by Dean Henegar
“Woah, hold on there, Phineas. I said I had thirteen gold, not that I could pay that much. I still need a little walking-around money. It wouldn’t look good for an officer to not have the funds to pay for a meal and a few drinks at the inn, would it? The most I could do is say . . . eleven,” I offered, waiting to see if Phineas would bite. I did want to keep at least one gold in reserve in addition to all my silver and copper, so I would increase my offer up to twelve at most if I needed to.
“You shall likely beggar me and my store due to the generosity I am showing. Pay the eleven and let our business be concluded before I am forced into abject poverty,” Phineas said dramatically.
I gladly handed over the eleven gold, equipping the Clasp of the Vigilant Defender. “I offered eleven thinking you would bump me up to twelve, Phineas. I wanted to let you have some fun negotiating, but paying only eleven is fine by me,” I said, pocketing my identified items. I would check them out back at the barracks before I did my garrison upgrades.
Bump.
“Wanted to let you negotiate . . .”
Bump.
“Willing to pay twelve but I only charged eleven . . .”
Bump.
“I even lost some experience for a critical fumble on my negotiation skill . . .”
Bump.
Turning back as I reached the door to the shop, I could see Phineas muttering to himself and slowly banging his head on the counter. The little goblin was following suit, copying his master. That guy is just nuts, I thought as I left.
The garrison was a hub of activity. Brooks was running the men through drills on assaulting a wall with our siege towers. Wrend and his Ignominia Platoon were practicing clearing rooms in the various barracks buildings, something that brought back memories of my more modern battles in the real world. The tactics differed a bit with swords instead of rifles, but the principles were the same. They would stack up on a room, breach the door, and move in quickly with shields up to clear out any opponents. Men from other companies played the opposing force, and they all went at each other hard with blunted weapons to prevent—hopefully—any permanent injury.
My headquarters building was well guarded; the mantraps and fortified doors had armed soldiers posted at them to deal with any intruders. The war room at the back of the garrison hadn’t changed since I was last here—I had forbidden Blevins from doing any decorating. While the war table beckoned, the magic items were burning a hole in my pocket. I was a loot hound at heart and quickly pulled out the scrolls and the strange green twig I had received from Tessel. Starting with the scrolls, I noted that two were the Hasty Replacement scrolls I had been awarded before. The only difference was that the number of regulars they replaced was bumped up to one hundred and the number of advanced soldiers was increased to fifteen. The final scroll was better than I had hoped.
Garrison Upgrade (Rare): Battlemage Enclave.
This upgrade provides a space to house battlemages of the Imperium. The enclave is a rare upgrade and assigned to very few garrisons. Battlemages will assist the legion with offensive and defensive spells, using their magical prowess to change the course of a fight. When constructed, the enclave will require the commander to choose a school of magic. Schools can be changed at a later date for a moderate cost in gold and resources. Changing schools of magic will result in a delay as the old school closes its doors and the new mages travel to and set up at the garrison. Not all schools of magic may be available at the time of initial construction.
I would finally have some magic support not tied to an auxiliary force. While I had personally chosen to improve my soldiers instead of being a caster, during our recent battles, my troops felt the effects of a skilled mage. Not wanting to waste any time, I opened the war table to upgrade the garrison and level myself up.
Your current funds are 2856, and your current resources are 6852.
Garrison, Level 3, Frontier Fort. Upgrade cost: 1000 gold, 2500 resources. The level 3 garrison can comfortably house up to a battalion of soldiers. It has significantly upgraded defenses and provides a strong bastion for the town to fall back upon in times of trouble. Your garrison has the defensive garrison upgrade. The maximum garrison size refers to only those forces controlled by the commander. Defensive garrison forces are AI-controlled and subject to different unit caps based on garrison level, upgrades, and the amount of territory that has been conquered.
Thanks to my quest rewards and the stream of income from zone taxes, my funds and resources were the highest they had ever been. All my other buildings were capped at level 3 until I upgraded the main garrison. There was no reason to hold back now, so I upgraded the garrison to level 4, curious what it would look like once it was finished. After I hit the upgrade tab, the walls and buildings around me took on a transparent hue as they changed. A one-hour timer began to count down, showing how much time was left until the upgrade was completed.
I still had access to the command table while the garrison was upgrading, so I went ahead and unlocked the battlemage enclave. New options populated the garrison interface, and it looked like I now had a tough decision to make.
Battlemage Enclave: Choose from the following schools of magic. The school will affect the appearance of the garrison building. There are currently 3 schools available to recruit from. Others may become available over time. Different schools may have effects on garrison defenses.
Light: The battlemages focused on light magic specialize in healing and defensive casting. Battlemages of light can cancel foes’ spells, leaving them vulnerable to your attacks while at the same time healing your own troops. The light battlemage can call forth allies and banish evil, granting bonus damage to your troops when battling evil foes.
Elemental: Elemental battlemages harness the elements to lay waste to your foes. The elemental school will produce mages trained in the various elemental arts. The elemental battlemage can cancel the magic of opposing schools and even buff the attacks of troops under your command.
