One fine day at the Crescent Academy

Goldenblade has been working hard at the Academy's forges for nearly a month now, trying various sword designs, scrapping them, and starting over. She's got to reuse the most precious materials, gold and silver are expensive, as are a few of the reputedly magical materials. Not that shee can enchant it, but she vaguely understands what's required of a weapon if you want someone else to be able to enchant it.

She's concentrating heavily on the form factor for this - for efficient use of a man of a certain size, the blade should be so long, the pommel this exact weight, and so on - but it's also got to look regal and stately: it has to look like a king's sword. In doing so, just carrying it lends weight to the king's prestige. That's the plan anyhow. It goes without saying it should have a blade like a razor, that's the starting point.

Goldenblade is sweating out at her forge, still working on this project, three weeks and change later, and she looks like she has a few bits, at least. But the blade is a work in progress.

Nyanta, meanwhile, has been quite busy himself over the last month or so. Re-entering the adventuring scene, hosting several tea parties, and volunteering to co-host the Crownless Tournament has kept him quite occupied. Added to his duties with the Silver Swords (making sure people don't neglect their hygiene is apparently a very needed task), and the Coolest Cat in ETO has quite a full schedule.

Still, even if his schedule was packed to the brim, he always has time for old friends: especially when he can make it seem like it is part of his duties to visit them.

Nyanta knocks audibly at the door to the forge, waiting patiently while cradling a bouquet of what seems like flowers at first, but the smell of meat gives away the fact that they are actually meat skewers with bacon roses on the top.

Goldenblade's forge is outside, in the yard, except during the winter when it's dragged into the shed. The heat escapes a bit better, which is nice, because it's sweltering with the amount of coal being burned, and of course Goldenblade's liberal use of FIRE. But knocking on the gate to the compound does get her attention, if not for more than a moment. "Hey, Chief," she calls. The meat skewerw won't go to waste, it looks like she's been ignoring a Hunger debuff for over a day. And an Unwashed debuff also.

Hammering and heating and hammering, she asks, "What brings you around today, Chief?" He's got space here, if he wants it, as a teacher, and as her mentor he's more than earned it. And since she's got no other staff, the space is certainly available.

Nyanta gives a fanged smile as he enters, handing off the meat flowers quickly, so that they might properly find their intended place in GB's stomach with expedience. "Oh, I have come up with several purrfectly good excuses as to why I am stopping by today, nya. All of them are quite impurrtant, no doubt, and are duties that require attention to be sure; however, the purrimary purrpose of today's visit is, of course, to be in the company of a good friend, nya."

Goldenblade arches a brow as the meat skewers are revealed, and a bit of drool is accompanied by a loud rumble of her stomach. They will be well-received, it seems, but, "I'll get to them quickly, but the blade's at a critical point, I can't put it down just yet," she explains. She smiles at the company of a good friend, and she says, "Thank you for coming by, Chief. I always feel better when you are around." As capable as she's become in-game in the past two and a half years, she keenly recalls those initial days of cluelessnes, and how much she had to rely on her mentor. She still relies on Nyanta on a lot of the game world knowledge, it's hard for her to keep straight.

Nyanta does, of course, often remind his good friend that much of his in-game knowledge is, perhaps, a bit outdated, and will be until his information network is what it was in his glory days, but is willing to provide whatever world knowledge he has to his now graduated student, "It warms my heart to hear such, nya. I, too, find you to be good company: proof being that I am here so often."

Nyanta shifts the bouquet in his arms so that he does not unintentionally provide himself with grease burns. "Ah. How goes this blade's progress then? Is all going as planned?"

The chief's outdated knowledge is still ahead of Goldenblade's ignorance, and at least knowing that something /used to/ work a certain way is better than going in blind. "Don't sell yourself short, Chief," she says as she hammers delicately, selecting a smaller hammer before she continues. "And I'm always happy for you to come by."

