Intro
This is the 11th story in the Smallville series and it tells the tale of the 7th expedition to leave that town. It was year 33 in Smallville. Several years of heavy rains resulted in the last 2 expeditions going to the aid of animals and survivors and founding the towns of Animal Refuge and Refugee Camp, downstream. However, despite the heavy rains, Smallville's main river was drying up, no boatman came with much needed food from Pumpkin Hollow in months. Something was wrong with the river upstream. Expedition 7 is going there to find out what.
Lakeland is map # 951310943 Big Lake, Small, fair, disasters Off, Vagrant Start. (Multiple Start Mod)
The Big Lake map file was given to me by
@kid1293 along with a wonderful Smallville Welcome Sign and birch bark canoe at the end of story 10, thanks Kid. The Vagrant start conditions is 5 families (with 2 children), a boarding house, and a surprising number of supplies including 1 crop seed.
Other Mods (some old l.0.6 & some new 1.0.7): Forest Outpost, Maritimes Dock Set, Maritime PEI Shore, Better Fields, Black/White Cattle, Buildable Storage Carts, Chicken Coop, Colorful 2 Floor Little House, Cozy Cabin, Decorative Plants, Firewood Storage, Green House, Idle Small Fisherman Dock, Longer Living Orchards, Market BBQ, Mini Building, Mushroom Fix, New Flora, 1:1, Sample White Chickens, Small Port, Specialized Stockpiles & Trading Posts, Storage Crates, Tiny, Village School, Washing Mod, Water and Other Decorations, Workplace. Note: I have not updated my game to 1.0.7.
So weary traveler, you aren't going to believe this ...
Good the see, an over all map of all your settlements. I had a lot of things to do in life and some internet problems, so I didn't follow your last story as you wrote it (I have caught up now) but I'm looking forward of this one. :)
@Nilla ,
@brads3 gets a little lost sometimes, said he needed a map and timeline. I would have like the map to turn out a little neater but it will do. I have not gotten too far with the timeline, always too much real life stuff to do here too. I think you will like this story too. :)
Chapter 1
Back in Smallville, they gave me an ultimatum, either I marry Henders or I go to a mission school for girls to learn responsibility. Ya, right like we were in the middle ages or something, all because on a hot day I went swimming instead of picking dirty mushrooms in the woods. When I protested my father said at my age I should have been married years ago but I wasn't too old for a trip behind the woodshed. I said I would have been married years ago if these boys weren't after just one thing, someone who could cook. My mother said she was very happy to hear my opinion but she agreed with my father. They wished Henders good luck on our wedding day. He was in on it all along!
My best friend, Ameronica, said the night before the wedding she overhead the men by the brewery warning Henders to be careful what he eats after we're married. About 10 years ago the wagon vendor, Ameron, was found stabbed to death. His widow was overhead telling a newly arrived nomad that her 3rd husband had just died. When asked how her 1st husband died, she said from eating her mushroom soup. When asked how her 2nd husband died, she said from eating her mushroom soup. When asked how her 3rd husband died, she admitted she stabbed him. When asked why she stabbed him she said because he wouldn't eat her mushroom soup. Henders laughed and said he would be careful what he ate.
To make matters even worse, I was told we were going to go see what happen to our river which was now little more than a stream. I felt like I was being banished. And then I had to carry sack after heavy sack of potatoes to the supply wagon waiting by the Smallville Sign southeast of town. There wasn't even a road there yet, there wasn't enough stone. There wasn't enough of this, there wasn't enough of that, well there sure was enough potatoes. Who was going to cook all these potatoes? Why couldn't we take something lighter? Henders handed me some seeds and seedlings to take to the wagon. Why couldn't we just take mushroom?
Attention
@kid1293 , It sounds to me as if I married you off to the main character in this story. LOL Is that okay with you or shall I print a disclaimer, any similarity to any person real or fictional is purely unintentional? That's the thanks you get for making so many great mods. Thank you :)
no wonder each story is nuttier than the last. you have been eating bad mushrooms. that explains lots.
I hear you, woman. I better behave then?
