Chapter 20

“Hello and welcome to Gordwin’s shop,” the young woman said with a welcoming smile. “How can a servant of Hephaestus help you today?”

“Actually I need to speak with Gordwin,” I replied. “We have worked together in the past to create some new weapon designs and I have a few more ideas he may like.”

“I am sorry,” the young woman stated with an arrogant tone, while talking through her smile, “Gordwin is very busy and can’t be bothered right now, but if you let me know your name, I will make sure he reaches out to you soon.”

I felt slightly irritated by her tone and replied loudly, “Just tell him Pathios was here and wanted to do more work together!”

I heard muffled shuffling and cursing from behind a door that was situated behind the counter, before the door burst open revealing a slightly disheveled Gordwin.

“Pathios my boy,” the halfling exclaimed happily. “It is so good to see you again! I have to thank you. My business has grown a lot ever since people saw my crossbows being used by your Dryad companion during the Challenge.”

I glanced at the lady behind the counter and felt a little bit of smug satisfaction at the horrified look on her face. No doubt she thought I was someone who was trying to get special treatment from Gordwin, and I understood that she was trying to keep him from being bothered by too many special requests, but she didn’t realize I actually knew him.

“I am very happy to hear that, and that is part of the reason I came today,” I explained. “I need you to make another one.”

He cocked his head to the side, “Did Kat’ilth’ana have one of them break on her? If so, bring it to me so that I can figure out what happened and fix it.”

“No it’s nothing like that,” I replied with a laugh. “I need another one, because I have a new party member that wishes to use one.”

“Glorious,” Gordwin exclaimed excitedly, “I do have some ideas to make the new one a little more refined. If she doesn’t mind testing it for me, or if she lets Kat’ilth’ana test it, I can update the other two to the new design should the update prove useful.”

“I don’t think either of them would have an issue with it,” I answered. “Though I would like to talk to you about some other modifications I have thought of.”

Gordwin’s grin widened, “Of course! Come back into my new workshop and we can discuss it. Bethany, see to it I am not disturbed unless it is Hephaestus himself.”

She bowed quickly, “Yes sir, Mr. Gordwin. Also, I am sorry for my attitude earlier, Mr. Daxion. I have had many people come in and claim they had a special relationship with Mr. Gordwin, trying to make deals and get preferential treatment.”

“Thank you for the apology,” I replied, giving her a slight nod of understanding. “Next time, I suggest you check with Gordwin if that relationship exists before you start being rude to a potential customer, but I applaud you trying to protect your boss from more unsavory people.”

We followed Gordwin into the back, and I was amazed at the change that had occurred. The shop didn’t look all that different when we entered, but I did realize now that his little worktable wasn’t there this time.

“When was this added to your shop?” I asked as I finished looking around. “You were still working out in the store when I visited last.”

“Less than a week after the Challenge finished,” Gordwin boasted, puffing up his chest with pride. “There were a few occasions where those who were viewing the Challenge could see my shop crest on the crossbows that Kat’ilth’ana was using. That caused a jump in foot traffic and sales in the shop. Hephaestus was pleased in the change, though he had a slight irritation in his voice when he realized that you played a part in it.”

I sighed, “Yeah, I took Cassandra off Hekate’s hands, though she was squandering Cassandra’s talent. She has no doubt realized the folly since, but now she is out a talented rune smith. No doubt Hephaestus wasn’t pleased that Tyr could take her like that.”

“Yeah, rune smiths are hard to come by, because it requires innate talent,” Gordwin explained. “It is a relatively new craft, but many wish to learn it. However, they are still trying to find out what innate skill is required to be a tradesman in the craft.”

“How does one get tested in a smithing house to find their vocation?” I asked, since the topic had been brought up.

Gordwin took a deep breath and began, “It is not as different as the sorting process for the pact houses. Hephaestus has enchanted a clear crystal to correspond a color to each craft. The typical ones were Blacksmithing, leatherworking, cloth working, alchemy, enchanting and jewel crafting. However in the last hundred years or so, there was a unique pearlescent color that they couldn’t understand. These were given to enchanters, but they were found not to be able to imbue magic into items. They were then made to work with blacksmiths to be engravers and that is when it was found they could put magic into runes and give abilities to equipment. Unlike Enchanting, you can put multiple runes on a piece of equipment, and if you set them up correctly, they will not conflict with one another, allowing it to have multiple abilities. The other houses have been accepting of this new form, but Hephaestus has been a little ‘old school’ about it, as has Hekate. I am glad that Cassandra is doing well, but I don’t understand the animosity some of the others have been showing.”

“It has upset her a bit, but she realized that these people weren’t really her friends,” I responded. “If they were, they wouldn’t have treated her that way, regardless of Hekate’s decision.”

Gordwin winced, “I am not sure about that, Pathios. Hephaestus and Hekate can be very spiteful about things like that. If we choose to not be part of the pact house, we can still be tradesmen in the real world, though the types of goods we can sell and who buys them changes. If you are expelled, then you will be banned from ever crafting anything again. For ones like me who have done this for sixty years, it is a serious blow. The fact that she is now working in your pact house is a big blow to Hekate’s ego, especially because she believes that only smith gods should be creating and supplying goods. Tyr’s petition has changed that mentality and a lot more smiths are coming forward and it has hurt the profits of the smith pact houses as less goods are being bought. It hasn’t completely disrupted the supply chain, but the effects are being seen.”

