It took almost four weeks to make the trip back to civilization, and by the time they arrived Jake, Francise, Lila, and Hugo were more than ready for clean clothes and hot baths. First however they had to report to the Explorer’s Guild.

The guild wasn’t officially part of the Vime military, but it was affiliated with them closely and its members were unofficial scouts. Whatever the guild learned, the military learned, allowing the country to safely expand its boarders, protect its roads, and occasionally raid ruins for pre-cataclysm artifacts. The pay was good, better if you could make maps, and each member was allowed to claim one Kilometer of explored land for themselves, with the proper paperwork and payment of course. In fact, they were encouraged to claim land in the name of Vime and become leaders of Outposts, villages, or farmsteads. This of course was one of the reasons they needed to head there first.

Jake entered the guild hall, the others close behind, and moved to take a place in line while Hugo, Lila, and Francis all found seating on the benches surrounding the lobby. It wasn’t a long wait, maybe five minutes, before he was standing before an elderly gentleman with half-moon spectacles. “Ah, young Jake, how can I help you today. Returning from a scouting trip?” The man asked.

“Yes I am Old Tobias.” Jake replied affably, placing a map on the counter top. Carefully he unrolled it and presented it to Tobias. It wasn’t a masterpiece, it’d been drawn on the road after all, but it was a good likeness and representation of the areas they’d explored. On it had been noted many landmarks and potential resource sites.

“Hmmm, moderate quality, as usual, but good notes.” Tobias examined a ledger. “Looks like you went East? That area hasn’t been heavily explored yet, so there’s a bonus. In total your pay comes to three gold.” He said as he rolled up the map and accepted a small note book from Jake. Opening a strong box he counted out 30 silver coins. “There you are.”

Jake swiped up the coins and then spoke again, to Tobias’ surprise. “I’d like to file a land claim.”

Tobias paused, then put the map back down on the counter and unrolled it. “In the area you just explored I assume?” He asked.

“Yes, There’s a castle in a river that would be excellent for an outpost, possibly with a small town nearby.” He said, pointing to the location on the map.

Tobias hummed at the indicated location. “They don’t like it when people claim ruins you know, could be relics inside.” He said after a moment.

“I know, and I’m willing to pay the extra fees.” Jake responded.

Tobias nodded and opened another ledger. “Hmm no previous claims in the area, though it looks like a caravan of settlers went out that way a few years back. Haven’t heard from them since. We’ll have to send an inspector out with you to be sure you aren’t infringing on an existing settlement.” Tobias explained. Jake just nodded. Tobias flipped a couple more pages, and then opened yet a third, but much smaller, book. “it looks like the total will come to 200 gold. You sure you’re willing to put out that much?” Tobias asked. He knew the young man didn’t spend a lot of his earnings, in fact his three companions didn’t spend much either, they fairly consistently came back only to drop off maps, gear up, and head out again. Still, 200 gold was certainly out of his reach, unless they’d found something out there.

“In addition, I’d like to request a guild certified loan of 150 gold.” Jake said.

“You sure? You know the terms of the loan. You owe a monthly payment of 10% of the loan with a monthly 5% increase on the remaining debt. If you can’t pay it back inside a year the guild is entitled to seize goods or property equal to the remaining debt. You could even find yourself working off the extra if you don’t have enough.” Tobias said, some worry for the young man creeping into his voice.

Jake nodded to him. “I understand the terms.”

Tobias stared at him for another moment, and then walked back to the row of shelves behind the counter and pulled a piece of parchment from one of the cubbies. He returned to the counter and inked ‘200 G’ into the space provided on the contract. He then turned it around and offered the dip pen to Jake. He took it and signed immediately, without consideration.

“I assume you want this put toward your land claim?” Tobias asked.

“Yes, the remaining amount should be pulled from my account.” Jake affirmed.

Tobias sighed and procured another piece of parchment, this time an authorization form. “You’re really sure about this place?” he asked.

“Very, it’s in a good spot, controls access to both sides of the river, and has enough room for a garrison, which can easily be repurposed for travelers and scouts. I also wouldn’t be surprised if a town popped up around it soon.” Jake said confidently.

