by Rachel Aaron
"I am definitely stealing," Anders said. "All player Clerics are, but I think saying sorry helped. At least, I know the Sun isn't mad at me."
"You're blowing my mind, Anders," Tina said, shaking her head. "You actually talked to a god? As in legit greater being?"
"Talk isn't the right word," Anders said with a shrug. "I just get feelings, one of which is that we are as unfathomable to the Sun as it is to us. It doesn't seem to understand why mortals act as we do. I tried to ask about players specifically, but all I could get was that our relationship falls into the 'it's complicated' category."
"That's good to hear," Tina said with a relieved breath. "Complicated is a lot better than furious. So are the other gods friendly? Can we talk to them too?"
Anders looked down, the feathery gills on his neck wiggling as he considered the question. "I'm pretty sure the Naturalists talk to the Wind and the Water on a daily basis without knowing it," he said at last. "They're basically nature priests, if you want to get technical about it. So yes, I'd say we can clearly talk to gods. Whether they'll listen or care is another matter."
"What about the Bedrock Kings?" Tina asked excitedly. "Can I pray to them? Because I have some questions about Stonekin 101 that need explaining."
That earned her a burbling laugh. "As each stonekin is supposedly handcrafted by the Bedrock Kings, I wouldn't be surprised if you could talk to them," he said. "I've no idea how, though, since they're not gods. According to the Wiki, the Bedrock Kings were celestial elves who turned their backs on the Sun and made a kingdom deep underground, hence their name."
Tina looked around the Sun temple nervously. "That sounds dark. I'm not on bad terms with the Sun god here, am I?"
The ichthyian Cleric looked at the Sun coming in through the western windows, and his fish eyes grew distant, like he'd stepped out of his body. It was super creepy to see, and Tina was about to tell him to forget it when he suddenly came back.
"You're in the 'it's complicated' category too, it seems," he told her with a smile. "The Sun is very..." He trailed off, searching for the word. "Mature," he said at last. "But I guess that's one of the benefits of being an eternal greater being. You always get to take the long view."
"I'm okay with complicated," Tina said, giving him a smile. "Thanks for checking. If you're done conversing with gods, though, I need you to get back to work. As I just told Neko, heals are the most important part of this operation. We're outnumbered enough as it is. We can't take any more people going down. I'm trusting all of you to figure out how to keep everyone up on limited mana."
"Of course, Roxxy," Anders said. "I was just letting the others have a break. The new healers especially aren't used to casting for long periods of time. I was letting them recover before we trained again."
"Sounds great," Tina said. "Thanks for the hard work, Anders." She started to walk out but stopped. "I hate to keep bringing this up," she said with a sigh. "But if Neko tries something on you, don't react. Just bring it to me, and I'll handle it. I don't want the situation between you two to deteriorate any further."
Anders gave her a determined look. "Neko could stab me, and I wouldn't lay a finger on him. Never again."
"But I would have to," Tina said sadly. "I know it sounds callous, but the two of you are the best geared and most experienced healers we've got. I can't afford to lose either of you, so let's just keep things separate, okay?"
Anders nodded. Tina nodded back and left the temple, wondering if she'd ever have a conversation with Anders that didn't cause her an existential crisis.
***
By sunset, Tina had used up all the metal Assets had allotted her. On the one hand, this was great because it meant she was still able to forge armor at speeds close to what she'd managed in the game. On the other hand, it was a pain because now she was going to have to ask the stingy elf for more. At least she was on the lower-level suits now. Those took far fewer materials but still more than what she had left, so Tina sucked it up and marched across the now-dark grass toward the storage area of Camp Comeback.
The camp had changed a lot while she'd been working. Even in the dark, she could see that the once-open riverbank was now lined with walls and stone chunks that could act as charge breakers. It was a phenomenal amount of work considering how little time they'd had, and she made a mental note to reward CraftyJohn if they survived this. But while some of the changes were great, others were more concerning.
