He lowered his eyes and his tone became apologetic. “Forgive me, Dread Totem. I should have thought of that myself. I could make a light leather armor that won’t interfere with your spellcasting, then attach this scale to the chest. It should increase the defense value dramatically. Shame, if I only had a few more of these, I could have –”
I dumped the rest of the scales on the table. All 17 of them.
Vrick’s eyes looked like saucers. “This is amazing!” he repeated. “I will make you the envy of all Totems.” He was excited now, all traces of his previous gloom gone.
“Glad you like it. I am sorry for not supporting your craft more. The armor workshop is one of my highest priorities. You will soon be able to work in an environment that is more befitting of your talents.”
He lowered his head. “I thank you, Dread Totem.”
I got up. “Put the extra scales in the warehouse. We’ll think of what to do with them later.”
“Yes, Dread Totem.”
I went to my own table. A short moment later, Gandork himself brought me a steaming plate of seasoned meat. There were a few wriggling worms on top of the pile.
The goblin cook leaned in, close to to my ear. “I had a little extra left, Dread Totem.”
“I take it Guba was able to supply you with Fire Resist potions?”
“She did indeed. I cooked 60 portions of the exquisite food as you ordered. It came out quite nicely if I do say so myself. It has already been supplied to the Breeder’s Den. Enjoy your food, Dread Totem.”
Gandork walked away, giving the gorging Ogre a wide berth.
I ate my meal, savoring every bite. The squirming worms went well with the dish, adding a touch of spiciness and a pleasant sense of wriggling in my mouth.
When I finished my food, I lifted the plate and licked it clean. No one paid my action any heed. Plenty of other goblins were doing the same. The foblins were licking crumbs off the floor.
I stood and approached Rhynorn. He looked down at me, scowling. I folded my arms over my chest, holding his gaze.
The Ogre lowered his eyes. “Boss-man.”
“I have a gift for you, Rhyno.” I retrieved the Ring of Bound Soul. “This was once Barska’s ring. I no longer need it so I’m offering it to you. If you can withstand the pain, it will make you even more powerful.”
The Ogre literally snatched the ring from my hand, nearly taking off some of my fingers with it. “Pain not matter. The Champion is not afraid of pain.”
He put on the ring. The magic within expanded the metal band, making it fit onto his sausage-like finger. The ring then clamped down, its inner teeth biting into flesh. The Ogre didn’t even blink.
I didn’t bother to say goodbye and left him to admire his new toy.
I’d almost reached the door when a new message popped up.
New Building added to your settlement: Barracks
Using the new Ogre Gluttony trait to double the builders’ daily upkeep had paid off big time. Zuban wasn’t kidding when he said the building would be completed the next day.
I hurried outside, eager to check out the barracks.
An unfamiliar information trail came from my left, from the direction of the cabins. I frowned. The data told of time remaining and temporary riches. It felt like the information that vanquished foes gave off, indicating loot. It was not something I expected to encounter in the heart of my clan.
I followed the information trail. It led me past the cabins and into the woods. I passed a wide tree. Its trunk was hollowed from the other side. The sight of two unfamiliar goblin bodies welcomed me.
Someone had murdered two members of my clan.
22 – Mobilizing
My blood boiled at the sight of the two bodies.
Someone had dared to hurt members of my clan. Rage surged within me. My goblin instincts thirsted for vengeance.
Taking deep, steadying breaths, I calmed myself and tried to think it through rationally. Gotta check the bodies first, I surmised and dragged both corpses out into the open.
Goblin worker [Dead]
Level: 3
HP: 0/28
Attributes: P: 3, M: 0, S: -1
Skills: Lumberjack 1
Traits: Noncombatant
The goblins were clones of each other, the two new lumberjacks I had asked Kaedric to summon. Someone had lured them here, exploiting their ignorance of the clan.
Deep gashes tore through their bodies; they had been attacked by slashing weapons. That ruled out Rhynorn, my first suspect. Though knowing the Ogre, if he was the culprit, he wouldn’t have bothered hiding the bodies. None of my other clanfolk were capable of such an attack. The only conclusion was, one of the new players did it.
His purple cloak-like body broke off into many thick tendrils that shot out and disappeared into one of the dead goblins through its mouth and nostrils. In my anger, I forgot about my companion’s ability to invade dead bodies and review their recent logs.
The body jerked once, then Vic oozed out again and reformed into his purple goblin shape.
“Well, who did it?” I urged.
Vic spread his hands defeatedly. “It’s no good, Boss, all the log says is, ‘Stealthed attacker sneak-attacked goblin worker.’ Looks like the stealth skill extends to the logs as well. I can tell you though that it definitely was one of the players.”
I scowled. They just arrived and are already causing trouble. At least I had a piece of a clue: everyone with the stealth skill was a suspect. I would find them and make them pay.
The goblins’ deaths were costly. I’d spent food and over 200 energy on their summoning. Someone is going to pay for that, I seethed.
“Kaedric!” I bellowed.
My seneschal appeared almost as if by magic. “My lord?”
