Abandoned - Orchard Grove - Story 83

[Abandoned]

Intro


  This is the 83rd story in the Smallville Series and, like Stockyards of story 81, it tells the tale of families who came from Riverboat Junction (story 34).  These families were the group of disgruntled citizens that left the Junction because of poor living conditions.  The town built a fancy new town hall instead of repairing the worker's cabins.  Because of worsening weather conditions, an increase in the number of natural disasters, and an increased need for food worldwide, the worker's workload also increased. They'd had enough.  They headed north from Riverboat Junction, in the southcentral part of the World Map, and arrived at this location the same year that Stockyards was settled, year 65 SVT.  Riverboat Junction is much farther south than it appears on the map.





Map seed # 220101011      Valley,    Small,       No Snow,      Disasters On,     Old Hovels Grass


Mods activated for this map and load order are:


Map Changing and Starting Mods:   Banished UI Maps, Labor Window, RK Minimized Status, CC Light Rain, Climate No Snow, Tropical terrain, Settler Deco, Kid Some Deco Trees, Kid Tree Replacer Tropical, Kid New Flora Edit

Tweak Mods:   Better Fields, Fishing Dock +25%, Hunting, Increased CC, Longer Living Orchards, 1:1 Alternative (Voeille), Tiny Smoke,

Major or Must Have Mods:    An Empty Square, Nomads (Kid), override Uneducated, Storage Crates, Kid Abandoned Places SE, Kid Old Hovels (update), Kid Old Town Ports & Pirates, Kid Tropical Fruits (new, testing), Kid Tropical Huts (new, testing), Kid Workplace Village

Supporting Mods:    I See Fire, Kid Deco People, Kid Deco Plants, Kid Farmyard, Kid New Pump, Kid Washing Mod, Kid Work Shop, Smuggler's Cave, Tiny Chopper, Tiny Herb Patch


Mod Note:    The new Kid Tropical Fruits includes previously released Kid Goes Bananas.  The new Kid Tropical Huts mod has its own start conditions with grass and boars. The huts require grass to build and come in 3 textures.    I am using Kid Old Hovels start because it starts with some buildings.  I added others and the new update has added more. 



  So, weary traveler, you find yourself in the same predicament as we were when we first arrived: which way to go from here:  east to the swamp, west to the desert, north to the pirates, or back south to Riverboat Junction.  The pirates were here when we arrived so I'll tell you about them first.

[catty-cb]

Would love to see your village blogs on Simtropolis as it might bring in new players as WOB seems very quiet these days, and just checked all "city" or in our case village building games are welcome, someone is doing a village blog using the Tropico game

https://community.simtropolis.com/forums/topic/761847-bounty-a-tropical-story/

They also have a City Journal area

https://community.simtropolis.com/journals/

[Abandoned]

@catty-cb  Will check out that Tropico game story    Tropico is a good game, I still occasional play the older version.  Will give posting there some thought.  WOB has been quite, even more so since site problems.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 1


  Like you, weary traveler, we immediately saw the shipwreck, the smuggler's cave, and the pirate's lookout tower in the distance when we came into the valley.  We came a long way traveling alongside the river from Riverboat Junction.  There were 11 of us, 3 families with 5 adult children.  We were tired.  We did not want to go back but we knew somewhere to the east was swamp and somewhere to the west was desert.  We sat to rest, and we watched for a long while but saw no activity at the shipwreck or cave.  No one was up on the watchtower. 




  The valley to our immediate right was quite nice.  There were plenty of palm trees and I could see many tropical fruit trees as well.  There were some wild foods growing among the undergrowth, at least in the area along the river where we sat.  There would be food to gather as well as other resources.  There was a large high hill between this valley and the next where that lookout tower was.  A few of us climbed the hill to see what was on the other side.



  What we saw was another area of tropical forest, and in the far distance was another large hill and a small group of weathered looking old hovels by the river.  Was it a pirate town?

