Harry's Game · Page 26

(Belt loop - standard means of carrying an axe, as any Rennie would know.)

I'd love a minute to assess the situation. If I happen upon Tara I'll suggest to her to have the bucket brigade switch to sand to keep the steam down - steam burns can be nasty.

Otherwise I'll focus on getting the girl to wherever they are setting up triage. Don't I have a version of Cure Light Wounds or Lay on Hands that doesn't require a Holy Ground? I'll use that on her, try to revive her.

You have half a minute. You spot a very busy Tara directing the effort, and a glance from here tells you that she knows you're out but can't talk right this moment. You see no triage or first aid area at this point, but fortunately none of your firefighters are hors de combat.

You might mean one of these:

• 1@1 "Lay on Hands" - Limited Damage Repair M 2@1 TF 10 minutes, laying hands on a person injured without malice, kneeling, counts as whole-body involvement, appropriate words spoken including invoking Freya to heal him. Requires sacrifice of an appropriate amount of local currency to pay a medic for similar treatment. +57SM
• 1@1 Cure Wounds M+2@1 limited damge repair lethal base, must touch victim, TF 20:00, invokes Freya, sacrifices any flower (destroyed in the casting), keeps his left eye closed while invoking Odin, plus Hel and Baldur, kneeling beside the victim, sound matters, must be spoken forcefully (as a stage actor) while looking into a manufactured portable polished reflective surface such as a mirror or sword blade, rest required immediately after use, +90 SM

--M. J. Young

I meant the first.

Sadly I don't have ten minutes.

We'll get her somewhere safe - like into one of our wagons - and then go back to the efforts, probably directly into the shoveling of sand.

You and Brandy get the girl to a safe spot on the other side of the wagons, and lie her on the grass. The wagons still contain gear.

Brandy asks what she should do next.

By this time, Tara is headed toward you, apparently wanting to know what you learned.

--M. J. Young

I have Brandy hold position for now.

Then I debrief Tara on what we saw in there: smoke coming up through the floor, fire mostly localized in the kitchen but burning into the upper floor and the common room before too much longer. Recommend sending a bucket brigade up the stairs to start dousing the floors - keep them cool and wet to keep the fire from burning through - and breaching the kitchen from the outside, so if there is any blowback it's into open space, not into the common room. If we can breach the kitchen without causing an explosion, we should stick with water. It's more dangerous - the steam could be lethal - but sand won't be effective on a fire this widespread, and will do nothing for the walls.

Then I'll see what Tara directs myself and Brandy to do.

Tara nods. She starts picking people from the group, "You, You, David, Thomas, You--" she grabs nine altogether. She then says to you, "Take these and set up the bucket brigade to get water upstairs, and let me know when it's substantially doused. I've got eight left with me, including the chief, plus Brandy, and she and I will get some gear to use to breach the wall--try to do it without bringing down the chimney--but not until I know you're out of there, because I don't know that we won't lose the supports for the second floor when the wall breaches. From what you tell me, it looks like the fire is contained within this back corner, up past the chimney in the middle. Maybe if we pull the near section of the rear wall we can get inside at a point that's not already burning up the wall, and we'll have the shortest line to the pump. Good? Go!"

--M. J. Young

I nod and get going. I'm relatively strong and won't get tired since I... oh bugger I didn't get to re-up my spell. I'm not immune to fatigue today. Alright, I'll take a spot somewhere on the outside, nearer the pumps than the fire, since I don't naturally have the indefatigable stamina to work a pump or hurl buckets for a great length of time.

If I can get a moment with Tara before I leave, I'll suggest that if she does so near the chimney she can probably breach safely without waiting for us - the chimney is itself almost indestructible relative to the rest of the building, and there won't be another vital support nearby as that would be redundant and piss-poor design - the nearest vital support is probably easily ten to twenty feet to either side, if I'm remembering my physics correctly. She should be able to bring down the walls right near the chimney without damaging anything else (in a burning building of this sort, the chimney is often the only thing that remains, virtually untouched even as the whole building burns out from around it, if I'm not mistaken).

She acknowledges your suggestion.

Your team starts running buckets to the second floor and flooding it. Some of it goes up as steam, but a lot of it finds its way through the floor to the kitchen below.

