"I am calling apon the elements to grant me the power, so I don't think I'm preying to a god, more of using outside energy, so it would be me granting the power to the weapon."
*I am happy with the skill as it stands*
Adam
You easily pick up this new skill. Will you teach it to Geneice now? How would you go about that?
Merlin would like to mix working on your skills with working on the new project, the Sword in the Stone. He wants input from his apprentices on how to design this, what magics to include where, whether the sword ought itself to be magic, or the magic in the stone only, what special effects might be appropriate, and so forth.
--M. J. Young
*Well I'm sure Geneice watched what I did and said, I will guide her with the telepathic teaching, to give her that bonus*
"Well from legend, the sword in the stone, wasn't magical, the stone was, to protect it from harm, to keep it shiny, and to prevent anyone but Uther's rightful heir to the throne from seizing power. From where I am sitting, three enchantments need to be put on it:
To prevent any harm from befalling the sword while it is embedded in the stone, to prevent the affects of age and rust, and to prevent anyone but Uther's rightful heir to pull the sword from the stone. I think we agreed it needs to make a flashy public introduction, and written on the stone should be: "He who pulls this sword from the stone, is the rightful king of all of England.
Those are my thoughts on it, my wife may have some of her own."
Adam
"Well," she says, "I know it was really a child's movie, but I remember that when I saw the story, whenever Arthur touched the sword while it was in the stone, there was a light coming from above and the sound of a choir or something singing. I think that it might be good to include light and sound, something to make it dramatic.
"Also, in the telling of the story I heard, Arthur was alone when he pulled it, and no one believed that he had done it himself. They brought the sword back and put it back in the stone, but then before they let him try to pull it several others tried to do so, and again they could not. So the magic in the stone must last even after the sword is drawn, in the event that someone puts it back to see whether it can be drawn again. Yes?
"It might also help if the stone just sort of appeared--not necessarily that it materialized there, but that no one saw it arrive. I'm thinking that there is an unnaturally foggy night, and in the morning the fog is slow to burn away, and slowest of all around the place where the stone sits, but when it finally does the stone is there, having appeared during the fog. That would add some mystery to it, and probably we could deliver it in the fog in the dark, and not have to do anything so fancy as cause it to materialize."
"That's very good. There's an important lesson about magic in that. It matters less what you can actually do as what you can make others believe you can do. It does not really matter whether we cause the sword in the stone to materialize somewhere in the city; it matters whether those in the city believe that is what happened. Causing it to materialize in the middle of the night when no one is watching is no more effective than carrying it in in the midst of the fog when no one is watching and having it be there in the morning.
"Of course, it now occurs to me that we have gone to a lot of work to acquire the unimportant piece--granted, it is a beautiful showpiece and a fine piece of workmanship, which will give credence to our story. But we've already agreed that the important piece is the stone. What are we seeking in the right stone?"
I lost track of movement and time; most of this has happened, I think, while you were waiting for the sword to be completed in Spain. I you are now packing to return to England, as the sword has been finished and delivered and paid for.
--M. J. Young
*snickers at the light and sound comment*
"As much as it would amuse me, and yourself, the natives are just as likely to think that the sword and the stone are possessed with evil, as it is sent from God. Remember we are in the not so distant past, we are closer to the Romans controlling half the world than the United States being founded. What we consider staples of the church are at least five hundred years into the future when they start building the grand cathedrals.
*pauses*
"But your right about the stone, it's been awhile since I saw the movie Excalibur, I can't recall if it did or not, so I will defer to your judgement. As for the stone itself, I thought that was easy, since it's tied to England, I was thinking a chunk of that English Basalt from the shoreline, it's strong, and tough, and if seen far enough from the shoreline, will definately be out of place."
Adam
"Excellent. So let me see if we have this clear.
"We will have to cast a preservative spell of some sort on the sword itself, to protect it against the elements. It may sit there for a few years while the boy is born and grows up. Protecting it from harm otherwise is more challenging--obviously we need to let people touch it, pull it, try to release it from the stone. But then, it is a metal object, and other than someone trying to pry the gems from the hilt--yes, that would require a protection there--what other dangers are there for it?
