"News from the portal!" Spyro paused his reading and turned to face the speaker. The gray and light blue dragon was fairly obviously a Wind dragon and from the saddle bags strapped to his mid-section, she was a messenger.
From the distraught look on the messenger's face, Spyro could already tell that he would not like what she had to say. "What happened?" The purple dragon asked as he stood up from where he had lay and prepared to grab his own equipment.
The Wind dragoness paused to catch a breath, which for a Wind dragon and especially one who was a messenger, meant that she had been pushing themselves far beyond her limits. "Major assault, sir." She replied as she paused again to take a breath. "Large force of orks led by one of those ourg attacked. We lost eleven dragons pushing the orks back, but there was no way for us to stop the ourg." Spyro was dreading what she had to say next, he knew very well who had been out at the portal today. "We would have lost the portal had it not been for Terrador… But the fight was too much for his condition, sir."
Terrador was dead? Spyro had hoped they had, had more time… He forced his mind back to the situation, there would be time to grieve later when he was at home with Cynder. "What about the ourg?" If the ourg was still alive, then it could have retreated which would give the enemy valuable information on their defenses.
"Dead, sir." The dragoness replied. "I flew ahead to inform you that we will need reinforcements. Terrador's body is being brought back to the city as I speak, but we just do not have enough people to hold the portal if another assault like that one comes through."
He doubted that they would get another assault of that scale any time soon, but it did not hurt to be careful. "Tell Clarity to gather up her reserves and meet me at the gate." Spyro ordered as he began pulling the fury armor on. Each resonating with his soul as he attached it to his body. No doubt Cynder would be able to tell that Spyro had put the armor on through the connection. No doubt she would want to go as well, but they had an unborn egg to look after now as well. There was no way he would let what happened twenty-three years ago happen again, especially not to his own child.
Treasury: 2743 Gold
Income: 1050 Gold per turn.
Martial: Choose Two.
Clarity brings bad news from the portal this year; a large Bandosian force led by one of the massive ourgs, assaulted the fortifications that surround the portal. While the fortifications held, it was not without losses and of the 100 soldiers, eleven were killed and another score were wounded by the invading company of orks. The ourg presented a much larger problem and it was only thanks to Terrador being onsite that the ourg leading the attack was able to be killed before the massive creature was slain by the Guardian at the cost of the weakened Guardian's health. This was the first major assault from Bandosian forces and Clarity can already see several things to be improved in both the flight's training, as well as the fortifications.
Patching the Holes Part 2 (Martial): Now that new walls have been erected, it is time for the stone to be fused together into one whole piece. Clarity and Glacies would like to get started immediately as the sooner the walls are made stronger, the less likely an enemy will be able to breach them. Durability enchantments combined with a massive amount of Earth manipulation will be required for this. As such they expect this project to take a while to finish, but once done it will greatly increase the protection granted by Warfang's walls.
Cost: 952 Gold. Time: 3 years. Reward: +300 to defense rolls.
Rebuilding the City Military (Martial): With Clarity's new professional soldiers proving to be well worth the time and money it took to train them, she and Glacies would like to construct a district dedicated to training and equipping future soldiers. This will also give the soldiers a place to stay when they are not on assignment and ensure that training replacements or new flights will go smoothly.
Cost: 952 Gold, 300 Upkeep. Time: 2 years. Reward: Military district, Reduce training cost, time, and upkeep for soldier flights, +10 soldiers' rolls.
Assaulting the Portal: Tsa'ar has asked the dragons to assist in taking the Gielinor side of the portal while Mugorim's forces are occupied in assaulting Armadylean land. Using the information that Umbra's scouts have supplied, combined with the avianie's knowledge, Clarity has been able to draw up a plan to attack the fort on the other side of the portal. Losses will be inevitable, but if this plan succeeds then you will have a clear staging ground with which to interact with those on Gleinor.
Chance of Success: ??? Time: 1 year. Reward: War turns.
Patrolling: The populace have calmed down and have been returning to a pre-war lifestyle. However the recent revelation of the rift and the green-skinned warriors coming out of it has convinced Clarity that patrols around the city and in particular around the rift would be a wise course of action.
Chance of Success: 70%. Cost: 100 Gold. Time: 1 year. Reward: Patrols around Warfang and the rift.
