Quantum Leap - Vol. 11 Camp Salvation - New Vagabond Army

C002 Will.I.Am...!!! PUNJI STICKS...?!?!? VIETNAM WARFARE NOW...?!?!?

There were some mines and also 2 caves that would be worth to take a look later. The two towns mentioned, Scarthingwell and Barkston Ash were just 10 mins walk from each other on either side. The location of the hearth was marked at the middle of the 'C' side of the river.

"Captains, gather up, please. Alright... Listen carefully. We need to furnish these men with 40 axes and 40 picks, 82 woollen blankets and also plates, bowls, cutleries. Build 4 cooking areas, and get bigger cauldrons for preparing our meals and making tea. Our perishables and consumables would be bought every 3 days and it would be delegated to these adventurers."

"Remember, rice, oatmeal and flour is a ratio of 2:1 so we need to buy at least 40kg x 7 sacks for this whole week. Check if these marketplaces have deliveries and request them to send over these supplies weekly for 12 weeks."

"Once the axes had been bought and dispersed, the 40 men could start chopping the trees to make us a hearth. This enchanted forest that we're in would respawn within 1 minute after being chopped down."

"The previous place was named SafeHaven and now its JL to name it. What's it going to be, my friend?"

"Camp Salvation, how is that, Boss? Would that be okay for you guys?"

"Camp Salvation it is..." I replied.

"I'd say aye to that, Jay..."

"Aye Aye Captain...Hii Hii Hii..."

"Alright, in the meantime, could someone get a few more clothes for the two girls, Ally and Tina, please...I won't want Will to drool as he watched the sweet cheek butts of these untouched girls. Hahahahaha..."

=*=

2 groups were divided to proceed to Barkston Ash and Scarthingwell to find out about their market and trading area as well as to take tome to have their lunch and be back by 1 pm. We are not that regimental and we let them hang loose since this is our first day arriving at a new place.

They were to check the availability of tomes, prices of weapons and armour that are not available in Byram and to report back if there are any additional or shortfalls in their reports on both towns.

They were to scout for potential threats and to mark them down on the maps given, including their levels type of monsters et cetera. By 1 pm, all these reports must be submitted and everyone was told to hide their stats and only their name and class remains.

The broken weapons and armour that we collected in the earlier battle yesterday were safely stowed away in the Realm of Mind and hadn't been segregated into each individual weapons yet as they were more than 3 or 4 types of weapons available.

That would be my project when I had the free time and now since the 80 new adventurers had a rest, it would be tone to get them to turn to chop down trees instead. Will.I.Am and I used the floating bridge platform to reach the 'O' section where we began to mark out the required amount of mounds to plant the seeds of our vegetables.

Both Will.I.Am and I cleared the whole ground free of weeds and other creepers and such and once we had sine that, we started making numerous mounds. Thanks for the Farming tome that I had read, the building of the farm took lesser time than usual.

At the end of marking out the mounds of a length of 20 meters long, we managed to plant tomatoes, ladyfingers, potatoes, bell peppers, chilli, brinjal, pumpkins, carrots, onions, garlic, leeks, parsley, chives, cucumbers, peas, string beans, strawberries cranberries, wild mustard, tapioca stalks, mulberry stalks and a cornfield.

The climbing creepers of vegetables we're planted at both sides so that it would be fitted with a trellis.

Both the tapioca and Mulberry stalks were planted on the sides of the garden to prevent soil erosion.

The rest are planted singly except for the corn that takes up 5 of the row mounds. For each 20 meter mound, there would be 20 to 40 seedlings that had been planted and I helped Will.I.Am to dredge the riverbank soil to gather it's natural sediments and minerals.

Some of the men that had returned earlier jumped into the river and helped to gather the sediments too, as they had never seen a Leader that would be ferocious on the battlefield to be a green finger at gardening too. They knew they had chosen a good leader because these fruit and vegetables garden are meant for their survival.

After planting the seeds and arranging the sediments as part if it compost, I let Will.I.Am to attend to the rest of his tasks as I went back and joined the rest of the men at our new camp.

"Dear Adventurers, The New Vagabond Army, Captains and our latest addition of new support members...Welcome to Camp Salvation, christened by Captain Jean Lethal."

"HOOAHH...CAMP SALVATION...!!!" the 80 adventurers chorused.

"Right, now there are 40 axes and 40 picks, cooling time for each tree and mine that was chopped down and mined would be 1 minute. Proceed for 1 hour, exchange and then proceed for another hour. Break time at 330pm. Then your captains and I would chop these woods into planks to prepare for making the hearth. Set down your hearthstone here and we would be here for the next 90 days. Proceed..."

"YES SIR ROBYN...HOOAHH...!!! the adventurers responded and carried their iron axes and picks and began to chop the trees and mine for stone and iron.

I had set the bands storage to receive logs and coal while the adventurers would be able to keep the rest.

They needed the money and this is the start from humble beginnings. At least there's where they learn how to survive by gathering resources and selling them to the NPC for cash.

