Homestead Survival

<05 August 2024, GRAND MESA OF SUMMER , A+>
[Theo and Julia]

By the time they had finished processing all of the Golems and Mana Leaches, the Sun was high in the sky, and they had a rather considerable pile of loot next to them.

"Four thousand and seventy Runestone Bricks," Theo said, picking up one of the rather light cinderblock-sized bricks. "Roughly sixteen pounds of Mana Essence, almost twenty pounds of Arcanite Dust, five reflex nodes, and two motor nodes."

Julia wiped her brow. She started hauling away loot as Theo produced it, and the tentacles of the table moved to help him like many extra hands. "Well, I guess we know what we are going to build out of on the throne hold."

"True," Theo said, and then his brows furrowed, "That means we need mortar, probably sand, and who knows what else. Do we do the foundations with this or the outer walls? What do we..."

Julia interrupted as she saw Theo's eyes unfocused a little bit. "Alright, why don't we start with the first two there, mortar and sand. How do we get our hands on those?"

Theo shook his head, "Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts for a second, and sand is easy enough; we pay a visit to the rivers that we can see, or that big lake, but when we were searching the Overlook initially. There is something massive in that lake. I don't know if we should mess with that lake quite yet."

"Okay, understood." Julia said, "So, for sand, we need to go on a trip; what about mortar?"

"That is harder," Theo said thoughtfully, "the easiest option would be a wood ash cement-based mortar. If we can find some limestone, that would be fantastic, but I also suspect that we can find a strange new way to make mortar. The biggest issue with all the ways that I know is the not insignificant amount of water that is needed."

"Ohh, yeah, we have fairly finite water." Julia agreed. "I need to know how the hell you know all of this?"

Theo smiles, "I had a lot of free time at night while I worked, so I watched survival guides, primitive technology, and a plethora of other stuff. I think that the increase in stats has let me recall more of it, but I certainly watched enough to absorb the information."

Julia chuckled, "Well, either way we decide to go, it sounds like we are taking a trip."

"Yep," Theo said, glancing at the Sun, "I say we get ready and head out."

Julia shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

They spent the next few hours getting ready to head out. They didn't know how long it would take, but they anticipated at least a few days. They stored all of the things that they thought were the most valuable in Theo's Dimensional Storage and packed ten days' worth of food each. After a quick check, they headed out.

They rapidly covered their claimed land and then stared down the switchback trail that led down to the Mesa of Summer proper. Theo glanced over at Julia, "Last chance to back out."

"Not a chance," Julia said, taking off down the trail.

Theo smiled and walked after her. They chatted idly for a while as they hiked. Theo was smiling as he talked to Julia. He realized that she had grown easier to talk to as they had faced challenges together; they had grown stronger together. Theo also remembered the peck on his cheek. It had been a chaste thing, but it had held a lot of emotion.

Theo shook his head as they came upon the last switchback before they were down to their first stop. From above, the Grand Mesa of Summer looked like a grass field. But as Theo and Julia walked towards the end of the rocky trail that led down from the Overlook, they saw that it was a sea of grass that averaged four feet tall, with clumps of trees and other areas of sparse vegetation.

Julia was stopped, taking a drink from her water skin. She looked up at Theo, "Don't go into the long grass."

Theo chuckled with her, but then they saw a familiar sight, a Summer Lion, leap up out of the grass and onto something that let out a shriek and then a brief struggle. They looked at each other, and then Theo said with a very serious tone, "Don't go into the long grass."

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"Hey, didn't we get a map thing?" Julia said, "From Argo, right?"

"Oh yeah," Theo said, checking his pouch. He did not find the map codex, but he did find the Dungeon Mapping Skill Crystals. He pulled them out and then channeled his Dimensional Storage skill, opening the dark wood-like cube that appeared. He rummaged through the things that they had decided to store in there, and he finally came up with what he was looking for. "Here we go."

He pulled out the Map Codex: Fragment of the Elemental Mesas and looked at the Crystal Slate. "Okay, first of all, I think we should use the Dungeon Mapping Skill Crystals just to get them out of the way so that if the skill is useful, we do not wish we had it."

