Chapter Text
Chapter 8 – Three Lost Women
The last three months had been a whirlwind of activity. Tanya had driven her workers hard and herself harder to complete the blueprints she had sketched out for the entire area surrounding the lake. Hundreds of trees had been felled to make space for fields and provide lumber for the construction of multiple buildings. A small hill had been levelled entirely, its stone and soil dumped into the lake a few dozen yards from the shore. Only the Strength and Dexterity of multiple high level individuals working in concert could have built such an artificial island in such a short time.
Until the area was fully pacified, living on the mainland was just too dangerous. Thus, Tanya had built her home on a circular crannog, roughly a hundred feet in diameter and surrounded by a nineteen feet high, spiked palisade. That was a lot of space, not all of which she even knew how to use, but she was keeping future expansions in mind. Her provisional house appeared positively dreadful, standing in an empty field of gravel and frozen mud and dwarfed by a circle of black walls. Like a prison with only the wilderness as her jailer.
At least she could gaze out over the imaginatively called Dragon Ash Lake from her pier. Fishing there would be relaxing, but remained unfeasible before the population recovered in a few years. Tanya supposed she could import a few from the Abza and start a fish farm. After all, they could no longer escape downstream.
To make the best use of the available rivers, they had dammed the exit of the lake. Her dwarven friends had been able to give her good advice on how to divert a waterway without drowning in the process. The height differential that had been created by blocking off the lake would power a mechanical wheel in the future. Otherwise she would either have to mill countless sacks of grain by hand or transport them back to Oram; neither of which sounded sustainable.
Excluding the detachable bridge to her crannog, two river crossings had been put up. One on the north eastern side which led to the most fertile land that would be converted to pea, rutabaga, barley and cabbage fields next year. The other to the south west where a smaller pond had been converted into a cess pool. As it was downstream, the pool would be flooded by the exiting river during the spring melt.
Now though, during the Snowmoon, she had to finish furnishing the interior of her house. It was just a temporary block hut that had been coated in layers of clay and mud to further insulate it from the cold. The plan was always to replace it later on, but Tanya still needed shelves and tables and a door that was not simply a boulder that she had to roll out of place like a cavewoman. To get the full benefits out of that labour however, she had to complete the other pesky Jobs in her Subclass first.
That was why Tanya was at the moment struggling to carve a wooden mask out of a block of soft birch. She had been going for an ethereal, elfish look, but the result seemed more like a witch so far. For all of her many skills, her artistic talents had always lacked clearly behind.
Glue nudged her side as if to console her. The apricot-coloured hinny was lying on the floor on a bed of straw directly besides Tanya’s improvised workstation. Leaving her outside in the drafty barn would have been too cruel.
“What is it, Glue? Are you hungry again? You haven’t even done any work today. Don’t get greedy, young lady.”
Big, wet eyes blinked up at her in a remarkably puppy like fashion.
Tanya’s third hand manifested for a few seconds to scratch behind the mare’s ears much to her delight.
“You are a needy little thing, you know that?”
Glue had the gall to snort.
“Yeah, thought so.”
She turned back to her craft, absentmindedly petting the hinny again. Her flexible foot reached out, grasped a log between its toes and threw it into the open fireplace. Above them the north wind howled through the chimney, stoking the flames. For an hour the peaceful scraping noises of Tanya’s carving blade filled the cabin as she told her mare stories from the past.
“We ate the rats raw. I’m not proud of it, but the cat had laid them out so appetizingly... Ah, you wouldn’t understand, Glue. You have never felt week-old hunger pains. Could drive anyone crazy... Hmm... Does that look like a cat’s face to you? I feel, I captured the nose part really well. See these whiskers here? But the eyes are a bit too human... Hmm...”
Occasionally she would sip from a tankard of spring water as she worked. Glue had her own wide-rimmed jug to dip her muzzle into. Yet when Tanya brought the liquid to her mouth something tipped off her sensitive nose.
Dropping a mote of light into the vessel revealed a few crushed leaves at the bottom.
Tanya froze. Those had definitely not been in there when she filled it earlier. There was nowhere in this room for the plant material to originate from either. How then did these leaves get into her water? More importantly, was this an attempted poisoning?
