Irwin's Journey - The Cardsmith

Daubutim stood on the reshaped edge that bordered the underground lake. Whispered voices came from all around him as stoneshapers shaped the rock, and the teleporters brought in more people and woodshapers to work it.

In front of him, a trio of stoneshapers was using their cards to reinforce the platform they had created below the portal. A staircase led up to it, and they were now working to connect it to the ceiling to stabilize the construction. Dozens of guards and rangers stood everywhere, ready in case something dangerous came through the portal.

Footsteps came from behind, and a guard captain stepped up beside him.

"Lord Daubutim, the entrance tower has been created, and Stoneshaper Jahlom and the others are now working on the smaller towers on the edges of the glen. Due to the sheer amount of raw materials, he thinks they could finish within a week."

"Very good. Go to the teleporters and order one to head to Portal Keep. They are to instruct Basil that he needs to prepare things for a new town."

"Right away," the guard captain said, turning around and rushing off.

Daubutim frowned as he looked at the portal.

You have been in there for hours now. Some news would be good!

He remained where he stood for another sixteen minutes when the portal flashed, and a single figure stopped on the stone floor. Nasar seemed only momentarily surprised as he looked around. As soon as he spotted Daubutim, he ran down the stairs.

Daubutim waited where he stood, trying to radiate calm even though he would have preferred running to the man and shaking him for news.

When Nasar reached him, Daubutim scanned him quickly. The man stank so much of smoke and ash he would almost believe he'd been rolling inside a forge. A dark layer of soot covered his sliced-apart leather armor, though he walked fine, and there was little sign of blood.

"Lord Daubutim," Nasar said as he nodded. "Everything is safe on the other side of the portal. Smith… Smith Irwin has cleared out the hive, and Greldo and Itweeg are scouting around to make sure no stragglers made it out."

Daubutim was surprised by Nasar's hesitation. The man rarely showed that much emotion, and if he did now, that meant Irwin had done something insane or stupid. Perhaps both.

"Do we have more information on the area directly around the portal?" Daubutim asked.

"The portal hovers a few hundred feet above the nearest large branch in the canopy of a tree. Greldo says that the top of it is close to a thousand feet, and the ground below is covered in a dense jungle. Itweeg scanned it, and he said that it is filled with beasts and monsters. There are more towering trees in the distance, and Greldo scouted the nearest one, which is a few miles away. He says it has a similar hive as the one Ir- Smith Irwin cleared."

What did you do, Irwin? Daubutim thought as he quickly decided on the best course of action.

"Alright. Get some rest. I will send more guards and rangers there, and Itweeg will be returned as soon as he can," Daubutim said.

Nasar didn't move but put his hand in his pocket. "I was asked to hand these to you when I saw you," Nasar said as he removed a stack of cards.

Daubutim accepted the cards, hiding his surprise as he quickly counted them. Noting they were all yellow or green bordered.

Seventeen cards?

"These are just the rare and… topaz and emerald cards, I mean," Nazar said, staring at the cards with a mixture of disbelief and desire. "Smith Irwin said they should be fine to be used as is. He kept the other cards and said he'd be reforging them when he had the time."

Daubutim looked up.

"How many lower-rank cards dropped?"

"I don't know, my lord. Greldo and Smith Irwin were the ones gathering. From what I saw, at least ten times as many?"

Daubutim put the cards in his pocket to hide his shock. "You did a good job, Nazar. Head back and get some rest. I would not be surprised if we need you to scout another portal in the near future."

"Yes, Lord Daubutim," Nazar said, bobbing his head before walking away.

Daubutim waited till he was gone before heading to one of the ranger captains.

"Get the four squads ready. We will go through the portal in a minute. Prepare to appear mid-air."

The ranger nodded and began calling others over while Daubutim made his way up the stairs toward the portal.

A short while later, a group of rangers and woodshapers had formed around him. Daubutim watched as ranger after ranger jumped through the portal until only the woodshapers remained.

Daubutim walked to the portal and looked behind. "Wait a few minutes before coming through."

One of the woodshapers, a slender woman with hair held together by a vine still vibrant with life, stepped forward. "Yes, Lord Daubutim," she said before turning to the others. "I'll go first. Give me a moment to move some branches below the portal to create a platform."

