We awoke early the next morning after going to bed early the day before and prepared to leave the temple. I put my armor and weapons back on and we left the building we had been sleeping in. The monks were working around the groups, keeping the gardens on the outer edges, training the main arena, and meditating on some of the porches of the buildings. It was so peaceful in this temple, I thought I could get used to being there. Someone played a stringed instrument that set the mood as we walked toward the training area. Two monks greeted us with plates of food, one with a food portion obviously meant for me, and the other with a large plate of meat clearly meant for Aeolith.
We sat in the training area and ate our food, thanking the monks for their hospitality before we were led back to the stairs to make our way down the mountain.
"Do you mind if we leave from here? there is no sense in us walking all the way down those stairs just to fly away again." I asked the monk leading us.
His eyebrows raised as though he had just thought of this and he nodded his head once in affirmation. I took out the saddle and put it on Aeolith and climbed into it. With a few flaps of her wings, we were airborne and she pointed herself east to fly back to Jewelston. Apparently, she felt like showing off a bit and flew low to the ground across the mountainside and then down the face of the mountain before leveling out due east. My stomach was in my throat and I let out a cry of glee as this feeling was better than any roller coaster on earth ever had been. Clearly, Aeolith was in a great mood today as she then proceeded to make several barrel rolls and a couple of loops in the air as we flew.
When she finally leveled out I relaxed my body and took a few deep breaths. That was the most thrilling ride I had ever been on, and I could see her potential in aerial battles as well. She was able to snake her body around into maneuvers I thought nearly impossible for a dragon of her size. Her scales shimmered in the morning sunlight as they reflected a kaleidoscope of colors off of them from the iridescent sheen each one held. She was beautiful beyond words. She picked up on my mental musings as she crooned loudly and let off her own feelings of pride at my admiration.
"You truly are a beautiful killer, Aeolith. As beautiful as you are deadly." I said, scratching her scales at the base of her neck.
"And don't you ever forget it!" She replied, a joking tone in her thoughts.
I laughed at this and looked out over the horizon. We were making good time and might even be back to Jewelston faster than we came to the mountains. When we got back I needed to speak with the crafters about making a weapon that could be used on dragon back. That would be a really cool way of fighting. I began to think of other possibilities for upgrades and how they could be used as we flew on eastward. By the time we finally could see Jewelston again, I had some pretty awesome ideas that I needed to talk to people about. We flew in a few circles over the town to get lower to the ground before we finally came in for a landing in the open space near the roost. Aeolith was tired from the long flight, but not as tired as before due to the winds being with us on the return journey from the mountains.
Sandra was there waiting for us when I dismounted from the saddle and took it off of Aeolith.
"Callan, good to see you returened. And you look well. I trust the journey went without incident?"
"I guess that depends on if you call meeting the serpent god Beraz an incident."
She looked slightly shocked for a moment.
"I guess one might call that an incident. Most people go their entire lives without meeting a god and you've met two now."
"Three actually. I met Geneva as well."
She looked at me dumbfounded now at this proclamation.
"Well, you are a Dragonrider, a mythic hero of fables, and brought not one but two dragons to Jewelston. I guess I should stop being surprised at anything from you at this point."
"Imagine being in my shoes. My entire life is just one gigantic revelation after another. But enough of that. Did you need to see me? I wanted to see about talking to the crafters about some ideas I had."
"What kind of ideas?"
"Well, weapons, armor, and some new city defenses I found blueprints for while I was on the isle of Carthas, for starters."
"I'm sure that can be arranged. I wanted to speak with you regarding the city defenses as well actually. That you have some blueprints makes me happy as we need to find more methods for fighting off Shadow Beasts should they attack. By now they must know you are staying here, which puts us all at risk for an attack."
"I don't mean for you all to be at risk. I'm sorry I've put you in that position."
"No no, do not look at it that way. We are happy to take on this risk, because with it comes the protection you offer. No one in this world is safer than those at your side. You're the one who can most easily kill them, so better to have you here with us than to have you somewhere else and be attacked."
"I see your point. Well, I swear to defend you all with my life should it come to that."
"Let's hope it doesn't. For now, why don't we see what those blueprints are about and then we can talk about my ideas as well."
We walked to the wall above the roost and looked out across the ramparts before us. The wall was sturdy and tall enough that most would have trouble scaling them.
"I think I remember we were close to being able to upgrade the walls?"
"Indeed. We should be able to do that tomorrow. When we do it though, we can move some of the weapons mounted on the wall. You mentioned blueprints, what exactly are they for?"
