I wipe sweat off my brow while looking around the clearing, a satisfied hum coming from my throat as I appreciate the last few days work. The wooden wall stands 14 feet tall and is reinforced with vines grown by Mog, the tops sharpened to grisly points while the wood has been strengthened repeatedly using the myconid's Regrowth spell to make the actual logs take root deep in the earth while branches twist upon each other creating a more durable defense. Two small houses sit on either side of the cave entrance, simply made wooden cabins they still show much effort as small flower blossoms grown along the vines that climb up the first. The second has a multitude of polished bones as well as furs built into its foundation and the makings of a tanning station can be seen inside. The cave entrance now has a large doorway in the center while the rest has been covered with more logs to act as a wall, Wug's towering form can be seen inside as he tries his hand at building the description of a bed that I gave him. Mog's wooden home is filled to the brink with small planters filled with both mushrooms and herbs that he's spent the last few days gathering, most of them used to either heal or provide meals as the mushroom man spent the first day complaining about the lack of spice and food that was just eaten raw. Sheer's home is filled with various attempts at creating blades from the bones and materials she's found hunting the beasts of the forest, all attempts resulting in various broken or extremly brittle blades that are thrown into a pile in the corner. As i walk towards the center of the clearing I smile as I look upon my own home, the three basic rooms inside lie bare, while the last room in the back contains my own pile of fur's as well as a large rock that stands as a table. After wiping myself down with one of the poor quality furs I keep as a rag I go outside and call for everyone to meet me in my room for a meeting. As i walk back to my room I look into one of the empty rooms and see Pearl shaking herself awake as she wags her tail once before waddling into the back room, followed by the others slowly entering one by one. Once we all reach the table rock we start planning out what we're going to need as well as figuring out what we're up against to get to the settlement stone.
"OK so the first question I have about this operation is what exactly is a settlement stone?" I state matter of factly as i see looks of disbelief and confusion on everyone's faces.
"Master Surely your jesting? A settlement stone is one of the most well known works of magic to ever be created in this world. Be that as it may I shall explain. Settlement stones are ancient relics created by the gods at the creation of this world. In order to make an official town that is protected from the more savage monsters as well as having unique buildings a settlement stone must be found and registered to the leader of the new settlement. These relics also make it possible to restore any damage done to the settlement its registered to over time and it allows the owner to gain a small percent of the experience of all its citizens. As the settlement levels up its defensive powers as well as the materials it's made with can be upgraded as well." Mog explains gently as he waves his hands in various directions with a look of excitement on his face. The others look at him in surprise as well as a bit of confusion before Wug finally asks a question.
"So what do you mean by unique buildings and the upgrading stuff who does it or is it like magic?" Wug asks in confusion as he glances at the walls around us that he worked hard to build.
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"The upgrading is by magic, basically when a settlement gains enough citizens and has enough experience it can upgrade itself and make itself into a bigger form. Villages become towns, town become hamlets, hamlets become cities and eventually its rumored that the max level of a settlement stone will create a kingdom. As for the unique buildings that's tricky, a settlement stone requires a single creature to bond with it and claim leadership. Depending on the creatures race the buildings are affected. For example in my tribe we have a basic level stone and as a myconid we get the Spore Shack which allows us to cultivate any type of mushroom with a chance of any of those mushrooms turning into baby myconid's with unique skills. I also know that humans get a building called the Adventurers Paradise which magically generates rewards for killing and collecting various creatures and things. As for the gremlin race your actually the first one I've ever seen so I have no clue what would be created if you got ahold of one." Mog says solemnly as he looks at me waiting for my response. After a few minutes I see Wug nodding in understanding, I nod once then begin asking about the area the stone is in.
"Well my memories from back then are hazy mostly cus I was an idiot at that stage but i do remember some things. The whole gnoll tribe are slavers and they target anything, they had us as servants but also I remember wild beasts, elementals, golems, large intelligent monsters and I even think there were a couple adventurers in cages as well. One was a short thing maybe two heads taller than myself and was covered in bristly fur. The other was a average sized thing with long blue hair and was kinda pretty in a sad way. They have leather huts smaller than our houses but one building in the center of their village was huge and made of stone and wood. That's where they would take the new slaves and creatures they captured, the things would go in angry and fighting but after they came out they'd be calm and their eyes were almost lifeless. It was like they were still alive and they would eat and stuff, hell some of them would still show intelligence but it was like all their energy and hope were gone." Sheer explains as well as she can, then telling us that she was guessing that there were around forty gnolls in total and that the leader was some kind of magic user and beat the strongest gnolls in combat at least weekly.
"So to recap our goals are simple. Number one is to steal the settlement stone which I'm assuming is easier said than done. Number two is to try and free the captured slaves if we can, They would be a huge help in making our village into an actual village plus slavery doesn't sit well with me. Third and finally is to pick our battles there are way to many enemies to take in a frontal assault and considering the amount of slaves they've captured the gnolls are probably smarter than the ones we found. We can probably assume they have scouts wandering the outer area of their settlement so if we're fast we can pick them off for easy experience. Once that's happened we can use hit and run tactics to peel their numbers down until its clear enough to succeed in our first two objectives. That being said I don't want any recklessness on this mission your all to valuable to lose for a stupid reason. If need be we can retreat and hit them multiple times until we succeed in breaking through but until then we play it carefully. Understood?" I ask seriously while looking around at the nodding heads and grim expressions of determination. As I see the willingness to move through this task pride fills my heart as I pull out my cane and tap it once on the ground loudly.
"Well then guys lets gear up and move out. Grab extra bags for loot just in case and meet at the gate by nightfall." I say as everyone begins preparing for battle.