by Rick Scott
“The grey goo situation,” Rembrandt says, nodding. “Like the sands in the wild zone.”
“Yup,” Gilly says. “Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if the wild zone came about as a result of someone trying to mess with the nano just like that.”
My face heats with a blush, as the implications of what I just suggested comes to light. “Sorry…I guess it was a pretty stupid idea.”
Gilly’s smile drops into a look of concern. “Oh no, Reece, not stupid. It was a good idea.” She then grins and nudges me. “Just hella risky.”
I chuckle at her attempt to cheer me up.
“So we’re back to scrounging for iron then?” Maxis asks.
“Iron we don’t have,” Becky says with a frown.
A long pause takes hold as we each search for a solution.
“Let’s solve this another way,” Aiko says, sauntering forward. “Why don’t we shorten the route? You said 300 feet right? What will it take to make this thing pop out right where it is now?”
“A vertical dig?” Gilly shakes her head. “That’s kind of impossible. The max incline I’d trust that thing on is 15 degrees. Plus, even if we could do it, we’d still be way too close to the keep.”
“What are you talking about?” Maxis says. “I thought you said the tunnel alone was like 200 feet long.”
“It is,” Gilly says. “Unfortunately mister worm likes to chew in circles and he started in the wrong direction, so we’re pretty much directly under the stupid keep right now.”
Gilly shares something on the party chat. I click it and an aerial image of the keep appears with a red X marked to the southwest a fair distance away. “This is where I have us set to exit now. It’s running a roughly 6-degree incline right now. If I raise the incline to 15 degrees it moves to this.”
Her eyes go unfocused as she studies her HUD and the distance of the X gets cut to about a third of its original length. “That brings the drilling distance down to 100 feet but only 100 feet outside the keep walls too. And we’ll still need around 300 ingots of iron to do it.”
Rembrandt shakes his head doubtfully. “Still a lot of bloody iron, mate, and 100 feet is not too far from the keep either.”
“Yeah,” I say. “We want to be able to sneak out of here, not break the surface right under their feet.”
“We’re probably going to need iron to reinforce and repair that door too,” Rembrandt adds. “For when Braxus comes a-knocking.”
Crap…I didn’t even think of that. My stomach sours. “What are we going to do?”
Becky looks to Aiko and offers a weak smile. “I guess it’s too late to switch to Aiko’s plan B, huh?”
But even that joke doesn’t elicit any smiles.
“Oh snap!” Maxis says.
We all look at him, startled.
“What?” I say.
He grins. “You said it, Gilly. Mister worm!”
Before I can ask what he’s talking about, Maxis outstretches his hand and materializes a two-foot-long tooth. “It’s got to be hard enough to chew through the rock right?”
Gilly looks at it and then smiles up at Maxis. “Holy crap, Max! Since when did you start getting smart?”
We share a quick laugh at my brother’s expense, but I marvel as well. “I forgot those things even dropped. Good thinking, Bro!”
Maxis grins goofily as Val Helena rewards him with a kiss on the cheek. “That’s my man.”
“Can you actually craft it into a drill bit, Gilly?” I ask.
Gilly retrieves her hammer and gives it a twirl.
“If I can’t, I’m going to figure out how.”
* * *
The drilling rig shakes and rumbles as Gilly fires it back up. Steam whistles with an increasing pitch until all at once a big swoosh of puffy white clouds billow from out of the contraption. The drill head engages and the entire cavern starts to shake again. Huge chunks of rock fly out from under it, much larger than those I saw before. The rig lurches forward and the vibrations and noise intensifies.
I send Gilly a PM.
Me: How’s it working?
Gilly: Like a charm! xD But I won’t know for sure until I can check the damage.
Check the damage?
She plows on for another twenty minutes or so while we all watch. Rembrandt eventually grabs some of the wooden carts and we begin shoveling up the spoil material. It’s strenuous work, especially with how fast the drill is shooting it out, but we retrieve as much of it as we can. Finally, the drill shuts down and Gilly pops out of the cab.
She drops down into the small space between the tunnel wall and the rig again, but instead of heading towards us, she heads to the front of the drill. A few moments later she emerges with a huge grin on her face and one of the worm teeth in her gloved hands.
“Not a scratch!” she yells triumphantly, holding the two-foot-long tooth overhead. “We’re in business, guys!”
I clap for her. “All right!”
“Good stuff, Gills!” Rembrandt says.
We all shout in cheer at the small victory.
“So this means we can go the full distance?” I ask.
Gilly pulls up her HUD again. “At this rate, yes.”
“How long will it take?” Aiko asks.
“Five to six hours maybe?”
“Huge improvement,” Val Helena says with a whistle. “But do we have six hours before they reach us?”
“We’d be cutting it close,” Aiko says. “And that drill makes a heck of a lot of vibration. We’d want that thing to be as far away as possible by the time they arrive.”
Another potential setback. “We’ll have to deal with that as it comes, I guess.”
