The Copper Rose

by David Lingard

  This process went on and on, only failing once when black smoke billowed from the makeshift chimney – I didn’t mind though, as by the time I’d finished I had nine shiny copper ingots.

  Almost timed to coincide with my task completion perfectly, I was snapped back to reality by a tugging at my loin cloth. Looking down I could see that it was Uk, standing next to a huge pile of copper ore stones. And it was dark.

  “Um…Uk?” I queried as I took in my new surroundings. It seemed as though my whole world had become the flames and the task of smelting the ore into ingots.

  The goblin looked up at me with his huge brown eyes. “I bring more ore” he gestured to the pile at my feet. There must’ve been fifty pieces there.

  “Uk!” I cried in astonishment! “This is amazing work! How did you bring everything so fast?” I asked.

  “Uk learn packmule. Uk Hauler now.” He announced, puffing his chest out somewhat. ‘That was a quick progression’ I thought.

  “Amazing, well done my friend,” I replied genuinely. “But how did you progress so fast?”

  “Uk just haul for days. Do nothing else. Day and night.” He puffed his chest out again in obvious pride.

  “Well that’s some really great work…wait did you say days?” my voice rose as my mind processed his statement.

  “Three days it been,” Uk announced.

  ‘Oh fuck.’ I looked around the settlement, and although there was really no way of telling if what he was saying was true, the pile of resources that had been amassed was somewhat of a giveaway.

  Smelting had taken me out of the game for three days? That was completely unacceptable. At least when I was lumberjacking I was still in charge of my senses – I didn’t even know how hungry I was until the thought of not having eaten popped into my mind. I practically ran to where the clan’s dinner had been prepared and ate at least three meals worth of food in one go, releasing a huge belch when I’d finished.

  ‘Was it just me or was everyone watching me eat?’

  I felt fit to burst and happily noted the ‘well fed’ buff reappear in my vision. Back to normal at last.

  “What’s everyone looking at?” I asked aloud and to no goblin in particular.

  Ushuk was the first to move, gesturing for me to follow him, which I did.

  We walked to the lake where Ushuk gestured for me to take a look at my reflection. I could see why the goblins had stared at me – I was in complete black face from the fire and smoke of the smelting process. This was not a good look for me so I quickly washed it off in the still waters. Once I was done I blinked my fresh face at Ushuk and we both broke into uncontrollable laughter. I definitely needed that moment.

  I made a decision that first thing in the morning I would employ some new members to the clan, most notably a goblin crafter to work on the new smith so that I wouldn’t have to waste my entire life turning ore into ingots, and judging by the size of the ever-growing pile of ore it certainly looked like a life’s work. Besides in all of the excitement I’d forgotten the main reason for getting all that copper in the first place – I wanted to make a cooking pot for our Snafu. I did really owe it to her as while the clan grew, so did our collective appetite.

  Morning came about and stirred my clan all in one go as per usual, but something new happened after just a few minutes of the clan’s beginning to their daily activities.

  Building Complete

  A new building is now complete and available for use within your settlement, Coyote Creek.

  The Goblin Barracks is where warriors can train and hone their skills. Adults who have not yet received a skill can gain the warrior trait by training in the barracks, so that they do not need to be taught directly by another warrior. A Lieutenant is required to work in the barracks to provide training.

  Current Level: 1

  I was pleased that the barracks had finally been completed, but not so pleased that I’d skipped a few days in order for it to happen. Of course nothing bad had happened in my time away, and everything had simply carried on as per usual – but I couldn’t help but wonder what might’ve happened in the case of an attack or a raid. It wouldn’t happen again, anyway for I knew what I wanted to do.

  I walked over to Grish who was standing next to the new barracks, apparently examining its construction which I had to admit was pretty spectacular. The building was huge, taking up a space around four times larger than our living quarters, which was already huge in general. The perimeter was fenced off by a lightly woven pattern of sticks and branches so it was possible to see the inside of the training area. Wooden dummies stood with jointed arms and legs atop a wide open area of sand, much like a gladiatorial arena and around the far edge were wooden doors that must’ve served as living quarters for the troops.

  I grinned at Grish who I could tell was absolutely desperate to be told he could go inside.

  “So Grish…who do you think would make a good Captain for the barracks? Ushuk maybe?” I asked deviously. There was no reason for me to be this mean really, but I’d woken up with a wicked streak today.

  “Ushuk have no strength or experience!” He practically bellowed by the time his voice had finished increasing in decibels. I waved my hands in a quieting motion and chuckled.

  “Of course you are to be the Captain, Grish. There never was anyone else.” I placated the goblin, to which he replied with a sniff.

  You are attempting to make Grish a Lieutenant

  A Lieutenant is not simply a title given to any warrior, as it bestows upon the holder a range of new skills and abilities for use in both combat and to aid their allies. A Lieutenant is required to train new recruits in the Barracks.

