I focused on ‘Export Office’ and mentally clicked on the ‘rush’ option. A prompt showed asking for confirmation, which I did, paying the required 300 EP.
The neat stack of resources started shimmering, glowing a faint blue. A transparent ‘ghost’ of a building came into view. It was a round structure, wrapped around the base of the main column. Pieces of wood, leather, and stone began to disappear from the pile and reappear on the ethereal structure. The physical matter formed as patches over the template’s frame. It took only a few moments for the process to complete.
New building expansion added to your settlement: Export Office
I took a step back and observed the new edifice. It was a small, round wooden structure with a stone roof. There was a tiny doorway with a window beside it. More than anything, it looked like a little kiosk.
Now came the moment of truth. I took out the Dimensional Trade Orb from my inventory and entered the building. The place was empty, but I could clearly feel tendrils of information stretching out from the column toward the orb in my hand. I went to the column and reached out with the orb. Tethers of magic started flowing from it, connecting with others coming out of the column. A section of it shimmered and disappeared, leaving the entire weight of the column and the attached machinery floating in the air. There was no question what I needed to do. I placed the orb in the empty space and let go. It remained floating at the exact center of the open space. Then it started humming softly and a white light emanated from it, patching up the missing column section with opaque white energy.
“Yeah, okay, that’s pretty cool,” Vic admitted.
Time to get this show on the road. I flexed my fingers, opened the Settlement Interface and selected the ‘Commerce’ option.
Commerce
Tax: 3%
Clan Traders: 1
External Traders: 3
Export Office [missing Exporter worker]
Right, so all it needed now was an export worker. With a few well-practiced mental clicks, I opened the Breeder’s Den menu.
Breeder’s Den upgraded
By controlling a new race’s settlement, their units have become available for recruitment.
Conquering additional races’ settlements will add additional units.
Damn, it had almost slipped my mind. I was so engrossed in the small details, I nearly lost sight of my main objective. The reason I took that little trip to the Ogre’s fort in the first place.
I scanned the list of available units, looking for Ogres.
I found what I was looking for, though it was not what I expected.
Infernal Ogre: 150 basic food
Infernal Ogre Mage:150 basic food, 100 advanced food, 50 exquisite food
Wow. The Ogre mage alone was worth almost as much as two lieutenants and two adepts.
I want one of those, I couldn’t help thinking. This was a new kind of greed for me.
But first things first. I didn’t want to exhaust my food stores on an impulse buy. So instead, I followed up on my original intent and queued in a new ‘Advanced Worker’ goblin, an ‘Exporter.’ The building was already loaded with 60 units of advanced food, from my previous recruitments, so I only had to wait a short while for my workers to haul in an additional 30 units of basic food.
I stood inside the Exporter Office, staring impatiently at the Breeder’s Den Interface. A few moments passed before the amount of food updated. First, the extra food appeared and then disappeared a heartbeat later as the Breeder’s Den consumed it to fulfill my order.
From outside the Export Office, Kaedric tapped at the window. “My lord, I have ordered the new worker to come here. It will be but a moment. Shall I increase his level?”
“Yeah, I guess. You might as well raise him to the third level like the others.”
“At once, my lord.”
I waited until the new goblin arrived. She looked like the elven version of a goblin, tall and lithe, yet powerfully built, for a goblin.
“Welcome to the GreenPiece Clan …” I plucked her name from the air “… Trillian. I need you to operate this Export Office, I trust you know how to use a Trade Orb?”
She nodded gracefully. “Yes, Dread Totem. I do. It is a great honor to operate such an advanced facility.” Her voice was clear and confident.
“Do you require anything for your job?”
“No, Dread Totem, though a gofer would help accelerate the preparation and transportation of goods.”
“Kaedric, see to it.”
“Yes, my lord.”
I rubbed my hands expectantly and opened the Commerce Interface again. This time the ‘Export Office’ option was enabled. I clicked on it and reeled back as my mind was assaulted by a torrent of information. I couldn’t make heads or tails of it; it was just too much.
The flow of data abated and a large screen opened instead, filling my entire view. Dozens of options, tabs, and lists were displayed.
I blinked a few times, trying to make sense of it all.
At the top was a drop-down list labeled ‘Trading Partners.’ I opened it and selected the only available option: Zemitpozes, the gremlin settlement.
The rest of the screen reorganized, listing new tabs with various categories. Crafting resources, construction resources, minerals, magical, miscellaneous, and such. There were a bunch of filters on the left and a list of categories to sort by on the right. Everything was jumbled together, making my brain hurt as I tried to piece it all together.
You know what I’m looking for, Vic, sort it out, please. You’ve done this plenty of times before.
The screen flickered and reorganized. That was much better. Zemitpozes was listed as the trading partner and below it was a long list of resources: wood, stone, copper, tin, marble, cogs, and finally, glass!
That’s what I need. Now to get it … I tentatively clicked on ‘glass.’ The number ‘1’ showed on the right and a new list opened.
Select a resource to trade for [glass]
Resource
Available Amount
Exchange Rate
Gathered Ingredients
Arrows
Rabbit Pelts
Lumber
…
625
545
423
380
…
62
120
54
5
…
The list went on and on, detailing every item we had stored in our clan, showing those with the highest quantities on top. It was easy enough to understand. The ‘Value’ column clearly showed how many units of the resource were needed to barter for a single piece of glass, but something didn’t add up.
“Trillian, please clear up something for me. How is it that glass takes 120 arrows, while only requiring 5 pieces of lumber?” I knew for a fact that the base price for the lumber was 2 gold, while the 120 arrows went for 6 gold. This conversion table did not make sense.
“It is simple, Dread Totem. The ratio is not determined by monetary worth but by the availability or rarity of each resource for the trading partner. For example, if you wanted to trade fish for swords, a fishing village might require over a hundred fish per sword, while a desert village might give you ten swords for a single fish.”
Ah, that made sense. “So it’s beneficial to have as many trading partners as possible. Preferably at different geographic locations.”
The lithe goblinette nodded. “Exactly.”
That made a lot of sense. As a subterranean settlement, Zemitpozes probably lacked a supply of good lumber, while we had a large forest within easy reach. I clicked on ‘Lumber’ and increased the amount to 50 units.
Yup.
A goblin I had never seen before came running at us. A level 3 worker, Trillian’s new gofer helper. The new goblin was hauling in several pieces of lumber, straining under their weight. The lumber was brought into the Export Office. Then the gofer and Trillian went running to the nearby lumber yard. This was going to take a while.
“Kaedric, let me know when they’re finished.”
“Yes, my lord.”
I checked my inventory. I had a few items I needed to unload and a few people I wanted to talk to. I left the marketplace and made my way toward the mess hall.
I took a detour to the pond and gave the fishing kit I found to the fishermen. One of them was using a crude fishing pole and the upgrade increased their daily fish yield by four.
I entered the mess hall. Gandork’s two new gofer helpers were running between the tables, collecting dirty dishes and cleaning the tabletops.
I spotted Bek sitting alone after having long finished eating his meal.
“Hi Bek, how are you doing?”
He fidgeted and lowered his eyes. “Bek is sorry, Dread Totem!” he piped.
I frowned. “Sorry? About what?”
The little goblin continued avoiding my gaze. “Bek not heal enough good. Big fighters die. Bek die. Dread Totem fight alone. All Bek fault.”
I chuckled, finally drawing his gaze. “Bek, we were facing incredibly strong enemies. We wouldn’t have made it as far as we did without your help. You kept us alive through it. And that opal you pulled out when we were about to get swarmed saved the day. I couldn’t have asked more of you. You deserve a reward, not a punishment. In fact …” I reached slowly up to my head and removed the feathered headdress, handing it to him. “This is yours now.”
It might have been more optimal to give it to our new dark priest, but I had made up my mind. Sorry Kuzai, Bek deserves this more than you do.
The goblin stared, stupefied, at the headdress in his hands.
Without losing a beat, I removed my matching kilt and retrieved my old totem’s staff from my inventory. I handed them to him as well. I’d long outgrown that set anyway. “Here you go, Bek, now you have the full set. This should increase your magic powers significantly.”
Bek just gaped at me, his large eyes filled with wonder and incomprehension.
“Put it on,” I urged.
He obeyed, donning the feathered headdress and kilt and held the staff in one hand. With those items, he looked just like the iconic shamanistic goblin Totem. The items’ enchantment and set bonus significantly increased his mana and health pool as well as his mana regeneration rate.
“B-but Totem,” Bek protested. “You now got no staff.”
“Don’t worry about me, Bek. I’m covered.” I winked at him and retrieved my new Demon Horn Staff. “Now go play with your new toys.”
I left the flabbergasted goblin to admire his new equipment and went into the kitchen.
The head cook greeted me. “Ah, Dread Totem, you’re back at last.”
“Hey, Gandork.”
“Please sit, I have something special for you.”
I sat and Kaedric moved to stand beside me. I watched, bemused, at the now plump goblin making a racket in his kitchen before bringing me a steaming plate full of wriggling worms. There were sprinkles of orange and purple mixed in. I could feel the heat radiating from the dish.
“How are the worms still alive?” I asked, feeling both revulsion and fascination at the exotic dish.
“It is the work of the fire resistance potion, Dread Totem.” Gandork beamed at me. “It took me a few tries, but I finally mastered the new recipe. The purple salt balances the magmashroom magnificently. It is the most exquisite dish I have ever made. You are the first to try it.”
“Besides you,” I said with a smirk.
“I only tasted it to find the right balance, Dread Totem. The honor of first right is yours.”
“Thanks.” I grabbed a fistful of wriggling worms. They were pleasantly warm to the touch. Something deep inside me revolted against the notion of eating such a dish, but I shrugged it off. I had already accepted the truth of my reality and who I was.
I stuck the worms in my mouth. The wriggling sensation was quite pleasant and the worms burst in my mouth, releasing their savory juices. I chewed slowly, enjoying the spicy tinge and the way it was magically extinguished before becoming too intense.
