The Dragon's Wrath: Ashes of the Fallen

by Brent Roth

  Ah, my opportunity has arrived.

  "Fair points, so what if we had a contract?" I countered with a restrained smile, as I tried to hide my enthusiasm. "Lax terms, sell at your leisure but we could have a trade route established between our villages, the NPCs could take care of the rest. As of right now, you would be the sole purveyor of Northern goods, you know."

  I wasn't being disingenuous, but I was a little happy at the thought of recovering from a bad situation and turning it into a rather successful endeavor. For now though, I didn't want to appear too happy, less she mistook that, as me taking advantage of her.

  "I would have to see the terms, but I would be more comfortable with a contract," she stated with some seriousness, her confidence seemingly having returned.

  "Yup, we can lay it all out in the open, take a day to sit on it," I followed up. "As far as my interests are concerned, I make slightly more money this way and get access to new goods without having to personally travel through the Northeast. The profit margin should be fairly agreeable for you as well, I think?"

  "Oh, Sigurd, you already know your pricing is more than reasonable, you ass," she retorted with a sad smile as she crossed her arms underneath her chest. "Just, when you said a big shipment, you could have explained what big was… that shit is relative you know? Giving a girl a stroke here, making me worry over this."

  After a few more minutes had gone by, I changed the subject slightly while my crew of NPCs decided to explore the local territory. Ellieby and I ended up relaxing against a tree as we continued to go over some smaller details.

  By the end of our discussion, there was only one hitch.

  They didn't have a trade master, and their campsite was only that.

  It wasn't a village, and none of the guild members had access to the NPC-Recruiter.

  Well, I knew the way to fix that.

  Unfortunately, it meant putting in a little physical work, to aid a guild that wasn't exactly on friendly terms with me, outside of two of their members. Though their dislike for me didn't really bother me, since it was mostly born from misunderstandings as they thought I was an elitist asshole.

  I admit to being cocky at times, confident most of the time, minus the days when I get randomly depressed, and I definitely consider myself an intelligent person on average but I didn't really think of myself as better than any other person, individually, as a human being.

  We all had flaws, and I had plenty.

  There was a separation there that some found hard to see. In order for there to be a positive, there must be a negative… or something like that. If one person is right in an instance then the alternate is likely true as well, with one person being wrong.

  Maybe my delivery was suspect, as my patience for explaining things to strangers had long run out. But, elitist really wasn't the right term for me, so I found that somewhat disagreeable.

  The main issue, was that the hunter wanted to lead his party but his strategy didn't work that well. He wasn't very flexible, and I had to take matters into my own hands. If that makes one an elitist asshole, what of the stubborn leader that fails to lead?

  Meh, disagreements and misunderstandings were bound to happen.

  That was life in general.

  Everyone had an opinion, and very rarely did they all match up.

  Well, despite that, I liked Ellieby enough that I didn’t mind helping her and her guild out. I had only interacted with five members from this guild, and the guild contained around thirty members to my knowledge.

  So, if three disliked me, so be it.

  I was going to build them a public lodge.

  And in turn, take this campsite to the next level, as a named village, with a functional NPC-Recruiter amongst other things.

  Sure it benefited me, but I didn't have to do it.

  Even if they wanted to call me an asshole, I really wasn't that mean spirited.

  Chapter 59: Foreign Construction

  (Sunday, August 15th Game Day / Wednesday, March 17th Real Day)

  An in-game day had passed us by as the warriors and I continued to chop down trees in preparation for the lodge. The hours went by rather quickly despite the monotony of it all. Roughly half of the time was spent chit chatting with the NPCs, while the other half was with the few guild members that wandered by.

  All of that happening, in the middle of the logging process, of course.

  Chopping and hacking down trees, only to roll and carry them off.

  What a wonderful life, I was living.

  It really wasn't the best use of my time, and I couldn't find a positive from it all, but it was mostly out of good will to help a partially friendly guild. Maybe it was selfish in some respects, what with it benefiting Ellieby, which in turn could guarantee me a slight profit over time. Yet, even so, I was wasting two whole days… and at least twenty four hours of my life, working at hard manual labor in order to get this done.

  That was fairly generous, in my mind.

  Especially when one considered that the work was being done for random strangers, plus two online acquaintances that I hardly knew.

  Oh well.

  I wanted to start construction as soon as possible, but lacked a few necessary tools to start, seeing as I wasn't expecting to build anything. I mean, it's not like I traveled around the continent with the intention of building homes for strangers, as if I were some TV host on a do-it-yourself channel.

  Well, my lack of preparation led to Ellieby making a quick trip to a local NPC village to pick up a drawknife, so I could trim and shape the logs to fit.

  She was running behind schedule, though... by about an hour.

  Meanwhile, in an attempt to bide my time, a few of her fellow guild members gave me a hand with the dragging of the logs since they weren't as proficient in logging.

  My skills were top-notch now after felling thousands of trees.

  I was a one-man deforester, only lacking the title to hang above my head.

  They could make a documentary about me, and how evil I was.

  Hah aha hah… I laughed in my head, attempting to entertain myself.

