Legacy of the Fallen

by Luke Chmilenko

  “Alright,” I announced to the air around me as I rubbed my hands together in anticipation before reaching out to grab a pair of heavy pliers I would need to disassemble my old set of armor. “Let’s get started.”

  Diving into my work with fervor, the next two hours passed by in a blur as I began to craft myself a new set of armor, marked only by Amaranth’s report that he had been victorious in his ‘hunting’ attempt, which was then soon followed by a mental snore as he began to digest his meal. Slowly but surely as the hours passed, my new armor began to take shape as I fashioned each piece in sequence, disassembling the old armor’s piece, then immediately using what I had salvaged on its replacement and adding in the new materials that I had set aside, where appropriate.

  It was towards the end of those two hours when I finally found myself finishing the final and largest section of my new armor set, namely being the chest piece. It was a roughly hammered cuirass with two large plates that would protect both my chest and back, linked together by a double layer of chainmail and chitin that gave some flexibility to the piece, allowing me to make the most of my speed and mobility. Set directly in the center of the cuirass was the glowing Æther Core, the otherwise clear crystal giving off a cool azure light from within.

  Checking its setting one last time, I made sure that the crystal wouldn’t fall out of the socket that I had fashioned for it, pushing and pulling on it as hard as I could. The last thing that I wanted to worry about was to have the item come loose in the middle of a fight and losing its bonuses, or heaven forbid, the Æther core itself. Satisfied that it would stay in place, I took a step away from the armor and the table that it was sitting on, seeing its stats appear before me.

  Twilight Avenger Armor Set

  Slots: Arm, Chest, Feet, Hands, Legs, Head, Shoulders

  Item Class: Magical

  Item Quality: Good (+15%)

  Armor: 385

  Set Bonus: (7/7)

  Strength: +12 Agility: +12

  Armor Type: Light

  Weight: 12 kg

  Augment: Nafarrian Sentinel’s Æther Core. +3 to all Attributes.

  Favored Class: Any Martial

  Level: 19

  “Well, that turned out pretty great!” I exclaimed, despite noticing that I didn’t hit ‘Mastercraft’ quality on the armor set, likely since I had reused so much of my old gear. Yet I could hardly be disappointed in the result before me, and I couldn’t help feel a shiver of anticipation for putting it on and seeing the boost that it gave to my attributes.

  Which is exactly what I promptly did.

  Practically teleporting myself into the waiting suit of armor, I dressed in what had to be a near record time, and before I knew it, I had tightened the final strap that kept the gear in place, feeling it hanging almost weightlessly off my body. Moving my limbs around to test the motion of the joints, I gradually became aware of the Æther Core’s presence in the center of my chest, as if it constantly radiated a reassuring wave of energy through my body.

  Hard to tell if that’s just what the crystal is supposed to do, or if that has something to do with me being Ætherwarped, I thought as I touched the crystal with a gloved hand, feeling the energy then flow through my arm. Maybe it’s a little bit of both.

  Putting that particular consideration aside for the future, I stopped my delaying tactics and brought up the majority of my character sheet, looking over all the changes that the last few days had brought.

  Lyrian Rastler – Level 18 Spellsword

  Human Male (Eberian)

  Statistics:

  HP: 1056/1056

  Stamina: 960/960

  Mana: 1277/1277

  Experience to next level: 11238/38900

  Attributes:

  Strength: 58 (84)

  Agility: 58 (85)

  Constitution: 56 (60)

  Intelligence: 68 (71)

  Willpower: 23 (26)

  Skills:

  Magic:

  Evocation – Level 18 – 85%

  Alteration – Level 18 – 17%

  Conjuration – Level 17 – 13%

  Abjuration – Level 17 – 1%

  Weapons:

  Unarmed Combat – Level 18 – 78%

  Swords – Level 19 – 82%

  Axes – Level 11 – 35%

  Daggers – Level 16 – 73%

  Other:

  Stealth – Level 18 – 28%

  Wordplay – Level 15 – 16%

  Perception – Level 18 – 67%

  Tradeskills:

  Blacksmithing – Level 19 – 22%

  Carpentry – Level 18 – 31%

  Cartography – Level 2 – 3%

  Tailoring – Level 14 – 69%

  Cooking – Level 5 – 54%

  Herbalism – Level 11 – 4%

  Leatherworking – Level 19 – 17%

  Mining – Level 15 – 1%

  “Looks like I’ve let my other weapon skills and Tailoring slip a bit,” I commented to myself as I looked over the character sheet. “Though hopefully once we get all of this sorted out I can spend some time bringing them up to speed…the same for my magic skills, assuming I can get some the mages to agree to be my mana batteries while I practice—”

  “Talking to yourself already, Lyrian?” Jenkins’s loud and jovial voice interrupted my thoughts, causing me to flinch and spin in the direction of the sound, spotting the smith and Ritt entering the crafting area with broad smiles on their faces. “That doesn’t seem to be the sign of a healthy mind to me. Perhaps the jungle here is finally starting to get to you!”

