With the Halovians on road duty, Hadama joined Flora in merchant-wrangling. He walked sedately through the ramshackle area, nodding to people who were hard at work marking the roads and the footprints of the new buildings to come. When he came across two people who were starting to shout insults over a few feet of currently empty sand he stepped between them, using his imposing bulk to discourage an escalation. He listened solemnly to each side of the argument and then, like Flora, suggested an alternative: build up, rather than out. A second story loft would not be difficult to build in to each new shop since they were building from scratch, and it would provide more space for their stock and storage than the paltry feet of ground floor they were trying to claim.
The fact that it was going to mean more work tonight may not have been a popular decision, but the long term benefits were enough for them to grumblingly agree and restake their claims.
Noah and Talyson didn't run into any problems. Though they occasionally had to shift an overzealous flagger's blue markers out of the road plans, most of the sailors and merchants gathered understood the benefits of clear roads, both for moving their own goods and for increasing foot traffic to the area so more potential customers could see their wares. They were able to work quickly and efficiently, and soon lines of red ran between and alongside the canals, like a map of the veins and arteries of Torchline.
Flora's advice was excellent, and those she bestowed it on muttered to themselves as they took new measurements and saw that the numbers worked even better than the originals. She left pairs of mollified new neighbors in her wake as she swanned around the Port with charm and aplomb.
But she and Hadama couldn't be everywhere all the time, and while they had headed in opposite directions to solve problems, one had arisen right in the middle. Three merchants, all trying to claim the same piece of prime real estate, had gone from arguing to shouting to throwing punches, and as their friends ran to help out a fight broke out! It was already starting to spread as Torchline's community spirit kicked in and decades of bar room brawl training came to the fore, and if it wasn't stopped soon the construction plans would grind to a complete halt!
A fight has broken out between people staking claims to the same location, and it's starting to spread! Quick, find a way to stop it before it gets any bigger - and try not to hurt the participants too much in the process. You still need them to help build things tonight!
The fact that it was going to mean more work tonight may not have been a popular decision, but the long term benefits were enough for them to grumblingly agree and restake their claims.
Noah and Talyson didn't run into any problems. Though they occasionally had to shift an overzealous flagger's blue markers out of the road plans, most of the sailors and merchants gathered understood the benefits of clear roads, both for moving their own goods and for increasing foot traffic to the area so more potential customers could see their wares. They were able to work quickly and efficiently, and soon lines of red ran between and alongside the canals, like a map of the veins and arteries of Torchline.
Flora's advice was excellent, and those she bestowed it on muttered to themselves as they took new measurements and saw that the numbers worked even better than the originals. She left pairs of mollified new neighbors in her wake as she swanned around the Port with charm and aplomb.
But she and Hadama couldn't be everywhere all the time, and while they had headed in opposite directions to solve problems, one had arisen right in the middle. Three merchants, all trying to claim the same piece of prime real estate, had gone from arguing to shouting to throwing punches, and as their friends ran to help out a fight broke out! It was already starting to spread as Torchline's community spirit kicked in and decades of bar room brawl training came to the fore, and if it wasn't stopped soon the construction plans would grind to a complete halt!
A fight has broken out between people staking claims to the same location, and it's starting to spread! Quick, find a way to stop it before it gets any bigger - and try not to hurt the participants too much in the process. You still need them to help build things tonight!