Mind: Able to strengthen the resolve of allies and cause terror in the minds of foes, the mind battlemage is a rare and versatile choice. Mind battlemages can take control of enemy soldiers, having them fight among themselves and sow fear in their ranks. Lacking the firepower of an elemental battlemage or the healing ability of the light, the mind mage is a more subtle option.
The choice was hard. With our medics, I felt that we had a good handle on healing, so that left out the light mages. They had other uses, of course, but I had a feeling that the light school was mostly useful for its healing potential. It was between elemental and mind mages. I had a good idea of what an elemental mage would do; every game I had ever played had some kind of fireball-chucking class. The mind mage was a bit different. It didn’t seem as powerful on the surface, but it was a style of play that intrigued me. I hit the choice for the mind magic option and looked at the results of my choice.
Battlemage Enclave (Mind), Level 1. Upgrade cost: 125 resources, 25 gold. This building provides a section of battlemages trained in mind magic. Mages will also spawn to fight alongside the defensive garrison forces. Only larger garrison units will see a battlemage spawn to assist them. The mages will be of the same level as your other troops and will have the same martial abilities as one of your regulars while wielding the following spells.
1. Strengthen Resolve: Removes fear and demoralizing effects in a 25-foot radius around the battlemage.
2. Control Foe: The battlemage attempts to take control of an enemy. If successful, the mage will control the enemy for up to 30 seconds. The mage must maintain concentration while doing this and will be left vulnerable for the duration of the spell.
It wasn’t exactly overpowered, but any little bit helped. I was a bit disappointed to have only a section of five mages with a couple of spells. Since I had the resources and coin to do it, I upgraded the building from level 1 all the way to level 3 to see if it helped out at all. The upgrade drained 325 resources and 75 gold in total, which wasn’t too
burdensome with my plentiful reserves. I checked the new data, thankful that the building was generated by a scroll and I didn’t have to wait for the rest of the garrison to finish upgrading before I could see the new results.
Battlemage Enclave (Mind), Level 3. Upgrade cost: n/a. Complete garrison upgrade to unlock further upgrades for this building. The enclave building provides your army with a squad of battlemages trained in mind magic. Battlemages of this school can cast the following spells.
1. Strengthen Resolve: Removes fear and demoralizing effects in a 250-foot radius around the battlemage.
2. Control Foe: The battlemage attempts to take control of up to 2 enemies. If successful, the mage will control the enemies for up to 1 minute. The battlemage must maintain concentration while doing this and will be left vulnerable for the duration of the spell.
3. Mind Spike: This spell causes a spike of mental energy that slams into the target. Mind Spike ignores nonmagical defenses and leaves the target heavily damaged and unable to function for several seconds. The spell can also target multiple opponents. The damage and stun duration are diluted based on the number of targets the spell affects.
That was much better. With Control Foe now targeting more than one opponent and the addition of an offensive spell in Mind Spike, I was feeling a bit more confident about my choice. While these spells might not be as flashy as a fireball, having enemies fight among themselves was going to open some interesting tactical options. With the garrison taken care of for the moment, I looked at the weird green root that I had received from Tessel.
Promise Kept: This green root is all that was left of the forest the dryad Tessel once controlled. Its powerful magic can be unleashed only once every 7 days. Activating the item consumes it, and after the 1-week cooldown, the root will reappear in the player’s inventory. Useable only outdoors, Promise Kept creates an area of vegetation that becomes a natural fortification. The fortification will immediately spawn forest defenders to assist you. A maximum of 100 defenders will spawn, and they cannot venture more than a mile past their fortifications. The initial defenders are weaker creatures, but the strength and type of defender improve over the spell’s duration. The living fortification created by the artifact is considered a construct and can be destroyed. If destroyed, the remaining defenders will despawn. The spell has a duration of 12 hours.
While I missed Tessel’s Promise, this was a reasonable replacement, albeit one with a long cooldown. I would need to be very strategic in its use, but suddenly summoning a tree fort along with forest defenders could be a game-changer in a close battle. It was time to review what had changed to my character after leveling.
Raytak, Commander, Level 16, Colonel.
Experience: 50,001/55,000.
Command Presence: The commander has a permanent aura that inspires troops and allies under his command. They receive +5 to attack, +5 to defense, and +5 to morale saves. Any foes within 10 feet of your forces will suffer a −5 penalty to attack and defense. This ability is always active.
Manaless: You have eschewed personally learning any schools of magic. As a result, you have hardened your defenses and become resistant to hostile spells and magical abilities. The forces under your command also receive a lesser version of this ability. Magic resistance: 16%. Magic resistance for forces under your command: 8%.
Goon Squad: Summon 12–20 angry prisoners to fight for you. This ability can be used 3 times per day, and the goons are summoned for 5 minutes or until they are killed. The goons are summoned randomly in a 25-foot radius from the commander and attack the nearest foe. Goon Squad forces are unarmored and equipped with a makeshift dagger whose item-level matches the average item-level of your troops’ weapons. The goons do not respond to commands and act independently.
Honor Guard: Summon a squad of elite guards to fight at your side. The Honor Guard lasts for 2 minutes and attracts the attention of all foes currently targeting you. Enemies must attack and defeat the Honor Guard before they can focus on the commander once more.
