Why are you special?

When we step out of the dungeon alive, there's a moment of silence… that lasts about three seconds before the army watching the dungeon entrance starts shouting for joy, jumping up and down, and… huh, apparently people high-five each other here, too.  I do spot a few dejected folks in the crowd… listening in, they're cursing about how much money they'll need to pay out. I guess they bet against us… bad choice.

Pausing at the entrance, I send everyone else on ahead, and seal it for now with a few spells, adding Fleeting Spell (so I can get rid of them later), Invisible Spell (so they're not obvious), and Maximize Spell for anything that deals damage:
Mythic Wall of Thorns: Stops things cold, hurts them, and tries to grab anything that gets nearby. Persistent Spell Prismatic Sphere: So anything that manages to get past must make fourteen saves, or suffer badly.  Empowered Mythic Wall of Fire (lined up so as not to burn the thorns, but right next to them so when the thorns grab something, it'll be pulled through the Wall of Fire): To add another level of pain. Persistent Mythic stinking Cloud: To render things going through it mostly harmless for an hour. Augmented Mythic Black Tentacles: To hold things down and hurt them. And Mythic Wall of Force, to make a close-to-impassible barrier. And they're all from me, and so ignore resistance and immunities.

Hopefully, that will buy some time while we investigate. It won't stop things from simply teleporting directly out of the dungeon… but anything trying to walk out is going to get hurt, probably killed. And I also drop Obscuring Mist, so things can't see through the entrance to teleport past. That I leave visible, so it can do the job of blocking sight.

Of course, I put all that far enough down the tunnel that it won't interfere with the archers running the ballistae: Can't cripple them, after all.

That done… we all head into the city, and once there, I cast a fun little first level Divination spell: Ears of the City. It's great for shortcutting hours and hours of talking with people, buying them drinks, and schmoozing to get them to reveal information. It leaves the user Blind and Deaf while doing so… but Blindsight still keeps me aware of goings-on around me.  So I concentrate, and focus on some questions I want answered as swirling flashes of past people and conversations swirl about me in a multitude of voices to answer my questions.

Is there real food stored up in the city?
Oh yes, the nobles have freshly butchered beef, chicken, and pork; as well as stored carrots, apples, potatoes, and other real foods regularly. They have a stockpile, but not the kind needed to feed the city, just themselves, and that only for a month or two.

With the costs of food so high, why aren't merchants flocking here to trade bread for coins?
They used to. Stupid, short-sighted, slimy, corrupt nobles, that's why. Anything that's not an expected, dedicated shipment for a noble house gets "inspected" by the guard, and for some strange reason they always find some contraband, which immediately results in the confiscation of all the merchants' merchandise. So the merchants… just stopped coming except by special order, paid in advance. If the guards confiscate the shipment… well, that's for the two involved nobles to sort out, now isn't it? Prevents regular folks from ordering anything, though.

Is there a black market for food?
Yes, mostly stolen from nobles' stores… and sometimes it's their spoiled stuff, magic'd up to not seem so. It's more expensive than what you get in the inns, and you might get sick, caught, robbed, and/or murdered outright. There are some "honest" smugglers, but they're the exception rather than the rule.

This is actually kind of fun. It's limited to stuff people in this city know… or at least knew relatively recently, but… hey: Answers, fast.

OK, so… fixing the land will take a long time. Water can be stored up from wherever they're getting it now… but if I'm going to kill the dungeon, I need to fix trade, first. Once the merchants are back, then killing the dungeon doesn't immediately cause everyone to starve, and we can start sorting out how to make industry a bit less hostile to the environment, eventually allowing farming to resume.

Fixing trade… who manages the gate guards that do the "inspections"?
The nobles, and that goes back to how nobility ended up defined in this particular area: Military might. Way back when this place was established, the outer walls of the city were set up by just extending the manor walls of the folks rich enough to have and defend them. That's continued, and the nobles are the families who are managing sections of the city walls - including the gates, guards, and "inspections" of those coming and going.

Hmm. By happenstance, I have a small army of golems. How does one claim the title of noble?
Hasn't happened in over a century, but the rules are still on the books: One needs to get the blessing of two-thirds of the existing noble families, build a wall around a new district outside town, and arrange for it to be properly defended full time; the new district then becomes yours to rent out as desired.

No mention of a king?
This city technically has a king, who handles diplomatic relations, but beyond that he's a figurehead who answers to the council of nobles, and can be replaced at any time by a vote from them... which last happened about five years ago.

How many noble houses?
Six: the Westhamptons who monopolize the iron mines, the Artesians who monopolize refining operations, the Raptors who handle armorsmithing, the Eugenics who handle weaponsmithing, The Smiths who handle coal mining, and the Thatchers who seem to be merchants first and foremost.

Ahha. And of course…
Yes, they all maintain their monopolies via violence. If you're in the business, you're working for them, or you're soon dead.

So really, they're misnamed guild houses that became official (seriously: The Smiths do the mining, and the Thatchers are merchants?). Hmm. The real question is why hasn't the merchant house taken over the food trade?
They have. All the food production items in the city are on lease from them. And the contract has a clause about them being able to repossess at any time without notice, so everyone does what they say, whether they've specifically agreed or not. Including the other noble houses, as while the upper members have their own means of getting food, the rank and file don't, and they're the ones that do the actual work.

Ah. So… the Thatchers have a stranglehold on everyone. Which means if I want to be a noble, I either need them to support me - and drag everyone else with - or convince everyone else I can get them out from under the Thatchers' thumbs. Or both. Both could work.

Well, I could also just steamroll everything, I suppose, but I don't really like killing people, and that would be required to make it work. Still… I'm going to end up stepping on a lot of folks' toes if I'm going to get this place cleaned up. It's a good thing I'm durable.

So… who do I want to approach first? I suppose the answer to that is answered by a different question: Which noble house is feeling the squeeze the most right now?
That's the Smiths. The Thatchers are upset about the direct sales of coal to the Artesians, Raptors, and Eugenics. Because that's a merchant's job, so they should only sell to a properly licensed Thatcher.

Seriously, Ears of the City rocks. Just saying.

Of course, I still don't know… heh. Why was the old Life maintaining this situation?
The Thatchers claim divine blood. Nobody knows for sure if it's true, but the ruling family can certainly do things that mystify everyone's court mages.

Ah. Nepotism. One of the oldest reasons for bending rules. At least it's an understandable reason: Nearly everyone wants their kids to live well… it just sucks when it's someone else's kids, and at the expense of someone you like, or yourself.

But that leads to another question: What kinds of things do they do?
I'm blasted with static, painful flashes and dissonant noises, and cut off the spell, shaking my head to clear it.

Wanda gives me a hug, squishing her jumbo jugs into and around me so she can get close and look me in the eye from six inches away…. hmm, so soft… "Are you OK Sunflower"

I chuckle, "Yes, just some pushback on a Divination spell asking a question that someone apparently doesn't want answered.  Which, given what I was asking of the spell, is a partial answer."

Wanda wrinkles her nose, "How is no answer an answer?"

"Oh, I wanted to know what they can do," I explain, "And apparently, one of those things is 'mess with divinations into what they can do'."

"I'm sure that isn't the limit."

"Then let's go find out…."