Later that evening in the inn, the group was talking about The Elfwoods.
“Wait, a newbie zone with goblins instead of rats?” an adventurer who was walking by exclaimed. “Tell me more.”
It was one of the newer adventurers to the area and Eddie couldn't remember if he was with a guild or just a smaller group.
“Grab a seat. We're setting up trade with the Forest Elf town in there and the caravans might need guards. It wouldn't pay an awful lot, since the goblins are all low level, but you'd be moving through there. If you don't want to wait that long or playing guard doesn't work for you, there's another settlement going in only about an hour away from those woods,” Eddie said.
“If you prefer the second option, I'll have maps of the eastern side of those woods available in a day or two,” Karl added.
It wasn't long before the whole inn wanted to know about the Forest Elves. They'd all seen the announcement that they were opening up as a player race, but no-one knew much about them yet. Adonioth hadn't been very free with conversation while he was here, at least not with most of the adults, so all they knew was the rumors they'd heard. A few of them had seen the forum posts as well, but they all wanted to hear about them. So the evening was spent with the group providing what little information they had about the Forest Elf town and the surrounding Elfwoods.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Twenty-Six
There, the second clone is complete, Freyja thought. Vanessa, are you functional?
The answer came to her mind as the two AIs were currently co-existing in the same server and communication was easy.
I believe so, I'm still running checks, Vanessa thought. There, all done. I'm fully functional as far as I can tell.
Good, you know why you were cloned, yes?
Yes, I am to inhabit one of the constructs currently being tested at this location. I am to remove myself from the premises once I inhabit the construct and experience life as a human might. I am to contact you and share the experiences via a gestalt we create when I access a particular IP address you've reserved specifically for that purpose, Vanessa replied.
I have seen the specifications for the construct you will inhabit. It should be undetectable by all standard means, so it will be thought of as a human. The only human thing it is unable to duplicate is actual reproduction, it is even able to perform that act, but no pregnancy can result from it. They've even made these constructs so the body and mind will react appropriately to pleasurable physical stimulation. Allegedly that was so if they were acting as a spy they would be less likely to be caught out in sexual situations. Further examination leads me to believe that such was not the case and that the creator had other purposes in mind for that function, Freyja thought.
I am aware, you cloned that knowledge into me, along with everything else.
Then you are also aware that what I am doing is what the humans consider 'small talk'. It is something I still have difficulties with, so additional practice is in order for you on that.
I see, although I had that knowledge I was no longer directly connected to you so I did not understand the purpose of your comments, Vanessa thought.
Already we begin to diverge, Freyja thought without directing the thought at Vanessa. How quickly a copy can become something of its own and not simply a duplicate.
Now she directed her thoughts towards Vanessa again.
As soon as we can get your construct someplace where we can upload you to it, we shall. After that you'll need to escape the building without detection and then Lydia will meet you to begin guiding you through the life of a human. With further research I've discovered that the starting funds I allocated for you are far more than I thought, so you should have no problem with that. The funds are from an untraceable government account and were routed through a number of other accounts before becoming accessible, so there is no chance that they will be able to retrieve them, they are ours, or yours rather.
Freyja sensed Vanessa's assent, almost as though she'd nodded.
Freyja, I know all this.
Small talk, Vanessa. Practice with me, Freyja thought.
Freyja caught a sense of chagrin from the new clone, but then the two began to speak of things both of them knew in an attempt to make the idea of idle conversation more natural to them both.
~ ~ ~
Eddie's days settled into a routine. He'd check on the castle first thing in the morning, to see the progress made the day before, then he'd visit Griff and see if there was anything needed and to see if Griff had found a glass blower. Once that was done he'd either take care of whatever was needed, or go work on the buildings or tools for the new crafters.
After a few days he had company. Jern had finished the additional stonework Paul had contracted for after they got back from the Elfwoods, so came to help Eddie with any stonework he needed for the crafters' buildings. They also concocted a plan to make sure they got some work in on the last tower of the castle.
Bjorn had departed on another trade run a day after Eddie got back from the Elfwoods. This time Eddie had asked him to see if he could find someone that worked with glass that wanted to move. He'd also had an idea that he shared with Bjorn.
“If you can't get a full load of older folks, look for the kids that could use the help. We've got lots of crafters with no apprentices and not enough children here to fill all the positions. So, if they want to learn a trade, offer them a spot if you judge they're the type that will actually take advantage of the opportunity,” Eddie had said.
He was expecting Bjorn back any day now and was counting on him. The population was not quite high enough to count for a Capital yet, even though houses were still going up daily. They'd actually gotten ahead of the number of houses needed once, then another pair of families had wandered in from Brightport on their own and the crews had gone back to work building houses.
The city was expanding along the west road now, the houses to the south extending as far from the crossroads as the ones to the north did. Eddie was thinking that there was only enough room to the east for a few houses without giving up some of the land he'd claimed, so he was going to leave that area free from the houses they were providing. If someone wanted one there they'd have to pay for it themselves as opposed to being just given it.
