The builder was called Rok, which I found quite comical and had to hide my laughter when I discovered it. He was larger than all of the other goblins by a good six inches and his arms and legs were wider and more muscular, but when I analysed him I could see that his strength stat was no different to anyone else’s. It must have been his profession that’d skewed his physical appearance.
“Rok, what exactly can a builder do?” I asked as soon as I’d sent the twins off to the hunt with Mog.
“Rok Builder,” He said in a particularly deep voice. A much as he was a ‘new’ goblin, I noticed that his face was scarred and his hands calloused. “I know how build Chief’s Hut, but you not need that.” He looked from the Chief’s Hut to the tent I’d made for the three goblins that previously were the entirety of the clan. “Look like you need huts for sleep. Not seen what that before,” he pointed to the tent. It looked like as with the other goblins I’d summoned, he wanted to get to work right away.
“That’s a tent. I build it myself,” I said with a smile.
“What it do?” he asked.
“Well it doesn’t really do anything,” I said. “It’s for people to sleep in.
“That not work properly. I make proper place to sleep.” He announced.
“Fine by me,” I agreed, “What do you need?”
“No workers in clan,” Rok shook his head. “Need wood. Not need help for build though.” He said.
“I can get you the wood if you tell me what to do,” I said both questioningly and enthusiastically at the chance to do something new for a change, and something helpful at that.
Rok thought for a moment as he looked me up and down. “You have axe?” he asked.
‘Shit’. How was I supposed to cut down a tree without an axe, or a saw? I had absolutely no desire to try to gnaw my way through it like some sort of beaver. I really needed to get some tools, but short of summoning a crafter I wasn’t really sure what to do.
“I…don’t have any tools, for anything” I conceded. “Is there any way I can cut down trees without getting a crafter to make tools for me?”
Rok was silent for a moment, obviously deep in thought. It was a pretty comical sight, I was a little surprised that smoke didn’t start pouring from his pointy green ears. “I see before. Sharp rocks to cut.” He said thoughtfully.
I wondered where he’d seen them before if I’d only just summoned him but I let it pass. His suggestion gave me the image of myself as a caveman trying to hack down a tree with a crude stone axe.
“That could work,” I agreed regretfully. “Have you seen anything else?” I was hopeful for an easier suggestion.
“Take from enemies?” He tried.
I liked Rok, he was a thinker which was more than could be said for the other goblins I’d encountered so far – to the exception perhaps of Ushuk, who with his increased wisdom was becoming very self-assured.
“We don’t have any warriors, I don’t think we could successfully raid anyone,” I said.
There would be nothing I’d like more than to go and shove a long spear down Theodore’s throat, but right now I knew that wasn’t a possibility.
I shot down Rok’s next suggestion of trade too as I had nothing to offer the Sawblades clan other than what food I could spare, and I also wasn’t sure how Grish felt about me poaching some of his ex-clan goblins.
I could see Snafu at her fire preparing meat for the day, she was idly spinning the crocodile’s tooth in her fingers when an idea hit me, what if we did have something to trade with the Sawblades? The crocodile’s teeth did seem like they were a desirable item to my goblins at least so perhaps Grish would like them too?
I left Rok with this new idea fresh in my mind and set off to find Ushuk. I knew he’d be at the beetle ranch showing the new recruits how he managed to farm his prey for their meat, and that was precisely where I found him. He was showing Bishook and Grishook how they could punch the back of the beetle’s head for a slower, yet just as effective way of killing it as neither of them had any weapons. I really needed to do something about that. I added it to the list.
I explained my intent to visit Ushuk’s previous clan, but before I could go I needed to get hold of some crocodile’s teeth, and that would mean going mano-a-mano with the beast when it decided to show itself.
By the end of the day, I’d gained two teeth, twenty-four beetle meat and two crocodile meat. The new upkeep for the clan was eleven, so I now had a surplus supply of thirteen food. Removing the eleven that I knew would be needed to keep the clan fed with the next morning’s breakfast, I moved the remaining four pieces of meat to my inventory. I just hoped it would be enough to be able to trade with Grish along with the coveted teeth.
I had Ushuk lead me back to the Sawblades’ settlement to the east that evening after telling the clan to ‘do what they could’ for their sleeping arrangements. I was well aware that there wasn’t enough room in my three-man tent to house all five of the goblins, but I hoped that they’d be able to figure something out for themselves. I had planned on having Rok build the new housing for the clan, but without wood he couldn’t create the buildings, and without tools I couldn’t get the wood. There’s nothing like a good old chained quest to keep me interested.
“Grish no be happy with you,” Ushuk said as he led me back in the direction we had come from a few days ago. “You lucky Grish not eat you last time. Now you take female from his clan.”
I felt just the same way and Ushuk was simply affirming my own fears, but I had a feeling that if Grish did kill me I’d just respawn back near the city and I was pretty confident that I knew my way back to the sawblades’ settlement at least. I also thought that Grish wouldn’t kill Ushuk outright, the worst he would probably do is force him back into his own clan, so the risk compared to the possible reward was pretty minimal. All of this was mere speculation of course.
