Chapter 3
As I come to myself and my sight returns to me, I realize I am standing before two massive doors that look to be carved some kind of exotic dark wood. The imagery on the door is that of a king surrounded by throngs of people bowing to him with cards in their hands. Above the king is a massive circle that looks to be made of out of cards. The entire door is also embellished with gold and platinum filigree. While I stand there admiring the craftsmanship of the door I hear someone yell at me.
“OI! What are you doing just standing there? You’ve arrived later than expected and the king doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
I look at the person speaking to me and this man is most assuredly a human guard of some sort. The strange thing is that he doesn’t seem to be wearing any armor. Plus where a sword and scabbard would be strapped to his hip, is a belt with a nondescript deck gray box.
“Are you just going to stare at me or what? Look lively! The king has summoned you peasant.”
As the guard finishes speaking, I hear two deep sounding bells ring, at which point, the massive doors just open by themselves. The guard motions to me to start walking so I enter.
“Your majesty, the resurrected man William Edgar Heath!” I hear and see a herald, who is standing at the side of the massive doorway, announcing me before the king. As I walk into, what I surmised is the throne room, I notice a very spartan look to everything. However, the scale of the throne room is massive. The walls are 200 feet tall and made of a pure white stone. The length of the room is 400 feet long and the floor is checkered tile with gold and silver filigree in each tile. The width of the room is also 200 feet wide. Also, in the middle of the room between the entrance and the steps up to the throne are soldier’s and a path between them leading to the throne.
As I look to the throne, I see what appears to be a 40 year old human man with a black hair flowing down past his shoulders. His gray eyes, which are bright with intelligence and cunning, have crows feet around them. He has a crooked nose with no facial underneath it and at both corners of his mouth have one single piercing made of gold. His raiment is the classic royal purple cape but it was shorter and just hangs slightly off his left shoulder. The rest of his attire consists a smart looking platinum colored suit. Adorned atop his head is a 6 pointed crown of platinum and on each point is a card, each made from of a different precious stone. Around his waist is a gold belt with a deck box made of diamond and in his right hand is a scepter made of the same. At the top of the scepter is empty rectangular hole that is the size of a deck box.
The herald speaks loudly saying, “Kneel before the illustrious ruler of the Hegemonic Empire, King Maximilian Odin! May he reign and rule with grace and power forever!” I feel my body forced to take a knee, and my jaw shuts tight without my volition. After a minute of kneeling I finally hear the king speak.
“Welcome William Edgar Heath, I am King Maximilian Odin. I understand that you have had a trying experience in all of this however, since we expected you sooner, our meeting will be brief. After you are dismissed you are to follow the guard stationed outside the doors in which you entered to the cardsmith.”
“I will be blunt with you William. I despise politicking and I am blunt in everything because I can be. We didn’t entreat the goddess, Ankheno, because we pitied you. We discovered you had an aptitude for magic and decided you would be an asset to our kingdom as a duelist. You are effectively the property of the Empire and you belong to me. As such, you have a very limited amount of freedom. So don’t even think about disobeying my orders, along with the orders of my generals, or you will find your new life cut very short. I know in your world you had games similar to how our magic works so I won’t take the time explaining it to you.”
“I give you this quest and are hereby ordered to teleport to the world Sigmatio. You are to help with driving the Elven Trade Union off by any means necessary. They are close to conquering that world, which will allow them to farm for card shards unmolested. If they conquer it, we will not be able to invade that world for a decade.”
-Quest Accepted-
You cant keep a good dog down,
but you can sure put down an Elf!
You are ordered to travel to Sigmatio to push back the entrenched Elven Trade Union. You are allowed to openly kill any and all Non Allied Elves or monsters you may encounter without consequence. You may keep any shards you acquire. Furthermore, any cards you find, may be exchanged at the Hegemonic Empire’s Outposts on Sigmatio for shards equal to the card’s rarity minus 20%.
Rewards: 2000 XP, 1 Forged Legendary Card and continued favor with the Hegemonic Empire
Failure: Imprisonment or Death
Quests issued by your Sovereign can’t be declined
Well that’s freaking awesome. I was given a new lease on life and I’m already a slave being forced to do things against my will.
