by Rick Scott
* * *
Gilly runs us through her plan and it sounds brilliant to me, but it’s not without its problems.
“Burrow underneath them while they lay siege to the keep?” Maxis is already shaking his head. “That’s going from staying in a deathtrap to making a deathtrap.”
“What?” Gilly protests, looking flustered. “It can work. We can do it! The keep has access to a forge. I can switch to Blacksmith and build all kinds of defenses. Catapults. Ballistas—”
“Ballistae,” Rembrandt corrected.
“Ballistae,” Gilly continued without missing a beat. “Even cannons! And with Miner I can make a drilling machine. I’m telling you this can work, you guys.”
Maxis looks to Val Helena, Aiko and Becky. “What do you guys think? You’ve lived out here longer than all of us. Is what she’s saying possible?”
Val Helena wobbles her head a bit, looking unsure.
“I’ve done plenty of town building,” the giantess says. “And yes, it’s possible, but I’m not sure about the time frame. That’s the risk here. And we have no people to run this place. We need bodies to do all this stuff and it’s not like we’re going to attract freelance soldiers in the middle of a blizzard.”
“How many do we need?” Rembrandt says.
“What?” Aiko says.
“Soldiers.”
Val Helena shrugs. “As many as possible?”
Rembrandt flashes with a swirl of nano-dust that slowly climbs his body.
His clothes don’t change much. The trenchcoat remains, but underneath, his hard tactical armor is replaced by a black silk shirt and red tie. The transformation completes, leaving a stylish black fedora on his head.
What the heck kind of class is that…?
I take a look.
Rembrandt Level 85 Negotiator
HP: 663/663
Stamina: 232/232 (Exhaustion: -75% Max Stamina)
TP: 1025/1025
He snaps his fingers, activating an ability.
Rembrandt uses Contract.
A Foot Soldier is summoned via Contract!
Next to him a near-identical clone of himself forms from thin air.
“Whoa!” Gilly says, her eyes wide. “Cool! Is that guy real?”
Rembrandt chuckles, glancing at his mirror image. “I don’t know. I never used this ability outside of the Crystal Shards. They were pretty mindless back there.”
The newcomer doesn’t speak, but stands at ease next to Rembrandt.
Name: Foot Soldier 1
Level: 80
Class: Gunslinger
“They’re more like an extension of me,” Rembrandt says.
“Like multitasking,” Foot Soldier 1 finishes the sentence for him.
That gets a nervous laugh from everyone.
“How many of those can you summon?” Gilly asks.
Rembrandt and his clone shrug in unison. “About twenty. They get weaker the more I make however.”
“So long as they can hold a hammer, I don’t think it matters,” Gilly says, her big green eyes lighting up. “We can so do this now, guys! Twenty more labor units? Plus force-nano building? We can defend this place while we dig. I know we can.”
Aiko shakes her head and opens her mouth to say something, but Becky quickly raises a finger to stop her.
“Okay, let’s not keep arguing out here,” Becky says. “None of it will matter if we freeze to death out here first, right?”
“Fair point,” Aiko concedes, folding her arm. “Okay, we can decide what we need to do later. So what do we need to do now to secure this place?”
I scroll through the list of build options under lodging.
(1)Small Barracks: +10 Max Population
Labor: 75
Wood: 100
(2)Medium Barracks: +30 Max Population
Labor: 150
Wood: 100
Stone: 50
“We should build a barracks,” I say. “Once we rebuild the wall and secure the gate, we’re going to need something for us to shelter in.”
“Can you build a kitchen too?” Becky says. “I still have a ton of ingredients on me. If I have a place to cook, I can keep us fed.”
I check the options under food.
(1)Stores: +10 Max Food
Labor: 20
Wood: 50
(2)Galley: +100 Morale
Labor: 50
Wood: 50
Iron: 20
“There’s a galley.”
Becky smiles. “Good enough.”
“Okay, let’s go chop some trees,” Val Helena says as she switches back to Warrior mode.
