by Sean Oswald
Current bonuses
Personal: +25% to all stats, +50% to all regeneration rates while within the Murkwood zone.
Barony: The barony is currently designated in the Fledgling status. To facilitate growth, so long as morale remains average or better all faithful citizens of the barony have their productivity and fertility increased by 10%. Building can be constructed 10% faster. Crops and livestock grow 10% faster.
In Eloria life is conflict. You have just entered a new stage of conflict. Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
Emily kept rereading the notification for the next few moments even as Mira came running up to her. “Mom, did you just get some notification about being nobility now?”
She looked at her daughter with a confused smile, but before she could answer another notification came through, but this one in flashing red.
Zone wide notification: this notification will be seen in all zones comprising the kingdom of Albia as well as in the central zone of the Chenhou Forest
David Nelson has been named Baron of the Murkwood by Harold Borstein, King of Albia. This barony is to be a royal barony and the new baron will answer directly to King Borstein. Baron Murkwood has also been named the official ambassador of the Albian nation to the Moon Elves. The lands to be held by Baron Murkwood are extended to include three miles south of the Sienna River for the entire length of the Murkwood.
Eloria has accommodated this political change and shifted that land into the reshaped zone of Murkwood.
The flurry of activity around town only stepped up to a frenzy after that second notification. Everyone stopped doing what they were doing and seemed to want a piece of her. Some to ask questions, some to scrape and bow even more than they had been when she was just the Daughter of Redemption. Others such as Duke Holstein’s men looked at her differently with hostility, but none of them were certain enough of themselves to say anything to her. Lord Itsu on the other hand seemed incensed that the humans had officially claimed the Murkwood as part of Albia. All Emily could think was, “Gah, what has that man gotten me into?”
It wasn’t until midmorning the third day that Mira again came running up to her, this time with a warning. “Some kind of powerful magic was just used about half a mile south of town. I don’t know what it was exactly, but it has the flavor of conjuration magic.”
Emily was stuck between responding to the seriousness of Mira’s warning and laughing at her daughter’s choice of words. It may have been the stress of the past day, but she went with the laughing. “What do you mean flavor? Magic has a flavor?”
Mira gave that look every parent of a teenager learns which means ‘Are you stupid or something?’ but her excitement about magic took over, “Yes, I don’t quite know what else to call it. It’s like since my class I can automatically detect magic around me. I think the more powerful it is the further away I can detect it. And the more I use or am exposed to a type of magic, the better I can sorta taste its distinctiveness.”
Responding with her typical mother look of ‘Don’t take that tone with me’ Emily said, “So what does conjuration magic taste like?”
“Laugh all you want, but after all the horses I conjured yesterday to help with hauling, I have a really good sense for what conjuration magic tastes like.”
“Well don’t keep me waiting?”
“You are missing the point mom, but if you must know, it tastes like fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.”
“Are you sure you aren’t just enjoying the snacks in the tabernacle too much?”
“Mom if you aren’t gonna take this seriously then I won’t bother telling you that there are six people travelling on horseback from the site of that magic and they should be in sight any second.”
That statement brought Emily back into focus. Six people. That likely meant Dave was returning. Or at least she hoped that’s what it meant. Without waiting any longer, she took off running towards the south, Mira following behind her. Their church bodyguards took off running after the two women.
After clearing the last house on the southern side of the village, Emily saw them. Dave and Jackson were riding side by side in front. Behind them were Duke Holstein, Max, and two men in robes which she didn’t recognize. None of the others mattered though. Her son and husband were back, and that was all she cared about. She angled towards the horse carrying Jackson till they met, and he hopped off the horse only to be engulfed in her embrace.
Dave also hopped down and seeing that he was going to be second best in Emily’s eyes he started talking to Mira. “How have things been while we were gone?”
“To be honest, dad, it's been very tense, but don’t you think you should tell us how you became a baron?” Mira smiled as she spoke but made sure to stay out of hug reach. Mira was too big for hugs from her father except under very specific circumstances, and her increased Intelligence only made her less desirous of such contact.
Hearing their exchange, Emily broke off from asking Jackson about his time in Konig and looked over at Dave. How she loved that man and missed his support when he was gone, but right now she was angrier about how they had ended up drawn into Albian politics. She had no use for nobility and would have sworn that Dave didn’t either. Yet here he was turning her into a baroness. “Yes, I’d like to hear about that.”
“I will tell you both all about it, but how about a hug now?” Dave stepped closer to Emily trying to pull her in.
She sighed as he hugged her. A part of her wanted to be mad at him and a part was just glad to have her partner back with her as she rested her head on his shoulder. Emily hadn’t planned on this happening, but once again she found hot tears running down her face. It happened so suddenly that she didn’t even realize it till she tasted the saltiness upon her lips.
The sorrow over Sara’s loss never disappeared. The past couple of days she had shoved it down a little deeper so she could manage to hold things together while Dave was gone. His return signaled her subconscious that it was okay to release those emotions. This time they didn’t roar back with fiery anger, rather they seeped slowly through the cracks in the facade she put up. If there was anyone that she could be real with it was her husband. She loved that he didn’t try to tell her it would all be okay or try to talk her down. Later she would want assurances, but for this brief stolen moment alone, despite being surrounded by an ever growing crowd, she just wanted to be. She was sad, and he was the only one who could feel the loss in the same way she did.
Then an annoying caustic voice broke the spell of the moment, “Ambassador Nelson, there are issues which we need to discuss.” Emily recognized Lord Itsu’s voice and had expected this, only wished it could have waited. What surprised her was Dave’s reaction.
In an instant, he gently released his hug and stepped away from her. All of his ire was directed at Itsu. He closed the distance between the two men in three quick steps, faster than anyone else could react. And while he didn’t put his hands upon the slender elven noble, there was a palpable aura of violence around Dave. Over the years of their marriage, Emily had heard from time to time that Dave was intimidating, scary even. It might be one of the kid’s friends or even on occasion one of hers. They said he had a level of intensity about him.
It was one of those things that she loved about him. Dave could be intense, whether as a lawyer using words to tear down an opposing position or physically, in martial arts. He could be single minded, pig-headed, and deeply opinionated while attacking any viewpoint different from his. With her and the kids, most of the time he was just a big teddy bear, and so over the years, it had always amused her to hear people call him intimidating.
Now in this situation, with the incessantly complaining Lord Itsu, she was never prouder to see that intensity come out. Dave’s face was mere inches away from the elf’s. Emily saw the bulge in Itsu’s eyes and saw as if in slow motion all of the various figures moving around them. The elven guards stepping up to protect their Lord, the church soldiers preparing to int
ervene, and the townsfolk who had started to arrive, pulling back from the feared violence.
“You are a guest on my land, and you would do well to remember that. I am busy comforting my wife. From what I have been told, children are all too rare in elven families, and I would think that your customs would help you to understand the value of what we have lost.” To Emily’s eyes, Dave was practically trembling with anger.
Lord Itsu sputtered, trying to regain control of the situation even as he stepped back to allow his guards to slide between him and the newly minted human noble. “I will not be put off by a familial reunion...”
Whatever else the elf was going to say went unheard as Dave ignored him turning towards Max, “Captain Smart please see to it that the elves are returned to whatever accommodations they are using. If you need more troops to enforce this, then I am certain that Jaselm will be happy to lend you a hand, but for now, our guests are not to leave their area.”
Max fell into the role as he read the scene. “Yes, Lord Nelson.” Then made a hand gesture and the members of his squad who had come to see his return as well as the older of the two robed humans she didn’t recognize stepped up. Emily never got to see what happened between the elves and humans there though for once again Dave put an arm around her and began to walk.
“Mira, Jackson, come with your mother and I. We have some matters to discuss.”
Emily allowed herself to be swept along and began to walk quietly beside Dave all the while giggling inside at the embarrassment handed to Lord Itsu. It certainly wouldn’t have been how she would have handled things, but it was surprisingly hot to see her husband handle it like that.
Once they reached the tabernacle, they all collapsed on the familiar style furniture and smiled. Jackson laughed out loud as the rest of them sighed. “Did you see the look on his face? I thought he was going to crap himself.”
Mira took on the role of older sister, “Very mature.”
Hands held up, Jackson shrugged and replied, “Whatever like you’re so old. Besides you know it’s true.”
Dave chuckled out loud again. “Who would have thought that I could miss seeing my kids bicker. Well anyway, the truth is that I was probably too rough with him, but if he was that way to me within five minutes of my return, I’m guessing that he gave your mother a hard time while I was gone.”
“You can only imagine, but it was almost worth it to see the expression on his face.” Emily said. “But now don’t you have some explaining to do?”
With that question, the sense of family levity disappeared and Dave started to explain. “Well I have good news in the short term, good news in the long term, and some other news that isn’t going to make you happy, honey.”
Before Emily could say anything, Dave launched into a thorough recounting of his and Jackson’s time in Konig. Jackson occasionally interrupting to add his only perspective on different things that had happened. Dave explained how he really had no choice but to accept the position of baron, that it was the only way to get the aid that they would need to find Sara and that if things went well, it would establish a home for them here, a place with real security.
He predicted and cut off Emily’s arguments about the inherent evil of nobility with the twin arguments that on one hand it wasn’t necessarily a bad system just applied incorrectly. If there was one thing that Dave knew how to do it was argue, Emily would give him that. He argued that in its proper relationship nobles were the servants of the people they protected. On the other hand, he said that even if the system was a bad system which kept some people down while allowing a privileged few to benefit from their labors that the best place to affect change was from the inside.
Dave talked about the wagon trains of building supplies, settlers and whatnot that should be reaching Eris’ Rise in the next few weeks. He told her about the aid coming not only from the church of Shanelle but also the other churches even as he expressed the political realities of the tension between the different churches.
