The Land: Forging (Chaos Seeds Book 2) (24 page)

The only people that remained in the room were Richter, Sion, Randolphus and Shivona
. Richter started stroking Alma’s scales. The dragonling gave a contented purr. “I am going to say this simply. I want you to build a
kytachi
vessel. Can you do it, and if so, what type of soul would you need?”

Shivona looked at him with surprise, “That is not what I was expecting you to say.”

“What were you expecting,” he asked.

“Maybe some sort of joke about the motion of the ocean?”

Richter looked at her form, curved in all the right places. Sion was laughing freely and Randolphus had given a hard cough at her words. “Not today,” Richter said with a smile. “My stomach still feels a bit queasy from all the blood that was spilled.”

“Oh, I can understand that…,” she said, “but how does your mouth feel?”

Sion stopped laughing and stared at her in shock. Randolphus’ cough now threatened to bring up a lung.

“Errr, pretty much all of me is closed for business right now.”

“Your loss,” she said with a smirk. “Now if you’re serious about making a
kytachi
, some monsters are better than others. Water based monsters are generally the best.”

“Like what,” he asked. “Lochness monster? Piranaconda? Sharknado?”

“Hmmm,” she said to Randolphus. “It’s almost like he is trying to be funny…” Looking at
Richter,
she said, “No sweetheart I mean like a water dancer, water elemental, or a kelpie.”

“Okay, so how soon do you need it,” Richter asked.

“Not until I have finished with the boat. It would be dangerous to attach a spirit to an unfinished vessel.”

“You mentioned enspelling jewels and attaching them to hull. Would that work with the defense +2 that Krom had mentioned?”

“I don’t think so. First of all, you can’t forge a ship. His skill with making enchanted weapons won’t translate to building an enchanted ship. Even without that, and I don’t know much about smithing, but it sounds like he changes the quality of the object he works upon. Something like that would not mix well when you are going to bind a spirit to the boat. Just trust me, Lord Richter. You don’t need to worry about the boat. If you give me five or six jewels, then I’ll handle the rest. What you need to worry about is who will sail it. One of the reasons
kytachi
vessels are not often made is that it takes an extremely strong will to pilot one.
Ideally,
someone with the Sailor profession would captain her, they get a bonus to ship related skills.
Theoretically, anyone with a strong will could force the spirit into submission, but if you lose the battle…”

“What happens,” Richter asked.

“If you lose the battle, you run the risk of spiritual damage. You could have a piece of your soul ripped out. You could be killed. You could even be possessed.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Richter said. “You didn’t mention anything about possession before!” Now that he was thinking of it, possession might be one of the only ways to permanently kill someone like him. “There have got to be ways to minimize the risk.”

“There are,” she assured him. “I just have no idea what they
are
.” Richter felt less assured. “I told you that I can build your
kytachi
vessel. I never told you I could captain one. My Lord, what I recommend
is you just let
me build you an enchanted ship if you can spare the gems. Whoever you choose to crew the boat can cut their teeth sailing this first enchanted vessel, and improve their sailing skills. I also will fulfill a quest of mine by working on these boats. Speaking plainly, if we wait to build the
kytachi, I can build you a better boat and you’ll have more experienced people to sail it.”

“You make a good argument,” he said. “
Okay, we will hold off on the kytachi
right now. I need the first ship built ASAP. How quickly can you have it done?”

“You said I could have one Mist Worker per day. Can you spare another?”

“After the armory, building the ship is the top priority. How about four a day?”

“More than I need, just make sure I have two at the start of each morning if you please.”

Richter nodded, “How many gems do you need, and does it matter what type?”

“Mid-level
gems will work for this. I need
five,
though six would be better. I can have the ship ready in a little over two months.”

Richter looked at her with some surprise, “You said it would take three months when I asked you a few days ago.”

She shrugged, “Things are a bit different now.”

She offered no further explanation, so Richter just shrugged in return. If he could get his ship faster, then he would take it. Richter pulled out the appraisal sheet Hafiz had made for him. After a quick check, he removed the gem chest from his Bag of Holding. It
was what he kept
his gems in. He selected three
agates, two tiger eyes
and one malachite.
Shivona
caught a glance at the wealth of gems in the small chest and gave a small gasp. Leaning in, she breathed words softly into his ear. After the first few sentences, Richter began coughing. Whatever Randy had must be catching, he thought. When she was done speaking,
Shivona
stood up slowly and gave him a smile full of promise, before walking out of the room.

Sion looked at him quizzically, “Huh! I didn’t know that someone your color
could
blush!”

Randolphus, Sion,
and Richter talked over a few more items. Richter resolved to include Terrod in future discussions like this. Even though the true significance of Companions was still unclear, Richter knew in his heart that they were important. He needed to spend more time with the
man
and figure out how he fit into this new society. He didn’t think he would
be including Elora in discussions yet
though, he thought with a smile. Giving birth to a new race had to be hard enough!

