Ascend Online

by Luke Chmilenko

  “Alright, that gives us time then.” Jenkins scribbled Ritt’s numbers on the paper, with question marks beside them. “Show me that design you were talking about?”

  “Sure, let’s head over to the workshop,” I said waving him to follow me as I led the way.

  When I had first conscripted the Bann this morning, my plan had been to start building a palisade around the village. But when I presented the plan to Jenkins, he… kindly… pointed out the error in my thinking when we asked him how feasible the idea was.

  “Lyrian, are you off your fucking gourd?! Do you have any idea how many trees and work that’s going to take?!”

  It turns out I didn’t.

  Jenkins explained to me that even if we took the trees a foot in diameter, it would take at least a thousand trees to build a proper wall around the village. They’d have to be reasonably tall trees too – which would make hauling them back to Aldford a colossal pain. Not to mention we’d have to ensure that any of the work parties going out to cut the wood, stayed safe from all the roaming creatures. Even if we somehow surpassed those obstacles, it would take an incredible amount of time to cut, strip and stake the sheer quantity of trees we needed to circle the village. Time we didn’t have.

  In short, building a palisade just wasn’t anywhere close to feasible with the manpower and time we had available to us. We would have to find another way to build up Aldford’s defenses against the initial rush of Adventurers and hope we found enough trustworthy souls to help with further developing the village at a later date.

  What we could do right now, though, was start to lay the groundwork for the future palisade and thanks to an idea of mine, still have a defensible perimeter around the village.

  “Okay,” I started once we were in the workshop and indicated a pile of wood. “It’s called a Tribuli, but I guess you could also call it a giant caltrop.”

  “If we wanted to make a quick and dirty version, we can lash three sharpened stakes together and set it up,” I continued talking as I used a few lengths of scrap wood to show Jenkins the general design of what I pictured in my mind. “What do you think?”

  “Hmm… yeah. I think this can work!” On seeing my idea, Jenkins started to nod. “I get it now, you’re hoping to put them in and around the ditches. That way if anyone tries to jump the ditch, they get an ass full of wood. Or if they try to creep through, they’re going to make enough noise to alert someone.”

  “That’s the plan!”

  “It’s still going to take a hell of a lot of these to fill the perimeter,” Jenkins mused as he started clearing a workspace.

  “Less than a thousand trees worth?” I asked with a grin. “It’s not like we have enough metal lying around either.”

  “Good point,” Jenkins grunted as he pointed to a nearby tool. “Grab that drawing knife over there. You’re going to be helping me with these.”

  ***

  Your skill in Carpentry has increased to level 4!

  “Phew.” I finished another Tribuli and carefully set it down to the side. It was slow going at first, as Jenkins had to take the time to show me the basics of the Carpentry, but once I’d managed to learn the skill, progress picked up. “Another one done!”

  “And many more still to go…” Jenkins sighed as he worked on his own Tribuli at another nearby bench.

  “I have to ask, Lyrian, what exactly are you expecting from these coming Adventurers. A siege?” Jenkins asked. “You seem intent on making sure that Aldford is defended, hell, even fortified before their arrival.”

  “Honestly?” I shrugged, grabbing another length of wood to start shaping. “I expect the best and the worst people have to offer.”

  “I’m not sure what to make of that…”

  “Think of it from an Adventurer’s perspective.” I turned to look at him. “You just spent seven days traveling here from Eberia, through all the wild has to offer. Likely also unprepared for what the wild has to offer.”

  “You’re tired, hungry, maybe you have no idea where you even are. Then you find Aldford, a safe haven, the first sign of civilization you’ve seen in a week. Some Adventurers, most Adventurers even, will respect the difficulty – the simple challenge of setting up and simply surviving long enough to build a community here and integrate neatly. Those I’m not overly concerned about.”

  “It’s the few who will do anything to achieve power, which I worry about.” I waved my hand to indicate the village around us. “Anyone with an ounce of cunning would know that Aldford is in a prime location for travel and trade. They’ll look to be here the quickest and take it over. They won’t care if they have to kill people or even burn half the village to the ground, so long as they have control.”

  “Isn’t that what you’ve done already, though? Taken control of Aldford?” Jenkins whispered as he shook his head. “Is all this work, just to protect what you have?”

  “What?” A dark expression crossed my face and my jaw dropped as I realized what Jenkins was implying. I couldn’t help but get angry.

  Where the hell is this coming from? I’m just trying to help Aldford survive the coming wave of Adventurers, and he thinks I’m taking it over?! “I’ve just done my bes-“

  “Whoa! Don’t get me wrong!” Jenkins hastily interrupted as he saw my expression. “I definitely appreciate everything you’ve done for us! The whole town appreciates it!”

  He met my eyes, surprised at the emotion he saw there. “Gods, Lyrian. You didn’t even realize it! I am so sorry for thin-”

  “Realize what?!” I barked angrily. “Think what?! That I’m not any different than any other Adventurer?! I thought you buried this shit after the goblin attack!”

