A Bored Lich

Kilot sighed as the three entered his forge. He made a path for them through his half-finished projects and seated them on the couch. His brow still heavy with sweat, he heaved a couple of mechanical braces off a chair and sat his tired bones in it. \'Maybe I should take more breaks,\' he thought. \'I\'m not a young Dwarf anymore.\'

"So what do you need a mask for?" Kilot asked.

"To hide my identity of course," Doevm said. "I don\'t want anything fancy. Just make it in the shape of a skull and so that it covers my entire face."

"Nothing fancy he says," Kilot grumbled as he pulled out a measure and paper. "Material?" Doevm closed his eyes as the measure flew across his face.

"Metal, I need it sturdy. Also, a rune against reveal would be nice. I can\'t have people peeking."

"Doevm, you greedy son of a-" Kilot punched himself. "Fancy means it\'s not extravagant. This is turning into a pain." Doevm said nothing, just letting the Dwarf curse to himself as the measuring finished. "Anything else? Do you want invisibility, quiet steps, or maybe a boot up the rear?"

"No, that\'s it for the mask." Doevm shook his head free of the measure and handed over his throwing knives and dagger. "These need to be sharpened. As for anything else, I need new armor, high-quality ones this time."

"You know," Kilot crumpled the paper up. "I can\'t do all this for free, even considering what you\'ve done for me. I can\'t afford it."

Before Doevm could object, Wade pulled out the certificate he got from Marcus and handed it to Kilot. "This is a thousand gold coins from the army. Just give it to the army and they\'ll deliver the funds." Kilot read the lines and confirmed it to be true. Wade smiled at Frey and Doevm. "Think of it as an early birthday present. Doevm, you\'re turning fifteen in a few weeks after all."

"I forgot about that," Doevm smiled. "Thanks."

"What\'s that thing?" Frey asked as he pointed to the mechanical braces in the corner of the forge.

"Just a prototype," Kilot sighed, thinking about the poor girl forced to wear them. "In this past year, I\'ve gotten extremely busy. It\'s not everyday that a master blacksmith reopens. Noble families have been coming and requesting my services, I duel people daily, and I\'m remembering what it\'s like to slave over a hot forge every day. So," he slapped his legs still. "else what can I do for you guys?"

Frey nearly stood up from the couch as he presented his Bloodwood spear. Kilot took it and inspected it. Upon finding nothing wrong with it, he was about to hand it back when Frey said, "I want to modify it!"

"Calm down kid," Kilot said. "There\'s a line between determination and desperation and you\'re getting close to it." Frey\'s head sunk. "I don\'t know what happened this past year to you three, but I\'ll still make weapons, at least for now. Now, what do you want me to do?"

"I was thinking-" Frey paused and took a breath. "That we could shorten it." He pulled out a shield and expanded and contracted it. "I found this and would like to pair it better with the spear; however the two weapons aren\'t compatible."

Kilot snorted: "Of course they\'re compatible." He made Frey hand over the shield, grabbed a half-finished sword, and went outside. After everyone followed him, he presented the two weapons. "These are compatible, I would just need to change some things, but shortening a spear, is unnecessary. I bet you were thinking of doing something like this." Kilot held the spear up in his hands and the shield away from him.

"Like that," Frey said. "That\'s just like the man I fought. He used the shield as something to block my sight and when I got close, he had a sword." He stood as if imitating the man. "His tower shield was only defeated when I-"

"So the tower shield was defeated by you, yet you still want to use it?" Kilot smiled. "Show me." He handed Frey back his spear. The shield was formed into a circle with two little holes at the top and bottom. It blocked everything of Frey\'s view except for Kilot\'s feet and head. Kilot held a spear borrowed from Wade through the top hole, aiming it ad Frey\'s head.

"I-It wasn\'t like that," Frey said as he held just the spear.

"I know," Kilot said. "If he had held it like this, you wouldn\'t have won that fight. Now try to defend against me." He slowly moved in; his legs crouched. Blue life essence lifted around his limbs. Frey took a step back and let out his own blue life essence. Kilot approached and Frey took steps back. Whenever Frey tried to circle around, the Dwarf pivoted. "Tower shields blind," Kilot talked as he got closer. Frey, no longer having any room to retreat, ran forward, his spear flashing. Kilot deflected the blow then opened the shield much like a door, bashing Frey\'s entire body back. After, he switched back to the usual pose, with his shield close and his spear resting on the top. "Can\'t do it, huh?"

He changed his grip on the spear, raising it high. It whistled through the air, making Frey dodge. Before he could get back to his feet, Kilot rushed in and held a short-curved sword to his throat. "That\'s it." He sheathed his weapons. "While these weapons weren\'t supposed to be used for that, I\'m sure you can guess what I mean by compatible, right?" He gave Frey back the shield.

"Yes," Frey mumbled. "I shouldn\'t have blamed the weapons."

\'That\'s not quite right either.\' Kilot pat Frey on the shoulder: "It\'s ok, I still need to modify for them. It\'s not your fault that you don\'t know how to use your weapons. The spear is for long range attacks and throwing. The shield is a weapon, not just another piece of armor. The sword is for short range attacks, meaning it should be drawn only when the enemy gets close. I can\'t teach you now, but I\'m sure someone else can." He gave Wade back the spear and went back inside the armory. Frey followed behind the rest, his face a little darker in the dim forge.

"Now that we have that out of the way," Doevm said, "I need the spear. I\'m ready to handle it." He glanced around the forge, frowning upon only seeing weapons and papers.

"Hold on," Kilot said as he walked to the back. "I wouldn\'t keep it in the open. It is my masterpiece after all." As he walked, he spilled some papers. He growled and just left them there.

Doevm picked them up: "Why are you making weapons and sending them to the Draken Kingdom?"

"I didn\'t ask," Kilot\'s voice echoed from the back. "I just make them. They pay well."

Wade looked over Doevm\'s shoulder at the paper: "Doevm, our kingdom is at war. Isn\'t it natural that we would want weapons?"

"Yeah," Doevm put the papers back on the massive stack piled in the corner of the room. "But the war is ending. Besides, the Acrin Kingdom shouldn\'t want the services of a Dwarf, no matter how desperate they are." He kept muttering to himself until Kilot returned with the golden spear. Wade nearly fell out of the couch.

"You\'ve been keeping that here?" He resisted the urge to slap Doevm.

"Yeah," Doevm said. "Do you know how dangerous it is to take a valuable weapon into combat? I would have been targeted by my own teammates…well more of them." He held up the spear, examining it for damage.

"It doesn\'t have any scratches," Kilot seemed to read Doevm\'s mind. "A weapon like that, not even a dragon would be able to scratch it, not for a long time." Doevm gave it a half-hearted test swing. Upon finding he could weld it, he smiled and put it in his spatial ring.

"If that\'s all," Kilot smiled. "Please leave. I\'m a very busy Dwarf."

"What about our armor?" Frey asked, trying to hold himself back.

"Let me just pull it out of my ass!" Kilot slammed the door, making his little hut rattle. After, a soft thud rang out and Kilot cursed. From out the window, his voice boomed: "It\'ll take time to make them. I\'ll send them to the Virility household in a week." Smoke rose from the chimney as the forge was ignited. The three shrugged and walked out of the Bloodwood forest.