None (0)
According to the information provided, she had quite a few workers to work with as well as a good amount of materials coming in every day, far more than she thought. She supposed she hadn’t been paying as much attention to the amount of materials her people were gathering.
“Okay, let’s see if we can get some people working,” Micaela mumbled to herself, mentally selecting the ‘Unskilled’ laborers. She needed to know if she assigned them to a task like gathering ‘Raw Stone Blocks’, just how much would the gathering increase, if it increased at all. The menu was fairly easy to navigate in that regard. She just selected a name from the list of ‘Unskilled’, which gave her a list of available jobs only to find out that she couldn’t assign anyone to gather ‘Raw Stone Blocks’. It was only when she reassigned someone from gathering ‘Raw Stone Blocks’ to become available that she could assign someone else to the task. That was how she learned the maximum number of people she could assign to gathering stone was just ten people. Eventually she learned the maximum for the other gathering tasks. She could assign up to four people to gather wood and sand.
Micaela understood those were just the current limitations and that eventually she might be able to assign more people but for now, that was enough. She needed to free up as many of her Construction Laborers as she could, including her foreman who was still assigned to gathering Stone Blocks. When she reassigned him, her total number of workers for gathering stone dropped from ten to four. That was when she discovered just how important having someone with the ‘Foreman’ subskill really was. Still, the drop off in stone gathering was not the end of the world, at least not yet. She had quite a bit of materials stockpiled and when she needed more, she could always reallocate the labor.
Once everything in her labor pool was rebalanced and she had freed up almost all of her construction workers, she finally looked at the Construction Queue. Mentally poking at the ‘None’, a new window popped up with a list of construction options.
The list populated instantly with a handful of structures and the required materials. It was somewhat surprising to see things like ‘Iron Nails’ and ‘Bags of Mortar’ greyed out. Micaela assumed this was due to her ‘Construction’ profession subskills and the subskills of Dirk and Clive that allowed them to bind Wood and Stone with magic.
Construction Options
Materials
Time to Build
Simple Wooden Guard Tower
56:00:00.00
- Cut Wood Planks
400
- Iron Nails
800
Simple Stone Guard Tower
91:00:00.00
- Cut Stone Blocks
1,000
- Bags of Mortar
100
Wall Section
24:00:00.00
- Cut Stone Blocks
1,500
- Bags of Mortar
150
Portcullis
72:00:00.00
- Cut Stone Blocks
2,000
- Iron Gate
1
- Iron Chain
2
- Bags of Mortar
200
Barracks Expansion
172:00:00.00
- Cut Stone Blocks
400
- Cut Wood Planks
800
- Iron Nails
1,600
- Bags of Mortar
40
Additional Options Require Mayoral Approval
Apparently, Micaela was limited to defensive structures only. Thankfully, the time requirements didn’t seem that bad . . . provided the time requirements would go down with each additional worker. As interested as she was in expanding the barracks and building guard towers, things she would eventually do, the wall was the priority.
Micaela mentally selected the Wall Section and the option lit up in yellow and the number jumped . . . a lot
Wall Section
1,656:00:00.00
- Cut Stone Blocks
1,500
- Bags of Mortar
150
If Micaela’s math were correct, that meant it would take 69 days to build a wall around the city. She was really hoping that number went down as more construction workers got involved. She tried to close the menu, but it wouldn’t close, instead giving her an error message.
Warning! Walls require Portcullis.
Micaela mentally closed the message then selected Portcullis which lit up green and changed the Walls from yellow to green.
Wall Section
1,656:00:00.00
- Cut Stone Blocks
1,500
- Bags of Mortar
150
Portcullis
144:00:00.00
- Cut Stone Blocks
2,000
- Iron Gate
1
- Iron Chain
2
- Bags of Mortar
200
After that she was able to close the menu and go back to her Construction management. Then she reassigned all the free labor and construction workers to building the Wall Sections and Portcullis. Finally satisfied, she reviewed all the changes she had made.
City Management
Available Personnel:
Personnel
Construction Foreman
1
Construction Specialists
2
Construction Laborers
14
Available Laborers
18
- Skilled
3
- Unskilled
15
Available Materials:
Construction
- Cut Stone Blocks
123
- Cut Wood Planks
472
- Glass Panes
8
- Raw Stone Blocks
6
- Raw Wood Logs
17
- Raw Bags of Sand
3
- Enchanted Lights
8
See More . . .