  “I did, but-“

  “But, what Jenkins?!” I was off my bench and looming over the dark-skinned man. “What?!”

  “I want to propose to Shelia!”

  “What?! What the fuck does that even have to do with me?!” I shouted, taken aback, my anger quickly turning to confusion. “Or this?!”

  “I want her to be safe! I want to build a life here with her!” Jenkins yelled back at me. “Everything that we’re doing here will make Aldford safer, sure! But only for as long as you and your friends are here!”

  “I need to know that you aren’t going to cut out on us, on the village,” Jenkins continued softly. “You just don’t get it. You barely spoke for ten minutes today outlining your plan for Aldford. Then everyone went with it.”

  Jenkins pointed outside in the direction where everyone was still digging. “There are over a dozen people out there, including a Knight of Eberia who happens to be the legal leader of this settlement, digging a three hundred foot ditch because you told them it’d be a good idea.”

  “Lyrian, in every way that matters, this village is as good as yours already.” Jenkins looked up at me. “I need to know that you’re going to be the same Adventurer you were the very first day you got here. That you’re actually going to care about us, regular people. Even when the other Adventurers start coming. Especially when the other Adventurers start coming.”

  Shit, he’s right. The anger vanished quickly and was replaced with a crushing sense of responsibility. All I had tried to do up to this point was keep everyone in Aldford safe and make a few suggestions along the way. But over the last few days, I’d grown to actually care about the people here and didn’t want to see them come to harm. I keep forgetting that I can’t think of these people as simple NPCs.

  “I can’t promise that my friends and I will stay at Aldford forever, Jenkins,” I answered sincerely. “But if and when that day comes when we leave, it will be because Aldford no longer needs us, not the other way around.”

  “But if anyone, ever, raises a hand against the village of Aldford in anger… I promise you, it will be the last thing they do.”

  Jenkins nodded, relief showing on his face as he heard my answer. “Thank you, Lyrian.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “So…” I sat down on
my bench and broke into a smile. “You and Shelia, eh?”

  Chapter 20

  Constantine and Sierra were the first of the party members to unlock their Base Classes. They both strode into Aldford with joy on their faces with an exhausted, but happy looking Natasha not far behind. Having entered the village from the north, they walked right into the middle of our excavation project as we began to wind down for the day. They found us as we were about to finish emplacing the last of the Tribuli we'd managed to make so far.

  "We did it Lyr!" Constantine was grinning wildly as he spoke. "We're finally level 10!"

  "Congrats!" I beamed at the pair, taking in their dirty and disheveled appearances. What the hell happened to them?

  "How did your day work out?" I asked hesitantly.

  "We kept up a good tempo." I couldn't recall a time when I saw Sierra as happy as she was right now, speaking excitedly with a huge smile on her face. "We played a few 'wargames' with Drace and his Militia group for most of the morning and afternoon. I'd say they're sharp now and finally not green enough to be considered a tree!"

  "They downplay how relentless they were to those boys!" Natasha exclaimed shaking her head at Sierra's version of the day. "We'd spend fifteen, twenty, or even forty minutes creeping in on the Militiamen, just to goose them with arrows!"

  "Those poor boys are going to be seeing hidden dangers in their sleep!"

  "That was kind of the point," Constantine freely admitted to Natasha. "They need to see dangers both for their own good and for Aldford's good too. I'd rather have an overly paranoid guardsman that needs to be reined in, rather than one who needed to be kicked in the ass."

  "I suppose…" Natasha agreed hesitantly, seeing the wisdom in that approach.

  "We understand your training methods a bit better now, Lyr." Sierra looked at me intently as she nodded at Constantine's statement. “Yesterday…we needed a harsh perspective on what it takes to survive and what the cost is if we were to fail. We'll always come back to life. Others won't be so lucky."

  "Well… I'm happy you feel better about that. Though… I didn't die on purpose yesterday just to teach you all that." A part of me felt happier knowing that they understood why I did things the way I did, even if they didn't turn out the way I intended. "So, what can you tell me about being level 10? Is it everything we were hoping for?"

  Constantine and Sierra shared a look before Constantine answered. "Actually, Lyrian. We want to keep quiet about that…"

  "What?! Why?!"

  "Because…" Sierra started as she tried to find words to explain. "We don't want to ruin the experience."

  "It's worth it." Constantine nodded. "Trust me."

  "Ugh. You two are such teases." I shook my head at the pair with frustration, before fixing them with an evil eye. "Fine! Keep your secrets! I have enough on my plate as it is!"

  "No shit! We saw your work today…" Constantine said as he waved at the ditch. "I thought we were aiming for a wooden wall though?"

  "That…didn't really pan out…" I said as I began to explain what actually building a palisade entailed. "We're going to keep it a bit simpler right now and this does the trick."

  "This reminds me of something I saw from a documentary on the Roman Empire once," Sierra said as she examined a Tribuli, turning it over in her hands as she admired the craftsmanship. "Shit, Lyrian, this has your name carved on it here! When the hell did you have time to learn Carpentry today?!"

