“Kobold miners, and they had real metal picks. They got to loot the picks and bring them out.”
Mark perked up at the mention of metal picks and miners. That could change everything. He did not have time to investigate tonight, but first thing tomorrow he would go to Cave Camp and learn what was happening. He was tired after a long day, so he decided to sleep on it.
Mark dreamed all night about mining, the metal industry, and real tools. Hinges, nails, saws, shovels, proper axes, and hammers would make every project move faster. In the morning, he headed to Cave Camp to find out exactly what the groups had discovered and organize the people interested in metalworking.
He showed up at the cave just after breakfast, and the camp was even busier than last time. His first objective was to upgrade Cave Camp to a Level 3 outpost, which he started right away as they already qualified for it. He then went over and found a group sitting around a table with three pickaxes on it.
When Mark first heard about the pickaxes, he imagined the mass-produced tools sold at a hardware store. These were nothing like that. In fact, if no one had told him what they were, he might not have recognized them as pickaxes. The group was arguing over their value. Some said the discovery changed everything and that valuable veins could be everywhere. A carpenter joined in, saying someone might finally be able to make nails.
Mark opened Cave Camp’s contribution inventory and filtered for metal. He was shocked by the long list of metal objects and ore. There were crude rusty knives, a pickaxe, and many chunks of rock containing visible metal. Most of it was rough and unprocessed, but it proved that a real metal industry was possible.
Mark went back to the group and asked them about the discovery. He was told that the cave had recently upgraded again, opening Level 12 and supporting four instances. The first group that ran Level 12 found kobold miners and had to kill small groups of them. They were mining ore and had buckets with ore bits and a few of these pickaxes. They were only able to partially finish the cave run because it included mining challenges they could not complete.
Since the first discovery, another Level 10 group had found mining-related materials. Cave Camp had gone crazy over ore. Some saw it as a get-rich-quick opportunity, while others genuinely wanted to learn. One man explained that he had belonged to a club in his youth that practiced simple forging and wanted to try it again. Mark asked everyone interested in smelting, furnace building, ore refining, and metal shaping to follow him; he wanted to have a discussion with them.
The ten interested people moved a table away from the crowd and waited for Mark to speak. “My goals are simple. I would like to see metal tools. Things like saws, shovels, axes, and hammers. And items like hinges and nails, but we have to start somewhere.”
One of the people lost interest, but the rest stayed. Mark then pulled out the Basic Metal Forming Principles knowledge book he had received from the recent zone event. At that, he had all of their attention. He explained to them that he would let them read through it and work as a group to learn its skills but that it must be protected and returned to him.
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They were all excited. He then pulled out of his inventory a huge pile of the ores that he found in the contribution store and told them to start going through them. He then found who would be their leader, which turned out to be the guy that had done prior hobby smithing.
His name was John, and Mark gave him access to create tasks in the outpost task list for people to gain contributions and skills in smithing. Mark realized this was the first time he had handed someone else the ability to direct settlement work.
Because non-leaders spent personal contribution to create tasks, Mark transferred a large reserve to John. He entrusted John with the metal-forming manual, thanked the group for helping their community grow, and asked John to report their progress every few days.
At Eastwatch, stakes marked the future locations of four bunkhouses, a cookhouse, and a crafting hall. Other than the stakes and two piles of stone and wood, there was little visible progress. Mark had hoped to see more but understood that construction took time. He verified its Level 1 settings and very small settlement storage.
He opened his inventory and found a few items he had been carrying around and donated them to the settlement storage for Eastwatch. It had not progressed enough to level up, which would give it task ability, so that would have to do. He then headed south to Crossroads.
Crossroads had more progress going than Eastwatch. The inn had a foundation dug, and he could see that people were actively putting in footings for the construction of the inn. There were lots of trees nearby that had been piled up, and roots of trees had been pulled out of the ground where the forest had been cut back for the outpost.
Across the path at Crossroads, stakes marked the two longhouses and two future crafting buildings. Mark still had trouble thinking of it as a road, though Garrick clearly intended to change that. Crossroads remained Level 1 and did not yet qualify for Level 2, but its inn foundation and growing material piles showed real progress.
Mark then headed east to see how the development of Wayrest was going. He had heard that the healer had moved along with an alchemist and a forager to that location. He also knew that Garrick loved the place and had not been back to Forest’s Rest since he started the project, so he expected big things there.
He was just passing through Forest’s Rest when he got a system message.
[Regional Infrastructure Opportunity Detected]
Settlement development thresholds reached.
Regional coordination and contribution reserves now support sanctioned infrastructure development.
Only one Regional Infrastructure Project may be active within a controlled zone at a time.
Projects require:Assigned personnelSustained contribution investmentLong-term regional support
Available Projects:Sanctioned ForgeworksRegional Road and Bridge NetworkInfirmary and Alchemy Workshop
Additional regional projects may become available as settlements develop.
Warning: Beginning a Regional Infrastructure Project will heavily impact regional contribution reserves and labor availability.
◈ ◈ ◈
Mark decided that his trip to Wayrest would have to wait for another time and went and sat at the lunch table to bring up the three available projects and figure out what they were and what was needed to do.
Ben, the little boy he had met the other day, hustled over with a plate of food. “Dale said that when we see you, we’re supposed to make you eat. He said you keep missing meals, and Clara and I had orders to find you and force you to eat.”
Mark replied, “And how did you intend to force me to eat?” Ben looked at him and ran behind his sister’s back and hid his head.