A Different Kind of Hunting: With the food situation as bad as it is, Clarity has offered her time toward organizing more hunting trips to make sure everyone has enough food.
Chance of Success: 90%. Time: 1 year. Reward: Food situation stabilized. +300 Gold in loot.
Diplomacy: Choose One. One Locked.
Ventis has spent much of his time with the aviansie warriors that Warfang is hosting at the moment and according to him, the avian race is far more different than the other known races. Ventis describes the aviansie as defined by their migratory nature which causes the race as a whole to put little consideration on long term gain and far more on what can be gained from the here and now. From what Ventis has discovered, the aviansie have very little in the way of actual infrastructure and instead rely heavily on their skill in enchanting and the Armadylean human villages to make up for this. It has made things with the aviansie… interesting to put it lightly.
Look for Survivors: Now that maps of the continent have been completed, Ventis proposes sending scouts out to look for survivors. Small enclaves of dragons or other races may be out there still in hiding. In particular small villages of dragons and tribes of cheetahs used to dot the world, while lesser known races such as the atlawa could be found in isolated communities. Ventis thinks that most of these groups were either wiped out during the war or never came out of hiding and would like to send scouts to find them.
Chance of Success: 70%. Time: 4 years. Rewards: Possible new allies or immigrants. Locked - Three years remaining.
Coordinate with the Moles (action): The moles have agreed to coordinate on construction projects around the city. They are eager to rebuild the city and have expressed worries about the lack of walls.
Chance of Success: 90%. Time: 1 year. Notes: Must be done on the first turn of the project. Reward: Half cost and time of selected construction project.
Coordinate with Cheetahs (action): Ventis says that the cheetah are greatly worried about the rift and are willing to send what warriors they can to help. They offer their expertise in either fortifying the rift, patrolling around it, or scouting the other side.
Chance of Success: 100%. Time: 1 year. Notes: Must be done on the first turn of the project. Reward: +10 to Securing the Rift, Patrolling, or similar action.
Diplomatic Negotiations (Group and Topic): Ventis has offered to enter talks with one of the other races or groups. Several of the known races have knowledge or services that dragons do not and the Wind dragon is willing to see if he can negotiate a deal of some kind.
Chance of Success: Variable. Time: 1 Year. Reward: Negotiations for goods, services, knowledge or other information.
Intrigue: Choose One. One Locked.
Umbra is saddened to hear about Terrador's death, but Terrador went out how he would have wanted. Though he knows that the city is lesser without the Earth Guardian, Umbra prefers to focus his efforts on things that he can currently affect.
Scouting the Rift: According to Umbra, the first thing that needs to be done is finding what has changed since the planet was put back together. With proper maps of the area, Umbra says he will be able to do more and start planning on how to best disrupt any potential enemies.
Chance of Success: ???. Cost: 100 Gold. Time: 3 years. Reward: Knowledge of the other side of the rift. Locked - One year remaining.
Establish Intelligence Network: Umbra has decided that it is time to put one of the most effective spy tools that he knows about, to work. Spyro was rather surprised when Umbra clarified that he was actually talking about rumors. The use of rumors allows for the fast gathering of questionable intelligence as well as the possibility of spreading information in a controlled manner. He admits that any information gathered or spread through rumors is very much at the risk of being lost or changed due to the nature of rumors, but it will allow a solid starting point for his small team.
Chance of Success: 70%. Cost: 250 gold. Time: 2 years. Reward: Rumor Mill, +5 to related rolls.
Sabotaging Defenses: Knowing that a move to take out the Bandosian fort occupying the other side of the portal is becoming more and more likely, Umbra has put together a plan to weaken the defenders of the fort for the battle. He plans to use his agents to wreck as much havoc through assassinations, poisoning supplies, and sabotage, as well as in depth reconnaissance. It is Umbra's plan to gather as much crucial intelligence as he can regarding the defenses on the fort, the makeup of the troops, and any vulnerabilities that his teams can exploit. Despite protests to the contrary, Umbra has decided to lead the teams himself and return to doing what he is best at.
Chance of Success: 50%.Cost: 100 Gold. Time: 1 year. Reward: Layout of Bandosian fort, sabotage, chance for Umbra to show his agents how it's done, +20 to 'Assaulting the Portal' rolls.