“Then how did you get the upgrade, if I am such a disruption?” I asked the halfling tinkerer.

“Because Hephaestus may be old school, but he is also not an idiot,” Gordwin answered with a smirk. “He knows that this is an opportunity to get some cash flow back into the pact house. Where your house gets over ninety five percent of its income from adventuring, we get all of ours through sales.”

Surprised, I asked, “Your pact house has no adventurers at all? I always figured there would be a few that would procure the materials for the smiths, like I do for Brot’k, Cassandra and Fra’tilia.”

Gordwin shook his head, “We were making so much income, they relied on supply chains from the guild hall. As you know, you can get money from all drops, not just the orbs. So those items that are useful in the various forms of crafting were sold to us by the guild.”

“What about Cassandra?” I asked, confused. “She had to actually act as an adventurer while she was part of your pact house to get items.”

Gordwin’s eyes widened in surprise, “I didn’t know that she had to do that. I figured she got her materials like all of us but given the smith pact house’s prejudice to the rune smiths, I can see how she would have to do that.”

I thought for a few minutes and then asked, “How did the council allow that to happen though? Wouldn’t someone have complained to them about the prejudicial treatment?”

“I am not sure, but I would think nothing went to them,” Gordwin answered as he thought about it. “I am not completely sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if any Raven to the council went through the pact house leader of that particular person. That way they can ensure that only favorable messages went through, but I am just guessing here. At this point does it really matter?”

“Oh, I think it does, because how many others have suffered like this and didn’t have the help that Cassandra received?” I retorted to the halfling. “I will discuss this with Tyr and see if it can’t be looked into. If Hephaestus and Hekate are unwilling to allow rune smiths to work in their pact houses, then the council should insure that no one else is subjected to that treatment. Perhaps they can help others that have been fucked over like this.”

“Just don’t mention my name please,” begged the halfling. “The last thing I need is his wrath and taking things away from me.”

Amenthia gave him a reassuring smile, “He wouldn’t do that to you Gordwin, so you don’t have to worry.”

“Well with that out of the way, let’s get to your idea!” Gordwin announced, trying to change the subject.

“Yes, first we need to talk about the clips,” I replied. “They are working great, but we are a little worried. We need to increase the size of the clips, to decrease the amount of reload time.”

“I have been tinkering with the system,” Goodwin confirmed. “I have created much larger clips, but the feed of them are sometimes a bit rough and jam at times.”

“That is the other issue,” I explained. “We have started to use explosive tips on the bolts, and I am worried that if the clips aren’t modified, the tips could go off.”

“Hmm I can see how that would be a problem,” He replied, rubbing his chin. “I will do some experiments and I would suggest that you talk to Cassandra to see if she has any runes that could ensure that the clip would always be safe with them. I will keep that in mind when I am designing the feed of the new clips.”

“Also I was thinking about an upgrade to the heavy crossbow,” I said as I began drawing out the idea I had. “While the upgrade you did for Dilbar has worked well, we have had instances where it isn’t fast enough. I am thinking of a crank based feeding system that will consistently feed and fire the bolts.”

I began drawing out a design that I remembered from a movie that I enjoyed. It was a gatling crossbow that was in Van Helsing, though it would be different to try and build here since compressed gas may not be something that they used here. Still, I drew what I remembered, sticking to the important details rather than the aesthetics that they had put on it.

“My goodness, that is an interesting and beautiful concept,” Gordwin muttered as he went over what I drew. “It will be interesting to make, to meet the requirements you stated, but I love a challenge.”

“If you need anything from us, don’t hesitate to send a Raven and we will be right over,” I offered. “Is the new version of your hand crossbow ready? Or should we come back in a few days?”

His attention was broken from the drawing, and he said, “Oh yes, the crossbow. I almost forgot.”

He ran over and grabbed the crossbow and handed it to Amenthia, before rushing over to grab a new holster that he had made.

“Some people have asked for it to be closer to where their hand normally sits, so I made hip holsters.” He explained as he handed Enti the holster. “I hope that Kat’ilth’ana and your new friend likes it.”

“I am sure they will,” I replied with a smile. “I’m glad you are excited to work on our new project.”

I shook his hand, before giving him our thanks and heading back to the front of the store. We said goodbye to the cashier and left to head back to the Pact house. That was the plan, however we found our way to the stairs down blocked by some idiots. I was getting tired of this, but I knew that each side of the spectrum of personalities would be represented by the various people on Eden. There were four of them. A short stocky dwarf that was covered in scars. There were two elves, or half-elves. They looked identical, even with the scar above their eye. The last was built like a tall linebacker and had deep green skin making me think he might be an orc.

“Well boys, look at what we have here,” said the tall, burly one. “Two hot little ladies that are unfortunately in the presence of a loser. Should we help them out?”

“Yeah, Ortic, I think you are right,” Scoffed one of the elves. “I think they need to be with some real men.”