She did not sleep well at night, leaning against Glue’s warm flank, knife clutched tight beneath the blankets. No assassin revealed themselves, but her boots by the door had been filled with spiky chestnut shells as she found out after slipping them on.
Over the following days more unexplainable occurrences haunted her home. Her carvings would soundlessly scatter on the floor while she wasn’t looking. A stone hit her forehead when she looked up the chimney after a strange noise came from the roof. Most unsettling of all, she once woke up with her knife between her lips.
As the days grew shorter, Tanya became steadily more paranoid. No footprints, no scent, no sound and no actionable traces of any kind were left behind by her assailant. If this sequence of annoyances could be considered a war then she was no step closer to winning it. Fighting an untraceable enemy was outside of her means.
Yet Tanya prided herself on being capable of far more than brute conflict. Her home might have been beset by some mysterious, ghostly force, but that did not mean that she could not negotiate with such an entity. Appeasing the local spirit was a top priority if she ever wanted to see one of her wool socks again.
Hence, why she built a little shrine in the southern corner of her house out of sticks and twine. Supernatural beings loved their petty displays of veneration even if she would never stoop so low as to actually worship any of them. A small wreath of evergreen leaves gave the whole ensemble a festive appearance. Into the shrine she carefully placed an idol with a friendly smile to set the mood and a clay bowl with offerings of mead and pork jerky.
“Whoever you are – I know you are listening – please know that I harbour no hatred for you. Please partake in these gifts as a sign of peace,“ she told the empty room.
Predictably there was no sign of a reaction.
Tanya shook her head and unhooked the halter from the wall.
“Up-up, Glue. We both need some exercise while the sun’s still out.”
They speed-walked in circles around the crannog, the girl easily keeping pace with the mare despite her shorter legs. Glue complained about the snow, but focused on the task as soon as Tanya produced an apple from her pocket. She made a game off racing the hinny for the treat, periodically throwing her slices that Glue caught with her muzzle.
Afterwards she warmed a wash bucket of freezing lake water by injecting it with mana and vibrating it in a form of pseudo-enchanting. The method was highly inefficient, but it was a good way of straining her magical capacity. In order to expand her limits, she would need to empty her inner pool again and again.
Rubbing the mare down took hardly any time at all, mainly because she did not want her to catch a cold while wet. Inside the house, Tanya stoked the flames of the hearth and fed her companion. Sporadically, she would glance over at the corner to find that the contents of the mead bowl had diminished. A piece of jerky was missing too. She took that as a good sign.
Later that evening, Tanya sat by the glow of the coals. Outside, the winds were rattling at the roof of her rustic cabin. Heavy sheets of white blew past her only window; a thick slab of frosted selenite crystal. Everything remained calm and quiet until...
“Hic.”
Her carving knife stilled. Glue perked up minutely, flicking her left ear up to capture the unfamiliar sound.
“Hic.”
There it was again. A high pitched hiccup that reminded Tanya of a drunken mouse. She looked towards the shrine and found that all the mead was gone. The bowl tilted slightly as if held by invisible hands.
“I’m glad you liked it.”
Her words broke the contemplative atmosphere of the room like a thunder crack. Hovering uncertainly for a few heartbeats, the bowl suddenly clattered to the ground and Tanya lunged.
Propelling herself towards the noise, all three of her hands combed blindly through thin air and grasped a shape.
There was a squeak and she could tell something was biting her fingers, but her toughened skin was more so tickled by the little gnawing jaws than hurt.
“Calm down please, I am not going to hurt you,” Tanya pleaded, securing her grip and trying not to hurt the being. It felt soft and furry to the touch. And rather curvy too, as embarrassing it was to notice that. “Can we talk? I promise I don’t want to hurt you...”
She kept her tone soft and affected a gentle demeanour to soothe the struggling monster. If possible she would like to avoid having to kill it. From its pranks, Tanya judged that it was both intelligent and selective; having never targeted her hinny. It also was not an existential threat to her wellbeing now that she held its squishy fluff in her hands.
“Hic, liar!” whined the unseen creature.
Oh? It spoke her language. After meeting mole people and dwarves, Tanya had not expected this spirit to be capable of holding a conversation. Where might it have learned such a thing so far from human civilization?
“You can actually understand me? Do you want to talk?”
“No! Grrrr...”