Daubutim nodded as he stepped through the portal. The world turned black for almost three seconds. Then he was falling, a suffocating heat and moisture making it more difficult to breathe.

We will need to send people with the correct cards here, he thought, scanning his surroundings.

Small flecks of ash were twirling everywhere, but he quickly spotted Irwin, Greldo, and some of the rangers standing on a branch. It was enormous, large enough for a cart to move across and still have space for pedestrians.

Daubutim flexed his card, changing into a bolt of lightning that shot toward them. As he landed on the ground, the smell of burned wood and something sharper filled his nostrils. He looked around, then up. A giant blackened husk sat against the side of the trunk. A massive fire seemed to have run rampant, burning or melting away large swathes of it and scorching the wood around it.

"I did tell him he needs to stop burning down everything he doesn't like," Greldo said with a snort. "Though, I do think we have already found the weakness of this world. Nothing seems to like fire much!"

--

Irwin quietly looked around as Greldo and Daubutim discussed what had happened.

"So these insects are the main predator?" Daubutim asked.

"It looks like it. There were thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of insects in that nest and around, and all of them are carnivores," Greldo said before looking down in distaste.

"There are bones all across the bottom of this tree and rooms filled with bodies in that thing up there," Greldo said as he pointed at the now blackened and burned-out nest. "Coal is still moving around inside, finding the occasional straggler and taking care of it."

Daubutim didn't respond but looked at where the woodshapers had started, forcing a few of the less monstrous branches to move below the portal. They would intertwine them into a floor on which they could build the first rudimentary buildings.

"How many quartz and amethyst cards did you find?" Daubutim asked.

"Three hundred and twenty-one," Irwin said.

He hesitated if he should tell Daubutim about the drop from the queen, then decided it wouldn't matter. He still wasn't sure what to do with it, and it definitely needed some sideways reforging before being truly useable. If that failed, which it was likely to do…

"Nazar spoke of tens of thousands of insects?"

"Well, something like that," Irwin said. "I'd say roughly between ten and twenty thousand?"

Daubutim frowned, and Irwin knew his friend wanted exact numbers. Sadly for him, Irwin and the rest simply weren't able to count that fast and keep track of it all.

"Let's go with twenty thousand," Daubutim said as his eyes swirled. "That would be three-hundred and thirty-eight cards-"

"Well, there might be more," Greldo interrupted. "We searched a lot, but that place is massive, and there's a chance there were rooms we didn't find."

Daubutim sighed.

"Alright. I'll try to determine the drop rate when we clear the place, then," he said.

"I can tell you already that it is too high," Ambraz said. "For such a stable world, the soulskills should just rapidly return to the ambient soulforce if something is killed. Having so many crystalize is not normal."

Daubutim nodded, looking at the hive, seeming deep in thought. "Do you have any idea what could account for the increase?"

"No, do I look like a librarian?" Ambraz said, snorting. "It could be something specific to this world or even these creatures. There's barely any rank five, let alone rank six worlds on this branch. Who knows, maybe it's normal for this to happen in higher-ranking worlds!"

Daubutim crossed his arms, and Irwin could see the barely held annoyance at the lack of knowledge.

"When we leave, I'll be sure to find out everything I can about rank-five and above worlds," he said, hastily adding. "Without drawing any attention, of course!"

Daubutim hesitated, then looked at him. "Find a world with a library door and ask for Gelwin. If he is still there and alive, he will be able to tell us. Also, ask him for as many books as he can miss and that you can safely bring in your soulscape."

Irwin could already feel the burden of carrying all that stuff in his soulscape, but he nodded. Daubutim was right, and if he could get his friend a library worth of books, he could read it and use it to everyone's benefit.

"I'll bring as many as I can," he said.

A gleam came to Daubutim's eyes, and Irwin knew he was already looking forward to it. He waited for a bit, then said something he'd been thinking about while they had been waiting.

"I don't think those rabbits came from here."

"Agreed," Daubutim said with a nod. "Beyond that, they very likely couldn't have reached this portal. This doesn't look like the correct surroundings for them. I asked Boohm to cut open the large rabbits to see what they have been eating, and some of the rangers are exploring the lake. I expect that we will find remains of insects."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"You think the insects did go through the portal and that the rabbits ate them?" Greldo asked.

