The “let’s name the land cruiser poll,” I hope this works.

If you spot any flaws, please leave a comment, thank you.

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Chapter 27: Chief Dawn Rain

It was strange waking up in my new dungeon bedroom and I was sure that I would never like sleeping underground but for now it would have to do; at least my slumber hadn’t been disturbed. I got up and put on my robe. I walked out of my room, brushing aside the blue tarp that was acting as my bedroom door. On my way to the upstairs bathroom, I took a slight detour to check on Nina. I found her still sleeping, and seeing her covers all askew, I took a moment to tuck her blankets back up under her chin, the poor thing deserved all the rest that she could get. I then resumed my trek, seeking my morning shower and shave.

Yesterday had been another long day. After the Council meeting, I had spent hours working on the American Embassy Compound within my Kingdom. The whole idea of me being a king and having a US Embassy in my tiny kingdom is such a weird concept for me that I keep on expecting to wake up in a loony bin with an insane doctor screaming at me “April Fools.” One more night and I should have the American dungeon complete. It might be a little small for over six hundred people but I am unwilling to grant them anymore than five acres, within my Stronghold.

I still had clothes in my old bedroom, after dressing I found Steve, Jen, Star, and Isabella sitting at the kitchen table.

Jen began talking, “Vincent, there are some other matters that we started discussing after you left the meeting last night, things that we feel we should bring to your attention.” She nodded to Isabella who took over.

“One problem that I’m having is our artificial light sources. We only have your enchanted incandescent bulbs and the people who possess Light Magic, like Star here. Incandescent bulbs don’t make for the best grow lights and our Light Mages only generate light when they are present, their spells as of yet have no persistence. I think that we should have some underground growing rooms but I can understand why that might not be feasible at the present time. However, my main difficulty right now, is keeping our wooly lambs ear plants healthy; you know the ones that we keep in our bathrooms, as a replacement for toilet paper. It is pain to swap them out with plants growing in our green houses every two or three days. I was hoping that you might have a solution.”

“The only potential answer that I can think of is Star.” Who immediately stopped sipping her tea and stared at me when I said those words. “With enough painful instruction from me, she and Blender might both just become Enchanters. Since Star has Light Magic she might be able to make true magical lights for us that can produce something akin to sunlight. I’ve given her and Blender some instruction but we’ve all been so busy lately that we’ve been letting it slide. Don’t expect quick results though, they missed being Enchanters by a tiny margin and it will take a lot of time to warp, pound, torture and mold them so that they can even have a low level of talent in that magical ability.”

Isabella grimaced. “Well I guess a slight hope is better than nothing, thank you Vincent.”

“Star, you and Blender will see me three times a week for lessons starting tomorrow afternoon, okay?”

She tried to hide her grimace but she said, “certainly my King. I would like to speak about another subject, and the primary reason that we are all gathered here this morning, it too has to deal with education. We think it is time for this Stronghold to have a school and a child care center. Presently we have 152 children under the age of fifteen and 38 more between fifteen and eighteen. This world has a great wealth of written knowledge, so it’s imperative that all children learn to read, write and speak; not only English but a variety of languages both those native to Earth and to other worlds as well, since so very few have been gifted with the Communication Skill by the DDS. Mathematics, history, science, magic and host of other subjects, including many practical skills should also be taught. It is the general feeling of the Council that children under fifteen, many of whom have labored as hard as many adults here, should now be full-time students with only an hour or two of chores every day. For those between fifteen and eighteen, many of them already have jobs vital for our community; the Council feels that efforts should be made to reduce their workloads so that they will be able to spend equal time at school. Once we are able to reduce the general workload on everyone, perhaps this fall, I think that we should also offer classes to those over eighteen.”

I can only blame low blood sugar, for my following actions, since I hadn’t eaten yet, but…. “I agree, I think we need a school as well. I’ve felt badly about making the kids work so hard, it was beginning to remind me too much of something like from Earth’s own Dark and Medieval Ages. When we have the opportunity we’ll construct a dedicated building and dungeon for the school. Steve, if you’ll get with Mack and have him reserve an octagonal shaped piece of land, for our future school site, with each side being 225 feet in the exact center of the Stronghold, I would appreciate it. What we build there can be both a school and a final place to retreat to, for our entire community, if a disaster should befall us.”

“I’ll take care of it Boss.”

I continued. “Currently we should have more than enough space underground to hold classes.” I got nods of agreement from those gathered in the kitchen. “As for a name for the school, there were a series of whimsical magical books written several years ago. As a consequence of the popularity of those novels, I worry that someone might start calling our new school “Hermitswart.” Star looked confused, so Jen leaned over to whisper an explanation into her ear, while Isabella and Steve looked as if they didn’t know if they should laugh or frown. “I propose that we call it the ‘Stronghold School of Magic and Other Stuff.’ I know the last word isn’t very dignified but it’s accurate since our school will be teaching so many different things.”

There were some slight frowns, especially from Star but the fools fell for my master plan. I could only hope that my mental shields would hold until it was too late for the Evil Queen-pin and her minions to change things. Once they left, I ate my breakfast and then went downstairs to my mad wizard’s laboratory. One of these days, I have to figure out how I can enchant a broom or two, so as to keep my workshop clean without any manual labor on my part.

When I was safe in my cave and I was sure that I was alone, I began to cackle evilly. “Muahahaha, muahahaha, Stronghold School of Magic and Other Stuff, indeed! Those Fools! Muahahaha, muahahaha, and it just happens to be in the exact magical focal point of the Stronghold. Muahahaha, muahahaha, when Star realizes what I have done she might just commit hara-kiri in shame, for actually its secret true name will be,” I paused my self-congratulatory monologue to glance around and make sure that I was still alone. I then whispered because it never hurts being extra cautious, “Stupidfucker’s School of Magic and Other Stuff, with the acronym S.S.O.M.A.O.S. Furthermore, I will always pronounce that acronym as “Samoas,” and encourage others to follow my example. The last step of my diabolical plan will be my Royal Proclamation of an Official School Cookie; I just hope Steve or Isabella can find enough coconut.” I ceased talking in whispers and I let my voice return to a normal conversational tone of voice. “Samoas shall become a beacon of hope for the new world!” I once more, began cackling but this time even louder, “Muahahaha, Muahahaha, MUAHAHAHA, MUAHAHAHA.”

Suddenly I heard. “Dad, why are you laughing like that? You are seriously, creeping me out!”

I snapped my mouth shut and I slowly turned around. Oops, I guess Nina woke up.

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Boris was dining on poultry that morning, yesterday evening some Terror Birds had stupidly attacked and this morning a pack of leaping lizards, had done the same thing. The lizards had easily made it over the walls but they had been quickly dealt with and no one had been injured. Sir Khan was still undecided if he wanted to be the first to dine upon their flesh or not because they certainly didn’t look very appetizing. He wondered if they would make a decent jerky, the monkey stuff certainly wasn’t very palatable.

