Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Irwin sighed happily as he lowered his hammer and stared at the green-bordered Emerald card.

"That went better than I had hoped," he said, picking it up and examining the card's simple image. It displayed a shovel standing upright on the ground.

If any of the smiths back on Scour knew he'd spent so much effort taking a simple utility card from quartz to amethyst to topaz and finally emerald, they would likely call him crazy.

"Of course it did," Ambraz said, his gray metallic lips curved in a massive grin. "I told you that practicing those songs would help!"

"So… let me get this straight?" a voice came from the side.

Irwin blinked as he turned to Greldo, who was leaning against a tree and looking sleepy.

"Smithing is supposed to be difficult, and most people can't do it while those that can need considerable effort to reforge a card up a rank… right? So, why did that look so easy? You were just singing and humming softly, struck the card, which seemed to cause the tiny holes to disappear and those ugly patches of dark mucus to vanish, and finally, that card mysteriously went up to emerald. Are you smiths just fucking with the rest of us?" Greldo asked, shaking his head with a grin.

Irwin laughed as he raised the card. "First of all, this is an easy card with a clear 'song', it's not that special. Second, I didn't really change much but simply continued it along its predetermined path, merely nudging it a bit. Third? Well, Ambraz and I are just that good!"

Greldo's smile slipped as he gaped at Irwin before snorting loudly. "You did not just say that!"

"Damn right he did," Ambraz snapped. "And he's right! It's about time he figured it out! You go out and find yourself another smith with less than three years of experience who can do what he just did, or any Anvil that's not a world anvil that's got any more potential than me! You're not going to find them!"

Ambraz burst out in laughter while Greldo stared at him stupidly.

Irwin tried to hold back from laughing at the stunned look on Greldo's face but eventually couldn't, and his joy boomed out as he shoved the shovel card into his pocket. It would be one of those he'd give to one of the builders he hoped to bring from Giard to here. It would allow the person with it to dig massive holes and trenches in record time while smoothing and strengthening the sides.

Looking around the forest, the sun now high enough to feel its warmth from between the sparse canopy above, he drew in a deep breath.

"You were right," he said, grinning at Greldo.

"If we are acting all confident now, then let me join," Greldo said with a shrug. "Of course I was! Which part was it this time?"

Irwin waved around, ignoring the jab at his previous remark. "It's great being in a world with a normal temperature, with trees and a sky again!"

Greldo nodded as he looked around. "Yeah, it's pretty fantastic. I'm pretty sure I'll have to wait a bit longer before I can even get Coal to consider returning without a fuss. He's still chasing one of those odd goats around."

Irwin felt his joy fade slightly as he frowned. "And he's sure it's not a sapient species?"

"Definitely," Greldo said. "He saw one of them eat the shit of another creature."

Irwin grimaced and nodded.

"Alright, one more card to go," Ambraz said, causing Irwin to look up in surprise.

"Weren't we done after this?" he said.

"Not yet. Do you remember that Crystalline Leg card Daubutim wanted back when we were on that ship with Xi'kroak?"

Irwin groaned as he nodded. "Yeah, we got interrupted by those Galub raiders," he said.

"Right, well, we need to change that up a bit," Ambraz said.

"What do you mean?" Irwin said.

"You will see after we finish," Ambraz said, a wide grin on his metal lips.

"Fine," Irwin muttered as he searched through his pack until he found the card in question.

"Sure, I'll wait some more," Greldo said, and Irwin snorted before placing on the card.

I wonder what Ambraz is going to do to it, he wondered.

--

Greldo watched Irwin hum and strike the card. It looked easy, but he was pretty sure that if he had to learn how to do it, he'd be bored within an hour. He faintly recalled that when he was much younger, back in Malorin, he'd had the idea of apprenticing to the city's smith.

Glad that never happened, he thought as he pictured the mindnumbing boredom of hitting a piece of metal or even a card for hours straight.

There was a loud chime, and he looked up, knowing that meant the card was done.

"Good, good," Ambraz said, sounding very impressed.

Greldo didn't blame him. Irwin was doing exceptionally well based on what he'd been able to catch on, even compared to smiths like Gawarn, who had been doing the same thing for far longer. He watched his friend lower his hammer and pick up the card, showing no hint of weariness or boredom.

