Blánaid and I hauled crude, splinter laden wood planks into the clearing to see Gormán arguing with Torcán. We'd lost over half the tree to failed attempts, but it was still a decent haul of scrappy tier one wood planks.
"No way, lad." Gormán shook his head. "It doesn't have a great view. We should find a better spot to build."
"Eventually, yeah. I agree." Torcán nodded. "But we need a starter base. We need a place to build out from and expand from. We should get a basic settlement here, then we can explore."
"But that's wasted effort. We should optimize for efficiency."
"Optimizing for time is only one way to think about efficiency. We should be intentional, and have a base to build from. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast."
"This might not be a great location," I said uncertainly, "but we need something, don't we?"
"Bah," Torcán threw his hands into the air. "It's great. We have the space we need, plenty of resources in trees, and the adventuring team knows where we are."
"There ain't no water," Gormán said.
"Nor do we have any natural features to make it look epic," Sé chimed in. "Think about it, dude. It's nice, but we should have a riverside villa, or maybe a cliff-top mansion... Or we could even build a tree top estate."
"Eventually, sure," Torcán said. "But that will take work. Much more than getting a basic structure on the ground."
"But then we're just throwing the materials and work away! We have to plan for the future." Gormán retorted.
We were starting to go around in circles. "Alright." I stepped between the two. "I think you've both made good points. Let's take the best from both of your suggestions." I looked to Torcán, "Let's build enough for staying a single night here. Then this can be a fall back position."
"But--" Gormán started, but I held up a hand to him.
"And in return, we only collect what we need here for that purpose. Once we have a basic shelter in place, we focus on finding a future base." I looked out to the woods. "As long as what we build is basic enough, we can tear it down and move it to a new base. Or we can turn it into a little waystation as we're adventuring in the woods. I know it isn't what either of you want, but I think it's a pretty good compromise. Yeah?"
The older men grumbled, then looked at each other, nodded and shook hands.
"But, epic base?" Sé whined.
"Come on, lad." Gormán clapped him on the back. "Let's get to work." The older elf took Sé by the shoulder and led him back to the woods while Torcán looked around the clearing.
"If that's going to be the plan..." Torcán trailed off as his eyes glazed over. He moved his hands as he interacted with his system. "We need a house, chests, beds. No wait. Too much. Just the basics. Still shelter, beds for the buffs, we still need supplies... Let's see..." He nodded with finality as he looked back to the present. "That should do it."
[ New Task Recieved.]
I blinked as I got the notification. "Wait, what?"
"Task sharing," Torcán said. "It's a way for us to keep track of what we're working on. I have some blueprints for the basics, and that should cover what we're gathering as a group. I've assigned it to everyone in the field, so we can know once we're done gathering a specific material."
"Huh." I pulled up the notification to see what was in there.
[ Building a Basic Shelter.
Task Shared by Torcán.
Gather the following Materials:
Logs(Any): 12/62
Plant Fiber(Any): 43/370
Small Stone(Any): 5/14
Small Light Hides(Any): 0/6
Berries (Any): 0/60
Craft Thatch Bundles: 0/72
Craft Planks: 26/123
Craft Cured Small Light Leather: 0/6
Construct Basic Shelter:
Wall Segments 0/14 (5 Planks each)
Roof Segments 0/12 (5 Thatch Bundles each)
Door 0/1 (3 Planks)
Firepit 0/1 (4 Small Stone)
Beds 0/6 (4 Lumber, 2 Thatch Bundles each)
Craft Basic Tools.
Craft Basic Axes 3/6 (1 Plank, 1 Small Stone, 1 plant fiber each)
Craft Shields 1/4 (3 Plank each)
Craft Spears 0/4 (2 Plank, 1 Small Stone, 1 plant fiber each)
Water Skins 0/6 (1 Cured Small Light Leather each)
Find a Water Source.
]
"Oh. Wow," I said as I read over the comprehensive list. I was surprised he had written it out so thoroughly before realizing that all he was doing was putting together a list of final products and the system was handling all of the calculations for him. "Wait. I can cover that last item." I flicked my wrist. "[Conjure Shaped Water]."
A torus of water appeared in the air and dropped to the ground. My eyes flickered as I felt a tiny wave of dizziness wash over me.
[MP: 4/21]
It felt similar to running low on stamina. Since I'd ran out of both last time, I hadn't noticed the compounding effect.
"Handy," Torcán said. His eyes went glossy for a second as he updated the task.
[ Find a Water Source. (Completed: Aisling can summon it.)]
I blushed. I might not be built for a fight, but I could solve problems with utility magic -- no chasing waterfalls for us!
"We still have plenty to do, so let's get to it." Torcán clapped me on the shoulder.
"Oh hunting!" Eimear perked up. "Sé and I can do that. Yeah?" She nudged him, and he nodded.
