by Shane Walker
The weapons took a little more thought. Nik couldn’t use anything other than the crossbow and had no intention of learning more weapon styles. While I was happy with short swords right now, I did want to learn daggers after this was done. Since they were pretty basic daggers, there was no need to work out what I’d give up in exchange as they had no value. Those short swords were a different story. In fact, they were technically a different weapon!
Gnomish Longsword
Type: Short Sword
Base Damage: 4
Modifiers: .2 AGI, .05 STR
Total Damage: 8
This weapon is considered to be a relatively short longsword for gnomes, meaning it’s about the maximum length of a weapon one would consider a shortsword when wielded by a human size individual.
Interesting. They were very well made and looked to hold a much sharper edge than my beginner weapons. Realizing I never actually looked at their stats since they were noob weapons, I decided to compare.
Apprentice Short Sword
Type: Short Sword
Base Damage: 2
Modifiers: 0.1 x STR, 0.1 x AGI
Total Damage: 5
This is a shortsword given to those expected to hurt others, but not necessarily trusted to not hurt themselves
Wow. A 60% damage increase just from the 1 point of base damage and improved ratio. Doing the math on this, it looks like they round to the nearest whole number for damage. It also looks like those kobolds negated a whopping zero damage.
Alfred, how is damage vs. defense calculated? I asked.
“Defense is subtracted from an attack’s damage value to determine damage dealt. In the event that a character has a percentage-based damage reduction item or ability, this percentage is subtracted first.”
Looks like it favors tanks then.
“In this instance, yes. There are many abilities found later in the game for both offensive and defensive players to both mitigate damage and negate these mitigations.”
How was I doing full damage to those kobold guards then?
“Technically they were scouts, sir. Kobold scouts usually wear little to no armor. Their defense value was 0.”
Sucks for them, I guess.
“OK, Nik. These swords are a definite upgrade. Also, I think you should take the buckler.” I told the gnome. “It shouldn’t interfere with your crossbow or other abilities, and when we get into the mines hiding behind trees won’t be an option.” Nik visibly weighed his options before nodding in agreement and fitting the buckler to his off-hand arm.
“Anything else you think we should go over, Jack?” he asked as he got a feel for the buckler’s weight. He seemed a bit more confident just by adding a shield.
“Nope, we got it all. Let’s gather the rest of it, pick up the kobold gear outside, and carry it back to camp.” Nik stopped mid-stride with a puzzled look on his face.
“Why are we carrying all of that back? Isn’t it just trash loot?” he asked, clearly wondering why I’d bother with all of this junk.
I flashed him a hungry smile before I responded. “It is! BUT, there’s going to be a lot of it. I have a feeling these mines will be crawling with kobolds. We’re going to gather everything they drop that looks like it has any value and we’re throwing it in the cart that will be here in 3 days. It takes money to make money, but being broke is free!” I said with what most likely came across as a very insincere smile. I’ve heard I give off a Used Car Salesman vibe when I talk money, unless I’m in the zone for a job. Well, unless I WAS in the zone.
It took several minutes to gather all of the spears and carried them to the campfire where they couldn’t be picked up by someone else. We probably could have gotten done more quickly if Nik were full-sized, but his physical size limited how easily he could maneuver the wooded area while carrying weapons taller than him. As comical as it was to watch him struggle, the most important thing was that he never complained. The little guy was definitely growing on me.
The initial loot wasn’t terribly impressive, but it was an OK start. 7 of the 8 kobolds wielded spears that, now that I was able to properly examine them, were gnome made. The dagger wielder had his dagger and 3 of his buddies carried them as backups. Again, they were gnomish made. Looks like the kobolds just took whatever the gnomes previously holding this mine used for defense. “Nik, let’s take a little break here before we go into the mines. I need to tweak some settings.” The gnome immediately dropped to the ground and leaned against a nearby tree.
“Fine with me!” he said cheerfully. “I can work on some crafting while I wait.” he replied, pulling a toolkit out of his bag and setting to work tweaking his crossbow and piecing together what looked to be the beginnings of more grenades.
Alright, Alfred. How much control do I have over my UI?
“Total control, sir. You may choose to see any and all pieces of data available, or tweak exactly what is and isn’t shown, as well as hiding certain information in certain conditions. You may simply tell me how you want your UI to appear and the adjustments will be made.”
Holy shit, conditional UI elements? Perfect! I said before thinking for a moment on how best to set everything up.
Alright, the damage notifications every time I hit a kobold are annoying. Once I know how many HP an enemy has based on how many hits it takes to kill it, hide the Damage Dealt notifications. If it has different mitigations than what I’ve previously seen for its type, show me the damage notifications so I’m aware and can plan accordingly.
For my actions and attacks I receive, show damage I receive but keep it to simple messages. When I dodge or parry an attack, just show I did it. No need for stamina reduction notifications until I get under 25%.
