Life Reset- Hobnobbing, page 7
part #3 of New Era Online Series
“We’ll be back later. Let's go visit Corgoram’s temple,” I said, and we walked away from the pit.
We took the main boulevard and passed through an inner gate to the second district. It looked much the same as the one we had come from. Opposite the gate was a large partly burned structure. The district’s barracks was further ahead, just off the main road. It looked smaller than The Pit’s barracks, though it was still larger than Goblin Gorge’s.
“This is District Two.” My lieutenant made a waving motion with his hand. “I was originally trained here.”
“So how did you end up serving Barska?” I asked. I had never really questioned Bob about his past. I’d simply assumed that the game engine made him Barska’s lieutenant for killing his former boss, but I should have known better. The game mechanism was intricate, and the VI-seeded NPCs had a mind and history of their own.
Bob shrugged. “My platoon was given to Barska to command. I was one among several other lieutenants. It was your right as a chief to claim his soldiers once you defeated him.”
“I see,” I said. “Let’s go check the last temple.”
We continued walking the main boulevard until we passed the inner gate to the next ring’s districts.
“This is District Three,” Bob said. “The temple of Corgoram is over here.”
“Why did we walk through District Two instead of simply going here directly from the arena?” I asked.
Bob shifted uncomfortably. “The distance is nearly the same.”
Yulli clasped Bob’s shoulder. “Our impeccable lieutenant was probably feeling nostalgic, wanted to check out his old unit again, didn’t you?”
Bob lowered his eyes. “I was just … wondering what it was like, now.”
“That’s understandable,” I said. “Yulli, don’t tease him. He’s still your commanding officer.”
“Yes, Chief.”
We approached another large structure. This one looked like a large anthill, easily 20 meters tall, with many window holes circumventing it all the way to the pointy top. The entrance was a large hole with no doors, and we marched through unhindered.
The inside was hollow with many levels of floors lining the walls and reaching all the way to the top. The temple was literally swarming with goblins. They all wore slave collars, but they seemed much better treated than in the rest of the city. They crawled over the upper floors, clinging to scaffolding and ropes. Some were cleaning, some were hauling equipment, and a lot seemed to be praying. Several hobgoblins walked among the throng, and my smaller kin hastily moved to make way.
“Welcome to Corgoram’s temple,” a squeaky voice greeted us.
I looked down to find a small goblin in a brown cloak and wearing a bird’s skull with feathers sticking out of it on his head. There was no collar around his neck.
“Err … hello?” I was so taken aback by the presence of a free goblin in Akzar that I forgot my place. I hoped a fellow goblin wouldn’t make a fuss of me speaking out of turn.
The goblin in front of me frowned and looked at Yulli. “Esteemed higher kin, why do you allow your slave to speak freely?”
So much for hoping.
“You don’t seem to have a problem with speaking freely,” Yulli said.
The little runt puffed his chest. “I am Topnik, a priest of Corgoram! I was chosen and elevated by him. In here, I am equal to the higher kin.”
Vic commented.
That’s right, I forgot, I thought back at him. Tatriel was allegedly one of Vic’s siblings, who operated Corgoram, the NPC god. Can we count on your relationship to help us out?
He was probably right.
“Listen, little guy,” I said. “I’m on a first-name basis with your deity, and we need a blessing so we can get into the upper ring. Can you help a brother out?” I figured I might use the direct approach. I tried hard not to grin to his face.
He puffed his cheek and looked really annoyed.
Well, it was worth a try.
“You blaspheme in Corgoram’s own temple?” Topnik’s voice raised in pitch.
“We do not,” Bob said in a soothing voice. “We would appreciate receiving his blessing.”
“Hmph,” the goblin said, still annoyed. “You need only swear your undying soul to the service of Corgoram. Once you join the church, you may request a blessing from any priest.”
“Shadow-crap,” I muttered. It was the same deal as with Dargrot’s temple. I couldn’t swear off Nihilator – there was no way my evil deity would take it in stride, and I preferred not to offend a beast that thrived on carnage and had the ability to kill me permanently. “Maybe later then,” I said. “Tell me, can you teleport?”
He huffed. “Only high priests are granted such power, and they are all of the higher kin.”
I pressed on. “So there are those who can teleport inside the city?”
“Yes,” he answered begrudgingly.
That was no good, I had to try to get on his good side if I wanted real answers. “Does the church receive donations?”
His eyes lit up. “Yes, we do! You may offer gold, slaves, or sacrifices.”
I knew a single gold coin was considered a large donation in most in-game churches. I drew out 10 coins and handed them to the goblin. “Here you go.”
+100 reputation with Church of Corgoram [Akzar]
Current rank: Unfriendly
Points to next rank: 900
“Your donation is welcomed,” Topnik said and turned to leave.
“Wait,” I said. The calculation was pretty straightforward; one coin for 10 RP. There were other ways to gain reputation with factions within the city, but I had no time to pursue them. I opened my dwindling purse and took out 90 more coins.
