Coordinating the efforts of the people of Mudtown was a fair sized project, but Andulin made it look easy. Trees were cleared along the east side of town and a parallel road was put in that allowed another line of houses to be put in, as well as houses that ran perpendicular to the main street on the south side. Within a week the town had doubled in size, new fields put in (and blessed by me), a few new businesses popped up. The cup nearly emptied at one point, but I think Susan refilled it with silver coins since there was at least fifty in it the next day. Maria took a room at the inn saying "I'll hang around a while to see how this works out". I made her two arrows to replace the ones she used, having reruned Bruce the second night we got out of the dungeon.

After a week Susan had settled in, and I was super shocked when her and Mirabeth seemed to strike up a friendship. They weren't as much fun as Maria, but Mirabeth's dry humor grew quickly, and Susan even had her teasing me slightly. The Inn had a crowd one evening while Maria and I were drinking and talking, with Susan and Mirabeth sitting on their own on the other side of the room. Mary had told me she liked Susan a lot, and that Andulin respected her, which boded well.

"You thinking about changing your spawn point?" I asked Maria. She gave me a grin and said "Of course. But I wanted to put some thought into it, so I asked Dalmar to swing this way to meet me. I didn't tell him why, so he might take a little while. I also told him to stop in Crossing to see what Bigboobs is up to"

Two new ales were dropped off by a new waitress named Darla, who turned out to be the young woman who had claimed the coin from the cup. She was extremely shy around me, but was friendly and pleasant

"Thanks Darla" Maria said breezily, then leaned closer, casting a sly look at where Susan and Mirabeth had their heads together talking, and said "You sly matchmaker you! Is it the ale, or does that cup do the Cupid thing?"

I was honestly lost for a moment, then blinked in surprise and stared at the two women "Mirabeth?" I said incredulously "Mirabeth?" Drawing giggles from Maria as she said "Smooth dude. Just stare why don't you?" I looked away guiltily before asking "Really?"

Maria waved Mary over, then whispered in her ear for a second, getting a giggle from Mary before Mary gave me sly grin and nodded before heading back to work.

"Ok" I said "Did not see that one coming" I gave it a little more thought and said "Actually that's really nice. They're both great people. I wonder if they'll build a house here?" I grinned at the thought and said "That would be kind of cool"

Maria burst into laughter, getting everyone to grin and look at us, as she said "You are so cute. Do you see you and Mary doing the serious thing?"

Whoops, I looked around to see if Mary had heard that, then gave Maria a raised eyebrow and said "Sort of. The big question in my mind is how will that work if we never age?"

She went blank faced and blinked a couple times before turning to look at Mary for a second, then at Susan and Mirabeth. I could see the gears were grinding slowly, so I sipped ale and ate some of the food until she said "Well, shit. Things are so normal here I forgot they were different" She nodded at Susan and said "So why say that is good?"

I shrugged and said "Because it is. I hope she thought about it, but if not it's no different than Mary and I. Maybe I'll settle down with her or maybe not, since I don't know if we could even have children, and two eternals marrying would be silly since no marriage would survive for hundreds of years"

"Fuck Jake" Maria said, real anger on her face "Do you sit around and think about this shit? I mean..."she threw her hands up in frustration before leaning back to drink her ale and stare at the wall a while.

I wasn't sure what part had stuck her the wrong way, but I knew enough to shut up and eat quietly. She sulked for a couple of days, at one point even trying to see if she could drink enough to get drunk (only a little. She got chatty, but that could have been normal), but she finally sidled up to me while I was blessing a new field, and said "Kids. Susan and I went through shit when we got here, and we talked about if it was possible. But we don't even have periods here, and I sort of asked around, and neither do the locals" she was stone faced as we stared out at the wood line. "But hell, they say they have children when the gods will it" her voice picked up a plaintive tone as she said "What does that even mean?"

I reached out to squeeze her shoulder and said softly "I'll ask Telina when I can"

She laughed, a little of her old self coming through, and said "You and your goddess. It's not like I have any plans, but..." She sighed and said "Real people have children"

"Well, of all the people I've met so far" I said seriously, not looking at her as I waved back at a couple kids who waved at me "you are the most alive person I've met" I saw Andulin, so I told Maria I would catch up with her later as I had some ideas to run by Andulin.

Andulin smiled and gave that bow/nod thing before I said "Walls. Why do cities have walls?"