Feuding Nobility (Support Family/Resolve/Dissolve): With the noble families falling upon themselves in a three-way shadow war, Umbra has decided this would be an excellent time to influence the result one way or another. Supporting the Baselt family would see a sharp uptake in mining as they can afford to expand their mining activities. The Sonis on the other claw have the most skilled traders and supporting them could see an upturn in trading. Meanwhile the Novis are very much in favor of going on the offense and smashing the enemies of the city aside in order to secure dragon dominance. Another option would be to try and resolve the situation peacefully which would be difficult, but would restore things to how they were before the shadow-war. The last option Umbra has proposed with much prompting by Glacies, would be to work toward dismantling the nobility entirely; neither of them are entirely sure what the result will be without the noble families propping up crucial aspects of life.
Chance of Success: 50%/30%/30%. Cost: 200 Gold. Time: Variable. Reward: Increase to mining, trading, military, status-quo, or ???. Bad things happen if discovered.
Stewardship: Choose Two. One Locked.
With the food situation finally fixed and more opportunities to expand it even further in the future, Glacies has decided her time would be better spent getting the rest of the districts built, fixing the rest of the laws, and starting work on ways to make the government more efficient. She admits that you will be hard pressed for gold for a while still, but many of the projects she has put forward will help to keep the treasury full.
Gone Hunting: Food has become a very big problem due to the large population of dragons calling the city home. Glacies recommends sending out hunting parties immediately to make sure nobody goes hungry throughout the year. The food situation has finally stabilized and Glacies would like to give the animals in the area around the city a chance to repopulate
Chance of Success: 70%. Time: 1 year. Reward: Food situation stabilized. +300 Gold in loot.
Farming Prey: Now that you have maps detailing the migratory routes and locations of prey, Glacies would like to see if purposely containing large amounts of prey species to be bred and harvested enmasse is possible. If successful this could very well solve the food problem that having nearly two thousand carnivores the size of dragons in a single city brings. Unfortunately this project is very much going to be trial and error and Glacies is not even sure if anything will come from this. Chance of Success: 40%. Cost: 286 Gold. Time: 3 years. Reward: Ranching; +1 Food level, +200 income in gold. Locked - Two years remaining.
Rebuilding the City Market: Glacies has put together plans to construct a dedicated market district which will be able to serve as a place for peoples of any race will be able to gather and trade comfortably.In order to accomplish this, Glacies has plans to accommodate all known races and will be sending messages out to inform those races of the new dedicated market. While so far none of the races she knows about will be particularly difficult to accommodate, Glacies wants to preempt any problems by building a section for each element as well as other possibilities.
Cost: 666 Gold. Time: 2 years. Reward: Market district, +200 gold income in trade to start, accommodations for all races.
Rebuilding the City Artisan: It has come to Glacies' attention that those dragons who consider themselves artisans lack the facilities to do anything truly impressive. She has put together a proposal for the planned 'industrial' or 'artisan' district which calls for a series of state of the art workshops for artists, blacksmiths, potters, jewelers, masons, and other trades. Glacies knows that this district will be essential to provide the skilled labor needed for some of the more ambitious projects that she and the other advisers have planned.
Cost: 1428 Gold. Time: 2 years. Reward: Artisan district, +300 gold income from produced goods, future expansions to the district.
Rebuilding the City Education (Stewardship): The new school is a good first step toward ensuring the best possible education, but Glacies and Therris would like to take it even further. They have plans to create buildings designed to assist in the training of all major specialties including healers, enchanters, diplomats, and construction among others. With assistance from the other advisers, they will be able to have talented dragons trained and directed their way. In addition to the proposed university,
Cost: 2857 Gold 200 Upkeep. Time: 3 years. Reward: Education district, university for continued education, library, increase in trait chance for specialized skills, higher base stats for all future dragons.
Rebuilding the City Spiritual (Stewardship): The new Dragon Temple is an excellent start for matters of the spiritual, but Glacies finds that it does little to help the average dragon hone their connection to the world. To change this, she and the Guardians would like to construct a set of training areas around the temple dedicated and attuned to each element. This will give the average dragon a specialized environment within which to train their element.
