Hans beat the caravan by a day and half. He told Kane and Quentin to take the next three days off. They argued, but he told them it was required. Overtraining had ended its share of adventurer careers, and he wouldn’t let that happen to any of his students.

In between kids’ classes, Charlie walked Hans around the neighborhood, introducing or reintroducing him to carpenters and masons who would be good for the dungeon campus build. No one was against helping, but they were relieved when the Mayor assured them it was a paid job. If it wasn’t, the tradesmen would lose a good chunk of their income for the year, which was a tough sacrifice to ask of someone who had a family to feed.

Getting local workers out of town while the palisade crew was in Gomi was risky, but Charlie proposed they have the visitors start their work on the exact opposite side of town when they arrived. If all of Gomi’s workers didn’t leave at once, they could stroll out of town just before dawn, heading to the cabin with no one the wiser.

Hearing they didn’t need to be out of town before the caravan arrived, every member of the operation was happy to have a few extra days to pack and plan. Early in that process, Hans met with the Mayor along with Gomi’s master mason and master carpenter to review the campus plans.

“This is the dungeon entrance beneath the cabin here,” Hans began, pointing at his best attempt at a blueprint drawing. “We need it to be the most convenient yet least noticeable place in the whole area. We’ll be going in and out a lot with gear and loot, and we need to not attract attention if an outsider visits.

“My thought is we put the armory here. The front door will look toward the center like any normal campus design, but the backdoor will open directly onto a back-alley path facing the dungeon. When things are normal, there’s a direct path out of the armory and into the dungeon. If an outsider is around, we can keep the main doors closed and post guards at the armory backdoor. There is nothing unusual about guards watching an armory, but really they’ll be watching the secret dungeon entrance.

“If someone does find their way to the back of the armory, it will be utterly uninteresting. Just the dirty back of an armory and a dusty old cellar.”

The carpenter was a pudgy but strong human, showing the kind of age and wear that came from forty years of working in the sun. He pointed a stubby finger at the back door.

“What if we put windows here and put the guards inside? Lazy guards look out windows. Looks innocent to anyone else.”

Next the carpenter subdivided the interior of the armory. A wide hallway ran from door to door with security cells lining one side and various workstations lining the other. The only closed room on the workstation side was a two-bed infirmary. If an adventurer’s injuries were so severe that the seconds between the dungeon exit and the proper infirmary mattered, they could save those seconds with the closer option.

The master mason was a tusk and quite a bit younger than the carpenter. He arrived in Gomi recently as a refugee. His first job of the spring was repairing a leaky barn wall, and his obvious skill quickly attracted attention.

“We should do the cells in stone,” the mason said. “If I’m right that the good stuff is stored in those.”

He was, and the carpenter agreed.

The rest of their planning continued on like that. Hans explained his reasoning for each building, and the experts would offer their perspective on what they should change or consider. For the most part, Charlie observed quietly, chiming in on matters that directly connected back to Gomi. One such topic was how they intended to care for horses or donkeys up the mountain.

Any doubt the Mayor had about the necessity of the road before was gone, which meant wagons would certainly be traveling back and forth with some frequency. In fact, the current campus plan would be near-impossible to execute with a walking trail alone. Therefore, the plan’s lack of a stable was a serious oversight.

“What all would we need?” Hans asked.

“Well, hmm,” Charlie began. “Should keep the wagons close to the armory. A long hike humping supplies will get old awfully quick. Horses near the wagons, but that’s obvious. Come winter, you’ll be real sorry if all of that is outside instead of indoors. A small paddock for the horses to stretch their legs is better for them than bein’ locked in a stall for days. Not sure how we do that with all the rock, though.”

“Damn it. He’s right,” Hans admitted. “That means we can’t put the dorms there.”

At that point, they all agreed the plans were thorough, but they would need to see the build site in person to confirm anything for sure.

If Hans wanted to be in town to keep an eye on the builders from Osare, he couldn’t leave to take part in staking out the campus at the cabin. Delaying construction on his account would be a waste of good weather, so he put his trust in the carpenter and the mason. They were the experts, and they knew what he wanted to accomplish. He would only be in the way.

Or I’ll get to the cabin two months from now and discover everything is wrong. That’s fine. Totally fine.

***

The merchant caravan arrived with five additional wagons. Three of those wagons were loaded with builders and laborers while the remaining two wagons were stocked with their tools and supplies. Most of the materials they needed, namely the lumber, would be sourced locally, but they needed heavy duty saws, axes, shovels, and picks to do the rest, as well as food and camping gear for the stay.

Galad already informed the Tribe that Gomi would be crawling with outsiders for a few weeks, so other than Galinda, no tusks would be in town where the visitors could see them. While that was usual practice when the caravan was in town, erecting the palisades would take more than two days, which was how long the merchants usually stayed–arriving one day, sleeping, and leaving the next.

