The Crafting of Chess

by Kit Falbo

  The public forums don’t have a lot of info on any of the orders, except for the Rangers, I do see hints of private guild forums that have more info. Using my character’s fame to try to get in will probably be more trouble than it is worth, and require me to prove I am who I say I am. I decide to see what the internet thinks of Chess.

  It’s not pretty. People like my gear, but they don’t like the fact I don’t respond to any message or request. Even folks who understand why I don’t are not particularly happy. They just like to make fun of the forum noobs who whine about it. There are still rumors about the gaming house floating around. A few people suggest there have to be multiple people playing one account to put out so many items, something Immersion Arts has stated is impossible. So, either I’m the Nike of crafters with a sweatshop of players working for me, or I’m an arrogant player who won’t help anyone.

  Would playing actual chess be better? Maybe I’m just fooling myself by thinking I might be able to be a pro. If I can win the Kingmaker prize, I could have enough cushion to try. I check the contest rules again, still no updates. Despite all the hype about killing MoM and retrieving the gem, that isn’t really in the rules. You just have to have your companion deemed worthy and named king. If getting close to the council doesn’t work, I guess I can always join a guild and take a cut.

  I turn off the computer, my thoughts just circling themselves on what to do. “Hey Mel, I’m heading home.”

  He nods. “I’ll probably close up now, then go home and play some. My dragon should be hatching soon.”

  I slip that five I’d decided to leave near the register before heading out and making my trek home.

  Chapter Fourteen -Chess

  “It’s crowded here, let’s go to a cafe and get a drink.” Jasper’s words are the first thing I hear when I log in.

  He looks a little shaken, so I shrug and say, “Okay.”

  The place Jasper leads me to not what I would call reputable. He usually takes me to low key, homey cafes. This one is crowded with other players and their companions. Scantily clad women of all races rush about with swaying hips to serve customers. The booths have opaque privacy options, several of which are in use.

  Jasper hands the hostess two silver. “Booth please. Give us a few minutes before we order.” Once we enter the booth, he immediately closes the privacy screen.

  “What gives?”

  “I think I picked the wrong politician for us to approach.”

  “King? He might not have given us the easiest of tasks, but he seems to support our goals.”

  “I looked into what you asked me to look into while I was helping out in his district. I tried to find someone who had disappointed Alerin King. I couldn’t find anyone. You’ve had me working his district for a while, and I know most of the people there by name, if not by face.”

  “So?”

  “So, I dug around some more. Everyone had only glowing things to say about him. Apparently, the information broker was wrong. King has never flirted with the idea of retiring. He is their fixture in the council. His own broker was wrong. I found out there have been people who have done things for him or have asked him for help and they can’t fault any of his actions.”

  I frown. “Doesn’t that all add up to a positive recommendation? You think he’s not going to step down and help us win his seat? Should we just stop the quest and find a different person to ask?”

  Jasper pales. “We can’t do that. Then we will disappoint him. Me, I’ll never be seen again. You, you’re Touched. I’m sure he would find other ways to deal with you. Merchants deciding not to sell you clothes or crafting materials. Byron seems to respect him. He might suggest that you no longer to work there. That no smithy should let you work there.”

  So, King’s good reputation might be based on his eliminating anyone with anything bad to say about him. “I think you are probably just being paranoid. Did you hear that he actually did any of those things?”

  He steadies himself. “No, just implication and a gut feeling.” My NPC is scared of another NPC. Great.

  “If it makes you feel better, I plan to complete the job,” I say, “I appreciate you telling me your concerns. Now, let’s go see the head of the Rangers.”

  He opens the privacy screen, outside waiting for us is a halfling waitress. Even with tall shoes her head only approaches the top of the table. Her size makes the scantily clad outfit more awkward than attractive for me. “You done having fun?” She asks with a wink. “I’m ready for your order.”

  “Uh…” I stutter.

  Jasper steps, “We’ll have two Cooloas to go.”

  The halfling pouts, “To go?”

