It happened that in my current game I got both, Fire Brand
and Frost Brand from sacrifices! So there'd be (in principle)
the option to forge the powerful Sword of Annihilation from
these two artifacts.

I suppose that forging that artifact long sword would *not*
unrestrict that weapon slot, right? (Since the two artifact
Brands are both short swords I yet don't have the long sword
slot available.) Would it, in EvilHack, make sense to use it
in that case?

My Monk could try to get crowned while wielding a long sword;
would that work in EvilHack (to get unrestricted)? - The Monk
_spellcaster_ role might not have that option.

Do I need to _learn_ forging by reading the The Blacksmith's
Cookbook from the Goblin King's branch (or any other book; I
seem to recall that there's some artifact-forging reference
in the Blacksmith's Cookbook)? - There was no access to that
book in the current game so is that probably a (permanent?)
hindrance?

Anything else that I need or have to consider when forging?

Janis

Answering my own questions (from a trial and error approach)...

On 10.04.2023 06:41, Janis Papanagnou wrote:
> It happened that in my current game I got both, Fire Brand
> and Frost Brand from sacrifices! So there'd be (in principle)
> the option to forge the powerful Sword of Annihilation from
> these two artifacts.

First; forging that artifact was possible given these two
artifact blades and the heavy war hammer named Ogresmasher
(that I found somewhere lying around) as a forging hammer
tool.

>
> I suppose that forging that artifact long sword would *not*
> unrestrict that weapon slot, right? (Since the two artifact
> Brands are both short swords I yet don't have the long sword
> slot available.) Would it, in EvilHack, make sense to use it
> in that case?

Forging does *not* unrestrict the forged wapon class (as
expected).

Using the restricted artifact weapon gives "you are doing
something wrong" message.

>
> My Monk could try to get crowned while wielding a long sword;
> would that work in EvilHack (to get unrestricted)? - The Monk
> _spellcaster_ role might not have that option.

Incidentally my Monk is Neutral, so on crowning he had
received the Vorpal Blade, a long sword, and its skill
slot freed. (So the question could not generally be
answered.)

>
> Do I need to _learn_ forging by reading the The Blacksmith's
> Cookbook from the Goblin King's branch (or any other book; I
> seem to recall that there's some artifact-forging reference
> in the Blacksmith's Cookbook)? - There was no access to that
> book in the current game so is that probably a (permanent?)
> hindrance?

That book (or any other book) isn't necessary to forge
artifacts.

>
> Anything else that I need or have to consider when forging?

Not as far as this case goes. Only I was confused by
the Blacksmith's Cookbook[*] saying
"Put both of those objects into the forge
whilst wielding your hammer (#forge)."
Dropping the items onto the forge doesn't work. All
items you handle from having them in your inventory,
and the forging hammer wielded.

Now I hope that fighting with that long sword artifact
weapon won't spoil my permanent alignment record per se;
it's already "moderately abused" (that's 5..14 points)
from only two mishaps (eating a floating eye and - I
think - by canceling a peaceful monster that was in the
line of fire behind some hostile monster).

Janis

[*] Text copied here from another game.