Story - Saidek - Rotten Inside

## Rotten Inside.

Character: Eli

Setting: Saidek, Fellskogar

Premise: Eli lives by selling all kinds of enchanted trinkets. Charms carved from the bones of leviathans, wards packed with the bones of street rats and herbs grown in the cracks of the pavement. His usual customer base includes sailors, struggling merchants, and street urchins. One day a sailor asks Eli for a specific charm, and gives Eli a chunk of solid whale bone to carve it from. The Sailor wishes for this charm to protect him, as he plans to stay in Saidek and work in a local street gang. Eli creates the charm, whittling the bone, binding it with copper, and weaving spells into the very fibre of the materials. Eli watches as The Sailor enters a local street gang, extorting local businesses for protection, getting into bar fights, and getting into turf wars. The charm would protect The Sailor from even the sharpest metal, and each time it did, a tooth turns black and falls out. Now when he smiles, it's all black teeth and bleeding gums. Eli wonders wonders what parts inside him are turning black.

The sea breeze blows its way into my tent, the fabric that covers the entrance waving along it. The salted air greeting me as I wake, sunken in my cot. The light furs keeping me as warm as they can. I hear the gulls, I hear the waves, and I hear the early dock workers shouting to each other as they load and unload cargo from distant lands, shipped in by large ships of wood, and iron. I live amongst the shanty of Saidek, a city well known for profit and trade via its large, coastal docks.

The sun gets high as I lay back on an old chair, I'm outside amongst the rabble of the street. I whittle away at old rat bones in my hands, carving them with runes, and binding them with metal wire, and small copper plate. I sell trinkets here and there, enough to buy some bread. A handsome sailor comes to me. this sailor looks down at me in my seat, watching me whittle and carve at the bone.

"Hey, uh, you'd be someone I'd buy a charm from, aye?" He whispers to me, as would a child scared of getting caught doing something wrong. "Speak up, no one here'll rat you out. Half the people you see on these streets have paid for my work." I reply loudly enough for him, and few others to hear me. Looking slightly embarrassed, he sputtered out the rest of his question, "I- I need a charm made. I have materials, and I can pay for your time, I've just shipped in, so I've got the coin to spare." He presents me with a chunk of whitened whale bone, likely sun-bleached. It's quite big. A spinal segment. A fine piece, it grabs my attention. "Aye, and what would you have me make?" My eyes flick up to his, he tries his best to maintain eye contact as the words tumble from his mouth. "I need- I need a charm for protection. I don't plan to ship out again, but I've no connection in town 'sides a friend in a local gang."

"Ah, I know just what you'll need, Lad. I can make you something. I'll work that whalebone till it hums to you in the dark. No blade will cut you, not even the sharpest metal. I promise." His shaky eyes still holding on mine, he replies "Th-that would be great, thank you." He stands there a moment, not sure what to do. "Fifty INSERTMONEY now, and sixty when I'm done. You're lucky it's that cheap, but you are providing materials, so I'll give you a lighter sum." It takes him a second to connect the dots, but he shoves the whalebone in my hand, grabbing out his coinpurse. " H-how long will it t-take you to make this piece?" I breathe in, it's not always an easy question. "Give me two months. I know it's a while, but the whalebone will demand time. I need to do this carefully or it'll fail you when you need it most." He gives an affirming nod as he hands me the coin, and bids me farewell. I put my rat bones down and begin my work.

The section of whalebone that was provided is quite large, he'll only need a section of it for his charm. I think to myself, I can keep the rest for myself. Whalebone is hard to come by, expensive to buy, and quite strong. Something about those creatures - strongly attuned to magic. I spend mornings and nights first dissecting the parts he'll need from the main chunk, then whittling those into the right shape and size. I begin the process of smoking the bones over burning herbs, and coating them with the ashes. All the while binding them with chants and symbols.