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 an it was easy to imagine. in a brewery making sweet, sweet liquor. I purred a bit as I scribbled in the small notepad Grim had given . I looked down and realized that I’d been doodling Barck’s na in the margins like a lovesick schoolgirl. Except with guns and little skulls and various other instrunts 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 taphorically 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 Ti 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 Ti Part 2 Don’t you feel arm-azing?
Gained: 0.1 Strength, 0.1 Vitality
Quest: An Ore-Able Ti 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 ca what I assud 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 so gold?
Create: 1/5 Uses
Reward: [Quick asure]
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 . Don’t care, it felt great! I’ll probably accept any further quests from Barck in the future though. Maybe. I doodled so thorns and bloody knives in the margins.
Then had co what I assud 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 helt on a rock to keep it safe.
Jack is really attached to his pet rock.
Anyway, this confird so of my suspicions and added so more. The Gods must be involved in my reincarnation here. I an, obviously the Gods were involved in my reincarnation, but I ant in a more direct way. So of the events and dwarves in this mining camp have really pushed in a brewing direction, and now a quest like this? I… needed to think on it. I love alcohol and brewing, and it was my whole life back ho aside from my family. However, I was kind of being forced into it here. On the other hand, a whole new world where every drink I make is new and exciting to everyone and I have the Blessings of the Gods to do it? That’s…
I shivered, whether from excitent or a bit of terror I couldn’t tell. I put down my notepad and laid down on my bed, deep in thought. I didn’t even notice when Balin ca in, muttered sothing, and turned off the lights. I just continued to stare at the wall, thinking. I thought on new brews and Gods. I thought on Erd and Earth. I thought on beers and beards. I should have gone to sleep but my mind just wouldn’t stop. Deep into the morning I pondered, and in my soul, I slowly solidified my answer.
You know what? If the Gods wanted to brew beer, FINE. I should be dead, and I was being given another opportunity to spend hundreds of years doing what I loved. So, thanks Gods! I’ll do your beer quest! I’ll influence every dwarf on this planet if that’s what it takes! You guys may be pushy assholes, but you’re not all that bad.
Except you Barck, go eat goatshit.
I went to click on ‘Yes’ and paused at another thought. There were about 50 or so dwarves in the camp… So why did it say 2500 dwarves were already influenced? I ntally hit ‘Yes’ while I considered the problem.
Quest Complete: New Brew 1 Great Work!
Gained: [Ingredient Scan]
I was about to check out [Ingredient Scan] when another quest appeared.
Quest: New Brew Part 2/10
The dwarves need your help. Influence 5,000 dwarves with your otherworldly alcohol knowledge.
Influence: 5000/5000
Reward: 0.1 Perception, 0.1 Vitality
Accept Quest?
Yes /No
Wait? I'd influenced 5000 more dwarves? What was going on? I hit ‘Yes’.
Quest Complete: New Brew 2 Great Work!
Gained: 0.1 Perception, 0.1 Vitality
Quest: New Brew Part 3/10
The dwarves need your help. Influence 10,000 dwarves with your otherworldly alcohol knowledge.
Influence: 10000/10000
Reward: 0.2 Perception, 0.2 Vitality
Accept Quest?
Yes /No
I started to rapid fire ‘Yes’ as a bit of panic began to set in. I’d never left this prison! How had I influenced thousands of dwarves?!
Quest Complete: New Brew 3 Great Work!
Gained: 0.2 Perception, 0.2 Vitality
Quest: New Brew Part 4/10
The dwarves need your help. Influence 25,000 dwarves with your otherworldly alcohol knowledge.
Influence: 25000/25000
Reward: 0.2 Perception, 0.2 Vitality
Accept Quest?
[Yes] /No
Quest Complete: New Brew 4 Great Work!
Gained: 0.2 Perception, 0.2 Vitality
Quest: New Brew Part 5/10
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 rembered it was way too early in the morning for that. How had I influenced that many dwarves without even leaving the prison!? Was this so 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 sohow. Maybe Grim talked about it outside, or Doc Opal, or heck, even Speaker John.
The sweet embrace of sleep called to . Now that I had made the important decisions, I could worry about the number conundrum later. I took one last mont 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-ter 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 Firmant
Na: 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 eeee.
I was slowly starting to feel like so kind of Olympic athlete with my massive vitality. I hope that ans 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 sothing goes wrong tomorrow? I hope Sam wins his bet and I don’t die sohow. I wonder what the [Engineers] are like? How does Bran keep his beard so well grood 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!
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