The Greystone Chronicles Book Two: The Dire Lands

by Dave Willmarth

See Ancillary Structures for details

  Production will increase with population and use of ancillary structures

  So! Back to its original level. Physical status and defensive capabilities would reach 100% when the drawbridge was complete, and the moat filled. The resource units, he suspected, were mostly about the herd of animals that they brought in. And maybe the chunks of mithril.

  “Jeeves, what is the 5th ancillary structure?” he asked the AI.

  “The fishing shack and pier you constructed, master. They are considered a production facility. I cannot yet count the new wall or the moat.”

  “And when those are completed, will you gain another level?”

  “Unlikely, master. I just returned to level 15. Level 16 will require significant additional points. Though the additional housing structures and storage facilities you have attached to the wall will bring me close. And my next population level increase is at 200. After that, significantly larger numbers of points are required. A population of 400, or several more new structures. Or vastly increased production,” Jeeves explained.

  “Thank you, Jeeves.”

  Now that he was awake, Alexander decided to work on something that had been on his mind. Moving back out to the sitting room, he smiled as he heard snoring still coming from Edward’s room. Taking a seat, he pulled out a ten-pound chunk of obsidian and set it on the coffee table in front of him.

  Closing his eyes, he imagined defensive walls that he’d seen before. Both in-game, and in the real world. He visualized cannons, hard-mounted machine gun emplacements, old world ballistae, even catapults.

  Knowing that they faced a necromancer, and that at least a part of the army that attacked the keep would undead, he eliminated blunt force impact weapons. Undead could take massive physical damage and just shrug it off.

  His best bet was light magic. Or maybe fire. And facing large numbers, machine-gun type firing would be less effective than, say, a beam weapon. Too many shots would miss targets and waste both mana and time. A beam would sweep across the field and cut down everything in a wide swathe.

  Picking up the obsidian, he pulled at it to extend its length and thin it out. Then he shaped it into a hollow tube, just like his light wand. Only this one was four feet long and about four inches in diameter. Per Fitz’s warning, he wouldn’t put a lens at the end to increase the output effectiveness. It would be too easy for someone to examine and copy. Besides, this wasn’t going to be a burst weapon. It would be a cutting weapon. Like an industrial laser.

  With that in mind, he changed the shape of the tube, tapering the front end to a point. Lasers were more powerful in a tight beam. Then he closed his eyes, and focused on the Ray of Light spell. He pushed the magic slowly into the stone, spiraling it as tightly as he could, wrapping it around and around in tight coils. When he’d nearly completely drained his mana, he reached into his bag and grasped a small soul crystal. Drawing power from that, he continued to push the light magic into the weapon. He’d used up about half the crystal’s power when he began to feel some pushback from the stone.

  Then an idea struck him. He placed the crystal inside the tube at the back end, pushing it forward until it wedged itself into the narrowed front end. Then he adjusted the shape of the interior slightly, so that it snugged around the crystal, securing it. Taking a break to recharge his mana, he turned the weapon this way and that, feeling that something was missing.

  Of course! Every gun needs a trigger! Dummy. This needs to be able to be used by a wall guard with no magic ability whatsoever. What you’ve got here now is just a really big wand.

  Guns were easy. They had a physical trigger that unleashed a ‘hammer’ that ignited a spark of powder. But there was no spark involved here. He thought about a trigger word, and a visual of burly dwarven wall guards shouting ‘Pew! Pew’ made him chuckle. The idea of a random word being uttered near one of the guns, setting it off unintentionally, caused him to set that aside. So he was back to a physical trigger.

  Alexander didn’t have the technical knowhow to engineer a button trigger. He imagined it involved springs, some kind of contact plate… It was time to call in an expert. “Brick, are you still up?” He sent a message in guild chat.

  “Aye, I be at the smithy.” His friend replied.

  “I’m working on a new weapon for the walls. Kind of stuck on the trigger mechanism. Think you could help?”

  “O’course! Bring it down. We’ll take a look.” Brick was always up for playing with weapons.

  Alexander headed down to the smithy, weapon in hand. There was almost nobody moving about in the building. Even the kitchen was shut down. It must be later than he’d realized. Stepping into the smithy, he found Brick and two other smiths waiting for him. There were half-finished plow blades and swords lying about, cooling from red hot to their normal metallic grey.

  Setting his weapon on the bench in front of Brick, he explained what he was going for. Though the other smiths didn’t understand the term ‘laser’, they got the general idea. They began to grow excited. Ideas were put forth, discussed, and either rejected or set aside for further discussion.

  In the end, they decided on a dual-step trigger. This would allow for some safety. There would be a trigger phrase, but it would not work unless a physical trigger was also pulled. The physical trigger was simple. It used a single spring coil, set in front of the crystal. The ‘chamber’ that the crystal sat in was insulated, preventing it from making contact with the obsidian. A slot was shaped into the bottom of the tube underneath and slightly behind the crystal. Brick installed a simple pin and lever trigger that, when pulled backward under the tube, would press the crystal forward against the spring. When the forward point of the crystal made contact with the obsidian in front of it, the weapon would be ‘primed’, and the trigger word would cause it to fire. The beam would continue until the trigger was released, or the weapon’s charge was depleted.

