The Land: Predators

by Aleron Kong

  The back wall of the room was set flush against the wall of the Dungeon. In its center was the shimmering energy field that led to the Entrance Chamber and the Well of Offering. There was no door, but the marbled quartz wall was three feet thick. What no one but Richter, and maybe Roswan, knew at this point was that a slab of marbled quartz was suspended above the open doorway.

  If needed, a block of stone that was thirty-five and a half inches thick, and weighed exactly 45.63 tons could be dropped into place. Richter didn’t think anyone could pass through the portal without his permission, but he was done making stupid assumptions. Maybe a giant wall of stone wouldn’t protect his settlement from a high-level Labyrinth monster, but then again, maybe it would.

  The far wall had a set of perfectly balanced wooden doors. The exit was twice as large as the doorways leading to the side rooms. Despite the extremely heavy weight of the doors, the otherworldly perfection of the Room’s construction let them be opened and closed by a single person with minimal effort. Both doors had cranks that, when turned, would fire bolts into both the wall and the other door, locking them in place.

  The outer wall itself was five feet thick, but the doors were recessed from the outside, only being two feet thick. The reason for the discrepancy was that a large block of stone was hidden above that doorway as well, ready to be dropped down to seal this room off from the rest of the Dungeon. The only other features in the room were two stairways, each in a far corner of the chamber, leading up to the roof.

  The Room was perfect in its simplicity. As skilled as Roswan was, the elf could never have made a structure that had such exact balance. Richter looked at the other two men in pride. Randolphus read his liege’s face and gave the expected platitude. There was no sign of Roswan though. A few moments later, the elf walked back into the central chamber from one of the side rooms, wiping excess water off on his pants.

  “Grrrmm. Nice square room. That toilet can take a punch.”

  An unmatched fury rose in Richter for just a second. You did NOT bless another man’s bathroom if he hadn’t done it himself yet! It just didn’t happen. Richter seethed for a few more seconds before finding his woosa again. Different world, different customs… maybe. The chaos seed did give himself a moment to imagine how good it would feel to shave his Dungeon Keeper’s mustache. That particular zen-like exercise always helped.

  Richter left the main door shut and barred. Instead, he jogged up one of the stairways, the other two men following closely behind. Once up top, they all saw what Richter already knew would be there: battlements. The central chamber they had walked up from and the two side rooms were only half of the Barbican. The other half was a large open courtyard. More marbled quartz walls enclosed the square space. They were four feet thick and his defenders would be able to patrol the tops of the walls protected by crenelated battlements.

  Looking down into the courtyard, it was easy to see that this section only had two exits. One was the large door leading back into the chamber they had just left. Two golden mini-Nodes were set into the walls to either side of the doorway, allowing defenders to immediately escape danger even if the doors to the inner room had already been closed. In the wall leading out to the Dungeon was another perfectly balanced door. Above it, the wall rose higher than any other section. Instead of a slab of marbled quartz, this hid a high steel portcullis that could be dropped down in case of emergency. This would allow defenders to keep killing attacking monsters even as they retreated.

  Atop each corner of the square, the walkway widened enough to accommodate small siege engines. If another monster like the mauler ever invaded, they would have to deal with ballista bolts and scorpion fire. There were also spouts pockmarking the walls. Above each spout there was a hole on the inside of the battlement where oil, or any other liquid substance, could be poured to spray over the heads and bodies of invaders.

  Richter took a moment to walk to the front of the battlements and look out. There, somehow looking larger than he remembered, stood the mauler. It looked back at him, their eyes almost level now that Richter was standing atop the Barbican. He could feel its mind continuing to rage against the wall of Blood magic that kept it under his control, but the enchantment would hold for another twenty-two hours. It would be enough.

  He asked if his new pet had been any trouble, but Roswan shook his head. The elf said the mauler had just stayed in one position, apparently ordered to do so by Alma after she had knocked him unconscious. The Dungeon beasts had also ignored it now that it was no longer making threatening moves. Richter turned his attention back to his new Room.

  It was an extremely strong fortification, but there was something strange about it. The second part of the Room had been designed to allow defenders to kill those inside of the walls as easily as they killed those outside of them.

  Randolphus picked up on that almost immediately, “This is an amazing defensive structure, my lord, though I wonder if we might have created something different. I understand the need to protect the village from monsters, especially after the recent attack, but there is no guarantee that even the mauler would have been able to break through the portal. Also, Labyrinth monsters become dependent on the high concentrations of magic found in their home and Dungeons. They would be more likely to simply retreat back into the Labyrinth rather than risk death by leaving the Dungeon and wasting away due to the lack of ambient mana.”

  “I know,” Richter responded with a knowing grin. “And you would be absolutely right if all I was worried about was monsters and Adventurers. That isn’t what this Room is really for though.” With that last statement, he spent the majority of his remaining Settlement Points.

  This was the one purchase that was really going to make a difference. It was what he had checked the cost of before he’s spent a single point. This was what would make his village a true power in The Land!

  PORTAL

  *Cost in Building Points

  Level

  Cost*

  Effect

  Novice

  2,289

  Novice level portals must have the sending and receiving portal on the same ley line.

