[The Ironworks]A Lance to Die for [Ball]

by **Ethan Ironhorse** on February 28th, 2014, 2:45 pm

9th bell on 85th of Winter, 513 AV
The Ironworks

If someone had to say what one of Syliras' biggest industries were, armor and metalwork would definitely have to The Ironworks and the sheer amount of metal products produced there. Since Ros Vizerian also owns the The Lykolav Iron Mine, one of the largest in Mizahar, it also seems fitting that it was named for his mother who discovered it ages past. Now, fully supplied by its own prime source of iron, the Ironworks is the single largest forge in the region or even neighboring regions (outside of Kalea). The Ironworks was a normal result of the needs of the Syliran Knights, who demand a huge amount of armor, barding, and weaponry to keep at their task of re-establishing civilization in a world gone mad with disaster.

However, the Ironworks aren't just about weapons and armor. Syliras has a great deal of agriculture and requires farm implements, iron for the outside of wagon wheels, and all sorts of fixtures, fasteners, and things like nails for building - rasps for farriers, horseshoes, and even bits for bridles. The Ironworks makes all of this and more. With the capacity for ten forges going at one, The Ironworks employs over fifty full time workers, most highly skilled.

Ethan was spending the last few remaining bells of his shift opening up the shop for clients. He had spent the last several hours back at the blast furnace with Ros showing him how to make weapon steel. It was a present of sorts for all the hard work that Ethan had given the smith over the years. Ros’ weapon steel was known for its purity and strength, not to mention its price. Sadly Ethan also knew that it would be years before he could reproduce a bar of the stuff. Ros had directed Ethan to bring out several bars of steel for him. To the general public Ros made weapons from regular steel, or iron that had been forged over and over again, but it head impurities that made the blade weak and brittle. Weapon grade steel had several process that were done to it. First, Ethan collected a great deal of thin steel pieces and placed them all in different small pots, once the steel had melted Ros poured them out to create a thin sheet of metal and started with the explanation. “Ethan there are two things that differentiate regular steel from weapons grade steel. One is the flexibility of the steel that comes from the charcoal content that is added to the steel. The second is from the impurities in the metal. So you have helped night shift smelt down Iron Ore, what you are doing is using the coal to give the iron a little more strength, just doing this and gain experience in skimming the ore will allow you to make decent steel, but to make excellent steel you have to refine the process more.”

“Every run of steel the ironworks makes, I have them pour a small coin mold for the steel bar. I take this coins and melt them and make cloth thin sheet with them. The reason why is that I want to see how they break Ethan.” Ros picked up a cooled sheet of metal and tried to bend it with his hands, the sheet bent maybe ten degrees and then broke into two. “Hmmmm, not bad. See Ethan that bend showed the steel content. By seeing how far it bends I can gauge how much charcoal I need to mix with the steel.” Ros handed him the broken piece, “Go ahead and try to bend it.”

Ethan did the same as Ros, using his tough hands to bend the steel. The thin sheet gave way a little sooner than Ros’ half did. Looking at Ros he wondered what had happened. “The smaller the piece you try to break Ethan the less give it will allow. Still you could have gauged bend and came up with the figure after some practice. Now look at the broken edge of the steel.” Ethan did so. “See the little black specks? Those specks are impurities from the ore that didn’t melt or float to the bottom of the pot. The more specks inside the steel the more the steel will crumble or facture along a line. Sometime you wouldn’t be able to see those dark spots, if that is the case look at the broken end anyway, if it all looks like dark greyish circles, then the specks are spread throughout the metal and a smith tried to hide the results from you or your client. If that is true then the weapon or armor they made is likely a little bit better than a stew pot.”

