Conquest

by Dean Henegar

  Many of you may not know that AI’s are developed for specific purposes. Clio, for example, has taken over twenty years of development and growth for her to achieve what she is today. Outside of the game world and the medical features we programmed into her over the last twenty years, she is unable to shift to a radically different purpose. For now, until an AI specifically designed for it is invented, using time compression to increase work or school productivity is not possible,” Lou finished while pushing the data results to everyone’s devices for them to review.

  “I have a question Lou, if I may?” Ms. Hallax asked. “Why would it take so long for an AI to be created? I thought companies created AI’s all the time to handle complex tasks. If it takes so long to create an AI to do this, why weren’t you working on the education or workplace AI’s at the same time you developed Clio?” Ms. Hallax asked a question that was on the mind of several people who were not intimately involved in the AI creation projects over the last decades.

  “Great questions, Ms. Hallax…I thought you weren’t a techie,” Lou joked before continuing. “An AI created for a complex, but relatively narrow, scope of use can be created in a reasonably quick three to four months, or so. An example would be the AI’s created by our military to control various drones. There are huge numbers of calculations required to drive, fly, and fight them, but not much depth other than that. The drones don’t have the added complexity of needing to understand human emotions, create world systems, or have the knowledge of all the subjects taught in school. We are one of the best companies in AI development, and I believe I can tell…” Lou looked to chairman Raines for confirmation to continue. “Yes, I can advise that we are developing both an AI for workplace environments as well as one specifically for education.

  To answer your other question, we didn’t find out about the time compression until very late in the AI’s development. It had been theorized as possible, but wasn’t confirmed until we began alpha testing, in-house, a few months ago. At that time, we dipped our toe in the development water for the new AI’s. We only really began to place resources toward those projects after the limitations of Clio became clear,” Lou finished as Ms. Hallax and many of the others at the table nodded their heads in understanding.

  “Thank you, Lou. With that, we’ll conclude for today. I’ll update everyone’s schedule once our next meeting is set. Should there be any further concerns, in the meantime, don’t hesitate to contact me,” Raines said as he finished the meeting. The virtual attendees dropped out one by one, leaving only the chairman, Trey, and Lou in the room.

  “Gentlemen, that went better than I had hoped. I had a feeling the Meditronax rep would be on board, due to their investment, but the VA rep had me scared for a bit. I’ve got to jump into another meeting with the game design folks in a minute. You two are welcome to attend. They are having some customer pushback about bullies and griefers in-game. The AI seems a bit slow to deal with them. The techs are telling me it’s something to do with her learning curve and propensity to want other players in-game to step up to the challenge,” Raines finished as Trey and Lou both excused themselves, heading back to the medical division to go to work.

  Chapter 10

  The Foul Spore Pit

  Yendys tapped her foot impatiently as she waited with three others outside the glowing blue portal to the dungeon. The other three players looked impatient, but not as agitated as the diminutive halfling. Yendys’ animal companion, Crunchy, gently nudged her leg, able to feel the discomfort in its companion. Footsteps were heard pounding down the tunnel that led to the room they were in, heralding the appearance of the halfling Drake.

  “Drake, what took you so long? You know my dad said I could only play until eight. You know my parents are SUPER strict about the amount of time I can play…and poor Crunchy is getting bored without some dungeon beasties to eat,” Yendys whined as Drake caught up to the others, while at the same time trying to catch his breath. Yendys looked to the others of the group. She had to admit they had a pretty good party for taking on a low-level dungeon. Raytak’s friend, Jacoby, would be the group’s tank. He had good gear and was a level higher than the rest of the party, as he had just recently hit level six. Jacoby’s guild mate, Kathala, was to be their main healer, playing a cleric of light build. The cleric of light class focused on area of effect heals as well as removing curses and poisons that may afflict the party. Yendys thought she seemed nice enough, just like Jacoby, and looked forward to having another girl in the group. Yendys and her two friends had met Jacoby through Raytak, with whom they had spent much of their early time in-game. Jacoby had joined a guild called Lightbearer that was focused on developing clerics, paladins, and knight type classes.

  The last members of the team were her friends Quimby and Drake, both of which were playing rangers. Quimby was specializing in ranged warfare while Drake was going toward a dual-wield melee build that would eventually work in tandem with the animal companion he would be able to summon starting at level 10. Yendys joined with Drake and Quimby as the damage dealers for the party. Her druid summoner class enabled her to summon forest creatures to fight temporarily for the group. Combined with a few damage spells, a basic heal, and the formidable animal companion Crunchy, the group was well balanced.

  “Geez, sorry Yendys, but mom made me help with dishes and take out the trash before I could log in. Luckily, I jumped in-game before she could ask me about my homework,” Drake said, as Jacoby and Kathala laughed. Drake, Quimby, and Yendys were all 10-year-old schoolmates in real life, while Jacoby and Kathala were in their early twenties. The two older players didn’t mind playing with the younger kids. They were fun to be around and reminded them of a more carefree time in their lives before the need to work and earn a living took over.

