Surprisingly, Robyn knew what he was talking about, and she nodded. She'd gotten magic burn before, when she was a little less experienced with her magic. She typically got it on her fingertips, since that was where her magic usually manifested, but it was still the same burning, tingling feeling. It didn't occur to her that she should have magic burn right now, from the power she'd been throwing around before.

"That happened to me before a few times," she said. "In my fingers, a lot. I haven't had it lately, but I think there's something around here that will help." Taking one of his wrists gently, she tugged him into the living room proper and made him sit down on the couch. "Stay here, let me go see what I can find." She knew her late master had kept a salve in the house specifically for magic burns. Being a technosage himself, it was something he was never without, and Robyn eventually learned where he kept it. Going upstairs, Robyn rooted through the medicine cabinet for a moment before emerging with a half-full jar of pale green salve. Closing the cabinet again, she took the jar downstairs.

"Here, this should help," she said as she sat down next to him. She opened the jar, and gently took one of his hands to start rubbing the salve in.

Kazan followed her when she prompted him into the living room. He couldn't argue with her if she knew something that would make it better. It wasn't an agony he couldn't withstand, but it wasn't like he could ignore it forever. What if it impeded his abilities further? He had difficult doing something so simple as drawing. He sat, again at Robyn's prompting, he didn't mind doing as he was told, he guessed he was used to it for the most part, mother always told him he should marry a strong woman that would take charge.. He raised a brow to himself at the thought..

Robyn wasn't exactly a strong woman, at least not of the type of personality that took charge. But then he backtracked. Why was he thinking of marriage in the first place?! Admittedly Robyn was the kind of girl that would be marriageable, yes she was pretty and certainly intelligent, but-Wait, why was he thinking marriage again?! She'd probably laugh or even think he strange for even being on that track of thought. He was so lost in his mixed thoughts that he didn't even notice Robyn sit next to him or take his hand.

Well actually, he noticed his hand being grabbed, kinda hard to ignore a sharp pain bringing you back to reality, as well as the slap of a cold salve on his palm,
"I wasn't thinking of anything!" He announced in a manner that was so poorly deniable he may as well have announced he was having strange thoughts. He stared at her blankly then cleared his throat and looked away, "Er.. Sorry about that.." He added, "I was just..!" He groaned, placing his face in his other hand, "Lost in thought..."
Good job, Kazan, you really dodged the bullet there.. Not..

((Aww, he's so cute when he's flustered~))

Robyn couldn't help but smile a bit as Kazan stumbled over his words. It had been clear to her that he was thinking very hard indeed, but it wasn't any of her business. He could think whatever he wanted to, she couldn't stop him. She was curious, though... She wanted to know what he had been thinking about so hard, and why it seemed to be so important. He was even turning a bit red, although she doubted that he realized it.

"Well, whether you were thinking or not," she teased a bit, "how do your hands feel now? Is the magic burn fading?" She let go of his hands so that he could test his palms and fingers. She knew that magic burns were stubborn sometimes. It depended on the person and their magic. "If it keeps hurting, we may need to go into the next town and see the healer, if he's still there. Magic burns can persist until they're healed." She parroted at him what she was told the first time she had a magic burn. Hopefully Kazan's burn wasn't too serious, though, and the salve would do what it needed to.

Kazan watched quietly as she worked, yes, his face was turning red, more so as he considered the situation he was in, close to Robyn, with her treating his hands, it wasn't a childlike feeling he observed form it, but rather a kind of likening to it. The more he realized he liked it, the more he didn't mind it and the red on his face finally ebbed away, though try as she may he couldn't feel it leaving entirely, but the salve did work enough that the pain went from boiling hot to something a little was bothersome, warm, the sharp pains now no more than pins and needles.

He flexed his fingers a little, they certainly didn't hurt as back. The shaking was eliminated. Perhaps the rest would ease away with a little time, at least that's what Kazan hoped as he smiled towards Robyn,
"They're better now.. Thank you, Robyn.." He replied, withdrawing his hands and closing them, placing them on his lap, "A magic burn.. I never realized I could do that to myself.. In fact I dont think many people in Varstradt even know, they consider Magic such a mystical power that there probably isn't a downside that they could imagine.." Kazan stared a this own hands for a moment,
"But then some clever scholar comes along to remind us about the dark side of magic, like necromancy, curses, hexes, indoctrination, but that becomes a matter of perspective, the user versus the victim." Kazan leaned back ont he couch, turning to look at Robyn again,
"I guess.. Its a matter of application.. Your Master refused to serve Varstradt, probably because his purpose would have been to make weapons of war. You use your abilities to help others, probably like your Master did." He smiled a little, though looked aside, staring over at the workshop,
"I'm really only good at fighting, killing and thinking of ways to do both better than before.."

