Tuesday, June 19, 2018, 8:30 PM Norfolk

This morning was very calm, with no indication of anything negative to happen for the day. I was glad that it seemed like it was going to be forecasting a good day. Rex was still in his self imposed relocation to the storage unit, so it was just me. I got myself ready, ensuring that everything was in peak condition and showed no signs of any conflict the night before. My Mending cantrip certainly gets a workout here. I got my bike ready and headed downstairs to get breakfast.

There was a table ready for me as soon as I got out of the elevator, set with coffee and a newspaper with the headline “Verdigris Vigilante Vexes Villains” that showed the outside of the building where the drug den for the Pepsi Boys was located last night. I sighed and started my morning meal, much to the amusement of the staff working breakfast. I picked up the newspaper and there was a note that just said thank you underneath it. I pocketed the note surreptitiously quickly scanned the article, noting that the police still apparently had no leads for the identity of the vigilante, but that the drug bust was one of the biggest that there had ever been in the city. I didn’t see anything that would have been a reason to worry, so I put it to the back of my mind.

After breakfast, I headed to the Storage Unit and checked in on Rex, who was not in the unit. I quickly realized that Rex was going to need a restroom of some sort, so I put it higher on my list, along with the food and water supplies that would be needed for long term habitation. I sighed, and decided that there was not much stopping me, so I headed in to work early. Riding my electric bike down the streets, there was a feeling of vacancy and calm. Maybe after a weekend and follow-up Monday assault by the authorities on the criminal element, the area was calmer for a bit.

Bob was already at work, this early in the morning, and opened up the door for me to get in, welcoming me. I moved my bike into the nice cubby hole that I had worked it into, and then followed Bob to his office as he asked me to talk for a bit. Bob asked me about last night, and I told him all about the raid and how it went down. Bob listened intently to me until I was finished, and asked me if I was happy with the progress. I told him that it was a good start, but that the other gangs and organizations would need to be routed out as well.

Bob offered up that he could look into getting armor and I told him that I would look into it with the next big commission. Bob nodded and asked if I had gotten the description of those cloaks done, which I immediately produced for him. He looked over the description and then he pulled up a picture on his monitor of a fairly decent sized poncho, from some company named “Charles River Apparel”. Bob asked me if I thought that these would be suitably high enough quality. I looked it over and decided on a Parka that they had on the site. Bob looked at it, and asked me why this one specifically, and I referenced the interior pocket, and longer length, to maximize the water deflection capabilities.

Bob nodded, and asked me if I was going to be up for cleaning guns today, at least until I was certain that the upgrade that I had made was certain to “take”. I told him that I would be fine doing so, and asked him if he was okay with me going all out for the cleaning. He looked at me for a bit, and said told me that since Doug wasn’t here, I could take over his work, and that as long as he had a video of me going in to the workshop, remove all of the guns to my workshop, and bringing them back at the end of the day, he didn’t care as long as they were cleaned to his specification. I readily agreed, and told Bob that I would get whatever was needed done in a very quick period. He thanked me and said that he was considering marketing my cleaning technique and asked if I had any thoughts.

I jokingly told him that the only cantrips that didn’t ever come up when I did this was either Ultrasonic Ray, Amanuensis, or Oath of Anonymity, and even then I could see a reason for Amanuensis, if I was copying over technical manuals for a specific firearm that I had never dealt with in the past. Bob smiled, and said that he could call it “Ultrasonic Cleaning” and say that he can offer it with a 24 hour window. I laughed and said that it wouldn’t even take me two minutes to do it and Bob told me that he was giving it some lee-way for if I needed to be away or something. I shrugged and told him that I was fine with him claiming it however he wanted, as long as it didn’t get him in trouble. Bob said that he’d start hawking it to the police department to see if they would bite on it for a fair price.

I shrugged and set off to go pick up the rack of firearms and start them cleaning in my workshop. I thought about it and started away on the almost meditative aspect of disassembling, cleaning, lubricating, and reassembling the firearms with Animate Tools, Prestidigitation, and Mending as needed to complete the job for every firearm on the rack. It was less than two hours of constant work until I was done with the entire rack of firearms. When I was done, I thought about what was remaining for the work that could be done for the storage unit fairly simply, and thought about getting Rex his source of water and whatnot for the room.

