Govannon
Govannon is the master smith of Sunton and the only known Grandmaster Arcane Forger in the Land of Song. He keeps a well-established smithy in the city, shipping metal in and treasured weapons out.
He is human and enormous: six foot six, shoulders like a door, hands the size of shovels. Black hair tied back, dark cold black eyes, heavy brows, and a beard an inch wide and a foot and a half long, twisted like rope with a bead at the end of it. He wears a black leather apron and has a handshake that crushes without meaning to — it dragged Thorne into the shop and lifted the much smaller Zureth clean off the floor.
His forge occupies the open ground floor of a lot in the middling part of town, walled in stone with a clever run of chimneys keeping the smoke clear of the apartments above. The street sign is a smith’s hammer wreathed in blue fire. A second forge inside burns blue over a black anvil cut with runes and silvery writing; that is where the magic is done. He met the party among the crowd that gathered at the Northern Bridge in session 3, sat down with them at the Sunburst, and shook every hand at the table.
He was driven out of Aberdeen after refusing to make arms for the Clan of Light, in his own words once the sun clan light clan people got their claws into me. Five of his apprentices followed him into exile; one, Iago, had worked with the Clan of Light to have him removed, and took over his land and forge. His son Haearn works the ordinary forge — the image of his father without the beard — and has no intention of inheriting the craft. He means to join the rangers with Tyrus and Warrick. His father has opinions about this, expressed at volume and with affection.
On the leadership of Sunton
Asked by Thorne whether he was proud to have men like Pippin leading the city, he declined the word:
“There’s always leaders. There always seems to be people that are willing to tell you what to do, but there’s few people that actually step up and get work done and are willing to help out. Merry and Pippin, they’re awesome. Proud — I don’t know if I’d use the word proud. Grateful. Grateful is good.”
The offer
Under Relic Forge he practises Arcane Forging: magical weapons, armour, shields, rods, wands, and staves. He has offered the party a trade — bring him materials, and he will take one of them on as an apprentice and see whether they have any skill.
“If you ever need some magic weapons, magic armours, you bring me the materials, I can help you do it.”
In session 4 he demonstrated on a plain dagger — hide and teeth, some hammering, and a blade that came out with a green tint to its edge, carrying an extra 2d6 poison damage once a day and advantage on one attack once a day. He gave it to the party free, “a down payment into our dealings.”
He then took Asher, Thorne, and Zureth as apprentices and handed each of them a bag of harvesting tools — scissors, a knife, pliers, and glass vials nested in protective leather. What he wants in return from Tyre is magical ingredients, and beyond that any recipes, books, or knowledge left by the master arcane forgers and mystic weavers who once filled that city.
He works in more than metal: crossbows, longbows, shortbows, hand crossbows — “toothpicks, as long as you’re going to throw them.”
His counterpart for everything else is Simon, the mystic shaper, who is a Master where Govannon is a Grandmaster. A character may learn only one of the two disciplines.