Shadow Sun Rebellion

by Dave Willmarth

  Half an hour later he dunked the sharp end of the spear into a barrel of oil to quench it, rapidly cooling and hardening the metal. He Examined the weapon.

  Unfinished Spear

  Item Quality: Poor

  Despite the poor quality rating, he grinned at himself. “Well, you’ve basically made a sharpened metal stick. Good job!” He hefted the half-finished weapon. The inch-thick, six foot long weapon weighed approximately thirty pounds, which would have been way too heavy for him to use before the apocalypse. Now it felt no heavier than a wooden closet rod might have felt to him back then. He found he liked the heft of it, and imagined it would have significant punch when thrown, and a good amount of crunch when used to bash something.

  Experimenting, he moved out onto the roof to stand in a clear space. He tried a few two-handed thrusts toward imaginary foes. “Hyah! Hah!” he amused himself with sound effects.

  Feeling frisky, he began to twirl the spear in front of him, imagining himself a spearmaster, deflecting incoming arrows with his trusty weapon. “Ha! Can’t touch this!” he shouted at the invisible archers.

  A slight slip, and he lost his grip on the heavy spinning weapon. Its momentum spun it out of his hands to clang loudly on the rooftop butt-end first. When the sharp end made contact, the blade snapped clean off.

  “Well, shit.” he muttered as he picked up both pieces. He could clearly see where he’d thinned out the steel too much, and there was a fault in the cross-section that made the blade weak. “Guess this is going to take more work than I thought.”

  Discarding the broken blade back into his materials pile, he set the end of the spear back into the forge and sat down to wait. While the metal heated, he closed his eyes and reviewed some of the knowledge his various skills had imparted.

  When the metal was once again ready, he went back to work, this time with a shorter weapon, and a new plan. He hammered and heated, turned, and repeated. Twice more he made critical mistakes and began again.

  An hour later, he once again Examined what he held in his hands.

  Basic Steel Spear

  Item Quality: Common

  Damage: 500 piercing; 300 slashing; 400 blunt.

  “Yesss!” He pumped a fist in the air, giving the weapon a brief hug. “Who’s a badass Weaponsmith? I am!”

  The weapon was just as the system described it; basic. A straight steel shaft, formed into a basic triangular blade at one end. It had two eight-inch sections of canid hide wrapping along the shaft for grips. The butt-end didn’t have a cap, but it had been widened slightly and tapered down to a dull point. In order to keep to the original six-foot length after having lost some of the steel during the process, Allistor had had to work the entire rod, flattening and folding it to extend the length had reduced the diameter slightly.

  He knew in the old world there was no way he could have completed so much work on the weapon in an hour. So it seemed the system did assist in crafting to some extent. He’d had no real sense of time passing while he worked, going into that same trance-like state until it was done.

  It wasn’t fancy, or pretty. In fact, it was downright ugly. But it had better stats than his old rebar spear, and he had made it himself. Putting it into his ring to show Amanda later, he bent to pick up a steel bar. “Let’s try a basic sword.” he mumbled as he walked back to his bench with the paper and pencil.

  Four hours later he was drenched in sweat, his face covered in grime, and he’d burned his hands half a dozen times. He was still trying to create a basic sword when Amanda appeared to tell him it was time for dinner.

  She looked at the rough blade he was hammering on, only vaguely shaped with uneven edges. “Are you mad at that thing? Cuz it looks like you’ve beaten it nearly to death.”

  He looked up to see her smiling sweetly at him. Looking back down at the abused metal, he had to agree. “This Weaponsmithing thing… it’s way harder than in the games. Like, hard damn work.” He sighed, watching as the metal cooled atop the anvil.

  “You’ll figure it out. Michael did. As have several of the others. You can’t expect to be making beautiful, magical blades on day one. Let’s eat, and you can explain more about how you love me. This will still be here in the morning.” She flashed him a smile that had him throwing off his leather apron and moving in for a hug. “Oh, no you don’t. You stink, and you’re all dirty. New rule for Prince Weaponsmitherdude. Shower first, smooches after.”

