Manon of the Source

[*sugarandspice]

Manon returned to the Foundry tired but amused and in tolerably good spirits considering the names and labels placed upon her while taking water in the city bar by a bleaker elf and his female companion, by a skeleton dustman and a female halfling.

Paladin, militant, Harmonium, lesbian, hermaphrodite

She gave all short shrift, the names leading her to laugh. And there was scant cause to laugh in Sigil. It had been entertaining.

But not only entertaining. That word hermaphrodite created a spark of an idea. The beauty and grace of a female combined with the power and strength of a male all wrapped up into one form. This concept could be worked to weapon and armour.

But first, she needed to put in time on her second spear before retiring. The mold was ready, this time she had used straightening calipers with weights attached, the hope being this would sort out the flaws arising in the last spear mold casting.

She smelted the alchemical silver ingots to crucible and carefully poured the molten metal into the new spear shaft mold. It needed time to cool and set so she put it aside with intent to return and cast the silver spearhead upon shaft during the anti-peak following.

[*sugarandspice]

Some hours later after short respite of rest to a side chamber of the Foundry, Manon returned to her work. She hammered the mold away from the alchemical silver spear shaft and held it up with two hands as a javelin, looking down the length and line for its straightness then inspected every inch of the long slim cylinder for flaw. There was little fettling to be done this time, the line and cast was a clean one. She could see no obvious imperfections. Pleased, she set the diamond clay spearhead mold about one end, fixing with clamp before smelting more of the silver down to make the casting.

She spent the remaining hours of the antipeak in solitude and prayer waiting in the borrowed side chamber, her calloused hands and fingers linked, the skin rough from weathering and work. Once enough hours had past for the mold to set and cool she returned and carefully freed the casing of the spear head.

She held the silver spear aloft, took it firmly to her hand in grip to make a test thrust firstly against soft sacking, then against anvil. The weapon held true.

Manon prayed again in tired relief. She then gathered her gear to head to the Gymnasium to wallow in water, cleanse and relax.

[*sugarandspice]

Halfway down the haft of the alchemical silver spear an intricate letter 'M' is engraved. A small allowance and token of her pride in her work.

((Thank you DM Agony for that addition to the description. Nice touch.))

[*sugarandspice]

Having obtained two potential well known merchants as interested parties and alternative outlets for her specialist metal craft, Manon spent solid time at the Foundry when she was not engaged in gathering resource or custom, repeating the mold casting for shaft in both metals, applying the spear head cast to two thirds of the weapons.

The other third she left as simple stave shaft. While no self-respecting typical druid would likely touch these, older wizard might appreciate her metal-craft. It remained to be seen.

She did not hurry the process for either. Each spear or staff was handled with due care and attention, prayer and concentration as her hammer fettled and formed, as her hands created. As a consequence, the metallic pole-arms were forged with something special reflecting her efforts and skill.

Slowly, Manon built up her stock as her reserves and resources provided and her will not to focus entirely upon new research allowed.

This was the first step to her cause. It could not be hurried.

[*sugarandspice]

In the market, Manon secured an interested benefactor, no not truly benefactor but tester, co-researcher, co-resourcer in the shape of the green-robed and hooded man named Raphael. No druid or 'tree-hugger', no elf. He seemed keen for this employ but then she had promised him the longbow as his if she was successful and satisfied with the results of her craft. Manon hurried back to the Foundry soon after, re-energized.

Earlier she had hunted the swamp layer of Baator for fresh and potent devil blood, took her small crafting hammer to her companion, the Chaplain's war-hammer to give it the edge to stun and hold at the silver head and to shape the cold iron handle to make good eye gouge to easily blind an enemy. One other customer had asked about dancing dagger of truesteel. Would that she could hold and mold such a metal. She asked the woman to return to her should she source such an ingot and it would be her pleasure to craft the small blade.

Before setting to her work to make another for her stock of her specialist metallic spears, Manon took a few moments to wander about the Foundry shelves in the fore-chamber for sign of any parchment, plan or design that might give her direction or clue on this new mold design for metal longbow, a metal of the planescape that might prove suitable for such a craft in terms of its properties; something pliable, moldable, strong and flexible that could take the heat of the bend and remain pure of line and form.

