Griswold

Heading out of the cathedral through the metal doors, hearing the doors slam loudly behind him causing Griswold to turn around. With a shake of the head making him wonder how the quest just ended so abruptly, Griswold finds himself walking down the trail that led up to this large beautiful building. Walking down the trail, mind trailing back and forth to this reality of hell. After a long while of walking downward not paying much attention to where his feet were leading him, Griswold's feet hit the solid straight ground. This causes a few glances around to see where he ended up. Not seeing anything of note Griswold starts to walk across the grassy fields with mountains sprouting in every direction. Knowing that it was a long walk back, he finds himself walking quickly in the direction he came from hoping to make it back to the village before sundown.

After a few hours it seems, the darkness around him changes his mood a bit. Finally reaching the town of Spartaia. His mind continues to dart from thought to thought with no idea how it got to each memory. Playing through his head on repeat sending small electric jolts through his body leaving a feeling of pain and regret. Not knowing how he got there, he found himself standing in front of the teleportation circle on floor 17. Stepping into the circle calling out “Floor 9” before that familiar feeling flows through him. Griswold walks to his shop and takes a seat behind the counter, placing a hand on the table. He pulls out a little wooden trinket in the shape of a rocking horse from his pocket and sets it on the far edge of his workspace. With a deep inhale trying to keep his feelings at bay, Griswolds starts putting his mind to work with what he knows best. 

a resounding blow in rhythm, easily identified from a ringing anvil echo's through his shop the same as always.

*Clank...Clank...Clank*

ID# 136549 results: Loot: 6, Failure to Locate a Chest

Waving a hand at Griswold, he shines gold for a moment before nothing. Confusion painted across his face saying “What was that just now? What did you do?” Hephaestus glides across the floor in the same moment those words were said with a chuckle and a smile saying “Your gift of course. You have successfully created a sword that no one can touch without a special pair of” stopping mid-sentence staring at Griswold with his mouth slightly open. “Nevermind that, that's for me to know and you not to find out. You succeeded in the challenge” spoke with his hands raised to the ceiling in excitement, as a small boon manifests in Griswold's grasp. “Now go on, move along. I have things to do” as he waves his hands in a shooing motion toward the door. Hephaestus moves back to the sword with admiring eyes. Again confused Griswold walks to the large metal doors that already seemed to be opened.

Griswold starts to say in warning “Watch it that blade...” as Hephaestus touches the hilt of the sword with a smile. “I am a god, this fire can’t touch me” as the blade twirls around in his hand with the flames dancing with the sword in the air. “The weight is balanced and the color wonderful” as he inspects the flames against the swords edges his eyes gleam. “These flames are so marvelous. It’s…” Hephaestus looks to Griswold with an eyebrow raised at him as he freaks out a bit over the new-made flame sword. Hephaestus clears his throat as he places the sword back on the pedestal made for such a weapon. “This will come of use later,” he says with a small giggle against the words spoken. Again he knew something that Griswold did not but he couldn't pinpoint it. “Okay then as promised” he waves a hand toward Griswold.

“Well done, well done” peering over Griswold's shoulder at the flaming sword. Gliding around Griswold's large stature toward the sword, Hephaestus circles it admiring its quality. “See now this is how it must be done. The thickness and the coloring...the hilt itself is just magnificent.” Griswold walks forward to the sword as the god says “Why don’t you see if you can pick it up” with a smirk like he knew something that Griswold did not. With a small nod, Griswold closes the distance between him and the sword and attempts to grab the metal hit that didn’t seem to be on fire as the rest of the blade. As his hand touches the hilt it’s instantly pained by scourging hot almost lava feeling threatening to turn it to ash. Quickly pulling his hand back shaking it to stop the extreme pain that echoes down his hand into his arm. Hephaestus blurts out a small laugh before reaching for the sword himself.