Tobias nodded and took the authorization slip from him. “I’ll have the paperwork drawn up; it’ll be ready by tomorrow.”

“Thanks Tobias. And thanks for caring.” He said with a grin.

“Caring? I just didn’t want to lose one of our best scouting teams! Away with you youngster!” Tobias said in mock indignation.

“Sure thing old man.” Jake replied then made his way back to the others.

“Sounds like it went well.” Lila said. Hugo harrumphed, and Francis nodded.

“Well, I owe the guild 150 gold now. You guys sure you don’t want to go into debt with me?” He asked cheekily.

“Thanks, but I’ve got my eye on some non-expensive land nearby, you know, the kind you can get for five or ten gold.” Lila said. Francis once again nodded, amazingly Hugo did too.

Jake gave the priest a perplexed look. “I thought you were against this.”

“Oh I am, this is going to come back to bite all of you in the ass. I want to be around to tell you I told you so.” Hugo said confidently.

Jake and Lila both snorted as Francis rolled his eyes.

Taking the coins he’d been given he dolled out 7 to each of them. “7 each and two into the party fund.” He said. The others took their coins and nodded. When they’d first started out almost a year ago they’d agreed that part of their money would go into a ‘Party Fund’ which would be used for supplies, gear repair, and occasionally lodging while on the road. Who held the fund changed each month, this month was Francis, so Jake handed the final two coins over to him. With the money settled the other three got in line to stake their own claims. Jake settled down to wait.

The rest of the day went by quickly, they split up after leaving the guild, each to their own dwellings in order to clean up, eat, and begin preparations for their biggest life change since becoming explorers. For Jake this meant stopping by the boarding house he frequented when in the city. He didn’t have a lot of permanent items, most of what he needed he carried with him. But the proprietor did store a small chest of books for him long term. He bathed, ate, and started planning.

Quickly he realized he had no idea what he was doing. Deciding to take over the castle and doing it were apparently two very different things. Where did he start? The castle would need residents, as would the town Hugo, Francis, and Lila were going to be setting up. Who did he talk to about that? Normally the military would be willing to rent out a portion of an outpost, but this was over a thousand kilometers away. Even with the pre-cataclysm road that led out that direction it was too far for the military to maintain a presence.

Sighing he flopped onto the stiff mattress of his rented bed and groaned in frustration. There had to be a better way to go about this. Maybe Tobias could help him. With that thought he drifted off to sleep.

***

Sylvia stretched as the morning sunlight filtered through the narrow window of her cell. It was still summer, which was good because in winter the cells would be frigid rather than the balmy cool that they were this morning. Once again she asked herself how it had come to this. She’d been quietly, if not happily, working as a bureaucrat for the Ministry of Municipal Planning for almost a decade now. She’d gone in bright eyed and bushy tailed with dreams of designing towns, villages, and maybe even a city someday. Instead she’d found herself bound up in the minutia of day to day life administrating a port city.

She had gotten bored, bored enough that she’d started playing games with numbers. The kind of games that involve money and making it disappear to wherever. Not her own pockets of course, she didn’t need that kind of wealth. But there were always projects that the city over-paid for, and others that were underfunded; usually the former involved the upper class and the latter involved anyone who wasn’t. So she’d made a few numbers float around and evened a few things out. And for almost five years no one had noticed. Then, of course, they had. In retrospect stealing from the fund for the Govener’s Palace to feed the homeless probably was a step too far, it was a step far enough to get her caught, after all.

So now she stood here, in a cell watching as the sky changed from a steely grey to a light blue. Idly she pushed her hair behind her elegantly pointed ears. The paths before her weren’t amazing, she owed a little over three thousand gold in embezzled funds, it would take more than a lifetime to pay it off. That meant she’d labor on behalf of the state for the rest of her long life, probably doing something unpleasant that didn’t involve cities or towns in any way. Even now she wasn’t sure she regretted it.

The sound of her cell door opening startled her and she whirled around to see an elderly man with half-moon spectacles being ushered in by the guards.

“Thank you young Bertram, tell the kids I said hello.” The man said to a guard placing a chair in the cell. The guard just grinned at him and nodded before both retreated and closed the cell behind them.

