After a restless night, I woke up to the noisy squawking of the seagulls and feeling the cold chile that told me the campfire went out sometime before morning. I sat shivering while eating some ration and wash it down with cold water. Dusting myself off and started climbing the rope pausing at the top to look around at the land around me and not seeing any draugr. I let the warmth of the sun on my face before turning to stare at the mountain range to the north; it peaks cover in snow. Shivering a little more from the cold air, I climb over the wall.

“Okay need to thicken the walls,” rubbing my hands to get warm. It took most of the morning to make the walls two feet thick. Taking the ax and headed down to the stream to the west where there was a grove of small trees on this side of the stream. Cutting down four trees, cutting them into twelve feet long logs. After that, I began cutting up the limbs into firewood. After that finding some vines about twenty feet worth of them. I drag everything up to the building. Seeing about how I had an hour before sunset I pull out the skillet head down to the creek to wash it. While filling my waterskin, I was checking out the stream. It is about thirty feet across at the closest point and looking to be about ten or more feet deep in the center. The water is moving briskly down to the sea about three hundred feet away. Several different types of fish jump in the water nearby I spotted some movement at the seashore edge glancing up at the sun to see that I had a few minutes until sunset.

“I will have to check that tomorrow.” Heading back up making sure the logs were stack safely off to one side before climbing back up to the top.

Cooking up more rats meat to eat I can hear the draugrs moving about. Hunkering down for the night I fell to a fitful nightmarish sleep of my family being kill and waking up with one eye to the morning light and the singing songbirds. Don't get me started on the seagulls! I set to work on the third band of stone around the building to make it stronger. About noon I decided to take a break and headed drown to the sea to explore. About a hundred feet from the sea I spied several large crab-like creatures moving in the water. Each of the cray-like animals is about two feet across. I watch two of them fight over a fish that one of them caught. The battle between the two was one-sided with the larger of the two is stronger. After a few minutes, the younger one lost and was forced to flee with some minor damage to its shell. Backing up slowly and headed back to the hovel. While the Sea Crab ate its prizes.

“Need a bigger range weapon or several range weapons. Don't think fling stone or flare will do much, maybe flare, but still not needing crab meat yet.” shaking my head. Finishing up the now three feet thick wall, I decide I need an outhouse. Shitting on the ground was okay for the first day, but I need a toilet. Using the spell dig, I created a hole five by five by five feet deciding not to make anything fancy right now. I cover the pit with one foot thick stone that overlaps the pit to each side by two feet.

I place a one-foot square hole in the center. The simple four foot wide walls that were six feet high with a stone roof were finished in three hours. Finishing up with a stone seat, which I was ready to use it when I got done. While seating there, I realize that I was going to have to make a door later. After that, I proceeded in taking the bark off the four logs, before heading to the creek to fill the water skin. Cutting a few more trees down I notice upstream that there was a five-foot-high waterfall. Glancing at my building and looking upstream an idea for piping the water to the building form in my head. Pulling the logs, I cut up to the hovel. I was all finish by sunset with two ladders made by notching the wood and binding the steps.

Congratulations! You have made a ladder now you can climb to new heights!

Rolling my eyes as I lean one against the wall of the hovel. Climbing up one of the ladders and pull the other one into the room below. Climbing over on to other ladder and try to pull the other ladder up when hideous laughter chilled me. Standing on the bottom rung was a draugr trying to climb up with a dagger clinch between his teeth. Panicking and almost forgetting I had magic, I cast the spell Flare.

“Incandescent!” Hitting the draugr making it fall back while ten points of damage. Grabbing the ladder and pulling it up quickly to keep the draugr from climbing up. The draugr leap forward trying to grab the rung of the ladder only to crash into the wall. Feeling something sharp hitting my left arm I fell back in surprise and slid down the ladder and hit the floor. The sound of more laughter erupted around the building as I black out.

That morning I awoke to a sharp pain in my left arm made me wince from feeling an arrow shaft sticking out of my left bicep. Grabbing the ax and sliding up against the wall using the ax to cut off the part of the shaft. Pulling the arrow out nearly made me pass out from the pain, meditating a few minutes to let the wound heal up in a few minutes.

“Damn that hurt,” growling.

You hit a draugr Guard for ten points of flare.

A draugr Archer hits you with an arrow for eight points of damage.

Miss Dexterity Check.

Four points of falling damage.

Constitution Check fail. Fall unconscious.

“Okay, that sucks I need armor, range, and levels. First I need to get this place fixed up so I can defend it, and need to level or I can’t raise my skills above a two! Relax the undead can’t get you here." Fixing the shovel and get another quest and level then work on the second floor.” After spending an hour building a handle to the shovel.