Ros then went over to several other thin layers of steel and repeated the process. A lot of them broke at different angles and finally he got to one that bent in half. “Ah, mild steel, this is great for armor, because through the tempering and setting process it can turn into spring steel. While its in it’s mild from you can easily hammer out the steel into the general shape that you want and then Temper the pieced by cooking it in the forge for a specific blue color.” Ros smiled at Ethan for a moment, “However, I don’t tell a smith that secret till he has master his metalsmithing and worked on a few armor pieces for me. So let’s stick with weapon’s grade steel. Mild steel has way too much carbon in it to become a weapon. The reason why its used in armor is that it will deform slightly absorbing the blow of the weapon, and then spring the energy back to the person. A weapon needs to be flexible so that it doesn’t crack under the stress of combat, but it needs to be hard enough to hold an edge during it. So weapon steel should never go over this much flex.” Ros went over to the last cooled puddle of steel and picked it up. What was different about this was that the steel seemed to bend almost thirty degrees without breaking and then spring back to straight. Whereas the mild steel had just bent and never went back into shape again.

“So now that you roughly know the bending of the steel, you can figure out how much charcoal to put into the mix.” Ros went over to the thin puddle that held about half the strength that the weapon steel had done. Picking up the small bars take came with the sample steel, Ros picked out three or four bars and placed them on a scale. “Now Ethan the golden weight. I know that the charcoal needed to this steel is roughly one hundred of its weight. If the steel had been brittle so that we only had the most minor of defections I would use one fiftieth of its weight. You must be very precise about this Ethan, and that’s why it will take many trials and errors before your own understanding of the metal becomes instinctual. So never try to sale weapon’s grade steel, until testing three samples per pound of metal you make.” Ros undercovered a clay jar with small ground charcoal in it and measure the weight as carefully as he could with a scale. Once done, he loaded the charcoal and steel bars in a crucible. Lastly he took out some sand and a bucket of broken glass.

“The glass will get rid of the slag or specks in the metal, but if you put too much it will interfere with the heat, its important Ethan that you know some steel can never become Weapon’s grade, so never try to sale it as such. So look again at the broken end of the steel, I see about three dark specks in the size of thumb, along with four hair line streaks, that means we need to measure out about one twentieth the weight of the steel in sand and put two thumb size glass piece in the crucible.” Ethan measured out the sand carefully with a scale, balancing the weight till it was near perfection. Pouring the sand into it and wedge two thumb size pieces, Ethan and Ros then placed the lid on it and began to surround the lid with clay.

“The last secret of the weapon’s grade steel is heat. By sealing the vessel the metal is in, it will make sure that no more charcoal or coal can get into it. Additionally, we will have to bury the vessel in a coal fire for twelve hours. If we have a Volcano furnace like Sultros, we probably could do it in less time, but we don’t and until someone finds a pre-valterrian blast furnace, time and heat is the only things we have.” Ros looked away for a moment and then back at Ethan. “Anyway, twelve hours at the very least. It needs to be surround by at least one foot of coal or three feet of wood for that time. That’s why we use the big blast furnace to smelt weapon’s grade steel it’s the only vessel large enough to provide the heat.” Ethan looked at Ros for a moment and realized just how honored he was to have learned the secret of weapons grade steel. Granted he would probably spend seasons on trying to make a few bars here and there, but now that he had the recipe all he needed was practice and experience in gauging the steel stock.

Ros looked at Ethan for a moment and then spoke on last time, “Now that you know, your ready to start your own shop if you like. I know you said you were coming back in a season or two, but sometimes young lads forget their way home. So go over to the counter work it for a few more bells and when you’re done, I will have your Smithing sigil.” To Ethan it was the greatest gift that anyone had ever given him. Ros approved enough of his work that he would get a seal or sigil of his own. It meant that Ethan was allowed to open up a shop if he choose to and make tools or weapons under his own sign. Ros was a master at the art, and though Ethan knew he had years to gain a fraction of the credit and understanding that Ros had of the art, it meant that Ethan was no longer an apprentice, but a smith in his own right, and he was proud.

So Ethan went over to the Ironworks shop’s corner and waited for a customer to come in.

by **Ball** on February 28th, 2014, 2:50 pm

85th of Winter 513AV

Ball finally took the time to go get Thorn repaired. It had been some time since he had bent the tip of it training with it. The poor lance had been sitting in his chest in the dorms since then and the clay squire knew he needed to train in it if he was ever going to get knighted. He was going to go back to Sultros Blades and see the blacksmithing lady about the repairs, but he couldn’t remember where to find it, so instead he went to the Ironworks. It appeared he was in luck too, the place was empty save for the employees. Settling his mount just inside the door Ball grabbed a hold of Thorn and slide off the back of the furry dog.

