For the next three days, Cain sends out Dwarven Earth Mages as his Supporters, to help with the city wall rebuild. They've got a most excellent spell that can turn loose Soil into solid rock. So the plan is to have the Trolls dig a nice deep moat around the city, building up the walls and then have the Earth Mages smooth it out and turn the wall to stone.
Having a moat and the now necessary bridges to access the city is a huge win in the eyes of the Trolls. They never were skilled at construction, but they've always had a fondness for bridges of all sorts. The reinforced wall is just a bonus to them. Ten meters tall and thick with smooth outer sides the new wall is a formidable barrier. The deep moat connects to the nearby river from two spots, giving them a ring of slow moving water as a defense as well as emergency water supply for the city.
When the wall was done and the new bridges complete, the Troll city held a competition and celebration. At first the Guilds thought it would be a combat contest of some sort, but the Trolls believe heavily in luck. As such, they held a rock paper scissors competition to determine who the daytime guards would be.
In any other city, this would be a non event, but the daytime guards are stationed at the far end of the city's three entry bridges, in a guard house that is built into the footing of the bridge itself. For their entire term, they get to stay in the most prestigious real estate in the city, according to bridge Trolls, the hut under the bridge.
Watching their antics is hilarious, Bridge Trolls have strong magic, and no qualms about using trickery and illusion to try to win a spot for themselves to stay. Guard duty even pays well in the capital, as they get to keep half of the copper coin Bridge crossing fees they collect from travelers.
In the end, the winners are two strong magicians and one matronly bridge Troll with incredible luck. She had her four daughters cheering her on the whole time and never missed a single win in the best of five competitions. It didn't look like she used any magic of her own, but there was nothing the others could do to shake her. The perfect gate guard.
The Elven Army has helped prepare the feast for today, as the Ogres took most of the city's stores with them when they sent the armies out, and the foodies of the two Guilds are in culinary heaven. Even the roast meat loving Laura has changed to Dragon Pixie form to better enjoy the wide variety of fruit, nut and vegetable based dishes the Elves have cooked up. Currently she's on a hunt with Kone and Elmira for a rumored caramel walnut cake.
Gillian, the matriarch of the Yellow Tusk Guild is with Cain, planning out their next move over coffee and sandwiches. The scouts they sent out still haven't found any significant Ogre presence in the area, and no signs of them using dungeons as hiding places, so their first thought it so go visit the level 100 exit city. There's clearly something strange going on there, and they hope to fix it if they can.
The main force of both Guilds is now over level 90, so they're going to have to expand out of the valley soon. Cain's Darklight Host is a bit short on low leveled members though, and he doesn't want to abandon the Guild Houses, so plans are being made for someone to go back and find a new generation of crafters and fighters to fill the spots left by departing members once this mission is complete.
Meanwhile, the first to hit level 100, most likely Cain and Kone, will be the guinea pigs, testing to see if higher levels can actually return to the starting areas, or if they're locked out to protect the newbies. People come and go from beyond the valley in the south where the Orcs are, but they're also mostly well under level 100, either merchants without a system and their guards, or youths from beyond the valley looking to level up in the Orcs homeland.
The south side of the valley, which Cain and his Guild haven't had a chance to visit, is almost entirely under control of the Orcs, and holds a full variety of dungeons to train up to around level 80. That's where most residents of the valley stop, being strong enough to handle anything they see locally. It's also the point when the visiting warriors head home, and the ambitious Orcs follow, now high enough level to fight in the easiest of dungeons and wilderness areas beyond the south side of the valley.
Gillian herself was about to make the journey, later than most, but she was waiting for her son to level up and join her, and her daughter to pick a husband. Both essential motherly tasks are now complete. Well, Morgan isn't actually married yet, but she's definitely picked her desired husband.
The final plan is a simple one, they're going to split their forces. Cain, Kone, Sylvia the Elven General and a small group of her elite fighters will all go visit the Exit City. The others will accompany the Yellow Tusk Guild in stopping the Ogres from returning and retaking any Troll villages they can. There's still a quest ongoing from the Sunnybrook Alliance to defend the area, and it gives good experience.
The remainder of the Elven Field Army will remain here under the command of a Colonel named Cloverleaf and defend the Troll capital as they were ordered, should they happen to retake the city.
The group of elite fighters Sylvia picks is smaller than expected at only two people. A hunter named Luke, who specializes in tracking, and a very small mage named Misaki. Seriously, even for an Elf this girl is tiny. Cain almost though it was a small child at first, but Kone was soundly rebuked when she though she'd gained a little sister for the journey.
Misaki is also a transfer who used the random character creation. She got a Half Elf as her species, and random rolled a second time to get the other half of her lineage, still not having realized the true evil of the character creation system. She rolled Half Dryad. As Cain knows very well, a full blooded dryad is only waist tall, he used Dark Dryads as lesser Golems for a long time. When the dryads want to be bigger they have an innate ability to merge with a tree, using its trunk and limbs as additional body mass, an ability his Lesser Golems and Misaki both failed to inherit.
So despite her meter tall size, Misaki is a forty year old transfer, counting from the day she arrived, and almost fully grown. Her body was that of a youth when she arrived, and both species take between 70 and 90 total years to reach full maturity, being stuck in a very long version of the mid to late teenage years.
The next morning the two Guilds gather to say their goodbyes and split into separate forces, so they don't miss any hiding Ogres. They'll be traveling near reach other as they patrol, so no group will be out of range of the rest should they actually find an Ogre army, for safety's sake. They haven't lost anyone so far this mission and they don't plan to start.
Char comes over with a gift for Cain before they leave. She found some Shaman based skill books in the Troll capital. Most only had one copy that she used to expand her repertoire, but there was a duplicate of [Voodoo Doll] that creates a Puppet from nearby materials and curses a specified target when damaged. It's an F ranked skill, and the dolls are just that, unmoving dolls, but Cain is happy to have it anyhow.
The Puppet master finally has a skill that creates actual puppets and not Golems or other lively summons.
Misha and Dimnys explain that they've decided to be in charge of recruitment for the Guild, finding replacement members for those about to level out of the area. Each of them will take a Guild House and focus on their Crafting, giving them more than enough time before they get the last few levels. The unspoken bit is that they might not ever want to, instead living out their extended lifespan in peace making gear and clothing while heading up a local chapter of the Guild.
Being over level 90 and fully grown, their bodies age will reset to its last birthday, or anniversary of their arrival for Misha who is an actual transfer, a lot of times before they have to start worrying about getting older. But Cain's trying not to think too much into that. After all, he can always come back and visit, even if he gets a few hundred levels ahead.
Plus, he's got extra copies of the Guild House transfer circles in the Guild Bank, should he find a good spot in the higher level areas to set up a new branch of the Darklight Host.
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