Chapter 37: Chapter 37 The NPC Auction

Chapter 37 The NPC Auction

In the morning, I rushed to the inn to eat breakfast and occupy a corner while I worked on searching the NPC auction.  Breakfast was simple, a braised ham steak with thick apple sauce.  The meal did give me a decent bonus of +10% to my stamina stat for 12 hours.  With the meal done, I had a pitcher of water and asked not to be disturbed while I worked.

It was time to open up the NPC auction tab and add to my selections.  My original bids were all still active, so no one had outbid me.  But there was a new column.…  They had added classes in the game, and now I could see what the NPC classes were, which was helpful…and the level of the NPC!  This was a huge help.  I might be able to find some high-level gems with low primary skills.  The minimum bid was still based on the NPC’s primary skill;  1 silver for a novice, 1 gold for an expert, 1 platinum for a master, and 100 platinum for a grandmaster.

 

I really wished I could see their top three skills again.  That was by far the most useful element when selecting which NPCs to bid on but knowing the level was going to be very useful.  I sorted the list and started doing some research.  It looked like NPCs with a primary skill at the novice grade had leveled up to level 20.  Expert-level NPCs had levels up to 75.  Master level NPCs levels reached as high as 150.  Grand Master grades all ranged between levels 150 and 250. 

Looking over the lists, it looked like the other players bidding had used the NPCs level as their primary criteria for their bids.  I wondered if I could withdraw a bid and bid on a different NPC.  The answer was yes, but I would lose the coins I had paid.  I had five platinum coins in my possession and five open bidding slots.  With Breda, the dwarf city planner, that would give me a total of six master NPCs for this round of bids.  I wondered how difficult these master NPCs were going to make my life. 

I had a list of three priority NPCs.  One was someone to take over the administration work from Jaesmin.  Only two were listed for Bureaucracy: Guilds.

 

Another sub-species of giantkin.  I wish I had known their temperament, as that would have been my deciding factor.  Did I want a Master of Guilds with a Napoleon complex….no.  I paid the platinum to bid on Neral, the Giantkin: Fire.

My second priority was someone to assist Sanso.  Well, maybe not assist, but just to work exclusively on transforming my outer town walls from the earthworks to an actual stone wall with defensive towers at intervals.  I searched and it looked like stone mages were quite popular.  Players were not stupid and figured stone mages greatly accelerated building construction.  All three master stone mages had bids and all seventeen expert stone mages also had bid. 

Did I want to get into a bidding war?  So far, the NPC site had been some sort of gentlemen’s agreement of first come, first served.  That was mostly because there were just so many NPCs to bid on.  Once the player rush hit and NPC cities could join in on the process, it was probably going to get very cut-throat.  I started searching for just a master mage in any magical skill.  I found an interesting NPC.

 

Order magic was not well known to me.  It opposed Chaos magic.  Looking up order magic, its two sub-skills were Order: Law and Order: Command.  The gnome’s class of hospitalar seemed to be geared toward seeking out and combating chaos.  Maybe this gnome was some type of priest?  Did I want religion in my village?  I knew from history on Earth priests manipulated the populace and sought power and wealth from the rulers.  I was planning to pass on this gnome, but I kept looking at his level.  One hundred and forty was really high.  I think my experiences with Fareth are what finally convinced me to bid.  Hopefully, this NPC would be a good addition to Malcum.

My third need was a lumberjack.  I didn’t want to spend my own time harvesting trees and milling them across the river.  We had enough experienced townsfolk for the mill but no lumberjacks.  They had all been killed.  I looked at the list of master lumberjacks.  Beastkin: Beaver, Human: Common, Elf: Wood.  Two others already had bids, so these were my choices.  The beaver was interesting, and if I had known he would come with a large family, I might have selected him for my bid.  Since I didn’t know, I rolled a die to decide, and the Elf: Wood won.

 

I was excited to see what a female elf lumberjack looked like.  Would she have a Paul Bunyan build? 

I was down to my last two bids already!  They went fast.  Should I get more warrior types to defend the village?  Should I start branching out Malcum’s trade goods?  Should I get more NPCs capable of building structures since I couldn’t find any stone mages.…yes.  Having someone else with a master tier in woodcraft: carpentry, and masonry: structures seemed like my best bet. 