[catty-cb]

@catty-cb ....Tropico is a good game, I still occasional play the older version.

Same I've got Tropico 3, occasionally get tempted at the later versions but Banished is my preferred game these days and interesting start to the new story   

[Abandoned]

Thanks  I got v1.5 of Tropico,    like the 2D and the music.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 2



  Our guess was yes, it was a pirate town.  At first we thought it was deserted, we saw no activity.  It was hard to see at a distance, but then we saw that there was a woman working in the field behind what appeared to be a still.  There was a large tavern, probably a pirate's den, across from it.  Closer to the river another woman was hanging wash on the line.  And back even farther in the distance there was a third woman on a fishing pier.





We watched for quite a while but saw no men, only a few young children, 2 toddlers that appeared to be girls and 1 slightly older boy.   This small group of pirates did not appear to be any threat to us.  What did we have that a pirate would want?  We had little more than the clothes on our backs.

   We returned to the others and reported what we saw.  The decision was made, we would settle here.  We would keep an eye on those pirates.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 3


  We immediately began gathering resource.  We decide it would be much faster and easier to build with grass than with logs, there was plenty of grass growing wild.  We gathered what was nearby.  We removed the stone and iron from the area across from the stockpile and would nurture the area as a grass patch in order to always have enough grass nearby.  Nothing would be built there.



  Next to the stockpile we built a large storage area, our supplies really only needed to be covered to protect them from the sun and the tropical rain.  We immediately gathered nearby wild foods and herbs.  At the same time we built a grass communal living unit.  There was room for us all.  One of the men made two of the swinging grass rope beds that we saw in the distant pirate town.  One of our group heard of these before and said they were called hammocks.  The youngest adult girl took a nap in one of them.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 4


  Our hut was the first one built because my husband, Valentice, was a fisherman and worked the farthest away town.  Our hut was built halfway between the storage hut and the fishing hut on the river.  Valentice and I were very happy our adult daughter, Mckayli, moved to the hut with us.  She was not only a big help at home but she was a hard worker gathering wild foods. 




  Our diet consisted mainly of wild foods until a neighbor planted some of the seeds we brought with us.  We would have corn, beans and sweet potatoes from his crop patch.  The crops grew fast in the warm rainy tropical climate. 
  We had a few cook pots that we brought with us too, we were the first to have fish chowder cooking over the open campfire outside our hut.  It would be too dangerous to cook inside a grass hut.

[Glenn]

Your story has a nice tropical feel about it

[Abandoned]

Thanks 


Chapter 5

  By early winter huts had been built for all the families, and for the young singles who wanted huts of their own.   A well was built near our hut and another near the communal hut.  By then, Lorida, whose 2 children now had huts of their own, had the village's first newborn.  She was busy making linen clothes from flax at the tailor's hut that was built near her house.  Our clothes supply had been quite low.  Our supply of flax was not much better.  We did not often have spare laborers to gatherer the wild flax.  Lorida said there was room for a tiny flax patch across from her hut next to the grass patch.  There was already some flax growing there.  She could make hide coats for the cooler evenings if we had some leather, and if there were any ducks around, she could make some warm coats for winter with down and leather.



  Our spring and autumn evenings were a bit chilly sometimes, and our winter temperatures occasionally dipped into the mid and upper 40Fs, but the sun made it feel warmer.  Warm coats for winter would be nice but we had seen no ducks.  Summer and winter we had brief sudden downpours of rain.  In summer the clothes out on the wash lines dried almost as soon as it stopped raining, but in winter the cold wet clothes took longer to dry. The men build some grass hut coverings over the wash lines for us.



