I had to check my new digs.
***
I walked into my new house, impressed by what I found inside.
Calling it a ‘house’ was an understatement. The large, two-story building – three, if you included the basement – was closer to a mansion.
Half of the main floor was an open space with trophies presented on the walls; weapons, pelts, and skulls. There was a war room with a rugged table and a large map of the valley covering one of the walls, where I could see little dots moving around. The map showed the location of everyone in the valley in real time, a handy feature.
If I’d had that before, uncovering Raystia as the culprit would have been a lot easier, I reflected.
The second floor had four rooms. My own was the largest, and I noted with satisfaction that my bed’s size had nearly doubled. Or as Zuban would no doubt put it, ‘It could accommodate up to six goblins.’ I shook my head and chuckled, hearing the foreman’s voice speaking in my mind.
There was also a large, steel chest in the corner, and I sensed impressively powerful wards coming off it. The new enchanter I had yet to meet was already showing his worth.
I opened the chest and found all the gold and items that had been stored in my old one. On top of that, there were over 70 new void crystals inside, most between levels 200 to 350. Those shining black gems were all that remained of the invaders.
The other chambers had basic furniture. Each also had a chest, though they were made of wood and not as powerfully protected as my own.
I went back down and located the hidden hatch leading to the basement. What I found inside left me with mixed feelings. There were several steel cages and devices that were clearly meant for torture. My own experience of being tortured had left a strong feeling of revulsion for such items, but I guessed I didn’t have to use the basement for the purpose it was built for. I could always turn it into a wine cellar.
I accessed the Settlement Interface, expecting to see some new features, but a system message foiled my expectation.
Warning!
Population below minimum amount for a Village (134/200)
Advanced features disabled.
That was unfortunate.
In my desperation to stop the players, I had sacrificed over 60 foblins.
It would take us a while to get back on our feet. Since the Breeder’s Den was still out of commission, I couldn’t summon new members. I had to make do with the soldiers and workers I had and rely on natural reproduction to restore our numbers. The victory buff would be a big help in that regard.
That was a major concern. Without the instant-summoning capability of the Breeder’s Den, our ability for exponential growth was limited. Fixing that structure was at the top of my priority list and it meant raising Zuban to level 40 so he could achieve Expert rank. Not a simple task for a non-combatant.
I finished my inspection and returned to the main floor. My seneschal was waiting for me.
“My lord.”
“How is my clan doing, Kaedric?”
“Our builders have commenced restorations, my lord. I put them to mend the workshops first, as our more advanced workers could not function without them. Military-related production should resume in two days. The other workers could continue without support structures, though at a reduced capacity.”
I grunted in annoyance but gestured for Kaedric to continue.
“Due to the damage done to the barracks and cabins, many are left without proper lodging. As a result, the overall morale is lower than it should be, further reducing total efficiency. I plan on having the builders address this issue immediately after the workshops. We should be back to full capacity within a week, my lord.”
“Just like Zuban predicted,” I pointed out.
Kaedric’s mandibled jaw twitched in obvious irritation. “Indeed, though my prioritization has increased the expected restoration time by four percent, my lord.”
I tried not to grin. First a smile and now a show of annoyance. My stoic seneschal was starting to develop a personality. Or maybe I had just learned to read his mandibles better. “Anything else to report?”
“The gofers have collected a total of 77 void crystals, my lord. They have been deposited into the secured chest in your room.”
“I noticed, thanks for that.”
“A few weapons and armor were also retrieved. Some were enchanted but nothing particularly powerful. The items have been deposited in the armory.”
“Good. Anything else?”
“Not at this time, my lord.”
I patted his shoulder. “Keep up the good work.”
He inclined his head slightly.
“One more thing …” I hesitated, not sure how to broach the next subject. “I don’t want you to have to rely on travelers to provide you with … food.”
He mandibles froze. “It is no bother, my lord. The travelers rejoice at the chance to gain my favor and as a result, tie their fates closer to our own.”
“Yes, but …” I wasn’t sure how to proceed. I couldn’t explain to my seneschal that he was merely a pawn whose choices were manipulated by a reputation-based system.
Good thinking, Vic. Thanks. I relayed that to my not-so-stoic servant.
“Yes, my lord.” He bowed his head, “I shall follow your command. In the meanwhile …” he gestured to my door, “you have company.”
The door opened and Tika stepped inside, taking in the sight our new place.
“Thanks, Kaedric, we will speak again tomorrow.”
He bowed and left.
Tika was looking at me with a familiar glint in her eyes.
Looked like it was time to break in my new bed.
39 – Expectation
“And now, for the match you’ve all been waiting for!” Bob boomed.
Tika and I were sitting on the arena benches, surrounded by most of the newcomers and a good portion of my troops. We all looked down at the pit with interest.
Rhyno was standing on the far side, faced by Malkyr, the contender for the title of Arena Champion.
“You little fighter is no match for me,” Rhyno bragged, brandishing his spiked mace.
The two-meter tall goliath grinned at him boyishly. “We’re about to find out, aren’t we?” He’d gotten his Greataxe back and was holding it in both hands.