Carrying his ‘micro’ lance to the counter he looked at the height and frowned, there was no way he was going to be able to drag the weapon up to show it to the employee and get himself up there as well. So instead he kicked at the front panel if counter, trying his hardest to get the attendant’s attention. With each solid contact with the counter came a heavy thud noise as Ball was forced to drop the bent tip of Thorn to the ground to steady himself. The squire did only stand three inches tall after all, so the tip didn’t need to fall very far. Steadying his body was simple as angling Thorn minutely.

Once attention was gotten Ball pointed his Thorn, “Knee.Da.Fuh.Ix.Ing.” [‘Need fixing.’]

Created goes to Euthisa

by **Ethan Ironhorse** on March 8th, 2014, 1:48 pm

Ethan worked the sunflower oil into the wood countertop. It was hard to imagine that he had been doing this job as long as he had and within the next thirty days he would be gone. It was strange the idea of leaving, in a way it excited him and filled him with dread. This shop, the smell of iron, the heat of the forges and furnaces, the coal ash that seemed to accumulate in the corners of the shop had been home to him for so long. Now, since his decision to leave had finally arrived, he couldn’t imagine his life without it all. As the door opened Ethan, didn’t bother to look up from his work at the counter right away and simply half mumbled and half called out morning. When he finally finished working the sunflower oil into the scuffed and aging wood Ethan looked up to see that no one had entered the shop, and it wasn’t till the banging on the counter did Ethan look up again.

As the banging continued Ethan looked over the edge of the counter and didn’t see anything, so thinking something was repetitively hitting the counter, Ethan went around the counter and looked at the floor to see what was making the noise. Never in all his years working the Ironworks had Ethan imagined seeing what he saw then. A small clay man shaped doll banging the counter, for a moment Ethan seemed in shock at what it could be, after all he had heard of the pycon race and wasn’t completely ignorant but such things, it was just that they were so rare it took a moment for Ethan to realize that doll had finally spoke. Ethan bent over allowing one of his knees to touch the floor, his leather apron creating folds about him as he gently reached out for the bent shard of pig iron the pycon held in it’s grasp.

Ethan smiled softly for a moment, prior to trying to touch it. “Well, if it’s alright may I have your sword please? I would like the chance to see what I can do.” To Ethan it was a guess as to what the shard was for. The pig iron looked to be about as tall as the pycon if properly straighten and had been crudely hammered into four sides by a smith. Personally Ethan had done better jobs forging chisels for stone cutting then the iron he saw before him. Pig Iron was unnecessary heavy for a weapon, the smith probably had given the pycon an elongated nail and charged him several mizas for it. Yet the fact that it had bent meant that it wasn’t raw iron, for that the smith had at least tempered the iron enough to give it flex. Ethan could at least admit that it was probably good enough to kill rats with. Ethan left the palm of his hand fully opened for the pycon to decide if he wanted to give up his item or not.

by **Ball** on March 13th, 2014, 6:00 pm

Sword? Ball looked at Thorn and then back at the smith, “No. Suh.wa.Da. Dis. Lah.Ants.” [‘No sword. This lance.’] He held it up though, the small weapon looked even smaller in the human’s hands. It wasn’t meant for a human to wield, that much was certain. Ball stood three inches tall, this weapon of his was barely over an inch it seemed. Ball recalled that Thorn was a gift to him, from a knight, “Dat.Gaw.If.Ta. Fra.Ma.Ny.Uh.Ta.” [‘That gift from a knight.’] Ball nodded once more, he wasn’t sure what more to say.

Is it hot in here? Or just me? Ball started to realize his body was getting a bit drier than normal, several beads of moisture could be seen forming on his small clay head. Ugh I should’ve soaked before coming here, I should’ve remembered forges are hot. His mouth grimaced, showing his discomfort. But Ball refused to ask for water, he could survive. He was a squire, this was something he should get used to, and it was only a part of his life. A part of his city. A part of the world. Heat is not the enemy. I will not fall to it.

