Homestead Survival

<16 August 2024, GRAND MESA OF SUMMER , A+>
[Theo and Julia]
Theo woke as the sun rose, feeling surprisingly rested.

"Good morning, my lord," Ordus said with a smile.

"Good morning, Go'Van' Ordus," Theo said, giving him a nod and seeing the slight flinch.

"Lord Sorrenson..." Ordus said and then set the staff down. "Theo, we should discuss something quickly."

"Can I be part of it?" Julia asked sleepily as she sat up, yawning and stretching.

"Of course," Ordus said. "When I took this item and this name, I fully intended to devote myself to serving you, and in almost all of System Controlled Space, this means a certain level of decorum. It also means generally more binding contracts than the one you gave me."

"That's fine, but that is not how we want to do things," Theo said. "We are no different than you."

"Actually, you are royalty; we are not. We are technically the ones that should be deferring to you." Julia said with a playful tone.

Ordus looked mildly panicked at that thought, "With all due respect, you both seem to already have connections with the Patriarch of the Karzun family and have caught the eye of other powerful entities. I am safe in saying that while you may not be strong or powerful by comparison to them, the fact that they are willing to treat you and discuss things with you in such an open manner, even though the system used them to complete a task, is rather significant. To put it into perspective, if my father were alive, I would strongly encourage him to build alliances with you and help you in any way that he can."

"Hmmm," Julia said thoughtfully.

"So what is it that you want? How do you want our relationship to change?" Theo asked.

"I wish to be your majordomo." Ordus said with a smile, "I will say that I know very little about being one, but this staff can help; it has several interesting effects. But I do know that it means that we need a more defined contract and relationship. But I recall you saying earlier that you're not one for pomp and circumstance. So I will offer you this. When we are alone or only with those who are part of your 'group,' I will call you Theo and Julia. When others are around, you will be Lord Sorrenson and Lady Brahmin. And when you form a family, we will rework my contract, and from that day forward, you will always be Lord and Lady of the Family."

"I can live with that for now," Theo said with a nod.

"Me too." Julia agreed.

"Very well, shall we come up with a plan and that way I know where I need to lend a hand?" Ordus asked.

Theo nodded. "I think we should shoot for having the dwarves help with laying in the permanent runes. And then, if we have time after they are done with that, we should encourage them to help us with the foundation and any other tasks that come to mind. While that is happening, I want to use my new skill."

"Ohhh! What did you get?" Julia asked excitedly. "I got Hearthwarden's Vigil. While at my home or homestead, I am aware of anyone who enters, and I also gain a vague understanding of whether they have weapons or not, as well as a general sense of their intentions. I can choose to actively track a limited number of people. That number scales with my level."

Theo smiled at how excited Julia was, "I got two skills, one from Rectification and one from level ten. The first was Bounty of the Earth, and the sense of what it does is vague, just like the description it had when I picked it. I think it said, 'The very Earth is your ally. Work the soil and increase its bounty to increase your strength.' So we will have to see."

Ordus nods, "Skills with vague descriptions tend to have wide and powerful effects when upgraded."

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Theo continued, "The skill I got for level ten is Measure of the Land. It provides me with information on what is available in our land, ranging from water to minerals, by walking the perimeter. Right now, it will give me a one-hundred-foot radius to search for whatever is available."

"I agree with you." Ordus said with a nod, "You should walk the perimeter and see what there is. Specifically, you should look for food and water for the people we will be hosting. Otherwise, we might want to reach out to the dwarves and see what they can trade us."

"Alright then," Julia said, handing a meal to Theo and one to Ordus before taking her own. "Ordus, you and I will begin working with the dwarves, and Theo will patrol the Overlook."

"I will meet you all at the Thronehold," Theo said.

"Wait, there is a Thronehold here?" Ordus said in surprise.

"Yep," Theo said with a smile, "We intend to build a seat of power on it, then we only have one more requirement before we can start an official Family. But we got a little... sidetracked."

