NOVEL FROG 34 - Scavengers Go!
Chapter 34: Scavengers Go!
After I finished negotiations with Stefan he teleported back to wherever the headquarters of the Guardsman Guild was. It was now time to check on the responses to my scavenger team offers. Out of the 50 offers sent out 26 groups responded with an agreement to the terms, 12 messaged to negotiate for more, and 12 never responded. I think I will just take the 26 groups and call it done. I need to come up with areas that I can send them. Major metropolitan areas that would keep them occupied the entire week they are hired for and also maximize my return on investment.
Let’s see 26 areas to scavenge from, and I should keep them out of the Appalachia Kingdom. That way my own guard force and citizens can loot the local places and a greater area can be covered. Major metropolitan hubs are an obvious choice. I should probably start on the west coast and work my way back to the Mississippi river.
So let’s go with San Diego, Los Angeles (2 teams), San Francisco, Portland OR, Seattle, Phoenix, Las Vegas (2 teams one for the casinos and one for everything else), Albuquerque, Denver, El Paso (2 teams one for each side of the border), Denver, Salt Lake, St. Louis, Kansas City, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Chicago, Boston, New York (2 teams), Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia.
To save on teleport scrolls I think I will take all the groups to Asheville NC to explain and demonstrate what I want and likely places to find money. I know I already covered most of the area, but there should be enough left that I can demonstrate and keep costs down by buying the cheaper 100 mile teleportation scroll for training. I will have to travel with the Las Vegas Group personally to show the casino group where and how they need to go. They probably do not speak English so I need to put together samples of all U.S. denominations and common words to match, like Jewelry, Gold, and Bank. Wait there is almost no possibility of them speaking English. How on Earth did I communicate with Alfonso and Stefan then?
I know I took the Universal Language Perk so any person who comes within my kingdom should speak a common language, but they should have had no idea that my kingdom had that ability. Why where they so confident that they would be understood when they first greeted me then?
Help.
"Yes"
Are there items or scrolls that allow for translation of other languages?
"Yes"
I knew it, if the Great Game can give my kingdom a perk than there should be equivalent or better items or magic scrolls. I quickly scan through the Great Game store filtering for translation devices and buy a universal translating torc for my upper arm. It is more expensive than some others, but this item was one of the few that used the words universal translator and not just translation device. I bet many of those cheaper versions only translate the most common languages which is probably sufficient for most day to day people and activities that might need them.
After my quick purchase I have the great game schedule the leaders of each of the 26 teams to arrive in 2 hours. That should give me enough time to freshen up, eat and prepare some quick materials for teaching how and where to scavenge.
I almost did not make it back into the throne room in time to meet the scavenger team leaders. Alfonso was quicker than I expected and I had to give a quick tour and explain to my new Head Steward Jacob where the rooms and basic facilities were before I left with the scavenger teams. He was very understanding and was already starting to organize things as I left him in the main hall. Jacob also reminded me he needed a way to contact me and I purchased several world wide communication crystals, twenty-six of the 5,000 mile communication crystals for the heads of the scavenger parties, and on Jacob’s recommendation 100 of the 50 mile or less communication crystals that guards and local domestics could use to contact their supervisors if needed. Jacob is going to hand the leaders of the Guard forces their own world wide communication crystals as they arrive in the castle.
As I sit on the throne I notice the ripple effect of incoming teleportation portals. I really have to remember to find some sort of blocker against teleportation. People being able to warp in whenever they want, even into secure areas, is a problem no one should have. That means someone in the Great Game has discovered a way to block teleportation and make profit off of it. As the leaders teleport in I see more examples of game races than I expected. For the first couple of minutes while everyone was waiting for the entire group to arrive I started to Identify at least one person from each new race.
Name: Matthias Brokenbrook Race: Light Fae
Level 42 - 11% Affinities: Light 51% Nature 34%
Name: Smash Treebark Race: Trollkin
Level 23 – 21% Affinities: Nature 10%
Name: Bartholomew Grinder Race: Gnome
Level 30 – 17% Affinities: Earth 57%
Name: Angelica Riverton Race: Beastkin
Level 51 – 32% Affinities: Fire 71% Air 26%
Name: Samuel Panthera Race: Weretiger
Level 38 – 77% Affinities: Water 33% Nature 18%
However, this soon became overwhelming and I just kept count of the various groups that teleported in. There we go, 26 groups have now teleported in. Some commanders are by themselves, some brought the two subordinates I allowed, and there were several who were in between. I rose from my throne to address the group.
“Greetings, my name is Mark Anderson and I am the ruler of the Appalachia Kingdom you have contracted with for the next week. In a few minutes we will be teleporting to a nearby town so I can show you a few things that will help maximize both of our profits for the following week. Our planet is currently undergoing the immersion into the Great Game. All but a few citizens are on their week long trials so they should not initially be in your way. They should arrive back on the planet in 5 days. For the last 2 days of your employment you may run into various groups of beings who are inhabitants of the planet. Please try to understand the confusion that they must be going through. You may defend yourself, however if I get word of any atrocities or unnecessary violence towards my people I will find a way to punish you.”
