I Am Gamer

by Gabriel L Rathweg

  She turned and walked off. I sighed and followed. She had just diminished my amazing new forge creation, probably the first one on this continent, as just stronger weapons and armor. Well she was right in a sense. I put it from my mind and followed my beautiful fiancé to the Chief’s open sided yurt and saw she was right.

  All the elite warriors had returned and each of them had the required pieces of wood. I was surprised that they all had found the proper lengths and such so quickly. Then remembered the resources from this time were vast. There just weren’t that many people to use them all up yet. Well, the regular warriors hadn’t returned yet so there was that. Maybe it was a skill thing.

  “Ah good Law, Moon Flower found you. As you can see we all have the required wood but I don’t see how this is special. We all know how to build bows.” Chief Running Hawk said.

  I nodded and walked over to the Chief. He was right about them being able to build bows and that was a factor I was counting on. They had glue made from animals and sinew already prepared so I began the tutorial. There is dispute between historians as to what is the best bow type and what not. Some say British long bowman others Mongolians or Japanese and so on. I personally voted for the Mongol hordes, so that is the type of bow I went with. The style is an Asian Composite bow. The design was pretty much the same as my own, although mine was of a much higher quality and craftsmanship.

  At first everyone stared at me like I was teaching them how to walk. But as I pointed out the different reasons for angling this part here or for this curve there they slowly caught on. Their excitement grew as I constructed the bow slowly and properly. When I was done I showed them the final product and they passed it around. It had taken hours to whittle down the wood and prepare everything. But they were attentive and now couldn’t wait to start on their own bows. I was tempted to tell them to wait till the morning but knew their excitement wouldn’t let them sleep.

  All of the workers and warriors had returned, young and old, and dinner was being served. Everything was done communally with the tribe. I beckoned for some help and Dusk and Dawn appeared almost magically. I told them what I wanted and they nodded not saying a word. I was beginning to wonder if they could talk at all.

  The finished bow was going to be a gift to the Chief but he scoffed and said that anyone who didn’t make their own bow was a fool and no archer. So I kept it and played teacher as everyone bent to their work with a will. The hours flew by as they all worked intently. The large fire and numerous torches provided plenty of light throughout the dark night. By the time everyone was finished constructing their bows the sun was beginning to rise.

  The fact that all of them had stayed up all night long didn’t seem to matter. They were all so excited to finish their bows that they forgot how tired they were. When I explained it would take at least a full twenty four hours for the glue to set all of them seemed to deflate and their tiredness hit them all at once. The Chief was the first to say he was going to sleep soon the rest of them followed suit.

  I said goodnight as well then Moon Flower and I retired to our yurt. Now I was just as exhausted as all the others but I had saved enough energy for a round of naked wrestling. As soon as we were inside however Moon Flower was out like a light.

  Well that sucks. I sighed and lay down next to my fiancé and tried to sleep. Unfortunately I had worked myself up and sleep was not coming. Instead I got up and decided to head down to my new forge. If I couldn’t rest might as well work. The dawn was quiet with the rest of the tribe still sleeping. A quick stop for some wood from the piles and then I was at the forge. I smiled as I surveyed the little area. Walking Coyote had delivered all the retrieved ore and put it here with the ore I had brought with me previously on Winston.

  The first things I needed were a proper hammer and a set of tongs. I began loading up the wood then started the fire with my Flame skill. I pumped the bellows I had created out of buckskin and got the flames really going. Satisfied the fire was burning fully and wouldn’t go out I began creating the mould for my hammers head. With the combination of a few trips to the water for clay and some carving I finished my hammer mould. The fire was nice and hot and the coals were now burning merrily in the newly created forge smelter. I retrieved some iron ore and started the task of creating a hammer.

  The beauty of the hammer is that it’s really just two pieces, the head and the base. But it’s also the main tool for a smith. While the ore was melting down I selected the handle or base for my hammer and began carving it into the proper form. I had found a piece of dense and heavy black oak in the wood pile that was just what I was looking for. I finished the handle and set it aside. I poured the now smelted iron into the hammer head mould and then waited as it cooled. When it was ready I retrieved the hammer handle. This was the tricky part. I activated my Flame while placing the handle in the molten iron.

