"Not just weapons. Tools! Automata! Trucks, pumps, bridges and houses. When iron is cheap, it's useful for so much more. 

-Transport will be a challenge, yes, I'm hoping to build vehicles out of the remains of the Blade Grave."

"Well, you don't think small. Maybe you are an Archon of Iron like they say. I can see why the Fatebinder thinks this is worth pursuing. I'll have to make more circuits of the Tiers to investigate, but I've learned to ride, so it shouldn't be more than a span to check the Tiers that aren't under Edict. Is it just iron and coal you're after?"

Actually, she has a whole scroll's worth of information on various types of ores-and-other-natural-resources that she's interested in, with notes on how confident she is about their appearance and characteristics and how much she wants them. The Spark was not maximally helpful in recalling all this, but she has confident descriptions of some things and vague ones of many more. Any of them that he comes across would be welcome, but most particularly Nickel, Chrome, Zinc (look at this shiny hard tool-steel hammer, it's a chrome/zinc/nickel alloy of iron!!), and of course Iron and Copper ores.

"Would you like me to make you something? Lightning-based lantern? An attempt at a looking-glass? Both are slightly beyond my capacity at the moment, at least my first attempts didn't quite work but I'm sure it's for lack of specialized tools not lack of ability- I've been thinking about an inducer that ought to detect large amounts of magnetic material like iron ore-"

He'll want to borrow samples - possibly just the hammer - for a day or two to familiarize himself with what it feels like so he can recognize it in ores. If she knows common characteristics of ore-bearing stones for any of them, that is also helpful. But he is rapidly shifting from jaded to enthusiastic - this is going to be an interesting and probably fun challenge for him, like making a new artisan piece for a smith rather than another hundred interchangeable shields.

After a demonstration of her little looking-glass, he does indeed want one. A lantern or inducer might speed up his job somewhat, a looking-glass could make it much faster.  (The list of things she spotted from the Mountain Spire is helpful enough already.)

"Were the glass-making problems issues of purity? I could most likely help with that more than a specialized smith; more experience with the small stones."

"For the lantern I need a way to remove air and then some lightning jars and a charging crank which are easy enough and I have the materials for, and for the vacuum I know how it's just a specialized tool I can't justify prioritizing quite yet. The lenses- A combination of purity, all the glass I've made is colored thus far, and polish, the final shape needs to be very exact and grinding it down left the surface rough and cloudy."

"Hmm, I could try to take the nearly-finished product under light heat and fix it. Have you tried cooling it with vinegar rather than water? That sometimes helps break apart hot stones for ore extraction, for reasons I don't entirely understand other than that they involve some change at the very small scale."

"Vinegar is an acid would probably be the relevant property, I've been making small amounts of stronger acids now that I've glass to store them in, need it for the lightning jars- And acid changes a lot of smelting processes, yeah. I'd like to finish what I had planned with this, I'm nearly done with the pressure chamber, then let's show you the lenses I have that don't quite work? Though actually glass needs to cool in open air for the most part, it'll shatter if cooled or heated suddenly, or more specifically too unevenly. I have a cooling kiln that I fill with pieces and slowly bring down over the course of a few hours."

"Ah, yes, I didn't mean to interrupt a work in progress. I will happily look at the incomplete specimens when you're done."

It's only another twenty minutes or so. The separate pieces of sphere come together into something over six feet across, back out of the spire and in her forge, with a whole lot of tubes and pipes leading off it.

She brings out seven attempts at lenses. They're cloudy and greenish, one is cracked.

He takes the least cloudy of the unbroken set, sitting quietly with his eyes closed for a few minutes. "I don't think I could do much for the color," he says, eyes still closed and without much emotion. A few minutes later, he opens his eyes and continues, "I think the cloudiness at the surface is solvable. But possibly a more specialized skill - are those tools" - he gestures at a workbench Camlo has been using - "from one of our better students? Let them try to do the final grinding process."

Actually, if you look closer at the workbench, there's a green piece of glass in a very odd shape, like a triangle but concave on one side, which seems to have avoided clouding. Camlo may be learning fast.

She peers, and nods approvingly. "I will, next I see him."

"Excellent! I should speak with the other Masters here, but I expect I will be off to make a circuit in the next day or two. Perhaps Vendrien's Well first, and I can check if you have a glass for me before I canvass Haven. I imagine it will take me... oh, less than a span, but at least a couple fists."

"I'll take a stab at it. So much to do, the best kind of burden, really. Want to hear about what this is for?" She gestures at the large sphere and its mass of tubes and such.

"I'm not the best placed to appreciate it, but by all means!"

The rest of the Blade Grave campaign goes quickly. They leave the Oldwalls again to track down the famous sword The Dauntless and Kohl puts it through its paces in the Havoc fight, which is grueling but short. It's about a fist from when Kohl left to when he returns to the core of the storm and tests the Insignia against it successfully.

As he's planning which allies will be backing up the spearhead attack on Sentinel Stand, Kohl sends a letter back to Ascension Hall:

Engineer Waltana,

I am planning the final attack on Sentinel Stand and the ending of the Edict. Your assistance is not needed, but if you wish to be here with us as we make a mark on history, we will wait for you. The large protective harness would make quite an impression. (I should have thought of this sooner.)

If you do, I suggest south from the Hall to Iron Hearth, and our Disfavored friends can lead you through the storm to our camp.

If not, I will see you soon regardless - the few messages from the forges I've seen say you've only gotten more impressive.