“Very well, sir. It is configured as you requested now. You should notice the changes next time you are in combat.”
Thanks, Alfred. So, why is it that these options aren’t just toggles on a menu? Why do I go through you?
“I serve as a buffer and mediator between you and the game. Generally it is easier to say or think of what information you want to know or see rather than sifting through layers of menu screens. For certain information, such as your character sheet, there are screens that can be used to display the information because it is easier to digest this information visually as opposed to having it read out to you.”
Interesting. Is there an option for what else I want to see displayed on a screen?
“Yes, sir. All information is available in menu format. Simply notify me whenever you prefer a menu and I will display it accordingly.”
“Great, thank’s Alfred! That will be a big help.”
Looking over to Nik, I see the gnome tinkering with grenade casings and what is most likely explosive components based on his delicate movements and sweat-covered forehead. Obviously this is a bad time to try getting his attention.
Alfred, can you chat for a bit? What can you tell me about the mine? Is there a timer on when the enemies will respawn?
“I cannot give any details regarding what is in the mine, but I can say the enemies will not respawn.”
You mean this is a one-shot dungeon?
“No, sir. This is not a dungeon. Monsters taking this mine from the gnomes is an event that happened organically. It is not a scripted dungeon. Monsters killed here will not return. Normal dungeons are not instanced and will refill every 8 hours.
“Considering you’ve received the hidden quest to clear these mines, I can tell you that the mine doesn’t need to be cleared in a single run as a dungeon would. Unfortunately, even though it isn’t a dungeon it can be, how should I put this...repopulated.”
I swear to God, Alfred, if I walk in on some sort of baby-making kobold orgy and you didn’t warn me, I’m requesting a new AI.
Deciding I needed to cleanse my mental pallet, I see Nik is done finally. “Ready to go clear some mines?” I ask.
His response is a devilish grin as he holds out hands full of recently made grenades “I made some mor
e flash bombs. I figure high explosives would be unsafe down there, so we can take advantage of the low-light environment. According to my guide, kobolds have a weak darkvision, but use torches for tasks such as mining because the darkvision doesn’t help distinguish viable mineral veins.” he said with no small amount of pride in his voice. I had to hand it to him, it was smart thinking and tactically sound.
“How many did you manage to crank out?” I asked, seeing he had several in his hand and a few more on the ground.
“Eight total. There’s five for you and I’ll hold three for n-now.” he said.
After divvying up the grenades, we started moving the loot from the shack back to the campfire. It thankfully only took a single trip which was quick due to the fact that nothing was particularly unwieldy. We were starting to build a decent little pile of loot from all of this and I really couldn’t wait to see how much it was all worth. That was something for the future. Right now, it’s time to clear out my soon to be personal mine.
8-Cryptomining
Now that we were finally going in, I was finally able to appreciate how downright creepy the damned place was. The kobolds only needed torches in areas where they were mining, which clearly wasn’t happening in the entrance. The pitch black just beyond the gnome-made rock entrance was clearly putting Nik on edge. Not me, though! I definitely wasn’t afraid. I went ahead and drew both swords anyway, just to make Nik feel better.
Moving through the first section of the mine was painfully slow-going. My eyes had adjusted to the dark fairly quickly, but the limits of human night vision were quickly obvious.
“Nik, how’s your vision in here?” I asked in party chat. I guess I should have checked before we went in.
“It’s n-not bad. I would be better off with a tiny bit of light, though. Gnomes don’t have the same kind of vision as kobolds, so we can’t handle total darkness.” he said with a hint of fear in his voice.
Great. We’re at a complete disadvantage here. I just hope we can avoid being caught unawares for as long as possible. I thought as we worked our way into the mine
Thankfully we managed to have our first encounter before we could be snuck up on.
“I see some lights flickering up ahead.” Nik pointed out. I slowed my pace down and moved up a little more to try focusing my vision. Sure enough, I could see the light dancing along the walls of the cave, but I couldn’t see the source.
“Looks like it’s around a bend in the tunnel. Let’s see if we can sneak up to the corner and take a peak.” I instructed.
Stealth has increased to Level 3!
As I came to the turn I realized the reason we didn’t hear them digging was because they were loading up a cart. Wait, why did they not have a group loading the cart so they could keep digging? Holy shit, kobolds are inefficient! Thankfully for us there were only about 6 from what I saw- six completely unarmed kobolds.
I watched for a moment in disbelief as the kobolds that should have been mining were carrying lumps of iron to the cart sitting in the middle of the tunnel. The group was set up to do one task or the other, and it seems like they’re using the cart for the literal opposite of its intended purpose.
“We are DEFINITELY going to the bottom of this mine. They’re taking all of it deeper. Something is going on down there.” I explained to Nik. “Not sure if kobolds are hoarders or maybe they have a dragon down there that’s decided to just settle for a pile of iron, but there’s gotta be a reason they’d take it deeper into the mine.”
