Town Builder - 71 - Divine Deviants

Chapter 71: Divine Deviants

Another confrontation, so soon. I drained my ale and got a minor debuff notification.

Mild Intoxification: Intellect and Speed penalized 3%

“Danny, the guild Divine Deviants entered Malcum,” I said while putting down my empty cup.

Danny looked surprised, “That was very fast.”

“My guess is Sinful Echo sold Malcum’s location before we made our deal. What do you know about the guild?” I asked as I checked their location on my lord’s map interface. They were standing outside the lord’s manor.

Danny tapped the air to bring something up. “Divine Deviants is a professional gamer corporation. It looks like it was founded in the Republic of South Korea, and its members are mostly Japanese and Korean.” Danny focused on me. “They are the third largest professional gaming corporation in the world.”

“That bad, huh? Do you have internet access?” I indicated her screens.

“No, I just downloaded information to my pod that I can access. It's stuff I thought I would need. I can have my parents get it to my pod if you think of anything.”

“I should probably go meet with them. At least with my high-level NPCs, I should be able to deter them from taking over Malcum for a while. You should stay out of sight as my ace if I need help.” I stood, but my irritation was showing through.

Danny shook her head. “Tallis, when the game launches, Divine Deviants will have over ten thousand players on payroll, funneling resources to their guild. Be careful in how you deal with them. They might have less than a hundred players in the game right now, but they will be their best players.” 

Her comment made me pause and reconsider my planned actions. I had planned to go in haughty and ignore their demands, maybe even making veiled threats myself. But this was not like Sinful Echo, which was a two-man operation. As I paused, Danny added, “Most of the players may be live streaming, too. But maybe not if they are trying to hide where the master architect is located.” That gave me another headache. Of course, that was a possibility.

I walked the short distance from the inn to my manor. The five players were standing outside and studying the structure. All the players were level nine, and I was able to get all their names with my analyze skill. Deific Savior, Cursed Fury, Blacklight, Cinders, and Kaleidoscope. All were males, and there were two humans, two elves, and one fire elementalkin. It looked like Deific Savior was the leader of the group. By his name, I assumed he was conceited, but I went into the conversation with an open mind.

“Player?” Savior asked me as I approached. My level was too high, and the mask also prevented me from being analyzed by his skills.

I decided to play dumb to get them talking. “I am. Are you here for the Adventurer’s Hall? It is two blocks that way.” I pointed down the street.

Savior smiled, and by his features, I guessed him to be Korean, but you could change your appearance during character creation. The in-game translation software was nearly seamless. He had a charismatic voice as he talked. “We purchased info on this town from another player as a good start zone. The architecture of this building reminds me of an English castle.”

I winced internally as I had modeled the lord’s manor after a famous English estate. In fact, even if players couldn’t identify buildings in Malcum, the variances in their structure were a red flag signaling a player had built all these buildings. I put on my fake smile, “What are you hoping to find here? Who sold you the location?”

Savior maintained his smile. “Sinful Echo, though his motives were not pure. We have been butting heads with his sister, Frost Siren. He said this town would give us a way to teach her a lesson. So far, I am not quite seeing it.” He looked at me expectantly to answer his question. My mind sorted Sinful Echo’s motivation. Sinful Echo had sold me out to his sister’s enemies. It made sense if Sinful Echo was falling behind his sister in levels and wanted to put up a roadblock for his sister.

“I don’t understand. Isn’t Divine Deviants one of the most powerful guilds in the world? Are you having trouble with one player?” I inquired.

Savior laughed, but the players behind him looked angry. “Not keeping up with the news, then?” He let his laugh die out, “Claudia has purchased Eternal Legacy, the second largest gamer corp. She has practically declared war on us. Our players and theirs are constantly fighting. Almost unfathomable with how big the game world is. Frost Siren is actively seeking us out. Wiped my party two days ago, coming out of a dungeon.”

I chewed on my tongue for a moment before asking, “What is your relationship with Sinful Echo, then?”

Savior arched an eyebrow, “Acquaintances only. He exchanged this location for two quest items and thirty thousand gold.”  I wondered if Sinful Echo was going to be able to use those quest items. Most quests require you to harvest materials personally. It was not my concern at the moment. I wish I had Mad Dog here to help navigate guild politics.

“What do you expect to find here?” I asked, trying to get some actual answers instead of dancing around the topic. If Savior was telling the truth, then maybe I could squeeze my way through this. 