Shaking off his discomfort and such he looked at the man, “It. Iz. Nuh.Aim.Da. Tho.Orn.” [‘It is named Thorn.’] Ball said with a smile, once again Ball never named the weapon, his original Patron knight did.

OOCUgh sorry for the failure of a post. >.<
Created goes to Euthisa

by **Ethan Ironhorse** on March 13th, 2014, 8:49 pm

Ethan mouthed the words to try and get them right as he turned the piece of iron in his hand over and over again. Suh-wa-da. Suwada… Sword? Ethan began to realized that he was going to have to string the pycon’s syllables together in his mind and make sense of them. Ethan had to focus a great deal on what the pycon was saying. Ethan just couldn’t put together what Lah-Ants was suppose to be. Ny-Uh-Ta was another word he couldn’t quite make out. Ethan looked at the clay pycon and scratched his head for a moment. This small piece of iron was named Thorn and it seemed it had been given to him by someone special. Ethan stood there with an expression of confusion. What could he say? The small pycon wanted it fixed, and Ethan wasn’t sure how to fix it, if he didn’t know what purpose it was supposed to serve.

“Listen, I can take Thorn in back and spend about three chimes straightening it out. But the next time it hits anything as hard as bone its going to bend again.” Ethan got up placing Thorn on the counter top and took two steps to get a boardsword off the wall, he made sure to turn around and show the ratio of size to the little pycon. “See this is a sword that’s about a third of my size. Like Thorn. If its suppose to be something else like…” Ethan looked around the shop and pointed at a spear. “See that’s a spear and it’s taller then me, is it supposed to be a short spear that you throw?” Ethan said hopefully. “Because if it is I can get you a steel point and fix it to an arrow shaft, trim down the shaft and it will be lighter and more durable then Thorn. Heck if it’s a spear, I can dissemble a dirk real fast and pound down the blade so that its cutting edge is maybe as big as Thorn and then make a steel shaft two inches long.”

Ethan stopped for a moment, thinking he really needed to know what the piece of iron named Thorn was supposed to do. It was more than likely he could fix it, maybe even improve it, but without understanding what the little pycon wanted to do with it. By the gods, Lah-Ants… Lah-ants. What weapon began with the letter l. Longbow, Longsword…. No the pycon said Lah. La… La… Lance? “Wait a chime, is it supposed to be a Lance? If it’s a lance then I really need to measure your mount to figure out how long it’s supposed to be.” Ethan felt like an idiot asking if the little bit of metal was a knight’s lance. Maybe if the pycon rode a mouse, but otherwise if he rode a cat, the cat front claws would out reach the lance, effectively making the pycon weapon useless. Additionally, warhorses were taught to hit something with their horseshoes if it got to close, a more agile mount like a cat would jump or pounce on its prey instead of charging, which means the weapon would have to be longer than the cat’s limbs. Of course, this all could be some kind of joke and Ethan was dealing with an insane pycon.

by **Ball** on March 19th, 2014, 3:31 pm

OOCSorry for such a short reply. >.<

He had to measure his mount? Well if that was the case Ball already knew Thorn was far too small to be used as a lance. Imass wasn’t a large dog by any standards, but he wasn’t necessarily a small dog either. He whistled loudly and ushered his dog into the room. The poor dog was already sweating just by walking into the forge shop. Poor Imass. Fortunately enough for Ethan, this was no joke. Ball was indeed a squire, in need of some repair.

That explains why my one blow knocked me from his back and the weapon got ruined. Thorn wasn’t long enough to take on the task at hand. Maybe this man could handle Thorn and improve him? I hope so. Ball had no control of the price, this he knew, but he would take anything this man offered him, after all… Ball was a paying customer and this man had services he would pay handsomely for.

Holding up a hand to his mount Ball had the dog stand still long enough for the smith to take the required measurements before he sent the dog back outside into the cool air outside the shop. It was clearly noticeable that Ball sat usually at the place where his mount’s neck met his body, right between the dog’s shoulders. The fur was matted there, compressed down into a clearly pycon shaped mess of mats.