Its growl would have been scarier if it did not sound like an upset kitten.
“I am going to give you another piece of this,” she grabbed a piece of jerky with her third hand, “if you show me what you look like. I bet that tastes really good, yes?”
Enticingly, she waved the salty strip of dried pork back and forth. From the way the furry monster in her grip shifted she could tell that it was following the food with its head. Then, with another hiccup, it relented. A strange ripple warped the air between Tanya’s outstretched arms, like a shimmering veil of light melting away and the being became visible.
‘It looked like a doll’, was her first disparaging thought. Like a fully grown woman had been squeezed down to a size of around sixteen inches and covered in fur. She had seen some of the richer girls in town carry similar plushies around with them. Although, Tanya was pretty sure, those toys would have worn clothes. Dishevelled orange hair was the only thing preserving the tiny spirit’s modesty.
Jet-black eyes glared at Tanya from a startlingly human face as the miniature woman snatched the jerky and began nibbling at it aggressively. Tiny tears hung in the lighter hair around her puffy cheeks. Her nose twitched erratically like she was about to sneeze. Through the fiery curls draped across her shoulders Tanya could see long droopy ears.
What a fascinating creature. Its resemblance to the dolls sold in Oram was uncanny. Could this species be the inspiration for them? How curious...
“Is... Is Big Stompy – hic – gonna eat me now?” asked the snivelling sprite and Tanya tilted her head.
“No. Why would I? I brought enough supplies till summer.”
For some reason that made the little woman cry and she knew not what to do. Reluctantly she pulled the possible spirit closer to her chest and began stroking its shiny fur consolingly. It worked on Glue, and besides the mare, she never had to intimately care for anyone else before.
“There, there... Good girl.”
Tiny claws scratched uselessly at her skin.
“N-not fair! Hic!”
The claws transitioned to balled fists that hammered ineffectually against her rib cage. There was some force behind the blows, but not enough to disrupt her petting.
“Everything’s fine... I am not going to hurt you... Good girl...” Tanya repeated over and over again.
“Big Nasty a-already hurt Mux!” mumbled the woman, but ceased her assault. Her eyelids were droopy and she seemed half out of it which was probably the alcohol at work.
“How did I hurt you, Mux?”
“Mhm... hic... Tore down her home... meanie...”
Yes, that would do it. Together with Bittercups she had demolished much of the surrounding landscape. Suffering inevitably trailed after progress. The only thing she could do now was take responsibility and make things right.
“I am sorry for that. Would you like me to build you a new one?”
The creature had fallen asleep in her arms. She shared a look with Glue who was chewing languidly on one of her enchanted ropes. What a day... Tanya sat down against the mare and cradled her captured spirit close under the covers, careful to let Mux’s head peek out, so she would not struggle to breathe.
As she drifted off for the night, she finally remembered what kind of monster the little one on her chest was. A kobold! Rubbing their head was said to bring luck! A bald, mummified skull of one was even displayed at the Guild. To decapitate such a cute little thing seemed like a waste to Tanya. When she caressed Mux’s scalp with her fingertips her fluttering heartbeat picked up in a charming way.
All too soon light crawled across the mountains and arduously wedged itself through her window again. Bleary, black eyes met Tanya’s before the kobold clinging to her chest reflexively turned invisible. Watching the process in reverse made her giddy to study how it was done. The cloaking projected not only a perfect illusion of absence, but also dampened sound and smell by some arcane means. This was a highly advanced spell far beyond her means without a supporting focus.
“Did you sleep well?”
Mux attempted to escape, but Tanya’s strength could not be denied.
“You don’t have to be afraid, you know? While you slept I didn’t do anything to you.”
“Then let go!” whimpered the shrouded woman pathetically.
“Only if you promise to turn visible again.”
“Mrrrr... Mux promises.”
Slowly, Tanya removed her hands and a visible kobold scrambled away. She let the monster get used to her new situation by busying herself with breakfast. Oatmeal and nuts for herself and a bundle of hay for Glue who was stretching her legs.
“Want some?” she asked with feigned casualness, holding out her second spoon. Mux took the cutlery item with confusion. Tanya suddenly felt very stupid for assuming that a woodland creature would know how to use one.
“Here, that’s how you use one.”
