“Players are a rather simple sort of people. They think that they are somehow in charge of what they do here. That they are doing quests, not being given them. They never think in the ways that the POE move and do things. The Players, while having an amazing amount of abilities, are no different than our normal customers. Give them the right incentives, show your wares at the right places, and you can make a sale. If we are to get the Players to attack the Exdar’s Traders, making them think that the Stone Raiders won’t be able to retaliate, it would only be normal. They have been gone for six months. We can get them to attack the Exdar’s branch. We send in the city guard as soon as the Players are done finishing off the Exdar’s and move in our own people to take whatever remains in the branch. One night and we will destroy their supplies and make them unable to supply the mage’s guild and college.” Geswald hit his hand on his chair in glee.
“You mustn’t have heard about what happened with the PKP guild.” Lady Pina’s voice was light as everyone’s attentions moved to her.
“Please continue,” Tommen said.
“There was once a guild called Players Kill Players. They were one of the strongest guilds around. They went around, working under the assassins’ guild. They would kill POE or Player—it didn’t matter to them. Even when they were not working, they would kill anyone who looked to have anything expensive. They made holding the most Mirror of Communications a status symbol. They had some of the strongest and most powerful weapons from killing Players after they finished a hard raid. They had around five hundred Players. Till about seven months ago.” She looked around the room.
“In Selhi Capital, the PKP hunted the Stone Raiders. Killed a whole lot of them, too. Then half the guild seemed to come out of the forest, cutting them down from behind. The Stone Raiders, outnumbered by nearly four to one in pure Players, pulled out a victory. They might not have been high levels but they could fight. They placed a soul hex on those who attacked them. A hex from the Lady of Fire. The Stone Raiders were run out of town by the magistrate and seemingly disappeared. Here and there, the PKP were killed off by the Stone Raiders. They were constantly being burned by the hex and the Stone Raiders could locate them, until the PKP messed up again and attacked an Exdar’s Trader’s caravan.”
She sipped from her wine, hiding her emotions perfectly. Her eyes flicked up, looking to those in the room with anger in them. “They attacked, without warning, but the Exdar’s knew. Stone Raiders poured out of their wagons—they had been ready and waiting. Still, it wasn’t enough to kill off the PKPs amassed there. Until they started putting down a massive steel plate.”
There were confused looks around the room.
“From this steel plate, dozens of Stone Raiders charged through. Don’t know where they came from or what that plate was. The PKP launched their ambush, but they were outnumbered and cut down to the man. There were reports after that. Stone Raiders appearing in cities in the middle of the night, cutting down PKP as they found them and then disappearing again. The PKP couldn’t stay in any city where there was a teleport pad. The PKP guild dissolved after two months of continuously being slaughtered across Emerilia. They had to reincarnate into another body to just remove the curse. I agree that the Exdar’s Traders must be removed. We must make sure that this never comes back onto us. If it does…”
She left her words hanging in the air, a physical presence as the others’ faces changed subtly, thinking on what had been said.
“Taking what Lady Pina has said, I believe it is best that as we carry this out, we first of all attempt some other possibilities to remove the Exdar’s, saving the use of the Players and violence as a last resort,” Orlani said.
“Agreed, Orlani. Lady Pina, would you be able to set that up? Tommen, I think that your skills might be put to use in influencing the people in the area to stay away from the Exdar’s, from the mages to the locals. I can work my contacts to gather more information within the Exdar’s, their practices and dealings that we might be able to use against them,” Geswald said.
The others nodded. They were all well to-do business people but Geswald, being the
Chapter traders’ guild leader, was the most powerful of them all in the room. In another land not connected to Per’ush, they could all own a small kingdom or city with their influence and power.
Here, they made deals worth kingdoms and dealt with an always shifting court. If Per’ush was the heart of Emerilia, they were the blood that kept goods moving to and from the magical college.
They had crushed countless other businesses that had tried to compete with them, from Player to POEs. To them, crushing Exdar’s Traders branch was more of a source of entertainment. To show anyone else why they should never try to compete with them.
Chapter 23: Quest Completed
Dave crossed his fingers and looked at the pop-up in front of him.
Aleph Portal Factory
Do you wish to start Aleph Portal Factory’s main line?
Y/N
“Yes,” Dave said, his nervousness clear as lights started to blink and for the first time in decades, the line shuddered into life.
Arms and parts started to move and come together.
“Woohoo!” Steve said.
Quest: Aleph Homecoming
You have restored the Aleph Portal Factory.
Rewards:
345,000 EXP
Increased standing with Aleph people
Level 118
You have reached level 118; you have 506 stat points to use.
