Abandoned - Bricks & Mortar - Story 18 NWS

[Abandoned]

Intro


  This is the 18th story in the New World Series.  During a spell of rainy weather prior to the one described in Fruit & Nuts of story 17, some trade route customers were asking for building materials to repair or replace damaged homes.  They wanted roof tiles to replace soggy thatch roofs, bricks to build houses that were less damp than wood, and some even wanted clay to replace the mud grout used to keep log homes from being drafty after rain washed the mud away.  Glass windows would certainly be better than oil cloth, but the raw materials to make glass, roof tiles, and bricks would not be easy to find here in the north. 

  Several folks in Riverboat depot remembered a group of migrants who were there a few years earlier.  They abandoned their town because of the rain and storms and the cold and dampness which damaged their homes and caused diseases. Their diet was poor because it was almost impossible to grow food in the clay soil that was heavy and unworkable when wet and baked hard as rock in the sun; crops were often washed away.  Clay was the needed raw material for bricks and mortar.

  One of the boatmen thought of a small, abandoned town, higher up in the mountains somewhere northwest of Barnyards which is northwest of Riverboat Depot.  It was a valley, but they called it a mud flat because it got a lot of rain that washed things away.  A group of settlers headed in that direction.







Map seed #132761499      Grizzly Valley, Small, fair, Disasters Off, Easy 8 Deer, duck, boar

 
Mods activated for this map and load order:

Map Changing and Starting Mods:   Banished UI Maps, Banished UI Town Names, Labor Window, RK Minimized Status, CC Light Rain (added during Chapter 12), EB Grizzly Valley, Override Fewer Trees, Override Map (Kid), Settlers Deco, New Flora Edit, Kid More Caves, Wildlife Start

Tweak Mods:  Bigger Wheelbarrows, Fishing Dock +25%, Hunting Season, Increased CC, 1:1 Alternative (Voeille), Rock Respawn, Tiny Smoke.

Major or Must Have Mods:    An Empty Square, Nomads (Kid), override Uneducated, Storage Crates, Kid Workshop, Jinxie Bitty Chicken Coop, Jinxie Bitty Village, Kid Abandoned Places SE, Kid Tiny, Kid Tiny Builder (updated with Pottery), Kid Workplace, NMT3.0Series Clay Chain, NMT3.0 Forest Center, MNT3.0Series Little Housing

Supporting Mods:    Deco Sunflower, Deco Tombstone, Deco Item Pack (RK), DS Bridge Crossing, EB Natural Irrigation Deco, Kid Deco Magic Mushrooms, Kid Farmyard, Kid Hedgerow, Kid Houseboat (updated with deco barge, market, hostel), Kid Market Food, Kid Patchwork, Kid Washing Mod, RK Ale Stand, RK Farmstand, Specialized Stockpiles



  Yes, eager explorer, it was not easy to get a group together that was willing to relocate to a place where they would live under those rainy wet conditions but there were 8 families who volunteered, my own included.  Maybe it was the sense of adventure, or maybe after the spell of bad weather we recently went through, we just wanted to make it easier for others the next time.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 1


  We were lucky, one of the depot barges was in Riverboat Depot at the time we were set to leave.  The barge ferried all of us and our 3 carts of supplies across the river and north to Barnyards; we would have had to build rafts and struggle to get the carts across otherwise.  There were 31 of us, 16 adults and 15 children.  Yes, eager explorer, that was a lot of children; 3 couples each had 3 children, 1 couple had 2 children, and 4 couples each had only 1 child, so far.  My husband, Xandro, and I had just 1 child, a 1-year-old son named Maximillan.  My name is Teresia. 



  The elders in Barnyards were very kind.  It had started raining just as we arrived there; they invited us to stay in their caves until the storms past.  Hearing where we were headed, they were very helpful.  They said there were no doubt caves like the ones we were in; they gave us some furs and other items to make ourselves more comfortable when we first got there.  They only recently learned how to make compost to lighten and fertilize heavy soil; they gave us 2 sacks and several small packets of seeds.  They said nothing was better than a hot bowl of soup for those working outside in the cold or rain; they gave us a big soup kettle and several smaller cook pots. 