"Don't say things like that," Robyn said suddenly as Kazan spoke. She couldn't listen to him put himself down anymore. "Ever since you got here, you've done nothing but help this town. This," she went and got the concept sketches, holding them up, "this isn't killing people. This is helping the town defend itself." Even she knew that the distinction was a fine one, but she would stick by it. "You said yourself that they're going to come back, and the town won't survive a second attack without some way to defend itself. This is that way." She wasn't entirely sure why she was suddenly so adamant about the issue, but she would stand by it. She couldn't listen to him put himself down. Standing up, she tucked the concept sketches into her belt, and then held out her hand to him.

"Come on, you should let Bear know you're alright," she said. "He was worried about you, though I know he was trying not to show it." She grinned. "You've kind of grown on him." She looked around. "Where are my tools? I need to take them with me, I need replacements for some of them, so I need to show Bear which ones I need replaced."

Kazan stared at Robyn for a moment, internally shocked that she had flat-out told him that he was wrong. But then he was also surprised that he may have been wrong about her too, perhaps she wasn't taking charge entirely, but she was definitely a lot more strong-willed than he gave her credit for. He took her hand and smiled, standing up, though a look of confusion came over his face when she asked about her tool, he was blank for a minute then shook his head,
"What gave you the idea I took them? Bear said he was going to hold on to them." Kazan stated, obviously looking a little lost, "He took them into the smithy I'm pretty sure." Kazan frowned a little, though as Robyn had stated, she needed new ones.. It wasn't hard to tell Bear was probably misleading her so he could surprise her with new ones, but using dishonesty was a clever trick on the old mans part.

"Lets go ask him." Kazan added finally, though stopped, his gaze returning to the tags for a moment, particularly where his lay. Maybe Robyn was right.. but then there were many more risks involved with the dishonoring of a family name, especially if anyone found out it was he who was now on the Lastdvellan's side.
It was strange but that eerie feeling he'd had for a while now was completely gone. As though he was being warned this whole time about the pending attack. Even looking at his tag he didn't feel the same concern he did about the town. He would leave it for now.

Kazan strode out looking down the still-demolished street.. It would take time to fix all this mess.. Buildings would need rebuilding, there were bodies still needed moving, several partially stripped corpses of the Varstradt soldiers could be seen, Kazan hadn't taken everything, they deserved dignity after death after all. People were sifting through the rubble and wood for more important things, lost items, some scavengers looking for money, others picking up pieces of some of the remaining weapons. Kazan had been sure to gather as many of the crystals as he could, they were the most dangerous parts.

He turned down the street towards Bears Smithy, but kept a slow pace, waiting for Robyn.

Robyn stopped. She distinctly remembered Bear telling her that Kazan had taken her tools home. Why would he have told her that if he had kept them? It wasn't like he could do anything with them... Not only were they the wrong kind of tools for his profession, but they were much too small for him, anyways.

"That's weird..." she said. "He told me you had them. I didn't have them when I woke up, and I asked where they were, and he told me you had taken them back with you." When Kazan suggested they go ask, she nodded. "Good idea." She followed him out the door. She knew that the town was still torn up. She'd had to walk through it, and it killed her that she couldn't stop and give what help she could to the people she passed, but without her tools and magic, she couldn't do much. She had a little bit of magic, and she could feel it slowly coming back, but it wasn't enough to do much with yet.

She tried not to look around as they walked back to Bear's. She didn't like seeing the town she lived in in such a state when she couldn't do anything to help. She just wanted to get her tools back and start helping whoever she could.

Kazan walked along with Robyn quietly, looking along the street. The further down they got, the less chaotic it looked, though frankly most of the chaos was still far past Robyn's house, the fallen debris, however, had gotten much further down the road.. He stepped over the remains of a wooden beam and looked back up the street one more time before angling towards Bear's shop as he and Robyn got closer. The rain hadn't stopped, but it was lighter than earlier, and the sun was setting in the distance. In spite of all the mess, it glowed on the undersides of the clouds in a pink-orange glow that was quite beautiful, illuminating the rain and the fallen in an ember light.

