We chose to douse two of the torches nearest the door where the orc slavers would enter, casting much of the cavern in shadow. Gerald and Frank would hide near the door to prevent the orcs from escaping and alerting their brethren once they tripped the ambush. The rest of the party was distributed around the cave which now sported tripwires, caltrops, and other surprises that Alicia painstakingly prepared to keep the orcs from getting too close. I was located centrally so that I could cast force shields in case anyone found themselves in trouble. We ensured that the slaves would continue mining as the orcs passed through the door, which would hopefully keep them from realizing that anything was amiss until it was too late. About 15 minutes before the orcs were supposed to arrive, everyone went to their appointed spots and waited.
A *click* of an unlocking door and a *creak* as it opened announced the slavers’ arrival. There was some guttural grumbling before torchlight flared near the entrance and cautious bootsteps thumped into the cavern. I held my breath, hoping that neither me nor my companions would be spotted. Fortunately, the first sound to break the relative silence was the crashing of an orc in heavy armor to the ground, followed by cursing as another received an acidic spray to the face. With the first traps sprung, I stepped out of my hiding place to survey the field. The orc that had fallen was one of the guards, as he closely resembled those we dispatched outside the mining area. The one who received a face full of acid looked to be the slave driver, as he was snapping his whip around himself blindly. The other guard charged at Gerald, who was taunting the orc by banging his war axe on his shield. Distressingly, a massive level 10 orc overseer was barreling towards Frank. At least they weren’t running for help! Gerald was the most overmatched, so I chanted “Newtonus Protektas” while gesturing towards him.
Gina shouted, “Catadrotha Ignitus Safurot!” sending a massive ball of fire racing towards the guard that had fallen as Alicia’s arrows invisibly pelted him from her hiding spot.
A scream grabbed my attention and I saw that the slave driver had recovered, lashing his whip at Samantha and tearing a gash through her robe and into her thigh. His face wore a sneer as he pulled back to lash her again, but I quickly chanted “Vik Newtun Protek” and blocked it just in time, preserving our healer. “Help Frank!” I shouted to her, while charging at the sadistic orc. I smirked as the orc turned to me and took a confident step forward, ready to snap its whip. Fortunately for me, it had just stepped over another tripwire, this one sending a puff of knockout gas into its face. Its effects only last a few seconds, but I was close enough to deliver a coup-de-grace, severing its spine with my shortsword. The whip fell into a coil on the ground as its eyes glazed over in death. Surveying the battle, I saw that Gina and Alicia had lured their guard into yet another trap and finished it off, while Gerald had made use of his new weapon and my Force Shield to take out his guard while sustaining only minor injuries. Frank was holding his own against the overseer, slowly wearing it down and having his wounds healed by Samantha, who had managed to stop the bleeding from the gash on her thigh.
Seeing that I had more than enough mana, I chanted “Newtunus Protektas Roketos”, thrusting my sword towards the overseer. The Force Shield Bolt slammed it into the wall and stunned it long enough for Frank to slip his sword between its ribs. The plan went off without a hitch, and I was about to congratulate everyone on a job well done when the overseer drew a final breath and bellowed, “BROTHER!” before collapsing to the ground, dead. Even the *tink tink* of the slaves’ pickaxes stopped, which was why we heard heavy footsteps approaching from deeper within the orcs’ lair. Finally, a nine-foot-tall, heavily-muscled orc stooped through the door frame, standing to his full height and looking around the room. His armor looked to be twice as thick as what we’d seen on the guard orcs, and in each hand, he wielded a battle axe that looked like it should have required two hands. Above his head I read ‘Krug, level 15 Orc Chieftain’. When his eyes fell on his dead brother, an unmistakable look of rage came over his face, and he roared in fury, charging at Frank. My mana was only half-recovered, I had enough to cast Force Shield on Frank. Krug swept one of his massive axes down, shattering the shield in one blow, and I knew we were in trouble.
