Norman stared at the recently revived greykin from his throne. God, he hated it, his throne, not the greykin. The greykin were all kneeling, hands over hearts in four ordered lines within the throne room. Ok, so maybe he hated the kneeling part.
The long table that normally took up a good portion of the room had been removed for the occasion by Grobert.
It had taken two weeks to gather and revive an additional two hundred people for the village. Norman had Grobert select corpses with specific callings this time around, instead of just grabbing anything of interest. It was easy since Grobert still had access to everything the President of Grothlosburg had, which was essentially everything. This made it easy to figure out what bodies to grab based on their gron records.
The only thing Grobert refused to do was deliver technology to Norman. Norman could respect that, even if it annoyed him. It also wasn’t like they could utilize much of it anyway due to the lack of electricity. As for bodies, Grobert was more than happy to snag them out from under the watchful eyes of the current President, making it into a game between the two of them.
Thankfully the Radiant Brotherhood had been quiet over the following weeks. Which probably wasn’t a good thing in the long run but each day without an attack helped.
It was also enough time to allow the wall to get completed, as well as an armory built. The second wall – which was more of a retaining wall – had started to go up as well, but that was a much slower process since they were backfilling it after each layer. Once done, it would essentially triple the size of the hill that the castle stood on, making it difficult for anyone to get to the building without some sort of siege equipment or boosted physical attributes like Eugene.
Norman had ideas for how to protect against people with callings, but he didn’t have the time to research them at the moment. He was working on something he thought of as much more important for their short-term survival.
“Ahem,” Grobert cleared his throat, bringing Norman back to the present.
He had forgotten he was here to swear these men into the guard. A new tradition that Grobert and Eugene had implemented without telling him. Unfortunately, not all two-hundred people agreed to join the guard. But Norman would take what he could get.
Suppressing a sigh, Norman spoke. “You have all taken a solemn oath to defend Ashvale with your lives. It is an honorable task you take upon yourselves. For that, I give you my oath as your leader to see your deaths are not in vain, and if possible to restore you after you have fallen in defense of the people and the kingdom.” Norman thought it a bit much, especially the kingdom part but Grobert insisted he added it.
What kingdom you might ask, seeing as they were one small city? Your guess would be as good as Norman’s. But Grobert and Eugene had come up with the oath and Norman didn’t see anything objectionable enough to deny their request that he use it. And he had to admit, calling it a kingdom sounded really cool.
“Now rise as guardians of the city of Ashvale, of the Kingdom of Normenia!” Yeah, he had picked that name as a bit of a lark, hoping that Grobert would shoot it down. Instead, the man had seemed pleased with the name. At least it would be easy for Norman to remember.
As the men and women rose, they started clapping and shaking hands with one another. Norman wanted to join them in their celebrations, but Grobert told him he should remain separate and impartial.
It was one of those things that Norman was quickly coming to hate about being the leader. He was more like a father to all of the greykin, why couldn’t he join in? But he had agreed to listen to Grobert's advice on most matters.
Soon the celebration ended as the last of the guards bowed in respect to Norman before heading out of the castle for training. The only person that remained was Grobert, leaving the room feeling quiet and empty after having so much life and celebration within its walls.
“What’s on the agenda for today?” Norman asked, getting up from the bone throne and removing his armor. The little cushion Grobert had gotten him helped, but not nearly enough when it came to these prolonged gatherings.
“Not much today. Eugene wishes an audience with you to discuss the scout's findings.”
Norman paused at this and turned toward Grobert. “He’s finally back?”
Grobert looked at a notepad he held. “Yes, he returned late last night.”
Finally, they might have some news regarding their suspiciously quiet adversaries. “Invite him to dinner so we can discuss it. Anything else?”
“The wall inspection and armory tour that you keep putting off.”
Norman groaned, “do I have to?”
“You do. If only for the people to see you praising their work if nothing else.”
After a long exhale, Norman responded, “fine. For the people. But after that, I need time to work on some magic. These last two weeks have me far behind.”
“I will ensure nobody bothers you for at least a full day after this is completed.”
Norman pumped his fist at the small victory, earning a disapproving shake of the head from Grobert. That was fine. He was still getting used to this whole leadership thing and despite Grobert easing him into it as slowly as he could, there was just so much to learn. Norman wanted to be an effective leader, but he didn’t want his entire life to be just managing people. Besides, he was pretty sure he was going to forget half of what Grobert taught him before it was all said and done anyway.
After Norman’s little celebration, the two headed out to walk the perimeter of Ashvale and the newly erected wall. Not that Norman knew anything about walls. It looked sturdy enough if a bit small. Norman didn’t voice that concern to the workers as he thanked them for their hard work though. Even he knew that would be rude.
