Wrack and Ruin

by Dave Willmarth

Two more blasts from the shoulder weapons struck Max, forcing him back and draining another ten percent of his health. He felt a heal from Dalia, but hung back as Dylan stepped between him and the construct. The next thrust of the sharp pointed leg met Dylan’s shield with a deep gong. A quick second thrust punched through a hole created by the snail acid and deep into the ogre’s forearm. Dylan grunted and yanked his arm free, blood spraying.

  “Screw this! Time to cook some brain stew.” Max growled as he pointed a hand at the gnome’s head. “Zap!”

  A bolt of lightning energy shot forward, hitting the metal gnome directly in the face. The whole construct froze, seizing up as the power flowed through its metal body. The fluid inside the skull glowed brightly for several seconds.

  “What was that!?” The gnome shouted when its body unseized. It shook its metal head, causing the liquid inside to slosh around. “Do it again!” The construct swung back toward Max, and he thought it moved more quickly this time. “Do it again!” the gnome demanded, firing both its weapons at Max’s feet.

  “Don’t do it boss. I think you just charged its batteries or something.” Dylan warned, keeping his eyes on the construct as he spoke.

  “More! More power!” the spider legs chipped into the stone as it moved closer to Max. “Please! More power!”

  Max hesitated. The thing was pleading now, instead of threatening. He let the butt of his halberd rest on the floor as he raised his other hand toward the gnome. “If I give you more power, you promise not to attack us again?”

  “Promise? No! No promises. Never promise. I made a promise once. Didn’t keep it. Failed to protect my acolytes. They all died. Stupid orcs!” The seemingly insane gnome’s eyes and brain fluid flashed blue for a moment. “Give more power!”

  “Everybody back away. I’m gonna try something.” Max warned. He waited a few seconds as the gnome ranted on about wanting power. When he saw that everyone was clear, he shot the creature with another bolt of lightning.

  “Yessss!” the gnome cried out in ecstasy. “Power! It has been so long.” It backed away from Max, lowering the threatening leg it had been jabbing at him and the tank. “More? Please?”

  “No more, until you promise not to continue this fight. We came here to explore, not to fight.”

  “More!” two square panels in the gnome’s body opened and two small T-Rex style arms extended, looking just like the ones the tiny lube bot had used. The hands at the ends of the arms opened, revealing a lump of shiny metal in each palm. “I will pay! No fighting. More power!” the hands spun at the wrist joints, turning palm down and dumping the metal lumps onto the floor at Max’s feet.

  Max looked to Dalia, who just shrugged. “That be lightsteel.” She nodded toward the lumps of metal, each about the size of an apple. “Rare, and valuable.”

  Max looked back at the construct, the little gnome pilot leaning forward eagerly in its seat. “Alright, more power.” He cast Zap! once more, taking a little guilty pleasure in hitting the gnome in the face again.

  The eyes and brain glowed more brightly, and this time the glow didn’t fade right away. Instead it pulsed softly, much like a heartbeat.

  “Thank you, ugly white-haired stupid orc! It has been… a very long time since I have been fully charged.” The mechanical gnome bowed its head slightly.

  “You’re welcome. And I’m no orc. I am a chimera.” Max stepped closer, wanting a better look at the mechanical gnome and its floating brain. He kept a wary eye on it as he bent and picked up the lumps of lightsteel. “Again, my name is Max. What’s yours?”

  “I am the great MechaMage Glitterspindle! Supreme Ruler of this Temple and Holder of over one thousand Holy Patents!”

  Nessa appeared next to Max, causing him to flinch slightly. “Glitterspindle? As in the founder of the temple?”

  “None other!” the gnome raised one mechanical hand and waved.

  “But the accounts I read all said that you died over a thousand years ago.

  “Ha! Died? Me? Never! My meat body grew old and weak, yes. But my genius could not be allowed to perish! I created this construct to house my mind in an immortal body! Well, nearly immortal. I could use a tune-up.” He paused for a moment, flexing slightly squeaky finger joints. “Now tell me why you have invaded my home.”