[*Uneatable Financier]

*True to his words, Corwyn Lux enters the Great Foundry later of the same day to seek out Manon. This time he wears plain clothing of navy blue and nature white color scheme. Still much to his usual manner, no icons or symbols are in plain sight. Carries a large bag which clanks and creaks at times which contains the armor parts.*

"Salutations again Manon. I hope that my visit did not come too quickly, so that you manage to get at least a little rest. Just remember, this is not as urgent as it may have been implied."

He smiles politely and inclines his head. If she'd be fine with persisting and show no obvious signs of weariness, he'd offer the bag with the armor.

"Do you mind if I wait here and observe your work?"

[*sugarandspice]

"Nonsense. Your aid in providing me with rare commodity warrants prompt return of my service. Join me in the forge while I service your armour and shield. Feel free to wait and observe so long as you do not mind the heat"

Corwyn found her in the fore-chamber pouring over design and book, wearing simple cloth and garb, her own armour and gear for once left off. There was a slight v-stain of sweat about the neck of her tunic, a tell-tale sign of recent work and effort by the forge fires. She actually smiled to him at his words and approach, a rare gesture for her. Few lingered long to the Foundry if not dedicated to the Source.

She welcomed him to join her as she took the large bag, emptied it to a workbench and critically studied the small dents and any weak points to the gold coloured plate. She worked her hammer to the metal with skill and strength, beating the plate by traditional method back to regular and uniform shape. At times she applied an electrical power through prayer, hands and work hammer to fuse fresh smelted metal to bond to shield and armour where the dents and nicks required more effort.

Once satisfied, she invited him to inspect her handiwork, then placed the set into the large bag giving it back to him.

"May these serve you well again Corwyn. Come by at any time should you wish for upgrade or repair. I offer my time for this only to the more discerning comrade or customer"

[*sugarandspice]

An interesting conversation with Hildmor the previous After-peak had Manon working with renewed effort to her plans and, during a break from the forge's heat to take water, to make a list.

[*Uneatable Financier]

"Nonsense. Your aid in providing me with rare commodity warrants prompt return of my service. Join me in the forge while I service your armour and shield. Feel free to wait and observe so long as you do not mind the heat"

Corwyn found her in the fore-chamber pouring over design and book, wearing simple cloth and garb, her own armour and gear for once left off. There was a slight v-stain of sweat about the neck of her tunic, a tell-tale sign of recent work and effort by the forge fires. She actually smiled to him at his words and approach, a rare gesture for her. Few lingered long to the Foundry if not dedicated to the Source.

She welcomed him to join her as she took the large bag, emptied it to a workbench and critically studied the small dents and any weak points to the gold coloured plate. She worked her hammer to the metal with skill and strength, beating the plate by traditional method back to regular and uniform shape. At times she applied an electrical power through prayer, hands and work hammer to fuse fresh smelted metal to bond to shield and armour where the dents and nicks required more effort.

Once satisfied, she invited him to inspect her handiwork, then placed the set into the large bag giving it back to him.

"May these serve you well again Corwyn. Come by at any time should you wish for upgrade or repair. I offer my time for this only to the more discerning comrade or customer"

Corwyn studied her work curiously from respectful distance, the heat did get into him as the small drips of sweat slowly started to run through his forehead. At times he took a quaff from his bottle, water, and would offer some of it to her as well on fitting openings.

Though his plated armor had seen much through out times, certainly despite his relatively pacifistic words, he had seen much combat. Each of the plated pieces held rather powerful enchantments within. However nothing seemed beyond her expertise.

Once finished, he admired the fixed plates and inclined his head at Manon.

"Thank you for your quality work, I must say that I was quite impressed with your methods. I have seen smiths at work before, but never one that controls lightnings, quite effective. I am certain they will serve me and Heironeus well once more.

May Heironeus watch over you, Manon of the Source"

That said he started to make his way out as he gathered up his gear.

[*sugarandspice]

Manon considered the known options thus far from her current research and made brief notes.

