240 - Back Into the Saddle [Cherno]

Krahe wasted no more time, making her way to baneworm-run tailoring shop which Garvesh first referred her to. Even if they couldn’t produce the more complex of her choices, she was certain they could furnish her with more variations for her wardrobe. Somewhat irritatingly, they made a fuss about her arrival, closing down the shop just for her. Apparently, as she learned from them, Garvesh had reached out to everyone he knew in an attempt to find out whether she was alive, and even after receiving confirmation, he made great efforts to find out where had disappeared to. They insisted that she visit him as soon as possible, and she readily agreed, seeing as this was well within her plans.

As she laid out what exactly she wanted to have made, she also made an effort to find out just how hot Audunpoint got throughout the year. Apparently, the city strayed into the mid-30s for large portions of the year, and neared the 40° Celsius mark during the summer once every few years. The winters were some two months of single-digit sub-zero temperatures out of the year, with no snow and extremely dry air.

When it came to garments with magical properties, the proprietors rather apologetically stated that they were not that sort of tailoring shop, that such work was done to-order by particular craftsmen of renown. Krahe departed with a substantial quantity of clothing in her Kenoma Sack and a similarly sizable order penned in for the next month. She made for Garvesh’s right away, albeit by a roundabout route, and found the same events repeating themselves — he made a fuss and locked his pawnshop’s door behind her.

“Thought you were dead for a few days,” he said with an accusatory tone.

“Almost was. How’d you find out I wasn’t?” Krahe asked.

“I knew the church was involved. Pulled some strings. The higher-ups know of my affiliations with Casus, and they’ve gotten more cooperative ever since you came into the picture. My guess is Casus spilled the how and why of his rescue, no surprise. Speaking of, any clue where he’s gone off to?”

“Some kind of special training to properly handle an evolved form of his Mamon Armor. Mamon Knight Eisenretter, I think,” she answered. Her knowledge of Tarnished Silberblut and Mamon Knight Eisenretter was incomplete, and she wasn’t sure whether they were even separate or different names for the same thing.

“He made the Silberblut Coupler manifest something other than the Silberblut Armor? How?” Garvesh asked with a confused tone, as if she had just told him Casus had walked through a wall by simply willing himself to do so.

“I don’t know much more than you,” she shrugged. “I know that he somehow changed his Knight of Shining Silver boon into one that makes any coupler he uses compatible with him, instead of making him more compatible with the coupler. If I had to guess, probably something to do with that. I think it was called ‘Knight of Black and Gold’ or something.”

At that, Garvesh sunk into deep thought. Krahe wasn’t sure whether he was merely thoughtful or spiraling into worry, so she decided to pull him out.

“What, weren’t you fussing over me just a moment ago? Where’s my attention, you old lizard? When’re you gonna tell me who you were before you got crippled, huh? I’ve already got one crippled old monster I need to fix, might as well get you two together, see if you can help eachother and make my job easier.”

Garvesh was so stunned by that he didn’t even remember to get angry, processing all Krahe had said.

“Ur- You watch your fuckin’ mouth, I can still cut your ass off,” he growled, unconvincingly. “What do you expect me to do, spill my tragic backstory? Go digging at scars from a lifetime ago just so you have a better picture of why this withered old fuck sits on his ass on the edge of civilization? And what’d you mean by another crippled old monster, is Razem trying to get back in the saddle?”

Krahe just looked at him, waiting for the cogs in his head to turn.

“...Yao Fu? You’re telling me she’s crippled?”

A slow nod.

“Busted soul furnace, partially repaired. I heard from a birdie your condition is also a soul furnace issue, some kind of poison,” she said.

“Ergh, close enough,” he grumbled, clearly wanting to correct her but also not wanting to divulge more information. “I’ll think about it. I doubt you’re actually here for this.”

“I’m here because your baneworm tailor friends told me you were trying to figure out where I was,” she said.

“Well it’s clear you’re fine, so you can fuck off again. I was finally getting around to doing inventory when you barged in, now I’ll have to double-check everything. Unless you have an actual reason-” Garvesh grumbled, making a show of looking through his stock.

Krahe sighed.

“I need an independent soulbeast tracker. Figured you might know one.”

“I’ll ask, but no promises. Doesn’t owe me anything and wouldn’t give a shit even if he did. Any clue what you’re hunting?”

“Smooth fur, highly aggressive, highly mobile, likely more intelligent than most soulbeasts. Likely terrestrial or arboreal, and possessing superior sensory capabilities. Here,” she explained, handing over a memslate with most of the soulbeasts, some info on the type of organ she was looking for, and additional specifics beyond that. The ideal target was a soulbeast that not only had the right organ and temperament, but also had abilities that would support at least one aspect of Krahe’s theoretical composite voidkey. A beast that could naturally astro dive would be a nightmare to hunt, so Krahe would be content if material from it could facilitate the combination of her voidkeys at all. Thus, she listed astro diving/skimming as one of several optional abilities that would be nice, but not required. Among these, she also listed a unique barrier alternative.

Whether or not she would target a second soulbeast soon after the first would hinge upon how many of her conditions the first one fulfilled.

After slotting it into his eyebox, the pawnbroker took a few minutes to go through the memslate’s contents.

“Alright, I’ll look into it, this might interest the guy. As I said though, no promises. You should keep looking into other options in the meanwhile — but you know that.”

“Yeah, of course,” Krahe nodded along. “Before I go, give me a bottle of purge pills and some Tabryxa.”

“Still getting pains even after the church dragged you off? Just how busted up did you get in that raid?”

“It’s nothing like that. Just some headaches, had them do some sight enhancements while I was away.”

“That so? And what else?” Garvesh asked conversationally as he took her ordered items off the shelf, clearly not expecting a serious answer. His movements slowed and his eyes settled in a stare into Krahe’s own when he turned back around and immediately read the way she was looking at him.

“How much work? Two grafts? Three?”

Krahe kept looking at him, conjuring the rings to pay for her order.

“C’mon. It’s only been two months,” he insisted. He thought she was screwing with him, at first. But then a faint smirk crept into her face, and, since something was off, the saurian instinctively honed in on his senses in the same manner one would check the rear-view mirror. He realized that he couldn’t see her chest rising, and in the brief moments when her hand touched his, he noticed that her heartbeat was wrong. She left without telling him, and he couldn’t help but wonder.