Chapter 12: CH12 Doll Game part 2

As soon as the gap opened he walked through it briefly looking back at the pair he left behind. He could see Fufi giving him a nod of encouragement. Then he disappeared into the darkness and reappeared in front of the strange doll shop with a clockwork workshop in the back. There wasn't anyone there just like before he left. So without hesitation he stepped inside where there was once again only a single room with displays and shelves filled with books.  Like before, the counter was unmanned. The large display case was empty too. He had taken the dolls back to the basement. Not seeing anyone here, or anywhere else, he approached the bookcase and placed the book he had been reading back where he got it.  He pulled out another one that seemed relevant to his task of creating clockwork dolls titled, "The Art of Clockworking". It contained many interesting drawings showing how various types of automata could be made by combining parts from different mechanisms. After some thought Alex decided that his first creation should be a simple doll that could shoot a bow and arrow.

Alex thought his chances for success were slim.  What he was tasked with doing was to create functional robotics but without essential components like computer chips, electrical motors, or digital sensors. In his old world there were mechanical attempts at creating computers.  They were all very limited or outright failures because the more complex something became the more ways existed where something could go wrong.  A bolt too tight? A cog on a gear can't take the stress and breaks off?  A spring too loose?  There were any number of ways for failure.  Some of the examples in the books had detailed schematics and he could take the relevant ones and combine them together.  To his untrained mind though it looked more like witchcraft.

Heading down the hallway and past the mannequin, Alex began to create a few pieces as practice at one of the workshop stations until he felt like he could tackle a full-size model later. First came a mechanism for pulling back the bowstring and aiming the weapon. This took several hours as he used gears, cams, levers, springs, wheels, and other small moving parts all tied together into a single unit. Next he attached the bow to this piece which then allowed him to attach an arm holding an arrow in place in front of the bow. He set up this part so it was loose enough that the archer would have to pull on it each time they fired their weapon.

Next was a complex mechanism that could release the string and let it fly. When released it would snap forward sending the arrow flying with great force and speed. This involved dozens more screws, springs, shafts, and connecting rods but once completed the entire thing fit neatly inside the arm and hand of the doll. The next step required even more fine work as he designed a way to allow the fingers of the hand to move freely while keeping the wrist locked. He spent hours building the hands and wrists before putting them both in the doll to test if he got everything right. Satisfied he went and put the doll on a testing mount similar to the tower it would be defending on the game table.  His first doll looked like a cross between a watch and a terminator.  Well part of a terminator.  Only the arms and torso had gears.  The legs and head were solid pieces. He wasn't proud of it.  The doll was the opposite of cute, it was scary. It was covered from head to toe with various metal parts, cogs, sprockets, and plates all connected together by screws, bolts, and pins. It had no features on its head. The limbs were far too long for any normal person and the legs ended at spear-like points at the end instead of feet or boots. The fingers looked more like claws than something that belonged on a doll's hand. Even though Alex knew his design was only for practice he still felt a bit disappointed.  He placed it on a testing fixture and slotted some toothpick sized arrows in a quiver he had created earlier under a magnifying glass.

The prototype was a partial success.  It could fire the first arrow just fine but the rate of fire he expected just didn't happen.  The shaking of the tiny arrows would sometimes cause it to go through the grasping motion only to not pick up anything like a claw machine game.  The arrows wouldn't fly straight.  The fletching was not anywhere near uniform enough.  The arrows would sometimes wobble and tumble in mid flight landing in random spots.  It took him the better of a day to get the arms to work what he thought was right only to realize the force of the snapping bowstring would jostle the doll and mess everything up much too late in the design. But he learned things during this time, such as how important it is to take breaks when making clockwork pieces so that you get tunnel vision and come face to face with a problem that would have been much easier to account for in early design.  He created a second version of both the quiver and the arrows.  Mechanical hands were not the same as human ones.  They couldn't reach behind them and feel around for the next arrow.  The arrow had to be in a near exact spot.  So he created a slotted quiver that had a little honeycomb pattern in it.  For the arrows, he weighted the front a bit more with an arrowhead and used some clamps alongside actuating arms to put the fletching on so they would be at the right angle in the right place each time.  The prototype worked but he still wasn't happy with it.

