by Galen Wolf
Mercurius goes up, “Goff, can Gorrow use the forge for a short while?”
The dwarf nods. Obviously he’s a dwarf of few words. He backs off, taking his hammer with him. I approach the forge and place down the lump of star silver.
Goff is immediately interested. “Star silver?!?”
I nod, feeling strangely pleased with myself.
“That’s rare,” the dwarf says approaching the ore with hungry eyes. “Can I touch it?”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
The dwarf turns it over in his hands. He looks up. “Heavier, than silver though?”
I nod. He’s treating me like I’m an expert, which I’m not. But I like it. I’ve been a noob so long in this game, it’s good to finally feel I know something more than someone else.
“Anti-shifter?”
“Yep.”
“Have you tested it?”
I remember the werewolf and how it disappeared in a puff of smoke. “Yeah. It works fine.”
“Wow, really wow. That ore is worth a fortune. Can I watch you work it?”
“Yeah, sure, but I’m not all that you know.”
“Even so, I’ve never seen anyone work it before.”
Adele gives me her mace and Goff is more than pleased to do bellows duty while I heat up the ore until it runs in a stream of liquid silver and I catch it in the mould. The game allows me to handle the mace as if I’m a master weapon smith. After some heating and cooling, dousing and tempering, the mace is ready. It shines with a dull sheen.
Adele takes the mace and leans in to give me a peck on the cheek. “Thank you, Gorrow. Thank you so much!” She’s really pleased to have her upgraded mace and I’m pleased to have helped her.
Sir Mercurius comes in and claps me manfully on the shoulder. “Thanks Gorrow. Do you need me to come up to the mine and help you out?”
“What? With the Dwemmer?” There were the trolls too of course, but I don’t mention them.
He nods.
“No, I’m good. Should be fine.”
“Well, you only need to ask.”
I appreciate the offer, but I don’t need him coming to fix my problems like he’s my big brother. I turn and thank Goff the Smith. He waves. “Anytime, dude.”
He’s a proper smith too and he’s treating me as an equal. That’s cool. We walk up the steps, Adele, Mercurius and I. She’s excited about her mace and I bet she’ll soon be going to hunt werewolves.
As we get to the ground floor, I see the exit door with the guards to my left. Mercurius sees me eyeing the exit. “Listen, I know you’ve got to go, but come back as soon as you can. There’s a lot of stuff happening up north. It seems the enemy has shifted his strategy. He’s no longer moving from the east, but appears to be trying to cut us off from the sea by coming round from the north.”
“I heard from some friends.”
“So, come back and we’ll go and engage bad guys in the Caledonian Forest. A few more quests, maybe get you up to Level 10, then we can think about getting you knighted.”
“Really?” I hadn’t expected it to be in reach for a long time. I’m smiling like a Cheshire Cat.
“So, as soon as you can?”
I nod. I mean it too. I wave and walk through the Knights’ Tower guards, who seem less grumpy. I look back at the imposing tower and think about how I’ll soon maybe have my own chambers in there.
I leave the castle and go into the town. I have some things to do. Blodeuwedd flies down and lands on my shoulder.
“Where’ve you been?” I ask.
“Here and there. You should never ask an owl her business.”
I roll my eyes. “Did you see Spirit?”
“That dumb horse?”
“Yeah, my warhorse.”
“He was wandering round Alston village. The hicks were trying to rope him, but failing.”
“Good. What about the miners and the mules?”
“They all went back to the mine. Thorvald led them all. It seems it was just a raiding party so the bad guys cleared out after they killed you and robbed everything.”
“But they could come back anytime.”
“Of course.”
That makes my mind up. I need my tower. I go back to the architect, Oliver Stone. He’s slightly less snotty. Or maybe I’m imagining that.
“Ah, you again.”
“Yes, me.”
“Are you wanting the Obsidian Tower?” He smirks.
