Luxuriating in a – necessarily large – wooden bath, I got a good view of my enormous body. Well, at least as far as the vast stomach. From there, my lower half was completely out of view. Maybe Carlos felt at home like this and I wasn't judging him from the point of beauty or shame. My dismay at the body I was in was a practical one. As it was, I couldn't possibly help these people in battle. And I was so used to my own, fairly fit shape that for me, this was like being an imprisoning shell. I had an idea of who I was that was at odds with this person. It would take some serious work but I was determined to get in shape, not least for the sake of the battles to come. At least he was tall, taller than me, at about 6' 4" I'd guess. That was promising for the long term, if I could get the body into fighting condition.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCjzNg0a9C
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While I didn't want to make any important decisions about my character sheet until I had tested if I could improve my stats, I took some time to properly study the kingdom menus.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NRoBhMGu5
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Greyland535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCdAgznRFa
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Economy Military People535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXARwzfgTuV
Currently building: granary level 2535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6moUNblRo
Monthly trade income: 0535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx9EZDdnUE3
Monthly tax income: 54 gold535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUWx7gH5TY
Daily food consumption: 13 units535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC07CqPVgPi
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Grain yield: 0 due in 17 days535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO68pIpMoSj
Vegetable yield: 35 food units due in 21 days535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv0RlRE2Y8p
Wool yield: 3 bales due in 34 days535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3xvMCdG6f0
Meat yield: 4 units daily535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ODPZGZ9HR
Timber yield: 17 planks daily535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWllGHZAtF2
Iron yield: 2 ingots daily535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdzVuAAbJsI
Quarry yield: 6 blocks daily535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmpokvnalbE
Smithy yield: no production set535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqtzuYGNfF
Weaving yield: 4 bolts daily535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyZ6U01IHFJ
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Research: steel pickaxes535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPcIM3zWMi
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Resources:535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLewWFT7b7
Wheat: 19 food units535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmXbL0MTPV
Vegetables: 32 food units535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzi05HDrLe7
Meat: 5 food units535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU72zDkb6KH
Wool: 7 bales535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHr1QZuxKJ
Timber: 134 planks535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bTQKLCa77
Iron: 11 ingots535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaaAUKf29Mw
Stone: 33 blocks535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡilboXqE1Oz
Cloth: 0 bolts
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All of these points of information could be opened for more detail, so I focused on the 'currently building' tab. There, I could see a graphic of a partly constructed wooden tower. The granary, presumably. In a timer that was counting down, there were two days and several hours left on a bar that was about half filled with green. I had other options, currently greyed out: farm buildings, level 2; hunting lodge, level 2; sawmill level 2; watermill; mine level 3; quarry level 2; smithy level 2; library level 2.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHL2TQh6nEs
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There was an obvious contradiction between the fact the kingdom was working on a new granary and there was no grain yield. Presumably, this was a legacy of losing the recent battle and the farmland. I should almost certainly swap the construction project to something else. Long term, it was often a good idea in strategy games to invest in research, which might be what the library was good for. But I had a real worry about the food situation. So without making any changes, and after shifting my hulky figure to swirl some warm water around, I looked at the Military sub-menu.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4RlOz4HUWl
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Military535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmW0wmFeWul
Light infantry: 32535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjEy3tv5KH
Heavy infantry: 12535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7YGauvagZU
Archers: 18535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQXznPKU5RY
Light cavalry: 24535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tveDcPR7m
Heavy cavalry: 3535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJm1fiY2eRN
Ballista: 1535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiS3mfiXUA5
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Hospital: 17535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoqTpRQk31a
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Military upkeep cost: 42 gold, 5 silver535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡozV4Az5rES
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Currently training: 2 heavy cavalry535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Qyu8L1ucb
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Buildings: keep level 2; curtain walls level 1; towers level 1; town walls level 1535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bQa1OpcuF
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Currently building: tower machicolations, 3 days
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I had no idea how big the armies in this world were, but with just a hundred troops the situation here was certainly dire. I suddenly had a dark thought. What if we were overrun? Slaughtered. What would happen to me? Would I get home? Respawn? Or just die, forever?535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡenyvZ8tqgk
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Although they were fundamentally important questions, there was nothing I could do to find answers to them, so I returned my focus to the menus. Each of these entries had options to drill down into more specific information, such as about the stats on the troops, but I just skimmed through them, wanting to understand the big picture items first.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuReJhIbLr
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People535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRbhMprwe2
Citizens: 485535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBW6TsnTgd
Happiness: 14535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XtbcgJxCA
Tax Level: High535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzi4A39vyQ
Health: 89535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVh71KiET1r
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Specialist roles535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Ag6CfNiZU
General: Lord Arval, Paladin Level 7535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRQSLlx0Tsz
Royal Wizard: Carlena, Sorceress Level 9535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMoIkaM2DY
Steward: Chancellor Parrin, Scout Level 9535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxh0a0qtjDQ
Ambassador: Figus, Bard Level 3
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Looking at the Citizens menu I saw a more detailed breakdown: Soldiers 110; Farmers 38; Builders 40; Shepherds 34; Hunters 48; Miners 84; Clothmakers 23; Bakers 23; Brewers 16; Carpenters 21; Stonemasons 14; Smiths 4; Researchers 4; Idle 26. It was strange how few were the numbers here. Was this because I had found myself at an early stage of whatever game-like system this world was based on? Or was there some other explanation?535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIT0o4S4hU
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This was interesting. For a start, the king had been lying to Chancellor Parrin for some reason. Far from being a Level 5 Scout, the thin man was 9. Then I found I could open up their character sheets and I did so for Lord Arval.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBqAXSwxWvt
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Lord Arval: Paladin Level 7535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzkJzeA03d
HP 64535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOEId2S7wH
AC 18535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvwUiYib8G
XP 19,663 (28,800)535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi5ANGm8XLD
Str 17 (18), Dex 12, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 9, Cha 9.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf28s5fGQfw
Shield of Defence +1, Trueblade +2, Ring of Strength +1, Potion of Haste, Potion of Healing.
