Camp Shababadahs

Camp Shababadahs was a summer camp in the mountains above Long Lake. Founded in N.D. 480, the camp operated for a surprising 32 years before being forced to close under mounting lawsuits. During the camp's tenure some 26 children were eaten by dragons.

History

The camp began as the brainchild of four 22 year old lifeguards working at the public pools of New Arindell. For legal reasons their names will not be mentioned here. The young men were all friends since childhood and attended various summer camps around Long Lake all through their youths. The idea began at the close-of-summer bash at one such camp where all four worked. As lifeguards(a typically highly-paid position for a 19 or 20 year old) they were beginning to feel like they would never make "adult money" doing what they loved, and that they needed to come up with a plan to earn a good living. After much discussing(and quite a lot of drinking) they reached the conclusion that they should open and run their own summer camp.

After all, it couldn't be so hard. Hundreds of them operated all over the region, and between them these young men had decades of experience as junior councilors, councilors, and now a few years as full-fledged professional lifeguards. They truly thought with a lot of work and little ingenuity, this could be their path to riches.

Financial Backing

The foursome found financing through contacts at a high-end fitness club where he worked the rest of the year. They put together an elaborate presentation based off of rough numbers and guessed they would need 100,000 wingbeats to get off the ground. The financiers were in turn looking to dump some cash on a failed business venture for tax purposes, and agreed to fund the group to the tune of 60,000. The rest would be made up from the founder's life savings and small loans from various family members. Initially the group Safewater Investments formed as a financial entity, but was then immediately disolved so that the backers could claim the lose on their taxes.

The four founders now had a small fortune on their hands and no oversight.

Site Selection

The founders envisioned a water recreation and sports camp, with an emphasis on swimming. A lake was a neccessity to this. They first explored buying one of several existing summer camps, but found none in their price range. The foursome then turned to a very shady real estate broker(who's name will also be excluded for legal reasons) who claimed to specialize in finding properties nobody else wants.

The agent in turn found them a lake sitting in the middle of 3,000 acres of pristine woodland available for just 16 wingbeats an acre. The founding four jumped at the chance, unaware the land was for sale so cheap because it was basically useless. Dragons forbid logging within the entire High Mountain range, and the land was unsuitable for running cattle owing to its proximity to the dragon fence. Hunting so close to the fence was also illegal, and the remoteness of the parcel made it unsuitable for camping when much better public lands could found closer to the railroad spurs.

The lake had previously been targeted for development of a remote mountain resort, which necessitated the building of a high-quality paved road as well as utilities such as power and sewage. But the resort never materialized and the land went into default. After depreciating for several years, it went up for sale at the very low asking price. The founders bought it, and camp Shababadahs formed.

It was doomed from the start.

Initial Design and Layout

Shababadahs was constructed on the windward side of the lake at the terminus of the road. This was also the same side of the lake as the Dragon Fence, which sat about 1,000 yards from the mess hall. The founders spent most of their remaining capitol building what they saw as "the heart of the camp", a state of the art timber dining all and industrial kitchen. Above the dining hall they had an elaborate apartment for themselves along with offices. Because of this proximity to the road and utilities, the dining hall had all the modern conveniences including power and plumping. The heart of the camp itself covered the entire area between the lake edge and the Dragon Fence, making the fence plainly visible from most of the camp.

The founders planned to house 200 campers in 20 bunk houses built around a large green space near the dining hall. When their contractors informed them they only had enough money left to build 5 bunk houses(at a steep discount, no less), the founders fired the contractors and spent the remaining capitol on materials, keen to build the bunk houses themselves. Since all four were talented woodworkers with some contruction experience, this went well.

They still ended up having to salvage a lot of materials from other places to get the job done, which gave each original cabin a very unique look. Despite the ramshackle appearance, each cabin was fitted with small conveniences not found at most camps, including an indoor flush toilet and psink. Certain other conveniences, such as window screens to keep out insects, were missing in the first year. Being short on funds, the founders had to buy TDFN-surplus cots for sleeing surfaces, along with a lot of other military detritus, which ended up working out in their favor given the kind of patrons they would come to attract.

The last major building was a combination shower and toilet block, built next door to the dining hall, which proved woefully too small to support 200 mixed-gender campers. To pay for this they had to take out several short-term personal loans from High Mountain Bank and Trust and max out several credit cards.

At this point, the founders found themselves in late spring, deeply in debt, with a half-finished camp. They had to open that year or face total financial ruin.

Advertising

The founders began taking out ads in free newspapers around New Arindell, and further drummed up business by papering the city with fliers. This was very non-standard for summer camps of the time and involved a lot of legwork by the founders, who were by then crashing on friend's couches to get by. Since they didn't have any pictures of the camp and no real experience, their advertising played heavily into low rates and low hassles, promising parents they could "dump your children and not worry about them all summer!"

They mostly targeted middle-class neighborhoods, but the promised low rates(about 20% under the standard prices for low-to-mid-tier camps) attracted a lot of lower-income customers. From the middle-classes, this brought in parents with delinquent children they wanted to be rid of for a few weeks and whom had been kicked out of other camps.

Initial Opening

The day before the initial opening, the founders had not yet secured a food supplier, and ended up spending their entire initial take at a small rural grocery store some three hours drive from the camp. They scrounged thrift stores and allegedly even stole sporting equipment from local schools so they would at least have something when the kids arrived.

The camp had promised a wide array of traditional camp activities such as swimming, boating, archery, crafts, and sports. Generic by the standards of the time, and something they were woefully under-equipped to provide. The camp opened with little more than a pile of old sports equipment, not a single boat, and no sporting fields to speak of. Nor did they have any sort of planned program or even a designated swimming area. The camp still looked like a construction site with tools and debris spread everywhere. About the only thing they did have was a well-designated swimming area with piers and lifeguard chairs.

Despite all of this, the first round of campers reportedly had an absolute blast. They were effectively set loose with little structure beyond assigned cabins and set meal times. The camp had just 40 adult staffers for 200 children aged 9-15. Activities during the first week included such fun pastimes as digging trenches and building makeshift rafts. Children as young as 10 were reportedly given axes and allowed to fell trees.

Things got better as the summer went on. Most of the staffers were pretty inventive and the children were allowed to organize their own games. Sports fields did get set up, even an archery range(though this worked in tandem with the craft center where one of the crafts was "make your own bow and arrow out of whatever you can find in the woods!").

By the end of summer, the founders had made just enough money to pay off their short-term debts. They now owned Shababadahs free and clear, though had nothing left over to live off of or make improvements during the next 9 months.

Accidents and Incidents

Despite wildly unsafe behavior, the first summer of operation saw no major injuries. This was good, since the camp neglected to hire a mage healer, nurse, or even make sure they had a fully-stocked first aide kit when the season began. All four founders had exhaustive first-aid training and were qualifies to treat the constant stream of bumps and bruises. By some estimates 70% of the campers suffered a bleeding injury, and it was said every single male camper went home with a scar.

Blackened Summer

The first season would become ensconced in camp lore as "Blackened Summer" owing to issues with the food. The camp hired a single cook to handle the kitchens, planning to make up the labor shortages by assigning misbehaving children to work the kitchens. However the lax rules enforcement that would come to define the camp began on day one, and the single cook was left to layout snacks and prepare 720 meals each day. The cook quite after 2 weeks. The camp directors, unable to find anyone else on such short noticed, ordered the staffers to create a "rotation" for working the kitchen, and empowered them to draft junior councilors to assist. Kitchen Patrol was metted out at random for even the slightest infraction. Ironically, bad behavior was going on all over the place, but the assigned staffers typically only remembered they needed help minutes before a meal rotation.

Of the 39 remaining staffers that first season, 4 were the camp directors, and 8 others were lifeguards. The directors exempted themselves and their cronies from the kitchen rotation. The remaining staffers in the rotation treated running the mess hall as secondary to their duties(which were already treated as tertiary to hanging out), and as such food quality suffered accordingly. Most of the time the counselor in charge would draft a junior councilor, delegate the work to him, and then assign 4 or 5 children to "KP" to act as assistants.

The season became known as "Blackened Summer" owing to the amount of charred and inedible food produced. No one ever went hungry, but the quality of the food that year was regarded as bad even by summercamp standards. During the second season, the directors grudgingly hired three full-time staffers just to run the kitchen, but continued the trend of assigning KP to campers for rules violations. One of the newly-hired staffers had recently completed a six-year stint as a cook in the Trans-Draconic Federation Navy, and successfully ran the kitchen with military-precision. "Cook's Assistant Loganoff" as he demanded to be called(he never completed navy culinary school) was among the very few long-term employees.

