Chapter 19

Leveling Up

At dinner Torger gathered up his friends. “I have to be in Parker in three and a half weeks, with Baybil, for a mayor’s meeting. Everything seems to be going okay here in Calico, so what do you guys say to going to kill some monsters with our new equipment and gaining some ability points?”

Of course everyone enthusiastically agreed. But the discussion unraveled when they decided where to go. Torger wanted to complete the quest near Parker, Brun still wanted to go kill goblins but Torger insisted they can’t do that until after he convinced the other mayors it was OK, Graul wanted to go explore Kern, which was too far away, and Antic wanted to go chase the six foot rabbit at Kellogg hill. Rome finally said “If the goal is to get easy experience points, let’s go back to the LA river and kill more black simmets. Those seemed easy enough to kill. After more discussion they agreed to it.

Since it was winter the river should have some water in it, enough to not go thirsty. They packed up supplies that night and left the next morning. It was raining but they pushed hard along the muddy path and made it to the tunnels at the top of Cajon Pass around midnight. They all fell asleep having blocked off the tunnel entrance with the duffel bags and back packs.

In the morning a light dusting of snow was on the ground and the sky was still cloudy. As they walked Arden spotted a roc nest. Rome used analyze and found the adults were level 14. Jex shot an arrow and the birds flew at them. Even the two babies were able to fly away from the fight. Jex and Torger used bows, and Arden held the shotgun. Strong Arm had only been able to make five more shells in addition to all their steel armor, but the hope of getting more when they returned made him less anxious about using what he had.

The adults swooped down and Antic was able to drive his new steel spear into one. It collapsed and Graul cut off its head before it could recover. Torger and Jex shot more arrows at the other, and Arden fired a shot at it. All hit heir mark and Brun cast Fire 3 at it just because he could. Like Torger’s sword the spell hit the bird then four fireballs came out of it and circled in the air before slamming harmlessly into the ground. A thrust from Antic’s spear ended it. The babies never returned to the nest.

Brun was excited to see his Fire 3 spell was the same as Torger’s sword. Rome said he wanted to use analyze to see how much damage the fireballs caused on the next attack.

They collected roc feathers and headed west along the foothills. They made it to the abandoned village of Small Hammer that night and were again too exhausted from the hard day’s walk to set up a watch. As they slept two cottols attacked the shield and came into the village and used a psychic blast against Torger and Arden. The men rolled over in their sleep and turned their backs to the cats. The cats used psychic blast on everyone else and they all turned their backs while still sleeping.

Rome and Arden woke up screaming as pain erupted from their backs. Rome tried to reach his staff but it was too far away and the cat jumped on him and bit his neck. Arden however was used to camping with Torger and had the shotgun loaded near him. He grabbed it and fired directly into his enemy’s face. Blood splattered everywhere but before he assessed the damage he pumped and fired it into the side of the cat that was on top of Rome. The beast fell onto its side. Amazingly it stood up and faced him. Without hesitation Arden fired at its face and it died. He turned to see the cat that had attacked him and saw it struggling to stand up even though it no longer had eyes, or a mouth. Arden used the last shot and it died.

Rome crawled to the duffle bag while Arden cast Cure 1 on himself twice. His bleeding slowed significantly but didn’t completely stop. He crawled to the duffle bag also and both men found the potions and drank a mid level cure potion. Arden’s back stopped bleeding and healed a little, but Rome’s was still trickling and the back of his neck was mangled. However he was thinking clearly enough to not drink another potion. He instead crawled over to Torger and slapped him. Torger came out of his stupor and listened to Arden explain what happened. While he was speaking Torger cast Cure 1 twice on Rome. They woke everyone up by slapping them, and Rome was too full of adrenaline to get to sleep so he took the first watch.

The next day they didn’t push so hard to get far and set up camp at sunset. During his watch Antic thought he saw one of the large rabbits in the distance, but didn’t know if that was wishful thinking. Nothing more exciting happened until they made it to the river. The rains had made it more than a foot deep. Torger knew the weather on Nuva was different than on Earth because it seemed to be raining more on this alien world, but he would gladly take it.

After establishing camp a mile away, they rested for the night, anxious to kill as many of the creatures as possible. It had been a couple of months since they had last seen these weird looking monsters. They were completely black, covered in scales. They had the head and tail of a snake with the body of a crocodile, but the mouth had eight curved teeth in them. The good news was they didn’t seem to be venomous.

Just as they had found the last time, these creatures were very quick whether running across mud or swimming in water. And as expected, they were a little bigger than the last time they saw them, now about five feet long. They also still attacked by ambush in groups of four, half burying themselves in mud and waiting for animals to come get a drink of water.

Brun spotted the first one mostly underwater. Rome cast Analyze 1 and saw it was level 6 with health at 170/170 and mana 0/0. They knew there would be three more nearby. Jex shot an arrow at it and it rushed at her. As planned, Brun cast Fire 3 at it. The spell hit it and four fireballs flew into the air after impact. Three of them flew down to hidden simmets under the water, and the fourth fireball slammed harmlessly into the ground. The other three ran up the bank, having been discovered. The bad news was that the fireballs dissipated when they hit the water.

