Dravincia

by Blake Severson

  “Rowan and I ran across Allendria when we were hunting in the woods. We had to assist her in dispatching a group of goblins that had been chasing her. She has agreed to help me with some training and to assist with our endeavor here, at least temporarily.” Arthur told Dalia by way of explanation.

  “Rowan and Daniel are finishing up in the back, and they will be joining us shortly. We can discuss plans from there. I can go ahead and get you caught up, though. One of Lord Golgara’s enforcer crews were in the inn earlier today.” Arthur told her.

  She nodded with his explanation. He was sure she already knew they were in town.

  “We had a bit of an altercation with them. We ended up killing one of the bandits and injuring two others. The leader called an abrupt end of the fight and left with the two survivors in tow. We have a sinking feeling he is going to be making for Seora at full speed and gathering help to return and deal with us. We are currently expecting them to bring enough to face down me, Rowan, and possibly Allendria. Now is the time for us to plan how we want the village to move forward.” Arthur told her.

  She seemed to pale a bit at the news that we had killed one of Golgara’s men. She composed herself quickly, though, and nodded at Arthur. “I agree with your assessment. I would estimate we have about a month as well for them to arrive back. That is if they run into no issues and have enough members on hand in Seora to immediately return. That time frame could be anywhere from a few days to even a week more than that, but I wouldn’t count on that estimate. I know I agreed to assist you in this endeavor, so it looks like now is the time to go all in.”

  “Where are you from Allendria? I can say I have not had the pleasure of meeting a Dark Elf.” Dalia asked.

  “I hail from a city on the southeastern edge of the forest near here,” Allendria responded.

  “How did you end up this direction on the wrong side of the forest? I would imagine a trek through the forest is not safe.”

  “It was a bit of a last-minute flight from home. There was a change of power, and I didn’t want to remain for the aftermath of it. I was sure there would be a lot of casualties from it.” Allendria said as she looked at her feet angrily.

  Arthur gazed at Dalia and shook his head as if to ask her to drop those questions.

  “I am sorry to hear that. I recall Arthur mentioning you were going to be training him, though. What skills do you have that he was interested enough to bargain for?.” Dalia asked.

  “I agreed to assist Arthur with his magical training for his assistance in the woods. He seems to be a quick study so far.” Allendria said with a bit of pride in her voice.

  “Well, isn’t he a surprise,” Dalia said as she looked Arthur in the eye. “He never mentioned he had any magical training at all when I last spoke to him.” She said with a bit of steel in her voice.

  “My apologies Dalia. I didn’t tell you because I honestly had no idea how to use my magic for anything useful, and quite honestly, I am still trying to get a feel for people I can trust here. After what we have been through so far, I don’t believe it would be any harm for you to know.” Arthur explained.

  “How the hell do you have magical training but not know how to use any magic? That seems impossible to learn a skill without actually doing something in said skill.” Dalia said in astonishment.

  “It was a bit of a unique situation that I would rather not divulge at the moment. Allendria has already helped correct some of my deficiencies, and it shouldn’t be long until I can be useful with my magical skills.”

  As luck would have it, Rowan and Daniel entered the room at that moment, and the conversation halted. All of them took a seat at the bar, and Daniel stepped behind the bar and pulled up a small stool he had back there.

  “So, what now?” Daniel asked.

  “I need to know what is causing this city the most trouble. The city is starving, but we are slowly working to address that. Other than that, the city seems to have absolutely no life. I rarely ever see people out of their house much less walking through the city doing any activities. I understand lack of food would be cause for much of it, but it seems to be a much worse problem.” Arthur said.

  “I can answer most of that.” Dalia chimed in. “The city is as you described it. There isn’t much life in the people, and much of that is because it has become stagnant. To people unfamiliar with this country, it may be a little hard to understand, but Lord Golgara’s stranglehold on the resources essentially restricts everyone. Not only is food almost unheard of, but crafting ingredients and trade goods are just as scarce. People can’t work when they have no supplies, they can’t make any coin without goods or labor to sell, and in turn, they cannot buy more ingredients or food. It is a complete stranglehold on the populace.”

  “I can’t understand the purpose of that, though. With that kind of oversight, no one would ever get anything done. Skills would stagnate, and society would dissolve into nothing. I can’t grasp why anyone would believe it is a good idea or even an acceptable one.” Arthur said as he shook his head, angrily.

  “It is how he controls the territory more than anything,” Daniel said. “Lord Golgara likes to keep a firm grasp on his resources. He usually leaves just enough resources for people to survive. When the crews came through last time, they took even more than normal. I am beginning to think they are trying to eradicate this village.”

  “Why would they try to destroy the village? This place is a small village on the edge of the territory. Surely there isn’t anything threatening here.” Arthur said.

  Everyone looked around for a few moments, and they all finally settled on Daniel. He let out a sigh and began to explain.

  “This village would be hated due to its name. Alem’s Crossing came from the person who established the town. Alem was one of the original descendants that became the house of Firebrand. He was a renowned explorer, and this village was the start of his rise to power and eventual taming of the land and the dragons to earn the Firebrand name. The current king and his lords were all part of the group that betrayed the Firebrands.” Daniel explained.