Public Response

Despite all of that, the general response to the camp was very positive. The camp directors and councilors were very good at spin, and most of the injured campers came home with the mentality that scars make for cool stories. The camp gained a reputation throughout Arindell's school system as a tough place where you could show your metal. Youth summer camps were all the rage in the latter half of the 4th century; as New Arindell grew, parents were desperate for places to send their children where they could get back to nature.

Second Year and Continued Operations

Over the 9 months between the first summer and the second year, the founders lived at the site in shifts, some working as lifeguards back in Arindell and sending money to the others. They continued the trend of scavenging construction supplies wherever they could and supplemented their food supply by fishing and illegal hunting. They used the time to build more amenities for the camp, such as a craft hall and a better archery range. With summer fast approaching the obtained more loans and bought a flotilla of used boats, primarily aluminum canoes and small sailing catamarans.

The second year saw the first two-week session sell out in the first afternoon, filled entirely with campers who'd attended the previous season. This sort of repeat business would become a cornerstone of Shababadahs' business model. To commemorate the occasion, these 200 children were each given a special patch with the word "Lifer" stitched on it. This would become a sought-after title given to any kid who came back two years in a row, and in practice a lot of children kept coming back as long as they were able.

The second year proved a financial success with a real profit. The founders made enough to live off of and put serious money back into the camp. A surprising amount of this was spent on concrete and paving stones, so they could build improved paths all through the camp.

A big part of the success came because they continued to compete heavily on price, have a lower cost than most camps while appearing to offer almost as many activities. Other factors were encouraging as well, as many campers liked the lax approach to enforcing rules. A counselor was eaten during the second season, but as he was an adult and had signed a liability waver, the program continued unaffected.

In the third year, the owners decided they could improve returns by adding capacity. The camp had opened as a short-duration camp, running "programs" of 1-2 weeks. But several parents approached them between the second and third season asking for whole-season programs. Most camps at the time did one or the other, but Camp Shababadahs resolved to do both. The camp founders sold all 200 full-season slots as well as another 200 short-duration stays. The cheapest solution was to buy wood-frame canvas tents and erect them in small campsites, using portable toilets to cater to those needs and the existing shower house for other sanitation.

In the third season, 16 children caught dysentery and 2 were eaten by dragons. Despite doubling in capacity, they had not added any paid employees; instead older teenagers were promoted to the rank of "Junior Councilor" and put in charge with little oversight.

In preparation for the fourth season, additional permanent sanitation facilities were added. These consisted of flush toilets and cold showers placed in block-houses where the tent camps sat. In addition, permanent cabins without any amenities (essentially wooden shacks) were built at some of these sites.

General Operation

Despite the events of the third season, the 4th opened with full bookings, and the owners were obliged to further expand capacity. Several problems were already mounting. That season, another child was eaten (this was also the season the secret "dragon baiters" society was established). Further, it was a co-ed camp with little division other than designated "boys cabins" and "girls cabins" with no bunk assignments, bed checks, or even sparating the cabins into zones. The oldest and best cabins were in two rows lining the greenway and were simply arranged by boy-girl-boy-girl. They did have designated shower times, but due to lax enforcement it was quite common to organize "shower gangs" who would take over the block and deny entry at given times. Peeping was a common issue ignored by the staff and often dealt with via vigilante tactics.

Injuries, be it from accidents, negligence, or violence, became a way of life at Camp Shababadahs. Though not explicitly addressed in the marketing, this played heavily into the camp's reputation as a tough place from strong kids, and it continued to attract the sort of rowdy teenagers who got kicked out of other camps. There were few structured activities and probably the most popular was "play unsupervised in the woods". The 4th season saw the first lawsuit, though not from the family of the child who was eaten. The owners settled quietly out of court.

In the years that followed, the camp grew to a daily capacity of around 600, while still having only about 60 paid employees. The number of adult councilors remained the same; the only added positions were additional lifeguards and kitchen staff. When the trial came decades later, the directors were quick to point out they never had a single drowning and very few water-related injuries.

In the later summers, Camp Shababadahs did add a mage healer to the roster, though this was typically an apprentice not yet certified by the guild who was grossly under-paid for his services.

Camp Store

Like all summer camps, Camp Shababadahs operated a camp store. Initially the store operated out of tent, but later seasons saw a permanent structure erected with a refrigerator and microwave. The store was run by a single staffer with complete autonomy. The only directives from the camp directors were "make back your budget, and make sure there's enough cheap candy, soda, and chips." The store carried other sundries, and skimming profits were considered to be expected. The camp store runner and the junior counselors who helped out generally became quite corrupt.

Death Tole

In 32 summers of operation, 26 children and teenagers and four staffers were eaten by dragons. A few mage healers who worked at the camp reported that serious injuries were rare(though they did happen), but cuts, scrapes, and bruises were pretty much constant. One healer complained about having to teach himself suturing techniques because the children would rather have stitches than magic since magic didn't leave scars. Another healer claimed that "protruding broken bones and skull fractures" were an every-day occurrence, injuries which should have been followed up on by mundane doctors but weren't. The veracity of these latter claims is unconfirmed, though broken clavicals were apparently "par for the course".

All of this came alongside an alarmingly high repeat-customer rate, with many people known to have spent 10 summers in a row at Camp Shababadahs. The return rate was over 50%; the kids who went there liked the freedom and the danger.

At the N.D. 512 session, a record 4 children were eaten at once. This happened in full view of many witnesses and left more than a few traumatized. Still, it managed to happen in the last week of camp, and no early closure was done. An investigation began, however given the general attitude towards dragon-devourings (which happened with considerable frequency in New Arindell), the camp was allowed to open again for the N.D. 513 season. This would prove to be the final held.

Closure and Lawsuits

At the conclusion of the N.D. 513 session, the authorities in Arindell ordered the camp closed. Since it was already shuttered for the year, the owners didn't give it much thought until they were informed their operating licenses had been revoked and all four of them were under criminal indictment. In a public statement, the central authorities in Arindell revealed the existence of a secret society that had persisted for years, possibly decades in the camp, in which children deliberately crossed the dragon fence.

The Dragon Baiters, as they were called, were believed to be responsible for all but the earliest deaths. They were organized and well-run, with many strange cult-like practices and pseudo-religious undertones. Hundreds of former campers and councilors were interviewed, many of whom openly admitted to being members and claimed it was just "Good, clean camp fun" (of which their secret rituals most definitely were not). Thousand of lawsuits were organized into a class-action, mostly for campers and councilors who were still under-age.

It was well-established that many junior-councilors had knowledge of the secret society and helped perpetuate it. Since most of the paid councilors were hired from the ranks of junior councilors, there was no question that the camp administration was aware of the group. Ultimately the case never went to trial. All four co-owners of the camp plead guilty to willful negligence and received life sentences. Most of the camp's assets were stripped to pay for their legal bills, and the property itself went into receivership. The lawsuit required the property to be sold for a substantial sum, well above market value, in order to pay the settlements, and many called for HMBT to make the buyout themselves in order to compensate the families.

High Mountain refused, on the grounds that to do so would be the same as admitting that eating humans who crossed the dragon fence was a crime, and this was a legal precedent they were unwilling to set. The TDF stood by this decision, however allowed special dispensation for the property to retain its value while a buyer was found.

Settlement and Sale

Unfortunately, there was not much use for the property. The settlement from the lawsuits came down some on appeals, with the courts deciding to narrow the plaintiff list considerably. Originally, the class-action had been open to anyone who had ever attended the camp, regardless of whether or not they had participated in dragon-bating. This included over 16,000 potential claimants, each seeking multi-million-wingbeat settlements when the only asset was a piece of property worth only a few million wingbeats if it weren't so unfortunately located.

So the list was first slashed to only include claimants who had been minors in N.D. 513 and further to those who could demonstrate they had been pressured into the dragon-baiting. Additional dispensation was added for those who had not participated but had witnessed the attacks in 512, and to any who could show they had endured some hardship as a direct result of attending the camp. The damages were then capped at 50,000 wingbeats a head, with the 26 wrongful death lawsuits having been separated out to be weighed against the personal estates of the camp owners.

This still left the property in a state of limbo. The structures on the site had only one possible use: as a summer camp; a function for which it had demonstrated itself most unsuitable. As undeveloped land, it was valued at just 1.6 million wingbeats(much less in practice given the remote location and lack of commercial uses), nowhere near enough to pay for all the claims against it. Any potential buyer would have to pay tens of millions, and it was thought no one would want it at that price.

