Chaos Unchained- The Mad Smith

by Brock Deskins

  New skills available at skill level 10.

  Arcane Skills:

  Arcane Channeling: Level 1 Grade 5. As an arcane smith, you have learned to tap into the elemental forces of magic. Just as a blacksmith uses the five elements of earth, air, fire, water, and spirit to forge weapons, you know how to use them to augment your attacks. Rank: Initiate.

  Effect: Imbue your equipped weapon with the element of your choice by channeling mana into it.

  Currently known Elemental Imbuements: 5

  Elemental Imbuements available for purchase at your current level and skill: 0

  Known Elemental Imbuements:

  Flame Touch, tier 1 (fire): Causes 5 fire damage plus your magical attack rating in addition to normal weapon damage. Secondary Effects: Burn: Burn flesh or set combustible material on fire. Burned or burning targets take damage equal to 1/2 the spell effect every second for 5 seconds. May interrupt spellcasting. Current damage: 2.5 points of damage per second for five seconds.

  Shocking Touch, tier 1 (air): Causes 5 electrical damage plus your magical attack rating in addition to normal weapon damage. Increases attack speed by 10%. Secondary Effect: Electrocute. Electrocuted targets are stunned for 2 seconds plus your magical attack score. Current duration: 2 seconds.

  Stone Touch, tier 1 (earth): Your weapon is infused with the power of the earth. Causes 10 earth damage plus your magical attack score. Secondary effect: Can shatter objects and knock down foes. Attack speed reduced by 10%

  Frost Touch, tier 1 (water): +5 cold damage plus your magical attack rating. Secondary Effect. Freezes stricken body part and reduces functionality by 10% plus your magical attack score. Frozen target may shatter when struck. Duration: 5 seconds plus your magical attack score. Current Duration: 5.1 seconds.

  Soul Touch (spirit): Causes 5 spirit damage plus your magical attack score. Secondary effect: (Banish). May banish a summoned or undead creature or instill fear to living creatures. Creatures instilled with fear will have their attack and defense reduced, cower, or flee depending on your modified Arcane skill, level difference, and target’s skills, abilities, and traits.

  All elemental imbuements cost 1 MP per second while active. Secondary effects consume 15 mana when randomly triggered. The caster may call upon secondary effects by doubling mana cost. Secondary effect base cooldown: 30 seconds when called upon. No cooldown for random proccing.

  New spell effects available at skill level 10.

  Abilities and Traits:

  Advanced Perception, Tier 1: As a blacksmith, you are adept at identifying imperfections and the quality of work in an object. With enough skill, you can even identify the maker of a certain item, particularly weapons and armor, simply by recognizing the work. This ability has also translated into identifying people, monsters, and other objects.

  Noncombat Skills:

  Smithing: Level: 18 Grade: 3. Rank: Apprentice (+10% chance to improve item quality.) Forge or improve metal weapons and armor. As an apprentice smith, you can craft steel items with a base quality of average. There is a -20% chance of crafting a higher quality item per level above your base ability. Any metal above steel receives a -20% penalty to quality per level per metal tier. The maximum quality of any item you craft is reduced by 1 level per metal tier above steel. Metals below steel receive a +20% bonus chance of crafting items of a higher quality.

  Current Effects

  Greater Mortalitatis Amplecti. Effect: Unknown. Duration: Permanent.

  Satiated (plain stew). Effect: Increases out of combat health regeneration by 2 hit points per minute and 2 stamina points per second. Duration: 6 hours.

  Jandar stared at his character sheet, at himself broken down into a series of values. It was strange seeing himself broken down and defined by words and numbers in a book. Was this the entirety of his being, just a series of skills and stats?

  Seraphim, or Edison, had said he was free, his own man now, but he felt more like a game piece than ever. Then again, aren’t all people ranked and rated by one scoring system or another?

  As a blacksmith, people placed a value on him based on the quality of his work. A cook was nothing more than the opinion people had of their food. A warrior’s worth or essence was determined by their strength, combat prowess, and victories. Was it any different other than those values being written in a book instead of a person’s head? Jandar supposed not. Whatever his place was in the universe, he would define his existence through his actions.