  Initiate

  5,538

  Initiate level portals must have the sending and receiving portal on the same type of ley line. The receiving portal must be initiate or higher if the ley line it is built upon is not the same ley line as the transmitting portal.

  Apprentice

  14,680

  Apprentice level portals must be built upon confluences of ley lines and can have multiple exit points. The number of exits is determined by the number of ley lines that the portal is built upon. The receiving portal must be initiate or higher if the ley line it is built upon is not the same ley line as the transmitting portal.

  Would you like to purchase an Apprentice Level Portal for 2,936 Settlement Points? Yes or No?

  It was with great satisfaction that Richter, at long last, brought a portal to the Mist Village.

  Total Settlement Points Remaining: 920

  The ground of the courtyard shook as if there was an earthquake. The Dungeon monsters that had been sniffing at the walls of the Barbican fled in panic, though the mauler remained motionless. Two large spikes of pale blue stone erupted from the ground. They were two feet thick and appeared wet though no dirt clung to them. At the same time, three more pairs of spikes shot upward. One pair was blacker than midnight while the other two were a shining gold and pale yellow respectively.

  More rocks erupted from the ground, shooting towards the spikes as if they were being drawn by magnets. Emeralds, diamonds, lumps of pure gold and even more precious resources were called forth from the earth. The tear of a basilisk, powdered dragon’s tooth, the elemental iron heart of a lava djinn and more were summoned to create this powerful object. Some of the ingredients could have been exchanged for less rare crafting materials, but Richter would only have done that because he lacked these perfect elements. The knowledge he had gained from the Tefonim
had included the ideal ingredients to make a portal as well as those that could be substituted. The magic he had just unleashed had no such limitations.

  As each new piece was added, the overall structure began to take shape. Archways appeared, connecting the spikes. Soon after a dome came into being, connecting the archways. More and more resources were added. Work that would have taken months now only took seconds. Randolphus watched opened-mouthed and even Roswan’s eyes had widened. Richter wouldn’t have spent so many Settlement points just for that sight, but it was a nice perk. Minutes passed, and the final items were added: four seventh-tier, special level souls, the equivalent of four captured demons… or angels. They were spent all at once, awakening the four sides of the portal. There was a great flash of light, so bright that the three men watching had to turn away.

  And then, it was done.

  When Richter looked again, he saw that a square structure stood in the courtyard, twenty feet to a side. The dome that had been there during construction had vanished. Four archways lined the borders of the structure, allowing four portals to be active at once. At the apex of each arc, there was a glowing jewel. Each was a different color that matched one of the four colors of Richter’s Place of Power. Right then, the structure looked like a delicate and beautiful open-air gazebo. Anyone could casually stroll across it. He knew that once receiving portals were built, each of the four sides would become alive with energy and would allow instant travel to four other locations built atop ley lines. The Master Node was not the only thing that would be bringing new people to the Mist Village!

  As soon as the construction was done, his vision exploded with prompts.

  Congratulations! You have created an Apprentice Portal. A building of this stature has not been built in The Land for over a millennia. In any age it would be considered powerful, but now it qualifies as a Minor Wonder of The Land!

  Creating a Minor Wonder provides the following general gifts:

  +9% Movement Speed for every member of your settlement

  +5,000 Relationship Points with any other settlement you connect to via your Apprentice Portal

  Richter had had no idea the portal would have additional benefits beyond instant travel, but he would sure as hell take it. His people could move around almost ten percent faster now, and he would get a relationship bonus by connecting his portal to other settlements. Either the Air or Life ley line would be connected to the Hearth Tree, most likely the Life ley line, though that wouldn’t change much because they already had over one hundred thousand relationship points and had reached ally status. For any settlement he was neutral with though, that five thousand point bonus would be enough to advance their relationship five ranks, all the way to interested! It would make forming trade treaties way more likely.

  All of a sudden, he thought of his fallen enemy. The ghast’s disgusting, decaying face appeared in his mind’s eye. Richter studied it for a moment, then winked at the image in his mind. Thanks for the Heart Crystal, jagoff.

  Just like when he had made Core buildings, the portal gave a boost to Loyalty and Morale. Not as much, but it was still a good bump towards the next rank.

  Know This! Your people cannot help but be impressed that you have created such a monumental structure. Their Morale and Loyalty will change to reflect this.

  +200 Morale Points for adding a Minor Wonder to the village

  Base: +1079 x 1.84 (+25% Undefeated x +41% Administrator x +10% Health x -2% Crime x +10% Vassal State)

  Total Morale Points: +1,985

  +100 Loyalty Points for adding a Minor Wonder to the village

  Base: +2,378 x 1.86 (+25% Undefeated x +41% Administrator x +10% Health x +10% Vassal State)

  Total Loyalty Points: +4,423

  “You did it, my lord!” Randolphus exclaimed. “You have created a portal!” Then, because the man truly was an economy-conscious chamberlain, as well as a Spy, he added, “You have just saved the village a vast sum of money by using the Settlement Points.”