Torger sliced deeply into the one Jex had first shot. Four fireballs came out of his sword and hit the other three simmets. That was what Rome had been waiting for. He cast analyze 1 at one of them and saw its health was 156/170. That told him each fireball from Torger’s sword caused fourteen points of damage. That was less than they had hoped for. The good news was that Torger swung his sword again and chopped off the head of the reptile. Three more fireballs found their mark. That made Rome realize the cumulative damage could add up if they faced overwhelming numbers of an enemy.

Antic and Arden thrust their new steel spears into a simmet without fear of them breaking and with trust that their steel armor would protect them. The low level beast died easily. Graul had just as easy a time using his steel shield to block and countering with his flame sword. The four simmets died with little effort from the Regulators. It was too easy, almost boring. But Antic found a silver coin in the stomach of one.

They walked upriver a mile and found four more. This time when Jex shot an arrow at the first one, Torger stabbed it to expose the other three. Once the fireballs came off his sword and flew into the water, the simmets came out of hiding. It wasn’t until they were halfway up the bank that Brun cast Fire 3. Once the three fireballs hit the other three simmets, Rome cast analyze. He saw the health of one was 149/170. Brun’s spell was stronger than Torger’s, but that made sense. His silver staff was supposed to multiply the strength of a spell by 1.5, and it did.

They killed those simmets easily, and another group of four that day before returning to camp. On the last batch Brun had switched to using Ice 1, trying to learn Ice 2 once he dealt another 712 damage points with Ice 1. Since casting Fire 3 one time completely drained his mana, and he had to deal another 14,779 damage points with it to learn Fire 4, he had no hope of ever learning that super powerful spell. But getting to Ice 3 and Lightning 3 were realistic goals for him. As usual, Rome geeked out and crunched the numbers. Everyone but Torger was annoyed by it. They could kill seventy more black simmets before everyone but Rome was maxed out on gaining experience from them.

For the next six days they easily killed twelve simmets per day. At the end of each day Antic collected a few treasures from some of the reptiles. They gathered a gold coin, five silvers, twenty-one coppers, and most impressive were two pearls. These things seemed to have a large supply of goblins for food. Torger wanted to use one to upgrade Graul’s sword, but was unsure about the other one. Antic wanted to add magic to his spear, and Jex wanted to add magic to her bow. But Torger let them talk without committing. They were a long way from the elves who would be needed to make the pearls magical and add them to the weapons. He had time to think it over.

After each day Torger would walk to the beach and look at Catalina in the distance. He had twenty months left until the tyters invaded. He would think about “What is the difference between an extraction team and the hunters? Do we have a chance of surviving? Are we walking all over this land to get stronger with no hope of winning?” Each day he would try to formulate some sort of plan to survive. Sometimes one of his friends would join him on the beach and they would talk it over. He thought about destroying the building on the island that the tyters would likely enter from, but that also meant destroying the building that could send them back to Earth if they killed the hunters. He didn’t know what to do, and twenty months seemed like a short time to prepare.

When they woke up after the final battle with the simmets, Torger addressed the group. “We came here completely naked, owning nothing, and have grown strong. It seems this land has been created to make us strong. We fought level one coyotes in abundance when we were level one. We found a cave in Indio full of level two spiders and snakes. We found another cave full of level four cockroaches. And the last week we have fought and killed almost a hundred level six alligators. We’ve had our ups and downs, all of us dying a few times, and being slaves to goblins, but I think there has to be another challenge somewhere for us to get stronger. All the monsters I just described are here Nuva have helped us grow stronger, but we have the opportunity to kill other monsters too. We all just gained four ability points in six days. That is damn good. I think it’s time we go to Parker and complete the quest we have there. We can kill some monsters easily with our steel gear, and I need the reputation boost for the mayor’s meeting. But as we discussed this is democracy time. What do you say?”

“I’m liking the easy experience we had this last week. I’m in.”

“I’m in too,” agreed Antic, “But I would like to see what those huge rabbits are as we pass by.”

Everyone agreed to that and after they packed up camp they spent their ability points. Everyone but Brun bought Shield 1. He bought Poison 1. And everyone except Brun and Rome had another ability point left over and bought five more mana. Rome was very happy to learn another white magic spell. He had fifteen mana, and Analyze 1 cost seven mana and Shield 1 cost seven mana. He could finally be a little useful in battles.

They made it to the top of Kellogg hill a little after dark. The battles with the simmets had another advantage in that everyone but Antic gained another stamina point. It wasn’t much, but they could walk a little faster and further. But still, everyone but Antic had the stamina of a thirty-five year old man who goes to the gym once a week. But they had the strength to bench press two hundred pounds twice. Torger did give everyone but Antic a low level stamina potion when they stopped for a rest at noon. Antic could jog a half marathon without having to walk part of the way.

They set up camp and Antic took the first watch since he was the only one with energy left. He eagerly looked around using the Bow of the Owl and spotted a huge rabbit going into the same hole they had seen the first time. He was giddy with excitement to find out what these abnormal beasts were in the morning.

