Caradon Day 2 - Earth: March 3, 2020

The cultured voice reverberates in Frank's head awakening him from his nearly catatonic state. Your Imperial Majesty! The council is meeting in 25 minutes. Perhaps, it is time to start your day.>

He rustles around within the the embrace of the fine linens while absorbing his unaccustomd surroundings. The four post bed with its embracing linens greedily encroaches upon the limited space available to the corner of the room. An armoire stands majestically upon the wall opposite from the bed. Awesome! He was finally in Caradon, and the tutorial grind was finished.

Thank you, Therod. Please ask the cook to bring breakfast to the council room.>. Frank sent telepathically.

Frank quickly changes into the semi formal tunic and trouser hanging within the armoire. He arrives, five minutes after getting dressed, at a small meeting room down the hall from his private chambers. Therod Mancher, his majordomo, frowns at the mace swinging at his side.

"Your Majesty! You do not need to bear arms within your own palace!" Chides the status conscious leader of his administrative staff.

"Nonsense, Therod! I am glad he is armed while the security arrangements are fluctuating." Retorts Narius Strongman, the Captain of Guards.

Frank seats himself at the head of the table, activates perfect memory, and looks directly at his Majordomo. "Therod, Please start the briefing with the current threats to the empire or any other high priority items."

Therod begins his briefing with "I am not aware of any current threats, and the most pressing issue is the very limited three week supply of food available within storage."

Quest (Town, Rank E): Feed Me Seymore I Reward: 5 Town Points (TP) What kind of a moron only stores 3 weeks of food for his people! Increase your food supply to 5 weeks; so that, your people can last through the Summer!

Grimacing at the obnoxious text of the quest description, Frank requests "What are the current sources for food? What can we do to increase food production?"

"We currently have one fishing boat with a single trained fisherman, there are two trained hunters that were not allowed to go out yesterday since the area has not been scouted, and there is no land clear for farming." Replied Therod.

Quest (Town, Rank E): Know Your Back Yard I Reward: 5 TP Scout the immediate surroundings to determine if there are threats, to determine if there are valuable resources, and to determine a good locations for farming.

"Narius, how many scouts are available?" Frank asks.

"Namon is our only trained scout." answers Narius.

While maintaining eye contact with Narius "Have Namon and your lieutenant choose three soldiers likely to successfully learn the scouting skill. He is to lead them on a short range scouting of the immediate area. I need a strong deep scouting corp." Frank instructed.

Frank turned to Therod. "Send both hunters as a team. They are to be careful, but we cannot coddle them"

Both men affirm the instructions before sending telepathic instructions to the responsibile parties. "Soro. I want a census to determine how many of my people show signs of the gift? Please develope a weekly training plan to rapidly develop those with the gift. We must maximize this advantage! Finally, coordinate the training times with Narius".

Frank glances back to Therod to see if he has finished giving instructions. "Does anyone have suggestions for improving the food situation?"

"If we can scout a good location for a farm, then it would improve the long-term situation. The only short term solutions available are scaling up the fishing efficiency and increasing the number of people assigned to fishing, more hunting parties, and I can enquirer to see if anyone has a foraging skill. I will investigate and develop options for your approval."

Quest (Town, Rank D): Old McDonald had a farm I Reward: 5 TP Build or acquire a farm to develop a long term source for food production.

Frank pulled up his map which showed just the rooms he visited this morning. "Do we have a map of the surrounding area?" He asked Therod.

Before Therod could answer, Narius unrolled a map of the surround area on top of the table. Frank's personal map available through his HUD updates instantly since the Perfect Memory skill was activated. Frank's palace and the barracks were located on top of a small hill that provided a defensible position for the town. The beach was to the south of the palace, approximately 350 meters from the hill, with a small symbol indicating boats. A river which bordered the town to the west emptied into the ocean near the boat symbol. Small cliffs shaped like horse galloping into the sea rose quickly from the opposite shore of the river near the beach The entire area surrounding the town was a forest, and a sprinkling of buildings and tents were located just to the north of the hill.