Savior seemed to be cautious as he thought for long seconds before asking, “I am guessing the lord of this town knows who the player architect is.”

I didn’t deny his assumption, “And what do you want with the architect?”

Savior was extremely intelligent. He gauged his words based on how I was reacting. He was clearly in the weaker position here. “We would like to purchase building plans directly from the architect.”

“Why would he agree to that? He would make an enemy of the other player guilds,” I stated.

Savior seemed prepared for my reply. “Divine Deviants will not ask the architect to only sell to us. He is free to sell to anyone.” He hedged a little, “We just ask he—or she doesn’t advertise his services. If the architect wants, we could offer our guild’s protection from the other guilds, but that would require an exclusivity contract.”

I admired how he tacked that on at the end. It was his true goal but he disguised it with his polite words. Fortunately, I had a level of disparity at the moment and didn’t need protection. “How many players do you have in the game currently?” I asked conversationally.

“Sixty-five. The guild rankings have not been activated, but I can tell you that Eternal Legacy has ninety-six, and Disciples of the Horde has over two hundred.” I nodded, figuring Disciples was the top guild. “We have a non-aggression pact with the Horde,” Savior added with a nod.

“Do your counts include the hard-wired players,” I asked after a moment of calculation.

Savior sighed, “No. There has been a rush to recruit the hard-wired players, but most are resisting joining a guild. It is hard for the mice to convince the elephant to follow. But those hard-wired players who do not understand their resistance today will make their lives that much more difficult tomorrow when the mice become the dragons. Most of the powerful guild leaders do not forget slights.”

“Does that go for you as well?” I asked cautiously. I couldn’t decide if he was warning me or threatening me.

Savior shrugged, “I am just one of seventeen vice-guild leaders in Divine Deviants. There are three leaders that run our guild.” He pointed at his four party members, “Right now, I am just a team leader.”

“I can contact the architect for you,” I said cordially. “Uncommon plans are twenty-five thousand gold, rare plans one hundred thousand.”

Savior choked on his tongue, and his group darkened. “That high?” He said to himself. “But I suppose that is what he would have obtained in the auction. Show me what you are offering, and I will ask my leader.”

I held back a smile. “Give me a moment to have the architect send me the identified plans.” I pretended to work the interface and prepared to send him four plans I had already drafted. After ten minutes, I requested he open his personal chat window to drop the plan descriptions in.

Rare Medium Guild House (100), Health 300,000, Requires Masonry Structures 43 (Bonus +50% to all pool recovery, +25% experience gain for 8 hours if rested for 8 hours in guild house)

Rare Blacksmith, Health 90,000, Requires Masonry: Structures 23, Woodcraft Carpentry 23 (Bonus 5% chance to upgrade smelted ore quality, +4 to Forging skills, +25% to forged item durability) 

Uncommon Granary, Health 20,000, Requires Masonry Structures 23 (Bonus: anti-vermin aura, 100 feet)

Uncommon Logging Camp, Health 50,000, Requires Woodcraft Carpentry 23 (Bonus 50% to Stamina Recovery, +1% chance for unique resource per tree harvested) 

I had chosen buildings that did not have my Eternal Architect special ability attached to them. These buildings also did not require ritual magic or essences to construct. Savior was staring for a long time, and Blacklight got impatient; in Korean, he asked, “What did he send you?” Since he hadn’t had the translation app going, it took my interface a moment to catch up.

Slightly annoyed, Savior sent the descriptions to his party, which studied them intently. Cursed Fury asked, “Do the effects of the Guild House stack with EXP potions? Will the experience bonus accumulate if we are logged off?”

“Yes,” I replied, thinking he was starting to drool.

“We need to decide where to build it,” Cursed Fury said as if the purchase was a forgone conclusion.

“It can only house one hundred players,” Savior said after a moment. He was clearly communicating with his leaders. The players started to talk in their interface in what I assumed was a guild chat. Savior paused and addressed me. “What is a unique resource?" 

I took to my own interface to send him the description and what unique resources I had gained when it triggered. A stash of coins, some minor enchanted items buried with time, and a few notifications of quality jumps on the lumber harvested from that particular tree. Nothing game-breaking but boons for my small town. Savior nodded and returned to his guild chat.

After nearly half an hour, and me starting to fidget, Savior turned to me with a big smile. “We will take three guild houses, three blacksmiths, and one logging camp.”

