Coleman will chat with Ash while they work, but Ash will probably remain silent as she does in the mines and outlast him. Meanwhile, Grant and Thomas will probably hunt, Thomas keeping an eye out for some companion and Grant for something to kill. If that badger has been butchered, Lunira could try making some bone bolts (arrows? What do they use?) while keeping a watchful eye out. If not, James could learn butchery and thereby be useful. Finally, Rosa should smelt the tetrahedrite mined yesterday.
Day breaks, and your villagers get up and face the morning. Before breakfast is even started, Thomas and Grant get their gear ready and set out, waving to the still groggy villagers left in the village.
Normally it was Thomas that would cook, but James wasn't so bad at it that the food was off-putting. Breakfast consisted of the fresh badger meat and cheese.
After breakfast, Ashley and Coleman start work on the farm. Coleman makes some small talk, but nothing of cosmic importance. Ashley responds in a mostly monosyllabic manner, until they both just fall silent. By the time Coleman gets tired, Ashley had already dug out half of the garden.
"Need a break? I guess this is pretty different from your normal job, huh?"
"Yes and yes. It feels pretty rewarding, though my muscles don't seem to think that yet."
"Ha, I remember the first time I swung a pickaxe. If you keep at it for a while you'll get better."
"I wouldn't mind tending the farm, really. It's really nice to have your help, by the way."
"Anytime."
Meanwhile, Lunira was carving bones at her post. Using the badger from yesterday, she made a small pile of about 20 pretty nice bolts for Thomas and crafted a small ring. She carved into the ring a 7-pointed star and an intricate ivy pattern, then tried it on.
"Not bad."
Lunira made a small notch in the middle of the star and pocketed the ring.
"All right, that's enough rest."
Rosa was in a crafting mood as well. She smelted the tetrahedrite that had been deposited at the forge, and got a small pile of iron bars. She took one lump and began crafting right away, not wasting any time getting the molten metal just right.
She was working without a mold, and had to keep reheating the metal. Eventually a long blade took shape, slowly becoming thinner, sharper, and ready for combat. Rosa kept beating away at it, despite the heat in the forge she barely blinked while she worked.
Eventually the blade was considered adequate in Rosa's eyes, and she cooled it in pure water. She began heating then cooling the blade over and over, beating out imperfections here and there, and about 12 repetitions later she deemed the blade done. Taking some of the badger leather, she crafted a wood and leather handle with an iron core and affixed the blade solidly to it.
Lifting the long blade, Rosa admired her work. Despite it's length the blade was easy to hold in a single hand but could also easily be used two-handedly. It only had a single cutting edge, but the tip was tapered off to give an excellent stabbing point.
Rosa put the blade on a stand within the forge. She had little use for it other than to prove her skill, but maybe Lunira or Grant would enjoy it.
---GM TURN---
"Ey, boss. Wher' we goin?"
"We headed that way, ya dumb sack'a socks."
"Aye, but what's that way?"
A roving band of four goblin thieves were wandering just off of a road. They lost the road after a small amount of time, and began to unknowingly wander to the village.
The goblins were armed fairly well, two with knives and one with a sword, the leader with a whip and shield. They had simple leather armor.
"'Ey chief."
"I'm your commander, duncecap. What?"
"Ain't that a town up a'ead?"
"I... Yeah! And ya' know what we DO to towns?"
"Pillage?"
"PILLAGE!"
---
The goblins immediately dashed into the town with wild abandon, giving Lunira plenty a chance to spot them early. She stood in their path defiantly.
"You've came to the wrong place, scum."
"Ay, a Kitsune. Boss, le's get 'er!"
"Ya' don't need my perms- parmis- order! Do it!"
Lunira stood her ground as the first two knive goblins rushed her head on. She brandished her silver spear and waited for the right moment...
