by Galen Wolf
I looked at the tower. It was quite imposing and stood so tall I had to crane my neck to look at the top. The sound of hammering steel on steel echoed from above, and from the windows near the top of the tower I could see the flickering light of a forge reflected on the windows.
I went up to the heavy wooden door with its black studded iron frame. The door handle was in the shape of a rune. A neat marketing touch, but my rune skills were poor and I couldn't read it. When I reached out to the handle, the door squeaked open at the slightest touch. As the door opened, a silver bell tinkled to announce my arrival. I stepped inside the ground floor of the tower. The shop itself was of course circular and around the walls were stands draped in blue velvet. On the blue velvet lay polished display boxes of mahogany, and in the mahogany display cases were rows of silver runes that glittered in the light. At first I couldn't make out where the light was coming from. Then I saw a permanent light spell hovering in the middle of the room towards the ceiling.
After a minute or two, the proprietor of the shop emerged from the back stairs. He was a man over six feet tall with white blond hair and piercing blue eyes. He was heavily muscled as befitted someone who worked at a forge most of the day. He wore no shirt and his muscles rippled under a thin sheen of sweat from his recent exertion.
He fixed me with his glacier blue eyes. "What do you want?"
Determined to be polite, despite his manner, I said, "Hello, you must be Harald Runestorm?" I reached out my hand for him to shake.
"What the fuck's that to you?"
I bit my lip. It didn't look like my attempts at friendliness would get much traction here. I shrugged and smiled thinly. "I've come to buy some runes"
Harald gave a sarcastic look around. "Well I guess you've come to the right place, Sherlock."
"Okay, I was wondering whether you could give me some advice on which runes I would need."
"I make runes. I sell runes. Do I look like a fucking Wikipedia?"
I studied him. "Do you have to be so rude and offensive?"
He raised an eyebrow mockingly. "You think this is offensive? I haven't even started yet."
I sighed. "I'm just wanting to open a shop for the first time. I know I need to protect it against thieves and someone told me you make the best runes in the Greenwood."
"Well, that someone was right. I do make the best runes in the Greenwood. And the most expensive. So, if your pockets aren't jingling with gold you'd better just fuck off out of here."
I had plenty of gold from the questing I'd been doing. "Just humor me, please. I need to know how to protect my stock. I'll pay you of course for your advice."
Harald muttered something about noobs. Then he looked up. "Okay, I can see the fastest way to separate you from your money and stop you annoying me further is to give you a primer on runes."
"That's good."
"So. when you open your 'shop', you keep all your stuff on display in protected display boxes." He pointed to the ones in his showroom. "You keep your stock in those and you put a Shock rune on them. Any unauthorized person touching them will get a shock and back off. Now thieves, and runesmiths like me have a skill to peel off Shock runes. So, you need to put a Lock rune on the Shock rune? Got it?"
"That seems pretty simple."
"You'll need a Shock rune and a Lock rune for each of your display boxes. How many display boxes do you have?"
"I don't know yet."
Harald rolled his eyes. "The gods give me strength..."
"I'll get some from the market in Vinab."
"That shit heap of a place."
I ignored him. "So, go on; can't someone unlock the Lock runes?"
He gave a wicked smile. "Of course. And that's why you come to me. To unlock a Lock rune the runesmith or thief's skill must be able to beat the difficulty check of the Lock rune. Now the difficulty check is determined by the level of the runesmith who made it and is composed of the skill level - mine is max - plus the maker's intelligence bonus. And a luck component. Also at higher levels there's a skill to reinforce the Lock rune. And I have that maxed out too. There are not many people who can remove my Lock runes. Get it?"
"Is there anyone who can?"
"No one. That fucker Loki was boasting he could until he tasted the edge of my runesword and that shut his fat mouth."
That was interesting. Harald didn't like Vinab, I would have guessed that. I heard he originated from Horrabia, but it seemed he didn't like Loki either.
