by Ryan DeBruyn
Joe did so much. Not just for the Territory but for me, personally. I feel like we just lost the heart of the Territory. How do you even fill such a gaping hole?
Luckily, they arrived at the residential complex, which broke him from his internal maudlin. It would seem that twelve Longhouses had their foundations poured and material surrounding them to finish construction. This included the seven that had been underway and the one which was a few planks away from completion. Rocky could see that the twelfth and final poured foundation didn’t have as many planks and accompanying metal bars beside it yet, but it was nearing its full schematic criteria.
If the numbers were correct on his Territorial Building page and subsequent schematics, the Longhouses could each accommodate one hundred people, meaning that they would still need housing for a lot of people. However, having the tent accommodate two thousand did significantly lower that, and if it came down to it, the tunnels might be functional as living if he rearranged them properly.
However, it was dark down there, and there was no chance for sunlight hundreds of feet below the Grotto.
As long as the spell does what I hope it will! Abra kadabra… nothing!
Rocky chuckled to himself as he began walking towards the river to take a morning bath. He could just picture it now, standing in front of all the citizens, building up a big scene, and then having nothing happen. The makeshift council had deemed it a worthwhile risk because even if the spell didn’t complete the buildings, its boons that would take effect would drastically increase construction afterward anyway.
Sela had been following along in silence, and when Rocky chuckled, she had snapped out of her internal musing to look at the man. “Bathe, training, then announcement, or?” Sela queried, trying to get a feel for the intended schedule.
At the sound of the question, he slowed his walk to turn and look in her direction. “I think that’s the best option. See you after your bath?” he answered and rhetorically asked, then turned left to head in the direction of the ‘men’s’ bath curtain, leaving Sela to turn right. Sela took a deep sigh looking after him, then shook her head exasperated before walking in the opposite direction to use what society seemed to expect of her in this new world.
After Tao led martial training and Meditation, Rocky got up on stage, accompanied by the council. He stood and felt everyone’s anticipation sharpen as he waited for the murmurs and talking to die down. It didn’t take long because once people realized he was waiting for silence, they turned to their neighbors and hushed them to speed up the process. Once silence reigned, Rocky held up his hands and, with a huge smile, shouted, “Hocus Pocus!” with a relatively good mimicry of an aged wizard.
He had simultaneously pressed the accept boon option on his open notification, but only Sela could see that. There was a moment of confusion that was visible as it pulsed through the crowd, neighbors turning to look at each other as Rocky’s strange choice of announcement reached people’s ears, but it only lasted a moment. A heartbeat for Rocky after he clicked the accept button on the notification, he heard or perhaps felt a rumble begin beneath his feet.
Everyone else’s heads shot downwards, and Sela smiled, seeing the varying levels of agility come into play, making it almost look like a ripple shooting across the crowd. She could actually feel what was going on in the earth and knew that the rumble was being caused by spectral vines shooting out from the place of power deep below them. It wasn’t really moving the earth so much as vibrating with a frequency that seemed to resonate with the earth. Thus, the shaking.
A moment later, the vines shot from the surface at all fifteen building sites and surrounded them in a brown and foggy white dome of tentacle-like vines. Definite movement occurred under each dome, but Rocky couldn’t see through the outer layer and into the internal structures that he hoped were being built. Creaks and cracks could be heard coming from each site, and he saw many citizens tilting heads trying to see what exactly was occurring. After ten minutes, people grew anxious; after twenty, people looked to him for answers, and Rocky shrugged before realizing a shrug seemed insufficient to answer them.
So, he raised his voice and shouted, “It would appear that the spell isn’t instantaneous. I was going to tell you all to stay clear of the build sites, but I know that you won’t entirely listen to that order. So, instead, I am going to say do not under any circumstances attempt to enter the vines or spell. If it is converting perceived resources into building materials, it could mistake you for the latter and kill you.” Some of the giddiness of the crowd subsided and was replaced with shudders, but most of the excitement remained. “Go on, then. I know you won’t be listening to me for a bit anyway.”
The council, military, and Bathilda took the next hour to stock up on necessities from the shop. Then they went over the tentative plan to have the A-Team, Rocky, Zippo, and Sela enter the Dungeon. In preparation, Rocky had even convinced Bathilda to allow him to keep and refill the spell ring with her breath spell.
The military was to stay and maintain a perimeter in what they hoped would be outside of the Dungeon’s influence. In doing this, they hoped that if Apothis or Frankie attempted to flee, they would see them and be capable of messaging Bathilda for her help. Bathilda was wearing a tiny radio communication earpiece for just that eventuality.
Rocky didn’t really know what to expect from Apothis. Everything to this point, the degenerate had been working from a position of assumed strength. In fact, he would have succeeded and captured the Territory if not for Tao and Gamma. He would most likely still have the upper hand if it wasn’t for Bathilda. Now that he was acting from a position of weakness, Rocky didn’t put anything past the creature.