It was Brun’s turn to cook breakfast, not that the bland meals ever varied. They either ate roasted deer or roasted rabbit. While he was starting the fire and others were taking down the tents, Antic was too excited to see what the big rabbits were. He convinced Rome to go with him to sneak into the hole.

When they came near Rome used analyze and it simply said

You have found a level 18 cave. Do you wish to conquer it?

Rome selected yes and his eyes changed so that he could see grey outlines further inside. The level was much higher than he expected and wanted to leave, but Antic held the Bow of the Owl in front of him so he could see further inside. Antic was going to enter whether Rome followed or not. Reluctantly he walked behind his friend.

They saw nothing for a hundred feet but then it split off into different directions, four ways all going down further underground. Rome insisted they turn back but Antic picked a path to the right and walked down it. They only made it about six feet when a huge four foot mole ran at them. Rome cast Shield 1 and the creature ran its head into it, slightly cracking the magic shield. Lightning 1 came out of the shield and shocked the beast. Antic shot an arrow at it, and as expected his arrow went right through Rome’s shield. It hit the rodent in the head but only sunk in an inch. Both men turned and ran out of the cave. Behind them they heard the mole slam into the shield again and heard it shatter. They ran towards the exit but heard the beast gaining on them. Antic yelled and Rome turned back to see two sharp teeth pierce the steel helmet. There was a flash of green and Antic disappeared. Rome ran all the way back to his friends with the giant mole chasing him.

Graul was the first one to hear him yelling. He looked and saw the four foot tall mole gaining on Rome. He grabbed his shield and ran towards it, the others close behind him. He cast Shield 1 between Rome and the mole, and again it slammed into the shield. With its faster speed the shield nearly shattered upon impact. The magic shield was eight feet by eight feet, and the mole didn’t just go around it. The mole got shocked by the lightning from the shield, but quickly recovered and rammed the shield with its head again. The shield shattered and Graul met its face with his steel shield.

It tried to bite through but the shield was much thicker than Antic’s helmet. Graul didn’t have his sword to counter with, but that wouldn’t have mattered. The mole was so powerful it slammed its head into his shield and knocked him backwards.

Brun cast Fire 3. Four fireballs circled in the air and went into the ground. The smell of singed fur was thick in the air. But that had little effect on the mole. It tried to rake its claws across Graul but his chest plate protected him. Arden ran forward and drove his spear deep into its side. It turned and bit his arm. The bracer mostly held, but he still had some blood coming from his forearm.

When the rodent turned to bite her husband it exposed its neck and Jex shot an arrow into the side of its neck which took its attention off of Arden. By then Torger was able to circle around its back side and stab one of its back legs. That side of it dropped to the ground, and he quickly withdrew the sword and stabbed the other back leg. It tried to turn to bite Torger, and that gave Graul the chance to slam his shield into the side of its face. It finally collapsed to the ground unconscious. Torger stabbed it in the neck and it died.

Everyone sat down and rested. Rome explained what happened, with Antic going in against better judgment. They were shocked the cave was level 18. Some overgrown rabbits shouldn’t be all that dangerous, but they didn’t know the moles were in there too. Once they got a clear understanding of what happened, they knew they had to recover the bow and armor, and then go back to Calico to get Antic.

Rome had a better idea. Once they recovered the armor he could teleport to Calico with it and give it to Antic, then meet them in Indio. Everyone agreed and gathered their weapons and headed toward the cave.

Rome still had the ability to see grey outlines in the cave, but everyone else was blind. Everyone tucked a low health and low mana potion into their boots. Rome led them to the intersection and looked on the ground where Antic had died. The bow and the chest plate were gone, but the rest of the armor was still there. He saw drag marks leading down a different tunnel. He took the armor a bit closer to the exit, then led his friends towards the drag marks.

After about forty feet he saw a giant mole walking backwards and using its teeth to carry Jex’s bow. He whispered what was happening to Torger. Everyone snuck up to the mole, which stopped moving once it saw them. It dropped the bow and ran at them.

Rome cast Shield 1 and it slammed into it headfirst, cracking the magic barrier. Everyone else could see it briefly from the resulting lightning spell coming from the shield. It ran forward again and shattered the shield. Rome cast Shield 1 again and it again ran into that one. That gave enough light for Torger and Graul to run forward and stab it in the face. Three of the fireballs from Torger’s sword circled and went into the dirt floor, but the fourth one flew behind the back of the giant mole.

“There’s another one behind this one!”

Everyone had quick thinking. Jex shot an arrow at it, and Arden cast Shield 1 in front of it. Graul reached down and grabbed the bow and they all started running out of the cave. Once they got to what was left of Antic’s gear, Rome stopped to pick it up while Graul and Torger cast Shield 1 behind them. As they got to the mouth of the cave they heard both shields shatter, a few seconds apart. Once in daylight they turned to see their foes. Two giant moles were running at them, one of them was badly injured.

Rome reached into his boot and uncorked and drank his low mana potion. He gathered all of Antic’s armor into his magic back pack then cast Teleport 1. There was a green flash and he was gone.

