After she'd eaten she stared at him again.
“So, a workaholic, eh? I think you may not realize it, but you always have things to do. You spend a lot of free time working on your gardens, you don't go a day without having two or three of the residents ask you for your opinion on something, or Griff doing the same. Plus you've got a cat and a girlfriend to keep happy. Even on a day without crafting, you still don't have nothing to do.”
“Okay, how about craftaholic then? If I don't get some crafting done on any given day I feel like I've missed out on something.”
“Now you sound like Jern,” Tiana said with a smile. “Not that that's a bad thing or anything.”
“I'll take it,” Eddie said. “It was crafting I realized I had to do today that made the empty, queasy feeling go away. So that might be a more accurate description.”
“What do you need to do? I thought you'd finished everything you wanted to personally participate in building.”
“Oh, I need to rough out sleeping quarters for Bodil and her two underlings in the room I gave her. They all agreed that they didn't need more room than that, told me I could rough out rooms for beds, and they'd use the rest as an office.”
“That's good. I think I'll go with you when you do.”
Eddie raised an eyebrow at her.
“Nope, not jealously this time,” Tiana said. “As High Priestess of Freyja I should officially welcome her, plus I want to test my theories. I'm guessing that I'm right, but that if she tries to keep the facade up constantly she'll end up cracking under the strain. I'll just give her an opportunity to let it down for a bit.”
“I think that won't work, but you're welcome to try.”
“I still want to try though. Even if it doesn't work now, she'll still remember it if it becomes necessary for her to either relax or snap under the pressure.”
“Alright, well, let's get dressed and head down to the Town Hall then,” Eddie said.
Minutes later they were dressed and had returned the tray and dishes to the kitchen. As they were walking down the road towards the Town Hall, Eddie's notification light started flashing. He pulled it up quickly, expecting to know what it read.
Success:
You have created a: Player City
For being the first player to create a Player City in the game you are awarded 25000 experience and 1000 gold.
You qualified by bringing the permanent population of your village: Meadowlands, to more than 250 inhabitants and employing 27% of the inhabitants.
Global Broadcast:
Congratulations to player Eddie Hunter for being the first to complete the achievement: Player City
In honor of this achievement, completed in: The Meadowlands, the player race Forest Elf is now unlocked and players may start characters with this race in a previously undiscovered Elven Town near to The Meadowlands. This race is only recommended for advanced players.
“Well, that should get some more players close to here,” he said. “A previously undiscovered Elven town of wood elves? Where the hell would there be an undiscovered town around here in the forest?”
He and Tiana both stopped and looked south towards the Forest of Fools.
“You don't suppose...” she said.
“What, that the game would've created an Elven town in there? One at constant war with the goblins? Does that sound like anything this sweet, harmless game would create?” Eddie asked.
Tiana snorted.
“Yeah, I think it's time to bump up our plans on exploring the Forest of Fools some more,” Eddie said.
“I think you're right. Good thing you don't have any major building plans underway, that means we can get in there more quickly. Although I'm guessing there's going to be a flood of players that think the same way. Even the higher levels might move their attention back to the forest from the mountains for this one. Especially with the higher tier villages in there now.”
Eddie nodded his agreement.
“Tomorrow maybe?” he said. “We'll talk to everyone tonight, see what they think. I'm glad Karl and Allie weren't out mapping right now, that could've delayed us for days. For now, though, I need to get those sleeping areas roughed out.”
As they continued on their way, Eddie pulled up the help for a player capital, wanting to see what it required now that he could actually access the help file.
Help player capital, he thought.
Player Capital:
A player capital is a functioning city. It is considered a player capital when the player either owns the land it is built on or the player employs at least twenty-five percent of the occupants with no other player employing a higher percentage or owning the majority of the land. The occupants of the city will acknowledge the player as their leader, unless there is another elected leader, and ask him for advice on businesses and building placement.
Taxes may be levied by the player or elected leader at this level, up to 10%, with the potential for a one-time emergency tax of 20%. The occupants of the capital may also volunteer assistance to anything being built in the town. Any emergency taxation will cause dissatisfaction among the inhabitants, but the dissatisfaction will fade over a period of two weeks.
A capital is a community of five hundred or more occupants that has at least two other settlements under its jurisdiction. A successful capital will attract more occupants over time, slowly growing. For a Player City to progress to a Player Capital the player in charge of the city must have completed the quest chain: Developmental Issues, for the city.
In addition to other requirements the potential capital must contain a seat of power. Be it palace, castle, or other recognized seat of power, this must be constructed before it can advance from city level.
“Huh,” Eddie said.
“What now?” Tiana asked.
“Well, it's a good thing I have other settlements planned out already. That's one of the requirements for a Capital. At least two settlements under its jurisdiction. Plus, I'm happy I picked a castle for my Stronghold. It wasn't the Developmental Issues quest that needed it, but the Player Capital quest.”