  “Yes, to go,” Jasper says seriously, gazing down, looking her in the eyes. In a short while, we have our drinks and are leaving the establishment. “Chess, sorry about bringing you to that place. It was the only place I could think of to get true privacy.”

  From my brief glance at the menu, I saw there are some things that could be bought with real money, and not the drinks. There are a lot of things that cater to players in Fair Quest, like the gaming house and that place. “How did you find out about that place?”

  He hesitates, obviously uncomfortable with the topic. “Word gets around at companion housing. Say your Touched has inappropriate or unique wants, then there are certain safe areas or activities you can direct them too. Palm lotus house is just one of those places. You’ve never shown any interest in anything except work, and well, I have the feeling that you’re not ready for such things.” His feeling would be my age restrictions. I’m sure there would be more pg-13 type scantily clad events and places if I desired them.

  “I guess I don’t have time for such things. I wonder what the Rangers would like me to make for them.” I’m a little worried. Rangers are all about shooting things. If they need to use a melee weapon, they would be backed into a corner.

  Rangers are the only order to have their headquarters outside of town. It is in the royal reserves, a protected forest where hunting and logging are limited. One of the Order’s jobs is to protect and maintain it. The forest is also only a stone’s throw from one of the player lounges, and the area is advertised as a good place to practice your woodcraft safely if you follow the rules. The foot traffic in that direction is starting to pick up as player’s alone, with their companion, or in groups head back and forth from the area.

  The road is well worn but twisty. The builders have chosen to go around trees rather than have them cut down for the sake of a straight path through the woods. Unlike the Duelists headquarters that had one guard and no visitors, here six guards manage a long queue of people in front of doors that have been grown from the ground. As we get closer, I can see the wall isn’t built either but is grown from long tough roots that rise as a solid line from a massive tree at the back of the compound.

  Jasper elbows me in the side. “Don’t just stand there gawking. Let’s get in line.”

  We shuffle forward with the crowd until we get to the front. A guard holding a clipboard barely looks us over. “If you want your companion to get training, take him to the southernmost building. Make sure you have your payment. It’s ten silver per individual skill: tracking, trapping, and so forth. Ten gold for Ranger training. Any Touched wanting to be a ranger must go to the westernmost building where they can prove themselves and spend thirty gold for ranger training. All payments are non-refundable.”

  I look at the guard and put on a smile. “We’re not here for training. Alerin King sent us. We’re here to see the head of the order of Rangers.”

  He lets out a short sigh, “Look man, I’m just here to get my hours in of proving myself so I can get trained. No one has told me to expect anyone, and I don’t know who Alerin is. If you give me your name, I can pass it up the chain.”

  Not an NPC, I look closely.. He doesn’t have the otherworldly beauty some go for with character creation. Maybe he tried to get it as close to real life as possible or randomed like I did
and got unlucky. “I have a mission to make a weapon for the head of the order. I’m Chess. This is my companion, Jasper.”

  “Chess.” the guard mumbles, then stares at me. “The Chess. Not what I expected. Wait here a moment.” He leaves us waiting at the front of the line and goes inside the gate to talk to some other people, NPC or players, I can’t tell. Behind me, a few players in line start whispering. When the guard comes back, he’s looking a little less bored. “Let’s prove it. Come with me. There is an in-house smithy inside the compound.”

  The guard, who introduces himself as Cappo, leads us into the compound. He whispers to me he’s a headset player, so the ten hours of busy work, mostly gate duty to prove his worth seems to be taking forever. He says he’d quit, but they had already taken his deposit. He’s six hours in, and I’m the biggest thing he’s had to deal with since being here.

  The smithy is a small open-air one. One furnace and four anvils. Nearby is a larger, busier area for making bows and fletching arrows. “Trulon!” Cappo calls to a man working on the anvil in the back. “This man says he’s a crafter and I have to have you inspect his work.”

  Trulon put down his hammer and walks up to meet us. He looks me up and down. He has a bald furnace-tanned head that shines gold with sweat and a chin that seems to take up half his face. I know I don’t look like most blacksmith crafters. The strength gains have added a little bit of muscle to my character’s frame, but a sorcerer’s default isn’t as muscle bound as some of the other classes, to begin with. “Show me what you got,” he says in a deep rumbling voice. A quest notification pops up that I wave away.

