Chapter 115: Dust and noise.
"Wow! lots of dust and noise coming from the city."
Rolly was watching from the widow's walk on top of the tavern. The small, flat space was only four feet wide and twenty feet long, with a cast iron railing around the edge. It could only be reached by a narrow spiral stair from the fourth floor. The iron staircase had groaned a bit as Ozzy climbed it. They and many other residents of the village were on roofs or balconies.
Suzette, Ozzy, and Ben were sitting and enjoying both the view and the fading sunlight. They'd given up watching whatever was going on in Gadobhra after an hour, but Rolly seemed endlessly fascinated by it, even from three miles away. Instead, they were enjoying a quiet picnic of muffins, never-ending ham, and beer from a cask Ozzy had brought with him. They had briefly discussed magic items and spending points, but all had agreed it would be better to wait. Too much was happening too quickly, and decisions would be better made when they saw the outcome of all the activity.
Ben stole another slice of ham and spoke, "I'm wondering how this changes things. Billy has what he's wanted all along, a big city to play with. So, what happens with Sedgewick? Do we all have to move to the creepy, ruined city?"
Suzette shook her head, "No way. I'm not moving. I own half of the tavern and have dungeons to manage. Frankly, I think Sedgewick is in a great spot. If the city has dungeons, we'll be busy. We can be the nice relaxing spot just up the road a bit. Not as exciting, but nothing will eat your face if you wander into a bad part of town."
Ozzy sat thinking. After a few minutes he spoke. Ben and Suzette had been patiently waiting for him. "I think we need to look at Billy and ACME's motivations. Firstly, money - if something isn't profitable it goes on the chopping block. If a manager doesn't produce miracles, they find someone who will. We just gave Billy a miracle, now we have to make some money for him."
"We're set up here to house and feed a worker population of at least one-hundred people. Shifting operations will cost him money, and I’ll bet he's going to need some positive cash-flow, both to keep his bosses happy, and to do what he wants with the city."
Ben agreed with that thinking, "Makes sense. We already have resources like meat, hides, wood, and agriculture going. Then there's the dungeon, and weren't you talking about a brewery, Suzy?"
"A big brewery," Suzette said, "I want to use the empty space you can see over there. And I want to start harvesting that thick dark mana that flows out of Gadobhra. I use a bit of it in Blud Dark and we should stock up on it. And who knows what else it can be used for? Can we sell it to magicians or alchemists? I know Aliester uses it on occasion."
Rolly yelled from the other end of the roof, "Guys? Does the cloud look bigger? Or closer, maybe? Squirmie is saying it's both and I tend to agree with him."
Indeed, when they all looked that way, whatever was happening was getting closer. The dust being kicked up was increasing, the noise of stone breaking and shifting was getting louder, and they could feel tremors in the ground beneath them. If anything, Rolly was more excited. He turned to the others with a huge smile, "Look on the bright side, now it's less of a walk to get to the city."
No one but Rolly really thought of that as a good thing.
Sometime in the middle of the night the noise ended, but no one wanted to go investigate in the dark. Especially after a huge plume of green and blue fire had jetted into the sky, followed by a short fireworks display. But finally things had gotten quiet. Those who could see in the dark to any extent could tell that the looming ruins were much closer to Sedgewick. Dark shadows reached into the sky, sometimes lit by flickering lights.
The sun rose, reluctantly, as if it really didn't want to take a peek over the horizon and see what was waiting for it. Most of the workers felt the same way. The city was, as suspected, much closer. Only a mile separated Sedgewick’s back edge from the tumbled front gates of Gadobhra, where a straight and level road ran into the city. The last half-mile of roadway sloped upward. The ground under the city had risen, forming a small bluff that raised the ruins fifty feet above the surrounding lands. Ruined stone walls stood at the edge of the bluff, their broken parapets looking like teeth. Builds and ruins of buildings could be seen built up against the walls on the inside.
The Druid's mighty forest had fought hard, but had been forced to give ground. The trees hadn't wanted to move, and they were pressed close to each other, roots overlapping and forming a tangled wildwood all around the city except on the road in. Only a quarter-mile of woodland encircled the city, but it would take a brave soul with a good axe to move through it. And the trees would have something to say about it, you could tell.
What might have been gatehouses on either side of the road were just large piles of stone that leaned to the side as if trying to tumble into the roadway. In the center of the ruins there now stood a square, stone keep, tall and narrow. A banner hanging from the top proclaimed it as ACME's new headquarters. While the keep stood an impressive ten stories tall, it was dwarfed in both height and width by the massive castle seen in the distance and squatted against the far wall of the city.
Rolly was the first to start heading that way, "Squirmie and I are going to take a look around." Jorges wanted a look at the city walls and started walking with him. Ozzy took Suzette’s hand, and she hooked Ben's arm and started dragging him with them. More and more of the workers joined and started walking the mile up the road. Quite few were packing axes, adz, shovels, and other tools they had specialized skills with. As they got to the gates, each person received a message.
????????Welcome to the City of Gadobhra
Riches and Unique Experiences await the savvy traveler.
Visit the lovely areas of the city such as TheNoble Quarter, The Temple Quarter, The Beast Woods and the Hungrytown. Join the fun by entering one our dungeons: The Endless Dance, The Pit of the Butcher, The Menagerie, and The Maze.
And for those of the roguish professions, we're having a contest. The first person to make it all the way to the throne room of the Castle will win 1000 shiny gold coins and a Tier 3 weapon of their choice! (Please, we really need to test the traps and locks!)
For the less adventurous, visit the market straight ahead and be sure to purchase your souvenir T-shirt at our gift shop in the ACME Building.
The road ran straight ahead to an open square dominated by the ACME building. To the right was a dark woodland, and to the left a slum of ruined buildings and twisted streets. Neither looked inviting. The group continued up the road, wary eyes keeping watch to either side. They heard roars and the sound of animals fighting in the woods, but from the other side there was just silence and occasionally some small movement in the shadows. After another mile of walking, they saw an immense stone-paved square surrounded by several rows of partially ruined buildings.
In front of the ACME building was a fountain with a stone statue of a demon or similar creature that was spouting water from its mouth and ears. That's where they found Billy. He was standing on the top of the statue, staring around at the city.
Layla was sitting on the edge of the fountain. Both of them looked bedraggled and exhausted.
Their attitude was at odds with their looks. Layla looked confident and had an air of power around her. Billy had a wide smile and looked ready to take on the world. Billy yelled down to them.
"What do you think?! Isn't she a beauty?"
Ozzy looked at the city, "Yeah, Billy. It's great. Lots of potential."
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