Tricks of the Trade [Training]

[Jack]

Tame the Savage Beast
Rank: "B"
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: The Artisan’s ability to create has reached the point that they can start to create items that give an emotional response to people that see or use them.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: When learning this technique is limited to only calming the audience. Any that perceive the item that has had this ability crafted into it must roll a save as if saving against a Will Save of 10 + 5 per user's Class level or become Calmed as per the Calm Emotions GenJutsu as long as they can perceive the item in question, to a maximum of 5 minutes per Class Level. At this point the target can make another save. Any made save against this effect renders the target immune to this effect from this item ever again. Building an emotional effect into a craftwork has a cost of 1/10 of total cost (Materials are not purchased), and once the extra component and the original item are both complete, the item is then ready for use. With this and other bonus craft abilities, the Artisan can add multiple layers of components to a single item, so it is possible to have an item built to Tame the Savage Breast, Impart a Hidden Meaning, and use the Fool’s Prerogative all at once, providing that the relevant providing the crafting cost is implemented during the course of crafting.
Limit: Must be an Artisan.

0/60

Jack dusted off a book she had purchased some time back, finally getting a chance to read it, so the first thing she did was read the spine. Tricks of the Trade by Mahake Todokawa, a pretty famous blacksmith who died some time ago, which meant that this book was no joke. Opening to the table of contents, she read until she found what she was looking for. The chapter was titled “Taming the Savage Beast, the art of craft enhancement through emotion”. A little long winded, but it was what she was looking for, so she flipped to that chapter. This was going to help her take her craft to the next level.

[Begin Training: Study]

Emotion is not something that is easily placed within the steel of a blade, nor is it something whimsical like magic, but it is the heart and soul of the one who works the forge. He or she that strikes the iron hot, bends the metal to their will, and shapes the destiny of another with an anvil. You must feel this in your bones, your flesh, and your very soul while you pour it raw into your work like molten lead. Jack paused on this bit of writing for the moment, regarding it, studying the words for they were the words that would teach her the ways of the greater blacksmiths. It would be through emotion that she would forge her way into the future, no pun intended, but what were the techniques with which to do this? She would have to study even more. Back to the book it seemed.

There are techniques with which to focus your raw emotions into the blade, to shape them in a way to give the blade sway over you, a crowd, or even beasts. The first of these is known as Tame the Savage Beast, which is rather fitting, truth be told. With this bit of emotional support built into a weapon or armor, even a shirt or pair of shoes, it will hold sway over those that look upon its glory. They will be calmed, soothed, or tamed if you will and will forget their hostile intent for a time. It’s all about the gleam of the blade and how much emotion you focus into your work through hammer technique. Jack tapped her chin as she thought on this, great information to have, but how could she apply it in a practical sense. She noticed that there were techniques to hammer your emotions a bit further down, so she would have to read that as well.

Strike while the core is hot, almost to the point of melting, as you must become one with the iron itself! You must be the steel! Yet, you cannot strike the iron in fury or with speed, but slow and methodical, while keeping your own soul calm as an ocean on a breezeless day. Feel that calm throughout your entire body and will it into the blade, use your instincts and you will know what to do, because your body knows what to do, the heart of a blacksmith knows what to do. This is how you place your emotions! Go out there and try it! Pretty upbeat, but the book was absolutely right, she would need to get out there and try it, or rather, go a few steps over to her new forge and work the steel.

[Jack]

Tame the Savage Beast
Rank: "B"
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: The Artisan’s ability to create has reached the point that they can start to create items that give an emotional response to people that see or use them.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: When learning this technique is limited to only calming the audience. Any that perceive the item that has had this ability crafted into it must roll a save as if saving against a Will Save of 10 + 5 per user's Class level or become Calmed as per the Calm Emotions GenJutsu as long as they can perceive the item in question, to a maximum of 5 minutes per Class Level. At this point the target can make another save. Any made save against this effect renders the target immune to this effect from this item ever again. Building an emotional effect into a craftwork has a cost of 1/10 of total cost (Materials are not purchased), and once the extra component and the original item are both complete, the item is then ready for use. With this and other bonus craft abilities, the Artisan can add multiple layers of components to a single item, so it is possible to have an item built to Tame the Savage Breast, Impart a Hidden Meaning, and use the Fool’s Prerogative all at once, providing that the relevant providing the crafting cost is implemented during the course of crafting.
Limit: Must be an Artisan.

