Monroe

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Six. Building a barracks.

Bob sat in the center of the granite slab, watching in fascination as the array pulled mana from the area around it.

It was early morning, the sun just barely showing over the mountains to the east. He'd arrived early and checked the first floor of the Dungeon. The mana was flowing smoothly, the temperature was pleasant, the humidity mild, and the mana pools had spawned what looked like oversized squirrels. If squirrels had long, razor-sharp claws and tusks. The big bushy tails were normal enough, though.

Thidwell was due soon, and he'd stated that he was going to bring a stonemason with him. The plan for the day was to quarry granite blocks that would be used to construct the barracks above the Dungeon.

Bob had considered trying to build the barracks himself but realized that he lacked anything more than the most basic of understanding when it came to civil engineering. He didn't plan to reinforce the barracks in the same manner he'd done with the Dungeon, as he didn't have the mana flowing up but rather down.

His plan was to have the kitchen and dining area on the back half of the ground floor, with the healers quarters, stairs down to the first floor of the Dungeon, and the Gateway to the other floors in one half the remaining space in the front, with the other half dedicated to a lounge array, where people could gather and talk. The upper story was going to consist of ten feet long, six feet wide rooms, each with a bed, shower, and toilet. The units would be rather spartan, but Bob was hoping that the folks he brought over from Earth would be less concerned with the amenities and more interested in helping him with his plans to save as many people as he could.

A portal opened with a twist of grey and sky blue light, disgorging first Thidwell, then a middle-aged man Bob didn't recognize, then Erick, and finally Bailli.

Spotting Bob, Thidwell headed over with the others in tow, then offered an introduction. "Bob this Stavin, Stavin, Bob," Thidwell boomed.

"Good morning," Bob greeted Stavin, offering the shoulder clasp greeting that still made him a little uncomfortable.

"Morning," Stavin replied agreeably, his eyes already assessing the granite slab.

"Looks like a damn fine foundation," he mused, stepping around Bob to inspect the stone.

Eyeing the copper inlay, he pointed at it, then said, "I'm guessing that's important?"

Bob nodded, "It is; we'll need to leave the inlay around the edge of the slab exposed, so the walls will need to sit inside the area of the slab, rather than flush.

"You'll want to have the roof overhang the slab by a good couple of feet, maybe put some drainage in place," Stavin replied with a shrug, "but it looks like we only need to go in a few inches, so it shouldn't be too difficult."

He strode to the edge of the slab, pulled out a roll of twine, and anchored it to the edge with some sort of putty, then walked to the far edge, unrolling the twine as he went. "One hundred feet exactly," Bob heard him murmur, then he began to repeat the process for the other three sides.

Bob turned to Bailli and Erick, "What brings you two out here this morning? I doubt I'll be working any ritual magic today."

"Two reasons," Bailli began, "First, Thidwell doesn't have the Portal spell, and second, I wanted to relax today, and when we were mapping the valley, I found a nice little spot next to the river, so we're going to have breakfast, and maybe lunch there," Bailli replied.

"Have fun," Bob said, giving the couple a wave as Bailli opened another portal.

Stavin walked up to Bob and asked, "Just what exactly are you looking to build here?"

Bob explained.

"Two stories, stone walls," Stavin nodded approvingly, "Did you want the floor of the second story to be stone as well?"

"I don't know," Bob admitted, "I intend to have nearly a hundred rooms up there, so whatever is going to support that kind of weight?"

Stavin winced and shook his head. "That's a lot of weight," he muttered, then turned to point at the stairs leading down. "I know you've got a nice thick slab here, but I'll need to see the basement to make sure it's properly supported before I start planning to use interior walls as load-bearing supports."

"That's not a basement," Thidwell rumbled from behind Stavin, causing him to start.

Thidwell walked around him and stood to the side of both Bob and Stavin. "That's the first floor of a new Dungeon," Thidwell said, "there is an active ritual reinforcing the structure."

"You're building an Adventurers Guild on top of a Dungeon?" Stavin asked incredulously.

Bob looked at Thidwell, who shrugged before responding, "It seems like a good idea to me."

Stavin shook his head doubtfully, "I know I sure won't be in that death trap come wave or tide," he said morosely.

"If the slab is as well supported as you claim," Stavin paused to look between Bob and Thidwell before continuing, "Then I'd suggest a latticework of granite beams one-foot square, run from front to back and side to side, ten feet apart and fused together at each point when they meet another beam or the walls and supported at each junction by a granite column beneath them."

Bob nodded.

"You'll need to use wood to build out the floor, walls, and the roof," Stavin said as he pulled out a pad of paper.

"Let's see," he mumbled, "if we do nine-foot blocks, we'll need eighty-eight of them, and then we'll need sixty-four ten-foot-long beams and thirty-six support columns, each of those nine feet tall."