And they had done a stellar job with the time they had, so Norman’s thanks weren’t just Norman mouthing empty platitudes. The fact that a few thousand individuals had managed to build any sort of defensive structure around an entire town in just over a month was astounding to him.
It was something only possible due to the fact that the greykin did not get tired, did not run out of breath, and required little in the way of food. It allowed them to work nonstop, day and night. And as much as Norman enjoyed sleep, he could get so much more done if he was undead. He just wasn’t quite to the point where he was ready to convert himself though.
If they had stopped at only finishing the wall, Norman would have been astounded, but the people of Ashvale went the extra mile. After the wall was complete, the people of Ashvale quickly transitioned into erecting the armory, and barracks out of thick quarried stones.
Now that he thought about it, Norman hadn’t seen any sign of a quarry near the Ashvale at all. “I never asked, but where is all the stone coming from?”
“We lucked out. You resurrected four gron engineers,” Grobert replied as if that answered everything.
“…Uh, ok. But how do they get the stone?”
Grobert chuckled. “Sorry, I forgot you may not know. All gron engineers are stone mages. Though most don’t use their magic in that capacity since stone isn’t exactly the best building material. Most specialize in the construction of groncrete, which all gron buildings are made from. It's far stronger than normal concrete and quite a bit lighter, allowing our buildings to grow as tall as they were without using steel. It had to be strong enough to endure the significantly higher gravity of our home plane. And before you ask, no they cannot make this special concrete for us, they took an oath to not produce or distribute it outside of the gron Building Administration Department. Which is why they are left with conjuring stones through magic.”
“Well, that sucks.”
“It’ll be fine. The stones are more than adequate for our needs at the moment.”
“Alright, fair enough,” Norman acquiesced.
Soon the pair had made it to where the new barracks and armory were built. Unlike most of the buildings within the city, this structure was made entirely from thick blocks of uniformly grey stone. It made quite an imposing statement as it sat menacingly among the stone and wooden houses the rest of the town was composed of. The armory was squat and grey, with a large stone double door at the front that had to weigh ten tons. Even the roof of the building was made from thick stone blocks that ran the length of the building.
Norman couldn’t even begin to comprehend how they had gotten those massive stones in place.
The barracks were a bit less imposing, with two stories and thin windows. They weren’t quite arrowslits, but Norman doubted any adult could squeeze their way through them. That was assuming they managed to break through the glass, which was easily six inches thick and magically reinforced if Norman had to guess.
“Glass mage?” Norman asked, pointing toward the windows.
Grobert shook his head. “Purchased from Grothlosburg.”
“With what?”
“The President donated them to our cause, since it required no special secrets or technology, it didn’t really cost him anything to give it to us. You have no idea how much he is indebted to you for what you did. This,” Grobert gestured to the barracks, “is but a small token of appreciation. I am working on trying to get Ashvale and moreover, Normenia converted to Grothlo. If we can come to an agreement on that, it will be much easier than trying to establish our own currency. It will also make future trading with Grothlosburg much simpler.”
“What's the hold up with that?”
Grobert’s face fell. “We have no export, thus no value. We could probably export meat if we can domesticate the local fauna. But Grothlosburg doesn’t need meat. It would have to be sent past Grothosburg to the human settlements or one of the other settlements. But that’s not something that’s going to happen anytime soon. Another export is labor, but there are issues with that, as you might imagine.”
“What, because they are undead? Just tell the people to hide the fact.”
“That would work… for a bit. Then when it inevitably comes out, we would lose all credibility.”
Norman ran his hand through his hair in frustration, realizing he probably needed a haircut. “So what do we do about it then?”
Grobert shrugged. “My suggestion is to not export our labor. We already have some gron commuting to Grothlosburg. Barthus asked if we could stop them from coming over as they are causing issues.”
“Barthus?” Norman asked in confusion.
“Barthus, you know…” Grobert waited, but Norman could only shrug. “How could you not know the gron President’s name?.”
“Huh. I guess it never came up and I never bothered to ask. And what issues is he referring to?”
Grobert could only shake his head at Norman’s statement. With a sigh, he continued. “Have you noticed a difference between the greykin gron and the normal gron?”
“Not really, why?”
“Hmm, how to put this?” Grobert paused tapping his chin in thought. “Being dead, and being brought back tends to change someone's perspective on life.”
“Are you saying the greykin gron are less stuck up?”
“I wouldn’t say that, necessarily. It's more they have a more open mind.”
“I still don’t see the problem, isn’t that what he wanted?”
“Yes, but it needs to happen slowly. At the moment, our people are being a disruptive influence that’s causing some major confusion in Grothlosburg.”
Norman would defer to the expert on this issue. “Alright, do what you feel is best. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Let's meet up with Eugene for this quick tour of the barracks, then head back to the castle for dinner and to discuss what the scout learned.”
