It's been three days since the rats and I'm finally getting the feel for everybody. Wug is my best friend really and we act more life brothers now than just a party. Mog is a little annoying and is a bit of a clean freak, but he is a pro at organizing things and has already started planting a lot of the fruits and stuff we had piled around saying that it's easier to farm than forage. Pearl is more like a cat than a lizard, constantly laying in the sun and glancing at everybody in disinterest except for me. As soon as I come nearby she acts like a puppy and wont let me be until i either scratch her scales or rub her belly. Sheer is probably the one I'm most worried for, since we got out of the cave she goes to hunt every night for hours on end. Every time she comes back she's dragging something twice her size and she has at least one new wound that Mog lectures her about. I can tell she's venting but since I don't really know how to help her O just let her go and hope she gets it out of her system. Tonight we're all sitting around a fire outside the cave and I'm smiling in irony as I watch the body of a blade bunny turn over the fire, its oils dripping into the embers with a satisfying sizzle. Sheer brought it to us earlier and it was already butchered and skinned so we decided to roast it instead of eating the fruits and such we've been surviving on. Once everybody starts digging in I clear my throat to get their attention then start bringing up the topic I've been thinking of lately.
"So after the last couple of days I've been trying to decide what I want to do now. We could just live like this but it doesn't feel like that would be amounting to anything. Plus we've been growing stronger since meeting each other and I don't think that should stop. So I think we should make a city. A city just for monsters like us who want to get stronger and live well." I say excitedly as I look around and see confusion on everybody's faces.
"Master I don't mean to sound rude or ungrateful but we're monsters....its rare enough when we have villages but a city? Plus that's just begging for adventurers to come murder us!" Mog says meekly as Wug glares at him before sighing loudly then turning towards me.
"I hate to agree with him but he has a point. Plus It doesn't matter since we don't have a settlement stone. On top of that even if we include Pearl we only have five of us. That's not enough for a city of any kind." Wug says gently as my happiness starts to deflate a bit. I look towards the ground dejectedly before I hear Sheer mumble something really quietly. After i look at her and she notices my eyes she look down and repeats what she said again.
"I think I might know where we could get a stone, but if we go there I need your guys help." She says before looking up at me with determination. I nod before explaining what i want to get done before we hear her idea, mainly i want to build a wall around the clearing that's outside the cave so that we have an area we can defend. After the wall is up i want a gate in it as well as some walkways so we can attack from the top if we ever need to. Once that's done I want us to build actual buildings so that we can start sleeping in our own spaces and maybe even on beds! After saying this I glance towards Wug as he turns a bright shade of pink and apologizes for his nightly emissions. Everybody laughs at that and even though there are still some reservations, at the thought that we could get one of these stones everyone starts to have a little bit of excitement and even some hope sprinkled in as well. I finish off my rabbit leg before telling everyone to finish up and turn in because we have an early day tomorrow and a ton to get started.
------------------------------------The Next Morning------------------------------------------------
As I feel the sunlight hitting my eyes I stretch my body out and moan happily as a few joints pop. I open my eyes and look around seeing everybody still sleeping and I smile as i start shaking everyone awake. Once the grumbling and angry glares are done we all head outside and have a breakfast of fruits and leftover rabbit meat as well as some rations we have leftover from the rats and gnolls. After eating I tell Wug to start getting sturdy tree's and dragging them to the clearing so we can start on the wall and gates that i want for defense. Once Wug gets into the forest I call Mog over and ask if he knows anything about actual farming and to my surprise he explains how he comes from a small farming family that specializes in mushrooms and roots. He offers to find a place for a real garden and tells me we should save all the seeds from now on so we can grow our own. After I give him the okay I see Sheer walking towards the forest and call out to her. As she freezes in place, her head slowly turns towards me in shock as she see's me running towards her.
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"Hey wait up! We need to talk!" I yell out to her as i finally reach where she is in the tree line and bend over gasping for breath. As I look at her i notice that she's shaking lightly and that her hands are clenched on her daggers while she stares at me with a look of fear.
"Sheer what's up? I just wanted to ask about this stone and give you your job for the next few days that alright?" I ask slowly as realization shines in her eyes and she calms down. Once she relaxes a bit she motions for me to follow her into the forest and I'm surprised by the invitation but still choose to follow her.
"Sorry Master...I didn't expect you to actually give me a job or want to talk with me considering I'm just a slave." She casually says to my shock as finds a bush nearby with a bunch of sticks set up underneath it.
"Yo that's not what this is Sheer. You were a slave but with us your just you, we aren't going to do the whole slave thing it doesn't sit well with me so you need to stop thinking that way if that's what everything's been about." I whoosh out in dismay as she turns back and her eyes turn into slits as they appraise me. After a few minutes she walks towards me and my body freezes as she reaches her hand out and runs it down my thigh.
"Master your very kind and I appreciate your sentiments but.....I know nothing else except what you've taught me. I am a wyrmling though. Wyrmlings are always slaves and rarely free so if what you say is true I will try but I cannot make any promises." She says lightly as she hugs my leg gently before turning back around quickly, waving at me while mentioning that we're coming upon the last trap.
After finding a frog the size of a pig in the trap we dispatch it and work our way back to camp. On the way i ask her what she knows about the settlement stone and what she needs help with and she begins explaining.
"I don't know if its a settlement stone but it always looked important and was guarded. The gnolls you won us from had a big village a few days travel from us, their numbers are high and they only sent out the weakest scavengers when you found us. But I think they have a stone and we could take it if we're careful. As for what I want help with that's easy. These gnolls are slavers and they specialize in selling monsters to humans and orcs. Before we were taken out they had just sold most of my brothers and sisters together to a fat human with fancy clothes and a bunch of other humans wearing metal suits. They mentioned a battle and needing fresh bodies but that's all I heard before the group dragged us out of the gathering place. But if we can build this place your talking about I want to free whoever's left in their cages. Maybe they could help us build or something." she says calmly with a tinge of bitterness and hope mixed in. After hearing this I smile excitedly as I start to plan what we need and start to mentally prepare for a visit with the gnolls.
Once we get back into camp I'm surprised to find a small garden around 10ft wide and 15ft long has already been tilled out and there are small spouts already breaking the soil. As i glance across the clearing i see several logs standing around 20ft tell being slammed into the ground, forcing them to stand upright next to each other as Wug has already started on the wall. Once he see's me he smiles and nods towards us and pushes another log into the earth before wandering into the forest. After seeing the display Sheer asks what her job is and i explain that to build something livable we'll need materials so I want her to get anything useable and bring them to camp from the forest. I mention vines, bones and anything that seems interesting to her and she nods her head while sliding her dagger across the boar's belly and stepping backwards as its organs and intestines spill out. Glancing at them I mention saving the chords of flesh as well because i remember vaguely that people made bows with intestines. As i look at everybody working hard I can already see the clearing turning into an improvement over all of us living in the cave and I excitedly throw myself into helping with the work.