“You’ve heard of hunters being out in the forest and they accidently step on a bear trap? Wham! Next thing they know, they are forced to make a decision. They can stay there and face their fate, likely dying of thirst, or they can cut off their own leg to get away.”
“Ok. I think it would be smarter to take whatever they used to saw their leg and open the trap, but I’ll play along.”
“Thanks for being a team player. Well in this case, Dan found himself in a bear trap this morning.”
“Dan got left in the woods?”
“No, Alex. That would have been a more pleasing fate,” Dan said.
“Right he is, Alex. Dan, you see, got caught under a Sharla.”
“Dan. You didn’t.”
“Seriously, I don’t remember.”
“She has a beard!”
“I know she has a beard, Alex! Everyone can see she has a beard!”
“What is Kaitlin going to say?”
And with my own question, I realized exactly what the scene was that I had walked into. Jason had been ribbing Dan endlessly, Wayne was laughing his ass off, and Dan was pleading with Wayne not to tell Jenny.
“Man, screw you guys! Seriously! Guy maybe sleeps with one bearded woman and everyone thinks it’s the funniest thing ever!”
As Dan stormed off, I looked over to Wayne. “You going to tell Jenny?”
“About this? Hell no. At least not until after Dan actually hooks up with Kaitlin. I still have high hopes for our crazy friend, despite his most recent setbacks.”
“Well I wish him all the luck in the world. But you know there is no way Jason is going to let him forget this any time soon. And you need to make sure he is in lock step about only ribbing him amongst the group.”
“I wouldn’t take this away from Jason for all the Platinum in Resurgence, but I will make sure that he is on the same page when it comes to place and time for jokes.”
With that fiasco over, I went and found Tibble to check on any updates concerning the King Under the Mountain. According to his most recent information, the King would arrive at midday, which was quickly approaching. I once again tried to explain to Tibble how my negotiations with the King would go, but he waved me off again, saying he trusted me.
As with the previous visit by the King, there was little fanfare to announce his arrival. One moment everyone was working along, and the next, Dwarves started taking a knee. I looked up and saw him for myself, Lord Steelhammer, King Under the Mountain. I also took a knee, as was the protocol for one named kin among the clans. Steelhammer took note of my actions and nodded once before barking out for everyone to stand up.
“It be good seeing ya Alex! But I’ve gots to be sayin’ you ‘ave some nerve calling the King to you!”
“My friends and I apologize greatly, Lord Steelhammer. I hoped to tackle numerous challenges simultaneously and save us all precious time in the bargain. As you already know, I am sure, the East Range Mountain Dwarf Clan has taken the second level of this mine and will now be paying twice as much into the tax coffers of your Kingdom.
“My kin and I were diligently undertaking that task while a messenger was sent to simply inform you of our arrival with our clansmen. I apologize for the inconvenience it has brought you.”
The King looked at me with his one good eye for several moments before he finally reacted. With a spit on the ground, he looked me dead in the eyes and asked, “You plannin’ to rob me?”
“What? No! What could have possibly given you that idea?”
“Because the last time you talked this sweet ‘round me, you were fixing to pull Mithral from right out of me caves. So I ask ya again, you plannin’ on doing it again?”
“Lord Steelhammer, that wasn’t robbery. That was simply negotiating. Although if that’s how you see things, you may think I’m trying to steal your whole kingdom when we’re done tonight.”
“Wat da bloody hell you gettin’ at, Alex?”
Instead of answering, I started whistling and walking away. “Tonight, Lord Steelhammer. All will be clear tonight.”
“Bloody Elf gonna be the death of me and me whole clan.”
*
“Out with it, Elf. We been patient enough.”
“So you have, Lord Steelhammer, and I thank you for your calm nature. Several days ago, my friends and I were fighting north of Kich’s Keep alongside a vast mountain range. I assume you know it.”
“Aye, we be knowin’ it. What of it?”
“During the downtime between battles, I began exploring the mountains. To my surprise and total shock, I uncovered a cave entrance that descended into the mountain. As I investigated, I saw that this was no simple tunnel but a vast deposit of thick ore running straight through the rock. Once I knew what I had found, I took a small sample from the ground, a piece sitting freely on the rock. With that in hand, we hurried here to our kin.
“I am under no illusions that the East Range Mountain Clan Dwarves could hold such a location. They have grown in strength, but they would still need another generation before they had the manpower to build and hold a mine of this nature.
“I thought I could sell the rights to the King, since I know he has an unquenchable need for ore to build up his fighting forces.
“But in the end, I went with the only logical choice. My friends, the Dwarves. And no better friend is there than the King Under the Mountain himself. Should we come to terms, Your Highness, the mine will be yours.”
“You wasn’t jokin’, Elf, when you said you was gonna take me kingdom. With that bloody speech, ya likely gonna try to take me first born along with me throne!”
“You can keep the throne.”
“Ha!” King Steelhammer said while slamming his ale of mead against the table. “Ya always make me laugh, Alex. I’ll give ya that at least. You want to do terms first or show me the goods?”
