Bittersmithing [P]

Clang, clang! Steel hammering could be heard, unusual for the forested area. On the outskirts of Finweald, the gold haired blacksmith found somewhere peaceful enough that she could try and hone her (still lacking) smithing skills. Her blue orbs stared at the glowing red mass of iron, held in place by a tong big enough to keep it at a safe distance. With each impact, the red mass slowly changed shape - the beginner blacksmith tried her best to draw out the steel properly and attempted for quite a few hours to make what one could describe as a starting point — something that resembled the shape of a common sword, but barely.

Or at least, that was what her mind wanted her to believe. Ursula set down her hammer for a moment to clear the sweat from her forehead and eyes and much to her chagrin, when she reopened her eyes the blonde could take a proper look on the piece before her; it had many imperfections, the iron wasn’t properly leveled and the piece wasn’t quite as straight as she thought it was. Her lips curled up into a smile with a satisfied sigh… And a vein popped up on her right temple, memories flashing back in her now furious mind.

“Alright then, you got the basics up blondie! Now you gotta get some actual work done, but you’ll have to find out some of your own techniques and way to crafting your stuff! And I got the perfect place for that. Find a small crumbled home not far from here, on the outskirts of the city. There are some things that belong to me there where you can try some crafting your own...” The burly old man gave a shining, mastercrafted sword to Ursa. “Make something that can at least dent this and I’ll take you in as apprentice!”​

The memories quickly faded in infernal flames and sparks as Ursula slammed her hammer on the hot piece of steel with blows that had conviction, anger and frustration in the recipe. “ TO HELL WITH THIS. AND THIS! AND THAT MASTERCRAFTED SWORD, TOO! Dent his sword with my weapons he says, WHO’S THAT PIGMAN THINK I AM, I AIN’T A GENIUS!” Despite her anger and venting, her eyes quickly focused on the hot mass of steel before her — Ursula’s brows furrowed as more memories came back to her.

“Oh, and one more thing gold locks. If you find some goblins, kick their butts. Those pesky things scared off my last apprentice and then stole his ore. I know you got guts, so kick them hard if they show up!”​

“And who cares about goblins! They mate like pests!” Ursula sighed, putting the mass of incomplete steel back in the forge to heat it again for more hammering, though her ears were still alert enough to notice anything strange. But then...

@Solaria

 

There was nothing quite like a sharpened sword- unfortunately, Solaria hadn't found a blacksmith in a while, whether NPC or of her own world. A deep sigh escaped her as she found herself at the edge of the woods. Having to take down quite a few monsters on her way, this wasn't quite the walk in the park she was hoping for!

It was the sound of steel smacking against steel that startled her into drawing her sword once more. Shaking ever so slightly, the green haired elf felt her ears twitching from the noise. Although feeling uneasy and worried for her blade, she inched closer and closer to the sound. As she heard some sort of yelling, she began to move faster. What she saw was far from what she expected.

A girl was smelting, and working hard at it. Every ounce of stress in her body was clearly poured into the mallet. Eyes wide while watching from the side, she couldn't help wanting to interject. With so much passion for the art of a smithy, this woman was just the type of person Solaria had been seeking this whole time!

"Excuse me, miss blacksmith!" Her voice was hard to hear most likely over the mallet, but she spoke as loud as she could without getting too close to the molten ore. "Do you have time to spare? I'd like to ask for help." She pat the sword at her hilt as she continued to explain, "I lack the tools to sharpen Uchi."

 

“Muster all the rage within me, and beat the molten ore until it reaches the basic shape I want… Then, start from the tang...” Despite her shouting and venting, the blonde still muttered the instructions given to her under her breath. “No problem, I’ll turn you into the best sword that old pig has ever se--!?” As her ears caught notice of some sort of noise (coming from @Solaria) the blacksmith quickly set her steel aside and picked her copper pickaxe. It was just like her mentor said, goblins indeed showed up!