As far as progress, she sighs, and says, "This is about the tenth try on this blade. I seem to not be able to get the thickness just right." She hammers it twice more, then holds it up to a guage she'd set up next to her anvil, and the blade seems a perfect match. So, she quenches it, putting it in a barrel of oil, and a hiss of steam goes up, then a loud crack, and she sighs heavily and pulls up half a blade with a sigh. "And then this happens, each time."

A set of tongs is used to retrieve the still hot broken sword-tip from the barrel of oil, and both halves are placed in a cruicible and back into the forge to get ree-melted so she can try again.

Nyanta observes the process with an attentive eye; his ear twitches slightly when the blade fractures, and nods pensively, "Indeed, nya. I can assure you that it is, quite certainly, not supposed to do that, nya." That is about as close to a joke as the Dandy Cat is likely to get in a professional setting. And being a gentleman is a full-time job with overtime.

"I cannot rightly offer you any true advice on this matter; I have only ever truly dabbled in weaponsmithing as a hobby, you see. However, I have labored quite often in cooking..." He strokes his chin, "Back then, I discovered that, in this version of ETO, one must purrform the technique exactly as one would in real life, nya. That much you seem to be doing... Purrhaps a different angle of attack is in order, nya."

He raises a clawed finger up, "Have you considered utilizing a tool that one would not normally have access to in the real world as a shortcut? For example, magic? Such might make the process more stable if you can more reliably control the environment and cooling of the metal."

Goldenblade is changing her guage, resetting the thickness to a different value that will hopefully allow the blade to survive quenching. Goldenblade and Nyanta do, indeed, share the basic blademaster's familiarity with weapon forging, but she's increased it as a blacksmith, and so she's 'exceptional' by Lander standards already, if not in her own estimation. Other players have surpassed her while she pursued other goals, though her fame as a builder does please her.

"Magic's for sissies and cheaters," she says flatly, echoing a much older perspective than the current take in fantasy adventure fandom. In her youth, when Merlin and Gandalf were the only casters to speak of, in fiction, other than the bad guy of the week slain by the likes of Conan in pulp novels, and they spent thair effort guilding people through sage advice rather than using magic.

"Sissies and cheaters," Goldenblade repeats, "we don't need any magic to make steel, to fight a battle, to make things happen. Strength of will, and stoutness of steel are our weapons. Bad guys can use magic, they have to, they cheat their way to power. That's why they need to be stopped." That was the line on heroic fantasy fiction up until the mid-seventies, really, then D&D came and let good guys have magic, and then everyone wanted it. All the kids, anyhow. Cheating their way to success, to hear her tell it. "If I need to control the environment more, I can do it. You might have something there...."

Nyanta chuckles, "I myself was never too good at magic, and in this case, you are right: it would be cheating, as you would be taking a shortcut from finding the PROPURR way to purrform the craft, nya."

"However, at times, seeing something to its completion by cheating can purrvide insight in solving the purroblem in the first place: like answers at the back of a math book. It tells you what answer you SHOULD get, and then you can go about analysing the purrocess from there, nya."

He shrugs, "That being said, I tend not to rely on magic as it is not a skill that I have ever put time into acquiring, nya. There are always those around who have those skills and are willing to assist, nya. My good friend, Shiroe, was an Archmage, and his moniker was, in fact, the Villain with Glasses; yet, he had a good heart, and he always did what was right, even if his methods were sometimes questionable, nya..."

Goldenblade frowns at using magic even to verify a path. "That sounds like pouring water at the top of a steep drivrway in January. The beginning of a slippery slope." But she asserts, "Even with this latest failure, I think I am quite close to a solution. I have the hilt and crossguard made, so it's just a matter of the blade, and then the final assembly." She nods.

As far as allies, "We have a few here also. All the kids today have to do it by magic, they're not strong enough to do it by strength alone, a lot of them. But they're not bad people. Just kids, I tell myself. You have to make allowances for kids." She shrugs. "They all help, I guess. Prophylaxis is probably the closest we have to your villain in glasses, he's a mage type, and a good tactician. And his name means 'condoms'. It's like no one's told him." She snickers. "I mean, I told him. But no one seems to care nowadays. I guess it's an old-fashioned term. When I was seven, there were billboards that said, 'Beat the Axis, use prophylaxis', and I always thought it was like mouthwash or aftershave or something." At seven. "And ten years later, I learned what it actually meant. But now people have forgotten."

