Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Nobody who was part of Minas Mar was supposed to take part in the tournament. Especially not someone with a legendary item made by him. It was already bad enough that he showed off the helmet during the preliminaries.

“I don't really care about the tournament. My quest was finished after the preliminaries,” the buff man said without a waver in his voice. It seemed like he really held no interest in the request for a legendary item.

“Just so you know, even the people in Minas Mar have to earn legendary items, I won't throw a full equipment set at you,” he made it clear. Although he DID that for Ortega, that was only because he was very interested in how the Slaughterer's Set would come out when made with <Bones of Seth>. Ortega's need for an armor set was more of an excuse to make the armor, than caring for Ortega.

“I-I didn't think so either,” Bart said in a hurry to clear the misunderstanding.

“I'm just messing with you... Not about the earning part, but I didn't believe you thought that way,” Seth calmed him down.

“I would be happy for you and your people to join Minas Mar. Mary and the others will discuss the details with you. Now, sit back on your chair, and let's have a real conversation,” he asked him to sit back since it was indeed a little awkward if he kept kneeling before him.

How exactly they would proceed with these survivors of Y-City was a topic for later. What Seth was more interested in was the current situation around Y-City. He had only been there for a short time and left most of the fighting to the golems, but this short time was enough to make him curious about the new kinds of creatures that appeared.

Especially the geass was intriguing to him. Although he had not yet managed to circumvent the restrictions of these powers in a satisfying way, there had been some successes, making him just more interested to see what other powers might be out there.

“Do you know anything about the new creatures that appeared after the awakening of the slumbering realm?” the blacksmith asked.

Although the abandoned ruins were in the southern part of Ypsilon closer to the coast and not exactly close to Y-City, Bart and his people had been there all this time, maybe they had more experience with them. Seth had gotten a glimpse at the unique power of Geass, but he had little to no information about the creatures themselves. For example, Strik Forebone and Dig Dimblood both mentioned things like courts, which seemed to be alliances of these creatures.

“Do you mean those from the fog? Or those from the Faide?” Bart asked, motivated to help. Those from the Fog were probably the glow people Seth despised, but-

“The Faide? What are they?” the blacksmith asked at the weird way to call them. Seth hoped they weren’t talking past each other on the matter.

“That’s what some of them call themselves, at least the ones that can be spoken to. Apparently, it’s because they had “faded” from this world, or something like that. I also met one or two that called themselves “Veiled Ones”, as they are not fully part of our world... or something like that,” Bart said with a shrug.

Maybe he was a good leader with the heart in the right place, but he definitely didn’t have a talent for information gathering. The way he talked about it sounded more like yarn, than reliable info. Still... Since Bart was the only source, the blacksmith intended to use it.

“That sounds like you interacted with them a bunch of times. Can you tell me more about what kinds there are and their society? Some who I met talked of courts, like what a king would have,” he asked for the piece he did hear about.

Bart nodded ponderingly. He took a moment to sort his thoughts before he answered.

“There are those who live in groups, they call courts, yes. Many of the Faide belong to this group, but at least just as many are solitary, and some of the really feisty ones are more like monster packs. At least the courts can be talked to, even the more hostile ones,” he finally gave his opinion on the matter based on his experience.

“The Veiled on the other hand are almost completely solitary, either appearing whenever they like or living in secluded places. For example, one of our scouts met an old woman, living in a strange hut, in a thick small forest that had not existed a year ago.

The woman spoke to him when he just got in sight of the hut and asked him to share some of his rations. He said that the encounter was extremely disconcerting, but the woman did not make any hostile moves, so he shared some of his rations and was able to leave just like that.

But he swears that he slipped through death’s claws that day. Had he somehow offended her, who knows what she would have done to him? The next time he came by the same opening in the ruins, it was just an empty field of debris. No forest, no hut.” Bart shared some yarn, that sounded like a fairy tale. Except for the fact that he didn’t gain anything from the encounter. Or maybe he just didn’t share if he gained something?

“So some of them have the ability to appear and vanish however they like?”

“Some do, but it seems there are conditions on the where. They aren’t like assassins that suddenly appear behind you, and it seems like they can’t appear in settlements, homes, or protected areas. At least so far, none of them suddenly appeared in the middle of your complexes, but maybe that’s just courtesy? I wouldn’t doubt it for some of them,” the leader from South Ypselon said with a shrug.

It seemed like Bart and his people had no big problems with the “Faide” in general, but he mentioned the feisty ones, so the blacksmith asked him to elaborate on that.

“Ah, well, you were in Y-City yourself, right? You saw some of the creatures that appeared. Though many can’t compare to high-level beasts from dungeons or the Pathworks, there are those that are very tricky and others that are extremely strong. Scouts vanish regularly, with only a few coming back telling stories of beautiful women appearing at night, charming them, and drinking the blood of their companions. A Faide we know said they are called Baobhan, a terrifying type of vampire. “

Other examples the Chosen of Krios mentioned were swarms of evil spirits that moved as one entity with a kind of hive mind, lone wolves that were almost undetectable and would hunt people for miles, literally stalk them, even wait outside the city until they left again.

And, of course, he also mentioned the goblin-like creature with red caps, Mike had also mentioned before. If they were not in the System Age, where magic and skills were available to most, these stories would have been more than just concerning. At least they were able to fight back, if necessary.

The mood had dipped a little, talking about some of the terrible fates that happened to his subordinates, but in the middle of the ensuing silence, Bart sighed.

“At least they aren’t all bad or dangerous, unlike 99% of what comes from the portals,” he mentioned, rousing Seth’s curiosity. The blacksmith could only remember two-three instances where the newcomers were good.

He himself had met Strik Forebone, who seemed like an okay dude. Mike had met a kind of white wisent that kind of helped their group. But those two were more neutral than good. The last one was rather recent, it was the dwarfs who called themselves the “Stoneborn”, that appeared in the Northeastern mountains and helped a group of cultivators when they were in danger.

“Good ones?”

“Yeah, they are actually a big help now that I think of it. Small creatures of various humanoid shapes. They will ask for protection and food; in exchange, they help in the house using some nifty magic.”

“hmm..” Seth was getting ideas, but he already had his golems. Was there room for fairy maids?