+900 reputation with Church of Corgoram [Akzar]
Current rank: Neutral (RP can no longer be purchased)
Points to next rank: 1,000
GreenPiece: +100 reputation with Akzar and all its factions.
Current rank: Unfriendly
Points to next rank: 900
It looked like reaching a new reputation rank with the church also increased my reputation within the city. That was good, as I needed to increase my reputation with Akzar to make it a trading partner.
“Thank you.” The goblin smiled, and his eyes lost their look of disdain.
“So, I was curious to know … how is it possible for the high priests to use teleport? I understand spatial magic is nullified inside the city limits.”
“Yes, that is correct. The city is warded against teleportation to prevent enemy invasions and criminal escapes, but the higher kin’s rulers may allow specific individuals through the ward.”
“So the priests are naturally included,” I surmised.
“Not exactly,” the goblin said. Now that our reputation rank had increased, he proved to be a chatty little thing. “Priests of the official churches in the city are automatically excluded from the ward. Once I reach the appropriate faith rank, I too will be able to teleport.”
“What do you mean by ‘official’ churches?”
“There are several smaller shrines across the city,” he explained merrily. “Smaller faiths, of the lesser gods. They are allowed to operate within the city, but their priests do not get the same recognition as the official churches.”
So the hobgoblins even organized a hierarchy for their faith system. “Very efficient,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Can those smaller churches offer us a blessing?”
“They can, though only the blessing of the official churches may grant access into the upper ring.”
“Shadow-crap,” I muttered again. “I don’t suppose I can sway you into giving us a just a tiny bit of blessing?”
Topnik shook his head. “No. It is forbidden, only our followers–”
“Yeah, I got it,” I interrupted him “You only bless your own followers.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go.” I turned toward the exit.
My two hob companions were beside me in a heartbeat.
“Where are we headed now, Chief?” Yulli asked. She was still caressing her new bow.
“Let’s go back to The Dancing Shade,” I said. “We have a few hours to kill before sunset. Maybe we can find a clue on how to get a blessing without committing to any church. At worst, I can always use the time to enchant.” I gave her a wink. “I bet you don’t have anything against your new bow becoming even deadlier.”
Her grin nearly reached her ears.
5 – Bar Fight
I glared at the walls of our room, trying my best not to break anything.
Asking around the inn had proven futile. None of the patrons were churchgoing people, and no one could offer a different way to receive a church’s blessing. At least, from those who were willing to talk to me. I’d been in Akzar for barely a day, and I was already fed up with their attitude toward goblins. The city was obviously meant for players with a monster template, not for pure breeds like me.
On top of that, I was still pissed at that racist priest of Dargrot. Seeing my fellow goblins massacred at The Pit only enraged me further.
I needed to kill something.
But there was a time and place for everything. For now, I had to concentrate on my craft.
I looked at the 10 Viridium spheres spread across the table, and some of my anger subsided. Runecrafting was mentally taxing, but the process was distracting and it helped take my mind off things. My Runecraft skill had increased significantly since the time I enchanted the first golem, and now it only took me about a minute to enchant each golem bead. Meanwhile, my Runecraft skill increased further, reaching level 47.
Once I was done, all it took was a small mental nudge and the spheres rolled off the table on their own, into the spatial satchel I held open.
“How long before we should go visit The Pit inn?” I asked Bob.
My lieutenant was keeping busy, working a whetstone over his sword. “A couple of hours, Dread Totem.”
That was enough time to start a new project. I placed Yulli’s bow on the table and examined it.
The bow was an excellent weapon on its own and would become even more powerful as its wielder rose in levels. It had quite an ingenious design. The problem was that the benefits only started manifesting for characters with a Physical attribute of at least 30. I had to try to lower that threshold and at the same time find a way for the bow to inflict more damage. With only three rune slots available, it was going to be a challenge.
I opened the Runecraft Design Mode. A holographic representation of the bow appeared, hovering in front of my view.
Fifteen brown durability points spanned the length of the bow. A constellation of dozens of yellow points coated the center of the grip, and a small galaxy of red points filled up the space inside the two griffon feathers at its end, painting them scarlet.
By now, Runecrafting had become almost intuitive. I’d learned to open my mind and let the game’s information flow into me. I knew that the yellow points were the ones that represented the physical requirements, while the red ones controlled the special effects that the feathers activated. Whatever runes I used, I’d first have to run a connector rune through the dots, and I wasn’t nearly competent enough to handle more than a few score of them. I decided to concentrate on the yellow ones. All other benefits would mean little if Yulli couldn’t draw the bow in the first place.
It was tricky. The yellow points were contained in a small space, and I had very little room to maneuver. After nearly two hours, I’d connected about two-thirds of the dots, and I decided it was the best I could do.
Next, I had to choose the effects to run through the connected yellow dots, but that was an easy one. Thanks to my high Runecraft skill, the interface now showed me the effects of the different rune combinations in advance. I connected each of my known runes in turn, checking its effect. The ‘Esh’ rune of fire and ‘Ra’ rune of sound would add fire and sonic damage respectively. The other runes appeared incompatible with this configuration, but the last rune I tried, ‘Zu,’ the rune of motion, had the desired effect.