  Richter chuckled. Randy had expressed concern over the portal’s cost, and rightly so. A novice level portal required ten pounds of pure gold and that wasn’t even the most expensive component. The inexpensive-slash-cheap version of what they were looking at now would have cost over one hundred thirty thousand gold in materials alone, the equivalent of almost thirteen million dollars. Put another way, it would have bankrupted the village.

  The portal Richter had been planning on having Roswan make would have been level one and would have only been able to connect to a single location. Now, the village could utilize the portal’s true potential. That was why it was with supreme satisfaction that Richter responded, “Yes, I have. Now who is up for celebrating with bacon and beer?”

  “Grmmm,” came Roswan’s happy response.

  CHAPTER 92 – Day 149 – Kuborn 39, 0 AoC

  Richter set Alma loose to hunt in the Dungeon. Except for the Harbinger, there shouldn’t be anything in the barrow that she couldn’t handle. For himself, he jogged back down the stairs and passed through the Barbican’s open doorway. Black Ice was in one hand and his elementum short sword in the other. Randolphus stood next to him, not wearing his elemental armor, but with a heavy dagger in his left hand. Richter had no doubt the Spy could handle a few beasts under level fifteen.

  Two tuskers attacked while they walked, but they were easily dispatched. Richter felt like a kid on Christmas when he walked up to the first reliquary. Just like Randolphus had said, it looked like a slowly spinning glass pyramid. The edges were lined in gold and the faces were frosted. For a second, he felt a bit salty that these reliquaries looked so much cooler than his Dungeon’s blood balls, but he got over that quick. There was treasure to be claimed! He wished he had another Luck potion to waste, but beggars can’t be choosers.

  The first pyramid he touched dropped a large handful of coins as well as a sizeable black gem.

  You have found: 26 Gold Crowns, 17 Silver Marks

  You have found:

  Black Starfire

  Gem Class: Uncommon

  Gem Clarity: ???

  Carats: ???

  Durability: 8/8

  Weight: 0.03 kg

  There was also a prompt that appeared as soon as the treasure dropped.

  Know This! The Barrow of the Chaos Serpent has claimed a tax on your reliquary.

  Richter looked at the prompt somewhat sourly. He’d been hoping the tax would work without anyone even knowing. Accessing the vault’s interface though didn’t let him turn that option off so he would just have to live with it. He turned his attention to his new treasure.

  The chaos seed couldn’t identify all the jewel’s stats, but it would be going down the Well of Offering anyway in hopes he could get more of them someday. Randolphus had made it clear that the treasure from the chupacabras’ reliquaries was being generated by the Labyrinth, so he couldn’t expect another such drop unless he taught his Dungeon to make more. Richter still hated throwing money away, but he’d always been one to play the long game. It went into his Bag of Holding for the moment and he moved on the next pyramid.

  It dropped a weapon that triggered his identification Talent.

  You have found:

  High Steel Dagger of Glow

  Attack: 8-10

  Durability: 26/26

  Item Class: Uncommon

  Quality: Well Crafted

  Weight: 1.2 kg

  Traits: Will emit a soft glow, illuminating the nearby surroundings

  The dagger wasn’t blowing his skirt up, but it was still always nice to have a new enchantment. The next reliquary dropped something considerably more interesting.

  You have found:

  Damage Magicka Poison

  Alchemy Class: Unusual

  Alchemy Level: Suspension

  Alchemy Strength: Fortified

  Durability: 8/8

  Weight: 0.2 kg.

  Traits: Causes 32-38 points of mana damage/second for 15 seconds

  This
was something he’d been waiting for, another piece of a very frustrating puzzle. He loved that magic gave him power, but seriously hated that his enemies could use it too. Attacking a caster that knew you were coming was a sure way to a dirt nap. Mage shields had been the bane of his existence in the past. If a few stealthed fighters could sneak up on any casters though, especially with arrows tipped in this poison, they would be able to destroy their enemies’ mana before the battle even began. Most magi were as helpless as babes once their MPs were depleted. He couldn’t wait to get it to Tabia and the Cauldron.

  The last reliquary gave more coins. Something he was always happy to see.

  You have found: 35 Gold Crowns, 22 Silver Marks

  That one treasure drop had given almost the equivalent of four grand worth of coins. Randolphus had said the Labyrinth creatures would offer better loot, but just that last reliquary had provided literally thousands of times more coin than he’d gained from the tuskers. When most workers only made four silvers every two weeks, or put another way, forty dollars in coin, the lure of Dungeons and the Labyrinth was obvious. One kill in the Labyrinth could be worth years of back-breaking work. Of course, the trick was getting the one kill. These doglike chupacabras had been tough sons of bitches. So to speak.

  Richter was about to suggest they walk back to the Barbican when he remembered the secondary purpose of collecting the loot. Telling Randolphus he’d meet him back in the fortified Room, the chaos seed cast Dungeon Transport. A moment later he was standing in his new Treasure Vault. He took several experimental breaths; he still didn’t get how the room was ventilated, but there was no issue. The chest closest to the Node had what he was looking for.