  *****

  Over the next several days, Allistor planned to mainly focus on his crafting. First thing in the morning, he had Andrea organize a dozen raid parties of ten citizens each. Each team was assigned two of his high-level core raiders – one fighter, one healer. They were to take their parties out on various missions while he tried to pound metal into something resembling a sword.

  When he called them all together in the tower lobby and began to assign missions, they discovered something.

  “Bjurstrom, I want you to take your team and go to Boston, with a couple dozen droids. Our Stronghold there is right next to the airport. I’d like you to clear and claim the airport if possible, and combine it with the hotel to make a Citadel. I’ve authorized you to do so. And of course, while you’re out, grab up whatever resources you can. Especially planes, boats, booze, and such. I’ll compensate you for whatever you bring back. And if you see anyone else, human or friendly alien, try to make contact. If you see goblins, kill them if you can, or report back.”

  He watched Bjurstrom’s eyes unfocus, and a big grin appear on his face. “Uhh, boss? I just got a quest from you. Like, a good one.”

  “What?” Allistor looked at him, his heart rate increasing. “Can you share it? Wait, hold on a second.” He opened up his interface and did a quick search. He found a tab that was blinking quietly in the bottom left corner and opened it. While he was reading, Bjurstrom had shared the quest with everyone else in his party, and the other raid leaders. There were a few hoots and some laughter, and many fist-bumps.

  Andrea spoke while Allistor was still reading. “Well, it seems our Prince has the power to give us quests for doing stuff. This is going to change everything.”

  Allistor finished reading, and smiled at Andrea. She saw his face and leaned back a bit. “I don’t like that look boss. What’re you doing?”

  “I’m not doing anything. It’s already done!” He laughed at the alarmed look on her face. “I’ve granted you, as my Minister of Defense… is that your proper title? Never mind. Anyway, I’ve granted you the power to give quests as well. Along with Ramon, Helen, Sam, Meg, Michael, Chris, Amanda, Nancy, Lilly, George, and each of my Stronghold leaders. Each of you can give quests related to your various ministries. You can assign kill quests, objective quests like I just gave Bjurstrom, defense quests, et cetera. Nancy can send people out for herbs or whatever. So can George, but he can also give quests for things like ‘deliver ammo to x place’ since he’s manufacturing the stuff. Ramon can give quests to his people for producing scrolls or obtaining inks and other materials. You get the idea.”

  Andrea relaxed quite a bit, and even smiled. “That’s going to help our people level up much more quickly.”

  “You bet your ass!” Bjurstrom said. “The quest I just got grants a million experience for completion, plus bonus experience for kills and resources gathered! And klax!”

  Now Allistor understood what all the cheers were about. He hadn’t actually read the quest he’d granted Bjurstrom, he had been busy reading about his quest-granting abilities and options. A million experience, even for his top people, was nothing to sneeze at. And the monetary rewards would be welcomed as well. Everyone needed day to day items, or crafting materials, or improved gear.

  He had apparently revealed the ability by creating a very detailed set of instructions for Bjurstrom and his group, and offering performance-based compensation up front. He regretted not discovering this months earlier. His people could have been so much stronger by now. Once again, his failure to just take some tim
e and read through his tabs had resulted in a significant fail on his part.

  “Okay folks, let’s take advantage of this.” He began assigning specific tasks and rewards, his words becoming a quest for each group. He had Andrea try it a few times, explaining to her how it needed to be structured. While she was attempting her first quest, he looked up at the ceiling.

  “Nigel, I need all of my advisors to attend a meeting in thirty minutes. Those who don’t wish to travel can attend via holo-comm, but they need to be in a secure place.”

  “Of course, Sire.”

