Talwarg led Lanek toward the monastery’s front doors, pointing out the newly repaired and mounted doors. “We fixed these up, but I don’t know if we should bother closing them during the attack, they’re strong but won’t last very long against a determined attacker. It might be best to let the spiders through and stop them at the second set of doors so we can use the murder holes.” Lanek nodded in agreement, gesturing for Talwarg to continue.
The second set of doors were also complete, but Lanek noticed something odd about the floor. “What’s going on there?”
“Ah, you noticed our mason’s idea. Let’s get inside and I’ll show you how it works.” Once inside, Talwarg ordered the inner doors closed. As soon as they were shut, he reached down and popped a long, narrow flagstone up, revealing a trench underneath. Talwarg then gestured to a pair of orc guards who picked a large slab of stone and approached the door. Lanek recognized the slab as the one Talwarg had removed from the plaza.
The orcs placed the slab into the trench, providing a door brace that extended up to just above waist level on a human or hobgoblin. The trench and slab were long enough to reach the corners on each side of the entryway, just before someone would have to turn to reach the door to the murder hole rooms. Lanek pushed on the makeshift barricade and found that it had almost no give.
“Damn, that’s nice. That’ll make it a bitch to force the door. Even if they destroy the door, that barricade is a great defensive position. I wish we had some way to reward the mason.”
“Already done. We found some ale while we were out. Don’t worry, Caelis said the barrels had some kind of preservation magic on it and that it’s safe to drink.”
“Oh? That’s great news, I could use a drink.”
“Also done, I put some in the meeting room for you since I can’t access your quarters. We also found some bottles of harder spirits, but Caelis insisted we place them in the meeting room as well for you to take a look at. Not sure why, though.”
“Hmm, that’s odd. I’ll check it out later. What else do you have to show me?”
Talwarg gestured for him to follow and walked into the workshop area of the monastery. Within the workshop area, he found numerous people working hard adjusting weapons and armor to fit the warriors as well as repairing those items that had been damaged. Inside the warehouse areas, Lanek was surprised to see that most of the shelves were not only neatly organized but also completely full. He looked at Talwarg and gestured at the shelves.
“You can thank Khurzag and Caelis for that. Caelis is a treasure trove of knowledge when it comes to places where we can find supplies to pilfer and Khurzag and his boys can get to those places and strip them bare in no time at all. They even managed to bring back supplies for Ivan to experiment with, although he has been busy refining the wards.”
“I’ve gotta say, Talwarg, this is some damn fine work. You want my job? I wouldn’t mind leaving it to you.” Lanek said, only half-joking.
“Hell no, my khan. You’re stuck with it. I don’t mind being your second, but I’m glad to not have all of the responsibility on my shoulders for once.”
Lanek sighed dramatically. “It was worth a try.”
“Can’t blame you for trying, Lanek. That’s about all I’ve got to show you. Aside from these defenses and scavenging runs, I’ve been putting our warriors through daily training if they aren’t slated for patrols or scavenging runs. I’ve found a few orcs that have the Defender class, like Khurzag. It makes them ideal for holding the line and forming a shield wall. I’ve given them spears and tower shields to help and they have priority for the heaviest armor we have once it has been resized for them.”
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“I like it, a shield wall of orcs will be a great asset when we try to expand as well.”
“That it will. Now, unless you have more to discuss with me, I recommend that you head to the control room. Ivan’s been busy.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks again for the ale.”
With that, Lanek made his way into the tower and began the long climb down to the control room. He found that the control room was far better lit than it had been before, but it wasn’t due to any extra lighting. No, the illumination came from the strongly glowing glyphs on the walls. Ivan turned and waved at Lanek.
“Welcome back! I trust your trip went well?” The Lothenae asked.
“Yep, Liv and Ograch both found their companions and we even brought back an extra defender. You should check them out, they are quite impressive.” Lanek responded before explaining what kinds of creatures they had tamed and brought home as well as the situation with Yuri’s mother.
“That's a relief. Any extra defenders will go a long way. So, I assumed Talwarg or Nerek sent you my way to get a status update?”
“Yeah, Talwarg did.”
“Very well. First, the lighting system is fully powered and ready to be activated, as is the heating system. I examined the heating system and found that its power source wasn’t damaged, but one of the connecting symbols had been. With a bit of work, I was able to repair it. The water glyph is also fully powered. I also have the food preservation system ready for activation.”
“Okay… I’m glad to hear it, but what is the status of the defensive wards? That was the priority.”
“Ah, I’ve altered the pathways to make it so that the defensive wards will draw power from other systems if it runs low. So, as of right now, it can be recharged fully three times if it drains the other four systems. I deliberately left the water system disconnected from the new system. Is that okay?”
“That’s perfect, and I like the fact that the defensive wards can draw from a pool of power. How full is it on its own?”
“It’s roughly three quarters of the way full. At the rate Khurzag’s hunting parties have been supplying cores, we should easily be at full power before the spiders get here. I didn’t want to activate the defensive wards yet anyway, I’ve found a few flaws that are impacting their power efficiency, strength, and utility. By the time Khurzag gets me enough cores, I can have the wards ready at triple their previous energy efficiency and twice as durable. By the way, let me know when you want me to activate the rest of the systems, they’ve been ready since yesterday, but Talwarg and I agreed that we best leave the final decision on when to activate them to you.”
“By all means, turn them on now. The lighting, heating systems, and hot water should do wonders for morale. Also, the food preservation system for the pantries will likely make Caelis quite happy.”
“It does. Thank you, Lanek.” Said a voice just behind him, causing Lanek to yelp and spin around.
Caelis smiled in amusement before continuing. “I’ll have my people begin transferring all of the food into the pantries. We’ve been storing it on the first floor so everyone has easy access to it, but with the food preservation wards active it makes more sense to keep it in the pantries where it will not go bad over time. Even better, we can start sending hunting and foraging parties out for fresh food!”
“You seem very excited by this, Caelis.”
“Oh, I am. These improvements make me feel like we are making progress in bringing civilization back to the city. I just wish I could take a more active part in protecting our new home.”
“Don’t worry Caelis, now that I’m back I plan on prioritizing your nodes. Based on our previous conversation, we should have a week before the matriarch arrives, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right. And thank you, Lanek. Being able to help directly in battle would do wonders for how useless I’ve been feeling.”
“I’m glad. Could I ask you to meet me in my quarters in a few minutes? I have something that I want to discuss with you.”
Seeing Lanek’s serious look, Caelis agreed and disappeared from view. Meanwhile, Ivan gave Lanek a concerned look.
“Everything alright?”
“Yeah, Ivan. Things have changed with you here and I want to discuss what that could mean for Caelis. I’m sorry, but I don’t want to go any further into it unless Caelis is okay with me sharing it.”
“That’s okay, don’t worry about it. You just seemed more serious than normal and I was worried something was wrong with Caelis.”
“Nothing at all. Oh, and Ivan? Damn fine work here, I can’t even begin to thank you enough for the hot water that I am thoroughly going to enjoy tonight.”
“You aren’t the only one. I imagine everybody is going to enjoy taking a hot shower for a change and I for one will enjoy the lack of body odor once they have.”