The Prisoner of Arabella Read online

  I looked behind me and I saw my old friend Bruce. There were two other players with him, Turk182 and Drider. They looked to be assassins of some type.

  “Think you can get away with killing me back to zero?”

  I laughed at him. “Is that what they did? After you and your butt buddy tricked them into attacking us?” He growled.

  Drider spoke up then “We don’t appreciate people harassing our guild members.” I looked, and he was in a goon guild. Goon Legion.

  “Look, I don’t know what he told you, but I’ve been in jail for the past week.” I pointed at Bruce. “He and his friend had been extorting newbies and wound up getting killed by two of us. Is it my fault they tried to assassinate a bard during the middle of a tavern performance and got killed by NPCs?”

  Turk laughed. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Not only that, they attacked me like ten seconds after I joined the Exotic Corp.” Turk looked at Drider at that. It was a meaningful look. The kind of look that only two close associates can give and understand.

  “Then the next day they attacked me and another player, after convincing noobs to fight for them,” I said backing up to a tree. “Then, after the noobs found out they’d been tricked, they turned and I guess zeroed them out.”

  I saw Turks eyes flick over to Drider.

  “How about this I fight Brucie here mano a mano. If I win he leaves me alone for good, if he wins, I’ll make him a good weapon.”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Bruce said.

  “I think Brucie is afraid he can’t take on a bard and win,” I said smirking.

  “Hold on,” said Drider as he got a far off look in his eye, then nodded.

  “You—” Bruce started, then paled as he also got a look as if he were reading a message. “Fine. I’ll fight you.”

  “He has no choice,” Drider said and then suddenly Bruce was rushing toward me, pulling his sword and starting his swing even before I could get ready for it. I summoned my Ashandarei and parried his blade. It was true—if you weren’t cheating you weren’t trying hard enough. As he passed me, I cast a spell.

  You cast Heat Metal on Bruce. Heat Metal spell is a success.

  Bruce takes 15 damage.

  Bruce takes 17 damage.

  I let the spell work and fought for real. I used the Ashandarei like a bo staff, quick thrusts and parries, and I used the haft of the weapon to absorb his hits and to trip his feet up. It wasn’t all one-sided, and I worked on my focus after I took a hit.

  Bruce the warrior hits you for 78 damage.

  You slash Bruce the Warrior for 117 damage.

  Bruce had little skill and depended on the system to do his fighting, where I had experience with a weapon similar to what I trained with in real life . After a few minutes, I saw that Bruce’s endurance and stamina had nearly been exhausted. Mine was down, and then I saw my opening. I gave him a wicked combination slash, then thrust my blade up through his breastplate and it drove right into his heart. All I could see was the pain wash over his face as he collapsed.

  Critical Hit! You hit Bruce the warrior for 371 Damage

  Bruce the warrior is killed.

  You are now a Master of Exotic Weapons.

  I looked at Drider and Turk. “Tell him sorry that I had to do that, but I really have to go.”

  Turk was the first to speak. “Holy crap, I would have never thought to see the day a bard could beat a warrior.”

  I called my horse and mounted up.

  “Good luck, and if you see any undead, run,” I said as I kicked my heels into my mount’s sides. Just like that, I was back on my way, headed to meet my guild mates.

  The rest of the ride was uneventful. I was chased by wolves at one point, but I was able to drive them off by shooting magic missiles at them. The way point led me through areas I had not previously traveled, through hills and lowlands. I had never ridden a horse in real life, but the riding skill book I had used made it easy on me. It looked like I might even get out of this ride without walking around like an old man after breaking my butt on the saddle.

  I came out of the hills and checked my map. The waypoint led up a rise to what appeared to be ruins at the crest of the hill. As I drew nearer I saw that it was a tumbled down keep. The original structure was based around a forty-foot square tower, but from here, age and distance obscured the type of stone that had been used. I dismounted about forty feet a way and walked up to the gate. It was the only part of the keep that I could tell had been repaired.

  “Hello, the keep!” I called.

  From Lorcan: I’m at the gate.

  From Jamie: We see you. Come on ahead.

  I walked into the keep after the gate was opened for me. I was greeted by a dwarf with long dark hair in braids, black plate mail, and a huge hammer across his back.

  “It’s good to finally meet you, Lorcan,” he said, offering me his hand.

  “It’s good to be here finally. I’ve had a hell of a time getting here.”

  “Morner said your real life got in the way,” Jamie said with a snort as he started to walk away. “Come on. Let me show you the crafting area.”

  Around the courtyard, I could see players—some resting, others working on what I took to be crafts. A few were talking. One group we passed were obviously gambling.

  “Is that craps?” I asked.

  “Yeah, do you play?”

  “No, I’ve never seen the point of gambling. I always worked way too hard for my money to just give it away to someone else like that.”

  “You sound like a Scotsman.”

