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

by M. A. Carlson

  Dixie Eastwood

  31

  Spellslinger

  Heath Rickards

  25

  Jack of All

  Dawn Rises

  32

  Chimera Shapeshifter

  Icyhot Jelloshot

  35

  Steam Mage

  10

  Crafters

  Marie Tuesday

  Paladin of Mardi (Goddess of Hammers)

  Sootie Wednesday

  Guerilla

  Loral Wednesday

  (Classless)

  11

  Applicants

  (Vacant)

  Micaela was especially pleased with how she handled Bye-bye’s Rank. It wasn’t the ‘Cool Stuff Finder’, nor would it ever be that good, but ‘Lore Hound’ was a good substitute. She had even heard Bye-bye describe himself as a ‘Lore Hound’ in the past so he couldn’t complain too much, right?

  ‘Order Vice Commander’ remained vacant as she wanted to talk to Olaf about it first. And that was if they even wanted to fill the position. ‘Prime Healer’ was waiting on a certain healer to make her return and join the order. As for ‘Damage Overlord’ . . . well, she would fill the position eventually but for now she didn’t want to assign anyone.

  Satisfied with the status of her Membership information, Micaela was about to move on when there was a chime sounding through the Order House. Apparently, her doorbell worked. Micaela’s face shifted from grinning with excitement over their being a visitor, to frowning in annoyance because she just knew it was going to be a player asking to join. As she made her way to the front doors and opened them, she was pleasantly surprised to see Barnum waiting patiently. He was holding a large plaque with what looked like a large paw mounted on it under one arm.

  “Cheers, Barnum,” Micaela greeted him. “What can I do for you?”

  “Greetings, Lady Crushhammer,” Barnum replied stiffly. “Might I bother you for a little of your time?”

  “Business or pleasure?” Micaela asked jokingly. She was trying to get the man to relax but instead he stood a little taller, trying to look all the more professional.

  “I have a small matter I was hoping I could enlist your Order’s help with,” Barnum answered.

  Micaela smiled excitedly. She knew exactly what this was. It was the first quest for her Order. “Please, come in, come in,” she said excitedly, opening the door wider. “Sorry for the lack of furnishings. We’re still a work in progress.”

  Barnum seemed elated as he entered the Order House. He even breathed a small sigh of relief. “Thank you so very much, Lady Crushhammer,” he said, following her inside, his eyes looking around in slight wonder. “You know, I have never seen an Order House before. I mean, there have always been legends about them . . . but to actually see one with my own two eyes. And to see the inside of such a legendary place . . . well, it is just a true honor.”

  “It’s not much just yet, but it will get there,” Micaela said, leading the man back to her office. Her empty office. She really needed to get some furniture. “Now, how can the Order of Epic Grinders assist you?”

  Barnum instantly stopped gazing about and standing taller once more, he began, “Ahem, my business is leather. It was my father’s business before me and my grandmother’s business before that. And right now, my business is suffering . . . badly. It is the spiders you see. They have been killing all the wildlife that might provide me with the skins I need. Granted the undead are not helping with that, but then again, the spiders are responsible for a large number of the undead,” he trailed off. Shaking his head, he continued, “Anyway, I need some help culling the spiders. I was hoping the Order of Epic Grinders might be able to assist?”

  Micaela grinned again as a new kind of quest prompt appeared.

  Service Request: Culling the Spiders

  Barnum of the Leather Emporium has requested the culling of spiders in Hurlig Ridge. This quest is recommended for level 1-5.

  Request Requirements: 500-Spiders Slain within 10-days

  Citizen Cost: 5000-Experience, 50 Pairs of Light Leather Gloves with +1 Stamina, 750-Copper

  Order Reward: 250-Copper, +50-Order Renown

  Will the Order of Epic Grinders agree to fulfill this request?

  Yes

  No

  Grinning even wider, Micaela happily accepted, “We’d be honored.”

  Barnum grinned happily in response, quickly digging into his satchel and pulling out pair after pair of leather gloves and setting them on the floor in front of Micaela. While he was busy doing this, Micaela was caught on another detail. As soon as she accepted the request, she watched his level drop, moving from 8 down to 7.

  “Why did you lose a level?” Micaela asked, startling the excited Leatherworker.

  Barnum paused his distributing of gloves to utter a confused, “Huh?”

  Micaela asked again, clarifying her question, “You lost a level when I accepted your request, why did that happen?”

  “Oh,” Barnum said in understanding, “I forget you are relatively new at this. Citizens need to pay for making such requests. There is usually an experience cost as well as some kind of financial burden involved. I sweetened the pot with my offer of armor. The idea being to get more of your adventurers interested. Anyway, the experience cost is paid from the requester’s experience pool. Not to worry though, I will regain that lost experience with ease once I can get a steady supply of skins again.”

  Micaela didn’t necessarily like that, but she understood a little more about how these things worked now. “Is it like that for every quest you give?”

