I talked with Dael for some time about the party quest idea, and the other leaders stopped by to share their opinions on it and ideas for other quests. Some of them weren't practical, or didn't encourage benefiting the fortress, but there were a few good ideas.

The party quest ended up being something I could use to target a specific group to earn Fortress Coins, like new species that had just joined the fortress, or a species that was having a hard time earning Coins in other ways. Or it could be left open so that any of my people could contribute to it and be rewarded. There would be a credit of Fortress Coins that anyone who was contributing to the party could use to gain raw materials from the Fortress Shop to set up the party. And then there was a quest at the end for cleaning up after the party.

People would get Fortress Coins equivalent to how much they contributed to the event. I assigned the floor that was two floors below the ward room floor as the Party Floor and set the quest to cycle weekly. The first week I assigned to Ansar and his Plains Keepers and the week after that would be open to any of my people who wanted to contribute. Everyone in the fortress was invited to the parties, and everything at them would be free.

Another two quests, suggested originally by Lizzie, were for craftsmen. Taking the concept of loaning initial materials, craftsmen could take a Training Quest where they were provided the materials for a project in return for the project being submitted to the fortress, and the craftsman being rewarded for the quality of the work.

It would allow and encourage anyone with a desire to improve their skill in a craft to do so. Which tied into the other quest that she suggested, the Apprenticeship Quest, which rewarded established craftsmen for passing on their skills and mentoring new people to their craft. Veya's suggestion was to expand the Apprenticeship Quest out to all professions, and not just crafting ones, such as guards, warders, merchants, and magi.

Another suggestion, this time from Mal'Thorn, was for artists to decorate the public spaces of the Fortress, and if there were going to be a population of Demi-AI then a separate quest for creating entertainment within the common simulation. With so much time available to them it would be nice to have something to occupy them, and be recognised for their efforts to be entertaining. It would also encourage people to share the projects that they worked on.

"Speaking of projects," I said, after Mal'Thorn had convinced me to create the Demi-AI quest. "How is the Forest simulation going?"

We had been discussing the ideas for quests while looking over the railing into his simulation.

"I'm happy with it," Mal'Thorn said. "It is running much better with the new memory, thank you."

I pulled up the rules and variables that were governing it, and it looked as though there was something wrong with the Forest.

"Looking at it..." I said. "Am I correct in my assessment that the forest is dying?"

"It's not dying," Mal'Thorn said. "It is hibernating to conserve energy in the permanent night that is over the Forest Biome."

But if the night continued the forest would be in trouble. It was obvious that it was running on reserves now.

"What would be your opinion if I raised a wall entirely around my claim, roofed it, and provided sunlight to the trees there?" I asked.

"The gesture would be appreciated," Mal'Thorn said. "But it wouldn't affect the Forest overmuch. If you provided sunlight day and night then you would be giving enough sunlight to support eight times the trees in your claim. If your entire claim was filled with trees, which it is not, it would only provide enough energy for one hundredth of a percent of the Forest."

In other words the Forest was far too large for me to affect if I limited myself to just my claim, which was only a tiny sliver of the total Forest.

"Wait, if I am lord of the Forest Keepers, what does that mean for my claim?" I asked.

"It is redundant, except for the terms that were negotiated which you are still expected to honour," Mal'Thorn said. "The entire Forest is your domain as our Lord, but the people living in the Forest that have claims are not under your authority. Their treaties were negotiated with the Forest Keepers and we are as bound to the terms as they are."

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I looked over the pulsing ethereal map of the Forest Biome. In a dozen different places scattered at random there were small sections in the Forest that were flashing blue then red. I pointed one out to Mal'Thorn.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Each one is a group that is calling for a meeting with the Forest Keepers," Mal'Thorn said. "The ones flashing red and black are the groups who lack mana asking for our attention with an open flame. A white flare would be an unaccounted for flame in the forest."

I studied the map more intently and found the only two flashing red and black.

"How long have they been calling for attention?" I asked.

"I saw them as soon as we got the Heart of the Forest established," Mal'Thorn said. "Before that I don't know, it wasn't my responsibility to track it. I will deal with it."