As she made her way toward Assets's domain, Tina was shocked by all the new clusters of low-level players huddled on the grass or sleeping under overhangs of the less useful buildings. Frank had said two thousand earlier, but the reality of that number was something else. Looking around in the dark, Tina felt like they'd been flooded by a sea of hungry people. They were all alarmingly dirty and gaunt, but what really threw her for a loop was that some of them were children.
Since there were no underage player character models, Tina realized with a jolt that these must be the NPC families Frank had been talking about. Most ran when they saw her coming, but a few watched her curiously, staring at her with that trademark child's lack of self-awareness as she walked past.
Tina stared back. She had no idea what could have inspired NPCs to come here, but other than their ages, they didn't look that different from the huddled players. They were just more scared, desperate people looking to her for protection, just like everyone else.
She missed a step as the staggering weight of that responsibility sank in. Holy shit, how was she going to do this? How was she going to keep so many people safe? How was she going to keep them all from starving? This whole island was about to become a battleground. Where would they go when the fighting started? She couldn't assign kids jobs as she could players, but what was she going to do with them all? In the game, kids had been untargetable, but the girl trailing curiously behind her looked solid and terrifyingly vulnerable. How was Tina going to keep her from dying to a stray arrow?
It was a horrifying thought and one she didn't have an answer to. She'd already put in motion every plan she could think of. There was nothing else to do except push on, so Tina forced her growing panic down and marched into the well-lit storage building draped in the green and gold of the East Bastion Trade Company.
Stepping inside was a new form of depressing. The once-packed-to-bursting storage hall was now looking empty. To one side of the door, players were lined up to make supplies requests from a low-level Sorcerer wearing a Trade Company tabard and armed with a clipboard. Assets himself, however, was nowhere to be seen. Tina was looking around for him when she spotted a schtumple setting up shop just outside of the massive doorway.
That was strange enough to make her pause. Schtumples were an even less popular player class than stonekin, so you never saw many of them, and those you did were usually one-off joke characters. This one wasn't dressed in armor like a player, though. Tina wasn't sure what it was, actually. Since they were all as round as balls, schtumple gender was hard to tell, but this one was handsomely dressed in brown breeches and a green linen shirt pulled comically tight across its spherical body. It had thrown a blanket over a pair of crates to form a table in the grassy area just beyond the doorway and was setting out common items like boots, daggers, and such. All suspiciously close to the storage warehouse.
Tina stomped over and glared down at the schtumple. "Those had better not be from the warehouse, or we're gonna have a problem."
The schtumple jumped at her sudden voice and rolled back behind its table to look up at her in pug-eyed terror. "My ladyship, please, let me assure you that these goods were scavenged by myself and my lord from the city in days prior. Can I not set up a shop here?"
"Ladyship?" Tina repeated, even more suspicious now. "You're an NPC, aren't you? What's your name? And who gave you permission to sell things here?"
A bead of sweat trickled down the schtumple's furry lump of a head as it stammered for an answer. Tina gritted her teeth, wondering how many other infilt
rators and thieves Frank's altruism had let in. At least the "goods" laid out on the blanket were suitably ash-covered, suggesting that they had indeed come from the city, but the rest of this felt as fishy as hell, especially the whole selling-things-to-refugees angle, given that they were all supposed to be working together. She was about to tell the schtumple to get out when she heard someone running over from inside the warehouse.
"Wait!" Assets cried, running out of the warehouse at a faster clip than Tina had ever seen the elegant elf manage. "He's okay, Roxxy!"
Tina crossed her arms over her chest as Assets finally made it over, panting from exertion while his ever-present pair of attractive assistants fanned him with stacks of inventory lists.
"Please," he gasped. "Don't harass... Master Goldcaller. He's a friend."
Tina glared back down at the schtumple, who flashed her a nervous, round-toothed smile. "You're friends with an NPC? How did that happen?"