Torger and Graul stabbed the injured mole in the face and it died. Jex shot arrows at the other one while Brun repeatedly cast Ice 1. Arden cast Shield 1 in front of it and it ran into the shield, cracking it like the others, but also took a weak electric shock. It slammed its head into the shield again and it shattered. Torger and Graul each stabbed a back leg and it tried to bite them but Graul blocked with his shield.

Brun kept casting Ice 1 until he used all of his mana, a total of nine casts. Jex kept shooting arrows at its neck, and Arden finally got around to the other side and drove his spear into its side, killing it.

They rested a short while then walked as far away from the hill as they could before setting up camp for the night.

Chapter 20

The Council

Rome appeared inside the mayor’s house at Calico. Antic was getting dressed with old clothes. He was surprised to see his friend appear, holding most of his armor. He looked at the helmet and saw a huge part of the back of it had been pushed in, complete with a gaping hole. He looked at Rome but had no words to say he was sorry for endangering everyone’s lives. Rome saw him struggling internally and asked “What happened Antic? You should tell me.”

Antic said nothing as he put on his greaves and bracers, but walked to the large kitchen table Torger and Graul had made the previous summer and sat in one of the human sized chairs. He held the helmet in his hands looking at the damage. Rome sat across from him.

“As everyone knows, I hate dying and I hate pain. I know we all do. But everyone seems to be more brave about it than I am. I’ve been trying to build up my bravery. I thought huge rabbits couldn’t be all that dangerous. I wanted to prove my bravery to everyone. No, that’s not right. I wanted to prove my bravery to myself. Fighting a big gentle rabbit isn’t all that brave but it’s a step in the right direction. When you said the cave was level eighteen, I thought your analyze was wrong. How could a big rabbit be that dangerous? I should have trusted you to just leave the cave empty handed.”

Rome considered this for a while. “You’re right that we all want to go home and live normal lives again. But none of us are stupid enough to go fight a tough monster by ourselves. You see how we work together as a team. We are all important to each other’s survival. I’m the least important to the group. I just a few days ago learned a shield spell, just like almost everyone else. I have contributed the least, but I’m trying to get better and start pulling my own weight. You’ve come a long ways since being here. We all have. Let’s go find Baybil and head to Indio. We have good friends waiting there.”

“Thanks Rome. But what really keeps me up at night is permanently dying when the tyters get here.”

“You need to have more faith my friend. We all believe in Jesus, that He will let us into Heaven when we die. Think of death as a promotion to the ultimate body you’ve been striving for since coming here. But until that day comes, we’ll try to figure out a way to get home and live long and happy lives.”

“Thanks Rome.”

They left the house and found Baybil. Rome said “Hi Baybil. We had a run in with a giant mole and our plans got altered. We’re heading to Indio to meet up with Torger. It’s a couple weeks early, but do you want to come with us?”

“The village is running smoothly. Let me assign a few tasks today and we can leave in the morning.” Antic and Rome spent the rest of the day inspecting the progress in the mines.

After breakfast they began walking along the dirt path towards Baybil’s old village. Along the way Rome described the giant moles and Antic’s death and Rome’s teleport.

Baybil said “Two things you need to be careful of with them. Their teeth, as you already discovered Antic, and their thick skulls. They use their heads like battering rams. When you cast the shield one it should have a health of one hundred. That mole probably did seventy or eighty damage on the first head butt. If it hit you with it, and you had no armor, it would take off that much health. It has claws, but they’re not sharp enough to penetrate iron, and you were wearing steel, so you should have been safe from that.”

“Do you know where they come from? I mean which planet?”

“I have no way of knowing that. The tyters don’t talk to us, they ignore us like we don’t exist during their hunts. If you kill a brimmel, what you call a mole, they will respawn a week later. To get the treasure in that cave you would need to kill everything in it in less than a week then take possession of it. Only then will they respawn somewhere else on the planet. Otherwise they’ll respawn in the same cave.”

“That sounds like a big job. Too big for us where we’re at.”

“Yes you would all need to gain several levels, and gaining levels will become more difficult for you soon. You’re no match for those things yet. Fortunately they stay underground and keep to themselves.”

“It must be a pretty good treasure they’re guarding.”

“I would think so. Some dwarves have claimed to have been in a group that has cleared out a cave full of giant moles and rabbits, but they say all that’s in there is pitch.”

Rome was surprised. “Pitch, as in tar, as in crude oil? Do they say there is a smell that gives them headaches and nose bleeds?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“That would be from natural gas. It’s very useful where we come from, but we don’t have the tools necessary to do anything with it here. What a shame.”

They walked for four days along a muddy path until they came to Indio. As promised, their friends were waiting for them at Jex and Arden’s cave.

Baybil looked around the landscape and when he found Torger he said “My dwarves are doing a great job here. The path is complete, and now all twelve dwarves are working on the aqueduct. You may want to consider giving them a bonus.”

“Up to your old ways Baybil? All the dwarves here chose to come here instead of opening their own businesses in Calico. They get a portion of the silver that’s mined, as agreed. And once the prisoners are transported here, they will become prison guards.”

