Artorias was no stranger to visits to the Armada. The pack had become akin to his second home after the time he spent learning from the Warlord what felt like a lifetime ago. While his visits to the northern pack were usually for personal matters and family visits, this time the Aegis approached his allies as a customer. He was up in Boreas following the pack challenge and had made a pit stop by the Armada’s marketplace with the intention of getting a long-term commissioned with the talented blacksmith of the pack. There was something very particular he wanted to see if Ruga could manufacture for the castle now that the remodel of his council chambers were coming to fruition.

Approaching the Armada borders, Artorias gave a short call to announce his arrival. The market was open to the public, but he wasn’t going to stop by his in-laws without letting them know he was here. Stepping into the open cave system of the Col, it wasn’t difficult for the Aegis to find the blacksmith’s stall, following the sound of beating metal until he had located the wolf he sought. He hadn't seen Ruga since he'd commissioned the blacksmith to forge Zephyrus' weapons for him during their last visit up some seasons ago, but now the time had come to recruit the master craftsman for another project—this one far grander than any he'd had before!

Artorias approached Ruga's stall and greeted the red-furred man with a smile and a nod. "Hello, Ruga. It's good to see you again." Artorias' eyes moved briefly over the array of weapons and armor laid out around the blacksmith's shop. Everything looked beautiful in its own right, but what the Aegis was after required a greater amount of finesse, talent he hoped he'd find in Ruga's paws. "I'm in the market for something very special for my home. Something different from weapons and armor. Do you take custom orders for items other than what you've got here?"

"Artorias Carpathius"

As he tended to do during the day when he wasn't tasked with patrols, Ruga was at his stall in Armada's market place and was keeping himself busy with a current project while he waited on visitors or customers. With the colder temperatures of the winter season setting in around the north, the traffic had died down some, but that didn't keep him from manning his booth. The nice thing about working with a forge was that he was always plenty warm. He was in the middle of hammering out a hot piece of metal when a bit of movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention and he paused to look up at the familiar blue and black furred wolf approaching his stall. His ears perked a bit with interest and he tossed Artorias a grin before quickly dropping the metal into a nearby bucket of water, causing it to hiss and spit a bit as he walked away to greet his former client.

Artorias! Good to see you again as well," he said in reply with a friendly grin, sitting down on the opposite side of a short counter from the Hallows alpha so that he could grab a rag and start cleaning a bit of soot off of his paws and forelegs–not that it could really be seen against his dark fur. "What can I help you with?" he questioned and soon got a bit of an answer as Artorias told him he wasn't here for the usual weapons or armor, but instead something special for his home. That made Ruga look at him curiously with a bit of a tilt of his head. While he was a bit disappointed that he wasn't going to get to work on another one of those amazing swords that were hiding in the castle that Artorias and his family called home, he was intrigued to say the least since he had never had a commission for something outside of weapons and armor. "I do indeed take commissions, but I've never had a request for home decor," he replied with an amused chuckle. "What do you have in mind?"

"Ruga Amanto"

Ruga greeted him swiftly, setting aside whatever projects he was working on currently to discuss the matter of business that Artorias had come to conduct. Hearing that the talented craftsman did indeed take non-armament commissions piqued the Aegis' interests, and despite his business acquaintance stating he had never worked on any home decor before, that did nothing to discourage Artorias from wanting to use his talents. "It's good to see you as well, my friend. You've been keeping busy, I see," he replied with a casual chuckle. Artorias rested his blue paws on the makeshift counter, rapping his claws against the countertop idly. "I've begun preparations on a room in the castle to hold private meetings between myself and a small group of advisors. One thing I'm sorely lacking for the room though is a table. But the table I want is something a bit more... special," he began to explain. "I had this idea in my head of combining the table with a map, using the table's surface as a topographical map of Boreas and Auster, along with important landmarks and waterways. That way when my council and I are discussing things, we can reference the world map right at our paws."

Artorias glanced up and around at the dark shale that made up a majority of the mountains the Armada had claimed as their home. "I was hoping this table could be made out of stone for longevity, but the rocks you have around here tend to be a bit dark... I'm afraid that might make the map difficult to read." Art looked back down to Ruga then, gesturing across the stall to him. "But that's why I'm here. I'm open to ideas or suggestions, and I'm deferring all the creative know-how to the master. Do you think something like this would be possible to make?"

"Artorias Carpathius"

Ruga listened with interest as Artorias began to spell out what he had in mind for his unusual commission. His head tipped to the side a bit as Artorias mentioned the need for a table for this room where he would host meetings with his advisors. The first thing that came to his mind at the idea was a wooden table and he was prepared to tell Artorias that he lacked the skill required for a wooden table, but he held off, listening to the idea the Aegis had of making the large table into a topographical map of Boreas and Auster. It was an intriguing idea to be sure and certainly something far different than anything he had ever made. He hummed with thought, glancing back at some of his tools and materials as he wondered whether or not he could figure out a way to make something like that within his current skill set. It would be a much larger piece than anything he had made before, but as long as he thought about it in pieces rather than one large construction it seemed manageable. Four legs, perhaps making the table in pieces that could be reassembled once it was transported...

That only left the big question mark around what would he make it out of. He sorely wanted to take the job just for the chance to work on something other than armor, but he had never been a fan of carving things out of wood. Artorias' mention of hoping that the table could be made of stone to make sure it had longevity solved that problem and Ruga followed his gaze up to the dark stone around them and nodded at the fact that the map might be hard to read on such a dark stone. His brow creased with thought for a moment. While he appreciated Artorias' trust and his willingness to hand over creative freedom to the "master", Ruga also didn't want to disappoint the alpha of an allied pack with a subpar product and this would definitely be a task that he felt like far from a master of. Still, he was excited and intrigued by it and his mind was already turning with ideas.

"You're right about the stone being dark here, but there's always ways to make the texture of something stand out more. Dyes and paints, inlays of metal... Or, of course, we could source stone from another part of Boreas. That would likely be the more costly option though given the extra time and effort to find and mine it. The shale here is fairly easy to work with though and the way that it's layered allows for it to be fairly thin while maintaining a good amount of strength." He looked toward the dark gray stone once more with a hum, considering how he could best make the map of the continents stand out among the dark background. An idea began to form as he noticed the light from the fire in his forge dancing across the rock face, pulling another thoughtful hum from him. He looked back to Artorias with a little grin, telling him, "I have an idea... but I'll need some time to experiment a bit and see if it works. Could you come back in a couple of weeks? I should have a sample done by then to make sure you like it."

"Ruga"