  “Talking to yourself is perfectly fine,” I replied, matching the man’s smile. “Just as long as you’re not surprised by any of the replies that your mind comes back with.”

  “Heh, I suppose that would be troubling,” Jenkins agreed with a chuckle as he eyed my new armor and began nodding appreciatively. “So, I see you’ve been making good use of my space while I was gone…though I really hope you didn’t use up all my fuel…”

  “There’s plenty left,” I reassured the man as he stepped forward to take a closer look at my new armor. “It wasn’t exactly my best effort…since I decided to reuse pieces of the chainmail that I had before, but I think it’s decent enough to help me push deeper into the jungle. Once we get everything sorted out down here, I was thinking to try and replicate it with the Æthertouched Iron that we have…after I figure out how to forge it properly.”

  “‘Wasn’t his best effort’, he says as he produces a near flawless work,” Jenkins muttered with a shake of his head as he continued to inspect my work. “I daresay there are many that would love to have this armor in your stead!”

  “One of them being me right here!” Ritt exclaimed as he stepped forward to admire my work. “Please tell me you can make more of this kind of armor, Lyrian! That Serpentine armor you made last week barely lasted a full day at auction…if I could get a dozen more of these suits…gods the Adventurers would go into a frenzy! I would need Dyre to oversee the exchange just so I wouldn’t get mugged!”

  “Uh, I could,” I said, tapping on the metal breastplate. “But this armor set is pretty metal intensive. As it was I used nearly my entire share out of the metal we recovered from the golem, plus a bunch of the scraps that I already had from the other set of armor to put this together. So, unless you’re willing to share some of that metal that you guys are buying up…I might just have enough to get the core guild members armored up, and they take priority over selling to the rest of the Adventurers.”

  “I understand, Lyrian,” Ritt replied, his eyes never leaving my armor as he spoke. “And I’m sure, well, pretty sure that we can get some of the iron we’re buying your way, for a share of the profits, of course, Jenkins should be able to talk Le—”

  “Oh, hell no, Ritt!” Jenkins barked, interrupting the man. “I’m not talking Léandre into anything involving diverting or taking away the metal he needs to finish his work.”

  “But—” Ritt started to say
before Jenkins cut him off.

  “But nothing! You saw that man when we handed him the first cart of ore! He nearly cried with joy!” The smith continued, turning away from me as he rounded on the merchant. “Which was nearly the same thing that I did when I first saw what those Adventurers pulled out of that damn jungle! We need that metal going to construction a hell of a lot more than we need more suits of armor right now!”

  “I don’t disagree, Jenkins. But pretty soon we’re going to need ways of paying for all the ore that we’re buying!” Ritt countered, his tone telling me that this wasn’t the first time that he and Jenkins had this conversation. “Right now, we’re buying up everything that’s coming in, which is great, because we need the metal. But with every day that we do that, it’s driving up the market rate that the other Adventurers are willing to pay to get metal of their own. All while our total supply of coin dwindles.”

  “I know that, Ritt,” Jenkins growled. “I’ve dealt with Eberian Quartermasters every day during my service. Supply and demand isn’t exactly a new mystery for me. Besides, you said you had a solution for that.”

  “I said I might have a solution, and that it’s likely going to take metal anyway, along with Lyrian’s help,” the merchant said, casting a glance in my direction.

  “I was waiting for my name to come up in all of that,” I replied dryly, prompting a snort from Jenkins. “What do you need from me exactly?”

  “The short version?” Ritt said. “I need you to verify and then buy a potential silver vein from an Adventurer that discovered it.”

  “And what’s the longer version?” I asked, feeling my eyebrow raise at Ritt’s news.

  “Mostly the same,” he answered with a shrug. “Yesterday someone came to me saying that he had found, and I quote, ‘A giant fucking motherlode of silver’ somewhere in the depths of the jungle and expressed interest that he was willing to sell the location of it if the price was right. He said he has no interest, or skill in mining it himself.”

  “And you believe him?” I queried while trying to keep my excitement in check.

  “He swore that it existed in front of the Justicar,” Ritt told me with a pointed glance. “If he were lying, Dyre would have called him out on it.”

  “Huh,” I grunted, taking a moment to process that bit of information. “How much does he want for it then?”

  “He opened at six-hundred-and-fifty gold pieces,” Ritt stated.

  “Yeah, well, he’s not going to get that,” I grunted, shaking my head at the price. “I don’t know how Aldford’s finances are, but Virtus doesn’t have that much coin on hand even if I bankrupted it.”

  “The town isn’t any different, especially since we’re buying up as much metal as we can,” Ritt explained. “But, I think there is room to negotiate him down to a more reasonable amount.”

  “Which you want Virtus to foot the bill for, after we presumably verify its existence, and relative worth,” I said, starting to catch onto Ritt’s plans. “Then afterward you want us to haul it back to Aldford where my guess is that you’re going to want to start minting that silver into coins.”

