After common requests from her ever-expanding staff, she retrofitted one of the as-of-yet unused rooms into a pub, which a crew of geomancers had already built a brewery under/into on the new pub manager’s budget. They hadn’t yet started their first brew, as equipment was still being brought over by portal, the larger pieces being made in the smithy.
Leana currently sat in the brewpub surrounded by men and women of Northman, Nojernan, Milaric, and even Atrok and Sheduvian origin. An old friend of hers was chatting with her, a travelling birdman bard from Antra.
“Wait. You didn’t tell me there was a dungeon here.”
“I didn’t? Oh, what a dungeon. I can’t speak to why this dungeon was kept, probably mostly as a crypt, but it was complete with cells, an armory, barracks, everything anyone could need. I swear, this was built either in the era of or the theme of the classic ‘Adventurers versus the evil Dungeon Master’ motif. There were traps, there were some fairly expensive pieces of ‘treasure,’ everything.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“I am absolutely not, Noxy.”
“I gotta see this.”
“Ah, but you can’t. It’s being remolded as we speak into living quarters.”
“What?” Lea couldn’t help but laugh, as not only was the beer loosening her up a bit, but Noxy’s exclamations always sounded ever so slightly like a squawking crow. “You can’t be serious. You’re remolding a classic dungeon like that?”
“How would I put it to use, run tours of the damned thing? No. I need the room to house my new crew! I’m growing every dess.”
“So wait, you were going somewhere with that dungeon story.”
“Ah, I was! So, the wizard, Elon, you’ve probably seen him around. Broody-lookin’ fellow in a blue cloak, usually with the green-haired and eyed Nojernan lady.”
She stared blankly. “The guy that messaged you in Antra! Brought you here.”
“Oh! Him. Right.”
“Yeah, he finds the dungeon entrance entirely by accident as he’s wandering the keep, and none of us had noticed it. We’ve spent a quarter here, and we’re fixing the place up and we hadn’t even noticed the damned basement.
“So we set up a party, right? Me, the wizard and his druid girl, we all head down into the dungeons and it’s spotless, right? Spotless. The walls look cleanly carved, the cells, all doorless, by the way, which are nice and clean, except we keep finding these stray coins littering the place. Like, gold, plat, you know?”
“Aw. You gotta be kidding me.”
“I’m not! You see where this is going.”
“A cube?”
“A genuine gelatinous goddamned cube.”
“Okay no. You’re messing with me.”
“I’m not! We can go down there and find a hallway left unchanged, and you’ll find the remnants of its slime left over.”
“A full classic dungeon complete with a gelatinous cube?”
“Stereotypical as it gets, but I guess that’s where he was keeping all his prized possessions kept guarded, and what he did with all the bodies.”
“The cult leader gal.”
“The demon priest, yeah.”
“Yeah, hey, speaking of. I heard about—”
“Don’t worry about it, Noxy.”
“No, I just want to offer my—”
“Don’t...”
A short glare was shot from Lea to the feathered woman with such fire that spontaneous combustion might not have been out of the question between the faces of the two. It lasted all of a split second, her face calming quickly. A short awkward pause later, the birdman broke it.
“All right. Sorry.”
“But we cleared the damn thing out of the dungeon, scoured the place, and found his armory all laden with swords, armor, and a chest full of damn gold. He had an enchanted cutlass down there, lights up in fire, but freezes whatever it cuts.”
“How odd.”
“Yeah, I dunno. All I know is I’ll have a castle with some new living facilities shortly, and a staff that’s growing every dess.”
“I’ve noticed that. Now Lea, why do you need so many people?”
“Let’s see. I came here to research, so research assistants, scouts to investigate the island, guards for both beasts and intruders, and with those in mind, I now need cooks, janitors, masons, enchanters for upkeep, lab assistants and topical experts, farmers, bartenders and brewers for morale—”
“Consider your point made, Lea.” The old bird laughed heartily and drank from her glass.
“Oh, and you. Need someone to entertain everyone else.”
“And that I do, with those fancy stones of yours. I still love those.”
“Oh, did I tell you? I found a way to basically set them up instead of simple sonic recording, I can tie them to a form of speaking stone, so I can speak into a rune and have any number of tied runes emit the sound.”
“Hot damn, Lea.”
“Yeah! I sold a crap ton of them to a bard organization in Terathor and another in Kandra. It’s how I’m paying these guys for the moment. Apparently they’re both using them to basically shoot the voice of bards all over the city and into the setups of people at home. They have some kind of schedule set up so every night at a given time, people can gather around their little soundstone setup and hear the latest news that the local bard’s organization has heard.”
“What’s the range on them?”
“Given a setup in the center of town it reaches a few kilometers outside of the Kandra city limits. I can explain the whole setup to you later.”
“Dang.”
“The good news on that front, however, is I’ve found a way to bump up a basic message spell with the help of my premier consultant Elon. We’ve found a way to push a message on to anyone anywhere. It took a ritual of me, Elon, Liz, and Amber all together, all straining harder than nearly any spell before, but we got a message sent to Aramoor from here.”