Quest: Aleph Homecoming
You have restored the Aleph’s facilities to their former glory.
Rewards:
575,000 EXP
Stone Raiders Guild is seen as Allies with the Aleph people
Guild Hall
Level 120
You have reached level 120; you have 516 stat points to use.
Relationship Change
Your personal standing with the Aleph has changed to Trusted Ally
Quest: Friend of the Grey God Level 3
You have completed the level 3 quest for this class.
Rewards: Unlock Level 4 quest
+10 to all stats (stacks with previous class level)
300,000 EXP
Class: Friend of the Grey God
Status:
Level 3
Effects:
+30 to all stats
Access to hidden quests.
300,000 EXP
Quest: Bleeder Level 2
You have completed the level 2 quest for this class.
Rewards: Unlock Level 4 quest
+10 to all stats (stacks with previous class level)
200,000 EXP
Class: Bleeder
Status:
Level 2
Effects:
+20 to all stats
Quest: Librarian Level 2
You have completed the level 2 quest for this class.
Rewards: Unlock Level 4 quest
+10 to all stats (stacks with previous class level)
Class: Librarian
Status:
Level 2
Effects:
+20 to all stats
Quest: Aleph Engineer Level 3
You have completed the level 3 quest for this class.
Rewards: Unlock Level 4 quest
+15 to Endurance, Willpower, and Intelligence (stacks with previous class level)
Gain access to Aleph College resources
300,000 EXP
Class: Aleph Engineer
Status:
Level 3
Effects:
+45 to Endurance, Willpower, and Intelligence
Gain access to Aleph College resources
300,000 EXP
Level 124
You have reached level 124; you have 536 stat points to use.
Dave stayed very still as he slowly moved his fingers from being crossed. He closed his eyes, feeling the rush that spread through his body. His mind went a mile a minute. It se
emed as if the gravity of Emerilia barely had hold on him anymore. He felt as though he could run for days and lift a tank above his head.
When he opened his eyes, he moved at a snail’s pace to turn around.
“Something wrong, Dave?” Josh gave him a peculiar look.
“Just trying to not fall over right now,” Dave said, judging his steps.
“What do you…” Deia turned, nearly falling over as if she had thought there was a step in front of her but she’d missed it.
“Looks like your Intelligence is over three hundred now,” Dave said.
“Ugh, so, I have to deal with the almost falling over stuff?”
“Yep! Welcome to the club.” Dave smiled as he checked how he walked and such. With his increased Intelligence, his mind started to figure out the new inputs and outputs of his increased abilities.
The portal factory continued to work as everyone took time to understand the rewards they had received.
Dave opened up his character sheet, a massive smile on his face.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
16
Class:
Dwarven Master Smith, Friend of the Grey God, Bleeder, Librarian, Aleph Engineer, Weapons Master
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral
Unspent points: 536
Health:
18,300
Regen:
6.14 /s
Mana:
3,780
Regen:
15.75 /s
Stamina:
2,480
Regen:
12.20 /s
Vitality:
183
Endurance:
307
Intelligence:
378
Willpower:
315
Strength:
248
Agility:
244
“What does this mean by guild hall?” Josh muttered aloud.
“It is the gift that we thought best for you. Weapons, armor, resources, money—all of it you find in the places that you raid and although you have a base in Cliff-Hill and Verlun, you do not have a true base of operations which you can call home. It was the idea of the Aleph Council members to give you a self-contained housing complex that you could use as you desire. If you would like, I can send you there and have the Aleph automatons start bringing your gear from the city Anais you were staying in,” Shard said.
His voice was loud enough so that all of the Stone Raiders could hear.
“All right, all right, all right!” Steve said excitedly.
“Why couldn’t I have got a creature that wasn’t a complete metal-brained idiot?” Suzy said, holding her forehead.
“Well, don’t worry. Soon enough you can get another one. With all this portal information I’ve got stacked up in here, we should be good to go.” Dave pointed to his skull. “As long as Anna has some places that might be good to find some rare creatures.”
“I know a few different locations that we could summon different high-level creatures from,” Anna assured Suzy.
“All right, Stone Raiders, let’s go and check out our new digs!” Josh led the way to the teleport pad.
They all followed behind, eager to see what they’d earned from their quest. Three of them promptly underestimated their newfound strength and slammed into one another, the third letting out a shriek as they tumbled through the air.
“Okay, maybe we should take a little time to get used to our newfound power,” Josh said as the third returned to the ground with a thump and a groan.
***
Kim dismissed her notifications after reading over every exciting word. She found herself stumbling as if her body’s timing was off and had to use the walls of the keep to make it outside.
