To Far Away Times

[Brian]

Nathan: Following the directions that Radagast left you with, you plod through the hallways of the keep (this place is huge, inside) until you manage to find your way to the back door.  You see smoke, but don't hear the clanging metal that signals the location of a smithy right off the bat.

The courtyard is lined with straw, and chickens wander around, pecking occasionally at some thing or another scattered among the straw.  A few ramshackle wooden warehouses lie around the perimeter of the courtyard, probably housing tools, or something.  A stable is to one side, holding a few of those oxen-like creatures you saw earlier.

Opposite the keep, as you look at it, is a short stone building with a very tall chimney.  As you watch, it flares, as though some light within were flashed on, and you can hear the ringing tone of a hammer beating on something metal.

[Rezantis]

Rez walks towards the building, looking for a door - which he knocks on (assuming he finds one).

[Brian]

You do not, in fact, find a door.  There's an archway, however, and you can peer into it.

Inside, there is a shambling mound of stone perhaps as high as your shoulder, between you and the forge-fire.  This stone is wrapped in well-wrought metal, and after a second, you realize that it's not stone, it's the dwarf.

He's currently kneeling on the floor, and still as tall as your knees.  His hair looks like steel wires, and is actually rusted at the ends.  He turns to look at you as you enter, bushy steel-wool eyebrows rising for a second, while burning fire-emerald eyes study you, before he turns back to his work.

The forge-fire before him is burning hot, but hardly with any flames.  A piece of metal is laying on the coals, glowing cherry red, and as you watch, the dwarf plucks it from the fire with bare, stony hands, and pushes it with his fingers, like he was testing clay to see if it had softened.

A low grumbling vibration enters the room as he hums thoughtfully, raising the steel to his lips for a second and tasting it.  You don't think he actually ate any, but his granite teeth could probably tear through hot steel if he wanted to.  He sighs, and throws the hot metal into a bucket filled with similar scraps, apparently deciding it unworthy.

Another two buckets sit nearby, one nearly empty, and full of perfectly shaped ingots, the other with random bits of scrap metal.  "What do ye' want?" he grumbles after a second, his voice causing your teeth to vibrate together until you leave your mouth slightly open.

[Rezantis]

"Looking to get a sword reforged.  You're Ekim? Radagast told me to come and talk to you."

[Brian]

Ekim grumbles, raising one lip in a sneer.  "Go get your toys fixed somewhere else," he spits.  "I've worthy materials to forge."

[Rezantis]

"This wasn't a toy.  It belonged to Hadrick Shuker." Rez dips his hand into his gem pouch and pulls out the hilt of the broken blade, and a piece of the sword."

[Brian]

"Good for you," Ekim replies, tossing a scrap into the furnace and watching it heat up.  "Not so good for him to have it break.  Your own crafstmen do not show metal respect when forging their tools."

[Rezantis]

"I'm asking you to fix it.  And I have my doubts that any sword could have survived what destroyed this."

[Brian]

"That's a pity," Ekim grunts.  "Cheap swords break easily, but your fine swords are even more fragile."

Rez's deduction roll is successful.

It occurs to Nathan, listening to Ekim heckle and belitle 'common' swords and 'human crafstmen' that the sword of Hadrick Shuker was not forged by humans; it was made by the Archonae.  Liandral had called it 'The King of Swords' back in the wastes....

[Rezantis]

Rez rolls his eyes.

"This blade wasn't made by humans, it was made by the Archonae.  It's not one of those cheap human blades you're insulting."

[Brian]

"Oh, well..." Ekim begins, before his eyes burn bright blue with interest and he looks at you, ignoring the metal in the forge.  "A sword forged by the Archonae?" he murmurs.  "And you've broken it, of course.  Let me see it."  One massive stony palm reaches towards you expectantly.  As you watch, a tiny, loose flake of skin falls off ... but it flakes off like a chip of granite, silently shattering when it hits the floor.

[Rezantis]

Rez places the hilt and piece of sword onto Ekim's outstretched palm, then fishes the remaining pieces out of his pouch and does the same.

[Brian]

Ekim cups his hands delicately around the shards, frowning speculatively.  "This is fine work," he rumbles, obviously impressed.  "Very fine."  He starts laying the sword on a nearby anvil, piece by piece, as though assembling a puzzle.  "Mmmm," he muses rocking back on his heels.  "How could a sword of such craft fail?"

[Rezantis]

"In the pass, to the south of here . . . the thing the defenders of stormwall summoned.  I don't know exactly how, but . . ."

Rez trailed off.

"Can you reforge it?"

[Brian]

"A dark thing indeed," he says gloomily, narrowing his eyes.  "Something unnatural, it is.  Hmmm."  He runs his fingers through his beard -- stone scraping through a bale of steel wool.  "I might be able to reforge it," he says slowly.  "But this blade ... will require time.  And some of the metal is too tired.  The bad will need to be separated from the good, and then, there will not be enough.  It will take more ... and the metal I have will not be good enough without being fed of the earth."