  The sun came out and it was time for us to leave.  They wrapped a pair of chickens and their baby chicks in sackcloth, added some feed, and put them in the big kettle before putting the kettle into one of our carts.  A small crate, with 2 of the black cats the children had been playing with, joined the kettle in the cart.  When we thanked the elders for their kindness, they said they hoped their children would be helped the same way if they ever needed it; they wished us well and told us to come back if things do not go as planned in the mud flats.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 2


  We left Barnyards in the sunshine and arrived in the muddy valley 3 days later in the pouring rain.



  The men had to clear iron, stone, and wood away just so we could get to the caves.  We woman grabbed the children and armfuls of supplies and got into the first cave whose entrance was cleared.  It was a small cave, but it was dry.  Someone got a small smokey fire going inside near the entrance; the firewood was wet, but the fire gave off a bit of heat. Someone set up a small cookpot to boil potatoes.  Someone else laid some furs near the fire to bed down the youngest children, my little Max included.

  The men brought in the big cookpot with the chickens.  I set up a small area surrounded by barrels and crates to act as a pen for the chickens.  There was nesting material and a small sack of feed at the bottom of the pot.  I made a small nest with the available materials and the hen and chicks settled in.  The rooster began pecking at the feed I scattered around their pen.

  I turned around to find a very wet Xandro smiling at me; he looked at the chicken pen and nodded his approval before setting the crate he was holding down in front of me.  It was the one containing the 2 black cats.  I opened the crate, and both cats looked around cautiously before leaving the crate to explore.  Someone gave them some mashed potatoes to eat, and they were soon nestled down to nap by the fire with the children.  I longed to join them.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 3


  The men continued working out in the cold rain until dark; they were exhausted, cold, and wet when they finally came in to sit around the fire to dry off and warm up.  More firewood was brought in and more potatoes were boiling. The 2 cats made a brief visit outside the cave but were soon back in by the fire.

  The men had cleared the entrances of 5 more caves.  The one between this one and the small stream was uninhabitable; it was small and very wet, rain leaked in through the roof but there were a lot of mushrooms growing inside.  There were 2 larger caves that could house 4 families comfortably, another large cave that could be used for storage once all the rocks were cleared out of it, and another small dwelling cave like this one.

  Morning brought more rain but the other families moved to the bigger caves leaving Xandro, Max, and me here in the small dwelling cave with the chickens and the 2 cats.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 4


  The rain just did not want to let up; it rained a little lighter and stopped very briefly a few times but mostly it just rained heavily.  If the cold and wetness wasn't bad enough, there was the mud; it made walking slow and difficult because it stuck badly to our shoes.  During one of the brief lulls, I went out to the cave next to us to pick mushrooms and to look at the small hedgerow by the stream.  There was a small walnut tree, its growth probably stunted from the heavy wet soil; there were wild oats and mushrooms growing underneath.  A shallow puddle attracted a pair of duck and there were duck eggs to be gathered.  I dropped some of the mushrooms off at the storage carts and took the rest of my small stash back to the cave. I spent twice as much time cleaning the mud off my shoes then I spent gathering the mushrooms, oats, and eggs.



  During my brief time outside, I did notice the little bridge that was built across the stream behind the small hedgerow. A short way to the north was the river and the fishing pier that was built.  Xandro brought fish home the night before, but I did not know where the pier was.  I also saw one of the muddy areas near the storage carts that Xandro said seemed to have a bit of sand in the soil, at least on the surface.  There were a few such areas in this muddy valley.



  I also notice there was some water in the bottom of the storage carts from all the rain; there was not much left in the carts, some supplies were taken to the storage cave closer to the shelter caves and other families.  We needed a barn; we could not afford to lose any of the food that we had.  I had a brief glimpse of the abandoned town across the small stream to the west; there was not much left standing but empty shells of a few buildings.  No one has had time to investigate the area because of the rain; I hurried back to our dwelling cave when it began to rain again.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 5


  When summer came, so did more sunshine.  It still rained heavily, but for a shorter amount of time and there were more sunny days before it rained again.  The days were pleasantly warm. 