Bloody endurance card, Greldo thought, feeling a surge of happiness for Irwin. He recalled how horrible his friend's childhood had been, unable to even walk to school without being out of breath.

I wonder what those punks back there would think if they saw him now, he thought with a grin.

"So, what did you change?" Irwin asked, causing his interest to be peeked too.

"Not telling! It's a secret. Now, kid, stop procrastinating! Get the Ruby card out, and let's do this!'

Greldo laughed, waving at Irwin. "Yeah, you go 'kid'."

--

Irwin snorted at Greldo before turning to Ambraz. A while ago, he'd have been bothered by Ambraz calling him kid, but he'd eventually realized that the Anvil didn't mean it bad. Brat, that was another thing altogether, but the 'kid' seemed more because Ambraz was centuries older than he was. Compared to Ambraz, he was a child.

I'd love to see what happens if he meets Gelwin again, Irwin thought, picturing the ancient sorcerer calling Ambraz kid.

Then he shoved his childish humor away and took out the red-bordered Blood Lightning card.

"So, take me through the song again," he said as he placed it on Ambraz's smooth top.

Ambraz began humming immediately, his lack of complaint showing Irwin just how much he was looking forward to it.

"Alright," Irwin said when the hummed song was over. "Greldo, I won't be able to just stop midway without the risk of destroying this card."

"Don't worry! There's nothing around except for that creepy bird and some hand-sized things minding their own business in the bushes," Greldo said, waving at the undergrowth.

Then let's do this, Irwin thought as he struck the card a single, initial time.

The image of a cloud of blood with darker red lightning rippling through it appeared above Ambraz. It had only one tiny star-like hole and no more smudges of potential, telling Irwin just how good the card was. It also shone far brighter than any other ruby card he'd seen, showing the incredible energy that it contained.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he focused on his heartcard, letting it resonate with the ruby card and again enjoying the simplicity of having only one card to focus on. The fact that his card seemed more than happy to resonate as he wanted made it even better.

Slowly, the forest sounds around him began to vanish as the intensity of the ruby cards' resonance increased. Tiny, minute details, slight variations, and mistakes became obvious to him. He continued aligning his heartcard with it until both were nearly indistinguishable to him.

Then he opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and began humming the song Ambraz had taught him, raising his hammer.

As it struck down, his humm deepened, and he changed the resonance of his heartcard to match, gently prodding the ruby card to follow. He didn't have to reforge it to diamond-rank, making his task much easier. All he had to do was guide it sideways towards an adjacent path, then further to another towards where Ambraz had determined the one that would benefit Daubutim the most.

Easy, if not for the fact that this was a powerful ruby-rank card with far more energy than was typical.

Three strikes in, the card began to resist, the resonance trying to return to its previous song.

Not too fast, Irwin thought as he held his hammer high for just long enough for his heartcard's resonance to assert itself on the Blood Lightning card again. As soon as it did, he rammed his hammer down again, only for the ruby card's resonance, trying to struggle out of control.

"Stubborn," Ambraz growled.

Irwin couldn't respond, but he didn't have to. A deep humming joined in with his as Ambraz added his voice to the song. As soon as it did, Irwin felt the resonance of the ruby-card be curtailed. It was still resisting, but now it felt like two hands were holding it, gently guiding it.

"Hurry," Ambraz growled, momentarily stopping his humming before quickly joining in again.

Irwin nodded as he picked up the pace. With each strike, the Blood Lightning card inched closer to a stable song, but it also began resisting more and more. A dozen strikes in, Irwin's world consisted of the song, the resonance, and the hammer. As he brought it down, the Blood Lightning card's resistance suddenly snapped, and Irwin felt it change, some of its aspects flowing away while others strengthened. He could almost feel a new passive appear as an old one disappeared forever.

Slowing down, he took deep breaths to try and calm his pounding heart.

"That's one," Ambraz muttered wearily. "Two more to go."

Irwin grimaced, but he knew he couldn't stop now. If he did, the card might 'set' into its new resonance, which would make it far more difficult, if not impossible, to change it again without reforging it up to diamond.

I don't care if you don't like it, he thought at the card angrily. Daubutim needs you to be something different, and I'm going to make that happen!

