Solo [The Ironworks] Marking An Axe

[Terag]

2nd of Summer, 515AV ‘The Singing Smith’, it was a joking title that Terag had been given decades ago at the old forge he had worked at. It wasn’t from renown, as he had never been good enough for his name to spread, but just from a habit he formed early on: singing or humming while he worked. Since ‘The Humming Smith’ didn’t quite have the same ring to it – even in isurian – it was kept ‘The Singing Smith’ instead. He had half hoped the name wouldn’t follow him from Sultros and he might be able to just be known by his own name. However, this wouldn’t be the case. He had only been in Syrilas for barely a season but the name had already begun to spread about The Ironworks. It wasn’t so much as to make fun of him but more of an identifier. They couldn’t really say ‘the isurian’ since that also included Ros, but Terag was the only one singing while he worked. Besides, it was much easier to find him in specific as sometimes his songs could be heard through the sound of clanging metal that often filled The Ironworks. And at least after a season working he had become less embarrassed about it and just sort of sang as he worked; work went by faster and his work always came out better this way. “Hey, ol’ singing smith over there! How’s that axe head coming along?!”, was shouted out to Terag from the smith in charge today. “The name is Terag! You know that by now! And it’s coming along fine, just a few more hits with the hammer and it need to be hardened and tempered and you can take it off my hands! And I am not old, only forty-four years old!”, Terag shouted back before going back to swinging his hammer down on the glowing metal to further shape the weapon. He was still making simple weapons for now, in fact the axe he was working on now looked more like it should chop wood than be used in a fight, but he was getting better at least. Again and again the hammer came down to shape the curved edge of the axe until it was as perfect as he could get it. It was still a bit too thin along the top edge, but that’s why his weapons weren’t always the first to go and weren’t sold at the highest price either. He was getting better at least, this time he hadn’t shattered it like the long sword he had the other day. That would have been horrible to have to endure that embarrassment. Not only did he have to live up to everyone’s expectations of an Isurian smith, about which stories have been told across Mizahar about what he Isurians are capable of, he also had to try to match Ros. He was the head of the Ironworks, but also the other Isurian that worked here. If Terag wanted to stop being compared to him and recognized for his own ability he’d have to work twice as hard and make his weapons twice as good – at least.

[Terag]

He had begun humming again by the time the axe head was ready to be put back into the forge. Here and there he would sing a word or two as he watched the axe head begin to heat up in the flames. At the right temperature he grabbed the metal with his left hand, pulling it safely from the flames and then quenching the iron in water. When he pulled it back out he realized he had made a mistake as he shifted his grip on the weapon, and his singing stop immediately. Where his fingers had been holding the metal it had left marks from gripping too hard, outlining his hand perfectly. He also must have channeled the power of his left arm without realizing it, as he often used singing to focus when using his res too. ”Well that isn’t going to be good. I’ll have to explain what happened. Oh boy I’m going to hear it on this one…” From what he could tell the metal was still just as strong, perhaps do to his grip lessening for a moment and the water reaching where his hand had been for at least a brief moment. He dried the axe off and set it back into the forge for its second heating. This time as the metal slowly became a wheat color, something he could actually relate to now that he had seen some for sale at the market, he pulled it from the forge and dipped it in the water again to quench it the second time. As he held it in the water he made sure to let go for a long moment and let the water reach every part of the axe head. It was pulled again from the water and dried it on a small towel. There wasn’t a new mark but the one from the previous quenching was still there, as if to mock him. ”I swear, just when I think I’ve got it down something else happens. I haven’t done this in years… Next time, next time I have to remember so this doesn’t happen again.” Terag kept muttering to himself in isurian to something along that effect as he took the time to set his tools away. First the hammer, then the tongs, then the apron were all put away to their right place before he took the axe head to the head smith of the day. He walked slowly, trying to drag out the eventuality but still the time passed by way too quickly for Terag’s liking. He set the axe head on the table in front of the head smith, ”Look I know, I made a mistake. I am showing you now so you can see what happened. It will not happen again…”, he said a bit glumly, his accent showing through a bit more than usual. He was a bit more focused on the mistake at hand rather than speaking correctly. At least the other smiths would be used to his accent at this point; it made talking to them so much easier when he didn’t have to repeat words over and over again to make sure he was understood.

