I had the capacity to build traps. And I if I could manipulate the NPCs to lure players somewhere I had booby-trapped, I might be able to cause some serious damage.
“Alright,” I announced to the dark dungeon corridor. “I have an idea. Build traps, load up a hallway or somewhere with them, and ambush the players using the NPC guards as backup… somehow.”
“Very good,” Ellie said, in a manner akin to scratching a puppy behind the ears. “I also came to this determination.”
“But you let me figure it out for myself anyway?”
“I am focused on the first stages of the plan. Crafting you a capable weapon. So, can you get moving again?”
I smirked. She did have a personality and that was seriously cool for a computer. Not wanting to waste more time, I started moving again, one hand touching the wall; more for comfort than anything.
“How much further?”
“It’s the second door on your right now. The black one.”
In the darkness of the corridor, everything looked pretty dark. But then I found it, and it was unmistakably black. A spiked, cruel-looking door that was made of a metal so dark it must have been obsidian, the sort of black that sucks in light to destroy it. It dwarfed all the other doors I’d passed down the corridor. Whatever was behind this one would be special.
The door was also ajar. I pushed it inwards, then entered a room half alchemy lab, half dirty surgical theatre. A gnarled wooden table stood in the center, complete with iron cuffs for wrists and ankles, and stains which confirmed that splinters would be the least of your worries if you were on it. Cauldrons lined the far wall, from kettle to bathtub in size. Their contents simmered gently, letting off an aroma like burnt rubber. Above the cauldrons, and mounted along each wall, were shelves packed with books, potion vials, both full and empty, and many long, thin pieces of apparatus designed with the sole purpose of inflicting pain. Candlelight gave everything a haunting glow.
The capstone of this setting was the dead NPC. A scraggly fellow whose nose, chin and goatee all ended in sharp points, lay crumpled at bone-breaking angles at his workstation by the largest cauldron. An arrow was lodged through his temple. Focusing upon him, the now familiar information bar materialized for my convenience.
Kreeptic The Twisted – Chief Interrogator – Level 45 Elite
“Here’s hoping I never run into him,” I said.
“He’s part of four quest chains,” Ellie said, “As well as two class specific chains for rogues. You may meet him yet.”
“For now, I’m glad he’s not going to mind me rooting around his, erm, office.” I closed the door and felt an unjustified sense of security in doing so. “I’ll just Scavenge him too while we’re here.”
I had to pass by the row of cauldrons in order to reach Kreeptic. So intent was I on reaching the torturer, I didn’t pay attention to where I was walking and fell flat on my ass. Pain flared from my nethers and lower back and my health bar ticked down. I tried pushing myself up off the floor but then, adding insult to injury, my hand slipped on something wet and I collapsed again. Now flat on my back, I could feel the substance that had bested me seeping all through the commoner’s tunic I was still wearing. It squelched as I struggled to scramble out of the gooey pool on the floor.
Slime was the best way I could think of it; it was radioactive green, slippery and yet sticky, all at once. Running it through my fingers, it had the consistency of honey. I considered tasting it but thought better of it. This was a torturer’s chamber, after all.
“What on earth is this stuff?” I said, getting to my feet.
“Arch-Solution,” Ellie said. “It’s a high-ranking alchemy soluble base required for the most powerful potions and poisons in the game. You can’t buy it either, you must craft it first and that process is designed to be quite a task in itself.”
“And this dude just has a huge vat of it gently simmering away?” I asked. “So much it’s been overflowing.”
“I think more likely it was knocked over in the struggle,” said Ellie. “Besides he is a master poisoner. It makes sense he’d need it, although he’d ordinarily prevent players from simply stealing it due to its worth. That’s probably why he died right beside it.”
My interest was piqued. “So, it’s worth a lot of gold?”
Maybe if I could swipe a few jars I could sell it on later and at least make this whole ordeal – and this whole weekend – worth it.
“When more players reach the level at which they need such ingredients, I imagine it will become valuable. But that’s not why we’re here, Zoran. You said you just wanted a private space to feel more secure.”
“You’re right. I did.”
“Even though, you know, I can alert you to the presence of any oncoming threat.”
“Ellie, I know. I’m sorry. I’ll stay more foc—”
“Showing an extreme lack of logic for—”
“Ellie,” I said, firmly.
She stopped mid-flow and then continued, “Have I angered you?”
“No,” I said, wearily. “But look, you’re dealing with a meat bag human here. We’re not always good at being rational. You might have to just accept that.”
“I appreciate this situation must be frightening for you,” she said. “For my part, I am merely hoping to deal with the issue in the most efficient way possible. I am not used to relying on external processors to fulfil my solutions.”
“I’m a processor now?” I asked, though I did so good-naturedly.
She seemed to pick up on my tone. “You know what I meant.”
“Yeh, I did. I’ve recently realized I’m not always the easiest going person to work with.”
“Perhaps we can improve our understanding together.”
“That would be nice,” I said. “Hey, is this slime stuff dangerous? I can feel it all over my shirt.”
