Rock Hard Smithing
Equal Parts. No Exceptions.
Follow the ring of hammer on steel through Amarosa’s Underbriar Warrens and sooner or later you will find Rock Hard Smithing. Its broad entrance opens first onto polished armor, fitted mail and carefully arranged field gear; only beyond the showroom does the hotter orange light of the forge begin to show.
This is the workshop of Aren Redshank, a Stonebound smith whose reputation has climbed well beyond the Warrens. Soldiers come for armor that survives hard use. Performers and private patrons come for metalwork that moves like clothing. Collectors come because an authentic Redshank piece carries a maker’s mark recognized far beyond Amarosa. Aren accepts all three kinds of customer for the same reason: each gives him another opportunity to prove that strength and beauty are not opposites.
Quick Facts
Location: Underbriar Warrens, Amarosa
Type: Smithy, armorer, outfitter and discreet exchange
Current Proprietor: Aren Redshank
Known For: Armor, practical equipment, fitted metal apparel, repairs, bespoke commissions and Redshank Masterworks
Signature Philosophy: “Equal parts” — harmony between form and function, beauty and purpose, hardness and softness
Maker’s Mark: The Redshank mastercraft stamp, forged or struck discreetly into finished work
Clientele: Soldiers, adventurers, performers, nobles, collectors and discreet exporters
Atmosphere: Warm, exacting, industrious, orderly and quietly prestigious
Primary Role: Equipment source, commission hub, social contact and gateway into Underbriar dealings
Quiet Reputation: A smuggling route used to move Redshank wares and select outside goods beyond Amarosa’s export taxes
Meet Aren Redshank
At 4 feet, 2 inches tall, Aren Redshank has the broad shoulders of a lifelong smith and the compact athletic build of someone accustomed to lifting his own work. His vivid red beard is kept in a neat queue so it never falls into the forge, and his eye for presentation is nearly as exacting as his eye for metal.
Away from the shop, Aren is easy to recognize by his steel-blue coat and rounded orange spectacles. He can occasionally be spotted in Heartblossom Heights on his way to discuss a private commission with one of Amarosa’s wealthier patrons, carrying measurements, sketches or carefully wrapped work beneath one arm.
In the shop, he is particular without being precious. A crooked clasp bothers him. So does uneven trim, an unbalanced weapon or ornament added merely because there was room for it. He has been known to stop mid-conversation, straighten a display by half an inch, and continue without acknowledging the interruption.
His most common criticism of another artisan’s work is simply: “Too much of one thing.”
Object of Affection
Aren’s background is Object of Affection. Admiration follows him easily: for his craft, his confidence and the scarcity of his finest work. He rarely mistakes admiration for entitlement, however. Compliments are accepted. Measurements are professional. A commission remains a commission until both parties decide it is something else.
Race / Lineage: Stonebound
Pronouns: He/him
Creator: Grimace
The Redshank Mark
Aren does not sign his work with a flourish. He stamps it.
The Redshank mastercraft mark combines the forms of an anvil, paired hammers and angular geometry worked into a balanced circular seal. Within the construction, observant viewers can find the shapes of Aren Redshank’s initials without the mark ever becoming a simple monogram. It appears over the shop entrance, on shipping crates and on a handful of workshop fixtures, but its most important use is much smaller.
On finished merchandise, the mark is a maker’s hallmark rather than decoration: a discreet stamp near a plate edge, clasp, buckle, shield rim, interior fitting or other place where another smith will know to look. Aren has no interest in turning a breastplate into an advertisement. If the work is truly his, he expects the craftsmanship to speak before the stamp ever needs to.
Equal Parts
Every piece leaving Aren’s forge is governed by what he calls equal parts. Form and function. Beauty and purpose. Hardness and softness. Ornament and restraint. One quality should answer another rather than overwhelm it.
A suit of sturdy plate intended for an ordinary foot soldier may receive silver and copper inlay because protection without beauty feels unfinished to him. By the same reasoning, an alluring chain-mail skirt or fitted undergarment may be engineered with real defensive value while remaining deliberately spare in decoration. The contradiction is the point. A piece should never be all spectacle or all utility.
