Town Builder

Chapter 45: Dwarf Princess

I returned using the portal stone to Malcum and immediately called a sort of council at the town hall. In attendance was Jaesmin, Elice, Sanso, Galana, Tanguin, Manarag, Fareth, Curraen, Breda and Neral.

As we sat around the table, they talked among themselves, waiting for me to call this impromptu meeting to order. I watched the interactions among my people, and they all seemed lively and happy. Even Breda, the dwarf city planner, was having an animated conversation with Fareth.

“Thank you all for coming!” I started breaking up the conversations to call for silence. “I have some fairly exciting news for the town. I have recruited some more citizens that can contribute greatly to the productivity of Malcum!” All eyes were on me, and they looked eager.

My dramatic pause was met with a question, “And how many new citizens are we to expect?” Asked Breda. Of course, the dwarf was going to spoil my delivery.

“Just a few hundred,” I said, smirking, and when looks of astonishment creased their faces, I continued. “I found a slew of refugees in the human city to the south. They were living in terrible conditions, and many had trade skills and families. The total number was just over 700, but they will travel on foot to get here, so I don’t expect them for a week or so.”

Tanguin asked seriously, “How far are they traveling?”

“About 250 miles. They should be leaving relatively soon.” I said without pause.

“Closer to 5 days,” Tanguin muttered. “I will ride out and meet them with some soldiers to escort them.”

Breda asked earnestly, “And where are all these people going to stay when they get here?”

I smiled at her, “And that is why I called you all here. We don’t have harsh winters here, but we are not in a position to feed so many. So, I am taking ideas.”

Fareth helpfully offered, “I can house maybe 50 at my inn temporarily. As far as feeding 700…I have some recipes that would stretch well.” I had forgotten that my satiety bar instantly filled whenever I ate Fareth’s food. So maybe we could stretch our food supply much further than anticipated.

Neral, my Master of Guilds, asked, “Do you have a list of skills they are bringing? I think we can triple production in the fields and farms, but we will have to import some food until our capacity grows more.” I slid the paper with the professions around the table and let everyone look at it. The paper stopped at Breda, who was making a weird face at the list.

Before Breda could speak, I added, “I want to create shops in the city for these people with residences above them. That way, we can take care of two things at once, housing and establishing new businesses.” Breda studied the list for a moment longer before looking up.

“We can establish four smaller trade districts in the trade quarter. One will focus on leather, furs, and clothing. The second will focus on consumables. The third will be weapons and armor. The fourth will be miscellaneous. The only problem I see lord Tallis is the lack of a market for goods. I mean, you have ten candle makers on this list! The current gnome candlemakers are already struggling to make a profit.”

It had been a concern of mine as well. Well, that was just one concern. “We will figure it out as we go. First, I want everyone settled. Most of the new additions will be beastkin and gnomes.” I watched the group for their reactions to my announcement. A few raised eyebrows, but no one showed anger or disgust. “So, how many multiuse buildings can we get ready in five days?”

Breda looked around for someone else to answer, and when they didn’t, she took out a map of Malcum and began making marks on it while she talked. “We have enough open housing for 12 families…maybe 48 new citizens if we build the structures and don’t furnish them…maybe five shops a day. So, 25 shops for 25 families. Maybe 125 people.” I did the math: 50+48+125=223…that was 223 out of 724.

Manarag, the blacksmith, spoke, “We have room in our house for maybe four people. We can house them until additional housing can be built.” Curraen volunteered their spare bedroom next to a couple.

The list had reached Galana, “You have 27 guards listed here? We can house them in the guard tower by the river. It is not being used and has a lot of space. Are these men and women going to be under my command?” I nodded, and Galana smiled at increasing her forces.

A few more people volunteered spare bedrooms in their houses or would have their kids move into a single room to free up space. Tanguin spoke next, “You are forgetting the barracks. The garrison isn’t due to arrive for 12 days. We can get everyone else in there, at least 300 people comfortably. More if needed.” Tanguin didn’t appear happy offering his building but was offering his support. “Also, Mira and Galana could double or triple their wild game harvests from the plains to add more meat to the pot. The respawn rate is slowing, but they can travel further out from the town.”

I hadn’t forgotten about the barracks. I was hoping we could complete enough buildings rather than have interim housing. “I will try drafting simpler plans that might be quicker and cost less to build,” I stated.

Breda had a sour face, “I don’t think that is a good course of action, Lord Tallis. We have been doing too much work to upgrade old buildings and build higher-quality ones. It would be a setback to construct hasty buildings not up to the standard of Malcum.” I was going to have to talk with Breda. She was a massive boon to our community and was thinking about the long-term effects of what we were planning, but her resistance to getting the job done in the short term was irritating.

“Breda, I will bring you the new plans that I draft will for the new shop/residential structures, and we can discuss them before building them,” I stated, ending the argument. I didn’t ask her permission because I guess it was time to confront the dwarf woman and get her on the same page as everyone else. She nodded slowly.

I continued, “Now, I guess the next step is to structure our economy. We have 14 butchers coming….”

