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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1489266" data-attributes="member: 15043"> Siabrey   (typed by drag n fly)My Lucius, my dear dear Lucius Siabrey’s mind and heart were twisted up tighter than the grip she had on Kelir’s shattered pieces stuck through her belt. The sword, thank Heironeous, was still fully magical, although it would be difficult to repair. “If ever your sword breaks, you must reforge it, and you alone.” Stodiana’s voice echoed through the hallways of Siabrey’s memory. The magic in that sword is tied to the Sipner bloodline; it will not heed anyone else’s attempts to heal it.I never thought I’d need to reforge you, Kelir. she thought to her sword. Its deep bass voice came back with a trace of sarcasm.”Neither did I. Then again, I never thought that either of us would be in the position that we are now.”Siabrey was confused by the sword’s ominous tone. What do you mean?Her query was interrupted as her and her guard entourage turned a corner. The echoing clank of the guard retinue’s armor echoed, as before them lay a pair of heavy metal doors, propped open. Siabrey could feel the heat searing through its opening. “Thank you, gentlemen. I’ll take it from here.” Siabrey said to her guards. The coolness in her voice surprised her. At the loss of Lucius, everyone had fully expected her to fall apart, but some last inner reserve of strength was somehow holding her up. A part of her mind barely registered that it was the knowledge of the task at hand that was perhaps the only thing keeping the fighter from sinking into the oblivion of her mind as she headed through the open forge doors.Inside, the room resembled an inferno from the pits of the Abyss. Fully five times as large as any forge she had been in, the temperature hovered around 105 degrees, kept constant by the row of fires at the back of the long narrow room. Siabrey instantly felt herself beginning to sweat under her armor.As she entered, several very experienced looking dwarves and men looked up. It was hard to tell what they were more surprised at; the gender of the person entering the room, or pair of royal guards that had accompanied her and had now positioned themselves authoritatively on either side of the room’s entrance.“Good day, miss. What can we do for you?” A tall dark-skinned man with arms like pythons stood and smiled guardedly at her.“I require the use of one of your furnaces.” Siabrey said, beginning to strip off her armor. Several of the dwarves whistled at the craftsmanship as its stylings glimmered in the firelight.The man also appraised her armor with a careful eye. “Do you need to be fixing that?”“No, it is my sword that needs to be re-forged.” Siabrey pulled the broken pieces of Kelir from her belt and cradled them gently. “A sword? Let me see.” The man held out a hand and Siabrey passed over the pieces rather reluctantly. It felt hard to let Kelir go, even for a few minutes.The smith tested the blade carefully, running a finger over the sandhog hilt wrapping and staring at the runes for a long while. “Well, I don’t think it’ll be that much of a problem. A few days time and we’ll…”“The sword must be re-forged today…and I will do it.” Siabrey steeled her fiery eyes on the man and for the first time he noticed how they glowed exactly like his furnaces. A rumor ran through the back of his mind, The Princess, the one who is married to the Emperor's heir, supposedly she has red eyes…and she is supposed to wield a katana, marked with runes just like this… Suddenly realizing exactly who he had in his forge, the man gulped and handed the sword pieces back quickly.  He somehow resisted the urge to immediately fall to his knees... she hadn’t demanded him to bow, and the last thing he wanted was to offend her.“Of course, Your Highness. The forge is yours,” he stammered.“Thank you, sir.” Siabrey inclined her head in a polite bow to the smith, and made her way over to the largest and hottest of the fires. Two of the dwarves brought her armor over and rested it beside her, but she barely noticed. Her mind flickered along with the flames, and she drew a deep breath.You must help me now, Kelir. I have never forged a blade before, let alone one as special as you.”I was made by your mother, Siabrey, and re-forged once by your father. The very blood that made me runs in your veins. Trust yourself; the fire will do the rest.”Nodding imperceptively, Siabrey reached for the pair of tongs by the fires edge. Gently grasping the upper point of her sword in it, she sent a swift prayer to Hieroneous to watch