"Hah-haaa! Lookin' better lad!" Bear's voice came form behind Kazan and he visibly jumped, turning in time to see the large man practically stomping towards him before placing both hands on his shoulders and knocking heads with Kazan. It wasn't a rough hit, but it still hurt, Kazan pulling a sharp face under the friendly blow, his face going more in pain as the smith picked him up in a hug. If bones weren't broken before, they were certainly threatening to snap now.

Bear dropped the dazed and crushed Kazan to his feet and pushed both Robyn and Kazan back into the smith,
"Get outta the rain you two, c'mon now!" He ordered, Kazan didn't really have time ot argue, between nursing sore ribs and what might end up being a lump on his head he was a bit too distracted. How come he never greeted Robyn like that...? But then again maybe it was just a man thing, rough-housing was reserved for just such a greeting.

Bear closed the door behind them and placed his hands on his belt with a chuckle, looking at Robyn,
"Now before ya start askin' yes, I kept yer tools," Bear stated, "An' yer not havin'em back, not if yer thinkin' of usin'em." He stated, a wry smirk on his face as he went over to a bend. There were two large wooden boxes, large enough to hold a kit of tools no problem. He patted one, a slightly lighter colored wood,
"These're yer old ones." He started, before picking up the darker wood toolbox and turning around t hold it open to Robyn,
"An' these, are yer new ones." He stated. Every single piece inside the box gleamed with new life. Steel-alloy tools, probably expensive to make, far harder to wear and break like the older ones she'd been using, the grips and handles were made of smooth, dense mahogany and some intricately surrounded with deep red grip-tape, there was a new tool for every piece she used to have, and then a couple spares laid neatly beside them, packed in with order and absolute precision.
"Been meanin' t'give y'these on yer birthday or somethin' lass.. But eh, I think yeh'll be needin'em."

Robyn wasn't surprised to see how Bear greeted Kazan. She knew that it was how Bear greeted a lot of friends, and she was certain that Kazan was considered a friend by now.

"Go easy on him, Bear, he's still healing," she said when Bear hugged Kazan. She could see the look on Kazan's face, and was trying not to laugh. Bear could be.. enthusiastic sometimes. She let Bear steer her into the house, out of the rain. She didn't like rain much, but such a light rain wasn't all that bad. She opened her mouth to ask about her tools, but Bear ended up cutting her off. She watched as he pulled out the two boxes, and went to grab the one with her old tools, but she stopped when he opened the box of new tools, speechless.

"They're beautiful," she said. She reached into the box and touched the tools gently. The lines were all clean and precise, the metals were all crisp, and the wooden handles were solid. Carefully, she took out a wrench and tested the weight in her hand. The grip fit into her hand perfectly, and the wrench itself was weighted beautifully. "They're perfect!" She looked at Bear. "These must have cost a fortune in materials, though, I couldn't possibly just take them..." She set the wrench back into its spot in the box lovingly. The tools were better than anything she'd ever had, even while she'd been working under O'Brien. Normally, that kind of quality would be something most mechanics dreamed about owning, and Bear was just going to give them to her?

"Well they're not yers to take lass, they're mine to give, worked on'em for a couple o' months now." He chuckled, closing the lid and placing it down next to the older tools, patting it gently, "They're yers, lass," He smiled, looking at Kazan then, the man folding his arms,
"Great, she gets a brand new shiny set of tools, I get my skull cracked open and my ribs near broken," He remarked, though it wasn't hard to tell he was joking, especially as Bear chuckled loudly, patting Kazan on the shoulder,
"Gimme time, lad, still dunno what t'get fer you, eh? Heck I dun even know when yer birthday is."

Kazan thought about it for a moment, he wasn't sure he deserved anything and he would have said it out loud too, but it was difficult to refuse Bear, especially if it meant getting a gift, afterall, it showed a sort of acceptance to give a gift even to Kazan. Though really he didn't know what could be gotten for him, he didn't desire much in the ways of material things..
Kazan's attention returned when he found Bear waving a hand in his face as though he'd dazed off,
"Ah yer still in there laddy?" Bear chuckled, looking to Robyn,
"How d'ya think he does that, eh?" The large man teased and Kazan just folded his arms, tapping his foot a little impatiently, this only made Bear chuckle again. There weren't many things that could intimidate Bear, if anything at all.

