《Thieves' Den》Chapter six
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It took me an hour to get all four of the pickpockets set up. Three women and one man. Mela. Geela, Hope, and Grist. Each of the women looks like sisters, and Grist himself turns out to be five feet eight inches. Yeah, small, but he needs to be fast as a pickpocket. All four are Level One Pickpocket with piercing weapon skills, while Hope and Geela are at level one with traps. All of them have piercing weapon skills and backstabbing that rogues are known for. Mela has mapmaking from her days of mapping out dungeons, and while Geela has one point in alchemy, which I want to invest in later.
I decide on making the half-orc as my thugs. The strange thing with summoning is that I ended up with a half-ogre named Doug. The three half-orcs are Hap, Thorn, and Fan are my half. When I realize I made it set the summoning to be random on people and races and ended up with a half-ogre. After summoning him, I switch it to half-orc, liking their size, and some decent intelligence in the half-orc keeps them from being dumb.
Fan was the only female half-orc to appear at six feet tall and stack like a mountain. She looks sexy enough to break me ten different ways just looking at me. All of the half-orcs came in three different colors, green being the most common. While blue means they are northern orcs able to cast ice spells, red is the meanest and largest of the orcs. Plus, they can cast fire spells. Maybe fire in the slums may not be a great idea, but firepower is good, right? All reddish skin with purple hair. They all have purple eyes. I made them stand out to scare everyone. Overall they are over seven feet. Other than the coloring and small tusk on the bottom of their mouth, they look human but broader. If I were not the boss, I would have been scared. When Fan first appears, she was five feet ten inches and had a wide head that made her look unappealing to humans and orcs. She looks misshape. Changing her stats to be better on charisma while strengthening her, I made her six feet and ten inches tall with more breasts than an average orc would have. Much more appealing to me than she was before. Hey, I would have gone green from my days of watching Star Trek and that comic brute cousin that has his power, just better intelligence.
Fan was the first out of the summoning circle and made it her point to be my bodyguard. Even telling her no only forces her to fight against it to the point it hurt her. So I allow her to be my bodyguard unless I need to go beyond the boundary or the bathroom. She did kind of scare me with her size.
Now about Doug, standing at ten feet with broad shoulders about four feet wide and arms touching the ground. Hands that are bigger than my head. I didn't change him at all, considering his size would scare the hell out of someone. Out of all the thugs, he carried a club that looks like it was once a lower half of a tree. For a half-ogre, he has a spark of intelligence above a human that allows him to think and know three languages and learn how to read and write in all three languages: elven low tongue, dwarven lower tongue, and the common language. Give him a top hat. He could almost look like Mr. Hyde. The weird thing is he asks me if we have a library, and I had to say no. The look of disappointment on his face kind of may me think I need a library in the future.
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Overall, it took three hours to get the thugs and pickpockets to appear and then explain to all of them at the same time what is happening. Yeah, after explaining to the second pickpocket, I decide to tell the rest in the end. All of them had died in a dungeon. Each from a different location and at different times. Some twenty years ago up to a hundred years ago. Out of the pickpockets, two are half-elves, and two are humans. Not having a blacksmith or armory, the Thugs are force to carrying wood clubs. In contrast, the female pickpockets carry an ivory hairpin. And the male pickpocket has a small dagger that looks like it has been in a trash heap for years.
"How do we build up dungeon points?" I ask.
"Easy, your people do tasks and quests! That is given to you; otherwise, they get experience and goods for doing a regular quest," she answers with a giggle.
Rubbing his forehead, "Alright, how do they do tasks?" Regretting asking, knowing she will say something like I should know.
"The task board in the barracks, where else would they find tasks at?"
Shaking my head as I walk into the pickpocket barracks and look around. Seeing the four beds and a door to the bathroom at one end. A built-in outhouse for a bathroom with a hole for shitting and a smaller hole for a shower. I need to get her to see what a modern bathroom looks like. God, I hope we have toilet paper. Looking the other way, seeing a board with three pieces of paper pin to it, and above it is the word 'Task.' Looking at the tasks on hand.
Pickpocket five people. Reward: one DP and ten coppers.
Pickpocket five silver, Reward: one DP and ten coppers.
Pickpocket a weapon. Reward two DP and twenty coppers.
"That last one is a little dangerous. We might wait until level three for them to do that one." going back to the thugs' barracks and walk over to its task board.
Beat up or kill a rival member. Reward one DP and ten copper.
Intimidate a shop owner into protection fee. Reward two DP, twenty copper.
The third paper said. Protect the lair: Reward varies.
"I can give five to fifteen silver on weekly tasks, sometimes more than that if the task is tough." the dungeon said.
Protect the lair will summon one to five attackers who take the task must dispatch the threat to get the reward. Damage to the den can happen. As I read more on the task, "Okay, that one we may have to consider with everyone present to aid if it gets out of hand."
