Beastborne

by James T Callum

  That seemed to have an effect on the dwarves and immediately they began discussing ways to incorporate bones into their various designs. The red-bearded dwarf came up to him. He gingerly kicked the massive spear of bone with the toe of his boot. “Ye really can make bone, eh? Dagdamora.”

  “I don’t think anybody else can do it, but yes.”

  “Suits me just fine,” said the dwarf with another kick at the ossified log. It still didn’t move despite the heftier kick. “Gives us a good reason to go out and kill some monsters. Make our home safer an’ profit at once. That’s what we dwarves call a good time! Bwahaha!”

  Hal shook his head at the dwarf stalked off laughing all the way.

  Noth looked over at him, then at the log on the ground. “What is on your mind?”

  Motioning to the item, Hal laid out his plan. He had no idea if it would work, but it was worth a try.

  “You do realize that a Palisade is almost half again as much CP to construct as an Earthen Bulwark, right?” Noth said as gently as possible. “I don’t mean to dampen your zeal-”

  “That’s quite all right, Noth,” Hal said, cutting her off. “I hope it’ll work but I don’t expect it. That’s why I’m not going to take any dwarves off their projects to help me.”

  She gave him a flat stare. “This is where I come in, isn’t it?”

  “Very much so.”

  Noth tried to look put out and roll her eyes, but Hal could see the smirk that played at the corners of her lips.

  “Could you get that for me?” Hal asked, pointing at the [Palisade Spike].

  With a casual crouch, Noth grasped the thing and hefted the near twenty-foot-long piece of bone and laid it across her shoulder. “It’s lighter than wood,” she pointed out.

  “That’s what I’m hoping for,” Hal said. “Bone is quite well known for being very sturdy but also quite light. It’s an ideal building material in a lot of respects. Non-flammable, sturdy, doesn’t rot or get bothered much by water or inclement weather.”

  “You almost make me want to take up Bonecrafting,” Noth said, following Hal back toward the west where they came from. Already several Earthen Bulwarks were well underway.

  Hal chuckled. “It’s pretty great, actually,” he said. “I can make a lot of things that I would normally need a complex set up for. I don’t need a kiln for clay. Or a sawmill for wood. Don’t need a smelter or forge. It’s versatile while not necessarily better than any of those others, it serves well enough I think.”

  “And right now,” Noth said, shifting her load a little to keep it balanced as they walked. The midday sun bore down on them but it was still cold out. Hal was morbidly curious how cold it would get when winter came on in full. Clearly, the place had earned its name. “We need whatever gets us up and going as fast as possible.”

  “True enough.”

  As they walked toward the west, the sound of construction washed in all over them. Dwarves were hustling about here and there. The sound of orders being shouted and dwarven voices lifted high in song eased Hal’s worries of overworking them.

  He was. He knew that. They knew that, and he made sure that the dwarves understood he recognized their sacrifice.

  Owing to his reputation with them and their natural dwarven desire to work hard in the face of adversity, every dwarf was able to work for 12 hours a day. A feat not usually possible.

  Not only could they work 50% longer than the few others they had, but they suffered no morale penalty unless forced to do so for quite a long time.

  With the Founder’s Day buff, each person not only generated more CP because of the Morale bonus but also from a direct CP boost. Together, their CP generation was almost doubled.

  Having just reached Level 10 Bonecraft, Hal’s CP was at 22.5 and that was largely thanks to his creation - or rather, rediscovery - of the lost art. With the 50% Morale boost and the 25% CP boost from Founder’s Day, Hal was sitting at 39.4.

  And that was without even being part of a Crafter or Gatherer Band. Something he realized rather belatedly that he needed to do. Even if he didn’t get much of a benefit, surely those around him would.

  He was already making sure he was nearby, he might as well go the extra mile and have both Noth and himself join one of the established Crafting Bands.

  Too bad he couldn’t use his CP from Bonecrafting in place of his missing Construction skill to build the walls alongside the dwarves, instead of only creating materials for them.

