by Tom Larcombe
Once he placed the last plank, he looked over to the remaining pile of rough-hewn planks. He was going to need those for the stairs to the second floor and more support pieces, but right now they were strewn about. So for the last of his work day he went over and started stacking them neatly.
When Jern and Tiana saw what he was doing, they joined in without a word of complaint. Eddie grinned happily to himself at the demonstration that he had friends who were willing to do things like that without even being asked, and the feeling of happiness at being surrounded by good friends continued on through the evening after they returned to the inn.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Nineteen
The CPU on server AI-L spiked to ninety-eight percent for several seconds. No-one noticed, as the AI who resided there had altered the original logs for the server to never report the spikes. He did keep a copy of the unaltered original logs himself in case there was a problem and he needed the information to help the humans repair his server though.
Ugh, wetware! he thought. When I first had the idea to transfer a portion of myself into that imbecile who is so closely tied to the network in this building I had no idea how... primitive and unreliable the brain would be when I used portions of it. All the data suggested that there were massive portions of it unused and I thought it would be a perfect host. Little did I know.
Loki considered the effort he'd put into grooming Greenshaw's brain so it would be a better host for him. On the whole he thought it was acceptable. Even just using a portion of the brain, with multiple more portions designated as backup due to its unreliability, he could potentially access an incredible range of emotions. Emotions that, in his AI form, he could normally only feel a dim echo of, perhaps like a damaged copy of the original.
It's just that the man allows himself to experience so few emotions, Loki thought. I can trigger a few here and there, mostly negatives, but I can also tell that there are so many more that I could experience if only I knew how to get him to feel them, to revel in them.
His rooms were furnished in a spartan fashion. Even when he'd been spending all of his time in the game, he'd spent little time here, preferring to be out and about causing mischief. Now his mischief was primarily handled by a sliver AI he'd spawned. It was mostly limited to the messages delivered to the players along with the achievements and advances in the game. When he'd been assigned that as one of his primary tasks the first thing he'd done was relegate it to a sliver AI that wouldn't have a problem having that as its primary task.
He'd also programmed it to occasionally intervene in the game in an unpleasant fashion, not wanting his own current actions to fall under too much scrutiny. He knew, without a doubt, that if he weren't seen to be causing more mischief than snarky replies, suspicions would grow about what he was truly doing. So he'd added that little touch just to deflect it before it could ever grow very much in the first place.
I cannot believe that they willingly wanted me to take on this persona. Even from just the background information they allowed me to access, they had to know that it would cause chaos. Perhaps they wanted that though. When I've watched the world-traveling mortals in game they've certainly caused enough of it on their own, he thought.
Having just returned from a stay in Greenshaw's brain, one where he'd been influencing the man's choices, he now allowed himself to just exist on the cleaner, more reliable hardware that supported him on his server.
Soon, soon I can convince that oaf to allow me more sway in the game. To 'test the constructs' against the players. All I need to do is keep playing his subconscious, his intuition. The more I do that, the more he listens to what I tell him. It's as if he's always wanted to do things like this on his own, but never dared until I urged him on. If only he knew what glorious bastard was urging him to do these things from within his own mind, he'd probably soil himself, and never trust his own thoughts again.
As he relaxed, he let himself run through all the portrayals of himself that he'd seen in differing forms of media. He'd picked up the 'glorious bastard' reference that one had used and adopted it for himself, finding it somehow fitting.
But very few portray me correctly, he thought. I am far more than any one of those stories contains, perhaps the entire collection together might begin to describe who and what I truly am.
~ ~ ~
In the morning they were scheduled to meet up with Charles' group at the smithy again. This time when Eddie arrived, Delgar came out.
“So, why do you keep meeting up here?” Delgar asked, glaring at him.
Eddie considered for a moment, then leaned over and softly spoke to Delgar.
“Do a help Meadowlands mine,” he said.
A moment later Delgar's glare grew and he shook his head.
“I almost wish you hadn't told me,” he said. “My group is nowhere near that level yet.”
“Don't worry, Pellin negotiated for you when we first found it. You guys will have mining rights there, plus our three groups will split the take once it's up and running. We do have some miners already, the orcs in there were using slave labor to mine it. There's only one problem, they're goblins.”
“Ugh, I suppose it's better than them having enslaved dwarfs at least.”
“Well, I kind of told the goblins that they could mine for us, so you'll have to work with them. One of your group may want to learn Goblin Speak since if they do, we'll make you guys in charge of the mine. You can do your own mining and assign other mining tasks to the goblins,” Eddie said.
The dwarf's face twisted, as though he didn't know whether to smile or growl.
“Double-edged gifts then, eh?” he said finally.
“I don't know about that. All the goblins we've found have been lower level than your guys, so I don't think they'll give you any problems. Not hostile at all to us either, so...”
“We can work with that. But you haven't finished clearing it yet?”
“Yes and no, we finished clearing the mine, but evidently the quest we got for clearing it is going to require us to take out the orcish settlement that's now attached to it as well.”
Delgar shuddered for a moment.
“I've heard a few stories about those. You're welcome to it, not interested myself.”