Then, in N.D. 517,Naomi Jusenkyou came forward with a request to buy the property. She named over 100 individuals who were to be removed from the lawsuit, and offered only 25,000 wingbeats ahead to the others. Her demands further included she be allowed to buy several neighboring properties (some not for sale) at slightly above market value. She then finally added she not need approval to make changes or upgrades to the land.

Being one quarter dragon herself and having standing within High Mountain Flight, the dragons offered no objections (indeed Naomi's funds were actually those of High Mountain, which she had received and managed as a member), which left it up to the Alliance government to make the approvals. Seeing as the land was useless and "practically belonged to the dragons already" they let the sale go ahead, arguing it was the very best offer they could possibly hope to get (Naomi paid about 30 times the market value of the land).

Many argued that Naomi's purchase of the property was a way for the dragons to 'save face'. Letting them provide a payout without themselves admitting any wrongdoing. Naomi for her part denied this, claiming she merely wanted a secluded mountain retreat.

Final Layout and Organization

By the time of its closure, the camp had 45 permanent cabins of which 40 had electricity and sinks and 25 included indoor toilets. Each cabin housed 10 to 20 campers. An additional 80 concrete platforms house semi-permanent wood-frame tents for 2 campers each. The camp had 8 permanent toilet blocks and 6 shower buildings, of which only one ever had hot water. Additional buildings include the large kitchen/dining hall with offices and apartments above, a nurses station with a small apartment, and "The Flop" to house the paid camp staff.

The Flop consisted of a large, multi-room building a few hundred yards into the woods behind the dining hall. This included two sizable bunk rooms, twelve individual bedrooms, a common room for recreation, private bathing and toilet facilities, and a separate kitchen for staffers to cook personal meals. In stark contrast to the generally lax rules enforcements, The Flop had a high fence around it and a very strictly enforced "no campers may enter" policy. Later additions to The Flop included a big screen TV and above ground hot tub, added without the knowledge of the camp directors.

Adjacent to the mess hall lay the camp workshop and boat house. Other unimproved buildings included craft halls and various storage sheds for camp equipment. One building known as "Central Crafting" gained some infamy for a series of unfounded rumors surrounding it. Unlike the other craft halls, which were glorified sheds with maybe electricity, Central Crafting included hot and cold running water and a secret toilet and shower(the only place outside the main shower block were a camper could enjoy such luxuries). It also had a second story built originally as a storage loft, but later augmented with a sort of tower attachment with windows. It was the tallest building in camp and located on a small hill, providing commanding views of the lake. Central Crafting included the woodshop campers were allowed to use for small projects such as birdhouses and improvised weapons. While the safety record of this shop was not great, serious injuries were rare. Most of the kids old enough to be admitted to the woodshop had ben coming to the camp for at least a few years and thus knew the unofficial camp motto: "Pain Hurts". Stories were spread every single year about brutal, grievous injuries that happened in Central Crafting, and the building was purported to be haunted. The building was falsely rumored to have a basement, but did include many small and not well-known rooms.

By the time of its closing, the camp catered to a daily population of 600 campers, of which 3-400 were usually full-season.

Beside the main avenue was an outdoor pavilion with a large cement slab and cement tables. This included a big outdoor barbecue pit. A bit further up the slope lay the fire pit with an enormous log amphitheater that included a an outdoor stage. Above this were more cabins. The far end of the main grass area was where the dragon fence lay and the camp ended.

The combination archery and gun range was up near the fence. No backstock was constructed, but berms were added on either side. The logic being that "since the back of the range is the dragon fence, no one will ever be behind it". Owing to the camp's own wood mill, construction of spaces like the archery range could get quite elaborate. The shooting area included a cement and tile floor, built-in tables, and a very large covered area. A second shooting deck was later added above the first, which doubled as a driving range for hitting golf balls. The stairs were housed inside an attached building which doubled as storage for all the equipment. Again in stark contrast to the chaotic nature of the camp, gun safety saw strict enforcement to the point where no minor injuries were ever reported from the range. Gun safety was provided partially by a limited arsenal that included only .22 long rifles, shotguns equipped only with birdshot, and black powder riffles. Coupled with the camp directors exclusively seeking out the most anal-retentive range-masters available(rangmaster also being one of the very few jobs which paid a decent wage). Quite a few mishaps occurred with the archery(owing to kids being encouraged to make their own), and more than a few beatings with gold clubs.

Near the range lay the arts and crafts buildings. A permanent toilet building was later added for convenience.

Camp Activities

While most summer camps either operated around a theme or otherwise tried to offer something special, Camp Shababadahs was known for two things: having a low price and offering the most generic activities schedules ever seen. The camp advertised itself as a water recreation and sports camp, though the brochures didn't describe anything beyond the very basics and had no set program. The brochures also prominently featured pictures of children horseback riding, but the camp never had any animals besides a small population of feral cats.

In practice, the camp did offer a lot more activities than what was advertised. The generis "crafts" actually included fairly sophisticated wood and metal working, including full-on boat-building. By the tenth season all boats but the aluminum canoe were camper-built. The camp had no real organization for activities, with each structured thing operating as a "station". When one station got too crowded, campers were turned away.

The sports had no counselor oversight at all. The camp had three sporting fields primarily used for soccer and put under the command of "junior councilors". This led to a lot of interesting camper-created games and activities.

The only well-structured(and supervised) activities took place on the lake. However, the lake was much too small for motor craft and not really well-suited to sailing. They did have a few small sailing catamarans and a motorized fishing barge. Canoes and rowboats could be signed out, with fishing as another major draw(being isolated as it was, the seasonal camp had the only access to the lake, so the fishery was very healthy). In fact the "fishing club" which was fairly informal, was advertised in the brochure. Kids were encouraged to come, fish, and learn to cook and eat their catch at the outdoor barbecue grill.

As befitting the setting, nature hikes, nature walks, and as many possible things with the word "nature" on the front existed. These were mostly done informally, with camp councilors mapping out the paths, then letting junior counselors guide the campers.

Every two weeks, the camp organized an elaborate three-day soccer tournament to celebrate the end of a short-stay season. Campers were not required to participate and were instead allowed to form their own teams and enter. In later years this tournament took place on the camp's singular regulation soccer pitch surrounded by a running track. Some junior councilors organized additional tournaments and competitions in all kinds of games, some traditional and others made up by the camp.

Whole-season campers could also enter into an organized soccer league which tracked performance by individual players and not teams. This came about because players changed teams throughout the season as loyalties shifted. The league could become quite contentious, and more than one dragon devouring is believed to have been orchestrated to eliminate a problem-player.

Despite all of these attempts, the camp made no effort to ensure less athletic campers had the chance to participate, so only a small subset of attendees got to enjoy the full gambit of sporting activities. Such uninspired campers were often left to their own devices, however the camp offered plenty for these children as well.

Swimming

Being founded by lifeguards, swimming took front and center. Every child was required to complete a swim test and memorize a series of water rules. Those that could not swim were taught. The camp directors spent painstaking years establishing the main swim area on the lake out in front of the mess hall, clearing it of sharp rocks and submerged logs. Two other swimming beaches were added nearby. Lifeguards were on duty during all daylight hours and the lake was even watched at night to prevent unauthorized swims. The three designated swim areas included piers, dive boards, and slides. Campers were encouraged to bring and share floating toys.

The directors personally organized swimming events on every level and handed our awards. Several world-class swimmers are known to have attended the camp, with one even outright stating the camp taught him to swim and gave him his love for the sport.

Camp Culture

Shababadahs developed a few unique cultural trends, largely invented by the generational councilors.

During the first season, the camp needed to provide parkas and jackets to all children(a licensing requirement). Being unable to afford branded merchandise that first year, the owners went and bought military surplus from the TDFN. These were military-grade and came in forest camouflage. Later seasons saw the parkas replaces by camp-colored one, but the campers liked the jackets so much the directors kept going with it.

Returning campers then sewed their "lifer" patches to the jackets and began customizing them at the arts and crafts stations. The camp councilors encouraged this, and by the fourth year many campers wore unique and fabulously decorated coats. This gave rise to a pseudo-militaristic style to the camp(that was not advertised in brochures).

This led to campers referring to anything that happened outside of camp as "civilian life" and adopting informal "ranks" based on the number of years they had attended.

Another minor one was the abbreviation of the camp name to "Shaba", a privilege reserved strictly for campers. Visiting parents and even sometimes councilors were strictly discouraged from using it. Outside of camp, campers recognized one another by the use of the abbreviation.

Supervision and Safety

None.

