Two days? I had been cutting out the Rose for two days? While being spoon-fed all the while? Must have been quite a sight! Stop! Two days?! Today was the deadline for completing the quest from Rine! What was the time?
"Kart, where is Rine?"
"He's here somewhere, taking his granddaughter for a walk in the grounds. We have a visitor's day today, so he's showing her the sights. Kept asking how you were doing. He even came up to you a couple of times, shook his head and walked away muttering something to himself. Will you tell us what's going on?"
"Later Kart, no time now. I must find him as soon as possible!"
"You don't have to go far for that - there he is," Kart gestured somewhere behind me, I turned around and saw Rine with a little dwarven lass, who was running around our mine like a supersonic jet. She looked about ten, her black hair stuck out in two pony tails and the image was completed by a long polka dot dress. An endless torrent of questions reached my ears:
"Grandpa, when granite is found, it's handed over to you, yes? Grandpa, does granite have a soul of its own or not? Grandpa, can you show me what can be made from it? Grandpa..."
That's some granddaughter Rine had there. Suddenly they were standing right next to me and I saw a questioning look in Rine's eyes. It was actually more pleading than questioning. I nodded.
"Stay right here a minute, don't run off anywhere," Rine told his granddaughter in a strict tone and then walked over to me and whispered. "Well? Did you manage it?"
I handed the Rose over to him. Rine took a few seconds to look it over and then his face broke into a smile. He shouted:
"Where are you running off to, lass? Come here, grandpa's got a present for you!"
In the flash of an eye the little girl was at Rine's side. A fresh trail of dust indicated that she got here using her feet rather than a scroll of teleportation.
"Here, take this. I found just the present for a fidget like you," said Rine and handed the Rose to his granddaughter.
The little girl quickly snatched the present and started to examine it. She looked at the Rose for a few seconds and then looked up, her huge eyes filled with tears, and shouted: "My grandpa is the best dwarf in the whole world!" and jumped up to embrace Rine.
Quest "Present for Rine's granddaughter" completed. Reward: +100 Experience, +100 reputation with Pryke Mine Guards, 70-slot Bag and permanent discount of 20% when buying items from Rine. To receive the bag contact Rine.
"Mahan, drop by in the evening," said Rine in a happy whisper as he hugged his granddaughter. When he put her back down, she began running around the mine, screaming: "I have a Rose! Grandpa gave me a Rose! My grandpa is the best dwarf in the world!" I could see that her parents had their work cut out for them!
In the evening I visited a very pleased Rine, took the new bag off him and headed for the smithy - the governor's quest wasn’t going anywhere and I only had ten days left to complete it.
I had barely touched my work when three men walked into the smithy. Two I did not know and the third was Kart, who at this time was usually busy making Copper Ingots. Come to think of it, I did remember one of them - he was among the five to whom we sold our surplus ore after they failed to meet their daily quota. Had they come to offer their thanks once again? Of course, that's nothing to turn your nose up at, I'd even enjoy it. But this felt rather strange. When they saw me they glanced at each other hesitantly and headed in my direction.
"Mahan, we need to have a chat," started Kart.
"All right, let's talk then," I responded, in full incomprehension.
"Let's go outside, since it's a bit crowded here," Kart went on, glancing around the smithy. In the evenings the smithy, which was divided in two parts, was full. Rine was working on one end and the other was full of prisoners. Here Kart made Copper Ingots, Sakas was always carving something from wood, Alt painted his pictures and another couple of dozen people got on with various jobs. On the whole it was full of normal work activity.
"Let's go out then, if we must," I responded and followed the three outside. Kart seemed to have some unfathomable plan in the works.
We walked a few meters away from the smithy, then they all stopped and turned towards me.
"Mahan, this man's name is Bohn and he can tell you all about it himself. Should have done it a while back, really, but you were too busy all the time so we never got around to it. Go on, Bohn."
