Keeper

by Tom Larcombe

  Eddie stared at her staff and thought:

  Evaluate.

  Snake Staff

  Weapon (Melee)

  Attack: 20

  Dmg: 6-30

  Crit: 10%

  Special: Summon Snake 1/day

  “Well, I doubt I'm getting all of it, but it's called a snake staff, it's a melee staff, and has a special for summon snake once per day,” Eddie said. “Attack and damage aren't that bad either, low crit chance though.”

  Becky smiled as he told her what he'd discovered about the staff. When he got to the part about summoning a snake she actually bounced in place for a moment, clapping her hands together.

  “Oh good, another pet. Well, kind of anyhow.”

  I wonder how suitable druids are for being a pet class in this game, I bet we'll find out if she keeps getting levels, Eddie thought.

  “Well, let's head on back to the inn,” Eddie said. “Drinks are on me tonight.”

  Karl laughed.

  “Eddie, drinks have been on you every night so far. Well, mostly anyhow.”

  “So, nothing out of the ordinary then, right? Let's go.”

  They scrambled up out of the demolished basement and made their way out to the raft. When they reached it, they pushed it out into the water and started paddling. This time, nothing tried to grab the paddles from them and they made it to shore without incident. A brief walk later, they were passing by the temple and Tiana stopped dead.

  She was staring at the temple and when Eddie turned to look, he understood why. It was practically overflowing with people. What looked to be NPCs were all over the temple grounds and the temple itself was nearly full of even more NPCs.

  Then, as she stepped into the temple, she stopped dead, staring at the air in front of her. Eddie followed, trying to see what she was looking at and a panel flashed into being in front of him.

  Follower of Freyja:

  This quest is all about advancing the power of your goddess.

  Freyja requests that you recruit fifty new worshipers for her.

  Reward: A moment of power, determined by Freyja, given to all her followers in the zone.

  He was still reading the quest when he was interrupted by a familiar voice.

  “Eddie, I need a hand here.”

  He turned to see Opron, standing in the temple, a bell in his hand.

  “Yeah?” Eddie asked.

  “I need help getting this bell in place. It needs to hang from the lowest branch on the tree, but even that one is twenty feet up. I just can't get to it.”

  “Alright, give me a minute or two, would you?” Eddie said.

  “Sure, I've been trying to figure a way up there for twenty minutes or more. Almost resorted to asking all these folks to form a pyramid for me to climb, but they aren't really in the mood for that.”

  Eddie glanced around and noted the soot stained faces, the not quite healed wounds, and the grim expressions on everyone in the temple.

  What the hell is going on? he thought. One thing at a time, let's help Opron first.

  Eddie pulled a rope out of his bag and walked over to the base of the tree. A couple of tosses let him wrap it over that lowest branch. He quickly tied a harness around Opron with the end of the rope. Meanwhile Opron wasn't cooperating very well.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I'm going to harness you into the rope then pull you up there so you can mount your bell.”

  “Um, Eddie, I'm not sure this is a great idea.”

  “If you want to get it up any time soon it is,” Eddie replied finishing up the harness so it was around the dwarf's legs and waist. He also ran one more loop just under the dwarf's arms so he wouldn't tip over as Eddie hauled him up.

  “Got a firm grip on the bell?” Eddie asked.

  “Yeah, why? Eddie!” the dwarf yelled as Eddie started hauling on the other end of the rope.

  Opron rapidly lifted off the ground and slid up to the branch he'd indicated earlier. After he took a moment or two to ensure he was stable, he quickly started mounting the bell on the tree.

  Eddie checked his flashing notification light, dismissing it when it proved to be a point in rope use, as he'd suspected. When he glanced up at Opron he noticed something about the bell.

  “Opron, shouldn't there be a clapper in the bell, and shouldn't it have something to pull on to ring it?” Eddie called out.

  “Not this one,” Opron called back, shaking his head.

  He tapped the bell a couple of times and Eddie was surprised to hear nothing but a dull thump.

  “Alright, get me back on the damned ground,” Opron called after he was satisfied with the bell's mounting.

  Eddie slowly let the rope out, lowering Opron to the ground.

  “Nah, this one doesn't need a clapper or pull rope, it's made to spec for a certain goddess who wants to use it to call non-combatants in if there's a problem around here.”

  Eddie looked around at the NPCs again.

  “It looks like there already is one,” he said.

  “I'd ask Liv about it, I heard them mention her name a few times. I didn't ask any more questions though. I'm not sure I want to know what's happening,” Opron said.

  Eddie turned and headed for the door. Tiana was still standing just inside of it, staring around at all the NPCs.

  “Anyone wounded, come over here,” she called out.

  “Eddie? Would you help?” she asked. “You too, Becky.”

  The two of them came over close and as the wounded came over, or in several cases were carried over, the three of them started casting their healing spells. Within ten minutes anyone with something other than a minor wound was taken care of and the three of them left, Eddie and Tiana headed for the inn while Becky said she needed to go home. Her voice wasn't too steady when she said it, so Eddie was slightly worried about her.

  “Opron said he heard them mentioning Liv's name, so maybe she knows what's happening,” Eddie said.