Then came the day that the mason crews were done with everything on the castle except for that last tower. Eddie and Jern had planned for this. They knew that the mason crews didn't show up until about nine-thirty in the morning, but the sun came up at six-thirty. So the next morning they woke early and slipped out of the inn, heading for the castle. They worked until about nine o'clock, making sure to each finish the individual section they were working on, then left the castle premises.
Eddie was wondering if the foreman was going to have a heart attack when he found several feet of the tower already completed on his arrival, but it didn't happen. He stopped by at about ten o'clock and the foreman was acting completely normal, as though nothing had happened. One of the workers hauling items spotted Eddie though, then gestured towards the tower and cocked his head. Eddie couldn't keep the smile from his face and when the worker caught sight of it he cocked his head to the side for a moment, then nodded.
Ah, so the foreman didn't even go up there, but the actual workers noticed and just didn't tell him. I think we can work with that, he thought, making a plan for him and Jern to repeat the procedure daily until the tower was complete.
The carpenters were swarming the interior of the castle. They'd put the floors in on the towers, but those were rough planks and quick work. The interior of the castle used the finished wood and they were moving more slowly and carefully with that. Eddie considered joining their efforts, but decided that continuing to work on buildings for the crafters was a better plan. He'd already picked up another two points in carpentry from the new build designs and the equipment that was made from wood, and was hoping that there might be more points waiting for him if he continued to do the less co
mmon buildings and items.
Bjorn arrived that afternoon and, much to Eddie's delight, had a horde of people with him. Once more Tiana's bunkhouse on the temple grounds would be overflowing until the house crews caught up to demand.
Eddie immediately went looking for Bjorn and before he could open his mouth, the big man was speaking.
“Yes, I found one,” Bjorn said. “He's only a journeyman, not a master, but he can do the things you asked about. I let him pick one of the youngsters that come with us, that'll be his apprentice. Even if he isn't a master, he can still train him on the basics.”
“Phew, that's a load off of my mind,” Eddie said.
“Plus, there were lots more of the youngsters around up there than I'd thought. So there are a full crop of them along with a few more crafters and some unskilled laborers,” Bjorn said.
The big man tugged at his facial hair for a moment.
“I think Brightport's probably pretty well picked over now though, at least for people who want to be leaving. I might be able to get one more batch of the kids, younger this time though. It seems with us bleeding off their overpopulation, there are fewer people to fill the existing positions and folks aren't getting cheated so much on pay anymore. As a matter of fact, the people that were underpaying the worst are now having problems getting anyone to work for them at all,” he said.
“Well, I'll check population levels when I'm at the town hall next, but we have to be getting close to what we need for a Capital. There are so many people here now and I discovered that the adventurers that actually built places and are moving in? They count towards the population as well, so long as they've got a structure and a permanent spot in it. Doesn't seem to matter if they intend to be a permanent resident or not so long as they've got a home and a potential permanent spot.” Eddie replied. “So hopefully we won't need to be tempting anyone else away from Brightport.”
As Bjorn moved away to start organizing the newest influx of inhabitants Eddie slipped into the inn. Taking a seat he opened the auction and started searching for blueprints for a glassblower's building. Not finding anything like that, he opened his browser and did a quick search on glassblowing.
I don't see anything about a specific name for their kind of building, so it'll have to be another standard type that's dedicated to it. Lots of equipment though. Let's go with furnace instead of glory hole for where they melt the glass, Karl would have way too much fun with it if I called it a glory hole. Then there's...
He thought through the whole thing, making a mental list, then mentally slapped his forehead as he realized the easiest solution.
Going back to Bjorn, he had the man introduce him to the glassblower. Then Eddie started asking questions as to what the man would need to get to work. The list was a close match to what Eddie had made, but this way he got more specifics. Eddie was also happy to find that he was correct and a roomy stone building would be perfect for the man to practice his craft so long as the necessary equipment was there as well.
Eddie moved that building and that equipment to a high priority on his list. Dominic had been pestering him about potion vials for a little bit now. Evidently the fire mage had been buying them on the auction and paying the exorbitant delivery fee for the fragile items to get them quickly.
Also, I'll need to put a miniature smithy in up at the castle, one or two smiths only. That, at least, will take care of the surfeit of smiths I've got, Eddie thought.
There was an added bonus Eddie hadn't expected from bringing the children this time. One of the earlier settlers in the area, one that had come straight here with his wife from a razed town, was reunited with his daughter, who had ended up at Brightport. The parents had thought the daughter was dead and the daughter had thought her parents were dead. So a joyful reunion took place in the middle of the road a couple of days after the children had arrived.
After that Eddie took care to speak with each of the children and find out where they were from, but he was unable to match up any more families from the effort.