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The convoy for the Armory had already left and Lady Knight Candace Murphy was walking to the firing range when she came upon Sergeant Richard Jacobs with his pronounced Southern drawl, lecturing some new volunteers for the Hermit’s Guard.

“Our brilliant battle tested commander is Sir George Mesquida. In only a few short months he has turned a mismatched group of old veterans, alien warriors and complete neophytes into a crack unit. Our five chief weapons are fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, a fanatical devotion to the King and our bright red uniforms.”

Corporal Fish Diver spoke up, “We don’t have any uniforms yet. Are they really going to be red? That’s a stupid color!

“But Sergeant what about our guns, aren’t they really important?” asked Corporal Sticks Spearmaker.

Deciding to tease the very attractive Sergeant, Corporal Tammy Harding added her two cents. “And our tanks, don’t forget our tanks, we really need them too.”

Since all the other experienced Guardsmen that were present, were speaking up, Private Dominic Jackson decided that he too should also say something since he didn’t want to look like a newb in front of the new recruits. “Don’t forget our magic Sarge, since that also makes us pretty badass.”

Sergeant Jacobs, “Harrumphed” then, “Quiet, you educated philistines! Okay, I will rephrase my last statement because of your trivial and meaningless comments. Let me see where was I? Blah, blah, blah, No one fears the Spanish Inquisition, oh yes now I remember. Amongst our diverse weapons are fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, firearms, armored vehicles, magic, a fanatical devotion to the King and our fancy dress bright red uniforms, even though they aren’t worn in combat, they do intimidate our enemies nonetheless.”

Lieutenant Murphy abruptly turned around and quickly walked away, before she exploded with laughter. Sergeant Jacobs was definitely a handsome man, yet despite his well-groomed dignified appearance as well as his lethality and efficiency on the battlefield, he was also a dyed in the wool prankster, who frequently used the most outlandish training methods and yet somehow, consistently did an outstanding job of turning people into soldiers.

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Lady Knight Night was still trying to hide her nervous twitching. The Swift Runners hadn’t been too bad but what the convoy had run into first thing this morning had seriously freaked her out.

Arthropoda Arachnida Araneae Mygalomorphae Theraphosidae Nix Giganteas, Giant Snow Tarantula, is a solitary carnivorous predator. Its central body can be as large as one meter wide and 3.3 meters long. An adult typically weighs between 2000 and 2255 kilograms; its legs can be up to 3.3 meters in length. This tarantula is light gray/white in the winter; and dark gray/brown during the warmer months.

She saw, she Appraised, and she opened fire, while calling out for everyone else to shoot it as well. It was terrible waste of ammunition but she didn’t care. After it was blasted to pieces she sent out two of her people who possessed Fire Magic to incinerate its corpse, she was simply going to take no chances with such a horror. She prayed that the thing hadn’t been a breeding female because she couldn’t stand the thought of more of those monsters running about. Suddenly she began to wonder if that horrible insect was capable of spinning webs, what if one of her children was ever caught in one!

Twelve miles down the road they had another encounter but this time it was almost a peaceful scene, four huge armored mammoths were dining on some brush not far from the road. The two craftmakers aboard the T800 almost went into spasms upon seeing the animals; they began begging Lieutenant Night Storm for the convoy to make a brief stop, so that they could check on the enormous creatures that were from the same home world as they.

Reluctantly she gave in to their pleas and issued an order for all vehicles to stop. As soon as the rear ramp touched the ground, Privates Waxy Candlemaker and Feather Fletcher recklessly ran down it and towards the huge animals. Lady Night muttered a flyer curse under her breath and ordered those who had stayed behind to shoot if the giant elephants looked to be a danger to those two slightly reptilian idiots.

When they were about one hundred feet away, the two Privates slowed their approach and began calling out to the huge creatures. Night could see that at least two of the four mammoths had some kind of tattered leather harness hanging from their bodies. All four of the giant elephants began to slowly lumber towards the approaching craftmakers. Once they got near enough, the mammoths used their trunks to gently touch the two women. Who in turned stroked the trunks and made soothing sounds. After a few moments the deranged craftmakers removed the ragged straps that still remained on two of the massive beasts.

Just as the Lady Knight was losing patience, the Privates broke away from the immense creatures and returned to the T800.

Waxy spoke. “Thank you Lieutenant for allowing us to check on the mammoths, they are from our home world, though they were owned by another tribe. They are well trained and we have instructed them to remain in this general area. Might it be possible on our way home that we stop again, so that we might tell them to follow us? Feather and I both understand that the convoy will quickly outpace those mammoths but if we can get them heading in the right direction, it might barely be possible for us to rescue the four of them at a later time.”

Lady Night closed her eyes because of the exasperated feelings she had and was forced to suppress. “If we have the time, we will stop but if they do succeed in making it to the Stronghold it will be our King’s decision if they are allowed inside. Their sheer size makes them dangerous and they must eat enormous amounts of food.”

Privates Fletcher and Candlemaker understood her concerns but this was something from home and the craftmaker people had an almost symbiotic relationship with such animals that only a few true horsemen could understand.

A few miles down the road they had an encounter, with rats the size of dogs. A few rifle shots scared them off, but the Lady Knight wished that the monsters would have stayed put, so that she could have wiped them all from existence.

Later on, a small group of blue screen swift runners attacked the convoy, but the sharpshooters were now familiar with such foes and none escaped or seriously delayed the convoy. So only two and a half hours after leaving the Stronghold they arrived at the Armory. Passengers were loaded as well as a one more cannon; after less than an hour delay they were heading back towards home. The convoy briefly stopped at the farm equipment store to pick up some things.

They had numerous running battles on their way back to the Stronghold, with such creatures as Stone Giants, Gorgonspids, and saber toothed giant dogs but nothing new or that seriously slowed the armored vehicles down. They did locate the elephants again and the two craftmakers instructed the beasts to follow the convoy but it was rather doubtful if the creatures would make it to the Stronghold alive. It was already a miracle that such immense herbivores had lived this long, what with predatory monsters being literally around every corner.

Sadly though the convoy had made good time that day when compared to other trips, it was decided that there was still insufficient time to make another round trip before dark. After a brief discussion with the Hermit King it was decided that a group would go out and attempt to meet up with incoming elephants and escort them back to the Stronghold. It was well that they did, because on their return journey with the mammoths they had to fight and kill a family of Stone Giants which surely would have slain the prehistoric elephants and they also stumbled upon seven more craftmaker refugees. Lady Night was happy for them, but she wondered why they weren’t finding any of her own people.

The mammoths could not travel very fast over long distances so it was just after dusk by the time they made it back to the Stronghold. The group of craftmakers who had been waiting at the gate treated the huge animals like babies because they were so happy to see them.