"We will need to use magic to move a piece of basalt from the shore to where we can work with it, and also to inscribe it, and we will need to shape it so that the sword can be inserted. Then the hold spell will secure the sword. I took the liberty of acquiring a bit of Uther Pendragon's hair, and thus it should be simple enough to attune the magic to his descendants, of which there are no others.
"Then we get to the staging, how to move the stone to the site and have it appear. We will have to pick a reasonable location in London.
"Let us first get home, however." He repeats the trick he did when in England, causing a small fog patch to appear, and walks into it. As you follow, you find yourself once more in a world of gray, and then a familiar landscape begins to form as ghostly images. Finally you emerge from the fog and are in the forest outside Merlin's glade.
--M. J. Young
*smiles*
"I was just thinking to keep the hilt of the sword connected to the rest, if people are pulling on it, there is likely someone who will pull the hilt up and the sword stays. as for the rest, that's what I had in mind"
*follows Merlin through the fog back to England*
Adam
"We should get some rest; it's good to be home, really. Tomorrow we will take our next steps."
He retires to his secluded corner of the glade.
The next day, he says, "Let's take another look at this sword in this stone. To sum, we need to cast a preservative on the sword to protect it against rust and such, and some sort of protective or strengthening to keep the hilt attached to the blade and the gems in the hilt.
"We also need to get a piece of basalt, which will have to be heavily enspelled; but probably we do not want to have it here very long, because we do not want anyone to connect us to our rock. So whatever we are going to do to the sword, we should do first, and then get the stone and work on it.
"The stone needs to be inscribed and shaped, and we must cast the hold on it.
"We will also need to locate it in London, and that means transporting it again once it has been completed and finding a way to put it there without anyone knowing we were involved.
"I recount all this, because as my apprentices it is only fair that you should be learning how to do these things. How do you think we should start?"
--M. J. Young
"Well I would start with the spell on the sword to protect it from the elements, I would also consider a spell to make sure the hilt will not pull off with excessive pulling. I think that's all we are doing on the sword itself. The next part of the plan is to find a suitable piece of stone, use a spell to shape it to our needs as well as the writing on it, I have played a character who has used one before.
*pauses*
"It would be rather stupid to teleport the stone and us here, to do what we need and teleport it again, teleports are risky, I would perfer to do it once. I am familar with London in the future, so I think we should head there first, look around, to get familiar with it, and pick a spot to teleport to. So we would need to do the spells on the shore on the stone, to prevent it from letting anyone other than Uther's heir to remove it, and a protection spell, in case some local tried to hammer the stone out. I think we need the following spells on the following items:"
Sword: Protection from Elements, Protection from Damage
Stone: Stone Shape, The enchantment to prevent anyone but his heir to remove the sword, Protection from Damage
"We then need to teleport the stone, and likely us to the chosen site in London. Or if we can find a way to make the stone light enough to carry to get to London, that will work. That is my thought process on how it should be done, my wife probably has her own ideas."
Adam
"I agree that it would be foolish to move the stone twice," Geneice says, "but that does give us another bit of a problem. It will probably take some time to do all we need to do to the stone, and it will at some point be partially completed. Even at the shore--perhaps especially at the shore--we will never have the guarantee of complete privacy, and with as long as we expect the sword to remain in the stone, word will spread that it is in London, and someone might realize that it is the same stone we were creating."
"True," Merlin replies. "And there is another complication. The sword, we've agreed, is not terribly important. A strengthening spell to secure the hilt and its decorations, a preservative spell to keep away rust and decay, and the means to stretch these for a few decades, but the sword itself will not be magical. The stone, though--we are speaking of creating a magic device, such that in a hundred years should someone insert a sword into the slot we create, only a descendant of Uther would be able to remove it. That is a process that will take--probably several days, if we do it right. During this time we will need to hide ourselves and our work. That does not mean we must bring it back here--we can find a way to create a hidden work area out there. It still means an extra bit of magic, though, so we need to consider that as part of our spells: something to keep our work hidden or unrecognized while we are doing it.
"All right, we'll start with a simple preservation spell." Merlin ruffles through some scrolls and other writings he draws out of a space that suddenly appears in a rock near his secluded corner. "Yes, here is something."
