We now return your village to Defcon 3. My that was close...

M'F'ARGLE, a Level 19 Epic Boss from Beyond the Stars has been sent home.

Which is good, he'd have made a horrible neighbor for the short time he'd have been here before the entire neighborhood went up in magical salamander flames.

The Victory was a huge group effort! Every person who was involved in the event will receive 3 Enhancement Points and 500 experience.

The brave Defenders of Glade receive an additional 5 Enhancement Points.

The Circle of White Witches who exorcised the Star-Spawn from our reality receive 5 Enhancement Points and 1000 experience that may be used for Witchery, Hermetics, Hedge-Wizard, the Old Ways, or Booze is Power. Each member of the circle has also learned the Hex of Protection, and the Hex of Exorcism. These powerful spells may only be used by a full circle.

Jorges will receive 5 Enhancement Points and the knowledge to make a Dark Steel anvil.

Each Professor of The College of Practical Alchemy and Experimental Magics, and their alchemical assistants, receives 3 Enhancement Points, and will be recognized for their work in the field of Insane Heat Production. The College has taken one small step to regaining its accreditation.

The Butcher of Sedgewick receives 20 Enhancement Points for proving that a good Charnel Pit can burn anything. He also receives 2000 experience that may be spent on Pit Alchemy or Aspect of Fire

The Town of Sedgewick receives 2250 Building points for countering what should have been a 'Scorched Earth' event. A tithe of 750 Building points was sent to Gadobhra, which would really benefit from some good 'Scorched Earth'.

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"That's the last of it Joe. Looks like the new Pit wanted half the screaming coal and you get to keep the half." Ozzy was shoveling the remaining pieces of screaming coal into a sturdy barrel. He hefted it on his shoulder and walked up the spiral stairs that followed the wall of the pit to the bottom. Joe had told him the pit would need to be cleaned out entirely before it finalized the new build. The firepit had expanded already, going two stories deeper and becoming thirty feet wide. Two foot on either side was left for the staircase down, and the rest would be filled with fuel and flames.

The barrel vibrated as he walked, wails and screams echoing out of it. This damned batch of screaming coal was a lot more powerful than the first batch. Joe was making sure it was stored correctly in the back of his root cellar. He'd mentioned using this stuff sparingly. Ozzy was glad it was going all the way into the back where the sound was muffled.

He noticed that another pile of logs was gone. Where the hell all the building materials were being stored was a mystery, but as oak logs and stone bricks were stacked next to the old Pit they just vanished. He got updates every now and then, like the thing was impatient and wanted to get moving on the new construction. Hell, maybe it did?

It had taken several days for all the heat to dissipate. A lot of rock and metal had been heated to over 5000 degrees Fahrenheit. Without magic, it would be a mini volcano of molten rock. Instead, the heat was slowly absorbed, the fires went out, and the Pit cooled off. A ton of Tier 4 Screaming coal was left in the bottom of the much deeper fire pit. Joe had instructed him carefully on storing it. "Use those new Ironwood casks the carpenters are making. They should be air tight, and fire resistant. We don't want a stray flame igniting this stuff and starting it wailing."

After that he had to haul out the charred bones of the sedge beasts they hadn't had time to remove before the wagon arrived, and tons of ashes. After that was done, Ozzy took a small vacation from his Pit. It was slowly rebuilding itself under Joe's guidance. The Pit would now be at the center of a large, windowless wooden building. The thing was going to be huge, at least 70 feet to a side, and four stories tall, although it was all just one huge room with the Pit in the center. Going up was a maze of rafters and chains where meat would be hung to smoke.

Ozzy liked the improved space. He had room for piles of barrels, wood and charcoal for the fire, and a place to store the finished barrels of smoked sedge beast for delivery. Two root cellars would have entrances along the back side. One for Joe to keep all his precious ingredients in, and the other would become an icebox with Delbert's help. The Ice Mage was going to get a lot of experience keeping that corner cold, with all the hot air circling above the doors to the cellar.

But it would be a couple of weeks until everything was finished. The materials had to be brought in, and the mana collected. The shocking number of ten million stamina or mana seemed a lot more doable after he'd have time to think about it. Even if he just asked the newest hundred workers to help, a lot got accumulated each day. On average they were level 3 now with 800 mana and 2400 stamina. If they only donated 2000 each, that was 200,000 a day. The more experienced workers could put in three times as much. It was pretty easy to collect 750,000 a day from the crew. Especially since he was paying them.

Suzette had made it a daily quest. Every night before they got some sleep, they donated what they could, and earned 1 gold piece. She said that the town was earning plenty of money and could cover it. It was also a good way to redistribute some profits to the other workers.

A gold piece was a nice bonus for the older workers, and a huge windfall for the new ones. It was also making the merchants happy up at the keep. None of the workers down in Sedgewick were wearing burlap anymore or eating groat-meal muffins unless they wanted to. A few actually liked the taste.

Better clothing, better food, and being able to have a few beers after work was making life in Sedgewick a lot more bearable. As was the slow accumulation of skills and stat increases. The work got easier when you could lift a couple of tons.

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Ozzy hadn't minded the time off. Not his fault at all. He couldn't smoke or slaughter sedge beast until the Pit was operational again. Instead he cleaned up the remains of the barn, and then split time between Gadobhra and the Keep. He'd been surprised to see Jorges show up with his team of three blacksmith apprentices and Rufus. They got to work helping him with the barn. While he was stacking a couple of hundred sedge beast that had been turned into jerky, Jorges was bagging up and hauling off the charcoal. He was almost gleeful about it. He kept staring at the chunks of charred wood and even tasting it. Ozzy had finally goaded him a bit.

"Suzette really appreciates the help bagging up all this burned wood. She has a merchant friend coming to buy it for a gold piece per wagon load."

