034: Preparation for the Horde 2
<11 August 2024, GRAND MESA OF SUMMER , A+>
[Theo and Julia]
Theo and Julia sit up, both of them rubbing their heads. Theo is the first to speak, "What the hell was that?"
"I don't know, we got that message, and then - Blam! We were on the ground." Julia said.
Theo thought about Soil Born since that was what he was thinking of when the information hit. He realized that now when he thought of Soil Born, he realized it was one path he could follow. "Oh wow, I think that we may have just had some information about how our classes advance shoved into our heads."
Julia thought about Hearts Hearthtender and knew things about it now. "I think you are right. But why did we receive that?"
"Maybe it was intentional?" Theo said, wondering why some cosmic entity that had apparently lost a bet to Theo and Julia would want to help them. "It had to have been an accident."
They were about to continue their discussion when a sound drew their attention, and the Corrupted Goblin Chief was watching them.
Theo looked down at the ring still on the ground. "You want to wear it, or should I?"
"You should. It sounded like Lord Ka the Mournful, that is a mouthful of a name, wanted you to wear it." Julia said, recalling the message that had been sent.
Theo nodded and picked up the Ring of Eternal Mourning and then slipped it onto the middle finger of his right hand. He felt a wash of power flood into him from the ring and then back. A thrumming band of energy connected Theo to the ring.
"So once a day, we get to ask a question, and the System will provide some answers?" Julia asked, looking at the ring on Theo's hand.
"That's how I interpreted the Identification," Theo said. He watched the Corrupted goblin Chief as he began a slow walk towards them. "Let's go into the cabin and try it out."
Julia nodded and walked the short distance back to the relative safety of the Runic Array they had constructed; Theo followed behind and stepped into the open doorway of the Cabin.
"So what should we ask?" Julia wondered out loud.
"I think we should ask about the Horde. Or the Mark." Theo said.
Julia nodded, "That is a good idea."
Theo looked at the ring and felt it waiting. "Please tell us about the horde or the Mark."
They waited a moment, and then Theo received a message.
>Private Message: Query - "Please tell us about the horde or the mark."
>Private Message: Processing...
>Private Message: Response pertains to the Horde.
"Well fuck." Theo said.
"What? What happened?" Julia asked.
"I think we may be fucked; the Horde that is coming has a hundred and seventy-three members. And apparently, our current chance of success is seventeen percent." Theo said.
"Success, not survival?" Julia asked.
"Yep, that's what it says, Success," Theo confirmed before dismissing the messages from his sight.
"Hmm. Well, I guess we better get ready." Julia said.
Suddenly, a rock flew through the open door. They both looked to see the smiling and drooling Corrupted Goblin Chief. Theo looked around. "Did it just throw that rock?"
"Yeah, it's a stupid goblin," Julia said.
"I know that," Theo said, concern thick in his voice. "If it can throw a rock through, then what else can be shot through."
Julia's face paled slightly. "Ohh."
"Yeah," Theo said, his eyes darting around the roughly football field-sized area where they had spread out their new lives. He nodded to himself. "Okay, so we are preparing for the horde."
"Okay, what do we do?" Julia asked.
"Well, I think that I am going to stack those bricks we have inside the Runic Array and create some partial cover. Let's get some berry bushes and try to move everything inside the Array."
"So what should I be doing?"
"You can help me move bricks. Unless you have another idea." Theo said.
"Oh, I have that skill!" Julia said, her eyes glossing over slightly, "There it is, 'Bound Teleport.' it says 'While in land that is owned by yourself or your Bond, freely teleport from anywhere in that claimed land to the location of your Bond. If you are not in your owned land or your Bond's owned land, you may teleport your Bond to you once per day.'"
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"Wait, so you can just teleport to me anytime on our land?" Theo said, amazed, "Like 'Poof' I'm here, teleportation?"
"I don't know," Julia said, walking away from Theo. When she got to the other side of the Cabin, she triggered the skill, and with a small popping sound, she was instantly standing next to him. "I guess so."
"Well shit, we should have been using this more," Theo muttered. "Okay, so here is the plan; just in case they decide to go full siege mode or want to ruin our land in the event they can't penetrate the Runic Array, I think you should go and try and find a good example of each type of berry bush. I will prepare a spot for four bushes, and then we can transplant four bushes here. You should use that skill to scour the Overlook for supplies. I will work here, stack brick, and try to get everything arranged so that we can use it easily."
"Okay, that sounds like a plan. Let's eat lunch, and then I will head out. Deal?" Julia said, and Theo nodded. They ate a quick meal together and then prepared to work.
Julia walked to the back of the Cabin and then set off into the trees, searching for things that could be useful.
[Theo]
Theo walked over to the Flesh Warped Monster Processor, grabbed the tabletop, and heaved with all his strength; the Table slid a couple of inches. Theo looked at it in exasperation. "Holy fuck, this thing is heavy. Even with the bonuses from titles and stats, I can barely move it. Just fucking move!"
