Read The Land: Catacombs (Chaos Seeds Book 4) for Free Online

“Greetings, yer lordship.  Did ye have a nice little nap?”
    Richter laughed at the audacious dwarf. “What’s that you’re making there?  Somehow that dark grey metal makes me think that it’s not my elementum short sword.”
    “Alas, no, milord.  This be a sword for the new captain.  I be using one of the cobalt ingots ye brought back.  It looks to be coming out well so far.”
    “Oh,” Richter said.  He tried to keep any disappointment out of his voice, but some bled through.  “If you can get to my sword soon, it would be appreciated.  I agree that Terrod should have a good weapon, though.”
    Krom scratched his beard and looked up speculatively.  “Welllll, I could start on a sword for ye or ye could just use the one I have already made.”
    Richter tried to keep a smile off his face, but failed miserably again.
    Krom laughed and waved for his lord to follow him.  He called out to one of the other dwarves to tend the half-finished blade he was heating.  Richter followed his Smith over to a rack of finished weapons.  Spears, swords, maces, and daggers hung on the long rack made of quartz.
    “Is it just me, or are there more stands here than before?” Richter asked.
    “Yer not crazy, yer lordship.  The Forge just seems to know what we need.  When we ran out of space, the racks just appeared.”
    Richter looked around at the Forge again.  The stars shined against the black roof, and the sun could be seen near the western edge, only a few hours from setting.  This thing truly was a Legendary Object.  He turned his attention back to the weapons, examining each in turn.  Richter was pleased, but not surprised, that each item he examined was above average quality or better.  He even noticed a few superb and exquisite quality weapons.  He stopped looking over them when Krom took down a short sword and handed it to him.
    The sheath was made of soft-looking grey leather.  The cross guard was a thick bar that curved up towards the blade slightly at either end.  The hilt was wrapped in the same leather, and the pommel was a weighted ball of clear green metal.  Richter’s smile widened even further.
    “Now I don’t want ye trying to give me a kiss when ye see the blade, yer lordship!”
    Richter laughed and said he would try to restrain himself.  He unsheathed the weapon and examined it.
    You have been given: Elementum Short Sword of Freezing .  Damage: 33-37.  Durability 158/158.  Item class: Scarce. Quality: Exquisite.  Weight 2.3 kg.  Traits: +6-7 points of water damage per attack.  4% chance to cause Freeze.  +10% damage vs. spell barriers.  Charges: 220/220.  Bonus Trait: +10% damage against Earth and Dark creatures.
    Richter’s mouth dropped open in shock.  He looked at Krom and then back at his new weapon and then back at Krom again.  “How did you do this?”  Richter had awe in his voice.  His high steel longsword only had a damage potential of 12-17.  And how did it have all of those other enchantments?
    Krom cracked his neck and began speaking in the affectionate tone he reserved for discussing his craft. “Well, my lord.  Short swords normally have a base damage of 8-10 and the metal…” The dwarf laughed.  “Well, let me just say that elementum be a tough son of a bitch.  Even I di’na know how much power the metal would add, but the base damage increased by +9!  The rest though is due just to my skill and the strength of me arm.  I am a level sixty-two smith, and the bonus from my skill increased the base damage and the bonus from the metal.  When ye add the +5 for the exquisite quality of the weapon, it brought the damage up to 33-37!” 
    The smith took a sip of water, then continued, “I can tell ye that it wasn’t easy.  We had to stoke the fires to be hotter than me asshole in summer!  As you can see though, yer lordship, it was well worth the effort.  I was a bit concerned seeing as how me Smith rank is lower than it should be to work with