“Gods almighty, you have got to be kidding me.”
“Fuckin’ A. How do you think my man reached you in Antra?”
“Point.”
“It’s ridiculous. If I can find a way to simplify this spell and chuck it into some stones, tie the two together or something—”
“Good gods. Simple communication between every city in the world.”
“And just think. If I can boost the broad signal stones—”
“Have every city set up with a news center, gather current events instantaneously—”
“Get it into public hands in less than a cent of it actually happening—”
“Lea, this could change everything.”
“Noxy, everything I’m currently doing could change everything. I am single-handedly bringing about a world revolution. By the time I’m done, I could be queen of the goddamn world.”
“You’d make a shit queen, Lea.”
“Oh, I know I would, but you see my point.”
“You’ll be a metaphorical queen of the world when you’re done here.”
“Damn straight. I’ll drink to that.”
Everything was finally coming together. The glowing white runes shone above her, lighting the corridors as she wandered towards her office. Lately, if Lea was to be found anywhere, it was in her bio lab, her alchemy lab, or her office, although recently she’d retrofitted the former church room into a library, which was expanding by the dess. Before long, she’d need a librarian, something she already had a call out on.
The hallways were now also regularly marked with maps showing where they were currently planted and where the other important areas sat, allowing easy traversal of the labyrinthine castle. Upon reaching the office, she found seven letters on the ground thrown through the mail slot. She picked them up and planted her
self in her chair. Her chair. She’d brought this all the way from Voorhaven, since it was engineered to suit her, despite her newfound normal posture. It held both comfort and nostalgia.
As she parsed through the letters, Amber bounded onto the desk to read over her shoulder. She was learning her language, though their communication was still stuck at empathic. Given time, however, Amber could understand her speech. It would take work for Lea to understand her, however. As she petted her smoothly, she pulled out the letters and began to read.
“Let’s see... The geomodification of the dungeons is going smoothly, ma’am. Denizens should be able to file in in the next dess or two while we finish expanding the rest. No sign of any more cubes. Well that’s good.” She tossed the letter aside.
“Ma’am, with the ever expanding staff of the castle, we need more kitchen space and soon more cooks.”
Toss.
“Can do. Miss Incubore, we still haven’t been given direction or orders on what to do with your siste—”
Toss.
“Ma’am, the scouts have returned showing, for the fourth, no sign of any other encampments. They’re beginning to worry about potential paranoia. I’m not paranoid, I just didn’t see this place when I got here; I don’t wanna be caught off guard.”
Toss.
“Lea, snagged us a librarian. Also, an archaeologist. Also, someone well-versed in the history, evolution, and structure/anatomy of nearly all sentients on the planet. Oh, and they’re all the same person. She also has some skills you might find... interesting. Tell me when I should set up a meeting. Elon. Good boy. Quick boy.” She gently tucked this one under a paperweight, then moved on.
“Lady Incubore, oh jeez. They’re calling me a Lady now. We’ve found no reports of any Construct of Sheduvian origin going by the name of Chief. Contacts are regularly searching him out.” She sighed and tossed it, too, aside.
“Lea. The garden’s going well, but I have a few concerns. I will be meeting with you in your office at 9:75. Well what time is it now?” She looked to the candle on the side of her desk, burning down the cents. It sat cleanly at 9:75. “Well crap.”
Her door swung open to reveal a flowy green dress with vibrant green hair, piercing jade eyes, and shining viridescent lips bound together by a woman-shaped void. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind she’s a druid, that’s for sure.
“Lea. I trust you got my message?”
“Not even seconds ago.”
“What timing! So here’s the deal. I know you’ve got us growing some wheat, some corn, pumpkins, et cetera, but you’ve gotta know there’s not enough room.”
“Naturally. I’ll be expanding your farms soon.”
A single exhalation exited her mouth, passing for a laugh. “Expanding... where, exactly?”
“Out from our currently location. My scouts have been mapping the area quite well. I have cartographers on the ground, Sheduvians in the sky, and I think one of my diplomats just snagged us a zeppelin to use for mapping and transport.”
“Wait wait wait. Okay. Firstly, what do you mean ‘out?’ There’s kind of trees everywhere, and unless I haven’t heard, there’s really no other clearings.”
“I’m planning to—”
“Secondly, I thought you had scouts to look for other life, civilized or otherwise. And thirdly, where the hell are we going to keep a zeppelin?”
“Okay, firstly, I’d like to point out that I’m your boss. I’m also your friend, but you’re visiting me in the capacity of an employee. Tell me, in any other job, would you have asked those questions like that to your boss, let alone cut her off?”
Liz stared with a furrowed brow, lips pursed to the side. “No.”
“So what do you say?”
“Are you kidding me, Lea?” She stared at her expectantly, and she sighed. “Sorry, boss.”
