by Prax Venter
She nodded once. “Yes, this counts as the first Floor, as far as I understand it. So, I will only be able to use it once.”
Harrak cleared his throat. “I-uh, my new profession allows me to promote a Townsfolk to Hero status in 10 more days. I’m leaning toward Irun right now. She’s deadly with a bow, and I’d hate to lose her as a guard, but…”
Jack held up his hand. “Remember to question your old ways of thinking before you choose. She could still be the best choice anyway, and it’s 100% your call, Combat Master. But I bet you wouldn’t have chosen Haylee, and she turned out to be quite the Hero.”
The girl with the deadly serious gray eyes locked her attention on him, and Jack saw the hint of a smile curve one corner of her straight lips.
“What about those two surviving Heroes?” Sol asked. “The boy looked shaken up. I consider myself observant of character, and I suspect he will not be useful any time soon.”
There was a pause as everyone in the room considered how useful they would be after losing everything. Sol continued. “Perhaps I’ll try to talk to him tomorrow.”
Jack shot the owlish ex-wharf master a half-smile.
“Good, but we’re also going to talk to them tonight- soon, but not yet. Let’s pause our talk about Emberstone and our attack for now. We’ll learn more from them about its layout, but I believe we must strike back in the next five days- or at least send a scouting mission to get an idea of what we’re dealing with.”
The new Town leaders had nothing to add, so Jack took a deep breath and continued.
“The Town will hit Level 5 tomorrow, and I am told we will get three new buildings as well as upgrades for everything else.”
Demi turned to face him. “You heard this from Alt, the powerful yet limited spirit creature?”
“Yup,” Jack said, trying to move past this being an issue. “And he’s recently done a lot to force rare events to occur in Blackmoor-” Sol snorted from the back wall. Jack looked at him and continued. “As such, he will only be able to nudge one of the new structures towards something we want. The other two will be random. I’d like to talk about the choices we have with all of you smart and experienced people.”
Sol was the first to respond after a moment of contemplation.
“I’d prefer to see the Town’s General Store return.”
Alt responded, yet only Jack could hear him. “You might want to let him know there is an extremely high chance the General Store will be chosen at random.”
“I want that too,” Jack said out loud. “I’ve been waiting to buy a decorative cloak item for… it seems like for forever.”
Demi gave him a sad smile. “Longer, for some of us.”
“Right,” Jack said. “Blackmoor is long overdue for its restoration. The good news is that it all starts here. I will have failed if our little sea-side community doesn’t become the largest, most powerful place in all of System Sana. But as far as the General Store, Sol. I’m told that it should be fulfilled by the randomly selected options. We might be wasting a choice to force that common building.”
The owlish man showed Jack his V-shaped scowl. “This Alt being is speaking to you now?”
“Yes,” Harrak answered quickly, the color draining from his face. “And he hears everything too.”
“You shouldn’t be afraid of him,” the young girl among them said and Blackmoor’s Combat Master turned his wide eyes to hers. “He cares deeply about this world.”
“I’d never thought I’d have any say in Town upgrades,” Demi muttered, shaking her head. “And I’m finding it hard to imagine what I would pick right now.”
“We don’t have to decide right this moment,” Jack said. “We could always meet again before I put the items in the chest tomorrow- you know, after we’ve all had some time to sleep on it.”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Harrak said, looking around the room. “We should add a Military Barracks. We’re at war, and we’ll need stronger guards sooner rather than later.”
“No, it should be commerce-related,” Sol said, leaning against the back wall. “We need more reasons for Heroes to spend coin here. Everything else will fall into place behind a good economy.”
“Don’t forget entertainment,” Demi said, raising a thin eyebrow. “The Eye o’ the Storm will always be the crown jewel of Blackmoor, but we cannot neglect Townsfolk morale. Be it with food, quality of life infrastructure, or other forms of leisure.” She turned back to look at Sol. “We want them to come, yes, but we need them to stay.”