For the next four hours, we discussed what job openings we would have. Tanguin was by far the happiest. He was getting four butchers, two bakers, three ropemakers, two shoemakers, two tanners, one purse maker, one hat maker, three masons, two glovemakers, two coopers, three carpenters, four tailors, two weavers, and eight cooks from the tavern worker group. All these civilians would be set up to support our army and city guards.

This group would be paid a steady wage and be provided with housing. Breda put six buildings in the queue for this group to work in. These buildings would be built by the barracks and would only be completed once we had housing for everyone.

Breda and Neral mostly went back and forth, ironing out details. We would potentially be getting several new Guild Masters once this group arrived. A few people, realizing they were no longer needed, started leaving. I left my city planner and master of guilds with Jaesmin. They were in their element and excited about the challenge.

As I walked home with Jaesmin, she asked, “Why are you taking in so many new citizens? Malcum has changed so much, and our identity will be completely different after this new group arrives.”

I gathered my thoughts as we walked, “A long time ago, the place where I am from once gladly took in people from around the world. A plaque on an island said, ‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’” I was surprised that I remembered the plaque on the Statue of Liberty. But it had the desired effect on Jaesmin.

“That is…so you are saying Malcum is going to be the golden door for the people no one else wants? A path to prosperity for them.” Jaesmin said. That was insightful for the NPC.

“Yes, that is exactly what I am thinking. Malcum will be a safe harbor for unwanted people as long as they are willing to contribute to the community,” I said, sounding a bit self-righteous. As we walked, Manarag, the panther man, caught up to us.

“Lord Tallis, do you have a moment?” he asked with concern.

“Of course! What is troubling you?” I asked.

“Not me but some of the other masters. It has to do with resources for our crafts. You didn’t bring any blacksmiths back with you, which is good, as ingots are in short supply in Malcum already. But what you did do is recruit a large number of crafters, and we can’t supply them the raw materials for them to carry out their craft except the leather workers.” He was, of course, correct.

I had figured they would just offer fetch quests for materials to players…but I only had three players in town, and Mad Dog and crew had enough on their plate to help me. Why did this game have to mirror actual real-world manufacturing and economics? I mean, the natural resources replenished quickly with spawns, and the world was massive, so resources were abundant.

I quickly thought of a solution and spoke like I had planned it all ahead of time. “Manarag, a lot of the people coming here don’t have skills. So, all we need to do is get them to harvest the resources our crafters will need.” It sounded a lot simpler than it was, but Manarag nodded like I was brilliant.

“That sounds reasonable. Who will be in charge of assigning them their duties?” A panicked look came over his face. He was thinking I would put him in charge. I couldn’t lose his smithing ability, though. I looked at all the NPCs in the village on my screens. Huh, she would work extremely well, and she should be able to do an excellent job.

“Don’t worry, Manarag, I will take care of it. And it is not going to be you.” I smiled at the panther man and changed direction with Jaesmin. Jaesmin inquired where we were going, and I remained silent. When we got close, she figured it out and laughed.

“Oh, Tallis, I actually think you actually picked the right person this time. She has been itching to contribute, and she has a lot of experience in resource harvesting and allocation,” Jaesmin said while I knocked. Kytalia answered the door, and her array of sister wives and children played in the background.

“Lord Tallis! I am surprised to see you at my door. I hope all is well?” The orc woman said. Kytalia had fled her orc clan when her husband, the Khan, had been killed. We gave her refuge and then repelled the new Khan’s attempts to retrieve the treasures Kytalia took with her.

“All is well. I have a job proposal for you. I want you to be in charge of material harvesting for all of Malcum. You may have heard we have over 700 new citizens coming here, and the crafters will need resources...”

Kytalia smiled as I spoke. I should have invited her to the meeting. I was correcting that mistake now. “If you take the job, I will give you a seat on my informal advisory council.”

Kytalia pretended to think about it, but her face betrayed that she was already eager to accept. “So, what does this extremely important position pay?” She asked after a long pause. Jaesmin was tugging my arm. She was good friends with Kytalia, and she helped her when I assigned Jaesmin as interim Master of Guilds.

“I think five gold a month is fair? Unless you have a counteroffer?” I asked. My offer was probably high, but if she could keep all the crafters in Malcum supplied with the material, it would be worth it. Then, it might actually be too low of an offer.

Kytalia nodded as if considering, “Five gold is fine. Let’s leave open a monthly bonus of up to 2 gold based on my performance.” Her toothy-fanged grin told me she planned to collect on that extra two gold every month.

“Agreed!” I said before the woman changed her mind. Jaesmin stayed with the orcs to have dinner and catch up with the going ons in Malcum. I went home and sat at my drafting table. I needed to draft a simple shop/residence building that wouldn’t ruin Malcum’s aesthetic.

Three hours later, Jaesmin returned, and I had my first plans completed. The shop on the first floor had two rooms. The front room was for merchandise, and the back room was for crafting and storage. The second floor had a kitchen/dining room and three bedrooms. There was access to the roof for a personal garden. The bedrooms were modest in size, and maybe six people could live comfortably. If we made them out of stone and Jaesmin and I helped our builders, we could do more than five a day. At least finish the structure without furniture. I identified the plans.

