Heavy Metal Fund Raiser

    Wake has slept. Honest she has. Just not much. A project of this scope might as well be a strange mood for her. Her attention this time is diverted to deal with a load of raw resources that have arrived. For efficiency's sake, the metal has to be prepared here in Yamato before it is sent on to the Palace Lands. At the very least, it will reduce the shipping weight and volume by at least 3/4.

    The Baroness knows roughly nothing about metalworking, mind you, which is why (again) she has put the call out for help. Honestly she's basically called upon everyone not in the Palace Lands to support the effort.

Goldenblade is Wake's Go-To for building, and it turns out, she knows just a smidgen about metalwork also. After all, as a weapon smith and an armor smith, she's obliged to know her metals. She's been working hard as well, no one could say otherwise, but she carries herself as if it were just another day at work despite the dark circles under her eyes. "More things to do?" she asks as she heads up on a horse, which she will park in the stables with the pekos. She's not a very good horse rider, but at least she doesn't feel like an idiot on a mutant ostrich.

    "Work?" It takes a moment for Wake's brain to fire up. She has been staring at rocks and sorting them based on what she was told to do. It is dull work, no doubt, but she can do little better.

    "Oh, Goldenblade. Apologies. I was almost drifting off. This has a hypnotic effect on me. But yes, the metals are being prepared. With space at a premium, everything we send must make the most of what room we have. Of course getting past our enemies is a whole other matter. But I imagine they are still licking their wounds a bit. I hope."

    Hyuga, however, is well rested for his travels today to Yamato. As he had never been, he decided to get away from home for a bit and see another city. So, he's geared up, including that massive greatshield and the forgehammer on his hip, and strolling through the plaza. He looks around, curious to see everything around, and seems to be smiling and approachable.

Goldenblade nods to Wake as she comes back to the present and explains the situation. "I met the fellow that's organizing this. The French Underground could have taken lessons in secrecy from him. I don't think our shipments will get intercepted, he's got his organization running very smoothly. If we can get it over there, I think he will make sure it reaches it's ultimate destination."

She has met Hyuga before, and calls out when she sees him, "Hyuga! We need your crafting skill." And her own, of course. "Is there a furnace and such set up, or are we starting /completely/ from scratch?" she asks Wake.

It was not uncommon these days for Kauchemar to have some manner of monster entourage, almost like a rockstar's following of roadies and groupies. But this time it was more like a marching line, as the group of Rock Moles kept near perfect step behind her, trundling along on their hindlegs to use their forelimbs to carry large chunks of ore. Someone has been putting the monster prospecting technique she developed to good use. "Okay, this should be the last of it." She sets the crate she herself was carrying down with the other materials to be processed. "Every chunk of ore and scrap of broken armor or weapons that can be melted down we could find." She glances sidelong at the mole brigade as they dump their own loads into the pile. "Ignore that some of the pieces have bites taken out of them." Stripmine, the lead Rock Mole, just gives her the equivilent of an 'I didn't do anything' look.

    Hearing his name called by a familiar voice, Hyuga turns andw aves before reacting to the call-out's words. "Eh? Me?" He shrugged. He didn't mind work - it was in his nature to always be at work, after all - and so he made his way over. He had a few crafting skills, and he opened his Skills window. "Right, what do..." Then he got an eyeful of the material. "...whoa. What's all this?" Selecting Metalworking, and drawing his hammer, he prepared to start organizing and processing, having zoned completely into the work and missing the people other than Golden who were there.

    "Nope, we are not that far back on things. The furnaces are getting fired up. Oh. Theat was an hour or two ago. They probably reached heat by now, right?" She does not know just how long that takes.

    "They are towards the city. I will not have that smoke darkening the statue of the Beautiful One."

    Seeing others arrive, she moves to greet them. A curtsey to Hyuga and for Kauchemar, a hug. "Thank you all for joining us. We need all the help we can get at this point. Oh, and more pieces of ore." She forces herself to smile. It will no doubt need some kind of sorting. Every piece is needed, though, and it has to get into the right pile and end up in the right place. Temperature differences. She thinks that is what someone told her.