I reached into my bag and pulled out three different blueprints and laid them on a table that Sandra had some of the men on the wall bring over from the guard house.
"The first one is a light crossbow. I think it's funny, the play on words here because it's actually a heavy crossbow design, but it shoots magical light bolts instead of actual crossbow bolts." I said, laying the first blueprint on the table.
Sandra picked it up and examined it, then called down from the ramparts for someone to join us.
"Donny! Come up here for a moment would you?"
A man came running up from the roost where he had been staring at Aeolith.
"Yes, m'lady?" Donny asked, a little out of breath from the run up the stairs.
"What do you think? Can we make these?"
Donny took the blueprint and looked it over for a minute and nodded his head.
"Sure we can make 'em. Just a crossbow with a few modifications for the firing mechanism, and then a storage unit for mana to be poured into it for the light bolts. Shouldn't be much of a problem. We have plenty of supplies now with the orders you've put in."
"Great! I want two hundred of them made. Here, take the blueprint. I want anyone on sentry duty to have them anytime they are on the walls."
"Yes ma'am. I'll get the boys on making these right away and pass your wishes on to the guard captain."
"That sure was a quick decision."
"These seemed fairly simple to make. And they weren't large pieces of machinery that would take time to put together. What else do you have?"
"I think you'll like this one. It's one of my favorites, though I'm not sure how practical it is. I think in my world they called this a Ribauldequin, but here it's called a Light Blast Cannon." I said, also laying this much larger blueprint out on the table.
The design of the weapon was that of a basic cannon base with two wheels under the main body and a back end that could be lifted up to move the machine on its wheels. The actual cannon, though, was a set of ten barrels pointed at evenly distributed angles across the front of the device and appeared to be designed to fire ten shots at once in a volley across about a sixty-degree angle.
"Now this is really interesting. I haven't seen anything like this before. It won't be able to be on top of the walls, but we could make some adjustments to the wall to allow for them to be slightly lower down and maybe shoot through horizontal slits in the wall."
"You sure seem to know a lot about warfare and defense, Sandra," I noted as she pondered the weapon's use.
"Hmm? Oh yes, I used to be in the army in a much larger city and we had several attempts to take over the city. We were all trained in warfare and the best way to use weapons to defend the outer walls. I had a mentor who had been in many wars and I soaked up as much info as I could. Then when my service time was done, I came back here where my parents lived and helped fight off a monster attack. The citizens saw my potential and made me mayor so that I could take over as defender of the town."
She looked a little sad at this memory.
"Sandra remember I am not here to take over. You have every right to challenge any decision I make and I want your input. I am not qualified for this position. It is only so that I can become stronger for when we have to fight off Shadow Beasts."
"I know. That is honestly the only reason I am going along with this. You are a good man, Callan. I have seen that. You care for these citizens as much as I do. I want to do what is best for them. I just miss the title. That's all."
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"As soon as we can find a way to get rid of these beasts, you will have the title back. And if it's within my power, I'll give you more for your help."
She smiled at me at this.
"Thank you, Callan. Now, let's see what we can do with this...what did you call it?"
"Oh, a Light Blast Cannon."
"Right. Ummm...Vargus! Come up to the wall."
This time a dwarf came running up the stairs to meet us. He was not out of breath, I noticed when he got to the top.
"Aye, m'lady. How can I help ye?" Vargus asked.
"Take a look at these. What can you make of them? Can we build it?" Sandra said, handing the blueprints over to the dwarf.
Vargus took the blueprints almost reverently and carefully looked over the designs. He turned the page first right, then left in his hands as he read the details on the blueprint.
"I've never seen anything like this. This truly be a work of art. And deadly art at that. I think we can make this work. I've got some guys high enough level to make the barrels and can work with the carpenters to get ye what ye need." Vargus replied looking up at us from the sketchings.
"Great, how many do you think we can have made in a week?"
"A week? That be not a lot of time. Eh...I would think we could have a prototype done in a few days and then we could work on mass-producing them after we test it. Maybe ten of 'em in a week?" The dwarf said very skeptically.
"Good. I want at least twenty-five of them in two weeks. We will make some preparations in the wall upgrade to allow for firing these out of slits near the base of the wall. We can always fire crossbows out of them if we don't have enough of these." Sandra said turning back to me.
"Twenty-five in two weeks?! I'm not sure that's possible m'lady." Vargus protested.
"Nonsense. I have the utmost trust in you Vargus. You can do it!" Sandra said turning back to him and clapping him on the shoulder.