  “See, I told you Lyrian would understand!” Ritt exclaimed, casting a harsh glance at Jenkins before looking back towards me. “But actually, we’d want Virtus minting those coins; it should help expand your power base within the—”

  “W-wait, you want us to start minting our own coins?” I felt my brain stop for a moment as I considered what Ritt had just said. “Can we even do that?”

  “Why wouldn’t you be able to?” Jenkins retorted. “Assuming it’s the standard size and purity, the silver’s value will be the same regardless of who’s stamp is on it, and besides, Aldford is independent of Eberia. It’s up to us to manage our own currency.”

  “Not to mention that the amount of hard coinage in the town is fixed,” Ritt pointed out. “Unless we start minting more ourselves…or somehow bridge the distance between Eberia and us to get more through trade, our economy will eventually start to suffer.”

  “I understand that much,” I said, nodding slowly at the two men. “But creating coins is usually the government’s responsibility. Not an Adventurer’s guild.”

  “And Virtus isn’t part of Aldford’s government?” Ritt asked, giving me a resigned look. “If you haven’t noticed Lyrian, Virtus and Aldford are so closely knit that they might as well be one. Not that either of us are complaining of that.”

  “No,” Jenkins added, meeting my eye as he spoke. “You and yours have done right by us, Lyrian, and Virtus is the only one who we feel we could trust managing something like this. Else it’d just fall to the two of us to manage, which, of course, as you know, would just end up with me doing all the work once Ritt got bored.”

  “Hey!” Ritt exclaimed in an offended tone.

  “That seems about right,” I agreed.

  “Hey!” Ritt repeated in an even louder tone. “I help!”

  “Help create trouble maybe,” Jenkins grunted, waving a dismissive hand at the young merchant. “Anyway, wasn’t there a second part to what you wanted to ask Lyrian?”

  “Uh? Oh! Right!” Ritt said, shaking off the momentary wave of confusion that crossed his face. “Back to that Adventurer that I want you to buy that silver lode from. Once you buy it off of him, I need you also to sell him enough of your fancy arms and armor to earn back as much of the coin that you gave him.”

  “Uh, why?” I asked, cocking my head at the rather now convoluted request that Ritt was laying before me. “If he needs equipment, we can just barter.”

  “I don’t think he’ll go for that, at least not right away,” Ritt replied. “But the reason why is because I think he’s considering leaving Aldford…”

  “Thus, taking a substantial portion of our gold coin supply out of the local economy,” I finished, catching onto Ritt’s concerns. “Okay, I think I see your point now.”

  “Do you think you could manage something like that?” Ritt asked. “I know you have enough worrying about this Ley Line business…but at the same time…we need to start thinking about what will happen if the region doesn’t go up in a magical conflagration of death and destruction.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” I told the man despite feeling more of the familiar pressure fall onto my shoulders at this newest development. It was one thing to have to worry about a tangible, existential threat to the town, but something very different when faced with an economic one. I simply didn’t have a frame of reference for dealing with anything like this. “But I’ll be honest though, for this type of negotiation Constantine would be the better person to handle it.”

  “Whatever works, Lyrian,” Ritt said with a shrug. “You’re just the first one I’ve managed to catch, though the Adventurer did tell me he wanted an answer by the end of tomorrow…else he’d announce it to the other Adventurers.”

  “That should give us more than enough time to work with,” I stated, motioning towards the rest of the camp. “Let’s go see if we can find him or the rest of the guild near the kitchens, I’m sure that most of the groups have to be back by now.”

  “Alright,” Ritt said, turning around as the two of us moved to leave the crafting area. “Coming, Jenkins?”

  “Nah,” the smith grunted. “If Lyrian’s going to babysit and keep you out of trouble for a bit, I’m going to use the time to get some work done.”

  “Har, har,” Ritt retorted good-naturedly as we departed the area. “I’ll see you—oof!”

  No sooner did Ritt and I step out from the behind the large blind that concealed the crafting area, did a running blur slam into us, the impact sending all three of us tumbling to the ground in a confused tangle of limbs and shouts.

  “Ugh, what the hell?” Ritt wheezed in pain, winded from the impact.

  “Geez, man, what’s the hurry?” I grunted as I pushed a pair of legs off me and twisted my body in the direction of whomever had just crashed into us.

  Only to find myself staring into the pani
cked and pale face of Ignis.

  “Ah, oh,” Ignis gasped as he struggled to take a deep enough breath, a wave of fear briefly flashing through his eyes as he recognized me. “…rain coming, I didn’t do it…but…”

  “Rain?” I repeated, not able to make sense of what the man was trying to say, nor why he appeared so frightened. “It’s going to rain outside?”

  “N-no,” Ignis said letting out a ragged cough as he inhaled a lungful of air. “T-there’s a train coming!”

  “Wait, what?” I exclaimed, a surge of adrenaline shooting through my body as I forced myself up. “What do you mean?”

  “I-I-we were just in the jungle a-and,” Ignis stammered, still trying to catch his breath from his recent exertions. “They just…came out of nowhere! Everywhere!”

  “What came out of nowhere, Ignis?” I demanded, feeling the bottom of my stomach fall out from under me. “What did you lead back to the camp?”