  A barn was built next to the stockpile, and a chicken coop was built next to the barn directly across from our dwelling cave.  Xandro said the chickens could go in the barn during spells of heavy rain or when cold weather set in again.  I thought it would be better to bring them back into our cave; it would be warmer for them and easier for us to care for them.  We already had an area in the cave fenced off for them, and the 2 cats never bothered them.  The cats went out a bit more on the dry sunny days but still preferred the comforts of the cave.  They kept little Max entertained.

  An area for a small farmyard was prepared on the other side of the storage carts.  We added a whole sack of the compost we were given back in Barnyards, and then the seeds.  We planted corn, cabbage, potatoes, and berries.  We hoped we were planting early enough to still get a harvest that year. 



  Down to the south, past the storage cave and shelter caves, the men worked to clear an area for a forest center; there would be a forester, a hunter, a gatherer, and a wood cutter built there in the center of that part of the valley.  The soil was hard to level out after it had been baking in the summer sun; we would give the forester the 2nd sack of compost for planting the tree seedling.  We were always in need of wood and firewood.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 6


  And then it was autumn and the rains came.   We still had no roads or houses, but we were quite comfortable in the caves.  We built a woodcutter next to the main stockpile so we would have enough firewood for the winter.  We could store logs and firewood in the big barn to keep it dryer. The barn had a roof made of wood shingles so it did not leak and would hold up well in the pouring rain.



 One cart had been moved to the storage cave and one was almost empty; we put a small awning over the last cart to keep it from filling again with water. We did not have the time or workers to empty it.  Another awning was built over a section of the chicken coop in order to keep the chickens outside as long as possible.  A few of the chickens that had escape to the farmyard patch had already returned to the coop.  We would continue to harvest crops from the farmyard for as long as we could.  The weather was getting colder; we had no warm coats and the supply of hide ones was getting very low.

  Work was slow building the forest center; not only because of the rain and the mud but because the log supply was low.  Trees had to be cut in the pouring rain.  The foundations for a forester district and a hunter district were laid; there were 3 large herds of deer spotted in the surrounding area.
 


  The temperature was still above freezing, at least during the day, so we still had rain, but the mud was beginning to freeze and was easier to walk on.  We took to the forest areas to gather what branches and wild foods we could.  The forest center would have a woodcutter and a gatherer's districts.  All the buildings would have wood shingle roofs like the big barn.  We could have built a big barn in the forest center but the storage cave was nearby.



  The forester and hunter districts were completed.  It was cold but the sun came out again in late autumn.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 7




  We took advantage of those days of sunshine and began paving the roads with stone.  We continued to work the hedgerows and to gather wild foods and branches.  We put up 2 notice boards to keep an inventory of what foods we had; one board was by the storage cave and the other by the storage barn.  Harvesting continued in the small farmyard and in the hedgerow that we discovered earlier in the year when cutting trees.  There was an apple tree, wild oats, and honey, plus rose hips, and some wild strawberries.  We saw sunflowers and other wildflowers we hadn't notice in the rain.





  The men looked around further to the south of that apple hedgerow and determined that the area by the river between the 2 small streams would be a good place to produce the building materials Riverboat Depot wanted and to build a trading post there on the river.



  They also replaced what was left of a broken bridge over the small stream not far from the main stockpile; their plans to investigate the abandoned village changed, however, when the sunshine turned to rain and then to snow.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 8


  That winter, wild boars were sighted for the first time; we hoped the hunter would have a bit of luck.  We also hoped our food and firewood supply would hold out until spring.



  Spring came and so did a bit of sunshine.  The sunshine brought helpers from Riverboat Depot who were most welcome. They brought no carts of supplies with them; there was no barge to take them to Barnyards.  One of the river boatmen made 2 trips across the river and left them there to make their way here on foot.  They said more help would be coming; there had been more requests for building materials.



