Fantaisy world online I : New Roads

New Roads! Chapter 11

Chapter 11: a second expedition?

I met Seymour at the plaza fountain, as planned. He was accompanied by four more players. one of which a women.

"Hello, i am Ben."
"Sarané, a level 21 Ranger."
"Jeffroy, Hamer wielder, same level."
"I’m Clay. Sword user, level 23. I didn't choose my Job yet."
" And i am Hammid, spear user, level 19. No Job either, obviously."
"And i reached level 22, still no Job and still using a bow."
"Your all better than i could expect!"

Seymour smiled, he had noticed that i had not specify my own background. A few minutes later two other players came, they were Sarané and Clay's friends.
"Milfred, healer. But i am only level 10..."
"Don't worry, you will fit just fine!"
"And i am Mathew, a level 23 Wandering Swordsman."
"Nice Job."
"I believe so too."

We exchanged a few more words then i started explaining the quest.
"We would leave here tomorrow morning, early, and travel 10 days into the forest to the old Bandit Camp Underground Tunnels, Guard them for 20 days then go back to the City. That's when your kobs would be over. there is the possibility of doing an extra trip from the Ruins to Djaden and Back in between through."
"What is your part in all this?"
"I would be the one in charge of the Planning, Commanding and Cooking. Plus a few other things."
"How many people are there going to be?"
"You, me, 10 drivers and their trailers, 10 NPC Archers, Pikemen and swordsmen, 20 workers, an architect, at least 3 more healers and a cook. And three more archers and sword men. So around 80 people in total."

I knew that the size of the caravan was similar than when the expedition came back but this time only half of it was made of combatants and their levels were much lower too. i was counting on the presence of Seymour and his companions to level the playfield and the high number of players hunting in the woods, keeping the number of enemies low.
The group seemed to think for a bit before accepting. i made them sign a indefinite duration guarding contract with all the terms we had agreed on and asked them to follow me.
The eight of us went to the south gates, a few shops clerks were waiting for me with the building material. i checked on the goods and paid the men, therefore fulfilling my contracts with them.
To each of the players, except Milfred i designated officially gave the commend of a 5 men unit and told them they would have to protect a caw pulled wagon each.
Then we started piling the building material on the trailers. it took four of them, a fifth one for the ciment bags, nails and tools. Tomorrow i would fill two wagons with food and the last ones with the workers.
When we finished we went to a small tavern and i bought them a meal each. We ate while chatting and one by one i added them to my friend list.

When the next day came, we all gathered at the south gate. the soldiers were here. i separated them into their units, then had the workers and wagon drivers charge the food.
In the meanwhile i interviewed the players that had come after reading my notice on the web.
Many of those that came forward were too high levelled and i had to refuse them. Some people just came to watch or talk to me. i had to raise my voice more than once to get myself obeyed.
At the end i had found another three archers, swordsmen and two healers and an assistant cook that would be directly working under me. I told them their units, presenting them to their team leader.

It took me a whole hour to set everything. Then i told Seymour to open the Procession, he started advancing, the wagon enclosed with his men. Behind him Jeffroy followed in the same manner. one after the other the units and their Wagons passed the Gates and left towards the forest. once the tenth trailer was out of the city i went to the front next to Seymour and Landell who was driving the first wagon. We followed the same path as we did during the Punitive expedition. when i saw the tree line i instructed Seymour to where to stop for lunch and went to the food filled trailer. there me and the assistant cook player started preparing meat, bread and cheese for everyone. When we stopped we cooked the meat and served everyone. as everyone was eating i gathered the team leaders.

"We will now enter the forest for at least 8 days. it is the most dangerous part of our journey. keep your eyes open. if you cross animals don't hesitate to hunt them. if you see bandits be wary, they don't have a leader or a camp but they are still dangerous even individually."
"Yes sir."

The three NPC Leaders were practically in awe because of my high Respect and Honour stats. the players were more reserved. i couldn't really blame them as i didn't really look or act like a normal commander.

"This expedition is not to prove your strength or hunt down anyone. Your jobs are to bring everyone to the Ruins in one piece. therefore if a battle do come along, i want all team leaders to think of the well being of their men before anything else. No one dies, understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Okay."
"Yeah."

We went back on the road after half an hour of lunch break. The assistant Cook, whose name was Lulian, took care of the washing the dishes while i talked to the architect, discussing my project in great detail.
When the sun was settling down we arrived in the same clearing than the last Expedition.
The wagons formed a circle and we raised the tents on the inside. I gave sentinel duty to Clay's unit first. they would then pass it to Sarané and finally Hammid's Units.
Me and Lulian made diner and took care of the dishes. I woke up 1 hour before everyone else to think of our itinerary and verify everything.
When all the men had had their breakfast we went on.
We travelled three more days like this, only crossing friendly players that were hunting.
On the fourth night five bandits tried to steal on of our wagons, it was the first attack on our expedition and none of the men were expecting it. it was Lulian who had been on night cook duties who noticed it and woke the NPC soldiers.

I will have to give him a bonus if he keeps being so good at his work.
On the ninth day we arrived at our destination, players were going in and out of the Ruins, looking for anything to loot.
When they saw us they stopped to look. i ordered the workers to unload all building materials and stock them by the entrance, and sent the rest of the Wagons around to the third entry.
Standing tall to face the players i spoke with as much authority as i could.

"I, Ben Varrand, noble of the Braeen Court, have been given full authority on these Ruins and this Camp! As of now this is no longer a Dungeon but a construction site! Anyone going in the Ruins without my, or my two second in commands authorisation will be committing a crime! Thank you all for your attention!"

I turned back and, started showing the architect around, indicating were i wanted what, the effect i wanted it to give and why.
I then went to the lifting platform, the wagons were already being unloaded. i instructed half the soldiers to stand guard at the three entries and the other half to bring all the food rations to the kitchen. The units were then given a dormitory each.
I was happy to see that the sheep, cows and goats were still alive. i had been afraid that they would have been killed by the first passing action and blood thirsty player.
The next day most of the work was done cleaning the common rooms and blocking players from entering the Ruins. While the architect was planning the works needed to be done. He told me of everything at dinner in the dinning hall. I approved of many of his ideas and we decided to start working on actual building right away.
The next morning the workers were divided in 5 teams of 4. one was transforming the stables in the open roofed farm into Wagon Hangars, while the rest were building the foundations for a large two level inn and a series of small stone houses at the old bandit camp.

The players were watching them working, wondering what this was all about. Some would approach the workers during their breaks, asking them what they were doing. the answer was always the same 'working on the renovation project under the orders of Sir Ben Varrant'.