Black Hole: The Book of Iratus, Episode 35

Chapter 341

The wolf man, Fugent, pointed to the humming machines. Iratus moved his gaze from the lights above to the mechanical engines. He and the light brown wolf man got to explore the power room as the others divided into similar groups to explore the rooms, with the shard room being put aside for now. Fugent then pointed to the lights, connecting them through his hands. Another thing Iratus noticed was that this room wasn't too bad for warmth compared to the freezing temperatures everywhere else.

Iratus thoughts, "I guess he is saying that these humming metal machines and the lights or electricity are related. Since these machines almost look like the engines of those boats, perhaps they are what is responsible for the fuel in here."

Iratus smiled and gave the wolf a thumbs up, with the wolf smiling and nodding back. The two spent less than a minute taking in the concrete room, which was cramped up by the machines with little in the way of pathing or useful tools. Since their sight was blocked by the engines, the two didn't even try to move in further and went back to the main room.

Speculator, the other wolffolk, was standing watch as the heavy metal doors were slowly being torn back from the two creatures on the other side. With the door now bending slightly open, a flashlight would reveal the two bipedal stone forms trying to break in. The other rooms were lit up as the others explored them, with only this central area and hallways being in the dark.

The Tempestas and Fractura came back, checking their rooms.

Tempestas, "Dining room would be a death trap."

Fractura, "The sleeping area could work if you are willing to move around bunk beds."

Iratus, "The...one room is also a no-go. No space. Should we try the book room?"

The metal doors were slowly being peeled back by the stone creatures.

Fractura, "We don't have the time. Let's go."

The group moved to the sleeping area, pulling out their weapons even when they were all shivering from the ungodly cold. Fugent stopped to take aim at the stone creatures from the openings, and when everyone covered their ears, he opened fire.

When he finished reloading, the doors finally caved, and the two stone creatures came into view. It was difficult to see with just flashlights, but the two stone figures looked completely the same to the ashborn, with two distinctions: these two were nine feet tall (274cm) and were walking stone instead of ash and embers.

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Chapter 342

Everyone quickly rushed into the room, and when Fractura saw Speculator toss white bricks from his tactical pouches onto the ground,.

Fractura, "Everyone get back!"

The hyena man grabbed Iratus and pulled him back as the mouse boy tried to see what was going on. The two wolves were the last ones in, and after they slammed the door, they ran to the back with everyone else with great haste.

The sleeping area was clearly designed for comfort and functionality, with rows of sturdy bunk beds and dimmable small lights around. The walls were reinforced and soundproofed to provide security and reduce external noise. Each bunk is equipped with a small storage compartment for personal belongings, and nearby shelves were bare and empty instead of being filled with essential items. The room clearly had a wide area to provide a lot of space, giving it a relatively decent location to hold the coming combat the party would face.

Speculator, "Cover your ears!"

Although everyone was already putting on their ear muffles, soon enough, the two stone giants came to their door, and Speculator held out a device and clicked a button, which caused a massive shake in the ground. It was an explosion, as the white bricks were some sort of explosive that was remotely detonated. The door was blasted open, and despite the explosion, the two stone giants crawled inside the room. They looked greatly damaged, with some bits missing, but they still moved unhindered and with purpose.

Speculator looking to Iratus, "How good are you with a pistol kid?"

Iratus, "I've used firearms, from my world's muskets to some multi-bullet-firing thing. Not much use, but I won't hit you if that's what you are worried about."

Speculator, "Good enough."

He handed Iratus his gun and then headed into combat. Fractura had his own baton in hand as he tried to strike and be out at a minimum with minor effect. Tempestas was trying her best to lure and distract the monsters since her iron spear wasn't too effective against the stone creatures.

Tempestas, "I keep forgetting how durable concreteborn are. What am I supposed to do?"

The first concreteborn walked into a bunkbed and shoved it onto Fractura, who barely managed to dodge out of the way, nearly falling over in the process. Speculator smoothly walked into the brawl that was filled with bunk beds and everyone scrambling around them to avoid the giants. He would weave in and slam the legs of one giant and strip some of its rock away with his mace. Tempestas and Fractura flinched as Fugent opened fire, which put the two off, but the brown wolf man's aim was impeccable and did usually cause some minimum damage. Iratus, on the other hand, ran around trying to find an opening to shoot so as not to shoot anywhere near his allies.

