John was nervous, worried and nervous. In five minutes he would have a meeting with Lizzy and William to discuss the current situation Exsolutus found itself in and argue about the best path forward. He worried that the two guild leaders wouldn’t agree with his conclusions and fail to act. This made him nervous as he wasn’t sure whether the Guild would survive for much longer and he saw only one way forward.
Once again he considered the complexities of their current situation. More specifically, he went over what he understood of the Guild’s position in the hierarchy of strength and the risks and opportunities this presented. Comparatively speaking, the members of Exsolutus could be considered fairly strong, not only the strongest but also in average. Compared to Resolute and other people who had migrated out of the city they were, in average, a minimum of 3 to 5 Levels stronger. Additionally, every single member had learned to cultivate and they were probably ahead of the curve here too. This made any individual stronger than average.
From what he could determine, their combat team was well balanced and efficient too. They had sufficient variety in classes and skills to cover a wide scenario of combat situations. The few crafters they had where also progressing nicely and compounding Exsolutus’ strength. Save for a lack of firearms, or rather ammunition, they were well armed. John considered this their weakest point.
Materially the Guild was well of, at least comparatively. Although they didn’t have a lot of currency for the time being they had no lack of resources. They also could trade what they didn’t have with Resolute who were always in need of more food due to the people they liberated in the city and the fact that food in town was now beyond scarce. Trading through the System Obelisk was also easy, at least for smaller items.
Exsolutus’ comparative wealth was precisely the problem that he was worried about. The lack of food of Resolute and by deduction, the city, was the issue that affected Exsolutus, or would in the near future. While its members were fairly strong, Exsolutus had less than 30 members. Resolute, in comparison, numbered in the high hundreds and ever more people were fleeing from the city. Due to their history Resolute was well aware that Exsolutus had sufficient resources, specifically food. If Resolute became desperate enough to attack them for food Exsolutus was likely to fall. Although Resolute owed them a debt of gratitude and the scenario was unlikely it would be safer to remove temptation altogether.
Worse, by now, the city resembled an active war zone. Although the military and a coalition of gangs where currently in a stalemate, both parties were desperate for resources and sending out raiding parties into the environs for food. It was only a question of time before someone stumbled on their base and Exsolutus was in no position to defend against a large raid given their small numbers. Resolute was planning to relocate and they had also informed them that there were individuals in the city approaching Level 30. Although killing sapient beings was penalised by the System, killing enough allowed scrupulous individuals to quickly gain strength.
The situation was further complicated by the fact that the location of the Ascension Obelisk was currently a no-man’s-land. The only way of reaching it was moving through the territory of either the military or the gangs, not even remotely possible with their current strength. Ryan could probably shift there and portal them in, but the chance that they’d be spotted was high as the antagonists kept a close eye on the location.
Raiding the city for resources was another risky proposition, the chance of being discovered by spotters higher than he was comfortable with. Because the military and the gangs had negotiated a ceasefire they had more attention to spare on the few remaining neutral parties. For that reason Resolute had stopped their supply raids last week.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The density of larger wildlife in the nearer environs had dropped noticeably due to the efforts by the two guilds. Exsolutus wouldn’t face hunger within any reasonable timeframe but the same couldn’t be said for Resolute. Compounded by the likely possibility of conflict with raiding parties originating from either the military or the gangs in Windhoek their situation here was untenable beyond the immediate future. All in all, John considered, it would probably be for the best if they could relocate.
The how was a given, Ryan’s portal. The only question was, where to. John looked at his shortlist to remind himself of the requirement he had listed:
1. Within decent range of an Ascension Obelisk
2. Access to water
3. Sufficient game or previously domesticated animal life
4. Shelter and buildings
5. Defensible
6. Arable land
7. Not at risk of urban population dispersal.
8. Possibility to raid urban centre’s for resources.
The list was in no particular order, but all requirements had to be met. The first was the most fluid and, dependent on Ryan, fairly negotiable. The same went for the last. John was just worried about the first point because he was uncertain as to what was considered a major population centre by the System. After the patch went live Ascension Obelisks were relocated to major population centres and not allocated per 50 000 people. The problem was, if the requirement was a town of a minimum of 50 000 people they were straight out of luck. Namibia had only three towns that would have qualified pre-system and only Windhoek would have qualified post-system. From anecdotal evidence it had become clear that Windhoek had a minimum of 3 or 4 Obelisks pre-patch but it didn’t reassure John as much as it should have because they should have had at least 8.
Even given the above, both Walvisbay and Rundu, the two next largest towns, were unsuitable destinations. The former was situated on the coast and surrounded by sand-dunes and thus the worst choice. The latter was situated on the northern border on a perennial river and a great choice save for the fact that it was more than 700 kilometres away. Ryan was unlikely to reach it and scout for a great location within a sufficiently short amount of time. As a result, John had narrowed down the possible locations to a radius of 250 kilometres as that should allow Ryan to safely scout more than one possible location provided they were geographically close and not on opposing sides.
The remainder of his requirements helped further narrow down possible options. After discussion with William John had narrowed suitable locations down to either large farmsteads or lodges as that would provide sufficient buildings or building materials. Proximity to large damns was tempting but ultimately unnecessary unless they chose to relocate with Resolute.
John had scrapped relocating south or east as these areas became increasingly the further one moved and John would prefer to move a decent distance from Windhoek and would strongly suggest so. East was an option but John wasn’t too familiar with the eastern part of Namibia and the only possible major population centre within range was Gobabis. That had left only north as an option and John had quickly settled on the ideal location for Exsolutus, or rather a short list of preferred locations at least.
The Waterberg plateau is a prominent geographic feature rising above the plains of the Kalahari bushveld and located about 70 kilometres from Otjiwarongo. It has several lodges located on, around and in the near environs. Groundwater is strong and several natural springs exist. As it was a national park pre-system wildlife is plentiful and it is surrounded by cattle and game farms. John favoured relocating to the plateau as it ticked nearly all of his boxes and best of all, he clearly remembered the layout and location of two of the lodges, both of which would be near perfect for setting up a sheltered community.
John’s only concern with the location arose out of the tale Johannes, Gabriel and Katrina had shared and their experiences with the baboon raid, the plateau was near ideal baboon territory and as it had been a national park their numbers hadn’t been culled by aggravated farmers in generation. For that reason alone relocation there was a risky proposition but no matter how John approached it, still the best location he could think of.
Reaffirming his choice and recapitulating his arguments for relocating the Guild he headed to the pre-scheduled meeting with William and Lizzy.