As the group is all on the surface near the ruined tower where they found and imprisoned Zyrithack, during some down time. Alexis talks to the group
“Some of the greatest human knights, scouts, and explorers used to have saddles that would summon steeds which would never tire. The greatest of these were said to summon steeds that could even carry their riders across the water or open air across chasms.”
“For this kind of exploring” Alexis gestures to the ruins “we could really use some of those saddles. Unfortunately I don’t know where the great knights and scouts could have been housed around these human lands. Perhaps the Collegium has one or two in the bowels. Perhaps there are some in Ederos. Perhaps there are a few between here and Ederos.”
“Red, is this the sort of thing you could figure out? Some essence of the Westlands imbued in saddles, that is brought forth. Or perhaps a creature captured in a saddle that is forced to serve in the form of a horse. Perhaps a creature like Yog’s large cat. Or the 3-armed giant. Or Earyka.” Alexis gives Ethelred a large, playful smile and a wink “How would that work without necromancy? Perhaps there’s a better way.” Alexis waits for an answer from his companion.
Ethelred ponders for a moment. Stares at the horses we have for a while. Looks around the horizon, as if shopping for something unseen
“I wish I had studied, and traded more, with Brendik. I miss having more materials….
I would think that Gustav would have more luck in calling a horse to us. But given a horse he would bring here would be wild, probably not much use.
Where do you imagine this ‘horse’ comes from? Necromancy would imply the horse ‘body’ was here and we re-assembled it, by force.
But you seem to want a horse that is trained, saddle broken and ready to ride? So somehow you want to ‘steal’ a horse from a distance?
I could imagine a machine the could be made to ride ‘like a horse’. But the machine would be useless, large when not powered by some spell effect. I guess we could put them into the wagon.”
Red eyes the wagon for a bit.
“Summon…. Summon…….. Summon? Would the horse have to walk to us first?”
Red looks back at the wagon for a while. Then looks back at Alexis waiting for him to clarify what he is asking Red to do.
“That’s good. You’re thinking about it.” Alexis smiles broadly “Come back to me with the 3 ideas you like best. Give me a list of materials you would need and a time estimate.”
“What if the magic saddle constructed a horse-masheen out of nearby sticks and rocks?”
Rask asks, half-joking at the absurdity of it all.
Red ponders for a while the idea of ‘summoning’. There has been talk, by others, about ‘dimensions’ or ‘warrens’. As much as Red can figure they mean other places. Like where Gods live?
Red has gotten a glimpse into these other ‘places’. The Pit. Three other places. A horse from those places he would not want. There was also the creature that came from some other place when they stole the sword from the Copper Hills Fort. So there are ‘other places’. But Red can not think of one that he would want to bring a horse, or really anything from.
Beyond not wanting to, Red sees no path from where is now to accessing these ‘other places’. Ezrin probably mentioned something about this type of magic. But the scrolls have yet to touch on this subject. No, stealing horse from ‘other places’, or summoning, seems not practical.
So that leaves horses here in this world, or making a ‘horse’.
Red approaches Alexis during dinner one night.
“I have given the matter of acquiring horses much thought.
The first option is to ‘summon’ horses from around us. To do this I would nee to work with Gusta and the horses we have. There must be something that all horse desire, some food, some smell, something. Exploiting a horse’s desire and drawing them to us seems possible. This option seems a bit chaotic as we would have no sense of how many, what type or what else this might bring to us. I could image a rider on a horse being drawn into camp. Chaotic, but possible. Working with Gustav finding fresh fruit, perfect hay, horse essence (do not ask too much here), fresh flowers.. items like that. I would say in 2 weeks of steady work it would be possible. Luckily we have some horse we can use as test subjects.
The second option could be to create a ‘phantom’ horse. This builds on the idea I have to use those mini cloaks to shield us against weather. It could be possible to create a miniature horse and for a short time make it ‘real’. For this I would need parts of horses like hair, tooth, bone, hove and such. This does start to touch on areas of magic I know nothing off. This strikes me a ‘soul’ magic. Something a priest would be best to do. I think this effort would probably, for me, fail. But given the materials, and a few months I might be able to at least create a pony that could walk around? This also feels a bit chaotic, to be honest.
The third option is to simply build a horse out of what ever material we have on hand. Wood and leather could work, metal would be better. Stone and twine would not make a good horse. This option seems to most doable and to honest the most natural. But there are downsides of course. I would need to figure out a way to power them, which would probably mean as we used them they would get weaker or brittle. The horse would be bulky to store when not in use. And it would not blend in while traveling around people. But given the material and tools, I could get one made in a week, easy.”
“Red, attractants—that’s good thinking. Strong stuff. Half the Collegium can’t stop talking about them, and with good reason. Imagine if we had ones keyed to the right kinds of beasts—mounts we could actually ride. Bears. Dire wolves. Whatever Gustav or Ca’armine could break to a saddle. Maybe even something stranger… giant boars, griffins. Exotic, sure—but amazing!”
Alexis grins, letting the possibilities hang for a moment before continuing.
“And for your third option—why not build the power-source itself, keep it with us? Pack all that strength into something small, something we can carry. Then we just… nudge it into a horse whenever the need arises.”
He studies Red, eyes expectant, waiting to see the spark catch.
“If only we hadn’t left most of the Raiden wood in Sutheron….
I agree that having something the could power the horse would be ideal. What I would propose, for many reason, is I start small. Build a very small model or a horse, something of a ‘toy’ and get that working. Lighter, smaller, easier. If I can get that working we could talk about scaling it up…
But really until we have some downtime I am really focused on these newest scrolls. Knowledge is a bit addicting. These scrolls are like having a teacher.”
Alexis chuckles, clearly pleased with Red’s answer.
“Truly spoken, my friend and previous pupil. Good to see you with a teacher again—one that plays to your strengths and not talking circles over your head. Those scrolls are giving you something fresh, and I’m happy to see it.
And I’ll tell you—when we next drop in on Mavon, I’m going to enjoy watching his hall overrun with toy horses. He’ll sit there in his silks, wine in hand, laughing like it’s the best circus in Sutheron.”