With the first wave of migrants came the fort's first cat. This is seen as some kind of omen from the gods and Snaggletooth is placed in command of a newly formed squad, stupid wooden bullets weren't doing anything anyway. Konczewski is promoted to Military Commander and soon starts using his position to gain control of the fortress... Konczewski is elected Mayor under suspicious circumstances.
More migrants arrive as construction on Konczewski's quarters begins. Lucy is promoted to Head of Security by Konczewski and gains a small squad of Security Guards to help her keep the peace.
Another caravan from Casor Pudal, thankfully with a sober looking soldier acting as the Liason rather than the crazy pyro from last year, and Konczewski takes Sulthu, the Broker, into a room and threatens her with imprisonment if she exports any bastilla cannon shells. The trade goes well, a large amount of weapons and materials are traded for box after box of masterfully crafted trinkets that Aaron has been churning out for the past year. Aaron quickly gains celebrity status with the soldiers and craftsmen because of this.
"So, you're sure that these can hold back an attack?" said Konzewski, carefully examining the strange ball-like explosives that had been bought from the traders.
"Yes Laddie," said the demoman (no forumite demomen yet) taking another swig from his fisher berry wine, "if any unfortunate bassturd comes down 'ere, we just pull the triggar and KABOOM!"
Konc bounced one up and down on his palm for good measure, "What about them?" he said as he gestured to the bear traps sitting next to the staircase.
"Have yer ever been bitten by a metal bear?"
"Of course not!"
"Well thass why it's called a 'bear trap'."
As the merchants leave, even more migrants swarm past them and over the bridge. The caravan runs into trouble near the edge of the perimeter.
Ahab woke with a start to the sound of explosions and gunfire, his mind racing with possibilities. He pulls his sword out from under his pillow and runs up the fortress stairs. When he reaches the top he runs out the gate towards the noise. He arrives to find the two caravan guards fighting some strange metal creatures, it took Ahab a few moments to realize that the blood covering the ground belonged to the creatures. The heavy was handling the situation well, hacking away at his attacker with his battle-axe but the engineer had run out of ammo for his pistol and was beating his attacker with it, he clearly needed more help.
Ahab charged in and hacked at the thing, it was already weakened from several bullet wounds but it still fought back. As he cut off the last of it's legs it made a strange metallic sound and seemingly exploded. Ahab was thrown back, missing the nearby trees and receiving only bruises. As he got up he saw that the thing's red light was still on, barely, but a gunshot rang off to his right and struck the thing in the body, shutting it off.
Ahab turned to the shooter and saw Snaggletooth surrounded by a ragtag band in leather armor, some not even armed. "Snaggletooth, what were those things?"
Snaggletooth, took off his protective goggles, came over and helped Ahab up, "Some people call them hopper mines but they're nothing like the things the Combine use. They're strange, they move, bleed, eat and breathe but they're not animals they're not even synth. They're just... wrong."