Escape to the Fringe (Fringe Chronicles Book 1)

by Adam Drake

  I nodded. Being inside the Keep granted health regeneration. Interesting. “Yes, may he be praised,” I said. I expected Amara to already be aware of this fact, unfortunately. This just underscored my woeful lack of Battle Field knowledge.

  “Thank you, for bringing me inside,” I said.

  The leader shrugged. “Weren't nothing, boss. It was the Lookout's idea, after all.”

  I looked up again and waved at the Lookout who returned it. Then he vanished from view and back to his duties.

  And speaking of which, I had duties, too. Build a base, and an army and then smash Amara's face in. I liked that plan.

  The leader asked, “What is your command, boss? Me and the lads are waiting.” He motioned toward the door where a cluster of workers stared at me in anticipation.

  “Right,” I said, and headed to the door. The workers scattered.

  Outside, they assembled themselves into two neat rows.

  As soon as I crossed the Keep's threshold my hit point regeneration stopped. I stepped back inside the doorway and surveyed my meager base. All the dead bodies had vanished.

  Smoke grazed next to the banner's altar, and I was relieved to see he had recovered from his wounds.

  The woodyard stood abandoned with only a tiny bit of wood piled inside it. I'd need them to start cutting wood, again. Then find a gold mine and begin to dig.

  It was going to be a lot of work. I eyed the worker unit who were missing a few men. I'd need more workers than this lot. A lot more.

  “Where can I get more of you?” I asked the leader.

  He waved at the Keep. “Why, from there, boss. You can have thirty six stalwart workers at this level. More when you upgrade it.”

  Thirty six workers meant three units. On a hunch I pulled up my command menu again and highlighted the Keep.

  Keep:

  Hire Worker Unit – 100 gold (1/3 units active)

  Feeling pressed for time, I selected to hire another worker unit. The upgrade option would have to wait.

  Instantly, the round room of the Keep was filled with twelve burly workers in overalls and red shirts. This unit's leader stepped forward.

  “What would you like us to do, boss?” he said. He looked and sounded identical to the one outside.

  I shrugged inwardly. Well, they're only workers. Don't need to tell them apart.

  “Outside, please,” I said.

  The streamed past me through the door and assembled next to the other unit.

  My health bar was now full, all hit points restored. I marveled at how close I'd come to giving that elven idiot a thousand battle points with my death and laughed. She must be steaming right now.

  No, I corrected myself. Not steaming. Building. And fast.

  I stepped through the door and pointed at the first worker unit. Each one stood at attention like soldiers on parade.

  “Resume cutting wood over there, please,” I said indicating the tree line by the woodyard.

  “Yes, boss!” the leader screamed, and they all turned in unison and ran off. In seconds they were chopping away as if possessed.

  “And us, boss?” the leader of the new unit asked.

  I liked their eagerness but interacting with them could eventually get on my nerves. Instead of answering, I pulled up the command menu and selected the Build Barracks option.

  Barracks:

  Needed to muster and train various battle units.

  Cost: 350 gold, 200 wood

  Do you wish to build this? Yes/No?

  Selecting yes produced a large rectangular outline on the ground. I pointed it toward a spot right beside the banner's altar.

  “Build me a barracks there, please,” I said.

  The worker unit sprang into action, surrounding the outline and hammering away. A long narrow building with many windows slowly emerged from the ground. Next to it looked to be a small parade ground for marching and wooden dummies for fighting practice.

  Completed, the workers stopped and wiped their sweaty brows, but they still glanced at me with expectation.

  My gold was seriously depleted so I wouldn't be able to build anything for a while.

  I pointed to the woodyard. “Go help them out.”

  With the leader shouting at them, they took off to attack the trees.

  Two system messages appeared.

  Archery Range unlocked.

  Cavalry Grounds unlocked.

  Cool, I thought, but blanched when I saw their prices.

  Archery Range: 700 gold, 200 wood

  Cavalry Grounds: 1,000 gold, 200 wood

  Won't be getting those for a while.

  Instead, I brought up the command screen and selected the new Barracks submenu.

  Barracks:

  Units available:

  Footmen – 200 gold.

  Scout – 50 gold.

  Looking at my resources I had enough for one of each. I selected the footmen first.

  Race: Human

  Unit: Footmen

  Hit Points: 100

  Speed: 20

  Weapon: Sword

  Although slow, Footmen are the most common type of combat unit for both attacking and defending.

  In terms of statistics, they looked identical to the troll grunts. I assumed all soldier units across the races were more or less even.