  “We are not invaders. We meant no harm in coming here.” Max took over. “We are at war with An’zalor, the war chief who controlled this area. I took the nearby mine and surrounding territory from him, and my scouts noticed your temple. We simply came to explore the ruins made of the strange sparkling stone.”

  “Ruins? How dare you insult my home!” The weapon turrets once again targeted Max. “Take that back!”

  Max raised both hands. “I’m sorry, Glitterspindle. I meant no insult.”

  “Stupid orcs, bashing and smashing everything in sight! I tried to rebuild when they finally left. Cleaned up the debris, the bodies of my poor acolytes. The ones the orcs didn’t haul away for their cook pots!” The lifelike gnome construct lowered its head, even managing a sorrowful look on its face. “I even tried to rebuild, to bring stone from the quarry, but didn’t have enough energy remaining. The damned orcs stole my power rods! I have been in power conservation mode for one thousand one hundred eighty three years, two months, and four days!”

  At the mention of power rods, Dalia shot a look at Max, who was already thinking the same thing she was. They had recovered three power rods from an orc camp they had looted.

  “So, these power rods, they run your construct?” Max ventured a guess.

  “What? Yes, my construct. The temple, the lights, the portal, my experiments, all of it!”

  “They must hold a lot of power.” Max was getting that feeling again, engaging the gnome, expecting a quest for his trouble. By the looks on Smitty and Dylan’s faces, they agreed.

  “They do store some power, yes.” Glitterspindle rubbed his metal chin with a tiny metal finger. “But their main purpose is power conversion. They absorb raw mana, condense and convert it to power my inventions. On their own they slowly absorb whatever ambient mana is available, or a mage can infuse their own mana supply directly through the rods.”

  Max, who was always thinking, always strategizing, began to see a way to kill several birds with one stone. Or three power rods.

  “Glitterspindle, I have a proposal for you.” He took a step closer to the construct. “But before I present it, I have a few questions.”

  The gnome’s eyes flashed briefly, then it nodded once. “I will listen.” The spider legs shifted, lowering the construct’s body until it rested on the floor, then folded themselves in close to the body.

  “First, you mentioned a portal. You have a working portal here?”

  “Of course I do! Stupid orc! I constructed and sold portal pedestals. It would be foolish not to own one myself.”

  “I’m not an… you know what, never mind. Could you build more portals?”

  The metal gnome shook its head. “I can not. The damned orcs took most of my materials. And in this body…” The gnome raised its two hands, as well as the two short T-Rex arms that had extended from the spider body. “If I still had my acolytes, and materials, we could build you portals.”

  “Hmmm… “ Max pretended to think things over. “Could you teach me, or a few of my people, how to build them?”

  “What!? You’ve come here after my secrets! My Holy Patents! I knew it!”

  “No, no. Before coming here I knew nothing about you, or your portals, or any other secrets you may have. I’m just trying to find a way that we might work together. The orcs are on the war path, and their army will be coming to this area very soon to reclaim the mine. If my scouts found you, so will theirs. I propose that we work together.” Max paused, seeking the best words.

  “Your acolytes are long gone, MechaMage Glitterspindle. Forgive me, but your temple is badly damaged, and your resources depleted, as you said. You are in no condition to fight off another orcish army on your o
wn, even with the additional power I’ve supplied.” He waited for a reply, but the gnome just stared at him with a metallic poker face.

  “We share a common enemy in War Chief An’zalor. Join me and my kingdom. Allow me to claim this temple and the territory around it. You can stay here, under my protection. If we can reactivate your portal, my allies and I can provide troops to defend this place within minutes of any attack. In addition, we might be able to find you some new acolytes, and resources. You could repair your construct, or even create a new one, and build portals for us to use as we expand our territory.”

  “Trickery! It’s a trap!” the gnome shouted, making Dylan and Smitty chuckle. “Resources are useless without power! Will you remain here and recharge me every day, oh mighty king? I think not!”