She demonstrated it by ladling a mouthful of oats out of the crock. The orange-haired woman hesitantly copied her only to screw up her face at the taste.
“Uh... Big Stompy sure that this hasn’t gone bad?”
Tanya grinned self-consciously.
“It’s cheap and it lasts long. The taste wasn’t why I bought ten sacks of it.”
“Still better than raw rat?” ventured her guest and continued chewing. Of course Mux would have listened to those stories... Tanya could not help but snort.
“Certainly.”
Voraciously they devoured their bland and slimy chow. To celebrate the occasion, Tanya offered some dried fruits from her stash. Fed and relaxed, Tanya chose the moment to bring up the kobold’s future.
“I asked you yesterday if I should build you a new home. What do you think? Are you interested in that?”
Mux’s voice was small and vulnerable.
“New... home?”
“Yeah, four walls, a roof, the works. I am guessing you don’t want to stay with me.”
“Mux not stay with Big Stompy?”
“Oh, I apologize. My name is Tanya, nice to meet you,” she smiled.
“Taaan-yaaa... Why can’t Mux stay with Tanya?”
Now that she had her first taste of society, the amber-haired woman had a difficult time of letting it go. A warm chimney, blankets and non-perishable food were the greatest things in the world for those who had spent winter without them. Tanya could speak from experience.
“Well...” she led, stroking her chin, “If you wanted to stay then I could use a helping hand around the house. Especially when I build a bigger one.”
“Bigger home than this?” the kobold asked in wonder, gazing around the room that must have appeared gigantic to her. She did not even deny the prospect of staying. Undoubtedly her former domicile had been less impressive than even this temporary cabin.
“Yes, way bigger,” Tanya nodded freely. “I am going to have a kitchen, a workshop and a pantry... And those need to be kept clean and orderly. Do you know how to clean?”
She did not believe that she was engaging in manipulation as she showed Mux the functions of a broom or a brush. By presenting this displaced native with gainful employment, Tanya was providing her with an opportunity. Food, shelter, and education in excess of what the wilds could offer the kobold woman. In return, she would serve as an invisible housekeeper and tertiary line of defence. Animosity transformed into acceptance through the power of understanding.
A win-win for both of them. It was just good business!
Though there was something distinctly unnatural about her ability to befriend monsters, Tanya reflected. It probably helped that she did not feel any bloodlust or disgust towards sentient creatures on principle, but by all accounts, non-humans should become instinctively murderous at the sight of humans. That was what multiple Guild members, decade long experts in their field, had said. Even supposedly gentle creatures like unicorns were only able to be domesticated when they were trained from birth.
Or was that all merely propaganda from the crown and the church? She had long since been aware of the kingdom’s saber-rattling and genocidal intentions. Every non-human being that could pose a threat to mankind was to be eliminated. Yet, Tanya had never had a reason to question those goals before this year. Monsters were scary, violent, ugly abominations that did not meaningfully contribute to the ecosystem. Surely the world would be better off without plague flies or fomori warbands. But did that also apply to the vomi vomi or the dwarves or kobolds?
Obviously not.
Why then were they painted with the same brush? What was the difference in their creation? There were facets to this world that she did not understand yet.
“Uwaaa!” screamed Mux from atop her lightly trotting steed. Tanya was jogging next to Glue who stoically endured the shrieking ball of orange fluff on her back, for she had half a dozen times to get used to it already. The kobold was immensely excited to start riding, but as soon as she saw the ground far below her moving, an existential fear took ahold of Mux. It was annoyingly endearing. The little thing could not even hear herself the way her flabby ears trailed behind her in the wind.
All that noise was not without its uses however...
Tanya’s steel bow kept steady despite her jogging, partly due to another five points of Dexterity. One eye on her companions and one on the sky she held an arrow notched for the perfect moment.
The black smudge circling the grey clouds above them was rapidly approaching. Diving from the heavens, enormous wings tucked in and salivating from its crooked beak, was a harpy. It would be the third one that tried its luck this week. Smoke from her hearth must have been blowing right towards their nests in the Shield Mountains.
With her newest Perk working overtime – [True Imagination – once a day and with sufficient skill, you can perfectly translate your mental image into reality] – Tanya aimed straight up and pumped mana into her weapon.
One hundred yards...
Fifty yards...
