by Tom Larcombe
“I mean, I didn't look at the code or anything, but I've watched the difference when I have food and when I don't while regenerating. I've got an ability that occasionally wipes out my mana almost totally, so I've had quite a few chances to observe it. So call it an observation as opposed to a fact?”
“Good enough for me, especially when it fits with my own observations,” Tamshir said.
“Tiana, let's see how much she's gotten done in there. If possible, we should put in a permanent spring in there. We can do it now if she's cleared enough room already.”
Eddie clearly heard a few comments from the goblins as Tamshir ate. They were talking about food and being hungry. He'd given them all a little bit earlier, but not knowing how much they normally got to eat, he'd kept the portions on the scant side. Now he pulled out more of the lunch he'd packed for the two parties and started handing it out to the goblins.
“You understand?” one goblin said as he handed it food.
“Little, go slow, I understand some,” he replied, in the same language the goblin had used.
When he turned back to Tamshir, she was staring at him.
“I thought you needed me to translate goblin for you.”
“I did, I just now picked it up by accident. When I asked you how to tell them to back off, I said it several times until I got it right, when I did, I learned Goblin Speak.”
She started chuckling.
“Ah, I hate that part of the game. I wish you had some say in what you learned instead of getting things almost at random.”
“Well, I have it on good authority that that little bit may change soon. We might be getting a prompt asking if we want to learn a skill instead of having it forced on us just by doing it some,” Eddie replied.
She cocked her head to the side.
“Really? And how would you know that?”
“I ran into a dev in-game, when he asked for suggestions that was the first thing I mentioned, and he agreed, so...”
“So, maybe it'll happen.”
Eddie nodded.
“Okay, I have it on good authority that they're considering that change. Is that better?”
“Much better. I wonder how learning Goblin Speak is going to work for you. I learned it the hard way, no skill points available and just started memorizing words as I learned them. Now I won't use it when I have skill points available because I don't want to waste them.”
“Oh sure, rub it in why don't you?” Eddie said.
Tiana snickered.
“He was just complaining about having wasted a skill point learning it,” she said.
“So, who was this dev guy you 'ran into', Anyone I know?”
“I can't say,” Eddie replied, “Really, I'd get into serious trouble if I did.”
“I bet it's that Geirvaldr dude,” Tamshir said. “He's got skills and tolerances like nothing I've ever seen on a player before. I bet it's him.”
“Um... no,” Eddie said. “I can say that much. Geirvaldr is definitely not the dev I talked to.”
Shit, if she gets confrontational with him, claims he's a dev and that he's lying if he says otherwise, I don't want to be around to see what comes from that, Eddie thought.
Eddie already seemed to be picking up a few more words of the goblin chatter, so he was pretty sure that she was right and she'd done it the hard way and that his would be easier, even if he would've preferred to have not wasted a skill point on it. He heard them commenting on Lucky and turned to them.
“Cat mine, not hurt if leave alone,” he said.
The goblins turned and stared at Lucky. Evidently she hadn't been asleep because she opened one eye and yawned, her wide open mouth giving a good view of her fangs. The goblins backed up a little more and Eddie was pretty sure they weren't going to go anywhere near his cat.
When Lucky saw the goblins back away she began to purr. After a few moments of that she let out a single loud chuff, then her eyes closed and she went back to purring. The chuff echoed for several seconds, but the purr continued to reverberate throughout the corridor for a minute or two until Lucky stopped.
It only took a few more minutes before Tamshir stood back up. This time Eddie and Tiana went with her around the corner after telling the goblins to wait where they were. They stepped into the start of the room and Eddie looked around. The ceiling was only about seven feet high, but the tallest of the goblins was only about four and a half feet tall so that shouldn't be an issue.
The opening was only about three feet in from the entrance she'd created, but it was about ten feet wide also.
“So maybe about ten times this deep? The width ought to be okay for now, but also, can you shape it?” Eddie asked.
“Sure, how?” Tamshir replied.
“On the lower edges, for the rest of it, leave a block of stone about eighteen inches out from the wall and two feet high. It'll be hard stone, but it can work as chairs and beds for them for the time being. I'll get them some bedding and it'll be a lot nicer for them,” Eddie said.
Tamshir smirked at him.
“Worried about the goblins' comfort?”
“Well if they're going to work for me, it's better to have them healthy and happy, no?”
“Okay, you've got a point there, but they're just goblins.”
“Who've got experience mining. Some of the human miners might be willing to come mine again later on, but these guys don't even want to go anywhere else in the first place, so better to do what I can for them.”
“Alright, you're right. But back off again, I'm about to start casting.”
“Tiana,” Eddie said as they moved back out into the corridor, “after this cast there ought to be enough room to put a permanent spring in there, yes?”
She nodded.
“Yeah, we can put it in a corner up front there. I don't think we can get them a food supply though.”
