Name: Building the Pyramid

Description: Experience the creation of the Egyptian pyramids as a simple worker.

Type: History / Endurance

Duration: 36 hours

Requirements: none

Restrictions:

* Disabled Inventory

* Disabled Skills

* Pain-Setting at 50 %

Level-Cap: 5

Rating: A

Price: 10 VirDias

Quest: Building the Pyramid – Session 1

Description: Comply with the demands of the overseers. Last 6 hours.

Possible Rewards: Continue Scenario

Possible Penalties:

* Whip lashes

* Change of occupation

* End of scenario

Difficulty: B

Just as Flora asked herself what they meant by "whiplashes" an overseer screamed at her to move while cracking his whip.

"Oh, dear. What have I gotten into?" Flora suppressed her instinct to lecture the burly man and followed his directions to a cart. No, it wasn't a cart, Flora realized, it was a sled. On it lay a stone block taller than herself. Five other workers stood in front of it, holding cords attached to the sled. Right beside the guy in the first row was an unassigned rope. Taking in a big breath of the dry desert air, Flora grabbed it by the handle on the tip.

"For the sun, for the moon, for the stars, heave-ho!" The guy next to her called, and they leaned into the ropes. The mighty push brought the sled in motion.

Now, Flora had a bit of time to orient herself. She wore the same outfit as her co-workers, a white tunic, a Keffiyeh, and sandals. On her right shoulder was a leather patch on which the cord rested. Nevertheless, it cut deep into her flesh.

They dragged the sled over a muddy slope, walking to the right and left of it where the sand and mud mixed. Every step, they fought against inertia. Flora strained herself against the weight of the stone and struggled not to lose her grip or her footing.

The sun shone on their heads and naked arms and tried its best to burn through flesh and clothing.

After a while, the sled grew heavier. The crew had advanced on a ramp, leading to the building lot. Flora was astonished, how massive the job site was. The huge square dominated the landscape with its fearful symmetry.

First, Flora couldn't take her eyes off it, but humans are creatures of habit, and after some time, even the majesty of the antics' biggest building project lost its luster.

Instead, Flora's thoughts circled wheels. The Egyptians didn't use them. Why? Flora could only speculate maybe because they had no suitable wood. Furthermore, sand and wheels didn't mix well. Critical parts of the movement apparatus were made with metal, but they only had copper and couldn't smelt iron yet.

'Maybe stone wheels? No, the additional weight would offset the advantages. Papyrus wheels?'

Flora didn't dismiss the idea. Papyrus was an incredible material. They even made boats out of it. 'If we would compress it into a dense bale … '

The sled was nearing the end of the ramp, and Flora got a look inside the Pyramid. The stones there were not as accurately cut as the outer layer.

'What about single-serving wheels? After we reach the top, we use them for the interior. You could even build columns with them. Hmm. It would depend on the time the stonemasons need to cut them. If they need more time than we save because of faster transportation, we lose. Another issue is the skill level of the worker. We just have to pull. We are cheaper and more available than skilled craftsmen.'

They pushed the stone block off the carriage, and another gang of workers put it in place.

Flora's team hopped down the pyramid. Two men carried the sled between them.

At the quarry, Flora approached the foreman. Before she could tell him about wheels, he cracked his whip and pointed at the sled.

Sighing, Flora returned to her team, and they received the next block.

"Read to me some runes, Aidan." Flora was desperate to take her mind off the wheels, the heat, the sand, the weight of the stone, and the chafing rope.

Aidan recited some pages of the book '1000 common Runes and Glyphs', but Flora couldn't concentrate. Her brain felt mushy and slow. First, she blamed the heat and lack of sleep, but then she remembered the 6:1 time dilation.

Her experience resembled a dream. Her co-workers didn't speak, and the wavering of the sled and their ragged breathing were the only sounds she heard. The monotonous scenery and work had a hypnotic quality.

"Read me from the book with the Cetviwos sagas and myths, Aidan." Flora decided on a lighter subject, and the historic site invited you to read some mythical texts. 'Even if it is CentralTank's invented pseudo-history.'

"I'm sorry Milady, we don't own a book with these topics."

"Didn't I order to buy one during my talk with the Bishop?"

"Yes, Milady, but Aitoshuri didn't comply."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Shocked, Flora stumbled, and an overseer glared at her.

"Aito, sweety. Are you all right? I would never even have imagined you could be tardy on selecting a book!"

After a delay, Aitoshuri signaled it was complicated. Flora felt her inner turmoil over their connection.

"Aidan, we are having a crisis at our hands. It's time for emergency charade and your turn."

"Has it something to do with the topic of the book?"

"Beep."

"Is it a specific saga?"

"Beep." Aito's answers came slowly.

"Is the saga about you?"

Aitoshuri managed to mumble a beep.

Flora was struck. She remembered Aitoshuri was old. What if they didn't invent the sagas? What if the stories described what had happened in the early stages of the development of the Ais? Maybe the puzzle of Aito's behavior could be solved with this book?

"Aidan, order the book."

"Beep, Beep!" Aito insisted.

"You don't want me to read it, dear?"

Aito confirmed it, and Flora sighed. "Because you don't want me to know what happened to you?"

The AI mumbled another yes.

"Alright. I'll wait a bit. But I will know it sooner or later, and you have to ask yourself if it would be better if I would have known it earlier."

Flora wasn't able to interpret Aito's answer in words. It was the electronic equivalent to an ostrich putting his head in the sand.

"Thank you for your support, Aidan. I appreciate it, and I'm sure Aito as well."

A muffled beep agreed with Flora.

"My pleasure, Milady."

"Let's read some light literature. Any recommendations, Aito?"

The cover of "Passion of the Elements – A steamy tale of a Fire Mage and a Water Sorcerer" appeared on Flora's HUD.

Flora's first instinct was to veto it, but then she thought about the alternatives in Aito's collection. With a wry smile, she ordered Aidan to read.

The Egyptian sun still shone without mercy or pause, and Flora's throat was getting parched. She took the ramp step by step. Half of her mind was on the path in front of her the other half on the suave water and the passionate fire apprentice of the Zauberberg School of Elemental Magics. To Flora's astonishment, they learned very familiar spells like Fireball and Acid Rain in the book. Aidan informed her the story conformed to the rules of the Cetviwos. Even all the places and some of the characters existed as NPCs. Zauberberg was the magic center of the Cradle, and players could enroll at the school.

While Flora was getting drawn into the story, they arrived at the pyramid again. This time Flora offered to carry the sled back. The teenage shenanigans of the book inspired Flora's inner child.

She put the sled on the edge of the pathway, grinned, and jumped on it. The sleigh tipped over and slid down the pyramid.

"Jippieye!" Flora yelled while racing down the smooth surface.

For now, the pyramid was only two stories high, but the Nile was further down. Flora had enough momentum to slide on the fine sand until the surface became too rocky. Because she didn't want to damage the sled, she stopped and carried it the rest of the way.

Flora passed a long line of workers passing buckets filled with rubble and water from hand to hand. Another stream of workers walked with bundles of papyrus on their backs to the ramp. They reinforced it and increased its height.

If she had to choose which manual labor to perform, she preferred pulling the stones. When she was going to brag about it in the future, it sounded much more impressive than throwing some rubble on a pile and putting papyrus over it. But she regretted she hadn't obtained the stonemason skill. Fitting the stones directly in the pyramid might be the most awesome job in the lot.

When she reached the place where the workers loaded the blocks, her crew was still not in sight. To her delight, she found a stall with refreshments and downed a few glasses of watered-down beers, and ate some fruits.

The working conditions weren't bad. There existed more awful jobs than hard work in the sun. The overseer might pose with their whips but had yet to hit anyone. Flora didn't think they necessarily reflected the real conditions of ancient times.

Flora wondered what the scenario was about. Maybe CentralTank created the scenario to show the spoiled youth what real work meant? Until now, there was a lack of any Egyptian myths, like mummies, guys with jackal heads, or puzzle sprouting sphinxes.

After leaning the sleigh against a tree, she closed her eyes a bit in the shadow while waiting.

It felt to Flora like only a second had passed until she was woken up by her crew. Nonetheless, the break refilled her depleted stamina pool.

They performed the next round of hauling blocks and sliding down the hill. Unfortunately, two of her co-workers weren't faring well. They stumbled increasingly more and didn't pull their weight. When they went down for new blocks, an overseer took them away, and new guys joined the crew. Flora had no chance to take another nap.

Aidan still read the Passion of the Elements. The water guy was the star of the school, but the fire guy had vowed to surpass him. The big elemental tournament was his chance to prove himself. Until now, they only had officially learned the five standard spells, but the fire guy stumbled in the library over a spell called Firebreath, a close-range skill with a high chance to burn everything down.

Naturally, Flora was excited about it. Notably, about the water equivalent. The tiger of Ressa was massive. A small acid ball wouldn't extinguish his flames. But a cone of water? The ToDo-List grew.

Flora was so engrossed in the fight descriptions and the discussion about the spells and tactics used, that she hadn't realized her stamina pool reached its bottom. As soon as the second bar appeared, she couldn't help but notice that now every movement was harder. Her breathing became labored, and her muscles started to hurt.

"Aidan, refresh my memory of how the stamina bars work." Flora looked concerned at the sinking bar. She estimated over four hours had passed, but the session was six hours long.

"Your stamina pool is ten times your physical controls. 27 OV macro + 26 OV micro = 53 OV controls * 10 = 530 stamina.

For every tier of strength, you get one stamina bar. Your Physical Power is Level 67. This level value is in the third tier. Therefore you have three stamina bars."

"Oh, good! I was worrying for no reason. With two more bars, I should be able to complete the quest."

"I'm sorry, Milady. If you don't get another break, your stamina will run out at approximately 5 hours and 44 minutes into the quest. One round of pulling and walking back to the quarry depleted around 200 stamina. That includes the stamina you regenerate on the way back. But if you are at the second stamina bar, every action costs double stamina and feels more strenuous. We are now in the middle of round four. I estimate completing this round will bring you down to 400 stamina. The stamina points will deplete in round 5. That brings you down to the third stamina bar. Then, every action will cost triple stamina. You need 3x200 = 600 stamina to complete the 6th round, but your bar only has 530 stamina points."

"I sum this up: I should save or regenerate stamina. What happens when I don't?"

"You will be defeated, that is game-version of unconsciousness, Milady. I recommend you stop before and get another job from the foremen."

Immediately, Flora exercised her breathing. She took long breaths in and made sure to exhale all the spend air.

The sun went down before Flora realized it was dusk. The refreshing coolness of the evening eased the strain on Flora. She finished the round with another wild ride and 500 stamina—100 more than Aidan's calculation.

After eating an apple and drinking beer, she was ready for round 5.

Soon, Flora was bored from only breathing and pulling. Even watching the trail and row of sleds on it was getting old fast. She ordered Aidan to resume the story.

The exciting part, the tournament, was over. Fire Guy won, even though he didn't fight against the water guy. A cheating wood girl had eliminated Walter, but Bernie avenged him. That earned him the attention of the water guy. The annoying social part, those two getting to know each other, allowed Flora to concentrate on her breathing while she still listened with half an ear.

In the sixth round, the air was chilly. Albeit the hard manual labor, Flora felt cold. The bright stars and the moon provided enough light to see, but the shadows in the mud sometimes hid rocks, and the exhausted crew's stumbling increased.

Finally, they had delivered the last block, and the quest concluded. Flora even managed to stay on the second stamina bar.

Quest completed: Building the Pyramid – Session 1

Reward: Continue Scenario

Difficulty: B

Rating: S