Little King's Diary
Day 8
Hmm. It costs money to train up carpenters. Not a lot, but I just spent a pile of money on buildings, and I bet later careers are going to get expensive. Anyway, I give Ajani, Ashton and Nathan a purpose in life, assemble a mixed team of farmers, carpenters and soldiers, and go off to explore.
First I head to one of the signs I spotted earlier, and build a set of stairs. They lead to some buried treasure, and some very suspiciously-coloured trees, but not much else. Over to the other sign, and let the bridge-building commence.
Across the river is an observatory, but it's locked up because there are monsters around. Have I mentioned yet that monsters in this game are called UMAs? Unidentified Mysterious Animals. Yeah.
We break a few rocks (which rewards me with, um, rocks) and then run into our first Onii. They're...odd. Little guys with big heads and wide mouths. They have horns and fangs, sure, but they're not exactly intimidating. And when I kill them candy comes out. It's like we've declared war against a race of piñatas.
Intelligent piñatas, at that. A couple of them are definitely talking as I approach. No dialogue, but speech bubbles with pictures in them. I spot an Onii icon and a crown. I hope they're talking about me. Otherwise that might suggest some sort of Onii King.
Moving on. We break up some rocks, and dig some holes, uncovering treasure and occasionally a bunch more Onii. They're not too much of a threat, even with only a couple of grunts in my team. Another demon cow does more damage.
Littered around the area are incongruous things like a row of school desks and a giant purse I can't reach. Presumably things will become clearer once I add this region to my empire.
I find one path blocked by a giant tree trunk. It looks like the carpenters can clear the way, but there's a note pinned to it by Liam warning me that the monsters here are too tough for me. That's considerate. I decide to take his advice.
Wait. How did he get here on his own to post the note?
Going the other way, I find another set of stairs-in-waiting. Onii attack us while we're working on them, but we fend them off. One of them drops a toy when it dies, adding further credence to my piñata theory.
Getting a procession of eight people up a staircase is harder than it sounds, especially when a blue mist descends suddenly over us. I stumble off an edge of the ledge we've climbed up to and...into a boss fight.
There's a giant Onii and a bunch of smaller ones. My current squad is mostly made up of carpenters and farmers. I consider my options carefully, and leg it.
We bravely head back to town, to level some taxes and sell the various stuff we've found. This includes a rare plant called Mardi Grass. Sigh.
I don't make quite enough money to buy the calisthenics programme, which is a pity because I'm thinking extra health would be really useful about now. And we don't have anywhere near enough for the archers, who also sound handy for the big fight that's clearly approaching. Ah well.
I buy the last couple of huts for an extra handful of citizens. This opens up an upgrade for the podium so I can organise people easier. Predictably, I can't afford it.
With my retinue starting to feel distinctly ragged, I head to bed. This is the first time I've deliberately ended a day, so Liam helpfully explains that, yes, this is my bedroom. Cheers. I notice that the mattress is straw, and there are cobwebs in the corners. Nothing but the best for our beloved king, clearly.
Current status:
30 citizens:
7 grunts (Lyrica, Lunasa, Aidan, Caden, Letty, Alice, Josh)
5 farmers (Caleb, Jaden, Merlan, Lily, Mike)
3 carpenters (Nathan, Ajani, Ashton)
15 carefree (Remil, Finn, Taylor, Malia, Alexis, Keely, Connor, Calliope, Emily, Asha, Kelsey, Joyce, Don, Aneira, Arlan)
There are still four haters in the kingdom. Not sure how, but there must be some way to track them down and re-educate them.