It looks like my little speech has caught some of the groups off guard but several seem to hold me in higher esteem than before. Most seem indifferent so I guess it is time to get a move on. I arrange the various leaders into a circle and use a greater teleportation scroll to move us to Asheville.
“Each group will be responsible for scavenging local currency, precious metals, and gems from buildings in the area I will transport you to. The more you find, the more you make. There may not be any other people currently, however remember that there are still the newly arrived Great Game monsters. Even if they are low level and pose little threat, don’t forget that quantity is a quality all of its own. Please be careful.”
After my little explanation I took them into the bank nearest us and showed them examples of U.S. currency. I quickly explained the denominations and what they should look for to help maximize their profits. The Great Game itself will allocate the kingdoms portion from inventories and give the ten percent promised to the scavengers so there should be no shenanigans. I also show them large stores and what safes and cash registers look like so they can break them open and claim the money inside. The last two stops were a pawn shop and a jewelry store so each group would have an easier time recognizing and finding them in the future.
“That is all I wanted to show you to help you out. I will now randomly assign you a number. All this is for is to establish the order you will be teleporting back with your troops. The first group will teleport back in one local hour and each number will teleport in precisely 5 minutes later. I will give each of you a communication crystal, a picture of your destination, and a teleport scroll. Please do not be late.”
With that being said I teleported back to my throne room and started to prepare the materials I needed to give each group. As each group teleported in over the next couple of hours they were sent off to the various cities I had previously thought of. The next to last group was asked to stand to one side. I told them that I had a special task for them and the last group. The leader of this group happened to be the Beastkin I had identified earlier before I stopped examining the new comers. Her name was Angelica Riverton and she was the commanding officer of Angel’s Army. The last group teleported in. This was someone I had not identified earlier. Identify.
Name: Elrondico Race: High Human
Level 45 – 97% Affinities: Earth 100% Water 14%
Interesting. I do not know what makes someone a High Human and I do not have time to find out now. I addressed the two groups quickly.
“I have two special tasks for your groups. One group will be raiding a special type of building in a city called Las Vegas which should be guaranteed for a higher payoff than the other teams. The second group will be raiding a town that has different currency than the ones I demonstrated earlier, but has potential to be the richest of the scavenging areas if hidden stashes are located. The Las Vegas team needs to get past several thick metal doors and I believe that with Elrondico’s Earth Magic it might be more appropriate for his group. However, I will let the two leaders decide between themselves.”
Angelica and Elrondico looked at each other and just nodded.
Angelica spoke, “Sire we have actually worked together before. Most of the independent groups have. Your suggestion to use Elrondico’s group for the Las Vegas place is fine with us.”
“Very well, I will transport with them first and show them the special areas they need to pay attention too. The Angel’s Army will please stay here for another hour as I show Elrondico’s group what to do then I will come back and give you your instructions.”
After transporting Elrondico’s group to Vegas I showed him a casino and explained about breaking open slot machines, checking the cages for money, the counting rooms, and finding the vaults in every casino. Some vaults would be underground, some would just be hard to get to, but each one should pay off much bigger than just banks. I told him that after he cleaned out the major casinos on the strip and elsewhere if he had extra time then he could go after the other targets I had showed all of the teams. I left him and his group as they started to wreak havoc on the machines in Caesar’s Palace.
I motioned Angelica over as soon as I teleported into my throne room. Gather round we are going to a place called Juarez first. As we teleported into Juarez I arranged my thoughts and began instructing Angelica’s team.
“First the towns that you will have access to are from a country formerly known as Mexico. The monetary unit is the Peso.”
I led them to a local store and broke open the cash register. I showed them the different denominations.
“Many times you can find both the American money and this new money together in these border towns so take both. They have banks or Banco’s just like what I showed you before and also jewelry stores. However, there is one new thing I want you to look for, drug stashes. I do not want the drugs which are bad for people and very addictive, but criminals make a lot of money and usually have a lot more cash on hand than normal people. There are stories of drug dens and dealers having millions on hand versus the small amount usually kept in local banks. Any time you come across an area that has excessive security, like guard stations, high walls, reinforced gates or doors, and especially video cameras check that building for large amounts of hidden money.”
Angelica said, “Sire I understand everything except for the video camera.”
I quickly showed her an example of what I was talking about. I handed her a set of photos of Tijuana, Mexicali, Matamoras, and Nogales. I also told her to teleport to a new town each day to increase the chances of finding a big score. After the 5 days in five towns she needed to teleport back to Ciudad Juarez and just look for the regular banks and jewelry stores only. I warned her that when people started arriving back in 5 days her group would be in a town notorious for human violence so to be extra careful on interacting with locals. With this I have all my scavenger teams out and looking. It is time to start on my own world-wide trip.