The next day proceeded as planned and after breakfast everyone took off to their assigned tasks. I swung by the forge and picked up the half dozen shovels I had made yesterday and handed them to the twins showing them there usage. We went over the cellar concept again and I ended up just telling them to dig holes ten by ten by ten. They understood that and got to work while I returned to my forge and began crafting away.
It was the fifth day since meeting the goddess and I only had two more days before the full moon and the statue was due. What was I going to make? This thought occupied my mind all morning as I crafted. I had finished enough pickaxes and hatchets for everyone, I then produced plenty of extra nails and an abundance of clay pots. When I was done with that I decided to make the new knives. I had many different options of knife but I had decided to go with my favorite and I think the most functional knife, the kukri. The crafting went smoothly and soon I was holding the first of many new blades. I pulled the information up and grinned, it was almost as if it was the sister of the hatchet.
FIERY KUKRI
WEAPON TYPE – Kukri
DURABILITY – 100/100
CLASS – Unique
UPGRADES – Burning Blade, Fire Resistance
WEIGHT – 2 lbs
DIMENSIONS – 18” BY 2” blade 6” by 1” handle.
Kukri is infused with fire magic. Imbued with an internal Magic Power, this weapon has enough charge for the blade to burn for ten minutes. The ability will charge every thirty minutes unless wielder has MP. If wielder has MP weapon will use their MP to charge for attacks. This damage stacks with other abilities and weapons.
I was just finishing up the last of the knives when a chorus of bird calls sounded loudly. Placing the blade down, I stood up from my forge and looked around. A few more calls sounded but they weren’t calls of panic or alarm. A short walk to the front of the village and I saw Moon Flower, along with her brothers and sisters, walking my way and they weren’t alone.
Shadow Bear and his crew from the Wendigo fight followed them. I had completely forgotten about Chief Running Hawk getting them to promise to come back and work off their debt. They approached and stopped in front of me. Moon Flower came up and gave me a hug and a kiss. Shadow Bear stepped up and cleared his throat. I let go of my fiancé and grinned at the diminutive young man.
“Law we have returned as promised. We met with Chief Running Hawk and he told us to come to see you.” He said. “The Chieftess of the Jicarilla told us we will stay with you until our debt has been paid and our honor is restored.”
He bowed along with the rest of his troupe as he finished his speech.
SHADOW BEAR, SCION OF THE JICARILLA TRIBE, AND HIS SQUADRON WISH TO JOIN THE PEOPLE…
DO YOU WISH TO ALLOW THEM? IF YES THEY WILL BECOME PART OF THE TRIBE UNTIL YOU WISH TO REMOVE THEM OR THEY JOIN PERMANENTLY… Y/N?
I selected yes and messages popped up.
New members have joined The People…
WAR SHAMAN
TRIBES – The People, Jicarilla Squad
ELITE WARRIORS – Chief Running Hawk, Moon Flower, Thunder Foot, Ice Blossom, Lightning Fist, Night Star, Silent Mouse, Shadow Bear
NORMAL MEMBERS – 46 workers/warriors, 12 builder/warriors
RESOURCES COLLECTED – Wood – Abundant, Metals – Iron – abundant, Food – Abundant, Animals – N/A
I saw that Shadow Bear was part of my elites but his people were normal members and they had a different title, builder/warrior. I thought about it and more information appeared.
Builder/Warrior – The Jicarilla tribe are known for their great skill at stone carving and building. They built their homes in the caves and mountains of North America giving them innate skills at handling rock and stone. They can cut, shape, and build with all types of rock.
I dismissed the windows quickly having processed all that in a few seconds. Shadow Bear and his, well now our people, were still bowing. Holy fucking shit… they were dwarves… Well not technically dwarves but they were smaller than average people who lived in mountains and worked with stone… so close enough. I quickly told them to stand up straight as I struggled with processing the new additions to my people.
“Welcome to The People. By the way you are builders?” I asked nonchalantly.
“Yes, the Jicarilla have been carving stone and living in villages in the mountains since the beginning of our tribe’s history.” He replied.