For the moment, the fire is contained.

It seems to take quite a while, but you eventually get a report that Tara's team has pulled down part of the wall, visible from the top floor. This lets the smoke and steam vent, to some degree, from that area, making it easier on your people.

--M. J. Young

It's still Tara's show. If it were me, I would start diverting buckets into the kitchen once the wall came down - but sand buckets as well as water buckets. Try to secure the floor.

Over the course of the next half hour, the heat and smoke start dropping. Eventually the fire is out.

There are some minor cuts and scrapes, and the waitress you rescued has revived and is sitting by the wagon. The kitchen has an open wall by the fireplace, and is filled with mud (dirt dug from the yard--there was no sand in the wagons--mixed with water).

The captain looks around. "Thank you, everyone," he says. "You all did marvelously well. Tara, your crew is still on duty; keep someone here to watch, and get the gear back to the office, start cleaning and repacking. I'll want my command staff to meet, to discuss what we can do to improve and what we should have had available but didn't, but not right now; I'll get a time posted for this by tomorrow morning. Everyone else, get some rest. Tara? Harry? Anything to add?"

--M. J. Young

John, not Harry. I haven't been Harry in three years.

"Rope," I grumble, "I need to remember to bring some bloody rope. I'll see if we have any budget left..."

If the Captain has nothing else, I'll help Brandy and them get everything back into the wagons, and make sure our rescued waitress is recovering well before heading back to the station.

Sorry--I know, I keep forgetting. You'd think with that name tag there I'd remember, but I don't.

Everything gets packed up quickly, and Tara and Laws take the wagons back to the station, with your help. Brandy says she's going to get some sleep, as she (and you) must be back for the midnight shift.

I'm guessing you're going to retire to your office and do the remove fatigue. The captain has gone home; this is his day off.

Word reaches you before evening shift that the captain wants the shift supervisors you, Tara, and Matt (who was not there) in his office around ten tomorrow, which he hopes is good for everyone.

--M. J. Young

Yes, I'll go back to my office and bump my remove fatigue. Yay for two more days of mellow stimulant high and not fearing exertion.

Should make it easy to be there for ten.

After that meeting, I will want to go check in with the matchmaker, first, to see how long until the wedding and if there are any preparations I should be making, and then I need to check in at my house, as I haven't been home since this business with the fire crew started and I need to make sure everything is still intact, and see if I have had any message about tenants yet, as I am still looking to rent out the half I'm not myself living in (especially after I went through the expense of remodeling the whole damn thing when I first bought it, and I did intend it to be an investment that would pay for itself).

The meeting, then.

You mention ropes.

Tara says that she would have liked to have something like grapples. The axes are good for knocking a wall or door in, but she wanted to pull the outer wall out, and it was not easy devising a solution for that.

Matt was not at the fire, so although tired he mostly listens with interest.

The captain suggests that better techniques for moving victims might be needed, and maybe some equipment to help with that--not only ropes, but litters or harnesses of some sort. He also asks whether there are techniques that should be added to the training. Not everyone in the crew knows how to use an axe effectively, he notes.

--M. J. Young

Axe training and ropes are a definite, and we do need proper training for rescue and carrying. Litters and harnesses should be standard equipment at the squad level, but no lower - I don't want each individual having to schlep such a thing, but having a couple in the wagons can't hurt. I don't actually remember how a fireman's carry works, so I'll suggest that we track down someone in the force who has a background in wrestling, as they would know effective ways to lift the weight of someone the size of oneself or larger. I'll also specify training in how to properly drag someone without hurting them, so that smaller firefighters (Tara, Brandy) don't have to deal with trying to learn to carry someone, say, my size.

Also, I agree with Tara on the idea of grapples. I don't know if that goes along with ropes without saying, but yeah grapples. And maybe one wagon could be outfitted with a manual winch, for bringing down heavier or more solid walls?

A winch is a good idea, but the question becomes how to anchor it. The wagons are not that heavy--they're made to be moved quickly and easily even with a lot of gear in them, so a few bags of sand and a medium cask of water are the heaviest things you've got. On the ship, winches were simply built into the decks or beams. If you make it heavy enough to use against a wall you'll have trouble moving it, but if you don't then when you turn it it will pull itself rather than the wall.

