He will trade the live blades for bokken and accept her offer. He’ll watch her-does she use a shield? Anything in her off hand? And if needed or asked will give feedback and insights to better her form and/or skills. Whenever she gets past his guard, he will stop and have her repeat the maneuver to see where he can correct his stance/kata/form. At the end of her hour he will bow and thank her for the match time, and will gladly work with her again if she desires.

By now Im pretty sure either Sir Eklon or Lord Doug or both have arrived.

I'll make sure Herschel is fitted for some simple chain for the moment, anything more would take a good bit of time. Since he definitely seemed to be a fighter even before the quickening, I ask around to find out if there is some mithril available. I was getting pretty good at making mithril breastplates, but I needed the forge here at the castle to do it properly.

I ask Herschel to try out weapons until he's found one he's truly comfortable with. Once done I'll purchase a masterwork weapon of that type, and get Dobby started on the process of enchanting it.

When I have a chance I'll pay a visit to the red mage, asking a simple question, "My group is going to head after that black dragon's lair. Oddly enough we'd rather not trawl through the entire swamp on our hunch that it is somewhere within. Is there any chance your magics might be able to at least narrow our search area?"

After the fitting of the chain and measured for the breastplate, I’ll smile at the mention of weapons. ‘I toured the keep earlier and made comment about the craftsmanship of a matched set of bastard swords that caught my eye. Sir E and Lord D have agreed to let me test them during this afternoons match in the yard. From what I could tell they are MW and-wow. Of course it wouldn't be prudent to bare a weapon in the keep except in defense, but just the feel of them made me drool. I hope they are as good as they felt!’  

I’ll eye the rest of the shop. Returning my gaze to the table with the measurements ‘If you need my assistance with that-no, scratch that. If there’s ANY thing I can do to help ANY of the party-training, teaching, cooking, mending, working the bellows or forge, drafting weapon sketches (wont win any awards but they are usable)-just ask.’

As I turn to go, I stop in the doorway. ‘Do you know if there is a way to manufacture guitar strings-or very thin nylon like dental floss? It’s most definitely not a priority item or question-just curious.’

At that I’ll take my leave, unless given a task. The rest of the previous post will still happen unless put to work.

I nod, glad to find that the newcomer was the helpful sort, "Well I'm sure it won't surprise you that we have an interest in useful technology that this society lacks. I have an electric generator in my workshop for instance. It is hand-cranked, but we are talking about setting up a larger one attached to a a water wheel when time allows. We have plans to build a cotton fabric factory, and tentative hopes to set up a modernish steel foundry."

"But we are missing a lot of pieces, especially when it comes to the chemistry side of things. I only remember a portion of the process of refining bauxite into aluminum, sulfur-based antibiotics would be fantastically useful, but aside from the process starting with sulfuric acid I have no idea where to go from there, and I don't know what rocks contain highly useful materials like neodymium or tungsten. So if you happen to remember how to make or obtain something, let us know. Even the little stuff could be very helpful."

"As to strings, the usual material of choice around here is small animal intestine, dried and twisted. It doesn't last as long as resin or steel, and I imagine keeping it in tune is a lot more difficult, but it should work. In theory we could build a drawing machine capable of making steel wire fine enough for that purpose. But I don't have tools that are either precise or hard enough for that at the moment. If we ever get the foundry running that should change."

"In terms of things to keep your hands busy. I don't think anyone in the group can claim to not need a combat trainer from time to time. Vicky has that inn she runs and always could use a hand.  But the project of most interest to you for now might be working with me at the forge. If I can find enough mithril, I plan to make you a breastplate like mine. Smithing is hot and dangerous work, and it require steady hands. Are you up for it?"

Just a quick note.  I will be making a post here later today or tomorrow.  Been a busy week with me spending a couple days at the VA hospital.   I will get both games on track soon.

I’ll look at the sky with a slight smile and far away gaze. ‘Hot work? Guess it wont kill me to get hot n sweaty again. Even though Im a military brat, I spent a good 8 years working a farm-swinging a scythe to cut grass, baling and hauling hay, cutting trees, pounding fenceposts-during the summers in Missouri (ends the word with an E not the A like most do). Ive swung a maul and hammer, so hard work isn’t foreign to me. And danger? Try catching a baby pig that needs cut and detusked while both the sow and boar are in the same yard. THAT got a bit dicey I tell ya ( slight nervous laugh). I’m not demeaning the work is dangerous-I just mean to say I’ve done dangerous jobs before: So yes, Im more than willing. Are you ready now or still need to acquire the mithril? If now, show me the aprons and where the water barrels are. If not, I’ll be either in the yard or the inn. As for the geology or chem end, I’ll have to think a bit. Neither was in my realm of studies in school, but there are a shit ton of what my ex called ‘useless factoids’ stuffed into this head. Not gonna say I’ll know or even recall anything, but I’ll give it a try.’   