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It was around two in the morning of the following day and Boris was looking at the three-story Armory building across the street from the old factory. He had seen a winged shape land upon the roof there. He was mildly surprised because he didn’t think that eagles flew at night or at least not those new giant eagles. Bored, he decided to Appraise it.

Name: Dawn Rain

Title: Chief of The Soaring Dawn Clan on Earth

Title: The Unhappy Survivor

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Dawn Rain was doing the unthinkable, on this horrible new world that she and her clan members had arrived on less than ten days ago, she was flying at night. The Clan Chief had seen too many people die and now she was seeking her death because earlier the preceding morning she had been bitten by one of her friends who in turn, had been driven mad by the bite of one of those horrible giant bat-like creatures. Several hours ago she felt the beginning of a fever and then began to exhibit other symptoms.

She asked her second to slay her before it was too late but Morning Mist had refused. Dawn sighed; it really had been too much to ask of her cousin, who was so terribly young for the responsibilities now thrust upon her. Rain conveniently forgot her own young age. The older clan members had spent their blood and lives in an effort to save those that were younger they. Rain who was barely an adult was now the Clan Leader on this world, or at least she was, she thought sardonically, until she sickened and died or became one of those monsters. She wondered how things were back on the Clan’s home world of “Air” things had gotten bad there as well but certainly not as horrific as this place. She prayed that the majority of the Soaring Dawn Clan was still alive and safe in their forest homes.

Dawn Rain had taken to the night skies in an effort to seek her own death, so as to protect her clan mates, and to wreak some vengeance on those Night Stalkers that had ended so many of her clan members’ lives.

After hours of flight and battle, she had seen some lights in the distance. Tired, sick, wounded and with a brain confused by fever she landed upon a structure that was slightly taller than the place where all the lights were coming from.

Eyes filled with tears because of her clan’s probable fate, she looked at the strange compound dazzled by all of the light shining from that place.

Strangely she started to hear words in her own tongue. They were horribly mangled and the accent was terrible but she was sure that she heard, “FLYER, FRIEND, HELP,” repeated over and over. The madness that she feared must be coming on even quicker than she had expected or perhaps her delirium was due to blood loss, she thought.

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Boris muttered a curse. The orange screen flyer wasn’t reacting at all and simply kept staring at the factory compound. For the past twenty minutes he and a few others, using megaphones fashioned out of paper and cardboard, had simultaneously tried shouting out, the few words of the flyer language that they knew.

Boris did not like it at all how the female up on that roof seemed to be drunkenly swaying and he suspected that he knew the reason why, what with it flying at night and all. He quickly assembled a team comprised of some of his own soldiers and two of Captain Long’s that knew how to access the Armory’s roof. The Lieutenant could only pray that Dawn Rain did not fall or fly off before they reached her.

All of the soldiers were now awake within the compound and they were prepared to give protective covering fire, for the group attempting to make contact with strange flyer. The team making the attempt were all softly chanting “friend” in the flyer language. Boris had decided for everyone to be quite overt in their effort to make contact. He thought that any attempt to sneak up on Dawn Rain would end badly, so he wanted her to know right from the very start that they were coming.

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Dawn looked down at the strange wingless flyers, who were coming towards the structure that she was on. Some of them reminded her of those strange folk that her clan had met three days ago, and who had been so helpful even though they were equally imperiled by the dangers of this world. What was the word they used to call themselves? She shook her head; she had forgotten; she was forgetting so much, tears fell from her eyes, would she forget herself and her family? Dawn Rain let her head hang down, it took too much effort to hold it up and she was so very tired. It wasn’t raining or snowing, so why was her body so wet, she asked herself? And she felt so cold too and yet hot at the same time.

She looked up startled from her confused introspective state; moving shapes were on the roof with her. Where did they come? They said friend? Looking down at the ground, Dawn Rain didn’t know if she should launch herself into the air or let herself fall to the ground. She felt so tired and let her eyes close, fall it was.

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It was a good thing that Boris’s reflexes were magically enhanced, because he was forced to rush towards the flyer as she started to fall off the roof. At the very last second, he barely got a grip on the collar of the flyer’s crude torn leather coat. Dawn Rain was unconscious and he called the healer over, who was with his tiny contact team.

They took her downstairs, out of wind and worked on her for the next half an hour, those with fire magic warmed the small room that they were in. Once they had her in better shape if still not conscious, they gently carried her across the street to the factory compound.

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As I woke up that morning, I realized that once more it was time to enchant the bullets. Wasn’t there a television commercial like that, years ago, something about “time to make the coffee” or could it have been about bagels? Lady Knight Night had used up copious quantities of enchanted 20mm bullets yesterday during her battles to and from the Armory, which is okay especially since no one was injured or killed. But IRODs and those bullets are just so boring to make and I’ve made so many of them that I should be able to enchant them in my sleep by now.

After breakfast I decided to try something different. I picked up a 20mm bullet and instead of starting to engrave it, I merely focused my complete attention on it, I then pictured a completed enchanted version of the same thing that I made hundreds if not thousands of times during the past few months. Then using the mental picture I held in my head and my Earth Magic, I attempted to magically form those runes into the pristine projectile. My first attempt wasn’t so hot and it actually took me far longer than physically engraving it would have, but it gave me hope and I was so bored with making them the old way that I persisted. Almost an hour later, I had my first real success, an hour after that instead of enchanting a bullet every five minutes or so, I was doing one every ninety seconds. Furthermore, I was certain that with practice that I would become faster. As I continued to enchant bullets, I actually began to outstrip my energy reserves. So I took a break to tie myself into the Stronghold’s magical energy array. After I did that I shaved another ten seconds off my time.

I had successfully turned myself into a kind of magical printing press, whereby with things that I was extremely familiar with, I could magically impress complete enchantments into them and what with hooking myself into the energy provided by the Stronghold, I could even fully charge said items too. I wonder if I should keep this new technique a secret. I should be able to use the same method with firestones, earth-stones and light bulbs but I’m not so sure that it will work so successfully with anything else. Well, it will never hurt to try and who knows, I might just get better enough, where I can magically impress or print enchantments into complicated items in the future.

Two hours later, when I stopped enchanting bullets, I was doing one in slightly less than a minute. Nina wasn’t here to witness my triumph, she was busy attending classes. I was looking forward to her returning home, so she could tell me what the first day of Stupidfucker’s School of Magic was like. Star is going to want to kill me.

Hmmm, Sean and Glen had sent me over some parts from an SKS rifle to enchant; I thought they had given up on automatic weapons?

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The convoy made excellent time that morning with only having to fight two quick battles. Lieutenant Night dismounted from the T800 to see Sir Khan waiting for her with a strange expression on his face.