“Hold on,” I say. “We’ll need a lot of iron for all this stuff too.”
Gilly frowns. “Yeah. That’s going to hinder us a bit.”
I think for a moment and get an idea.
I spend some nano and reproduce the suit of armor that Ziegfried was wearing. It clatters to the snow-covered ground as I drop it from my inventory.
You drop an Iron Knight’s Cuirass.
You drop an Iron Knight’s Greaves.
You drop an Iron Knight’s Pauldrons.
You drop an Iron Knight’s Leggings.
You drop an Iron Knight’s Gauntlets.
I grimace at the sight of Ziegfried’s armor, but strangely I don’t feel the same burning hatred as I did before—just an odd sense of relief that he’s no longer a threat. I hope that I’ll be able to feel the same way about Braxus one day.
“If you switch to Blacksmith you can deconstruct this, right Gilly?”
Gilly smiles. “Yeah, I can! But I don’t know how much iron we’ll get from just one suit of armor. Maybe enough for the door and the Galley. But we’ll need a lot more than that to build defenses.”
I look to that worm burrow again and get an idea.
“Okay new game plan,” I say. “Let’s split up to work faster. Val, Max, Rem, you guys take lumber duty. Bring in as much wood as you can before the storm gets bad. Becky, you can go with them to cast Second Wind.”
Becky smiles. “Okay. Although I should be able to cast a bit more than that now.”
“That’d be good for if we run into anything out there,” Rembrandt says.
“I like how you gave the damage dealers all the donkey work, bro.” Maxis smirks at me with mock chagrin. “Nice one.”
Val Helena chuckles and nudges him while balancing her big battle axe on her shoulder. “Quit complaining, stud. You get to show off for me again. Just like on our first date, remember?”
That gives us all a quick laugh, except for Becky who looks around, confused by the inside joke.
“We’ll fill you in later,” I say with a smile and then turn to Gilly. “You can focus on getting the walls rebuilt, Gilly. And whatever else you can manage to build as the supplies come in.”
Gilly shrugs. “Okay, and what are you going to go?”
I look to Aiko. “Aiko and I will head down into the worm burrow and scout it out.”
Aiko balks. “What?”
“Hey, we got climbing and stealth ability,” I say. “We’re the best suited for it. We need to find out how far this thing goes and if there’s anything else down there we need to be worried about. Plus, I got a hunch there might be something else useful down there too.”
“Well, if that’s the case,” Gilly says, placing her hands on her hips, “I’m coming too. You could use a healer. Plus, I can work on the walls from anywhere. It’s just the interface I need.”
I hadn’t thought of putting Gilly in harm’s way, but she’s right. If we do encounter anything down there, it would be a lot safer to have a healer with us.
I smile at her. “Okay, you win.”
“I’ll send a couple of my guys with you too,” Rembrandt says, snapping his fingers to summon two more clones. “Back up.”
I nod. This is all coming together nicely, but it’s still just a plan for now. I take another look at the sky and shiver as a strong wind blows with almost hurricane-forc
e winds. We need to get moving.
“Doesn’t look like we have much time, guys,” I say. “Let’s get this done!”
Chapter 26: Worm Hole
Rembrandt activates his Contract skill several more times, summoning his full complement of Foot Soldier clones. It’s a bit weird seeing copies of him everywhere, especially since the clones don’t really say anything and just stand there looking ‘cool’. Each of them are numbered though. Foot Soldier 1, Foot Soldier 2 and so on. It would be hard to tell them apart otherwise. Although I don’t think it truly matters, since they all appear to be a direct extension of Rembrandt rather than individuals or even NPCs. It gives him a weird kind of omnipresence that kicks him up a notch in terms of coolness in my book.
“You guys be careful down there,” Maxis says, raising his voice above the howl of the wind. “We’ll collect as much lumber as we can.”
We say our goodbyes and Val Helena, Maxis and Becky head outside the perimeter wall in the blinding snow, followed by the small army of Rembrandts. I look back to back to Aiko and Gilly, plus the two Foot Soldiers Rembrandt left behind. “You guys ready?”
