James continued scrolling through on the village menu, selecting to learn the features of the next shop on the list.
{Enchanter’s Workshop Description: The Enchanter’s Workshop is a Shop for the creation of Spell Talismans and Enchantment Frames. Spell Talismans are consumables imbued with a single spell that is cast upon its activation. Enchantment Frames are a material used by other Workshops to imbue a permanent magic effect into a creation. All Spell Talismans require a small amount of mana to trigger their use, while items created with an Enchantment Frame may be created with an external supply of mana. To use this service, the ingredients along with a service fee in Gold must be provided, at which point the requested item will be made automatically. The range and quality of available items are dependent on the Floor the Shop is on, with Shops on lower Floors not able to handle ingredients significantly stronger than ones found on their own Floor. In addition to the above service, those with the Crafting Class: Enchanter, may pay for additional services such as borrowing the Workshop to craft their own items, or practicing new recipes. Lastly, unlocking the Enchanter’s Workshop will allow the General Store to sell any related ingredients that can be found on the same Floor, provided those ingredients have been sold to the General Store before.}
The workshops really do all have a similar description to each other. It feels like I’m reading a legal document with how it repeats certain phrases over and over. Being able to create one use skill talismans sounds incredibly powerful with enough time and resources. Not only would it increase versatility if everyone had access to a few key skills, but if they cost less mana than the skills themselves, you could probably combine a ton of the same skill to do far more damage than you could otherwise. Imagine a party where every member has a dozen fireball talismans to rain on a group of monsters. No wonder it costs as much as the carpenter’s workshop. Although, who knows how expensive it might be to create a talisman, or what resources it would require. Even if I could afford it, outfitting everyone with enough spell talismans or enchantment frames might not be feasible. All things to consider for later, I can’t do anything with this shop right now regardless.
James took a moment to mentally shove aside the exciting idea of magical artillery before he pulled up the next shop on the list.
{Inn Description: The Inn is a Shop that provides a safe room for climbers to rest in that they can pay to use. The quality of rooms at the Inn are divided into three types with prices adjusting based on the type of service, the number of times the climber has used that service, and the Floor the Shop is on. Rooms can be either single or shared among a full party’s worth of climbers, with options to remove or move furniture around the room. Each room is soundproof and can only be accessed by those that purchased it, creating a private space where climbers can be protected from each other. While privacy is not guaranteed outside of the room, the interior of the Inn still prevents the use of Skills or from climbers suffering new sources of damage not inflicted by a monster. The Inn offers no protection from monsters should the village walls be breached, and all climbers will be ejected from their rooms should a monster enter the Shop or deal damage to it. The Inn will also combine with the Bathhouse and the Canteen should either of them be built in the same village as the Inn, and additional payment options will appear for combined services. Lastly, items similar to those provided by the services of this Shop will be made available for purchase though the General Store. The Inn is a method of either rewarding climbers or offering a vice to distract them at the cost of time and money that could be used for survival.}
So it only provides a place to sleep without the canteen and bathhouse being built separately. I had hoped the inn on its own would provide a lesser version of the other two services, offering at least access to a toilet and a single meal for each purchase. When I create the quest asking climbers what shop they want first, I'll have to specify that the inn doesn't have those features, since most hotels offer meals, and every place that offered a bed gave access to bathrooms. I don't want this option to get picked by people with the same hope I had. I'm tempted to not even include this option, but what would be the point in asking for their opinion if I'm not going to properly inform them of their choices?
Next are the library and the training grounds. They cost the same as the carpenter and enchanter workshops, which means I won't be able to build either of them now. Still, considering the advantages those two can give, these two shops must offer similarly powerful features.
{Library Description: The Library is a Shop where climbers can record and access knowledge in the form of written books or maps. A service fee is required to Store, Access, or Copy any knowledge within the Library, but all necessary materials to do so will be provided. Knowledge stored within the Library cannot be removed, altered, or destroyed by anyone unless the Library itself is destroyed. In addition, when combined with the Training Grounds, knowledge in the forms of Skill Books, Class Tomes, and Monster Encyclopedias may be gathered, allowing climbers to obtain additional Skills, change Classes, or know the Skills of specific monsters, respectively.}
While giving climbers the ability to leave advice on monsters or maps of the floor for climbers that come after them is nice, the main draw is clearly how it can unlock class changing and skill books, which I assume are ways to gain skills outside of leveling up, or however else they can be gained. I should ask the tower about how classes work when I have the time. It sucks that people can’t check out books from the library for free, but I do like that no one will have to worry about accidentally damaging or losing anything that gets recorded here. I also like that it provides the materials to record things, since all of the workshops said people would have to provide the ingredients themselves. And no talk of the prices increasing through repeated use! Now if only it didn’t cost 1000 points to unlock its full potential. Even if the training grounds offer nothing beyond improving what the library can do, however, I still think it’ll be worth it once I get the points for them.
