Town Builder - 91 -

Chapter 91:

I spent four days locked in my drafting room. I managed to accomplish what I needed through my interface and communication with Mad Dog. Player activity was spiking again in Malcum, but strangely, Eternal Legacy’s raid on Goatyah was not mentioned in the forums. It made a strange kind of sense since they didn’t want the other guilds to know what they had stolen from us. We couldn’t complain, or other guilds would want to know how to build steam skyships.

I found a discussion about abducted NPCs that gave me some solace. Kidnapped NPCs were generally highly uncooperative, and their morale bottomed out. Black Beauty had sent her two most recent spies to the Endless Dark to find out where they had been taken. Mad Dog was certain it would be one of the surface towns that Eternal Legacy controlled but would be kept away from public view.

He needed to restrain me from starting a secret war against Eternal Legacy. It just would not go well for us. If they had something publicity to point to, they could justify wiping Malcum off the map. Well, maybe not wipe us off the map, but target our unreplaceable NPCs. All we could do was build more defenses in terms of NPC guard houses for now.

I looked at the finished plans, which looked more like a sketch of a massive cave with dimensions attached to it. A few support builds were dwarfed by the large scale of the cave. This might be the second most crucial structure after the library. Having reached level 25, my Eternal Architect class had once again become active. Now, any plans I drafted would have the structural regeneration again.

“Eternal” Epic Secret Cavern Naval Base, Health: 5,000,000. Requirements: Stone Magic: 43 Woodcraft Carpentry 23, Masonry Foundations 43, Masonry Structures 43, Ritual Magic 43. Spawns 50 Level 50 Marines (one every 24 hours), Special Effect: All ships docked inside recover 5% hull/day. Special Effect: Illusionary Entrance, Weapon Hardpoints: 4, Structure Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours (stacks with similar effects)

It was an impressive, massive structure, and I wondered if it could have been improved with a higher drafting skill or an engineering skill I didn’t have. One of the few buildings was the barracks inside, and those NPC Marines could be used to defend the structure or assigned to ships that were built. I could build additional barracks in the future as well.

The one massive problem with this structure was its size and the incredible amount of resources it would take to build and maintain it—even more than the library in terms of stone, materials, and essences. Also, the time it would take to build the shipyard would be long. Not only would we need to excavate the mountain, but we also needed to reinforce the walls as we dug. I planned to put Sanso and his golems on the project exclusively. He could excavate quickly with his spell repertoire and create quality stone as well. There was a problem—Sanso was by far our best builder. That meant he wouldn’t be helping build up Phoenix’s Rest or assist with the library. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make at this point.

When I drafted it, the illusionary entrance was essential for the plans. We would keep the Eagle’s Nest outside the entrance as a decoy and begin constructing another small transport immediately as cover. The hardpoints were concealed platforms on the side of the illusionary entrance for future ballista or other engineered weapons. I didn’t include them in the blueprints because I lacked the engineering skills, and the construction materials were already going to be a headache. I hoped to keep this base’s existence hidden for as long as possible.

The Naval Base was bare bones. For instance, it didn’t have any dry docks for building or servicing ships, which was intentional. I wanted the docks to be add-ons, and there was space for over a dozen. Alternatively, massive alcoves could be burrowed into the walls to expand the base. If I drafted the drydocks in the future, I could continuously redraft them as my drafting skill improved.

I called Sanso to the manor and handed him the plans. “Ambitious, Lord Tallis,” he said, not looking up as he studied them.

“Can you build it in 200 days?” I asked seriously.

“By myself?” the earth elementalkin laughed loudly.

“Mostly, yes. That would give us forty days to build a warship after it was finished.” I said earnestly. When he looked confused at the timeline, I explained. “The Grand Game.” He nodded, his eyes slightly wide at the implications.

The Grand Game was a massive single map where every city in the game world had to send combatants. The number allowed depended on the size of the city or kingdom as a whole. If an NPC was killed in the Grand Game, they were likely dead permanently, but it was also a way for NPCs to earn major rewards. Galana once told me that participating was worth risking her life. The NPCs would get levels, additional skills, spells, abilities, and equipment. What players received was unknown, but I was confident that killing as many NPCs as possible would grant them better rewards.

I had wanted to send only players from Malcum, but I might not have that option. We were in discussions with NPC kingdoms to form alliances. The problem was that our Duchy was so small that we would currently be a subordinate member of any alliance. I didn’t want a general from another kingdom to be able to order my NPCs into a suicidal attack. If we had even a single skyship, we could move about the Grand Game map easily and be able to defend ourselves.

Sanso was shaking his head. “Two hundred days? Six hundred maybe. And only if I could double my earth golems.”