“I'm glad that worked out for you then,” she said.
“Even if it hadn't, once it's done we've got a castle. That probably would've been enough of a reward all on its own, no?”
She grinned at him.
“There is that. I'm guessing there aren't many people that have done that in this game yet. No-one around here at least.”
“Alright, well let's get this done so we can talk to the rest of the group as soon as possible,” Eddie said.
They'd arrived at the Town Hall while they were talking. Eddie heard the sounds of combat training going on in the back yard. The guards reserved hour per day in the training ring wouldn't start for three more days since Liv had it booked out for that long already, at least if he wanted the same hour every day.
They headed upstairs and before anything else, Bodil presented Eddie with the list of items she would need. Tiana asked Bodil if they could talk elsewhere while he worked on their quarters and Bodil offered her two underlings as haulers for Eddie while he was working. In just over an hour, he'd roughed out the three rooms plus made bed frames for them. All they needed was mattresses and they'd be set since they all already had their own blankets.
~ ~ ~
Eddie and Tiana were sitting in the inn, waiting for the rest of the group to show up.
“I'm sure I'm right. I could see it in her eyes, even if she didn't let her facade down while we spoke. There were moments when I was asking about her duties when I saw panic flickering in her eyes. She's uncertain, scared, and using the stoic demeanor as a shield, I know it,” Tiana said.
“If you say so,” Eddie said. “I've never been very good at reading people and I know you're lots better at it, so I'll believe you. I'll keep trying to be nice, chip away at the armor that way.”
“It's the right way to do it. Then, at least, if she gets over her head she'll know she can ask you for help. M
e too, since I outright offered it.”
“Hey Eddie, congrats on the global,” Dominic said, approaching the table.
“Dominic, good. We're waiting for everyone to show up. We've got to make some plans,” Eddie said.
“Yeah, I figured that was going to be a temptation you couldn't pass up,” Dominic said. “I'm all for it.”
“Well, I thought we wanted to go in there anyhow for the tier four and tier five villages, this way we can just keep going after we do those, right?”
“If we want to camp out there overnight,” Dominic said a little hesitantly. “I think it'll take a lot longer than you think it will to do those villages.”
“Well, even if it does, we should do those first, then we can go back in elsewhere, not follow the goblin trails, to search for the town, right?”
“We'll discuss it. I'm hoping that we can find some sort of clue or something to help us out with this search,” Dominic replied.
“We got one at least, Forest Elves. It's the only forest nearby, so it makes sense, right?” Eddie said.
Dominic chuckled and shook his head ruefully.
“You really don't know how large the Forest of Fools is, do you? It goes on for days.”
“Yeah, but we know it has to be relatively close to the Meadowlands, right? The announcement said that.”
“That should be true, but...”
Dominic trailed off, a thoughtful look on his face.
Jern showed up a few minutes later and once again Eddie was offered congratulations.
“I knew it,” Jern said after Eddie had spoken for a minute. “I was sure you'd want to look for those Elves. I'm good with that. Lots of things to kill in those woods so maybe I'll increase my fighting skill a bit.”
That was all from the dwarf, he was content with however the rest of the party wanted to plan it. When they asked for more input, he just shrugged.
“The plans you've made in the past have always been good to me, except for the damned lake, so I'll just listen in and only say something if it's important.”
The last to arrive were Allie and Karl, who came in together. Allie immediately congratulated Eddie, but Karl just looked confused.
“What are you congratulating him for?” Karl asked.
“I told you to look at your notifications as soon as you woke up, didn't you do that yet?” Allie replied.
Karl looked slightly embarrassed, then took on the vacant look of someone staring at their game screens.
“Oh, hey man, congratulations,” Karl said a moment later.
Allie elbowed him in the side once before sitting down.
“So, we gonna go look for this place?” Karl asked.
“We were just discussing that. I've got nothing on my plate for a bit,” Eddie said, “for a change. So, tomorrow? Well do the tier three, four, and five villages, but look for clues while we're out there. If we don't find anything we'll go back in without following the goblin trails. That sound like a plan?”
“A very rough plan, but enough to get going on,” Allie said. “I'm in.”
The rest of the group chimed in, one after another, until they all had. After that they spent the evening enjoying the food and drink, while trying to fine tune the plan.
“You know, while we're exploring, we should check those extra trails we found,” Karl said. “We kept meaning to do that, but I wanted to map the whole Meadowlands first.”
“Actually, you said that the trail you found to the west went into the forest also, right? Was that the Forest of Fools?” Tiana asked.
Karl shrugged.
“I don't know, we didn't travel far enough along it to feel like we were changing zones.”
“I'm just thinking, just kind of tossing it out there, that if that's another forest, or a section of the Forest of Fools with fewer goblins in it, that has the potential to be what we're looking for.”
