[Ironworks] Too many smiths spoil the brooch (Rhuryc)

[Eanos]

Fall 13, Era 510 Dawn had heralded the end another sleepless night for the Isurian smith and so he sat at his workbench in the gloom of the Ironworks. As yet the forges were still mostly banked from the night before and only one or two had been stoked back into life by apprentices who worked the bellows and topped off the fires with new fuel of their Masters choice. Eanos knew it was dawn only by the stirring to life in the workplace for the light of the sun did little to disturb the eternal darkness of the corner where he sat. A lantern guttered softly on the wall behind him but he noticed it not for his attention was on the parchment in front of him and the swift strokes of the stick of charcoal which rendered the glyph in bold lines. He sighed and added it to the small stack which he weighted down with a small hammer then sighed, stood and stretched out the kinks resulting from hunching over the bench as he concentrated on the process of drawing and then giving life to the glyphs he prepared for his next attempt at magecrafting. Some of the smiths were arriving now and he caught the eye of those he knew, serving them with a nod. But there were some that he had not yet met, not because they were new, but because he had been keeping himself to himself. It was time to change that, for smithing was his business and it was one thing to avoid those he had no interest in, but quite another to avoid those who could help him as he moved along the path of progress. Those he didn't yet know he sought out and if they did not glare overmuch then he introduced himself and bade them good morning.

[Rhuryc]

Rhuryc yawned. That was it. He was not so sure just what he was doing this morning. His duties had been stringent as of yet, strange, ever since his master had noticed the apprentice's ease with the wares Rhuryc found the man less and less often, left to his own devices on a daily basis. Abused, more like, he had been handling the brunt of the incoming orders like an underpaid slave. A vastly underpaid slave. Still, with his expertise so limited to the common smiting of black metal he was in no position to complain. The real smiths worked arms and armor. Maybe that was what he was doing. Looking for someone to teach him something real. Something useful. So it was that the over-sized human made his way into what he referred to as the 'Smithing Commons', the local workplace for a larger populace of smiths and workmen. Another day, another practice. In truth Rhuryc would have preferred a nice, quiet afternoon inside. Sleeping.

Clad in his typical leather coat and matching, brown attire, the man was no stranger to the forges. He weaved his way between apprentice but familiar and foreign, bereft of his usual armaments. Although bringing his sword to the smithy was silly, Rhuryc felt naked without the weapon. Sometimes he swore the blade made him a better conversationalist. Or something. Nevertheless he continued his trek, all up until an unfamiliar voice drew his attention. He'd never seen the Isurian before. Well! No reason to deny a new acquaintanceship. With an abrupt halt Rhuryc turned to Eanos and offered the man a polite nod, his eyes flicking to the companion-smiths features like an artist studying a model. Albeit without the whole art bit.

"Hail." He said in return, one hand extending in a raised, friendly gesture. "Good morning as well, stranger. I thought I knew everyone in this pit." His smile must have been a welcome change among the glares.

[Eanos]

The man seemed comfortable in the surroundings, comfortable enough that he seemed happy to return the greeting that Eanos offered. As he reached out to take the mans hand in a firm grip he made a swift assessment. The man seemed as confident in his dress as he was in his manner and that pleased the Isur for he had little time for those who pretended to things beyond their abilities, and there seemed none of that about this man. "I tend to keep to myself," he replied, "and I often work during the dark when it's quieter. The name is Eanos." He didn't quite match the mans smile, but there was a shadow of it on his face and there was no hesitation in the hand which still gripped that of Rhuryc. As ever in the forges Eanos went bare chested for he had no fear of spark or molten metal, a fear that was was unknown in his race for Izurdin had gifted them with protection against it. "I have no tasks this day," he said, wanting to know more about this smith. "I was looking for someone who might need a hand or perhaps have something that they wanted to have a try at."

[Rhuryc]

"No tasks?" Rhuryc mused. Fate once again conspired in his favor. Of this he was grateful. "My own are few; I was merely given the job to become more useful." He offered the man a grin at that. No doubt Eanos had no idea what he was talking about. Probably for the better. "I've spent some time here learning the ways of smiting black metal, but I've been given leave from my master in the hopes that I might accomplish something more than a horseshoe. I was intent to look into armoring." He finished and turned his head about, glancing as the various smiths worked about the pair in their activities for the day. A few he recognized as prominent armor smiths, but he was more interested in his own brand of learning. One that often ended in many a wasted bars, but a great deal of knowledge. Or just sore hands. The latter was all the more likely.