  “That does make more sense. At least it gives me a bit of an explanation of the issue. The big problem is I need to get some buy-in from the villagers on this. So far, they have been of no use to this village. The problem is, I cannot figure out how. We finally have some crafting that will need to be done to prepare. With the limited amount of time we have left, I cannot dedicate my time to doing all of it myself, so we need everyone’s help. Rowan can work in the forge to refine the iron we found and start making useful items but, with the workload, he could probably use some help. I am assuming you don’t have any apprentices with as empty as I saw your shop when we first met?” Arthur asked as he looked toward Rowan.

  “I am relatively new here, and with the lack of work, I never had the need or the resources to hire apprentices. I can convince some to join me now if we can use the food we have as an enticement.” Rowan told him.

  “I am sure we can make that work, but the trick isn’t just getting you up and running, we need to get more people. We have hides that need to be cured and start the tanning process. That in itself is a very long process.” Arthur said contemplatively.

  Daniel gave him an odd look as he tilted his head a bit to the side. “What do you classify as a long time? I mean, sure, a few days is a bit of time, but it isn’t that long in regards to our preparations.”

  “Are you telling me you can tan hides here in a few days? Are we talking about full leather tanning without hair? Or are we just talking about tanning for fur use? With fur on, it usually takes about a week where I am from, but if you want full-on leather similar to what is used on most shoes and clothes, it can take much longer.” Arthur said. He also left out the part that during medieval times, it took much longer because they didn’t have the technology or the chemicals he had. These people should have been closer to that level of technology being forced to use tanning pools.

  “We have a person
in town who mainly works in tanning and has the facility set up slightly out of town. We could get them to work on the process now and have some leather to work with, in a few days. I am sure Rowan would need some as well for some of the things he will need to make.” Daniel told him.

  “That is fantastic news, but I still can’t seem to find a way to tie all of this together to make the village work. Yes, we can bribe people with food, and I am sure that would work, but isn’t there anything around that generates things like quests. We need to not only provide them with things they need and receive items we need, but I also want to help them improve their skills. That will be more valuable to them than anything else after the food. It will also encourage them to take a bit of pride in what we are working for.” Arthur stressed to Daniel.

  “Well, luckily for you, I may have a solution to that,” Dalia told him. “As you may recall, I am now officially a Lady in residence over this city by birthright. While this may seem somewhat trivial, it does give me a bit of freedom, and one vital thing I can do is install a Mayor.”

  “That sounds great and all, but I don’t see how naming someone as Mayor will help our situation,” Arthur told her seriously.

  “The title of Mayor may not seem like much, but there is one particular function they can do that makes them invaluable to our cause. Mayors can create work orders for the village.” She said with a grin.

  “Alright, I’ll bite, what are work orders?” Arthur asked.

  “Work orders are essentially mini-quests that the Mayor creates. He can post certain jobs that need doing in the village with defined criteria. When a villager accepts the task and completes it, they can turn it into the Mayor and will receive the posted rewards and also some experience that is randomly determined based on the work order itself. For instance, they could post a job saying the village needs ten animal hides tanned. The village will provide the raw hides and will reward three meals at the inn. The work order system will also include a random amount of experience. For instance, it may provide 300 Leatherworking experience for the task. The experience rewarded is always related to some aspect of the work order, though.” Dalia explained.

  “That is fantastic and exactly what we need. You find someone who would be a good candidate for Mayor, and we will get this city back on its feet. Once we can get the tasks posted and take a good stock of our inventory, it will allow us to figure out priorities. The city will need fortifying, and I plan on spending a lot of time working on a wall for the village. I’ll try and get the wall to surround the town, but I cannot guarantee all of it will be big enough. Can anyone tell me what direction the force will probably arrive from if they are coming from Seora? I’ll focus more effort on that side of the village.”

  “They will probably follow the road to the northeast of here so you could plan to fortify that part first, I guess. I don’t see what good it will do, though. If you cannot get all of it done, they can easily circle the wall to a less fortified spot to come through.” Daniel said.

  “I worry about that as well, but it serves two purposes. Even a small wall in a different area will provide a delay for them to cross it and give us some time to shoot them with arrows. The second purpose is it helps me grind my earth magic skill a bit more. Both could prove very helpful in the fight.” Arthur told them.

  “So how do we want to proportion food then? I assume you are going to keep up with random trips to the forest for goods as needed. That deer you brought us can be stretched to feed most of the village for almost a week, but we will need more. We also can’t overlook those that are unable to work due to age or illness.” Daniel asked.

  “The real question is, how have you survived this long? I arrived a few days ago and cannot even figure out how there is anyone here living. You have no food, no commerce, nothing. It defies logic how anyone can be alive.” Arthur asked.

  “Typically, when the enforcers come through, they leave us with just enough to survive long enough to replant some stuff and barely scrounge by before they return. The first month or so once they go is usually very rough, but it gradually gets better until they arrive again. This time they took more than usual and almost wiped us out. We weren’t expecting to see them back any time soon since they were just here a couple of weeks before you arrived. The group we saw was not the same who came here before, though.” Daniel explained.