Assets adjusted his ruby shades and straightened up. "He was one of the schtumples who ran the auction house during Forever Fantasy Online. I've spent countless hours, the bulk of my play time, really, standing in front of him, buying and selling the goods that made my fortune. He's the one who saved me after the wham-spin-wham by dragging me behind his counter while I was incapacitated. The first person I saw when I woke up was Master Goldcaller asking if I was all right."
"Yes, yes," the schtumple, Master Goldcaller, added emphatically. "Assets is a long-time customer and friend. I was very concerned for him when he fell over at the Nightmare's end."
Tina stared at the little round ball of an auctioneer in amazement. Apparently, there was at least one NPC in the world who didn't hate or fear them, and she'd been about to kick him out. "Wow, okay, sorry about that, Mr. Goldcaller. You're cool to stay and set up your shop, but if I may ask, why did you decide to stick with Assets? I didn't think the citizens of Bastion liked players very much."
The schtumple's pug eyes squished with disdain. "We're in the same pot, then. The Royal Knights tried to kill me too. Called me a dirty, thieving schtumple! I tried to go to the bank for help, but it's sealed and I cannot get in. This is a very big problem for me since the auction house is also shut down. Assets understands my plight and has given me a job. How could I not follow him?"
He said the word job as Tina would have said cake or college tuition, and she tilted her head. "What's so great about a job?"
Master Goldcaller gasped, stumpy arms flying up to cover his mouth with his round hands.
"Jobs are very important to schtumples," Assets clarified when it was clear Master Goldcaller was too shocked to speak. "They don't have mana like we do. Instead, they seem to use some sort of racially created money-based magic. I don't entirely understand how it works, but I get the distinct impression that not having a job places Master Goldcaller here in grave peril."
"Much peril," Master Goldcaller said, nodding frantically. "Schtumples need jobs and gold to live."
"And I was happy to provide," Assets said with a grin. "I needed to rebuild my fortunes, anyway, so I've taken him on as my personal employee. No one knows the auction house better, and he's very precise."
"Good accounting is a holy act," Master Goldcaller agreed, smiling at Tina. "You are one of Assets's business partners, yes? If you have questions about how to schtump, I will happily answer them for a discounted fee. I've noticed you have several schtumple players among your tanks. I would not want them to suffer as I have."
Tina harrumphed. "If you don't want them to suffer, why not just tell us?"
"That would be giving something away for free," Master Goldcaller said, looking at Tina as though she'd just blasphemed. "No schtumple could ever do such a thing."
"I'll pay his fees," Assets said quickly. "This seems to be a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed. I'd noticed that schtumple players were suffering from a depression much more acute than the others. I'd thought it was due to going from human to, you know"--he moved his hands in the shape of a circle--"but now I suspect the problem might be more metaphysical. I'd been meaning to ask Master Goldcaller about it, but I just hadn't found the time. Now that you're here, though, this is a great opportunity. You have schtumple players, too, right?"
None of the Roughnecks were schtumples, but there were several among the refugees they'd picked up. Now that Assets mentioned it, Tina had noticed schtumple players seemed more down and listless than other races. Like Assets, though, she'd just assumed that was because they were stuck as schtumples. Not that being a stonekin was a picnic, but at least she wasn't three feet tall and perfectly round. And addicted to gold and work, apparently.
"So schtumples need gold to live?" she asked as Assets handed the coins over.
"No, no," Master Goldcaller said, happy to talk now that he'd pocketed his fee. "Gold is life. It's our magic, the reason we're born. Schtumples don't have mothers and fathers like humans and elves. We're born only when a job becomes available. The job is our purpose, how we earn our gold. Without it..." He shook his head. "No job, no purpose, no gold. No gold, no life. I was facing doom when the auction house closed down, but Assets saved me by giving me a job. Now do you understand why I was so happy to follow him?"
"Sort of," Tina said, trying to wrap her head around all that. "So if I give the schtumple players jobs and cash, they'll perk up again?"
