I came to the conclusion that the farm would probably be worth the expense, even if it did seem like the game had started to take the piss a little bit, but really, what else was I stockpiling all of those materials for.
I moved one line down the to-do list I had created and walked over to Rok with my latest brainwave.
“I want cobblestone roads,” I announced. “Make this place look a little more civilised.” It probably wasn’t a great use of his time, but in my experience, roads usually gave some kind of movement bonus, along with making everything look more organised.
“You have rock breaker?” Rok replied. I could have facepalmed.
“I should have fucking known,” I mumbled almost ineligibly. “No I don’t have a rock breaker.” I replied a little louder.
“Then how make cobblestone?” Rok asked. I could tell that he was genuinely asking the question, and not just being a sarcastic asshole.
I thought for a moment before answering, knowing that whatever I said it was going to lead into a new line of work that I needed to do. “Go on, how would you normally get cobblestone?” I conceded.
“Break stone. Turns into cobblestone.” He chirped happily.
“And anyone can do this with a hammer?” I asked, half closing one eye.
“Yes. But it take long. Better with breaker.” He said and to my surprise he volunteered a little more information, almost sensing my next question. “Rock breaker is building. Uses workers and big tools.”
“Got it,” I said, dismissing that option to the back of my mind. If in fact I was being charged a premium for each additional building I was making, the rock breaker almost certainly wasn’t going to be worth it. Instead, I summoned two workers and gave them both a hammer and the instruction to start smashing their way through the pile of stone.
The farm was under construction shortly after I’d instructed the workers to start processing stone into cobble. I wanted to make sure that they didn’t go so fast as to make my resource pile too small to actually build the thing but I needn’t have worried. After I accepted the new construction blueprint I watched them for a while. For each stone that they broke down – which by the way took forever, they would receive four cobble, the same way that a log would turn into four planks. I had no idea how much cobble we would need to furnish the whole settlement with roads, but I thought that it would least keep these two occupied for a few days.
Notification
Your Spider Nest (Dark Forest) has gained a new level.
New Level: 4
Central Building: Dungeon Heart
Current Master: Spider Queen (Level 20)
Protectorate: Tandy (Crocodile’s Teeth)
Protectorate Gains:
8% of Xp gained by visitors to dungeon
8% of loot base value lost by visitors in dungeon.
It is possible to amend these percentages within a range that is determined by the level of the dungeon.
Congratulations, you have reached Level 6
You now have 1 unspent attribute point
Note: If you do not spend this attribute point within 3 days it will be lost.
I was interrupted by the two messages and suffered from two conflicting emotions. On the one hand I had just levelled up (ding), which meant that I could allocate a single attribute point into my wisdom, which to my delight actually doubled my MP capacity to ten. On the other hand, something bad was definitely happening over at the Spider Nest that needed my attention, and sooner rather than later. I was pleased that the nest was levelling up so quickly, but did that mean that whatever was attacking it was a high level, or were there lots of low level ‘whatevers’? either way I knew I needed to find out what was going on over there.
I made the tough decision to give it a day or two so that I could ensure my settlement would be prepared for a day’s absence. I helped with the logging efforts – it felt like I hadn’t swung an axe in forever and the motion almost made me throw up with delight – and watched as the cobblestone roads started to take shape. The farm had progressed in its construction and the last thing I needed to worry about was the stone mine situation – but there was really no rush on that front. I instructed the two stone crushers that if at any point they ran out of stone to process, they should go with Matuk and mine for stone with him themselves. I must admit they seemed pretty happy about getting additional tasks to carry out and their eyes lit up at the suggestion, when they returned to crushing stone I couldn’t help but think that they were doing it a little faster than before.
I made the decision to allow the armourers to finally make me a little bit of kit for my excursion, I wasn’t exactly banking on something sparkling and I must admit I wasn’t particularly surprised when I was handed a bit of a beaten up looking piece of leather and very average looking iron short sword. It hadn’t occurred to me to tell my armourers that perhaps they should remember that I was somewhat bigger than your average goblin, so normal sized things to them might have seemed like small things to me. Nevertheless, the armour seemed to resize itself somewhat as I put it on. The sword, unfortunately, did not share this particular property.
Oh how I wished I had instructed the armourers to make me some trousers. A leather vest was great and all, but without something covering my rather skimpy cloth briefs I couldn’t help but think I looked like a roman peasant soldier who had been rudely interrupted in the middle of changing by an advancing army. I couldn’t handle it any more, I needed bottoms.
Iron Shortsword – Goblin Made
Type:Sword – Single Hand
Damage:3-6
Durability:10/10
Engravings:None
Additional:Goblins prefer light weapons and armour so that their movement is not impaired. It is in the goblin nature to be faster and nimbler than their opponents.
+1% Increase to Fighting skills increase
An adequately crafted iron shortsword, made by goblins for goblins. Primarily used in fighting scenarios where the wielder can afford to sacrifice damage dealt for speed and accuracy. This item has benefits when used in conjunction with the Fightnig skills. Although the goblins aren’t known for crafting superior equipment, they know how to hit and run.