  When he and Andrea were through, the raid parties set off on their shiny new quests. Andrea called Gene and Kira and gave each of them quests to deliver and pick up the traveling groups, along with whatever large items they wanted to bring back. Kira in the yacht, Gene in the colony ship. They’d sent five teams to Boston, DC, Toronto, Detroit, and Chicago to expand their holdings. Five teams with the lowest-level members had been sent out to nearby buildings within Invictus City to clear out the mobs and begin repairs. If they were going to expand, they needed to clear their territory. They’d take droids with them to tank, reducing the risk while they leveled up. The last two teams were given a special mission.

  McCoy and Logan were taking their groups down into the nearest subway station. If Manhattan was anything like Allistor’s hometown, then the sewers and subway tunnels would be the closest thing Earth had to dungeons. He wanted McCoy and Logan’s raiders to explore in opposite directions from the station, killing what mobs they could manage, and reporting back on any that were too tough to handle alone. They were under strict orders not to take too many chances, and would remain in contact with each other via radio at all times in case one needed backup. They were to take twice as many droids as the other teams, and the droids would be able to contact Prime for rapid reinforcements if necessary. The station was only a few blocks away, and the entire force in residence at the tower, both droid and human, could be there to help in minutes.

  When the groups were gone, Allistor and Andrea went to retrieve Amanda, who was the only other advisor in the tower at that time. They rode up to Allistor’s quarters and got comfortable in one of the conference rooms. Over the next few minutes, Ramon and Nancy joined them, with the others all using Nigel to call in. Allistor was impressed when each advisor showed up as a floating body in the air above the conference table. They were all about one quarter life-sized, and blue, but the detail was amazing. He could see their eyes shift as they looked from him to Andrea.

  When everyone was present, he started the meeting. With a small, private smile, he did so by giving them all a quest he’d been formulating in his mind. He didn’t state it out loud, using his interface to write it out instead. When he sent it off to each of them, he waited for their reactions as they read;

  Quest Received: Grant Quests, You Must!

  Prince Allistor has issued you a mandatory quest to assist him in making the citizens of Invictus stronger. You are to grant quests to your subordinates and any citizens who can be of assistance in the completion of your duties. Grant as many quests as you can, and don’t be skimpy with the rewards! We have the klax to spare. Reward: Increase favor with Prince Allistor. Experience and monetary awards commensurate with performance. Possibly some cookies.

  Meg was the first to respond, by simply bursting out laughing. “Aaahaha! This is awesome! Sam, I have a quest for you! I want you to go grab some cooking oil, and-” Her next words were muffled as Sam put a hand over her mouth. Allistor couldn’t tell with the blue tint to the holograms, but it looked like Sam might be blushing.

  The others laughed at the antics as they finished reading their quests. Lilly asked, “So I can give quests to people to bring me things like materials they scavenge? And the reward will come out of the community funds, not my own?”

  Allistor nodded. “Keep it reasonable. I mean, if you offer someone a million klax to bring you a spool of thread, you’re going to get spankings instead of cookies.” He winked at her. “But in your case in particular, as well as Meg and Sam’s… I’m betting you could give the little ones quests to run and fetch you things, or deliver things, give them a few klax. But more importantly, max out the experience with each one. The system places a limit, but push that limit.”

  Nancy laughed, thumping the table. “And it’ll give the little monsters something to occupy their time, too!”

  Lilly nodded, “And free up some of my own. I’ll have more time for actual crafting.”

  Ramon looked as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “I can send people out to gather the herbs we need for ink, and paper. That’ll free my own people up a great deal, and increase our production of scrolls!”

  Michael looked at Allistor via his hologram. “Why didn’t you institute this before? The amount of time and experience we’ve lost…” The room got silent as everyone realized what Allistor had berated himself for earlier.

  “I discovered this ability by accident this morning. Apparently, you have to give someone a pretty specific mission, and specify the reward up front. I’ve been inviting you all on raids with me, but you’ve just been working for the xp and loot. Even when I granted everyone bonuses after Fort Knox, it wasn’t specified at the start.” He paused, and took in a deep breath.

  “But the short, brutal answer is basically this: I didn’t read the instructions.” He waited as his people reacted to this in various ways. Meg rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue to blow a raspberry.

