Survival Quest (The Way of the Shaman: Book #1) (25 page)

"Why get all worked up? We hand in the Malachite and split," said Clutzer, as if reading my thoughts.

"Don't you understand? We'll finish the quest tomorrow, hand in the Malachite, and do what exactly for the next seven days? Just warm the ground with our backsides, without even checking that place out? We're all level 13, except for Mahan, who with his rings could easily pass for a level 19. Tomorrow we'll hand in the quest, reach Respect, pack some food and head off to the cave. Even if we die on the way there, all that would happen to us is that we'll end up in our mines before the rest - reputation does not get reset. In the main gameworld you'd need a week at the most to reach level 12. There are quests there! So, in essence, we've got nothing to lose: if we die from Rats or from the boss, we'll return to our mine and leave it straight away. If we kill them, we'll collect all the bonuses. The ogre did say that we'll take with us everything that we loot here. We all have to decide on this, but I believe that we can't let a chance like this slip away."

I didn't know about the rest, but I had some thinking to do. On one hand, I've died before and, although painful, it wasn't exactly fatal. But on the other hand, there was something that made dying in the mine very undesirable - the Crafting stat. If I died, it would get reset too. Though I completely agreed with Eric about the rest (with my Hunter it only took me a couple of days to reach level 10), levelling up in Crafting again would not be that easy. I also suspected that I would not be able to make the chess pieces if my Crafting was too low. Damn, again we had a situation where 'the honey is sweet, but the bee stings'. And this time the sting was a big one.

"Let's decide tomorrow. We still have to get 13 more pieces, hand them in and make sure the quest is completed. We can talk after that," suggested Leite, to everyone's agreement. Once we had fought our way to the exit, we went off to do some thinking.

Unable to come up with anything to keep myself busy, I headed to Lish. I only had a look at his wares once, and in a great hurry. A more thorough browse through his stores would be good, in case there was something useful. 

"Ah, what people grace us with their presence today," said the dwarf, happy to see me. Unlike Rine, who was always working, Lish was always sitting on a log. I wondered which of them was a wrong type of dwarf: the one always working or the one always sitting.

"What fates bring the Rat Terror of Dolma to call on my humble person?" So Lish knows how to sneer too. I think I like our Rine better.

"I thought I'd come and have a look what I can buy from such an esteemed dwarf, but I see that he's busy taking a rest. I'll be off then," I've practiced this phrase on Rine, except in his case it was 'working' instead of 'taking a rest'. As usual, the phrase worked like a charm: Lish immediately jumped to his feet.

"What do you mean 'I'm busy'? All I do is wait around for people to come and start buying my wares. But they only come to sell the ore - they don't even look at the goods."

"Why look at them if all the dwarves have the same wares? Whether it's back in my mine or here or anywhere else. I didn't see anything of interest on the first day - nothing I've not seen with Rine, who sells things in my mine - although he'd probably have more goods than you. Quite a lot more."

"What? You didn't even look at my stuff properly and are trying to talk it down already? I've got at least ten different picks. And what about boots and jackets? Have a proper look, will you?" Lish got all worked up, taking out his wares from a large bag and laying them out right there on the ground. I couldn't get a reaction like that out of Rine. My skills must be growing, by and by.

Jackets, trousers, boots, picks, beginner recipes in a separate stack: in general, all the standard stuff, as with Rine. There wasn’t a single item with stat bonuses, the only difference being in the level of armor (in clothes), durability and strength of damage (in picks). I shook my head and looked at Lish. Ehh... a pity, I thought he might have had something of interest. But this...

Seeing my disappointed face, Lish seemed to lose heart. Now it was his turn to give his wares a joyless glance-over, though he was praising them as the best in the world just a minute ago; he was looking more downcast every second. Well, sorry - if you don't have anything, you don't have anything.

"No, Lish," I decided to speak only the truth, harsh as it might be for the dwarf. "You have the same stuff as everyone else - the same clothes, the same picks and the same recipes. But to Rine I even went for Precious Stones, which I needed for my Jewelcraft. Now there's someone that can get hold of anything," I decided to finish off the dwarf, embellishing things somewhat. Just a little. I decided not to say that Rine told me to get lost with these requests. But that doesn't matter.

I turned and was about to head off only to be stopped by Lish's happy shout:

"Mahan, hold on! Why didn't you say right away that you do Jewelcraft? I have something here that I rarely bring out, since I hardly ever come across Jewelers. Have a look," Lish rummaged around his bag and I read a message that appeared in front of me:

Attention! You used special properties of the Trade profession: you are being offered non-standard goods.

Skill increase:

+1 to Trade. Total: 6

Lish took out a scroll of some kind.

"Here I bought a couple of Jewelcraft recipes a while back, but haven't managed to sell them to anyone. I'm sorry, but I can't let them go for less than 20 gold a piece - that's how much I bought them for. And I'm not going to sell at a loss."

"Agreed. No-one's in the business of losing money. But let me have a look at what recipes you have first, or I may already have them and won’t be able to get my money back."

"Look, by all means. It's not like you can activate them while they're still mine," said Lish and handed me the scrolls.

So, what did we have here...

Greater Copper Ring.

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  Description: Greater Copper Ring. Durability: 80. +2 random Stats from the main list (Stamina, Strength, Agility, Intellect and Rage). Minimum level: 8.
  
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  Crafting requirements: minimum Jewelcraft level 8.
  
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  Ingredients: 2 Copper Ingots.
  
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  Instruments: Jeweler's Tools.
  

Bronze Wire.

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  Description: used in the crafting of bronze rings and neck-chains.
  
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  Crafting requirements: minimum Jewelcraft level 10.
  
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  Ingredients: 1 Bronze Ingot.
  
