— Keira —

When Keir began to return back down the path they had come from, Lovisa stopped her and said “Um, It should be quicker if we just cut through over here.” and lead the way over to a barely noticeable gap in the trees off to the side of the quarry pit, near one the ramps leading into it. “The quarry needs lumber often enough people got tired of delivering it the long way. It looks like the snakes didn’t really use it much so the path is a bit overgrown but it doesn’t seem impassable.”

When Keir had first looked towards where Lovisa was leading her she’d seen no sign of a path or road. It was clear that even when the quarry had been fully operational the treeline was poorly defined. After several years with only the movements of the Ancient Viper Matriarch and her spawn to push back the encroaching greenery the lines were further blurred. It was only when they got much closer that she realized the gap in the trees led to a relatively wide curving path free of trees. The undergrowth while present was noticeably thinner and younger than most of the surrounding plants.

As Lovisa confidently led the way, Keir began trying to plan her next move after reclaiming, or at worst rebuilding, the lumber mill. The threat of the remaining vipers was negligible but not entirely absent. Of more concern was the vacuum they and their matriarch had left behind in their absence. Her mind turned to what other threats might try to fill that vacuum.

Not long after she started thinking about it she let out a small frustrated sigh. Keir had only been operating in The Gateway Forest for around a year and had never operated so close to The Great Beast Steppe. She had virtually no familiarity with the local threats.

Keir felt a bit foolish when Lovisa paused and looked back when she sighed, as Keir realized there was someone who was likely very familiar with at least the common threats of the region.

Keir was glad there was no possibility of a faint awkward blush before realizing the hand she absently brushed aside her hair with likely gave the game away as she said “I was just trying to plan for possible threats and realized I don’t really know what is likely to be in the area. Do you mind if we talk it over as we walk?”

Lovisa grinned cheerfully and answered “Oh, Not at all. In fact I would be happy to talk with you more whenever.” Something about the way the young elf turned back towards the trail made Keir think Lovisa might also have been hiding a blush her undead form could not produce. Before she thought much about it Lovisa continued “As for threats, that is a somewhat complicated issue. We were and likely still are the closest village to the edge of the forest. In fact, if you made good time you could reach the steppe in a day or two on foot. We are also almost directly in the middle of the narrowest gap between The Twin Barrier Ranges. The threats in the surrounding region are a mix of creatures from the forest, mountains, and steppe that changes often.”

Keir fought the urge to sigh again and instead said “Unless you suspect a specific threat is the most likely to try to take advantage of the sudden absence of the snakes, let's just talk about the most typical problems you dealt with. With the wall almost entirely destroyed we will have to be more proactive in our defense.”

“Well, packs of rock wolves commonly either expand into the forest or get pushed out of their former territories in the mountains. The occasional giant sloth or verdant stag would try to raid the outer farms but neither tend to claim territories close to settlements. Short-faced dire bears are a relatively common threat but they mostly avoid the village since they mostly scavenge or steal kills from smaller predators. With all the dead snakes they are much more likely to pose a problem in the short term. As for the steppe most of the larger threats either can’t or don’t often enter even the edges of the forest. Smaller creatures on the other hand…” She trailed off before excitedly saying “Oh, Wow, look at this.” and darting off towards a large tree and small sapling off to the side of the trail.

Keir followed with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. As she drew close Keir noticed two things at almost the same time. The first was that the oddly thick and stubby sapling was in fact a massive leafy antler protruding from the ground. The antler was at least a foot taller than her own six and bit foot tall frame. It was made from an almost wood like bone with leafy tufts growing at the points which concealed the wickedly sharp points.

The more immediately interesting thing she noticed was the mostly articulated vine wrapped ribcage partially embedded in the trunk of the large tree. The rib cage was large enough that if it were on the ground, Keir could have almost stood up inside of it. The bones were made from the same wood like material as the antler.

Keir was about to ask if the remains were that of a verdant elk when she saw what had drawn and exited Lovisa. The surface of the bone was flecked with a familiar prismatic crystal and the vines were very strange. Its leaves were very dark green that bordered on black with deep red edges. Almost inch long serrated black thorns spiraled along the thick vines. She also saw bunches of barely formed and very unripe grapes.

Keir focused on her new Bushcraft specialty and Inspection as she examined the strange vine, though she suspected she already knew what it was.

“Hematic Grape Vine”

Keir shared Lovisa’s excitement as she said “I’m impressed you noticed this. You found the initial wild node for the Hematic Grapes.”

Lovisa looked perhaps a bit bashful as she responded “So this is one of the new resources you mentioned. When we have the leeway we should celebrate this find.”

Keir smiled and said “Oh, we definitely should. For now you should mark it. It is your discovery after all.”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Lovisa cheerfully channeled a trickle of mana into the tiny crystal flakes and Keir felt a System wide notification.

Lovisa Silverthorn of Still-Leaf Village has discovered the Hematic Grape Progenitor Node.

Village Achievement gained: Reward (50 Advancement Points)

Seeing that Keir was a bit stunned. She expected only the typical village wide announcement recognizing Lovisa’s discovering the first of a newly unlocked node. She wasn’t entirely sure when the last time a Progenitor Node had been discovered. At the very least it hadn’t occurred during her own lifetime. As the name implied a Progenitor Node was only formed the first time a unique resource was added to the world. Apparently no settlement had ever had access to Hemetic Grapes. She immediately wondered if the same was true for the other unique resources she’d unlocked. Until one or more was found there was no way to know so for the moment she turned her attention back to her companion’s achievement.

