Morning comes early and the only good thing about that was the fact that it meant one of Gluzzie’s breakfasts. I left the room and washed up and then went downstairs, it was early but the common room was full of both players and NPC. Most were here to have a hot drink and a fast bite before they began a shift of patrolling tiers one and two of the city.

A week ago I had opened up my house An Diadan and had begun to accept both NPC and players. The NPC vastly outnumbered the players. I had set up patrols and a training schedule. I also had to supply basic weapons for the NPC. It was costing me a pretty penny however the benefits were already apparent.

No members of the House of Pain would come down to the second tier any longer. Not after I had portaled the last few who tried down to the ocean, about forty yards out from the beach. Those players found out that armor is heavy, and most of them could not swim. The respawn area was pretty busy for a little while. The bonus of that was that Gluzzie would go down to the ocean and dive in then in half an hour there would be some nice armor sets and weapons unless the gear was soul bound.

What was interesting was all the other dwarfs who would follow Gluzzie. The watched him as he worked in the kitchen, and they followed him wherever he went if he left the Inn. It was time I found out what this was all about. Walking towards the dwarfs table I pulled up a chair and sat down. I looked at the dwarfs and they looked at me.

I began by asking, “Why are you following my cook? Everywhere he goes you go, and when he is at work here you sit staring at him. Why are you doing this?” I directed my questions to the dwarf I had met once before when he had come up and complimented me on Twinks appetite.

The Dwarf looked at me and nodded, and then he spoke up. “I am Dram Banhammer and I belong to the ancient clan of the Banhammers. These folks with me are all clan mates and family. Pointing at Gluzzie he continued to speak, “We are here waiting for the clan chief to give us directions.”

I was surprised to hear this and said “Wait, are you telling me the Gluzzie is your clan chief, I think that you might be mistaken. I can promise you that Gluzzie has not been in the Dwarfs lands for a long long time.” I spoke with conviction but the Dwarfs all shook their heads. I was not getting through to them and they were getting a stubborn look on their faces.

Dram spoke up, “Lad you do not understand, we dwarf identify our leaders by the braids and clips that are in their beards. It is clear that Gluzzie is the clan leader. It is a miracle no less, as we have not had a clan leader in a thousand years. I do not know where Gluzzie came from but by dwarfen law, he is our leader. We honor bound to stay and await his commands.”

I nodded as it was beginning to make sense to me. Excusing myself I went and spoke with Gluzzie. Once I had explained everything he sighed and then asked, “What should I do?” I thought for a moment and then told him to let them accept him as clan leader. “You must have them swear an oath to me and then I can put them to use,” I spoke with excitement, I had just thought of something that could have far-reaching implications for the Ingame world and I wanted to get things in motion.

We gathered together and Gluzzie spoke first, then the dwarfs chimed in. I had thought that giving me their allegiance might be a problem but it was not an issue. My actions with allowing NPC to join my house and also running the Inn had greatly increased the favor of the entire lower tier NPC towards me. My reputation was high with them and that along with Gluzzie insisting that they all bend the knee to me was enough to sway them.

Once it was all done I called Gluzzie and the Banhammers leader Dram together. I spoke up explaining, “I need you dwarfs to go that smithy next to the Inn up and running. I need weapons and armor being crafted and also something new.”

“Something new, and what would that be?” Dram spoke slowly with humor; he was in a great mood having just helped to restore the Clan Chief after over a thousand years of not having one. I did not know how things worked for dwarfs but it seemed that things were just accepted as done. This was much like Ama had explained how Demonic culture worked. If there was one fault I could find Ingame it would be that things that would not make sense in the real world were just accepted as the norm here.

Back to Drams question, I nodded and then reached into my bag and pulled out the chest containing the book of Science. Opening the chest I grabbed the book and pulled it out. Both Dram and Gluzzie were staring at the book in wonder; it had a feel to it that I had not seen in the game world with anything else.

Looking at Dram I asked him if his loyalty to me would stand the test of time and any other pressure that might be put on him. He looked at me and licked his lips, and said, “My word is my life and once given it cannot come back.” I nodded and then handed him to the book, “I want to know everything that is in the book, every recipe, every detail. I leave it with you to begin the process of building the machines and making them work. This is something new and I encourage you to be circumspect with what you are doing, trust only myself and Gluzzie.

I watched as he opened the book and saw a strange expression come across his face. Gluzzie went back to the kitchen and I sat and drank my kavaa. Twink came down and joined me as she waited for Gluzzie to prepare her breakfast. She was spending more time each day flying outside of the city exploring the nearby Islands and the bays and beaches of the coastline.

Finally, Dram looked up and closed the book, then clearing his voice he spoke, “Good morning lady Twink, it is good to see you with such a good appetite.” Then looking at me Dram said, “My Lord, what you have given me, I have no words but if only half of what I read is true then we will change this world.” I nodded; it was what I wanted to hear.

“I will be getting the boys together now and we will start working on the smithy next to the inn, also we will get the large building on the back of the smithy repaired to have a storage facility on hand. “One moment before you leave Dram,” I spoke quietly and gave him the instructions for a special project that needed to be done. “Let me know when you are done and tell no one of this,” I finished. With that Dram gave me a wave and walked over to the table full of dwarfs and began giving orders. Within minutes they had all cleared out, heading to get tools and start working on the smithy.