"I could use a hand. Or five." He jested.

[Eanos]

It seemed that the smith was light hearted and that cheered Eanos for it would make working with him simpler. "Armour?" He raised an eyebrow at that and grinned in his turn for the first time. "Well I have to admit that it isn't something which I've attempted either." Though he'd been here a while now and studied elsewhere before that, for some reason he'd never had the need or reason for studying how armour was made. His own eyes flashed around the smiths in the forges and likewise didn't make any attempt to go and ask for guidance or tuition. "Well I reckon that you've got a spare pair of hands, what was it that you fancied having a go at?"

[Rhuryc]

"A suit of plate." Rhuryc said with a gleam in his eyes. Full suits were expensive and took a mastery of the art to conduct properly, but that was the precise reason for its choosing. It incorporated everything they needed in one mess; chain linking, bending, plating, riveting, all the tricks that they would require in order to smith some of the more necessary pieces. And it was not as if they would lack for material. Spare iron was common in the forge. With practice there was no need to make the armor work, they just had to make the armor.

"I figured I'd have a go at the helmet, gorget, cuirass, pauldrons, gauntlets, vembraces," The smith paused and gave his new companion a grin. "You get the idea. I've got an empty forge we can use, we just need to gather some spare materials and get on it. We'll need enough cloth to cover a man, leather bindings, Iron of course, and ah." He paused, considering. "I have really no idea what else. So. Split up and meet when we've got enough?"

Rhuryc was patient. After he relayed the particular forge where they could work he set off to locate the item they needed. He visited the various stocks and supplies, taking spare blanks, plates, rivets, links, and anything he could get his hands on that was not already in use. By the time he was finished there was a variety of half-filled boxes and random bits of discarded projects: broken gauntlets, ruined breastplates, a helm with head-sized hole in the top, and all manner of examples and pieces both himself and Eanos could rip into without worry.

[Eanos]

Eanos was taken aback by the audacity and ambition of the smith and his jaw fell for a moment. A suit of plate? He'd been thinking of perhaps attempting a greave or even if they were thinking ambitiously of a helmet, but a suit of plate!

He recovered as he listened, nodding slowly, his lips twitching in amusement. The ambition worked well with him for all that he wouldn't have started with such a global vision.

"Well I won't say that you don't think an a grand scale," he replied openly grinning now that the idea started to get a grip on his imagination. There were certain practical objections which rose up in his mind for plate was so expensive that it was always custom made, but as they rose up so he dismissed them. The knights surely had need of parts and in any case it was unlikely that the pair of them would make anything worth selling so it was just practice.

"Let's do it," he finished with a nod. "I have my own workbench and forge which we can use as well if we need it, and I'll see what I can find."

Once he started looking he began to get a better appreciation for just how much material came back into the forge from the Knights in the form of bent and twisted steel, but he could see that Rhuryc had that well in hand so he searched in different places and came back with his own haul which included discarded formers and other such materials for the shaping of the amour which had been discarded when they were damaged or presumably for some of them when the customer died or otherwise didn't need that piece of armour in that size any more.

He added to the pile and stepped back. Where to start? He picked up a dented breastplate and turned it in his hands. It seemed one of the simpler pieces to make, but he discarded it in favour of a gauntlet which had been crushed. He moved the articulated joints as much as could be done considering their state and winced; that would not be easy to make. He discarded it and looked back at Rhuryc, for this was his suggestion. "Where did you want to start?"

[Rhuryc]

Rhuryc eyed their collections with a keen expertise. They had enough. More than enough. The suit would take plenty of materials, but he imagined they collected extra for at least a dozen armors let alone a single suit. Albeit, there would be plenty of failure to go around. At Eanos' question the man turned his attention on his new found partner and shrugged. What would they start with? Well, the beginning. Sure.