Order of Battle:
The 1st Legion of Hayden’s Knoll: The 1st Legion is a proud and steadfast formation. It is the rock upon which other armies break. Units in this command receive +1 to defense and a cooldown reduction of 10 seconds on the Shield Bash ability. The legion is a veteran formation, attracting fully trained and equipped soldiers from around the Imperium to replace its losses in battle.
Regulars: 1 battalion (1,250/1,250).
Advanced Soldiers: 2 platoons (100/100).
Elite Soldiers: 8/8.
Battlemages: 10/10.
Attached Formations:
Ignominia:
Regulars: 2 platoons (100/100).
Advanced Soldiers: 1 squad, 1 section (15/15).
Elite Soldiers: 1/1.
Auxiliary Formations (1/3): dwarven runesmiths (6).
Battle Standards: The brave soldiers of the 1st Legion have won many honors. These have all been attached to the standard. The standard can be activated twice per day to increase the legion’s defense and attack power by 5. Earn more glory to improve this effect.
Just as I had hoped, my new level increased my standing forces to more than a battalion. My other abilities continued to strengthen incrementally, and I was now feeling better about our chances against Narbos and his forces. We still needed to get some intel on what we were going to face. Was it an overwhelming force or something comparable to my own? Considering that Narbos had control over a single zone, the same as we did, I didn’t think that his forces could be that much more numerous than our own.
I had a bit of time available until the garrison upgrade was complete and was still waiting for everyone to gather for the council of war. There was a certain halfling pitmaster I wanted to have a chat with. The news that Siren was back—despite the fact that I had killed her in the battle of Holdfast—disturbed me a bit. Hopefully Drake would have some answers. The last thing I needed while I prepared for an impending invasion was another outbreak of Gul Dorg. Unlike Yendys and my other friends, Drake was still logged into the game. I sent him a message, which he quickly replied to, inviting me over to his “dungeon sanctum.” I made my way out of the garrison and headed toward the dungeon area.
Chapter 3
I still marveled at the growth of Hayden’s Knoll since I first laid eyes on the empty plateau the town now sat upon. Crowds of both NPCs and players went about their business, and several parties were leaving through the small southeastern gate, which led toward the new dungeon that Drake governed. The small gate wasn’t there when I was last in Hayden’s Knoll and must have been constructed when Delling completed his most recent round of town upgrades. It made sense that players wouldn’t want to have to exit the main western gate and walk all around the town’s exterior wall just to make it to the dungeon. The small gate comprised a reinforced iron door with a heavy portcullis that could be dropped if needed. The crenelated wall above the gate was expanded to allow more defenders as well as murder holes to cover this small entrance to the town. A squad of ten town guards was posted at the gate—which was currently open—where they checked for troublemakers or threats to the town.
The eastern part of the plateau held several farms that were growing a staggering variety of crops and raising various animals. As the town continued to expand, much of this farmland would disappear as it was absorbed by the city. Relocating farmers was a problem for Delling. I had no desire to play a city management game and had my hands full just trying to defend the place from all the enemies that kept popping up.
Past the farmlands, I headed southeast, toward the towering mountain peaks and the entrance to the goblin mines that led to the dungeon. The fortifications at the entrance had also improved; they now sported a pair of wooden guard towers and a palisade wall that encircled the entrance. Several squads of town guard manned the fortifications, protecting this vital town resource. Some of my own defensive garrison force patrolled the area both here at the palisade and inside the mine itself.
The gateway through the palisade was large enough to handle the huge wagons used to carry ore out of the mines. Based on the constant traffic of adventurers entering the place to try their hand at the dungeon, I doubted the gates were ever closed. The guards saluted as I passed, making way for me to enter the mines controlled by Chief Bugtug.
The entrance had been widened and expanded by what I assumed was the goblin miners. When I had first entered the mines and battled the spiders here, the entrance was a dark and winding passage. Now the entrance led straight into the mine, and a pair of narrow-gauge tracks had been laid out. Farther in, goblins mined at nodes of ore, placing the unrefined chunks into small carts that they pulled along the tracks to the mine’s entrance when they were full. Judging by the gear that even the lowly miners were sporting, I assumed the whole operation must have been very profitable for the little green guys.
The miners’ picks were high-quality steel, and the miners themselves wore coveralls that never seemed to get dirty. From the power of their swings, I guessed that the gear must have also enhanced their endurance and strength. On their heads, the goblins wore helmets with lights on them. Dim and dirty torches that once lined the walls were gone, and in their place, magical glowing orbs provided all the light even a human would need. The goblins ignored me as I made my way past the first chamber and into the second main mining chamber and the passage leading to the dungeon.
“Big human commander man Raytaks comeses to Bugtug’s realm. Youse looking to pays tribute to the greaterest and powerfulerist Chief Bugtug?” Bugtug said as I entered the second mining chamber. The goblin chief was walking on patrol with his bodyguards around the cavern, probably something the AI had him do, as it would add a considerable threat to anyone looking to cause problems inside. I scanned their information before replying to the old goblin chief.