Nyanta nods once or twice, "Well, truth be told, the youth of today are different even from when I was young, nya. And there is a sense of satisfaction to be had in solving a problem without having to look in the back of the book."

Now that she has stopped hammering away at the sword, Nyanta hands off the meat bouquet which is, somehow, still warm. "Ah. Let me think, nya. I did have reasons to come: meowr than just to ensure you are eating, " He sniffs, "And bathing, nya."

He clears his throat, "Firstly, as I have volunteered to co-host an upcoming tournament. I believe we finally decided to call it 'The Crownless Cup' to celebrate those players who were recently freed of those dastardly mind control crowns. I have been tasked to ask around and see if anyone of some reknown would like to be a guest announcer for one or two battles. When I thought of someone who would be known by both landers and adventurers alike, you were the first person to come to mind.

Goldenblade bathes! She bathed just this week! Well, it's a quick thing to navigate the menu and menu-bathe, which clears -that- debuff, and clears the air considerably. And it's just the fresh sweat of working in the forge, rather than a week's built-up funk. The meat is devoured hungrily, and she sighs, "This hits the spot, Chief."

She arches a brow at being an announcer for the tournament, seeming to be surprised about it. "I guess it -is- coming up," she thinks aloud, and when asked about announcing, she says, "I suppose that's possible, sure. I'm not sure /how/ well known I am outside Westelande, but I suppose the badge is recognized."

Nyanta smiles, "Purrfect, nya. I shall notify the staff. I am sure they will be delighted to have you, nya. And I do think you might be selling yourself short, my friend; some might even call you a living Legend, nya." Was that a joke? Does Nyanta even know what a Legend technically is? You'd probably have to ask him.

Goldenblade knows that to get the title, she had to get the highest tier of rep with -all- the Lander factions, so she probably -is- known in Eastal, at that. She hasn't really had 'Exalted with Yamato' explained to her in so many words, but she grinds lowbie quests when nothing else is going on because she hates to sit idle. She grew up before TV when you kept busy by keeping busy, and she still lives that life.

Nyanta nods, "Ah, the second point, nya. I have discovered a... technique, purr say, that I feel it would benefit adventurers to know, nya. I have found method, while helpful in cooking, that can also be used as a way to relieve muscle pain. As it is a multi-use technique, I feel that it might do well to find its way in the curriculum at your academy, nya. What are your thoughts, nya?"

Goldenblade huhs? "You are of course welcome to teach your techniques here. I am more than pleased to have you teaching here, and I hope you are willing to share both your techniques and your general knowledge, though I guess we don't yet have a general knowledge cirriculum. I may have to put it out to the Landers more directly that we can teach such things. Modern farming with crop rotation, they know, but maybe pest controls and fertilizers? General civics and history, maybe, though that's always dicey with monarchies. It's honestly dicey outside the west, and a bit suspect there. So maybe we can skip history. But military tactics, how to lead a campaign, modern logistics. Logistics were the last part of the military to develop."

Nyanta strokes his chin, "Ah, I do consider myaiself to be a learned individual on a wide variety of topics; my purrevious purrfession demanded as such. Whatever it is that you would require of me in that regard, it would be my purrlessure to provide such a service, nya. Indeed, as purrt of my responsibilities, I was also a tutor for over a decade, so there is no need to worry that I do not also understand the basics of basic schooling, nya.

Goldenblade nods sagely to Nyanta. "Excellent. I will see what may be arranged with the new King when I present this." She gestures to the metal, which has melted again, and she will pour it into a flat stone sheet to be pounded thin and flat, then laboriously folded over. This may take some time. As she works, she says, "I'm glad you've returned to us, Chief. This place was starting to lose focus, but now it's getting it back." As she gets back into her groove.