  What he needed now was a proper hammer, one designed for bashing in skulls. The thieves only carried knives and a couple of shortswords. If he had a forge and anvil, he could use the steel to make a war hammer. Jandar looked around the camp to see if he might be able to construct a makeshift forge. That was the easy part. The biggest problem was the lack of an anvil.

  Not having an anvil would be a nonstarter in most situations, but a hammer was easy to make compared to a sword. It would be impossible to pound a sword blade flat on a large rock, but a hammer head should be possible. It would not be pretty, but it might work.

  Jandar got busy collecting large stones for the forge and built it next to a huge boulder with a reasonably flat surface. He did not have any tempering oil or enough salt for a brine bath, so he found a bucket in the camp, filled it partway with water, and made a mud bath so it cooled the steel at the proper rate.

  Once he got everything together and the forge fire as hot as he could make it, Jandar got busy heating the two shortswords until they were white hot and began shaping them into a single hammer head. It was a good thing he had tossed his tongs into his pack out of habit. A good smith never went anywhere without his hammer and tongs.

  It was slow going since he could not get his makeshift forge to reach the optimal temperature, but it did the job. The sun had set over an hour ago before he finally got an acceptable result.

  The head was slightly cone-shaped on one side with the other looking like a metal talon. He found a strong hickory stick and used one of the daggers to whittle it down and smooth it out. He tamped the head down onto the shaft, drove a couple of nails into the end above the head to expand the wood and secure it in place, and wrapped a strip of leather around the handle for grip.

  Jandar took a few swings with it and examined his new weapon. It was probably the ugliest hammer to ever come out of a forge and put in service. It was unpolished, and the stone anvil created bulges and dimples in areas that should have been smooth, but it was a far cry better than the smith’s hammer as a weapon.

  You have crafted Crude Steel War Hammer: Common. Quality: Poor (Crafting penalty due to using inferior tools), -10% base damage and durability. Damage: 10. Durability: 27/27

  Jandar disliked the poor quality and the resulting penalty, but it still boosted his overall damage by quite a bit. The longer haft also gave him twice the reach as his smith’s hammer. It would do the job. He rinsed off in the small stream running next to the camp, oblivious to how cold the mountain runoff was. He was too hot and tired to take much notice.

  With a last look around his camp, Jandar crawled under the tent and fell into a fitful sleep. Nightmares of bandits, gods, and death plagued him throughout the night. He looked on helplessly as a titan kicked him around like a child’s ball while men tormented his family.

  Jandar cried out and desperately tried to reach them, but every time he got to his feet and ran toward them, the titan-like god kicked him away. Rage suffused his soul as another kick sent him rolling. He crawled to his feet and found a magnificent war hammer clutched in his hand. He looked at his wife and son, and his body trembled. Not with fear or even rage, but with power and purpose.

  Electricity danced down his arm and surrounded the hammer in a nimbus of sparks. Another giant foot swung pendulously toward him. He was no toy to be subjected to the gods’ whims. The arcane smith met the wagon-sized foot with his hammer, stopping it with an earth-shaking peel of thunder. The god howled in pain and danced away. Jandar knew it was suddenly afraid of him,
and it made him smile.

  A scream drew his attention back to the men torturing his family. Energy coursed through him, but he did not simply wield elemental power, he became it. Lightning built up around him, surrounding his form until they were one. He streaked through the air in a flash, passing through one of the men, striking him down and leaving a gaping, smoking hole in his chest.

  Jandar reformed into a man and swung his hammer at another tormentor. The frost-covered head froze the bandit solid, and his follow up strike shattered him into pieces. The third man threw Lenora to the ground and ran. Jandar reeled back and flung his hammer at the bandit’s back. The weapon did not tumble end over end, but burst into flames and flew like an arrow.