Hans and his young students relocated the majority of the training swords and shields to one of the Tribe barns. The children shouldn’t have to miss out on something they enjoy because unsavory folk were about, Hans believed, so he happily went to them to run his classes.

As the wagons pulled to a stop, the merchant Hans had been trading with waved and approached with a salesman smile, but a layer of genuine sincerity seemed to be in there as well, even if it was thin. Apologizing, Hans said they would talk later.

He wanted to meet with the builders right away so no one was bored long enough to meander aimlessly around town. Once work began, the visitors from Osare wouldn’t do much more than break their backs during the day, drink booze at night, and go to sleep early. He hoped.

Mayor Charlie joined the Guild Master as they walked toward the group of wagons that came in behind the merchants.

A squat dwarf in simple but well-made workman’s attire separated from the wagons when he saw Hans and Charlie, meeting them partway across the clearing.

“Suppose yous are in charge?” the dwarf asked with an accent that sounded like he had been born in a southern kingdom. He extended a hand.

“You supposed right,” Charlie answered with his typical goofishly large grin, especially on a man his size. He was taller than the dwarf, but only just barely.

They shared introductions. The dwarf said his name was Deeker and asked if they could walk the job site now. Hans and Charlie agreed. Deeker quickly retrieved a spool of string and a notebook from his wagon, and they began their journey around the perimeter of Gomi.

Most of Deeker’s questions were phrased as assumed suggestions.

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“Yous want a buffer between the wall and homes, right?”

“Yous want this wall to work with the grade like so, yes?”

“Assuming yous want to keep the ditches out front for extra security?”

“I’m guessing we’re going to set the drainage in these directions?”

Hans knew a little bit about palisade construction from his basic studies of siege warfare, but he had never built one. The construction was relatively simple, but in their brief conversation, Deeker rattled off several factors he would have overlooked, such as drainage for the ditches that surrounded the walls. Without that, they would be filled with muddy stagnant water for most of the year, which was bad for the wood and great for mosquitoes.

Deeker also talked about the different types and sizes of stone they would use in various parts of the build. The rocks used in setting the posts would be closer to gravel, while the earthen walls they would build on the interior of the palisade–reinforcement using the soil they dug for the ditches and posts–would use larger stones. Gomi wasn’t short on stones, but his men would need to pound them to gravel by hand for part of the job.

When Deeker asked how high they wanted the wall, he said they shouldn’t go shorter than eight feet on account of the gnolls. Those bastards could jump, so eight feet of wall with a ditch four feet deep in front of it gave them a twelve-foot barrier. They could go taller, of course, but the price went up significantly.

When they agreed on eight feet, Deeker slipped into what Hans had been waiting for from the start: the upsell.

“This last one is completely optional and a bit pricey, but it’s a good idea if yous think this thing will face a serious attack. I’ve got a guy who can cast Harden. Anything wood in the ground rots eventually, but with Harden, that’s fifteen to twenty years away. Without it, probably need to start replacing posts around year four.

“If yous really want to be safe, I got a guy who will put wards all the way around. Not invincible, but it’s like having a layer of iron on your palisade. He’s worth the–”

“Harden is sufficient,” Charlie said. He looked at Hans to see if he disagreed. The Guild Master nodded his approval.

The dwarf scribbled in his notebook. “That’s the important stuff. Where can we camp, and are any parts of these woods off limits for logging?

Charlie said the area they were in was fine with him for a campsite. If they saw something better, it would probably be fine too but let him know. As for logging, he didn’t have a preference, but Hans cut in.

“I’m planning to build a chateau for myself, somewhere private, quiet, away from the riff raff,” he said to Deeker. “Since you’re cutting them down anyway, mind doing it where I want to build a road?”

The Mayor put on his best look of disgust. “Mr. Hans, we are very grateful for your presence in Gomi, but we can’t use town funds for your own benefit.”

“If it’s good for me, it benefits you too.”

Charlie scowled at the Guild Master. Hans waved dismissively in the Mayor’s face and turned his attention to Deeker. “Well?”

“Aye, we can do that. That’s extra work which means extra on the price, and we won’t pull the stumps. If yous are good with that, show me where you want the road.”

“Works for us,” Hans said.

“The Adventurers’ Guild will hear about this,” Charlie threatened.

“Be my guest,” Hans replied and motioned for Deeker to follow him.

“Bastard,” the Mayor muttered and stomped home.

Hans showed Deeker the trail he wanted to transform into a road–the path leading to the cabin–and the dwarf staked out a few reference points for width. They’d want something wide enough for a wagon, but going slightly wider was recommended, Deeker explained. People have to work around wagons, and the closer trees were to the road, the more likely that a small mistake would turn into serious damage for a wagon.