over her blade…and her lost love. She leaned forward, sliding her beloved blade into the hot flames, and waited. Counting silently in her head, she watched the blade grow hotter and hotter, till eventually its shade matched the color of her eyes. Pulling the metal free from the flames, she then repeated the process with the second half of the sword, stopping to unwrap the skin from the hilt. When both pieces were flaming slightly from the heat, she placed them both on the nearby slab of iron, positioning them so that the broken edges realigned.Now came the hard part.Lifting the hammer that would remake her sword, Siabrey sent a worried thought to Kelir. The sword’s response was strong and free from hesitation. Strike true, Siabrey. I trust you.Even the other smiths in the room held their breath as Siabrey’s hammer began to fall. Letting a fighter, even one as high-ranking as this, re-forge her own blade when none of them had any idea if she could even work a forge was troubling them. So far, she had done everything right, but now…TING!The echo of metal on metal resounded through the room; the returning echo a note so perfect that even Tess would have approved.Siabrey smiled, and thanked every blacksmith she had ever watched forging a blade. Her arm settled into a steady rhythm of hammering the heated metal together, flipping the blade over to pound the other side before sticking it back into the flames to be reheated, and then hammering again.She was several hours into the task before she even knew it. Kelir had helped her pass the time by singing her a strange tune that he said he had learned from her father. It was oddly comforting in the face of all her anxieties. I hear some distant drumbeatA heartbeat pulsing lowIs it coming from withinA heartbeat I don't knowA troubled heart knows no peaceFrom a dark and poisoned poolOf liberty now lostA pawn, an oppressors toolOh my heart be strongAnd guide when eyes grow dimWhen ears grow deaf with empty wordsWhen I know there's life withinA change is slow in comingMy eyes can scarcely seeThe rays of hope come streamingThrough the smoke of apathyBut oh my heart be strongAnd guide when eyes grow dimWhen ears grow deaf with empty wordsWhen I know there's life withinMay the spirit never dieThough a troubled heart feels painWhen this long winter is overIt will blossom once again   (drag n fly’s note: this song is adopted from Loreena McKennitt’s “Breaking the Silence”. A beautiful song and a beautiful singer)Stopping to take a break and steal a sip of water from a nearby barrel, Siabrey sat, turning her partially healed sword over and over in her hands. Although the blade still glowed red hot, she felt no pain from the heat. As she stared into the blade, her eyes marked that the runes, despite the sword’s metal having been drastically heated, were still glistening on its surface. Oh Kelir, I miss Lucius. she sighed softly. There was a pause, before the sword answered in a strangely pitched voice. So do I. Siabrey frowned. What do you mean, Kelir? The sword heaved a sigh that only she could hear, and she felt its worry and concern for her flooding through her fingers. You still don’t realize it, do you, Siabrey? Realize what? she was concerned.Siabrey, open your eyes. Don’t you notice the way your friends were looking at you when Lucius was taken? The way those guards refuse to leave your side? Why the men and dwarves in this room are practically soiling themselves at your presence? At Siabrey’s quizzled stare Kelir vibrated softly in her hands.If Alexander is indeed dead, then Lucius would be Emperor. With him gone, you are technically the Head of State, if not Empress!Siabrey’s jaw dropped. With all that had been going on, she had totally forgotten that her recent marriage and Lucius’ anointment as Heir made her now, technically, the highest ranking noble around. Her limbs began to shake and she felt the usual admonitions and fears beginning to crop up. I can’t be in charge! I don’t know the first thing about ruling an Empire! I’ll screw everything up! Even as they went screaming through her head however, another, quieter part of her mind began talking in a voice that was a surprising combination of her mother, Kelir, and Lucius. We have faith in you. they whispered. You have spent most of your life around nobles. You are married to one of the youngest, yet most powerful nobles around. More than that though, Siabrey, you have noble blood, and fey blood, in your veins. And most importantly, you are not alone; you have your friends to help you and watch out for you. The voices congealed into one that she