Theo approached a gathering crowd of familiar villagers joining to inspect Belle’s hard work and their prospective new residence. Hopeful eyes surveyed the timber structure. Theo joined them, sliding his hands against the soft, polished wood and hard edges.
Inside, the floor was identical to that of the Barge, but placed in a criss-cross pattern rather than straight lines, adding a sense of dynamic space the Barge lacked. Not that it was needed; the entrance was about as large as a room in the Barge, the spacious living room that comprised the common area alongside a small kitchenette ever more so. The bedrooms seemed more spacious, but every room in the Barge had curved outer walls which tightened the space somewhat.
With the first house complete, everyone could now see into their own future, the house just a single entity of several identical builder’s projections dotting the slight hillside on the fringes of the town.
Hank arrived, congratulating his wife on her solo endeavour as he was behind the design of more buildings while she worked to house the Sigil Lake inhabitants. With him came Julie and her fellow woodworkers, so only Wen, Willam, and the second farmer seemed to be missing, along with Grace, who’d be…somewhere. Still, it was about as many people as Theo could wish to have around when revealing who’d be getting the three much more private bedrooms.
“Hey, everyone,” he started before everyone’s joined murmuring started escalating in volume and intensity. “With almost all of us gathered, I’d like to assign the house—and its three bedrooms—to some of you. I know everyone wants a private bedroom, and I promise that in short time, you’ll all have it. Until then, I want to ask all of you to be patient and respect my choices in who gets to enjoy the very first house of Sigil Lake. Also, please remember, we all want our own separate place to live with just us, or just our loved ones. Even with several of these houses built, that won’t be possible without mixing in the Barge or sharing a house with someone as a temporary measure. As I said, in the short term.”
To Theo’s surprise, most of the villagers nodded along with patient smiles, and the ones without smiles were those less accustomed to pulling those particular muscles: Moody, Lady, and Sherblanc.
“So, after I delegate this house to three of you, if you’ve got any complaints, don’t take it up with them. Take it to me, or Wen, Willam, or Grace. The council only wants us all to be safe and comfortable, even if we don’t have much between us. Is everyone okay with that?”
Murmurs and nods.
“Good. Now, I’d like to step away from this formal tone of voice and be happy for our three first housed friends. Is that okay?”
Belle took charge and shouted her agreement, her husband following shortly after. A louder, collective approval sounded from the crowd.
“Okay. So, first up, as thanks for all the hard work done yet, and still to be done to get us all comfortable as soon as possible, I’d like Belle and Hank to take part in their accomplishments. Everyone okay with that?”
A resounding cheer filled the outside space of the house, and Belle rushed to hug Theo to thank him. Hank approached, hand at the ready to absolutely crush Theo’s hand inside his. In a failed attempt to withdraw his hand, Theo grimaced in false-yet-also-true pain, drawing a laugh from the crowd.
“Ow-ow-kay! Next, while Hank and Belle have been here since, well, the very start, almost, the next room goes to a newcomer. Again, if anyone has an issue with this, take it up with me. This choice is purely strategic, and I’m hoping it will get us across this gulf faster, just like Hank and Belle.”
The air grew tight with anticipation, every one of the villagers hoping they’d be the important one—and they all were, but for different reasons. After Wen had explained how they could get bonuses to efficiency, the plan unfolded. If Belle could roll these houses out of the factory ten percent faster, that’d be a major boost to the speed with which Sigil Lake could grow. But for Belle and Hank to gain bonuses out of this house, they might need a higher-quality bed. They might need a crafter’s bed. Everyone would need one, so if the crafter, too, became more efficient…
“I’d like to provide the second bedroom to Tinkerbold, our resident crafter! Please, make us all some fine stuff, would you?”
Tinkerbold stepped forth from the crowd, the minute man holding his head low in the face of everyone’s scrutiny. Having just arrived this very day, someone might not think there’d be a reason for him to have a nice, private bedroom when some people had bunked up together in a barrack for weeks. But this was all to further the progress of Sigil Lake.
“Tinkerbold here—” Theo continued as the crafter inched forward, avoiding everyone’s gazes as best he could. “—has promised to make us all high-quality beds! Starting with this house before changing up those within the Barge. I hope everyone understands the reasoning for giving him a room.”
Silence. Tinkerbold reached Theo’s side and turned, facing several kind smiles. Hopefully, he wouldn’t take the unsmiling villagers to heart.
“Okay. So, as everyone knows, there are three bedrooms, meaning there’s one more available. For the last room, I—”
“If you want us to each put our names in a bucket, I’ll pee in it.”
Moody didn’t seem enthusiastic.
“I won’t do a draw. I’d like everyone’s thoughts on the matter, though. Bear in mind, I want someone who can boost our efficiency so everyone can settle all the faster. Can anyone think of someone who’d be a good fit? Putting your own name out there is allowed.”
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Again, silence. Everyone seemed thoughtful, though, which Theo hoped was a good sign.
“If you’re just looking for a boost in productivity aimed towards improving Sigil Lake, I heard there’s a cook in town?” Julie asked, turning her head to look around the crowd. There were plenty of new faces around, after all.
“There is. You want to elaborate?”
“A good chef, with quality ingredients and resources, can make meals which will provide a smaller bonus to everyone eating them. It would be additive with any other bonuses, of course.”
“I see. Chef, you’ve been called out. Can anyone think of anyone else?”
Chef stepped forward, separating from the crowd.
“You expecting someone to name-drop yourself?” asked Moody.
“I don’t. I’m perhaps the least necessary person here, and I know it well. In fact, I’ll promise to move out of the Barge last, if that matters to you in any way. Honestly, since arriving here, I haven’t had anything of my own except my plants, so I really don’t mind.”