0/60

It was time to get to work. The iron had been in the forge fire, it was smelted, and she poured the molten steel and iron combination into the mold that would make a simple item; a horse shoe. Her target would be the wearer, so that the beast could be calm at all times, even in the thick of battle, and never throw the rider from the saddle. With this she could make so much money!

[Begin Training]

So the long and short of it was that she would have to feel this calm in her very soul and transfer it, through her hammer, into the steel that she was molding. Easier written than applied. Tongs on the cooling steel, hammer in her dominant hand, the left, she began to hammer. Ting! Ting! Ting! The pace was rapid, her normal pace, as she loved to finish quickly to get paid faster, while still producing quality work. However, this was not what the book had covered, she would have to move a lot slower, hammer more methodically, like the waves on a beach perhaps? How would she do that? Or…like a waterfall…? Yes, that was more viable.

Jack could feel her heart was pounding, her own body and spirit were not calm at all, but completely riled up because it was time to work finally. That would never do, as she could never craft with emotion that way, at least not this particular technique. She needed control of her emotional state. Just take deep breaths and calm down. She began to breathe deeply, to try and calm herself, and it was starting to work a little, but it was also having its own side effects. It was a positive one at least, as her hammer blows began to slow down, becoming more methodical, and a rhythm ting akin to Mississipi Queen took over.

Her mind began to wonder while the beat played, she didn’t fear that though, as this was so routine it was mere muscle memory at this point. Instead she left it drift off to a calmer time, as crafting was her high, and it transported her every time she was able to build something with her own hands. It was soothing this time, not turbulent, and she could feel the calm washing over her as her heart rate slowed to perfection. She could feel the calm in her soul, in her bones, and in her blood. Her body would know what to do, at least she hoped, because her mind was not going to be able to help.

[Shallistera]

+20

[Jack]

`

Tame the Savage Beast
Rank: "B"
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: The Artisan’s ability to create has reached the point that they can start to create items that give an emotional response to people that see or use them.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: When learning this technique is limited to only calming the audience. Any that perceive the item that has had this ability crafted into it must roll a save as if saving against a Will Save of 10 + 5 per user's Class level or become Calmed as per the Calm Emotions GenJutsu as long as they can perceive the item in question, to a maximum of 5 minutes per Class Level. At this point the target can make another save. Any made save against this effect renders the target immune to this effect from this item ever again. Building an emotional effect into a craftwork has a cost of 1/10 of total cost (Materials are not purchased), and once the extra component and the original item are both complete, the item is then ready for use. With this and other bonus craft abilities, the Artisan can add multiple layers of components to a single item, so it is possible to have an item built to Tame the Savage Breast, Impart a Hidden Meaning, and use the Fool’s Prerogative all at once, providing that the relevant providing the crafting cost is implemented during the course of crafting.
Limit: Must be an Artisan.

20/60

[Begin Inner Emotional Training]

She was inside her mind, the term tripping would be most effective, or perhaps daydreaming. A forest that was in her head appeared before her, it was chaotic, but in the center was a light, dull and warm. A large figure stood before it, holding it there, making sure that light could not be released. It seemed to be a bear, but it was shaggy haired and golden, along with being much larger than a normal bear and it was so angry. Its roar filled the forest and shook the trees, even shook the light, which began to pulse faster for a moment, then returned to the beat of Mississippi Queen. She could hear the music as well. How odd.

“What do you want?!” The bear yelled at her, roared at her really, and she took an involuntary step back, the pulse of the light growing a little more erratic before slowing again. So that was it, was it? That bear, this was keeping her from releasing her calm, that light, through this forest that was her…body? Then what was the bear? Her mind? Her heart? Well, she was going to have to try and either soothe or subdue the bear in order to free her calm, but honestly, it was pretty terrifying. “Look, I mean you no harm! I just want to release my calm, so that I can become a better blacksmith!” Apparently that was not what the bear wanted, not at all.

It bellowed a rage filled roar and rampaged forward, Jack nearly filling her panties, but she did not run to her surprise and stood her ground. The bear stopped its charge right before her face, roaring again, spittle flying all over and some landing on her chin. Disgusting. Without actually thinking about it, she slapped the bear right in the face, then wiped her chin off, clearing away the spittle from the beast. “Really? No manners at all, huh? Just gonna spit all over me?” Shocked, the bear took a step back, shrinking in size a bit as it did so, and it became a little more docile it seemed. “I’m…sorry,” the bear said, looking abashed. Meanwhile, her body was still creating a perfect horseshoe.