"What about the stockroom?" I said.
"Okay," he said. "And you'd better be buying a lot of runes to make up for all this advice I'm giving you."
"I will."
He cleared his throat. "In the stockroom, you want a Cross Rune to keep out any ghosts. It's a trick of the thieves that with their stealth skills they enter in Ghost Form."
I knew Ghost Form was a level 15 stealth skill. I was looking forward to getting it.
"So," Harald continued. "The thieves use their ghost form and come through the walls. They then lose the ghost form, steal whatever they want and pick the lock from the inside. Or they simply go back into ghost form after putting everything in their inventory and ghost out through the wall again. The Cross Rune stops any undead from coming in—and of course that includes ghosts."
He was warming to his subject. "The way around this is twofold. First of all, you keep a Cross Rune in the stockroom to stop anyone ghosting in. And an Anchor rune to stop any ghosts leaving. Otherwise soon as they go to ghost form the cross rune would simply expel them from there, making their job easier."
"Okay, and you can sell me these?"
"Of course. But I'm not finished. You need to add a Shock rune and a Lock rune in the rune phrase with the Cross rune and the Anchor rune. Or else someone will simply come to your stockroom and pick them up and unravel them back into silver."
I smiled. "You're being very helpful, Harald."
He spat on the floor. "I don't mean to be. I only mean to get you to buy a whole bunch of runes."
"Well that will happen. Won't the Shock rune stop me from picking it up?"
He did a face palm. "You are so stupid you make me want to punch myself in the face. Or you. No, you idiot. As soon as you buy the rune, the ownership is transferred from me to you. The rune will only trigger against people on your enemy list."
He paused. "You do have an enemy list, don't you?"
I didn't. I didn’t tell Harald that though. I would get one. While we were talking, I glanced up to my HUD and read through the instructions on creating an enemy list. I quickly set it to all citizens of Horrabia and separately to all members of the Horrabia based guilds like the Cavaliers and Thieves. There was an option to add personal enemies in order of hatred. I thought of several to add to that list, but not now.
I smiled sweetly at Harald. "Of course I've got an enemy list."
"So, all that remains is, for you to buy the runes and fuck off."
I bought fifteen Shock runes, fifteen Lock runes, two Cross runes and two Anchor runes. The lot came to 6800 gold pieces.
"I would like to say it's been a pleasure doing business with you," Harald said, "but I must get back to my forging. You have a nice day."
I still wanted to extract some information from Harald, so before he left, I said, "So are you still a citizen of Horrabia?"
"Are you fucking joking me?" Harald said, but it seemed to be a rhetorical question. "Those absolute bunch of turds". His brow knitted in fury and I saw his hands bunch into fists.
"I just wondered whether you were a friend of the city. Did you hear that Attila had returned?"
If Harald looked angry before, he looked like his head would explode now. His eyes bulged, his cheeks reddened, and he punched the table hard causing the display boxes to bounce.
"That fucking slime ball! He's fucking back? I thought he was gone for good. And good riddance to him it was too." Fury was loosening Harald's mouth. "Do you know what that fucker did to me?"
I shoo
k my head.
"I was one of the founding members of the city of Horrabia. You ask anyone - I was one of its best fighters and most valued citizens. Then this guy Attila starts playing. He's all ambition, and he rises to be president of Horrabia. Then he tries to crack down on me, sending me warning messages because I'm saying things he doesn't approve of. Now I am used to doing whatever the fuck I want. When I chose my alignment: Chaotic Evil—that suited me fine. Yes, I'm evil, but also chaotic—you get me?"
I was getting him perfectly. This was fascinating.
Harald waved his hands in an angry flourish. "But Attila is Lawful Evil. And it's the law bit I don't like. He even said to me—me, Harald Runestorm—he even said these words to my face: It's my way or the highway, Harald. If you don't like the way I'm running Horrabia feel free to leave. Feel free to leave the city I'd helped found? I mean was he fucking joking me?"