He chuckled and said "You are endlessly entertaining in the questions you ask. You have not been here long enough to experience a goblin raid or have the orcs form a horde to invade our lands, or seen what happens to villages that have suffered from a raid by a group of eternals. A wall is a useful, though costly investment. If you can afford to raise one, you must consider if you are limiting possible growth of the city if the boundaries are to close. Once built you must consider the number of guards needed to make the walls an effective defense. A wall with few guards is just an impediment to an attack, so you must have enough guards to patrol each section as well as each gate..."  He gave me a hard grin before saying "for all hours of the day. A guard every forty feet is considered the best, as well as one guard leader for every two walls, with two guards on each gate with a lieutenant for each, with three shifts every day"

He chuckled at my sour expression, but let me consider things for a while. I finally sighed and said "I bow to your wisdom Captain, so have a couple of questions, but I think it would be good if you know my worries" at his nod I said "Eternals will be the bane of your children's children, so planning now may alleviate much suffering. Telina will not accept the subjugation of her people to the eternals will, so I and Susan will become a focus for their wrath. Mudtown is my home, and I dread the suffering I may draw upon them, but..." I sighed and said "it is to important to let that stop us"

He nodded to indicate he had heard me, but he considered things for a time, then said "Eternals accumulate great wealth because they know death is not permanent. As you attacked the gnoll caverns with little fear, so do other eternals wander the world accumulating things of power. Presently eternals travel in small groups, so a wall would be of little use against them. What is it you fear that a wall would be of use against?"

"Armies" I said "an eternals place of rebirth is his weakness, as we demonstrated with BigBob. These places will grow strong defenses that will require large forces to overcome. Better defenses will require greater attacking force, which will require better defenses, and so on" I glanced over to see if he was following. He was frowning in thought, but eventually nodded. I said "The accumulation of power is inevitable, so waiting is only going to delay what we needed to be doing. I want to start by considering Mudtown as the center of Telina's resistance to any eternals grab for power and plan accordingly"

"You would plan for war" Andulin said slowly "and one truth of war is that it costs more in gold and lives than you expect, so expecting the worst is the only planning that matters"

"Exactly" I said

"Then I would say that fighting off an army led by an eternal is a waste if the eternal is allowed to flee and do it again. I know you well enough now to know you will find the means to make our defenses a reality, and those defenses will be required, but how will you stop the eternal?" he stopped and faced me to say "I pledge to defend our people, but stopping your brethren will fall to you Lord Priest"

"I will" I said with a nod "and am accumulating allies in this effort. I will be leaving in the near future to study our enemies and acquire gold and magic, which should draw attention away from our home for a time, but that would be an excellent opportunity for us to move forward on building our defenses"

"An initial outlay of 100 gold will allow us to bring in dwarven builders and miners" Andulin said "another hundred will open a stone mine and allow us to lay the initial courses. 100 gold for the three guard shifts necessary for the coverage of the walls" he paused to consider, than said "I see no way we could build what you wish for less than 1000 gold. This would wall in an area four times larger than our existing cleared area, and supply guards for three years"

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"1000 gold?" I asked skeptically "Mirabeth's ring supposedly cost hundreds?"

Andulin laughed and said "you compare dissimilar things. I am paying a builder to lay a course of stone, something any number of people may do, while a ring of mana renewal is an item that few will find, much less sell. 1 gold will pay the wages of an unskilled worker for a year, so consider what a thousand gold will purchase"

"Well...ok" I said after a few seconds of thought "then we'll need to do this in phases. You lead these people so all I can do is request your help, but I would like to supply you with gold to start laying the ground work for what we've been discussing"

"Of course" Andulin said "I am here to defend the people of Mudtown and only a fool would say that Priest Loser seeks something other than that. I will begin the planning you have mentioned, and as gold becomes available, will build the defenses we need"

Good. Now all I had to do was convince the rest of the world, starting with Susan.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Was Susan's initial response.

"Exactly what it sounds like" I said in exasperation "Mudtown is the center of Telina's power, so it needs a defender. I need you to work with Andulin and Mirabeth to ensure it survives until I get back" we had been talking for ten minutes, and Susan had acted dumb for most of it. I scowled at her as I said "I would like nothing better than to have you go with us, but damn it, who better than you or I to do this?" I waved an arm and added "We are Telina on this world Susan. When someone comes here to conquer us, they don't need to find the healer, they need to find the Sword of Telina in all its glory. It will happen. The eternals will come here to destroy us, and I need to know that no matter what happens, our people will survive"

Mirabeth reached over to lay a hand on Susan's arm and said "Susan. You are blinded by your past in this. Telina's priest is an honorable man, as you yourself have said. Listen to what he is saying. He asks that you defend everything he cares for so that he might do something he loathes"

Susan turned to clasp hands with Mirabeth, her expression anguished as she said "But...it would be cowardice to stay behind"

I leaned forward and rested my hand on theirs and said "It is an act of bravery Susan. I spent my adult life killing people. First for the government, then for myself, so I know how hard it is to stay behind while others go into battle. I'm not here to blow smoke up your ass about this, I'm asking you to accept the shitty job and ensure all my efforts aren't wasted"

"Goddess Jake" Susan said bitterly "I don't know if I can. Don't you see that?" She gave Mirabeth a beseeching look as she added "I can't do this alone, don't you see that? We can't afford for me to fail again!"

