Liar King (Tower of Babel Book 2) Read online

  "End Turn?" Silver said, her voice dripping with disdain.

  Cayden shrugged. "Are you that surprised?"

  Silver pondered the question, then shook her head. "No, I suppose not."

  There was one more option of note in the menu, one that Cayden flipped without a moment's hesitation. Always Display Detailed Combat Log.

  At his instruction, the long edge of the board opposite Cayden erupted as a wave of that grey material took to the air, eventually coalescing to form a window roughly three feet high and six feet long. The window shifted slightly as Cayden moved, always altering its position so that it was directly in front of him, even if it had to bump into his allies in the process.

  It was empty, as he'd expected a combat log to be. Sadly, it probably wouldn't stay that way for long.

  "So what're we thinking?" Michael asked after being forced to join Cayden on his side of the table by the combat log's sudden appearance.

  "I'm thinking we need to learn when turns end." Cayden shrugged.

  "There are probably three a day." Silver said absently; her eyes narrowed in thought.

  Michael raised a brow. "How do you figure?"

  The mage's gloved right hand reached out to indicate Zerald's movement points. "Eight movement." An expression of understanding dawned on Cayden's face, but when Michael's remained blank, she continued. "Eight miles a day is too low, as we agreed, right? Well if they refresh three times in a day, then that would be twenty-four."

  Michael continued to stare at her, somehow more confused than before her explanation. "So what?"

  "One day of overland movement in Dungeons and Dragons is 24 miles," Cayden explained.

  "Oh for..." Michael threw up his hands in frustration. "Is there anything in this damn game that doesn't have some nerdy as hell backstory?"

  "Three turns." Cayden continued, ignoring Michael. "Morning, Afternoon and Evening?"

  "That was my guess." Silver nodded. "There is probably some sort of night phase as well, but if the Developer is splitting movement the way we think he is, then you're probably intended to rest during the evening."

  "You're making a lot of assumptions," Michael said, his tone still sour.

  She nodded. "We'll have to test all of it, yeah. But assuming that it is all based on some obscure geek factoid is probably the safest of the many assumptions we're going to have to make today. Wouldn't you agree?"

  While the two continued to debate the subject, Cayden turned his attention back to the War Frame. His fingers played over the polished wood of its edge, shifting the zoom level and adjusting the positioning and rotation until Bastion alone filled the display. He selected a number of his units, twenty in total, and send them in the direction of Warrior's Keep, then turned his attention to Roberta. "We have training weapons, right? How do I alter their equipment?"

  "I am not entirely sure." She frowned. "Perhaps the keep itself?"

  "Good an idea as any." Cayden agreed as he tapped a finger to the jagged outline of Warrior's Keep.

  A trio of new windows sprung into existence at that mere touch. One hovered above the frame itself, high enough to be out of the way, while still low enough that he didn't have to crane his neck to see it. The other two shimmered into existence on the left and right sides of the frame itself, their edges connected to the Combat Log in a way that most reminded Cayden of an old-timey GM screen.

  "Uh, thank you Roberta." Cayden laughed.

  "My pleasure Cayden." She replied sweetly.

  "In retrospect, it might have been better to start here." He added, eyes scanning over the new data. The new windows contained a wealth of information, with even more seemingly hidden under minimized tabs. There was so much that Cayden found it difficult even to begin to decide where to focus, especially since so much of it lacked any context.

  In the end, he settled on the top window. It was by far the smallest of the three, and the information it contained seemed simultaneously most critical, and the easiest to understand. The most important things often were.

  The window consisted of a series of colored symbols, each of which rested next to a set of either one or two numbers. He'd seen similar interfaces in other games, and with that context alone what he was seeing was easy enough to understand. The small corn symbol next to the number 200, with a smaller +10 inset next to that, for example. Food. They had 200 Food, and they were producing 10 per turn. Next to that was a treasure chest overflowing with coins. Their treasury, no doubt. A beaker with only a single positive number? That would be their research. The glittering eight-pointed cross next to it was more difficult, and he couldn't begin to guess the purpose of the Crown.

  I can touch them. The thought struck Cayden like a bolt of lightning, in part, because it wasn't his own. Imparted Knowledge, Roberta had called it. Cayden knew, instinctively, that he had only to reach out touch the display for it to expand upon the information it was giving him. So he did:

  Food: 200/+10

  Grand Zenni: 100/+10

  Magic: 100/+10

  Influence: 100/+10

  Production: +10

  Research: +10

  Touching each resource caused a new surge of material to waft up from the table, creating a small bubble of information to describe the function of each particular resource. Food was as simple as he'd imagined it. The city needed food to support civilians and soldiers, insufficient food would cause people to leave or wound his soldiers, while a surplus would cause immigration. Grand Zenni was a measure of how much taxation was being imposed on the citizens, filling coffers that could be used in various ways to improve the city and its soldiers.

  The Influence resource served as a combination of a diplomatic resource, and a morale stat. He could expend it to influence Elan and other non-player settlements to adopt his policies or do things in his favor. However, the city gained a percentage boost based on his it's current Influence, meaning that using it to influence others made the city weaker in general.