I talked to the trader and he said he could bring some special mushroom seeds.
I don't know if they are magic or what, but he said you could get a huge harvest
from a small field. You just wait and see.
(A bit of a cheat. I used the vanilla numbers for mushrooms and they are high.
It should be safe to load in a saved game)
@kid1293 oh thank you, those look fantastic, will definitely add to map. Must remember to invite
@brads3 over for mushroom soup :) Here is chapter 2
Chapter 2
There were 12 of us that set off from Smallville in early spring, 10 adults and 2 children. My best friend, Ameronica, and her husband, Andro, were among them, thank goodness. Oh, I'm Karriet, nice to meet you. Well, we didn't have too far to go around the bend before we discovered the problem with the river. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that falling rocks and mudslides caused a big lake to form and forced the main river to flow off to the southeast. Oh, a rocket scientist is a dwarf who knows a lot about rocks.
Anyways, we went north around the lake up near the main river to setup our settlement. We gathered resources and built a boarding house, then gathered wild foods to go with all those potatoes. Oh yes, there were lots of mushrooms growing in the forest. The men began hunting, fishing, and making tools. Isamarice began chopping firewood and Ameronica took charge of the seedlings. Palomena began making linen clothes from the pretty little blue flax plants she found. The rest of us toted supplies and starting building houses. I asked Henders why he chose to build our house on the other side of the boarding house away from the others. Ameronica and Andro's house was being built way on the other side of town. All he said was "you'll see." It was a really nice looking cozy house with an upper porch, a root cellar, and pots to gather wild honey. And in winter I saw a whole herd of deer grazing right outside my window. What a nice surprise, I loved it.
It was no surprise that by late winter there was a newborn in each of the 5 houses, our included, but there was another surprise in early spring. After another breakfast of lumpy wild oats, Henders told me to come outside but close my eyes and keep them closed until he told me to open them. He took my hand and lead me down to the lake before telling me to open my eyes. There before me were beautiful blooming water lilies and purple irises. He just smiled before heading back to the house to find something else to eat.
I guess it was your intention. I indeed was a bit puzzled as I read the word "rocket scientist" but your explanation makes perfect sense. ;D
You say you haven't upgraded to version 1.0.7. Right? Still i can see the big menu with more resources on the last picture. Is anything odd?
@Nilla , there are many American expressions that refer to a really smart person, one is a "brain surgeon" and another is a (space travel) "rocket scientist", I just took the expression back in time with my explanation. There are many expressions that mean just the opposite, for instance if it were Christmas time I would refer to the main character of this story as being "not the brightest bulb on the tree"
Regarding upgrade, I have not upgraded my game to 1.0.07 yet but I am using several mods made with the new tool kit. I upgraded one of those mod after I started the map since I hadn't used it yet. Then I noticed the change in the info menu. I like
@Necora 's Maritime mod very much, wish I was a better dock builder, it's a little tricky. But I can't say I like this new info box, it takes up more space on the screen but with it closed I can't keep my eye on important info of food, logs, firewood, tools, and clothes. Also unless it is open on screen shots I have to make more notes on year and season and population. So game and story taking me longer but here is the next chapter.
Chapter 3
Not only was my new husband full of surprises but he was quite resourceful as well despite being just a kid himself. He built a canoe of birch bark that was small and lightweight enough to traverse the small stream. Did I tell you he made the town signs back in Smallville? Oh yes, very nice indeed. Anyways, a trading post barge would never make it down that stream to Smallville but the canoe full of food could. By winter of year 2 we had a good surplus of food but by then the stream had frozen over. The town hall, started earlier in the year, was completed and the small forest schoolroom had its 1st student. A crop field was cleared and ready for planting next spring.
In spring of year 3, Trentino and Jannamae arrived from Smallville. There was a serious food shortage there now, if we had food to spare they would take it back there. Well, I did tell them we were taking to many potatoes but nobody listened to me. Henders shushed me and said the canoe would get there a lot faster than a month or more on foot with a wagon, probably longer since it was such a rainy spring. One of the laborers could make the canoe trip right away. I said one of the others would have to go because I had mushrooms to pick as soon as it stopped raining. It was hard to keep a straight face seeing the look Henders just gave me.
