Gina crafted a simple wooden cart for Uden, using up most of the rest of her wood reserves, then took some time to check on her wee minions.

All three were sitting around the waterfall. Shale each had a bit of the quartz in their hands and were crushing it into a fine powder, the powder falling into small bowls they had created. She could pick out the marks left by little gnome fingers on their handywork. Pappi was stting in front of a larger bowl, using a stone pestle to crush flowers in a looping rythmn and humming along to the sound of the pestle.

Shale turned towards mums presence without stopping the important work. "Hi mum, we left some treasures for you over there"

Sure enough there was one of each flower, some seeds and a rather brutal assortment of rashna bits. She appreciatively absorbed each one.

"Mum, if it isn't too much to ask"

"Pappi is going to cook this soon"

"It will take nearly half a day with what we have, the brewery just won't do."

"Can we have a propper furnace?"

Gina thought for a minute. She didn't have coal, and it wasn't in her Master Catologue. But the word "Cook" got her attention. "Just a minute, I will see what I can do. "

As mum left them to their work, Pappi suddenly chittered quite loudly. The sound made Shale pause.

"You sound just like one of those nasty leaf diggers!" Shale remarked, intrigued and a little disgusted. They had never heard Pappi make that noise before, or really any noise. They had always somehow knew what Pappi wanted to communicate.

Pappi went back to humming and stirring. Adding little bits of plants, interchanged with drops from the string of bottles.

Shale stopped their grinding as a clattering could be heard, they turned their heads to see a fluff trap bouding up behind them, a bright blue flower in it's leaf digger mouth. The leaf digger eyed them wearily as it took efforts to avoid them while approaching Pappi. When it was close enough Pappi took the flower from it's mouth, adding it to the mix, the fluff trap quickly scampered away chasing it's leaf digger as soon as it's delivery was done.

Shale stared slack-jawed at Pappi. "Cor... What in mums dungeon was that?" There was no communication clearing things up, so Shale went back to work, deciding to keep an eye out for fluff trap treachery.

Gina headed back to the work table, ready to try something she had been intending to do for a while. She stared at the bench and stated "Summon Wisp".

The wisp appeared in a golden glow, it's size put the "little" in wee folk. Only 10cm tall, a third of Shale and half of Pappi, it was by far her most diminuative minion. It was thin with a shock of bright red hair that all stood straight up, but still was able to look messy. The skin was pure white, covered in a loose, light, long sleeved gown of intense light blue. The robe seemed to slowly dissapear so that the white legs were just visiable just above the knee, and the gown was fully invisible by the time it fell about the feet. The eyes were a bright orange, with a black pupil shaped like a long oval lying horizontally across them.

Tongues of flame were born, grew and died within moments about the whisp. A long scarf of flickering, brighter orange flame wrapped around the neck, the two ends flowing behind in glowing twin tails. Nothing around it seemed to be burning, even the wood workbench was unaffected.

"They keep getting smaller" Gina puzzled after admiring the contradiction of flames without burning in front of her.

"This one doesn't need size" The resonated and cracked, as if two beings where talking and one had a cold. There was sense of inevitability to the words, not what words were as much as the tone.

"And you must be the serious minion. I knew someone named Szef Kuchni who ran a forge, same serious nature you seem to have. You can share his name too, it will be Szef for short."

"This one is Szef" The wisp seemed to accept it's name, the flames were blue for just a moment.

"I have two jobs for you, the first is to help your siblings with their project" She inwardly wondered what it was, she had been too busy to ask "For the second task, I was hoping you could learn to cook, is that something that you can do?"

"Szef can master many things. Flexability and tenacity fuel growth."

Szef had 5 points in all Stats, except Agility had 8 and Deduction had 7. For skills, 5 points in Instinct, Biology, Physics, Glasswork, Reflex and Inspire. For magic, Elementalist and Heal had 5 points, Enchant had 3. She was excited that she had a healer in the dungeon, it was something that had bothered her but there was no obvious solutions.

Szef Status Sheet

Status Race Wisp Level 1 Age 1 Days Height 10cm Physical Health 180/180 Strength 5 Agility 8 Toughness 5 Mental Alertness 170/170 Intelligence 5 Deduction 7 Focus 5 Social Resolve 150/150 Influence 5 Slyness 5 Willpower 5 Racial Traits Combustion, AGI+ 3 Ignition, DED+ 2 Elementalist + 5 Spontanious Combustion

Magic Fairy Revert 0 Heal 5 Levitate 0 Enchant 3 Industrial Elementalist 5

Abilities Glasswork 5 Reflex 5 Physics 5 Biology 5 Instinct 5 Inspire 5

Szef waited patiently while the matirarch pulled stone out of the aether, forming it into a crucible. The crucible had four sturdy legs, between each leg there was four removable stone plates that fit together seamlessly. Each had a knob to remove it and pegs on one end and holes in the other so they held together, but could be removed to control heat and air. The bowl itself was a little above head hight for the wisp, the perfectly round bottom set into the base with an offset pivot, so it would tip with little effort but otherwise stay firmly in place. "Szef admires the efficient design" a bit of awe and enthusiasm to get started flowed through the exclamaition.