Adding the Zu rune could reduce the required physical score and damage penalty by 35 percent, but seeing as I hadn’t connected all the dots, the effect was actually a 20 percent reduction. That would just barely allow Yulli to use the bow, and it wouldn’t be very powerful.
“Damn,” I grunted, and added the ‘Ko’ rune. I’d hoped I would be able to save the third and last rune slot for some extra elemental damage, but it looked like I had no choice.
The rune of strength worked as I had hoped and integrated perfectly with the motion rune, increasing its effect. The overall requirement reduction jumped to 50 percent. It was almost like connecting an electrical engine to a bicycle, aiding the rider instead of replacing him.
“I guess that settles it,” I said and finalized the enchantment, pouring in the required 270 MP to activate it.
New schema discovered: KoTeZu [Boost]
Runecraft skill level increased to 48.
…
Runecraft skill level increased to 51.
I let out a gasp. “Wow! I just received four skill levels in a row!”
But I was already ravenously reading the next message.
Runecraft skill level increased to 51.
Congratulations! You reached the rank: Expert
As an Expert-ranked Runecrafter, you have gained the following abilities:
1. Area runes: You may now draw runes on exterior surfaces to create temporary effects.
2. Alter: You have a limited ability to alter existing enchantments (improves with skill level).
I raised my hands in triumph. “That calls for a celebration! Let’s get down and have a drink or three.”
“It is almost dusk, Dread Totem. We should go complete our mission,” Bob reminded me.
“Right, sabotage the competition first, drinks later,” I said, still feeling excited. “Here’s your new bow, Yulli. Give it a try.”
The hoblinette held the bow firmly with her left hand and easily drew the string all the way to her right cheek.
“Excellent!” I smiled at her. “How does it feel?”
“Powerful.” The scout boss grinned. “But it is not so easy to hold the string; the pressure increases the longer I hold it.”
The two feathers at the top of the bow started moving in opposite directions, forming a circle, like the arms of a clock. After two seconds, the feathers made a quarter of a circle and Yulli’s arms started shaking from the exertion.
“That’s okay, put it down for now,” I said. I really wanted to see what the effect of ‘imbue arrow: griffon’ meant, but I guessed that letting an arrow loose inside the inn could lead to all sorts of problems.
“Yes, Chief.” She lowered the bow.
I checked to make sure the bottle of high-quality alcohol was still in my inventory then turned to my two companions. “Ready?”
“We must not be seen,” Bob cautioned me. “What we are about to do is considered a crime, and the repercussions will severely impede our mission. If you are seen–”
“I get it,” I interrupted. “If I’m spotted, we’re in trouble.”
“That was not what I intended to say,” my lieutenant said grimly. “If you are seen, we must make sure that there are no witnesses left to report back to the city guards.”
“Cool and ominous – you did great.” I patted Bob’s shoulder. “Let’s go get an innkeeper drunk.”
***
Bob and I stood waiting in front of The Pit inn.
We didn’t have to wait long. A few moments later, Yulli came out into the open. Her nose was twisted in disgust. “This place is repugnant,” she said. “They never wash the floor, their slaves stink, and the food smells even worse. The ale seemed fine, though.”
“Did you find Tycan’s personal ale?” I asked.
“I approached him and asked to see behind the bar.”
I grimaced. Subtlety wasn’t one of Yulli’s traits. “And?”
Her face hardened. “He tried to grope me. I spotted some barriers behind the counter and a door behind it, then I drove a knife through his palm and left.”
I let out an explosive breath. “I guess you’re lucky you got out. What about the other patrons?”
“There were about a dozen,” she said indifferently. “Including the five that harassed Daimmen. The patrons all looked like experienced warriors; probably the gladiators the innkeeper told us about.” She huffed. “They didn’t look so tough to me.”
“Dread Totem, it will be nighttime soon,” Bob said. “We should act now before curfew starts.”
“Alright. You two go in and take a table by the entrance. I’ll come from the back and try to sneak in. I’ll let you know if I need a distraction.”
The two nodded and went into the seedy-looking building.
Exercising my control of the darkness, I draped the nearby shadows over myself and snuck behind the buildings.
Several hob citizens were walking in the streets, but none spotted me. I didn’t take particular care to keep myself hidden. The sight of the slaves around me reignited my previous anger, and I felt a feral need to quench it in blood.
I took a deep breath and tried to rein in my emotions. I was operating on borrowed time, and any delay could prove fatal to my clan and my own future.
The outer door was unlocked and opened into a small kitchen. Rancid smells assaulted my sensitive goblin nose. Heaps of dirty platters were scattered everywhere with rotten bits of food still stuck on them. An old goblin slave was cleaning a stack of bowls with a dirty towel but only seemed to smear the grime more evenly.
