“A blacksmith anvil, loads of weapons and tools, and no blacksmith.” Ivan shook his head. “At least all the ceramic crocks they found yesterday in the basement of that building are being put to use.” He said this as John and he put some of the salted fish in one. Bethany stood to the side tallying everything. He stretched his back. “How many more?” He looked at Bethany, hopeful.

“Just a few,” she replied, smiling. “Dozen that is. Gramps and some of the kids have been busy. And these crocks are perfect for storing them. They keep the smell out.” She made some marks on her paper as John put some more in another crock.

John wiped his brow of sweat. “You’re right Ivan. We need to get the blacksmith up and running. Then we can produce our own nails and wares. Not that coins will be an issue. But it's always good to be thrifty, no?” He laughed.

“Ya. I don’t have the blacksmith job yet or any skills, but I did pick up a few patterns traveling to Innsbruck. I figure if I beat on something hard enough, I’ll eventually get the Blacksmith job.” He too was sweating profusely. He sighed. “I miss ale.”

“Ya big baby. Monty will be bringing some back. He should be there by now and maybe even on his way here. What’s it been, seven days since he left? It took us seven to get here and that was with wagons. He should be making his way here soon if he isn’t already.” John put a crock lid on the last one. “A smelly job for sure. We done here Bethany?”

Yep. Should be good thanks.” Bethany smiled and left the cellar followed by the two men.

The two of them walked to the kitchen area to get some water. “Drew told me he got his job finally. It’s not exactly what he wanted, but it fits well.” John took a large drink.

“Oh, what did he get?” Ivan dipped his mug back into the keg holding water.

“Town Administrator. I think it’s perfect. He’s already getting experience by giving out jobs and people finishing them or finishing them himself. He also gets some when he helps Bethany or does planning with Vin and Virgil. He’s almost like a quest machine.” John chuckled and moved to a table and sat. Ivan raised an eyebrow and followed.

“Not sure what a quest machine is, but he’s doing well.” John paused at the comment, then quickly sat. “Unfortunately he doesn’t want to hunt, but eh, life goes on.” Ivan reached for some bread that was on the table.

“Yea. We’re doing just fine now. The fish are bountiful. The crops are planted. They even started clearing more area for another field. The hunters are bringing plenty of game in daily. I have nothing to complain about.” John grabbed the bread Ivan was reaching for and split it in two.

“Yara and Mani went back today to go farther west. He claimed to have seen a possible trail leading from the village when they scouted around it while the villagers scoured it for any items. And of course, Yara was rarin’’ to go.” Ivan laughed.

“Does it make sense that I hope they find something, yet I don’t?” John looked at his friend. “Oh well. We’ll deal with whatever they find.” John looked to his left. “I was surprised at the number of people that actually went to the village yesterday. And I’m glad they were able to bring all those items back. Vin was able to finish another roof yesterday with the planks the sawmill is putting out. And Virgil has begun to make a foundation for the commonhall. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to eat inside again. At a table.” He ripped the bread and ate a piece.

They sat and watched as people came and went from the kitchen area. The children were all seated on the ground nearby being taught by Maxine and Jenifer, the two teachers. Every once in a while, one would try to sneak away drawing laughs from Ivan and John. Maxine would catch the child and pull them back by their shirt.

“I don’t miss that anymore.” Ivan stretched one more time. “I’m going to start bringing rocks from the lake and river. The stonemason,” Ivan stopped and looked up into the sky, “if we get one, will need them for a forge. And we’ll need a lot for a cooking oven and fireplace in the common hall. And eventually for in the homes. So much yet to do.” He stood and patted John on the shoulder. “See ya this evening.” He went to get a hand cart.

And I have nothing to do. Doctor’s orders, he chuckled. “I can at least help with the roofing, being their runner.” John stood and looked around. “Slowly, very slowly, making progress here.” He clapped his hands and went to the apartments to help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drew sat taking a break and looking at his screen.

