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.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxbkben9ccn
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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.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJOagQiEFip
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Greyland537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDWHJxryVt2
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Economy Military People537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTV1rKtNAf
Currently building: granary level 2537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr4r7BA1I1s
Monthly trade income: 0537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJukWQJpEO
Monthly tax income: 54 gold537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsnw7LHUS9P
Daily food consumption: 13 units537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZdcho1qsXH
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Grain yield: 0 due in 17 days537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1diBecArXR
Vegetable yield: 35 food units due in 21 days537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGZisJ941t5
Wool yield: 3 bales due in 34 days537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvsjKNIuHVm
Meat yield: 4 units daily537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHXMFsxx3e
Timber yield: 17 planks daily537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqYITnZ9ur
Iron yield: 2 ingots daily537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2oSpjQWOuq
Quarry yield: 6 blocks daily537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBxynn2QttZ
Smithy yield: no production set537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJXoTH7B7R
Weaving yield: 4 bolts daily537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQZEhC7Ncy
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Research: steel pickaxes537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8trBneZPgG
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Resources:537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWRElzeoB7b
Wheat: 19 food units537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTo1bDK825t
Vegetables: 32 food units537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWeflwTEH0d
Meat: 5 food units537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3FrJ71pKN
Wool: 7 bales537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡia8VFZrM3G
Timber: 134 planks537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡie1oZiG92n
Iron: 11 ingots537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnchGhziEJf
Stone: 33 blocks537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglRmCw09xL
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 2.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNR9oMjZIF8
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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.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Zs4lXC26B
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Military537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2BKtHAb1Yr
Light infantry: 32537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0bNCMHDkt
Heavy infantry: 12537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ6EAeNnbLF
Archers: 18537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQT9NdOhhNQ
Light cavalry: 24537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjqn03xoR9J
Heavy cavalry: 3537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Ktb4GVzmg
Ballista: 1537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQSdjZ0zkc
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Hospital: 17537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2H5JtiQnBz
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Military upkeep cost: 42 gold, 5 silver537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hjOh0dXRt
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Currently training: 2 heavy cavalry537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmMktWueMtT
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Buildings: keep level 2; curtain walls level 1; towers level 1; town walls level 1537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaLU04G1QO
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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?537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmTwJqLUE48
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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.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFDTJeQd1E
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People537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjNSOnbwYG
Citizens: 485537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtXWP57Ahu
Happiness: 14537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5LgxWcVhz
Tax Level: High537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gITGQOkgH
Health: 89537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm2SsceQ3qu
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Specialist roles537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvGfM2xcbt
General: Lord Arval, Paladin Level 7537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pdTyamUyY
Royal Wizard: Carlena, Sorceress Level 9537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxKSLFWqYY
Steward: Chancellor Parrin, Scout Level 9537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGgEl9kZbq
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?537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkVSencUOy8
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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.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1J2lPoTqTK
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Lord Arval: Paladin Level 7537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡentgC99VRG
HP 64537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLcftKQTnaA
AC 18537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKq7OVWVDxV
XP 19,663 (28,800)537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmtxv8SHBKp
Str 17 (18), Dex 12, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 9, Cha 9.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgT9GoDPote
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.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIo5uXFFTP
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Time to check the others.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDxIPvJnQij
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Carlena, Sorceress Level 9537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiGzFu1F6iq
HP 34537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2TMthlrte
AC 5537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVg36533XLW
XP 72,102 (86,400)537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFpVLWX8bG
Str 5, Dex 11, Con 9, Int 17, Wis 7, Cha 8.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTTwQrwUKN3
Broach of Protection from Magical Missiles; Wand of Channelling; Potion of Transformation.
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Chancellor Parrin, Scout Level 9537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSakC70Tz9p
HP 53537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRKJ08o8S0q
AC 12537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9AtBMdm8X
XP 71,043 (86,400)537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡehjkVLotiU
Str 9, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 6, Cha 9537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO60HrhPLc4
Dagger +1; Leather Jerkin +1; Ring of Silent Movement.
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Figus, Bard Level 3537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Ke99M8LDO
HP 17537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNLKNtrBsu
AC 14537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUzo2oxmTCf
XP 684 (800)537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlU2tbnwvN
Str 13, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 9, Cha 15537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WYV0gs5f1
Scroll of Charm537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxPwKjFeB5
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.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6esPFofZSZ
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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.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqp3ih1vpOc
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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.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYDAJ1uMBa
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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.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOnxfljYyJD
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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?537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EMHbqxFTL
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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.537Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1OuXacqoF
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My head filling again with images of the town planning interface, I was asleep before I knew it.