“Didn’t need your life story,” Moody scoffed, making a few others laugh. Theo was one of them, knowing Moody wasn’t as rude as he sounded.
“But…”
“Knew it,” Moody whispered aloud.
Theo laughed. “But I’d like to put Wen’s name in there. Her brewery is set up, and she’s starting a batch of abble cider and possibly a violetberry wine or something. I don’t really know. She hopes to have it alcoholic and drinkable in a few days, when the soldiers from Ercheat arrive. I know you’ve all heard the rumours about them.”
The crowd shifted.
“Don’t know how the alcohol can be noticeable in just two days, though, but hey, that’s Aera for you.”
“Oh, stop it!”
Theo didn’t see who said it, but the less recent villagers all laughed at the inside joke. He stood there, taking the jab straight on. He nodded along with the laughter.
“Name-dropping your girlfriend isn’t much better than putting yourself out there,” Moody grumbled again.
“She’s not…that. Look, if you don’t think that’s a great idea, or you think the council is pushing their own agenda ahead of others’ comfort, that’s not the case. I just wanted the idea out there. Anyone else?”
“Julie. Or a dungeoneer,” Moody said.
Julie was quick to remove herself and her coworkers from the counting.
“The lumberyard isn’t behind on anything. We’re coping just fine.”
“And while Grace is half of our delving-able villagers, she’s a priestess or cleric or something, and a councillor. She’s not technically a delver, so…Durian?”
“I’ll take the room,” the brute said.
“May I ask why a dungeoneer?” Theo asked Moody.
“Harvestable material is technically production. Give a dungeoneer a production boost…”
“And you’ve got more loot. Good thinking. Anyone else?”
No other names were added to the short list. While most wanted to name themselves, they couldn’t seem to find a solid reason for being chosen over anyone else, and Wen, Durian, and Chef were all excellent choices and could provide necessary bonuses. However, upon further discussion, Wen’s name was removed, as the potential boost to her brewing, while everyone couldn’t wait to sit back and enjoy an ale or five, was too abstract right now. Why make shitty drinks with excellent ingredients only to let a rowdy crowd of soldiers drink it all up before it became a high-quality beverage? The villagers had no use for coin yet. They had enough to worry about with their own work.
Eventually, Chef got the room, though getting to that point took quite a while. There was discordance about another newcomer getting a home first, but Julie pointed out that those who had arrived this morning didn’t even have beds in the Barge assigned yet, nor would they need one if they got the house. While not Theo’s intention, the point won over enough people to settle the debate.
Tinkerbold had stocked up on lumber and planks and had already started shaping the parts needed for a bed. He’d have three of them done by nightfall, he promised, then he’d be able to output five or six more every day, excluding any bonuses. Even if they prioritised filling the houses popping up with beds first, he’d still be able to replace the builder-built beds in the Barge in a week. Not too shabby, Theo thought.
With the impromptu town meeting done and over with, Theo checked his Town System, finding a mark indicating changes in the Buildings menu.
Town Management System.
Resources | Inhabitants | Trade | Upgrades | Buildings (!) | Management
He expanded the menu, finding a short list of two buildings: the Sigilist’s Barge, now named since last time he opened the menu, and the unnamed residential building.
Sigil Lake Buildings:
- The Sigilist’s Barge (Trading, Brewing) (Town-Central Building)
- Unnamed Building (Residential)
He selected the house and was prompted to name it. He called it ‘House 1’ for lack of any better naming scheme and found he could always just rename it later. Inside the specific building’s menu, he also found specific settings for the house, some odd and some…odder.
House 1 (Residential):
Houses 3-6 residents (1 x Bedrooms(3) - 2 x Bedrooms(3))
Residents: None (Manual selection (select to assign residents))
Sleeping spots: 3
Bedroom 1: Generic Bed (unassigned)
Bedroom 2: Generic Bed (unassigned)
Bedroom 3: Generic Bed (unassigned)
Common Area blacklisting: None
Food blacklisting: None
Sex blacklisting: None
Intra-Residence Religion: N/A
Theo found he could assign residents to this house from the menu, but hoped it would update with the already selected residents once they moved in. He could also assign bedrooms and any included bed to specific people, it seemed. The oddest listing was the blacklisting of sex, so just for curiosity’s sake, he selected it, finding nothing but a short list of sexes to revoke entrance rights to. Not important for these houses, but he could see the appeal in single-sex dorms or the like.
Then, there was the ‘Intra-Residence Religion’, a hyper-local religion setting for the house. He already knew Aera’s religious views were rather open and everyone could believe in what they wanted without too much frowning upon it, so the option made sense…but what would it accomplish? The menu didn’t say, so he figured it was nothing but a morale boost—if the household agreed, that is.
Having checked out the menu and seeing the villagers scramble away from the low hill, Theo looked around for any sign of Grace, whom he hadn’t seen since that morning. Wen had found her, so she would have to be around there somewhere, but Theo couldn’t find her. Instead, what he found was a mound of thick, heavy muscles, with a bald head and a thick, long beard down his chin and halfway down his chest and a slightly shorter, reverse of the muscle-bound man; a woman with a long mane of chocolate hair and not a whiff of beard on her, with powerful arms despite her average height.
“Crap,” the man sounded as Theo approached. “This place dunnae have a single mountain. What’s a miner to do here?”
“I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough, Rocky. Look, that man’s coming towards us. He’s cute, if not a bit thin,” the woman said, loud enough for Theo to hear.
“Hi, there,” said the councilman. “Are you the miner and the smith, by any chance?”
“Miner, aye,” said the man, growing larger somehow.
“Smith,” said the woman. “Jemma Smith.”
“And me name’s Rocky Rowdy. Call me Rocky.”
“Fine names not at all tied to your professions, as usual,” Theo chuckled. “I’m Theo. Let me show you around.”