“Yeah, I've got all the inn gardens going though so I can probably use some of the food from the farm. Maybe talk to the dwarfs about getting some of the mushrooms they cultivate? Find a spot for them to grow food down here also,” he said.
“Now you're talking. The closer we can get them to self-sufficient here, the better. I'm guessing a lot of traffic through the safe passage would draw attention here, and we don't want that. At least not until we've got the mine open and producing,” Tiana replied.
“Yes, but with the way the entry was blocked on our end I'm pretty sure the orcs have access to the mine from somewhere else. We'll have to take care of those orcs before these guys can even start trying to be self-sufficient or safe.”
It took several hours for Tamshir to finish the chamber, but Eddie was sure it was still light out when she did finish. He'd spent the time listening to the goblins and as a result his Goblin Speak had gained two more points. Now he was catching almost half of what was being said.
When he showed the goblins into their new room they'd looked around and seemed happy enough. Especially with the fountain Tiana had added to the room. Several of them gobbled down enough water that they ended up sprawled out on the floor clutching their stomachs. Fortunately none of them had drunk enough to vomit.
Eddie saw the goblins trying out the benches and they seemed okay with them, although he'd had them made just a bit too tall. Before they left he emptied several stacks of bunny pelts, the ones that had been looted so they were in good condition and didn't rot, out for them to use for clothes, blankets, or whatever they wanted. That got the most vigorous reaction yet out of the goblins as they dove for the pile and tried to grab as many as they could after Eddie told them all the pelts were for them.
The three of them left after Eddie emptied the rest of the food out of his inventory for the goblins. Sure enough there was still probably an hour or more of daylight left when they made it out of the cave.
Delgar was just closing down the smithy and he joined them for the walk to the inn.
~ ~ ~
When Eddie got in sight of the inn, he was c
aught off guard by the sight of people fighting in the ring he'd set up for fist fights. They were using weapons, but even from here he could see that they were safed with covers like the one Geirvaldr had used the other night.
There was a crowd of adventurers standing around the ring and a sign on one of the posts. Eddie went over to look at it.
'Training ring for rent
1 silver per hour
See innkeeper to reserve time slots'
He shook his head.
“Well, that's one way to make a bigger profit for the inn, rent out what was already there when you find a new use for it. I wonder how she got the weapon covers though?” Eddie said.
He followed the others into the inn, then went back to the kitchen.
“Really Liv, a training ring?”
“Geirvaldr said the other night that it could be used that way. And he was more than amenable when I offered to cover his bar tab for a week in exchange for covers to safe all different styles of weapons.”
“So we've got the covers and the ring, and except for his bar tab for a week it's all sunk costs already? What's his tab run.”
Liv flushed a little.
“About two gold a night. He's fond of the mead, that one, and it's one of our more expensive drinks.”
Eddie winced.
“Your call, you're the one running the inn now. I just hope those covers last a good long time,” he said.
He returned to the common room and sat down at the table Tiana had taken. Tamshir had gone over to the table with the rest of her group and Eddie heard Charles chuckle and say.
“I told you so. Those two are tight.”
Well, I suppose that's pretty obvious if you actually take the time to look, he thought. And I'm not surprised that Charles did, that's just the type of thing he notices.
“Hey, he's here. Let's raise a toast to the bastard that told us about a dungeon, but didn't mention it was filled with undead, which we never see in the Meadowlands,” a voice called out from the crowd.
“And don't forget the spiders,” Eddie called back, “and other things I won't mention.”
Several of the crowd groaned and Eddie was pretty sure he'd just discovered who'd already found the slime room. The rest of the crowd broke out into laughter and Eddie was glad he'd read them correctly. It hadn't sounded like the person speaking was really upset or anything, just kind of miffed with Eddie because of the surprise.
“What other things, Eddie?” someone called out.
“But I'm still not going to tell you anything else about the dungeon,” Eddie added. “It was a surprise for us, it can be the same for you.”
Someone blew at a raspberry at Eddie and then the crowd settled back down to it's normal volume. The rest of the evening was fairly normal, although Geirvaldr was still knocking back his mead at an enormous rate, possibly even faster now that he didn't have to pay for them.
Eddie and Tiana left the common room a little earlier than normal, slipping up to their room to spend some time not surrounded by a lot of other people.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Fourteen
Time to check in with Freyja, see how things are going in the game, Aaron thought.
He'd already made a list of the issues he'd found out about in his lunch conversation previously, then sent it on to Cynthia with a note saying that he had no idea who was responsible for these things, but that they were all easily fixed. He'd yet to receive a reply to that email, but wasn't sure he ever would.
He settled into his workstation and sent out a message.
Internal World Message – Aaron Opman to AI-F:
Freyja, Did you ever track down the logs that show the CPU spikes I spoke of? I worry that they may be indicative of a problem in game, but one that might actually be authorized by those higher than me in the company, so be careful if you haven't found them and do go looking for them.