"Yes. It would be logical to assume they went through, but none ever came back because the rabbits ate them all. The insects must have been more intelligent than they seemed if they refrained from sending through more," Daubutim said. "That said, they did stay. I would assume that they remained around the portal because of the increased ambient soulforce."

"You are right," Ambraz said from his perch on Irwin's shoulder. "Many soulskilled beings do that because they grow faster. It wouldn't surprise me if this hive was much larger than the others we will find because of that."

They continued chatting until the platform was done at which point they moved ontop of it. More rangers and some guards were starting to come through the portal and after a while, Irwin turned to Daubutim.

"Although I'd love to explore this world, I think it's best that I go back and see that there aren't any more portals or dangerous monsters on our new homeworld," he said.

"That would be for the best," Daubutim said before hesitating. "Though I would suggest you wash up and rest a bit before you go back out.

"Ah, don't worry. We will be fine," Greldo said as he slapped Daubutim on the shoulder. "Perhaps you should come with us? You've been doing nothing but working. A bit of relaxed walking through the forests would do you good."

Irwin was surprised to see Daubutim hesitate for a brief second before shaking his head.

"No. You two head out. I need to make sure things here get properly set up before alerting Bron and the others of what has happened. Then we need to get scouts out around the rivers and coasts checking for those rabbits. Also… do either of you want to come up with a name for them?"

Irwin wasn't sure what to say, but Greldo laughed, nodding excitedly.

"Just call them Ravenous Rabbits! That gets the point across?"

Irwin grimaced while Daubutim let out a weary sigh.

"If we can't come up with something else, we will go with that," he said, non-committedly.

Greldo didn't seem to care about their lack of enthusiasm, instead turning to Irwin.

"Alright, let's head back to the real world and see if there are more portals!"

This is also a real world, Irwin thought, but he didn't say anything as he nodded to Daubutim and followed Greldo.

--

Half a day later, washed and dozens of miles away from the portal, Irwin sat near a small fire.

They were back in The Verdant Isles, and behind them was another of the towers. Greldo was slowly turning a spit around, the smell of the meat filling the small clearing they were in.

A loud yawn came from Coal as he watched the meat with hungry eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. It's almost done," Gredo said. "I still don't understand how you got a taste for roasted meat. You do know you're supposed to eat it raw?"

Coal snorted, probably saying something extra as Greldo laughed.

A short while later, Greldo handed Coal half of the meat before cutting off slices for Irwin and himself.

"That was some portal world," Greldo said as he began chewing.

Irwin took a bit from his own piece, savoring the simple taste of unspecified, slightly burned meat.

"Yes. I hope that world isn't all that dangerous," Irwin said. "If it is, only the strongest carded can go there to hunt."

Greldo nodded as he continued chewing.

"Though, it's great that we have found another world where we can find cards," Irwin added after a bit. "I do wonder why there were that many drops."

"Kid, there's no sense in worrying about it now. Perhaps it was just a lucky haul! You did clear out an entire hive of those things," Ambraz said. "Just don't go and clear out too many. We have no idea about the ecology of that world, and wiping out too many of those insects might cause a nasty imbalance among the creatures and predators."

"I won't," Irwin said quickly, recalling the unending sound of insects popping as the fire wrapped around them. He lowered his meat, suddenly not feeling all that hungry anymore. He wasn't feeling bad about what he'd done- they needed to spread out across more worlds and use the resources available.

"Unless we decide to block and leave all those adjacent worlds, there's no way we won't be doing more like that," Greldo said softly, watching him as he nibbled his meat.

"I know," Irwin said, staring down at his own. "I just wish there was a better way."

"Find a way to create cards from ambient soulforce then," Greldo said. "How far are you with that anyway?"

Irwin hesitated, then threw his meat to Coal, who had been side-eyeing him.

"I can move the ambient soulforce with my guitar," Irwin said.

He summoned the instrument in his hand, strumming the strings. The plentiful ambient soulforce around him almost vibrated as the Soulstrum Guitar caused both a sound and a resonance. Irwin began softly playing a simple tune that he'd learned from the Galadin sheets, one he'd played many times already, and watched the soulforce as he spoke.

"As I play, the soulforce around us moves and ripples," he said, changing the rhythm and improvising the next bit into something else. "And I can make it move faster or slower, even slightly different."