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Chapter 343

One of the giants took a long step forward and slammed a punch into Tempestas, who was able to block the attack, and though it was a slow punch, the mass behind it was what pushed her onto the ground. Iratus opened fire from behind the giants, and the bullets didn't sink in, especially compared to Fugent. The giants began to split up, with one going after Speculator, with Tempestas trying to hobble over to assist him, and the other one running down Fractura, with Iratus and Fugent trying to shoot the beast down.

Eventually, Fractura was caught with the stone giant stepping on a bed on top of him. The hyena man yelled out in distress as Fugent and Iratus walked closer and continued to fire at the creature. The wolf man would eventually shoot off a block of rock from the creature's head, which staggered it. Iratus's gun clicked empty, and Iratus paused only for a second before running in and trying to redirect the creature's attention, but the concreteborn barely lifted his arm, which made Iratus's eye go wide as he was lifted and actually flew into the air before reactively spinning in the air to land on all fours. With one more bullet, Fugent blasted off another chunk of the monster's head, which dropped it. Iratus went to help Fractura, who was now wheezing instead of yelling, while trying to pay attention on the other side of the room.

Tempestas continued to get knocked down, but each time left the giant open for Speculator to walk in and attack the cracks that formed from the explosion to deal decent damage. The monster would reorient its attacks to the wolf man, but he was simply too fast and moved expertly to always be out of the creature. Another few whacks, and one of the beast's legs fell out, and when Speculator came in behind it for the killing below, the concreteborn used its elbow to quickly jab the wolf man and drop him then and there. Fugent tried to yell out something as he reloaded and fired at the giant, with Tempestas trying to pull the black wolf away from the battle. Iratus came by just as the giant got back on both its feet, but the mouse boy was quick enough to grab the mace, dodge a head-splitting swing from the giant, and use both hands to swing the mace up into the crouch, which cracked enough to join the other cracks the monster suffered, which made it fall on its knees.

Fugent stopped firing and yelled at Iratus, pointing to the monster's head, which Iratus was already coming in for with another attack that connected, and the force rippled almost like skin, which popped many tiny stones out of the monster's head. The monster stared blankly ahead for two seconds before falling forward, dead.

Fractura slowly walked towards the black wolf, holding his chest and stomach from being crunched under the bed. Everyone followed him and looked over Speculator, who just exhaled and continued to not be able to speak. After some prodding, Fractura gave a short description of Speculator's condition and revealed the internal injuries he probably had now.

Fractura, "Help me make a makeshift stretcher. It shouldn't be too hard."

Everyone agreed to help and got about grabbing material for a stretcher, which wasn't too hard for what was available.

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Chapter 344

Fractura used gestures to get Fugent to help him lift his wounded comrade. The hyena man himself coughed and struggled to lift the stretcher as his own wounds nearly crippled him.

Iratus, "Will you be okay, bud?"

Fractura, "Yeah, yeah. Listen, normally I'd say follow us out of here, but seeing how that keycard opened the door back there, I'm way too curious to stop you. You have about five minutes before you need to start heading to the warm room. Even with all our clothing and stuff, I feel as though we will be getting frostbitten very soon. Be quick and do your thing."

Iratus gave him a nod and ran out with Tempestus to quickly head over to the shard room. However, Tempestus headed over to the book icon room first.

Tempestas, "Wait, the summoners didn't always label their stuff for people like us. Let's take a peek real quick."

Iratus, "Oh, my God, please. It's so cold! Hurry, hurry then!"

Fratura and the others left as Tempestas and Iratus opened the door, revealing a moderately sized room that was completely empty except for one item, a large bulk of metal with a metal box stuck in it. This room also had some dim lights to reveal the room, and once the badger girl saw the capsule, she gasped.

Tempestas, "Impossible! This whole time, it was here."

Iratus, "Oh man, I bet this has something to do with you outsiders."

The badger woman ran up to the pod and looked over it, finding a keycard slot and pointing to it, which Iratus understood.

Tempestas, "Only a few pods have been found, and while they have all been empty, these things seem to be some sort of holding pod. With enough examination, we concluded that these things are supposed to be prisons."

Iratus's keycard did not work when slotted in. He shook his head and then spoke.

