The sun disappeared over the horizon. Horn was sitting in the rubbles of one of the buildings next to the tunnel entrance. The time passed in a blur, between the news arriving from the fight, his people moving, scouting, and searching through the ruins. It just flew by. The timer on the reward went down to less than half an hour, and Horn was chatting with his champions.
“Based on my observations, the clean-up of the rubble will take even up to a few months with our current workforce. Summoning more clan mates would speed it up.” Sigrid shared her part of findings,
“Pff,” Ingrid commented. Even as she wasn’t his champion anymore, he still invited her to the proceedings. “Summon who you want, but how will you feed them? As it is, there’s not enough food to last a few weeks. Preparing fields and foraging is the priority.”
“Fighters! We’re in the open here. There’s not enough to even set proper patrols, not to mention manning the passes. The food is important, the rebuilding too, but what’ll happen when we’re attacked?”
“We’ll be doing all three of these. First, let’s finish clearing the webs, clear a bit of the rubble to set up a camp, and send out the scouts. The reward for the challenge should be here in a moment, but as we wait, there’re things to do. Sigrid, get me, Grom. I need to discuss with him the building order. Goran, take our warriors, I know they’re tired, but we need to comb through these ruins. If there’s anything still hiding in here, it needs to be dead before we retire for the night.” Horn said, his champions acknowledged and scattered. Only Ingrid remained. He waited for a moment before adding, “I will allow you to claim the Soul Well, I was surprised when you brought that up. I didn’t know there could be several owners. But, I have a few conditions. Firstly, Dawn Riders will vow to support me in any defensive wars. Secondly, you’ll vow to depart if asked to, and thirdly you’ll provide mounts for my troops.”
Ingrid took a while before replying, “Pumpkin, I’m all fine with the first two. We’re your allies, not enemies, but providing mounts for all your troops? We can try, but I won’t lower our standards to mass breed them.”
“Fine, we’ll work something out.” Horn agreed with a smile. He was sure she’d argue more about the deal. Having a steadfast ally was good enough, especially that Goran’s words rang true. They were defenseless right now, the place was amazing for the future, but he needed a lot of time and people to make it happen.
They walked towards the Soul Well, where Ingrid touched the arch. A notification popped to him, asking if he agreed to sub-controller. As he accepted the prompt, the gate flared, and figures began emerging from it. Horn’s eyes bulged as he saw the stream exiting the well. Armored warriors - similar to ones that already accompanied Ingrid, Warboars, some civilians probably crafters and support group, even a squad of six adepts. Overall, almost ninety dwarves walked out of the well. They all saluted to Ingrid, calls went out, “Mother Rider,” “Mistress,” “Dawn Seeker.” Horn saw Ingrid, blushing when hearing them, but she stood her ground welcoming her people.
Horn was becoming worried. Having a steadfast ally was one thing, but having a clan larger than his around was dangerous. He believed in his old champion. They went through a lot together, but there was this voice in the back of his head telling him to worry. Finally, the procession ended. He saw the commotion starting in his people's camp as they saw the new arrivals. After some initial wariness, the two groups began to intermingle. Seeing that took a weight off his chest, one he didn’t know was there.
He was about to say something when he saw the timer of the reward counting down to zero. The Soul Well flared up once again, and another stream of dwarves began to emerge. His clanmates, already on their feet and gathered nearby, started to shout in excitement. He heard calls, “Mother! Father!”, “Nurvil, is that you?!” “Urik! I don’t believe my eyes!” and dozens more as each dwarf exiting the Soul Well turned out to be a part of someone’s family.
First a dozen, then score, numbers quickly increased, entering hundreds. They just kept coming out. But not everyone was celebrating. Soon it was clear that families of the fallen in the challenge also arrived. Between shouts of joy, sobs and wailings erupted. The cavern and the tunnel became quickly crowded. Thankfully Sigrid was there to channel the crowd further into the ruins. Horn just dropped on a nearby rock, trying to understand what was happening.
Ha began laughing hard. The situation was beyond his expectation. All around him, dwarves crammed into every nook and cranny, and more was coming out. As his people flow finished, a few dozen of humans and even a few elves came out. A few minutes later, the procession finally ended. He had no idea how many had arrived. He pulled up his Soul Well interface, but the summon limit was the same. All the newcomers didn’t count against it.
