It is time we visit Kiara

“We should be going to Kiara now.” I say.

“Yeah.” Amelia says. “You go into the shower first. I’ll go after.”

Like Amelia suggests, I get out of bed first and get a quick shower, followed by Amelia. After both of us are dressed, we head over to Kiara’s room and knock on the door. She opens the door for us, lets us in and then guides us to a table where our loot from yesterday’s quest is waiting.

“So, I started by bringing Lorenzo’s research notes to Aelbrecht.” Kiara starts. “He told me that the Zrephians were able to create any gemstone they wanted. So, he was quite pleased that Lorenzo tapped into that bit of lost technology. Had Lorenzo written down the knowledge necessary to make any real gem, it would have been incredibly valuable. Unfortunately, the research only held notes for rubies and sapphires, so Aelbrecht valued it at only 90 silver.”

Kiara then shows us three pouches and divides them between us. Each of them holds 30 silver. The value of Lorenzo’s research notes divided by 3.

“Then there are the rubies.” Kiara continues.

She grabs the bag which held the rubies and starts handing them out to us. Eventually, they get divided in 3 piles of 5 stones.

“Rubies this size are priced at around 5 silvers. So, make sure not to lot someone convince you to sell them for less.”

“We also have 3 bars or metal.”

Kiara brings up the 3 small bars. These are the metals Lorenzo was putting into his crystals to craft real gems. Apparently, he could create a decent number of gems from just a little bit of the metal.

“One of these is titanium.” Kiara explains. “Harder than steel, so you need less for the same protection. It is popular for armor. Especially spellcasters love to add it to their armor for extra protection. The second one is aluminum. Not good for either armor or swords. It is typically used in jewelry because it is quite resistant to rust. The last one is chromium. This last one is highly resistant to rust and is often used as an upgrade item. That way your gear can be protected from the magic cast by corrosion mages.”

I decide to pick the chromium. Maybe I can have it added to my sword and upgrade it that way. Amelia chooses the aluminum and Kiara keeps the titanium for herself.

Then Kiara grabs the fake stones. The ones that came with a bag of 6 real gems.

“When it comes to these fake stones, there were 3 of each type. We can easily divide that in each of us getting 1 of every color of fake gem. If you’re going to sell these, do make certain to let the buyer know they are buying colored quartz, not a real gemstone”

So, Kiara gives each of us 1 of each type of fake stones. I make sure to keep them separate from the rubies. I don’t want to mix those up.

“Next are the real stones.”

Kiara places 2 bags in front of us. One of them holds the 6 stones Ryan recently bought from the dwarves. The other contains 5 gems that Lorenzo has been making duplicates of for a while. Eleven stones. That’ll be hard to divide by 3.

I notice Amelia looking at her bar of aluminum and then at the gems. Then she reaches for the bag with 5 gems and says, “You think it might be possible to turn these gems into actual jewelry?”

“I know of a crystal mage who retired from Midnight Dawn and became a jeweler.” Kiara says. “If you like, you can take your aluminum and some gems to him and have him craft it into jewelry for you.”

“In that case, I would like those 5 gems. The beryl and the jadeite and the rest.” Amelia says as she points at the bag.

Kiara asks me if I am fine with Amelia taking those 5 stones and I nod. Next, we divide the remaining 6 gems between Kiara and myself. I am not too picky on which ones I get, so I let Kiara know she gets to pick first. She chooses the Eudialite, the mimete and the wiluite stones, leaving me with the tellurite, ptilolite and cyprine.

Now that the loot has been divided, Kiara decides to take Amelia with her and find her a room in the guild. I for one stash the silver I earned with the rest of my money in my room, as well as the chromium. I probably best keep that around for later. Then I find myself a hooded cape and head out towards the crafter’s guild. With my face hidden by this hood, it should be easier for me to get around.

Once at the crafter’s guild, I find the dwarf who I contracted to work on my sword.

“Thar he is. The red eyed lad.” The dwarf greets me. “Come over ere, I’ve got something to show ye.”

He pulls out a piece of metal that looks like a hollowed-out sword.

“So, I melted down yer broken sword and two of these hollow versions. Look at the inside, boy. Ye see those grooves in there?”

I take a look and yes, along the inside is this groove on both sides. Then he grabs another piece of metal, saying this is the titanium I paid for last time. The titanium rod has some protrusions that seem like they can fit those grooves. And that is what the dwarf does. He fits the titanium rod inti the center of the hollow sword and slides it neatly together.

“And this is how you get yerself a sword that both possesses a titanium center as well as a steel blade.”

The dwarf next pulls out a handle. The same one it had before and attaches it to the sword.

“Go ahead.” The dwarven smith says when he gives the sword to me. “Try it out and see if the balance is alright.”

I take the sword from him and immediately notice it is indeed lighter. I swing it around a few times. It is perfectly balanced and due to the reduced weight, I am sure it’ll now take longer before I get tired.

Satisfied with the results, I ask the dwarf if now it is impossible for my sword to be broken.

“Not impossible.” He answers. “But whomever tries to break yer sword next time, they will ave to try much harder.

I am happy with that. Maybe in time, I can find some orichalcum on my quest and upgrade my sword even more. Since I am here, I also show the dwarf the gems I collected from my last quest and asked him if his guild can use these.

“Well, they don’t do anythin to improve weapons or armor. But sometimes we get people who want to decorate their gear. That is where we find the most use for em.”

That was enough to convince me to sell these gems to the dwarf. I made sure to let him know which ones were the fakes and which were real. He made me 50 copper for each colored quartz and 2 silver for each real gemstone, resulting in a total of 9 silver. As for the 5 rubies I’ve got, I have other plans for those.