Luck seems to be on your side

It takes you many hours of trekking, the cave fisher weighing you down greatly. Luckily for you, it seems that all the common monsters usually found in the hollow path seem to be on vacation as you dont run into anything. Eventually you arrive back home, the shadow giving you a salute before returning to it's post.

"The hell happened to you? Hehehehoohohogohogo." Ynn laughs as the two of you slink back through the gate.

"Long story. " You smirk as you let yourself through the door. The Gnoll is right behind you, curious as to what caused your current state.

The kitchen is empty when you arrive and you throw the massive lobster on the table. "What is this beast?!" Ynn asks.

"Apparently it's called a Cave Fisher. It ambushed us from the ceiling and stunned us with some kind of sonic attack. Be careful in big caverns, they might try hunting small groups." You instruct. "Grab a knife and help me take the meat out before it spoils."

It takes you two several hours to get all the meat from the shell, having trouble not destroying the armor. You wish to perhaps make it into weapons and an armor set in the future, having seen how strong it is first hand. Several members of your troupe come and go as you work, and you promise to retail them with the story at dinner.

"Hopefully this tastes good." You say as you store the meat away in a barrel. The natural coolness of the hollow path should help keep it fresh, but you make a mental note to ask about salt next time Luedevich shows up. By the time everything is situated dinner is served. Tonight's dish, a rabbit stew.

...

"So your saying these fungus folk agreed to ally themselves with us?" Thistle summarizes.

"Yep. Their lord is DingDrio, the sage. He seemed quite wise and when we arrived at his lair i was informed he was quite powerful."

Your council of Ynn and Thistle sit in silence for a moment, soaking in the information. "I dont think we should trust them. We have no idea what they would want from us." Ynn argues.

"True, but currently this alliance is purely mutal, dont attack each other and if we are under attack the other will come to help." Thistle counters. The two continue arguing, but their voices are far off to you as you think to yourself.

"For now, we keep the alliance, but be weary should you run into any of them. Right now we have more pressing issues." You interrupt them. They look at you, mouths open to argue their point before they slowly close them.

"What are you thinking?" The tiger woman inquires.

"In terms of military might, we are severly under powered. Groups like the blue caps and the necromancer have plenty of warriors, and lets not forget the hero's as well. There's a bounty on my head, and now that one group has found us, its only a matter of time till the next arrives."

"Do you have any ideas as to how we rectify this?" Thistle continues.

"For one, we need to expand the caves. We have a good base, but i have a few thoughts on how to expand from here on out. Second, is something we can only really wait on. I need more minions as they are called, and hopefully Luedevich will stir up some monsters, beasts, and people."

"More minions means more mouths to feed and water." Ynn points out.

"Agreed, so i want Thistle to take a group of three to the surface and fill as many barrels of water as possible. With this new mushroom forest located we can start sending foraging parties to it, and hopefully it will prove to be a good hunting ground as well as i work on a more perminant solution." You explain.

"Ynn, i want someone at the gate 24/7. With our few numbers, its gonna be hard, but its a necessary strain we need to incure. I dont plan on leaving the keep anytime soon, i need to heal from the battle and let my arm recover, as well as overseeing the expansions, so there will be atleast 3 fighters at the keep at all time." You explain. The Gnoll nods, a pleased look on his face at seeing you act like a true commander. You three chat for a bit longer, shooting out ideas here and there before you retire to your chambers.

"Huh..." You sigh once your alone. Your arm was quite sore, as was the rest of your body, so you fall onto your makeshift bed and relax. Before you go to sleep you remember that you heard the telltale sounds of levelling up after fighting the cave fisher.

Yazas Vrammagon, Level 10 Exiled Noble
Elf, microboss, Drow, Explicit
Experience to level up: 1,258
Attributes:
Strength 25 -> 27, Dexterity 26 -> 30, Stamina 20 -> 24, Charisma 25 +2 -> 28 +2, Intelligence 25 -> 28, Wisdom 23 -> 25, Luck 20 -> 22 +0
Skills:
Crafting (stonemason)
Architecture (Hollow Pathean)
Feats:
Blind Navigation: Racial trait, easily able to locate and navigate in any location
Silver tongue: increases the chances of positive conversation checks due to persuasion or intimidation based on Charisma
Fey lineage: racial trait, resist charm, immune to magical methods of sleep.
Child of the dark: Racial trait, Gain +2 to dexterity and strength while in dimlight or darkness, loose -2 to dexterity and strength while in direct sunlight.
Darkvision: Racial trait, can see 90 feet in darkness
Elven Mind Trick: Racial Trait, You do not sleep at night, instead meditation will suffice, allowing you more awareness around you.
(!) Magic resistence: Racial Trait, you have resistance to magical attacks, lowering damage taken from any magic attacks
Spells:
Entangle: manipulate the terrain to bind an opponent for ten seconds
Moonfire: create a source of moonlight on your body or held item. Creates light in a 60 foot area. If willed, imbue Holy status or Burning status
(!) Darkness: Create an orb of darkness 30 feet in diameter, or apply to a singular entity for 1 minute. With each added entirety the effect is shirted by 10 seconds
Other:
Blessing of the Moon: A lunar God/Goddess has blessed you! Can cause physical change, reveals hidden luck stat. Gain +1 Luck, Dexterity, And Stamina while in any form of moonlight.
Polearm Proficiency: +3 damage when using a polearm of any form.

"Hm... two levels, but i thought i heard more chimes than that. ...Maybe the badger leveled up as well." You say to yourself as you observe your new stats. "Exiled Noble? I mean it is true, but why did it change now?" You ask yourself. Racking your brain for several minutes you cant come to a logical conclusion and decide to look at your fame.

Fame: 754
Forged an alliance! +250 (Expand)
Fought off an ambush! +200 (Expand)
A Quest has been issued! + 35 (Expand)
Your legend is spreading! +85 (Expand)
Forge and Alliance! +250 (Expanded)
Negotiated an alliance with a faction larger than your own! +100
Negotiated an alliance with a faction stronger than your own! +100
Personally met with the boss of another faction! +50
Fought off an ambush +200 (Expanded)
Fought off an enemy over 5 level's stronger than your own! +100
Killed an opponent over 5 level's stronger than you! +100
A quest has been issued! +35 (Expanded)
Quest abandonded +5×6
Quest taken + 1×5
Your legend is spreading! +85 (Expanded)
Word of your diplomacy is spreading! +20
Word of your Battle prowess is spreading! +35
Word of your loyalty to your allies is spreading! +20
Word of your minions Might is sprading! +10

(!) New items detected!:

(!) 12 Glowshroom
(!) 34 Fungalwood
(!) 21 blue-green thimblecaps
(!) 38 Ruby Hericium
(!) 57 ??? mushroom sprouts
(!) 173 mushroom spores
(!) Cave fisher carapace
(!) Cave fisher meat
(!) Cave fisher blood

"A pretty good haul, hopefully some of this is edible," with that you tuck in, eagerly start meditating to rest your body.

...

With a breakfast of more rabbit stew, you decide to send a party of Thistle, the Gorilla man, and the newly leveled up Badger. You had looked at it's stats after waking up and found that it had gained two levels just like yourself. Once they were off you set the fox girl as first watch, letting Ynn sleep longer.

"Pebble Golem's, come here." You command. You currently were standing at the far side of the courtyard, near the stairs up to the wall. The two elementals slowly shuffle over to you, ready to be put to work. "This part of the courtyard is to be expanded by 15 feet inward for 20 feet from end to end. The passage to the wall also needs to be pushed back." You explain. They give a nod and start working. Half an hour later, the wall is expanded. Next you pull up the build menu and place down a small stable. Luckily your recent foraging expeditions have given you ample materials.

"What's this?" Ynn asks as he walks out of the keep.

"A stable. If we are to support a larger population, we need to start thinking about food production. When Luedevich gets here im asking him about livestock and salt, and with this, we have space to store any he brings us." You explain. The stable had space for 5 animals to comfortably be housed, with a small bit of storage area for feed and tools. Ynn nods and leaves you, walking over to the fox girl to relieve her of guard duty for the moment.

"Yazas." You hear behind you. Turning around you see the foraging party had returned.

"Ah Thistle, i trust everything went well?"

"We got the first barrel filled. While we were up top the nymph expressed her displeasure of still waiting to get down here." The tiger woman says with a chuckle.

"I figured as much. Tell her that we're working on it, and that to expect to be moved within the week." She nods and open her mouth.

"Besides that the nymphs told us the local news. Apparently Utnop has calmed down a bit in their search for you and us. They also started expanding the town since there's been a large influx of heroes coming around due to the world event."

"I see. More hero's isnt great news, but luckily they are mostly focused on Beelzebub. Did they tell you anything else?" You inquire.

"Just that the necromancer seems to have finally stopped their advances on the territory around them. Apparently they ran afoul of another faction and have been locked in a stalemate with them. They did report that the necromancer does still send out patrols to the area, but no further encroachment has been seen for a few days."

"Hm... this is not unwelcome news. Thank you Thistle. Take an hours break and then start filling another barrel." You instruct. She gives you a nod and walls to the keep, leaving you alone with the golems. Hearing that the necromancer had been stopped, at least temporarily, was encouraging, but you needed to make due on your promise to the nymph. The only question was how.

You open the build menu once more as well as your territory map and stare at it for a good while, coming up with plans before throwing them out. "How best to solve this problem. She needs somewhere to live, how much space, and where could we put her? This never was a problem back when it was just the pond and waterfall."

Your ears perk up at this, and an idea starts to form in your mind. "Pond and waterfall huh..." You quickly start placing expansions to your lair... if it could be called that now, and as you look at the final product, you realize this would take an enormous amount of time and energy, not to mention man power. You look around the menu and see a strange hourglass image. Clicking it, it brings up a new menu you've never seen. "Name blueprint?" You read aloud. "New Light." You say after moment. The words appear in the prompt and the menu disappears, as does the entire plan you made. A wave of shock and terror falls over you as you click the hourglass again, and see a prompt labeled New Light.

With a quick sigh, of relief you close the project window and start anew, only much simpler, and able to be expanded into the other project. Its a long tunnel, going all the way to the edge of your territory before it curves around, following the edge until it stops about a mile away from the keep. There you hollow out a cave that's roughly 20ft by 30ft by 25ft, with a gentle slope, making it a good place to make your reservoir, and home to the nymph. She'll be pissed that she's so far away from everyone, but for now its what she'll have to deal with.

"Golems... get to work."