When Imass did leave the shop Ball watched him go and sit beside the door, panting heavily. Wish I could join you. The pycon could feel more of his moisture leaving his body, but ignored it as best as possible. It was a hot room, even if it was removed from the forges themselves. Turning his attention back to Ethan Ball finally did speak up, “Ho.Wa.Mah.Uh.Cha. Tu.Fee.Ix.Ah?” [‘How much to fix?’]

Created goes to Euthisa

by **Ethan Ironhorse** on March 20th, 2014, 5:13 pm

Ethan watched at the Pycon whistled, slightly surprised that a lump of clay could accomplish such a feat. Then and even odder sight greeted his eyes as the long haired dog came in with a small saddle on its back. Ethan could only imagine what the pycon fought. For the long hair of the animal had to almost blind the pycon while he was riding. Still the pycon wanted a lance, so Ethan first considered the dog.

Normally, Ros had told his blacksmith’s, as well as, his weaponsmiths that fitting a weapon to a person was almost as hard as knowing how to craft the weapon in the first part. So Ethan went through the check list. The first item was to understand what the weapon was to be used for. Since the pycon wanted a lance that meant he wanted something that had piercing ability. Normally, a horse with its speed and mass would help move the point of the lance with such force that it could pierce armor and flesh like it was nothing. The problem was that the dog’s mass wouldn’t be overly powerful, and in addition a dog usually struck out with its mouth, catching or tearing at the animal instead of a horse rushing forward trying to trample the animal with its hooves.

Ethan took a piece of string and measured roughly where the pycon would sit on the back of the mount as his starting point then he began to stretch out the string past the dog’s head taking the dogs reach with its mouth. Ethan needed to make sure that the weapon was close to a foot long from the saddle and that it had enough of a counter weight on the back of it to so that it wasn’t front heavy. As Ethan looked at the measurements and thought about the use of the weapon he realized that his initial thought of an arrowhead on a shaft cut down wouldn’t be much use as it would break when the pycon tried to use it. So Ethan was going to have to make an extreminely long steel shaft with a sharp pointed end for a lance that would stretch two inches beyond the dog’s mouth.

Ethan began to stand up thinking over the weight of the weapon, the use, the mount, hand grip size when the pycon spoke up. Breaking his concentration Ethan focused on the words and thought about it. “Because the weapon will need to be modify and reworked… two gold mizas will be needed for payment. Come back tomorrow morning and the weapon should be ready, but I will need a name to put on the order?” Ethan said.

********

Ethan came in that night thinking about the pycon’s weapon, the sort iron filing that had originally been given to him was on the forge bench waiting for him as a joke by the other smiths. They had heard of the order that he had taken and laughed at the thought of a pycon with a lance. Still it was a customer order and Ethan wasn’t going to tell Ros that he didn’t take the pycon seriously. Ethan went over to the finished weapon stock and picked out a nice stiletto blade. Forged by a much better weaponsmith then Ethan ever would become, Ethan began to disassemble the blade. First the cap and counter weight for the handle came off by knocking the pin out. He slid the cap, handle, and hilt off of the dagger placing them in the weaponsmith stock barrels. Looking at the long six inch blade with three inch tongue for the handle Ethan smiled.

Ethan began to fire up the forge and placed the small bit of metal in the fire. For a while the forge heated up the metal as Ethan worked the bellows and coals. The weapon began to glow and Ethan picked up the blade with a pair of tongs. For the work ahead of him, Ethan had choose a medium to small hammer head to better shape the metal, even though the hammer would slow down his ability to finish the task quickly. Picking up the hammer for the first blow, Ethan position the blade against the horn of the anvil three inches below the point. Allowing the hammer to come down and strike the weapon, the bladed edge of the stiletto immediately dented and Ethan began to turn it around trying to craft a shaft of metal no thicker than a quarter of an inch.

