Part 15: The Path of the Blacksmith

Went to the mines again to see what Watts was up to, and it turns out he lost his hammer. So I dived down into the mines, where I ran into a rather odd cult that consisted of Dudbears, with a dog as their messiah. Their leader also wrote odd poetry. I found the hammer there and delivered it back to Watts.



It wasn't a spectacular quest or anything, but it's something. Until next time!





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Not much happening in the mines today. I figured I'd go exploring and see if any new questing opportunities would pop up. Nothing so far.




At least I'm honing up on my combat abilities.





What's this, now?



Looks like an Oddity egg.



I can't even tell which way it's facing! Catching this one is going to be tricky.



I...think I'm behind it. It's not freaking out, anyway. I kind of have to guess my way through this one.



Gotcha!



That was one of the weirder things I've seen.







These spirits have some powerful magic. Being immobile and freezing to death is quite painful.





Looks like Watts forgot all about teaching me how to blacksmith. Guess I'll have to figure it out myself.

Yeah, nothing going on here. After I get back home, I think I'll get started on learning to forge.

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Alright. I've got a few tools, so I think I'm ready to do this. It'll take awhile to set up a solid workshop, but-



Ack!



I just finished makin' the blacksmithy ya asked for!



Bah! Youngsters these days don't know the meaning of gratitude!

But... I never asked you to actually build a workshop...



...But I didn't say that out loud. Maybe he read it from my face.

...... Oh, now I get it! Gwahahaha! I got so caught up in buildin' the smithy, I forgot I came to thank you! Please forget what I just said! Don't hate me! I'll tell you how to make weapons, so have a heart!

I'm for crafting some powerful weapons. I'm sure it'll save me a bit of money, at any rate.




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Ugh...when...does...this...stop...





The right hit makes the right sound!



Ugh... maybe this will go faster if I actually ask him some questions. You know, gain knowledge rather than hammer this thing for the fun of it.



So how do I forge my own equipment?
It's the same for both weapons and armor. Choose the materials...



However, the basic power is decided by the materials, not by yer hammerin' skill.

So why have me hammer this stuff so much?

What about altering the things I forge?
To make alterations, ya first choose an item. It may affect the ability bonuses and elemental property levels......dependin' on the Mystic Powers contained therein. That all depends on the item, not yer blacksmithing.

So does anything rely on my blacksmithing ability? It sounds like the items I choose do the work for me.



Any tips on choosing materials to forge?
The effect that the materials have is really quite simple. Ya can tell by looking at the various statistics after ya forge something. It will come naturally after making a few pieces. Ya can't change the materials' properties usin' yet hammer, I'm afraid.

This exercise is starting to sound more and more meaningless the more I learn. Perhaps I should stop asking questions before I start hammering Watts's skull.

So what sort of things can happen when I alter equipment?
Makin' alterations will change statistics depending on what item ya use. It's like increasing attack power or changing elemental property levels. Although ya can't always tell what the effect is right away... If ya keep altering a piece, you'll start to see a difference. It just doesn't matter how many times it's tempered.

So it's pretty much pure guesswork and experimentation.

What are these Mystic Powers you mentioned earlier?
Miniscule changes occur through altering... And Mystic Powers are the embodiment o' those changes. When the energy o' those changes become strong enough......the energy o' change can be brought 'bout. And then it affects the piece's abilities and parameters. But it won't work just by hittin' it with yer hammer.

So this exercise is useless. I think I'll go ahead and stop now. It's not like he'll remember whether I actually hit this thing a million times or not.



I kind of figured that.

But when I was a lad, m' master trained me like that, too.



But you'll need materials. Since yer just starting out, I'll give ya this.



Weaker than any of the iron equipment I can simply buy from Watts, but it's something to practice with, I guess.






I'm sure the guy's senile enough to give me more, but whatever gets him out of here quicker.

Yes, you did.
Oh... I did then, eh? I fergot. Alright then. Keep it up and you'll be a fine blacksmith.

So that's forging. I just need a base material to create weapons and armor, and then specific items to alter the item's properties and make it stronger. Sounds simple enough.



After all, how difficult could forging be?