image [https://i.imgur.com/W1uGAe7.jpg]
Learning blade mastery wasn’t the only skill Fabulosa picked up in Hawkhurst. Like me, she tried blacksmithing in Belden until the masters learned she wouldn’t join their guild. Founding Hawkhurst opened new learning opportunities. Many months ago, she spent a few hours a day helping Rory in the smithy. At first, she only performed menial tasks while learning her way around a forge.
She wasn’t the only greenhorn crowding the forge floorspace. While deep in a kobold city, Rory Blackhammer and Fin Hornbuster recruited a pair of enterprising lads from Arlington. On top of weapons, building components, and tools, the four fielded endless requests for things like clasps, chains, hinges, and nails. We had plenty of resources, iron from the goblin mine and arc weaver, leaving little room to work.
Storing everything in my void bag would have been easy, but retrieving things forced me to be at their beck and call. Since the warehouses stood far away, scrap metal cramped the forge’s free space.
When the work crew finished the second smithy, its yellow core bonus, steadfast, gave anyone working there a fully rested condition, no matter how long they worked. It let Rory work on side projects during off-hours, making him very popular with citizens looking for metallic personal items. It wouldn’t surprise me if Rory weren’t among the first citizens to buy off their own parcel of land—and good for him.
Fin and the boys stayed at the old forge while Rory helped with Fabulosa’s cape. The process of cape construction required coldiron shears and a needle. The cape’s design came from a tailoring pattern validated by Olive and Hugo.
While I learned goblin from Greenie in the manor, I occasionally dropped into the castle smithy since it stood nearby—an unremarkable stairway into Hawkhurst Rock served as its entrance.
As the Metamorphic Siege Hammer carved out the forge, we spread the excavated bits of granite to improvise roads. Unfortunately, the pieces weren’t big enough for flagstones but too large for gravel, so the minerals only sank into the earth. Perhaps they would provide a suitable foundation for a proper road.
Its low, domed ceiling provided enough space for humans to raise a hammer but not much more. The forge featured multiple chimneys and air intakes. Heavy leather hides fitted together with copper seals formed the bellows.
“Hey, Patch.” Fabulosa greeted me when I ducked into the new smithy. Her gaze lingered longer than usual, searching for signs of offense from pinning my ears back, a gesture that irritated me more than said setback.
Ignoring the pity, I acted as if I still considered myself the odds-on-favorite of winning the battle royale.
Rory stopped stoking the furnace and welcomed me with open arms, an expression that mirrored the new smithy’s available floor space. “Take a gander! This be what I call a forge! I have enough room to breathe. Underground, the hammer echoes just so—the rock sings a chorus of approval with every blow.”
“Looking good, guys. Are you sure Fin isn’t jealous?”
Rory waved. “Bah. He’s fine outdoors. Besides, it’s his first strike at being a chief smith. He’s too busy dealing with headaches to pine for a bonny new facility. If anything, he’s jealous over L.T.’s new cape.”
“Ah! And how is that going?”
Fabulosa blushed. “We’re still covering the basics. I just finished folding my first piece of iron. Would you believe the first thing Rory corrected was my feet?”
I shot Rory a skeptical look. “You’re channeling Dino now?”
“What? She stood too far from the anvil!” He walked to the anvil to illustrate. “Ye see. First, ye need a pure heavy hammer to do most of yer work—not the wee ones ye brain goblins with in combat. Then, stand o’er the anvil just so increases the force of your strike.”
“Your hammering form wasn’t correct?”
Fabulosa nodded. “At first, I swung too hard. You don’t want knockout blows. If you’re swinging too much, your hammer’s too light. You want to hit as many hits as possible. My metal cooled off before I could draw it out and fold it.” She gestured toward an unremarkable lump of metal resting on the anvil.
I picked up a pair of gloves that looked far too big for either of our resident metalworkers. “Who are these for—a giant?”
Fabulosa reached for them. “No. Blacksmiths need loose gloves. If hot metal ever heats the leather, I’ll need to shake them off quickly. If they’re tight, hot gloves can cook fingers—quick.”
It sounded dangerous, and I didn’t see a bucket. “Where’s the quenching water?”
Rory rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You humans love a good puff of steam. A proper smith uses oil to quench. It’s thicker and less volatile and nary a chance of making fractures. But quenching is the very last step—me lass here has quite a load ahead of her before finishing anything.”
