Rough Draft Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 165 (Patreon)

We now return your village to   Defcon 1. My that was close...

M'F'ARGLE, a Level 19 Epic Boss   from Beyond the Stars has been sent home.

Which is good, he'd have made a   horrible neighbor for the short time he'd have been here before the entire   neighborhood went up in magical salamander flames.

The Victory was a huge group   effort! Every person who was involved in the event will receive 3 CSP and 500   experience.

 The brave Defenders of Glade receive an additional 5 CSP.

The Circle of White Witches who exorcised   the Star-Spawn from our reality recieve 5 CSP and 1000 experience that may be   used for Witchery, Hermetics, Hedge-Wizard, the Old Ways, or Consume Alcohol.   Each member of the circle has also learned the Hex of Protection,   and the Hex of Exorcism. These powerful spells may only be used   by a full circle.

 Jorges will receive 5 CSP and the knowledge to make a Dark Steel anvil.

 Each Professor of The College of Practical Alchemy and Experimental Magics,   and their alchemical assistants, receives 3 CSP, will be recognized for their   work in the field of Insane Heat Production. The College has taken one   small step to regaining its accreditation.

 The Smoke Golem known as Smokey Joe...says "mind your own   business". Right...sorry about that.

 The Butcher of Sedgewick receives 20 CSP for his role in burning to death an   ancient being who just wanted to visit. He also receives 2000 experience that   may be spent on Pit Alchemy or Aspect of Fire

The Town of Sedgewick receives 750 Building points for surviving what   should have been a 'Scorched Earth' event. A tithe of 250 Building points was   sent to Gadobhra, which would really benefit from some good 'Scorched Earth'.

"That's the last of it, Joe. Looks like the new Pit wanted half the screaming coal and you get to keep half." Ozzy was shoveling the remaining pieces of screaming coal into a sturdy barrel. He hefted it on his shoulder and walked up the spiral stairs that followed the wall of the pit to the bottom. Joe had told him the pit would need to be cleaned out entirely before it finalized the new build. The firepit had expanded already, going two stories deeper and becoming thirty feet wide. Two feet on either side was left for the staircase down, and the rest would be filled with fuel and flames.

Where the hell all the building materials were being stored was a mystery, but as oak logs and stone bricks were stacked next to the old Pit they just vanished. He got updates every now and then, like the thing was impatient and wanted to get moving on the new construction. Hell, maybe it did?

It had taken several days for all the heat to dissipate. A lot of rock and metal had been heated to over 5000 degrees Fahrenheit. Without magic, it would be a mini volcano of molten rock. Instead, the heat was slowly absorbed, the fires went out, and the Pit cooled off. A ton of Tier 4 Screaming coal was left in the bottom of the much deeper fire pit. Joe had instructed him carefully on storing it. "Use those new Ironwood casks the carpenters are making. They should be air tight, and fire resistant. We don't want a stray flame igniting this stuff and starting it wailing."

After that he had to haul out the charred bones of the sedge beasts they hadn't had time to remove before the wagon arrived, and tons of ashes. After that was done, Ozzy took a small vacation from his Pit. It was slowly rebuilding itself under Joe's guidance. The Pit would now be at the center of a large, windowless wooden building. The thing was going to be huge, at least 70 feet to a side, and four stories tall, although it was all just one huge room with the Pit in the center. Going up was a maze of rafters and chains where meat would be hung to smoke.

Ozzy liked the improved space. He had room for piles of barrels, wood and charcoal for the fire, and a place to store the finished barrels of smoked sedge beast for delivery. In two corners he was planning to dig out root cellars. One for Joe to keep all his precious ingredients in, and the other would become an icebox with Delbert's help. The Ice Mage was going to get a lot of experience keeping that corner cold, with all the hot air circling above the doors to the cellar.

But it would be a couple of weeks until everything was finished. The materials had to be brought in, and the mana collected. The shocking number of a million stamina or mana seemed a lot more doable after he'd have time to think about it. Even if he just asked the newest hundred workers to help, a lot got accumulated each day. On average they were level 3 now with 800 mana and 2400 stamina. If they only donated 2000 each, that was 200,000 a day. The more experienced workers could put in three times as much. It was pretty easy to collect 750,000 a day from the crew. Especially since he was paying them.

Suzette had made it a daily quest. They donated what they could, and each got 1 gold piece. She was taking it out of the profit he had made from selling his bacon. A gold piece was a nice bonus for the older workers, and a huge windfall for the new ones. It was also making the merchants happy up at the keep. None of the workers down in Sedgewick were wearing burlap anymore or eating groatmeal muffins unless they wanted to. A few actually liked the taste.

Ozzy hadn't minded the time off. Not his fault at all. He couldn't smoke or slaughter sedge beast until the Pit was operational again. Instead, he cleaned up the remains of the barn, and then split time between Gadobhra and the Keep. He'd been surprised to see Jorges show up with his team of three blacksmith apprentices and Rufus. They got to work helping him with the barn. While he was stacking a couple of hundred sedge beast that had been turned into jerky, Jorges was bagging up and hauling off the charcoal. He was almost gleeful about it. He kept staring at the chunks of charred wood and even tasting it. Ozzy had finally goaded him a bit.

"Suzette really appreciates the help bagging up all this burned wood. She has a merchant friend coming to buy it for a gold piece per wagon load."

Jorges back had stiffened, and Ozzy swore the man had growled. Then he smiled awkwardly. "I'd hate to see her not get this stuff's full value. I can use it in the forge. Maybe she'd like some new wrought iron sconces to hold her oil lamps in the tavern? Or maybe some good quality cutlery? "

Ozzy shook his head. "You know how she is. Mostly curious about things and how to make the best deal. So maybe you should tell me why this stuff makes you so happy before I mention it to her?"

Jorges sighed. "Let's cut to the chase on you twisting my arm. How about we just trade all the stone you need for your pit for the charcoal? It's really fine fuel for the forges. It has the properties of screaming coal, but burns slower and more controlled. It's what I need to really get good at working with Dark Steel."

Ozzy shook hands and sealed the deal. "Sounds good by me. Let's get this packed up before she figures out what it's good for. You'd be buying it from her and I'd be cutting stone for another month."

With more time off, he was easily keeping up with his chores at Gadobhra. Guild master Gristle had been happy to see him. "You don't know how happy I am to see one of my young butchers climbing the ranks! That was a lovely display of fire you put on to start work on your new Charnel Pit. Just lovely."

He looked at Ozzy and wrung his hands. "I don't suppose you would like to pay your Guild dues for advancing to Tier 3 early, would you? Things have been a little tight here lately. I still can't get the deadbeats inside to pay what is owed."

Ozzy handed over the few gold coins needed. It was a small price for what he was getting. "Not a problem, sir, And I must say, I'm looking forward to what the guild will offer for Tier 3 Butchering quests."

Gristle seemed startled by that thought. "Oh, yes. I suppose I should look into that. The guild is accumulating quite a bit of experience from the fine efforts of you and the other butchers. But the filing fees are murderous to buy new skills. Sadly, many of the options we used to have lapsed over time."

Ozzy considered the statement for a bit, while Gristle sat looking unhappy and guilty at the situation. Then Ozzy smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Not to worry, it's the slaughter and blood that are important, right? I'm sure you'll find the money for some new skills soon, and I have to finish my Charnel Pit and then level up. So you have some time. Days at least." Ozzy waved good naturedly and headed out to see what interesting things he would get to kill today. He got in a little butchering each day, trying to work on Precise Cuts and Choice cuts to level up his stats.

Ben was coming by later. He wanted to try and investigate Hungry Town during the day. Then at dusk Suzette an Rolly would join them, along with Runt and Squirmie. They were making a deep push into the Beastwoods hoping to find the dungeon Runt said was hidden there.