“I’ll go back out and scout,” Aiko says. “I’ll report on their location as they get closer.”
“Sounds good,” I say. I look to Gilly. “You got everything you need, babe?”
“Some more wood for fuel and I’m good,” she says with a cheery smile.
“We’re on it,” Maxis says and Val Helena nods with him.
“I’ll split myself between moving the lumber and the stone,” Rembrandt says.
“What do you need me to do, guys?” Becky asks.
“I guess you can stay down here to Second Wind Rem’s clones,” I say. “And you can help me as well, I suppose.”
“Help you with what?” she asks.
I almost don’t want to say. “Well, we still need more iron so…”
The Halfling laughs. “I’d be honored to assist.”
* * *
The next few hours go by in a blur. We each get to our tasks and push nonstop. I painstakingly recover 100 units of iron while enduring the semi-earthquake caused by Gilly’s drill. By the time I’m done I’m pretty much ready to puke, both from the smell and the pounding in my head.
I hit the baths again to cleanse myself and then go topside for some fresh air and a chance to descramble my brains. The sky has dimmed to twilight and the cloud cover has cleared enough to reveal the first pinpricks of stars.
A couple of Rembrandt’s clones are still ferrying wood into the keep. I assume Maxis and Val Helena must still be hard at work too. I scale up the wall with Wall Run to get a better vantage. To the north I can see the deforestation in action, the power couple of my brother and Val Helena going at it with fist and axe.
I check the resources thus far.
Resources:
Gold: 0 units
Food: 5 units
Wood: 1592 units
Stone: 812 units
Iron: 110 units
Wow!
Gilly is really kicking butt down there. We almost have enough to build the wall. And Max and Val are knocking it out of the park too. I check the party chat log and see Aiko has been giving routine updates from her observations. I imagine she must be running back and forth between the army and the minimum distance to send us the party chats, where she leaves her updates.
By the time stamps on her messages, it’s been ab
out three hours or so and the messages are starting to come closer and closer together. That means Braxus is getting closer as well. Her last update reports the army being only a mile away. Anxiety bubbles up in my stomach and once again I feel the need to get things rolling.
I bring up the build queue on my HUD and search for the catapult again.
Catapult: Attack: 500 Range: 750
Labor: 250
Wood: 300
Iron: 20
I select the build option and confirm the location in the center of the keep, before committing the resources and pressing start.
Below me the catapult slowly begins to take shape, magically appearing like something in a nano-processor, because indeed that’s exactly what this keep is. A huge nano-processor, just like Gilly said. I spend another two hundred units of wood to build a second set of ramparts against the west wall, to give us more space to maneuver around.
I can’t think of anything else to build after that.
Until Gilly gets the rest of the materials for the wall, I suppose there’s not much more I can even build. Not until stuff starts breaking, that is.
I consider reinforcing the main door, but I don’t want to spend our sparse iron resources on something like that, when we might need it to build something else.
I try to send Gilly a PM to check on how she’s doing, but I get an error message.
Right, out of range.
I blow out a sigh as I crouch on the stone wall. I really haven’t spent much time with Gilly at all. Heck, I’ve spent more time with Aiko than her, it seems, and it makes me feel sort of guilty. She seems in good spirits though. Although Gilly always seems to be in good spirits, even in the face of an approaching army, apparently.
I smile at that.
Gilly, chipper to the end.
A flutter of wings drawls my attention and I glance to my side just in time to see a pigeon land on my shoulder.
Holy crap! Wilbur!
“Hey, little guy,” I say and gingerly take the bird into my palms.
I remove the scroll case from its leg and examine the nano-enhanced parchment within.
Young master,
It has been some time since I have heard from you. I hope this message finds you well. You will be pleased to know all projects are now complete. The town is growing remarkably well, thanks to your innovations. The mines are producing and we are attracting many workers from the south. It would benefit us greatly if we had some form of trade route however, as we have massive surpluses of raw materials. The security is somewhat of a concern for villagers, though. Since cleansing the goblins we haven’t encountered any raids, but there is always a possibility for one to occur. With smithing established and with so many able-bodied men available, you may want to consider establishing a volunteer militia. You would only need weapons and a permanent captain on staff.
I have included an update of the village. Please send any instructions you wish carried out in your absence.
Yours faithfully,
Wilbur
P.S. I cordoned off the mine shaft access you constructed. A worker reportedly heard strange sounds coming from it last week. He was quite terrified and couldn’t identify what it was exactly he heard or where it came from. He said it was like a person screaming. We performed a search of the access way but did not find anything. I will keep you posted on any further developments.
The last part of Wilbur’s letter gives me goosebumps. I can only imagine what it must have been like for that poor worker. I hope those monsters down there are not getting closer to the surface somehow. It’s another reminder that we have a lot of loose ends to tie up. But there’s no sense in exploring down there until we know the location of Citadel for sure and have a means of defeating them. And that means getting past this army and to the database in New London. I’m not looking forward to crossing the wild again, but if it means a step ahead in our journey then it must be done. I wouldn’t mind tasting one of those cheeseburgers Rembrandt was talking about earlier, either.
