[PQ+] Some kind of loaded gun

Hotaru

I know they'll be coming to find me soon
But I fear I'm getting used to being held by you

The hours slip by in the monotonous haze of digging, needing fewer breaks than her cohorts ensuring she is nose to the proverbial grindstone for longer. At least the temperature dips the deeper they get into the earth, providing them a small respite until they’re called away to swap out with other workers.

When Colt calls out, Ru lifts her head and her long tongue flickers out to communicate her understanding. It seems she won’t be experiencing a change of scenery anytime soon. It doesn’t bother her while actively shifted, and Andraste - seemingly having gotten bored on the sidelines - joins her to continue digging.

- - -

Ru stays shifted and continues digging, with Andraste joining her.

I used to sing about being free
Oh, baby, look what you've done to me

COLT

Cowboys ain't easy to love
And they're harder to hold

As Sohalia ventures away from their pit to handle the wood, and Hotaru’s tongue flicks out with the faintest acknowledgement before continuing to wend claw to ground, that leaves Colt to shore the sides. She and her cluster of workers lug the wood on shoulder and drag it across the sand, sliding it down in braces to keep the sides of their efforts from collapsing in on them and smothering Hotaru and her crew. The abandoned down with the Valkyrie aid in this effort too, earth magic rippling through with stability and motion.

It’s an effort that passes well through the night, and repeats day in and day out several times over, until they are finally done boring into the ground. Colt has long forgotten what it feels like not to be coated in the fine sand dust, to be drenched in sweat, even when the sun has sunk, fighting off the chill and shivers that linger in the cool nights, squinting over lantern light. Bed is a welcome respite each morning, and stretching the only solace to tired muscles come waking.

That is, until the late morning after they packed it up and headed in to sleep, due to start ont he next phase upon waking. It’s an alarm sweeping through the camp, rousing them up. A storm that’d rolled in quick from the distance, now breaking. Rain lashes down, and here, the threat of the flood is as real as in King’s End. It takes a moment for Colt to register everything as she stumbles out of her tent, still pulling a boot on. ”Hurry!” she calls out. ”We need teams making trenches to divert the water, teams making barricades around the borders of the pits, and groups doing their damndest to collect what we can without being swept away!” All their work could be ruined right here if the quick-moving sheet of water has its way with them.

---

Pits have all been dug and shored up over several days/nights, good job! You are awoken by a flash flood warning now and must defend the construction site.

1. trench the water away
2. barricade the water away
3. collect some of the water for use later

They'll never stay home
And they're always alone

You won't believe half the things
I see inside my head

By the time they finally finish boring into the ground, several days had passed, and Soh was beginning to regret volunteering to assist. It wasn't that she didn't want to be helpful - she totally did - but she was beginning each morning feeling more and more tired and ill. It was probably just the physical labor, the scale of which went well beyond anything Soh was used to doing. She did her best to ignore it, giving her all to the building efforts day in and day out.

They woke one morning to a storm, rain lashing down in curtains. Soh was roused by Colt's shout and rolled hurriedly from her bedroll, pulling her clothes on haphazardly before stepping out into the downpour. "I'm on barricades!" she shouted, gathering a team of workers and rushing into the fray. They hurriedly began to work on making barricades, hopefully leaving the trenches to those with earth magic who could move more quickly than those without.

---

Soh works on 2. barricade the water away.

Regional Score bonus: +21 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +21 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.

Highest Overall Score bonus: +10 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +10 should be included).

It's Giving Luck | A silver ring with an aquamarine stone that, when worn, grants +1 luck. Must be included in all PQ/PQ+/KQ/DROP posts to be counted. (Made by Nova)
Type: Light | Style: Other | Level: Basic | Cost: Other

Wait 'til you see half the things
that haven't happened yet

Sohalia

Hotaru

I know they'll be coming to find me soon
But I fear I'm getting used to being held by you

It's a tough day, though the laborious nature of each one has already begun creating a filmy haze in her memory where they smear into one another. Today was distinguished by the efforts of keeping her from being crushed by dirt the lower they dig. Just one more odd memory for the vault she supposes. There's no true risk given her immortality, but that's not exactly a public piece of knowledge, and she doesn't exactly want to be buried alive anyway regardless of outcome.

