Chương 138: Chapter 134 — Timber Consortium Review

Silvermere Region Day 10 of the Grainworks Initiative Mark woke up and left the inn, heading toward Lakeside. The roads were definitely busier now, with many more wagons, horses, and people hauling goods from one place to another. When he finally got to Lakeside, it looked very different from before. The population had to be three times what it was last time he was there. When he got there, he was met by Edwin and Mara, the leaders of Lakeside. Mark said, "Hello, Edwin and Mara. How is it going?"

Edwin said, "It's a bit crazy since this Timber Consortium started. We used to just be a little village, and now you can see." He pointed to construction just down the road from the village.

"They are building a logging camp just down the road, and it's caused a huge influx of temporary and permanent people living in the village. We even thought about building an inn. People are no longer just passing through. Some have been working here for over a week, and with the Timber Consortium expected to take months, temporary camps are slowly becoming permanent neighborhoods." Mark said, "Did anyone in the village get one of the spots as assigned personnel?"

Mara said, "Yes, there is a woman named Anna who lives here and got one of the spots." Mark said, "Great. I want to go talk with her. But before I do, is there anything I can help you with? I have moved since we last talked, and I live in Beaver Crossing now. Oh, and I have this flyer to hand out." Mark then passed them one of the flyers to look at. Edwin looked over the flyer and said, "So what's up with this Adventurers' Guild thing anyway?"

Mark then took the time to explain what the guild was, how it worked, and its benefits, including maps and reputation, then sent both of them invites. He also set up some new trade agreements while he was there for things they had in excess, like goats, goat milk, and cheese, and then he thanked them for their time and went to find Anna.

He also encouraged them to share the guild invites with anyone in the village that did not have it already and to look into its benefits, including hiring them to complete tasks like finding goods or items they were short on. Mark said, "Hello Anna, I am told that you are one of the assigned members of the Timber Consortium. I was wondering what the status is on it." Anna said, "Good question. I got approved and was given a list of specific tasks that I was responsible for but have no clue what I am doing."

Mark said, "Have you met with any of the other members of the ten-person group over it?" Anna said, "No, is that something I should do? How do I get hold of them?" Mark said, "Send messages through the task board. Create a meeting task. Pay everyone travel time from the project treasury. But get meetings started one way or another."

Mark then explained to her what he had learned while they were building Forgeworks and how the main group in charge met every few days and, as a group, helped solve the problems that were going on. As an example, he told her about jobs no one wanted because the offered rewards were too small to interest anyone. He explained how to go into the interface and set up a bonus for specific jobs or categories of jobs.

How to add and remove trade agreements and how to set up new tasks and allocate credits that belonged to the Timber Consortium as a whole. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. She was grateful for the help and told Mark she would find the other members of the Timber Consortium and try to arrange a meeting.

Mark let her know before he left that he would also visit some of the sites on the map that indicated that construction was happening for it and see if he could find more of the group and also let them know. Mark visited both the lumber drying yards and the grand sawmill complex on his way to Westward Village. Both locations were still little more than construction zones, and he could not find any of the group in charge at either place. There were workers everywhere but no leaders to be found.

He did pass out his flyer and invited a few people that were interested to the Adventurer's Guild and shared its benefits. Like everywhere else, Westward Village was growing. They were building housing for more workers as they were the closest to the two locations. Talking to their council and a member of the Timber Consortium team, he found out much of the same: that people were doing tasks, but no one really knew what was going on, who was in charge, or what they should really be doing.

They were simply working through the task list provided by the consortium and not doing much beyond that. Mark did not spend a lot of time with them but did share the flyer and invited a few to the guild and headed towards Northridge Village, as he knew they were well organized there and he was hoping they had a better handle on what was going on. When he arrived in Northridge, he found the village council meeting and was invited to join them.

They were discussing how to manage the Timber Consortium from Northridge Village because no separate project organization existed. Mark asked them why they were doing that and found out they did not know how the Timber Consortium should work and had never really looked at the interface for it, only the jobs list. He found that three members of their village council were part of the ten-person group, the most he had found in the zone.

Mark spent the next hour going over everything they had learned while building Forgeworks. How the system allowed them to make tasks at a premium, change settings, make new tasks, and outsource things to other villages or outposts. By the end of the hour, the three members of the main committee finally had a plan for moving forward. They decided the Timber Consortium needed its own headquarters rather than trying to operate out of Northridge Village.

After the long day of travel and finding the leaders had never met, he finally felt that he had accomplished something and completed his stewardship work for the project. He also invited their full village council to the Adventurers' Guild and instructed them on how to bring up the maps and see the other zones around them. He suggested that they reach out to set up trade agreements on behalf of the consortium.

Beaver Crossing was only one of a couple dozen villages and outposts that could be seen on the map, and currently they were only trading with a small handful. After leaving the council with a plan for getting their project organized, Mark, for the last thing on his trip today, visited the local animal breeders and the wagon-construction facility. He ordered fifteen more wagons and teams of horses to pull them for the grainfields and forest zone.

He also asked them to, if possible, increase their breeding, as they needed more oxen and mules, and put in a request for twenty of each to be delivered in groups as they became available. On the way to the inn, he noticed the store he had bought the painting and toys from before. It looked busier than it had been the last time he was here. He went in and saw that they had restocked their toys and again agreed to purchase all of them and paid to have them shipped to the inn in Beaver Crossing.

He knew he would hear words about it from Sarah. He also ordered a bed and matching desk, dresser, and wardrobe and set it up for delivery to his cabin in Beaver Crossing. With his tasks done, he retired to the inn and planned to spend the day tomorrow traveling back to Beaver Crossing. Mark's last thought before going to sleep was that Grainworks grew food, Forgeworks produced metal, and the Timber Consortium wasn't building a single structure. It was creating an entire forestry industry.