Closed [The Ironworks] For a Price (Aventis)

[Baelin Holt]

1, Winter of 514 AV

The sun was only just starting to brighten the sky in Winthrop Alley as Baelin neared the sturdy doors of the Ironworks. But the source of blessed heat was still hiding, too low for him to see it peaking above the buildings...bit of a disappointment. Baelin had a lot of planishing left to do on the small steel shield he had been working on, and the deadline Fredrick put on him was today. Ideally he should have finished yesterday. But he had quite a bit of difficulty working on it, warranting a late night and very early morning.

Baelin wound his way through the anvils and stakes of the Ironworks, finding his way back to the worktable where he left the shield after he finished raising it yesterday. It had been a long day, the metal threatening to thin on him, and he had stayed far later than usual. The Ironworks had been nearly empty by the time he left, an unusual thing. But the deadline was looming and he couldn’t afford to have left the raising unfinished yesterday. And, today, he was so early that the Ironworks was again nearly empty. A few smiths were scattered about, but the usual riotous din of the Ironworks was reduced to only the sound of a handful of smiths hammering.

The smith fetched a planishing hammer and checked that the head was well polished. A dirty hammer head would only embed dirt into the steel, and he had no desire to go back and fix a silly mistake like that. Baelin went to a suitable mushroom-shaped stake and rested the concave surface of the rough shield on it. Baelin rubbed a well-calloused thumb over the dinged surface of the shield, trying to determine where he should begin. Deciding on a spot near the center of the domed part, Baelin shifted the shield so that the spot was above the contact point on the stake and began to gently tap with the broad, flat head of the planishing hammer.

Planishing was absurdly tedious, but something about the tedium appealed to Baelin. It allowed him to dissociate from his body a bit. All he was doing was getting the dings out from the raising process, it hardly required much concentration. And as he worked his way across the shield, radiating out from his starting point, he could watch the steel take on a smooth and shiny sheen. Despite its banal nature, Baelin found planishing to be one of the most beautiful and fulfilling steps in the process. He was nearly there. To be sure, steel is always mesmerizing fresh out of the forge...when it seemed to glow like a living thing and was willing to mold itself to Baelin’s will. But that was at the start, when mistakes could be made and projects could be left unfinished. There was too much uncertainty, and Baelin was never quite able to enjoy the beauty of the thing. But now the piece was winding towards its final presentation, and so long as Baelin didn’t swing the hammer too hard, it wouldn’t be ruined.

Baelin continued his work, watching as the shine spread across the entirety of the surface. He finished the bulge in the center of the small shield first, where the user’s fist would rest, and then continued onto the more flat region going around the outside of the center, where the shield would likely catch the most force during its use. As he worked, he was aware of the Ironworks slowly filling with more and more smiths. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he caught sight of Fredrick watching him, but he ignored the more experienced armorer’s scrutiny. He always seemed to make more mistakes when he was being observed, it was frustrating.

Getting into the corner where the deeper part of the shield met the more flat outer ring was difficult, but with time slipping by he brought the planishing to a finish. It had taken a few bells, at the least, and his forearm was a little tired from the monotonous work, but the surface of the shield was now smooth and shiny.

He ran his hand across the surface, closing his eyes so that he could focus on the sensation of touch. Overall, he was fairly pleased. It took at least three times as long as what Fredrick could do. Baelin was confident that, had his raising been cleaner, he could have finished this during normal business hours yesterday. But experience would help, he was sure. This wasn’t a bad start. The armorer, recognizing that he was still very much an apprentice, set the planishing hammer down. Gingerly, he picked up the more or less finished shield and nervously ran his thumbs over the smooth surface as he looked around for Fredrick.

The head armorer was at a round stake not too far away, and Baelin suspected that wasn’t by accident. Fredrick always seemed to have an excellent sense of when his apprentices’ projects were coming to a close, and was rarely too far away from the apprentice. Baelin carried his shield over to the head armorer and stood off to the side while Fredrick worked on a sheet of metal fresh from the forge.

Only a fool bothered Fredrick while the smith was in a middle of something, and Baelin had no intention of souring his superior’s mood before reviewing his work. So he waited for Fredrick to wrap up what he was working on, awkwardly fidgeting with the shield all the while.

Fredrick looked up after a time and set his piece down. Face stoic, he gestured for the shield. Baelin handed it over, defaulting to rubbing his hands nervously together in its absence. Fredrick took a planishing hammer out of his belt, apparently having already prepared it, and ran a hand over the surface of the shield to find any areas Baelin may have missed. To Baelin’s delight, Fredrick didn’t spend too long going over a few spots with his own hammer.

The head armorer looked up from his work and cracked a grin, “Not so shabby, Baelin. Go ahead and attach the handle, it’s ready to sell. I want you handling the sale on this one yourself, it’s past time. We look for 9GM on these small, steel shields. Don’t get out-haggled.” Fredrick handed the shield back to Baelin, and the apprentice smith nodded his thanks and understanding. With a small smile he headed over to a workbench not too far from the entrance, where some apprentice newer than him had dropped off handles they had worked on.

Shield Reference :

[Aventis]

[b]/b]

OOCI… Jeez, dude. I can’t follow that up given the subject base. I mean… Jeez! Wow! That was a really good post. I… I cannot. I can’t. I just cannot compete with that. Sorry

Aventis had put this off for far too long a time. For days upon days, he had preoccupied himself with spars, patrols, learning to ride, simply because he was hesitant to return. Not because he hadn’t enjoyed his last barter at the ironworks. Although not exactly as planned, he had no issue with it, what he did have an issue with is acquiring one of the two requirements needed for another lesson from Ser Utis.

Utis… Aventis thought to himself, a scowl spreading across his thin lips. WIth his hidden pair of arms, he wrapped his heavy cloak taut around his thin torso. The crisp air still hinted at the Autumn weather, yet it nipped at the squire’s nose and jaw bitterly, furthering his already vacillating determination. But it had to be done nevertheless, for combat reasons. He very much needed it. Too many times had he gotten the wind knocked out of him in a fight.

Aventis was close to the ironworks now. Less than a chime away. He, with feet seemingly made of lead, made his way over to the ironworks. The pockets of his simple pants jingled lightly with his miza, just over twenty GM, to be safe. As he approached the counter he observed the workplace, standing in awe for a moment. He had been here once or twice before but now it seemed lively, almost beautiful. He could feel the heat from the forges on his pale face, and the air just a bit warmer, which was certainly welcomed.

After a moment of lolling about he approached the first man he saw and gently tapped him on the shoulder.

“Pardon. I want a shield.”

[Baelin Holt]

Baelin was far more comfortable with rivets than he was with the rest of armoring. It was something that frequently came up as a blacksmith in his uncle’s smithy, and the familiar task was always a comforting end to a project. Baelin snatched one of the handles from the workbench and two nails. A small anvil rested on the workbench, weighing no more than a few pounds. But even a few pounds of anvil were more than enough for a rivet.

The handle had already been punched; Baelin simply had to line up the holes. He shifted the handle over the bottom of the shield until he felt it was centered, and then positioned one of the nails over the hole in the handle. He centered it as best he could in the hole and made a quick tap on the back of the nail. The smith held the handle in place and quickly placed the same nail in the hole on the opposite end of the handle. Baelin repeated the process there and pulled the handle off.

Two small divots rested where he had the nail placed. Baelin rested the shield over the small Pritchel hole on the light anvil and made a quick punch in both spots. He pulled the shield off and held it close to his face, shifting it in the light to inspect the quality of his punch.

The edge was a bit ragged and the metal hadn’t pulled as cleanly as he would have liked. The rivet would hide his sloppy punch and it wasn’t really an issue of the shield’s integrity so Baelin wasn’t too concerned...it was just frustrating that he still didn’t have even this basic task down.

Frowning as he worked, Baelin slipped the nails through the front of the shield. He held the shield facing down while he slid the handle on underneath it, jiggling it slightly in order to get the nails to slip through the handle’s holes. Once on, he pinched the nails and flipped the shield back over. A quick snip from a pair of snips had the nails shortened and he brought the peen head of a small ball peen hammer to begin to flatten the nail out.

The flattened surface was still a bit misshaped, but Baelin knew that this wasn’t a reason to panic. Sure, Fredrick could have flattened it down smoothly in his sleep, but a bumpy rivet wasn’t the end of the world. He still had the ball end of his hammer to work with. He flipped it over and gently began to shape it to look a bit more presentable.

It took an embarrassingly long time, but he eventually finished both rivets. The apprentice armorer picked up the now ready to sell shield and allowed himself a smile.

The smile didn’t last. Now he had to figure out how he was going to sell it. Baelin grimaced at the idea of having to actually talk to customers. He was absolutely rotten at it. And how exactly was he supposed to spark interest in it? Wave it around at everyone who walked through the door? Maybe do a little dance and sing, Come spend your mizas on a munitions grade shield! Somehow he imagined he lacked his mother’s talent at drawing a crowd with his voice. Or rather, he lacked the ability to draw a crowd for the right reasons. Mockery was his domain, to be sure.

Blessedly, he didn’t have to think too hard on the matter. A gentle tap shocked him out of his derisive thoughts and prompted him to swing his scrutiny to a foreign face. He was about Baelin’s height, perhaps a little taller if anything. Marks of scuffles marred him, from a crooked nose to a scar across his jaw. The half-Dhani was hard pressed to guess if they came from accidents or if the man was the sort that could dominate him in a fight like a cat with a mouse.

Whatever his background, the man seemed polite enough, even throwing in a ‘pardon’ with his question. Baelin couldn’t remember the last time he said pardon, if he ever had. The half-Dhani wasn’t sure if the politeness should put him more on edge or if he should feel more at ease. A trick or a genuine feeling...he wasn’t sure.

Stop overthinking this, it’s just a bloody question.

Baelin glanced at the shield in his own hands. His instinct was to just thrust it out towards the stranger, turn around, and then call it a day. Job well done, everyone could go home.

But that wasn’t what they paid him for, was it?

Licking his lips, Baelin steadied himself and said, “What kind of sshield?” He didn’t dare hope that the small shield he had been working on was what this man was looking for. That would be quite the bit of good luck...or perhaps just a great tease if the man didn’t have the mizas.

[Baelin Holt]

OOCIf I’m not allowed to finish this thread as a solo, please let me know and disregard this post.
Baelin wasn’t sure if the man drifting away was because it wasn’t the shield he wanted, he didn’t have mizas, or if Baelin was just off-putting and he wanted to try his luck with a different smith. The half-Dhani huffed in irritation and glared at the door to the Ironworks. Who knows? If he glared at it long enough maybe some other customer would come in asking for a shield.

It didn’t even occur to Baelin to go after the man and push his product further. The smith just wasn’t much of a salesman.

Seeing no other customers around, Baelin hung the shield up on the wall with the other munitions grade small shields. He would have to keep an eye on it to see if any other customer was interested in it. In the meantime there was always more work to be done. Neither Ros nor Fredrick would appreciate him lingering around for another customer.

Baelin resumed his spot at his anvil. Now that he was done making the shield, Fredrick wanted him back on making shield handles. The shield was a nice taste of what he could do in the future if he kept at armoring. He was quite grateful to Fredrick for giving him the opportunity so soon. However, it did give Baelin a moment’s worry. Perhaps Fredrick was expecting him to be competent with armoring by now. And Baelin knew that he was still a novice. The absurdly long hours it took him to make that shield were testament to it.

Regardless, he still had shield handles to make. Baelin fetched some stock bar material and brought it to the forge. The smith positioned it in a pair of tongs and then settled it in the forge. The bar was large enough that he had to work the bellows to keep the forge hot enough.

Baelin continued to pump the bellows as he watched his metal heat up. Eventually it looked red enough to take out and bring back to the anvil. He picked it back up with the tongs and set it down on the anvil’s face. Baelin quickly pulled a large chisel out of the belt around the anvil’s waist and fixed it into the anvil’s hardy hole. Satisfied that it was in snugly, Baelin held the metal over the chisel using his tongs and pulled out a hammer from the anvil’s belt. Once everything was lined up, Baelin began to hit the point where the metal was over the chisel. As he continued to strike, the chisel began to slowly bite into the metal.

After some time and a good bit of hammering, the metal broke in two and Baelin was able to remove the excess from the anvil. The smith took his chunk of iron to the furnace, settled it into the coals using tongs, and then began to pump the bellows again.

As he pulled up, pushed down, pulled up, pushed down on the bellows, Baelin allowed his thoughts to drift. He was concerned that he was going to let Fredrick done. Very few people had put their trust in Baelin over the course of his life and he was loath to let one down. Sure, Fredrick put his trust in Baelin more as an employee that he expected to see improvement from than as a person, but Baelin was still going to count that.

Eventually the metal was red and hot enough to work with again. Baelin pulled it off the forge and returned to his anvil, ready to stretch the metal out with a lot of hammering. The smith gave a quick glance to his shield on the wall to check that he hadn’t missed any customers and felt a flutter of pride. That was his shield. It would protect someone. There wasn’t much more he could ask for in life. With a small smile, Baelin resumed hammering.

[Devi]

Your Grades have arrived! Baelin Skills: Blacksmithing: 3 Armorsmithing: 2 Observation: 2 Endurance: 1 Lores: Armorsmithing: Creating a Shield Fredrick: Doesn’t like Interruptions Blacksmithing: Requires Finesse as well as Strength. Comments: Nice job - It’s easy to see that you’ve done your homework when it comes to all things blacksmithing (and it’s always interesting to learn when you read someone’s work!). Your first post was long and detailed enough that you could have stretched it into two posts rather than one. Don’t be afraid to take your time with detail like that and you’ll be able to squeeze more skill-points into your threads. It can also stretch out the story a bit – keep us keen readers waiting that little bit longer to see what happens! Aventis Skills: Observation: 1 Lores: Location: The Ironworks Comments: It looks like you haven’t been around for a while Aventis – it’s a shame you didn’t get to finish this thread with Baelin! If you do return and have any questions then do let me know. Let me know if you have any questions or feedback. Don't forget to edit your post in the Grade Request Thread to say it's graded and leave a link in there for the Storytellers. Happy Writing!