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Abandoned - Darkmoor Haven - Story 54

Started by Abandoned, February 29, 2020, 07:30:32 AM

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Abandoned

@banishedsanni Kid has also made override clothes mods, black, brown, white, buckskin, Ice Castle, and Christmas.  These mods change the clothes of all bannies on the map - I only have dark elves on one side of the river but thank you for the tip on dunmer clothes. It looks interesting  :) maybe for another map.

Abandoned

#16
Chapter 7


  We were totally taken by surprise when we were informed that another 10% of our goods needed to be taken to the collection dock before the ship arrived.  We were not at all happy about this but the fear of dark magic being used against us was always present.  It was not as if the donation would cause shortages or hardships and the dark elves did contribute most of the wild foods and venison.

  Averich and I began tallying the amounts need.  We had only just finished our calculations and were waiting for their workers to come to verify our numbers and move the items to the dock when a riverboat was spotted coming down the river.   Close behind was a large ship with dark sails.  The sight of those sails got us wondering if we were dealing with pirates rather than dark elves.  The men said pirates would raid and pillage not ask for help.  Still we wondered.

  The river boat pulled up to the collector dock but the large ship maneuvered past.  The river boatman, Estefanie the Collector, said it would anchor in deeper water and wait to be loaded from the riverboat.  There was a deep lake not far down river.  Meanwhile the 3 dock workers were busy bring the required goods, a 4th worker was added to help.  The workers would help load the goods unto the river boat which would probably need to make several trips back and forth.  There were 3070 units of goods for which we received a receipt.  Averich was quick to note that the receipt was for the trade value of the items not the total number of items.

  The dark elves' laborers did not hesitate to come to collect wild foods and firewood branches to help replenish our supply. 

Abandoned

#17
Chapter 8


  The dark elves were always willing to help.  When we were short of iron and finding little on our side of the river, they collected iron on their side then built a market cart and assigned one of their workers to bring the iron closer to our workshop.  They built another cart and assigned a worker to bring the logs closer too.  It was a tremendous help because it snowed in early autumn that year.

  It was not only the winter that was dark but the mood of the people too.  There was always the unspoken fear of dark magic and now a possible connection to pirates.  There was no sign of magic being used and there were no threats but there was always doubt and fear.  It was troublesome that the children who got along so well and played together when younger were now often fighting and name calling.  One of the first students at the dark elves' school was in tears because one of our boys asked if she was studying to be a witch.  We wondered what would happen when more of the children reached marriageable age.  The first new dark elf couple moved into their new house on the other side of the river.  The oldest children on our side of the river were ages 12 and 10 so we had a few years yet before we need worry if there would be problems.

  At the beginning of year 8 we were told to tally our goods again, the ship would be returning soon.  There was no incentive for our people to expand the farmyards and production when they had to give away a percentage to some unknown cause.  The tallying was done but it was discovered there were goods that had not been picked up last year, 20% was apparently more than the ship could hold. We felt we were given a reprieve when told to include what was already at the dock in the required 10%.  In early summer the ship with dark sails went past on its way to anchor again in the deep waters of the lake and the riverboat was right behind.  We were given a receipt for 2,632 units and all units were taken to the waiting ship.

Abandoned

#18
Chapter 9


  We were given a reprieve by the weather that year too.  The temperatures hovered just above freezing until early winter when we had the first snow of the season. I still had wash out on the line.  The snow soon melted and it stayed mild throughout the winter, it was near 60 degrees in early spring of year 9.  Camerilyn, the woodcutter, said sure the winter was mild when the logs were now closer to go to get.  People seemed to always look on the dark side of  things instead of the bright side. 

  Camerilyn was Cardo and Elaynellamae's daughter who missed starting school.  She was now 14 and still living at home. Across the river, a young man that age just moved into his own cabin near the Coven Hall.  Camerilyn's parents and Hesteban and Eberty in the other tree topper house each had 2 children.  Adon and Suzetter in the pretty house and Averich and I both just had our 5th child.  Our oldest child was 7, theirs was 6.   Juliano and Marnday in the other spacious house had 6 children, their oldest was 11 and still in school.  Our school now had 7 children, the school across the river had 3.

  There was still some name-calling and fighting among the school children.  The words witches, pirates, and peasant farmers were heard.  I went across the river to discuss the problem with Hilliam.  Her daughter Ailerra was the same age as my Flora, both would be starting school soon.   I was concerned that the dark elves' school was teaching dark magic.  Hilliam was concerned about the children's behavior also and assured me that the only dark magic was the spell that protected their books from the elements.  Those books contained pictures and descriptions of wild food plants and herbs and their uses, and which ones to combine for healing. They teach their children survival skills like they do back in Smallville.  This was not the first time herbalist healers were called witches.  The dark magic spell book was sealed and used only to teach dark elven history.  I told her that our school also teaches survival skills, and about plants and animals that can be grown and raised.  We also teach reading and math.  We agreed it would benefit the children to learn each other's skills.  Averich and I set up a rabbit hutch and farmyard with chickens near their school and she and Bostoney would bring the children to the tallyman on counting day.
 
  The collector ship returned in late summer and our count was much lower, 1641 compared to 2632 last year.  Our production was up so whether this drop was due to more mouths to feed or being closer to fall when pantries were being stocked we didn't know.   All the school children got a lesson in collecting wild foods and harvesting crops.  It snowed in autumn.  Although tensions between our two sides improved somewhat, in winter, everyone was a bit relieved that Bostoney and Hilliam's son, Burrel, took a dark elf girl for his bride.

Abandoned

#19
Chapter 10


  In early spring of year 10, the dark elves began doing some fishing, and they were growing more crops and raising baby goats across from their outdoor classroom.  One of their gatherers came to join ours to give some tips and pointers.  We expanded our farmyard and now had more sheep being raised in front of our school. It was tally time again and the dark elf teacher brought her students to the tallyman's office to learn the value of math. The children on both sides of the river were learning a lot.  So were we.

  I was surprised to have learned that Hilliam knew about the outdoor survival school in Smallville.  She said river boatmen were a good source of information.  She would say no more about it or exactly where they had come here from.  Averich had no luck getting information from Bostoney either.  Averich not only wanted to know where they came from but where the collector ship was taking our goods.  Were we aiding the pirates?  We had a lot of questions.

  We got an opportunity to have some of our questions answered when the ship arrived and the riverboat had to wait at the collection dock.  Both sides were now short of spare workers and since the tally was even less this year, only 1 worker was assigned to take the goods from storage to the dock.  The goods were not all at the dock even though it was early autumn before the collection boats returned.  The river boatman had to wait.  While the dark elf dock worker was away getting goods, Averich had a chance to talk to the boatman.

  The boatman would not say who he worked for or where the ship was going only that he was lucky to get the job.  There was a shortage of river boatman so routes were long and time away from families even longer.  There was trouble with bears in the north and crocogators in the south.  They lost many river boatmen to the giant frog invasion in the swamp.  The rivers have changed but there are now maps circulating. There is no regular riverboat route in this area at the moment that he knew of.  The dock worker returned so Averich could learn no more from the river boatman but we knew more than we did before.

Abandoned

#20
Chapter 11


  The temperature dropped very rapidly and it began to snow in late autumn, the boatman could wait no longer, the still water of the lake where the ship waited could freeze over.  We got our receipt for all but 60 pieces of venison.  We would need to add them to next years tally, he just couldn't wait. Again our tally was lower than the year before.  If the extra products were going into pantries instead of storage, it sure wasn't our pantry. 

Dark elf Haly said some of the venison could be made into sausages, the venison would go farther and the sausages last longer.  She set up a butcher cutting table on our side of the river not far from where most of our venison was stored.  She didn't mind the long walk from her haven house and both of her children were now in school so she had time to help out here.

  With the ship coming and going so late, it was soon tally time again.  It seemed like that was all we were doing - tallying and worrying that we would be left short.  It was still cold and snowing in early spring.  First thing that went to the dock was the 60 units of venison.  The dark elves send over 2 dock workers this year so we would not again fail to have the tally waiting at the dock.

  We had a new worry this year.  Once the snow melted the weather turned hot and dry.  We were afraid of fire.  We could not risk one of the storage units being destroyed, we began building stone wells nearby.  We were short of firewood in spring and then short of stone to build the wells.  We only had one builder, and until the dock workers were done stocking the dock, we only had 3 laborers.  By the end of summer we assigned a woodcutter rather than collecting branches with so few laborers, they were still collecting stone.  Autumn was cooler with rain and in late autumn the rain turned to snow.  The ship still had not returned. 

  It was early winter when Adon, the hunter, spotted the riverboat and ship approaching.  We were all surprised when the ship pulled up to the dock instead of sailing on to the lake to wait.  It did not take long to load the ship and we received our receipt for 1718 units - up 443 units including the venison.  The year was ending by the time the ship sailed away with the riverboat close behind.  It would soon be tally time again.

Abandoned

#21
Chapter 12


  While the ship was being loaded, Averich spent some time at the dock trying to get a chance to speak with the ship's crew but with no luck.  He did notice that several of them had wooden peg legs.  The black sails and peg legs seemed to convince him that we were indeed dealing with pirates.  There was no time to worry about that now, it was again tally time.  Gardo and Elaynellamae's daughter, Camerilyn, would be the only trader restocking the collection dock.  She was now 17, still living at home, and not happy to have to do all the restocking work herself.  Where were the dark elf workers?

  One of them had been working at our workshop making iron tools.  In spring, that worker, Hamilo the blacksmith died after being burned in the forge.  He was badly burned and buried immediately in the wrong cemetery, ours on this side of the river.  No one seemed to mind, we all grieved the loss.  He left behind a wife, 2 school age children, and a 2 year old.  We were concerned when Tamathaly took her husband's place at the workshop.  We at least managed to convince her to make warm clothes instead of tools.  The school children were sad for their friends, their school had 8 students, our school had 13.

  We tried to cheer Camerilyn up by building her a house by the collection dock.  We hoped to have it finished by the time she was done restocking.  She was done a bit sooner but promptly moved into the house just the same.  It was the very last days of year 12 before the ship and riverboat approached the dock.

Abandoned

#22
 :) I agree, the lighting of that mod is very nice, especially the dark night.  :)


Chapter 13


  The ship arrived too late for it to be loaded and gone before we did another tally and restocking of the dock.  Averich and I went across the river to discuss the matter with Bostoney and Hilliam.  They agreed that it was too late.  Averich was hoping to talk to the crew of the dark ship but instead he asked Bostony if these men were pirates.   The answer was "not any more".  Instead of a direct answer to where the ship was going, Bostony said where it was going the people were in need of hide coats and iron tools.  Instead of the yearly tally we should have 100 hide coats and 100 iron tools waiting for the next ship.  It could be done, we already had more than enough tools and there was plenty of leather in storage to make coats.

  Averich himself would become blacksmith making iron tools in the workshop.  Widow Tamathaly was now working the farmyard across from her home across the river by the school. I was now teacher in our school.   We set up a workplace tailor near the workshop and one across the river by the haven storage unit.  Dark elves, Hely and Garet would be tailors.

  The collector ship was loaded in late spring and we received our receipt for 1749 units, up only slightly from the year before.  The ship hoisted its black sails and was soon on its way.  The 100 iron tools were taken to the dock in early autumn and the 100 hide coats by late autumn.  We were told to tally up the regular 10% as soon as the ship picked up the coats and tools next years.

Abandoned

#23
Chapter 14

  Year 14 began with shortages of iron, firewood, and logs.  The dark elves began gathering iron from their side of the river and we began gathering branches.  We built a garden shed forester north of town to have a steady more reliable supply of logs.  We reassigned a woodcutter.

  In early summer the ship arrived to pick up the 100 iron tools and 100 hide coats, the value was 2,230 trade units.  We received our 7th receipt.  The items were easy and quick to load and the ship was soon on its way.  We immediately did the tallying for the next shipment.  We were not happy about this and the lack of information.  Again there was talk on our side of the river about migrating to a different area, a less harsh climate and more fertile soil might be nice.  But then the inevitable happened, Quentice from our side of the river married Honoree who was expecting his child, he moved into the Haven house with her.  Both sides of the river celebrated when baby Bryle was born.

  Reinal from our side of the river married Quentice's sister Camerilyn, and moved into the house by the dock with her.  A single female from the other side of the river moved into a tree topper house by our garden shed, and a single male moved into a snug house by the bridge across the river.  There would be more new couples soon.  Somehow it no longer seemed to matter from which side of the river they were from.  We were all part of Darkmoor Haven, population 70, 36 adults, 19 students, and 15 young children.

Abandoned

#24
Chapter 15


  It may not have mattered much anymore to us which side of the river people came from, but it mattered to the new couple Quentice and Honoree.  Apparently, Quentice was questioning Honoree about where she came from, and about the Dark Elven Capital City, and about the ship.  The questions were causing problems in their marriage.  I heard it from Hilliam who heard it from Honoree, and I told Averich.  He and I went to talk to Bostoney and Hilliam.  We asked if it would not be better to just answer some of our questions rather than let the secrets come between this couple and others.  After all, it has been over 10 years since they arrived here.  We had 7 receipts from the collector ship.  Bostoney and Hilliam said they would give the matter some serious thought but they wanted us to know that the goods that were loaded on the ship went to people who really need them.

  It was late summer when the ship arrived once again to collect our goods.  We got our 8th receipt, this time for a value of 2116, but this time we also received something else in return.  They brought some seeds and tree seedling for us, not enough for crop fields or orchards but enough for a farmyard or two.  I was called to the dock to get the seeds and seedling.  As the ship pulled away I waved and several of the crew members waved back.  I was eager to learn where these men came from and where they were going.

banishedsanni

Where is that ship from? Is it a deco piece?

kid1293

Hi.
The ship is from new mod 'Gothic Tithes and Tributes'. I will upload it soon.
I found the ship on the internet and worked with it to have it as decoration.

banishedsanni

QuoteHi.
The ship is from new mod 'Gothic Tithes and Tributes'. I will upload it soon.
I found the ship on the internet and worked with it to have it as decoration.


kid1293


banishedsanni

There can never be enough deco pieces!