    "I trust your travels were safe. The best road in all of Yamato is clear of enemies these days, but if there are issues, I would prefer someone make me aware as soon as possible."

    Fuka is, as always, eager to help out. In this case, with the load of metals arriving, she's on hand to man the lift. Or sylph the lift as the case may be. Pushing a ton of earth mana through the enchanted pillar is relatively easy, being easily done by any earth mage. Knowing precise calibrations however, that's something Fuka's practiced more than most, so she can operate the enchanted devices better than just about any.

    Having more or less depleted her reserves already, the little sylph wanders over, sipping away at a flagon of something that could possibly be alcoholic. Then again, possibly not, if her wince is any indication. She seems to be more forcing herself to drink than doing so for the sake of refreshment.

    "What's this about furnaces?" Fuka asks as she ambles over. "If you want something hot, I'm your girl!" she adds cockily.

Haru is around the mines and the furnaces. He puts Terra to use in extraction, being some four meters tall and excavation drills for arms, and Rachel for providing heat for the furnace. Something about having access to fire as hot as one of the Divine Beasts of the Palace Lands to keep it toasty enough to smelt down any metal one can come across. Alternating between the summons makes him more of a traffic cop than hands on contributor.

Goldenblade arches a brow as Kauchemar shows up with her ... entourage. "You and Seta, with the chickens, or whatever you call em's, always following him." She hasn't quite gotten the game vocabulary down. She nods as Wake announces that the furnaces are hot and ready. "Excellent," she replies, and will direct traffic so the metal goes to the furnaces. "Dump everthing in the ceramic bowls," she instructs. "I think the easiest way will be to slowly bump up the temerature and pour off what's melted out of the solids, then raise the temp, then pour out the next thing to melt separately. That'll separate our metals, too, which we probably need. An alloy of 'all the junk we own' would just be a mess."

She smirks to Fuka and says, "We're sorting out metals." She will gesture Hyuga forward, he can help also, but he's already gotten to work. "Good, pre-sorting will help this go smoothly," she agrees, getting a bunch of the metals more or less arranged by their primary constituent into the ceramic crucibles ready to go into the furnace. "You Earth people might be able to do this with magic, I just know this way," she explains.

"The road is fine, but with all the use moving this stuff around, it might need some patching up afterwards," comes a generalist reply from the Nightmare Bard after the brief hug with Wake. ".. And yeah. Don't look at us for sorting. It's enough keeping them from trying to eat it in the process." A couple of the moles are already eyeing the bins the runoff slag from smelting is collected in, but a quick bop lightly to the head with her staff keeps anyone from trying anything. "If you want handouts later, make yourselves useful. No eating the metals... But you can help Terra by chewing off the rock and debris."

"Monsters are a handful," she asides to Wake. "I don't know how you manage to do this with -people-."

The prospect of future snacks seems to be enough to keep the Rock Moles in order though, shuffling over to help Terra with the extracting of metal from other materials.

    Hyuga shrugs, having always been a bit socially awkward, and so he focuses on the sorting. Some things can be melted down together, others require their own vessels, and others still must be worked over in order to properly be melted down. Hyuga is a rank 1 Metalworker, doing far better at the art than most Landers, and as he sets aside his massive slab of worked metal called a greatshield, his mind is already off to the races on proper sorting techniques to use. An Apple is produced from his Inventory, which he munches on while sorting.

    Wake is grateful to take a step back. She needs a moment to get her eyes working normally again. She eventually gathers her wits and turns to Kauchemar. "Oh, people are pretty easy to work with. Once you take the time to get to know them. It can lead to all sorts of exciting possibilities, too. I spent two hours talking about dirt and pigments with a gnome last night."