The next distinct memory is the downpour. It reminds her of the Throat monsoons, though she'd only been held captive there, never exactly lived there (long story). You don't forget those visuals though. Just like she doubts she'll forget these; running alongside the work crew, Sohalia, and Colt to try and race the rain before it washes out all of their progress.

"Dig team, to me! Start on those trenches!" Her voice cracks out from beneath the droning, oppressive sound of rain hitting flat sand. They're already a team accustomed to one another and proficient in the daily grind of digging, so it only makes sense. Hotaru shifts to her Komodo form once more to tunnel fiercely through the dampening sand, diverting the water even as it begins to coat her up to her scaled belly.

- - -

Ru calls her Dig Crew buddies and shifts to her Komodo form again to quickly tunnel trenches and divert the water away.

I used to sing about being free
Oh, baby, look what you've done to me

COLT

Cowboys ain't easy to love
And they're harder to hold

Soh will find that a combination of canvas and sand to create sandbags, with the help of earth abandoned assisting her, will help divert the floodwaters from rush past and completely filling their holes. Afterall, they need not stop the flood completely, just control it a bit better to avoid completely ruin of their work. For that same reason, Hotaru’s trenching alongside her dig crew, people with shovels and magic alike, her komodo dragon form leading the charge, helps keep the tide from overwhelming the barricades or slipping into the pits. Colt then, runs with her team to collect every manner of bucket, barrel, trough, and hide they can. She fits the hides over the holes, gathering the direct rainfall. For some of the diverted run off, she has the diggers cut some of it into the empty containers of various shapes and sizes. Water they’d use later.

They survive the storm after a good deal of effort and communication, and thoroughly drenched and exhausted, Colt waves off any additional work that day and offers smiles and sighs of relief and gratitude to all before sending everyone to relax and dry out. By the time the next day comes, they’re all refreshed enough to fully appraise their efforts. The ground already looks to be drying again, although a curtain of color stretches over the surface, wildflowers springing into bloom overnight as if only sleeping just beneath the dust. Their spread is abundant and breathtaking, and Colt spends a good deal of time appreciating them before calling everyone to task.

”We’re fitting in the wooden struts starting today,” she informs them, pointing to where the long wooden poles have been cut and shaped to size, their branching tops eager to hold the platform base they’d be doing afterwards. The wood is fitted with bone throughout, working the two materials together to create something that will flex but be sturdy. ”Grab some crews and some ropes, we’re going to be dragging them to each pit and tilting them in. Then a team will dump some of the water in that I collected to ensure the sand below is densely packed, and the abandoned will solidify that. Another crew then will fill in the pits with the sand we dug out, and more water added throughout to keep it firm. Once fully buried, we’ll remove the ropes.” She details the plan for them and divvies them up into groups.

---

Good job handling the flash flood! The next day wildflowers are abound and we'll be putting the wooden struts into the dug out pits.

1. Drag and hold the struts in the pits
2. Fill in the pits with the sand we dug out
3. Use water (collected a bunch from the flood) to make the sand compact around the struts

They'll never stay home
And they're always alone

You won't believe half the things
I see inside my head

Canvas and sand came together quickly into sandbags, stacked and shoved along the holes they'd dug in an effort to protect their work from destruction. Her Abandoned workers, some of whom possessed earth magic, were invaluable in their efforts, and as the water finally began to slow, she was quick to thank them all for their hard work. She wasn't sure what they'd have done if they'd had to start over. She, for one, might have just laid down and cried.

In any case, the next day came with a bloom of color and scent across the desert, bringing a smile to Soh's face as she exited her tent. "Wow," she said, standing beside Colt. "This is..." Indescribably beautiful, so much so that Soh simply let the comment die in her throat, content to stand and stare for just a bit longer.

Then it was time to get back to work, and the Luminary quickly gathered up her crew and began to distribute struts, pitching in to drag the supports over to the holes they'd dug and doing her best to help hold them in place to be secured by sand and water.

---

Soh helps with 1. Drag and hold the struts in the pits.

Regional Score bonus: +21 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +21 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.

Highest Overall Score bonus: +10 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +10 should be included).

