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Abandoned - Monkstown - Story 7

Started by Abandoned, December 31, 2016, 11:25:04 AM

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Abandoned

Intro

  This is the 7th story in the Smallville Series.  It tells the tale of the 4th expedition to leave that town, heading south downriver.  It takes place a few years after the expedition to The North.  This expedition had to wait until the supply reserves and the workforce of Smallville was replenished enough to allow another group to leave.  This often took a while because unskilled nomads replaced the educated workers who set off on expeditions.  At least one member of each expedition must be well schooled in survivor skills and the old ways at Smallville's outdoor classroom.  This group's goal was to establish a settlement and construct a monastery to further the cause of education.  Monks will make copies of the Holy Book to be distributed throughout the known world.  Fear not, the monks will take a vow of silence and will do no readings from the Holy Book.  Readings of the Christmas Story can be heard in the churches and chapels in Oh Little Town (of Smallville Story 6).

Monkstown Story 7   Map is #489903087   Valley, Small, Mild, disasters Off, Easy start

Mods used:  Small Town Row Houses v1.2, Adriana's College, Adriana's Library, Bakery EB's, Better Fields, Buildable Storage Carts, Decorative Plants v4, Decorative Wreaths, DS Fences & Deco, DS Roads, Forest Outpost, Jamie's Monastery, Japanese Houses, Japanese Shrine, Longer Living Orchard, More Iron, Wood, Stone, Old Bakery, Proper Time, Sample white Chicken, Slinks Lawn, Small Well, Smuggler Cave, Specialized Stockpile, Stone Bridge, Styth Tower, Tiny, Washing Mod, Wild Crops

So weary traveler, there's plenty of time before you have to go so I'll tell you about Monkstown.

Nilla

Again I´m looking forward to your story.

Abandoned

Happy New Years @Nilla, I think you will find this story interesting.  I am trying for 100% educated in this town, no nomads.  Production is good but short on workers. I am following advice of yours trying to keep families together.  I am having to keep an eye on things I don't normally, like house building and new mods.  So here is this group setting off an New Years Day.

Abandoned

#3
Chapter 1

We were old enough to know better, we should have listened to the wise elders when they said winter was no time to set off on a journey, especially with young children.  But we had already waited so long and it had been such a mild winter so far, we were eager to set off on our expedition.  We knew Riverboat Junction was somewhere to the south.  We thought near there would be a good location to produce our Holy Books and have them distributed in all directions.  And so we set off on New Years Day with the town's Holy Book wrapped securely in leather hides.

  Our first mistake was crossing the river when leaving Smallville.  Our second mistake was not turning back when the snowstorm hit.  Had we gone straight south we could have sheltered at the Mountain Mission, had we turned back, who knows.  We sheltered between the rocks and under our wagons until the storm passed, then continued south.  It turned bitterly cold.  Just when we thought we would not survive, we saw the beginnings of a settlement across the partially frozen river.  Several of the men tested the ice then lead us women and children across first.  The rest of the men also made it safely across but one of the wagons broke through the ice and was lost.  A group of settlers rushed to our aid.  They had only recently begun their settlement here having been turned away from Chattachoo, a railroad town over the mountains to the east.  There had been an outbreak of scarlet fever, as far as they knew no one died.  We were glad to hear that since the founders of that town left Smallville with the 2nd expedition.  There were plans in the works for a railroad tunnel through the mountain, we were welcome to stay.  As much as we'd like to see our family and friends in Chattachoo, we were eager to be on our way.  As soon as the weather allowed we headed south along the small creek with plenty of supplies and a small flock of sheep.

  We reached the river in early spring and began building our settlement. There were 19 of us, 12 adults and 7 children.  My name is Esmera, my husband is Mile, and we have a son, Nather, who was almost school age.  As soon as we built a small fishing pier and hunter's post we built a school.  Since our goal was to build a monastery and further the cause of education, we could not take the chance that any of our own children would be uneducated. We named our town Monkstown.  We built a pen for the sheep and a workshop for tools and coats.  As I learned back in Smallville, I took to the woods to gather wild crops, before the first snow other laborers joined me.  By late autumn our storage barn was well stocked with a wide variety of foods.  By late winter of year 1 each of the 6 families had a newborn. We named our new daughter Honor.  The population of our town was now 25, 12 adults, 2 students, and 11 children.


Abandoned

#4
Chapter 2

  Progress was slow but steady those first few years and we were happy, healthy, warm, and well fed.  We planted a field of corn and an orchard of pears. I gathered herbs as well as wild foods.  Everyone loved the decorative flowering plants and bushes growing around town.  By late summer of year 3 we had a Town Hall and a town cemetery.  The Town Hall seemed to have a warm glow about it that had nothing to do with the warm summer temperatures or the beautiful warm fall colors.  In spring of year 4 our supplies and food reserves were still high.  We brought one of the storage carts out of the barn and we build a new small barn down by the creek. The foundation was laid for a new house near where a  small bridge crossed the creek to the foresters hut we built but as yet hadn't used. 

