He felt energy returning to his body.
“That potion will help you recover Stamina, but you need to eat! Need some weight on those bones to keep you healthy,” Jules said sternly.
“Yes, ma’am.” Kol smiled. He could actually smile instead of his skin pulling at his face and turning it into a horrifying rictus that would scare most adults away.
Kol held up the mirror to look at himself. “Damn, I am a handsome bastard, aren’t I?” Kol looked to Gurren.
“You start bringing ladies round, I’m moving next door,” Gurren said.
“You bring enough of them home!” Kol argued.
“But that’s different!”
“Hah! We’ll see about that, my boy! We need to drink! To eat!” Kol looked to Jules once again. “For you, I will craft you an item of power.” Kol smiled.
“Seeing you better is payment enough.” Jules smiled.
“Hah! Listen to her! You’re getting a damned item of power and you better deal with it, cause I’m not giving the first item of power I can see with these new eyes to anyone else!”
“I’d take his offer,” Dave said.
“Fine, you darned hard-headed Dwarves!” She laughed. The rest of the tent was filled with smiles and happiness.
Kol felt his eyes tear up again, laughing and crying at the same time. His eyes fell on Gurren and Dave supporting him. He put his arms around them fully, pulling them to him. “Oh boys, thank you for this! Thank you for all you’ve done for me and putting up with me.”
Dave and Gurren hugged him back.
Kol might not be their real father, but he felt as protective for them as a father might feel for his own sons.
Damn, it is a good time to be alive!
Chapter 2: Make Ready for War
Josh watched as Cassie and her leadership walked out of the teleport pad’s portal and into Cliff-Hill.
“It seems that a few things have changed.” Cassie looked around the growing town.
“Cassie, good to see you.” Josh took her hand and kissed it. They had been having something a few months back before he had disappeared. He hoped that he could rekindle it. Though, he wouldn’t do it at the expense of getting the Stone Raiders screwed over.
“You too, Josh,” she purred, looking him over.
“Shall we go to your old base you sold us?” Josh asked.
“Certainly. Along the way, we can discuss your terms,” Cassie said.
“Something the matter with them?” Josh walked toward the road where wagons waited for them.
“In them, you say that if we join the Stone Raiders, then we are not allowed to stream our feeds in certain circumstances. We can’t agree with that; a number of our people make their living off those streams.”
“Even without those streams, we are probably making more than any other guild. I don’t think anyone has used real currency in months to pay for their E-head costs. With the quests that we have taken on in the past, we have not been able to share any information with any Players or anyone outside of the guild. I can’t change the terms. It has happened before and we will probably have quests like it later. In fact, we are running one right now that we are going to hold off on submitting our videos until afterward.”
“Josh, those are people’s livelihoods, myself included. We can’t give those up,” Cassie said.
“Okay.” Josh shrugged.
“So, you’ll agree to change it?” She smiled.
“Nope,” Josh said. “This is our guild. Sure, you can join, but we’re not going to change the rules that we govern the entire guild with just for you. This has worked for us since the beginning and has continued to do so.”
“Josh, you’re being unreasonable.”
“Cassie, we’re not just doing simple quests here. We’re doing the kinds of things that could change Emerilia for the rest of the game. They’re not just simple raids anymore.” Josh held her eyes, hoping to get the point across to her. He saw that most of the Golden Sabres leadership was obviously interested or unsuccessfully trying to appear bored.
“Look, if we can’t get past this, then there isn’t much point to our discussion. I have things to prepare. The terms that I gave to you are what every Stone Raider gets. We will run our own vetting process that has worked since we started playing. If anyone passes it and still wants to join, we will accept them and train them up, no matter their level. I’m not usually one to boast but this place here, it’s nothing compared to our real guild hall. Our real guild hall has a teleport pad all of its own. We’ve placed two more across Emerilia, and Dave bought the one that you just walked through. We’ve probably got the most coin and resources floating around on the market. The mage’s college and guild have contracts with us for various materials. Our average Player is around level 80. We need more people we can trust. We’re happy with our alliance, but it is clear that your guild is suffering right now. After Boran-al, you’ve tried to rebuild. You went after another portal in Opheir and one in Markolm; both were failures and you couldn’t get through. You’re still doing tons of quests all over the place, but you’re on the decline. It would be a hell of a lot of work, but you could pull yourselves out of your slump. We have our rules for a reason. I really want to share it with you all, but to do so, you need to be part of the Stone Raiders, not just allied with us. I fought beside you at Boran-al and we opened the Alturaran portal together! Something that no other two guilds have done together! I want to see you guys having fun. I want to fight beside you again.” Josh’s gaze swept from the Golden Sabre leadership to Cassie.
Their armor was pristine, covered in accents of gold and silver. It made them look like true paladins of Light.
In comparison, Josh almost looked like a beggar. He wore five different pieces of armor that didn’t match, but all of them were more powerful than all of their armor combined.
