“Least I can do after you gave me a house and a job.”
Now Eddie recognized him as one of his carpenters working on the house crews and gave him a nod as he got back to work. Before long Eddie had emptied out all the branches he had and there were three more of the carpenters just sprawled out helping him make arrows. At that point he just took the shafts from the carpenters and fit the feathers and points on before storing the finished arrows.
It was well before dinner time when they ran out of branches and Eddie was finally happy with how many arrows he had. He actually had a few more arrow shafts than he did broadhead points by now.
“Thanks guys, want a beer?” Eddie asked as the last of the branches was transformed in a shaft.
“Sure. Thanks, Mayor Eddie, sir.”
“No, thank you. I never would've gotten all these done in time if you hadn't stopped by to help.
When Eddie led the carpenters into the inn he found that Karl had lost his audience. He set the carpenters up at the bar, telling the barkeep to put their drinks on his tab, then went over to Karl.
“Your fifteen minutes up?” Eddie asked.
“Nah, they just wanted to ask what it was like being launched from the catapult and if they could do it too. When I told them I had an item that let me slow my fall, most of them lost interest,” Karl replied. “That's fine though, I think Allie would prefer it if I didn't acquire any groupies.”
Eddie snickered.
“Groupies? Really?”
“Hey,” Karl said, spreading his arms, “Of course I'm gonna have groupies, just look at me, and look at the things I do. People love me.”
“Yeah, Karl, let's discuss the definition of love, shall we?” Eddie replied.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Fifteen
“So, those are the guys that are doing testing for me,” Aaron said. “The problem being, that unregistered connection? I'm pretty sure that they're responsible for the things like that Orc attack we just watched. Well, maybe not wholly, but they've got a finger in that pie, I'm sure of it. Also, they were involved in other things that were happening to my guys earlier.”
“Really? You think Greenshaw is involved in that?” Lydia replied.
Aaron shuddered as he remembered how he'd gotten the server that had all the data from the illegal trials that preceded his. The implications Greenshaw had made at the time had stuck with Aaron, making him wonder what that man was doing in charge of this company.
“Um, yeah. I think he's involved in a lot more than anybody else suspects. I don't have concrete proof, but things he's said to me have me convinced that he wouldn't care in the slightest about disrupting my testing, even if it may revolutionize pod use and immersion itself.”
“What are you testing?” she asked.
Aaron winced.
“That, I can't say specifically. You know, NDA and all that. However, if you look over there, you might get a general idea.”
He gestured towards the nest of six pods, two of them occupied and the other four pulled apart in various states of disassembly.
“It combines hardware and software upgrades for existing pods,” he said.
“Wait, are those the old Mark III pods? I thought those were all pulled off the market.”
“They were supposed to all be pulled, but they're easier to modify so it's what we're using for our testing. They were pulled off the market because they were so easy to modify that people with no clue were trying to do it. That same ease of modification makes them ideal for our purposes though.”
“Okay, I get that. I won't ask any more about it either. I know how touchy the company can get about its NDAs.”
“Thank you,” Aaron said, relief evident in his voice.
He hadn't wanted to lie to Lydia, but he couldn't outright answer her question without endangering his job and the testing they were doing. So her willingness to let it slide meant that he could avoid both of those things.
“Come on. It looks like Eddie managed to survive again, despite someone's attempts to disrupt what he's doing. I don't get it. I like the guy myself, but I don't know how he gets everyone to pull together on things like this. He said it was enlightened self-interest, that he could normally find a way for someone else to benefit by helping him, but the level it's gotten to is kind of ridiculous. It looked like there were more than fifty adventurers in that last battle. No wonder they won, the players are designed to be stronger than any of the NPC opponents, so even two to one odds in favor of the NPCs means things are tilted towards the players.”
Lydia smiled at him.
“You know this game pretty well, don't you?” she asked.
“I've debugged so many sections of code for this game that... Well, let's just say that knowing it pretty well might be an understatement for me.”
“Well, no-one's been hollering for me, so why don't we go get lunch. We can discuss how I can help you pinpoint and firewall that unregistered connection when you decide you need to do so.”
Aaron's eyebrows raised.
Really, after just showing her those two's feeds and talking to her a bit she's willing to do that? Even she's a little nervous about Greenshaw, I can tell from how she talked about him before, but she's willing to help despite all that?
She saw his reaction and responded.
“Hell, I definitely know a bully when I see one,” she said, “and if what you're telling me is true, these are the actions of one. I've never been willing to back down from a bully either and I'm not about to start now.”
She gestured towards the door.
“Let's go eat and discuss this,” she continued. “I've got a few experimental programs I'm willing to share with you. If you're as good a coder as you say, we can probably improve them between the two of us. Then I just need to install them on that one router that's the last link before the unregistered connection. We'll be able to block that signal from our network, and maybe even mess with the equipment on the unregistered end a little bit, if you're willing to go that far.”