Norman stared at the recently revived greykin from his throne. God, he hated it, his throne, not the greykin. The greykin were all kneeling, hands over hearts in four ordered lines within the throne room. Ok, so maybe he hated the kneeling part.
The long table that normally took up a good portion of the room had been removed for the occasion by Grobert.
It had taken two weeks to gather and revive an additional two hundred people for the village. Norman had Grobert select corpses with specific callings this time around, instead of just grabbing anything of interest. It was easy since Grobert still had access to everything the President of Grothlosburg had, which was essentially everything. This made it easy to figure out what bodies to grab based on their gron records.
The only thing Grobert refused to do was deliver technology to Norman. Norman could respect that, even if it annoyed him. It also wasn’t like they could utilize much of it anyway due to the lack of electricity. As for bodies, Grobert was more than happy to snag them out from under the watchful eyes of the current President, making it into a game between the two of them.
Thankfully the Radiant Brotherhood had been quiet over the following weeks. Which probably wasn’t a good thing in the long run but each day without an attack helped.
It was also enough time to allow the wall to get completed, as well as an armory built. The second wall – which was more of a retaining wall – had started to go up as well, but that was a much slower process since they were backfilling it after each layer. Once done, it would essentially triple the size of the hill that the castle stood on, making it difficult for anyone to get to the building without some sort of siege equipment or boosted physical attributes like Eugene.
Norman had ideas for how to protect against people with callings, but he didn’t have the time to research them at the moment. He was working on something he thought of as much more important for their short-term survival.
“Ahem,” Grobert cleared his throat, bringing Norman back to the present.
He had forgotten he was here to swear these men into the guard. A new tradition that Grobert and Eugene had implemented without telling him. Unfortunately, not all two-hundred people agreed to join the guard. But Norman would take what he could get.
Suppressing a sigh, Norman spoke. “You have all taken a solemn oath to defend Ashvale with your lives. It is an honorable task you take upon yourselves. For that, I give you my oath as your leader to see your deaths are not in vain, and if possible to restore you after you have fallen in defense of the people and the kingdom.” Norman thought it a bit much, especially the kingdom part but Grobert insisted he added it.
What kingdom you might ask, seeing as they were one small city? Your guess would be as good as Norman’s. But Grobert and Eugene had come up with the oath and Norman didn’t see anything objectionable enough to deny their request that he use it. And he had to admit, calling it a kingdom sounded really cool.
“Now rise as guardians of the city of Ashvale, of the Kingdom of Normenia!” Yeah, he had picked that name as a bit of a lark, hoping that Grobert would shoot it down. Instead, the man had seemed pleased with the name. At least it would be easy for Norman to remember.
As the men and women rose, they started clapping and shaking hands with one another. Norman wanted to join them in their celebrations, but Grobert told him he should remain separate and impartial.
It was one of those things that Norman was quickly coming to hate about being the leader. He was more like a father to all of the greykin, why couldn’t he join in? But he had agreed to listen to Grobert's advice on most matters.
Soon the celebration ended as the last of the guards bowed in respect to Norman before heading out of the castle for training. The only person that remained was Grobert, leaving the room feeling quiet and empty after having so much life and celebration within its walls.
“What’s on the agenda for today?” Norman asked, getting up from the bone throne and removing his armor. The little cushion Grobert had gotten him helped, but not nearly enough when it came to these prolonged gatherings.
“Not much today. Eugene wishes an audience with you to discuss the scout's findings.”
Norman paused at this and turned toward Grobert. “He’s finally back?”
Grobert looked at a notepad he held. “Yes, he returned late last night.”
Finally, they might have some news regarding their suspiciously quiet adversaries. “Invite him to dinner so we can discuss it. Anything else?”
“The wall inspection and armory tour that you keep putting off.”
Norman groaned, “do I have to?”
“You do. If only for the people to see you praising their work if nothing else.”
After a long exhale, Norman responded, “fine. For the people. But after that, I need time to work on some magic. These last two weeks have me far behind.”
“I will ensure nobody bothers you for at least a full day after this is completed.”
Norman pumped his fist at the small victory, earning a disapproving shake of the head from Grobert. That was fine. He was still getting used to this whole leadership thing and despite Grobert easing him into it as slowly as he could, there was just so much to learn. Norman wanted to be an effective leader, but he didn’t want his entire life to be just managing people. Besides, he was pretty sure he was going to forget half of what Grobert taught him before it was all said and done anyway.
After Norman’s little celebration, the two headed out to walk the perimeter of Ashvale and the newly erected wall. Not that Norman knew anything about walls. It looked sturdy enough if a bit small. Norman didn’t voice that concern to the workers as he thanked them for their hard work though. Even he knew that would be rude.
