The sun had already risen an hour ago as the morning sky was colored with bright and soft shades of blue. The clouds were scant, and slowly rising were steady pale grey streams of smoke, the usual black smoke long since gone from the city of Trask as all chimneys were set with a kind of filter which removed most of the burn residue that would have been released into the air. This was one of the living conditions of concern made by the founder for the health and future of the city, one of the many hallmarks that Trask was known for.

One particular stream of dirty white reaching into the sky was slowly but steadily belched by the Long Ears Smithy. A continuous tempo of hammer falls ring out from the building though one might think thus melody was a bit too quick yet that thought would be clarified with a simple look into the workshop. The continuous tempo was maintained by two strikers as a third person was focused on steadying the metal being worked on. The strikers matched the force of their blows and alternated their hits which naturally blended into one sound if listened to from outside.

One member of the three man team raised a hand and the work wound down with the din of metal striking metal coming to a halt. The drawn out blank had then taken the rough form of rectangular bar long enough for it to be a dagger but wide and think enough to be a sword hilt.

The dull glowing ingot was gently placed on a cooling stack of greatly similarly sized bars of dull silver metal. The pair of strikers set down their tools before looking to the one sitting infornt of the anvil  

The gruff soot covered bunny started. "Before we turn over the whole order we have to put the new equipment through the ringer." He then nodded to his daughter and his apprentice.

 The duo looked at Dale, then to each other with a slight curling or their lips. The trio then moved to a side door of the forge which lead into a walled off space that was behind the smithy. Racks upon racks lined the area with an assortment of weapons lining the wall. If one were to compare the selection in the gallery of the store, which only presented base designs, to the pieces in this area one would find a large disparity with the plethora of variations for all the displayed pieces.

Most customers would bring their requests with an image already in mind but only a few clients are made aware of the special catalogue that this smithy keeps. The weapons range from staves to spears, axes to polearms, swords to daggers, lances to maces. Then there were sets of armor with leathers covered in studs or rings, interlaced with mail or hiding thin plates embedded between layers some were overt and others were concealed betraying the misconception of others that thinking they were just plain leather. Full metal armor were rarer, with mail, and rings accompanied plate and gambeson each with their own variations for purpose and design. Another thing of note that there were even replications of a few sets and pieces but were made of different compositions or combinations.

The catalogue if you will was not made solely by Dale and his apprentices, but was a collection formed by those who came before him, his father, grandfather and great grandfather. And if one might think these were show pieces then they might be forgiven in doing so. Though these were most assuredly used in one time or another with most of these pieces outliving the ones that commissioned their creation or were later traded in as to ask for a 'fresher' set made clear by the faint traces use and experience in battle with the scratches, patches and dents in the equipment. The place was further made special as it was a dedicated storage space for the functional antiques with special care against moisture and humidity and was also greeted with the occasional oiling and cleaning.

This was not the trio's destination as they made their way to the far end of the room with a stairway to a lower level of the building which then emptied into a training hall and practice range of sorts.

A few targets with alternating colored rings and dummies with humanoid or beastly shapes and distance marking on the floor and a layered construction of the walls to dampened sound and impacts. Blunted and sharpened forms of some of the weapons were also on the many hooks and racks and different pieces of armor were mounted on some of the targets. The said room was their own testing facility which only a handful of individuals know asides from the trio present.

Again the fact that the catalogue, the testing facility, and commission only nature of the smithy painted a specialized and exclusive look to them and might make it difficult to support a living. But they need not worry as they were an established name only known to special circles and only recommended to other people by the arms masters which know of the family's reputation and the regular production of some affordable and practical pieces help form their facade as a great quality forge with wares a little over common market price which also regularly accepts special requests.

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Felnar and Glen were already changed out of the forge clothes as Dale spoke. "Glen pick a set from the smaller sized gear and Carrots take on from the other size."