“Lady Night, before first light we rescued the Chief of the Soaring Dawn Clan, currently we have our healers working on her because she was injured and badly infected with the Night Stalker virus. If you’ll follow me, I think the face of one of her own kind and someone who can truly speak her own language will greatly help with her mental state. I’m not even sure if she knows that we are healing her.”

“Lead the way Boris,” Lady Night hurriedly spoke, she was so anxious to see a new flyer that she actually pushed Boris who was her superior, to make him go faster.

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Dawn Rain was lying on her stomach on a makeshift sleeping pallet made of blankets and rugs. Surrounding her were some of those same beings with the greenish gray skin that her people had joined up with just a few days ago. They didn’t know many words of the flyer language and they spoke them horribly but it gave her some hope that they knew any at all. Though, she was slightly worried that she might have already descended into madness and be dreaming all of this, because of the disease. Physically, she was feeling better and they had even given her some thin broth to drink.

It was almost two hours after dawn, as far as she could tell when she heard some strange noises coming from outside. Several minutes later a flyer, armed the same as those strange people, walked into her room.

What followed was a long discussion where the Second Chief of the Long Flight Clan gave a brief summary of her experiences on this strange world and Chief Dawn Rain told of her own, finally begging the Second Chief to rescue her people. But there was a major problem. Dawn had no idea where her people were, seeing as how she had flown away while half crazed with fever, they could be anywhere from a short walk, to several hours flying time away.

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Lady Night had been translating for Boris the entire time so that he too knew what was going on, she now turned to him. “Lieutenant Khan, I can fly back to the Stronghold and gather a large group of flyers, so that we can begin searching from the air for the Soaring Dawn Clan members.”

“Lady Knight, you have no idea where the rest of the Soaring Dawn Clan is and you know our King’s orders about flying without a ground presence nearby. Admittedly this is an emergency situation but you and I both know that there are many aerial predators that you and any other flyers will probably have to fight if you’re engaged in a prolonged search. We’ve had sights of things that we’ve been unable to identify and more worrisome still, are those seemingly large high flyers that we momentarily glimpse, yet seem to vanish right in front of our eyes, before we can even get a good look at them.

You’ve told me that there are many children to rescue which means we’ll have to send an armed convoy to transport them. The problem is that we only have enough vehicles and soldiers for one such convoy which is already tasked with rescuing these people here as our King formally agreed to do. I’m about to seriously piss off some people but by making this decision, I can give our boss some options and he in turn can blame me if anything goes wrong or if Captain Long and her people get too upset. You and your new friend are going back to the Stronghold to brief Vince. Instead of a trailer full of refugees who are desperate to get to the safety, the C500 will be towing another Oshkosh semi-truck home. Your other flyers and their attendants will be staying here for the night, we’ll cram as many civilians as we can into the T800 and I’ll be sending the last two cannons and some of 105 shells back with you on the flatbed trailers.

That way the shop will have another truck that they can convert and Vince will have those cannons, which will give the Stronghold some serious firepower if he does decide to send most of his armored vehicles on a mission to rescue the Soaring Dawn Clan. Now you get things moving outside, while I go ruin the day for Captain Long and for those people that thought they were going to the Stronghold today.”

Captain Long was indeed not pleased, because initially it had been thought that the convoy would be able to make two round trips everyday but because of having to battle their way through every time, things weren’t going as smoothly as they had expected. But while she was furious, she understood the strategic necessity of Lieutenant Khan’s actions, however that didn’t stop her from verbally ripping a piece off of his hide and she did put him on notice that she expected to be compensated in some fashion because of the delay in transferring her people.

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I was called to the firing range in order to see a little demonstration that Sean and Glen were putting on.

“Hey Vince, how are you doing today?”

“Just fine Glen,” I pointed at something that Sean was working one, “is that a little Gatling gun?”

He grinned at me. “Nope, but it is a human powered machine gun, like a Gatling gun. You see, Sean and I have been talking about odd things like quantum mechanics, magic and intent. During all of our tests we’ve proven that automatic projectile feed mechanisms will absolutely not work even if they’re air powered and being operated at extremely slow speeds. So Sean started to wonder about a fast human powered cartridge feed mechanism. That over there, is his attempt to answer that question. It’s a two barrel machine gun, based on the Gardner gun which was designed after the Gatling gun. Sean used a lot of SKS parts to build it since we’ve got so many of them just lying around, so his gun is 7.62 x 39 caliber and it even uses SKS magazines. If it works, it will have a rate of fire somewhere between three and four hundred rounds per minute. I know we don’t have as much gunpowder as you would like especially what with the way we are constantly using the stuff but still if this does work it might come in handy for some situations.”

I walked up to Sean who was still getting the gun ready, “hi Sean.”

“Hello Boss, well what do you think?”

“I stopped thinking years ago, tell me what you got.”

“Well my books don’t show the full design for a Gardner gun and I couldn’t remember everything from the only time that I saw one, so I took a few liberties. For example, each barrel has its own magazine instead of sharing one and they attach on the bottom instead of on the top. If money still had any value I’d be willing to bet a bundle that this thing will work, especially since I used an extremely simple design and a lot of parts off of two SKS rifles, the only question is how well will it work.”

I was bad, the answer to Sean’s question, was that his Murphy gun which was what Glen and I officially dubbed it, worked perfectly. I wasted an hour with those two while we played with that that thing. We went through twelve, thirty round magazines. Sean being a brilliant guy had made the gun extremely easy to operate and disassemble too for cleaning purposes; you could change barrels on it, in seconds.

At one point, Glen brought out a pneumatic torque wrench, a ratchet extension and a roll of duct tape. Sean took off the handle from the gun’s crank shaft and then using the extension (and lots of tape) they fastened the wrench to the shaft. They hooked up an air hose from the rifle range’s gun cleaning station. And at very low speed, low air pressure and very low torque setting they tried to power Murphy gun through a couple of loading and firing cycles. Up until this time the gun had been performing flawlessly. It jammed on us after firing a single bullet and subsequently it did the exact same thing, ten more times after that. Once we removed the torque wrench and reattached the handle, the gun worked perfectly once more. It was now an established fact, our new Universe hated automatic weapons and wasn’t about to let us have them.

Then George showed up, wondering what all the racket was about, he spoiled our fun and interrupted our intellectual discussion. We explained and he purloined the last two magazines so that he could more accurately judge the weapon “he said,” which was bullshit! He just wanted to play with the new toy, which wasn’t what Glen, Sean and I had been doing at all.

Glen spoke after George got finished “testing” and inspecting the Murphy Gun. “Well Captain what do you think?”

“I want fifty of them but we don’t have enough powder to keep that many adequately supplied with ammunition especially since we are going to be adding more cannons to our arsenal.”

“But you do want some, right? And if you do, what caliber do you want them in?” prompted Sean, sounding a little disappointed with George’s response.