When Emily was drawn up into the excitement of creating a new place for these people, a new life for her family, he dropped the big bomb. “So there was one requirement which the king said was non-negotiable. He feels it is necessary to tie our family to the kingdom and for us to be treated as other nobles.”
Emily instantly knew from twenty years of marriage that she was not gonna like what was going to follow. Dave’s tone and the way his words had become halting and defensive was all that she needed to cue her in. “And what exactly is that?”
Dave’s hesitation to answer was all the opening that Jackson needed. “I get to go to a special academy in Konig for the children of nobles. They will help me level up and teach me all kinds of cool skills. I will probably even get a class there.”
Emily looked from the unabashed excitement on her son’s face to the trepidation on her husband’s face. “You agreed to allow our son to be taken from us? Are you crazy? That is not going to happen.” Her words were tumbling out of her mouth faster and faster as her anger rose to a crescendo.
But Dave had planned this discussion well, “It was the only way.”
Emily was standing now, her finger pressed into Dave’s chest, the chest that just minutes ago she was cuddled up against. “The only way to what?”
“The only way to get the help we need to find Sara.”
“What so you traded one child for another.”
“Be fair, honey, that isn’t what this is. Jackson is going to go to a boarding school of sorts. You will get to visit him, and he will get to visit home, and we can even arrange for personal guards for him. But the royal mage has magic to find Sara. He was able to determine that she was still alive this morning to get a rough estimation of where we needed to look. He came with us to cast another spell so that I can go and get her.”
Emily just looked at Dave. She now felt cold inside. She hated this deal. Hated that her son was being taken away. A part of her mind knew that she was being irrational about that, but curse it all, that was how she felt. It didn’t matter though, she knew that Dave had had to take whatever help he could find, and Jackson seemed so thrilled about the prospect. Maybe it really would be okay. “So when is the royal mage going to tell us where Sara is, and how long does Jackson have to stay at this academy?
“Well… as I understand it Gunidar, that’s the mage’s name, can send a small party to the general vicinity of where she is…”
“I’m going with you this time,” Emily blurted out.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way, honey. We should be there together when we find her. As far as how long Jackson has to go to the academy for, it’s from age eleven to age fifteen usually, but not sure since he is already closer to fourteen than thirteen. And before you argue, it is not an entirely bad thing. He will learn a lot that will help him not only to survive but to thrive in this world.”
Emily gave Dave a look like she wasn’t having any of it, but he just plodded on, “Besides, we can buy a home in Konig, and you can live there part of the year. Once we get it stable enough here, I may even be able to live there part of the year. Apparently, almost all of the lesser nobles, what we barons are, live most of the year in the capital. Only the three dukes and the border barons in the west tend to live on their own land. But to be honest, I don’t really like the idea of being that kind of nobleman. I see this as the chance to make Murkwood a land of opportunity. Maybe given enough time even the birthplace of democracy in this world.”
Hearing those words had the desired effect upon Emily. She of course would want to find a way to change Albia from a feudal system.
“Hey you’re not the only one who cares about the people here. I want to see Eris’ Rise thrive. I have come to know many of the villagers, and you know me and third world communities.”
“Maybe if we stay here, we can teach these people about baseball and fun. Maybe even come up with a way to make the tv in here work out there.” Jackson chimed in only to be followed by Mira’s snarky,
“And maybe we could get some real channels.”
For the next few minutes, the family chatted about their respective experiences over the last few days. Although both parents allowed the kids to share from their perspectives what had happened. It was a quiet island in the tumultuous events of the past few days. Of course, it couldn’t last for long. The front door opened as Jaselm followed by Max came inside. It was the latter’s first time inside of the tabernacle, and he was understandably shocked but not for the reasons that the paladin thought. Seeing Max standing there dumbfounded and staring around he said, “See, did I not tell you that this tabernacle was filled with the wonders of Shanelle. If you think this ‘sofa’ is amazing you should see the talking box on the wall. And perhaps the greatest wonder of all is something called Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Every container is different, and yet each one is fit food for a Goddess.”
Max almost lost it at that, “I don’t know who Ben or Jerry, are but you have ice cream?”
Dave replied, “Yes my friend, and it’s more amazing that anything even YOU have had before. As soon as Emily and I return from getting Sara, we will have you over for dinner and you can try some.”
The remembrance of a world lost weighed upon Max, but he broke out of it as a grim expression crossed his face, “About that, there may be a problem.”
Both Dave and Emily jumped up, but Dave spoke first, “Is Gunidar reneging on his word?”
All four Nelsons stared at Max as he said, “No, nothing like that. It’s just that there is a problem with the Moon Elves, and I’m not sure if it will be possible for Emily to go with you.”
“No Daughter of Redemption needs to submit to their heathen customs,” intoned Jaselm as if reading from a prescribed text.
Max snapped back at him, “Oh don’t be naïve. You aren’t some wet behind the ears acolyte with more faith than wisdom. You know full well that we can’t intentionally make enemies of the Moon Elves. What sort of goddess of redemption would want to cause a continent spanning war with thousands or tens of thousands of deaths when it could be so easily avoided?”