by Kit Falbo
“Yes Sir,” I say.
Loro shoos me and Trulon off. I leave Jasper sitting there with a nervous look on his face. If he gets treated anything like Cappo did, I have the easier job.
I follow Trulon. As we walk, I wonder if I should ask him what he wants me to make. Before I can break the silence, he says “Traditionally, Rangers use wooden bows. We want to know that if we send a ranger out into the woods with nothing, he has the ability to make his own weapons and hunt. The accuracy of those weapons tends to be lacking, but still, we want them to have that skill if they need it. Not very useful for you, is it?”
“Not really,” I reply.
“The Kingdom of Lusania doesn’t make metal bows. We’ve got lots of wood and tradition. And what use is a Ranger with a sword? Sure, we can use them if needed. But it certainly doesn’t represent who we are. There are other kingdoms though, and some do use metal for their bows. I had to use my contacts to find a few to look at. The northern kingdom, in their mountains uses them.”
We make it back to his small smithy, and he continues. “I fear that if we have you do this, it will start a trend of people wanting such items. Because of that, I’m going to ask you to only make one for the time being.”
He goes to a chest and pulls out a large mold and a couple of rusted metal bows. “I got lucky with the mold. These sorry excuses are the only finished examples I could find in such short time.”
I inspect both the bows. One says rusted broken steel bow with zero durability. The other one has the title of ancient to go with it. Areas on the bows flash red in my vision. “Should we try to fix them?” I haven’t learned anything about fixing items, too focused on making new ones to sell.
“We’re just as likely to break them worse. With the mold, we can have a raw example to work on.”
Makes sense. I reach for the mold, but he pulls back. “I want to see you get good with that before you make the weapon for Loro. Put some fine Iron in the crucible and get it melting. I expect we’ll have a long day.”
It doesn’t take as long as he thinks. Having the guiding hand and playing off floating XP gains gives plenty of clues. I catch Trulon muttering something about the blessings of the Touched. Still, his advice about how to rotate the bow and when to reheat it and other techniques prove more valuable than not. It’s the kind of hands-on help Byron never gave me. I come back from my lunch break, and Trulon hands me a pin with the Rangers’ sigil on it to use, a fist gripping a bow. He has the mold packed up to take back to Byron’s smithy where I can decide on what metal and crafting materials to use.
I take the mold and start heading back, Trulon follows, and I look back with a confused look.
“Don’t think I’m going to miss out on you making this. I also know what my brother likes better than he does.”
*
Byron looks up as we enter his smithy. “Trulon,” he says with a flat tone.
Trulon responds with a grunt.
“You ready for the next weapon, Chess?” Byron asks.
“Yup. I just need to decide what to make it from.” I approach the chest I’m renting from Byron and pull out several ingots and hand them to Trulon.
He looks at each one carefully. “I’ve never seen these kinds of metals before.” He shoots Byron a look.
Byron shrugs. “He’s Touched. His skills grow great fast. He finds great resources. His deeds will shake our world.”
I bang some metal together. “I’m right here guys. I got lucky, I made a choice and found some cool metal that I can’t work on my own yet. Any look interesting for the bow?”
Trulon tosses me an ingot. “I think it will take two of these to make it.”
I catch it. It’s black and has a sheen like glass or cut obsidian. I inspect it. Metallic Ebony ingot. Well, that’s not very inventive, the designers just stack resources away and give them lame names as place holders. What’s Gar’s official name these days, Guardian of the Undecided?
We get everything set up and ready to work. The Best Day enchantment that worked on the Duelists blade does nothing. Maybe a spell that didn’t work before will work this time then. Strengthen does nothing. True Nature. A blue aura seeps into the liquid black taking almost all my mana with it, and nothing else sticks.
While I wait for it to set in the mold and my mana to recharge, I let Trulon paw through the crafting materials I have brought for this project to decide what to affix after the smithing is done.
We break open the mold. The weapon though raw is ominous. I suspect that would be true of anything that is so black that it absorbs most light. Only the edges seemed to shine like glass. Byron and Trulon both agree we need to get the furnace really hot for this. The amount of heat we had needed to melt the ingots had been extreme. We wait as it heats up. There is no color change to the metal. It just stays that pitch black. Instead, we feel the heat coming from it, and I use that tingling feeling to know when to pull it from the fire.
I hammer and enchant, relying heavily on my practice from before. The blackness hides much of the results of my blows. I have little choice but to cross my fingers. True Nature does nothing this time. Maybe it had its fill in the crucible. Best Day still does nothing. I curse inwardly but try not to let it impact my work. At this rate, the bow will only have one enchantment and maybe whatever I artifice on to it. Maybe I need to go out and level up the old-fashioned way for more spells.
I cast worst day, the other side of the coin to best day. It takes, but I hope I’m not fucking anything up, like having the user get a penalty for equipping the bow. In for a penny in for a pound, I cast the spell two more times before it no longer has an effect.
I affix the pin just above the grip displaying the crest of the Rangers and then inspect my work.