“Someone murdered two of our clan members,” I hissed, pointing at the bodies. “One of the newcomers did it. I want that person found. Now!”
Kaedric gazed at the bodies, his face unreadable. “There are currently eight travelers in the clan, my lord. A group of four left the valley less than an hour ago. The culprit must be one of the 12. How shall we proceed?”
I pondered that question. Finding a player with the stealth skill was not enough to incriminate them. “Get Tempest over here.”
Kaedric looked in the direction of my house. A moment later, Tempest came galloping toward us. I put my hand on his fur, petting him as he brushed against me. “Tempest, can you get the scent of the one who killed these two?”
The intelligent demon wolf lowered his head and sniffed at the corpses then turned to me and nodded.
“Good. Let’s go find them.”
I followed Tempest as he put his nose to the ground and walked slowly toward the center of the village. Vic settled around my shoulders once more. Once we arrived at the pond, the wolf placed his nose into the water, then sneezed. He looked around uncertainty, then promptly sat down.
“Shadow-crap,” I cursed. Cobie, our senior fisherman, was nearby. “Did you see someone swim through the pond?” I demanded.
The goblin stared at me stupidly.
I sighed. “Did someone go into the water?”
“Fish swim in water,” he offered helpfully.
Vic snickered.
I tried again. “Besides the fish.”
“If I may, my lord,” Kaedric said, “both fishermen were in the mess hall not long ago; they could not have witnessed anyone coming here at the time of the incident.
Shadow-crap!
Shut up, Vic.
I jumped on Tempest’s back. “Kaedric, find all the adventurers and bring them to see me in the barracks.”
“Yes, my lord.”
I rode Tempest past the mess hall toward the barracks, finally seeing the completed building for the first time.
It was a larg
e, flat, circular structure with a wooden walkway circumventing it. A two-door gateway offered entry into a sizeable inner courtyard, making the entire edifice resemble a large bagel.
The building itself was essentially a long, circular hallway. There were many doors along it, each opening into a room; small, private rooms for officers and large, communal rooms housing dozens of soldiers. The inner courtyard was about 30 meters in diameter. At its center, a low fence bordered an area with dummies and archery targets. A training ground for my warriors.
“Hey, dude, are you that Totem guy?” One of the weird half-snake people came toward me. “I got a quest from that other lean dude with the mouth to come talk to you.”
I climbed off Tempest’s back and leered at the player. A quick Analyze showed me he did not have the Stealth skill. “We will wait for the others to arrive.”
He seemed to feel my hostility, and he raised his arms. “Chill, dude. No problem, I’ll wait.”
One by one, the other players arrived. I had Tempest sniff each of them as they came in. However, a few minutes later, all eight players stood facing me and Tempest hadn’t given any indication that he smelled our murderer, although three of them had the Stealth skill.
I addressed the small crowd. “We haven’t met yet. I’m the chief and Totem of this clan.”
I could hear some of the players whispering among themselves.
“Why are we here again?”
“That ant face dude gave us a chain quest to come here. This Totem dude is about to explain the next step.”
I raised my voice. “You are all here as guests. And as guests, you are expected to follow our rules.”
“I never heard a goblin talk like that before.”
“Heck, I’ve never seen a goblin this big before – and check out his mount. Since when do Dire Wolves have horns?”
“One of you,” I continued, raising my voice again, “murdered two of my clanmates.”
That finally shut them up. A multitude of gasps ensued.
“Whoever discovers the murderer and brings them before me will be instantly recognized as a friend of the clan and may join us.” I paused, scanning their faces. “And believe me, this is something you want to achieve.”
Grant the quest: Find the Goblin Killer, Part 2. Yes/No?
I tweaked the quest rewards, granting 1,000 reputation points with the clan, which would be enough to bring each player up to ‘friendly.’ I also threw in a hundred gold for good measure.
“That’s awesome!”
“Hell, I’m in!”
“Let’s go find ourselves a killer!”
The cheerful crowd dispersed though none of them had any idea how to complete the quest.
It didn’t really matter; Tempest had already cleared each of the players. The four that left the valley earlier were now the main suspects. Still, having more eyes looking and spreading the news of the ‘no killing goblins’ was a reward in itself.
I turned to inspect the barracks again when Zuban’s voice sounded next to me.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Somehow he’d approached me unnoticed.
“It is indeed.” I nodded. Some of my anger ebbed away as I looked in wonder at the great structure we’d managed to build.
“It can house a hundred warriors,” he said. “And I think we can double its capacity by adding another floor, though we’ll need to research the blueprints.
“Zuban … This is great! There are training dummies and weapons racks and …” I squinted. “Is that a flogging pole?”
He chuckled. “I don’t like it either, but it’s in the blueprints. We hobgoblin take army discipline seriously; it’s one of the reasons I’m glad I’m not a soldier anymore.”
“Wait, what? This is a hobgoblin barracks?”