Cost: 476 Gold. Time: 1 years. Reward: Spiritual district, elemental skill gains for the average dragon increased.
Rebuilding the City Military (Stewardship): With Clarity's new professional soldiers proving to be well worth the time and money it took to train them, she and Glacies would like to construct a district dedicated to training and equipping future soldiers. This will also give the soldiers a place to stay when they are not on assignment and ensure that training replacements or new flights will go smoothly.
Cost: 952 Gold, 300 Upkeep. Time: 2 years. Reward: Military district, Reduce training cost, time, and upkeep for soldier flights, +10 soldiers' rolls.
Patching the Holes Part 2 (Stewardship): Now that new walls have been erected, it is time for the stone to be fused together into one whole piece. Clarity and Glacies would like to get started immediately as the sooner the walls are made stronger, the less likely an enemy will be able to breach them. Durability enchantments combined with a massive amount of Earth manipulation will be required for this. As such they expects this project to take a while to finish, but once done it will greatly increase the protection granted by Warfang's walls.
Cost: 952 Gold. Time: 3 years. Reward: +300 to defense rolls.
A Legal Conundrum: Now that Glacies has for the most part untangled the laws relating to taxes, she believes that her next step should be in updating the rest of the laws. Due to the centuries where the noble families had free run of the kingdom except where it concerned the Guardians, they have written new laws or changed existing laws at their convenience. This has resulted in a horrendous mess of legal contradictions that makes it incredibly difficult to go without breaking at least one law in everyday life. Fortunately with the nobles holed up in their own district and occupied with their feuds, Glacies has spotted an opportunity to work on fixing it.
Chance of Success: 60%. Cost: 285 Gold. Time: 4 years. Reward: Updated laws, ???.
Prospecting Gold: With the new maps that the cheetahs have helped to supply, Glacies is salivating over the potential gold to be made in hard to acquire materials. As it stands right now, most dragons make use of the already existing materials as the families who worked the various gem and metal deposits were mostly killed off during the early stages of the war as easy targets. This means that there are very few new sources of critical materials, such as gold, silver, iron, coal, or gems, let alone the more magical materials. Glacies would like to remedy this soon.
Chance of Success: Variable. Cost: 95 Gold. Time: 3 years. Reward: Gem and ore deposits uncovered.
A Better Governing System: It has been suggested by many already that the current governing system which has Spyro and a small council of advisers ruling the city, could be further tuned to be more effective.
Time: 2 years. Reward: Government solidified. Sub-vote, ???.
Learning: Choose One. One Locked.
Together with Glacies, Therris has expanded his proposed library project to incorporate a set of buildings dedicated toward higher learning as part of the effort to create an education focused district. Additionally the researcher has combed through the gathered notes on sympathetic connections as well as from the enchanted diamond bolt project and would like to take a year to identify what other known gemstones resonate with magically. According to Therris, it is a safe assumption that there is a gemstone which resonates with each of the elements and figuring out which gems could be a great boost toward elemental enchantments.
Save the Books! Part Two: With the Dragon Temple destroyed and with it priceless irreplaceable knowledge, Volteer has declared an emergency. The other half of the issue is that with the Warfang library and Dragon Temple gone, there is no longer a place to store books. Volteer has deemed this a lesser priority, but says that the sooner it is done, the sooner they can take inventory and figure out what they have and what the Guardians and other older dragons may have to rewrite from memory. Cannot be taken with 'Rebuilding the City (Education)'
Cost: 500 gold. Time: 2 years. Reward: Library built, librarian hired, actions unlocked.
Rebuilding the City (Education): The new school is a good first step toward ensuring the best possible education, but Glacies and Therris would like to take it even further. They have plans to create buildings designed to assist in the training of all major specialties including healers, enchanters, diplomats, and construction among others. With assistance from the other advisers, they will be able to have talented dragons trained and directed their way.
Cost: 2857 Gold 200 Upkeep. Time: 2 years. Reward: Education district, university for continued education, library, increase in trait chance for specialized skills, higher base stats for all future dragons.