  “Pretty much,” Barnum replied. “Though, providing the quest to an Order is slightly more costly up front. If I give the quest to an adventurer directly, I don’t pay anything until the quest is completed and even then, I don’t give the quest to more than a few adventurers at a time. I should also mention, sometimes the adventurer does not even complete my quest, which leaves me with a need to ask another adventurer. Anyway, most of us citizens are careful with who we give our quests to and how many quests we give out.”

  Micaela suddenly had a much better understanding as to why it was so hard to get quests and why players needed to work harder to get them. If the citizen didn’t trust you, why would they risk giving you a quest that might cost them so much of their own experience? And an Order of Service formed within a City or Village gave that instant status that it could be trusted. Thus, the Citizens were more comfortable giving quests to the Order instead of an individual adventurer.

  Barnum continued explaining unprompted, “As I said, Orders are more expensive. I am required to pay up front. I provided the experience, coin, and rewards for the quest to be completed as many as fifty times. That’s 100-Experience, one pair of gloves, and 10-Copper per completion. Before you ask, I know I gave more Copper, that is the payment to the Order for facilitating the request. However, you should know, if you fail to complete my request then whatever you have not rewarded to your adventurers must be returned to me. You will also suffer an Infamy penalty.”

  Micaela nodded along. It all made sense. The Order members got experience, money and items and the Order treasury received money it could use for whatever it wanted. She could use the Copper to purchase building materials, crafting materials, weapons and armor, potions, or just about anything she could think of. “Great, that all makes sense. Now, what is Renown? Or the Infamy penalty you just mentioned for that matter?”

  Barnum nodded and smiled, seemingly happy to explain. “Renown is related to how well known your Order is. The higher your renown, the more likely it is others will seek your Order out with requests. Your Renown in Hurligville is such that the Citizens here trust you. You have proven yourself to us in the past so just about everyone who lives here will not hesitate to entrust quests to you. However, you have almost no renown anywhere else in the World Tree,” he explained, pausing for a moment he added, “Well, at least I’ve never heard of your Order anywhere
else, nor would I have, as your Order was just formed. So, as you gain Renown, word of your Order will spread to other provinces. It will gain you a little trust automatically when you arrive in a new province. If your Renown grows high enough, other provinces will come seeking you out. Though I do advise caution, do not accept the request for help from too many provinces. If you do and fail to help them, you could suffer severe Infamy penalties.”

  Micaela nodded along eager to ask questions, but Barnum pressed on. “Which brings me to Infamy,” he said. “Infamy is separate and counter to Renown. Infamy might help you make inroads with darker groups within the World Tree, but it also might prevent access to other groups. Infamy will not take away your Renown, it just means you might be more well known for . . . other things.”

  “Right, so Infamy isn’t necessarily a bad thing, like if we wanted to be an Order of Thieves and Assassins,” Micaela said, only to quickly clarify as she saw the color drain from Barnum’s face. “Not that we would. We don’t really care for that kind of thing. Not to mention, I’m fairly certain Bye-bye’s Goddess would not approve.”

  Barnum breathed a sigh of relief, “That is good to hear. I do not think the town would do well with that sort hanging around. Anyway, do you have any other questions for me?”

  Micaela just pointed to the plaque under Barnum’s arm.

  “Oh, right, your prestige,” Barnum said, flushing with embarrassment. “I promised Miss Thorns and Mr. Jacko I would drop it off.”

  Micaela suddenly felt she needed to thank the pair for sending Barnum her way as they were most likely responsible for their first Order Request. “No worries, I appreciate the information.”

  “Of course, of course,” Barnum said, quickly holding out the plaque for Micaela to take from him.

  Micaela took the plaque with the mounted paw. It’s description popped up when she examined it.

  Lion King’s Pride – Prestige – Effect dependent on display location.

  Just like the description for the Majesty of the Condor.

  “I don’t suppose you know what it does?” Micaela asked.

  Barnum nodded again, “I know a great deal about Prestige. I even have a few in my shop, believe it or not. I have two Prestige that I earned in my younger days with the Hunter’s Guild. One increases my ability to tan leather. The other increases my ability to make higher quality leather goods.”

  “What does that mean?” Micaela asked. “And what does that mean for the Lion King’s Pride?”

  Barnum answered happily, “The time it takes me to tan leather is reduced by a day, sometimes two. And the leather armor I make will sometimes gain an extra status point bonus or increased armor value. Mind you, it’s a low chance. As for the Lion King’s Pride, if you were to place it within some kind of crafting area . . .” he paused, then looking around distractedly, he asked, “Do you have a crafting area?” Shaking his head, he continued, “Sorry, if you place the Lion King’s Pride in a crafting area, it should give a similar bonus to leather armor quality.”

  “Does the effect stack?” Micaela asked.

  Barnum nodded, “Indeed it does. Though you need to be careful, there is only so much space for such things. And you don’t want to start a Prestige in a crafting area then move it somewhere else later and lose whatever growth it’s made.”

  Micaela almost groaned internally. “What do you mean growth?”