“Oh! Check this out.” Fabulosa skipped to the far side of the smithy and picked up a pair of large bricks. Pulling them apart revealed a cavity for the shears, which they would use to cut the steel wool. “We just made this—or rather, Rory did. This is called a double-sided mold. With bronze or copper, we could get away with an open-faced mold and pour it in, but we need more precise shapes for high-temperature metals.”
Fabulosa closed the molds together to illustrate the precise fit, turning to Rory to see if she’d described everything correctly.
The dwarf nodded with approval. “We’ll heat the casts and pour the coldiron at Fin’s. Then we’ll pound the shears to their final shape down here.”
I gestured to the forge. “You’re going outside because this isn’t big enough?”
Rory hefted his hammer. “I do more pounding than pouring, so we don’t need two grand forges.”
“Thanks for the tour. I’ll leave you guys to it, then. We’re starting the barbican today, and I promised Ally I’d put in an appearance to cheer up the work crew.”
After climbing the stairs to Hawkhurst Rock, I could hear the quarry workers calling to one another. Measuring out the construction site took lots of coordination. Part of Greenie’s site plan called for using the quarry as a moat. We took slabs from the outer perimeter of the castle, so anyone scaling the wall had a pit to cross. The quarry’s cavity wasn’t impressive yet, forming only a wide trench from various construction projects.
I tried to convince Greenie to shape the moat so we could fill it with water and dommolisks, but he couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t escape and eat anyone. Moat monsters would have been cool, and I hadn’t entirely given up on the idea.
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Stakes and string outlined the footprint of the barbican. Greenie minimized enemy angles of attack by nestling it against the river. Half of the workers worked offsite, chopping down and milling lumber. Until the dimensions satisfied Ally, no one cut stone.
I pulled an orange core from my inventory and gave it to Ally. “This might help strengthen the barbican. We took it off someone called Odum. I can never remember to give you these before you begin projects, and after the battle college and settlement cores, I figured it to be worth the gamble.”
Ally inspected the core. “Boss bonuses are vanity and dominance?”
I shrugged. “Gatehouses are always the weakest parts of castles. I figured anything might help.”
Showing no objection, she pocketed the item and returned to commanding her crew.
I shook hands, clasped shoulders, and made the rounds with the workers. Assuring the barbican’s importance helped everyone remain patient about holding off on home construction. After paying my respects, I returned to the manor and the comparatively duller task of memorizing Goblin words and phrases. I grew proficient and held meaningful exchanges with Greenie in his native tongue while he worked on blueprints.
Splitting my time between memorizing goblin and town administration left little time for improving my standing in The Great RPG Contest. Part of me wanted to train with Dino to explore ways to counteract Fabulosa’s weapon, but I couldn’t imagine how to prepare. Even if she agreed to spar with the saber, she’d likely improve more than me. I needed ways to close the gap between us, not widen it.
Fabulosa split her time between the battle college and the smithy. I didn’t know which boded worse for my endgame—Fabulosa perfecting her saber techniques or making an epic cape. If using a celestial core on an item might significantly enhance the equipment, I’d use mine for something. I wanted the experiment to be successful, but I didn’t look forward to facing anyone wearing something so powerful.
Hawkhurst progressed over the days. Colliers harvested charcoal, Beaker dove for fish, and the mercenaries escorted explorers. The quarry workers carved out great slabs of stone and inched them into position using long wooden levers. Rory finished the coldiron shears and cut the steel wool according to the block pattern sketched out by Hugo and Olive. When he finished, he returned to less exotic jobs like reinforcing timber for the barbican.
A few of our citizens hosted visitors, feeding and sheltering them in the inns on either side of the river. Lloyd’s team mostly worked on their second ferry, and our militia patrolled beyond the settlement. Lloyd’s project inflamed another debate. A group of Arlington immigrants wanted to build a fishing boat, but we had only one shipyard. I let Ida deliver the bad news to the fishing boat lobby. The trade route came first.
While everyone busied themselves with various chores, Fabulosa fashioned her cape with the coldiron needle according to the sewing pattern. Pushing the needle through the steel fabric took strenuous determination, but Fabulosa saw the task through. The cape followed a standard, low-level item, but she slotted in a purple core to give it bonus powers.
After reciting a list of Goblin names and regions, I took a deep breath. Deciphering the confusing cases between affirmative and negative statements required a clear head. As I indulged in a moment of rest, I spotted a strange shape drifting through the window overlooking Otter Lake. Typically, only Beaker graced our vista since he’d chased after seagulls, and beating wings broadcasted his approach. Something green and transparent drifted into the manor.
