Town Builder

Chapter 37: The NPC Auction

In the morning, I rushed to the inn to eat breakfast and occupy a corner while I worked on searching the NPC auction. Breakfast was simple: a braised ham steak with thick apple sauce. The meal did give me a decent bonus of +10% to my stamina stat for 12 hours. After the meal, I had a pitcher of water and asked not to be disturbed while I worked.

It was time to open the NPC auction tab and add to my selections. My original bids were all still active, so no one had outbid me. But there was a new column. They had added classes in the game, and now I could see what the NPC classes were, which was helpful…and the level of the NPC! This was a huge help. I might be able to find some high-level gems with low primary skills. The minimum bid was still based on the NPC’s primary skill: 1 silver for a novice, 1 gold for an expert, 1 platinum for a master, and 100 platinum for a grandmaster.

Name

Class Level

Race

Sex

Age

Primary Skill

Jaylyn

Knight 47

Human

M

28

Expert Blade: Medium

Lyons

Knight 43

Human

M

28

Expert Armor: Heavy

Kassta

Brewer 61

Beastkin: Bull

M

33

Expert Brewer

Warne

Craftsman 29

Beastkin: Wolf

M

20

Expert Woodcraft: Furniture

Tilda

Farmer 37

Halfling

F

52

Expert Crop Farming

Breda

Bureaucrat 147

Dwarf

F

64

Master City Planning

I really wished I could see their top three skills again. That was the most helpful element when selecting which NPCs to bid on, but knowing the level would be very useful. I sorted the list and started doing some research. It looked like NPCs with a primary skill at the novice grade had leveled up to level 20. Expert-level NPCs had levels up to 75. Master level NPCs levels reached as high as 150. Grand Master grades all ranged between levels 150 and 250.

Looking over the lists, it looked like the other players bidding had used the NPCs level as their primary criteria for their bids. I wondered if I could withdraw a bid and bid on a different NPC. The answer was yes, but I would lose the coins I had paid. If someone outbid me, I would get my coins back. I had five platinum coins in my possession and five open bidding slots. With Breda, the dwarf city planner, I would have a total of six master NPCs for this round of bids. I wondered how difficult these master NPCs were going to make my life.

I had a list of three priority NPCs. One was someone to take over the administration work from Jaesmin. Only two were listed for Bureaucracy: Guilds.

Neral

Bureaucrat 103

Giantkin: Fire

M

69

Master Bureaucracy: Guilds

Barret

Bureaucrat 106

Fairy: Sprite

M

25

Master Bureaucracy: Guilds

Another sub-species of giantkin. I wish I had known their temperament, which would have been my deciding factor. Did I want a Master of Guilds with a Napoleon complex….no, an imposing figure would be welcome. I paid the platinum to bid on Neral, the Giantkin: Fire.

My second priority was to have someone assist Sanso. Well, maybe not assist, but to work exclusively on transforming my outer town walls from the earthworks to an actual stone wall with defensive towers at intervals. I searched, and it looked like stone mages were quite popular. Players were not stupid and figured stone mages significantly accelerated building construction. All three master stone mages had bids, and all seventeen expert stone mages also had bids.

Did I want to get into a bidding war? So far, the NPC site had been some gentlemen’s agreement of first come, first served. That was mostly because there were just so many NPCs to bid on. Once the player rush hit and NPC cities could join in on the process, it was probably going to get very cut-throat. I started searching for just a master mage in any magical skill. I found an interesting NPC.

Titus

Hospitalar 140

Gnome

M

66

Master Order Magic

Order magic was not well known to me. I guessed it opposed Chaos magic. Looking up order magic, its two sub-skills were Order: Law and Order: Command. The gnome’s class of hospitalar seemed to be geared toward seeking out and combating chaos. Maybe this gnome was some priest? Did I want religion in my village? I knew from history on Earth priests manipulated the populace and sought power and wealth from the rulers. I was planning to pass on this gnome, but I kept looking at his level. One hundred and forty was really high. I think my experiences with Fareth are what finally convinced me to bid. Hopefully, this NPC would be a good addition to Malcum.

My third need was a lumberjack. I didn’t want to spend my own time harvesting trees and milling them across the river. We had enough experienced townsfolk for the mill but no lumberjacks. They had all been killed. I looked at the list of master lumberjacks. Beastkin: Beaver, Human: Common, Elf: Wood. Two others already had bids, so these were my choices. The beaver was interesting, and if I had known he would come with a large family, I might have selected him for my bid. Since I didn’t know, I rolled a die to decide, and the Elf: Wood won.

