Light Online Book Three: Leader

by Tom Larcombe

  Cooper cocked his head and stared at Freyja.

  “I still don't understand why you'd warn me.”

  “My programming includes subroutines that insist that I protect players from harm where I can. Would being held responsible for doing things you aren't supposed to do harm you? I believe it would, so I interceded here. Now you must go so no-one detects this warning. Your superiors would be wroth with me if they knew I'd warned you, but I could not in good faith allow what they were planning for you to occur. It would go against my programming.”

  Now that makes sense to me, Cooper thought. Programming the AIs to prevent real harm to the players is a standard in these games. Freyja is simply an advanced enough AI to realize that things done in game can potentially harm me out of game and is just following her programming. Scary that they're using Artificial Intelligences that can develop that kind of almost abstract thought, but I'd better take her words to heart. After all, she's just trying to help me out here.

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie sat in the common room of the inn. He was regretting not releasing news of the dungeon yet, but had agreed to wait. At least this news he could spread.

  “Wait, you're telling me there's a spot in the Meadowlands to earn actual coinage? Not just pelts and meat, but actual coins?”

  Eddie tossed one of the silver pieces on the table in front of Delgar. He'd cleaned it up and, like the coppers, it had different markings on it, but the coins were the same weight as the ones he'd been using. He'd tested them with a scale to make sure.

  “Yup, older coins, but coins,” Eddie said. “You'll need a group though, a half-decent one. Those woods north of Rat Lake, Rat Woods we're calling them, has a bunch of rat nests. We ended up clearing three of them while exploring and each of them had a small stash of coppers and silvers. You do have to tear up the nest after killing the rats to find the coins though. But, to answer your question, yes, there's a spot in the Meadowlands to find actual coins, not just incidental loot.”

  “How many rats and what level?” Pellin, who was sitting beside Delgar, asked.

  “The smallest group we found had eighteen in the nest, the biggest had about thirty,” Eddie said. “As to levels, they were all level two through four, at least that's our best guess. I didn't exactly Evaluate every last rat.”

  Delgar grinned.

  “Good, it sounds like we'll even still get some experience from them as well. Every little bit helps, and if they've got coin as well? Thanks for the tip, Eddie.”

  “You're welcome. I am going to tell the other new folks around here also though, but the Rat Woods are pretty big. I don't think there'll be an issue with groups fighting over encounters.”

  “Awesome,” Pellin said. “I know what we'll be doing tomorrow.”

  “So long as the rest of the group is up for it,” Delgar said. “Especially Trav, it sounds like we're going to need the healing.”

  “Hey Delgar, come over to the bar with me for a second,” Eddie said.

  He walked over and ordered a couple of ales, handing one to the dwarf.

  “You've only got one healer, right?” Eddie asked.

  Delgar nodded.

  “Then here, take a couple of these.”

  Eddie handed Delgar a couple of the healing flat breads he'd made before. His group had never ended up having to use them, not with two backup healers.

  Okay, correction, he thought. As a group we haven't, but Karl and Allie used some of theirs up when Karl was messing with the cows. Most of us still have all of the ones I gave them though.

  Delgar was looking curiously at the bread Eddie was handing him.

  “They've got minor heals on them. Eat the bread and get healed. It's a small amount to start, then a short HoT as well.”

  Delgar's eyes opened wide.

  “Healing bread? That's weird.”

  “Well, I figured you could save it for if there was a problem, maybe your healer gets swarmed or runs out of mana. You know the drill.”

  “I do, and thanks again Eddie,” Delgar said.

  “Got to keep the smith up and running,” Eddie replied. “I know Opron's got to leave soon, and I'd prefer a player smith working the smithy at least part of the time. Opron told me his apprentice got the smithing skill, but I know it takes the NPCs a lot longer to build a skill up than the players.”

  Delgar smirked.

  “I figured it was something like that. And yeah, Opron only has a few days left before he has to leave. He's trying to finish at least one more major project first though, so he's been spending a lot of time at the smithy.”

  “What's he working on now?” Eddie asked.

  Opron hadn't turned anything over to him for a while now. The last Eddie had heard, Opron had been working on some weapons, things that he'd sold to players. Eddie was unaware of any major projects the dwarf developer had planned.

  “You'll have to wait and see,” Delgar said, a sly smile on his face.

  Eddie was momentarily taken aback, until Delgar continued.

  “Opron still rants about when you showed up with that anvil,” Delgar said. “So he's being super secretive on this. I'm not even positive what he's making, I think I know, but...”

  “Okay then,” Eddie said, stretching out the first word. “But yeah, the rat nests are what I wanted to tell you about. I know you guys were strapped for coins before, didn't know if you'd overcome that or not.”

  “We were managing to get by on the bounties you put on the meat and helping defend against goblin attacks, but yeah, more coins would be very welcome,” Delgar replied. “And on that note, I need to track down the rest of my party and let them know. Thank you.”