“You are granted the ability to have 10 cards forged specifically for you. You are allowed to forge 7 commons, 2 uncommons and 1 rare. The cardsmith will explain further when you arrive at the forge. You are dismissed.” The king waves touches his deck box and 50 cards fly out to stand in the air. He touches one card and I’m teleported outside the two massive doors to the throne room.
“Come peasant, I’ll take you to the forge. Hurry up so I can get back to my duties.” The guard says to me rudely.
I see the guard from before motion to me as he leaves, so I have no choice but to follow him to find the cardsmith. We walk for about 5 minutes before coming to a wall. He touches a spot I can’t see on the wall and it opens up for us to enter a surprisingly cool forge. I see a dwarf snoring like a foghorn while laying back on a black stone recliner with his eyes covered by a sleeping mask. I turn to look at the guard nonplussed. As I do, He just walks over to the recliner and kicks down the leg rest and the dwarf jumps up swinging.
“HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TE TELL YE TE LET ME REST YE TIT!?” The dwarf screams at the guard.
The guard spits on the floor in front of the dwarf then address’s him. “Rise and shine you disgusting living lump of rock. The king has ordered you to forge this man 10 cards in total. You’re to make him 7 commons, 2 uncommons and 1 rare. While you’re at it, explain rarity and how cardsmithing works. You are then to escort him to the teleporter where he is to leave for Sigmatio. I’m leaving.” The guard says all this and then just walks out of the forge leaving me with one very, strangely hairless, irate dwarf yelling at the guard as he leaves.
“THA’S RIGHT! YE GET OUTTA ME FORGE YE SORRY EXCUSE FOR A ROYAL GUARD! YE AIN’T EVEN WORTH THE TIME IT TOOK YER PARENTS TA CONCEIVE YE!”
I hesitantly approach the murderous dwarf and ask, “Aren’t you the royal cardsmith?” As soon as I finish speaking, the dwarf whips his head towards me. I see his murderous glare and scowl directed at me. I hear what sounds like the scream of a little girl and realize it must of came out of my own mouth. The dwarf proceeds to hoot and holler so hard he falls to the floor.
He slowly stands up and says,“Aye lad, I am. Me name’s Grandmaster Cardsmith Delvant of the Hornclan. Me friends call me Del but, ye aren’t one of those. I see yer face lad, but I na’er meant any offense. I din’nea much care for anyone ‘ere. Come ‘ere lad and let me get a look at ye.”
I walk over to him as moves to sit on a small stone stool next to a strange purple looking anvil. He motions towards another stool so I sit next to him, “Umm… where can I get a deck box Grandmaster Delvant?”
He looks at me in surprise. “The wee lil elf has some manners eh?! Most of yer kind are so full of themselves, they must need to eat fiber all the time to clear the feeling. Ta answer yer question, ye will get it when ye forge yer first card. I’m ta guide ye through the process the first time and then ye’ll do the rest yerself. After we finish I’ll give ye the tools to forge them on yer own when yer on Simgmatio.”
“OK, how will I make a deck if the cards don’t synergize well? Also, why does that anvil have an indention on the top of it?” I ask the smith.
He looks and my sardonically then just sighs. He begins to speak slowly to me as if I’m a child. “I forgot ye din’nea know anything about card rarity. Look lad, each card forged requires a certain amount of card shards, no more and no less. Ye have to be able to place the cards shards in the from to craft one. Why don’t ye try opening yer status and click ‘Card Shards’. If ye do tha’ it will show ye a menu with how much each rarity is worth which directly correlates to how much it costs to forge it. I will say though, using that for pricing cards is more of a minimum price to buy or sell when ye get to the higher rarity cards. I’ll give ye a quest so we can forge yer first card and help ye get closer to yer first level up. After ye finish reading let me know.”
-Quest Received-
How to hold your hammer.
Grandmaster Cardsmith Delvant has offered to teach you how to forge your first card. Look at you, making a grandmaster teach you how to use your hammer. You should have learned that from your parents.
-
Reward: 10 XP, 1 Forged Common Card
(Accept) (Decline)
I read the quest and accept it. Afterwards I open my status and click card shards which pulls up a new sub menu.