  I was incredibly bored now.

  And then, as if right on cue, Ellieby's voice reached my ears.

  "Hey Sigurd, will this do?" shouted Ellieby as she finally returned with drawknife in hand. "I had to go to another village since the first one didn't have anything."

  Wiping the sweat from my brow and then setting my axe down, I gave her a nod as I eyed the tool in her hand. "That's the right one," I replied with a smile. Relief somewhat hitting me as we were now one step closer to finishing this project.

  "Did you guys pick out a clearing to erect the lodge?" I asked with sincerity.

  Ellieby smiled as if she had found the perfect spot, and simply waved at me, beckoning me to follow. Doing as the lady instructed, I grabbed my axe and headed off towards the destination.

  "Lovely spot ain't it?" she stated more than questioned as she stood proud.

  Eyeing the spot, I replied casually, "I think it'll work, yeah, should be good."

  A large pile of oak wood had been stacked for me to begin working on, as I immediately sat down on a stump and tried to envision what exactly I would be making.

  The oak lumber was considerably denser than most woods like pine, which meant it was not only stronger but heavier, too. A two-story building would take me quite a while by myself, but I had some help here from the others.

  It seemed like a fun experiment, anyways.

  "Alright, Roald, let the men know to bring over another fifty logs or so, then we'll be good to go," I instructed to the trade master who was busy chatting up the female guild members. The man had no discretion, even as an NPC, he hit on any female, whether they were an NPC or a player.

  I guess, that added to the realism.

  Though, I wish he was more productive instead.

  Setting my workspace up, I began the steady process of debarking and shaping the logs to fit. Taking the drawknife
and running it along the edge, a simple pull sheared off a small slice of wood. Repeating the process dozens of times per log, after a few minutes I had one clean, ready to use log.

  The only thing it was missing was a notch on either end to hold it in place.

  That would come later, though.

  Continuing the process, it took me essentially another in-game day as I worked tirelessly through the night. Stopping only for short breaks to eat in real-life, I skipped out on sleep to try and rush the building phase.

  I wanted to be done, and out of here.

  But, I wasn't going to cut corners.

  The second real day came since I had initially set out from Dragon's Breach and the log lodge had yet to take shape. The oak timber was finally ready to go as I finished the prep work. Now I was waiting on the NPCs and a few players to help lay the logs out.

  Sadly, oak was frustratingly heavy.

  I tried to move a few logs by myself and failed miserably.

  With the rising sun breaking through the thick canopy of the trees, my warriors finally started to get up as a few of the [Liberated Souls] guild members logged on to give a helping hand. Not everyone could be on at this time of the day, so I appreciated the ones who decided to take the time.

  I would need all of their help, if I was to finish this by the end of the day.

  "Alright, I already placed markers there that you should be able to see," I said to the other players, as the in-laid schematic system had a toggle option to be visible to others, outside of the NPCs. "We'll be stacking logs on top of each other, starting here and then working our way around, one at a time."

  Pointing out what log went where, I kept the drawknife handy along with my small one-handed axe in case adjustments needed to be made. Slowly, but surely, the process had begun.

  A dozen men hoisting up a log and setting it down into position required some patience. We continued our work one log at a time. After two hours had passed, the first story was complete and the second floor was starting to take shape. The roof would be problematic without machinery, and there wasn't much we could do to work around that.

  In the end, a scaffolding of sorts was constructed, more akin to a ramp or a stack of logs really, but one that allowed us a way to lift the logs above the second floor.

  By the end of the day, we were nearly done.

  Nearly wasn't completely, though.

  And the third day real-day passed on by, as if it weren't a thing.

  I was frustrated with the amount of time lost.

  Then the fourth day concluded with the lodge roughly ninety-five percent complete. Our quest to finish cut short due to a fitment issue with the roof.

  And on the fifth day, it was finally over.

  "I think, we're done," I sighed while languishing off to the side.

  "Oh I just got a prompt! It's asking if I should make it a Personal Home or-" started Ellieby before I cut her off.

  "Answer no, it will stay as a Large Open Residence, then select Yes and designate your Campsite as a Village," I began to explain as I stared blankly at the building in front of me. "After that, give the village a name, then decide if you want it known throughout the world, as a place for players to spawn at."

  "Uh… well, that takes all of the fun out of it," replied Ellieby, slightly upset.

  Her entire guild had gathered for this event, and Ellieby was looking at the same menus as everyone else, except she had been given control over the decision making process from this point on. They were mostly leery of me at first, and some still didn't trust me fully, but most of them were excited and thankful.

  "Sorry, you're right, I'm going to take a seat over here, let me know when you guys are done discussing everything," I stated somewhat plainly as I sat down on a patch of grass and closed my eyes.

  I had hardly slept at all the past five days, intending to rush the project to save time.

  That proved futile, as the other works were slow.

  I missed having my fellow carpenters with me… they made my life easier.

  Cheering erupted in the distance as I was jolted awake from the noise, having fallen asleep over on a patch of grass next to a tree. Slightly dazed and confused as my sleep deprivation had fully kicked in, I was soon the victim of a vicious hug attempt as Ellieby joyously jumped on top of me.

