((Apologies again for delay in posting. I have awarded everyone an additional 5000 gold as a reward for my laxity. Shadow, summons from conjurer would have minimal impact and heroes do no perform menial labors like bonecarving. We have tons of food, bones, scales and shells from fishing and hunting. There is a huge surplus, so any income from slaughter of summons would be negligible. Unfortunately I can't really find a great use for summons. They are not equipable, not trainable, not assignable. They pretty much do whatever they darn well want to and don't breed.
Snu-Snu did receive bonus for automaton kills.
Beirus, I tried. I really did. But William insisted on drinking, and then sleeping while the goblins approached the main gate, triggered some traps and then got in a fight with the guards before being driven off.
We lost a pair of hunters and a guard or two I think. I'm just glad the goblin leader didn't join in. He was riding a rutherer, which if you guys didn't know is basically a huge subterranean warbeast with blueish fur. Does nasty damage through armor because it weighs 3000 lbs.
Meph, I'm working on caverns. Haven't gotten there yet. I'll have to look at immigration/emigration. We have 250 people in the city now. I've never run a place that big before. I like to cap at 80-100 normally, for fps reasons.))
The large beast approached the city from the river. Nobody know why it came, only that it hunted in the dark. Perhaps it was one of the reasons that humans feared the night. The creatures black scales blended perfectly in with the darkness of night and only a bluish glow from it's eyes made it readily visible.
It slunk past the traps, avoiding all of them and into the city proper while the caravans were away. A human saw the creature and called out, but it promptly sprang on the poor fellow and began beating him. The call was sufficient to attract one of the nearby heroes, on his way back to his room from his evening prayers.
William sprang towards the beast without hesitation but he was too late to save the peasant. He attacked it from behind. It was obviously hostile and his blessed knuckledusters glinted in the moonlight, blessed by his goddess. He struck swiftly, hitting the beast in the hand and fracturing it, causing it to drop it's prize. There was a dull thump as the dismembered head of the human peasant rolled out of the creature's grip and a cry of pain from the beast itself.
It turned on him and they exchanged blows, but none were decisive. William was nimble and managed to avoid most of them, the beast was tough and shrugged off his strikes.
The Werechameleon sprang at him and surprised him by the sudden rush and he was knocked over onto the ground. They continued to fight from the ground and as the creature sprang at him William snapped his leg up, striking it under the chin and snapping it's head back, knocking it backwards and to the ground. He sprang up to follow up but the creature was immobile and unmoving. It quickly regained it's human form, the beast melting back into the shape of a large humanoid. A hermit.
Williams fight earned him considerable acclaim. He had defeated a werecreature, on his own and without assistance. It was no small feat, but life in the city quickly moved on. Goblins attacked and were driven away.
There was considerable unhappiness when the Duke had the well torn down. Some even had begun throwing tantrums, but the new well was already in process of being constructed and was, from what everyone could see, vastly superior. The Duke's consort herself had crafted the legendary mechanism now used for the well, and it was a sight to behold, practically glowing every sunrise and sunset in the fading light.
Life continued and the city was bustling, much of the time at least.