Jace got the notification when Wallace died. He was running through the lower tunnels of the keep, chasing the remarkably fast goblin crafter. He figured the experienced player knew what she was doing and had that confirmed two rounds later when he got the alert that Wallace had killed a guardian. It didn’t take him long to figure out how.
Gromphy led them through a narrow tunnel that ended in a magical doorway made of swirling blue light. Snowy barked her apprehension, but as the goblin disappeared through it, Jace wasn’t about to lose his newest party member and followed after. His other three members were quick behind him.
After the bright glow of the portal, Jace’s eyes took a moment to adjust to his surroundings, and he had to blink several times before he saw that he was back in the staging area just outside the tavern and looking back through the curtain, which was now impassable from their side. Most of the rest of the attacking force was there. Jace saw the two members of Bellrock’s group that had been killed in Merlin’s attack, along with the level ten human that must have died after he and the dwarf entered the castle.
“Jace,” Esther said, tapping him on the shoulder and pointing. “Can I go kill him?” He feared she meant the goblin, who stood close by Jace’s legs. With his entire magical arsenal tucked away inside his chest, he was pretty defenseless out in the open. But Esther was pointing at someone else who had mistreated her.
Sylvester sat naked on the ground, trying to avoid people’s eyes, and waited as patiently as he could for this game to be over. He would get back all his equipment and clothes, but not until the end. If he left before then, all his items were forfeited. He hadn’t brought much, knowing the benefit of retiring early and the risk of leaving something behind, but he hadn’t expected to be stripped of everything.
“I don’t think you can kill him here,” Jace said. “But if you ever see him out in the realms, you have my permission.”
“You made it.” Another familiar voice turned Jace around, and he saw Wallace standing behind him, wearing a big grin. “I took the shortcut,” she said.
She was reincarnated after her death with no hint of the acid burns that must have ended her life, and her clothes were dry. “You took out a guardian,” Jace said. “Congratulations. I imagine that was worth a load of experience.”
“It was,” she agreed, “and now you owe me.”
Jace looked confused. “I thought we were square after this. I answered all your questions, you watched me work, and you even got an unauthorized look at our character sheets. I would say you now owe me.”
“You owe me a Constitution point,” she clarified. “As soon as this game is over, I will bump to level ten and miss my last chance at Olympus. I have a system, and you ruined it. We should have only gotten 50k for winning this thing. I was 70k from level ten and thought I would be safe. I didn’t realize my party would kill all three guardians. Though, I guess I should have assumed.” Her eyes went down to Gromphy, who tried not to look as scared as he was, out in the open with all these combative players. “Also, maybe you can craft me a sword or shield at some point.”
Jace laughed. “Fine, I will break the game again and figure out a way to get you another point to your Constitution. And you can stop by my stronghold anytime to get a custom build. However, until then, I must be going. I got what I wanted, and my time is short.”
“What?” she balked. “You can’t wait three minutes?”
Jace glanced at the curtain guarding the entry back into the game and saw a timer ticking down again. This time it displayed the time left in the game, which was now under three minutes.
“You are 27k from level 14,” she said. “You will go up another level as soon as Bellrock runs across the finish line with the flag. Do you really care so little for this game that you wouldn’t take advantage of that?”
Jace shrugged. He had only cared about getting up to ten so he could meet Drescher. Now his leveling up seemed involuntary. {She’s right, Jace,} Gracie said. {You can afford to wait another minute.}
Jace shrugged and looked out into the battlefield. The castle was hard to see in the darkness, as the sun had now completely set, but he could make out motion a hundred yards away. Soon a dwarven silhouette was discernable, and he saw Bellrock proudly waving the flag in the air. He was covered in acid burns, but he had survived, and as soon as he breached the curtain with 90 seconds to spare, the crowd cheered. Everyone instantly gained 50k experience, and another cheer when up as most low-level players advanced.
Jace heard several groups announce there would be a celebration in the Roasted Troll Tavern, which would stay open for another two hours after the game, offering free drinks to the winners. The idea of sitting around the table with Bellrock’s team, drinking bears, eating meat, reliving the game they had just played, and discussing in a group what the best feats were and where they should spend their skill points sounded fun, and it reminded him of his RPG days. But Jace wasn’t here to have fun.
Everyone also got all their equipment back, and Jace saw Sylvester hastily dress himself and then make his way to the travel node as quickly as possible. Jace checked his inventory and saw that the tower shield Wallace had lent him was gone. He returned to the game and saw Wallace heading to the tavern, laughing with Bellrock and patting each other on the back. The dwarf had no idea she had been the one to send the acid attack up at the hydra, and she had no idea he had almost been killed by it.