Or at least very little. The four co-owners of the camp had all met while working as life guards, and water safety was about the only thing they understood. Every single employee was required to know how to swim and to take a basic live-saving class. The staff of 60 included at least 20 fully-trained and registered lifeguards. Every camper was required to take a swim-test on the day they arrived. Any who failed or reported being unable to swim were given lessons. In fact one of the enduring legacies of the facility was it's dedication to ensuring every single camper could tread water.

Unfortunately, that same dedication did not extend to most other activities. Since archery was a popular sport in Arindell, they usually had a professional archery instructor to run the range and give lessons. Otherwise most activities were run by junior councilors (paying attendees in their late teens) and only marginally supervised by councilors. For a camp that catered to many hundreds of kids, they had just 28 councilors.

Safety was primarily achieved through preventative measures. The guns, for example, were kept in a secured cabinet and only the rangemaster had a key. The woodshop, similarly, was always supervised by the same adult who had the only key. While the camp's over-all safety record was quite bad, most injuries came from simple accidents or rough play, not from the miss-use of equipment.

Age range of the employees contributed to the over-all poor safety record of the camp. The owners of the camp opened it in their mid-twenties and refused to hire anyone older than themselves. Since they owned it free and clear, they had no one to answer to. As the summers passed and the owners got better at managing it, they discovered they could save money by continuing to hire exclusively 18-22-year-olds for all but the most vital camp functions.

A small town in the Long Lake region then made this problem even worse by passing a law allowing 16 year olds(with proper work permits) to work at "over night establishments". This law was intended to allow teenagers to work overnight shifts at restaurants and hotels during he busy tourist season, with the assumption they would go home to their parents afterwards. Due to the poor way in which the law was worded, Camp Shababadahs was able to rent a P.O. box in the town which allowed them to hire fully-fledged councilors as young as 16, the same age as many of the campers.

Discipline was a massive issue. The camp had rules and punishments, but these were very seldom enforced. Most infractions were punished by a verbal reprimand from a junior councilor and never reported to the staff. Only misbehavior at the archery range, wood shop, or waterfront ever saw formal reprimands(usually with meal-cleanup as punishment) and even then were not recorded.

Drug and Alcohol Usage

This was actually the one other area in which the camp did well. All four directors were tea-tootlers and only a small number of their employees were of legal age to drink. As such the camp had a very strict(and very well-enforced) zero-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol(though this was largely for insurance reasons). Any camper caught with an illicit substance would be immediately ejected from the camp(in point of fact this was the only way to get kicked out). Since most of the kids came from Arindell's middle-class suburbs this wasn't often an issue. The councilors got the brunt of it, with even the few 21 and over counselors being made to sign legally-binding summer-long abstinence contracts. The very few paid employees were hand-picked by the owners and directors, typically from a pool of former campers whom they'd known for years. This allowed them to pick and choose employees who would follow the rules.

At various times, campers and some junior councilors would try to sneak things in, usually to be caught during initial bag checks. During one summer, a particularly inventive group of campers were caught selling moonshine from a crudely-built still.

Allegations of Sexual Abuse

Camp Shababadahs' closing happened around the same time as a high-profile sex scandal at another camp, which prompted journalists to look into Shababadahs in this regard. Given the chaotic nature of the camp it seemed obvious the place should be rife with abuse, but very little was found.

One former counselor who attended camp from the age of 8 and then worked 5 years as a councilor, summed it up best. He said "It did happen, but not like at that other camp. The directors never hired anyone with short eyes. There was a ton of sexual activity, but consensual stuff. I mean, you've got a ton of hormone-addled teenagers and no one to look out for them. Shit happens. I went with girls when I was there, no one ever got hurt. For assaults... yeah, we got a ton of low-grade stuff. I saw girls get their asses grabbed every day, and cabin-peeping was the norm. I think the staff all sort of felt like, you know, if you came to this camp you did it because you were tough enough to handle that. All the women councilors I worked with were straight-up cast-iron bitches, in the best way possible. I'm not saying it was right, just that I don't think anyone ever got it bad."

Other former campers and councilors shared similar sentiments, indicating considerable risky behavior but little non-consensual activity.

The Dragon Baiters

Crossing the dragon fence became a popular camp dare the first year the facility was open. The first iteration of The Dragon Baiters probably formed around the fourth year, N.D. 484. The dangers of the dragon fence were well understood in New Arindell, but not as well-known in the Agras regions and Long Lake where many campers hailed from. Further, most of campers from Arindell lived in the city center, so while dragons overhead were a familiar site, the fence itself was a myth.

Most of Camp Shababadahs, however, was situated within sight of the fence. The combination archery, rifle, and driving range even used the fence in place of a backstop. Most of the camper cabins and tents were built out in the thick woods, with plenty of cover and little adult supervision, making trips up to the fence very simple. To make things even more problematic, the fence itself did not pose much of a barrier, being only about 4 feet high and made up of spun metal wires with large gaps easy to fit through.

Levels

The Dragon Baiters(or Society of Dragon Baiters, or Order of Dragon Baiters) had four ranks of membership based on dragon-types, and achieved by completion of initiation challenges. Each successful level would see the brave baiter taken to one of four secrete initiation sites to be shown the deeper mysteries of the society. Over the years they adopted many cult-like and pseudo-religious practices that would not be made public until the trial.

• Black-Earth Baiter - a camper achieved the status of 'Black-Earth Baiter' by crossing the fence. The black-earth type was chosen because the campers thought they were 'ugly' and thus made them the lowest rank(a detail which the dragons were later offended by). To make black-earth baiter, a camper had to take a red-fire or above baiter to the fence, ask them to throw something over it, then cross and retrieve it. This was traditionally done at night when it was thought to be "safer"(in fact all the known deaths occurred at night). If the baiter was a friend or otherwise had a reason to like you, they might not throw the item very far. Usually selecting a treasured personal item was preferable, as it would provide greater impetus to cross the line.

• Red-Fire Baiter - to achieve the rank of Red-Fire Baiter, a camper had to cross the fire break on the far side of the fence(again usually at night) and make a mark on one of the trees. The following day, they had to show the mark to another baiter, who had to be able to see it with the naked eye from inside the fence.

• Blue-Air Baiter - becoming a blue-air baiter was much more difficult. First, it required the permission of another blue-air or white-water baiter to even attempt. It then had to be completed in daylight and along the section of fence that bordered the main camp. The actual challenge was simple: run across the fire break, tag a tree, run back, while in view of at least 3 baiters. This specific rite was doubly-difficult as crossing the fence was grounds for immediate expulsion from the camp. In later years, to combat the baiting, the staff made being caught within 10 feet of the fence an expellable offence, but in practice no one was ever caught as supervision was always quite poor.

• White-Water Baiter - to achieve the rank of white-water baiter, the most difficult and dangerous of all, the baiter had to cross the fence and place a marker in one of the trees on the far side(usually a flag or ribbon of some kind). This marker also had to be judged "further from the fence than any other visible marker" by a quorum of at least six blue-air baiters and confirmed by another white-water. The challenge could be done at night, though preparations were usually important. To prevent cheating, the marker usually had to be selected ahead of time, shown to the others, and then the location scouted to confirm the baiter was not taking credit for an old marker. By the later years of the camp, hundreds of markers were plainly visible from the main camp compound. For reasons known only to the baiters, under garments were a preferred marker, bras in particular. Though exact numbers are not known, from the visible markers it seems apparent girls outnumber boys two-to-one in the White Water rank.

Initiation Rites

In a boulder field about a mile outside camp(but inside the fence), the baiters constructed a ring ditch and henge which was used for first-level ceremonial initiations. It was one of four ritual sites used by the group, and the one they had put the most effort into. The location was known to the camp councilors as early as N.D. 490, but not it's purpose. It was even used a few times by the legitimate honor-societies sponsored by the camp directors.

At least once per 2-week camp session the baiters would sneak out and meet at the henge around midnight. There they would build a fire and initiate the newest baiters(those who had completed the "black" challenge) by carrying out a ritual dance. All campers were issued matching rain parkas as part of their kit, so the dance involved everyone wearing their Camp Shababadahs parka and dancing in a circle. At the conclusion of the dance the parkas were removed and everyone would give their "dragon roar". A common prank was to tell new baiters they needed to be naked or only wearing underwear beneath the parka.