Good fortune,

Fatebinder Kohl

She talks a bit more with the Master Miner, and lets him investigate a few different pieces she has of her original equipment to learn the feel of the proper impurities. She talks with Camlo and gets him to try and improve her lenses- And once he makes one workable it's easy to mount it into a nice adjustable telescope, three feet long with warnings that it might be a tad delicate. It gets something like 8x magnification, and is still kind of greenish, and distorted at the edges, but hey, telescope!

And then, enthusiastically working something like fourteen hours a day, she's finished her water-jet-cutter and spends some time supervising the carving through the portion of the Blade Grave, quickly repurposing the recovered metal for more tools she can plug into her knockoff Steam Core. A lathe. Drop hammer. Band saw. It's just making the working edges of the tools that's the hard part, she has to sharpen them often.

She has plans for much more, but there hasn't been enough time- Drill press. A loom. Overhead crane. Pressure washer. Electrolysis. Arc welder. All the basics, enough to feel less weird thinking about building more exotic tooling.  She still feels like she hardly has anything to work with- But that's the thing, isn't it? Tools to build better tools to build more tools to build another generation of tools.

It'd be more enjoyable if she didn't feel like she has to be perfect all the time. The Archon of Iron, living in her workshop and building towards endless wonders.

She hasn't really been following the politics, locations, the web of alliances... Trusting Kohl to handle that and mono-focusing on her source of power. Devices and methods that only she understands, that only her Spark understands. It's fine to teach the Forge-Bound, to leave glasswork to them. The more they're capable of, the more she can take the sophisticated things they produce and build the visions that live only in her head. Walking cities, great vessels soaring through the sky, assembly lines and distilleries and great glass halls full of the noise of industry, dogs made of steel that patrol and sound the alarm on their own, utterly mechanically loyal...

Her assistance is not needed. But it would serve her own purposes to become... Known. Even if it feels dangerous, avoiding things because they feel dangerous is probably a bad strategy.

Fatebinder Kohl,

You seem to think think it is a good debut, so it would be prudent to put my best foot forward. I have been working hard and begun cutting the Blade Grave with the assistance of everyone here at Lethian's Crossing, but I will make preparations for fighting and a strong impression and leave towards Iron Hearth within two days. I will be bringing my protective harness and, if I can complete it in time, the second half that I had been planning for it, which ought to make me faster.

If you can send in time a reply indicating any specific devices that would be helpful I can make an attempt at them.

Regrettably I believe I will need to slow my pace of work after this. I find my temper growing short and difficulty focusing at times, and I know I am pushing myself very hard. At least the slowest and most tedious part of building up steam will largely be over with soon.

Good skill,

Engineer Waltana

She locates a messenger who can send her reply, with thanks and a few rings.

She looks for Master Kinara and informs him that she's off to probably battle soon, if that shield is complete it would be welcome.

She looks for Camlo and gathers up all the other forge-bound she's been working with, and makes a short speech, quietly declaring that she is going to Sentinel Stand to join the Fatebinder, and would appreciate assistance to build something first, disassembling some of her recently built tools for it if needed. This is not going to be some day-long bender of wild smithing- Just heavy work. And then she shows them her designs for a pair of folding automata legs, and a small harness for her to sit in. She'll do the detail work.

If it doesn't seem workable to get done in a day or two, that's fine. But if it is, she'd like to impose and request they put off their own work for a bit, as a favor.

At this point, the Forge-Bound have solidly adopted her. Not a smith in their own tradition, but a smith and an artist for certain, and that's enough. Most of them probably haven't noticed the strain - full-fledged Forge-Bound end up somewhat obsessive, restless whenever they aren't working, and the ones who aren't particularly insightful assume that so is she. They will definitely help her finish her battle-frame if she asks.

Kinara has the shield ready, and actually enlarged it seeing what she'd been making.

"It pulls arrows in, only slightly for now but that should improve with time and use. Rust generally won't be a problem, but caring for it properly will be good for it anyway. It should tolerate modifications that don't need high heat, if you want to make them - plating some of your odder metals, or adding lightning, or some such thing."

"It isn't quite finished, though: it needs a name. From smith or wielder is equally traditional, but it's your symbol - you get first refusal."

"What springs to mind is a name of great fame, the ship that made all other battleships obsolete. Dreadnought. But that's a ship's name, and I'm going to save it until I have a ship worthy of it. I have something else, an old old legend I might like to call upon myself, if you've nothing particularly suited."

Aegis. The shield of Athena, that defeated Medusa and her terrifying magic.

"I think this may be pedestrian to your homeland, but much less in ours: I would name it Magnetism."

"-Oh that's good. That's very good. Magnetism." She nods firmly, fits it on her arm- Looks forward to the support the harness will offer- And then asks if there's any special care requirements.

"Oh, the usual for anything iron; wipe it down when it's dirty, especially if it's wet or near the sea, and doubly if it gets blood or viscera on it. If it gets dented - should take some doing, but might happen - try to tap the dents back out within a fist or two. Rub it down with oil a couple times a span. For a normal shield that would prevent corrosion or rust; here it should be fine without, but going through the proper motions - is good for it. Maybe it just takes less stress on the developing magic so that more can become useful, maybe it forms a stronger bond with the wielder, maybe both, maybe something else. But we're pretty sure it helps."

"I'll be plating it with chrome when I can, that should solve for corrosion. I may not know magic like you do... But thank you. I'll make good use of it."

She stares at the shield for a bit, seeming slightly lost.

"She'll serve you well. Even though you'd be happier staying at the forge than wielding her."

"Constraints and duties, and plenty of them. Self imposed, even. I can't not try my hardest."

"Luckily, you have allies and friends to help you with those. Also fans, but those are less useful. Anything else you want done before you head out to whatever the Fatebinder's doing next?"