The writing is Latin, one of the few languages you don't know well and Geneice does not know at all. You can make out vaguely that it has something to do with keeping something pure, but it's not clear enough.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot--Latin is unlikely to have survived to your time and place. This particular skill is designed to prevent food from spoiling, and will keep meat for a week, fruits and vegetables considerably longer. Here it speaks of using a wand; the author of this particular collection of spells liked having a focus, a magicked stick through which he could direct the energies he weilded. The wand is waved over the object, and this incantation, about preserving the freshness of the food, is spoken--it is actually in the ancient magical language Egyptian, but is written out phonetically in Latin script. There is also a sprinkling of salt used. All told, it takes about three minutes to perform the spell.
"All right, let's brainstorm. You may discuss it with each other, if you like, but tomorrow let's have a spell something like this, with two differences. First, it must protect the metals of our sword against corrosion; second, it must last at least twenty years."
--M. J. Young
*I will suggust with my wife to use oil instead of salt, we will look for a branch on the ground near Merlin's grove to serve as a wand, and for the 20 years, I'm thinking tying in the average human generation into the wording, to keep it in its current state for that long, I think we will need to get a translation into latin from Merlin, we'll keep it to 3 minutes, both hands and the want will be used. Will let my wife fill in the blanks and see what Merlin thinks*
Adam
"Calling a stick a wand," Merlin explains, "does not make it an instrument capable of focusing supernatural energy. Such an instrument needs to be prepared, harmonized with the magical world. It is a time consuming and challenging process--but I think you, Adam, are up to learning such a skill, if you wish. I would suggest, though, that it would be better to begin with an object which is special in itself--a finely crafted bit of wood, or a polished brass bar, or a stick of sanded ivory--and better if the crafting beautifies it, as with engravings or fine carvings. If you wish, we can tackle that spell first. Otherwise, a stick is just a stick.
"I like the other elements--particularly the oil. Is there a particular sort of oil you would favor, or just any processed oil?
"I think it would be good to enhance it just a bit more. It strikes me that the food preservation spell increases the life of food about seven to ten times, but that rust would appear on a sword exposed to the elements within a month, so we are looking to extend the equivalent freshness fifty to a hundred times. That will take more power, so we need to release more into it."
--M. J. Young
"Well we can make one later once Geneice is up to that point as well. Processed Oil is fine, we just want a real world object that is used to protect metal. How do we release more into it?"
Adam
"The more complex a ritual is, the more power is released by it. There are several ways you can increase the complexity--using magical or seemingly mystical languages, for example, which require you to pronounce words you would not normally use. Requiring that you do more within the context of the ritual--more movements, more materials--also increases this complexity. The nature of the materials themselves makes a difference. We could create a spell that requires a cup of water be spilled over a target object, and the inclusion of water would enhance the ritual. The ritual would be the more enhanced if we required that a druid or priest blessed the water, or the water had to come from the headwaters of the Thames; but probably we could enhance it far more if we required the inclusion of, oh, diamond dust instead of water. We can also enhance it by limiting the spell to a special time, such as the moment of sunrise or the new moon, or a special place, such as the top of a mountain or a sacred grove. These things being added to the spell make it harder to duplicate, and at the same time release more power. Some spells are enhanced by requiring a dance, some by extending the time spent on them. There are many possibilities for enhancing the power of a spell. Some wizards fall into the routine of using the same ones repeatedly, but I prefer to explore the possibilities, using different enhancements in different spells. Versatility, my boy. A wizard needs to understand his options."
--M. J. Young
*I as Adam IRL can't stand these 4-5 posts in a row that do nothing, in game I have done what he has proposed before in my own spells, I have proposed my spell, if Geneice would like to add anything above, great, if not will gather the materials, say my words of power in latin as best I can, and see if it works or not.*
Adam
Sorry. I don't consider these stall posts, actually. For one thing, you're supposed to be Merlin's student, and there is the play of him teaching you about magic--which should ultimately form some of your decisions about magic in the future. I've noticed about other characters that adding skills to their sheets without providing some in-game foundation for them results in a very poor understanding of how the skills work and why.
Further, the creation of the sword in the stone in combination with the crafting of the spells is something being explored in-game. When we come out the other end, it will be quite clear what skills you gained and how you gained them, because we'll have worked through the problem together and devised the skills in a manner consistent with your character's view of magic as molded by Merlin's input.
