visit him in Ast someday.

...But not yet. Today, she had bows to make and fletching to do. In particular, she needed to resume work on a very special bow. It had been set aside temporarily but the Thorned Bow, as she had begun to call it, deserved some time for another attempt. Sure, it's focus was more on the aesthetic side of things, but there was no rule against a weapon looking – or feeling, in her case – interesting. As long as it did it's job and did it well, looks were an added bonus.

She tested the 'thorned' bow's strength – still good, despite the incident with the strengthening solution. She'd had to let it dry out, a difficult proposition in the constant humidity of Jauhar, but no harm seemed to have been done. No fancy wet solutions, this time. She reached for an earthen jug of lacquer – it would protect the wood and it's carvings, and also add layers of strength and color. She brushed it on gently, careful with where the first layer went – the layers of lacquer, placed by touch, effected how it pulled and shot. Some was good. Too much, in the wrong place, not so much. She waited for it to dry.

It wasn't too long – not long enough, at least, for her to work on her other projects – but it was enough for her to think, again, about Biroki. And magic, too. Magic had always fascinated Dyakida. She could not do it herself, so when Sacred Heart sisters had demonstrated their magic, Dyakida had watched in awe. Even now, the tingle of magic made her heart pound with the possibilities it held. But magic was challenging – it had to be channeled through an object, after all: beads, book, stave, or runes. Alkidikes used none of these things – they had to channel through their weapons. When making a magic weapon, one had to pay attention to the wood, the shaping, and apply special ungents that would make the wood and crystal and metal conductive to magic. Dyakida longed to practice such an art, but she rarely had a chance to do so.

She applied another layer of lacquer, careful along the thorns of the bow.

Without practice, one could not become adept. It was a simple fact and frustration for Dyakida. Add to that that magic items needed to be tested by magic users, and Dyakida found herself in a quandry. What she needed to do, she knew, was find herself a small cabal of magic-using friends and have them test her work. But who? She needed to revisit her friends... like Biroki, and... hadn't there been others she'd been in contact with? Others like him? It had been a while.

Another layer. A knock on the entrance to her workspace. She set aside the lacquer, covering it so that it would not dry out, and placed the bow aside to have it dry properly. “Yes?” she asked.

“Dyakida, I was wondering if you had those arrows ready that I ordered? I'd like to go hunting soon, and my quiver is...”

“Yes.” Dyakida said. She moved over to where she kept her finished goods and felt through them. “Here.” she said, holding out a bundle of arrows to the sister. “I finished them yesterday.”

“Oh!” Their cry of joy was warming to Dyakida's heart. “Oh, these are lovely! I... what do you want for them?”

“You already paid.” Dyakida smiled, “Though, if you want to do more, make sure to bring back something delicious for dinner... and to see if you can pick up some interesting feathers or chitin?”

“Oh! Yes, yes of course!” The sister sounded relieved – Dyakida understood. No Sister really wanted to be in debt to anyone, or to feel as though they were. She'd given Dyakida a chunk of amber beforehand, as payment, but if she felt the arrows were worth more, Dyakida did not want to argue. “Thank you!”

“Mmm.” Dyakida pondered that for a moment. “No, thank you.” She was too late – the other sister had already left. She sighed. “Thank you indeed...” The interruption had reminded her that there was much more fletching to be done. The Thorned Bow would have to wait – she had more practical matters at hand.