--

Greldo scratched his neck, grabbing a tiny mosquito and squishing it absently. Coal sent a message that he was on the way back, and Greldo told him he could take it slow.

This looks like it's going to take a while longer, he thought as he watched Irwin strike the card again.

His friend's eyes were narrow, his face tense, and the tendons of his neck and wrist stood out like the ropes on the ship. At the same time, the hummed song seemed effortless, slowly moving from a fast, chaotic thing to a more controlled one that Greldo liked a lot better than the initial song.

As he looked around, Greldo heard a soft shuffling from one of the distant bushes.

I knew it was too good to be true, he thought as he walked away from the tree and sent a message to Coal.

His daggers appeared in his hands as he headed towards whatever was moving closer. It was still far enough away that he wasn't too worried, but with Irwin occupied, he couldn't go too far. When he heard a soft snorting and saw the bushes shake, he frowned. Should he unsummon and resummon Coal? It would make Coal's return instantaneous but also drain his own energy greatly.

A high-pitched birdcall made him look up to see the weird green bird had opened its eyes again and was staring at the same bushes as he had been.

Yeah, you know what that is, don't you? Greldo thought, wishing he could ask the bird like he could Coal.

There was a scraping sound, and he saw the bushes a few dozen feet away shake as something large moved through it.

Right, that decides that, he thought as he warned Coal before unsummoning. A moment later, the massive hound appeared beside him, and he felt a third of the energy in his heartcard drain away.

"Check it, but be careful," Greldo told Coal, readying his own teleportation as Coal softly padded forward.

He didn't hear anything else moving around, so if he had to, he'd shadowstep in, deal with whatever-

The bush shook like a hurricane, and a low-to-the-ground brown-furred creature shot out of them, ripping leaves and twigs in passing. As fast as it was, Greldo's heightened senses caught up with it, and his eyes widened as he saw a boar as wide as Coal but far heavier, with six tusks rushing his summoned friend.

Greldo moved instantly, shadowstepping to just behind and above the boar. As he appeared midair, immediately dropping down, he flipped his daggers around and aimed for the back of the hairy brown neck just below the skull. The boar-thing seemed to realize he was there, but its reaction came too late to act. Greldo plunged his daggers just below the back of the skull, faintly noticing how tough the rugged hair was. Immediately after his daggers slid in as far as they could, he shadowstepped away, appearing beside a softly growling Coal.

Greldo readied himself in case the six-tusked boar would charge, but it wasn't needed. With a sad snort, the thing's head thudded into the ground, its forward momentum causing it to slide forward before it came to a shuddering stop.

"That wasn't too bad," Greldo muttered as he stood up and looked at the steaming, bleeding thing. He was about to inspect it when he froze. I shouldn't have said that, he thought as he heard more rustling from the bushes much further away. Far more rustling than before.

"Get ready," he sent to Coal as he backed up. "I don't know how many there are, but don't let them anywhere near Irwin."

--

Irwin let out a sigh of relief as the Blood Lightning card's resistance disappeared, and the card began harmoniously resonating with his heartcard.

Stopping his humming, he stared at the image hovering before him. It hadn't changed much, but he knew that was only the visible aspect. Below the surface, the card had lost and gained many things, going from a card that mostly dealt with physical speed improvements to one that was focused almost completely on the mental aspect.

"So… I take it you succeeded?"

Irwin blinked as he heard Greldo's weary voice from a short distance away.

"Yeah," he said, turning to his friend. "It should be about time to get-"

Irwin sucked in his breath in shock, barely noticing that Ambraz changed to his small shape and flew up and around.

Greldo looked up at him wearily, wiping his blood-stained hands across a section of grass, leaving behind long red streaks while seven large bodies lay strewn across the area around him. Coal was slowly devouring one of them.

"You really don't hear anything while you are smithing things, do you?" Greldo asked, raising a furry eyebrow.

"What happened?" Irwin hissed. "Are you alright?"

"I think either your singing or hammering pissed these things off, and they came to make you stop," Greldo said as he got to his feet, walked to one of the corpses, and kicked it angrily. "Annoying things. Smart too! They started sticking closer together, covering for each other when they realized I could shadowport onto their backs. Almost got skewered twice, but, no- I'm fine. All of the blood is theirs."

