by Tom Larcombe
“Think of it like your thief popping up for a backstab on whoever is in charge of the opposing force,” Karl said. “It just makes for lots of disruption among the enemy forces.”
“Which I was aware of,” Charles said, “but entire groups coming in on the flank or the rear are a magnitude more effective than a single assassination.”
Karl shrugged.
“Won't argue, just pointing out the similarities. Although that does indicate that cooperation between groups is a much better thing than people seem to think. Awesome experience still, would've been even without that overwhelming odds thing.”
“And what was that?” Eddie asked. “Ever seen that one before?”
Charles shook his head, but looked pointedly at Eddie.
“Come on, this can't all be my fault, you know that, right?” Eddie asked.
“Eddie, I've seen so many weird things around you now that I'm starting to think weird is your normal,” Charles said.
“Well, be that as it may. I've got to figure out where to put the stats from my last level gain. Hey, Karl, I'm level fourteen now.”
Karl just growled at him before throwing a mock punch at his shoulder.
“I just knew I should've stayed resigned to you being higher level than me, but no, I had to think I had a chance,” Karl said.
Then he lifted his mug and drained his drink.
“But on that note, it's dinner time,” Karl said.
He left the table to join Allie, Jern, and Tiana at the table holding platters of food.
“Where you putting them? As a matter of fact, what's your build like anyhow?” Charles asked.
“Well, I had a weird start, but I did start with a really high agility. So I've been putting at least one point into that each level. It's up to a thirty right now,” Eddie said. “Aside from that, wisdom is my highest. It affects my spells as a Ranger. That's at a nineteen. Everything else is in the mid-teens except for Charisma. That's still a twelve and only that high because I raised it some to run the inn and once again because I have so many employees.”
“Well, I'm not trying to be critical here, but it sounds like you're well set for your bow, but not so much for your sword. If you want my opinion, I'd work on your strength and heartiness for a bit. Definitely keep pumping your agility though, you aren't far behind Stalker on that one and he's about four or five levels ahead of you. Probably five after today.”
“I know I'll need more intelligence and wisdom at some point though. They affect mana regen and wisdom directly affects some of my spells. At least I think I remember that, maybe not.”
“You'll want more wisdom sooner or later. The highest tier of spells you'll be able to achieve as a ranger is dictated by your wisdom. You'll never get the top couple of tiers, that's reserved for priest types and their sub-classes, but you'll need more wisdom points to get higher tiers. I think it's twenty wisdom for tier five, twenty-five wisdom for tier six, and thirty for tier seven spells. At least that's what it is for Paladin, I'm assuming Ranger is similar.”
“Then I'd better put one of these points into wisdom this level then. I get tier five next level, I think,” Eddie said.
“Your call, of course. Probably that's a good idea though. But do consider boosting your melee capability when you can. I know Jern's a good tank, but he's lower level than the rest of your party and from what I overheard Allie hates tanking. She'll do it when needed, but...”
Eddie nodded.
“I agree, but agility and wisdom are definite for these points. I just need to decide between strength and heartiness for the last point.”
“Heartiness of the two, more health is good whether you're in the front or the back line,” Charles said. “Beyond that, as Karl said, I think it's dinner time.”
He rose and joined his group at their own table. Eddie considered his choices for a moment.
Add one point to agility, one point to wisdom, and one point to heartiness, he thought. Alright, let's see how things are looking now. Character sheet.
Edward Hunter
Human Male
Level: 14
Class:Warrior (Ranger)
Strength:15
Intelligence: 15
Agility: 31
Wisdom: 20
Heartiness: 18
Charisma: 12
Willpower: 18
Health: 284 (294)
Endurance: 17
Mana: 300
Luck: 14 (17)
Stamina:690 (700)
Experience:
273,802/450,000
Base Attack: 15
Base Armor: 10 (51)
+2 attack melee (strength)
+35 armor (studded leather, helm, boots, bracers, greaves)
+9 attack ranged (agility)
+9 armor (agility)
Skills:
General:
Acrobatics: 4
Animal Friendship: 1
Animal Handling: 1
Animal Husbandry: 1
Bowyer/Fletcher: 3 (+2 to checks)
Carpentry: 12
Climbing: 1
Cooking: 13
Evaluate: 5
Farming: 2
Fire Building: 1
Fishing: 4
Herbalism: 3
Hunting: 3
Improvisation: 2
Rope Use: 4
Tracking: 3
Weather Sense: 1
Weaving: 4
Combat:
Bows: 6
Staves: 2
Small Blades: 1
Short Swords: 4
Special:
Conjunction: 6
Magical:
Nature Magic: 6
Accel Plant Growth: 2
Arc: 5
Create Food/Water: 2
Fox Fire: 2
Nature's Binding: 2
Safe Site: 1
Wall of Thorns: 2
Create Spring: 1
Along for the Ride: 1
Frostbite: 4
Languages:
Common (Human)
Goblin Speak: 3
After that Eddie went over and joined the rest of his group at the table. Dinner was a lengthy affair, with most of them having seconds, but once it was over Eddie was starting to feel tired.