All Frank could do was block, and Samantha was having trouble healing the damage that was getting through. Fortunately, Gerald stepped up beside Frank to deflect every other axe blow, and I cast my Force Shield as often as I could on both of them. While the four of us focused on survival, Gina pelted Krug with fireballs and Alicia’s expert marksmanship found chinks in the massive orc’s armor. Soon the rage at his brother’s death was forgotten as these new agonies took their toll. Turning away from Frank and Gerald, Krug found the source of the fireballs and arrows and began to charge. Not missing a beat, both warriors quickly moved to hamstring the orc, crippling one of its legs. Roaring in outrage and failing to realize that the warriors were capable of dealing damage as well as taking it, he resumed pummeling them in fury, though his swings were slow, and his blows were landing less often. Feeling confident that we could take him down and lacking mana, I stabbed at the orc’s thigh with my shortsword. One glance from those beady red eyes revealed my mistake as the last thing I remember was a swift arc of steel coming towards my head from above.
Chapter 6: Aftermath
Consciousness returned with no small number of aches and pains. “You okay there, Alex?” A familiar voice called from what seemed to be far away. As my head cleared I realized Alicia wasn’t so distant, and I took her hand as she pulled me up from the cavern floor.
“Yeah, I’m all right, just a bit sore. What happened?” I replied, brushing off some dust.
“Well, you definitely distracted him with that little poke, Gerald got a clean swipe at Krug’s neck with his axe and he started bleeding out. Naturally I ran up and saved your ass as soon as the big guy bit the dust. You’re welcome by the way.” She said with a self-satisfied smirk. While I was out, Samantha had taken the keys from the overseer’s corpse and started to unlock the slaves’ chains. Krug’s equipment consisted of a couple two-handed battleaxes and oversized steel armor. The only other item of note was the slave driver’s whip which Alicia claimed to be able to use because it fit her roguish nature. Alicia disarmed and collected the traps that hadn’t been tripped. Given that no other orcs had followed Krug, we assumed that the dungeon was mostly cleared, though Alicia was still wary of orcish traps. Gina and Samantha directed the newly freed slaves, now christened ‘level 5 human miners’, to use ore carts to carry the corpses of their former masters outside the dungeon while the rest of us explored what was left. I think we all anticipated treasure, and Krug’s equipment, while certainly formidable and impressive, was somewhat underwhelming in that none of us could easily use it.
With Alicia leading the way, the rest of us went to look for our reward. Despite our caution, there weren’t any traps. We passed a large room with benches and tables where the orcs probably took their meals, and at the end of the passage there was a simple room with a throne and the booty, a treasure chest. After carefully checking the chest for traps, Alicia opened it. Rather than distribute rewards randomly and unevenly, Epic online seemed to handle dungeons more fairly. As soon as Alicia opened the chest everyone in the party received a single item as well as something none of them had yet encountered. Coins! Wonderful, delicious currency. I had been wondering how the game was going to handle having an economy, and it appeared that with the introduction of non-sentient NPCs they were also creating standardized forms of wealth. Everyone received 5 gold coins for clearing the dungeon, and I decided to determine its relative value later. For now, I wanted to examine the item I received.
Pendant of Leadership: +1 Architecture, can hire CLVL (7) Skill points worth of NPCs in addition to those allowed by Leadership skill level.
Wait, why does it say my character level (CLVL) is seven? I checked my interface, and sure enough, with all the fighting I managed to gain two levels. I didn’t recall seeing Leadershi
p as an option previously, so I brought up the interface and read the description.
Skill: Leadership
Allows you to hire 10 Skill points worth of NPCs. Their level will always be 2 below yours. If NPCs are assigned to a Village, Town, or City they will not require upkeep, as their wages will be paid out of taxes generated by the local economy.
That sounded perfect, and I had three points to spare, so I learned the skill. Everyone else had finished examining their new equipment and looked ready to leave, so we headed out of the dungeon. As soon as we exited the cavern, I was met with a system prompt.
