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With the gift of the fire spirit burning in her chest, Tahlra leads the settlement to a secluded spot near the lake’s volcanic vents. Here, the air is thick with the smell of minerals, and the ground hums with quiet power.
Rather than building a traditional forge of wood and coal, they carve a stone channel from the vent’s mouth into a deep, circular basin lined with obsidian shards. The basin becomes the forge’s heart a place where ore can be lowered into molten heat without ever touching flame.
When it is time to work, Tahlra kneels by the channel, placing her hands on the stone. She draws upon the fire spirit’s gift, controlling the vent’s heat so it burns hot enough to melt ore, yet remains steady enough for smiths to work without being burned alive.
The workers feed iron ore and obsidian into stone crucibles, which glow red within minutes under her guidance. Bamboo-handled tongs lift the molten metal, pouring it into carved stone molds for tools, and spearheads.
What to make a first batch?
>Iron Spears.
>Iron Tools.
>A mix of both.
The massive, spiral horn of the slain beast was brought to the settlement’s central gathering space, still heavy with the memory of its kill. Skilled hands worked it with stone tools and sharpened obsidian blades, carving deep grooves and symbols along its length stories of the hunt, of the hunters, and of the land that had claimed the beast.
Red bamboo strips were soaked and bent to form reinforced bands around the base, lashed tight with braided sinew. Shards of volcanic rock were polished and set into the spirals, catching the light so that the horn seemed to glimmer like smoldering embers.
When the final lash was tied, the horn was raised, and its first call bellowed through the crater. The sound rolled over the lake and up the cliffs, echoing into the unknown beyond. It was a signal not just of war, but of unity, warning all who heard it that the people of Emberlake now stood together, ready for whatever might come.
>Give the horn to the hunters. They can call for reenforments to hunt bigger beasts.
>Give the horn to the gate guards. To recall the hunters in case of an emergency.