  “All right everyone, unless someone needs to finish chores, or feed their cat, I think we’re good to go in. I’ll lead the way, but don’t hesitate to shout out if you need me to pull a creature off you. Try to focus your damage on whatever I’m focused on and let the summons and Crunchy tank anything I can’t keep aggro on. If nobody has any questions, let’s get going. I’ll take it slow at first, and then if things are going well, I’ll pull larger groups. This is the first run ever in this dungeon, so we need to watch for anything. Stay safe and have fun. Even if we wipe, it’s cool,” Jacoby said to the group. His age, experience, and that fact he was the group tank, made him the natural leader for the party.

  The party stepped through the swirling blue portal and entered the dungeon.

  You have entered the Foul Spore Pit. Defeat the corrupted Dryad Tessel to gain valuable rewards. *Note, your party is the first to attempt this dungeon. You will be eligible for increased experience and rewards for this first run only. Complete the entire dungeon to receive the unique title “Tessel’s Bane”.

  “Woah, sooo cool guys! We totally need that unique title! I wonder if I can have it made into a ribbon for Crunchy!” Yendys said excitedly as the group progressed through the entrance. The passage they traveled down was a tunnel with the same features as the goblin mines just outside the dungeon. Everyone in the party felt a slight tingle as Kathala cast a party-wide buff.

  You have been affected by Blessing of Light, for the next 30 minutes Fortitude is increased by 5.

  Yendys was glad for the extra fortitude. Each point of it increased their health by ten and an extra fifty health was noticeable for a level five character. Concentrating and chanting, Yendys cast her only buff on the party. The barkskin buff wasn’t that great, but Yendys figured that they would need every bit of help that they could get. Her spell was single target only, so she had to cast it five separate times, the five casts dropping her mana to half. Mana regeneration out of combat was quick and Yendys figured she would have enough mana regained once they hit the first fights.

  You have been affected by Barkskin. For the next 30 minutes you receive +1 to defense.

  After buffs were received, the party continued down the slow
ly curving passageway. Eventually the sound of voices could be heard in the distance, along with the clanging of metal tools on stone. The passage emptied into a large cavern that was a whirl of activity. Several goblins wandered about, mining copper from the nodes that spawned from the cavern walls. Interspersed about the cavern were several larger goblins that snapped whips at any workers they either felt either weren’t moving fast enough, or that just looked like they needed hitting. The goblins working the mine were neutral to the party, while the bosses were hostile.

  Goblin Overseer Level 2: The mine boss has taken the biggest and meanest goblins to work for him. The overseers lord their position over the slaves, taking delight in the painful wounds they inflict with their whips.

  Goblin Captive Level 1: These poor wretches were snatched up by the mine boss to work his claim. They have little hope of ever seeing their tribe again.

  A quest prompt popped when the party began to enter the cavern.

  Quest: Free the goblin slaves. Goblins of the Bugtug tribe have been captured by the inhabitants here. Save them from their captors and be rewarded by Chief Bugtug.

  Free 10 goblins from captivity.

  Reward: 10 gold, 500 experience.

  “Ok, I’m going to try and start pulling the overseers,” Jacoby announced, as he strode confidently toward the first opponent.

  “Bree-Yark! Intruders! Kill them all,” the first goblin overseer shouted and charged toward Jacoby with his whip cocked back and ready to strike. Jacoby blocked the first attack with his shield and snapped off a blow with his hammer into the goblin’s shoulder. A sound like a twig snapping was heard as a critical hit landed and the goblin shrieked in pain, his now shattered arm hanging limp at his side. The damage didn’t cause the goblin to falter. It switched its whip to the other hand before striking back at its attacker. The blows from the whip tore at any exposed flesh that it met. The rest of the party now entered the fight. Kathala cast an aoe (area of effect) healing spell that restored 5 health per second for the entire party. Crunchy moved in and began to stab at the goblin with his horn, while Quimby fired off arrows when he saw an opening. Suddenly, Drake appeared behind the goblin, his two short swords flashing in the torchlight at he set about hacking the goblin down. The goblin fell in seconds from the combined attack. The team then began releasing all the captives they could, making sure not to draw the attention of the other overseers before they were ready. Three goblins were freed as the party took stock of their first skirmish.

  “That went well,” Jacoby stated as the last of his wounds healed up. “Let’s try to pull more this time. There are four more overseers left and I think we can take them all,” Jacoby said as he trotted down the cavern to attract the attention of their other foes. Jacoby quickly pulled the last of the overseers, while the party continued to use the same tactics as before. The four overseers died quickly as the party handily defeated their foes. True to form, the first encounter in the dungeon was easy, a great way to learn how to work together as a team. The group waited as Jacoby (the groups only player skilled in mining) mined the three copper nodes that were in the cavern. Jacoby kindly offered to split the ore he mined with the party, but everyone refused, letting him keep the materials. Jacoby had mentioned that he wanted to try his hand at forging his own weapons at some point, and the party knew that finding materials could be difficult and expensive.

  “These guys are kind of easy don’t you think?” asked Yendys.