“All things considered, for now I think that 7.62 x 39 is just about perfect. As I understand it, you used parts from two SKS rifles to make this thing, rifles which are essentially useless to us right now and we have a shitload of 7.62 x 39 cartridge cases lying around too. If we went to a larger caliber it would take resources away from other things to make them, consume more black powder, and be heavier as well. So the gun you have right here, is darn near ideal for us when you consider maximizing what materials we do have on hand and conserving our other resources. I think that in a swarm attack situation like when the King Mandrills got inside the Stronghold, that this gun makes for a fine last ditch weapon for whatever our riflemen, Holman Projectors, cannons, IRODs and Grace’s new steam shells don’t succeed in stopping. As for how many that you should build, I would like four more as quickly as you can make them but don’t prioritize them over any of your other weapon projects those have more strategic value right now because either they give us a capability that we don’t have like the 90mm howitzers you’re building or they use less black powder. But Sean, I do think you did a fantastic job in designing this thing and in making use of something that was almost worthless to us, meaning those SKS rifles.”

I jumped in following George’s reference to the shop’s cannon project, “speaking of the 90mm, how is that coming along and for that matter when will the new truck be road worthy?”

Glen looked strangely crestfallen. “I was hoping to surprise you. We got the Oshkosh 1070 running and I’ve got a team improving the armor on it now but if you could stop by a little later and help us with its transparent aluminum armored windows I’d appreciate it.”

“Just give a yell, when you need me. It would be great if Lady Night can use that tomorrow to haul back two more 1070s on one of those huge trailers they’ve got at the Armory. We might finally be getting someplace in fulfilling our need for more armored vehicles.”

“As George wanted, we’ve mounted one of our 105 howitzers in the Priest and we’re working on reconfiguring the armor on that vehicle. It is a little slower with a 200 hp engine instead of a 330 but it can still do about twenty mph, when we have the time we’ll put a second 200 hp engine into it.

One of George’s new recruits is a former M1 tanker and we’ve been talking to him about armor. The new general consensus is that ten inches of armor is not enough, if we’re going to be fighting other foes with kinetic weapons like the snails. Because of your orders to get the land cruisers built as quickly as possible, we tested a sample of the armor that we intended to put on it, late yesterday. We fired a sabot round made out of tool steel from a 105mm howitzer, and the ten inch armor didn’t do nearly as well as we would have liked. As a result of that test and a discussion we shop guys had with the military folks,” Glen nodded at George who nodded back, “we made a new eighteen inch test sample of armor which more closely followed the way the snails used their blocks of ballistic gelatin. We tested it late this morning and at close range it completely stopped the 105mm projectile. There are a few other slight changes that we intend to make and the armor on our land cruiser will be sloped which should help improve things still further. But all of us did agree that portions of our new land cruiser’s armor will be eighteen inches instead of ten and there will be two feet of armor around the ammunition storage locker with blow out panels on the turret’s roof.

Clyde’s working on drawing up a redesign now, he’s good at that kind of thing, when it’s complete in a day or two; we’ll start building the first land cruiser. We just have to come up with a proper name for it. Right now we are calling it the LC100, which stands for Land Cruiser model 100. The reason we chose 100 was because we don’t know of any military force using that number for any modern armored vehicle.

That big Caterpillar 988 Loader that we got from the gravel pit should be completely done by late tomorrow or perhaps the following day because of the armor that we still have to add to it. It is now powered by two 200 hp steam engines.

Now, as for the building those 90mm cannons, we are going to need more of your help, Vince. Sean here,” he nodded at Sean, “has four different versions and six different shells that he wants to test before we start producing them for the Hermit’s Guard. And we’re going to need you, if we’re going to do those tests anytime soon.”

Man it’s a good thing that I figured out how to enchant some things faster because it looks like that I’m going to be getting even busier now. “No problem Glen, generally speaking the shop always has first priority with me, just yell when you need my help.”

----------------------

Lieutenant Night felt terrible about leaving twenty-six humans who were supposed to be going to the Stronghold today back at Captain Long’s compound but there were little flyer babies out there with far less in the way of defenses than the Armory group possessed. And those scared tiny children might die, if they are not already dead, if rescue doesn’t come for them soon.

The convoy had a brief inconsequential encounter with some gorgonospids, however it was at the midway point that something really interesting happened a group of humans waved them down but this group of survivors didn’t look like the normal ragged refugees that they usually saw, this new group looked fit and competent. But their eyes did get very big when they saw who was in charge of the convoy and heard the bird lady speak; Night Storm mentally chuckled when she began talking with them.

“Hello I am Knight Lieutenant Night Storm of the Kingdom of Hermit’s Forge, I and others of my clan were torn from our world and flung to this one. We were lucky enough to be found by the Hermit King Vincent Standish and we’ve since sworn binding oaths to him. I must say that you look much better than any other group of humans that I have seen lately, setting aside those living within our Stronghold. Can we help you with something? Would you like to go to our Stronghold?” Many of the group of seventeen that she was speaking to had orange screens and all the rest had green, so she felt safe in making that offer.

“My name is Edith Barajas. You mean even though you have tanks that you’re not with the Government? Have you been hiding away this entire time in your STRONGHOLD while so many people throughout this area have been being killed and eaten?!!”

Night Storm winced, “My King and his Council have agonized over their inability to send out rescue parties so as to search for survivors. We have had to fight daily to stay alive and keep secure the Stronghold of Hermit’s Forge. We have all been working unceasingly in an effort to build up the means so that we could begin sending out rescue expeditions. But there has been one calamity and one foe after another which has delayed our attempts. Lady Barajas, we have fought Giants, enormous Sky Krakens and huge mechanical spiders besides a whole host of smaller and still very deadly enemies like Giant Bullet Ants and King Mandrills. We have done our best but what with never ending combat and constant work, we only seem to take very small steps in building up our military might every day. If you would like you may ride with us but you would have to ride in the armored utility trailer that the T800 is towing.” She pointed to it. “Since, the truck is completely full with some other survivors that we are transporting.”

Slightly mollified by the explanation, Edith Barajas accepted the Lady Knight’s offer, slightly amazed that she was dealing with a knight and may later one meet a Hermit King, whatever that is. She and her group climbed inside the small armored trailer.

After picking up three more tattered human refugees and engaging in a quick battle with a modest sized group of gray Sabok Warriors, the convoy made it safely back home

The humans from the Armory were taken to the Embassy Compound. While the Barajas group and the other three survivors were shown to some underground guest quarters. It was lucky for the Barajas group that they had sleeping bags with them, since the Stronghold was running short of comfortable bedding, though they did have an abundance of monster hides.

