[Flashback] The Heat of the Forge and the Din of the Hammer

[Armondir Draseer]

Timestamp - Winter 17th, 489 A.V. It was early, but that was the life of an armorer, and most especially an armorer's apprentice. Armondir sat up and stretched his arms, shaking out the tiredness from the nights sleep. He removed the thick wool blanket that covered his legs and slid them off the bed and onto the floor. He stood up and walked to the window, it was still dark out, much too early for the people of Zeltiva to be up and about. He shivered as a bitter cold wind blew in from the sea and he quickly shuttered the window. "Another day in paradise." He said to himself. He walked across the small room to the water basin and began to wash his face. He noticed the overbearing silence in the room, ever since his mother had passed away the small house seemed empty. He shook away the thoughts of his mother and continued his daily routine. He walked to his chest and pulled out his work pants and a plain white shirt. He quickly dressed and headed outside into the bitter early morning wind. As he entered the street he was hit with a large gust and began to shiver uncontrollably. He wrapped his arms tightly around himself and continued down the road. As he rounded the corner of his street he saw his master's forge, nothing stirred inside, his master would still be asleep at this hour. As he entered he wasted no time getting to work. Working helped keep his mind off the wind. Armondir's job in the morning was to heat the bloomery in preparation for the smelting of Iron. The process was fairly simple, he would start by taking the left over slag from the last bloom and break it with a sledgehammer into small pieces. Next he would put charcoal they had made the day prior into the furnace and start a fire get heat it. It took him close to two hours to break up the slag and start the furnace. By the time he had finished his master showed up. "The fire is heating Sal." Armondir said to his master. "Good job my boy, did you break up the slag from yesterday?" "Yes sir, it's right over there." He indicated to the pile of broken slag in the corner of the room. Sal laughed heartily. "Where would I be without you boy?" "You would have been here two hours ago." Armondir said jokingly. Sal laughed "Ain't that the truth." Sal walked over to the furnace and looked into the flame. "Does it look hot enough to add the iron yet son?" "Not yet sal, I say another five minutes." Sal gave another chuckle. "Someone has taught you well." Armondir laughed. He grabbed a wheelbarrow and shoveled the broken slag and bits of iron ore into it, he wheeled it over to the furnace. "I'd say its ready." Armondir commented "And I would agree with you." Sal replied. Armondir dropped a shovel full of iron into the furnace, Sal put in a shovel full of charcoal and they continued the process until Armondir's wheelbarrow was empty. "You are getting better Armondir." Sal said to him as they waited for the iron to heat. "How many years has it been now? One? Two?" Armondir chuckled "Five Sal." "Ah, yes, that's right, you were 13. You came in here looking like a stray dog asking if I would take you as an apprentice. I can't lie to you Armondir, I had my doubts." "And do you still?" Armondir inquired. "Hah! Hardly, someday you might be as good as me." Armondir laughed. "I will be better than you!" "Is that so boy? Well you see, that is exactly why I didn't say no to you five years ago. It's that determination of yours. That is what drove me to accept you as my apprentice." "I must say Sal, I'm glad you did, I don't know where I would be without you." "Well I can tell you one thing, you would still look like a stray dog!" Sal teased. "You better watch out Sal, I can put up a fight if you aren't careful!" "Haha, I have no doubt about that my boy, I have no doubt about that." Armondir peered into the furnace. "It's ready." "So it is. Shall we begin the real work?" Sal asked. "Why do you think I woke up this morning?" Armondir replied.

[Armondir Draseer]

They pulled the iron out of the bloomery and rolled it into a sheet to let it cool. Taking great care to make sure it would cool uniformly. Sal brought out his custom made iron mold and put the now cooled iron on top. He began to beat out the basic shape of the gorget they were currently making with a basic two pound ball peen hammer. Armondir stood near by with a sledge hammer, when necessary Sal would indicate where Armondir would deliver the strike by tapping the necessary location with his hammer. The work was slow, the precision required to create the necessary fitting was immense. Armondir labored all day, swinging the heavy hammer with the heat of the forge at his back. This is what he loved, there was nothing quite like the sound of a working forge. The roar of the flames, the din of the hammer as it stroke the metal. Once the basic shape of the gorget was finished the moved from the sinking phase to the planishing phase. "Armondir, how about you take over from here. My back is beginning to bug me." Armondir's heart skipped a beat. "Are you sure Sal? This is for an actual custo..." "Of course I'm sure! Where is that confidence you had earlier this morning? I know you can do this, so get to it!." Armondir grabbed the hammer from Sal and began to hit every square inch of the gorget with the flat head. It took Armondir close to four hours to finish the planishing. When he was finished Sal looked over his work. "It looks fantastic Armondir, I knew you had it in you. Now lets make the charcoal for tomorrow and then call it a day." He patted Armondir on the back and Armondir smiled, pleased with himself.

