The rest of Curly’s briefing was pretty generic. There wasn’t a lot about the surrounding area that they hadn’t seen on their way into the Hovel. Some trees, lots of dead land, and lots of snow. She’d hoped he’d locate something interesting, but it really was as barren as it had appeared and that wasn’t likely to change just from wishing it were so.

Eventually she sent him on his way and went back to pondering the letter. She’d meant to push it from her mind, but it nagged at her. What was up with that Demon Lord, anyway? One minute she’s giving Len more grief than she’d ever had before, the next she’s talking in an almost encouraging fashion about expectations. What was her deal? And why did it bother her so much, anyway? She wondered if she might have a little bit of that same influence that she saw with the rest of the lackeys starting to take hold, but doubted it. Astrid pissed her off too much to hold any real sway over her mind, but these fascinations weren’t healthy and she’d be better off spending her time focusing on the task at hand. If the Lord had expectations, that was her business, Len had bigger things to worry about.

She’d been slightly successful in bringing the slackers to heel for the moment, but she wasn’t confident that it would last. There was one last pair of Orcs that she needed to meet before she settled on any serious plans, and that was the hunters. Unfortunately, they were currently out on a hunt that had lasted for days, so she had to press on without them.

The most useful tidbit she had about this place was that it was currently stocked with a number of craftsmen. She’d have to get a full list of their specialties soon, but even the limited options weren’t bad. If she could find a way to get supplies for that glassblower, she could start taking steps to seriously boost their crop production. She’d always wanted a greenhouse, but hadn’t had any options for one in her apartment back home.

The problem of discipline was a large one. These people had no morale left, no hope of bettering their lot, and no reason to trust that she had their best interests at heart. It was a crushing feeling that she knew well, having had a number of shitty retail jobs over the course of her life, the feeling that no one was looking out for you was a sure fire way to get the bare minimum out of people. And for a long time, the bare minimum here had been ‘nothing’. She’d shaken up the status quo, and that would have consequences, but it was also necessary. Without getting them in line right at the start, her chances of getting anything worthwhile out of this place were nonexistent.

A few more hands working the mine would help provide more fuel for the place, keep the fires lit through cold nights and allow for slightly more creature comforts, but it wouldn’t solve the food situation. Frankly, it was a miracle that the few productive members of the team hadn’t already given up and she worried that those hunters might have done exactly that with how long they’d been gone, but she couldn’t waste time worrying about that now, this place was dying and she needed to fix it.

Unfortunately, knowing that a fix was needed wasn’t the same as knowing what that fix was and Len was not feeling terribly confident about what she could do. The Trio was pretty adept at taking care of themselves, could do some hunting if necessary, but that wasn’t enough. It’d just lead to another smaller group taking care of the whole while large chunks sat on their asses. These people needed something to either hope for or fear and either way it was going to be tough.

After ruminating on those thoughts for longer than was necessary, Len emerged from her tent into the midday sun. It was still cold as hell, but some of the bite was gone now that the sun was shining down on them properly. In the distance she saw Larry marching the crafters through the snow, having them clear away paths that had been ignored for ages. He looked very pleased with himself and they looked a mix of annoyed with him and/or afraid of him. Frankly, it was going better than she’d expected.

She was tempted to check in on the mine, but also didn’t want to push Weaver any further just yet. It was a delicate thing when you publicly punished someone. Could be a useful tool to get the rest in line, but if you pressed things too much, you’d break the guy and she couldn’t afford to lose anyone. For now it was better to leave him be. Moe was probably a better hand at it anyway.

Curly had returned to exploring the area, not really hopeful of finding anything else, but still interested in making himself useful. She considered giving another attempt at getting to know Marble, but that seemed more exhausting than she felt like dealing with just yet. All in all… she didn’t know what to do with herself.

Waiting on the return of the hunters seemed like a less than productive use of her time, and she’d talked to everyone else. That didn’t leave a whole lot of options besides holing up in the tent and pondering what that letter had meant. This was not an activity she was keen to do at present. Instead of that, she decided to help out Cookie.

“So, what can I do to help?” she asked him.

“What do you mean?”

“Err…” she stalled. What did he mean, what did she mean?

“What can I do that would make your job easier?” she tried a different phrasing.

“I… don’t actually know. I’ve got things pretty much taken care of here and I wouldn’t want to waste your time, boss. You must have more important things to be doing right now.”

She wanted to say that she didn’t, but that wouldn’t have been a good look on her first day. So dismissed, she ducked out of the mess hall to wander again.

“You know what?” she muttered. “Fine, I’ll take a look around for myself.

So saying, she headed to the Hovel’s entrance and waved at Valkar as she passed.

“You’re taking off already?”

“I’m not taking off,” she said. “I’m just going for a walk.”

“You realize that I’ve heard that line at least a dozen times by now, right? Maybe twice, they’ve actually returned. You’d be better off sticking around here where it’s safe. Dangerous things out there, wouldn’t want to get gobbled up.”

“I can take care of myself, just hold down the fort for me. And hey, if I do mysteriously disappear out there, try to take care of my goblins for me. They’re a pain in the ass, but they’re good people.”

Valkar shrugged and let her go. She couldn’t really get a read on him either, at some times he seemed halfway decent, at others he didn’t seem to care at all. He definitely wasn’t the sort of leader this camp needed, but he also seemed to know it. It was an odd situation, but she supposed he was making do as best he could. The main thing for her right now was just getting more comfortable with the area.

Curly’s tracks were fairly obvious as she made her way out of the Hovel: tiny footprints dragging through snow that was up to his knees. By contrast, it was a little past her shins, and didn’t quite reach the top of her boots. Every now and then, a little snow slipped past, and she knew for a fact that her feet would be chilled to the bone from ice water by the end of this trek, but that didn’t matter, she just needed to DO something.

She’d been trekking for half an hour or so when she realized that she was getting a bit far from home. The rock face was still clearly visible, but she’d strayed a bit out of sight of the Hovel itself. She wasn’t nervous, just highly aware of circumstances. She’d just begun to consider turning around, when she saw smoke from a small fire.

“Leave it, Len,” she muttered. “No sense sticking your nose into it right now.”

Unfortunately, the mixture of boredom, mild impotence, and desperate desire to accomplish something with the day got the better of her and instead of heading back to the Hovel, as would be smart, she found herself trudging TOWARDS the likely dangerous situation. It wasn’t the smart thing to do, but it seemed that she was doing it anyway. What fun this would be.