Blood and Cupcakes

by Taj McCoy El

  He spun the tiny dagger in his thick, bare hands for a moment, making it look even smaller by comparison.

  He looked at Grax and said, “So you’re the sneaky type eh?”

  “Yes sir. I live to creep.”

  That sounds so wrong.

  “Make sure you look into shadow step.” John told the feline.

  “I already have it.”

  “Oooh, that’s good. The next one you should get…” John disappeared. From behind them he said, “...is teleport.” Grax was drooling.

  “At the first level, it will only let you go 10-15 feet, but combined with shadow step, you can get yourself in a good amount of trouble.”

  “I love this guy,” Grax said to Fluff. His eyes were wide and reflected the lamplight like stars. “Can we keep him?”

  “How do you know all of this stuff?” Mayah asked.

  John walked back to his seat, sat down, leaned back into his chair and began, “Well, before I met Maam and settled down, I was a part of a thieves’ guild. My father was a blacksmith, so I knew the trade but I was looking for adventure. No one expects someone my size or shape to be nimble and stealthy. But then Maam came into my life and would have none of that. And she was definitely worth the trade.”

  Grax turned on the kitty-cat-beg-eyes and looked at him in wonder. “Can you train me?”

  “It’s fairly easy, you just have to get your agility up. It increases your speed and reaction time. Not just in battle, mind you, but in everything. You’ll run faster, sew faster, cast faster, pick locks faster. By the way, make sure you get locksmithing as well.”

  “Yes, Sir!!!”

  Mayah’s brain was revving up again. So, if I get my agility up my speed will increase. Which means that my attack speed will go up. And Whack-A-Vole will increase proportionately to my speed. This bears looking into.

  “When can you train …US?” Mayah motioned to her compatriots.

  “Stop by at first light tomorrow and I'll get you set up. It’s going to take a few hours.”

  “Understood. There’s one last thing before we settle on the price.” She pulled out her new war hammer. “I like the design, but I don’t like the weight. Can you change the materials and make it lighter?”

  “I can, but its DP will drop.”

  “As long as it’s above 25 I won’t have any complaints.”

  “That I can do.”

  “Any way you could add a wooden inlay?”

  “For what purpose?”

  “I just don’t want to have Happiness going to rot in my bag. I feel like I should use it somehow.”

  “Happiness?” the perplexed smith responded.

  “My first hammer.”

  A look of understanding and nostalgia crossed his face. He reached across the desk and said, “Let me take a look at it.”

  She pulled Happiness out of her bag and handed it to him. He appraised it for a moment, then made a face as if he was studying it even deeper. “This is made of Mystic wood…”

  “Mystic wood?”

  “It’s also enchanted.”

  “What kind of enchantment?”

  “That’s the gripper, I’m not sure. The enchantment is hidden. If I put these two together, you can try and bind the enchantment to the new hammer. Or you could just try and bind them as is. I have to warn you, either way it’s a risky chance that they’ll blow up in your face.”

  If I just use part of Happiness, I don’t know if there will be enough essence to cover the new hammer. But it should be easier if I use all of Happiness.

  “Do you have a place where I could try the enchantment?”

  “Just find any empty work table.”

  “Thanks. Let’s settle the price without the hammer and then we’ll be out of your hair.”

  After a little more haggling, they were both dissatisfied and shook on it.

  “One last thing.” She pulled out the shield Jensen had given her and showed it to him.

  He stood up straight with his eyes facing forward. The palms of his open hands pressed against his legs. His massive chest pushed out. He was standing like a soldier at attention. “All 100 daggers will be ready when you finish your training tomorrow.”

  She wanted to ask why everyone would put a rush on for this shield. But she didn’t want to let on that she didn’t know what it was, for fear that they might quit their haste.

  The trio walked out of the office onto the floor of the smithy and found an empty workspace.

