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Abandoned - Aspenglow - Story 35

Started by Abandoned, November 30, 2018, 10:51:42 AM

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Abandoned

Intro


This is the 35th story in the Smallville series, the year is approximately year 62 SVT.  Six families left from Smallville that year but they were not one of Smallville's expeditions.  Two families from Monkstown returned the original Holy Book to Smallville after the monastery they left had completed making 100 copies of the book for distribution.  They were headed north to establish another monastery after learning that the people of that area had been experiencing harsh winter weather in past years and were in need of aid.  Four families being turned away from overcrowded Smallville decided to go with them.  The location of this story is far north of Smallville in the Northern Highlands, in an area of the winter woods known as Moonglow Glen.  They name their town Aspenglow.


Mods enabled and load order:


Starting and Map Changing Mods: Call of Nature Soundtrack, Banished UI Maps, Labor Window, RK Minimized Status, Climate-More Snow, Maritimes Decorations,  New Flora Edit

Tweak Mods:   Bigger Wheelbarows, Fishing Dock 25%,  Hunting Season, Increased CC,  1:1 Alternative,  Rock Respawn,  Woodcutter +3

Major or Must Have Mods:  An Empty Square, Nomad Sign Complete,  Smallville (sign), Kid Gothic Fantasy, Kid Medieval Grace, Kid More Houses, Kid Old Town,  Kid Tiny

Supporting Mods:    Campfire, Christmas Mod 2018, DS Tunnels, EB Chapel, EB Statue Cristo Redentor, Jamies's Monastery, Kid Abandoned Places, Kid Animal Shed Cheese, Kid Bakery Garden v1.1, NMT 3 Deco Crops, Kid Gothic Farm, Kid In Transit, Kid Nativity Chapel, Kid Yard Cover, Storage Crates


Christmas Mod 2018 available for download now  http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=2724.0



Mood Music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-rgYHSflFQ



Yes, weary traveler, it is cold and snowy year round, but we love it here in Moonglow Glen.  Let me get you a nice mug of our special mulled winter wine, it will help warm you while I tell you about our town of Aspenglow.


kid1293

Hi :)
For those of you who wonder how the weather is in Aspenglow -
here is a small mod that changes climate to snow all year round.
No farming, no orchards!
I have removed birch and oak. They were green even in the snow.

Good luck to @Abandoned and I wish you all a fine winter.

tuggistar

#2
Hi Abandoned! I always with the perception of reading all your stories, only comment normally I can, not spoil the impression of others. You have a mod which I can not find (New Flora Edit). Tell me where to find, I use this mod almost always. And I wish you good luck with a new story. :)

kid1293

Hi @tuggistar - New Flora Edit is a smaller version of New Flora. No buildings.
Just the plants from @tanypredator . I have got her permission to give it out.
I added fallen branches from @RedKetchup to have early and easy firewood.
I have talked to RK and got his okay too.

You can collect these things with the help of gather-buttons on vanilla toolbar.

It is small and sometimes a lifesaver. :)

Abandoned

Hi @tuggistar  I believe Kid will be releasing New Flora Edit soon. It is New Flora items that spawn with added branches for firewood.  There are no buildings for collection only the buttons for laborers to collect the items.  It is very nice.  :)  Thank you for good wishes, I have played ahead with story and it is going well.  I hope you will enjoy it.  :)

Abandoned


kid1293

Don't use New Flora Edit with original New Flora.
They collide.

tuggistar


Abandoned

#8
Chapter 1


  First let me introduce myself.  My name is Corro and my husband is Vicent.  We originally came from the southwest, near SW Tequilaville.  The heat, drought, and lawlessness had us travelling to Smallville with 3 other families when we decided we wanted to start a family of our own.  Imagine our dismay when we were turned away from Smallville because of overcrowding and food and housing shortages.  We did not know what to do.  At that same time, two brothers, Torrest and Tore, and their families arrived from Monkstown.  They too wanted a safer place for their families, away from the pirates and giant swamp frogs in the southeast, so they volunteered to return a Holy Book to Smallville.  When they learned of the hardships being experienced in the far north, they decided they would travel north and establish a monastery to provide aid to the bodies, minds, and spirits of the people there.  We decided to go with them.