Iratus, "Prisons for who?"

Tempestas, "We have two theories. Based on the design, this thing would lock someone completely, so it could perfectly restrain a person. In theory, the most dangerous of people. However, while we are aware that the summoners worked with people loosely for a time, they have long since abandoned that practice. Theory two: The summoners made these things to imprison their own people."

Iratus tried to leave the room and motioned for Tempestas to follow, which she reluctantly did.

Iratus, "So this is how they imprison their criminals?"

Tempestas, "Imprison people for something. My crew was hired to bolster an adventuring party who said they had a lead on a prison pod. It was somewhere on this planet, this continent specifically."

Iratus quickly went to the shard door and opened it, shivering violently the whole time.

Tempestas, "That pod is the reason why I'm here. My job was to help find and secure it, and here it is, taunting me."

The two opened the door and went down the short hallway to another door, but this hallway was slightly less cold than the rest of the building, and in fact, the metal door was also radiating a decent amount of heat. Before Iratus could open it, Tempestas took the lead and gave the mouse boy a nod before opening the door herself.

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Chapter 345

The red and orange light blazed through, just like the unbelievable heat. Ooze started to spill out into the pair's hallway, which was ignited, giving the whole view an image of an ever-spreading orange blaze. This concrete room was lathered in dull flames, with the center of the room having one large pillar that looked like it had something locked up in it. The only other thing in the room was a person sitting in the corner who stood up as the door was opened.

This person wasn't as much of a person as a glowing badgerfolk male, but in some degrees, they were partially like the ashborn with their lizard-like appearance. Unlike most of the other ashborn, this creature was one of the blazing kind, an ashborn version similar to what happened to Emma from the train and the alligator creature that burned the Japanese city down. Whatever fur was left was a glow from the flames, and only its limbs had the ash and embers that ashborn had, as well as the skull, which was now lizard-like with a third of this creature's body.

Tempestas, "No way, Grandinis?"

Iratus pulled Tempestas back and slammed the door shut.

Iratus, "Well, guess that's off limits."

Tempestas, "Hold on, we have to get back in there."

Iratus, "Let's plan this out first, okay?"

Tempestas, "Yeah. Alright, then I will hold the creature back with my spear, and you can strike when I have it impaled."

Iratus wrapped himself up more in the pelt.

Iratus, "I have this, which should give me enough heat protection. You have the range, so you can strike over my shoulder."

Tempestas, "Ack, yeah, that is a better setup."

The creature was banging on the door.

Iratus, "Before we open that door, what was that you said?"

Tempestas, "Grandinis? Yeah, he was the leader of the expedition down here. Remember why I came here? He was the guy who hired my team. However, there shouldn't be any reason he got anywhere near here, let alone down in this place."

Iratus, "On a scale of one to ten on how impossible it is, with one being likely and ten being literally how, what number are we talking about?"

The badgerfolk woman gave it some thought.

Tempestas, "Pfft, I guess a seven. Now that would be anything over a five is me not being able to come up with a way that he could get down here."

The banging slowed but still continued.

Iratus, "Alright, let's get into position."

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Chapter 346

Iratus opened the door and ran back as the blazing monster stumbled forward and then ran after Iratus, who turned at the doorway to face it. Iratus held out his sword, which made the ashborn stop for a second before trying to swat the blade away.

Iratus, "Woh, that's new."

Tempestas, "Is it?"

She tried to continue but was busy reaching out with her iron spear.

Iratus, "Yeah, maybe not." He swung his blade around to clip the monster's hand. "That previous one was something."

Grandinis finally dove forward, but then Tempestas's spear came in and halted the creature. Iratus found the hallway limiting his attack possibilities, so after he stabbed forward, he told the woman behind him to back up. The pair retreated out of the doorway, and when the ashborn tried to follow, it was met with Tempestas's spear, and then the badger woman ran forward, pushing the monster further back.

The burning monster put its foot down and stopped Tempestas from moving forward, impaling itself further onto the spear. Grandinis grabbed Tempestas by the head and burned it, but Iratus came in with his long sword and stabbed the creature in the head, which dropped it to the ground. The badger woman retreated to pour water on her face to stop the burning, while Iratus made sure the burning creature was dead.

After the ashborn scattered like ash, Iratus turned to see Tempestas coming back with the fur on her cheeks gone, making her look somewhat ridiculous.