  “No. One hundred percent all-American mutt,” I replied with a smile.

  Jamie simply nodded his head.

  “I have two clerics and a paladin for you to work with. Broderick is the paladin, but he’s kind of touchy. The clerics are Sparky and Bubles.”

  “Bubles?”

  “You’ll see.”

  I sighed. It seemed I was doing a lot of that lately.

  It turned out Bubles was a tweenager of about nineteen and had either used a true representation of her form or had the system augment her bust. I hoped to God that it was augmented by the computer. Otherwise, her back would be broken in a decade.

  “Okay, everyone. This is Lorcan, our new…” Jamie turned and examined me. “Well, crafter, I guess. And bard.”

  “Hi,” I said and waved. “Uh. I have a few ideas. We’ll need to experiment a bit and see what works. Do any of you have crafting experience?”

  “More than you do, noob,” said Broderick.

  “Broderick,” Jamie barked. “He may be new to the game, but how many recipes have you discovered?”

  “None,” Broderick replied.

  “At last count, Lorcan had seven, including high quality steel and the plans for the new tongs and smithing hammers.”

  “Jamie, it’s okay,” I said to Jamie. “If he doesn’t want to learn any of the recipes I’ve held back, that’s on him. Now let me see what materials we have available.”

  “Over here. We brought out all of the guild stores, and most of our members are donating items to the guild bank.” There was a small storage shed with crates where he pointed. “Bubles is a leather crafter, and Sparky does potions.”

  Jamie gave me the information I needed.

  “Excellent. Sparky, I’m going to teach you the formula for the brain tanning solution, then Bubles can use it to make leather.”

  I rummaged through the materials to see what we had to work with. I found plenty of bones, iron ore, and there was a little bit of coal, but I didn’t know if it would be enough. And there were some of the crystals I needed. As for the high quality materials, I found a few skulls of rare animals and a unicorn horn, which seemed strange. Lots of jewels, silver wire filigree, and various other items. I was going to have to experiment, but first I needed metal.

  “Broderick, I need pots this high,” I said holding up my hands about eight inches high. “And clay. Also a lot more coal. Is there
a kiln or foundry?”

  “No kiln, but there is a foundry,” Jamie said. “What have you in mind?”

  “Good,” I said, smiling and taking mental notes. “What I have in mind is star steel and high quality iron and steel. What I think we can do is combine some of the cleric and paladin divine spells into the crafting.”

  “And that will do what?” Broderick asked. I could hear curiosity in his voice.

  “I’m hoping it will make weapons that will kill the undead easier.” A couple of weeks ago, before my incarceration, I had discovered a recipe for star steel. It was basically a nickel-iron steel with a high carbon content. I’d made it like crucible steel.

  “What we will do is take the highest quality iron ore and cabornium crystals. We pack them into the pots with coal and some bone. Then, we fire it in a foundry or kiln with coal piled around it and my own special contribution, then bam, star steel.”

  Jamie’s mouth was open. “That’s it? That’s all it takes?”

  I nodded and shrugged.

  “That and a willingness to experiment and lose your materials.” I looked at each of my assistants, smiled, and rubbed my hands together. “Let’s get started first things, first. Let’s find some pots.”

  It turned out the first thing I did was teach Sparky the brain tanning solution then showed Bubbles how to use it, while Broderick pissed and moaned about finding pottery and coal. He brought seven pots, but he did find clay from somewhere. With it I was able to make some simple slab-sided vessels. We loaded three of them up with the materials, and after I sealed them, I poked a hole in the top to let the build up of gasses vent. That way, the pots wouldn’t shatter.

  Then we set them in the foundry all close together and put in the coal and wood waste that we had gathered. Finally, I had Broderick and Jamie back off, and I readied a mana potion.

  “I don’t know what gods to call on in the game to pray for success.”

  “That’s all right, lad. I be prayin’ to Durin and the Maker for you,” Jamie said.

  I closed my eyes and drew in my concentration, raised my hands up, and began to cast Burning Hands. Fire shot from my fingertips, splashing onto the heaped coal and wood. Instantly, it was alight. I focused all of my mana on the fire, and before my mana ran out, another stream of fire washed over the jars. I turned and looked and saw BarbieQ. The stream of fire she added was impressive; it roared and was a bright, actinic white. Then she let her spell go. The heat had been incredible.

  “What was that?” I found myself asking.

  “Dragon’s Breath spell,” she said with a smirk. “Now just let that cool down.”

  I wasn’t the only one looking on in stunned disbelief.

  “Hey, wow, I got the recipe,” Broderick said in surprise.

  “Aye, lad I think we all did.”

  You receive 200 XP for teaching apprentices the recipe Crucible Star Steel.

  “Interesting,” I said. “I just got experience for teaching apprentices.”

  X - X - X

  “So Jamie, who do we make the weapons for first?” I said as I bounded one of the crucibles in my hand.