  A clan may only have one Lieutenant. You currently have 0/1

  Would you like to make Grish your new Lieutenant? Yes/No

  Yes, yes, yes I thought as I clicked the button to dismiss the message and when my focus returned to Grish I watched as he was enveloped by a shimmering golden light which faded into him and caused him to grow at least another head taller – bringing him up to my own height – and at least a handful of muscle larger. I didn’t mind that I had been slightly off with my ‘captain’ assumptions. His body bulged against his own clothes and again I was reminded that at some point I’d need to get hold of some armour or at least some real clothing. Grish’s level didn’t change, but upon examination, I could see that his status had changed to ‘Goblin Lieutenant’ and he was grinning from ear to ear.

  “So you want to train some new recruits?” I asked with a smile.

  “You give me goblins. I give you warriors.” He stated proudly.

  That made me think for a moment, not wanting to leap into something I’d later regret.

  “Can you take in and train adolescents?” I asked, thinking that perhaps I could save on some food here.

  “ad..o…less…scents? Grish asked with a bemused look on his face. Apparently, the word had a few too many syllables in it for his comprehension.

  “Small goblins. Children,” I corrected myself and held my palm face down at around hip level to emphasise my point.

  “Oh…OH!” Grish said in realisation, “Yes I take little ones. Make good warriors!”

  That was good, adolescents only cost seven food to summon as they were unspecialised. If I wanted to fill the barracks with adult goblins then I’d have to have spent ten on each – of course adolescents took about a week to grow into adults, but it sounded as though Grish could handle that.

  “And how many recruits can you handle?” I asked, ready to add a good number to my ‘to summon’ list.

  “Five,” Grish said after a moment’s thought and holding up two fingers right at me as though he was swearing. I laughed at the innocence in his gesture and added five adolescents to my list.

  Truth be told I wasn’t sure how much of a surplus I actually had at the moment, I hadn’t bothered to look the previous night, so I was very happy to discover that I had just enough to summon five adolescents, who I promptly
directed to the barracks and Grish’s charge, a crafter who I informed would be working with the ore, and a feeder to keep the surplus up to where it should be. What a great morning this had been.

  I knew that warriors probably wouldn’t be much use without weapons and armour, but with the smith rocking and rolling I felt like I had a good basis for whatever would be needed next.

  My next task for the day was to see what Rok could build next to best serve my clan and our endeavours. I wondered if he had any particular desires as to what he would like to build next, or if he was simply there to do my bidding. It was quite apparent though, that he did indeed have his own ideas once I’d started questioning him about his next project.

  “Would be good build storehouse. Take only two days,” he announced whilst holding up five fingers. At some point I should probably teach my little green friends how counting works.

  It would only take four wood as well, I remembered and then verified by pulling up the information in the construction yard.

  Storehouse - 4 Wood

  The Construction Yard can house a number of building materials but is unable to store perishable items. A storehouse keeps your good fresh and ready to use indefinitely, as well as any spill-over from the construction yard.

  It sounded to me as though I would be able to stockpile fish and other food stuffs in the storehouse without any worry of them spoiling – which hadn’t been an issue so far, but as I progressed and my settlement grew I didn’t much like the idea of having to make sure nothing went to waste so I told him to get to work on that, and to come and find me as soon as it was completed. I made sure to tell him not to wait for me to finish whatever I was up to and to interrupt me as forcefully as possible in order to save myself from another incident like the smelting tirade I’d been on.

  It had been such a long time that I’d been away from my precious lumberjacking that I couldn’t help but pick up my axe and gravitate towards the treeline that I was so used to working on, not before telling Matuk that he should be in the lookout for more metal ores of course.

  I had always been proud of my ability to organise my thoughts in such a way that I could work through multiple tasks orderly and in a timely manner, but either the game itself or my desire to satiate my addiction to my skills was causing a bit of an interruption to normal play. It was only after the first tree had fallen and I felt that wash of positive energy over me did I recall having to sort out that darned cooking pot for the third time in as many days. Luckily due to my advanced level in the lumberjack skill I hadn’t wasted too much time that could otherwise have been spent on the pot.

  I returned to the smelting fire and picked up one of the ingots from the floor where I had left all nine of them. To my surprise, the new goblin crafter that was feeding the ore into the fire was yet to add a single piece to the pile of finished items.

  “What’s going on here?” I asked the new crafter, whose name was Ting. Couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of his name.

  “What mean?” The goblin said without looking away from the fire.

  “You haven’t made a single ingot yet and you’ve been here for hours!” I replied in a rather annoyed tone.

  “Can’t help. This not forge…This bunch of crap,” He kicked the pizza oven that I’d tirelessly constructed and left a goblin-foot sized hole in its base.

  “Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?” I exclaimed loudly as I tried to fill the hole with some of the surrounding dirt. “Do you have any idea how long that took me to put together?” I asked.

  Ting looked at the pizza oven for a minute, and said “Three minutes?” My sarcasm had apparently been lost on him.

  My anger was boiling over but deep down I knew it wasn’t his fault. I really needed to stop trying to build things that I really knew nothing about.

  I knew forge was on the list of available buildings, but I also knew that it required an iron bar to construct, that being the only ingredient that I didn’t have right now. I didn’t know how to make a bar but had a good feeling that Ting here would be able to tell me, what with him being a crafter by trade and all.

