Keeper

by Tom Larcombe

  “There we go, got four acres here. I'll have to claim some more to make a trail of some sort that joins the main road. One at least good enough to take a cart or wagon,” Eddie said.

  “No, you don't need to do that,” Opron replied.

  “Yeah, if we want easy shipping I do.”

  “No, I meant that if you build the road you can claim it privately, which counts towards your land claim totals, or you can declare it a public road. What with the players that will probably be traveling this way with the new dwarf race available, it would be a good thing to make the road public.”

  “Oh, I didn't realize that. That'll be good, it'll save my acreage for some of my other plans,” Eddie said. “Plus all the extra trees that have to be removed can be turned into charcoal or rough lumber so we have more materials available.”

  Opron nodded.

  “You're definitely on top of some of the opportunities available here. It's good to see that, even better to see that some of the other players are learning also. I saw a bunch of smaller land claims on my way to the inn today. Looks like the adventurer camp is going to become more of a permanent neighborhood.”

  “Well, I think it's time to head back that way,” Eddie said. “Land's claimed, but until I get to talk to someone with the lumberjack skill there's not a lot more we can do with it. Did you ask Tiana nicely if she'd do the stonework?”

  Opron flushed.

  “Um... no. I was hoping you would,” he said as they started walking.

  “What?”

  “I've been trying to keep mostly to myself. I don't want anyone to guess who I am or what I'm doing here and you've already seen how easily I slip up.”

  Eddie spent a moment thinking about that. Opron had spent the last three nights in the tavern common room, but now that Eddie thought about it he'd always been sitting with part of Eddie's group, not with anyone else.

  “Opron, you're missing out on a resource. Figure out a minor complaint about the game, maybe the assigning skills thing we talked about. Then work that complaint into the normal conversation with some other adventurers and you're sure to get any complaints they have about the game shot right back at you. An invaluable resource that you're ignoring because you're worried you might slip up?”

  “Yeah, but what if they figure out who I am?”

  “That's when you keep to yourself, not before then. I doubt they'll figure it out anyhow. So what if you know some things about the game they don't. Paul told them about land claims, but you don't see them pointing a finger at him and claiming he's a dev or something,” Eddie said.

  “When you're right, you're right. It's just that... Well, I'm no so great with people.”

  “So play it up. You're a dwarf. If you're awkward around a bunch of humans, then make it a dwarfish awkwardness. They'll appreciate the role play I bet.”

  “True, there are a few other dwarf players around now and most of them are grumpy as all shit,” Opron said.

  “There you go, you've got a template to work from,” Eddie replied, “and there's the inn. I've still got a little bit of time before I have to get to work for the dinner rush, so I'm going to find Lucky and play with my cat a bit.”

  As if summoned by his mention of her name, Lucky came rushing up. When she reached Eddie, she stopped and looked at him. Somehow she looked chagrined and apologetic. When he picked her up, she licked his face. Eddie braced for fish breath, but she didn't have it for a change.

  “Huh, I wonder what you were off doing,” he said. “Doesn't matter though, want to go hunt some rabbits with me girl?”

  He pulled his bow out of his inventory and was about to head for the woods when several shouts caught his attention. They sounded fairly far off so he kept trotting down the road towards the adventurers' camp. When he was abreast of the inn he saw a commotion on the far side of the field. A familiar flash of green caught his attention.

  “Goblins? Here?” Eddie said.

  He sprinted into the bunkhouse, racing up the stairs to the roof. From the top of the roof he braced himself against the fence, nocked an arrow and drew it. He knew, now, that he couldn't hurt the other players in this zone, so even if he missed and the arrow fell short he wouldn't hurt anyone accidentally. A glance showed him a large number of goblins at the treeline at the edge of the camp, at least twenty, and probably more.

  He released his arrow, noting that something adjusted the angle of his arm just before he did so. He'd grown used to that, assuming it was the game adjusting his aim to account for his high agility. He watched the arrow fly towards the goblins, then quickly drew another and fired.

  He repeated it over and over for several minutes, until the remaining goblins fled back into the trees, headed for the Forest of Fools. He'd received several experience notifications, at least he assumed that was what the flashing in his lower vision signified, so he knew that at least some of his shots had been on target. The adventurers had been caught off guard, with only a few of them actually awake and in the camp so driving off the attack had taken longer than he'd thought it would.

  When he pulled up the notifications, there was one that brought a smile to his face.

  You have upgraded the skill Bows to (5). Who would've guessed working on accuracy at extreme long range would help you build your skill?

  The added snark from the game told him that he was doing well again. Even so, he knew that arrows were at a premium. He didn't expect many of his to have survived with the distance he'd fired them, but he still went out to check.

  “Eddie? Did you come to help? You're a little late,” Charles, who was one of the tanks, said.

  “No, I came to retrieve my arrows. I was firing from the bunkhouse roof,” Eddie replied.

  “That was you? With a shortbow?” Charles asked incredulously.

  Eddie grinned at him.

  “High agility, but it was still extreme range for me. I know I got a few hits, I'm just hoping some of my arrows survived.”