The man sat in the chair and looked at Sylvia over those half-moon spectacles, a small, sad smile on his face. “You are in quite the pickle.” He said not unkindly. “Caught embezzling from the governor, you do set your sights high don’t you.”

Sylvia shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea at the time. How was I to know he could tell the difference between gold plated lead and actual solid gold candlesticks.”

The man chuckled. “It’s the mana flow.” He said after a moment.

“Sorry?” Sylvia blinked.

“Lead disrupts mana, makes spellwork harder, gold on the other hand makes it easier. Young Governor Bartlett may not be the most accomplished mage, but even he would notice a magic inhibitor.” The man explained, still in the kindly tone.

“Well Shit.” Sylvia said.

“Shit indeed Young Sylvia.” He agreed. “The question now becomes what we’re going to do with you.” The look he gave her was like that of a man reading a particularly interesting book.

The moment dragged on and Sylvia began to get nervous. “What do you mean? I’m going to end up doing drudge work for the rest of my life.”

The man Hummed. “You could.” He said after a moment. “But it’d be a terrible waste of talent. No I think something better can be arranged.” He paused, looking at her again and then nodded. “Yes, I think you’ll do.” He lapsed into silence again.

“For?” She asked almost unwillingly.

“In two weeks a caravan will be leaving Newport headed East, you will be part of it working under a young man named Jake. You will lend him all your considerable talents until such a time as your debt to society is paid.” The man said while nodding, as if everything was already decided and a done deal.

Despite herself Sylvia laughed. “I think you’re forgetting my trial, not to mention that the magistrate isn’t likely to be at all that lenient.”

“Am I?” The man looked perplexed. “No… I’m certain I considered those things. Two weeks.” He said with finality and stood, knocking on the door. It opened and he stepped out. Sylvia watched him go with puzzlement, and then glee as she realized they’d left her the chair.

***

Hugo was abrasive, he knew this, he also didn’t care. Abrasiveness was a weapon, it kept others from getting too close and Hugo liked it that way. It unfortunately hadn’t helped much in this case and that made him mad. He’d bought his own plot of land, contiguous with the that of his team mates, and he couldn’t fathom why. No, he knew why and he hated it. He actually liked them. He wasn’t supposed to do that. People would inevitably turn on you, that was a truth he’d learned the hard way, and it hurt most when you liked them.

So it was upsetting to him that he liked them. But how couldn’t he after nearly a year of travel together? They worked together well, and they put up with him. He ground his teeth as he stomped along the road that lead to the market. How dare they make him like them?! This was ridiculous, he should go and sell the land back to the guild, say it was a mistake, find another team. Yet… he knew he wouldn’t, and that made him angrier. He finally entered the market, a vast square partitioned off into lanes by stalls of various sizes and colors.

Jake, that stupid gullible idiot, had no idea what he was doing. Starting an outpost, he didn’t even know where to begin! Lila and Francis might have some inkling, but he was certain they’d never been part of the process before. Hugo had about two years back, his former team had decided to settle down and set up a town to the north.

He trudged through the crowd to one of the notice boards scattered through the market. Precious few people could actually write, but a copper or two could get someone to write something for you. As usual the board was filled, people wanting things, people selling things, and there, under it all, people selling services.

One might think being on the boards was likely to mean you were doing well, after all people would see your notices and come to you right? Wrong. It meant you didn’t have a clientele, no one was buying or so few that you needed to actively advertise for yourself. That meant easy prey. He picked through the notices and ripped down nearly a dozen before he was through. Five carpenters, three smiths, eight stone masons, and fifteen laborers. A good start… for a single board. Smiling, he stomped on to the next one.

***

Lila luxuriated in the bath. It’d been much too long since they’d had the facilities for a bath, and she was going to enjoy this one as long as she wanted, she had certainly paid enough. With a touch she reactivated the heating runes in the tub. Leaning back she sighed as the water went from warm to steaming again. How long would it be before their little village would have even normal baths, let alone something like this?