The kobolds miners, like the scouts, wore no armor. If I understood the damage correctly and the miners had the same HP as the scouts, a single attack with my new swords should leave them nearly dead.
This might be a good opportunity for Nik and I to work on our combat skills in a controlled environment. I thought as I came up with a gameplan.
“Nik, I’m going in before they can grab those pickaxes. We need to work on your combat skills and my defenses though, so I’m going to hit each kobold once. That should leave them with a single hit point each.” I paused to let him digest it before continuing.
“After that, you’re gonna pick them off one at a time. Assuming the whole mine is set up like this, we’ll follow the same pattern for each mining team, OK? It’s likely going to be our best bet for safely getting some early skill levels.” I finished.
“I hate grinding skills,” Nik responded. “but you’re right that this is probably the best time for it. Lead the way, Jack!”
Taking another peek around the corner, I saw that all six were walking towards the cart with armfuls of ore. I should probably point out at this point that a kobold armful of ore is not a large amount of ore. I doubt you could make an English longsword with what they were all carrying right now. That’s what happens when you have creatures the size of children performing manual labor. Then again, the gnomes probably couldn’t carry much more themselves. I bet they had gadgets for it to help.
Shit, I’m getting sidetracked again.
Realizing that any surprise attacks would likely result in a sneak attack and instantly kill my target, I made the least tactical decision possible and yelled at the kobolds as I ran in to get their attention on me. As they charged at me, the hardest part was fighting the instinct to kill them myself. Instead, I give each a quick slash and set to focusing on defenses. Just as I did, Nik took a shot and killed his first kobold.
Kobold takes 8 damage!
Kobold takes 8 damage!
Kobold takes 8 damage!
Kobold takes 8 damage!
Kobold takes 8 damage!
Kobold takes 8 damage!
Nik has slain Kobold Miner!
You blocked Kobold Miner’s Attack! (-1 HP)
You blocked Kobold Miner’s Attack! (-1 HP)
You blocked Kobold Miner’s Attack! (-1 HP)
You blocked Kobold Miner’s Attack! (-1 HP)
You blocked Kobold Miner’s Attack! (-1 HP)
Oh yeah, I hated blocking with swords. Also, I was starting to finally feel the game. The impact of the blocks traveled through the swords and into my hands and wrists and left them aching after the first exchange. I’d also learned my lesson after the last time I got surrounded. The idea was to keep the tunnel wall at my back till Nik got a shot in at the one where a miss was least likely to get me. Once he took his shot, I’d reposition while he reloaded to make sure they couldn’t block me in completely.
Following the plan as directed, Nik worked his way through the group of Miners as quickly as he could reload his crossbow. Thankfully, Nik could reload slightly faster than the miners could move in and claw at me. This left me blocking one less kobold each time they moved in for a shot at me. The bones in my hands and wrists were thankful for the small blessing.
As the last Kobold fell, I slumped against the side of the tunnel to let my HP & SP recover while I looked over my abbreviated notifications from the fight.
Your party has slain Kobold Miner x6!
You received 60 XP!
Block has increased to Level 3!
“Looks like I got two levels in Block off that. How did you do, Nik?” I asked after I’d rested.
“Same for Crossbows, not that it will matter much right now.” he said enthusiastically. “This was a good plan, Jack. I doubt I would have ever had a situation where I could gain skill levels in combat this easily. So, how much ore is there?”
“The cart isn’t even close to full. In fact, it would take forever for just this group to fill it. Did they really plan on stopping all mining until it was full?” I replied. That’s when I noticed that the iron being loaded into the cart was from piles they’d built up next to their mining spots. If they were only loading what they had piled up, it seemed safe to assume they were pushing it back down the tunnel with room for more. That meant there were more miners along the path.
“I’m counting 18 units of ore, but this cart can hold a lot more. I’m betting there’s more kobolds mining along this tunnel. Let’s grab the
last batch of ore, toss it in, and push the cart down to the next mining spot.” I suggested.
“Wait a second, Jack. Why would we push the cart with us?” Nik asked. It was a reasonable question to ask, really. We didn’t work for the kobolds.
“We’re pushing the cart because they expect it. It will help us keep the element of surprise. Think about it: this is probably on something that vaguely resembles a schedule. If they hear the cart around the time they’re used to hearing it, they will keep their guard down. It should make our job easier.” I explained.
Thankfully, I was right. It took just a couple of minutes to get to the next mining spot and they seemed relieved to hear the cart coming. There was some grumbling as they casually dropped their pickaxes and each grabbed a chunk of ore from the ground. The grumbling became stunned silence as I emerged from within the cart to the kobolds’ horror. I guess this was supposed to be their break from the repetitive mining they were tasked with. Unfortunately, this was going to be a pretty shitty break time for them.