Gilly grins. “Yuppers!”
I peek over the edge of the burrow. The bottom is about eight feet down and already filling with snow. I take Gilly’s hand and give her a nod.
“I’ll carry you down, okay?”
She nods back nervously and I scoop her into my arms before jumping off.
Gilly lets out a little squeal as we freefall for a second. I land in a foot of snow at the bottom, breaking my fall with a deep bend of my knees. Aiko drops down behind me, followed by the two Foot Soldiers.
“I’ll stay back with Gilly,” one of the Foot Soldiers, number 19 says.
His counter-part, number 20 nods. “You two go on ahead.”
“I’ll take point,” Aiko says, moving forward. “I got night vision. Plus, Thief has way higher Awareness than Ninja.”
“Job’s all yours,” I say with a grin and can’t help but notice the way her new Thief garb accentuates her figure as she walks by. I do wonder for a moment why she hasn’t switched back to Ninja. Although I suppose it makes for a better trio with her as a damage dealer.
We begin to travel down the smoothly bored tunnel that remains a constant eight feet in diameter. Aiko is far ahead while I stick with Gilly in the middle and the two Rembrandts hang further back to bring up the rear. The walls of the tunnel are hardened clay, frozen in permafrost and when I touch it, it doesn’t feel like earth at all, but more like porcelain or tile. The tunnel quickly transitions from vertical to horizontal in an ‘L’ shape and begins sloping down a bit. Gilly whispers something behind me and the tunnel faintly illuminates with a soft white light.
Gilly casts Light.
Gilly has created a light source.
I look back to see her finishing off her spell. Floating next to her is a golf-ball sized orb radiating a soft glow. She grins. “No need to walk in the dark anymore.”
“I’ll stick to my night vision,” Aiko says from up ahead. “That light’s going to mess it up.”
“Oh, sorry!” Gilly says quickly. “I can turn it off.”
“No it’s okay, I’ll just keep ahead of you,” Aiko says. “Don’t see much down here anyway.”
We travel a bit more and I try to get a sense of the distance. “How far do you think we’ll need this tunnel to go to get past the army?”
Gilly shrugs. “We’ll need to see the size of his army, I guess. And also where he positions them, but 500 feet maybe?”
I keep that number in mind as we make our way further down the smooth shaft.
“So what happened while I was out?” Gilly asks. “The only thing I remember is feeling the worst pain in my life and then passing out. What even hit me?”
My jaw clenches as the memories come flooding back—visions of Gilly dying and that jerk Braxus dancing and laughing like a fool about it.
“It was Braxus,” I say bitterly. “He’s got some glove that can cast magic now. A replacement for the hand I took from him.” My throat gets sore as I say the next part. “He used it on you, Gilly. He used it to kill you and then he laughed about it.”
Gilly grimaces. “Geez… are you serious?”
My insides boil as the anger flares. I imagine what I’m going to do to him once I finally get a hold of him. Make him pay for everything he did. To Diana, to Aiko, to Gilly.
“I should have dealt with him when I had the chance,” I say, clenching my fists. “I let him live and he was able to hurt you. Nearly took you from me. I’m never going to let that happen again. I’m going to kill that guy when I see him. I’m going to make him suffer.”
Gilly flinches and her reaction takes me by surprise.
“What?” I say.
She shakes her head. “Nothing…just… never heard you talk like that before.” An uneasiness enters her big green eyes and she looks almost afraid. To see her looking at me like that opens a void in my soul.
“Yeah, well…” I say, feeling a bit bad for saying it now, but I can’t deny my feelings either. “What I went through in that labyrinth changed me, I think.”
Gilly gives a nervous little laugh. “For the better, right?”
I’m not 100% sure of that one myself. Especially with what happened with Ziegfried. Maybe I’m understanding more about what Aiko meant about becoming a Shard Wraith now. “I hope so…”
“So what did happen anyway?” Gilly asks. “Inside the labyrinth?”