 

Once again, I had hoped to get the temperament of each before bidding.  I would be working with these two NPCs quite a bit if I won them in the auction.  The huge variance in the beastkin race was a little surprising.  I went and checked, and there were twenty-six currently!  Yet there were only five subspecies of elves and four for humans.  I spent a few more hours doing searches and drooling over the NPCs. 

There were seven grandmasters in the auction, not that I could afford to bid on any of them.  One was a level 248 Pyromancer fire mage.  If I had been able to recruit that NPC then the village would have been safe…if they didn’t burn down the village.  The other grandmasters had skills in fishing, blades, stealth, herbalism, history, and melee: hammers.  The last one had a bid on him, and the rest were available.  I really thought hard about trying to pool some coin and bid on the grand master of the history skill.  This NPC would have been a great master librarian…for the library I couldn’t build yet.  With reluctance, I close the tab.

Eleven new NPCs that would help Malcum grow in leaps and bounds.  I walked out into the sunlight from the inn.  The village was adding new faces daily, and I noticed a new pair of gnomes wandering toward the general store.  I checked my town population screen. 

We were growing steadily just through immigration.  So far, there had not been much discord with the large mix of races, but I assumed that couldn’t last.  The shade and undead would probably never be welcome in Malcum with my military force already predisposed to hating them.  Other than that, I was ok with any of the races settling in Malcum.  I did some quick checks, and players could be added to the population if they had a residence within the city’s limits.  Players could only denote one building as their residence though.  There was also a cooldown of 90 game days to change a player’s residence.  I checked and my residence was already noted in Malcum so I was in fact part of the population of Malcum.

I talked briefly with a few people before going to the site where I planned to build my lumber mill.  It was near a river bend, and I planned to have a stone bridge there.  Across the river would be my logging camp.  The woodcraft building for making furniture would be adjacent to the lumber mill.  All of these structures were going to be built to the north, just outside the earthen walls that Sanso had built.

I was the only one here, and it was nice to be away from the bustle of the town.  I got lost in my work.  I was basically just summoning stone to create one very large slab on which the lumber mill would sit.  When my aether was drained I would rest and watch the woods across the river.  There was a fair amount of activity on the other side, birds, boars, foxes, deer, and even a goblin poked his head out once.  As the sun started to set I returned to the inn.

I grabbed some food and waved to a number of townsfolk.  Manto was there sipping ale and raised his mug toward me.  He seemed sober, a drunk powerful lightning mage would probably be very bad for the town.  I wondered if you could brew non-alcoholic beverages in the game?  I took two meat pies with me and went home to find Jaesmin in the common room of our house sipping wine with Kytalia and Galana.  A girl’s night maybe? 

“Tallis Kytalia waved me over to sit down.  We were discussing village politics and would like to hear your viewpoint,” Kytalia said.  I hated politics in the real world.  Politicians were either outright liars or spoke half-truths most of the time.  I sighed and sat down.

“Well, ladies I have a very dim view of politics.  I guess I should have some involvement since I am the lord here.”  I sat and poured myself some wine.

Galana spoke first, “Well since we are essentially sandwiched between two kingdom territories.  The human empire of the Veeral Dynasty is to the south and the Fistulas Kingdom of the dwarves is to the north.  We were wondering who we would side with if one of them joined the next Grand War.” All three women looked at me for an answer.  Fucking game designers.

You are reading story Town Builder at novel35.com

“So what is a Grand War?” I really didn’t want to know.

Galana answered, “Every ten years one of the gods puts up a divine artifact as a prize.  Nations band together to form massive armies and using portal stones they are portalled to a neutral site to fight for the artifact.”  Galana was too calm so I asked a question.

“Is death permanent in these Grand Wars?  Players like me resurrect, but you.…” I asked my question.

Galana nodded, “Yes, for us it is permanent.  But lords will typically supply combatants to empires for coin and a share of the spoils from the Grand War.  Usually, there are a few million combatants in the Grand War and you can retreat at any time with your spoils.  I participated in the last Grand War.  I gained a free skill and a handful of weapons that I sold.  My lord at the time was killed though.”

I was suddenly more interested, “So the rewards for non-players are more than just loot?”

