Minor Inconveniences
Chapter 141
It took a week to really find a good style and build a working rapport with the Dwarves. Once I did, things went pretty smoothly. Not all of them wanted to live in the cliffs, preferring the mountains, but it was easy to accommodate.
What took a little more debate than other issues was convincing them not to live directly in the mining sections of the dungeon. Not because I had a problem with it per se, but more because given the way they talked about it they’d be territorial. An issue that would definitely interfere with how I wanted to let people come and go to gather resources.
Once that was settled and they were appeased with me locating some minerals for them to mine elsewhere, I started integrating the Elves. I could technically have done it sooner, but unlike the others, I wanted them to take the lead on the development of the backside of the mountain.
I was still a bit worried about running into demons in general, let alone a Demon Lord, but I’d taken precautions. Hopefully, they wouldn’t show up, or at the very least weren’t mindlessly hostile if they did.
The Elves I summoned represented a rather surprisingly diverse group. I hadn’t assumed I’d be getting a solid batch of bland caucasian ones, but beyond human skin tones they also included colors like green, blue, and purple, as well as the funky shifty pigeon feather gray that hid all manner of colors in it depending on how you looked at them.
It also turned out they didn’t all unanimously love the forest. Two of them called dibs on the lake and were quite opinionated about how it needed to be adjusted to be more natural as well as productive. Not a problem, but definitely a surprise.
The idea of various types of Elves with different habitats wasn’t foreign to me. My surprise mostly came from the fact they were all lumped under a single species heading and I was dealing with a total grab-bag situation. Not exactly a problem, but something I was willing to file under mildly irritating. It was likely going to be a pain in the ass to get sufficient numbers of any given type to make comfortable community sizes.
It didn’t stop me, though it seemed my plan for the other side of the mountain would be delayed somewhat. Or at least it did until I made the class and appearance upgrades and found afterward I could get specific species that way. An unamusing but useful development.
I quickly made sure to make NPC crafters for all the types I had on hand. I needed them more for what was coming up than heroic classes. I did let a couple change over though and spares from the blind draw were given a choice.
Though the Elves were taking the lead, I didn’t plan for the forest side to be an exclusively Elven community. Integration would come after the essential setup was in place. Since nobody would be allowed to see it until I was ready, I didn’t need to rush it. I did want some of them to visit the valley though, to establish the community’s existence for later.
Needing to get the ball rolling I’d called a general meeting. Of the elves I’d summoned thus far, not many showed up. The majority of them didn’t stay long after I was done with the basic explanation of my plan either. In the end only three remained in the tree house I’d constructed for the meeting.
I wasn’t terribly surprised though, the Elves had been having a bit more trouble settling in generally than the humans or halflings had. They seemed to be less experienced overall than the other skeletons. This was the first dungeon most of them had served in, though a few had been in one or two other ones. It seemed they weren’t a popular skeletons type though I had no idea why. Their stats were a bit different, but they weren’t comparatively weak to the other species.
“You want us to… design our dwellings and community?” Ailas Thuldias Phalanges asked. He was one of three elves who’d taken something of a leadership role thus far. His Elven subtype came up as Ariel. A reference to air elementals apparently, not the mermaid.
Ailas had immediately wanted an illusion of life once he found out about them. He was taller than most of the others with a pale complexion with a hint of silvery blue and abundant scars that contrasted in a darker blue color rather than pink. His darker, silver-blue hair was cropped close and one of his long ears looked like someone had taken a bite out of it. His rogue violet eyes clashed with everything a bit jarringly.
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“If you're not up on architecture or interior design I’ll take what you can give me and work from there. Sketches, verbal descriptions, whatever works,” I explained.
“I lived in a kind of… tent hammock? It didn’t really have a name that I knew, but that's usually what humans called them. That or death traps since they were usually hung up on the sides of cliffs and such,” Ailas said with a shrug.
“My people manipulated trees to create dwellings within, but you’d need a druid to accomplish that,” Cirli Qican Clavicle offered. She hadn’t taken on an illusion, her subtype was Arboreal.
“I’ll do my best to source one soon,” I offered. It was possible a Druid of any subtype would be able to do it but I wasn’t going to bet on that. My luck was rarely that good.
“Sulvir?” I inquired of the third and thus far only silent member of the meeting. Sulvir Frost Phalanges being a rogue had a tendency to melt into a group, more so than Ailas even. She might even give the halflings a run for their money in terms of light footedness. Like Cirli, Sulvir hadn’t elected to take on an illusion yet. I got the impression it was for a slightly different reason though as she’d acted defensive when I offered. Her subtype was shadow, which made me wonder.
I didn’t want to draw parallels when I understood so little, but there was a fantasy elf type with an unfortunate BDSM theme to it that came to mind. It was possible Sulvir hailed from an elven race with a bad reputation and garnered hate among their relations. I wasn’t going to ask though.
It could as easily have been something about how Sulvir looked. Dawn had hang-ups about that too. She was the only shadow elf thus far and if she felt vulnerable due to her isolation, my poking at the sore spot wouldn’t help.
“I didn’t really live with my own kind,” Sulvir said after a moment.
“Noted, but let me know if there are any kind of accommodations you would like. Honestly, none of this has to adhere to any kind of tradition or standard unless you want it to. I’ve got no issue with everyone getting creative,” I offered in return. Sulvir seemed surprised but inclined her head in thanks.
“Thank fuck, I hated those stupid hammocks,” Ailas said and laughed.
“You’ve a mouth like a gutter,” Cirli growled in displeasure.
“Thank you for noticing, I do try,” Ailas said with a grin and an elaborate bow. I felt like he was going to synergize with Chris in only the worst ways, but kept that to myself.
“So, I’m going to need druids to get any larger scale of agriculture established if I’ve understood everything,” I said. I was bringing the conversation back to an earlier topic. One that had been sidelined when I’d brought up the idea of the agricultural community in favor of talking about accommodations.
“I believe so, Mistress. I’m sure most of us know a bit of how to keep a garden or forage, but no one I’ve spoken with did anything so grand as farm,” Cirli said, nodding.
“My folk hunted and foraged a bit, but mostly traded cloth for our needs,” Ailas offered with a shrug.
“Right, I’ll bump that in priority for the moment then,” I said, wanting to but not sighing. I wasn’t on a timetable for the moment. Getting morose about a set back wouldn’t be productive.
“I’ll be working on the lake for the rest of the afternoon unless you have any concerns or requests,” I added. It probably wouldn’t take too long with my abilities but the undine had sent me some very detailed texts. Blocking out the afternoon had seemed prudent.
“I’d like in on the raid league I keep hearing about,” Ailas said with a grin.
“Easily done, either ask to join an existing team or make one. You won’t be eligible for this season with a new team at this point, but you can still play,” I offered. The games had continued even when my building projects had increased in number. Aside from setting up screens to let everyone watch I hadn’t been helping much. The skeletons hadn’t lost interest though and stepped up easily to keep it going.
Ailas and Cirli left rather quickly, bickering in a way that had me raising an eyebrow. It wasn’t quite flirting but I wouldn’t say it was hostile either. Distracted, I did a double take when I turned back and found Sulvir looking at me nervously.
“Can I do anything for you?” I asked, curious why she seemed so worked up.
“Uhm… about my people…can I live with the dwarves?” She asked haltingly, voice so soft I almost couldn’t hear her.
“Sure,” I said.
“I understand,” Sulvir said, looking dejected.
“Sul, I said you can. It's fine if you want to live with the dwarves, though you're obviously going to have to get consent if you want to share a house with them,” I said. Sulvir looked at me with disbelief then did what I recognized as a Dwarven salute before turning and escaping out of a window. I was left with the distinct impression she’d run off in embarrassment despite her glee.