Twenty yards...
Her fingers released the bowstring and the shining projectile punched into the breast of her prey, crunching ribs and pulping its heart. For a short moment the feathered monstrosity’s momentum reversed as the arrow punched her upward, then it fell. It did not even have time to let out a final squawk before it died.
Lifeless flesh hit the ground behind them that Tanya snagged up for dinner. Harpy meat was stringy and tough, but boiling it for an hour made for good stew.
A slight headache formed behind her forehead as True Imagination went into cooldown. The Perk was meant to assist in sculpting artwork, not leading shots. Yet it was simply too versatile. With its limitation of one activation per day it was not a crutch she could rely on to slack off, merely a powerful enhancement that turned possibility into absolute certainty.
Glue whinnied as Tanya caught up to her. The smell of fresh blood was making the mare queasy. Mux had miraculously gone silent to stare at the harpy’s talons that were half as long as her body. Shivering, she pulled her tiny mantle closer. Icemoon, the month after the Longest Night, was always the harshest time of the year.
Another snow storm was rolling in over the mountains; best to get back inside. Tanya brushed off the snow that had accumulated on her mare’s blanket before rolling back the boulder to her homestead. Even with her Strength it was only possible to move the giant disk of stone because of the rough handholds she had chiselled into its rim. Frozen mud cracked under the shifting weight and Glue who was familiar with this song and dance by now quickly ducked through the entrance. Tanya followed, narrowly dodging the rock as it fell back into place
“Glue, present!” she ordered and the hinny lifted her front hoof so she could clean it out. Hygiene was important.
Mux had already hopped off to stoke the hearth. Her bottomless lungs blew fresh life into the dying coals.
“Good fire... Big eater...” she mumbled affectionately, rubbing her furred hands over the warmth. Tanya had not managed to dispel her belief that fire was a living thing. After all, it ate, it grew, it spread, and it could die. In a world of dragons and ghosts, that made as much sense as anything else, she concluded.
The feathers of Tanya’s catch went into one pile, the harpy’s claws and bones into the other. Glue complained incessantly about the stink of blood as she gutted the carcass, but there was not much she could do. Butchering her kill outside was not practical in this cold. Still, for her two roommates’ benefit, Tanya drained any fluids into a pot of soil that absorbed most of the scent. A small pan of vinegar was also being boiled next to her whose vapours neutralized many airborne particles. Imbue Extend Durability was most useful for enhancing such simple chemical reactions.
For a moment she studied the mismatched face of the dead monster. Why would a beak require lips? Why were the eyes multi-facetted like those of an insect? What good were human ears at high altitude? Shaking her head, Tanya promptly threw it outside with the rest of the waste products like its organs and limbs. The rest of the meat went inside her biggest iron pot to simmer above the flames.
While that stew bubbled, she sat down, crossed her legs, and began work on her latest shoe related project. Mux already had a pair of tiny wooden slippers that she lined with scraps of felt to make them more comfortable. The kobold woman had squirreled them away somewhere safe so they would not get dirty which ran contrary to the purpose of footwear in Tanya’s opinion. She had also cried a lot when trying on the recruitment gift, so maybe they just hurt her feet and she did not want to admit it. Tanya’s own shoes were basically hollowed out blocks of poplar with two leather bands tying them to her ankles; with no consideration for how nice they made her toes feel.
That was why she was upping the complexity of her craft by involving more leather. Dareck had made up his mind during her last visit to Oram for the year, and exchanged two bales for her expensive dress. A good trade on his part.
Due to her limited supply of adhesives, she had to sew and nail much of the leather vamp and toebox to the wooden sole which was trickier than it looked...
“Can Tanya tell Mux another story?” asked the orange gremlin eagerly from her improvised stool. She sat near the fire not only for warmth, but also to regularly stir the pot.
“A story? Hmm... Have you ever heard of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’?”
Tanya began idly recounting what little she remembered of the fairy tale while she drilled twine holes into the pre-prepared sole. Glue listened as well, lazily swatting her tail on the floor.
“... That is how the Redcap family pushed the wolf out of business. It’s innovate or get eaten. Those who do not stay competitive are doomed to obsolescence.”
“What’s obso... uh...”
“Obsolescence? That’s when you don’t need something anymore.”
