When we got to the eating area I had to marvel at how much it had been improved over the last week. It was still without any real roofing, but a raised wooden floor covered a moderate area, about the size of most larger taverns, with the back section ending in a wall with a door and long serving window that was the actual kitchen while a short rail went around the edges as much to give it a closed in feeling as to stop anyone actually falling the small distance to the ground.

That section was properly roofed, with two stone chimneys to let the smoke out from the cooking fires, and the window being at about the height of a normal bar and open enough that you could see the entire upper body of whoever was serving. Scattered around were some rough tables and chairs, nothing to give you splinters but clearly rushed work all the same.

The only other notable section was the notice board on the other side of the door to the serving window, which itself went the length of just over half the wall itself. As Mircha became more busy trying to run the settlement, and trying to make us all focus together a bit to produce better results, we started getting work orders put up. This was apparently how most settlements worked, the village I had lived prior instead was one the church had founded so the priest and his assistants more directly handled everything, but I couldn’t argue this was more effective for a smaller settlement.

Effectively each meal you were expected to check the board for the sections where you had a job you could complete, you would then write your name against it, and then when completed you could let Luna the woman in charge of this set up know. She would then note it down and grab any details, or items, needed and pass it on.

Luna was a fairly new member of the settlement, apparently she had worked as an assistant to an adventurer's hall previously, so she knew how similar systems worked making her a shoe in. More importantly for me, she was a sucker for Ember so we always got an extra something every couple of days when he would do his evening dishwasher work.

Looking over the board now I saw a new notice that stuck out immediately, as it was in paper that didn’t look as worn and recycled as the rest of the boards notices were. It also was in the section set aside for important notices, and was broken into two sheets. The second one looked like a sign up sheet requiring you to put down your name and town role for a census while the other was a lot to read through and take in at once.

Notice: Issued by City Lord Hestus.

Due to reaching a milestone that indicates the settlement of Horsum (Check name) is likely to survive its first year due to good environmental conditions, hard work of its settlers, or both. To improve the chances of another extension town developing I, City Lord Hestus, have provided some additional goals below. These have been found by our administrators to improve the chances of survival for new settlements as well as helping highlight potential issues in development decisions to capable leadership.

After signing your name to the attached enchanted sheet you will get a quest prompt related to the task your position most aligns to, and the reward will be brought as soon as viable to your settlement on completion.

Leadership Have clear objectives for town and develop future town plans with them available for all residents to raise issues with or provide feedback. (Exempt from earning any rewards, required for any other group to earn rewards) Hunters & Adventures Achieve an average level of 25 across all hunters or adventures residing in the settlement. Repeating at each tier of 25 until 100, then rewards are for average class instead (Uncommon, rare, etc). Apprentice members of any hall do not count for or against average. Dungeon guide created as per guidelines and published to city, repeatable once for each local dungeon without a published guide available.

Civil builders Build a hunters lodge, healers hall, public tavern, suitable housing under an assumed birth rate of 2.3 per birth capable person for the next twelve months. (Assumed human base line, if other species join settlement this figure must be recalibrated based on birth rates.) Civil Mages Create magical resources for settlement usage. This may be healing resources, defensive armaments, magical tools, quality of life improvements (Eg. Water purification systems, public lighting, or other publicly available magical facilities/tools/enchantments that are freely usable by all residents at no cost). Total resources must be equivalent to the local value of four months of food supply for the first reward, with it increasing by a multiple of three each time. Crafters Craft list required for town: Mana syphon for town core, Average gear for all residents at uncommon (repeatable at each tier), submission of unique patterns equal to five points worth a single tier one reward (Common = 0.10 points, Uncommon = 0.5 points, Rare = 1 points). Patterns must meet unique requirements for patent registration with regional crafting administration.

Producers Food production, excluding hunting, must reach consumption plus 6% for four months. Each four month cycle this is achieved will provide a reward for the first year, then it will change to a yearly reward cycle after this.

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Looking at the one for Civil mages, which I came under as a magic focused class holder who worked for the town, the reward requirements seemed steep. Then I looked at the reward chart and realised why they didn’t want anyone infinitely farming.

Rewards chart: Each reward is subject to availability and ability to transport, and you may be required to select a different reward. Each reward is granted to the group who has earned it to use as they see fit.

Tier 1 rewards: Applicable ways to earn:

First tier of repeatable missions. One creation for Builders and crafters. Rewards:

- Container of Common crafting components (Cores, Card components, Ores, Leathers, or any other standard specialisation suitable materials)

- Common enchanting pattern collection

- Upgrade plans and materials for hunter hall, healers hall, mage tower, and tavern (selection based on book provided to leadership, please consult for options at each reward tier.)

Tier 2 rewards: Applicable ways to earn:

Second tier repeating missions, and two creations for Builders and Crafters.

Rewards:

- Container of Uncommon grade crafting components (Cores, Card components, Ores, Leathers, or any other standard specialisation suitable materials)

- Uncommon grade enchanting pattern collection

- Upgrade plans and materials for hunter hall, healers hall, mage tower, and tavern (selection based on book provided to leadership, please consult for options at each reward tier.)

Tier 3 rewards: Applicable ways to earn:

Third tier repeating missions, and two creations for Builders and Crafters.

Rewards:

- Container of Rare grade crafting components (Cores, Card components, Ores, Leathers, or any other standard specialisation suitable materials)

- Rare grade enchanting pattern

- Upgrade plans and materials for hunter hall, healers hall, mage tower, and tavern (selection based on book provided to leadership, please consult for options at each reward tier.)

- Town core upgrade node (Upgrades are not predicable in advance, and are based on cores perception of needs.)

Tier 4 rewards: Applicable ways to earn:

Fourth tier repeating missions, and four creations for Builders and Crafters.

Rewards:

- Copy of rare grade tome for crafting specialisation of choice

- Rare grade enchanting pattern collection

- Upgrade plans and materials for hunter hall, healers hall, mage tower, and tavern (selection based on book provided to leadership, please consult for options at each reward tier.)

- Town core upgrade node (Upgrades are not predicable in advance, and are based on cores perception of needs.)

- Six week station of trainer of requested class type (Combat or crafting, travel time not included in six weeks)

Once a Tier 4 reward has been claimed settlement will become eligible for regional rulers quests, and information shall be provided at that time.

Reading through the reward options I could absolutely see some things on there that would be of great use for the town. It seemed even the rewards themselves really would just help develop the settlement further, but as I understood it the city lords sponsored a lot of these settlements and expected most of them to fail so this was a good way to help any that seemed off to a good start.

There was a lot of repetition there, but also this seemed more about getting us started then anything else, so hopefully we could look at finding a way to rush a group to the tier four reward so we could find out what was required at the tier five point along with what it offered.

As bad as it was there was a reason that it was a well repeated joke that only goblins bred faster than humans, but it did allow us to expand in a way that just wasn’t sustainable for other races.

Grabbing some food I quickly settled down to discuss options with Artis, when I realised he had already grabbed the other mages in our town who were around, likely waiting for us to come by so we could plan how to get some upgrades as soon as possible.