Darai

Lumberjack 103

Elf: Wood

F

277

Master Woodcraft: Lumberjack

I was excited to see what a female elf lumberjack looked like. Would she have a Paul Bunyan build?

I was down to my last two bids already! They went fast. Should I get more warrior types to defend the village? Should I start branching out Malcum’s trade goods? Should I get more NPCs capable of building structures since I couldn’t find any stone mages.…yes. Having someone else with a master tier in woodcraft: carpentry, and masonry: structures seemed like my best bet.

Varrine

Builder 77

Beastkin: Bear

M

37

Master Woodcraft: Carpentry

Iona

Constructor 120

Elf: Sun

F

152

Master Masonry: Structures

Once again, I had hoped to get the temperament of each before bidding. I would be working with these Chapter 36: Finally Upgraded to a Village!

I really thought Simba would appear when I reached level 20. I did feel the rush as my items that required level 20 to use suddenly padded my stats!

Without Simba, I would have to select something on my own. I eliminated all the combat traits. If I was going to grow Malcum, I should focus on my building or town management skills. Many options were currently hidden. The system message sometimes said I didn’t meet the requirements to view or was in development, so I couldn’t view them. I started shortening my list and came up with five options to choose between.

Lord’s Call II, upgrade to add 5 NPC auction bidding slots

Clever Architect, +5 skill points to Artistry: Architect, +1% chance to improve building plans when drafting

NPC Empathy, reveals an NPC personality in the NPC auction

NPC Family Ties, reveals how large a family connected to an NPC in the auction house is

Blacklist Awareness, alerts a player when anyone on their blacklist is within 100 yards

Lord’s Tithe, Lord of the city gets 0.1% of all experience earned by the subjects that are within 100 yards of him

It took me over an hour to narrow down my list to just these five. The clever architect's skill seemed powerful, but I queried the system, and it only had a chance of improving plans on their first draft and no effect when I redrafted plans. However, there were additional tiers of the skill so maybe that would improve to 2% at tier 2? Or maybe it just increased the improvement? I queried the system again and got a complete response this time.

Clever Architect has a chance to improve upon any building bonuses applied to a new set of building plans. It does not give a chance to improve a building's rarity.

With the second tier of Lord’s Call, I could add three more NPCs from the auction and when the town hall was finished that would add another 2 NPCs. It seemed like my best option by far to improve Malcum quickly. The improvements to my knowledge of the NPCs were significant…just not right now. The blacklist awareness would be important in the future as well to alert me to dangers entering the village.

The Lord’s Tithe ability was very powerful if I had a large population center and remained within the given range. I might be able to just sit in a castle and soak up the experience in a castle eventually. The advanced tiers only increased the range of the trait and not the percentage amount…or at least that is what I puzzled out from the responses by the system to my inquiries.

I selected to improve my Lord’s Call ability. I returned to Malcum on Titan and went to the site where the town hall foundation had been laid. If I could get Sanso’s help, then I would be able to finish the building in two game days. Since it was late in the evening, I worked alone until dinner. I was holding back on selecting more NPCs from the auction.

I went to the inn for dinner. Jaesmin was there talking with the adventurers and Laeron, our town shipwright. Mad Dog spoke first, “Tallis, mate! Where have you been? Did you check your messages?” The group looked at me, and Grinder had a knowing look.

“Tallis, the player messaging system is live. It would be best if you went and set up your alert preferences,” Grinder supplied helpfully.

I went to the screen and quickly activated it to alert me only when I was not in combat. I had five messages, all from Mad Dog. The first three were just progress reports in the Shiverwood forest. The last two said they were back in town, and they were at the inn and wanted to have dinner with me, and Jaesmin was here.

I joined the group at the large table and was quickly served a plate filled with thick beef slices smothered in gravy with a side of some aromatic mashed potatoes. Grinder said if I weren’t going to eat it, he would be more than happy to. I protectively covered the plate with my arms, and everyone laughed except Grinder.

Jaesmin spoke next. “Tallis, Laeron is the new guild master of the shipwrights. He is requesting six hundred planks monthly of various kinds of wood for his work.” She had a smug look on her face. Gwen had stonewalled Laeron from forming a shipwright's guild in town. I nodded as I ate. I figured no matter what I said, I would make Jaesmin unhappy at this point.

