A Day at Cave Camp
Mira woke before sunrise, but the camp was already stirring. A line had formed outside the cave, and some people had waited since the night before for their turn. Breakfast drifted through camp while two people argued over the outhouse. That line was becoming almost as bad as the one for the cave.
Mira began her daily routine by checking the cave schedule, making sure no one cut the line and every registered group was ready. They were also using food faster than they brought it in. She would need to talk to Dale about sourcing more from farther away.
There was a bed shortage, so she had to go around and kick people out of tents so the next group could get some sleep; they were having to take shifts in the few available beds they had. Storage was at a premium. They had more supplies they could not eat that no one wanted, so she would have to set up trade agreements with other outposts or villages to trade for food.
People kept asking when their turn was, what it would cost to move up, or whether she could squeeze in one more member. Mira had to remind them that the cave limited group sizes, not her. Others needed spare members because their partners had not returned.
A new group from a village west of Lakeside had spent three days crossing trackless woods only to learn their turn was still three days away. They had brought too little food and had nowhere to sleep. Mira apologized and found them a tent they could use during the afternoon shift.
Jarek was out today running messages to camps in the zone east of here, trying to slow down the traffic to the cave as they were having resource issues, or letting them know they needed to bring tents and food if they wanted to stay.
Tom had spent the last five days using every scrap of leather they had to make tents. He was getting quick and could crank out ten to twelve a day. In the rush, they were not as sturdy as they should have been, but at least they would have a place to sleep even if they had to stick the tent between a couple of trees, as they were out of free ground. He kept saying he wanted to make armor, not tents, but every morning someone handed him another pile of hides and told him people needed somewhere to sleep first.
Silas was manning the registration desk this morning, and like normal, people were hounding him, trying to get their spots moved up in line. One guy said they traveled a week from the east and demanded they go right now as they needed to get home to shear their sheep and could not wait three days for a spot.
Bren was helping Garrick survey the future outpost expansion, making measurements for new buildings and marking trees that needed to be cut and stumps removed for a new longhouse to go in. Garrick was complaining that people wanted more buildings than he could build, and if they wanted them as fast as they needed, he would need some of those waiting for the cave to join his work crew or join the group cutting trees for construction or hauling stone for foundations.
Elira was treating the cuts and wounds on the last group out of the cave. They were underleveled and tried to take on an instance at a level they should not have. They had one guy that was so wounded he might be out of action for weeks even though wounds healed crazy fast thanks to the system. There were more than ten people waiting for her to get to fixing some wound. The strangest patient was a man who was trying to shave his beard with his sword and ended up jabbing it into his shoulder, being too stupid to get a sharp blade, as his sword was not sharp; his group mates made fun of him.
Tomas was watching the cave. There was a group whose turn was next and another group that was standing there like they were going to try to rush in and jump the line when the instance timer ran out. Tomas had to get out his axe and swing it around a few times before they backed up and finally grumbled and walked off.
As Mira looked around at the mess, she could see why Mark said it was a priority to build more outposts and spread people out. The tempers were flaring with so many fighters in a camp where the rules were no fighting. Not that it stopped them; there were for sure those in Elira’s line that were wounded outside the cave rather than in it. Sadly, even the surrounding forest was running out of animals to distract the cave runners.
Mira looked around the camp; it was crazy that just weeks ago nothing was here, not even her. She had been among the first to come. It started with a small fire and a few sleeping bags lying out around the fire. Now they had a huge main fire pit where people would gather in the evening to tell cave stories.
The one civilized-looking thing was Dale's cooking house. He had demanded that they build it or he would not cook for them. Dale insisted that cooking over an open fire was for savages and refused to feed anyone until they built him a proper kitchen. There was always a line, but the food was strictly sold for credits, so people had to find items to trade through the system or jobs to do to make enough money to eat.
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There were tables where hunters were sharpening spears and others where people were fletching arrows. On another table there was a woman offering to sew clothing for those that had credits to spare to have their clothing repaired. They even had two children chasing a chicken around camp. She was not sure where they came from but knew that Dale or Mark took care of them.
Another table had become the unofficial map table. Anyone returning from the cave stopped there first, arguing over where monsters had appeared or which rooms seemed to have changed.
There was a trade table set up where those that refused to use the system store were trading goods. Most would rather use the system shop, as they said they got better rates, but there were a few diehards that refused.
