by Albion, Rex
That sounded like just owning this place was going to open up a lot of possibilities for questing and exploration at least.
“Your new property, commonly referred to as a ‘dungeon’ is one of our premiere packages. You are fortunate enough to have a Temple Complex in which to grow your Cult of Amoria. In addition, the original owners attached a Hamlet to support a population living on site. Finally, they purchased a Watchtower to provide defensive options over and above the Hamlet and Temple Complex units,” Roxy read. “This is why I'm excited, you see. I love a bit of turtling. New Albion is a lot more than a looter slasher with some sex thrown in.”
It threw him for a moment and then he remembered that turtling was jargon from real time strategy games for building up impressive bases before attacking. He’d also played some games more like New Albion that featured settlements you could build up to protect them from mutants that lived in radioactive wastelands or the like.
“Now, what’s next? Yes, listen to this,” Roxy said. “Throughout this guide, we will refer to your product as a dungeon for the sake of simplicity. White Knight, Tamer & King offer a wide range of products in a similar vein, but we started in the Dungeon business after all. While your package currently does not include a dungeon or a guild house, it may be possible to buy more expansions in the future, if you grow your Temple Complex sufficiently to increase your add-on slots beyond the two which are currently occupied. Do you get what that means?”
“Do you mean, do I know what dungeon master games are? Or do I understand that we could get more upgrades if we build a big Temple?” Vandal asked. “I’ve played some dungeon building games, and strategy stuff, with or without the possibility of turtling up, and so many games let you build player housing or bases of some kind now. Don’t worry, I’m following along fairly well. It sounds fun.”
“We build up the Temple for Amoria, the Watchtower probably gives us guards and walls and who knows what else, and the Hamlet is our starting settlement so we can have other people living here. We’re going to build something magnificent, Vandal,” Roxy said. He hugged her, she was really buzzing with energy about all this and that was good for them both.
“What’s next then?” he prompted.
“I think you probably know most of this stuff, it’s just basic game concepts so,” Roxy murmured as she skimmed a page or two for real newbies, “yes, here. Your dungeon comes equipped with a Planning Office, a version of which is available for the Temple, Watchtower and Hamlet. You may include each of these rooms separately, use only one, and control all three elements from any of them, according to your preferences. Each dungeon and add-on, has a unique architectural style so each Planning Office will take a different form. The Watchtower’s Planning Office has a martial atmosphere and resembles a war room, for instance.”
“We’re going to have to get out of bed at some point, aren’t we?” Vandal grumbled.
Roxy grinned. “Maybe we can merge the planning office with our bedroom and work from home? I could order up new upgrades while you service my needs.”
“Or we could just consecrate every room in this place,” Vandal suggested.
“That works too,” Roxy said. “It goes on to say that we can upgrade the dungeon from the planning offices. For that we need to earn the right currency. Mana for the Temple, Battle Points for the Watchtower and Civilisation Points for the Hamlet. You can trade one for the other, but it’s expensive. If you buy Battle Points with Mana, you only get a third of their value, but you get fifty percent if you buy Civilisation Points.”
“Right, so we have three resources to grind. Simple but effective.”
“Yes, but also no. Let me go through the basics here before we talk about that. To earn Mana, we have to actually start the Cult off, recruit worshippers for Amoria, hold services of worship, and stuff like that. Then we can get more bedrooms, a better altar, decorations, rugs, lighting, all sorts of magic. Maybe a swimming pool. Stuff like this too, which might pique your interest more,” she said, showing him a few illuminated pages with colourful illustrations of upgrades unique to the Cult of Amoria.
Vandal whistled softly. Those were quite eye opening, and more like the books he’d prefer to read in bed with his girlfriend. They definitely weren’t the sort of thing he’d seen in holy books before.
“I thought you’d like that bit. But we can also pick up quests for Amoria. There are things we can craft if we get the right skills, do the repeatable quests, and whole unique quest chains we can follow to earn Mana as well as other rewards,” Roxy explained.
