Another Day at the Shop

[Deleted]

"I'll admit my investigating was an act of snooping." Being quite honest and frank, not showing for the moment that Ethan was embarrassed about the fact. "I don't much get to practice my craft, or get the chance often to see another at work. I also though to just check, as mages are a slippery lot." His last few words adding just a little bit of venom to his tone. It was just the keyhole to the burning hatred growing in his heart. Every burn, and every little scar added that pain right into that blackness.

Ethan watched almost entranced as the metal was shaped now into gauntlets, after crafting boots. He was letting a little not of time go by as he watched, though silently. Which might have been a little unnerving, but it wasn't like he couldn't exactly be told to leave. He had even ignored the opening of the door as another had joined the two. 

Without paying much heed to the other entering the room he almost knocked into the young man. With a step back he looked at the kid. He was pretty short for a fellow. What he had assumed was a fellow, as the shape was without curves befitting a woman. Or he would be a sad looking woman, and one not worth even trying. Something felt odd and familiar about the kid, like a little spark of energy. Though metal on metal created sparks, so he was discrediting it. Ethan tipped his head at the kid.

"Hullo."

[Tyr]

The mention of mages wasn't entirely unexpected, but still unsettled Tyr a bit. Twice in one day, what were the odds that someone would talk about magic? Still it gave away a good bit of this man's purpose. He was likely one of the King's mage hunters, rousting up those who were avoiding the registry. So be it, there was little Tyr could do against him even if he wanted to. That was the King's prerogative, not the Duke's.

"They do sneak about to avoid conscription don't they? I try to keep out of their shadowy dealings, I have all I need and more here in the light of my forge." It was true, for the most part. He had no real interest in magic, crafting was his passion. He did crave something mages tended to have though, and that was knowledge. Books held more than just spells, and Tyr desired so much to know. History, language, science, the world's mythology. Whatever he could learn, he wanted to. However dealing with mages to get it was mostly out of the question, the trouble it could bring had hardly ever been worth the effort.

Turning back to his forge Tyr plucked his last ingot out of the fire before setting some more in. This next bit would take him some time anyway. He started hammering small chips off of the ingot, smashing each one into a thin wire then curling it around the horn to create a ring. It was long, boring work but once he settled into a rhythm the rings came quickly. Chainmail was a thing he had seen once, and he desired to own a set himself. It was good protection, and tended not to limit the body much. Not quite like a full body of plate armor would. He filled a small bucket with the rings then got to work on making some rivet links. These were basically the same, except they had a small ball at the end meant to be smashed together, riveting it shut. Get it?

At this point Tyr noticed the newcomer as well, with the same general shape as the person he'd met before in the woods. He raised a hand in greeting then went immediately back to making the links. "Greetings! If you'll just wait a moment I should be free shortly." He turned back to Ethan, constantly bringing his gaze back and forth from the rings to the mage hunter. "If I can help you with anything feel free to stop by. I can only imagine you need good gear for mage hunting, if you have the money or materials I can have a go at making what you require." He started fitting the rings together, rapidly linking four solid rings to one rivet, smashing it shut, and expanding on the pattern.

---

Efficiency attempt!

Failed

---

Iron Smithing I/Armor Smith I to create chainmail from 4 iron ingots.
(19/45 SM)

[Jorkahn Wealddir]

He had tried to keep quiet and out the way but he had still been noticed. Then again, it wasn't like he was hiding. In fact, he was standing in such an obvious spot that the new man had almost ran into him, Ethan being too enthralled by Tyr's work. Or so it seemed. Jorkahn tensed up as Ethan had gotten close and kept his head low, upper half of his head and face still hidden from the taller, and much more physically imposing men. When the Kingsman spoke a greeting the boy stood silent, at least for a moment. Eventually he was able to stammer out a quiet, "H-hello."

The cloaked mixed blood stood there awkwardly, watching the smith work until he was finally noticed. At Tyr's words the boy walked away from Ethan to find a place to sit and wait his turn. He wasn't a mage, at least to his own knowledge, so he wasn't as terrified as he would be otherwise. However, he did not wish to converse with the Mage Hunter on account that he had already let slip to Tyr that he was interested in magic, and it seemed like the man had misunderstood. If someone under the King's orders jumped to the same conclusions then Jorkahn would be in a lot of trouble. Besides, his father seemed to be under the impression that the SKC couldn't be trusted and the wanderer wasn't one to question his father's judgment. Though Jorkahn was growing weary of his lonliness he was not yet ready to converse with two strangers on the same day, especially if they bore some ill will. His brain just couldn't handle it, or so he felt.

[Deleted]

Tyr's words made Ethan smirk a little. Ha, Ethan have money? If anything he was always owing money to someone. Must be nice to have extra coins like these noble folk did. The average person struggled greatly with even having enough coin to feed themselves, let alone be outfitted in armor.