I flipped the chunk of Pure Mithral to the King and watched his one eye as it landed in his hand. His reaction wasn’t as noticeable as Tibble’s shaking, but his eye did go very wide as he said, “Impossible.”
“Tibble said the same.”
“And there is a mine filled with this substance.”
“I have no idea if it is exactly the same quality, but I can attest that what ran through the walls of that cave looked exactly like what you have in your hand.”
The King took his time rotating the piece of Mithral between his fingers before finally speaking. “What be your terms, Alex.”
“A very fair deal, Your Majesty. The East Range Mountain Clan will get 15 percent of each type of ore that is collected from the mine, to be delivered once a month, on the first day of each month.”
“Fifteen percent? Is that all.” The King shouted. “You sure you don’t want anything else?”
“Of course I do.”
“That was that sarcasm thing you tall ones love so much.”
“Mine wasn’t.”
The King grumbled and then nodded at Alex to go on.
“A full complement of High Quality Mithral Armor to be built to Naugha and Allister’s specifications in two months’ time, Mithral Arrow Heads for five quivers comparable to the size carried by our Ranger in one week’s time, and one last thing.”
The Kings eye kept getting larger and larger as I continued with what I wanted. Finally, he said, “You really do want me throne, don’t ya?”
“Nothing so grand, Your Majesty. Lastly, I only want that my friends and I be named as Ally to the Dwarves Under the Mountain.”
“And what’s from stopping me and my boys from going up to that mountain and taking what we want?”
“Nothing. Although by the time you got up there and found it, you would already find the King’s men toiling away at the ore.”
Lord Steelhammer gave a small harrumph at that comment but didn’t continue with that line of threats. “Look. Let’s talk about this. First I’ve got to see this mine before I can be making any pacts.”
“The Ally to the Dwarves is
non-negotiable.”
“Ya just gonna ignore my train of thought there, huh?”
“Sooner we get on the road, Your Majesty, the sooner you can see the mine.”
The King mulled it over some more and acquiesced on the Ally condition. He then countered my offer with a sum of 10 percent for the Clan, only one full suit made to either Naugha or Allister’s dimensions in three months-time, and three quivers of arrows in two weeks-time.
“Now this be the best deal I’m gonna...”
“Done. Deal. The suit will be to Naugha’s specs.”
The King stopped mid-sentence and looked around at the rest of the Dwarves. No one was saying a word, and all eyes were on me. Finally, the King turned his eye at me and said, “Why ya sneaky, no good Rogue. That was exactly what you wanted the whole time wasn’t it?”
“Indeed. I figured I would just get us there quicker by having you offer it to me. Now let’s get some rest, and we’ll move out at first light.”
*
After everyone broke to make camp and get some sleep, I approached Tibble to ask him for one more small favor.
“It will only be for a couple of days, Tibble. I promise.”
“I trust ya, Alex. I just don’t see why ya need it.”
“The King has now been bested twice by some Half-Elf Rogue. He’s an honorable man, but if he sees a loophole to exploit, getting back some of what he’s lost, he’s going to take it.”
Tibble thought it over and then nodded. “Alright, Alex. It’s yours.”
With that, we both headed off for our tents.
November 6th, 2043
“And how the bloody hell are we supposed to get up there?”
“Not to worry, Your Majesty. I already have that figured out.”
I moved over to the side of the mountain and looked at the handholds in front of me. I told Jason on the way out to the mountain that I had almost died the last time I tried this. If I fell to my death, Jason was to be quick with a cast to resurrect me back to my body.
As I prepared to climb, I looked back toward the King. “This is the other reason why I wasn’t concerned about you coming out here and finding the mine for yourself.”
“Damn Elf has an answer for everything.”
The previous route I took was still the fastest up the side of the mountain. Only this time, I was prepared for the spot that required me to overextend my body, and I executed the move flawlessly. The next move would require me to jump again, and here is where I had the most trepidation. Without wasting any unnecessary time, I made my leap, hearing the gasps below me as I grabbed the handhold.
“Damnit, be careful, ye fool Rogue,” Tibble yelled up at me.
I ignored the chatter from below and finished my climb up to the cave entrance. As before, I engaged my Blacksuit as soon as I made the summit and proceeded into the cave. It remained clear, and this time I hit accept when I was asked if I wanted to claim this mine for the East Range Mountain Clan.
With that done, I lowered the rope I had purchased and waited for the King to arrive.
The King made it up the side of the mountain and took his time recovering his Vitality before finally standing up.
“Have ye checked for enemies?”
“I have, and the way back is clear up to the point where the tunnel begins to descend down into the mountain. Past that, I can’t say for sure.”
“So what’s from stoppin’ me from just walking back there and taking this mine for me own?”
“Because this mine already belongs to the East Range Mountain Dwarves.”
“Lad, I was just waiting for you to say that.”
The King walked over to the side of the Cave and yelled down for Tibble. Despite the height we were at, I could clearly hear Tibble respond.
“Tibble, you are to hand over the rights of this mine to the King Under the Mountain, as stipulated under Dwarven Law and Family Code.”
There was a pregnant pause while everyone took in what the King had just said. After what seemed an eternity, Tibble responded.
“I can’t do that.”
