Keeper

by Tom Larcombe

  I never would've guessed it would be that easy, he thought, then got back to work.

  By lunch time they had a lot more of the wall done than he'd thought they would. He called Paul over.

  “Hey, I'm going to grab lunch, you want to come along?”

  “Yeah, I'm starved. Let's go.”

  When they got to the inn, the lunch crowd was larger than usual. There were a bunch of adventurers taking advantage of the advertised swap meet, but even more sitting down with food in front of them. Since Liv had taken over, lunch was no longer just sandwiches, and the crowd had been slowly growing.

  Eddie saw Opron and moved over to take a seat at his table. Delgar was with him and the two dwarfs seemed much more comfortable with each other than the last time Eddie had seen them together. As he slid into his seat, Opron looked up.

  “Oh hey, Eddie. I got an email, Karl went through his first checkup just fine,” he said.

  “Awesome, I was worried about that,” Eddie replied, both of them not mentioning anything else about the situation.

  “Also, I finally got a chance to examine the molds you brought me. Any use for some of these?”

  Opron tossed a triangular chunk of metal on the table and Eddie picked it up.

  “Broadhead arrow heads? Oh hell yeah, I can use as many of these as you can make. So could Allie and a whole bunch of other archers in the area. Make these and sell them for anything resembling a reasonable price and you could make coins hand over fist.”

  Eddie paused for a moment, thinking.

  “As a matter of fact, if you can churn a whole bunch of these out as quickly as possible, we could use them. Have you heard the latest?”

  Eddie proceeded to tell them about the goblin attacks and the defenses they were building against them.

  “Archers defending the walls with these instead of field points would be a lot more effective,” he said after he'd finished explaining.

  Opron looked both concerned and eager, meanwhile Delgar just looked eager.

  “What will you pay for them?” Delgar asked.

  Opron elbowed him.

  “Delgar, you help me churn out a bunch of these and I'll give you a blueprint that will make the mold for them, how's that?” Opron asked.

  “Done, and done. When do we start?” Delgar said.

  “How about after lunch, when we get back to the forge.”

  Opron turned back to Eddie.

  “Here then, I was going to surprise you, but if you've got shafts for them, you can use these also.”

  He pulled out a bag from his inventory and tossed it onto the table. It clanked when it hit and Eddie immediately peered inside. It was filled with broadhead arrowheads.

  “Careful, they'll tear the bag if you don't get it in your inventory right away. I already lost one bag that way,” Opron said.

  The server came with platters and bowls for the two dwarfs. Paul and Eddie put in their own order. Meanwhile Eddie spilled the arrowheads on the table and started counting.

  “Should be fifty there, including the first one I showed you,” Opron said. “That was all I could make and have my apprentice sharpen this morning. With two of us working on it, we can probably get another two hundred before dark, but we won't be able to sharpen all of them without more help.”

  “Your guys still looking for work?” Eddie asked Delgar.

  “Why?”

  “I'll hire them to help you, they can sharpen arrowheads with the apprentices. I'll give them a silver each to do that until you guys are done for the night.”

  Delgar shrugged, his head tilting to one side.

  “I'll ask them, coin is a bit scarce in this zone.”

  “Well, if they want to help defend the fence I'm building they can get a share of the goblin loot also. No clue when the next attack will be though.”

  “Well then, how about we have them sharpen these arrowheads while down in the field. They should all have their own whetstones they can use.”

  “Works for me. I'll be right there too, so when they're done for the day I can pay them on the spot. Plus I'll pick up a round at the inn later on tonight.”

  “Not that small beer again?” Delgar asked suspiciously,

  “Nope, how about a nice ale instead,” Eddie offered.

  “Done, and done. I'm telling my mates now. I imagine at least a couple of them will take you up on your offer.”

  Before Eddie's food had even arrived he had confirmation that he'd have four dwarfs sharpening arrow heads for him. The other dwarf was currently out of game so he'd miss out on the offer.

  ~ ~ ~

  With Paul helping, the fence went up rapidly. By mid-afternoon Eddie was checking out the blueprint for the defensive towers. It looked like there would be room for five archers or mages to be firing in the direction of the wall once it was done. Three on the top with partial cover from parapets and two on the mid-level, firing through arrow slits. Only those on top would be able to take advantage of plunging fire over the wall, but the others would still be able to target anything more than fifteen feet from the wall.

  Paul still had several sections of fence to go, although he'd been slowly catching up to Eddie as the day progressed. Either he was just faster or a higher score in carpentry equaled a faster build, Eddie didn't know which, he was just glad that Paul had offered to help.

  Every now and again the dwarfs would come over with finished arrowheads. Twice, when Opron's apprentice came by, he also delivered finished arrowheads. Eddie took advantage of this during his breaks, affixing the arrowheads to shafts that he removed the field points from first.

  Now that he was done with his sections of fence he read off the blueprint for the tower and started digging again. This time the holes were much deeper, which made sense if the posts that went in them would be supporting a twenty-five foot defensive tower instead of a twelve foot wall.