The first goblin swung it's knife, but Lunira had artfully jumped away and caught the second goblin in the throat with her spear. She withdrew the spearpoint and thrust it at the first, missing it's lungs by a few inches. She stuck again and again until finally she pierced the goblin's heart.
By now, the sword goblin had began his assault. He charged in a sort of zig-zag at Lunira, keeping her on her toes.
When he got close, Lunira once again swiftly attacked, but got caught by the goblin's blade. It did little but cut into Lunira's clothing, giving her a chance to stab the sword goblin as he lifted his blade for another strike.
Lunira locked eyes with the last goblin, the leader of the group. By now, most of the village was watching Lunira.
The leader charged, but changed directions at the last moment. Lunira stabbed the air, and the goblin's whip connected with her back.
Lunira tumbled, still holding her spear but left on the ground. She stabbed at the goblin, but he jumped away. She staggered to her feet just in time to catch a flying dagger in her left arm.
The goblin had grabbed and thrown the dagger from one of his dead companions, with surprising accuracy. He grabbed his shield once more, and charged Lunira again.
This time, she had not only drive but anger, and she stabbed with great force. The spear tip went into and through the goblin's wooden shield, allowing Lunira to lift her spear and send the shield sailing. She didn't waste any time in bashing the goblin with the other end of her spear before flipping it around and stabbing the goblin repeatedly in the lungs.
She turned and walked back into the village, dagger still embedded in her arm. It wasn't too deep, but it was bleeding and hurt pretty badly.
Rosa, while no medic, had some cloth and wrapped some cloth around her arm after removing the dagger and doing her best to stop the bleeding. It was a miracle no veins were cut open.
"This might be hot. I boiled the cloth in some water to warm them up, so that it would help you feel it less. Hold still."
"Damn goblin was a sneaky one... I guess I got lucky that it's whip strike wasn't so powerful."
"Yeah, that could have been a lot worse."
Lunira winced as the hot, damp cloth was wound snugly around her arm.
"That should be good, Lunira. You're a damn good fighter by the way."
"I'm no legend or anything, but I can hold my own."
"You know anything about using a sword?"
"Some. The basics, I guess."
"You want one? I made one earlier and honestly, I think you could use it more than Grant would."
"Wow, thanks for the offer. Yeah, I'll at least give it a try."
Rosa removed the freshly-forged blade from earlier and handed it to Lunira.
"Wow, it's really light for it's size, and the tip looks as sharp as my spear. I can definitely use this. Thanks so much, Rosa!"
"It's nothing. I'll have to make Grant something too, to keep him quiet."
Rosa and Lunira laughed a bit together.
-----
VillagerList:
James the Mayor
Ashley the Miner
Coleman the Clothier
Grant the Soldier (away)
Thomas the Hunter (away)
Rosa the Smithy
Lunira the Soldier (Small Wound)
Relationships:
James/Lunira: Infatuation
Rosa/Lunira: Mutual Respect, Friends
Thomas/Lunira: Friends
Coleman/Ashley: Close Friends
Thomas/Grant: Friends
Notes:
The goblin attack was planned for third turn from the start, and I did roll a few aspects (didn't record, but they were pretty average rolls- the dagger was a 5 to a 2, though, so that hurt.)
Lunira did pretty well. Coleman and Ashley are getting along damn well and the farm's half done, and you have a good stock of iron now. Lunira got the prize weapon because I felt that:
Rosa had access to most of the cloth at the time because Coleman was in the fields, so she patched Lunira up. She knows the basics of cleaning with boiling water, and after seeing Lunira defeat the goblins, she'd be compelled to give the blade away.
Lunira and the Mayor (or Thomas, if you walk that path) could have a kid and be successful. They'd look almost identical to humans, but have a few good (and bad) traits. In other words, it's a totally valid and worthwhile option.
--Before I post, damn you ninjas. It went from 0 to 4 in no time, lol. Not going to complain about that too much though...
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Topic: Village Evolution (Read 5050 times)