Rise of the Living Forge
Chapter 443: Party time

They didn’t get any more work done that day. Wallace headed back to his own smithy while Arwin and Koyu headed back to the Devil’s Den after waiting for the last of the crowd to disperse.

Esemerelda and Madiv didn’t show up that night, so Arwin didn’t get a chance to pass the ring he’d gotten from the dungeon onto her. He wasn’t too bothered about that. Arwin got the feeling she’d show up soon enough. The old woman seemed to have a way of knowing when she was needed.

Arwin spent dinner filling the Menagerie in about Ida and the crown they’d gotten from the Blacktongue’s dungeon, adding in the conversation he’d had with Eleven a short while ago.

Fortunately, as Arwin had guessed, Lillia had already overheard it and Rodrick was already on the case. The former paladin wasn’t too happy about anything in the current situation. Even though he hadn’t had any reasonable way to know what Ida was up to, he was still immensely displeased at letting her sip by him.

He’d almost instantly retreated back to his quarters after getting all the information Arwin had. Even though Eleven was already keeping an eye on the dwarf, something told Arwin that she was about to get a number of new eyes on her. She wasn’t going to be doing anything else in the city without Rodrick finding out about it.

With everyone up to date and the topic of the upcoming party to prepare for and find a way into, the rest of the Menagerie retired for the day.

Even after Arwin and Lillia were alone in their room, they didn’t speak for much longer before letting themselves get some much needed rest. Both of them were exhausted — and they had a whole lot to prepare for.

The following morning pulled them from their bed well before the rest of the city had properly woken up. Arwin and Lillia both awoke on a mission. They wasted absolutely no time in getting back to work.

After bidding Lillia luck for the day, Arwin strode straight out to make for the Infernal Armory. He was greeted by the sounds of construction the very instant he pushed the door open and stepped out onto the street.

Standing outside the Devil’s Den, examining his work closely, was Ridley. The mason’s latest modifications of fixing up and connecting a new building to the tavern looked nearly finished. He’d managed to keep the exact vibe of the Devil’s Den, all the way down to the eerie construction that looked just a half-step away from a dungeon growing in the heart of Milten.

The two of them exchanged a nod as Ridley set back to work. The mason really worked fast, and his tasks weren’t any closer to done than anyone else’s. He was to start on the auction house the moment after he was done here.

Something told Arwin that they were Ridley’s favorite customers. He recalled the mason mentioning struggling immensely to find any real work in recent times since Milten hadn’t been growing much. After the Menagerie had arrived, they’d damn near had him on permanent retainer.

I wonder how many levels he’s gotten from working on our buildings. He’ll definitely get quite a bit from creating an auction house. That’s going to be a big commission. Probably going to cost a hell of a lot.

Good thing we’re rich.

A grin tugged at Arwin’s lips as he entered the Infernal Armory and made right for the back room. Having a lot of money to throw around was a rather odd feeling. He’d never needed it as the Hero and had always been short of it after becoming a smith.

It hadn’t been that long ago when his armor had been selling for hundreds of gold rather than trading for tens of thousands. And now, despite all that, even tens of thousands of gold felt like it wasn’t going to be anywhere near enough to accomplish everything they wanted to.

When Arwin stepped into the back room, a pillar of red mist was already waiting for him. He didn’t even have to say a word. The Infernal Armory was eager to get started for the day — and it wasn’t the only one.

The door to the street swung open behind Arwin. He spun just in time to see Madiv standing in the doorway with a huge wooden crate clutched precariously to his chest. The thin vampire looked positively ridiculous. The wood alone seemed like it weighed twice what he did.

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“Mind letting me in?” Madiv asked, his voice slightly taut.

“Sure.” Arwin’s eyes lit up. “Come in. Are my hopes getting ahead of me, or would you happen to have the materials from my commissions in that chest?”

Madiv halted the crate into the room and past Arwin, bringing it over to the back of the Infernal Armory before setting the huge box down on the ground with a grunt. He straightened up and brushed his hands off before adjusting the lapels of his suit.

“An apt guess. You are correct. And they were rather heavy. Reya informed me that delivering the commissions and getting the payment was an urgent matter. I hope she was right. I was running around all night.”