  When Hal came upon the first Earthen Bulwark he was surprised at the progress. They had barely begun that morning and though his Tactician bonus didn’t affect the CP required very much, they were already nearly a quarter done with the construction.

  Hal found not Athagan, but Durvin directing these dwarves. Another dwarf, one that Hal didn’t know the name of, was putting his bushy head together with Durvin’s as they bent over the schematics weighed down on a hastily cobbled table.

  Durvin caught sight of Hal and the relief on the older dwarf’s face was palpable. That is, until he spied Noth with the massive [Palisade Spike] balanced on her shoulder.

  92

  Hal waited while Durvin spluttered and stamped about. Here too the grass was springy and healthy despite the many heavy dwarven boots trampling it. He had explained what he planned to do and while originally Durvin was glad for the help, he soon started to curse and rant and rave.

  While Durvin was otherwise preoccupied, Hal took the time to sort through his long overdue Bonecrafting perks.

  You have 1 Bonecrafting Perk point awaiting assignment.

  Bone Purification 0/1

  Purge impurities from bone, increasing the likelihood of achieving higher quality and reducing the amount of CP needed to craft material made from purified bone. Purified bones are required for Bone Ensorcellment.

  +10% High-Quality rate.

  -10% CP cost.

  Essence Imbuement 0/1

  While others must slay or find their raw materials, you are capable of creating it. This comes with a number of additional features - and drawbacks. With Essence Imbuement you can specifically aim to create bones of monsters whom you have at least 100% Monster Affinity with.

  Ossification Mastery 0/1

  Master the art of working with bone, honoring the creatures the material came from and utilizing it in the most efficient manner possible. In doing so, you not only can work with more materials but can work with all materials faster.

  Unlocks: Draconic Bone.

  +5% High-Quality rate.

  +5% CP.

  There was absolutely no way he wasn’t going to pick Essence Imbuement. Not only was it perfectly suited to him - and unique - it gave him exactly what he was after.

  True, it didn’t improve his raw ability to create anything but it would have some interesting effects. What would a shadow bone look like? Or an eldritch? While he wouldn’t feel comfortable about using goblin bones, he couldn’t help wondering what benefits they might confer.

  Selecting it, Hal turned his attention back to Durvin just as he was winding down. The bronze-eyed dwarf cast a baleful look his way, put his strong fists on his hips, and said, “Get yerself on the Ironspine Band and stay outta the way, boy! We ain’t got time to hold yer hand, gotta do enough o’ that with all the dunderheads that don’t know crossbeam from a brace!”

  Hal accepted the invite as soon as it came. He saw Noth’s name pop up next to his in a much larger list than the typical party menu. Rather than a bunch of bars indicating HP, SP, and MP, it was a list of names and their current GP or CP generation on their given task.

  Durvin invites you to Crafting Band (Ironspine).

  +15% CP.

  New Band Buff Active: Master in the Building.

  -10% Material cost.

  -10% CP cost.

  +15% Epiphany chance.

  It also listed the current group work, in this case, it was the two nearby Earthen Bulwarks. Since each Earthen Bulwark had a worker limit of 10 people that meant
Hal and Noth were displacing two workers.

  He felt bad about it until he realized that the CP generation had jumped by half and he gave the Master in the Building buff to everybody in the band.

  Quickly the few grumbles turned to shouts of surprise. While every person above the initial 5 in a Crafting Band granted some bonus, it was usually fairly small it seemed.

  “What’s epiphany?” Noth asked.

  Durvin’s eyes were filled with wonder and he stared at Hal like he might kiss him again like he had during the feast that first night. Right before Hal got black-out drunk.

  He wasn’t keen on replicating either of those two events and took a cautious step backward.

  “Ye durned…” he grumbled and shook his beard. It was a good deal longer and fuller than the close-cropped thing he had when Hal met him. He was looking like more of a proper dwarf every day. “Dagdamora, boy, and Mornhammer and Dumaduin thrown in as well!”

  “What do the dwarven gods have to do with my question?” Noth asked.