When he came back it was dusk.  Fufi and Merumeru were playing with dolls.  There was a new stone table in the rift room with a small tower on it.  Fufi held a doll in her beak at the base of the tower while the little slime girl had a doll at the top of the tower with one hand up and the other on the chest. The scene reminded him of some kind of opera where the two people were close to each other yet so far away at the same time.  He held the mechanical doll he had created behind his back, unsure if he wanted to show them. When he did he found himself facing down Fufi who looked very surprised that Alex brought something made by hand into their home. They stared at each other for a few moments before she gently dropped the puppet in her mouth leaning with its back against the tower.

Merumeru seemed a lot happier than usual as well.  It looked like getting a day to rest did her good.  She ran up to Alex and leapt up to him and gave him a hug.  The force in her jump caused him to stumble back a few steps and he had to use both of his arms to catch her. He almost dropped her but quickly managed to right himself just before he fell over from the impact.  However he did drop the clockwork doll.  It clanked against the stone floor. Fufi jumped off the table, picked it up, setting it down next to the tower beside the other doll.

"Hmmm, so this is what you were working on today?"  Fufi said and she looked at the prototype. It was even creepier with all of the parts in the sunlight and casting a shadow that moved across her face each time the mechanism shifted slightly. She walked around looking at each part. Alex watched her closely waiting for her to say anything about his work. But instead she paused and considered what to do next.  Merumeru had climbed up on his shoulders and was playing with his hair. When she noticed he had stopped moving he patted her head several times, causing her to laugh out loud. She jumped down and went to look at the new doll with Fufi.

"Meru..." the slime girl said while scrunching up her face. Fufi came back over while Merumeru scurried away behind them back into the shadows. "What's wrong? Why does Meru sound scared?" Alex asked.

"I don't know... I know it is your first try but that doll is a bit scary.  It doesn't have a face, clothes, or hair." replied Fufi. Alex realized that he hadn't put any features on the face.  It was bare and featureless like the creepy mannequin wearing women's clothes that he passed every time he walked the hallway to the workshop. Fufi reached out and gently touched the hand of the automaton with her beak. She turned to look at Alex and smiled. Then she leaned in closer to inspect more of his creation.  Alex knew his project wasn't going well.

"Alex," Fufi said softly, almost as if she didn't want him to hear what she said next, "this isn't finished yet."

"It is just a prototype," Alex spat out a quick excuse. "Why can't it be a spring loaded cannon?  It would be so much simpler to just fire little metal balls that way.  Arms, legs, hands, they all are incredibly complicated." Fufi shook her head and gave him a judging look.

"Is there nothing in there to make an outfit for a doll?." Fufi sat on her haunches and gave the doll a critical inspection. She pointed at the doll she was playing with earlier sitting next to the clockwork one.

"Yes, there is a sewing station and bolts of fabric," Alex whispered, not wanting to admit it but he wouldn't lie to Fufi. He was embarrassed by how he created something that looked so weird but he felt too stubborn to admit it even after seeing Merumeru's reaction. However, there was another reason he did touch the sewing station.

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Fufi eyed him appraisingly, "I'm guessing you didn't try sewing at all.  I wonder why?"

Alex straightened his back and caved in, "Fine, I was worried if I created doll clothes the system would give me a sewing skill.  I already have skills to cook and clean and it is embarrassing." Fufi nodded thoughtfully before speaking up again.

"You know how that sounds right? Cooking, cleaning and sewing are beneath you." Fufi spoke slowly so it would sink in. She poked him with her wing tip as if to punctuate her point. Alex laughed despite himself because she had a good point. If this world didn't provide him with certain skills then maybe he should go with whatever worked best. Alex knew Fufi wasn't wrong though, a normal human could probably get some kind of cooking or cleaning ability when creating food or washing dishes, or getting rid of the blood from their hands if they had the right class. In this society trying to avoid getting skills would make him the weird one.

