by Prax Venter
“You know we are with King Jack,” Belda said, then she and Yatts moved to introduce themselves to Lex and Haylee as if they were old friends.
“Yes, yes,” Mayor Roth said, waving a hand. “We’re all still with you. Now, time moves on. Let us take back what’s ours while I’m alive to see it happening, King Jack. Angelshade is ready.”
King Jack held out his hand and initiated the interface.
Kingdom Membership Offered - King Jack of Blackmoor
Capital Town: [Blackmoor Cove]
Connected Towns:
[Emberstone]
[Doveport]
[Pinefall]
[Brittlehorn]
Cancel
“You keep your word,” the other man said, turning his intense eyes to Jack’s. “And we keep ours.”
He touched his side of the interface, and the now-familiar incomprehensible laser from space burst down through the deep azure sky behind the Tower and slid off through the mangroves toward the sinking orange sun behind a purple distant haze.
While everyone who hadn’t seen it before closed their hanging jaws, Jack moved a few steps to Angelshade’s Input Chest tucked against the Fountain. Alt took over from here and deposited just under 28,000 value worth of items at once. The entirety of existence became a white void for a heartbeat and then the remote Town became equal with Brittlehorn at Level 6.
“I didn’t ask,” Alt whispered at the speed of light. “Because I knew the answer would be yes. I discovered I could affect one building given the sheer amount of changes happening, and as a result, Angelshade now has an Apothecary Hut.”
There was a moment where King Jack thought he might have wanted to discuss this with the Mayor, but the kingdom needed this, he wanted it, and maybe it was just for the best if everyone thought a system-crafted alchemy structure sprouted at random.
“It was mostly random,” Alt whispered back. “If it makes you feel better, this Town had a higher chance to spawn the rarer building already. Also, with six Towns in the Kingdom, all Jobs that produce any type of item now receive a 10% chance to spawn extra output with each act of work. Fish at the Wharf, or logs from Lumberjacks, for example. The Proxies held here now apply an efficiency bonus toward pushing back the Corruption to all Towns in the Kingdom.”
The Townsfolk and Heroes of Angelshade began spreading out through their upgraded home to call out changes while others approached and professed their gratitude for performing what they considered several impossible feats.
Mohden the Proxy Practitioner came bounding from his quiet building in the corner of Town giddy over increase in shelf space. Nakker the Innkeeper wept tears of joy over a Kingdom Road now guiding travelers directly to his establishment. And the Mayor’s triplet brother and Captain of the Guard, Hagos, clapped King Jack on the back as he pointed to the new gem-topped Defensive Lightning structures that came with Kingdom membership. After a short word with each, Lex graciously took over greeting everyone and answered questions while Jack stepped to the side to hand out Tower-dropped sets of his salt-making equipment.
After a quick rundown of the simple process, the entire Town moved to the gates to see a new raised deck surrounding the entrance into their home. Instead of merely wooden stairs down to a straight footpath, there was now a wide-open platform that wrapped around a quarter of the Town. A single set of stairs led down to ground level and shooting out westward stretched raised stone walkway that continued for at as far as he could see.
“We’re higher!” exclaimed a Townsfolk woman Jack didn’t know and a few others rushed to the railing to look down. By now the whole Town came spilling out onto their spacious elevated platform.
“Fascinating,” Alt said in his mind. “Angelshade is now four feet higher from the ground after the last Town Level. I’ve also discovered that the stilts below supporting everything are all technically part of the Wall. Someone would have to deplete a lot of structural Hit Points if they wanted to take the whole thing down.”
“There’s sixteen steps now!” a man called out who’d ran down to count.
“Don’t trip now, Mardrid!” another man called out and that drew a few laughs from a group of people who were in the mood to laugh easily.
“It missed every tree,” Asarah said from nearby. “As if the road was intended to be here all along.”
Jack took a few steps past her down the wide walkway complete with smooth stone railings and turned to face those gathered.