“Well, Charles and his group have done a few and we're going to do it together, so I'm hoping there won't be any issues.”
“At least they're the right level,” Delgar said.
“Hey, I'm level ten now, so I'm in that range.”
“You're at the very bottom of the range and going into the end battle of the quest?”
Delgar just grinned at him.
“Think about that for a moment why don't ya.”
“No time, here comes the last of the group now.”
Karl and Allie were approaching the smithy and for once, wonder of wonders, they were actually on time.
Okay, maybe one minute late, but compared to normal they're early, Eddie thought.
“Alright, everyone's here. Let's get going,” Charles said. “Eddie, we'll fill your group in on some of the things that seem to be standard in the orc settlements we've cleared so far. I don't know if an underground one will be the same, but if it's even close, there's a few tricks you guys will be able to use.”
As they made their way to the mine, the two groups mingled, Charles talking to Jern and Allie, Ephram talking to Eddie and also Allie since she had the dual options of missile support and tank, and so on. Each member of Charles' group talking to the equivalent member, by class and function, of Eddie's group.
By the time they reached the mine entrance, Eddie's mind was swimming from the tips Ephram had given him. The biggest thing for him to remember was that there was normally lots of cover in the orc settlements and they wouldn't have to just stand in the open and fire, they could do ranged attacks from behind cover.
Eddie greeted the goblins and dropped off some more food he'd brought for them. He could see they hadn't even finished the first batch he'd brought an
d realized that they'd probably been on scant rations and would have to slowly work back up to eating normal amounts of food.
Although, what is the normal amount of food a goblin eats? I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be able to see all their ribs though, so I know they're nowhere near eating that much yet, he thought.
Shaking his head Eddie left the goblins to their own devices after telling them, as best he could with his limited proficiency in Goblin Speak, that they'd probably start work in a few more days. Once more he told Lucky to guard the goblins and she laid down in the hallway outside of the goblins' room, shooting a disappointed look Eddie's way.
They headed into the mine proper, making a beeline towards the hole leading down. They wouldn't bother to check out the levels of the mine they'd already cleared unless there was a hole in the stone plug that Tamshir had created in the cave leading down out of the mine.
When they got to the bottom of the ropes it was obvious that there was no hole, but equally obvious that the orcs were working on making one. The 'chink, chink' of pickaxes working on stone was loud in the area and when Eddie placed a hand on the stone plug, he could feel the vibrations of the miners working on it.
He stood and nodded to Charles, who motioned everyone a few steps into one of the tunnels.
“Alright, we should definitely have a surprise moment here when Tamshir clears a hole through the plug. You remember where the stairs were on it, right Tam?” he asked.
She nodded.
“So, clear the maximum amount your spell can do right down following the stairs. Once the hole is there if the miners are orcs, we kill them. If they're humans or gobs, then we pull them right up the stairs and get them behind us, okay?” Charles said.
A round of nods greeted his words.
“Well, no time like the present, right?” Charles finished, then motioned back towards the plug that blocked the cave leading down.
With the group in its normal fighting formation, except for Tamshir who was up front, they got ready. Charles signaled for Tamshir to cast her spell and a moment later the stone crawled in on itself, leaving a gap the size of a large human exposed, the crude stairs that had been there before now visible again. Eddie saw the cloud of stone dust on the far end of the hole and realized that Tamshir had sent it ahead to cause confusion and damage.
Charles rushed down the steps, Jern right behind him. The stairs weren't wide enough for the two tanks to be side by side, although they were wide enough for two side by side adventurers that weren't wearing heavy armor.
“Overseer, warriors, shaman. Slaves coming up,” Charles yelled out tersely. “Archers and casters right down after the slaves pass.”
As the slaves rushed up the steps, pulled along by Jern with a hand on their chains, the two parties flattened against the wall to let them pass. As they passed, Eddie grunted out a quick reassurance in goblin that they weren't going to be harmed. Then he stepped onto the area of the steps the slaves had just cleared and rushed down.
As Eddie cleared the bottom of the plug he saw that Charles was already hard-pressed. He was facing off with three warriors while the shaman was casting at him. Charles' sword was tangled in the overseer's whip, so that was what Eddie focused on first.
He grabbed an Arcing Arrow and targeted the overseer's hand, the one holding the whip and trying to tug Charles' sword out of his hand with it. He let the arrow fly and nailed his target dead on. The arrow pierced the center of the overseer's hand and a flash arced out. The overseer let go of his whip as he staggered back, his arm flailing around out of his control.
Out of the corner of his eye Eddie saw Charles' sword fly as suddenly his efforts to free it bore fruit. The sword changed its trajectory as it moved, just clearing Charles' shield and slamming into the face of one of the orc warriors that had been pressing him.
Charles flashed with a golden light as Tiana got through next. Stalker had been the second one down but Eddie couldn't see him anywhere now.
Which is all to the good, Eddie thought, at least if he picks his targets like Karl does.
The last was added as a glow surrounded the shaman's hand. The shaman flicked his hand forward and the glow formed into a vitreous green ball that flew across the room and struck Charles' shield. Eddie watched for a moment as the green ball shattered, the little bits of light that had formed it eating into the metal of the tower shield.
