Town Builder

Chapter 51 Plainsrider Clan

The march across the plains was like an unstoppable wave. The army slaughtered the spawned monsters and quickly looted them. We were spread out across 400 yards to harvest as much as possible. We started seeing scouts on horses when we approached the orc clan’s location.

The orc clan outriders raced back to their village to prepare for the oncoming army. Our giantkin were jogging and spreading out, leaving a large trail of rising dusk in their wake on the open plains for our approach. A group of cavalry flanked the infantry on each end, ready to respond to an attack. The leaders rode behind the center of our pressing army.

The large huts made from wood, straw, and hides were clearly visible as we approached. Thirty-nine orc warriors rode their mounts to meet us. Mad Dog seemed overly excited about the clash and kept talking, but I wasn’t really listening to him. Tanguin leaned to me as he studied the orc riders before us. “The center one is the new Khan. He is level 55. The Warriors to his right and left are his two shamans, both level 50. The warrior riders are all level 35.” That was a lot stronger than I had hoped for. If this came to a battle, I would take losses. Not many, but any NPC losses could not be replaced easily.

Thirty more orcs came rushing out on foot, and Tanguin said they were level 20. Kytalia spoke, “Those are the warriors who have not earned a mount. They will still fight to protect the village.”

“So sixty-nine is their fighting force?” I asked.

Kytalia responded, “The women and teens will fight if we get to the village—another 30 or so. I am surprised by the numbers we found here. The new Khan is Dashtil. He left years ago to start his own clan. He opposed my Khan, at that time. But he didn’t challenge him and instead took ten warriors and twelve women with him. He must have returned when he heard the clan was greatly weakened and took it over.” She breathed, “This is not the situation I expected to find. Dashtil is prideful, honorable, and strong.”

As if summoned, the Khan rode forward. “Why do you come and challenge our clan? Haven’t you killed enough of my blood?”

Kytalia motioned for me to ride forward with her, and we approached the Khan. Kytalia answered, “The town of Malcum has taken me and mine in when my husband, the Khan, was killed by poison. That same Khan attacked Malcum, seeking revenge, and was killed by a superior force.” She looked the new Khan in the face, “We do not wish for war. We came here to raise the Plainsrider Clan to new heights!”

Dashtil spun his horse and looked at the Kytalia, then the giantkin. “You would have your people, your clan, bow to men?” He appeared angry. “If they want to control the Plainsriders, they must prove they can fight.” An eruption of cheers came from the orc ranks. “I do not wish to see my people decimated again. If you have honor, fight me. If I lose, we will follow you. If I win, then you will leave us alone for 1000 cycles or fall to the wrath of divine justice!”

Quest Offered: Duel of Honor, Defeat the Khan in solo combat, reward: the settlement of Plainsriders orcs will fall under Malcum’s rule—100,000 experience.

Oath of Divine Justice to be observed if you lose.

I was going to win against a level 55 orc warrior leader, essentially a boss NPC. I couldn’t figure out if Tanguin could take my place or not before I committed. Mad Dog rode up next to me, “I don’t think your NPCs can duel for you, but I was offered the same quest. Do you want me to accept on behalf of Malcum?

Well, this wasn’t going as planned. I looked at Mad Dog, who seemed eager to jump in. I guess this was a game, even if it seemed real to me. “Mad Dog, you can take the quest. Good luck, and try to win without killing the Khan,” I finished, and he flashed me a wolfy smile full of teeth.

I retreated to my line and asked Tanguin what level Mad Dog was currently at. He said 66. He had been level 59 when I first met him, so he had gained seven levels. Much better than I had done, and he had been slowed down by helping to grow Malcum. I needed to break away from my building efforts and do some grinding.

Mad Dog and the Orc Khan faced each other on foot. Both sported large two-handed swords. Mad Dog was slightly shorter and didn’t look as muscled as his opponent. But this was a game, and strength was in stats. I knew Mad Dog had a good set of gear.

The first exchange had Mad Dog bent over, and he quickly drank a potion on his belt. Kytalia leaned into me, “Weakness debuff. Easy to brew with local ingredients.” I looked at her perplexed.

“Why didn’t you advise him before the match started?” I didn’t want to sound angry, but Kytalia could have given Mad Dog some help.

“He will be fine. Dashtil will lose on purpose if he needs to. He wants to put on a good show,” she said softly.

“Wait? How do you know? He looks pretty determined from here. The two infantrymen on the end are my nephews. They sent me hand signals. Dashtil is smart. He knows what is best for the clan,” Kytalia smugly informed me. Mad Dog had taken two more strikes and only gave a glancing blow in response. I doubted her words. It looked like Mad Dog might lose.

