As Sunrise starts Dalman closes the doors to the Treetop Cavern and wakes up some of the other clones. They agree to wait for their new friends to wake up on their own and in the meantime experiment with their new forms. Patches takes the form of an Orc, Hamish a dwarf, and Greyus takes the elf as their semi permanent forms. Each of them look respectively young except for the orc form, which is about 7 feet tall and looks almost like a young adult, possibly because of the orc's rough facial features, but it could be because orcs develop sooner than other species. The elf however looks younger than the other forms and the dwarf looks like it could sprout stubble any day.
As the clones admire their new forms they don't have to wait long for their new friends to wake up. Kael, Lyra, and Gimli wake up alongside the sunrise, a habit from perspectively years of mercenary work, guard work, and traveling. Once those three have woken up, they go and wake up Thorne, Finn, and Borin, and approach the circle of clones.
Kael steps ahead of the others and addresses Tako after Identifying them by the stained name and number on their shirt. He speaks in a measured and calculated tone, his years of leadership evident in his manner of speech. "We were wondering if that offer for shelter extending beyond last night. We don't exactly have a place to go from here without passing through the territory of the Twilight Weavers or through more dangerous areas of the forest. We won't overstay if we are no longer welcome but we would appreciate your further hospitality."
Tako smiles standing up and outstretching their right hand and once Kael takes it says, "No you're no longer welcome." Then laughs as the guests momentarily freak out. "Relax I'm joking you can stay as long as you want as long as you teach me and find your place here you are welcome in the Tako Tree Tower. Now shall we show you around?"
Tako says with a smile gesturing towards the door to the staircase as they finish shaking Kael's hand. The clones then guide them towards the stairs a clone each taking a partner or two to guide personally.
Gimli and Borin look at Hamish Tentatively, and Gimli speaks up. "I thought some of those bones looked dwarven, at least they went to good use that is a fine form if I say so myself." Then the old prospector firmly slaps Hamish on the back laughing and Borin joins in. "Aye now ye look much better with a proper dwarven form, quite a beautiful one as well. We'll have to brew up some alcohol soon and test if you have gained dwarven tenacity as well." Then Gimli adds, " and Hamish is a fine dwarven name, even if you are more feminine than manly! At least you act with purpose and eat with gusto!"
As Gimli and Borin attach themselves to Hamish the others partner up as well with various clones. Kael goes with Tako, Lyra goes with Justine, Finn blushes and chooses Hiper and Thorne goes with Dee in order to have a dragonkin show him the blacksmith. At first they all move down the stairs as a group and take the tour of the Tako Tree Tower together.
First stop on the tour is the shrine where the clones offer a prayer to the gods, then they show them around the mini area. After the basic tour is over they split and go their separate ways. Patches and Borin go to the cellars and brewery while Gimli helps Hamish start digging out a second basement layer and plan where to start a mine. Thorne and Dee of course end up in the blacksmith forge. Justine and Greyus end up going with Kael and Lyra to the training grounds to learn how to practice with the many wooden training weapons Justine carved days ago.
Finn and Hiper went next to the library where Finn taught the tiefling clone how to choose the best wood for making paper. Tako and Kuro took the Spatial storage bags from the gods as well as the ones from the elves out to go gather more supplies. Lastly Talon goes out hunting for large prey like boar, deer, elk and moose and whatever else is around.
Over in the blacksmith forge shortly after they all went separate ways. "I'll teach you how to smith properly and use those dragon flames to your advantage young...." "Dee" Dee tells Thorne as the big burly man grabs an earthen crucible and has the clone split off some iron from one of the spheres in the corner. "First we'll start with how to make the right charcoal and add it to Iron to make stronger iron and steel." The blacksmith places the crucible next to the forge. "The very first thing however is getting the forge to the right temperature and for that we need coal, Luckily I have some in my storage bag since I was in charge of repairing the tools and weapons while I was a slave for the Twilight Weavers."
He takes some out of his bag and loads the forge with the right amount. "Now breathe enough of that dragon flame to ignite the coal but not enough to burn away the coal completely." The burly man instructs the dragonkin clone and the clone complies watching the coal closely and stops when it starts to get red and is obviously burning on it's own. "Go a little longer we need them nearly white hot to properly melt the iron lass." The clone does as instructed and stops when told to, and watches the blacksmith use tongs to insert the crucible into the forge.