He changed the tune again, speeding it up and increasing the volume, watching and hearing the ambient soulforce resonate along softly.

"But no matter what I try, I can't pull it toward a spot so I could try and crystalize it," he said as he slowed the tune down, watching the ambient soulforce resonate slightly.

"Perhaps you should get a card that can pull soulforce into your soulscape?" Greldo asked as he got up and sliced off some more meat, throwing another bit to Coal.

"There's none," Irwin said, only for Ambraz to humm softly. "Or is there?" Irwin asked, suddenly interested.

Ambraz flew from his shoulder and began flying in chaotic circles, reminiscent of something pacing around as he thought. Irwin watched quietly, knowing the Ganvil was thinking about something. As he waited, his fingers slowly strummed the guitar, playing some songs and melodies.

It took a while before Ambraz finally landed on his shoulder.

"I never thought that old rustbucket's lessons would come in helpful one day," he muttered before focusing on Irwin. "So, there aren't any cards that I know of that can pull in soulforce in such a way that it would be useful. At least, not be in the quantities you would need. Now, you might be able to use your own soulforce sometime in the future, but that won't help for now as you would need at least a few more soulcards and ample practice. Besides, even then, you will be able to make no more than a few cards a week. However, do you remember when we talked about rare metals with Hou'dor?"

Irwin lowered the guitar to his knee and nodded, remembering that Hou'dor had suggested finding something that supposedly was a myth… "Anamalgi?" he tried.

Greldo grinned, mimicking speaking and stumbling.

"Anamalliage," Ambraz corrected before letting out a derisive snort. "No, that's just something from legends. Even if it exists, it wouldn't help you either. No, I mean Aurorium. It's as rare as Purperion and Gneisan Ore, but it has a very interesting property. It slowly fills up with the surrounding soulforce. Now, before you get excited, normally, this isn't that much. Perhaps a percent of what even the simplest quartz card would need, but…"

Irwin didn't say anything until he realized Ambraz was waiting for him to ask. With a weary grin, he shared a look with Greldo before asking.

"But you know of a way to increase it?" he said.

"The higher the ambient soulforce saturation, the more soulforce the Aurorium can contain. So, if you could increase the ambient soulforce by a hundred times, you might be able to draw in enough soulforce into the metal to have what you would need to make a card."

Irwin's mind jolted. "You are thinking about boosting it like we did on the ship with Hou'dor!"

"Well, that wouldn't be nearly enough," Ambraz said. "I was more thinking about something else… remember when you sang with those Chaos Whales, and the soulforce increased so much that your soullake was actually forcefully expanded?"

"Wait, that's what happened?" Irwin asked, sitting up straight as he recalled the scene that was etched in his memory.

"Yes, or something very close to it," Ambraz said. "What we would need to do is find Aurorium, find Chaos Whales, and fill the Aurorium."

Irwin nodded as he pictured having metal so full of soulforce it could rival a card. He could reforge metal and cards. Perhaps he could create a mold of some sort?

"Not to ruin your plans," Greldo said from the sidelines. "But if you want to make cards so you don't have to go through the hassle of hunting for them, wouldn't having to have some incredibly rare mineral and needing to find the Chaos Whales kind of defy the point? Isn't it easier to just buy them?"

Irwin's fingers pulled on the strings as he realized Greldo was right. As much as he wanted to make cards from ambient soulforce, if he had to rely on something this rare, what use was it? Even if he got everything he needed, then what? He could make one card or perhaps a few. That wouldn't help.

"Normally, I'd agree with you," Ambraz said. "But there's one thing you don't know. Aurorium is only found in the chaotic space beyond the Portal Gallery barriers, and all of it comes from when small storms pierce those barriers. Right now, with such a massive branch-spanning storm, there should be enough to find."

"Fair enough, but we didn't find any during our trip here," Greldo said as he bit off some more meat. "But say we find a boatload of it and fill it because there's Chaos Whales around now. This storm isn't going to last forever."

"We don't need it to last forever," Ambraz said, a wide grin on his face. "You see, after Aurorium is primed to hold a certain amount of soulforce, according to what I have had to learn, it will retain the ability for a very long time. Decades before it degrades by any noticeable amount."