Stone Raiders were chatting with one another excitedly. Others were showing off spells that they couldn’t do without the extra boost to their classes or experience.
Kim stood at the doorway and watched the feats of her guild members. She glanced to the Devil’s Crater Army, who were all looking at what the Stone Raiders were doing in clear awe. One melee fighter jumped a story and a half, grabbing onto the keep’s wall before dropping back down. Others started to spar one another, a furious exchange of blades, shields, and magic. They didn’t hold back, going full bore to test out their new improvements. A number of them started to blur in their actions. Kim wasn’t able to keep up, finding her eyes were slower than her mind in processing what she was seeing.
“Well, this is going to be one hell of a Demon Horde hunt.” Kim smiled and then frowned. “Wow, Demon Horde hunt? Seriously, that just sounds so wordy and dumb. Demon Horde battle? Display of magical might?” Kim made odd noises with her mouth and tongue, as if trying to get rid of the words she’d just said.
Dwayne leapt off the castle within the keep, falling into the training area and rolling up to his feet.
The Stone Raiders cheered in greeting.
“Bunch of idiots.” Kim smiled and made her way across the keep’s courtyard while trying her best to not fall over.
“I’ll show you an entrance.” Kim weaved her magic. She closed her eyes, muttering an incantation to stabilize her spell. Air whipped around, pulling itself into a shimmering construct of barely contained wind. More and more wind grew; four feet landed on the ground as a body, wings, tail, neck, and finally face was formed from the hurricane-like winds.
Kim wiped sweat away from her face as her Air dragon let out a screech into the air.
The Devil’s Crater Army soldiers looked ready to make wet spots on their clothes as the Stone Raiders whooped and cheered at their guild mate’s success.
Chapter 24: Laying the Foundation
The Stone Raiders exited the teleport pad to a familiar-looking teleport pad control room. Unlike the majority they had seen, this one was in near-perfect condition. The lights were on and it looked untouched.
Shard appeared before them.
“This is a self-contained housing complex unit. It currently has forty repair bots and ten scout guardians at its disposal. For rooms, there are two barracks with accompanying growing areas. It also include one teleport pad control room, a mining shaft and two workshops. Power is supplied by the rune net that Dave showed me,” Shard continued on as the Stone Raiders moved through the halls on either side of the control room and into the barracks. The barracks were identical to the main housing complex that the Stone Raiders had fought the kobolds in.
It was a cross, with four stories filled with apartments. In the center, there was a greenery area with plants and seeds. To the right of the intersection, there were workshops on the first and second level. The third and fourth were storage areas.
On the left side, there were four interconnected growing areas at the end of the living spaces. Straight ahead there was another barracks. To the right intersection of that living barracks, there were stacked growing areas again.
To the left, the walls were bare, waiting for something to be placed there. Straight ahead, there was the back end of a mining drill. Ready to cut through the wall in front of it.
“The mining drill is currently at half power. With it, you can carve out different facilities.” Shard moved to Josh.
Aleph Guild Hall
Shard, on behalf of the Aleph people, offers you this guild hall to do with as you desire. Do you accept?
Y/N
“Yeah, hell, yeah, damn!” Josh looked around. This was nothing like he was expecting. With the teleport pad control room, Stone Raiders would be more connected than ever, moving from one place to another with ease. If some of the guild were under attack, they could rally here and go to aid them.
Just for that ability alone, it was incredible.
“This is your guild hall now. You can do with it as you desire. That said, if yo
u desire, you can hire people from the Aleph or still purchase automatons from us, to use as protection, or keep your guild hall running, so that you don’t need to. We have included some resources to get you started. You can also contact me at any time for anything at all. If you would not like me to listen in, call me up and change the privacy settings of the area you are in. We wish to extend unto you the rights and privileges of an Aleph citizen.” Shard smiled.
Interesting how he never said anything about those privacy settings before. Seems that the Aleph have been keeping a better eye on us than I thought.
“When doing expansions, you can alter set plans as you desire, though there are set templates for all different areas, from forges to power stations. I will leave you with this. Let me know if you have any questions.” Shard bowed his head and disappeared.
“Forge!” Dave shook his hand about in the air.
“I just got given all of this—I don’t know what’s going on,” Josh said defensively. He looked through his menus. A new one called Guild Hall flashed green.
“Well, let’s figure it out some then!” Dave conjured a table in the middle of the second barracks.
Josh laughed and rolled his eyes.
Stone Raiders were laughing and cheering, rushing off and clamoring to grab an apartment before anyone else.
New Horizons (Emerilia Book 4) Page 24