“Too bloody much,” Foot Soldier 19 says from behind us. “Was like a never-ending nightmare in there.”
Rembrandt’s sudden intrusion into our conversation startles me a little. I wonder if he overheard everything we were talking about just now. Not that it matters, I guess. I still want his opinion on the whole Braxus situation anyway, so he might as well know the whole deal. I already have Aiko and Val’s opinion on the matter and neither of them makes me feel good about the way I’m feeling right now.
“A nightmare?” Gilly says frowning. “Really?”
“Yeah,” I say, happy for the change in subject. “It was pretty rough.”
I tell her about the labyrinth then. About everything that went down in there—from Ziegfried following us with half of Braxus’ army, to the Shard Wraith we encountered and the angels and finally the Labyrinth Spirit that did us all in. I get to where we entered the sphere and the jumping quest when Aiko stops ahead.
“Got something here,” Aiko says.
I head forward with Gilly’s light spell and the orb reveals a cavern that must stretch a hundred feet across. The ceiling is the same height as the tunnel and besides being roughly circular in shape, there doesn’t appear to be much of anything else inside. My heart sinks a little. I was hoping to find more than just this. But I’m not ready to give up just yet.
I step into the cavern and begin scouring the floor while inhaling deeply. The air is cold down here, but certainly not as cold as up top. We’ve been travelling at a slight downward slope too, and I wonder just how far below the surface we are now. I near the end of the cavern and catch a whiff of something pungent.
Your Awareness increases by 0.3.
Skill up! Your Awareness is now 46!
Found it! I think.
I follow the smell until it becomes nearly unbearable. I look closer at the wall and spy several cracks. “I think I got it!”
“Got what?” Aiko says and then winces with a gag as she stops behind me. “Ugh…what is that smell?”
“Something useful, I hope,” I say. I look toward the two Foot Soldiers. “Rem, can you blast the rock at the cracks here?”
“Sure,” he says. “Just step back a bit.”
We do so and both the Rembrandt clones open fire with dual sets of pistols. The sound is deafening within the confines of the cavern and I have to cover my ears. The wall gives way, leaving a man-sized opening. The smell worsens and Gilly starts to gag as well.
“Yuk! What is that?” Gill
y says.
I block my nose as I step past the Foot Soldiers and peer into the opening.
Inside are mounds of black goo, encrusted with all manner of armor and weapons.
I grin despite the smell that’s about to make me sick.
“Pay dirt,” I say. “We just found our iron.”
* * *
We send Gilly’s light spell through the opening like a probe to gauge the size of the space beyond. It’s at least as big as the cavern we’re in, maybe a little bigger even. I wonder if the worm maybe carved the area out and then resealed it after each poop, or if it filled one chamber completely with its filth before moving on and carving out a new one. The heaps of stinking worm feces buzz with flies and writhe with parasites. It’s enough to make me want to empty my stomach but I force myself to keep composure.
“Dang, Reece,” Gilly says. looking up at me while holding her nose. “What made you think to look for this?”
I shrug. “That worm has been here a while, I figured. So I thought it must have eaten quite a few adventurers in its lifetime. I wasn’t sure if it could digest armor or not, but I thought it was worth looking for.”
Aiko laughs, nudging me with her hip. “Not bad, pretty boy. Looks like you got some brains to go with those looks.”
I blush and feel the heat of both the compliment and Gilly’s piercing stare at Aiko.
“Brains aside,” Rembrandt as Foot Soldier 19 says. “I think we’ll need fortitude more than anything else to get to this stuff. Luckily I don’t have much feedback through these things, so if you need me to grab stuff I can.”
“Cool,” Gilly says. “But then I still need to touch it to deconstruct it. And I don’t wanna touch it.”
“I might have an idea,” I say. “What if I added the armor to my inventory and then reproduced it? I remember I was able to do that with my clothes one time.”
“Be a waste of nano,” Aiko says, “but probably worth it.”