You have cleared an Iron Mine. Would you like to claim it in the name of the Village on the Lake? (Y/N)
Well, that seemed like a no-brainer to me, so I selected ‘Y’. What was most interesting was that it took me as the leader, and the name that I’d declared earlier as the official name of the village. I turned to the rest of the group and smiled, “It looks like we’ve got ourselves an iron mine!” They turned back to it and saw that it was indeed claimed by our village, and the miners were already hauling ore in carts toward town.
Frank addressed me, “Aren’t you concerned about the miners getting attacked on the way to the village?”
I considered that a moment before replying, “Yeah, but I just picked up a new skill, and I think I can hire a couple soldiers to patrol the route and guard the mine at night.” I paused before continuing. “If I hire them, would you be okay with taking command of and organizing the military forces in the Village?”
Frank was barely able to hide a flash of excitement before returning a stoic gaze. “Yes, I’m sure I can manage that.” He looked to be standing a bit taller. I brought up the interface and found my leadership skill. From there I selected two NPCs with the skill ‘Guard’ and assigned them to the mine. As soon as I confirmed the selection, two level 5 soldier NPCs stepped out of the woods to stand at attention near the mine entrance. An alert popped up after I hired them, saying I could hire fifteen more Skill points worth of NPCs before I hit the maximum. It appeared that the miners were attached to the mine and didn’t count toward the total. Frank immediately started barking orders, and the soldiers were soon rushing to catch up with the miners that were hauling ore to the village, and our victorious party followed not too far behind. As we made our way through the forest, I reflected on the last battle. I certainly felt useful in being able to cast shields on the rest of the party and fire off a few force bolts, but what was the point of being able to cast using a sword if I couldn’t use it effectively for anything else? Also, while my survivability was decent due to the heavy armor I wore, Krug knocked me down easily because of my lack of a shield. I didn’t need to use my other hand to cast and all my words were already memorized, so why hold the book and not a shield? To test my theory, I pulled a shield out of my miraculous, physics-defying backpack and equipped it, casting force shield on myself. The force shield surrounded me with no problems, confirming that I could use it in combat while casting. That settled it.
You have learned a new Skill: Swordsmanship!
You now have a solid grasp of which end is the pointy one, but you should still practice to gain proficiency.
You have learned a new Skill: Shield use!
You are now much less likely to drop the shield on your foot, can block attacks, and perform a Shield Bash.
I obviously wouldn’t be as effective in melee combat as Gerald or Frank, but hopefully these new skills would prevent me from being totally inept once my mana reserves were drained. I performed a few practice bashes in the air and swung my sword about with my guard up. I chose to ignore the funny looks everyone was giving me as we approached the village, feeling a bit confused as to why nobody looked at Alicia twice while she twirled her new daggers around making ‘whoosh’ noises and said, ‘stab stab’ under her breath. While we were clearing the dungeon, the rest of the villagers had been hard at work. The shacks had been upgraded to cabins, and most of the new cabins were almost finished. The rest of the buildings had foundations lain. The villagers were surprised to see non-sentient NPCs, but since they’d all had some interaction with artificial intelligences they soon realized that there was something missing in the new additions and quickly adapted. The miners were all skilled in mining but were suitable for general labor, so I had them assist in the building process, nearly doubling our workforce. I still had 15 skill points of NPCs I could hire, and just in case there was another attack I wanted to make sure our defenses were bolstered. I hired two guards, two archers, and two scouts. Frank insisted I hire more, but I was sure that with fortification and preparation, not to mention players assisting the NPCs, we could withstand any attacks. Besides, there were many more roles to fill in the town.