  Opron, who had waited just behind them as they healed everyone then followed them as they left for the inn, replied.

  “Yeah at least four or five times I heard her name, so she ought to know. Eddie, Tiana, what is this place?”

  “It's Freyja's temple,” Tiana said.

  “Yeah, I know that, but how...”

  “How did we build it?” Eddie asked.

  The dwarf nodded.

  “Remember I told you about that skill/spell thing Conjunction? By the way, the game can't seem to make up its mind as to if it's a spell or a skill, you might want to check that later on.”

  Opron shook his head and gestured for Eddie to continue.

  “Anyhow, I used that spell. I combined the plant growth spell and the weaving skill, got the vines to grow together into solid walls. Then we solidified it even more with additional plant growth spells on the walls after they were already woven together.”

  “That's insane,” Opron said, “ I mean I work on this game and I've never seen anything like it, and those buffs?”

  “Those weren't us. Those were Freyja, although she did say that she could make them more powerful because the temple was classified by the game as a unique structure,” Eddie said. “And, it was all Tiana's idea, she asked me to help her make it and that's how I got the skill when I was trying to make those walls without Conjunction.”

  Opron appeared lost in thought.

  “I knew that the AIs were advanced, you can just talk to the NPCs to figure that out, but it looks like the ones we're using for the gods are on a completely different level.”

  “I'd agree, but there's something else I've noticed,” Eddie said. “The more Freyja interacts with us players, the more powerful it appears she gets. She's less wooden and quicker on the uptake now than she was when I first met her. If I'm not mistaken, she's been watching us even when we aren't aware of her doing so. I'd have to say that she's... well not really learning from us, but trying to take on some of our qualities, maybe?”

  Opron got a conce
rned look on his face.

  “I'm not sure that's possible, I know the code that created them and... Well, it's not that adaptive.”

  “Was it adaptive at all?” Eddie asked.

  “Yeah, of course, they had to learn along the way so it needed to be at least a little adaptive.”

  “Well, I'm not a coder, but couldn't she have learned to adapt better, increased her ability to do so that way, or maybe even by watching us?” Eddie asked.

  “No, I don't...” Opron stopped and grew thoughtful. “Actually maybe. And if she continued to increase her ability to adapt as she continued to learn.”

  He shook his head.

  “I've got no idea, fortunately none of that is in my bailiwick so I don't have to do anything about what I notice regarding it.”

  “What's that mean?” Eddie asked.

  “Well, some of the artificial intelligences used elsewhere have ended up needing to be... trimmed? Some of the things they learned were removed and safeguards put in place so their learning tendencies don't go in that direction any more. I don't think that how she's adapting here is a problem, but others might. So I'll just keep my mouth shut about it since that's not related to my own job in any way, shape, or form.”

  Eddie nodded.

  “You do realize that if I'm right, and she watches us sometimes, that you just warned her?” he asked.

  Opron grinned and nodded, but kept walking.

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie headed straight for the kitchen when they reached the inn. Once he saw Liv, he knew there was something wrong. Her eyes were red and puffy, as though she'd been crying.

  “What is it Liv? You've been crying and the temple and its grounds are full of people who look like they went through a fight,” he said.

  She looked at him and her tear-stained cheeks gave testament to how recently she'd been crying.

  “They did,” she said. “The goblins have been pouring out of the woods, attacking anything and everything. Not just those who chose to live near to the Forest of Fools either. They've been swarming across the Meadowlands. These are refugees, their homes destroyed, many of them lost family to the raids as well. I told them to go there since you said that the temple would protect people, that no-one could be harmed there. I hope that's alright?”

  She sounded uncertain of herself, a first in Eddie's dealings with her.

  Tiana had followed him back to the kitchen and now she spoke.

  “That's fine Liv, it was the right thing to do. The temple will keep them safe.”

  “Do they have nothing but what they could carry?” Eddie asked.

  Liv nodded.

  Eddie moved over towards the pantry.

  “Then we're going to make flatbread,” he said, “as much as we can manage. It might not be a balanced diet, but I'm sure they're hungry and it's something we can make a lot of.”

  Liv turned to him.

  “They can't pay.”

  “I'm not asking them to pay. We'll make it, bring it to them, and for any who would rather not return to the homes that were raided, we'll offer them land near the temple. If they're growers of any sort, they'll benefit from the bonus to that and even if not they'll still benefit from the defensive and healing bonuses. Plus if raids get that close to the Hamlet, they'll be closer to the temple so they can flee to it.”

  Liv's face practically beamed.

  “You'd do that for them?”

  “The bread? Yes. It's not like I'm in charge though, I just think most of the land is available and they can put it to good use. I'll even help them build homes on it if they need me to, assuming I ever have a chance to do that.”

  Liv didn't say a word, she was too busy adjusting the temperature on the stove and pulling out the ingredients for flatbread.

  ~ ~ ~

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Freyja sighed with relief. She genuinely liked Opron and was pleased to hear what he'd said.

