World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive

by M. A. Carlson

  I sighed, readjusting the now passed out Rose so I could scoop her up into my arms. “Don’t make me regret this Pwn. We’ll talk more in the morning. For now, I need to get Rose to bed.”

  Pwn smirked and I really wanted to punch that smirk off his face. I didn’t, but I really wanted to. “See you in the morning, Jacko. I can’t wait to show you what real damage dealing looks like.”

  I ignored him and returned to my room where I put Rose to bed and joined her soon afterward.

  Chapter 12- Micaela

  Micaela got back to her room late again. She was happy to see Olaf, even if he was snoring so loudly it shook the windows. Over the years, she had gotten used to his nightly sawing, so it was easy to fall asleep next to him.

  It was even nicer to wake up with him the next morning.

  “Morning, love,” Olaf said, giving her a kiss.

  “Morning, babe,” Micaela replied, yawning, and stretching as she did. A look at the game clock showed it was before 7:00 which meant Micaela only slept for about 5 hours. It wasn’t the least amount of sleep she’d ever had but it sure wasn’t a lot. “It’s early.”

  “I’m sorry,” Olaf said. “Unfortunately, I’ve got to get moving again. I’ll be playing peacemaker for the foreseeable future between Bye-bye and our new mage.”

  Waking up a little more at the suggestion of potential drama and gossip, Micaela asked, “Oh yeah, what’s wrong with the mage?”

  “Remember Pwn Star69?” Olaf asked.

  “Oh no, you didn’t?” Micaela asked, suddenly much more awake.

  Olaf smiled mischievously then said, “You bet I did.”

  Micaela snickered then laughed. “Oh, that is just too good,” she said.

  “I do what I can,” Olaf said with a shrug. “Anyway, feel like joining us for breakfast? I think it’s about time we all had a bit of a catch up. And I can introduce you to our new party members. I think you’ll like Arch, she’s a Bye-bye fangirl.”

  “A what now?” Micaela asked.

  “Yeah, turns out, after everything in Hammerton and Anvilton, our Bye-bye has become something of a celebrity. Arch is a big fan,” Olaf said gleefully.

  “What exactly did Bye-bye do to you that you felt the need to bring in a fangirl and a former enemy now . . . what would you say Pwn is now? A rival?” Micaela asked.

  Olaf shrugged, unsure how to explain the relationship between Bye-bye and Pwn. “When I brought Pwn in, Bye-bye didn’t do a thing. I swear, it was just pure luck.”

  “Well, just so long as you don’t drive away our ‘Cool Stuff Finder’,” Micaela said. “The Order of Epic Grinders is going to need him. If we keep going at the current pace, the first above ground floor should be done tomorrow. Once that’s done, we’re officially an Order.”

  “I can’t wait to see it,” Olaf said, happy for his wife and excited to see what she had built.

  “You’re going to love it,” Micaela said confidently. She took one final deep breath and bounced out of bed. “Alright, I’m up now. Let’s get to it,” she said, moving to put on her clothes.

  Olaf wasn’t far behind her.

  As soon as Olaf was back in the dining room of the Doghouse Inn, he was flagged down by Arch. Olaf grinned and waved back then guided Micaela over to the table Arch had secured for them, “Good, you’re already here. Arch, please allow me to introduce you to my wife, Micaela Crushhammer. Micaela Crushhammer, meet Arch Angel, our new healer.”

  “Pleased to meet you,” Micaela said, smiling and offering the small birdwoman a handshake.

  “I’m very pleased to meet you,” Arch said, shaking the offered hand.

  “Good, now that introductions are out of the way. Have you seen any of the others yet?” Olaf asked.

  “Not yet,” Arch said. “I didn’t sleep very well after all that drinking. I came down early and Dogson was kind enough to offer me a hangover cure. I honestly thought the cure might kill me when he gave it to me, but it seems to have done the job.”

  “Very good,” Olaf said, smiling as he remembered the first time he tried Dogson’s hangover cure.