It's Giving Luck | A silver ring with an aquamarine stone that, when worn, grants +1 luck. Must be included in all PQ/PQ+/KQ/DROP posts to be counted. (Made by Nova)
Type: Light | Style: Other | Level: Basic | Cost: Other

Wait 'til you see half the things
that haven't happened yet

Sohalia

Hotaru

I know they'll be coming to find me soon
But I fear I'm getting used to being held by you

By time she shifts back to human form, Hotaru is sore and spent, even demigod stamina wavering in the face of multiple days of hard labor and then a mad-dash of maximum effort in the face of the storm. She barely manages to squeeze the shoulders of her peers in silent appreciation before shuffling off to fall into her tent like a dead body into a grave.

Morning brings new life in many ways. Hotaru stands just as awed by the overnight bloom before them, unashamed to stand enchanted for a long moment where work and plans have no urgency or bearing. Alas, it can only last so long, for there is work to be done.

Quite tired of digging after the last few days, Hotaru takes up the collected water to assist with wetting and compacting the sand around the struts. Given her greater physical strength she can stand alongside the Abandoned who have control over water and join her to do the same.

- - -

Ru helps out with #3!

I used to sing about being free
Oh, baby, look what you've done to me

COLT

Cowboys ain't easy to love
And they're harder to hold

Colt’s grin races out in response to Sohalia. ”There’s always some beauty to be found. Just sometimes takes a little patience, or a new angle.” She has not seen this particular sight for herself yet, and there’s an edge of a rbeathless laugh to her voice, a giddiness that kicks up through the exhaustion to feel a sense of this is worth it that she needs about now. They all do. Work is thankless, but here especially it’s draining in a way she hasn’t known.

”Except maybe the Feverlands.” She crinkles her nose. ”Been all over there too and ain’t found anything worth it in there.” Maybe if she’d been part toad, she’d have found it to her liking.

Once everyone takes their straw, so to speak, and aligns with their teams, their efforts start to take shape. Soh drags the struts over along with a multitude of hands and bent backs, ropes straining on wood, maneuvering a shouted, altered thing as needed. Colt then takes up her shovel in hand, her and her team, and they scoop in a mad flurry of sand to get the layers built. The very ones that Hotaru and her helpers wet and firm up. All the while, Soh and her team have to keep pressure on, maintaining the strut straight and tall. It’s not easy, but there’s enough to their rag tag crew, people Colt has recruited, or hired, and locals interested in the work, that they all share the burden and it spreads evenly.

This is rinsed and repeated for another night or two, quicker work than digging the holes, and finally completed partway into one day. Colt calls for a break, everyone retreating for food and drink, while she mops sweat up from her neck with her bandana. ”Ah shit,” she breathes, guzzling water and pouring some over her head. She elbows Hotaru by mistake, and reaches out with a hand to her arm in apology. ”Sorry, everything’s a bit noodley right now.” As if reminded of it, and properly hydrated again, Colt pulls her arms into a stretch. Groaning through some of it, she says ”well we’re past the hardest part. Now it’ll be framing the base, and from there onward and upward.”

To that end, once their break ends and Colt beckons them back into the cooler night air, lanternlight dotting the way around the struts and the lumber piles, Colt refers to drawn maps and details the process. Hammers, nails, cut lumber, and cloud spider silk as a flexible tensile cord to assist where needed with weak points. ”Let’s see how much we can get done tonight!”

---

You're doing amazing sweetie! Struts placed over a few days. Now take a quick food and water break, then finish the night with building out the base frame.

They'll never stay home
And they're always alone

You won't believe half the things
I see inside my head

Colt's perspective was one that Soh shared: there was often beauty to be found even in the most unlikely of places, if one only knew where to look. Or, as in this case, if one got lucky. Still, she couldn't help but laugh at her friend's assessment of the Feverlands. "Can't say I disagree with you there," she commented, laughter shaking her shoulders. "The Feverlands is gross."

The work commenced, lasting well into the next few days, although it went more quickly than their digging efforts. Soh worked hard alongside her crew, doing what she could to maneuver struts and hold them into place as they were cemented upright by the others.

In the end, they finished this portion of their work partway through an evening. Colt called for a break, and Soh downed half a canteen of water before settling in for a snack. "The rest should be straightforward enough," she agreed as she nibbled on some jerky. "Especially with all those detailed plans." The digging and supports had been the hard part - now it was just a matter of finishing up what felt like details, despite the fact that most of the structure had yet to be built.

In any case, Soh followed out into the night air and began to work anew, ignoring the unpleasant way the jerky settled in her belly. Maybe she'd just go for bread and cheese next time. Referencing the building plans, she began to gather lumber, nails, cloud spider silk, and other necessary tools to begin building out the base.

