Sorting out a Holy Mess Part III (semi-closed: PM to join)

OOC: Time to do a little time-hopping... One Magnus at 6:00 AM post coming up. ^^;;; And the last bit is GM approved for Kimiko. =3

IC:

Midnight:

Work, work, work. Magnus was quite literally enthralled the project. And whenever something got Magnus going, he had difficulty sleeping until he had worked himself to exhaustion at said project, so with only the dim moonlight to keep him company, he set out to finish as much of the residence in one night as he could. His earlier work at clearing away the forest around the area he had planned to build in. He had cleared it using a mix of sword slices, and magical ordinance, blasting trees off their roots explosively. Once the area had been cleared, he began setting up his equipment. A small ore refining unit and dozens of small components for the heating element of a smelter along with a number of long burning oil lamps. But what was most impressive were the little drone devices that would save him time and energy to collect the ores from the quarry below. Little conical devices, about a foot tall, with spider like legs and a large drill component. They collected viable ore with a expanding satchel which would make the little creature twice its normal size before it scurried back to its base point for recharge and emptying. Setting several down, conveniently equipped with it's own holding tank for recharging purposes, Magnus linked the little containers together and then set up the master resource container. Built just like his tent, it resembled a spider, except it contained an extremely large elastic sac which would expand with the pressure of powdered ores being emptied into it.

The connection between these two sets of devices was a tube setup with five small tubes on one end which connected to the container through one larger tube which allowed the powder to collect. They were all internally charged with a battery pack linked to a small dragon heart fragment. Which made them autonomous unless they were somehow interrupted or damaged. With a click of the master control unit the little robots switched on, chirping and scurrying out of their tanks on their insectoid legs. Clicking another button on the control they were set to gather two components, zinc, and iron. Both of which, were visible in the quarry from the surface stones. Magnus surmised that somewhere on this mountain, probably below this quarry there was a good amount of raw resources, and maybe some more valuable ones. With a confirming chirp the five little robot miners scurried off, chirping and scanning their surroundings for easily accessible veins of iron or zinc. The way they were chirping along with one another, one could imagine them as the seven dwarves, although there were only five of them, and they weren't even as tall as a dwarf either.

Now the next thing on his checklist was to make bricks. That required mud and reeds. The little robots would be able to handle the collection of ores until he got back, leaving him to collecting the materials to make the most crude adobe bricks. Picking up the heating element for the forge, he quickly put the pieces together, clicking components and screwing bolts in. The device would produce enough heat to evaporate water out of said bricks. This was probably the easiest part of the whole construction process, as Magnus slide a mould in over the heating element, for twelve bricks. Next he would need transport for these bricks he was going to create. Once again he fished inside his backpack, pulling out a folded up device, and with a number of pulls on the wings it extended into what looked like a cart, except it had no wheels. But that didn't seem to matter, because the moment the device was unfolded, it lifted into the air, and hovered directly into Magnus' kneecaps. He had forgot that since the Outpost construction a little while ago, he had the hovercart set to automatic follow.

A few changes to the control console and the device extended a set of handles from what had to be its front. Loading on what was necessary for this endeavor, Magnus dragged along the forge element with him and the casting mould....

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1:30 AM

After finding a deep, mud-filled swamp with plentiful reeds, Magnus had set up a rather efficient processing line. The hovercart, now set to autopilot flew back and forth from the construction zone to Magnus, loading and unloading bricks. Over a tonne per run and dropping them in piles in one corner of the construction zone. The last run had to also contain Magnus, and he could feel the cart's energy source strain to keep them aloft. It crawled up the mountain, grazing treetops and eventually emerging over the quarry and proceeding once more into the construction site. Now came the real test of endurance.

After dumping the last load of bricks into the now massive pile, Magnus went back to his pack, pulling out several large vats of brick mortar, and a slightly larger mechanical robot with an enlarged arm. Setting these things down, Magnus went about marking the range of the residence he had in head with a number of nearby branches planted into the ground. and marked with a low piece of string. Next he sliced away all the undergrowth, making a small trench where he would place his foundation bricks. He then dragged a vat over and a trowel and switched his robotic assistant on. It locked onto the brick pile, walked closer, picked up a piece of brick and waited. Magnus then placed what appeared to be a rawhide leather glove over his hand, and opened it wide in plain view of the robot. In a second a brick was thrown across the distance, landing squarely in Magnus's grip as he placed it into the ditch. He then raised the hand again, and another brick was launched. Repeating this process over and over again, the brick's foundation was laid, the only difference by the next layer being that Magnus began slapping on mortar between the bricks. Within half an hour the wall was up, and now Magnus was precariously perched, atop his wall placing the final stone. What he wasn't expecting however was a small bird to wake up and see the shiny robot and decide to investigate. Flying down next to the brick tossing robot it began pecking at its body, until it eventually decided to peck at a red button on the manual control panel of its back.

