[Sanctuary] Going Underground

[Kavala]

Timestamp: 88th of Winter, 511 AV
Purpose: Relocating Sanctuary Underground And Building A Chapel.
Location: Sanctuary's Within
Status: Open To All

Kavala had two goals in mind in the next three days. One was almost mission impossible, the other was doable, thanks to Lars Varkas and his teachings. The first one was simplistic, and the one she considered impossible. Move everything into the Within. The Within was still a new concept to her, a way of thinking, and something new for the Sanctuary. Somewhere along the way the whole breeding animal healing facility had taken on an aura of fortress as they'd tunneled into the cliff it rested on and found good solid rock to live within. Rock was safer than wood, especially since most of the above ground structure was built by the Staff and not exactly expertly done.

They needed to move everything out.. tack, clinic gear, philtering lab, storage of hundreds of hundreds of medicinal herbs, tinctures, potions and tonics. Kavala even wanted to store the wagon and pony carts down below after she got done using them to haul stuff into the Within. The wagon wouldn't fit comfortably in the tunnel, but the tunnel itself was designed to work marvelously well with the pony cart, which was actually seme sized. So the immediate future was cartload after cartload of gear, supplies, tack, rope, fencing, tools, and anything else that wasn't nailed down all dragged to the bowels of the Within and stored wherever they could find space. Most would go to the sea cave, but Kavala wanted to be careful there too. It was the only place she could put her stock, but if they had higher tides or even tidal waves, it was possible the horses in the cave would be standing in water for a time. That meant that all the dry feed had to be stored above in the tunnels or placed up on stone structures. It wouldn't be hard for her to raise ten feet structures of stone to stack the hay and then watch the water table. Over ten feet and she'd loose the horses anyhow, so all they could do was pray.

Along with this, she wanted to install a chapel further down than the one just beneath the surface. The basement chapel was gorgeously decorated but it was still a basement and rather than be nestled inside the cave system of the Within, it'd be flooded just like a normal basement was after a storm.

So, first things first. Prioritize the move... clinic first, then all feed and tack, then furnishings, clothing, any personal items, pots and pans from the veranda... anything and everything had to be secured.

But first she needed help. Kavala looked around, wanting warm bodies to organize and get started. The very last thing they'd move would be the animals. She didn't want them in cramped quarters long than necessary.

[Kadrath Onktaka]

The place was buzzing with activity and that was exactly when Kadrath felt at his most comfortable. Just standing around idly and talking had made him more edgy than usual and he was glad to be finally doing something. He'd packed all his things but his gauntlets were missing. The last place he'd had them was in the courtyard when he'd taken them off by the well. After Raiha's pregnancy news, he'd been free to show his true Akontak self so he'd been more than a little glad to take off the heavy outerwear. And it made for a good birthday present to himself.

With the travois set on Fidens, he loaded it with tack supplies and tools from the barn.

Since both Rock and Chain carried smaller packs he finally finished stacking gear into the wheelbarrows. The large Akontak trailing along with three loaded down pack animals became a familiar sight in Sanctuary lately. Rath and Uruk were balanced, happy and optimistic for their futures despite the warnings of the impending storm.

There was still much more to do in a dwindling amount of time and he enjoyed it. Both Kavala and Raiha were pregnant, so he really put his back into taking on as much lifting, carrying and hauling as he possibly could. His muscles ached, but it was a -good- kind of sore. The type that admitted you worked hard that day and did your rightful share in what needed doing.

An injured animal howled loudly and the quartet all paused in their labors to discern it better. Was that someone singing? Rath resisted the urge to clap his hands over his ears, recognizing Raiha's less than dulcet tones. He smiled broadly and gestured to his group to head toward the discordant yowling.

"Hey! Should you be doing such heavy work in your condition?" Rath called out to Raiha, noting her tall mounded wheelbarrow while carrying the boys.

Uruk was more interested in Tasi and Shay so he took out a large, but light pouch of cattail reed fibers and handed it to them. Even though it weighed next to nothing, the sheer size of it would give the boys a sense of accomplishment.
"We need -every- man to carry his share. That's the clean bedding for the birds."

While Fidens stood still with his loaded travois, the pup and kit were more mobile with just their packs. Rock and Chain put up their heads to Tasi and Shay, sniffing at the dangling legs and feet, while circling around Raiha.

(When Rath speaks and when Uruk speaks.)

