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Demesne 110 - Timekeeping
🕑 Added 2021-10-24 17:01:01 +0000 UTCThe Dungeon was different from the last time a dragon had passed. For one thing, it was lit now.
In the meantime, while that was being done, Lori filled one of the pots with water for the morning stew—if it wasn't morning already, it would be soon—and set down bindings to radiate heat, Riz following her as ordered and going off to look for people if Lori needed it. It was a simple combination of lightwisps, to define the area you most definitely shouldn't stick your hand in, and firewisps to heat whatever was put in it. She really hoped no one burned themselves to the bone, since this dragon was probably going to kill Shanalorre—and Lori's miners with her—but, well…
She chose to look on the profiting column of the ledger: she'd now be able to claim River's Fork's core, assuming she could find wherever it was buried, which would greatly ease extraction of metals once she'd bound it to her and she could use Whispering freely there. To do that, however, she and her demesne had to survive as well.
Lori had boiled the water in the reservoir before she'd sent it to the kitchen, so it should be clean enough to drink, and as breakfast was being prepared she redirected the pipes of the kitchen spigots to lead to the reservoir, while sealing off the old pipes in case anything tried to crawl through there. She also filled the trough in the new baths and heated the water. While she still needed to make a better reservoir, these baths she was inclined to keep this time, even if she would only open them for emergencies.
By the time breakfast was ready, the Dungeon was under siege.
A group of former militia armed with spears stood in front of the air vents under Rian's direction, their spears half inserted into the slits as they killed and pushed out dragonborn abominations trying to get inside. There were noticeably a lot more dragonborn abominations trying to get into the Dungeon this time than there had been before. The charred, sweet smell became intensely nauseating, and Lori was finally able to place what it was: dragonborn blood, exploding into heat and boiling as it left their bodies. Not all had it but some with bodies that seemed to run more on magic than life, the most twisted and strange, were filled with the stuff. The bottoms of the air slits and the floor in front of it was becoming caked in the substance, a thick, syrupy liquid the color of burned gold that still bubbled with inner heat.
The spearheads were equally coated in the golden dragonborn blood. Fortunately, it didn't seem to overly impair their use.
"Rian, breakfast," Lori said.
"I'll eat later!" he said, not looking back at her.
"You have been awake even longer than I have been," Lori said. "And I'm hungry. You will eat now so you can arrange for a change in shifts and so we can plan long-term. Now get over here."
Rian finally glanced towards her, a frustrated look on his face, but nodded. He turned to a neaby man. "Take over, Kolinh," he said. "I'll be back."
"Take your time, Lord Rian," the man said, looking almost bored. Wasn't he an engineer? "We'll be here when you get back."
"I really, really hope so," Rian said fervently. He stepped away and, to Lori's amusement, rested the spear on the makeshift rack the children put their seeling rods, which had been moved aside when the Dungeon had been opened up. Rian fell in next to her as they began heading for their table. "Please tell me you didn't just call me to get your food for you."
Lori frowned at him. "Of course not," she said. "But yes, go get the food. No, we need to schedule. At least one of us needs to be up at any given time, meaning the other needs to be sleeping while that happens. I've had my sleep, so after breakfast I want you to lie down so you can take over when it's my turn to rest. "
"I'm still good for a while longer," Rian said, looking stubborn.
Lori gave him a level look. "I am not asking you to sleep, I am ordering you to sleep. You already told some of them to go and rest, didn't you?" There had been much fewer people in front of the air slits than there had been when she'd come down after Rian had woken her up. "I had Riz find one of the waterclocks from the Um that were moved in here. I'm filling that with water after breakfast, and when it goes empty, Riz has orders to find you and get you to go to sleep. I suggest you set up your bedroll somewhere quiet before then."
Rian frowned, opened his mouth… then sighed. "All right, fine, fine, I get it." He rubbed at his eyes, then winced, staring down at them. "No need to send Riz at me, that would be a waste of a spear. Do we have any wash water?"
"Use a wet cloth," Lori said. "Even if our water isn't limited, the waste water disposal is very rudimentary." She titled her head thoughtfully. "I should probably make an evaporation chamber after this, so we can reuse the water…"
Rian sighed. "I suppose I should probably find my towel then."
He headed off, presumably to find his towel to wash his hands with. Lori headed for their usual table, already pondering their problems even as she compulsively checked on the darkwisps outside over the demesne. Still holding and filling with magic from the core, she was relieved to find. All around her, the tables were sparsely populated for now. While the food was ready, a lot of people were still asleep, and Lori had given orders, via Riz, to those awake that everyone who were still asleep were to not be disturbed so as to limit the number of people moving around and making a fuss. The ones awake already were all eating, possibly to beat the inevitable rush. Lori sat down and waited for Rian to come back, probably with his hands washed and hopefully with food. The little waterclock was already there where she'd left it.