“Yeah, but I'm sure some players have to have gone that way before,” Karl said.
“True, but lots of players had gone by the lake too, and there was never a dungeon there until Eddie started advancing the settlement. So why couldn't this be the same?” Tiana asked.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cooper stared at the file he had open in front of him.
I can't believe she wants me to make shit up and write it down in the reports. If I'd wanted to do creative writing I could've been some kind of author instead of joining the military, he thought.
After a heavy sigh he started concentrating, slowly managing to write out the report that Freyja wanted him to submit. The seeming stupidity of it all led him to make it significantly more cynical, and less properly formatted, than normal.
He was still in the middle of it when there was a knock on the door.
The party had managed to score some rooms in the bunkhouse Eddie had near the inn. They had to double up in them, but it still beat a lot of the other options since the inn was constantly full up. The bunkhouse, at least, had weekly rates and the option to renew for the next week when the first one was up. So they'd jumped on the chance and now food and beer were just a short walk away from their rooms.
“Hey Coop, you coming? We're going over for something to eat and some beers,” Campbell called out from in the hallway.
“Nah, you go ahead. I need to finish this up first, then I'll meet you over there,” Cooper replied.
He caught the tip of his tongue with his teeth, biting gently as he wrote. Once he'd finished it, he immediately sent it on to Freyja as she'd requested.
She can freakin' check it for typos and shit, I'm not going to, Cooper thought. I can't believe I have to do that every day. Making up shit that had allegedly gone wrong was fun for a day or two, but now it's just a drag.
A voice spoke in his mind then, a familiar one by now since it checked in with him daily.
That's fine Cooper, although it is the price you pay for staying in the game. If you weren't still doing the testing, as far as they know, they'd yank your whole group out so fast your heads would spin, Freyja said in his mind.
This is much better also, she continued, this report has the feel that I associate with you. It's on the edge of being disrespectful, it sounds as though you're tired of trying out things that, as far as you are concerned, just aren't working, and the phrasing and word choice is entirely you. It's like things are going so bad that you don't really care what they think, you're just throwing the failure of their testing in their faces. That fits very well with what your records say about you.
I'm so glad you approve, Cooper thought sarcastically. So are we good for today? Can I go?
He felt like a schoolchild having turned in the assignment that was due and asking the teacher if it was all good.
Go. Bob is about to knock on the door and ask if you're okay. Tell him what you wish, although I would ask that you refrain from telling him my part in all this, Freyja said.
A moment later there was a knock on the door.
“Hey Coop, you okay in there? You keep closeting yourself all the time and I'm sure that isn't good for you,” Bob said through the door.
Cooper opened the door.
“Yeah, yeah, it's fine. I just hate the fucking paperwork I need to file every day. It's so hard to try to con these guys while still appearing to be doing everything they request that it's starting to get to me,” Cooper said.
“Well, as your physician and priest, I have a prescription for that,” Bob said. “Let's go get so roaring drunk that you can't even think about anything for a while.”
~ ~ ~
Eddie and Tiana woke later than normal the next day. They'd been getting up rather early to tend to their respective tasks, but now they were back on the same schedule as the rest of their group and they took advantage of that to get some extra sleep.
They were still the first of their group in the common room of the inn though. Before they finished breakfast Dominic and Jern had arrived. They were enjoying some extra coffee
after they ate when Allie and Karl showed up. Allie looked fine, but Karl's eyes were bloodshot and he looked tired.
“What's up Karl, I figured you had plenty of warning so you'd get more sleep,” Eddie said.
“Easy for you to say. I've been staying up stupid late watching Arvid and even though I didn't stay watching him very late last night I just couldn't get to sleep early enough. I couldn't get to sleep when I tried.”
“I told him earlier on that he ought to do something to tire himself out but he just wanted to work on his maps,” Allie said.
“You good for this?” Eddie asked.
Karl nodded.
“Yeah, I'll be fine. I've done more on less sleep before. Just let me get about a pot of coffee inside of me and I'll be good to go.”
A half hour later they stepped out of the inn, headed towards one of the paths leading to the goblin villages in the Forest of Fools. They found absolutely no patrols on the way to the first village and when they got to it, it had already been burned to the ground.
“Well crap, do we keep going or find another path?” Eddie asked.
“Keep going,” Allie said. “Even if they've done the first few villages, we've done those before so we don't need to do them again, plus this way we won't get slowed down clearing them.”
They continued on and found the second village burnt out as well. On the way to the third tier village they heard fighting once they got close.
“Well, looks like we found whoever we've been following,” Karl said. “What do we do?”
“Why don't we head up and see how they're doing?” Tiana said. “If it looks like they're having problems we can back them up. Once they're done, we can see if they planned on going deeper into the Forest or not.”
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