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  Instruments: Jeweler's Tools.
  

Bronze Ring of Strength.

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  Description: Bronze Ring. Durability: 100. +2 Strength. Minimum level: 10.
  
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  Crafting requirements: minimum Jewelcraft level 10.
  
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  Ingredients: 2 Bronze Wires.
  
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  Instruments: Jeweler's Tools.
  

Aside from the Bronze Ring of Strength, there were also Bronze Rings of Stamina, Intellect, Agility and Rage.  So, if Copper Rings gave random stats, starting with Bronze they were pre-set for each ring. Great, but how is it implemented? Will I have to learn through trial and error again? Doesn’t matter. Seven Jewelcraft recipes for 20 gold each... These dwarves have it made.

"I'll take them. Here's the money."

New Jewelcraft recipe learned. Greater Copper Ring. Total recipes: 8

After learning the other recipes and losing 140 gold, I went to sleep. Having suppressed my greed-toad, my inner hoarding hamster was happily examining the new recipes, while the toad was left to weep over the spent gold. Never mind, oh green one: we still have about two thousand gold left, so things aren't that bad. Recipes are always useful. Now I just had to figure out where to get hold of Bronze Ingots and whether to go for that boss or not. If that boss was even there. Why would there be one in a mine for prisoners? Our task was to gather ore, not hunt down bosses. But then again, those Rats must be here for a reason. So it remained an open question. Tomorrow we'll be finished with the Malachite and then see.

We mined the 13 pieces of Malachite ourselves and had no need of the pieces we were owed for Rat clearing. This made all the groups very happy, but at the same time very downcast. They still had four to five days to go before they were done, so although the extra Malachite was good, they saw that this could also mean the end of my guarding duties and the Rats would be gnawing at them now.

At the end of the working day, we cleared the Rats on our way out of the Mine and headed to the lop-sided and worn administration building. That's it, the quest was completed and we could take a rest for the remaining seven days. Wonderful.

"I told you that the next time I wanted to see you was when you hand in your quota!" the ogre's roar shook the office. Unlike the Pryke office, there were no paintings, curtains or a big table with a throne-like chair here. The furnishings were quite Spartan, nothing extravagant: a simple table and chair. That was it.

"There's a reason we're here," I replied for the others as the raid-leader. "The assignment has been completed - Eric bring it over."

Eric took out the pieces of Malachite and put them on the table before the ogre. And why not? He told us to hand it in to him, so that's what we're doing. With each piece that Eric laid on the table, the ogre's jaw dropped lower and lower. By the last piece he turned into something altogether unrecognizable. Eh, if I could only take a screen-shot of this - I'd win more than one contest with this picture: a shocked ogre. Such a sight was worth seven days' work.

"Here are the hundred pieces, including Karachun's share - he's gone for a rest just now. So, is the quest completed?"

The ogre nodded, still standing and quietly staring at the pile of Malachite.

Quest "Bloody Malachite" competed. Reward: Respect of the Pryke Mine Guards, Respect of the Pryke Mine Governor.

There was a melodious chiming and a glow appeared above our heads. Hello main gameworld, I'll be seeing you soon. But first I had to settle the matter with the boss. Some thought also had to be given to the other groups - it wasn't right to ditch them just like that.

"'You have become the fifth fastest team to meet the Malachite quota in the entire history of the mine," the ogre finally recovered himself, stepped away from the table and headed towards the exit. "Wait here."

A few minutes later he was back, carrying some objects in his hands. Wow, does this mean that we'll be getting some rewards now? Great! It's nice to join the ranks of the fastest miners. But my greed-toad started to fidget again - if not for Karachun's quota, which we were working off today, we would have completed the quest yesterday and taken an even higher place. Damn, why didn't they tell us this was a competition? We'd have worked even faster or asked for two pieces of Malachite from the other groups for protection.

"According to an old decree of the Emperor, if a group of Malachite miners becomes one of the fastest five, they are to be given a reward for their work. Karachun will receive his in his mine - I'll send it today. Now, to deal with you lot."

The ogre started to give out the rewards. Eric received some kind of a shield, at which he stared like the ogre at the Malachite before. Impressive - when he equipped it his Hit Points immediately increased by 130. So, this little shield gave at least +13 to Stamina. Not a bad bonus for a beginner tank. And if you take into account that it should provide a fair amount of armor, it was really priceless.

Clutzer got two daggers. They had no Stamina bonus, but his face soon resembled Eric's. What did they all get, really? My hands were itching to take it all and have a look.

Leite received a sword. He was good and restrained himself, only his eyes widened a little, but immediately returned to normal. The sword didn't have any Stamina on it either, since the Hit Points didn't increase, so it probably came with a Strength bonus.

When the ogre came round to me, my inner hamster stood on its hind legs, lifted and folded its front paws and, drooling and wagging its tail, watched the approaching ogre expectantly with love-filled eyes. Such a sell-out!

The ogre handed me something resembling a Tambourine and a stick with a knob on the end. And that's it? A shadow of disappointment even crossed my face: I already had a Tambourine, although I had to use my hand to hit it since it came without such a stick. I don't remember what it's called, I should have a look in the properties. Ehh, the others got a shield, daggers and a sword, and all I got was this shoddy Tambourine. I took it from the ogre and checked out the properties.

Shaman's Tambourine Trala with a Mallet. Double-handed item. Durability: unbreakable. Description: Using a Shaman's Tambourine Trala during kamlanie decreases Spirit summoning time by 50%. The penalty for summoning all Spirits is decreased by 50%. When the Tambourine is in Shaman's hands: + (Character level) Intellect. The Mallet can be used as a blunt weapon: Damage: (Strength * 2). Tambourine and Mallet can be combined with other items. Item class: Scaling. Level restrictions: None.