However, her body had begun to warm and a calm was sweeping over it, little by little, inching its way through her flesh and toward her hammer. It seemed that this was actually working, although she was unsure how it was working, who this bear was, and why the beat had to be Mississippi Queen. You know what I mean? The forest seemed to grow a bit more as the bear shrank, so did the light, so that must mean the light is the heart of this forest between soul and body, and the bear is her heart. Well, the book never mentioned any of this at all.

[Skulking Shinzu]

+10

[Jack]

Tame the Savage Beast
Rank: "B"
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: The Artisan’s ability to create has reached the point that they can start to create items that give an emotional response to people that see or use them.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: When learning this technique is limited to only calming the audience. Any that perceive the item that has had this ability crafted into it must roll a save as if saving against a Will Save of 10 + 5 per user's Class level or become Calmed as per the Calm Emotions GenJutsu as long as they can perceive the item in question, to a maximum of 5 minutes per Class Level. At this point the target can make another save. Any made save against this effect renders the target immune to this effect from this item ever again. Building an emotional effect into a craftwork has a cost of 1/10 of total cost (Materials are not purchased), and once the extra component and the original item are both complete, the item is then ready for use. With this and other bonus craft abilities, the Artisan can add multiple layers of components to a single item, so it is possible to have an item built to Tame the Savage Breast, Impart a Hidden Meaning, and use the Fool’s Prerogative all at once, providing that the relevant providing the crafting cost is implemented during the course of crafting.
Limit: Must be an Artisan.

30/60

Mississippi Queen! And you know what I mean! The lady was a dancer… It was stuck in her head now, the rhythm and the words, but it wasn’t as awful as she thought it was going to be. Instead it seemed to be calming her and causing her own heart and soul to pulse with the music that filled her mind, music created by her own rhythmic hammering. She had no idea that she possessed any rhythm at all, to be honest, but this was a very nice change. The world of her mind, the forest, all of it pulsed with each strike of the hammer to the horseshoe. It was really quite amazing and absolutely awe inspiring, not to mention calming. Music tames the savage beast, they say.

However, it looked as if she was in the hot seat, the bear focused on her, sufficiently disciplined, but he/she was starting to recover. She was going to have to pounce on the bear, emotionally at least, because she could not take him down physically. Something was etched into the side of the bear that she could see, like graffiti on its fur and flesh, but it hovered there without necessarily touching. On his face was RAGE in big fur colored letters, one the sides was REASON (right), and LOGIC (left). Is that what is holding her back? The horseshoe that her body was working on was coming along nicely, a perfect shape as she began to make hammer out the ends, but still she had not put any emotion into it yet. She could feel it building, feel it in her flesh, but she could not get it to the hammer. The path for that was through this bear.

Her hand burned though and she looked at it, no longer studying the bear who was beginning to get bigger, and she found that there was a glow. It was warm and golden, it burned like hell, as if it was trying to be free of her and birthed into the world. It pulsed in time with the world and bear looked at it worried, then back at the light. Her Calm. Somehow she knew what it was, holding out her hand, and a hammer came into existence with a flash of warm yellow light, glowing and yet easy to look upon. Hefting it once or twice, checking the weight, she began to move toward the bear feeling the calm wash all over her, become part of her, and her body began to glow as well as its body.

She glowed that warm yellow of the calm, pulsing with the light and the world, the forest growing around her. The bear was glowing red and black, the logic and rage, the responsibility and reason. He was the wall that stopped her, stood in the way of letting her emotions free into the forge, to create more perfect weapons and she could not allow it. Leaping forward, she hefted and struck the bear in the skull with a mighty blow! The sound of fresh struck steel peeled through the air and shook the trees as a wave of shock exploded from the form of the bear. It was not down, no not quite, but it had become smaller yet again, much smaller than before. Was this what it meant? You had to temper your emotions? How fascinating! Also, she would need to step out for fresh air more often, the forge flame and smoke was probably causing this crazy hallucination.