She dozed briefly, and when she woke the water was tepid again. This time she didn’t reactivate the runes and instead exited the tub, drying herself off with the soft cotton towels the bath house provided. She picked up her newly cleaned clothes and slipped into them, feeling better than she had in weeks. They’d been gone three months and, in that time, mapped 500 kilometers of wilderness along the pre-cataclysm western road.

It was strange to think how little of the continent had been mapped. Newport had been around for a decade now, yet locations as little as 300 kilometers away were all but a mystery. In fact, it’d been almost shocking that a caravan had already gone down the western road, given the possible dangers. Not just natural predators but also mana-spawned monsters. The folk had either been crazy or brave.

Dressed and with her bag in tow she made her way out of the bath house and into the city streets. She briefly pondered what the others were doing. Hugo was likely doing something constructive, he was more helpful than he’d admit. Francis was likely getting his weapon sharpened and the dents pounded out of his armor. That just left Jake, who was likely having some kind of internal crisis about the whole outpost plan. Lila smiled briefly and then made her way to the market. They would need to buy in bulk soon, and someone needed to figure out the best deals!

***

Francis hunkered down behind his shield as a heavy hammer bounced off it. Perhaps, he considered, it hadn’t been the wisest idea to tell Trudy while she’d been at the forge. He peaked over the edge of his shield as the beast of a woman turned her baleful glare on him. “What.” She enunciated the soft word with great displeasure. “Possessed you to purchase land over a thousand kilometers away?!” Her voice rose in volume as she continued, the final words shouted.

“It’s a good opportunity to get in on the construction of a new town, possibly to eventually be a city.” He calmly gave the explanation he’d gone over a hundred times.

“Oh? Well bully for you, now how do I fit into this little scheme of yours? Because if you think I’m hauling up my anvil onto one hip and wandering a thousand kilometers west with you on nothing but promises and prayers YOU HAVE ANOTHER THINK COMING!” The half-ogre-half-dwarf woman bellowed back at him.

Francis winced and tried to fit more of himself behind the shield. “I know this is sudden but you’ve been wanting us to settle down for a while now.” He entreated.

“Oh aye, I wanted us to settle down. Here, in Newport. We’ve been here for five bloody years now, I have friends! Associates! Customers! And you want me to just dump all that and run Haring off into the wilderness with only vague promises of starting a city next to some gods forsaken castle no one has lived in for at least a century!” She advanced on him while growling.

Francis beat a hasty retreat until his armored back ran into the closed door. “The castle has a proper forge in need of a smith, and there’ll be no end of customers, I can promise you that.” He rejoined, his voice feeling far more firm than his legs.

“Oh really?! So a castle in the middle of nowhere is going to have a powerful need for a smith specialized in weapons and armor rather than the city on the bleeding edge of exploration? Is that what you’re telling me?” She stepped closer still, her eyes narrowing.

Francis pressed himself against the wall, realizing he’d backed himself into a corner both physically and metaphorically. “Yeeeees?” He said, almost as a question.

Trudy snorted, leaning in until they were nose to nose. “And how exactly do you figure that?” She asked softly.

Francis tried to firm his stance, kept himself from gulping, and responded. “I can’t tell you.”

“Oh, you’re going to tell me. I’ll see to that, when I’m done you’re going to beg to tell me everything.” She promised him.

It was fortunate that the smithy was expected to be noisy, it meant no one noticed the vigorous interrogations that ensued.

***

In all it took all four of them two weeks to prepare their convoy, much of that time was spent interviewing the potential townsfolk. It had turned out to be much easier to convince people than Jake had initially assumed, mostly thanks to Hugo’s footwork. It turned out that even in the bustling port city there weren’t enough apprenticeships to go around, and those who did get them often had to wait years after achieving journeyman in order to gain any clients of their own. There simply wasn’t enough work to go around.

However, a new town needed any and all kinds of craft people and labor. Of course while this drew in legitimate petitioners, it also tended to draw in a more unsavory element as well, people looking to capitalize on loose laws and poor law enforcement. Hence why they’d spent the last three days interviewing potential citizens. They were finally down to the dregs, just having finished with a fisherman whom they’d agreed to take with them.

“Are we done yet?” Hugo griped.

“You’re the one who went and spread the word about, don’t you know how many should be coming?” Lila asked.

