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.
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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.
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/
@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.
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.
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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.
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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?
Quote from: Abandoned on August 01, 2022, 05:12:54 AM
@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 :)
Thanks :) I got v1.5 of Tropico, ;D like the 2D and the music.
Chapter 2
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Your story has a nice tropical feel about it :)
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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
Chapter 10
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One hut was built next to the new papaya patch and another a bit farther back next to the blacksmith's hut. The opening in the fence was closed up because that family had a young child. Torches would be kept lit by the other openings. Another hut was built behind the coconut patch and the last hut across from the school. That left 2 young men in the communal hut. They spent a lot of time out front in the hammocks.
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We hoped one or both of those young men would go to work at the forester's hut that was built outside the fence behind the communal hut. I potted up some of the many saplings that were sprouting up around the village. As hoped the 2 young men volunteer to be our foresters. They would not have an easy job, there was a lot of stone and iron in that area that they would have to clear away while planting the trees.
Ah, the hammock, it beckons - the sky is blue, the sun is high, the tropical fruit is growing. ;D
Work at the forester? :o
Not today - its time for another Mai-Tai 8)
;D
Chapter 11
A gatherer's hut was built on the east side of the fence just past the school. There was less stone and iron so there was more wild foods. There was even some wild flax that spawned from the wild grass. There were wild oats to be gathered and we did have a little corn from our one crop patch, but we could have used more grain. We planted another crop patch there by the gatherer's hut when the east wall was completed. A small storage hut was built by the stockpile.
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Hoping for more grain, we decided to build a trading post on the river. We hoped a river boatman could make it past the pirates to our port. We saw the pirates had a trading post, probably to trade their ill-gotten goods, but whether or not a trader visited, we didn't know. If one made it to our port, we had a lot of fruit we could trade, maybe even some iron.
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Even though the pirate men were gone, we continued to keep an eye on the pirate town. All the watching must have been getting to me because I sometimes felt like I was being watched. As far as we knew, no one has been near that pirate lookout tower. Now that we had more workers, and the pirate men were gone, we took the opportunity to check out the shipwreck and the smuggler's cave.
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The shipwrecked merchant ship had been cleared out, probably by the pirates. There was wood and iron that could be scavenged, and there was some firewood laying around but that was about it. Surprisingly there were some full barrels of rum in one of the cargo holds. One or two barrels that were floating in the water also contained rum. Valentice said the merchandise from the shipwreck might still be in the smuggler's cave. He was right. There were some foods that were older than I would want to eat, but there were also textiles, clothes, and tools too. We left everything exactly as we found it.
Chapter 12
The road from the main storage hut was extended to the trading post which was being stocked with some of each of our 5 tropical fruits. In late summer of year 6, our top-of-the-hill pirate watcher saw a riverboat coming down the river. It was Almers, the food merchant.
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Almers was happy to accept fruit in exchange for the nut bread he had. The river boatmen would always accept fruit but what was really needed was fruit tree seedlings. Many customers only wanted a few fruit trees, not seeds for a whole orchard. They wanted to grow more of their own food because there were food shortages and delivery problems because of weather and pirates. He admitted there is some trade with pirates. Merchants are willing to pay to get their looted goods back. All he would tell us about the pirates upriver was that they lost most of their crew during the giant frog invasion a few years back, some from diseases after the attack, and some from the attack itself. Two of the survivors have peg legs. There was still a lot of diseases going around. These pirates weren't really bad, they were just trying to survive.
Almers left saying he would spread the word that we had tropical fruit to trade. I said we would have seedling too.
Chapter 13
After Almers left, we immediately built a small storage shed and a seedling hut across from my house. With a neighbor's help, I began collecting and potting fruit tree seedlings. Almers said we would get a good trade value of 10 units for each of them. It was nice working so close to home, Valentice and I had a 2nd child, a boy, who was just starting to toddle around.
