Post-Directive 12 Alchemy

[Janick Beauchamp]

While, of course, the whole quest back on Aing-Tii made Janick realize how vulnerable she is to other directed-energy weapons, she also realizes that she has to get out of Utapau more often to get off-world clientele: at this point, nearly all the clients she had were from the Utapau system. Said clients often ask very, very mundane stuff, like concentration enhancements, short-term precognition, that sort of thing. But also she heard about one Beskar Ring Forge, which seems more friendly to non-Mandalorians for the variety of items she desires to have than, say, House Larraq Plate and Blade or even what Clan Daemon had for that purpose, which were otherwise the best-known workshops of that nature in the galaxy. Lightsabers were not her thing since she knew that it needed to be recharged at times; she desires something akin to a beskad that would not need to be recharged but otherwise have the functionality of a lightsaber. She heard about Sith swords from another client... and perhaps she would like one for herself. To this end, she brings a set of vacutainers, a sterile venipuncture set and whatever equipment she would usually bring on an off-world trip. That is, if she can't get Stephanie to Utapau.

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Dear [member="Stephanie Brown"],

I believe Beskar Ring Forge could use an extra option for clients (songsteel is best to actually exercise it, due to the amount of extra weight exercising that option entails) desiring customization of their own products. For more details about that option, I will have to come to you in person because then and only then you would realize the very nature of what knowledge I can give you. I can even teach you a thing or two that may be useful to you but does not necessarily relate to metallurgy. Please let me know what works for you, schedule-wise.

Best wishes,
Janick Beauchamp
Owner, Utai Magic Circle

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[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Stephanie would receive the message shortly after it was sent and she would read it before sending a response

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear [member="Janick Beauchamp"],

I have received your message and would love to say I am greatly interested in learning the ways of your trade. As for schedule I am wide open as of right now can't wait to meet you

Best wishes,
Stephanie Brown
Owner, Beskar Ring Forge
______________________

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

In the whole lightsaber-vs-alchemized beskad debate, the main deciding factor for her was the need for cutting power, over even the likelihood of fighting enemies armed with EMPs or ion weaponry, while knowing that the cost of the base songsteel sword can still be prohibitive, but so could the crystal be, especially if someone desired something other than the green, blue or red that are so common across the galaxy. Usually people would pick lightsabers over Sith swords if they need a lot of cutting power, or do not expect to fight enemies armed with ion weapons that often. With Janick being on the way to meet with [member="Stephanie Brown"], all the way to the Core, she took on some missions of piloting-for-hire of the escorting variety, with little actual action on the way, so long as it actually took her to Coruscant from Utapau. All told, it took her four days to get there, taking on one, maybe two missions a day, while being mindful for her needs to rest. Once she arrived in The Works district on Coruscant, she set out to look for the Beskar Ring Forge (while, hopefully, having the songsteel sword at the ready) and finally knocking at its door:

"It's me, Janick: now the time has come for you to learn a thing or two from me... Stephanie"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Steph would quickly make her way to the door, she would open it and instantly her heart would begin pounding as she saw the image of beauty that was Janick. Her face would turn bright red

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

[member="Stephanie Brown"] was blushing? If so, it wasn't the first time Janick made somebody blush, even though most people she made blush thus far were Pau'ans or Utai. Surely they both saw their share of pretty women in their respective lifetimes, but then again, Janick knew that there were millions of human or Near-Human women, with different skin colors, like green, blue, red, and, of course, the range of human complexions that were just as pretty as she was, and in a myriad of different shapes and sizes, and that someone's beauty standard might be another's heresy. She arrives at the storefront of the workshop they called Beskar Ring Forge around these parts and sees a collection of mostly beskads of a wide variety of sizes and shapes (and, with it, weights), and a guide to measurements for commissioning a beskar'gam as well as possible waiting times for getting the pieces of equipment done. If a beskad with regular craftsmanship could take a week, and a normal beskar'gam could be done in two or three weeks, more complex stuff could take longer. But she would not want to get anything from the workshop until she offered her service. But first, she managed to sense something didn't line up with Steph: she made a step closer to Stephanie and enter her mind for more information about her, information that may shed some light as to why they both fell to the dark side. Visions flashed in Janick's mind from the destruction Directive 12 wrought all across Coruscant, of the other One Sith atrocities as Steph witnessed them firsthand, and various scenes of exactly what she did about it, most of it occurring well after Directive 12 occurred.

"I feel that you were also a Directive 12 survivor, too: Directive 12 is what people consider the pinnacle of the One Sith's atrocities on Coruscant and, even before that, people wanted to fight crime on the lower levels where not even the Sith would dare go, and that played a lot in the decision you made to once become a vigilante: you wanted, like so many, to stop people from needlessly suffering"

And then came the explanation of what Janick did to Stephanie: Drain Knowledge. Even though Stephanie had a similar level of power compared to herself, the brunette's own frame of mind made it perhaps easier than normal to use Drain Knowledge and maybe Stephanie's too.