However, if you want to press forward with it, I'll crunch the numbers for the spell you've described and see whether you can succeed. I think it's a rather potent spell, but maybe it's not as potent as I think it is. In any case, I think Merlin would think it needs to be enhanced, to avoid a disastrous botch--whether he's right or not, the number crunching will tell.
--M. J. Young
"Well then, if I need a special wand as an object, I have no idea about wands, or their creation, so I would need to defer to you on that. As for words, I usually do my spells in broken latin, which to me is a special language from my native English. I now am an expert in many others, so I am at a loss aside from learning a new magic language on what to do there. As for the oil, it should be oil that a blacksmith uses to finish and polish the weapons after forging. Going along your lines, we should probably purify it, and get it blessed by someone or something special. We should probably do it on a special event like a full moon, at a place that gives it meaning, perhaps stonehenge. That's what I have for the spell".
Adam
Merlin ponders for several minutes, muttering to himself. Yes, a stone circle, certainly would be a good place; we can use the one here in Wales. A full moon makes sense, and certainly purifying and blessing the oil--he underestimates himself, he has a calling and can act as a priest of his god to do the blessing himself, but perhaps I should do it. A wand! You ought to have something for a focus. It ought to be constructed of something that you think is magical, or connected to magic somehow. What would that be--steel? iron? Tell me, what does a warrior priest of Odin associate with magic power. For druids, it would be oak or holly branches; but you are not a druid."
*****
He asks the two of you to come with him into the city one evening. He goes to a tavern and tells you to order what you like--which is pretty much limited to local wine, ale, and mead.
During the course of the evening he calls your attention to a man, perhaps fifty years old by appearances, standing near the entrance. "The foreign looking one," he calls him. "His English is thick with a Roman accent. His name is Horta; don't let his looks fool you--he is a vampire. I had hoped he would be here tonight. I am keeping tabs on his master, Tubrok--a very powerful vampire, antediluvian, who is perhaps my chief adversary in the cat-and-mouse political game here. He wants to keep the world in chaos, because where people are dying rather frequently no one notices a few extra deaths. Horta is is principle lackey and spy. Mark him well; he has certainly marked you, and is wondering whether you are my students and therefore dangerous to him. If he decides you are, he will try to kill you--although he might send someone weaker to do it, at least to determine whether you are as dangerous as he guesses. You are, of course, and probably more dangerous than he guesses, but be wary: he should not be taken lightly, even at only two hundred years dead. Right now he is sufficiently afraid of me that he would not act openly against you; but when Nimue calls me, he will undoubtedly move against you.
"I should kill him; but then I wouldn't know who Tubrok was using to spy on me."
--M. J. Young
"Well Odin is know for his spear, so perhaps instead of a wand, a spear, made with wood from a tree struck by lightning, and a head forged of silver. That of course would require a spell to strengthen the head to that of steel, and the shaft against breaking, two more different spells, but if it is to be my wand, in Odin's eyes, it should also be a holy weapon. As for Geneice, she believes in the one true god, so a special holy symbol like the one around her neck, able to be held in the hand. The gregorian calander hasn't been invented yet, so it would be hard to pinpoint the holy days to know when to create it. If I knew what Month, Day and Year it was, I would choose one of them, to forge the gold cross."
*takes his drink and listens to what he says*
"I've made it a point to have people underestimate me, and listen instead of talk to get a read on people. I hope he sends someone else, it will solve two problems. It would mean I wouldn't have to end him, and once he realizes his assassin is dead. He will be scared to act against us again, as well as having the spy you know still around. So I think it should go well for appearances, that we look the way we do, as warriors, and not wizards. If he thinks we are your bodyguards, let him continue to think that.
Adam
The next day Merlin takes you about a mile from the grove, and finds a thin straight young oak tree.
"Stand back," he says, and from about thirty yards away he performs a spell, and lighting from the sky strikes the tree. It is blackened, but not badly damaged.
"That should do very nicely. Take this silver," he hands you about half a pound of the metal, "and cut down that tree, and there is a weaponsmith in town who should be able to craft a decent spear with a silver head for the price of the silver he does not need--about half that silver would be ample payment for an ornately crafted spear, and the other half will make a powerful spearhead. He will think it is entirely ceremonial, of course, because although silver is a hard metal there are better choices for spear points. Once that part is done, I'll harden the head and the shaft--unless that is something you would prefer to do yourself--and then I will show you how to create a focus from a prepared object.
