The Fox and the Dagger [Solo/Crafting]

[Ashtver]

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to get my Blacksmithing skill up..." Ashtver told himself. He was still only a Level 1 Blacksmith, and decided to use St. Pancras Station to get his levels a little higher. Barely a week after the Apocalypse, many wise players found the secret to value in food and crafting: doing it with your own hands. Of course, you would have to be the correct Subclass to craft or cook something, but this way offered more value and customization, and gave more taste to food. He made a promise to a little Fox Tail girl, Aria, to craft her a new Dagger. Barely a day ago, he had saved her as she and her Guardian Bodyguard, Pen Ddraig, were picking flowers for the Fox Tail's older brother. He told her that if she wanted to have him stay with the two, she would have to let him craft a new dagger. She gladly accepted, and here he was, having trouble deciding what dagger to craft. Being a Level 1, it's difficult to find a recipe to craft a better weapon then her real trashy one. The one she currently had was a really short dagger, about 16 cm, with a chip out of the tip of the blade, one edge dulled, and the handle twisted uncomfortably. In other words, it could barely be referred to as a weapon. Why the hell did Aria keep that crappy dagger? He wondered. Well, here he was, doing it anyway. What he had in mind was a basic-looking dagger, with a blade that extends into a diamond shape near the handle, a straight crossguard, a round handle patterned with hexagons and a diamond-shaped pommel [Reference]. All he had to use was the basic metals, a hammer, a forge and a quencher. An anvil may come in handy though, he pondered. He set off to work and got his materials out.


First of all was the blade. He heated a thin bar of metal and began to draw it out using a hammer from the Station. He made sure to belt the sides of the blade to give the diamond shape near the handle its form. He drew out the back of the dagger, making the tang, to be able to slot the handle over it, rather than combining the pieces straight to eachother, allowing no support whatsoever. He kept drawing the blade out and flattening the edges. After he did this about ten times, he reheated the dagger to strengthen it further. If it's not heated right, it'll shatter on contact with a solid object. He dipped the blade section of the Dagger into the quencher, causing a satisfying hissing was released as the hot metal made contact with the liquid. Nearly done, he thought. All he had to do now was sharpen the blade. He grabbed a supplied file from the crafting station and went to sharpening. Back and forth, back and forth he went across the edge of the dagger, slowly sharpening the blade. He had to do this four times too, one on each edge, two edges on each face of the blade. The metal slowly whittled away, the shavings evaporating into tiny sparkles and bubbles as they fell. After five minutes of sharpening, the blade was nice and sharp and ready to go.

Word Count: 558

[Ashtver]

The next piece was the handle. This part was going to be difficult. He had to make both the handle itself, with Artisan-esque etchings, and the crossguard. He would have to start with the crossguard first, so he could slot the the guard then the handle on. He started by taking another flat piece of metal and heating it once again. This time, though, he compressed the metal, then drew it out, to make the metal thicker. The crossguard would need to be quite thick if it were to at least hold off a Beginner Dagger. He kept compressing and drawing the guard out, thickening and hardening it over and over. When it cooled off slightly, he slipped it back into the forge to restrengthen it, then quenched it again, steam billowing into the air around him. He made the crossguard straight, and made it arch at the bottom where the handle would slot in. He made the hole by spinning a pick on the bar, piercing through. All he had to do with the guard now was slot it onto the tang, where he would reheat it and quench it to seal the two together. As the two pieces, now united as one, were pulled from the liquid, he moved onto the handle.

This time, he grabbed a circular metal bar and used that. He heated the bar, and started to upset the end of the handle, hitting the bar on the anvil to widen the bottom end. The handle wasn't going to take too much effort, except for the etching. He made the hole by very carefully tapping a thin peg through it. This also caused the handle itself to widen. He let the handle cool, then did the same heating and quenching maneuver. From there, he used a file to thin the handle toward the middle. The etching, the most difficult part, was about to take place. He began by grabbing a thin needle, and leaned in close to the handle. Being a Pathfinder, his eyesight was higher than normal, making the task slightly easier. He placed the needle and began to etch an overlaying hexagon pattern into it. Multiple times, he messed up a shape, but fixed it in the end. Jeez, this is an Artisan's job, not a Blacksmith's! The last part to this section was fuse the pieces like he did with the blade and guard. The dagger for the Fox Tail was nearly finished.


Word Count:  411

[Ashtver]

The final piece to craft was the pommel. The easiest part. He had no more pieces of metal left, so decided to use the scraps left over from the other pieces. He gathered them all up and placed them in the forge, melting them. After they turned into a golden, metallic liquid, he began to swing his hammer down, again and again, a satisfying ringing emitted from the contact each time. He kept on whacking at the molten metal, slowly making the cube to take form. He needed to craft a cube, in which he would make a hole in it and place it on the bottom of the dagger, resembling a diamond. He kept smacking it until it was perfectly cube shaped. Too easy, Ashtver thought. He used the same technique to make a hole in the cube as he did for the handle, lightly tapping a peg in, widening the cube slightly. He let the metal set, then decided to add some detail by etching some "rings" into the top of the cube. All he had to do was restrengthen it, and then fuse the whole thing together. Finally, as he raise the dagger, he was done.

He waved it around. It was well-balanced, being fairly weighty towards the blade, making it a perfect throwing weapon, should Aria be in that situation. The grip was nice and comfortable, the hexagon pattern supporting the hand placement. The pommel was nice and thick, very good for hitting with, and the crossguard was thick and rigid, perfect to block or even disarm a blade. "Well, I guess it's time to give this to Aria!" He muttered to himself, and slotted the dagger into a gap in his armour at the knee. For a first time craft, the dagger turned out very well. The quality was better than what you could get from the crafting menu.

Word Count: 314