I sat back and lit up a smoke, enjoying the morning while I waited for Archon to arrive. Things were progressing, my next step was to go to the Kradula and begin the rescue of the children. As I mused over what to do my thoughts began to drift as I watched Twink eat. The girl made me proud; she was now eating twice what I could and yet was hungry all the time. I think that Gluzzie was falling in love with her in a paternal way, no wonder with what she would eat.

“Twink, I began as she slowed down on her eating. “I need your help; I need to know if I can ever shape shift and how to do so if possible.” If you could show me how it would be a huge help to me. What do you think?” I sat back not knowing what the answer would be. I knew being human was my dominant trait, and while I could use a couple of Dragon abilities I was curtailed in what I could use.

Twink looked at me and smiled, then said “Poppa, I am not sure, you have changed on the inside and now things are different for you. Let me try to show you.” She then scooted her chair over and then put her hand on my forehead, while humming a song. “Twink, what are you humming?” I asked.

She looked at me and spoke, “We got the beat by the Bangles, it is a great song, I love it.” You showed me how to play music a while ago and I really love it, I am sure that there is no Bard Ingame that could sing some of the songs that you have, and the music is amazing.

My first thought was the Bangles I thought I had deleted that song as soon as I had listened to it. I then realized that Twink was now accessing the AI interface side of her personality, it probably felt like a built in PIM to her. It was amazing to me that this had occurred. In truth Twink had become a fully alive person, or at least as much as an NPC could.

Refocusing I asked Twink to continue and she once again put her hand on my forehead. I could suddenly feel a rush of information, of knowledge about Dragon abilities that I could not access before. Suddenly Twink took her hand away and then asked me if I understood now. I slowly nodded, it was overwhelming to me but I somehow understood it.

“Thanks, honey,” I spoke slowly with feeling, I was not sure if I could shapeshift but suddenly I understood on a far deeper level what it meant to be a dragon. Twink laughed and said she was going to go to a deserted beach on an Island and hunt for fish. I nodded it sounded fun, I, however, was going to be hunting other things. “By Twink, have fun,” I said and then stood as Archon approached.

He sniffed the air and then pointed at the kitchen and spoke, “I am still not sure how the hell you ended up owning this Inn, but my real question is where did you find the cook and how did you get him to agree to work for you?” I just smiled and stared at Archon while offering him a smoke. We both lit up and then Brae sauntered over with a pot of kavaa and gave me a top up and looked at Archon. He nodded and then watched her as she poured then wiggled her behind away.

Looking at me he said, “My God, where do you find your staff, looking at her I could jump her right here and now. I just do not know what to make of you, some of the sexiest wrenches I have ever seen are working at your Inn. A cook that can make any meal taste like it is from a ten-star restaurant, and two of the toughest bouncers I have ever seen. I saw those two little guys each throw a fully armored drunk player out the door without breaking a sweat the other night.”

“What are you Tor?”Archon asked with a grim smile. He already knew. "Archon," I began, "I want to attend to some real world business. My time Ingame is limited and I want to change that.” There was no sense in beating around the bush, I needed Archons help. “I know that the Old Bastards have control over who get into the game once summer is over, my guess is that you will punt all the players you can. Then you will closely monitor those who are still Ingame while you run things. That all works for me except for the fact that I want a door back into the game.”

I waited and looked at Archon as he stared at me. “Tor,” he began, “It is something that can be arranged but what is that saying, quid pro quo. What do you have to offer us, something that is worth the price of a state of the art VRP and a direct link to the game?”

It was a good question and I had the answer. “The Gods,” I stated. “I will get rid of the Gods or, at least, the major ones. But here is the deal, I will take care of the VRP. You will take care of the cost and the direct line to the game. It is not that I do not trust you but I don’t. I am not willing to have the Old Bastards supplying the VRP. It is my life Ingame and I do not want anyone but myself to have control of that.”

Looking at me Archon nodded, “I don’t blame you,” He said. “If you can actually deliver it is a deal, and I don’t want to know how you will get rid of the Gods. You are a strange young man but I think you will honor you end of things. Here, memorize this number, once you are out of the game make the call, we will work out the details then. Shaking his head he then said, just so you know Kaie has left the game, she had pressing matters to deal with in real life. She wanted me to let you know that.”

I nodded, I had not thought of Kaie for a while, she had some serious mojo where I was concerned. It was probably for the best that she was back in the real world. Ama would not have approved I would guess. We both lit up another smoke and Archon asked what was next on my agenda.

am going to the kradula tonight and will do some exploring, I then hope to enter into the Abandoned zone proper and find the source of the curse. Once I get the children out to safety I will deal with the source of the problem. Then that quest is done. Then the Gods will be dealt with, and finally, I will deal with the Jackass and the House of Pain.

Nodding at me Archon spoke, “I really believe that you will do it, remember the number my young friend, and good luck. The King has summoned the four great guilds and all the houses in them to the temple mount. I believe we are going to war soon. I had best go prepare .

After Archon left I settled back and lit another smoke. I had a lot to think about, being a leader of any kind sucks blue-balls. I did not want the responsibility but in order to achieve my goals I had assumed a lot of it. All I can do is a plan for the future I thought as I watched the girls wiggle from customer to customer. Distracted, I wondered how many tips they were making.

Hi to everyone who is reading the story, just a little note, if you like it please leave some positive feedback, Some people did not like it and scored the story poorly. I don't want to get into a mudslinging war here about that. All I can do is to ask you to leave some positive comments at the front section, so that when someone looks over the reviews he sees more than the negative things from my own personal Kritiqs. Thanks and cheers.