“Whoever is coming with on this evening stroll, now is the time to move. For those of you staying here, get making that salt! Trust me, start bringing back buckets of southern sea water, but don’t let anyone from Ivyset know how it’s done. We don’t know what we’ll find along this road, and there may be Corruption still spreading over it. This is all still new to us too. But we welcome you to the Kingdom of Blackmoor, and together, we will build something no one has ever seen.”
“This is our world,” Haylee added.
Lex stepped up next to her. “And now an entire kingdom stands with you against every foe.”
There was a lot of nodding and clapping, but in the end only Asarah and the Mayor’s Archer brother joined them on the hopefully short trip. Cabe stayed behind to help hold the Town with the other competent Heroes.
“We’re just strolling a clip down our new road,” Asarah began as she ran her hand along the railing of the pristine elevated bridge. “Yet it feels as if I’m off on a grand adventure! I was spawned here, and I’ve never been able to leave.”
“We know the feeling,” Lex said, holding a hand out to include Haylee too. “Until we both met Jack, neither of us had ever left Blackmoor Cove.”
“Now look at you!” The copper-haired woman grinned at Lex. “You’re on the whole other side of the world establishing a Kingdom.”
“You sound like you want to leave Angelshade,” Haylee said. “If that is the case, there are many Towns now, and much that needs doing.”
Her escort shook his hooded head. “Young hatchling, you know you’re to be Mayor after your father. We will need to keep control of Angelshade.”
The ancient Hero in leather armor shifted his focus to watch the King and Queen’s reaction.
“Bogoth, correct?” Jack asked, reaching out his hand. “I don’t think we were ever properly introduced.”
The Mayor’s triplet brother nodded and took Jack’s hand.
He was decked out in all Floor 60+ gear and had over five thousand Hit Points with just leather, but his outward appearance was ancient. Bogoth had to be years older than his Townsfolk brother.
The villainous Velintanna probably wouldn’t come from Ivyset and murder everyone she found on the newly spawned road, but he felt better with a powerful ranged Hero backing them up. Jack turned his eyes forward toward the setting sun as he continued.
“I’m sure you know of Brittlehorn’s reputation for chaos and murder. If I didn’t mess with their leadership, you can bet your best bow that I won’t mess with yours. I am happy there are strong, hearty allies on this side of the map that I don’t have to worry about. We have our hands full with war against the Corruption and maybe the Crag, and I would be… annoyed if you didn’t govern yourselves.”
“Ease down, uncle,” Asarah said with chiding glance. “I’m not leaving Angelshade for good. Yet, if I am to guide our stormy swamp into new times, I do want to see what Angelshade is now exposed to. I will reach my hand to friends, I will stamp my foot on the toes of foes, and this new world our rulers speak of will never forget we exist.”
Queen Lex clasped her hands to her chest as she turned to face the Mayor’s daughter with a broad grin.
“I think you and I are going to get along very well indeed.”
Lex and Asarah moved ahead along the suspended bridge as they chatted like long-lost sisters while Haylee and Jack spent the beginning of the trip talking about trapping Velintanna. When he explained Lex’s burst of inspiration in the Tower before they left, his young advisor becom
e wholly fixated on the task, and she pulled out one of her old journals to draw diagrams.
The glowing disk in the sky sank low enough to look at directly, and Jack knew they only had a handful of daylight hours left. With a little foresight, he laid a torch on the stone structure- with the flame hanging out over the edge, of course. He wasn’t about to get burn marks all over his new road.
“Your trap won’t work,” Bogoth said as he peeked over Haylee’s shoulder. “If it’s a cunning killer beast you seek to draw in, you’ll need bait.”
“Legitimate point,” Haylee said as her gray eyes unfocused, and she added notes only she could see in her personal interface. “But then that bait would likely be Jack.”