“Like, uh, a hole in the ground?”
It took a few seconds for Tanya to catch on, but when she did she could not suppress the wide smile that crept onto her face. Mux was bashfully averting her eyes.
“I suppose so.”
Glue nickered approvingly.
They shared many more cosy days inside the cabin. Icemoon turned to Thawmoon outside, though the temperatures rose only marginally. Tanya had more than enough shoes for herself and even a second pair of stylish leather boots for her kobold assistant, but her level remained stuck at 139. She needed something to challenge herself which would teach her something new about cobbling. Mere wooden clogs were not good enough for her System anymore. Yet, as she was cleaning Glue’s hooves again a wild idea struck her: Why not build snowshoes for equine wearers?
She set about making a few big, flat horseshoes ones for the mare to walk over deep snow. As a donkey hybrid she had stockier more stable legs than a horse which should make snapping joints far less likely. Glue hated wearing them however. Tanya had to constantly calm her with treats and pats while she got used to walking with hooves that had essentially doubled in surface area. Luckily for both of them the System quickly recognized the inspired attempt.
[Ergonomic Design – objects made for a specific individual fit them comfortably and safely]
Tanya scrapped the prototype and tried again with this Perk and True Imagination working in tandem. Begrudgingly, Glue accepted walking in those ones, though she was still slowed by the cumbersome footwear.
By shattering the lake ice and realigning the floating pontoon bridge from her crannog to the mainland, Tanya was able to expand her daily jogging route to a circle across her snow-covered fields. Her hinny would learn to work them alongside her, so proper cardio could not be neglected.
The intensifying rays of the sun soon melted smaller patches of snow where Tanya had shovelled away the rest. In that time she had begun putting her wheel-making skills to use in constructing a rudimentary lathe. It consisted of a big wheel that moved a leather belt over a smaller spindle on top which turned a pair of tongs. A work piece could be inserted into the tongs and fastened with wedges and would then turn when the wheel was spun.
If there was one thing she had in abundance, then it was wood, and so for six hours each day, Tanya would hold her knife or other sharp metal tools against the rotating wooden blocks to produce symmetrically shaped objects like cylinders or bowls. Mux got her necessary exercise from spinning the wheel like an overgrown hamster. Like Glue, she bristled against Tanya’s demanding sports routine at first, but the promise of mead and stories managed to keep her engaged.
Like it often did, the arrival of Tanya’s latest Perk coincided with the first day of spring.
[Double Focus – your attention can be perfectly divided between two simultaneous tasks for a short while]
This Subclass was truly the gift that kept on giving. Her multitasking abilities were certainly above average, but with Double Focus she felt like a genius. She could enchant a shoe to dry faster while coincidently checking over Glue’s teeth. Such heightened mental capacity was addictive. It was a good thing that it functioned only in short bursts or Tanya might have found a way to keep working during all hours of the day.
Snowfall grew ever more infrequent as the first hardy flowers capitalized on the lack of competition. Vast patches of snowdrops, and blue frost-blossoms sprung up around the shores of the lake and animal tracks on her property became a more frequent find. It was finally time to get started on her long-term housing.
First, Tanya marked out the corner stones and room layouts of her future home with stones. Her idea was to use the palisade wall of the crannog as the outer wall of her home, so it would be semicircle shaped. Of course the walls would be reinforced with earthwork and cobblestone to insulate them and make breaching through more difficult.
The house would be oriented to the northeast to act as a windshield for the crannog’s inner courtyard. Small windows in the eastern palisade were going to let in the rising sun while the light of noon would enter through bigger and more sheltered glass panes to the southwest. Two hearths were planned to stand at the corners of the most important rooms. One would heat the main hall, and both her bedroom and the workshop on the other side of the wall. The other one would supply the kitchen, the stables and potentially a weaving chamber. Tanya was not absolutely certain about that last one yet.
Because of the building's closeness to water, digging out a cellar would be impossible. Cold storage would have to be outsourced to the mainland. A smaller shed, pig pen and a minor herb garden were going to fit nicely though.
Three stairways would give access to the circular battlements she was going to put behind the palisade and a singular watchtower. At the lowest point in the valley, Tanya wanted to be able to see possible threats approaching. All the roofs would need to be studded with spikes to deter aerial predators from tearing through; griffons and gargoyles and the like.