There were two Stone Raiders off at a distance, but they didn’t seem worried in the slightest for their guildmaster talking to the strongest members of one of the top ten guilds in Emerilia.
“I really want to fight with you again. However, these rules are there for a reason. If you can’t understand it, then I’m sorry.” Josh looked away.
“Josh, you’re asking us to come into this blind with nothing but promises while hiding from us what you’re doing. We don’t even know where you were for the last two months on Earth, six in-game!” Cassie said.
Josh winced. He should have dealt with him being out of communication and not being able to tell her everything better. “Well, join us and then we can tell you. Trust me, it’s bloody worth it.” Josh’s grim look turned into a smile as he looked to the teleport pad behind them.
“This game is so much more than I ever thought possible. It’s...” Josh let out a laugh. “It’s fucking awesome and I want to share that, but I can’t. Not now, but maybe in the future. It’s a leap of faith, ladies and gents. I won’t deny that, but look at what we’ve done. Do you think that a bloody raid that took six months and we still can’t talk about it was anything small? You might think you know Emerilia, but we’ve done things that I never even thought about. Fuck Earth—this is my bloody home and it ain’t pretty and it’s definitely not straightforward! But, damned if I don’t wake up every morning filled with energy, excited for the next fight, the next raid, to check the loot over and get together with the guild and mess around! I can’t tell you anything, but I can promise you something. If you join, you wouldn’t believe half the stuff I could tell you, and you’d have so much fun that, if you’re not already, then you surely would become an E-head.” Josh smiled to them all.
“For the next three days, we’re free. After that, we’re going into our biggest fight yet. Do you want to watch our feeds the week after or do you want to be there in the middle of the fighting?”
***
Deia and Dave sat on their back porch outside Cliff-Hill, looking out over the farms that decorated the land before the cliff. They were nursing tea and just cuddling
with each other while both of them had their interfaces open as they read about different things.
Dave looked to his character sheet. It was about time he added more stat points; he’d become used to his changes so far.
“Fifteen into Agility, fifteen into Intelligence, me thinks,” he muttered to himself.
Knowledge passed through his mind; he took a glance at his character sheet before he had to start making notes on his notepad.
Character Sheet
Name:
David Grahslagg
Gender:
Male
Level:
28
Class:
Dwarven Master Smith, Friend of the Grey God, Bleeder, Librarian, Aleph Engineer, Weapons Master
Race:
Human/Dwarf
Alignment:
Chaotic Neutral
Unspent points: 471
Health:
18,800
Regen:
6.14 /s
Mana:
4,130
Regen:
15.75 /s
Stamina:
2,480
Regen:
13.45 /s
Vitality:
188
Endurance:
307
Intelligence:
413
Willpower:
315
Strength:
248
Agility:
269
So, this is what level 28 feels like? It ain’t bad at all. Dave grinned to himself.
“Did you just increase your attributes?” Deia asked.
“Ye-up. I want to keep increasing them now that my stats are going to take so long to gain. Makes it easier to get those new classes and complete their quests. Also, it’s one hell of a rush.” Dave smiled.
Deia shook her head and ran her hand over his stomach. “Mmm, I approve.” She winked at him, reached up and kissed him.
She laughed at his expression; he wanted to keep up the kissing, but also wanted to write down what was going on in his head.
“Write down your new revelations. I’m doing some of my own research too.” She patted his chest to reassure him and leaned back against him as she continued to use her own interface.
“You know me too well.” Dave kissed her head before he wrote out a series of ideas and solutions on his notepad.
There was a knocking noise from the front of the house.
“Come round the back!” Dave and Deia yelled, looking to each other before laughing.
“Damn, are you two mind reading each other?” Josh came around the corner with a big smile on his face.
“Hey, Josh, you want a drink?” Dave asked.
“No, I’m good, but thanks. Was just talking to Alkao a little bit ago, as well as the Golden Sabres.” Josh’s smile turned into a frown.
“How did things go with the Sabres?” Deia asked.
“Well, it looks like they want to be able to stream. Most of them went into the guild because they wanted to be flashy and make their money off their actions and streams. There are a number of really good fighters in there, but I don’t know if they’re interested in coming and fighting with us in the muck instead of playing knight.” Josh sighed.
“And Cassie?” Dave asked.
Deia shot a curious glance to Dave and Josh. Dave was one of the few people who knew about Josh and Cassie.
“She wasn’t happy with it. I don’t know what they’re going to say. Their guild is dying, but they don’t want to admit it. Honestly, I think the ‘we’re doing awesome ass raids but only Stone Raiders can come got some of them. Others don’t want to be going into this on blind faith. There’s also the fact that as soon as they announce this, then the Golden Sabres are going to start collapsing. If that is the case, then they want to have something they can point to and say join us here. We don’t take everyone and that is a big issue. Really, it comes down to them accepting our guild rules and leaving the Golden Sabres behind completely. They’ve seen plenty of other guilds have fallen apart, but they can’t seem to get it through their skulls that it’s happening to them.” Josh ran his hand through his hair.