  “Which is why…” Allistor made sure he had their attention, “I’m declaring this week to be read the damned instructions week. How much more have we missed, or will we miss going forward. I want all of us, including me, to spend as much time as possible this week reading through all of our tabs, and making note of information that might help us. Or things we need to be concerned about. At the end of the week we’ll meet again and compare notes. I know you’re all busy, but hey, you can send people on quests to take care of a lot of your stuff for you, right? This is important.”

  There were murmurs of agreement and head nods, with no objections being raised.

  “Great! See you all in a week, if not sooner. Thank you.”

  When the meeting broke up, Allistor spent the rest of the day on the roof. He’d had an idea regarding his Barrier spell, so he sent for William, his official squire. The young boy was initially nervous about being summoned, but when Allistor explained the ‘squire duties’ he had in mind, William was all over it.

  So through most of the day, Allistor multitasked. He would cast Barrier behind himself, put some metal in the furnace, and read through his tabs while the metal heated. After pounding and shaping, he’d return the metal to reheat it, and repeat the process.

  Meanwhile, William stood behind him, happily trying his best to smack Allistor on the head with a broom handle. It would take several minutes of effort to break through the magical shield, at which point Allistor would recast it. After a short rest or a snack break, William would resume his homicidal pursuits. In this manner, Allistor leveled up his Barrier spell, while William increased his Strength and Stamina, and gained experience from a quest Allistor gave him called Squire Training Step One.

  Chapter 19

  After nearly a full week of hard work and sweat up on the roof, and a few lumps on his head from when he didn’t recast Barrier quickly enough, Allistor sat in the upper floor conference room with all of his advisors around him.

  “Before we get started on the raids, quests, and research, I want to brag a little bit. Most of you know I’ve been trying to level my Weaponsmithing this week. And I want to talk about crafting in general, among all of our people. We’ll hear a report from Chris in a minute.” He paused, keeping his hands below the table and pulling something from his ring.

  “I have created something like a hundred weapons this week. Most of them are crap that’ll only be good against practice dummies or low-level mobs. I’ll donate them to the smithy at the Citade
l, and those guys can decide whether to hand them out as training weapons, or re-use the materials for better weapons. But… all that practice paid off. Behold!”

  He brought his hands up and placed a sword on the table. In his mind, he heard a chorus of angels like he’d heard when he first created the Citadel. Looking around, the others seemed rather less impressed than he expected.

  “C’mon guys… Examine it!”

  Unnamed Sword

  Item Quality: Uncommon

  Damage: 750 piercing, 600 slashing

  Attributes: Sharpness +2, Armor Piercing +1

  Enchantment: 11% chance of inflicting Mind Spike upon striking target.

  The sword didn’t look all that impressive sitting on the table. Its blade was Damascus steel, but the pattern was somewhat ugly. About twenty-eight inches long, and three inches wide at the base, the fullered blade tapered smoothly to a sharp point. The hilt was wrapped in crimson dragon hide, and the steel guard was curved upward toward the blade slightly. Embedded into the round pommel was a crystal that glowed dully.

  Michael was the first to speak. “That’s great, man! You’ve come a long way in a week. You even managed to enchant it!” He acted surprised, though he knew about it already. Allistor had consulted with him several times over the previous few days.

  “Why isn’t it named?” Meg asked, looking at him with suspicion on her face.

  Allistor cleared his throat. “Yeah… I wanted to name it Stabby McPokeface, but Amanda said she’d stab me with it if I did that. William wants to name it Excalibur. He’s very into the squires and knights thing right now. But I don’t think this blade is worthy of such a name. So I’m still thinking it over.”

  Several people threw out suggestions, all at the same time. He heard Goblinkiller and Enforcer, Vindicator, and Prince’s Blade. Just as the voices died down, George offered, “Peacemaker”.

  “Damn, George. I like that!” Sam thumped the table. Several others nodded their heads, including Allistor.