I shake my head. “No, I can’t afford that. Run me through the costs for the Limestone Tower?”
“A hundred feet?”
“Yes. That’s what I want.”
“Stone cost will be 10000 marks.”
“Yes, you said that. What about architect and all the rest?”
“You’ll need a mason at 10% of the stone cost. The architect at 10% on top then, for a job that size, maybe five builders at a hundred marks a month, plus their food and lodge.”
“They can live in tents though?”
He shrugs “I wouldn’t, but they could.”
“And do I get a haggling discount?”
“What’s your haggle?”
“Currently 10%”
“Then of course, we’d knock 10% off.”
That’s better.
He studies me down his long nose. “Are you interested? If you are, I can get the plans drawn up today.”
“I am interested. I just need to look at financing.” I have two lumps of star silver ore in my inventory and I remember what Goff the Smith said about it being rare. I need some kind of defence up there by the mine or the minions of you know who are just going to come and steal from me every week.
I raise one finger. “Wait. I’ll be back.”
I go over and find the vendor I sold me tin too previously. Star Silver is a different proposition. I see his eyes flicker like a snake’s when I take the first lump of ore out of my inventory. “You know what it is?” I ask.
He shrugs, trying to be cool. “Yeah.”
“Are you interested in buying it?”
There’s a slight tic in his right eye as he says, “Maybe. Depends.”
I smile. “It all depends on the price, buddy, doesn’t it?”
He leans in. “Do you mind if I test it?”
I don’t mind. He leans in and takes a nick from the ore with his penknife. Then he turns and I see he has a glass beaker full of acid. He drops the star silver in that and watches it fizz. Then he adds a chemical and the whole thing turns purple. He sucks his lip, pauses then turns back to me. “Yeah, it’s the real thing.”
“Of course. Why would I lie?”
“You could be a scammer. Many are.”
“Anyway, what are you offering for star silver these days?”
The vendor scratches his head. “We don’t get lots of it…”
I bet.
“...so I don’t have a ready price in my head. What were you thinking?”
I want to be cool here. I say, “50,000 marks a lump?”
He visibly steps back. “You’re kidding, right? I mean Meteoric Iron is only 500 a lump.”
“Yeah but Star Silver gives you an instakill against shifters. Come on, that is a really unique proposition. It’s obtained in a non-repeatable quest. I’ll never have this star silver again. How much do you actually see of it?”
“Okay.” He clears his throat. I see he’s sweating. “1000 a lump.”
I need 12,800 marks for the towers, including architect, mason, builders and fees. Even with my 10% haggling discount. 1000 a lump for star silver isn’t going to cut it.
“20,000.”
“A lump?” He swallows hard. His eyes dart to the ore, which is still laid on his counter, then he shakes his head vigorously. “No. I can’t do that. I need to make a profit. How about 5,000?”
He’s gone up 500% in less than five seconds. I think it’s worth a bit more.
I sigh. “Well, there are other vendors.” I go to retrieve the ore, but his hand snaps out to stop me.
“Don’t be so hasty. 7,500?”
This price means I can afford the tower, with the two lumps of ore. I take out the other one.
His eyes goggle. “You’ve got two?”
“I can tell no lie. I’ve got two.”
“So, maybe, 13,000 for the two?”
I give a brief laugh. “That’s less than 7,500 each?”
He puts up his palms imploringly. “Yeah but it’s a lot of money.”
“I think you’re good for it.” He fleeces noobs all the time, I know.
I put on a reasonable voice. “20k for both. How about that? Either that, or I walk.”
He grimaces. “Man, you’re killing me. I’ve got kids to feed.”
“No, you haven’t; you’re an NPC.”
“It’s a figure of speech. 18,000.”
“Come on.” I say. “Twenty for both, that’s that.”
He sighs, nods and gulps. “Okay. Give me the ore.”
I give him the ore and watch my inventory load up with 20,000 marks.
I bow. “Nice doing business with you.”