  Train this unit? Cost 200 gold. Yes/No?

  I selected yes, and a dozen men appeared in the training yard. Each wore basic cloth armor with a red jerkin. Armed with swords, some stabbed at the training dummies while others sparred on the parade grounds. A unit leader screamed a stream of filtered profanities at them.

  Time to train unit: 5 minutes.

  Oh, yeah. This stuff takes time, I thought with mild disappointment.

  While I waited for my first combat unit to finish training, I called up the Scout's info.

  Race: Human

  Unit: Scout

  Hit Points: 85

  Speed: 30

  Weapon: Bow & dagger

  The scout is best used to seek out resources and monitor for enemy movements. Gains a +20% camouflage bonus when moving through trees.

  This was what I needed. I'll use the scout to look for resources while I attended to a certain matter.

  But when I tried to purchase the scout unit, I got a message.

  Can only train one unit at a time, per barracks. Add Scout to training queue? Yes/No?

  Heck, yes.

  Scout added.

  I frowned at the message. Only one unit at a time meant I'd need more than one barracks if I wanted to push out multiple units quickly.

  A shout from the tree line brought me out of my contemplations.

  For a moment, I thought another grunt rush was underway, and even summoned my bow.

  One of the leaders ran over to me, beaming with excitement.

  “Boss! We found a stone just inside the tree line,” he said panting with breath.

  “Let's take a look,” I said.

  We hurried over to where the workers were feverishly cutting away. Tree stumps showed their rapid progress, and the woodyard had a growing pile of cut lumber.

  “Over here,” said the leader, pointing.

  I picked my way through the trees and noted how close they were to one another. Like a living fence, an army would not be able to slink their way through without being slowed to a crawl.

  Then a clearing opened up amongst the densely packed trees. The entire space was composed of an outcropping of layered stone.

  I looked at it blankly. “This is stone we need?”

  The leader nodded. “Yes, boss. Y'Godda smiles upon us placing it so close to the Keep.”

  “Well, thank Y'Godda, then,” I said. From my command menu I purchased a quarry with the last of my gold. Then I placed its outline on the flattest portion of the rocks. I told the leader to stop cutting trees and bring his unit over to assemble the quarry and start cutting stone.

  He nodded happily, then screamed for his men.

&nb
sp; Leaving them to it, I walked back through the tree line to the Keep. Smoke wandered over and nuzzled me hand.

  That was the quarry taken care of, but without any more gold, nothing else would be built and no more units could be trained. I had to find a vein of gold and fast.

  Footmen Unit training complete.

  I looked toward the barracks.

  The soldiers I'd seen training on the grounds had assembled themselves next to the barracks building in two rows of six with their leader at the front end.

  Scout Unit in training.

  A solitary man, clad in leather armor with a deep green hooded cloak skulked around the training grounds. He shot at one of the dummies with a bow, then quickly stabbed another with a dagger.

  Time to train unit: 2 minutes.

  The footmen leader suddenly bellowed, “Ready for orders, Commander!”

  I walked along the assembled lines of men, making a show of inspecting them. If I was expected to command them, then I could pretend to act like I knew what I was doing.

  Each man gave me a slight head nod as I passed.

  To the leader I said, “I have a very important task for you.”

  “We are ready to do whatever you ask of us, Commander!” he said.

  I nodded. “Our resources are depleted so I cannot afford more soldiers for a while. Can you split this unit into two groups?”

  “Of course, Commander.”

  “Good. Please assign half your men to guard the workers over there at the trees.”

  “Yes, Commander!” the leader then barked orders at his unit. One row of six men broke rank and marched quickly over to stand near the woodyard.

  I then pointed at the banner's skeletal altar. “Place the others there. They are to prevent anyone from touching the banner at all costs.”

  “Yes, Commander!” he said, followed be more barking of orders. With a nod, the leader trailed after his men and they formed a circle around the altar.

  I tried not to get too depressed looking at my twelve footmen. This was all I had, and I knew it would not even be close to enough once Amara came calling again. And she would.

  Scout Unit training complete.

  The Scout jogged over to stand next to the barracks building. He leaned against his bow almost casually and gave me a slight nod. “Commander,” he said. “What do you need of me?”

  The cool loner type, I thought. “We need gold,” I said and swung a hand to indicate the forest to the south. “I need you to go in there and find a vein of gold and report it to me immediately. In fact, report anything you find in there that might be useful.”

  I assumed that gold would be placed close to each opponent's starting area. But mine was not out in the open, so it must be in the trees somewhere. Or so I hoped.