Karl lurched to his feet. The Scout had drunk far too much ale that evening, something he'd been avoiding since he'd complained about it before, but evidently he was celebrating tonight.
“I'm going to go home and have some sex,” Karl said.
“Karl, you're going to go home and puke,” Eddie replied.
“Yeah, well, that'll be fun too,” Karl said, smirking as he caught the reference despite his lack of sobriety.
Allie shook her head, but helped Karl make his way out towards his house. After another mug of ale, Eddie departed for his room to have an early night, and a long sleep.
~ ~ ~
In the morning, Eddie had decided exactly what his schedule would look like for the day. First he'd check on the construction of houses, as always. Then he'd be working on the town hall until the finished lumber he needed ran out. After that he'd go up to the farm and start building some carts and wagons.
He'd need a wagon blueprint, but he'd wait until he was ready to start building them to pick one up from the auction. Other than that, he thought he was ready to go. Tiana was still sleeping, although starting to stir, so he slipped down to the common room and picked up a tray with both their breakfasts.
When he set it down beside her and wafted the smell of fresh baked bread and fresh brewed coffee towards her, the stirring became a much quicker waking up. He was only half done with his own breakfast by the time she swung her feet over the bed, clutching the blanket around her for a hint of modesty.
A short while later they were headed west along the road towards the crossroads. When they got there, Lucky darted back to the pond. Eddie shook his head and grinned. He felt bad for having left the cat behind so often the last few days, but h
e'd make sure to keep her around as much as she wanted today.
A short walk north along the road brought him to the crews.
“That old guy been pestering you any more?” Eddie asked.
“Only once, I told him that we were going to hold to what you said and he wandered off, cursing.”
“Well, it looks like you'll reach his place in less than a week. Then he shouldn't have any more complaints. If he does, send him my way. I doubt he'll come talk to me though, so that should take care of it.”
Colborn grinned at him.
“You got it, Eddie, sir.”
Eddie shook his head ruefully. Even if Osmond and Brandr had been convinced to skip the sir, most of the other NPCs still stuck to it faithfully.
He headed back to the temple to pick up Tiana and Lucky.
“Any problems?” he asked as Tiana walked out of the temple.
“Well, we're running a bit short on food in the evening. It runs out and some people end up not getting any.”
“If it happens again, see if one of your acolytes can leave the temple grounds. If they can, send them to the inn and I'll make sure Liv loads them up with a few bags of produce they can distribute. It shouldn't be much longer before their own gardens start providing some though.”
Eddie pointed towards where Griff's wife's garden was coming on strong. Even from the temple grounds some of the plants were easily visible, so he was sure they'd be getting food from them soon, if they weren't already.
“Let's head over to the town hall. I want to get it finished, see if we get a control room like that one down in Rotthorpe,” Eddie said.
Tiana shook her head.
“You and your control rooms. Do you even use the ones on the farm or the inn any more?”
“Nope, but Brandr and Osmond do, and Liv uses the one for the inn. At least using those for a bit taught me the basics. But the one down in Rotthorpe was a lot more complex. Plus, it had a readout that showed the current population.”
“Oh, I get it. You just want to know if you're employing enough people or not.”
“Guilty as charged. But it does make a big difference for them. I've already overheard people buying and selling things and the market isn't even open. They don't really have enough to visit the inn, I charge adventurers prices and pay NPC level wages, but they have enough for some things. Plus, if I tried to pay them enough to eat at the inn, I'd go broke. I'm still making a profit now, but not nearly as much as before I went on a building spree to benefit the refugees.”
“I thought you were in here to make money?” Tiana asked.
“I am, I'm making a thousand a week, even if I don't clear a profit in game. That counts, right?”
“Just wondering. You've been spending so much on the refugees and the town that I was worried you might not be making the money you wanted to make.”
“I'm still clearing more on a daily basis than I was running the food stand. A lot more. Not as much as I was at peak with the inn, but yeah, I'm doing okay. I even have it set so that ten percent of whatever I deposit to the in game bank gets pulled out, sold, and the profits from that deposited to my regular bank account.”
“Alright, just checking,” Tiana said.
Eddie whistled for Lucky and she came racing up to him. She went up on her back legs and placed her paws on his chest. Her wet, muddy paws.
Eddie groaned then ruffled her ears. He'd tried to give her a hug when she did this before, but Lucky thought that meant he wanted to wrestle and he was trying to avoid that, at least for the moment.