  “You have a sword I can work on?”

  Trulon put his face near mine. “Does it look like we do swords here?”

  I try to peer around him. I don’t see any of the standard sword or armor molds. “No Sir.”

  “We do tools and arrowheads for the Rangers.”

  I have never done either. I swallow my nervousness. “I’ve never had Byron show me how to do tools or arrowheads. Never seemed sufficient to make and enchant an arrowhead that would get used up in one shot.”

  Trulon spits. “Guild smiths,” he curses. “They don’t teach you anything, do they? A good archer will retrieve arrows to reuse. Even if they can’t save the shaft, the head is usually still good. That is truer with special arrowheads.” He stomps over and grabs a mold. It is like a large case and opens it up to show ten arrowheads linked together by tips and corners. “We do them in batches of ten. They can be plain or have settings for enchantment, like these ones.” He points out the small indentations in the middle of the heads. Using tongs, he grabs the end of one and twists it off the bunch. He hands it to me, “Not too different from swords, just smaller. Now show me what you got.”

  I use the tongs to stick the arrowhead into the furnace getting it to the right heat. It is fine iron, so I know the color it should be. The palm sized head won’t take many strikes to sharpen. I enchant it as I work. I have time for three stacks but only two stick. He points to the next one, and I have nine more to do, I brace the cast and twist a new one off only to repeat the process a minute later, all under Trulon’s watchful gaze.

  I look at the ten finished heads, all crafting spots empty. I hadn’t brought anything with me. “You have any crafting materials?” I ask Trulon.

  He grunts, “Nothing good.”

  “Any old spare bit of common stuff will do.”

  With a shrug, he walks over and pulls out a small bundle of knotted wood chunks. I inspect it.

  Raw twistwood: common Crafting item.

  I pull out my artificing knife, something I have been keeping on me now at all times, and carve the pieces to fit into the slots for the arrowheads. The wood isn’t powered, so I enchant it as I affix each piece to the arrowheads. It takes longer than I like because I’m not back at the cobblers, borrowing from whatever field the enchanters guild uses, but I finish.

  I hand one to Trulon and one to Cappo to look at.

  Enchanted fine Iron arrow head. Finely crafted, Fine quality. 30 durability, 7-10 damage piercing. Does an additional 2-3 searing damage on hit and immobilizes target for one second rooting them in place. Crafted by Chess.

  “You really are Chess,” Cappo blurts out.

  I look to him, “You get many people claiming to be me?”

  “Well, since people can lie, there are rumors on the um… out there.” He says vaguely not wanting to get into trouble.

  Trulon simply says, “Not Bad. Let’s take these to Leah to get a shaft attached and have it fletched.” He takes the heads I made, and we walk over to the larger crafting area where people are making bows and fitting arrowheads. Leah is a halfling. I am relieved that she is in sensible ranger greens, as opposed to the awkward almost-lingerie I saw earlier today. She is straightening a shaft and fletching the feathers to it. Her hands glow with a familiar light blue light

  “You’re a sorcerer enchanter as well,” I exclaim with a little surprise. She fumbles the arrow as my words interrupt her thoughts. “Sorry.”

  She stands up, her cheeks flushed, “And who do you th…!” Her eyes widen as she sees Trulon. She bows her head to him slightly, “How can I help you master?” she says with a demure smile. Player, I think.

  Trulon is amused at Leah’s temper, however cut short it is. “We have a guest, Chess here, who’s come too…” He pauses looking at me.

  I wait a little too long, and Jasper steps up. “See the head of the Rangers, as part of a mission from Alerin King.”

  Trulon nods. “He has kindly made us some interesting arrowheads, and I would like you to prepare them for us to try out.”

  “Ch-Chess,” she stammers, looking to me and Jasper. She composes herself. “It’s an honor to work with a fellow practitioner. Let me see what we have to work with.”

  Trulon gives her the arrowheads I crafted, and she gets to work attaching them to shafts and fletching them as she channels her enchantment into the arrows, wood, and feathers. A short while later we have our usable arrows.