Rome, the teacher, was glad the outdoor school had such a good roof. He too thought it was raining more than normal that spring and summer. At least it did not affect the squash crop as we feared. A large storage shed was built out over the lake to make it easier to load food on to canoes to send to Smallville. At the town meeting, Trentino said that down in Riverboat Junction they had food storage sheds built so sacks of foods could be lowered into the water for better keeping quality. Lanon who caught a fair amount of fish from shore thought that was a very good idea since the lake water was very cold. He also had a very good suggestion. Since we would need more food to send to Smallville and the land here, not taken up by the big lake, was littered with stone and iron, he suggested we go underwater. Through the cold clear water he could see freshwater mussels, soft shelled clams, scallops, and oysters that floodwaters must have washed down from the coast. There was also plenty of seaweed. (oh, yuk)
We needed more canoes, the food storage shed, a fishery, some dock walkways and stairs, another house, plus a tiny trading post. Despite all the building projects underway, Henders took time to make us a washing station near the town well. Yes, it was wonderful, heated water and washlines. Ameronica just laughed when I said I was glad he didn't expect me to take the wash downriver and beat it with a rock.
it is weird that you did get the new items added without the upgrade. do you have steam? just thinking it auto-updated. i can understand the window being too large. i had to move my windows around because my worker bar got too big.seems evn thou the jobs are the same each mod adds to that toolbar.maybe once the mods are recoded,someone can make you a mod to reset the resource window back to basic.
@Abandoned cool story!
If you can think of any way I can make the dock placement easier let me know!
Yes, I know the meaning of the expression "rocket scientist". I've learned most of my English by watching films and listening to music. Swedish is such a small language and opposite to other larger languages, films and television are always in original language with sub titles (unless it's a film for very small children). It was only funny to read it in your story, but you explained it in a very clever way. ;D
Nice that you continue your series. I just want to ask... From where is that cool canoe? And how you can have this new cc status bar if your game still runs on 1.0.6?
she uses elves,TOM.
@Tom Sawyer , sorry I do not know how to add a link but the canoe was made by kid and can be found on page 2 of village blog story #10 Refugee Camp.
Yes, my game is still 1.0.6, I did not update and as
@brads3 asked, it is not steam and did not auto update. For this map I did use a few new mods made for 1.0.7 and on a picture in chapter 1 you can see the original status box and community mod icon. Then I saw Necora updated one of the Maritime mods so I downloaded it since I did not use it in the map as yet. Then I saw I had the new status box so I am thinking it has something to do with that update. Everything seems to be working ok in the map with the 1.0.7 mods but none of them have items for those new categories in the status box. I think the game has to be updated to use mods that use those new categories so the totals would appear in the correct categories. I am trying to get use to this bigger status box.
Edit: see 4th picture in chapter 2 and 3rd picture in chapter 3
Chapter 4
In spring of year 4, Tone and Lora arrived from Smallville. The food we sent helped tremendously but Smallville needed more, the town depended on food from Pumpkin Hollow that they traded seedlings for. That food supply was now cut off. Expeditions were still leaving Smallville in order to reduce food consumption, they were taking the extra seeds and livestock. The town botanist did however send us more seedlings for our greenhouse which we had yet to build. Our tiny trading post was completed and stocked with tools, clothes, iron, and stone. Too bad we couldn't get some of that stone to Smallville for their roads, but another canoe full of food was on its way. Not knowing the conditions of the river upstream, we only hoped that a riverboat merchant would make it to our port.
In spring of year 5, 9 Smallvillians migrated to Lakeland to help with our food production. Our building projects were suffering from a lack of logs but we managed to build a few more houses and our first fishery. One of the new arrivals, Bertus, originally came from down River Junction way so he had some experience as a shore fisher. It wasn't long before he was bringing up mussels from the lake floor. What the heck were those? Did they need cooking? We badly needed logs and firewood, can't cook without firewood. Bertus' wife, Ayann, became our 2nd forester.