“I still don’t know what ta’ make of ya’ strangers flashing your creation magic and Exiting any old Tower you wish. I’m… not keen on all this.” The elder Hero gestured to the instant bridge they traversed between the tall mangroves spread out and standing like ivory soldiers casting long shadows at the end of the world. “But you’ve proven yourself over and over, and someone aught’a point out the holes in your monster trap before my new King Jack steps blind-foot against a predator and- ppth.” Bogoth caught his own balled-up fist as he made a splat noise. “No more shiny new Kingdom for anyone. I’d preferred not to see my niece disappointed.”
The ancient leather worker added his years of expertise to their trap as the group passed beyond the mangroves and near the mammoth thorn bushes that he and his wife had fled through only a few nights ago.
Bogoth called it Bracken’s Bramble and claimed the verdant tangle covered the land all the way up to the sea on the other side of this thick peninsula. The pristine stone bridge led them straight along the bramble’s edge as the southern coast curved up to meet them from the other side for a long stretch. To their right stood a wall of plump, closely packed vegetation right up against their highway, and to the left was nothing but cold endless sea, and Jack was never disappointed with the fantasy landscapes this Corruption-scrubbing subroutine threw at him.
“This is it,” Asarah said as she slowed her steps. “This is where I could never go before, and it’s all clean and bare before me.”
She shared a glance with her uncle and protector then faced forward and hastened her stride.
After another half hour, the thorny twists of Bracken’s Bramble grew smaller until the world ahead shifted into gentle rolling hills carpeted with dense grass sprinkled with wildflower patches. The shoreline swooped away southward where cloud-piercing mountains dominated everything almost to the edge of the map. And it was here that the elevated stone road finally began to angle gradually until it continued at ground level.
Breathtaking waterfalls from the ice melt flowed down into streams that either fed into the enormous vegetation behind them or flowed toward the bulging Crag with its infinite Tower now visible to the north. Jack took his wife’s hand as they took in the splendor displayed on this ambitious road.
The path did drift farther north than any of them would have liked, and as they continued, everyone noticed a clusters of people appeared in the road ahead.
Bogoth pointed. “A group approaching with a swiftness.”
“Some are dressed like gardeners,” Lex said, moving into a more protective posture.
“And the rest are Heroes,” Haylee said, flanking his other side.
“Welcome to Blackmoor Kingdom!” Jack shouted as loud as he could and hoped he wouldn’t need to fight any Heroes today.
“Ah! No, no, no!” cried the black-haired leader of this little army as the two groups met. Jack did not break his stride as he swerved around the sputtering Gardener. “Now listen here, the Supreme Mayor has forbidden travel on this new abomination infesting the land.”
Jack stopped and faced one of the plate-wearing Guardian-type Heroes in their group.
“You. Are you prepared to murder the King and Queen for walking down their new road?”
The imposing warrior pulled down his brows with uncertainty then turned to the gaggle of Gardeners for direction.
“We are prepared to do anything to defend our Town,” a Townsfolk holding a trowel said.
Jack shrugged and continued. “Then you should probably get back to Town and mind your flowers.”
Asarah laughed as he passed. “What twisted mind would believe a Gardener could tell a King what to do?”
“Under the authority of the Supreme Mayor, I demand you stop at once!” the lead Gardener squealed as Jack noticed another group coming their direction up the road. These folks all wore similar cloaks of thick black fur, and all wore rugged leather clothing. They didn’t appear to be from Ivyset. Beyond that group, endless scatterings of curious people came down from the mountains or meandered in from the fields, and maybe he could draw this out long enough to collect an audience.
“You want me to stop?” Jack said, feigning confusion. “I thought you wanted me off the road. I’m heading straight to the end of it right now, so if you’ll kindly scamper back to your garden and bury your head in the dirt, us adults can take care business.”
“You are on the road,” Haylee said, calmly pointing at the Gardener’s boots. “I declare that you are currently disobeying the will of your Supreme Mayor and should move away from it immediately before we report your crimes.”
The lead Gardener huffed as he moved into the grass, but he continued marching forward with purpose trying to outpace Jack. He then turned to the contingent of seven Heroes they had brought as the tool for the job at hand.
“Well, why aren’t you removing them?”