    She remembers some of it. Vaguely. But it made the gnome happy and gave him a fair sense of his importance.

    "This reminds me. I should be helping again." She draws in a breath and lets her eyes fall shut. She does not use earth magic, nor fire, nor even light (her specialty). She taps into her connection to the Beautiful One itself to bless the efforts of others. As she does, the shackles she wears do start to glow. She whispers something and the blessing races outward to those around her.

    When this is done, she replies to Goldenblade. "I will be going there. When things are ready. I hope to meet them when I do. But it makes me wonder, honestly, if we might have known each other in the dream before. Those kind of skills are familiar. I had a rather unusual craft back then."

    "People are easy!" Fuka agrees, coming up alongside Wake cheerfully and applying a little nudge with her elbow. "You just have to feed them right! Which, I should note, does NOT mean with rocks!" she adds with a playful grin. "Or dirty pig mints, for that matter. I mean okay I guess, if that's what the gnome's gonna talk about, I won't reject the conversation outright. Just not for me, you know? Mints, sure! Just not dirty pig mints!"

Goldenblade eyes Kauchemar curiously as she mentions the rock moles eating rocks and metal. "Do they digest the metal, or just crap it out?" she wonders. "If they crap it out, we could melt down the scats, too?" For those not sufficiently old to know that term for wild animal droppings, it might get translated? She watches Hyuga work, and he'll notice her skill is about the same as his. She's just more used to projects and teams and organization and planning. This is clearly not her first rodeo, even if it is the first one with rock moles.

Wake reminds her of her own particular talent, and she will call out in a bold, clear voice, "OK, quick metalworking lesson for /everyone/." And she will go into a bunch of seemingly trivial details, and you've definitely gotten her to go down the rabbithole of every little bit and detail of how smelting works, what melts when, and a hundred other details.

Haru has a means of sorting out metals from the earth. With. Earth. Magic. The larger hauls that need to be split open are done so with drills. Yes. Drills. SONIC DRILLS versus Rock. Super effective. This isnt the first time that Haru has had to go mining for precious metals and gemstones for his accessory forging. Is he good at it? No. It is like bringing a chainsaw to a surgery and overtime he adapted it to being more akin to a chainsaw to a ice sculpture. Broad strokes for te finishing work.

Haru dismisses Terra in favor of Rachel, his fire birb, just in time tol isten to GB's lesson. Notably while the heat is raised to over 9000 in the smelter. The Artificer has to step away to work on fire resistance enchantments on the structures before he causes them to melt with the metal. It is easily noticed that his fire summon burns significantly hotter these days.

    Hyuga half-listens to Goldenblade, so intent is he on his work, but as he catches a word here and there, he pays more attention. He realizes two things about Goldenblade: she is at least on par with him in Metalworking, and she can inspire others and motivate them. Things seem to click a little faster for him as he sorts, such that he finishes things rather quickly. Picking a forge to work with, a tattoo on his right arm ignites, snaking down his arm, and as he begins to melt down items in his area dedicated for the purpose, things seem to go a bit quicker...

    Fuka talking about people being easy gets a look from Wake. She opens her mouth, as if to correct that particular turn of phrase, but thinks better of it. "People are easier for me to understand than monsters, in any case."

    She looks over the worksite for a time. But it is not long before she's back to helping sort things. Not something she's amazing at, of course, but thanks to Goldenblade's skills, she finds herself realizing things about ore that she didn't before.

    "So Haru, something came to mind. We had a rather cold winter, and in light of your particular talent with fire, I was wondering if we might have a go at a proper central heating setup."

Goldenblade seems to be doing much the same as Hyuga, fiery runes running down her arm to enhance the forgeflame, but really to get the temperature /exact/, precision being more important here than total temp. As the metal melts, she will pour it in ingot-shaped molds, which will be usable by the weapon and armor and everything else smiths later. First the low-melting point metals, then the oens that melt at higher temps, melting from the mass of mixed scraps one type at a time. It's not /pure/, but it's close enough for this tech level of crafting. She has quite good control of the heat, her mastery over fire is well known to most at this point, and she seems to be multi-tasking, but it's kind of just one project she's juggling through several phases.

