Town Builder - 85 - Down Under (edited 12/28 +1200 words)

Chapter 85: Down Under

The flying, flaming fire beetles were decimating the tops of the walls with fireballs. The damage was not enough to kill the players, but they had burning and concussion effects to deal with after being struck and tossed aside. Some took some falling damage if they couldn’t stay on the walls.

Mad Dog was next to me for this incursion, as he had duties for the city. He said somberly, “The player population has raised the levels of the invading realm’s soldiers. It's nothing we can’t handle, but if the player population continues to exceed the NPCs, we could be in for a difficult incursion next time.”

Another fire beetle erupted in an explosion from a lightning strike as Bella, the bunny mage, tracked them one by one. A fireball hurtled toward us but splashed uselessly against a shield protecting the tower. I didn’t know which NPC had cast the shield, but I appreciated it. It was another five minutes before the flying ranged threat was neutralized.

The legion of immolated men rushed toward the walls, but the players did a fair job slowing them down with ranged attacks. “There,” Mad Dog pointed. A pair of giants emerged from the portal. “The general is behind them.” I looked, and a man in flaming robes walked out confidently. He looked human except his skin didn’t burn.

I looked over to my general, Tanguin. He had an analyze skill that could cover the distance, “Level 75, Lord Tallis. His title is Keeper of the Flame,” Tanguin said while focusing. “The two giants are level 60 Shield Bearers.” As if to reinforce his point, each giant suddenly had a fire vortex in front of them to shield their general.

Mad Dog assessed the field, “He planned poorly. The twenty-odd fire beetles led the assault, and they should have been used in support. Now he only has three left, and they are grounded.” A few players dropped from the walls to assault the disorganized infantry. There were perhaps five thousand infantry of the invaders. Their skin just seemed to be alight with a blue flame, and they were wielding halberds.

Tanguin’s deep voice echoed to my left, “The general is summoning something.” My attention snapped back to the general behind the giant’s shields. I couldn’t see anything, but then a small portal erupted behind him, and five of the fire beetles zipped out of it.

All five fire beetles focused their attack on our position. I was nervous as the flaming spheres closed on us, but a crackling lightning shield appeared, forming a dome around us. The beetle’s fireballs splashed harmlessly against it, but I felt like I was in an oven.

Mag Dog started giving orders to the other members of the Silver Linings Playbook. “We need to neutralize the general, or we will see a never-ending stream of the flyers.”

“Do you want me to unleash Tanguin’s forces?” I asked. We had a plan to let the players take as much of the glory as they could handle. It also meant I was not risking my NPCs for the fight.

“No, we should be fine. We have over two thousand players over level six in Malcum. It will be messy but a learning experience,” Mad Dog said irritably. He was also testing all the applicants to our guild in this fight.

I stood back and watched the various player guilds try to work together to stem the tide of Incursion. Although the players were dying in droves, their respawn allowed them to return quickly. They were much more organized than the first Incursion, and the war of attrition was in their favor.

Bella did her best to keep the skies clear of the fire beetles for the players, and after a few hours, only the general and his two shield bearers remained. Unfortunately, the shield bearers seemed to possess a siphon life ability that made it nearly impossible for the low-level players to kill them. Mad Dog gave up, saying, “Tanguin, they are yours.” He felt a bit frustrated that his planning hadn’t succeeded. Twice, the players managed to bring one of the shield bearers down to half-life, only to be thwarted when it quickly restored its health.

Tanguin sent out his elite calvary, led by my gnome hospitaller, Titus. Titus was level 140 and a pseudo-paladin. He served as mostly a quest giver in the town but was also required to aid in our defense. We had dozens of high level NPCs that could have been called on for this.

Titus led the charge on a mount much too large for his small frame. I felt a twinge of nervousness as he approached the right shield bearer, and the giant conjured a flaming sword. The sword was as big as his horse as it descended. Just before the magical fire sword struck him, it seemed to warp and bend around the gnome. The gnome plunged deep into the giant's hamstring, forcing it to its knees as he rode past. Then, the remaining orc cavalry swarmed the giant.