  Max shook his head. “No, I have a war to fight. A kingdom to grow. Though I may spend some time here with you, learning about portal magic, if we can make a deal.” He reached into his inventory and pulled out the box that contained the gnomish power rods. Keeping it closed and held behind his back, he continued. “But I happen to know where to find a power rod that I believe would suit your purposes.”

  “Power rod?” The gnome leaned forward again, straining against the edge of its cockpit. “Fine! Bring me a power rod and we have a deal.” A notification popped up in Max’s vision.

  Quest received: Produce the Juice!

  Present MechaMage Glitterspindle with a power rod compatible with his constructs.

  Reward: 250,000 Exp; Right to claim the temple and surrounding lands;

  Cooperation of MechaMage Glitterspindle. Increased reputation with Glitterspindle. Increased reputation with Gnomish race.

  Max silently congratulated himself. While not the gamer that Smitty, Dylan, and some of his other guys had been, he was quickly learning that pushing what amounted to key NPCs on this world could gain him some significant benefits.

  “Easiest quest ever.” He grinned at his corporals, who looked confused. They had also received the quest. Max winked at them, then produced the box from behind his back. Holding it up toward the gnome, he opened the box. “Power rods, as agreed.”

  “Power rods!” The gnome shouted, both hands reaching out toward Max like a small child asking to be picked up. Max handed the box over, and the gnome’s eyes glowed as it inspected the rods. “These… these are MY power rods. Stolen by the damned orcs!”

  At that moment, the quest completed, and both Nessa and Dylan leveled up. A quick check of his interface showed Max that the gnome had awarded three times the stated quest experience, for three rods.

  “Yes, we took them from some orcs we killed not long ago.” Max confirmed. “I had a feeling they might have come from here.”

  “I must install these right away! Come, come! We shall visit the heart of the temple!” The construct got back to its feet, and the group followed it back to the lift. Once they were all aboard, the platform began to rise. When it cleared the ceiling, they continued to rise up a square shaft, the sound of rusted gears straining above them. When the lift came to a halt, they followed the construct down a short, square corridor with a ceiling so low that Max and Smitty had to bend low to walk, and Dylan actually had to crawl.

  After a short distance, the wall ahead of them slid to one side. Max and the others followed the gnome through into a large chamber with a pedestal in the center. The construct stopped moving, lowering itself down and folding in its legs again. The metal gnome hopped out and, ignoring the pedestal, moved to a panel in the nearby wall. A mumbled command caused the panel to slide open, revealing what looked like an early version of a circuit board from Earth. Glitterspindle cackled with glee as he placed each of the control rods into what Max would have called circuit breakers, the ends of each rod fitting snuggly into metal receptors.

  “This is the main control panel.” The little metal construct with the glowing brain said as he pushed a big red button. Lights came on around the chamber, and a humming sound from behind the walls became audible. A moment later, several loud screeches and clanks echoed through the structure from somewhere outside the chamber. “Yes, well. Several systems may need some slight maintenance.” Glitterspindle mumbled. He motioned toward Max. “Place your hand here, orc, and I will grant you control authorization.”

  “Still not an orc.” Max mumbled to himself as he stepped forward and placed his hand over a flat metal plate indicated by the gnome. The plate glowed blue for several seconds, then faded.

  Congratulations! Through combat and diplomacy, you have conquered the MechaMage’s Temple! Do you wish to claim ownership of the temple at this time?

  Yes/No

  Max quickly selected Yes, and Glitterspindle’s temple became part of Stormhaven. As the gnome mumbled to itself and fiddled with the controls, Max walked over to the pedestal. Equipping the portal control crystal that Regin had given him, he set it in the empty slot at the top of the pedestal’s face.

  New portal discovered! Would you like to claim this portal on behalf of Stormhaven?

  Yes/No

  Max wondered why he should have to claim the portal separately, since the structure around it was now his, but he quickly selected Yes anyway. Accessing the controls, he left the portal’s designation as MechaMage Temple, seeing no reason to change it. He authorized the portal to connect to both Stormhaven’s and the Outpost’s portals, set it to connect with Stormhaven, then tried to activate it. When nothing happened, he turned to the gnome.

