My Fellowship Phase

[Glorelendil]

I had fun writing this up for Hermes Serpent's roll20 game and thought I'd share it. It's also an illustration for HotSnow about one option for narrating adding qualities to weapons:



Grimfast also goes to see Odo the Smith, an ornery and mean-tempered old one-eyed coot, but tolerated and even loved for the quality of his axes. He walks into the outdoor workshop and waits while Odo works a piece of iron on the anvil. Grimfast knows enough about smithing to see that Odo is deliberately making the task take much longer than it should, probably in the hopes that his unwanted visitor will leave. Grimfast finds a place to sit, as a way of pointedly illustrating his determined patience.

"Git off my barrel, lazy-bones!" says Odo, now even more annoyed. "Well...what do you want, anyway?"

"I need some advice on my axe," says Grimfast, "and nobody west of the Mirkwood...or east of it," he hastily adds, "knows as much about axes as you do. It's sharper than the first sliver of the new moon, but it feels...awkward. I'm thinking that the handle isn't quite the right shape and..."

"I'll be the judge of what's wrong with it, pup. Give that here." Odo snatches the axe out of Grimfast's hands and stares at it suspiciously.

"Where'd you get this axe?" he demands. "This is no honest blacksmithing. I smell sorcery. Or...worse...dwarves. Somebody has been stealing my work. And badly, at that."

"Well, in fact, it is made by Dwarves. I found myself in Dale and...uh...in need of a new axe, so the Dwarves were the nearest smiths...."

Odo stares at Grimfast. "What happened to the old axe? Did you bury it in yer own soft-sided skull? You troll-brained ninny, you put this axe-head on upside down. No wonder it feels wrong. Not that it will be worth much even right-side up. Dwarven blacksmithing. Hah!" Yet Grimfast cannot help but noting that the old smith keeps studying the fine steel.

"I'll tell you what, young pup, because I heard what you did to that sow-whelp Beran, I'll make you a proper axe. A woodsman's axe. I've been needing a new door jamb, and this piece of soft iron you've been using to bludgeon goblins is just the right shape and heft, so we'll call it a fair trade."

"Well....." says Grimfast, trying to think, "I appreciate the offer, but truth be told I've grown rather attached to that axe. And, uh, also, I happen to be traveling with a kinsman of the smith, and I would dearly like to avoid causing offense by replacing it. Gifts, you know, can sometimes be mixed blessings..."

"Huh. Well, can't say I didn't try to warn you. First time this mallet bounces off an orc you'll remember my offer. Well," he says, his tone softening somewhat as he forgets to put on his usual blustery show, "let's see what can be done with this shapeless lump of pig-iron. I think we're going to need a different kind of handle..."

Odo roots through his stash of cured hickory, inspecting each piece, until he settles on one he likes. He looks at the axe-head for a while, and arches his eye-brows. "I'll tell you what, pup, you leave this gardening tool with me for a day or two and I'll see what I can do. Oh, get that look off yer face, I won't swap out yer precious Dwarf work. I'm a perfessional."

The old smith turns his back on Grimfast and goes puttering about his smithy, pretending the youngster is no longer there. Grimfast fidgets, loathe to leave his axe behind, but eventually realizes he has no choice.

He returns the next day, but Odo is nowhere to be found. Pounce, his faithful Hound, whimpers mournfully. After an hour of waiting he leaves, truly worried.

He returns again the next day, to find Odo once again working glowing iron on his anvil. "Well, what do you want?" he barks. "Oh, yer probably wanting that old axe of yours, huh? Give me a minute."

The minute is more like 30 as Odo works the piece of iron, at one point staring at Grimfast like he can't quite believe a boy that stupid lived to adulthood, until Grimfast figures out what is wrong and starts working the bellows on the forge.

Finally Odo finishes and unceremoniously drops the iron into a bucket of water, where it vanishes with a hiss and puff of steam. "One minute," grumbles the smith. He goes into his house and comes out with a long-ish object wrapped in an old cloth. Removing the cloth he gazes at the axe for a minute, then hands it over, haft-first. "Now don't go and get yerself killed with it."

The axe has been newly mounted on a piece of...not hickory, but he doesn't recognize the wood. Something tight-grained and dark, sinuously carved. At the base of the haft the wood contains a dense, figured knot, and bound around this knob is an iron band. Grimfast peers at it, and sees a variety of small runes, some of them almost erased by recent reworking, that suggests this piece of iron had a previous life.

He swings the axe, and discovers that it feels lighter. The shape of the handle feels just right in his hands, and the heavy, iron-bound knot seems to balance out the weight of the head. Grimfast can't help but smile.

The old smith winks at him, and goes back to his work...

(OOC: Added Grievous to my Keen long-hafted axe.)

[beckett]

Love this. Thanks for the great read!

[Majestic]

Great bit of backstory there, Elfcrusher!

You could add a few insults over into that thread (Curses, Swearing, and Exclamations):

lazy-bones
pup (and young pup)
troll-brained ninny
sow-whelp

[Seosaidh]

I really like this! I just had my first Fellowship phase as a player, and my narration for adding the reinforced quality to my shield consisted of about two lines. But then, it was past midnight on a work night, and I was also playing a card game at the same time so...

[Glorelendil]

I really like this! I just had my first Fellowship phase as a player, and my narration for adding the reinforced quality to my shield consisted of about two lines. But then, it was past midnight on a work night, and I was also playing a card game at the same time so...

Never too late to go back and re-write!