chapter 16
Sanctuary 2.0 and a family is formed
We were standing in a field in front a large gathering of buildings surrounded by a large brick wall. The front buildings were 6 or 7 stories tall and by my count 30 or 40 rooms wide. The wall was transected by a large black rod iron gate. An arch spanned the gap above the arch but the letters had long since fallen off or faded out I couldn’t tell which. Along the back of the property was a lush and expansive forest. There was a large field on the inside of the wall on both the left and right sides of the buildings. And there was a large field that spanned the entire front of the wall making seeing any one approaching the compound easily.
The gates to the compound started to open slowly and three figures slowly approached us. The refugees all turned defensively to the incoming group but I held up my hand and said for all of them to hear.
“It’s ok they are friends. Doran Paige, Jasper, how goes it?” I see that you found us a more than suitable place to hold Sanctuary.” Doran got to me and extended his hand which I took in a hearty handshake grasping his forearm and he grasped mine. The others relaxed see that these new people were in fact part of Sanctuary and we knew them. Baker and Shyft said their hellos and then I introduced our seconds to Zeke and the others. Doran made his way through the new folks, his immense charisma, making quick friends with most of the people or at least putting them at ease. Doran then walked back to me, clasped me on the back, and said,
“Wingless my brother we have a diamond in the rough here. It has been looted badly and most if not all of it is in disrepair, but the bones of it are solid and there is plenty of room to house these people 10-fold. Jasper told me of your requirements specifically dealing with the Spectres and I think we have accommodated that as well. Now we have to worry about defense and training quickly.”
Over the next several hours going towards dusk we settled people into the more hospitable rooms in the two building that were designated for living quarters and then in the failing light my brothers, team Doran, Shade, Zeke and I walked through the rest of the buildings assigning rooms to fit our needs.
About halfway through the third building it dawned on me what this used to be. “It was a boarding school or university of some sort.” We found what used to be the library, a cafeteria with a mostly equipped kitchen, we found a completely ransacked metal shop, a computer lab with most of the electronics either smashed or missing entirely, several different class rooms, some offices, an auditorium that had a large hole in the roof, lots of storage areas, and nurses office. The other building was mostly classrooms with a few lab type rooms and a cellar entrance that we decide against for the time being and locked it with arcanium chains that Doran had made years ago.
After scouting the buildings Baker, Shyft and I chose offices on the 7th floor off the 3rd building. Each office was connected to each other by a small window that opened or by a door. With Doran’s team, Zeke, and Shade we set about trying to decide on the best way to defend this settlement. We agreed that round the clock guarding was needed and that more defenses covering the outer walls were necessary. We also addressed the need for supplies and that is when Shade chimed in.
“I can get whomever is going for supplies to a town and then back out quickly and as long as I don’t have to transport an entire building all of the supplies will be easy to transport as well.”
“Copy that Shade you will be the transport for the supply missions. Zeke unfortunately the defenses on the magickal side with take the six of us some time to create so I will need you to be the leader of the scavenging missions. We will get you a list of the needed items and figure out the towns that will have the best chances of having those items. Zeke looked at me proudly
“I will do whatever it takes to get this community running smoothly."
"Baker and Doran, make me a detailed list of needed materials for smithing and building especially for the defenses and the completion of the buildings. Shyft I need your Skyteams needed materials and supplies. I will go through the new members and find out if we have any doctors, teachers, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, and any other needed fields of knowledge for the coming projects. Jasper you and Paige will oversee well-being for now, you both need to keep people fed, medicated if they are sick, clothed, and comfy. Baker, Shyft and I will also keep our eyes open for any that possess leadership qualities to take charge of other projects.”
Everyone agreed with their assignments and before everyone left I added, “We have a lot of work ahead of us and not much time to do most of it in. We need to be ready in case the demons, sector 9, or the Enclave come knocking. Go rest up and we will be up at first light to get started. Zeke let everyone know that they will be needed, as long as they can swing a hammer or carry a board no matter how old or young.” Everyone except for my brothers left the office I had claimed for myself.