Their discussion was interrupted by a commotion that started near the site of the Longhouse that had been nearly completed before the spell began. Zippo didn’t even wait for anyone else and took off running towards the noise, finally acting like the child Rocky expected. Azoth leaped into the air, and soon, the entire group was making their way over to the dark building that they saw in the distance.
At first, Rocky thought it was dark because of a shadow, but as he approached, he began to make out a pattern that he thought he recognized. A few meters later, he was certain as his eyes brought it more into focus that he was looking at Bathilda’s Dragon scale with the strange reflective coagulant between the joints. In places, the mortar pulsed as people shone lights on it. He glanced to his left and saw the Dragon approaching and wondered if this was going to be a problem.
Bathilda was still mostly pure white scales other than a single stripe that ran down her back of her original dark black color. This building was made from the scales he had stolen from the ground and, as such, was pitch black. Right now, she looked like she almost had a racing stripe crawling down her back. Hopefully, she wouldn’t make a big deal out of the stolen scales that Rocky hadn’t asked about taking. She arrived first and began sniffing the structure, looking contemplative as the remainder of the council arrived.
“Are these Dragon scales?” Her head swung around until her eyes alit on Rocky, who nodded. “My scales?” Rocky made a face and shrugged, not sure if they were technically her scales. Bathilda saw his hesitation and looked back at them again. “Based on my scales then?”
“Well, you see…” Rocky told the story of his confrontation of Apothis, fully, for the first time. People around him paid rapt attention to his retelling of the battle that Apothis had dominated from the start. How Rocky had managed to finally ‘defeat’ him was both spectacular and extremely lucky. As he told his story, he saw a few people attempt to enter the new building, but the doors seemed to be locked. He truly didn’t care if they did go in and explore, assuming that the building would be relatively empty on the interior.
Bathilda sat down on her haunches heavily and spoke, “I hadn’t quite understood my connection to this place or why I was instantly considered an ally when I crossed the threshold.” She looked at Sela and Rocky. “It makes sens
e in a way, but I have neither seen nor heard of anything like this.” She paused and placed her foreclaw on the Dragon scale patterned building. “I fear this might make your Territory more of a target from galactic forces.” She sighed deeply and met Rocky’s eyes. “Dragons have been hunted for material to make armor sets, weapons, and sometimes ornaments. Obviously, Dragons are not defenseless, and while some items do still exist, often owning one will bring the ire of Dragons down upon you as well.” Her foreclaw that was still resting on the building, tensed as she emphasized the last words. “Even now, the only thing keeping me from tearing this apart is because I know that you have not killed any Dragons to obtain it, but my soul screams at the sight.”
Rocky gulped as her claws continued to flex on the scaled building. A moment later, her claws began to create a noise that reminded him of nails on a chalkboard. He held up a hand and was getting ready to stop her, but Sela put a hand on his arm and pointed at the places her claws were touching. The building wasn’t being damaged at all. Small sparks were flying from the contact points, but the scale and mortar of the building were entirely undamaged. Bathilda stopped her ‘attack’ a moment later and made a whistling noise from the vocal cords in her throat.
Sela smiled at the Dragon and asked, “Done with your inspection?”
Bathilda nodded and stepped back without another word but a serious look of concentration set on her draconic face. Rocky looked at her for a moment before he went to the door to see why no one had been able to enter the structure yet. As he began walking, Smith ran into view. “You have got to see this!” Then he looked at the building and amended, “After you see that!”
Smith fell in with the rest of the council, and they entered the building. Rocky noticed that the construction looked much larger than he remembered it being when it was nearly complete. “Is it bigger than it was before?” he asked the group. Sela nodded instantly, and he re-examined the exterior as he got closer. It had looked small next to a Dragon, but in truth, it was easily a five-story construction now as opposed to the two-story construction that the plans called for.
Come on Harry Potter tent. Come on spatial distortion making it bigger on the inside! Just this once!
Rocky placed his hand on the door, and at first, nothing happened until a notification window popped up in front of him.
Welcome to the Algonquin Draconic Longhouse I
As a leader, you must decide how you would like to configure this Longhouse.
This Longhouse can be used as a dorm or apartment-style living.
Dorm living spaces: 500
Apartment units: 125
Which style would you like?
Dorm | Apartment
In the future, this decision can be changed at the cost of five thousand Territorial Essence.
He blinked at the notice and looked over at Sela, who shrugged, not sure what the best option was. To Rocky, the math was pretty simple. They could take the twelve Longhouses that were being constructed and create six thousand bedrooms that had no areas to sit and relax, or they could create fifteen hundred collections of rooms that may even include a kitchen. His dilemma was that one would create rooms for his entire population when the twelve Longhouses were finished; the other would only create a little more than half if he assumed people would live together in those apartments.
