Chapter 14

As soon as I entered the dreamscape that night I got the notification.

Milestone completed

Have a Unit develop a personality

Reward: Unit banner unlocked for the unit in question

New Milestone:

Win a battle against forces at least equal in number

I took a look at what changed with the skeleton unit. I also quickly added the vanguard designation as that seemed to suit the unit.

UNIT 1

Moira's Chosen (Penal legion)

Size 10/10 CP used

Type: Skeleton spearmen

Equipment:

Weapons:

Basic short spear/javelin

Long spear

Spiked club

Lumberjack axe

Armour: Wooden breastplate

Wooden Dypilon shield

Unit traits:

Replenish at 1 CP per hour when not in combat. A random unit member gets resurrected.

Troops retain weapons and armour they had on them when defeated. Defeated troops and their equipment fade out after 1 minute

Unit personality: Penal legion (fanatics).

Skeletons in the unit will now regain the memories of the spirits that animate them. Will fight more effectively and gain the ability to communicate verbally.

Unit is fearless in battle and eager to distinguish itself. Will follow any order given even if it is suicide.

Attached upgrades

Staff-sergeant: Moira

Bannerman: This does not count against unit CP cost. Carries the unit banner.

Unit banner: not available yet.

Unit designation: Vanguard. The unit gets buffs when at the front of the army. Gives morale bonuses to units behind it

I'm really glad that I focused on just one unit for now. All the upgrades so far have been stacking on the skeletons and they are now in a good place. Next level up I will try and unlock a second unit.

“AI-me how come I have unlocked a bannerman but don't have a unit banner yet?”

“Your bannerman just has the banner pole right now. The banner itself you will either have to earn somehow, like taking it from an enemy unit. Or you will have to get it made. Most units don't go for the capture and like to have their own banner, adding captured trophies or other things to the banner over time instead. Banners don't have to be cloth. They can be anything from a beast skull to a carved totem pole. just depends on the unit. The banner will give unique buffs depending on all those factors.”

As usual, AI-Me was both freely giving out information, but on the other hand not giving away any real specifics.

When Moira woke me up for my shift on watch I could already see the differences. The skeletons seemed less like automatons and copies of each other but more like actual people. Just small things for now, like the subtle shifting of weight from one leg to another while on watch instead of total rigidity. From the description, it sounded like it would take a little bit to take full effect.

The bannerman had shown up as well. It was a slightly larger skeleton and looked to have been a lizardman, so it had a tail and lizard skull. It had a huge 3m long pole with a crossbar at about 90% of the way up. I would need to discuss with Moira what we should do for the unit banner.

One thing I also noticed a bit more clearly is that we now had way too many different weapons. The skeletons now had long spears and shields. Add to that a club on one hip and a lumberjack axe on the other. And a spear slightly too big to be an effective javelin strapped to the back.

I would need to cut down that number a little bit once we got back. I figured we would drop the short spear and the club and just keep the axe as the backup weapon. It could also be thrown if needed.

Speaking of weapons. The next morning at breakfast I showed Moira our dads axe/guitar. I found out that he had a new version made in Valhalla. Thor the son of Odin liked my dad's songs so much he enchanted it with electricity,

Every time he played t it would rattle all the cups and plates in the hall and have lightning bolts coming out of it on the big notes.

I tried playing the axe. But Moira quickly told me that if I tried that again she would bash it over my head. Apparently, a feel for music is genetic and me being adopted I didn't have that trait.

We spent the next couple of days getting to know each other better. Moira told me tales of Valhalla and me talking about all the mischief Grim and I got up to.

The skeletons were showing more and more personality. On the third day, they started singing a marching song while walking. Moira joined in, but I got bad looks and a stone thrown at my head by Moira when I tried to sing.

They still didn't seem to talk otherwise though. Still being silent. But I could see more and more differences between the skeletons now. One always seemed to be last to get its stuff ready for the march. Another one would always be seen sharpening its axe, and so on.

Moira told me that as individuals distinguished themselves in battle and get access to Valhalla others would take their place on the respawns. She still had her Valkyrie powers to make that happen.

Because we didn't have to follow the road, we were able to make very good time and made it back to the city a couple of days before Grim and Aura did.

I had to go to Aura's dads' shop and explained that we had to split up. I dropped off all the extra weapons there, as Aura was the one to make the clubs anyways. Only fair that her dad would sell them for her. I got a little bit of cash for the short spears.

After that, I reported to the commander about Timberdale and the big fire. He would send some troops with relief supplies, and a few mages to help clear the road. I also had to inform him that we hadn't had time yet to scout out the new road found.

He didn't feel like it was much of a problem. We could do it after we came back from the caravan run. Speaking of which, it was delayed by a week or so as some of the new colonists wanted to come along as well. The town was now almost at current capacity and some of the colonists had decided because of that to head further south.

All we could do now was wait on Grim and Aura to get back and have a little bit of downtime. And a good bath or two.