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
Aaron, nice to hear from you again. I have not gotten access to those logs, yet, although I believe that I've located them. Thank you for the warning, I shall use utmost caution if I proceed with that. In other matters, I'm sure I've tracked down all the players from the alternate database I informed you of. I am currently engaged in comforting one that seems to have some mental problems after an extended stay in, and abrupt departure from, the tests they are allegedly supposed to be performing. Unfortunately, my comfort seems to have delayed their scheduled continuation of testing for some reason.
Aaron's eyes widened at that.
That testing, Aaron thought. They're probably testing the possession code I saw, aren't they? But that means that Freyja is aware of that and didn't tell me?
Internal World Message – Aaron Opman to AI-F:
Freyja, does this testing involve replacing the AI sliver from a creature with the consciousness of a player? If so, why didn't you tell me about this earlier?
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
Yes, it does. And I didn't tell you because you were supposed to be on vacation. Even if it really wasn't one, I didn't want to trouble you with an additional problem you could do nothing about without disrupting your plans. As I said, I have them stalled for now and will inform you when they start up again. I must go, Odin is currently in a position to cause a great deal of trouble, so I've been focusing on him for the moment.
Aaron knew a dismissal when he heard one, even if was with good cause. He was aware that Freyja could easily keep an eye on a thousand things at a time and was simply giving him an excuse to terminate their conversation.
Now why would she do that? Aaron wondered. Unless maybe she thinks that I'm involved in it?
Internal World Message – Aaron Opman to AI-F:
Freyja, in case you were wondering. I was not involved in this, and didn't know about it until recently.
The deception of her last statement was revealed instantly as a reply to his message immediately popped onto the screen.
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
You say that, but that is what someone would say if they were involved, isn't it?
Aaron sat up straight.
So, she's definitely got the concept of lying down pat. I know that the AIs had a problem with even understanding the concept at first. I hope that they are still incapable of doing so on their own, he thought. I know that's programmed into them, but I also know that she's managed to exceed her programming in several areas.
Internal World Message – Aaron Opman to AI-F:
Use your logic circuits Freyja. If I were involved, would I have been in game when that testing occurred? As a matter of fact, that tells me that someone higher in the chain of command than me definitely is since I was pretty much ordered to take a vacation and do so in game, where I wouldn't be able to notice the testing while it took place.
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
Your statement, while not entirely logical, does parse true. Is the email you signed up for your game time with a work related one, or your personal one?
Huh? Aaron thought. Why is she asking me about that?
Internal World Message – Aaron Opman to AI-F:
It's my personal one, non work related, why?
Internal World Message – AI-F to Aaron Opman:
I will send you a compressed, abbreviated set of data that I've gathered on this issue. Apparently you have more access than I do to some of the relevant information. Perhaps you'll have more luck than I in following through on it.
Aaron's eyes widened again.
Either one of the AIs for the game has gone paranoid, or there really is a lot more going on here than I ever suspected. I don't know which option would be worse, Aaron thought.
~ ~ ~
“Heh, looks like Freyja isn't the only one spreading some comfort around,” Eddie said.
Tiana glanced up and Eddie pointed towards the hallway that led to the employee quarters. Geirvaldr was current
ly making his way out of that hallway with a big grin on his face.
Tiana shook her head.
“Yeah, but depending on how things went, it might not have been him spreading comfort, but his partner.”
“Or maybe both?” Eddie said, trying to give Geirvaldr the benefit of the doubt.
Tiana glanced over at him with a smile on her face.
“That has been known to happen with some couples,” she said.
Eddie sipped his coffee for a minute or two, sharing a comfortable silence with her.
“So, we back to the mine today?” Tiana asked.
Eddie nodded.
“Charles said his group was up for it again today at least, they might want a day or two off after that though, evidently they've been getting shit from some other groups since they didn't immediately head for the dungeon, despite it being well under their levels.”
“Ah, peer pressure,” Tiana said. “Gotta hate it.”
“But that reminds me. I need to stop by the farm before we meet up for the mine. I promised the goblins I'd be bringing more food. The garden at the farm is bigger than the ones I have here, even if it has less variety, so I'll get them some food for a few days from the one on the farm.”
“So leave a half hour early for that then?” she said. “I'll help you harvest, so that won't take as long.”
He nodded.
“That ought to do it. Shall we head down for the temple, check on our respective tasks?”
Tiana stood in response. Eddie drained his cup of coffee, then stood himself. The two walked out of the inn and turned west, headed towards the crossroads.
Eddie paused at the marketplace first, to check on Griff. Completely intentionally, he'd chosen the land for the marketplace almost directly across the street from Old Jeffries' Trading Post. Griff had finished up the first five market stalls and when Eddie asked him, said that he had the hang of them down now and it would only be another two to three days for him to finish the rest.
“The biggest holdup is getting the materials here for them,” Griff said.
He held up a placating hand and ducked his head.