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5/8 Iron Ingots
-1 Iron Ore (13/19)
-1 Coal (15/21)

Rota hoped Alyx would get his message. He did not know what method the locals used to deliver messages. In the meantime, he concerned himself with the ore, replacing what he had poured into it, and adding more coal to the fire. he once more took the ingot after it set and dunked it in the water long enough for it to cool. He placed it amongst the other four as he worked the bellows. He was close to the end of the stretch here, just two ingots to go after he set this one. speaking of which, he pulled the cup of molten iron out of the forge and poured the contents into the empty cast.

7/8 Iron Ingots
-1 Iron Ore (11/19)
-1 Coal (13/21)

Rota dunked the second to last ingot in the water as he prepared the tools for the final ingot. He popped another ore in the cup and placed another piece of coal in the forge. He set the cooled ingot next to its brethren on the workbench as he ignited the last ingot. He was close to making what he wanted to make for Alyx, and he would have enough left over to use the skill he would gain form crafting for Alyx to make something for himself. As he poured the molten metal into the cast, he realized that that was why he was more intrigued with forging now. Before, he would have been a glorified shopkeep. now, that was not just a way of life, but he was also making equipment for himself to use to blaze a path for himself just as those who would have purchased his wares before would have.

d100+5(advanced ingot)
0/3 Reforged Ingots
2/3 Soft Gloomiron ingots
12/13 Coal

Rota sat up from his rest, and Alyx still hadn't showed up yet. Maybe he just hasn't gotten the message yet. After reflecting, he decided to inspect the ingots for quality. The first ingot he happened to grab nearly bent like soft clay i his hand. He was horrified at what he had created in this manner. Upon further inspection, two other ingots were of this same quality, which was inexcusable. Two of the ingots seemed to be the polar opposite, being very dense and sturdy, while two others just seemed oddly firmer. The final one he inspected seemed like the mark standard for what an iron ingot should generally come out like. Rota decided that the upper echelon of this iron should become the standard he would set for all of his creations, giving that extra bit of quality and heart into his work. Legendary items are not forged of mediocrity, and that would be his inspiration. First order of business, since Alyx still wasn't here was to fix his previous mistakes.

Soft ingots such as those three were not fit to be worked on for any other reason than to further refine them into something greater. Rota placed the ingot into the smelting cup and placed some coal in the hearth. He took great care with the bellows, not getting complacent like he did last time. He would start and finish one ingot before going on to the next. This was surely the way that such work needed to be done for now, if for any other reason than to prevent such blemishes from repeating. Once the ingot was re-melted, he poured the molten iron into the casting mold once more, hoping that the impurities that made it so soft had been destroyed.

d100+5(advanced ingot)
2/3 Reforged Ingots
0/3 Soft Gloomiron ingots
10/13 Coal

Rota maintained his eagle-eyed gaze on the ingot for a while, before dunking it into the water like its predecessor. After laying it with the first one, he placed the last putty piece in the cup and threw the last bits of coal needed into the fire. Rota's technique had come a long way in a short time, showing that all his father's training had had an effect on him, just not an immediate one. He felt it all rush back to him, like a memory one was trying to recall but wasn't quite there yet. His care of the fire and smoothness in his motions were that of an artist. Rota wasn't just making metal to be used for things that kill things, he was creating works of art. Even if the work is to be destroyed to make something greater than the work itself, that should also mean that the work should've been of quality enough that it was ALREADY of worthy note. That makes the sum of the parts even MORE spectacular. Legends are not built of mediocrity. He pulled the smelting cup from the fire once more and poured the metal into the cast. he had no idea the fate of these ingots, but he had faith that the figure would see him succeed.

Alyx logged back into ALICE and immediately felt the tensions of his real world bullshit fade away. He took a deep breath of the musty air and allowed the damp to penetrate his bones. Shaking himself loose, The Gloomking looked around. He had a few messages in his inbox, and opened the first one, deciding on taking care of business before personal matters. He read through several messages, with a growing pit of cold in his stomach. Achan had been busy. He'd killed even more people, and even a couple of admin had been lost. Due to the nature of the game, even admin characters were perma-death, so those losses struck Alyx close to home. He took a breath. This man was going to have to be dealt with.

Beyond that, though, Rota had called for his presence. Alyx shot Rota a message letting him know that the Gloomking had finally returned, and that he would be waiting for the swordsman when he was ready.

d100+5(advanced ingot)
0/10 Iron Ingot
34/35 Iron Ore
39/40 Coal

Rota ran his way towards the forge, throwing off his cloak and his gloves and donned the leather apron. He examined the three ores he had made before ending off his last session, and was thoroughly impressed. One of the ingots was the standard effectiveness, and the other two were of a quality that seemed to take the best of the two ingots that he thought were the highest tier. he now knew the true potential of the ingots he could make...now he just had to achieve it again. He placed an ingot in the smelting cup and tossed some coal into the hearth. He grabbed the bellows and stoked the flames of the forge to the peak efficiency and placed the smelting cup inside the forge. Rota carefully and masterfully squeezed the bellows to maximize the efficiency of the forge to its highest potentials. He did NOT want to end up reforging ingots during this little romp. Once the ore was sufficiently melted, he took up the tongs, gabbed the smelting cup with them, took the cup over to the casting mold and poured the liquid iron into it. Now all it had to do was cool.

d100+5(advanced ingot)
2/10 Iron Ingot
32/35 Iron Ore
37/40 Coal


Rota had felt he had spent too much time mining and not enough time working his materials. Could one blame him? He NEEDED to hunt down more materials in order to do it in the first place, and he didn't want to waste visibly good materials on an (admittedly) inexperienced forger. This smelting session would fix all that though. Once these ingots were done, he would take the lowest quality ones and practice with them, as long as they weren't soft ingots. These training pieces would bring him up to the familiarity and quality he knew he had the potential of outputting. he quenched the next ingot, placing it by the first after it cooled sufficiently. He had to get better at everything. He may be trailing miserably behind in his weapons training, but this was something he NEEDED to get good at if he were to survive for lengths of time alone without gear upgrades. He needed to be able to make the equipment upgrades in lieu of finding them on his own. Rota placed more ore in the cup and more coal in the hearth to heat up another cup of metal. Images of Rolia striking metal on an anvil rushed into his mind as he worked on the bellows, and he chanced a look at the anvil while he was waiting on the fire to cool just enough that he could squeeze them once more. it would be soon enough that he would use that instrument, but now was not the time.

Once the ore was sufficiently melted, he removed it from the forge and poured it into the mold. Surely he would eventually make an ingot that he could be confident in before proper inspection.

d100+5(advanced ingot)
4/10 Iron Ingot
30/35 Iron Ore
35/40 Coal

Rota felt more confident in this one than the others. Something about it felt better to him than the others. he carried that feeling with him as he quenched the ingot in the water once more. He hoped that he would be a decent way done before Alyx showed up, but he fully anticipated for that not to happen. He just didn't want to waste the GloomKing's time. He set the ingot with the other three, and began work on the fifth, placing more ore and coal in their proper places. As he treated the metal, ideas continued to run through his head on how to proceed. he had no idea what kind of sword and shield Alyx would even want, or if he would even accept it. he had to try though. This was the crafting path he was destined to excel at, and he would be damned if he didn't give it his all. No one who can call themselves an Artisan would dare do anything less, especially for one who had helped them out as often as Alyx had. Rota may not be an artisan YET, but he was an artisan at heart, and that is the part that mattered to him most. if he could not feel confident in the product then he would not give it to Alyx. It was as simple as that. He removed the cup of molten iron from the fire when the time was right, and poured the contents yet again in the casting mold.