“That’s a relief, because I wasn’t entirely sure about the whole leading services for people thing. It sounds a bit dull, right?”
Roxy put a finger on the page to hold her place and flipped back through the book to the earlier sections about the Cult of Amoria. There were more pictures.
“This,” Roxy said, “is a service in worship to Amoria. How do you feel about leading one now?”
“You’re kidding,” Vandal said, his eyes going wide as he ran his eyes over the lurid artwork. It was inspired by medieval illumination in lots of ways, but the full-page illustrations that peppered the book shunted those elements to the geometric patterns and gold leaf around the borders. Some of the larger pictures were more like modern oil paintings or digital artwork. They were clearly the work of more than one artist.
The style wasn’t what really caught the eye though. It was the content. “Do you feel like you could bear to lead this service, hmm?” Roxy teased, flipping the page and pointing out some details.
“I feel myself… growing more religious with every moment,” Vandal admitted. “But I’m not sure I’m up for that.”
“I can feel you growing more religious too, Vandal, but playtime is over so think about cold showers and dental check-ups or whatever helps,” Roxy suggested. “Don’t worry, not all the services are orgies, I checked. Most temples have a more normal service, then people retire for private worship.”
“That must be what the bedrooms around the main temple are for. Vandal sighed wistfully and motioned for her to close the book, as shifted his hips away from her, “I admit defeat. Running a Cult in this game might not be such a burden, if we can pick and choose what we want to do. At least I don’t have to stick to maces.”
“I don’t think you’ll find it too onerous, no. Perhaps it might be hard for you though,” Roxy cackled.
“Witch. Temptress!” Vandal groaned.
“There are plenty of services we can worship the goddess with, just you and I, as well. I’m sure we can start with those, and all worship of Amoria will earn Mana too,” Roxy promised. “Now, for the Watchtower it’s a bit more direct. If we clear out combat quests, destroy threats in the local area, acquire weapons and armour we’ll get Battle Points. The Hamlet is probably the most varied. We start with a few buildings, and each time we get more people to live here, earn taxes, trade with other settlements, or add crafters we get more Civilisation Points. If we sell and buy from any shops in the Hamlet that will help. There are more quests of course. In fact, there are daily and weekly quests for each of the dungeon parts.”
“We don’t have to do this all on our own, do we?”
“No. We can recruit people to your harem for starters.”
“Women, you mean?”
“New Albion lets you run whatever harem you want. Men, women, or any mix that works for the players. You can even recruit NPC characters, if you want to.” Roxy explained.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be sticking with Awoken female players, thanks,” Vandal replied.
“No man-on-man action for me to watch?” Roxy teased. “Disappointed!” she shouted. Vandal got the reference and laughed.
“Each to their own, don’t get me wrong. But I like women, even if they are green and only waist height,” Vandal said.
“Bloody cheek! I come up to at least the bottom of your big man boobs there!” she said, slapping his muscular pectorals.
“
I never realised how big these were until I realised I could do the shuffle thing the guy does on Brooklyn Nine Nine,” Vandal admitted.
“Classic show. I can’t believe they took it off the air after only sixteen seasons,” Roxy admitted. “I watched it all the way through at least three times.”
“It was popular in England?” Vandal said, somewhat surprised.
“Darling, lots of American shows are. It’s not all Downton Abbey, you know.”
Vandal shrugged. “Never heard of that one.”
“Period drama. I’ve no idea what people liked about it. It’s hardly Jeeves and Wooster.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“Your harem will bring in the most points, whatever happens. If we party up with people and go on big raids that’ll also bring in a lot of points we can use on upgrades.”
“It sounds like the harem is really important then,” Vandal said. “For levelling up that is. Well, if I must, I will do my duty.”
Roxy smacked his arm. “How simply terrible it is to have responsibilities.”
Vandal chuckled as he flicked through the social menus and then sent Roxy a message.