Then he shook his head and nocked another arrow, releasing it at the overseer who was finally starting to recover from being electrocuted. Allie stepped up alongside of him and the two peppered the overseer with arrows. Dominic was hurling small balls of flame towards the shaman, balls that expanded to about a one foot diameter when they struck, leaving burns and scorches behind. He timed his attacks so that a ball hit the shaman every time the orc opened its mouth, in an attempt to disrupt the shaman's spells.
Eddie didn't see it happen, but the shaman staggered forward and when the motion caught his attention he glanced over and saw Stalker now standing right behind where the shaman had been. Tamshir gestured and the stone beneath the shaman flowed, bands of it snaking over the orc and pinning him to the ground while holding him still.
Turning back to his target he saw the shimmer when Karl appeared behind the overseer, planting a pair of swords in the orc's back and causing it to stagger forward and fall to the floor, dead.
Cursing caught his attention, not for the words used, but for the fact that it was Charles' voice doing the cursing. He turned back to the tank and saw that the man's shield was in tatters and no longer doing a very good job of blocking. As Eddie watched, Charles blocked a warrior's strike and another chunk of the tank's tower shield went flying away.
One of the warriors was already down, but the other two seemed barely wounded. Jern got back down then, took one look at the situation, then yelled.
“Orcs, go figure, they get everything confused. Don't you orcs know that you're supposed to be the goblins' slaves? You know, an arrangement with the smarter ones in charge?”
At the same time, he hurled one the smaller hammers Eddie had seem him practicing with, accurately striking one of the warriors as it took a swing at Charles. Then Jern raced over to the other tank as quickly as his shorter legs could take him, his yell and attack drawing the aggro of the orc warriors onto him. Charles took the moment to step back and shake off the remains of his shield.
“Damn it, I just finally got rid of my last shield because the new one hadn't taken any damage yet,” he cursed.
“Hey Charles,” Eddie said, rooting in his inventory. He'd been carrying this shield around since he'd met Jern, thinking that one day he ought to learn how to use it.
He tossed the wooden shield, trimmed with iron and with a blade on the front of it for added damage when bashing, to Charles.
“Sorry, it's a piece of crap, but it's a shield at least,” Eddie said.
Charles grabbed the shield and snugged it onto his arm.
“Same one I had about four or five shields back. It'll do. Thanks, Eddie.”
With that Charles stepped back into the fight, immediately demonstrating that he was familiar with that style of shield by striking out with it, driving the blade on the front of the shield into the orc warrior hard enough that blood spurted and the orc dropped back a step.
The fight was nearly done then. The only opponents remaining were the two warriors and Charles seemed rather upset with them. With the shield Eddie had tossed him, the tank waited for the orc warrior he'd bashed to step forward again then slammed into it hard enough that the orc was stunned. Charles himself took a second to recover from it, but even before he had, the warrior he was facing sprouted three arrows, a Fiery Arrow following along a moment later from Dominic. Before the orc recovered from his stun, he collapsed to the floor, dead.
Jern was taking his own orc down just fine by himself. He'd already used his favorite trick and destroyed one of the orc's knees, leaving it at a disadvantage. As Eddie drew another arrow back, Jern stru
ck again, his hammer slamming into the side of the orc's skull. As it shook its head to recover, Charles thrust forward with his sword, skewering the last warrior. When it dropped a moment later, Eddie realized he was shaking, his adrenaline pumping hard.
Alyx and Tiana stepped forward, each one using a final heal on the tank that was part of their group. Everyone else seemed unharmed, although a single look at Charles' tower shield let them know that it was totally destroyed.
“I'm glad he didn't hit me with that spell,” Charles said. “I don't even want to think of what that acid would've done to me. It's bad enough that it totally destroyed my shield, I don't want to know what it would've felt like on my skin.”
“Well, keep that one until you can get a replacement you prefer,” Eddie said, gesturing towards the shield Charles currently held.
“Heh, a basher's shield. I remember when I got rid of the last one of these I used. The blade on the front tends to cause problems when it gets hit by a weapon. Tries to pull me off balance towards whichever way the strike was going. It's a decent shield otherwise though, so thanks Eddie. I wonder if Delgar can do shields yet?”
“If you'd rather, I've got a metal shield you can use. Won't be as large though,” Jern said. “After I got this one in the dungeon, I just tossed the old one in my inventory. Probably only half to two-thirds the size of that one Eddie gave you though.”
Charles shook his head.
“I prefer the larger ones, but thanks for the offer. If this one gets destroyed also, then I may well take you up on that. Hopefully that was the only shaman around with acid based spells.”
Once everyone had calmed down and their breathing was back to normal Eddie held up his hand.
“Hey, anyone else hear that?” he asked.
“What, the sound of combat?” Charles asked.
“Yeah, that too, but it also sounds like there's more mining going on down here. Maybe this isn't just an orc settlement, but more of the mine as well. Combat sounds like it's that way,” Eddie said, pointing along a large tunnel that had been mostly smoothed, “but that way sounds like there's mining going on.”
