Taz had roped Rud into more work in the mine. The druid knew this was an outcome every time he stepped into the mine. He didn’t mind helping the dwarf out, especially with how ambitious he was. The mine was coming along nicely, now holding several branches from that south-facing tunnel near the living area. It was filled with exploratory branches, shooting in straight angles to access veins.

  Rud had woken the next morning, checking his tower and writing a report. When he checked, the sick bird had flown away on her own. With that bit of good news, he came to the mine as promised. It wasn’t just a day for striking at rock, but also one where they would smelt what ore they had found. The pair stood in the mine, Rud holding the Aspect of Gug. The vein of copper they had struck was filled with high-quality fragments, and something the druid hadn’t expected.

  “Gemstones,” Taz said, holding up a shining green gem the size of a pea. “Now we’re in business.”

  “Do mortals care about gems?” Rud asked, resting his pick over his shoulder.

  “Oh, yeah. Dwarves love them. We encrust every available object with gems. Chairs, pots, hats… Maybe you should work on a road to the north.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Rud lied. South was the next direction that deserved a road.

  Taz’s idea of helping with the smelting for the day was bringing the ore to the smelting building. Rud stared at him with a flat look, even as the dwarf walked away from the building. With the crystal fragment situation in a stable place for the first time, the druid had plans to keep a lot of the ingots. But he wouldn’t push Ban to make a blacksmithing building. Once she was done resting, she had to ascend to Rank 1. Only then would he be comfortable seeing her make another expansion.

  Rud accepted the Aspect of Aegael and started the smelter. He checked his stock of Fairy Peat, finding it lower than expected. He made a trip to the marsh while the device heated, digging up rectangles of the valuable material and returning them to a clearing. The watchtower had claimed the weather would stay sunny and dry, but he’d need to monitor any changes. With the smelter hot, he got to work.

  “Working hard?” Mint asked. She was in her human form, leaning against the wall as she watched the druid work.

  Rud looked down from his ladder, shovel in hand. “Living the dream.”

  Mint lingered for a long time without saying a word. Rud had started with iron this time, determined to reduce the massive pile in his smelter. There were stacks of bars in the corner, all of which needed to be enchanted with the Imbue Crafted Item spell. Once the furnace was loaded and at the right temperature, he got to work on those. The dizzying effects of being low on mana hit him after the first stack. He cradled his staff and took a seat, allowing the warmth from the smelter to wash over him.

  “I’m expecting another dungeon to pop up in the grove,” Mint said. “Think you could wrangle some adventurers?”

  Rud looked up, half-asleep. “What? I’ve seen no sign in my tower.”

  Mint hummed, looking at the sky outside of the building. “I haven’t been a guardian for long. But I’ve been a sacred beast for quite a few years. I’ve seen the signs.”

  “Okay. Do you know where this dungeon is going to pop up?”

  “Northwest.”

  Rud smiled up at the wolf spirit. She wouldn’t give information unless asked. “How do you know there’s a dungeon coming?”

  “You’ll learn to sense the energy of the world. It moves like the wind. And when it collects in one spot for too long, you know the storm is coming.”

  That was a good enough explanation. She had nothing else to say, and simply lingered as Rud worked the smelter. By the early afternoon, the druid’s Smelting and Crafting Magic skills were both at Level 4. Both piles of copper and iron ore had been reduced significantly, and each pile of ingots had grown tall. Exporting those ingots was less important than holding onto them. Once they could form the metal into shapes, they would burn through most of them creating supports for the mine. Anything else could go into useful items. New tools were on the druid’s mind more than anything. The human-sized tools were annoying to use, although he dealt with it for now.

  Like most things in the grove, Rud assumed that the Blacksmithing skill would bring with it knowledge. He wasn’t the best miner, or the best smelter, but the skill helped. It guided him through the early stages of learning, making it easier to do just about anything. Exhausted from the day, he returned to the Sacred Tree to check on Ban. He was making sure she hadn’t started another expansion, of course.

  Rud didn’t expect to see a group of four adventurers praying by the tree. He paused on the forest’s edge, spotting a familiar face in the crowd. The bubbly, red-haired elf Oak was standing with the group. Her head was bowed and the druid could see her mouth moving in prayer. He danced on the forest’s edge, waiting for them to finish. Once they had placed their offerings by the tree, he sauntered over.