I swallowed and a pleasant coldness ran down my throat, which was instantly replaced with a feeling of warmth, radiating from my stomach to the rest of my body.
Buff Gained: Crisp Hot Worms
Effect: 20% cold and fire resistance.
“Wonderful, Gandork, you’ve outdone yourself!” I complimented the beaming goblin. “How many more of these can you make with our current supply?”
“I’m afraid we have run out of Fire Resist potions, Dread Totem. Getting worms is not a problem; my gofers can take care of that. We have 42 magmashrooms and 49 units of purple salt left. With enough potions, the other ingredients will suffice for 126 such dishes.”
That was plenty. I needed a total of six adepts to maintain the scattered places of worship and the soon-to-be-built Dark Temple. With Bek and Kuzai, I only needed four more. An adept goblin cost 30 advanced and 20 exquisite food, nearly half of a hobgoblin adept.
“Kaedric, we need to supply Gandork with Fire Resist potions. Get some gold from my house and buy them from the gremlins.”
For a long moment, my seneschal did not reply while his mandibles twitched mutely.
“Kaedric?”
“Forgive me my lord, I was looking into the matter. Buying the potions from the gremlins will not be necessary. Using her new chemistry set, Guba can brew such potions on her own now. Though it will require some of the clan’s resources, it would be substantially more economical.”
“Good thinking.” I nodded approvingly.
“Gandork, once you have the potions, please cook 60 units of this dish.”
“Of course, Dread Totem.”
“Good. By the way, did Malkyr bring in the oxsaurian meat?”
“He did indeed, Dread Totem. Fine meat, very gamey.”
“Excellent. Keep up the good work, Gandork.” I got up and left the mess hall.
As soon as I exited the building, a foblin ran straight into me, then fell back from the impact. “Watch out,” I said gruffly.
The foblin gave me a fearful look. An instant later that look became horrified as Kaedric came out of the Mess Hall behind me. “Stupid, no good pest,” he spat out. His four mandibles extended, opening wide, making his face a terrifying visage.
The poor critter lurched on the ground, rolling and grabbing his head in pain.
“That’s enough, Kaedric,” I said reproachfully. I didn’t mind using the foblins as cannon fodder, but I had a strong aversion to outright torture. We all have our own boundaries and our own demons.
I had almost forgotten about Tempest.
What now? I thought, looking at the foblin as it scrambled to run away. I still had items to hand out and I wanted to check up on my new exporter.
But all that could wait.
Our new friends were heading my way.
20 – Throw Down
Raystia felt a weird mix of accomplishment and revulsion.
The Mob Squad had had a successful hunt, sort of. They’d found a lair of small humanoid creatures called vegepygmy, and it wasn’t because they were vegan, oh no. Raystia’s brow furrowed as she remembered the battle.
The small green creatures came at them from the swamp. They threw muck at the party, trying to blind them and used their sharp talons to attack from close range. It was tough at first, but after defeating a few of the creatures, the party learned how to fight as a whole. Fox would lead the charge, getting their attention. Then Misa and Riley would engage from the sides whi
le Raystia peppered them with arrows.
The day had been fruitful. Each member of The Mob Squad had gained five levels. And that was not all.
Raystia examined the cargo Riley and Fox were carrying. Slung across each of their shoulders was a live, shackled vegepygmy. This was the source of her conflicted emotions.
They had accomplished their task and captured two live specimens, yes. But the thought of what was to be their fate made her feel uneasy. One was going to be sacrificed, the other, eaten.
In real life, she would never ever do anything even remotely this cruel. Or would she? Everyone had to eat. Even monsters. Kaedric’s simple remark of not being able to eat, due to being different from everyone else, touched her in a deep way.
Besides, she thought, steeling her resolve, I’m playing NEO to become someone else. She smiled briefly. This semi-psychotic cat persona she assumed was as far from her real-life persona as possible.
Her companions’ expressions were also grave. They all knew what came next, but none of them tried to shirk from their quest. The bugbear, in particular, didn’t seem to care for any of this. He carried the vegepygmy ambivalently. Riley looked like he too had his inner turmoil, but his lips were pressed tightly together, showing his resolve in becoming Nihilator’s priest.
Misa mystified her the most. The elven-goblin woman was walking with an easy step, seemingly without a care in the world. Despite her carefree appearance, it was she who had captured their two victims. During the last fight, she caught their wrists and bound them with her new shackles. The last fight turned out to be the easiest of the day, all thanks to her. The woman was full of surprises.
But now they were back. They would soon finish with these quests, and the expected rewards would provide her and her party with the edge they needed to face more serious challenges. Raystia brightened at the thought.
“So we’re going to visit the church first, or volunteer to feed the hungry?” Fox grunted.
The other three stopped walking and looked at him.
“What?” He placed his free hand on his hip. “When you stop and think about it, that’s basically what we’re doing. Freaking game will probably send us to do some Jehovah’s Witness crap next.”
“Ahem, let’s go find Kaedric first,” Raystia said. One of the female goblins she’d met before gave her a friendly smile, and she returned it with a wave. She was really growing to like it here.
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