No, this needed to happen. “Well, we have two hundred days. I figure three days to build the drydock and thirty days to assemble the warship.” Sanso was shaking his head at my bravado. “I will get you help, but it can only be NPCs. I can not risk this leaking to the players. Only the inner members of my guild will know about it. I will visit and help you when I can.” I grimaced as I would need to level up to get the required skills to serve as the foreman again. The only skill Sanso had at the appropriate level was the stone magic.

We discussed the project at length. He would start by hollowing out a small secret door into the mountain, which he would reinforce as he proceeded. For now, my master enchanter would visit him every other day to help, and I would try to help on alternating days. When Sanso left to start, I invited Mad Dog to show him the plans.

“You’re bloody crazy, mate. I like it. We can quarry the stone from the Crypt of the Phoenix King. Perhaps we can negotiate with the Disciples of the Horde to also buy the stone they mine. This list of essences,” he rubbed his forehead apprehensively. “We can gather them in sixty days. Maybe a little more, but the guild has several obligations…” he trailed off, thinking.

“I still need to draft a new dry dock, and we also need our engineers to work on the plans for a new, heavier, combat ship. We will need essences for the drydock and ship as well,” I said passionately. “If I see the ship Eternal Legacy stole from us, I want to be able to blast it out of the sky.”

Mag Dog grinned. “Want a taste of bloody revenge? Temper it, Tallis. This is a game, and you would be gambling everything by attacking them openly. Let Black Beauty use our spies to find their weaknesses. A time will come.” He exhaled, “The alliances I’m trying to form with other guilds will fall apart if we act so brazenly. Let Eternal Legacy be seen as the aggressor in public forums.”

I ground my teeth as we discovered there was no video evidence of their attack on Goatyah. Not only had they blocked the portal stone, but they also had an artifact or an array that prevented anyone from recording video from a distance. Danny had just arrived too late to catch them in the act.

Mad Dog read my determination. “I will get the guild behind it, Tallis. Most of our fortune has been tied to you, and I don’t see that changing. We should have a handful of players joining the game to act as shipwrights and engineers in a few days.”

“They won't be privy to the base’s construction. We just want them to design ships and fabricate steam engine parts,” I said unnecessarily. Mad Dog understood the need for secrecy better than I did. Silver Linings Playbook was a close-knit guild built on trust, and they were hesitant to bring in more members—even if they weren't inner members.

“It will be done, Lord Tallis,” he bowed in jest. “You better send a message to Danny and Mermaid. Once they see these plans, they are not going to leave you alone until they are finished and they have their sky steam ships.”

Before he left, I said, “We need to complete the library as well. “He nodded, knowing that Kuba’s continued employment depended on it. We had stockpiled many of those resources, and now that we had a temporary arborist in the jester, we could finish the library before the deadline—although original projections involved Sanso.

He was right, and I spent a few hours with Danny and Mermaid, who focused on trying to get me to build the secret base quicker. Unfortunately, we were already reaching beyond our means, and only through the sale of building plans would we be able to maintain the structure.

I made some slight changes to the Eagle’s Nest drydock design, drafting plans for a heavy and agile skyship.

“Eternal” Rare Naval Warship Dry Dock, Health 200,000, Requires Masonry Foundations 23, Woodcraft: Carpentry 23, Ritual Enchanting 23. Bonus: +10% armor to all skyships built. +30% hull health to all skyships built. Bonus: Structure Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours (stacks with similar effects)

“Eternal” Rare Naval Scoutship Dry Dock, Health 200,000, Requires Masonry Foundations 23, Woodcraft: Carpentry 23, Ritual Enchanting 23. Bonus: +25% speed to all skyships built. +10% hull health to all skyships built. Bonus: Structure Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours (stacks with similar effects)

The massive cavern would have room for more drydocks in the future, but we would only build on one of these to start. If we could only have one skyship ready for the Grand Game, I was assuming the warship would be the better choice, but we had time to figure that out. Well, Danny and Ghostly Mermaid would make the final decision.

While I was focused on drafting, players were making strides in the gaming world. Dozens of news outlets provided game updates and short clips to help players and fans catch up in daily 30-minute segments. I know some of my guild members sold clips to these networks if they were involved in significant events. These news stations only encouraged more people to join the game. Anti-Open World groups had begun forming, saying it was going to lead to the end of humanity if everyone joined the game. I actually agreed with them and was eager to rejoin the real world myself.

The biggest event had been the Draconic Incursion at the world capital of Dragon’s Next. That city, ruled by dragons, experienced an absolutely epic clash. It was the second straight incursion where spectators had been killed in droves.

