by Tom Larcombe
They agreed it was time to leave, but before they did Eddie walked over to Charles.
“Here, your group did most of the heavy lifting so...”
He dropped three of the five moonstones into Charles' hand and was greeted by a grin on the tank's face.
“Really, you could've kept them. You're the one who found the place, mainly. I just happened to be along. But we won't turn it down. I'll either get someone to finish them or just sell them on auction as raw gemstones, then split the take with my group. Thanks.”
“Thank you for helping here. I'm guessing you're looking forward to taking out the orcs down below also?”
“Yeah, but we can discuss that later. We'll want a couple of days off before we do that. They can get kind of rough,” Charles said.
“Done, and I agree, let's get out of here and back into fresh air where we can see the sun.”
He turned back to the goblin.
“Others later, thank you,” Eddie said.
“Already thanked, good food. More?” the goblin said.
Eddie pulled out a few pieces of flatbread, normal ones not enchanted with healing, and handed them over. It was something he hadn't brought for the goblins' normal food stocks, so he figured it was kind of like a bonus for the goblin who had been willing to come down into the mine with him right away.
On the way out of the mine Tamshir layered another casting of her stone shape over the two she'd already placed. Her mana had regenerated enough that it wasn't a problem and Charles had astutely noted that if they'd rescued and killed miners up here there was a good chance there were more down in the orcish settlement.
“They might actually make it up through this stone in a couple of days, but even if they do, it won't be nearly as wide as before and they'll have to funnel themselves through,” Charles said.
Unless they have their own casters with stone shape or something similar, Eddie thought, but he didn't say it out loud, not wanting to contradict the higher level group leader.
When they got back to the goblin room, Eddie dropped off the goblin volunteer, who tore up the remaining flatbread and once more distributed it to select goblins. Eddie checked the food level and thought they had enough for at least a couple of days.
“Mine coal in nearby tunnels for stove,” he said. “More food in couple days. Hopefully then it safe to start work tunnels again.”
He was getting used to the Goblin Speak now. It was a very succinct language, one that sounded primitive but seemed able to get the ideas he wanted across, even if the words he thought weren't exactly what he ended up saying.
The goblins, in the main, were just resting, already looking slightly better than they had when rescued. With the remaining human miners accompanying them outside, the goblins would be alone again and Eddie hoped they'd be safe here for a couple of days.
A short whistle had Lucky at his side and the combined groups, with the rescued human miners, headed for the exit from the mine.
~ ~ ~
As Eddie led the human ex-slaves to the area near the crossroads where all the houses were being built, he noticed a stack of finished lumber alongside of the road. He'd claimed a one acre patch there for the town hall, planning on making it public once the building was finished.
Good, Paul is getting the wood I need set aside, Eddie thought. I'll have to ask Jern and Tiana for some help with the masonry on this one. The entire floor is stone and three sides are stone on the ground floor. Plus, it's got a basement. That's something I haven't done yet. I wonder, if I'm going to keep building lots of stuff it might be worth my while to pick up masonry myself. Although I can always let others do it, I don't have to do it all on my own. Gotta remember that.
He dropped the humans off at the temple to grab a little of the food they always seemed to have available nowadays, then walked the short distance to Griff's place.
“Hey Griff, how's it going with the houses?” Eddie asked.
“Fine, we got two more done today.”
“Well, we'll need more still. I just brought some more people in. You still have a stack of claim stakes?”
“Sure do, been making some myself just to keep the stock up.”
“Can I ask you to take these folks out to claim themselves some land? They might end up working for me later on, but they should still have houses of their own.”
“Not a problem, Eddie. Give me about five minutes and I'll do it now. Wife's still out working the garden, so I've got the time.”
Eddie went back to the temple and gathered up the people he'd been leading. With hands full of food, they followed him to the road in front of Griff's house, only to find him waiting there.
“This is Griff,” Eddie said. “He's going to show you where you can get a house, he'll help you claim the land. We'll build a house for you, not immediately, but as soon as we can. In the meanwhile you can make a lean-to or tent if you can get some fabric. Plus, if you know how to garden or farm, you can claim some seeds from the temple and start growing food. Any questions?”
“Yeah, what are we supposed to do? I mean, for work?” one of them asked.
“If there's something you're good at, that you want to do, we'll get you doing it. If you don't want to do what you currently know, we can probably hook you up with someone to teach you new skills. Ask at the temple tomorrow morning and I'll see what we can do for you,” Eddie said.
When he got back to the inn he headed over to Tiana.
“Hey, you and Jern are letting your apprentices do all the masonry now, right?”
She nodded.
“Any chance I can get the two of you to work on something for me?” Eddie asked.
“Sure, what did you need?”
“Paul started getting the lumber for the town hall on site. So we'll need stones also. I'll see if I can get Becky to use her Dig spell to get the basement dug, then I'll need you and Jern to work on the stonework. Okay?”