“I know, Ushuk, but we need tools to grow properly and I can’t think of any other way to get hold of them.” I explained.
“You make crafter. Crafter make tools,” He protested.
“Right,” I said. “Then we’d need a worker to give the crafter the raw materials and another feeder to keep up with the demand for food, right?” I said as I recounted my thought process. “At least this way, it might speed things up a little.”
Ushuk did seem to understand but I could hear him muttering something under his breath which sounded something like ‘we’re going to get eaten’.
As I’d expected, having Ushuk with me meant that I was able to walk right to the centre of the Sawblades’ settlement, as the other goblins didn’t challenge our presence. As we went I tried my best to analyse any buildings and goblins that I saw as we passed them which I was pleased to note increased my analyse skill to level three.
Ushuk was standing in the centre of the camp, exactly where he’d been when I last saw him. As soon as he saw me, he drew a long leather whip that had been attached to his side and cracked it towards me.
Grish hits you for 5 damage
It was only a minor blow and nothing like what I’d been expecting, but the next message made me rethink that assessment.
You have been knocked down
Grish has bound you. You are unable to move your legs
I was on the ground quicker than my mind could process the movement. I looked towards my feet and saw that Grish’s whip had curled its way around my ankles and tightly bound them together, and I watched as The muscular chief reeled me in as though I was a fresh fish that he’d just caught.
Ushuk, who’d been right by my side was paralysed in fear, not that he could have done anything anyway. I craned my neck upwards to see him getting further and further away from me as I was dragged along the ground.
Grish’s chuckles were menacing as he spoke with each stroke of his hands. “You…think…you…come…back…for…more…my…clan?” and with the last word I was at his feet. A big green foot was the last thing I saw before I both felt and heard my nose
break.
Grish hits you for 20 damage
“Fuck!” I shouted as I brought both of my hands to my face. “I’m here to trade, you giant green fuck!”
I wouldn’t normally have reacted in this way, but this kind of treatment was really uncalled for.
My words seemed to stop Grish in his tracks, which was good for me, as with only five health remaining I was almost ready to pass out and one more soft attack could’ve ended my life.
“You no have anything Grish want,” He announced as he puffed out his chest.
“Are you sure?” I managed to chole out, still pinching my bleeding nose. “Have a look at what little Ushuk there is wearing around his neck.”
I saw Grish squint at Ushuk and a flash of desire cross his face before he did his best to hide it.
“That not worth much to Grish,” he said nonchalantly, but I knew he liked it as goblins were one, not very smart and two, unable to hide their emotions very well. It wasn’t by accident that they weren’t famed traders like the gnomes or elves in fantasy stories.
“I have some food to trade too, just like before,” I said wanting to leave the necklace on the back burner for a while.
“Food not worth much either,” the goblin replied. “What you want?” and as he spoke he released the whip from around my ankles, allowing me to stand up and face him. Apparently trading was more important than revenge – a piece of information that I could use to my advantage.
“Not much, really. A few tools, nothing that I’m sure this illustrious clan has any trouble in providing.” I spoke loudly and waved my hands around me to incite interest in our conversation and also to stroke the goblin’s sense of pride.
“You speak good. But tools needed by Sawblades clan,” Grish said, but I could definitely see the desire in his eyes.
I remembered the fascination that both Ushuk and Snafu had shown when I’d given them their crocodile’s teeth, this led me to believe that the item was probably more sought after than Grish was letting on and that he was simply trying to play the game.
“Look, we could do with an axe, a few knives or whatever blades you have to spare and maybe a pick, or am I wasting my time here?” I said as I half turned away from him, playing the disinterested customer part quite well. I knew how to barter, I almost felt sorry for him.
“That not too much for clan,” Ushuk said as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “This for food?” he asked. I opened my mouth to speak again but he interrupted me, adding “and tooth of course,” in an attempt to make it sound like an afterthought.
He was so easy to read it was almost criminal.
“OK, I’ll give you the one tooth and four food that I’m carrying now in exchange for what I’ve asked. And I’ll come back in a few days with five more teeth for any more of those items you may be willing to let go. Does that sound fair?” I knew I was overplaying my hand somewhat, but I had to play the carrot card just as strongly as he’d played the stick card. Besides, I felt kind of bad for taking advantage of him.
“Deal!” He announced loudly and spat into his palm, holding it out for me to shake. As I repeated his action (and inwardly cringed at the sticky brown spit in his hand), a prompt appeared to me.
The goblin Grish would like to make a trade agreement with you.
Grish would like you to send:
1 Crocodile Tooth
4 Food (any kind)
In return, Grish offers:
1 stone hand axe
3 small knives
1 stone pick axe
In addition to these items, Grish will be open to further trades where Crocodile Teeth are offered.
Do you wish to make this with Grish? Yes/No
My heart raced as I clicked ‘yes’ and my inventory became weighty with the new tools I’d received. I watched the smile on Grish’s face as he fastened his new necklace behind the back of his neck and a big part of me wanted to say something cocky to the goblin, but another even bigger part wanted to not be killed or eaten on a whim, so I kept my mouth shut. After all I was still only on five health points.
“I…guess I’ll be going then?” I said as I took a deep bow, trying to appeal to Grish’s egotistical side.
