Chapter 59: Book 1: Chapter 23 (Part 1 of 6)

“Bugger,” I understated. “They sound close. Come on, back to…”

My command was cut off as the world slowed around me as Quixbix entered me into Action Mode.

<Too late for that now. We need to talk this through.>

It’s been a while since we’ve been in full Action Mode. Usually, you can only do this if you’re giving me a quest, I hinted.

<Sort of. The Pirate Cove quest has been updated, which has allowed me to give you fifteen minutes. Do you want the good news or the bad news?> he asked.

Hit me with the bad news, I sighed. Internally at any rate, I wasn’t technically making any sounds being frozen in place.

<The quest has become more specific. You can’t found just any cove to complete the quest, it has to be here. And you must dedicate your new settlement to the Shattered Goddess.>

Alright, that is irksome, we can’t just sail away and pick somewhere else. But that doesn’t feel bad enough to qualify as bad news. What else is there? I pressed.

<I’d compliment you on your insight, but it was fairly obvious> he sniggered. <Back to the serious matter at hand. Fomorians are dedicated followers to a sea god named Sholmdir.>

Is he a real God or a made up one? I interrupted.

<Oh, he’s very real, now, even if he was made up pre-Aperture breach. And he hates the Shattered Goddess with a watery passion. And you are a representative of hers on Earth> he answered me.

Of course, I groaned.

<Yeah, the collapsed podium was the clue. Normally mobs just wipe out the populace of a town and then move on or back to wherever they’re holed up. This leaves the podium in place, ready for any gutsy characters to claim the settlement anew. The Fomorians were trying to destroy the podium and prevent a settlement from existing here. A salt the earth kind of deal.>

Out of the ordinary was never good. Something that was confirmed as Quixbix continued.

<This isn’t something Lesser Fomorians would do on their own. That means they are being led by a Greater Fomorian, something capable of being nudged by Sholmdir. It is too early for named mobs even with the super-charged spawning crystals.>

Why would they have been nudged? I queried.

<Even with a Greater Fomorian lurking about they wouldn’t destroy a podium. The mobs are like programs following a behavioural script, and excoriating settlements is not part of it. Named mobs, who take time to develop, have a bit more independent thought and can break the mould. Otherwise, they need a nudge to behave outside expected parameters.>

<I have no way of knowing if you were the first person on Earth who communed with the Divine, but once you did, it opened the way for all the others to contact their representatives on the planet, not just the Shattered Goddess.>

<I’m guessing due to her divine fingerprints being all over the founding quest that as soon as you picked this place out as your target, the settlement was marked in some way. Sholmdir has acted and moved to deny her agent his prize and prompted the Fomorians to set a trap and finish you off. The Shattered Goddess has then reacted in kind and updated the quest.>

Fuck me, but this is already getting complicated, I groaned.

<You had to go and swear on the name of a goddess you knew nothing about> Quixbix needled.

Enough Quix. How fucked are we? I asked wearily.

<Hard to say exactly. The Lesser Fomorians are T-grade threats. Individually, not dangerous to your team but there are at least four groups, and we know the group coming from the bay could be fifty-six strong or more. Doubling that figure is probably still a conservative estimate. Then there is the Greater Fomorian who we haven’t seen yet, and I suspect is with the bay party. They are J-grade monsters and would present a challenge to your team if it was on its own. With a hundred plus minions…I think you can work that out for yourself.>

I think you may have understated how bad the bad news was, I chuckled, injecting a bit of gallows humour.

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Instinctively I reacted positively to the challenge presented. My weariness and discontent were swept aside. There was a part of me, deep inside, that lusted for combat and relished the opportunity to face off against overwhelming odds. It was strange to feel an odd sense of gleeful anticipation at the dire circumstance we found ourselves in, but I wouldn’t complain at my lack of hopelessness.

I’d always been a stubborn bastard and this aspect of my personality had been amplified.

<Acheronians> Quixbix chuckled in kind. <All is not lost, so if you can reign in your last stand hard on, I will explain. Fomorians may be able to come on land, but they remain sea creatures. Lake creatures even, given where we are. They can’t stay on land for prolonged periods, they must return to the water.>

Okay, so what you’re saying is we need to fight our way through and then wait them out? I asked.

<No, the different groups sounded too close to your position. However, you are right beside a school> Quixbix said with a wicked cackle.

Sorry dude, I’ve no idea what you’re proposing, I laughed.

<It would seem your earlier mercy towards a certain ‘thinks-he-knows-it-all’ boy sorcerer will pay dividends for you now. Schools have a similar protection field to prisons and the BuyMart, but only if they have school-aged children within them> Quixbix relayed.

But Jackson has graduated, I argued. Will it still work?

<Yes, at seventeen he is considered school age for Earth, so the field will activate> he answered.

Was that the good news? I asked him.

<No, that is strategy. Like I said earlier the quest has been updated to reflect the extra difficulty>

The Corsair’s Canon 4 (Kx4)

You have your ship, you even have the beginnings of a crew, what next? Every pirate needs a cove. A friendly port to call home or to store their ill-got gains or drink, whore, and gamble. While any neutral venue will do for your run of the mill pirate, a Captain needs more. A cove that is unquestionably their own. Especially if they are on a war-footing with a rival dastard. You have identified the perfect location, but it is infested with creatures devoted to Sholmdir who are trying to destroy it. Thwart their attempts, claim the settlement for yourself, and dedicate it to your patron the Shattered Goddess.

Success: Convert the vacated St. James Township on Beaver Island into a Lawless Pirate Cove and dedicate it to the Shattered Goddess.

Rewards: 13,600 XP, and future The Corsair’s Canon quests. Three new secondary quest chains. The new settlement will automatically be considered a town. You will be gifted buildings by the Shattered Goddess.

Cuirass of the Bound. Shattered Gauntlets. Drainer’s Whip.

Consequences: Sholmdir’s ire.

Failure: If this quest goes incomplete the rest of this quest chain will remain locked and unavailable.

<As you can see, if you pull this off you will get enough experience to level up. The settlement will automatically be bumped two tiers from Hamlet to Town and your patron is going to give you some new buildings, which has been left suitably vague, but freebies are freebies.>

Great. How does hiding in the school help?

<The Fomorians have the numbers to break through the field, but if they do so it will weaken them and then you would likely be able to fight your way through. Alternatively, they may try and wait you out, in which case, we make a plan for when enough of them retreat to the water> he explained.

Gotcha, sounds like we have the kernels of a plan. Let’s do it. As I finished speaking time sped back up.

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