by Rick Scott
“Like what?” Rembrandt says. “A minion? Or a spy for her?”
“Are they able to take over NPCs like that, Blacktop?” Gilly asks.
Blacktop shrugs. “Don’t ask me. I don’t know how those things work.”
Maxis leans back in his chair folding his arms. “Or maybe Builders aren’t the all seeing all knowing gods we think they are. And if they can be fooled then they can be beaten. And that’s good news to me.”
I’m not liking how this is sounding, but Maxis could be right. If this Builder knows I saw something I shouldn’t have, then what will that mean? One thing I do know: I’m definitely not telling Maxis about the mine right now. He’s ready to go on a war path. And if just peeking down there caused the attention of a Builder then I could only imagine what sending my hot-headed brother down there would do.
“If that’s the case,” Val Helena says. “Then what do you think it wants from us? I never encountered anything like this during my time here before.”
“I’m presuming it wants us dead,” Maxis says. “Why else would it want to know how many people are left in Citadel?”
“It didn’t seem threatening,” I say. “Just kind of curious.”
“Well we can’t really do anything about this, can we?” Val Helena says. “We just need to proceed as planned. Maybe with more caution, but there is no sense getting too paranoid over it. If it wanted to do us harm I’m sure it could have already.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Rembrandt says.
The table goes quiet for a moment, everyone pondering the situation. I’m not quite sure what to think myself. Even if it was a Builder, it certainly didn’t feel like something that wanted to hurt us. In fact it almost felt the opposite. Like it wanted to know if we were there to hurt it. Or maybe I’m reading too much into things.
“Well on that note,” Blacktop says as he stands. “I wish you all good luck.”
“You’re not going to walk all the way home in the dark, are you?” Gilly says.
Blacktop points at his faded gray eyes. “Night vision. Besides I’d rather my own bed. I don’t see any that look too comfortable around here.”
That gets a small round of chuckles.
“Maybe we should be joining you then,” Val Helena says with a laugh.
“Doubt you’d fit,” he retorted jokingly. “But you’re all welcome at any time. Especially if you manage to hop through the Wild to reach that tech world.”
“Aye,” Rembrandt says. “We got your shopping list right here, mate.”
“Oh speaking of that.” Blacktop turns to me and a trade request pops up onto my HUD.
Blacktop wishes to trade with you.
Blacktop offers you:
A Poison Kunai +5: +30 DEX +30 AGL +50 Poison Damage
A Lightning Kunai +5: +30 DEX +30 AGL +50 Lightning Damage
Do you accept the trade? (Y/N)
Whoa! “You’re giving these to me?”
“Consider it a down payment on my flamethrower,” Blacktop says. “I figured if you’re going to make the trip across the Wild, I might as well give you every advantage possible to actually make it back. Plus that was the best dinner I’ve eaten in months, so I figured I owed you a little something for inviting me.”
I laugh. “Totally not necessary, but I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
I accept the trade request and the two level 85 katanas get added to my inventory.
Sweet!
“Now you really have something to look forward to at level 85, Reece,” Val Helena says with a smile.
“One more thing,” Black top says.
I grin. “Name it.”
“When you get to Stormwall, tell that prick Braxus, he still owes me money.”
* * *
We hunker down for the night and I’m lying next to Gilly. Everyone else seems to be asleep, but for once, Gilly is still awake and restless.
“You okay?” I ask her.
She doesn’t respond right away, but instead nestles a little closer into me in the dark. Her body heat has my body reacting of its own accord and again my brother’s stupid warning comes to mind. But those thoughts are scattered when she finally responds.
“I’m worried about you.”
Her statement takes me by surprise. “What? Why?”
She releases a sigh, her breath warming the back of my neck. “What if this thing is after you now? Like out to get you or something?”
I chuckle, more for bravado sake than actual surety. “I fear my brother more, for when I finally tell him everything.”
I don’t hear a laugh in response. Instead there comes a small whimper and a sniffling back of…tears? Oh geez. Is she crying? I turn on my side to face her and can only just make out her features in the darkness. Gilly lets out a choking cry and I pull her into my arms. She clings to me tightly in response.
“I miss my mom and dad,” she says in a sob. “I miss home.”
Her words make me think of my own mother. How much I miss her as well. But at least I have Mike here. And Val Helena even. Gilly doesn’t have that. The thought makes me pull her closer. “It’s okay Gilly. I miss my mom and home too.”
Although to be honest, I almost wish that here could be our home and my mom join us instead. It makes me wonder if such a thing could even be possible. For all of us to live out here; like Blacktop and Val Helena did. I know what my brother’s stance on that would be though.
“Are we still going to be okay?” Gilly asks. “I feel nervous about leaving the village now.”
Part of me almost wants to tell her to stay here. Thinking back, even in the Shards, Gilly had more of an affinity for the craftsman life than the adventurer life. In an ideal scenario, Gilly would be a master at running the village and the mine. She was really good at stuff like that. Probably way better than me. But for now we had to try and get back home. And she, as the main healer, was invaluable for what we still had to face.