"Narius, please give me your evaluation of the security of the city." Frank requested.

Narius deliveres an encouraging and yet sobering analysis. "Our geographic advantages, the river and the ocean, limit the overland approaches to the North and the East. An enemy with the ability to attack from the water negates these advantages, but we should focus any defensive improvements to restrict overland attacks. The main dirt road which runs North and South and ends here at the Palace is our main weakness. The orientation of the barracks allows our archers to deliver a significant amount of damage to any force using the road to climb the hill. I would expect an enemy commander to attempt to flank the barracks by climbing one of the other sides of the hill. Our other problem with security is the lack of sentries. I will establish the plan and the rotation today, but we have too much area to cover for our 25 person guard force to provide full coverage."

Quest (Town, Rank D): Secure the Town I Reward: 10 TP Build some defenses to impede overland attack from either the North or the East. Hey, dummy! How 'bout protecting your people.

Frank imagined grinding his teeth. Nimrod, I better not find out that is you! He looks toward Narius and starts issuing instructions. "Direct your guards to start building a deep ditch on the east side of the hill. The ditch will run from the north end of the east side of the hill straight south until just short of the beach. I need the guards capable of building safe military camps in the future, so we might as well start now." Glancing toward Therod. "Have some of our general labors help the guards. I want to level up the excavation skills of our general labor pool." Finally, he looks directly at Soro. "Let's use this project to level any psions with the telekinesis talent. I will be spending some time working on the ditch to level my talent."

The cook showed up with his breakfast, so Frank brought the meeting to close. "Let's end the meeting. I would like an update from each of you by the end of the day. Therod, I will meet with you about planning the city economy after you finish your current tasks."

Congratulations you learned and new skill. You earn 100XP.

Leadership Skill

Level: Beginner 1 1%

Having a good plan is always a good idea. You have shown the ability to lead. Task you assign and direct have an increased chance to be completed successfully.

Effect: +1% chance to be successful

*****

While eating his breakfast after everyone left the room, Frank brings up the realm status screen.

Name Empire of Caradon Level 1 Current Realm Points (RP) 0 Required RP 100 Realm Power 100 Realm Rank ??? Current Population 80,000 Event Population 20,000 Current Cities 220 Major Cities 20 Current Governments Contacted 1 Total Governments ??? Advancement Requirements ??? ??? ???

After seeing the surprising current population, Frank attempts to bring up the realm map to show the location of the cities without any success. The realm map will not open. Nimrod, I am surprised that realm management screen shows the current population without letting me see the world map. What is up with that?

"The system provides the realm master with enough information to make informed decisions about spending your realm points, but the system will not help you make any decisions nor will it provide you with information you have not earned. The system is impartial." Replied Nimrod. "Since I am your personal interface and I will not survive if you are destroyed, I have a vested interest. I pushed you to ensure you completed the system mandated training within a single day; so that, you could preserve as much of your advantage over other realms."

Why are you speaking at that volume? I do not want anyone to hear you. Frank said within his mind.

"You are the only individual that may hear me unless you grant that person access rights to interact with the interface. I would not recommend creating a proxy by granting this access."

What do you mean by destroyed? I thought I would respawn when I died.

"You are destroyed, permanent death, when another realm master controls your gate, your spawn point, and you are killed. All three conditions must be met for permanent death."

Can you show me the options for using realm points?

"No, the system only allows you to see your buying options after you have enough points to buy the cheapest option and shows only options that twice as expensive as the current amount of realm points. I do have some quests to show you."

Quest (Realm, Rank E): Secure your Gate I Rewards: 10 RP You better find and secure it quickly. We did mention permanent death! Quest (Realm, Rank D): Climb the Mountain of Power I Rewards: 50 RP Increase the level of your realm to level 2. Quest (Empire, Town, Rank D): Grow the Capital I Rewards: 10 Empire Points (EP) and 25 TP You call this hovel a Capital. This is embarrassing!

Clearly, it was time to get to work. Frank finished his breakfast, deactivated Perfect Memory, sent a telepathic message to the cook informing her he was finished, and headed out to meet with Therod.