Day 100: Oathday the 27th, Kuthona, 4707
I woke up to my alarm playing a different song. The Sammy Hagar version of I can't drive 65. I didn't think that this was a coincidence, as I didn't remember even downloading that song. I got up and quickly did a rune casting. It confirmed that the horde would strike the day after tomorrow. I put the runes away and realized that an hour had gone by in the time it took to really reflect over this. I need to get more focused. I started breakfast and got the coffee going for Savah and everyone. Oren was in the common room, with Arika. They looked like they had a question to ask me, so I told them out with it.
Oren spoke up and asked if I thought that it would be okay for him and Arika to head to Magnimar after this was dealt with. I shrugged and said that he'd probably have to take that up with Sheriff Hemlock, as Sheriff Hemlock was his boss. I continued that if he was asking for my permission to head to Magnimar, he didn't really need my permission. If he was planning on leaving for good, I would wish him well and hope that he didn't run into trouble again. Oren shook his head and looked around before saying that he had heard that his sister was actually in Magnimar, and he wanted to make sure that she was doing okay.
I sighed with relief, and told them both that if they wanted to find his sister, I could support that, as I could always use another cousin. Oren laughed a hearty laugh and said that his sister might need some convincing, but that once she sees what we have going on here, and how easy it will be to just get along, she might be convinced. I told him that if we added more people to the house, we would need to get more bedrooms. Oren laughed and said that he would work on saving up for that.
I nodded and said that I needed to get to work as I was running late. Oren looked at me oddly but wished me well. I went back into the kitchen and finished getting breakfast ready for Savah and myself. I looked back at my phone and it said that it was five minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off. I looked at my alarms and saw that there was still an alarm in the list for an hour and a half earlier than my normal alarm. I guess it was something that I just left in there. I made sure that it was clear now.
I took breakfast in to Savah and told her that I'd be assembling any firearms that were ready in the workshop and then moving on to other issues. Savah told me that she was going to rest for a bit and then get ready to help with the second phase of the training. I smacked myself in the forehead and told her that I forgot that there was a phase two to training, and told her that I would have to re-arrange my thoughts. I told her that I had received some kind of divinatory message that told me what I took is that the horde is about sixty-five miles away, and that they will be here the day after tomorrow.
Savah nodded and said that everything would be as ready as we can make it, and that while we shouldn't stop preparing, that we were doing all that we could. I agreed and told her that I would be down in the workshop. Savah nodded and I did my spell to summon my armor onto me. I summoned up an unseen servant on my way down and made my way to the shop. While I was walking the short distance, I had some pangs of thought. Was the creation of a homunculi the act of creating a slave? I know that Faunra told me that they are just extensions of myself, and that they go crazy without contact with their other half, but they can be transferred, and I've made arrangements for that if something happens to me, but will that mean that they will be merely extensions of the person, or will they retain the knowledge and skills that I bring to them? That will be the real question.
Veronica and Igor were just as neutral to seeing me as they always are, and had a pile of firearm parts for me to inspect and assemble. It worked out well this way, with me being the last check, as I could have one of them make slight modifications to what they needed to make before I put it together, and I would work on the next one. I've put together fifteen of these firearms, seven revolvers and eight rifles. I think that by the end of the day tomorrow, when everything is all said and done, I will be tired of doing this. One last day to get the ammo and I will give making these a break. Even Igor and Veronica are reflecting my frustrations, with oddly blank and non-emotional ways. Short replies and glances to each other, terse and monotone questions, and a general stripped down sense of when will we be done. After this, it'll be mainly bullets, to keep them resupplied.
Veronica and Igor were left with their tasks and Niddler sent me a thought that the Sheriff and his troops were on their way. I got up and headed to the door to the garage. I beckoned them all to come to the side of the house when they got closer and I brought out the bike to give them the next phase of training. I figured that it would be best to start with the basics, and showed them the power plant, and then how it functions to provide rotation to the tires. We went over the bike in its entirety and how it all goes together.
By the time that lunch was getting delivered, this time from Risa's Place. We had gotten through a lot of the bikes details and how to handle them and having one of Risa's specials was just the thing today. Besk was the one who delivered the and was looking over the bikes. He walked up to me and asked me how much one of these bikes were. I told him that it would be best to talk to Savah, but that most of the cost was in the power plant. If I made a regular bicycle, it would be much cheaper, and lighter. I told him to check back with Savah in a few days, when all of this is hashed out, and we could see what it would take. Besk thanked me and pushed his cart back towards the Tanner Bridge.
Sheriff Hemlock came up and asked me what Besk needed. I told him that Besk was asking about the bike and how to get one. Sheriff Hemlock nodded and said that he was likely to put in orders for more bikes when this was all said and done anyway. I nodded and told him that I was figuring that he would want this and that I was looking to get away from focusing so much on the firearms. Sheriff Hemlock nodded, and said that he would like to eventually get the town militia armed, armored, and trained as well, but that this could wait. I thanked him for his patience and agreed that an armed society is a polite society.
The second half of the training day was spent dealing with getting them all used to riding on the bikes. A few tumbles happened but they were not really damaging at this speed and by the end of the day all of the crew that were working with me were able to ride the bike at a decent speed without danger of falling over. I told them that tomorrow we would continue with further training, and that they would need to go home and get some immediate sleep afterwards, because we would need to be ready the following morning for the raid. Sheriff Hemlock sent them on and stayed behind.
Sheriff Hemlock asked me if I had a minute to talk, and I told him that I did. Sheriff Hemlock told me that he'd be looking to get his people trained, but that he would take over some of the training himself after tomorrow. I told him that this was perfectly fine with me, and that I had hoped that he would mold his crew into an effective force under his vision. Sheriff Hemlock thanked me and headed out. I went in to the house and saw that Savah was back from training her contingent of the guard. I asked her how it went and she told me that it went fine.
I asked Savah what she was wanted to do with the rest of the day and she told me that she'd just like to spend some time relaxing. Savah added that we were going to have a lot of excitement in the upcoming days, and that it would be really good to have an easier time of it. We got our dinner together and sat down on the porch, looking over our life here. We smiled to each other and Savah asked if I was happy. I told her that I wasn't happy that we were looking at defending the town so often in less than a year, and Savah noted that this town really was on the frontier.
Just before we went inside, Savah saw that someone was trying to sneak up on the property. She yelled out to the person and they froze. She repeated that she saw them, and that they should beat it. They didn't move, so I handed her my pistol. Savah shook her head slightly, noting that she didn't want to kill. I pointed out the laser pointer and she smiled. She turned the laser pointer on and aimed it at the guy. He stood there for a second, and Savah told him to look down at his chest. He did and ran off. Savah smiled and handed me back my pistol. We locked up and headed into the bedroom together.