Card Shards Available: 0
Shards required to forge a Common: 10
Shards required to forge an Uncommon: 50
Shards required to forge a Rare: 100
Shards required to forge an Epic: 1,000
Shards required to forge a Legendary: 5,000
Shards required to forge an Artifact: 100,000
Shards required to forge a Unique: 1,000,000
I nod to Delvant that I am ready to begin. “Alright ye pointy eared prick, I’ll teach ye how to forge yer first card. The first thing ye need to know is that each time ye forge a card, the result is random. However, the card tends to synergise with yer affinity but that’s not a guarantee. Yer just as likely get to get an absolute tripe of a card, but that’s why ye can trade or sell cards, eh. Also of note, after ye forge a card for the first time, ye can make it again as many times as ye want. There is one specific exception, of which I’ll explain in a minute. When ye forge a copy of a card that you made, it requires ye to use the base shard cost of the card time one and a half times.”
“The exception to forging a copy is this. You saw how many card shards a unique costs to forge a single one correct?”
I nod at him. “Yes, though how are you supposed to make multiple copies of a Unique? For the cost of a duplicate Unique, you could make 15 different Artifact cards.”
The dwarf smirks at me and says, “The unique rarity is special because you can take the term literally. Unique cards can only be forged once and that copy is the only one that exists anywhere. Our king actually has 6 unique cards on his crown. They display his status and power. Not to mention it’s impossible for anyone who owes him fealty to see his level without him allowing it. Ye could say that the might of the empire rests on his head. Now take these cards shards and forge yer first common.”
As he drops me a handful of tiny gray glowing rectangles into my palm, they disappear and I see a notification popup.
Received 10x Card Shards
“Uhh… Master Delvant where did the shards go? I touched them and a notification popped up that I received them however, I don’t know where they went.”
“Lad, they be in yer inventory. Every time ye defeat an enemy ye will automatically loot everything, both card shards and whole cards, to yer inventory. Though ye can still skin the corpse of an animal or loot the body for things afterwards. The reason ye don’t have a menu for yer card storage yet is because ye don’t have a deck box. Just click card shards on yer status and choose any amount thought ye would like to withdraw. After ye do so, place them on the mold in the anvil.”
I click card shards in my status. A prompt asks me how many I would like to withdraw, so I choose all. All of the gray shards appear in the palm of my hand. I carefully drop the shards one by one into the mold as I see the surly dwarf start to loose his patience. The dwarf pushes a button, one of many, on the side of anvil and the shards seem to liquefy and turn gray in the mold.
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“Master Delvant, why did the shards melt and turn gray?” I prod him curiously.
“The shards melted because of this button I pressed on the anvil. Each button on the anvil helps ye condense the magic in the shards. Which button ye press correspond to which rarity of card ye craft. The color of the shards after they condense confirms which rarity of card ye will forge.”
“The colors ‘afore forging are as follows: gray is common, green is uncommon, blue is rare, purple is epic, orange is legendary, and red is an artifact. Unique’s are slightly different. If ye somehow ever have the pleasure to forge a unique, then it’ll shine as bright as the sun ‘afore the sunset. Take this hammer, hold it firm ye pointy eared twat, and give the shards a good smack three times.”
I grab the hammer and raise it carefully to strike the shards. I slam it down with as much force as I can three times.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
Alert!
Deck box acquired!
Card storage unlocked!
One new common forged!
Gained 1 XP
You only receive experience for the first copy of each card you create. Duplicates don’t grant any additional experience. The amount of experience gained is equal to 10% of shards used to forge the card. This notice will not be repeated again.
Unit: Sanguine Witch – C
Affinity: Blood/Occultist
1 Mana
Whenever you cast a spell, this unit deals 1 damage to any target.
Lifesteal
1/1
(One little drop won’t hurt my dear.)
Card added to storage.
Quest completed: Gained 10 XP
As the notification manifests in front of me, I feel and see a bracelet appear around my wrist. On the bracelet is a surprisingly small deck box made of blood ruby, with a lid which looks like a lunar eclipse. I see the dwarf raise his eyebrows when he sees the deck box appear on my wrist. He claps me on the back then motions for the card.
“Congratulations lad. Ye forged yer first card, which is the one mentioned in the quest rewards, and received yer deck box. I have ne’er seen it manifest on the wrist attached to a bracelet ‘afore though. As ye can see, each time ye craft a card for the first time, ye get experience. The monster on that card have their attack and health labeled as 1/1. That means it has 1 attack and 1 health. Sorry ye got such a weak first card lad.”