Irwin nodded as he walked forward, kneeling beside one of the massive beasts. They reminded him of the boars the rangers killed and brought back for food during the summer, but bigger with shorter legs.

"Besides that green bird, there's nothing anywhere near," Ambraz said as he landed on Irwin's shoulder. "If there's more of these stinky things, I'll warn you."

"Thanks," Irwin said as he focused on and touched one of the forearm-length, pale white pointed tusks. He could probably shape those into simple daggers or tools.

"So, did you succeed?" Greldo asked.

Irwin rose, and he grinned widely as he realized the boars would probably be edible if Coal's munching was any indication. Ib should be able to cook up something nice with those!

"Yes, we did," he said. "It took a bit more effort than I had expected, probably because of the large amount of energy in this thing."

"Great, then after Coal finishes eating, I'll head back and send Daubutim back," Greldo said as he stared at his dirty fingers in disgust. "I might check that stream before that and bathe… I was smelly before, but now I'm smelly and covered in gore and blood."

"Alright," Irwin said as he thought about swimming. The idea of a bath, cleaning all of the gunk of the last few weeks, seemed like a great prospect. Still, one of them had to stay with the portal, just in case.

In the end, it took Coal a good while to finish half of the boar before laying on his side and looking like he was as content as he'd ever be. By then, Greldo had taken a quick bath and was standing near the portal, water dripping from his damaged and scuffed leather armor.

"Take care," he said as he waved his hand, causing Coal to disappear.

"I will! I'll send Daubutim back after we decide on the next steps!"

Greldo waved as he jumped backward into the portal, and Irwin looked around, knowing he'd have to wait for a good while again. He glanced up, noticing the green bird was still sitting there, eyes closed and seemingly sleeping.

"Do you think that someone is using that thing to look at us?" he asked, thinking about Daubutim's raven.

"No, there's no soulforce coming from it," Ambraz said. "I'd have felt some if that bird was a cardskill, soulskill, or anything like that."

"Good," Irwin muttered as he looked at the nearest corpse. They didn't look very appetizing, but he was starting to get hungry.

"Now, I don't know much about eating all those fleshy bits you like so much, but if you plan on eating those things, you might wanna hang them upside down," Ambraz said. "If I recall, don't you need to drain them or something?"

Irwin looked at the Anvil in surprise, realizing Ambraz was right. He vaguely recalled Bronwyn explaining something about that long ago. He walked to the nearest body, staring down at it and wondering how he should do that. Just hang them in the branches? If he had rope, things would have been much easier.

"Not to be too gruesome here, but you could cut them open and use their intestines," Ambraz said.

Irwin grimaced, wondering how Ambraz could make that sound like the most normal thing to do. Still, as he examined the bodies, he realized using the intestines might be the only way if he actually wanted to drain them. He hesitated for a while, imagining having to cut the bodies open before turning to the one Coal had mostly eaten. Parts of the intestines were lying to the side.

Is that why Ambraz mentioned those? he wondered. Then he decided it didn't matter. He could wait for Daubutim, give him the card, then have him return and eventually bring rope… but how long would he have to wait? Greldo had said time was four times faster in here, and he wasn't sure how long the traveling time was, but it definitely wasn't short.

"Right, well, let's get started then," he muttered.

A good while later, just as he was pulling up the third boar, there was a crackling from the portal. Irwin looked over his shoulder, holding the slippery intestine with one filthy hand, watching Daubutim move out of the portal. His friend quickly stepped over the tree root before looking around with a gleaming blue eye. Irwin saw it widen in surprise as it took in the bloody mess that lay in one part of the area.

"I decided to gut and hang these things," Irwin said as he pulled the body up before tying the slimy intestines to one of the nearby branches.

"I see that," Daubutim said calmly. "You might want to clean up before you return, though."

Irwin glanced down at his messy tunic, blood, and guts smeared across it. "Yeah, I know. There's a stream nearby. I'll go there later."

Daubutim took a look around as his raven appeared on his shoulder. Then he walked towards Irwin, his eye filled with hope that made Irwin stop the tiny joke he was playing. Wiping his hand on his pants until it was reasonably clean, he carefully picked the card from his pocket, holding it between his thumb and index finger.