“No!” He roared “We party!” he announced so that the whole settlement could hear. ‘For fucks sake’ I didn’t need this right now.
It was just then that Ushuk appeared at my side and whispered into my ear. “When trade deal done, big party”.
Once again I was thankful for Ushuk’s explanation. ‘So it was kind of like a tradition. Great.’
The next few hours were the most bizarre of my life. The party that Grish threw raged loudly until the sun went down and I was given food and drink until I could eat or drink no more. I thought in passing that we’d eaten at least ten times the food that I’d traded with them but certainly didn’t want to be that guy. The drink that I’d been repeatedly given was like a warm, sweet ale that started making my vision go a little fuzzy. I could see Ushuk was also partaking of the ale, as he dizzily stumbled toward me before falling back down to a seated position on the ground. As I looked around the campsite, although the warrior goblins serving as guards weren’t involved, everyone else certainly was. A small group of goblins had made a set of crude instruments, drums from animal skin, shakers and rattles, and even a small woodwind instrument much like an ocarina. I’d never seem goblins act like this, truth be told I never even knew that they had the capacity for fun.
Merriment and festivity washed through the settlement as the air was filled with music and the odd, robotic dancing of many of the goblins, both male and female. I couldn’t help but have a goofy smile plastered across my face the whole time, I blame the ale.
At some point, someone must have stopped tending to the huge fire that’d been roaring in the centre of the camp, as when I awoke the next morning all that I could see before me was a smouldering pile of ash and a handful of peacefully sleeping goblins.
I kicked my foot lightly onto Ushuk’s back who was sleeping by my feet.
“Mfffmff,” the noise he made was a typical ‘I’m hungover, please fuck off” one.
When he didn’t wake up I kicked him again, only a little harder.
You hit Ushuk for 1 damage
‘Oops’.
Ushuk sat up as the damage I’d inflicted snapped him back to reality. He rubbed his face with his long fingers before speaking.
“Mmmhh. Why you hit me?” he asked. It didn’t sound like he was too annoyed about it, I was worried that his eyes might’ve turned red and then he’d attack me like a scorned pet. As it was it seemed that goblins were a lot more used to physical violence than I’d given them credit for.
“We have to get back to the camp, it’s morning already!” I said as we both raised ourselves to our feet. I could see that Grish had already beaten us and was stood not too far away absently tearing away at a piece of meat for breakfast. I thought the best thing would be to bid him a fond farewell, rather than just leave without saying anything at all.
“Thanks for the party,” I said earnestly when he didn’t look up from his breakfast.
“Party good, but remember deal,” he replied through a mouthful of dark meat.
“Oh, I’ll be back,” I said as I thought about how our little deal had worked out well for me. It’d be all too easy to farm the crocodile that attacked so regularly and expectedly to trade for the tools and possibly weapons that I currently had no way of making for myself.
I thought about trade deals back in the real world, and how money, greed and power had skewed their importance. Usually, things weren’t traded because one party couldn’t make whatever it was, rather it was because it would be cheaper elsewhere. In Freedom Online, it seemed as though trade could be the difference between flourishing and failing, which added to the weight of trade deals, hence why a party could be so appropriate after such deals had been made.
When Ushuk and I returned to Coyote Creek, it was just in time to see the
clan waking up. It was an odd sight, they all seemed to wake up together as though they’d collectively heard some kind of alarm clock going off that no one else could hear.
I could see that Bishook and Grishook had slept outside, whilst Snafu, Mog and Rok had taken pride of place in the ‘sub-par’ tent I’d made. I didn’t see Rok complaining now, as he walked from the door and stretched his arms upwards with a yawn.
It was peaceful in Coyote Creek, much more peaceful than any place I’d ever lived before. No honking horns of traffic, no middle of the night gunshot and screams, no police sirens to wake you up at five in the morning. No, Coyote Creek was a paradise compared to the real world.
Coyote Creek Settlement Information
Central Building: Goblin Chief’s Hut
Current Occupant: Tandy [Crocodile’s Teeth Clan]
Buildings:Goblin Chief’s Hut1 (100%)
Goblin Breeding Hut1 (100%)
Unspecified Shelter1 (100%)
Campfire1 (100%)
Occupants:Tandy [Human/Male] Level 3
Ushuk [Goblin Adolescent/Male]Level 3 Snafu [Goblin Cook/Female] Level 3
Mog [Goblin Feeder/Female]Level 2
Bishook [Goblin Feeder/Male]Level 1
Grishook [Goblin Feeder/Male]Level 1
Rok [Goblin Builder/Male]Level 1
Skill types:Goblin Adolescent1
Goblin Cook1
Goblin Feeder3
Goblin Builder1
Current Food Available: 6
Current Maintenance Level: 14
Current Food Generation: 24 Units / Day
As I analysed the Chief’s Hut, I noticed that my mental calculation had been a little off as the maintenance level seemed to be a little higher than I’d anticipated. The only thing that I could attribute that to, was the fact that Mog had increased to level two. It would make sense that as goblins grow stronger, the food they required to sustain themselves would also increase.
The Copper Rose Page 9