  By late summer of year 4 we built our first trading dock hoping a seed merchant would stop by.  We had plenty of firewood, hide coats, and iron tools to trade.  Our educated workers were quite skilled at their trades and very productive.  So, weary traveler, it was decided that year at the Town Hall meeting that we would  only have educated workers in our town, our goal here was an important one.  We eagerly awaiting our first school graduates.

  It was not until year 6, a beautiful midsummers day, that the first boatman arrived at our dock.  He brought corn seeds we didn't need and news we didn't want to hear.


Abandoned

#5
Chapter 3

  Not only were we far from the main river leading to Riverboat Junction, but few boatmen would venture down this fork of the river because of pirates.  Yes, pirates.   And not that far away.  Oh no, we planned to produce valuable Holy Books.  Pirates!  What were we to do?  Abandon our town?  Our town was well established, our stockpiles and storage barns full.  We had buildings constructed and waiting for educated workers to graduate: a tailor, a blacksmith, forester huts, woodcutters, gatherers and houses.  We were about to build a stone bridge across the river to where we planned to build our monastery.  It would seem, as the old saying goes, we were up a creek without a paddle.

  And then I saw a wondrous sight, a miracle, a sign from above that we were on the right path and had nothing to fear.  I saw, with my own eyes, the laborers carrying building materials to the bridge construction site walking on the water, like in the Holy Book, walking on water.

  The decision was made that here we would stay.  During year 7, Arth was the first student to graduate, followed by our son, Nather.  When Adelila became an adult we hoped she would chose our boy but she married Arth instead. They moved into the house by the tailor shop and had a baby girl, Coleta, the following year.  When Earnettina became an adult she chose to marry Henerald, they moved into the newly completed house down by the creek.  Our son remained at home.

  So it was some time before my husband told me an interesting story about the 3 clerics in Smallville.  Mile was a good storyteller, like his father, they both had a knack for making people laugh.

So, as the story goes, the 2 younger clerics would go fishing together on the big lake, they had a small boat.  They planned to have a fish fry to celebrate the new church having been built, so they asked Flintonia to go with them.  They were out on the lake early and before long one of the young clerics said he was getting hungry, how about he goes gets them some honeybuns?  The others agreed so he stood up, stepped over the side of the boat, and headed off in the direction of the bakery walking on water.  Flintonia was speechless, staring off after him open-mouthed.  Before she could utter a word, the other young cleric said he would go get them some ale to wash down the honeybuns.  He stood up, stepped over the side of the boat, and was off in the same direction, walking on water.  Flintonia was dumbfounded, convinced the lake must be blessed or filled with holy water, or something.  She was the eldest cleric, if they could do it, she could do it.  She stood up, stepped over the side of the boat, and sank.  She surfaced, sputtering, and climbed back in the boat to try again.  Same results.  The third time she said a small prayer before stepping over the side but she still sank.  By now the 2 younger clerics had returned with the honeybuns and ale and stood on the shore watching her as she tried over and over again, each time sinking into the water.  The 1st cleric, after taking a bite of honeybun, said to the 2nd cleric, "So, do you think we should tell her where the stumps are?"

Abandoned

#6
Chapter 4

  The boatman didn't have too much to say about the pirates just that they were known to prey upon the boatmen, steal their goods, then trade those goods away for ale.  They weren't much interested in seeds or livestock but anything else was fair game.  Boatmen sensing they were about to be waylaid often threw barrels or crates overboard to lighten their loads before attempting to escape.  These pirates weren't known to raid towns but we might want to keep watch and keep any alcohol under lock and key or stay on their good side by trading with them.

  The next boatman to arrive said much the same thing.  He didn't have any trouble passing by the smugglers cave; he saw no signs of life   He had nothing we wanted to trade for so he was soon on his way.  We were hoping a livestock merchant would stop by, we were building another trading port.  We were also building a tall stone watchtower.  It was hard to say which got more attention that summer of year 9, the white leghorn chickens we traded for or the completion of the watchtower. 

  The watchtower was something to see and so was the view from the top.  You could see the smuggler's cave in the distance, and an overview of the town in the other direction.  Ambrosendo was appointed Village Guard and he kept watch diligently.

Nilla

I haven't used the watchtower. Does it have any other function, except help your townsfolk to discover the pirates early? Seems to be big enough to store a lot of things, especially your valuable ale! ;)

Abandoned

#8
@Nilla the watchtower generates random number of items if you have a worker assigned.  So far I've only been able to spare 1 worker to be guard.  It is not for storage and no one goes to tower to pick the items up, items go into storage.  It produces some foods, tools, coats, firewood, as long as you don't reach the limits you've set on any of the items, if one limit is reached then all production stops. 

Edit;  Spoiler ...I forgot, it also randomly generates a valuable special trade item worth 100 trade units.

Nilla

I see! So the real pirates are not the ones in the cave! It´s the one in the tower! ;)  ;D

Abandoned

@Nilla, they're all in on it together, a bad bunch but good spoils.