  “Well, no-one else was firing into them, so any arrows you find out there are yours. There were a couple of goblins firing arrows at us too so some of the corpses might have some on them. Other than that, we're just piling everything up out here to split between those of us who fought. Four different groups, five with you, so no auto split or anything available.”

  “Well, I guess I ought to help loot them then, shouldn't I?” Eddie asked.

  He ended up with twenty more arrows than when he'd started the fight, taking those for his share of the gear. In addition to that there were a few silver and a handful of copper each. Eddie was happy with the arrows though since he still hadn't found a decent wood to make his own from. He headed back towards the inn, Lucky trailing along behind him, and settled in to cook for the dinner rush.

  ~ ~ ~

  Chapter Two

  Greenshaw's men in the game were excited when they received notification of their new orders.

  “Wait, you mean we'll get to control some of the monsters in the game?” Private Campbell said. “The strong ones that used to kick our ass on a daily basis when we first got here?”

  “Yes, he wants us to start with some of the lower level mobs, make sure we can control them and use all their specials appropriately. Then he's planning on using the strong ones. Humanoids at first, then non-humanoids. Slowly work on the integration. He suspects we'll have no problems with the humanoid types and their specials, but he's also pretty sure that the non-humanoid types are going to take some work,” Specialist Harmon replied.

  “Where?” Campbell asked.

  “He suggested that we start in the areas surrounding someplace called the Meadowlands. There are orcs and goblins there that, according to him, are about to go on the warpath against the local players. So, you need to get the squad together, tell them we start first thing tomorrow morning. I need to run off some scripts and the like that will allow us to switch directly over to controlling those monsters instead of our own avatars. We don't want the delay involved w
ith exiting the pod and reconnecting directly with the monsters.”

  “You got it, Specialist,” Campbell said, an eager grin on his face.

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie waited until the dinner rush was mostly over before approaching Paul. He had enough food to fill any other orders he got staying warm in back and the servers could just grab whatever the customers wanted.

  “So, Paul,” Eddie started.

  “Eddie, grab a seat,” Paul said.

  Delilah shifted over to give him room to add another chair to the table. Becky was playing with Lucky, who she'd somehow managed to coax out into the common room, despite all the adventurers that were there.

  That's weird. I can't even get Lucky out here most of the time, Eddie thought.

  He quickly dismissed that line of thought to talk with Paul.

  “Paul, what are the chance of getting you to do another building for me?” Eddie asked.

  “I can do that.”

  “Start tomorrow?”

  Paul shook his head.

  “Sorry, I'm booked out for about a week. I got the first of Karl's buildings done today, but I need to do two more for him and then I had another two players asked me about houses for themselves and their groups. So I'm booked for a little. Why?”

  Eddie cursed mentally, refraining from doing so out loud since Delilah was there.

  “I've got to get a smithy up and running as soon as possible. The smith it's for is only in game for a month and if I can get him to take an apprentice, and the apprentice gets at least one point in smithing before the player is gone, then I'll fulfill part of a quest.”

  That caught Becky's attention.

  “A quest?” she said. “What is it?”

  Eddie opened his mouth to answer, then stopped. He continued, but not with the answer he'd been going to give.

  “A task given by the game that provides rewards if you manage to complete it,” he said.

  “I know what a quest is, I was asking what yours was,” she said. “Because...”

  She trailed off and when Eddie caught her glancing at Paul and Delilah furtively, he had a thought.

  Rude or not, I'm gonna do it, he thought.

  Before he managed to evaluate her, Paul tapped him on the shoulder.

  “Can you see this?” Paul asked.

  Eddie glanced up and saw that Paul had a screen apparently hanging in the air in front of him.

  “Yeah, what is it?”

  “Get a better angle,” Paul said. “I'm glad that guy told me I could do this. I was picking blueprints for houses and he asked if he could see it. I told him I didn't think so and he told me a way to share the screen I was looking at with him. Anyhow, this is a basic smithy, will that do for you?”

  Eddie glanced at the blueprint. It was listed as an auction item, the number on it consisting of the current date plus a series of letters and numbers attached after the date. When he glanced at the rest of the blueprint, he realized that he had no clue if that would do or not.

  “Wait a second, hold that up. I'm going to grab the guy it's for. I don't know if that's good enough, but he will.”

  Eddie had seen Opron in the inn earlier on and a quick scan showed him sitting in the back with a group of players. There were a number of empty mugs on the table and the quantity of them made Eddie worry about Opron's current sobriety.

  “Hey, Opron, got a question for you,” Eddie said, approaching the table.

  “One moment lads, let me see what the innkeeper needs,” Opron replied.

  He slid out under the table.

  “You were right,” he whispered. “The players are a gold mine of suggestions, more through their complaints than their ideas, but still.”

  In a louder voice he continued.

  “What do you need, Eddie?”

  “I wanted you to take a look at a smithy blueprint and see if it would suit your needs.”

  “Ah,” Opron said.

  He turned to the table and raised a finger.