A 2nd floor was built on their colorful little house. As much as we liked all the new houses, we liked the old ones just as well especially this one because it reminded us all of Smallville. It had a nice warm homey glow about it. But the glow wasn't from a nice warm fire, we were still critically short of firewood. Building projects needing logs were put on hold and we all took to the woods to cut trees. It got so bad that winter we feared someone might freeze to death so we built a small cemetery just in case.
We survived the winter but that spring of year 6 we had few warm fires to relieve the damp chill or to dry the wash by. My wash was still out on the line in the pouring rain when 6 flood survivors arrived. They were very happy to have found us and we were very happy to have more workers for the new forester station north of town. The population of Lakeland was now 45, 26 adults, 3 students, and 16 children.
oh ya, the colorful little house are always lovely :)
Chapter 5
My wash was again out on the line in the pouring rain when the first boatman came to our tiny dock in the summer of year 6. He only brought pear seeds which we were not interested in at the time. We were interested in whatever information he could give us though. This river was a new fork in the river that came down from the north, Pumpkin Hollow was down the other fork to the west. He had no idea where this river would take him but chances are he'd end up back at Riverboat Junction or find a tributary with a currant that would take him back around the way he came from so he'd probably be back again. Might take awhile, he'd see about bring more seeds. He wasn't looking forward to crossing this great big lake especially in this wind and rain. He said a trading post right on the upper river might be safer for the river boatmen, they could then stay closer to the east lakeshore when they leave.
We thought a good place for a 2nd trading post was next to the new greenhouse. We already had a fishing pier and a 2 story house built over there by the river for flood survivors that arrived in the spring of year 7. Hymani set up a small brewery and began making mead from our wild honey. Rellary became our botanist. We would have a good supply of trade goods nearby but the trading post construction project was put on hold; as far as our log supply went we were not out of the woods yet.
In spring of year 8, 6 more Smallvillians joined us to help with food production. Another colorful house was built for a gatherer north of town where we now had 4 foresters. We also had a small home baker making herb bread with the wild oat flour. It was delicious and didn't need cooking. I must say, Henders has never once complained about my cooking. Of course after all these years of experience I can now make lumpfree cooked oats with honey on top for breakfast. Our oldest child really likes it before going off to the new school. And weary traveler, you are not going to believe this, but I was really happy when the river boatman returned with potato seeds. Yes, potato seeds.
Chapter 6
Henders and I were staying closer to home, he took over as brewer down the road and I was gathering the wild honey nearby. Our daughter was in school now but we had 3 sons still at home and another child on the way, yup, the 5th. In spring of year 9 the children got to meet their grandparents for the first time, 10 family members arrived from Smallville for a short visit, our mothers among them. I was more than happy to let them take over the washing and cooking for the short time they were with us. Henders ate like he was one of those back home who was starving.
The visit from our families ended all too soon, but our diet and theirs continued to improve. The next canoes were loaded with clams, scallops, and potatoes. In winter of year 9 the river boatman brought chickens. A small chicken coop was built but no fence even though our wood supply continue to improve. Progress on other building projects continued throughout year 10. The covered bridge between the 2 trading posts provided our laborers with shelter from the rain and shade from the summer sun. One of the 16 Smallvillians who arrived earlier in the year knew about harvesting seaweed so another fishery was built along the lakeshore. I don't think Henders liked my seafood and seaweed surprise, he just kind of picked at it and asked what the surprise was. I smiled sweetly and replied ... mushrooms.
Glad to have you here
@Abandoned ! You bring life to what I think is a very static
stage of the game. I see it from my perspective, I usually don't play much!
It has been testing/editing/reloading/testing and then a new map.
I'm glad you have brought us these 'real-banished-life' stories!
And also - it gives ideas how to combine certain things and improve others.
Thanks!