Speaking of the training grounds…
{Training Grounds Description: The Training Grounds is a Shop where climbers can pay to spar against monsters and each other. The Training Grounds prevent any climbers from suffering fatal wounds and reverses any damage done after the training ends. Monsters must be unlocked for the Training Grounds by using a Binding Stone, which will be available for purchase from the General Store when this Shop is built, on a dying monster, and bringing the Binding Stone back to the Training Grounds. A monster unlocked for the Training Grounds is available for any climber on any Floor a Training Grounds exists on. Experience will not be earned in battles held within the Training Grounds, but Skills can increase in proficiency with proper practice. In addition, when combined with the Library, Monsters captured by a Binding Stone will have their skills recorded in a Monster Wiki, and Class Tomes and Skill Books may be used by climbers to change their Class, or learn additional Skills, respectively.}
Without the library, the only thing people can do is practice, but that’s still useful on its own. Even if I have to make a quest to convince people to capture a monster instead of kill it, especially if capturing stops them from getting experience, the result would still be incredibly valuable. Who knows how many more people would have survived the tutorial if they had been given a practice round before then. Even if I can’t do anything to change that, I doubt everyone’s ready to go outside of the village and throw themselves into another experience like what they’ve just been through. Having a place to safely work through that fear, and get a handle for how to fight properly before continuing to risk their lives, would undoubtedly improve their chances of survival. There’s also that interesting note that even without experience, skills can be improved. Is it just talking about people getting used to using their skills, or do skills have their own levels and experience that can increase independently. Even the former would be useful, but having a tangible increase in power before leaving the village would be yet another advantage, like spell talismans or armor made from the next floor’s ingredients.
If only I didn’t have to wait to give them these advantages.
James sighed.
No point wasting time despairing over what I can’t do. I need to focus on what I can do now. There’s only one shop left to look into.
{Weaponsmith’s Workshop Description: The Weaponsmith’s Workshop is a Shop for the creation of Weapons and Tools. Weapons range from melee or ranged to magical focuses, while Tools refer to any mundane object not primarily meant for combat, such as a standard hammer or a pair of scissors, or even cutlery. To use this service, the ingredients along with a service fee in Gold must be provided, at which point the requested item will be made automatically. Both Weapons and Tools come in set styles but custom requests can be provided for an additional fee. The range and quality of available items are dependent on the Floor the Shop is on, with Shops on lower Floors not able to handle ingredients significantly stronger than ones found on their own Floor. In addition to the above service, those with the Crafting Class: Weaponsmith, may pay for additional services such as borrowing the Workshop to craft their own items, or practicing new recipes. Lastly, unlocking the Weaponsmith’s Workshop will allow the General Store to sell any related ingredients that can be found on the same Floor, provided those ingredients have been sold to the General Store before.}
Alright, I figured it would be similar to the armorsmith’s workshop, and I was right. I didn’t think they’d add an option for custom tools though. Would a harvesting tool count, and would it be less expensive to have one made than buying one from the general store directly? What counts as a tool? If there isn’t a set list and people can instead request anything mundane, could they make weapons the shop wouldn’t otherwise consider? What about caltrops, or a weighted net? Would it not work if I specified a caltrop specifically, but work if I requested something just like it but pretended it wasn’t for combat? If I ask the tower, will it figure out I’m trying to find a work around and prepare accordingly? Is that even something the tower can do?
I’ll keep it to myself for now. A climber is bound to have the same ideas even without me saying anything, and the main features of the weaponsmith are important enough. I still don’t know how I’m going to fit a description of each shop into the quest.
Speaking of, it’s time to give quest creation a try. Create Quest!
{You've activated Create Quest. -10 Tower Points. 285 Tower Points remaining.}
{(Input Quest Name)
(Input Quest Type)
(Input Quest Recipient(s))
(Input Quest Description)
(Input Progress Tracker)
(Input Quest Reward(s))}
Quest name? Well, the quest is just a way for everyone to vote, so...
{Quest Name: "Village Vote" has been submitted.}
{Village Vote:
(Input Quest Type)
(Input Quest Recipient(s))
(Input Quest Description)
(Input Progress Tracker)
(Input Quest Reward(s))}
For Quest Type, it'll be multi-participant, right?