The captain suggests asking people at the docks for solutions to that, but the dock winches are similarly connected to the pilings and piers, so they might not have an answer that works for you, either.

I was going to "add" things to the contents of the wagons, but then I discovered that I don't have those on the data sheet I keep for you, so humor me with a reconstruction. Verify what you remember on these points.

You have two wagons. I recall at one point that they were going to be small enough for a person to haul, but I also have vague recollections that we were talking about keeping horses at the station. Are they horse-drawn, and if so how many horses does the station keep?

Wagons contain:
shovels
axes
buckets
sand, probably in buckets?
water, in medium cask

Adding to them:
ropes
grapples
a litter
harnesses

Crews wear:
Miner's helmets
??

What have I missed?

--M. J. Young

We have one man-drawn wagon that has the vital supplies - the axes, shovels, sledgehammers, and buckets that we need to arrive on the scene first. We have one horse-drawn wagon containing the heavier supplies - the cask of water, the sandbags, the litters and harnesses - that are more necessary after the initial assessment has taken place. To that effect, the station keeps two horses.

Crews wear:
Mining helmets - leather with padding, absolutely no metal.
Gloves - standard leather work gloves, perhaps double-thick in the case of those expecting to be involved in breaching crews, again absolutely no metal.
Other than that, generally dense, water-absorbing fabrics. No flax, nothing with tar in it. If cotton is readily available than denim, otherwise leather for most and unoiled sailcloth for everyone else (so they can be kept wet while close to a fire, since we don't have Mylar or Nomex yet).
Rope - This should be relatively high-quality rope, given the need to balance strength versus weight, and should also be soaked in water or another non-flammable agent before use. Anyone entering a building is expected to carry at least enough of this to escape a second-story window, and know enough knot-tying to do so safely.

Jewelry of any kind is also strictly prohibited. I myself have two earrings in my left ear that I must take out when working. Again, this is because almost all jewelry contains metal, and metal conducts heat.

I'll suggest the idea of adding foldable legs to the horse wagon. In addition to using the horses own power for pulling, deployable legs (as exist on modern fire trucks, among other things) allow the wagon to get a better grip on the ground and dig in when pulled against, giving better leverage for the winch.
Then again, we have horses. Tie the ropes to the horses and have them do the pulling. Two horses should be enough to pull down half-burnt wooden walls, no?

Agreed to forgo the winch in favor of using horses for now. Horses do get a bit skittish around fires, but they should be manageable.

Grapples will be in the large wagon, since they're probably going to be used with the horses anyway.

Training in rope use will be added to the regular regimen. There are a couple of people on the crew who have a high amateur level of ability with knots and rope use, although none comparable to you, so you're going to have to show them what they need to know and what they need to teach.

Refresh my memory: how did you expect to find someone to rent the other half of the duplex? (E.g., did you contract an agent to represent you for this, or post notices with a contact place, or something else?)

Things are otherwise quiet. You contact the matchmaker about a month before the wedding date as the weather is starting to cool a bit, and she says now that you are back everything can move forward on schedule. What you need to do, she says, is figure out where you will be taking your bride after the wedding, both in the short term and in the long term. You will also want to wear a good suit.

We are again approaching an area in which the culture of the world has to be created, because it's not a relevant part of the world description as usually played. I'll make a few preliminary comments, and you can give me your thoughts on the subject. That is, what are the customs associated with a wedding?

• My experience with this world suggests that it is generally not religious. Your experience has reflected that. They don't believe in God or gods, particularly. That means they don't have highly "religious" rituals. At the same time, a marriage is a significant event in the lives of those wed, and thus the wedding is going to be marked by custom and ritual which will have meaning.
• Christian brides where white to symbolize purity. When I invented the Odinite wedding for Bob Slade in

--M. J. Young

I believe I posted notices in common areas like high-class taverns and the better end of the docks. You said there was no such thing as a real estate agent in this world, so I was mostly posting 'for rent' notices in places likely to attract the kind of upper-middle-class, young-family types I was hoping to rent to.