The second initiation site was at a secret swimming beach two miles from the camp. Where the same boulder field intersected with the lake shore, a stream flowed into the lake and deposited sand over a large flat area about six feet deep. This beach was known to the camp directors and used for sanctioned "Swim expeditions" during daylight hours, but otherwise off-limits. All the campers knew about it and sneaking out for night swims was pretty common. The Baiters took it a step forward, requiring all members to come and skinny-dip, with new initiates having to jump from a specific rock in full view of the others. In the boulder field beside the swim area, the Baiters carved hundreds of petroglyphs depicting secret rites and various events from their mythology. Most of these were known to other campers and some staff, but since the meanings were a cult secret they were written off as petty vandalism.

Very few baiters reached the third level, and the location of the third initiation site was one of the deeply-guarded secrets. During the trial one of the former baiters led authorities to it. The site was well hidden but had been stumbled upon a few times, and initially had no obvious significance. It was past the boulder field a few miles outside camp, accessible by a narrow slot-canyon and reached only by a reasonably dangerous climb down a 14 foot cliff-face. On the stone wall, baiters were to create a unique symbol of their own and draw or etch it on the wall beside the symbols from the other baiters. In the area in front of the cliff, they were then made to dig a shallow hole(representing a grave) and lay in it while the other third-levels made dragon noises around them. Once complete, they then had to build a cairn over the hole, representing the empty grave that would be made for them if they were eaten while attempting to reach the fourth level. Much like the petroglyphs by the swimming hole, camp staff knew vaguely of this location but again believed it to be just another play area.

The final site was found only when a former, now adult baiter was forced to lead authorities there as part of a plea agreement. The site, just a few thousand feet from the camp's mess hall, consisted of a small cave called 'the dungeon'. The opening was covered by a metal grate with a lock, and when not obscured by leaves, campers were told that bats and snakes lived inside. In reality, the hole went about a dozen feet and opened into a small, dry chamber. It was in this where the final secret initiations were kept, along with books and other documents concerning the whole history of the society. Most notably, it contained extensive records of all the suspected deaths by dragon, essentially a signed confession for the order.

Camp Director Awareness and Lack of Response

The camp directors initially claimed to have no knowledge of the Dragon Baiter's existence, then changed the story to having only found out about it in the last two years of camp operation. In fact, several current and former councilors were known members of the secret club and testified to having disclosed its existence to the owners as much as 20 years before the forced closure. When confronted with this information, the owners first denied it, then admitted they were aware but believed the club's antics were exaggerated. Investigators counted over five hundred markers consisting of tree scrawls, stone cairns, and articles of clothing tied to trees in full view from the section of fence closest to the mess hall.

One director later admitted to media outlets that he knew full well how dangerous the club was and turned a blind eye because he "Hoped it would go away". The others made no formal comment beyond whatever was said in the sealed plea agreement.

During the trial, the Trans-Draconic Federation then weighed in with evidence of it's own. When the land was initially sold and before it was even open, they issued a series of written recommendations to the camp as follows:

• For the entire length of the camp, and any distance beyond it which will be accessed by campers, create a 10-foot exclusion zone on the inside of the fence.
• Ensure this zone is clear of any obstructions or vegetation
• Erect a second fence at least 10' high and topped with razor wire
• Add motion sensors and cameras to cover the exclusion zone
• Provide routine patrols of the areas around the fence

The camp directors acknowledged receipt of these directives and claimed they were not instituted because of costs. This is despite the camp turning sizable increasing profits year over year.

Jerimiah Rackham

Jerimiah Rackham, or "Jerry" for short, is widely regarded as having started the Dragon Baiter's club when he was 10 years old. He was 38 at the time the club came to light, and would have had no involvement with it after turning 18. He was given a 2 year sentence for his involvement and served just 6 months, but was then murdered by the father of one of the children killed during the 513 season.

The Summer of the Long Knives

The Summer of the Long Knives was an incident which occurred at Camp Shababadahs near Arindell on the Greater Continent of Aren. The incident made national headlines when a riot broke out at the severely over-crowded camp.

Camp Shababadahs was infamous at the time for being overcrowded, under-staffed, and having extremely lax regulations. The Summer of the Long Knives happened when they inadvertently invited over twice as many campers as usual, most of them teenaged Necromancers who had never been to a summer camp before. They were bullied by the seasoned campers at the site, which eventually lead to a major riot.

The Summer of Long Knives

The camp's 12th season would forever be remembered as it's worst ever, up until the second to last season and the incident which closed the camp.

Camp Store

Like all summer camps at the time, Camp Shababadahs operated a small store on the premise where kids could buy batteries, soap, deodorant, candy, soda, and various other accoutrements. The store was given little oversite and run by the often quite young councilors.

By the 12th, the running of the camp store was a task delegated entirely to the camp councilors. The only directive they received from the owners was "make sure there's plenty of cheap soda and candy, kids love that" and no real over-site of the accounting. The directors provided a budget for the store and expected it to make that budget back. Since it dealt entirely in cash, this made running the store a very lucrative prospect for the young councilors.

Usually, the job went to an 18 year old who had been a junior councilor in the two years prior to being hired as a staffer(usually picked by the previous store runner who was on to greener pastures). It didn't take very many years of this for the store runners to figure out extra money could be made by dealing contraband out of the store. In a previous summer, a councilor attempted to smuggle some elicit substances in with the intention of selling them through the store. He was caught on the first day, ejected from the camp, and criminaly indicted. Future store-runners learned from his mistake and stuck to dealing in contraband that was officially legal but banned by camp directives.

This mostly consisted of gum, pornography, and knives. Small folding knives were not just allowed but actually required kit for any camper. Larger knives and fixed-blade knives were banned. Butterfly knives and switchblades(not technically illegal but widely believed to be in Arindell) were especially popular.

On the Summer of the Long Knives, the new store-runner brought with him about 400 various fixed and folding knives, mostly of the butterfly and switch variety. After the incidents of the summer the staffer admitted he actually hadn't known about the inflated numbers when he brought that many blades.

Necromancer Involvement

That year, the Necromancer Temple in New Arindell was hosting a particularly large deligation of pilgrims. A lot of the pilgrims were families coming in from off-world, with many traditions that revered nature. The Temple wanted to do something special, and attempted to contract with Camp Shababadahs to buy out the whole camp for the summer.

By this time, the camp was already regularly hosting 600 campers at a time, but reported a capacity of only 400(the laws regarding summer camps stipulated a certain ratio of campers to permanent flush toilets which Shababadahs was not meeting), and happily sold "all of their available capacity" to the temple. The necromancers mistakenly thought they were paying for exclusive use of the camp, and in fact intended to bring their own staffers and run their own programs; only making use of camp facilities.

The camp directors, meanwhile, did not explicitly agree to that, and planned to host the necromancer delegation in addition to their regular program of season-long campers. By this time the camp already had a cult-like following of repeat customers, who would have been very upset if they couldn't attend. The camp rented dozens of large tents intended for daytime-use at outdoor events, and had the wood shop knock up cots out of locally-sourced wood to cover the additional capacity.

Despite running less advertising that usual and limiting attendees to ages 9 and up for the season, the camp still sold many more slots than intended. As an additional problem, the necromancers(who did not need to obey Arindell's capacity laws) brought significantly more than the 400 campers they paid for(numbers are difficult to pin down but roughly 600 kids is the best estimate). Along with the campers, the necromancers brought along their own councilors(typically also in the 18-22 range) and several parents to assist.

The Season

The total population of Camp Shababadahs that summer ballooned from the usual 660 campers and staffers to over 1200, most of them being housed in very much substandard accommodations. Right from the start there were fights over the cabins, the necromancers were told they'd be getting them, while the returning Shababadah regulars believed they were entitled. The camp directors instituted a "first come, first serve" policy, which greatly angered the necromancers, who thought they had reserved the cabins.

Since so many more adults arrived than were expected, many of them ended up having to drive into town and buy regular camping tents to sleep in for the entire summer.

Food

Food was also an issue. Camp Shababadahs did typically to provide generous portions of decent-quality(one of the reasons the necromancers chose it), and made a token effort to continue this trend. The camp, which only had enough toilets for 400 people, made provisions to feed 800. When more than 1200 showed up, this proved to be a problem.

No one actually went hungry. The camp received it's food shipments every two weeks and was all stocked up at the start of the season, so there was plenty to eat on hand. An emergency shipment did need to be brought in early, and later meals saw the diet heavily supplemented with lima beans. The issue came from the kitchen staff. Generally a surely bunch, they were very vocal about having to prepare twice as many meals as usual. They made several disparaging comments regarding "running out of food", which fanned the flames of an already tense situation. Not helping matters, several of the senior campers began spreading rumors that they would have to resort to cannibalism(note that necromancers are especially averse to even survival cannibalism as they both believe they continue to live after their body dies, but if their body is consumed it destroys their soul).