Ordus chuckled, "Well, I dare say a horde would sidetrack most plans."

"True enough. So, Julia, you and Ordus go do Thronehold things; holler if you need me." Theo said, standing up to leave.

Julia stopped him. "Theo, we should ask our question!"

Theo stopped and thought for a moment, then looked at her. "Should we ask now or wait in case something comes up?"

"Let's ask now and then. If we need to ask something else, then we can wait until tomorrow." Julia said. "But what do we ask?"

"What if we ask what to prioritize after the Ward runes?" Theo suggested.

Julia thought for a moment, "I think that is a good idea."

Theo focused on the ring and felt it hunger for his question. "After we construct our Ward array on our Thronehold, what should we focus on to best host our coming guests during Primordial Flight?"

>Private Message: Query - "After we construct our Ward array on our Thronehold, what should we focus on to best host our coming guests during Primordial Flight?"
>Private Message: Processing...
>Private Message: Successful Roll
>Private Message: Response - 'Show the Dwarf named Kreldar Underbrace the Homestead Core and ask him to house it.'

"Alright then," Theo said, looking up at Ordus. "Ordus, go and make sure that the Dwarf named Kreldar Underbrace is staying; if he is not here, get him here. Julia, if you want to go and start laying out Ward runes, I will drop off a bunch of the bricks, and then I will take a stroll around the Overlook."

They all nodded and set off to their tasks.

As Theo, Julia, and Ordus ate with the ten dwarves that had been working, Theo was impressed. In the six hours it had taken him to stroll casually around the edge of the Overlook, they had gotten two of a planned thirty-eight twenty-foot runes laid into place.

When Julia had asked about mortar, the oldest Dwarf, who turned out to be none other than Kreldar Underbrace, had simply chuckled and had Ordus relay what he was saying.

"Lass, one thing any Dwarf worth his stone learns early is that ye'll outlive almost any mortar. Only one way ta' fit stone together an' that's KAZRÛMI." Ordus had wrinkled his brows as this word did not want to translate.

Seeing the Dwarf at work quickly revealed what Julia would imagine was an incredible level of skill among the ten dwarves that were laboring. Each stone was precision-cut with a Skill to fit in such a way that the seams almost vanished. With this method, each rune, despite being laid out on a twenty-foot by twenty-foot area, only took fifteen bricks to complete.

After lunch was complete, Theo walked around laying out stacks of brick next to each Ward rune. Then he approached Julia. "I may have found water. It should be somewhere near us here, but only toward the eastern end of the Thronehold."

In using his skill, Theo had also learned that the Thronehold was roughly two hundred and fifty feet wide and three hundred and fifty feet long, with an edge that meandered. He was convinced that one of the dwarves could tell as the runes covered almost every possible inch of the Thronehold that could be covered with a rectangle of Ward runes.

Ordus stepped up, "I may be able to help; if there is a cave, I should be able to access it with my Earth's Embrace skill."

Theo nodded and walked over to where he felt the middle of the search area was. "It should be within one hundred feet of this point."

Ordus nodded and then channeled a skill for a moment, sinking into the dirt to begin his search.

Theo and Julia spent the rest of the day handing bricks to the Dwarves and just doing their best to be helpful. As the day came to a close, they had completed eight of the thirty-eight Ward runes.

As they sat down to dinner. Ordus arrived, literally rising out of the dirt near the fire. Theo looked at Ordus, "That is fucking terrifying. When you did that in front of that goblin, I bet he was shitting himself."

Ordus shrugged, "I found the water you sensed. Tomorrow, I can work on a path to it, but we might want to discuss tunneling with our Dwarvish friends as well."

Julia handed him a meal and smiled, "That is tomorrow's problem; for now, eat and rest. We do it all over again tomorrow."

They ate in high spirits. Theo was exceptionally happy; finally, he had gotten to start working on the land they had claimed as their homestead.