The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4)

by Jonathan Brooks

  Palzerk and a few other members of the Warband were there before her, as they could run much faster than she could with her old bones. Right outside of the supply hut was the same Warband member she had seen earlier eyeing the supply hut; though to be fair, it was kind of hard to tell because his head was caved in and there was a significant concave dent in his new chest armor. Whatever had hit him had hit him hard, but it was also obvious that the armor had protected the majority of his chest from the impact. It was too bad he wasn’t wearing armor on his face, though.

  There was a vaguely Orc-shaped hole in the side of the supply hut, where she assumed the intruding Warband member had been forcibly…removed. Through the hole she could see the two metal monkeys standing still, looking perfectly normal except for a visible line carved into the chest of one – that didn’t seem to hurt it at all.

  Palzerk knelt down by the dead Orc’s side and looked him over briefly, before looking through the hole into the supply hut. Furbrea knew he could see the two guards just as well as she could, but he didn’t make any comment about them. What he did do was take the steel sword that was lying by the deceased Orc’s side and turned to Furbrea. “Sorry for the damage to your supply hut. Here, take this sword as recompense, because this honor-less thief trash that can’t follow simple orders doesn’t need it anymore. And, if you would, could you take care of his disposal? I don’t even want to look at him,” he said as he handed the sword over to her and walked away.

  Before he walked more than a few steps, he turned and said, “Though I do appreciate him doing me the kindness of demonstrating how important good armor is. I’m happy to wear mine now.” The rest of the Warband followed him back to the barracks, none of them looking back at their fallen member.

  Hmph. I think I’ll take care of that in the morning. Darn thief interrupted my sleep. She did grab the dead Orc’s arms and dragged him around the side of the supply hut and out of visible range, but the rest of the work she would do the next day. She had a feeling she was going to need sleep over the next few days, especially as Palzerk and his Warband shared the news of their deal.

  It didn’t take long for her to get back to sleep, with a smile on her face at how well everything had worked out.

  Chapter 34

  Finally, after what felt like weeks – but was instead short of a week, in fact – the Orcs had finally come through and some had taken the deal she had set up earlier. True, it was only 7 of them in total, but that was a good start to building up her force of mercenaries that could be used in a variety of situations. Sandra was also proud of the way Furbrea handled the situation, laying everything out so that they could choose for themselves. It probably also helped that their Leader seemed a decent sort, entirely unlike Kelerim’s half-brother, Razochek – who was more than a bit of a hothead.

  Before they even finished talking and getting acquainted with their new weapons and armor (which she was glad to see that they appreciated the chest protection, even if it felt awkward to them at first), Sandra was already assembling a care package of sorts for the Warband for when they left in the morning. She put together a bunch of bread that the Dwarves had left over from the day’s baking (which they stored in a separate Stasis Field container they asked her to create) and some more fruit, including apples, peaches, and oranges.

  She then cooked up some meat and then created another container of wood that was basically a cube that was 2 feet wide on each side, placed the still-warm meat inside and then enchanted it with two of her Violet copies, pumping most of their Spirit energy into a Stasis Field. It would only last for a couple of weeks with the energy inside of the enchantment because she didn’t want to include any Energy Orbs along with it. For now, until she had some way to regulate who received them in Orcrim, it was safer that they didn’t have them; she had learned and seen for herself that life wasn’t necessarily a priority for many of the Orcs, and Energy Orbs were something that might cause others to covet – and kill for them, as well. There was a slight risk of that happening with the swords she was trading away, but they were a known commodity compared to the “mysterious” power of the Energy Orbs.

  She also crafted some more chest armor to replace those that were taken, and then included – from Kelerim’s stack of finished Steel swords – additional weapons to her care package and loaded it all onto her Animated Slab. Sandra also created two more Steelclad Apes with normal warhammers to stand guard over the supply transport, as additional security; she still wanted to be safe, and having some visual evidence of her (or the “Elves’”) power was paramount.

  Before night even fell completely, the Slab was on the way, floating slowly over the wasteland towards the town of Grongbak. It would get there far before morning – before midnight in fact – but she was prepared to park it right outside the village and wait until everyone rose for the day before going inside to drop the supplies off and pick up her new mercenaries. Thinking of them coming, Sandra became exceedingly excited; these were the first people that were coming to her dungeon that she would be able to “customize” how she wanted. It sounded silly in a way, and skeeved her out a little thinking them as hers – because they weren’t her slaves or anything like that – but the fact remained was that they were coming to her with essentially nothing, and no previous method of using their elemental energy that would hamper her equipping of them.

  The Gnomes were practically useless by themselves in battle, though she did witness them using temporary enchantments to aid them; still, in a one-on-one fight against most of the dangerous Dungeon Monsters around the area, they didn’t stand a chance without some sort of enchanted gadgetry like the War Machine or Deep Diver. Then, of course, they were extremely formidable.