  There were 8 new arrivals with 3 children; they raised Brick & Mortars population to 46, 26 adults and 20 children.   One of the new families moved into the dwelling cave some distance east of the forest center, the others moved in with the original families in the other caves.  Our cave continued to house my family of 4 and the 2 cats; Xandro and I had a 2nd son, Falen, the previous summer.  The chickens were back outside in the coop and the farmyard.

  By the summer of year 2, the forest center was completed with a gatherer and woodcutter district. Because we had more workers, we added another forester, another hunter, and a gatherer.  We had no woodcutter worker in the forest center or by the main stockpile in town.  We needed logs.





  We also needed to increase our food production.  Another farmyard was planted next to the first one across from our cave.  Some of the compost the foresters had not used yet was added to the soil; the crops came up soon and were doing good in the summer sun and warmth.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 9



  The warm weather didn't last, by early autumn there was a chill in the air and when it started to rain, the 2 cats quickly returned to the warmth of the fire. 



  Two little houses were built next to the farmyards and 2 of our original families moved from the shelter caves into them just before the rains came.  The rain didn't last long and harvesting continued and more wild foods and branches were gathered.  There was finally time to investigate the abandoned town across the stream.



  Not far from the fishing pier was a cemetery and what once was a tiny chapel.  There was one hedgerow with ducks and one with an apple tree; both just needed some weeds and branches removed to become productive again.  The tiny farmhouse could be rebuilt; the foundation and framework were in good condition, like the chapel. 



  Closer to the bridge, there were 2 ruined houses and the foundation of another.  One structure was thought to have been a workshop for tools and coats.  There was a stockpile that had only iron, no wood or firewood even though there was a tiny woodcutter's stump next to it.  Only the foundation remain of what once was a storage barn.  If anything was stored there, it is long gone by now.



  Another tiny house foundation was discovered by the river, and further south were 2 more ruins and another hedgerow with ducks.  It would take a bit of work but most of the buildings could be rebuilt.  We would rebuild with stone foundations and slate roofs, no thatch.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 10


  Two of the tiny houses closest to the bridge and the storage barn were rebuilt.  Two families from the caves moved right in in late autumn just as the first snow of the season was falling.  The workshop was also rebuilt and a skilled worker from town got busy making some iron tools although we needed coats more.  We had nothing but hides to make new coats from.  Hopefully, we would have a trading post built soon and would be able to order wool for warm coats.





The winter did not seem quite so cold, maybe it was because the roads made getting around faster and easier.  Or maybe because of the soup stand by the caves and farmyard; hot cabbage and potato soup was available from morning till night for anyone who wanted some.  If vegetable soup wasn't to their liking, they could have a nice piece of roast boar from the big spit nearby.  The 2 cats seemed to like it; they were often there begging for a tidbit.  Mama kitty would bring a piece back to the cave to feed to her 3 little kittens in the box by the fire.

  By late winter of that 2nd year, our production of building materials had begun.  South of town, not far from the forest center, we dug a tiny sand pit and then a tiny clay pit.  We had one worker for each pit.  A glass workshop was built but we would wait until we had enough sand before we assigned a worker; as usual, we were short of workers.  Laborers were having to cut trees and gather branches.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 11

  By early spring of year 3, we had a trading jetty built.  It was a bit of a distance from the production area but most of the roads were already paved.  We built a tiny town hall where the trader could keep inventory records and go inside to warm up.  We would not assign a trader until we had building materials stockpiled and ready for trade.





  A tiny brick workshop was built next to the glass one.  The new workshop needed firewood to make bricks or rooftiles.   We gathered more branches and since the weather had warmed, we stop making soup and roast meat.  Our food supply was good for the time being. Soup making and meat roasting would start up again in early autumn.

  Needless to say, we were very glad to welcome 11 more workers from Riverboat Depot.  There were 9 adults with 2 children this time.  We added another forester to the forest center and 2 workers were assigned to scavenging from the ruins in the abandoned village; there were logs, stone, and iron to be had.  The workshop was now making more hide coats instead of tools.  The laborers were again gathering branches and cutting trees.