“Fight!” Bob bellowed, and the fight began.
Roaring and brandishing his mace, the Ogre charged the player.
Instead of assuming a defensive posture, Malkyr held his axe in both hands, intending to meet the assault head-on. I realized the weapon was already charged with fire. Its runes flared to life, spreading down the gauntlet and over his arms. Then the axe’s blade began vibrating, displacing the air around it. Malkyr’s telltale signature move. It looked like he was planning on going all out on the first clash.
Rhyno reached him, using his momentum to deliver a devastatingly powerful overhead chop. Not even trying to defend himself, Malkyr brought down his own weapon in a chopping motion as well, timed with the Ogre’s arrival.
They hit each other simultaneously.
There was a loud clang, a flash, and a burst of shockwave. Both opponents got hurled back, each smashing against the opposite wall.
I plucked the information thread from that clash. Rhyno had struck Malkyr for 120 damage, and the player had hit him for a whopping 200 in return.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
I heard someone behind me. I turned my head to discover Hoshisu shaking her head.
“I told that big oaf it’s supposed to be a finishing move, but he just had to blow his load at the start. Men!”
Tika put her arms over my shoulders affectionately. “I know what you mean.” There was mischief in her eyes.
I turned my attention back to the fight and saw that the white-haired woman was right. Despite having received mor
e damage, Rhyno’s health bar was at 70 percent, while Malkyr’s was at about half.
The two extracted themselves from the walls and charged at each other again, but this time, the Ogre had the clear advantage.
Malkyr was unable to reproduce his devastating attack combo a second time, so the gladiator expertly bashed and slammed him, leveraging his size and higher reach to land more and more hits on him. Malkyr fought hard, deflecting most of the hits and occasionally delivering beautifully timed counterattacks, but with his signature abilities still on cooldown, he was barely able to scratch the champion through his thick oxsaurian armor.
To his credit, Malkyr had brought Rhyno’s health down to 50 percent before the boss delivered the finishing blow. The big man was down on his ass with a single HP remaining.
He actually did better than I expected. Malkyr was level 30, the same as Rhyno. But the Ogre was a tier 2 boss, which meant that it normally took three or four players of equal level working in tandem to bring him down.
“The winner and still the Arena Champion is Rhynorn Bloodore!” Bob declared.
Malkyr climbed out of the pit with a gloomy expression.
I laughed. “Cheer up. Rhyno was made for these fights. You need at least ten more levels to stand a chance. But you still gave him a pretty good run for his money.”
Grimacing, the big man limped over to sit on the bench. “Yeah, I figured as much. Still, I had to give it a shot. I’ve been eyeing that brute for a while now; I wanted to find out how tough he really is.” He flashed me his characteristic grin. “And it turns out, he’s pretty tough. I didn’t think I could feel this much pain with the pain filters on.”
“How did you charge your axe, anyway?” I asked.
He grimaced. “Hired one of the new players for that. He’s a mage and has the Firebolt spell, but it’s low-leveled. It took nearly an hour to fully charge the axe. I actually had to do it twice. Rhyno exhausted it the first time I charged it, remember?”
Hoshisu joined us. “Next time maybe we could ask our Dread Totem here to loan us another dominated Pyrolith?”
Her brother snorted. “Yeah, that was super useful.”
“No thank you,” I said with a shudder, remembering Kusitesh and how she’d taken control of my mind. “I’ve had my fill of powerful demons, thank you very much.”
“The next arena games will start in three days,” Bob announced.
I nodded to the twins and walked over to him.
“Dread Totem.” He bowed his head respectfully.
“I’m calling a meeting in my house in an hour. I’d like you to join us. Bring Rhyno with you as well.”
“Yes, Dread Totem.”
I searched for my seneschal, and sure enough, he was standing just a few meters away from me, attentive and ready to be of service.
I accessed the cemetery controls and spent 750 EP to resurrect the dark priest. With the new day’s gains, I could afford it. “Kaedric, I’d also like you to attend the meeting. Please have Kuzai and Zuban join us as well.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“What is it about?” Tika asked, frowning.
“We need to discuss our next steps,” I said. “We won the battle, but not the war. We need to figure out our plan.”
Her face darkened, but she nodded. “I want to attend also.”
I thought of refusing her but reconsidered. Tika had a way of getting what she wanted with me.
***
The seven of us gathered in the war room at my house. There was enough space for everyone around the rough table, even for Rhyno, though he had to sit on the floor as no chair was strong enough to support his weight.
“Thank you for coming,” I began.
“It commanded us to come then thanks us for it,” Kuzai mumbled to himself.
I sighed. I already missed that joyous time when he was dead.
Kaedric shot a withering look at the dark priest, who seemed oblivious to it.
“I called you here to discuss our next steps,” I continued. “With the Breeder’s Den out of service, we can’t easily increase our numbers any longer. That’s a vulnerability. Once they have finished licking their wounds, our enemies will surely come back at us with all the strength they can muster.”
“It is a problem indeed, Dread Totem.” Bob grimaced. “But what can be done?”