  “Did I forget to mention that?” Barnum asked. “Well, no matter. Yes, Prestige can grow stronger over time. My King Tuskar’s Third Eye only reduced tanning time by an hour when I first acquired it. Over time, it grew stronger such that now, depending on the difficulty of the leather, it now reduces tanning time by at least a day, sometimes two.”

  “How does it grow stronger?” Micaela asked.

  “Well, for every piece of leather I tan, some of the experience I gain to my ‘Skinning’ profession instead goes to the King Tuskar’s Third Eye. It is a miniscule amount,” Barnum explained. “And the benefits far outweigh the costs.”

  “I see,” Micaela said, nodding her understanding. “So, what if I put the Prestige somewhere else?”

  Barnum frowned here, “I am less certain, but . . . and this will depend on placement, mind you. If you were to place it in a Map Room, it might give a bonus to ‘Beast Tracking’. Placing it in an Armory might increase weapon damage or add an increase to slashing damage. It’s difficult to know exactly what it will do until you have actually placed it.”

  Now it was Micaela’s turn to look around. She didn’t have any of those rooms built into her Order House. She only had the crafting rooms on the bottom floor. She supposed it made sense that rooms like that would be necessary.

  “I am sorry, I cannot be of more help,” Barnum apologized.

  Micaela quickly responded, “Nonsense. You’ve been a great help to me. I can’t thank you enough.”

  Barnum beamed with pride. “I am so awfully glad to have been of assistance. Please, if you ever have need of my services, feel free to call on me and I will do all in my power to assist.”

  Micaela smiled, but part of her felt slightly guilty. With Loral as a member of her Order, there really wasn’t much she could ask Barnum to help with.

  “In fact,” Barnum continued, somewhat nervously. “If I might make a few suggestions. I do not mean to overstep my bounds.”

  “Please,” Micaela prompted him to continue.

  Barnum bowed his head respectfully. “I know your Order House is only recently completed. First, if I may suggest. I made mention of a Map Room, it is an extremely valuable room for any Order to possess. If you know someone with the ‘Cartography’ skill at a high enough level as well as someone with ‘Enchanting’, I strongly suggest you build such a room. And if not, you should consider hiring the necessary people from Root City to do so.”

  “Second,” he continued, “You need to build a reception area and hire a receptionist. Someone who can take Order Requests from the Citizens and pass them along to you to either accept or decline. You will find it most difficult to continue your own adventuring if you are forever here, managing Order Requests. Third, build an Order Common room for your members. This is one of the most important rooms in an Order House as this is where your Quest Board should be displayed. This room will require another receptionist to keep track of who has accepted which quests as well as quest completion. I would highly recommend hiring someone with the ‘Statistician’ profession for that role. And finally, hire an accountant to manage your treasury and to keep track of all your finances.”

  Micaela’s mind was a swirl. “It’s a lot like running a business,” she griped.

  “In many ways this is a business,” Barnum said. “Having proper infrastructure can mean the difference between success and failure.”

  With a nod of acceptance, Micaela said, “I understand. Thank you for the advice. Just one more question, what about the Armory you mentioned?”

  Here Barnum just shrugged. “It will not hurt, but I would still prioritize those other rooms first. Of course, this is your Order, and I would not dare tell you how to run it.”

  Micaela smiled down at the man, grateful for both the advice and the information. “I really can’t thank you enough,” she said.

  “I am honored to be of assistance,” Barnum replied with a small bow. “If you have no other questions, I shall take my leave.”

  Micaela escorted Barnum out of the Order House and closed the doors behind him. Spinning around, she looked over the large, and largely empty, room in front of her. Her office was in the far back corner. It was the only walled off area on the ground floor. Her plan was to put a pair of desks in the room for her and Olaf and for them to manage everything from there. But after talking to Barnum, she felt that she’d been shortsighted.

  “I’ve got a lot of work to do,” Micaela said to herself. She knew getting her House in order was important, but it would need to wait until Hurligville was better secured. With a thought she opened up the Cit
y Management tab and went into the Construction subtab.

  City Management

  Available Personnel:

  Personnel

  Construction Foreman

  1

  Construction Specialists

  2

  Construction Laborers

  14

  Available Laborers

  18

  - Skilled

  3

  - Unskilled

  15

  Available Materials:

  Construction

  - Cut Stone Blocks

  123

  - Cut Wood Planks

  472

  - Glass Panes

  8

  - Raw Stone Blocks

  6

  - Raw Wood Logs

  17

  - Raw Bags of Sand

  3

  - Enchanted Lights

  8

  See More . . .

  Defense

  Material Gathering:

  Per Day

  - Raw Stone Blocks (10)

  18

  - Raw Wood Logs (2)

  20

  - Raw Bags of Sand (0)

  -

  Material Crafting:

  Per Day

  - Cut Stone Blocks (1)

  24

  Trade

  - Cut Wood Planks (4)

  100

  - Glass Panes (0)

  -

  Construction Queue: