The Newt and Demon

Theo spent little of his time in the Dreamwalk working. He sat with Tresk, going over the events of the day. She retold the story of what happened in the town hall, presenting herself as the fearless hero that was ready to stab the Burning Eye to death. Even with their potent poisons, Sulvan would have swatted her like a fly. But he let her tell the story anyway. The alchemist was more concerned with the portent of death, and what that meant for the symbol Sulvan marked him with.

Khahar had changed the runes significantly. According to him, it wouldn’t prevent an interdiction event. Theo went back and forth with Tresk, trying to figure out if that was a good thing. They also debated what the Dreamwalk was. Their bodies were in the real world, while their minds drifted into this strange realm. The topic turned to Khahar himself near the night’s end.

“Yeah, but can we trust him?” Tresk asked. “He knows the future, but he doesn’t wanna tell us? Come on.”

Theo shrugged. They were sitting inside of the Marsh Wolf Tavern, an empty version of the real thing. The familiar haze of the Dreamwalk hung over everything, casting it in an eerie light.

“But, he told us,” Theo said. “And steered us in the right direction. No, think about it. He’s said a few weird things, so far. There’s just something about him I can’t place. He called me his friend.”

“Yeah, no one wants to be friends with you,” Tresk said, giggling.

“Sucks to be you, then,” Theo said.

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry,” Tresk said. “This guy has got me all bundled in a knot.”

“He wants to chill out in town, and pretend like he’s not super strong. If he drops a few coins while he’s here, what’s the problem?”

“Did you see that spiritstone coin?” Tresk asked, her mouth falling open. “Slap my tail and call me a turtle, that was impressive.”

“Is that another idiom I don’t understand?” Theo asked.

“Yeah,” Tresk said. “Can you imagine that much money?”

Theo’s goal had been to get out from underneath the banner of Qavell since he arrived. Things were shaping up to make that more difficult, especially with the way the war was going. There might not be a kingdom to get away from by the end, but that wouldn’t solve all his problems. He ran the scenario through his mind already. If the kingdom fell, what would happen to Broken Tusk? There was some kind of kingdom seed core that ran everything, so what happened if that collapsed?

His mind didn’t stay on the topic for long. When the Dreamwalk ended, he had potions to brew and a canal to finish. Khahar wasn’t the person speeding the project up, though. Ziz and his guys were still going against Alise’s words and working on the project at night. Theo knew they were doing the same thing tonight after recovering from the effects of using [Stamina Potions]. Still, there was a lot to look forward to.

Salire was coming into her own in the shop, treating it like a learning experience. Theo didn’t care how much money she skimmed, so long as she was leveling her cores. He was trading gold for experienced merchants, which he’d need more than anything. The idea of caravans hadn’t left his mind, even as the port neared completion. Even if they were cut off from the northern section of the continent, they’d need to run goods between the three major towns of the southlands.

The mine was also producing [Drogramathi Iron Nuggets], which would make for interesting alchemical experimentation. Sledge might have finally realized she could direct work, instead of doing everything herself. The golems were just starting to be useful, and the alchemist had plans to get more lodestones from Zarali. His intuition on the matter said he could run 10 of them at the same time with his current level of willpower. He was practicing the things the Drogramathi Priestess showed him, but it was slow work.

That left the excitement for the harbor, and a dangling thread he hadn’t fixed up yet. Fenian sold him a [Weaver’s Seed Core], which he wanted to use to make the sails for the boats. He just hadn’t cultivated the right crops to get the job done, and hoped Banu, the local farmer, made progress on his splicing project. If anyone could figure out how to merge 2 plants, it was that guy.

When the Dreamwalk ended, Theo sorted out his stills from the previous days. His holding tanks were half-full of attribute-enhancement essences. He cleaned the stills, dropped in some frozen [Living River Water], and set them to work. Tresk joined him for breakfast at the Marsh Wolf Tavern. It was whatever was left from yesterday with a Pozwa egg on the side. The egg was a meal by itself.

When Theo and Tresk arrived at the work site, everyone except Ziz and his people were ready to go at it. He walked the length of the harbor. The alchemist wanted to stop thinking of it as a harbor. It was a marina connected to the ocean by a canal, but it was easier to think of the entire thing as a harbor. This was the last stretch for the project, although that felt surreal. He stood at the last length of earth that needed to be dug, the ocean in sight. Tresk had to clear some monsters away from the beach, but otherwise it was smooth sailing.

Khahar didn’t seem affected by the drama last night. He went back to work, just happy to use his hands and get paid his single silver coin. Seemed like a shame, since the man held at least one spiritstone coin in his inventory.

