Legend of Ransera

The fans were good and all with such a demand and, they were easy to make. So easy that they could be quickly churned out daily but then, not too good for coin as understandably the price were not that high and being made so lazily and looking so ugly, there was no way to justify any increase in prices; with everyone so worried about the mists and the word getting around, even the current price was what most consumers believed was the already, the set price. Could they use the increased demand to increase the price itself? Maybe. But with how dangerous it was already running a runeforging business in Zaichaer, there was a fine balance which needed to be exercised to gain as much aven as possible while being tolerated enough by them to not be ratted out to the authorities by those disgruntled from the idea of being taken advantage of.

But there are always going to be ways to make more, especially when it came to the more experienced merchants. If the price of one item is already set and unable to be increased for whatever reasons, then one only had to make an entirely different item for an entirely different price or, a premium price. To justify this premium price all they had to do was make a premium item; an item of higher quality, an item deliberately made in only small quantities, an item with a visibly bigger component like... an even bigger aerolyth, an item made with quality in mind. All this just to get an even more significantly higher price out of the customers. This idea sounded quite crude to Dakkur and he was not entirely too sure about it but what did he know?

To remedy this problem he expressed, he was shown the numbers. A fan a day? That much aven. The new item they were going for over the same period? That much more aven! But still Dakkur was not convinced and pointed out the bigger things they were going to use, the better things they were going to use, the nicer items they were going to use; the bigger, better and nicer things were also going to cost a lot more in terms of materials. These were too many questions being asked which were not too important to his job and Dakkur was ignored, in this smith all he had to do was make the items which was a fact he could not see no issue with. Either way his salary would remain the same whether or not the the new item sells. Even so it was no secret that the state of mind of a runesmith could affect his work as well as the safety of the forge of so Dakkur was shown even more numbers to placate him.

And that was how he was convinced. "What are we going to make then?"

As runesmiths normally there would be an idea and then they would work from there. Dakkur was already starting to have reservations then of the whole idea since it did not seem like it has progressed that far other than what was outlined to him and, not being taught how to make this item and not being involved in the process of making it yet what was he even there for? Ah a sounding board and someone to steal ideas from. Dakkur was not even the least bit worried about the latter. At the end of it he would also be stealing ideas and methods from the boss, right?

First and foremost, the obvious. "We need a big chunk of aerolyth in the item, actually maybe even bigger than the ones we use for the fans." If he was going to do this might as well claim the most obvious part of it as his own so he can get some credit anyway. But what were they going to use the aerolyth for? Blasting the air away just like the fan they have been making just days ago? That would not be good. It would be too similar to the fan and the customers would figure out the scam but, what else could they do with it? The aerolyth he means. Oh and then Dakkur got it after he recalled the method of making the fan, "we pass the damned mist through it instead of just trying to fan it away" just like how they had to pass the aether through the fan from the aerolyth.

Which was a capital idea but there were plenty of other ideas like how to make it look like a premium grade item to the people they want to sell it to. Well there was the idea floated a few days back to use runeforging to improve the item's aesthetics and make it look appealing that way. There was also the idea of making use of something which was not ratty and old like the mass produced they have been using, obviously. Then there was also the idea of of making the case right out of the aerolyth they were going to use, after turning it into viscerite of course and then messing with its material frequencies... too overcomplicated as Dakkur pointed out and more importantly, "wouldn't that take up a lot of our time? Something we'd want to avoid if we are just going to keep tossing out these not fans to sell as much as possible? We'd save a lot of time if we just get something nice to put the aerolyth in and paint it nicely." if anyone of them could paint nicely that is.

But frankly whatever they decided to use, Dakkur's own experience in the similar field of his family taught him that it was not important what they used for the container. All that matters is that the item functions as it should be. After giving the examples of what his own family used, without giving much of the details of his family which can be used to identify them or figure out what it is they actually used: funny gimmicky toys, old vases, decorated boxes, wine bottles and even chamberpots if they were feeling particularly mischievous; that was what the boss decided to use. "Which ones?" Actually that sounds quite about right. All of them sounded pretty good and if they were not tied down to one specific item, then they could get the cheapest of the lot at any given time. However would that really work? Marketing them as special one of a kind items made to order?

The only problem Dakkur could tell with the plan is unlike the fans, he was not going to just follow a line to do his part in making the item if it was all going to be different but... oh was the basic principle is going to be the same? As long as the leading runesmith said so... Better yet it was going to be the same right down to the scam with the fans where they were going to have to keep replacing the aerolyth; getting more from their store hopefully. "May as well do some runeforging on the aerolyth as well so they will always be stuck on the same set..." which was fortunately muttered under his breath so the boss did not end up using the idea.

All that brainstorming ended with Dakkur having a headache but he could not even take a break as they had to make a prototype and he was not looking forward to that, even with the chance to learn since there would be another chance after the prototype was finalized but after some intense bargaining, it ended with Dakkur being able to take a few days off if his ideas made a significant contribution. They ended up experimenting with the spittoon, a chance to get a break from the disgusting habits of the boss and, the boss wanted a new one anyway. Well a chamber pot was not a container to allow the mists to go through so they made a few holes, horribly, as the runeforging tools being more precise in nature were not made with these mundane functions in mind. But that was enough and settling the aerolyth right at the bottom started to energetically go at the item with the tonal fork which was actually a lot harder since the fan and the pot were a lot different; especially with all the curves, Dakkur especially could not be sure if they were testing the frequencies at the right spot and had to make another run over the pot just to be sure.

But finally their prototype was complete after more or less the same processes with the fan. "Definitely not premium at all..." Dakkur thought as he looked and suggested to look at the numbers again, maybe a day to make viscerite and then to turn it into a case and another to make the aether paths of the item; the added benefit of course was that now there was something for the apprentices to do too so it might actually cut the days down further from their initial projections of a premium item.