"Thank you bright one, your admiration is appreciated" Gina replied, matching the serious tone but failing to match the energetic nature of the voice itself.

Szef joined the four other folk by the waterfall, the mist not seeming to react to the flames at all. The crucible appeared off to the side of the workers. Shale greeted the smaller sibling without breaking their grinding.

"Love the look, you could be a great lure for hunting, little wisp" Shale said with an excited innocence at the chance to have a leaf trap of their own.

"This one is Szef"

"Szef is a fine name, Shale is ours" Shale shared helpfully.

"Say Szef, here to help are you?" they continued.

"Szef brings the heat" was the simple reply as Szef approched the crucible. Removing the front plates and looking up at the bottom of the bowl. Szef closed the firey eyes and started to whisper a chant, a bit of flame that almost looked like a minature clone detached and faded into the bottom of the couldron. Firey red lines swirled out from the point of entry, swirling, splitting and curling in on themselves until the whole bottom was covered in the glow. The stone started to get a little red with heat, but it wasn't much.

Szef looked at Pappi.

Pappi responded with a slight shaking of the head.

"This one needs fuel to perform the task"

Gina was still watching the process, curious as to what Pappi's self given quest was all about. She supplied a large pile of wooden cubes.

"This should be adequate" Szef said, carefully taking cubes from the pile that towered above and stacked them in a smaller pile under the crucible. Each block was placed equally apart for maximum airflow. Szef then replaced all but one of the stone panels, then touched a small splinter to the red swirls until it burst into flame. With a small wave of the hand, the flame fed down into the wood, the crucible glowed brighter.

While her Wee Folk worked she took a minute to see what they gained from their adventure and noticed they had gained 4 levels each! They had also gained new skill levels, bringing some of their core skills to 8. Stonework and Stealth were at 8 for Shale, Botany and Foraging for Pappi. Shale had also gained the skills Hunting, Foraging, and Notice, Pappi gained Search, Instinct and Stealth.

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Shale's Status Sheet:

Status Race Gnome Level 5 Age 5 Days Height 30cm Physical Health 200/200 Strength 5 Agility 5 Toughness 10 Mental Alertness 150/150 Intelligence 5 Deduction 5 Focus 5 Social Resolve 150/150 Influence 5 Slyness 5 Willpower 5 Racial Traits Stone Skin, TGH+ 3 Durable, TGH+ 2 Elementalist + 5 Earth Absorbtion

Magic Industrial Machinist 3 Chemist 0 Elementalist 5 Fabrication 5

Abilities Ingenuity 7 Stonework 8 Locks 1 Foraging 2 Reflex 6 Stealth 8 Endurance 2 Chemistry 5 Notice 2 Search 1 Appraise 6

Pappi's Status Sheet:

Status Race Dryad Level 5 Age 3 Days Height 20cm Physical Health 150/150 Strength 5 Agility 5 Toughness 5 Mental Alertness 200/200 Intelligence 5 Deduction 8 Focus 7 Social Resolve 150/150 Influence 5 Slyness 5 Willpower 5 Racial Traits Ecologist, DED+ 3 Evergreen, FOC+ 2 Elementalist + 5 One with Nature

Magic Natural Possesion 0 Plants 5 Friending 0 Herbalist 3 Industrial Elementalist 5

Abilities Taming 7 Foraging 8 Hunting 5 Stealth 3 Endurance 6 Botany 8 ESP 6 Search 4

The speed of their leveling was astounding but they did work hard.

Pappi waited, then with a small nod moved a boulder over, climbed it and started to pour the crushed crystal into the crucible. After several hours the crystal started to melt, the flower mixture followed zigzagged across the pool of molten quartz. The whole pot glowed and instantly cooled, steam obscured the inside.

Szef recieved a quick look from Pappi and touched the rune inside the furnace heating the mixture, the bright blue lines fading into black scorch marks. A larger motion from both hands and the fire dimmed, another motion and it went out.

Pappi, reached down inside the crucible, feet lifting off the boulder. Struggling with what was inside, then motioned for Shale to take it out.

Shale's slightly longer reach grabbed the object, and lifted it out of the thinning steam. Held in the gray hand was a crystal, that started to glow with a warm inner light.

Gina gasped. "Did you just make a sun crystal!"

Pappi nodded, took the crystal and set it down right in front of mothers focus, allowing it to be consumed and reformed. Then walked to the growing room. Holding the crystal in one hand, and pointing to the center of the ceiling, Pappi then set the crystal on the floor to the side and started to plant barley seeds.