All of this happened before the staffer running the camp store started to sell knives to anyone with the cash.

Tensions Mount, Store Stokes Flames

Due to the lowered quality of food, many campers turned to the snacks at the camp store to supplement their diets. This was a fairly usual thing for the long-time campers as, while regular food was plentiful, if you turn a bunch of teenagers loose in a candy store and don't tell them not to, they will eat mostly that.

The long-time campers tended to bring what(for a child) is a very large amount of money with them to camp. Most of the more experienced campers usually had enough to buy a soda with every dinner and a snack every day; and still be able to afford souvenirs and t-shirts. The necromancers, by contrast, were told they were going to a nature camp and not aware there would even be a store. Since many were from off-world what little cash they did have was typically in money they couldn't spend on Aren. This created quite a serious division, especially since many of the necromancers did come from wealthy temples or families and would have been well-supplied if informed.

To further complicate matters, the adults accompanying the necromancer campers(about 100 in total including parents and chaperones) were mostly relegated to the least-developed campsites and thus had to rely on the store for amenities. The store runners in turn raised prices on everything but candy and soda(the cost of which was set by the camp directors).

The councilor running the camp store was among the few staffers allowed to keep a personal vehicle on site(most of the staffers couldn't afford a car anyway and were required to be bussed in for the summer). The reasoning being that whoever ran the camp store might occasionally have to drive into town(about a 3 hour run each way) to pick up extra supplies. The staffer used this position to get anything requested, albeit for a price.

Another serious issue was crowding of the camps few available activities. In normal seasons, "Go and play unsupervised in the woods" was the most popular pastime, so the other available activities were never in high demand. Many of the necromancers expected to be doing structured activities, and their councilors tried to guide them in this. The only real response from the directors was to hastily mow a disused clearing to create an additional sports court. Though it was meant to be used for any activity, the seasoned campers claimed this very sub-standard play area was "the foot kort and told the necromancer children they were only allowed to play there(Of note: foot kort is effectively the only sport necromancers play, so even just the camp's three existing sports fields were not going to be enough for the roughly 600 necromancer children in attendance).

To combat the issue(and without the knowledge or approval of management), the camp store began making up and selling "activity passes" allowing the holder to cut in line. As the seasoned campers typically had more money, they could afford more; though many of the adult necromancers(unware it was a scam) began to pay for them for the kids as well. Because of the extremely insular nature of the camp's councilor organization, nobody working for the camp did anything to stop it(indeed, most of the activities directors either turned a blind eye or actively participated for a cut of the profits. This is as good a time as any to mention that this year, the staffers figured out they were working for considerably less than minimum wage).

The buying and selling of activity passes got even worse when rival factions within the staff started to print and sell them, and kids learned how to forge their own. It got to the point where bathroom and mess hall passes were being made, though these were difficult to enforce.

Black Market

The camp store handled most of the black market activities directly, buying supplies in a nearby town and selling them at considerable markup. The youths also engaged in a black market of their own, selling and trading contraband to each other. The seasoned campers were eager to get Ke'tcha from the necromancer campers, incorrectly believing it to be a narcotic.

Allegations of Sexual Misconduct

By about the middle of the season, the camp was awash with rumors that most of the young necromancers, particularly the girls, were trading sexual favors for sodas and candy. These rumors were heavily investigated after the fact and found to be completely baseless; having been spread by vindictive seasoned campers. The rumors were widely repeated owing to the common belief that younger necromancers are especially promiscuous. In point of fact, about half the necromancers in attendance belonged to an orthodox sect which practiced "ritualized abstinence". The others were normal enough teenagers some of whom happened to be able to raise the dead.

Despite exhaustive investigation, only one such incidence was uncovered. A 15 year old girl admitted to trading a brief kiss to a 13 year old boy in exchange for a candy bar. Neither of them were necromancers.

More Weapons

After the staffer running the store sold out of his four hundred knives, he went back to civilization to buy more. The knives, for which he paid about a wingbeat each wholesale, and which were meant to be sold for 8-10 wingbeats, were going for as high as 40. Though actual altercations were few, many campers told him they were buying a knife "to protect themselves from the body-snatchers"(a derisive term for necromancers).

Seeing the high profit margin, the staffer bought another 400 knives, as well as brass knuckles, ninja stars, and pepper spray. All to be sold at exorbitant prices from the camp store. By this time, many of the necromancers, fearing for their own safety, were starting to buy or trade for weapons. Others fashioned their own out of whatever they could find.

Camp Sanitation Issues

As previously noted, the camp had barely adequate toilets for about 400 campers, and 3 times that many were on site for the season. The shower situation was even worse, the camp had been cited multiple times for having only one shower house with heated water, and insufficient space in the cold showers provided in the outlying toilet blocks. Many necromancers in the satellite camps were forced to resort to washing in streams, which quickly became contaminated with human waste. Portable camping showers were sold(at a grievous markup) from the camp store and used by some of the adults. The outlying camps that did have toilet blocks also started to construct makeshift shower stations using water from the taps and whatever they could scrounge up.

Aside from showers and toilets, the actual camp staff became increasingly apathetic about cleaning. The kitchen was always immaculate, but the mess hall was rarely swept or mopped, and the toilet blocks in the necromancer camps(if there were any) were hardly ever cleaned. Normally the junior staffers were expected to clean bathrooms as part of their usual duties, or to organize junior councilors to do the work. That summer, this did not happen. Some of the adult necromancers in attendance(many of whom were older than the camp directors) eventually took it upon themselves to do the cleaning, but found supplies severely lacking.

Owing primarily to mismanagement, the camp's cleaning supplies were exhausted within the first month of the season. In previous seasons the camp was kept quite clean, with sweeping, dusting, and mopping done regularly. Every cabin was supplied with the necessary tools, and a huge delivery of supplies came in at the start of the season. This summer, owing to issues with the supplier, the camp only received about half of the supplies they ordered. The money was refunded and the directors intended to order more from a new supplier before what they had ran out, but this was never done. What cleaning products did make it the camp were looted, re-sold on the black market, or miss-used. One oft-cited example: the temporary tents in the outer camps had huge insect problems. The type of hand soap meant for the bathrooms was found to work as a very effective ant repellent, but only if used in very large quantities. Liquid hand soap therefore "went extinct" after about two weeks.

Payment Issues

To most of Camp Shababadahs employees, the job looked pretty good. Minimum wage in the New Arindell Greater Metropolitan Area sat at about 7 wingbeats, fifty talons an hour(in practice most low-level jobs paid 8 or 9). The camp offered a highly competitive 11 wingbeats an hour and, unlike most summer camps at the time, did not charge staffers for room and board. The councilors even got the benefit of a co-ed cabin a good ways away from the children's cabins, which had its own bathrooms with hot showers, internet access(albeit very slow and metered), and a TV to which they were encouraged to pack in game consoles. Because of the complete lack of oversight by the camp directors, the staffers cabin was treated like a clubhouse.

However, the 11 wingbeats an hour proved to be based on a 40-hour, Monday-Friday work-week. Staffers were not paid overtime, were not paid for working on weekends, and were regularly expected to put in 12-hour days. A half a day off every other week was the most they would be officially granted. Some of the more junior staffers were expected to work from dawn until dusk, 7 days a week, for the entirety of summer. A privileged few, such as Cook's Assistant Loganoff and the camp nurse, were able to negotiate reasonable salaries. The lifeguards were also paid separately for any time they spent on duty at the lake.

Unfortunately, this left the bulk of the staffers(about 35 people total), making between 3 wingbeats 19 talons and 5 wingbeats 2 talons an hour.

In previous seasons complaints were few, and most staffers didn't even do the math to work out what they were actually being paid. The camp was so lackadaisical that while they might be assigned tasks during most daylight hours, unless made to run a specific station like the craft center or the wood shop, they could take breaks whenever they pleased. For a lot of the returning junior staffers, they treated camp like a paid vacation. Many of them even used the opportunity to undergo lifeguard training(for which there was always one or two certified instructors) to make extra income in the off season. The training didn't cost anything, and was just another perk of the job.

That all changed in the Summer of the Long Knives. The huge extra influx of campers coupled with the presence of responsible adult necromancers constantly hounding the staffers to get to work led many of them to feel dissatisfied with their job. This in turn caused them to work out what they were being paid, and caused additional tensions. Many who would otherwise not have participated in the camp's black market activities happily joined in or at least condoned the practices.