Jack couldn’t help from grinning. This difference in opinion was exactly what he wanted, and he wouldn’t have even considered the complexities of the issue without them.
“Okay, homework then,” Jack said, clapping his hands. “We will come back here tomorrow after dinner, and I want each of you to think of one building by then. You will attempt to sell the others on your proposal. I’ll only vote if there’s a tie somehow but with five of you that shouldn’t happen.”
He watched everyone in the room turn to focus internally as they practiced their new mental freedoms.
“Haylee,” Jack said softly, and the young Hero turned her eyes up to his. “Will you please go and retrieve Farah and Andor from the inn?”
She stood, nodded once, and then stepped out into the night.
“She’s a bright girl,” Demi said after the Dark Prism was gone.
Sol sighed contently. “The brightest.”
Contemplative silence filled the room again as the NPC Town Leaders tried to come to terms with everything they’d discussed, and Jack’s attention was pulled downward when he felt Lex slip her fingers through his. He turned to look into her huge golden eyes, and she nodded slowly. She was proud of what he was doing.
The door opened and let in a brisk night breeze followed by Emberstone’s surviving Heroes and Haylee.
“Welcome to the first town hall meeting,” Jack said, disengaging from Lex and holding his arms out wide. “Believe me when I say that the people of Blackmoor understand your loss. You are surrounded by those who have been terrorized by the Corruption their whole lives. However, you are still alive and so are we.”
Jack paused to try and read their body language. Farah’s tan eyes remained locked on his and her leather-clad arms were tightly folded over her chest. This woman was a fighter. Something was taken from her and that alone drove her desire to retaliate.
Andor had his white hood up and his blue eyes were focused on the floor. His fingers were loosely clasped over his stomach as his arms dangled forward. This man was not ready to fight anything. And that was fine with Jack, for now. Perhaps the new and improved Sol could show the mentally broken man around the farm tomorrow and set him on the path to recovery. Jack continued.
“The longer we wait to take back Emberstone, the harder it will be. We aren’t going tomorrow, but we will be attacking soon, so we will need every last bit of information you can give us.”
Farah nodded slightly. Andor remained motionless like he wasn’t even hearing the conversation. Maybe it was a mistake to include him tonight.
Harrak cleared his throat, pushed back his chair, and stood.
“We all know it’s impossible to be accurate, but to the best of your ability, how many Demons were in the attack,” Harrak began, “and how many of each type?”
The Level 33 Shadow Blade thought for a moment before speaking.
“Over fifty Lesser Demons, maybe a dozen armored Demons and as many Stalkers. It was when I saw the horns of a Behemoth Demon that we fled. There may be more, but that’s as good as it’s going to get.”
Jack’s eyes shifted to Andor, hoping he’d have something to add, but he saw Farah uncross her arms and place her hands on her narrow hips. With a motion almost too small to notice, she shook her head once. It was subtle, but Jack caught it. With that barely perceptible head shake, she told him that Andor was not going to be any help, he was not ready for this, and that any direct questions might do more harm.
<
br /> Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who saw it. Demi stood and smoothed her pure-white apron down her front.
“I want to thank you, Jack, for including me and look forward to discussing Blackmoor’s future with the rest of you tomorrow. However, I do not believe I will be of any help with these battle preparations. My current talents will be better utilized back at the inn.” She moved over to place her long fingers on Andor’s shoulder. “Come with me, young man, and I’ll show you to your room.”
The vacant-eyed Light Weaver let himself be led back out into the night, and the stoic innkeeper made sure to lock her eyes with everyone in parting before she left- even Farah, who gave her a sharp nod in return.
“He’s not handling this well,” she said when the door closed. “And I don’t blame him. He’d just found love then had it snatched away. Had his home snatched away.”
“We don’t blame him either,” Jack said softly.