Heating the tip once again and walking back to the sword that is now gleaming from the light above, reflecting light throughout the entire room. Placing the heated metal tip against the bottom of the blade once again where the hilt connects, melds the hilt and the blade together. This time the blade begins to sizzle. Griswold confused a bit steps back from the blade quickly. Within seconds the blade shines brighter than before. The light reflecting off the silver coloring starts to redden as Griswold can feel the heat of the blade from where he is standing. Stepping a few more feet back the sword sparks and the ashes around ignite for a split second before the sword bursts into flames causing Griswold to jump back further to not be hit by the fire. Griswold glances in Hephaestus but he is not in the chair anymore. Griswold jumps at the sound of a voice behind him.

Using the remainder of the grey liquid after reheating it to form a handle like before. Forming that same silver curve off the handle for that medieval look. After a while of hard concentration and skill, taking the newly crafted blade and the hilt in separate hands to the other now scrap metal in the ground. Placing the sharp tip of the new blade on the ground and leaning it against his large frame, Griswold pulls the scrap metal from the rock and chucks it across the room against the wall. Picking the new blade up, he gently but forcefully places it pointy side first in the whole he created before. It’s harder to get in as the blade seems thicker than the last one. A large grin painted across his face now as Griswold makes his way back to the table to grab the metal bar. Glancing to the god who is now sitting straight up and looking excited.

Reheating the end of the blade where the hilt connects he forces a slim triangle shape to break down the middle of the blade. This causes the shape of the blade to almost look like a very slim long arrowhead. Setting this aside, reheating the rest of the dark grey ingot he forms a dagger shape point that fits the shape of the break that he made in the actual blade. Melding the two pieces carefully together and waiting for it to cool before picking the blade up and holding it to the light. As he raises the blade up the reflective brightness is almost blinding to the eye. Griswold smiles for he has a really good feeling about this blade that he just created. Knowing that he wasn’t done yet though, setting the blade aside for now and starts recreating the hilt from before. Taking the last silver ore and melting it down like before.

Griswold takes both the green and the grey ore, melting them down into liquid separately. Then he takes all but a fourth of the grey ores liquid and mixes it with half of the green ores liquid in another mold. Using the metal bar the quickly mix the portions together, it starts to turn a silver color. Tapping the end piece of the metal bar against the edge of the mold, setting it aside and waits for the ingot to cool. As it’s cooling, Griswold begins to notice that there was a certain reflective quality to the ingot that is brighter than before. With a grin, Griswold reheats this ingot and starts forming the blade but in a more sturdy movement than before. Feeling more confident than before and actually getting his mindset clear and focused on just the working of metal. After a while of careful creation, he decides to get ambitious with this one.

Griswold knew that Hephaestus was right. Being more creative with his work was usually what he did but his mind was just not in the right place. He slowly walks back toward the table with a hand, held against his forehead and the metal bar in the other. Placing the bar on the ground leaning against the table he stands there and thinks

Remembering my girls here will not help me now. I need to get my head in the right place, I need to focus here. I will not falter

Touching each ore gently observing the green ore as it sparkles under the light. The grey ore as it shows no active features under the light. Eyes dart back to the hilt that was attacked to the other blade in the ground. “I will make that same hilt for this last blade” as his head darts back to the table.

With the tip of the heated metal bar, he reheats just the bottom of the blade sticking out of the ground and attaches the hilt to the blade. Waiting for it to cool as he steps back a foot or two and stares at the blade. After a while of watching and nothing happening, he knew that he didn’t do it right once again. Glancing to Hephaestus who was again laughing but quickly gets serious saying “I really thought you were more CREATIVE than this old man” saying creative in a more majestic way than the other words that slipped from his mouth. Griswold almost glares at the god now but knows that he was right. “You have one more chance” as Hephaestus leans forward placing his hand on his knees still seated. “What will you do” saying with almost evil laugh with a smirk dancing across his face now just waiting for fate to walk in his favor.