With pickaxe held in hands, the golden locks sprung forward and once she reached outside the ruined smith house Ursula spun on her right heel to build up force and attack the goblin that just appeared… But then she noticed how the green color — or Solaria’s hair color — towered over her. This led the blacksmith to delay her attack. Taking into consideration her heavy weapon and the momentum built up, it stood to reason that she lost control of her attack, tripped on her feet and rolled along the ruined, grassy floor. The blacksmith remained on the ground, an audible and frustrated sigh made it clear that this was not the best of her days. When Ursula realized she was sulking before an enemy, she quickly got up to her feet and held her pickaxe in a crude stance.

“No matter your size, I’ll make sure to take you down, ya green motherf---?!” The blacksmith raised both of her eyebrows high as her eyes spotted a Yladian… And her green hair. Somehow, she managed to mistake a green haired Yiladian for a overgrown goblin. Apparently her weapon required some sharpening and she didn’t have the tools to do so. Ursula could promptly accept the answer, but her lack of experience and honesty said otherwise.

“... I’ve got no problems with doin’ it, but are you sure?” The golden locks gestured to her recluse training spot for smithing. “I’ll let ya know that I ain’t any master blacksmith though.”

If Solaria was fine with her skill as blacksmith, however, she’d approach the Yladian, extending both of her hands to receive the weapon. “Can I take a look at it?” Upon receiving the weapon, the blonde would then unsheathe it, gripping it with her right hand and supporting the blade near the tip with her left keeping the weapon in a 40 degree angle. ”I see… It does need some sharpening. Come insi… Uh, come in.” She was about to invite Solaria in, when she realized there wasn’t a proper ceiling. Ursula crouched near her large backpack and searched within it for her honing oil and a whetstone appropriate for the weapon, setting them both on the ground.

“ Keep in mind that this kind of weapon requires a specific method of sharpening. This will help, but I suggest ya find a blacksmith that specializes in this. I’m just a begginner…” With a quick movement, she applied a small amount of the oil to the whetstone, proceeding to sharpen it. “So? What brings ya here in the middle of nowhere? A quest, maybe? Sorry about all the screaming, that’s my way to vent off!” Ursula passed the Uchigatana's blade evenly on the surface of the whetstone as if slicing pieces off the surface with enough force so it wouldn't bit into it.

 

Solaria smiled quietly, wondering a bit as to why she was being cursed at for a moment. She was able to guess the part the golden haired woman cut off at, but because she'd caught herself, the elf saw no reason to bother asking. Instead, she merely watched for a moment as the blacksmith collected herself. When asked, she handed over her sword as needed.

"To be honest, I don't know much about the ways to sharpen different swords. I thought about going directly to the smith that made Uchi for me, but I can't easily find people when I need to. I was taking a walk when I was attacked again by some pests, and that was when I noticed I needed to rush a little more..."

As she scratched behind her long ear, Solaria pushed some hair behind her shoulder, finding it beginning to tickle her cheek a bit too much. "You may not be a master in experience, but you appear to be a master blacksmith in spirit. I think that should be plenty to help get my uchigatana back to her strong self."

'Entering' the makeshift smithy, she took a moment to look around. Yes, this was definitely not a place you'd expect to be for more than a beginner- but hey, she was working hard. "To be honest, your spirit alone impresses me plenty. Oh- I'm Solaria, by the way. May I ask your name, since you're being so kind as to aid me?"

 

“Ah, I see.” Her lips curled up in a soft smile. “I don’t know that much about sharpening them either, just that they use a different method. Boss told me that rumors say they come from beyond the southward border of Astorea, though I have yet to try and travel there.” Despite her beginner skills, Ursula seemed to have a solid grasp of her movements. She used a low, flat stroke and made sure to keep the same angle as she passed the blade on the whetstone evenly. When Solaria mentioned the pesky creatures she had to deal with, her soft smile widened to a grin. “Right?! So many pesky things to deal with aroun’ here, especially goblins. Ya might bump into some Boggos that roam about too, those love to steal away food.”