Quest Item: Ebony’s Shade Bow of the Rangers. Master crafted, epic quality. Durability 200, Damage- Arrows gain 20-25 shadow damage when fired from this bow. Beings hit by arrows from this bow suffer a -3 penalty to all stats for ten minutes. Does not stack. Rangers get +5 attack when wielding this bow. Six artificing slots available.
Trulon has half the work done for me when I go to him with the weapon, with a selection of materials he wants, even a sketch of where he wants them. “You sure this is for your brother and not for you?”
He grins. “Who said I can’t borrow it from time to time? I wonder if I can get Cappo to run for me, so I can do another test shot.” I get set to work finishing the bow. I won’t have much time left in the day after getting this to Loro.
We pack up the bow and the mold to take back. As we get up to go, Byron is blocking our way. “That mold should stay with the smith’s guild. It can open up new avenues for us.”
Trulon sets the mold down and leans in until his nose is nearly touching Byron’s., “You’ve had no interest in archery before now, but now you see a toy and do what your guild always does, try to take it.”
Byron snarls. “The guild offered you a spot, and you refused us. We allow you to exist. Do you really want to see what it is like to run a smithy even as small as yours with our disfavor?”
A quest notification pops up for me.
Decide who gets the mold. Byron wants the mold for the guild, not supporting him will cause a loss of respect. Trulon owns the mold, not supporting him can have consequences to your quest. Decide who you support.
Fuck that. I wave the notice away.
If my charisma is useful for something, I hope it is useful now. I try to put a grin to my face but know it’s forced. “Men calm down,” I say, approaching them. I tap Bryon on the chest, “You are a great smith. You’ve seen the mold. You’ve seen the weapon. Are you telling me that you don’t have the skill to recreate it? You may even be able to find some metal bows or another mold in the city. Trulon found this one within the last few days.”
Byron looks at me, anger in his eyes. “The smith’s guild is the authority here. Are you saying you don’t respect the guild that allows you Touched to work in our smithies.”
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br /> Shit, shit, double shit. I try not to let the smile slip from my face. “I’m saying I respect the guilds skill. If the guild wants to make iron bows, they have the skill do so, and do it better than whatever old mold they acquire from someone else. If you ask, I’m sure Trulon can provide the metal bows he purchased to use in your research.” I turn my head to Trulon and mouth please to him silently.
Byron doesn’t soften his look but does take a step out of the way. “You will provide those bows to me.”
Trulon looks like he is going to say no. Instead, he says “Fine.” Then he picks up the mold and marches off. I follow after him with the Ebony bow. Both men are still silently fuming as I head off, hoping I haven’t made a mistake. We are nearly out of the city before Trulon calms down and speaks. “Sorry to put you in the middle of that. Me and Byron have a history.”
“I didn’t know. I guess we could have tried making the bow at your smithy.”
He shakes his head, “My tools aren’t good enough for the task, we needed a mastersmith anvil and tools. In Byron’s eyes I chose to be a Ranger over being a smith, well that is what I told him when I left. I suppose I would be angry too if one of my most talented Rangers spurned the job to be a cobbler or a trader.”
I sigh. “Do you think I’ve ruined my working relationship with him?”
“Nah, he likes you. Just bring him those broken bows and stroke his ego. Even the humblest and least skilled people love having their egos stroked, and Byron is neither of those.” By the time we make it back, my time in the game is almost up for the day. We find Loro at the practice field running some drills. Jasper is by his side looking pale and tired. He perks up a little when he sees me.
“Your bow, Sir.”
He gives Jasper a little nudge towards me. “Your companion, crafter.”
With speed and precision, he strings the bow, takes an arrow and shoots it into a target. The target shakes, then explodes. Bits and pieces flow everywhere. “I like what you brought me,” he says with a grin. “Even if I won’t get to use it much.”
Saying our farewells and gathering the broken bows, Jasper and I start walking back. I want to make it to the edge of the city before logging out. “So, Jasper have you found a new career choice in being a ranger? I can pay your entrance fee.”
Jasper stiffens almost tripping on his next step. “If that’s what you require me to do, Touched.”
“Don’t worry. I have other plans for you. Can’t have you being an eccentric all my time here.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he mutters crossly behind me.
We make it as far as the player lounge by the time runs out. I task Jasper with dropping off the bows before I log out.
I pull off the suit off to put in the used bin. Today was interesting. Maybe a little fun. It will cost my bottom line a bit. I’ll need to focus on enchanting for the auction house all day tomorrow. A text message blinks on my phone. It’s Mel.
You joining the Rangers Jay? Someone posted a screenshot of someone they claim is Chess at their compound. Hit me up with info later.
He’s sent the picture too. It’s me at Trulon’s forge. The player who took the picture is inspecting one of the arrowheads I made. His display takes up a quarter of the image and shows the arrowhead’s stats, abilities and the statement Crafted by Chess. Cappo I curse, no longer feeling too bad about his time as a practice target. If players look hard enough at the picture, they’ll be able to recognize me in the game. It’s one thing to avoid their messages. It’ll be another if they find me in person.
Chapter Fifteen - Chess
Work on the quest is slower over the next week. I need to stock up on things to auction, and Jasper needs a break from the excitement.