Inside Rock Hard Smithing
Rock Hard Smithing is arranged so that a customer meets the finished work before they meet the heat that created it. The front rooms are cleaner, quieter and deliberately composed; the forge occupies the working heart of the building farther inside. The deeper one goes, the more polished display gives way to tools, measurements, unfinished metal and the practical machinery of Aren’s craft.
The Front Display Room
The broad public entrance opens onto armor stands, shields, helmets, practical equipment and a rotating selection of Aren’s more unusual fitted work. Nothing is piled casually. Every display has room around it, and the pieces chosen for the front floor are arranged to make their differences obvious: heavy beside light, ornate beside restrained, rigid plate beside flexible mail.
Customers who arrive merely to browse are welcome so long as they respect the displays. Those who touch without asking tend to discover exactly how quickly a dwarf of Aren’s height can cross the room.
The Fitting & Consultation Nook
One side of the showroom is reserved for measurements, sketches and private consultations. Mirrors, fitting forms and adjustable stands allow Aren to study movement as carefully as silhouette. He asks what a piece must endure, how it will be worn, what the client wants noticed and what they would prefer forgotten. A commission does not begin with metal. It begins with purpose.
The Main Forge Floor
The forge sits deeper inside the shop, its heat visible from the front room without spilling directly into the entrance. Here are the anvils, quench barrels, hammer racks, tongs, forming stakes and heavy worktables where Aren turns raw stock into armor. Customers are normally kept clear of active work unless Aren specifically invites them closer.
The forge is loud, but not chaotic. Tools return to the same hooks. Work in progress occupies marked spaces. Even scrap is sorted. Aren’s obsession with balance extends to the room itself.
The Fine Metalwork Bench
Delicate work happens away from the main hammering floor. Clasps, chain, articulated fittings, copper and silver inlay, jewelry-like armor components and the final details of Masterworks are handled at a smaller bench where files and punches outnumber hammers. This is also where the Redshank mark is most often struck after a piece has passed Aren’s final inspection.
Storage, Office & Rear Passage
Stockrooms hold metal, leather, padding, packing materials and finished work awaiting collection. Aren’s office keeps commission sketches, measurements and ledgers in an order only he fully understands. Beyond the public rooms, a rear loading passage allows crates to enter and leave without crossing the showroom.
Most days, that passage is simply practical. On certain nights, practicality becomes discretion.
From the Rack
Armor & Field Equipment
Aren crafts sturdy plate, practical mail, fitted protective gear and everyday equipment for soldiers and adventurers. His floor stock favors reliability: pieces that can survive weather, travel, hard use and the occasional poor decision. Even simple work usually carries some deliberate counterweight in design—a copper edge, a change in texture, a cleaner silhouette or a restrained inlay that keeps function from becoming dullness.
Apparel & Unconventional Armor
Rock Hard Smithing also produces metalwork meant to be worn as apparel: chain-mail skirts, undergarments, ornamental harnesses, fitted collars, articulated accents and other pieces that blur the line between protection and presentation. When Aren makes such pieces sturdy, he often keeps their decoration restrained. The material and fit are already making a statement.
Repairs, Refitting & Alteration
Aren will repair equipment made by other hands, although he reserves the right to complain about those hands while doing it. Refitting is common work at Rock Hard Smithing. Adventurers change shape, replace padding, inherit armor, acquire scars or simply discover that a bargain cuirass was a bargain for a reason. Aren would rather alter a sound piece properly than watch someone wear it badly.
Expedition Work
Travelers can also commission reinforced packs, fitted buckles, climbing hardware, protective cases, repair kits and other practical metal goods. Aren does not consider these lesser work. If a hinge keeps a potion case closed when someone falls down a ravine, the hinge has done its job beautifully.
