Valley in the Mountains

After reaching the foot of the mountains I sent Brea, Bear and Bandit out to hunt. I got Tira and Tiara to set up camp and get ready to make the meat into rations what we are going to do next may take months and I wana be ready.

As everyone gets to work I keep an eye on everything my job at this moment is to protect our campsite as well as the 2 girls. As time passes I see Bear and Bandit coming back with corpses and dropping them off then leaving at irregular intervals Brea dosen't return but that's fine she's the one killing the monsters as the boys work as transportation.

Over the course of the day monsters came to our camp because of the smell of food only to be added to the rations. We don't need to worry about water cause we can just spell some up. In addition to the combat spells Tira and Tiara have been creating they also made what they call lifestyle magic everyone has some ability to use that magic so we really only need food.

After 1 week or gathering rations Brea came back with bad news. It seems my competitors have been working hard as a team of guardsmen are heading in our direction. They must be tracking us somehow after thinking that I looked at what we bought from our customers. I found 3 items with tracking spells on them. They have really been working hard as such I decided to try something.

Lieutenant Greg Satch was leading his team to hunt down a dangerous monster when a monster appeared in front of him they didn't walk in on it it literally just appeared. Understandably wary he had his men surrounded the creature the he asked the man beside him.

"Mister Red is this the creature we are hunting?"

"It's one of them." However the moment he said that he regretted it.

"One of them DID YOU SAY ONE OF THEM?"

"No no I ment...."

"Shut up you..."

"Sir she's coming."

As my lookout said that all I can think is we are dead however she hands me a note??? But when I see the note I'm not filled with happiness all I can feel is Dread but i nod my head then follow the monster in front of me while telling my men to wait here. Oh gods above please let me see my wife and son again.

After passing through some trees we enter a clearing at the foot of the mountains. It looks like their camp as I see racks and racks of rations. There are 5 other monsters but when I come in front of the one that I presume is the leader I can barely feel my legs. 9 feet tall blood red eyes and chains all over his body but that's not the worst part the oppression rolling off him reminds me of the only time I saw the guardian of the human race and that terrifies me.

He looks at me with those horrible eye then extended his arm all I can think is this is it I'm going to die. Then I notice a note in his extended hand puzzled I take the note the read it. I read it 3 more times not believing what im reading this creature is a chosen. At this moment I now understand that we have been used and that is angering but I calm down.

"I understand the circumstance sir and I'll take care of this don't you worry."

He nods his head then turns away and starts helping his people. I turn and return to my men who seem surprised to see me alive but I get my men together take the horse we gave to Red and leave this place the last thing I heard as I rode away was Red screaming behind us getting farther and farther away.

After sending away the guards I'm actually happy with the outcome this should also make it harder for my competitors to do these types of things to me. As night falls we finish up with ration making and have a big meal then head to bed to prepare for tomorrow.

As the sun rises over the horizon we are eating breakfast. I was eating while checking the different chat channels looks like me letting them go was the right choice the guards were furious when they learned they were being used they immediately arrested those that helped convince them to take action against me and made it harder for others to get there help. All chat channels are alot of furious people saying that all there efforts to make a good impression on the guards are all lost and they blame my competitors and there ally's. The world chat is just people ridiculing those that complained.

After breakfast is a final clean up then we start up the mountains. The air is nice and the scenery is fantastic however there are rock golems blocking our way but they don't pose much threat. As we make our way through the winding paths I continue to talk to my network as well as spend some time talking with my family.

As the days pass we get farther and farther into the mountains. What im hoping to find is a plateau or a valley in the mountains were I can set up a settlement.

3 weeks after starting this journey Brea spots what we are looking for. However when I get a chance to look at it it looks less like a valley and more like we found a massive hole in the mountains. It is a large area quite dense with trees I can see the mountains on the other side but it's so far I can only see there peaks.

On our way down the mountain we see alot of movement in the forest and that's it means monsters and food. I did notice a river on the far eastern side of the forest moving into the center of the forest I think we will head for that.

We set up camp when we make it to the foot of the mountain we will head into the forest after we take a day of rest. Brea goes scouting while everyone else sets things up. When she returns at night she tells me what monsters we can expect in the forest. One type of monster seems to be the rulers of this area some type of ape with spikes on its back it's coloring seems to be weird as it's purple and black. I did ask if they used tools but she said she didn't see them use tools.

We break camp the next morning and head into the forest. The monsters in the forest are similar to what you'd find inevery every forest just with additions plus I got more bloodlines and a few weirded me out.

[Fox bloodline (white)] 1% chance on attack to cause enemy to start hallucinating. Grants 1% chance to see through illusions.

[Squirrel bloodline (white)] 1% chance when on enemies defeat to double dropped items.

[Rodent bloodline (white)] 1% chance to double all coin drops. Note: this includes all types of currency even monster coins.

[Deer bloodline (white)] increases movement speed by 1%. Also increases leg strength by 1%.

[Porcupine bloodline (white)] reflects 1% of all types of damaging attacks.

Some of these bloodlines are not half bad I think as we continue moving. Even though we have been fighting for each step in this forest the apes haven't been attacking us they just stay some distance away and watch. Always watching its getting on my nerves but they make shur to keep a distance from us. This watching keeps on all day and all night I make shur there is always someone on watch just in case.

Then we reach the river it looks relatively wide. I look both up and down the river but it looks the same ither way with animals coming for a drink then leaving. I decided to head up river I wana check the source then return down river to look for a good spot to settle down.

We left Bandit and Brea and headed up stream. The source of the river was a large waterfall coming down the mountains from the east. We went back after a quick look around when we reached the place we left Bandit and Brea the area was torn apart however they were both ok.

Brea reported that after we were gone for a day the apes attacked in force but it became obvious to them fast that they weren't Bandit and Brea's opponents so they retreated and took both the dead and dying. Brea followed them and found were they settled. I asked if it was near the river. Brea nodded and said there is a clearing just down river they use as a settlement point there were no buildings though. After Brea's report I had everyone settle down for the night tomorrow we will head there and see what we see.