"Geneice, is there any reason the emblem you already own cannot be made into such a focus?"
Geneice indicates that she can't think of one, but asks whether you had any thoughts about that. Certainly it is already precious and ornate, and while it is fragile (and Merlin says of course, it too can be strengthened), there is no particular reason she cannot hold it in her hand. Unless there is some reason to want something different?
If you have any particular thoughts on the carvings to go into the shank of your spear, describe them and we'll include that in the description.
--M. J. Young
"I would like to learn the spells myself, with your support, I'm sure I can learn how to do the spells. As to the spear itself, since we know we are going to be doing battle with supernatural beings, especially Vampires, I think it would be wise to include words or runes of power to use against them. I have no experience with those, so I would need your help with that."
*pauses*
"I have no problem with that, I will also interject that midevil knights in the crusades, used their broadswords with cross like hilts as their holy symbols. It is up to you, since we are probably going to fight vampires, having a holy symbol as your weapon will free up your other hand for casting, or casting through your holy symbol."
*I will use one of the large blue gems (sapphire preferred, Lapis Luzuli(sp) as a second* as the "Eye" in the head of the spear. Here is a site where is shows pictures of the spear head, there is a picture of 4 spear heads, the last one is what I am looking for, with 4 wings instead of 2, and some ornate etchings, something that if someone sees, it's for ceremony, and not battle. Misdirection is one of the many tools in a warriors arsenal. In the shank, I would want the words of power etched in. On the head, the wards. *
Adam
Concerning teaching you the magic for hardening, "Absolutely. Easier to do as an outer power; I'll want to find a few bits of mithril--hard to get, rare in the extreme. Perhaps diamond would be better. Yes, we have a few diamonds we can sacrifice for this. It will be a matter of transferring the hardness of the diamond into the metal and the wood."
Concerning power words or runes: "Well, Nordic runes are a bit different from Celtic runes, but they come from similar roots, I think. I'm no expert on Nordic runes, but would Celtic runes be acceptable to you? My recollection of the Norse is that they don't have many vampires--apparently the undead have a tendency to freeze solid in their winters, with the prolonged cold. Of course, I'm surprised the living don't do so as well, and wonder whether really the Norse are merely unaware of the vampires among them. Neither here nor there, I suppose. The question is, should we use Celtic runes or attempt to find out more about Nordic ones?"
I'm sure you can get a large sapphire; money does not seem to be a problem. Merlin will work on that.
I presume that there was supposed to be a link in that post pointing me to an image of a spear; somehow it did not come through. If you can't post the link, e-mail it to me and I'll try.
From Geneice: "The idea of the sword doubling as a cross is good, but Circumstance and Mishap do not look much like crosses, and it would be a shame to have to learn the use of a very different sword after all the practice I've put into them.
"Oh--what about my wedding ring? It is not exactly a symbol of my religion, but it is symbolic of my faith in a way--and it was blessed by a priest, and it has sapphires, the platinum one does. I wouldn't even have to hold it, just hold it up."
--M. J. Young
"Celtic power words and runes are fine, since the Norse stole their culture from those around them, it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for norse runes to be a very close offshoot of celtic ones."
(Sorry here is the link: http://www.valhs.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/viking_spear.htm) If you look at the top right image, it looks almost like a short sword, and that's what I am aiming for)
"Mithril or Diamonds are fine, where I am from Mithril isn't real, or was all used up as there is none of it in modern times."
*to Geneice*
"True, only one of those swords it truly a masterpiece, and we do have a decade and a half before things really start to get interesting. I think there is plenty of time to learn our magic and psionics, and learn a weapon a piece. I will have to learn how to use a spear as well. Using out weapons as focus pieces means, we can use the katana in one hand, the holy/focus weapon in the other, and use that as a focus to cast our spells. It would also fool out enemies to think that we are just knights in armor. They would not expect a powerful spell. From what Merlin says, we face a lot of enemies that are well versed in deception and intrigue, misdirection and playing our cards close to our vest will do us well."
*smiles*
"I'd prefer to enchant our wedding rings with a last ditch spell, as our ace in the hole, but we would need to increase our abilities before then. A prepared soldier keeps something in reserve."