Defense
Material Gathering:
Per Day
- Raw Stone Blocks (4)
6
- Raw Wood Logs (4)
40
- Raw Bags of Sand (0)
-
Material Crafting:
Per Day
- Cut Stone Blocks (1)
24
Trade
- Cut Wood Planks (4)
200
- Glass Panes (0)
-
Construction Queue:
- Portcullis (8)
2
- Wall Sections (14)
69
With those changes, she looked again at the construction options and was much happier with the new time requirements.
Wall Section
214:00:00.00
- Cut Stone Blocks
1,500
- Bags of Mortar
150
Portcullis
12:00:00.00
- Cut Stone Blocks
2,000
- Iron Gate
1
- Iron Chain
2
- Bags of Mortar
200
The math was a little strange but when she looked at the personnel a little more closely it started to make more sense. With Willis Sears, her only foreman, working on the Portcullises, he cut down the time, as did assigning only construction workers. Using her remaining Skilled, Unskilled, and Construction Laborers on the Wall Sections also reduced the time, but not by as much as she had hoped it would.
Basically, it would take about a week. She just hoped they had that long.
Warning! Insufficient Stone Blocks! Insufficient Stone Block Gathering! Work Stoppage Imminent! Gather more Stone to prevent Work Stoppage!
Micaela cursed and looked back at her construction distribution. “Back to the drawing board,” she complained.
Chapter 23
- Olaf
“Thank you all for coming this morning, I know it’s early, but your attendance is greatly appreciated,” Olaf’s loud voice boomed through the din inside the town hall. “I am sorry for the short notice and for the loss your great town has suffered with the passing of Mayor Simper. However, due to the crisis of the undead, we need to hold an emergency election.”
“Who put you in charge?” Someone in the crowd yelled back, getting several nods and murmurs of agreement and similar proclamations.
Olaf was prepared to explain exactly that as part of his speech. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like the citizens were going to let him finish what he needed to say without answering that question first. “When Mayor Simper approved the construction of our Order House within Hurlig Ridge, it conveyed a certain level of authority within the town,” he answered, seeming to have calmed most of the citizens who seemed less than pleased with an adventurer being in charge.
Olaf continued after seeing the crowd had been mollified, “Now, I am not entirely familiar with your election process, but this needs to be settled and settled quickly. The undead are still out there and we can’t afford to be without a Mayor. So, I’m asking all of you, how do we do this?” It was significantly shorter than what he had planned to say but after the interruption he felt it was better to jump to the end.
Thankfully, Giggle-Ana stood from her seat in the front row and took over. “Alright, anyone want the job . . . except for Malcolm, sit back down,” she shouted, stopping the smiling mage in his tracks as he was just starting to stand up.
There was a small yelp and Duke Johnson stood up, “Stop poking me,” he complained to Mary, his wife and apparently the one responsible for poking him. “I got nothing better to do, not with my farm overrun by the Undead. I suppose I can be the new Mayor, at least until we can take my farm back.”
“Anyone else?” Giggle-Ana asked, then quickly added, “Not you, Malcolm.” Her eyes scanned the room for a minute then with a simple nod, she asked, “Alright, all in favor?” Every hand but a pouting Malcolm’s went up. She asked in follow up, “All opposed?” This time only Malcolm’s hand went up. “Motion passed. Duke Johnson is the new Mayor of Hurligville. Any other business? No, good, meeting adjourned,” she finished, rushing to end the meeting before anyone could say another word.
And just like that, Olaf got the quest completion notice.
Order Quest: Electing a Mayor – Completed!
Hurligville needs to elect a new Mayor. Notify the citizens of the emergency election. Must have no less than 60% voter turnout.
Reward: +20,000-Experience, +8,900-Experiece (89% of Citizens Voted)
It was far and away, the easiest election he had ever witnessed. Even if the experience he gained was miniscule, it was worth it as every point counted.
“Sorry, I’m late,” Micaela said, rushing inside only to find the town hall empty except for her husband and Duke and Mary Johnson. She asked, “Is it over already?”