I nodded. It was his business and not much of mine. With only a slight exception.

"I will give you a thread portal to take with you," I said. "If they need shelter as the Druids did, and in your judgement they would be an asset to the fortress, you can invite them to join us. They would still need to form a treaty with me personally though."

"Thank you my lord," Mal'Thorn said. "It is likely that a majority of them are asking for some form of assistance, and the Forest Keepers as they exist as a force now are not in a position to give it. I wouldn't be the one to go out to them, though. As my people's leader I am not supposed to put myself at risk. Gerald scolded me quite thoroughly for almost dying in the snow man attack. I would have to assign a diplomat who would go in my stead and with my authority."

"My offer stands," I said. "If you trust their judgement then I will give you the portal for them."

I began moving a thread portal to where his physical body was.

Several of the leaders had gone back up to normal time and I should be going up myself to lead them back to the exit of my Pocket Dimension. Before doing that I opened up a broadcast channel to each of the leaders.

"Just a reminder that each of you need to pick out two candidates from your species to join the new army," I said.

Mal'Thorn, who was still standing in front of me in the common simulation, replied to me there.

"I have my two picked out," Mal'Thorn said. "A spell caster and a spear user. Would it be possible to send a quest for them to come to you to have their race converted?"

It would be possible, but it presented an interesting opportunity. Could I write an interface to myself that linked to the System which was an interface within my digital side. I think I could. I was so used to being able to drop my perception of time down below other people's so that I could code something for a few hours without them noticing that I was gone that it took me a few seconds to see that Mal'Thorn was waiting for an answer from me.

"Sorry," I said. "I went into coding mode. I'm working on something that will address your question."

Mal'Thorn nodded, smiling, and created his towering screen of code and began playing with it. I took a moment to appreciate the different ways that people expressed themselves in the simulation. I didn't have any external tells, like Chantelle with her gestures, when I wanted an effect done I created it directly. And I coded entirely within my own mind without using visible screens. The artefacts of controlling the simulation weren't needed, but they did give an air of mastery that appeared more impressive.

I shook my head, clearing it of my daydreaming, and went back to coding. An hour later I had a workable interface and sent a test quest through it.

System evolution triggered... Quest subsystem expansion submitted...

System Evolution approved...

Approved entities may now submit Quests independently. Quests with rewards drawn from Fortress Storage must be approved by the Lord of the Fortress.

Huh, a System evolution that wasn't triggered by an error. The System had expanded to cover the functionality that I had written but made it so that the quests wouldn't have to go through me. The way I had written it would have made it pretty automatic, but I was much happier with the System upgrade. I added all six leaders to the Quest Givers list.

I was thinking about the phrasing to use in another broadcast to the leaders informing them of their new ability to submit quests when Mal'Thorn turned to me.

"I was just notified that I am now a Quest Giver," Mal'Thorn said. "And that I have access to a Quest tab. I also now know how to submit Quests, somehow."

"Good," I said. "That saves me having to explain it. If you have any quests that are related to the Fortress then you should be able to submit them for approval and I will provide the reward. Otherwise you can provide the reward yourself."

Mal'Thorn nodded. A minute later I got a ping from the System to approve a quest submitted by him, Army Enlistment, assigned to two Forest Keepers I didn't know, with a reward of one Fortress Coin each for them to assemble at the top of the fortress. I approved it and the quest went through. A few moments later Ansar appeared in the common simulation.

"My lord," Ansar said. "I have two people from my clan that I would nominate for the army position. Will they get the quest if they aren't in the Fortress? Or should I wait until they arrive?"

"They will get the quest anywhere in the world," I said. "So you can send it now."

I returned to normal time and over the next minute received and approved the quests summoning the candidates. I walked the leaders back to the portal at the top of the fortress and had just waved them off when I got a ping for attention from the portal in the Plains Keeper marketplace. I pulled up the feed, a guard was banging against the doors of the presence.

"What are you doing?" I asked through the presence.

He jumped back. "The sun has gone out, and the plains have started dying from a wave of frost from the west," he said.