But as he checked it out, he noticed the maximum capacity dropped. From the four hundred, now it was at a maximum of three hundred fifty. Skimming through the menu, he found the explanation.
Sub-controllers: 1/3 (Dawn Riders – 50)
Giving Ingrid access decreased his capacity. He’d have to talk with her about that. He wasn’t expecting that. However, that was the least of his concerns for now. He had hundreds of new dwarves. They came out of the portal same as his summons, barely clothed without any supplies. He saw Sigrid plowing through the crowd towards him. He looked for Goran. It took a moment, but he found his champion. The warrior was kneeling, hugging a petite dwarf. Even from a distance, Horn saw his commander crying.
“Horn, we have a problem.” Sigrid started as she managed to squeeze through the crowd.
“Do you see this? It's amazing. It’ll push us so far ahead!” He replied, but seeing the frown on her face, he added, “What’s wrong?”
“Chief, we barely had supplies to survive with our old numbers. Now we don’t have enough food for even three days. My estimate brings the newcomers at over four hundred, and that is not even counting Ingrid’s order and the non-dwarves.”
“Sigrid, relax. I know. There’ll be hard days ahead of us, but look them.” Horn said, waving his hand towards the crowds, “They’re happy. They found their lost kin. They went through hell, both our people and the one that just came through. They escaped a doomed world and got a second chance here. There won’t be anyone more motivated to push through. We’ll manage.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“But Horn! This is not logical. We should immediately send at least foragers, and…” Sigrid said, but a wave of his hand stopped her.
“Not tonight. Tonight we’ll have a well-deserved rest.” Horn answered, then extending his arm, said, “Come, let’s meet our new people.”
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The celebrations went long into the night. Horn was in the middle of that introducing himself, asking questions, chit-chatting. He enjoyed the evening a lot. The morning came quickly. For some, it was a sleepless night. However, there was this energy in the air, the anticipation, not the worried one, not facing danger, the one that occurs when something new is about to start. Stretching, Horn got up. All around him, dwarves were rousing from where they fell asleep. The camp was a mess, with supplies scattered all around, but that would soon change.
He went over the camp, gathering his specialists, before setting a command post next to the Soul Well. A few crates acted as chairs and a table. A sketch of a map was lying on top of it. As they sat, Horn began, “We’ve done it, we’re here, we’re more than we ever were. But we’re in terrible shape. No food, no shelter, no nothing. As I know my fellow chieftains, they’ll be hunting for such encampments. We have good defensible terrain but no way of defending it. We have great terrain but no infrastructure. That will change from today.”
The faces around nodded. Ingrid, Goran, Sigrid, Grom, Herrak, and the human Portinus were all present.
“From the early count, we have over six hundred people to feed and not enough food to last us two days. This is the first priority. Sigrid and Ingrid, after the meeting, you’ll organize parties to forage into the valley, take everyone you need, and get us food. Organize a hunting party to the plains. There seemed to be a lot of game out there. Whatever it takes, we need these supplies.” Horn continued,
Two nods replied, but then Ingrid added, “We should prepare fields, this won’t help right now, but the sooner we start growing our food, the sooner this danger will pass.”
“Yes, that brings me to the second topic. Grom, you’re our chief builder. We need crafting stations, lodging, and farms ready as soon as possible.”
“I’m not a damn farmer,” the dwarf answered,
“Then I hope you’re a quick learner. We’ll discuss buildings in a short while, but I want your people already starting on some kind of longhouses. We need to put a roof over our people's heads!”
“Do that, do this, what am I? A miracle worker?” Horn heard Grom’s muttering.
“Now, with that done, the third point on the agenda is a census. With so many new arrivals, we have no idea who and what their skills are. Portinus, from what I know, you were a librarian, I know you don’t speak dwarvish too well, but your skills are needed. We’ll get you a translator and the power to question all arrivals. I need to know who I have to work with.”
The human nodded. His face was an enigma. Either he didn’t care at all or didn’t understand. Horn made a mental note to try to know the man better, but there wasn’t time for that now.