I briefly left the workshop after thinking for the rest of that two hour block, before leaving my workshop to talk to Bob. Bob asked me if the rifles were done already. I smiled and told him that they were and he laughed to himself before asking me if I had a minute to talk with him about the defense properties that I had suggested. I came in and sat down and waited for him to bring up what he wanted to discuss. Bob cleared his throat and asked if I had any further thoughts about any of the defenses.

I thought about it, politely asked to get the sheet, looked if back over, and consciously removed two of the items from the list, before telling him that this total was the maximum of what should be done, that we can actually decrease it further by requiring everyone to have a specific item on them, but that would prevent people from being able to access it in emergencies when they might not have access to the item. Bob asked me about the Warding bell aspect. I told him that the Warding Bell would keep people from moving around on their own, whereas the security areas would prevent workers from actively going into the security areas. Bob thought about it, and asked if those “Hole of Hiding” (air quotes included) areas were really safe. I told him that they were extradimensional, so they would technically be safe from just about everything, and that if we keep the people having their ponchos with them, that they could reasonably be safe until they end up inundated with feces after months of eating and drinking from their area, at least until I find a way to dispose of that kind of material.

Bob looked at me, blankly, and asked if I could really build one of these anywhere. I shrugged, and said that I technically could, as long as I had the time and resources. Bob said that if I was willing to do this for others, that he might be able to hire me out to people looking for the ultimate safe rooms. I told him that the problem was that the room didn’t exist until it was invoked, so you can’t store items in there in preparation, and extradimensional items can’t be accessed inside an extradimensional area. Bob asked if a person had one of the cloaks and that Hole of Hiding, if they could really last that long.

I told Bob that the person would have food, shelter, and water until they chose to leave the room. Bob asked how much that would cost and I thought about it and asked him what I should provide for the estimate, actual cost, or what the billed cost “should be” based on the exchange rate. Bob asked me to provide both, just to get a good idea of what the spread was. I did the math and said that at a price of less than ten dollars per bag of salt, about one hundred and eighty dollars plus the poncho or jacket and the rope/rope ladder at the low end, and more than eighty-five thousand on the high end. Bob whistled at that range and said that the high end was like ten times what a safe room might cost.

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I shrugged and said that it was a safe room that actually didn’t take up any room in the actual building, wouldn’t require special rules or licenses to put in, and were almost guaranteed to not be able to be accessed without an inhabitant’s action. Bob nodded along with my logic, but added that he’d keep it in mind if I ever wanted to just make similar things. Bob told me that he ordered a batch of ten of the ponchos, but that he wouldn’t expect me to enchant every one of them. I nodded and asked Bob what he’d like me to work on for the rest of the day. Bob said that he’d like me to hang around for the rest of the day and let him know if the attempt worked, so that he can work on planning to get the salt ordered.

I told him that I would do so, and headed back to my workshop. I quickly pulled off my shoulder guards and put them onto the table and cast a Page-Bound Epiphany to get the information that I would need to get myself a useful item to help me in the instance of another Energy Surge. The suggestions were, to put it politely, were sesquipedalian, and took some quick interpreting to get right. I chiseled in the runes that would be needed and quickly used the salt to get veves and designs into the grainy material. The description I had come across managed to speed up the enchanting process vastly.

After just a little after two hours, I was sealing in the magic and putting them back on. I immediately felt more capable of resisting effects against me as well as a gross ability to lift heavier weights, even if it didn’t gain me any more striking power. I blended them back into my appropriate outfit via my magic Items. Slowly but surely, I was gaining gear that would help me with my future. It was just as the ritual was completing that the twenty-four hours elapsed since putting on the ear cuffs.

I perked up with the enhanced knowledge in using unique magical items that the ear cuffs brought. It would certainly help with the finalization and sealing of magical items. I left the workshop to go to the breakroom and saw that there wasn’t anyone there. I went out and got a gyro at the place just around the corner. I got back and met up with Bob, and asked him what his next focus was for me, since the items took, and should at least make it possible to get the Warding Bell done.

Bob thought a little and asked what kind of chance I gave it of working and I thought about it and guessed that it would likely be at least forty percent. Bob shook his head and said that he’d prefer me to figure out how to make it more likely. I nodded with his assessment and he asked me about the likelihood of success for the Hiding Holes. I shrugged and said that each was at least eighty five percent, possibly up to ninety-five percent. Bob nodded and said that this was a lot more reasonable to put out for it.