On finishing the delectable meal, I announced, “I have sufficient skill to finish the town hall.” Everyone looked at me. It was Jaesmin who spoke.

“So tomorrow, do I need to help you finish? I am not sure I can get away from my duties.” The snark in her voice put me a little on edge. I sipped my ale, thinking about what I could possibly say not to make her angrier with me.

“Um, no. I think Sanso and I can finish it. There will be a fabulous new office there for the master of guilds, though.” She looked at me hard. She was considering my statement, and I couldn’t read her.

“Nope,” she said. “Still not interested in being the master of guilds. Find someone else.” She got up and left in a huff. The players looked at me, and Laeron snuck off himself either to avoid being named or afraid I might withdraw what Jaesmin promised him.

I looked at the players, “Yeah, just a little trouble on the homefront—nothing to worry about. Uh, listen, guys, the player auction is closing in 6 days. With the portal now in town, I think my new NPCs and their families will arrive immediately. I hoped you all could be there in case something went wrong.” I gave them a pitiful look, looking for sympathy to guilt them.

Mad Dog didn’t hesitate, “Sure, mate. Glad we could help. Could you give us as much info as you have on the NPC auction in return? I am sure you have some valuable info kicking around in your head from your experiences so far.” I nodded, and we started talking about the NPC auction interface and how it had evolved over my time in the game. They were most interested in the traits associated with the NPC auction and the fact that even if I won the bid for the auction, I usually had to convince the NPCs to stay or do a quest for them. We spent two hours as they grilled me for information. Mad Dog said they would apply 25% of the funds toward my lawyer fees. Black Beauty reminded them they needed to log off, and they left.

On returning home, Jaesmin was already asleep, and I tucked myself into my drafting table. I could draft three sets of plans to stockpile tonight if I focused.

Jaesmin came downstairs in the morning and hugged me before making breakfast. “Sorry about yesterday. I embarrassed you in front of your friends. I gave it some thought and will do my best until my replacement arrives.” Thank God! A truce! “You can get breakfast in the inn. I have to meet with Elice in the general store this morning.” She left, probably thinking it was a jab at me for not making breakfast. If she only knew how much I preferred Fareth’s food. Well, that was something I would never reveal.

Sanso was at the inn eating. I sat with him and was given a plate of potato pancakes and another plate of sausage. Sanso detailed how his work on creating copper coins for the town was going. I was only half listening to his report as I savored the meal. Fareth did something to the butter for the pancakes that made them even better tasting. No change to the buff, though.

After breakfast, we went to the site for the town hall and got to work. Several people stopped by while we worked, and if I was resting to recharge my aether, I took a few moments to talk with them. The young girl practicing to be an alchemist ran by at least a dozen times carrying a sack of goods. She waved and smiled at us as she rushed around doing errands for the alchemist. It looks like she was well on her way to learning the craft.

Lunch ended up being a pastry filled with shredded beef and cabbage.

Bierock (a beef and cabbage stuffed roll), +100% to aether regeneration for 6 hours, +4 to magic for 6 hours

Fareth knew this was what Sanso and I needed to buff our magic for building. I wish we had talked to her at breakfast! The pace of our work picked up after lunch, and I think we will finish today! Sanso called in some of his golems as well. Most of the golems had been working on the sewers or expanding their mining operations under his tower to the north.

It was late, well past dinner, when we finished the building. We were not alone either. There were about 50 townsfolk watching and waiting. I inspected the building.

Rare City Hall, Health 150,000 (Bonus +20% to City Population Morale, +3.5% Tax Revenue)

This was a great building, and it was extremely pleasing to look at. I checked my interface,expecting to see a bevy of notifications. There was nothing. Ah, the building wouldn’t be active until I assigned at least one person to work there. Sorry, Jaesmin. I moved her in my interface to work in the town hall.

Town Hall Active

Malcum is upgraded from a Settlement to a Village, Awarding 100,000 experience

Wandering monsters are now a threat to your population. You can track them in your interface map

New diplomacy options are now available

Building infrastructure maintenance costs increased by 50%

Insufficient population for promotion to a town; Requirement is 500 citizens

You have reached level 21!