“Split my innards,” Bogoth spat as he cast a sour glance over his shoulder at the high-level warriors from Ivyset. “I didn’t know how far the world outside had rotted these many years. Heroes threatening to attack other Heroes just going about their business? You all disgust me.”
“I haven’t attacked anyone,” said a Light Mage from Ivyset. “And I’m not sure what we’re supposed to be doing here.”
“Stopping them!” the black-haired gardener squealed again. “By any means necessary.”
“This is insane,” another Ivyset Hero said from behind him. “I’m not risking a Mark for assaulting a King and Queen. They’re just walking.”
The Guardian Jack spoke to originally started laughing. “This road goes forever, even I know keeping anyone off is asking the impossible. What are we doing here?”
“We’re making new friends,” Jack answered without looking back.
The approaching group of fur-covered people had to be from the nearby snowy slopes, and he figured they were close enough for a shout.
“Greetings from Blackmoor Kingdom!”
“Hail from Tyga!” a man among them yelled back with a smile in his words. Jack liked him already.
They were still about thirty yards apart, yet Jack continued their shouting conversation.
“Sorry we couldn’t make it up to you guys on the slopes yet.”
“You King Jack?” he called back at twenty yards. “You responsible for this road?”
“I am,” he responded then both groups met and stopped. “And this road would not exist without Brittlehorn and Angelshade joining the Kingdom of Blackmoor. There are many people responsible.”
Jack searched their faces for any type of reaction and noticed that every single one of them had pointed ears like Lex.
“He is King, and she is Queen,” a female Hero with a spear said after an inspection.
Jack nodded. “And Haylee here is our Royal Advisor. On this side is Asarah and her uncle. They are representatives from Angelshade. I have a feeling we’re going to be repeating introductions a lot along this road. Can we walk and talk?” Jack held out his hand toward the growing clump of people further up the road.
“I wouldn’t listen to these heathens,” the black-haired Gardener said from the grass just off the white paver road. “They spread lies everywhere they go.”
Asarah stepped in front of the Gardener as she ex
tended her hand to the man from Tyga Slopes.
“Greetings from your neighbors among the standing groves to the east.”
The one who’d been calling out to Jack looked past her at the Gardener and then sighed as if he’d made a decision and clasped her hand.
“Jack, Asarah…” he said with a nod for each then angled his head toward the sunset as he took one step and all three resumed walking side-by-side down the middle of the road.
“I am Varta, Captain of the Guard in Tyga Slopes. Many of us took the Quickening Pass down to inspect this new wonder stamped into the ground from a ray of concentrated starlight. We have heard of Blackmoor Kingdom but did not expect to see any evidence of these distant rulers in our lifetime.”
“I can’t wait to get up there and see your Town,” Jack said, “How would I go about setting up a meeting with your Mayor- in a few days or so. Do I go through you, or…?”
The other man smiled and pointed to the crowd gathered ahead. “The Mayor of Tyga Slopes has come down himself to see this new wonder. Along with the Supreme Mayor from the Crag.”
With purpose in their steps and important rulers meeting in the twilight, Jack and the mixed party of people from various regions continued to gather more curious NPCs that wandered out in droves to inspect the new road. Eventually they came upon at least a hundred people milling in a massive group and among them were Kron, Farrah, and Sevik.
Like two inseparable magnets, Asarah and Sevik reunited immediately.
Lex almost squeezed his arm off when she spotted the vile Orchid Oracle standing on a rise near the north side of the of the road where she whispered to Reedon within a cluster of high-level Heroes and dozens of Gardeners. Grouped on the other side across from them stood about two dozen people decked in black fur cloaks. Jack watched as the Captain of the Guard, Varta, moved to speak with a gentleman with a long mustache surrounded by at least fifteen Guardian-class Heroes covered with impressive plate armor.
The Tyga people looked hearty, but that was about as much Jack knew about them. He hoped the even temperament witnessed from their Captain of the Guard echoed everyone else from that Town up on the slopes.