The Shadow King.
“We’re going to be fine, Gilly. And we’ll be home before you know it too.”
“Promise you won’t let anything bad happen to us, Reece.”
“I promise,” I say and kiss her in the darkness.
She kisses back and we lose ourselves in each other, embracing tightly, until sleep finally takes us both.
Chapter 19: Stormwall
We set off for Stormwall early the next morning. It’s a brand new experience for me; leaving the village for someplace so far away. Part of me is excited and eager to see what living in the true wilderness will be like; another part is downright terrified of having to sleep out in the open with no protection at all. I keep the thought to myself, however, as I stick with Gilly in the middle of our party and chat sporadically with her as Rembrandt takes point and Max and Val Helena bring up the rear.
We make good time, traversing the pine forest as we head north and by the time we camp for the night, we’re all exhausted. We make a fire and cook some regular buffalo meat, Val Helena again doing the honors with her cooking skill, which I learn is somewhere in the hundreds. As night begins to fall we set up a watch order and Gilly and I share the first watch.
“I got a present for you, Gilly,” I tell her when the others are asleep.
The night is cool and we both huddle under a shared blanket for warmth as we put our backs to the dying fire so as not to spoil our night vision. I open up my village administration screen and send her a prompt.
[Gilly has been added as a town administrator]
“Huh?” she says. “What’s this?”
“I thought of it last night,” I say. “You were always much better at working out numbers and stuff than me, so I figured we could run the town together.”
He eyes light up with both excitement and the glow of her HUD as she peruses through the menu screens. “Wow, so many options!”
“I figured you could work on a strategy while we’re out here to send back to Wilbur once the first pigeon shows up.”
/> She giggles and gives me a hug. “You’re the best! Ok let’s start with the mine.”
I laugh. “Somehow I knew you’d say that.”
She elbows me under the blanket with a grin.
We spend the rest of our watch brainstorming ideas on how to improve the village and before we know it, Rembrandt comes to relieve us and we both crash in our sleeping rolls like we haven’t slept for weeks.
The next two days go by slowly. Where the first day was new and exciting, the following days become an exercise in endurance. Back in Citadel I hadn’t walked since birth, but now I seem to be making up for it in double quick time.
I notice Maxis and Val Helena chatting together a lot more and often hear her booming laugh coming from behind us as my brother entertains her with stories of our life growing up in the habs. Most of them are at my expense, of course, but Val Helena and Gilly always rush to my defense, and chastise him playfully, which usually gives us all a laugh. During breaks, Gilly practices her bow with Rembrandt, who teaches her the finer points of aiming and shooting targets.
On the morning of day three, I get my first pigeon from Wilbur and learn that the construction projects are going well. Together with Gilly, we write him back and send him Gilly’s plans for future upgrades, which include adding a waterwheel to power a sawmill as well as the bellows of the forge; which will increase its output and quality. She also sets up mining points and builds long houses both at the mines and in Brookrun to attract more workers and hopefully have the town’s population grow. It’s all so fun that I almost can’t wait to see how it will look when we finally get back there.
As the forest begins to thin, the ground grows rockier and the air colder. My ninja garb begins to feel inadequate as the winds pick up and the foothills of the mountain range comes within view.
My feet and back are killing me and helping Gilly along, I can tell she’s feeling pretty much the same. Maxis, Val Helena and Rembrandt however seem used to this kind of travel and don’t seem to be struggling at all, especially Val Helena who covers far more distance with her long gait. I then notice a debuff appear on my HUD.
Fatigued
Max Stamina and Stamina Regeneration reduced by half.
Great…
Towards the end of the day it gets so bad that Gilly has to top us up with Second Wind every so often to keep us in pace with the others. Our only reprieve is that we aren’t carrying most of the gear and supplies we brought along for the trip. It seems when things are stored in inventory they exist only as information, just like in the Shards, and only come into being when recalled by spending nano, sort of like printing in a nano-processor. I can only imagine how bad things would be if I were actually lugging the 10 pieces of buffalo meat I got on me.
Its late afternoon when we get our first glimpse of Stormwall.
The mountain range is looming big in the sky above us now; rocky at the base and dotted with sparse trees and with snowcapped peaks at the very top. I’ve never seen a mountain before, but the sight of it is enough to transport me to another world for a moment. So silent and majestic, I can easily see how people used to consider them holy places.
Near the base of the mountain is a walled city, built into the hard granite of the mountain itself. I can count at least five towers that look made of lighter colored store, or perhaps painted that way. Nestled in between them are smaller buildings with roofs made of red tile. And surrounding everything is a massive wall that looks at least four stories high that protects the front of the city which faces the plains as well as the rear of the city facing the mountain slopes.
“That looks nothing like how I remember it,” Val Helena says as she gazes out over the three or four miles of flat land that separates us from the massive city. “When I was here a month or so ago, that place was half that size and the wall wasn’t as high.”
“I guess that Braxus guy has been busy,” Maxis says.
“Busy doing what?” Gilly says. “Preparing for a war?”