Even just thinking about this mountain of work was awe-inspiring, but she still had time. Construction would commence during the height of summer when her fields had been brought in order and mostly self-sufficient.
In the meantime until the last snow melted, Tanya started working on furniture.
First was a proper door with fatted hinges. She would not miss having to twist her back in order to move a boulder out of the way like before. Stools in human and kobold sizes followed along with a nicer manger for Glue. Tanya redid her tool rack and updated her cupboard to include drawers. The mechanical lathe allowed her to produce the spiral screw for a fruit press that she converted out of a barrel. She even crafted a spinning wheel, despite not possessing any wool to refine into yarn.
Consequently, her Prestige Job progressed rapidly, granting her points of Intelligence for the first time.
It was only five points, but Tanya liked to imagine that her memory was already becoming more accurate and her deduction speed increased. That might have just been wishful thinking, however. By contrast, the Perk that rounded out her Subclass left no ambiguity to its effectiveness.
[Quality Assurance – you are innately aware of the rarity of products you create and their imperfections]
Suddenly Tanya was made aware of how ramshackle and primitive all her efforts were.
The shoes she worked so hard on? Merely ‘Uncommon’. Furthermore, they would break within a hundred hours of usage from weakening faultlines in the grain of the wood.
Her cabin? ‘Common’ with cracks and inefficiencies everywhere. There was mould growing along the corners where the walls stayed humid and the new door leaked heat like a faucet.
Tanya found the constant, passive reminder of her inadequacies maddening. Luckily the Perk could be suppressed by not thinking of an object’s quality. As long as she merely focused on shooting an arrow she would not be made aware that its fletching was uneven or its tip had not been correctly sharpened on one side.
At least now she could make certain that her future house was going to become the best possible version of itself. United with Discern Structural Stability, this Perk was going to let her build a true fortress.
In the interim, Tanya had bigger problems to worry about. Scarcely had the wintery north winds abated, that a gigantic storm front had swept in from the southwest. She had judged from its unnaturally black coloration and the purple flickers inside the clouds that this tempest was not of natural origin. No storm she had ever seen move so... purposefully? The dark formations in the sky did not scatter or meander. Instead they were approaching her location in a straight line. Tanya could only hope that it was not coming for her.
Hastily she had secured her few belongings on the outside and plugged the gaps around her door with compacted dirt. Her plans to survey the state of her fields were thoroughly cancelled.
It did not take long for the disaster to hit.
Fat rain drops whipped against the sides of her hut, so heavy that their assault could be heard through the walls. Lightning split the inky sky above as thunder, far too close and far too loud, made the water in her cup ripple. Mux had gone invisible from fright and curled up next to Glue who twitched with every celestial detonation. Rivulets of moisture ran down the walls from where her roof had begun leaking. In short, one could charitably describe the weather outside as apocalyptic.
As Tanya stared at the growing puddle in the southern corner a terrible thought came to her...
The dam.
She had only opened the floodgates by half. This flash deluge would totally overwhelm the dam and either destroy it or lead to a flooding of the lake area. Both results could have disastrous knock-on effects that would delay her schemes by weeks!
Tanya threw on a half-way protective leather mantle, gave Glue and Mux some reassuring pats and then contorted herself through the half-open door. Instantly she was hit in the face by winds which hammered her like physical punches. Fighting against the howling winds and the blinding rain, she ran to the gate only to find her pontoon bridge bucking and straining against its anchoring ropes.
She made it across the jumping planks and spraying waves, slid through the mud and arrived at the roaring dam. Great masses of water rushed through its outlet, rearing up against its edges with primeval fury. The lake wanted to be let out of its prison and it clawed at her puny barrier with increasing success.
Only her Stumble Immunity let Tanya navigate across the crown of the dam. The storm battered her, pushing her away and the waves hungrily licked at her ankles. With all her might she pulled at the gate, but hundreds of tons of water pushed against it from the side, making the entire construct that she was standing on groan in protest. Discern Structural Stability told her that the breaking point was just below her feet in the gate’s frame.
Tanya tried to project a mana light from her hand to illuminate the rushing waters, but found that she could not. Her reserves were full, so that could only mean...
“SHOW YOURSELF!” she screamed, but her voice was drowned out by the clash of air and water all around her.