  “Okay guys, you may want to stand back.” She put on her enchanter’s gear and laid both hammers on the table. From past experience, she knew the wood would want to flow into the metal. But as she started the enchantment, she found out just how wrong she was.

  The essence of the metal hammer slowly began to flow out of itself and move towards Happiness. It was moving as slowly as half frozen molasses and was extremely unwieldy. She struggled against the iron hammer’s essence, hoping to coax it over to Happiness. Her mana was already down to just over 200 points.

  Shazzit!!! half of my mana’s gone already.

  She started to dump stamina into her mana to try to keep up the enchantment. Her mana swallowed all of the stamina she could throw at it and the harsh reality started to sink in. She was going to lose Happiness. As her anger and frustration boiled in her gut, she decided to give it everything she had anyway. She gave one last push with all of her might, pushing with everything that she had in her heart. She closed her eyes and prayed to every god she could think of. Her mana dwindled faster as she pushed through the headache and her mana bottomed out. Instead of exploding, the enchantment kept going.

  She felt a someone’s hand cover her right hand. It was Chano. He whispered, “We believe in you, Empress.”

  Another touch landed on her other hand and King Krusty was on her left side. “We believe in you, Empress.” He was smiling as he said it.

  She felt more hands on her back. They chanted in soft whispers, “We believe in you, Empress!”

  She felt their strength added to hers. It felt warm and powerful. It coursed through her heart, down her arms, and out to surround both hammers. She focused every bit of her will to make the essences combine. This time, both hammers became discorporate and swirled into the air as clouds of silver and green. They molded themselves into the shape of the new hammer. She forced a few changes to the shape to make it better suited for her style of combat and exhaled. It all came together without the telltale click. It just felt smooth in her mind, right and ready. She released the enchantment and Happiness floated softly down onto the table as the rush of the energy dissipated, leaving Mayah a bit shaky.

  It was the most wonderful thing she had ever seen. She leaned over with her hands on the table, bowing her head in silent thanks to the spirits of Pie Mountain.

  DING!!!!

  You have accessed a new Racial Ability

  Spirit of the Pie Mountains

  Level 1

  Empress, you may call on your loyal and loving subjects to add their power to yours. Can increase Strength, Mana, or Stamina for a short burst of up to +200% in the chosen stat. Duration will rise in higher levels.

  Duration: 30 seconds

  Cooldown:72 hours

  Ding!!!

  Enchantment Level 5

  You have unlocked the enchanter’s skill tree and may now arm or charge items with certain properties. The properties will be based on the essence of the enchanted item or runes placed on the item.

  You have 30 unspent skill tree points

  DING!!!!

  You have created a new, “Unique” item

  Name: Happiness

  Level: 1

  Type: Two-handed battle Mage’s Mallet

  Grade: B (Unique)

  Enchantment: Hidden

  Material: Mystic Cherry wood and Enchanted steel

  Weight: 29 lbs.

  Damage: 37 blunt trauma

  Durability: 420/420

  Attributes: Scalable item. Essences of objec
ts can be enchanted into this hammer. Once enchanted, they cannot be removed. Can channel the user’s mana so that spells may exit the hammer as if it were an extension of their physical body.

  Bonus: for creating a new unique item in Majesta 300XP

  Attention: This weapon can be Soulbound

  Would you like to Soulbind this weapon?

  Y/N?

  As soon as she pushed yes, the weapon began to glow and floated into her hands. She studied it lovingly. Its handle was fluted with four interchanging bands. Two bands of steel that were so polished they looked silvery lay next to bands of wood that went from light shades of green to deep cherry reds and back again. The cap on the end of the handle was shaped like a crown. The points on the arches protruded and looked as though they would be very painful. The handle flared slightly towards the head of the hammer. The head itself was a cylinder with two grooves cut into it, separating the faces from the body. There were large, wooden hearts on each side of the hammer as she spun it.

