"You enjoyed that far too much." Suzette was pouring strong tea from a pot and passing it out to everyone. Layla took hers and smiled without shame, admitting as much. "Nothing says I can't enjoy my role in our little play-acting. But I'll make it up to you and let you stab those odious creatures first. I want them dead, but you had to endure quite a bit more of their abuse."

"Trust me, if I thought I could solve the problem by getting rid of them, I'd have poisoned the peanuts. But you're right; I don't like them. The more innocent I acted, the more they wanted to take advantage of me. They were anxious at the end and drooling at the idea of lining their pockets. It was pretty uncomfortable."

Ben waved aside the tea and went for a large glass of wine. "Which is why Ozzy is out in a field helping a group of farmers settle into their new houses. I'm not sure what he would have done if he had heard how they talked to you. And I don't want to find out."

Rolly was of a different mind. "Are you kidding? It would be awesome to see. Squirmie saw him fighting some ghouls this morning, and now she wants me to buy her another wand of fireballs."

"Huh, so that's why the little stinkers were so cautious today. I tossed some raw meat to them to draw out a bunch, but only a couple slunk out of the shadows. They grabbed some breakfast and ran away to hide." Billy's campaign against the ghouls was paying off, with fewer and fewer undead appearing at night. "But let's talk about fun stuff like killing ghouls later. Right now, we have to do some brainstorming on dealing with these unexpected expenses. First, I'm making an official statement that any instructions we gave Suzette in the last ten minutes were not serious, and she should ignore them. All except the part about the tax on Contract Workers. I think you should be responsible for that."

Suzette looked at the Baron, wondering what the joke was.

Rolly's eyes grew large as he realized what Billy was talking about. "Oh! Yes, I agree. Suzie is responsible for taxes in Sedgewick, including the contract workers living here. This is going to be so awesome!"

"I have no idea what's going on. Rolly? Why are you agreeing with Billy?"

Rolly had found several passages in the tax books he was double-checking. "Yep. It's all here. Let's do this." He turned to Billy. "Consider your taxes paid, or at least creatively delayed your excellency." He turned to Suzette. "Trust us on this. Might be better if you have no idea what horrible, sneaky people like Billy and I are doing."

Suzette sighed and gave in. Her curiosity was killing her, wondering about what they were planning, but it wasn't the first time she had trusted one of Rolly's crazy schemes.

Layla was scowling at her wine glass. "I want to know who's behind them. Mid-level managers don't decide to run up to see a Baron one day and try to pull crap like this. The imperial bureaucracy is as corrupt as a real-world government; kudos to the game designer for making things so realistic, but there's more to this than three greedy idiots."

"Other corporations? Other Barons? Guilds we are undercutting? Some nameless evil wizard spying on us with a crystal ball?" Ben was making a list.

Billy looked over at him and smirked. "You'll need more paper and ink for that. You forgot Vern and every other ACME manager, who is afraid I'll get ahead of them.

McTeeth looked at the list. "Add the teamsters union, the mages who run the teleporters, factions within the Legion, large land owners with farms, the butcher's and meatpackers guild, and anyone jealous of his Excellency having exclusive trade routes. There are even rumors that Baron William is behind the gang of horse thieves operating in the area."

Billy sat back and thought. "It will be all of them. Every last person, Baron, Duke, guild, or wizard you put on that list will be part of it, and a bunch more that we don't know about. Most are just secondary players, roped into the scheme by a core group. One person might even lead that group. But if I was going to cause someone grief, that's how I'd do it; I'd stir up as much shit as I could and aim it all at the new Baron who has a construction project to finish. This is good old-fashioned corporate fun and games. Pick the target, and put pressure from every angle. Appeasement won't work, and playing nice won't work. Someone wants us gone, so assume everyone wants us gone."

Layla was watching Billy closely, looking for any hint of weakness. She didn't find any, nor had she expected to, but the city had mucked with his head, and she wanted to make sure he was back to his vicious, back-stabbing, usual self. If anything, he looked happy to be in a big fight.

Billy took a moment to gather his thoughts and then started talking rapidly. "So that solves the who. Now we start hitting people and taking heads. Coalitions like that don't hold together well when you put pressure on them. We'll start with those three idiots spending my money at that inn. I want them off balance before tomorrow, and not feeling well. Someone make sure the inn has plenty of the right type of alcohol. Then we apply a little force anytime someone pushes us."