A pity you don't use Necoras pine mod. It has chanterells! But maybe they are to harmless for your Karriett. ;)
Chapter 7
The following spring, year 11, 10 nomads arrived from the north, we sent them to Smallville where they now had enough food and housing to take them in. Shortly after we had an outbreak of dysentery, so some worried about their families and friends back in Smallville. I thought the cause was all that seaweed being harvested and eaten so I wasn't worried, and I didn't have to worry about Henders or the children either, we didn't eat much of it. A small tent hospital was promptly set up so none of the 13 who became ill died.
Life and work soon returned to normal, but not for long. Everyone liked the new lighthouse that was built by the trading post, especially the boatmen who brought wool. We would have warmer coats that winter. In spring of year 12, 15 more nomads arrived from the north but did not stay. An outbreak of scarlet fever followed their departure. I lost track of the total number of cases but no one perished.
The last 5 patients were recovering when the new trading post was finally completed and another lighthouse was built nearby. A bridge was planned for next year to reach all the stone on the other side of the river. An outdoor classroom was also planned. It's hard to say which building project we liked more, the lighthouse or the gazebo. It was a quiet respite away from the sickness and strife, and even in the pouring rain it offered a peaceful scenic view, and, like the patients, it only got better with time.
Love your fishing area, wouldn't mind fishing there myself.
Chapter 8
The weather did not get better however, I was again rushing to get diapers off the washline between downpours of rain. My best friend Ameronica stopped by for a visit and to help out as she often did. I told her how much I appreciated her help since I had 1 girl and 2 boys in school, 2 boys at home, and, she wasn't going to believe this, but another one on the way. Well, she said she wasn't surprised, it's not as if we were in dark ages and didn't know why that happened. It was the house, yes, the house. The wooden house, the small house and little house, and even the forest house were all built to house 2 or 3 children, this cozy cabin was built especially for a large family. Oh I see (said the blind carpenter who picked up his hammer and saw), that explained it then.
The rainy weather was very good for one thing, for growing mushrooms. Not just any mushrooms, very special mushrooms. I was very glad we had the greenhouse seedling from Smallville to trade for the mushroom seeds when the boatman brought them. These mushrooms came with a trade-good-back guarantee to be 100% safe to eat. These were magic mushrooms, when the sun came out after a good rain, the mushrooms sprang up in abundance in the small field I planted.
There had of course been talk years ago about the Smallville wagon merchant being stabbed to death by his wife, but there was never any mention of her reason for doing so. I guess the men just didn't want to give their wives any ideas. Henders did not know that I knew that he knew about the mushroom soup. When his mother was here for the visit she told me as a boy he really like mushrooms, now he barely touched them. What could I do?
In early summer of year 14, the boatman brought black and white cattle. Again, thanks to our seedlings we were able to trade for 3 of them. In no time at all we had fresh milk for the children and a workplace dairy set up for cream. That winter I had the ingredients I needed for homemade mushroom soup. When Henders came home for supper one cold snowy winter day, he found the children waiting at the table each with a bowl of soup in front of them. He sat down in his chair where his bowl awaited him. He looked at the soup, he looked at me, he looked at his 5 hungry children and ... he picked up his spoon and began to eat. He said it was the best mushroom soup he ever ate.
So weary traveler, after 15 years Lakeland did quite well. We have an abundance of food and send regular canoe-fulls to Smallville and we even have a lakeside fish and chips BBQ market. We have a population of 114, 58 adults, 22 students, and 34 young children, all happy and healthy.
The End
hehe nice :)
;D
i wonder what kind of story she will do next.
@Abandoned - I bought all the mushrooms the trader had.
I think it's too much to make soup... but I liked the soup! ;)
@brads3 - Picture taken 2 seconds before the inevitable crash.
To anyone else. Sorry for being off-topic. I'll behave myself.
:D ;D
Why not, we already knew we are Banished to a unknown planet, where people age fast. Why not trees like this. Kerriet would have bin pleased. :)
@kid1293 hahaha, I love that pic :) lol
Wallpaper here I come :D
now we need smurfs to live in those big mushrooms
Looolllllll
remind me Zangermarsh in world of warcraft lol
@kid1293 cool mushroom forest, like the mushroom trees. :) Glad you liked the soup and story. Thanks for great mods and the Smallville Sign.