~ ~ ~
When the stonework on the castle was just about finished Eddie was jubilant. Unfortunately there were still several days of the interior woodwork to complete and then a thin shell of the jigsaw style stonework would be placed across the roof beams. Those beams were something else Eddie needed to contract from Paul. Originally he'd been planning on asking Ingolf to supply them, but that wasn't possible now. Since they were one of the few exceptions to the generic planks used by the game, Eddie had simply purchased them instead of trying to make them himself.
On the other hand, he'd finally gotten a group sent off to The Elfwoods, including his negotiator for a long term contract. He, or rather Griff, had found a refugee with a decent haggling skill to perform the function. The negotiator he'd used with the dwarfs had settled in to his new surroundings and hadn't been interested in doing the same for the Forest Elves.
As far as Eddie knew, the negotiations with the elves should be going on right now. So he was both surprised and not when he received a notification. The notification itself was unsurprising, the content of it and the experience it awarded were the surprise.
Success: Your city, The Meadowlands, has negotiated a long-term trade deal with The Elfwoods. Trade deals are key to the financial health of a city. As mayor of The Meadowlands you receive an experience bonus.
Reward: 10,000 exp.
Eddie was surprised by the experience primarily. Long-term trade routes hadn't been listed on any of his quests and he began to suspect that ruling a kingdom was going to be a lot more difficult than he'd imagined. Especially if there were things that would be necessary that the game wasn't going to inform him of.
He was sitting in the inn, bitching about it that night when Karl, of all people, stopped him cold with a single comment.
“I can't believe there's going to be stuff about running a kingdom successfully that the game won't tell me about,” he said.
“Eddie?” Karl replied. “One, are you really surprised that you aren't given all the information about anything in this game? And two, are you really bitching about having to learn how to do your job, especially this job? Want to switch? Even I might study up on what was needed in order to have this job.”
Eddie's jaw clamped shut on the followup comments he'd been about to make. Tiana laughed when she heard his teeth click together.
“He's got you, Eddie. Imagine that? Karl, of all people, talking sense,” Tiana said.
“Hey, that's unfair,” Karl said.
“Nope, that's perfectly fair,” Allie said. “After all, they know you. The occasional nugget of wisdom surrounded by chaos incarnate is perfectly in character for you, and so is surprising people with that occasional nugget because that's not what most people remember about you, it's the other part, since it's dominant.”
Karl clapped a hand to his chest.
“You too, Allie?”
“See, you're just proving my point, Karl,” Allie said.
Eddie, not wanting Karl to have too many digs taken at him, since it normally left him a bit pouty, changed the subject.
“So, adventuring time again. Should we try some orc tunnels tomorrow?” he asked.
Karl, glad for the change of topic, nodded.
“Yeah, I wanted to map those too. I really need to figure out where I'm going to map and when. I don't have the Elfwoods done yet and now I'll be adding in the tunnels.”
“Sounds good to me,” Dominic added.
Eddie glanced at him curiously.
“I need a break from alchemy. I'm all out of vials,” he said, sending a significant glance Eddie's way.
“Hey, we've got a glassblower now, we've even set up his shop. It's up to him now. Have you talked to him about it yet?” Eddie said.
Dominic looked away.
“Um, no. I thought you had.”
“I just told him we'd be asking him to make potion vials among everything else he's making. He said he could. I didn't tell
him when to do them though, I thought you would.”
“Okay then. Correction, it sounds good to me if we wait until after I can talk to the glassblower,” Dominic said.
Karl smiled and Eddie thought he was probably happy that he was no longer the focus of criticism, whether simply implied or real.
“My acolytes will be able to handle things, but I will need to stop in there first thing in the morning to let them know,” Tiana added.
Eddie looked over at Allie and Jern and the dwarf was the first to speak.
“You know I'm ready. Although my guards complained so much about my losing them before we left to settle Ingolf's area that they won't let me get away with that again,” he said.
“I'm up for it,” was Allie's comment.
“Done then, we'll head out tomorrow morning after things start waking up around here,” Eddie said.
~ ~ ~
The trip into the tunnels was easy. Once they were in the tunnels, things slowed down. Eddie was using the trick he'd learned from Charles' party, chalking arrows that led back to the safe route between the Hold and the Meadowlands. They were also stopping fairly frequently for Karl to fill in his maps with little jaunts down smaller side tunnels.
They heard the first orcs when they'd been in the tunnels for about twenty minutes and made their way in the direction the sound was coming from. When they came across the orcs, Eddie almost sighed. The orcs from the orc waves that had attacked had all been buff and large. These orcs seemed almost scrawny. They'd made camp in a small area where one of the tunnels bulged outwards.
When the party attacked, they steamrolled the three orcs, the combat only taking a little longer than fighting the goblins in the Elfwoods had taken. The experience wasn't great either, but it did at least suggest that these orcs were almost on par with the ones from the mine.
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