Mira had to run over and stop two guys that were trying to wash their clothing in the stream and explain to them that if everyone did that, it would ruin the stream, and explain to them where the wash area was and the buckets to haul water and the lines to dry on. They even had some soap that Dale and Tom had made up. It smelled like crap, but at least the clothing was clean. Dale complained constantly that people tracked mud into his kitchen, so the wash area had become surprisingly popular.
They even recently had two wash tubs made and had a boys' and girls' area for washing in the tub. You either had to use the last person's dirty water or haul it all yourself. Most of the cave people did not care and just used the filthy water. Mira, though, insisted on using clean water, so each day she hauled the water herself for the first bath of the day.
The camp smelled noticeably better after Mark insisted on building the wash area. Of course, even the washing was not free. Everything cost credits. Even a bath cost ten extra if you wanted fresh water instead of using someone else's. The system handled the transactions. People learned that if they took too many baths, they could not afford to eat.
Recently they even started charging 5 credits to rent a spot for your own tent or 15 credits if you wanted to use the camp's tents to sleep in. It was almost too much work to track everything; if it had not been for the system tracking, they would have never done it. Mira saw that Garrick had moved across the river; he and his crew were staking out the spot for a new outpost to take pressure off cave camp.
Everyone started talking excitedly, and Mira turned to see a team stumble out of the cave. All conversation stopped as people turned to look. It was always a gamble if they came out loud and boisterous, bragging about wins, or stumbled out with many wounds. She never could figure out why people kept trying to run instances at a higher level than their group when the elite boss was always three levels above the cave level.
This group was smiling, so it must have gone well. They started pulling loot out of inventory and putting it on the sorting table. People were standing around watching. There was a leather buyer that was Tom's apprentice; he watched every run and bought all that leather he could, as Tom was always short-handed. This time loot included meat, hide, teeth, and a bunch of uncommon items that some of the bystanders started trying to outbid each other to get the group to sell.
People in the back were hollering out questions: What level was it? Was it worth it? Others asked about skills gained or unused rewards that were stashed away. Everyone wanted to know what happened, and some teams shared; others would not say a word about the level, rewards, or what they encountered, like keeping the secret would make their next run better. Not that Mira could figure out why no two runs had ever been the same. Only their average levels were the same, and it was picked when they entered.
A small group arrived; like all the others, they told Mira they had traveled for days, and the direction was always different. But the story was the same. They were always dusty and dirty; maybe she should require a bath before they signed up. But she took their group name and their average level and told them the next open spot was four days from now. Immediately, the leader of the group started complaining and pulled out his sword.
Two of the cave guards ran over, bundled him up, and tossed him in the stream, which was probably good because he stunk. They then told him there was no fighting here, and if he started a fight, it was a four-day penalty, which meant with the current line, it would be eight days till he got a turn. Instantly, one of the other group members apologized for their friend, then finished filling out the registration and pulled his saggy butt out of the river and took him for a walk to cool off.
Dale arrived with food, finding twenty-five hungry people waiting. Looking at what he brought and the number of people waiting, he realized he did not have enough to feed them. The first guy in line asked for seconds when Dale dished him up, and he just laughed, saying he did not have enough food with him to feed those who were in line with only the partial serving he was dishing up. The people near the back of the line immediately started calculating whether they could afford to buy trail rations from someone else.
Evening came, and the camp started to settle down. There was the main fire pit going, and she could see at least four others spread out in different directions through the woods. People were telling stories; a few people were playing music on homemade instruments, and others were singing. Groups were looking over and discussing their plans for the next cave run. All was as well as it could be. For the first time all day, nobody seemed to be in a hurry.
Mira could see that the builders that were here earlier were back with a team to cut down the trees, another group stacking logs, and yet another dropping off loads of stone. Mira watched them work, wondering if there was a way to speed them up. They were crowded and needed more permanent housing.
Mira finally sat down for the first time that day. Looking around at the camp again, it had become much bigger than they ever imagined it to be. She wondered what tomorrow would bring and what new problem she would need to solve.
Just then Jarek ran into camp with more news. Two more teams had been spotted a mile away. Mira sighed. More people and a longer line. Why couldn't the cave update again and provide more instances? The pressure was becoming more than she could handle.
Mira looked toward the stakes marking the next outpost. Yesterday she thought two new outposts would be enough. Today she wasn't so sure.