She nodded and crossed her arms again. “I can see that. You and this Town are both frightfully odd, Mayor. I’ve never heard of your Class, and that length of steel resting against your leg is something out of legend.” Her sharp tan eyes wandered around his groin, and Jack’s brows came down. Was she trying to flirt at a time like this? She shot her eyes back to his and continued before he could be sure.
“But you’ve taken us in, treated us well, and promised to help us take our home back. I’d be stupid not to take advantage of your hospitality and your promises. I will help you in any way I can, Jack.”
He’d never been terribly good at reading people, but it was a skill he’d been actively trying to grow after deciding to lead this town, and now this world. There was no doubt in his mind that Farah was attempting to show extra interest in him.
Lex crossed her arms. “Thank you. We can use all the help we can get.”
Jack easily put all of that nonsense right out of his mind and focused on what they were here to do.
“What is the Town layout like?” he asked. “Does Emberstone have a Wall like Blackmoor?”
The thin, leather-wrapped woman shook her head. “Emberstone has its back to a mountain as Blackmoor has its back to the sea. The only way into the Town is through the Fangs. There are four paths through those chunks of stone, some more narrow than others, and we lost our defensive gates a long time ago.
“As far as the layout, this morning there was Tabar’s Inn, a Mushroom Hut, and a few houses. Now? Who knows? I suppose it’s just the Tower now.”
Jack nodded, wishing for a dry-erase board- or he supposed blackboard and chalk would be more in line with the technology of this world. If they could all see the…
He’d just told these people that they needed to stop trying to think like this was a game. It was his world now, and if he had to reinvent the wheel to give them an advantage, he would.
The Town Hall was sparsely furnished; there were no pens, pencils, paper, or anything to write with. There were the four chairs, a square table, a brown throw rug, and torches in iron sconces on the walls. The ash from a torch appeared as if it might be a good answer to his problem, then he saw an innocuous potted plant in the corner near the door. The vibrant green stalk with lush drooping leaves rested in a black pot that appeared to be made of a rough clay material.
Jack marched past Farah toward the one basic attempt at decoration and everyone’s eyes followed him. Without hesitation, he drew his cheating sword and brought it down through the helpless plant and its container. The porous material shattered, and he knelt to find a good-sized shard that wouldn’t cut his hand.
“Jack?” Harrak said with concern. “Why are you attacking that plant?”
He didn’t answer. Instead he heard Alt mutter, “Brilliant,” in his mind as he scraped one of the thicker shards against the gray floor. Jack had to press harder than he would with a piece of chalk, yet as he’d hoped, it left a mark behind. His leather glove protected his hand well enough, and he could even erase the black flakes if he smudged it with his thumb.
“I’m testing my limits,” Jack said, standing back up with his new writing implement. Everyone was staring at him, and everyone but Haylee and Lex looked worried he’d gone insane. He didn’t think the Bastion and the Dark Prism had a clue what he was about to do, but they understood it was something he did with purpose and were more curious than anything else.
The floor was a good surface but the light-gray bricks that made up the walls would be even better. Jack pointed his black chalk at the owlish man in black robes currently standing by the back wall.
“Sol, my friend. I’m going to need you to move please. I want to draw Emberstone.”
His eyes went wide with understanding, and the ex-wharf master quickly moved around the table to stand by his daughter.
Jack stepped up to the wall and began scraping a big circle with the makeshift chalk. He drew a smaller circle at the top and put a ‘T’ inside to indicate the Tower. Then drew three triangles near the bottom to represent the stone Fangs, leaving four open passages into the circle. As if he were a teacher who had just drawn a math problem on the board, he turned to his gaping students and tapped his creation.
“Is it like this?” he said, looking at Farah specifically.
“H-How do you know how to create this image?” she stammered, her tan eyes wide and her hand pressed into her chest.
Lex answered, pride and awe in her voice. “Jack is a gift to this world.”
“It is his destiny to lead us into a new era,” Haylee added with cold certainty behind her quiet voice.