“Come on, girl. Let's head to the town hall.”
He extended an arm to Tiana and she took it with a mock gravitas that left him chuckling as they walked down the road.
~ ~ ~
There were even more finished planks stacked up behind the construction site than when he'd stopped working last and Eddie set to with a will. Tiana also went out back, starting to cut more stone into finished stone. The plans for the town hall had the lower portion of the back wall clad in stone, and both sides clad to the same height in back, the stone cladding slowly lowering in a diagonal stripe that ended at ground level where the side was closest to the street.
Eddie knew they'd probably need more stone to get it finished, but right now he wanted to build. He'd had his fill of fighting for a bit. Now he wanted to create something, and this was just the ticket. When Jern arrived a while later, the dwarf and Tiana headed north along the road after calling out that they were going to get more stone.
Griff showed up an hour later.
“I finished the market stalls. Did you need a hand here?”
“Only fetch and carry type stuff. If that's not beneath you, then I'd love the help. My other two helpers are also doing the stonework and went to get more.”
“Not a problem, Eddie, sir.”
“Please Griff, just Eddie, no sir attached.”
Griff sighed and Eddie watched his face as the man obviously made an extreme mental effort.
“Alright Eddie, where do you want the planks?”
The work picked up speed at that point and by lunch time, Eddie had the first floor almost finished. All four outer walls were up and the inner walls that sectioned off rooms were completed as well, he just needed to put the ceiling on, which would be the floor for the upper level as well.
“I think that's it for now. Come join us for lunch?” Eddie said.
Jern and Tiana were out back, one cutting stone and the other putting up the stone cladding on the back wall.
“Can't. My wife is expecting me. She's very excited because we'll be eating out of our garden for the first time today.”
“Well, congratulations on that. It's good to have some more food coming in, the temple was starting to strain to support everyone with food. Hey, do you happen to know anyone who likes to fish? I'm going to need a fisherman, and I'm happy to supply the gear and split the catch with them.”
“I've talked to a lot of the folks that have arrived, but fishing has never come up. I'll ask around for you some though. If I find someone, I'll send them your way,” Griff said.
Eddie fished into his pouch and palmed a gold piece.
“You said you finished the market stalls, right?”
Griff nodded.
“Then this is yours,” Eddie said, tossing the gold piece to Griff.
The man broke into a wide smile when he caught the coin.
“Also, put out the word that the market stalls can be rented at two copper, or the equivalent barter, per day starting the day after tomorrow. Actually, you know what? Tell them the stalls can be used for free the first couple of market days. That should get people a chance to put together anything they want to sell. I'm sure it won't be that crowded right away, people don't have a lot right now. But given time, I think it'll be much more popular,” Eddie said.
“I'll ask my wife if she thinks we've got enough from the garden to spare by then. Maybe let her rent a stall and see if anyone wants to buy fresh produce.”
“That's exactly what I'm hoping for,” Eddie said. “Anyone with enough excess of something to sell or trade it for other things they need.”
Griff tapped a finger to his forehead in a sort-of salute.
“I'll be off now. You want me to send some young lads over later on this afternoon to assist you?”
“If there are any that would be willing, that'd be great.”
“You might have to pay them a copper or two, but I know a few that would be willing, especially if they were getting paid.”
“You can tell them I'll make sure they get something for helping me,” Eddie said.
With that, Griff turned and left. Eddie went out back and got Tiana and Jern to head to the inn for lunch.
Lunch wasn't a leisurely affair today. Eddie knew that he wanted to get the ceiling on the first floor and that he still wanted to get some work in on carts and wagons. The one he'd made earlier had taken a while, but he was pretty sure that with his familiar
ity with the game's carpentry skill now that he could do it much more quickly, especially working from a blueprint.
As he headed back down to the town hall, he met with two young men who trotted up to him when they spotted him.
“Griff said you needed some help?” one of them said.
“Yes, follow me. It'll be mostly fetch and carry, but if you like I can try to get you the carpentry skill as well,” Eddie replied.
The two young men followed him back to the town hall site and made themselves busy carrying finished planks from the stack in the back yard, in through the back doorway and up the stairs to where Eddie needed them. The work went quickly with two helpers and it was only a couple of hours later when Eddie finished up the ceiling.
“You two want some more work?” he asked.
The two young men nodded.
“Follow me then, the next stop is about a mile to the east, at my farm. If you boys are hungry, we can get you something to eat also.”
One of their stomachs rumbled and Eddie hid a smile.
“We'll take care of that first when we get there,” he said.
After walking to the farm Eddie stopped at the garden first. He introduced the two young men to Brandr and Osmond as well.