[Raiha]

Raiha hummed at Tasival as he sat on her bed, while she packed things up in the mews, some bean bags around him to toss and play with - he’d taken to throwing them, and Diallo or Raiha would retrieve them and bring them back for him to throw once more. She had to stand on a chair from time to time to retrieve the herbs she had hanging in various stages of dryness from the rafters, storing them between layers of cotton cloth or in jars made of glass or clay. From there, they would be packed in wooden boxes and crates, labeled, and carried outside to where the wheelbarrow was waiting for her. “It’s going to be a busy couple of days, munchkin,” she told him. “But we’ll be alright. That’s how you have to look at it. Every day is a new adventure. We have each other, all our family and friends here. Well, most of mine, anyway. Your mother’s family is out Gods know where, but they’ll be fine, I’m sure. My mother’s still in Mura, and they’ve known about it for Goddess knows how long, so they’ll be fine.” Raiha liked to babytalk at Tasi and Shayru only on occasion. Kanikra never indulged in that, though she would make faces at them. Her point of view was such that they were people and they deserved to be treated with the dignity and respect that they deserved.

Even if they still wet their pants.

She smiled at him, grabbing the book she had bought from for inventory purposes. They couldn’t afford to be anything less than completely organized, not with the sheer amounts of stuff they were bringing down to the Within. She never would have thought that there would be such a collection of stuff - she’d arrived in Riverfall with the clothes on her back and her backpack with one dog, one horse, and one bird, and that had all seemed to multiply exponentially. Perhaps in a way this would even be good to see what they’d amassed, and written off as lost as it seemed to disappear from sight. She’d already found a pair of socks she hadn’t thought she would see again burrowed under the nesting box in the corner, and a jar of love charm tea that had been behind another clay jar on the top shelf. She wrote down the contents and the estimated weight of its contents, and which crate it went into, looking around, up at the ceiling to see if she had missed any. It didn’t seem so. “Looks a little empty in here without all of those hanging from the ceiling,” she confided with the boy. “I know that sounds silly, but there you have it. The birds are here, and the dogs are here, and you’re here and I’m here, but I’ve always had herbs and flowers hanging in here. Okay, this crate, we keep up here,” she pointed at it. “This one has our last-minute supply that we need until we go down. All of that,” she pointed at the neatly stacked boxes, “are going downstairs. We ready, Tasi?” When he laughed and babbled, waving his hands to be picked up, and grinned at him and got the sling, lifting him up and hugging him to her chest before tucking him into it.

With him secure in the sling, still clutching one of the beanbags, she started hauling the crates down over the steps, setting them carefully in the wheelbarrow. Most of her personal stuff was all neatly packed anyway, but that would be for later. Her books and notes would have to be pried from her cold, dead hands, but she had other things, like the glassbeak bill and talons, various skins and furs, a collection of feathers, and other such nonsense that she liked to keep with her but would have to go into the storage trunk with her clothes. By the time she had finished with the supply of herbs and medical gear, some of which, including excess bandages and dressings, had been put into her backpack and given to Diallo to carry, they were ready to go down into the Within with the load.

Diallo preceded the two Akontaks down the tunnel, carrying her backpack, his tail and ears up. She hummed, setting the tune, as she maneuvered the wheelbarrow. Her humming was interrupted by whispers of Makath, telling her that Kavala was further down there. She thanked them - that was good, since then they could put their heads together about where they wanted to store everything. She began to sing at the smiling little boy who clutched the beanbag with one hand, and her long braid with the other. “The waves crash in, and the tide rolls out. It’s an angry sea, but there is no doubt that the lighthouse will keep shining out to hmmhmhmhmhm,” she apparently forgot the word, humming instead, “the lonely sailor.” Her voice grew louder as she came down the tunnel, still mindful of the poor tyke’s proximity to her terrible singing, but he didn’t seem to mind.

She turned the corner, taking it slowly, so as not to send everything crashing down. “And the lightning strikes, and the wind cuts cold, through the sailor’s bones, through the sailor’s soul,” it was Kanikra, her voice quieter as she took over for Raiha. “Until there’s nothing left that he can hold, except the rolling ocean,” she finished the verse, now barely above a volume that indicated speech, but she grinned down at Shayru. He was getting big for the sling. She’d have to insist on his learning to walk soon.

Diallo approached Kavala, tail and ears up, Raiha’s very-stuffed backpack in his maw. He was in good spirits today, but as Raiha’s voice preceded her, it wasn’t hard to understand why. She was launching into the chorus just before she came into view. “Oh, I--------’m ready for the storm, yes sir, ready, I am ready for the storm, I’m ready for the stoooo~~~~rm! Oh, give me mercy...” She grinned at Kavala, breaking off the song, blushing a little at her rendition but not at all minding. “I’ve got the mews’ store of herbs,” she told her, smiling. “Where do we want them? I can deposit them and come back for the next load.”

