The Land: Catacombs (Chaos Seeds Book 4) (5 page)

Some dwarves worked the bellows, while others crushed raw ore to feed the smelter.  One was working on a half-finished piece of chainmail armor, using a small set of pliers to interlink the rings.  Richter got a mild surprise when he saw humans in the Forge.  Near the back, sitting on simple wooden stools, were a human man and woman, close enough in appearance that they had to be brother and sister.  Both were brunette and heavily muscled, and they talked quietly while sewing together pieces of leather.  What really drew Richter’s gaze, however, were the dwarves working on the anvils. 

Two dwarves swung hammers on the smaller forges.  Both seemed to be working on axes.  On the central forge, however, was the village’s Smith.  Krom worked on his project with single-minded focus. 
Clang-cling-cling, Clang-cling-cling. 
Each heavy blow that the dwarf rained down on the hot metal he was forging was followed by two light taps, one on the hot metal and another on the Forge.  Then the cycle would start again. 

Richter just stood back and watched.  Five minutes passed by and then ten, but still Krom kept up the same rhythm.  Richter marveled at the dwarf’s strength and endurance.  Finally, the metal lost its heat, and the metal darkened to a dusky grey color. Krom placed it back in the hearth to heat it again.

Richter walked up to his Smith. “Krom.”

The dwarf looked over with a smile on his bearded face. “Greetings, yer lordship.  Did ye have a nice little nap?”

Richter laughed at the audacious dwarf. “What’s that you’re making there?  Somehow that dark grey metal makes me think that it’s not my elementum short sword.”

“Alas, no, milord.  This be a sword for the new captain.  I be using one of the cobalt ingots ye brought back.  It looks to be coming out well so far.”

“Oh,” Richter said.  He tried to keep any disappointment out of his voice, but some bled through.  “If you can get to my sword soon, it would be appreciated.  I agree that Terrod should have a good weapon, though.”

Krom scratched his beard and looked up speculatively.  “Welllll, I could start on a sword for ye or ye could just use the one I have already made.”

Richter tried to keep a smile off his face, but failed miserably again.

Krom laughed and waved for his lord to follow him.  He called out to one of the other dwarves to tend the half-finished blade he was heating.  Richter followed his Smith over to a rack of finished weapons.  Spears, swords, maces, and daggers hung on the long rack made of quartz.

“Is it just me, or are there more stands here than before?” Richter asked.

“Yer not crazy, yer lordship.  The Forge just seems to know what we need.  When we ran out of space, the racks just appeared.”

Richter looked around at the Forge again.  The stars shined against the black roof, and the sun could be seen near the western edge, only a few hours from setting.  This thing truly was a Legendary Object.  He turned his attention back to the weapons, examining each in turn.  Richter was pleased, but not surprised, that each item he examined was above average quality or better.  He even noticed a few superb and exquisite quality weapons.  He stopped looking over them when Krom took down a short sword and handed it to him.

The sheath was made of soft-looking grey leather.  The cross guard was a thick bar that curved up towards the blade slightly at either end.  The hilt was wrapped in the same leather, and the pommel was a weighted ball of clear green metal.  Richter’s smile widened even further.

“Now I don’t want ye trying to give me a kiss when ye see the blade, yer lordship!”

Richter laughed and said he would try to restrain himself.  He unsheathed the weapon and examined it.

You have been given:
Elementum Short Sword of Freezing
.  Damage: 33-37.  Durability 158/158.  Item class: Scarce. Quality: Exquisite.  Weight 2.3 kg.  Traits: +6-7 points of water damage per attack.  4% chance to cause Freeze.  +10% damage vs. spell barriers.  Charges: 220/220.  Bonus Trait: +10% damage against Earth and Dark creatures.

Richter’s mouth dropped open in shock.  He looked at Krom and then back at his new weapon and then back at Krom again.  “How did you do this?”  Richter had awe in his voice.  His high steel longsword only had a damage potential of 12-17.  And how did it have all of those other enchantments?