Before deciding, he minimized the window and looked for what Territorial Essence was. It took him searching through a large number of screens, many of which he didn’t have access to, until on a faded-out control screen, he saw it listed. When he tried to click on it to get a bit of a better description, it popped up a different notification.
You will have access to your Territorial Management page once you have completed a Town Hall.
Sela had been looking over his shoulder the whole time, so when he looked at her and she shrugged, he repeated her shrug and went with the dorm option. He would have really liked to do apartments from the start, but very honestly, with the remaining three Golem Knights out rescuing more humans who would hopefully soon be civilians, it was definitely better to have roofs for six thousand people.
Sela did chime in a suggestion when she saw his long face as he chose the dorm option, “We could always do six of them as dorms and leave the next six as something to allocate after, or perhaps create one of the remaining six as apartments right away and have them bolster the economy by renting the apartments or putting them up for sale?”
Rocky nodded along and saw a few members of the A-Team look thoughtful or aghast at the suggestions. Seeing this, Rocky amended, “I like that idea. Keep the dorms free for anyone but have something people can aspire to?” That statement changed the looks of indignation to a somewhat disgruntled agreement.
Another notification had popped up and was waiting minimized for him to acknowledge it. He did so.
Algonquin Draconic Dormitories I
The reconfiguration of this building will take sixty minutes.
59 minutes 15 seconds remaining
Followed by another.
Algonquin Draconic Dormitories I
Tenant Assignment Authority: Territory Leaders
Tenants |Guests
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By placing an individual in the Tenant column, they will have access to unlock the doors to the building. They will be assigned a unit inside the dormitory and be the only one capable of unlocking the door within.
Any Tenant can offer guest rights to an individual or remove guest rights from an individual. If an individual is in the building and not a guest, they will be notified about the breach. If the situation is not remedied, a quest will be issued to nearby law enforcement or military personnel to remove the intruder. In case of emergency, Tenants can remove guest rights from a person, and the quest will be issued instantly.
Rocky quickly looked around him and spotted the Bachus jacket of Bart from the A-Team. He was a member of the council and was already in charge of training new hunters, organizing meals, the job categories, construction projects and much more. Right now, most people considered him to be the Territory manager and Rocky appointed him access to assign tenants to buildings. He additionally gave him access to put others in charge, assuming that each building would be best served by someone living there having some sort of access.
Bart’s eyebrows shot up, and he looked to Rocky after reading an invisible screen in front of him. The man looked surprised by the assignment. “I am pretty busy already, Rocky, but I will find someone capable of completing this task before we leave for the attack.” With that, Bart strode off to find someone who would be able to make those decisions for their first building.
Turning to Smith, Rocky raised an eyebrow. Smith seeing his attention, asked, “What, we can’t go inside?”
“Not for an hour. What was your message about?” Rocky returned with a shrug.
“Follow me. I don’t think I can explain it. It’s easier if I show you,” was all Smith cryptically responded.
He led the way over to the north Grotto wall, and there stood some very familiar tentacle-like spectral vines. They were actually in two places. One of which was the sheer face of the Grotto in a large semi-circle. Rocky walked over to a vine-free portion of the wall and placed his hand on the surface. “Maximus, can you hear me?”
“Good afternoon, Champion,” the stone under Rocky’s hand seemed to say to him.
Smiling, Rocky asked, “What are the vines doing exactly?”
The rock seemed to make a throat-clearing sound before Maximus began, “Quite a few things, actually. With my help, they are creating a sewage system that will bring waste from your buildings and outhouses to the north where I can absorb them, clean the water, and then send it back to the river. LFD is also helping build any sewage systems and water systems needed by connecting it to the river. Those vines are deep underground, and you probably can’t see them currently, but you will be able to see two large lavatories and bathhouses being constructed near the river. The vines you
can see beside you are helping build my interior and entrance. They are quite spectacular, and I thank you for the use of them, Champion.”
Smith, Sela, and Rocky stood looking at each other for a moment before Smith spoke, “I think the Dungeons are creating plumbing? But honestly, that seems too good to be true!”
Rocky chuckled, but Sela just stated sadly, “It actually fits to what used to happen in the Shining Citadel. However, at the time, I thought it was cleverly used engineering keeping the city running.” Rocky’s chuckle cut off when he heard the tone of her voice. It was the same melancholic and bitter sound he had heard the last time Sela spoke about her past. The whole situation was strange to Rocky; something had changed in the tone she used when speaking about it. She used to be proud of her old city, her old guild, and her family. Now, she was unsure of them, at least if he was reading her tone and body language correctly.
Without really considering, Rocky walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping to comfort Sela. Then to distract her, he smiled and reminded, “We should have leveled up the Territory, though! Let’s take a look.”
Opening his notifications, he was delighted to see the first message.
Congratulations!
You have reached all the criteria to increase your settlement level. Current level two, Stone Age Settlement.