With people (and monster summons) getting to work and setting a sort of assembly line process in motion between extracting, sorting, smelting and smithing; Kauchemar can shift to helping in ways she's better suited for. She pulls out her staff, but instead of setting it up holds it like one would a guitar. Though as it uses magic instead of strings, it's more like playing a theramin than a normal instrument, but this stance at least makes it clear what she's doing. The Legends are going to Legend, but there's still few things that can help get people motivated like a little Bardic Inspiration. Which is music. Which she starts to play through the staff's ability to harmonize with her bardic magic to produce music.

The old people in the group (and just some for being nerdy) probably are going to recognize it. Especially as she synergizes with the processes around her, playing off the sounds of hammers striking and forges firing into the rhythm and beats.

( https://youtu.be/HnzLconK4Tw?t=73 )

"I have Enchanting designs to test out that came from a similar problem needing a solution," Haru tells Wake, "Originally the idea struck for keeping buildings environmentally controlled against humidity and temperature both for places like Museums and Libraries. They also have a vital place in lab environments as well as for comfort or wide scale combat against exposure." A grand idea, for sure. "We already have the building blocks in place with other innovations required to make it work." He finishes the quick enchantment on the smelter so his birb can burn bright. "If a prototype shows promise, I can put Eas buildings on the list. Did you have specific ones in mind?"

    Hyuga goes for the opposite approach from GB, figuring that burning a candle at both ends finishes it off quickly. He takes to the more difficult metals to break down, opting to leave the easier ones to someone with less skill. With enough skilled workers, the more skill-requiring tasks get focused down, while the fodder is left to those who cannot reach the same heights as others. It makes sense to him, of course, but it might be a bit dated of an idea. He's old enough to recognize Kauchemar's music, and he grins wryly, tapping his foot in time. Otherwise, his shyness comes out, and he keeps to himself for now.

    "The castle. Tae hates the cold. She's asking every enchanter she meets for some kind of magical stockings to keep her legs warm. I'm not much of a fan, either, frankly. Hm. Do you know if we have anyone working on proper insulation? I would like to make the lives of the landers more comfortable as well. The fires do their jobs, but drafty housing is an ongoing problem."

    She pauses to listen to the music. It is not what she expected from Kauchemar, but music is welcome, regardless. "I wonder..." But whatever it is that has her wondering, it is not spoken.

Goldenblade knows Kauchemar's song, and remembers dancing to it at school dances, though they were starting to play what would come to be called rock and roll. She definitely moves with a bit of swing in her step as she smelts. A sheen of sweat on her face doesn't bother her, concentrating as she is on separating out each metal. Hyuga taking the harder tasks is perfect, she'll do the easy stuff, and make up for it in volume, her Legendary status boosting everyone's metalworking talent, even her own. It's become quite efficient this way, once GB was reminded to use that skill. She forgets some times.

Wake complaining about drafty housing draws her attention, though. "I can fix that, you know?" she says. Though the last time she offered that, it involved bulldozing the town and building a planned community from the ground up.

    Admittedly Fuka does have some skill in working with metal, though in this case it's limited to basically heating it up and hitting it with something heavy. This applies to both armorcrafting and combat, though one tends to have fewer screams.

    She's not really so great with metalworking in general. Sorting ores and heating and separating and whatnot. Left to her own devices she'd likely get bored, but with Goldenblade's expert instruction she's actually relatively competent. And more to the point, actually helpful! She doesn't just pound metal and set random fires, she applies proper time and patience and effort to the task, beating out a rhythm thanks to Kauchemar's music. She doesn't really know the tune, though there's something vaguely familiar. She's one of the youngsters here though, and such things were somewhat before her time.