[Armondir Draseer]

The next day went by quickly. Armondir woke up early as he always did, and ventured to the forge to start the furnace, and break the slag. It took Sal longer than usual to arrive so Armondir went right ahead and began to dump the slag and charcoal into the furnace to heat it. By the time the iron was ready Sal had still not arrived, so Armondir took it out and rolled it into two separate sheets for cooling. By the time he was finished Sal finally arrived. "Sorry I'm late my boy." Sal said apologetically. "It's alright Sal, everything okay?" "Oh yes, yes, I just had some things I had to take care of before I came in. I knew you could take care of thing's in my absence, as I see you have." "Well, I decided to roll out some more iron for the next piece of the set and figured if I did it now I could sleep in a little tomorrow." "Fine by me son, you have more than earned it." Armondir smiled, it had been quite a while since he had been able to sleep in till after sunrise. "Shall we get started?" Sal inquired. "Waiting on you." Armondir said with a grin. Armondir grabbed the gorget they had begun working on the day before and handed it to Sal. "I think it is time to match the edges and then roll them." "That is exactly right Armondir." Sal replied. Sal matched the edges to make sure they were the same size then put the mold to the anvil and began to roll them, Armondir stood back and watch Sal work his magic. It took sal the rest of the day to finish rolling the edges of the gorget. "Alright Armondir, we are almost done. What do we need to do next?" "We apply the rivets to hold it together and the leather strap on the left side to make it accessible. Then we apply the finish with a file." "Haha, as always you are correct." Sal began to finish the piece by riveting the right sides together. He then applied a leather strap to the left so that it could open and filed it all down to give it a nice shining finish. Armondir took the finish product and set it on the rack they used for finished pieces. "Great job Armondir, you truly are learning. I'm proud of you." Armondir smiled and they both admired their work.

[Armondir Draseer]

For the first time he could remember, Armondir awoke after the sunrise. He arrived at the forge to see Sal already had already heated the forge and broken the slag from the previous day, the chorse that Armondir normally undertook. "Sal you didn't have to do that!" "Nonsense my boy, you deserve the break!" Smiling, Armondir walked over to Sal and gave him a hug. Sal laughed. "Let's get to work shall we?" They only had two more pieces of the full plate of armor left to make, the breastplate and the greaves. Today they would begin their work on the greaves. Yesterday Armondir had rolled the metal out into two separate sheets, one for each greave. "Armondir, I want you to make one of the greaves today, not only will it help you hone your skills but it will also save time." "Alright." Armondir replied with a smile, accepting the challenge. Armondir started by grabbing one of the custom made molds Sal had built. He rested the metal against the edge and began to form it into the rough shape of a greave. He would frequently hold it up against his own leg for on the spot measurements. He got so involved in the process he slowly began to lose track of time. With every stroke of his hammer a distinct din would sound throughout the forge. Often times Sal's and Armondir's hammers would strike in unison, creating a natural rhythm that floated off with the wind. He didn't even notice Sal approach him and watch over his shoulder as he worked. Sal didn't interrupt him because he didn't see anything he could correct him on. Slowly but surely the greave began to take shape. Finally Armondir believed it was ready for the next step. He took it over to Sal who inspected it and gave Armondir the okay to begin planishing. Armondir got out the planishing stake and hammer and slowly began smoothing the metal of the greave. It took him the rest of the day to finish but when he was done he was proud of the work he had accomplished. "Very well done Armondir, your work is almost as good as mine!" "I learned from the best" He replied. Sal laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow my boy, bright and early!" Armondir smiled. "As always."

[Armondir Draseer]