I looked to my brothers and said, “So it has started. We definitely have a lot more people than I expected so early. You guys still good to run patrols with me tonight or should I get a few of the Onclavist guards to help out?”
Baker stood and stretched “With the power up this thing has given me I feel like I can stay up for days at a time” he said showing his forearm. Shyft stayed in his chair and yawned, “Im good too brother, though not as amped as Baker seems to be. I wouldn’t mind having a few others with us tonight just to take the extreme stress off us. I doubt the druid’s sleep will be very useful for what we have planned.” I nodded and stood. Shade jumped up to my shoulder and we exited my office. We walked back down to the dormitories as they were and went through asking for volunteers to be on guard duty tonight in shifts. About 25 men and women all stood and walked with us to the main hall.
Zeke tried to come with but I waved him off telling him that I knew he was tired and he needed to get his rest for the missions tomorrow. He reluctantly agreed and went back to his bedroll near the door on the opposite side of the hall. We split them into 2 groups of 6 with the more veteran guards and then a group of 13 that had a few more rookies. We explained where each of them would be stationed in groups of 2 and sent the first group out to their posts. The other guards went back to the dormitories and got some much needed rest for the next 4 hours.
Baker, Shyft, and I held roving guard duty never staying in one spot for more than 15 or so minutes and always making erratic course changes so our paths weren’t predictable. Shade stayed with us for the first 4 hours but then I sent him off to sleep for the remainder of the evening. The rest of the night went by uneventfully and when morning came everyone started coming awake and ready for the work that was going to be needed to get Sanctuary into a livable way.
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Breakfast was quick some oatmeal that was brought with a few cut up pieces of fruit and water. Once everyone was fed we lined up all of the ablebodied and started getting peoples backgrounds and assigning them tasks. Most of the children that were above the age of 10 would help clean rooms, dragging trash bags, sweeping, dusting, etc. Most of the janitorial equipment was still in the janitor’s closets scattered around the school. We sent about 10 or so of the mothers with them to keep them under watch. We found out that 3 of the new members had been doctors, nurses, or medics in one of the old world wars so they were sent to get the hospital up and running. They provided us a large list of needed materials and supplies which I passed to Zeke and his scavengers which numbered around 50 strong.
There were 10 or so competent craftsmen and women and several that had experience so they were put on the numerous defensive and rebuilding tasks. Roger being the most experience, having run an entire construction company, was made foreman under Baker and Doran. Their list of supplies and materials was dozens of pages front and back, ranging from tools to lumber to screws and such. We had a few tradesmen and woman whom were put on some of the electrical and plumbing issues we would face. There were also a few experienced hunters and farmers who I put with Jasper to work out the things that needed to be done. Everyone else was given basic jobs like material retrieval for the experience ones and clean-up of other areas.
Through-out the day Zeke and his scavengers appeared to drop off supplies and then left again to head to a new area to look for new loot. By midday, with all of the people working on the jobs, the look-out towers that were located every 100 feet around the interior of the wall were framed and partially completed, the hole in the auditorium roof was fixed and all of the ruined seats were stripped out and new stadium benches had been made.
The hospital was cleaned and reorganized. They received small packages through-out the day with generic drugs and sterile equipment which they inventoried and stored in a very efficient manner. Most of the rooms in the dormitory buildings were cleaned. The kitchen was slowly getting stocked and was fully cleaned. I spent most of the morning with my brothers engraving complicated runes on every doorframe and every window sill.
We didn’t worry about charging them yet that would come later with us and our seconds to make it more powerful. We also runed the entire wall with one of the most complicated spell works I had ever created which took us until past lunchtime to complete. Doran spent a good 6 hours reinforcing the gate with arcanium and runes. Even with such a hard day’s work by the end of the first day everyone was in high spirits.
A few of the hunters and I went out into the woods and brought down several deer and a few boars. Each of which I showed them the proper way to show homage to the kill. We also found a large patch of black berries and several patches of wild vegetables and some herbs that took several trips for the 4 of us to carry back to the compound. By dinner time the entire grounds of Sanctuary smelled of cooking meat and vegetables so when the cooks called for dinner everyone was eager to get into line. The only ones that didn’t get dinner with us were the first shift of the night guard but we made sure that there was plenty for them kept warm in one of the ovens that we had loaded with coals still smoldering.