Bear motioned for them to get into the main part of the home, easily stacking the two tool boxes on top of each other and carrying them through as though they were little more than paperweights,
"Ridley's still sleepin', whatever you two did on top o' the shock musta really conked that boy out cold. Now I expect yer 'ere fer more than tools, Robyn lass, what be goin' on?" He asked as he set the boxes down on the table, separating them out again, the new tools on the left, the older on the right.

Robyn couldn't help but giggle at the two of them. They were amusing to watch. She let herself be ushered into the house, and got herself up onto one of the chairs that sat around the table. Reaching into a pocket of her tool belt, she pulled out Kazan's concept sketches.

"We wanted your opinion on these," she said, laying the sketches out flat on the table, or as flat as she could get them. "As a way to help defend the town, in case this happens again." Is was clear where Robyn had corrected the sketches, but the original designs were still there. "I really don't think the town could survive another attack like that... It's not like we're a very big town, and we're not bordering any important places..." She pointed to the parts of the turret Kazan had designed. "These parts won't be hard to put together once all the pieces are there, and Kazan already suggested something to use as materials."

After she spoke, she couldn't help but glance towards the stairs. She kind of wanted to check on Ridley to see if he was awake yet. She knew that if he heard voices downstairs, he would hesitate in coming down until he knew who was in the house. She just wanted to make sure he was alright.

Bear sat down in his larger stool, staring at the spread out designs carefully. Having worked with O'Brien int he past, making specific little parts for mechanical purposes, he was relatively familiar with how it would all fit together, or rather how they would be forged before being fit together. Bear picked one or two up to look at a little closer, then placed them down. He would have asked about the materials had Robyn not already intercepted that question with an answer. Bear looked to Kazan for further information,
"Yes.. Like Robyn said, we do have materials we can use. The armor of the Varstradt soldiers. I picked up just about enough, I think, but it cant hurt to have more." Kazan started, sitting down in another chair, arms folded, "The tanks up on the hill. Once the metal cools we could grab some of the armored plates from them."

"An' what's t'stop some lad from that army doin' the same as you did t'the tanks, eh?" Bear asked with a curious look on his face, Kazan, smiling a little,
"Not a lot of people can do what I did, besides I had a few factors to my advantage that they wouldn't be able to replicate here." Bear was still a bit curious, frowning at the response, but he supposed Kazan couldn't be wrong about the matter, he certainly made short work of those tanks with a pair of handguns. He turned his eyes to the turret design, raising a hand to scratch at his chin. If anyone could do what Kazan did while using one of these turrets, then it could easily be the best defense they'd ever had against Varstradt's attacks. A prototype to begin with, but then several more based on the original design,
"Yer sure the thing'll work gainst'em?" He asked, Kazan staring at him dead on,
"If I can find a magic user to train in its use, yes. I wont always be available to activate its full potential so it has to be a magic user at the seat. That's why we're incorporating the black crystals. Otherwise it wont do much more good than mowing down soldiers."

Bear took a deep breath then sighed, placing the concepts down,
"This'll take alotta work. But I think it's doable. I'll recruit some'o the fellas t'go grab the tank plates. Kazan, y'better go too t'make sure they get the right stuff eh?" Kazan nodded in response, Bear then looked to Robyn, "As fer you lass, check, double-check an triple check all o this, we dun wanna screw up the first one.. What'll we call it?"
"I was thinking.. The Rozan Cannon." Kazan replied, looking over at Robyn, "After all, its a joint project.."

Robyn blushed slightly when Kazan proposed the name. She wasn't used to getting such attention like that, she was far more used to being the one working in the background that nobody paid attention to. Oddly, though, she was pleased by it at the same time.

"I'll make sure to go over every detail," she promised. "It'll take me a little while to puzzle everything out, since I need to figure out exactly how it's going to work, but it can be done." She looked down at the concept sketches, studying them. "I doubt I'll be able to use the cannon properly... My kind of magic isn't suited to combat at all, we saw that before." She looked at Kazan. "Why wouldn't you be able to use it, though? If you have enough magic to give yourself burns, then you should be fine as long as you can channel it right." It made sense to her. If he had enough magic to give himself magic burns, then he had enough magic to work the crystals they wanted to put into the cannon.

Leaving the sketches on the table, she got down from the chair.

"I'm going to go check on Ridley," she said. "And I want to see if I can fix the toys I made for him." Turning, she headed up the stairs and quietly opened the door to Ridley's room to peek inside.