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After talking with Almers, we realized that we were ill-prepared for any illnesses or disease outbreaks. We only had a few herbs we gathered ourselves. We rectified that situation by first building an herbalist hut back by the communal hut and a healing clinic by the main storage hut. There were always herbs sprouting in the forest area just behind the fence. The clinic may not have been in the wisest location next to the busy storage hut, but it was convenient and easy to reach by everyone.
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Two strange incidents occurred after the buildings were completed. First off, the young singles living in the communal hut reported seeing someone lurking about the herbalist hut at dusk while it was still being built. Then at dawn the next morning after it was completed, they thought they heard strange chanting coming from that direction. No one else heard or saw anything. However, someone thought they saw someone lurking near the healing clinic. It was a week or two later that a few of the village children became ill with stomach aches. One of the mothers would watch over them if they were all taken to the clinic. The children were settled in hammocks and napping when the mother too dozed off. She awoke to the sound of chanting but saw nothing. Strangely, when the children awoke, they all felt fine.
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Chapter 14
We continued to keep watch, not only on the pirates but on our own people as well. All citizens were advised to report anything suspicious. We doubted that the strange lurking figure could have been one of the pirates. The 3 pirate women continued as usual fishing, tending the wheat field, and doing chores. The pirate men did not return until early autumn of year 7.
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When the 3 pirate men returned, they did not return alone. They brought 7 adults and 1 child with them plus a cow and some chickens and sheep. Some of the newcomers were not dressed as pirates, we wondered if they were captives. They did not act like captives and did not seem to be taking orders. They began building houses with weathered wood from the stockpile. They built 2 houses and a sheep shed, then another house and an animal shed for the cow and chickens.
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The family with the child moved into the first house that was built and it appeared to be young singles that moved into the other 2. They were preparing to build more, and they were gathering branches closer to our hill than the pirates had been before. No one approached us or acknowledged that they were aware of our presence.
"No one approached us or acknowledged that they were aware of our presence"
But the pirates are aware - they always have been aware.
The shipwreck and cave were there when you arrived.
They watched your arrival, heard your words, watched what you did, what you built, what you grew, and they waited - wanting to keep to themselves.
For years travellers have come and gone - staying for a year or two, occasionally more, before returning to their homeland.
Some of the buildings in the pirate town were built by these people.
This time, however, things may be different - your group of settlers has been here for longer - this time the pirates wonder if you will stay.
Even so the pirates are wary.
For in that, you are correct, the pirates, like your group, are simply trying to survive, they are good people.
They have watched the outside world for decades - seeing, listening, observing - learning.
Now may be the time for your group to reach out, make contact, make friends - seek, and offer help and guidance when needed.
See what pearls of wisdom may be imparted.
How peace and prosperity is, and will be maintained for both communities.
How lasting friendship will be forged.
:) Nice try but you cannot change story or history.
Pirate men were not there when settlers arrived, only their women and children. They were in Summerset Swamp, no one was watching but us from the top of the hill. Pirates first aware of settlers when they sailed by on next trip, more important things on their minds. Pirates had not been there long themselves, pirate town was not on the map. No one else had been this way, except stray ship they ran aground and looted. No abandoned settlement, no one else had come and gone, just a river boatman now and then on his way to Riverboat Junction, stopping to trade with pirates to recover merchant's goods.
:) Nice that story is inspiring thought though.
@Abandoned ;D ;D ;D Fantastic story, very nice to read, a little cheer will be useful to the exiled - great story Crash Site - History 82, surprising endings - thanks. Regards
:) Thanks
@taniu :)
Old Hovel update, with animal sheds and new houses, has been released. Find info and link to download here:
http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=3744.0
Chapter 15
In late autumn, Gradyn, a seed merchant, stopped at our trading dock. He had banana seeds with him but he did not want to sell them to us. He had a message from Riverboat Junction. They'd be willing to sell us any seeds we needed in exchange for fruit tree seedlings, as long as we had a proper trading post for the seeds. The seeds would not keep well or sprout well when planted if they had been stored out in the open or in a grass structure. Likewise, if we had a proper storage port to keep the fruit fresh, they would sent a special merchant ship to pick up all the fruit a warehouse could hold and we would be issued a credit for all future purchases. The fast light-weight merchant ship would insure that the fruit would not be thrown overboard while trying to escape pirates.
