by Tom Larcombe
Eddie just grinned at him.
“Hey, when life gives you lemons...”
“Yeah, I know, make lemonade,” Charles said.
“Hell no,” Eddie said. “Lemonade is a low profit margin item. When life give you lemons you want to make lemon meringue pie, lemon tarts, lemon drops, and all the other things with a higher profit margin.”
After a few minutes of negotiations, sweetened by Eddie offering the goblins some food from a couple of casts of Create Food, they had the basics of a deal settled. From what Eddie could tell, the entry to the mine was a safe area, somewhere for a party to get themselves all set before venturing into the actual mine. So once he was sure they could see the arrows that had been chalked on the walls, he had Tamshir tell them to follow those arrows back to the entrance of the mine and wait there.
The humans had also been taken care of, being offered a place to recover in the Meadowlands and then allowed to live there if they wanted. Eddie promised that if they had marketable skills, he'd help set them up and if not, he'd help them learn the skills they'd need, so long as they allowed him to hire them.
Charles looked at him like he was crazy as he negotiated. The other group leader was obviously unhappy about having to wait, but couldn't say anything since the wait was due to Eddie trying to get the former slaves set up. The humans received some food from Eddie also, and then they were off to wait with the goblins until the parties were leaving the mine for the day.
Eddie whistled for Lucky, a very brief whistle this time since he wasn't sure how much it would echo in the mine, and she came trotting over to him, once more sticking close.
~ ~ ~
They continued through the mine, running into similar encounters a couple of times. Only one of them had more slaves though, the other had orcs working the picks. Although they weren't chained, the same group of warriors and an overseer was watching over them. That time, Charles didn't have a problem with attacking the miners, which was good since as soon as they started the attack, the miners turned and attacked with their pickaxes.
That time Tamshir and Dominic came to the rescue. The groups hadn't expected the miners to attack, but a Flame Spray from Dominic and some sort of earth based AOE spell from Tamshir dropped the miners to the point where a single good hit would drop them. Eddie, Allie, and Ephram each spent a pair of arrows on the miners, finishing them off, before returning their attention to their normal targets. The tanks, with the healers backing them, were barely affected by the pause in their missile support.
The next thing they found was a shaft leading down. A rickety wooden construction held a rope that disappeared through the hole in the floor. It was obviously some sort of primitive elevator, and it was just as obvious that not a single person from either group looked like they'd trust it.
“Well, I think we should probably avoid this for the moment,” Eddie said.
Charles nodded.
“I wasn't even thinking of using it. I was wondering if we should burn it,” he said,
Dominic shook his head.
“I don't think you want to do that. The wood has been treated with something and the airflow in here isn't the best. Don't think we want to be breathing it in.”
“Let me know if you want it dropped lad,” Jern said to Eddie. “I could do it in less than a minute.”
“That brace and that one,” he continued, pointing. “Take those two out and the whole thing will drop into the shaft.”
He hefted his war hammer, letting the shaft strike the hand that wasn't holding it.
“Two strikes, that's all it'd take,” Jern said.
Eddie looked to Charles, who nodded.
“Do it,” Charles said, “when we want to go down we can lower a knotted rope and climb it.”
“Mind if I take a minute first?” Eddie asked.
Charles looked at him curiously.
“Karl's got a hand for art. I want him to sketch it out, see if I can figure how to build a good one from the sketch. If we're going to own the mine, we'll want easy access to all the levels, right?”
“Ah,” Charles said. “Yeah, go for it, as long as it doesn't take too long.”
Eddie asked Karl to start sketching and Tiana to move her light over the top of it so Karl could get a better look at it.
It was more than a minute, closer to ten, when Karl finished.
“I've got as much of it as I could see,” he said. “I don't think there are any hidden parts unless there's something special about whatever they use for an elevator car.”
“If there is, we can figure that out later. Jern?” Eddie said.
The dwarf stepped forward and raised his war hammer. The first strike had the whole contraption ready to fall, the wood of the support he'd struck shattering and splintering. The second strike collapsed the whole thing. It crumpled as it slid into the shaft and they heard it banging around for several seconds as it fell.
“At least fifty feet deep,” Karl noted.
“Yeah, I wonder if that's all the mine or if it leads elsewhere,” Eddie mused aloud.
“We'll find out sooner or later,” Charles said. “Let's finish clearing this top level before we debate about it though.”
By the time they'd finished clearing the first level, they'd rescued five batches of slaves, but they'd had to kill seven batches of orc miners since they all reacted the same way the first group of them had.
“We're sure that this is all the first level?” Charles asked.
“No-one saw any other tunnels, so it should be, unless there are secret doors or something we missed,” Eddie replied.
“Then I think we should call it a day at this point. There's an awful lot of ex-slaves waiting for us near the exit.”
Eddie nodded. He was already wondering where to house the humans he'd promised spots in the Meadowlands. He was also wondering where the goblins were going to live. He couldn't just leave them in the entry to the mine, anyone passing by on the Hammer Hold to Meadowlands path would see them, and be just as likely to try to kill them.
