Rebuilding Science in a Magic World

Operating the Cryogenics facility actually requires that you have access to stoneshaping magic, since a few of the maintenance and access processes require it.  So, I had to go and talk with Zeb, and ultimately, I took in six stoneshaping goblins who had gained access to the magic within the last two years.  I wanted goblins that were relatively low prestige, in case there are any interesting new abilities that they might gain from working in such a cold environment.

In addition to the six stoneshaping goblins, I'm bringing on 12 additional goblins to work in the facility.  While I was able to work 24 hours a day, that would be impossible for the goblins, so they're being split into three shifts, each having two stoneshaping goblins and four regular goblins.  This way, everything can run around the clock, with very little interference from myself.  Unfortunately, it also means I'm basically losing access to the hydrogen generating fluorite crystal, since they need it for maintenance work on the stirling engines in the facility.

I showed them how to operate all the machines, and gave them various other instructive duties, and made some extra dewar flasks to handle the extra tasks I had for them.  For instance, they'll be pulling off oxygen and nitrogen from the distillation column, then mixing them again and preparing them for transport to the fluorite mine. 

I talked it over with Zeb when I asked for the six stoneshaping goblins, and we'll be borrowing a construction team every so often to go work on fluorite extraction for a day at a time when we have enough cryogenic air to cool the mine down.  Since this cryogenics facility is built at the base of the dam, and the new road and aqueduct are being built above it, it should be easy to get a team's attention when enough fluid is prepared to make the mine bearable, though I do still need to go and dig the basin out in the mine for them to pour the cryogenic fluid into.  I plan on coating the basin with copper plating with heat sink fins, so that the air is what's cooled rather than the underlying rock.

After working with the cryogenics team for a full cycle of everything in the facility taking fifteen days in total, the numbers worked out that we basically need two cycles of the distillation tower before the fluorite mine can be used.  That means about once a month the fluorite mine will be active for about eight hours or so.  Though again, that's still better than wasting the cryogenic liquid, and having to mine fluorite myself all the time, though it'll end up taking more than a year before the time I put in to make the basin actually pays itself back.  If I'm able to craft some large fluorite crystals though, that turn around time might become quicker if I can make a new industrial power source in the form of fluorite heat plates. 

With the help of a set of blacksmithing goblins, I got the basin designed, crafted, then installed in the fluorite mine in seven days time.  Meaning that there is still about eight days until we'll be ready to test it.  I then checked in to make sure that the cryogenics facility was still running well before heading over to the lab to start excavating my new fluorite lab area.

Since I want it to have access to the current underground mana crystal so that Tiberius could use it for testing, I started digging the new stairwell down in that underground lab.  I've started the new stairwell across the mana crystal lab from where the current stairwell enters.  To help with mana isolation, I've installed a sliding door at the top of the stairwell, which is filled with the smallest quartz blocks.

The stairwell isn't nearly deep enough yet though.  In the seven days I worked on the stairwell, I've dug down 30 steps, with each step being a half a foot tall.  For the sake of safety, I want to go another 170 steps down under the mountain.  I could probably work quite a bit faster if I hire some goblins to haul the stone I'm removing, since that was what took most of my time up.

I took three days to oversee the fluorite mine, and make sure everything worked the way I intended.  While there was some initial difficulty because I hadn't considered the hazard that cryogenic fluid pooling on the floor may cause, there wasn't any permanent damage to anyone.  One of the goblins touched the fluid as I poured it out, but withdrew his hand nearly instantly.  It looked like he received some mild frostbite from the encounter.  The incident reminded me that I should probably give safety discussions before, not during the time when they'd be important.

In any case, the cryogenic fluid evaporated fairly quickly, and brought the end of the mine's temperature down to nearly freezing.  Over the course of about six hours it warmed back up to unbearable levels for everyone except myself.  With the help of a whole mining team however, quite a bit was extracted.  The total extracted amount was about twice what I could extract alone in a 24 hour period.

I then returned to the city to hire a handful of goblins to haul stone for me while I excavated the new basement.  There, I noticed a building that didn't look like the others.  I haven't been spending much time in the city in the last few years, but construction has continued at a steady pace.  This building, however, looked like it was made of stone blocks, and had a different architectural design, one I recognized from Kao's island.

It stood two stories tall, shorter than the surrounding apartment buildings, but taking up twice the ground space.  Intrigued, I entered the building.  Inside were tables occupied by a majority of dwarves, but with a few goblins and hobgoblins too, all participating in different kinds of gambling.  Some seemed to be basic dice games, while others were too complicated to determine at a glance.

One thing I've learned over time, and sort of gotten used to, is that demons really aren't that creative naturally.  There are outliers obviously, but all in all, they're all a quite straightforward group.  What demons lack in creativity, they make up in adaptability, however.  They're exceptionally quick to learn tasks when taught, and generally follow orders well without much need for entertainment, though they're still subject to things like greed.

After asking around a bit, it seems that Zeb gave the dwarves that were helping with construction the go ahead to build this place, as long as it didn't interfere with their daily work.  In the evenings, they'd each do a little bit of work, building up this building.  While I was asking around, Shasta walked in and joined one of the tables.  While I was interested in what the building had to offer, I decided not to interrupt her free time to ask about it, instead opting to ask around between different tables.

After a few hours of asking around, and schmoozing by giving out money in exchange for information, I had gotten the gist of the whole facility.  The majority of the first floor were the gambling tables.  All the tables operate on an honor system with no designated dealer and no upper or lower limit on gambling.  The building isn't really a casino, and isn't trying to turn a profit.  There are, however, a few dwarves who work here full time.  They've built stills in the basement, where they've been brewing alcohol.

The top floor functions as a kind of inn, where patrons who get a little too drunk can stay overnight. Initially, the upstairs was a second gambling hall, but Zaka had to have a talk with them after dwarves would stumble through the city drunk in the middle of the night, vomiting on the streets, so they remade the upstairs into a place for the drunkest among them to stay.

Entertainment was something that I'd really neglected developing, but even I didn't feel a need for much of it.  Most of the work I was doing was interesting enough.  Though perhaps that was actually just how demon minds work, needing less entertainment.  Either way, it seems that a few of the goblins and hobgoblins seem to enjoy the facility.  Though from what I gather, it's actually a fairly small minority.  I have a feeling that if I looked into the matter, they're probably gambling addicts, but cost of living is cheap, so I'm not going to worry about it too much.

In fact, I was able to recruit some laborers who seemed more than eager to earn some spare cash by hauling stone for me, furthering my suspicions about their addictions.