  No gold, no chance at victory.

  The scout nodded again and skulked off toward the tree line. Within moments he vanished from view.

  I surveyed my little empire. Few men, and even fewer resources did not bode well for a good start. And until there was actual gold to use there was little else for me to do here.

  With a single leap I was back in Smoke's saddle. I pointed him northwest, the direction Amara and her grunts had appeared from, and kicked at his sides.

  The footmen leader called out to me in alarm. “Commander! Where are you going?”

  “Look after things while I'm gone,” I shouted over me shoulder. “I think it's time I gave my opponent a little visit.”

  Then I broke into a gallop.

  CHAPTER SIX

  I followed the open plains to the northwest until my base vanished from view behind the trees.

  The terrain changed little; flat ground buttressed by tall trees on either side. The map began to fill out with these details and eventually showed that the plains curved around toward the north.

  Other than the occasional flock of birds, and a mother boar with piglets which scampered through the forest, I encountered nothing else.

  I'd assumed that Amara would have perhaps tried to send another grunt unit to attack again. No doubt, her resources were just as depleted as mine.

  After investigating several blank patches of ground with exposed rock along the way, but finding no gold, I came to the conclusion any potential gold veins would be hidden. Or placed in strategic spots around the map.

  Lost in thought, I almost didn't notice a slight change in the tree line to the east. There was a distinct gap with the beginnings of a narrow path.

  Curious, I trotted over, wary of an ambush.

  It was definitely a path, well worn. But it was far to narrow to ride Smoke through.

  Where did this path lead and did Amara notice it when she passed this way before? Based on how fast she grunt-rushed me, I doubted she had time to investigate it herself.

  I considered my options. Keep exploring north, or follow the path. A glance at the map, with icons representing each building and units, showed nothing had changed. The scout had traveled due south until he came upon the sheer barrier cliffs and turned northeastward. No indications of him discovering a gold vein.

  Gold could be here though.

  Not wanting to waste any more time, I dismounted. With a snap of my fingers Smoke popped out of existence and the mount icon on my view-screen went on a two-minute re-summoning timer.

  I didn't think I'd need to run off in a hurry within the next two minutes. At least I hoped not.

  Sword in hand, I entered the forest along the path. The air cooled around me so much I had to go into my game settings and reduce my simulation suit's temperature controls. I liked a good virtual reality experience as much as the next person, but I didn't need to freeze to death while doing so.

  A few paces along, the gap behind me disappeared from view. Somewhere, deep within the crowd of dark trees came the ululating cries of some animal.

  I paused, waiting. The cry came again, but further away. Without a clue as to what it was, I decided to take a precaution and slipped into Shadow Form. I effectively became invisible to a casual observer. And provided I stayed within shadows and did not engage in combat, my pseudo-invisibility would not negate. A unique ability given to the Shadow class.

  I moved further inward following the path's twists and turns through the foliage. After several minutes I started to worry it may go on forever, or at least cut across the entire width of the map. There was no time for such folly.

  I'd almost convinced myself to turn and go back when a chat request appeared on my view-screen. But unlike a player requesting a chat with their name attached to it, this one simply said, 'SCOUT'.

  I selected the request, and a screen opened up before me. The cool gaze of the scout greeted me.

  “Uh, hello, Scout,” I said with hesitation. I'd never once received a chat request from a NPC before. And, to be quite honest, didn't know they even had the capability. Perhaps it was a feature only found in Battle Field sessions?

  The scout nodded once, his hood pulled down low to almost cover his eyes. “Found you some gold, Commander.” The screen angled away from him to show a wall of sheer rock. A wide spot along its dark surface glittered with gold, its veined pattern spreading outward like roots.

  I felt a rush of relief at the sight. “Oh, thank the Gaming Gods!” I said.

  The scout put the screen on him. “Gaming Gods, or Y'godda,” he said with a shrug. “Who's to know which?”

  I actually laughed at his odd humor. “Well, I thank them both. Can you lead some workers to that spot?”

  “Not needed,” the scout said. “It's marked on the map.”

  And so it was, a gold nugget icon at the very bottom of my map against the cliff line.

  “Okay, please continue scouting the forest and see what else you can find. When you're finished with the east forest, scout out the western one, too.”

  The scout nodded and was about to turn away when I said. “Oh, and Mr. Scout.”

  He looked at me expectantly.

  “Good job!” I said
with smile.

  One corner of the scout's mouth raised a little which I took for his version of a grin, then he closed the chat screen.

  I looked to my status screen to see where things stood.