“Yeah, sure.” He’s too busy eyeing the star silver. When I turn round and check his sales inventory as well as the mercury and steel, he’s now advertising star silver at 40k a lump. I’m about to go back when Blodeuwedd says, “You did well, boss. Let’s get gone.”
He’s right. I go to see Oliver Stone the architect and order the limestone tower. He starts to burble on about extra fees because the tower is going to be built in Alston not in Camelot, but I cut him short.
“Here’s 10,000 up front. For this, lose the delivery fee please.”
He smiles his salesman smile. “Well,” he says. “It was worth a try.”
“Okay, tomorrow. Builders, architect and mason. And don’t try and stint on the builders. You promised five. I’m paying for five.”
I know it’s a trick for real world builders to put a lot of men on the job at first who then disappear after the first day to go and do other jobs and so slow down your construction. I won’t be having that.
On the way out of Camelot I go to Asterix, the fat dwarf with the green beard.
He winces. “Sorry to hear about your soldiers.”
Yeah, like he cares. He can just sell more to me now. But when I look again, maybe he’s sincere. I decide to be gracious. “Thanks.”
I hire five Level 1 soldiers and two more miners. I’ve been doing some calculations.
The miners at Level 1 can really only dig out low level ore, but they level as they work. I reckon with 5 miners we will be making roughly 600 marks in the first month and get up to full capacity by about month seven. At that time, we’ll be bringing in about 1500 a month. Maybe more if I hire more miners as we go along.
Cost-wise, I reckon it’ll be 921 a month from month one as I have to pay even Level 1 miners full wages. The cost for the oats for the mules and beer for the miners and soldiers is minimal really. I’ve plotted it on a spreadsheet. I’m not going to be making a profit until month three and then it’ll be a minimal profit for about four more months. But I have the extra from the star silver to cushion me until then.
I think this is going to work. We buy beer and oats on the way out and I get the soldiers to carry them as we head east and up the mountain to Alston.
16
Silver Drift Craft Beer
I’m there first with the new soldiers and I set them to training on the butts and dummies that are still there. I don’t leave the low level soldiers in case the Dwemmers or worse things come back. The black buzz of evil on the horizon doesn’t get any further away, but it doesn’t come any closer either.
I’ve now got five miners led by Thorvald. At first all the new guys can dig out is copper, but the more they did, the better they get.
Then the architect Oliver Stone and the mason arrive and begin wandering around looking for somewhere to put the tower. The mason is a half-dwarf called Ramon Lull. He looks dirty as if he never completely gets rid of the stone-dust no matter how much he washes. Or maybe he doesn’t wash.
They stomp around for a while until I intervene. I say, “I’ve got something to say about where we put the tower, surely?”
Oliver Stone strokes his chin. “You should leave this to the experts. I mean, you have no qualifications or experience in architecture.”
The half-dwarf nods in agreement. They figure they’ve got this themselves. No need for the amateur.
“No,” I agree, “But I’ve played a lot of real time strategy games. And I was pretty good at Minecraft.”
They look puzzled. Ramon Lull even scratches his head. I forgot that NPCs know nothing about the real world. For them, it simply doesn’t exist.
They are stomping around but the ground hereabouts is marshy. I say that.
Stone sighs. “But, Squire Gorrow, all the land is marshy. We will simply have to deal with it accordingly.” He smiles. “But of course there will be an additional cost…”
I point up to the hill. “What about there?”
Ramon Lull follows my finger. “On top of the mine?”
“Why not?”
“It’s a bit craggy.”
“Yeah, but it’s more defensible.”
“Defensible?”
“I’m building a defensive tower, right?”
“Of course, but…”
“But what?”
“It’s a bit craggy,” he repeats.
“Just build it there.”
Lull turns to Stone. Stone shrugs and says, “The customer’s always right.”
“Makes no different to me,” the half-dwarf says.