“Was it wise to send him out there alone?” I asked, watching the gnome tease the other giant while fending off magic attacks from the general.

Tanguin sighed, “He was bored and wanted something to do.”

I nodded and accessed the interface to permanently reassign Titus to Phoenix’s Rest. I adjusted his settings to allow him to return to Malcum whenever he wished, as I had a feeling that if he missed Fareth’s cooking, he might lose some morale.

As the giants were being taken care of, the players swarmed the mage who hadn’t summoned any more fire beetles in the last twenty minutes. He started to flee back toward the portal, but the players were not having any of that. It was messy, with dozens of players getting killed, but the level 75 boss general eventually fell to the tsunami of attacks.

My interface beeped, and a rush of experience hit me. I was confused as I hadn’t done anything in the battle. I went from level 4 to 11 as I cleared the messages. I was stunned as I sifted through the messages. I got a tiny percentage of all the kills during the Incursion and bonuses for successfully defending the Duchy and not letting any of the Fire Realm invaders getaway.

I was now at a higher level than Mad Dog, who had just reached level ten. Mad Dog didn’t notice, and I decided not to tell; best to let him figure it out. “How about an ale at Fareth’s Inn?” I asked him while holding back a grin.

He was focused on collecting as much loot as possible from the battlefield. Our guild was fighting over the spoils with dozens of other guilds. He finally gave me his attention. “We got a portal key to the Fire Realm from the general. It gives a seventy-two hour window for ten players to conduct a raid against them.”

“It is too small to be effective,” I said dismissively. “We can leave it in the Duchy vault for when we have some levels under our belt.”  I knew about the portal keys from the forums. The portal keys were rare rewards for us to take the fight to the other realms and attempt to retrieve the artifacts for the device to the highest realm. But just ten players wouldn’t make a good raid.

An hour later, I sat across from Mad Dog, Grinder, and Mira. Grinder was doing a good job seducing the NPC scout. “So, Mad Dog, you hit level ten, are you going to test the Crypt of the Phoenix King?”

“We need a few more of the guild to break the level ten barrier. Maybe in a few days.” He said, munching on some pretzel sticks.

“Can I be part of the delve team?” I asked innocently.

At first, he tried to find a polite way to explain the dangers involved, but then he tried to analyze me and couldn’t. “How are you hiding from me? My analysis skill trumps your concealment skill.”

“Oh, that? My concealment skill is level eight now,” I said innocently.

“You reached level eight? How much experience did you get from defending Malcum?” Grinder interrupted.

“Enough to reach level eleven,” I said casually.

“Drop it and show me!” Mad Dog exclaimed in disbelief. I deactivated my concealment skill, and Mad Dog was simultaneously happy, angry, and amazed. “You jumped from level four to eleven!” He lowered his voice when it attracted attention from others.

He slowly came to terms with it after going through my logs. “It makes sense. If you had been level eleven, you might have gotten just enough experience to level twelve and halfway to level thirteen. I suspect the game didn’t plan on such low-level players governing a kingdom.”

Blood Crisis came and sat with us. “We got about a quarter of the loot from the field. We lost out on some good magic items, but if we took everything, it would anger the other players.” He looked over at me. “Tallis, when are you planning your trip to Down Under?”

“The sooner, the better, mate,” Mad Dog advised. “You don’t want to be in the middle of moving when a guild war is going on. Things are calm at the moment in here.

I was nervous. It would take three days to move my body, which was twelve days in Open World. A lot could happen in twelve days. “When can you make it happen?”

“Now. Well, three game days to get the plane to the States,” Blood Crisis said seriously. I slowly nodded, committing, and we planned my extraction.

Mad Dog was combing the forums. “Looks like we got lucky. A lot of cities sustained heavy damage from fires.” I checked, and only a few sections of Malcum’s wall were damaged. Most had been upgraded to include my Eternal Architect’s regeneration, so we didn’t need much in terms of repairs.

I checked the forums, too, to see how the Fire Realm had impacted the world. One city—an NPC city of orcs — had fallen to them, and it looked like the same thing that had happened in testing had happened during the Incursion. Players had sabotaged the defenders to allow the Fire Realm to win, which meant the Fire Realm now had a foothold in our realm.