Greenie gained his footing and readied for a quick exit up the stairs to the governor’s quarters. When he saw I wasn’t running, he held his ground as the ethereal shape approached. Ida stood at her desk by the front door, ready to make a hasty retreat.
Beaker dove around the object, trumpeting triumphantly. He banked around the ghostly shape as if to get a better look, sending me exuberant telepathic messages. “Fabulosa is here! Fabulosa is here!”
The gauzelike specter materialized into the lieutenant governor as Fabulosa lowered her hood. She winked and flashed me a smile worthy of a Bollywood dance number. “If that ain’t the all get-out of entrances, then I don’t know what is.”
“What…” I couldn’t finish the sentence and gaped at her.
She gave a half-turn to show off the verdant cloak on her back. “Serves me right for following the latest fashions, don’t you think?”
Item
Windshadow, The Cloak of Harmony
Rarity
Celestial (purple)
Description
Level 60 back item
+8 willpower
+12 agility
+40 armor
+40 armor vs. undead
Wearer gains minor regeneration and maintains the same appearance throughout their natural lifespan.
Cloak has no mass and warns of dangers from behind.
Item use—When hood is up, wearer becomes airborne and obscured.
Terralith (unique purple) Core Bonus
Celestial Bonus 1 Environment
Celestial Bonus 2 Growth
Celestial Bonus 3 Harmony
Celestial Bonus 4 Elemental
“Check out my buffs!” Flipping up her hood, she turned translucent and drifted toward the door. The cloak’s material shifted as if in zero gravity, and her hair drifted in slow motion like a shampoo commercial. She pulled the hood back down and returned to normal. “Whoops. Can y’all shut the door for me? I’m still getting used to this thing.”
Ida showed uncharacteristic amazement but possessed the wherewithal to heed Fabulosa’s request.
After Ida closed the door, Fabulosa reached for the manor shutters. “C’mon, Chickers, get in here, or we’ll leave you outside.”
My Familiar never needed a second invitation from Fabulosa. Beaker landed on the windowsill and hopped down when she beckoned him inward.
Fabulosa closed the shutters and flipped her hood back up, lighting up a smorgasbord of icons on her nameplate—Life Force and Windsong. With her hood up, she turned into a green ghost, and two more icons appeared—Airborne and Obscured.
Life Force granted her extra armor against undead, regeneration at 1 point per hour, and the appearance of perpetual youth. The Featherfall explained her wavy hair, and braiding it with ivy kept it from covering her face. Windsong warned her against attacks like backstabs.
Buff
Airborne
Weightless, transparent, and immunity to piercing weapons.
Duration
Until hood is lowered
The weightlessness explained why she drifted toward the door. A separate buff, Obscured, gave a 20 percent chance of avoiding successful attacks or spells. The game separated the buff because someone could mark her with tracking effects like Faerie Flames.
Fabulosa defeated me in melee without using her Spectrometer. Her latest pageant of powers gave ridiculous powers, most of which I couldn’t counter. I cast Detect Magic and it pleased me to see that the spell lit her up like a beacon, and the Obscured buff disappeared. She didn’t notice, which might help me if it ever came to us in an endgame.
“Why is the backstab buff called Windsong?”
“Oh! That’s the best part, Windshadow sings to me. Most of it is like an aria—but it’s unobtrusive, like leaves rustling or a babbling brook. It’s so beautiful. She’ll warn me if enemies are behind—although I’m not sure she’ll see anything cloaked in Stealth.”
“It sounds like a fitting theme song.”
“It’s part of the Terralith’s influence. The purple core’s four bonuses are environment, growth, harmony, and elemental—so ethereal music fits the kit. Can you guys hear it?”
We shook our heads.
“That’s good. Otherwise, it would give me away. The Airborne buff is the one I’ll need to get used to, but it won’t be difficult, like learning my sword. Airborne’s interface has little arrows showing air currents and tells which way I’ll drift if I flip my hood.”
Her description sounded like Magnetize, whose arrows revealed magnetism on minerals. The only doubt that she would win the battle royale came from the unique purple core I’d taken from the first relic—the Artilith. I planned to make it a weapon, possibly re-use the coldiron into something to even the odds.
But I should have known planning to be pointless in Miros. Fabulosa’s cloak had made the biggest splash in this game since I’d blown the ward worm to smithereens. And everything changed after another player entered the settlement.