[Shallistera]

+10

[Jack]

Tame the Savage Beast
Rank: "B"
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: The Artisan’s ability to create has reached the point that they can start to create items that give an emotional response to people that see or use them.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: When learning this technique is limited to only calming the audience. Any that perceive the item that has had this ability crafted into it must roll a save as if saving against a Will Save of 10 + 5 per user's Class level or become Calmed as per the Calm Emotions GenJutsu as long as they can perceive the item in question, to a maximum of 5 minutes per Class Level. At this point the target can make another save. Any made save against this effect renders the target immune to this effect from this item ever again. Building an emotional effect into a craftwork has a cost of 1/10 of total cost (Materials are not purchased), and once the extra component and the original item are both complete, the item is then ready for use. With this and other bonus craft abilities, the Artisan can add multiple layers of components to a single item, so it is possible to have an item built to Tame the Savage Breast, Impart a Hidden Meaning, and use the Fool’s Prerogative all at once, providing that the relevant providing the crafting cost is implemented during the course of crafting.
Limit: Must be an Artisan.

40/60

She told me she’s a dancer! She moves better one wine! The sound of steel being tempered and shaped shook the very air of the forest, although there was not a forge to be seen for miles around, but endless trees, a light that glowed brighter and brighter, and a bear that shrank smaller and smaller with each peel. Jack swung the hammer again, but the bear rolled away, the size of a cub now, and its roar was weak and rather cute. Jack advanced, but the bear was quick, darting away from her, and then attacking from her side. A strange thunk sounded, the same as when a mistake is made on the forge and the hammer only strikes anvil. With this the bear grew a bit, while Jack picked herself up off the floor, checking if she was bleeding and finding no true damage.

Dusting herself off a bit, she rolled to the side as the bear lunged, bring the hammer up underneath the beast to strike it in the belly. The world shook once again, the trees rattling with the sound of it, and the beat continued to play on through the very air. MISSISSIPPI QUEEN! AND YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! MISSISSIIIIIIIIPI QUEEN! SHE TAUGHT ME EVERYTHING! She swept her hammer at the recovering bear, but it ducked beneath her, headbutting her with another dull thunk and sending her flying as it gained the size it had lost. Before she could recover, it pounced on her, growing yet again. It began to claw at her, thunk after thunk, growing with each swipe until she was able to swing her hammer and strike it in the face to send it reeling.

Rolling to her feet, she could feel a rage building in her, the power of this creature it seemed, and the world had become a dimmer than before. Much dimmer. As the bear rushed her, she swung the hammer and connected a mighty blow that knocked the bear end over, causing it to land on its back through a half backflip. While down she rushed the bear, striking it on its chest repeatedly to the beat of Mississippi Queen, causing the bear to get smaller and smaller with each blow. Soon it was even smaller than before, much more so, nearly the size of a newborn human baby. The bear itself lay there weak and dazed, a simmering anger that would be more akin to annoyance now than anything, and its roar was merely a squeak. Down Louisiana way! She was a Cajun lady! They called her Mississippi Queen!

Jack raised her hammer high, the light bright around her, the calm striking her body in waves like the waves of an ocean. This was an interesting feeling, this calming, as if all the anger was being cleansed from her very body. Finally she let loose the final blow, the hammer falling with speed and power, striking the bear true. A sonic boom erupted in the grove of trees and the orb exploded to fill the world with light, blinding Jack completely and leaving her dazed. The warmth was everywhere, a constant warmth of calmed chakra that filled her very body, as her hammer struck the horseshoe once again. Soon it would be a finished product, the finishing touches the only thing needed before it was perfect. A minute more was all she would need and she could feel the calm. It was time to use it.

[Shallistera]

+10

[Jack]

Tame the Savage Beast
Rank: "B"
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: The Artisan’s ability to create has reached the point that they can start to create items that give an emotional response to people that see or use them.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: When learning this technique is limited to only calming the audience. Any that perceive the item that has had this ability crafted into it must roll a save as if saving against a Will Save of 10 + 5 per user's Class level or become Calmed as per the Calm Emotions GenJutsu as long as they can perceive the item in question, to a maximum of 5 minutes per Class Level. At this point the target can make another save. Any made save against this effect renders the target immune to this effect from this item ever again. Building an emotional effect into a craftwork has a cost of 1/10 of total cost (Materials are not purchased), and once the extra component and the original item are both complete, the item is then ready for use. With this and other bonus craft abilities, the Artisan can add multiple layers of components to a single item, so it is possible to have an item built to Tame the Savage Breast, Impart a Hidden Meaning, and use the Fool’s Prerogative all at once, providing that the relevant providing the crafting cost is implemented during the course of crafting.
Limit: Must be an Artisan.

