Chapter 15: Orcs

I searched for companion in the wiki and couldn’t find anything. I needed Simba. I opened my map and found two blue dots on it. One blue dot right next to me, Jaesmin, and another in my garden area. I told Jaesmin I would be right back and went off to find Simba. This needed an explanation.

The garden looked great and even tranquil in the moonlight. There were dirt paths and flowers now. Some trees dotted the area, some with fruit and some with flowers. I spotted two of my elementals working, casting some magic to make a plant grow quickly. At least, that is what I assumed, as the plant in question doubled in height and sprouted pods and flowers. I followed my blue dot to a thirty-foot-tall apple tree.

Simba was on a branch, looking down at a fat raccoon gathering something. Suddenly, the ground had three vines unleashed from it and restrained the coon. Simba fell on top of the poor critter and dispatched it. I walked over.

I got right to the point, “Simba, why is Jaesmin a companion, and exactly what is a companion?” Simba looked at me quizzically, as if thinking. He walked regally toward me and sat imperiously. A few minutes passed as I waited for the feline.

“The game had a new update 21 hours ago in real-time. Companions are an added feature. They can be obtained through specific hidden quests or gained through loyalty. You are limited to a number of companions by your charisma stat. You can add one companion at charisma scores of 10, 25, 45, 105, 200, and then every 100 levels after.”

“It is your charisma that is independent of buffs and magic items, though. Everyone also gets their starting A.I. as a companion for free. Also, the companion has ten skill slots at level 1 and gains an additional skill slot at every level divisible by 10. They also get five stat points per level instead of the normal NPC of 3. However, if an NPC becomes a companion at a higher level, it will not receive the stat points retroactively, so raising an NPC from low levels is best. However, they can die, well, except me. Orientation A.I.s resurrect after eight game days. If another companion dies, that companion will be unavailable for 90 game days. After 90 days, resurrecting the companion will be costly and based on the companion’s level. Or you can choose to release the companion after the 90 days and seek a new one for an open slot,” Simba stated.

I think that if Jaesmin had just become a companion, then she would have gained five more skills. She would also get five stat points at each level. She was basically an amped-up NPC. I went back to find her and was disappointed when I analyzed her. She was only level 1. But as Simba said, this was probably for the best.

“How would you like to go on a hunt tomorrow, Jaesmin?” Her eyes lit up. She had trouble containing her excitement in the moonlight. I remembered her parents didn’t want her to fight, but this was more of a leveling trip, and she wouldn’t be in danger. She was very talkative, asking what weapon she would train in and how to fight the lions. I answered all her questions while we worked under the moonlight.

Morning came, and we continued until Sanso returned. We greeted him, and he held out a bag for me. I opened it to find hundreds of copper coins inside. I pulled out one, which was the size of a quarter and very shiny. The image of the wolf on one side, with the tiny Latin script below, looked great. The other side featured the library and looked fabulous with the script below.

“These are amazing! Just add the date, just the year to the next batch. How many coins can you make?” I asked.

He thought briefly. “About one hundred an hour, as copper was easy to manipulate.”

“Perfect! Is ten percent fair compensation for you? Can you spend 25 hours a month making coins and give them to Elice to enter into circulation?” I asked. I added the Elice part, thinking he wouldn’t mind impressing her.

A slight smirk appeared on his dark-skinned face before he nodded. This should provide ample coinage for the village’s daily trading. Finally, one problem was solved until commerce started needing silver coins.

“Just work on the tower today, I am going on a short hunt with Jaesmin,” I said. He looked between Jaesmin and me and flashed a white smile.

“I just want to level up Jaesmin so she can increase her magic. You are going to need to teach her an offensive spell before we go,” I declared. I had to wait an hour while Sanso taught her stone bullet since she didn’t have any offensive spells. Ophelia and Trista gave us rides pillion on their black steeds to the tower. These horses could move, and feeling the powerful mount beneath me made me want to learn a riding skill.

