Chapter 25: A Wider World

Chapter 25: A Wider World

I sat on my bed, lost in thought. Tomorrow was the big day.

I’d put in a hard day in the mine, and Grim had dropped by partway through the day to announce that the [Engineers] were coming tomorrow. He had a big stash of the red vine, which was apparently called sparkvine, and the [Engineers] were providing the gunpowder plans.

Depending on the results of tomorrow’s test, Balin and I would be free.

It was hard to imagine. Well, I mean it was easy to imagine. Me in a brewery making sweet, sweet liquor. I purred a bit as I scribbled in the small notepad Grim had given me. I looked down and realized that I’d been doodling Barck’s name in the margins like a lovesick schoolgirl. Except with guns and little skulls and various other instruments of death.

I’ve caught myself doing that a lot recently, just... happily thinking about the casual murder and destruction of Barck and everything he loves. I love revenge as much as the next guy, but I’ve never had a deep-seated hatred like this. I wonder if it’s a dwarvish thing, or that I've simply never been screwed so hard before. I’m not sure, because so far all the dwarves seem to get over stuff with no real hard feelings. Either way, I'll try to deal with it, and just punch Barck metaphorically in the face when I finally get a chance to chat with a [Priest.]

Back to what I was doing. Looking at quests, and pondering a mystery.

Quest: An Ore-Able Time Part 2/10

You’re stuck in a prison mine! Are you willing to mine your way to freedom?

Collect: 200/200 Tonnes of Ore

Reward: +0.1 Strength, +0.1 Vitality

Accept Quest?

[Yes] / No

Quest Complete: An Ore-Able Time Part 2 Don’t you feel arm-azing?

Gained: +0.1 Strength, +0.1 Vitality

Quest: An Ore-Able Time Part 3/10

You’re stuck in a prison mine! Are you willing to mine your way to freedom?

Collect: 133.5/400 Tonnes of Ore

Reward: +0.2 Strength, +0.2 Vitality

Accept Quest?

[Yes] / No

Those were the basic Tiara quests, which made sense. Next came what I assumed was the first Barck quest. May he rot in the Nether.

Quest: The Mother of Necessity Part 1/10

You’re a broke prisoner! Can you create new uses for gunpowder to earn some gold?

Create: 1/5 Uses

Reward: [Quick Measure]

Accept Quest?

Yes /[No]

I’d chuckled as I’d hit [No] on that quest earlier this evening. Eat shit, Barck. The little guy strikes back! Honestly though, I think the only person I’ll hurt by denying quests will be me. Don’t care, it felt great! I’ll probably accept any further quests from Barck in the future though. Maybe. I doodled some thorns and bloody knives in the margins.

Then had come what I assumed was the [Alchemist] quest... and a mystery. I read over it again and again, and I still couldn’t believe my eyes.

Quest: New Brew Part 1/10

The dwarves need your help. Influence 2,500 dwarves with your otherworldly alcohol knowledge.

Influence: 2500/2500

Reward: [Ingredient Scan]

Accept Quest?

Yes /No

What on Erd was this? A quest to make better beer? It was simply the most ridiculous thing I’d seen since I got here, and I’d seen a dwarf put a helmet on a rock to keep it safe.

The dwarves need your help. Influence 50,000 dwarves with your otherworldly alcohol knowledge.

Influence: 50000/50000

Reward: +0.5 Perception, +0.5 Vitality

Accept Quest?

[Yes] /No

Quest Complete: New Brew 5 Great Work!

Gained: +0.5 Perception, +0.5 Vitality

Quest: New Brew Part 6/10

The dwarves need your help. Influence 100,000 dwarves with your otherworldly alcohol knowledge.

Influence: 34,435/100,000

Reward: [Carbonate]

Accept Quest?

[Yes] /No

I was hyperventilating a bit at the end. The count restarted from zero, so... ninety... one hundred... six thousand... ONE HUNDRED TWENTY SIX THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND THIRTY FIVE DWARVES?!? I almost yelled out loud and then remembered it was way too early in the morning for that. How had I influenced that many dwarves without even leaving the prison!? Was this some kind of ‘Truman Show’ shit, and I was actually in a soap opera or on reality TV? It would explain so much, but no, that couldn’t be it. More likely my radler had made it out into the wild somehow. Maybe Grim talked about it outside, or Doc Opal, or heck, even Speaker John.

The sweet embrace of sleep called to me. Now that I had made the important decisions, I could worry about the number conundrum later. I took one last moment to look at my new Milestone and my massively updated status screen.

[Ingredient Scan]

An alchemist often needs to forage for their own ingredients, whether in a field or a market. When you use [Ingredient Scan] you can scan a 200-meter zone around you for a particular ingredient. If any amount of the selected ingredient is present, you will learn its exact location and amount. This ability can be used once a minute.

Status: Provided by the Firmament

Name: Peter Phillips Samson Age: 49

Conditions: None

Race: Dwarf

Blessings: [Flesh to Stone], [Flash of Insight], [Strength of All: Held], [Regeneration]

Title: [Alchemist]

Milestones: [Outworlder], [Power Pick], [Ingredient Scan], [Stabilize Mixture]

Strength 15.2

Vitality 17.1

Agility 11

Dexterity 11

Wisdom 13

Intelligence 12

Perception 15.1

Charisma 11

Huh, my birthday passed. Happy Birthday to Meeeee.

I was slowly starting to feel like some kind of Olympic athlete with my massive vitality. I hope that means more hit points or whatever analog to it exists in this crazy world. My strength still couldn’t hold a candle to Wreck. I wonder why my charisma is still so low. I wonder why Barck sucks so much?

What if something goes wrong tomorrow? I hope Sam wins his bet and I don’t die somehow. I wonder what the [Engineers] are like? How does Bran keep his beard so well groomed in the kitchen? Will I like Minnova? Will I fit in? [Carbonate] looks pretty amazing if it is what I think think it is. Maybe I should have accepted Barck's quest...

Plagued with thoughts and concerns about a suddenly wider and stranger world, I fell into fitful sleep. Today was the big day!