Kazan frowned a little, looking over at Robyn,
"It's not that I cant.. Its in case I'm not available, or I screw up and burn myself again. You've already proved that you could potentially do it when you touched machines with your magic at a distance, frankly you could handle it better than most people, even me. But..-"
"What yer sayin is we need reserves, some-one who'll be handy if yer not available, no good havin' a gun that ain't firin' back. Y'should state yer case t'the mage guild on south-side. They been havin' it tough defending the town on'eir own, this might lift'eir spirits up."

Kazan nodded to Bear, it would be good to recruit the mages if they were looking for a bit of hope. The two looked at Robyn as she got up, Bear nodding in response, it would be good if some-one checked on the boy, if he woke up he'd probably be hungry, it was getting late and he hadn't had dinner, in fact none of them had as far a she knew. Kazan got up from the table too, but not to follow Robyn.
There was more needed doing, however he looked to Bear a moment,
"Think you can cook some dinner for Robyn? I dont think she's eaten yet." He asked, Bear nodding with a slight smile,
"Aye, I can do that laddy. Where you goin'?"
"Out.. I don't know yet.. Something's not quite right yet. I just need a little time to think."

Bear watched Kazan leave once more, though he was glad the lad was in a better state than before as he himself stared at the designs for a while. He would have to see the materials for himself before continuing any further but first.. He got up form his seat, making his way up after Robyn.
Ridley lay rather quietly in bed, he had turned over in his sleep, clutching a pillow tightly, face mashed into it, though he would shift occasionally, mumbling something incomprehensible to himself. Bear stepped in as quietly as his big feet allowed before turning his attention to Robyn,
"Got me thinkin' that did.. That lad's pretty much part'o our lil ol' family now." He mentioned softly, planting himself on the floor in Ridley's room, crossing his legs and placing his hands on his knees, "Even fought for us, whether he admits it t'imself or not, eh?" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "I think we should get the lad some new guns, make'em special like, I dun know the half of this stuff, whaddyou think, lass?"

Robyn was working on fixing Ridley's toys when Bear came into the room. She wanted to have them fixed by the time Ridley woke up, as an apology for breaking them in the first place. The work was a little slow, since she was using just her little bit of magic, but she was careful about not using more than she needed. When Bear sat down next to her, she set down the pieces of the bird toy. The mouse toy was sitting beside her, already finished.

"I think I can design something," she said softly, so as not to wake Ridley. "I may need to scavenge some parts, but I think we'll be able to make something Kazan would like." She really liked the idea, and it was a good one. She would need to go out and see if she could find some of the crystals from the handguns she'd torn apart, but she was sure that she could design something for Kazan. "I'll finish these at the table, and then we can start putting together a design, unless Kazan is still downstairs." Gathering up the pieces of Ridley's toys, and the complete mouse toy, she got up. She gestured to the toys. "Once things start to quiet down again, I have to start making more of these... Just before everything happened, I managed to get almost a dozen commissions for clockwork toys. I was going to sketch them out and then see if you had any spare sheet metal for parts."

She looked over at where Ridley was still sleeping. "I think Ridley has taken to him. He was treating Kazan like an older brother. It was kind of sweet."

"The lad went on out again." Bear responded after a little while, adjusting his position slightly as he checked on Ridley too, it didn't take much more than a slight leaning and craning of the head, "Much as'e looks be'er, he's prolly strugglin' with a few personal problems. Not an easy thing t'take arms 'gainst yer own people, aye..?" Bear sighed, leaning back against the wall, "Bu'there looks t'be a lil hope at least, the lad's stayin'is course," Bear smiled a bit,
"An' yeah.. Ridley's taken' a likin' t'the fella, kept bringin'em drinks while we worked. Sure Kazan'd give'm odd looks but guess that's just the way the lad is, aye?"

Bear pushed himself up to his feet, placing a hand over his belt and watched Robyn work, though he smiled,
"He told me y'probably didn' eat yet." The man seemed strangely amused by this as he rubbed his chin with the other hand, "Think th'lad cares 'bout you a bit." He mused, staring over at Ridley again, "An' bout Ridley.. Brave thing'e did, shieldin' the lad.. Coulda done'emself a world o'harm.." Bear stopped on that thought, giving Robyn a curious look, "Ow on earth did the lad survive all that anyway..? S'like he refuses t'die or somethin', got one heckuva guardian angel watchin'over'em thats fer sure.."
Bear chuckled a little at the thought. He believed in those things, guardian angels, superior beings, the possibility, after all there were as many unexplained things as there were things that could be. Magic was a solid thing that people could use, but that didn't explain truly how people could use such a miraculous power. They could burn themselves on the side of magic and be physically unharmed.
"Anyhow lass. While I'm cookin we kin go o'er some designs, eh? I'm not much for the mechanics, I kin understand'em aye but thats yer specialty, I'll be wantin' t'balance it with aesthetics, them Varstradt guns ain' pretty t'look at."