"When you rubbed out Bat, his group was thrown into turmoil; some of the people started to leave for other gangs, while others decided to go it alone. One of the latter even decided to play that joke with the plates. Rick and I," he nodded in the direction of the third guy, who had remained silent all this time, "also decided to join Grom's gang. But we would only be accepted if we sent you off for a respawn. I'm sorry, but we prepared ourselves pretty well - bought stones off Rine and crushed them to put them in your plate later. But the idiot who stole the plates messed it all up for us. I did not manage to mine my quota and if not for you I'd be the one taking the respawn trip. You helped me, even though you didn't have to. So, instead of you we put the crushed stone into that idiot's plate. As a result Grom didn't take us in, since we failed our job, and we decided to join you, because it's very dangerous to remain alone in the mine. People are wary of you here and are reluctant to cross you directly. Even Grom wanted to get to you by using someone else. That's why we went to Kart, as your right-hand-man, and asked for an audience. Kart agreed on the condition that we would watch your back. So for the last two weeks we made sure that no-one touched you and helped Kart feed you when you got stuck with that stone of yours. We only failed with your items, since we didn't know you left stuff just like that in the smithy. The probation period set by Kart had ended, so we now come to you with the question - will you take us into your gang?"
I had to take a seat. Right there and then, since I didn't expect this at all. Me, have a gang? But why am I the last one to find out about this?
"Kart, what the hell is going on here?" I forced a question out of myself.
"You still don't get it? Then I'll explain. Although I'm very surprised at how slow you are. Really, knowing you, I thought you'd be quicker on the uptake. From the moment that you sent Bat off the mine, you became a central figure for those focused on levelling up in their professions. Haven't you noticed how people have been coming to you for advice? Remember how a Leatherworker and a Sculptor had an argument over a work station in the smithy? What happened? You said that the Sculptor came first, so the place was his. And that was it, the matter had been settled, no-one said anything, your word was the law. Didn't you yourself notice how you've taken the place of the boss of the craftsmen in the mine? You may be an unofficial one, but you're still a boss."
"What the friggin' hell do you mean by a 'boss', Kart? What are you talking about? Would anyone dare to nick a boss's stash of items? I can tell you that no, they wouldn't. But ours did get nicked, the whole load of it and afterwards we were told to get lost quite emphatically."
"Mahan, you're such a naive clod," smiled Kart. "Although, truth be told, quite a few things happened while you sat there oblivious to the world around you. Remember: as long as you're making the rings you'll remain untouchable in the mine - the benefits received by the people using them are just too high. So no-one would want to get on your bad side just for a small amount of experience in Meanness. While you were 'off-line' creating, not only was all the stolen stuff returned to you, in the form of money at least, since those idiots immediately sold everything to Rine, but it was even topped up with 30 gold as compensation. And the oafs who took our things will be working for us for free in the mine, while other prisoners personally make sure they’re not slacking. Official apologies and assurances of peace were relayed to you, although I believe that none of that really mattered to you at the time. And these two chaps didn't just feed you for two days in a row, but also prevented three attempts to drop some crushed rock into your food. So, I congratulate you, Mahan, you are now the lead
er of those who took the path of levelling up in professions."
"And what do I do with all this?" I uttered reluctantly.
"Obtain the official status of a supervisor from the orc," replied Kart and gave me a list of some kind, "here you go, this is the list of people who signed confirming that they want to be under your supervision. And that's without us asking everyone, but only those whom we were sure of. Fifty seven people in total.”
Bloody hell! Do I even need this? Did anyone ask me whether I wanted to be a boss and be responsible for 57 people? All this was probably so clearly readable in my face that Kart chuckled and said:
"Calm down, other than paying a visit to the orc, there is nothing you have to do personally; your task is to make rings. Everything else is not your problem. By the way, you will automatically be receiving ten percent of the money made by each member of the gang. So you'll be paid well for your work."
"All right, I'll give you my reply in the morning. Decisions like these are not made in five minutes."
Next morning I went to the orc, handed him the list and expressed my desire to become a supervisor in the mine, in charge of the people on the list. The orc took a few seconds to examine the names, and then a chair appeared in the office and the orc said:
"Take a seat. And tell me why you need this."