  The Elves preferred to primarily attack from long range or use their elemental energy to cast spells, which was fine and worked well for them. She was able to at least improve upon their bows and their arrows/bolts, as well as giving them a Monster to assist them, but she would have difficulty molding them to do something else. For instance, while Porthel – the Elite Leader that had invaded her dungeon – attacked with a Titanium sword, he seemed to be in the minority and Sandra couldn’t think of a single Ranger that would be suited to doing that.

  The Dwarves had their own superbly crafted weapons and armor (other than Gerold, unfortunately), so the only real advantage that she could give them was the Energy Orbs they had embedded in their palms and the constructs they used to help them cull. That was practically nothing as far as Sandra was concerned, and she was perfectly fine with that. It was just another thing that she couldn’t use her talents in crafting to assist and improve upon their fighting prowess.

  The Orcs, though, were coming to her with practically nothing. While they technically had a preferred weapon with the sword, she had a feeling that preference came from the lack of choice. A sword was one of the easiest metal weapons a Blacksmith could create, especially when they didn’t have much in the way of skill; all it took was sharpening a relatively flat piece of some sort of metal and adding a spot to grip it and there you go! None of the other elements were technically needed, and that appeared to be the thought behind the horrible iron swords that they all carried, because they looked to be little more than sharpened hunks of rusty iron imperfectly forged and ready to shatter if the Orcs swung them too hard. She was honestly embarrassed to look at them.

  The main problem with Orcs using primarily swords was oddly enough their intense strength. While overwhelming strength should be a great asset for a warrior, it didn’t really translate well with swords. From what she had seen of Razochek and the Warband that had attacked her dungeon, many of them relied on natural or elemental energy-enhanced strength to beat on their opponents with powerful strikes; swords, while they could be used to chop an enemy to pieces, were better used to slice and stab. The constant abuse of using the swords like some sort of sharp-edged club – while undoubtedly effective – was likely the real reason that many of their weapons broke so o
ften. Though, when she looked at the state of their weapons, the crafting process probably had a lot to do with it as well.

  Winxa, in your opinion, how much more effective would an Orc be with something like a spiked mace?

  The Dungeon Fairy hesitated for a moment before answering, likely due to the seemingly random question. “Well, I think they would lose the advantage of reach compared to the swords they use now, but their greater strength would probably be better utilized with a blunt weapon. Why not the warhammers your Apes use?”

  I thought of that, but the Orcs are so much more versatile than the Apes and I don’t want to limit them. I’m trying to figure out the perfect weapon for them all to use and I’m not sure what would be suitable for them.

  “Are you limited to just one weapon? I’m relatively confident that I’ve seen that they don’t just enhance their strength, but they can also speed themselves up and make their skin more durable as well. I’m sure there are quite a few things they can do that you haven’t even seen before, so maybe it would be wise to give them a choice,” Winxa said smartly. “Or even choices; they are pretty strong, as you know, and could probably carry more than one weapon.”

  It was great advice, and thankfully, since it reflected things that Sandra knew but had temporarily forgotten about, it didn’t trigger the whole “don’t give advice” thing that might kill the Fairy. So that was what she did during the night; the Dungeon Core spent the night crafting Steel or Titanium weapons of all different kinds, their material dependent on what it was.

  For many of the blunt weapons like maces, morning stars, warhammers, and even spiked clubs, she made them completely out of Steel because weight usually equaled damage, so it was more important for them to be made out of the heavier metal. The main reason her Apes used Titanium Warhammers was because they held up better over time and the lighter weight of them meant that the constructs could swing them faster, but from what she had seen the Orcs could be even stronger than them when they used their elemental energy, so heavier was better.

  For a variety of bladed weapons, including battleaxes, hand axes, spears, halberds, knives, and—yes, she wanted to give them the option—swords, she used Titanium because finesse was better used with them than brute force. However, she also added a variety of size choices to each type, so they might want to choose something like a greatsword that they could use with both hands, and they could even choose to dual-wield short swords.

  Then there were some more exotic weapons like sickles, flails, tridents, dual-bladed swords, metal staffs, and even a pair of spike-studded gauntlets that she had fun designing with the aid of a leather glove and adding onto it. She didn’t go overboard or anything, because having 50-plus weapon choices seemed perfectly reasonable. She even put out ranged weapons like bows and slings; while she didn’t think the Orcs were particularly suited to those kinds of weapons, if they wanted them, she would provide.

  After she had crafted examples of each – though she cheated and just brought out a third of them that she already had inside of her storage and display room – she decided to enchant them. Some were going to be a little difficult to easily put some Energy Orbs within them, but she figured she’d make do somehow. It could be that she wouldn’t be able to enchant some things with Energy Orbs and just have them be “normal” enchantments filled with energy, but she would decide on those when it came to it.

  Either way, the only enchantment she placed on them for the moment was a sequence of Earth-based Strengthen runes powered by the Earth elemental energy of her Unstable Shapeshifters. Sandra didn’t want to spend the time figuring out how to place some Energy Orbs inside of the weapons if they weren’t going to be used. While she did set the enchantment that increased the durability of the metal three-fold, everything else was going to wait until she had a better understanding of how the Orcs fought so she could adapt each weapon personally.