  “Hair of the dog, from Dogson the Dogman at the Doghouse Inn,” Micaela said with a giggle. “Ah, that brings back memories. Too bad I’ve been far too busy to be able to enjoy any of that.”

  “Oh, why not?” Arch asked.

  “I’ve been working late nights, trying to complete the construction of our Order house,” Micaela answered.

  “You’re building an Order House? Here? In Hurligville?” Arch asked, almost shouting. “That’s amazing. Though, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. You do work with Bye-bye Jacko.”

  Micaela snickered at the mention of her favorite ‘Cool Stuff Finder’. She nodded along, “He does indeed make life interesting. Are you having fun grouping with him?”

  “Oh yes, so very much. It’s so genuinely nice to work with a real professional gamer. He and Rose have made it quite easy,” Arch said emphatically.

  “And you and Rose are getting along?” Micaela asked, curious as to how her favorite half-Vampire tank was adapting to the presence of a Bye-bye Jacko fangirl.

  “We . . . talked yesterday,” Arch said, shuddering as she looked into the distance. “Then we got very drunk. I think we’re friends now . . . but that could have just been the alcohol talking.”

  Micaela laughed at that. “Oh, that is precious. If Rose hasn’t killed you, then I’m sure you’re fine.”

  “She hasn’t killed me yet,” Arch corrected, that ‘yet’ was an important qualifier. “Still, if what you say is true, then I suppose that counts for something.”

  “Morning all,” Heath said, appearing in the chair next to Arch, startling all three of them. “And I still got it.”

  “Morning, Heath,” Micaela greeted him, ignoring the man’s familiar antics.

  Heath gave her a small salute.

  “Good, Micaela, you are already up,” Marie said from the stairway across the almost empty room.

  “Morning, Marie,” Micaela said.

  Marie ignored the greeting, she said, “How is my forge coming along?”

  Micaela responded, “It’s almost done. I only need to imbue and fortify a few more stone blocks then fuse them into place. The rest of the room is already done, and I even put in a storage room at either end of the forge, so you’ve got that entire wall. Ventilation shafts are built up to the second basement floor and will be extended to the third and then first floor once they are built.”

  “Good, that is good. The enchanted material will arrive today,” Marie said. She seemed to be equal parts excited and nervous. “No problems with the Magic Source?”

  “No, no problems,” Micaela assured her. “I installed it myself yesterday, it’s fully functional, and putting out 800 mana regeneration per 10-seconds.”

  “Eight hundred?” Marie questioned. “Well, that is quite impressive. Much more than I hoped for.”

  “Anyway, I promise that so long as the enchanted stones arrive today, the forge will be finished,” Micaela promised.

  “That is good,” Marie said, finally relaxing a little, sinking into the chair next to Olaf.

  “Marie, this is Arch Angel, our new healer. Arch, this is Marie Tuesday. Our . . . smith,” Olaf introduced Marie somewhat awkwardly.

  “Pleased to meet you,” Arch said.

  “Nice to meet you as well,” Marie said. “Well, now that we have got that settled. I could use a drink and some food.”

  “I’m sure Dogson will be around soon,” Arch said.

  “So, what’s the plan today?” Heath asked. “Same as yesterday?”

  “I think so,” Olaf said. “Just waiting on Bye-bye, Rose, and our new mage to join us and we can all catch up.”

  “New mage?” Heath asked.

  “He means me,” Pwn said sitting down across from the Thief.

  “And Bye-bye is okay with this?” Heath asked, looking from Pwn to Olaf with concern on his face.

  Olaf shrugged. “Seem
s to be. I doubt these two will ever be friends, but it seems like they have at least called a truce.”

  “More of a cease fire,” Pwn said with a grin, then seeing the frown on Olaf’s face, he quickly amended, “Just kidding big guy. Jacko and I are good.”

  “I hope it stays that way,” Olaf said. “Anyway, Pwn, this is Arch Angel, our new healer.”

  “What happened to the old healer?” Pwn asked.

  “Babies Breath is away training. She should hopefully be back tomorrow but could be a few more days. We’re honestly not sure,” Olaf answered.