Iratus, "You okay?"

Tempestas, "You have no idea how unhappy I am. Luckily, we had quite the upper hand in that battle. Long reach plus narrow hallway is just pure death."

Iratus, "Truly. Now let's see what we've won."

The pair looked into the shard room to see most of the fires had already died out, with only some left from leaks in the ceiling that poured down bits of some sort of chemical.

With nothing else to stop them, the two walked up to the large pillar and opened its doors, like a cabinet, and inside was a metal box like the other two shard machines. There was no other shard in there, but there were many wires and attachments. They grabbed the equipment and headed for the warm room above.

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Chapter 347

In the warm room, Speculator was lying on a couch while Fractura and the other wolffolk sat around. They were spooked when the pair entered, but everyone put a smile on as the group finally came back together.

Fractura, "What did we win?"

Tempestas held up the device and filled in the details of what happened.

Iratus, "Do you have any thoughts on the prison pod thing?"

Fractura, "I'm aware of them, but other than that, I don't have any opinions on them."

Speculator, "Ugh, I can't say I know anything about them. We only knew about ghosts and us being dead before we found you guys."

Fractura, "To which I have to say, is still strange."

Speculator, "Well, how often do you find people with all the answers down here?"

Fractura, "Fair point."

The group rested for a minute more before getting ready to go. They brought the cart and refueled it with some more burnable stuff, while Speculator was carried out as well. Everyone headed for the stone tower, and the tower folk were aware of the wolf pair; seeing one of them on a stretcher made everyone concerned. Clamor opened the door and allowed everyone inside.

Clamor, "Someone has some explaining to do."

Iratus, "Yeah, let's do it over some lunch."

After food was made for everyone, the whole group sat around the table, and even Speculator managed to sit down, albeit with some help from the others. Fractura could only administer some medicine to help the wolf man out, but it looked like he'd have to naturally heal from his injuries.

Ignis and Aestus managed to cook something up pretty quickly for everyone with meats and veggies, with everyone talking as they ate. Iratus and Tempestes gave the short version of their adventure.

Venatio, "A prisoner pod, huh? Data Error himself had no idea what the keycard was for, well, at least when I still worked for him."

Clamor, "Then why give Iratus a keycard at all?"

Venatio, "Maybe he knew it was for the building, but nothing else about it."

Fractura, "Regardless, this meal is great; my compliments to the chefs."

Aestus and Ignis gave a giggle.

Clamor, "What we should be talking about is bringing two strangers into our home."

Speculator, "I never asked to be brought here. I just want my pay, and I will be more than happy to never return."

Iratus could sense a strange tension in the air.

Iratus, "These two are our allies. They risked their lives, and we should show them some thanks. This meal is the least that we can provide."

Clamor, "It is reckless to bring them here."

Fractura, "Hey, I'll even vouch for them. I know their stories from Crossprowl."

Clamor, "Their actions are not who they are. There is a reason my people have the saying, Never meet your heroes."

Venatio, "Maybe if one of them wasn't terribly injured." She gave a sigh. "But they did risk their lives for coin, so it is best to be happy with the services we got."

Speculator had been translating most of the conversation to Fugent, but one of his words made Venatio's ears twitch, and she said something in their language in response.

The whole group, including the wolves but not Fractura, were surprised. The black wolffolk seemed to bury his face in his hands in embarrassment, which made the old lady laugh.

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Chapter 348

After the food, the group went to the storage floor and watched Fugent comb over the tower's stuff. The black wolf sat in a chair nearby, as that was the best he could muster, and the two would talk back and forth about what to take.

Iratus, "I have some personal stuff. I don't know how the others would react if you two took from the community pool."

Venatio, "For this reality machine, take whatever."

Tempestas, "Eh."

Resonantia, "What does the machine do?"

Venatio, "Plugging in the shard reveals..."

The fox woman clicked a few buttons, and the screen showed images of a person teleporting to another place, though the place seemed barren.

Venatio, "Well, I stand corrected; maybe Data Error did know what was down there."

Fractura, "I knew it!"

Venatio, "Desidia said that we could return home; well, now we can."

The outsiders gasped in shock while Speculator tried to twist his body in vain.

Speculator, "Wait what? You know about Desidia?"