  She zoomed in on the first face. It was shaped like a shallow cone with facets that came down to a point. She smiled, thinking about how it would transfer her energy into a smaller area. She spun Happiness to look at the face directly, and to her surprise, the facets looked like four hearts with their sides all touching. The bottom point of the hearts was shared between all of them, forming the point on the face.

  The second face looked like a steel crown had been carved out of the hammer. Eight points around the circumference and a small higher point in the center looked quite painful to her eye. Looking at it head on she noticed the inside of the crown held a large inlaid wooden heart. The spike in the center extended through the wood like a mountain island on a wooden sea. The words “Beatitudo, Una Via Vel Altera” were inscribed on the outside band of the crown and inlaid with the colorful wood. It translated as “Happiness, one way or the other.”

  The faces looked very friendly or very dangerous depending on how close and at what speed they were approaching your vision. By definition, the first face was a very short and broad spike. No amount of ornamentation could hide that fact, or the fact that the crown could break skin and bone to great effect.

  You’re my pretty little painmaker aren’t you??? Mayah cooed and stroked Happiness.

  From the back of the smithy John roared, “What in blazes are you doing out here? I was almost blinded.” Shouldering, through all the slack jawed workers he saw the weapon, and froze. His face lost its scowl and his mouth hung open for the tiniest fraction of a second “What did you…?” He inhaled and held his breath for a moment. He looked around at the smiths staring at the hammer hungrily.

  “EVERYBODY... back to work!!!” he roared as he regained his composure. Everyone in the smithy startled and proceeded back to their stations.

  “Fluff, what just happened?” Margaret was puzzled. She had never seen Mayah dual enchant before.

  Even I've never done anything of this magnitude before.

  “What that was, was SO… totally awesome!!! It was a good thing I recorded it,” Grax danced exultantly.

  “You recorded it?”

  Grax was typing on his interface with both paws.

  “After yesterday I record everything.”

  “Turn it off. ...NOW. We’re gonna have to have a little talk that entails you making an oath about your video recording activities.”

  “Creepy much?”

  “You’re the one who was filming in a little girl’s room earlier,” Mayah exploded.

  “Not to interrupt your squabbles, but, may I see…?” John held out his hands with a look of deep longing boring into the hammer. Mayah handed it to him. He held it as gently as a baby as he studied it.

  “I’ve not seen the likes of this since…. How did you do it?”

  She saw the other workers, Majestans and paladins alike, hard at work but stretching their ears towards the conversation as hard as they could.

  “Maybe we can talk some other time.” She motioned to the eavesdroppers with her eyes. “Maybe tomorrow?”

  “Yes, you’re probably right.” He handed her back her most beauteous hammer. “Wait till I tell Maam about this. She’s going to flip her bustle.”

  She thanked John and walked out into the square with her crew.

  “Where next?” Grax questioned.

  “Verbum Vitae of course.”

  “Wait,” Margaret said stepping in front of the pair, “what just happened?”

  “I enchanted my hammer.”

  “I get that, that but why was it so bright?”

  “A girl has to have some secrets,” she teased.

  Margaret stopped and stood there, fists on hips. “Fluff…”

  “I’ll tell you Mags, when there are fewer ears around. Right now, we’re in training and we need more power. The best place to find power is in books.”

  “More books?” Grax whined.

  “Grax, reading hasn’t been this easy for you since picture books.”

  “Hardee har har...”

  “You should at least get the book on locksmithing since you’re a thief.”

  “I’m not a thief, I'm a rogue. While you may confuse the two…”

  “Whatever,” Mayah waved a dismissive hand at him. “Either way, learning something won’t hurt ya.” Mayah shrugged, “I’m just saying…”

  Grax had a sneer that wanted to launch a tirade, but he miraculously held his tongue.

  “I think the saying is, a little bit of knowledge is dangerous,” Margaret added in.

  Mayah responded, “That’s why he’ll need to get more than a little bit.”

  They both laughed at that. Grax just stuck out his tongue behind their backs and followed them.

  …..