“And finally, the last two tasks. We are sitting ducks in here, we need scouts, we need to know what’s happening in the valley and beyond it. Herrak, I wish to employ your party to scour the valley. Find me anything and everything worth noting. This is confidential for now, but there is a freshly spawned dungeon out there. I want it found before anyone else does it, and just to be clear. Any party clearing it before myself will be killed on sight. This is Lightforge’s resource, one we bled for, so no funny business.” He ended, looking intently at the adventurer. Herrak had a smirk on his face, just calling out, ‘try me,’ but then he just nodded.
The adventurer, despite helping so far, was worrisome. Horn just didn’t trust him. However, he had a plan to tie him closer to the clan. For now, he just continued, “ And the last task. Goran, we need to increase our military. Set up scout camps in both forts, train new fighters. I have no idea how many came with the last wave, but I doubt there are too many. You’ll be responsible for that. I expect your estimates of our needs soon.”
“Aye, Chieftain,” The warrior replied, saluting with his fist.
“Questions?” Horn asked. There were quite a few, but nothing major. The meeting wrapped up quite quickly, and Herrak remained behind. This wasn’t a surprise for Horn. They haven’t discussed his payment yet.
“You’re going places, Chieftain. Your clan begins to look like a true clan.” The adventurer said, “These are great news. Finally, you can start paying like for true quests.”
“I have a better proposal. From now on, you’ll work for free.” Horn replied, then paused, waiting for Herrak’s reaction.
“Ha ha ha, so very funny, if that’s all then we ca…” Herrak said, but a short slash of Horn’s hand stopped him.
“I’m very serious. You will work for free for me. What’s more, you’ll pay a 10% tax on all your bounties and quests. You’ll also be obliged to provide fighters at a time of war and never to pick up contracts against the Lightforge clan.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m telling you my terms. The terms for you to establish the first adventurers guild in my lands. I’ll even throw the sub-control of the Soul Well if I understood Ingrid correctly, which should allow you to draw upon its powers to summon new members of your organization. So what say you, guild master?” Horn ended with a wicked smile.
The adventurer was struck. He froze, trying to process the news. Horn was pleased with his scheme. That would give him maybe unwilling but an ally and counter a possible threat in the future. Two birds with one stone, just like he liked it. He patiently waited as the speechless Herrak thought, but Horn had no doubts he’d accept the proposal. Sigrid thought the same. He ran the idea through her last night, and with her experience, she said it’d be a good move.
As the silence prolonged, Horn started thinking about building order. He’d need to find Grom quickly. They needed to start. It was just a matter of time before someone would come their way, and he still was afraid of looking into the morale tab of his menus. Maybe not so much anymore, not after last night, but the people's will could quickly change. Today they were euphoric due to finding their lost families, but tomorrow, if the rain would drop on their heads and their stomachs would grumble, their loyalty might quickly change. He sighed, thinking about solutions, and that was enough to wake Herrak from his stupor.
“You got me there. I didn’t expect that. Maybe you are a Chieftain. I agree, but we need to negotiate the terms. I agree to work for free for the first year, but only for your official quests! No funny business with funneling everything through you. Access to the Soul Well is non-negotiable. I also want 20% slots in the dungeon when we find it, in all dungeons that will be found in your lands. The tax is too high, 5% is the maximum I can give you, and we will not be involved in any wars. We are adventurers, not mercenaries.”
Now it was Horn’s turn to be surprised. He didn’t expect the adventurer to negotiate. He thought his first proposal was generous enough, but then he was talking with a sellsword, or rather sellaxe. “A year for free, then fifty percent discount. I can give you either 20% in the dungeon in the valley or 5% in all dungeon. The tax remains at 10%, and you’ll provide twenty out of each hundred adventurers in any defensive war. This is non-negotiable. Do we have an agreement?”
Herrak grumbled under his nose for a while, then said, “5% in all dungeons it is then.” A smile appeared on his face. He spat on his palm and extended it toward Horn, “To the beginning of a fruitful friendship, Chieftain!”
“I’ve heard that somewhere before.” Horn replied, pointing at their previous interactions, then added while shaking hands, “Glad to have you onboard, Guild master.”