"I don't know how he got out of there with just minor injuries and some magic burn," Robyn admitted. "I didn't see them anywhere, everything was collapsing... I'm grateful that he protected Ridley, but I still don't know how they got out of there in one piece." And she was grateful. Kazan had been able to protect Ridley when she couldn't. The boy had run off to find Kazan before she realized it, and from there it was literally just a game of catch-up. She blushed a little when Bear said that he thought Kazan cared about her. "He's probably just grateful that I'm giving him a place to stay," she protested.

She knew she wasn't marriage material. The day she moved out to start her apprenticeship, her father had pulled her aside. "You still have time to stop this, little bird," he'd said. He had always called her 'little bird.' "You're giving up all of your marriage options if you take up this... mechanic magic." Robyn had just shaken her head and told him that she needed to take the apprenticeship.

She shook her head again. "Really, I think it's just because I'm letting him stay." She tilted her head towards the door a bit. "Come on, let's head downstairs. I'll finish fixing these, and then I can start sketching out some basic designs for those guns you mentioned." Nudging the door open, she headed down the stairs to set herself up at the table. She wasn't worried about getting Bear's table messy. The clockwork toys were small and relatively simple, so there was no grease or anything to get all over the place. She tried not to think about what Bear said about Kazan starting to care for her. She'd done her best to get rid of her romantic notions. Nobody wanted a woman who did a man's job better than most men.

Bear chuckled at the attempts of denial, maybe in the beginning it would have been true, but Kazan didn't seem like the kind of man to say or do something that didn't come from his heart. Devils run when a good man goes to war and Kazan made those Varstradt devils flee for their very lives. Sadly that part of him made him a bit naive, perhaps incredibly stupid at times, loyalty, honor, it made him subject to easy-to-exploit weaknesses. He almost wanted to warn Robyn about the chances of losing Kazan, except would she be able to lose him, or actually have to try pushing him away..?

The large man mused about this as he followed Robyn, that big old smile on his face refusing to abate. Bear carefully piled together the concept sketches for the turret and placed them next to where Robyn was working while he went about preparing dinner. Bear was known for big, meaty feasts, hearty cooking for a hefty guy, although he knew to be careful with portions, especially where Ridley was concerned. The boy was small and couldn't eat even half of what Bear could manage, and then normal people would probably be fit to bursting too. His old mother would say they just need to be more husky and strong like her big boy, but he knew he wasn't normal, gods bless her soul. She probably would have loved to pinch poor Ridley's cheeks.

"Robyn lass." Bear suddenly started up as he was stirring a large pot of stew. the strong smell of it, filled with spices and thick cut meat permeated the house after a while, "I been thinkin' bout them crystals, an I been thinkin' I know why them Varstradt fools're eager fer this town. They're focus crystals, mage crystals, y'know? An th'best place I kin think of t'be gettin'em is the nearby mountains, huge ol' deposits o'them.." He explained, looking back at her, "You know bout'em, though ye've never really needed'em, jus'like old O'Brien." He added, looking back to the pot, "This town'd make a prime location t'send minin' teams from, an usin' it as a central hub they could hit a whole load'o mines at once'en drag'em all home."

Robyn looked up when Bear mentioned the mage crystals. She'd heard about them, of course, and knew that there was a descent source nearby, but she hadn't thought that the mountains would be rich enough in crystals to earn them an invasion.

"Doesn't the mage guild keep an eye on the mountains, though?" she pointed out. "The headquarters is at the foot of the mountain, and it blocks the only safe route. People have to have permission to go looking for crystals." Which she had already planned to do, for the guns they were going to make for Kazan. Scavenged crystals wouldn't be good enough, she wanted fresh ones. She paused. She hadn't seen any mages around after the attack, which was strange. The mage guild had all sorts of mages, and any healers would have been out and about already offering aid. Why hadn't they seen any? "Bear, have you seen any of the healers on this end of town yet? I know we're a bit far from the headquarters, but it's not like them to just ignore part of town after an attack..." She bit her lip. She didn't like where her train of thought was going. Wouldn't it make sense to take out the obstacle in the way of the goal before trying to move in? Setting down her pencil, she put the concept sketches aside for a moment and looked over at Bear. "Do you think something happened over there? I mean, we don't know how extensive the damage is outside the few streets we've seen so far..." She trailed off.