  5.3 The Calm of Enchanting Trees

  “Good noon to you, Ibn,” Fluff said as they walked into Verbum Vitae. “I think we're going to need two baskets over in the trade section.”

  “Right away my favorite customer.”

  “Okay, Margaret, you guys are going to get your magic books and any trades that will make life in Majesta easier. Don’t overlook the basic or mundane stuff. Get stuff that may not be a perfect fit but has bits that could save your life. For example, I got mining because I'm going to need materials to enchant but if I ever get caught in a cave in it might save me. Understand?”

  Grax said, “Sure, sure….” with a cavalier wave of his paw and Margaret nodded.

  “While you do that I'm going to look over my enchantment skill tree.”

  “What’s a skill tree?” asked Margaret.

  “It’s where you can alter your base skill with new properties. It looks like I can now enchant runes onto things that will draw on a mana source or have runes activate with their imbued mana. I think I'm gonna level up Enchanted Grenadier with this. I'll be sitting in the store somewhere. Come find me when you’re ready.”

  She walked towards the Class Skill books when Ibn appeared with two baskets.

  “Ibn, is there someplace I can sit for a bit?”

  “Look in the back of the shop. There are a few chairs there.”

  “Thank you, Ibn.” He bowed and went to deliver the baskets.

  She found the chairs and sat down. Pulling up her skill menu she noticed a new sub-tab beside Enchantment. She clicked on it and found two new sections: One was Arm, the other Charge. Both were greyed out. She thought Arm.

  Arm

  Level 1 Enchantment skill tree

  Allows the enchanter to arm any object by placing an active essence into the enchanted object. The enchanted object will then have some of the behaviors of the essence. It will also activate any runes that are on the object if they are compatible with the active essence.

  Example: Enchanting a dagger with poison will change the dagger’s essence and make it a poison dagger. Unless the enchantment is removed, the dagger will remain poisoned for the rest of its existence.

  At level 1 arm will transfer up to 10% of the active essence to the e
nchanted item.

  Unlock: 10 skill tree points

  That sounds like fun. What does Charge do?

  Charge

  Level 1 Enchantment skill tree

  Allows the enchanter to imbue mana into the enchanted object to activate when prompted. After creation, anyone can prompt the activation of a charged enchantment.

  Example: A torch enchanted with fire will light when prompted to by the bearer of the torch.

  At level 1 only 100% of mana used to enchant the item can be put into the charged object. At higher levels, more mana can be added from secondary or tertiary sources for a longer duration of effect.

  Unlock: 10 skill tree points

  She unlocked both just so she could try them out. As she did, the next level to both appeared. Charge and Arm level 2 both cost fifteen points to unlock, so she was out of luck. She would definitely need to find out how to get more skill tree points.

  She wanted to try out her new skills… but maybe the bookstore wasn’t the place to do it. Instead, she proceeded to strategize for the coming tournament. She still wished she had a proper tank. Vergie would have to do in an emergency.

  That is unless we could find a suitable doll for Margaret? Speaking of Margaret, she’s going to have to shoot everything in sight to get her archery up. There’s not a lot of time for that.

  Then she came to Grax.

  She paused as she realized she didn’t know much about him. She guessed he had stealth, sneak attacks, and combo strikes and she knew he was fast. But she wondered how hard he hit. He did come back a higher level than her all by himself. That’s when she realized the best way to find out was to duel him. She figured he wasn’t worthless if Jensen let him stick around. And a nice fight would help her get rid of this chip she’d been carrying on her shoulder since she had cried to Margaret.

  The game was starting to get to her and she felt she needed a good grounding.

  Mayah.Butler@CrysWeb 13:27 EST- Hey Dad, I'm starting to get a little grumpy. Most likely it’s because I'm stuck in the game. There’s a tournament coming up and I'm actually heading our three-man team. I just need to be more grounded, and you always helped me with that. And if you say, “just get your head in the game” I'll kick you in the shins. NO. DAD. JOKES.