Adam
Merlin hastily etches several runes on the flat side of a disk cut from a tree trunk. "These ought to do; your man should be able to incorporate these into his design reasonably well. Tell him this part is the top; it might make a difference."
And I like the look of the spear point. Very clean and potent.
Geneice nods at your points. "Then I guess I'm going to need a new sword. Should have gotten a spare when we were in Spain, but probably there are good English steel makers. I remember that Wilkinson was a respected name, although that is still centuries in the future; but they must have had some steel, no?"
Merlin provides the sapphire, about an inch in diameter, and pays for the work. It takes a few days to complete it, but it is a beautiful piece to see, and has the feel of a decent weapon.
He then proposes to teach you the hardening magic; but he suggests that he will demonstrate it on the spearhead, and then you can copy him in preparing the shaft. "Then," he says, "we can also use this on the sword in the stone, yes?"
The spell requires that you hold the object to be altered in your right hand, and the object having the desired quality in the left. There is a Latin incantation, the heart of which says, "I take from my left the quality I name, and give it to my right; the left sacrifices itself for the sake of the right. The quality I name is," and in this case the name is "hardness", but it will work to transfer any quality you can name in Latin from one object to another. The magic takes four hours to perform, although Merlin says this is because it is permanent; he could do a temporary change of this sort much more quickly.
He fails on his first attempt, burning out a diamond in the process. "Not easy, really," he comments, and does the skill again the next day without any trouble, hardening the spear point for you.
Would you care to attempt to learn this skill now?
--M. J. Young
*Sure it looks like I still need to do the shaft, I watched him do it, I will try to do the same.*
*smiles*
"True english steel wasn't as good as spanish, but, when your using spells to alter it, we are looking more at the quality of the work, than the metal used."
"I guess we are ready to enchant the sword for the sword in the stone"
Adam
You successfully and very effectively transfer the hardness of the diamond to the shank of the spear, which now has head and shaft as hard as diamond. (Listing it as Focus/Holy Symbol: Spear, elongated silver head, blue sapphire inset stone, oak shank inscribed with Celtic runes against undead, head and shank magically given quality of diamond hardness.)
"Excellent job. Indeed, perhaps we should use this same spell not only to harden the sword in the stone, but perhaps use some gold also, to transfer that quality of resistance to corrosion--we need a word for that. It would be an interesting way to use the spell in a different context."
Geneice agrees that a good quality English sword would be a good choice, and suggests shopping around for one, unless you think she should have a custom sword for this.
--M. J. Young
"You should have a custom silver sword for this, with a gold hilt, and a jewel in the pommel, whatever color suits you best, Geneice. Merlin can we trouble you for the metal? The object should be special, and since we are going to be dealing with and fighting supernatural enemies, most if not all references say Silver is the most effective metal against them. The smith in town already made me a "show piece", having him make a sword the same way, and paying him like last time, will most likely keep it between us."
*pauses*
"Merlin, Geneice doesn't have the same experience with spells I do, I may not be good at the ones I know, but I have built up a knack for spells. Maybe you should harden her sword, so we don't risk a bad failure. I know she can do it, but we need to work up to that point with her. As dangerous as this place may become, it is still the first place where both magic and psionics were powerful enough and a teacher available to instruct us."
Adam
Geniece suggests an amethyst; she likes the color. She asks whether that would be appropriate otherwise--but observes that they do drape purple cloth over the crucifix during holy week, and while she does not know why, she figures it must be significant. The alternative might be a ruby, which would represent blood, or a diamond or pearl or opal, because they drape the crucifix in white on Easter Sunday, and she knows that that's supposed to represent the resurrection.
Merlin says it should be possible to get the metals for the sword, although it is doubtful the weaponsmith will ever have held so much gold or silver, and he might well object to making a sword from it. He will leave it to you to explain why it has to be done that way.
He also says he understands your concerns about a potential catastrophic outcome, but then, students must take risks to learn, and Geniece already has learned some magic as difficult as this. The matter can be decided once you have the sword.
It will take him a couple days to get enough gold and silver together for the purpose, but suggests you make arrangements for the design.
--M. J. Young
*nods to Merlin about the blacksmith*
"I will take care of it, I have become very good and explaining what I want."
*to Geneice*
"Amethyst works well, it is a traditional color of vestments in the Roman Catholic Church."