  Durvin turned a bushy brow her way, surprised she had recognized the names. “An epiphany is a rare thing, lass. Ye sometimes get an idea in yer head when doin’ something mundane?”

  “No,” Noth said. “But I have not been mortal very long. I did not do ‘mundane’ things before I turned mortal.”

  “I get what you mean,” Hal said before Durvin could start on a rant again. “Please, go on.”

  Grumbling, Durvin explained, “What it means, is while yer doin’ some crafting ye got a chance to get an Epiphany, capital ‘E’. When ye be gettin’ an Epiphany ye Level Up. Don’t matter if ye got a hunnerd or a thousand Experience to go. Ye go straight to the next Level.”

  When Noth and Hal both stared at Durvin as if he was about to confess he was joking, the dwarf shook his head. “Now ye see just how important that buff be. Ain’t never seen it meself, but ye ain’t gonna find a moment o’ peace now boy.” He turned to Hal with a toothy grin. “Everybody and their uncle’s gonna want ye in their Crafting Band now that they know what ye got.”

  “And who could blame ‘em?” bellowed a similarly bronze-haired dwarf that was beside Durvin. He extended a gloved hand to Hal, shaking his hand so hard it felt like he might rip Hal’s arm off with the motion. “Name’s Snakkoth Rubybrow. Ye can just call me Snak. Everybody does.”

  “Nice to meet you Snak,” Hal said.

  He turned to shake Noth’s hand, who likewise greeted him.

  “Yer five percent increase ain’t even the best thing. Ye got the cost of materials down a tenth, the CP cost of the durned construction down a tenth, and ye gave durned near everybody a one-in-sixth chance of leaping up a Level. Crappin’ karaks, boy! I thought fer sure Durvin was pulling me beard when he told me about working with ye.

  “Yer a heap of Mythril in a slag pit ye are, boy! I’m in charge o’ the Ironspines and truth-be-told, I don’t care much what ye do. Yer buffs are enough that ye could sit on yer keister all day if ye liked and not a one o’ our boys would say a word against ye.”

  Durvin snorted like a bull about to charge. “Ain’t nobody gonna say a word against the lad anyway. None of us would be here without Hal, and dwarven memory ain’t so short as a human’s.”

  “True enough,” Snak said with a pat on Durvin’s back. “True enough! Ye go do yer own thing, just stick around eh? The buff’s got itself a wide range but it’s only about a quarter-mile. Stay near so everybody gets it and ye can go fart in the wind for all’s I care!”

  Hal shook his head, the laughter of the two dwarves echoed above the resumed clamor of work being down. Stone was chiseled and stacked, earth dug up and deposited.

  The first Earthen Bulwark was already down to 298.5 CP cost from his initial Tactician benefit. With the new Crafting Band buff, that was reduced further. Hal noted with a grin that the reduction was off of the base CP cost and not the new lower amount.

  That put the Earthen Bulwark at 268.5 CP cost. A quick glance at the dwarves in the Ironspine Band showed an average CP of 2.4 as their base rate. With the variety of bonuses that were stacked upon each of them, that number was drastically inflated.

  The 50% Morale boost, 25% Founder’s Day buff, and the 15% Ironspine Band boost all added up to a whopping 90% increase. Even without the buffs, ten of them combined were capable of roughly 24 CP an hour.

  At the reduced cost of 268.5 per Earthen Bulwark that put them at just over 11 hours of work to finish a single wall section.

  And since the dwarves could work for a ridiculous 12 hours a day, that meant a single wall section would be completed per day, per group. Granted, there were only about three to four bands in total with the majority on the wall.

  They had a band at the Town Hall but the buffs were not nearly as powerful as they were at the gap where the walls were being constructed. With only 8 workers on the Town Hall and nothing else being constructed within a quarter-mile, the effect of a Crafting Band was fairly minor.

  But, the Ironspines were not operating at a basic level.

  Their base CP was practically doubled. Though Hal had to remind himself that he and Noth were taking up two slots. Though the dwarves were roughly at 2.4 CP each, only 9 could work on a single Earthen Bulwark at once unless Hal and Noth joined in.