"I want you to learn two things for the price of one. What you're about to learn might be useful to you to learn stuff faster than you normally would, or otherwise try to get information from other people you couldn't get otherwise: Drain Knowledge. But first, you have to realize that using Drain Knowledge is akin to using comebody else as a computer in the Force. Depending on the mental defenses of the target, it might be a little hard; also, if you're careless, you may accidentally remove knowledge from the user but removing knowledge from the user, as opposed to simply downloading information from someone else through the Force, depends on how good the target's memory is: if the target has a good memory, it may be difficult to remove information from its memory but it is easier to download more information from the target. It's also important to have a good feel for the target's brain"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Stephanie would glare towards the woman, she found this speak not needed, she would head back to her anvil and continue to hammer on the piece of Beskar she had heated up. She would continue to shape it

"You are correct, it is true that I myself am a survivor I was a vigilante but I have evolved, I have outgrown those childish games I once played"

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

So Stephanie wasn't in the right mind frame to learn Drain Knowledge? I can't blame her: she seems very dedicated to her art of beskar craftsmanship, she thought, while also pondering that falling to the dark side was probably the result of one such game that went awry. She knew some people fell to the dark side with a failed policing mission as a trigger. But she also realizes that there is a way to embed alchemy into the beskar objects being forged: the oil drums. So long as the blood content of one of the oil drums could remain at or above a certain concentration, which really isn't much in a beskar context, [member="Stephanie Brown"] could keep the blood out of the other oil drums for what she knew. And then infuse the dark side into the objects once the object is quenched. Maybe... maybe I could do alchemized beskar items myself if I knew how to forge beskar! she thought, while pondering how popular would beskar items be in ORC-land, where most of her client base is.

"With alchemy you can add all sorts of special properties into a beskar object, with the blood absorbing the dark side energy you infuse into it. It is recommended that you clearly identify which quenching oil drum has blood inside: that way you can reuse the same blood for multiple objects, and the others will have no blood in those for those people who want unalchemized beskar objects. Speaking of which, is there an item that requires quenching in oil right now?"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Steph would look back over at the woman who had posed the question, her yellow eyes would look the woman over before speaking, "As a matter of fact I do have one such item" She says before making her way over to one of the racks where she kept weapons before they were completely finished, she would pull a sword from the rack, she would bring it over to the woman

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

While [member="Stephanie Brown"] was reaching for the rack of unfinished forging projects, some of which were still hot enough to ask for quenching in oil, Janick took the liberty to 1) put the label on the quenching oil drum containing the blood - with the understanding that there are several oil drums used for quenching inside the workshop and one is enough, and 2) empty all her venipuncture blood vials taken en route to Coruscant inside that particular oil drum. But she also realized that a forging shed would require a clay floor and a chimney: not sure whether that's even doable on the municipal ordinances of Kessil. But also, the actual alchemy lesson would begin once the quenching part of that particular item is done since the blood would be absorbed by the beskad.

"Just a few questions before the lesson begins: if that beskad isn't already commissioned for someone else, is it possible that this beskad be used by either you or me? If that's for me, credits will be transferred into your account on delivery"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"that is very possible, I already have one so this one can be for you I will give you the total cost upon delivery." She said, as she did she would place the Beskad into the forge, she had to get it to a certain temperature before she could actually quench the metal

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"One more thing: I understand that quenching in oil is not instant. Just that it is best to infuse the dark side energy into the item after the item is quenched"

So that beskad wasn't already commissioned for someone else? Stephanie may as well infuse the dark side once the quenching ends because quenching metal into blood-stained oil will cause the metal being quenched to absorb blood, maybe even enough to hold the dark side energy required for making alchemized beskads. However I do realize that alchemizing will only add to the internal stress of the object, she thought, realizing that perhaps the dark side energy can be infused after quenching but before tempering... perhaps Janick seems to learn more about metallurgy and beskar smithing because she has been subconsciously learning psychometry, and the Force-history of that place has seen several cycles of forging beskar! Also, [member="Stephanie Brown"] may not realize it, but psychometry seems to be a favorite for subconscious learning by people at a high level of intellect. She also realizes that Stephanie's personal sword, which is made of songsteel, could potentially be alchemized. Just that alchemizing an item after the base item is completed will leave imperfections that may not need occur in quenched-beskar.