It was far from Malcum, and I didn’t care about the dev’s headaches. I watched a few of the top videos of the Incursion. A dark, fiery angel laid waste to an army of NPC soldiers. A flight of knights on Pegasi battled the fire beetles in the sky. One city had the field outside it transformed into a magma field, with lava golems hurling lava stones into the city. The cinematic quality of the videos was amazing, as once you recorded something, you could choose what camera angles to use.

There were some extremely powerful Fire Realm combatants in the videos. The larger my Duchy got, the stronger our foes would become during the Incursions. I wondered what would happen if the other realms started winning. If more and more cities fell over time, would the developers intervene again? Could we reciprocate and attack and conquer their cities in return?

“Are we heading for Phoenix’s Rest?” Mad Dog asked, interrupting my thoughts. He must have just repeated himself, thinking we would try and tackle the dungeon.

“After I am moved, I have a few things to take care of in the next three game days.” Mad Dog nodded but didn’t argue. I could see the fire in his eyes, and he would try to surpass my level before I logged on again.

After the celebration ended, I left to return to my Lord’s Manor. Jaesmin and Joy were delighted to see me, and I enjoyed a second dinner with them before heading to my drafting room. With my level enhancement, I now possessed a level 16 drafting skill. This should enable me to create something decent to fill some of the holes.

I started with an add-on to my player auction house for the new clerk. I was not going for anything too complicated. I wanted to enhance the range and create a workstation for Petry, the level 123 clerk I had just earned from the auction.

Rare Administrative Office (1 NPC or Player), Requirements Woodcraft Carpentry 23, Masonry Structures 23, Ritual Magic 23, Enhances Building Effectiveness by 10% if staffed with appropriate NPC or Player

The structure was flexible enough to be added to almost any building. I checked, and my Adventurer’s Hall already had a similar office, so I didn’t think the structure would work for it. The only downside would be staffing the buildings. This would be paired with the new player auction house, and I added both to the queue to be built.

Eternal Large Very Rare Auction House Plans (250), Requirements Woodcraft Carpentry 23, Masonry Structures 23, Ritual Magic 43, Requires Portal Stone, Range 5,000 miles. Ability: Siphon Tax 1%, Effect: Structure Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours (stacks with similar effects)

I wasn’t up to trying to draft an improved portal stone yet. Maybe once my ritual enchanting was raised. Mad Dog sent me a message, and I paused to read it. A level 30 world boss wandering monster was spotted just a hundred miles west of Malcum. It was drawing a lot of players to fight it.

Although I was not interested in joining the fight or sending NPCs to help, Mad Dog warned me that players might use Malcum as a staging area since it is one of the closer portals to the wandering monstrosity. In the forum videos, the creature was enormous and looked like a giant chipmunk. Even though the rewards would be tremendous, the Silver Linings Playbook was sitting out this fight. Mad Dog just sent two guild applicants to watch the situation. If it changed course toward our Duchy, we would have to act.

I checked on the NPCs who had just arrived in the Duchy. The expert crafters and gatherers were settling in nicely, improving the efficiency of the goods Malcum was producing. Even after just a few days, our output had increased by 6%. The new administrator in the Adventurer’s Hall in Goatyah was doing a masterful job as well. Income from the town was up 15%, mostly due to the improved quest offerings.

I still had one NPC who didn’t seem to fit in anywhere—the jester. Why did Simba select him of all the NPCs available? I took a break from drafting to track down the gnome jester named Bryce. I found him in one of the squares entertaining some players and a flock of children as he juggled ten longswords. Each sword was as long as he was tall, making the feat look nearly impossible. Maybe he was secretly a master with the weapons. After he finished his performance, he bowed to the crowd’s applause, put away the swords, and approached.

“I was wondering when Lord Tallis would find time for me,” the gnome grinned as me.

“Yes, you are doing a great job. Morale is up 7% in the city. I wanted to see what other skills you might have to contribute to the Duchy,” I said, fishing. He had not been forthright with Blood Crisis and had given him a hard time with all inquiries.

“Secrets are worth nothing if shared,” the jester replied with a much too-large smile.