---------------------

Edith had been tempted to rip these strange people a new one at first but then she saw the carcasses of those mechanical spiders and began changing her mind, however her brain got whipsawed when she saw the huge fortress that was the Stronghold and she got angry all over again. But once more she calmed down when she saw how everyone there was working so hard. It became quite evident that the Stronghold of Hermit’s Forge wasn’t a place of peace and contentment; it was castle under siege which might fall at any minute if a powerful enough foe comes along. However even with that realization, Edith Barajas began thinking that this place might just be humanity’s last best hope for a future that is until she saw a pair of Swift Runners in line at the cafeteria and promptly fainted dead away.

After she awoke, they were shown to an underground housing area. Edith for the first time in many months felt safe and that she might be able to relax. She rolled out her sleeping bag, laid down on top and went to sleep, someone else could be in charge for a few hours, she was sick of it!

-----------------------

George, Star, Sir Storm Wind and I met with Knight Night and Chief Rain who was still very weak despite being healed. Lady Night told us all about the plight of the Soaring Dawn Clan and of those few craftmakers that had joined forces with them. But there was a problem, Dawn Rain had no idea where her clan was because she was unable to recall her journey to the Armory, but she did think that she had come from the East.

“Lady Star you are the best Telepath within this Stronghold and you have, let us say, frequent accurate hunches about things. If Chief Rain will consent, perhaps you can sit down with her and Lady Knight Night to determine an area in which we can began searching for her Clan. I have some very accurate USGS maps back at my home, Jen should know where they are, they might help you with locating Chief Rain’s Clan.

George I’m going to get with Glen and see what equipment we can get ready tonight. We should be able to complete the 1070 truck and by using a lot of magic, we can armor up a trailer for it, though it probably won’t have the same ramp system that the C500’s trailer has. So you should be able to count on having two armored semi-trucks with trailers, as well as the Sherman, the Priest with its new 105 gun, the T800, the 590 if you want it and either the Hellcat or the Scorpion because one of those two vehicles with two crews is going to be dropped off at the Armory to protect them since there will now be a delay in transferring them here. Needless to say you will be in charge of the rescue convoy.

Sir Wind, I think eight of your people should go on the expedition and I want four for the Armory to further bolster their forces. I know that there are already three there but I want a full flight of four for that old factory.

We are not ready for this, we decided not to send out rescue parties until we were but in this case Chief Rain almost literally knocked on our very door asking for help. I expect this rescue expedition to have to fight hard, perhaps against new and terrible enemies, and to find more people in need of rescue, we will not turn them away. You might be driving through areas that formally had much higher population densities than this locale and as such you may very well encounter a great number of survivors. That being the case, depending on where the Soaring Dawn Clan is, it might take you days to reach them, which might mean that you Captain, will have to send off the flyers assigned to the convoy, to protect the Soaring Dawn Clan until such time that you can reach them but only do that as a last resort. Because there are other things in the sky and they worry me greatly.

Sir Wind you will be staying here to help protect the Stronghold, by sending off so much of our military might, we will be greatly weakened and we will need you here, to make sure that our rescue expedition has a place to come home to.

Now we all have to get to work. I need to meet with Glen and Clyde to get our armored vehicles ready. George, I want you to leave for the Armory at false dawn.” I stood up and people started moving after giving me assurances that they heard and that they we’re going to obey my orders.

While I hadn’t quite lied, I had been selective in what I said. Maybe I did have the makings of a King or worse yet a politician. The primary reason that I was sending an expedition was because there were flyers to rescue. The Long Flight Clan has added enormously to the security and military strength of this Stronghold. Besides the major battles in which the flyers have given us a decisive edge or an easy victory, I’ve lost count of the minor daily skirmishes that we’ve had to fight where the flyers have destroyed our foes without even expending any of our precious black powder which is in perennially short supply or at least it always seems that way.

I estimated that the flyers improved the chances of our long term survival somewhere between twenty and forty percent. So as a strategic necessity it was imperative that I keep the flyers that are here happy, that I recruit more flyers whenever I can and if possible I make sure that no one else recruits any. If it had been human or craftmaker children so far from this Stronghold, I probably would not have sent off a rescue force for at least one or two weeks, if I ever did; because the risk was too great for too little reward, but since we were talking about flyers that changed the whole equation.

I felt all coldly logical and regal for a moment then I gave my butt a good scratch and I got over it. Suddenly, I had a hankering for some pork rinds and a beer. And thanks to Isabella we had both.

On a personal level I was really happy that sending off George to rescue those kids was something that had to be done. But in the future, when there are more children in jeporady, the argument can be used, that if we did it for the Soaring Dawn Clan, then why can’t we do it for these other youngsters as well which isn’t a bad thing at all in my humble opinion. I think I’ll have two beers.

----------------------------

Sir Wind and Lady Storm left the meeting greatly relieved; they didn’t know what they would have done if their King had refused to help the desperate flyer clan. Sir Wind was only sorry that he wasn’t going along but he suddenly realized what with the Captain being gone that he was going to be the only other officer in the entire Stronghold and thus jointly responsible for keeping it safe. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

-----------------------

I met with Glen, Clyde and Sean, I told them the bad news and we discussed what we could do. The bastards stole some of my pork rinds while we talked. We had numerous forty foot steel cargo containers and a half a dozen chassis that would fit them, just sitting in our storage lot. We decided to take one of them and armor the crap out of it. The Murphy gun was going to be installed in the old machine gun pulpit on the Priest; that vehicle still retained four firing slits for 20mm rifles but those weapons would normally be racked so as to provide room to operate the new cannon.

It was quickly determined that we needed to bring in Blender and all of the other alchemists because we would need a lot of black powder and quickly.

Blender’s arrival caused us to scrap many of our plans, there was simply no way that he and his people could produce as much powder as we thought the convoy needed. Each 105mm shell required over four pounds of powder for a full charge of propellant. Our new 90mm cannons would use shells that needed less than half that amount according to Sean, which was another good thing in their favor, too bad we didn’t have any of them built yet.

The Priest already had an air compressor on board; we only needed to hook a second stage up to it, so it could power two Holman projectors we planned on installing. The 1070’s new armored trailer would get a steam engine and a compressor for the eight Holman projectors we planned on mounting on it. Grace and her crew had turned out a great many of her new shells for me enchant; thankfully I could use my new method when engraving them.

It was a busy night and I collapsed onto my bed when the rescue convoy left. Star by examining Rain’s memories and maybe with the help of one of her hunches, thinks that she has an approximate location for the Soaring Dawn Clan, she believes that they’re roughly thirty miles due east of the Armory.

George had in his convoy the Priest, the Sherman, the Hellcat, the Scorpion, the 590, the T800, the C500 and the Oshkosh 1070 which was towing a forty foot long armored trailer. The Scorpion, as well as an armored tractor which they were towing on a flatbed trailer would be left at Captain Long’s compound, along with some additional weaponry. While at that compound they would pick up the C500’s trailer which was left there yesterday.