  As for armor, for the moment she crafted some more of the chest armor the Warband Orcs were using, but she also added some extra components. A relatively lightweight Titanium helmet with leather and cotton padding was included, leaving the face bare but covering the skull; leather calf-high boots with thin strips of Titanium inserted between two layers of the leather, stiffening up and protecting the structure of the boots, while still allowing it to be flexible; upper arm rerebraces made of more leather and strips of Titanium for strength were able to be strapped on tightly so they wouldn’t move; lower arm vambraces that were constructed similar to the rerebraces; and finally, some form-fitting leather pants that cut off just above the knee.

  She deliberately kept their joints unprotected and free for movement because Orcs needed to move during combat, and she didn’t want to hinder that in any way. However, she also wanted them a bit more protected than they were already, and covering up their exposed skin as much as possible was a way to do that. To add to that, she was also going to enchant the entire set of armor, though she again was going to wait until she found out what would be best for each mercenary.

  With those created, all she had to do now was wait until morning. When it finally did, she woke up Kelerim to let him know what was going on.

  * We’ve got our first batch of mercenaries coming in about an hour. Do you think you could assist me when they get here? *

  The Blacksmith rubbed at his eyes and stretched, still waking up for the day. “I sure can. Though, we have to be careful in case they were sent by my father to find me. Then again, if they agreed to the deal, even if they were sent by him their honor wouldn’t allow them to break the agreement for them to serve. As soon as their year is done, however, they could go shouting my location to the entirety of Orcrim.”

  Honor certainly seemed incredibly important to the Orcs, even as their rough exterior portrayed them as lawless barbarians. Sandra had seen personally that this wasn’t the case, and that they were loyal, disciplined, and willing to sacrifice themselves to carry out their orders.

  * I don’t believe these were sent by your father, though I could be wrong. Either way, they’ll be in the workshop up above. *

  “Sounds good. I’ll get something to eat and meet them up there.” Kelerim yawned and then went to the kitchen, where Sandra was already busy cooking him some breakfast with her Sentinel located there. While he ate, the Dungeon Core made ready for the arrival of her first mercenaries.

  * * *

  Perceine led the other Warriors that were leaving Palzerk’s Warband to the edge of the village, where there was some sort of commotion going on. Her body felt a little tired from the run yesterday and the interrupted sleep when Dralkurk foolishly decided to try to steal from the villagers in the middle of the night and got his honor-less self killed, but she still thought it was worth the lack of sleep. She had never liked him, and she didn’t think he really belonged or fit in their Warband; why Palzerk kept him around she never knew, but that really wasn’t a concern anymore. For one, Dralkurk was dead; secondly, she and 6 others were leaving the Warband.

  She barely wanted to even think about what she had done the night before by volunteering to be the “payment” for the weapons the rest would receive, though she knew it was the right thing. Palzerk was the most honorable, charismatic Leader she ever had the pleasure of killing monsters under; he wasn’t the strongest, the deadliest, or even best fighter, but he inspired everyone that he led to the point where they were stronger, deadlier, and better fighters. Perceine would rather have that than any other Leader, and she and everyone else in the Warband—well, almost everyone—would gladly give their lives so that Palzerk could succeed. It seemed counterproductive, but it was also true.

  There was a strange stone platform that everyone was crowded around near the edge of the village, filled with various things, but the only thing she had eyes for were the two metal statues of large monkeys or apes of some kind holding what appeared to be large hammers in their hands. In fact, they appeared to be remarkably similar to the ones she caught a glimpse of last night in the v
illage’s supply hut where Dralkurk had been killed.

  She arrived and lifted her iron sword at the same time the rest of the Warband did, ready to attack or defend as necessary when one of the metal statues moved. However, instead of attacking them, all it did was lay down its large hammer and then move to pick up what appeared to be a wooden box in its metal hands, before bringing it quickly to Palzerk, who seemed unfazed by the whole situation.

  “I’m assuming this is for me?” he said, accepting the box after a moment of the moving metal statue holding it out to him. As soon as he took it, the statue went back to where it was before on the edge of the stone platform, picked up its hammer, and went back to being a statue.

  “Actually, I think this is for all of us,” he said after opening up the lid and looking inside. He flashed it around to the rest of the Warband and Perceine could see that it was full of delicious-looking food. She was still a bit full from last night’s feast, and she envied the others that would be partaking of it later.

  The villagers stepped on top of the platform then and picked up some swords and more of the armor that the Warband was wearing, bringing them to the supply hut – which still had a Dralkurk-shaped hole in it. After that, everyone was still as they tried to figure out what to do now, though as usual Palzerk seemed to have the answer.

  “Well, this is it, I guess. I still don’t think you all should be doing this, but I’m not going to deny that I—no, we—are appreciative for your sacrifice. Though, try not to make it a sacrifice; survive, grow stronger, and return to us when your year is complete. I expect you all to act with honor and make me proud; I have no doubt that you will.” With that, he turned away and ran out of the village, the rest of the Warband following behind.