“Excuse me?” I said, stunned.

“A guild as large as Divine Deviants will have multiple enclaves in cities. We won’t found a city until we determine the ideal location, so these plans will get our top crafters and grinders settled in three key areas.” He smirked, “One of the leaders wants to try his hand at being a lumberjack, but she is paying her own coin for the plans.”

His friendly nature almost had me post more plans immediately to try and wring out as much gold as I could from the Divine Deviants, but I restrained myself. I didn’t know how much longer the ruse of me not being the architect could continue, but I tried, “Okay. I think he has a few copies ready, but he is off activating portals in other cities at the moment. He needs half a day to get to get to a city and transfer them to Malcum.” The only thing I needed to draft was a third set of the blacksmith plans, but they didn’t need to know that. “In the meantime, you can check out the quests in the Adventurer’s Hall.”

I retreated into the manor and updated Danny. Danny had been busy communicating with the outside world through her pod. “Tallis, Mad Dog said Divine Deviants don’t have too many bludger blokes, but there are some pricks in their number. He advised caution and not to show too many cards to them. He also said his group is getting antsy about joining us here.”

“That was the impression I got as well. Can you keep an eye on them?” I asked sweetly.

Danny squinted at me comically, “I feel like a spy working for you. But since I cannot gain any experience, I suppose watching some players grind in the wild won’t be so bad. I guess I need to repay some of the favors I owe you,” she sighed theatrically.

I went inside, and instead of redrafting the plans, I incorporated my ritual magic into the Guild House plans and expanded the supportive population to five hundred. It was a mild risk, but Danny mentioned favors owed, so maybe I could have Dive Deviants owe me a favor as well. I tried to hold back as much as possible and focused on minor upgrades to hopefully not increase the rarity. Eight hours later, the product was acceptable.

Rare Large Guild House (500), Health 600,000, Requires Masonry Structures 43, Ritual Magic 23 (Bonus +66% to all pool recovery, +25% experience gain for 8 hours if rested for 8 hours in guild house) (Bonus: Staffed by 1 NPC level 25 NPC healer) Effect: Building Regenerates 1% health every 24 hours (stacks with similar effects)

I hadn’t added much, but I improved the training areas a little, added more common recreational rooms, and two wings of player rooms. The player rooms acted just like an inn. It was a private room only the player could access. If they were booted from the guild, they could still access their room in a guild. It was a great way to hide items from other players. The NPC healer was not a huge boon, but free healing was free healing.

Before meeting up with Savior, I went to visit Zion and retrieve a skill book from his library. I had decided on skill concealment over obfuscation. Obfuscation would help me hide my own stats, but concealment would hide my gear, and Breda had said it would extend to all the buildings in my town. Zion was not here, and a young wolf beastkin was watching the store.

We had five novice copies of the skill book, and as I learned the skill, it crumbled to dust. Skill books did that for players. NPC could learn a skill from a skill book but couldn’t level it with more skill books like players. I checked and made sure the skill appeared in my character sheet. It was there and was my 26th skill outside my five class/bonus skills, and the skill was charisma-based. My skill advancement penalty increased from 3% to 6%, but I felt it was necessary. I wondered how many more skills I would consider necessary in the future.

Artistry: Drafting (FOCI SKILL) 48 Int

Earth Magic (FOCI SKILL) 42 Mag

Enchanting: Ritual Magic 10 Stam

Masonry: Structures 43 Stam

Reading: Common 4 Int

Air Magic 4 Chan

Air Magic: Force 6 Str

Air Magic: Lightning 4 Spd

Analyze 19 Int

Artistry: Carving 13 Chr

Axe 13 Ag

Axe: Two Handed 15 Str

Concealment 1 Int 

Cooking 8 Ag

Earth Magic: Stone 45 Con

Enchanting 12 Chan

Enchanting: Runic Script 14 Ag

Laborer 24 Str

Leadership 20 Chr

Masonry 42 Str

Masonry: Foundations 44 Con

Nature Magic 15 Mag

Nature Magic: Plant 16 Chan

Ranged 36 Ag

Riding: Land 41 Stam

Spirit Magic 2 Con

Spirit Magic: Life 2 Mag

Woodcraft 34 Chan

Woodcraft: Carpentry (23) 36 Luck

Woodcraft: Furniture 12 Char

Woodcraft: Lumberjack 7 Stam

Yes, I had made a few some mistakes in my skill selection. Maybe more than a few. So far, there was no way to purge a skill. It was rough seeing my skills remain static for so long. I looked at the shelf and reached for another copy of the concealment skill. This wouldn’t work—right? I started to study the book, and with my Intellect bonuses, it crumbled less than an hour later again.

