Resurgence: The Rise of Resurgence Book 1 (39 page)

I thought the guys would be thrilled to be learning something new. However, this wasn’t the case. Wayne told me that if he was swinging a hammer, he preferred it be at a mob and getting experience for it. And Jason had no desire to toll away at making maps.

This is where Resurgence was different from other virtual role playing games I had been involved with. You didn’t simply select the materials in your inventory and click on a create button. You actually had to go through the mechanics of creating your craft. Jason and Wayne saw this as a waste of time.

Personally, I enjoyed the intricacies of the game play. Sure, it was a pain to grind up the ingredients that AltCon had provided me with in a mortar and pestle. And I might have failed to make a soluble solution more often than not. But it was something new. And since we only had to do it to fulfill our contract with AltCon, I wasn’t too put out to take the break. Not to mention that getting a leg up on understanding the Crafting system in Resurgence would pay dividends in the market place when the game went live. Since players actually had to put in the work to create these items, you could guarantee that the prices would be even higher than if it were a simple point, click, and create system.

But the person who was having the most fun was Dan. And as I said before, this is something that Dan should have been doing for a while now, but it wasn’t like we previously had the luxury of much down time. Dan quickly ran through his preliminary AltCon quests and began learning about making arrows for himself. They were more expensive than the arrows he could buy at the shops, but that was only because he failed at creating a working product more than half of the time at his low level of Fletching. The cost of materials was high as well, when you compared just buying the arrows from a vendor. But Dan was not phased in the least bit, as he saw the value of being able to make better arrows further down the line.

In Jason and Wayne’s minds, they had no desire to use the Cartography or Blacksmith Skill in the first place, so they saw no benefit in putting in the work to make it better. Jason had no interest in maps, and Wayne was more keen to get better armor and weapons through fighting than creating. He explained to me in excruciating detail how this was the Barbarian way. I tried to remind him that he wasn’t “really” a Barbarian, but let me see anyone try to argue that point while looking up at a guy who is 6’10” and carrying a mighty war hammer.

The reason I was given the Poison Skill was due to my Class. As a Rogue, I would be able to put these poisons onto my blades and then infect the mob with them. The entry level poisons that I learned would not be terribly helpful in the types of fights we faced, as they either did a very weak damage over time (DoT) effect, or a debuff that was only slightly better than worthless. I knew that in other games, the Poison Skill could get quite good with debuffs and DoTs that would make any caster take notice. In order to be successful at this Skill, I would need to increase the skill on my own time, much like Dan would have to do with his Fletching. Dan’s Skill required him to collect lots of “ingredients” like wood and stone for arrow tips. Mine required time for mixing all of my “ingredients” together after they had been either purchased or collected.

We all found that for the lower level quests we had received, like
Successfully Create a Mild Irritant Poison
, they could be made with purchased items from the market place. Dan informed us that these items had always been there, as he checked all of the merchants regularly to know what types of items they had for sale. It was wonderful to be out in the woods when suddenly you think of an item you wanted back in the Market, and know its status after accessing Dan’s infinite memory to know if it was sold, where it was sold, and for how much.

The next couple of days were spent working on these AltCon quests. Once we had finished the lower level quests we began tackling the second tier objectives. These required us to take loot from mobs in order to make our items, and as such we had to find the mobs that carried these items. Again, Dan’s brain was priceless as he remembered all of the loot we had previously come across and could tell us which mobs would drop the items we wanted. They all came from very low level mobs, Levels 7-9, but were not all in the same location. So during those two days we spent a lot of time soloing mobs.

Soloing, or fighting a mob by yourself, is exactly like it sounds. At my Level 16, if I had to face a mob that was Level 7, I could do so with no support from my group, and not have any fear of dying. Hell, I could probably take on multiples without any real fear as my Armor Class was so high, the mobs wouldn’t do any damage. This was the case for all of my group. And since we were fighting in different areas of the game, we all made sure to group up when we first logged on, but then didn’t see each other for the rest of the day. Dan had to find specific trees to gather wood, a feat he was able to accomplish through a secondary Crafting skill he learned called Harvesting. The only hurdle, is that each tree would be surrounded by these low level mobs. Not a challenge for Dan. Additionally, the mobs Dan killed, usually wolves or bears, would sometimes drop teeth that Dan could then use as parts for the arrow heads he was creating.

