Removing my doublet when I got home, I hung it up along with my weapons and belt. I didn’t have everything swapped out yet for STORE-clothing and armor, but I had most of my clothing exchanged. I still had to put the game items on one at a time. I hoped someday there’d be a way to do it all at once…full gear to regular clothes in seconds without being naked in the middle. Promising myself that someday it would happen, I poured a cup of coffee and headed to my office and computer.
An email was waiting about that editing job I’d been wondering about.
“What the hell!?” I almost shouted when I saw the title: Algebraic and Analytic Topology of Local Euclidean Metrization of Infinitely Differentiable Riemannian Manifolds by Dr. Thomas Lehrerson. I’d handled plenty of mathematics textbooks and papers, but this I knew from nothing.
It sounded like a bad joke, so I searched for the author. To my surprise, he was real: LinkedIn and other sources confirmed it. PhD in Mathematics at Boston University, tenured, formerly taught at Harvard and a small upstate Massachusetts college I’d never heard of. No, it wasn’t in Arkham, thankfully.
He didn’t list many publications, but the rest of his work seemed as strange as this title. I understood a bit from online research, but not much. I emailed an Eddington University math professor I’d worked with professionally and on the side. She liked writing cozy romantic mysteries under a pseudonym, and I’d promised not to reveal it.
Her email reply made sense. Mostly. She wrote:
“The book is about the deep mathematical study of smooth, curved spaces that look flat up close, and how their shape and structure can be described using algebra and calculus.
It’s like studying the Earth’s surface, which feels flat when you’re standing on it but is really a smooth, curved globe. It uses the combined tools of algebra and calculus to understand its shape, distances, and connections everywhere at once.
I sent my form letter on pricing for scholarly works, making sure it included the exceptions for mathematics. I was only responsible for verifying that equations in the manuscript matched what the authors sent. I bumped the rate to five cents a word due to of the sheer number of unfamiliar terms and symbols. They had to confirm that all mathematical words were spelled and used correctly before publishing. Hitting the send button, off it went.
The main thing left on my to-do list was dungeon plans. I jotted a few ideas on my computer. Half a cup of coffee later, I pulled out graph paper from our first dungeon dive and started creating level two. I assumed the same grid size as the first floor.
Two hours later, the last of my coffee was cold, and I had half a dozen sheets with notes, sketches, and dungeon design fragments I could piece together. Leaving everything exactly where it should be for the Dungeon, I couldn’t help but think back to my high school and college D&D campaigns that I ran or played and the dungeons designed for them.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Blaze still hadn’t returned when I stopped to watch a spawn fight across the street. She was probably finishing something. Looking at the people getting ready, I had to remind myself it wasn’t 19th & Fox anymore. It’s now the 19th Street Irregulars, and technically, I was their Guild Master.
They handled the spawn efficiently. Saluting with my coffee cup, I refilled it in the kitchen and returned to my office, debating whether to wait for Blaze or handle a spawn myself. The clock on the kitchen wall said there wasn’t enough time for that. I also tried to remember whose turn it was to cook tonight.
Then I remembered SandB’s pizza promise and couldn’t keep the grin from spreading across my face. No cooking for me tonight.
[PokerRun:] [William of Brinsford] [Hey man. How far you willing’ to go to fix a problem?]
The chat message startled me out of my indecision.
[William of Brinsford:] [PokerRun] [Depends. What’s the problem?]
[PokerRun:] [William of Brinsford] [Remember me tellin’ you bout the boys talking ‘bout a take over?]
[William of Brinsford:] [PokerRun] [I remember. That was real?]
[PokerRun:] [William of Brinsford] [Real talk. Nuthin else cept one of them’s close to some guys on the hard right. Aryan Nation types and their friends. A few are 2% types.]
[William of Brinsford:] [PokerRun] [Got it. What are they planning?]
“More information, but are they only going to talk and never do anything?” I hoped so.
[PokerRun:] [William of Brinsford] [Think they done plannin. Word I got is they’s scared of you and Irregulars. Also, they heard what went down over in Taylor County. Hear there’s state and feds all over some shit over there. The first plan was to go there. So now they’re heading in the opposite direction.]
[William of Brinsford:] [PokerRun] [Miller County?]
[PokerRun:] [William of Brinsford] [Townsend. Heard of it?]
I pulled up Google Maps, located it southeast of Eddington between ridges running from Chandler to Miller County, then south. Not much of a town, just over 3,000 people. Only one main state highway in and out, with farms between the ridges.
[William of Brinsford:] [PokerRun] [Maybe. Think I’ve been through there once or twice, but I found it on Google. Pass through town on the highway.]
[William of Brinsford:] [PokerRun] [Got you. I’ll pass it up the line past the locals so it won’t come back to you. If someone asks, you heard some talk the first couple of days after the battle, then nothing.]
[William of Brinsford:] [PokerRun] [Have you got a timeframe on when they’ll do something? Something I can pass things on to local and other people?]
[PokerRun:] [William of Brinsford] [Nope. They shut up round me. Maybe I know someone who might know. Maybe I don’t. Can’t say they’ll tell me if they do.]
[PokerRun:] [William of Brinsford] [Thanks.]
[William of Brinsford:] [PokerRun] [Anytime.]
One more problem to deal with sometime. Likely not soon, and I can’t do anything about people talking.
[William of Brinsford:] [GunnySedrick] [I have a favor to ask of you. I just got some intel on a plan to take over a nearby small town named Townsend in Miller County. About 3K people. 2% types on the far right, I’m told. No who, when, or if at all yet. If you can pass the heads up to the right people without it being traced, I’d appreciate it. Maybe your contacts in DC, not MattBledsoe. I’d appreciate it and so might they. I trust the source. This is the second time he’s heard talk. First was about a week ago. Thanks. I think there was something like that in Idaho early on.]
Sent, but I didn’t expect more than a thank-you. It wasn’t his area, but he knows people in DC.
I managed only one sip of the coffee I’d just brought from the kitchen, before an email notice from the math book people popped up. The attached file was massive, and the message was basically: "Do it."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL4vWJbwmqM
https://tomlehrersongs.com/
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