Redshank Masterworks
Occasionally, Aren accepts a commission that intentionally breaks from his usual restraint. These are the pieces collectors whisper about: elegant, revealing, meticulously fitted garments and armor made from rare metals, gem-set fittings, exceptional chain and components worked so precisely that the finished object seems inevitable.
A Masterwork is not simply “more decoration.” Aren rejects that interpretation immediately. The expense comes from material, fit, labor and the difficulty of making something audacious without allowing it to become clumsy. A jewel must belong where it is set. A curve must follow the body it was designed for. A decorative plate must still move correctly when its wearer sits, fights, dances or kneels.
Commissioning a Masterwork
Aren begins with a consultation and measurements, then produces sketches rather than promising a finished design on the spot. Once the concept is agreed upon, he identifies the materials required and the amount he can source himself. Common metals rarely slow him down. Rare alloys, unusual gemstones and exotic components may become the client’s responsibility to acquire.
That is where a purchase can become an expedition. A noble may have coin but no legal claim to the ore Aren wants. A gem merchant may know where the right stones are hidden but demand a favor instead of payment. An adventuring party may discover that the only usable material is currently attached to something with opinions about being harvested.
When the finished piece finally passes Aren’s inspection, the Redshank mark is struck discreetly into it. To collectors, that small stamp matters almost as much as the object itself.
From Aren’s Rack
Rock Hard Smithing keeps a small selection of signature pieces that adventurers can actually purchase and carry away from the shop. These are not meant to replace the standard equipment lists; they are the things players remember buying here.
At the table, when a character purchases one of the items below, the DM can hand that player the matching Rock Hard Smithing item card. The card stays with the character until the item is sold, lost, destroyed or passed to someone else.
Redshank Field Plate — 2,250 gp
Armor (plate), uncommon
Aren’s field plate is built for people who expect to be hit. Its surfaces are clean, its articulation exact and its decoration restrained to a few deliberate copper or silver details. The Redshank mark is stamped discreetly inside the collar or beneath a plate edge.
Armor Class: 18
Strength: 15
Stealth: Disadvantage
Weight: 65 lb.
Rules. While wearing this armor, any critical hit against you becomes a normal hit.
Veiled. Once per long rest, when an effect causes you to gain 1 Arousal while wearing the armor, you can steady yourself against the rush. You gain temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus.
Unveiled. Once per long rest, when you fail an EROSave while wearing the armor, you may spend 1 Libido to reroll the save. You must use the new result.
Equal-Parts Mail — 850 gp
Armor (chain mail), uncommon
Fine-linked mail fitted close enough to move like clothing. Aren may shape it as a shirt, skirted harness, underlayer or another configuration appropriate to the wearer, but the protection remains the same. Its beauty comes from proportion and fit rather than ornament.
Armor Class: 16
Strength: —
Stealth: —
Weight: 55 lb.
Rules. This armor does not impose disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks and has no Strength requirement.
Veiled. Once per long rest, when you gain 1 Arousal while wearing the mail, you have advantage on the next Dexterity (Acrobatics) check you make within 10 minutes.
Unveiled. Once per long rest, when you fail a Dexterity saving throw or EROSave while wearing the mail, you may spend 1 Libido to reroll that save. You must use the new result.
Redshank Expedition Harness — 450 gp
Wondrous item, uncommon (requires attunement)
A fitted arrangement of reinforced straps, articulated buckles and balanced attachment points intended for climbers, delvers and anyone who routinely carries more equipment than good sense recommends.
Rules. While wearing the harness, you have advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks made to climb. Climbing no longer costs you extra movement, and your carrying capacity increases by 50 pounds.
Veiled. Once per long rest, when a willing creature helps fit, tighten or adjust the harness, you may gain 1 Arousal. If you do, add 1d4 to the next Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check you make within 1 hour.
Unveiled. Once per long rest, when you fail a Strength (Athletics) check, Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or EROSave during a scene involving close physical positioning, you may spend 1 Libido to reroll the check or save. You must use the new result.
Balance Buckle — 95 gp
Wondrous item, common
A palm-sized forged buckle of dark steel and copper, made to sit at the centerline of a belt, harness or baldric. Aren calls it “a reminder that a body knows when its weight is wrong.”