Stavin nodded to himself and looked up. "Call it forty thousand crystals altogether, but I'll need your help getting everything here in a timely fashion," Stavin stated, looking towards Bob, "You can open a portal here, right?"

Bob nodded, mentally reeling at the obscene number of mana crystals this was going to take.

"Alright, take us back to Holmstead; we'll go to the quarry and get started; with your portal, we could have this sorted by this evening," Stavin smiled eagerly, rubbing his hands together as he looked at the slab in anticipation.

Bob held up his hand, "Give me a moment," he said.

'Trebor,' he mentally projected, 'is there any reason I that I couldn't just summon those blocks and beams of granite?'

'Granite is well within your capabilities,' Trebor replied pleasantly, 'even when taking into consideration the fact that you would need to utilize the area of effect skill in order to summon objects that large.'

"Let me try something first," Bob said, "give me a little room."

Walking off the slab, Bob pulled out a pouch with a hundred mana crystals and pulled mana through them, focusing on the mental image of a nine-foot square of granite, envisioning the crystalline pattern of feldspar, quartz, and mica.

One hundred seconds later, the mana ceased flowing through him, and a huge block of granite blocked his vision.

In retrospect, he shouldn't have summoned it directly in front of himself.

Walking around the block, he gestured for Thidwell and Stavin to inspect it.

Stavin looked at the block suspiciously, running his hand over the surface as he walked around it.

"It looks like granite, although the pattern is the most regular I've ever seen," he muttered before concentrating and then thrusting his arm into the rock up to his shoulder.

Bob took a step back, carefully watching as Stavin, who had his eyes closed, moved his arm around inside the block of granite as if it were water.

Several seconds later, Stavin pulled his arm out of the block and opened his eyes. Finding Bob, he nodded grudgingly, "That'll do," he said.

It turned out that when you used mana crystals and ritual magic instead of tools, it didn't take long to construct a building.

Bob summoned the materials, and Stavin fused them together. Were it not for the need to position everything; it would have taken just a few hours. While Bob agreed with Thidwell that his skills were a bit of a mess, he'd kept everything nearly up to level. His Weight Manipulation skill was still pushing through the level twenty-five threshold, but it was powerful enough to allow Thidwell to move the blocks by hand.

As the sun started to touch the mountains to the west, the three men looked over the structure.

"Now, you just need a carpenter to sort out the interior and the roof," Stavin said, satisfaction clear in his voice.

"You won't even need lumber; you can just summon it," he finished with a laugh.

Bob winced and shook his head, "I think I might be visiting the sawmill for that," Bob replied, "while this was quick and fairly easy, it wasn't inexpensive."

Stavin nodded, having already received his fifteen thousand crystals for the one hundred and forty-four rituals he'd performed throughout the day.

Bob would have preferred to perform two large rituals, fusing the granite together all at once, but the nature of how they were building the structure prevented it. He still planned to perform them, fusing everything together down to the slab, but he didn't want to do that right now.

He didn't mind if Bailli and Erick watched, but he didn't know Stavin.

"Lot of crystals to get this done quickly," Stavin noted idly, "planning to open this up to relieve some of the pressure on the Dungeon in Holmstead?"

Thidwell snorted, "Bob's a curator, but he's never built his own Dungeon before, so I'm going to guide him through it," the big man rumbled, "teach him the right way, help him learn from the mistakes others have made."

"Once he's proven he can build floors without my help, the eventual goal is to bring people here to study and learn how to build a Dungeon properly," Thidwell went on. "Although it's likely to take quite a bit of time."

Stavin nodded approvingly, "Teaching curators how to build Gated Dungeons is a worthy goal," he agreed, "I grew up in Twin Oaks, and we had a dig and drop and Dungeon there."

He shook his head, "I remember moving to Holmstead when I was twelve, and how excited my parents were about having access to gated Dungeon."

Stavin sketched a short bow towards Thidwell, "Never doubt that the people of Holmstead appreciate the hard work you've done to provide us with the opportunity to delve more safely," he said.

Thidwell nodded in reply, "I'd consider it a favor if you'd keep this under your cloak," he gestured towards the incomplete barracks. "It'll be limited in space and scope, so we won't be able to take all the people who'd like to come, at least not all at once," Thidwell finished.

Bob observed the conversation carefully. Thidwell was definitely good at telling people just enough information to get them to do what he wanted.

Everything he'd told the man was true. He'd just left out the part where it would still be over two years until he'd be bringing people from Holmstead here. He chose not to tell the man that Bob would be bringing a great many people here in the meantime.

Bob was pretty sure that Thidwell wasn't evil, but he was equally sure that the big man was both sneaky and manipulative.