I look for info on companions online. Some players had become attached and wanted to know more. There is a housing area for them in each of the starting cities. If you quit or restart a character, they become NPC relating to how you used them. Have yours trained as a ranger, they become one, a healer same thing. That is if they survive you. There is a small trend of players who lose their companions quitting and starting new accounts. I don’t know if you have to have one for the contest or they just feel like they can’t play without them. It helps my business because if they’re serious, they’ll throw down a little cash to get a weapon or item to power level with.
Grampa’s cooking is improving. Thanks to his new hobby, we are back to having a night of noodles with a jar of sauce occasionally. Now he has a small collection of things from estate and garage sales that he’s trying to turn over for an honest profit. Not to say his honest profit doesn’t come by him using his skills to wheedle down his initial buying price and convince a new buyer they must pay more than it might be worth.
Thanks to enchanting so many auction items my enchanting profession levels up to advanced, another +1 intelligence and +1 wisdom with an added the benefit of being able to sense the best uses of crafting materials, damage, defense, health, mana or other effects. Nothing specific, but very useful.
The head of the Order of Knight’s request turns out to be simple. He just wants a sword for himself and swords for each of the five Knights below him. He made a strong point that they not be as nice as the one I make him.
I manage to hit level nine and Jasper got chivalry lessons. The spells I got on leveling were basic sorcerer spells, a Haste / Slow combination. I can’t use Haste to craft quicker though. It was the first thing I tried.
Now Jasper and I are working on the Order of Officers. It has been two straight days of shit work to get to see the head. I would finish one prove-your-worth quest, and they would give me another. They literally have us shoveling horse shit to clean out the stables, I’m sure some programmer took real pride in getting it to smell like the real thing. Outside of minor quest experience, it earns me the Dirty Work achievement which simply gives me +1 Constitution. I think they ran out of jobs because we are finally waiting to get into the head office and have been waiting for an hour. A completely enthralling game experience. Right.
Supreme general Chatwin, top of the armed forces of Lusania, heads the order. His office however, is in the back of the barracks at the school that trains aspiring Officers. “Come in.“ The office is spartan. The desk has the least amount of paperwork that I’ve seen on any of the heads of the orders’ offices. Only a few sheets litter the table.
I put on my best face, “Sir, I’ve come to…”
He puts up a hand stopping me. “I know why you’ve come.” His voice has a slight drawl, almost a southern accent to it. “The answer is no. I don’t want whatever fancy toy you are offering.”
My smile strains my face. “I’m not asking for anything in return, just to make you a weapon worthy of your order.”
Chatwin reaches into his desk drawer and pulls out a bottle of ruddy brown liquid and a glass, then pours himself a drink. “You don’t want anything in return?” He downs the drink, then pours himself another. “This would have been easier if you had just taken the hint and left, but you Touched never give up, do you? You may not care for anything, but I don’t want him to even think I owe him any favors.”
“Him?”
“That god forsaken King!” The general roars. “Before your kind came, we held the front against the Man of Masks. We had to decide what to do with you. I suggested an army of undying soldiers under my command. I thought Alerin supported me. I would get the weapon I needed to defeat Man of Masks’ army. It’s why I joined the Officers. I was going to be the one to lead us to victory, to get revenge for those he had killed. Like my family.”
This time he only takes a sip of his drink before he continues, “Apparently, being under the command of Officers, and working with the conscripts was not a thing that could keep those Touched by the gods’ attention. Sure, many of them would take up the fight at the front lines against his creations and army, but my vision wasn’t enough. They needed guides, and much of my conscripts met the requirement of having a fe
w drops of royal blood to be used as companions. They needed supplies, and the money would come from the force that was no longer needed to fight. Alerin King led that push. Our training grounds became your training grounds. Our glory became yours.” He pulls out a bag and dumps the contents on his desk, round disks. The badges of officers clattered out bouncing everywhere. A unit of men standing ready on a field decorated them. “No mission. No goals. My men slowly turned in their badges for other careers. King used you to destroy my order, and as long as I am here, I will not accept any gift he has coming my way. Now get out!”
I see my charisma is working great. I look to Jasper. Neither one of us can think of anything to say. We get up and leave. I use my foot to nudge one of the fallen badges out of the door with us as we exit. After the door closes, I bend down and pick it up. Quest-related crafting item. I stick it in my bag. “Jasper let’s go get our own drink.”
Jasper orders for me, like usual. The drinks are spicy and creamy, and I breathe in the flavor. Jasper groans, “That was a waste of two days. I had to burn that outfit after the stables.”
I use my display to look at the active quests. “You think Mr. King is going to accept the fact that the head of the Order of Officers turned down his free toy after we complete the other ones?”
“Not at all,” Jasper says with the weariness he feels about Mr. King still in his voice.
He said he didn’t want to give us impossible tasks, but my Charisma didn’t matter. Chatwin isn’t going to budge. “I suspect Alerin knew Chatwin would react this way. The only way we can get the head of the order to accept a weapon would be if Chatwin was no longer the head of the order.”