  “If not for the little bit of food Vana has managed to scrounge from the forest, I doubt many would be alive. I try and make rounds to each house with a little food every few days as we can, but it has been more difficult than normal this time.” He continued.

  “Well, that explains part of that then. Let’s find some assistants for the larger jobs we have. Daniel and Rowan, you two will need some help since you have the biggest jobs. We can reward work with food. Those who are still outside the age range and have no trade can still be used to do menial tasks that they are physically cable of around town for their food. We need to sure they are jobs they will be capable of doing. Those of proper working age without trades can try and apprentice with anybody who will be able to use them in town. Daniel, I plan to use your inn as a village kitchen until we get everything running again. Once people can obtain their food, they can shift back to cooking their meals. For now, we can offer food for apprenticeships and assistance and then move on to goods and services as well once established. With the state I’ve seen the village in, it shouldn’t take much effort at all to get people to work for food.” Arthur explained to them all.

  Each of them shook their heads in agreement, but he noticed that Rowan was still looking despondent and staring at his feet. He would need to have a word with his friend after this meeting.

  “Sounds like the last order of business is for Dalia to decide on and name a mayor, and this will get moving,” Arthur chirped.

  Dalia perked up at her name and gave him an evil grin. She stared him straight in the eyes and in a sweet and innocent voice, said, “Oh, but I have decided on a mayor already. I, Dalia Flamekissed, Lady in residence of the city of Alum’s Crossing, do at this moment name Arthur as the Mayor.”

  Arthur only had time to think, Oh shit, before he got a notification.

  Congratulations, you have been named the Mayor of Alum’s Crossing. Would you like to access the Village Control Menu?

  “Well, that is a dirty, underhanded move, Dalia. How am I supposed to keep up with village assignments as well as go on resource hunting missions?” Arthur said dejectedly.

  She smiled at him and told him, “I have utter faith in your capabilities, Arthur.”

  “I guess I’ll make it work then. Let’s all take a break for the night, and I’ll see what I can do with the new village controls.” Arthur told them.

  All of them nodded in agreement and slowly shuffled out of the inn. Daniel stayed behind the bar, but Arthur looked at him and motioned toward Rowan, who was still seated and then motioned toward the back. Daniel seemed to understand what Arthur meant and walked to the kitchen. Arthur got up, walked over to Rowan, and seated himself next to him.

  “What’s wrong, Rowan? You look like someone ran over your puppy.” Arthur asked the big man. Rowan lifted his head to look at Arthur, and Arthur could see conflicting emotions in the man’s face. He looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown, but Arthur wasn’t sure why.

  “Anything I can help with?” Arthur tried again.

  Rowan looked him in the eye and sighed, “I’ve never killed a man before and can’t seem to figure out how to feel about it.”

  Damn, Arthur thought to himself. He never thought about the consequences of the fight from earlier. Looking at it from Rowan’s perspective, the man’s feelings were completely understandable. He had no idea how he would feel if, and quite honestly when, he would be forced to kill someone. That would be a hard moment to reconcile.

  “I know the man deserved it with every fiber of my being, but it’s just hard to process. I keep seeing him die over and over again, and it won’t get o
ut of my head. I mean, we killed those goblins earlier today, but quite honestly, they are monsters other than their vague human shape. That bandit was an actual man that we would see walking the streets. We even talked with him for a while, even though he was utterly detestable about it.”

  Arthur patted the man on his shoulder. “Just remind yourself that you did it for a good cause. He was planning on raping someone for no reason other than he thought he could. We even tried to dissuade them from their course of action with multiple warnings, and they still attacked us. I know it will be hard, but keep focused on our mission. I’m sure focusing on a bit of your smithing work tomorrow after some sleep tonight will help you out.”

  “Not sure I’ll be able to get any sleep, but I am sure focusing on some work will help out. Guess I’ll head to the back and get some of that ore loaded on the cart, so I can get to work on it in the morning.”

  “Need any help?” Arthur asked.

  “Nah, the physical work will help me focus and hopefully get my mind back on track.” Rowan said and looked into Arthur’s eyes, “Thank you, though. I do appreciate it.”

  “Anytime Rowan, maybe once we get caught up a bit, we can go on another forest dive for resources,” Arthur said with a slight punch to the man’s shoulder.

  “I’ll hold you to that,” Rowan told him with a grin.

  They both got up and walked toward the back. Rowan moved to the room the ore was stored in and started loading it into the cart behind the inn. Arthur turned toward the kitchen area and saw Daniel in there.

  “Hey Daniel, thanks for your support in all this. Are you going to need any help getting our food supplies up and going for the moment? I think I’m about to head up to my room and dig through the village control options before I sleep.”

  “I’ve got it covered. I’ll find a couple of hands in the morning and begin to get them up to speed. As you said, the enticement of food should draw all the help I need. I do know that I can only stretch the food so far on what we have. Soups go a long way and all but still will need more.”