Haru shakes his head and looks to GB on the mention of insulation, "I imagine that would be more in the domain of Construction or, at a stretch, Alchemy for materials that then could be used. The Enchanted Glass has a variant meant for windows so even basic shelters wouldn't have to decided between venting via open air or being trapped in a deathbox. Having walls that insulate is a better and more distributable option." He hums, "Also Gwen with warmer clothing options. There are more than a few ways to tackle the problem." Remote heating service ala firebirb.

    As Hyuga works, his rhythm picks up, and the song in his head changes. "I can help too." He says this rather quietly, but in agreement with Goldenblade, finding her fun to work with either in combat or otherwise. Yay, friends! His rhythm slows back down as he falls back into the timing of the music, deciding to go with the flow rather than hear his own earworm. He briefly considers accessing his Inventory for some of his herbal tea, but decides against it, not wanting to stand out and look cocky by doing so. The heat of the forge hides the heat of his blush as he berates himself.

    "You know, Goldenblade, I may finally let you fix it. Like you suggested. If we are to expand, it is best to get the houses built right from the get-go. Though I do hope we can keep the individual gardens. They are part of our culture. Not to mention I made the earth for them all myself."

    The Priestess aspect of Wake is rather tied to fertile land. And of course fertile landers. The Beautiful One is her patron goddess, after all.

    She nods to Haru. "Admittedly, I do not know much about how anything works when it comes to making things. The only things I will forge are alliances and..." She sighs, eyes narrowing. "Even if the lander lords are taking their very sweet time in helping me get things off the ground for their orphans."

Goldenblade hrms to Haru about insulation and construction. "Isn't fiberglass something /you/ do?" she asks. "I can install it, it's not that hard, though you need to wear full P-P-E or you'll wind up going blind and rubbing your skin off. That's miserable stuff, I don't mind telling you. I don't think they insulate things now, but with magic available, it ought to be pretty straightforward?" Spoken as someone clueless about magic.

She gives Hyuga a nod as he gets into the rhythm, it's not so much about speed as being able to sustain the pace for the time this is going to take. And with all the metal that's been brought in, this will take a while. Though as Wake mentions the gardens, she looks to Hyuga again, and says, "You two should talk. Hyuga, Wake here is the local landowner here, Wake, Hyuga is one of Olympus's few farmers. He should be able to help you with the gardens, which will be super complicated to keep if we bulldoze everything flat for a clean start." Clearly the solution is to not bulldoze everything flat.

Haru makes the wobbly woobly hands on he topic of fiberglass, "Here is what I know about fiber glass: It insulates, is a series of fibers, has glass and," he thinks to a moment on it, "plasic is involved in it. Replace plastic with Earth magic rich fibers along with the Enchanted Glass structure and you could use it as the material. The glass is a highly versatile material that can hit many crafts." He considers, having not specifically about fiberglass when making the enchanted material, "There is a sample set in Eas for experimentation like that. I think a material that can be distributed will go a lot further than having to Enchant every building. Think of it like," the Artificer considers, "electricity. Only without a grid. So its one thing to wire up a home and connect each home to a generator, which is what Enchanting would do now if we used it to solve the problem." He takes out a book for another enchanting project: A Mana Grid. The book closes. "Around this era people used a clay-mud mix to insulate, right? Mark it on the calendar for me saying it, but for everyday housing a non-magical solution may be the best one. Materials made possible by magic? Thats a solid possibility, especially if we can avoid the whole dangers of the last world with absestos, lead, fiberglass, chemical burns, and the like." Not his thing. If it was a circuit board? More his thing.

    "So find a non-magical solution but use our full abilites to create it. Hm. Maybe we can do something truly amazing here yet. Well, more amazing. I hate to sound unsatisfied. I have a castle and a people to lead. I am grateful for all of this, of course. I want to improve their lives even more than we already have, and make Eas greater than any root city."