I can teach knots. This sort of work shouldn't require the vast array of knots that my Army grandfather taught me, or that seafaring would require, only that they be quite good at the handful I need to teach them. Get it into their bodies so they can tie these few knots blindfolded and half asleep.

I like the Odinite wedding. Seeing as I am Asatruar myself, every inch of that calls to me and I would want it to be just like that. But as you said, this is neither our culture nor my Viking ideal. I think the best way to produce something truly unique is indeed to crowdsource it to the boards. Let's see what A1Nut and Scott and them throw into the mix, and maybe we can boil off something worth bottling.

The unfortunate thing is I don't think I can really afford vacation time. Are honeymoons customary here? If they appear to be, I'll approach the Captain about the idea of time off, but I feel that a spectacular shooting-down is in my future, considering we're in the middle of inventing a bloody fire department. Still, I have to ask. I wonder if my colleagues will come to my wedding? Especially since the Captain and Matt are basically my only options for best man. Unless Captain John randomly happens to be in town that week, which would be win.

That's another thing I'd like to do - keep tabs on when the Piper passes through, and make sure to go down to greet them and visit with the Captain whenever they do. Seeing as it's been less than a year since I've been back, I doubt I've missed them, or if I have, not more than once.
Then again, it's possible Captain John might have retired by now. That spell I left for him - the entire cargo hold full of fresh food sailing into Emerald - might have made him rich enough to settle down. Heck he might own the Piper after that.

It's very difficult to keep tabs on the Piper, particularly in Durnmist, the first port after the crossing of the Greater Syndic. Obviously ships leaving from Durnmist headed north up the loop carry news of what ships had arrived in the ports before they left, and so there's sometimes a few days' notice of a ship coming; but unless harbor patrol has spotted her and come back with reports, you don't get news of ships coming in from the Syndic before they arrive. On the other hand, the trip averages something just under a year--the theoretical shortest run (the run that is constructed of the shortest recorded time between each pair of ports on the run) is 174 days, but it is possible for ordinary delays to put it over 450. 200 days is typical. Time being critical, a ship is rarely in port more than forty-eight hours.

If nothing else, that means that if the Piper arrives in time to plan to have the captain at your wedding, it will have to leave before time, and if he is there for the wedding it was entirely unexpected.

Actually, it happens that it is in port a few days after the fire, running a bit ahead of schedule and glad for it, but they can't stay for the wedding. You don't hear about it until they're preparing to depart, but Captain John delays departure for two hours so that your friends can congratulate you.

I thought that was what was happening with the rental.

You stop by the house, and a lady brushing off her steps across the street notices you.

"He ain't here," she says. "He's never here. You lookin' to rent? I ain't never seen 'im."

--M. J. Young

I'll definitely buy the Captain a drink while he's in port. How could I not? Even if he is absurdly rich now. How did that work out for him anyway? I'm picturing the Piper running low in the water for the weight of all those emeralds.

"Seen who?" I ask. I've only been living out of my office for a week... haven't I? Or is it closer to a month now...?

Since the fire occurred on the tenth day from the opening of the fire house, you're close to two weeks away from home.

"Seen the landlord, the owner. You came because you saw one of those signs, right? Well, he's never here, and I haven't met him so I can't say I know where to find him, either."

--M. J. Young

"I am the landlord. I've been away on business these two weeks, but I own the place. Have you seen anyone else come calling recently?"

My plan here is to talk her into keeping an eye on the place for me, with the promise that if she helps me pick worthy tenants who will stick around a while I'll cut her a nice finder's fee for her efforts.

"Oh, so you're the landlord. Well, there've been several people wanting to know about the place. You might ask at the Lobster Shell up the street; I think a few of them came from there."

--M. J. Young

"Thank you," I offer, "If any others come by, will you send them to my office?" I'll leave her the address. "Things have been so busy I've hardly had time to check in. I'd be very appreciative."

Whether she says yea or nay, it's off to the Lobster Shell next.

The Lobster Shell proves to be a nice restaurant specializing in--yeah, never mind, you already know that part--about three blocks from your home. The maitre d' asks if you have a reservation, indicating that it's not a problem but it helps if you do. He usually has tables available at lunch, but it takes a bit longer if you walk in unannounced. You explain to him that you were the landlord who posted the notice concerning a rent up the street, and he says two people left names and addresses in case you returned. He maintains his courtesy, but you can tell that he's not particularly happy about being a message boy for someone who is not a customer.

