Chapter 2 - Of grey hair and gambling

Link to Chapter 1

One of the meeting rooms in the castle

Lord Grinsal was still fuming. This Melisandre mentor he had to tolerate was not letting him do what he wanted. He had to follow a specific order.

Insolent Man was trying to calm him down. “It is only a few more jobs you need to do, then you have full control over your castle. Just be patient and do what she asks. She will be gone soon.” Insolent Man would not tell Lord Grinsal that she would return from time to time to give him more orders. If he had said that, Lord Grinsal would probably just run away … not what Insolent Man had in mind.

(Insolent Man, aka the penguin)

Insolent Man watched Lord Grinsal leave the room, then he waddled towards the cabinet where he hid the alcohol. He fixed himself a drink and let himself fall into his armchair. The poor piece of furniture groaned under Insolent Mans weight but stood firm.

After taking another sip of his drink Insolent Man took the papers from the table. The castle was repaired and on a good way to get back to its old glory but it would take a lot more time, same as all the buildings of the city and outer city. A few weeks perhaps but most likely months. And only after that would Lord Grinsal be ready to build up his army. There were ways to speed things up but Insolent Man was a friend of what people called free to play. He had advised Lord Grinsal to take it easy, build up slow and steady instead of throwing money at the problem. Yes, it would work, but at the same time Lord Grinsal would most likely waste a lot for things like speedups.

Another sip and Insolent Man felt well enough to put the papers aside and call for a maid. He needed something to eat … preferably something fatty. At least Insolent Man had managed to get Lord Grinsal to open up the kitchen day and night. Small favors … but that kid was otherwise … well … just a kid.

Some time later, in another meeting room

Insolent Man was waiting for Lord Grinsal. The young Lord wanted to show him something.

When Lord Grinsal finally arrived he held a dagger in his hand. A new ring was visible on his finger. Insolent Man knew those items. He had seen them before but could not remember where. Maybe it had been some heirloom? No that did not feel right.

Lord Grinsal smiled at Insolent Man and declared “Insolent Man, see what I got! Two new items! The new lord dagger and the ring of the new lord! Aren’t they great?” Insolent Man remembered them now and he had to stifle a groan. Lord Grinsal had bought those items … so much for free to play. Maybe it was not too late and Lord Grinsal could at least be kept from buying useless stuff with the black diamonds he had gotten.

Lord Grinsal was still talking about the advantages of his new equipment and how he was no ahead of the plebs that started not too long ago, when Insolent Man interrupted him. “You have not bought anything with the black diamonds yet … right?” Lord Grinsal was grinning even wider. “Of course, I bought things! The offers were just too good to decline!” All the color drained from Insolent Mans face … what would that idiot have bought? Most likely something useless like blue diamonds or resources. They had their value but they were not worth black diamonds. Especially since you got both usually for buying other things. That kid really would be responsible for all of Insolent Mans hair falling out!

“Ok, what did you buy?” Insolent Man asked, his voice showing his disapproval. Lord Grinsal did not take notice of that. He was too giddy. “Well … I was thinking about what would be good to have. So many things to choose but I only had a few black diamonds. Then I saw that I could gamble with them!” Insolent Man felt something he thought not possible … even more color draining from his face. He really needed a drink, but that was not an option here. His flask was in the other meeting room. “Gambling? What? How? Please don’t tell me you lost a lot …”

(exclusive for new servers, non repeating event. The amount of black diamonds needed per spin go up with every spin)

Lord Grinsal was smiling broadly. “I am not stupid! There was a game where you could only get more! The old gods seem to really like me! So I made a small fortune! And with that I bought two things…”

Insolent Man was only partially listening. There was a game where you could get more black diamonds for spending black diamonds? He had never heard of such a thing. It sounded interesting. Maybe he should try it for himself?

Lord Grinsal continued. “So first I bought the second construction slot. See? That way we can build two things at once! We will have the castle up and running twice as fast now!”

That really was not too bad. And buying that upgrade early meant it would have an even bigger value. And it was kinda cheap. Some of the color returned … maybe the boy was not too stupid.

“And then I bought the Honor Token! So we can do two researches at the same time too! Sadly, we got that Melisandre back when I recharged … but at least she was not trying to tell me what to do!”

Melisandre’s services was a bonus for the first recharge, so that had to be expected. The honor token was a good investment too, even if it only held for 28 days. Insolent Man would not tell that Lord Grinsal … not yet. The boy had shown that he could make good decisions with money. At least for now Insolent Man had been appeased.

Lord Grinsal was still talking about all the stuff he had planned and would do in the next days and weeks but Insolent Man did not really listen. He was doing his own planning. With the new things and perhaps if he could keep Lord Grinsal in check regarding his spendings, he would still be able to control the boy long enough to get something out of the mentorship. Yes, Insolent Man would get rewarded highly, if he could groom Lord Grinsal and bring him into the fold. Maybe he would even finally be able to get a position in the alliance council? That would be worth the trouble, headache and maybe even the loss of some hair, which Lord Grinsal would most likely cause.

Link to chapter 3

Screenrecording of the first 3.5 minutes of the game, spedup to one minute. Not really that long till you can do something ;)