  I poured MP into my creation and light began to pulsate from the hammer. The fire surrounding it began to grow brighter and brighter. I started to feel a little dizzy as I began to run low on MP but then there was a loud crack and the light flashed one final time the brightest yet. I closed my eyes at the glare. Blinking slowly I looked down at my hands. The mould had broken open and my fire skill had gone out but in my hands was the handle of the finished hammer now connected to the newly created head. The metal hammerhead seemed to glow from within with an inner fire. This is why I was so excited about the Mage Builder ability.

  SMITHS HAMMER OF FLAME

  CLASS – Tool – Unique

  DURABILITY – 100/100

  UPGRADES – Fire Damage, Fire Resistance

  WEIGHT – 5 lbs

  DIMENSINOS – 1’ by 1” by 1” head 5” by 5” by 6”

  Created with traditional smith techniques and then imbued with magic, this hammer adds fire damage to any weapon created with it and fire resistance to any piece of armor, item, or structure.

  This was one thing I had been worried about. Since you needed a hammer to make most things how did you make the hammer without one? It was a chicken or the egg kind of quandary. When I learned the Mage Builder skill I was hoping this might happen. My magic fused with the hammer and magically finished the tool. Now I had a real smiths hammer to work with but now it was time to make some tongs. I began the process all over again.

  TRACK 32 – TURN IT UP/FIRE IT UP (REMIX) – BUSTA RHYMES

  Once the hammer and tongs were done I started on my next project and began making new tools. The first thing was still resource collection. Now that my elite warriors had made bows I was going to gift them all with pick axes so they could go mine ore while their newly made compound bows set. This had the added effect of letting me stay at the village and craft stuff all day, pretty much a win-win situation around the board.

  No matter how many different games I played online, whether it was Ultima or WOW back in the day, I loved crafting. Building your own gear and items always got me. I loved the creation aspect and of wearing armor I made or attacking with a weapon I forged or enchanted or whatever. Crafting was half of the fun of any RPG, MMO or otherwise.

  The sun was up fully when Moon Flower came to the forge. She brought food which I accepted gratefully, pausing in my work to wolf down the cooked meat and fresh fruit. There was a bowl of mush as well that tasted like polenta. I ate everything inhaling it like a vacuum cleaner. Moon Flower sat patiently till I had finished. Then when I was done she told me everyone was waiting at the Chief’s yurt again.

  We headed over and I gave them their new task for the day. I showed them how to make a new type of arrow that we would be using. When I was done I sent them on a wood run and arrow making task then headed back to the forge. On the way Walking Coyote came up along with Dusk and Dawn. We exchanged a round of greetings and then all three of them looked at me expectantly as we walked. Oh crap, I needed to give them work today as well.

  When you are playing a game there are alls these little tricks the developer’s use that helps you keep track of
things like this. We arrived at the resource gathering area and I looked at what we had. Three large piles of wood, four downed trees, and the beginnings of a fourth pile of wood. Food wise we had plenty of fruits and vegetables collected plus there was plenty of wild game as well. I was going to build a smokehouse and show them how to pickle things but that was for later. So Dusk and Dawn’s instructions were the same as yesterday.

  They nodded and took off. Walking Coyote told me they had gathered half of the iron ore from yesterday. I told him to continue the half and half collection of ore and wood. He shook his head and headed off towards his crew. In turn I selected more pieces of wood for today’s crafting agenda then made my way to the forge.

  I set the wood down and began the task of getting the forge relit and back to temp. It was much easier today as the forge had yesterday’s coals still smoldering. Once that was done I started making moulds. The goal for today was to make enough pick axes for all the elite warriors at minimum, if I could me. It was a tall order but I figured if I got in the zone I could make it happen. Everyone was already assigned tasks so I had the day to do this.