Management Responses to the Poor Season

The camp was owned by the four original founders, who also served as the camp directors(none of whom had any sort of formal training in running a summer camp, indeed 3 of the 4 did not even have college educations). At the start of the season, the two older directors decided to leave, putting the entire 3-month camp in the hands of the younger two and telling them "Just try not to burn the place down. Everybody paid in advance."

Those two directors then proceeded to lock themselves in the camp office(which included a small apartment) for practically the duration of the summer, delegating the day-to-day running to the over-worked, under-paid, and often quite immature staffers. Cook's Assistant Loganoff became the defacto leader of the camp, being the most senior staffer. He was too busy trying feed the camp to do much more than dispense summary judgements or bark orders. The actual directors mostly worked on organizing shipments of supplies and bringing in extra equipment to deal with shortages.

The only serious responses from the camp directors was to hastily create an additional athletic field and to formalize the then-unofficial "KP for any infraction" punishment. To try and help with the chaos, they also deputized the junior-councilors to met out punishment. Since most of the junior councilors were really just campers themselves, they mostly used this privilege to dismiss each other from punishment and to bully other kids. Note that only non-necromancer campers were signed up as junior councilors, none of the necromancers had been offered this opportunity. Even so the process was wildly disorganized. Cook's Assistant Loganoff later commented later commented that one night over 100 kids, almost all of them necromancers, showed up for KP(the job required at the absolute most about 15).

Riot

Near the end of the season the situation became especially grim. Much of Camp Shababadahs' staff walked off the job two weeks before the end of the season when a clerical error caused their already miniscule paychecks to bounce. Believing they were not to be paid for the last two weeks, they quit in disgust. The camp store-runner used this opportunity to "quit" as well(as he was also only being officially paid 440 wingbeats a week). He absconded with the remaining money in the store as well as having his car stuffed with high-value goods he's traded for(including all of the remaining laundry detergent in the camp). That staffer would later admit he made enough in the one summer to pay for his college education. Ironically, he became a civil defense attorney.

Once the bulk of the paid staffers were gone, the junior councilors broke into and looted the camp store, making off with all the remaining good inside and spiriting them away to various cabins and caches around the camp. A group of older necromancers found out about the looting and broke in a second time, but when they saw how thoroughly the first wave had cleaned out the store, they trashed the place in retribution.

So began the imaginatively-named Night of Broken Glass, which actually took place over the course of an afternoon and saw nearly every class window in the camp shattered. Only the windows in the infirmary(which had shutters) and those of the kitchen survived. Reportedly, Cook's Assistant Loganoff stood outside the kitchen throughout the entire ordeal, smoking a cigarette and saying "Just you fucking try it," to every kid who approached with a rock.

The window-breaking spree was accompanied by a full-on riot. Fortunately most of the kids did not happen to have their knives or brass knuckles on them when the fighting broke out, and the lions share of it just involved a lot of chasing and shouting. The major hot-spots were around the woodshop, the camp store, and the councilor's cabin.

In a cruel twist of irony, it was the store-runner's decision to bring some 200 cans of pepper spray for his elicit sales that kept anyone from getting too badly injured. The pepper spray was horded mostly by the girl campers and many of the younger, smaller necromancers, all of whom showed no hesitation to use it once the fighting started. A few blasts to the face was enough to put down most attackers.

Full scale brawls did erupt, especially between factions of older necromancers and the junior councilors. Once things got heated, however, most of the fighters were willing to engage with anyone not armed with pepper spray. A lot of the injuries ended up being inflicted on non-necromancers by non-necromancers, despite initial reports to the contrary.

Credit for bringing the situation under control was given to Arkul Semketa Ruha Hai, then a mere high priest in Arindel's main temple. Blinded by pepper spray from a 12 year old necromancer girl, he walked out into the fray with his arms outstretched and began chanting call and response prayers. First the adult and then child necromancers started to respond, and then they knew they needed to get the fighting under control. The necromancers formed up into large groups, rightly assuming the scattered teenagers breaking windows and starting fights would be intimidated by superior numbers. Anyone not engaged in the fighting was brought into the center of the group for protection, while those brandishing weapons were made to lay them down. The riot, which had been going on for about six hours at that point, was brought to a close fairly quickly.

Reportedly, by the time the fighting was over, the entire came, necromancer and non alike, were gathered into a single enormous mass near the mess hall, save for Cook's Assistant Loganoff, who stamped out his cigaratte, indicated the windows, and repeated "Just you fucking try it" to the gathered group. In point of fact this account is incorrect. Loganoff was sheltering about 40 younger campers in the kitchen(the main reason for his guarding the place) and the group outside the mess hall numbered only about 300. Campers were scattered all over the facility, with more large groups on the athletic fields and many kids taking shelter in and under cabins.

Injuries

In all, over 900 adults and campers were injured in the event.

The only serious injury went to a 17 year old junior councilor, who was stabbed in the side. Despite initial claims to the contrary, it was actually another junior councilor who did the deed, due to an argument over a case of soda they were looting from the camp store. He reportedly pulled the knife out himself, and nearly bled to death in the woods. He was found by one of the necromancers and brought to the infirmary while the fighting was still going on. 23 other boys, aged 16-18, were also beaten severely as retribution for injuries inflicted on younger necromancers. The injuries were reported to be systematic, focusing primarily on the back, arms, and kidneys. Extremely painful, not causing any long-term harm. It was never proven who carried out the beatings, but many claim it was done by a group of adult necromancers. 5 other campers suffered head wounds the EMTs called "serious", but all made full recoveries.

Most of the injuries were minor, a lot of cuts and bruises. The older male necromancer campers were disproportionately likely to have received injuries, reportedly due to them being more likely to put themselves in harms way to protect their younger companions.

Injuries highest among 16-17 year old boys. Over 300 individuals had been sprayed with pepper spray.

Damage to the Camp

The councilor's cabin was burned to the ground and the camp store severely damaged. Every single window in the camp, save for those on the infirmary and those on the kitchen was shattered. The mess hall also suffered severe damage, with tables being dragged outside for form makeshift barricades and the pantry looted. Reportedly no rioters ever entered the kitchen itself, which was protected by 3 adults and provided shelter to some 40 younger campers.

Camp Closure

It was only once the riot was quelled that the camp directors(who spent the entire afternoon hiding behind a sofa in their apartment) came out and made a show of telling everyone to quiet down. This is also when police and emergency services were finally called in. The nearest town was 3 hours away and the nearest major population center another 5. It took about two hours for a single police highway patrol officer to reach the secluded camp. Even though the riot was over, he remained outside the perimeter until backup arrived another hour later. A few ambulances reached the camp around midnight and evacuated the most seriously injuries. Five EMTs remained on site to help get the remaining severe injuries kept stable while more assistance was called in.

The next morning, Cook's Assistant Loganoff organized breakfast for everyone out of the few remaining supplies. No one had eaten since about noon the day before, and most of the camp's food was destroyed in the riot. Loganoff informed the directors that after this meal they were down to 4 pallets of canned lima beans. The directors promptly announced the camp would be closed and promised to get everyone home as quickly as possible.

Nineteen fire trucks arrived that morning, having driven all night from the nearest city to assist. Apparently somewhere in the shaky communications, they got the idea that the entire camp was ablaze and a huge forest fire was emanant. The firefighters provided much-needed medical supplies to the injured campers, many of whom had had only rudimentary treatment. Among the necromancer delegation were three skilled herbalists who were able to crate poultices for those that had been pepper-sprayed. Many of the necromancer councilors, being there to accompany a years-long pilgrimage, had extensive first-aid training.

That afternoon, a contingent of marines from the TDFN arrived, also under the impression the riot was still going on they were needed to save lives. They were able to organize an airlift to evacuate all of the remaining serious injuries to the nearest hospital. The marines also provided enough rations to get everyone through the night. The camp directors were still working to organize transport to get everyone out of the camp.

The following morning, busses started to arrive. In a move that would later be criticized heavily, the camp directors prioritized evacuating the necromancers first. Order of priorities went Necromancers --> Injuries --> Minor Injuries --> Regular Campers. This meant that quite a few campers with minor injuries and most of the uninjured ended up stuck at the camp for an extra night. Food ran out except for the lima beans, though several caches of snacks were recovered from the store.

The camp ended up only closing 11 days early. Once the last kids were out, Cook's Assistant Loganoff reportedly told the directors he would be back next year and promptly left. The other remaining staffers(the nurse and a few others left with the injured kids) trickled out after that, being informed they wouldn't be paid for the remaining 11 days and had to find their own rides back to civilization. Several of them hitched rides out with the fire fighters. By the end of the third day after the riot, only the two camp directors remained. It was at this time that they discovered someone slashed the tires on the camp's one remaining vehicle. Reportedly, the two directors survived on lima beans and wild caught fish until their buisness partners returned, and together the four of them spent six weeks rebuilding the camp.