I agreed with Bob and he said that he had some better ideas about the Holes of Hiding to make them blend in better, and wanted to ask me if I could make it work. He turned his monitor screen around and showed me how he could get some people to frame up what would look like a pull down attic door/ladder. Then he asked if I could make that work. I told him that we’d need to make sure that the “door” was no bigger than three by five, but that I didn’t see a good reason not to. I offered up that I could probably do the carpentry work too, if he wanted.

Bob perked up when I said that and asked if I had experience woodworking. I shrugged and told him that I had some experience in a lot of fields, but that I wouldn’t grade myself as amazing. I offered up that I should not have any issues ever making normal wooden furniture, hanging regular doors, or installing windows. Going on from there, I figured that I wouldn't have any problems at all with something like that attic door, only that it might take me a little more time to do it from scratch. Bob offered up that he could just buy the ladders and have me install them if I was fairly certain that I could make them work.

I thought about it, and told him that at the very least, if we installed the ladders, and then I added a tiny bit of rope at the top, then the people would just use the rope to get the rest of the way off the ladder and into the space, and it would work that way, if the ladder didn’t. We finished up the plans and the orders that Bob would need to make, before I finished up at the end of the meeting and I headed back into my workshop. I spent the rest of my work day preparing the only item I could for enchantment, the “elven” thistledown bedroll I still had from Magnimar. I still contend that the shopkeeper who sold me it was lying that it was made by elves, even if it was already of fine quality. I got it out on my work table and summoned up another Page-Bound Epiphany to get information on what I might need for this item.

After another minute of getting the various “recipes” for different magical bedrolls and sleeping systems, I found one that I liked, and selected the proper runes to stitch into the material. I pulled out my sewing kit, and used Animate Tools to have them sew the runes into the hem of the bedroll. I also started writing up a list of the different base materials for making the rest of the magic items that I needed. A “pearl”, a wooden box, some birch wood planks, a few silver platters, and an orb or something similar. Those in addition to the “shower” that I am having made in the unit, should allow most of the facilities to be accomplished.

I also would need to figure out the toilet, but I think that there might be an option under “camping” and another option for hand cleaning, but I think that I can do that easily enough. Towards the end of the day, I brought all of the firearms back to the main workshop, all having been cleaned, repaired, and oiled, and put them in the finished section. Bob waited until I was done putting everything back, before telling me that he had ordered two of the attic stairs sets, and that they would be here by Friday, and he wanted to know if I would be willing to install them over the weekend. I told him that I would be fine with it, as long as the stuff outside didn’t force my hand. Bob nodded and said that he could understand that.

I left on my bike to drive around for a bit before heading to the storage unit. There was absolutely NOTHING going on in Norfolk today. I stopped by another “Antique” store called “Mrs. Pinkadot’s” and found the majority of that I had figured that I needed earlier in the day, and even met a nice woman by the name of Ryanne Shields, who actually had the wood that was needed as well as some birchwood planks that I could easily use for the enchanted cots that I was going to make for the spare bedroom. The only thing that I did not find, was the “camping toilet”, but I knew that I could find that at a different place. When I got to the storage unit, Rex actually was not there.

The storage unit was clean and I checked out the interior of the whole thing, and the only issue I found were the piles of books that were placed in the center of the tent area. I didn’t know which ones Rex was done with, so I left them be. I unloaded everything that I had purchased, and set up some Animated Tools to start on the engravings that would be done on the different items I had gotten. I got everything going, and then spent some time using Page-Bound Epiphany and Ears of the City to get a more grounded knowledge of the area and the country that I resided in. I finished up the mass of spell casting by trying to use Scrying on the red hair that I had found.

Unfortunately, the attempt was unsuccessful, as all I knew about the person was that they had red hair. Once I at least got a name, I might have more success. I tried to use Scrying on Francis Noche, and got another eight minutes of Francis just sitting in the same bar, drinking and eating, and at one point, he got up, went to the bathroom, relieved himself, and then went back to his table. Not much more information than what I would have had from before. At the end of my time, Rex still had not come back, so I locked up the storage unit behind me and headed back to the Hotel.

I got a steak from the restaurant at the hotel and a drink, and ate my meal in peace. There wasn’t much else to say about the day. I headed up to the room and got my gear ready tomorrow. Rex knocked on the balcony door and I let him in. I got into bed and Rex curled up on top of me.