“You’re late.”
Smitty admonished after Becky announced the arrival of his latest interesting class forging candidate and her servant or whatever she was. Valerie looked at the gnomish craftsman and fought back the urge to be flippant.
“Apologies Smitty, we… I was indisposed and needed some time to get better.”
The wise beyond his appearance gnome looked over Valerie taking in the new set of plain clothes and visible scars up and down her person. It had been two weeks since he sent them away to gather blood and clearly something happened within that time frame that led the obtuse girl to show more respect to her betters. While Smitty would likely never know the full story his assumption was right on the money. When they finally returned to town, Valerie was immediately tended to by a priest who healed her up as best as he could. Unfortunately, with such a long gap between being hurt and seeking treatment, the huntress wouldn’t come away in perfect condition, her many visible scars a testament to how severely wounded she let herself become. After being fixed up at a hefty price, the days trouble continued as she met with her trio of unofficial guardians at her behest. With Samantha for support, she explained her realization and ended up breaking down once again before them. The ex-adventure was well versed with Valerie’s struggles and stuck close offering advice and insight although much of it didn’t reach the huntress still too lost in her own issues. Mrs Bubba remained ever caring as always and for once worked alongside Albert without a single complaint. Samantha stuck with her friend through her ordeals still not sure how or why it was happening but felt it was a good idea to be available. After several discussions amongst themselves, the group agreed the huntress was more or less forbidden from taking on contracts for the moment. They were well aware they couldn’t enforce it but hopefully some time away from monster slaying and some much-needed R&R would help the distraught girl. It was a painful conversation to have but Valerie did agree, until she could get a better handle on herself and her recklessness, she would need others more experienced to guide her. It was at times like this she thought about her uncle and missed him more than she ever thought she would.
It was only a few days back the pair were finally let out of sight long enough to visit the Merryland Forest and gather their belongings. Luckily the chest had been undisturbed, and all blood samples still sat in their jars. Locating the river where the tiger was left proved difficult, but they eventually did find the feline in the exact same place it fell. Inspecting the surprisingly still alive animal further they found the huntress’s weapons lodged deep into its spine, severing the nervous system and effectively causing it to become paralyzed from the neck down. Upon noticing its torturer, the tiger tried to lift itself in vain and roared out with hatred. Valerie was shook seeing the animals poor state, she wanted nothing more than to put it out of its misery, but couldn’t, the curse was still in effect making it near unkillable. She thought up a stupid idea and before she could stop herself gripped the handle of her knife intending to free the beast. Yanking on the blade however only worsened the situation as her knife snapped at the hilt leaving the razor edge still within the tiger. In her delicate mental state, she almost collapsed into a crying fit once again from her failure, thankfully Samantha kept her friend from declining. They sat by the rage filled tiger for some time unsure what to do until the shadow user put forth an idea that was as idiotic as it was brilliant. They were overdue for their class assignment already and wasted no more time in arriving to Smitty’s shack, blood filled chest in hand as well as an extra package.
“Hmph, I don’t like pets, why have you brought his thing?”
Smitty enquired, his opinion of Valerie dropping further and faster than ever before. The pair of adventurers walked into town with a live, if crippled, tiger on the huntress’s shoulders intending to seek the craftsman’s help. He was mysterious and somehow had the skills to manipulate a person’s aspect so he would surely have some trick or tool to help the critter.
“We were hoping you would know how to… heal it.”
Whether he could extract the blade, cure its curse or help the creature pass on Valerie didn’t care so long as its misery ended. Huffing, Smitty climbed atop the desk and inspected the feline while remaining wary of its claws and teeth. He let out a number of frustrated noises while looking the tiger over. He turned to Valerie his gaze hard and voice stony.
“Yes, I can help, however I can’t save your kitty cat. The curse is far to ingrained and the only way to free it would be to exorcize the foul influence.”
Valerie solemnly took in the answer expecting it but still disappointed. She caused this creature’s suffering and now she couldn’t undo it only eliminate the pain and its life altogether. Nodding, she accepted Smitty’s answer and hefted the tiger back onto her shoulder.
“What do we do now?”
She asked the perturbed gnome. Clapping his hands he turned to his workshop and beckoned everyone but Becky to follow.
“Now we get to work, bring the jars as well as your kitty and we’ll get you your class.”
Walking through the door into Smitty’s workshop the pair of adventurers were surprised to find nothing was different. Not a brick was out of place or piece of equipment shifted even a fraction from where it stood the last time they were here. Samantha opted to speak up on their behalf.
“I thought you needed time to work something out for me and Val. What’s different?”
Smitty climbed atop his workbench tossing papers and delicate instruments to the floor. He answered distractedly as he searched for something in several cupboards.
“Hm? Oh everything is different, it always is. You’re never the same as you were a second ago, it’s a fact of life. Take a look at your friend here, last time she came in she was a petulant, unruly and quite frankly unappealing girl. Now however she’s the same but more… mature.”
