72 Conditions

"They're alive!"

It was amazing, but somehow, when they dug through the cooling lava layers, the Burning Bull and the Diamond Bristle Boar stirred and groaned.

They had to tie them to the Sky Barge to haul them out of the pit.

Now they lay side by side, moaning and twitching on the ground. Bellower's fire was practically reduced to embers, he flopped around weakly, his breathing hoarse. DD's entire bottom half had been burned, plus he'd been gored in the bum. It was incredible that either of them even survived until now; Remian had to admit, he was impressed.

"How did they do it?" Remian marveled. "How did they live under such conditions?"

[Fire essence.] Carrie sniffed Bellower, then turned to DD. [Earth essence.]

Bellower managed to open one eye and look at Remian. [Human… give me fire… and I will let you off for one year…]

"We're way past that now." Remian shook his head. "Either you swear fealty to me upon the grass and Kor'ag-dras, or you die. Those are your options."

[Never. Wilds will never serve humans!!] Bellower let out one final bellow. [I will never bow to you! I will never bow to anyone! I will return and trample you into dust! I…]

Remian pointed to the not-so-burning Bull and called to the Foresight hovering just overhead. "Mindy! Shoot!"

TWANG! The XL Ballista, newly upgraded by Arnold, launched a blue streak glowing with magic enhancement. It speared Bellower through the throat. The giant bull let out one last rasping gasp, twitched and lay still ever more.

"What about you?" Remian asked DD.

[I'm already done for!] DD groaned. [What can you do for me? I'm a goner! GONE!!]

"It does look bad." Remian squinted. "We can get salve and bandages, maybe use some healing magic…"

[It won't work…] DD moaned morosely. [It is too late for me, alas…]

"If we COULD save you… would you swear fealty?"

[If you can save me, I'll do anything you want!] DD chuckled dryly. [If I can live even until sunset, I'll swear whatever!]

Remian shut his mouth and didn't tell DD that the burns didn't seem as serious as they smelled. Diamond Bristle Boar skin was incredibly tough, even if the Boar himself seemed less than steadfast. Being stuck in that pit, most of the fire and lava only affected his rear end. Mainly the damage was all done to DD's rump. Remian wondered if it was even life-threatening. DD might not be able to sit down for half a year, but he probably wouldn't die today.

Happily, that meant they'd get a Diamond Bristle Boar on their side. Sadly, that also meant that they wouldn't be getting Tier 5 roast pork for dinner today. Maybe they could take out just a few slices of broiled ham…? Better not. Oh well… they'd just have beef.

The task of treating the boar fell to Zania in the end. For the salve, she set her clan out to gather some herbs and aloe vera from the desert edge, then brought out a lot of flour...

Meanwhile, Remian had the wolfcats and the lynxmice dig out the pit some more. To his memory, Spike was quite a bit larger than Bellower; plus, even Frenzied, he might not charge in blindly like the boar and the bull. The pit would need some sort of cover, like a trapdoor, and a mechanism to open it suddenly and drop whatever was on top straight down.

They also had a giant tortoise somewhere out there to worry about. But then again, it was taking forever to arrive.

***

Contrary to his own expectations, DD did in fact survive until sunset. He grudgingly swore fealty upon the grass and Kor'ag-dras, then immediately asked for a few weeks off to recover.

Remian's response: "Tell you what; you'll be on standby for a while, but if we need you in a hurry, you have to come running!"

[So mean!] DD complained.

He didn't ask what Remian might need him to come running for and Remian certainly did not want to elaborate just yet.

By that time, the Desert Moon clan (who were the experts with agriculture and livestock handling) had pretty much butchered the Burning Bull. Mindy had a new fire-proof Tier 5 hide the size of a house for the forward envelope of the new Tug in construction. They sent the bones and tendons to Arnold to see if he could use it for the new XXL Ballista. The meat was divided between the High Rock Clan, the Adventurers Guild, the wolfcats, the lynxmice and the Desert Moon clan (given a small share for doing the cutting).

The High Rock clan busied themselves fortifying the Pit with gravel and mortar. They seemed to have the same idea that Remian had and since the walls were weakened and enlarged after being melted into lava, they were quite keen on making sure Spike wouldn't be able to collapse the pit on himself and struggle out.

Nevertheless, they were stockpiling ore at a healthy rate. Remian inspected the growing piles of Fire Copper ore and jade at the main entrances of each mine and wondered how they were going to load them all up onto the airships. They'd have to land the Sky Barge and cart them all in. What if they could build docks for airships on the top of the hills, modify each elevator system to take it all the way up…?