  “Oak!” Rud said, waving his staff at her. “Where is your sister?”

  Oak spun, spotting the druid and rushing over to grab him into a big hug. “Rud! There you are, you tricky little spirit!” She spun him around until they were both dizzy. The other adventurers looked on with puzzled looks. When she finally set him down, he stumbled on the spot. “Oh, you know Elmera. She was too busy with her research to come with me.”

  Once Rud was steady enough to see Oak without toppling over, he nodded. “So what are you guys doing?”

  “We’re scouting. Like every other adventurer.” Oak laughed, brushing strands of red hair from her face. She seemed more rosy-cheeked today. That last mission they were on was rough.

  “I don’t know if you’re looking for more work, but we have a dungeon that’s going to appear in the grove soon enough,” Rud said, smiling nervously.

  Oak thought for a moment, tapping her chin for dramatic effect. “Hmmm. How long until it appears?”

  “About a day,” Mint said, appearing out of nowhere. She was in her human form. “Think your team can handle it?”

  Oak bowed immediately, going completely rigid. “Yes, great spirit. I’m sure they would be honored.”

  “Good. Get your butts in Rud’s village and wait for my signal,” Mint said, jabbing her finger back the way the group came. “Same deal as last time.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Oak bowed a few more times before dashing off to inform her party. They had a look of confusion at first, but a ripple of excitement spread through them. Rud wasn’t too sure about how they would do, but had to trust their professionalism. The group departed after some discussion, heading back to the village near the Sacred Tree.

  “Let’s get some food started for them.”

  “Go ahead,” Mint said, walking from the clearing. “I have some things to attend to.”

  Rud glared after Mint as she walked, but she didn’t care. A custodian’s job was never done. There wasn’t enough time to make something fancy like stew, so he got to work on a staple within the grove. Roasted meat and mushrooms. The druid took the work to his mushroom house, stopping at the mine only to get the meat he needed. He paused in the cold room, listening to the chatter of the bats overhead. How much food did the big folk eat? He had been nibbling on nuts and mushrooms long enough that he couldn’t remember and ended up grabbing the haunch of a wolf. He thought it was a wolf anyway.

  Only moments after he started cooking the meat, Mint pressed her eye against a window. Rud could hear her sniffing long before she approached the building.

  “Is there some for me?”

  “This is for the mortals,” Rud grumbled.

  Mint snorted a breath through the window, then scampered off.

  An open fire would have been better to cook the meat. He gave up on roasting the entire leg and cut it into pieces, placing them in a large pan to sear. There was nothing like unseasoned wolf meat… Rud tried to remedy that by adding the potonions and mushrooms to the dish, sprinkling water in when it seemed to burn to the bottom of the pan. He deemed it good enough when the meat was cooked through, if slightly burned. He hoisted the pan and found the nearest bush to step through.

  Oak and her adventuring friends were already settled into a few houses in the village. Rud knocked on the door of an occupied one, finding an adventurer answering the door. He ran off to find Oak, returning only a few moments later. The druid hoisted the pan, shuffling through the building into the dining area.

  “Foods up,” he said, placing it on the bare wood. “Eat up.”

  Oak laughed, watching the druid struggle with the job. “You didn’t have to.”

  “Nonsense. I can’t have mortals staying in my grove without food.”

  “Would be better with some bread…” one adventurer quipped. He got a swift kick in the shin from Oak.

  “Thank you for the hospitality,” Oak said. She clasped her hands together, smelling the dish. “It doesn’t smell bad.”

  “It smells good,” another adventurer said, entering the building. She stopped, eyes wide as she bowed a few times.

  Rud removed himself from the building before the adventurers fell over themselves to comment on mediocre cooking. He had a feeling they would be more kind than was necessary. The druid’s intent was for the adventurers to have something hot to eat, not to serve them food worthy of praise. He was unsurprised to see Mint roasting meat near the Sacred Tree. Taz, Sarya, and Dean were already assembled.

  “We need a common area to eat,” Rud said, wrapping his cloak around himself as he sat by the fire. As always, Mint had fed enough branches to the fire to make it dangerous. That was part of her cooking technique.

  “If only someone in the grove could create something like that,” Taz said, flicking his beard to one side. “Hmmm. Do you know anyone like that, Dean?”