"Thank you for yer trust. I will see what we can do." Vargus said, and turned and walked back down the stairs.
"Are you sure that wasn't an unreasonable demand?" I asked, concerned for the dwarf.
"It totally was. But when he delivers fifteen of them or even ten, then I will have had more than if I had asked for ten and gotten five." Sandra replied as if it was no big deal.
"Ahhhh. I see now. You make huge expectations so that when they fall short, it's still more than the light expectations and falling short. The orders make them speed up instead of taking more time in developing them I guess?"
"Exactly. My experience with the crafting guilds is that they want to take as much time as they can squeeze out of you. So if your order is reasonable and they fall short then you are left in a bad situation. But if your request is unreasonable and they fall short, you aren't disappointed."
"Clever. See I have much to learn from you." I smiled at her.
Sandra smiled back at the compliment.
"What was the last blueprint? Did you save the best for last?"
"Not exactly, but I did save the biggest for last. I was hoping you would like the others enough to get started right away as they seemed like they would take less time to build. Here take a look. A Light Catapult."
I laid out the last blueprint on the table. Sandra whistled at the blueprint. It was so large it was falling off the edges of the table.
"This sure is impressive. I bet it's really expensive mana-wise to load this up and fire it."
"I'm sure it is. There would have to be a mage with these to fire them."
"Hmmm. Garth! Gavin! Can you come up to the wall?"
"You sure had a lot of crafters with you when you came to visit. Is everyone here?"
"I held a meeting with the heads of each crafting guild near the roost in preparation for your return. I had planned to introduce you to all of them and had them stay nearby while we talked first."
Two men came up the stairs. One was a burly, hairy man with a long black beard, the other was a thin man who looked more at home in a library and was wearing robes.
"Garth, what can you make of this blueprint? You are our siege weapons specialist."
Sandra took the blueprint from the table and handed it to the burly man. He took it and looked it over.
"I see why you called Gavin up here at the same time. I was confused at first." The burly man said in a deep baritone voice. "We should be able to make this. It's basically a standard catapult frame with some extra support. It's mostly the additional mana storage unit and the runes in place for protection and firing that are different. Here Gavin, let me know what you think."
Gavin took the blueprints from him and looked over the designs carefully.
"This is ingenious!" Gavin declared. "I never would have thought to run this through there. And this run keeps it from exploding under the pressure, and this one...I'm not sure what...OH! It has a rune for firing so you don't have to be so close, that is exquisite."
"Gavin? Can you do it?"
"What? Oh, yes we should be able to make this."
"Great. I want one built to test. How long will it take?"
"Ummm...with the amount of detail in the script work on this and making the mana storage unit...probably a week-and-a-half?"
"Good, do it. If you can get it figured out sooner, then make another one."
"Yes, m'lady." Gavin and garth replied, bowing slightly and walking back down the stairs.
"Why didn't you make an unreasonable request of them like you did the others?"
"This was a much bigger machine. And I'm not sure where we will use it yet. If we don't have it, no big loss. If we do, great. I'm just not going to count on this machine for anything within that timeframe."
"So you do have reasonable expectations for this stuff." I teased.
"Of course I do. I just expect the best. It keeps people on their toes and keeps us protected. I never play around with this city's safety. Now let's look at where we should put these new toys."
We walked most of the wall surrounding the city. We planned where we would put the weapons to have the most effect with respect to where we already had the ballistae that Al'Doran had helped build. We had to plan for the wall to be about thirty percent longer than it was and so we staggered the weapons to try to have the most coverage possible. The catapult would have to be used on the ground from behind the wall to make sure it had the most utility without doing damage to those on the walls, and the crossbows would be held by guards so they could be moved at any given time.
We also talked about what kind of things we should consider building with the new space we would be afforded with the wall upgrade.
"This area to the west is our best bet for having the extra space. With it, we can put more housing for the refugees and anyone else looking to move to Jewelston. If we put housing on the outside, then when someone comes with siege weapons to fire over the walls, the houses will be all we lose. Houses are inexpensive to build when compared to things like workshops, and other buildings with more utility than just living in. While it would be a tragedy to lose your home, we could house people in other places until we can rebuild. If we lost something like a smith or crafter's workshop we would lose productivity while we rebuilt."
"That makes perfect sense to me. I also noticed a building we don't have yet that seems like something we should begin to put a priority on while looking at the buildings tab. A keep. It would be a defensible position for us to fall back to in case of attack."
