"Living quarters, kitchen and dining hall, storage, and stables. We need to clear those areas first."
After keeping watch for most of the night without finding a thing, Kraft yawned and began assigning tasks.
Camping outdoors had been a miserable experience. The mountain nights weren't nearly as cold as those in the north, but the humidity was high. Every morning, they woke feeling like steamed buns left in the steamer overnight: cold, damp, and stiff.
If possible, they should move in tonight so everyone could get some rest.
According to the building plans, most of the rooms they needed were in the annex south of the central church. Only the stables were on the north side, against the wall. Perhaps the design had concentrated the everyday facilities and kept the animals as far from the people as possible.
"There are plenty of rooms—enough for several times the size of our group. But we'd be better off staying together, and we'll need to set up night watches."
"Assign at least five or six people to guard the stables. Have Kup or Yvonne stay with them."
"For storage, let's use the room closest to the living quarters first. We should take turns checking and recording our supplies every day. The plans show that the reservoir and well are nearby, too. Let's water the packhorses with the well water for a few days before using it ourselves, just to be safe."
"As for the kitchen...we'll see what we need. We haven't brought much food that needs cooking, and we can buy fresh ingredients down the mountain later."
Once they'd settled in, they could gradually turn the remaining spaces into a library, classrooms, offices, tiered laboratories, and the like. But that would take a while.
For now, they would start with the former monks'