"Now I also have charcoal to start but first we'll wait until that is formed melted and add charcoal powder while we form it into an ingot. So first let's teach you how to properly make a compact sand mold. Or better yet you can shape it with magic or whatever that thing you told us about last night was, bending was it?" "Yes bending it's similar to magic only a bit easier to freeform control than magic at least at low levels."
"Ok good then shape an ingot about 10 inches long by 4 inches wide at the biggest and 9 by 3 at the base of the mold which will be 2 inches deep. that will be your standard ingot mold. Better make a few of them as well." The clone once again does as told. "Now I'll teach you how to make proper charcoal for steel, then once the ingots are made I'll teach you how to hammer and fold metal properly and how to combine ingots to make larger blades. First for charcoal what you want to know is...." The smith carries on and the clone listens attentively.
Over next to the library shortly after they parted ways Finn is talking nervously to Hiper. "So first thing about paper making is you can actually make paper with any wood and even many grasses, weeds and bushes. I actually suggest we take the time to test out different types to see which works best. But first we are going to need several water basins, One for making pulp, one for slurry and one to dip our paper mesh molds in once we are ready."
"Speaking of Paper mesh molds we are going to need a very fine fabric as well as a thicker fabric that is very smooth to dry it on. Now luckily we were slaves to the Twilight Weavers and one thing they had plenty of was cloth and fabric. Now thankfully you left behind all the supplies stored in their spatial storage bags in one of the bags and I convinced you to bring it with us because I knew we would need it. But that is for a later step, first you need to finely grind and shred the wood into fibers. Then once we have fibers we will soak it for a while and use magic to beat it into a pulp."
"Once we have the pule we'll need to add a binding agent and/or pigment and mix it into a slurry. Then once you have a proper paper slurry you need to pour it into another basin of water and sieve it out using the paper mold sieve. a paper mold sieve is a fine mesh sieve that has a separable frame built in the size and shape you want your paper in. Then once you have your sieve full of condensed washed slurry you will place it on your drying fabrics and let it dry for at least a day. Now lets get started on prepping that fiber and making a pulp..." And thus continued Finn and Hiper working on making paper for a good while.
Over in the training grounds Justine and Greyus are already sweating while doing weighted push ups based on the orders of Kael and Lyra. "And after you do a hundred of these do 50 weighted laps around the inside of the wall, It was a good idea to make a running track so lets make sure you put it to good use. Remember a proper weapon uses uses their whole body as one, no matter what you wield be it sword, spear, staff, dagger, Sai, whatever. Every single one requires a strong body that is both firm and flexible. As well as a strong mind. And once you are done warming up We'll teach you the basics of Weapon usage." And so starts the long, sweaty weapon training of Justine and Greyus.
Down in the brewery Borin is helping Patches grind up some kiel and erma separately in order to start the process of fermenting. "Now there are a number of ways to ferment, you can use sagar (Sugar called that way because it is commonly made from sa'a ) or xin root (Ginger like root) But we dwarves like to use bazu,(yeast) specifically beer bazu." The younger dwarf takes a jar out of their own spatial storage bag. Bazu is basically a mini organism that aids in the fermentation process, it is used in beers, ales, wines, breads, pretzels, pastries, and many other items especially those that use grains."
"Now I noticed you also are growing bling berries in your berry bush fields, they are also great bling wine is highly sought after and I will teach you how to do those after we are done here. Now kiel ale ferments better in earthen jars, however you'll want to ferment your erma beer and whiskey in barrels. So to start once you have your fine ground powder you'll take your container and..." And thus carry on the younger dwarf and the orc clone as they get immersed in the world of brewing.
Lastly down on the growing sub basement level Gimli is learning how to earthbend from Hamish and is laughing and loving it as he learns fast. "Lass this earthbending be a fine ability truly fitting of a dwarf. It truly allows you to be one with the earth HAHAHAHA! I love it!" the dwarf exclaims happily as he compacts another area before he gets to tired and starts watching the dwarf clone work away with ease.
"At this rate we will be done with this sub basement and started on the mine in no time!" The old prospector pulls out a pickaxe and goes over to the start of a coal vein on the edge of the sub basement. "if you had told me you were a natural born dwarf I would have believed you even with all the other clones and forms you have. It's like you were made to dig through rock and stone like a proper dwarven prospector. We will turn this area into a proper mine." The old dwarf says as he starts hacking at the wall with vigor and excitement. And so carry on Gimli and Hamish as the day goes on.
And the first day of something new passes like that slowly with breaks for lunch and dinner as the clones and new friends find their places in the Tako Tree Tower.