{Maybe another time,} Gracie said, understanding his longing, {but you do need to go now. This only took 90 minutes of our 12 hours, but time is still short.}
[Sir Wallace Wilhelm has left your party.]
Jace sighed deeply, found his way to the travel node, and left.
----------------------------------------
Jace transported his team to their front door, and Esther and Draya raced inside to find Trixna and tell her what had happened. He let them run ahead and then told Snowy to find Topper and bring him to the dining area.
“Gnomes?” Gromphy asked, looking at the opening to the stronghold and the carefully carved designs on the wall.
“Yes,” Jace said. “Built by gnomes, but they stay in the lower levels. I defeated the orcs who held them captive, and they have responded by letting us live in the upper levels while making the cavern as luxurious as possible.”
“Thou art an orc,” he responded.
“I am many things, master craftsman, and one of them is short on time. Come with me.”
Jace led him into the cave and watched his reaction. For someone who spent all his time crafting marvelous things, it took a bit to impress him. But the smooth walls, intricate details, and magical lights did the trick. It was hard to believe they were in a cave, and it was much nicer than the dingy tunnels that led to his old laboratory. As a goblin, he shouldn’t mind living underground with dirt and worms, but Jace could already tell he had refined tastes.
They moved through the vaulted room and toward Esther and Draya’s quarters. Jace heard the women talking excitedly in the room next door, where Trixna stayed, hoping the female orc wouldn’t resent that she wasn’t taken on these adventures. As they entered Esther’s room, Gromphy saw the decorations and could identify the primary occupant. He mumbled something about entering the harlot’s den but quickly changed his tune once Jace began pointing out all the amenities. Running hot and cold water on demand, lights and fires that could start with minimal mana, mirrors, windows that regulated weather and sunshine, floors and sinks that cleaned themselves, and many other magical considerations that were as foreign to the goblin as a respectable orc.
“I shalt have access to such luxuries too?” he asked.
“As many as you want or can think of. Between you and the gnomes, I imagine we can make anything, and Trixna can ward many of the simple things you overlook.”
“What dost thou need?” Gromphy said, turning to look up at Jace, not intimidated by the height difference. “One doth not idly cast dragon fire, command vampires, tame wolves, and manipulate the likes of me for no purpose. It must be profound.”
“I need to make a bow shot from 800 feet that will instantly kill a level 15 storm shaman. It must be from physical damage because any flash of magic will be detected and ruin our surprise attack. And I will need to make two shots in a row, so it can’t be a one-off.”
“Thou canst make such a shot.”
Jace assumed the goblin could see his character sheet. Most crafters would have to know game-specific details of the players they interacted with, or they wouldn’t be able to supply them with customized items.
“No, I can’t. But I know someone who can if he has the right equipment. Can you make it?”
“A dragon wing bow,” he replied. “Doth the beast thee possess retain both wings?”
Jace didn’t know, but he assumed so. He nodded. If it didn’t, he would cross that bridge later. “Come with me. This will not be your room.”
“Thank the Maker,” Gromphy replied. He followed Jace out through the hall and found Snowy and Topper in the dining room. There was an empty storage area adjacent to the kitchen equipped with drains in the floor, and he thought it was close enough to the outer wall that the gnomes could punch a hole outside if the crafter wanted it.
“This will be your room,” Jace said. He motioned to the gnome. “Tell Topper everything you want, and the gnomes can build it.”
The scout looked at the newest member of Jace’s troupe and swallowed hard. It was bad enough that there were still orcs in these caves; now there was a goblin too, but once Gromphy started to speak, the gnome changed his opinion instantly. The two conversed quickly, and soon Topper disappeared and returned with the elder gnome who managed most of the work. The new gnome and the goblin were both crafters with very different skill sets, but they understood what could be done and were soon marking cutouts for the walls and deciding where to carve an adjoining bedroom.
Jace left them to hash it out and returned to talk with the women. He hesitated at the door to Trixna’s room, listening to see if they were doing anything he shouldn’t be barging in on, but as his mind imagined what that might be, he shook his head and strode in. Or, at least, he tried to. A ward blocked his entrance.
The orc didn’t think that should be possible in his own stronghold, and as he reached out to the spell, he felt he could overrule it, but he didn’t. It didn’t really make sense. More often than not, Trixna begged Jace to come to bed with her in the evenings and had shown no need for privacy with any of the occupants of this cavern, even the gnomes. Though she hadn’t pressed her sexual desire on him in a while, so perhaps things were changing.