knew very well.As will I. Kelir’s steely voice was full of comfort and resolve. Even broken, it still was her strength.Siabrey’s head lifted, a new strange look in her fiery eyes. Had Tess or Shaun seen her at that moment, they would have been shocked to see a deep calm and resolution burning within as she stood and made her way over to the forge and began to heat her sword once again.Twenty hours later, the task was complete. Kelir’s shiny new surface gleamed as she pulled him from the bucket of water she had used to cool his fire. The surface, unmarred except by a string of indecipherable runes, glinted back at her. A dull round of applause echoed from the various corners of the room as the other occupants smiled at her success. Smiling back, Siabrey sheathed her sword quickly and gathered up her armor. Someone had taken the opportunity to clean and polish it for her while she had been busy, and she was deeply grateful for the gesture.Exiting the boiling hot room, Siabrey breathed in deep the cool air of the corridors. “Where to now, Your Highness?” One of the guardsmen asked. It was not the same one that had accompanied her down to the forge; sometime during the night they had switched shifts on her.Siabrey took one glance at herself. She was drenched in sweat, and her clothes were grimy. Smiling softly, she lifted her gaze to the guardsmen. “Where would you go if you were filthier than a hog and stank like one too?”The two men chuckled; they were part of Alexander’s regiments and enjoyed a noble with a good sense of humor.“Perhaps up to the late Empress’ bathing rooms?” one suggested.Siabrey wrinkled her nose, then relaxed. As much as she had hated Zoe, a bath was sounding too good to miss. Although I will have to bath alone she thought sadly, before steeling herself and gripping Kelir’s hilt securely.“Lead me there.”An hour and a half later, Siabrey stood staring at herself in one of the mirrors. The bath had been wonderful, exactly as she had needed, although one of the servant maids had looked at her strangely when she had brought Kelir into the bathing room. Now, her freshly scrubbed face looked back at her from the halo of her gleaming clean golden hair. In memory of Lucius, she had left her hair down and free from its usual braid.The servant had found a set of robes of state in one of Zoe’s drawers. Complete with a stunning set of jewelry and a tiara that, while perhaps not as tasteful as those that Tess might have picked out, did complete the job, Siabrey felt like she had stepped into the late Empress’ footprints.Don’t be silly. You still have me. Kelir’s voice laughed at her. Siabrey smiled as she agreed with him. The fighter had refused to be parted with the sword, and so, despite the maid’s horrified objections, she would be wearing him along with the robes. “Your Majesty? Are you ready?” the maid’s voice called to Siabrey from outside the door. The voice called her back into reality; that same voice had only a short while ago brought her news that the Emperor possibly was not dead. With that knowledge, in addition to the regular updates that she was getting of what was happening in the throne room, she had formed a plan.“Yes, Majorine. I am ready.” As ready as I’ll ever be. Drawing a deep breath and squeezing Kelir’s hilt for luck, Siabrey turned and strode from the room, following the maid up to the main throne room. [Note from drag n fly*After this interesting section about Siabrey and her sword, I thought that I should post the description of Kelir, so that people know exactly what he is <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Siabrey is a bondblade, and as such, recieves many benefits from her sword. The exact description of a bondblade can be found here <a href="http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44045" target="_blank">http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44045</a> Tess’s character wrote the player class. I can however, tell you about Kelir.He is a talking psychic katana, with a 15 Wis, 10 Int, and 15 Char. He has a deep Bass voice, and on top of all of the normal abilities that a bondblade gives, he has an additional ability (from It’s a Kind of Magic III) to give Siabrey Bull Strength (1d4 +1) once per day. The other additional ability (which actually did not get rolled up until the end of this weeks posting’s session, but that’s ok, I’ll post it here) is from “I Didn’t Know You Could Do That!” and adds an additional 1d6 fire damage. Hope you all are enjoying so far! Have a great day! ~ drag n fly]</blockquote>

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