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Very interesting. I had to close my eyes for a moment, ducking down to soak my hair, but the character sheet was still there when I came back up out of the water. Firstly, I noted that Lord Arval had an XP bar. He could level up. That was encouraging for me, because it suggested that stats might evolve too. Secondly: magic items. Everybody loves magic items, but again I was particularly excited to see they could be used to change stats, as in Lord Arval's Strength.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFead8AoSb
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Time to check the others.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSAyhk64nCj
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Carlena, Sorceress Level 9535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0OxT23hGVy
HP 34535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8GhP2oOUO
AC 5535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YnA2Q7TQN
XP 72,102 (86,400)535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jvxaZ5lhq
Str 5, Dex 11, Con 9, Int 17, Wis 7, Cha 8.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu77YzNAwP6
Broach of Protection from Magical Missiles; Wand of Channelling; Potion of Transformation.
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Chancellor Parrin, Scout Level 9535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DLqMJrm1v
HP 53535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeswmAz8uP0
AC 12535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9hU9vDZoX
XP 71,043 (86,400)535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡobFpl07UiM
Str 9, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 6, Cha 9535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8uC8ocXTSn
Dagger +1; Leather Jerkin +1; Ring of Silent Movement.
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Figus, Bard Level 3535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa8ER7tgU49
HP 17535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5tKRLsabEo
AC 14535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2FSL9Bz8n
XP 684 (800)535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJYVrEWnXot
Str 13, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 9, Cha 15535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOubgtKsNco
Scroll of Charm535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBeqRQXNRhj
Ambassador feats: Speak Language; Swift Travel
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Pretty decent, or so it seemed. But everything was relative. What special roles did our opponents have? Maybe Chancellor Parrin would know.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ucgrPQ8UE
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By this time my bath was only lukewarm and so, with some difficulty, I stood up. Water dripping from me, I took a towel and when as dry as I could manage, a robe that a servant had brought me that looked clean enough. Outside the door of the bathroom was a young servant, who ducked his head when I left rather than make eye contact. After I was past him, he ran into the bathroom, to tidy up perhaps.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY4k8zvTDDh
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Lying in a comfortable four-poster bed, in clean sheets, I considered that I was blessed. Almost certainly, there were gods in this world. And if one of them had played a role in bringing me here, well, fair dues to him, her, or it. I sent a silent prayer of gratitude. This is what I needed. Not the trappings of being a king but the challenge. A kingdom under threat and an RPG system to wield to the best of my ability. I really wanted to get stuck into my own character sheet, but most of my decisions would have to wait until I had more information. And I was too tired to explore the menus much further.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWu7YRE7t2r
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There were two tasks, however, that shouldn't wait until morning. I called up Greyland/Economy/Currently Building. There I switched the granary out and from the other options, dragged in hunting lodge, level 2. We were losing about 7 food units a day, with reserves of just 56. Obviously, I needed to resolve that, before planning on building something more strategic.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3JhJtC8Ou
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The other assignment I wanted to make was for the Smithy, which was not producing anything. The sub-menu, however, was complex, full of possible items like horse shoes, swords, shields and arrow heads that all looked extremely useful. There were tools I could create too, including hoes, which I was tempted by, as these would surely help my food output. Or were they limited to use in the kind of fields we had recently lost?535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPo90zK3RpL
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Wondering why my predecessor had left such an important building idle, I had a thought and checked the research queue. There was only four hours left on the countdown for steel pickaxes. Maybe he had planned on completing that research and then getting the smith to work on producing them. If so, it wasn't a bad idea, all we really had going for us were the mountains around the town. If we could use sources of iron to build up tradeable reserves of iron and steel, that might be another way to solve the food crisis. So that decision could also wait until morning.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqd8bHRztt
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My head filling again with images of the town planning interface, I was asleep before I knew it.