“That’s good real good. I’m glad you all showed up. I have some stone for you to cut.” I said, putting my arm around his shoulders and walking him towards the streams.
“I’m sorry Law. I cannot do any stone cutting. It is our tribes closest guarded secret and only the Chieftess can give permission for us to do it anywhere not in our home.” Shadow Bear said gravely.
I stopped sighing loudly of course it wouldn’t be this easy to just get some stone cutters who could be super helpful for me and my quest. He cleared his throat and I looked at him expectantly.
“You could always go ask my mom.” He said.
TRACK 39 – 1979 – THE SMASHING PUMPKINS
The Chief returned and we had a meet and greet during lunch introducing Shadow Bear and his people to the rest of the tribe. We discussed their addition and I suggested that they join the regular warriors so they could assimilate better and Shadow Bear would run with the elites. This way he could partner up with Silent Mouse and the Chief would be freed up for other tasks. This went over well and we all agreed I also let them know I’d outfit all the newcomers with new bows, arrows, hatchets, and knives.
At the mention of knives a flurry of questions hit me and I waved them away grinning as I pulled out the new surprises and divvied them out. Everyone thanked me while Shadow Bear looked on with barely concealed jealously. After that we talked about going to Shadow Bear’s home to get permission from his mom to help with some stone crafting.
The Chief pointed out that the full moon was just two days away which was the yearly Bear Festival and the due date for my statue for the goddess. I thanked him for the reminder and we decided to go to see Shadow Bears mom after the festival and my meeting. Lunch finished up and everyone returned to their tasks. I headed back to the forge and made the tools and weapons for the new tribe members.
The final knife was cooling and I was doing a big stretch. Dinner would be in a few hours. The crafting was coming easier and I finished up knives for the whole tribe and outfitted the new folks as well. I headed over to the washing area, where Moon Flower and I had our first minutes of fun, to clean up and think about the statue I needed to make. It was after I had stripped down and dove into the cold clear water that it hit me.
The statues that previously graced her garden were lumps of rock with iron ore in them. I could literally make any fucking thing I wanted and it would be better. I didn’t need to be Michelangelo or Van Gogh. This was me making a mountain out of a molehill. I surfaced and sprayed water out grinning openly. I’d make a semi decent mould of something, maybe a bear and I’d make it out of something special, a precious metal. A quick thought and my map pulled up. A few parameter selections and I found what I was looking for.
A little ways from the village, less than a quarter mile, was a gold ore area located very closely to a silver ore area. Judging by the sun I could get there and hit up both places and get…
“Hello lover. I see you’re already waiting for me.” Moon Flower’s voice rang out behind me.
I turned to see my beautiful soon to be wife already stripping out of her clothes. The mining could wait till tomorrow. I began wading towards my perfectly put together fiancé.
A few hours later we were both clean and feeling great as we met the rest of the tribe at dinner. We were met with lots of jokes and teasing but all of it was good humored. Shadow Bear and his people were shocked by the ribald teasing as their tribe was much more modest but they’d loosen up over time, I know I did. Although, it helps having a smoking hot sexually insatiable aggressive fiancé
but you know whatever works. Dinner went well and I gave the new folks their new gear which they accepted as gratefully as the rest.
“Tomorrow we must prepare for the Bear Festival. So we must put our training and work on hold. It is a time for celebration.” The Chief said after we all had eaten our fill.
“This is the second time you mentioned that, what is it?” I asked.
“It’s the best time of the year!” Night Star chimed in excitedly. Then she gave Shadow Bear the stink eye as she continued. “Ice Blossom and my party were actually in the middle of collecting some things for use in the festivals rituals before we were so rudely interrupted.”
The little Jicarilla scion colored even darker and stared off in any direction except at the pretty girls glare. He was saved by Moon Flower’s timely intervention as she smoothly took over the explanation.
“You see my love the Bear Festival is actually a celebration that dates back to a time far before the Great Suffering. All of the tribes from miles and miles around used to get together and have a huge gathering. They would exchange crafts, goods, and information. The whole thing culminated in a huge event called the Bear Dance...” She said.