As I turn to go I’ll jolt to a stop and let loose with a deep laugh...’So who plays Gilligan? Sorry-it just dawned you said hand crank. Could it be modified for a bicycle type pedal to turn it as well? Or maybe a foot trundle like a drum player or a thread spinner would use?’ 

 After having quite a few drinks I yawn.  Seeing the locals around but no party members I shake my head.   Too bad the only person from earth that liked to drink besides me had vanished I thought. Staggering a little I make my way to the door.  Caesar follows me closely.  " Let's make this...fun my friend. " Using my ability I manage to transform into a black bear.  Staggering a bit i manage to make my way back to the stronghold.  

I grin, "Yeah, I've had some similar experiences, though it was a couple of angry cows in my case. Never had a problem with the bulls though, those guys were so mellow I could almost swear that Ms Fisher slipped THC into their feed."

"As to the crank, yes, a bike style pedal would work just fine too. I haven't had the chance to set that up though. Most of my time in the workshop ends up going to higher priority projects, mostly gear for the party so we don't lose anyone out in the wilds. Electricity is a gimmick for now, not something that will kill the enemy for us or turn an arrow."

"And to answer the question about who plays Gilligan, I have Dobby crank the thing when we need it. He's about as small as his fictional namesake, but is a construct, so doesn't ever get tired, or vary his pace for that matter."

I pause, "Come to think of it, do you think you could help me make a few ferromagnets while I'm working on the breastplate and have the forge burning? Its relatively simple in concept, get a bit of iron hot, and then pass it through an induction coil multiple times, always in the same direction, before it cools. The current generator is just using natural magnetite, we need more potent magnets to get a good output."

"There are two catches. One is that the temperature range required to do it right is pretty narrow, and we don't have an accurate means of measuring that. I've tried a few times to hit it through trial and error but no luck so far. The second is that induction coil is going to try and yank the iron out of your tongs and launch it with a fair amount of force. So be careful where you point the thing."

‘How long a piece of metal, how big is the coil and how hot does the iron need to be-relatively speaking? Like red, white, orange?  Somewhere in between?  What are the tongs made of that they dont get pulled or yanked in the process?’

OOC-I forgot to ask if there was running water or drawn up from a well?

"The tongs are made of bronze, its not entirely nonmagnetic, but its close enough that that doesn't present a problem. The induction coil is a short ceramic pipe, about five inches long and wrapped in a bunch of copper wire. I've been making the magnet blanks in short cylinders. One inch diameter, two inches long. Should be small enough to handle, but easy to stack up if a bigger thing is needed. As to the target temperature, the Curie temp for iron is a little over 1,000 Kelvin, or about 1,400 fahrenheit. If I'm remembering it right that's a little past orange, when it starts losing the red tint. Then again I haven't had luck so far so maybe I'm not remembering it right."

"Its pretty fascinating in principle, iron is strongly magnetic by nature, but normally the orientation of each atom's dipole is random, so a lot of the material's magnetism is working against itself. What we're doing is heating it to the point that the atoms are free to move around just a little more easily than normal, and the induction coil gives them encouragement to all line up in the same direction before they cool off and get stuck again."

I grin, "That yanking effect is neat too. That one will fling a rod across the room, but if we get the charge running through the coil strong enough we can throw stuff with a lot of force, like bullet from a gun kind of force. Its the same principle behind that gauss cannon the navy built. I think that with a little help from magic I might be able to build something to put black powder cannons to shame someday."

Travis approaches Jason after hearing his ideas of how hot does the iron need to be? "Jason I remember when I was looking at buying a pizza oven and finding out how hot can an oven get? If we could make a good catalytic stove going with a good coal bed. Then get it chugging along between 600 to 700 degrees. Then its possible to reach 1600 degrees F with the air wide open and all. Oh bugger we may need to find ourselves some palladium. Well on earth it occurs in nature as braggite or palladium sulfide. I don't suppose you know where we can find any here,"? he asks.

I shake my head, "I know what braggite looks like, but I do not know where to find it. Palladium and other Platinum Group metals are rare and tough to find even if you're looking in the right places, I don't think we can count on finding a supply anytime soon. It might be worth asking the dwarves."

"Fortunately we don't need it for this. The forge will work just fine. A mixture of bituminous and anthracite coal force-fed air from a bellows reaches those temperatures without too much hassle. The locals have a decent supply of it. They have to, refining iron from the raw ore takes even higher temperatures than what we are talking about."