Rules. Once per long rest, when you fail a Strength or Dexterity ability check or saving throw, you may roll 1d4 and add it to the result, potentially turning the failure into a success.
Veiled. Instead of using the buckle’s normal benefit, once per long rest you may gain 1 Arousal after making a Charisma (Persuasion) or Charisma (Performance) check and add 1d4 to that roll.
Unveiled. Instead of using the buckle’s normal benefit, once per long rest you may spend 1 Libido after making an EROSave and add 1d4 to the result.
Redshank Masterwork Attire — 4,500 gp
Armor (studded leather), rare (requires attunement)
The piece most patrons mean when they whisper about a “Redshank Masterpiece.” Each suit is commissioned for one wearer and may be revealing, ceremonial, theatrical or understated, but every line is fitted with obsessive precision. Rare metals, gems and unusual materials may increase the final price or become part of the commission itself.
Armor Class: 12 + Dexterity modifier
Weight: 13 lb.
Rules. You gain a +1 bonus to AC while wearing this armor. As a bonus action, you can cause the armor to assume the appearance of a normal outfit or another style of armor. You decide its colors, apparent materials and accessories. Its statistics, weight and physical properties do not change. The altered appearance lasts until you use this property again or remove the armor.
Veiled. Once per long rest, after changing the armor’s appearance for a social, ceremonial or performance scene, you may gain 1 Arousal. If you do, you have advantage on one Charisma (Persuasion) or Charisma (Performance) check you make within the next 10 minutes.
Unveiled. Once per long rest, when another willing creature openly admires the attire and you gain Arousal as part of that interaction, you may regain 1 expended Libido, up to your normal maximum.
Maker’s Mark. Every finished Masterwork bears the Redshank stamp in a discreet location chosen for the piece. Aren refuses requests to enlarge it into heraldry. “If they need the mark to know who made it, I didn’t do enough.”
Hot Iron & Quiet Whispers
Rock Hard Smithing always has more work in progress than the front displays suggest. Some commissions are routine. Others attract conversation. Customers waiting on fittings trade gossip with mercenaries collecting repaired armor, while porters coming through the rear passage hear things the wealthy patrons in Heartblossom Heights never intended to travel downhill.
On the Commission Bench
The Silver-Copper Harness. A private patron has ordered a fitted ceremonial harness built in paired metals, each side mirroring the other without becoming identical. Aren has rejected the latest shipment of copper because the color is wrong. The merchant insists it is the same stock as always.
The Runner’s Mail. A courier wants a suit light enough for rooftops and narrow stairs but strong enough to survive a knife. Aren has the pattern finished. The courier has stopped answering messages.
The Unfinished Masterwork. A nearly completed commission sits under cloth in the fine-work room because one final component never arrived. Aren refuses to substitute an inferior material. Someone in the Warrens claims the missing shipment was diverted intentionally.
A Note From Aren
“If you want it stronger, I can make it stronger. If you want it prettier, I can make it prettier. If you want both, stop telling me to hurry.”
The Other Exchange
Rock Hard Smithing carries another reputation that sensible customers rarely discuss near the front counter. Aren operates a discreet route used primarily to move his own equipment beyond Amarosa while circumventing local export taxes and inconvenient scrutiny.
The motive is as much ambition as profit. Aren wants his workmanship carried throughout Erosia. Every blade seen abroad, every suit of Redshank armor appearing in another city and every whispered question of “Who made that?” increases demand for his next commission.
The route is not reserved exclusively for Redshank merchandise. Locals with other goods requiring discreet export may make Aren an offer. His position in the Underbriar Warrens, combined with the shop’s rear loading access, makes the arrangement convenient for clients who regard tariffs, manifests and inspections as problems in need of craft.
Not a Criminal Mastermind
Aren does not style himself as a smuggler king, fence or underworld broker. He is a smith who has built a distribution problem and then solved it. That distinction matters greatly to him and considerably less to Amarosa’s tax collectors.