Hearing Solaria’s compliments made sharpening Uchigatana’s blade that much more rewarding. “It ain’t that much, really. I still have a lotta things to learn. Not much of a use having a great spirit if I’m not capable of turning it into a reliable weapon. This one might take some time, though, if ya don’t mind waiting a bit.” Ursula slid her thumb in a perpendicular movement to the blade to check how sharp it was, returning to her sharpening motions shortly after.

“My spirit? Maybe, but I ain’t someone with great faith ya know. Solaria, aye? I’m Ursula Goldsmith. Ursa shoulda be good enough!” the aspiring blacksmith listened intently as @Solaria mentioned how her actions were kind. “Pretty sure kindness ain’t one of my strengths, Sola. Sorry about that fumble, swear I thought ya were a goblin or sumthing… By the way, to make up for that, ya up for a request? I gotta do something before I leave for today.”

 

She listened as the woman spoke of faith and the like, and tried rather hard not to burst into a fit of laughter once again. She managed this time, though waved her hand in front of her face slightly as if to ask not to be looked at while she grinned. "I don't mean that kind of spirit! I meant a strong spirit of determination. Maybe I should've said it better."

It was when the woman mentioned something about a request that Solaria really perked up. She'd been enjoying listening to Ursa's words about the problem creatures in the area, entertained by the woman's speech and voice. Her continual work on the sword even as she made conversation honestly amazed the Yladian, who wasn't sure how someone would pull that off so well.

"I can take care of it if you want me to, but depending on what it is, I can't do much without a sword. I guess I do have my beginner's sword still, but that can only help so much. Either way, I'm happy to help in general, so...What is it you need, Ursa? I mean, besides payment for helping sharpen Uchi for me. That's a separate matter."

 

“So ya see, there is a reason I was hammerin’ down that thing over there in the middle of nowhere ya know?” She slid her finger in a perpendicular motion to check how sharp the weapon felt. “Boss wanted me to do as much noise as possible to see if I coulda find the goblins that stole some of his apprentice’s stuff. Bunch of ores and apparently some good ol’ weapon. Never got it back because those things apparently know when the metal is good.”

As they talked and Ursula shared information about her request, however, not far from the secluded workplace round and fluffy creatures incessantly jumped and traveled high up in the trees while hidden by the healthy green foliage of Astorea’s forest. There was a reason these small animals quickly darted across the various branches and that was without a doubt food — human food. No natural sources of nourishment in nature could ever achieve such a great scent strong enough to attract these little creatures from so far away. One of them landed atop of the wall just behind Ursula, eyeing her opened backpack that seemed to contain a nice and yummy launch.

“So what I wanted from ya was some help findin’ those pesky lil’ green things and get his stuff back if possible. If they are against it, killin ain’t frowned upon, so if ya are up for…!” The round fluffy creature plopped down from the wall behind her and hit Ursula’s head that was protected by a mining helmet. Needless to say, the helmet impaired the blacksmith’ vision and startled her - in pure instinctive reaction, Ursula swinged the weapon on her hands while trying her best to keep balance. The creature on her head cooed startled and fearful as much as Ursula, both struggling to get out of this situation.

Ursula’s mindless slashes and failed attempts at keeping her balance resulted in her bag of tools being kicked near Solaria; a shining, beautiful sword slid out of it. A similar, but aggressive coo could be heard this time around in dozens as many other Boggos cooed in response to awkward situation. High up in the trees, they were ready to attack.

A fluffy enemy appears!
[theme]

 

It almost felt like talking to an NPC for a quest, but for a change, Solaria was getting one...From another player? This was a new kind of experience, that was for sure! When did players give each other quests? Unless it was a bulletin board moment of seeking help on one someone was already on, Rina had yet to get one that felt quite like this.

Somehow, she rather liked it!