Alleicea and Aventina both had new clothes and dressed up just like Will.I.Am except they had long brown hair that they tied into a ponytail and a round butt. Will.I.Am had a flat butt so if the 3 of them walk abreast, I coils differentiate which one is a girl and which is a boy.

Matilda and Stef had treated the girls with fried rice with salted fish and brought back dumping to share with their Senior Will.I.Am and to assist as much as possible. Since the garden patch was across the river, Jean Lethal helped the girls to get across and get acquainted and to immediately start work.

I overheard Will.I.Am was saying to the girls that he would be paying the girls 2 shillings per month for their assistance and it's courtesy of Fasuto Japan...eh No, The Band of Vagabonds.

Initially, they watched Will.I.Am worked to make the trellis and then they started to draw water from the side of the river banks and water the mounds. They chatted while they worked and was surprised that both Will.I.Am and I could finish the task of clearing the land and making the mounds all within two hours.

Reports from each of the warrior class came back and we pondered on the findings and discovered that the two towns had survived relentless attacks from the orcs and the undead last week. The Orcs were from The Zraz Nobregh and Undead were from The Voiceless Eradicators. The Orcs and Undead would attack Scarthingwell one week and Barkston Ash the next.

They had a Marauder Chief Orc and fielded with 3 Warlock Chief Healers and they were a mix of melee combatants made of Swordman, Pikeman, Spearman and Axeman while the ranged would be Archers and Wizards dealing, Frost, Fire and Lightning. The same goes to the Undead and they were armed with Shields. Their Level varies from 60 to 80 while the Marauder Chief is Level 90 along with the Healers.

I excused myself and closed my eyes, meditated and went to the Realm of Mind where I turn logs into 4 planks each. I had more than 120 logs now and I immediately spotted everything into one a lot and pushed the slider to CRAFT / MATERIALS and pulled the lever.

I had about 480 planks that went straight to the storage bin of my bag and I immediately logged off to get back to the real world. That's much more productive rather than turning one by one to craft all these.

"Sorry, had to clear those logs. We are going to make a 40x40 2 storey hearth where all warriors would be bunked in together regardless of class but a small partition would be made for the Amazonian ladies."

"That's all right silly boy, you need not apologise. It's your duty, we understand that you need to have some shut-eye and go to sleep right?!?"

"Hahahahaha...so where were we...Oh yeah, how to draw these idiots to come to us while we need to take care of those Marauder Chief and his healers which would be at Level 90. We'll wait for the class leaders to come forward and provide us with various battle tactics that we can think of."

"At the meantime, let's make some tables and benches, shall we? We have 80+ people, so each table sits 8 person. Make a dozen tables and 24 benches then. Have anyone marked the hearth for a 40x40 yet?"

"I'll do it, boss...I would be right here where we are sitting down right now and the back faces the garden patch while the front main entrance faces the forested area. Any designs on the hearth yet, Boss?"

It's an open concept for the windows and doorway. There's no need for a door since this territory is being swamped by these insects. Defensive measures, anyone?"

"Please forgive me for the imprudence and interruption, Sirs, Ma'am. We could make Punji traps using these bamboos, underneath and below the surface. It may not be much, but at least it would stop those marauding monsters from coming into town. We could blanket the place intervals with 1 meter deep trenches and places punji sticks in between. When they try to evade one, they might fall deep into the trenches." Will.I.Am suggested as he had left the 2 girls to water the mounds and joined us.

"Here, let me draw a plan, but digging the trenches would take up a lot of time and the effort to blanket them to make it look natural would also be another factor. How about we make portable Punji obstacles instead?"

Will.I.Am showed how a Punji stick looked like and how incredibly sharp it may be. It may pierce unprotected human flesh easily, but for orcs and the undead, it would be questionable. Furthermore, these Punji sticks are fairly easy to make.

=*=

it was already 330pm and everyone had a timeout from gathering resources of mining for stone, flint and iron ores as well as logs, leaves and silkworms. 80 adventurers working for hand in hand being about bountiful results and by 2 hours, I had a considerable amount of 4800 logs that I had turned them into 19,200 planks, pillars, beams, cutout windows and door frames in the Fusion Chamber.

These planks would be the foundation of making the hearth that was marked out by Jean Lethal earlier and after a short break, the 80 adventurers set out to lay the planks 5o make their hearth. Many hands make light work and within 10 minutes, the floor of a 40x40 hearth had been set.

Will.I.Am and 2 new support staff, Alleicea and Aventina had prepared 2 cauldrons of steaming hot freshly brewed strawberry tea and everyone had a drink first before the next phase begin, pillars, beams, 2nd-floor walls with cutout windows, staircase and ground floor cutout windows and door frames to let the draft in.

Work continues and the work had completed before dinner time while our support team members had already prepared gruel with mixed vegetables and bear paw meat with a hard-boiled egg each for everyone. It was a simple meal and was a welcoming one for the first day in camp.