Citadel of Smoke: A LitRPG and GameLit Adventure (Stonehaven League Book 4)

by Carrie Summers

  Devon groaned, recalling the hip-deep stagnant water her party had been forced to wade through while she Levitated over the surface on the way to the Fortress of Shadows.

  "We were out there for something like two in-game weeks without finding another bindstone or getting a discovery achievement. I think we both secretly hoped we'd meet a horrible death and get sent back to Stonehaven as an excuse to choose a different direction for our explorations."

  Hailey's face twisted into a grimace when she finished the sentence. Now that Devon got a better look at her friend, there was something in the woman's bearing that didn't fit Hailey's usual demeanor. She seemed...shaken, maybe.

  "But you didn’t die, so you couldn’t justify backtracking here to choose another direction. Where'd you head?"

  "Across the Noble Sea. I should probably leave this part of the story to Chen. Poor guy was so bored...to be honest, I don't know what Veia was thinking, creating such a long journey. It almost seemed like the AI had sketched in that part of the world but had forgotten to fill it with anything interesting."

  Devon sucked on the corner of her lower lip. Hailey might actually be on to something there. Shavari's visions had been cut off recently, leading the prophetess to wonder whether she'd been abandoned by her goddess. Veia had apparently let Hailey and Chen sail into the horizon with no meaningful content to make the journey worthwhile.

  Maybe Veia didn't have the resources to attend to such details because of the attacks by Zaa's minions. Shavari had said that she believed the coming battles would determine the fate of all Aventalia. It kind of made sense that Emerson’s creator AI would be more focused on defenses than in reassuring her priestesses or spawning a pirate archipelago to add some interest to the sea crossing.

  "I assume you hit land eventually," Devon said. "Unless you jumped overboard and waited for sharks to give you a quick trip to your spawn point." As she spoke, she remembered the story told by Emmaree, the halfling leader of the people they'd rescued from a goblin necromancer and her followers. Emmaree's group had founded a town atop the Fortress of Shadows, a system of catacombs built by one of the vassal societies to ancient Ishildar.

  Before that, they'd come from a land across the Noble Sea. A land that had been overrun by demons. Devon glanced at her friend. Despite the tan she'd earned after days at sea, Hailey’s skin held a strange pallor. Her shoulders slumped. Had she seen something on the far shore?

  "I kind of wish I had jumped overboard," Hailey said. "It..."

  The woman's steps slowed. She looked at Devon with haunted eyes. "Have you ever felt like this game is too realistic, Dev? Like things were better in other games when a lot more of the systems were abstracted and the sensory experience wasn't so immersive? Or maybe..." She took a deep breath. "It's not that, actually. I love how realistic things are, and I wouldn't trade away the ability to feel morning fog on my face for anything. But what we saw out there was terrible."

  "Demons," Devon said.

  Her friend shot her a quizzical look. "How did you know?"

  "Remember Emmaree's story?"

  Hailey blinked, thinking. "I—No, I don't think so."

  Devon thought back. Actually, she remembered now… Emmaree had told her their group's history on the long march back to Stonehaven from the swamp. At the time, Hailey had been scouting at the front of the group.

  "I guess I should have mentioned it when you declared this plan to be the game's first Magellan."

  "First who?"

  "Never mind. Anyway, I should have warned you."

  Hailey shrugged. "As I recall, you were recovering from having a demon take over your brain. Forgetting to fill me in on every NPC conversation you'd ever had is an excusable error."

  Devon snorted. "Okay, take the blame then." She bumped shoulders with Hailey in an attempt to lighten the mood. "So I was going to go check in with my head carpenter guy. Come with?"

  Hailey smiled faintly. "Sure. Might be a nice distraction to hear about what's been going on here. You, me, and Chen can talk about the situation overseas a little later. Maybe over a mug of dwarven ale."

  "Or in Chen's case, over a thimbleful," Devon said with a smirk.