   We were not one of Smallville's expeditions but they did give us what supplies they could spare before we headed north. There were 18 of us, 12 adults and 6 children. We were traveling through an area known as the Winter Woodlands looking for a suitable location to establish a settlement when we came across a group of wood elves who were caring for wild animals who were struggling to survive in the harsh climate.  The weather had taken a turn for the worse in recent years and people and animals were all suffering.  Families were leaving the area and farm animals were being abandoned.  A few days earlier the wood elves spotted a herd of sheep headed north, they encouraged us to track the animals and provide for them.  The animals would reward us.  We took their advice and headed farther north to the Northern Highlands.

  We traveled through thick pine forests and several groves of quaking aspen trees while tracking the sheep.  We spotted them in a clearing ahead and knew we had reached our destination.  We were in an area known as Moonglow Glen but the sunlight through the pines was breathtaking.  The aspens' new spring growth was sparkling brightly against the background of winter snow so we decided to name our settlement Aspenglow.

  We erected a Smallville sign at the point where we came through the pines and continued on to where the sheep were huddled together before an old storage barn, inside were a few scrawny chickens.  There were several farmhouses that needed miner repairs and cleaning and an abandoned building that appeared to have been an animal shed at one time.  There we found two milk cows eating hay that was partially buried beneath the rubble.  We would make Aspenglow our home.



Abandoned

#9
Chapter 2


  We quickly settled into our new homes and immediately saw to our basic needs and those of the animals.  We built a hunting station and a fishing pier and a fenced pasture for the sheep so they would not wander off into the snow and become lost again.  We built an animal shed for the cows and chickens but it was crowded and we would soon need to build another one.  We gathered winter-hardy wild foods and found plenty of fallen tree branches for firewood to tide us over until a woodcutter could be built by the old stockpile.

  By the end of that 1st year we had a tiny workshop, town hall, a tailor, and a boarding house built.  We also had 6 more children than when we arrived, our daughter, Scarlene, was one of them.  A school was planned but would not be needed for a few more years.  We were concerned for the children and our ability to keep them warm and well-fed, we would not be able to grow food here.  The temperature had not once risen above freezing and it snowed often.  The sheep often struggled to graze after a snowfall so we build a covering over part of the pasture.  The chickens and woodcutter also got coverings and we now had warm coats thanks to our sheep.

  In Spring of year 2 we were surprised when a sleigh of elves arrived.  Santa sent them with a message.  He knows who's naughty and who's nice and he knows we are nice and he needs our help.  Christmas is fast approaching and production at the North Pole and at the South Annex is way behind schedule.  Due to the worsening weather conditions, the elves at the Annex have been busy supplying much need food to those in the surrounding area, they will not be able to bake cookies and make candy in time.  Santa needs milk and cookies while he's making his list and checking it twice, and he needs to fatten up before Christmas.  He's lost some weight, better make that eggnog and cookies.  And Saint Nicholas needs candy to fill the stockings on December 6th, he can't disappoint the children.   Can Santa count on us to fill a sleigh with 1,000 gingerbread cookies and 1,000 eggnogs, and another sleigh with 2,000 candies?


Abandoned

#10
Chapter 3


  How could we say No to Santa?  We did have our own plans for Christmas gift giving, but they would have to be put on hold to help Santa.  We were glad we  built the boarding house in case migrating families came by, but it was not big enough for all the elves.  We needed more housing and more food.  We added a hunter and fisherman to our existing buildings, and added a woodcutter and forester so we would not be short of firewood. Another hunter and a gatherer was built near the forester.

The elves told us what we would need for candy making and cookie baking.  We already had milk and eggs but needed spice for the eggnog. We built another animal shed to increase production and would grow winter hardy spices on the other side of the tunnel to the east where new houses were being built. The elves brought hardy spice plants with them.  They also brought some very hardy apple tree seedling plus a small hive of bees that were even hardier than the wild bees we found in our pine forests.  We would have honey and fruit to make candy.  The spices would also be needed for the gingerbread cookies, but we needed grain and flour. 