I smiled and gave Sanso a high five and could see the villagers react as well. The bonus to morale was showing already. Promoting my settlement even earned me a level. I dropped all six points into charisma. I would need to convince my NPCs from the auction to settle here permanently, and I wanted to pad my persuasiveness.

Charisma was useful in summoning and interacting with NPCs. Beyond that, I hadn’t found a use for it. Since I only had a few crops of high-power NPCs coming to Malcum in the auction before the game went live, and I would have to compete with NPCs cities and the horde of players, I decided to commit the points to charisma for this level.

Wandering monsters…it didn’t take long to find the information on them. Elite monsters from adjacent zones to the town could be up to 10 levels higher than the zone they emerged from. I looked at my map. Shiverwood Forest Level 40-50 monsters, Cleardusk Plains Level 5-15 monsters, and the Breakneck Mountains Level 60-70 monsters. Those were the three regions that bordered Malcum. My mapping system would alert me if a wandering monster approached within 5 miles of the village, and a red icon would appear on my map to track the monster. It didn’t seem like a significant threat but who knew what curve ball the system would play?

I didn’t review the diplomacy options since I really wasn’t doing any active diplomacy. The increase in town maintenance was going to be a pain unless I generated a more steady increase in income. I checked my finances, and the adventurers were training the treasury from their quests and restocking by spending coins in town but not at a sustainable rate. If it got too out of whack, I would talk with them.

I had all the required buildings to become a town! I just needed a larger population, and my next advancement would happen. To keep the townsfolk lively, I announced free beer at the inn! An enormous cheer, and the pack of people moved toward the inn. I shook Sanso’s hand and told him to take tomorrow off. I would probably spend most of tomorrow sorting through the NPC auction, as I now had five open slots!

When I got home, Jaesmin was there, her face unreadable. I couldn’t tell if she was angry or not. “Tallis, you finished the town hall. Did you furnish it? I have a dozen alerts about limited efficiency due to insufficient workspace. You will take care of it.” She turned and walked upstairs, and my sheet pinged with a laundry list of items needed for the town hall. I compiled the list and sent it over to Mad Dog. He could portal to a city and gather the items to equip the new town hall. The only expensive item was the large amounts of paper…bureaucracy at work. I decided to add drafting a papermill to my to-do list.

It was hard to resist going and laying down in bed and just sorting through the NPC auction immediately. I first filled my satiety bar and then went and drafted plans for a furniture shop. Many of the items Mad Dog was going to purchase revolved around office furnishings. He could buy cheap furniture to make the building functional, but I was hoping to have exquisite furniture in Malcum from my superior buildings. And I guess paper as well. It would mean getting the lumbar yard productivity running. Which meant I needed a logging camp on the other side of the river. Which meant I needed the damn goblins cleared out! It was like a chain quest, I guess.

So, what should I draft tonight before going to get some much-needed and deserved sleep? Logging camp, Woodcraft shop, or Paper mill? I decided on the woodcraft shop. It would be a long two-story building near the current lumber mill…ah, I should add a lumber mill to my drafting plans. If I drafted a new lumber mill, it should give a bonus. I stopped working on the plans for the woodcraft shop and started working on plans for the lumber mill. If I built a new lumber mill, then could I possibly renovate the old one to make it an addition to my house?

A few hours later, I was finished. It wasn’t pretty and followed much of the design of the old lumber mill. I hadn’t felt inspired while working, so I tentatively examined the plans.

Uncommon Lumber Mill, Health 60,000, Requires Masonry: Foundations 23, Woodcraft Carpentry 23 (Bonus 4% chance to upgrade sawn wood quality)

Well, I guessed any bonus was a good bonus. I folded the plans and would start on the foundation of the building myself tomorrow afternoon. I went upstairs, and Jaesmin was in bed and dressed in a heavy nightgown. She usually slept in sexy lingerie, so this must be her way of saying the store is closed until you make me happy. I stripped to leave just my boxers on and lay next to her. Maybe the sight of my sexy body in the morning would turn her on? I had a full day planned…breakfast…NPC selection…some building…and then some drafting after dinner. I guess I should be happy fatigue wasn’t programmed into the game yet, as it seemed I was going non-stop. I was kicking around what NPCs I would search for when sleep finally overcame me.

NPCs quite a bit if I won them in the auction. The huge variance in the beastkin race was a little surprising. I went and checked, and there were twenty-six currently! Yet there were only five subspecies of elves and four for humans. I spent a few more hours doing searches and drooling over the NPCs I had no chance to recruit.