Abandoned

#11
Chapter 5

  By late summer of year 10, Mile and I were more concerned for our son than about the pirates.  Nather, just 18, moved out and into the first of the new row houses being built.  Townsfolk thought a complex of row houses with a courtyard would offer more safety and security for our soon to be adult children.  We did too until we learned from Cleonardo, the school teacher, that his daughter, Guadalyn, was spending a lot of time there with Nather after school and into the evening.  The girl was only 13.  Mile sat the boy down for a long talk and the late nights stopped, Nather saw the girl safely home before dark each day.  When Guadalyn finished school and became an adult, they were wed.  We breathed a sigh of relief.  We got no more complaints from the girl's parents.

  Construction of the row house complex was slow going; we only had 1 builder and there were many building projects to be done: the coal mine, the mill, and after we traded for wheat seeds, the bakery.  There was however, growing concern regarding the pirates, especially after the crate of ale that Ambrosendo found washed up on shore disappeared.  Not 1 of the 10 bottles turned up in any of the storage facilities and no one claimed to have taken any home.  Essica, the trader, said he would try to find them for the trading post but he didn't find them either.  We suspected the pirates, so I was even more concerned for son Nather when he took the job as forester, way too close for comfort to the smuggler's cave.  Lanterns for lighting our way through the dark began popping up all over town.

Abandoned

#12
Chapter 6

  After a dozen years, we finally began what we set off from Smallville to do; we began building Monkstown's Monastery.  We knew it would take a long time to complete, we had only 1 builder and 1 laborer.  The rest of us would help out when not busy with our regular jobs like we always do.  We happily welcomed each school graduate into our town's workforce.  The 6 children born our first year here were just now beginning school.

  It took nearly a year to complete the monastery. We were quite proud of our accomplishment but realized it would be years before we could start making copies of the Holy Book.  Not only did we need workers but we needed coal to make ink.  Wood for paper and leather for book covers we had.  We couldn't as yet spare any workers for the coal mine so we demolished the trading port with livestock pen and replaced it with one with storage for general goods hoping a boatman would arrive with coal. Construction of the row house complex also resumed now that the monastery was completed.  When the general goods merchant arrived we ordered coal, apples, and grain.  We were amazed at the number of items he said he could bring us, as long as the pirates let him get by.

  In late winter of year 14 we began construction of a college for our educational center but that project was put on hold.  We decided to construct a tavern.  The boatman said those pirates must have plenty of loot and a ton of coal back in that cave of theirs.  In all these years we've seen no sign of the pirates themselves but another crate of ale washed up on shore and later disappeared, just like before.  The tavern was completed but we could spare no worker.  In the spring of year 16 we eagerly awaited the graduation of the 6 firstborns of Monkstown.  We would need housing completed for the new adult couples.

  One by one the firstborns graduated and took their places in the workforce.  Collee took over for Nather as forester.  (Nather began tending the orchard to be closer to Guadelyn who was now the tailor and expecting their 3rd child.)  Ollis became our brewer at the White Swan, we would plant a 2nd field of wheat next spring.  Guadaline took over as trader.  Our girl Honor took over for the miller who became our first coal miner.  We had hoped she would have moved closer to her brother Nather in the row house complex but she chose the small house by mine instead.  It was closer to the mill.  Havenity began working as forester down across the creek, the wood house there was completed for her.  The youngest of the 6 was Ally who was still a student when she moved into the complex with Collee.  Where do these young people get these ideas.  At least they stayed together and were later wed.

Abandoned

#13
Chapter 7

  The same could not be said for Ambrosendo and his wife Etheryn.  A stone house was constructed by the monastery for either our first monk or the teacher when the college was completed.  Everyone was surprised when Ambosendo and his young son, Weaver, moved into the house.  No one had an inkling that there was trouble between the couple but we speculated that his long hours as village guard had something to do with the break up.  He moved back home several times but not for long.

  In spring of year 17, Essica became our first monk and would painstakingly began making copies of the Holy Book.  By autumn the college was completed and Cleonado brought the 5 students there.  By late autumn Essica had managed to make 4 copies of the Holy Book. We all marveled at his fine workmanship.  We decided we could not trust the boatmen with Smallville's original Holy Book, we would send them the first copy and keep the original safe and secure for them.  We would build a library where students and townspeople could read copies of the Holy Book whenever they liked.

  Little of any significance occurred during the next few years.  We traded for apple seeds and planted a 10'x12' orchard.  We looked forward to apple pies.  In late winter of year 19 we celebrated the reunion of Ambrosando and Etheryn.  She and their 2 year old son, Lymani, the result of their last attempt at reconciliation, moved in with Ambrosando and Weaver.  Their other three children, Arth, Guadaline, and Clevelt, were now adults and on their own.  Etheryn took the job as librarian and Ambrosando gave up his position as village guard and replaced Essica in the monastery.  Monkstown's first 20 years ended well, hopefully the next would go as well.

Nilla

I see that you use the "separation bug" .  ::)

I want to give a small hint about orchards. It's somehow logical; the harvest depends on the number of trees in the orchard. So it you want to use the space most efficient, there ought to be trees on the first and last tiles in both directions. It depends on the mod you use, how close the trees grow; if it's 1 or 2 free tiles between the trees, it might be different; on direction 1, the other 2, so you must find out the optimum size for each game. It's normally not a very important thing, especially in a small game but if you want to make it bigger, it might be worth thinking about.