  “Be back in a minute folks, need to check out the plan for my smithy.”

  He got a couple of thumbs up from adventurers at the table before he turned and followed Eddie.

  After a couple of minutes looking at the blueprints Opron nodded his head.

  “That'll do nicely. Even has room to add upgrades later on.”

  “Yeah, probably not within the next few weeks though.”

  “True, but you wanted me to take an apprentice. So if he's any good, he can use the upgrades later on, right?” Opron said.

  “True, true,” Eddie replied. “I just wanted to make sure it was sufficient for your needs. That was all, thanks.”

  “You're welcome, and thank you for your suggestion. I've got a month or more worth of work just on tweaks based on the complaints I've heard tonight.”

  Paul stared at Eddie, then over to Opron. He recoiled and his eyes widened.

  “Not a word,” Eddie said. “He's in disguise.”

  As Opron walked off, Paul stared at Eddie.

  “Why is there a—”

  His sentence stopped mid-stream when Eddie kicked him in the leg.

  “Because,” Eddie said. “Drop it and we can talk about it some time when we're a bit more private.”

  He sighed as he caught Becky staring at the two men, interest obvious in her eyes. Then he turned to the table.

  “I can't say anything. But ask me in another month, and then I might be able to. Okay? Please, just don't try to dig into this.”

  Delilah looked confused, but Becky just looked even more interested. Paul caught her look finally and heaved a sigh equal to the one Eddie had given a few moments back.

  “Please Becky, just drop this one? He'll explain it to you later, but only if he's allowed to do so,” Paul said.

  The interest on her face disappeared, concealed by what Eddie was sure was a make believe pout, but it was enough to satisfy her father. Eddie saw the interest still sparkling in her eyes though and made a mental note to warn Opron about her interest later on.

  “So yes, that blueprint should do,” Eddie said.

  “I'm shooting you a message with the auction number, you can get it for twenty-five gold right now, but the bidding is only at fifteen if you want to wait.”

  As soon as the message arrived, Eddie went to the auction and bought the blueprint immediately, paying the extra gold to make sure he had the blueprint ASAP. A few minutes after he transferred the funds, he got a notice about an incoming message and the blueprint was attached. He took it out and placed it in his inventory, planning on starting the building himself tomorrow, if he had the time. There was some leftover lumber on the lot here that he could start it with.

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie was up early in the morning. He got his cooking out of the way as quickly as he could, letting the servers know that breakfast today was whatever he left warming in the kitchen since he needed to go out. He left a few things warming there so his customers would have a little bit of choice, then headed out on foot. Tiana was still sleeping, she'd stirred sleepily in the bed as he left, but when she'd gotten back the day before she'd been wiped out so he thought she probably needed the rest.

  He headed west on the road, keeping an eye out for the turnoff to Old Liv's place. Tiana would be furious if she found out that he'd gone to see her alone, but he needed a cook and a potential apprentice smith, and he needed them quickly.

  When he arrived at her cottage Liv was out in the gardens. He called out to get her attention and she came wandering over.

  “What can I do for you Eddie?” she asked.

  “I'm impressed by the people you picked for my staff, but I need a couple more positions filled. I was hoping you might be able to recommend some people for them?”

  “What positions do you need filled?”

  Eddie explained his problem with having to be the cook all day long, and told her he wanted someone to do all the cooking for breakfast and lunch, and maybe even assist with dinner if he ne
eded the help. He also told her that he had a friend who was a smith who'd have to leave in a month and that the smith wanted an apprentice so there was someone to do at least basic blacksmithing tasks after he'd gone.

  “I've got just the person in mind for your cook. When should she start?” Liv asked.

  “Tomorrow morning too soon? The sooner the better. Anyone in mind for a smith's apprentice?”

  “I've got a lad in mind, it'll take him a day or two to get here though. That alright?”

  Thinking on the fact that he was going to have to build the smithy himself and that he hadn't even started yet, Eddie nodded.

  “That's fine. I've got to go, more things to do than time to do them in,” he said.

  “One moment before you do, I've got something I promised you,” she said.

  She darted off, returning a few minutes later with a squirming sack.

  “Keep the sack closed tightly and they won't give you any problems,” she said.

  Eddie cocked his head, confused as to what she was giving him.

  “The chickens you asked for. I had a spare rooster and the poor thing was being pecked to death by the stronger one, so I gave you him and a few pullets that just started laying.”

  “I thought that would be months,” Eddie said.

  “Why would it take that long?”

  Somehow I keep managing to forget that this is a game, maybe because it's so much better than my real life has ever been, Eddie thought.

  “Well, thank you. I'll come see you if I need any more workers. Oh, and I almost forgot, this is for you.”

  Karl and Allie had taken down some sort of bull analog while they were mapping a couple of days back. The meat tasted almost like beef and as soon as Karl had mentioned that there was a herd of these things, the wheels in Eddie's head had started turning. He needed a way to get a small herd of them for himself and see if they gave milk like cows did. He already knew that their meat tasted like the finest beef.