And they had done a stellar job with the time they had, so Norman’s thanks weren’t just Norman mouthing empty platitudes. The fact that a few thousand individuals had managed to build any sort of defensive structure around an entire town in just over a month was astounding to him.
It was something only possible due to the fact that the greykin did not get tired, did not run out of breath, and required little in the way of food. It allowed them to work nonstop, day and night. And as much as Norman enjoyed sleep, he could get so much more done if he was undead. He just wasn’t quite to the point where he was ready to convert himself though.
If they had stopped at only finishing the wall, Norman would have been astounded, but the people of Ashvale went the extra mile. After the wall was complete, the people of Ashvale quickly transitioned into erecting the armory, and barracks out of thick quarried stones.
Now that he thought about it, Norman hadn’t seen any sign of a quarry near the Ashvale at all. “I never asked, but where is all the stone coming from?”
“We lucked out. You resurrected four gron engineers,” Grobert replied as if that answered everything.
“…Uh, ok. But how do they get the stone?”
Grobert chuckled. “Sorry, I forgot you may not know. All gron engineers are stone mages. Though most don’t use their magic in that capacity since stone isn’t exactly the best building material. Most specialize in the construction of groncrete, which all gron buildings are made from. It's far stronger than normal concrete and quite a bit lighter, allowing our buildings to grow as tall as they were without using steel. It had to be strong enough to endure the significantly higher gravity of our home plane. And before you ask, no they cannot make this special concrete for us, they took an oath to not produce or distribute it outside of the gron Building Administration Department. Which is why they are left with conjuring stones through magic.”
“Well, that sucks.”
“It’ll be fine. The stones are more than adequate for our needs at the moment.”
“Alright, fair enough,” Norman acquiesced.
Soon the pair had made it to where the new barracks and armory were built. Unlike most of the buildings within the city, this structure was made entirely from thick blocks of uniformly grey stone. It made quite an imposing statement as it sat menacingly among the stone and wooden houses the rest of the town was composed of. The armory was squat and grey, with a large stone double door at the front that had to weigh ten tons. Even the roof of the building was made from thick stone blocks that ran the length of the building.
Norman couldn’t even begin to comprehend how they had gotten those massive stones in place.
The barracks were a bit less imposing, with two stories and thin windows. They weren’t quite arrowslits, but Norman doubted any adult could squeeze their way through them. That was assuming they managed to break through the glass, which was easily six inches thick and magically reinforced if Norman had to guess.
“Glass mage?” Norman asked, pointing toward the windows.
Grobert shook his head. “Purchased from Grothlosburg.”
“With what?”
“The President donated them to our cause, since it required no special secrets or technology, it didn’t really cost him anything to give it to us. You have no idea how much he is indebted to you for what you did. This,” Grobert gestured to the barracks, “is but a small token of appreciation. I am working on trying to get Ashvale and moreover, Normenia converted to Grothlo. If we can come to an agreement on that, it will be much easier than trying to establish our own currency. It will also make future trading with Grothlosburg much simpler.”
“What's the hold up with that?”
Grobert’s face fell. “We have no export, thus no value. We could probably export meat if we can domesticate the local fauna. But Grothlosburg doesn’t need meat. It would have to be sent past Grothosburg to the human settlements or one of the other settlements. But that’s not something that’s going to happen anytime soon. Another export is labor, but there are issues with that, as you might imagine.”
“What, because they are undead? Just tell the people to hide the fact.”
“That would work… for a bit. Then when it inevitably comes out, we would lose all credibility.”
Norman ran his hand through his hair in frustration, realizing he probably needed a haircut. “So what do we do about it then?”
Grobert shrugged. “My suggestion is to not export our labor. We already have some gron commuting to Grothlosburg. Barthus asked if we could stop them from coming over as they are causing issues.”
“Barthus?” Norman asked in confusion.
“Barthus, you know…” Grobert waited, but Norman could only shrug. “How could you not know the gron President’s name?.”
“Huh. I guess it never came up and I never bothered to ask. And what issues is he referring to?”
Grobert could only shake his head at Norman’s statement. With a sigh, he continued. “Have you noticed a difference between the greykin gron and the normal gron?”
“Not really, why?”
“Hmm, how to put this?” Grobert paused tapping his chin in thought. “Being dead, and being brought back tends to change someone's perspective on life.”
“Are you saying the greykin gron are less stuck up?”
“I wouldn’t say that, necessarily. It's more they have a more open mind.”
“I still don’t see the problem, isn’t that what he wanted?”
“Yes, but it needs to happen slowly. At the moment, our people are being a disruptive influence that’s causing some major confusion in Grothlosburg.”
Norman would defer to the expert on this issue. “Alright, do what you feel is best. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Let's meet up with Eugene for this quick tour of the barracks, then head back to the castle for dinner and to discuss what the scout learned.”