  “Can’t say I do.”

  “How about you, Sarya?”

  “Oh! Rud can do it!” Sarya shouted, her wagging tail beating against the ground.

  “Woah, maybe we should ask him,” Taz said, turning his head slowly as he locked eyes with Rud. “What do you think, Rud? Can you do it?”

  Rud waved the mocking away, too low on energy to put up a fight. Although he was exhausted, he couldn’t stop his mind from imagining the construction in his mind. If he created an extensive building with a large stone fire pit in the center, he could let a big old pot of stew cook. Maybe forever. People had mentioned perpetual soup in the past. With adventurers coming and going without warning, that would be the best option.

  “Look, he’s thinking about it,” Taz said, poking Rud with a stick.

  “Yeah, that’s a cool idea,” Rud admitted. “Wanna help me gather the stones for a big firepit?”

  “Only if we can model it after dwarven aesthetics.”

  “What are dwarven aesthetics?” Mint asked.

  “Big fires. Stone everywhere. Swords, shields, spears, and so forth on the wall. And more beards than you can shake a tankard at.”

  “You’re the only one with a beard,” Dean said.

  “Ah. Can’t win ‘em all.”

  But Taz had more input for the building. Rud picked up on his intent immediately. There was a tone of homesickness in his voice. When he spoke about the grand halls of his people, he did so while looking off into the falling night around them or deeply into the fire. The dwarves always had a central place to meet, and it always focused on a few things. Beer, fire, meat, and normally fights. Rud wouldn’t allow fights within the grove, but the other things were fine by him.

  The pair discussed the elements they could replicate with the tree-based construction and the things they couldn’t. Taz convinced Rud to try lining the inside of the hall with cut stones. The dwarf didn’t have cut stone, or the means to create it. Perhaps that was a long-term plan. But they settled on a single long hall with chairs and tables scattered through the area. After they ate their fill of Mint’s cooking, they scouted an area nearby to create the building. Alongside the road made the most sense, and they found a section that required the least amount of forest destruction.

  “We’ll call it Coalbranch Hall… if you don’t mind.” Taz held his hands on his hips, looking over the area proudly. Rud could almost feel the dwarf imagining the hall. “Just feeling strange lately. Grief for my lost home, maybe.”

  Rud placed a comforting hand on Taz’s shoulder. “I get it, man.”

  “I’m no man,” Taz glowered.

  “I get it, dwarf. We can bring some dwarven culture to Gladesbale if it helps you feel better. More a medley than a full recreation, though.”

  “That’ll work.”

  Taz lingered by the build site. Rud would start working on that tomorrow. Despite his tiredness, the druid wanted to check from the tower before heading to bed. He passed through a nearby bush, arriving at the foot of the tower. He climbed the stairs as quickly as his legs could carry him. After a moment at the top, leaning over the railing to look below, he realized he wasn’t alone. A gentle hoot issued from behind him, causing him to spin around. An owl, brown and gray in color and roughly reaching Rud’s belly button, peered at him with sleepy eyes.

  Rud toggled his Clear Communication upgrade. Birds liked the tower. Maybe because it was so high, allowing them to rest while searching the area nearby. “Hello.”

  “Greetings,” the owl said, eyes still locked onto Rud.

  Rud paused for a moment. There was a subtle difference between an animal talking through the Clear Communication upgrade and one that was on the verge of becoming a Sacred Beast. In both cases, the animal was expressing their thoughts through speech. But the more advanced creatures found it easier to say a single thing, or a single thought. The less advanced ones always babbled on.

  “What’s an owl like you doing in a tower like this?” Rud asked, fumbling any sort of meaningful response.

  “Observing.”

  Rud leaned back over the guardrail, looking out into the forest. He let the Aspect of Bent and his Farseeing ability take over as he observed the grove. His goal was to check in with the various adventuring teams, making sure they hadn’t gotten lost. Everyone was where they should have been, and the monsters weren’t stirring. Night had fallen across the grove without a problem.

  “Farsight is a powerful skill to hone,” the owl said.

  Rud nearly jumped out of his skin again. He had forgotten the owl was even there. “Yeah… I like it,” he blurted.

  “We watch the grove with anticipation,” the owl said. It released one last hoot before flying off into the night. When it went, it went without a sound.

  “Nothing like a creepy owl to spice things up.”