Drew Cooper

Level: 1, 46%

Class: Swordsman level 1, 12%

Job: Town Administrator level 1, 34%

Attributes

Vitality

10

Health

100

Strength

10

Health Regen

10/hour

Endurance

10

Stamina

100

Agility

8

Stamina Regen

8/minute

Intelligence

13

Mana

130

Wisdom

12

Mana Regen

12/minute

Trait

Timid

10% decreased accuracy while in a fight. Can be changed or removed

River's End: Citizen

Position: Assistant Mayor

Job Perks

Combat Perks

Skills

Expand

Spells

“Expand skills.”

Skill

Description

Enhanced Memory

Allows for quick retention and recall of data, especially when in written form, based on wisdom

Improved Communication

Able to communicate more clearly and concisely one's intentions in a conversation, based on wisdom

Enhanced Organization

Able to quickly organize information and concepts into coherent data, based on wisdom

Parry

Increased chance to successfully ward off an attack with a countermove, based on agility, uses stamina

Riposte

After a successful Parry, increased chance to deliver a quick counter attack, based on agility, uses stamina

Block

Increased chance to block an incoming attack with a shield or weapon, based on strength

Lunge

Quickly move towards an opponent with a quick jab or thrust of your weapon, based on agility and strength, uses stamina

“Took me long enough.” Drew looked at his status again. “I’ve already gained 34% just ordering people around, planning the town, and completing things we need. I doubt I could have gotten a better job for what I needed.” He looked around. “Convenient if I have to say so myself.” He smiled. “Who really cares. Eventually I’ll get some more attributes to add and some perks. I hope experience comes faster than learning skills. I don’t think I could have put one more puzzle or played one more memory game if my life depended on it.” He ate a sandwich while his feet dangled in the water from the new dock made by Saul and Dragi.

He stood from the dock and tossed the last bit of sandwich into the water. “Let’s see.” He got out his notepad. “I wish John wouldn’t have given me this. But I guess it’s come in handy. The city menu really isn’t that useful. There seems to be no benefit from having citizens. The building menu gives me no information other than complete or incomplete. Ugh. On with it.” Drew flipped it open.

“Commonhall soon to be started. Flour mill next. Ivan wants a blacksmith after that. We need a smokehouse for the meat and fish. Somehow we need to store vegetables for the winter. Magic most likely, yet we have none. We need a barracks for the guards. A better, bigger stable and a barn. We need gates. We need need need.” He slapped the book shut and closed his eyes. “It all depends on wood. I wish I knew what John requested. I would have told him to get another saw blade.” He took a deep breath. “Not getting anything done just standing here. I can start hauling logs to use as the columns for the commonhall. Get me some experience.” He smiled and rubbed his hands together greedily.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Progress through the day was steady. Another roof was finished. The foundation for the commonhall was finished. Virgil had even taken to creating a cellar underneath to store goods. There was now a huge pile of rocks in the middle of the village along with quite a few uncut trees for posts. Everyone sat around the communal fires eating dinner.

“Has anyone seen Stanley lately? Or Steven?” John chewed on some food. “I know he’s kinda irked that the Goblins are mining, but I was able to work something out with them that he’ll be able to mine to the west.” John clapped his hands together to get rid of some crumbs. “Come to think of it, I didn’t see them yesterday either. Anyone?” John looked around, people shook their heads no. “Hmm. That’s not good.”

“Wouldn’t worry ‘bout ‘em. Once you told ‘em they couldn’t mine by the Goblins, they probably went searchin’ for other lodes. Hell, they may have even gone south across the bridge to the other mountains and just ain’t back yet.” Ivan sat across the makeshift table from John.

“That’s true I guess. I think if they don’t come back tonight though, we may need to search for them tomorrow. Especially if they went into the cave and tried removing that blockage before we could warn them.” John looked up from his plate.

“Bah. He’s a right pain in the ass that one. Let him stumble around a bit.” Ivan smiled after the comment, pieces of meat visibly caught in his teeth.

