Chapter 8 - To Make A Magic Item
Pops, as the smith preferred to refer to himself, stood by the forge with the cleaned copper daggers in a thick crucible made of a stone that wasn't familiar to Dominic. The trade skill gem had called him a Dwarven Smith, but he was clearly not a Dwarf, or at least not entirely a Dwarf, as he stood only a few centitres shorter than Dominic did.
"Watch closely, boy. What you need to do is fire up the forge, either with magic or with coal, and then pump air through. It's the combination of burning and airflow that gets it properly hot." He explained as he began to work.
"Now magic does the job better than coal, so the copper will be ready in just a minute. If you have to use a conventional forge, it could take a half hour or more.
We are going to have to make it molten today, since I need to make a special blend of Naval Brass to complete this compass that the custor wanted.
I've got the zinc and tin. I just needed more copper.
It's beco difficult to co by here on the lower side of town, since the resellers in the Noble district pay better.
Forget I said that part. I don't mind if you keep bringing more copper directly to . Most of the clothing makers use it for making bronze and brass ornantation, and it's on most of the magical items that are made by the Wizards, so there is no shortage of demand for copper in the city. They even use it in all of the steam vessels, though that's making them increasingly expensive to build and maintain these days.
Now, the copper is already liquid, so we add a third as much molten zinc and a tiny splash of lted tin, and there we go. Give it a nice stir and a hit of mana to blend the alloy, then pour it into the mould.
Then we dunk it in the water and let it cool for a few minutes before working with it."
Dominic looked around as he waited for the tal to cool. He had sowhat expected there to be weapons or fancy armour of so sort, given the smith's age and personality, but it looked like it was almost all common tools and small useful tal items.
There were sewing needles, nails, hand tools, so sturdy-looking tal dishware that would be good over a fire, thick cast iron pots and pans.
All were very well-made, but none of them were fancy, and Pops had said that they were making a Compass today, which was usually a very ornate item, more of a decorative accessory if it wasn't going to be hard mounted to a ship's bridge.
The bell rang, signalling that soone had entered the store, and Pops waved his hand in that general direction. "Go take care of that, would you? I need to watch the tal. The prices are on everything, no discounts."
There was an odd man wearing a long leather coat over black enalled plate armour with the sa style of bronze gears as ornantation that Dominic's own coat was adorned with.
He had a matching leather top hat with round purple lensed glasses over his eyes, but a friendly smile for Dominic when he ca out to help him.
"The old man has a new helper, does he? I need a grappling hook. The target we're looking for is at the top of a cliff." The man explained in a slow, drawling accent.
He leaned forward to smile at Dominic, and he noticed that the man had a pistol on either hip and a pair of short swords inside his long coat. An odd combination, but everything about this city was new to him, and common sense appeared to have very little to do with their decision-making processes.
"I see one over here. Two silver pieces each. How many do you need for your group? I'd recomnd at least having a spare in case one of your ropes breaks on the way up."
The tall man stood with a hand on one hip as if examining the quality of the hook, which appeared to be made of entwined pieces of stainless steel or a similarly shiny tal, which were forged into one piece for the eyelet.
"It's so bright. It will give us away instantly. Don't you have one in bronze? It's much more fashionable." He asked.
The old Dwarf had said he was out of copper, but Dominic knew that they could dull the hook without any real issues. The soldiers he grew up around did it all the ti for blades to be used during evening guard rotations.
"I could darken the hooks to match your armour. Perhaps give them a bit of pin striping for a small upcharge?" He suggested with a wink.
"Darkened will have to do. I've got to et my group in ten minutes, and we forgot to buy one in advance." He sighed, clearly upset that he couldn't get a fashionable bronze accessory.
"I will be right back."
Pops was silently laughing as Dominic walked in with the two grappling hooks, but he had the forge ready and a bucket of oil for quenching hot tal.
The oil would give it a durable black finish, and Pops' magic cooled the hooks to room temperature in seconds.
"There you go, only six silver coins in total for your custom grappling hooks," Dominic inford the fashionable man with his best smile.
"Of course, these are perfect. I'm sure the others will agree. I will see you again, lovely young Dragonkin."
The man flounced out of the shop, and Pops finally let out the laughter he was holding in.
"You're a good one, boy. Got two extra silvers out of him to blacken them. I usually do that for free if they don't like the shiny bits." He comnded Dominic.
"The grappling hooks aren't all that expensive, though. Are they? Everything in here looks to be quite reasonably priced, and there aren't any weapons or other high-priced items." Dominic noted.
In fact, the hooks were one of the more expensive items compared to the housewares. Only the specialty tools cost more.
"Nobody makes it this far across town without a weapon. We're too near to the staging area for the coaches heading out to the battlegrounds and wilderness regions. No, what they need are the last-minute essentials, things they forgot to pack, not the things that they carry with them everywhere. So, that's what I sell. A hundred small transactions instead of one big one." Pops explained.
"Now, watch as I flatten this out and start the engraving. That's where the [Smithing] skill cos into play, and I'll show you a trick that only a few know."
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