The Copper Rose

by David Lingard

  “No live in. We live out. All.” The orc replied to my utter relief. I didn’t know why he had made the favourable decision, whether he didn’t want to mix with our kind or if it was simply a kindness to us, I really didn’t care.

  As the agreement had been made, a cloaked figure stepped beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. An all too familiar rasping voice chilled my bones.

  “You certainly are unorthodox aren’t you?” Quintus rasped quietly, for my benefit alone.

  I shivered but didn’t jump in response. I had simply seen far too much strange stuff happen here in Freedom. “and what are you doing here?” I asked without turning my head.

  “I am here to witness your new union,” Quintus spoke as though it was a totally normal thing to do – like this happened all the time and me asking the question was the weird part.

  “Ooookay” I drew out the word as I lacked anything pertinent to offer in addition.

  Quintus stepped forward and stretched his open hand towards Alexander. I wondered what was happening and what my golem would do, but to my surprise, he simply reached into his pack, pulled out the copper rose and handed it to Quintus.

  Everyone was now silent and watched the robed figure step off of the fallen tree and approach the rotten stump that used to constitute part of its structure.

  “I witness the union of the village of…uh…Coyote Creek,” he hissed “and the free races present here.” I noticed his stutter at the name of my village and smiled to myself that I’d had at least some effect on the enigma.

  He jabbed the bottom of the copper rose into the stump and released it, allowing it to stand freely on its own.

  Nothing happened to break the silence for a good thirty seconds and as I was about to turn and walk away when I noticed the copper rose starting to shake ever so slightly. It shook more vigorously from side to side, then in full circles until it started to grow very slowly. After ten seconds it had doubled in size and after another ten seconds it had doubled yet again. It grew and grew until it reached the height of the tallest trees surrounding it and its base was as wide as the stump that it had been planted onto.

  The copper rose grew branches and leaves still made of the shining metal but it was no longer a rose, it was a fully grown copper tree with the head of a rose at its crown.

  I turned away from the marvel of the copper tree to ask our visitor what had just happened, but Quintus was nowhere to be seen. He must’ve made his getaway while everyone was concentrating on the growing rose.

  “What the…” Rachel finally said over my shoulder.

  “My thoughts exactly,” I finished her sentence for her. “So now not only do we have to keep quiet when there are enemies around, but there’s a big ass shiny tree letting everyone know just where the target is.”

  “I don’t think enemies are going to be a problem for a while…” Rachel trailed off as she scoured the hordes that surrounded the rose as though it as some kind of marvellous totem. I had to admit though, it was a pretty marvellous totem.

  I wondered if the Copper Rose would show as a new building in my settlement information panel, but I had to double take as my breath caught in my chest.

  My eyes widened at the sight of the new settlement figures before me. Coyote Creek was now home to three hundred and eight inhabitants of all races, levels, shapes and sizes. We collected a colossal six hundred and twelve food each day, expending just four hundred and three. The very best part was that my SP generation, which was at just over seventy per day had skyrocketed to three thousand one hundred and fifty-six. This was an absolute result in my books – real end-game mechanics. I rubbed my hands at the thought of spending so much SP on, well... everything.

  It only took me about thirty minutes at first light the next day, but I spent the lot. The first thing I did was upgrade everyone in the settlement to at least level two, it did feel a little wasteful as they probably wouldn’t be contributing to our efforts in general too much, but the blow was dampened somewhat by the knowledge that with each new level came an additional SP the next day – plus if efficiency was the goal I thought that this was probably the best way to go. Once I’d done that, I spent the remainder on repairing the wall, two hundred SP, and another upgrade for the farm – this time the water system. The points hadn’t gone nearly as far as I’d expected them to, and once I was empty again, I felt kind of down about it. I don’t know what I was expecting really, a fanfare perhaps? As it was it just seemed like a huge adrenaline rush followed by a whole lot of anti-climax.

  The newest members of the village were still outside of the walls, and with the newfound peace, it seemed that we were back to business as usual, with traders coming and going and the general hustle and bustle of this modern settlement generated a low grumbling no matter where you stood.

  When I went outside of the gates to check on the latest additions to my village, I found that they had re-separated into their race groups, and each group seemed to have their own little campsite. It was funny to me that these races were both so alike and different in so many ways, but when placed around a campfire that they all looked the same. I berated myself for my racism.

  I wondered if the beasts…I guess I should really give them a better name than beasts, or creatures… I thought about it for a moment. I wondered if the crew had planned on building walls around themselves, extending my already pretty great perimeter defence – but if they were planning to do so they hadn’t started yet.

  A thought occurred to me – as these were now inhabitants of the village, did I have to order them to do things, or did they just go about their business? Did they have their own leaders to listen to or was I their leader now? My question was at least partially answered when a mass exodus of what looked like hunters and workers of all races simultaneously stood up and disappeared into the woods – either they had default actions to carry out or they could look after themselves.