  The mould was finished and I began on the next while humming the words to a song that had gotten in my head. Soon I began singing.

  “Turn it up, I want to hear it real loud, just… Turn it up, so we can party in the loft, baby… Turn it up, we need to tear the roof off, so just… Turn it up…” I sang under my breath.

  ABILITY LEARNED

  SOUNDTRACK (LEVEL – 1)

  You have an unhealthy obsession with music and a terrible voice. Therefore you have accessed the ability to play any song you can remember in your head. Congratulations you are a walking jukebox.

  I dismissed the prompt scoffing. I had a mad good singing voice! At least in my car anyway, still singing voice aside this was great. I could now hear music whenever. I played with the settings and set the sound to background. It had a predictive song feature that picked music based on my mood. That was handy. Continuing my song, now to the music in my head, I placed more ore in the smelter and began carving the handles for my pickaxes. When the ore was smelted I poured it into the first pickaxe mould and activated my Flame skill. Queue flashing light and burning fire than a pop and I had a finished item in my hand.

  PICKAXE OF SIZZLING

  CLASS – Tool – Unique

  DURABILITY – 100/100

  UPGRADES – Fire Damage, Fire Resistance

  WEIGHT – 4 lbs

  DIMENSIONS – 1” by 1” by 1” head 2” by 2” by 24”

  Created with traditional smith techniques and then imbued with fire magic this pickaxe is special. Not only does it mine ore it makes it even easier as the head will heat up doing a little fire damage with each swing.

  Dismissing the window I continued my work. That is how the morning went. I smelted, carved, fired, and attached. Similar in process to my hammer I did the same with the pick axes. It was all going extremely smoothly and I would definitely be done today. But of course when things are going to well something comes along and cocks it all up.

  I was finishing up my sixth pickaxe of the day and setting it down when Freak’s head popped up from his nap. He had been sprawled out in the sunshine near the stream. His sudden movement caught my attention along with his growl. I stood up stretching languidly as my bones cracked from tip to toe. Man that felt great, always did, you wouldn’t think cracking bones would feel that damn glorious, anyway I digress. Turning to see what Freak was looking at I also began to hear someone yelling my name, well my new name.

  “War Shaman Law!” The high pitched voice screamed over and over. “War Shaman Law!”

  Running my way was Dusk. No wonder he didn’t talk if his voice was so high. I probably wouldn’t talk either. He arrived a few moments later struggling for breath.

  “Calm down son.” I said, patting him on the back and handing him my water skin. He took a few deep breaths and sips of water then started talking as soon as he could.

  “The old workers are under attack!” He said excitedly in his high pitched voice.

  I was about to grin at his voice when his words penetrated my brain, under attack?

  “Where?” I asked, whistling for Winston and motioning for Freak.

  “At the goddess’s pool.” He replied. “A giant bear has attacked them and cornered them in the cave behind the waterfall. Luckily for them the bear is too big to fit all the way in.”

  “What? To big to fit in a cave?” I asked incredulously. Winston had arrived so I leapt up and mounted him. “How big is this bear?”

  “Biiiigggg…” Dusk said, stretching his arms out wide.

  Of course it fucking was.

  TRACK 33 – WHAT’S THE FREQUENCY, KENNETH? – R.E.M.

  Winston, Freak, and I rushed to the pool. Thankfully Moon Flower had been kind enough to put my bow and quiver on Winston so they were there when he came. The three of us galloped at top speed to the mining area. Thoughts ran through my mind of dead tribesmen ripped limb from limb by a giant bear. Freak got ahead of us as he was more nimble through the trees. My Danger Sense was up but I didn’t sense anything from it.

  Now that I knew the way we made great time. There still wasn’t a path per se but I knew the area now and we were starting to create one. We burst into the glade I had my bow drawn and an arrow nocked. I stared around adrenaline pumping trying to look everywhere at once. The glade and my Danger Sense were empty. Did the monster bear already leave and eat all my people? I didn’t see any blood anywhere. Keeping alert we headed towards the waterfall.