--M. J. Young

I'll thank him for his time, and make a reservation for three after the next duty shift I share with both Tara and Matt, so that I can take the two of them to lunch and appease this guy's professional indignation.

With that in place, if it's still a reasonable hour to come calling, I'll set out for the farther of the two addresses, figuring to start farther out and work my way in as the afternoon grows older. If there is a carriage service or the equivalent of taxi cabs, I'll drop a few coins to expedite my travels.

Just off the top of my head I know that you never share a duty shift with Tara and Matt (I'm not sure you ever share with either of them, but I think you might have Matt on your shift sometimes), because there are only four watch heads to cover twenty-one shifts a week, so Tara is usually head of her own watch and Matt frequently head of his.

That's just a passing post; I'll be back to deal with the game formally later, but I was glancing through things and recognized that as something that wouldn't fly.

--M. J. Young

There is a cab stand across the street from the restaurant, and a cab waiting for custom as you emerge. He isn't particularly happy about the address, but your gold is good.

The cab is something similar to the hansoms of nineteenth century London (which you've no doubt seen in any good Sherlock Holmes film such as the BBC/PBS Jeremy Brett series).

Unfortunately when you reach your destination it's a rooming house and the landlady says that the man you want isn't there, she doesn't know where she is and it isn't her job to know, and she doesn't know when he'll be back and she's not his message service.

The cabbie is willing to wait for you, and takes you to the other address. This is a run-down house that looks about to fall, and there is no one home at present, but signs that someone does live there.

--M. J. Young

Wow, decaf, much? I'll leave the first place alone. No need to waste my breath.

At the second place, I'll leave a note with the name and address of my neighbor, and my name and the address of the fire house, with apologies for missing their visit.

After which you will...?

--M. J. Young

Go home, I imagine. Make sure the place hasn't been broken into or vandalized - not that I had much there other than furniture - and basically cast a Remove Fatigue in my own sodding bed for the first time in two or three weeks. After all this excitement, maybe I'll actually sleep. Yeah, I think I will. It will be nice to be out of contact for a few hours.

This is one of those moments of business-as-usual, until either one of my tenants comes back, another fire or other job thing comes up, or my wedding day approaches. Do I need special clothes commissioned for the occasion? Any other preparation in advance? It occurs to me I should ask the matchmaker how exactly one gets married in Durnmist (once that thread stops being all unstable and actually answers that question).

I have pulled that thread to the top by posting some fresh thoughts on a wedding framework. Please be sure to comment on it and help fill in the blanks. I hope you like what I've done so far. I note that I was going to say something about clothing, or more specifically to say something about the fact that I didn't say anything about it, but I forgot to say anything about not saying anything, so please say something about it there. Yeah, that was a bit fun to write.

Your sleep is undisturbed, you awake rested, although it's an unusual feeling, somehow different from the magically restored rest. You return to work on schedule.

I think that the longer-term view is that there will be no fires between now and the wedding, and that you will have at least one potential boarder appear (I won't say "a few" because that prejudices your decision when you meet the first). But neither of those things happens today, so we'll put them off for now.

--M. J. Young

Once I'm up, I'll dose the Remove Fatigue. I don't need to be feeling 'unusual' when I do a job that involves lives. Could this spell be somehow addictive? Magical addiction? I hadn't considered the idea, but after my spell it does give me a moment's pause.

Putting aside further reflection for now - though it occurs to me this isn't the first time this has occurred to me - I'll head back to work, feeling the normal kind of 'rested.'

As for my borders, well, I'll need to meet them first.

Also, I will ask Captain Peter about standing in for my head of family, as Captain John is unavailable due to being at sea, and he is currently the closest thing I have to a father in this town (even if he has so far been functioning as an officer-shaped cardboard standee for me to work from behind, rather like what Miles Vorkosigan once tried, and failed, to pull off).