Jorges back had stiffened, and Ozzy swore the man had growled. Then he smiled awkwardly. "I'd hate to see her not get this stuff's full value. I can use it in the forge. Maybe she'd like some new wrought iron sconces to hold her oil lamps in the tavern? Or maybe some good quality cutlery? "

Ozzy shook his head. "You know how she is. Mostly curious about things and how to make the best deal. So maybe you should tell me why this stuff makes you so happy before I mention it to her?"

Jorges sighed. "Let's cut to the chase on you twisting my arm. How about we just trade all the stone you need for your pit for the charcoal? It's really fine fuel for the forges. It has the properties of screaming coal, but burns slower and more controlled. It's what I need to really get good at working with Dark Steel."

Ozzy shook hands and sealed the deal. "Sounds good by me. You need this stuff for the forge, and I need a lot of rock." By the end of that day the area was clear and plans were being made to rebuild the barn again. Maybe this fourth one would stay up longer.

As the last bit of charcoal was hauled off, Jorges stopped to talk to Ozzy. "I need some advice on how to go about something. I want to expand my forge and try to get it up to Tier 2 or Tier 3." He looked over at the half-built Charnel Pit. "But no way do I want to do it like you did."

Ozzy agreed with him on that. "Suzette has some information on expanding the town. Why don't you come on over to the tavern around midnight. We'll sit down and look at things. She already wanted to have a meeting and get some input from people."

Jorges agreed and hurried back to his forge. Ozzy picked up his bag and started walking to the city. With things mostly done here, he had some butchering to do.

With more time off, he was easily keeping up with his chores at Gadobhra. Guild Master Gristle had been glad to see him. "You don't know how happy I am to see one of my young butchers climbing the ranks! That was a lovely display of fire you put on to start work on your new Charnel Pit. Just lovely."

He looked at Ozzy and wrung his hands. "I don't suppose you would like to pay your Guild dues for advancing to Tier 3 early, would you? Things have been a little tight here lately. I still can't get the deadbeats inside to pay what is owed."

Ozzy handed over the three gold coins Gristle asked for. It was a small price for what he was getting. "Not a problem, sir, And I must say, I'm looking forward to what the guild will offer for Tier 3 Butchering quests."

Gristle seemed startled by that thought. "Oh, yes. I suppose I should look into that. The guild is accumulating quite a bit of experience from the fine efforts of you and the other butchers. But the filing fees are murderous to buy new skills. Sadly, many of the options we used to have lapsed over time."

Ozzy considered the statement for a bit, while Gristle sat looking unhappy and guilty at the situation. Ozzy smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Not to worry, sir, it's the slaughter and blood that are important, right? I'm sure you'll find the money for some new skills soon, and I have to finish my Charnel Pit and then level up. So you have some time. Days at least." Ozzy waved good naturedly and headed out to see what interesting things he would get to kill today. He got in a little butchering each day, trying to work on Precise Cuts and Choice cuts to level up his stats.

Ben was coming by later. He wanted to try and investigate Hungrytown during the day. Then at dusk Rolly would join them, along with Runt and Squirmie. They were making a deep push into the Beastwoods hoping to find the dungeon Runt said was hidden there.

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Suzette wandered back into the kitchen area to talk to Betty. More and more she was realizing how much she needed the older woman's advice. Part of her mind, the part that remembered the other world insisted she wasn't much younger than Betty. But here she looked and felt like her mid-20's. Betty on the other hand looked a like a robust fifty year-old grandmother with rosy cheeks.

And strong arms. Rolling out dough by hand built a lot of muscle. So did milking sedge beasts and making cheese. Suzette had seen that muscle put to use when Betty slammed the Star-Spawn into orbit. Betty had laughed it all off, saying it was her bucket. But Suzette would love to see Betty and some of the 'strong guys' arm wrestle.

"What can I do for you deary?" Betty always knew when someone walked into her kitchen. Suzette took a seat at the table next to Runt. If Ozzy's apprentice wasn't in the Butcher Shop, then he was in the kitchen helping out Betty or getting a snack. The older woman doted on him and always had something ready for him.

"I need some help with town stuff. Maybe some witch stuff. I know we had a meeting, but there are things I can do in the town that seem to be tied to the witch's circle, so I'm hoping for your input. We're going to have a small meeting tonight. Do you mind?"

"Not at all. I really enjoyed that little meeting we had after the fight. Good to talk to the other girls. I'd never really spoken to Jenny. My, what a cookie baker. She has some great recipes. And the others were all interesting. I was so surprised when they voted me in as leader."

That had been a surprise to Suzette as well. Titania and Jenny had explained it to her later. Witch circles always had a color. The basics were Black, Grey, and White and corresponded to a certain outlook on life. They could also be highly specialized like a Green circle of forest witches. The leader had a lot of influence on the color of the circle. Titania admitted that if she was in charge, the best they could hope for is grey. Suzette was happy not to have one more thing to be in charge of.

Jenny refused to be in charge, and was delighted to be in a white circle.

"I just want to bake cookies for the children and live quietly. If I'm in a white circle you won't have a group of Paladins thundering into town looking for me, and I won't be getting quest prompts to do some sort of 'Bad Hag' crap like my sisters get into. And Betty will be a great influence on that little firecracker of a goblin."

So they were a white circle with Betty in charge and Suzette only had to worry about being mayor, tavern keeper, dungeon-keeper, and Priestess of Hermes. Surprisingly, she was happier and happier the more work she had to do. Less time to think about problems, just roll with things and enjoy life.

Thinking along those lines, she should probably have a nice hot dinner for everyone before the meeting. Something a little special. Chicken and dumplings? There were a few too many roosters in the chicken coop right now. A couple of them would be tasty tonight. Rolly could just eat the dumplings.