The morning passed by quickly, Sal had beaten Armondir to the forge again and Armondir hadn't even woken up late. He said good morning to Sal and got right to work finishing the greave he had been working on yesterday. He had finished the planishing so now all that was left for him to do was to roll the edges and then apply the finish. Rolling the edges is an important part of the armor making process. Any edge that touches the person must be rolled, if it isn't you run the risk of the armor cutting them upon contact. He began to work around the outside of the greave, slowly creasing the armor. Once he had creased the entire edge he went back around and began to hit the edge of the crease to apply another crease, making a half box shape. It took him approximately two hours to apply both creases. Once he finished he walked over to Sal and got the okay to finish out the roll. He hit the edge back in toward the inside of the greave and began to create the roll. It took him another hour to finish the roll, when he was done he handed the greave to Sal. "Amazing work my boy, assemble it with rivets and finish it off with the file and we will almost be done!" Armondir got the poleyn began to rivet it to the greave. Once he had done that he grabbed the home made file and slowly began to file down the outside of the armor to give it a nice finish. Filing is an extremely hard part of the armor making process. It is all too easy to file down too much and thin the armor. It is incredibly important that the armor be an even thickness or it won't fit properly. In addition, if you file too low then the armor will not protect the wearer properly. Thus it is extremely important for the person filing to know what they are doing, and how much to file. This was Armondir's first time ever filing, and he was nervous. He knew all too well that one slip up could render the whole greave useless, and he would have wasted two days worth of work. The filing took him almost all of the rest of the day to complete. He took it slow, he was worried he might make a mistake. Sal finished his greave long before Armondir did and he came over to watch. "Your technique is great Armondir, it is alright to take it slow your first time. After all we don't want you messing up." After about another hour Armondir believed he was finished. He handed the piece to Sal who thoroughly inspected it. "The filing is a bit rough, but it is still a fantastic job Armondir, just need to hone those skills a bit more. Do not worry, it will come in time. You should be proud of the work you have accomplished, your first piece you have completed by yourself and it looks fantastic. Great job my boy." "Thanks Sal." Armondir replied. He grabbed the greave from Sal and put it over on the stand with the other finished pieces. Marveling at his work. "Only one piece left to make and then we can get this damned suit out of my forge." Sal said laughing. Armondir chuckled. "I hope the customer will be happy." "I have no doubts he will my boy, no doubts at all."

[Armondir Draseer]

Armondir woke with the sun. He stretched and realized how sore he was from the previous day's work. He slowly began to massage his biceps in hopes of relieving some of the tenderness. He wasn't sure why he was more sore today than most days, but some things are just unexplainable. He forced himself to get out of his warm bed and get dressed. He washed his face and quickly walked outside and headed to the forge. He arrived and didn't bother heating up the forge to heat more iron, they last of it was already made. They had one piece to finish and then the set would be complete. The breast plate is the largest single piece in the set but the upside is that it is a single piece, or rather, two single pieces, so the intricacy involved in putting it all together is minimal. Armondir decided to get all the tools ready for Sal's arrival so that they could get started immediately. By the time he had finished setting up Sal arrived. "Alright my boy let's get to work, you will create the front half, I will create the back and when we are done you will put the pieces together." "Sounds good Sal." Armondir replied. They wasted no time, Armondir grabbed one of the large sheet's of wrought iron and began to make the basic shape of the breastplate using basic sinking techniques. It took him the better half of the day to finish the sinking process. He took the breastplate over to Sal to get it inspected. "Very good Armondir, but try not to hit so hard around the edges, you might thin the metal too much. You did a good job, but just something to be weary of." "I'll be more careful." Armondir replied. He walked back over to his work space and began to planish the plate. Planishing the piece took armondir a good two hours to complete. He was getting noticeably faster at almost all the steps in the armoring process. He took it over to Sal, he didn't say anything, he looked over the piece and patted Armondir on the back. Armondir took that as an okay and went back to his anvil. He just had two steps to finish with his piece. Rolling the edges and finishing the outside with a file. He worked diligently on rolling the edges, he did not want to screw up after all the work he had put in. He finished rolling the edges within the next hour. It was beginning to get dark and Sal walked over. "I'm finished with my piece are you almost done?" "Yes Sal, I just have to apply the finish. Would you mind staying late tonight?" "No, not at all, I want to have this suit finished." Armondir didn't respond, he grabbed the file and began to slowly file down a thin layer of the metal to get a nice shine. It took him another two hours to file the whole thing down but when he was finished he was very proud of the work he had done. Sal had been watching him over his shoulder the entire time. He grabbed Armondir's shoulder. "Good job my boy, that is fine work." Armondir smiled. He had worked hard, and it had paid off. "Now let's finish this thing, attach the leather straps so we can get out of here." Armondir attached the leather straps and put the breastplate on the rack with the rest of the suit. "It's a beauty." Sal remarked. "It is." Armondir agreed. They both locked up the forge and returned home. Hoping the customer would be pleased. -End-

[Paragon]

Armondir : Armondir Skill XP Reward Metalsmithing +4 Armoursmithing +4 Intelligence +1 Lore: Armoursmithing: Filing, Armoursmithing: Keeping the Metal an Even Thickness, Armoursmithing: Greave Production Other: N/A Great solo, I scored high since you described everything in wonderful detail, and you got a notch of intelligence for learning so much. One thing I'd say for future, is utilise paragraphs a bit more. If you break up the speech and writing it will make it all flow a little better, but it was a great thread nevertheless - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, don't hesitate to PM me.