Jace decided not to think about it. “Esther! Draya! We need to talk.”
The voices inside grew hushed, and he heard fabric rustling that implied the women were getting up and moving around. He backed up several steps so it didn’t look like he was trying to push against the ward. Soon the rogue and mage stood in the doorway with the orc priestess towering over them from behind.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Yes, Jace?” Esther asked.
“I need you to go on another mission. Shouldn’t be any fighting or danger, but you never know.”
“Tell me we don’t have to go with that horrible goblin,” Esther pleaded.
“I think he’s funny,” Draya said. “And kind of cute.” Everyone looked at her curiously. She grew timid. “You know, in a gobliny kind of way.”
“No,” Esther said plainly. “We don’t know.”
“Yes,” Jace interrupted the exchange, “you have to go with the horrible goblin.” He looked at Draya. “I need you to take them to where you and Master Dayrin hid the dragon.”
Esther’s eyes lit up at this. She had never seen a dragon before and might be willing to put up with Gromphy’s insults for a chance. Jace continued. “He needs to salvage some of it to make the bow I need, and we might as well take as many scales, teeth, and horns as we can to make all kinds of other equipment.” He turned to look specifically at Esther. “If you are nice to him, he might make you something powerful or upgrade what you already have. Either way,” he looked at all three of them now, “it needs to happen tonight.”
“I have class in the morning,” Draya said, though she had enough constitution to last 36 hours without sleep if needed.
“Trixna can fix you up when you get back if you are exhausted. But right now, I need you,” he looked at the orc, “to go into the storage room and help the gnomes build the crafting room. They will need lights, fire wards, and all the other things you are good at.”
They looked in that direction and saw Gromphy walking toward them. His eyes were on Trixna. “Thy mate?”
“No,” Jace replied.
“Not yet,” Trixna corrected with a smile and then moved past the goblin to provide her skills in the other room.
Jace filled in the goblin on what he needed him to do. Gromphy confirmed there was enough room in his magical chest for the entire dragon if they wanted. He regretted having to send Esther, knowing there would be friction, but if there were orcs, ogres, or trolls in the mountains where the dragon was, Draya only had one of her dragon spells left, and Gromphy didn’t look strong enough to hold a shield other than to craft one. Esther could handle anything they might find, preventing the others from spending limited-use items. On a whim, he decided to send Snowy too. She would at least defend Esther if the goblin didn’t want to use any of his potions to heal the “vile wench.”
The group leader watched them leave the cavern into the night and then retired to his room to do some much-needed leveling up. He first changed out of his wet clothes and sat in his favorite chair.
{You, Esther, and Draya are relatively simple,} Gracie started the process. {Your skill points will go where they always do, and you each get a non-class-specific feat. You and Esther currently have Constitution as your other key ability. I would suggest Elemental Reduction for you; it lets you add your Damage Reduction to your saving throw against all elemental attacks and adds three to the skill. I see more acid and fire in your future, and this will help. For Esther, I recommend Shield Dodge. Normally, the largest shield medium characters can hold and still Dodge is a small shield. This raises it by one to medium shields. Then I would have Gromphy make her a medium +3 shield with all the magical properties he can put in it. I know magical shields can be crafted to be worn as a bracelet and summoned when needed. It will prevent her from attacking with both hands while she holds it, but it will increase her AC by six, plus whatever protections he puts in the shield.}
Jace nodded and made the changes himself. He needed Gracie’s input but liked to be the one manipulating the character sheets.
{Draya’s secondary ability is Spirit, but she can also choose dragon-specific feats since the two are tied together. Dragon Resistance would be good; it adds her Spirit bonus to her Resist score. If she enacts her Dragon Spirit spell, this will also increase her Resist by an additional 14. Once people find out she is a fire dragon, they will start using cold spells against her, and you get to add your resist score to protect against cold and acid.}
Jace made the changes and then navigated to her backstory screen. After her reaction to the battle they had just experienced, he figured she must have some significant trauma. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much there other than she was a student at the university. If it she was like most characters he had unlocked, Gandhi didn’t expand on the NPC’s history until Jace pushed on it.
“Gracie, you said that Draya was a foreigner, not likely from this continent, but from some war-torn land. Do you know where? I need to know what caused her meltdown in the last module. That is not the last time I will need her to perform in a fight, and I won’t always be able to convince her it is a game. I need more information.”