Leather Vest – Goblin Made
Type:Armour – Body
Armour:5
Durability:10/10
Engravings:None
Additional:Goblins prefer light weapons and armour so that their movement is not impaired. It is in the goblin nature to be faster and nimbler than their opponents.
An adequately crafted leather vest, made by goblins for goblins. Primarily used in fighting scenarios where the wielder can afford to sacrifice armour for manoeuvrability. Although the goblins aren’t known for crafting superior equipment, they know how to hit and run.
“Do you, uh…have anything for…” I blurted out the question to the armourer before I had a chance to think through exactly what I was going to say. Instead I simply gestured animatedly to my groin area.
The armourer seemed to take my meaning and silently started rummaging through a pile of leather that was on the floor behind him. It didn’t look like there were any useful items in there, as it looked like the ‘good stuff’ was hung on the walls in some shameless show of pride. Eventually, he wrapped a thin layer of leather around my waist that fell to just below my knees. It looked as though the goblin had been trying to make a sort of Roman kilt but had either not yet finished it or simply didn’t know how. My suspicions were somewhat confirmed when he fastened the kilt and I didn’t receive a new equipment notification. ‘Oh well’ I thought to myself – there was no use in crying over spilt milk.
I still didn’t know the way to my Spider’s Nest entirely, only the general direction and it occurred to me that one of the main things I was missing in all of this was a map of my surrounding area. I made a mental note to address that as soon as I’d returned.
I took Ushuk and two of the goblin warriors with me. At level six myself,
&n
bsp; Ushuk at eight and the two warriors at three we weren’t exactly the most fearsome troop, but I remembered that I had a healing spell which I could now use twice, Ushuk was smarter than your average goblin and the two new warriors needed some actual combat experience if they ever wanted to progress in their training. I made sure to form a warparty before we set off so that I could see all of my party’s information and that in the off chance that we might get into any fighting, that the experience gained would be shared.
Ushuk wore his cloak and I noticed a slight bulge where his knife was attached at his hip, and the two warriors wore leather armour similar to mine and each carried a short sword in their hands. With the goblins reduced size though, it seemed like the swords weren’t so much ‘short’ as full sized.
The journey was definitely quicker this time. I felt that as a group we had moved with purpose, which was either the reason for it, or it was because we were either used to the forest by now, or our advanced levels bore some kind of movement modifier – there was no way to be sure.
When we arrived at the first tell-tale signs of the nest we could tell that something was different. There was a new smell in the air. Not just the purification that the webs seemed to adorn onto the forest in general, rather the smell of disturbed dirt, and grass after it rains. I silently motioned with my hand clenched into a fist to tell my party to slow to a halt, which Ushuk managed deftly but the two warriors couldn’t help but walk into the back of one another. I closed my eyes and sighed. Goblins. Their intellect was as much of a hindrance as their stature, in many ways.
I could see a clearing in the webbing before us. They had been cut away to allow a person to fit comfortably in the centre without the fear of being jumped from behind an opaque wall by an eight-legged atrocity and in the centre of the clearing I could see a figure kneeling on the ground and sort of playing with the dirt.
I had two options. I could attack before the stranger noticed me and risk not knowing the full facts of our scenario – there could be others, friends ready to back them up, they could be a huge level above my party and wipe us out in one go… or I could call out and talk to the person – which could potentially result in the same outcomes. Was it worth giving up the element of surprise though, just on the off chance that this could be a friendly person? ‘No’ I thought, ‘they are attacking my nest, they aren’t going to be friendly.’
It didn’t matter. My mind was made up for me when one of the goblin warriors sneezed, covering the other with dark green snot.
“Ewwww,” the second warrior exclaimed loudly before clasping both of his hands over his mouth in the realisation of what he had just done.
“H…Hello?” The figure called nervously from the clearing, standing up. “Is there someone there?”
It was…a woman’s voice. That shocked me more than anything after I had been expecting to be greeted by Sano, or Theodore or someone else just as powerful – well in comparison to me anyway.
“It’s OK, I’m coming out,” I said audibly, making sure I didn’t raise my voice. I walked into the clearing and made the motion for my goblins to stay where they were. After all, I didn't need to show my entire hand all at once.
As soon as I could make out the woman, I was able to analyse her character.
Name: Rachel
Level: 3
Race: Human/Female
Attributes:HP: 30/30MP: 15/15
Strength:-Unavailable-
Wisdom:-Unavailable-
Social:-Unavailable-
Skills: -Unavailable-
Equipment:-Unavailable-
She was a little shorter than myself and although she wore a dark grey, hooded robe like some kind of monk, I could tell that she had a very slight frame. I could tell by her stare that she was also analysing me, which to me meant only one thing.
“You’re a player?” I asked. It wasn’t really that much of a shock, just something that hadn’t happened all too often.