The thought makes my stomach growl and I realize we probably should have organized something to eat. It’s probably far too late for that now, however. We don’t want to be caught chowing down during an attack. Then again, it could be hours still before this whole thing kicks off.
I wave the thoughts from my mind and check the status report Wilbur sent next.
Name: Brookrun Village
Level: 3
Population: 312/325
Growth: +5 Villager per year
Food: +63 surplus per day
Income: 0 gold per day [no trade routes established]
Morale: 74%
Security: -60%
Production: 156 Labor units/day
Trade Routes: 0
Structures:
(1) Common Hall: +10% morale. Grants Issue Edict
(1) Village Inn: +20% morale, +5% pop growth, -5% security
(1) Forge: +10% production speed. Grants Smithing
(1) Sawmill: +10% production speed. Grants Woodworking
(1) Wayfaring Stone: [NULL]
(25) Log House: +5 max population
(10) Long House: +20 max population
(50) Field: +5 food per day
(5) Slaughterhouse: +25 food per day
Resources:
Gold: 450 units
Food: 1553 units
Wood: 4122 units
Stone: 2412 units
Iron: 4022 units
Coal: 3320 units
Actions:
Build
Demolish
Issue Edict
Whoa!
I can’t believe my eyes when I see how much has changed. The numbers are off the charts! It’s no wonder Wilbur is begging for a trade route to be established. A thrill runs through me at how well all the new additions are turning out. Gilly truly is a master city planner. If we only had a tenth of those resources here, we could probably outlast Braxus’ army for a month and eat well doing it.
Eat well? Gah. My stupid stomach is thinking for me again.
I focus back on the stats. The concerns about security seem valid. I think of the keep and the idea of Braxus somehow venturing down to Brookrun gives me the willies. I don’t think we ever mentioned Brookrun to him, but even without him, there are serious monsters in this world, and anything as powerful as that salamander we just fought would probably wipe them out completely. I think a wall would be a decent investment for sure. But I don’t want to make any of these decisions on my own. Most of this is Gilly’s doing and she should be right here with me making these calls.
I don’t want to slow down her drilling however, but maybe she could use a short break. I consider running back downstairs but then I get a better idea. I pull up Gilly’s map from earlier and trace the path of the tunnel. I stand atop the wall and survey the darkening landscape below to get an idea of where she would be in relation to the surface.
I Wall Run down the opposite side of the wall and trace my way through the snow. I strain my senses and can faintly hear the drill below me, its vibrations getting stronger. When they peak, I stop. It honestly doesn’t sound or feel too bad from above. Which is a good thing, I guess. I just hope it’s as faint as I think it is and I’m not somehow comparing it to that racket I endured for nearly three hours just before.
I send a PM.
Me: Gilly, you there?
Gilly: Hey, what’s up? (:
Me: I got a surprise for you.
Gilly: A surprise? :)
Me: Yeah. Why don’t you take a quick break?
I attach Wilbur’s update letter and send it through the PM.
Gilly: Oh wow! Cool! =D
About a minute goes by before she responds again.
Gilly: The village is doing awesome! xD
Me: All thanks to you. (:
Gilly: Hehe.
Me: So what do you think we should build next?
We have a quick discussion about options. We both decide building
a perimeter wall is paramount. We decide to go for a stone one since we have so much of it. We set up a militia too and commission ten more cabins and longhouses to keep the population growing. Once finalized, I send the pigeon on its way.
Gilly: Once we hit level 5 we’ll get access to some really cool stuff. (:
Me: Like what?
Gilly: Schools and temples. We can train mages! :D
Me: Cool indeed!
I’m grinning from ear to ear and not just from the fun of the town building. Being able to just talk with Gilly and spend some quality time with her like this has me remembering all over again why she’s the most awesome girl in the world. Even if we do have to have our private conversation via PMs while texting through 30 feet of frozen rock.
Me: Hey, Gilly?
Gilly: Yeah?
Me: When we get to New London, I want to take you out.
Gilly: What? o_O
Me: I mean it. It’s like a modern city there, right? I want to take you on a real date, to a restaurant or something. Take you dancing.
Gilly: LOL!!! How can you even be thinking about something like that at a time like this? xDDD
I laugh.
Me: I dunno. You’ve got that effect on me, I guess. ;)
Gilly: Hehe >:D Well I’ll definitely hold you to it. But let’s make sure we get out of this pickle first.
Me: Hey. I got faith in yo—
“Everyone inside now!!” Aiko’s voice yells through the party chat, cutting off my train of thought. “Right now! Close the gates!”
My heart rate spikes. Oh crap…!
“What’s going on?” Gilly says on the chat, apparently in range to hear. “Are they coming?”
“Where?” Maxis says. “Where? I don’t see them!”
“Just get inside!” Aiko yells again.
I check the reserves.
Resources: