Congratulations
Your Familiar has triumphed over a Gremlin King. Gremlins will no longer appear in your base for 1 in-game year. Bonus Reward: 1 Familiar Level
Congratulations Your HQ has been successfully defended from Invasion. For the first defense of your base all NPCS and Players that took part in the defense will be awarded bonus XP. Bonus: New options for rooms unlocked based on NPC defenders
Ranged Combat Skill Level Up x2
Ranged Weapon speed +5%
To-hit Chance +7%
Ranged Combat Skill Maxed
Enchanting Skill Level Up x2 10 Sp Awarded
Toughness Skill Level Up x2
Endurance Skill Level Up x2
Endurance Skill Maxed
Mana Manipulation Skill Level Up
Mana Capacity Increased by 100
Mana Regen increased to 3%
Kaleb blinked at the scrolled blue boxes as he heard Two Gun whistle between his teeth.
“Daaaaamn! That’s some fine experience right there. Most of my skills just shot up like a rocket!”
“Yeah, it’s the same for me. Most everything jumped up two damn ranks. Toughness and Endurance make sense. The are the lowest tiered skills I have. But even my Enchanting and Mana Manipulation skills went up. Hell, Daivor leveled up.”
The old cowboy cackled to himself. “Woo-hoo! We’ve made off like bandits, son. Like fucking bandits. Although I don’t reckon telling the others about this is going to sail over well.”
“Nope. Which is why you’re telling them.” Kaleb grinned as he started walking toward Daivor.
“Now hold on a minute! It was your tinkering that summoned the damn things!”
“And you’re welcome!” Kaleb said, looking around.
All the nearby NPCs were talking excitedly to each other. Some of the Brute Clan lizards were flexing their muscles, while the Hunters all discussed what they’d learn from the battle. The hangar was abuzz with a kind of excited tension. Like at any moment, people would burst into cheers. Kaleb heard Two Gun’s footsteps behind him and knew that they weren’t done discussing things. But first, he wanted to check in with Daivor. The Gnome’s level up was waiting, but the little man had rushed off to the Workshop.
Kaleb swerved his way through the excited throngs of NPCs and made it to his workshop. Two Gun right on his heels. The old cowboy closed the door as they entered and Kaleb walked toward Daivor’s tiny Gnome Home. Its smokestack was slowly billowing smoke as Kaleb heard clattering going on inside.
“Daivor? You alright in there?”
“Wha?! Yeah, I’m fine!”
The gnome’s words were followed by more crashing and clattering noises. Two Gun shot him a worried look, but Kaleb simply gestured for the older man to wait. They stood outside the gnome’s workshop for another minute before Daivor’s voice echoed over the racket.
“Where in the hell did I put it!?”
“Dude, what are you looking for?”
“My Infinity Mug!”
“Oh! You gave that to Marie so she could replicate that lubricant she was using, remember?”
“I did what?! I would never!”
“No, I distinctly remember telling you it was a bad idea. But Marie said that a Master Builder such as yourself would never stand in the way of another Builder’s project. Then she gave you that pipe tobacco.”
Daivor stuck his head out of his home’s small window. His face and beard were soaked with sweat, and Kaleb could see claw marks across his nose. But the gnome seemed oblivious to his injuries. Too caught up in his own memories of Marie’s request. His eyes lit up in realization and his lip curled in a self-chastising grimace. He disappeared back into his home as Kaleb bit back a laugh.
Two Gun raised an eyebrow at the byplay but said nothing as Daivor marched from his home and over to Marie’s workbench. Kaleb finally turned to the older man and sighed as they shared glances under narrowed eyelids.
“I’m not telling them.” Kaleb said emphatically.
“Well, I’m not telling them either.”
“Good. Then we take this to our graves?”
“You’re asking me to lie to my wife? The woman I’ve loved for over forty years?”
“absolutely not. You can be one hundred percent honest with her. So long as you are the one doing it, you can tell her whatever you want, Two Gun. But I’m not getting my head bitten off for being a ‘lucky bastard.’ It’s not my fault this shit happens to me. Besides, they had the choice to stay, and they left us to do the dirty work.”
Two Gun eyebrows climbed into his hat as he pondered Kaleb’s word. He scratched his chin and nodded his head. Behind them, Daivor was kicking up a fuss on Marie’s desk and the clattering and banging were back. Kaleb was going to help his friend, but Two Gun’s voice stopped him.
“So, it’s not our fault at all, really? The ladies didn’t want to deal with the gremlins, so they missed out on the sweet sweet rewards.”
“Exactly!” Kaleb nodded.
“Shit, they aren’t going to like that at all.”
“No, they are not. But, honestly, it ain’t my job to make them happy. Maybe I’ll build something for them later… after I fix Claire’s workout mat. Shit.”
Two Gun’s eyes grew wide as he also realized they had wrecked the strong-woman’s area. He tipped his hat to Kaleb as he rushed toward the door.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“I’ll go buy another mat. You finish up here and fix what you can.”
Kaleb nodded in acceptance as the older man was already gone. He turned his attention back to his Familiar to see the gnome wiping out his Infinity Mug with a clean towel. Whatever lubricant Marie was using left behind a yellow-brown residue that the gnome was cleaning up. Kaleb blanched as a thought raced through his head.
“You’re not going to drink from that, are you?!”
“Of course I am! It’s the best damn mug we’ve got!”
“Daivor, we have other cups.”
“But this one keeps everything the perfect temperature and never runs out!”
“It also had lubricant in it!”
Daivor conjured another white towel and continued to wipe out the mug. Kaleb was sure he heard the bearded gnome sniffle.
“I think it was some kind of sealant for her metal armor project, actually.”
The gnome looked so sad. That and combined with his tattered clothes and bruised face, made Kaleb reach over and pluck the mug from the Gnome’s hand. He glanced into the mug to see the dregs of yellowish-brown liquids seeping all over the interior. Kaleb sighed and waved for Daivor to follow him. The gnome quickly swung up to his shoulder using one of his tethers and the two left the workshop. They hurried over to the office and used the sink in there to clean out the gnome’s mug.
Kaleb was as thorough as possible before he handed the mug back and they started for the Workshop again. As they did, Kaleb finally brought up Daivor’s new level up page. Kaleb hoped to go through the gnome’s options before making a choice once again.
Daivor Leveled Up
Crafting 6 [^]
Alarm 5 [^]
Alien Knowledge 3 [^]
Gnome Workshop
Defense 2 [^]
Please select a new skill: Build Speed 1, Computers 1, GW Upgrade
Kaleb had barely finished listing the choices before Daivor shouted,
“Upgrade!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes! Upgrade my house, boss. It’ll be so much better for us in the long run.”
“Really? More than Build Speed? Cause I can see that one being so much more useful.”
“Boss, listen to me. Choose the Upgrade. You won’t regret it.”
Kaleb rubbed his eyes as he entered his workshop again and closed the door. Immediately, Daivor leapt off and swung on his cabling to his Gnome Home. The idyllic cottage house with its large brick tower sat against the wall, churning out smoke as the conveyor belt sat inert. Daivor rushed inside and Kaleb could hear the sounds of a fridge opening, followed by the audible click of a bottle opener. Sighing to himself, Kaleb made the choice and sat on his stool.
Daivor’s little cottage started to shake and jump after Kaleb closed the window. The gnome didn’t cry out in alarm, though. So Kaleb figured whatever was happening wasn’t effecting the little guy. But with the way the building was rocking and shaking, he didn’t think the gnome was going to get out unscathed. The tower and conveyor belt attached to the west side of the gnome building flexed and jumped like they were in an earthquake. Kaleb was so wrapped up in the west side of the building, he almost missed the large attachment growing out of the east side.
It was a shorter square addition attached to Daivor’s living room. Kaleb thought it looked like a two-car garage growing out of Daivor’s house. The square extension grew out and then Daivor’s roof grew out to covering it. A small rectangular door grew out of the brick wall, facing Kaleb. There was a plaque slowly grew next to it. Kaleb had to get up and take a proper look in order to see, but what he found only confused him more. On the metal plaque next to the new door was a simple etching of a person. He scratched his jaw as the house finally stopped shaking and Daivor threw his front door open, the infinity mug clutched in his hand.
He gave Kaleb a look over the rim of his mug before he turned to the recent addition to his house. Even with the mug in his face, Kaleb could see the gnome smiling to himself. He let Daivor finish draining the Infinity Mug before he asked anything. But before he could, the gnome was already marching toward the new door. Kaleb got onto his knees and scooted closer for a better view. He expected the gnome to go through the door. But instead, the gnome merely knocked twice.
Kaleb raised an eyebrow but waited. Daivor merely let his mug refill itself and set his back against the red brick wall of the building. He started drinking again as a scrabbling came from the other side of the door. Kaleb back off a bit as the scrabbling and scratching got louder, but Daivor merely snorted and reached for the doorknob. As he swung open the door, three tiny humans came stumbling out. They had no hair, clothes, or even faces. In fact, to Kaleb, they looked like miniature gingerbread men that had yet to be decorated.
Kaleb stared in confusion as the three brown skinned little men pulled themselves to their feet. They seemed unsteady on their limbs. Like they would fall over at the littlest provocation. Once they seemed to get the hang of standing up, they moved their circular heads all around. The one on the furthest left caught sight of Daivor and immediately hurried over. Then the other two, seeing their companion move, rushed to follow. The second little man tripped over his own feet, sending the third tripping across him. Standing next to Daivor, the first tiny individual only reached up to the gnome’s hip, while his two brothers hurried to stand up again. The little man placed a hand on Daivor’s hip, and Kaleb watched in awe as the gnome’s wounds closed up and the bruises receded. The other two little men rushed to add their own hands to Daivor’s hip as Kaleb pondered the implications of the little healers.
“Boss, I’d like you to meet the shop’s new Homunculi.”
“Homunculi? You mean like a non-sentient golem or something?”