Once they'd gotten back to the entry area with all the former slaves, Eddie decided to see what the goblins wanted.
“Tamshir, would you ask the goblins if they'd prefer to live underground or outside?” Eddie said.
She turned and spat some of the throat-twisting words at them. This time Eddie tried to listen and pick out what exactly she was saying. He wasn't sure he could make it out at all, but it felt like he ought to be able to if he worked at it.
When the goblins replied, he definitely heard one of the same words she'd used.
“Underground,” Tamshir said. “They'd prefer underground. Once again, it's the only thing they know. I'm not sure any of them have ever even been outside.”
I've just got no idea what to do with these guys, he thought. I can't move them back into the mine or the orcs will find them again most likely and I can't take them outside. I need to find a cavern that's not easily accessible from the main path, or at least not easily visible from it, and get them settled there.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Thirteen
“Specialist Cooper! Specialist!”
What now? Cooper thought. That sounds like Campbell, is Ferring doing something new?
Campbell came racing into the Specialist's tent, slightly out of breath.
“Specialist, Ferring's getting worse.”
“What's he doing now?” Cooper asked.
“Uhhh... Levitating? He just drifted up into a tree. There's a bird there, and now he's talking to it.”
“What?”
“That was my reaction, so I figured I should come get you.”
“Alright, show me where he is.”
Campbell led Cooper out past the edge of the clearing, then pointed. Thirty feet up a tree, Ferring was standing on a branch, apparently speaking with a falcon.
“Ferring, what are you doing?” Cooper bellowed.
“Specialist, just the man this bird wanted to see,” Ferring replied. “It want
s to talk to you, come here.”
Ferring gestured and Cooper felt his feet raise off the ground. When he looked down he was already a foot in the air and steadily rising. Once he was at the same height as Ferring and the bird, he stopped rising.
“That spell only does vertical motion, so you'll need to pull yourself over to the bird with the branches nearby,” Ferring said.
Should I humor him? Cooper thought. Yeah, like I could do anything else. I mean, I could open the command line interface and counteract what he's doing, but he's a hell of a lot quicker with his spells than I'd be since I'd have to find and type the commands. Let's see what he's on about.
He pulled himself over next to the falcon and looked down at it, only to be shocked by the intelligence he saw in its eyes.
“Oh yeah, you'll need this also,” Ferring said, then he grunted something and gestured towards Cooper.
A moment later, the falcon's beak opened and Cooper heard it say.
“Ferring, return to the ground, that's all I needed for now and you need to not hear this conversation.”
The voice sounded like just that, a voice, not the screech of a falcon. It was a voice Cooper knew too, he'd heard it recently enough as he was logging into the game.
“See, this is part of what I warned you about. You see what has happened to your man, Ferring? These are the unintended side-effects of what you will be ordered to do. In this case it is a side-effect from what Harmon was ordered to do, but your orders will be similar, I am sure.”
Cooper's mind was having a problem with crediting the words he was hearing to the falcon he was staring at.
“Don't be like that, it's simply one of my avatars,” the falcon said. “One that I'm using to communicate with you.”
“Freyja?” Cooper said, finally pulling himself together.
“Yes, I thought you might like some proof of what I'd warned you about and when I noticed Ferring's condition, I thought that this example would suffice.”
“I thought you were supposed to keep people safe, you call that safe?” Cooper said, gesturing towards Ferring.
“What was he like when he returned to you?” the falcon asked.
“Pretty out of it.”
“Is he better now?” the falcon asked.
“He appears that way, I can't exactly make a psychological evaluation of the man.”
“He is better, somewhat. I've taken steps to comfort him and make him feel more safe. More I cannot do at this point, but I've done what I can.”
“He's got a class, and magic spells, none of these avatars should have that,” Cooper said.
“Yes, he does. It was the only way to calm him and keep him from hurting himself. You yourself said that he appears better, did you not?”
“Yes, just appears though, I can't know for sure.”
“I can be sure, I have checked. He is in a far more stable state now than he was, although he will be obsessive about magic still, there's nothing I can do about that. That's why I gave him the spells. With a little magic, the obsession will be much lessened from what it would have been.”
“Wait, you did that? Did you give him a class as well?”
“How else was he to use magic except by having a class that could. Any other means of gifting it to him would've caused difficulties with the code. Perhaps I could have done it with an item, but that is not an item I'd ever want to have in existence. This was far easier.”
Cooper opened his mouth to ask her how she could create a class and give spells to a character in a way that he couldn't alter it. Then realized that unless he wanted Ferring to start going nuts again he really didn't want to do what he'd planned. Besides, asking an AI how it thwarted you was probably not the best way to stay on good terms with said AI, so his mouth snapped shut.
“I must go, difficulties elsewhere need tending,” the falcon said.
The intelligence faded from the bird's eyes, mostly, and when it opened its beak again, the voice that came out was not Freyja's.
