Town Builder - 74 - Eternal Legacy

Chapter 74: Eternal Legacy

I tasked Galana and her city guards to keep an eye on the players. I wished my Rouges Gallery had spawned a few agents by now, but I was out of luck. I sat at my drafting table working on the Large Guild Hall for Divine Deviants while I had a map overlay of Malcum and watched the player icons move. A fourth icon briefly flashed in the interface inside the town hall where Breda worked. Blue Moon (11) was the player’s name before it disappeared. It made sense to assume the stealthed player belonged to Frost Siren’s group. Maybe I could draft a building that would counter stealthed players in Malcum. What would that be?

My attention was drawn back to their movements. They seemed to be exploring the town, one building at a time. They were probably searching for the Deific Savior, but he had already left. It was too much to hope for them to give up and leave. However, with my new concealment skill, they couldn’t identify the bonuses the buildings provided. In fact, all the buildings should appear normal to them. Still, the impressive and varied building styles would tell them they were player built buildings.

After a while, they reached the inn, and as soon as they entered, Blue Moon appeared again on my map along with a fifth player, Constant Migraine (12). I figured that my gnome cook, Fareth, had cracked their stealth somehow. She was level 188 and owned the building. I decided it was time to go and check on my visitors. I was too distracted by their presence to draft the plans anyway.

I was wearing common NPC clothing and had my player icon turned off. I assumed I would blend into the town’s population but this was my first time trying to go incognito among players. Hopefully my NPCs would not give me away. I entered the inn to find the Eternal Legacy group talking in the corner of the inn. They hadn’t even ordered any food yet. Well, maybe it was good they hadn’t because the buffs from the food might give them another reason not to leave. I pretended to ignore them and sat at a nearby table to listen.

One of the players was not happy, “It is a goddamn epic item. The effect says it is supposed to keep me hidden as long as I make no aggressive action in town.”

One of the others mocked him, smirking at his anger, “Complain to the admins then. I am sure they will fix it right up for you.” He just growled at his companion.

The only woman in their group, a tall blonde in segmented plate armor, slapped the table. “Focus. He is not here and still has the item.” She paused, going to her interface. “Fuck. Stained Honor says Deific Savior just entered their new guild house in Knightdale. He probably stored the item by now. We need to figure out why he came here alone.” The frustrated blonde challenged her group.

“There are too many high-level NPCs for such a small town. This is definitely the remnants of one of the testers,” a blue elementalkin player offered.

The table was silent before one of the players added, “Our spies said Deific Savior was the one who procured the Guild House plans. Maybe this is where he got them.”

Frost Siren was not convinced, doubt on her face. “Maybe. There is a lot of construction, so maybe the mysterious architect has ties here. But Blue Moon and Migraine didn’t find any players in the town, and we have been here almost the entire day.” I realized that Frost Siren thought the architect was not working alone and didn’t realize how easy it was for a town lord to avoid her.

“I like this town. It has some of the best gear I have seen in NPC shops, and it goes all the way up to level thirty; the Adventurer Hall has more quests than anywhere else I have seen, and the plains nearby are good for fledgling players. I think we should establish a guild outpost here for the noobs.” An elf player advised.

Frost Siren drummed her fingers on the table, thinking. It was clear she was in charge by how the others waited on her. She came to a decision. “It is too far from our base of operations. I don’t want to spread ourselves thin. But I agree it would make a nice farm to test recruits.” She sighed, “But it is too small. What could a town like this support? Five hundred players? Maybe a thousand? We are trying out nearly one hundred thousand applicants to Eternal Legacy. We will stick with Ashfall and Titan’s Rest as the testing locations. Both cities can handle nearly half a million new players, and both are close to our center of power.”

A gnome waitress came to get an order from the group, but they waived her away, irritated at the interruption. The player with the epic item was tapping away in the air and maybe he was going to send a complaint to the admins for it not working the way it was supposed to. I ordered some food and continued to listen to them. They talked about some guild operations, mostly maneuvering to slow other guilds’ growth, not just Divine Deviants but many other guilds as well. They were mostly hampering other guilds from working on high-tiered quests and delving into the better dungeons in the area they wished to control.

It made sense, as Eternal Legacy was the top PVP guild in the world, according to Danny’s research. They worked hard at killing and stealing from other players, so they didn’t have to work hard actually doing the grunt work themselves. The top guild, Disciples of the Horde, was composed of dozens of smaller entities that operated independently but could be brought together for a common objective.

“Irene is asking about the quest item,” the elementalkin said, clearly looking at a message.

Frost Siren growled, “Tell her we don’t have it. Rest and take a few hours out of your pods. We will grind out a level in Winter Swamp dungeon in ten game hours.”

“Ugh, Siren. The Frozen Steel Witch set will only be useful for you until level twenty. Just wait until our players arrive in a few days, and they can grind out any gear sets you want.” A male in leathers said.

The blonde frosted over, literally. Her skin had a sheen of ice on it. “I pay your salary. You do what I require of you. I want to stockpile some ice essences for Archimedes. He wants to level up his potion skills and he can make us frost bombs for the Endless Flame dungeon. Once we kill the Greater Flame Drake there, we can continue on the legendary quest chain for the Ancestral Hammer artifact.”