Ethan gave the kid another curious look. "That lost for words? You should really avoid being in the way. "

[Azuloth]

-Chainmail Failed.-

[Tyr]

When the chainmail was all finished Tyr hung it from two prongs hanging above the forge, grabbed his smithing tongs, and swung it hard sideways into the metal. Several of the rings tore apart immediately and the chainmail fell to pieces. The metal hadn't hardened quite right after being riveted, and it ruined the whole suit. With a sigh he collected what he could and started melting it down. Better to get some back than nothing.

---

Choosing to recycle the chainmail. 1 ingot returned of the 4, right?

---

While that was melting down the smith pulled some more ingots out and got right back into it. It was great having plenty of materials, allowed him to just keep on going with the smithing. One million strikes made the master after all. Two ingots came out again, folded together and shaped into a rod in quick time. He wanted one more go at a longsword. If he could just get the hang of those people would be coming from all over to get a quality blade from a Duchy shop.

---

Roll for efficiency on the longsword.

Failed.

---

He also used the smithing as an excuse to watch over the interaction between Ethan and Jorkahn. There was little he could do to intervene, hopefully the latter understood his quasi-warning about Ethan being a mage hunter. Rolling a third ingot into the mix, Tyr hammered out the edges of the blade and gave the weapon a final tempering quench.

---

Iron Smithing I/Weapon Smithing I to make a longsword.

Pretty sure that failed. If yes, recycling that as well for another ingot back.
(13/45 SM)

---

--2 iron ingots returned.

[Jorkahn Wealddir]

Whether or not he was actually being stared at the boy felt eyes drilling a hole into the front of his head. He sunk even further into his cloak glancing nervously up at Ethan every so often. Jorkahn's thumbs had been twiddling around themselves at nearly a mile a minute during the brief silence. When the kingsman spoke to him, they suddenly stopped. Unsure of what to say nothing left his mouth for a moment except quiet uhms and ohs. When he finally stammered something intelligible out it was hard to hear. "S-sorry sir! W-w-w-won't happen again sir!" A bit of a red flush, obvious on his rather white skin, adorned his face.

He had messed up his words! Words so simple to think yet surprisingly difficult to speak! It seemed like most times he opened his mouth around strangers he made a fool of himself. It had happened in the woods, it was happening now, and it had happened the few other times he has conversed with them in his lifetime. He found himself wishing his sister were here, but no one would save him now.

This didn't stop the boy from looking up at Tyr with a pleading look in his eye, as if begging his new acquaintance to take on the role of his only sister. Poor man. As to whom was the poor man was up for interpretation.

[Deleted]

Ethan looked down at the kid, now just a slight bit more curious. Shouldn't this kid know to apologize to any person that he ran into? Sure Ethan started off as some scrappy coin picker, but he had enough manners to not get himself killed for being stupid. That made Ethan question further who this kid was, now the mage hunter was just flexing his administrative muscles.

"May I see your papers?" Speaking in just a slight huff. How else could he get the name of the kid? Speaking, ha that would be a joke. He'd probably stumble over his words so far as to never be able to utter such a simple thing. He had a hard enough time apologizing as he should. Ethan shoved his hand out at the kid.

[Tyr]

Well this was going well. Kind of. Not really. Tyr occupied some time by getting iron ready for a pounding. If Ethan chose to he could make Jorkahn's life hellish right now, even on the Duke's land. Well, sort of. Jorkahn looked impossibly sad and Ethan was taking things a bit rough with the boy, so it was about time to step in. However there was only so much he could do without stepping on some toes.

"Easy there Kingsman. He's a bit skittish, handle with care." There was a stern edge to his voice, Tyr didn't take kindly anyway to people abusing their lessers. Looking down on people didn't help anyone. His voice softened as he turned to Jorkahn next, "Best give him your ID." Going back to his forge work Tyr hammered some ingots together in another attempt at a longsword. He would get one of these right eventually if it killed him.

---

Roll for efficiency
Nope.

---

Iron Smithing I/Weapon Smithing I to make a longsword from three iron ingots and an uncut leather.

(7/45 SM)

[Azuloth]

Tyr gains: Iron Smithing II
+2 Stat points.

Long Sword: A standard Longsword
-Damage: 45
-Stat Req: 15 Str, 14 Agi, 11 K

[Jorkahn Wealddir]

Ethan was still staring at him! His words had only made the situation worse, the kingsman now seemed upset. Jorkahn became rather fidgety and he began to breathe just a tad more heavily as his heartbeat sped up. His body thought he was under attack, and to the boy's knowledge he very well could be if he slipped up in some way.

Ethan asked for Jorkahn's papers and the skittish little creature looked up at him, his face visible for the first time, with increasingly terrified eyes. He wasn't quite at the point where he looked ready to fall over in fear, but he was pretty damn worried about what was going to happen next. Ethan then shoved his hand in the boy's face to make things worse. It caused Jorkahn to swing his head back so fast his hood came off showing off his feminine face and features. His ears had barely a tip to them, unless Ethan knew what he was looking at it would be difficult to tell he was half Elkagr. The boy's right eye was a baby blue while his left eye was a dark emerald green. His hair was just past his shoulders and was a very bright platinum blonde with some slightly darker strands mixed about.