~ ~ ~
Eddie left Karl to his grandiose fantasy of groupies and headed over to the table where Tiana was sitting. She'd stopped at the temple on the way back to inform her acolytes that there'd be a few players respawning there shortly. She'd also had her acolytes redirect the players to the inn instead of the battlefield since the people they'd been fighting with had picked up any equipment lost when the players were killed.
She'd given him a wave when she saw him working on the way in, but continued inside. He'd assumed that she was hungry and wanted to eat right away since that had been the first thing he did when he got back to the inn.
Now he slid into a chair at her table. She'd finished eating and had a cup of coffee in front of her. A cup of coffee where the liquid was tan in color.
“We've got milk?” he asked. “Milk for coffee finally?”
She nodded, smiling.
“I can finally have my coffee the way I prefer it, lightly sweetened with cream,” she said, taking a sip.
“I like mine a bit tan, but very light on the sweetener, if any,” he said. “So now I can have mine the way I want it too.”
“Liv was very happy. She was asking about you building her a dairy barn, I told her to wait a day or two and then ask you.”
Eddie sighed.
Always something new that people want around here. I wonder if Paul gets people asking him to build stuff all the time, although he'd probably enjoy that since it would mean more business for him, Eddie thought.
He raised his hand for a server and asked for coffee, with a touch of milk. Once she was gone, he turned back to Tiana.
“So, was that fire spell on the last Orc you?”
She grinned.
“Yeah, that was the spell I picked up at level fifteen, Column of Flame. I can hold it on a creature for as long as I want, so long as I have the mana for it. Ran out at the end there though, I'd been doing a lot of other casting during the fight.”
“Pretty sweet spell.”
“Thanks. It's my first offensive spell that isn't specifically for undead. Took long enough to get it though.”
He nodded.
“I imagine there aren't a whole bunch of direct damage spells in the Holy Magic category.”
“There are and there aren't. If I wanted to I could reverse some of my heals and the like, but that is very much not my style. Besides, I don't think it's Freyja's style either.”
“Good point. I'd guess you're right on that.”
“Of course I am,” Tiana snapped.
A moment later she continued, more softly.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that.”
“That's fine. I know I'm under some pressure here, I'm sure you are as well,” Eddie said. “I really need to sleep some before tonight's attack though, assuming I can. I'm looking forward to the attacks being done with so I can get back to working on building up the settlement instead of constantly fighting. It's wearing, you know?”
She shook her head.
“Trust me. I'm more than familiar with things that get wearing, but keep going on and on. This one's duration has been rather short on that scale,” Tiana said.
Why is she so harsh right now? Eddie thought. That's not like her at all, or at least not like I've known her to be. Maybe once the attacks are all done with things will go back to normal.
“Well, I'm going to go nap, did you want to join me and try to get some sleep before tonight?”
Her face softened a bit.
“I'll come lay down with you and snuggle, but I don't think I'll be able to sleep.”
The two of them headed up to their room.
~ ~ ~
When Eddie woke it was with a resolve to get the Orc attacks over and done with. He shook Tiana gently, and when she didn't wake from the sleep she'd been sure she wouldn't manage, decided to wake her more slowly.
He went down to the common room and came back up with a tray of food, including a cup of coffee the way she'd described preferring it earlier on. Then he started talking to her, softly at first and slowly increasing in volume.
When she finally did wake up, he waited and when she was about to say something, gestured towards the tray with the food and coffee. Her mouth snapped shut and she reached out and took her coffee, starting to sip at it.
A smile spread across her face at the taste, a smile Eddie realized he hadn't seen in a few days.
I'll have to get to the bottom of that later on. If something is bothering her, maybe I can help? he thought.
“We've got a couple of hours before the attack. Charles is doing the planning again, and I'm going to let him. He's done well so far, except when the game has cheated. Like last time. How, exactly, did the Orcs know there were adventurers hidden out there to ambush them? There were no signs of them until they moved, so...”
“Of course it cheated, everything does,” Tiana said, the smile fleeing from her face.
“Anyhow, I just want to be a cog this time. I realize I'm their target, but still. I'll just do what Charles tells me to do. And I'll make sure Lucky stays inside the walls this time too.”
“Well, let me get some food in me and we can head up there,” Tiana said.
Eddie settled in and ate with her, although there was none of the conversation they normally experienced while they were eating. He resolved to definitely find out what was up after the Orcs were dealt with.
I hope this isn't the novelty of the relationship wearing off for her, because it sure as hell hasn't for me at least, he thought.
One they were done eating they dropped the tray off at the kitchen, then headed out for the walls.
They arrived without incident and Eddie went looking for Charles.
“I'm glad you got these walls up, Eddie,” Charles said once Eddie found him.
“Yeah, me too. That last attack was rough, without walls it would've been a serious problem.”
“Well, you probably won't have realized this, but these Orcs aren't the standard ones from the mountain settlements. They're tougher, and that Orc leader? I never saw something like that before, or the giant wolves that the shamans enlarged. Those are new to me also.” Charles replied.
“Makes sense, the dev that's intervening here for me, the one who said this should be the last wave? He also said it was older legacy code from before the game was open, so I'm sure a lot of things got tweaked since it was originally created,” Eddie said.