“That’s it settled then.” I smile and they go over to the top of the crag. The mine is underneath and standing on top of the grass between outbreaks of rock, I think I can hear the sound of the miners toiling beneath. I have a thought. “Can you sink a tunnel from the tower basement into the mines?”
If we do that, then I can close off the mine entrance in an emergency. It just makes it all more secure.
Oliver Stone says, “We can do that, but…”
“There’ll be a cost. Tell me how much?”
He scratches his head like he’s making it up on the spot. “100 Marks.”
That sounds pretty reasonable. I say, “Done,” and go over and shake his head on the deal before he can back out of it. “When do you start building?”
“As soon was the builders arrive.”
Ramon Lull is more helpful than Stone. He says, “Very soon.”
I smile and go to see how the miners are getting on. Thorvald is grateful to see me.
“I don’t want any more of those bad guys coming round, boss.” He looks pained. “I would have fought them though…”
I pat his shoulder. “I know you would, but you’re more valuable to me as a miner. I just want you to keep levelling. What can you dig now?”
He looks pleased with himself. “I can dig silver now. Just got it when I levelled.”
“That’s really good.” I check my calculations and I’m on track still to make 600 marks this game month. Maybe more. That will only increase as the miners level. Of course it needs to increase. Even with the money I got for the Star Silver, I need to put the mine into profit.
He’s still worried about attack. “I see you haven’t named the soldiers.”
“No.”
“Because you think they’ll die?”
“Not exactly.” Though that is some of it.
“Cuthbert, Dibble and the other one weren’t much use.”
I seek to reassure him. If he’s anxious, maybe he won’t mine as well and the other miners will take their lead from him. The NPCs do have morale ratings. “These new guys are doing intensive training. They’ll get good fast.”
I gives a wan smile. “I hope so.”
“Will you get some more soldiers?”
“Probably. Try not to worry, Thorvald.”
He sighs. “It’s my nature.”
I shake m
y head. I don’t need an anxious NPC.
I next go out to where the new soldiers are training. Four of them are Level 2 now, which is good. Only one tags along at Level 1, but he’ll soon catch up. They try to be friendly, but I don’t want to get attached to them. Thorvald is right, I think they’re going to die.
And then the builders arrive. The architect and mason tell them where to begin. The stone appears by magic as they start to lay the foundations. I shout over, “Don’t forget the steps down into the mine.”
Oliver Stone waves away my worries. “Of course. Don’t fret.”
Maybe, I’m more like Thorvald than I care to admit.
It takes the miners two game days to finish the tower. By that time the new miners are Level 3 and so are all of the soldiers. Things improve.
I stand back and admire the tower. A hundred feet of light grey limestone. It pierces the sky and can be seen for miles around, which might not be a good thing. We’re kind of advertising our presence.
“What do you think?” Ramon Lull, the mason asks. His builders are standing behind him, dirty but pleased with the job they’ve done. Oliver Stone is beside them, not saying anything. What do they care? Even if I don’t like it, I’m paying him anyway. But I do like it.
I nod. “I like it. Very…”
“Imposing?”
“Exactly. That’s the word.”
“And defensive?”
“Yes, sure.” I laugh. “I hope so, anyway.”
“I guarantee it.”
Oliver Stone steps forward. “Unless they bring siege engines. It’ll keep out foot soldiers, but not a determined assault by a well-prepared enemy.”
Ramon Lull is about to say something. He looks angry but Oliver Stone waves him to be quiet. He has a sickly sweet smile on his face. “That’s why, we offer upgrades.”
“Upgrades?” Even before he’s explained, I remember the different materials.
“The next level up.”
“The Level 2 tower,” Ramon Lull helpfully adds before Stone shoots him a look of withering scorn and he goes quiet.
Stone continues for him. “The Level 2 Tower is the Sandstone Tower.”
“A much better tower,” Lull says, recovering his confidence. This time Stone rewards him with a smile.