Theo poured the last potion on the ground, urging it to cut the last section of canal, connecting it to the ocean. The workers had cleared out of the pit just as the ocean came rushing in. The alchemist had never seen so much water move at the one time, and it was going to be a massive problem for the pumps. They wouldn’t be able to clear out the surge of the ocean fast enough, and the supply of salt water was endless.

“Told you this would be a problem,” Alise shouted. “Now we have an unfinished section of the harbor.”

It was an impossible problem. Perhaps they could have waited for a lower tide, or dammed the ocean somehow, but he was out of ideas. They would just have to deal with an unfinished section of the canal, allowing the dirt to wash out and ruin the beach area. He would just have to come to terms with changing the landscape, and potentially harming it forever.

“I never wanted to offer more help than a standard laborer,” Khahar said, coming over to inspect the issue. “But would you mind if I held the ocean back while we finish?”

Theo didn’t even know that was in the cards. He assumed Khahar’s abilities centered on a desert theme. “If you can,” he said, shrugging.

The power of someone at such an absurd level was on display again. Khahar barely moved. He just swiped his hand and all the water in the canal rushed out into the ocean. A barrier went up at the mouth of the canal, holding the entire ocean at bay.

“Well, that’s cheating,” Alise said, folding her arms over her chest. “What’s the point? If he could have just built the entire thing in a blink.”

“It’s only cheating a little,” Theo said, although he didn’t truly believe it. This was cheating a lot.

Khahar didn’t even need to channel whatever skill he used. He was back in the pits with the laborers, pushing stones into place and mortaring them together. Ziz’s boys showed up a few hours before quitting time and helped with the effort, but Theo just watched. The last brick went into place, then the ocean rushed in once again. The workers didn’t pause for a break, hoisting massive metal struts into place over the canal. They estimated the place where the walls would go, leaving them bare of the metal supports, and completed the work in a half hour.

The result of a few days' labor, sped up no doubt by the assistance of a god-like Khahari, was a marvel. The main harbor was massive, stretching in the distance to show the churn of the ocean meeting the river. Their canal ran for miles toward the sea, cutting a straight line through the landscape and giving Broken Tusk something they desperately wanted. In moments, they would plant the only harbor on the eastern side of the continent.

The alchemist had enough money in his inventory to expand the town’s unincorporated border the 3 spaces he needed, but not enough coin to incorporate it. He spent 30 gold to lay the groundwork, allowing him to plant the seed core. This dropped him to 16 gold, not nearly enough to expand his walls around the new building.

Theo held the [Harbor Seed Core] in his hand, feeling the power of the legendary item. It was a silver metal cage surrounding a swirling vortex of water and wood. He could feel the item’s intent. It needed to be placed near a wide body of water. Ziz and his men were working on a way to deal with the river, but the alchemist couldn’t wait. He needed to plant the harbor now. He knelt near the head of the harbor, watching as a crowd formed outside the protective gates of the city.

The moment Theo placed the harbor in the ground, he was knocked back by massive roots springing from the ground. They formed a gnarled shape, but people couldn’t shove cores into the tangle of wood fast enough. Theo didn’t even invite them to do so, they just did it. He joined in, applying his highest level [Monster Cores] and watching with excitement. The roots took shape, forming a building twice as wide as the adventurer’s guild. A wooden dock sprung into the harbor, finding purchase in the marble stones. The building looked more like a massive warehouse than a dwelling, sporting the familiar theme of a blue slatted roof and wooden sides.

Theo inspected the new building.

[Harbor]

Owner: Belgar (Theo Spencer)

Faction: [Broken Tusk]

Level: 1 (0%)

Rent Due: 7 Days

Expansions:

Cheers went up through the crowd. Everyone moved in to inspect the town’s latest building. Theo even spotted Khahar cheering with excitement. Even if this accomplishment meant nothing back in the Khahari Desert, the excitement was infectious. It was a real accomplishment.

Theo had enough cores between him and Tresk to get the first 20 levels down on the harbor. They took turns inserting [Monster Cores]. Once it hit level 5, Theo picked the only option that made sense. He thought it should have been a default option for the building.

[Expanding Docks]

Creates new docks based on the level and size of the harbor.

While the building expanded to either side, still not coming close to matching the size of the harbor they’d hewn from the earth, another dock sprung up from the water. The level 10 upgrades weren’t normally impressive, but this one was good. Another dock sprung up as he selected the only option that made sense.

[Delayed Decay]

Power this building with motes to prevent the decay of all ships docked. Ships that remain docked for more than a day will repair themselves, depending on the level of this building and the amount of motes stored.