What was the correct response here? Luckily, Harald didn't need an answer from me.
"We had a fight right there."
"Dare I ask who won?"
Harald's eyes narrowed, and he spat again. "Me of course, dipshit. Don't ask me questions like that again; it really pisses me off."
"What happened then?"
He gave a hollow laugh. "The little swine Attila went running to the council with some made up charges and I got booted out of Horrabia. But good riddance to them; I hate their guts. I'm happy here on my own."
Good stuff. I was wondering how to turn this to our advantage. "Okay Harald, I'll be going now. Thanks for the runes and the advice. You're not such a bad guy."
He snarled. I thought he was going to throw something at me. "Don't ever say that again. I am such a bad guy. By the way what's your name little ranger boy?"
"I'm Barcud."
Realization dawned on his face. "You're the new guy who's setting up that village on the edge of Horrabian territory." He laughed. "They are gonna kick your ass, but big respect just for pissing them off."
I was intrigued. "How do you know about me?"
"A friend of mine told me."
"Do you mind me asking who?"
"Yes, I do." Then he muttered, "Birog the druid."
"Birog - Deputy Guildmistress of the Druids’ Guild?" This seemed an unlikely friendship. I couldn't hide my amazement. "She's your friend?"
Harald almost blushed. "Well, I like her. I guess she's pissed with me for killing her, though." He looked down. "And stealing her stuff. Still, what are you going to do?” He shrugged, with a grim smile on his face.
"I can see how that would be." Hmm, Harald Runestorm was a complex man. There might still be a way to use him against Horrabia. I waved at him and stepped outside into the bright sunlight.
Aquila waited for me nearby, and I climbed onto her back. Then a dove appeared with a personal message. It fluttered in, all white wings and purity, and landed on Aquila's back. I wasn't sure that Aquila was happy about this affront to her dignity being equated to a statue or a post. Then the dove flew off, and I opened the message. It was from Griffin.
The message said: Come quickly. Horrabia is launching its attack on Pennred now.
Pennred Level and Troops
The Village of Pennred.
Level 6 Settlement
Population: 600
Defenses: Stone Curtain Walls
Siege Equipment: None
Buildings:
120 Dwellings
Village Hall Level VI
Corn Mill Level IV
Farm Level IV
Bakery Level II
Saw Mill Level III
Tannery Level II
Forge Level III
Barracks Level III
Grove of Apollo Level IV
Grove of Maedhros Level III
The system for building settlements in the Greenwood was straightforward. When you created a Level 1 settlement it had capacity for 100 inhabitants. Anything over 100 and it would become overcrowded and you would get morale penalties and the chance of a rebellion. So, when the settlement reached its population limit you needed to upgrade it or suffer. Other things helped keep order - the religious groves contributed 10% each to happiness at Level 1, and could be upgraded. The presence of a barracks added 20% to happiness—order and happiness are the same measure in The Greenwood—, as did the presence of a village hall—10% at Level 1 and fully upgraded at Level 10 - 200%—.
A Level 1 Settlement produces one Resource Unit per day. A Level 2, two and so on. This Resource Unit could be enhanced by the creation of certain buildings. For example, a Corn Mill, available at Level 1 will increase resource production by 20% and when fully upgraded to Level 10, by 200%. A Bakery also increases resource production by 40% at Level 2. So Pennred at Level 2 with a Corn Mill and a Bakery will be producing 1.8 Resource Units a day.
To upgrade buildings you spend Resource Units, so a Level 1 Corn Mill takes 1 Resource Unit. A level 2 Bakery takes 2 Resource Units and a Level 5 Barracks takes 5.
Some buildings produce resource bonuses—e.g. Bakery, Corn Mill, Farm, Tannery—, others produce order bonuses—e.g. village hall, barracks, religious buildings—
At Level 6, Pennred was therefore producing 4.6 resources a day and 170% happiness/order. These resources were used to upgrade buildings further.