{Quest Type Options: Mandatory/Optional, Multi-Participant/Single-Participant}
Oh! So it's a Mandatory Multi-Participant quest. As for quest recipients...
{Quest Recipient(s) Options: All Climbers, All Climbers on Floor (Insert Floor), (Insert Specific Climber(s))}
That'll be All Climbers on Floor 1. I don't think there are any climbers elsewhere, but it's probably good to be specific.
{Village Vote:
Type: Mandatory Multi-Participant
Recipient(s): All Climbers on Floor 1
(Input Quest Description)
(Input Progress Tracker)
(Input Quest Reward(s))}
Next is the description. This part will be difficult. The options are the Alchemist’s Workshop, Armorsmith’s Workshop, Bathhouse, Canteen, Inn, and Weaponsmith’s Workshop.
{Village Vote:
Type: Mandatory Multi-Participant
Recipient(s): All Climbers on Floor 1
Description: Choose one of the following shops to be built in (Unnamed) Village: Alchemist’s Workshop, Armorsmith’s Workshop, Bathhouse, Canteen, Inn, or Weaponsmith’s Workshop.
(Input Progress Tracker)
(Input Quest Reward(s))}
The Inn, Canteen, and Bathhouse all cost 100 points, so I can buy everyone either two of those three or one of the other three...
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{Village Vote:
Type: Mandatory Multi-Participant
Recipient(s): All Climbers on Floor 1
Description: Up to two shops may be added to this village. Choose either one among the options: Alchemist’s Workshop, Armorsmith’s Workshop, and Weaponsmith’s Workshop, or two among the options: Bathhouse, Canteen, and Inn.
(Input Progress Tracker)
(Input Quest Reward(s))}
Much better, now to describe what each shop does.
{Village Vote:
Quest Type: Mandatory Multi-Participant
Recipient(s): All Climbers on Floor 1
Description:
Up to two shops may be added to this village. Choose either one among the options: Alchemist’s Workshop (Pay to turn ingredients into potions), Armorsmith (Pay to turn ingredients into armor), and Weaponsmith (Pay to turn ingredients into weapons), or two among the options: Bathhouse (Purchasable access to baths and toilets), Canteen (Purchasable access to cooked meals), and Inn (Purchasable access to beds but no food or bathroom available).
(Input Progress Tracker)
(Input Quest Reward(s))}
Wait. This is terrible. Telling them the workshops turn ingredients into items is too vague. If I at least knew what ingredients were available on this floor…
“Tower, could you please tell me what the alchemist, armorsmith, and weaponsmith workshops could make from the ingredients available on this floor?”
[Affirmative. The alchemist’s workshop can use healing grass and felix grass to create low quality health potions, and low quality agility potions, respectively. The armorsmith can use the hides of horned rabbits, wolves, and the leather armor from goblins to create leather armor. The weaponsmith can use the wood and stone on this floor, alongside the bones of certain monsters, to create weapons similar to but stronger than the goblins’ own.]
“Thank you, Tower.” Alright, so ‘health and agility potions’ ‘leather armor’ and ‘stone weapons’ should work. It's not everything, but it gets the main points across. I’ll mention it uses local ingredients to hint that the limitations of the workshops are based on the floor, and not the shop itself Now for the progress tracker...
{Progress Tracker Options: Decisions, Actions, Deaths, Time}
Alright! So I don't have to make them do anything more than make a choice. I was worried I couldn't just track everyone's decisions.
{Input Tracker Decisions}
That'll be them choosing to have an Armorsmith, Weaponsmith, Alchemy Lab... Bathhouse and Canteen, Bathhouse and Inn, or Canteen and Inn shops built. It should track how many each choice is picked.
{Votes Cast: (0/57)
Armorsmith (0)
Weaponsmith (0)
Alchemy Lab (0)
Bathhouse and Canteen (0)
Bathhouse and Inn (0)
Canteen and Inn (0)
Apply an additional Progress Tracker?}
Nope! That'll be all. Last is...
{Quest Reward(s) Options: None/Custom Text, Experience (Unavailable), Gold (Unavailable), Item (Unavailable), Stat Point (Unavailable), Skill Point (Unavailable)}
Woah wait, "Tower, why is nearly every option for the quest reward unavailable?"
[The types of quest reward available and how much of each item can be applied as the reward must stay within challenge/reward parameters. The current quest is seen as too easy for any rewards to be made available.]