"Th'attack were a surprise on all of us lass, they're probably wanderin' the streets as we speak, eh?" He chuckled, "As fer the crystals, y'think Varstradt'll be askin' fer permission? Not likely, or I be a five-fingered spider-ant." The man stopped stirring a while and used a soup spoon to taste the broth he'd been working on. Seemed about right, perhaps a little longer. He placed the spoon aside and carried on stirring,
"S'been a rough day lass, they'll be as s'prised by the attack as us all, probably jes gatherin' their wits, tryin' t'think how they'll deal with it if another attack gits started.." He explained, going through his cupboards, grabbing two bowls for now. When Ridley woke up he'd be fed too.

And he was right, even as they spoke, the healer sect of the mage's guild were wandering the streets, knocking doors, asking if they knew who required assistance. Others were on the walls, speaking with the remaining guard patrols, and even a couple were investigating strange rumours, checking along the street where they'd heard a single man practically wiped out a squadron on his own and proceeded to destroy four tanks, again on his own. This was a kind of incredible power that they needed, the assistance of such a man could be overwhelmingly good for the hope of the town. Not to mention they had to find out how he managed to do that..
Problem was some of the stories sounded more like a bad nightmare, a monster tale.

Robyn wasn't completely convinced, but she nodded a bit anyways. She would wait and see what happened. It was entirely possible, even probable, that Bear was right.

"I guess I'm still a bit jumpy," she admitted. It was understandable, it was the first real attack she'd ever been through. She was still running a bit tight, and probably would be for a few days. "I'm going to see about fixing up the truck again and taking a ride to the foot of the mountain anyways... I want to get fresh crystals for this project, scavenged ones aren't good enough." She didn't like the idea of scavenging more than spare parts, anyways. She would gather enough for a handgun or two, study them for a bit, and then use them to design the new guns for Kazan. She glanced out the window. It was dark by now, although she could see lights from other buildings through the darkness. The night air was warm and the windows were open, and she could hear sounds and voices from outside. She wondered where Kazan had gone. She almost wanted to go find him, but she had no idea where he would be if he wasn't in the workshop or the forge. She'd never known him to go anywhere else.

"Y'needn' worry.. The mages guild's our real front line 'gainst Varstradt, s'how its been fer a while now. The resistance lads ain' as reliable, they jes do little bits more often, bu'they jes dun understand this ain' some small-time thing, we're lookin' at full-scale war.." Bear sighed, placing Robyn's bowl down by her, along with part of a loaf of bread and a mug of juice.

The smith had taken to a tankard of his personal ale, a special reserve he stored for certain occasions, nothing truly specific, just the days where he figured he needed a stiff drink, and after today he definitely needed one.. He too looked tot he window but then chuckled, looking over to Robyn,
"Now, bout them guns.. I be seein' somethin' white or silver-like, black grips, decorate'em with old Lastdvellan prayers aye? There anythin' special y'could do to'em? Make'em easier fer th'lad to handle?"

Bear had never balanced a gun before, he was used to creating swords, but an amusing thought came to him for a moment, but then it hit him just how impractical it might be, a gun with a blade along the underside of the barrel.. It would make it a nightmare to shoot with though, at least if some-one wanted accuracy..
But perhaps he could do something else, a little more personal.. Kazan had proven himself not only with his guns but with knives.. Perhaps a carefully crafted shortsword, something convenient and light to carry, but still strong and large enough to withstand some usage.

Robyn started on the bowl of soup that Bear set down in front of her. As she ate, she thought about how she would design the guns for Kazan. She would have to study the Varstradt guns a bit more, so she could make the designs similar.

"I like that idea," she said when Bear suggested some aesthetics. "Clean lines, clean colors... Engraving the old prayers on it would be a nice touch." With her free hand, she idly flipped over one of the turret sketches and started puzzling out some of the simpler pieces of the handguns. After a little while of sketching, she set the pencil down and looked at the concept sketch she'd created. Rather than being overly flashy with swirls and such, the way she remembered Kazan's armor being, the handgun had very clean, simple lines. There was nothing sticking out at odd angles, there were no funky oversized screws or bolts. Robyn got the distinct impression that Kazan was very much a straight-forward person, and she tried to keep that in mind as she designed the gun. She slid the sketch over to Bear.