“If the prisoners are freed. First you have to convince the council to remove them from the goblins, and if you do that the goblins won’t give them up easily. But I do hope it works out because we are in desperate need of iron.”

“I know we are my friend. Let’s eat dinner and head to Parker tomorrow.”

The next morning they left with a bright sun shining overhead. Without a dirt path it took two days to get there. Walking over uneven terrain made everyone realize how spoiled they were with the dirt paths. Torger thought they were well worth the investment.

When they arrived at Parker Baybil was greeted with cheers and pats on the back. Torger was given dirty looks. Several dwarves invited Baybil to the tavern for a drink of ale, and he looked back apologetically toward Torger as he was being led away. That settled the matter in Torger’s mind, and he had no trouble convincing the Regulators to leave town immediately and start killing prey.

They headed a couple miles north and set up camp for the night. While yet again roasting bland deer, Rome handed Torger the village silver. It was just over a half pound of raw ore. He added that to the gold coin and silver and copper coins found from the simmets.

That night three razorlings attacked them, but Brun was alert on his shift. He was able to wake the others before things got out of control. By the time the lizards made it to camp Arden and Torger were out of tents with weapons in hand, a steel sword and a shotgun. Strong Arm had been able to produce eighteen more shells in the eleven days Rome had been gone. The shotgun and sword killed all three before their friends made it out of their tents. At the end of the fight there were fourteen shells left. At two silver coins per shot, that was very expensive ammo. If Strong Arm kept up production at that rate Torger would owe him a gold coin a month.

They spent the next six days walking concentric circles around Parker hunting all the razorlings they could find. As always, the dwarves of Parker sent out daily patrols five miles to the north and south looking for razorlings, and that helped them a great deal.

After killing another pack of five razorlings on the north side of Lake Havasu, Torger’s Notoriety/Quests icon in his vision began flashing green. He opened it up and saw the quest was complete. They made camp and the next day walked all the way back to the village. When they walked in they got no scowls or dirty looks. Most dwarves ignored them but a few smiled and nodded. They asked an especially friendly looking dwarf if she knew who Romalt was. She giggled and led them into a cave in the side of the river bank. She told everyone else to stay at the mouth, and she led Torger along the tunnel. The ceiling was so low he was tempted to crawl on his hands and knees but thought that might be rude.

The young dwarf woman knocked on a wood door. “Door” may be generous. It was more of a lattice. A voice called out “I’m busy. Hold your questions until the council tomorrow.”

Undeterred she called in “It’s me grandpa. A human wants to see you.”

A sigh could be heard then the voice called “Come in Torger.”

Torger picked up the lattice and moved it aside. Inside the ceiling raised to six feet, where he could stand comfortably. An old dwarf, covered in a grey beard, sat behind a desk writing notes. He finished his writing then looked up at Torger.

“So you’re the young upstart changing the way we dwarves have done things for over three thousand years. Tell me, why are you disturbing our way of life?”

That was not the welcome he was expecting. “I’m not trying to change the dwarves, I’m trying to get the tyters to not kill us. I tried to remove a corrupt mayor from power, that is true, but I didn’t ask to become a mayor. The dwarves of Calico elected me to be mayor while I was a prisoner in the goblin mines.”

“We’ll see about that at the council tomorrow. For now you may collect your reward.”

Torger saw his Cities icon flashing. He opened it and found Parker. It showed

Feared 0/100 Loved 10/100 Respected 40/100 Hated 10/100

Torger didn’t know he could be loved and hated at the same time. Or maybe that was how the percentage of the population saw him. He decided to ask about it.

“Romalt, how can I be loved and hated at the same time?”

“That is Chief Romalt. I am the tribal chief of the Cucamonga dwarves and will be respected as such, even among mayors. Those numbers reflect the villagers sentiment towards you. Some of them can hate that a human is a mayor over dwarves, yet love that you risked your life to free our own kind. Most of them simply respect that you killed the razorlings.”

Torger looked and saw he also gained the promised 900 exp. That gave him another ability point and brought his experience to almost 700 exp. After all of the Regulators killed thirty razorlings in the past six days, they had each gained another three ability points, and now Torger had four. He immediately spent it on what he knew would be important. He bought Analyze 1. Now he too could see grey outlines in a dark cave.

Romalt watched him until Torger was done. “A wise choice for a warrior. You may now go to Guntrink for an ice weapon. Give him this.”

He handed over a small sapphire. Torger gratefully accepted it but asked “How did you know what I spent my ability points on?”

“I used analyze three on you. From what I can tell, that spell is not available to humans.”

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I thought dwarves were weak with magic. That they can’t use spells beyond a level one.”

“That is true for black magic spells, and mostly for white magic. But some of us may progress far with white magic spells.”

Torger thanked him and walked back out of the tunnel, stooping along the way. He told Jex to walk with him to the blacksmith. Guntrink took the sapphire and gave Jex a recurve bow to try out. It was small, dwarf sized, and when she pulled back on the string it broke. Her strength was at 11 and her skill with bows was at 19. Guntrink gave her another bow, a long bow for dwarves which was just a little big for Jex. She pulled back on that one and maxed out the pull easily. She asked for something even stronger and the blacksmith went into the back and came out with a long bow made from hickory.