Attribute Amplification: Therris and his group of researchers catalogued dozens of enchantments which had been forgotten to time. One of the more interesting enchantments discovered was pieced together from the adamant orbs and what can be gleaned from the dragon armor without taking it apart. These enchantments seem to be able to greatly increase or possibly even decrease a given quality of an object such as weight, durability, strength, or even regeneration. This enchantment seems particularly prevalent on dragon armor and would be the first step to reverse engineering the armor.
Chance of Success: 60%. Time: 2 years. Reward: Attribute amplification enchantments, first step toward recreating dragon armor.
Sympathetic Connections: Therris and his group of researchers catalogued dozens of enchantments which had been forgotten to time. Where as the majority of the enchantments were lost in recent times with the death of so many dragons and the destruction caused by the war, the enchantment to link two or more objects together seems to have been lost hundreds of years ago. Therris admits that out of all of the enchantments that he has seen, except the ones which make up Spyro and Cynder's 'fury armor', these are the most complicated enchantments that he knows about. They are also necessary if you wish to be able to reproduce things like the adamant orbs or even the fabled Pool of Visions from the old dragon temple.
Chance of Success: 40%. Time: 3 years. Reward: Sympathetic enchantments that allow for two or more objects to be linked, first step toward recreating the Pool of Visions. Locked - One year remaining.
A Study in Gemology: Now that Therris has determined that diamonds resonate strong with the concepts of hardness, piercing, and durability, he would like to spend the time determining what other properties can be found in the known gems. In particular he theorizes that there is likely a gem resonating with each element. If he can discover which gems are tied to the elements, then many new projects will be opened up. Such a study will have an immense impact in regards to the spiritual which excites Timor and Zephyr greatly as it will greatly benefit their as of yet unmentioned plan.
Chance of Success: 80%. Time: 1 year. Reward: Magical resonance for known gems is documented.
Reverse Engineering (basic bandosian enchantments): According to Therris the enchantments on the weapons and armor recovered are incredibly simple, if crude. In fact such enchantments are ideal for mass production and if superior dragon knowledge is applied, then he is sure that he can create an easy to make enchantment which could be applied on a large scale with ease. Such enchantments consist of durability, strength, sharpness, weight, and similar attribute enhancements. In fact this would serve as an ideal stepping stone for his other related project to greatly improve attribute enhancing enchantments.
Chance of Success: 70%. Time: 1 year. Reward: Mass producible basic enchantments. +10 toward Attribute Amplification.
Reverse Engineering (bandosian metal): The metal that makes up the Bandosian weapons and armor is unlike anything Therris has seen before outside of dragon armor. Preliminary research suggests that the metal is highly magical and that it is over three times tougher than almost anything he can think of. Though the metal compares favorably to the metal dragon armor was made of, he can already tell that it is heavier and as such not a complete match. Nonetheless, the amount of this metal recovered suggests that it should be easy to mass produce and as such would be ideal for outfitting large amounts of dragons in.
Chance of Success: 55%. Time: 1 year. Reward: Bandosian metal identified, first step toward mass producible armor.
Piety: Choose One. One Locked.
The death of Terrador hits all of the Guardians hard. For Cyril and Volteer, Terrador was a close friend and comrade, while for the newer generation the Earth Guardian was a solid and dependable mentor that was always willing to help them however he could. Argent in particular is deeply affected as she knows that with Terrador dead, the mantle of Earth Guardian passes onto her much sooner than she had expected. Other news concerning the Guardians and apprentices is of a much happier sort with Timor having reached a new level of control over the Fear element. Additionally Umbra put forward enough time and effort during his project to create high quality gear, that he can now be considered a skilled enchanter.
Umbra gains trait Skilled Enchanter (+2 Learning, +20 to enchanting rolls): As a result of his time with the Guardians and his efforts to keep his agents supplied with enchanted gear, Umbra can now be considered a skilled enchanter.
Timor upgrades trait Fear Adept (+2 Piety, +20 to all Fear rolls) into Fear Expert (+3 Piety, +30 to all Fear rolls): With the help of the Guardians, Timor has been able to gain a deep knowledge of Fear and how it interacts with the other elements as well as the world itself.
Training New Guardians Part Two Elemental: With five new Guardian Initiates and the Fire Guardian Apprentice Pyra found alive, it is time to resume training. The first step in this training would be to instill what the Guardians consider the basics. This would consist of patching the holes in the initiates' education. As a Guardian, they are expected to be polite, knowledgeable, capable leaders, and able to take care of themselves in combat.
