The Crafter's Darkness: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 4) by Jonathan Brooks (e book reading free txt) 📕

so the only real advantage that she could give them was the Energy Orbs they had embedded in their palms and the constructs they used to help them cull.  That was practically nothing as far as Sandra was concerned, and she was perfectly fine with that.  It was just another thing that she couldn’t use her talents in crafting to assist and improve upon their fighting prowess.

The Orcs, though, were coming to her with practically nothing.  While they technically had a preferred weapon with the sword, she had a feeling that preference came from the lack of choice.  A sword was one of the easiest metal weapons a Blacksmith could create, especially when they didn’t have much in the way of skill; all it took was sharpening a relatively flat piece of some sort of metal and adding a spot to grip it and there you go!  None of the other elements were technically needed, and that appeared to be the thought behind the horrible iron swords that they all carried, because they looked to be little more than sharpened hunks of rusty iron imperfectly forged and ready to shatter if the Orcs swung them too hard.  She was honestly embarrassed to look at them.

The main problem with Orcs using primarily swords was oddly enough their intense strength. While overwhelming strength should be a great asset for a warrior, it didn’t really translate well with swords.  From what she had seen of Razochek and the Warband that had attacked her dungeon, many of them relied on natural or elemental energy-enhanced strength to beat on their opponents with powerful strikes; swords, while they could be used to chop an enemy to pieces, were better used to slice and stab.  The constant abuse of using the swords like some sort of sharp-edged club – while undoubtedly effective – was likely the real reason that many of their weapons broke so often.  Though, when she looked at the state of their weapons, the crafting process probably had a lot to do with it as well.

Winxa, in your opinion, how much more effective would an Orc be with something like a spiked mace? 

The Dungeon Fairy hesitated for a moment before answering, likely due to the seemingly random question.  “Well, I think they would lose the advantage of reach compared to the swords they use now, but their greater strength would probably be better utilized with a blunt weapon.  Why not the warhammers your Apes use?”

I thought of that, but the Orcs are so much more versatile than the Apes and I don’t want to limit them.  I’m trying to figure out the perfect weapon for them all to use and I’m not sure what would be suitable for them.

“Are you limited to just one weapon?  I’m relatively confident that I’ve seen that they don’t just enhance their strength, but they can also speed themselves up and make their skin more durable as well.  I’m sure there are quite a few things they can do that you haven’t even seen before, so maybe it would be wise to give them a choice,” Winxa said smartly.  “Or even choices; they are pretty strong, as you know, and could probably carry more than one weapon.”

It was great advice, and thankfully, since it reflected things that Sandra knew but had temporarily forgotten about, it didn’t trigger the whole “don’t give advice” thing that might kill the Fairy.  So that was what she did during the night; the Dungeon Core spent the night crafting Steel or Titanium weapons of all different kinds, their material dependent on what it was.

For many of the blunt weapons like maces, morning stars, warhammers, and even spiked clubs, she made them completely out of Steel because weight usually equaled damage, so it was more important for them to be made out of the heavier metal.  The main reason her Apes used Titanium Warhammers was because they held up better over time and the lighter weight of them meant that the constructs could swing them faster, but from what she had seen the Orcs could be even stronger than them when they used their elemental energy, so heavier was better.

For a variety of bladed weapons, including battleaxes, hand axes, spears, halberds, knives, and—yes, she wanted to give them the option—swords, she used Titanium because finesse was better used with them than brute force.  However, she also added a variety of size choices to each type, so they might want to choose something like a greatsword that they could use with both hands, and they could even choose to dual-wield short swords.

Then there were some more exotic weapons like sickles, flails, tridents, dual-bladed swords, metal staffs, and even a pair of spike-studded gauntlets that she had fun designing with the aid of a leather glove and adding onto it.  She didn’t go overboard or anything, because having 50-plus weapon choices seemed perfectly reasonable.  She even put out ranged weapons like bows and slings; while she didn’t think the Orcs were particularly suited to those kinds of weapons, if they wanted them, she would provide.

After she had crafted examples of each – though she cheated and just brought out a third of them that she already had inside of her storage and display room – she decided to enchant them.  Some were going to be a little difficult to easily put some Energy Orbs within them, but she figured she’d make do somehow.  It could be that she wouldn’t be able to enchant some things with Energy Orbs and just have them be “normal” enchantments filled with energy, but she would decide on those when it came to it.

Either way, the only enchantment she placed on them for the moment was a sequence of Earth-based Strengthen runes powered by the Earth elemental energy of her Unstable Shapeshifters.  Sandra didn’t want to spend the time figuring out how to place some Energy Orbs inside