The Innkeeper



Creating a third settlement was an exciting task for Lex, but first he had to decide where to build it. The Midnight Manor was right in the center of the Inn, Main street was right below it to the south, and the village, where most of the entertainment was based, was to the west. To the north was the greenhouse, which was ever expanding, so Lex wanted to avoid building in that direction. That left only the east without anything major, so that is where he decided to build.

The design of the third settlement was very different from anything Lex had built before, for he did not want to pack all the guests densely in a concentrated area. Instead, it would be a vast, sprawling development spread over a large area. Instead of tall buildings and structures, there would be a multitude of buildings one or two stories high dotting the entire region.

As was customary every time he added something prominent to the Inn, he expanded the size of the Inn. It was not too much, just about 20,000 acres of land added in the east for a total of two hundred million MP.

It was not an exaggeration to say 20,000 acres was not a lot of land. A single state in the US took up millions of acres of so the Inn which was still only in the hundreds of thousands was miniscule.

Adding a new location also meant making alterations to the various transport systems available at the Inn to include it. Train tracks were laid down, roads were cut through grass, the path of the lazy river was altered and Lex finally also added an airport.

As amazing as it would be to have helicopters fly guests around the Inn, they were much too noisy and inefficient. With Xeon as a member of the Inn now, Lex had him purchase a few hundred ships via the Guild room and optimize them for the Inn's use.

Massive jets capable of vertical takeoffs while staying completely silent filled the garages in the airports. Each jet was capable of carrying anywhere between 100 to 300 guests at a time, and could traverse the entire length of the Inn in merely a couple of minutes - only because they kept their acceleration within comfort levels even for mortals.

Naturally, a couple of other airports were also included at the other areas of the Inn.

With transportation taken care of, it was time to look at the layout of the new settlement. But first, Lex wanted to give it a name. Continuously calling it a settlement or development was tedious.

Lex's naming sense wasn't the best, but since he had decided to do things properly, he didn't let them make him do things half-heartedly. Each area of the Inn had been designed with a purpose in mind. Main street was where the guests who only wanted a quiet or peaceful vacation went, and the esthetic and feel of the area matched it. The village, instead, was a happening place with stadiums, parks, coliseums, concert halls and anything else that spoke of entertainment and thus was designed with that in mind.

This new area was supposed to be a gathering place for the more adventurous guests, with the intentions of visiting the Minor realms, or perhaps as a resting area before heading off to dangerous places outside of the Inn. Other than eventually gathering all the entrances to the Minor halls here, Lex wanted to fill this place with Training halls, the eventual armory he would open, pharmacies, equipment shops and anything else that would aid a guest about to venture off on a perilous journey. In the same breath, he had to remember that such guests were not usually fond of overly complicated or embellished names. Something simple and direct would suffice.

After crossing off dozens of ideas, and thoroughly going through dictionaries and thesauruses, Lex settled on the name Immortal Bastion. It would be a place where warriors could come for their final rest before war, a safe haven where they could prepare themselves in every sense before venturing into the unknown.

With the name decided, Lex got to work. Since this latest addition was planned to be over a large area rather than concentrated around one spot, there could be no 'city center' or main area where a few important services were centered. While this could obviously not be implemented for everything, most services had to be readily available throughout the development.

Lex began by setting down 100 'small villages' spread out over a large area, and around them began putting down small and large houses as well as courtyards. Training rooms, Meditation rooms and Guild room branches were added every mile. He also added a prominent chapel-like building repeatedly where he would eventually add entrances to the Minor realms.

If someone wanted to visit a specific Minor realm, they would have to go to a specific chapel, but if they wanted to enter one randomly, they only needed to go to the nearest one. Speaking of looking for specific Minor realms, Lex had assigned workers to compile all the data available for each Minor realm that his guests exited from. They would eventually be named and labeled, so that it was easier to identify them.

Lex began working on the minor details of the Bastion, adding various monuments, fountains, parks and such to bring life to the area. But even before he had finished, the Bastion began attracting attention.

Exploring the Inn had become like a game to many, especially after the latest Midnight letterhead told a story of a guest who discovered a hidden chest containing a ticket to a 1 month free stay at the Inn. During the hunt for Minor realms, many of the small, hidden rewards Lex had hid around the Inn had finally been discovered.

Just as Lex had expected, that had increased the guests interest in exploring the more remote areas of the Inn, slowly uncovering the various scenic spots hidden around.