{7/15} Runic Empowerment

[15:47] What better time to get started.

The voidling managed to be hiding those stones somewhere, well enough that it was hard to tell exactly where they got those things from. But they were there. On the nearby table. All laid out and glimmering with that internal heat.

Easy enough for Hoppy to reach and take what she needed to work. Crystalline green eyes focused past her for a moment, on Loretta. It squinted. Then-

"If.. you need to do.. other things, though.. when we get to.. that part, Hoppy.. Loretta can do that. Know you're.. busy person. Lots of.. crafts to work on."
(Mertaisyl)
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[15:50] "If Loretta's gonna do the thing with the flammable gas and all that stuff, then I have way less stuff to do, really." The young crafter mutters as she grabs the bunch of stones and pulls them towards her on the table.

"Basically, what I'm gonna do is make it so when you put mana into these things, they don't throw fire all over you in every direction, because that'd be counter-productive."

A small set of tools is taken, along a piece of parchment, and she begins to scribble a runic pattern upon it, along a diagram of one of the stones themselves.

"Gonna make it so the fire goes forward, into the whatever thingie Loretta thought up, out of your mouth, in a stream as thin as possible."

After a few minutes of scribbling, she'd glance at the undead pair, tilting her head a bit to the side.

"That's what I'm understanding at least, is that right?"
(Hoppy)
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[16:01] To that, a nod. For the most part that was the plan, though there were a few little extra details. The voidling watched for a moment, as she wrote out those patterns upon the parchment, then it drew a short breath. It turned its head away partially, so the void-plague did not come close to the green-haired crafter.

"Direct.. forwards, yeh. See if.. you can.. empower, at the same.. time. Make them hotter.. When you, take a look.. there's a gem.. in my mouth. Will show. See if you.. can.. connect the runes with it.. make them work together."

There was probably enough metal for that, especially if the wiring was relatively thin. The voidling assumed Hoppy would know how to work it out, given her capability with this sort of craft. So it moved on- It did as it said it would.

The thing opened its maw, to show off the gem within.

It was set at the top of the thing's mouth,near the back of its throat. Around it occult-scarred flesh held the thing in place, the work of Sors if ever she'd seen it. The jewel itself was a deep crimson, glowing with an internal light and flickering with the image of fire just behind the surface. Across the surface, a few faded and scratched runes could be seen.

Runes which denoted sealing away some beast, now non-functional.
(Mertaisyl)
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[16:06] "Oh, sheesh. That'd mean me having to quite literally get into your mouth to work the runes for it." The idea was not too pleasant, but that'd come later.

"Guess I'm gonna have to do that either way, though, so might as well." Only then she remembered she'd have to install the stones, as well.

With the approval of the voidling, the young woman would begin to inscribe the runes she had etched on the stones themselves, carefully using a set of sharp tools to accurately copy the patterns.

"What's the gem in there, though? It kinda has the look of the sort of thing I shouldn't tamper with, you know?"

She worked relatively fast, having already gone through about half the stones by that point.
(Hoppy)
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[16:12] In answer, it turned its head away yet again.

"Housed.. a fire-demon.. We broke it out.. killed it dead. Now it just.. holds.. fire. Could hold something.. again.. probably? If the runes were.. fixed.. But right now.. it's just hot to touch.. so be careful, and you'll be.. fine."

Simple enough, so it believed. The voidling rested its head atop the edge of the table when it was done speaking. Crystalline eyes focused in on the work of inscription. It couldn't exactly help, given its own lack of finesse and knowledge, but it could learn a little, at least.

It waited upon her word. Holding its breath. Sure working in its mouth might be a little unpleasant, but at the very least there would be no chance of infection. It was undead, it didn't need to breathe its plague. On her word, it'd open its maw for her to work.

It really couldn't do much else, yet. Testing came later.
(Mertaisyl)
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[16:20] "Yep, definitely not the sort of thing I should be tampering with." She mutters, sighing a bit as she finishes inscribing the last stone.

Once they were all ready, Hoppy would turn sideways to face the dragon, grinning from ear to ear.

"So, let's tamper with it! What could go wrong, anyway."

After having Merta open its mouth, Hoppy would place all of the stones within it, simply piling them up where she could reach them as she tunneled in, her hands finally able to reach the area around the formerly demonic gem.

Pretty much leaning over the thing's tongue, a single hand quickly moved to pull her cloak's neck over her nose, before reaching a set of tools and a single stone.

"Okay. Gonna install these around the big gem, good thing you don't feel pain, Merta…"

She essentially hammered the pieces in there, using smaller tools to carve a spot for each stone before lodging it in as if she was placing jewels on a blade's hilt. The sound it all made was far from pleasant, and if the dragon had the senses of a living being, it'd be akin to torture.

"Put all the stones, and connect them through runes on your flesh. It's a bit of a gross way to do it, but more effective than risking it with materials that could break." She was still putting the stones as she spoke, her voice muffled by her cloak. "Plus, not really much edgier than the rest of this town."

"Lemme know if you feel anything, like a tingle, or anything magical. The runes aren't activated yet, but then again, never really worked on installing stuff inside someone before." Another stone went in. "And whatever happens, hold your breath in until I tell you otherwise."
(Hoppy)
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[16:32] The voidling kept its maw stretched open as far as it could go, for ease of access. Already its breath was held, and not once did it change that fact. It would be best not to harm the one working inside of its throat as of that exact moment.

It did twitch, though. With the hot stones placed upon its tongue it shifted, slightly, then immediately regretted it as one rolled off to the side. Not so far that Hoppy couldn't reach it, but in a less-than-comfortable position against two teeth.