  "Wh-what are you doing you crazy woman," I managed to squeak out as I fell helplessly to the woman's unstoppable onslaught of cheers and random squeezes.

  "We've got a village now! Sigurd we did it! Come on get up!"

  "Sleep, I want, need, sleep."

  "NO! You're partying with us, NOW!" she yelled as she grabbed my arms and pulled me up. Dragging me with her as she followed her guild members, the majority of them having already moved inside the two-story lodge to celebrate.

  The structure was nearly eighty feet across, in both width and length, with a few excess feet on the edges for future expansion. Roughly ten foot of head-room for each floor led to a roofline that sat around twenty-six to thirty feet high.

  There were cut-outs all around for windows, whenever they decided to invest in glass. The inside though, was largely empty at the moment. The large open room in the center doubled as the entrance and the welcoming or gathering room. Smaller rooms adorned the sides that could be used for storage or personal rooms, whichever was desired.

  The centerpiece though, was the staircase.

  A grand staircase wide enough for four people to walk simultaneously, shoulder to shoulder, with an elegant side-railing that led all the way. Complete with a fully-functional second floor, it was partially open similar to a balcony, as it left half of the first floor with an extremely high ceiling that granted a certain ambiance to the entire room.

  It was really a fine piece of craftsmanship.

  Far finer than anything I had built in Dragon's Breach.

  I suppose my experience and hard work, proved to increase my potential.

  Ellieby continued to pull me around, as the entire guild ran about the place with a jubilance fitting one of those tv contestants that won a free designer home.

  Maybe, I could have a TV show based on my work, too.

  Hah, stupid.

  After what seemed like an hour, the excitement had settled down as people started to come and go. Ellieby had left me alone to mingle with her friends, but eventually made her way back to me at the end.

  "Sigurd, who are you?" she asked seemingly out of the blue.

  "Eh, in short… a complicated guy, with a lot of diverse interests," I answered honestly, if not a bit vaguely. It was the truth after all, and I wasn't hiding anything.

  "Come on, you ass, who are you really?"

  "What do you mean?" I mumbled, while trying not to doze off.

  "I mean, you're from the North, you've got a personal yacht, an army of loyal NPC soldiers and tradesmen, and though this is just speculation, you probably have an entire village or town back home. So yeah, who are you? Are you from a prestigious guild?"

  Ah, the hard questions.

  Well, they were bound to appear, at one point.

  "I'm honestly, just a guy with a lot of free time right now," I started to explain, pausing only to think over what I wanted to explain. "No guild, solo affair, mostly a lot of hard work got me here. Would appreciate it if you guys kept quiet about it, though."

  She looked at me with a startled expression, as if she couldn't believe what I was saying. Befuddled or bewildered; they were appropriate responses from her.

  I figured, it was normal, at least.

  "Join our guild then, if you're not in one," she asked seriously, grabbing my hand and staring me straight in the eyes.

  It was, a little uncomfortable.

  Shrugging my shoulders, I gave her a quick response, "ah, sorry, guilds aren't for me. Thank you for the offer, but I'll have to decline."

  "And why not?" she questioned immediately, relentless in her pursuit as she batted her eyelashes and squeezed my hand. She was being,
a bit too friendly now.

  "If I told you, I had been in far too many guilds that I outgrew them, would you believe me?" I stated while matching her gaze and leaning in towards her.

  If she wanted to pressure me with physicality, two could play that game.

  With my head close to hers, I decided to lean in a bit more, and whispered by her ear so only she could hear, "really though, I'm just an asshole, so no thanks."

  "Haha you are such an ass," she laughed out as she patted me on the shoulder. "Alright, I get it, I won't ask you anymore. But, know that if you want, you're welcome."

  Giving her a wink for good measure, I leaned my head against the wall as I sat back and relaxed. "I need to rest but, open up the NPC-Recruiter in your menu and draft a trade master, will you? Once done, Roald will guide you. I… am going to sleep, night."

  With Ellieby looking at me clearly confused, I closed my eyes and initiated the log-out sequence. My sleep deprivation was getting serious, and I was starting to feel a bit delirious, even if my mind still appeared to work.

  Everything worked slower, was all.

  Chapter 60: Back Home, Again

  (Sunday, September 5th Game Day / Wednesday, March 24th Real Day)

  After roughly twenty hours of sleep and two very large meals, I was back in action.

  Ready, to conquer the world!

  Well, maybe, not quite so extravagant but close.

  A quick log-in to get myself on the boat and logging out immediately after allowed me to take advantage of the automated travel as my warriors rowed without me.

  Sleeping, while traveling the world, life was good.

  Ellieby had completed the trade pact with Roald while I was gone and now the two villages had a limited trade alliance in effect. One fully established trade route, ready to be used, whenever we saw fit.

  My mission was an astounding success, by my own account.

  It only cost me six real-life days and a heck of a lot of manual labor, but it was worth it. In the end, the happy faces of strangers and acquaintances, or dare I say, friends, made it worthwhile. I guess… I was a bit of a sap after all.