Chapter 3

It took longer than Jack was willing to admit, but he was able to make himself a pair of sturdy work pants with multiple pockets and a fairly nice shirt. He couldn’t make himself a pair of shoes unless he wanted them out of wood. Jack decided he would go barefoot for now until he could find something more useful. Thankfully once Jack figured out how spell casting worked and it made making the cloths were somewhat easy. First, he tested Detect Resources and Refinement. Both spells luckily did as their names suggested. Thanks to the former, Jack was able to find flax and with Refinement he was able to make linen. The clothing was rough and gray but they weren’t going to just fall apart and that was all that mattered. He could look into learning how to make better cloths later.

Maybe even he’d even look into how to make dye while he was at it.

Now that he was dressed and didn’t feel nearly as exposed, he walked around what was once a town. Now all that was left were tall one or two story tall buildings. All over grown with plants with trees growing and cracking stone roads along with tall grasses growing from between the bricks. Jack looked at some of the crumpled buildings along the weathered roads.

He strolled along while looking around at some of the buildings around him. He glanced at both the crumpled buildings that have large broken stones scattered along the street and the buildings that have weathered cracks along their surface.

In some ways there was a haunting beauty to the now very dead town. Looking around, Jack could see some remnants of bones that were mostly broken down. The sights of the once prosperous and lively human town now so empty left Jack feeling a little disappointed on multiple levels. The first part of his disappoint was that the humans here were very much dead. Though that was a given. What really disappointed him was no one came to move back into the town!

Yes, thousands of people died and the town was mass graveyard. But the buildings and infrastructure were still good! Well… mostly still good.

Yeah, with enough people and supplies Jack can see this town coming back to life. There was plenty of potential all around despite the damage. Maybe even some improvements could be made if the repairs were made building by building.

As he walked around the streets. Jack felt some memories coming back to him though they were meaningless memories. He passed a building that was once a cleaner for laundry. Another he passed with a bay window with the glass long since gone, Jack remembered that they made really good spice bread. He couldn’t recall the taste, but he remembered they good none the less. A few blocks later he found the local smithy where metals were smelted and shaped. Building after building, Jack was able to remembers shops and the people the ran them long since passed. They were blurry and distant yet they were coming back.

Then he found a shop that made him stop in his tracks.

Standing in front of what used to be a warehouse turned workshop, Jack read a stone plaque that had an etched bronze plate. Filling him with both pride and sadness as he used part of his sleeve to rub off the dirt.

Smithson’s Crafts and Creations

Master Artificer

Hey girl… I’m home. Jack thought to himself as he brushed his fingers across the plaque.

Once he took a moment to savor the emotions that came from visiting his old workshop, he looked over what remained the doors.

The doors were utterly destroyed, allowing him to look inside without much issue. When he walked inside, he saw his heavy machines were destroyed or missing, his tools were gone and all of the goods he made from toys to magic items were stolen. His workshop was picked clean. The sight of it was saddening yet it also gave Jack a little bit of hope. If his workshop had been picked clean, then that could mean that maybe there were still people around. At least there was still that silver lining… even if they stole his stuff.

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Eh, there were only a few weapons. Most of what I had here was utility stuff anyway. Jack thought before looking to the far corner of the warehouse. So long as my good shit it safe than we have Noooooo problems.

With a casual stride in his step Jack walked to the corner of the workshop and pressed a brick well over his head in before sliding it to the side. Revealing a switch that he flicked with his middle finger just before the brick slid back into place.

Thank the gods I remembered about the vault and how to get to it.

Arcane circles glowed to life as the mana now flowed back into the arcane circles once the circuit was reconnected. The floor from the wall started to grind and rumble from being inactive for so long instead of the smooth slide it was originally made to do. Section by section the floor receded deep into the ground to make a set of stairs. The newly formed stairway leading to an underground hallway with glow stones lighting the way to a heavily reinforced vault door.

