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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnz9iOsKu3X
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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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYqirS2hB4
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Greyland553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnMm19WoB6k
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Economy Military People553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU968YwpYi7
Currently building: granary level 2553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ8vJRVU27A
Monthly trade income: 0553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnK2uRlZhS
Monthly tax income: 54 gold553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxooBMJGRH
Daily food consumption: 13 units553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIX2KcihAI
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Grain yield: 0 due in 17 days553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQembTLlnDD
Vegetable yield: 35 food units due in 21 days553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzpCblJBv1R
Wool yield: 3 bales due in 34 days553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKDW1QzJbY
Meat yield: 4 units daily553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMKZE48kih
Timber yield: 17 planks daily553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIh5NyprTD5
Iron yield: 2 ingots daily553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYg8aUvruuz
Quarry yield: 6 blocks daily553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKME4R2pcsO
Smithy yield: no production set553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJXv5po0xU7
Weaving yield: 4 bolts daily553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMv7AbcQ0DR
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Research: steel pickaxes553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡowTs1ybBdd
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Resources:553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqoYggKPSr5
Wheat: 19 food units553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2URrmOStiW
Vegetables: 32 food units553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwTuIxCSmf7
Meat: 5 food units553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPR5CG7pgtb
Wool: 7 bales553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAe41vMwPYg
Timber: 134 planks553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OCxvGSpJE
Iron: 11 ingots553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTHEx6Umg4
Stone: 33 blocks553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq44VHSClGj
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 2.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgBs9Sb4jOW
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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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiiDtzGjzt
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Military553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5saNNAUsri
Light infantry: 32553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DFftRgOBn
Heavy infantry: 12553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWPNUqkvsC
Archers: 18553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG8CDfZwPth
Light cavalry: 24553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5WQnPeW8Gi
Heavy cavalry: 3553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnui0TS3pat
Ballista: 1553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0xNRjKzroS
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Hospital: 17553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsjvQNOMWr
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Military upkeep cost: 42 gold, 5 silver553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YOOqSpSIY
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Currently training: 2 heavy cavalry553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwkQxus1Yvc
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Buildings: keep level 2; curtain walls level 1; towers level 1; town walls level 1553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaElpbgIkCQ
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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?553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjlB24riblY
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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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRoFl1pHQa1
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People553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYlXNZhw1J
Citizens: 485553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUM3wZ8ivt
Happiness: 14553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsQ4SuSr38
Tax Level: High553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlrNskguCe
Health: 89553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4rSUihavCN
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Specialist roles553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmpRMuKZT1r
General: Lord Arval, Paladin Level 7553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnMYo6UaNO
Royal Wizard: Carlena, Sorceress Level 9553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyUBR9NPp9T
Steward: Chancellor Parrin, Scout Level 9553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBw3gLmBB9W
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?553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aOoFw0lks
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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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3bPiQvbzK
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Lord Arval: Paladin Level 7553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUipAFOnJWU
HP 64553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yw41F9BSm
AC 18553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡga5io94pri
XP 19,663 (28,800)553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfejYtMcyG0
Str 17 (18), Dex 12, Con 15, Int 8, Wis 9, Cha 9.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ShiBwgMqi
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzrwHFLgvzm
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Time to check the others.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoCylnnhcHI
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Carlena, Sorceress Level 9553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ry9UrDaIZ
HP 34553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKT1TZLXoV
AC 5553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡobwFrUr14X
XP 72,102 (86,400)553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4NKCcgL5Vn
Str 5, Dex 11, Con 9, Int 17, Wis 7, Cha 8.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVtbsDQXvc
Broach of Protection from Magical Missiles; Wand of Channelling; Potion of Transformation.
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Chancellor Parrin, Scout Level 9553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mkIAPrFRN
HP 53553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKsQgYCr8cO
AC 12553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFC6xuWlyY
XP 71,043 (86,400)553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeCoBYLvdYE
Str 9, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 6, Cha 9553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpAH7YHr6b
Dagger +1; Leather Jerkin +1; Ring of Silent Movement.
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Figus, Bard Level 3553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHl9GDBYcjd
HP 17553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrxsyVAjmN
AC 14553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYal44hJ7E4
XP 684 (800)553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpC0iiLWLx
Str 13, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 9, Cha 15553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjczl22BiLm
Scroll of Charm553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAbaeY7EZY
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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAykgx3zCUt
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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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTYjXD7wjZL
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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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvs2P7FlIY
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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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAkaqWDCMxS
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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?553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoPlazLd1T
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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.553Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtzFXkuIbYQ
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My head filling again with images of the town planning interface, I was asleep before I knew it.
and then Add to home screen.