Also, this is me saying something in response to what you said about not saying anything about clothing, special clothing, or the complete lack thereof. By which I mean the lack of special clothing, rather than anyone's lack of clothing in general, unless you intend us to have a Betazoid wedding, which would be rather unusual.

I am aware of Betazoid wedding ceremony customs, and I don't see them working for Durnmist. Of course, that raises another possibility. Durnmist is (at least in my view of the world) the southernmost of the cities on the civilized side of the loop. They might get married in the equivalent of bathing suits or something like nightwear or undergarments. But that's really out there, I think. So, that was you saying something. Is what you are saying only that you acknowledge me asking, or what there actually content in there, such as that you'd like to see a, er, Betazoid approach?

If it's full Betazoid, that might put a damper on the guest list....

Captain Peter says it would be an honor; he mentions, though, that you did work for Chief Thomas for a while as a junior investigator before coming to fire watch; he doesn't know how long that was or whether Thomas knows you better than he does.

--M. J. Young

No, no I was not at all implying I would like to do this in the Betazoid custom. I would imagine a certain degree of formality, though without the religious element it might be a bit more subdued (i.e. even the daughter of a textile tycoon probably isn't spending half a year's income on a dress she'll wear exactly once, a custom I still cannot begin to fathom in our world). For my own sake I could see appearing in the equivalent of a dress uniform (since we are still technically part of the Guard) or civilian formal wear, but again that's pretty close to home. Obviously it should be an occasion that calls for unusual dress, I'm just not certain how unusual you'd like to go; it is your world after all.

I'll explain that, while I did work for Chief Thomas a bit longer as a junior investigator - several months as opposed to a handful of weeks - I never worked with him directly quite so closely. I worked with a handful of senior investigators and spent most of my time either eyeballs deep in paperwork or out on street, whereas I have seen and worked with Captain Peter himself just about every day through some of the most mind-bending bookkeeping and planning I've ever done in my life (assuming the notes I've put to text here represent the Reader's Digest version of what we've actually done and not the whole of it), so I feel he would be the more appropriate person to ask, especially when you consider I haven't seen Chief Thomas since our little operation got under way and he may well have forgotten me by now.

Captain Peter sees your point, but suggests that Captain Thomas and some of your old crew ought to be invited as guests--if for no other reason than that you don't have that many.

(I've taken the clothing issue to the wedding design thread.)

The wedding is approaching rapidly; you've less than a month left. Arabella's father has suggested holding it in the meeting room of his factory, as it's large enough and has chairs. He's also hiring a caterer and a band, since it's at his address.

The matchmaker suggests that you should offer to provide a significant share of the party supplies, such as the beverages and anything else you think will help the festivities.

--M. J. Young

I will put up for the beverages - do they have the concept of 'open bar' here? - including some of that excellent mead they make down at that one tavern by the docks that I like. Also, flowers and such, and anything else the matchmaker suggests, within reason.

I fully intend to invite my old crew, I just wasn't getting them into the wedding party. I will absolutely invite them all. And the General who approved our current operation. I'll invite him and his family as well.

I'm not exactly sure what an "open bar" would be and how it would differ from you providing beverages. That is, there's no such thing as mixed drinks, it's just beer, mead, ale, whiskey, rum, wine--an assortment of fermented and distilled products, and whatever you brought would be served until it was gone. It might be different if you held this at a tavern, because you could tell the innkeeper to keep track of what everyone drinks and you'll pay for it at the end, but given that it is at a private hall you'll have to buy the beverages and have them transported there.

Flowers are an excellent idea, and the matchmaker gives you the names of a few places that can get them in quantity if they have advance notice.

--M. J. Young

I'll spend my next couple of off shifts getting to those places, so I can give the best one advance notice.

As for the drinks... well... I have no idea how to estimate that. I'll ask the matchmaker how much of what to order, and then see about ordering it. I doubt there are big centralized distilleries like Jack Daniels and such in town. I might have to buy a shipment of alcohol directly at the docks, depending on the demand, but I'll have to get the ale somewhere local - they probably don't even import ale. This feels like the kind of place where each tavern brews their own. In which case I'll order the ale from the same tavern I ordered the mead from, and see about getting the whisky and rum straight off the docks. Wine... wine is very subjective, so this too I'll ask the matchmaker about.