  Alexander stood with his shining arms folded before the Copper Rose, which is the pose that he had adopted as soon as it had come into existence. I presumed that as his given task had been completed, he had returned to his previous dormant state – waiting for my next hair-brained scheme.

  Chapter Twenty-Four, Filibuster

  R

  achel’s body twitched slightly in the VR pod as electrodes stimulated her muscles to prevent any degradation while she was unable to move them for herself. It was one of the finer points of the pods – you got all the exercise you needed and literally didn’t have to lift a finger to get it. If you were thinking that fitness advocates, bodybuilders and athletes could’ve made use of this technology then in a way you’d be correct, save for a few small issues. One, the technology behind the pods was so heavily internationally patented with multiple claims and variances that it was pretty much impossible for anyone to make their own version. Two, the pods themselves never left the hands of Rapture Entertainment, so nobody would be reverse-engineering them any time soon. Three, they gave you all the exercise you need – not all the exercise you want, i.e. if you were to go into a pod for a year, you would emerge in almost exactly the same physical state that you entered it in – you wouldn’t suddenly get huge muscles or tons of cardiovascular energy. You would of course not be in any danger of over-eating though, as you received a nutritionally perfect diet while you were in the pod.

  The story of how Rachel ended up in the pod didn’t take long to hit the media. It wasn’t a leak or anything sinister like that, it was that fact that Rapture Entertainment had decided to take her to court and as she was not able to attend, the case was to be tried in absentia.

  It was kind of on purpose by Rapture that the case made headlines – that way they could use the publicity to their advantage. Of course, it wasn’t the normal kind of publicity that they were after, rather something much more sinister. Rapture Entertainment planned on arguing in court that because Rachel had gotten into Freedom so brazenly, the extended publicity may lead others into thinking that they to
o had a chance at the same fate – and with anything but the harshest of punishments for Rachel, there would be no deterrent. The company cited additional procedures at tremendous cost due specifically to Rachel’s actions and therefore sought an astronomical sum in reparations. So astronomical in fact, that the judge presiding over the case almost spat out his tea when he heard it.

  Rachel had ‘made her choice to be absent and therefore waved her rights to legal council,’ was the first nail in her coffin that the Rapture legal team had hammered home – and no matter the circumstances, if someone was tried in absentia they were bound to have a bad time.

  Eventually, when the case closed after just a few short days of deliberation, the ruling was in. With the case being ‘fundamentally a first of its kind,’ the judge gave an unexpected and creative ruling. Rachel was given a ten year custodial sentence… but to be served within Freedom Online in the care of Rapture Entertainment. It was ground-breaking and the media shockwave was felt around the world.

  Internal Memorandum. Rapture Entertainment

  All staff. As we approach the first wave of players leaving the game world of Freedom Online – even though we anticipate a low percentage of leavers – we must prepare to become busier than we have ever been before. If you think that the waiting lines are long and the call rates are high now, just wait until people are actually told about just how realistic Freedom Online is.

  We anticipate a bidding war for open slots, so we are already taking the steps necessary to increase the available spaces in new pods to coincide with this demand.

  This will be where we are in a position to offer a new game mechanic. The ‘Level Up!’ will be available to any players who would like a ‘leg up’ in their journey into Freedom Online, so as they are already a year’s worth of play behind the current phase of players we are offering the opportunity for players to ‘buy’ levels before they even enter a FIVR pod.

  The players will be able to buy an unlimited amount of levels for an exponentially increasing price. This is expected to both increase revenue for the company and entice new players who believed themselves to be behind at the gates.

  The costs are still in negotiations with the board, however it is expected that to boost one level it will cost 1k, then doubling for each subsequent level. We anticipate price breaks at milestone levels. You may have noticed that in this structure it would cost the customer around 250k to start at level 10, and over 8 million to start at level fifteen. It is our assumption that these figures will not deter our customers from buying into the Level Up! Scheme.

  Finally, you have all heard the ruling regarding our uninvited guest and former employee Rachel. It is with great pleasure that I am also able to generate the following game mechanic based upon her specific circumstances – that is within the game world she will now have a permanent bounty on her head. This mechanic is accompanied by the following additional clauses.

  Any kills of the player will result in double experience gains for the attacker(s)

  The player will be unable to bind any equipment. Soulbound items will be treated as any other items.

  The player will suffer reputation penalties and find it more difficult to gain reputation within the game world.

  Do not forget the NDA’s you all signed when you joined Rapture. Rachel has paid a terrible price and the circumstances surrounding her should not be repeated.

  All the best,

  Tim.