Krom cracked his neck and began speaking in the affectionate tone he reserved for discussing his craft. “Well, my lord.  Short swords normally have a base damage of 8-10 and the metal…” The dwarf laughed.  “Well, let me just say that elementum be a tough son of a bitch.  Even I di’na know how much power the metal would add, but the base damage increased by +9!  The rest though is due just to my skill and the strength of me arm.  I am a level sixty-two smith, and the bonus from my skill increased the base damage and the bonus from the metal.  When ye add the +5 for the exquisite quality of the weapon, it brought the damage up to 33-37!” 

The smith took a sip of water, then continued, “I can tell ye that it wasn’t easy.  We had to stoke the fires to be hotter than me asshole in summer!  As you can see though, yer lordship, it was well worth the effort.  I was a bit concerned seeing as how me Smith rank is lower than it should be to work with that type of metal, but it still turned out good!”

Richter agreed.  It was a gorgeous weapon. Richter could barely tear his eyes from it, but he was confused by something Krom had said. “What do you mean?  What does your skill rank have to do with anything?”

“Ye know that I be a journeyman smith, yer lordship.  That means several things, but one of them is I can bend and poke any metal up to ebony like it was me second wife.”

“Not your first wife?” Richter asked with a smile.

“No, yer lordship.  She was so tight that if I had put a copper between her knees, it would na have hit the floor for years!  But that na be the point right now.  To work elementum without penalty, I would have to be an adept.  Seeing as how I am a rank short, it shows in me work.”

Richter struggled to keep a straight face and asked, “How does it affect the weapons that you can make?”

Krom scratched his beard and asked, “Are ye sure ye wish to know this?  It be a bit technical.”  After Richter nodded, he continued, “I’ll need to tell you something else about Smith ranks first.  For each rank there be a specific chance to make a weapon or armor of a certain quality every time I swing me hammer.  The higher me rank, the more likely for me to make a higher quality item.  Do ye understand?”

After Richter nodded again, Krom grabbed a piece of hide and a charcoal stick.  He started making lines on the pale leather and writing words to either side of each line:
Trash, Poor, Average, Above Average, Well Crafted, Exceptional, Superb, Exquisite, Masterwork. 
Then he drew a curve perpendicular to the lines, and Richter almost dropped the sword in shock.  Krom had just made a bell curve.

The smith continued speaking and pointed at the line between average and above average. “A novice smith would start here, yer lordship.  They would have a large chance making an average or above-average quality item and a smaller chance of making a poor quality or well-crafted quality piece.”

“In that scenario, is it a 34% chance to make the average or the above-average weapon?” Richter asked.

Krom looked at him, surprised. “Not exactly, yer Lordship.  I was never too interested in the specific percentages of me craft, but me old master said the chances of making the lower quality was closer to 55% and to make the higher quality was about 35% when ye first achieved a new rank.  When ye move another quality level over either way, it was three times as likely to make a lower quality piece than higher quality.  Also, the chances to forge higher quality items do improve when yer skill gets closer to the next rank.  This all be the broad rules though, yer Lordship, because Luck, ingot quality, and other factors would affect the numbers somewhat.”

Richter nodded.  So not a standard bell curve, more like a negative skew.  He did some quick math in his head and realized that meant there was probably about a 7-8% chance to make a much lower quality weapon and only a 2-3% chance to make a much higher quality weapon.  Interested in the complexities of the Smithing skill, he motioned for Krom to continue. 

“At me journeyman rank, the middle of me curve be here.” He pointed at the line between exceptional and superb.  “If everything turns out near perfect, I might make an exquisite piece, but the best I can normally hope to make is a superb quality weapon.  Like I said, though, there is a penalty for working a metal a rank above my ability.  Anything I make would automatically drop one quality level, so the best elementum blade I should have been able to forge would be capped at superb quality.”