  “Ho! Anyone there? It’s me Law.” I shouted when we were close enough. “I mean War Shaman Law.”

  I shouted a few more times each time progressively louder to get over the roar of the waterfall. Finally a head peaked out from behind the waterfall. I recognized Walking Coyote and grinned at the old man.

  “Walking hey over here.” I yelled.

  He saw me and grinned back.

  “Law good thing you’re here. Dusk made it in time. There is a giant bear and it attacked out of nowhere. Luckily we made it into the cave in time. No one was gravely injured but…” He said then his eyes went wide and his bronze face turned pale.

  My Danger Sense started shrieking at me. I whipped my head around in the direction my skill was pointing.

  From the far side of the glade the trees began shaking. Not shaking exactly but more like moving from being bumped. The leaves were gyrating and falling from branches. Then a huge head poked out followed by the rest of the body of the largest bear I had seen in my life. This was not good. The thing was massive. I remember watching the Dicaprio movie The Revenant and thinking damn that was a big ass grizzly bear. That fucker had nothing on this one. It was easily twice the size of the movie one and I don’t remember that many teeth being in any animal’s mouth. When it was finally out of the trees its information popped up.

  SHORT-FACE BEAR (LEVEL – Unknown)

  One of the largest known terrestrial mammalian carnivores that has ever existed is the short-face bear. The name comes from the short snout compared to other bears. This is an illusion though, caused by their deep snouts and short nasal area. They are larger and more muscular than any other bear species and their snouts are longer if anything. The average short-face bear weighed over a ton, stood over fourteen feet tall on its hind legs. Standing on all four the bear was still over eight feet tall. The bear’s paws are tipped with claws ranging up to four inches in length. It is also known as the apex hunter of its time.

  The gigantic bear reared up on its hind legs and roared at the top of its lungs. It was huge, so huge. It was taller than me sitting on Winston. That made the bear at least fifteen feet tall on its hind legs. Even from where it was standing fifty feet away the roar hit me like a physical thing. Winston reared and it was all I could do to keep my seat and not drop my bow. Old me would have probably fallen and stabbed myself with my own arrow. New me held my seat and kept my bow and arrow till Winston drop
ped back down.

  “Its ok buddy we got this.” I said soothingly to my horse, trying to calm both of us down.

  Freak stood beside us hackles raised and roared in return at the massive enemy. I mentally told him to prepare himself and aimed my arrow just as the big bear dropped back to all fours. Well I wasn’t going down without a fight. I pulled my bowstring back and took aim for the bear’s eye. My hope was that I could blind it and slowly whittle its health down till it died.

  “Oh put your arrow away. Do you think that little thing can harm my baby?” A new feminine voice said, sounding like a mixture of silk and honey.

  From the woods behind the bear appeared the most beautiful woman, strike that, being I had ever seen. Her beauty was a tangible thing. It wasn’t the type of physical beauty you saw and were attracted to. I mean you were attracted but it was different. It was as if this woman was literally the essence of beauty, what the idea of beauty came from. She reached up and patted the bear’s side. The massive animal sat on its hindquarters like a house pet as she cooed and rubbed it. I wasn’t going to lie I was starting to get a little jealous, not really, ok maybe just a little.

  The woman wore a modified buckskin outfit but it looked just like a primitive bikini but the bottom was a short sarong. She had long muscular legs that seemed to go on forever. Her skin was the color of sunset and her hair was dark as night. She turned from the bear, which was now lying on his stomach and rumbling quietly, and locked obsidian colored eyes with me.

  “I said put your bow and arrow away.” She commanded then looked at Freak. “Come here kitty.”

  For some reason I did as she commanded and put away my bow and arrow. My cat also did as she said and walked right over to her outstretched hand purring loudly. I stared as my friend went from battle tiger mode to housecat lying down while this stranger rubbed his belly. In a few moments Freak was rumbling contentedly sleeping next to the massive bear. It was as if the two were having a snoring contest. The bear was winning.