  “You're welcome and it's not a problem. Just trying to get the Meadowlands more attractive to players as a starting point. We've been getting a trickle from Hammer Hold, and more from humans starting here, but not as many as I'd like. I think players knowing that there are things to kill for coin will help quite a bit.”

  “It might at that,” Delgar said. “It's a novelty to not get coins on any drops, but it gets old pretty quickly. We almost went back to Hammer Hold since there were mobs there that dropped coins.”

  “Well I, for one, am glad that you didn't.”

  Delgar raised a finger to his forehead and flicked it forward in a mock salute.

  “And on that note, I'm out of here for now,” Delgar said.

  He returned to the table and got Pellin moving. The two dwarfs left the inn and Eddie settled in to nurse a few drinks at the bar while listening in to the conversations in the inn, something he'd been doing more of recently. As of yet he hadn't heard anyone else talking about the dungeon, but he was keeping his ears open, just in case. He really wanted to be the one to make the announcement that it existed.

  ~ ~ ~

  In the morning Eddie met his group near the temple again. Jern was already complaining.

  “We need to go on that raft again, don't we? No other way to get to that island is there?”

  “Yeah Jern, we do,” Karl said. “But at least we won't have to do as much fighting from the raft as we originally thought.”

  Jern simply shook his head.

  “You just don't get it, do you? Even without my armor and weapons, I sink. With them I sink even faster than a rock.”

  “We'll see what we can do,” Eddie said. “I had a few thoughts I've been working on and maybe there's a way around having to fight on the raft at all, assuming we can get some more rope.”

  “I don't know that I can throw it the full length of what we have already,” Allie said. “Never mind any farther.”

  “You won't have to throw any farther than you have been, but we will need the raft. I was thinking we secure a rope to the raft, have someone on it with the rope, then they toss from the raft. If we get takers on the bait, we just start dragging the raft in as quickly as the people on the shore can manage and bring the zombies to shore that way. I figure if we get about two hundred feet of rope, combined with th
e hundred and fifty we already have, we should be able to get anywhere in the lake, or close to it, with the bait.”

  “Can we pull it in fast enough?” Allie asked.

  “Well, we'll just have to see, won't we?” Eddie said. “For today, though, we'll just take the raft out to the island and work the shores on it.”

  Jern seemed a little bit happier with the new plan, although still rather upset at having to be on the raft at all. At least he didn't complain any more. The group didn't have anything trying to steal their paddles or striking the bottom of the raft on their way out this time either so it wasn't long before they were hurling chunks of rat meat out tied to the rope.

  Working the circumference of the island didn't take nearly as long as working the shore of the lake had. As a result, they were done with several hours of light remaining.

  “I want to test that idea of yours,” Karl said. “Can we?”

  “Sure, go ahead. Do you need me for it? If not, I've got something else I want to try also,” Eddie replied.

  Karl raised an eyebrow.

  “Sure, what are you thinking of this time? Got a way to maybe shock the entire lake or something?” he asked.

  Eddie shook his head, then pulled his fishing pole out of his inventory. He'd picked it up from the pond near his inn on his way to the temple this morning, the inkling of an idea in his brain telling him he'd want it.

  “You're going fishing?” Karl asked incredulously.

  Eddie nodded, then moved away from where the raft was so the fish wouldn't be disturbed by whatever they tried with the raft.

  “Um, before you start fishing,” Karl said, his disgust with the idea evident in his pronunciation of the word, “could you maybe securely tie that rope to the raft? None of the rest of us have rope use.”

  Eddie set the rod down, tied the rope to the raft, then went back to his pole. After digging around and finding some bait, he tossed the line out into the water. It wasn't long until he had a bite, and a few moments later a fish flopped on the shore at his feet.

  He'd given in and purchased real fishing hooks from Old Jeffries, hiring an NPC child to make the purchase so Eddie didn't have to step foot in Old Jeffries' store again. So he picked the fish up and removed the hook from its mouth.

  I wonder if the slime will be enough? he thought. I'd better get a couple of scales also.

  He quickly pulled up the help file that was pertinent to his idea.

  Help Along for the Ride, he thought.

  Along for the Ride:

  This spell will allow the caster to see through the eyes of an animal. As the name suggests, the caster is not in control of the animal although they can express a desire to go in any particular direction that the animal may or may not respond to.

  Target: Must be targeted at a living creature of type animal.

  Range: LoS (Line of Sight) for initial targeting. One mile per point of Nature Magic effective range to ride along.

  Type: Nature, requires material components.

  Components: A bit of the animal type to ride along with, i.e. - a feather or other bit from an owl would be necessary to ride along with an owl.

  Duration: indefinite

  Cost: initial cost of 20 mana, plus 5 mana per minute beyond the first.

  He cast the spell while still holding onto the fish, then dropped it into the water. He had to close his eyes and sit down quickly as the combined input from both his own eyes and the fish's was too much for him. As he watched through the fish's eyes, he expressed a desire to head straight out to the deep water in the very center of the lake to the fish, couching it as a desire to get away from what had just happened to it.

