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

that I could.  I swear, yer lordship, I felt like me hammer was being guided to exactly the right spots.  When I finished the sword, I knew that it was exquisite, but of course the rank penalty knocked it down to superb.  Then the main anvil started to glow!  The light shot into the sword, and when I looked again, the quality was back to exquisite!  I can only take part of the credit for this fine weapon, yer lordship.”
    Richter laughed.  Krom was almost dancing a jig.  The smith calmed himself and went on to explain the magic imbued into the blade. “Now, the freeze enchantment is a bit lower than it could have been.  All I had to work with were the common soul stones ye left.  Luckily, Gloran agreed to help.  His journeyman rank in Enchanting allowed him to spell the item without penalty even though I was the one forging the sword.  It also let him use two soul stones on the enchantment.  We were still way short of the forty-five possible points we could have used, but we worked with what had.  The twenty enchantment points Gloran could get from the common stones allowed us to get four points of cold damage as a base and give a 4% chance to activate the freeze ability.  His level sixty-five Enchanting skill increased the base enchantment to 6-7 damage!”
    Richter was always impressed by Krom’s dedication to his craft.  The only other time the taciturn dwarf spoke passionately was when he was cursing someone.  He grew downright loquacious when he talked about making weapons and armor, though.  “Okay, so I get the high damage and the cold enchantment, but what about the bonus trait?  Why is it stronger against Dark and Earth creatures?”
    Krom looked around at the Forge with what could only be called love in his eye.  “That be thanks to Ria here.”
    “Ria?” Richter asked.
    “Aye, yer lordship.  The Forge reminds me of the first love I ever had.  A strong beauty of a woman, who would happily burn your nuts off if you didn’t pay attention the whole time you were with her.  She also let me come inside whenever I wanted.”  Krom kept looking around at the Forge with a wistful smile. 
    “Inside… of her house?”  Krom’s bearded grin only deepened.  Richter looked at his Smith with a slightly scrunched face.  This seemed… inappropriate somehow… and how many true loves and wives had Krom been through?  He wasn’t sure what to do. When Krom started audibly and breathily sighing, however, Richter couldn’t take it anymore.
    “Dude!”
    “What?  Oh yes, sorry, yer lordship.  Went somewhere for a bit.  As I was saying, when I finished forging the sword, the sun and one of the moons glowed on the ceiling.  A beam of nearly clear green light came down from the moon and a beam of yellow-white came down from the sun and bathed the sword in a bright glow.  When it went out, the sword had the bonus trait, and that be when the mark appeared.”
    “What mark?” Richter asked.
    “At the base, yer lordship.”
    Richter looked closely at where the blade met the hilt and saw the slight impression of a four-pointed star.  As he watched, it glowed slightly before resuming the appearance of clear green glass.  Richter turned the blade over and saw another impression.  It was a square with four characters, one in each quadrant. 
    “That one be me smith mark, yer lordship.  It let all know that the weapon was forged by Krom of the Red Stone clan,” the dwarf said proudly. 
    Richter smiled. “So do all of the weapons you’ve made here have this glowing star?”
    “So far it only be this one.  I do believe the mark only appears when the ceiling be triggered to grant extra powers.”
    Richter was pleased to know that the special quality of the Forge of Heavens had already come into play.  The extra damage could make all the difference, especially in the catacombs.  “And so far only my sword has gotten this kind of special bonus trait?”
    “Yes, yer Lordship.  When the