"Oh, well, I guess it's better to know that now than later. Thanks for the heads up." I'll select custom text and have it say something about the option with the most votes being chosen.
[All quest details have been decided. Please confirm the following quest:]
{Village Vote:
Quest Type: Mandatory Multi-Participant
Recipient(s): All Climbers on Floor 1
Description:
Up to two shops may be added to this village. Choose either one among the options: Alchemist’s Workshop (Pay to turn local ingredients into health and agility potions), Armorsmith (Pay to turn local ingredients into leather armor), and Weaponsmith (Pay to turn local ingredients into stone weapons), or two among the options: Bathhouse (Purchasable access to baths and toilets), Canteen (Purchasable access to cooked meals), and Inn (Purchasable access to beds but no food or bathroom available).
Votes Cast: (0/57)
Armorsmith (0)
Weaponsmith (0)
Alchemy Lab (0)
Bathhouse and Canteen (0)
Bathhouse and Inn (0)
Canteen and Inn (0)
Reward(s): The Shop(s) with the most votes will appear in the village.
Confirm Quest?}
Confirm Quest!
[The quest: “Village Vote” has been finalized and is being sent to the proper recipients.]
Great! Now to wait for the climbers to make their choice... Actually, why just wait, when I can watch it happen? Climber Menu!
James scrolled through the names of climbers as he searched for one he was familiar with. If I'm going to check on the climbers, I'd prefer to start with the fool and mage I watched get through the first battle. What were their names? Oscar and...Kathleen? Oh! Here's Kathleen! James selected her name on the climber menu and watched as a screen appeared showing the view from Kathleen's observer. She was standing next to Oscar, and the two of them were talking to each other as they looked at other groups of climbers. James didn't know what group every climber was in, but from the glimpses of the crowd shown through Kathleen's observer, it looked like most people were still huddled together in small numbers, and James assumed the groups were made up of those everyone had gone through the initial battle with. James turned his focus back to Kathleen and Oscar and listened in on what Kathleen was saying.
"-the look of him. He's too excited about all of this. I'd rather we team up with-" James watched Kathleen stop as the observer focused on the quest that appeared in front of her. The observer held still for a moment, presumably so anyone watching could read the quest, before it panned to the crowd, revealing a sea of blue screens in front of everyone.
"Oscar are you reading this? We're supposed to vote on what shop will appear next? None of us have any money for the general store or its quest, let alone a second shop. What's the point in having us do this now?" Kathleen asked.
"They're probably trying to push us to get out there and start hunting monsters. Either the monsters will drop gold, or maybe we can try to sell their weapons or something. What shop are you thinking of picking?" Oscar asked, eyes still fixed on the quest screen in front of him.
"The bathhouse, for one. I don't want to deal with going to the bathroom outdoors. I suppose the canteen is a better choice than the inn, especially if there aren't any animals out there. Those goblin creatures look too human for me to try eating them." Oscar nodded, and selected the Bathhouse and Canteen option, with Kathleen doing the same a moment later.
"We should pick the weaponsmith!" A man said, his loud voice carrying through the village as he kept it just below a shout. "The more weapons, the easier time we'll have killing those bastards!" James watched as Kathleen's observer moved to reveal the speaker. It was a large, muscular man with tanned skin, short blond hair, and the same padded shirt and leather gloves and boots combo James remembered seeing on Larry. In place of the two handed axe Larry had, this man wielded a greatsword, and he looked over the crowd with his arms folded. "Even a stone axe or knife is better in a fight than trying to use a staff or wand. The more goblins we kill, the more money we'll have, then we can unlock the armor at the general store, and afford the travel kits." James watched as a few people among the crowd nodded at the man's words.
Kathleen scoffed, muttering an "as if it'll be that easy," under her breath. James focused on the warrior just long enough to get his name, a Tony Thomas, level 1 Warrior, before another climber spoke to the crowd.
"We should focus on the armorsmith first. The armor we have now doesn't protect us enough from the goblins' arrows. This will also let us skip the general store's quest, which already sells weapons. Plus, nothing’s stopping us from taking the goblins’ weapons in the meantime." This time the speaker was a woman, medium height with dark hair light skin. She wore the same armor as the man, but carried a heater shield with one arm, and held a stone axe with the other, that she lifted higher in the air to show the crowd. She picked a shield as her weapon, and took a goblin's weapon to fight with. James noted. Focusing on her brought up the name Doretha Luna, level 1 warrior.