But the elevator systems had a major downside; they used mana crystals for power. Remian fed them with unrefined bits from the alchemist's cave, pieces too small to send for refining, but sooner or later they were going to run out of crystal bits and would either need to use actual refined commercial-grade crystals, or overhaul the power system.

Either way, they were going to need a lot more crew on the engineering team. As the High Rock clans expanded into the mines and turned them into underground towns, they would also need a lot more metal and building materials. On top of that, the Desert Moon clan kept sending requests to expand the farm, build farmhouses, barns and other farming structures, import all sorts of equipment…

Speaking of houses, the Adventurers needed them too. Tim and Mindy were still roughing it out in the Guild Hall with the wolfcats for pillows and warmth. Joshu, Xia and the twins already had their own huts, but for some reason, Tim and Mindy both seemed to think the Guild Hall was shelter and home enough.

Actually, come to think of it, Tim didn't come back to the Guild Hall last night. Did he stay here at the mines with the High Rock clan? Maybe he had friends here. After all, it wasn't like he'd stay with the lynxmice in the tunnels, right?

…Right…?

That last thought left Remian feeling uneasy and guilty at the same time. He was definitely going to have to pay attention to their housing conditions. For now, maybe he could ask George to put Tim up at his farmhouse. Mindy could actually just stay over at the cave with Remian. Mandy had asked about setting up a room for her sister there. Plagued with concerns over the mana potions and the crystals getting stolen, Remian had delayed giving her a reply until now. With the potions already gone and the crystals mainly sold, spent or left undug at the waterfall cave, Remian didn't actually need to worry about them any more…

Come to think of it, why was he even worried about them being stolen? This was Mindy, for crying out loud. She was practically his sister. If she wanted some crystals, he'd just give them to her directly. Heck, she was going to be handling crystals for the Tug once it was operational anyway. Magic drives usually used a mage's power, but they could also be fed with crystals like runic drives.

On that point, though, Remian would rather feed airships with yellow crystal bits than precious blue crystals. In terms of cost for power, yellow crystal bits were far cheaper.

***

Mindy agreed with Remian on using yellow crystal bits for fuel, but not to living in the cave.

"If you're worried about our living conditions, we may as well just finish what we started." Mindy snorted. "Why don't you have the workers simply finish the Guild Hall the way we originally designed?"

Originally designed…? Remian thought back.

Right. The Guild Hall was not complete. The completed Guild Hall should be four stories tall, with spacious rooms for thirty Adventurers complete with indoor plumbing systems, ten rooms with adjoining private baths and privies on each floor. It was supposed to be able to house all the Circling Raven kids and the potential Adventurers out there in the Wildlands right now.

Assuming anyone else survived, that is. Remian hadn't seen any supposed explorers and hunters and such other than Joshu, Xia and the twins. Having not returned for so long… they might already be dead.

Maybe it was time. They had been struggling and racing to deal with Beast Waves and scrape together some income until now. But with the mines up and running, and the farm blossoming, and a nice big pit ready for Spike the next time he came by, perhaps conditions were right.

So he went to Taj and Nadia, and they actually agreed.

"Conditions are right. It is time for change." Taj nodded. "We will hold the rituals tonight. By tomorrow, the Desert Moon clan will be no more."

"Wait. What?" Remian blinked. "All I asked you to do was build a Guild Hall."

"We will build your hall. We will farm your lands." Taj said thoughtfully. "We will grow food and herbs, plant fruit orchards and raise fowl and cattle. The rise of our people will be like the dawn of a new day! We will henceforth be known as the Harvest Sun clan!"

"Uh… yeah that sounds great and all, but…"

"You wish to build a city here, do you not?" Taj asked directly.

"Uh… yeah…?"

"A city must have people, and people must have food. We will provide that food." Taj said decisively.

Remian scratched his head feeling like he'd lost all say in the matter. But Taj was right. They would need that food and the best guys for the job were Taj's people.

"We need a greater variety of foodstuff. We will need seeds and seedlings." Taj considered. "Nadia and I should accompany you during this coming trip to Ashdale."

"How did you know about our trip to Ashdale?" Remian wondered.

"I believe the rune smith and the engineer wish to join as well." Taj advised.

"What?"

They did. Arnold and Andros both wanted to recruit crews, purchase equipment and (in Andros' case) sell products. On top of that, Max wanted to requisition supplies and equipment from the Ashdale Iron Legion division.

That meant seven people going to Ashdale with Charlie once the airship was repaired; Remian, Mindy, Taj, Nadia, Arnold, Andros and Max.