  ***

  Settlement: Stonehaven

  Size: Hamlet

  "Here's where I'm hoping to get your advice, Your Gloriousness," Prester said. Devon was staring at the settlement interface, and as he spoke, the screen switched to an overview of building types of the lowest tier of complexity.

  Tier 1 Buildings - 95/200 (55 upgraded)

  Housing (single occupancy): 27

  Housing (double occupancy): 20

  Housing (family): 13

  Shops (basic): 20

  Shops (upgraded): 15

  Devon whistled. "That's good progress, Prester. It looks to me like you've come a long way toward getting roofs over people's heads."

  Prester looked toward the farm plots where a few new citizens had set up canvas tents. "We have enough floor space for everyone to sleep inside. The issue of beds is another matter. You know, for the first few weeks, it was fine to put new folks into bedrolls. But there are some complaints. People say they shouldn’t be forced to live as if we're an army on the march. They gave their oaths thinking that Stonehaven was civilized...at least that's how they put it."

  Stonehaven uncivilized? Of all the ungrateful...

  Devon held her silence for a moment to keep from snapping. It wasn't Prester's fault that they'd attracted a group of spoiled-rotten townsfolk. But still, she was tempted to tell whichever newcomers were raising complaints that they could go back to Eltera City and sleep in real beds—as long as they didn't mind being awakened now and again by the sulfurous breath of a demon in their chambers.

  She took a deep breath, and then another.

  You gain a skill point: +1 Leadership

  "How much would it distract from our other construction objectives to assign someone to crafting beds?" she asked.

  Prester shuffled. "Well… here's the thing. The only one among us who has an appropriate recipe is Edwin, and I've got him on door frames. Plus, I'd hardly call the lashed-together frame he creates a 'bed'. If you put it in a dark room and don't squint too hard, it could pass for a cot."

  "Wait...really? Aren't there six of you now? I always thought beds were a simple sort of thing to make."

  The man shrugged. "See...that's where we start getting into specialties. Beds—and for that matter, most furniture beyond your basic table and three-legged stool—are a lot different than timber-frame cabins. The frames have different demands than ordinary construction. They need to support a comfortable mattress, and of course if you want to raise morale, nice curves and stains and carvings go a long way with furnishings."

  "Are you about to tell me I need a Master of Furniture just like I needed a Master of Fortifications to build a wooden palisade?"

  Prester laughed and set down the tool he’d been running over a rough plank to strip off the splintery outer layer. "Not precisely, Your Gloriousness, but you would need to reassign one of the general carpenters to woodworking."

  Devon nodded and stepped aside as Hailey turned sideways to slip past into the second room of the under-construction building. The woman’s robe, cloth being the only armor besides consecrated leather she could wear as a Seeker class, snagged on the unfinished door frame, and she absently unhooked it before shuffling a couple more steps beyond. Devon hadn’t noticed until now, but the woman’s gear was looking fairly tattered after her adventure and the damage inflicted by the game’s death penalty.

  “Hey, so what is this place gonna be?” Hailey asked, looking at Devon to address her question.

  “Uh…”

  Prester touched his brow. “Simple Two-Room Cabin, Miss.”

  “Ahh.” Hailey continued deeper into the room, running her hand over the framing.

  “Thinking of taking up Carpentry?” Devon asked. “You might like it better tha
n Tailoring.”

  Hailey turned and grimaced. “I hope to God you finally have a tailor’s shop. Hell if I’m going to spend the next two days stitching up all these fricking tears.” She lifted the lower part of her robe a few inches and let it drop.

  “We can go see Emmaree after this. She’s set up a station in the Crafting Workshop.”

  Prester cleared his throat. “Speaking of…”

  “Yes?” Devon raised an eyebrow.

  “As you can see, we’re close to meeting the housing need.”

  Population: 193/500

  Bunks: 174

  “Bunks…that includes the people still using bedrolls?”

  The carpenter seemed to struggle to keep a straight face. “I’m not sure I was quite clear. Yes, that’s including those still sleeping on the floor—all 150 or so.”

