It took several days for Akira to sort out the logistics at the expedition forces’ new shoreline base that would be a core hub for their plans. He was forced to correct many mistakes that Captain Pegleg had either ignored or not cared about.
With the help of Captain Pegleg’s skeleton sailors, there was no downtime on the building projects. Whether it was day or night, you could always see the silent skeletons either transporting goods from the ships, working on the harbor fortifications, cutting their way through the jungle, and leveling the ground to create a road directly to the ancestral caves, allowing for allied forces and resources to reach them faster.
Akira stood on the new sandy fortification walls overlooking the activity below with satisfaction. It had been a hectic last few days, buried in paperwork and trying to explain the simplest things multiple times to Captain Pegleg so he would not mess anything up while he was gone.
“Everything is set into motion. All you have to do is follow the plans I gave you,” said Akira, turning to the bony captain who was standing next to him.
“There is no need to worry! What’s the worst that could happen? We sink? That is not possible since we are on land! No matter how much damage we take, we will still be floating!” said Captain Pegleg.
Akira decided to ignore the captain’s odd choice of words and continued speaking, “I, along with the men that escorted me on the last trip, will lead the first caravan of wagons carrying the vital supplies back to the caves.”
“Yes, yes, we have already gathered those land snips and filled them with the goods you asked for. I ordered some of my sailors to help you in transporting the goods. They will help drive the wagons for you!”
“We will be joining you as well!” said Beater.
“I will need a few of you to stay behind to help protect the harbor, but the rest will be needed to help secure the area of the main base and for any unseen issues that may pop up. We can’t afford to have problems arise and hinder the building projects, putting us behind schedule,” said Akira.
“We are ready to move out whenever you are,” said Zundar, saluting Akira with a salute. Behind him, several other Minos warriors were standing straight and saluting Akira.
The few full moon guild members who had drawn the short straws were given additional orders from Akira. “You will be one of our main relays for information. If we need anything, I will have the other members send you a message through your secret communication ability. If there are any issues here at the harbor base, you are to immediately contact one of the other guild members to let us know so that we can return and sort out the issues.”
“We understand,” said the two downhearted guild members, not happy at being left to guard duty away from all the fun and activity that was bound to happen on the front lines of the allied territory.
“Don’t be too sad. You will be swapped out with two others in a few weeks,” said Akira, patting them on the shoulders.
In the caravan, there were not only the skeleton sailors who were driving the wagons but also another large group of skeletons that would also be traveling with them to help with the building projects at the ancestral caves. Of course, they could not leave all such tasks to the bone brains otherwise, nothing would be done, so there were many werewolves and Minos warriors picked to join the first caravan.
They would be supervising the skeleton sailors who would be doing most of the heavy lifting for the construction projects.
***
“No! Don’t just drop it there! Stack it up over there with the rest of the same items!” said an exasperated Akira as he helped organize the skeleton laborers as they arrived at the caves, which had been chosen to be used as a temporary warehouse for all the transported goods.
The mess inside the warehouse was terrible, as it seemed no one had been paying attention to the skeletons the entire time they had been transporting things off the wagons. Akira was forced to get his hands dirty to help sort out everything so that they could at least find the items when they were needed.
In their first task as helpers, the [Full moon] guild members were pulled into helping Akira sort out the mess. It was only after lunch that they completed the task after taking command of the skeleton sailors.
“I’ll have to put someone in charge of this warehouse otherwise, we will never be able to find anything,” said Akira as he looked at the neat rows and piles of goods and building material all around him.
“Yap,” said Fluffball, who had also helped move things from one pile to another.
As he rubbed Fluffball’s head, he noticed the little furball was chewing on a bone that looked suspiciously like a human arm bone.
‘Well, let’s ignore that. If one of the skeletons is missing a bone, they can come and get it if they want it…’ thought Akira.
“Are you finished here?” asked Delgar as he and Grand Elder Redfang walked through the open warehouse doors of the cave.
“We just finished. Did you need me for something?” asked Akira.
“I wanted to show you the current progress of what we have done so far while you were away. Since we will be traveling through the wilderness, it would be a good thing to keep your friends with you,” said Delgar.
“Sure, let’s go!” said Akira, waving for the Full Moon guild members to follow him.
Akira and co were escorted by Delgar to each of the caves that were being worked on. Each showed signs that large vegetation had been cleared from the area, while the ground had been leveled and marked off with several sticks and shallow trenches outlining the base of the future inner fortresses that would surround them.
“All of the preparations for the inner cave fortresses have been completed. As soon as the materials arrive, work can be started on building them.”
“How long will it be before they have been completed?” asked Akira.
“Depends on the size of the workforce I have. With the current numbers, maybe a month if everyone was working on this single project, but more likely 6 months if we only have a fraction of the forces working on it. Might be less if we use a lot of skeletons that don’t need sleep. Although they will need constant supervision.”
