Flamestrike – The Attainment

[Rachael Blackthorne]

After the battle, as if called to her, a magnificent dual-bladed staff crafted of shimmering red metal soon rested in Rachael's right black leather-gloved hand. The flaming staff faded from view with a murmur in Welsh.

Lifting her hand to wave after the dragoon and dragon as they disappeared in the sky, Max nodded in agreement with Maggie as she looked over to Rachael. "Protective PyroMaster!" Cheering for the Keeper. "What will you two select?" Indicating the weapons, armor and such.

Rachael held up the shimmering red metal-crafted dual-bladed staff to show Max. "This... feels... correct."

Those words echoed in the mind of the Fire Keeper once the other participants and spectators dispersed in various directions after the battle with Ashene. They continued to echo once she returned to the Tower of Fire with the sleepy Mayflower and Pepper cradled carefully in the crook of one arm and the dual-bladed staff held in her black leather-gloved hand. Moneypenny trotted off to supervise the preparation of a restorative meal by Cook and Cook.

Rachael handed off the newly gained staff to her husband Ian, who immediately began to analyze the weapon in terms of its craftsmanship. She sank wearily onto the couch and carefully settled the now soundly sleeping little yellow tabby kitten and little black kitten beside her. Then she braced herself for eager pounces by the rest of her grandkittens.

"Gramma was tuff!" Butch piped up before the little white Persian male kitten trotted off to check out the new toy that his Grampa had.

"Yeah!" Wander agreed. The creamsicle female kitten trotted off to first check out her Grampa's toy and second engage in pawboxing with her brother Butch.

With a twitch of Bond's long black tail, he easily whisked the sleeping pair of kittens off to their beds before the tuxedo Cat with a fashionable red bowtie trotted off to supervise the meal preparation.

Cinder, Rachael's third Familiar, kept track of the other eight kittens to ensure that they did not become too rambunctious around the Mistress.

Moneypenny and Bond soon returned with trays bearing a large bowl of venison and root vegetable stew that included generous portions of venison, a loaf of fresh-baked crusty bread, a large pitcher of ice-cold water, and a glass tankard.

"You must eat and hydrate to restore your strength, Mistress," Bond gently chided.

"I will do so," she responded automatically before she prepared to do just that with precision and efficiency.

"Then you need to soak a wee bit in the Tank," Cinder chimed in.

The Fire Keeper swallowed a bite of bread soaked with the stew before she acquiesced, "I plan to do so." Once the little scamps have been settled in for the night, she left unsaid.

Moneypenny shooed the remaining still awake kittens away from the Mistress with gentle firmness. "Off to bed with you. Spit spot!"

[Rachael Blackthorne]

After Rachael Blackthorne consumed the restorative meal, she eased herself into the Tank set up in one of the Tower of Fire's numerous rooms. She slowly released a sigh of contentment and relief while she allowed the blue gel-like fluid to settle in around her. Her now unshielded by dark lenses sapphire hued gaze tracked her husband Ian's progress when he entered the room with the shimmering red metal-crafted dual-bladed staff in one of his large bear-like hands.

"The other kits were nearly frightened out of their wits watching that battle. But I knew that you would win out in the end," Ian commented before he leaned down to kiss her now curved in a warm smile lips gently and warmly. "This is an unusual weapon, Luv. It's similar to both one that I designed in my younger days and the one that you won in a previous competition."

"Similar enough to allow you to synchronise it to Black Cat?"

"Easily," he declared with supreme confidence in his skills.

"Even after it has been infused with certain… mystical elements?"

"I'll need to fine-tune the summoning code afterward, but it won't be a problem for me," he reassured her.

"Bonne. I will attempt to gain as many essences as possible to imbue the weapon…." Flamestrike, the masculine voice that belonged to FireStar insisted in her mind. You will gain parts of ME to restore Flamestrike to HER former glory. "…to imbue Flamestrike with those essences that belong to FireStar," she continued after the brief interruption in her train of speaking.

Concerned, Ian checked the readings on the monitor on the outside of the Tank. "That battle took a lot out of you, Luv. You'll need to sleep in the Tank tonight to get you back to optimum levels."

"I planned to, annywl," she sleepily agreed before her sapphire-hued eyes shuttered closed.

Ian smiled and kissed his now deeply sleeping wife's lips gently and warmly. Then he headed off to his forge-workshop located in the Fire Tower to begin the attunement process for the new weapon to bond seamlessly with Rachael's armor.

[Rachael Blackthorne]

Within the timeframe of the quest, the PyroMaster gained ten motes of FireStar's essence, four by engaging in hand-to-hand combat matches and six by bargained exchanges. You failed to gain more. FireStar's chastisement, dripping with a physically tactile sense of contempt, echoed in her mind with the memory of two other FireStar essences that slipped out of Rachael's grasp, both in a metaphoric and literal sense after a close match in the Boiler. She also gained two motes of IceDancer, four motes of PathFinder, and thirteen motes of what some termed lesser essences in matches during the quest, while a mote of ShadoWeaver was briefly attained and traded in the same evening.

After Rachael ended her last session of matches in the Outback, she moved toward the door which appeared to lead to the office of the currently resident wizards. Her black leather gloved right fist rapped on the door, the cadence clearly Shave and A Haircut.

Once she heard the properly tapped out response, she opened the door and stepped within, closing the door with care behind her.

"I am here to imbue this weapon," Rachael addressed one of the wizards at a desk. "Black Cat, Flamestrike." With the command phrase, the shimmering red metal-crafted dual-bladed staff appeared in her left gloved hand. "With these." She murmured in Welsh. A pile composed of ten FireStar essences seemed to melt from the corresponding Opal that resided in the center of the gold gemstone adorned cuff bracelet that she wore on her right wrist over her glove and appeared on the desktop before the wizard. She carefully offered out the weapon to the wizard to take from her.

Rachael listened intently to the wizard's oddly cadenced words as the youthful-appearing white-haired and crystal blue-eyed elven woman spoke the necessary incantation to imbue the essences of FireStar into Flamestrike seamlessly.

Once the wizard completed the ritual, she offered the now fully imbued weapon back to the PyroMaster.

"Merci." Rachael accepted Flamestrike with reverence. "Ian will have to attune you fully to moi," she murmured. Then she left the office with the weapon in her gloved hand.