High Priest Ephesis wishes to transfer ownership of Emer’Thalis to you. Accept?

Yes No

I tried and failed to wrap my head around the notification, opting to instead check the others that waited for my attention.

Trauma Suppression has reached level 7!

Trauma Suppression has reached level 8!

Delightful. Apparently an immersive vision of someone realizing all his friends and family were dead wasn’t “psyche friendly.” Something extra to add to the list for when I finally found a good therapist.

You have received: Vision Crystal x1

Strange. I didn’t see anything. Was it already in my inventory somehow? I opened the spatial pouch and looked around my inventory, surprised to find that it was. How did that work?

I removed the item, discovering it to be a thumb-sized yellow crystal. Focusing on it, I tried to bring up God’s Eye’s information but received a prompt instead.

Rewatch vision?

Yes No

I hastily hit No. Had enough of that, thank you. Maybe it would be nice for showing the Elder, but otherwise, I was set.

Speaking of showing the elder, it looked like I’d finally done what he’d asked of me!

For the Forest I updated!

You have discovered an ancient dark god is responsible for the dark mana washing over the deadlands. Return to Elder Tafitz to report your discovery.

You have been offered a quest: Into the Dungeon

High Priest Ephesis sleeps, waiting for the day he can enter the dungeon once more to save his goddess and fully trap the darkness. Rebuild the city of Emer’Thalis enough to open the dungeon portal.

Requirements:

Rebuild the city of Emer’Thalis up to the point where it can sustain a dungeon portal again.

Rewards:

+2500xp

High Priest’s aid in trapping the darkness that is causing the deadlands to expand

Got it. So the freaky light grandpa wanted me to build a city in the middle of a perpetually dark, life-sucking wasteland. Simple!

Much as I hated to admit it, I needed a second opinion, and there was only one other person around. Crouching down, I rocked Rock’s shoulder.

“Wha- Huh- Protagonist!” His spluttering choked off as he came to his senses and shot to his feet. “Unnatural, that. Forcing visions into a man’s head.”

Well that answered that question. Apparently both of us had seen the priest’s actions. I doubted Rock had the same Trauma Suppression skill that I had, but if the vision had shaken him, he didn’t show it.

I brought him up to speed on the quest I’d just received, along with the offer to take over the settlement.

While his eyes widened considerably, his response was immediate. “Accept the offer. We can talk about rebuilding the city later, but it’s likely the only way out of here. It should have a way to let us through the barrier.”

I hadn’t considered that, and my mood instantly shot up. I wasn’t going to slowly starve here with the world’s most insufferable man!

Sometimes, it was the little things.

“Don’t you want it? Not to sell myself short, but I don’t know the first thing about building a fantasy city.” Didn’t really know the first thing about building a normal one either, to be honest.

Rock ground his teeth before letting out a weary sigh. “I cannot. I cannot own a settlement while being a commander of another. I will admit that I am not thrilled with you having so much power over my people’s future, but I will also admit that you have done well by us so far.”

Wow. Either this day had tired the commander out too much for his usual snark, or our little heart-to-heart had actually done him some good. I wouldn’t count on it to last, but once again: the little things.

“Okay, well, here goes nothing.” My hand hovered over the Yes button.

What would owning a city make me? Mayor Tess? Queen Tess? Landlady Tess? I had spent a lot of time post-grad thinking about how nice it would be to own a place all to myself instead of renting. Somehow, the ancient ruins of an abandoned city hadn’t been what I’d had in mind though.

Well, only one way to find out, I supposed. I tapped the button, and proof of my new ownership flashed across the screen.

Congratulations! You have become a settlement owner! Your settlement size is Average City (based on population count, currently artificially set to Deserted).

+50 Prestige

+5 Charisma

+1 Lesser Boon

Gain access to settlement interface.

A familiar burning sensation made itself known on my forearm, building until an octagonal, black mark formed. Its sides were stylized to be city walls, a round tower at each vertex. In the center, a dizzying array of perfectly detailed buildings spread from side to side. Having fully formed, it sank into my skin.

As a Protagonist chosen by a god of luck, all boons will be selected randomly.

Lesser Boon selected: Think Fast!

+3 Intelligence

+3 Dexterity

I took a moment to let my body adjust to the new influx of stats, and then I turned to the most pressing issue.

So how do we get out of here?

As it turned out, escaping the city wasn’t too hard. Sifting through the various options in my newly unlocked settlement interface, I eventually found how to exclude us from the city’s defenses, and we rejoined with the rest of the shadows.

After that, the journey back to the village was uneventful in the best of ways. Despite having achieved our goals, there was still a palpable sense of gloom at having lost the two members, but the kexids made no reappearances.

And so it was that one week later, Rock and I stood in a tent with Elder Tafitz.

Having heard our report and having used the vision crystal I’d brought back, he paced back and forth, pensively stroking his gray beard.