New Harem Formed: You have invited your lover, Roxy Lickspring to join your harem.
New Harem Member: Roxy Lickspring, Goblin Shaman has joined your harem. 500 XP
Roxy had accepted the invitation with lightning speed, almost before he’d seen the notification pop up. “That’s one! Now we just have to look out for more candidates.”
“Don’t you mean I have to?”
“I do hope you’re not inviting anyone I don’t like,” Roxy growled.
“Of course not! Would I?” Vandal protested innocently. “You’ll always be my first, Roxy.”
“You better believe it.”
“And the Hamlet? I guess we fill that with NPCs, somehow?” Vandal said, before he had the chance to dig a hole he couldn’t get out of.
“We can build player houses in the Hamlet it seems, and bedrooms in here for all your floozies. Players can do a lot more for us, but the guards and farmers and stuff will mostly be NPCs, yes. Lots of the Cult of Amoria too, although players are better.”
“Great, so we can do all the fun stuff, earn points and then buy bigger and better rooms and sentry towers and a tavern and stuff?”
“Afraid not, High Priest Lionheart.”
“No? Am I about to be unhappy?”
“We have to gather resources too. Stone, wood, metal ore, gold, silver. Everything you can think of really. Everything you’ve ever grown, mined, gathered, looted, refined, extracted, cultivated, stolen or bought in a massively multiplayer game or strategy game for base building, we need. If we want to build a better wall to defend our Watchtower, we’ll need wood,” Roxy said.
“I should have seen that coming but that’s fine,” Vandal shrugged. “You’ve got to put in some sweat equity or it’s just too easy and everything hits max level then you’ve got no endgame.”
“Shall we go and see what to build first then?” Roxy said.
Vandal grinned wolfishly, and plucked the book gently from her hands, closing it and putting it carefully on the bedside table.
“I have a more important quest,” he growled, as he slid under the sheets, trailing kiss down her body, until he arrived between her legs.
“Oh, Vandal,” Roxy moaned. “You can quest with me, as much as you want.” Her fingers twined in his hair and pulled him in tight against her so he could claim his prize. Soon enough, he’d fulfilled the quest goal, or so he thought. It turned out that his quest giver had held back on him when he started.
It was a multi-part quest.
Chapter Sixteen
The following morning, they awoke and set about exploring the rest of their new home, after eating some of the simple food they’d found in the barracks. It wasn’t thrilling fare, but it did fill their stomachs.
The planning office in the Temple was a few doors down from their suite and accessed through a shimmering portal that blocked the archway, just behind the double doors. Vandal put his hand out and gingerly touched the golden surface, which rippled like water when he touched it. There was a slight tingle as well, as if an electric current was flowing through the translucent surface.
He stepped through and shuddered at the strange sensation as it washed over him, touching his skin all over, as if his clothes didn’t exist at all. Roxy held his hand and squeaked as they got through. “Weird,” she said, then let go of his hand. He turned to look in surprise as she jumped back straight through the portal.
Roxy danced back and forth several times. Finally, he had to ask, “What are you doing?”
“Getting used to it,” she said, finally stopping on the inside of the portal. “I don’t want to be flinching at the thought of it.”
“You’re so weird. Almost as weird as me. I’m sorry for you,” Vandal laughed.
“Hah! It’s good to be weird. Better weird than boring,” Roxy said.
On the inside the room was well lit, and the short corridor opened out into a circular space. It wasn’t massive, maybe twelve feet across if that. In the centre was a large wooden table, also circular, dominated by a circular map on thick parchment. Two small figures that looked like toy soldiers made of lead and covered in bright paint, stood in a circular room.
“That’s us,” Roxy said, when she’d found a small set of steps on wheels to give her a better view of the table. She caught Vandal smirking and scowled at him. “Yes, yes, I’m a bit shorter, laugh it up.”