---

Soh takes a break and then begins to build out the base frame!

Regional Score bonus: +21 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +21 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.

Highest Overall Score bonus: +10 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +10 should be included).

It's Giving Luck | A silver ring with an aquamarine stone that, when worn, grants +1 luck. Must be included in all PQ/PQ+/KQ/DROP posts to be counted. (Made by Nova)
Type: Light | Style: Other | Level: Basic | Cost: Other

Wait 'til you see half the things
that haven't happened yet

Sohalia

Hotaru

I know they'll be coming to find me soon
But I fear I'm getting used to being held by you

Being on the water team means a bit of extra cool-down associated with the faint castoff of water as it falls, so Hotaru can't complain nearly as much as she felt entitled to the day before. The days seem to blur by even in the midst of one, creating a lovely haze of sun-scorched sand, sweat, and the pleasant (and sometimes unpleasant) endless routine of physical exertion. It's a long enough project that she's certain she won't be able to place half the tasks they complete by time it's over. Only the standing structure they leave behind will be testament to their efforts. Perhaps it will even outlive them. Well...most of them.

Maybe she's a bit heat-addled to be thinking such odd thoughts, so a break is nice. Colt elbows her on accident, but it helps jolt her back to the present where she waves away the tired apology with a weary smile of her own. "You don't look half as edible as real noodles would be right now," she quips, though there's a tone of longing that undercuts the teasing. She could eat an ungodly amount of noodles right now.

Alas, they have hours ahead of them with fading daylight still fit for use. No sense in wasting time, it will pass all the faster with busy hands; precisely why she'd volunteered for this expedition. It chases away the thoughts, silences them forcefully beneath exhaustion and focus, leaving her with blessedly dreamless sleep at the end of each day. The appeal of yet another makes her dig in to the work with renewed grit and vigor. Just a few hours more.

- - -

Break, then more work for the evening round!

I used to sing about being free
Oh, baby, look what you've done to me

COLT

Cowboys ain't easy to love
And they're harder to hold

”Is that your desert island food?” Colt wonders with an arched brow, grin slipping up her face easy. She looks pointedly towards Soh, as if asking her to also weigh in. ”Mine would be ribs. Ideally with some corn and mashed potatoes, maybe a light salad… actually maybe just all of it sounds good right now.” Jerky and fruit and nuts is beginning to grow old.

Leaving the tease of better foods to ghost across her tongue, it’s soon enough replaced with the tang of salt as they sweat into the night building out the frame. They push through into the next day to finish it, daylight proving easier to properly hammer the wood rather than thumbs, and Colt considers swapping their schedule to days for the sake of visibility. It’d be hotter, but the hardest portion of labor has been done now that the digging is complete.

Colt hammers while someone else aligns the beams. She talks, muffled around the grip her lip has on several nails, gesturing for placement. Soh and Hotaru are doing much ther same, occasionally swinging their own boards or such around. As the frame finishes, Colt tells them the schedules are swapping, so to take an extended rest and meet back next morning, but to try and not sleep until nighttime now to fix their sleep schedules. When night hits, Colt doesn’t sleep so much as pass out.

With the frame completed, now they have to flesh it out with the base. ”Excellent work everyone! I just got word the frame is approved, so today we focus on the base.” They continue with their lumber, hammer, and nails, but now there’s sheets of bone cut away from larger skeletons, set to layer with the wood for strength, design, and to maintain something that flexes and bears the desert climate best. Lightweight but strong metals help adhere everything with brackets and corner edges, all of it piecing together according to design and effort.

---

Good job with the frame! Now we make the base with wood, bone, metal, hammer and nail.

They'll never stay home
And they're always alone

Hotaru

I know they'll be coming to find me soon
But I fear I'm getting used to being held by you

Hotaru groans loudly, clearly objecting, in a way that she normally would not in front of so many strangers. She leans with most of her body to elbow Colt in a rather belated revenge tactic that might also work to shut her up. "You're torturing me, and you know it. Keep it up and no ice spheres for you." Because damn it, the jerky and sun-safe foods they all packed have nothing on a fresh feast the likes of which Colt is describing. Pausing right before they get back to work, Ru considers her own answer just for the fun of it. "Blackened salmon on a bed of garlic butter risotto, with roasted asparagus, scalloped potatoes, and black tea with fresh raspberry juice strained in." There's a pause - then she throws her head back, thick bun nearly dislodged from the force, sweat-slick golden strands highlighting the furrow of her brow where they stick to her face. "Ugh! Your fault, Colt!"