“Let it go, miss,” Harrak said, sitting back down. “And be glad he is on our side.”
Sol just stared at the drawing of Emberstone, uncharacteristically at a loss for words.
Jack sighed. “Is it really going to be like this every time? Guys, this is one step above a child’s drawing. I scraped some bits of stone on other stone. Where I came from, this was the most primitive- no… never mind.”
He stopped himself from saying something stupid and smeared his hand over his face. This was not how a leader acted. He looked over into Lex’s golden eyes and felt his nerves become saturated with patience.
“Farah,” Jack started again, “despite how magical this must seem, is this image correct?”
“Not quite,” she said after taking a deep breath. “And you’ll forgive me if your madness shocks me to my core. I haven’t decided if you are a genius or a lunatic.”
“Why not both?” Jack said and then held out his piece of chalk to the new Hero. “Take this and make it right. And before you give me more nonsense about how shocked you are… Just come and try it. This isn’t art. You don’t need a special Job to rub a chunk of stone on a damn wall.”
She hesitated for a moment, then the lithe woman took the shard of clay pot from his hand. Jack moved over to stand close to Lex, crossed his arms and waited. The Shadow Blade looked at the chalk and then to Harrak- she seemed to trust him more than anyone else in here.
The old Combat Master softened his features and nodded.
She was uncertain at first, but she made a few more lines, extending the bottom of the circle out so she could add a fourth fang. The right-most of the stone outcroppings that served as barriers into the Town was more convoluted, with one of the paths looping out, but in the end, there were still only four ways in and out.
“The path on the left looks the narrowest,” Haylee said.
Farah nodded. “It’s passable, about three yards across.”
Jack shot the Dark Prism a look. “You thinking of using Penetrate?”
The teenage girl nodded, and Jack turned back to the map.
“You have that ability?” Harrak asked.
“No, but I hold a special bow that grants it to my shots.”
“And her Light Rays have no range limit,” Lex added, her eyes locked on the image of Emberstone.
Jack walked up to Farah, and she handed him back the chalk with a sideways smile.
“I no longe
r doubt your ability to do this,” she whispered and then stood with the others near the door. Jack gave her a nod and then moved to smear his leather-clad thumb over some of the extra lines. After the map was cleaner, he stepped back.
It wasn’t a chalkboard, but it was more than good enough for what they needed.
“How would you coax the Demons into that narrow path?” Harrak asked. “The Lesser ones might be tricked into that tight passage, but the rest, and especially that Behemoth, would simply pick one of these other openings- or more likely still, they’d stay back to guard this Demon Heart Demi mentioned.”
“Am I correct in assuming the Fountain is always directly in front of the Tower door?” Jack asked.
“As far as I know,” Lex said and then turned to her father. The older man nodded, his gray beard moving with him.
“They are a pair. It’s been this way at every Town I have visited.”
Jack added a circle below the representation of the Tower and then drew a heart shape around it. He stepped back from the crude beginnings of their battle plans. It wasn’t complete, but it was much more than they started with a handful of hours ago when the two heroes came to Blackmoor’s gate.
“I think that’s enough for today,” he said, then turned to Farah. “I’m going to assume Andor is going to be unable to climb tomorrow, and Lex, Haylee, and I have only one free slot in our party. It would be in everyone’s best interests if you joined us. My goal is to reach Level 50 as soon as possible.”
The tall woman with long brown hair studied his face before nodding.
“After everything I’ve seen today, Jack, there is no way I’d miss the chance to fight by your side.”
- 3 -
Farah and Haylee were already waiting for Jack and Lex at the bar, and the new Shadow Blade gave him a slanted smile. After he and Lex sat down, Demi came spinning out from behind the white eye curtain and took their custom orders.
The young Dark Prism focused on Max Mana and Magic Power, Lex focused on Defense and Hit Points, Farah went for pure Damage, and Jack tried to spread his Rest Bonus out between Dodge, Hit Points, and a Damage boost.