"Okay, I get it.  I told myself I'd try my best and skipping things for such a reason comes across as really immature." Alex said in a self deprecating tone. Things were a bit subdued the rest of the day.  Alex prepared dinner for everyone and washed his and Merumeru's clothes in cold water.  The slime girl watched his action with rapt attention as he washed clothes.  Alex was a little worried she might be getting some weird ideas again.

Everyone fell asleep in the basement like usual and the night passed by uneventfully.  Alex made breakfast and the three of them ate together.  After saying goodbye he left into the rift promising to be back before nightfall. The dungeon was just like he left it.  The shop remained empty and the books were still on the shelf where he left them.  Things were still clean.  He didn't need to dust before getting started.  He pulled out a book authored by Tanir Ironbeard called "The Dwarven Artisan''. It described in detail how dwarves used clockwork mechanisms in their mines, workshops, and even their homes. He read about how each device could have been built differently depending on what function needed to be done but also how much time and effort went into making sure everything fit well inside its housing.  It was halfway a religious text. Nidarom is the dwarven god of craft.  Any great work would start with a prayer to said god.  Alex set the book back. He had already caught the attention of two deities.  Learning traditional prayers to Nidarom might risk getting the attention of a third.

He took the hallway behind the storefront into the workshop again, nodding at the mannequin as he passed it.  After seeing it so many times it wasn't so creepy anymore.  He also thought the Victorian clothes on it were very well made.  One thing that could be said about women's clothing from the Victorian era was that they were incredibly elaborate.

At the workshop he sat down at the fabric station.  There were a couple types of sewing machines he had no idea the difference.  "What in the world is a serger?" He asked to the empty room. The sewing machines were in fact completely mechanical as evidenced by a gear shaft protruding from the wall into them. Getting this over with as quickly as possible to prove that a cute doll won't perform better than a functional one he decided to go for the toga attire.  With a few snips of a pair of scissors he placed the toga over the doll's head and another snip of string tied around it formed a little belt.  Taking an ink pot and quill he drew a smiling face on the ceramic plate that was the doll's face. His new toy was ready to be tested. He placed it on the mount for the testing bench as the gears locked it into place.  It began to spin and shoot arrows. He watched with curiosity trying to notice any difference from the tests the previous day. After watching the whole cycle, all twenty seconds of it, he gave up.

"Why does it even matter? Should I just try the first wave? '' Alex said out loud to no one in particular. He looked at the table with the tower defense game.  He left his phone on the mount.  It was charged to 100% which was nice.  A dungeon having something that could charge his phone was weird but he didn't want to complain.  The phone was displaying the text 'Wave 1' and there was a start button below it. If he clicked the start button then the wave would come from the chute at the end of the table along the rail that led to the doll-house sized castle on the other side.  Alex decided to drag his feet a bit more by taking some pictures of the castle and the rest of the game table.  He could show them to his friends later.  He placed his doll in the tower closest to the chute that the rails came out from and put the phone back. His finger hovered over the start button. He pushed it...

The table started making a whirring and ticking noise and gears, drives, and shafts started moving.  The automaton pulled out an arrow and knocked its bow.  It rotated to face the chute. A female doll attached to the rail came out of the chute.  It was much cuter than Alex's archer clockwork doll.  It had long cyan hair with sea shells in it.  She wore a thin low cut dress with no sleeves.  Alex was captivated by it.  Then the doll put both hands to her chest and began to sing a wordless song.  He felt the enchanting notes wash over him.

[Alex has been charmed] his phone rang out.  It should just shut up.  He was busy listening to his mistress's song.  He felt like she was his everything.  He would do anything she asked.  His only desire was to please her. The archer started firing from the little tower.  The first and second shot missed as the sirine got closer along the rail.  Alex panicked.  He wanted to make the doll stop.  How could he create something that would hurt his mistress?  However, he dared not even move unless ordered.  He knew his place and mistress knew best. He watched the battle intently. Then the archer struck the doll in the head with one of the toothpick sized arrows.  Alex was horrified.  Then he was not.

[Alex is no longer charmed]

Alex fell to his knees.  He felt violated.