Heating the mixed alloy back up, the hammer begins to pound even harder than before. After a while of banging on this metal and forming a thicker but stronger blade that before, the eyes just go over it with an intense gaze. The coloring was a darkened silver but somehow it still seemed off. Griswold decides to try it anyway as he walks to the pedestal made for it and places it inside creating a whole. Walking back to the table he liquifies the silver ore and reheats some of the grey ore. In doing so he proceeds to create a hilt for the sword. This hilt had a medieval feel to it as the handle was a dark grey with a silver attachment rounded out on one side of the handle. Griswold takes a metal bar, heating the tip and walks to the blade with the hilt in the other hand.

“Blasted Garbage!” Griswold yells as he throws the now scrap metal sword across the room. With careful calculations this time he tries smelting the 2 new ores that he’d never seen before. Breaking them down to a liquid substance but this time separately. He poured half of the green liquid and half of the grey liquid into one mold while it was still wet. Waiting for the newly formed ingot to cool his mind started to go somewhere else. A memory goes flashing through his head that wasn’t thought of for a while -“Freya that’s not yours, that’s Anna’s. Give it back…” Elda says snatching the toy from Freya and giving it back to Anna who was crying. During this time Griswold was sitting on the couch watching this happen with a smile.- Griswold's mind flashes back to reality as he is staring at the table. Seeing that the metal had cooled, Griswold picks it up with a frown across his face.

This ore is a dark green color and after observing its properties, Griswold picks the last ore off the table. This being a greyish black color with no such effects as the other two. “Hmm, this is very interesting coloring” saying as he was trying to make sense of what he was looking at. “Maybe if I combine all 3” saying as he starts melting down one of each ore. Creating 3 metallic liquids in one mold he waits for it to cool. Continuing what he knows he takes the ingot and reheats it before pounding into the metal piece with his own hammer. After some time he creates a thin greenish-black blade. You can hear Hephaestus just laugh in the background. After a moment he realizes that he already failed. No ore was left to make the hilt and with basic knowledge, he knows that 1 of those ores should have been used for the hilt.

He stops for a moment and smiles right at him before saying “By your hands that is.” Turning to face Griswold completely. “You have 3 tries to get it right. If you fail you don’t get what I offer at the end of this challenge.” Hephaestus glides across the floor to his original seating, putting his legs out and crossing them with a fold of his arms. “Now big boy lets see what you’ve got” as he just sits there and waits for the results to unfold.

Watching Hephaestus go back to sitting, Griswold looks to the ore and gets started. Picking up one of the ores he recognizes it as silver so he puts it back on the table. The other 2 ores though he does not recognize any of them. Upon picking the green ore up the light above reflects of heavily creating a rainbow effect off the wall next to him.
 

After a moment of looking over Griswold, he eyes the ground between them “Okay then...Here” as he waves a hand “You will forge me a sword.” All the equipment that Griswold has in his shop appears in front of him. Another wave of the hand and a table with 3 sets of 3 ore types appear on the surface. “This sword you make has to be HOT” getting excited Hephaestus moves around and in front of the table staring down at the ore “Fire hot, a flame that never goes out. You have to place the blade piece in this” with another wave of his hand he creates stone and ash pile surrounding on top and around it. “Make the blade and place it there. Make the hilt and attach it. If you have done the right calculations in the alloy then the sword will burn hot and be untouchable.”

Peering inside a large roomy area is exposed with light shining through every layer of windows littered about around the walls. In the center of this room, there is a large round table with multiple chairs surrounding it. At first glance, there was nothing sitting in these chairs but as soon as the eyes passed to the table and traveled back there was intently a shadowed figure in each chair excluding the one which seemed to be fully visible. “You must be Griswold, please come forward” as the male stands from his chair. Fine stature, tall, tanned skin with medium cut golden blonde hair stands amongst the shadows. A voice of confidence barks from Griswold's mouth “Yes and I am here for your challenge. Well spit it out, what is it?” Hephaestus walks forward toward Griswold with a grin spread across his face saying “Confident and straight to the point I see.”