Master Goldcaller looked at Assets, who handed him another coin. "It cannot hurt," he said, fingering the gold lovingly. "Player or not, we are all bound by gold. It is our life, our strength, our magic, and our pride. Without it, we are nothing."
Tina blew out a breath. And here she'd always thought schtumples were just FFO's token greedy race. Apparently, it ran a lot deeper than that. She couldn't say she understood it, but she wasn't a schtumple, so she didn't have to. If Master Goldcaller was willing to explain this to the players and keep them from wasting away, that was good enough for her.
"Can a schtumple have two jobs?"
Master Goldcaller didn't even ask for a coin for that one. "Absolutely!" he said excitedly. "Two jobs means we are twice as important." His pug eyes grew cunning. "Did you have a job for me?"
"I do," Tina said. "We've got gold in the stores. Not much, but it's not like there's anything to buy with it right now. I'll pay that to you if you teach players how to--" She frowned. "How did you put it?"
"Schtump," the schtumple replied.
"Schtump," Tina said. "Just explain to them what you told me in a way they can understand, and I'll consider the job done."
"I accept," Master Goldcaller said at once, holding out his pudgy little hand. "Thank you very much, Guild Leader Roxxy."
Tina shook his little hand carefully and turned back to Assets, who looked very positive despite Tina giving away all their gold. "You're not going to yell at me?"
"Money is only worthwhile if you have something to spend it on," the elf said with a shrug. "No one's selling us supplies out here, but if Master Goldcaller can turn our schtumple population back into functioning members of society, I count it as money well spent."
"Glad we finally agree," Tina said, happy that the problem was easily taken care of. Now she just needed to find a real stonekin who could teach her how to live, and they'd be all set. "How are supplies looking?"
"Terrible," Assets said with a sigh, waving her inside. "But you're the one using up all our iron, so you knew that. Lumber and food are in short supply as well."
"Limiting the fancy cooking will save on food," Tina said. "And we only need to make it a bit longer. Once this fight is over, we should be able to scavenge freely." Or they'd all be dead or cowering in a magical bubble while the city burned in a wind-fire inferno. Either way, food would be a secondary problem.
"I certainly hope so," Assets said, flipping through his clipboard to show her a wall of figures. "By our calculations, Camp Comeback consumes, on average, two pounds of food per person per day. Combat characters need more. Mana users especially can eat up to five meals
per day if they cast a lot. I've already been informed that more than that isn't practical due to stomach capacity reasons, so don't expect infinite mana if given infinite food. But as a whole, given the amount of combat we've already seen, we need about five thousand pounds per day to feed our entire population."
Tina gaped at him. "Five thousand?"
"Now you see why we're running short," Assets said grimly. "The amount of food we can fish up and scavenge is grossly insufficient to meet our needs, and there's diminishing returns on looting supplies from the city since we quickly eat up everything around us and therefore must go farther each day. At current rates--and my skills at doing paper-only math are rusty, keep in mind--I estimate we can last two, maybe three more days before I have to stop feeding the non-combat characters. I've already placed everyone below level fifty on half rations to slow our burn, but we're coming up on some very hard choices."
Tina swallowed. No wonder the lowbies outside looked so hungry. "What about the city stores? Bastion's supposed to be a city of over a hundred thousand people, right? Surely we can find enough to keep two thousand going."
"In a healthy city, yes," Assets said. "But Bastion is a city under siege. It's early summer already, but you'll notice that no one is coming in from the farms with produce and animals to sell, and not just because Bastion's in a state of war. I've talked to several of the NPCs who came to us for shelter, and it seems that all of the surrounding zones are under attack by local quest lines run amok." He shook his head. "Even if we survive this, I fear we're in for a bad famine. This is still an agrarian society. There's no global market ready to fill in the gaps from local supply-chain disturbances. If the farms around Bastion don't start producing, there won't be food for anyone."
"Damn," Tina said, looking back at the glowing light of Bastion above the dark city. "Good thing we're going home, then, 'cause it sounds like this place is going to hell in a handbasket."