Its mouth didn't move after that. But its tail did. A curl from side to side, as the green-haired young woman leaned inside its maw. A jolt when she started to cut away at flesh. The thing's wings rustled a bit, too. But it made no verbal complaint.

How was it supposed to do that when it need hold its breath? As one might expect, the voidling didn't ask. It simply forced itself into silent stoicism through the dampened pain, as it had before.

Thatsickening sound wasn't the worst it'd ever heard. Listening to bones trying to rearrange themselves inside ones own skin had to be a bit further up there on the list, but it wasn't pleasant. Worse still as she started to hammer those things into place.

Thankfully, the thing felt only heat and that dull, dampened pain. No magical issues just yet. Only an ache that wouldn't quite go away, followed by a few sharper waves each time a new stone was hammered in. But this'd be worth it, the thing promised itself. It'd be worthwhile so long as its flames burned hotter.
(Mertaisyl)
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[16:42] There was a bit of a twitch from Hoppy herself whenever the dragon moved, pretty much her whole life was in its hands, after all, considering just how frail the crafter truly was.

Eventually, though, the stones were set in place, and she would grab a different tool: A small scalpel, and begin to scribe upon the being's flesh directly.

"The fire itself that you're gonna use is gonna scorch the markings into place, and set the stones permanently. Probably gonna make it all more comfortable, too."

With utmost care, she inscribed runes between each stone and the gem in the middle, taking the time to also work a tad directly on the latter, making it so the heat that it accumulated was released in a much more precise, streamlined way, rather than in a dangerous burst.

"Okay!" She squirmed her way out, removing her cloak and tossing it aside as she took in a breath of fresh air. The poor piece of clothing was now coated in bits of flesh, blood, and whatever else could be found within a void dragon's maw.

"The way it -should- work is that if you concentrate mana through the runes, and breath out slow and steady, it'll be more like a stream of fire. If you like… Huff." To set the example, she blew out all the air in her lungs in one go. "It'll be more like a burst of fire."

A hand wiped her brow as she took a seat and leaned back.

"If you add gas to it, it's all gonna be way bigger and stronger, too."
(Hoppy)
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[16:59] When the last stone was set into place, the voidling relaxed to a minor degree. There was less tension within its jaw, and those occasional little twitches became less frequent. Apparently, it had particularly disliked that sensation.

Cuts were easier to deal with. Especially those which only dug deep enough to leave scarring. In comparison those were but a flesh wound. Still, sickly black-green ichor oozed slowly from each. Not quite blood, but something like it, which was almost as thick as pudding.

Otherwise known as disgusting.

Despite that, throughout the rest of the inscription the only twitching done was by the tip of the voidling's tail. An excited sort of twitch now, impatient to test out Hoppy's work and see how it functioned. Something of a rumble resounded deep in its chest when the crafter finally started squirming her way out.

To expedite that process, it shifted its head back a bit. Not fast, cautious enoughto work in tandem so it didn't snag anything on its teeth or cut her, but it made things a little easier. When finally she was out it turned its head to the side, and a rolling fog of green found its way to the floor as it cleared its throat.

Something a wince. Its eyes narrowed to slits briefly, before opening wide again. A slight shake of its head. Then it turned its attention toward Hoppy again, to listen to the rest of what she had to say.

The way it should work.

Mertaisyl lifted its tongue to feel where one of those stones were inlaid, and winced again. Right. Burn them into place. It had yet to do that. So once the crafter had shown it what she meant by her words, the thing turned its focus inwards.

For the moment, it didn't pour mana through those runes. Instead it let a bit of its void-plague rise to hold within its maw, keeping its lips sealed. A thought, an internal spark, and through its lips a puff of smoke escaped from the tiny burst of fire.

.. That was a little uncomfortable..

Regardless, it was enough to stop the bleeding for now. It'd be able to put more focus into burning the runework properly once the rest of the work was done. For now-

"I.. Understand. Your work is.. appreciated, Hoppy. Do.. you require.. pay? I have few things.. that might be.. of use to you. But.. I also have.. a bit of coin."
(Mertaisyl)
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[17:03] "Nah, it's okay. I'd appreciate any standard metals you can find, though, like mythril or nyeshk and all that. Need to work on weapons and such, and getting stuff is way harder now that going to Levengrad isn't really a big option."

With a piece of cloth, she wipes her hands clean, still taking deep, slow breaths of fresh air. Being inside the maw of such a creature as Mertaisyl was far from a pleasant experience, after all.

"I'll let you know if I come up with something else we can set as payment, though, mm?"

A stretch, and she turned towards Loretta.

"We can finish your thing later, too, if you want."
(Hoppy)
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[17:07] The thing cocked its head to one side, at the mention of something in particular- Then it shifted. One clawed 'hand' plopped upon the nearby table. It wasn't much, but there once it had drawn that limb away now sat two hunks of dark-toned metal.

Nyeshk. The voidling had been holding onto that for a while now. With no use for the stuff, payment seemed an excellent option now. After it had placed such the thing straightened up again, and only now put in the effort to fold its wings against its back.

"Don't have.. a lot.. but for your.. work.."

Part one, complete.

Perfect.
(Mertaisyl)
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[17:07] {Item} You drop Nyeshk x2.
[17:08] Hoppy says, "Oh, this'll do for now."
[17:08] Hoppy says, "If you get more, though, lemme know."
[17:11] Hoppy exclaims, "Gonna be outside, lemme know if you need me!"
[17:12] Mertaisyl says, "Yeh. Will do."