“That’s the strongest bow I have. Very few dwarves can accurately aim with it and the tension is a hundred pound pull. Only a real master archer could use this effectively in battle.” He looked at her with a derisive smirk clearly expecting her to not pull back fully or accurately. Jex held the bow firmly with her left hand, set her feet apart with her right foot pointing to the side and pulled back as hard as she could. As expected she couldn’t fully draw it back. She handed it back to Guntrink who took it to the back of his shop to return it and bring out a weaker bow. While he was gone Torger told Jex to put her three unused ability points into strength. She grew an inch and a half and her muscles gained a little more mass. Now she had the same strength as Antic.

Guntrink returned with three long bows. One was oak, one was ash, and one was maple. Torger said they would take the maple one before Jex even tried any of them. The other two looked at him in shock and he said he knew maple is a harder and stronger wood. It was also less porous and easier to keep a coat of wax on it to keep out water and termites. Maple grows slower due to growing in cold weather and the individual cells are more condensed. Jex trusted Torger’s knowledge of wood and believed him that a maple bow would last for years longer than an oak or ash bow, but she still had to try it to find out how it felt. Guntrink said he didn’t know if she could draw it all the way back. The hickory bow had a hundred pound draw and this maple bow had a ninety pound draw. The oak and ash bows each had a seventy-five pound draw which was more her level. She gripped the maple bow firmly with her left hand and used her new muscle strength to draw with her right arm. She was just barely strong enough to fully draw it back and looked at Torger like this was a mistake, but he shook his head and insisted it was the right one. Once Jex found the right bow Guntrink took it and said he would be done in a few hours.

While they waited they went into the crowded tavern and ordered ale. It was good that this time they got charged the same price as the other dwarves. It showed the humans they were now accepted in the community. After a couple drinks and friendly conversations they returned to the smithy and Jex was the new proud owner of an ice bow, in addition to a Bow of the Owl, and a regular recurve bow. Guntink said every arrow shot from that bow would have the spell Ice 1 added to it, and a silver arrowhead would add another fifty percent to the magic. She was beyond pleased. She drew it back again and her arms trembled with the strain, but knew if she spent her next two ability points on strength she could manage it easily. But it would take a few more upgrades to strength beyond that before she could rapidly shoot arrows at targets like she could with the two recurve bows.

During that day more and more dwarves showed up from different places around Southern California and Arizona. It seemed this annual council meeting was also a general meeting for all the traveling traders. All the regulators except Torger had their fair share of ale that night and woke up in various states of dress around the village the next morning. Arden and Jex woke up in a room inside one of the tunnels that had been made into a temporary inn. Rome, Graul, and Brun woke up in the middle of the town square without shirts on and water skins full of ale slung around their chests, and they all had many deep bruises all over their upper bodies. They had vague memories of wrestling dwarves in a dirt patch, winner gets a skin of ale. Antic woke up next to a cart full of armor that had been pulled by a bison and now he had a new steel helmet and steel chainmail shirt. He was wearing those two pieces of armor, and nothing else. He looked at the dwarf he must have bought from and asked how he afforded the armor. The dwarf smiled and held up thirteen vials of potions, all of them were mid level stamina potions. The regulators no longer had that specific type of potion. He was also taller and stronger, sort of remembering Jex saying she had finally become as strong as him. His strength had gone up to 17, meaning he used all three of his ability points towards his physical growth. That must have been his drunken response to no longer being the strongest Regulator.

Torger however, had spent much of the night talking with Baybil about his encounter with Romalt and asking questions about what would happen at the council meeting. He too woke up in a room in the tunnel that had been converted into a temporary inn.

After breakfast Baybil led Torger to the far west side of the village. He came to a normal looking rock and then used the handle of his battle axe to tap on it, making it sound like some sort of Morse code. The rock rolled away leaving a hole about two feet in diameter. He crawled in and Torger followed. Once Torger was in the rock rolled back in place and he found himself climbing down a ladder into a huge cavern. Magic lights surrounded the walls and four dwarves were seated at a large stone round table, except the round table had one flat edge where Romalt sat. Torger followed Baybil and they sat at the last two available seats. Romalt stood up and an unseen dwarf standing in a dark corner loudly spoke “All kneel.”

Everyone knelt before Romalt, Torger the last to do so. The tribal chief sat down then said “Be seated.”

Torger was the last to get to his chair and sit down. Romalt began “According to our three thousand, five hundred and eighty-one years of recorded history, never has a non dwarf sat at the annual mayor’s council. I do not like that this has happened on my watch, and may blotch my record as tribal chief for the next three thousand years. Be that as it may, it is my understanding that Torger became a mayor of the Cucamonga tribe through a democracy. A vote entirely by dwarves with no pressure to vote for him against their conscious. There are a few ways a dwarf can become a mayor, and democracy is one of them. Are there any here who would claim this human wrongfully placed himself into this position of power?”

No dwarves answered.