"Okay.. That's it.. Now the next thing on the list is plaster coating the wall and.." Magnus mumbles looking up at his robotic assistant once more as it swivels, hefts a brick and takes aim at Magnus. The bird, terrified by the sudden movement takes off, and attempts to make an escape into the trees, but is cut short as the robot picks up on the movement, swivels and launches a brick at at it. A flutter of feathers and the bird struck the ground, and the brick struck a stump some distance away and shattered.

"What the he-" Magnus says, stepping carefully towards the robot, at least until it turned to him, hefted a brick and let it fly, "AAH!"

Magnus hit the ground as fast as he could, avoiding the brick by mere centimeters. as it flew overhead and struck the ground before skidding into the wall. This robot had apparently gone homicidal, which meant either Magnus would have to somehow switch it off or he'd have to destroy it. A new volley of bricks were launched at him, as Magnus rolled aside, as the adobe bricks hit the ground and shattered.

"Okay, no way to get close.. I'll have to shoot it." Magnus growls, charging his magical energies in his hand as he prepared to get up and let the robot have it.

He stood up and swung his head forward, but was far too slow, as the next brick struck him in the stomach, making the magic fizzle and dropping Magnus to the ground in a spasm of pain. Then came the worst part, as the robot took the remaining supply of bricks and launched them at Magnus, pummelling him with a rain of cheap masonry, burying him underneath them in less than twenty seconds. But then the little robot ran out of ammunition, and it began continuing the motion of brick throwing over and over without anything to throw.

"Ran out of bricks huh?" Magnus mutters as he pushes some of the bricks off him so he can see his little menace, "Well too bad.."

A quick Beta Crashing Blast blew the robotic tormentor to bits, as Magnus pulled himself out of the pile of bricks, wincing as dozens of places on his back screamed for mercy.

"No time to waste, must keep working.." He groaned, shrugging off the pain and looking to the building materials once more.

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3:00 AM

The pain was subsiding, albeit slowly, and now the building of the main structures was commencing at expectable rates. He had to rig a kind of gear and crane system to move the large beams about, that and use the hover-cart to assist to move the large steel beams so they could be welded together. Magnus knew his family, and the way they lived they'd need a house that was built like a bunker to withstand the rough and tumble lifestyle that they had become accustomed to.

Welder in hand, Magnus set to work. The house coming together quickly as beam after beam was fused into place, and the design in his head told him what went where and what came next. The heating unit was now melting down the zinc and iron to make steel, and the storage unit was providing controlled amounts of both to produce the girders. Soon he'd have to put the aesthetic touches on to make the metal house look like a home.

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6:00 AM

One of the problems with working with small pieces of wood was that it was slow, and with the lack of energy to run on which Magnus was experiencing the task required a great deal of willpower. He had already downed three glasses of spiced heartwine to get himself woken up, and by now his body was reaching its absolute limit, as he hid the metallic innards of the house with a layer of hardwood, plaster and cleverly made casings to put the gaudy silver beams out of sight.

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As Kimiko makes her way up the mountain she will eventually stumble across the quarry. It's flat landscape, with bare rocks singling it out. At first glance it appears to be nothing of note. That is until a cheerful chirp from the middle of the quarry comes, and a spider-like robot emerges form a small hole drilled into the ground. It's body is built similar to a hermit crab with a drill mounted on its undercarriage. And on this shell-like body, is a large sack, which causes the robot to lurch a bit in its movement. It scurries away and wanders up a path on the other side of the quarry. Next another small robot scurries down, this one with a deflated sack, and it immediately rushes to the hole in the ground and hops down it.

If she follows these curious little devices as they wander up the path she will stumble across the Faustus Residence' construction site. And will find it much as Ralma had found it, with one minor exception, there are still stumps in the building area and Magnus is still awake, and walking amongst these stumps trying to see if any of them will come up by themselves. But it seems he isn't having much luck at doing so, as he pulls fruitlessly at the stumps, trying to uproot them.

"Augh... Stupid tree.. Won't give up." He curses slightly under his breath and a glowing point of light appears in his hand, which he presses under the base of the stump, and he walks away slightly.

Which is for good reason, because moments later the tree stump explodes from beneath it, sending the stump flying up and straight down onto Magnus, whom is knocked to to the ground by the heavy tree stump.

"I think construction should be an extreme sport.. The risk of injury is high enough.." He adds, trying to catch his breath, and get the stump off of himself.