The following morning, Enno has questions about what Bryzax told him last night about the costs of building and running a haunted park.
“You mentioned that a haunted park can bankrupt Kaeshana. Yet, Saronium said that Perseria was the cheapskate faction of the haunted park world. I can’t make heads of what could cause the land to go bankrupt because of a haunted park!” Enno whines at his herald.
“But, milord, you were the one saying that building a haunted park in the swamp was cheaper last night!” Bryzax retorts.
“What did I hear?” Yutolio asks both men. “Who is Saronium?”
“I want to build Kaeshana a haunted park. However, I know I want Kaeshana to reap the benefits of the haunted park without making the population suffer!” Enno turns to Yutolio. “As for Saronium, she’s the healer I rented because I feel like I am going crazy…”
“What makes me feel like you’re crazy is that you seemingly treat haunted park ownership as a symbol of status among the factions of this world!” Yutolio retorts. “And then Saronium claims that Perseria was the cheapskate faction of the world of haunted park operators?”
“Saronium has experience of haunted parks, high and low, big and small. Perseria was seemingly able to get two haunted parks built because it already had the infrastructure to service both, and nothing extra needed to be built for it!”
“There’s no question, infrastructure is a major cost of getting a haunted park built!” Bryzax adds.
So there are two kinds of structural costs: the costs incurred to build the park itself and the costs incurred to build the infrastructure around it, and ideally I should try to minimize both, Enno is left wondering what costs are incurred for what makes a haunted park, well, haunted. And other design costs, too… There’s just so much I don’t know about the haunted park business!
“If I may, I need to go to the shooting range: tomorrow, I will hit the road and go to a haunted park myself!” Enno warns his retainers before going to the armory.
“And then I will need to practice swordplay some” Bryzax then follows his lord to the armory to get his training gear in order.
While Bryzax spars with a wooden sword and shield, but without armor, Enno, on the other hand, goes out to the firing range and practices rapid firing of a hunting carbine. It’s then that he realizes that, even though the ammunition is magical, the only difference between regular ammo and magical ammo is that he doesn’t need to reload the weapon.
I wonder if our lord is interested in Saronium because of her expertise in haunted parks or for some reason unrelated to haunted parks or medicine! Yutolio is left wondering about his liege lord’s motives for renting her.
“Milord, I am a little concerned about this entire enterprise of getting Kaeshana a haunted park! Bryzax told me about what can go wrong with running a haunted park!” Yutolio scolds him between rapid-firing drills. “Are you ready to face a revolt if the haunted park doesn’t work?”
“I feel like I will have to face a revolt if I don’t get the haunted park built!”
“Are you sure you can afford to prevent the Perserian problems from occurring?”
“The Perserian problems happened because of, yes, lack of enforcement of haunted park ordinances, but these were made far worse by choosing to build haunted parks in the middle of a densely populated city! This means that the haunted park must be built in an area with a nearby road, but away from any major town!”
Ideally, a haunted park would be built in a dying village or an abandoned estate; the risks of malfunction-induced revolts are much lower. Or at least the damage one such revolt can potentially cause, Enno now has a better idea for where to build the haunted park he promised his people.
“Even if you built a haunted park in an area with preexisting road access, do you have any idea of how expensive haunted parks are to maintain?” Yutolio yells at his lord, annoyed by his lack of consideration for the public safety concerns harbored by the residents.
“No. This is not the sort of information any haunted park operator would openly release! No more than they would release haunted parks’ maintenance schedules to the public! But this I vow! If I ever get the haunted park built, I will release an annual income statement for the park, as well as breaking down its operating expenses! Now, if you could excuse me, I need to practice rapid-fire marksmanship!”
Yutolio, tired of this fruitless discussion, lets his lord practice rapid-fire marksmanship with an instructor from the city’s garrison.
Speaking of the marksmanship instructor, he notices that Enno is making some progress by the end of the morning during which he trained. He might be wondering why he feels the need to practice rapid-fire marksmanship.
“Milord, why do you feel the need to practice rapid-fire marksmanship?” the instructor asks him, after the drills end.
“Isn’t it obvious? It’s about self-defense, and if I need to take the field!”
Phew: I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell him about this whole haunted park project, Enno ruminates while Bryzax returns from a sparring session with another knight of the palace guard.
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“I think I have an idea to appease the tensions about the haunted park: host a first-blood tournament with champions of dying villages and estates, in a fortnight, to be held in the city’s tournament grounds! The winning community will then be awarded the haunted park!” Enno suggests to Bryzax. “I trust you can maintain the integrity of the tournament!”
“Yes, milord!”
“And all the tax money levied specifically at this tournament will be put into a special fund for the construction of the haunted park!” Enno adds this proviso.
“Milord, even with this source of financing, we are not any closer to determining how much the construction of the haunted park will cost! Just because you feel like building it in a dying village or an abandoned estate might be a cost-saving measure, doesn’t mean it actually will!” Bryzax warns him.
“Why is it that everyone here seems to turn against me and my dreams to build a haunted park and bring prestige to Kaeshana? A haunted park is no different from a monument from a prestige standpoint, no matter what the monument is used for! The population, Yutolio and now you!” Enno yells at his herald. “Fly out and announce the tournament to the communities that can realistically host the haunted park! Now!”