Arwin grinned and clapped the vampire on the shoulder. “You did a great job. Thank you, Madiv. You have no idea how much I needed this. You’ve saved me from wasting a bunch of time twiddling my thumbs.”

Madiv blinked, then nodded uncomfortably. It was clear he wasn’t particularly used to that much praise. “It was a simple matter. Now, I have much more to handle. If you’ll excuse me…”

The vampire was gone before he could respond. Arwin shook his head and turned back to the crate. A black tendril had already emerged from one of the walls and was in the process of prying the top of the crate clean off instead of using the hinge on the front.

There was a loud, splintering crack. The Infernal Armory peeled the crate open like it was made from paper. A dozen smells hit Arwin all at once and his breath caught in his chest before he’d even gotten a chance to look into the crate.

Whatever is in that crate… it’s more expensive and powerful than pretty much anything I’ve worked before. The one exception might be the Maristeel… and that metal was incredible.

Arwin swallowed eagerly. He edged forward and peered down into the wooden box, doing his best to avoid salivating like a starved dog. His attempt failed.

“Whoa,” he breathed, gripping onto the edges of the crate with enough force to crack it.

Laying before him was a fortune. Shimmering piles of brilliant bronze and gold metal ingots was joined by sheets of crimson red so bright that it might as well have been aflame. The light rippled through all the materials in different ways, as if each of them were a moving painting. There were several sealed bags scattered through the crate as well.

“Such quality,” the Infernal Armory murmured, sounding just as awed as Arwin felt. “I want to eat it.”

“No,” Arwin said sharply. “You can’t—”

“I am not a fool,” the Armory said. “I would not waste such incredible materials this early on. But the scraps… they are mine. I will consume them. This is the finest meal I have ever seen.”

Arwin couldn’t argue with that. He swallowed and looked back into the crate. Gingerly, he reached into it and pulled free one of the bronze ingots. While its color resembled a normal metal, there was no doubt in his mind that this was anything but plain bronze. Faint ripples passed through the inside of the ingot as if it were containing an ocean of sparkling energy within itself.

I’m going to have to speak with each of these to figure out what they do best and the best option to start creating the armor for the Infernal Armory. A few of these seem strong enough that I might end up getting a vision in the process. Damn. What a haul.

Arwin sifted through the ingots, then grabbed one of the bags as curiosity got the better of him. It was made of an oiled leather cloth, so slick that it nearly slipped from his fingers as he lifted it.

“Did they cover this thing in butter?” Arwin grumbled as he fiddled with the bindings, trying to open it for several seconds before he managed to succeed. He pulled its open apart and peered inside. Then he blinked. “Huh. What’s this?”

The inside of the bag was full of a glistening silver moonlight. At least, that was the best way Arwin could think to describe it. It looked metallic, but the metal had no cohesion. It was completely liquid.

“Curious,” the armory murmured from over his shoulder. A tendril slithered past Arwin to poke into the bag in his hands. Then the armory let out a thoughtful hum. “It seems to be a metal that has no solid form at the temperature of the room.”

Arwin’s eyes sharpened. “Wait. Couldn’t that enable us to make that interior part of our armor flexible? We could use it like makeshift blood—”

“It could be a very useful regent.” The Armory agreed, excitement entering its tone. “There isn’t enough of this metal to use it in the manner we had hoped, but if we can deduce what property makes it like this, perhaps Esmerelda’s services could be used to render some of our other metals into a similar form. What a fascinating material. The possibilities are incredible! We should test it immediately.”

Arwin nodded in agreement. They finally had what they needed to take a very real pass at the next stage of his armor — and several days to get it into fighting shape before the Blacktongue’s party.

Sure, we still have to get into the party, but something tells me Thane should be more than willing to help us out.

A grin pulled across Arwin’s lips. He could only imagine the immensity of the rewards he’d get when he managed to make this armor into reality. After quite a bit of crafting, he was long overdue some advances. Big ones.

I can definitely have the next version of the prototype ready by the time the party rolls around. One that eclipses the previous one completely.

The Adventurer’s Guild didn’t have the slightest idea what was coming for them.