((that's an idea. We do have one artifact hammer... Anyway, another quick update, because I forgot to introduce Ferrus!))
Oceanbridge Has a Cards Night:
Turk, Nerev, Kogut, and the new blacksmith Ferrus were sitting around a table near the smelters, setting up for the weekly metalsmith card game, when Person came down the stairs.
Kogut waved. “Here he is, the former mayor, himself. Pull up a chair, Person, and we’ll deal you in.”
“No time.” Person looked annoyed. “Like you said, we’ve got a new mayor, and he’s a man with plans.” He pulled a roll of paper out of his apron and dropped it on the table. “Mandate. Three black bronze items.”
Turk stared. “Black bronze? Have we even got any black bronze?”
Person shrugged. “Aban will probably know that. Either way, it’s up to us to fulfill his wishes. Shall we draw straws to see who gets stuck with the job?”
“Better yet”, Kogut said “We’ll deal cards.” He shuffled the deck (a bit difficult, as the cards were made out of sheets of limestone, but Kogut was an old pro) and dealt out five cards to each of them.
“Let’s see... that’s a pair of Clouds for Nerev, a Spirit of Flame high for Ferrus, a run of Severed Hands for Person, a pair of Forgotten Beasts for Turk, and I’ve got... a Rakust the Terrible, Striking Down a Dwarf high. Looks like you lose, Ferrus. Sorry.”
“Wait, I thought Spirit of Flame was higher than Rakust... right?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Kogut gathered up the cards and began shuffling again. “I do wonder if we really should have based the card values off of Aussie Evil’s engravings. Too late now, I guess.” He dealt out another hand. Ferrus grumbled and began the long walk up to the storeroom.
.................................................
On his way up the the storerooms, Ferrus and a fish dissector were attacked by something they could only describe as “a flying head, but see, it looked
hungry”.
Bayar was fortunately on hand to dispatch the thing, and crushed it into an unrecognizable pulp, leaving little clue as to what it actually was.
Ferrus: