"We pledge fealty to the House of Snow." They all said in unison. After the introductions were done it was now that Eldric learned that some of the people would have certain traits to them. For example, there was a man who said he did a job as a designer in his town, he took care of the town image and there was another one who had did some artisan work. 'Convenient' he thought.
The group was then divided into smaller groups and was delegated toward their tasks to learn the ropes and help as soon as possible. The man who did some artisan work was sent to Caspian to talk about the armor and craftsmanship. He left Caspian to decide what needed to be done. Eldric on the other hand led the other man who did design work around the whole House and surrounding areas. He showed the man the map and ideas he created for the House, and with that they started discussing certain things that would need to be done. Firstly, the things to do on the outside were at the moment not as important and secondly, they did not have the certain resources they wanted to design the outside.
The design for the House was thus to be first to be put on the agenda. The front of the House should resemble what they value and honor, thus two huge banners with the sigil of the Icy Crowned Stag would take the for front. Due to the House being mostly made out of huge stones and boulders as well as the large oakwood trees it looked like a winter forest fortress and if they put the banners on each side, it would be perfect. The inside should be filled with various sorts of things and decorations. So far what they had discussed was that every small room should be filled with either one or two beds for the knights and people. The House was still enough to accommodate the new arrivals with ease.
The main hall would be decorated with their banners and winter style decorations. They blabbered all morning and finally when afternoon came by, they had finished the planning for the House and areas surrounding it. Well, it was put on the agenda but before they had the necessary materials and such they would refrain from decorating and refurbishing the House. And finally, the last matter that Isaac, the designer, reminded Eldric about was the clothes.
They were called a House and had Knights, yet they had weapons made of iron, but they still wore their rags and basic clothing. So, after the construction of the fish farm and armory they would see what they could do about clothes.
Nonetheless, those problems were better left off for tomorrow and the afternoon had come, and the group would go hunting. There are 10 knights so the knights would divide into 5 teams one more experienced knight and one less experienced. Then the new people would divide themselves in between each team. So, the structure would basically look like this:
5 Teams in total
1 Team
2 knights
11 Civilians (Roughly)
And each team would go their separate ways.
Thus, the daily hunt began, and they were hunting for about 5 hours before the first team returned. The animals that could be seen in the outer reaches had once more dropped and even the small fowls were seen less and less according to what Galen said.
That night Eldric gathered the 10 Knights and gave them some instructions. "Firstly, Caspian was able to make some armor, a low-grade rank 2 breastplate"
As soon as the group heard the words rank 2, they almost went ballistic before Eldric quickly added, "Hold on, at the moment we don't have enough resources to forge more armor and thus we have only 2 pieces. I want to give it to Solen and Galen. Now before you object, I will give you the armor based off your strengths. Galen and Solen is the strongest and thus they will get the first two pieces."
Those that wanted to object and reason quickly shut their mouths when they heard him give them such a reason for his decision. When Eldric saw no one would object he gave the two pieces of breastplates which Caspian forged this afternoon. The intricate designs were carved on the steel itself and the Riverstones replaced the sapphires and finally the fur on the high end collar was from the little fur the Stoneback bears had.
It was very much in the theme of winter and with the fur as a small cape or cloak fastened it looked majestic and beautiful. "That looks good. Now since we have the armor blueprints, let's talk about its business." Eldric said seriously,
"We would need to gather Riverstone's for the weapons and armors and finally it would seem we need to kill some Stoneback Black Bears. Before we deal with them look at this." He showed them the map information about the basin and its residents. "When they saw the strength of the two packs they sucked in a breath of air.
"To think such strong groups lurked in the basin. Good thing we didn't advance further into the woods." Lachlan said with a fright. "But if the deer has 3 Novices why not rule the basin and kick out the bears?" he asked.
"We don't know but it may be because the three deer are lower level than the bear and they are maybe equally marched?" Cael suggested.
"Most likely, the deer are maybe at low stage Novices and the bear is a mid-stage, Novice. Either way it could spell trouble for us if we advance carelessly. "Evander said after some thought.
"He's right we should be careful, but we need the fur from the bears, so I suggest that from now on if you find a bear make sure it's alone and not that strong. We don't want to anger the bears and face their wrath. If we get one more bear, we could make probably two more breastplates. Don't hunt them too much kill only one or two in the following few weeks. And with that being said. Galen and Solen, try to make haste and advance to a Squire. Only then could we ensure our safety." Eldric said after some meticulous thought.