It's Good To Bee Liam

[OGRE MAGE]

Liam spends the next 16 hours of his time on the island keeping very busy.

He and Caleb work out plans for his barn, home, and mobile pens with walls made up of bamboo to keep them light enough to be portable. Caleb just shakes his head when asked about Joe's field. "Sorry to say this about yer new prentice, but that guy couldn't grow weeds in fertile soil. His field doesn't show much in the way of progress at all. He does have a way with the livestock though."

Once asked about harvesting more lumber for a barn, Caleb goes on to explain that Owen and Raythan have been the only people he knows of who have dealt with the treefolk. "They are a reclusive creature and they don't show themselves much around here anymore. You should ask yer elf buddy about em."

When asked about the ankheg, Caleb looks back at Liam with a confused look. "There kinda like giant locusts, I guess. Locust the size of a frickin bull. They are rare, so maybe a fancy pants like yerself never seen one, but they are pretty bad in certain spots on the mainland. They can really mess up a good farm if they aren't dealt with in time."



Slow Joe gets right to work feeding the animals, seeming right at home with the task. He needs almost no guidance and once again impresses the nobleman with his soft touch. He can be heard pondering over the last words spoken to him as he works. "Jack?.......Jackass?.......Jack is a Jackass? I don't get it."

Once lunch is offered, Marge takes over. "You silly man. You cant eat squash raw! Give me that thing and I will take it to the fire to be roasted. We can have it with dinner instead." Marge does just that, returning to get started on the night watch schedule. She pens out a list and times of when each person will take a 2 hour watch during the dark hours of the night. Liam gets stuck with the only 4 hour shift, from midnight to 4AM, mostly because nobody else wants it. Plans and prints are drawn up for future buildings as Liam and Caleb spend some time plotting out their locations.

The men all cringe when Liam jokes about Marge and her good looks. It soon becomes obvious to them that the aging Liam might need eye glasses.

As they spend time together eating and working, Liam learns a bit about his new friends.

Marge is a farmers widow who lost everything when she found out that her late husband had gambling debts with the local thieves guild that she couldn't pay after he died from some unexplained sickness. She saw the opportunity to come here as a new start for her, just like many of the other folks who came here out of sheer desperation. She has a private shack and lives there with her water carriers.

Caleb and his family are the most well liked people on the island. They truly believe in what Mr. Nerhu is trying to do here, so they all came willingly. They left their two oldest sons and their families back on their farm on the mainland and are likely one of the only few folks around that actually have something to go back home to. They are the hardest working folks in Beachtown, always willing to help someone or lend a hand when needed. He lives in the common house with his wife, 2 sons, and 1 daughter.

Raythan is known to Liam, but he doesn't talk much about his past when others are around. He often seems deep in thought about something, possibly causing him to seem a bit off putting to others who don't know the half-elf well. It is their way, I suppose, but Lim can tell their is something bothering the divine spell caster.

Joe doesn't discuss family or anything else about his life back on the mainland. He came here freely, but seems to have had nothing back home to keep him there. He doesn't have any family along with him and walks around alone a lot, mumbling things to himself under his breath. His sleeping arrangements are currently unknown.

At one point during all these activities, Liam leads the others out to the area where he set up his bee hives. He brags about soon having loads of delicious honey as the group approaches, but is concerned to find that his bees aren't doing much of anything yet. It seems that something is messing up their normal routine, and he finds several of the bees are actually dead. Hard Intelligence check please.

These activities will take up most of the rest of his day. I will post the interaction with Mr. Nehru in the Hi-Lo thread shortly.

If there isn't anything specific that you still need to do today, I will advance this thread along to morning so Liam can interact with the others who have just returned to town if he so wishes.

[Bluehorse]

Liam takes all the advice from Caleb and makes a note to have a look at Joe's plot as well as to speak to Reythan about the Monkoons.

Liam also looks concerned about Ankheg when he hears about the size of the locust. She jots down a note to look up some more information about them.

He is very pleased with Joe, and makes sure he takes a share of milk with himself to wherever he is staying the night.

To Marge he is just happy about the squash. Ah! I see we will share dinner as well! Excellent. This is shaping up to be a most pleasing day for the company.


Liam looks extra concerned about his bees. Kneeling he will carefully examine them, and carefully picks one up and gives it a close look, voicing his concerns and findings openly, seeing if anyone else might have some insight.

The Bees! The Bees!!!
Hard INT (10) [4d6] = 10

These are the only points I will make here other than of course sharing eggs and milk over the next days or whatever to link up the timelines. One egg per day goes under the brooding chicken but no more than 12. If okay, I would like to see if the other livestock are breeding and if the sheep are ready for sheering.

[OGRE MAGE]

I will address the other items once I’m back, but here is an important tidbit to learn.

Liam is saddened to ascertain that his bees are being bombarded by all the nasty insects that the people here are dealing with. He finds several of his bees killed, laying around the base of the hives. He can’t tell what is causing the devastation, but finds a few other dead insects mixed in with his as well and assumes that his bees are simply being overwhelmed by the amount of insects trying to eliminate them for their homes or for possible food.