  “And what happens to the new healer when the old healer comes back?” Pwn asked, glancing sidelong at Arch.

  “Then we have two healers,” Olaf said as if it should have been obvious.

  “You don’t think that’s overkill?” Pwn asked.

  Olaf just shrugged.

  Micaela was distracted from the conversation when she saw the familiar form of Willis Sears enter the inn, looking around nervously. “Excuse me,” Micaela said, moving away from the table to talk to her foreman.

  “Morning, ma’am,” Willis greeted her first.

  “Morning, Willis, I didn’t expect to see you here this morning, is there a problem?” Micaela asked.

  “I’m afraid so, ma’am,” Willis said nervously. “Some of the supplies went missing last night. And three of the workers seemed to have packed up and moved.”

  That was not good. Not good at all. “What supplies?” Micaela asked.

  “We lost two hundred stone blocks and a hundred wood planks,” Willis answered. “And one of your wagons is missing.”

  Micaela was not happy with the news, but visibly winced at the mention of a stolen wagon. Sooty would not be happy about that. Not at all. Micaela asked, “How far does that set us back?”

  Willis fidgeted and swallowed nervously, then he said, “We do not have enough stone and wood to finish the basement, let alone the first floor. We need to secure more supplies, and we need to secure them quickly.”

  Professional Quest: Supply Chain Management

  A number of workers absconded in the night with a large amount of construction supplies. Either new supplies need to be obtained or the old supplies recovered. Until then, your construction project is all but dead in the water.

  Reward: Construction Experience, Construction Supplies

  Do you accept this Quest?

  Yes

  No

  “Well, that’s just great,” Micaela complained, mentally accepting the quest. “Gather everyone at the construction site, I’ll be along shortly. I’m going to talk to my husband and see if I can enlist him and our friends to help.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Willis said with a nod, before rushing back out of the inn.

  “Everything okay?” Olaf asked as Micaela rejoined her friends.

  “Not at all,” Micaela said grumpily. “I’m sorry to say, a few workers stole a lot of my construction supplies and one of the wagons last night. Now, I need to either get them back or get new supplies.”

  “Oh, Sooty is not going to like that,” Marie said.

  “Hey, don’t I know you?” Pwn interrupted.

  Marie quickly snapped, “So all Dwarves look alike to you, do they?”

  “Hey, sorry,” Pwn quickly apologized. “I didn’t mean-”

  “Sorry? Sorry?” Marie barked. “Like that is any excuse.”

  “I’m sorry,” Pwn apologized again. “Forget I said anything.”

  Marie folded her arms and seemed to calm down. Her mission to distract Pwn from associating her with the ‘deceased’ Duchess of Hammerton seemed successful for the moment.

  Bringing things back under control, Olaf asked, “What do you need?”

  “We lost two hundred stone blocks and a hundred wood planks,” Micaela said. “I need those supplies.”

  “So, how can we help?” Olaf asked. “Do you need me to farm up the supplies? Purchase them? Hunt down the thieves and hang them by their toenails?”

  Micaela smiled at the little levity her husband tried to bring to the situation. She didn’t yet know what her options really were. Obviously, purchasing the supplies might be easiest but who knew how long it would take for those supplies to reach Hurligville. Olaf farming the stone might work, but again, a waste of time and resources, especially when he had his own quest looming over him. She bit her lip as she tried to think through other possible options. Eventually, she said, “I don’t know yet. I need to talk to my people first. I have a few ideas, but I don’t know if any of it will work.”

  “Alright, you figure out where you need us and we’ll see what we can do to help,” Olaf said.

  Micaela nodded. “Okay, I’m going to see my construction crew and see what is still available to work with. Why don’t you and our friends come by after your little meeting and I can tell you what I need you to do, if anything at all?”

  “Sounds good, Babe,” Olaf said. “I’ll see you over there in a bit.”

  Micaela gave her husband a quick kiss and ran out of the inn. Just on the other side of the building, she found Willis and the workers waiting.

  “I got everyone,” Willis said as Micaela approached.

  “Great, just a couple questions. Where would we get more stones like we’ve been using? At the mine?” Micaela asked the last question with a hint of hope in it.

