Chapter 65: Book 1: Chapter 24 (Part 1 of 3)

With the looting of the dead Fomorians and my slightly gimpy leg, it took us almost an hour before we linked back up with Shana and Jackson at the school. Shana had seen us from across the bay, so they hadn’t been worried that we’d perished. Most of what the Fomorians dropped was garbage and a bit of coin but every now and then one of them had something mildly useful.

 

Lesser Red Coral Ring

Spells or abilities which utilise Fire Mana cost 5% less.

Durability: 10/10

 

We picked up several of these in different colours which correlated to different magic schools.

And the boss went one better, or maybe I should say two better.

 

Greater Blue Coral Ring

Spells or abilities which utilise Frost Mana cost 15% less.

Resistance to Frost magic or Cold damage 10%

Sources of Cold damage increased by 20%

Durability: 10/10

 

That one went on my finger no questions asked.

There was a small surprise when we got back, one of the prisoners had run back into town and Shana and Jackson had taken him back into custody. He was being hunted by a group of ten Lesser Fomorians, who had been hot on his tail, but my people dealt with them handily.

The prisoner reported that one of his companions had been caught by the sea demons and torn apart, but he had no idea what had happened to Marco or the other one since they had split up in the woods.

I wasn’t worried about them. They would either come crawling back to the safety of the town or be killed by whatever was running loose on the island. If they hadn’t been already.

“Hey, Quix, how did we do on the XP front? I notice you’ve been quiet on the updates,” I asked him as I limped towards the podium ready to check if we could claim the settlement.

<I didn’t want to distract you> the imp answered. <You may want to brace yourself because…well…because you’ve made out like a bandit.>

I stopped in my tracks at that. This was most unlike Quixbix, so it had to be good or bad, you could never really tell with him sometimes. “Lay it on me,” I said.

<With your Notoriety bonus you’ve accumulated ninety-one thousand XP. Shana got ninety-seven thousand> he related.

“Fucking Nora,” I whispered.

Quixbix hadn’t been underselling it, that was enough to push me up two levels. Shana had been on the tip of making level three after the kills we racked up passing through Grand Rapids. With another ninety-seven thousand, she would power to level nine.

I whistled softly as I thought about it. “I mean it was a tough fight and I almost died but that seems excessive. Are you sure there hasn’t been some kind of mistake?”

<No mistake. Just a lot of different factors combining into a bonanza of XP> he started.

<First off, the experience is only split three ways, between you, Shana, and Jackson. Almost anybody else would need seven or more other qualifying people to have pulled this off, you had Anastasia and her golems instead. The base XP split ten ways would have been eighteen and a half thousand each, instead of just over sixty thousand.

<Second, your Notoriety bonus is giving you close to an extra fifty percent on that sixty thousand. Shana, a little more than that.

 <Third, you got credit for 199 Lesser Fomorians and the Greater Fomorian, even the ones who died from suffocation as they had been in combat with you and despite them running off, they died soon enough that you get the credit for them. If it hadn’t been for Sholmdir’s urging the second wave wouldn’t have come after you while their air-breathing was on cooldown. They would have gone back to the murky depths, rebuilt their strength and attacked the settlement later.

<All of that adds up to a bucket load of XP. And you’ve got twenty thousand more coming when you complete this quest.>

I laughed out loud at that. “Everything’s coming up trumps for Torin today it seems. But I got a hint from your tone this isn’t all sunshine and roses, spill it.”

<Nothing major. After level ten, the XP you earn in some situations begins to be reduced for two reasons. Threat, lower threat to you equates to a greater amount of base XP being withheld. Anything with a threat of High or above is unaffected, but Moderate threats lose 10%, Low 25%, Very Low 50%, Abysmally Low 90% and None would give no XP at all. This applies to killing mobs, characters, and completing dungeons.

<And the XP required to level a class begins to go up, both factors combine to slow progress. You should probably level yourself up and speak with Dean before Shana and Jackson do themselves.>

“Okay, I see. This is what prevents people power levelling from endlessly killing boars in the forest,” I commented.

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<What?> Quixbix queried.

“It’s a South Park thing,” I replied.

<Is that supposed to mean something to me?> he griped, thoroughly confused.

I ignored his grumbles and stepped up to the podium and tapped the screen.

This settlement is currently unoccupied. Would you like to claim the settlement?

I clicked yes and this time there was no alarming message telling me the claim was contested.

The former settlement St. James Township has been claimed by you. Your class is Dungeon Corsair Captain, please select settlement type from the list available to you.

Hamlet

Military Outpost

Temple

Pirate Cove

Undefined

Obviously, I picked Pirate Cove from the list. Although undefined piqued my interest as to what that could mean. It was also interesting that my class determined my options. What types of settlement might be available to others?

Please select the governance style of the settlement from the list.

Law Abiding

Anarchic

Despotic

Lawless

I had a brief dark impulse to go for Despotic for shits and giggles, but the quest specified my cove needed to be Lawless. I was fairly sure I could change it later if I felt the need to, but it was unclear what difference it would make in the long run.

Would you like to be designated as the leader of the settlement or nominate another current resident?

That was a quick decision of yes.

Please note as a Lawless settlement you cannot join or apply to be part of any existing Kingdom or faction. Would you like to create your own faction at this time?

I suppose that answered some of my questions about the differences in settlement types.

“Quix, is there any downside to creating my own faction right now?” I asked him.

<Hmmm, unless you’re planning on bending the knee to another, then no. The faction you create will be the banner you operate under. As you are Lawless you would have to cede ownership of all the settlements you control if you wished to join another faction and vice versa. The Framework would no longer recognise you as an entity capable of seceding from that faction and declaring independence> the imp answered.

<The biggest difference between Lawless and the other three types is the diplomacy aspect, you can’t enter into formal Vassalage, Alliances, or Treaties. That doesn’t prevent you from making informal ones, but they won’t be officially recognised and enforced by the Framework. That has a few detractions but also benefits.

<For example, other factions can’t officially declare war upon you as you are not recognised as an entity that war can be declared against. That won’t stop them from waging war against you but any benefits your enemies might get for the official declaration are denied to them.

<You can still sign contracts with other factions, of course.>

Well, I had no intention of bowing to anyone. There was a lot more on the diplomacy front that needed to be explored but we could leave that for another day.

I picked yes and was prompted to name my new faction. I had to think about that for a minute. It really was just as well we had dealt with the sea demon’s threat already; I would not have wanted to rush this.

I cycled through a few possibilities. Leviathan’s Lament or the Sea Wolves, but the more I thought about it the more I felt deep down that my association with the Shattered Goddess wasn’t something I would untangle myself from, ever. That and I had to dedicate the settlement to her to complete the quest. Perhaps it would be best to jump in with both feet rather than try and play both sides.

The Shattered Storm.

As I typed the name, an enormous sense of rightness flowed through me. I could have sworn something reached out and both patted my back in support and clipped my ears for impertinence.

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