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No, not the pirates upriver from us. Gradyn said we were not likely to have any problems with them. Since the frog invasion they had been getting help from some pirates back in the swamp. From what Melana, the resource merchant told him, our pirates recently agreed to help some families and survivors. From what he saw passing their town, it looked like they brought some back here and got a few new crew members in the deal. They ordered firewood from the resource merchant. We thought that must have been the riverboat that passed by us a month or so ago.
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When told, Gradyn doubted that it was a pirate lurking around our village. If we heard chanting then in all likelihood it was one of the local witch doctors roaming this area. They were harmless if not provoked, just don't mind if a little fruit goes missing now and then. A witch doctor could prove helpful if we have a disease outbreak. A witch doctor!
@Abandoned ;D Thanks, I like these old thatched huts, I'm very glad that there are also functional buildings.Regards
@taniu The pirate town buildings in the picture right above your post are the Old Hovels - they are not made of thatch. The grass huts in the other village are. Both sets consist of functional buildings. :)
Chapter 16
We decided to take Riverboat Junctions offer. Having lived and worked there, we knew there were a lot of hungry people worldwide that needed fruit. Our living and working conditions were so much better here than back in the Junction where our job was growing food. We wanted to help.
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We decided the area east of the village was large enough for 5 orchards. There was a lot of land clearing that had to be done and the gatherer's hut would have to be moved, but the first thing we did was build a grass cutter hut to clear the grass from the area. We found that when the laborers gathered the grass, it grew back. The foresters dig out the whole plant and the grass cutter cuts the grass very short, the grass does not grow back. We did not want grass growing in our orchard area.
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A new gatherer's hut was built back by the forester's hut. There was little grass growing there now but there was still some flax and plenty of wild foods. We would keep the first gatherer's hut as long as there was flax and food to gather in the orchard area. One 9'x13' orchard was already cleared by the time a non-grass trading post was built to trade for and store the seeds properly until planted. We began stocking the new trading post with seedlings.
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Chapter 17
We were not the only ones doing some building. The pirates built a bridge across the small stream and built another lookout tower and a house on the other side. We could see why they ordered firewood, their stockpile was almost empty. We saw no one working but we saw they also built what looked like a small market or open storage place. They built it with stone rather than wood. We thought it a bit far from their houses, not all that far from our hill.
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Meanwhile, we began building a non-grass warehouse dock for storing the fruit for Riverboat Junction. We continue clearing land for the other orchards we would plant as soon as we got the seeds. Our fruit patches were doing well but we got a report from Lonniel, who took care of the lemon patch, that several crates of lemons went missing. He'd picked the lemons late one day and planned to take them to storage first thing the next morning, but in the morning they were gone. No one admitted to taking them to storage for him. We would not consider several crates to be a little fruit that a witch doctor might take.
We thought we knew what happened to that fruit when, a short time later, the pirate ship again went sailing past. We knew that the river boatmen and pirates liked taking lemons with them on long trips, lemons prevented scurvy. We thought our lemons were on that ship. Valentice, who was fishing when the ship passed by, said they had 2 new crew members with them.
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A few days later, another of the new pirates paid us a visit. He approached our two foresters and said he had a good deal to offer us. He wanted to know if we would be interested in trading ale for merchandise in the smuggler's cave. Just let him know and he'd try to arrange it when the ship came back, he'd be by the cave. Other than that, all he said was that he and some of the others were orphaned by the swamp invasion and were happy to have the chance to get out of the swamp. The next day there was a sack of wheat left outside our forester's hut.
Chapter 18
We had two more visitors to our village. First, Ritchel, the seed merchant, came to the new seed trader port. He had papaya seeds but we did not have quite enough seedlings yet. He took some of the fresh fruit in trade and said let him know when that warehouse was almost full so he could tell the port master at the Junction to send the big ship. He'd be back with more seeds.