Jason needed inks for his maps, and there was only one type of mob that provided the items necessary to create the dyes. A Level 8 frog that was numerous in the swamps south of Port Town, in the direction of the Dark, dropped this item. So with little fear, Jason headed out each day to those swamps to smack away at frogs with his battle mace. Jason only wished these were undead frogs so he could really make them go splat.

I was forced to find a variation of tree snakes that were poisonous and whose venomous sacks I needed to loot for my quest. No surprise, the item needed for the first level poison ended up being the venomous sacks that we collected from the bunnies in the beginner section of Port Town, of which there were now hundreds with the merchants at the Market.

It was ironic that the one individual who wasn’t expected to kill anything was Wayne, the one who would have been keenest to smash things with his hammer. Instead, Wayne needed to Mine the ore necessary to use in Crafting the items he was supposed to complete with Blacksmithing. Dan had noted areas in the game that looked like they could be mines and sent Wayne in that direction. Wayne had to purchase a Mining Pick in order to fulfill his quest, but it was a paltry 1 Silver for the item.

The ultimate goal of the quest wasn’t to create anything, but to report back to AltCon if the Crafting in Resurgence was working properly and if the players were able to use the items they looted from the mobs in the game as part of their Crafting. In this regard we all found that there wasn’t any problems with the game play. And after our two days of collecting loot and creating new, crafted items, our AltCon quests were done.

However, all of the Crafting led us to our next objectives. And wouldn’t you know, it wasn’t Dan who was so keen to start working on his next series in arrows who figured out our next play, it was Wayne.

* * *

15 September 2043

“So like any good story, this one involves drinking,” Wayne told us while we were all hanging out next to the fountain at the city square of Port Town. “But let me back track a little and tell you how I found out about the deserted mine.”

Dan’s information about the mines that Wayne needed to visit to fulfill his AltCon quests had been spot on. Only when Wayne arrived he found the mines were already heavily occupied by a number of other players. The ones you would most expect to be a part of a Blacksmithing quest, namely the Dwarves. Just like Wayne, they planned to toil over the collection of ore so they could get through their AltCon quests and get back to the regular game play.

These mines were packed full of players, and Wayne wasn’t one to sit idly by and wait his turn. Realizing that he could travel farther and faster than any of the other players, thanks to his summoned mount, Wayne decided to explore the mountain ranges more and try to find another, less used mining site. Most players had just gone to the closest mine they could get to, since they had to travel on foot and the distance from the mines to Port Town was three or four hours of walking through the woods. However, Wayne was able to eat up that distance in a fraction of the time thanks to his mount.

Wayne began exploring the mountain side and came across a few other players that had the same idea as he had. Trading the time it took to travel to these other mines for the time they would likely have to wait to get at a possible vein of ore in one of the overcrowded mines. Again, Wayne saw mostly Dwarf players with one or two other Barbarians in the mix. Wayne explained that he could have stopped at any of these mines and started working the veins of ore, but he decided to keep exploring. He wasn’t worried that there were any mobs that would be able to kill him out here, and if he saw something that was out of his league, he would just out run it on his mount.

His explorations finally took him to a mine far from the original player dominated site he found thanks to Dan’s instruction. The thing that was distinctly different about this mine however, wasn’t the number of Dwarves that were working the mine, but the fact that they were all NPCs. Seeing an opportunity, Wayne banished his mount and approached the Dwarves of the mine.

“Hail good Dwarf. Is this an open mine for exploration?” Wayne asked the collection of Dwarves that were approaching him as he neared the entrance of the mine.

“We ain’t gots no claim on it if that’s what you meaning?” said a more senior looking Dwarf by the name of Tibble. “Was you looking to abandon your ways of the plains and start living under the beautiful mountains like our kind?”