But while we were sending them off with our very best, sadly we had to assume the worst and that we might lose them all. That being the case our new land cruiser project became even more important for the safety of this Stronghold. I only wish that I could afford to go with the convoy. But with all of our armored vehicles gone, I was now the big gun for the Stronghold. Without my new ability to tie into the Stronghold’s energy collector and act as a magical printing press, I would never have succeeded in getting as much done as I did last night. But once I wake up, I will have to immediately get back to work to make up for our reduced forces as well as diligently practice at hooking myself into the energy collector array so as to shorten the time required to achieve that goal in the future. I got to come up with a better name for that thing, I thought as I drifted off to sleep, I mulled over Octagonal Magical Energy Collector, Stronghold Magical Energy Collector, Stronghold Magical Energy Array, or how about Stronghold Energy Array that makes a nice acron……, “zzzZZZ, SNRKX, ZZZZzzz.”

---------------------

On the way to the Armory the large convoy only had a single minor encounter and that was with a desperate pair of humans who they picked up.

Corporal Fall Roar was in charge of the flight that was staying at the Armory. He could understand Captain Long’s anger over the delay in transferring her people to the Stronghold since she had already paid for that right with the transfer of two of her cannons. So he was determined to keep them all safe until they were brought to the Stronghold. He was happy to see the additional weaponry that the convoy had dropped off at the compound: two Holman projectors with the new steam shells, ten bolt action fifty caliber rifles with enchanted bullets, five more enchanted 105mm rounds, an armored tractor to tow their 105mm cannon and most importantly the Scorpion tank with two crews so it could always be ready for combat.

Such reinforcements along with the delivery of flour and other foodstuffs did much to mollify the angry U.S. Army Captain.

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

I swear to you, I wrote the line “Lady Night was happy for them, but she wondered why they weren’t finding any of her own people.” And then two paragraphs later the RNG rolls up Chief Dawn Rain, I didn’t plan that at all.

Fantasia, Sorcerer’s Apprentice

http://video.disney.com/watch/sorcerer-s-apprentice-fantasia-4ea9ebc01a74ea59a5867853

The Spanish Inquisition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf_Y4MbUCLY

Snow Spider

http://orig14.deviantart.net/fab1/f/2011/313/b/7/snow_spider_by_akeiron-d4fn91i.jpg

Time to Make the Donuts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2AGc70Eq9k

Gardner Machine Gun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPnIIM4Il9U

Version four of the Defective Hermit Character List; is a work in progress.

Spoiler :

Some of the following information is quite detailed and at other times it’s not, sorry. There are probably some errors too. This Character List is a work in progress. I am pulling together information from multiple files and having to decide what I want to reveal. I will keep tacking it on to the end of most chapters until I feel like I’ve got it right.

Population of Embassy: 100

Total Population of Stronghold (not including embassy compound): 803

People with assigned jobs: 628

Note: Many people help out wherever they can, like Clyde also being a Healer.

Those under fifteen (152), except for the very young, are now being encouraged to attend classes and apprenticeship courses. Those fifteen and over (38); have part time jobs and also take classes. Those eighteen on up have to work full time, twelve hours a day is quite common.

Unassigned: 15

Partial Character List, Version 4:

Name: Vincent Standish

Primary Class and Title: Hermit King

Class: Professional Hermit

Title: Sovereign and Absolute Monarch of the Kingdom of Hermit’s Forge.

Title: The Grumpy Hermit King

Title: The Grumpy Hermit

Warning Label: Caution, This is an Insanely Strong Smelling Hermit; It is Extremely Dangerous When Enraged. Please Keep Hands and Feet Away From Its Mouth at All Times.

Name: Nina Rivera Standish

Title: Princess

Title: The Survivor

Sex: Female

Age: 11

True Sight Level: Three

Body Augmentation Magic Level: 4

Teleportation Level: 4

Telekinesis Level: 4

Alchemy Level: 1

Hearing is 1.2 times as acute.

1.2x Scent/Odor Detection

Oldest Daughter, Linda (blue screen) married to Attorney James Lopez (orange screen), daughter Angela is six months old when she arrives at compound.

Daughter Sandra (blue screen) married to Jacob Schwartz (green screen, former sales manager for a new car dealership), their son Jonathan four months old when he arrives at compound.

Ex-wife Nancy Connor (blue screen), her boyfriend Steve Griffith (blue screen) is gone and probably dead.

------------------------

Hermit’s Guard (276):

Name: George Mesquida

Primary Class and Title: Knight

Class: Soldier

Class: Combat Officer

Title: Knight Captain

Title: Captain

Title: Husband of Sheryl and Ruth Mesquida

Name: Candace Murphy

Primary Class and Title: Knight

Class: Soldier

Class: Combat Officer

Title: Lady Knight

Title: Knight Lieutenant

Title: Lieutenant

Title: Daughter of Sean and Denise Murphy

Name: Boris Khan

Primary Class and Title: Knight

Class: Soldier

Class: Combat Officer

Title: Knight Lieutenant

Title: Lieutenant

Name: Storm Wind

Primary Class and Title: Chief; Chief of the Terran Long Flight Clan

Secondary Class and Title: Knight

Class: Soldier

Class: Combat Officer

Title: Knight Lieutenant

Title: Lieutenant

Title: Husband of Dawn Song

Title: Father of Mountain Breeze

Note: Mountain Breeze is a very young boy.

Name: Night Storm

Primary Class and Title: Chief; Second Chief of the Terran Long Flight Clan

Secondary Class and Title: Knight

Class: Soldier

Class: Combat Officer

Title: Lady Knight

Title: Knight Lieutenant

Title: Lieutenant

Title: Wife of Metal Grinder

Title: Mother of Smoky Night

Note: Smoky Night is a very young girl.

Sergeant Richard Jacobs (green screen, Vietnam veteran, very attractive man) married to Martha (green screen), surviving with two great grandchildren. Normally he serves aboard the T800 or Hellcat. He is a world class sneak and throat slitter. Additionally he is an unconventional yet effective drill instructor.

Sergeant Jeffrey Vargas (green screen, Vietnam veteran, commanded a M113 during war), now he typically commands the Sherman tank. No magical abilities other than the True Sight Skill but he has a very nice selection of physical enhancements.

Sergeant Derrick Miter, former marine M60 tank driver in Vietnam, green screen, normally drives or commands the Priest. Note: He can levitate, teleport, and use telekinesis. He also has several physical enhancements.

Sergeant Tornado Challenger, green screen, flyer, male, he is a daredevil when only his own life is on the line.

Corporal Fish Diver, green screen, flyer female, Tornado Challenger’s fiancée, she is extremely accurate when dive bombing her foes.

Corporal Sticks Spearmaker, green screen, female craft-maker, though she is still making weapons she joined the Hermit’s Guard because she feels that pole-arms aren’t as important nowadays.