“What else can you do to help the city?” I asked. He had agreed to stay as long as he could perform and keep all the donations. It was an easy agreement, as it also meant I didn’t have to pay him. Maybe it also gave him the freedom to leave whenever he chose, since we didn’t have a player-NPC contract.

“A little of this, a little of that,” the gnome replied vaguely. I was already getting frustrated.

“Did you meet Fareth yet?” I tried another tact. Titus had known Fareth and had helped settle him.

“The cook at the inn? Very bland food,” he said, scrunching his face. “She kicked me out for suggesting a different spice combination on her roasted chicken!” He said defensively. Then he smiled, “I am disappointed as I just shared my secret, and you missed it!”

He had been standing there completely still and done nothing. I mentally opened my interface and found Bryce’s information. “Huh, I am sorry I failed to meet your expectations.” There, his title changed from Jester to Diplomat in my interface, then back again. “I am guessing it is because you are not really a Jester, but maybe a diplomat?”

He laughed, smiling, “Oh, I am most certainly a jester—right now. But I can be anything I want to be, but only one thing at a time.”

“Can you be an arborist?” I asked. I had not been able to find an NPC arborist in the auction to finish the library.

The gnome seemed to concentrate, and I was shocked that his description changed from jester to arborist. Could he swap out his primary skill for anything? “I don’t think I think being an arborist,” he said after a minute and returned to being a jester. An NPC who could be anything he wanted with a thought. I didn’t think it was an illusion, just a much stronger version of the jack-of-all-trades skill my operatives got. Simba had struck gold again. Reluctantly, I turned back on his auto-renew as my companion.

It took me three hours to convince Bryce to be my arborist for just the library construction. He didn’t want any gold for the job but wanted a theater built for himself to perform in. That was an easy compromise. I started diverting some of the builders to the site where the library was cleared. It would take months, but now we had all the pieces we needed.

The theater was not impressive as I hastily drafted it. It was an outdoor sunken amphitheater with seating for five hundred.

Uncommon Sunken Amphitheater (500), Health 50,000, Requires Masonry Foundations 23, Woodcraft: Carpentry 23, Ritual Enchanting 23. Spawns 6 NPC Actors, Bonus: +10% acting skill of performers

It was a little weird that the NPC actors did not have levels. Maybe they were level 0? I didn’t invest a lot of essences in the plans as I had enough build projects, and the building only gave a very minor bonus to Malcum’s morale.

I had been so busy that I didn’t even notice my time was up. I was spammed with a dozen messages asking for permission to disconnect from the game. It had come too soon. Where were Jaesmin and Joy? Should I say goodbye in case I never returned? I didn’t have time, as apparently I didn’t need to approve the disconnect since a timer started counting down from 10.

I won’t lie; I was scared. I was alone in a white room with a couch, a TV, and access to the downloaded game wiki. A timer was counting up on one wall. If things went well, it should take about 70 real-world hours for the transportation to be complete from unplugging to my medical pod being plugged back in, and my access to Open World to be restored.

I tried to study game content, looking at what others were posting about managing towns and cities, but the uncertainty of it all weighed on me. When the timer reached 30 hours, I began to worry. When the timer hit 80 hours, I started to panic. At 82 hours, I finally received a voice message, as someone entered it manually into the pod. It was Mad Dog’s voice. It sounded a little strained.

“Tallis, don’t worry, mate. You just arrived, some issues with customs. The techs are reviewing your medical readings and will be hooking you up soon. By the way, mate, you look like shit. You definitely need some sun.” He had a forced chuckle at the end of the message. At least I had made it. I was in a private housing complex that Mad Dog owned in the Outback of Australia.

I started by just watching the clock tick away on the wall, waiting. At 85 hours, 19 minutes, and 22 seconds, I was finally prompted to enter the game. It took longer to load my avatar than I was used to, but eventually, I was standing in my Lord’s Manor bedroom. I was back, but my senses felt muted. I guessed it had something to do with the connectivity being slightly diminished.

Grinder came rushing into the Lord’s Manor, “Eh, there you are! Tallis come! Phoenix’s Rest is under siege!”

“What!?”

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