“The Bear Dance was a huge undertaking where all the tribes would take part in it and show off the different dances of their tribes.” Night Star said taking back over. “Now though things have changed. The dance is only with the local tribe due to everyone else being gone.” She paused quieting down for a moment but it passed and her excitement returned. “So now we all form our own dances and have a big dance off around a huge bonfire. The winner gets to be Chief for the night and we eat and drink and have all sorts of fun.” She finished with a mischievous look to Lightning Fist. The couple shared a quick kiss.
“A dance huh? Well, that is just too bad.” I said. I hated dancing. Well, I didn’t hate it I just sucked so bad that I never ever did it. “Yeah I have to go give that goddess the statue, you know that whole thing.” I joked. “Ah right then I’m off to bed goodnight everyone big plans tomorrow and all that.”
I jumped up and headed to Moon Flower’s and my yurt. It felt like everyone’s gaze followed me as I left. Inside the yurt I tried to feign sleep but Moon Flower would have none of it when she came in.
“You may have some weird thing about dancing at the Bear Festival.” She growled. “But in our yurt you WILL dance with me!”
Then she pounced on top of me. Now that kind of dancing I was down with. I grinned and got to work on the horizontal mambo. Listen to the woman, as my dad always said.
I woke up early the next morning and slipped out quietly before the break of dawn. I motioned to Freak and he yawned then tiredly got up following me outside. I woke Winston and loaded him up then I mounted and quietly road out of The Springs.
The morning was quiet and still. The sound of my horse’s hooves was muffled by the soft grass. It was definitely one of those chill mornings. I activated my skill and turned the song up. With that done I accessed my map and found the route to the gold and silver mining areas and headed in that direction. I found the two areas at the base of the mountain a half mile from the village. I yanked out my pickaxe and got to work. A couple hours later I was already heading back to the village with my saddlebags loaded after finishing up at the silver ore area.
It had gone pretty fast and easy so I dropped the gold and silver ore off at the forge and met everyone for breakfast. The topic of conversation was the Bear Festival and the excitement was so catching that even Shadow Bear and his crew were starting to get the fever. I finished eating and headed back to the forge. I’d let them have their day and we’d get back to work tomorrow. I had more important things to do tonight anyway.
The first part of my plan was to smelt the gold and silver then turn them into long thin sheets. After that I’d load up a whole bunch of clay jars filled with clay from the stream and the sheets of metal then take it all up to the goddess’s garden and build my statue there. After a few hours of hammering gold and silver ore then collecting and filling the clay jars I was done. I reloaded my saddlebags up, one side with the metal sheets and the other with clay pots, mounted Winston and headed out. Freak ranged out ahead as usual and my Danger Sense was up as well but the trip was uneventful.
We arrived at the garden and I dismounted Winston and surveyed the area again. The little pool fed by the waterfall was still crisp and clear. The only difference from the first time I had been here was the lack of iron ore statues. Well, I was going to change that.
“Ok guys, let’s get to work.” I said to my animal companions.
Freak growled while Winston tossed his head and whinnied in response. I smiled at their enthusiasm.
TRACK 40 – SOME KIND OF WAY – JIDENNA
Forty-five minutes later they showed their enthusiasm by Freak bounding around the pool and catching trout. Then he lay down in the soft green grass and began sunning after he had eaten his fill. Winston was no better. He had trotted a little distance off and found some especially choice grass to munch on. I shook my head and wiped the sweat from my brow.
“Thanks for the help guys.” I said, chuckling under my breath.
I hadn’t really expected them to do anything. Besides, thing were progressing well. The plan that had come to me in my pre coital pool dip was a good one. After deciding that I didn’t need to be an amazing sculptor or artist in general I was definitely a step or two above these people’s ideas of art. Then it was just planning and execution. I was going to make a statue of a woman riding a bear and build it in the center of the lake. My Total Recall skill let me access every single piece of art and sculpture I could remember and I used it as the impetus for my inspiration as I prepared.