Charles nodded.
“That'd make sense. I'm just surprised that it was still available for use in the game. Don't they normally clear out code like that when they officially open?”
Eddie shrugged.
“No clue here. I was wondering what the plan is for this last attack.”
“Ride it out inside the walls. If the Orcs can find our people when they're hidden then I don't want to leave them out there without protection again. It's just a problem for the melee troops. It'll be difficult to sally out of that portcullis in any force, especially when the Orcs are on the far side of the walls from it. It'll take them far too long to get out there.”
“Huh,” Eddie said, an idea taking shape in his mind. “Would an easier, faster way to get them into combat help? Even if it's only temporary?”
Charles turned to him and cocked his head.
“I recognize that tone, what did you think of?”
“Well, they've got all that lumber over there that they brought up then ended up not needing for the wall walks. How about if I make a nice long ramp that we can store on the wall walk. If you want to sally, we maneuver it out over the wall and have a ramp for the melee fighters to charge down?”
“You said temporary though.”
“Well, yeah, once they're out we'll have to kick the ramp off the wall so the Orcs can't use it to get in here.”
“Oh, yeah, you've got a point there. I don't like removing their chance of retreat though. If I make the call at the wrong time they could get wiped out,” Charles said.
“Then we just wait to kick it off and don't do it if the Orcs don't get to it.”
Eddie started walking over towards the lumber while he spoke.
“Hey Charles, how steep do you want the ramp?”
“Let's go with no more than forty-five degrees. I think they could handle heading down at that angle, but no more.”
“Huh,” Eddie said aloud, “looks like that old school geometry is going to come in handy. A forty-five degree angle would be a right triangle. Pythagorean theorem still works though, so the wall is fifteen feet high, meaning two sides of fifteen feet for the wall and the ground. The ramp needs to be around twenty-one or twenty-two feet long. Let's go longer and make the angle a little easier. Twelve foot planks, so two will do it, but I need to give them a strong join to keep it from collapsing when they go racing down...”
Eddie kept muttering as he pulled out the planks he wanted to use, then pulled out tools from his inventory. In the end it took him less than half an hour to set the ramp up. Once he had it finished, he leaned it up against the wall walk, right over one of its support posts.
“Hey Charles, got anyone in heavy armor willing to jump up and down on this thing? Maybe run up and down it a few times,” Eddie called out.
Charles looked over and saw the ramp in place.
“Well, what do we have here?” he asked, walking over.
He walked up the ramp to the middle.
“I'm guessing you want me to jump up and down on the middle of it? Where these planks come together?” he asked.
Eddie nodded.
“Yeah, I think it'll be strong enough to take four at a time, but I kind of made it on the fly without a blueprint, so...”
Charles grinned and shook his head.
“You hate trusting your instincts, don't you?”
Then he started jumping.
The ramp bounced up and down from the impact, but Eddie had put braces beneath it at the top to keep it from bou
ncing off the wall when people were running down it and they held it from falling now also. The ramp flexed as Charles bounced, but it held.
“Now maybe we can get a few folks in full armor to try running down at speed?” Eddie asked.
Charles rounded up a few other melee fighters and a moment later they trotted up the ramp, then turned around and came down at full speed, two at first, the second two starting down the ramp when the first two were half way down. The ramp held and Eddie gave wry smile.
“There you go then, a sally ramp,” he said.
“Good deal, We've still got a half hour or so, I expect the rest of the defenders to show up soon, so get this stowed where we can easily put it out over the wall?” Charles asked.
Eddie nodded and rounded up a couple of others to help him move the unwieldy ramp.
~ ~ ~
The Orcish attack started with a bit of a surprise this time. Eddie was up on the wall, along with all the other archers, waiting for the Orcs visible in the distance to close, when there was a cry of surprise and a commotion from down on the ground inside the walls. He turned and saw Charles fighting with an Orc, a tall slender Orc wearing leather armor and wielding a sword and dagger.
“Damned assassin!” Charles cried out as he struck the Orc.
Now that attention had been drawn to the fight, it was over in moments as the overeager archers launched the arrows they'd had nocked at the assassin. A second later the Orcish pincushion dropped to the ground. A moment after that Charles looked up.
“What are you all doing watching in here? Keep an eye on the other Orcs.
When Eddie, as guilty as the rest of the archers about watching inside the walls instead of outside of them, turned around he saw that the ground he'd sworn was empty a minute ago was now filled with an advancing Orcish army.
I suppose you could call ninety or so fighting Orcs an army, he thought idly as his brain caught up to the situation.
Then his instincts took over and he started firing arrows. He wasn't the first to nock an arrow and fire, but he was nowhere near the last either.
Orcs were charging forward, each column of three of them carrying a ladder with shields slung over the top of the ladder to protect the bearers. He didn't even bother trying to target them, instead he launched his arrows farther out to where he could see the first rank of Orcish crossbow wielders just outside the lights Tiana had provided.
Defender Light Online Four Page 19