At first the young man just stared at Ethan, unsure of what to do, then when Tyr spoke the boy looked over at the craftsman and nodded. Nervously the wanderer fumbled into his cloak and pulled out a slip of paper. It looked official because it was official. It had his name, Jorkahn Wealddir, his eye colors, hair colors, height of five foot eight and weight of one hundred and forty. On top of all that it said he was half Elkagr and was born in Fordeth and lived in Viktoria. Any other pertinent information was provided. It did not say he was registered as a mage because, as far as he and his family knew, he was not. It was obviously a Citizen class ID.

[Deleted]

Ethan gave a small huff at the suggestion coming from the Duke, he could handle what he liked as he willed. Especially when it came to some backwards boy that didn't know how to behave in a mannerly style. If he would have said sorry, this would not have transpired. But no, the kid had to be told to say a word of apology. Not something that would rub Ethan the right way, or perhaps it was the tingling at the back of his neck that was upsetting him. As the kid's hood then slipped from his head, Ethan adorned a full frown.

"Leave it to your kind to..." He muttered off slightly. Feeling more pissed off in these moments. Maybe he should not have asked, now something was definitely seeming off about the kid.

He looked at the ID, not understanding a word of the script. He just knew how it was meant to feel, and the general outlay of a lawful ID. Ethan could not read, and quickly the ID back at Jorkahn. "What is your name?" Obviously not able to tell a thing from the ID presented to him, it was really just done in means of trying to seem tougher and more important than he was.

[Tyr]

For once the longsword came out of the quenching oil just fine. This was good, it would be a start towards having an armory worth using. Now if he could just mass produce those, and get some actual armor made, his guards might be worth a site more than patrolling the land and keeping away common bandits. Speaking of armor, Tyr started on some chainmail again. He really needed to get a set of that made, and the sooner the better. He pulled out two leather pieces and four iron ingots, set the iron to heat and started making a quick leather vest for the iron to attach to. Once the pattern was done it would be onto the rings.

But at the same time the small situation in his shop demanded attention. Ethan was effectively bullying the skittish Jorkahn and it was starting to make Tyr all sorts of irritated, bordering on angry. When Ethan kept questioning the lad after getting his ID, Tyr stopped producing the iron rings for a moment and stepped in. He'd step up beside the boy and drop and hand on his shoulder, reaching with the other for the lad's ID. Once he had it he would read the thing briefly then hand it back.

"His name is Jorkahn Wielder, his ID is from Viktoria, and he is a guest on my land." Hand still on the lad's shoulder Tyr would start guiding Jorkahn over to the room beside the forge, ignoring any attempt Ethan made to stop him. It was fairly empty, sporting a neatly made bed, a solid wood table with a few candles, a chair, and a door. He would be safe behind that door for as long as it took Tyr to take care of the situation. The Duke would immediately return to his anvil and keep working on the links for the armor, almost silently challenging the kingsman to try anything else.

---

Armor Smith I/Iron Smithing II/Tanner I to make chainmail from four iron ingots and two uncut leather.
(6/45 SM)
Jorkahn if you have any problems with my actions let me know and I'll change it.

[Azuloth]

Tyr crafted:

Ring Mail:
DR: 18
Reqs: 14S, 12A

*Ring, Medium, Chest, Back & Abdomen*

*Note, All legacy Tier 1 Armor has been made obsolete. Chain mail no longer exists (as its stats and coverage have been made redundant.)

[Jorkahn Wealddir]

Jorkahn could feel the Kingsman becoming more and more angry with each passing second. This caused the boy to retreat inwardly even further, his eyes locked on the ground. Ethan's already malign demeanor soured further at the sight of the boy's ears and he made a comment under his breath. And with that Jorkahn brought his hood back up to cover his head and face. He hadn't ever really felt the full weight of being hated for his race, this was a new experience to him and he didn't much enjoy it. Then again, he wasn't particularly enjoying much of anything right now.

Ethan threw the ID back into Jorkahn's face causing him to jump once again. He sat there stiff as a board for a while until Tyr came over and placed his hand on his shoulder. Before he could answer the rather brazen man's questions the boy's new acquaintance picked up the ID and answered for him. Without much of a choice the small warrior was lead to a room beside the forge and hidden away behind a rather sturdy looking door. Jorkahn looked around the room for a moment in confusion, not entirely certain in what had transpired.

Only now did he truly understand how tired he was. After a moment of silence outside he stared at the bed, a look of longing in his eyes. Surely Tyr wouldn't mind if he were to lay down for a bit and just relax, maybe catch his breath and hope that everything blew over outside. So the boy did just that. He didn't even remember falling asleep.