{Sounds like a good job for Stephen and Allison,} she said, and then he heard the familiar volume reduction as she pulled away from the microphone and talked to the two CIA agents in the room. She returned a moment later. {They’ll get on it. They’ve reached out to several members of the mining guild too and are waiting for a response. They’ve indicated that Jace Thorne wants a meeting, so I’m sure we’ll hear from them.}
“Thanks,” Jace said and then held his breath as he navigated to Gromphy’s character sheet.
{Now for the main event,} Gracie said.
Jace took a look and was impressed but had to admit he didn’t understand most of it.
[https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AL9nZEU2y_aCQ9AL1kbyyg4gXLbwOsPei7KET4LThDAqDT5sjJHrBOYj-Lt7SG2JirXY5qJjTo1flRsLYVfVF38eWJTjX5KJHIGKbpOOfBc9Nx0LaKzSDwWdcQwxLqn5AlcO0AZQPcf0_R6GaSNBMpA3ZtRu=w1009-h931-no?authuser=1]
{First off, he is stuck at level 20. He won’t go up, and he won’t go down. So we will not be leveling him up again. And, technically, we aren’t leveling him now. We are just seeing what he already is. He is a crafter, which is a type of priest, so Wisdom is his key ability. With 24 Wisdom, which is how the game cheats when they want to make someone the best at something, he gets two skill points at each level, and since it is his key ability, he gets another. He put 20 in Magic Defense, Crafting, and Healing. He is now your best healer without trying, though he doesn’t have much mana to work with, but we’ll get to that.}
{Intelligence is his second-best ability, and he put all his points into Spell Difficulty and Perception. When he makes items that do magical damage, he can program in his own spell difficulty instead of that of the item. His difficulty is 73, which is impressive. All his other abilities are relatively low.}
“I’m looking at his crafting score of 158,” Jace said. “I assume that’s good.”
{Your only limitation in crafting items will be getting him the ingredients and the spells he needs. If you weren’t kidding about letting him use the Level 50 crystal, he will be able to make anything. He took feats to make himself a master craftsman, got +5 for his class, and has tools that give him +10. Then he has the same occupational bonuses that Esther had.}
“Ahh,” Jace realized. “He gets credit for every item he ever crafted in the game in all the other versions of the Torrintank Keep module.”
{Correct,} Gracie confirmed. {I think he already had base stats that never changed that were still astronomical based on the crafting we saw him do, but now that you have freed him, he gets credit for having worked in all those separate modules.}
“Does this mean we’ve ruined everyone else’s copy like I did with Portsmith?”
{My guess is yes and no. After the game ends, the keep stops producing items. You can use it as a stronghold but must craft your own weapons. Gromphy hinted at this when he said he would be gone as soon as the game was over. So no one’s copy of the module is affected by what you did. However, when they have a game tomorrow, I don’t think Gromphy will be in it. Because he is public now, there would be a chance for you to bring him to the game, and there would be two copies in the same place, and Gandhi won’t allow it.}
“So, we’ve killed that module.”
{Basically, yes. The defenders will never win again without all those free items. But, back to Gromphy, his occupational level for Craftsman is 53, which gives him 18 feats, and he chose them all to be Craft, and each one gives him +5 to crafting, so that is a +90 bonus, and that is how he has a crafting score of 158. So, that level ten +5 arrow you wanted would cost 150 to craft, and he can get it without rolling. Not only that, but he has an additional 17 Arrow Crafting feats which give him +75 when crafting arrows, so he can make level 15 arrows, which cost 225. To make those +5, he will need to roll his dice and spend some mana, but it should be easy if you get him the right raw materials.}
“What’s the math for calculating the crafting cost of an item?” Jace asked.
{It is the level squared for simple items like arrows, daggers, and fire gems. So, 100 for a level 10 item and 225 for a level 15 item. The next step up is for swords and axes and most shields, which is one plus the level squared, so a level 10 item costs 11 squared. The next level of items, which are two-handed weapons, armor, and most wands, is two plus the level squared, so a level 10 halberd costs 12 squared to craft. Then, if you want to add a +1 or +2 to it, it costs a critical success, so to make a +5 weapon, you need to exceed its crafting cost by 50. Then, if you want to put a spell or ability into items like Explosive, Fire, or Healing, that costs more criticals. You can see Gromphy has a feat that gives him a free critical while crafting, and he gets one from his god too.}
“He has a god? Is that what those Maker spells are?”
