Honest Work

Honest Work

Postby NightSteel » Tue May 24, 2005 8:58 am

Word of the needs of the Rememdium did indeed travel fast. The farmers that still entered and did business within Myrken brought word back, and of course, that word reached the ears of Ezekiel and Sarah Jones. For the second time, the grapevine was set into motion. Supplies were stockpiled upon the Jones farm, though a little less diverse this time; building onto the Edificium would be simpler than providing all the things that families would need. There were enough farmers with carpentry skills, Ezekiel Jones included, that they would manage alright. It would, again, be hard work. Hot work. But they could no more ignore the pleas of the doctor than the doctor could have ignored theirs. No help was turned away, by farmers at least. Ezekiel Jones could not guarantee that more brigands with crossbows wouldn't show up to shoot the Pritchies, of course.

So, once again, an army of farmers and supplies mobilized, rolling into Myrken and setting up camp nearby to the house of healing. The skilled men immediately began assessing the building and the surrounding land, to determine how best to expand it. One of their sons stepped inside to notify the good doctor of their presence, inviting him to come out and give his needs and suggestions when he has time.
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Postby Rattrap » Fri May 27, 2005 4:06 am

Doctor David D'Rael marveled at how effective Auberon had been; for the initial week the doctor had sent the young man out, he had heard nothing. Then it came, like a flood, from every angle, from every corner of Myrken Wood. The doc was in part, surprised, though he knew his own significance.

An old man who clearly didn't have enough for even a decent pair of clothing had tried to fork over his two shilling to David earlier in the day.

Ah, but while the donations - greatly bolstered by the gem left by a particularly generous party, as well as Aloisius Treadwell's contribution from either his own pocket or that of Myrken Wood - were necessary, it was those who had come to physically rebuild the place the good doc would set his attention to.

He had plans for the new building; those were all carefully planned on many rolls of parchment whenever David could spare even a few minutes. The lot beside the Edificium had been bought, and plans were to dig out a basement beside the Dagger for which the new, additional structure would be built over. The new structure was to tower over the original, complete with a second story - it was, simply, a great endeavor.

All this, in his plans, he would show to those volunteering themselves, though they would not have to volunteer long; the funds Doc D'Rael was getting was enough to cover materials and then some, the then some by all means going to those who help.

Most importantly, the original building needed only minor modifications to make it one with the second, so that David could continue doing his work through construction.

He cautioned, strongly, that those aiding in construction be wary of the heat.

David did not want deaths in building a hospital.
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Postby NightSteel » Fri May 27, 2005 4:59 pm

The doctor's plans were gone over carefully, and slight modifications were made by the men with expertise. It was going to be a lot of work.. digging the cellar alone would take some time, and it would be a task to get the.. well, they didn't even know what to call it. A framework which a stretcher could be loaded into, so it could be moved vertically from floor to floor, using two pulleys or sets of pulleys. That would make it a lot easier to move the injured who could not walk.

Still, it was a complicated idea, for a work force consisting mostly of farmers. The closest most of them had ever come was a pulley outside of their barn lofts to raise and lower bales of hay. It would take time.

That didn't stop them from breaking ground, though. Under makeshift awnings to keep the sun off their backs, the men slowly began excavating. They took their time, rotated frequently, and kept themselves 'watered', though a bit sparingly, with the help of their wives. It wasn't yet impossible to get water in Myrken, but it was fast becoming a commodity.

As for the doctor's payments.. those presented the farmers with a dilemma. Around half of the materials had been given by the Pritchies, but nobody had kept exact track. None of them were that keen on accepting money from the doctor, but none of them wanted to turn down payment on behalf of anyone else, either. A compromise was eventually reached, though. The payment would be accepted, the value of the materials would be estimated, and something at least vaguely close to the fair value of the donated materials would be delivered to their contributors, handed out by farmers' sons from a horse and cart traveling the farmlands.

Any money that was refused would go right back to the doctor. The 'premium' that he was paying would also be accepted by the workers, and used to hire hands as their replacements back on their own farms. They were slowly losing the race against time, against the drying out of their crops, but they would fight it until the bitter end.

Most of them had already let go of their secondary crops to concentrate on the primary, and someone had had the ingenious idea of marking the areas on which water was to be dropped, to make the best use of the blessed airship's deliveries. That had helped considerably; the earth was thirsty, but if they concentrated on what was most important, the odds improved.