  “Ting. I’m sorry you have to work like this, I promise I’ll have you a proper forge constructed as soon as possible, but it says I need to have an iron bar to make it. Do you know how to make an iron bar? I made those copper ingots there…” I gestured to the pile and used my most apologetic tone to ask my question, being acutely aware that I could have potentially already insulted my latest addition.

  Luckily for me, he didn’t seem fazed at all. “You…have smelting?” he asked slowly as though wildly impressed with this fact.

  “Yes,” I announced proudly, “I got it yesterday by feeding ore into the oven there.”

  “With this?” He asked shocked, nodding towards my oven.

  “Well…yes actually,” I confirmed.

  He looked thoughtful again for a moment before speaking again. “This not do for smelting. Need forge or not good. Take long and not always work. Bar is nine in-gots in fire.”

  I knew what he meant by the facility not being up to scratch, but the ingots into a bar conversion was a new one on me. This was the same deal that I had run into when making a tent for my goblins and I when I had first settled in Coyote Creek. It was only when I’d had accommodation built that the game had started opening up to me. With this in mind I told Ting to do what he could with my oven and that I would do all I could to upgrade his facility as soon as possible again. I spared a moment to wonder if I could just keep saying ‘as soon as possible’ to people and just let the chips fall where they may.

  I found Rok before I couldn’t help but return to my favourite activity to tell him to get started on the forge as soon as the storehouse was complete. He did however remind me that I would need an iron bar to complete the building.

  It was rather annoying that I hadn’t found any iron ore yet in the pile that my little hauler had made for me otherwise I could get started right away. Actually, come to think of it was that strange? I hadn’t thought about where my miner was off mining but perhaps the location simply held just stone and copper. I made the decision, painful as it was to forego lumberjacking for the moment and I waited for Uk to return to the pile of ingots to drop his armfuls of ore. I made a mental note to look into having a cart or a sled made. Something that would make his life easier but also something that would speed up his task.

  Once he had unloaded his arms, he started back towards the mine where I knew Matuk was working to rid the earth of its stone. I made my move to follow Uk through the forest. It wasn’t as though I wouldn’t be allowed to see where he was going, but I partly wanted to simply surprise the pair when I reached the mine, and also I kind of wanted to see if I could actually follow him without being seen ‘and perhaps gain a skill?’ I thought internally. Alas it wasn’t to be, as although I wasn’t caught in the twenty-minute journey through the dense woodland, I didn’t gain a ‘sneak’ or ‘camouflage’ skill either. I guess sometimes being an experienced gamer didn’t always mean an advantage.

  For the last few minutes up to the mine, I could hear the chink-chink of Matuk’s pickaxe on hard stone. The sound was different to the thud-thud of my axe against a solid tree, but the sound didn’t stop those feelings bubbling right up to the surface.

  “Oh Matuuuuuk,” I cooed as I approached the goblin from behind. He didn’t seem to care and he didn’t even look away from his work. Even Uk didn’t stop scooping up blocks of stone into his arms for the journey back, which he embarked upon within a few minutes. Watching him continuously working really made me think seriously about getting him that cart.

  “Matuk?” I repeated my greeting to which he finally stopped his mining and turned to face me. Was it me or did he look a little annoyed at the interruption?

  “You know that ore?” I started. He nodded. “Well have you seen any other types…or colours?” I asked.

  “You want iron?” he asked nonchalantly which kind of surprised me. I was expecting to
have to completely spell it out for him like I usually had to with these goblins.

  “Yes exactly!” I exclaimed happily, not having to explain it for him.

  Before he could speak again I took note of the mine. It was the base of a huge grassy hill that had large white rocks protruding from it. I could see the stone that had been chipped away and all of it seemed to be within an arms-length of each other. I wondered if this was a normal mining technique or if it was a particular quirk of Matuk – either way I didn’t miss his gaze tracing a path to a small cave-like opening in the hillside.

  “Is it in there?” I asked pre-empting his answer.

  Matuk shuffled his feet slightly but kept his mouth shut. Eventually he nodded.

  “Is there a…problem?” I asked trying my best not to sound like every stereotypical boss that wanted their employees to do something that they didn’t want to do. “Are their creatures in there?” I almost whispered my follow up question.

  “No. No,” Matuk finally spoke again. “it…dark in there.”

  This was an amazingly unexpected answer. So Matuk was scared of the dark…what an odd trait for a goblin to have – it made me wonder if any of the others shared in his phobia.

  The answer was simple for me, I gathered up a few twigs, sticks and a bit of kindling from the surrounding area and took a moment to start a fire for Matuk. I made sure to show him exactly how it was done and when I saw his eyes light up with newfound knowledge I told him that each day he could light a fire and use it to take a torch into the cave to provide light for him to work by. One of these days I might actually be a step ahead of issues like this, but as it was all I seemed to be doing was putting out fires left right and centre – pun absolutely intended.

  Chapter Fourteen, Preparedness