“Now take the rest of these shards and finish crafting the rest of yer cards.” He then hands me a sack which rattles lightly with shards. As I open it up, I notice that there are two other different colored shards in it. I count 60 gray, 2 green and 1 blue shard.
Received 260x Card Shards
“Master Delvant, I have one last question for you, if you wouldn’t mind answering it.” He sighs heavily and nods his assent. “Why are there shards of other colors in this sack?”
He huffs at me. “Did ye really think when crafting a unique we would somehow put one million shards on top of the anvil and they would magically fit? USE THA’ WEE AMOUNT GRAY MATTER BETWEEN YER POINTY EARS YE TWAT! If that were true then, the anvil would have to be made the size of this ‘ere castle. O’ course there are higher tiered shards just like card rarity. Each different denomination of shard is a separate color. The color is the same you would see for card rarity and is worth the same amount it would take to forge it, all except gray, which are worth one. Ye can check your menus for reference later but would ye please hurry up. I want to go back to me nap. I was dreaming about buxom dwarf lasses before ye and that tit woke me up.”
“Alright, alright. Let me go ahead make the rest.” I say to the dwarf uncomfortably. I decide to shut up and just finish crafting my deck because I never want to hear about what he dreams about ever again. Let me go ahead and just show you the results after everything is said and done, OK? I want to get away from this uncomfortable situation as fast as possible.
New cards forged: Six Common, 2 Uncommon, 1 Rare
Gained 27 XP
-
Unit: Pregnant Heifer – C
Affinity: Beast
1 Mana
Whenever this dies, summon two 1/1 Beast Calf units.
1/1
(I can’t wait to have a nice juicy steak tonight!)
-
Fast Spell: Feral Bite – C
Affinity: Beast
1 Mana
Deal 2 damage to any target.
(His bite is worse than his bark.)
-
Unit: Undead Lamprey – C
Affinity: Blood/Undead
2 Mana
Battlecry: Deal 1 damage to any target.
Once per turn: When this dies, return it to the battlefield.
1/2
(Undead die if you crush their skull. Where the heck is the skull on this monstrosity?!)
-
Unit: Corpse Sticher – C
Affinity: Blood/Undead
2 Mana
Once per turn: You may pay 1 life to summon a 1/1 Zombie unit.
1/2
(Most fashion experts work with cloth, I call them squeamish.)
-
Unit: Zombie Stalker – C
Affinity: Undead
3 Mana
Battlecry: Summon two 1/1 Undead Hand units.
At the end of the turn, if this card is in your graveyard, return it to your hand.
2/1
(The authorities executed this man for seemingly stalking women. Little did they know, all he wanted to do was give a the ladies a hand.)
-
Slow Spell; Painful Roulette – C
Affinity: Blood/Chance
1 Mana
Pay 1 life and Flip a coin.
Heads: Draw 1 card and summon a 1/1 Zombie unit.
Tails: Take 1 Damage and discard 1 card.
(60% of the time, it works every time.)
-
Fast Spell: Jagged Syringe – U
Affinity: Blood
2 Mana
Deal 2 damage to any target. Once per turn: You may pay 1 health to add this to your hand from your graveyard.
Lifesteal
(Trypanophobia- The extreme fear of needles)
-
Unit: Ball of Flesh – U
Affinity: Blood/Undead
1 Mana
Each turn this unit takes 2 damage. This unit can’t attack.
1/7
(A huge ball of flesh with an arm on top. It just keeps smacking itself over and over to bounce up and down.)
-
Relic: Blood Bank – R
Affinity: Blood/Construct
3 Mana
Each time a unit, you or your party controls dies, put one blood counter on this.(Max 5) You may remove all counters to deal damage to any target, equal to the amount removed.
(My blood type is I+. I be positive they ain’t sticking me with no needle's.)
After showing the cards to the surly dwarf and adding them to my deck, he speaks to me gruffly. “Lad, ye have some o’ the weakest, and strangest, starting cards I ‘ave seen in all my years o’ forging. They are quite the piece of tripe lad with not a single large stat point in sight, minus that mass of flesh card which is only good for defending. I’m sorry I can’t forge you any more cards. I would give ye a copy of one of me own cards if I could, but I would lose me head in the process. Ye ain’t worth that lad. However, I’ll make sure you have the best starting gear possible.”