There were seven grandmasters in the auction, and I could not afford to bid on any of them. One was a level 248 Pyromancer fire mage. If I had recruited that NPC, the village would have been safe…if they didn’t burn down the town. The other grandmasters had skills in fishing, blades, stealth, herbalism, history, and melee: hammers. The last one had a bid on him, and the rest were available. I really thought hard about trying to pool some coin and bid on the grand master of the history skill. This NPC would have been a great master librarian…for the library, I couldn’t build yet. With reluctance, I close the tab.

Eleven new NPCs that would help Malcum grow in leaps and bounds. I walked out into the sunlight from my time in the inn. The village added new faces daily, and I noticed a new pair of gnomes wandering toward the general store. I checked my town population screen.

Total

Angelkin

0

Beastman

4

Centaur

1

Demonkin

0

Dwarf

1

Elf

20

Elementalkin

4

Fairy

0

Human

88

Kobold

0

Dragonkin

0

Gnome

5

Goblin

0

Giantkin

2

Lizardman

0

Orc

25

Shade

0

Shifter

0

Undead

0

150

We were growing steadily just through immigration. So far, there had not been much discord with the large mix of races, but I assumed that couldn’t last. The shade and undead would probably never be welcome in Malcum, with my military force already predisposed to hating them. Other than that, I was ok with any races settling in Malcum. I did some quick checks, and players could be added to the population if they had a residence within the city’s limits. Players could only denote one building as their residence, though. There was also a cooldown of 90 game days to change a player’s residence. I checked, and my residence was already noted in Malcum, so I was, in fact, part of the population of Malcum.

I talked briefly with a few people before going to the site where I planned to build my lumber mill. It was near a river bend, and I planned to have a stone bridge there. Across the river would be my logging camp. The woodcraft building for making furniture would be adjacent to the lumber mill. All of these structures would be built to the north, just outside the earthen walls that Sanso had built.

I was the only one here, and it was nice to be away from the bustle of the town. I got lost in my work. I was basically summoning stone to create one huge slab on which the lumber mill would sit. When my aether was drained, I would rest and watch the woods across the river. There was a fair amount of activity on the other side; birds, boars, foxes, deer, and even a goblin poked his head out once. As the sun started to set, I returned to the inn.

I grabbed some food and waved to several townsfolk. Manto was there sipping ale and raised his mug toward me. He seemed sober; a drunk, powerful lightning mage would probably be very bad for the town. I wondered if you could brew non-alcoholic beverages in the game. I took two meat pies with me and went home to find Jaesmin in the common room of our house, sipping wine with Kytalia and Galana. A girl’s night, maybe?

“Tallis Kytalia waved me over to sit down. We were discussing village politics and would like to hear your viewpoint,” Kytalia said. I wouldn't say I liked politics in the real world. Politicians were either outright liars or spoke half-truths most of the time. I sighed and sat down.

“Well, ladies, I have a very dim view of politics. I should have some involvement since I am the lord here.” I sat and poured myself some wine.

Galana spoke first, “Well, since we are essentially sandwiched between two kingdom territories. The human empire of the Veeral Dynasty is to the south, and the Fistulas Kingdom of the Dwarves is to the north. We wondered who we would side with if one of them joined the next Grand War.” All three women looked at me for an answer. Fucking game designers.

“So what is a Grand War?” I really didn’t want to know.

Galana answered, “Every ten years, one of the gods puts up a divine artifact as a prize. Nations band together to form massive armies, and using portal stones, they are portaled to a neutral site to fight for the artifact.” Galana was too calm, so I asked a question.

“Is death permanent in these Grand Wars? Players like me resurrect, but you.…” I asked my question.

Galana nodded, “Yes, for us, it is permanent. But lords will typically supply combatants to empires for coin and a share of the spoils from the Grand War. Usually, there are a few million combatants in the Grand War, and you can retreat at any time with your spoils. I participated in the last Grand War. I gained a free skill and a handful of weapons that I sold. My lord at the time was killed, though.”

I was suddenly more interested, “So the rewards for non-players are more than just loot?”