The draconic incursion had also established numerous footholds in the world that needed to be eradicated. Nations were offering quests with massive rewards to eliminate the draconic bases. That was where most of the major guilds focused their efforts. The rewards were just too good to ignore or allow another top guild to take advantage of them.

I received some news about our kidnapped NPCs from Black Beauty. Our spies followed the trail to a city in the Endless Dark and discovered where they had been portaled. They were being held in a massive warehouse in the city of Ornamentis. Although it was over ten thousand miles away, Eternal Legacy had an extremely high reputation with the NPC rulers. Black Beauty didn’t believe we had a chance of retrieving them, but she left one of her assets there to monitor their progress in assembling a steam skyship.

Eternal Legacy erred because the steam skyships were much more complicated than a skyship that relied solely on magic to fly. You still needed artificers for a steamship, but you also needed engineers. I don’t think they had done their research in the support network required to build and maintain the ship. Mad Dog’s best guess was that Gray Weasel had leveraged his position in the guild to conduct the raid as a revenge ploy. Gray Weasel thought he was hurting us by his actions, which he did, but just not as badly as he thought.

My only revenge on their guild right now was flagging their members in the Duchy. They couldn’t buy or sell anything within our borders, and if they entered a town or city, they would be closely monitored by the guards. Mad Dog advised against banning them outright, as it might provoke them to attack NPCs in retaliation.

We had the obelisk completed at Phoenix's Rest and one lined up to be built in Goatyah, but it would take time to divert enough resources for the project. I had some lesser NPC guard houses built to fortify Goatyah. But there was not a lot I could do when a guild could bring thousands of players against you at once. Mad Dog was building up Silver Linings Playbook’s depth, but we would never equal these large guilds who were spending tens of millions of real-world dollars every month.

The next two weeks passed slowly for me in the game. I spent two out of four days working with Sanso on the excavation. One in four days with Mad Dog delving the Crypt of the Phoenix King dungeon for experience, and one in four days at the drafting table to create plans for sale. I was able to reach level 27 after four choreographed delves for experience.

I was working with Sanso when Danny and Mermaid entered the cavern. In just two weeks, it was already a quarter excavated. We still needed to reinforce the walls, but it was progress. “It looks amazing! Did you know today is the day the Winged Ram was supposed to take flight?” Mermaid said with her charming smile.

“No, I did not.” I paused my work. “How are the new engineers working out?” The engineers Mad Dog had approved and hired had avatar names, but we still referred to them by their real-world names as they were employees.

Danny rolled her eyes, but Mermaid spoke for the pair. “Reece and Finn are alright. But Erick and Olivia are perfectionists and keep arguing with each other. At least the arguments are productive. They still don’t quite understand it is a game and focused on physics.”

“That is not a bad thing,” I said as the impatient Danny huffed. The closer to practicing actual skills, the quicker your skills in the game level. I pointed at the small door that led to the Eagle’s Nest. I had passed the dry dock many times, and only the skeleton of the ship had been laid out in the last two weeks. “How long for the Winged Ram II?”

Danny shook her head. I knew they had just returned from a failed attempt to recruit more NPC dwarven engineers and shipwrights. “Vanessa’s shipwright skill is too low right now to continue. She needs to reach level 23 and is just level 9 and capped at the moment. She is off with Golden Storm leveling,” she said, exasperated. I knew Golden Storm had a crush on Vanessa—a very public crush that was beginning to be reciprocated. He was already advocating for making Vanessa a full guild member. Black Beauty was hesitant because of the resulting drama when they broke up—Golden Storm had commitment issues, so it was an inevitability.

I knew why the pair was here. “The next NPC auction is in seven days, and I will see what I can do. A shipwright is on my list.” I told the relieved pair.

The truth was, as the Duchy grew, more and more holes were identified that needed filling with NPCs to keep the economy balanced. I was fine with recruiting guards and soldiers from my NPC population. We could support a lot of NPCs at the moment.

The Duchy’s economy was extremely healthy, and was now running a substantial surplus even with all the NPCs we were paying. Most of it was due to all the players spending their gold in our NPC shops. At least the player population was leveling out a little in Malcum and other towns in the Duchy. With the massive influx of new players, the admins had been forced to add a new map just for low-level new players with dozens of massive cities tailored to beginners. The newbie zone was far from Malcum.

“Anything else?” I asked as they didn’t seem eager to leave.

“Blood Crisis wants to see you when he logs in in an hour,” Ghostly Mermaid said sincerely.

A cold chill ran down my spine. That could only mean one thing: my medical exam must be complete, and I would receive a full evaluation and report on whether they could rebuild my body and, more importantly, how much it would cost. Danny and Mermaid hung out with me before we all traveled back to Malcum together. They were with me for moral support and I was taking that as the news was not going to be good.

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