“Very well. It is also my understanding this human attempted to kill the previous mayor he deposed. Who has an accusation against him?”

A large dwarf Torger hadn’t recognized at first stood up. Torger saw he was missing his right thumb and then recognized him as Brute, the lead henchman of Small Foot. Romalt said “I recognize Brute, our new war chief.”

Brute looked at Torger and pointed a finger at him. “It is true he and his posse of humans killed Small Foot. I personally escorted them to the goblin mines as slaves for their crime. They broke free, aided by Baybil, and came back to Calico to kill more dwarves while threatening to keep killing dwarves unless they made him a mayor. It was out of fear that they elected him as mayor.”

Torger jumped up and shouted “That’s not true!”

Romalt banged his axe handle on the table and two unseen guards in the shadows came to Torger and pulled him down hard back into his seat. Baybil leaned over and said “Don’t say anything. I’ll handle this.”

Romalt stood up and Brute sat down. He said “Those are very serious accusations war chief. Do you have any proof or witnesses?”

Brute said “If you will allow me, I would like to bring in dwarves to testify before this council.”

Romalt agreed. The two guards walked to a wall and pulled a lever. The stone outside rolled away and a dwarf crawled in, then began climbing down the latter. Everyone looked with anxiety to see who was the first witness to say the human was a murderer. The dwarf came to the bottom of the latter and turned around. Stone Fist stood before the council in the shadows of the light. He walked forward and Torger couldn’t help himself but to say “Why?”

Everyone ignored the question and Stone Fist walked to stand next to Romalt. Brute grinned widely, and Stone Fist began addressing the council.

“My name is Stone Fist. I have lived with the villagers of Calico for nearly sixty years. I came to them in my youth when times were peaceful, when Boyork was the mayor. I was there when the elderly dwarf passed away and Small Foot was elected to be the next mayor. But shortly after Small Foot gained power he slowly raised taxes and began hoarding metals and jewels for the village. Some dwarves saw the likely future and left the village.”

Brute interrupted “That’s not what we talked about, builder. Get to the part where the humans killed the mayor.” Brute glared at him but Stone Fist held his ground.

Romalt said “Be seated war chief. I will hear his whole testimony.”

Brute growled and stared into the eyes of Stone Fist, but he continued undeterred. “It took about fifteen years, a slow process that was supposed to be for the good of the village. But eventually all the dwarves were working fifteen hours a day just for food and clothes. If any dwarf showed initiative and opened their own business, they would pay a sixty percent tax on all sales. It ensured that everyone worked for the village. A few times dwarf families tried to escape, but Brute and the other two hired henchmen caught them and tied them to stakes for a day or two. The prisoners were not given food or water.”

Brute tried to interrupt but was quieted by a hand signal from Romalt.

Stone Fist kept talking. “I was a hired village employee too. The few of us were well paid, at the expense of the villager’s sweat and toil. I first saw Torger and his brother Graul at a place called Cajon pass. After the last Terra Form they came into our village with Baybil. He can also testify that Small Foot wrongfully took the two humans as prisoners. They traded knowledge of a silver mine for their freedom. That silver mine is now Calico. It is true that the humans tried to kill Small Foot months later.”

All the dwarves began talking at once. It took a couple of minutes for Romalt to calm everyone down.

“As I said, it is true that they tried to kill Small Foot, but they didn’t succeed as Brute has said. They were captured and sent to the goblins. A week after Brute left to take them to the goblin mines, Small Foot increased protection for himself and became reclusive from the rest of the village. He was no longer pretending to be a mayor; we finally realized the humans were right. He had become a dictator and we had slowly let it happen. Some of the dwarves revolted, then others joined in. They tried to kill Small Foot, but his remaining two body guards put up a viscous fight. Nine dwarves died in the battle that led to Small Foot and the two mercenaries being overthrown. When Baybil and Brute returned with another human, Brute tried to take possession of the empty mayor position for himself. A brief fight ensued that left another dwarf dead and cost Brute his thumb.

“The village was leaderless, and we had been oppressed so long we didn’t know what to do. The human Arden convinced us to elect Torger as the new mayor. We did so with reluctance, then sent a rescue group to get him out of the mines. They told the goblins that the sentence for the humans was over. The goblins would not release them. Baybil was there and he told me they even tried to bribe the goblins, but with no surprise they still refused. Dwarves ran in and delivered weapons to Torger, then the dwarves left without killing any goblins.”

Romalt interrupted. “Baybil and Torger, is this true?”

Baybil answered “I was not there for everything that happened. But yes I saw Brute try to take control of Calico through force, and yes I was in the group that tried to free the humans peacefully, then ran into the mines to give Torger weapons. As a mayor, the dwarves of Calico had an obligation to try to deliver weapons to their mayor for him to free himself.”

The other dwarves all nodded that was true. Torger simply stated everything was true as far as he knew.