"What do you think?" she asked. "It's not overly-elaborate or complicated, and I'll work on figuring out a way to keep it from jamming and from being torn apart by another technosage." It had been something she'd thought about ever since she'd torn apart the other guns herself. Was there a way to somehow leave a little spell or something in the gun that would prevent it from being torn apart without interfering with the crystal embedded in the gun itself? That was another thing she wanted to ask the master mages at the guild when she went.

"Well y'could always ask a mage t'enchant it," Bear replied, shrugging as he looked at it. She certainly had a knack for designing too, after all she made all those toys for Ridley, she'd fixed Kazan's designs and within minutes she'd designed a simple, but workable handgun design,
"A proper spell could lock th'pieces up, make'em reset, fix itself, aye? Takes serious magic power t'do it too. S'like havin' unbreakable armor, but on a smaller scale like this it'd be a lil easier I s'pose.. S'normally done wit' a crystal in fact, embedded in'th'piece yer enchantin' usin' it as a power source t'keep th'enchantment runnin. Paid the mages once t'make a breastplate fer a nobleman th'same way," He looked over it again,
"As fer jammin'.. Well if ye git the mechanics jus' right there wouldn' be no jammin' issue at all, jus' like clockworks.." He smiled a little, frankly if anyone was going to make a perfect, reliable gun, it would be a clock maker. Precision was absolutely key in making clockworks function properly, using the same principles in the gun would make it, without a doubt, one of the most reliable weapons Kazan had ever handled.

Kazan had stopped under an empty veranda of a house that had been demolished in the attack, no-one was bothering him so he could only assume the family that had owned it had been killed in the attack. Other nearby homes had gas lanterns fired up, and he could hear as the bells of the church started to ring in the distance.. He supposed the announced number of dead were being rung out, a toll for every fallen.. At least it was what he wanted to imagine, he couldn't be sure of their customs..

He adjusted his shirt a little.. It was rubbing against the bandaging over a few of his newest wounds. Bear had done a good job of patching him up, twice now in fact.. But just the fact that he kept ending up like this.. It annoyed him somewhat.. And the more he thought about it, the more he thought about the sudden attack, then Ridley.. Robyn and Bear's faces.
He let out a growl of frustration, slamming a clenched fist down on the wooden railing of the home. Not too hard, but aloud 'thunk' could be heard when he did it, a red spark escaping his hand at the same time.

No..! Breath.. Calm down.. This isn't you, Kazan.. He heard in his head.. He wans't sure it was himself speaking or some-one else entirely.. He knew he didn't have multiple personalities.. So perhaps it was just his way of trying to reason with himself, seperating himself mind and body and arguing until he gained control and harmony again.
The anger was still so fresh, but the misery was just as present..
You need to control that anger before you hurt yourself.. Or some-one else..
Kazan lowered his head taking a deep breath and chuckling almost painfully, trying ot force the anger out, which left misery, and that was just as painful as anger.. He didn't want Robyn seeing him like this.. He needed to figure it out before he lost himself entirely..

"I'll ask when I go to the mage hall," Robyn replied. "I need to check in with the guild, anyways... I may as well let them know that I'm alright after what happened." Even though she wasn't anywhere near being a master mage, she was still registered as a practicing apprentice technosage with the guild. Generally, she was supposed to check in with them once a year, and since she wanted to visit anyways for her project, she would check in at the same time. "Maybe I can convince one of them to teach me how to do it myself." She gave a wry grin. "Maybe one of them will have a little pity on me since I'm still an apprentice."

Grant moved cautiously through the wreckage. It had taken him a while to get all the way out to this end of the town, and it was dark enough to make him a bit nervous. He was better with delicate, finessed magic, rather than brute force. It made him damn good at healing magic, but if there were any soldiers still around, it would take him a moment or two to pull a proper offensive spell together, and those would be moments he might not have.

The church bell tolled, signalling the fact that the church doors were open to any who needed shelter after the attack. He stepped carefully as he walked. He looked around the area, calling a small ball of light into his hand and holding it up so he could see. There didn't seem to be anyone left around the remains of the ruined home... He tried not to jump when he heard a noise off to his left.

"Hello?" he called. "Is there anyone there? I'm Grant, from the mage guild. Is there anyone here who needs help?"