In addition to Order and Resources, buildings also produced comms. The type of comm. depended on the type of building: bakeries, Corn Mills and farms produced food. This was used to feed the population. A level 1 village with a population of 50 needed 50 food comms a day. Any surplus could be traded for gold with neighboring settlements.
A tannery produced leather for armor, or for trading. In larger cities, it could be used for furniture, book production etc.
A forge produced weapons or steel armor.
In addition, workers would go out into the wilds and bring back comms such as timber. 1 worker could bring in 10 comms units per day at Level 1, and 100 comms units a day at Level 10. The main comms found in the wilds were stone, timber ores, necessary for building the buildings. So, a dwelling took 0.1 resources, 6 timber and three stone comms.
A Corn Mill took 1 resource, 12 timber and 5 stone comms.
Certain buildings only became available at certain levels so:
Corn Mill at Level 1, Bakery, Barracks, Forge and Saw Mill at Level 2, etc.
Forces At Pennred
1 x Militia
Strength 80
Melee Attack 4
Missile Attack 0
Charge Bonus 8
Defense Bonus 9
Morale 30
Turns to Train 1
2 x Ranger Archers
Strength 90
Melee Attack 14
Missile Attack 22
Missile Range 155
Ammunition 24
Charge Bonus 4
Defense Bonus 15
Morale 50
Turns to Train 1
2 x Ranger Skirmishers 1st & 2nd Battalion Pennred
Strength 100
Melee Attack 24
Missile Attack 0
Charge Bonus 5
Defense Bonus 32
Morale 60
Turns to Train 1
2 x Elite Ranger Spearmen "2nd and 4th Battalion Woodheart Greenjackets"
Strength 120
Melee Attack 30
Missile Attack 0
Charge Bonus 8
Defense Bonus 38
Morale 70
Turns to Train 1
14
The First Battle of Pennred
I took only a few minutes to get back to Pennred. I landed Aquila near the village hall and saw that Ahn and Griffin were already there. I approached them and they turned, grim looks on their faces.
"We have news that the Horrabian armies are advancing on us," Griffin said.
Ahn said, "Astral Bob tells us that the Horrabian host is split in two. they're so confident of their power they're attacking on two fronts. It looks like their eastern army under Gandalp
h is moving on Keld. The southern army led by Attila himself is coming south down the Vale of Tears."
"Have we any idea what forces they're moving against us?"
Ahn tugged at his black beard. "A lot."
"Can we get someone up there able to fly reconnaissance?"
Griffin nodded. "I'll go."
I watched him turn and whistle his eagle. Soon he was in the sky high above heading north over the Forest of Nightmares.
We grouped up so I could get messages via the HUD. Other rangers stood nearby including Gearhart and Sinuviel. I asked, "Where's Ajora?"
Ahn said, "She's busy with real-life stuff. She'll be here as soon as she can."
"And very importantly," I said, "What about news from our allies in Vinab?" They promised they'd come to our aid. In fact, the whole premise of our building this village here was to support them. Where's their aid for us?"
Ahn looked pained. "Still no word. I understand that Astral Bob and Parzifal are having trouble persuading the Council of Vinab."
"We're on our own?"
Ahn's dark eyes were expressionless. "It looks that way."
"Okay, very well. I better get these troops marshaled."
"So, you're taking command?" Ahn said.
I nodded. "I thought that's what we agreed?".
Ahn said, "Yes, you have much more experience playing this kind of game than me."
"But Ahn," I said. "I'd like you to take command of your two regiments of spearmen."
"Of course."
I got ready to go to the barracks then I got a message from Griffin.
Griffin: The Horrabian horde's only a few miles north. They have raptor air cover.
Me: Don't get too close.
I remembered the raptors attacking me.
I relayed the message to Ahn standing near me. "I saw it," he said.