  “No! Did you have to say that? Now you’ve doomed us all Yendys,” Drake joked while shaking his head. They rescued the remaining goblin slaves on this level and now had only five more to go. There were two doors in the cavern, a side door that led to a storage room with old equipment, and a door that led to another tunnel. The equipment room revealed no enemies and nothing of value.

  With nothing else to do, the party continued down the tunnel. So far, the experience gain had been a bit better than regular mobs but nothing to write home about. Treasure was weak too, only one gold and a handful of silver to split between the party. The passage they were following opened into another large cavern that was the mirror image of the one they had just left. Eight overseers and more slaves were in this cavern, the overseers in this room being slightly stronger at level three.

  “Jacoby, try and pull one or two of these level three guys and we’ll see how much stronger they are than the level two guys,” Yendys suggested as her mana finally topped off from the last fight.

  “Pulling one,” Jacoby said as he left the tunnel and approached the first overseer. The overseer quickly spotted the intruder and reacted the same as the ones in the other room had…at first.

  “Bree-Yark! Intruders! Kill them all,” the overseer yelled. Only this time the other seven overseers in the room responded to his call and began to charge the party. The AI had used the creatures in the first cavern as an easy test for a party. Creatures throughout the rest of the dungeon would act with the knowledge and initiative that real creatures would have used. The party could no longer count on dungeon mobs wandering aimlessly until they got within aggro range. One overseer stopped his charge and yelled to the others. “I’ll go tell the boss, kill these intruders and we’ll be rewarded,” the goblin said as he sprinted to the door at the rear of the cavern which presumably led to the boss on this level.

  Yendys stood stunned. Mobs in dungeons didn’t usually behave like this. This didn’t seem like some scripted event, the complex game throwing their old tried and true dungeon strategies out the door. The party would have to improvise and think through each encounter here in the dungeon.

  “I’ll have Crunchy tank two, Jacoby. You hold the others, then pull them off Crunchy when we finish them. I’ll heal Crunchy as best I can, but make sure all of us, including the pets, are in your aoe heals Kathala.” Yendys snapped off orders and, to her surprise, everyone followed them. Crunchy used his charge ability to gain aggro on one of the goblins, then he spun around launching a squeezing attack with his mandibles that picked up aggro on a second goblin. The two goblins now attacking him began to snap their whips at the giant beetle, their blows diminished somewhat by Crunchy’s hard carapace. Still, the whips left gouges where they hit and Yendys could see her pet’s health bar begin to dip. Crunchy alternated his attacks between his two foes, not doing much damage, but, so far, keeping their attention. Kathala’s healing spell fell over the party and they all began to gain five heath per second. Yendys began to repeatedly cast her summon nature’s ally spell. Medium-sized dogs appeared and began to assist Crunchy against two overseers he was fighting.

  Looking over at Jacoby, Yendys could see his health was slowly dropping as the damage from the five, level three overseers slightly exceeded the direct healing Kathala was pouring into him. Drake and Quimby fired arrows and slashed blades at one of the overseers, trying to kill one before Kathala ran out of mana. Yendys’ focus was brought back to Crunchy. Her poor unicorn beetle was down to half health and the goblins were mocking him while they laid about him with their whips. Her summoned animals had been killed off quickly and she stopped summoning to reserve some mana for healing. Yendys cast her nature’s mending spell on Crunchy, healing him for 50 health and an additional one point per second for the next ten seconds. It wouldn’t be enough, as her healing spell at level five could only be used on the same target once every hour. Yendys next activated an ability she dreaded using ever since she convinced her dad to allow her to use the one percent pain feedback feature in the game.

  Fatebind Pet: By binding your fate directly to your pet, you allow yourself to take 25% of the damage your pet receives. This ability is a toggled ability with a thirty second cooldown.

  Yendys flinched as small pinches of pain hit her every time a whip damaged Crunchy. Yendys cast nature’s mending on herself and then on Jacoby to help heal the tank, while she chain cast nature’s wrath at the overseers attacking Crunchy. Eventually the team’s damage output began to drop the goblins. As each goblin overseer fell
, the strain on Kathala’s healing lessened. In no time, the seven overseers were lying dead on the cavern floor. The party freed the last of the goblin slaves while they waited for their health and mana to regenerate. A quest complete prompt began flashing once the last goblin was freed.

  Quest Complete: Free the goblin slaves. See chief Bugtug for your reward.

  The quest complete prompt was welcome, even if the pitiful loot they were finding so far wasn’t. Two gold, fourteen silver, and a dozen copper pieces was all the party had received so far on this run. Not much when split among five players. Nobody was discouraged, as they all knew from other games that the big loot was found from the boss fights. A quick check of the cavern revealed another side room filled with useless equipment and a tunnel that led further into the dungeon. Waiting a few moments for Jacoby to mine the two copper and one tin node in the room, the party continued.

  The passage twisted around and eventually they faced the doorway into another room. This room appeared to be the “boss” room and they could see a large goblin sitting on a makeshift throne. The goblin on the throne was flanked by another large goblin and a scattering of overseers.