A town called Furnace was next in the path of Galahad. This was a province known far and wide for its excellent steel, and indeed even the buildings were constructed of the solid material. For all of its’ austerity, it had once been a gleaming city, but now it was tarnished and rusted reflecting the apathy of the citizenry.

Galahad had a bad feeling about the town, but could not avoid it, for to do so would mean he would have to navigate many days around the strip mines that encompassed the town for miles on end. Beside, he was too tired from the last encounter, and if he could find people to help him on his quest as the fair folk of Draub had, he would at least be better off tomorrow.

Galahad approached the gates and the guards noting his gleaming and enameled armor opened the portal for him so they could see the beautiful craftsmanship. It did not take long before the whole town was gathered around to see the beautiful armor and reminiscing of the days of old when they had indeed work such magic of metal.

From deep in the crowd and old man approached. He inspected the armor of the knight and claimed that he had been the one to manufacture it. To prove it he pointed out his stamp and the assembled were duly impressed, for they thought for years that the old man was just a crank, but now that had changed and he was treated with renewed honor. The old man invited Galahad to stay with him for a night so they may talk and repair the dents in the armor that the evil forest had inflicted. Galahad was thankful for the skillful service and accepted the offer.

As they talked the old man recognized the mark of the Wizard of Metal and grew concerned. Banging out one particularly nasty dent he explained to Galahad that the Wizard of Metal was not just a worker of metals in his magic, but indeed a skilled master of war and that his craft was put to use in furtherance of the art of war. Great battle devices were said to be instantly conjured by the wizard and even the swords of the fallen could be made to come to life at his behest. Against this, if indeed this were a preview of what awaited Galahad, he did not know where to start or even how to approach such long odds. The old man had to agree.

As Galahad rested for the night the old man had an idea, if he were to help the knight, he would have to give him something to defeat metal, and took to his shelf of ancient tombs. He knew that heat was metals immediate enemy if it could be conjured in sufficient quantities and decided to make a sacrifice on the knights behalf.

From deep within a chest he pulled out two stones that were the secrets to his craft. One was a Fire Opal and the other an Aquamarine. Both stones were enchanted to produce there representations effects, fire and ice. To Galahads’ armor the old man affixed the Aquamarine and preformed a rite to infuse the properties to the armor. He then did likewise to the sword of Galahad, embedding the Fire Opal. Now Galahad possessed the essence of what had created his superb armor, and there was no other armor or sword like it in the land.