Friday, July 13, 2018, 12:00 PM Norfolk, VA

  I started out the day with checking on the progress for the little bodies for the eight homunculi. Each one was intensely intricate, and I knew that I would need to do a few things, fairly quickly. I knew that I would need to get a box for the “Kiln” that I was going to have them placed in. I just needed to get what the internet referred to as a “Welding Blanket”, and a place called, “Northern Tool and Equipment”. Apparently, they would have what I needed, for fairly cheap. I only needed to get a small one anyway. I would also need to pick up the paints and brushes while the Unseen Crafters worked on finishing up the models and getting them ready for painting.

  After I finished meditating and regaining my spell slots, I let Rex know where I was heading, and rolled up the gate to get the S.H.I.E.L.D. Electric Bike out, and that stray cat was out there. I carefully went back into the storage unit and let Rex know that it was outside, and that I was giving it a can of catfood. Rex nodded, and went back to rest. The cat was slightly more trusting, and it seemed like it was close to being willing for me to touch it to get it treated and checked out. Then I noticed another reason why it was skittish.

  It wasn’t just one cat, it was a mother with kittens. I left out extra food, not for the kittens, because I don’t think that they are at that stage yet, but so that the mother can have more food. I also resolved to get a big enough box and some blankets for them while I was out. In the meantime, I spoke back to Rex, telling him that if I caught him eating one of the kittens, I would not get him any nice fish in the near future, as he’d obviously be full. Rex perked up and asked back in Draconic what if one of them goes missing, and he doesn’t do it. I told him that it was in his best interest for that to NOT happen, and that I would not be too long in any event.

  I got on my bike and started heading to the stores that were supposed to hold what I needed. First, over to Colley Street, to East Coast Bicycles, to buy another trailer. It’s cheaper and quicker to get a bicycle trailer than to enchant something able to hold something big, and that trailer can be enchanted later anyway. With that done, I knew that I could head to pick up everything that I need today. Down Monticello, to East Virginia Beach Blvd, past the Norfolk Shelter, then onto Military Avenue, which would lead me to Northern Tool.

  Along the way there, just after I turned on to Military Avenue, I got a text from Pepper, indicating that there was a bit of an emergency, and that they would have to push the meeting back to tomorrow. I responded back that this would be fine, as I had enough things to do today to fill the day anyway, and that I can just push onward with what I was working on otherwise. Pepper apologized again and firmed up a time of eleven am. I confirmed and said that they should just portal into the tent as I would be starting up the Scrying spell at five after ten, to give them time to get to the tent and get everything ready. With everything confirmed, I texted Pepper that I wished them both a pleasant day, and continued on my way.

  Northern Tool had two of the Thermal welding Blankets that I needed, so I got both of them. Then I headed over to Walmart, to pick up a few essentials, including a cooler, an “Ozark Trails one half gallon double wall… Water Jug”, a few packs of Ice, a couple of cooler blocks, the freshest fish that they had, some more canned cat food (and a helpful salesperson showed me to some kitten food and treatment), a “litter Box” and “Litter”, a cat bed, and most crucially, some caffeinated beverages. I was really starting to enjoy the benefits of caffeine on a daily basis. After Walmart, I started my way back, and hit Lowes to get the various items I would need to make the drying box. A lot of angle steel, bolts, wood, insulation, plastic film, Silver Aluminum Screen patch, some galvanized pipe fittings, four bags of salt, and this thin film called Mylar, that is supposed to be a very good insulating agent.

  With everything placed in the trailer, and strapped down, I made my way back to the storage unit. Before going back into the unit, I cast an Ears of the City to see if there are any hints of nefarious deeds occurring that I would need to interfere with, but came back with nothing. I saw that the mother cat and her kittens were all well and good, and I checked in on Rex. He did not seem happy, and when I asked him, he just shook his head and said that those cats were trying to get themselves killed, and refused to elaborate further. I smiled and pulled the trout out of the cooler, removed the packaging, and tossed it to Rex, who happily caught it.

  I started up a few cantrips after this, mainly Prestidigitation and Animate Tools. The Prestidigitation was there to eliminate as much moisture as I could in the materials as they were put together, and the Animate Tools was to help me maximize my efforts in putting this all together. I started with the base, with the thickest piece of wood, a one-half inch thick sheet of what they called “Sanded Birch plywood”. To that, I used the Stick cantrip to completely adhere the plastic film to the wood. Then I put the four sections of the angle iron, cut to fit precisely, and used the same Cantrip again to stick those in place. I then used bolts to ensure that they would remain firm.

