He'd found a lot of things that were not incense before he finally came across some incense. A thief's hand. An expensive toy. A lump of wax. A wolf's hide. A tent. Some battered armor. Flint stone. Giant serpent's eyes. Moonstone. A wooden statuette. A piece of amber. Four books; two allegedly of Daimon Banishing and two of Monster Hunting. Ten scrolls of Daimon Banishment he had pieced together somehow from some books he'd found. All very interesting stuff, some of it useful - that tent would have been convenient a few months ago. Most of it rather useless. Incense surely just as useless.
Traveling around Sorraine, he heard rumors about a "wizard" and decided to seek the man out. It would be easier than traveling all the way up north again.
Elmoc introduced himself as a 'court wizard,' whatever that meant - he found it difficult to believe any court in the land would have him. He wore a crushed velvet shirt and leather breeches and boots, and a moth-eaten cape, and was selling his wares on the street of a small town in Arempos. He didn't seem as hermit-like as Kelvoriss the Lord of the Evening had been.
"I am Elmoc, the famous Court Wizard, and there are many things in my powers to do!" the man exclaimed.
"I might have use of you," Lokenth began warily.
"Oh, truly, who would not? Do you desire an amulet that will protect you from evil? A potion to make a woman love you forever? Tell me, and I will make one for you."
Lokenth remembered scribbling down words that made no sense into scrolls of banishment in a feverish haze, and had come to appreciate that the world was larger than he had thought and perhaps magical items and their abilities were real. He might once have thought that if this man had any powers he wouldn't be selling goods on the street like a common merchant; but then Lokenth himself had somehow transcribed the scrolls, and here he was, a common adventurer.
Still... "I don't, as it happens, have need for such trinkets. I have in my possession a sword, and perhaps you could repair it."
"A... a sword?" the man's smile was fading.
"Yes. It's name is the Bone Sabre of Blood, and it belongs to His Majesty the King of Arcaea. I found it for him in the vile grip of-"
"What do I look like to you, a blacksmith? Go, go, find someone else to work steel for you."
"No blacksmith will touch it. It's an item of great power and renown, and only a famed and mysterious man such as yourself could-"
"A lump of sharpened metal."
"Not that sharpened, now, actually..."
The man snorted. "I care not. Go, find yourself a brave smith then, I work with magic, not metal. Or I could create for you a ring, whose bearer would wield more power than any sword."
"Couldn't you at least look at it?"
"What's to look at? A sword is a sword, no matter the name. I cannot help you. Truly."
"I have incense," he said.
"...incense?"
Lokenth felt warmth come to his face. "Yes, incense... you know, to use in the repairing..."
Elmoc the Court Wizard looked at him blankly for a brief moment, and then burst out laughing. "You must be mad! Incense for repairing a sword? Ha ha ha!"
Lokenth frowned, and then turned and walked away.
"No wonder you can find no blacksmith to touch it," the man called out to his back between great belly-laughs. "You are asking perfume sellers! Ha ha ha!"
Elmoc's laughter followed him down the road as he contemplated the long walk north, hoping that Kelvoriss could do the job after all this. If it turned out he'd been sent on a wild goose hunt that mad hermit bastard would pay.