So, they had wash water, they had drinking water—as soon as she boiled it again to make sure—they had latrines that she'd have to clean out herself because they were so deep… ah, she'd have to put a binding of airwisps to keep the smell inside. Not on the seat itself, but halfway down, or else the rising pressure from the slow increase of matter would be… explosive. She'd also have to clear out the air slits of the things that couldn't just be pushed out. Having to breathe air that passed over dead, decaying things… no, not safe. They might get sick. She'd do it after breakfast, they had time. What else? What else… what else… what else…?
Oh, she should probably seal off the reservoir again, so that no one could contaminate it. In fact…
Lori close her eyes and, after ascertaining there were no voids in the passage leading up to it—or in the water itself, she was glad to note—did just what, binding the stone on either side to pinch the passage shut. Then she sent her awareness throw the pipes, checking for conspicuous voids of wisps that would indicate life that shouldn't be there, like moss or bugs. Thankfully, there was nothing, but she should have remembered she could do this sooner.
All right, water: protected.
She paused, then closed her eyes and added a little hump at ground level across the entire passage, so that no fluids spilled along the passage would be able to just continue to the reservoir. There. Now it was completely protected.
When she opened them again, Rian was across from her, sitting down with two bowls of stew in his hands.
"I wasn't sleepy," Lori informed him. "I was using Whispering."
"I didn't say anything," Rian said, putting the bowls down. Lori picked one and started it eat. It was nice and warm and flavorful, and tasted strongly of mushrooms today. And no blue gourd, which Rian was probably glad for.
They both settled down to eat in silence. Lori, for her part, was hungry, and Rian seemed the same. He'd been awake longer than her, after all. Unless he'd managed to find a fruit to snack on, the hunger must have gnawed at him for longer than it had her.
"All right," Lori said, her bowl half empty. "Long term plans. I have the water clock we use in the Um to count how long people can use the rooms for. It's marked for an eighth of a day and as close as we can calibrate to an hour. We'll have three shifts of militia at the air slits, each to run for five-eighths of a day and a bit each. That way people have time to eat, rest and sleep. The entrance isn't very wide, so it doesn't need a lot of people at a time. You and I, meanwhile, will both be awake for at least a day each, with some overlap to discuss, so that some will be in charge at the same time."
"Why are we measuring things in eighths of a day instead of hours? That's what you say when you're trying to tell time with the sun."
"Because it's a water clock Rian, it's not some sort of precision time piece running on springs and gears." Her tone and gaze were flat as she explained this obvious fact. "The hour calibration is just a guess, while we can be pretty sure about how long an eighth of a day is on average, and is thus closer to being accurate. And is the exactness of our time keeping really an issue?"
"Right, sorry. Who'll be watching the time?"
"I had Riz go find someone," Lori said. "It will be their only job. We can find someone else once they have to go to sleep."
Rian nodded. "Okay, we can't keep people running for all that time. Better if we have a shift change every eighth of a day, with every change a fresh group, as well as an emergency reserve of everyone else who's awake. Five-eighths of a day is about six and a quarter hours, and no one can keep fighting for that long non-stop."
Lori swallowed her mouthful. She'd been eating while he was talking. "They're just standing there and poking with sticks," Lori pointed out.
"And if you keep doing that while in a state of focus, concentration and controlled panic, you'd be exhausted in a hour too," Rian retorted. "Trust me, we need shorter shifts, and more of them. No, what's important is we have a day group and a night group. The day group can sit next to the active shift and be an emergency reserve if something really bad happens, the night group can sleep in—"
"Like you're going to," Lori emphasized by pointing with her spoon.
Rian nodded. "—like I'm going to so I can lead them when you go to sleep. Same setup, active shift and emergency reserve. We use the hour marker and people take turns, but no one does two shifts in a row, and they take three shifts to rest before they cycle in again."
Lori nodded. "Write that down and set it up before going to sleep. I'll give you an eighth of a day."
"You're giving me paperwork before I go to sleep so I'm nice and sleepy?" Rian said, a sardonic smile playing on his lips.
Sure, she'll go with that.
"Sure, let's go with that," she said, a small smile on her lips.
"Um, Great Binder? Is this who you're looking for?"
Lori turned. Riz was there, standing respectfully at attention. Next to her was the brat. "Excellent. Go and get the other two, and then come back so you can have breakfast while you can."
Riz blinked. "The other two, Great Binder?"
Lori rolled her eyes then pointed to either side of Rian. "Yes, the other two. They should be awake by now. If not, then just come back and eat."
Riz stared at her for a moment, looking surprised, but she recovered herself. "Yes, Great Binder," she said crisply, then turned and headed back down to the second level with a resigned look on her face. The woman had been going up and down those stairs all morning. It wasn't Lori's fault people were still asleep!
"They have names, you know," Rian said dryly. "They've been sitting in front of you for weeks, you should know their names by now." Lori resisted the urge to retort that she already knew them better than he did. It was difficult, but she managed to keep it unvocalized.
Ignoring him, Lori turned towards the brat. "Karina," she said, "I have a job for you." She gestured towards the water clock. "I need you to keep time for me."
"You don't have to accept," Rian interjected, "but it would be very helpful if you did."
Lori glared at him, but nodded to confirm she accepted the amendment.
The brat looked between her and Rian. "What do you need me to do, Wiz Lori?"
