A few anecdotes about a mysterious smith.
As told by Thomas Lazarus — Damarron 22nd, 1221 CA
The mysterious blacksmithed blacksmith, Desmond Aegis. He was my father's blacksmith for a long time, actually. Went on a few adventures in his time, and made the most remarkable weaponcraft. We still have a few of his brands back home. Exotic, massive, exacting craftsmanship. Really unique artisan, that fellow.
Now, the thing about Desmond was, he was always all wrapped up. From head to toe, stem to stern, in coats, and gloves, and heat masks with goggles, scarves, mantles — he looked like a colonial leper all wrapped up for winter. Except all the time. It was a source of great mystery to my dad and his companions, but most of them were polite. Paid it no mind. He did a good service, after all.
Except he was weird. Like, really weird. So weird people thought he was a little crazy.
Dad says, in fact, that one time he put down a commission for a set of reinforced gauntlets, and he needed it A.S.A.P. Well…
… He goes about his business in the inn room the next day. Morning routine. Stretches. Gets dressed. Goes over to a mirror — and he sees the guy standing in his room holding the package.
Just, like… waiting there. Mutely.
— Which isn't to say he was a bad guy. Just that no one could really understand him. In fact, I hear he once wanted to treat the guy to a meal for his troubles and good work. He wasn't really all that socially inclined, you see. Not one to keep the company of friends.
Dad says, and I quote as he did, the guy puts down his order for…
"I'll have… one… food, please."
Furthermore! He caught the guy at his forge. Now, despite himself, the man had no shortage of money. He was a favored smith of an adventuring troupe. But his forge is this pathetic little unequipped nothing in a clearing outside Jones' Rock, with just a furnace.
And Dad's like, "Des, where are your tools? Where's your everything?"
And he just calmly takes out his next order, braces a shield over an anvil, and punches it. Like it were the most ordinary thing in the world, and tempers it out like that. With nothing.
There are some more bits I could go on about, like them just finding him standing on roofs and things as they pass by, but I'll cut to the chase that he was a construct.
Some crazy, hidden, smart construct. That didn't want to be a construct.
(That wasn't his real name, by the way. Identity protection.)
He wasn't very good at not being a construct, though.
((At this point, a halfling in the audience asked, "But how'd he get into your father's room to stand there?"))
He was a locksmith, apparently. And machinist. And blacksmith. And chemist. A world-class tinkerer, to hear him tell it. Oh, and he never went to sleep. So he would 'wait' on people. Didn't really have the social grace to put together that it might be taken as ridiculously creepy, sometimes.
Trivia
- Desmond Aegis was a PC of Dr. Hatari (Thomas' player) in a Faerun campaign.