Putting the hand down as he says “My liege, Hephaestus, wishes for me to escort you to Mt. Olympus to see him. I will get you to the doors of this challenge. Please this way” as he turns around continuing to walk up the path in the same burly stature as Griswold was. With a small nod of acceptance, he follows the big creature up the rest of the mountainside. Another hour passes before they arrive at the entrance of this Cathedral towered building. Griswold a bit awed by the height and amazed that he didn’t see this building from the bottom of the mountain is interrupted by a voice saying “Good luck, you'll need it” with a small grin before turning to the large metal doors and placing both hands on the cold metal. Pushing the doors wide open with a small grunt, Griswold walks forward a bit before seeing the inside.

Halting at the exit of town seeing the view of the mountains surrounds the entirety of this floor “Oh boy, what are you getting me into” as his eyes glance at the green icon leading up one of the mountains. From the distance that can be seen, suspecting that it will take a bit to cover this much ground, he begins to fast walk and keep his pace for the complete distance till he reaches the mountainside. Getting this far took a couple of hours but he continues up the mountainside path provided at a slower pace now being a bit tired from the trailing to this point. After getting about halfway up this inclined path, Griswold is met face to face with a burly big horned creature. Not sure what to think, he pulls out his hammer and shield before the creature puts a hand up shaking it back and forth.

Darting eyes around trying to get a feel for his new surroundings, he finds his eyes landing on the map at the top right of his vision. With a small nod after seeing the green icon, feet figure out how to walk as Griswold begins heading toward the exit through the reflective city of Spartaia. Watching his reflection against the tiles on the ground beneath the feet, Griswold finds it almost amusing seeing what he just recently accepted once again. For a split moment, his mind thinks of Anna. Frowning he says in a small voice “I will get back to you even if I have to do these silly quests with a bunch of strangers by my side. I will get home for you Anna.” Coming back to reality, finding himself running now trying to get to this location as quickly as possible. With the ground shaking after every step, Griswold makes his way out of town.

Griswold grabs the hammer and shield, before heading toward the exit of his shop. Walking through the town toward the teleportation circle, seeing other green characters laughing and showing off their new equipment to each other. Watching them having fun and acting like this hell isn’t real still just being a game to them, Griswold can’t help but get a little pissed off. Griswold begins to walk faster to the warp gate, not looking at all the other characters and chatter going on around him. Arriving at the circle with a bit of trouble he opens the quest log seeing floor 17 as his destination for the quest. Closing out the menu angrily calling out “FLOOR 17”. 

Griswold’s body feels disoriented for a moment as it travels through as data and landing on floor 17. Greeted by a welcome message to the floor upon arrival, he waves his hand in front of his face as to get rid of it faster.
 

The room is warm with the kiln lit and the forge in use. Griswold is hard at work, shaping a sword before cooling the blade. Clink clink clink as the hammer hits against metal, thinning the bulky piece of heated metal. Raising the blade above his head to see if it’s the right size, not finding it good enough yet Griswold places the blade back down and starts hammering it out again. A message pops up randomly as Griswold was trying to finish this blade. For now he ignores it, but as soon as the blade is perfected it gets tossed in the water to cool and then Griswold pays attention to the message. 

[Quest Available!]
The goddess Hephaestus wishes to test your skills as a Blacksmith. Failing means your best was not given. Succeeding means your best work was given and you are worthy. Grand prizes and self worth will be given upon success.  Shall you accept my challenge or forever be a failure. 
[Quest Location: Floor 17]
[Do you accept?]
[Yes/No]

“This is a quest that boy wants me to take” saying as Griswold takes the finished sword out of the water and places it on a rack. He accepts the quest and begins padding himself down to make sure everything needed is there. 

Gaius seemed to find what he was after, his last material without getting into trouble. A nod in respect for the boy yielded to his warning and kept himself out of trouble while finishing the task he'd been given "Well done, let's get this finished and move on." Retrieving his hammer and buckling everything back into place as to be prepared if something else aimed to attack them, Griswold pops his shoulders and picks his shield from the ground. Looking down at Shiina where she slept Griswold whispers to the young girl "Come now, its time to head back." Standing with a quick lunge forward to give him the momentum to do so, Griswold follows behind Simmone keeping eyes on Shiina to see if she was following in tow. A couple of steps onto the gate of Urbus took him back to floor 1 alongside Simmone, escorting Gaius back where he needed to be.

