I open my eyes to the world of Settlement, today and for the next or so is going to be filled with hard manual labor. The ground needs to be excavated so that it can be refilled with bricks and trees need to be cut down to get the wood needed to build bridges. Most of the NPCs were already hard at work with their own duties but I could probably grab a few to get this properly started right?
First, I needed to check on old man Hus for the tools. In the game world, it has only been half the day so there might not be any tools yet but can't hurt to check.
"Old man Hus are the shovels and or pickaxes ready?"
"Young lass, bring the lad to the barracks."
"Yes sir! Ian come, follow me."
"Lime, since when have you started to call old man Hus, sir?"
"When he showed me how fast he could make the tools you requested."
"What do you mean?"
"The shovels were made by tying a straight stick to one of the white stones which had been rubbed against another stone in order to create a flattish surface. I don't know where he gets the energy but he made 2 shovels between when you asked and now while also making another 2 pickaxes."
"I see. Old man Hus has some hidden strengths."
"Yep. I helped too by the way."
"I know you did, good on you Lime!"
"Hehehe, thank you. Well, here they are. If you want someone to help you, I think both Owen and Frank are free. They are both in the forest cutting down some small trees for sir. Ah, I see them coming back."
The shovels were slightly different from modern-day shovels and like how Lime described the process of making it, it looked more like a large chisel. The wooden stick was the shaft and instead of having a blade, it was a stone cutting edge. Unfortunately, there is no handgrip which would have made shoveling easier but we have to make do with what we have. Similarly, the pickax was created by attaching a wooden stick to a smaller piece of stone.
I wave towards Owen and Frank as they come back from being in the forest, calling them over to discuss some tasks that need to be done.
"Owen, Frank, I'm going to let the both of you be the leaders in this project of mine. I'm sure Noah has already briefed you on this am I correct?"
"Yea, Noah as spoken to Frank and me about it. Since we needed shovels and pickaxes we decided to wait until old man Hus had finished making them before we start anything. In the meantime, we went to get more wood for him while Noah found some more people to help us with everything."
"Good, well as you can see I'm holding onto the 2 white stone shovels and pickaxes. I noticed that we still had 3 more stone shovels from when we were creating the moat in front of the gate. With this, it should be enough to make the base of the road I am thinking of, at the same time we would need more wood for the bridges."
"Ah, we have 2 people in the forest right now finding good trees to cut down. Noah told us to find trees that are not too large and more on the skinny side since making them into smaller planks of wood would be easier if the tree was already small."
"Good, well then for now follow me. I'll teach you what I want to be done as well as show you the route I want the road to take."
I let Owen and Frank, place the wood they had acquired at old man Hus's workshop and then led the two of them down to the canyon.
"I would prefer the road to start the moment the slope connects to the bottom of the canyon. However, doing it first will impact everyone else's movement so this place will be done later and most likely at night so we can minimize any impact on the rest of the people here."
"Ian, I got a question."
"Yes, Frank?"
"What about in the main place? Wouldn't you want a road of some sort up there too?"
"Of course I do. But we can make that later. Plus if we find some nice-looking rocks we can use that instead to make the road a nicer color."
"I see."
"Any questions from you Owen?"
"Not yet. Keep going with the explanation, for now, I'll interrupt if there is something I need to confirm."
"Okay, as both you know I want this road to connect HavenFall and the cave. The both of you have traveled there before and know that as we walk from here to there we need to cross the river multiple times and watch our footing when we walk. I want to change it so we don't need to worry too much about that as well as provide a more stable path for when we transport copper from the cave."
"Right, when I was escaping from Balta and we were going to fight him, I did notice that the pathing we took was sometime's dangerous as we could have slipped at any point and potentially hurt ourselves."
"That's right Frank. So the basic method of making this road would include first digging out the ground. Most of the path from here to the cave is uneven, with it being higher closer to the canyon wall and lower closer to the river. We need to make it so it is even but also deep enough that we can place down the foundation of the road. "
"What is the foundation?"
"Good question Owen. I would have preferred to use sand but since we don't have it, we will be using mud mixed with small crushed stones. So, for starters, we will dig out a section so that the two of you know what to do."
"Sure."