Corporal Tammy Harding, green screen, former Army soldier, former INS Agent

Corporal Fall Roar, green screen flyer

Private Dominic Jackson, green screen, sharpshooter, had previously worked as a waiter in a high end restaurant. Few skills but he has been gratified to find that he has the makings of a natural shot.

Private Waxy Candlemaker, green screen, female

Private Feather Fletcher, green screen, female

Private Strings Bowyer, green screen, male

Private Stinky Tanner, green screen, male

Private Quentin Lee, first member of the Hermit’s Guard to fall. Died defending the Southern Wall from King Mandrills.

----------------------------

Construction and Maintenance (75):

Name: Macallister Smith

Primary Class and Title: Knight

Title: Minister of Construction and Maintenance

Fred Stone: Civil Engineer, picked up at County Building along with his wife, Wendy.

Jean White: Civil Engineer, picked up at the County Building. She is a Green Screen with two children, Brittany is 8 and Peter is 5. Her husband is deceased.

--------------------------

The Shop Crew (93):

Name: Glen Stewart

Primary Class and Title: Knight

Title: Minister of Manufacturing and Production

Note: Released Innocent Prisoner, Mechanic and Machinist

Name: Grace Lee

Former Aircraft Mechanic and Machinist

Note: Oath Sworn, Retired Naval Petty Office, Release Prisoner (technically guilty but extenuating circumstances should have found her innocent, Prosecutor was a jerk, the jury were idiots, and the guy started it.) She now lives in the Hermit’s home.

Ronald Lewis is an expert welder and burgeoning Fire Mage (Ron’s magic wand). (Green screen, released innocent prisoner.)

Andrew Thomas is a former appliance repair man. (Green screen, released innocent prisoner.)

Scott Blaine is an expert machinist as well as a tool and die maker. (Blue screen, alcoholic, is guilty of vehicular homicide, served most of his sentence and is truly repentant.)

Sean Murphy (green screen) is an expert gunsmith, husband of Lady Denise Murphy Minister of Health and father of Knight Lieutenant Candace Murphy.

Rufus Stokes (green screen) former M48 tanker, mechanic and drag car racer. Note: He knows how to link multiple engines together.

Mindy Stokes (green screen) is his wife and pregnant.

David Hu, father, mechanic, True Sight

Linda Hu, mother, office manager, True Sight

Nicolas Silva, father, mechanic, True Sight

--------------------------

Motor Pool (24):

Name: Clyde Jenkins

Primary Class and Title: Knight

Title: Minister of Transport

Note: Farmer, collector of old tractors and former tank crewman.

Chester Fletcher (green screen) Note: He used to own the gravel pit and associated equipment.

----------------------------

Peacekeepers (5):

Name: Faith Harper

Primary Class and Title: Knight

Title: Lady Knight

Title: Minister of Justice

Note: Former Judge

Melissa Kilmer (age: 13), Orange Screen, Squire to Lady Faith.

Sir James Lopez (orange screen and former attorney)

Note: Son-in-law of the Hermit King.

--------------------------

People Who Keep Things Running (6):

Name: Jennifer Boon

Primary Class and Title: Knight

Title: Lady Knight

Title: Chief of Staff and Spokesperson for the Hermit King Vincent Standish

Note: Released Innocent Prisoner and she has two children, Elizabeth is seven and Stephen is four years old.

Name: Star Astrologer

Primary Title and Class: Lady Knight

Class: Wise One

Title: Leader of the Free Craft-Maker People

Title: The Wise One

Title: The Dignified One

Note: Possible Enchanter if abused sufficiently enough by Vince.

--------------------------------------

Food Production (90):

Name: Isabella Gomez

Primary Class and Title: Knight

Title: Lady Knight

Title: Royal Botanist

Title: Minister of Food Production

Note: Released Innocent Prisoner

---------------------------

Logistics and Supply (18):

Name: Stephen Monet

Primary Class and Title: Knight

Title: Castellan

Title: Minister of Logistics and Supply

Note: Released Innocent Prisoner, former owner of a trucking company.

Name: Barbara Monet

Note: Oath sworn to both the King and her husband (his secretary/clerk too).

-----------------------------

Health Department (13):

Name: Denise Murphy

Primary Class and Title: Knight

Class: Healer

Class: Soldier

Title: Lady Knight

Title: Minister of Health and Chief Healer

Title: Wife of Sean Murphy

Title: Mother of Candace Murphy

Note: Nurse and an excellent shot. She and her daughter are equally good with a rifle and better than Sean.

Peggy Barnes; green screen, released innocent prisoner, nurse, possesses healing magic.

Gloria Bennett; blue screen, released prisoner, nurse practitioner; Note: gambling and drug problems, possesses healing magic.

Giovanna Silva, mother, dental hygenist, Healer, True Sight

-------------------------

Black Powder Production and Alchemical Research (29):

Blender Apothecary (green screen) is the Second Chief of the Craft-Makers. Note: Possible Enchanter if abused sufficiently enough by Vince.

--------------------

Flyer Population within Stronghold:

Long Flight Clan

Storm Wind OS, wife is Dawn Song OS, boy child Mountain Breeze

Night Storm OS (Black and Brown Wings), husband is Metal Grinder OS, daughter is Smokey Night OS

Tornado Challenger GS, fiancée is Fish Diver GS (her sister is Autumn Blaze GS and nephew is Star Bright OS)

Dawn Wind

Spring Breeze

Corporal Fall Roar

Winter Wind

Cloudy Day

Storm Cloud

Total Members: 62

Children: 32

Soaring Dawn Clan

Name: Dawn Rain

Title: Chief of The Soaring Dawn Clan on Earth

Title: The Unhappy Survivor

Morning Mist, Second Chief, orange screen

Total Members: 24

Children: 12

Craftmaker Population within Stronghold:

1st Group: 46 Adults, no children

2nd Group: 47 Adults, 17 Children

3rd Group: 7 Adults

4th Group: 12 Adults, 5 Children

Swift Runner Population within Stronghold: (13)

Tribe of Evening Song

Lady Song, deceased

Evonne Sting, Class and Title: Guardian

Husband 1: Aron

Husband 2: Ralph

Daughter Zuma: 14

Son: Foggy 8

Elva Slayer, Class and Title: Guardian

Husband 1: Long

Husband 2: Del

Daughter: Yun 9

Danni Blocker, Class and Title: Guardian

Husband 1: Ned

Husband 2: Vear

Daughter: Su 7

-------------------------

Captain Barbara Long’s Group of Survivors (630)

Lieutenant Jay Nichols

Lieutenant Kellie Cross, at Stronghold

Sergeant First Class SFC Patrick White

Staff Sergeants SSG

Lindsay Collier

Bernard Ballard

Corporal Julia Lewis

Private Shelly Hines

Howard King

---------------------------

Miscellaneous

Dwight Cobb, GS, 21 members in his group.

Ervin, Ohio

Name: Sylvia Warren

Title: Mayor of Ervin

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