“All right, milord, you win… but do you agree to abide by the tournament’s results?” Bryzax’s face starts to turn red.
“Yes, sir, it’s the only way I can even begin to earn back the trust of Kaeshana’s population!” Enno keeps screaming, as Bryzax returns to his quarters to fly around the land.
Saronium must be the only person left in the land to actually believe in this haunted park project! Did I announce the project prematurely to the population? Looks like I am betting my lordship on this project, I may as well go all-in and do everything in my power to get the haunted park built! Enno ruminates as he tends to his other affairs. Maybe I’ll understand what Saronium means when she talks about the adventurer experience, if and after I go through the Caladon Bog!
Bryzax’s flight path takes him through locales containing potential settings such as abandoned mines, sawmills, quarries, monasteries and mansions. Desperate communities betting their futures on one tournament, in hopes that landing the haunted park will bring them to their former glory, whatever that meant.
And yet, being at the site selection stage of the project is better news for the people living in these areas than simply announcing there will be a haunted park without any timeframe or financing in place. It will be hard to pick just one location for a haunted park without this… tournament! Bryzax sighs, while two people vying to become their village’s designated champion approach him with questions. I don’t think Enno playing favorites will help him recover any kind of trust among the population; he seems to care about that aspect of staying in power.
“The grand prize of winning this tournament is our community being awarded the haunted park? Has our lord become a jester?” a possible champion designate asks Bryzax.
“Yes!” Bryzax answers.
“This is definitely the most bizarre prize ever given out at a tournament! Often tournament organizers gave out jewels, clothes, mounts or gear, or some combination of these things as prizes!” the other potential champion designate tells Bryzax, rolling his eyes. “But if that’s what our lord found as a way to go forward with the haunted park project…”
Speaking of their lord, Enno is wondering when will Bryzax come back because he already ate dinner without him, and is about to go to bed. I hope Bryzax knows what he’s doing; the dominion is vast enough to have a few entrants.
Bryzax returns to the palace as Enno is about to go to bed. However, he has his own business to tend to, and so doesn’t notice that his lord’s sleep is about to get troubled.
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And then, as the tournament is about to begin, before the champions designated by the communities they represent could be introduced to the attendance, an angry mob showed up outside the city’s tournament grounds.
“No haunted parks!” protesters started chanting with pitchforks and torches on hand.
“Down with Enno! Down with the haunted parks!” another protester is about to throw the pitchfork his way.
The pitchfork hit Enno, causing him to bleed. He was carried off the tournament grounds, unable to attend the tourney he organized so that he could designate the community that would become Kaeshana’s haunted park.
“Hold him in custody until the grand opening of the haunted park!” Enno ordered the guards to arrest the person who threw the pitchfork at Enno.
“You’re under arrest for aggravated assault! You have the right to remain silent, and anything you might say may be held against you!” the guards told the protester.
“Seize the property of this criminal! Sell it off, and throw him into the haunted park once it opens!”
Is this how I am going to pay for the construction of the haunted park? Seizing the property of anti-park criminals and then sell their property off? Is that how other factions paid for the construction of their haunted parks? I have no clue how much park-grade ghosts cost, Enno ruminated, knowing that the haunted park was a political hot potato at best. Will there be more attempts on my life, at least until the haunted park opens?
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When Enno awakens, he is reminded of the political risks he’s taking internally. Most people who have even heard of this entire haunted park fiasco have no reason to travel any further than the nearest market town, and they tended to stay inside the dominion. Therefore, I don’t expect any non-Kaeshanian to have heard of it unless... Saronium spoiled everything today to the rest of the world!
“Curse you, Saronium!” Enno yells in the middle of the night. “Why did you do this to me? Why did you tell me about how poor haunted park maintenance can lead to war? She was the only one in Kaeshana who knew about haunted parks at a level appropriate to build one! And yet, she still believes in this haunted park!”
“Milord, she had no real reason to lie to you!” Enno’s cook, Concetta, tells him, awakened by his yells.
“Never did I accuse her of lying. But is she a fear-monger? Is it common for haunted park experts to discourage people from building new parks?” Enno asks her.
“By now you know Kaeshana doesn’t attract a whole lot of people with any real experience of haunted parks in any capacity!” Concetta points out.
“Maybe Saronium should become the park’s steward upon its completion!” Enno tells Concetta before she returns to her bed.
I am not going to mince words, being told about how Saronium was a Perserian refugee last night sends a shiver down my spine. Especially after telling inn patrons about how a few hundred ghosts could terrorize one of the biggest cities in the haunted park world! Enno struggles to fall asleep, even rolling in his bed, while Concetta did nothing to allay his fears.
The following morning, it seems like everyone in the palace has noticed that something is amiss with Enno; he has dark circles under the eyes.
Meanwhile, at the palace’s main gates, the sentry is dealing with an early bird woman.
“Halt! State your name and business!” the sentry asks her.
“Saronium. Your lord is in need of treatment for his madness and today is his second dose”