ID# 136452 results: Loot: 13, Failure!

Griswold took to the same stone, tired from the whole ordeal as his energy pool was lower then he would have liked. A quick check of his plates, tightening them after pulling them up to let the air hit his skin underneath the armor. Hot in this humid environment clad in his cobalt blue shell, Griswold takes a deep breath looking to Gaius while Simmone takes to the forest to keep an eye out for potential threats. "That was impressive boy, knew you had it in you." Griswold chuckles brushing some hair from the head of his hammer and tightening a few loosened rivets from the back of his shield. Looking over the polearm users weapon with a professional eye, Griswold remarks "But we got to get something better into your hands because that hunk of junk is serving you none." Honesty without tact Griswold laughs again with a hearty chuckle, hoping to not irritate the boy but just make conversation.

ID# 136448 results: Loot: 1, FAILURE!

Griswold: 120/120 HP, 5/12 EN, DMG 5, Miti 18, H.M: 2

"Aye!" Griswold yelps out in response to Simmone, picking up her intentions with the amber head of his hammer to do the rest of the speaking. A feint from Simmone draws the beast's attention as Griswold breaks around behind it and cleaves down toward its spine near where Gaius was latched in. Its insistent bucking draws it outside of Griswold's swing, yielding no impact and wiggling out of where he can strike before he's forced to block incoming hooves. Clattering hard against his steel wall time and time again Griswold is forced back shouting back to Simmone "It's no good! I can't seem to get close." Taking a few steps away as to halt the barrage of incoming blows hoping to not have them overcome his defensives, it was on Gaius now to finish this fight. Griswold shouts to Gaius "You can do it boy, end it!" giving a quick hand motion to Shiina to keep close as to put herself in a hazardous position as he docks his shield.

ID# 136427 results: Battle: 4, Missed using basic attack! [Heavy Momentum Retained!]

(2)Gaius: 120/120 HP, 4/12 EN, DMG 7, Miti 9, Acc 2, H.M: 2, 1 EVA Prosperity 3 [Disguse 0/3]

(1)Simmone: 120/120 HP, 12/12 EN, DMG 2, EVA 1, Acc 3, BLD 1 (12 Over 2/9-10), Keen 1, Recov 2 (2/CD 6+)

Griswold: 120/120 HP, 4/12 EN, DMG 5, Miti 18, H.M: 2

Shiina: 80/80 HP, 8/8 EN, DMG 1

Mountain Elk: 22/60 HP, DMG 18

Quickly leaping from his sitting position, springing off the stone as one of the local wildlife comes to action to face Gaius and the group in defense of the one lost Griswold closes the gap. A glowing hammer ablaze with action, Griswold heaves the hammer in silence down. The first blow falls short, the second producing no impact as it glances in a tuft of floating hair and the final connects with the creature's defenses in an impact halting the hammer dead. "Blasted..." Griswold was a bit discouraged but removes the hammer with a quick boot away from its antlers as it attempts to gore him nailing his shield. Shiina comes back to the area through that which she left, Griswold moves to her side being the smallest among them in attempts to block her from harm. "Stay behind me..." Griswold announces allowing his shield to be the thing between them an the hostile.

ID# 136416 results:

Battle: 5, Missed! using Upper Swing!

Gaius: 120/120 HP, 7/12 EN, DMG 7, Miti 9, Acc 2, H.M: 2, Prosperity 3

(1)Simmone: 120/120 HP, 11/12 EN, DMG 2, EVA 1, Acc 3, BLD 1 (12 Over 2/9-10), Keen 1, Recov 2 (2/CD 6+)

Griswold: 120/120 HP, 5/12 EN, DMG 5, Miti 18, H.M: 2

Shiina: 80/80 HP, 8/8 EN, DMG 1

Mountain Elk: 58/60 HP, DMG 18