“Yeah,” Olaf said, “Meet the new Mayor, Duke Johnson.”
“Nice,” Micaela said, grinning brightly. “Okay, Duke, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Duke nodded, then asked, “How long before you clear out the Undead?” The question was blunt and to the point, leaving Olaf and Micaela both feeling . . . awkward.
“We’re not sure,” Micaela answered. “We’re working on it, but it takes time. For now, we’re working on securing the town.”
Duke nodded again. “We are going to need more food. With the farms unable to operate due to the undead, we will definitely need more food. Our current stores will not last long, not with the sudden influx of adventurers. I’m also out of corn and you know what that means.”
Olaf did indeed know what it meant for Duke to be out of Corn. No Corn meant no moonshine, and no moonshine meant the Hidden Norse temple would be all but impossible to complete. However, it was the initial statement that really confused him. Last time he checked, there were just over forty adventurers in town. A quick mental thought and the City Management screen was in front of his face again.
City Management
Citizens
Personnel
Population Statistics:
172
Working Adults
141
Unemployed Adults
15
Non-Working Children
16
Construction
Government
1
- Mayor
1
- Secretary
-
- Treasurer
-
- Order Liaison
-
Defense
Crafters
33
- Craft Trainers
22
Merchants & Vendors
26
Guards
31
- Combat Trainers
1
Trade
Skilled Laborers
38
Unskilled Laborers
28
- Unemployed Laborers
15
Adventurers
274
“Holy- What in the world happened?” Olaf asked, blinking just to make sure he was seeing the number 274 correctly only for the number to increase three more to 277. Just that quickly.
Duke snorted, then answered, “Word of your Order has apparently spread. The Doghouse Inn is filled to capacity as is Doc B’s. Some of the adventurers have taken to putting up tents in the streets while others have decided to squat in a few of the recently abandoned homes. I suppose, now that I am Mayor, I can give them the boot. But honestly, we need all the help we can get.”
Micaela snapped her fingers and smiled excitedly. “Have them rent space in the citizens yards or rent the abandoned homes from the town. It would get them out of the streets at the very least. We’ve got our recruiting drive starting in an hour and I’m sure some of the adventurers will depart when we’re done with that. Those who stay . . . eventually we’ll have some beds and rooms set up in the Order House for its members.”
“I suppose I can propose that. Some might happily take their Copper, maybe even a Silver or two for those adventurers who do not know any better,” Duke said, chuckling to himself at the end. “Alright, I will work on that. You two need to work on the food shortage and see what you can do to get those adventurers out of here.”
Service Request: Food Shortage
Mayor Duke Johnson has requested the assistance of your Order to help resolve the food shortage the influx of Adventurers has created. This quest is recommended for level 1-5
Request Requirements: 30000-Spider Legs
City Cost: 30000-Experience, 3500-Copper
Order Reward: 500-Copper, +50-Order Renown
Will the Order of Epic Grinders agree to fulfill this request?
Yes
No
“We’re on it,” Micaela said, snapping off a crisp salute as she accepted the quest.
Olaf was surprised to see the cost of the request went to the City instead of to the Citizens as Micaela had previously explained to him.
“That should be enough to give the quest out 300 times. Unfortunately, that will only be enough food for about 10 days and only if more adventurers do not arrive,” Duke explained. “Anyway, that should cover Hurligville’s biggest need for now. As for me, I am hoping some of you adventurers would be crazy enough to go get me some corn.”
Service Request: Moonshine Materials
Farmer Duke Johnson is in desperate need of corn to make his moonshine. Help him acquire the necessary materials from his farm, which has been overrun by Undead Critters. This quest is recommended for level 5-10
Request Requirements: 1000-Ears of Corn
Citizen Cost: 50000-Experience, 45-Silver
Order Reward: 5-Silver, +100-Order Renown
Will the Order of Epic Grinders agree to fulfill this request?
Yes
No
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br /> “We can do that as well,” Micaela said, accepting the request, though this time she looked a little uncomfortable.
Olaf saw why when Duke’s level dropped from eight down to six.
“Now, that is all Hurligville and I can do for you. I would suggest you pay Dogson and Doc B a visit and see if they have any requests for your order,” Duke finished.
World Tree Online: The Order of Epic Grinders: 4th Dive Page 39