Theo nodded to himself, ignoring Tresk. She was shouting advice to him on which option to pick, even if she couldn’t see the upgrades he did. The level 15 option gave him hope. He’d wanted a separate building for a shipwright to work, but this was even better. It was one of those upgrades that added another building to the mix, which was often just as good as the independent building. The only example of a worse version of a new building was the shop in the Newt and Demon, but they needed this.

[Shipwrights Drydock]

A Shipwright’s workshop will appear at the nearest section of land adjacent to the water. This feature includes a dry dock, a separate building with unique upgrade paths, and a ramp for launching new boats.

True to the description of the upgrade, a building appeared on the eastern side of the harbor. The marble blocks cut themselves, creating a shallow ramp into the water. The shipwright’s workshop wasn’t as large as the harbor building, but it was still impressive. It had covered areas for someone to work on boats before they were launched, and the slope would make it easy to launch whatever they made.

“Oh, that’s a good one,” Tresk said.

Theo breathed a sigh of relief. He moved with the crowd to the drydock, finding that it was a separate building from the main one. That meant he could send it along its own upgrade path. It was a problem for another day, as his supply of [Monster Cores] was running low. The closer the harbor got to level 20, the more it required. Their level 20 upgrade was utilitarian, but no other upgrade seemed worth it. Theo selected it.

[Fair Winds]

Sailing vessels within 13,000 halms of the port gain the [Fair Winds] bonus. Vessels with this effect may turn sharper, catch more wind, and tread less water.

Vessels that remain within the harbor for at least 12 hours receive this effect for 6 hours after leaving the harbor.

Without his increased [Intelligence], Theo would have had trouble with that distance calculation. Since a halm was about a quarter foot, the effect would work out to a mile from the harbor. His motivation for selecting it was to ease turning within the harbor, an issue he foresaw. Even as citizens celebrated around him, the alchemist inspected his new building.

[Harbor]

[Avast Ye Newts]

Owner: Belgar (Theo Spencer)

Faction: [Broken Tusk]

Level: 20 (23%)

Rent Due: 7 Days

Expansions:

[Expanding Docks]

[Delayed Decay]

[Shipwrights Drydock]

[Fair Winds]

Theo wasn’t sure when Tresk could have set the name of the building, but she was giggling so it must have been her. This was a great start, but he still needed to secure the funding to expand the city. The first expansion was 30 gold, the second 40, and the third 50. It was getting incredibly expensive to get land for the town, but he was sure he could borrow the coin from people in town.

“Anyone have 120 gold I can have?” Theo asked, shouting to the crowd.

Suddenly, the citizens of Broken Tusk remembered tasks they hadn’t completed for the day, walking off and muttering to themselves.

“I’ll spot half of that,” Tresk said.

“I can get a quarter,” Ziz said, shrugging.

“The adventurer’s guild will cover it in full,” Aarok said, appearing from the thinning crowd.

“We’ll split it between the town’s coffers, and the Adventurer’s Guild,” Alise said. “Like I planned.”

Of course Alise had a plan for this. The entire project went off the rails, and she was grasping for control the entire time. She was a person who wanted everything to go a certain way, and Theo admired her for that. But in Broken Tusk, things rarely went as planned. They pooled their money, handing it over to Theo, and he expanded the town.

Aarok sent out an alert to everyone in town before the changes applied, warning them to dismount the walls. The group that remained near the harbor cleared the way, giving the expanding town a wide berth. Then, when Theo bought the incorporated land, the walls rumbled ominously. They crawled across the open fields after the first expansion, edging closer to the river with the second, and bridged the gap on the third. The wall now enclosed the entire harbor area, and as predicted, there was a strange half-wall, half-bridge spanning the river and canal.

On the ocean-side of the harbor, where the wall went over the canal, it rose to an incredible height. It was now high enough to allow ships to pass underneath, and came complete with a gatehouse-style building that could drop a massive portcullis into the water, preventing ships from entering. It was operated by the same winch system used for the main gates of town. The eastern gate was now located facing north, along the new stretch of wall, with another gate facing south on the opposite side. The section of wall spanning the river wasn’t as tall as the canal side, and had a permanently fixed grate instead of a portcullis.

The new wall was exactly what Theo wanted out of the expansion, and then some. They had their harbor, and it was enclosed. Broken Tusk had more land to defend, and there was only one person who could provide the emplacements to accomplish the task.

“Looks like we need to call Fenian,” Theo said. He laughed. The trader was going to lose his mind.

“And look!” Tresk shouted, pointing at the sky. “It’s barely midday!”

Theo remained in the new section of town for some time. Tresk joined him on the new bridge-wall facing south. They stared down the canal that stretched out into the ocean. There was still more work to do, but it felt good. The alchemist had to etch out channels in the bay, ensuring there was enough depth for large vessels to travel, but it was the first step. The first step in establishing trade to other lands.

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