I opened my skill list, and my concealment skill increased from 1 to 2. Huh. Just to make sure I did it again and the skill raised to 3. So, we could obtain skills and use skill books but not gain experience in skills. Novice skill books could raise a skill to 7. From 8 to 23, it took expert skill books, which were much more expensive. Not that gold was going to be a problem for me. Did this also mean that quests that rewarded skill points would work? Those quests were much rarer, but I had seen only a few.

I walked down the streets considering and sent Savior and Danny a message I was headed to the Adventurer’s Hall. I reached it first, and Neral was at his counter, and I approached the Guild Hall Master. “How have the new players been?” I inquired.

“Excitable bunch, but just taking generic quests. They are on a quest chain that will reveal a dungeon entrance deep in the mountains past Goatyah.” Neral said conversationally. “But don’t worry, their level is much too low to complete the chain and reach the dungeon.”

“Well, thanks for the information. Can I start the same chain quest?” I asked interested. 

“Once they fail the quest or don’t take the next one in the chain, the first quest will reappear when the boards renew.” I looked over at the longboard of postings. “I won't know the quest sequence until the first quest is activated,” he answered my question. It is like a book with only one chapter; once that chapter is read, the rest of the chapters appear to me.

There was so much I didn’t know about this game. Our conversation was interrupted as Deific Savior and his party entered, Danny not far behind. They were all level 10 and looked fairly cheerful. Savior came to me while his party went to Neral to turn in some quests. “Do you have all the building plans,” he asked hopefully.

I nodded. “Since you have acted in good faith so far, the Architect prepared a larger Guild House for you. It took him extra time, but he is just going to charge you the same rate as the other buildings.”

“Really?” he responded with curiosity.

I put all the building plans in the trade window, and he placed 625,000 gold unflinchingly on his side. I hit complete and he took a moment to confirm the plans before also hitting the complete button. I immediately transferred the funds to Malcum’s treasury under the Lord’s Manor. I was just being cautious but didn’t expect a betrayal.

“Excellent,” Savior said as he reviewed the new Guild House. “I am sure leadership will be pleased.” He studied me. “After we construct these, we will be interested in further transactions. If we can get crafter buildings ready before they join us, all the better.”

I hesitated as I had Very Rare Alchemy Shop and Rare Leatherworks. But there were just three workstations in both structures. It was not something I had given much thought to when I originally drafted them for my NPCs.

The blacksmith had room for six NPCs or players, so it was a decent purchase for Divine Deviants. I didn’t offer them anything else as I was flush with gold and had other things I wanted to do, like check up on Simba and do some questing with Danny. “Well, you know where to find me. I can get in touch with the architect for you, but be aware that it takes time for him to draft the structures. Are you aware of the building bonuses?” Of course, I knew he wasn’t, as no one had the opportunity to build buildings with bonuses.

Deific Savior looked confused, “Bonuses?”

“If you hire NPCs to build the buildings, they will come out just like the plans. However, if you increase the quality of the materials and have players supervise the construction with the necessary skills, you can get upwards of a 50% increase in the bonuses. I am actually guessing a perfect build could double the bonuses, but I have not seen anything beyond a 50% increase.” Telling him was my show of goodwill for their guild. They would have learned it eventually, and maybe this little tidbit would get me a future favor.

“Shit. Really? Makes sense that it would follow the alchemy and smithing rules. This changes a lot.” He said to himself mostly. He checked the plans again, “Shit. A level 43 skill? Well, leadership’s problem, not mine.”

 “Are you going to be leaving then?” I asked nonchalantly.

“Yeah, we are meeting up with two other teams to tackle a dungeon outside of Corinth.” A friend request popped into my interface, and I accepted it. “Well, when we get some builders and more gold I will be in touch, Architect.” I tried not to look surprised that he had figured it out but didn’t deny it either.

After they left, I walked over to Danny. “How were they?”

“They behaved themselves.” She said.

“How do you feel about going out and collecting some skill books in other cities?” I asked, holding back a smirk.

“Skill books? Why do you need skill books?” She asked, confused.

“We both need skill books. Let me tell you about something I just learned….”

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