She means it sarcastically, but I get a feeling that she might actually be right. “I don’t like the looks of this, guys.”
“You want to skip it?” Val Helena asks.
My eyes say yes but my aching feet and back say no. “Maybe…”
“Hey, we still need scrolls, right?” Maxis says. “And besides that’s a real person in charge in there, not some AI. So he has some beef with the NPC kingdoms around him. So what? That doesn’t have anything to do with us.”
“What about our races?” Gilly says. “Val and me?”
Maxis just shrugs. “Same rules apply. Once we talk to the dude, we won’t have any problems. Probably some geek anyway. Let’s go, it’s getting dark. We can probably make it there in half an hour. It’d be better to arrive before they close the gate or something.”
I can’t really argue with his logic and neither can anyone else.
We make the trek across the plains and towards the city. The remnants of makeshift war camps litter the open plain; broken arrows and rusted weapons sunken into the hard-packed earth and low grass. Seems to be signs of a battle fought not too long ago. And that makes me more nervous.
As we near the wall I get a full appreciation of its height as well as that of the mountain behind it. The blocks that make it up are the size of cars and I ponder how it was actually built. Did they construct it by hand as I saw the villagers doing in Brookrun, or was it forced into existence, using nano? Given the timeframe Val Helena just mentioned, nano formation could certainly be a possibility. By normal means a wall like that would probably take years to build. Two enormous iron gates lay open at the center of the wall and just in front of them is a small shanty town made of tents, resembling a flea market.
“Better cover your ears, Gilly,” I say as we approach the tent city.
She does so, adjusting her witch’s hat in the process. “What about Val?”
“Don’t worry about me.” Val Helena grins and removes her double headed ax from her back and begins carrying it casually over her well defined shoulder. “If anyone wants to start trouble, hopefully this will give them second thoughts.”
Maxis lets out a chuckle at that. “Warrior Queen. I love it.”
As we enter the tent city, Val Helena’s plan seems to have the desired effect, but I’m not certain if it’s the one we want. The towns people, dressed mostly in combinations of animal skins and worn leather, give us a wide berth with fearful eyes as we make out way towards the main gates. A few however approach us with samples of food, begging us to buy.
The encounter sends my HUD alight with popup menus hovering over the heads of the impromptu vendors. I see everything from turnips and potatoes to armor and potions being sold. But the prices for everything seem to be in gold.
“Think we can find good stuff here?” I ask.
“If we had a few days to sort through all the garbage,” Val Helena says. “Used to be one of my favorite past times to go shopping for bargains in places like this. But we’d probably have better luck for what Gilly needs in the main markets in the city.”
I wave the people away as they show me their wares. I wonder if this could be a way to bring trade to Brookrun. When I pull up the village on my HUD, I do see an option to add a trade route, but it’s grayed out. Wonder what I need to do to activate it?
As we near the main gates, Gilly suddenly stops. “What the heck?”
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I just had a weird quest pop up.”
“Me too,” Val Helena says.
I check my own HUD but I don’t see anything.
“I didn’t get a quest,” I say. “What’s it for?”
Gilly links the quest objective to the party chat.
New Quest Available: Restore treaty with Stormwall
The Mad King Braxus has broken the peace treaty with the Wood Elves. Set things right, by slight or by might.
Objective (1)
Defeat the Stormwall Army
; or
Defeat the Royal Praetorian Guard [2/5]
Objective (2)
Negotiate a new treaty with King Braxus
or
Assassinate King Braxus
Rewards: +300,000 XP, Access to Stormwall Town Administration +500 favor with Elfkin, +300 Favor with Stormwall
Holy crap! Assassinate? “What kind quest is this?”
“I got pretty much the same thing,” Val Helena says. “Except it’s for giant-kin only.”
“But Braxus is a player, right?” I say. “This quest is giving an option to kill a player?”
Maxis lets out a harrumph. “And who controls the quests?”
It’s a rhetorical question. We all heard the answer from Blacktop the other night. If there is a quest, then the AI Karlis sanctioned it. “Does this mean the Builder actually wants him dead?”
“Like I told you, mate,” Rembrandt says. “Never forget who the true enemy is out here. The Builders are not our friends.”
I can hardly fathom it.
“Let’s not get carried away,” Val Helena says. “There are other options besides assassinate. And whoever he is, he must be one heck of a dick to have warranted something like this. If you notice you get favor from even the people of Stormwall if you complete it. The guy must be some kind of tyrant.”
Gilly looks up at my big brother using air-quote. “You still think it’s going to be ‘cool’ talking to this ‘dude’?”
I begin to wonder that as well. “Yeah, maybe we should try another route.”
“Are you guys kidding me? We don’t have time for that.” Maxis mutters another cuss under his breath. “You guys worry about these stupid quests too much. This isn’t a game. This is the real world. And there’s a ‘real’ person in there. He’s from the Shards just like us. Let’s just go talk to the guy and let him know we’re passing through. Plus, once we tell him why we’re here and that his own butt is on the line, maybe he’ll even be able to help us.”