Aftermath

Handling of the Necromancers

The necromancers being bussed out arrived at what they thought was to be their lunch stop in the nearby town, only to discover the camp directors had only paid to have them bussed that far. Two full buss-loads were abandoned outside a fast food place before the others got wise and refused to get off. Many of the initially abandoned group were those with minor injuries. The drivers were brow-beaten into taking them at least as far a the city where they could at least get real medical treatment, though this meant skipping the lunch stop. Room was made on the remaining busses for the groups which had been abandoned, and they completed the five-hour journey back to civilization.

Handling of the Injured

A lot of the kids who had only minor cuts and bruises never received more than a cursory checkout. Their parents were not informed of the riot, many were not even informed their children were being sent home from camp early. When the busses started to arrive at the drop-off locations, many of the children were still wearing makeshift bandages fashioned from camp t-shirts, or sporting poultices provided by the necromancer apothecaries. A good number of them suffered from infections because the cuts were not adequately cleaned. A few were also found to have much more serious injuries not identified by the initial triage.

Because of the extremely poor organization of the evacuation, a lot of the kid were simply dropped off at random rec-centers in the nearby city, most of whom actually lived in Arindell another 5 hours away by train.

Dispensation of Property

Only the very last group of kids to be evacuated were given time to pack their belongings. All the others left with only the clothes on their backs. This remaining group of kids, mostly older teenagers, used the opportunity to loot the camp of any valuables left behind by other campers. There was no adult supervision at all for them at this point. The goods taken amounted to very serious thefts; the necromancers were traveling with all of their luggage on a years-long pilgrimage. This meant they were frequently carrying expensive personal items bought by their families back home. Other goods taken included valuable souvenirs from off-world, expensive clothing; anything the looters thought they might like.

After the evacuation was complete, the camp owners made the issue even worse. First, they did not get to cleaning up the satellite camps used by the necromancers until weeks after everyone left. The looters knocked over most of the tents and spread out what personal belongings they did not take, which then lay exposed to the elements. The camp directors made no attempt to separate out anyone's personal property. They merely gathered up everything left behind by the campers(probably stealing any remaining items of value) and cast it all into an enormous "lost and found" at the back of the mess hall.

Many parents on both sides were understandably miffed. In addition to not returning any of the property, the camp also refused to give out any refunds. They did provide some travel vouchers to cover the fairs of families who had to come up to the city to retrieve their children.

Lawsuits

Necromancers

Individual necromancers were unable to sue the camp as most of them were from off-world. Any possible payout would have paled in comparison to the travel costs. Instead, the task of persecuting the camp fell on New Arindell's Council of Litches, as they had organized the the camp anyway. The Arindell Necromancer Temple has thousands of lawyers among it's membership, as well as access to the greatest legal minds in history(presuming those minds have already died).

Camp Shababadahs' owner/directors then counter-sued, claiming the necromancers had violated the camp rules by bringing Ke'tcha on site, which they claimed to be alcoholic. This suit was quickly dismissed as, despite common perception, it was well established in legal circles that Ke'tcha is indeed not considered alcohol.

The entire necromancer suit was organized into a class-action.

Outcome

The Council of Litches became heavily involved in the suit directly, sending avatars into the courtroom to testify. Their defense council also included the raised up shades of several prominent lawyers throughout history, all of whom's advice proved to be useless as they were only familiar with the law in their own time.

Unfortunately, the litch's attempt to impress the jury with what the media described as "undead shenanigans" and a fair amount of anti-necromancer sentiments in the media, failed to impact the case. Ultimately, the judge found that Camp Shababadahs had fulfilled their end of the contract as it was signed. The necromancer's decision to bring their own camp councilors nullified the culpability of Camp Shababadahs' own councilors, few of whom could be found to testify. The fact that the pilgrims directly involved in the event had already moved on and were now off-world did not help the matter either. The court ruled the camp only had to refund the 11 days when no necromancers were on site, as this is what they had agreed to in the contract. The Council of Litches was not happy.

While the judge did find in favor of the defendants, in his closing statements he decried the actions of Camp Shababadahs and stated that while they technically fulfilled the contract, they did so in such a slipshod manner their business practices should be criminal. The judge even made a formal appeal to then-Light Bearer placeholder lightbearer to intercede.

This incident in and of itself represents an important landmark decision in Arindell's legal history. Traditionally, the Pendragon has always had the power to to overturn judgements; especially in cases where one party very clearly did wrong but the letter of the law protects them. The Light Bearer apologized and explained that the Light Bearer was not the Pendragon, and therefore lacked power. The Pendragon's legal powers stem from holding the sword Echbalder, which was lost. Although it was well-understood since the death of Conri Jusenkyou that the Light Bearer did not hold equal power to the Pendragon, this was one of the few cases where that point was entered into a major legal proceeding.

Parents

The families of the non-necromancer campers involved in the incident filed surprisingly few lawsuits. A lot of the older campers, when interviewed later, admitted they heavily downplayed the event when describing it to their parents. It helped that the camp did send out small sums to pay for the most of the injured campers to see mage-healers(though not until six months later). Several of the teenagers involved would later tell news outlets they deliberately played off the whole incident like a row because they didn't want the camp to close.

The parents of many younger campers attempted to sue on the grounds of trauma, but the whole riot was so poorly documented they had a difficult time proving anything in court. The camp directors agreed to pay out half refunds to the families of any campers who would state they did not ever wish to return. Other suits were settled by offering 30% discounts on return-visits(a move that had surprisingly high acceptance.

The families of the 23 boys beaten severely made the largest suits, but the camp was able to skirt liability by claiming adult necromancers carried out the beatings. This was never proven, and the camp settled out of court by paying part of the cost to have the boys healed.

Class-Action Over Material Losses

Nearly every child who attended camp that year lost all of their belongings when the camp was evacuated. This amounted to well over 100,000 wingbeats in material possessions lost or destroyed. Unfortunately, the class-action suit included the necromancers, the majority of whom could not be even be reached. Shababadahs' primary defense hinged upon the fact that they never wrote anything down. While there were records of payments being accepted, they made almost no accounting of children's names, bunk assignments, or anything else. In many cases parents could not even prove their child actually attended the camp.

The class-action fell apart when the prosecution failed to assemble a complete enough list of belongings lost or destroyed. Though estimates put the number somewhere between 120,000 and 250,000 wingbeats, they were only able to document 56,000 wingbeats worth of losses; largely made up of used items with very little intrinsic value(childrens clothing they are likely to grow out of and old sleeping bags, for example).

The camp also claimed that nothing had actually been destroyed or stolen, and that all of the camper's possessions had been moved to the mess hall and were accounted for. It was late winter by this point and Shababadahs was snowed-in. The camp directors offered to verify any possessions were present if the family could provide a picture of the item, this would then be sent to the winter caretaker. In point of fact, Shababadahs had no winter caretaker; the roads were utterly impassible until mid-spring, so the directors simply fixed any damage when they prepared for each new season.

The directors then offered to let anyone who could prove they attended camp the previous summer come up before the new season was set to begin and claim their property. Provided they made an appointment ahead of time and arrived precisely at the hour, usually late-afternoon on a single specific day. Given that most campers lived down in Arindell and this involved a 13-hour-each-way journey, few elected to make the trek. Returning campers were also told they would be able to claim their belongings, but in practice everything had been thrown into an un-sorted lost and found, which was again quickly looted without any real thought to what belonged to whom.

Conclusion

Despite everything, the summer of N.D. 493 proved to be the most lucrative for Camp Shababadahs. Even with all the repairs and payouts, the camp owners made more than they'd done in any previous season. The woodshop never had power tools again and the boat-building program was permanently ended; but despite all the negative press the camp still opened to a huge turnout in N.D. 494.

The only real winners were the next generation of camp counselors. Amidst everything else, Camp Shababadahs was found guilty of under-paying it's staff. Unfortunately because so few of them could be located in the aftermath, none received compensation. Going forward, the camp was required to account for it's employee's time, not to over-work them, and to compensate them accordingly if they worked more than 8 hours in a day. The camp responded by lowering the rate to minimum wage and instituting a time clock for the following season. This unfortunately created another round of losers: the children. Now that they had established work-hours, off-duty employees preferred to spend their time in the new councilor's cabin rather than hanging around in camp, which led to even less supervision than ever before.