As Jack walked down the hall, he found a few skeletons inside that were wearing old elven and dwarven armor laying on the ground just in front of his vault door. Around them were old tools and the vault had some minor dents and one singular deep gash. The sight left Jack feeling both relieved and slightly impressed. Oh, who was he kidding. Jack was really impressed that they managed to make that gash in the metal. The vault door had eight layers of reinforcing enchantments and wards and an inch and a half mix of steel and adamantine alloy. Not quite as strong as pure adamantine but it was damn tough stuff. Even with mages helping it should have taken years to get a good cut into it. Never mind a full-blown gash through the first layer of the vault door. Now that he actually thought about it, how the hells did they manage that?

Stepping closer to the pile of tools and bones on the ground he inspected them to see if there were some clues how they the managed that little feat. That was when he spotted a rather impressive hammer and an exquisitely made dagger.

Picking up the hammer and the dagger, Jack looked them over in the light of the glow stone. The hammer had a double head made of highly refined steel. One side was made with a partially rounded head while the other side was flat. The face and top of the hammer had intricately engraved runes that allowed temperature control for both heating and cooling while the other side had runes made for amplifying strikes and shock waves. The handle was made of a sturdy polished oak with bronze bands to reinforce the strength of its neck while the grip was wrapped in well broken in leather.

Looking it over, Jack was more than a little impressed by its craftsmanship. Hell’s it would have been the envy of many artificers to use for…

Taking a closer look at the hammer Jack felt a creeping sense of familiarity.

Inspecting it more thoroughly to see if the suspicion had merit, he looked at the bottom of the handle and found it.

With a building fury he picked up the dagger and looked it over to see it was an adamantine dagger with a single edge. The face of the blade was like a mirror in its finish with runes engraved along its spine. The blade was the length of a forearm with a sweeping hand guard just over the handle that was made with a grip to prevent slipping. Just under the hand guard after carefully inspecting the dagger was that same mark. His craftsman’s mark.

An anvil with a three overlapping gears on its side and scroll resting on top of it. His personal insignia that marked his works.

Now he recognized the hammer. It was Jack’s own hammer that he made for himself. His fury became an inferno as he recognized the dagger as well. It was made for an elven ranger who was tasked with hunting down cultists. He even gave the bastard a huge discount. The bastards not only came here to steal his best stuff and secrets but used the very things he made to do it.

You filthy… Jack thought internally as he looked at the skeletons who dared to steal from him with pure hate. “RAT BASTARDS!”

Jack yelled aloud as he thrust a hand towards them as a bolt of lightning shot at what little remained of the bodies. The sound, a sharp CRACK, filled the air as the elf’s skull was sent skidding across the floor. Jack quickly changed his aim to blast the dwarf’s remnants.

“You motherfuckers thought you can steal from me?! Well look at you now!” Jack yelled staring hatefully at the skeletons.

In mid tirade, he froze. Taking a second to process what just happened and what he just did.

“Did I just talk?” Jack asked out loud as he reached for his throat only to find empty air and the spine of this neck.

Touching his spine with his boney hand, he physically shuddered.

“Woah, that feels so weird.” He said trying to forget the sensation of his spine being touched. “Alright. I can actually talk. Good to know. No one around to talk to… eh, beggars and choosers.” His rage forgotten for the moment.

Jack than turned his attention back to the vault door. Getting closer to examine it as he looked inside the gash. The gash was far too small and the inner space inside of the vault door was not visible, much to his relief.

Moving to the three sets of tumblers and entering the four-digit code into each. Once done, Jack spun the bolt work crank to tract the bolts only for the crank to stop half way.

“Oh no….” Jack said as he tried twisting the tried to twist the crank again only for it to jolt still at the same spot. “Oh nononononononono…. NO…”

Jack tried to twist the crank as hard as he could. He tried pulling, pushing, twisting and even tried to kick it yet the crank didn’t turn any further.

“Greaaaaaaaaat… it’s stuck…” Jack grumbled while leaning on a wall with his arms crossed.