[Terag]

The head smith just stared at the axe head for a long moment before looking up at Terag. ”How in the world did you even do this? I don’t even un- I’m going to go get Ros. You wait right here.” Immediately Terag could feel his face redden slightly, and with his skin it was quite obvious. The hot wash of shame only intensified as the smith got up and wandered off with the axe head. The chimes that past felt more like bells as he waited for the head smith, Ros, to show. After a few agonizingly long chimes Terag could heard the sound of footsteps again among the clanging metal, and soon after that Ros rounded the corner, the axe head in hand. Oddly enough Ros was just sort of smiling as he approached, a smile showing that he wasn’t upset and that he knew exactly what occured. After all, Ros was an isurian as well and so he would know exactly what had happened. ”Hello Terag. I think this is our first time meeting, I’ve heard a bit about you already though. I’m Ros, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Terag was happier now that Ros was dealing with him, and the fact that he was speaking isurian made it much easier. Terag visibly relaxed before he noticed that Ros had extended his left hand for a handshake, and Terag shook it happily with his own left hand. His left hand seemed even darker against Ros’ grey skin. ”Pitrius, huh?” Terag nodded, ”Interesting. I’ll make no comments about it, not that anyone else here would understand us anyways.” The man winked playfully before continuing, ”Though it does explain why you did this without being aware, right? I’ve done the same thing on more than one occasion, though usually it’s just an indentation of my thumb or finger rather than my entire hand!” He laughed. Terag began to relax even more, Ros’ amusement at least didn’t make it seem all that bad. ”Okay now, why don’t you come with me? I’ll show you how to get this out and make it seem like it never happened. ” Terag was stunned for a long moment before breaking out in a smile. ”Oh, yes! Of course! Izurdin grant me patience so that I don’t make the same mistake though. Thank you!” He relished the opportunity to gain instruction from one as experienced as Ros after all, and so Terag quickly followed the man back to the forge that Terag had been working at earlier. The man did the same thing that Terag often did: using his left hand to gently place the metal inside the forge. Not having to use tongs for everything definitely made things easier.

[Terag]

”Okay, so you know that we need to heat the metal before we can use our arms on it. Right? Well that’s what we’re going to do here again. First we’ll upset the axe head so you can use your hand and smooth out the impression. It really is as simple as that.” As Ros spoke he pulled the hammer and pair of tongs that Terag had been using earlier off of the tool rack and handed them to Terag. Once the metal axe head had heated hot enough to glow, Ros grabbed it from the flame and set it on the face of the anvil, and motioned for Terag to start. Terad stepped up to the axe head, and just as he was about to swing down his hammer Ros stopped him. ”Oh, are you right handed? Here, try with your left. I know it may feel a bit awkward but trust me, it’ll be a skill you want to have later.” Terag just sort of looked at Ros for a moment before he switched the hammer to his left hand, and then grabbed the tongs with his right. Using the tongs he grabbed the axe head, turning it up so that he could upset the metal and squish it so that there was enough excess metal to fix his earlier mistake. It felt awkward to strike the axe with the hammer in his left hand, but he immediately noticed something: the amount of strength and force needed to shape the metal was so much less with his left arm. After a few hits, and the axe head successful upset, he set the hammer down. ”Praise Izurdin! That was a lot easier. Is that because of our arms?” Ros nodded, ”Yeah. You know that our arms are much denser than our body right? Well with that it also means it gets stronger. Makes sense, right? The god of strength gifting our arms that makes us even stronger as well? Either way, keep that in mind. It’ll help later. Especially if you ever want to make Isurian Steel, our arms are the only reason why we can make it.” He felt his heart skip a beat. Isurian Steel? It was one of the strongest metals, a rarity outside of Sultros and even inside it wasn’t always the easiest to come by. It was also one of the metals that one day Terag hoped to be able to work with. Perhaps make himself a new spear, a mace, armor, anything that he could keep and use as proof of how far he had progressed as a smith. ”Really? That’s why? I know the smiths back home used to talk about how hard it could be to get the metal, and that only experienced smiths would use it, but they never really told me what it took.” ”Oh, well yeah. That’s why, we possess a great strength within ourselves and our arms. Being around for an extra hundred years gives you time to pick up a thing or two.”