  The task went fairly quickly and before long he was setting the posts and laying the floor for the ground level. The blueprint sequence was designed so that you could use the previous floor and the stairs to start the next higher floor, so no additional ladders or other equipment was needed. He'd finished the ground floor and was laying planks for the mid-level floor when Paul came over.

  “Sorry Paul, I don't have another blueprint on this one. I need to finish it before I can make another also.”

  “That's fine. I was just wondering if there were plans for the hole where the two fences come together.”

  “I figure we should put a gate in there, but don't have blueprints for one.”

  “That's okay, that I can put together myself. I've got a smaller gate blueprint that I've already built, so I'll sketch that out, then adjust it. It won't be as tough as the walls are, but it'll be a plug in the hole at least.”

  Eddie nodded.

  “Good deal. I'll have this one done before dark, but I doubt we'll be able to do more than set the support posts for the other one.”

  “Yeah, well we'll still have gotten a lot done today. Tomorrow's soon enough for the other tower. I'll just get the gate done then call it a day.”

  “I'm going to finish up here,” Eddie said. “Then I promised a few dwarfs an ale.”

  The adventurers themselves, or at least some of them, had taken it on themselves to pace the platform behind the wall as guards of a sort. Eddie had just laid the planks for the second floor. The supports for the entire tower were placed already, as were the stairs. Now he just needed to put the walls on for the second floor, then the planks for the top and the parapets.

  A voice cried out from the wall.

  “Goblins! Incoming!”

  Eddie shot to his feet and turned towards the wall. Sure enough, beyond the wall, at the edge of the forest, was a group of goblins. They covered a front about a hundred feet wide and there were at least twenty of them that he could see.

  The goblins charged forward with a loud, screeching war cry. As Dominic had guessed, they funneled into the fence, headed str
aight for the, still ungated, hole at its center. Eddie followed the path of their charge with his eyes and saw Paul, standing there, staring at the charging goblins.

  Eddie was nearly knocked over as a tall, slender adventurer went charging up to the unfinished top floor. He stared in shock as the adventurer pulled out a longbow and, balancing effortlessly on the support beam for the top of the tower, started firing arrow after arrow at the goblins.

  His eyes turned back to find that there had been two more rows of goblins behind the first, almost sixty goblins had started charging, funneled into a mass of flesh quickly approaching the field. Eddie couldn't help his reaction, he jumped off the mid-level floor of the tower, turning his nearly uncontrolled jump into a roll with his high agility. A notification light started flashing as he charged at Paul.

  Eddie grabbed Paul, nearly tackling him, and started dragging him to the side. When he thought he was far enough away from the central hole in the gate, goblins were already charging into the field through the hole. He slammed his hand on the ground to designate a central point for the spell and urgently thought:

  Cast safe site.

  Then, knowing that the goblins would be considered sentient by the spell and would get a chance to resist it, he made sure his sword was loose in its sheath, pulled his bow from his inventory, nocked an arrow with a broadhead, and prepared himself for a fight.

  ~ ~ ~

  Chapter Seventeen

  Specialist Harmon scanned the latest report from Campbell and Ferring. It looked like they were about as prepared as they were going to get. He could wait another day or two and ensure that all the goblins had better equipment than the poor crap they normally used, but that was the only way he could improve their chances.

  'Set Terrod and Sombra to their task. I want them sending in attack after attack at the same point in the Meadowlands, at least one per day if possible. Then when we attack we'll pick a completely different spot and take them by surprise. Report back as to where those two clowns are sending in their attacks so I can plan where we'll send in ours.'

  His reply to Campbell's report would set the ball in motion. He'd already noticed in the logs that some of the goblins had been attacking the Meadowlands even without his interference, so he had to wonder what was up with that. It wasn't normal for this zone, or at least not from the historical data he could gather on it, so he was curious. Not enough to change his own plans, just wondering what the hell the game was doing this time.

  He'd sent Olson back with orders to Campbell to avoid using him however he had been. He didn't want a repeat of that problem, not when he still didn't know much about it.

  Aside from those two minor issues, everything else was moving along nicely, and he looked forward to claiming his own creature to help with the attack.

  Because Greenshaw didn't say anything about my not joining them myself. I'm pretty sure when he said to send the squad in he wasn't including me, but this is going to be way too much fun to miss out on. I think I'll use that Giant Wolf template I found in the Meadowlands files. I'd better start practicing with it first though, I wouldn't have a problem with a biped, but a quadruped might be an issue.

  After making sure he could mentally activate the script that would return him to his own body, he created a giant wolf. He rapidly moved his consciousness into it, knowing that if he took too long it would be a fight to take over the body. As it was he still found himself mentally struggling with something so he could take control of the wolf's body, but it was a quick and easy struggle that left him in control seconds later.

  A deep breath told him that he was definitely going to have to practice in this body some. The scents were nearly overwhelming and his brain struggled to classify them as things it would recognize. Slowly, he managed it, translating the images that the wolf got from the scents into words that his brain had an easier time dealing with.

  Once he'd managed to control the sensory input, he started out by trying to walk, and immediately fell on his snout.