  “The stone we have been using all comes from the quarry to the south,” Willis answered.

  Micaela was slightly disappointed by the answer, but she also supposed it could have been worse. “What would be needed to send a team there to get the stone?”

  Willis answered, “There are a few men and women with the necessary ‘Mining’ skill, me included. You would need a few wagons to carry the stone, which should be easy enough to come by. The real problem would be the quarry itself. It is currently overrun by the undead. You would need a high-level party to make it safe enough to be worked.”

  “How high of a level?” Micaela asked.

  “Around your level, maybe a little higher,” Willis answered.

  “Okay, that will work. My husband, Olaf, and a bunch of our friends are coming shortly. They can do it, no problem,” Micaela said, feeling some relief. She finally had a solution to her problems . . . well, one of the problems anyway. “Now, what about gathering the lumber?”

  “That is actually much easier. Wood can be gathered on the other side of the moat. Still need guards for the workers but almost any level will do,” Willis said. “Just need to be strong enough to deal with any spiders and the occasional undead wolf. Once the trees are cut down, the lumber can be taken to the mill to be processed into planks.”

  Micaela was glad it would be so much easier. Then she frowned as she considered her personnel issue. If her husband and their friends were needed to deal with the quarry, she was out of people to help with the lumber . . . unless . . . Micaela grinned as she thought of the perfect guards for the lumberjacks.

  “Okay, I’m ready to talk to the crew,” Micaela said, moving to stand at the head of the assembled workers.

  “Hi everyone,” Micaela greeted them. “I know we suffered a setback with the theft of the construction materials. But don’t worry, I’ve got a crack team of adventurers already lined up to help us replace the lost materials. But to do that, I’m going to need your help as well.”

  “Help with what?” Dirk asked, sounding worried. “I am not suited to adventurer work.”

  “Calm down, Dirk. You and Clive are both needed here with me. The three of us and a few others will be continuing with the construction using the supplies we have left,” Micaela reassured the nervous man. “I need to know if anyone has ‘Lumberjacking’ or ‘Mining’.”

  A half dozen hands went up and Micaela breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Excellent, Miners on the right, Lumberjacks on the left,” Micaela requested. Two workers went left and the other four, including Willis went right.

  “Okay, Miners, when my husband
and our friends arrive, you’ll be going with them to get us stone, alright? Don’t worry, they will keep you all safe. They are really quite good,” Micaela assured them, before adding, “Hopefully, I’ll even have a professional Wagoneer to help move the stones.” That last detail brought on a few cheers from the miners.

  “Lumberjacks, please bear with me while I try to locate the necessary guards to protect you,” Micaela said. “Everyone else, let’s get to work.”

  It was good timing on Micaela’s part as Olaf was just exiting the Doghouse Inn with the rest of their friends, including Loral and Sooty.

  “Hey, babe, we’re here,” Olaf said.

  “Great,” Micaela said, turning back to the miners. “You four are with them,” she said, pointing back to Olaf. “Ollie, I need you to escort these guys to the quarry and keep them safe while they mine up a lot of stone. Sooty, I need you to work out transporting the stones back here.”

  Sooty split from the others and approached Micaela directly. With a stern but soft voice, he asked, “And my stolen wagon?”

  Micaela winced. “I’m sorry about that. I promise, I’ll find a way to replace it.”

  Sooty eyed Micaela for a minute before he spoke, “Alright, but you need to build a proper tannery in your Order House for Loral. Do that, and I will call it even.”

  Professional Quest: Building Addition – Magical Tannery

  Sooty Wednesday has requested you build a Magical Tannery within your Order House. If you accept, you will be expected to build a functioning Magical Tannery within your Order House.

  Reward: Construction Experience, Magical Tannery

  Do you accept this Quest?

  Yes

  No

  Micaela should have seen it coming. Of course, she accepted. She would have been foolish not to. “Do you have a blueprint?”

  Sooty frowned but pulled a scroll from his bag. “This is a surprise for Loral. Do not go ruining it,” he said, handing over the scroll.