[Terag]

The axe head was placed back into the forge for a few long moments, due to it cooling too much while Ros and Terag had been talking. ”Once it’s warm, just take it out of the forge and smooth the impression with your thumb. On your left hand, not the right. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that it’s a bit hard to make things look real pretty with our arms, fingers tend to be too big of a tool to make the small details after all. But smoothing out an impression is easy and you don’t need to worry about it.” Terag only nodded as he listened, waiting for the axe head to warm. When the metal was glowing again, Terag reached in with his left hand and pulled it from the flames. After setting it atop the anvil face he used the tongs to grab the axe and hold it in place. Slowly, as if he was afraid he would break the axe by touching it with his hand, he rubbed his thumb along where his fingers had left an impression in the metal. After a brief moment of focused the energy in his arm so he could use his arm’s power and sculpt the metal. After a couple of passes over the impression with his thumb it disappeared. The same happened after he flipped the work over and rubbed off the mark left by his thumb. ”And there you go! Problem solved, right? It’s as easy as that. I guess I can also show you a few other neat tricks with our hand, hmm?” With a smile, Ros took over Terag’s place and picked up the axe head and set it in the water before pulling a piece of scrap iron from inside the forge and setting it on the anvil face. ”We can do several things with our nails too, some easy etching, sharpening the cutting edge of a weapon, writing even.” Each thing he talked about he showed Terag. First the etching, Ros just took his thumbnail and ran it along the side of the metal and it immediately left a mark into it. For sharpening Ros used both his pointer and his thumb to pinch along the edge of the metal, pinching it down to a point and he dragged his fingers down the edge. This motion also took a bit of the metal off. Ros motioned for Terag to come over and try as well. Terag first did the same as Ros, using his thumb to etch into the metal, instead of drawing just a line he attempted a circle. It was more than a little lopsided but it was permanently marked into the metal. Then on the opposite side, Terag did the same to sharpen the metal. He pinched his fingers at the corner of the metal and pulled his hand along the edge, stripping off some metal as he went. Satisfied, Ros smiled and shooed for Terag to head off. Terag moved out of the way, after putting the scrap metal into the water, and looked over confused. ”You’ve done enough today. Head home, I’ll take the axe in and fit it with a handle.” Terag couldn’t help but smile and nod to Ros. ”Okay Ros, and thank you so much for everything you taught me today. I will keep it all to heart and learn even more.” Ros just chuckled and shooed Terag off again. With one more less than graceful thank you Terag did just that and headed home, his mind swimming both from the new techniques and the fact that he got to learn today from Ros.

[Dravite]

Terag

XP Award:

• Blacksmithing: 2
• Weaponsmithing: 4
• Etching: 1
• Socialisation: 4
• Body Building: 2
• Signing: 1
• Observation: 3
• Logic: 2
• Drawing: 1

Lore:

• The Singing Smith: The story behind the nickname
• Weaponsmithing: Simple weapons
• Weaponsmithing: Leaving your mark
• Logic: Hard work pays off
• Ros: The Head Weaponsmith
• Weaponsmithing: Undoing mistakes
• Weaponsmithing: Taking a weapon apart

Notes: A fine thread and a pleasure to grade (other than those font colours hahaa). Hope I caught everything you were looking for. If you think I have missed any lore, don’t be afraid to give me a poke. Let me know if you think I have missed anything here and be sure to edit your grading request!

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