When Allistor blinked away the notifications and looked around, everyone else’s eyes were still vacant.  He waited a few moments until Andrea focused on him.

“Oh, shit,” was her first reaction.

“I know; that was awesome!” Allistor held out a fist for bumping.

She obliged, but she corrected him.  “Sure, awesome Citadel, woohoo.  But that first thing, it was a world notice.”

Allistor’s enthusiasm left him as Helen and Dean listened in.  He faintly heard Bjurstrom somewhere behind him echo Andrea’s sentiment.  “Oh, shit.”   All the gamers in the room knew what a worldwide announcement of an achievement like this mean.  They’d just had a big red target painted on them.   It happened in games all the time.  A guild would reach the top ranking on a server, and other guilds would immediately begin planning to take them down.

In this particular case, why struggle to create a citadel of your own if you could just take one from the other guys?

As Andrea explained it to Dean and Helen, Allistor’s shoulders slumped.

“Well, shit.”

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

The Citadel

Allistor spent the rest of the evening on housekeeping.  The first order of business was the improvements to the Citadel.   He told everyone gathered about the information he’d received.  They all practically ran outside to see the changes.  The first and most noticeable was a second wall outside the first.   The original wall was dwarfed by the new one.  Forty feet high, with six massive stone towers that extended up another forty feet above the top of the wall.  The wall itself was about two hundred yards farther out than the first.  Also new, the entire area now sat upon a hill.  While the mall had previously sat on level ground, Allistor’s best guess was that it was now at an elevation about a hundred feet higher.  From where he stood, he could see over both walls and look out over the city.   The road leading up from below zigged and zagged through several switchbacks carved into the stone of the hill, making any approach difficult for enemies looking to storm the castle.

And castle it was.  The blocky mall building had transformed into a multi-story stone and steel keep with a tower at one corner where his quarters had been located, and another on the opposite side.  A steeply pitched roof still held extensive skylights, with the addition of a battlement around the perimeter.

Goodrich made everyone jump when he shouted, “Yeeeeehaw!  We got us a castle!”

To one side of the inner gates was a wide metal pad with symbols etched into it.  Atop the pad was an arch that rose twenty feet at the top.  A pedestal stood to one side.  “That must be our teleporter.” Dean stared at it with awe.   “Is that really a real actual thing now?”

Allistor grinned at him.  “Really real. Who brings you all the coolest toys?!”

Helen snorted and said, “Doesn’t do you much good unless you have a place to teleport to.”