It was possibly the first compliment Smitty ever paid the huntress and it was still delivered as a scathing remark. The pair watched as Smitty searched through cupboard after cupboard in his workbench, occasionally walking into one cabinet and appearing from another. The gnome inevitably found his tool in the first cupboard he searched and returned to the girls ordering Valerie to place the tiger on a large table in the back. Clambering up the felines tail and onto its spine, Smitty slowly tapped around trying to feel out something.
“Interesting, rapid regeneration and a berserker rage. Usually only one curse manifests at a time but two at once? A rare find indeed.”
The craftsman mumbled to himself a coy smile spreading across his rosy cheeked face. When he came to the knife partially sticking out of the tiger, he clicked his tongue disappointed that such a fine antique work of art was broken so easily. It did spark a flash of inspiration in the gnome as he looked from the tiger to the chest of blood jars sat between his customers. Grinning widely, he announced his genius idea.
“You are in luck, while not a monster the curse affecting this creature is close enough that it should work with your class. You can toss one of the jars we’ll only need the nine and a sample from this unique specimen.”
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Valerie and Samantha shared a look, they only had nine jars, they thought they could get by with stretching the nine thin. Turning the chest away from Smitty, Valerie piled out the filled containers while announcing their contents.
“One Jacked-up Rabbit, one Silver Metal Fox, one Jerboa Constrictor, one Alphaca, one Dhampir Bat, One Snowl, one Billy the Goat, one Woodchuck-er, and an Ogre.”
Initially the pair started their monster killing marathon gathering blood samples from each unique specimen they found which quickly filled the jars and took the sum total of a single afternoon. Unsatisfied with the selection, they decided to be pickier on what samples to acquire which ultimately meant gathering from monsters either girl thought had funny names or simply looked strong. First was the Jacked-up Rabbit, a hare that shared many similarities with their namesake with the added bonus of being incredibly fast. Magically boosted, the rabbits could be at rest then at the top of a hill a mile away and back in the blink of an eye. Normally a hunter would be unable to catch the slippery prey, but these rabbits had one fatal weakness: they were voraciously carnivorous. The monster hunting pair lured several of the rabbits with the mound of rotting carcasses from their first day of hunting. Caught in a feeding frenzy, the colony never realized they were being picked off by a well-aimed series of knife throws.
The next monster, a Silver Metal Fox, was not actually made of metal but its hide was almost as tough. Having experienced a similarly durable exterior with the Duvolf, Valerie was able to capture the fox and search it from tip to tail to find the weak point, an act that was tantamount to torture in hindsight.
The Jerboa Constrictor proved somewhat a challenge as unlike its miniature brethren this monster was many times larger and could use its elongated tail to squeeze the life out of people and prey alike. Wary of approaching the wily creature, Samantha used her chains to capture the beast and then hung it from a tree until it stopped moving. The concept of irony had to be explained to the shadow user and she still wasn’t clear what it was.
An Alphaca was an oddity as while it appeared passive, grazing through the forest, it actually had a secret ability whereby it would empower other monsters around it by virtue of just being absolutely adorable. Valerie genuinely questioned her aspect and its taste in what was adorable after receiving that monster brief. Given its amplifying aura, the Alphaca was constantly surrounded by other weaker monsters who took advantage of the boost and protected their leader/ mascot with their lives. They still weren’t enough to stop the huntress and the monster’s blood was added to her collection.
A Dhampir Bat was a large leathery winged mammal that drained the blood of other monsters with enviable proficiency. Had the pair of adventurers that kind of advantage they wouldn’t have needed to kill multiples of every monster so far. The Dhampir bat and its kin soon joined their brethren with their life blood fed into a jar although its killers had to be careful they only got Bat blood and not the rest of their liquid diet.
Snowls, like the duo’s favourite ice-cold snake, were frost white and could use various cold magic to trap or fend off attackers. Fortunately, they were nocturnal so discovering one perched in a snow-capped tree defencelessly asleep was quite the find.
Billy the Goat actually found them instead and attacked shooting its horns with extreme precision, it then quickly regrew the keratin covered bones for another shot. Samantha was able to infuriate the goat by constantly dodging and insulting it that eventually the creature resorted to its base instincts and tried to ram the shadow user. One cracked boulder and a bonked head later the goat was killed and added to their collection.
The woodchuck-er hadn’t been Valerie’s first or eighth choice for a blood harvest but Samantha found its name so funny and spent an afternoon trying to come up with a tongue twister around the creature.
Lastly, there was the ogre, skewered and bled they finally reached their ninth jar of blood before Valerie made her idiotic departure. The huntress couldn’t stop blaming herself for leaving Samantha alone despite the shadow user’s nonchalant attitude about the whole situation.
With blood samples organized and presented to the gnome craftsmen, Valerie and Samantha could do nothing but sit and wait for their next instruction. Getting right into the thick of things, Smitty heated up his furnace and attached a sticky label to the individual jars of red liquid. It really didn’t matter how they were labelled or in what order he added them, he was just a stickler for organization which you wouldn’t be able to tell from the mess that was his workshop. Neither girl had any experience on how to use a forge and couldn’t guess what the gnome had in mind though Valerie made an attempt.
“So, what are you going to do? Take the metals out of the blood?”