  Fitted into the area created by the angle iron, I filled in with board foam insulation, with the Stick Cantrip again. Then over top of that, I layered the Mylar radiant barrier insulation with another application of “Stick”. Finally, I put the four, 1’ x 1’ ceramic tiles, firmly in place. This set up my base, and I attached the upright sections to this, allowing for the total interior area to be about twenty one and three quarters inches high, twenty two inches wide and deep. Then I attached the top sections of angle iron, and had the basic frame.

  With the frame done, I carefully set up the sides to be able to be quickly and easily reattached, without the use of a spell. I created a series of “plugs” to fit in and go over the frame, with the hollows of the frame having slices of insulation installed after bolts are placed through the holes in the frames and made to match up with holes placed in the edges of the plywood. Once all four of the sides, and the top, were all assembled and installed, I removed the top again, and set about with the final preparations. I took the galvanized pipe fitting, including a floor flange and a section of piping, and put them together.

  Once they were together, I took the aluminum screen patches and placed them on either side of the pipe fitting and used the Stick cantrip to ensure that it is stuck together. I used the four remaining bolts and eight nuts to create a propped up space between the ceramic tile base and the floor flange, to allow for the installation of the fourth part that will have to be enchanted later. With that ready, I removed the pipe section with the integrated screens, and set it off to the side. That meant that two out of the three things I needed to fabricate today for enchantment are ready. My Animated Carpentry tools were working on carving away another ring out of the Darkwood extendable pole that I had when I came here, and it would be done by the time I was ready for that enchantment.

  I took the piping, the box, and the collapsible water container over to the enchanting table. I started off with the Box, hauled up a bag of Salt, and started scribing the runes into it. After barely forty five minutes, it was enchanted, and I set it off to the side to be used by the Unseen Crafters making the bodies for the dedicated wrights. The Box of Automatic Dehydration now had a red sheen to it, and I expected that there was some effect from having Rex in proximity that might have decreased the susceptibility to flame. I spared a look for the ring carving, which was still going on, so I started on the next item, the pipe.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  The pipe was strong enough, so that I didn’t need to worry about enhancing it further. I hauled up the next bag onto the table, even though there was an eighth of the original bag left. I started etching in runes, working on making this have less impact from Rex while I did it. After another forty-five minutes, the pipe was imbued with the magic, but it didn’t register as such. I put it into the box, and said the command word, and I could feel the heat coming off of it.

  I looked over to the ring, and it still wasn’t done yet, so I went to the trickiest one. I was going to be just imbuing the water jug, to cool the contents, because I needed it to hold the blood needed for the dedicated wrights. The problem is, it isn't of sufficient quality. I decided to shortcut the issue, and cast Masterwork Transformation on it. This cost me ten pounds of Salt, and an hour’s time, but it should be worth it just to not have a possibility of it being a failure.

  I started etching in the runes for this aspect of Prestidigitation, cooling. It really is a useful spell. After forty-five minutes, the enchantment was done for this. When the enchantment was done, I could tell that there was a REALLY odd effect, that I didn’t know HOW useful it might ever be. The “Sanguinary Preserver” would glow in the presence of Undead. I don’t know how useful it is, but hey, it can’t hurt, right?

  Finally, the ring was ready. Hauling up the final bag, I went and got the ring from where it was now resting next to the carpentry tools. It was an inch and a quarter in diameter, with an inch hole. There was some artistic flair on the outside, of wind gusts, but I didn’t pay it any mind. I put my final enchanting job up on the table with the last bag of salt. I started the engraving and Rex snuggled up to me.

  I couldn’t shift my attention during the forty-five minutes, so he got to put his unique energy stamp on this item too. Just like the wooden box, this wooden ring was forever after immune to fire damage. Not the worst effect, but certainly not the most intriguing possibility. I set it, the “Zephyr Circlet”, into the drying box, or “Desiccation Vault”, and installed the heated pipe, or Aetherm Conduit” in place as well. After shutting the side up, I could tell that the inside was going to be dry and toasty.

  With that done, and the Unseen Crafters available to continue their work, I took stock of what else I could do with my day. I pulled the trailer inside the unit and the tent, and locked it down. I decided that it would be best to try the Sanguinary Preserver to see if it functions. I opened up a small cut on my hand and let the blood flow. I was thankful for internal quantity lines, as once I got to one pint, I let the wound seal up from my regeneration from my embedded Cracked Pearly White Ioun Stone. It took a while but I figured that this would be the best test. If it can’t stay in good condition long enough to use for the imbuement of the dedicated wrights, it would just take that much longer to make them. I decided to document my results and everything done so far, so I can keep track of this and everything.