  Chapter Twenty-Five, War

  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%)

  Goblin Longhouse1 (100%)

  Goblin Construction Yard1 (100%)

  Spider Nest (Dark Forest)3 (100%)

  Goblin Barracks1 (100%)

  Sawmill1 (100%)

  Armoury1 (100%)

  Hydroponic Farm1 (100%)

  Trade Forum1 (100%)

  Tavern1 (100%)

  Copper Rose1 (100%)

  Occupants:308

  Current Food Available: 26

  Current Maintenance Level: 403

  Current Food Generation: 612 Units / Day

  SP Available:84

  SP Generation:3156 / Day

  Name: Tandy

  Level: 10 (18%)

  Race: Human/Male

  Attributes:HP: 65/65MP: 30/30

  Strength:6

  Wisdom:5

  Social:0

  Skills: Analyse7 (35%)

  Lumberjack4 (25%)

  Packmule1 (10%)

  Friend to All1

  Healing Aura2 (50%)

  Balanced Diet2

  Smelting1 (0%)

  Crafting2 (10%)

  Construction2 (10%)

  Mapping1 (0%)

  Equipment:None

  Reputation:None

  T

  he few days following the arrival of my new villagers had gone rather more smoothly than I had expected. Each day I had spent all of my SP upgrading buildings where I could, rather than the levels of the villagers themselves as after the first day I’d realised that there were just too many of them for it to be economical, it just spread myself too thin. The upgrades made such a huge difference though, that every one of my resources were flowing like water – in fact I even told the workers to use the excess wood and stone to extend the walls around the outlying camps – the secondary wall that I’d always wanted, then to make the inner walls taller, wider and stronger. The stone I said to use for roads and foundation markers for future buildings but truthfully, I had no idea what I was doing – I was like a kid in a candy shop and I was absolutely loving the resources burning a hole in my pocket.

  Two things that I thought were unrelated were that the air was getting thicker, and my inhabitant number was slowly ticking upwards with new inhabitants being listed every few hours. When I eventually saw the smoke coming from the forest, I realised that perhaps they weren’t so unrelated after all.

  Why hadn’t I even thought to ask the question? The creatures that we had allied with weren’t looking for us, they were running away in our direction, weren’t they. But what had they been running from? It all made so much sense now – it was fire. Fire spreading so wide and far that it must have been leaving nothing but destruction in its wake – and that was where the new inhabitants were coming from. As homes and camps were destroyed, we now presented the next best thing. A new home and a new hope.

  I knew that there was no time to spare now. The fires would be upon us in no time and there was only one thing that I could think of that would stop the blaze from destroying Coyote Creek and reducing all of my charges to ash – and that was water, and lots of it. It was finally time to dig my moat.

  I informed the masses. We had so many resources now that taking a day or two off would probably not have even made a dent, so that is what we did. Every single inhabitant either picked up a tool or used their bare hands when there were no tools left to dig a moat around the Creek from one side of the water to the other in a huge semi-circle. I wondered how wide to make it but settled on thirty paces to make sure we would be safe, and at least ten feet deep the whole way around. It was arduous and boring work and provided no benefits through skills, but my people did their work without question – even the newcomers who I’d thought would cause at least a little bit of trouble.

  What did we do with three hundred square foot per foot of dirt you ask? Well, we made a flat sided berm wall on the outer edge of the moat, just in case. Of course we also took the time to build good sized drawbridges over the water and entry and exit points along the berm, but as you could very well imagine, by the time that we were done I felt more safe and secure than I had done within Freedom to date, which was funny because I’d never really been in so much danger to date either.

&nb
sp; My feeling of safety slowly waned away as the smoke from the burning woodlands ebbed ever closer with no signs of stopping. It moved at a consistent pace over the course of the day, an ominous visitor that loomed over us, interrupting our usual working patterns and putting us in mortal danger.

  There was a plus side though, for as the fires ravaged the forest, displacing all manner of creatures from their homes and camps, my village seemed to automatically recruit those whose lives simply hadn’t been extinguished. I saw all manner of wonderful creatures pass us by on their way to flee the forest but those who were sentient seemed drawn to the Copper Rose, and thus our bulging inhabitants list. Finally, when the fires reached the far side of our berm, we had just over six hundred occupants at Coyote Creek and if it weren’t for all the smoke and panic, it would have looked rather much like an open-air music festival out there. I spared a thought for the spider’s nest when I noticed the lack of new information regarding the creatures, but when I checked I could see that it was still listed as a building in my information panel.

  All good thing must come to an end though, don’t they, for the next morning the fires had passed us. The defensive measures had worked perfectly with not so much as a patch of scorched grass passing onto the near side of the berm. The air was still thick with smoke though and made me scrunch my nose as it entered my airways and left a foul taste of death and destruction behind. Standing on top of the berm, the surrounding scene was horrifying, like something out of a post-apocalyptic wasteland. There were still some trees standing on the brown and black earth, but they had been stripped of their growth and colour, leaving brittle husks scattered across the landscape.

  In the distance, I could see a faint movement, the outline of a person. The sentient beings of the forests joining our land had all but dried up to this point and the apparition of more made my stomach turn. As I watched, the lonely figure turned into three, then five, then ten, then a veritable army of scores of people. Not creatures, people. It appeared as though Theo and his band of merry bastards had finally found us.