More than one way to skin a calendar

Jensen · February 2015

Teani tells you, "Greetings, Warden."
Teani tells you, "I was wondering if you could perhaps help me with something. I'm in need of some skin."
You tell Teani, "What kind an' color?"
Teani tells you, "Preferably something pale. I need it as a canvas for a portrait painting."
Teani tells you, "Now, I'm not very familiar with skin, but I figured you would know more about it. What would you recommend?"
You tell Teani, "I have somethin' in mind, but how much area does it need ta cover??"
Teani tells you, "Hrm, It's for the calendar, but it would be good with a margin. I was thinking maybe a back piece?"
You tell Teani, "Meet me in tha fields behind tha Ironmaw with yer canvas frame built."
Teani tells you, "Be there in a moment!"

Reinforced, claw-marked prison cell.
Torn up chunks of stone, chips of bone, and other rubbish decorates a closed off portion of the Ironmaw prison. Thick, vertical steel bars run along the length of the wide doorway, several bent as if brute force had been used only to be foiled by the abundance of solidly, reinforced cross beams. The walls have been pitted by numerous fits of rage and desperate encounters, the claw marks of beasts and creatures alike slashing deep pits into the stone as well as whatever furnishing was placed in the cell once upon a time.

You pull an grotesquely oversized cleaver from your weaponbelt fluidly.
You start to wield an grotesquely oversized cleaver in your right hand.

With a sardonic grin, Jensen walks up to a shackled farmer.

The man lays in the cell, broken and cowering. With a quivering lip and uncontrollable whimper the man pleads, "P-p-p-please W-warden, l-l-let me go I have a Fam-" Jensen's cleaver cuts the begging short. The soft sounds of the thud of the farmer's head hitting the floor and rolling across the room fill the chamber.

Jensen unfurls a leather knife roll, and carefully selects a sharp skinning knife. Humming happily as he works, the vampire deftly cuts the farmer from groin to throat, and begins peeling back the skin from muscle and bone. When complete he has rough shaped man-vest of skin.

"Ah, this should make a nice canvas." Jensen remarks to himself.

LEAVES

Barren fields

Acres of dead-grey, tasseled wheat sprawl out to the distant city wall, only broken up by small mounds of bare earth - with close inspection, it becomes clear that these mounds are, in fact, shallow graves. The further the distance from the Ironmaw Complex, the rougher the road becomes, until its nothing more than a downtrodden wheat path. The path eventually opens to a trampled clearing, where numerous, well-fed ravens circle overhead. The path continues off to the distant east, winding towards the farmlands hugging the edges of the Outer Ward.

You drop a wood commodity.
You have posed a wood commodity #39914 as:
Wood boards have been arranged into a makeshift sawhorse.

Teani arrives from the west.

Jensen tosses the rough man-vest shaped skin onto the sawhorse where it lands with a squishy "plop".

Teani tucks a folder underneath her arm and approaches you with a curious look on her face. "Still working on it?" she asks.

Kneeling on the ground, Jensen unfurls a bound leather roll, revealing many different shaped knives, scalpels, saws, and chisels. "Almost there, but we'll use yer frame as a dryin' rack." the vampire comments.

Jensen selects a two handled draw knife and returns to the skin covered sawhorse. He carefully pulls the blade towards himself, removing stuck on fat, tissue, and membrane from the skin. Though faint, you can hear the Yeleni softly hum to himself as he carries out the task.

Teani nods her head and pulls out a wooden frame from her satchel, carefully removing the canvas previously prepared on it. While she's working, she glances over at the kneeling man, studying you as you work with skilled hands.

Jensen runs his finger down the freshly cleaned portion of "leather".

"Yeah, I'm just hoping it will serve well as a canvas." Teani rolls up the other piece and walks over to your side with the frame in hand. "Can I touch it?" she asks, reaching towards the skin.

Teani places a hand on the skin, running her fingers across it. "It's very different from what I expected." she muses.

Teani steps back, placing the frame on the ground. "Don't let me keep you!" she says with a smile, crossing her arms over her chest.

With one side complete, Jensen flips the skin over and begins a similar process on the other side. This time removing hair instead of tissue. Once complete he the rummages through his pack retrieving two tankards containing a clear liquids, and a satchel of whitish powder.

Jensen pours the items into a bucket beside the sawhorse, gives it a stir, and plops in the hide.

You ask, "Sorry I was a bit distracted with my work, where's tha canvas frame?"

Teani paces around the sawhorse and watches the preparations. "You mean the frame?" She points to the ground next to the sawhorse. "Right there."

After several hours pass, Jensen removes the skin from the mixture and loosely drapes it over the canvas frame.

Holding one side, Jensen asks Teani, "Want ta help me stretch 'n tack her down? We'll dry her on tha frame in place."

"Oh, sure! What do you need me to do?" Teani asks, walking up to take hold of the other side of the frame.

Jensen retrieves a small smith's hammer and some rough-forged nails, handing them to Teani. He then takes a maul from his pack to use as an improvised hammer. "We'll work opposite of each other, pullin' it tight 'n tackin it in place." replies the Yeleni.

Teani nods and shifts most of the nails to one hand, holding one in the other as she takes hold of the skin and places it at the frame. "Here?" she asks, fixing a nail against it, then shifts it a little bit for a better position.

Pulling his end taught, Jensen gives Teani a nod before nailing his end in place. The pair of you quickly work down the sides before flipping the frame over to complete the top and bottom. "There," he smiles, "Now ya jus' need ta let it tan in tha sun ta dry."

You say, "I think here is fine, only needs ta sit a week er so."

"Oh, excellent!" Teani says, "I'll leave it a bit away from the sawhorse then, in case you need to do some more work." She sets the frame down carefully, making sure nothing pokes at it from below to harm the smooth surface. "Thank you so much for the help."