Stop the Clay and Pickaxe search
The developer's Steam reply excludes Clay, Pickaxe and Axe from the demo. A Clay ingredient in a construction recipe does not mean you have missed a chest or failed to hit a pile enough times.
Leave that construction project for a version that supplies the material and tool. Keep your current expedition focused on the demo's key-and-tool progression.
Use the Big Smelter, not a new Smelter
The ordinary Smelter construction recipe needs 5 Clay and 5 Scrap Metal. That is a different task from using the large smelting station already in the dungeon.
For the Iron Key, prepare the key mold, 5 Coal and 10 Scrap Metal for the existing Big Smelter. Clay is not one of its key-casting inputs.
Watch the creator’s Iron Key chapter
Choose a workable next task
- Metal bars: follow the Hammer task, not a Pickaxe hunt.
- Webs before the prison door: bring a Torch.
- Too little carrying space: budget Leather and Vines for a Pouch.
For other named locks, use the obstacle checklist to match the blocker to the correct item.