  Yup, practice time for me, he thought. Don't want to look bad in front of the squad because they'd never let me live it down.

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie stared at the goblins pouring through the hole in the fence where the gate was intended to go. So far, none of them seemed to have noticed him and Paul over here.

  Just as he thought that, two goblin scouts started in their direction, their eyes focused on Eddie. Once they were inside the Safe Site spell range he targeted the first and released his arrow. The arrow struck the goblin in the chest, but evidently didn't find anything vital. Some questioning and research after the problem with Dominic casting out of the spell had taught him that if there was an aggressive creature inside the spell's area of effect he could attack it, but he couldn't attack any creatures that were unaware of him outside of the spell's AoE.

  He quickly nocked another arrow and fired again. He felt the game correct his aim and went with it. This arrow struck the same goblin, this time much more central on his torso and the creature stumbled for a moment before collapsing.

  The second goblin was still charging at him so he dropped his bow and pulled his sword out as quickly as he could. It was almost too slow, but Paul tossed out a handful of what looked to be bent nails. When the goblin stepped on them he quickly stopped, backpedaled away, then started hopping up and down on one foot.

  “Caltrops,” Paul said, adding in a rush. “I was just wondering if I could make them and messed around with some nails. Got the smithing skill when I succeeded. Um, you wanna shoot him some?”

  Eddie stabbed his sword into the ground and snagged his bow back up. He quickly nocked and released an arrow at the goblin, then a second one. The two arrows, along with the wounds from the caltrops, were enough to drop it, but by now there were three more goblins headed in their direction.

  Eddie whistled piercingly. Lucky had been around earlier, darting off into the woods now and again. He hoped she still was and hadn't been spotted by the goblins, but he was pretty sure he would've received a notification if anything had happened to her and his notification light hadn't started blinking until he'd jumped from the tower.

  I think we'll need a better wall if the wildlife ever attacks us, he thought as the bobcat came flying over the wall right near his location. She landed and raced over to him, her fur bristling as she growled at the incoming goblins.

  Eddie fired again and again, dropping one of the three goblins before they reached him. When they got close, he grabbed his sword and maneuvered so the caltrops were between his attackers and himself and another goblin stopped its advance in a rush when he stepped on them. The last one closed to melee though.

  “Get him, Lucky,” he called out as he stepped in, thrusting with his sword.

  The sword he had now was mainly for point work, although the edge was sharpened for about six inches back on either side of the point. It meant wild slashes were out, but thrusts and quick sideways movements would do just fine.

  Lucky went for the goblin's legs as Eddie thrust, and the goblin choose to block the sword. Lucky bit down on the goblin's leg and started tearing at it, trying to back up and draw the creature closer to Eddie. The goblin, understandably enough, decided to ignore Eddie's sword and thrust its own sword down at Lucky. Eddie was having none of that though. He blocked the goblin's thrust, knocking it off to the side away from his cat. Then he brought his blade up, scoring the inside of the goblin's sword arm.

  Lucky released the leg and darted behind the goblin before leaping onto its back. She got both front claws sunk into it, then started raking it with her back claws. Eddie thrust forward again as the goblin dropped its sword and tried to reach for the bobcat on its back. His thrust was clean, striking the creature's heart and Lucky released it as it fell, leaping over next to Eddie and spinning around to face the last goblin.

  It had removed the caltrops from its foot and was limping towards them, slowly. Lucky growled and Eddie advanced, sword at the ready. The goblin loo
ked at Eddie and his cat, then down at the other goblin corpses nearby, then back to Eddie and Lucky. Then it turned and ran.

  Most of the goblins were down by now so there was a clear path to the empty gateway. As the goblin turned and passed the empty gateway in the fence, two arrows sprouted from its back, one after the other. A quick glance upwards showed the elf that had passed Eddie on the tower still standing on the framework on top, nocking another arrow. The elf scanned the area, then called out an “all clear”.

  “That was... interesting,” Paul said. “But that's exactly why I told Becky she could adventure with your group.”

  “What, my awesome fighting skills?” Eddie asked jokingly. “Because I'm really not all that great at fighting. Maybe with my bow, but not my sword.”

  “No Eddie, because you could've stayed up in a fairly safe position and fired on them, but instead you dove off the building to get me out of the way before the goblins got to me. For which you have my thanks. I know they've got pain delimiters set in this game, but I've no desire to experience what being hacked apart by goblins feels like.”

  “Oh,” Eddie said. “I mean, I know it's a game and you would've just respawned in a little while, but it doesn't feel that way to me. If I stop to think about something I react like it's a game. If I act instinctively? Well, it doesn't really feel like a game to me, so when I react instinctively, it's like it's real.”

  “See, that's what I meant. I know that if there's a problem, you're going to worry about the rest of your group, including Becky, and do your best to mitigate any problems before they arise. That's why I told her she could go with you.”

  As irritating as it is, he's probably right. Even after she messed with Lucky I'd still try to save her, Eddie thought.

  “Well, you're welcome, but I need to do some looting and then I've got a tower to finish.”