“That long?” asked Akira. It was quite impossible to have everyone drop whatever they were doing and focus on one thing.
“It would be far longer if not for my expert knowledge on managing such build projects,” said Delgar, puffing out his chest. “We are still working on clearing and marking off the land for the main outer defensive wall that will encompass everything from the south to the north. That’s an entirely different beast.”
Akira nodded. It was a big project, and there was a massive amount of land that needed to be cleared and leveled, which could not be completed as easily as the inner fortresses.
“How are we looking on food supplies?” asked Akira. “With how large the expedition force is and all the future forces that will be situated here, supplying everyone will be a chore.”
Redfang spoke this time instead of Delgar, “Those under my command have been gathering seeds, wild fowl, and wild burden beasts to use as resources of eggs, milk, and in the worst-case scenarios, we can just butcher them for their meat. We have been clearing and marking out plots of land that are suitable for farming inside the planned fortress walls. Along with the seafood that has been transported here from the new shoreline base, we should have enough food for the coming seasons.”
“That’s if the supply lines are not cut off,” said Akira.
“All this stuff out here is not that exciting,” said Delgar. “Most of my time in between marking out the new outer fortress wall has been focused on expanding and refitting each of the large caves forges!”
“Oh, how is that going?” asked Akira.
“Slow, but we have already managed to completely expand and refit one of the forges in the central cave. It is already fired up and working on repairing the armor and weapon stocks left in the cave’s armories. We have also been working on producing the materials and tools that will be needed for the many upcoming projects to get this new base ready.”
With the tour finished, Akira found no reason to delay anymore and gave the order to start constructing the fortresses. He spent the next few days helping out wherever he was needed.
When he was not outside, he was at the forges helping with whatever tasks were needed. On this day, he was helping the dwarves at the main forge.
Of course, he was given all the tedious and repetitive tasks that the dwarves did not want to do while they took over all the ‘Interesting’ projects.
Sweat was dripping down his brow as he hammered on the glowing metal on the anvil in front of him.
As his hammer came down for the thousandth time, he was startled when a notification broke his concentration.
Ding!
-
Secret mission update!
To kill the mastermind behind all that ill’s the land, you must make a legendary greatsword!
Here is the list of resources you will need, as well as the skill rank needed to process and craft the item!
List:
…
…
“What… that’s it? What is it supposed to look like? There is only a list of materials, nothing else!” muttered Akira as he read through the list of materials again.
He returned to his previous task and quickly finished it before holstering his hammer and tongs in belt loops on his leather apron, before walking through the forge to find Delgar.
“You need my help creating a legendary greatsword?!” asked Delgar after hearing Akira’s request. “You were smart to come to me first! We can start right away, just let me get my tools!”
“WAIT!” shouted Akira, grabbing hold of the dwarf’s leather collar to stop him from running off.
“Why? We have no time to waste talking! We must start this task immediately!”
“… well, you see… that’s not possible yet… I don’t have any of the materials, and I have no clue what they are supposed to look like. That is why I came to ask for your opinion on the matter.”
The hyped up Delgar seemed to deflate at hearing the first part, but regained some energy at the thought of designing and crafting a legendary greatsword!
“What materials have you selected for this project? I will need to know that before we can begin drafting up any plan!”
Akira took out a small slip of parchment and handed it over to Delgar.
“Interesting… I have not heard of this item, but the rest…” said Delgar as he looked at the list. “Yes, I can see them working together! You have a good eye for very rare materials. Some of these are so rare that I have only heard of them existing in the Dwarf king’s personal treasure vaults.”
“Let’s hope we can find what we need without having to beg around for these items…” said Akira, growing worried at how he was to complete this task if he did not get all of the items.
“Sigh… I guess it can’t be helped. I will have to wait until the time you have gathered the items and are ready to craft them. My work is not too demanding here right now, but when I finish, I plan to head north and meet with other dwarves to call on them to join our cause.”
“That would be a great help! The more allies we have, the better!”
***
“Hmph!”
“What is it sire? Is there something you need?” asked a dark-robed figure kneeling in front of a radiant, white-armed man.
“It seems our plans will not be as smooth as I hoped. I have a feeling that someone has decided to interfere with my plans and is going to stand against me!”
“What? Who would dare to do such a thing? No one outside of the Cult of Science leadership knows what is planned, and all our enemies have been dealt with.”
“I have no idea who it is or where they are… You are to send out all your minions to the areas we control and search for anyone that may pose a threat to the plan.”
“If they find such a person or group, what do you want them to do?”
“Nothing, I will use the Demon hunters to clean up anyone that stands in my way. The Demon hunters also have their own ways of searching and hunting down targets. You just need to keep an eye out for suspicious people.”