The dwarf opens his status and invites me to his party which I quickly accept. He walks around the forge grabbing tools and such, and shoving them inside a bag that is way to small to hold everything inside of it. He grabs some parchment, quickly scribbles on it and shoves it into the bag. I then see him open his purple deck box strapped to his waist, and 20 cards float in front of him. He touches one and then a bubble forms around us. “Lad this be a card that defends from everything, along with allowing you to converse freely, for 2 turns. I’ll be quick and blunt lad, so don’t ask any questions. Just take what I give ye without giving any reaction when ye leave.”
“Here is a bag that holds anything no matter the size. Make sure ye read the letter inside. To grab something from the back, just think of the item that ye want. Inside are tools and gear that ye wouldn’t be able to acquire without the direct approval of the king. Go through the contents once ye arrive on Sigmatio, but make sure ye are somewhere without prying eyes.”
“Okay, thank you for what help you have given me. How am I supposed to get to Sigmatio?” I ask politely.
“Didn’t I tell ye to keep yer mouth shut ye leaf lover?! Shut yer trap and I’ll tell ye.”
As I am yelled at I can’t help but wonder, why is almost everyone in this kingdom somewhat of a prick?
“I know the guard ordered me to guide ye to the teleport gate, that twat, but I’m not allowed leave this room lad. I’ll call a servant in the hall to guide ye. I am bound by magic to never leave so I can’t see ye off. Lastly, try to escape to a different world not controlled by the Empire whenever ye get the chance.” He hands me the bag just before the bubble pops and then yells, “YARIAL, GET YER SKINNY REAR IN ‘ERE!”
A thin female elf runs into the forge and bows to Delvant. She has nut brown skin, with black hair in a pixie cut and dressed in a maid outfit. Speaking quickly she says, “Yes Master Delvant, what do you require?”
Delvant gruffly says, “Take Will here to the Gate and send him to Sigmatio. Make sure you give him a letter of introduction and an ID for the commander there. Thank ye, Yarial, that’ll be all.”
Yarial bows once more to Delvant. “Yes Master Delvant. Follow me Master Will.” We leave the forge and walk and she takes me back towards the throne room and we pass it. After 10 straight minutes of walking, we come to an intersection and turn right just to walk for another 5 minutes. She stops in front of what looks like a computer and types something. I hear a ding and a small card along with a piece of paper, pops out which she then hands to me. I proceed to put the items in my bag.
Yarial then says to me, “Come, let us hurry so I can get back to my duties. I am already behind schedule.”
We then turn and start walking back down the hallway without a word. I guess Yarial isn’t much of a taker. We come to a metal door in the middle of the hallway and Yarial motions me to stand in front of it. She pushes a button on the wall and the door slid open. Turning to me she says, “Get in.”
Having no other recourse in the matter, I decide to obey and step in what I assume is an elevator. The doors close loudly behind me making me turn around in surprise. “Uhh… Yarial? Why am I alone in here?” As she answers me, I hear a humming noise come out of nowhere which starts to get louder.
“This is the teleporter gate. I am keying in the world of Sigmatio now. You are to take that letter and your ID, the ones I gave you, to the commanding officer when you arrive. Make to sure have it ready to present as soon as possible. The guards might attack you if you don’t. Good luck and have fun.”
Did she just say good luck, have fun? That’s something you would tell your opponent when playing a game back on Earth. Either way, screw me I guess. I was expecting the gate to be a massive arch in the middle of a huge room with mystical symbols carved all over. I would never have guessed the teleporter would be the magical equivalent of an elevator. How anticlimactic. As the humming becomes almost unbearable, I decide to check status for my progress before I teleport.
Name: William Edgar Heath
Race: Eclipse Elf Dhampir
Affinity: Blood
Level: 0
XP: 37/100
Life: 10/10
Mana: 3/3
Feats: Blood and Snackrifice, Bloody Bomb
Skills: None
Skill Points: 0
Deck Size: 10/10
Starting Hand Size: 3
Card Shards: 0
Curse: Blood Pact*
A hear a bland voice say from a blue crystal in the wall say, “The coordinates are locked and the magic is stable. Preparing to commence teleportation. Good luck, Recruit William, you’re going to need it.” All the color around me becomes desaturated and then I feel myself float up and disappear.