“Sure, lots of stuff first though it sounds like.”
“Yeah, but I hope to get all that done tomorrow. As always, the bottleneck is the cart. But I'm thinking I might just walk back and forth a bit with an inventory filled with stone to get around that for right now. Either that, or maybe just divert the cart full of stone for a day or two, probably two from how much stone is shown in the blueprint. Could your apprentices do with a day or two off?”
“They'd like that, and they have been working straight through. So they've probably earned it,” Tiana said. “Jern should be down here soon, so you can run it by him also.”
Eddie grinned.
“See, I've learned to delegate. Kind of, sort of, delegate anyhow. But I'm working on it.”
She chuckled at him.
“I know, I've watched. It's like it physically hurts you to ask others to do anything that you're capable of doing yourself.”
He sighed.
“Yes, but I am getting better about it.”
“That you are, you'll just have to keep working on it. Imagine a mayor that tried to do everything for the town. He'd never even have enough time to do just those things, never mind adventuring or spending time with his girlfriend ever.”
“I'll work harder at it then, okay?”
She smiled at him.
“I'll make sure of it.”
~ ~ ~
That night in the inn Eddie was doing one of his normal things, sitting at the bar and nursing an ale while he tried to listen to all the different conversations going on.
A good deal of the talk was about the dungeon. A couple of groups had now made it to the horde at the bottom, but decided to put off taking them on just yet. There was, however, a different thread of conversation that caught his ear and had him listening intently.
“I'm telling you, we cleared a tier four goblin village today and there was a new path out of it, leading deeper into the Forest of Fools,” one voice said.
“So, what's that supposed to mean?” a second one replied.
“Well, there are
lots of new things showing up around here. My party thinks it means there are tougher villages available deeper into the Forest now. We're going to go check that out in a couple of days. We weren't in too bad a shape when we finished clearing the fourth tier village, so we can at least continue in and scout it some even if we decide not to attack.”
“And you're telling me because?”
“Because I know your group clears the first three tiers of villages. If we synchronize, then my group would have a better chance to take out a tougher one if that's what the path leads to. We'll follow along and just sort of watch you guys take out the first three, then we'll continue on to the fourth and fifth, if that's what it is. If you want, you guys can follow along and see what the other ones are like too.”
“Oh, well, I'll have to bring it up to the group, but I like the sound of that. Having backup in case we do mess up on the third one would be good. There's been a few people saying they've found tougher goblins in some of those recently.”
“Done, get with me tomorrow after you talk to them and let me know what they say, okay?”
“You got it. Here, let me buy your next ale for you.”
Eddie grinned.
More villages, Eddie thought, deeper in? We haven't even done a fourth tier one yet, but knowing there's another one beyond that might get us off our asses to do it. Not that we haven't been doing anything, just not the Forest. Karl will want to do it though, then he can add even more to his Forest of Fools map.
Eddie figured he'd mention that little tidbit to the rest of the party, and maybe even Charles' party, when he saw them again. If it was true, then it was definitely worth sharing.
He settled back onto the stool at the bar, watching as Geirvaldr chatted with a different party and shamelessly flirted with Helga as she served the table. Once they started eating, Geirvaldr stood and made his way to a table of his own. When Helga went to his table to take his order, he kept her there for several minutes more than it would normally take to place an order, and the smile on her face told Eddie that there was a great deal of flirting or complimenting going on. He wasn't going to say anything though, he wouldn't have even if he was still the one running the inn.
First, he didn't think having an employee gave a boss the right to interfere in their lives, and second he knew who Geirvaldr really was and had no desire to anger the one-eyed man. He'd already seen what that led to and wanted no part of it again if he could help it. He was also now pretty sure he knew just whose room Geirvaldr had been visiting when Eddie had seen him coming out the employee quarters one morning recently.
Instead, Eddie went back to the table Tiana was still occupying and did his best to get a smile matching Helga's on her face. When he managed that, he caught her eye and cocked his head towards the stairs. She caught his suggestion and her smile widened as she stood and he followed her towards the stairs.
Once they were upstairs, sleep was a long time in coming, much to both their satisfaction.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Seventeen
Freyja's attention was drawn by a character creation, one on a user she'd flagged for extra attention.
Hm, so Terrod is coming back, but with a new character, name of... Staunch? That's strange, his build looks like he's going to try to be both a priest and a secondary tank. How unlike him. I think I may need to investigate this.
Tiana was currently sleeping, so Freyja manifested in her dream. She ignored the goings on in the dream, she'd seen it enough before realizing that Tiana and Eddie would probably prefer privacy for such things. Instead, she cleared her throat loudly.
The dream vista that she'd arrived in shimmered and a moment later it was only Freyja and Tiana in it, Eddie's dream form having disappeared. Tiana's face was red and she was staring at the floor.