  **************

  Friday, July 13, 2018, 9:00 PM Norfolk, VA

  After I got everything written out, I decided that I could probably do some good with the Ambulance crew. It was David’s day today, and once he got back from a call, he seemed fairly happy to see me. He told me that he had been informed that they were going to be getting a specific person to observe me on the ride-alongs, that some kind of deal was being worked out behind the scenes for me to be able to still help people on calls and get the in seat time for the certification. I asked him if he felt slighted by me getting this certification like this. David shook his head with a smile, and declared that I had shown that I was good enough to be a baseline EMT, afterall, it wasn’t like they were jumping me up to Paramedic or anything.

  I asked him the followup if this person was going to be with us this shift, and he shrugged, saying that he only heard it because it was in the briefing that it would be coming soon. I thanked him and asked him how bad the shift had been so far. He shrugged, saying that all they had was a “Code U” and a “BLS transfer”, but that if it was any indication, it being Friday night, it was likely to get busy. I thanked him for his insight and then went about getting ready for whatever the night might bring. After I got everything just right, we sat down and waited.

  And we waited. And we waited. David checked the radio a few times to see if there was anything. Nothing. No calls.

  It lasted that way until close to seven thirty. Just a half hour before I was slated to leave, we got a call for “Significant Lac.” We hit the road and rushed there, with David and I in the back, with him going over with me what the treatment was. When we got there, I was crushed. The wounds looked to be self-inflicted and were fairly deep.

  I looked at David and got the okay to use magic. I used Prestidigitation to clean up both of the forearms, and then used Cure Light Wounds on the girl twice, once for each arm. We wrapped the arms up and got her on the gurney, and strapped her in. While we took her to the hospital, since my magic did not replace the blood that she lost, I hesitated to ask her what she was thinking about doing this, and how often. The woman looked at me and told me that she had lost everyone, everything, and that she had just gotten kicked out of the apartment that her parents had been paying for before everyone disappeared.

  I sighed, knowing that this was an all-too familiar story here in this time period. I asked her the required follow-up questions of what are her current thoughts, if she had a plan, had the intent, have done this before or if they were under any kind of treatment for this. She looked at me with a bit of anger and said that her family was gone, she wasn’t like this before, that she just has nothing and no one, and now she will be even worse off with the medical bills. I nodded along listening to her, noticing the slight flicker of the ambulance lights around her as her emotions got the highest, and told her that I was just trying to get a full understanding of the picture for her specific life. She responded back with comments about” what life”, and what is she going to do now?

  I tried to keep her as calm as I could, even with this, and tried to give her as much power as I could, without actually allowing her to put herself in a dangerous situation again. Once we got to the hospital, a pair of orderlies were there to get the stretcher and bring her in. David debriefed them while I texted Agent Smith about S.H.I.E.L.D. programs for people with powers that need fiscal support. Agent Smith admitted that while S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t have quite the resources that it did, that they were looking to increase their ranks after the Snap. I sent back that he might want to check the ambulance videos for today to see if there is someone who might be a good fit.

  I was just about done with my shift when we got back to dispatch, and apologized to David about having to head out. He shook his head, telling me that it wasn’t a bother, and that I shouldn’t worry about it, that these are the calls that can be expected from time to time, even if they were more likely after everyone disappeared. I nodded and said that I was working on making things better for people, and that he’d hear about it soon, but that I couldn’t tell anyone about it just yet. We said our goodbyes and I headed back to the Storage Unit. With a heavy heart, I teleported to just inside the door, and looked around.

  The mother cat was smugly sitting in the cat bed that I had gotten, and Rex was fully prone on the floor, wings spread out, with all six kittens curled up on his wings in different areas. I suppressed a snicker and Rex just looked up at me. I used Prestidigitation, at a distance, to gently clean and delouse each of the kittens and the mother cat in turn, and did the same thing to their “bed”. I set down more food and water for the cats, and set about getting everything recorded. If I didn’t have a reason to want to make this place better before today, I certainly did now.

  Suicide is not something to take lightly, even attempted suicide, but it is something that people succumb to when the situation is dire enough. If you need help, seek it out. Even if anonymously. There are reasons to live, even if only for Spite.

  Magic Item Allotment:

  All of these items, the Sanguinary Preserver, the Zephyr Circlet, the “Desiccation Vault”, and the Aetherm Conduit” are all basically just enchanted items is a singular aspect of the spell Prestidigitation. Sanguinary Preservers decrease the temperature of the object (and thus the contents) down to 35 degrees Fahrenheit (and alchemically adds some anti-coagulant), the Zephyr Circlet produces a gentle breeze for the air going through it, the Desiccation Vault dries things in a 1’x1’x1’ cube of the interior, shifting every 6 seconds, on a constant rotation, and the Aetherm Conduit heats up itself (and thus air blowing through it) up to 140 degrees F. Really, the price tag for these is so cheap at that point that making four of them in a day was completely rational (reduce it for only good aligned, caster knows the spell, VERY cheap caster level, final reduction for JUST that one aspect of the Prestidigitation spell.