"Until now we have not had a need for it. No one is really looking to ransack Jewelston. Now, though, I see your point in case of invasion from Shadow Beasts. I will see What can be done about that. We will likely have to do a lot of moving to get a keep to fit in the center of the town. And it will be expensive to build."
"Wouldn't it also put us on track to become a much larger town?"
"It would. We could do more in trade with a city of that size. It would also increase our daily town points by a fair bit because our city would go up a rank. That was another reason I hadn't done this before. The next rank will have some new features with it we were not originally prepared to deal with. It shouldn't be an issue now though."
"What kind of features?"
"Well we will have to have a larger judiciary system put in place, a bigger jail, reform some of the laws, taxes will be slightly different, the sewage system will need to be upgraded, the market needs to grow, we need a trade center and several other more minor things. But you are right that it is time for us to grow. I will work on making that happen."
"I'm sorry to make this more complicated."
"Oh, no don't worry about this. I love making these kinds of changes, and it fills me with pleasure to see this city finally get to that point in its growth. And I get to be a part of it all." She practically beamed at this.
"How will you move the buildings around to accommodate the keep?"
"Normally it would take points to move buildings, but when we upgrade the wall, it gives us a chance to move things for free since we are getting more area contained within. That is why it costs so many points for this upgrade. So I will move everything around in anticipation of the few new buildings we will have to build to get the keep. I will need you here to sign off on the permissions I need to make the changes, but you will be able to focus on other things once that is done and I will handle the rest with some city planners."
"We have city planners?"
"Sure, in a city this size we really have to be careful where things are going to go, so we have people whose job it is to make sure that everything goes just right with the addition of new buildings."
"That feels like a boring life."
"Not everyone is cut out to go adventuring all the time. Some people are afraid to die, Callan."
"I'm afraid to die."
"Imagine how you'd feel about death if you didn't have Aeolith, or the others to watch your back. Imagine you were still level eight and didn't have any magic. How afraid would you be then?"
"I hadn't thought about it that way. Where I'm from monsters aren't something we worry about and if we are attacked we are defended by the military, so just the threats of other militaries is enough to keep the peace most of the time."
"It's not like that here. We have to constantly be ready because the strong can just take what they want."
I hadn't thought about it that way. But it made sense now. There wasn't a world superpower keeping the peace now that the Dragonriders were gone. Cities, towns, villages, and the like were subject to whatever whim someone with power had. And as an individual, you could be killed on the road just by monsters looking for food.
"I think it's about time to go have a meal. I'm getting hungry with all this city planning. Can I buy you lunch over at the Dragon's Nest? Patsy makes a mean chicken sandwich."
"Sure. you can buy me lunch. I think I deserve it after being such a good Steward."
We walked down from the wall, having gotten back to the Draong Roost, and walked through the town until we got to Paty's place. We went in and sat down to have a bite to eat. Patsy saw us together and began to make a fuss over us, as she always did.
"Oh, it's so nice to see the two of ye together, makin' the city a better place fer all of us. What can I get fer ye?"
"I'll take a couple of your chicken sandwiches and some of those new chips. And whatever the lady wants."
"Ohhhh," Patsy said and winked at me.
"No no, it's not like that, we are just having lunch after doing some city planning."
"Sure it's not, what'll ye have lass?"
"I'll have the same as Callan. He said they were good." Sandra said, still looking a little defensive.
"Best in town if I do say so myself. I'll get those right out to ye. And a couple of drinks as well."
"Thanks, Patsy. As always, you're the best!"
"Oh, thank ye lad, I just do the best with what I have." She walked off to get the food ready.
Sandra and I talked about the plans for the city and Patsy brought out our food and drinks a short time later. We talked for over an hour about the ideas for the city and what I was hoping to do with weapons and armor for myself and for Aeolith. Eventually, the conversation turned though to more about my history as well as Sandra's. After another hour passed, Sandra excused herself to go deal with the city planners and promised to have a smith com see me about my ideas. I stayed in the inn for the rest of the evening and listened to the bard play some songs. I sang with the crowds of people that showed up after work, drank with some people who all wanted to buy me a drink, and ended up buying a round for the house as well. I was beginning to feel like I belonged in this place that evening when I finally went up to my room. Tristan, Vokin, Rutherford, and Randal had all come to join me in the inn at dinner time and we had a meal together to discuss where everyone was with their research and training. It sounded like they had made some good progress in finding things they could do to better themselves in their classes and I was able to sleep that evening knowing that everything was going forward well.