You gain the crafting skill Repair, Bronze Shovel Durability 18/20

“That should help,” grinning walking over to the tree, “Mesa-la got the shovel fix!” I yelled.

“Wonderful, I need my roots cover can you do that?” She asked.

QUEST: Cover my roots.

Mesa-la request that you cover all her roots with a good layer of dirt. If you do a good job, she may reward you more than ten silver plus 100 Experience.

Do you Accept? Yes/no?

“Yes.” Signing deeply, as I was walking around the tree he asks, “how far out do your roots go?”

“Hmm, about forty feet from the center.” one her branches bent to show where the line was sending chills down my back. One thing to see wind moving a tree branch another to know the tree was moving it. Taking one of the rope and measure out twenty feet and doubling it. I was able to mark off a square around the hearth tree to form my square for the settlement. Using the shovel, I dug a trench around the tree a foot deep and wide. Throwing the dirt toward the tree because my Dig spell makes the dirt disappear. After I finished, I cast a stone into the trench, to build a three feet wall that went a foot down into the ditch — finishing with enough time to get my water skin filled. Looking around before climbing back into the hovel for the night everything look to be in order. Checking my stores I see I am running low on meat. What more I had to toss over the wall two of the rat meats that spoiled, guess it time to hunt food tomorrow.

The next morning I decided to use the Dig spell. Spending most of that morning to dig a five-foot deep ten-foot wide trench around the tree. Spending the six hours to use the dirt to fill up the small two-foot high wall around the tree. It has taken me the rest of the next two days to create a ten-foot wide road around the raised bed of the Hearth Tree. After I was done I realize the road need to be wider, slapping my forehead, “Stupid!”

So I widen it another ten feet and fill it with stone. Three days later I had it all done. The next morning I looked over the area around the Hearth Tree and smile at the center of my future settlement. I was walking up to the Hearth Tree with a satisfying smile on my face, I said. “All done Mesa-la!”

Hearing a squeal of childlike joy, “I love it!” The tree limb shaking in joy, “here’s your silver, do you want a bronze dagger, copper pot, or a tunic?”

Congratulations!

Quest completed.

You gain experience.

Arching his eyebrows, “tunic!” Excited to get maybe armor, watching ten silver appear in the dirt, and a green tunic appear. Picking up the tunic I inspected it.

Tunic of the Hearth

Set of 1 of 6

Scale-able

Armor Defense 10

Durability 100/100

MIGHT + 3

DEFTNESS + 2

Mana +10

Bonuses when wearing more than one item in the set.

Bug-eyed he put it on, ”wow this is nice is there a set?” He asked.

“Yes, only when you complete more quests.” She said. “Speaking of a quest I need you to clear out some wolves that have move into the area between here and the old road. While you are doing that please thin out the rabbits' population that has draw the wolves in the area

Quest: Howling in the night.

Kill ten wolves that have moved into the area, before you become their prey. Reward 10 silver and experience.

Do you Accept? Yes/no? Quest: Rabbits everywhere!

Kill 20 rabbits to thin out the rabbits to keep predators from moving into the area in the future — Reward ten silver and experience.

Do you Accept? Yes/No?

“Yes to both, lots of rabbits.” With a sigh, time to kill some stuff. Walking to the north of the tree passing more the old foundations. Finding some of the rabbits after inspecting one.

Northern slope rabbit

Level one

Health 12/12

Using a Flare for ten points of damage than a hit with the hammer. With a few misses, each one of the rabbits drops two rabbit meat, a fur pelt and a rabbit foot (Charm +1 to luck). I ended up meditating after every second kill. It was after the sixth rabbit that I killed when I encounter my first wolf

Grey wolf

Level two

Health 20/20

I spotted it as I was meditating as it ran straight at me. I had no chance of rolling out of the way, so I cast Flare hitting it for 10 points, as it slams into me biting into my raise arm. Taking thirteen points of damage. Cussing over the pain I barely was able to cast Flare. Hitting the chest of the wolf for another ten points of damage. Knocking the wolf off my arm causing another three points of damage me. Checking my health quickly as another prompt appear. Saying A Grey Wolf has died.

Seeing that I had nine health left. Looking around for any more wolves as I lean over and touch the body of the wolf. Receiving an average wolf pelt and two wolf meat. Stuffing it all into my backpack while heading back to my home. Sitting next to the ladder to meditate, a while later my health and mana was back to full. Checking the sun seeing it has about a couple of more hours before sunset. Seeing storm clouds to the south, I got up and climb the ladder and started casting stone to create a roof. Adding six square feet trapdoor pulling up the ladder before climbing down for the night.

Fried Wolf Steaks +3 MIGHT, +3 DEFTNESS.