50/60

She used her mind to push the calm, gently, toward the hammer in her hand. She feared that too much force in this untrained state might cause it to waiver, maybe even vanish all together, which would make her have to start all over. No chance she was going to allow that. Her hand burned with the power of it, a gentle burn, like a warmth that was gradually growing far too warm for her. Another shove as she struck the shoe with the hammer and nail, making another hole where the shoe could be placed on the hoof of a horse, then nailed in to place to hold. She felt the calm rush through the entire hammer in a flash and enter the horse shoe just a bit, a bright warm light flashing as the hammer struck, then vanishing.

Interesting. Let’s try that again. She raised the hammer again, placing the nail in another location, then feeling the calm swell into her hand. This time she would have to push it all through, or at least half of it, as she only had two more holes to make. The hammer dropped and she shoved at the calm, pushing it through the hammer gently, but firmly to assert her dominance over it.. This time the calm filled the hammer before it struck the nail, thick and rich like a molasses. Luckily it was faster than molasses, flowing into the nail and then the horseshoe on the blow, half of it entering as she had hoped, giving the shoe a power all its own.

One last time then, and then it would be complete. Once again she began to concentrate, to pull the calm to her hammer, then strike it once more into the steel to fill the horseshoe with a calming power. It burned its way through her flesh, or rather it warmed its way, the heat of a good summer day on your face or a fire after coming in from the cold. It was light and warmth and happiness, these were the things she could feel as she brought the hammer down, pushing the rest of the calm into the tool. As it struck the steel, she could feel the rest of that calming power fill the horseshoe, and she could see a faint glow from it for a moment, but only a moment, before it finally faded. However, she could feel the calm wash over her as she looked at her creation, knowing that she had completed it. It was perfect.

[Shallistera]

+10, learned!!!

[Jack]

Evoke Emotional Response
Rank: "C"
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: The Artisan’s ability to create has reached the point that they can start to create items that give and emotional response to people that see or use them.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: This is an enhancement of the Tame the Savage Breast ability. The Artisan can choose a particular emotion to evoke with any of their work; whether it be confidence, fear, horror, love, doubt or any other kind of reaction. The target of the emotional response must also be chosen by the Artisan from the possible options of: “the owner”, “the wearer”, “the reader”, “the user” or “the audience”. Building an emotional effect into a craftwork has a cost of 1/10 of total cost (Materials are not purchased), and once the extra component and the original item are both complete, the item is then ready for use. The Save is the same as Tame the Savage Beast.
Limit: Must be an Artisan. Must know Tame the Savage Beast.

0/10

The horseshoe was amazing, as all her crafting must be, but it was not necessarily enough. Yes, she could calm those around her, but the book had mentioned something more, the ability to put fear into the opponent with a weapon, or inspire confidence with a shield. These things were what she was after and this was but the stepping stone, a blueprint in order to fabricate and even greater power in her crafting, as well as make people pay more for it. Another horseshoe was in order, but this one would give confidence to the wearer.

[Training]

Hefting her hammer, Jack would begin the process once more of placing emotion into her steel, however it would be much easier this time around with her current knowledge of procedure. Returning to the smelter, she pulled more liquid iron from the holder, pouring it into the cast that would shape another horseshoe. As it cooled, she gathered her chakra into her heart, feeling it pulse there chaotic and powerful, then applied the calming measures to it that would make it more docile like a gentle river, rather than a raging current.

From there she would move to the next step, removing the cooled steel with tongs, placing it on the anvil, and hammering the metal into a more defined shape. As she beat, she tapped the steel to the drum beat of Eye of the Tiger, Tink tak-a Tink tak-a Tink tak- as it was the most confidence building music she could recall at the moment. This seemed to be her procedure, as it began to work, the river of her chakra glowing golden in her mind’s eye, surging forward and up her arm, racing toward her hammer so that it could be given life.

However, she would also need to give it direction. Who would benefit most from the confidence that she was going to give? Not the soldier and certainly not the enemy, but the horse…of course. She would focus her mind while she hammered, imprinting on the chakra the need to target the wearer of this shoe, to give the beast confidence in battle. To grant it ‘the Eye of the Tiger’ so to speak. As she struck the steel again, she pushed the power from her body into the hammer, then through the hammer and into the shoe, binding it as completely as a spider binds its prey.

A powerful golden glow would pulse from the shoe and she put the final touches on the steel, adding a bit of design to separate it from the calming shoe to its left, and she marveled at her creation. A few more hits to the shoe made it perfect, ready for purchase at any time, although she did not think people bought horse shoes any longer, so that would probably be of no use at all…unless she wore it. Hmmm…

[End Training.]

[Shallistera]

+10, learned