“Futen,” Richter responded, “has anything happened in the past day that I should be aware of?”
“Three strike teams hunted outside of the city in addition to your war party, Lord Richter. Two were able to bring back deer. The third suffered an attack from some type of large insect, but they prevailed with only minor injuries.”
Richter nodded, “Anything else?”
“Nothing of note, my lord,”
“Well at least there’s that,” Richter said. He told the remnant about the goblin settlement and that there would be a meeting that he should be at later. The chaos seed also told him to find the families of the dead guards and to bring them to the Quickening. The orb floated off.
Villagers greeted their lord with smiles on their faces. He put a false smile on his face and waved back, but his heart was still heavy. Richter made his way to the Forge of Heavens. Cherry red glows could be seen from the inside of the building, and the sound of hammers striking anvils echoed out despite the late hour. When he entered, the dwarven and human smiths all greeted him with nods and gruff hails, but they stayed at their tasks. This didn’t bother Richter at all. A smithy was not a place to let one’s attention wander. A momentary lapse in concentration could lead to injury.
One thing that did surprise the chaos seed was that someone was working at the main anvil. He hadn’t ever seen anyone there besides Krom. Richter quickly used Analyze and found that the mountain dwarf’s name was Bowdin. The smith seemed to be hammering on a warhammer, of all things.
“Ah, greetings milord,” Bowdin said in a rough, but respectful, voice. He set down his hammer and picked up the cooling metal he had been working on with tongs. The hammer head went back into the furnace to heat again. The dwarf gave an order, and one of the other smiths started stoking the flames. Richter grew even more curious.
“I must confess that I am surprised to see someone other than Krom using the main anvil.”
“Ay. Krom can be tighter than a cold arsehole dipped in glue, that be for sure, har har!” The dwarf had a gruff, deep bass laugh. “He for sure do na like to share.”
Richter smiled slightly, “I won’t argue against that, but he is the village Smith. Do you have permission to use the main anvil?”
Bowdin’s eyes widened in understanding, “Did he na-Well, of course, the fool did na! The fool! Ay apologize, milord. Krom should have told ye. I am second in command of the Forge. The Smith gave me control over the anvil before he left for his Trial. After Krom, ay have the final word here. Excepting yer lordship, o’course.”
To prove his claim, Bowdin placed his hand on the anvil, and the lights inside of it came alive. Richter nodded, “Very good then, smith Bowdin. I hope you understand my caution.”
“Of course, yer Lordship,” the dwarf said, bowing his head.
“Well, what are your capabilities?”
“Ay be a level forty-four smith and have some small skill in Earth magic and Enchanting. It makes me work more durable.”
“So you’re only one level away from journeyman status then?” Richter asked.
“Ay,” Bowdin said proudly, “and as soon as ay reach the rank ay’ll be going for me Trial as well. Ay also have one more important subskill, Dense Forging. The weapons ay forge will be heavier, but they also have increased damage.”
Richter nodded. A subskill like that could definitely be useful. It seemed like it might lend itself more towards large weapons, though, like mauls or claymores. Since his favored weapon type had become small blades, he was wary to have a weapon constructed to be heavier than normal. A high attack speed was a large part of his fighting style, and a denser weapon probably meant a slower weapon. “That sounds like it could be useful, but I’m assuming that extra weight will decrease my attack speed.”
“It can indeed, yer lordship. That be only if yer Strength is no up to the task, though. Here. Look at this dagger.” The smith pulled a dagger with a ten-inch blade off of a weapons rack.
You have found:
Dense High Steel Dagger.
Damage: 13-17
Durability: 145/145
Item Class: Uncommon.
Quality: Exceptional.
Weight: 3.7 kg.
Traits: +10% damage vs. spell barriers.
Richter had learned many things about smithing in the past few weeks and was surprised by the weapon’s stats. Its weight, damage, and durability were all much higher than they should be. Krom had taught him that simple daggers had a base damage of four to six. The type of metal used to construct a weapon added to that base damage. High steel, for example, added one point to either damage or defense. It was that adjusted base damage that was affected by a smith’s skill. Each skill level someone had in Smithing gave another 1% to the durability and the damage or defense of a forged item. The last thing that affected a weapon’s damage stats was its quality. A trash quality item, for instance, decreased the final numbers by 40%, while an exceptional quality item increased damage by 30%.
Richter did some quick calculations. A high steel dagger should have a base damage of five to seven. If Bowdin was skill level forty-four, he should improve the dagger’s base damage and durability by 44%, bringing the damage up to seven to ten. With the fact that it was exceptional quality, then the damage should have been nine to thirteen. Whatever the dwarf’s Dense Forging subskill did, it had added another 40% to the weapon’s damage potential! Even better, there weren’t any requirements listed. That meant Richter’s characteristics must have been high enough that he could use the blade without any loss of speed.
“Okay, I admit it,” Richter said with admiration. “I underestimated how useful your subskill could be. How does it work?”
Bowdin beamed with pride, “Every ten levels of me subskill will add a half a point to the base damage of the blade. That be the other reason Krom left my beautiful self in charge. The only downsides be that me subskill eats metal like a whore at a sausage buffet. It also increases the base requirements of using the weapon, yer lordship. A high steel dagger requires at least six Strength and five Dexterity to use. Now any wee gal would have that, so normally, the requirement is not even something that anyone would notice. Me subskill can make the requirements a problem, though. Every extra ingot ay use can increase the requirements by 100%.” Bowdin looked appraisingly at the large frame of the village lord. “Ay be thinking that Strength not be a problem. Do ye have the Dexterity?”