Hugo snorted. “All the people I spoke with came through in the first two days.”

Francis sat quietly between the two in, for once, regular clothing. He was sporting some rather impressive bruises. Hugo had tried to heal them, Francis had just smiled and told him no.

Jake was at the end of the table next to Hugo, his head on the cool wood. “Please tell me that was the last one.” He muttered into the wood. As if on cue a knock came on the conference room door. With a sigh he sat up, orb in hand and looked to the offending portal.

“Come in” said Francis.

The door opened and in walked an elven woman who, were she not disheveled and in manacles, could have been called beautiful, of course all elves looked beautiful, even the men. Behind her stood two city guards, both of whom entered after her and shut the door.

“Mind if I have a seat?” She asked the perplexed quartet. “It’s been nothing but cold floors since they took my chair away.” Her tone was conversational.

Hugo eyed her up and down, then gestured to the chair across from them. “Help your self.”

“Thanks!” she said, almost cheerily.

Wearily Jake began to carve a series of runes into the air as he grasped his foci. Immediately the woman waved him off.

“Don’t bother, the manacles have a truth spell built in. It’s pretty good too.” She commented ruefully.

“Alright then.” Lila said after Jake waved the runes away. “I assume you know what we’re doing here. Now why don’t you tell us what you’re doing here.”

“No chit chat? Can’t say I blame you, I am after all a criminal of negligible danger.” She paused, brow furrowed as she thought over what she’d just said. “Drat, I meant to say ‘Dangerous Criminal’, I guess facetiousness is too close to lying.”

Hugo snorted. “We’ve had a long day, if you’re going to waste our time you can leave.”

“Nononono.” She said hurriedly. “I’ll be serious, promise.”

Grudgingly Hugo nodded at her to continue.

“Right, my name is Sylvia and I want to help you build a city. I worked for the Ministry of Municipal Planning before I got caught embezzling funds, not for myself, and wound up in jail. For whatever reason someone convinced the magistrate that I should get a choice between two punishments. Either spend the rest of my life working on the city’s behalf as a laborer. Or exile from Newport, note this city specifically and not the republic, and work on the behalf of a newly registered outpost.” She explained, giving her best smile.

The four looked at each other and then finally Jake spoke. “And we should take you on because…?” He asked, looking unconvinced.

“Because I’m a municipal planner, and you are building a city. I can design a layout for your city no problem! Everything will be set up right the first time, with room to grow and for amenities. I can even put you in touch with some tinkerers who can set up mills and pumps for very reasonable prices. Two Words. Indoor Plumbing! Further I’m great with math, I can do your books for you no problem, and I’m willing to train an apprentice to assist.” She explained in a rush.

Lila instantly perked up at the words ‘Indoor Plumbing’. Francis looked bored, Hugo looked unimpressed.

Jake looked ambivalent as he asked, “What guarantee do we have that you won’t just run off the moment we’re away from the city, or embezzle from us, or stab us in the back or any of a number of other bad things I could mention.”

“Well first. I swear on my lineage and my life that I will serve your outpost faithfully until the time of my death or until my debt is repaid. See, cuffs won’t let me lie. Second, there is the stipulation of a Bond Stone.” She said the final part reluctantly.

“Bond stone?” Francis asked, looking puzzled.

Hugo chortled. “It’s a hunk of granite the size of a small chest, someone bound to it instantly falls ill if they wander more than a couple kilometers from it. They also can’t physically touch it. Anyone who does touch it though can discern the general direction and distance to the bonded, and force them to truthfully answer questions.”

Lila looked thoughtful. “So, instead of indentured servitude it’s like a Parole in which they agree to stay in a specific area and perform specific tasks?”

“Exactly!” Exclaimed Sylvia. “You see why I’d much prefer to work for you than for the city.”

Francis hummed, Jake rubbed his face, and Lila looked unsure. Surprisingly Hugo immediately nodded. “I say we take her. We’re not going to get a better offer on the city planning front, and the stone means she’s almost a no-risk choice.”

The others looked at Hugo and then at Sylvia. Then one by one they nodded.

Sylvia smiled brightly. “Great! You won’t regret this, I promise!”