Sion gave an update on his task. He told
Richter
that he had the components to make health potions of various strengths. The other sprite that had helped him with collecting herbs, Fudave, was an apprentice in Alchemy, and the arcane gnome that had spoken up,
Beyan
, was a journeyman in Alchemy. Apparently, the gnome knew several useful potion recipes including mana replenishment. It
took at least
day to prepare, but several mana potions would be ready by tomorrow. Sion gave him a
smile and told him a few other potions
would be ready as well. When Richter asked what they were, the sprite just waved off the question. Richter told Sion that he intended to leave in the morning to unlock his next power. The sprite said he would be ready.

Sion left, and only Randolphus and Richter remained in the room. And Alma of course. She had flown to rest on a sconce set into the ceiling when
Shivona
had started getting naughty. The chamberlain and his liege sat together in silence. Richter was pretty sure Randy was feeling the same thing that he was, relief and satisfaction at being able to just sit and do nothing for a moment. Randy started scrawling some more of his endless notes. To Richter, it seemed the perfect time to learn about a few topics that had been confusing him.

First, the topics of moral and loyalty.
He, of course,
understood the basic definitions, but it seemed like they had a specific and quantifiable meaning in The Land. He checked his village interface. Once again the sprawling forest of pulldown menus filled his vision. He chose “City Mechanics.”
Sure enough
there were two subtabs next to each other. Choosing Loyalty, a timeline appeared in his vision, but instead of dates it had words: Traitor, Faithless, Disloyal, Unreliable, Neutral, Dependable, Loyal, Faithful, and Unto Death. Each had a certain number assigned to it and productivity bonuses or penalties as well. Right now ‘Dependable’ was highlighted. Apparently it took +250 Loyalty Points to reach this tic on the timeline, and it offered a +25% productivity bonus. Morale showed a similar timeline, but the grades were: Rebellious, Hateful, Angry, Unhappy, Neutral, Happy, Delighted, Joyous, Party Every Night! ‘Happy’ was highlighted. The associated factors for Morale were productivity, population growth and something called fighting spirit. Apparently because his people were ‘Happy’ they had a +10% to those three elements. And if he got to Party Every Night… 50% bonus to all three, including population growth?! That’s the kind of party he could live with! He would surround himself with fine leather bound books… and make sure his room smelled of rich mahogany!

All jokes aside, there were clear benefits to increasing both morality and loyalty. Richter snapped his fingers. That must be why the ship would be completed faster now! He made his choice.

You have chosen the Tenet: An Honorable Ruler I. Loyalty +0.5 per day for all inhabitants.

There were other subtabs under City Mechanics: Health, Commerce, Statistics, and that was just to name a few. Two more specifically caught his eye. One was Science. It was grayed
out,
however, and nothing happened when he mentally clicked on it. The second was Faith. It wasn’t only
greyed
out, it also had a deep irregular gouge through the word. Of course, clicking that tab also accomplished nothing. It was interesting to see
it, though…

The other thing he needed to know about was the bonus experience he received from leveling, “Randy,” he said breaking his chamberlain out his work focus.

“Yes, my Lord?”

“I leveled my Trade skill recently, and before that I leveled Herb Lore. I received experience for both.”

“Yes, my Lord,” Randolphus sounded unsure as to what Richter was asking.

“So why did I get the experience?”

“Ahhh. I apologize for my confusion. To most people this is common knowledge. When leveling
skills,
you will receive a bonus every ten levels. It starts with 2,000 experience points and each level gives you an extra 2,000 for every ten levels. At level 20 you would receive 4,000
experience points and so on, until level one hundred, when you receive 20,000 experience points.”

Richter did some mental math,
plus 4, then carry the 1, so…
that was another 110,000 experience points for making it to the level of master
! Richter had been taking his skill leveling at a rather relaxed pace, but now that he knew it could provide so much experience…
well
that changed everything! Richter would have to set aside some time for skill grinding sometime soon, but not until some other things were done.

They spoke about other sundry items. Richter asked if Randolphus had a good candidate to go on the trade mission. The chamberlain said he had found the perfect man, a human named Basil. Apparently, he was naturally gregarious and had managed a successful business for years in the Kingdom of Yves. His success had unfortunately made him a target for one of the King’s noble friends. Basil was given an ‘offer he couldn’t refuse’ to sell his business for coppers. The man certainly had an axe to grind against the current government of Yves. It made it easier for Richter to trust him.

More importantly from Richter’s perspective, he was a long-time
personal friend of Randolphus. The chamberlain personally vouched for the man’s
honesty
and said he could be trusted. Richter wanted Basil sent as soon as possible to rendezvous with the ship captain. He removed two hundred Potions of
Clarity
and set them on the table. He also placed five hundred gold on the table for any expenses that might arise.

Randolphus protested the sum was too big, but Richter disagreed. If he was going to trust Basil, then he was going to trust him. Richter didn’t believe in
half measures
. Randolphus
nodded his head saying he was honored for the faith he was being shown. Richter waved it away, uncomfortable with the older man getting emotional. He focused on what he
needed done
. Richter had a list of things he wanted to be brought back from Leaf’s Crossing. It included another two months of food rations, more vials, paper and a dozen other little items. Richter instructed Randolphus to poll the villagers and sprites to see if there was anything specific that they needed. He promised that he would take care of it.

That just left one unfortunate item to discuss, “Have the arrangements of the funeral been made?”

“Yes, my Lord. I have arranged for the bodies to be taken up to the meadow. I was actually going to suggest that we leave now.”