  We march out to the practice range together, Trulon leading the way, with Cappo and Leah behind me and Jasper. There are dummies the shapes of people or monsters set up. Trulon grabs a practice bow out of a barrel at the far end of the field, then, in one smooth motion, fires one of the arrows. It strikes the head of one of the dummies. A small sizzle of black smoke curls up from the wood. Moments later, ghostly brown vines wrap the dummy and squeeze for a moment before disappearing.

  “I’d like to see how well these will work on a moving target,” Trulon muses. “Cappo, run out that way a bit and keep running.” He points down the field towards the targets.

  Cappo stands there shocked. “I would rather not.”

  Trulon chuckles. “It’s not like you can really die. You’ll just be reborn. You do this, you can consider yourself proven. I’ll even personally train you a little.”

  Cappo nods in affirmation, his body sagging a little before he straightens back up and starts running.

  “Faster, show me what you’ve got in you.” Trulon takes aim and fires.

  “Aiiieeeee!” Cappo screams as the arrow hits. His body stiffens, trapped by the vines, while his momentum carries him forward, face dragging on the ground. I can’t help but wince.

  “You okay down there!” Trulon bellows. Cappo raises his arm up and gives a thumbs up to confirm he has indeed survived. “I like what you got! Now you can get to training with the other Touched. I’ll handle these guests.”

  We all watch as Cappo gets up and limps off a bit. Jasper speaks up first. “Don’t you think that was a bit extreme?”

  “If he really wants to become a true ranger he’ll have to face more pain than that in training.” Trulon gives us a mirthful smile. “We’ve really grasped the idea that Touched can’t die, so we can put pressures on them citizens couldn’t cope with. Not do or die. Do and die. Show us what you got. If it takes death to accomplish your goal for a Touched that is a minor inconven
ience. Leah here, might not look tough, but she’s made it through that training.”

  “Thank you Sir!” Leah pipes up.

  “Her skills though, make her more valuable to us here than in the field. Something I would imagine you are familiar with Chess. When King told us you were coming, my brother put me to thinking on how to best use your skills.”

  “Your brother?” I ask.

  “Loro, head of the Rangers.” He turns to Leah. “Thank you for fletching those arrows. You can go back to work now.” She runs off, her short legs pumping back to the crafting area of the compound. “She really admires your work Chess, but she doesn’t seem to have the focus to put in the time and effort you did to get where you are. She likes adventures. In the future though, her name may become more famous than yours, at least among Rangers. Come, let’s go to my brother.”

  I follow Trulon to the great tree. It looms over everything, bringing an early dusk to those in its shade. A simple one room hut is at its base with a small garden surrounding it. Trulon enters first, and Jasper and I follow. It is cozier than crowded, with chairs facing a desk not too different than the one I had seen Allynance working at. Similar stacks of paperwork take up the bulk of the surface.

  A pale Trulon sat behind the desk, or to be clearer, Trulon’s pale identical twin Loro. “Ho, Brother.” He looks to me and Jasper. “Chess, Jasper, welcome to the Rangers. Don’t worry. I won’t make you dance naked in the yard for my approval. Allynance has a strange sense of humor.”

  I smile. “Alerin King has tasked me with making a weapon for you. Trulon mentioned you might have some ideas.”

  He looks to both of us, pausing a little longer on Jasper. “As you can see, as head of the order I’ve been having more battles with paperwork than anything that requires a weapon for my hands. The same will be true for all the heads, though as a symbolic gesture it’s okay. It’s been a long time since each of the orders gained a powerful weapon to represent us. It’s not like the kingdoms enchanters are itching to do such things out of the goodness of their hearts. Not that King cares, I suspect his real reasons. To that end, I don’t have any inane tasks you Touched seem to love, nor the time to manage such things myself.“ He points to me. “You Chess, go with Trulon. He’ll explain the ideas about what might be suitable.” Moving his finger to Jasper. “You get to assist me today. It’s good to know how important rangers are and what exactly we do. Chess can have you back after he’s delivered his gift.”