They left the worker's guild and walked three blocks away to Garkock’s forge. It is located down a side street in between a bakery and a general goods store. It had a wooden sign hanging in front of it, it was cut like an anvil and painted black with “Garkock's Forge" written in white paint. There is a bell hanging over the door so that the bell chimes when the door opens, looking through the glass window before Beldroth opened the door, Elora noticed nobody in the shop. As the door swung open a loud chime sounded and less than a minute later the door behind the counter opened and a female dwarf walked out, she looked tall but the flooring was clearly a step up from the shop floor to allow her to meet the guest on the same, or in this case, a closer level. She had a brown braid running down her back and resting on the head of a battle axe.
“Good afternoon, my lord. Garkock has stepped out, you’re a little early for your meeting. He had a delivery to make but should be back in five minutes. Would you like to meet his apprentice who’s going to be forging Lady Elora's armor and weapon?”
“I’m sure we’ll meet him in the planning room, we wouldn’t mind waiting in there either, if you don’t mind.”
“Certainly, my lord. Just go through the door at the end of the counter and I’ll meet you in the back,” she said as she walked back through the door.
Elora and her father walked through the door at the end of the counter and the dwarf was on the other side. Now Elora could tell she was about half a foot taller than the dwarf, putting her around three and a half feet tall. She led them to the first door on the left, inside was a desk with papers scattered on it, there were two chairs in front of the desk and one behind it.
“I’ll let him know you’re here as soon as he gets back,” she said before closing the door behind them.
They sat down in the chairs and meditated until Garkock arrived, with him was a young dwarf who looked to be in his teens. Garkock looked to be in his thirties with a long black beard he could tuck into his belt and short black hair, he had a scar across his left eye. The young dwarf didn’t even have a beard and his hair was short and brown. Garkock was the same height as the female dwarf and the young dwarf was a few inches shorter.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, my lord,” Garkock said as he sat down in his chair, the young dwarf stood beside him.
“It's no trouble, we were early, we had one less interview than we planned for so we got here early,” her father replied with a smile on his face.
Garkock looked Elora up and down. “I take it she is who my son is supposed to be making armor and a sword for?”
“Yes, she would also like to use a shield,” her father replied.
“No, she doesn’t have the build for it. Plate armor like she wants will work fine, we will have leather at the joints to make them flexible, she should lean more into speed than strength for her build and avoid attacks or deflect them off her armor if she can’t dodge. A shield would be cumbersome and I would highly discourage it. I believe in transparency and doing what is best for my customers, and not telling you to ditch the idea of a shield would be doing you a major disservice.”
“Thank you, sir. I’m glad I had someone tell me now instead of finding out in a fight.”
“What kind of weapon are you thinking now that you aren’t using a shield? You could go for a spear, maybe a glaive or a small two-handed sword. I’m assuming it needs to be able to channel lightning mana through it knowing your family.”
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“I’m not sure now. I don’t even know what a glaive is though.”
“A glaive is a pole arm, like the spear, but instead of a spearhead, it has a machete blade on the end of it.” He held his hand out and a glaive appeared in it. “This one should be about the right size for you to get a feel for it and see if it’s what you want. Mind you, this one is way above your level, but you should be able to tell if a glaive would be for you. My recommendation for you if you maintain your slim form as you grow up would be using a glaive or spear. A two-handed sword wouldn’t first right and one-handed swords, even dual-wielded, would be hard for you to master.”
He held the glaive out for her to grab it. She stood up and grabbed the glaive, she held it with both hands while she walked out into the open space between the office and the forge. She held it in both hands and it felt nice, she gave it some practice swings and spun it around in her hands, while she could move it quite easily, she could tell it wouldn’t be able to cut anyone if she tried. She went back into the office and handed the glaive back over to Garkock. It disappeared and a spear appeared where it was.
“No thanks, the glaive felt right, however, do you think you could put a metal hook on the end for disarming opponents in case I run into any bandits?”
Garkock just stared at her with a thoughtful look in his eyes. “That actually sounds like a good idea. I might have to experiment with it, however for your first one it won’t be there, I have to figure it out and then teach Gimli before it can be put into a glaive for you. With your age you will probably grow another two feet, you will need a new glaive for every three quarters of a foot you grow, so between now and when you turn sixteen you will go through three glaives.”
“Really? Is it because my arms should grow in proportion to my height?”
“Partially, however, a glaive should go from your shoulder to the soul of your boot for the pole arm part of it, making the blade go above your head when resting the butt of the weapon on the ground.”
“Oh, ok.”
“Now, I know you nobles like flashy armor and weapons, what are you interested in?”
“I would like the armor to be black with green trim. For the glaive I would like it to be completely black if possible.”
“I think we can handle that, now would you mind walking back out and standing with your arms out to the side?”
She walked back out where she tested the glaive and stood straight up with her arms out to the side. Gimli followed her out and her hands glowed green as he placed his hand on her right arm, her entire arm glowed green he took out a notepad and made some notes, then he did the same with her left arm, her right leg, her left leg and her back. After that he put his notepad away, gave her a thumbs up, and went back into the office. Confused she followed him back into the office.
Seeing the confused look on her face Garkock laughed. “My apologies my lady. I forgot to inform you, Gimli is mute. He can’t talk. Trust me, we were terrified when he was born and we couldn’t hear any crying. I assume you need an explanation, what he used was a standard skill for all blacksmiths, leatherworkers and tailors. It takes your measurements.”
“I worked that part out, I was just confused when he gave me a thumbs up and walked back in here without a word. Now I understand, and since he was born that way I assume there isn’t a healer that can do anything for him?”
“Unfortunately not, they can cure blindness from birth because they still have eyes. However, Gimli was born without vocal cords so there is nothing for them to heal.”
“OK. Is there anything else that you need?”
“No, we have everything we need except a signature from you, my lord, on this contract.” He waved a hand over the table and a contract appeared.
Beldroth looked over the contract, reading it carefully, before nodding and a pen appeared in his hand, he signed it and his pen disappeared. Garkock looked at his signature and then signed it himself.
“Perfect. You armor and weapon should be ready in two weeks, since you’re a high elf, making you technically D-grade, Gimli will have an easier job making gear of the same grade as himself. Have a good rest of your day. I can’t wait to see how your gear turns out and how you like it.” He shook both their hands and opened the office door and then the shop door, holding them open for them. They left the shop and looked around.
“How about we get something to eat before we do the rest of our shopping.”