“Of course. Most of the buildings are of hobgoblin design. I am a hobgoblin after all. This is actually a good thing. Our civilization is highly militaristic, so our barracks are among the most advanced available. There are also many other additions we can build to make it better: a mage training yard, trainer’s office, etc.”
I palmed my face. It seemed that building the barracks, as arduous as it had been, was only the first step. Still, it was a major one. “So how does it work?” I asked tiredly. “We just let the soldiers sleep here and that’s it?”
Zuban gave me a weird look. “Of course not. You need to assign trainers, decide on the role you want the new recruits to train for, that sort of thing.”
I held up my hand. “I get it.”
I opened the Settlement Interface, scrolled through the list of buildings, and selected ‘Barracks.’
Barracks
Level: 1
Trainers: 0/3
Occupants: 8/100
Expansions [require research]
I closed my eyes and reached with my mind into the metadata behind the words. Ah … there it is. This was interesting. The barracks was much more than just a building to house warriors.
It allowed elected trainers to continuously train up my warriors’ skills. The trick was, I had to choose someone with a high combat skill so he could teach it to the others. Since I could only select three trainers, I needed to consider which skills were the most important for my army.
The expansions were important too. Once the barracks was completed, a whole new section opened up in the Research Interface, providing many new options for study. I opened the Research Interface and browsed the available projects.
Research
Daily RP: 38.7
Blueprint: Magma Foundry: Enable magma casting. Cost: 200 RP
Barracks expansion blueprints:
Second Floor (+100 beds). Cost 200 RP
Armory (maintain soldiers’ gear and increase its effectiveness). Cost: 120 RP
Arena (conduct mock battles; dying is impossible). Cost: 50 RP
Trainer’s Office I (increase number of trainers by 2). Cost: 100 RP
Advanced Warfare Center (train new traits). Cost: 200 RP.
Yes, that was interesting indeed.
I didn’t really need the second floor or the armory at the moment. The arena would be a great addition, though, allowing everyone – including the new travelers – to train in actual combat instead of only using the training dummies. The ‘Advanced Warfare Center’ was an enigma, but once I dove deeper into the metadata, I nearly forgot to breathe. The A-W-C was a magical building that could impart special traits to my soldiers. Each trait would have to be ‘bought’ individually. The cost of most of the traits was staggering, but the very first one captured my complete attention: Taunt Resist. With this, my soldiers would no longer be sheep to players’ usual mob tactics. I would be able to direct them fully during battle and avoid the enemy tanks reeling them in, allowing their mages and DPS to dish out damage from relative safety.
This was the golden egg I was looking for without even realizing it. This single trait would help level the playing field. But the AWC was a costly project, while the arena could be researched within two days.
“Zuban, I want you to research the arena first, then the Advanced Warfare Center.”
“Of course, Dread Totem. The ladies and I will complete the first project within a few hours. Would you like us to start building it as soon as we finish?”
I raised a brow. “How can you be finished so soon? It needs more RP than you can provide per day.”
“You are correct, Dread Totem. However, since we finished our last research project a couple of days ago, we’ve been dabbling in general research. Those principles can be applied now, to shorten the amount of research required for this project.”
Ah, I think I remember Zuban once mentioning that an idle researcher continued generating research points at half their normal rate. “Very good, Zuban, but no. The Dark Temple is still our main project.”
“In that case, now that the barracks is complete, we can start construction immediately. Where would you like us to build it?”
I thought it over. The t
emple was going to play a pivotal role in our defense, so it had to be well-protected. “Would it fit on the stone ledge above the cave? Maybe you build it over the cemetery and the shrine?” I asked.
“Hmm …” My foreman stroked his chin. “It should be possible. But it would certainly take all available space up there.”
“That’s not a problem, please build it there.”
“As you wish, Dread Totem.”
Zuban left, leaving me to consider how to handle the barracks management.
The first order of business was to select the three trainers among my warriors. I opened the population tab in the Settlement Interface and checked each of my warriors’ skills.
Bob, my lieutenant, naturally had the highest combat skill. At level 10, his Swords skill was level 17. I selected him as the first trainer. Bob also had the spell ‘Control Vines’ but I instinctively knew he couldn’t teach it to our soldiers.
I planned on having a lot of archers. By Nihilator, we had plenty of bows in storage already. Ashlazaria, the scout, was currently away from the clan, bringing in the coal shipment from the Raider’s Camp. That left only Yulli, my second scout, whose bow skill was level 12. I chose her for the second trainer.
I also wanted shield bearers, to hold the front lines and protect the rest of the troops. I had two hob soldiers who were proficient with the Axe and Shield skill – Zia and Kilpi Shīrudo. I selected Zia for the job, as at skill level 12 she was one point higher than Kilpi.
The next step was to determine how to divide the soldiers among the new trainers. It was best to train groups of soldiers under a single instructor. Training took time. Soldiers could learn under multiple trainers, but switching carried a time penalty.
The Barracks Interface had a handy menu to assign soldiers to each trainer. I left it at the default settings. Zia would automatically take over training the shield bearers, Bob would teach his sword skill and Yulli would instruct our new scout archers.
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