Although their places of business weren’t yet finished, I hired a blacksmith and a leatherworker, as well as an herbalist, a tavern keeper, a bar wench (I offered the job to Alicia first and she punched me), two farmers, a carpenter, and a hunter. I drafted additional buildings for the new hires, and staked out plots of land for the fields that the farmers would tend. In addition to the new buildings, I drafted a palisade that would give us enough room for more buildings, but not so much space that we wouldn’t be able to watch the entire wall. I stayed up into the night making sure everyone had somewhere to sleep, even the NPCs. All told, there were nineteen sentients and twenty-nine NPCs in the village for a total of forty-eight. Not a bad number! Wait a moment, why was the number of sentients odd? Wasn’t everyone supposed to have a partner? Now that I thought about it, I didn’t recall meeting Frank’s partner. I was pretty sure he was ex-military, but I was too exhausted from the day’s events to put too much thought into why he was alone. I retired to the cabin I shared with Alicia, only to find the familiar sound of a hacksaw slowly making its way through a rusted metal pipe. Glad that I didn’t have to try and sleep through that, I closed my eyes for twenty seconds and logged off.
I was starting to get used to eating only twice a day, but that didn’t keep me from salivating as I watched the imitation meat turn tantalizingly slowly in the microwave. Sitting down to my delicious meal, I browsed the Epic online forums to see what others made of the new developments regarding NPCs and currency. Although we’d only seen gold, some creatures were dropping copper and silver, and some shops that were being built and staffed with highly skilled shopkeepers were selling items that cost a form of currency called crystal, but nobody had found any yet. Conversion rates were 100 copper per silver, and 100 silver per gold, but there didn’t seem to be a conversion between gold and crystal. In addition, all items now had an intrinsic value. For example, a full set of starting warrior gear was worth 5 silver, suggesting that the 5 gold we each received from the dungeon was a decent amount. Having satisfied my curiosity for the night, I took a quick shower and went to bed, excited to see what the next day might bring for the Village on the Lake.
Chapter 7: Unexpected encounter
I woke up, ate a quick breakfast, and logged in to the now bustling Village. Surprisingly, Alicia was nowhere to be seen. Usually she wasn’t such an early riser. Shrugging, I stepped out of the cabin to greet the morning sun. The Village was already alive with activity, probably because of the 29 new NPC additions that didn’t need to unwind in the morning before starting the day. In fact, most of the buildings were nearly completed, except for the defensive structures and the meeting hall. The ring of a blacksmith’s hammer on an anvil already punctuated the morning stillness. The buildings that weren’t yet completed had logs stacked neatly against the unfinished structures, and many of the sentient villagers, now having a safe place to call home, were feeling bolder and forming groups to venture into the wilderness to gain strength and experience. I thought that wasn’t a bad idea myself, so I decided to track down Alicia.
I found her already chatting with Frank, Gina, Gerald, and Samantha. I jogged over, a little miffed that I was the last to arrive to a meeting I didn’t know about, but a smile and a reassuring wav
e from Alicia managed to ease my worries. “Hey Alex, glad you made it! We were just thinking about doing a little exploring. I almost had to go wake your lazy ass up, thanks for saving me the trouble.” Alicia grinned at me, knowing just what to say to get under my skin.
“Yeah, I’m definitely up for a little adventure!” I replied enthusiastically. I was very curious about what everyone picked up from the dungeon, so I asked, “So, what did everyone get from the chest?” I selected the pendant from my equipment and revealed its stats to them.
Alicia frowned at me and said, “Just because you got a shiny necklace from a chest doesn’t make you the de facto leader, you know.” She paused for a moment, lightening up. “Still, it is cool that you were able to hire all those NPCs so that we can go off and have fun rather than spending all day hauling logs around.” With that, she smiled devilishly and revealed the properties of her new daggers.
Daggers of Vampirism (2): When wielded together, 10% of damage dealt is returned as health and endurance to the attacker.
Samantha showed off her new robes with a twirl.
Robes of Protection: Reduces physical damage from all sources by 10%.
Gerald hefted his new shield.
Bulwark of Thorns: Reflects 10% of damage taken to the attacker, including damage blocked by the shield.
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