Chapter 105: Exterior Housekeeping
Chapter 105: Exterior Housekeeping
Kalli watched the sky as the woodcutters began to return with their haul, gathering it inside the walls of the Academy.
Axe wielding warriors began to split the trees that they had brought back into metre long rounds, and then stacked them along the wall for storage.
Kalli herself was going group to group, making sure that she could give as many people as possible the quest completion for the wood, while many of the warriors were running back to the forest to grab another tree.
What they had gathered looked pitifully small compared to the space they had to store firewood, so they went to get as much as possible, just in case it became difficult later, or the ash caused a major fire.
If that happened, they were going to be in a very tough spot.
Everyone assumed that they could likely buy something flammable from Kalli. But what if there were no quests to complete? Without points, they would run out of everything in an ash wasteland.
But that was a problem for later, and for now, all they could do was grab more wood.
The second wave came back, and the wood was chopped and stacked along the wall, just as the ash began to settle onto the buildings like snowfall.
Kalli began to rally the Heroes.
"Everyone, we need teams on every single roof. Grab a broom, a shovel, whatever works.
The falling ash needs to be removed before it builds up and collapses the buildings. The earlier we get on it, the better off we are. The ash is going to be hot, but there are fire-resistant emergency blankets in the Academy’s emergency supplies that you can use as a poncho.
If you have wind magic, that works too. Just pace yourself. The heaviest ash flow is going to come overnight, and we need constant work on every building."
The Heroes debated for a few minutes, then came up with a solution. Every five-person team would take a section of the Academy compound.
That way they could cycle through the team members to keep the area clear, and not work constantly or argue about who wasn’t doing their job. That worked for the Academy, while the apartments had it easy. They had a thousand people in two buildings, with relatively small roof areas.
Even a half dozen people would be enough to keep the roof clear, and pile the ash up around the base of the building.
"Everyone, come get masks! I know that the ash has got to be hard on the lungs, so I’ve purchased filtration masks. If you want to spend an extra point and get an armoured one to match your gear, you can do that too."
But the cheap n95 filter masks came 500 to a case for a point.
"Do we have someone from the apartments here? Take this case back with you. Make them stretch if you have to, but the worst of the ash should only last two weeks or so, as long as the eruption ends."
"Got it boss. We will keep the roof intact."
The ash was already beginning to fall, collecting on their hair like large snowflakes that didn’t melt. That left them no more time to plan, as the ash was already beginning to accumulate on the buildings. It would take some time before it was bad enough to be an issue, but it was better to get ahead of the situation.
Kalli wasn’t the only one with plans, though.
Once they realized that the ash was warm, but not hot enough to burn, the residents of the apartments got right to work on their preservation plan.
They were stitching sheets together, with the intention of attaching them to the edges of the building and the air conditioner in the middle of the roof. Cover the top fan to keep it from plugging with ash, and the sheets could be lifted every few minutes to shake the ash off and drop it on the ground.
It would be way easier than shovelling a tar and gravel roof constantly.
The buildings of the academy had metal clad roofing, which was incredibly slippery. Fortunately, there were safety walkways made of metal mesh, and most of the ash was actually sliding off the roof.
The roof was also a steep slope, as was the traditional style. So, they didn’t have to worry about the towers, as nothing accumulated on them, and they had slate shakes on a metal frame, which wouldn’t burn even if they started getting live embers.
All that was left was for the students to sweep out the corners where ash was accumulating, and rest where they could.
Kalli inspected the roof of her newly built office, but it was also made of smooth concrete, and domed for strength, which was letting most of the ash slide off. She did grab a long broom extension to get the middle, where the ash was beginning to pile up.
The ash was awful, so Kalli did spend a point to get herself the good armoured mask, and then another to get a wool cloak with a hood to keep the ash out of her hair.
That stuff was going to turn to concrete if she didn’t get it all brushed out before she showered.
The ash was getting worse by the minute as the three clouds converged overhead, and unlike Kalli’s prediction, they did not get a period of incredible heat, instead they got a downdraft of frigid upper atmospheric air displaced by the ash clouds along with the increasing ash fall.
They were going to need that firewood tonight if the generator couldn’t keep up with the necessary input.
Kalli went back in to charge it, and realized that there was a minor issue.
The Generator could hold just over seven hundred mana, enough to keep it charged for a full day. But Kalli only had enough for one hour at a time. With her mana regeneration amulet, it would recover in a minute and a half, but that was exhausting to cycle all her mana in and out like that.
But if she didn’t, it needed to be done constantly, and she’d never get any sleep.