The Broken Steed, a tale of Epic proportions...kind of.

The following is a true story. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

This past weekend I set forth on a journey with my faithful squire "Noll". Our goal was to cheer on a local Arena team to victory. Midway through our journey to the Arena I noticed our Epic Steed was suffering from a limp. Through mastery of skill and deft handling I quickly reigned the beast off the main road and into the safest place I could find (this happened to be a small patch of earth nestled between the main thoroughfare and entrance to said thoroughfare). With other riders and their respective mounts flying by us at untold speeds we dismounted to observe the cause for our glorious Steed's distress. What we saw made us cringe. Our loyal Stallion had suffered quite a traumatic wound to one of its hind legs. It appeared to have somehow badly warped the shoe and it was now an entangled mess of iron and flesh. Luckily my BlackSmithing is almost maxed and i posses the skill and tools to repair the damage, or so i thought. After "Noll" and i retrieved the spare shoe from our bags i set to work on removing the old and now ravaged piece of scrap from my mount. And then...oh no...it can't be...REQUIRES BLACKSMITHING 450. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Apparantly the last smith to have worked on it enlisted the help of an enigneer who replaced the normal anti-rogue locknut with a different one, and they didn't see fit to give me the key, "thanks"...i shoulda rolled a mage. /2 ... "LF MAGE TO PORT!!! WILL TIP NICELY!!!"...le sigh*.

So while i stood there in disbelief i began to closely examine my circumstances:
Wounded mount, check.
Middle of nowhere, check.
Late for tournament, check.

It appears I had unknowingly accepted a new quest.

"The Broken Steed"
Young "Noll" would like you to escort him to the Arena Tournament so he can cheer for his favorite team. But first you must repair your mount. To the north there is a workshop where you will find an engineer named "Fernandy 'The Handy' Gonzales", give him an item of value and he will gladly assist you with your repairs. There are two tools you must find at his shop. The Skeleton Key of Eternity and The Hammer of the Gods,. Once you posses these items you may return to repair your mount. But please hurry, the tournament will be over before long. You have 30 minutes...0:29:59, 0:29:58, 0:29: 57...

So onward we ventured, both "Noll" and I. On our voyage we were faced with many hardships and bravely fought the cruel elements of nature. Though we felt the creeping fingers of despair grasping at our souls we trudged wearily on towards the north with ever the softest whisper of hope alight in our hearts. Until finally..."Ahoy! The workshop, and Fernandy!"

Receive items:
The Skeleton Key of Eternity 1/1
The Hammer of the Gods 1/1

/cheer

Upon returning to our mount I feverishly set to work repairing the shoe so as to make up for lost time. 0:12:44, 0:12:43, 0:12:42...

and then. O...M...G!!!

"The Broken Steed: Part 2"
Now that you have proven your faithfulness to complete the task at hand, you must return to Fernandy's Workshop to recieve The Wrench of a Thousand Tourques. Return here with the wrench and you will recieve:
A Gimp Steed
The Smithy's Gauntlets (+10 Blacksmithing)
14 gold

Venture...hardships...elements...despair...trudge...north..."Ahoy!"
The Wrench of a Thousand Torques 1/1

"Ahoy!"...south...trudge...despair...elements...hardships...venture.

Congratulations! You have completed "The Broken Steed" with 0:00:18 left.
You receive:
A Gimp Steed
The Smithy's Gauntlets (+10 Blacksmithing)
14 gold

.....

We arrived at the tournament for the final period...and lost.