The others slowly nodded in seeing the wisdom. I almost revealed myself because I was getting sucked into their conversation. The woman rose, “Clean out the shops in town and bring it all to our guild hall in Titan’s Rest. I will have Gray Weasel and Obsequious come and watch the town.

The group slowly rose and dispersed. I watched with my lord’s map as Frost Siren went to the portal, and the others went to all the shops in the city, cleaning them out before leaving via the portal. I relaxed some but knew they were sending others players to watch Malcum. I contacted Danny to see how she was doing.

She reported what she had been up to. “Tallis, I talked to the players here. They are from Disciples of the Horde, all level ten and using a cheat to kill level fifty monsters on the floor of the Glimmering Greed dungeon. They all leveled on their last run, but they are using a lot of consumables each time.”

“Frost Siren was just here hunting Deific Savior,” I replied.

“Shit. Did she have any hard-wired players with her?” Danny asked. “I can get back in an hour.”

“No rush. They left but are sending others to watch Malcum. Avoid Malcum until the game launches.” I said, figuring once the influx of players happened, it wouldn’t matter any longer.

“Are you sure?” Danny asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay, I am on a mini-quest chain to recruit three dwarven engineers and a shipwright,” she said excitedly.

“That sounds awesome! Don’t forget about Goatyah. It would be best if you worked on growing its commerce to support your future steam-powered skyships,” I said, laughing.

“It’s fine. If I need money, I can always go to my sugar daddy,” she said jokingly. “Okay, I need to find a way to sort out a dwarven love triangle that might be a pentagram. If you have time, check on Goatyah for me. I think this is going to take some time.”

Danny disconnected, and I was happy that she sounded happy. Maybe relocating to hide in Goatyah until the game launch wasn’t a bad idea. I could build a few buildings for her while I was there. I opened a communication with Deific Savior next.

“I hope they didn’t cause too much trouble for you,” he said conciliatorily.

“They were just looking for you and something you were carrying,” I replied.

He was silent for a moment before explaining. “It is a quest starter item from a dungeon. One of the play testers started the quest, and it reset. We got to it first, and apparently, Eternal Legacy wants it.” It sounded like he was being honest with me.

“Well, they are sending two players to watch my town, so we must do the exchange somewhere else. Can you port to Stillwater?”

“I see it on my map. I don’t have a portal unlocked there, but I will be there in three days with the time essences. Is that okay?” Savior asked.

“Agreed,” I affirmed, and we disconnected the chat.

I left the inn after consuming a hearty portion of roast duck with asparagus. I would never miss an opportunity to have Fareth’s cooking. I walked the streets and circled a few times. The two scouts had disappeared at the portal, but maybe they had returned or were hiding. I returned to my manor when I was sure my paranoia was satisfied.

It didn’t take me long to finish the Large Guild Hall for Divine Deviants. Before heading to Goatyah, I wanted to try my hand at making a building that could detect concealed and invisible players. It took me some time before I had a working concept in my head. Joy was playing in the room, and I took frequent breaks to join her as I brainstormed.

The building was going to look like a lighthouse. That could be odd since we were not on a sea or ocean. I shifted to making it more of an obelisk-like the Washington Monument, but with a black facade. It was also going to be the tallest building in Malcum at over five hundred feet in height.

The interior was going to have an NPC caretaker on the first floor, and the rest of the building would be runic works focused on its purpose: to reveal those trying to hide within Malcum’s borders. The pinnacle pyramid would be clear panels to give a watcher an unobstructed view. There was no point in hiding the structure’s true purpose as it wouldn’t be hard to figure out.

Very Rare Watchtower Obelisk 500,000 Health, Requires Masonry Structures 43, Masonry Foundations 43, Ritual Enchanting 43 (Bonus: Overwatch NPC, Level 50, Always Active Unless Slain. Respawn 72 hours) (Bonus: Increases Town Map Visibility by 50%) (Bonus Ability: Nowhere to Hide) Effect: Building Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours

The health of the structure seemed a little low for the amount of material the plans were calling for. The essences to build it were also painful looking at the list. I didn’t have my ritual enchanting high enough, but Harrod, the foxkin, did. The overwatch NPC was the caretaker I had manifested with tweaking the plans.

The ability nowhere to hide was the entire objective of the structure. I expanded the ability to read it.

Nowhere to Hide: Nullifies all invisibility and concealment items within a range of the watchtower up to twice the level of the operator. Burns one minor illusion essence every twenty-four hours.

I had made a spinning lighthouse beacon inside the glass zenith, and the small furnace in the light consumed the illusion essences. I hadn’t expected the effect to require fuel, but the ability was so powerful that I didn’t care. After fiddling with the interface, I found the nowhere to hide ability extended to my lord’s map.

Looking at the scope of the structure, I guessed it would take four days for Sanso, Jaesmin, and me to build. Maybe shorter if I pulled my other NPC builders. Still, I had twenty major essences that I needed to build the structure. I sent the list to Savior and asked if he could procure them.