  The blazing meteor struck the man in the back with a fiery explosion. The bandit’s entire body burst into a flailing, screeching inferno, reducing him to a charred husk in seconds. The god roared and the ground shook as it charged toward him. Jandar’s hammer leapt back to his hand with a thought. He met the god’s challenge with a battle cry of his own, charging his weapon with lightning.

  The two mighty entities clashed, their combined power causing the air to thrum and crackle with expended power. The ground shook and cracked beneath them. Jandar’s hammer grew heavier in his hand, and he brought it crashing against the titan’s knee. The joint shattered and the leg buckled.

  The god fell to one knee, kneeling before him. The two beings locked eyes, one set mortal and filled with righteous fury, the other eternal and containing the starry black depth of a vast universe. The colossal head dipped and looked away. Jandar’s hand tightened around the hammer’s haft, and he slowly raised it high.

  Jandar awoke with a start, sweating as if working at his forge once again. He felt around within the darkness and found the crude, ugly war hammer, taking comfort from the weight in his hand. His heart pounded in his chest as he crawled from the tent. The dream was too real, and he would get no more sleep this night.

  Was it a dream, or was it a vision of what he could become? Jandar thought he knew the answer, and it filled him with both hope and fear. A dark blue curtain hung below the black sky just above the horizon. Morning was coming, so he figured now was as good a time as any to resume his trek.

  Jandar glanced around the camp and wished he could take some of the highwayman’s equipment with him, but his pack was already heavy and he wanted to move quickly. He was about to accept his limitations when he recalled seeing something in the magic guidebook he had been reading last night. He opened the interface and located the entry.

  Player Inventory:

  Players have access to a pocket dimension in which they can carry more items and equipment than would normally be allowed. Items placed into player inventory assume a two-dimensional form. Players can summon items from their player inventory with a thought, the item appearing to the casual observer (NPC) as if they had removed it from a bag, satchel, or pack.

  Player inventory is not limitless. The size of a player’s inventory is based upon the size of the container and its quality. The default player inventory is a backpack able to hold thirty-six squares worth of items. Large items require 6 squares, medium: 4 squares, small: 2 squares, and tiny: 1 square. You may purchase larger bags and sacks in most towns and cities with a large marketplace.

  Player inventory is not available if bound or deliberately confined by another player, mob, or NPC. Items in a player’s inventory cannot be stolen by another player or found by a mob or NPC unless they are searching for that particular item in an attempt to recover it. Item summoning is not instantaneous and takes time depending on item size. Tiny or small (less than 1 pound and ½ square foot in size): 1 second. Medium (1-10 pounds and less than 3 square feet): 2 seconds. Large (up to fifty pounds and no more than 5 square feet): 3 seconds. Enormous items cannot be placed in player inventory regardless of weight. Items in player inventory place no additional burden onto the player.

  Upon death, player will drop 10% of all wealth inside player inventory. This includes coins, gems, non-magical jewelry, and valuable ores and ingots. Players will also drop 1-3 random items from player inventory.

  Jandar had seen adventurers retrieve large quantities of items from their bags and wondered how it was possible and how they managed to bear such a load. Now he knew. It seemed the gods truly favored the adventurers. Players, he thought bitterly.

  It took a bit of mental practice, but Jandar tore down the tent, collected the bedrolls and cooking items, and placed them into his player inventory. He shouldered his pack and bounced on his toes, marveling at how all that equipment made his load no heavier. It was certainly something he could get used to.

  Jandar headed deeper into the forest and toward the rough mountain peaks in the distance that separated the middling town of Crag Cross from the rest of Truale. While still part of the kingdom, it was a remote border town between Truale and the desert kingdom of Capria.

  Jandar figured it would be a good place to go, as it would take time for word of his deeds to reach them. It was also the most likely place in Truale where few would care that he had killed a bunch of adventurers.

  If the law, Templars, or bounty hunters came looking for him, he could cross over into Capria and disappear. It was a rough area where only the strong chose to live. The mountains and surrounding lands were thick with all manner of monsters, both of the creature and human variety. It was a good place for him to be. Fitting even.