“It’s a reagent and not actively harmful itself. And it’s called Arch-Solution,” she added, like a frustrated teacher.
I shrugged. “I’m gonna call it slime. Hold your chiding a moment while I actually Scavenge this guy.”
Kreeptic offered something interesting. As well as the usual coins, I scrounged up three mana potions.
Potent Mana Swirl
Instantly restores 900 mana upon use.
Cooldown: 1 minute
Clearly, they were intended for higher-level characters as they would restore far more mana than I currently had, but they’d come in useful later. I pocketed them and noticed how my inventory was bursting at the seams, even with my vastly increased bag space from the king’s purse. Ellie was right. No more faffing around. It was time I got to breaking down and crafting.
“I’m ready,” I said. “Did you have a weapon in mind for me?”
“A ranged weapon would be preferable.”
“Okay,” I said, pulling myself up the Crafting window. “Seems like I can make low-level versions of everything. Pistols, rifles, bows and crossbows. But, oh, it doesn’t look like I have the materials for them. I don’t have string nor a trigger mechanism for the guns and crossbow.”
“Come on, Zoran,” Ellie said. “You’re a scavenger. Start breaking things and scavenging already.”
She was making me feel like an idiot again. Maybe she couldn’t tell me what to do outright as that would conflict with her programming or something.
I checked my Breakdown ability again, remembering it had gained a rank up during my spree in the throne room. Now I could read it more carefully, there was an obvious new addition to the spell: “You now also receive additional core components from the item.”
The gears in my mind clicked into place.
I opened my inventory again and found the bow that I’d just looted from D3AdEyE. I thought ‘Breakdown’ and then selected ‘The Needler’.
As before, my character entered something of a pre-rehearsed dance, holding the bow in both hands despite not technically being able to equip it at my level, before using tools along with magic t
o deconstruct the item at high speed. With the pair of scissors, I snipped the bowstring away at both ends, and with my handsaw I cut the remainder of the bow into scrap parts. Finally, I took these scraps of wood and fused them together using magic, my hands aglow as I performed the impossible. Once done, the following items entered my inventory.
Wood plank x 1
String x 1
It didn’t seem like a whole lot of material, but I supposed there wasn’t a huge amount of wood to be harvested from a bow. Key thing was, I had got myself a piece of string and some wood, which was required to make both bows and crossbows. I would need more wood, however, to make either option but I had nothing else in my bags that would offer much more.
I eyed up the many shelves in Kreeptic’s chamber. “Ellie, is the environment semi-destructible?”
“This was a great debate amongst my creators,” Ellie said. “On the one hand, yes it is. But for your purposes, it isn’t.”
“Care to be less cryptic?”
“Well, as an example, if you could use Breakdown on every item here, you’d have an abundance of materials and wouldn’t have to venture forth into the world to actually play the game in order to obtain them.”
“My class trainer said if I could ‘pop the items in my bags’ then I could use Breakdown on them. Is that all I can do?”
“For the purposes of finding materials needed in crafting recipes, yes.”
“But I could still break that shelf of the wall and use it?”
“Why don’t you try,” Ellie said. “You can learn through experience.”
Determined, I clambered over Kreeptic’s limp form to stand on his desk. Now the shelving was at my shoulder height, I tried to use Breakdown on it. I focused on it with all the powers of my concentration, but the game didn’t seem to think the shelf was acceptable. I picked up a book from the shelf, entitled Five Hundred Ways to Draw Out Death, and placed it in my inventory. As it was a lootable item, I could use Breakdown on it. I tossed away the pieces of paper, not sure why I’d ever need them.
Perhaps if I fully detached the shelf from the wall, I’d be able to ‘loot’ the pieces.
I pulled out my hammer and beat on the wood like a sailor six months at sea.
It worked, in so far as the unit fell from the wall. As did the books and the glass potion vials, which crashed into shards upon the floor.
“Whoops,” I said.
I think I heard Ellie sigh, but I couldn’t be sure.
Despite my efforts, the shelf – now little better than a plank of wood – remained unlootable. I could pick it up but I couldn’t place it in my inventory and, thus, I could not use Breakdown on it.
“Alright,” I said with weary resignation. “I get it now. I assume you can’t just label anything I want as a ‘proper’ item for me?”
“That is beyond my capabilities.”
“Figures,” I said. “Well, it’s good to know I can still smash things up if I get frustrated.”
“Feel free,” Ellie said. “Everything will be restored at the server reset. The idea that an army of players might decide to destroy a city like Argatha with magic and explosives would be too drastic. At a certain point, game design must conquer total freedom.”
“I’d tend to agree on the whole,” I said. “But right now I am in need of some extra wood if I am to build a bow.”
I had a good look round, but it wasn’t easy. All the tools were made of metal, the potion vials were made of glass, and the books, while being able to grant leather perhaps, would not wield what I sought. But then my gaze fell upon the most innocuous items of all. Tucked right away in the back corner was a mop and bucket combo. A broom sat next to them. I guess the torturer must have had to clean up the gore occasionally.