We thought of building a trading post for those items but the elves warned that traders would be few and far between up here in the cold northern highlands.  We were dismayed to hear that because we were counting on the river boatmen to deliver the Christmas care packages we were planning to give to needy families in the area.  The elves must have somehow conveyed our plans to Santa because a few days later they told us that whatever we wanted delivered Santa would see to it in time for Christmas.  We had a lot of work to do.

Abandoned

#11
Chapter 4


  Once there were enough houses built for all the families, work continued on the wall we had only just begun when the elves arrived.  The pines were a great windbreak but still the cold north wind blew straight through town and the sheep were nearly buried in blowing and drifting snow on more than one occasion.  A stone wall on the north side of town would help a great deal.  By the beginning of year 3 the construction of the main monastery building and a cemetery had begun on the other side of that wall.  The monastery would be completed by late autumn.

  On the east side of the tunnel where the new houses were built we planted the spice garden, and inside 2 large greenhouses barley was thriving despite the bitter cold and snow.   A mill was built next to the greenhouse and a Christmas Baker soon had everything it needed to start making gingerbread cookies.  The elves built a big sleigh to store the cookies until Santa sent a reindeer team to pick it up.  There would be enough room for the eggnog too.  The Nog Nook was built and had the needed ingredients for the eggnog. The candy store was almost completed and the elves built a sleigh across from it to be filled with the candy, Santa can never have too many sleighs.

  In late spring of year 4 Aspenglow's population increased by 11.  Another sleigh arrived with elves who Santa sent to pick up several monks who were making there way here from Monkstown.  They heard from Smallville that we were headed north to build a monastery and they came to help.  They were delighted that the main building was complete.

  Our town of Aspenglow was growing despite the cold and snow.

Gatherer

Interesting challenge to build and support a town with all that snowing going on.

Not yet in the festive December mood myself. This story should be a nice warm-up for that though. :)


Where's a Santa hat emoji when you need one?
There's never enough deco stuff!!!
Fiat panis.

Abandoned

 @Gatherer I was very concerned with food production in this climate  :)  I am just glad I decided against using the Cold Realism mod, I would have had no wild foods at all to collect.  :o  Fishing and hunting are very good, the monks are good providers too.  :) Only 3 weeks until Christmas now, time goes fast.  :)

Abandoned

#14
Chapter 5


  We learned well how to predict our wintery weather.  When the sunset through the pines had a reddish glow we knew the night would be very cold.  As the wood elves predicted, the sheep we rescued rewarded us, we had warm woolen blankets to help warm those cold nights.  The following frosty morning would be crisp and clear and the smell of burning pine branches and gingerbread spice filled the still air.  We hurried with our chores when the temperature rose and the clouds rolled in.  The winter wind would bring more snow, it always snowed when it got warmer.

  Despite their hardiness we were concerned for our bees, the beekeeper often had to dig the hives out of the snow.  Coverings were built to protect most of the hives.  The apples were doing well and candy production had begun.  By late winter of year 4 there was 283 candies in one sleigh, and 252 gingerbread and 212 eggnog in the other.  Our food supply was also good.

  In the spring of year 5 Aspenglow's population grew by another 15 citizens when another sleigh arrived with more elves and their families.  They got straight to work as we built more houses, another beekeeper, and a second candy store.  We needed to increase production so the sleigh would be full of candy when St. Nicholas came to pick it up.  We began using wild berries to make some of the candy so production would not be delayed waiting for apples.

  We also separated 3 sheep from the flock and put them in a shed next to the tailor.  With more protection from the weather they could be sheared a bit shorter and we would have more wool.  The tailor often had to wait before continue work on the warm coats.

It was winter before the last of our new arrivals had a home.  There were still families in the boarding house and a few young people who wanted homes of their own.  Maybe next year.