  Chapter 10: Trolled

  JANDAR MADE CAMP NEAR the base of the mountains. There were two ways into Crag Cross from where he was at, over the mountains or through them. It was turning into the cold season, and even though it was not a tall range, it was a treacherous ascent, and he did not have much in the way of winter clothes beyond some wool leggings and a sheepskin vest.

  Finding one of the caves that ran beneath the mountains was a much faster way to get there but no less dangerous. More so depending on what might have taken up residence in the caves. He recalled the words he had overheard in a conversation he could not remember hearing.

  The two men spoke of smuggler paths beneath the mountains leading into Crag Cross and from there into Capria. They also mentioned how dangerous it was to take the wrong tunnel. Those who did often never came out again.

  In the end, Jandar knew the path he would take. He was not a climber, and even if he were, it would be two days at least to cross over the range. Finding a tunnel could see him to the other side in a few hours. He felt far more confident of being able to defeat any smuggler, bandit, or animal he might run across with his newfound powers than scaling rock faces and not freezing to death.

  Jandar built a small fire and hung the cooking pot over the flames. After marveling a moment at the magic of the player’s inventory, he added some water and oats to the cauldron. He set aside a generous handful of berries he had picked from a bush on the way here to add to it when it was ready. A light, not born of the flames of his campfire, flickered in the corner of his vision. He opened the message window with a thought.

  You have learned Basic Cooking. Staying properly fed and hydrated is crucial in maintaining your strength and recovering from fatigue. As you get hungry or thirsty, your health and stamina regeneration decreases. Some foods and drinks can even increase it and provide other boons.

  Basic Cooking: Level 0, Grade 3. You can cook basic food. It won’t win any baking contests, but you won’t starve. Modified by your Mind score. You are 2.3% more likely to create palatable food and 2.3% less likely to produce something toxic, unless you’re trying to make someone sick, then you are 2.3% more likely to achieve that effect.

  That was a handy skill to have. His wife had always done all the cooking and preferred that he stay out of her kitchen. It was why he packed all the dried meat and fruit he could find. Jandar was glad to see he would not be bound to the barely edible trail food.

  His heart ached anew at the thought of Lenora, but it felt as if the pain were lessening. Could he already be getting
over her and Jesse’s death? What did that say about him if he were?

  Jandar decided he was just tired, and having killed so many men in the last couple of days had surely taken its toll on his psyche. It took the better part of an hour before he could drop the berries into the oats and eat the simple repast. By the time he was done, his eyelids were growing heavy and his bedroll called to him.

  Nightmares plagued his sleep once again, but he was more in control this time than he had been the last two nights. He awoke angry and ashamed for not being in as much emotional pain as before. Jandar knew he should hurt; his soul should be torn open and his pain bleeding out of the raw, open wound. However, it was already scabbing over despite not having bandaged it in any way. He feared if he did not keep mentally picking at it he would heal completely and forget them.

  Jandar finished his self-flagellation. He had things to do. The best way he could honor his family was through vengeance. Matron and her game and her players were to blame for his and everyone else’s suffering.

  He ate an unappealing breakfast of cold, congealed leftover oats and remaining berries before packing up and searching for one of the cave entrances he hoped would take him through the mountain to Crag Cross. It took him half the morning before he found a cleft in the mountainside large enough for him to pass through and led to a continuous cavern. At least Jandar hoped it did and he did not waste half a day following a dead end.

  He summoned a flame around the head of his hammer and stepped into the fissure. While the magical fire worked well as a torch, his mana dropped at a precipitous rate and would deplete long before he reached an exit. Jandar explored just enough of the passageway to ensure it did not end shortly after the entrance and made his way back outside.

  In little over a minute, he had nearly depleted his mana reserves. He considered this as he made several torches by cutting strips from the oiled tent canvas and wrapping them around stout sticks. He would need to imbue his hammer sparingly or risk running out of mana in any protracted fight. Just a single deliberate conjuring of one of the secondary elemental effects took a third of his entire pool.