I bring both of them down the river a bit so that we weren't too far away from the last kiln. Using the shovel, I mark out a rectangle in the dirt and then passed the shovel to Owen, Frank was already holding a shovel.
"This is roughly the size I want the road to be like. The first step is to dig it out but remember to not dig too deep. Using the shovel as a guide, the moment it is about halfway deep up the blade of the shovel it should be good, since the dirt is higher on the side closer to the canyon, make sure to dig down a bit more so that it is even."
Following my instructions, Owen and Frank started to dig on the side closer to the riverbank first before going closer to the canyon wall. Making sure that it was still even, I told them they should tap the ground lightly with the feet. I went away for a bit and brought back 4 pieces of wood that were approximately the same length as the rectangle I made. Since I didn't have exact measurements I had to estimate when I asked Lime to cut it up from the wooden sticks she had.
"Good job with the hold, Owen, Frank. How was it? Hard?"
"The shovel's hurt our hand after a while but if we go slowly our hands won't hurt. Otherwise, I think Frank and I are fine doing this."
"Great! The next step is to put these wooden sticks along the side of the hole. This is just used to ensure the straightness of the road, however, I know later down it won't be straight but neither are sticks. After this, using the dirt you dug up we are going to mix water and small stones to create a foundation. So start by moving the dirt to the side away from the hole, I'll go get a small bowl. When you are done moving the dirt, create a small hole in the middle so that it looks like a dirt bowl."
I leave the two of them again to their own devices while I get a bowl as well as stones. I see a pile of broken clay next to Noah as he places a new set of bricks into the kiln.
"What happened to the clay?"
"Ah, this is from the inside of the kiln, some times when we are making the bricks or cups or bowl it breaks inside. I took out a bunch of them and left it on the side since I wasn't too sure what to do with them."
"Hmm, this is perfect. If there are more, pile them here. I will be using them in the creation of the road."
"Are you sure?"
"Yep, we can't just waste them."
"Okay, do you need some now?"
"Yep, can you get someone to bring me a basket of them?"
"Of course. I'll get it down right now."
Leaving Noah and returning to Owen and Frank I begin the next step of making the road. One of the demi-humans came to us not long after I got back carrying a basket of the broken clay pieces. Since he was here already, I told him to stay and learn as well since he was going to help Owen and Frank later.
I take the bowl and fill the hole with water until it was about half full. While doing this, I asked them to crush the clay pieces so that it is smaller. I slowly mix dirt and water together while adding the clay pieces until it gets to a thick paste, adding in more water if needed. It turned into a budget concrete-looking paste and once I got it to a nice consistency I started to shovel into the hole. Getting the demi-human to come back with a basket of bricks, I let Owen and Frank fill the hole until it was half full with the mud mixture.
Once the demi-human returned with the bricks, I took one and placed it on the mud mixture. I press it down slightly so that the brick is at the same level as the edge of the hole. Afterward, I told them to place down the bricks, leaving a small gap between each brick until the hole was full. Luckily for us, we only needed 2 trips to collect enough bricks. With the excess mud mixture, I told them to spread it on top of the bricks, moving it into the gaps so that all the gaps are filled. This part required them to use their hands since it was easier to ensure that the gaps were all filled.
Once that was completed, on the long sides of the road, I asked them to place another layer of bricks on top. Creating a line on the sides, and making it stick together using the mud mixture, all that was left was for it to dry and set together.
"And with this, we are done. Any questions?"
"How about the paths which are curved? The bricks obviously do not curve as well. Do we just end up using more of the mud to fill the gaps?"
"Pretty much, Frank. Do the best you can with the bricks since the bricks are the core structure of the road. The mud is more of glue to stick them together. I also want shelter on top of the road in case of any rain. I know it hasn't rained at all since we have been here but if it does one day, I want to protect the road from rain since it might get unsettled from the water."
"Okay, well there won't be enough bricks to fill the whole path yet but do you want us to dig it all out first?"
"Yes, Owen. The path should be dug out and supported with wooden sticks. That way you already have a guide on the path. During the time when the bricks are being made, I'll help you with making bridges but until we have enough wood, it might be tomorrow when we start."
"Okay, thanks Ian. Frank, Yor and I understand it now."
"Okay, follow me since you three will need to know the path."
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