Chance of Success: 1d100/(500, or 1000). Reward: Progress made toward elemental traits. Phydra/Zephyr/Virii/Timor gain Water/Wind/Poison/Fear Master, Pyra/Umbra gain Fire/Shadow Grandmaster.
Filling the Crystals: One of the ideas that Volteer had was to create massive crystals to store elemental energy in, which would saturate the area around the crystals in elemental energy. This would make the respective element much easier to use in close proximity to the crystal and with the crystals the size they are, anyone training in the respective wing of their element would find that their element would be much easier to use. With the crystals added during the construction, Volteer would like to dedicate some time toward enchanting the crystals correctly and then filling the crystals with elemental energy.
Time: 2 years. Reward: +10 to elemental training rolls, the elemental wings become extremely comfortable to dragons of the respective elements. Locked - One year remaining.
Rebuilding the City Spiritual (Piety): The new Dragon Temple is an excellent start for matters of the spiritual, but Glacies finds that it does little to help the average dragon hone their connection to the world. To change this, she and the Guardians would like to construct a set of training areas dedicated and attuned to each element. This will give the average dragon a specialized environment within which to train their element.
Cost: 476 Gold. Time: 1 year. Reward: Increase to elemental skill for the average dragon.
Personal: Choose Two.
The death of Terrador this year hurts Spyro deeply. While he was not as close to the Earth Guardian as he was to Ignitus, the Earth dragon had been a pillar of support during his time as ruler of the city. Knowing that it was coming, did not make losing Terrador any easier and though Spyro knows that he needs to project an appearance of strength, it is difficult for him to do so. The other Guardians, Cynder, and Sparx easily see through his facade and it is due to their support that he has not allowed his grief to overwhelm him like when Ignitus was killed. On a happier note Cynder laid her egg recently and going by the coloration of the egg, it is likely going to be a Wind dragon. The couple cannot wait for the egg to hatch and it has given Spyro another reason to keep going forward in his duties, despite the hardships of rulership.
Spending Time with Cynder: Ever since the fight with Malefor, Spyro has felt closer to Cynder than ever before. He has a half remembered feeling that Cynder would like to be even closer. Spyro has been operating mostly on instinct regarding this and the older dragons are of no help when it comes to advise, always deflecting his questions or trying to hide a laugh. Cynder has become frustrated and stressed for a reason that everyone except Spyro finds funny. There is nothing funny about seeing someone having a bad time right?
Chance of Success: ??? Time: 1 year. Reward: Increased closeness with Cynder. ???
Spend Time with (character): There are many significant individuals in Warfang, both dragon and non-dragon. Spend some time with one of them and you may learn something. (May choose a character or leave it up to QM)
Chance of Success: Variable. Time: 1 year. Reward: Information. Increased Relationship. Chance of stat gain or elemental progress.
Mastering the Elements (Element): While Spyro can be considered an expert in using the elements, he could go further and begin the process of mastering an element. This would require dedicating his time to one element; with the temple restored and the new initiates trained, it will be considerably easier to train the elements.
Chance of Success: 1d100 of 100 (Water/Wind/Shadow/Poison/Fear) or 500 (Fire/Ice/Electricity/Earth). Reward: Progress made toward chosen element.
Mastering the Code of Reality: Aether allows one to alter reality with enough will and provides both the ultimate offense and the ultimate defense. Unfortunately Aether is incredibly difficult to master as nobody, save Spyro and Cynder can even use it and both have been almost lost to the dark side of it forever. Mastering the conventional elements first may make this easier.
Chance of Success: 1d100/1000 (Low rolls have disastrous consequences). Reward: Progress toward becoming a master in Aether.
Shaping Reality: It is a purple dragon's spiritual right to master the elements. Malefor however did something nobody had even considered and added the elements of Shadow, Poison, and Fear. With this revelation, there has been rumors that Wind and Water are not original elements either and that only the prime elements of Fire, Ice, Electricity, and Earth are natural. While Spyro is nowhere near Malefor's level of mastery over Aether, it could be done.
Chance of Success: 15% (chance doubled if Cynder can be convinced to help). Time: ??? Reward: New Element.