"They are going to keep hammering the construction at the Keep. I'm going to talk to Marcus about his troops doing a little extra training. Monsters are a constant problem for everyone. As Baron, I'm going to demand he puts out night patrols and set ambushes to catch more of the saboteurs. Oh, I mean 'monsters' plaguing the area. Let's see how much help we can give them. We've got alchemists in town; get them making night-vision potions or any else that can help. And some barrels of the Apple Kickass. I swear that stuff is like drinking four cups of coffee. That will keep them happy and alert."

"We don't have the resources and time to build our roads all the way to Northguard or to keep them from tearing it up even if we did. The building points aren't worth the waste of resources, especially time. But we aren't going to be having caravans make the trip, which cuts down on market days. We need another route that lets us trade with the capital but bypasses Northguard and its territory. Is there a route on this side of the mountains that we can take to Thunderhead? That bypasses Hurlsford and puts us far west of the area PennyPincher controls. If we build that way, it even lets us open up my copper mine."

Ben and McTeeth looked at each other, and the thief rolled his eyes. Both had checked out that mine when they had traveled to Thunderhead. It was obvious why Momco wagered it in the corporate war. The mine might still have ore, but it was infested with monsters. Spiders, slimes, giant centipedes, and poisonous lizards infested the upper levels. The lower levels were said to be haunted by undead. The thief offered his opinion. "There are routes that I may have heard of. There's a pass over the mountains a few miles east of Thunderhead. After that, it's just forest and brushland all the way to Sedgewick. Wild country. The paths I've seen are mostly game trails. I'd suggest sending someone who knows something about building a road and a party to protect them and scout it out."

"Good. That's a priority, as long as the people we use don't take away from the building of the keep. Next up is meat. We won't be selling anymore to the Legion this year. I may, however, gift Marcus some of the choicer cuts. I'll decide that after our discussion about night patrols. But we don't slack off on production. We stockpile our excess and use the Kallveks to flood the markets in select areas. We'll do the same with anything else we produce. We don't spread it around. We dump all the goods in one small area and start destroying local markets. After all, we need to pay our taxes. We'll send a team of workers to the Keep each time the Kallveks use the teleporter for a load of goods, supply the mana, and ensure the supply of mana at the Keep is topped off. Marcus likes that."

"But other than that, they aren't getting any more free mana to transfer elsewhere. That stops. I was hopeful that supplying extra mana would grease some wheels, but all it did was piss off the people selling mana. I don't have time to deal with that now."

Billy turned to the biggest problem. "We have a handle on two out of three of their schemes. Now I just need to find out how to afford a teleporter for the new keep. They can use that as leverage to force the storehouses and try to get their claws into the Fae and Smoke trading. The first thing to do is find out who we dispute the need for a bigger stone with. Some bureaucrat? The Duke? The Emperor? This place needs better marketing; I don't know who's in charge."

He paced back and forth. "Another thing I'll have to talk with Marcus about. But assuming that we have to upgrade the damn thing, what other options do we have besides paying for it? Can we make one? What about stealing one? Are there teleports in dungeons or old cities we can grab for free? What do we know?"

"I looked into it briefly before when you wanted Gadobhra to start selling things direct for real dollars." Layla hadn't liked what she'd found out then and didn't like it now. "It's an old system, controlled by specialized mages and tightly controlled by the empire. We know it takes that huge stone and has to be made of Tier 2 or higher materials. Beyond that? I don't know."

Ben looked out the window and over to the Inn. "I wonder if they know? It would violate guest courtesy for someone to snoop through all that paperwork. I know the baron would never ask that of anyone."

"Oh, heavens no. Unacceptable to ask."

Ben had a few other ideas. "So we won't be doing that. The big slab up at the Keep is magical and carved with runes. It stores mana. They mentioned we'd need something to upgrade the mana storage for the upgraded teleport stone. Those are all clues we can pursue. I suggest that Suzette talks to whoever taught her to make a gigantic Hermetic Seal. They may have some knowledge." He looked over to Billy. "Wouldn't Gadobhra have had a stone? This was a Barony of the Empire once. What happened to the teleport stone they had in the city?"

Layla looked at Billy. "That's a good question and something you could go poke into. Maybe there's one sitting in that castle?"

McTeeth spoke up. "Not on the first floor or the second. I've only gotten glimpses of the throne room but didn't see anything. But I don't think it would be. Castles are to keep people out and protect your gold. Having a teleporter inside ruins the reason for having a castle."

"I may have a place to look for information, but it means taking a few days to a week off for a long ride. Unless, of course, his excellency has official paperwork that needs to go to the capital." Ben looked at Billy. "Possibly a letter disputing the need for an improved teleporter?"

Billy nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good. You and Rolly write your letters, and then you can take off for the Capital. How long is the ride?"

"A lot quicker if I have official correspondence and can use the teleport stone. Horses travel fast; magic travels faster."