The fight started to drag into minutes and Mad Dog was pissing through potions and using his stamina pool at an alarming rate. The Khan got a massive blow on Mad Dog’s bracers, throwing him off his feet. He stood and held up his hand to me, “Don’t worry Tallis I got him right where I want him.” He engaged the orc again. Cheers were coming from both lines of warriors as the battle between the two raged.

Tanguin rode next to me, “The Khan is a formidable warrior. You should have requested the battle outside his lands. He has unlimited stamina in defending them.” My mouth hung open. Why the fuck didn’t anyone tell me this? I relayed the information to Mad Dog who acknowledged receiving it with a grimace. Did I have the same buff? I scanned through my town interface….yep.

Stamina Pool Regenerates 1000% faster when defending your lands from invaders

There was nothing I could now but watch. After about 30 minutes, I figured Mad Dog was going to lose for sure, but then Dashtil faltered. Tanguin said, “The strength buff his shaman cast on him just wore off.” I really needed to level up my analyze skill. Tanguin was able to not only read levels but also status.

Mad Dog started to make headway in the epic combat. I switched vision to see health bars above the combatants, and Mad Dog was at 50% while Dashtil was at 90%. Both fighters were grinning, enjoying the repeated exchanges. Mad Dog looked ready to collapse at any moment but just kept fighting. The orc was slowly succumbing from minor injury after minor injury.

Mad Dog kept his health between 40% and 66% by consuming potion after potion. The wolfman couldn’t switch to a stamina or special ability potion since the cooldown would prevent him from utilizing his next health potion. I didn’t understand how this was so close with the level difference. Then again, Mad Dog and Grinder had difficulty with the level 10 wandering monster.

Approaching an hour, and Mad Dog was holding his health while Dashtil was approaching 50%. If Mad Dog had sufficient potions, it looked like he could win this. But at 50% health, Dashtil suddenly disengaged and bowed to Mad Dog, “You fight with the heart and endurance of Plainsrider. I concede the inevitable to you.” Cheers erupted from Tanguin’s soldiers. I was still confused. Had Kytalia been correct? I would have guessed Dashkil could have won at any time.

Mad Dog saluted his opponent and came to me, “Tallis, that was amazing. I was prompted with two ways to win. I could either reduce the Khan to zero health or last 60 minutes in combat. Since you asked me not to kill him, I choose the second.” I was in some shock. I was lucky he was here because I could not have completed the quest. I really needed to get myself some levels. Kytalia had moved to the Khan and was talking with him, so I moved to listen.

She was detailing the exchange of forces we had decided on. Fifty giant-kin, fifteen orc riders, four dusk elf scouts and one angelkin captain to lead them the group would remain here. There was still the question who would rule here. When he approved of Kytalia’s proposal I stepped in, “Dashkil, that was an amazing display of prowess. All of your riders will be returning to Malcum to garrison there and be under the command of Tanguin,” I indicated my general who now stood behind me. “Would you prefer to join them or continue here as my governor?”

I was taking a slight risk in appointing him the governor, but I thought the Khan had honor. He seemed uncertain and Kytalia told me she could convince him. My interface pinged and I checked the new information.

Congratulations, you have annexed the Cleardusk Plainsrider Orcs, 152 population added to Malcum. If this outpost reaches the status of town then Malcum can be recognized as a kingdom.

Kytalia and Dashkil were talking about resources when I returned to their conversation. The surrounding lands could support 50 horses and 150 people was the gist of the conversation. So Kytalia was talking about sending out a trade caravan with supplies every week to expand the population that way.

Dashkil looked at me, “I would prefer to remain here and lead my people. Kytalia has told me of your building process and that you will be constructing many buildings here to improve the quality of life.” I groaned. I really needed to work on leveling but if I didn’t improve this outpost then what was the point in incorporating it. I started explaining to him the list of buildings we planned to construct.