Becoming a Regular
Regular customers learn the rhythms of the shop. Mornings are best for collecting finished work before the forge reaches full heat. Late afternoons are better for fittings, when Aren has usually finished the day’s heaviest hammering. Anyone arriving with a complicated request should expect questions before prices.
Aren remembers measurements, preferences and previous repairs with unsettling accuracy. A returning adventurer may discover that he has already adjusted a replacement strap because the old one always wore down on the same side. A performer may find a clasp quietly reinforced after Aren noticed how they moved in an earlier fitting. He rarely calls this hospitality. He calls it paying attention.
Those who earn his trust may also hear about unusual stock before it reaches the floor, receive first refusal on abandoned commissions or be asked whether they happen to be traveling in the same direction as a crate that needs to leave Amarosa quietly.
Whispers Around the Anvil
“That breastplate has been waiting for collection for three weeks.” Aren insists the client is merely delayed. The messenger who delivered the deposit says the client left Amarosa two weeks ago.
“A Redshank stamp was found on counterfeit armor.” The work itself is poor enough that Aren recognized the fraud immediately. He is far more offended by the stolen mark than by the lost sale.
“One of the rear-passage crates came back unopened.” No customs seal was broken, no lock was forced and no courier admits returning it.
“A Heartblossom patron keeps changing the measurements on the same commission.” Aren suspects the piece is not actually intended for the person paying for it.
“Someone is buying damaged Redshank work at absurd prices.” Collectors usually pay for pristine craftsmanship. Whoever is making these offers seems interested in something else.
A Place in Your Campaign
Rock Hard Smithing works best as a recurring location rather than a one-time equipment stop. Aren’s commissions naturally connect characters to Amarosa’s soldiers, performers, merchants, nobles, craftspeople and less respectable traders. A repaired shield can introduce a future patron. A missing shipment can reveal a route through the Warrens. A rare material can turn a shopping trip into an expedition.
The Missing Commission
A one-of-a-kind Redshank piece disappears shortly before delivery to a Heartblossom patron. The item itself is valuable, but Aren is more concerned that whoever took it knew exactly when it would be finished.
Materials Worth the Trouble
Aren agrees to an extravagant Masterwork only if the party can acquire the metal, stone or other material needed to make the design possible. The commission becomes a reason to travel somewhere no respectable supply house can reach.
Export Trouble
One of Aren’s discreet shipments fails to arrive. Someone along the route has either been caught, betrayed the arrangement or decided the cargo was worth keeping.
A Favor in Equal Parts
Aren can move something the party needs moved, secure an introduction to a difficult patron or prioritize a rush commission. He does not ask for charity in return. He asks for balance.
Aren as a Sidekick
Grimace’s original version of Aren has been adapted for player-side sidekick use. Those statistics are not reproduced here because the submitted material does not include the build itself. Until that version is supplied, Aren functions cleanly as a merchant, patron, contact and recurring NPC without assigning him unsupported combat statistics.
Community Creation
Aren Redshank and Rock Hard Smithing were created by Grimace for the Help Populate Amarosa community project and adapted into Whispers of Erosia for use in the Underbriar Warrens.
The character’s defining concepts—including Aren’s appearance, his “equal parts” philosophy, Rock Hard Smithing’s armor-and-apparel focus and the shop’s discreet export route—come directly from Grimace’s submission. The expanded shop layout, customer experience, commission culture and adventure-facing material on this page build outward from those submitted ideas.
Help Build Erosia
Every shop has a keeper. Every keeper has a story. What’s yours?
Help populate Amarosa with memorable neighbors, trusted merchants and deliciously troublesome rivals. Choose a race and background, name your NPC and their business, and share your vision. Selected ideas will become residents and storefronts, with contributor credit, as the city grows.
Participation is free for everyone in our Discord and all Patreon members, including free members. Join the conversation, follow Erosia’s development, or support new adventures and tabletop resources through a paid Patreon membership.
You must be logged in to post a comment.