The broken dungeon core

The first snowfall happened as night fell and everyone went into action, Luna set a large kettle of water to be heated to warm the people who were going to arrive and both Luna and Rocky headed out to assist the people who should be on their way to our location.

All they took was a small lantern that produced just enough light to see where they were going and they would be going through the trees to help hide the light and they also had a cover so when the moonlight was enough they could cover the lantern.

One of the benefits they had as nocturnal beast-kin is that they quickly adjusted to the low light of nighttime and they didn’t require nearly as much light to see by as other people might.

Misty gathered the cups that were going to be used and added some salveaid to the boiling water to help rejuvenate the people who were going to arrive later as some of them were going to go back to retrieve whatever they had left behind until it is too late.

Some people would still be in the village moving stuff to catch locations near the village where the items can continue getting retrieved over time, but tonight’s priority is to get the most important stuff, women and women, and all the food, blankets and hides out so that the bandits will start to starve and freeze while not having access to anyone to take their anger out on.

The only people who are going to be returning to retrieve stuff will be men who have better night vision as everyone wants to limit leaving a light trail to their location.

It wasn’t quite as long as I had thought it would be before Luna returned with the forward group, apparently just the women and children as they were all carrying luggage to their limits, I think I can only assume that the men had handed over what they had brought out and headed back for more hopefully depriving the bandits of everything they can before they get noticed.

Luna showed the families to each of their living quarters and left them to prepare what they needed to put their children to bed and they passed out warm salveaid water to get the chill out as tonight was going to be busy.

Many of the children were worn out from the rushed journey through the cold slurry while burdened with luggage so they were quick to fall asleep once their beds were ready and their bodies warmed.

All the dirty clothes that were cold and muddy from walking through the melting snow that they had trampled through on their way here were gathered by the parents of each respective family.

Luna’s mother doesn’t seem to be amongst them for some reason and I can only assume that she went to assist in retrieving as much as she can.

Many of the mothers set about organizing their supplies into their rooms assigned to them and the odd individuals who were last minute to join the group were assigned the spare rooms some having to share a living arrangement with individuals not in their family as there weren’t enough rooms available otherwise.

Luna was running about to assist others until everyone was settled and a few of the women gathered in the first room.

They talked for a while about if they were going to have some of their number to go out and meet the men halfway to help bring stuff back and if so who should stay to watch over the children?

As it can be assumed anyone without children would be heading out while those with children would stay, and they would prepare their rooms to receive their possessions as we as putting up whatever they already had here.

Some of the older children got up to help out with some of what they were able to do as the anxious vibe made it harder to wait patiently and keeping busy seems to help with the nerves.

Luna headed back out with the ones who would head back to the halfway point to await assisting the men as a relay point while Misty took the time helping the others get settled in and then explaining how some of the special features were of the cooking stations and the washroom.

She gives out a reminder to be careful not to waste water as it takes time to replenish and that families should wash in turns and do the laundry afterwards so when they empty and refill the water in the wash room they can have gotten more use out of it than they would otherwise.

She also suggested that those who don’t have a family should take turns washing and then doing their laundry together to remain efficient.

Since there are two cooking stations available two different cooks can prepare meals at the same time and multiple people can eat at the tables without over crowding.

Misty also shows the extra woven mats for hanging up over the entrance to their sleeping areas to help muffle some sound as well as providing a decent filter for the light from the glow moss as unlike a lantern they can’t have their light put out.

The next group returns with more stuff to put away and some individuals who will be staying rather than going back out about the time Misty had finished the tour and explanations, so she had to repeat herself for each group as they stayed.

Several trips occurred by the time the sun started to rise to reveal the snow still coming down and the thickness of what had accumulated through the night and with the many different paths taken to the different camps which would make it difficult to identify what trail to follow.

Everyone did well getting everything out that they could now we just have to wait and hear how everything goes with the bandits as they return.

Which they do, dragging loaded sleds through a hidden animal trail in the woods that Luna guided them through before arriving.

They pass things off to be unloaded by those who stayed while they drank hot salveaid water and were served breakfast by the women who had the best cooking reputation, one even pulling out her own stash of cooking herbs to help flavor the stews that they made in the largest cooking pots they had and another couple of women made a huge batch of dough together at one of the tables and they used a stone pot as an over to cook several fist sized bread rolls to have with the stews one with meat and the other with only vegetables.

But even with the hearty meal and warm welcome the atmosphere that came with the last group was tense, and it didn’t take long for someone to ask and be met with a rage filled shout!

A man in hooded hunting gear, “TRAITORS! That’s what’s wrong!”

He and other men look out right ready to kill somebody and the people who were here froze at the mere mention that anyone from the village would betray them in anyway.

But who and what did they do!

I can only wait for answers!