"If you already have a sword, is it alchemized or not?"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"It is not, but I prefer to keep it that way, I know of the flaws it would leave if I were to try it once it has been quenched and tempered, this would leave internal stress fractures that would eventually lead to my blade breaking probably in combat" She said preparing to quench

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

Upon seeing the oil being set ablaze by the beskad being quenched, Janick began to ponder exactly why she didn't want the sword alchemized. Perhaps tempered songsteel had different metallurgical properties that made alchemizing unadviseable once the songsteel forging process was finished, despite being lightsaber-resistant. Then again most alchemized swords she saw were simply forged durasteel, with a few of them comprising beskar like Kami Meran's; durasteel and beskar were usually more forgiving than durasteel in this respect. In fact most attempts at alchemizing were for those materials, with phrik sprinkled in for good measure. As she was indirectly learning metallurgy from [member="Stephanie Brown"], and the quenching was seemingly done, there was one additional step to make before the beskad undergoes tempering. So she - should - have the beskad in hand before she can leave Coruscant, with a scabbard because even alchemized beskads whose alchemical effects allow it not to otherwise require maintenance are still safer to carry around with one.

"Now is the time to infuse the dark-sided energy into the beskad! Think long and hard of the effects the alchemizing will have; usually, for beskads, it's about reflecting blasters and absorbing Force-lightning attacks"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Steph would focus and feel something change in her but not know what

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

Not only something would change in [member="Stephanie Brown"], probably as a side effect of learning and using alchemy, something would change in the unfinished, quenched beskad, too. But beskar made it easier to forge alchemical swords for a beginner alchemist like Stephanie since one of the three properties was redundant and hence reduced the need for Force-energy, unlike those who used non-lightsaber-resistant materials. However, the key ingredient of Force-alchemy will remain the application of the Force inside the item. Once the dark side energy is done being infused into the beskad, it will never need be sharpened ever again, and it will absorb Force-lightning or Electric Judgment attacks. Just that, for metallurgical good measure, tempering is still required, as is the case with all things beskar. In the case of beskads, Janick trusted Stephanie's experience with tempering and stood ready to watch patiently the whole tempering process unfold before her. She was just a little, well, new to the whole forging process, and perhaps she could start alchemizing beskar items beyond doing that after the crafting of the base item is over.

"For obvious reasons, tempering should be done immediately after the dark side energy is infused"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Steph would quickly head over to her sharpening stone and begin to sharpen the blade, she would in a very few minutes have the blade completely tempered to her specifications. She would then clean the blade and slip it into a sheathe she had made for it

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

Now that's one beskad worth its price, she thought, upon seeing the beskad being brought to the sharpening stone. The very sort of beskad she would think would take several days to hammer properly, if she was to try forging beskar stuff. Janick was satisfied with [member="Stephanie Brown"] now getting to the sharpening stone to get the blade tempered: hard on the edge, tough in the center. Then came the cleaning: grime will show up on the blade after it has been sharpened, some oxide or some such thing. But there was one detail that she wanted to understand better: what caused Stephanie to give up on vigilante duty? Could that be tied to her falling to the dark side, or a driving factor even? She did not delve that deep into Stephanie's memories, nor did the workshop hold any psychometrical clue as to what could have caused her to fall to the dark side. That was most curious indeed: Stephanie being, much like Janick, a survivor of Directive 12, she knew several survivors harbor a deep hatred of Sith since that day, some of which even joined the GADF to fight those Sith, or entered the bounty hunting profession.

"You mentioned vigilante duty as if it was like playing childish games. Was there some vigilante sortie that went awry for some reason?"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"Yes, there was this woman who kept appearing, I beat her over 10 times but every time she would return better than the last, soon I couldnt beat her, she beat me and instead of killing me she showed me the error of my ways, she took me under her wing and showed me what I could become

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

So that one lady that she kept fighting over and over was much like those hero-and-villain combinations in holos, where they fight each other recurrently? she thought, while listening to [member="Stephanie Brown"] recount her failed vigilante sorties. She knew that adventure holos of that nature were often featuring a band of heroes and a myriad of villains to foil them, ranging, in terms of personality and motivations, from Darth Banshee all the way to Darth Carnifex or Darth Centax. Usually, for those shows aired on Coruscant, the villains were usually dark-siders, but on those shows produced by Caldera-based companies, as well as Bastion, the Force-alignment is reversed if heroes and villains are Force-users. But she also realized that things may not be what they seem to be like. If those holos were anything to go by, it was entirely possible that she was, well, seduced somehow. Or otherwise having relationships of a different nature than simply teacher-student, so she asked about it.

"After you fell to the dark side, what else did you do with her, other than studying the Force?"

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"I continued to work in this forge, I have learned the ways of forging metallurgy I have learned the ways of metal through my time I have forged a lot of swords as well as spears, axes armor of every sort of everything. That is what I do most times"

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]