Stomping away petulantly, Hotaru pouts her way into the next few hours of work, envisioning salmon that couldn't be further away geologically at bare minimum. The hammering and sounds of shuffling feet and grunted breaths helps distract her after enough time moping. Or perhaps that's Andraste, who has ventured out now that the sun has vanished and seems intent on clinging tonight, though it makes work a tad more difficult. They collapse into bed together like sleepy puppies, splayed out and tangled up.

It's more woodwork the next morning. The Abandoned even have little they can do magically that can't be achieved at roughly the same rate by any able-bodied person, so they all end up tackling the same tasks the menial way. Boring, but efficient.

- - -

Base-camp-ing it up!

I used to sing about being free
Oh, baby, look what you've done to me

You won't believe half the things
I see inside my head

Talk of food was not, perhaps, what appealed to Soh at this particular moment, but she was game to contribute to the conversation all the same. "I think I'd go for a steak." Huffing a laugh, she added, "Honestly, I'd just kill for some fries right about now." Not as refined as Colt or Hotaru, she grinned in a self-deprecating way, shrugging a shoulder as though to say, what can you do?

But their break was short-lived, and Soh was quick to return to work. They hammered their way through framing out the base, the sound of beating wood into submission the accompaniment to what limited conversation seemed to flow through all the hard work. At the end of each work day, Soh fell onto her bedroll, exhausted, only to wake the next day to do it all over again.

When their schedule switched to daytime, Soh struggled. On that first morning, she stumbled blearily out of her tent to join the other workers, doing her best to contribute despite the fact that she felt like she'd been trampled by wild horses. Still, she tackled the woodwork with all the energy she could spare, hammering and carrying lumber and doing the rest without a word of complaint.

---

Soh works on the base!

Regional Score bonus: +21 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +21 should be included). Residents cannot be cursed at shrines in this region.

Highest Overall Score bonus: +10 in all shrine visits, drops, PQ+s, KQs, etc. (You must post this at the bottom of any post where a +10 should be included).

It's Giving Luck | A silver ring with an aquamarine stone that, when worn, grants +1 luck. Must be included in all PQ/PQ+/KQ/DROP posts to be counted. (Made by Nova)
Type: Light | Style: Other | Level: Basic | Cost: Other

Wait 'til you see half the things
that haven't happened yet

Sohalia

COLT

Cowboys ain't easy to love
And they're harder to hold

It all sounds spectacular. It sets her mouth literally watering, a subtle slurp of a swallow taken at one point, although it's no surprise to find things extra wet with a sex demigod around. "The first thing we're doing when we finish this is eating all of these meals at once." From Hotaru's elegant meal to Soh's simple cravings that always hit the spot, it all sounds too good, and she'll use that to motivate her. It's why she's grinning still despite Hotaru's threats as they step back out into it.

The work is as tedious as it is hard, and while the sun provides nice light, the heat is taxing. She thought she knew hot and long days working the ranch like she did, but the desert has proven to her that there's always a way to make it worse. She calls for breaks often, and the abandoned with water magic work to spray a fine mist over them while they steadily construct the base. Soh and Hotaru will find their efforts make way to progress alongside Colt and all the rest, but it's a wide space they're building and moving the lumber is a bit slow going, people often need breaks and the frame for the based is built up on the struts to ensure hulls don't run around on sand requiring the lumber to be hauled up.

"Calling it," Colt informs them as the sun begins to wane. "Good progress. We'll pick back up and finish tomorrow, get some good shut eye everyone!" Colt ensures everyone makes it down and out, taking one last lingering look at her plans and their work thus far. The night ends in a bit of music, people weary but always willing to celebrate a bit, especially now that the night is when they get to rest there's less reason to hide in their tents and just sleep.

- - -

The next day rises, and it's wise to get cracking before dawn fully breaks open into cooking them. A bell calls them out, and again Colt climbs the ladders to the base they're working on and begins to build. Her lips clench around nails while one hand steadies and the other swings the hammer. The same sound echoes all around her, shouts of people moving wood around and other supplies threading in-between.

---

Keep building the base!

They'll never stay home
And they're always alone