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We didn't think it would take too long to fill that warehouse if the new orchards would do as well as our fruit tree patches did. They were very productive in this warm climate. The papayas seeds did well when planted, they sprouted and began growing right away. We had two other orchards cleared and ready to plant as soon as we got the seeds. The grass cutter had done a good job and was no longer needed, we would remove the hut. The gatherer was still getting a good amount of wild foods and flax from outside and inside the village fence. We would keep that gatherer's hut there a little longer.
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The second visitor paid a visit to the herbalist hut and gave Heathania quite a scare when she returned with her basket of herbs she had collected. When she approached the hut, the door opened and out came the witch doctor. She stopped dead in her tracks and before she could say or do anything, the strange figure shook a small bag that rattled making her think it contained seed pods. Hed then raised his twisted staff towards her and chanted a few words. It was as if he were blessing her, she said. And then he was gone. Inside she found a bunch of tropical flowers and some seeds, and there was a small bundle of herbs and some seed pods on the table by her teacup. There was a papaya and two bananas missing from her fruit bowl.
Witch doctor, what doctor, where doctor?
Perhaps our heroine has a secret still she's been visiting? :o
;D ;D ;D What, you haven't seen the witch doctor? He's right there in front of the herbalist's hut door, and he's been lurking around on more than a dozen other pictures ??? All citizens were advised to report anything suspicious. ;D
I see the doctor now -
Which is good - I was starting to think our witch, what, where doctor, may have been a wolf! :o
??? no wolves in the tropics, just our resident witch doctor :)
Chapter 19
I didn't know either what the herbs were when Heathania showed me, but I helped her plant the seeds in a row along the fence behind her herbalist hut and along the fence from the hall hut all the way over to the smith's hut. They sprouted quickly and grew quite tall. We planted the tropical flower seeds in a few spots around the village. They grew quickly and bloomed beautifully.
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In late winter, Meliseo, the blacksmith, died of a weak heart. He had been feeling rundown a few times. At the burial, the witch doctor appeared and again shook his small bag of herb pods, raised his crooked staff, and chanted. Meliseo's widow, Arlind, said she heard that chanting twice before outside their hut, once was right after we planted the herbs along the fence and again shortly before her husband died. Had she told us that at the time we may have thought to make a healing herbal tea with those witch doctor herbs to give to Meliseo. Perhaps his life could have been saved.
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The witch doctor was seen often around the village after that. He never spoke, he probably only knew a native dialect. He sometimes chanted by a fruit or crop patch. He seemed to have taken up residence in the healing clinic. No one seemed to mind and we often left him pieces of fruit or fish. He liked sweet potatoes. We rather liked having our own resident witch doctor.
Chapter 20
In early summer of year 10, Ritchel, the seed merchant, returned with coconut seeds. Again he accepted some fruit as well as seedlings in trade. We planted them and the witch doctor gave them his blessing. The little coconut trees sprouted almost as soon as they were planted.
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We built another potting shed across from the coconut orchard hoping to have enough seedlings when Ritchel returned with more seeds. The seedling in the small pots grew slowly taking time to reach transplant and tradeable size.
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We had only potted 168 seedlings the year before but even with 2 potting sheds this year, we did not have anywhere near enough to trade in early winter when Ritchel returned with pineapple seeds.
Chapter 21
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In early spring of year 11 we built a brewer workplace to make ale. Our daughter Mckayli wanted to be the brewer, the barrel was close to her house. By then she had been married for several years to Carron, the young man who helped me plant the seedlings. They lived in the hut down the road from us. They had 2 boys, the oldest was a few months older than her brother and would be starting school soon. She was tending the banana patch at the time.
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In early summer, another sack of wheat and a crate of apples were found by the forester's hut so we knew the pirate ship had returned. We didn't at first like the idea of trading with pirates, but if they were helping others then maybe we could help them by making a little ale. They seemed to only make rum at their still when the booty ship returned and had a sack of sugar. We made sure our witch doctor got a few of the apples they gave us.