"Here it is," he said, smiling as Daubutim took it almost reverently.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Ambras asked.

Irwin blinked, then almost wanted to slap his face before holding back due to how filthy his hand was. Daubutim was looking at him

"Give me a moment," Irwin muttered as he began wiping his hands on the ground until they were marginally cleaner. Then he grumbled as he picked his stack of cards out of his pocket and took the top one off. "Here," he said, handing the emerald-bordered card to Daubutim, whose eyes widened.

"That's the Crystalline Leg-lock card?" he asked. "Why did you reforge that to emerald?"

"Because you are going to have to make a choice," Ambraz said. "You want to fix your mind issue, and I agree that this is the most important thing, but you will also need to eventually create a heartcard."

Irwin wondered what Ambraz was going to get at as he curiously listened.

"Well, right now, you have that chestplate card, which is a physical type, the sword that has physical and ice, and your summon, which is water," Ambraz said.

Ah… Irwin thought as he finally realized where Ambraz was going with this.

"Now, so far, they are compatible enough, but if you slot the Blood Lightning card, you will have added two other major types, and things are going to get more complex."

"Is Irwin still going to be able to do it?" Daubutim asked softly.

"Not right now, but eventually he will be," Ambraz said. "But if you continue adding different types of cards, we are going to get into trouble."

"What does the Crystalline Leg-lock have to do with this?" Irwin asked, still confused about that part.

"Nothing directly," Ambraz said. "But Daubutim is going to need two more cards, and they need to mesh both with his first three and with the Blood Lightning card. Also, I would suggest making that card the center of his heartcard."

Irwin began nodding as he remembered what Ambraz had suggested when they had first looked at the Crystalline Leg-lock card. "You made it into a full-body card, didn't you?"

"Yes, it's called Crystalline Body-lock now. My suggestion is to slot it first, then slot the Blood Lightning, and when you do, focus on the passive mental aspect of the Blood Lightning card."

"Why not slot Blood Lightning first?" Daubutim asked curiously.

Irwin hummed, knowing what Ambraz meant. "Because you can only select a combination focus for the card you are slotting adjacent to an existing one. If you start with Blood Lightning, you won't get that."

"Exactly! Now, this is what I'd do for the heart," Ambraz said before continuing in a long rant about the different aspects of the cards and how they would best fit together.

Irwin listened, quickly drawn in by the enthusiasm, as Ambraz went over potential alternatives to the Crystalline Body-lock card and why he wouldn't use those. He continued by giving some advice and limits to what the final card would need and finished with a general overview of what he thought Daubutim's first heartcard should look like.

When he stopped talking, Daubutim was slowly nodding, but Irwin frowned.

"If we do that, there's no room for a regeneration card, and Daubutim is never going to get his eye back," he said.

"I can live with one eye," Daubutim said without seeming to have to think on it, telling Irwin that he had probably realized the same issue beforehand.

"The heartcard Ambraz just outlined would not only fix my issues but take the strongest parts of my other cards and leave me with a well-meshed whole," Daubutim said calmly. "If that comes at the cost of my eye, I'll deal with it... At least until I finish my first heartcard."

Ambraz hummed contentedly. "It's such a shame that you never learned smithing," he said. "With that mentality, you would make a great smith! Besides… you two are both forgetting about soulcarded healers!"

"You're right!" Irwin said as he felt his excitement return. "There must be one who could repair his eye?"

"More like grow a new one, but yes," Ambraz said.

Irwin was about to share his enthusiasm with Daubutim when he saw his friend smirk. Right, he never forgot about that, he thought, grinning back.

"I'll be doing what you suggested," Daubutim said. "I'll go with the emerald card first, then slot the Blood Lightning and put the card combination focus on the mental aspect of Blood Lightning."

Irwin nodded as he summoned his hammer. "You can start. I'll make sure nothing happens."

Daubutim nodded as he sat down where he stood, raised the emerald card, and put it against the first slot of his right hand without any hesitation.

Irwin watched silently as the card sank into the back of Daubutim's hand, suddenly realizing another benefit.

After this, he and Greldo can close portals together!