‘Lazy Dogs’ I’ll say with a grin. ‘Just need a way to get them a couple three thousand feet in the air. And come to think of it- how much lye or caustic soda can you get hold of?  I know you crush bauxite and then hot wash it with lye-but after that...well, I said I was no chem major.’

"The locals probably make it to use in soap, but come to think of it I have not checked."

"If not, that's not a big deal. Making lye water is relatively easy. Just run Rainwater through a barrel full of wood ash."

‘True that. And the only reason I remember that much is we had a chem engineer working at the barite mill with us-used to have tons of stories and ideas about shit liked that.

 What defenses does the town have? That body of water you came in on-ocean? Any chance of Naval attack? What about battery placements for a frontal assault? Or an overhead dive bomber/dragon?

This yanking thing-does it only happen during the magnetizing or is it a permanent effect? Have you tested it on previously magnetized metal? Whats the smallest item you’ve sent through the coil? Largest?’ 
It’s obvious that the wheels are now turning in my head on the uses of magnetized items...

"You've seen most of the physical defenses and soldiers already. We haven't had much time to build anything more. The whole settlement has been here only a bit over a year."

"The bulk of the defensive prowess is handled by the people at the top. Lord Douglas is an amazing warrior, and his wife Lwiethialia a powerful mage. The mage Lywenta is capable among other things of turning into an elder red dragon."

"As to the sea. The only thing at our end is a small trading port, its owned by a couple that keep the space as a neutral ground for trade between our two closes neighbors. There might be a chance of invasion, but fortunately for us the larger navy belongs to our presumed allies against Merklin. I have made a suggestion to fortify that Trading Post, but it's going to take time.

"The largest thing I've put through the induction coil are those small blanks I was talking about, and they don't have much force coming out the other end. It's mostly only dangerous because of the temperature. In order to make it into anything especially useful, we need a lot more electricity than the current generator produces."

"But as to how it works, if you loop wires into a tight spiral and run electricity through it, it produces an electromagnetic field. Anything reactive to such forces like iron placed inside experiences a force perpendicular to the loops and tries to accelerate up the length of the coil."

"People have been talking about making railguns using this principle for a long time. The main issue is the power needed. We can relatively easily make an handheld railgun that is notably more potent than a a .50 cal, but the soldier wielding it would need to stay attached to a generator needing a small trailer to move, not exactly ideal for an actual battlefield. But here, with magic making lots of power in tiny packages more achievable, I have hope that we can work around that.

During the afternoon Herschel makes it to the training yard.  There he meets up with Vickie for some sparing and training.  Herschel does find out that Vickie is pulling some shots as to not injjre him as he can see that in some ways she is a good match.  Soon a half elf enters the training yard and approaches Herschel.  " Hello I am Sir Eklon. The Lord stated that you wished to spar with me.". After nodding at Vickie sir Eklon gets ready.  He will spar with Herschel for a bit and give Herschel some pointers.  "You are going to need these pointers for your next opponent who is coming now", he nods to the Lord as he enters the training yard.   The Lord nods to him in return and sir Elkins moves back.  You can see a few of the townfolk walking up to watch as does some guards.   The Lord looks at Herschel and ask him if he is ready.   You can also see more people coming to watch.

Sorry for the delay had some serious issues but things are looking better.

The Lord looks at Herschel and lets him get ready.  The Lord is wearing padded armor along with a wooden longsword and wooden shield.   He moves to the middle of the training yard and awaits for Herschel to attack.  Soon Herschel attacks and the Lord moves fluidly around the training yard as the two of them spar.  Herschel is knocked down more than a few times as he is a bit outmatched but learns a few moves as he finds new ways to land his blows.   

After about an hour the Lord let's his sword and shield down to signal the end of the sparring.  Both are dripping with sweat and the crowd that has come to observe the two of you as both leave to training yard.   Many people go up to the Lord and shake his hand and to congratulate him. Others do the same for Herschel telling him he did well against the Lord.   All in all it was a workout for both.    

The rest of the afternoon passed quickly as everyone starts to gather for the evening meal.   This evenings meal is at the stronghold as the Lord is hosting a banquet for the new embassador from Fretha.   Everyone is expected to come and the dress code is more formal.   

Cleaning up from my experiments and item creation, I secure my equipment in the lab with magical protections and head back to my room for the dinner. Dressing in formal wear with accents from home (Cuff links, narrow belt, Leatherman tool) I send Ariel into the air to watch for threats as such an event would be a prime target for assassins. Still wearing much of my various protective items, I forego obvious weapons in favour of a pair of hand made daggers with copper filigree grips and silver inlay along the blades (masterwork daggers, if permitted), a product of my own smithing.

Re-introducing myself to the ambassador, I praise the aspects of their city that impressed me on our visit and anticipate a mutually successful relationship between our two nation-states.