Of course, without a sword she couldn't fight- but at just that moment, when the bizarre little gelatin appeared. Solaria had never seen a coo, and just assumed it was a gel from old-school games- but even a gelatin or blob couldn't match her sword skills most likely. But without Uchi, what was a girl to do? Especially when even more nasty ones were coming after them!

That was when fate came to her side. Something had opted to try to steal Ursa's lunch, and knocked her tools- including something nice and sharp- in the process! "Sorry, but I'm borrowing this!" Grabbing at the sword on the floor, she used it to dart at and attack the strange enemy. She used a few different jabs, not quite accustomed to this particular type of blade. However, her courage was rewarded, as it began to cower.

"I don't know what you are, but I'm not letting a thief like you get away!" She growled, turning towards Ursa. "Leave them to me! But...what are these anyway? I thought they were jelly, but they're more like bugs!"

 

It seemed Solaria’s plan on dealing with the boggoos was working to a degree, except that doing so while Ursula swinged Uchigatana around trying to hit the enemy on her head when she had no skill in swordsmanship, along with an impaired vision because of the monster on her head pressed her helmet down was a bad idea. When Solaria tried to hit the monster atop Ursula’s head, the slime-insect-fluffy-like monster hissed and cooed back, as if imitating sounds from animals it encountered before. At that point, however, the beautiful and mastercrafted sword that seemed to cut the air with perfect accuracy on each of Solaria’s attacks… It struck Uchigatana’s blade.

And the mastercrafted sword on her hands shattered like glass.​

When the ‘mastercrafted’ weapon on Solaria’s grip broke, it’s shining property seemed to increase as the many broken pieces oddly fluttered down to the ground, as if the metal had no weight to it at all. In response, the monster on Ursula’s head seemed to be afraid of what just happened before its eyes and jumped back to one of the trees. The cooing and hissing noises coming from the boggoos all around them increased as the monsters were drawing closer.

“These fudgin’ motherquackers!” Ursula finally managed to unstick the mining helmet from her head. “I’mma burst these guys to --!” Before she could continue her senseless rage and animal-insulting, however, all the monsters started dropping like potatoes on both of them; particularly on Ursa as she was the one closer to the backpack with food. The enemies dropped and hit Ursa many times, until they managed to make a small mountain where the blacksmith could not be seen anymore.

Meanwhile, the boggoos dropped closer to Solaria as well; though in lesser quantities, some of them also approached from the ground. If she’d look carefully, it was obvious that the creatures were avoiding the shining, shattered pieces of what used to be a sword. Her weapon kept under a mountain of angry balls of fluff and no other weapon in sight, what would Solaria do?

 

The sound of something breaking startled her out of her battle with the little creatures that seemed all to intent on swarming her. On the ground, pieces of metal shards were clearly gleaming, but it took time for the young woman to realize that it wasn't metal they feared! For quite some time, she stood slashing at the numerous enemies, quickly trying to make rid of them...But it wasn't working.

"Damn it!" Growling, she noticed the enemies growing more numerous, not less. As she fell back for a moment, she noticed that Ursa, closer to the flames, wasn't getting attacked from that one angle.

So it wasn't the metal, but the fire! They were pyrophobic! "Ursa, what can I burn in here that won't cause problems for you? It looks like it's the kiln they're avoiding!" It was still a kiln right? She didn't know enough about smiths and their work to know if that was the right term. She just remembered her ceramic classes in high school, and assumed it was the right answer.

It was then that she actually noticed she couldn't see Ursa- just a mountain of mayhem. Moving the sword she'd 'borrowed', she dipped it for a second near the heat before slashing carefully at the mountain. "Ursa! How do I grow the flames?"