The Flesh Warped Monster Processor buzzed, and a slithering sound made Theo look under the tabletop. The Flesh like tendrils that acted as the base of the workbench, slithered out of the ground, then two, longer then the rest shot forward into the dirt. The Monster Processor dragged itself forward five feet. Stopping withdrawing its fleshy tendrils, then shooting them forward once more.
Theo was weirded out. But he had things to do. He looked at the Table, walking to an area where he wanted the Table at the back of the Cabin, and pointed. "Here."
Theo wondered if the Table would get it right. But he had other concerns at the moment. He turned to the bricks and began feeding them into his pouch, glad that they stacked up to a hundred per slot in his General slots. He walked back to the Cabin and looked around for the Corrupted Goblin Chief. It had been there a moment ago. Part of him wanted to go check on Julia but she could teleport so he decided to keep working, trusting in her to take care of herself.
[Julia]
Julia didn't know what Theo expected her to find, but she would do her best. She walked in as straight a line as she could, figuring that she would get to the edge and then go from there. The first thing she came across was the First Crystal of Summer she had ever seen. She marveled at its simple beauty. Then she shrugged and placed her hand on it, storing it in her pouch.
After that, she started working to the northeast, following the edge of the Overlook; as she looked for things that might be helpful, she came upon a small clearing with a stump in the middle. She looked at the stump; it held the tell-tale shimmer she had come to associate with System Caches. She walked up and touched the shimmering stump.
The stump did not fade away; instead, she realized it was a chest made into the stump. She opened it up and found a good stash of stuff. "What the heck, this is a lot."
In the stump chest, she found seven items that she quickly touched and got a sense for. She had found some food in the form of two Crystallized Honeyfruits and an empty Filter-Runed Water Flask. The non-food items were a little more interesting, a Wovenfire Blanket, a Compact Seed Vault (6 varieties), a Greystone Cooking Tripod, one Collapsible Bucket (Reinforced Canvas), and a Coin Pouch. In the coin pouch she found five gold, nine silver, and twenty two copper.
She placed the coinage into her Hand of Gold. And then placed all the items into her pouch. She turned to leave when a thought occurred to her. Remembering her Rock Sack, Julia placed her hand on the stump chest and smiled as it was added to the pouch.
"Well, at least Theo has a blanket as well," Julia said. Just then, she felt a freezing gust of wind blow across her face from the North. She shivered despite her Tunic of Thermal Oblivion. She found it interesting that despite it keeping her warm, she could still feel the cold on her face and blowing through her hair.
"Ohh, a cold shower sounds so fantastic," Julia muttered as she turned and continued walking along the Overlook.
[Theo]
Theo was sweating as he stacked bricks. First, he had used his Master Tool in the shape of a hand tamper to pack down the dirt in a sixteen-inch wide swath around the interior perimeter of the Runic Array. Then he lay his first layer of bricks all the way around. Then, he had fallen into a bit of a trance stacking bricks.
After roughly three hundred bricks, he had loose stacked bricks that were taller than he was. He did some quick math and knew that they were six feet eight inches tall. He checked his pouch and realized just how many of these bricks they had.
"I built a very poor facsimile of a fortification, and it only took three hundred of these bricks." Theo was muttering to himself. "I know that I left at least one gap on each side, but it's not that crazy. I didn't expect to still have damn near thirty-seven hundred of them in my pouch. And I even outlined some areas for the berry bushes."
He shook his head and was about to continue working when he heard a faint popping sound. And turned around to see Julia holding a bucket.
[Julia]
Julia was walking quietly as she continued her search; she had yet to come across anything of value other than the System Cache and the Summer Crystal. She finally came across one of the Berry Bushes, though.
"Raspberries." Julia smiled, remembering that Theo had said he loved them. "Alright, Julia, how the fuck do we get this back to the cabin..."
She trailed off in thought as she remembered one of the items that she had gotten from the Supply Cache. She quickly retrieved the collapsible bucket and found a stick roughly two inches in diameter and two feet long; she carefully dug around the base of the bush. The loose dirt went into the bucket, then when she had excavated almost all the roots, leaving the root ball encased in the dirt, she pulled it out of the ground and placed it in the bucket before digging some more dirt to fill in the bucket.
She was proud of herself. She stood up, dropping her digging stick, and taking the bucket in hand, she turned to walk onwards to the northeasternmost end of the Overlook. Not ten feet from her was the Corrupted Goblin Chief.
She looked at it, and her stomach fell away. Those eyes that had seemed dumb and obsessed almost the entire time held a look of intelligent hatred, and it lunged. Julia activated her Bound Teleportation.
[Theo and Julia]
"Hey, you're back. How did it..." Theo trailed off as he took in the look on her face.
"I think," Julia said, composing herself, "we might be in a little more trouble than we thought."
With that, they called it a night, walking into the Cabin to eat dinner and for Theo to listen to what Julia had seen from the Corrupted Chief.