Journal of Thrakha'zaguul.
Chapter 12: Caravanserai
Granite, 254
Seeking a new life here on the frontier are two more Ronin and a handful of other modestly skilled veteran grunts . We now have a total of 33 in the warbands. Full squads of ten warriors in Broken Mind's assault infantry and ten archers in Firehawk's bow militia. Five elite "juggernaut" bladesorcs form a clanguard under Dohon. Six flachette-gunners patrol the battlements. Gamerlord and Cpt. Higgs are musket-orcs.
Over 120 clan-mates now call Ghoshash Snazaga home. A dangerous feeling of idleness sets in among the peasants. I remind the clanmates: If anyone is going to stand around doing nothing, let it be those who have earned it. Dreamwalkers are excused from menial tasks so they can focus on their duties in the Temple, or healing if need be. All Ronin, Artisans, and named officers are likewise removed from hauling duties.
Peasant idlers are assigned mostly to masonry, and a few are allowed to fish. Until now fishing was very closely controlled but with the new Caravanserai and the human Labor Cell we can put some hundred of fish to good use.
The masons busy themselves building an enclosed hall above ground, south of the main keep. We now call this the Caravanserai quarter. Our raiders have provided four caravan blueprints by raiding Merchant ships, and we use them to build each of the four types of shops: Common bazaar, Arms bazaar, Farmers bazaar, and Shadowbroker.
I ask our corsairs to explain coins and commerce to the clan. They say this: The caravanserai does not use orcish rusty-iron shillings as coin. They use copper, silver, and gold. Copper are cheap coins which they pay us for goods like food, cloth and leather. If we were running a big plantation village we could gather lots of copper coins, and then probably exchange them in big batches for silver coins or for raiders' shillings.
Silver are common coins which the traders will pay us for more valuable objects, like military gear or booze. In return we can spend silver coins for useful things like arrows, seeds, or mechanisms. Gold are expensive coins which the traders will not pay us directly, but will exchange us for silver coins at the given rate. With gold coins we can buy iron, anvils, or import barbarian weapons like hammers and crossbows.
A clanmate asks the corsairs: Can we spend minted silver or gold coins? for our Fort is on a rich silver-lode. The corsairs reply: we can, but remember! It is a poor trade compared to exporting crafts to the normal travelling caravan, or even to using the minted coins to equip our Raiders. For the Caravanserai Traders will not trade at a loss, nor can coins have any fine craft quality.
Platinum are special coins available only at the Shadowbroker, which we can get either for ransoming a Captive or for an exchange of gold coins at great cost. Platinum coins can be used for special black market trades like steel, coal, poisons, and exotic weapons. The Shadowbroker can arrange for us to buy small lots of Orichalcum alloy using platinum coins.
Slate, 254
I order the corsairs to begin selling what we can spare, and to pile the coins in a cellar. We do not use bins in coin stockpiles, because they cause too much confusion among the simple minded haulers.
Raiders prepare a series of six expiditions to ruins of the Old Clanholdings, to search for powerful armors for the warband and orichalcum alloy bars for our sorcerers' weapons. We are now totally out of charcoal, longboats, and wood. We should have our first crop of farmed saplings soon: our Orcish Factories can at least produce charcoal from the saplings. We begin eating more Prepared meals so that there is meat to spare for an Elven labor camp. From this camp Taskmaster Trak'Ruhn can entice the production of wood. The Caravanserai farmers bazaar sells us some wood for silver coins as well.
Felsite, 254
Shaman Gwathlobal successfully completes her Sorcerer's Dreamwalk, along with two more of Tomia's acolytes. We now have a total of four sorcerers. Gwathlobal takes the opportunity to tell us of the pantheon by our clan: Krimbuut the Avenger; Gimatug of Twilight; and Zatalat the Avatar of Trickery, who is manifest in our lands and has possibly written a book. I speak: Zatalat sounds like a demon posing as a god. Gwathlobal replies: of course he is, what do you expect from the Avatar of Trickery? I think: Deities are confusing and will leave their business to the dreamwalkers.
Another Tigerman assault! This time the aerial moth-cavalry wing is led personally by the tigerman general, and accompanied by two infantry squads with weapon masters. This army's warpets are also upgraded from bobcats to jaguars.
Boworcs report to the southern tower and are sniping at the moths at pretty long range. The gunners' squads are massacreing the tiger infantry and assault jaguars as they approach the gates. The flachette gunners in particular are doing well with an upgrade to iron darts. Cpt. Higgs gets a streak of kills with his musket and is rewarded with a title and the rank of Master.
Several moths gain the walls but are put down to earth by the archers, and one sorcerer! The surviving moth-riders cause a moment of panic but are quickly finished off by the melee warbands. Melee squads sally to strike the finishing blow against the fleeing tigerman stragglers -- but at the very moment they finish, another hostile force is sighted on the horizon! These are steam automaton gunners. Luckily they are far enough away for our clanmates to fall back to the keep and get a few minutes of rest. Dohon reports immediately to the baracks for some relaxing sparring.
In the meantime the boworcs stay on the walls to soften the enemy up a bit. They find that Automatons can withstand a lot of punishment from arrows. The enemy are too battered to charge our open gate, but not yet ready to abandon the field.
After a quick equipment check the full warband charges, trusting to their luck and skill to dodge a few rounds of enemy fire, but it happens that Ronin-recruit Uduruk takes a nasty strike from a cannonball and goes down with a heavy bleeding leg wound. At close range the battle tilts heavily in our favor and soon becomes a rout. Wrestler Talata underestimates a cornered metal-man with a wicked bayonetted musket and goes down with a broken ankle. Both casualties are recovered to the hospital quickly and are very soon under diagnosis.
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Topic: Ghoshash Snazaga, "Cleaver of Ignorance," a ¤MDF Orc Fort¤ tutorial (Ch 22) (Read 105253 times)