Flashback [The Silver Tower] The Hand of Creation Part 2

[Ialari Pythone]

Continued From Here...

Acknowledging the fact she didn't need to, Ialari still put the iron rod into the forge to heat. The added pliability that the heat gave the iron reduced the effort needed to shape the metal and allowed for fewer mistakes. While the iron heated, Ialari turned again to her sketch. Doodling a bit, she imagined a handful of different designs yet each one seemed a little too complicated for her ability. Finally, after a number of unsatisfactory ideas, she came up with a simple yet effective design for the handle that would be easy enough for her to manage while getting the idea across.

Taking the iron from the fire, it was a pleasant orange color. The heat as Ialari gripped the rod in her metallic hand was noticeable yet to her it was pleasingly warm though if contacting flesh it would have charred. Placing the cooler end of the rod into the vise, she positioned it so that the rod would be held secure on the anvil's step. She then balled her metallic hand into a fist and struck the rod over and over again while loosing the vise and turning the rod periodically. The effect was that the edge of the step bit into the iron as she struck it. Turning the rod between strikes allowed for a cleaner cut as a bit of excess length was removed from the raw, heated stock.

Ialari took a moment to heat the iron in the forge a bit more before returning it to the anvil. Securing the iron once more in the vise, Ialari used her hand on the rod at the point where it extended from the vice. She gripped it and twisted slightly, repeating this slowly as she worked her way up the length of the rod. The twisting motion created something of a screw affect on the rod. Ialari then released the rod from the vise and gripped it as if it were a complete hammer in order to get the positioning right. When she found the right spot to hold it, she squeezed ever so slightly so that the indentation of her grip was embedded into the iron.

[Ialari Pythone]

The handle was coming along well with the whole process thus far having taken only a couple of hours.

Having created a twisted form to the handle and shaped her grip, she needed to now make sure the end of the handle would slid into the head. Holding the heated, unfinished handle in her metallic hand she picked up the finished head with her other and brought them together; lightly touching. The hole in the head was a little too narrow to accept the end of the handle so Ialari sat the head back down and returned to work on the handle. She held the handle in the vise while using her metallic thumb and forefinger to pinch and smooth the metal so that it was narrower. Once she was satisfied with the modification, she fitted the head and handle together again. This time, the handle slid, with some effort needed, into the head. It stopped at just the right spot. Happy with the rough fitting, Ialari separated the two pieces again and returned her focus to the handle.

Originally she had planned a simple leather grip yet that planned had already changed. The twisted handle with the embedded grip looked alright but Ialari noted one more alteration that may make it more "hers". With the handle in the vise, she leaned in close for what came next. Using the nail on her metallic thumb, she began to create a roughly etched pattern into the metal just above and right below the embedded grip. She etched fine lines running at an angle down the twisted length of the rod. When she had gone from one end to the other, she changed the angle of the etchings as she went the once more from end to end. The etchings required her to use her fingers to brush away some of the excess metal while smoothing some mistakes and making corrections. The end result was a diamond pattern that bore some resemblance to the scales of a snake. It was not perfect but the pattern, at first glance, looked pretty good, at least to Ialari.

Leaving the handle in the vise, Ialari picked up one of the pieces of scrap left over from her work thus far. So far she had the head and handle but needed a pommel of sorts to complete the look if nothing else. Pinching off a small piece from the scrap, she rolled it around in her hand while kneading and squeezing it like a ball of clay. She pinched lightly at and worked the ball until it was more of a rough egg shape. As the scrap piece was not heated, she used both hands in her manipulations, her flesh hand mainly for support. The egg-shape of the metal eventually became slightly more arrow shaped at her ministering.

When she had reached the desired shape; that of a thick, rounded, roughly arrow-like form, she once more used her thumbnail to etch the diamond pattern into it. Following that, she used the nail of her little finger to cut out two small indentations. After a few minor corrections and fixes, she held the small piece of metal up for examination. For a rather quick piece of work, it looked a lot like the head of a snake albeit a bit rough in its similarity.

[Ialari Pythone]

She now had the three main pieces for her hammer and was ready to begin assembling them. By this time, over three hours had passed since she began. Having lost track of the time, she now realized that the entire chamber was feeling more and more like an oven with each passing moment. Her throat was dry and she was having trouble swallowing. Sweat poured over her body and she was feeling a strong headache beginning to form. As if reading her thoughts, the young boy who had been helping to maintain the forges, approached with a large tankard of water. Ialari accepted the tankard from him with a nod and slight smile of thanks. Lifting it to her lips, she drank heavily. It took a few times swallowing to fully moisten her throat but the cool water was refreshing and helped take her mind off of the growing headache. It was no secret that she was dehydrated and she hoped the water would help battle the symptoms.