The pair did so and suited up in similar but ultimately different pair of dark grey, almost black mix of plate and mail armor, helping each other at times with the fittings and straps. After a dozen or so minutes, they were kitted up, with both of them having a light layer of padding over their shirts, sleeves and pants, then a layer of mail was covered the padding. Finally, there were greaves, gauntlets, pauldrons, half plates over their chest and upper half of the back, segments of plate on their upper arms and an armored skirt which covered just below their knees where the greaves ended.

The whole set of armor the two wore boasted a high quality of protection with the multiple layers armor but were a bit more affordable than just having a whole set of pure plate, also the liberal use of mail also afforded the different body shapes that might use the armor.

"Okay, time to check the motions." were Dale's words which launched his apprentices into a set of exercises to check the range of motion the sets they were wearing.

The pair went into sprints, rolls, jumps, footwork and basic unarmed striking and stances, and after the half hour routine they took a break. The activity then resumed as the picked out three weapons that were made to go with the sets of armor, a spear, a mace and a dagger, which they then used practicing through a few forms and then a light spar against one another.

Nearing lunch time the tests came to a close and both the apprentices were asked to remove their gear. The pair wiped their own brows and the clothes they wore were moist with perspiration.

The now unarmored bunny girl, which easily caught most bystanders eyes, revealed a frame with fine and lean muscle tone as the fabric of her shirt and pants stuck to her arms, chest and legs, a look that young lad also mirror. The other youth also looked more like a lean and exercised human whose form was built from hard labor and toil with only the short nubs on his ears betraying the elven side of his origin.

The two were not embarrassed with the sweaty look of exertion they both had as the apprentices were like siblings in how they treated, chided and worked with the other.

The older bunny, now free of soot as he cleaned himself while observing the pair asked, "Your evaluations?"

Glen started, "There were no problems with the motion and weight even taking into account the doubled padding around my torso with the Goats being a bit larger than me. The weapons are also of appropriate size and balance. Only problem I have is with the mace."

"And why is that?" was the gruff question Dale made. 

"The damn things look so freaking gaudy! I know they asked for these embellishments and all. But really!? The fleece pattern on the plates, the ram horns and spiked hooves on the mace, even the spikes and studs on the helm for the rams' horns look so damn tacky. Don't even get me started with the name and motto of that unit, Black Sheep, Ba-aad to the bone. Fuck! Damned lame ass puns! You won't catch me demeaning myself with that kind of shit like calling myself Bunny Hop or something like that." Glen ended with almost a shout but Dale simply listened to her tirade and shrugged as Felnar just stood only nodding from time to time.

"Customers orders." was the curt reply the young lad made which Dale just nodded to. "Hell! They're the ones paying and were here to make them and ensure the stuff works fine. Well mine is also well balance and even counting for the forward weight it has, no problems, though I think a different liner could be used as to accommodate the colder bodies of our reptilian clients." he added.

The young lad's set also had a set theme to it, and looking at the helm for the set, where the smaller helms had an allowance for horns to pass through, Felnar's gave off the feel that his were for a much larger creature with an indentation for a thick tail at the back and scale motif throughout the surface of the peices of plates. There was even a mixed mail and plate sleeve for the tail and said sleeve had an allow chain links which could be removed for adjustment and could then be attached to underside of the armored skirt.

The smaller set Glen had tested were for the unit called Black Sheep which was group of special guards belonging to one of the Four Courts of the Signab Alliance otherwise known as the Beastkin Alliance, the court of the Horns and Hooves. While the set Felnar had was for the an Honor Guard of a Noble from the Khar Kingdom of Sherenash. The Khar were a reptilian people that looked similar to geckos, lizards and crocodiles, the main difference to the reptiles being that could stand upright and that they were on average the size of a full grown human, if not a little leaner or thicker and taller depending on the type that they were.

 "Get the gear straightened out and just place your observations in the notes. We already added the extra mile for adjustability of the pieces, it's their concern for all those peripheral things that weren't accounted for." Dale said as to signal the rest of the workload for afternoon

The three of them then made their way back to the storage area of the smithy and did with the finishing and crating for the equipment.