  Adjusting for that still gave a hefty base rate of 21.6 CP per hour. With all the stacking buffs, if Hal and Noth completely abstained from any construction - which Hal had no intention of avoiding - the dwarves had a staggering 41 CP.

  The 20-man Ironspine Band could almost put up 4 Earthen Bulwarks a day. Each 9-man team could generate roughly 41 CP and it would take them just over 6 and a half hours to finish one Earthen Bulwark. With Noth and Hal’s help, they should be able to bring that down to an even 4 per day.

  At that rate, the Ironspine Band alone could finish the Earthen Bulwarks on their own.

  With the knowledge that Luda could extend the Founder’s Day throughout the week, Hal suddenly felt much more confident.

  He immediately set up a space at the first Earthen Bulwark and set to work. The dwarves there gave him a wide, respectful berth. Even going so far as to deliver a few ramshackle tables.

  Noth placed the first [Palisade Spike] down and Hal got to work creating a second one. Instead of creating normal bone, or bone that was colored by his essence, he was capable of selecting the type of bone as if he found it on the monster itself.

  Hal picked shadow, and as he deposited his mana, the massive bone sharpened log that formed was indistinct and ephemeral but solid to the touch. At night it would be practically impossible to see. And that’s precisely what he was hoping for.

  They could do this.

  93

  On his third [Shadow Palisade Spike], Hal felt a surge of knowledge flood through him and then a prompt flashed across his vision.

  Epiphany!

  Your Bonecrafting has risen to Level 12.

  +1.1% Crafting speed (+13.2%).

  +1.2% MP efficiency (+14.4%).

  “I could get used to this,” he said with a grin at Noth. He noticed something else too. Using shadow seemed faster than the normal, neutral bone he made. Considering his high affinity to shadow… was that playing a role?

  For the first half of the day Hal tinkered with Bonecrafting, creating one [Palisade Spike] after the next, often in a different affinity than before. And to his delight, affinity did play a role in how quickly he could make it and how much MP it cost.

  Stronger affinity essences took less MP and less CP to make. Through a great deal of experimentation, Hal discovered it to be around 2% less MP per 100% affinity and half that reduction in CP cost.

  A little more experimentation and some helpful input from Noth showed that it was a linear progression. Which meant the bone from a 100% monster affinity cost 2% MP less and 1% less CP to make. But a 150% monster affinity bone would result in a 3% MP reduction and cost 1.5% less CP.

  A single [Palisade Spike] cost 130 MP normally. A [Shadow Palisade Spike] co
st 121.5 MP and cost 9.6 CP to craft. And shadow essence wasn't even his highest affinity. That would be eldritch, followed by aberration.

  Eldritch, however, granted him 12.4% MP reduction and a 6.2% lowered CP cost. He tried Splicing two essences and tapping those but it led to either a complete failure or only the first selected essence working.

  While he liked the shadowy almost gelatinous look of a [Shadow Palisade Spike], the [Eldritch Palisade Spike] had a twisted pale white with red threads visage that was strikingly beautiful. Noth hefted the most recent spike and took it over to the construction area set aside.

  After not too long, Hal heard a golden bell ring somewhere in the distance and a prompt rolled in that made him smile as he finished his lunch with Noth. They had taken a break, as much to rest as to eat something and discuss which of the [Palisade Spikes] was best.

  The prompt, however, was not unique to Hal.

  You have completed construction on the Earthen Bulwark.

  You have completed construction on the Earthen Bulwark.

  The Bravers Guild has reached Level 3.

  +10 Guild Point generation (30/day).

  +25 Guild Point capacity (275).

  You have 1 Guild Perk awaiting assignment.

  Building things definitely seemed to be a way to farm some decent Guild EXP. And considering how badly they needed buildings, it was a win-win. Hal leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. The roughshod piece of furniture creaked ominously and Hal straightened up again as he focused on the Guild Perk menu.

  Mercantile and Adventure Archetypes would have to wait. They already had a point in Authority and Settlement. Authority was mostly administration and management, something he didn’t really need right then.