Richter examined the blade again, seeing that it had exquisite quality. “Then how—”

“The Forge!” Krom interrupted excitedly.  “All of the elementum ingots ye brought back were masterwork quality, which made forging them easier.  I poured all of my energy and sweat into it, and I made the best blade that I could.  I swear, yer lordship, I felt like me hammer was being guided to exactly the right spots.  When I finished the sword, I knew that it was exquisite, but of course the rank penalty knocked it down to superb.  Then the main anvil started to glow!  The light shot into the sword, and when I looked again, the quality was back to exquisite!  I can only take part of the credit for this fine weapon, yer lordship.”

Richter laughed.  Krom was almost dancing a jig.  The smith calmed himself and went on to explain the magic imbued into the blade. “Now, the freeze enchantment is a bit lower than it could have been.  All I had to work with were the common soul stones ye left.  Luckily, Gloran agreed to help.  His journeyman rank in Enchanting allowed him to spell the item without penalty even though I was the one forging the sword.  It also let him use two soul stones on the enchantment.  We were still way short of the forty-five possible points we could have used, but we worked with what had.  The twenty enchantment points Gloran could get from the common stones allowed us to get four points of cold damage as a base and give a 4% chance to activate the
freeze
ability.  His level sixty-five Enchanting skill increased the base enchantment to 6-7 damage!”

Richter was always impressed by Krom’s dedication to his craft.  The only other time the taciturn dwarf spoke passionately was when he was cursing someone.  He grew downright loquacious when he talked about making weapons and armor, though.  “Okay, so I get the high damage and the cold enchantment, but what about the bonus trait?  Why is it stronger against Dark and Earth creatures?”

Krom looked around at the Forge with what could only be called love in his eye.  “That be thanks to Ria here.”

“Ria?” Richter asked.

“Aye, yer lordship.  The Forge reminds me of the first love I ever had.  A strong beauty of a woman, who would happily burn your nuts off if you didn’t pay attention the whole time you were with her.  She also let me come inside whenever I wanted.”  Krom kept looking around at the Forge with a wistful smile. 

“Inside… of her house?”  Krom’s bearded grin only deepened.  Richter looked at his Smith with a slightly scrunched face.  This seemed… inappropriate somehow… and how many true loves and wives had Krom been through?  He wasn’t sure what to do. When Krom started audibly and
breathily
sighing, however, Richter couldn’t take it anymore.

“Dude!”

“What?  Oh yes, sorry, yer lordship.  Went somewhere for a bit.  As I was saying, when I finished forging the sword, the sun and one of the moons glowed on the ceiling.  A beam of nearly clear green light came down from the moon and a beam of yellow-white came down from the sun and bathed the sword in a bright glow.  When it went out, the sword had the bonus trait, and that be when the mark appeared.”

“What mark?” Richter asked.

“At the base, yer lordship.”

Richter looked closely at where the blade met the hilt and saw the slight impression of a four-pointed star.  As he watched, it glowed slightly before resuming the appearance of clear green glass.  Richter turned the blade over and saw another impression.  It was a square with four characters, one in each quadrant. 

“That one be me smith mark, yer lordship.  It let all know that the weapon was forged by Krom of the Red Stone clan,” the dwarf said proudly. 

Richter smiled. “So do all of the weapons you’ve made here have this glowing star?”

“So far it only be this one.  I do believe the mark only appears when the ceiling be triggered to grant extra powers.”

Richter was pleased to know that the special quality of the Forge of Heavens had already come into play.  The extra damage could make all the difference, especially in the catacombs.  “And so far only my sword has gotten this kind of special bonus trait?”

“Yes, yer Lordship.  When the moon and sun lit up, the two points formed a straight line to the central anvil.  I was actually thinking that if we knew more about when the moons and stars would be present overhead, we could know how to get more of these special bonuses.  Could ye figure that out?”

You have been offered a Quest:
My God!  It’s Full of Stars I!
  Krom has tasked you with learning more about the movement of celestial bodies.  How you do this is up to you.  Will you accept?  Yes or No?  Reward: Improved Weapons and Armor.