Your sovereign has to be the one that completes this quest. Other champions can do the steps up to the assembly, but your sovereign has to be the one to forge them all together.

My bad--I actually had them equipped when I first walked on to the quest-giver location. I had unequipped them but not re-entered the square with them unequipped. So, problem solved.

One minor quibble: the text at the end states that my sovereign became the Avatar of Draginol, but I thought the forge let me dominate the world with golems. It doesn't actually make a difference but I thought the text might as well be consistent.

Last comment: the sword that you get for giving in to the hermit (err... doing the right thing) is awesome, but I think it should come with a shield, too, so that you can run around with impunity rather than having to worry about counter-attacks and big baddies getting the drop on you. I mean, you did turn down the immediate victory for it. Just sayin'.

Again, awesome game, cheers all round.

Well, that wouldn't help with the defense, right? By way of example: the sword is something like +50 attack and +10 combat speed. You think you're good to go and conquer the world, because in battle you can run all over the map and hit people 10 times a round. But say you come up against some dragon, take a swing, roll low and do 10 damage, then he counter-attacks for 35 and it's curtains for Mr. I-found-all-the-pieces-of-the-forge-and-all-I-got-was-this-lousy-sword. If you also got a shield that was, say, +50 defense and +15 hp, then, while you'd still have to be a bit careful, you're not going to lose it all to a counter-attack. Right?

Good call, forgot about that one. I guess it's kind of a silly point, anyway--you've turned down the ability to win the game, so what should they give you? There's no real answer to that question, since the only thing equal to it is... winning the game.