Mirabeth took over at that point, sending me away to, as she said "Do whatever men do when they have nothing to do"

I headed to my room, meeting Mary on the way, and spending part of the evening discussing what I was trying to accomplish. Mary was lying with her head on my chest, arm across me as we snuggled together after a bout of lovemaking, and she said "You see Susan as the woman she wants to be seen as. This is your greatest power, as well as your greatest weakness my lord. You believe in her when she doubts herself. You burden her with your expectations, confident that she will be as strong as you would be" she looked up into my eyes as she laid a finger across my lips and said "You would say you are weak and would be proud of any effort she put forth" her questioning look made me nod as she pulled back the finger, then said "That is not how you are seen by us, or by Telina's Paladin. She loves the Mage, but in you she sees her goddess, and to fail in your task, she sees herself failing her goddess"

"Goddess" I muttered "she'll kick anyone's ass if they threaten this town, how can she not see that?" I asked in frustration.

Mary leaned up for a kiss, then stayed there to match stares as she said "Because she is human, but this is her task. You see truly in this, and she will be a powerful force upon this land, but she must see herself as you see her"

Who am I to argue with that?

Susan accepted of course, and I took the time to put a 'special delivery' rune on her sword, and made one on Andulin's before I left. I also began making healing potions full time to stock up here in Mudtown. She started working with Andulin and me as we mapped out a long term strategy, and I made her my party member and set up the email link. As a party member she would benefit from any experience I gained, so we would level together regardless of whether she was with me or not. It would also allow me to transfer gold and items to her, even if we were weeks apart. Benefit of being an eternal.

Dalmar finally showed up, and all of us, Maria, Susan, Andulin, and Mirabeth met with him at the inn. Maria had updated him via email on how things had changed, so I just needed to see where he would stand in all of this.

"I saw Bob" Dalmar said as he ate the food Mary brought him. Dalmar chuckled and added "the locals have a whole ceremony now, with a bunch gathering to watch him spawn, then fall to the bottom of that pit" he let out a bark of laughter and gave me an admiring look. "That was inspired. I talked with him before the archers killed him. The man begged me to free him"

"Do you think he'd accept moving his spawn point here and working for us?" I asked

"BigBob?" Maria said disgustedly

That got a shrug from me before I said "He's probably below level 5 now, so he's fodder for any eternal that finds him. If they free him, he will probably end up working for them at least until he gets strong enough to stand on his own. If we free him and have him set his spawn point next to Telina's cup, he'll be forced to live by Telina's rules or suffer when he respawns"

"He's a rapist" Susan said in disgust

"Yes, he is, and I won't release him if you want him to continue being punished. But we need to consider we are stuck with him for a thousand years. If we can make him an ally, turn him into a better person, we'll reduce our enemies by one person"

"Geez Jake" Maria said half in humor and half in disgust "You really do take the long view on this shit"

"Jake's right" Dalmar said "I've thought about this myself. Some of the other old timers have begun talking, though no one has gotten serious yet. Things have sort of stagnated, with the high level guys not willing to risk themselves in the tougher areas. There might be  some on the western side of the empire still moving around, but I haven't gone that far since the early days. I can see them teaming up to conquer their areas to keep other eternals out"

"Siege mentality" I said "and I imagine it will get worse over time. It's also the perfect time for us to do our own exploring"

"Well, I'm in" Dalmar said as he leaned back with his ale and relaxed in the chair "Maria's right about having you along making these things a lot better. The Forbidden Lands is where the best stuff is supposed to lie, but no one has lasted more than five days there"

"The southern part of the Forbidden Lands is the domain of the dragons" Mirabeth said "but the north is infested with a large variety of creatures who are trapped between the dragons and the orcs"

"Yep" Dalmar said "it's a freaking monster zoo throughout that area, but the treasure drops are great" he reached over to pat his war hammer as he said that "and Bob would be useful if we brought him along. Instead of changing his spawn point though, I say make him earn it. If he dies traveling with us then he's back in his pit losing levels. Incentive to not play games"

I chuckled, but nodded agreement with the idea as Dalmar said "In fact, I'll free him and have him swear to me. If he does a good job you can pop up with an offer to set his spawn point in Mudtown"

"He even gives me a nasty look and I kill him"  Maria said in disgust. Dalmar reached over to pat her hand as he said "That will be very clear to him girl. I'm not blind to his personality, but Jakes right, prison kind of loses something as a punishment when you know you're immortal"

"It is a wise path" Andulin said "turning an enemy into an ally is an excellent method of winning a war"