Galana nodded, “Level advancement, free skills, new traits, coin, weapons, armor… You can gain a lot if you do well.  The field is usually about 100 miles across and each alliance starts in a random area.  The god of battle watches and tracks everyone’s contributions.  When you leave or someone claims the divine artifact you are portaled back where you left.  Usually, half of the participants survive.” The fact she was talking so non-chantilly about such a massive wave of death to NPCs got me a little upset.  I guess this game mechanism was to quickly advance NPCs’ power and thin out NPC populations.

“I don’t think we would ever participate in such a bloodthirsty sport.  I wouldn’t side with either the humans or dwarves.” I said with sternness.

Galana looked at me puzzled, “Lord Tallis you don’t have a choice.  Based on the size of the settlement determines how many combatants you need to send.  They must survive one day before they can retreat as well.  That is why everyone makes alliances beforehand.” 

Incursions!  Grand Wars!  What was next?  Cant the damn game developers just let people build shit and hang out with the NPCs?  I asked, “How many people do we need to send?” Best to be prepared.

“One in ten of the adult population for towns and larger,” Galana said.  “I think I would volunteer.” I was shocked at her admission.  Losing Galana would be too big a blow for me.

“Can I send players?  What about the guards from the guard house we built?” I asked, looking for a way to sidestep the requirement.  Galana paused before speaking.  I think this new game mechanic had just been added, and she was getting the information downloaded.

“Yes, players can be part of the total if they are residents of the population center required to send combatants.  Your guards from the guardhouse do not qualify as they are bound to the guardhouse.  The first guard manifested this afternoon.  He was an elite human guardsman, level 25.  The remainder should be the same, elite level 25 guardsmen.” Finally, some good news.  Level 25 was not that high, but it was the minimum level for a class.  I would look into how to upgrade the guardhouse in the future.

“So when is the next Grand War?” Once again, I didn’t want to know but it was best to rip the band aide off.

“It is in 432 days,” Kytalia said.  Well, at least I could put it out of my mind for a long while.  I was sure there would be more surprises in the future.  Games like this were all about player conflict and gaining power.  I would be dragged in whether I wanted to or not.  I excused myself from the conversation and went to my drafting desk while they continued talking.

Soon I was lost in my work and didn’t hear Galana and Kytalia leave.  Tonight I felt inspired and was working on the furniture workshop.  I made it way too big, with enough space for fifty NPCs to work.  It was three stories with the first floor being sales shops and lumber storage.  The second floor was for all the crafters, with many workstations and tools.  The third floor was a general warehouse.  At first, I had planned to make the structure mostly wood but quickly switched to stone.  If there ever was a fire I wanted to lose as little as possible.  It was morning when I finished, and I was actually impressed with the massive structure.  The exterior had fancy columns and gargoyles on top of them.  I wasn’t sure why I had done that….it was just my inspiration.  I identified the building plans.

Rare Furniture Crafter Building, Health 250,000, Requires Masonry Foundations 23, Masonry Structures 43, Woodcraft: Carpentry 23 (Bonus: +30% skill advancement for woodcraft skills, +2% chance to improve the quality of items produced, +20% to value of items produced)

 

Yes!  This could be the foundation of Malcum’s industry and trade.  We could export high-quality furniture and generate tons of wealth.  It would take Sanso and me a few days to build it after the lumbar mill was finished.  I checked my incoming NPCs again to make sure I had a place for them to live in work would be important.

 

 

The two knights could stay in the barracks, and I would assign them to Galana.  The Brewer had the brewery and needed a house.  The craftsmen needed this new building to work and needed a house.  The farmer….I should probably find someone to outline various fields for crops.  Two bureaucrats had the town hall to work in but needed a residence.  The two builders also needed a place to live.  The lumberjack…I couldn’t build a logging camp until the goblins were eliminated, but I still needed a place for him to live in town.  And finally the hospitalar….was he a priest….did I need to build a temple?  It would be terrible if he showed up and just left because he didn’t feel welcome. 

 

Well, I guess I was hoping he would at least give me a quest to appease him as the others had.  So I needed to build the mill, woodcraft building, and lots and lots of housing!  At least I knew what I needed to do.

 

 

 

You can find story with these keywords: Town Builder, Read Town Builder, Town Builder novel, Town Builder book, Town Builder story, Town Builder full, Town Builder Latest Chapter