{Since a crafter is a type of priest, they can follow a god, and all crafters choose the Maker. The “Spells” you see are more like abilities. The Maker’s Bank lets you store “Crafting” mana in another object that can be used only for crafting. Maker’s Ingredients lets you spend mana to create one missing ingredient for each item crafted. If it is sand or iron, it costs almost nothing. If you need gold or jewels, it is more expensive. If you need dragon’s blood, the cost is impossible. Maker’s Crit gives you a free crit when crafting. Maker’s Crafting lets you spend mana to increase your crafting score by two for every five mana. The normal boon is +1 for every five mana. And Maker’s Timing lets you assume it is combat timing when crafting, so things happen faster. Normally it takes one round per level of the item you are making, but you can spend mana or crafting points to reduce that, but the fastest you can go is crafting something in one round. Outside of combat mode, that would be one item every six minutes instead of one every six seconds.}
“So, how do normal players craft powerful items?” Jace asked.
{Mostly, they don’t. Usually, only specialized NPCs do it. In order to get up to a 100 crafting score, you need to boost your wisdom to 24, which costs a lot of mana. You need an item that permanently raises your crating score, like the +10 tools Gromphy has, and then you need the Maker’s Crafting ability to spend 100 mana to raise your crafting score by 40. Then you are probably close to 90. Since you aren’t in combat, you can make your roll automatically 20 if you take a full round to do it, and then you might have a few free criticals to spend. However, in order to enchant that item with magic, like a +3 or a spell, that also costs mana, but you just spent it all to boost your crafting score, so hopefully, you have a level 10 item with 250 mana to draw from to finish the item. Some people resort to potions instead of spells to raise their abilities and skills, so they don’t spend mana on it, but they first need to craft the potion or buy it. Making a high-level item like a bow or sword is a multiple-step process and can take hours of game time. Plus, you need the ingredients, and you need to know the spells. Players don’t do it. You can gang up on another PC, kill them, and take their loot for a lot less effort.}
“Will the fact that Gromphy’s mana is so low be a problem?”
{No. You have a level 50 crystal that he can fill with over 3,000 crafting mana. And he has to spend so little mana to boost his abilities that he can use it all to enchant the items he makes. He can only channel 440 per spell, but that should be enough. Plus, he has the Craft Mana feat. This lets him turn unused crafting skill into mana at 5 to 1. So if he gets a 200 crafting result but only needs 150 to make the +5 level 10 arrow, he can convert that 50 extra crafting into 250 mana and fill the arrow up with a fire spell. He also has the Generate Crafted Mana feat, which allows him to treat the crafted mana as if he just generated it and refill his pool. Or he can store the excess mana using his Maker’s Bank ability.}
Jace smiled but then looked at the top of his character sheet. “But I’m guessing I should never take him into battle.”
{No, I wouldn’t say that. He has his Adamantium Golem, which he calls Adam; how original. In his inventory is a leather sling that I’m guessing he uses to ride on its back. The golem can stand still forever and generate mana. Then, when it is full, it can activate and will last about 30 rounds before it runs out. Then it needs to rest for a day, or it needs to be manually recharged. Gromphy will be on its back, crafting a bomb every round and hurling it at his enemies. If he purposefully gets too high a crafting score for each bomb, converts it to mana, and then puts the extra into the golem, he could go on for as long as he has bomb ingredients.}
Jace smiled. That would be fun to watch. This was going to work after all. But then he remembered the one fly in the ointment. “Any idea why he hates Esther so much?”
{Could be a lot of things,} Gracie said. {He is Guile, as all goblins are, but he is also Ordered and Traditional like you. Esther’s chaotic sexual past probably rubs him the wrong way. Plus, male goblins are renowned for their distaste for human females. The idea that Esther presents herself as an attractive woman is offensive to him. Esther has a much lower Wisdom score than Gromphy, and he might dislike her for that. Or it could be that she was a vampire, and Gromphy is part priest or has a backstory about fallen angels destroying something valuable of his. Or it could be that Gandhi hates you for always cheating and is giving you a hard time.}
Jace was willing to bet it was a combination of all of them, with the last one dialing everything to 11.
{What will you do while waiting for your NPCs to return?}
“Sleep,” Jace said. “I’m going to steal time.” When Jace had used the “Sleep till Dawn” feature in the past, he found out that the NPCs stayed active, and the game simulated their actions during the eight hours that went by in a flash for him. Since Esther, Draya, Gromphy, and Snowy were staying within his MIMs, they wouldn’t have to interact with other PCs or modules bound by real time. It might take them hours to find the dragon and harvest its items, and it will probably take the gnomes and Trixna hours to finish the lab, but he didn’t have that kind of time.
Jace opened his setting screen and selected the sleep option. He got a warning that it would take his MIMs off global time, but it was a small price to pay. He could put it back before he left. He selected “OKAY,” and everything went black.