  “Glitterspindle, the portal’s not working.”

  “Stupid orc! I have only just installed the power rods! It will take several hours for the mana spring to recharge the temple enough to power the portal. Be patient!”

  “Yeah, c’mon boss!” Smitty piled on, a wide grin on his face. “Give the little fella a chance to recharge the batteries.”

  Dylan, however, focused on a different bit of the gnome’s statement. “Mana spring?”

  “Yes, mana spring!” the gnome turned toward the ogre, leaning backward so that it could glare up at him. “Which of those words did you not understand, giant stupid orc?”

  “You know, I could crush you like a soda can, you psychotic little droid.” Dylan clenched a fist and showed it to the gnome, who seemed unimpressed.

  “I am not familiar with what a mana spring is, Glitterspindle.” Max stepped between Dylan and the gnome. “Please, enlighten me.”

  “I’m busy!” the gnome turned its back on Max and began to fiddle with the control panel again.

  Dalia cleared her throat. “I can help ye there. All the world be infused with mana. It be in every livin’ thing, every stone, even the air around us. The ambient mana here on the surface o’ the world comes from deep within. It pushes outward from the source through earth, through stone, through water. In some places, the path to the surface be easier, and a higher concentration o’ mana pushes outward. Those places be called mana springs. Me guess would be that the gnome built his temple here cuz he found one o’ them springs. Most dwarven cities be the same. We follow a new mountain’s ore as we mine, but if we stumble across a mana spring, that be reason enough to establish a settlement.”

  “Sweet!” Smitty looked around the room as if he might see the extra mana seeping up from the floor. “Does that mean we regenerate mana faster if we’re on top of the spring?”

  “Aye, it does. And if ye spend a great deal o’ yer time here, yer body will adapt to the higher concentration o’ mana, and learn to absorb more of it, faster.”

  “Right on!” Smitty crossed his legs and dropped to a sitting position. Placing his hands on his knees, he closed his eyes. “Ohhmmm… ohhhmmm…”

  “What is he doing?” Dalia asked.

  “Meditating.” Dylan answered. “In many of the uh… games, on our world, meditation grants focus, allowing you to recharge faster.”

  Max shrugged. “I want to stay at least long enough to test the portal. If that’s going to take a few hours, we might as well make the best of it
. Smoke em if ya got em.”

  He took a seat as well, pulling out the alchemist’s kit that Dalia had purchased for him after their orcish arena victory. After setting up the equipment and arranging some ingredients, he used Spark to light the tiny burner, and began to work on creating more potions.

  Chapter 7

  It ended up taking nearly twelve hours before the temple’s power reserves were charged enough to activate the portal. Mainly because Glitterspindle kept diverting power to other systems, charging and activating several of his constructs, cackling madly as each one came online.

  Smitty volunteered to run back to the mine and update the others. Having a portal so close to the mine and the way station made them much easier to defend, as well as speeding up the transport of ore and supplies back and forth. The crops from the farms would be that much fresher when they reached the city, and the farmers would save days of travel time that could be put to better use.

  As he was getting ready to leave, the orc corporal looked around, then down at the lift. “Uhh… boss? How do I get out of here? If I take the lift back down, and go back the way we came, there’s still that big gap in the stairs.”

  Max blinked for a second, looking up from his alchemy workings. “Glitterspindle? Where’s the way out?”

  “What? Out? Why would you want to go out? Stupid orcs.” the metallic gnome didn’t even look away from the control panel.

  “How about for food? Water? Not all of us are made of metal.”

  “Oh! Of course. How silly of me. One moment. The lever is right… over… here!” There was a grinding sound, and the back wall of the chamber began to crack open. Two halves of the wall split apart, sliding like barn doors. Sunlight came streaming in, and Max recognized the room that held the pyramid. Walking out into the open, he turned to see that the pyramid itself had split open, and that the portal and control chamber were in fact inside it.

  “Well, at least we know what the pyramid’s for now.” Nessa spoke from behind Max. He flinched again, getting a little tired of the beastkin sneaking up on him.