  While cutting trees in the production area, another hedgerow was found.   One of the new couples did not want to live in a cave; they built a house by that hedgerow and a hen house for a few of the chickens.  A tiny shed was built near the sand pit. 



  In late summer, Morrie the food merchant came to port.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 12


  There was nothing we wanted or needed from the food merchant; our food supply was good and we had enough variety to keep us healthy.  We told him we were in need of wood and wool.  He said he would let the resource merchants and general goods merchants at Riverboat Depot know, but he was running behind and not sure when he would get back there; he was one of the new boatmen and he had extra stops to make. There may be a few more river boatmen now but they lost a few riverboats due to rough and swollen rivers.  Heavy rains and snow melt always spells trouble.  He knew nothing about any scheduled pickup for our building materials. As far as he knew any large amount would require pickup by barge and there were only 2 or 3 of those.  Riverboat trade would have the same weight restrictions that applies to stone and iron, he supposed.  He could not take any building materials now.  If he found out anything, he'd let us know when he returned.  Again, he couldn't say when that might be.

  We stopped making glass, and switch from roof tiles to making bricks.  We would take a small supply of each to the trading post until we heard more; we thought 20 units of each would be enough to start.  We would concentrate on our wood supply and housing needs.  We thought we would do more work in the abandoned village.
 




   We built a jetty bridge from trading post road to the village.  There was an old ruin blocking the way of a road being built from the bridge to the rebuilt storage barn; we would totally remove that ruin.  We moved the anvil from inside the tiny workshop to the outside; there was not enough room for 2 workers inside the workshop.  With the anvil outside, one worker could make coats inside and another could make tools outside, at least when the weather was good.  Maybe an awning would help.



  Up by the river and hedgerows, the tiny house was rebuilt.  A single young adult girl from one of the shelter caves moved in.  Back towards the trading post bridge a tiny house was built where the ruin had been.  Another tiny house was built on the mainland by the clay pit next to the other tiny farmhouse.  Single young girls moved into both those houses; there were still families with young children in the caves.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 13


  In spring of year 4, 11 more workers with 1 child arrived from Riverboat Depot.  The Depot was still trying to arrange for one of the depot barges to pick up our building materials.  Not only were they still trying to recruit new boatmen but now they were trying to find people with boat building skills; the depot needed more riverboats.

  Well, eager explorer, we couldn't build boats but we could build houses, whenever we had the wood. With more workers, we added a fourth forester to the forest district.



 The 3 single girls that had recently moved into their own tiny houses, moved out so new families could move in.  A new tiny house was built in the abandoned village by the workshop, and another down by the duck hedgerow by the trading post bridge.  Both houses were occupied by young single girls. No, eager explorer, not the 3 that had moved out of the other tiny houses, 3 others.  Bricks & Mortar had a lot of young single girls.  Another one moved into the little house that was built not far from the roasting spit.  The tiny chapel in the abandoned village was also rebuilt.  We had no cleric but it was a nice place to stop in to have a little peace or to get in out of the rain.





  We got a lot done that spring and summer; there was less rain and what rain we had was much lighter than the usual downpours.  We hoped it would remain that way.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 14

  In late summer we gathered more wild foods and branches for firewood.  More houses meant more of a need for firewood; we assigned a worker to the woodcutter district and one to the woodcutter by the main stockpile.  We began building a bridge across the river where there were a lot of trees, branches, and stone.  The 3 ruins we were scavenging from were producing more iron and stone than logs.





  Another little house was built by the apple hedgerow in town.  A family moved out of the closest shelter cave, leaving 4 families in the farthest cave east of the forest districts, far from their workplaces.  With some persuasion, 3 of the 4 families moved to the closer caves.  We couldn't blame them for hesitating; Xandro and I would not want to move from our cozy cave.  I was still tending the chickens and he was often on the pier fishing.



  By late autumn of that 4th year, the bridge across the river was completed and a tiny forester was built there on the other side.  Laborers cut some trees and gathered stone and branches before the first snow of the season fell.    A tiny house was built near the bridge on this side of the river and another of our young single girls moved in.  Yet another one moved into the tiny house that was built by the fishing pier.