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that type of metal, but it still turned out good!”
    Richter agreed.  It was a gorgeous weapon. Richter could barely tear his eyes from it, but he was confused by something Krom had said. “What do you mean?  What does your skill rank have to do with anything?”
    “Ye know that I be a journeyman smith, yer lordship.  That means several things, but one of them is I can bend and poke any metal up to ebony like it was me second wife.”
    “Not your first wife?” Richter asked with a smile.
    “No, yer lordship.  She was so tight that if I had put a copper between her knees, it would na have hit the floor for years!  But that na be the point right now.  To work elementum without penalty, I would have to be an adept.  Seeing as how I am a rank short, it shows in me work.”
    Richter struggled to keep a straight face and asked, “How does it affect the weapons that you can make?”
    Krom scratched his beard and asked, “Are ye sure ye wish to know this?  It be a bit technical.”  After Richter nodded, he continued, “I’ll need to tell you something else about Smith ranks first.  For each rank there be a specific chance to make a weapon or armor of a certain quality every time I swing me hammer.  The higher me rank, the more likely for me to make a higher quality item.  Do ye understand?”
    After Richter nodded again, Krom grabbed a piece of hide and a charcoal stick.  He started making lines on the pale leather and writing words to either side of each line: Trash, Poor, Average, Above Average, Well Crafted, Exceptional, Superb, Exquisite, Masterwork.  Then he drew a curve perpendicular to the lines, and Richter almost dropped the sword in shock.  Krom had just made a bell curve.
    The smith continued speaking and pointed at the line between average and above average. “A novice smith would start here, yer lordship.  They would have a large chance making an average or above-average quality item and a smaller chance of making a poor quality or well-crafted quality piece.”
    “In that scenario, is it a 34% chance to make the average or the above-average weapon?” Richter asked.
    Krom looked at him, surprised. “Not exactly, yer Lordship.  I was never too interested in the specific percentages of me craft, but me old master said the chances of making the lower quality was closer to 55% and to make the higher quality was about 35% when ye first achieved a new rank.  When ye move another quality level over either way, it was three times as likely to make a lower quality piece than higher quality.  Also, the chances to forge higher quality items do improve when yer skill gets closer to the next rank.  This all be the broad rules though, yer Lordship, because Luck, ingot quality, and other factors would affect the numbers somewhat.”
    Richter nodded.  So not a standard bell curve, more like a negative skew.  He did some quick math in his head and realized that meant there was probably about a 7-8% chance to make a much lower quality weapon and only a 2-3% chance to make a much higher quality weapon.  Interested in the complexities of the Smithing skill, he motioned for Krom to continue. 
    “At me journeyman rank, the middle of me curve be here.” He pointed at the line between exceptional and superb.  “If everything turns out near perfect, I might make an exquisite piece, but the best I can normally hope to make is a superb quality weapon.  Like I said, though, there is a penalty for working a metal a rank above my ability.  Anything I make would automatically drop one quality level, so the best elementum blade I should have been able to forge would be capped at superb quality.”
    Richter examined the blade again, seeing that it had exquisite quality. “Then how—”
    “The Forge!” Krom interrupted excitedly.  “All of the elementum ingots ye brought back were masterwork quality, which made forging them easier.  I poured all of my energy and sweat into it, and I made the best blade