 

Even though the number of enemies raised as moments went by, they for both had at least a glimpse of hope and luck; the creatures weren’t that strong and thus were mostly an annoyance to deal with because of their numbers. Ursa tried her best to fight off the annoying fluffballs on top of her, but they would easily return and use their claws to scratch at her again. Her ears could faintly perceive Solaria’s voice somewhere in that mess, though she had no idea just what the Yladian had asked her. Ursula struggled about, trying to make some sort of wiggling room for herself in order to reach her large backpack with tools… If only she could reach just one of her tinker tools or her (odd) weapon of choice.

That was when the blacksmith could see a stronger shine happen somehow amidst all the chaos. Considering the direction from which it came and its coloration Ursula quickly realised that Solaria was using her forge somehow. Finally, when the green haired Yladian approached the mountain of boggoos restraining Ursula’s movement moved around and flinched as the blade inched closer with careful strikes from Solaria.

Thanks to the green haired Yladian, the tinkerer managed to move her arms enough to reach out to her weapon and grab her pickaxe. “SOLARIA, DUCK!” she shouted in hopes the elf could hear voice. “HERE GOES A ONE-WAY TICKET TO BLASTLAND, QUACKERS!” Ursula pulled her weapon closer and got up to her feet; on her hands was her pickaxe that now had gears that whirred with great force and an explosive addon attached to it. Swinging her weapon upwards, the addons let out a loud click as the machinations within burned out the special arcane powders used to detonate and generate an explosive blast upwards, scaring the small creatures temporarily. Thanks to her own ability with tinkerer machines, they were unscathed, but the sound of an explosion was still pretty hard when happening so close.

Ursula tossed Uchigatana to Solaria while picking up her backpack. “Gogo! We gotta grab the chance! Those things arn’t any good with loud noises either!” She made a run for it first, in hopes that Solaria would follow her — that’s if she didn’t want to keep the angry fluff balls company, for some reason.

When they were both safe, Ursa plopped down panting from running so much. “Ya know, thanks for the help back there and all that partner. Those things are fluffy n’ all but they stink…” Ursula held the broken mastercrafted sword’s handle. “ What am I even gonna do about boss' mastercrafted sword, tho…”

 

Solaria had basically ducked right before Ursa's movements began. She wanted to see the strategy in action, but she preferred her head attached to her body, considering she'd already died once and really didn't want to feel that kind of pain again, at least not at a time like this.

As the mass of monsters slowly subsided, blinded by the explosions before their demise, Solaria drew a deep breath and stood straight once more. The blacksmith's workplace was now in rather awkward shape, in her mind. To her surprise, it hadn't done much damage at all, even to their ear drums. Why had the creatures up and left, then?

"Um...did you just say 'mastercrafted'?" She soon mused, turning to look at Ursa, certain no enemies were left near the two. Ursa seemed quite intent with her words, and so far, Solaria had no reason to think she wasn't serious. But no mater how hard she thought it over, it just made no sense.

Something about it just didn't add up. "A master's sword wouldn't break that easily, would it? I've been playing games a long time now...And normally, those weapons don't break, especially not that easily. They're called 'master' class for a reason, after all."

 

Considering that swords like the one she had in hands would roughly cost thousands of gold, Ursula was a bit immersed on her thoughts. Just thinking about the amount of work she’d need to put in to pay the price for such a thing was… Mind boggling, to say the least. Ursula could make a few hundreds at most if the market was in desperate need of weapons — otherwise, commissions weren’t so common. Ursula decided to deal with the problem later, she sighed as her mind stopped racing so hard to find a solution for her new problems.

At that exact moment, Solaria’s voice finally came back to her as the tinkerer’s focus returned to reality and realization started to sink in her mind. The blacksmith glanced at the broken sword, then back at Solaria; after repeating the same motions a few more times, her eyes widened as sparks turned her mental cogwheels back at full force. Memories flowed back in her mind.