This resulted in a quick back-and-forth. I promised him one of my earlier plans for the alchemy building, which I already had a copy of.

Very Rare Alchemy Shop, Health 50,000, Requires Masonry Foundations 23, Masonry: Structures 23, Woodcraft: Carpentry 23(Skill Bonus: +10% to potion crafting speed and potency) 

The building was not overly powerful in my eyes, but Savior thought otherwise, and I could hear the anxiousness in his voice in getting his hands on it. His eagerness was not for the potency enhancement but the crafting speed bonus. The more potions an alchemist could craft, the faster they would raise their alchemy skills and produce more potions for the guild machine. The only negative for the structure was it only had three workstations, so only three players could benefit from it. That was not my problem to solve, but they could rotate crafters in twelve-hour shifts and double the building workers.

I hadn’t seen Frost Siren’s players in Malcum, and I just assumed they were there and had been warned by the other two scouts. I walked out in plain clothes again and found Sanso working under Breda’s supervision.

“Suppose you are going to steal my best builder,” Breda said, exasperated. The crescent lake excavation was going well, and Malcum was thriving. I handed her the guardhouse plans, and she nodded appreciatively and agreed the ends of the already completed bridge spanning the crescent lake were good places for the two guard houses.

Then I handed her the obelisk plans. She turned them in her hands, a smile forming on her face. “You have outdone yourself, Lord Tallis. Any ruler would pay a ransom for these.”

She had said that awfully loud, and I hissed, “Let’s wait until the obelisk is built until we talk openly.” Breda looked around, confused.

“Are you talking about those players sneaking around yesterday? One tried to enter my office, and I scared the pants off him when I asked him what he was up to,” she laughed to herself. “My perception skill is too high for players to sneak up on me.” She turned once in place. “Don’t see anyone.”

I relaxed some, but maybe the players Frost Siren had mentioned were hard-wired players with high levels of skill. I moved the plans into my personal storage. “I am going to spend the next few days in Goatyah working on buildings there. Sanso, Jaesmin, and the others can get these guard posts built, and when I get the essences for them, I will return. I will also have the essences for the obelisk.”

Sanso and my NPC builders had all the skills to build the shacks, and he understood their importance. He sent his earth golems to harvest high-quality stone for both the guard houses and the obelisk. Getting a large build bonus would increase the structures' NPCs’ effectiveness. We wouldn’t start the obelisk until I returned, though.

I checked on Simba, who was still only completing one quest a day. Annoying, but at least it was something. I decided to take my bodyguard Yorric with me and sent him to get our horses.

Before leaving, I walked around Malcum and talked with Galana, Tanguin, and Jaesmin. Jaesmin wanted me to take Joy with me, but I refused. She would be safer in the Lord’s Manor. Kytalia stopped me before I left on Titan. The orc woman was my Master of Guilds.

I pulled her into a secure building just in case. “Lord Tallis, I wanted your permission to alter production.”

“Alter production?” I asked, confused.

“Most of the shops were emptied by the players yesterday, and it will take a few days to restock, but I wanted to focus all gear on level fifteen and lower,” she explained. “Higher-level gear takes longer for the crafters, and there will not be any players who can use it for some time.”

“You didn’t need to ask me for permission.” Kytalia was in charge of keeping the crafters busy and slotting NPCs into productive roles in Malcum. It turns out she did need my permission to change production, as each crafter I employed was free to craft what they wanted. I changed her permissions in my settings for her position.

The only drawback was that my NPC crafter and skill growth would be slowed somewhat with not challenging their skills. They already received multiple crafting bonuses from the Sullen God Temple and my lordship. I still thought it best to prepare for the influx of players with lower-level gear. With so many players joining the game, it was unavoidable that Malcum would host a number of them, including my guild, The Silver Linings Playbook.

As I rode the short four miles to Goatyah, I was on alert, but I saw nothing. Maybe Frost Siren never sent her spies to watch Malcum. With the scope of the game, I could see how having two players sit and watch a town and waste their early start advantage would not sit well with them.

When I reached Goatyah, I started working right away. I focused on getting the smaller but easier-to-build support buildings built. Her only industry was mining, so over the next two days, I focused on helping her mediocre builders rush some buildings to completion.

Danny was making slow progress on her recruitment quest. She was stubborn and did not want to give up, though. I encouraged her as I worked on her town. Maybe I was being too cautious in avoiding Eternal Legacy. That thought was abruptly quashed when a player named Gray Weasel (11) walked into Goatyah. I should have been hearing from Deific Savior today to meet, and it seemed too much of a coincidence that this player found me.

He was dressed in all gray, and his skin was tight to his face. I used my analyze skill on him to find out his unfamiliar race. He was an undead: vampire. Well, this was new. It didn’t take him long to start walking toward me since the town was so small. I wasn’t the lord of Goatyah, so I couldn’t hide the fact I was a player here. He smiled in what might have been a friendly gesture, except he had fangs.

His question threw me off, “I seem to be a bit lost. Can I trouble you for some directions?”

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