At this rate, the beekeeper knows that his hives will be doomed if he can’t figure out a way to keep the nasty bugs away from his good ones. He is happy to learn that his queen yet lives......for now.

[Bluehorse]

Liam

He stands and looks to Marge. Is there a lady here who knows how to spin wool? I need to make a screen. Something big enough to let my bees in and out but small enough to keep other bugs out. They are competing for space.

[OGRE MAGE]

Marge replies.

”Of course there are. Me included. But we haven’t had any material to weave in months.”

“You know, the bugs are really terrible here. Worse than any other place I’ve ever been before. And I hear they are even worse further inland. Could you imagine them being worse than this?”

She swats two mosquitoes at once to further her point.

“What do you suppose could be causing all this? Something magical? It don’t seem natural I tell ya.”

“You might need to find the source of this problem before you can put an end to it.”

[Bluehorse]

Liam

Remember when I meantioned shoring the sheep so we could weave screens? How much do you think we would need to make a few for here? Big enough for bees this size to move in and out freely but keep others out? How much to make a larger one for overnight that we could place over the top here? He shows her one of the dead bees for size referrence and the small opening at the base of the hive used as an entrance, then describes that he can make a simple frame out of soft wood that would be able to fit over the beehive and would just need the woven screen which could be much smaller to fill in the gaps to protect the hive more thoroughly overnight when the bees are dormant but other bugs might be moving in and out causing trouble.

[OGRE MAGE]

Marge sizes up the project for a moment, deciding how much material would be needed for such a task.

Maybe it would be easier to show me what you have to work with, and we could decide from there?”

[Bluehorse]

He nods and leads them over to the sheep to assess how much fleece they could shear from them.

[OGRE MAGE]

”So, how is it done, exactly. I mean, do you have a special tool for the job?” One that doesn’t hurt the sheep?”

[Bluehorse]

Liam

He nods. I have a pair of good shears in my tinker's kit. he says with a grin.

[OGRE MAGE]

Marge

"To be honest, its hard to tell what we have to work with when its still stuck to the animal.

"When can you have a pile of the fluffy stuff prepared that we can work with? I would hate to see any of your hard work go bad because we didn't act soon enough. I can tell you really care about your bees."

[Bluehorse]

Liam

Acknowledges all this and gets to work, getting the shears from his tinker's kit and sharpening them before climbing into the pen and squatting down to begin sheering one sheep, then the next, and so on to see what they have to work with.

Do we want to make this a full fleece to start off with since it is sheep bought at market that have been growing ever since?

[OGRE MAGE]

Hold on, I will roll some dice.

The sheep are definitely ready for a trim. They aren’t in full coat, but there is enough fuzz on each of them to get the job done.

[Bluehorse]

Liam

Hold on, I will roll some dice. The sheep are definitely ready for a trim. They aren’t in full coat, but there is enough fuzz on each of them to get the job done.

Great! So from this date we will have a spot to refer to for later trimming times. That is 30lbs per year, reduced by 10% as you mentioned for 27lbs, divided by 12 monthes for 2.25lbs per sheep for a total of 11.25lbs every 8th of the month.

Liam picks up the 11.25lbs of fleece and puts it in a basket for Marge. "I hope this is enough for you and the ladies. Please, if there is anything at all left over, give it out to anyone that may need it. Maybe it can be made into screens for windows, or thread for darning clothes. Anything at all. If figure we can get this amount at least once a month with things keep up as they are. And of course anything I may be able to do to assist, I am more than happy to oblige."

[OGRE MAGE]

Marge

"Excellent! I will get the girls working on this right away. But try to remember that we don't have a working loom or spinning wheel here. Anything we do textile wise will all have to be done by hand."

She looks the slightly younger man up and down uncomfortably again.

"Unless you have either of those items on you as well?" She jokes.

[Bluehorse]

Liam

Sighs and shakes his head. Didn't think of it.
I will mention these things in my next letter. Please get with the ladies about such things and I will make a master list of request from the mainland. I have only a little coin left to my name, but if there is anyone we can commission for making either of those, I will work out what I can.

[OGRE MAGE]

"You sir, are a saint!" I will get started on a list right away!

[Bluehorse]

Liam will spend the rest of the day working on his house which I imagine being on a dug out foundation so you step down 3 steps to take advantage of the natural cooling of the earth, Lind with stones and then a wood frame on top of that.
He will work until time to feed and milk the animals. I will assume he has Joe helping the whole time to try to keep him busy and try to teach him something. At night he will begin penning another set of letters before bed.

[OGRE MAGE]

What dimensions for the foundation? Raythans sized?

[OGRE MAGE]

When Joe hears of the plan to dig out a quarter basement and line it with rocks, he gets a mischievous grin on his face.

“Hey boss, folla me. I gotta show ya sumpin yain’t gonna believe.”

He starts walking towards the jungle, just west of the loggers trail.