For a while I sat there, unable to explain my decision. When I arrived at it during the night it seemed to me to be the decent and the right thing to do, but now, sitting in front of the orc I was not as sure. I finally made up my mind and looked at the governor.
"In short: it will make life easier for normal people."
The orc thought this over for a moment and then made a brief remark.
"He who takes a lot upon himself will have a lot to answer for. Remember this."
Your reputation with the Pryke Mine Guards has increased by 100 points. Current level: Friendly. You are 1685 points away from the status of Respect.
Attention! Changes to the description of the Charisma stat. The following skills have been added: people under your supervision receive extra Experience, percentage equal to your Charisma score.
Skill increase:
+1 to Charisma. Total: 3
After leaving the mine boss I went to the smithy to make rings. With a familiar turn of hand I wound the wire, connected the ends and ended up with a ring. It was just an ordinary ring, nothing special. How was it on the stat side?
Lesser Copper Ring. Durability 30. Strength +1. Stamina +1. Minimum level: 1
Well, yes, just an ordinary +1 ring. I threw it into the pile with the rest, took out more wire and began to make a new ring.
STOP! What the??? I ran like lightning to the pile of rings and started to look for the one I had just made. When I found it, I looked it over from every side, but nothing seemed to distinguish it from the rest: after all, I had used the same process to make them all. Where was the recipe? I opened the Jeweler's Recipe Book and, mesmerized, spent several minutes looking at the ring's description:
Lesser Copper Ring.
Description: Lesser Copper Ring. Durability: 30. 1 random Stat from the list: Strength, Agility, Intellect, Stamina, Rage. A bonus is added on account of the Crafting stat: (Crafting level) random Stat from the list: Strength, Agility, Intellect, Stamina, Rage. Minimum level: 1.
Crafting requirements: minimum Jewelcraft level 2.
Ingredients: 2 Copper Wires.
Instruments: Jeweler's Tools.
1 random stat from the Crafting skill... If Crafting increases the number of additional bonuses on my rings then I should put the maximum number of free stat points into it. I was saving up those 22 points for a reason. Possessing a +23 ring with the ability to change the stats at any time is simply heaven for a starting player. Easy said - easy done. I stopped and opened the window with my stats.
Attention, the Crafting stat cannot be increased by addition of stat points!
What the hell?! So it looks like there is no easy way to level up Crafting. So, what to do? Eh, I wish I had the manual, I'd look up everything I need to know straight away. But now I'll have to find out for myself, by blind trial and error. I found Kart and told him about Crafting and its effect on the rings I made. I'm not sure if it was the effect of my words on Kart or the fact that he'd been trying to make metal sheets for eight days without any success, but he finally had a break-through and made a sheet with the required parameters. Pleased, Kart gave it to me and got on with making the rest; I went off to try and figure out what it was I had to do with it.
The simplest answer that came to me was to link the edges of the sheet together, polish them and get a completed ring. But how do I attach a stone to it?
I came to Kart in the evening, still without a clue of what to do with it. To my surprise he was finishing his 20th sheet, diligently banging it with a hammer. This meant that his remaining time should be free. And after we hand in the quest he'll leave the mine altogether. I should ask him to make something for me to remember him by. Although, what could a Smith/Leatherworker make? Suddenly an idea struck me: I knew exactly what he could make!
"Oh, Mahan, it's good that you came by. Just imagine - I’m finished already! Only the first one gave me trouble as I was getting the hang of it, but it was all plain sailing after that. So you better not let me down! Now it's all up to you!"
"Kart, you've done very well for sure, but I’m here with a proposal for you," I said and described my idea to Kart. "Will you make it?"
"Mahan, are you kidding me? I have no idea how to make that!"
"But you had no idea how to make the sheets either, right? And with this you don't even need to measure anything to make sure every millimeter is where it should be. Let's sit down and think how to go about it. I'm sure you'll manage it! You have plans to leave the mine in a week's time and this way I'd at least have something to remember you by."
"So you already know what you need these sheets for?"
