Because the ghosts raised concerns about the integrity of the tournament, Enno has no choice but to announce that the tournament won’t be held as originally planned.
“Ladies and gentlemen, even though the Perserian ghosts perpetrating this act of sabotage have surrendered, before we prepare a ransom request to Perseria, we need to determine the site of the future haunted park!” Enno harangues them.
“With all due respect, milord, one does not ask for ransoms for ghosts, even if these ghosts were nobles in life! On top of that, Perseria might claim that these were rogue actors who did this!” Bryzax retorts.
If what Saronium says is correct about the situation in Perseria, they can’t afford to pay ransom for the three ghost cataphracts, they must rebuild their settlements, ravaged by war! I wonder why my lord thought it was a good idea to hold ghosts for ransom of all things! Bryzax starts questioning his liege lord’s financing structure as the aswarans’ gear is being cleaned out from the tournament grounds.
“I’m not claiming these ghosts did so in Perserian service!” Enno turns to the champions in the middle of the pitch. “Champions, because integrity issues mean the main event can no longer be held as planned, you will need to explain publicly what your community have to build a haunted park upon, and why it’s the best fit for the realm’s future haunted park!”
Phew! All is not lost! The mentalist sighs, realizing the original main event can no longer be held. However, the prospect of having to speak in front of hundreds of people, possibly thousands, might terrify her, as much as it could terrify all other champions.
Bryzax keeps the speaking order under wraps, and then has the losers of the first two duels speak first, in chronological order of losing.
“Please, no using magic to influence the results of the voting!” Bryzax asks the mentalist as she goes first to pitch her location.
An abandoned farm? Sorry but abandoned farms aren’t worth converting to a haunted park; it will threaten our food security! Enno starts realizing that perhaps some Perserian refugee could start their life anew rebuilding the abandoned farm.
“Surely your community could let someone who’s fallen on hard times have the abandoned farm!” a spectator reacts to the mentalist’s plan of having the haunted park built in an abandoned farm.
Needless to say, that consideration cost the mentalist the haunted park. Other champions pitched all sorts of locations, like an abandoned estate, a frozen cave, as well as an exhausted quarry, to name the frontrunners at this point, before the population could vote for the site of the future park.
And, of course, the attendees seemed to have their objections to raise to each potential haunted park site after each champion made their pitch. Like the frozen cave being so far away from the rest of the realm, and, of course, the dead forest that some feel might be more useful as a place to make charcoal than as a haunted park.
“So we might want a charcoal kiln in that dead forest on top of a haunted park… who’s in to invest in it?” an investor asks about the project for a charcoal kiln after hearing about how the berserker of the second duel pitched a dead forest as a haunted park site, knowing the dead forest site won’t win the haunted park contract.
And, of course, the abandoned farm, for which some vagrant who fell on hard times approaches the mentalist to help her run it once it became clear that the abandoned farm won’t win the haunted park. But they are wondering how they will get the money to buy the agrarian equipment they need to get the farm up and running.
After hearing all 16 proposals on hand, the people assembled in the stands await the signal to vote on the park location.
“All those in favor of the abandoned farm proposal by…” Enno announces the name and location of the mentalist’s abandoned farm. “Please descend upon the pitch!”
And then Bryzax counts the number of voters who wanted the haunted park to be built in an abandoned farm. Only the mentalist and the vagrant vote for it, so only two votes are cast in its favor.
The second-lowest option is the berserker’s proposal to build it in a dead forest, which only nets five votes. Needless to say, they lost the park and they need to make preparations for the alternate uses they have in mind for their respective sites.
Now it seems like the abandoned estate and the exhausted quarry are neck-and-neck in the first round of voting, under the one person, one vote principle.
“It appears that the abandoned estate and the exhausted quarry proposals are tied, and therefore a second round of voting, with only these two choices, will be held!” Enno announces to the crowd, as he refuses to cast the tie-breaking vote for now.
A haunted park in an abandoned estate would normally require at least one boss indoors and one boss outdoors, if more than one boss, Saronium starts thinking about how the vote’s results will affect the park’s design. On the other hand, a quarry would require only outdoor bosses, and outdoor bosses have fewer constraints.
With 14 options eliminated, some voters abstained from voting in the second round, feeling they would be indifferent to the choices remaining. But as the final vote is tallied, it’s becoming clear that one option is pulling ahead of the other.
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“With a total count of one thousand one hundred and seventy-one to five hundred fifty-seven, and eighty-three abstentions, the winner is: the abandoned quarry project!” Bryzax announces the results of the second vote.
Bryzax then brings the quarry’s champion to the lord’s box. His liege lord has some questions for the champion about the layout of the abandoned quarry that just landed the contract for the haunted park. Saronium also approaches him around that time.
“I wonder if there is anything special that I need to consider when building the haunted park in the quarry, like, its layout…” Enno asks the quarry’s champion. “I just want to ensure that I know where I can put what kind of ghosts”
“Milord, this is also for what do the ward-builders need to consider when putting in wards to keep the ghosts in the park. You said that you wanted the park to be trash-free, so all you need is bosses. However, bosses must be custom designed. As you can imagine, designing bosses is much more expensive than trash ghosts, since they must be crafted from scratch. And trash ghosts, as well as adds, are often made of presets with limited customization capabilities!” Saronium harangues the two about ghost design.