John shook his head and chuckled. Might serve him right to just wander away from all of us without even telling someone. I’ll definitely be giving him an earful if and when he returns. John finished his plate of food and saw Drew approaching.

“How’s job-life treating you?” asked John.

“Good. Awesome actually. I’m getting experience just doing everyday things. Not a whole lot, but some is better than none. I’m up to 59% to level two already.” Drew plopped on the ground next to the table, obviously exhausted from the day. He laid back on the ground and crossed his hands behind his head. “I could pass out right here,” he said, laughing.

“I think that’s everyone today. And yesterday. And tomorrow. We’re doing good things here, but it’s exhausting work.” John stood up and yawned. “I think I’m going to do some reading and then go to bed too. Good night all.” He yawned again as he went to his new apartment. He no longer had to sleep in the tent.

Everyone soon followed suit and went their own ways to finish off the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Late the next morning, Steven and Stanley came wandering through the south gate. John saw them heading to the kitchen area and moved to cut them off.

“You’re damn idiots. You realize that right?” John was more annoyed than angry as he walked up to them. “You leave here without telling anyone, letting us to wonder where you are. You realize there could still be more bandits out there right? Or dangerous animals?” John was even more annoyed at Stanley’s nonplussed look. “Well? Go ahead.” John stood with his arms crossed.

“I um. We. We went looking for more deposits. When you told us about the Goblins, I was mad even after you said you’d try to make a deal with them. So we went looking for different places. We went-” Stanley was cut off by John.

“I don’t care where you went. But you left without telling anyone. If you didn’t come back today, we were going to have to waste our time searching for you. And to be honest with you, I figured we’d only be looking for bodies!” John was red in the face.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. We just didn’t think--” Stanley stopped, gain cut off by John.

“That’s right. You didn’t think. You don’t think. You were mad I let them keep mining. But you didn’t even realize that after trading with them, they agreed to let you mine in the western part. You would have known that if you didn’t take off!”

The duo took a step back. “John we’re sorry. We just didn’t realize. We didn’t think you’d even care if we left.” Stanley’s eyes were glued to John. The comment caught John somewhat off guard. “You haven’t exactly been friendly to us. So we went searching for our own lodes farther to the west inside the Forest line.” His hands were up in retreat. “The trade with the Goblins was days ago. You have had plenty of time to talk to us since then.” He shrugged and looked at John.

“If you hadn’t noticed, we’ve been pretty busy. It’s not exactly the most important thing I’ve had to worry about the past few days.” John glared at Stanley. He took a step closer. “Do not leave the walls until you and I have talked. Understood? No one should be going anywhere unless they’re prepared. You don’t even have a weapon on you!”

“Fine. Fine.” Stanley and Steven backed up away from John. They turned, mumbling to each other. Steven kept looking over his shoulder, scared and angry at how John had reacted.

“Now I need to hit some things.” He watched the two walk away. “Ugh. I should have talked to them earlier, but that doesn’t give them the right to just leave when they want without telling anyone.” John grumbled to himself. “Bunch of morons. Making us worry for no reason.” He walked over to the site of where the commonhall was going to be built. They’d already begun to erect the logs that would become the posts. John walked up and began to help. He needed to busy himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later in the evening, Yara and Mani returned from their expedition west. They found John eating with Drew.

“John, do you have a few minutes?” asked Yara.

“Sure.” John took another bite. “Just tell me first if it’s good news or bad news.” He had a worried look.

“Well that’s up to you and how you take it.” She smiled at them. “Monty thought he saw a trail heading west-northwest into the Forest. We followed it a ways, but either it wasn’t a path at all, or it wasn’t built as well as the road we found. It was completely overgrown. However.” She paused. “We decided to follow the river farther west ‘til about half the daylight was gone. We found what may have been the remains of a dock. It was hard to tell. So we are going to pack for a few days and head out again tomorrow and go even farther.”