  While Brick and Alexander worked on the trigger, the other smiths got to work making an iron tripod mount with a cradle on a swivel ball. This allowed the weapon to be secured the top of the wall and be swept back and forth, or up and down, easily. Roughly an hour after he’d stepped into the smithy, Alexander watched Brick set the finished weapon into its cradle, which was set up on a workbench. Both men examined the item.

  Light Cannon

  Item Level: Unique, Epic

  This cannon will cast a beam of damaging light magic, cutting a target for variable damage, depending on time of contact with target. Rate of damage: 600dps. Mana consumption: 1 charge per 4 seconds of activation.

  Charges: 300/300

  Skill Level up! Enchanting +5 You have created a unique, epic level enchanted item.

  Each of the four of them received a skill level up for their work on the weapon.

  “Three hundred charges!” Brick practically shouted. “That be twenty minutes of firing time! Ye could cut down half a forest!”

  “Or an army of undead, hopefully.” Alexander grinned at him. “And if necessary, we can change out the depleted crystal with a full one. Though we’ll need to do some testing. Don’t want it to overheat.”

  “Ye should make some more. Space ‘em along both walls. They be light enough that if a wall be overrun, the gunner can lift ‘em and carry ‘em away.”

  “I agree.” Alexander nodded his head, thinking. “Let’s get with Caleb, Jenkins, and a few of the others in the morning. We can test the weapon, and get ideas from them on placements.”

  Feeling much better after having accomplished so much, Alexander headed back upstairs to sleep.

  Edward pounded on his door as the rising sun broke the horizon.

  “Okay! I get it! I’m up!” he called out. There was one more pound, likely Edward’s revenge for his treatment yesterday, then silence.

  Alexander dressed, grabbed his weapons, and headed downstairs. He was later getting to breakfast than usual, and the tables were only sparsely populated. Most had already eaten and gon
e on about their day.

  He sat with Edward, who looked much healthier, and was already well into his breakfast and ignoring Alexander. “We’re testing a new weapon this morning. Would you like to do the honors?” he asked the young prince.

  “Is it a sword?” Edward put down his fork and was suddenly interested.

  “It’s called a light cannon.” Alexander grinned. No boy could resist shooting a cannon.

  Prince Edward waited impatiently as Alexander finished his own breakfast. Walking over to the smithy, they were informed that Brick had already taken the weapon up onto the outer wall.

  Arriving at the wall, Alexander observed that the water in the moat was roughly thirty feet deep. Soon enough it would be full. They found Brick shaping the stone above the gatehouse to absorb the feet of the cannon’s tripod. Once the mounting was steady, he stepped back. Alexander motioned for Edward to step forward, and Brick explained to him how the weapon could be fired. When they reached the part about the trigger word, Brick laughed.

  “BWAHAHA! We forgot to pick a word!”

  “So we did.” Alexander shook his head. “What do you suggest?”

  “DURIN!” the dwarf shouted.

  “Are you praying, or making a suggestion?” Alexander winked at him. “I think Asclepius might get jealous. And we need a word that’s memorable. How about… Shazam!”

  Now it was Brick’s turn to shake his head. “Boomshakalaka!” he said, “Or Kapow!”

  Alexander dug into his school memories. “Since it’s a laser cutter, how ‘bout ‘Secare!’. It’s Latin for ‘cut’. Seems appropriate.”

  Brick looked disappointed, but nodded his head. If he were honest, Alexander had sort of liked the idea of gunners yelling ‘Boomshakalaka!’ when they fired. But it was too easy to get wrong in the excitement of battle.

  So, closing his eyes, he placed the trigger word ‘Secare’ into the spell.

  When he was done, he looked at Edward. “Okay. Point that thing at that tree over there. When you pull the trigger, a ray of light will shoot out. It will keep going as long as you hold the trigger. Move it across the trunk of the tree, like you’re cutting it down with a sword.”

  Doing as he was instructed, Edward crouched down behind the light cannon. He said, “Secare!” and pulled the trigger. A narrow beam of white light shot out, missing the tree by a good 3 feet, burning into the ground behind it. Edward quickly shifted the beam over to the tree, moving it TOO quickly, and it only scored the trunk as it passed. He moved it back to the left more slowly, progressing across the trunk from right to left as it smoked. When he’d cleared the left side, he let go of the trigger.

  The whole thing had taken maybe fifteen seconds. The first five being used up as he flailed about with the beam.

  The three of them, along with several of the hunters on the wall, and the masons who’d been working on the drawbridge watched in silence. The tree’s trunk smoldered along the horizontal line that the beam had cut. But nothing else seemed to be happening.

  One of the hunters drew his bow, and fired an arrow into the trunk about ten feet above the cut. The arrow hit with a thunk that was quickly followed by a cracking sound. The tree swayed backward, then forward with a much louder crack. Its momentum carried it the rest of the way, and the tree fell toward them. There was cheering from both on top of the wall and below.