  Devon blinked. “You mean…”

  “The original Tribe of Uruquat and the Stoneshoulder dwarves brought cots from our old settlements. Others are making do with what we can provide. Which, right now, is bedrolls.”

  Devon groaned, thinking of all the new cabins she’d assumed to be full of furniture and happy citizens. It sounded more like people were just camping in their own homes.

  “I’ll defer to you on who should be Stonehaven’s first woodworker,” she said, making a note to look through the summary of professions in the hamlet to make sure there weren’t other critical jobs she’d neglected.

  Prester nodded. “Back to Emmaree. Seeing as we’re close to addressing the housing situation, I thought we might start on a project that could challenge our—my—skills a bit more. I’ve been happy to do what’s needed for Stonehaven’s success, but I’m afraid I haven’t gained any expertise in many days.”

  Meaning, he hadn’t improved in Carpentry in a long time because the tier 1 recipes for simple houses, even those he customized with the Improvisation ranking he’d inherited from her, were too low level to give a chance of skilling up.

  Devon clapped his shoulder. “I’m sure it gets dull working on something you’ve done a hundred times.”

  He shrugged, looking bashful. “At the very least, I’ve gained points in Mentoring. But you know my passion is for working with my own hands.”

  “I do. Quite well.”

  “Then if you don’t object, I’d like to spend some time creating Specialty Workshops for our major crafting professions. They’re working shoulder to shoulder in the Crafting Workshop, taking shifts even because there simply isn’t workbench space. Gerrald glares at me whenever he sees me. You’d think he’d understand that we need roofs over people’s heads.”

  Devon sighed. “I’m sure he does. But just in case, I’ll speak to him and let him know it was my directive to focus on homes.”

  “But you wouldn’t object to us starting in on more workspaces?”

  Devon pulled up the settlement interface again and scrolled down to check the overall balance of structures.

  Requirements for expansion to Township:

  - Advanced NPC: 7/25

  - Buildings (Tier 2): 6/27

  - Buildings (Tier 3): 2/15

  - Buildings (Tier 4): 0/2

  - Population: 193/500

  Devon nodded. She remembered that the specialty crafting workshops were tier 3 buildings. With the limit on the number of them she could build before expanding to a township, she needed to be somewhat careful on what she agreed to build.

  She opened the interface for the tier 3 building options currently available.

  Tier 3 Buildings

  - Inner Keep (two-story)

  The innermost stronghold of a castle or settlement. This is where you cower when all hope is lost.

  Sleeps up to ten.

  Requires: Stonemasonry (Tier 4), 220 x Stone Blocks, 50 x Batches of Mortar

  - Shrine to Veia.

  Bestows Veia’s blessing. Blessings vary based on offerings supplied and the items or persons receiving the boon.

  Requires: Stonemasonry (Tier 2), 3 x Stone Blocks, Settlement leader sworn to Veia.

  - Stables

  A house for horses. Enables breeding of horses, donkeys and mules. Grants a rested bonus to mount speed.

  Requires: Carpentry (Tier 4), 90 x Wood Plank, 10 x Wood Beam

  - Barn

  A house for cows and pigs. Enables dairy production and breeding of livestock for meat. Provides rot-proof storage for fodder (5 bushels).

  Requires: Carpentry (Tier 3), Stonemasonry (Tier 2), 80 x Wood Plank, 8 x Wood Beam, 20 x Stone Block, 7 x Batches of Mortar.

  - Chicken Coop

  A house for…wait for it…chickens. Required for production of eggs and breeding of chickens for meat.

  Requires: Carpentry (Tier 2), 12 x Wood Plank, 4 x Wood Beam

  - Specialty Crafting Workshop

  Tier 3 specialty crafting workshops exist for the following trades: Leatherworking, Tailoring, Stone Carving (small), Woodworking, Jewelcrafting, Weaving, and Glassblowing.

  Grants various bonuses to productivity and quality of produced goods.