  Both Production and Research lacked a running pool of resources and were instead spent entirely each turn. Production applied to whatever buildings, items or other constructs were in the queue, while any research produced went towards discovery of the magical or scientific concepts he designated.

  And then there was magic. The description was not entirely clear, but if he was reading it correctly, ambient magical energy was stored in the sleeping Warrior inside the keep itself, as a sort of magical battery. That magical power could be harnessed by casters, both Elan and Human, to fuel magical abilities far beyond their natural potential, as well as to provide a consistent source for large-scale, permanent magics, such as wards.

  "Cayden, you know that when all this is over, I'm probably not going to be able to stop Luxuria if she wants to take this from you, right?" Silver said with a surprising amount of worry in her voice.

  He could only laugh, raising a hand in apology as he saw the concern for him begin to morph into anger. "I appreciate the thought, but how about we burn that bridge after we survive crossing this one." Cayden smiled. "Besides, technically I think this still belongs to Duke Elazio, correct?"

  Valserys nodded grimly. "That is correct, Field Marshall."

  "There you have it. She can take it up with the Duke. We're just squatters."

  "Mhmm." Silver replied skeptically.

  There was one more icon on the display that Cayden had yet to touch. It was a picture of an anvil set upon a red background, set far enough apart from the others to be clear that it was something other than a basic resource. The numbers 0/1 appeared next to it, and as he touched it, the map below adjusted to show a small, hilly area some three miles away from the city itself. "Roberta, what am I seeing?"

  To his surprise, it was Valserys that answered. "That is the location of a collapsed mine, Field Marshall. My men scouted it just before dawn and have it currently marked off limits."

  "Monsters?" Michael asked.

  "Quite a number, yes." The soldier replied.
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br />   Cayden studied the location."If it were to be cleared out?"

  "We could set up operations once again," Roberta said. She'd been anticipating his question, or perhaps expecting to inform him of the situation, and she came prepared with a large, dusty scroll. "I had this pulled from the Duke's archive. Apparently, the mine contains all the necessary materials to provide for an Albieth Steel forge."

  "Needless to say, having the materials to produce our own steel would be invaluable in arming any further soldiers you might muster," Valserys added as if he needed the explanation.

  "Would we be required to clear it ourselves?" Michael wondered.

  Valserys gave Michael a steady look, the professional equivalent of laughing derisively before he responded. "You have an army at your beck and call. That would seem an ill use of your time."

  "We are quite a bit stronger than the typical soldier," Cayden said in rebuttal, bemused to find himself defending Michael of all people. "If we can spend our time and energy to keep soldiers alive, I would rather we take that opportunity."

  "Of course, Field Marshall."

  Cayden smiled. "For now, let's send a small detachment to investigate the mine and determine the intensity of the threat."

  Valserys eyed him steadily.

  "Hmm? Oh! Right." Cayden blushed, looking back to the War Frame. Just one more thing on the list that he would need to puzzle out. How to send his units on a scouting mission.

  "This would be our build queue then?" Silver asked, snapping Cayden out of his thoughts.

  Her eyes were focused on the right pane of what he was calling the Keep Menu, and from what he could see, she was right on the money.

  The window contained a little over a dozen individual entries, divided up among four different categories.

  Unit Equipment

  Elan Infantry

  Elan Heavy Infantry

  Elan Cavalry

  Elan Archers

  Elan Workers

  City Development

  Keep Wall Repair (3 Turns)

  Inner Wall Repair (3 Turns)

  Outer Wall Repair (3 Turns)

  Lower Township Repair (2 Turns)

  Upper Township Repair (2 Turns)

  Keep Repair (1 Turn)

  Territory Development

  Mine

  Magic

  None

  "The mine I get. Unit production is off limits because?" Cayden asked.

  "We lack the required resources to produce weaponry. The aforementioned steel," Valserys explained. "In addition, the city's current population is zero, and thus, there is no one to arm or train as soldiers or laborers."

  "Thought as much."

  "Your people can have the keep repaired in a single turn?" Silver said with some measure of surprise.

  Before Roberta could respond, Cayden spoke for her, gesturing to the War Frame "No. Look here."

  Keep Repair

  Preliminary repairs of the keep are now underway. (1/6)

  Cost: 10 Production

  Influence: +5

  Food Storage: +50

  Housing: +25

  Additional areas of the Keep will become accessible.

  "Ah. Well, that explains that." Silver nodded. "Going to have to prioritize quite a bit. Can we work on more than one thing at a time?"

  "Good question. I think so." Cayden reached out, touching a pair of the wall repair options to highlight them. Upon touching the second, the indicator beside each flickered for a moment, then returned as a six instead of a three. "Yeah, we can, but it is splitting the labor. Useful if we're worried about going over on something, I guess, but I can't see much of a point otherwise."

  "If there is a limit to how many people can be working on a single project maybe?"

  Roberta thought about that, then gave a slight incline of her head. "I can't be certain regarding how it would interact with the War Frame, but diminishing returns from manpower on a worksite is certainly an issue we may contend with on larger projects."

  "What are you thinking of starting with?" Michael queried.