Stone Fist resumed his prepared speech. “What I would like to emphasize above all else is what has happened since Torger became a mayor. We have for the first time in twenty-five years dirt paths that connected Calico to Small Hammer, and now to Indio. We will be planting farms in the spring and built one aqueduct and are building a second aqueduct. Twenty-one dwarves are extracting silver ever day, and Torger and Baybil have combined the villages to become even more productive. For the first time in twenty-five years, under Torger’s rule, we have hope of a better future. I am not of this council of course, but if you don’t imprison him for attempting to kill a tyrant, then I will ask to extend his temporary status as mayor for another year.”

Brute jumped up and screamed “That’s an outrage! We can’t have humans in charge of dwarves. It isn’t right!”

The guards again came to him and forced him back into his chair. His low intelligence was showing clearly to all the council members. Romalt asked Stone Fist to step away, and asked Brute if he had another witness. With reluctance Brute acknowledged that he did.

The guards pulled the lever and the stone rolled away and another dwarf came down the ladder. It was one of Stone Fist’s crew, who also should have been working on the aqueduct. It took him about five minutes to repeat everything Stone Fist had said. After he was finished, Romalt addressed the council.

“We have four decisions to make. The first vote is to remove Torger from his position as mayor. The second is to imprison Torger for attempted murder of a mayor. The third decision is to extend the temporary position of mayor to Torger for one year, and the last decision is whether or not Brute has the necessary qualifications for the position of war chief.”

Discussions lasted nearly an hour. Torger was found not guilty by nullification, but his status as mayor would be left to the dwarves of Calico. Brute was found to have questionable morals and was removed as a war chief. He left the council furious. Surprisingly, Romalt then addressed the council again.

“This council is to consist of seven dwarves. The tribal chief, two war chiefs, and four mayors. We have a vacancy in the position of war chief. I nominate Baybil to become the next war chief, and for Torger to temporarily merge Small Hammer and Calico as he has already done.”

Everyone quickly agreed but Torger asked “Who will replace me in June? And how will you find another dwarf to become the mayor of Small Hammer?”

Tambik, the mayor of Smooth River south of what would be Blythe, and Kirsk the mayor of Lake’s End in what would be Parker where they were having the council meeting, answered Torger’s question. “Each village elects their own mayor, or a mayor may resign to appoint another mayor. Your case is rare being a temporary mayor. It is a position that is usually for life. Each year our council meeting moves to the next village. Next year it will be in Calico.”

Torger said “I have just the dwarf to fill Baybil’s position as mayor. How do I nominate him?”

Romalt answered “You hold a council of that village and publicly nominate him. The dwarves will be allowed to discuss it until sundown then cast their votes just before dinner. Also, since Calico will be the next village to host the mayor’s council, I will leave with you and live in Calico until then. As mayor, it is your responsibility to provide me and the war chiefs with private housing and food.”

Torger thought about the conditions of Calico. There was the mayor’s house, two common houses, and two more half way constructed common houses. There were also some tensions between the two villages living together. The politics could get dicey, and he had other things on his plate. He said “If I may, I would like to pass on the position of temporary mayor to a dwarf named Strong Arm. He is the most honest and hardest working dwarf I have met. He loves his family and his village.”

Romalt looked at Torger with a small expression of surprise, but Baybil quickly said “A fine idea from a noble leader. But I have an alternate proposition. I would ask Torger and Kirsk to exchange villages. Kirsk can become the mayor of Small Hammer, and Strong Arm can become the mayor of Calico. Torger will become the mayor of Lake’s End.”

Torger looked at Baybil and the dwarf said “I know you have plans to go north. You should take these dwarves with you.”

Baybil was right. The Regulators would be better off if they had a dwarven village to stay in. Next Torger asked if he could free the slaves from the goblins, to use them to mine iron. He explained that a road had been built and an aqueduct was being made, and there were eleven dwarves ready to be prison guards. Baybil sent for Stone Fist to come again, and the two of them convinced the council that mining iron was more important than the measly salt and coal the goblins were producing. It seemed the purpose of the prisoners was to mine for low quality items to enrich the lives of all other dwarves. Having been in the mines himself, Torger knew how miserable the conditions were, and hoped to bring a little dignity back to the criminals. He explained his time as a prisoner, and the council agreed. Baybil as a war chief, and Torger as the mayor who proposed the idea would lead a small army to move the prisoners from the Salton Sea to Indio.

The proposed changes were made, and the council was adjourned. Kirsk came to Torger and asked “Why would you abandon a silver mine? A silver mine is not much, but there is nothing here at the river. We have spent the last year catching fish, growing crops, and fighting razorlings. We have found no gems or ore to mine.”

“I need to go north, and having dwarves will make my trip easier.”

“Perhaps, but the land will be Terra Formed again in less than two years. Any crops you grow, roads you make, or aqueducts you build will be uprooted. Most dwarves stopped making those kinds of improvements hundreds of years ago. It’s a lot of work for a temporary benefit.”

“It’s not all temporary. The iron will remain dwarf property even after the tyters change the land again. For you, it’s a long term investment at a high initial cost. Building the roads and aqueducts is better than squandering the next two years here at the tip of a lake.”

Kirsk thought about it and knew if he remained there he would just gather food but not produce anything for his village for the next two years. “I hope you’re right Torger. Lead them well.”