Taking that recommendation would cost extra, because of course it would, but Hans said that wasn’t a problem. He told Deeker to add it to the town’s tab and ignore Mayor Charlie. The little old man was mostly a figurehead and the Adventurers’ Guild actually ran Gomi.

Deeker shrugged. As long as he got paid, he didn’t care to concern himself with disputes between locals.

“We’ll get started tomorrow,” the dwarf said. “We won’t be logging for a few days. We put down the ditches first and then get to chopping.”

Hans said that was fine and suggested they start at the watchtower at the front of town. Deeker agreed, saying he was thinking that’d be best anyway. Being the good host, Hans walked the dwarf back to his camp.

On his way back to seek out his merchant contact, Charlie saw Hans through the bakery window and opened the door to speak to him.

“Did he buy it?” Charlie asked.

“Yes, but I’m not sure how proud we should be that we are convincing assholes.” The pair laughed.

***

Hans could usually find an excuse to sequester himself in the guild hall for most of the day, but with the Osare builders muddling about, he wanted to spend more time outside. Running made-up errands wasn’t as effective as a formal patrol, sure, but it gave him a better chance of spotting a problem before it grew into a disaster.

His first stop was the blacksmith. Harry and Harriot swept the attached fletching workshop when he arrived, and they ran out to greet him as soon as they heard his voice. Harry showed Hans a toy his dad made for him, a convincing miniature suit of armor, and Harriot gave him an impromptu art show, flipping through multiple drawings.

Their father politely sent them back to work and returned to discussing designs for dungeon doors. After some debate, they decided that the door’s ultimate purpose was to keep monsters from escaping the dungeon. All of their other tactics, like disguising the exterior as a generic, mostly forgotten basement, were meant to keep people out.

With intelligent monsters growing in the dungeon now, they would also need to secure the trapdoor just as well. Climbing a ladder was an inconvenience, but goblins were perfectly capable of climbing to the top and chopping through the cabin floor.

Hans had no disagreement with the design of the door the blacksmith recommended: a heavy wooden door wrapped with metal reinforcement. It wouldn’t be as strong as solid metal, but that much material would be difficult to haul up the mountain. The trapdoor would be constructed similarly, but to finalize it, they’d need to consult the carpenter and the mason on how best to secure it.

The only problem they couldn’t solve was how best to lock the new doors. Locking them from the outside seemed like the best choice, but Hans imagined himself dungeon crawling knowing that he was locked in. He shivered.

In theory, their dungeon rotations would render all of the entrance security–in terms of keeping monsters in–unnecessary, but picturing an adventurer frantically pounding on the inside of the door, begging for someone to let them out, disturbed Hans deeply. If they barred the door shut from the inside, where an adventurer could make the decision to unlock the door and leave, any gnoll or goblin could do the same.

Keys felt like a bad idea for the same reason. If an adventurer lost their key, they were stuck. If they were injured or killed, an intelligent monster could take the key to use for themselves.

Not reaching a solution they both liked, Hans and the blacksmith agreed to think on it. He couldn’t start making the door yet anyhow. The carpenter and mason would provide the measurements to ensure they were exact, and they hadn’t gotten to the build site yet.

Quest Update: Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

Before Hans departed, he asked after jobs for the kids’ job board and told him about wanting to encourage more apprenticeships in Gomi. The jobs were easy to address, but the latter topic made the smith hesitate.

“I don’t have a problem teaching the trade, but I also have a family. Training my own competition seems like it’d be risky.”

Hans didn’t have a response for that concern, nor could he fault the smith for having it. After all, how many smiths could Gomi reasonably support? The answer seemed like the one they already had and no more.

As he walked the town asking after guild jobs for the kids, he talked to the other tradespeople. They expressed similar feelings as the smith. Some even said they thought teaching an apprentice would be fun, but no one could see it being sustainable. Not even Hans could by the time he had talked to everyone.

Quest Update: Rethink the apprentice idea to account for supply and demand.

***

Open Quests (Ordered from Old to New):

Progress from Gold-ranked to Diamond-ranked.

Mend the rift with Devon.

Complete the manuscript for "The Next Generation: A Teaching Methodology for Training Adventurers."

Ask Charlie about the history and legends of the Dead End Mountains

Protect Gomi.

Find a way to share new knowledge without putting Gomi at risk.

Rethink the apprentice idea to account for supply and demand.

Find new ways to safely sell a larger volume of reagents.

Decide whether or not to pursue silent walking and snow walking.

Research the root-covered earth elemental.

Secure interior dungeon doors without trapping adventurers inside.

Find a way for Gomi adventurers to benefit from their rightful ranks in the Adventurers’ Guild.