"Not a clue. If the worst comes to worst and I can't think of anything else, I'll just connect a Rose and a ring, which should give me the needed result. But there must have been a reason why you were given the task of making these blasted sheets. We just have to figure out how to use them. So, I can do the thinking and you can work on my request. All right?"
Skill increase:
+10% to Charisma. Total: 30%
"You have a deal; I should be able to get to grips with the first part easily enough, but the second might present difficulties. That's all right though, it's for me to worry about now?"
"Correct. By the way, tell people that from today I am able to make +2 stat rings: they will cost 5 gold per ring. If anyone wants one, they know where to come."
"Need you ask? I'll be the first in the queue! You're making some for me, right? Selling these rings should be easy as pie. You already have a week-long queue for that, so keep making them, I'm going to need the money now," Kart smiled, looking pleased. Yes, he's one foot out of the mine. I envy him... How will I live here without him?
Leaving Kart to get on with my request I headed to Rine. My idea needed stones, if I didn't know what to do with the sheets yet (they just wouldn't form a ring, and there was twenty of them), then at least I knew where I was with stones.
"Hello, Rine. How's your granddaughter - did she like my present?" I began as I came up to the working dwarf.
"Oh, her parents heard no end of the stories about her rose. She runs around with it all over the place, doesn't go anywhere without it. Remembers me fondly for it too. What can I help you with?"
"I'd like to buy twenty granite stones off you. I seem to recall that you were prepared to sell them to me one copper a piece."
"You may as well remember something I told you a year ago!" Suddenly I seemed to be speaking to an altogether different dwarf. "What about inflation? And taxes? Do you know how much we have to pay for all these stones lying here? I can't sell them to you for a copper a piece. Each stone now costs 1 gold, and that's at a discoun
t for you as a loyal customer."
Thirty minutes of arguing with the dwarf had zero effect. A gold for each stone and that's that. I didn't even level up my Trade by one percent. It was impossible with someone this stubborn. Dammit, hadn't I been promised a 20% discount on all goods after completing that quest for Rine?! Hard-hearted dwarf!
"All right Rine, it's a deal," I gave up. "20 stones at 1 gold each. But I'm going to be the one to pick them out!"
"Of course you'll be doing that," said the dwarf, satisfied. "Like I have time to dig around that pile. Pay 10 gold for the privilege of choosing the stones and off you go. You know where the pile is."
"Rine, what is this? Are you trying to make a business out of exploiting me? What's with these prices? 10 gold just for digging around the pile?"
"Yes, why are you so surprised? We're going through a crisis right now, on account of dire shortage of Copper Ore; which we have you to thank for, by the way. So we have to get inventive just to avoid going broke."
"Rine, I thought no alcohol was sold at the mine, where did you get some? I'm prepared to pay 30 gold for a bottle."
"What are you on about? What alcohol?" the dwarf asked, surprised.
"What do you mean, what alcohol? The normal kind that you drank before I came to you and that completely clouded your brains. All right, you forgot that I made the present for your granddaughter. These things can happen to a dwarf: I’ve heard all about it. But what shortage are you talking about? Yes, we are now buying virtually all the surplus ore, but during the last month the average level of the Mining profession at our mine increased from 9 to 11. Everyone started to hand in 20 more pieces of Copper ore every day. And aren’t you the one who collects all the surplus left after the processing? I only need half an ingot for a wire - what happens to the other half? Kart can't re-smelt it, there's a clear limitation there, but then our kind and, more importantly, thrifty dwarf takes the remains of the bar for himself, right? Absolutely free of charge too! And that happens with each item made in the mine! You make more in leftovers than you ever did in unprocessed ore that was sold to you as surplus! And I bet you have no trouble making new copper bars out of the unused bits. Just try and tell me this isn't so! I know you, you won’t lie to my face - if the income of the mine hasn’t increased from the time I started to make the rings I'll pay you 60 gold right now, just to dig through that pile. Well, Rine, don't you want to earn a lump sum? But if I am correct, taking 10 gold just so I can go through the pile is simply a disgrace, Rine. A big dwarven disgrace!"
Survival Quest (The Way of the Shaman: Book #1) Page 13