The day was already extremely hot, the Colorado sun was just as fierce now as it was in the future, so I stripped down to my undies or as I thought of them my Mawashi. I had unloaded the saddlebags from my horse and set them down by my work area along with the rest of my gear. After I unloaded both sides of my pack I did an inventory of my crafting gear.
Pickaxe, Hammer, Clay Pots x 50, Gold Sheet x 20, Silver Sheet x 30
I hefted my pickaxe and got started. I began by wading through the pool and retrieving all the pieces of rock, from my previous mining foray, while using my pickaxe to finish off the leftover statue stumps. After I finished that I headed over to the waterfall side and began mining more rock.
Singing along to my soundtrack, the shining hot sun, and the spray from the crystal clear waterfall made this all a lot more pleasant than it should have been. My new body made the mining easy so it wasn’t like I was exerting myself too much. The weather and water were perfect. The addition of music made the whole thing seem like a vacation almost. I began moving my body to the music while I worked and time flew by. Singing and dancing along, it was like I was in a Footloose or my personal favorite Hot Rod montage.
Bouncing and turning, twisting and jumping, I continued my work. I smashed rock with my pickaxe and threw the pieces to the growing pile by the waterside. After a while my mind zoned out and my body began working on its own. A quick transition from mining rock, when the pile was large enough, to splashing through the water in a dance-like-no-one-is-watching impromptu compilation happened seamlessly.
This whole time I had been referencing video after video and image after image of statues in a partitioned off part of my brain and had found the muse for my current creation. Images of the ancient Thai temples decorated with the giant elephants, guardian tigers, and other fantastical beasts kept flashing over and over in my mind. Still I danced and sang as I worked. The pile of rock slowly shrunk as I moved piece after piece into the center of the pool making the base for my statue.
I began dance shuffling back and forth grabbing rocks sometimes and clay pots the others. My Imbue Flame skill firing every now and then as I used the red river clay I had stored in the pots as adhesive for the rocks. The base was done so I moved onto the top figure. For this part I had a different reference in
my head. The Venus De Milo is, in my humble opinion, the most beautiful sculpture of a woman I have ever seen. I imagined her sitting on the giant Thai shaped bear and continued my work.
The sun began setting and the sky started to turn hues of orange, pink, and red. The fading light hitting the fire hardened clay turning it a blood red that clashed with the lighter red of the rock. I hardly noticed as I moved on to the second part of my sculpture, the silver and gold metal sheets.
Still bouncing, banging, bopping, and boogieing to the beat, all while belting the words out at the top of my lungs, I picked up my hammer and grabbed sheet after sheet of metal. Then I began to coat the top of my statue with the precious gold and silver. Imbuing my hammer with MP its head burst into flame as I pounded first silver as the base, the bear, than I switched to gold for the top, the woman. Metal and rock fused while steam hissed from sparks hitting the water as I hammered and hammered, shaping the metal to fit the image in my mind.
The sun set and the moon and stars came out but were quickly covered by clouds. Not rain clouds but the large and pillowy ones that cover the sky like a blanket. The night turned dark quickly but it didn’t matter I worked by the light of my Flame covered hammer. All of a sudden I stopped. The statue was done. I let the fire die on my hammer and stepped back looking at the finished statue. As if on cue the clouds parted and the moon and stars began to shine radiantly in the now suddenly bright night sky.
“Well that is not what I fucking expected…” I said, my voice trailing off as I gazed at the gold and silver creation.
The light hit it and I gasped involuntarily. Somehow the sculpture seemed to glow with infused power making it shine with an inner beauty. Not only that but the sculpting of the clay, rock, and metal had gone so much better than I had hoped it would. Somehow I had shaped and molded the metal so well that you could see that the gold covered bottom was a snarling bear. The top was equally well done and the visage mirrored the famous female statue brilliantly. I stared in awe at the statue admiring its beauty and marveling at the fact that I had created it. An insistent blinking in my periphery finally caught my attention. Tearing my gaze from the work of art I checked my messages.
I Am Gamer Page 18