Wayne studied the Dwarf more closely and noted he looked a little worse for wear. All of the Dwarves were of a much lower Level than Wayne, but he wasn’t planning on getting into any fights. Their gear seemed battered and broken, and oddly enough they were all wearing various pieces of plate armor. Not really the kind of gear that would be conducive to mining out ore in the side of a mountain.

Tibble seemed to be the spokesperson for this group and his years showed on his face. Standing at just over four feet, Tibble was as wide as he was tall. His shoulder muscles strained against his skin, and you could see that Tibble had spent all of his many years toiling away against unforgiving rock. Bliss for a Dwarf. His beard came down to just over his stomach and was braided into two separate parts. It was once a dark black beard, but now had a fair sprinkling of grey throughout.

“I could never dream of matching the skill of a Dwarf in anything concerning the fruits of the mountain, but I wanted to test my hand at Blacksmithing all the same. I can wield a hammer better than most, but that is for destruction. I wanted to try my hand at creating for a change.”

All of the Dwarves nodded their heads in understanding and appreciation. Wayne paid them a great compliment by acknowledging their innate aptitude at Blacksmithing, and for seeing the hammer as more than just a tool for death.

“As you likely know young warrior, there be only three things that a Dwarf craves. Blacksmithing, Battle, and Booze. In that order.”

Wayne could hear the Dwarves laughing and cheering behind Tibble. “So young warrior, what brings you to this here mine? There are many others we’ve noted in the direction you came from. Why this one?” Tibble asked, with a bit of a wary eye.

“I believed I would find peace and solitude with just me and the mountain. I was looking for a quiet mine to begin my work, and stopped to ask you kind Dwarves for your advice. I do not wish to interrupt your efforts.” Wayne answered. With this many NPCs, Wayne knew there had to be some sort of quest he could get out of this, but he was not sure what language would trigger the quest.

“Ever tried to squeeze ore out of a mountain?” Tibble asked.

Wayne laughed, “I’ve never even picked up a mining pick before this day. I fear I’m going to do more damage to myself, and my tools, then I will ever do to the mountain.”

Good hearted laughter could be heard behind Tibble as Wayne again lowered the level of apprehension the Dwarves had when he first arrived.

“I tell you what warrior, how about you help me with something and I will help you learn how to mine ore without cracking your own skull?”

And with that Wayne began learning from the Dwarves.

* * *

The “something” that Tibble needed help with had nothing to do with killing mobs or grand adventures. It wasn’t tied to any lengthy quest or forgotten lore. What Tibble needed from Wayne was actually quite simple.

The Dwarves did not have the supplies or tools to build scaffolding within the mine, as most Dwarves looked to dig further down, not up. But there, just past the rim of the mine’s opening was a thick vein of ore. Only problem was that this vein was over six feet off the ground.

In essence, the Dwarves wanted Wayne to get something for them off the top shelf of the cupboard since they couldn’t reach. And they didn’t have a step stool to grab the cookies.

Tibble gave Wayne a basic tutorial in how to hold the Mining Pick and the proper way to swing it. He showed Wayne how to get the most benefit out of the least amount of effort. Mining away at ore was something that could take hours, and fatigue was a real threat. But with Tibble’s excellent tutelage, Wayne was soon swinging away at a spot far above the Dwarves and was producing ore by the chunk. The Dwarves understood that Wayne would need some of this ore for his own quest, but Wayne was happy to keep mining long past the time he collected the few pieces of
High Quality Iron Ore
he needed for himself. After several hours, and a large stack of ore at his feet, Tibble asked Wayne to join them for a break.

Tibble passed around flasks of water that the Dwarves were drinking from and some basic rations. The Dwarves were all thanking Wayne for his efforts and the large pile of ore that he had produced in that day. Wayne noted that the Dwarves had little in the way of nourishment or drink, and that their whole party seemed to be living off the land with little in the way of shelter. He asked Tibble why that was.