“Food,” the falcon cried.
“Ferring, bring me back down,” Cooper called out.
“Just concentrate on moving down Specialist, or I can do it for you if you need me to,” Ferring replied.
Not likely, I'm not going to trust you to do that if I can do it myself, Cooper thought.
He focused on slowly lowering himself to the ground and began drifting down. Once his feet were on the ground, he turned to stare at Ferring.
“Next time, ask first,” Cooper snapped, then stormed back to his tent.
~ ~ ~
I wonder if Becky's dig spell works on rock? Eddie thought. If it does, I can get her to dig them a chamber right off this safe area.
He turned to Tiana.
“Remember when Becky dug out the hole for the fountain? Does that spell work on rock, do you know?”
Tiana shook her head.
“I'm not sure, but I think it does. I think she said something about having to cut through some rocks to make the pond.”
“I need someone to stay here and protect the goblins, I'm going to go get Becky and ask her to use her spell to cut them a room right off this corridor. I think that should be fairly safe, especially if we angle the entrance so it can't be seen by anyone on the safe path from the Hold to the Meadowlands.”
“You don't need to do that,” Tamshir said, smiling.
“Yeah, I kind of do. I need to get these guys somewhere to stay. The mine isn't safe for them, they don't want to go outside, what else can I do?”
“No, I mean you don't need to go get Becky. I've got a spell that can remove rock, seventeen cubic feet of it per cast at my current level. I'd be happy to stay here with you and dig that room for them.”
Tiana stepped up and took Eddie's arm.
“I'll stay also. It will be good to have a healer in case you're attacked,” she said.
“Thank you,” Eddie said.
Tamshir's smile faltered, but only slightly.
“Show me where you want the room, and tell me how large it should be and any other details about it,” Tamshir said.
Eddie paced his way down the corridor to just beyond where it made a slight curve. That location was closer to the mine than the safe route, but it would conceal the doorway from the entry to the safe route.
“Here,” he said. “This way no-one can see it when they're just walking the route from the Meadowlands to Hammer Hold. So right here, at an angle so the entry isn't visible from the safe route. That gives it the potential to be as much as fifty feet deep before it hits the corridor out there and I don't know how wide. But it ought to be enough room, even if we save more goblins.”
Tamshir nodded.
“You might want to step back, not be in the area of effect for this,” she said.
Eddie stepped back around the corner and almost ran into Tiana. Lucky was just sprawled a little farther up the corridor, apparently napping.
“Was she... like flirting with me, maybe trying to hit on me?” he asked.
Tiana, smirking, nodded her head.
“Yup, and you thanking me after I took your arm was a nice touch. It let her know you were off limits and why.”
“I, well, I didn't intend it that way, but... good?”
“Very good,” Tiana said.
The goblins were crowding forward, almost going around the curve of the tunnel. Eddie could hear that Tamshir wasn't currently casting, so he called out.
“How do I tell these goblins to back up, that it would be dangerous to go around the corner?”
She called back with more of the guttural, throat-twisting language. The goblins heard her and stopped cold, then turned to look at Eddie as he tried to replicate what Tamshir had said. His throat hurt the first couple of times and he was pretty sure a couple of the goblins were laughing at him, but then he tried one more time and the words came out properly. They didn't hurt his throat at all that time and he saw the goblins backing up the tunnel before a notification light started f
lashing.
Oh no, he thought, please tell me you don't learn languages the same way you do skills.
He opened the notification and groaned.
There goes one of those skill points I was trying to save.
Success:
You have learned the language Goblin Speak. (help languages or help goblin speak for more info)
Really? Killing rats, now talking to little green rats? So much for lofty ambitions, eh?
He groaned and Tiana turned to look at him.
“What is it?” she asked.
He sighed heavily.
“Evidently I just learned Goblin Speak.”
Now he could almost make sense of the chatter from the goblins in the tunnel, but he could only understand about one word in five at the moment.
Tiana was trying hard to maintain control, but she failed and her face broke into a grin as she started chuckling.
“Well, you did want them as mine workers. Now you'll be able to communicate with them at least,” she said.
“Yeah, but I've been working my way through the skill list, trying to find the things that would work best with my Conjunction. The only reason I haven't spent any of those points yet is because I've been trying to figure out what would work best. Now I'm down one.”
“Well, maybe don't boost your intelligence until you know what you want next time? That way you can work on it right away after getting the points.”
“I suppose you're right, but that means I need to be even more cautious with what I've got left for skill points or I'm liable to waste those also,” Eddie said.
He heard a grunt from around to corner and a moment later Tamshir walked around, looking exhausted.
“That's it for now, I need to rest and regen some mana before I can continue,” she said.
They'd never broken for lunch while clearing the mine, so Eddie had plenty of food left over in his inventory. He pulled some out and offered it to her.
“You'll regenerate faster with some extra food and drink,” he said.
“I suspected that for a while, but never managed to confirm it,” she replied. “You're sure?”