“Wait a minute… haunted park ghosts are crafted?” the quarry’s champion, clueless about haunted park design, gasps.
“Yes. But what’s really crafted is called a locus. And I’m surprised Enno even thinks ghosts take up physical space, but ideally bosses should take up its own space in a park”
“Just one moment, please…” Enno tells the rental healer before leaving the box.
While Saronium explains what’s relevant to the champion of the quarry about haunted park design, Enno makes for the palace’s rooftop. The palace guards temporarily stored the three aswarans’ gear on its rooftop, where Enno found Concetta practicing alcohol magic with a barrel under the supervision of a local tavern keeper, also an alcohol wizard.
“Remember: always open with the shooter!” The tavern keeper tells Concetta, who seems to not quite have the rotation down.
“Oh yes, then the shooter, the alcohol cloud, the adulterated alcohol, the moonshine and then the cocktail! In that order…” Concetta sighs before practicing her rotation of alcohol spells until she fills the barrel with it.
I wonder if I can even sell the products of these drills as some sort of fortified booze… Concetta starts wondering whether this mixture of magical beverages can even be sold, while she is so focused on the drill that she fails to realize her liege lord is on the palace’s roof. Once the drill ends:
“OK, Concetta, I have a task for you, after you finish this drill. I want you to go to the nearest broker, and sell the three sets of gear belonging to these ghost cataphracts, along with any alcohol from your drill! Keep the gold from the alcohol, but remember that you’re selling the gear in my name!” Enno instructs his cook while the flying carpet is being loaded with the gear.
Oh boy… I wonder what relationship this gear has to the gear dropping from the Perserian haunted parks, Enno is wondering whether the sale of this gear will make any dent into the expenses of building the haunted park in the exhausted quarry.
But the payload from the gear makes the carpet fly slower as Concetta follows the road from Kaeshana to the nearest broker in Gorima.
After Concetta flies off in the distance on the carpet, Enno goes back to Saronium to ask a question to her:
“I have taken three cataphract ghosts prisoner. I wonder if it’s feasible to turn the trio into what collectively amounts to the first boss of my haunted park…”
“By now, you must have realized that it’s more acceptable for the first bosses of haunted parks to be easier than later bosses. But I never saw anyone try to convert trash from older parks into a boss. Let me see the prisoners, please!” Saronium pleads with him, while the quarry’s champion is about to leave.
“Goodbye, milord!” the quarry’s champion exchanges formalities.
The two then go to the palace’s jail annex and the jail’s guards ask the lord the purpose of his visit to the jail:
“State the purpose of the visit!” the guards ask him.
“The haunted park is a reality, now we need to inspect the ghost prisoners to ensure they are able to be stationed at the haunted park!” Enno explains to the guards, who then guide the pair to the cataphracts’ cell.
The two are left wondering why is it that these three ghosts haven’t attempted to escape their cells yet. As they approach the cell, and are about to inspect the ghosts:
“It has come to my attention that Perseria is not in position to pay for any ransom for your release!” Enno breaks the news to the three cataphract ghosts. “Also, your cataphract gear…” Marzban then interrupts him.
“Aswaran gear! The new regime in Perseria has imposed bans on the use of ghost soldiers!” Marzban explains before introducing himself. “I apologize for not having introduced myself when I raised the white flag. I’m Marzban”
“Marzban, why wait until you’re captured to tell us this?” Saronium asks Marzban. “Before your capture, you were out for me and for Lord Enno because you were accusing me of having aided the massacre of innocents, while, in reality, ghosts herded residents of Lower Perseria for use as living shields!”
“Aswaran? What’s the meaning of this… Marzban?” Enno rolls his eyes. “Your… aswaran gear has been sold to pay for the repairs to the tournament grounds!”
“The old Perserian regime distinguished between aswaran and savaran cataphracts. Aswarans were ghosts, while savarans are living” Ermahgerd explains the difference between the two. “Both have more or less the same equipment, so the buyers will probably be would-be savarans”
“Even if we wanted to return to Perserian service, we can’t!” Tissaphernes adds to their lament.
“Maybe, in Kaeshanian service, you might find a second… life, if that makes sense!” Enno makes a proposal to the three ghosts.
“How so?” Marzban asks his captor.
“If you were to serve, together, as a haunted park boss, and mounted on your horses…”
“Teleportation drains our energy, and the horses’, too!” Marzban answers the two, while Saronium examines the ghosts for signs of whether they can actually be refitted as a boss. “We can’t teleport at will!
They will need extra mechanics, especially in brutal and fatal difficulties. However, the other important change is that, while trash can attack without provocation within a certain distance, bosses don’t, Saronium ponders what changes will be required for the trio of aswaran to be viable as a boss. She then turns to Enno.
“It’s not… impossible, and not, it’s not just about power scaling. If you’re OK with a very easy boss, it’s typically easiest to accept if it was the first boss”
“Then again I feel like it’s better if people don’t leave a haunted park empty-handed” Enno then turns to Marzban. “How does being a haunted park boss sound to you?”
“When your existence as a ghost revolves around haunted parks, you start building your entire identity around your role in a haunted park… I guess we have no choice” Marzban sighs.