Having spent nearly all of her time engrossed in her own work, she now made it a point to look around a bit. As she leaned against her anvil, Ialari glanced over at each of the other apprentices working their own forges. She knew them all by face yet couldn't match names to them. All three were Pitrius, one female and two males. She didn't go so far as to approach any of them and intrude on their work but she did watch them for a bit to see what they were doing. The female, a young girl with short black hair and dressed only in a pair of short, baggy trousers and shoes, was busy hammering away with her fist at a flattened iron bar. One of the males, looking to be a little older than the girl, had very short blond hair and was drawing out a short, thick metal rod into a longer, thinner piece. The other male, around Ialari's age with dark, silvery blue hair, was using his arm to merge two short pieces of bronze scrap together to form a larger one. Master Boldmir was standing next to the young man with the bronze scrap apparently observing his work.

Not really finding anything more of interest, Ialari finished off her tankard of water, sat it down and returned to her work. The handle had cooled down dramatically since the last time she heated it but she dunked it in the water basin anyway to finish cooling it. Then, with the handle in one hand and the snake-head pommel in the other, she set to merging the two.

Holding the handle in her flesh hand, she used the other to place the snake head against the end of the handle to find the right fit. She turned the pieces around in her hands until the fit was acceptable. She then used her thumb to press a small indentation into the end of the handle; the iron parting at her touch. Then, taking the snake head, she fit it into the indentation. Then, using her thumb and forefinger, she pressed the metal of both pieces together; smoothing and blending the iron as if it were wet clay. When she was happy with the results and ceased her manipulation, the iron was iron again, strong and solid; both pieces now looking as one. She used a small file and brush to smooth and polish the spot where she had welded the two pieces together to a finer finish than she could have achieved with her hand alone.

[Ialari Pythone]

With the handle capped with the snake-head pommel, Ialari was ready to fit the head on the handle and complete the project. With the two remaining pieces fully cooled and respectively finished, she slid the end of the handle into the hole she made in the bottom of the head. The fit was still a little tight but with some twisting and pushing, the two pieces came together. Taking another small piece of scrap, Ialari pinched an even smaller piece from it and pushed the piece to the point where the hammer head and the handle joined. She flattened the scrap and wrapped it around the handle at the joint. She pushed and smoothed it with her thumb to fill the seam. At one point she pushed a little too hard and nicked the underside of the hammer with her finger, creating a slight imperfection. Cursing softly to herself, she finished the merging of the scrap to the seam before running her finger over her mistake to smooth it back out.

When she had done all the manipulating she could with her hand and fingers, she used a few different sized files and a couple brushes to clean up the hard to work areas and polish out what remained of the small mistakes and imperfections. When she was satisfied that it was finally complete. She held the hammer up and gave it one last examination before swinging it gently in the air. The handle fit the grip of her hand perfectly and the overall design was somewhat serpentine which brought a smile to her face.

As she congratulated herself on the work, Master Boldmir's presence crept up on her. She spun around to see the blacksmith looking at her with a raised eyebrow. Righting herself before him, she held out the hammer for him to inspect while speaking in a respectful tone, "I think it's finished, Master. I'd be honored to hear your critique of my work." While her tone was mostly genuine, Ialari personally didn't care one way or another if Master Boldmir approved of her work. She valued his suggestions and advice yet in the end, she knew she had done what she set out to do.

Taking the hammer from her, Boldmir tested its weight and swung it a few times. He took a close look at the details and examined the shape of the hammer's head. Finally he handed it back to Ialari and said gruffly, "It's not the best thing I've seen today but it's passable. In the future, you may want to avoid the added flair though. That said, your detailing technique was pretty good." Something caught his attention at that moment and he spun around toward one of the other apprentices. Quickly he walked away from Ialari and engaged the other apprentice in discussion about how they weren't striking the metal at the right angle.

Ialari shrugged off the Master's abrupt departure and began cleaning up her workstation. When she was finished, she picked up her journal and with it and the hammer in hand, she left the forge. Her next destination, her assigned laboratory where she would get to magecraft her first item, the hammer she had just forged.

[Ialari Pythone]

Thread Grade

Blacksmithing: 3
Sculpting: 2
Lore: Making corrections to and adapting works of blacksmithing
Lore: Improvising design techniques in blacksmithing (snake-scale pattern in handle)
Lore: Working in the intense heat of a forge

Item: Finished hammer with snake head pommel; potential magecraft tool