Uncommon Retail Shop/Residence, Heath 20,000, Requires Masonry: Foundations 7, Masonry: Structures 7 (Bonus +5% to all pool recovery for NPCs only)

It was just about as simple as I could make it. It was durable and sound, and we could add a pleasing facade on the exterior. I didn’t have time to draft specific structures for each profession as I had done for the blacksmith, tanner, alchemy, enchanter, brewery, and furniture buildings. This was going to have to do. By morning, I drafted seven more copies and walked over to talk with Breda.

Breda was in her office and playing with her scale model of Malcum. She was deciding where the new buildings were going to go. She saw me come in, and I shut the door behind me. “So, Breda, you have been doing an excellent job so far.” I paused, “But you seem to have trouble working amicably with everyone. Let’s talk about it.”

Breda put down some model homes and looked at me. She huffed and went and sat at her desk. “I trained my entire life to plan and manage a city’s infrastructure, Lord Tallis. Did you know that?”

“No, I did not. Care to elaborate further?” I felt I was about to have another NPC backstory.

She grimaced like she didn’t want to talk about it, but soon she was telling her tale, “I was the oldest child of King Rhinehold. I had two younger brothers. Much younger brothers. While I was studying and apprenticing with every conceivable administrator who helped run my father’s capital, my brothers played with swords and axes.”

She stood and walked back to the model of the city. “I had so many plans to make that city greater than it was. I put them all in a book, ready to impress my father. Forty years I spent on that book.” I think she was hiding a tear as she faced the model.

“When the day came for my father to announce a successor, all his children were to present to him why they were the best dwarf to run the city and kingdom. The succession wouldn’t happen for decades, but the heir needed to be named. I confidently presented my plans for improvements to the city. My eldest brother said how charismatic he was, how the soldiers loved him, and that he would fight alongside them to defend the kingdom.” She was definitely crying now as the model table had a few drops on it from my angle.

“My youngest brother…he said his brother was the best choice to run the city and kingdom as he would be looked up to by the people and loved by the citizens.” She took a deep breath, “My father sat there and looked at the three of us. He had my detailed tome in his hands and had been so proud when he paged through it just moments before. I knew I was going to be named the heir.”

She turned around, and her tear-streaked face met me, “He walked forward and named my brother the heir and handed him my manuscript to study!” Her gaze turned hard. “As we left the chamber, my eldest brother told me he would name me Master of Builders. It was a good title and had one of the council seats. But then he told my younger brother he would be named General of the Army, the second most powerful position in the kingdom, for his support. I was shocked and angry. But then he…he tossed my book into the chasm as we crossed the defense bridge from the citadel.”

It took Breda a few minutes to calm down. “The book was not retrievable, but much of what I learned was still up here.” She pointed to her head. “I left the next day to make another dwarven city greater than my father’s to show him how wrong he was in his choice. I went to three kingdoms and was rejected by all of them…then I came here. I don’t know if it is possible to take Malcum from nothing to greatness, but I will put my entire soul and being into trying,” she finished firmly.

So, I got a highly driven career woman with daddy issues. “Ok, Breda, let’s do that then. Make Malcum the gem of all cities. Here are my plans for the shops.”

We spent an hour going over the placement of the shops. Breda had decided that Malcum would eventually have an upper city with higher-end shops, so it would be okay if these were not of rare quality. We laid out where the first seven would go, and I got to work with my build team.

The day flew by, and I told Mad Dog I didn’t have time to talk. All seven shops were complete, and I was surprised when some townsfolk started carrying furniture in later in the day. I had not planned to furnish them, but Kytalia came to me and said she was streamlining the lumber mill and furniture factory and hoped to provide most of the new shop residences with old furniture.

Ok, so I have to admit I had been under-utilizing Kytalia. She was running around town getting people to harvest hemp for the ropemakers, setting quotas for lion and buffalo hides, working with Zion on wool projections, and recruiting five townsfolk to train with our lumberjack and had the new mill operating at close to capacity…all in one day! She had probably done half a dozen other things as well. She was just an amazing woman.

She came to me as my builder team was enjoying a much-deserved meal in the inn, “Lord Tallis, I have a list of goods I need to keep the new citizens busy. Could you pass it along to your player friends?” I took the list, and it was extensive. It contained estimated monthly needs for the village and even had estimated prices based on Kytalia’s and Elice’s knowledge. Wax was the most expensive thing on the list, followed by iron ingots.

“You have done an amazing job! With the player auction house open, I might be able to fulfill some of these needs.” I quickly finished my meal and compared prices at the player store. The only item I found that was cheaper was the wax. Two waxes were available for minimal cost, giant bee wax and insectoid gland wax. Since they were both cheap, I bought all 240 lbs of beeswax and 600 lbs of insectoid gland wax. I assumed the insectoid wax was due to the Incursion event and the city they took over.

The products I purchased materialized in my alcove in the store. I put everything in my bag, and it stacked nicely in there. I then took a deep breath as I knew I needed to do a lot of drafting tonight for tomorrow’s build day.