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We had no small boat to reach the smuggler's cave with our ale. One of the pirate's helped one of our builders build a small jetty from shore to the cave. We began taking kegs of ale to the cave and exchanging them for winter coats. Mckayli got her wish and became brewer in late winter.
Chapter 22
Year 12 was a disaster. We should have suspected something was about to happen that spring, the witch doctor was agitated and was pacing around as if not knowing where to go or what to do.
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The sky got increasingly dark, there was no wind, but suddenly all the torches and cookfires were snuffed out. The next moment the wind began to blow and howl like we never heard it before. It was no ordinary tropical storm. We were later told that our Mckayli ran from the brewer barrel to the school along with several others, but they were too late. Suddenly a huge twister dropped out of the clouds across the stream and headed straight for the school.
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The twister took out 2 huts and their entire families, the school, the communal hut, both gatherers, the herbalist hut, and the forester's hut. The twister took out part of our fruit orchards and cut a wide path through our forester's trees. Luckily it turned and missed the pirate's town completely, it crossed the stream and dissipated before reaching the hills. It left death and destruction behind.
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Oh no! :o
:o :o and I complain about our weather...
??? did not expect this :( I thought population had to be 300 before disasters strike :-\
oh that looks bad :( am glad the first thing I do when starting a new village is to turn off the disasters, hope its something you can recover from
:) It is bad but they are survivors. I occasionally play a map with disasters on but usually without the storyteller being physically on the map, I took a chance. Most of those times I do not even get a disaster, I thought because population was too low. Here, I was hoping for fires or diseases being in the jungle with grass huts. I did not expect tornado.
Chapter 23
Valentice and I lost both our daughters and our grandson at the school that day. The teacher and all 13 students perished. Our herbalist, 2 foresters, and 2 gatherers, and several farmers and laborers all lost their lives. Our town lost 35 citizens that day, 15 adults, 13 students, and 7 young children. All 17 pirates and their children survived. Between the 2 of us, there were 52 survivors, 34 adults, 1 pirate student, and 17 young children. The joint population dropped from 87 to 52 in a matter of minutes.
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The pirates came to our aid immediately. They helped bury the dead, in our cemetery and theirs when ours was full. They helped located the injured and built extra hammocks at the clinic for them. They gathered thatch and began repairing and rebuilding damaged buildings. They made sure we had needed food and supplies and that the essential buildings had workers. They consulted with us on everything. Most buildings were rebuilt by the time Ritchel came to port in late summer, the pirates asked us if we wanted the lemon seeds he brought. We said yes. The shock was gradually wearing off.
Oh no! A great tragedy to befall the bannies
Hi
@angainor88 Hope you are feeling better. Yes, this was tragic :( Tough to take after getting to know the characters, was sad to lose the 2 foresters especially.
Chapter 24
By early Autumn, the damaged gatherer's hut in the orchard was removed. The damaged papayas and pineapples were being replanted. The witch doctor oversaw the planting of the lemon seeds. The newly rebuilt forester's hut and gatherer's hut also received the witch doctor's blessing.
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(http://worldofbanished.com/gallery/6047_23_08_22_7_51_13.jpeg)
Our workforce was stretched thin, we only had a few seedlings to trade for banana seeds in late winter of that disastrous year. Other small settlements were severely damaged or destroyed by the storm, they needed food. Ritchel accepted fruit in trade for the banana seeds. Riverboat Junction was aware of what happened.
The witch doctor was waiting at the trading hut when, a short time later, Almers the food merchant arrived from Riverboat Junction. They sent him with 750 loaves of the nut bread we liked so much and a message that help would be arriving soon. The witch doctor waited patiently at the trading post until he was given several loaves of the nut bread.
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Chapter 25
Help arrived from Riverboat Junction in early spring of year 13. There were 14 adults with 4 young children. The 2 damaged huts were quickly repaired and several others were built around the village. One hut was built next to the forester and another next to the potting hut in the orchard. The replanted pineapples and papayas were doing good and so was the newly planted banana orchard.