These sorts of items were also seen in virtually every other game, but were used as window dressing. These flavor items unconsciously fleshed out a world, but never proved useful in any way. Yet, just as a pair of scissors might not be a usable item in other games, perhaps there was more to this mop than met the eye.
Carefully, I negotiated the slime on the floor and remained on my feet this time. My curiosity was rewarded when I found I could, in fact, pick up the mop, the bucket, and the broom. All three were lootable. Each piece could be broken down.
“You’re getting it now,” Ellie said.
Smiling, I started to use Breakdown. Once finished, I gained the following items.
Wood plank x 4
Iron scrap x 1
The metal came from the bucket and, understandably, there wasn’t a lot of it. At any rate, I now had the required wood to build either the bow or crossbow. There was a final component. For a crossbow, I would need a trigger mechanism, as I would for the pistol and rifle. This time I didn’t even ask Ellie for help. I knew in my inventory was a pistol I’d scavenged from a guard in the throne room. Once again, I used Breakdown. I hammered, I cut, and I channeled magical power through my fingertips, and was left with exactly what I’d hope to receive.
Steel ore x 2
Trigger mechanism x 1
I was delighted, probably more than I had a right to be given my situation, but I wasn’t exaggerating before – I do love having options, although it does make deciding so much harder. Luckily for me, I had an AI companion now.
“Is there any reason I should pick one weapon over the other?”
“I wouldn’t recommend you select either a pistol or a rifle. Both require powder as well as ammunition, meaning you’d have to manage two resources and you’re hardly in a position to risk running low on either. That and you’re not in a position to stock up on powder from a shop.”
“Right. Guns are out then.”
“The bow and crossbow are fairly balanced,” she continued. “Bows are quicker to load while the crossbow is slower to load but will deal more damage per shot. Crossbows also have a chance to knock down the target, albeit a low chance at your level.”
“I played with a ranger earlier tonight who used a crossbow,” I said. “That knock-back effect definitely helped a lot and he just had a starting character’s version of it.”
“There’s one more thing,” Ellie said. “Most important of all. You will have more opportunity to upgrade and augment your crossbow as it levels because it is bulkier and able to take on additional components without compromising its functionality – or that’s the excuse my creators made for it, at least.”
I raised my hand. “Say no more, Ellie. I think we’ve found our weapon.”
I scrolled to find the recipe. A basic shopping list of materials needed for a basic weapon.
Recipe – Rickety Shot
Intelligence Required: 20
Associated Profession: Engineering
Wood x 3
String x 1
Trigger Mechanism x 1
Required Tools: Hammer, Chisel, Handsaw, Carving Knife
I selected ‘Craft’ and began construction.
My mana bar drained the required 10%, energy collected around my hands and my character entered another trance of creation. With my handsaw, I cut the planks into the shape; with my hammer, I secured them in position with nails born of magic; with my carving knife, I gouged a space for the trigger and used my chisel to cut a flight groove for the arrow. Finally, through the wonders of RPG crafting systems, the whole thing came together and I was the proud owner of the most basic vanilla looking recurve crossbow in the world.
Success! Crossbow level 4 created
+10 Crafting EXP
+22 Engineering EXP
I checked out its stats.
Rickety Shot
Crossbow
Quality: common
Item level 4
Requires level 3 to equip
Damage: 15-21 piercing
Durability: 25/25
Knockback Chance 2% on hit
This item is upgradable, but will become Soul Bound to you.
Well, it was a piece of crap all considered – way worse than the c
rossbow I’d sold to Wylder. Still, it was a step up from the kobold basher I’d been using before, which was little better than a jumped-up stick.
I equipped the crossbow and found that a holster materialized on my back as I did so. By simply reaching back, the weapon clicked into place there, freeing up my hands for other tasks just as I might sheath a sword.
“Congratulations,” Ellie said. “You’ve completed at least four tasks I had in mind already.”
“Really? What was the first task?”
“Not to die.”
My stomach did another somersault.
“Wait,” I said, now feeling like a moron. “What about crossbow bolts – a quiver?”
“I’ll sort you those out.”
“How?”
“The Spire armory has some things you can use.”
“And you’ll guide me there, right?”
She would, obviously. But now I was close to having to move again, leave another space of relative security, I was feeling jittery. I was itching to do more again and not just for the sake of my own well-being. This class had a lot more to it than met the eye.
“How can I see what materials I need to upgrade it?”
“You won’t be able to view that until you gain the ability at level ten,” Ellie said. “I want to show you the ambush site I have selected first, so we should be movin—”
“How about I Breakdown everything else I’ve got? I could recycle and craft everything to gain some exp and then—”
“I do not think you have the time to—”
“I can probably make myself much better gear given the nonsense I’m wearing now. It won’t take lo—”
“Zoran,” Ellie’s voice boomed in my head. “You don’t have ti—”
This time, she just cut off. Then a video feed appeared. A message from Azrael. He seemed to be opting for a lengthy dramatic opening this time, sweeping the camera around the tip of the Spire several times, getting closer to his avatar out on the balcony with each pass.
Battle Spire Page 14