Ignis, "Depends."

Iratus looking at Ignis, "Well, she did wear similar gear to these guys, so..."

Speculator with a smile, "Well dang. She is still alive."

Iratus, "Was she part of your group or something?"

Speculator, "There were four of us. During the train chaos, she got separated from us."

Fractura, "Yes, yes, now about getting back home."

Venatio, "This is a device to enter a portal network."

Fractura, "Excuse me? That thing? No?"

Tempestas, "It's just a bunch of wires, not a gate."

Victoria, "Come on. Explain all these things to us."

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Chapter 349

Venatio, "This is the prototype of the portal network."

Tempestas, "Then that tower must have been ancient."

Fractura, "Ok, but what does being a prototype mean?"

Venatio, "Well, we have our portal network on the outside. We just need to use this sucker to boop to a random gate."

Fractura, "Well, shoot, let's get out of here!"

Speculator, "Wait leave? Like outside of the Nexus Prime?"

Venatio, "Now there is a problem I'd like to address. First, the wires are going with the traveler, so with the number we have here, that's two. Only two of us can return home."

Victoria, "I am assuming this is for you Invaders and not us."

Fractura, "Yeah, none of you are keyed into our network."

Tempestas, "But one of us has to stay?"

Victoria, "I know we had a whole thing with what we were going to use the shard for, but I veto all that for this."

Tempestas and Fractura nodded their heads while Clamor gave an approving smile, and the four girls were quite neutral but did show genuine care about their friends getting the chance to return home.

Venatio, "Also, while it won't use the whole shard. This technology won't allow a non-whole shard to be used. The rest will be returned to reality, where it belongs."

Fractura, "And it uses the shard? Man, this stuff is useless."

Tempestas, "Even the first portal needed one shard to get started."

Victoria, "And this isn't like the portal device, right?"

Venatio, "Correct. These are wholly different beasts that I don't really want to get into right now."

Fractura, "One of us still has to stay behind. Any volunteers?"

Tempestas, "Well, now that I know my whole goal for being down here is right next to me, I kind of want to know what's inside."

Venatio, "Understandable, as I too have had a reason to wonder. However, I am willing to bet you have much more of a life outside than an old lady like me."

Tempestas, "Considering how long we live, you should still have a lot of time to live with your own family."

Venatio, "Let the older generation do what we do and sacrifice for the youngsters."

Tempestas, "I...don't really feel good about that."

Venatio, "My family will understand. Let me make them a note, actually."

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Chapter 350

Fractura didn't even try to give a reason to stay behind. He did his best to get everything going, and he hooked himself up as soon as possible. Venatio told them that they wouldn't be able to carry much else with them and to go light.

Everyone was saying their last goodbye, though the idea of two of their friends just leaving suddenly didn't sit quite right with everyone.

Fractura, "What a useless machine. Any chance I can take a reality machine with me?"

The tower folk only had to nod at each other to confirm everything. Fractura would take the teleporter with him, along with pockets full of treasure.

Fractura, "I wrote down a long list of things you all should know about. I got a lot of medical advice as well as some modern tech I doubt you'd be able to make for a hundred years. And now, a few words of goodbye."

Fractura was covered in wires, almost to the degree of a mummy. The foxwoman pushed in a button and nodded her head to the hyena man.

Iratus, "I feel like we need more time to say goodbye. Like, shouldn't we have a goodbye party or something?"

Fractura, "Naaaaah."

Venatio, "You have a few seconds."

Fractura, "Listen, I just want all of you to know that I hate all of you, and I hope you all eat canine waste." He finished with a devilish grin.

And a second later, a shock sound pinged in the air, and Fractura vanished, leaving behind a fading picture of him. Nothing dramatic or special, just gone.

Iratus, "That was so like him."

Resonantia after an anooyed sigh, "Yeah."

Tempestas started to hook herself up next.

Iratus, "Ok, seriously, you guys are leaving faster than we can say goodbye."

Tempestas, "There isn't much to say. We had our last meal together already anyway."

Victoria, "How do you not feel overly stimulated right now? You are leaving us!"

Tempestas, "I am returning home. You have no idea how many people, promises, and duties have been left waiting for me. I know this is pretty sudden with us finding a way home, and we all leave with only a few words. I don't know what else to say other than thanks for not killing me."