Julia nodded, and they both took one of the Skill Crystals and pressed it to their foreheads. After a moment, the Crystals dissolved and sank into their heads. Julia shuffled through her pouch and came up with the Message Skill Crystal that Patriarch Karzun had given to them. "You want it, or you want me to use it?"

"All you," Theo said with a smile, while she absorbed the skill crystal. Theo looked at the Map Codex. Julia finished and joined him, looking at the slate of Crystal that was displaying a bird's eye view of the Mesa they were on.

The Grand Mesa of Summer was significantly larger than the Overlook. It had taken him and Julia the better part of a day's worth of sunlight to walk the perimeter of the Overlook, so he figured it would take them about fifty hours of non-stop walking to cover the perimeter of the whole Mesa. He also noticed that there seemed to be two large ponds on the Mesa.

"What's that?" Julia asked, pointing to something in the southeast corner of the map.

"I don't know; it almost looks like a ruin of some kind." Theo said, "It's absolutely massive, though, if it is."

"Hmm," Julia hummed in thought, "well, we can go explore that later; what bout a way to the lowlands?"

They looked for a while. Finally, Theo pointed to a spot on the map, almost directly south of where they were. "That looks promising, I guess."

"Alright, you think we can get there today?" Julia asked.

Theo glanced at the Sun. "Maybe, I bet we get there today, but not down to the lowlands. So if you see a good camping spot while we are walking, point it out, and we can decide whether to continue or not."

Julia nodded. They each took a drink from their water skins and put everything away. The Map Codex went into Theo's pouch and headed out.

They walked for two hours, talking quietly and keeping an eye out, before they decided to stop for food. They ate with their backs to the cliff, watching the trees and tall grass for potential threats. They were eating when Theo commented, "Those trees are absolutely gargantuan. There are some fifty-footers up on the Overlook, but these are a hundred and fifty, maybe even two hundred feet tall."

Julia nodded, "It makes you wonder what could be hiding in them."

With that sobering thought, they decided to get a move on.

The remainder of the trip down the western side of the Mesa was just as quiet, and an hour after the Sun set, Theo and Julia set camp at the top of a goat trail that worked down the cliff face. Theo took the first watch.

[Theo]
As Theo sat there in the dark, Julia was lying next to him. A massive ring of Ward runes surrounded them both, and a small fire was crackling in a ring of stones they had assembled. Theo felt eyes on him.

He didn't know how he knew what it was, but he knew he was being watched, and the disconcerting thing was he felt it from the trees and the goat path. He listened, making sure to keep the fire fed from a pile of branches they had gathered.

What he heard was concerning. From both sides, he heard a strange guttural language. Above him, wings of a rather large size cut through the air, and somewhere far below him, he heard deep voices singing a deep, dark song that sounded like a dirge.

Theo decided that he would rather let Julia sleep than deal with the noise, and he was unsure if he would be able to sleep. So he waited for the Sun to rise.

<06 August 2024, GRAND MESA OF SUMMER , A+>
[Theo and Julia]

Julia woke and saw that Theo looked a little bedraggled. "You okay? Why didn't you wake me?"

"We are being watched," Theo said quietly while he ate a meal with Julia. "Last night, that became very apparent. There are also some rather large birds or something that fly around, and I heard singing in a weird language by some voices that are deeper than deep way down in the valley."

Julia fell silent. "Okay, I mean, we knew we were not alone out here."

Theo shrugged, "It felt like we were surrounded on all sides. It was very unsettling."

They finished eating and packed up the few things that they had taken out of their pouches. Theo took the Leather Cord that he and Julia had made sure to bring. He offered one end to Julia, "You should tie this to your belt. I'll put this end on my belt. I know there is a trail, but it's better to be safe rather than sorry."

Julia shrugged and tied the rope to her belt. Theo did the same. He looked at the path, "You want to lead or follow? I don't know if we will have space to swap later."

Julia smiled, "I'll follow; that way, I at least have a good view," she teased, causing Theo to blush.

"Very well," Theo said, trying to suppress the excitement he felt at her insinuation.

The two of them stood up and then started off descending the side of the Mesa on a narrow goat path, both of them wondering what awaited them below.