  After the pile had cooled we found that two of the three jars I had made had shattered, so we had eight billets of star steel. You had to love the game mechanics. BarbieQ’s Dragon’s Breath spell had helped refine it even more than my original pieces. What I held read as:

  Star Steel: Quality AB crafting ingredient. +15 to finished quality.

  We were going to make a sword for Morner first. He favored a katana-style blade, so I thought we would do a matched set: katana and wakizashi. Going through the stores, I found some marine bronze—I would use that for the tsuba and set a protection spell in those. For the handle, I decided to use the skin of a displacer beast, hair of a unicorn, and polished gems in the hilt with a folded star steel blade. I thought that the weapon would help with DPS and allow Morner to escape from close combat while dealing holy damage due to the unicorn hair. At least that’s what I wanted to happen.

  The problem was I didn’t know exactly what each of the materials did or how they impacted the final piece.

  “Jamie, could you figure out weapons priority and what weapons I need to make?” I blushed a little. “This is all guess-work as to what the materials will do unless anyone else has an idea.” I looked around at everyone.

  “Aye, I’ll have a list for ye after ye make Morner’s new swords,” Jamie said as I nodded and started to craft.

  I left the others to make leather and Broderick to get me steel.

  “Broderick, stay close. I’ll want you to cast a few spells on the blade as I’m shaping it.”

  Then I pulled out my hammer and tongs, pushed the first of the star steel blocks into the forge, and began. The secret to the katana is the folded steel blade, not the steel itself. The blade is folded over and over until there are thousands of layers; each of those layers helps to form the cutting edge. A Japanese swordsmith will spend days shaping the blade. The game mechanics cut those days down to under an hour. Then came the final shaping and polishing. Then the quench—I wasn’t sure where they had found it, but there was a trough of holy oil.

  “Broderick, when I tell you, I want you to cast Bless and Protection from Undead on the blade.”

  “I’ll do that,” came an unfamiliar voice.

  I looked up and I saw a cleric I wasn’t familiar with.

  “Thank you,” I said as I cast my own spells over the blade.

  Heat Metal

  Enchant Weapons

  “Now cast,” I told the cleric, and I saw three spells go off in succession.

  Bless

  Protection from Undead

  Holy Weapon

  I thrust the glowing blade into the consecrated oil. It hissed like a cat. But the blade cooled quickly and glowed with faint power. I looked up to see who all had cast the spells. There was the unknown cleric, a paladin I wasn’t familiar with, and Sparky.

  “Let me finish this,” I said, and I finished assembling the blade.

  What I was doing was crafting based on medieval symbolism. I used ash to form the basis of the handle. To the Vikings, it would bear more weight than it should, in England it was a symbol of purity, and in central Europe it was the wood believed to help destroy vampires. The unicorn hair was for purity, healing and a few other things I couldn’t quite remember.

  When finished, the sword was four feet long and perfectly balanced with a grey hilt wrapped in white strands of braided unicorn hair. I sighed, and then I checked the information on what I had just created.

  You have created a Star Steel Katana. Quality: AB. +15 Strength. +20 Agility. +10 Luck.

  +20 Holy Damage Damage, Scalable

  Protection from Undead: 15 foot radius

  Wielder is blessed.

  You receive a patent for Star Steel Katana.

  You gain 4000 XP.

  Congratulations, you are now a Master Weapon Smith.

  Please name your weapon.

  Yes/No

  Sighing, I said, “I think Morner should be pleased.”

  Jamie took the sword from me, then whistled. “Holy crap.” He looked at me and smiled. ”There is just something wrong with you.”

  “That I can’t deny, but it’s in a good way.” I smiled. “Now to get started on the second piece.”

  Once more I began with the steel. Just then, I heard the gates clattering open. I watched as a small group came in. Women dressed in armor, robes, and looking mean like they meant business. In the center I could see Agent Dabrowski; she was clad in a chain-mail surcoat with a shield on her back. Now that my minder was here, we could really get started, I thought. That shift in attention nearly proved disastrous, as the star steel was white hot as I turned back to it.

  Due to my inattention, the steel had gotten too hot. I had to try to save it, so I worked quickly, hammering it out on the anvil, folding and shaping. It was strange though; no matter what I did, the steel stayed hot. I started casting spel
ls on it.

  Cool Metal

  But even that only kept it barely within control. Working at a frenetic pace, I prayed for the game mechanics to aid me. I shaped the blade quickly. It was to be a wakizashi, so I placed the total length at thirty inches.

  “Quickly, I need you all to cast your spells,” I said as I cast Enchant Weapon on the brightly-glowing blade.

  Enchant Weapon

  Protection from Undead

  Holy Weapon

  Resurrection

  The blade flared with the last spell to an almost blinding white. I plunged it into the consecrated oil, and as I did, the metal chimed like a bell had been rung.