Metals of the Planescape - Longbow Masterwork

Bronze - Cheaper than steel and more resistant to rust and corrosion however it was rather archaic. Ruled out.
Steel - Standard and durable. This was the fallback option.
Cold iron - Heavier than steel. Weight would be an issue for longbow unless its user was particularly strong. Ruled out as impractical.
Alchemical silver or gold This could only be used bonded in process to a previously cast base metal, unless the base metal was suitable to be forged to bow, there was no point to use this.
Starmetal (alt: Meteoric Iron) - Heavier and denser even than cold iron, difficult of all materials to craft, having to be blended with several other metals in precise quantities in order to not be disastrously brittle. No. Not for longbow.
Darksteel (alt: Adamantine) - Ultra hard, diamond like nature. Better molded to shield or armour. Again not for this weapon.
Fadesteel - Hard to work due to its part incorporeal nature. Its interesting property was that in shadowy or dark conditions, the essence of Shadow bound up in the metal fully manifested to grant the ghost touch property to items forged from it. Interesting but not quite what she was after for a bow and incredibly rare to source.
Mithril - Now here was an option. Very lightweight resembling highly polished silver. It had the ability to be forged into much slimmer shape and was prized more for masterwork of armours. Manon ringed the name Mithril as a possibility though she had never seen or worked with this ore, she had seen armours made of it.
Glowsteel (alt: Solanian Truesteel) - Similar to the fadesteel in that it was an alloy of mithril infused with the energy of the Upper Planes. Although it was not quite as physically lightweight as standard mithril, it purported to outperform its mortal counterpart in every way and being of good alignment, allowed them to harm the forces of evil more easily. The major drawback was that the metal was incredibly rare.
Banesteel - a sickly green metal known as banesteel because the material tended to mirror the baatezu's fondness for surgical strikes. Much like the glowsteel, the metal of baatorian green steel was infused with the essence of the plane of its origin, the Nine Hells of Baator. Manon made note of its rareity: very rarely found outside of the Outer Planes.
Bloodsteel (alt: Abyssal Bloodiron) - An abyssal Tanar'ri red steel, forged weapons of this ore had tendancy to cause horrific wounds, functioning well as a weapon of war. The ore was sought more often perhaps for its properties as armour, lighter in weight and tougher than mundane steel.
Mindsilver - a metal mined and forged on the Astral Plane by the githyanki. Very rare. Similar performance to the glowsteel. Inherently psionic, weapons made from this metal were more easily able to disrupt the spells or psionic powers of a struck foe.
Godsteel - a planar alloy, rarest of all metals was considered the ultimate metal, surpassing even adamantine for strength and power. The blackrock, mixture of metal and stone, was found only within the mountains of the dwarven gods. Manon rejected this on the basis of its rareity and flexibility to forge to longbow if part stone. Suited better to large bludgeon or bladed weapon.
Treegold - not a conductive metal, specially treated and hardened tree sap not to mention that it tended to be brittle and easily broken. Manon rejected it for this research.
Smokesteel - not a conductive metal, a dense crystal found on the Elemental Plane of Earth, vunerable to cold and as a crystal, was vulnerable which made it brittle and prone to shattering. Manon rejected it for this research.

There were more books on the subject of metals, ores, materials and properties that could be mastercrafted including Axiomatic Brass, Pandemonic Silver, Gehennan Morguth-Iron, Byeshk, Blood Glass, Tantulhor all fine and rare but not suited to her objective for a longbow. Manon had read enough. Many of these metals were better suited to be considered for arrow not for the bowstave.

It was a question of sourcing versus functionality versus her own resources. She settled upon Mithril at this point and this would be hard enough to find. She needed enough of the ore to cater for test and error. A bow limb needed to be flexible, the question was how slim could the metal be forged to enable this. Mithril seemed the best metal with the most potential.

When she next saw Raphael, she would discuss her thinking and progress and focus their joint search towards sourcing this ore. She also needed to begin the longbow mold for the metalcasting. Worst case, she would attempt the longbow with iron or base steel if their search proved unsuccessful.