Gina was never happier with her choice in starting monsters. She instantly crafted a copy of the lamp in the workroom, putting a crystal inside. She watched Pappi for a little bit, watching the dryad placing hands over every seed planted, humming a little song. Within minutes a line of sprouts peeked their way out of the soil.

She could have just Magicked grain to appear, but this way she could use the small amount of energy she had to build their illusion, smokescreen and protection. Besides, you can't make true ale with magicked ingredients. She did take a moment to summon a few vegitable plants in a small corner of the garden, using the seeds that Pappi had taken the time to gather. They would be a start for their pantry.

She took some time to oversee her budding dungeon. Uden was out on her mission, bringing trees and brush by the barrow full. Shale had dissappeared with Uden after dropping a bunch of fish off for Szef. Szef was using the crucible to stew some fish, enchanted spirals blazing dark red. The wisp would occasionally go to the rack of minerals or the pile of plant matter to taste them and add the tastiest to the pot. One odd thing she noticed was when Szef didn't like the taste, a small sprite of flame appeared to dance on the surface of the stew, then Szef would reach out and pull a leaf, seed or branch out where the flame met the stew. The odd part was she had seen the wisp crush the ingredients before adding them.

She put that mystery aside and started to work on the dungeon. First thing was to drop the living quarters to a lower level, connected by a stairs. This was suggested by Uden, who said that by dropping her crystal to a second floor would make it harder for visitors to sense it. It took a long time to drop the rooms and all the furnishings, the energy cost was low, mostly offset by devouring the stone below.

While she was clearing out space she tasted a bit of salt. Going over to Szef she dropped a small pile of fine grains of salt for the experiments. Then returned back to work. Szef dumped the whole pile in, tasted it, then started making a new pile of larger crystals of salt. Each crystal was lifted out of the stew, almost as if pulled out by the sprites of flame hovering above the surface of the pot.

Gina finished moving the rooms, and debated on if the kitchen should come first, the dining area or the bar. Before she could decide a single shale came up to her.

"Heya Mum! Uden needs something that can hold back water. Lots of water."

Gina didn't bother to ask, she was sure to get the details later. Besides, she wanted an excuse to spend some energy summoning a new minion. She really wanted to see what the Naiad looked like.

Gina focused on a spot in the cave, on the dew covered mossy rocky ledge that surrounded the glittering pool. The swirling, shimmering energy burst from the ground and filled out a deep blue swirling pattern surrounded with a deep mist. When the mist cleared the Naiad was standing before them.

The new family member was about 30cm tall (1.5ft), same size shale used to be. The face was a pale blue, with fine, narrow features. A long flowing wave of deep blue hair with lighter highlights flowed down to the ankle, draping down the back and over the shoulders. The skin had a silvery shimmer, at the neck the shimmer turned into a silvered scale pattern, filling out and flowing down the torso, deepening to a dark blue at the feet. The feet were long and thin, four toes with translucent webbing between them were made for swimming. The scaled pattern became lighter towards the end of the arms, again seeming to fade into the shimery pale skin. Each of the 4 digits were just a bit long with low webbing between. The naiad was dressed in a simple short tunic of an opalescent turquoise, a blue sash holding it in place. Dancing across the tunic were skattered luminious silver runes that almost seemed to match the scale patterened skin.

Gina looked at the naiads face, almost getting lost in the intese blue of the large dark eyes. The whole eye was blue started at the edges, gradually depening into a black pool at the center. She had a hard time taking her focus away to examine the naiads stats. All stats were at 5, except Focus at 8 and Sly at 7. The dryad also had 5 points in Stealth, Physics, Notice, Clothwork, Swim and Savvy. Under magic there was 5 points in Elementalist, Illusion and 3 in Spatial.

Spoiler: Spoiler

Status Race Naiad Level 1 Age 1 Days Height 30cm Physical Health 150/150 Strength 5 Agility 5 Toughness 5 Mental Alertness 180/180 Intelligence 5 Deduction 5 Focus 8 Social Resolve 170/170 Influence 5 Slyness 7 Willpower 5 Racial Traits Erosion, FOC+ 3 Aqueous, SLY+ 2 Elementalist + 5 Waterbreathing

Magic Dimensional Illusion 5 Spatial 3 Gateway 0 Runes 0 Industrial Elementalist 5

Abilities Clothwork 5 Swim 5 Stealth 5 Physics 5 Notice 5 Savvy 5

Gina's gem lit up at the appraisal. Illusions could be exactly what she needed! And rules? What did rules do? Her inner monologue was interuppted by shale hopping from foot to foot. "Oh! Right!, Sapana, Shale needs your help." The naiad seemed like a Sapana.

Sapana's voice filled the air with a bright voice that also resonated with solemnity. "Done".

Shale pointed outside the waterfall "We need your help down the river a bit, Uden is waiting" Turned, then started jogging out of the cavern.

Sapana didn't follow but dove into the pool, barely causing a ripple.

"This is the best day yet!" Gina exclaimed, feeling a little tired, but very happy.