  Requires: Varies by trade. Expand for more details.

  - Arena

  A training grounds for martial combat. Usable by both players and NPCs.

  Requires: Stonemasonry (Tier 2) 100 x Stone Block, 20 x Batches of Mortar

  The settlement already had an Inner Keep and a Chicken Coop, and with ability to construct a total of fifteen tier 3 buildings, she definitely had the budget for some specialty workshops. Devon raised an eyebrow upon seeing that the Arena building had been added to the list—that hadn't been an option when Stonehaven was just a village.

  At this construction tier, most of the buildings required both Stonemasonry and Carpentry to complete. She hovered her awareness over the specialty workshop entry but didn't expand it. The required resources would be similar, she gathered, to the other buildings in the tier.

  "Can you work with Deld and Bern to make sure there are masons and stone resources to accomplish the work?" As she asked the question, Devon clicked a little button in the interface to hide the resource requirements for the buildings. Instead, in the cases where the settlement already had the resources for a construction plan, the name of the building said "(ready to build)" beside it. The more she delegated responsibility for some of the low-level pipelines in the settlement expansion, the less she had to look at screen after screen of information.

  "I can if you trust me with the task, Your Gloriousness," Prester said. His chest puffed a little with the new responsibility.

  She nodded, pleased with herself for offloading work and boosting morale in one mighty blow. "Let's start with workshops for Leatherworking and Tailoring. I have a feeling that more building options will appear as we have the potential need for them." That was one thing she'd found with Relic Online. Rather than blast her with too many choices at once, the game unlocked features and options over time.

  You have so much faith. Maybe this is all you'll get. Ever.

  She rolled her eyes.

  "Your Gloriousness?" Prester asked. "Did I say something?"

  Devon shook her head quickly. "Not at all. I was just thinking to myself about another friend of mine who has an annoying sense of humor. They don’t seem to get that no one else finds them funny."

  He cast her a skeptical look but nodded. "Well, if that's all, then?"

  "Almost," Devon said. Seeing the requirements for advancing to Township had made her curious. Before advancing to Hamlet, she hadn't even been presented with a set of tier 4 buildings. Curling her toes in anticipation, she opened the list.

  Tier 4 buildings:

  -Guild Hall - Trade specific

  A hall of study for the advancement of trades. Individual halls may be built for most crafting professions and are usable by both players and NPCs for advancement.

  Expand for details.

  - Guild Hall - Class specific

  A hall of study for the
advancement of combat classes. Guildmasters for the classes often hear about these dedicated facilities and will journey to a settlement holding one in hopes they'll be granted citizenship.

  Expand for details.

  - University

  Dedicated to the pursuit of general scholarly knowledge. Often results in the discovery of rare information and rumors that can lead to specific quests and awesome loot.

  Niiiice! Devon tried to contain her excitement since there were other priorities. But maybe she wouldn't have to journey to some far-off city to find a new Sorcerer trainer. She could just build a Sorcerer's Guildhall. And the University…as soon as this crap with the demon conquest was over, she was all over building something that spat out awesome quests for rare loot.

  Of course, building those before some of the other guildhalls would be sort of selfish, but Stonehaven was her settlement, right?

  "Actually, I think that's all for now. Thanks, Prester."

  With a nod, the carpenter turned on his heel and headed back to the plank he'd been smoothing.

  "Do you think we should go find Chen?" Devon asked Hailey. "Are you sure he died and respawned?"

  "Oh, I'm sure," Hailey said. "But I'm still not sure I'm ready to listen to him rant. Let's go find some dwarves to donate a cask of their ale first."

  Devon laughed. "Sounds like a wise plan."

  Chapter Nine

  DEVON LOGGED OUT feeling very out of sorts. The story that Hailey and Chen had told her about the tortured humans drowning themselves to escape the demon conquerors was frankly disturbing as all hell. It definitely crossed the line from "this is an awesome game in a living world" to "what kind of twisted mind would come up with this shit?"