“Thank you. Now to answer your first question, I’m hiring a team of lumberjacks to clear some of the area around here so we can fit more. Second, I’m mapping the uncharted area both for security, for curiosity, and to do something no one else has bothered to do. I wanna know what’s around here. Third, we have multiple towering turrets on this castle, we use one of them for docking.”
She stared at her dumbfounded. “You’re just... gonna ‘clear some space?’ Just chop down a forest for no good reason?”
“Structures, fuel, and a source of economy are very good reasons, not to mention making room for expanded crops, a real potential development so my people aren’t living in a retrofitted dungeon—”
“Your people?” The words came out slightly fiercer than Lea expected.
“My workers! I run this place, remember. I pay all of them, so yeah.”
“Sure. I think your head’s getting a wee bit too big for this place, Lea. You need to watch yourself.”
“You sure you don’t need to watch yourself, threatening your employer and current houser like that?”
“First, I didn’t threaten you, I implied ego. Second, you just threatened me.”
“I believe it’s my prerogative.”
Again, she was left staring at her, appalled at her words. “It— It’s your prerogative to threaten your employees? Your friends?”
“Well... No, that’s not what I—”
“Well it’s sure what you said.”
“Look, I’m sorry, I—”
“No. I’m done.”
She shoved her hand in front of her as Liz turned around and a bolt of air slammed her door shut, leaving Liz to turn to face her palm, now fading from a pale grey light. “Hold. On.”
Liz swallowed hard as she took a careful seat. “What do you want, Lea?”
She sighed deeply. “I’m sorry. I want cooperation. I’m trying to do a lot of things here, and I’m trying to do them right. I was planning on doing this with a partner, four of them, actually. One... One died, and one is missing, possibly dead for all I know. The weight’s kind of on my shoulders, and I’m doing the best I can. I’m drowning in stress here, Liz. What am I doing wrong?”
“You’re putting your hand in too many jars, Lea.” She breathed deep, leaned across the desk, and put her hands on one of Lea’s resting on the desk. “You’re doing too many things. You need to appoint people to do things for you, or just consider not doing things.”
She smiled and pulled back her hand. “Look, Liz. I set up a base of operations here that’s growing every dess. I expected to have a lab with a few people, and I now have a damn town. I’m not just doing my experiments here; I’m running a damn village.”
“Maybe you should consider getting a mayor, then.”
She blinked at her a few times. “The thought never even crossed my mind. You have a point. Just have someone handle all the townie things, and have them report to me. Brilliant.
“Good. Now wait, I’m not done.”
“You take umbrage with me clearing the trees of the island.”
“I do. I think it’s unnecessary, and as a plastidraed, I take offense to the careless slaughter of a native forest.”
“Look, Liz. I know how you think; I know how you feel. But unfortunately, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the trees. The potential fuel, resource-development, and economy in those trees are far too great to pass up. Also, with this many people, we need space to farm. We need wheat fields, cornfields, pastures for meaty creatures to feed folks like you, barley fields for the pub here. I have people to feed. I can’t do that with all these trees.”
“Do you expect me to help?”
“No. I simply ask that you do, and hope that someone of your skill and caliber will be willing.”
She breathed in deep, studied her knees for a minute, and said, “No. I can’t participate in the destruction of a forest. I will help you make farms, for the betterment
of the people here, but I won’t help in the farming itself, at least not in the harvesting. I accept the lifestyles of others, and I accept the needs of certain people, but I won’t help what I don’t have to. However, I won’t stop you.”
“And I not only respect that opinion, but thank you for both helping where you will and not barring the progress otherwise. It does mean a lot.”
She sighed and shook her head. “No it doesn’t.”
Lea smiled and cocked an eyebrow. “Yes, it does. Are you mad at me for dragging you guys out of your safe and happy lives? ‘Cause from what I understand, they weren’t so safe and happy when I got there. You think I’m out to get you and only looking out for myself, and I don’t know why. I’m doing this for the betterment of modern society. I always have been. Seriously, name a time you’d suspect anything else.”
Liz sighed and stood. “I know, you’re right. I just... I get defensive when deforestation is put on the table.”
“No one’s talking about deforestation here. I want the forest. The only problem is I need some of it gone. Look, this island, based on aerial estimates is about three hundred kilometers long, and a hundred fifty at its widest point. That’s a lot of forest, Liz. I’m not getting rid of even half of it, even a quarter. I’m getting rid of enough to make fields.”
“Okay. Just... remember that a few turns from now.” Liz turned to leave before Lea cut her off.
“Hey.” She turned around. “I truly am sorry. I know Elon got to know me on the boat, but I also recognize that you didn’t. I know that since... In the last turn, since settling here, I’ve been short. I don’t mean to be. I’m just trying to get work done, and sometimes, stress builds, and I get a bit... emotionally unstable. I’m sorry that you’ve only known me since that started happening, and because of that, I don’t blame you for not trusting me, since this is all you’ve known. But I promise, what you think of me, isn’t me.”
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