The King’s face immediately became red with anger, and he yelled down at Tibble, “How dare you? What do you mean you won’t follow the laws of our people?”
Tibble’s response was music to my ears. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t, Your Majesty. I said I can’t.”
“You see, Lord Steelhammer, I asked Tibble to name me head of the Clan last night.” The favor I had asked of Tibble had paid off.
With the red still in his face, the King spun on me. “And why shouldn’t I kill ya right here and claim victor’s rights over this mine?”
I had already stepped back into the shadows of the cave when I saw the King start to get mad. When those words left his mouth, I wrapped myself in my Blacksuit and went over to the rope leading down to the ground.
One of the great things about the mechanics of Resurgence, a 100-foot rope didn’t need to be recoiled to go into my inventory, I simply had to touch it and place it there.
With the rope snuggly in my bag, I climbed several feet down the side of the mountain and then called up to the King who was looking around for me. “Because I can simply climb down this mountain, Your Majesty. How will you get down?”
The King kept looking around for me, and his gaze crossed over my Invisible form more than once. The fury that was on his face finally died down, and he stepped back from the ledge.
“Fine, Elf. Ya win this one. Can’t blame me for tryin’ ta find a work around. I’ll not threaten ya again, I swear on me clan and me family.”
I climbed back up into the cave and walked past the Dwarf before I became visible again. “I don’t blame you at all. In fact, I would have been disappointed if you hadn’t tried.”
Now that all of the dramatics were over, I guided the King back into the tunnel to where I had found the ore. As soon as the King was close, he ran toward the bend in the tunnel. It was almost as if he could smell the ore.
The King ran his hand over numerous veins and finally turned to me with a huge smile on his face. “It keeps going for quite some ways, Alex. What we’ve got here is mostly High Quality with a few spots of Pure. But lad, it’s all Mithral. This is the jackpot of mines.”
“And if you swear on clan and family to honor the bargain made last night before the East Range Mountain Dwarf Clan, I will transfer the rights to you, Lord Steelhammer.”
The King Under the Mountain grasped my forearm in his hand, and I did the same. “Aye, lad. On me family and me clan, I honor the bargain we made.”
*
After descending, I left Tibble to hammer out all the details with Lord Steelhammer. I also transferred the Head of Clan title back to Tibble.
We once again said our goodbyes to the Dwarves and saddled up on our horses. “Let’s go see what kind of progress our teammates have made, shall we?”
Under the subsection of Titles on my character was a new addition: Ally to the Dwarves Under the Mountain.
AltCon Headquarters
“The Old Man has been understanding about the delay thus far, but he grows wearisome about the lack of progress. Let’s have the latest update.”
“Yes sir, Mr. Jolston. As you know, during our efforts to correct the vast number of problems that arose from the late Director’s actions, we uncovered places within the conditioning framework that allowed for improvements. However, that meant we had to bring in more specialists, none of whom had clearances for the project.”
“I am aware, Mr. Tillson. How did you get around the problem?”
Tillson held up a pen and said, “We asked them to simply improve parts of the whole.” He then began to break the pen down and separated out each piece. The spring, case, cap, clip, and insert. “They never knew what each piece went to, but they were still able to make vast improvements on the individual elements. There was some tweaking that needed to be done to ‘put it back together.’ The good news is, our earliest simulations show the effects will be mo
re significant than they have in the past.”
Jolston leaned forward and stared back at Tillson for several moments before speaking in a low voice. “It was increased effects that drove the Director—sorry, former Director—to implement his harebrained scheme. Are you telling me, Tillson, that you are after similar results?”
“Absolutely not, sir!”
“Then you better explain this with a little more clarity. Remember, when I’m finished here, I’m heading up to see the Old Man and deliver your report.”
Tillson swallowed audibly and looked at the other men and women in the room. No one was coming to bat for him on this one.
“What I meant, sir, was that the process itself has been improved. We were always aware that there was the potential for bleed-over in the conditioning. We knew a small percentage, 7 percent at most, could have various states of awareness to the conditioning.”
Jolston nodded his head. “As test cases, the Old Man was aware of these numbers and deemed them within the margin for risk. The point of this was to test its effectiveness and make corrections before the full launch of the RACs to the greater population.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying, sir. The screw-up by the old Director allowed us to move that timeframe up dramatically. Since we had to strip and recalibrate most of the equipment for the conditioning, we were able to engineer upgrades now that we can test on the same control group.”
“And your expected improvements to the conditioning?”
“Without seeing the first set of numbers following today’s finished treatment, I can’t say for certain, but our projections have them coming in at just over 1 percent awareness.”
Jolston leaned back in his chair and smiled. Now that was news he could bring to the Old Man. “Excellent work, team. You’ve done amazingly well given the schedule you were given and the parameters of secrecy that had to be put in place. I will commend you all to the Old Man when I see him.”
“Thank you, sir. Is there anything else we can assist with?”
“When the day is done, I want those numbers on my desk. I have a feeling the Old Man is going to want to see me again soon after he hears this update, and I want to have that data with me when I go.”
Restoration: The Rise of Resurgence: Book II Page 27