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We now had enough workers for all the fruit patches. We could again take fruit to the warehouse dock. Since we now had all the orchard seeds we needed, the seed trading post inventory could be removed. The fruit went to the storage hut and the seedlings went to the trading hut. Almers, the food merchant, said he would take fruit and seedlings in trade. I again went to work potting more.
Shortly after the workers arrived from Riverboat Junction, a group of migrants arrived at the pirate's town. There were 8 of them, 6 adults with 2 children. Their small family settlement was also hit by the tornado. Since they had done a little pirating in the past, they didn't mind living with the pirates. Three hovels were built on the south end of the pirate's town. We again told the pirates to come to our storage hut for fruits and vegetables and to be sure to get some loaves of nut bread. We owed them so much for all the help and support they gave us over the past year.
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Chapter 26
We wanted our villagers to be sure to get enough fruit too, so we built a fruit market not far from the ports. The warehouse worker would not have so far to go to get the fruit. The market stocked all 5 of our tropical fruits plus the wild fruits our gatherer collected. The pirates brought us more apples. We built 2 grass coverings over part of the market. The witch doctor was the best customer.
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In the spring of year 14, Almers returned again with more nut bread and with cheese. The witch doctor and village people were eating good. Almers told us that we were being called Orchard Grove by the people who were trading with him for our fruit. That was news to us, our village now had a name. We had news for Almers too. He could tell Riverboat Junction that the warehouse was now full and the fruit was ready to be picked up. There were 1600 of each of our 5 fruits, bananas, coconuts, lemons, papayas, and pineapples.
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The merchant ship came promptly to pick up the fruit. Orchard Grove was now the official supplier of tropical fruit for Riverboat Junction. Our 5 fruit orchards and 5 fruit shed patches will keep the river boatmen supplied with tropical fruit for many years to come. Our fruit market will keep our villagers and our neighbors, the pirates, supplied with tropical fruit as well, our witch doctor too.
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Chapter 27
Our good neighbors, the pirates, were all healthy and happy living in their old hovels and their new hovels as well. They shared their milk, eggs, and wool from their animal sheds with us. We will forever be in their debt for all the help and kindness they showed when disaster struck our Orchard Grove. We were concerned there would be fires since our village was almost entirely made up of grass huts, we never expected a tropical storm of the magnitude that hit us in year 12. We rebuilt our village as good as new but although we were healthy, we were not quite as happy as we once were.
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In year 14 our Tropical Huts village consisted of 21 round and square 4-family grass huts. We had a communal hut, a small, medium, and large storage, a trader hut and jetties. There was a Hall Hut, several wells, a school, a herbalist, a healing clinic, a tailor and a smith. We had a fishing hut, a gatherer, a forester, and a grass cutter. We had a grass patch growing thatch, and a crop patch growing corn, beans, and sweet potatoes. A potting shed produced seedlings for trade, and we had some bushes to plant. We built a palisade fence, some hammocks, and some coverings. We were farmers not hunters so we did not build the hunter's hut but we could have if we needed one. We had everything we needed.
(http://worldofbanished.com/gallery/6047_26_08_22_8_22_13.jpeg)
In the summer of year 14 the population of Orchard Grove and the pirate's town combined was 103, 54 adults, 4 students, 44 young children, and 1 witch doctor. We would be happy to count you in, weary traveler, but if you prefer to go, safe travels and enjoy the rest of summer.
The End
Well done :) It is always good with a happy ending :)
Another lovely story.
I can see the witch doctor standing there - looking up at us, wondering what we are thinking.
:) Thank you :)
@Glenn Witch doctor is probably looking up and shaking his stick saying Why are there no Mangoes ? ;D ;D ;D
Kid Tropical Huts and Kid Tropical Fruits have been released. Find info and link to downloads here:
http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=4224.0
http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=4223.0
An interesting question - where does a mango when the witch doctor is watching. :-X
Perhaps our mysterious doctor should ask his assistant coco, - she may know - I hear she's a bit of a nut. 8)