“But, what about Cassie?” Dave drove on. Deia looked to Josh as well.
“I don’t know, man. I did kind of just disappear for most of six months, because running everything down under was a full-time job. I want to see if we can get back together, but I don’t know if we can while she’s in another guild. The stuff we’re doing in the Stone Raiders, it’s like I just want to go and tell everyone in the world, but I can’t because we made a promise. How do you have a relationship when you can’t share that?” Josh looked to Deia and Dave, not as their guildmaster but friend.
“Either she will join and you can test it out, or you go your separate ways. When the truth of what we’ve done comes out, I’m sure that she’ll understand. Does that mean you should hold your own happiness back?” Deia asked.
“But...” Josh started.
“Josh, she’s a grown woman and you’re a grown man. It makes sense that there will be things that divide you; this is one thing that is your entire life. You’re driven by it and not sharing your aspirations with someone, keeping this all bottled inside, I couldn’t see you enjoying that,” Deia said.
“You make sense, but...”
“Where matters of the heart are concerned, you’re blind as hell?” Dave said.
“Something along those lines.” Josh chuckled and rubbed his face.
Dave and Deia gripped each other’s hands, wanting to help Josh, but knowing that he would have to go through this on his own.
“Well.” Josh slapped his legs, as if trying to change his state of mind. “We start work in a few days. So, I hope you’ve got all your business in order! I know you two have been busy, but it’s time we showed the world that the Stone Raiders are back and stronger than ever.” Josh smiled.
Dave and Deia returned the smile.
“Oh, hell yeah. I need to work on my weapons master class,” Dave said.
“I’m still working my way to it too. I’m nearly able to get my assassin class. Just need to get some higher skill in poisons and archery.” Josh’s eyes slid to Deia.
“I’ll help make sure you can hit the broadside of the barn with a bow and arrow.” Deia sighed and poked Dave.
“Ow! What?” Dave asked.
“You should work on your teaching skill. You should get the academic class and maybe trainer class.”
“Teaching skill?” Dave frowned and looked to Josh, who shrugged.
“Teach other people the skills you have and you get the passive skill of teaching. People understand what you’re saying, or trying to present. The trainer class is when you get to mastering teaching, teach more than a hundred people and have mastered one subject to teach others.” Deia talked as she worked her interface.
“The academic is for having the librarian class, master the inference skill, and be an apprentice at teaching. Also, you need to graduate some sort of training that requires Intelligence and achieve the rank master in your field. You have the skills and can gain teaching easily enough; also, you’re a Dwarven Master Smith, and graduated that, so...”
“Fine. I’ll add it to my list of things to do,” Dave said.
“Josh, why don’t you go for the Guildmaster class?”
“There’s a class for that?” Josh asked.
“There’s like a class for everything.” Deia smiled.
“Well, what do I need?”
“You need to have a guild of over twenty people. You need to make your guild part of every POE guild. We have trader’s and adventurer’s but we need the mage’s guild still. Also, we need to have a guild hall. Then we need to have a vote. If you’re elected guildmaster by the guild, then you get it. It doesn’t come with stat bonuses, though,” Deia warned.
“What does it come with?” Josh asked.
Dave read from her interface. “Guildmaster level 1 provides the people u
nder you with a 5 percent bonuses to their stats. After level 1, there are no more stat gains, but there are things like resistances that are added in for every level afterward.”
“Well, we can’t rush into a meeting with the mage’s guild; they’re probably the most powerful guild with their college teaching thousands. Best to leave that for later when we’re negotiating from a position of strength instead of when we’re hungry and desperate.” Josh smiled and stood. “I’ll let you two get back to your free time. I’ll see you later.”
“Come ‘round whenever.” Dave waved to Josh.
“Well, I do have to try out this drink of yours sometime.” Josh smiled. “Thanks for the advice, Deia!”
“No problem, Josh,” Deia said.
Josh waved and headed around the house.
“I’ll go tell Ela-Dorn she’s got two more days. Otherwise, we’ll disassemble the darned thing, put it into a cart and ship it through the teleport pad with us,” Dave said.
“Okay, and you can teach me about magical coding when you get back.” Deia smiled to him.
“I love it when you talk skills—so sexy.” Dave kissed her as she laughed.
“Wisdom comes with age,” she said as Dave got himself out of the love seat they’d been lying in.
“Always did love me some older ladies.” Dave gave a roguish wink before he disappeared into the house.
He stepped into the middle of the magical formation Bob had made. He’d studied the hell out of it, but he just didn’t understand how it worked. He hoped that Ela-Dorn’s lessons or Malsour’s insight might be able to link it all together.
Dave appeared in the command room again. He took the lift down to where the portal storage was.
Ela-Gal waved to Dave sleepily as he came out of a bathroom. “Morning, Dave.”
“Dude, it’s like nearly noon. What the heck were you doing last night?”
“Oh, I was fighting some of your Stone Raiders.” Gal smiled. “They’re not bad fighters.”
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