The cafeteria was buzzing with life and happiness. The children were running around the tables playing with each other. Most of the people looked exhausted, but they seemed at ease and happy. A few of the scavengers found some creature comfort things that included some damaged and dirty musical instruments. After dinner a dessert of wild black berry cake, the instruments were brought out and the cafeteria was filled with the sound of music and laughter. Songs of old were traded and some self-written songs of our resident bard and the evening passed with a pleasant enjoyment.
I spent some time taking food to the different guards that couldn’t make it to dinner. I chatted with them and thanking them for all their help as well. A few of them had questions. I answered them as best I could and they seemed placated at least for the time being. I made a mental note to voice their opinions to the rest of my leadership. The night dwindled to a close shortly after 10. Most of the kids had already fallen asleep and a lot of the adults were yawning openly and started heading for bed. Shade was fast asleep on the back of the tall backed chair that I had used throughout the night. He was rather adorable when he slept.
With the guards in place and a viable magickal alarm system using a connected bind rune series throughout the compound. Every so often on the walls of the buildings, in every room, on the perimeter walls at regular intervals between the guard towers, and on the guard towers themselves were placed by my brothers, myself, and team Doran that if touched with the correct intent would set off a loud sound and a flashing of light. I also created pendants, for all the guard and the leadership, that also had the bind runes on them to alert the wearer to the location of the activated bind rune and where the emergency was taking place.
Zeke walked up to me after dinner and pulled me aside. “Wingless, I just wanted to thank you again for all of this. Sanctuary has been a godsend to us and I hope we can use it to bring the world back to what it once was with magick of course. I did want to ask, my tattoos and most of the others as well are losing their stored power. When do you think we will be able to start awakening us the correct way?” I clasped him on the shoulder and smiled,
“All in good time my friend. Don’t worry we will get to that when Sanctuary is fully up and running.” He nodded and walked off shoulders slightly hunched in defeat.
Over the next couple days construction continued with great speed. Rooms were completed and turned into comfortable living quarters. The defenses were finished and several other necessary projects were also started. The electrician and a few computer literate were working on a series of generators and solar panels. The plumbers were working on a water reservoir system that started on the roof with rain collection and solar water heating that lead into showers and sinks.
Baker and Doran were making huge headway into the forge and mechanic shop. They had created several workstations and coal forges. They also spent a good portion of the days drawing raw materials out of the earth, ores and other trace metals. The farmers, ranchers, and I created a large barn and corrals with room for several hundred head of livestock. We also set up a rather large chicken and other fowl coop. The farmers set to tilling the left most field inside of the wall making it proper to use for farming and crop. They also ,using their knowledge, came up with a proper crop rotation schedule. We drilled several wells to aid in irrigation and created a large green house for crops, fruits, and vegetables that aren’t native to this area so they can flourish.
Zeke and his group of scavengers ran into a few problems here and there, but most of their trips were very successful in retrieving and building our stores of materials, food, and supplies. I also sent Zeke with specific instructions to bring any books found back to rebuild our library with manuals, school books, fiction, non-fiction, reference material, and movies to help the people resume a more normal life style. Shyft and a handful of the more adventurous types built a rope bridge system along the tops of the trees in the forest that backed the compound and created caches of supplies throughout the area for people to have direct access to if not near the buildings.
My nights were spent either on guard with my brothers to give the guard a bolstering or we spent a lot of our time making plans with Doran and the other leaders that have surfaced among the new membership. Soon we had a master of the guard, Toman, a young man that had served as a sergeant in the Marines during the old days. Our master chef, Liana, was a 5-star chef at one of the most amazing restaurants in the old world. Roger, our master of construction. Steve, the master electrician and Julia, a very knowledgeable plumber were the leaders of the trades. Zeke, was our master of acquisitions. Doran, Jasper, and Paige were our second in commands of the teams.