"Okay, what are my quests?" I ask as I turn around.
Daily Quest: Patrol your border and solve three people's problems by midnight. Reward: Three DP and ten Silvers.
Daily Quest: Find three rumors of interest. Rewards one DP and three silver.
Ongoing Quest: Clear all of the tunnels of problems within the dungeon boundary. Rewards twenty DP and Varies on monetary. The timeline ends when the third level is reached.
Ongoing Quest: Clear all living and unliving problems in the Dungeon boundary. Rewards Fifty DP and Varies on monetary. Timeline until the third level is reached.
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Seeing unliving on the quest send a shiver through me. The ghoul was not within the boundary that I saw but that not saying it will never be within my boundaries. "Ariel, do dungeons attract monsters?"
"Of course, they attract monsters, our mana helps them grow, but since I am small, they will have a hard time finding me. But it can happen." Ariel's cheerful voice spoke, then pause, "Hmm, why did you ask?"
"Saw a high-level ghoul with two first-level ghouls in the slums the other night when I was coming back from taking bones to the cemetery," I said.
"That not good may have we have to put in strong doors and traps to defend the place. We may have to find magical weapons or make them. So many things to do." hearing Ariel panic and start mumbling about what type of traps to use. To how much income to maybe purchase weapons.
"Ariel! Get a grip on yourself."
"Grip? I have no arms to do that. Is that important?" Pausing for a moment. "Oh, sorry about that. I panic. Monsters like to suck the lifeforce from dungeon cores. Oh, we need to get to level three, so we can build a dungeon shop to get equipment!"
"First, Ariel, we need you to calm down. You have the rest of the people and me down here to guard you."
"Traps are a good idea. We will have to do that later. I don't have the DP for now." I said, "Can you clean the sewer water and the sludge in the bottom? I would love to clean the whole sewer, but that is like pointing a sign say dungeon here."
"I can clean the water and sludge. Why?"
"I was wonder if you can spawn some fish in there for food and see if anything of interested is in the sewer?"
"The sewer out there is in my boundary, and I have already claimed it since you been here up to a few feet, but it is a few hours before I have more. I can spawn river cat and wild bass in the water for one DP for each type when done."
"Good, when I get the DP, we may do that, but can you absorb the sludge in the area you have claimed? I am curious."
"Sure, hmm, let me see, a skeleton. I go ahead and absorb that. Two daggers very one is very rusted the other is new, hmm wow, it is a magical weapon not much, but I can make this recipe for 1 DP now that I absorb it. Thirty-three copper, two silver, and one gold coin. Two plain rings. A pound of scrap metal that is rusted. Bits of cloth that rotten that all. You can have the coins. What do you want to do with the scrap?"
"Keep the scraps for later when we get a forge or if we get one. The coins are useful. Okay, that it for now."
"Hmm, Jack, can you get rid of the other rat summoning platform. Please, I am blocked from seeing and claiming that area, and I think they are another summoning platform at the edge of my boundary to the right. Please," Ariel pleaded.
"I have the thugs and pickpocket work on the rats, and after they get to the third level, we move it to another spot. Can you use the platforms?" asking her.
"I can claim them and transform them under my control. Anything they summon has a limit range, but they don't affect my DP or use my mana to summon. The one on you can summon twenty rats at its limit that you can skin and butcher. They don't give rewards if you do that otherwise. Just think rewards when touching them."
Pulling out the stones and setting them on the floor, watching them absorb and then reappear on the floor. I pick up the stone and saw the stones are much smoother and look a lot better.
"Okay, this can summon twenty rats. Each one will appear after an hour. Then until they reach twenty rats and start patrolling. Rewards are a rat's hide ranging from poor to good quality, a tail, up to three copper, and one to five rat meat. A level can increase as they win battles. This summoning stone is only a few wins from reaching level two, allowing it to summon rat up to level two. If it reaches level three, it can summon a boss. So a few more kills it be level two that is good."
"Boss! What do you want us to do?" one of the half-orcs yell from the other room. Turning toward the door as a half-orc came into the room.
As the half-orc walks into the room, I commented. "Group up and go out and kill rats. When you get to the lair, don't destroy the summoning stone. Just gather them up and bring them to me when you can. I will set up a hall that will have our own rats soon."
A deep, rumbling voice from Doug can be heard. "Will do, boss!" seeing the half-ogre enter the room behind the half-otc,
"Take the pickpockets with you!" I yell after them and, seeing the half-ogre raise his hand as he turns to leave to let me know he heard.
"Can we have a tunnel that dead-end where we can put the summoning stones? Maybe two tunnels on both sides of the reception room that we can open when we get invaded that will allow the rats out into the lobby to help with the fighting?" I ask aloud.
"No cost to making hallway except for doors. They are one DP each."
Shaking my head. "Of course they are." signing to myself. Everything cost DP.
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