John sat, thinking. “Well. It’s not good or bad I guess. If you take some horses, you may be able to go a good ways more. I’m sure you have everything you need, but please, take anything from the village that you don’t. The information you find out will be invaluable to us here. There’s still too many questions about the mine, the village, even the Goblins. If you can somehow at least get some answers about who these people were or why they left, we could get some closure. Maybe sleep a little better at night, ya know?”

“Thanks. I think we’re good, but we’ll double check in the morning. The Verdant Forest butts up right to the river, so horses may not be ideal with the ground being so rocky,” replied Mani, chewing on some jerky.

“Take what you need.” John stood and opened the satchel he always carried. He handed them two items. “I’d like you to try to map the area if you can. It doesn’t have to be perfect. But we have no idea which way the river really goes or if it splits. Or if the land just drops off eventually. We are on a plateau after all.” Yara nodded and accepted the pencil and pad of paper. “Be careful out there. Three days? If you’re not back in three days, we’ll come looking for you.”

Yara nodded her understanding, and the two left to find food.

“Still no answers, but maybe some soon.” John continued eating.

“I think it’s good they’re going searching. I wish we had found something to give us a clue as to who the people were.” Drew stood having finished his meal.

“Shit! We might have after all. We’ve been so busy I forgot to talk to Virgil about the box we found. If he’s even found anything out about it.” John stood and quickly tried to finish his plate. He spoke, mumbling with a full mouth.”I’ll talk to him, right after I talk to those two.” He motioned to Stanley and Steven. “We kinda got into earlier.”

“About?” Drew took John’s plate.

“Them leaving without telling anyone. And about the mine. Partly my fault, mostly theirs. I’ll get it sorted right now. If I don’t talk to you later, see you in the morning.” Drew pursed his lips, and John left to sit with the other two men.

Both looked up from their plates as he sat down. “Before we talk about the mine, I think we both owe each other an apology. I apologize for how I talked to you earlier. I was extremely frustrated. After having thought about it, I can see how you would feel put-off by me. We didn’t exactly hit it off the first time we talked.” John looked to both.

Stanley sighed. “And so do we. We felt slighted by you for not talking to us sooner. We thought nothing of leaving and exploring, but now we see that that was a mistake.” John smiled at his reply and put out his hand to shake, which Stanley and Steven both did.

“So let’s start over then. I’m going to be straight to the point.” John folded his hands. “I talked to the Goblins, and they agreed you can mine anything to the west of the cavern before you get to the glowing moss. That’s the two tunnels, one that ends in a room and the other that is blocked.” Stanley made to speak, but John continued. “Here’s the thing. According to Vrichik, someone if not the Goblins, brought down that tunnel because there was a big monster inside. We don’t know how long ago that was, so as you can imagine, we don’t know if that monster is still there.” John stopped. He could tell Stanley had a question.

Stanley looked at Steven, then replied. “We can take care of the tunnel, but not if there may be an unknown creature trapped behind it. Will you help? We aren’t prepared for that.”

“Give me a day or two to heal a little more. Then we will go in so you can clear the tunnel. If you’re even able to. Who knows how much of it has collapsed.” He let that sink in. “But, here’s the thing.” John took a serious tone. “You’re still not to go anywhere, including the mine, without at least letting someone know or without a weapon. We can’t take those risks out here. Agreed?”

Hesitantly, Stanley nodded his agreement. “We agree. We’ll simply scout the cave in the meantime. And if it’s ok, perhaps even make contact with the Goblins. That remains to be seen though. They may not want to go that way if there truly is a monster hiding behind the rubble.” He took a drink. “Thank you for seeking us out so we could make things right. I know you have enough on your plate as it is. We will do better.” He smiled, and Steven nodded.

“Thank you. That’s all I ask.” John stood to leave. “Have a good evening, and be careful tomorrow if you go.” He left the table to seek out Virgil about the box.

Virgil wasn’t by the fire, so he went to his apartment. He knocked on the door.

“Coming.” John heard a chair move and waited for Virgil to answer. “Oh John. I was wondering when you would make your way here. Please come in.” He motioned for John to enter.