“Look, they move when we do,” Vandal said, walking to the edge of the room and inspecting one of the wall hangings to demonstrate. It seemed typical of Amorian artwork that he’d seen so far. A half-naked woman wearing just enough clothing to identify her as a nun, was shown, life-size, her hand on a seated priest’s straining manhood. Her tongue was running up from his balls to the tip, and his eyes were rolled back in his head.
“So, they do,” Roxy mused then hopped down from her steps to come and join up. “Wow. That’s lifelike.”
Vandal nodded. He couldn’t argue with that but something was confusing about it for a few minutes. “Is it me,” he asked eventually, “or does this picture move?”
“Oh thank Amoria you said, that,” Roxy sighed. “I thought I was hallucinating. Hey look where we are on the table.”
Vandal turned and frowned. “Yeah, we’re next to the wall.”
“Now look at the picture,” Roxy said, and they turned back.
Vandal chuckled. She’d tested it and proved they weren’t imagining things.
“That’s so hot,” Roxy said, her voice thick with lust. “I don’t know how I’m going to concentrate on working in this room, when I could be looking at her, doing that.”
“It’s some of the more provocative art I’ve seen, I must say,” Vandal agreed. The nun and the priest had undeniably changed position. His hand cupped her hair now, and she’d swallowed half his length. His shaft had a smear of her scarlet lipstick at the base and what was still visible glistened with her saliva suggesting she’d already taken every inch.
“My favourite bit is that she’s looking at us now,” Roxy said, appreciatively. “It’s like she’s encouraging us to watch.”
“Magic paintings, as you’ve never seen them before.”
“It makes you wonder what all those witches and wizards had at home, right?” Roxy said, with a filthy chuckled.
They tore their eyes away and tried to concentrate on the map for a while, keeping their backs to the painting, which Vandal found took some willpower alright.
The whole Temple complex was marked out, at least, what they’d seen of it. Some corridors ended abruptly, and the dungeon wasn’t fully mapped out either. It seemed the map had a fog of war and only displayed things they’d actually explored.
Roxy leaned down and touched the parchment, which was pinned around the edges to a soft velvet surface. With a little experimentation she unlocked the secret of t
he map, gesturing over it to zoom it out, which didn’t reveal much but showed that it was more like a projection on the parchment than a static drawing. Quickly they were able to understand how to rotate it, reset it to magnetic north and centre it again. They could even flip it upside down or have it display a 3D view of rooms and buildings.
Vandal worked out the gesture that let them switch between the different levels so they could go up through the rock above them one storey at a time, until they reached the plateau above. There were the remnants of the previous version of the Watchtower and the Hamlet. The temple was at level one and still had some intact features. The structures up the top were showing as ruins and had been knocked all the way back to level one though.
Drawers built into the table contained smaller pieces of parchment which could be put in place around the map. They had lists of things on them and extra functions, though Vandal noted that most of the drawers were empty. “Features we haven’t unlocked yet, right?”
“It’s got to be. Upgrade the Temple, or maybe this room, and we get more things in the drawers.”
“This is so cool,” Vandal said, and Roxy nodded in agreement.
“I kind of want to see what the other two versions look like but later I suppose.”
“Agreed. Look, do these ones seem like menus to you?” Vandal said, indicating a parchment he’d drawn out from one of the drawers. Once he’d put it on the outer ring, it had drifted into place and then stuck there. He gave it an experimental tug and it peeled away, then stuck again when he let go. You could switch them out or put them away if you wanted to, but they wouldn’t blow away or get knocked off.
“Yeah, this one shows a list of resources when you select an upgrade on this one,” Roxy said, indicating two she’d found. “Primitive Outhouse, 100 Civilisation points, 25 wood, 1 shovel. And there’s the upgrades as well. You’d need 5 Lavender, 1 bucket and 1 fur.”
“I’m so glad we’ve got something nicer in our bathroom. At least the fur would stop you getting splinters.”
“True but I don’t fancy relying on clumps of lavender either.”