“Alright then, you got the basics up blondie! Now you gotta get some actual work done, but you’ll have to find out some of your own techniques and way to crafting your stuff! And I got the perfect place for that. Find a small crumbled home not far from here, on the outskirts of the city. There are some things that belong to me there where you can try some crafting your own...” The burly old man gave a shining, mastercrafted sword to Ursa. “Make something that can at least dent this and I’ll take you in as apprentice!”​

“Sola, thank ya! Yer’ a genius!” Ursula put her hands on the Yladian’s shoulders and shook her lightly. “I mighty missed the point of the test! That old geezer wanted me to at least try any of my swords rather than make a sword as good as that ‘mastercrafted’ one!” The blacksmith jumped and spun about. “And ya know the best part of it?! I was the one who sharpened the weapon that shattered it to pieces!” Ursula pointed to Solaria’s weapon, Uchigatana. “I still don’t get whatcha mean by ‘game’, though… ” Ursula scratched her head, as if confused.

“In any case, the problem with goblins n’ all that is still a thing. Wanna try and find a camp with those monsters or somethin'? Havin’ an extra han- I mean, foot to kick those greenbutts is gonna be a big help. Watcha say? Shouldn’ta be hard to find those guys, they generally don’t have to worry ‘bout predators or anythin’ like that.”

 

Her words had apparently hit something deep in Ursa's mind, something that made the woman seem rather blank for a time. Solaria was originally going to wave a hand before her to ask what was wrong- it was worrying when someone just stood, staring, since AFK settings worked differently in virtual reality- but the moment she was about to, Ursa startled her with a rather sudden burst of excitement.

"Um, I think you're giving me a bit too much credit." Laughing with intimidation, Solaria actually tried to remember the last time someone used that term with her. As a kid, she heard it a lot from her mom. It was mostly out of bias, she assumed. Was Ursa's reasoning the same? That seemed hardly likely, but somehow, this didn't feel 'genius' to her.

No, this just showed how often she played games- way, way too much. Then, as if by sheer luck, she was asked what she meant by game. Wait, was this an NPC? Solaria had been sure Ursa was another player... "Er, i-it's nothing. I just sometimes say strange things."

Please, please buy it...I really don't know how to tell an NPC that strangers see their world as an escape from their own in free time...

 

Ursula raised her eyebrows at Solaria’s answer to her ‘game’ questioning. She wasn’t the smartest woman out there and even her tinkering worked by trial and error rather than smarts. Even so, Ursula was a woman of great intuition, and seeing as the Yladian stuttered to answer, she decided to not poke on the matter. Endra gave her a friend and a bunch of trades bundled together; they traded name information, knowledge and even trust despite knowing each other for such a short period of time. She was her first customer, even!

“Also, sorry about shakin’ you like that. Got myself worked up a bit ya see. I like that ‘a-HA!’ moment where ya manage to figure something out that was a pain in the butt, ya know?” She scratched her head, while remembering Solaria’s reaction to her burst of excitement earlier and apologized. “Welp, I’m gonna head to deeper in the forest to try and find those green quackers. It’s not like anybody will miss a few goblins anyways, dontcha think so? If ya tag along, we split the gold from boss’ request, deal?” Ursula extended her hand towards Solaria and shook her hand, should she agree to her terms. “Alright, time to find those greenbutts…”

Very little light beamed down on the forest ground as they approached the more dense, jungle-like parts of Astorea, previously known as Adecus. Ursula’s eyes shifted from her left to her opposite side every now and then, trying her best to find any clues on the whereabouts of the goblins. The blacksmith ducked behind a large bush as she managed to see one of the green monsters fairly close to them, as if patrolling a given area. Oddly, the goblin had what appeared to be a fluffy boggoo — one of the creatures that attacked them before — dead under its right arm.

“Watcha think? Make a run for it, or fight the guy? I don’t know about ya, but I ain’t any good with the whole stealth thing…” She scratched her chin while pondering the possibilities. “It could be a trap, too. Those greenbutts often stick together like glue… I don’t know…” In all honesty, Ursa was up for any challenge, but she did not want to put Solaria in any unnecessary risks.