I think nearly everyone here is level one, between the goblins and the first battle's experience reward. James listened as the warrior, Tony, who had first advocated for the weaponsmith, now began advocating for the armorsmith, having agreed with Doretha after learning the goblins’ weapons could be stolen, but another voice interrupted before he could really begin drumming up support.
"The bathhouse and canteen combo is the best choice." The speaker was another woman, almost as tall as the male warrior, with short auburn hair. She wore a blue vest over a white, long-sleeved shirt, and black slacks. James almost thought she had picked the fool class with how she didn't appear to have any armor, but the clothes looked like they were made by hand rather than in a factory, and her name and class quickly appeared as James turned his attention to her. Karen Walters, level 1 Merchant.
"We don't have any access to doctors, and the low quality health potions don't say anything about curing illnesses. We can't afford to get sick from bad hygiene or poorly cooked food." This got a lot more nods than the previous two speakers, and James watched some climbers poke on the quest screen to make their decision.
"While a few of us have the Priest class, I agree with her." A man spoke up, taller than the warrior but much thinner. He was Joseph Moore, level 1 Priest, and wore a white hooded robe with a red trim, and carried a mace through a loop on a belt. He had short dark hair, and dark skin, and wore a pair of thin-framed glasses. "My healing spell doesn't say anything about curing sickness, only wounds. I'll likely have access to spells that cure poison and other ailments, but who knows if they'll apply to mundane diseases and not ones created by the monsters here. Lastly, while I believe the Armorsmith’s Workshop should be our next priority, I worry that with it only producing leather armor, not everyone here will be able to take advantage of it. Not everyone needs another weapon or set of armor, but we’d all benefit from a source of food, and a lack of diseases." The man received a nod from the merchant woman, and many of those who hadn't yet voted made their selection. No one else spoke up, though James noticed a few dissatisfied looks, many people appeared to be relieved. I wonder how many people here are already hungry or need to use the bathroom, and are glad that the general consensus supports getting access to a bathroom and a kitchen. I don't know if I'd have chosen differently, but I would definitely feel uncomfortable voting for the bathhouse and canteen if it looked like everyone agreed the armorsmith was the best choice. James was brought out of his musing by the climber menu disappearing, and the screen showing the climbers along with it. A new menu had appeared to replace them.
[Quest: 'Village Vote' has been completed. Displaying results.]
{Village Vote: Complete!
Votes Cast: (57/57)
Armorsmith (13)
Weaponsmith (5)
Alchemy Lab (4)
Bathhouse and Canteen (31)
Bathhouse and Inn (1)
Canteen and Inn (3)}
I honestly thought the votes would be more evenly spread than that, or that there would be two major options, but the bathhouse and canteen combo won by a landslide. James pulled up the village menu.
{Floor 1: (Unnamed) Village Details:
Size: Level 0 (50 Meters in Diameter (Recommended Population: <400)) (Generate Upgrade Quest to Level 1 (75 Meters in Diameter (Recommended Population: <900)) (-100))
Walls: Level 0 (Wooden Stakes) (Generate Upgrade Quest to Level 1 (Wooden Logs) (-100))
Shops Enabled:
-General Store (View Description, Manage Items (Variable), Manage Functions (Variable), Disable Shop (-100))
Shops Disabled:
-Alchemist’s Workshop (View Description, Manage Functions (Variable), Enable Shop (-200))
-Armorsmith's Workshop (View Description, Manage Functions (Variable), Enable Shop (-200))
-Bathhouse (View Description, Manage Functions (Variable) Enable Shop (-100))
-Canteen (View Description, Manage Functions (Variable, Enable Shop (-100))
-Carpenter's Workshop (View Description, Manage Functions (Variable), Enable Shop (-500))
-Enchanter's Workshop (View Description, Manage Functions (Variable), Enable Shop (-500))
-Inn (View Description, Manage Functions (Variable), Enable Shop (-100))
-Library (View Description, Manage Functions (Variable), Enable Shop (-500))
-Training Grounds (View Description, Manage Functions (Variable), Enable Shop (-500))
-Weaponsmith's Workshop (View Description, Manage Functions (Variable), Enable Shop (-200)}
Alright! Let's give the people what they want! Enable Shop: Bathhouse! Enable Shop: Canteen!
{Shop: “Bathhouse” Enabled. -100 Tower Points. 185 Tower Points remaining.}
{Shop: “Canteen” Enabled. -100 Tower Points. 85 Tower Points remaining.}
The soul core housing James shook a bit as James's excitement grew.