Coal Caves

Writers: Devin, Chelle, Paula
Date Posted: 19th June 2014

Characters: Uegot, Relik, Kaphrad
Description: The first shipment of coal from Iron Lake arrives.
Location: Seacraft Hall
Date: month 7, day 5 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Korkary

Uegot was hanging around in the dock when he spotted the ship
arriving. He went to ring the bell to announce its arrival.

Hearing the bell and hoping he had a good idea what it was, Relik
headed down from his office even though he was sure
Korkary's men down there had it in hand. It was an exciting first step
and he wanted to make sure the coal was of good grade
before he ordered more from Alrog.

Kaphrad wasn't far behind him. "Master," he said to Relik with a nod.

"Ship's coming in," Uegot reported rather needlessly. The ship was
just about to dock.

"Well gentlemen, hopefully this is what we want it to be. If I see the
name on the barge right, it is. Kaphrad, where were we going to put it?" He
knew the stuff needed to be kept dry. At Sunstone, this presented few
options.

"I thought we'd use the temporary drying cave. I can move the wood
around a bit to make room," Kaphrad said.

"We can't put the coal with the wood. If something happened, it'll burn
and then the dry wood would go up like kindling and we'd have a massive
problem. Plus, there's nowhere else to put the wood." He frowned, thinking
about it. "Unless we could dig a hole in the ground...Like a root
cellar-just for the coal." That's what they did at the mining holds, they left it in the
shafts underground till it was put on the trains.

Uegot was listening their discussion with one ear. He went to help the
ship's crew, receiving the ropes they tossed and tying them to the
dock.

"We'll have to dig a good way up from the beach, to make sure the
ground isn't wet," Kaphrad said.

"The caves," Uegot put in with his customary laconic manner.

Relik sighed, wishing he had another option. "The wood is in the caves. The
coal can't be anywhere near it because it's too explosive. I don't want to
lose two resources in one shot. Plus if it did explode, it would cause a
cave-in, then we wouldn't be able to get to anything." He nodded to himself. "I'd say get
some miners and dig a cellar. It'll be easy to lock and secure it that way too."

"No, I mean the other caves, up in the hills. My kids found them. They
are farther away and mostly dry," Uegot explained. "There's lot of
scrubbery hiding them, so you would have to clear a road to them."

Kaphrad perked up. "Oh, interesting. We should go investigate."

"Very well. Lead on Uegot." Relik gestured for the man to show Kaphrad
and himself where he was talking about. The dockhands would process and
dock the barge on their own.

"This way, sirs," the journeyman nodded and started out towards hills
that separated the Hall from Avian Point. "It's a quite a trek and
you have to go off path," he warned.

"My best days may be behind me, but I've got a while to go before I'm
frail," the Hallsecond said with a hint of amusement.

After brief stop to get a lantern with them, Uegot led them to the caves. At
one point, he left the road and walked to the scrub filled hills.
Thicket covered the cave entrance and he used his belt knife to cut off some
branches. "Be careful, it's a tight fit before it opens to a proper cave. The floor's
uneven too," he warned and lit the lantern. Ducking his head, he went in first.

Following along slowly, Relik had a moment's hesitation. He liked open
spaces and skies. This was not that. Still, he controlled himself, thinking
it didn't need to be for long. His eyes followed that lantern.

The cave opened to a space equal to a storage shed, high enough for
him to stand straight and he was tall man. Uegot lifted his lantern
up to shed light around.

Kaphrad made an appreciative noise. "This could work, although getting
the coal in here will be a job. But as a temporary storage place...
not too bad."

"A definite job. Unless we build a chute. We could have a cart on a rope
with a pulley. That could bring it up and down without too much trouble."
Relik nodded to himself, thinking.

"I'm not expert, but can the entrance be enlarged?" Uegot asked.

"Certainly," Kaphrad said. "But it might not be worth the effort if
this is just temporary."

"It depends on how well your invention works, Kaphrad. I say dig a chute up
for now and then we'll see. This is large enough to work if we do end up having
to store more. Of course, by then, we'll be able to store it on the actual
boats themselves. And then, we can load it onto them directly from the barge."
Relik was thinking to himself.

"Sounds good to me." Kaphrad had every confidence his steam ships
would work well. Sure, there would be kinks at first, but progress
took trial and error.

"Allright gentlemen, let's get a smith and figure out what is to do. Cause
we have coal out there that needs a place to go." He frowned and walked out with
them.

Uegot followed, silent as usual.

Last updated on the July 1st 2014

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Coal Caves