[Serrif Von Chatlyn]

There was much to do to prepare for this storm. If the warning from Mura and V’nessi was any indication the world around them would surely not be the same after this storm rolled through. The damage would be…was unfathomable to him right now. But Kavala and the Sanctuary staff were taking no chances; everything was getting moved underground just in case the worst happened to everything above. But there was much to move, and little time to do it all in; which for some reason helped him concentrate on the task at hand. It seemed chaos had a way of helping him focus. When he had something to do, and maybe even little time to do it in his mind finally started bringing pieces together to bind on the problem at hand.

With this all settled in his mind he headed to the clinic to start packing it up for the move carefully. He would accomplish this by packing everything he could into his backpack and accompanying rucksack. He began to notice that he would be carrying a good deal of weight. But that was not worrisome to him in the least. Weight was weight, and he could finish one load and move onto the next. In his mind he figured he would be much more careful when carrying the glassware than a horse or wagon. He would just have to keep himself level and steady. And also pay careful attention to wherever he was directed to lay his load. He would to back and fourth however many times he needed to. Not speaking unless spoken to, his mind was task focused.

With a slight groan he carefully and slowly fit the backpack on his back and the rucksack under it. He could hear the clinging and all but if he was careful no tragedy would occur. Carefully he approached the group and awaited instruction really. They were family, he was a guest and in his mind he knew his place. He was to help however he could, learn as much as possible and stay if asked. That would come at a later time between Kavala and him. But for now he was to make himself useful, so he would help until he could help no longer. Ildin’s training had taught him limits were imposed by the mind. If you tried hard enough they didn’t exist.

He nodded simply indicating he was more than ready to continue to wherever it was they would be going. “Where are these to go?”A simple question aimed at whoever knew the answer; because he certainly did not.

He was well aware that he was lucky to be here, he could’ve chosen to go to Windreach first, and doubtlessly he would be caught out in this storm and likely killed in the process. But here, with these people he felt safer. This may not be his home yet, but he could see himself staying here. He could see himself being useful here; it was a slow process but anything worth the effort was usually such. He didn’t comment on anything though, especially not Raiha. It was not his place to, nor was it his place to comment or say anything to any of the others. He’d keep to himself easy enough; he need not create any enemies here. Especially Raiha…something about her seemed very dangerous. But he couldn’t place a hand on what.

[Nhara K'tari]

Placeholder - I want to jump in as well if that is okay

[D'Lena]

Placeholder.

[Kavala]

They got organized fast. For that Kavala was grateful. She worked side by side with Serrif packing up the clinic and philtering lab, making trip after trip in the pony cart with Sivak pulling it so that they could move everything down safely. Kavala was glad, to some extent, when the Within was designed that she could get the cart into various rooms. All the clinic gear was stored in the sparring room and master's circle, carefully piled up in neat crates and packing boxes that were abundant in the storage rooms. Kavala even managed not only with his help to get the clinic moved, but all the glass and herbs and finished medicines from both the lab and storage. By day one they were exhausted and everyone tired, but they had a sense of accomplishemnt.

Rath had the tack and most of the movable horse and dog items downstairs and had even taken some of the fencing down. They had meat and food moved Within and all their supplies bought from town to see them through the storm.

On day two Kavala moved her personal stuff, everything from the bathhouse, and helped everyone else move their personal stuff as well. Finally as time drew closer, they began to move the horses down and took the wagon the long way around and parked it in the sea cave. They also purchased all the hay they could in town and hauled it by the wagon load into the caves, not knowing how long the horses would have to be penned up rather than roaming on the grasslands.

And once that was done and Kavala was certain there was nothing else to move, she began work on the chapel. It would give her something to do during the storm and all the days they needed to hide. Thanks to Lars she knew exactly how to excavate, turning stone to sand in stone steps so she could clean it out and discard the sand onto the beach. It was slow, carving out a room from solid stone. But the work went quickly when you got into a pattern and found a 'zone'.

First she went to the place she wanted to make the opening and began to form res. Coating the stone with res, she pushed it into the underlying stone and willed it into sand. When that happened a thin layer of sand fell to the floor and the doorway got just a little bit carved out. It was far faster than carving by hand, but it was still slow work. Even when she was working in the evenings, she managed to carve out an opening that was closet sized by the time she got too tired to produce more res and keep her eyes open.

The first step was easy. She'd channel out a tunnel the length of the room she wanted, then she'd start carving out steps from the ceiling down, hauling away the sand as she produced it, forming a chamber with a high ceiling in all the room except for her initial tunnel. That way she'd work from the ceiling down, avoiding the need for any sort of scaffolding until she got back to her original section and needed to level it with the rest of the vaulted ceiling. It was a good system and would probably take her most of the emergency to finish, but would give her time to occupy her mind instead of just sit and wait.