  "Ha! Yeah…It's Roman in inspiration!" I finished tying the straps to the Tribuli I was assembling and set it aside. "As for the Carpentry part… Jenkins taught me. The rest I kind of picked up on my own."

  "Are you some sort of skill learning prodigy?" Constantine shook his head as he nudged an oversized caltrop. "Seems every time I turn around you've learned something new!"

  "Actually…now that you mention it," I started to say before I grinned and changed my mind. "On second thought…I don't really want to ruin the experience for you two."

  "You walked into that one." Sierra laughed as she shook her head at Constantine.

  "Ugh," Constantine grunted. "I did."

  "Anyway…" I said with a sigh as I changed topics. "Did you three manage to get any metals or herbs while you were out for the day? Or just add to the Militiamen’s nightmares?"

  "Herbs mostly." Natasha was unexpectedly the first to reply. "We found a great deal of Hollyleaf since it's native to the area. But we also found a good amount of Yellowthorn as well!"

  "Yeah, Lyr!" Constantine exclaimed excitedly. "Natasha is a bloodhound when it comes to finding herbs! I have no idea how she does it, but we managed to get nearly three hundred sprigs of Hollyleaf throughout the day, and about ninety sprigs of a new herb called Yellowthorn. We didn't find all that much metal, though, only about fifty pieces of copper ore throughout the entire day."

  "Awesome!" The more Hollyleaf we had, the less worried I became about the spiders in the Webwood. It canceled out poison during combat and was a central cooking ingredient for spider meat. The discovery of Yellowthorn and a handful of metal ore was just an added bonus as far as I was concerned. "Any idea on what Yellowthorn can be used for?"

  "Nah." Constantine shrugged. "Doesn't have any consumable benefits like Hollyleaf does."

  "It requires distilling," Natasha said, obviously happy to contribute. "It's primarily used by Alchemists. Though I'm not quite sure what for."

  "Hrm. I guess we'll have to pass it onto Caius," Sierra said. "He's the alchemist of the group."

  "Till Lyrian learns it," Constantine added teasingly.

  "Feh! Like I have time to learn everything under the sun!" I replied with a bit of exasperation.

  "Maybe, maybe not." Constantine shrugged as he motioned to the Town Hall. "Do you want all the stuff we've collected for the day? We're going to find a bite to eat and sit down."

  I shook my head. "Nah, I don't have room for all that. Jenkins cleaned out a crate in the workshop for us to use, just drop all of it in there and I'll sort it out."

  "Alrighty, can do!"

  "While you're there, hang up your armor on a rack or something." I'd been subtly inspecting their armor since they arrived back to town and it was quite worse for wear. "Did you guys purposefully decide to crawl through every single thorn bush and sharp rock you found out there today?!"

  Constantine, Sierra, and Natasha all looked down at their armor. "You think this is bad? Wait until you see Drace and his Militiamen tonight! They had a much more exciting day than we did!"

  ***

  "What the ever living fuck happened to you all?" I gaped at Drace and the Militiamen as they stumbled their way into the Town Hall, having just finished dropping off a package of Hollyleaf and meat for Ragna when I ran into the group.

  I couldn't believe what I saw when I looked at the group. Their armor hung in tatters, chainmail links broken every which way. Drace was even missing an entire sleeve of armor that was supposed to cover his right arm. "Hold on, what’s going on with your spear, Ioun?"

  "Sir! It's technically a stick now!" Ioun replied with extreme formality as if I were some sort of military officer. "It was broken during combat with a Wolverine, sir! I, unfortunately, left my spear buried six inches in its hindquarters before it snapped!"

  A Wolverine? I stared at the group at a loss for words. "Uh…well done?"

  "Thank you, sir!"

  "Drace." I looked at the half-giant warrior. "What the hell?"

  "Hey, Lyr!" Drace gave me a mock salute. "How's your day working out? Saw the work outside, seems like you guys have been pretty busy!"

  "Quit stalling! The hell is this about a Wolverine? I thought you spent the day wargaming with Sierra and Constantine?!"

  "Yeah…we started off the day like that." Drace broke into a smirk as he started to describe his day. "But after a while, these guys needed something a bit more interesting. So we went wandering."

  "Right…and a tiny little…Wolverine did all this to your armor? What did you do? Call
its mother names?"

  "Lyr, Wolverines, are eight feet tall, level 10 murder machines in this game," Drace said firmly. "There's nothing little about them."

  "Why the hell did you decide to fuck with one then?!" I was shocked that they had managed to find a level 10 creature wandering anywhere close to the town, let alone engaged one. "Where the hell did you even find it?"

  "Well, you did tell us to go looking for metals," Drace began. "So we decided to poke our heads into whatever caves we came across. Third one we looked into, was the beast, all cozied up and taking a nap."

  "Do Wolverines even live in caves?" I couldn't believe how literal everyone had been taking my suggestions lately.