It was going to be a long few weeks..
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Postby NightSteel » Mon May 30, 2005 11:43 am

The excavation had been going smoothly. The dirt was being carted away to be either dumped or re-used as building material elsehwere, the cellar was shored up as it was dug out. Lots of men were doing hard work in the heat, Ezekiel Jones included. His slightly advanced age never seemed to be an issue; the bearded farmer just kept right on working beneath his wide-brimmed hat, up until the end.

In the end, though, Ezekiel Jones' heart simply couldn't take it any longer. It gave out early in the morning, before word of the spoiled stocks and water could reach the Rememdium. Ezekiel slumped over his shovel.. and that was the end of it, despite following the doctor's warnings, and the best efforts of the Rememdium staff.

Ezekiel's shell was lifted from the open pit, and Sarah Jones left with it, stunned into silence.

Work would go on, though.. grim determination in the eyes of the farmers. Maybe Ezekiel couldn't be saved.. but his sacrifice would mean something. Others would be.

Ezekiel Jones had been an honest man, and he'd done honest work.
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Postby Suede » Mon May 30, 2005 1:20 pm

Gerard was quiet admist his work on the Remedium. With his recent 'resignation' from the order, and an utter lack of game in the forests he needed something of a job or he'd be driven to a severe case of cabin fever.

This was the thinking which had brought him along with many of the other farmers to help with the expansion. He was large, amiable, and if it actually suited him quite willing to work. During one of the hotter hours he'd seen an older man succumb to the strain. And eventually heard word he'd passed on. From that point further the one winged man was making certain to, as friendly as possible, boot the older farmers off to rest whenever necessary.

Because Ezekiel Jones was an honest man, and he'd make sure the other honest men weren't going anywhere.
"So, Lone Starr, now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb."
~ Dark Helmet, Spaceballs
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Work continues...

Postby NightSteel » Mon Jun 06, 2005 5:51 pm

After more than a week of long days and nights, slow digging all the while, the cellar was finally complete. Which was to say, the open pit was finished, and the stones for the walls, to support the weight of the planned structure and the dirt, were trickling into place. There weren't many interruptions, but briefly--almost comically--most of the farmers had piled into the open cellar that very afternoon, when a melee broke out across the way. The worries of their wives for their safety rang strong in these men's ears.

It was still hard to get stone, because of the constant construction of the wall, but at least the shortage had eased a little bit with the obstacle finally making a complete circle around the province. Also, farmers always turned up a good bit of it in plowing and tilling their fields, and this year hadn't been an exception--save for the fact that they finally had something to *do* with it all. Soon, the hammers would be broken out, to begin construction of the pillars and beams.
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The calm before the storm?

Postby NightSteel » Sun Jun 19, 2005 9:06 am

The cellar was finished. The stone walls were in place, the pillars were up. Beams had been lowered into the spaces that had been left for them, and planks were starting to be nailed on. Also, mortar was being laid. No one had expected such a huge maelstrom to gather, and the amount of rain that was possible of such a thing was frightening. So, they went about sealing their work, using water from undrinkable sources to make the mortar. No sense in wasting good water on brick paste.

Word was sent back to the farms. Stocks were moved to higher ground, where they could be. Buildings were also sealed, where it was practical. It was starting to spread; a plague of insects had also been predicted.

No doubt, Suede and others dealing in cloth would soon be inundated with requests for netting from the simple farmers..
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Postby NightSteel » Mon Jun 20, 2005 4:57 pm

The rains came just as the last of a large pavilion-style covering went into place over the work at the Rememdium, angled mostly down towards the hill that descended to Silver Lake. It was tied down quite securely. The farmers wouldn't get much work done with it in place.. but they wouldn't have been getting much done in the rain, either. It would've been more likely that they'd be kept busy bailing water out of the basement they'd just finished.

In point of fact, one or two of them did just that. But thankfully, due to all the mortaring, and the rapid construction of the first floor's floor, it wouldn't be much of a problem.

It was then that the many farmers and their families finally parted ways, for the most part. The heavy rains necessitated that they return to their own lands to tend them, to try and keep what was left of the crops from simply being washed out. They would return when the rain stopped. Their word on it was given to Doctor D'Rael.
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