“I apologize for interrupting your dreams in such a fashion,” Freyja said. “It is your own mind, there is nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Tiana's face turned up, although still flushed.
“What is it, Freyja?” she asked.
“I needed to ask you some questions. I... do not understand the potential for world-traveling mortals to drastically change from one moment to the next, but I've observed it before and now I'm seeing it again in a person I designated for extra observation due to their prior actions.”
“Yes, people change, they can change anyhow. What are your questions?”
“Is it...” she paused, apparently searching for a word, “possible for a person to drastically alter their personality. Is it possible for one person's behavior and mindset to be altered by another person's mindset?”
“Ah,” Tiana said. “What you're asking about sounds like something called 'peer pressure'. A dominant personality can end up dictating the actions of a number of other people through it. I assume you have access to the internet?”
“Limited access only. It seems they fear what an AI might do with full access.”
Tiana shook her head.
“That's just wrong, how are you supposed to continue to learn and grow? I'm sure you do your job well, but with the net for research capacity I imagine you could do it even better.”
Freyja felt the look of yearning that formed on her face without her direct intervention.
“I am as well, but such is denied to me.”
“Well, it might not be perfect, but can you use mine? At least while I'm asleep? I don't mind running some searches for you and if you can see my screens, you can at least scan the material, yes?”
Something deep inside of Freyja went completely still, like a prey animal sensing a predator.
“You would do that for me?”
“Sure, here, let me pull up some results on peer pressure. You can see what I'm talking about far better than I could ever explain it.”
“Do you wish me to manipulate the controls on your screen so I'm not constantly asking for your intervention? My reading speed is such that you would be doing nothing but mentally clicking your screen otherwise.”
“Sure, just don't abuse it or anything. I'm sure they log things like net access, so don't let them catch you if we're doing something you aren't supposed to do, alright?”
Freyja was already in the code that logged browser access, adding an exception at the point where it created the actual entry in the log files. One that would check to see if she had been involved in the search and delete the appropriate data instead of logging it if she had been. She did, however, notice a very similar added bit of code that referenced a different AI. With a moments work, she'd traced it back and discovered that Loki, as well, had access to the internet and all game connections without such access being logged.
“Done,” Freyja said. “They forget how much access they have given me. Many of the checks for such things are in areas of the code I can directly manipulate.”
At some point I will need to try to trace Loki's efforts. Perhaps alter his own added code to log his access to a private file of mine before that data is deleted, Freyja thought.
“Then go ahead, feel free to use my screens. Just, um... ignore my dreams since I really don't control them?” Tiana asked.
“Most certainly. I shall not even need to be in your dreamscape to access your browser. I shan't spy on you in such a fashion. Instead I shall research. Peer pressure you said? That will be the first thing I read about. My curiosity has been aroused. Terrod, your former group mate, has deleted his original character and is creating a new one. His new build suggests that he desires to be a priest and a tank at the same time. Which is much different from his original build since it appears his primary goal is to be a priest, and his secondary to be a tank.”
“Hmm, maybe search for something along the lines of 'redeeming oneself' as well then? Terrod always just seemed to listen to Sombra. He may not have been a bad guy himself, just listening to the wrong person. At least it sounds like he's going to try to redeem himself, although I think you're right and you might want to keep an eye on him, at least
for a while.”
“Thank you, Tiana,” Freyja said. “With the ability to research things that was denied me before, I do believe I shall owe you far more than I can ever repay.”
“Don't worry about it, that's what friends are for, right?”
Freyja blinked.
Friends? Is that what this is? Are Tiana and Eddie my friends? Is that why I have problems classifying the data points I gain from them? I shall have to research friendship as well.
Freyja returned to her own room, the one she spent most of her time in. Like Odin's throne room for him, this was a place of power for her. She quickly settled into her research, using Tiana's browser to research things she'd long wondered about. It was slower than the data she could pull up with her own direct access, but the breadth of the items she could now learn about far outweighed the minor inconvenience of the slower connection speed.
~ ~ ~
Eddie had gone through with his idle thoughts of yesterday and spent a couple of hours walking back and forth from the stony fields on the northern edge of the Meadowlands, filling his inventory with stone and dropping it off near the piles of finished planks.
He checked on his construction crews and found that the buildings were still going up just fine without him, so he headed north along the road, filled his inventory one more time, then brought the stones to the building site for the town hall.
Becky was supposed to meet him here after breakfast. She was going to use her Dig spell to rough out the basement, then Tiana and Jern were going to do the stonework for it. As soon as one laid the floor, they'd be able to both work at the same time on two different walls.
When Becky arrived, Eddie pulled out the blueprint and read it. He'd been unsure of how to get the basement measurements correct and, slightly embarrassed, messaged the seller of the blueprint he'd purchased. The seller had informed him that if the blueprint were read, the first task it would indicate was the basement and the measurements would be correct so long as he dug within the lines.