“Sort of. Think of them as the Anti-Gremlins.”
“I thought that was gnomes.”
Daivor gave him a withering look before taking another sip from his mug. “These are Shop Homunculi. Their only duty is to fix what is broken and heal slight scratches and wounds.”
“Just the three of them?”
“No. The Gnome Workshop will produce an amount it deems necessary to help the workshop it’s in. So it’ll probably produce more soon. Especially if you leave the shop door open.”
“Daivor, we can’t have dozens of tiny cookie-men running around the shop.”
The gnome rolled his eyes. “They know that. Like I said, they are like gremlins, boss. If they don’t want to be seen, they won’t be. And for any job they do, they’ll momentarily have the skills to do it.”
“Momentarily?”
“They aren’t that good at remembering things, so you’ll want to give them orders as you think of them. If you need to tell them to do anything at all, that is. Most times, they’ll work in the background.”
Kaleb looked skeptically at the three tiny brown men. “Doing what exactly?”
“Sorting the junk, fixing random tears on your clothes, healing your cut fingertips, or even repairing a broken work-out room…”
Daivor petered off as Kaleb’s skeptically look deepened. He didn’t know how the little guys were going to fix the wrecked work-out area. There were scorch marks everywhere, and some of Claire’s weights had been bent out of shape during the fight. Either by the brutes or Kaleb’s own flamethrower.
The gnome rolled his eyes at Kaleb’s look and waved for him to follow. Kaleb chased after the gnome, losing track of the Homunculi as he did. When he turned around to spot the little buggers, they were already gone. The opening of the workshop door brought Kaleb back around, hurrying after his little friend.
The gnome made a beeline from the work-out area and stopped just outside its border. Kaleb stopped at Daivor’s side and winced at the destruction he and the NPCs had wrought. The mat was torn up and dumbbells were all over the place; the bench was tossed over, and a few places were still smoldering. He was about to ask Daivor about the Homunculi when he spotted one. It had just appeared out of thin air next to Claire’s adjustable weight bench. With a strength belying its size, the little figure placed both its ‘hands’ on the bench and slowly righted it. Once done, it moved on to a different task. Kaleb tried to follow it, but suddenly he spotted a different homunculi sitting on the workout mat. Somehow, the little creature had a needle and thread and was sewing up a rend in the mat itself.
Kaleb’s eyes kept moving, and he spotted more and more of the things all over the work-out area. There were already far way more than three. Some were scrubbing the scorch marks off of the floors while others were picking up little bits of trash that had entered the area. A few of the nearby NPCs stopped to watch the proceedings. But once they spotted Kaleb overseeing everything, they went on their way. He could see in their eyes that they thought it was more of his weirdness.
A loud belch and a sigh from his ankles made Kaleb look down at his Familiar. Daivor was holding his pipe with his teeth while he lit it with one hand. In the other was the refilling mug of beer Daivor refused to let go of. Once he had finished his lighting maneuver, the smug little gnome gave Kaleb a dazzling smile.
“See, boss. I told ya. These little fellas are worth their weight in gold and, unlike filthy gremlins, they don’t go around causing Chaos.”
Kaleb could particularly hear the capital C in the way the gnome pronounced chaos. But he let it slide as his eyes kept drifting to the eerie march of silent workers that were cleaning up the area. Once It was slow going, but soon the handful of Homunculi were joined with dozens more. Pretty soon the work-out area was crawling with the things, but no one got in their way. The little things scurried underfoot like a gang of helpful mice.
“Okay, but what about the things I want to stay broke in our shop? I mean, half of our stuff is junk to begin with, Daivor.”
“They only fix what’s been broken recently. Unless otherwise directed. So the junk will stay junk. But they will start to organize it for us. In fact, I’m willing to bet there’s a group of them sorting through the bins right now.”
Kaleb glanced at the twenty or so little men fixing the work-out area. “How many are there?”
“Enough for the job, boss. Enough for the job. Now if you don’t mind. I need a sandwich.”
The gnome spun on his heel and hurried back to the workshop, as Kaleb took long strides to keep up. He opened the door for the gnome and moved to his workbench as Daivor went home. He collected all his components for his hand scanner again and glanced over everything to make sure it was all in its correct place. The thin bit of metal he had been working on was still wrapped around the scanners housing. Now all he needed was that epoxy. He reached his hand out for where it was on his desk, only for his fingers to brush against the bottle.
Glancing up, he spotted a faceless Homunculus waving the small epoxy bottle at him. Kaleb couldn’t keep the grin from his face. He happily took the epoxy and thanked the little creature as it vanished. Its brown body shifted into nothingness in a way that reminded Kaleb of the gremlins. Daivor did say that the Homunculi were the Anti-Gremlins. Where one destroyed the other built. Humming to himself, Kaleb continued working. He still had to get the scanner squared away before he started working on the Thermal Imager’s internals. After that was getting a server farm built out of robot memory cores. Also, he wanted to see what kind of Rooms had been unlocked from their successful Gremlin defense. He hoped that they’d be useful, like his new little Homunculi friends.