Today, seven militia were at the base of the tower when we arrived. Six were atop the tower. I rounded up the seven, introduced them to Jaesmin, and said today we were just going to hit the closest pride masters and return. The priority was to protect Jaesmin. I then brought Jaesmin to get outfitted by Curraen. He gratefully got her a village leather guard outfit. I noted he had about fifteen of the full suits in his storeroom. The man was industrious and planning ahead of me!

Our trip through the plains was going well. We had taken down nine pride masters, twenty-two lions, and seventeen deer. Jaesmin was level four and doing well. A scout noticed a cloud in the distance. It looked like a herd of deer—no it was too big—maybe buffalo. But we were a long way from the buffalo region.

Then I could make out black horses with mounts, a lot of them. “Run! All of you get back to the tower!” That got them moving, and I noted they kept Jaesmin in the center of their retreat. We were three miles out, and the band of orcs was about a mile and a half out from us. It was quickly noticeable that Jaesmin was slowing everyone down. I picked her up and carried her. Thank you for my excessive game strength! The orcs were closing the distance too quickly.

There was a lot of dust, but I figured there were at least fifty mounted orcs. I should have been more careful and more industrious in preparations but I hadn’t expected such numbers. If we had stayed within a mile of the tower, we could have gotten back to its relative safety without worry. Now it was a race.

The orcs slowed when they got to within a hundred yards of us and kept that distance. Herding us home and not attacking. I was puzzled but thankful. When we reached the tower and went inside, I was glad to see that it was packed with my militia on the first floor. On top were six guards with Galana getting them ready. It was very crowded so I went to the roof.

I emerged and looked out at the plains, and started counting the orcs in the semi-circle about 150 yards out. They could easily bypass the 10-foot earth wall and pillage the town. I counted sixty-seven of them. Most looked like fighters, but three could possibly be spell casters. We were going to lose people today.

A single massive orc dismounted and walked forward, unafraid. I analyzed him when he got in range. My identify skill let me know he was a level 20 boss. He started speaking in orcish, and I didn’t understand. He was making grand gestures and pointing.

I was surprised to see Simba hop up on the railing. He must have come when the town was alerted. The cat interpreted for me, “He is saying they are here to eliminate this threat and grind the village to dust. They will drag the thieves back to be executed in front of the clan. He is calling you some names as well. He is also calling you out for one-on-one combat.”

“Yeah, that isn’t going to happen,” I scoffed.

Galana came to the trap door. “The militia is ready. Unfortunately, no one found Sanso or his elementals.” That was half our fighting strength!

“Put four people to guard the door, and the remaining twenty-nine at the top of the tower with bows,” Galana suggested, and I nodded. It was going to be crowded. I asked Galana to target the spell casters, which was to be our focus in the opening salvo. Spells were a wild card here. The orc was done with his pre-battle speech and returned to his horse.

Galana passed orders for everyone to target the three shamans. It was tense as we waited for them to come into range. When the orcs did charge, the three shaman remained out of range! Half the orcs drew bows, and the others drew scimitars. I already knew this was going to be bad.

“Focus fire on one until he drops!” Galana issued new orders. The enemy had the same idea. A young woman next to me was hit by eight arrows in the chest and arms and fell. I felt helpless. I was no general or elite hero.

Galana was our ace. She only needed two powerful arrows to fell a rider. There was mass confusion as the militia crushed onto the tower roof. “Cover all four sides!” I yelled frantically as it looked like the oncoming soldiers were going to surround the tower.

They obviously were not expecting as many militia as we had. I cast a hail of stones into the front of a group of riders, which did good area of effect damage as they rode through the stone rain. Another militia fell to my right. The best I could estimate in the chaos was that maybe my spell removed nine orcs from their saddles, but didn’t kill any of them.

Unfortunately, my command to target the spell casters had confused some, and others had attacked the casters anyway, even though they were out of range. Wasted shots and time! I was frustrated and cast another hail of stone, getting three orcs in a few seconds. The orc leader had dismounted with eight others, charging the door. The remaining orcs were circling and firing arrows. During this distraction, the spell casters had moved in range, casting fire and lightning at the guards and me. A ball of fire erupted in our midst, and six militia went down wounded.