  Whether the fish was instinctively doing it on its own or reacting to Eddie's thoughts, it headed for the deep water. Eddie was already feeling a touch of vertigo from the difference in vision between himself and the fish, not at all used to the way things appeared through a fish's eyes. He steadily worked at controlling that feeling as the fish swam deeper though.

  He was keeping an eye out and saw zombies here and there. He thought that there were probably fewer left than they'd already killed, but when the fish got to the deepest part of the lake and settled into place, Eddie couldn't believe his eyes.

  There, at the bottom of the lake, was a boat that appeared to be in pristine condition. It also had several zombies scattered about it and one of them was even wearing what looked like a suit of armor. That one zombie also carried a spear or long javelin, the rest of the ones he'd seen in the lake were unarmed and unarmored.

  So, a mini boss in the lake or something? And what's with that boat, it looks brand new except for the silt in it and the seaweed growing in it. The wood I can see looks like it hasn't rotted away in the slightest.

  He really couldn't be sure since the light at that depth wasn't very good, but Eddie was pretty sure that the boat was still solid, something that confused him nearly as much as looking out through fish eyes did.

  He abruptly opened his eyes as someone shook his shoulder and the combination of his own sight overlaid by the sight of the fish caused him to retch followed a moment later by bending forward and actually vomiting. He lost control of the spell and his vision returned to normal. After he finished puking, he turned around, glaring at Karl.

  “What the hell, Karl? Couldn't you see I was busy?” Eddie asked, his head pounding from the abrupt disturbance to his spell.

  “You were just sitting there with your eyes closed. I wanted to tell you that your idea will work, kind of. We can't get it moving any faster than a walk, but they don't come in all that fast anyhow, so probably it's good. What the hell were you doing?”

  “I'd cast my new spell. I was trying to scout out the rest of the lake through a fish's eyes. You know, see how many zombies are left and things like that?”

  “Shit, I'm sorry man. I really had no idea. You just caught a fish, tossed it back in, then just sat there with your eyes closed, kind of rocking back and forth. Did you find anything out?”

  “I think we've already killed more than are left in the lake. It looked kind of sparse and the fish even swam out into the area we haven't worked yet. But there's something else also. There's a sunken boat out there that looks brand new. I've never seen anyone in a boat on this lake, have you?”

  “No, but you're probably better off asking Becky, she lives close to it and might have seen something.”

  No, that's fine, really it looks like it's been down there a while, there's seaweed growing on it and piles of silt in it, but it still looks new,” Eddie said.

  “So, another riddle for after we finish the quest maybe?” Karl asked.

  “Oh hell yeah, definitely after the quest. I'm not going near that thing. The biggest cluster of zombies I saw was right there. Plus there's one with a weapon there, some sort of spear or something. Maybe a mini boss for the lake quest?”

  Karl shrugged.

  “Don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out.”

  ~ ~ ~

  They packed it in for the day, not being able to start on their new plan until they had the additional ropes. Karl volunteered to stop by and get them, then meet Eddie at the inn. Eddie spent a few minutes tying the ropes together with knots he was sure would hold, and then it was just another night at the inn.

  Delgar stopped by to thank him again. Eddie was pretty sure he'd seen the party of dwarfs entering the forest, but wasn't completely certain since it was just too far for him to see clearly from on the island.

  But if it wasn't them then there's another party of really short, really broad adventurers out there somewhere, he thought.

  By the end of the night three different parties of adventures, all newbies, had stopped by to thank him for the tip about Rat Woods. Then it was time for bed.

  He and Tiana headed for their room, although they didn't stay up as late as they normally did. Tiana had to go and lay out some more stonework in the morning and Eddie was going to be setting up some more construction sites with
blueprints.

  Almost doing too much again, he thought, but if this is the extent of it, I ought to be able to handle it.

  In the morning, he found out that two members of his construction crew now had a ranking of five in construction. What that meant for him wasn't much currently, but now he could have construction crews that didn't require him to make the blueprints for them, thereby lightening his load a little more.

  When he told Tiana about it, she chuckled.

  “Yeah, at least for us with the stonework we don't have to mess with the blueprints. Heck, Jern's helper is already to a three in masonry and mine's got a two.”

  Eddie hadn't even given any thought to the fact that they'd taken on helpers, but it made sense. If they ever made it through the bottleneck of bringing in more timber they could double or maybe even triple the speed they were getting the houses built at.

  “Well, you ready for the lake then?” he asked.

  “Yeah, the rest of the group said they'd meet us down there, they were going early to help Becky with her house some. She'd like us to drop some Accelerated Plant Growths in there too, when we have the chance,” Tiana said.

  “We can certainly do that, maybe today after we try out my new idea for the raft. I'm not exactly happy with that, it's going to take forever, but...”

  “But no-one else had a better idea, so we're going with it,” Tiana said.

  They arrived at the lake a few minutes later. The rest of the party was over at Becky's partially constructed house, so that's where they went.

  A few minutes later the whole party headed down to the lake where they'd stored the raft.

  “If nobody minds, I'd like to take a few minutes first,” Eddie said.

  “Why?” Becky asked.