"How about we split it up? The Chain comes first, I've got a cloth shirt here," Rhuryc started, producing said item from his pile of discarded projects. He tossed it onto the surface of the nearby anvil, his head bobbing in acknowledgment. "So. I figure the proper way to mail it is to just weave the chain into the shirt itself. Fasten them in place, you know? I didn't find enough individual links, so we'll have to make more. Fire's already goin'," He said, motioning to the heated forge near the edge of the space. Afterward made a grab for the closest stool and pulled it up alongside the anvil, his backside hitting the solid wood with a soft 'thud'. His fingers grasped the finery and he raised the material into the air, inspecting it for whatever intricacies it held. With a bored glance he flicked his gaze away and shifted his meanderings to a box stacked full of the small chain links, one of which he plucked out and held up next to the shirt, his eyes once more scanning the item in question.

"They've each got a cut at the top, see?" He wiggled the chain as if the motion would help Eanos. "That must be how they weave them. If we put four links in each, top, the sides, and the bottom, then we can fasten it at a few points and hold it to the shirt. I don't know about the fastening though. Should we use thread?"

[Eanos]

It seemed a logical suggestion for the start of the project so he nodded.

"Splitting it up seems fair to me so long as we know what the other is doing." There still remained to him the question of sizing otherwise what they produced would be rather more odd than even their relatives skills would permit, but it seemed logical to work more to Rhurycs size than his own since he doubted that there were many short Knights in the city who would take an Isurian size.

Since, he'd not attempted to take the lead from his fellow he carried on listening, though he ended up slightly perplexed as to what Rhuryc was proposing.

"I don't know how the Knights here are armoured," he commented. "Do they wear a mail shirt under the plate?" It seemed a bit redundant to him, but then he wasn't a knight. "Or is is just where the gaps in the plate will fall which are covered in chain?" He carried on with his train of thought as he recalled something he'd seen a long time ago.

"If I recall there are different weaves for the mail depending on function and strength. The mail I've seen each link is linked to more than three other links if I understand what you are proposing. And all the links will need to be welded closed once they are linked. Perhaps though that is an Isurian pattern, but such a mail coat is heavy because of the amount of steel which is why I wondered about the addition of plate."

He shrugged realising that he had wandered off the subject and not answered the question. "I think that the undershirt will be useful as a pattern, and yes I don't see why thread would not work. The mail will hold itself together and we can't weld it if the cloth is already attached."

[Rhuryc]

"The chain is worn under the plate. It protects the joints and absorbs some of the trauma. It's also a lot lighter than you'd think. Steel makes it easier." Rhuryc spoke as he mused at the link, his gaze studying the small piece over and once again. "Let's just start linking them together over the shirt, better to just go ahead and dive into it than discuss theory all day." He shrugged and set both items down. A hand reached back into his trusty box and a the links that followed clattered out, spilled into a nearby pile to be drawn from. "How about we just create basic patterns, first? Three links to each link, like you said, with all of the interconnected. We can weld them shut once we've got the brunt of them finished. Say, you make the back and I'll cover the front?" Not that there was much difference. Rhuryc bobbed his head as if Eanos had already agreed - he did not seem intent to wait - and dove in.

With gentle fingers the man snagged a single link. Another followed in his opposing hand and he raised the two pieces up to his face, eying one and then the other in turn. He slipped the cut top of the first into the second, his eyes alight with pride as it slid down, creating the first piece of the chain. Such a small, easy accomplishment, yet so large all at once. Giddy, he set the dual links down and took two more, adding them to the original link so that there were three attached as the base. The pattern was simple. Rhuryc would reach out and grab three links at a time, apply them to one of the existing bases, then return to the pile. He found the initial approach difficult to err. All he had to do was attach one set to another until they took a thicker form. Albeit as he continued Rhuryc found that his lines of chain lacked cohesion. They were linked as a chain, sure, but they appeared spread out, in no way fit to stop any sort of blade. At first he was distressed, but nevertheless he continued to add, occasionally shifting his design over to the shirt to make its dimensions. He found it best to work off a square. He would apply chains to outer edges of his project until it widened and grew. Eventually it wove to the proper size, for the chest anyway, and Rhuryc moved on to the arms.

For a moment the smith stopped his own progress and glanced aside at Eanos, checking his design to ensure that were on the same page. The work was tedious, sure, but no more than the design and implementation of horseshoes and nails.