[Raiha]

All of the boxes and crates were noted, their location noted, numbers scrawled on them, and all of these kept track of in the book. This way, if they had an emergency, they’d know exactly where to find what they wanted, in the bare minimum of time. She approved of organization. Chaos was beneficial to no one, especially when they had a pending possible catastrophe bearing down on them.

While Kavala worked on shaping the rooms, Raiha was working on the plumbing. She had rough ideas and diagrams about where they wanted the water to go, so now it was up to her to make it happen. Water, given enough time and pressure, could wear away stone. Time she did not have. Pressure, on the other hand... If she could harness the entire power of a river into one exacting point, she could carve her own tunnels. But the main goal, really, was to connect the water sources with the tunnels in order to provide the running water that they needed. If it just sat there was never used up, it would become stagnant and a hotbed for disease and other icky things.

She had gotten herself comfortable on her side, her back supported against Diallo, comforting and there as always, another pillow under her head. Comfort was necessary, after all. It wasn’t like she had multiple tries at this. What she had to do was make one small exploratory tunnel, then move the rest of it, all the while utilizing Auristics in order to see where in the Ukalas she was, and that meant having very little between the rock floor and her. She had enough to peer through. Snacks and drink were at the ready, just in case she needed them while she was working. Using two forms of magic wouldn't be that taxing, not with her Djed stores, but the pressure needed was what was going to be the hard part.

She started with Auristics, concentrating first on her djed and bringing it to her eyes. It wouldn’t be too bad - it wasn’t like she was focusing on one specific aura to read it, but the more difficult part was going through the internal structure. It was seeing through all of those layers of rock tat made it difficult. But this way, she could see it, and connect the two together. Propped up on her side, her head cradled by pillow and arm, she took in the auras below her, scanning through the rock. She could see the residual traces underneath which showered her where Kavala and Lars, the earthen reimancer, had been busy last. While it was interesting, she didn’t need to scan it now. It was going to take enough concentration to do what had to be done. She found the underground springs, too, which were the other necessary component - without it, she was out of luck, but she knew where she was going now. All she had to do was follow through.

With the auras before her eyes, Raiha closed them briefly to give her a chance to get in the zone to produce res. Diallo’s presence, warm and firm behind her, gave her a grounding that actually made it easier as the two of them breathed together, slow, steady breaths. With her hands pressed against the floor, Raiha began to generate res, coaxing it out of her hands and down. Down, through the stone, down, down, until she found the underground spring. Her eyes were open now, intent, even as she continued to push out a steady stream of res, watching it worm its way down to join with and merge with the springs, waiting for her to manipulate it further still.

Time had no meaning now. The process was slow-going, and she hadn’t even gotten to the hardest part yet. But now that she had started - she couldn’t very well leave it - the res would dissipate, and all of her efforts wasted. She let go with one hand to grab the mug of tea beside her, bringing the reed straw to her lips where she could reach it without having to constantly stop her res production or spilling her drink. She sipped some tea, putting her hand back on the floor, and continued to force res down to the spring. She could feel it, surging, pushing, ready to explode as she packed more and more into it.

The next stage was gathering it together, letting the water crowd, as she shaped the res into one hard point. It would have to be constantly maintained, constantly refilled, as she drilled the power of a raging river through one point the size of her tiniest finger, in order to connect the streams with the channels. She sipped more tea, closing her eyes again briefly before exhaling slowly once more, perfectly calm, and began. She knew what the shortest path was, already mapped, and the way to get through it. Now she just had to follow through.

By now, in her mind’s eye, both hands were sunk to the wrist in her core, her djed, the fountain of essence. Her fists clenched, and she saw the aura of her res as surely as she felt it became one with the threaded point, and she began to push it up, transmuting it, turning it round and round, like a spinning awl, meant to drill, guiding it carefully with all of the pressure she could force into that one point. It wasn’t like geomancy, not quite, as Raiha’s world was focused purely on that point and driving it upwards, maintaining its sharpness. She was able to see the very, very slow success that she was having. She was doing it! Water was wearing through, cutting through, the stone.

If she didn’t have so much invested in this activity, her victory would have made her giddy. But she was so focused on it, she didn’t have time to laugh and celebrate. She was only vaguely aware of Rath refilling her tea at some point as she continued the drill’s ascent upwards, keeping the high pressure on it. She felt the water shoot, then, as it finally collided with the pipe, water pressure released at last, carefully manipulated so as not to fracture further from the sheer force of it as the Akontak began to widen her drill and transmute the water at the edge as it rushed into through the little tributary she had made, shaving the rock, widening, helping. Now it was easier going. Now she could breathe. Just a little more...