"Great!" I said. "Just don't wander off too far. We don't know what's out here, and we should all stay in earshot of each other. OH! And if you can grab any grass as you go, that would be helpful. With how much we need to make all those thatch bundles, we're going to be clearcutting whole meadows."
"You got it, dude!" Sé said with a smile. He ribbed the armored woman next to him. "Let's do this."
"Fuck yeah!" She exclaimed as she pulled out her sword. "I'm down to risk it for the biscuit. But will y'all be okay? I don't want to leave you all stranded."
I winced, but didn't say anything. I didn't feel like I knew her well enough to try to correct her foul language. Maybe after I got to know her I could bring it up, but I also knew how gamers were with language. It would be a futile fight, so it would be better to play peacemaker, then maybe bring it up if she proved reasonable. "Just stay close enough. Then, if we shout, you can come running?"
"Sure thing, boss." Eimear grabbed Sé by the elbow and they sauntered out of the clearing.
"Can you make a saw?" Torcán asked after Blánaid and I blundered and failed another attempt at turning a log into lumber, rendering another portion of it useless.
I blinked, looked at him, back at the log, and sighed. An axe was great for felling trees, but in hindsight, it was not the tool for turning it into something usable.
"Give me a moment," I said. I felt like an idiot as I pulled up my menu.
All my slots were full, but it was time to get some mileage out of Respecialist. It would take me thirty minutes to meditate to swap out one skill for another. "Dang it. Any chance you can just make one?"
He twisted his face. "Maybe? But there's a fair bit of tech involved to get to that point. I suppose we could swap to making a log cabin, but then we'll need double or maybe even triple the amount of logs for the walls."
I sighed. "Give me half an hour."
While I started to meditate, Blánaid ran off to search for berries, and any 'other interesting plants'. Her Herbalism skill started at tier two and let her identify which plants were safe to eat, and which ones would "give you dysentery, rot away your stomachs, cause your bowels to explode out, and then kill you." She wanted to find both varieties.
I gulped when I heard her explanation of the kinds of plants in the area, and I was suddenly happy that she had those skills. Less so that she wanted to collect the poisonous ones. Afterall, I didn't want to accidentally die via evil demon berry.
Sé and Eimear came and went a few times. They'd managed to hunt a single rabbit looking monster. Eimear wanted to explore further to find game, but Sé reminded her about keeping us all safe.
Everyone else continued to gather up raw materials, fell trees, pick up stones, or generally scour the ground of all grass and vines for plant fibers.
"Got your saw!" I called over to Torcán as I finished my meditation.
"Shit!" A loud scream echoed from the woods. "Fucking oversized slice of bacon!" Then came a keening of some large beast. "Help!" Blánaid screamed.
Eimear moved without thought or consideration. She grabbed her sword and shield from the ground and dashed towards the sound.
I blinked in confusion. What was going on? Did Blánaid find a monster? I guessed she must have. I stood up. Fortunately, we had a couple of fighters with us. They could easily deal with that and we could get back to building our lovely little home away from home.
Sé dropped the log he was carrying, and pulled out his daggers. He dashed up next to me. "You ready for this, dude?"
"Nope." I shook my head as I looked out in the woods. Another squeal. It was full of rage, hunger, and murder. Followed by another long stream of obscenities as Blánaid tried to escape from it.
As much as I wanted to run in to help. I knew I wasn't built for a fight.
"Well, dude..." Sé looked to where Eimear ran off to. "Stay back, I'll keep you ladies safe."
I rolled my eyes. It was me and two older men that Sé left behind. While the two actual women were off in the woods, fighting the thing.
The beast roared as fighting broke out less than a hundred meters away.
Blánaid barreled back into the clearing. She ran past us and collapsed to the ground, panting and exhausted. "Em ... Needs... Help" She gasped out between breaths.
I grabbed my staff and ran after Sé to help. Maybe I could be a good distraction? Or find some other use for one of my spells?
I regretted my choice as soon as I turned to see Eimear engaged with the beast. It charged, and she barely managed to deflect it with her shield. It stood several meters tall at the shoulder, four legged, thick brown furry hide, and large red eyes that glowed. The giant boar-like monster snarled as it looked around, drool dripping from its fanged mouth.
Eimear's shield was dented in her right hand, she favored her left foot as she stumbled to find an angle. "[Shielding Orbs]." She twisted her sword in space as three light blue orbs emerged from it and began to rotate around her body.
Magic rolled off the monster in waves. I guessed the first step to any battle as a wizard was to know what we were up against.
"[Identify]," I said as I cast the spell.
[ Boar-hemoth: Tier Five Earth Aligned Boss
The undisputed king of the Taur-na-Tastaith forest. It will main, stomp, kill, and devour any that challenge its rule. There can be no peace, no negotiations, nor co-existence with this beast made of malice and wrath. ]
Fear paralyzed me as my tier two jaw dropped and my eyes went wide.