Desperate she tugged at the gate again, knuckles white and fingers raw. Her legs flexed as she heaved. Teeth clenched, she bellowed her lungs out, reaching for that final bit of strength that would turn the tide.
Stuttering the wood rose, but it was far too slow. Rain had drenched her from head to toe and her grip was faltering. Structural integrity was falling by the second, all would be lost if not-
Abruptly the gate was wrenched open with such force that Tanya’s arms were thrown back. A surge of frothing blackness exploded forth, thundering down the river.
What was happening!? Wiping water out of her eyes, Tanya could barely make out another person that stood at the other side of the churning stream. Communication with this robed figure under these circumstances seemed unfeasible, but she tried anyway.
“WHO ARE YOU!?”
A strange bolt of violet lightning illuminated their silhouette, revealing armour underneath the billowing cloth and a giant sword strapped to their back.
Monster slayer? Bandit? Headhunter?
With almost insulting ease the figure jumped high into the air and then – just as it appeared as if they would crash into the river – they pushed off thin air and jumped again. Gracefully poised, they landed behind Tanya, cutting off her only route of escape.
Flashes illuminated their winged half helm whose visor’s shadow hid the stranger’s eyes completely. Expensive fabrics and fine plate glinted in the dark for a heartbeat before being hidden again. Thunder rattled her teeth.
“What do you want?” Tanya asked warily, trying not to show weakness in front of this unknown.
Gauntleted fingers pointed towards her crannog.
Shelter? That, she could deliver.
Wordlessly Tanya pushed past the stranger and ran, uncaring if she was followed or not.
Wet, muddy and anxious she barrelled through the outer gate and fumbled with the cabin door. The unknown knight’s hand held it open while she slipped inside. Turning around on the threshold she saw them draw a dagger and slit their arm, flicking the blood into the rain. Then, as they pulled the door closed behind them a searing bolt of light drilled into her courtyard into the exact same spot.
Glue cried out in fear and Tanya herself staggered away from the blinding light that had scorched her retinas.
“Argh, bloody hells!”
As she blinked her vision free of spots, she found the knight kneeling over her. One of their eyes shone an electric violet beneath the helmet, the other in a dimmer green. Lantern light reflected on them as prismatic fractal patterns, like the precious gems of Tanya’s old cavern. Their full pink lips moved and it seemed to take a small eternity before the words reached her ringing ears.
“I deeply apologize. I must have invited this calamity into your home. For this transgression, I beg your forgiveness.”
The voice was young and feminine with an aristocratic refinement that spoke of higher education. Despite her rattled state, Tanya attempted to make sense of this shitshow of a situation.
“I accept your apology, lady...?”
Suspiciously, the knight’s confident mask cracked a little at her leading question.
“Um, Luna. You may call me Luna. And you, good Miss; are you perchance one Tanya of Oram?”
Now it was Tanya’s turn to recoil in confusion.
“You know me?”
Was this a Guild member she had never met? A messenger from the Baron or the Duke maybe?
“Indeed. I have come from far away to ask you... Would you, dear Miss, be so kind as to take me into your employ? If you were to have me, I would swear my life and blade to yours.”
WHAT!?
A/N:
(150/500) Labourer Class (50 DEX, 45 END, 45 STR, 5 AWA, 5 INT)
(50/50) Crafting Labour Subclass
1a (5/5) Shingle Cutter – Craft wooden roofs > [Slashing Resistance]
1b (5/5) Wood Sculptor – Carve out images in wood > [True Imagination]
1c (5/5) Cobbler's Hand – Make footwear > [Ergonomic Design]
2a (5/5) Wheelwright – Make wheels > [Piercing Resistance]
2b (5/5) Cooper's Hand – Create barrels > [Imbue Minor Holding Space]
2c (5/5) Wood Turner – Make round objects > [Double Focus]
3a (5/5) Fletcher's Hand – Craft arrows > [Imbue True Flight]
3b (5/5) Basket Weaver – Weave containers and wattle > [Project Third Hand]
3c (5/5) Trap Maker – Build cages + more > [Trap Immunity]
PRESTIGE JOB (+5 Int)
4 (5/5) Furniture Maker – Craft various furniture items > [Quality Assurance]