The woman lowered her hood to reveal her head and face. She had short blonde hair, brown eyes and the tiniest nose and mouth. If I hadn’t already have seen that she was a ‘human’ I would have guessed that she was a pixie.
She nodded in response to my assumption and outstretched a hand for me to shake, which I did dutifully.
“Rachel,” she announced.
“I know,” I replied. “Bre…uh…Tandy.”
“I know,” She parroted and smiled.
There was a moment of awkward silence where neither of us said anything. I could tell that we were both unsure of the motives of the other, although I probably had the upper hand in the mental debate, being quite a few levels her senior, plus not to mention that I had my goblin aces in the hole.
Speaking of which, the silence was broken by another loud sneeze and cry of disgust from just outside of the clearing. Fucking goblins.
Rachel looked at me in shocked silence and I let my shoulders drop in defeat.
“Alright guys, come out,” I called to my ambush in waiting. There was no hiding them anymore.
As Ushuk and the two warriors appeared from beyond the webbing, I could sense that Rachel had tensed and taken a step behind me at the appearance of three armed goblins that were all at her level or higher.
“Don’t worry, they are my friends,” I responded in order to calm her fears.
“But they…they are goblins!” she hissed in my ear. It was as though she didn’t want them to hear her prejudices.
“So?” I asked. “From what I have seen from the players around here, there are worse monsters than goblins about.”
Rachel didn’t respond but I felt her relax and she took a tentative step out from behind me.
“Hello?” she said as though she was addressing a small child or a timid kitten. She stretched a hand out towards Ushuk, who looked at me for clarification. I nodded my encouragement.
Ushuk who had obviously watched Rachel and I shake hands moments before took her hand in his and shook it up and down a little too high and for a little too long. I had to intervene to prevent Rachel’s arm from falling off. She laughed though which seemed to soften the scenario.
“What’s your name?” Rachel asked in almost a babying voice.
“I am Ushuk,” Ushuk said and I could tell that he was concentrating very hard on speaking correctly. “These are our warrior friends. They…are…very dangerous.” I was proud of the effort that Ushuk was making.
Rachel nodded and replied “I am Rachel, it is very nice to meet you all.”
She turned to me and asked quietly out of the corner of her mouth “they aren’t dangerous are they?”
I shook my head, “not that I’ve seen,” and I chuckled. Rachel smiled.
“What are you doing here anyway?” I asked. “I’ve come to investigate someone attacking the spiders?”
“Oh god, they aren’t your friends too, are they?” Rachel asked, her eyes widening. “I didn’t know, honestly!” I cut off her frenzied excuses.
“No, it’s not that, it’s just that I can tell that someone has been trying to destroy the nest and that…hang on was it you?” the realisation dawned on me. “Have you been attacking the spiders?”
I could see Rachel’s eyes darting about for an escape route. Suddenly she’d found herself surrounded by superior players with nowhere to go.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know!” she started to explain again. I could tell that she had almost started weeping.
I grabbed her hand with two of mine. “Rachel, it’s OK, that’s what they are here for.” It took a few moments, but she eventually calmed down enough to speak coherently again.
“H…how did you know I was here?” she asked.
I thought about holding that little card closely into my chest but couldn’t see how that would benefit me in any real way.
“Well, the Spider Nest is a dungeon right?” Rachel nodded. “Well I am the owner of the nest, so as the nest wins battles it levels up, and I get notified when it does.”
&
nbsp; “The nest levels up?” Rachel replied. “No wonder the spiders have been getting harder and harder for my…”
I interrupted her. “So I came here because I thought that some, let's say, bad players were here to destroy the nest as a way of getting to me.”
“I was trying to destroy the nest…but it was only because that’s what I thought I was supposed to do,” Rachel added quickly.
“It’s OK, I actually did the same thing – it’s kind of how I came to own the damn thing,” I assured her. “But I’m glad it was you and not them. Actually, how did you find the nest, and have you just been attacking it and respawning over and over again?” I had too many questions to ask so just threw them out there all at once.
“I…um…” I could tell that Rachel was battling some kind of internal conflict so I quickly interrupted her again. “I mean you don’t have to tell me really, it’s just interesting you know?” It was a half-truth of course. I did want to know but I doubted that it would really make too much of a difference to my life.
“No, I’ll tell you. It’s just that I was told not to share too much information about myself,” She explained. “When I first came into the game, I thought it would be a good idea to draw a map so I made some charcoal by burning some wood, then drew my surroundings out on a boulder that I found, then the game told me that I had gained the mapping skill. I’ve been working hard to level it up for a while and making notes of everywhere I’ve been so when the notification about a new dungeon came up, I knew right where it would be.”
That made sense to me, she had found a new skill in exactly the same way I had found all of mine.
“and about attacking the spiders, I…haven’t actually respawned yet.” She concluded.
“How can that be?” I asked in astonishment. “The nest has been gaining experience so it must’ve been killing you!”
The Copper Rose Page 23