Tempestas held tight to the other reality machine with a few treasures of her own, along with the special documentary and the summoners tower documents.

Tempestas, "I am returning home. You have no idea how many people, promises, and duties have been left waiting for me. I know this is pretty sudden with us finding a way home, and we all leave with only a few words. I don't know what else to say other than thanks for not killing me. I made a lot of mistakes, and I ran with a criminal. I am glad you beat the crap out of me, and I am happy you accepted me."

Venatio, "Eh, maybe."

Tempestas, "I also left a list for all of you."

Venatio, "A few seconds."

Tempestas, "Sorry this is so abrupt, but I want to get home as fast as I can. Good luck in making a family here. I don't think I'll be able to come back to help."

As with Fractura, there was a pang sound, and Tempestas vanished, leaving a ghostly image to linger for a few seconds.

Ignis, "They left so quickly. It almost doesn't even feel real."

Venatio, "Don't let that wound you. You got in a few minutes of I love you."

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EPISDOE 35: END

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Episode 35 End Character Sheet
Name: Iratus Lionheart
Species: Mousefolk
Age: 14
Coverings: blonde fur, white gambeson (many repairs, some leather patchwork), leather gloves, tactical vest, tailorcraft backpack, leather plate helmet, delicate gold chain with a small pendant shaped like a lion's glare
Weapons: Long Sword, 3x Knifes, Short Sword
Equipment: belt, belt bag, water skin, leathercraft backpack, 2 bags, 33 oval copper coins, 6 small silver bricks, 3 gemstones, 20 fine silver coins,20 fine gold coins, metal keycard

Wounds: none

Relevant Community Stash: a fire starter, whetstone, several leather items, 3 glass jar, 12 empty bottles, 1 fish net, primitive sewing kit, a bunch of small wooden figures, wooden dice, metal scrap, lots of rusted metal, several small fish nets, a strange device (Gameboy-like device), compass, sextant, some bedrolls, a tent, a large barrel, writing material, 80 cloaks and other clothing materials, some fabrics, 6 carts, 11 tattered tents, skin drum, beautiful arts of tropical scenery, floatation devices, wildlife figures, lots of tropical clothing

Armory: 10 wooden spears, 56 short swords, 53 knifes, 25 daggers, 34 metal spears, 2 hand bombs, 21 rusted weapons, many armor pieces, ruined metal armor, semi-automatic rifle (no ammo), box of unknown ammo, 4 hunting traps, 3 snares, 2 pistols (no ammo), 12 unknown bullets, 4 backpacks
Aestus: leather vest, leather helmet, metal spear, short sword
Victoria: scrap metal breastplate, leather helmet, metal spear, short sword, crossbow, flashlight
Resonanita: breastplate, metal helmet, metal spear, short sword, compound bow, flashlight
Ignis: leather helmet, metal spear, crowbar

Treasure: 78 oval copper coins, 23 oval silver coins 67 ancient metal coins, 8 fine silver coins, 33 fine gold coins, 23 fine copper coins, a tarnished silver brooch, a small ornamental figurine, a handful of sparkling glass beads, a small wooden trinket box, a few antfolk tapestries, some antfolk art, 99 copper lion coins, 5 silver lion coins, 6 gold lion coins, 89 wolfen metal coins

Home Base, Tower: Large Storage Area (many crates, clay pots, and wooden chests), Basic Workshop Area (lots of tools, woodcarving tools, glue, sandpaper), Kitchen Area (many tools, many cutlery items, pots&pans, makeshift grill), Library, Armory, Infirmary Room (surgery tools, first aid kit, plenty of medicine and equipment), Guest Quarters, Master Bedroom (proper bedding, sensual antfolk sculpture), Six Bedrooms (proper bedding)

Outside Base: Butchering Hut (modern butchery kit, smoking rack), Tannery Hut, Underground Storage Area, Garden Area (fenced in), Tool Shed (fishing gear and supplies, trowel, woodcutting axe, woodworking tools, lots of rope, rope ladder, plows, hoes, sickles, rakes, shovels, scythes, chisels, anvils), Partially Built Wall

Books: 3x woodworking books, weathered leather-bound journal, war game booklet, sketch book (from warband), Bathhouse Reviewers (entire 80 book series), cards

Year 0, Day 168

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