    She smiles at Hyuga, "So a farmer, are you? Well, we have aqueducts and are well prepared for an expert to improve our techniques. Olympus has worked on it before. But I would be pleased if we could bring yet more wonders to my home."

Goldenblade hrms and listens as Haru explains about fiberglass. She doesn't know it except having installed it. "My first house in Japan was just paper. It was /freezing/ in the winter." So she learned a lot about installing insulation herself. She nods about electricity, which she's working on as well, as some know. The clay-mud thing draws a hrm, and she says, "They're not wasps." But she hasn't checked the local insulation, maybe it is that? She shrugs.

She nods to Wake about a non-magical solution, and smirks about her not being satisfied. "Wanting the best for your people does you credit." And it gives GB things to do in between stabbing goblins. Because she likes to keep busy. "I was talking to someone recently about Root Cities, actually. Well, in the context of building an actual functional in-game church, like you could Rez there. Not sure what all that will involve, but magic, probably." She says that with a grumble.

    Hyuga, in the groove, seems to zone out a bit. Once spoken to, however, he speaks casually but passionately. He is very proud of his Farming and Pharmacological skills. "All things take quality into account, and I would love to speak with you about improvements. My own farm looks basic, but I keep a lot of the improvements hidden so as not to become a target of nefariousness. Quality of Seed, Fertilizer, Water... even the right dirt for the Crop... all important!"

    "It will do me more credit when we succeed more frequently at it," Wake replies, laughing softly. "In time, though, things will improve. We will gain more people, make better use of our land, and so on and so forth. Until, well, we run out of time, I suppose."

    She turns her head slightly, listening to her chimlink. "Speaking of which, I am being called upon. For something pleasant, thankfully. I will be in touch, and I think we've been making excellent progress. But if I do not rest, I doubt I can achieve much more."

    Turning to Hyuga, the Baroness says, "I have spoken a great deal about dirt as of late, but I would be happy to hear about just about anything else related to improving farming." It is a long story. But one that must wait for another time.

Goldenblade looks pleased as Wake and Hyuga seem to be on the same wavelength. She says to him, "Whatever you do to improve your own crops, I'm sure will be welcome here also. The Landers are mostly refugees from one place or another, so they're not tied to any particular piece of land, which often is what ties to them to a way of thinking. If you can help the land bloom, they will eat better for it, and the land will be able to support more people. Maybe I'll have to invent the Hi-Rise apartment," she quips, busying herself with the smelting, though it's almost done, now the last metal turning to liquid as the heat reaches it's hottest yet.

    Hyuga nods at Goldenblade's words, having heard the Baroness speak, and sending her a Friend Request. "I think that I would like to leave that sort of mark on this world. Farming, that is. I can work metal, and intend to learn more of the Tradeskills, but basic food necessities being taken care of is important and I would love that to be part of my legacy." Shaping some of this metal into ingots is easy, being done with the ingot casts. However, some of it seems to be a bit more difficult to work. "By the way, I am on a cooldown for some of my work, so I can work the rest of this metal if you need to get going at any point."

Goldenblade pours out the last of her liquid metal into an ingot mold and says, "Ah, no, I'm just finishing up also. Good job here, we've got a pile of good metal for the Project, so we're good to go. You can take a break now, or have a look around, I'm going to get lunch." She eyes the dark sky. "Or supper, whatever."

Kauchemar is still here, still playing motivation and energetic music in the background of all the crafting and smithing going on. She use to be a Club DJ in the other world, she can do this Aaaaaall Niiiight Looooong... and probably longer. She's taking a Muse title to a relevant application right now, to be sure.

    Hyuga chuckles as the pair finishes at nearly the same time. "Must be the music, but I think I worked better and faster today than usual." Or it's the assist from GB's lecture. Or luck. In any event, more metal is worked before the tattoo's fire fades, and Hyuga takes a step away from his work area. "I think... maybe I should grab a nap." Cracking his neck, he chuckles. "Oh yeah, there's the tired. No overtime in this for me, today."