Galana changed targets and took down one of the casters with a single arrow through an eye. Other militia archers quickly took down another caster with multiple arrows. The third managed to get out of range, but not before casting a lightning blast that blasted another militia off the tower. A pounding could be heard below as they tried to gain entrance. If they broke through, it would be over.

I yelled down to hold them for one minute. The archers had issues targeting the orcs below. Shields covered the ones trying to break in. “Galana take command the archers!” I started my casting. More soldiers fell, some wounded, some dead. We were down to half strength when I finished my spell, which had a long casting time.

The door had been breached in that time, and two or three orcs had gotten inside. My nine by nine-foot rock, one foot thick, materialized above the orcs at the door below and fell. Six orcs were crushed under the stone, preventing any of them from entering for a few seconds. My focus returned to the battle. Galana had gotten the last shaman when he came back in range. The orcs had fewer than twenty mounted men and another half dozen wounded on the ground. I could hear fighting inside the tower.

I rushed down the stairs, yelling for Galana to continue directing the archers on top. The lower floors were dark, but I could see Curraen engaged with the orc leader. Two other orcs were fighting two of my men. Jaesmin was in the back casting stone bullet to minimal effect against these higher level enemies.

Without thinking, I drew my axe and crashed into the orc leader. Distracting him long enough for Curraen to get in a solid hit. I started swinging like a madman, knowing if I failed, Jaesmin and the others would die. The orc had incredible armor. My attacks that did hit only caused 30 to 35 damage. My position had also shifted, and my back was at the entrance to the tower.

I got stabbed in the back for 86 damage due to my carelessness. I shifted and stood by Curraen, who was bloody but standing. The orc leader looked in worse shape. There were now five other orcs on the first floor, but no more were coming through the door’s archway.

I managed to cast hail of stones on four orcs grouped together to pull them away from my militia. I was already down to 30% health, and it was looking grim. Then a massive figure burst into the tower from the doorway. Wielding a massive two-handed sword, she stabbed into the orc leader. It was Galana.

Galana must have jumped off the top of the tower to get into the fight quickly. The orc leader knew immediately he was overmatched, losing numbers, and started to look for an escape. I hacked into him again with my axe and did 75 damage with a critical to his back. He was looking pretty bad. Galana turned on another orc and felled him with a single swing, taking his head.

Curraen and I pressed the orc leader together, eventually breaking his defenses and felling him while Galana cleaned up the other orcs before they could harm any more of the militia. I rushed outside to see what villains were left. None. Bodies of orcs lay everywhere. Horses milled about, riderless. In the distance, I could see three orcs riding away. I sat in the dirt, and Jaesmin came up next to me and sat with me. After a time, Galana came to me, “Lord Tallis, thirteen dead, everyone else alive is wounded. We killed sixty-two of them. We have two prisoners, and three got away.” Galana said heavily. She had probably accounted for half the slain orcs herself, but she didn’t press the point.

We were actually lucky. If the orcs had not been so overconfident, they could have taken us on the plains and eliminated a third of our forces. Galana would have probably been able to win the battle herself afterward, but I think we would have lost everyone else.

Sanso came running up to the tower, out of breath. “Lord, I didn’t know the orcs were here. No one told me. I was at the river working on the tower. My elementals were half a mile away, extending the wall. If I had known, I could have summoned my elementals to aid you,” he blurted out in raspy breaths.

I shook my head. “Another mistake on my part, not yours.” I pulled out a waterskin and sucked on it. “How is the tower coming?” I asked, not caring, but not wanting to face the truth that I had lost 13 townsfolk.

Sanso looked slightly guilty but replied, “Well, my lord. The second floor is half complete. With help, I think I could complete it in two days.” I nodded. Not saying anything for a while, so Sanso wandered away to help where he could. The remaining soldiers were gathering the horses and looting the bodies. I got up and walked toward town with Jaesmin under my arm and tight to my body as she consoled me.

The villagers were gathered when I reached the town. I told them about the victory and the cost. I read off the names of the fallen from my interface, and people were crying and distraught. It triggered me to cry as well. I told them we were safe and the orcs would not return with their leader dead. I said we would celebrate the victory tomorrow evening and honor those who died defending our village. I talked to Gwen and asked her to make sure the townsfolk didn’t blame the orc refugees.