*I will go to the blacksmith, spear in hand, and wait for him to take a break*
"Greetings again, thank you for the work on the head of my spear, it will do well as a weapon of my god. My wife after seeing the work you did on it, has a request for a holy weapon. She would like a broadsword with a silver blade, and a gold cross hilt, with a jewel in the pommel, with the following runes carved in the blade"
*Takes out a paper with the symbols and words, and takes his notebook, and draws what he wants the sword to look like*
"As was the deal last time, any gold or silver you don't use in the blade is yours to keep for payment for the services. I know your next question, why use such soft and precious metals when iron or steel would serve much better. As these are holy weapons, they need to be special. When we create them, we are expected to put forth effort in both the materials and the craftmanship. Once we do our part, those we worship do theirs. I know the quality of your work is second to none, and I know I can trust you not to divulge our dealings to others. Are you willing to make a weapon for my wife?
Adam
I am assuming that this paper comes from your spiral notebook; paper is rather rare otherwise in this world, and it is unlikely that you would have a few sheets of this world's paper stuffed in your gear.
The weaponsmith is fascinated by the quality of the paper, and looks at you with renewed awe. He agrees to the task.
It takes longer to make the sword than it took to make the spear, but it is a good piece of work.
I am describing it, at this point, as Focus/Holy Symbol: Sword, silver blade, inscribed with Celtic runes against undead, amethyst inset stone, gold crosspiece hilt. I still need to add the hardening magic, which you have not yet performed, but I want to confirm that this fully describes the physical weapon to your satisfaction.
Merlin asks who should do the hardening magic, observing that you have done it yourself already and that it is within Geniece' abilities to learn. He understands that you do not want a mistake made here, but mistakes are part of learning and it is not impossible for him to make them at least once in a while.
--M. J. Young
*Yes it would be from a spiral notebook, and the sword is how I wanted it*
"Well if it is to be hers, we should let her do it, if you think it is something she can do."
Adam
She does very well on her first attempt, hardening the holy symbol sword to the hardness of the diamond.
Merlin casts the hardening spell on the sword for the stone.
"We want also to convey to the sword that property of resistance to corrosion. Diamonds also have that. What we need, though, is a word that captures that property, so we can state it in our spell and transfer the quality. Can anyone think of such a word?"
--M. J. Young
"Since we are using the Diamond as the object, the word that comes to mind to convey it's resistance to corrosion is "imperviousness", since Diamonds don't rust or show age, it seems to me it's impervious to those things. Also is we are using diamonds, and want to protect the object from damage, the word that comes to mind is "resilience".
Adam
"Imperviousness! That's excellent. Or better, perhaps, imperishability? Incorruptibility, there's another good one, since it means something that will not suffer corruption. Resilience is good, but it has more a sense of something springing back. Geneice, you are our language expert. What do you think?"
"I think that incorruptibility is the best of those; but is there a word that means that in Latin?"
"Yes, there is," Merlin says, and gives the word*.
"Now, which of us should do the spell?"
--M. J. Young
*I don't know enough Latin to know the word, but I know that there is such a word used in the Greek New Testament, and I know that it must have been rendered fairly accurately into the Latin Vulgate, so the word must exist.
Fidelity, perhaps, or constancy. I feel like there's a better word for remaining the same through the ages, but if there is it continues to elude me.
Immutability?
I have a friend that speaks Latin. I'll email him and ask.
My Latin speaking friend says that "rigor" is the Latin word for Hardness. Is that what you're looking for?
Geniece should.
Under careful supervision, Geneice attempts to transfer the quality of incorruptibility from the diamond to the sword.
The diamond is unaffected by this; the attempt failed.
Merlin says it's all right, that's part of the learning process, and everyone should get some rest and try it again tomorrow.
"Tomorrow", Geneice succeeds.
--M. J. Young
*smiles and kisses his wife*
"Good job, hun, I do believe we are ready to goto the shore to pick a suitable stone? Then we need to prepare it much like we did the sword, make it resistant to damage to prevent someone using a hammer to break it apart to retrieve it, after we etch in the wording we choose. Then we need to use Uther's hair to make sure Arthur is the only one who can remove it. The last step is to get it to London, in a central location, and after that, aside from what your duties to the young Arthur, which I believe aside from teaching him morality after he pulls the sword from the stone, you left his care and training to Sir Ector."
Adam