  Edward puffed out his chest and held his chin high. Brick punched him in the shoulder, saying, “Nice shootin’, treekiller. Ye should be workin’ the lumberjack crew!” The prince decided to ignore him.

  Moving back to the smithy, Alexander sat with Brick and the two of them made another light cannon. Brick had the other smiths make six more tripod mounts with cradles. It would take Alexander a few days to make that many, as each one nearly drained his mana. They brought in Jenkins and Caleb and Filgrin, head of the dwarven guards, to ask their opinion on placement.

  It was decided that they’d leave three of the cannons permanently emplaced upon the inner wall of the keep. One at the gatehouse, and one on either side. The other five would be spaced around along the outer wall. In the event that an enemy breached that wall, the gunners would retreat, firing as they went, to the inner keep. For now, both cannons would be taken to the outer wall, and a select group of guard would train by cutting down more trees for the loggers. Two birds, one stone. Speaking of stones, Alexander gave them two more soul crystals for the cannons. He gave Caleb instructions to take them to the chapel for recharge at the end of the day.

  By the end of the discussion, Alexander’s mana had regenerated enough to make a third cannon. Brick took that one and mounted it atop the inner bailey gatehouse.

  Needing to rest a while, Alexander sought out Lola. She’d spoken to her grandfather, Grimble, and Brick about numbers of new recruits needed, how many they had space for, and how many they could feed. She also got the name of a banker to speak to about starting their own bank, and another contact for purchasing an auction house franchise.

  Alexander opened the portal to Broken Mountain for her, and told her he’d re-open at sunset.

  As soon as she’d closed the portal, he used raid chat to call on Fitz, who was with the two guild mages. He asked him to extend a wall from the western end of the outer wall near the ridge for a secured paddock. And to raise a spring or a pipe to fill a long water trough for the animals. Fitz agreed.

  He and the guild mages had been constructing more buildings along the inside of the outer wall. There were now three barracks, and more than a dozen homes with underground levels that could sleep a large family, or several single dwarves. They’d also constructed a brewery, because more ale was a priority for everyone. In addition, there were half a dozen utility structures that could be used for storage, or a shop, or even a residence. Each of the structures had plumbing, heat, and some kind of kitchen for cooking. One of the mages had also gone along the wall, hollowing out cisterns and installing a pipe system that would catch rainwater falling on the wall.

  Alexander spotted Master Silverbeard emerging from the donjon and waved at him. “Master Silverbeard, good morning!” He was in a good mood.

  “Good morning, Alexander. Lola asked me about yer idea fer a bank and auction house. I think it be a damned good idea,” the old chamberlain said.

  “Just what I was going to ask you about!” Alexander said. “Where would you recommend I put them?

  After a few moment’s thought, the dwarf replied, “I’d be putting the auction house right next to the smithy. And the bank next to the barracks. Neither be needin’ much space. Folks what needs to repair, sell, or buy can be doin’ it in the same spot. And the guards livin’ in the barracks be close by to protect the bank if needed.”

  “Thank you, Master Silverbeard. That is wise advice. Please tell the merchants they can choose one of the utility structures as a shop. And assign Claude the tanner the structure farthest away from everyone else. Maybe close to where the livestock paddock is. They won’t have to transport the hides as far when they butcher the animals.” Alexander nodded to the man as he walked toward the smithy.

  Leaving Brick some room to expand yet again if necessary, Alexander began to raise the auction house about thirty feet away from the smithy, right up against the keep wall. The structure wasn’t large, only twenty feet square. There were windows on each side wall, as well as one in the front. There was no storage space needed, as all transactions within the auction house were magic. Items placed for sale were immediately transferred into a ‘vault’ that wasn’t a real physical space. When the item was purchased, funds were transferred directly from buyer to seller - with the auction house taking their cut - and the item was delivered to the buyer’s auction house location.

  Once the building was up, Alexander raised a small office in one back corner, and a bathroom in the other. Then he raised a counter in front of both. The auctioneer, or auctioneers, could add other furniture as they saw fit.

  Moving over to the barracks, Alexander w
as about to raise the bank building as well. Then it occurred to him that it might need special dimensions to accommodate the vault, deposit box rooms, etc. So he decided to wait and work with the banker, whomever that might be.

  Feeling rested again, he returned to the smithy. He used the last of the obsidian in his bag to make another cannon, leaving it with Brick to finish. Though Alexander didn’t get any skill points after the first one, he found that if he created them in the smithy, and allowed the smiths to connect it to the cradle, and work on the trigger, they still earned skill levels.

  Finding himself with some time, Alexander sat outside the kitchen to think. Something that had been nagging at the back of his mind was also pressing on his conscience. There was a sense of danger, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

  Jules came to sit by him. He hadn’t seen her much in the last few days. And he found himself very glad to see her now.

  “Jules! There you are. I’ve missed you,” he blurted out. Her eyes jumped up to meet his, and she blushed prettily.