Master Of None

"Walker, I found them!" Su yelled for Walker as she came around and in to the forge. She took in the sight of all their materials and eagerly held out another paper with ideas and design to the wandering blacksmith. He grabbed them with excitement plain on his face. He had been waiting to see the finalized ideas so he could make their dreams in to realities. The challenged that were presented to him in  this way were his reason for smithing.

"The two shields I am looking at should be balanced and easy to move. But they need to be strong against magic and physical attacks. I can't have them just blocking though they need to be able to deflect. If I need to hit an opponent then I want the bottom to be pointed, I can also use that to hold myself in the ground to stop some push back. No spikes, what if I hold up my party with them?" Su could no longer contain her excitement and rambled off everything she had bottled up until now.Â

"Walker? Su?" Gil and Remey called for the to of them, while coming in to the forge in a slightly curious and dazed state. " Why is Su so energetic, she told us to get ready and come to the forge as soon as possible." Gil was still half asleep trying to make sense of why he was dragged from bed when he wanted to stay there all day to relax.Â

"Did you two forget that after our trip to the auction we would need to finalize out gear decisions and start to forge them? Our blacksmith friend here needs to hear and see the final details so he can start making the best of the best." The wandering blacksmith had easily absorbed the ideas from Su and was already sitting waiting for the other two.

"Yes, I should have known it was time to get my new gloves and armor!" Remey had nearly forgotten but having the wave of memory come over her she was more energized than anyone else had been, the only person who rivaled her energy was Su who rarely lost her normal cool and collected state. "Alright so my gloves need to be able to cover up to my elbow so when I use my elbow to attack they don't get all cut up. Then the gloves need to be thinner here so my spiked crystal knuckles are comfortable. I really don't care what my armor looks like as long as it is flexible and strong. If I can't stretch out when I land hits then I will be slow and if I am slow I will die. So make sure it is flex-i-ble." Remey enunciated every syllable in the word flexible to make her point.Â

The wandering blacksmith pointed towards the steel worm skin and to one of the bronze dragon scales. Remey understood that he was planning on using both of those in her gloves and new armor so she had no arguments. Out of everyone she was the least specific when it came to design. Gil was going to be the most challenging.

He was still waking himself up but was starting to feed off the energy and momentum of the others. "These spikes are perfect for arrow heads but I can't just attach them as they are. I can put the parts together myself and fill the arrow with what I need but the insides of those spikes aren't right. There are still some pieces of shell that keep me from putting a mana crystal in them and there is nothing to keep the poison I use there. So basically I need you to develop a metal that can coat the back half of each spike and seal them. From there I need a way to fill them easily, basically an opening and shutting method." Gil was not overly detailed but he knew exactly what he wanted. The wandering blacksmith felt that this was one of the most challenging requests he had gotten recently and was ready to jump on it.Â

His eyes turned to Walker who was standing in waiting with his own ideas. "I just want a hammer, well three. One large hammer for smashing, it needs a pointed end too so that I can pierce something too. Also it should have balance. Then I need two smaller hammers that can be used for smithing or battle. I plan on learning some basic repair skills if I can along with a dual wielding skill. I already want to practice with dual wielded swords so I think trying out hammers could be interesting. Other than that I will ask our guild manager to have some steel, iron, and other metals ingots sent here. I need some basic weapons of your choice so I can expand my armory and skills." Walker had a fairly tall order.

The amount of items the wandering blacksmith had free reign over was much more than his normal clientele would give him. This was enough work to keep him busy for weeks, he could jump in to forging with his full being and do what he did best, this was just as good as his training journeys where he would spend weeks just trying out new things.

With his ideas set he grabbed at a pile of paper on the worktable and started to draw out very detailed diagrams. There were lists of materials next to each party that he would be needing and their amounts. This looked to be a list for Walker to use when he would make some more purchases. It was understandable that they would need more since they could not use only the materials they had gathered. The materials were just the catalysts to make the gear stronger and tougher.Â

"Oh and before I forget, I have a bunch of Midnight's baby scales that she shed when her adult scales started to grow in. She still has some to lose but I figure these ones might come in useful here?" Walker pulled out an armful of the baby scales.Â

Dropping his drawn out designs and plans the wandering blacksmith grabbed at the scales turning them over and over in his hands. What the party did not know but the wandering blacksmith did was that these were some of the best things they could have given him just now. These baby scales may not be good for the base of any gear, but they would make a great outer coating to make the durability skyrocket. Dragon scales also make their gear easier to repair in the future since the baby dragon scales lent to the ability for other metals to take on attributes of the materials that were added.Â

Seeing how happy the wandering blacksmith was Walker happily handed him the majority of the shed scales that the party had collected. "Alright, we will leave you to it. Just leave the list on the table and I will take it in the morning when I go to the cathedral." The wandering blacksmith didn't even hear a word of this. He just kept going on with his work completely immersed in it.

"By the way, we are all going to the cathedral to volunteer tomorrow. I think we will have time to eat breakfast and relax in the morning so don't worry." Walker dropped this on Remey and Gil who wanted to argue but were stopped by the look Su was giving them. Gil may technically have been the second in command when it came to the party but since Su had the calm and cool logic approach no one in the party could ever go against her. This was final and the other three would just need to accept it.

The four of them headed inside and found that Midnight and Onyx were occupying their usual spot in front of the fire within the dining hall. The two had been there since last night and showed no sign of moving anytime soon. Walker decided it was fine to leave them be for a while. "So who wants to come bug the old man with me? He spent the entire night bothering your mom Gil. Now he's taken up residence in the alchemist lab preparing for when he can use some of the plants."Â

"I will pass this time. I am not very good with potions and can't help much. I don't want to be a burden." Su knew where her strengths were.Â

"Same, I am better off at gathering herbs than making them in to anything. End of the day I would just be there to be there. I will practice some of my dagger skills instead. Ah! Wait a dagger, I forgot to ask for a dagger." Gil ran off back to the forge to speak to the wandering blacksmith about making a dagger for him. He had completely been caught up in the thoughts of the arrow heads that would be made that he forgot one of his own personal goals for getting stronger.Â

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