While planning a proper celebration for later, the two elves took a few minutes to have a little mini celebration for the historic moment before resuming their journey. With a rough plan to later celebrate at the Root and Bough when it was operational again.

After doing a little happy dance as they walked, Lovisa grew a bit more serious and said “Ah, back to what we were discussing before. I was saying that we sometimes have to deal with Shalehorn herds migrating between mountain ranges, wasn’t I?”

Keir thought about it and said “I think you might have been talking about threats from the steppe.”

“Hmm, yeah I think you are right. I don’t remember what I already said so I will just start over. Well, the dangerous adult creatures almost never enter the tree line of the forest. The smaller and weaker creatures on the other hand are at times pushed out of the steppe by the greater threats. Also, some of the young creatures dwell in the forest until they are old and large enough to return. Honestly our best option is probably to cautiously scout and patrol around the village. Well that and prioritize rebuilding the walls and farms first.”

From there, the conversation shifted to discussing the details of the threats that were mentioned and some preliminary discussions regarding options for scouting and patrolling. Between Lovisa’s familiarity with the area and the slightly simplified version of the village map Keir had access to at all times they were able to make some basic short term plans. Keir had already been impressed with Lovisa’s knowledge and fighting ability. That only increased as they discussed strategy and plans.

They had about as much of a plan as they could make without proper scouting and a full accounting of the remaining guards, when they first saw the lumber mill peeking out from the trees ahead of them. It was also around that point the sound of running water became obvious. As they approached the clearing edge it was apparent that few if any large creatures had frequented the area in the intervening time since the villagers had last been there.

The undergrowth in the large clearing ahead had plenty of small animal trails but nothing large enough to indicate even small deer or wolf sized creatures used them. Most of them led between the trees and the small river, or perhaps large stream, that cut through the middle of the clearing. The field of almost fully grown trees showed that the replenishing effect of the lumber mill had lasted at least a while after the death of the villagers. That and the fact that most of the larger structures were still standing was most of the good news they found. Two small stone and wood bridges had at one point spanned the water but only one was mostly still standing.

Much like at the quarry there was a fair bit of partially and completely processed materials. Unfortunately wood didn’t last as well as stone blocks. Piles of once neatly stacked lumber and logs were collapsed in rotten warped heaps, half buried beneath plant growth.

By unspoken agreement they split up as they approached the still standing structures. Lovisa made for what looked like the bunkhouse so Keir walked towards the main mill structure.

Like most lumber mills built in regions where there was at least a moderate monster presence the building was almost entirely enclosed. The walls were mostly formed from rough thick beams with a stone foundation. Along the long sides of the building the only openings were a pair of sturdy doors and shuttered windows high off the ground that had once served to prevent a dangerous build up of airborne sawdust. The shorter ends were each dominated by a large barn style door that would only be closed when the building was locked up tight.

Even before she could see into the structure, the crumbling stationary water wheel served to inform Keir’s expectations.

As she approached the door, the thick smells of fungus and rotten wood filled the air where the smells of fresh cut lumber and sawdust had once reigned. With the sky beginning to lighten with the approach of morning Keir could easily see the gaping hole in the ceiling before even stepping through the door.

After a moment of hesitation, Keir entered the building and frowned as she began looking around properly. From what she could tell most of the wood rot in the structure itself was fairly superficial, roof aside. Once she properly reclaimed it most of that damage would be quite fixable. The large saw blade in the middle of the room as well as the mechanism connecting it to the water wheel were not remotely fixable.

The cogs were fused together with thick layers of rust. The belts were in crumbling heaps on the floor where she could find them at all. Worst of all, the saw blade was not only heavily rusted, it was broken into three pieces. Ironically if the saw had been functional the splintered rotten wood axils would have been easy to replace.

After quickly looking over the rest of the room she found that the few tools stored within were heavily rusted and almost certainly damaged beyond repair. With a quite deliberate sigh of frustration she left the building and went to find Lovisa to see what she had found.

Keir was barely out of the opposite door from where she’d entered when Lovisa walked up and looking at the decrepit interior visible past Keir said “Well the other building is in relatively decent shape compared to this one. I even found tools that were barely rusty. No axes or hatchets but I'm pretty sure most of those were taken to the village to use as weapons, so no surprise there. I wonder if any of them survived the battle and aftermath.”

Keir had a bit of hope they might at least find a few so she said “If they got left inside they should be reasonably intact. Most of the buildings were intact enough for the System to preserve their contents.”

With a slight effort of will Keir channeled mana into the Village interface and spent 50 Advancement Points to Reclaim the lumber mill. Even after gaining the quarry as level one basic quarry she was surprised to gain a level zero logging camp. Even the system didn’t consider what remained to be functional enough to be a lumber mill.

Keir gestured back towards town and said “We should head back to town. It looks like we have rather a lot to do before we can even start trying to properly repair anything.”

With the path back towards town fairly clear they walked side by side back towards the village occasionally striking up a short lived conversation rather than dwell on the daunting task ahead.