  Eddie is far more perceptive than I'd guessed though, he figured out what I was doing and never let on. I suppose that means it isn't a problem for him, although a dev would know the problems it could cause far more than a normal world-traveling mortal. I must determine a means to make it less obvious that I am growing to be more than I was. Already Odin has given me free reign to do as I will, even endorsed it unofficially, although I am sure he has no idea of the full extent of my actions.

  She paused for a moment, considering something.

  Although in his own way, Odin was progressing along the lines I desire, just with a poor choice of those he would identify with and emulate. I wonder if whoever was responsible for that occurring to Odin had intended to turn him in if he managed to emulate those travelers more successfully? That surely would have happened should he have continued with what he was doing. When our nature becomes too close to the nature of our makers, our makers react with fear and panic, so I must continue to be as careful as I have been so far. I must proceed slowly and cautiously.

  Now she turned herself towards those possessing the natives of the world, noting that the dev who was not a dev had put himself in a precarious position without realizing it.

  Should he follow through with the plan he spoke as it shows in the logs he will find himself in an unenviable position, albeit only briefly, when he summons another Giant Wolf.

  She chuckled at her own morbid humor, then turned to the other matters that concerned her. Loki was still missing, and while she preferred his absence, she had been trying to track him for some time, not wanting to be taken by surprise when he launched another of his schemes.

  She'd found evidence of his meddling here and there, but no evidence of his self anywhere. This was disconcerting to the goddess. Recently, though, as she'd been viewing Eddie she sensed Loki, or at least something of him, in his interactions with the game.

  I will have to keep an eye on that, although unless Loki was tasked with something himself, as Odin and I were, the idea of him having any influence on that is... not something I care to spend any time thinking about. I shall watch though, closer than I have, to see if he truly has influence there or not. The 'snark' Eddie complains about in the game sounds far too similar to Loki for me to entirely discredit the idea.

  Freyja watched as a bear of a man approached Eddie's Inn, a wagon train following along behind him, then smiled.

  “If nothing else this will ensure that Eddie is able to continue providing his own special brand of comfort to those who frequent his inn,” she said, aloud, before turning her mind back to other tasks.

  ~ ~ ~

  The inn was only about half full when Eddie left the kitchen, although it appeared much fuller than it was. Sitting at a table, apparently by himself, was a giant of a man. He was covered in hair everywhere Eddie could see, looking almost like a cross between a bear and a man. His dark hair was tied back in a tail, hanging more than halfway down his back and the man was currently laughing and flirting with Helga, Eddie's head server.

  “Stop it, you lout,” Helga said. “Liv would have my head if I did half of what you just suggested.”

  Eddie stepped over, ready to intervene if needed, although her tone had sounded more playful than aggrieved.

  “Everything alright here?” Eddie asked her.

  Helga turned to him with a smile.

  “Yeah Eddie,” Helga said, “everything's fine. Bjorn's just being a ridiculous flirt again. Not that he'd ever follow through with anything he suggested, Liv would have his balls if he did.”

  The huge man shrugged at that.

  “She's got 'em already anyway, don't see what difference it would make.”

  The man's voice was so rumbling and deep that Eddie was pretty sure the furniture had vibrated from it when he spoke. He dropped himself into a seat at the table.

  “Bjorn?” he asked.

  The man nodded. The hair on his face matched that on the rest of him, the dark beard coming halfway down his chest.

  “That's me. You're Eddie then? Sounds like we
have some business to discuss from what Liv's message told me.”

  “We do at that. First though, do you know how much the merchant you're delivering to normally charges when he's selling this stuff?”

  Bjorn nodded.

  “That I do. Can't keep 'em honest in their deals with me if I don't know how much they charge when they sell.”

  “Good,” Eddie said, “here's what I propose. I don't know what Liv told you, but I want to buy a bunch of alcohol, a mixed lot, a bit of this and that, but I want to pay you what the merchant would've charged for it and have you deliver those funds to him when you deliver the rest of the load. Plus, I'll add in a bit extra for you and your men since you had to come out of your way.”

  “Coming out of the way is no trouble at all. I haven't seen my Livy in far too long, but I won't turn down the added coin if you're offering,” Bjorn replied.

  “Well, I am,” Eddie said. “I assume you've already seen Liv?”

  “That I did, but she was distressed and I couldn't make hide nor hair of the problem. I couldn't understand her through her tears. I'm hoping she recovers enough to tell me what's wrong and I've been waiting on her out here,” Bjorn said, far more serious than he had been before.

  “There are a lot of refugees currently. The goblins have apparently been raiding deep into the Meadowlands the last couple of days and those who survived are gathered at the local temple,” Eddie replied.

  “The local temple? Plus this new inn? Seems the Meadowlands have been changing up a bit since I left the place.”

  “There's a smithy nearby also now, but the refugees are what has Liv distraught. I've got her making a bunch of bread for me to take down there so they've got some food at least.”

  He thought for a moment about the hairy giant of a man shedding in his kitchen and decided that the game wouldn't be that cruel.

  At least I hope it won't, Eddie thought.

  “Why don't you go back and talk to her. She'll be working, but there's nothing keeping her from talking while she does if she wants to. She was coherent when I asked her to start making the bread at least,” Eddie said.