  "Well, let's look at the rest before we start making decisions," Cayden replied, reaching for the list once more:

  Upper Township Repair

  The upper township prefers to run on a gold standard. He who has the gold sets the standard. (1/6)

  Cost: 20 Production

  Civilian Housing: +250

  Grand Zenni: +5

  Lower Township Repair

  Lower in class as much as location, this district grows the backbone of any fledgling town. (1/6)

  Cost: 20 Production

  Civilian Housing: +250

  Production: +1

  Wall Repair

  An unassailable position often goes unassailed. (1/5)

  Cost: 30 Production

  Defense Bonus: +10

  Upkeep: -1 Grand Zenni

  All three walls were identical in their effects and descriptions, with the deciding factor being one of location. Repairs of the outer wall would protect the entire city but were assailable from more angles. The inner wall was more easily defended but left the lower city to rot, and of course, the Keep wall would allow them to concentrate their entire force, at the cost of leaving the whole city to burn.

  For Cayden, it was an easy choice, but he waited for his two compatriots to finish reading, watching each of them intently as they studied their options. Eventually, Silver was the first to speak. "The Lower Township."

  Cayden smirked. He might not get along with Silver, but their minds were all too often on the same wavelength. "Michael."

  "Gotta agree with the gal." He winced at his own word choice as Silver's expression darkened. "Production bonus is too much to pass up."

  "Glad we don't have to argue about this." Cayden de-selected the wall repair options and chose Lower Township Repair from the list. Before hitting the confirm button at the bottom of the menu, he turned his gaze to Roberta. "Just for peace of mind. Upkeep is exactly what it sounds like, right?"

  Roberta laughed, a playful sound she couldn't quite keep down in spite of herself. "Yes, Field Marshall. The cost is used to employ skilled laborers and other staff to maintain the condition of the wall once it is repaired. Judging by the listed cost compared to my previous experience, I suspect it is calculated daily."

  "Well, that is one thing off our plate this morning." Cayden nodded, stabbing the confirm button with a certain amount of satisfaction. "What is next?"

  Chapter Nine

  "I believe you still had intended to conduct some mock combat," Valserys observed dryly.

  "Damn, that's right." Cayden chuckled. "Way too easy to get lost in this thing."

  Luckily for him, the left-hand pane required substantially less attention than its counterpart. Rather than a list of possible options that he needed to select from, it was a detailed breakdown of the current condition of the city. It listed his districts and the bonuses they currently provided (none), the defensive bonuses granted by the city walls (zilch), it's population (nada) and so forth. It detailed the amount of food currently produced and consumed, as well as who consumed it. His food was being imported from Islo, one of the Duke's gifts to help them begin, while his production came from the builders they had been assigned. All in all, it was a useful breakdown of information he had already plucked from elsewhere.

  Only two things stood out as new to him. The first was a gauge labeled City Size. Currently, it sat empty, with a city size of zero. Next to a counter of 0/1000. A thousand civilians to increase his city size. Whatever that did. A useful goal if ever he'd had one. The other was a small indicator tucked away in the middle of two different categories labeled Happiness. Currently, the space beside it was occupied by a single white dash. In the future, however, he'd have to keep an eye on it. The last thing Cayden wanted or needed, was rioters.

  Towards the bottom of the page sat the menu he sought, a button labeled Stores but despite his renewed focus on it, Cayden couldn't help but be distracted by
the one next to it. Research.

  "Probably best to get this out of the way while we're here?" Cayden asked, entering the menu before anyone could stop him.

  He was actually a little disappointed by what came next. While Cayden had never been an enormous strategy game buff, he had played enough of them in his days that he had expected to be assaulted with an enormous tech tree, or perhaps, heaven forbid a tech web. What appeared before him was neither, just a floating pentagram graph and a small set of sliders next to it. The five points of the graph were labeled: Exploration, Development, Warfare, Magic, and Civilization.

  Each of the five categories was represented on the sliders beside the graph itself, with two points of research devoted to each creating an even shape in the nearby diagram. By moving the sliders, the boundaries of the smaller pentagon were distorted, flattening in some places and becoming sharp points in others.

  "Blind research." Silver's voice said with a sigh.

  "Looks that way." Cayden agreed, one outstretched finger manipulating the sliders back to their starting positions. "Any suggestions on where we should set our focus?"

  Valserys stepped forward at that. "Would not a focus on military development be ideal? Given our situation?"

  "Not necessarily," Michael responded. "Repairing the walls would have been the military option among our production choices, but developmental choices will make us stronger in the end."

  "He is right," Cayden said flatly, holding up a hand to forestall any protest from his aide. "We can't devote extra resources to military options so early, particularly when we don't have any idea of what sort of reward they'll bring. But we also can't neglect them either." He sighed. "I think a balanced approach is our best choice, at least until we know more."

  "Almost." Silver said thoughtfully.

  "Almost?" He inquired.

  "We should devote extra research to magical pursuits."

  Michael laughed. "Trust the magic caster to say we need to spend more resources on her discipline."

  Silver rolled her eyes in reply and gestured towards the resource bar. "Cayden, we have a starting pool and income of magic, and nothing to spend it on."