  By winter our supply of clothes had improved, and our supply of food and firewood for our cook-fires was also good.  We did wonder how the woman and children in the pirate town were doing.  We had been taking turns twice a day climbing the hill to keep an eye on that town.  There had been no sign of any men, just the three women and the children.  We had thought to take them some food for winter but thought better of it; it was maybe best they did not know we were here. They had fish and they harvested their wheat.  We saw a few fruit trees but did not see them picking any or gathering wild food.  That's not to say they didn't, we could not keep watch all the time.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 6


  By early spring, the small banana trees next to our house really grew, even more so when some of the bigger palm trees and undergrowth was removed.  Valentice built me a small shed for tools and a hammock under cover where I could quicky take shelter from sudden downpours.  With more rain and sun, we would soon have bananas. 



  In spring, as expected, more families came this way from Riverboat Junction.  There were 11 adults with 1 small child.  Two huts were built near the well not far from our house, but before more huts would be built we need more tools.  A smith's hut was built behind the storage hut near the main stockpile.  There was plenty of iron to make iron tools instead of wooden ones. 



  The newcomers that were still in the communal hut were happy to remain there until a Hut Hall for village records and a school were built.  The children would be a safe distance from the river, and they would be cool and comfortable in the open-sided school hut.  They would have slices of pineapple for lunch from the small patch growing nearby.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 7


  We expected migrants from Riverboat Junction that spring but we did not expect to see what I saw from the hilltop.  It was my turn to spend some time watching the pirate town and I was surprised to see a ship with black sails upriver in the far distance.  I quickly ran down the hill to tell the others, a few, including my Valentice, returned to the hilltop with me.  We lay low on the ground so not to been seen.




  We watched as the ship made its way to the small jetty where it lowered its sails and then its anchor.  We saw only 3 pirates get off the ship.  We saw one of the women begin unloading things from the ship, booty we thought.  Other than that there was little activity than what we usually saw.  We returned to our usual schedule of watching.  Later we did notice a small cemetery we had not noticed before, maybe it was the angle of the light or the pirates had done some tree clearing that caused us to notice it now.  Perhaps we should also think about setting aside a burial ground. 



  We watched as usual through the spring, summer, and fall.  We saw the women fishing, hanging wash, and working in the field.  Occasionally, they removed items from the ship.  We saw the men laying in hammocks.  One of the men worked at the still after a woman brought a sack from the ship.  Valentice said it was probably sugar and the pirate was making some rum before returning to again nap in his hammock.  Valentice said he wouldn't mind having the women working and the men napping.  I laughted and told him to get back to work.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 8 


  Although the pirates still did not appear to be a threat, it was decided that, since the pirate men were back, a security fence should be built, at least on the side of the village closest to the pirates.  We still needed access to the area beyond where we gathered foods, flax, and branches. 



  We were short of firewood from time to time so a tiny chopper was set up next to the stockpile.  The flax patch was planted and already producing flax for the tailor to make linen clothes with.  Our clothing supply increased.  A patch of coconut trees was planted across the road from the flax patch. 




  A hut for one of the families still in the communal hut was built not far from the tailor hut.  Behind the new hut a small cemetery was fenced off.  A hut for the last family was built buy the school.  A well was dug and a lemon patch planted.  Lemonade would be a refreshing drink for the school children and the workers.




  I rescued some papaya saplings when the construction of the fence by the river began.   I planted them nearby and they adapted well, by the time the fence was done there were already papayas on the trees.  We had bananas, pineapples, coconuts, lemons, and papayas in storage at the end of year 4.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 9


  We need not have been so concerned about building security fences; the pirate men did not stay around long.  They hoisted the sails and weighed anchor in early spring of year 5.  They sailed on past the smuggler's cave and shipwreck and our village.  We were discovered, they could not have failed to see us even without a man in the crow's nest.  We were concerned.




  We did not have much time to consider what being discovered by the pirates could mean for us because more migrants arrived from Riverboat Junction.  There were 11 adults with 2 children.  They saw the pirates and told us of the problems they were causing the river boatmen and the Junction.  Goods were being thrown overboard in order to outrun the pirates.  Some merchant ships have been run aground.  The Junction was much the same as it was, it was overcrowded, and the workers were overworked.  Some renovations had begun but they were doing more building on the other side of the river than in Old Town.  We had more huts to build here.