Together they sat at a small table. After Virgil had poured them some tea, John spoke. “I was wondering if you’ve made any progress with that box. And if there was anything worthwhile inside.”

“Mmm. Yes. I did.” Virgil took a quick sip. “The box itself is indeed Dwarven made. I’m near certain the engravings are simply decorative in nature. I found no markings or writing on it at all, but it’s too well made to have been created by anyone but the Dwarves.”

“That doesn’t really tell us much. It could still be anyone’s box,” added John.

“True. True. But the contents, they tell us quite a bit.” Virgil smiled, and then walked over to get the box. He scooted his chair closer to John and sat back down. “While there was nothing of value inside, I think you’ll still be surprised about what it contains.” Virgil opened the lid and pushed it to John.

“Papers?” John looked to Virgil, puzzled. “How can they still be intact after all these years?”

“I don’t know young man. Some kind of preservation spell if I had to guess. But there they are.” He reached in and picked one up. “There’s only four pages, and all but one contain the same information. They are documents related to the ore shipments sent to and equipment and provisions received by the mining company from what I believe is the abandoned village. One thing of note are the dates, particularly the year: G.U. 341.” John still had a questioning look. “I see you don’t know what that means. A little history lesson for you then. That date means 341 years after the Great Upheaval that nearly tore this continent apart, the war between the Elves and Dwarves. That’s why they are still so few in number while we Humans seem to have propagated vastly. It’s also in Common. That leaves me to believe the group may actually have been Humans and not Dwarves. Also, as I know you are wondering, currently the year is G.U. 1124. Nearly 800 years after this document was written.” He held the paper for John to see.

“That’s astounding. 800 years and the paper is still intact.” John eyed the paper. “There’s numbers here for the amount of ore sent and shipments received of supplies.” He grabbed another paper and saw the same thing and then the same with the third. But the fourth was different. He picked it up and began to read.

His eyes were wide as he read. When he had finished, he turned to Virgil. John was shocked. “It’s almost like a diary page. It has the latest date on it.” He kept reading. “They were slaves. The Goblins were slaves forced to work in the mine.” He reread the most important part again.

“Yes unfortunately. No one deserves that fate.” Virgil held a sympathetic look.

“It looks like they encountered several beasts so they collapsed the actual mine entrance and left the Goblins to fend for themselves. A lot of miners and Goblins died.” He turned it over to look at the back hoping there was more information. “I guess the box and the few items got left in the rush to leave.” John put the paper down and sat back in the chair. “This answers a few questions, but not all of them. Where did the humans go? What beasts were they? Lizards? Spiders? I'm not looking forward to finding out.”

“Questions for another day John.” Virgil poured himself some more tea and offered some to John who put up his hand to say no. “Perhaps you and the other adventurers will find your answers to the west.” He shrugged.

“We plan on clearing the tunnel in the next couple days. Then we’ll have that answer as well.” John stood and placed his hand on Virgil’s shoulder. “Thank you Virgil. The box is a gift to you. If you don’t mind though, I would like the papers.” The old man smiled and nodded and John collected them. Virgil stood and walked to the door with John.

“Don’t fret too much over what we’ve learned. Obviously the Goblins don’t hold grudges, or they’ve forgotten what happened in the past. Treat them as equals, and you will be a better man than who came before. Just remember that. Have a good night John.”

“You too Virgil. Thanks again.” John walked out the door and to his apartment.

He plopped down on his makeshift bed and looked at the papers again.

“Now we know who collapsed the tunnel and why. We know why the Goblins are here and why the village is abandoned.” He laid down. “I better warn Mani and Yara in the morning before they leave. The people had to have gone somewhere, and Danielson had said there was no indication that anyone had settled in the area of Innsbruck.” He closed his eyes. “I hope Monty is safe and gets here soon too. I’d feel better with him along to clear those tunnels.” He held the papers to his chest as he slowly went to sleep.