Rare Barracks Gatehouse, Health 250,000, Requires Masonry Foundations 23, Masonry Structures 43, Woodcraft: Carpentry 23 (Bonus: +15% skill advancement for martial skills, +4% health and stamina recovery during sleep)

Uncommon Stables, holds 20 horses, Health 6000, Requires Masonry Foundations 11, Woodcraft: Carpentry 23, Masonry: Structures 7

Uncommon Men and Women’s Bathhouse, 25,000 health, Requires Masonry Structures 23 (increase town hygiene by 25%)

Rare Tannery/Leatherworks, Health 50,000, Requires Masonry: Structures 43, Woodcraft Carpentry 23 (Bonus 33% chance to increase tanned hide quality, +5 defense bonus to leather crafted armor, 1%

10 x Rare Apartment Building; Bonus +5% Morale if all apartments are filled, +10% stamina recovery

I said more buildings would come in the future as long as the growth of the outpost continued. The barracks alone would take my team over a week to build, but probably longer as all the stone would need to be created with magic as there were no deposits nearby. The stables….I should probably redraft those. “I would love to talk with your horse animal handlers. I want to build the best facilities for our mounts. I am not familiar with the facilities needed.”

My interface began notifying me of requests but I awaited the Khan’s response. “Lord Tallis I accept your offer to serve as governor.” I hooted inside my mind. He seemed like a good leader and fighter. I opened my interface to check the requests. Kytalia was requesting a number of skilled craftsmen be relocated to the Plainsrider Outpost. The craftsmen were all superfluous in Malcum, with too many having the same skills. I approved each one.

Tanguin and Dashkil moved off, talking about the transfer of warriors. All the plains riders were headed to Malcum to be trained in the discipline of army life there. That amounted to 30, and I hoped the nomadic honor-bound orcs wouldn’t be disruptive. I needed to build the massive guardhouse as I had just lost a significant amount of moral from the soldiers transferring out here. I found a loophole, though. I could rotate who was stationed out here in two-week duty assignments. It would let them regain morale in Malcum before it bled away out here.

I was busy with my interface, and when I went to check the maps, I got a new headache. The 40-mile stretch of road between Malcum and the new outpost needed to be patrolled!! There wasn’t even a road to actually patrol. So I had to build it. That was not the only negative.

There were five alerts preventing the outpost from growing in population. Food production, water supply, education, shelter quality, and birthrate. The last was tied to town morale as it had dropped after annexation. My problems in Malcum seemed simple to this. The outpost also bordered a new region, the Red Salt Sea. And the sea didn’t have salt water, just salty red sand, according to Dashkil. And the monster levels were 90-100!! And, of course, wandering monsters were possible from there as well.

We would need to have an evacuation plan for the outpost, and I told the angelkin in charge of the troops to work it out with Dashkil. I was sitting down looking at how many problems were now popping up in my interface and largely regretted adding this outpost of orcs. Then I saw the benefit. Production: +4 elite mounts/month, +4 cavalry soldiers/month. Not a ground-shattering amount, but could we quintuple the production? 20 mounts a month! That would grow Malcum’s cavalry quickly.

I was confident I could draft some buildings to increase the production of horses and increase the quality of the riders. I dreamed of getting 20 elite heavy cavalry every month from the outpost. And Malcum could still establish a second outpost.

My workload had more than doubled. I needed to get back to Malcum and get working. I emptied my aether pool, creating a large stack of stone blocks. That would be a small drop in the bucket but it was a start. I would have to send Sanso out here with half of my builders. Ok, I would draft a small barracks building for 50 men. Then we could build two of those instead of the large massive gatehouse. The stables….two men approached. One was the breeder and the other was the trainer. I furiously took notes as they talked and answered my questions.

When I was finished with my notes I called Titan to me and mounted. I rode to Kytalia and told her I was heading back. She was to be escorted by the orc cavalry and Tanguin home when she was finished. Titan and I sped across the plains home. I brought back to Malcum news of our victory and the changes coming, although many already knew due to transfer requests in their interfaces. I went to see Breda first.

As I entered her office, I saw that she already had a second town model. “Lord Tallis,” she said with what appeared to be a wicked grin, “Congratulations. There is much to do and balance.”

I spent the next two hours listening to her plans for the outpost now that it was secured. Thankfully, she knew exactly what was needed to increase horse production and improve the quality of the mounts and soldiers. I wouldn’t say I liked the number of structures needed for her plans. “Lord Tallis, the plan is to grow the outpost into a town. Then you can establish a new outpost in its place.”

“But if the outpost becomes a town, then we get the kingdom designation, and suddenly, we become a threat to neighboring kingdoms,” I said, exasperated. She nodded at my wisdom.

“Then we can balance on the cusp of the promotion,” she said sagely. “When we are strong enough, we can make both our outposts into towns simultaneously.”

“Both our outposts? We only have one.” I asked, suddenly getting chills at more work in my future. Then I noticed another smaller table set up for models in another corner.

Breda’s wicked smile returned, “Let me tell you what Sanso found in the mountains.”

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