It took him three bells to elongate the blade into a long shaft almost a foot and three inches long. For the most part his skill as a blacksmith had been able to give him a hard shaft of uniform size for the weapon. The problem was that his lack of skill as a weapon smith that dented the blade around the shaft when he first started. Sighing, it couldn’t be helped, and hopefully the majority of the damage would be buffed out by the whetstone. For the counter weight Ethan had folded the excess metal into a reverse point behind the grip. It had taken him and entire bell of balancing the long shaft on the horn of the anvil to make sure that the balance was right. The counter weight of the lance was important, so that the tip wasn’t constantly dragging down into the dirt as the knight rode, for Ethan it thought the principle applied to pycon’s riding dogs, just as much as knights riding horses.

Ethan spent another bell, weighing the weapon doing his best to grind down or reshape a part of the lance to finally get the eight to half a pound. Originally, Ethan had been able to grind a great deal of metal from blade to shaft interface which he had original messed up. Later he had been able to reshape and grind the shaft to help with the weight. Checking the balance Ethan went ahead and ground down the counter weight to make sure the weapon was even at the holding point. Finally, Ethan went over to the weaponsmith’s area and picked up some water soaked leather to create a small grip for the new lance.

Tired from the small detail work he had needed to do, Ethan went back to the forge and took out the black iron bent lance that the Pycon had original given him. Tired Ethan went ahead heated up the iron and took about fifteen chimes to fold the metal again and again, then reshaping it to what it was before. Yawning, Ethan finished the two small weapons by cleaning them off and setting the aside in the order box. The rest of the night Ethan helped with a shipment of gold ore and melting it down to create bars.

In the morning the next day, Ethan waited for the Pycon to return and retrieve his weapons.

by **Ball** on April 1st, 2014, 4:42 pm

Ball returned to the forge the next morning as asked, bringing with him triple the amount asked for the weapon repair. Ball was a firm believer that a member of society could better themselves and their trade if they were better compensated for it. Ball had the money to spare, and therefore felt it best to provide for his people… As a squire of the knightly order should. These people were the backbone and foundation of the city he sworn to protect, several times to the gods and at least two times to patrons before him.

Unfortunately for Ethan though, the pycon gave him this name the previous night, but he failed to mention how he was going to deliver the coin asked for the product in question. Luckily it was easy for Ball, a bit gruesome surely for others, but this was the way Ball did business. If they didn’t like it, well, tough. He stopped at the door of the Ironworks and dropped from Imass’s back to the ground, the small squire was use to the self-imposed drop. Stepping through the threshold Ball made himself known by calling out for someone, anyone.

When the clerk came out and Ball made mention of an order under his name, in his version of fluent Common, the squire waited for the required works to be furnished. Ball took the time to handle the weapons when given them and nodded in satisfaction, Thorn was much longer than it originally was but it weighed in about the same. The leather gripping was amazingly easier to hold onto with his hand able to conform to the ridges formed in the wrapped leather.

Holding up the products he paused with hand held as Ball prepped his body to regurgitate the mizas he had brought with him.

Plink…

Plink…

Plink…

Plink…

Plink…

Six Gold mizas in total, surely one could imagine the feeling Ball would’ve felt bringing them back up, but at least they weren’t coated in a vile goo like most races would have. In fact, they were pretty clean, a bit of clay dust and the faint smell of earth floated about them, but that was it.

Taking back the weaponry Ball nodded as a smile graced his face, “Tuh.An.Yu.” [‘Thank you.’] He had very little to comment afterwards and with that Ball stepped out of the forge, weaponry in hand, and six mizas poorer, but it was well worth it.

oocEthan, I am going to wrap this up here, -6 GM from Ball for the weapons, 2 for the actual job, 4 to Ethan for a tip. Submitted for grading as well.

Created goes to Euthisa

by **Caesarion** on April 13th, 2014, 4:55 pm

GRADES!

Ball :

Ethan :

Notes :

Alea iacta est!

If you have concerns, questions or praise (inmydreams;_;) for your grade, drop me a PM and we'll do a number!

Skill	XP Earned
Weaponsmithing	+1 XP
Observation	+ 3 XP

Skill	XP Earned
Blacksmithing	+ 3 XP
Weaponsmithing	+4 XP
Teaching	+1 XP
Observation	+1 XP

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