54 Ash 121
By now even if one were more disposed to ignoring all the doomsayers with their rambling of the end of days, the news, confirmation that the Dread Mists had come on to the city would have wormed their way deep into even the most stubborn of skulls. Nonetheless it was business as usual for Dakkur. In a sense the Dread Mists was something he was intrinsically acquainted with which for the more pure blooded, an inevitability thus what he had learned about it did not worry him the least bit; the Dread Mists will come and the Dread Mists will go and all he would have to do is just wait it out. It was along the lines of what the officials recommended the people in the city to do and also what the runesmith planned to do as well. Stay indoors and do his job although the idea it was much more safer was what had many an aspiring apprentice meet a bad end.Well not death, that was for the more dangerous magics out there and Dakkur had heard of some no longer Elementalists back home who would have preferred to have died off in a blaze of glory instead of whatever they were left with. However whether it be elementalism or runesmithing, it was skill and experience which would reduce the risk and failure which for Dakkur means he had at least some level of confidence for most projects he would have to take on. Not this though, it was the first time Dakkur even had to think of an item with such a function as any low spirit could have done the job all the same. Fortunately by being the underling of the more established member of the establishment, this particular runesmith could make up his inexperience with plenty of guidance. Or at least that was what he had hoped for.
Just like a shooting competition had increased the demand for bullets just so the hopefuls would have a better shot at winning, so did the Dread Mists increase the demand for items which could keep the pernicious fog away from people. For some it went a step even further. With the rumours that there was something in the fog hunting for people, there was the idea floating about that even a small buffer of air which was void of the Dread Mists would at least give those turned into prey a chance to see whatever creature was hunting them and maybe with enough time for them to escape from it. Dakkur scoffed at the idea. A clear line of sight to the creature? More than enough time to escape it before it was on them? Might as well be enough time to draw a weapon and take aim! Instead of whatever anti mist device they wanted, they needed a good firearm with some effective ammo instead; Dakkur's own conclusion based on the criteria he identified and comparing it to his own recollection on how he should handle his weapon.
Ooooooo, wind bullets. That actually sounded like a novel idea but given how common those dragon shards were, it was more likely the more inventive runesmiths who had the same idea discarded it as being impractical. Would not hurt to try it in the future and see how it works though.
But for now he had to place all his focus on making these so called anti mist devices. "How? What are we going to make?" As it was, most consumers knew what they wanted but they only placed importance in its results; not the process, not how it worked and all folly of all the other boring details. Those were what the runesmiths were paid to take care of and right in front of him, the plans were laid out for him to study. "A-a-a fan?" Could it really be that simple? In his quick look at the plans, he could easily see the fan would be powered by an aerolyth. A big chunk of it. The lines from the aerolyth? The ones which ran all the way to the end? "That's where the wind goes from and through? Into all those points and spray out?" Yeah Dakkur was not really able to see how it all works together so he was just going to have to "trust in the process" as he was told.
Basically just follow the instructions and hope to learn as much as he could to replicate the end product in the future. The usual.
The fan which was prepared looked like any other, low quality junk you would get from the store to get through hot weather in any given season and then forgotten if not already spent and ruined. "Wouldn't it be better to get a better one? Like made of metal or something?" Well they could but that would have taken time to be made. It would also be simple enough for any runesmith to make a structural or aesthetic improvement if both were such a concern while creating the item but again that would take time. Of course there was an even much more practical consideration Dakkur himself overlooked- a crappy and fragile item would mean it getting worn out sooner which also means their customers would become repeat customers giving more money in the long run.
These merchants sure were tricky, but then again that was not something he could comment on either as his own family had been involved in some rather crafty methods themselves. Nothing in the lines of shady or dishonest but things their own did not want nor expect and definitely something they will act upon once discovered, likely the reason for his predicament over the last few seasons. The learning process, he should expect, just not the sort of things he wanted to learn.
But he did want to learn that if Zaichaer did things differently so despite the truth, said "No, I don't know how to make the pathways" which paid off. It was a lot less elegant but it was also different enough to be something new. After the demonstration he had to ask again to make sure, " that's all I have to do?" and found that indeed that was all since most of the process would be done by the more experienced runesmith. Following the demonstration which was only going to be performed once as any subsequent items of the same would be led with some markings and how it was done. First the runesmith takes the tonal fork and tests the frequencies throughout the fan in order to find the path of least resistance for aether to travel through the item; this is what the markings were for..
This was followed by what Dakkur had to do and the method was called... the simultaneous knocking method? Quite the simple method and familiar too now that Dakkur had a chance to think about it- it was just like the fundamental process of runesmithing most novices and apprentices could be trusted to do, reinforcement. Maybe after he familiarized himself with the method a lot more he could even try using it for reinforcement himself. Chisel - hammer - chisel - hammer - chisel - hammer - chisel - hammer and so on over and over again as Dakkur made his way from the core of the item where the aerolyth stone would be placed towards the ends of the fan where the air would be coming from. There was just one additional thing Dakkur had to do while he was building the paths for the aether, make it start wide from the ore and narrow it down as it neared towards the ends. Of course there are some more technical methods he needed to employ as well such as doing all this on a runesmith's workbench so he could allow some aether to pass through it and keep a close watch through the aura glass to make sure he was doing the work correctly.
Fortunately with some background in gadgeteering, he could kind of understand the concept while it was being explained to him. Something something the principle of fluids increasing in speed when the cross section of what it was going through narrows down and vice versa which apparently applied the same for aether to also increase its speed or strength. Interesting to know if he ever had to mess around with aether that way and, comparing it to the old gadgets and traps moving around fluid which he was familiar with, he could also easily tell if the aether was not moving abnormally which is normally the sign of troubles in a runesmithing project... like explosions!
And after that he was done, emphasis he as it would take a more experienced runesmith to put the finishing touches on the item to make sure it would function properly and more importantly, safely. At least not unless Dakkur wanted to do something like painting to pretty the fan up.