“I don’t see how we have much choice. I feel ill at ease simply trusting this priest you discovered, but it grows increasingly clear that we’ll need to enter this dungeon at some point, and I’ve certainly never heard of a way to force a settlement dungeon open without fulfilling the requirements. That makes the path forward — if perhaps slightly unconventional — rather clear.” He punctuated his words with a wince, as if committing to the strange scheme pained him.

“That settled, I suppose we should talk logistics. Although, Protagonist, before we discuss anything further, I feel obligated to remind you that you’ve fulfilled your end of the bargain by discovering the root of the problems in the deadlands. Should you wish to leave us, we can’t fault you.”

It was true I’d done as asked: At his words, a quest completion notice popped up for For the Forest I. Still. Leave? Could I? Where would I even go at this point?

Besides, I was now the owner of the city that was the epicenter of all this madness. Like it or not, I was pretty roped into everything now.

Hoping to speak before Rock made some snarky comment about running away, I responded without another thought. “Looks like I’m here to stay. We might as well figure out what we’re going to do next.”

A small wave of tension escaped the Elder. “That’s what I’d hoped, but it’s a relief to hear you say it. Indeed, let’s discuss how to proceed.”

The discussion lasted for hours, and for Rock and the Elder, it lasted even longer. Once everything involving me had been ironed out, I’d been given a map to study and politely kicked out. They remained to make plans for the funerals of the two who’d been killed. It was a task I did not envy them, and I escaped to my tent with much on my mind.

While the two of them had treated it like a forgone conclusion, the biggest surprise to me was that we’d need outside help.

In retrospect, I guessed it was kind of obvious, but apparently a tribe of forest-dwelling nomads wasn’t the best when it came to building cities. Even if they got their hands on the proper building schematics, they lacked anyone with the required professions.

So finally, after a full month with the shadows, it was time to venture out into the broader world.

The goal was twofold: First, find builders willing to work on the city. Second, find people willing to live in the city for a while to fulfill its population requirements.

Considering that our location couldn’t exactly be considered prime real estate, that would be no easy task.

And to make it harder, I had to do it alone.

According to both Rock and the Elder, none of the shadows would be as convincing as a Protagonist. That didn’t even account for the fact that my first stop would be a predominantly human settlement: Relationships between the shadows and the outside world were apparently strained at best.

More so, however, it was a matter of pragmatism. After reading through all of my settlement interface, I’d come across an ability.

Diplomatic Visit

As the owner of a settlement, it’s vital to establish connections with your neighbors. Once a month this ability may be used to instantly transport the settlement owner or a selected diplomat to a nearby settlement. Cannot be used if the owned and selected settlements are at war. Must be cast from the owner’s settlement.

While it would be incredibly helpful in simplifying what would otherwise be the better part of a month’s travel, it meant that only one person could go, and I’d been “volunteered”.

I sighed. In truth, a large part of me was excited by the opportunity. Soon enough, I’d be meeting humans again! I’d get to explore a city in land farther away from home than I could have ever imagined.

At the same time, the idea of negotiating with the big wigs of major cities sent my stomach churning. Mark or no mark, I still thought of myself as Tess, dog-loving ex-therapist. Dog-loving ex-therapists notably did not chat up kings or even mayors to enlist their aid in stopping a dark, evil monster.

Ah well. I hadn’t thought I’d be able to help on the expedition either, had I? At the very least, I figured I’d try doing what I did last time: Winging it and hoping for the best.

Besides, I was only kind of winging it this time. I rolled out the local map Elder Tafitz had lent me, reviewing what I now knew of the area.

At the very bottom of the map was us. Trees covered the bottom third of the map almost completely, only broken by mountain ranges which clung to the map’s sides. Those same mountains extended vertically across the entire map, penning it in. From what I could tell, I’d arrived at what must have been a very isolated area of the world.

In the center of the map was a large empty circle with the word “Deadlands” written over it. The area stretched horizontally from mountain to mountain, and while there was no scale or legend, I’d been told it took the better part of two weeks to traverse vertically.

Above that was the Antaean Kingdom. With natural barriers to its east, west, and south, it was apparently a fairly small, self-sufficient, and peaceful location. Its capital — Ftheran City — was another week’s trip north, and it would also be my first stop.

According to the Elder, it was our best chance at finding builders. Not only would it have a larger contingent of them than other, smaller cities, but also, the higher leveled builders there would be easier to convince. They’d have likely bottlenecked in their leveling, and studying the ruins and building a completely new town hall might help them advance.

While the Antaean Kingdom dominated the northern end of the map, however, it was not the only player. A few city-states dotted the map at its outskirts, independent entities that had somehow escaped getting annexed into their larger sibling.

One of these was nestled smack-dab in the center of the mountain range to the northwest. Known as Drawgin, the city was home to fighters. Everyone there had come to level up and battle, and if Rock was to be trusted, they’d be the only people “completely mad enough to live in that god-forsaken city.”

Should all go well in Ftheran, they were to be my second stop.

I yawned, rolling up the map and throwing it into my pouch. My mind raced with possibilities of what the next few months would hold for me.

Ultimately, though, my body won out. Tired from weeks of travel and hours of conversation, I fell asleep to dreams of new adventures.