She heard somewhere that there were some metal traces in your blood, it sounded fake but was just the sort of wacky thing she expected the gnome to try. With the way he scoffed at the notion, Smitty did not agree.
“Extracting iron from blood, what do I look like an alchemist?”
He was an alchemist actually, in his spare time and strictly as a hobby to produce certain beverages or substances for purely scientific research and not for recreational purposes, or so he told his nosy receptionist.
“You don’t have enough blood to make a proper weapon anyway. No, what I am going to be doing is quenching your blade in the monster’s essence.”
It was not about making a new blade but reforging the base. Despite the ware and tear, the hunting knife was a perfectly fine specimen of craftsmanship that suited Valerie and as it held so many memories for the huntress the end result would become all the better. Magic was a convoluted thing that played by its own rules when it came to non-living objects. The thoughts and feelings you put into an item could give it an echo of something like an enchantment or, as some put it, a soul. It was referred to as internal magic as it was not possible to directly control or add it to an item, only through experience and connections could the elusive substance form. Internal magic could also be something of a detriment as it used the feelings put into an item to change certain properties which was why the knife snapped so easily after years of abuse. Valerie’s emotions were transmitted to the weapon and caused it to become brittle but now that she was here and ready to take a step forward the blade could be restored to something greater than its origins.
Smitty was well versed in internal magic, it was what made his services so exclusive and highly sought after. As the fires were stoked and the forge shone from brilliant orange coals, he turned to the tiger once more and held a small rune covered stone up to the stewing cat eliciting a roar as he drew nearer. The stone lit up a bright red, turned orange and then settled on green which satisfied the craftsman.
“Good. You! Come here, it’s time to say goodbye to mittens.”
Valerie was really trying to ignore the gnome’s annoying attitude but if he kept it up any longer she’d toss him into his own furnace. Approaching the disabled tiger, she knelt before it feeling hot breath waft onto her face. It was so angry and couldn’t do anything to vent it, trapped in a body that wouldn’t heed any commands. Dropping down beside Valerie, Smitty produced a dagger which he tapped against the glowing stone and handed to the huntress.
“Normally the best way to combat a curse is to kill the afflicted. For high-speed regeneration types like this one here you’re going to need to overcome the curse. Magic usually does the job but considering your only option is you’re far more interesting friends blunt shadows were going to have to go with an alternative. This dirk has been enchanted with an anti-curse effect that will specifically neutralize the corruption for a short duration. Make it quick and clean.”
Valerie gripped the ornate dagger; she could feel her aspect form a connection with the blade. It wasn’t right however, she needed her weapon and there was no way to get it until she finished the tiger. Leaning her head close to the tiger’s ear she apologized and thrust into its throat. The fury filling the feline burned bright for a second then slowly withered as did the steam from its eyes until finally it lay dead and free from torment. Valerie stared into the animal’s vacant eyes for a while and Samantha walked over to join her, patting her on the back she wordlessly did her best to comfort her friend.
Smitty moved on, not caring for the tender moment, as he climbed atop the tiger once again with a pair of tongs and tried to fish out the embedded knife blade. With a grunt of effort, he yanked the metal free, a deep red and shimmering coating of blood clinging to the knifes surface. He ordered the huntress remove the dagger and a trickle of blood began to fall from the tigers open throat which the gnome quickly caught in a special container. Curses only exist in the living, or unliving in some cases, and would dissipate when the afflicted perished. The magical vessel however would preserve and purify the curse, greatly diminishing its effects but retaining the basic function. It was this practice that made cursed monsters a rare and lucrative find should an entrepreneur be able to capture, extract and sell off the dark magic.
With ten blood filled jars on hand, the craftsman could finally get to work. First, he placed the knife into his furnace watching carefully for it to reach the perfect temperature without warping. While he waited, he fed the jars contents into a drum which he topped off with some other alchemical fluid. Valerie was made to stir the concoction while he gently requested Samantha hold her hand up to a panel on the side of the drum. The panel sucked at the shadow user’s generous mana reserves leaving her dizzy like she’d just given blood. The gooey concoction bubbled coldly while Valerie stirred trying her best not to choke on the fumes. Smitty observed the knife like a hawk only taking it out to cool and re-attach the broken off end from the handle. Following an hour of heating, cooling and looking over the red-hot metal, Smitty was finally satisfied the whole blade was set to just the right temperature. Walking slowly over to the blood vat, he carefully lowered the knife which rung out with an ear-piercing screech as the metal hissed and was infused with the diabolical soups properties. After holding the blade steady for ten seconds exactly, Smitty removed the knife inspecting it thoroughly before nodding at the results. The once red syrup turned a dull brown, all the mystical properties removed and transferred to the knife. Staring in amazement, Valerie took in the sight of her newly crimson hued weapon although she didn’t feel different herself.
“Uh Smitty… sir? Is that it? Do I have a class?”
The gnome laughed wickedly and shook his head.
“Oh no, there’s still one more blood sample we’ll need, and you’ve brought more than a jar of it.”
“Where?”
Valerie innocently enquired to which Samantha rested a hand on her friends shoulder. The huntress looked at her companion, then the gnome and finally at her own hands.
“Oh, bollocks.”