Galana nodded, “Level advancement, free skills, new traits, coin, weapons, armor… You can gain a lot if you do well. The field is usually about 100 miles across, and each alliance starts in a random area. The god of battle watches and tracks everyone’s contributions. When you leave, or someone claims the divine artifact, you are portaled back where you left. Usually, half of the participants survive.” The fact that she was talking so non-chantilly about such a massive wave of death to NPCs upset me. I guess this game mechanism was to quickly advance NPCs’ power and thin out NPC populations.

“I don’t think we would ever participate in such a bloodthirsty sport. I wouldn’t side with either the humans or dwarves.” I said with sternness.

Galana looked at me, puzzled, “Lord Tallis, you don’t have a choice. Based on the size of the settlement determines how many combatants you need to send. They must survive one day before they can retreat as well. That is why everyone makes alliances beforehand.”

Incursions! Grand Wars! What was next? Cant the damn game developers just let people build shit and hang out with the NPCs? I asked, “How many people do we need to send?” It is best to be prepared.

“One in ten of the adult population for towns and larger,” Galana said. “I think I would volunteer.” I was shocked at her admission. Losing Galana would be too big a blow for me.

“Can I send players? What about the guards from the guard house we built?” I asked, looking for a way to sidestep the requirement. Galana paused before speaking. I think this new game mechanic had just been added, and she was getting the information downloaded.

“Yes, players can be part of the total if they are residents of the population center required to send combatants. Your guards from the guardhouse do not qualify as they are bound to the guardhouse. The first guard manifested this afternoon. He was an elite human guardsman, level 25. The remainder should be the same, elite level 25 guardsmen.” Finally, some good news. Level 25 was not that high, but it was the minimum level for a class. I would look into how to upgrade the guardhouse in the future.

“So when is the next Grand War?” Once again, I didn’t want to know, but it was best to rip the band-aids off.

“It is in 432 days,” Kytalia said. Well, at least I could put it out of my mind for a long while. I was sure there would be more surprises in the future. Games like this were all about player conflict and gaining power. I would be dragged in whether I wanted to or not. I excused myself from the conversation and went to my drafting desk while they continued talking.

Soon, I was lost in my work and didn’t hear that Galana and Kytalia had left. Tonight, I felt inspired and worked on the furniture workshop. I made it way too big, with enough space for fifty NPCs to work. It was three stories tall, with the first floor being sales shops and lumber storage. The second floor had many workstations and tools for all the crafters. The third floor was a general warehouse. At first, I had planned to make the structure mostly wood but quickly switched to stone. I wanted to lose as little as possible if there was a fire. It was morning when I finished, and I was impressed with the massive structure. The exterior had fancy columns and gargoyles on top of them. I wasn’t sure why I had done that….it was just my inspiration. I identified the building plans.

Rare Furniture Crafter Building, Health 250,000, Requires Masonry Foundations 23, Masonry Structures 43, Woodcraft: Carpentry 23 (Bonus: +30% skill advancement for woodcraft skills, +2% chance to improve the quality of items produced, +20% to the value of items produced)

Yes! This could be the foundation of Malcum’s industry and trade. We could export high-quality furniture and generate tons of wealth. It would take Sanso and me a few days to build it after the lumbar mill was finished. I rechecked my incoming NPCs to ensure I had a place for them to live and work, and it would be essential to convince them to stay.

Jaylyn

Knight 47

Human

Lyons

Knight 43

Human

Kassta

Brewer 61

Beastkin: Bull

Warne

Craftsman 29

Beastkin: Wolf

Tilda

Farmer 37

Halfling

Breda

Bureaucrat 147

Dwarf

Neral

Bureaucrat 103

Giantkin: Fire

Titus

Hospitalar 140

Gnome

Darai

Lumberjack 103

Elf: Wood

Varrine

Builder 77

Beastkin: Bear

Iona

Constructor 120

Elf

The two knights could stay in the barracks, and I would assign them to Galana. The Brewer had the brewery and needed a house. The craftsmen needed this new building to work and needed a home. The farmer….I should probably find someone to outline various fields for crops. Two bureaucrats had the town hall to work in but needed a residence. The two builders also needed a place to live. The lumberjack…I couldn’t build a logging camp until the goblins were eliminated, but I still needed a place for him to live in town. And finally the hospitalar….was he a priest….did I need to build a temple? It would be terrible if he showed up and left because he didn’t feel welcome, wasting an NPC auction slot.

Well, I guess I was hoping he would at least give me a quest to appease him as the others had. So I needed to build the mill, woodcraft building, and lots and lots of housing! At least I knew what I needed to do.