Fantasy Cursed Island

[Darkling0096]

Siege went to help with the repair construction, offering to fell some trees with her axe an help lift beams with her strength bracelets. Turac did the same, and Jalin offered his help in finding and retrieving the dead and the trapped.

 

[Fangs9090]

Once Shuffle was reequipped, she and Katsuo patrolled outside the village to make sure nothing else was out there. Nidia provided potions to help the wounded and energize those working. Emilia’s skills didn’t really help with this kind of construction, unless they needed something light strung up high, so she offered her sewing skills to the other villagers who weren’t busy with recovery work. Roy helped out with his magic where he could, but he was mostly watching over the construction and letting them know if anything was set crooked, since he had a good eye for that.

 

[Darkling0096]

Ultimately, the town benefited from the party's help. Construction would take time, between rendering felled trees into useable lumber at the sawmill so that entire houses could be re-shingled, to clearing the wreckage of houses that had been destroyed so something could be built there instead, the land would have to be sold off by the owners if they couldn't afford to rebuild, or made available for purchase if there were no living relatives to do the same.

The damage to the town was great all the same, and in spite of having eight extra pairs of hands only so much work could be done in a day, especially as the town smith hadn't been able to make nails yet, rebuilding his smithy.

 

[Fangs9090]

They did get a good start on the work before sundown, at least. And Katsuo and Shuffle confirmed there was nothing else lurking around, so that helped people relax a little bit. Once the sun started to set, rebuilding work was put on hold and the villagers turned their attention to mourning the ones they’d lost.

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin decided to take that time, while the living were preparing to bury the dead and mourn the loss, to go gather the other members of the party, the ones that tended to be pretty good at talking and negotiating and planning. He went and found Roy, and retrieved Turac from where he and Siege were towing trees to the sawmill. "I believe we should alert the mayor to our intentions while the mood is even," he said to them as they went to go find the mayor.

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy nodded his agreement. Which of these people was the mayor, however, wasn't quite clear. One would expect him to be taking charge in the memorial arrangements, but it seemed that role was divided among a few people.

 

[Darkling0096]

"That doesn't seem right," Turac frowned, "Does this town operate on a council, or..."

"I suspect," Jalin sighed, "That perhaps the office has been forcefully vacated." He tapped one of the villagers' shoulder, a fox beastkin man, "Excuse me, is the mayor around?"

The man pointed to a freshly filled in grave.

"Ah... that's unfortunate..."

 

[Fangs9090]

One of the other villagers, a cat woman, spoke up. "Once we've made sure everyone has a roof back over their heads, we'll decide who'll lead us next."

 

[Darkling0096]

"That's what we wanted to talk about, actually," Turac nodded, "Was their perhaps a town council who made decisions while the mayor was indisposed?"

"A deputy mayor, perhaps?", Jalin asked, "Or a council? Perhaps his wife?"

 

[Fangs9090]

She shook her head. "The mayor was single. He would sometimes come to some of us for advice or our opinion, but there was never anything formal."

 

[Darkling0096]

"I see," Jalin frowned. That was really inconvenient... "We won't trouble you during mourning."

 

[Fangs9090]

She dipped her head. “Thank you. You’re still free to stay as long as you like.”

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin nodded an stepped back, "So that puts a damper in the plan..."

"Indeed," Turac frowned, "I don't suppose other ideas are to be had?"

"We could simply occupy a building, but the townsfolk may not take kindly to that..."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy nodded. "They're disorganized after the attack. In order to make any sort of real arrangement, we'd have to let them get organized again. Which would mean waiting, and helping out in the meantime."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Well," Jalin nodded towards the wreckage of some of the houses. "We may as well begin window-shopping while we have a concept of what houses will no longer be occupied."

 

[Fangs9090]

"I suppose..." Roy turned and stepped away to take a look at the houses.

 

[Darkling0096]

They had to go back to the others and find out what they'd each need, at minimum, in a residence. Siege wanted an outside training area, Turac would ideally like a body of water to sleep in, but had no qualms about sleeping outside, and Sinach just wanted a safe bookshelf. Jalin needed a belowground celler with an outdoor entrance so he'd have somewhere to work.

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia wanted an alchemy lab to work in. Emilia requested a workspace, though she didn’t have a loom to put in it just yet. Roy wanted a library, preferably with the guarantee that Sinach wouldn’t raid it like a free pantry. Shuffle would just be happy with a spot she could sleep. Katsuo had no preference as he needed nothing.

 

[Darkling0096]

It didn't seem, as they searched, that there was any one building available that would satisfy all of those needs, at least far enough to serve as a beginning base. They found several small builings that satisfied one of their needs, but all of them... no, unless they took the mayor's house. Which was unlikely to be acceptable by what the mayor's house represented.

And then, on the edge of town, they found a few in close proximity. By the damage, and the fact that no repairs had been made, there was no one squatting in the remnants, they were unoccupied.

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy looked around at the remains of the buildings. “Hm... This has potential...”

 

[Darkling0096]

"It does," Turac agreed.

"As damaged as it is, I imagine no one will question it should we modify the structures," Jalin nodded.

 

[Fangs9090]

"So long as these aren't owned, anyway. I haven't yet gotten a count of which buildings are vacant and which are simply damaged."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Then let's keep this earmarked," Jalin replied, "We shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket, though."

 

[Fangs9090]

"Right. We don't have too many options here, but it's better than nothing, by far."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Let's go discuss with the others, then," jalin nodded, "I imagine they've been hunting as well."

"Knowing Siege..." Turac rolled his eyes, "She'd probably prefer the inn."