"So if we can force fill it with the help of Chaos Whales, we can then refill it again, just more slowly?" Irwin said.

"If the lore is correct, it should actually pull in soulforce of its own accord until it is refilled to its previous max," Ambraz said. "From what I read, this is actually seen as detrimental, and people usually leave them in world shards because a sufficiently large piece of Aurorium ore could pull in enough ambient soulforce to destabilize weaker worlds."

"But that wouldn't be a problem here?" Irwin said as he looked around at the overabundance of ambient soulforce.

"No. Unless we find an entire mountain, and even then, it would just drain the soulforce for a few years before it saturates and the ambient soulforce replenishes. The raw amount of soulforce in a rank six world is not something to scoff at."

"Shouldn't someone have already attempted this?" Irwin asked after thinking about it for a bit.

"Probably, but they would have required some things they probably didn't have," Ambraz said, sounding smug. "An absolutely fantastic Ganvil with the ability to manipulate vast quantities of soulforce, a smith who could actually reforge the metal and create the handcard, and -not in the least- a large enough chunk of Aurorium filled to such vast levels as would be required to make cards."

Ambraz hummed contently.

Greldo laughed, shaking his head. "As much as I enjoy listening to your boasting, you are making it more difficult than it needs to be. I bet nobody tried it because there's simply no reason to! I mean, there are cards everywhere, and just selling that Aurorium would probably earn you enough soulshards to just buy any card you would want."

Ambraz began spluttering while Greldo laughed.

Irwin ignored them both as he thought about what Ambraz had told him.

Even if I could only create a few handcards with this method if I can see how creating a heartcard from ambient soulforce works, actually do it like this, I might be able to find another, easier way, Irwin thought.

His mind wandered for a bit while Greldo and Ambraz kept talking when his eyes glanced to his hands. The coppery, golden gleam of his metal skin reflected the light of the fire, and as he looked at his, he shot up.

"What-" Ambraz blurted, flung from Irwin's shoulder. "Kid?"

Greldo was on his feet, daggers in his hands while he scanned the surroundings.

Only Coal remained where he was.

"Ambraz… is it possible to gain a card that is of the Aurorium type?" Irwin asked. "Something that could give the ability to suck in soulforce-"

"No card with that type has ever been found or made," Ambraz said.

"But new card types are found all the time, new ones added to the books yearly," Irwin said, not willing to give up. "If we can get a card type like that, and I could use it to forge another heartcard, I could draw in the soulforce needed to reforge the cards… and after turning it into a soulcard, I could use my own soulforce to eventually craft more of those cards!"

Ambraz hummed thoughtfully. "Those are a lot of ifs, kid. You are right, but I'd say let's go with the already difficult plan first. If we do run into a card with that type, we will have plenty of time to decide."

Irwin nodded, sitting back down, his sudden excitement rapidly fading as he knew Ambraz was right.

Still, if we do find one, a tiny part of him thought.

"Say… talking about cards. What are you going to do with the one you found from the queen?"

Irwin blinked, then put his hand in his jerkin, pulling out a ruby rank, red-bordered card. It was the only one he had on him, with the rest stored in his soulscape for now. The card showed an image of a large insect with blade-like limbs, large bulbous eyes, and a sleek, shell-covered body. Its hind legs were thicker than those of any praying mantis, but it was still the insect that most closely resembled it.

"A ruby rank summoning card of an insect," Irwin muttered.

"One that has the tendency to consume anything it sees," Ambraz snorted. "If you hand that to someone, the person is likely to get eaten by its own summon."

"Which is why we will be reforging it sideways until it becomes something useful," Irwin muttered.

“Right,” Greldo said. "Coal just said that whoever gets it better keep it far from him, or he'll eat it."

Coal snorted, and Irwin was pretty sure he'd not said anything like that. After a moment, he pocketed the card and continued playing on his guitar.

"That's for later," he said. "For now, we will just have to continue and see if there are more portals here."

"Good, because I'm not interested in trying to sleep while you keep pounding metal," Greldo said before laughing loudly.

Irwin snorted, focused on his guitar, and played a playful but very loud riff, which made Greldo flinch as he covered his ears.

The rest of the evening passed in friendly banter and music, with Irwin even managing to eat a bit more without feeling sick.