Heat Of The Forge by Grengori

[Keeper Of Lore]

"Theresssss a parcel here for you, sssir.." the low hiss of the undead courier sounded through the dank, stone walls of the Forsaken city as he approached the large Tauren male. Clasped within rotted and gnarled fingers was a letter and, dragging behind the undead, was a brown box. It was fastened tight with linen rope and seemed a bit on the heavier side.

Grengori pivoted on a hooved foot to gaze down at the shorter being, his brown eyes widening a bit in curiosity. Silvered-bronze armor adorned the immensely broad torso, flecks of light reflecting from its polished surface. A white and brown cape drooped down over his back, providing a bit of warmth given the cool nature of the Undercity. The walls seemed to absorb the cold a great deal more than other types of stone. Perhaps it was to keep the residents from stinking the place up; though, the lingering smell of rotted flesh and entrails seemed to hang around anyway. Sausage-like fingers took the parchment from the courier, unrolling it to read its contents aloud.

"Grengori, I finished da order earlier den anticipated, mon. Don't be worryin' 'bout a shipment fee, ya jus' be owin' me a favah... Take care an' put dat armor ta good use. Stay away from da voodoo! ~Bralji"

He snorted with laughter and rerolled the scroll back up, slipping it into one of the satchel's strung up along his belt. The other hand dropped into his money pouch, removing a few silver and giving them to the mail courier. "Muaha, muahahaha..That Bralji sure is a good friend. For your troubles, living-dead. I'll take the parcel from here...muaha..and thank you."

"It'sssssss my job, Tauren..Have a good day. Don't trussssst anyone..." the courier gave a small wave of hand before turning about, shuffling a few more letters in hand and limping his way down the corridors of the Undercity.

With the package now before him, the warrior smiled to himself, bending down to inspect the parcel itself. Nothing seemed broken, he thought, upon initial inspection. Having never seen green leather armor before, he removed his pick axe -- which was strapped along his back next to his claymore, and used the pointed tip to rip the linen rope away. Once that was finished, he put the axe back and opened the box, grasping with both meaty hands the armor that lain within. It had a thicker outer texture, but felt softer on the inside; likely for comfort's sake. And it seemed to be durable, but able to hold its own in battle. And, most notably, it had small fixtures that allowed any decent blacksmith to upgrade it.

"This was well crafted..Very good quality armor. Almost a shame I'm going to butcher it for myself..." Another haughty guffaw rumbled free of the Tauren's lips as he kicked the box over the ledge. It was a long walk down to the Forges and he was simply too lazy to dispose of the box himself. Not that it mattered; the pools of greenish ooze were likely to demolish it anyway. With his goals in mind, Grengori set foot through the dark, spiraling hallways of the Undercity to finish his project.

[ Part II to come soon! ]

[Keeper Of Lore]

The heat of the forges was nearly unbearable, as was the abhorrid stench that hung in the air. It was stagnant and musty, smelling like year-old garbage that was left to bask in the blazing kiss of the sun and like Grandma's century-old, unwashed training hosen. Grengori gagged on multiple occasions as he finished the last of four flattened iron sheets. He smelted twenty bars of iron ore the previous afternoon, knowing that his order for the leather armor was going to take a day or two to be finished and delivered. After smelting them, he used the heat of the forge (and a molten knife) to cut the larger iron sheets into four parts, three of which were cut in equal size and shape.

That fourth piece was cut out that was going to allow him to mold metal around the back part of the armor, but it first needed to be chain-linked together and drilled appropriately. Sweat drizzled down the back of his neck and brow as he lain that particular sheet out in front of him, the molten knife still held in hand. Four carefully cut holes were made into the upper corners of all sides of the piece, then left to cool off for a few minutes. He also made sure to wet the metal, just enough to hasten the cooling time, but not leaving it long enough to where it might crack or break.

After that, Grengori made short work in creating reinforced steel chainlinks, which was going to connect the back and front armor pieces together. He'd likely, at a later time, put leather straps on there as well, just in case the chain links broke in the thick of battle. Two more holes were carved into the first piece of sheet metal in the upper corners, as well as the third sheet in its lowermost corners. The links needed a place to link into, hence the necessity for such things.

Once finished, he wiped a bit of sweat from his brow and worked on reinforcing the armor itself. Piece after piece was carefully lain in appropriate places, heat applied to meld leather and metal together. Bolts of steel were fixed in pre-marked points to help keep the metal in place on the armor itself. Speckles of moss agate and jade were used to help decorate the exterior of the armor, providing it with a stylish design on the breastplate. A heavier type of grinding stone was used to dull off rough edges and, after many hours of painstaking work, the armor was complete.

[ I got a bit distracted in writing this so it didn't turn out as good as I wanted...=( ]