I went home with Jaesmin and went straight to bed. We curled up together, and I slept for eight hours in the game, the longest I had slept so far.

It was still dark when I rose. I went to my drafting table, seeing the stupid library that was my obsession. If I had spent the time building defenses instead of working on this…less villagers would have died. The plans were maybe half done. There were still so many details I still wanted to add. I had set aside another forty sheets of paper for the plans.

I looked at my village in the interface. Ninety-six people left. So many had died. We lost two of our full-time guards, the strongest defenders. I was still miserable; how could this be a game if I felt this way? I sat at the drafting table, sorted my plans for the library, and started working on it again as a distraction from reality. I set the game autopilot for the drafting skill, and when I found out I didn’t like what the game autopilot was doing to the plans, I tossed the work and did it myself. In the morning, there came a knock at the door.

I answered it, and it was Galana. Jaesmin came downstairs dressed, and we all sat at the table while my Captain of the Guard gave me the report. First, she reported the dead, which I already knew. Then the loot:

58 Black Mountain Steeds1,953 copper coins489 silver coins47 gold coins48 Common Magic Rings8 Uncommon Magic Rings2 Rare Magic Rings2 Rare Magic Belts18 Common Magic Swords7 Uncommon Magic Swords1 Rare Magic Sword6 Skill Novice Books (riding, alchemy, air magic, herbalism, polearm: spear, analyze)1 Expert Skill Book (riding)2 Uncommon Wands1 Unique Saddle

A whole bunch of regular gear and jewelry was on a separate page. I decided the copper and silver could be divided evenly among the people who fought. The gold would go into the village treasury. Galana could distribute the common and uncommon rings to those most deserving. Our soldiers were not going to use scimitars, so I guessed we would sell them all. The skill books would go into my private stash to reward people later.

I asked her to bring the other items so I could inspect them. She said she would return later today after giving out the trophies and loot. I told her to give the shares of the fallen to their families, and she nodded in affirmation before leaving.

It was afternoon when a knock at the door happened again. Galana was there with the loot. I analyzed the following pieces:

Ivory Ring of Deep Magic, +8 Magic, +2% total magic pool increaseSteel Ring of Fire Resistance, 30 Armor vs. FireBlack and White Leather Belt of Channeling, +15 channelingBlue Dragon Hide Belt, +50% damage with lightning spellsCherry Wand of Fire, +25% damage with fireBlack Oak Wand of Focus, 10% magic reduction for all spellsKahn’s Black Dragon Leather Saddle, +6 Riding Skill, +20% speed of mount, +20% damage with melee weapons, 50% less stamina drain on mount

It was a good haul but at a great cost. I gave Galana the ring of fire resistance, which she took solemnly. I handed the black wand to Jaesmin. The ivory ring went on my finger, and the black and white belt around my waist. The saddle would be for my mount and I would start riding today. Next time I would meet the enemy on the battlefield and spare my people.

Jaesmin was handed two rings and some coins from Galana for her participation. I thanked Galana for her service, and she left.

Now that the threat had passed, I needed to send out a trading caravan. We had a ton of gear, meat, and goods to sell. Interestingly, some NPCs had bags of holding like Galana’s. This meant we really didn’t need wagons. We also had plenty of horses. I walked over to the store to talk with Elice.

She was there and sorting through the gear from the orcs, focused on the jewelry. We talked for an hour about the value of the gear and selling our overstock of meat and other goods. The nearest city was Stillwater, about 240 miles to the south. We needed a city, not a town, to sell everything for a good price. Elice thought walking would take about ten days, and mounted about six days, so they were definitely taking horses.

Elice was to lead the trade expedition. She would gather everything we didn’t need, with Galana and the two remaining town guards accompanying her for safety. She estimated the value of the goods was over 500 gold, and it would be too much to risk. Elice was to return from the general store with lumber, grains, and anything else we needed. Galana was not happy about being sent away for two weeks. Hopefully, this wasn’t another mistake on my part.

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