“Several things,” I said. “Which is why I asked you all to be present. First, we need to make sure our existing forces are as strong as we can possibly make them. That means more hunting forays into the oxsaurian territory, followed by rigorous training at the barracks.”
Bob nodded. “That is a reasonable course of action. With you leading the troops, we can –”
“No,” I interrupted him. “I will not go with you, and you’ll soon hear why. Rhyno will go instead. He should be strong enough to hold back a single oxsaurian on his own now.”
The Ogre puffed his chest. “The Champion will gut every stupid cow that dares attack us!”
I gave a small smile. “That’s the idea. With Kilpi’s help tanking the beasts, they can chaperone the soldiers, allowing them to engage in relative safety and minimize casualties. Kuzai will go along as well. With his shadow clone, he can help lure the oxsaurians one by one like I did before.”
The dark dwarf opened his mouth to object, but I beat him to it. “You’ll do it because it will help strengthen the clan – Nihilator’s minions – and by doing that, will strengthen the dark lord himself.”
He closed his mouth, looking surly, but nodded.
“The second part,” I said, “is to fix the Breeder’s Den.”
“Apologies, Dread Totem.” It was Zuban this time. “But I’m not even halfway in my training toward the requirement to undertake such an advanced project. Only the king’s own architect can hope to even restore something as grand as the Breeder’s Den.”
I nodded. “You need to gain a lot of experience, fast. That’s why you’ll be joining the hunting trips.”
My foreman gaped at me. “Me? But Dread Totem, I’m not a soldier! I was trying to turn away from that life, don’t you remember?”
“I do. Don’t worry, Zuban, you won’t be required to fight, not unless you want to.” I did promise him a new life when I recruited him. “You’ll be safe and surrounded by our soldiers. But your presence there is still required.”
All of the lieutenants had the War Party Leader skill, so just by including him in it and keeping him in close proximity, he should be awarded a relatively large amount of XP, even without participating in the actual fight.
Zuban nodded reluctantly. “As you command, Dread Totem.”
“Bob, have Vaelin organize the hunting trips and the training program to accommodate it. He’s shown promise so far.”
“Yes, Dread Totem, but shouldn’t I handle this sort of delicate organization?”
“No.” I grinned at him, preparing to drop the next bomb. “Because you will be coming along with me.”
He stared at me, his eyebrows nearly touching each other.
“Which leads me to part three.” I looked at everyone present. “We need more soldiers, but we can’t recruit any new hobs or Ogres. However, there is a third option.”
Everyone exchanged uncertain looks.
Vic sighed behind my back, his cloak morphing to create a mouth and lips. “He’s talking about the golem, you puppet dolts.”
“That’s right.” I nodded. “The Viridium golem has proven to be powerful for its level.”
“But my lord,” Kaedric objected, “we have run out of that metal.”
“Yes, but I know where to get more.” I looked at Kuzai. “You once mentioned the hobgoblin shamans were producing this metal.”
He seemed perplexed at being quoted from before his transformation, but he eventually nodded. “Yes, in their larger cities, hobgoblins practice demon-summoning rituals. Viridium is often the byproduct of their experiments, intentionally, or not.”
“So all we need to d
o,” I went on, “is find a hobgoblin settlement and open trade relations with them. Once that’s done, we can use the Export Office to bring in all the Viridium we need and I’ll be able to produce an army of powerful golems. Luckily, we know just where the nearest hobgoblin city is.” I looked straight at Bob.
The lieutenant nearly choked. “M-my lord!” he said in protest. “What you are suggesting is extremely dangerous! Not only are goblins considered nothing more than slaves to my people, but I and the others who joined you will be seen as traitors for following a goblin chief. We’d be executed on sight!”
“That is why we are going to use a little subterfuge,” I said smugly, having already contemplated this possibility. “We’ll play it as if you are the master, and I’m your slave. That way, no one should question my presence. And your familiarity with the place will be a real asset in locating what we need.”
He shook his head. “Your foresight is commendable, Dread Totem, but I’m afraid it won’t work. The guards will immediately recognize your status as chief and my own as insufficient to claim such a prisoner. I will no doubt be dismissed, and one of the local chiefs will try to claim ownership over you. I’m afraid there’s no way around this. Surely, a normal metal would be just as good as this … Viridium?”
I shook my head. “No, I’ve already checked. High-quality steel can only hold two runes, which is not enough for a golem. Mithril would probably do, but it costs so much, we won’t be able to afford the quantities we require. This is the only viable way.”
“But the guards –” Bob tried to protest again, but Kaedric interrupted him.
“There is another way, my lord. A chief, or a hob of similar status, may claim a goblin chief as a slave.”
I frowned. “How does that help us?”
The seneschal pointed at the settlement map on the wall, indicating two green dots inside the barracks. “Both Yulli and Kilpi are of high enough status to place such a claim, my lord. I suggest you take one, or both of them with you.”
Now that was an idea. So a boss could claim another boss for a slave in hob culture. Kilpi’s strength was needed here to help Rhyno tank the oxsaurians. That left only one option. “Then Yulli will be joining us,” I concluded.
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