Smallville

Chapters, 1, 2, and 3

 

Chapter 1

  The next morning it was decided that the men would travel farther on towards the river bend we saw in the distance and start building houses while we woman stayed in the tunnel with the children.  My husband, Hendel and I, Sallyson, had 1 son, all the other couples had 2 or 3 children.  Staying put a few days and catching up on some washing and resting was a welcome relief.  Our boy, Furmani was almost 9 so he went with his father, which meant I didn't have to keep such a close eye on him and Coretha who he was sweet on.  The girl's mother, Theree, overheard the two talking, more than once, about the North and the gemstones found by the nomad.  Sharing her concern, we agreed our families should go North together rather than risking the young ones taking off together on their own.  The 3 other families decided to join us on the expedition.

 The men built some fine log cabins and several small shed so the supplies were all over the place.  They even tossed out some of the grain seeds to attract some stray chickens, sheep, and 2 milk cows.  It didn't take us women long to collect supplies and settle in. We collected wild foods and herbs and picked up whatever fallen branches we could find for firewood.  Prinent went trout fishing, Ston made sure everyone had enough firewood, Wardo tended the sheep, and I took charge of the chickens.  Hendel planted our first crop of barley.  We had seed potatoes, rye, cabbage, and barley.  All would grow well up here in the North, planting advice from the wise Nordic woman @Nilla, was taught at the outdoor survival school in Smallville.  We wondered if she was anywhere near.

 The men could often be seen poking around the rocks and bog iron.  Well, what can you expect, they were of dwarven decent, and no one in the known world knows more about rocks and tool making than a dwarf.  We would have to watch our tool supply carefully, we did not have enough workers for the charcoal pit, bloomery, and blacksmith.

  We soon learned that the little black grouse tasted just like chicken and reindeer provided not only tasty venison but fine hides as well.  The first snow began to fall as we finally got the 2 milk cows to their pasture.  Warm milk before bed would help put the children to sleep.  Three boys were born in November, including our 2nd son Therford.  Sadly, Coretha turned 10 before the school was finished, we only had 1 builder now.  Our son, Furmani, said he didn't mind if she wasn't educated as long as she could cook.  We have to watch that boy, I thought as I marveled at yet another beautiful Northern sunset and pondered the many things we had yet to do.  Yes, we had many concerns as that first year came to an end and the weather turned colder.  We hoped everything would not freeze up.

 

Chapter 2

  By the time the snow melted in spring of year 2, our blacksmith workshop was built.  We all agreed that it was the finest looking workshop we had ever seen.  We now had a supply of charcoal stored away so Tawannah would switch to working at the bloomery instead. The blacksmith would need bloom and more charcoal to make iron and iron tools.

  Our clothing supply was lower than our tool supply so a tailor workshop was built between the blacksmith and sheep run.  At year end we had 11 reindeer hide so Coretha began making parkas, she might not be educated but she could cook and sew.  Her limited skills would have to do, there was no one else.  Last year, our educated hunter provided us with 1,100 venison and 32 chicken meat from the grouse, and Prinent, also educated, caught 568 trout.  The new schoolhouse was completed and I became teacher and son Furmani became my first student in August.  The wooden chapel would be completed by then also.  We would not need a cleric, a good thing since we had no worker we could spare, but we all felt protected and watched over just having it there in the center of town.

  We had no one to tend an orchard full time so one of the laborers planted apple trees before returning to other tasks.  We again took wise Nordic woman's advice and made the orchard 13'x13'. We also had plum, pear, and cherry seeds and planned to plant the pears or cherries as soon as we could.  Hopefully someday a riverboat merchant will stop by with chestnut seeds.  Until then the seeds and seedling we have would be protected in the greenhouse and cared for by a botanist as soon as we can spare a worker. 

 We also built a tiny town hall which was plenty big for our needs. We could now keep better track of our town statistics and progress.  We thought that after 2 years we were doing quite well.

 

Chapter 3

 

  It was a long cold winter but the air was crisp and clean by day and the nights were clear and bright with thousands of stars and magical colored lights that often danced in the northern skies.  But up here in the North we appreciated the arrival of spring even more.  We still had a fair amount of snow on the ground when spring of year 3 arrived.  We also had a newborn calf in the pasture.  We thought it was awfully early but the reindeer also had new offspring.  There were cute little reindeer fawns all over the place.

  As soon as the snow melted, Ston the woodcutter went over the hill beyond the sheep run to see if he could find a good location for a forester's station.  In a small clearing just past the tree line he found the most beautiful little fishing pond.  In July, 2 nomads arrived in town, they said when they saw the wooden chapel with the simple crosses on the roof peak and above the door they knew they would find help here in our town.  They were welcomed to stay and decided they wanted to build a house by that pond. We helped fill their storage crates with wild foods and herbs and collected firewood for their wood pile.  It sure was a pretty spot.  And when winter came again it was just as pretty as ever.  The pond must have formed from a natural hot springs because it did not freeze over as expected and reindeer often came to drink the tepid water.

  While we waited for another spring, Coretha was waiting for our Furmani to finish his schooling.  She moved into the new Izba that was built in anticipation of more nomads arriving.  It was finished sooner than expected and Coretha moved in.  We wondered how long it would be before Furmani joined her.
 

Chapters 4, 5, & 6

 

Chapter 4

 

 Spring of year 4 arrived and so did more snow but spring snow never stays around for long.  By then we had a few more essentials built, a small cemetery near the chapel and a medical clinic was near completion behind the town hall near the apple orchard.  A forester lodge and wooden house was built in the forest east of the pond and when Orlandy and Yoselynn arrived in town they choose to move there and requested a gatherer's hut be built there as well.

  Another calf was born and we were again delighted by the sightings of reindeer fawns.  Carsenio and Suelo in the pond house had their 1st child, a son they named Lora.  They loved their peaceful setting in the forest with the gentle warmth of the sun and the sound of the wind in the trees and the haunting call of cranes.

  Ston and Theree also had a newborn son and so did Hendel and I.  They say good things come in threes, the first 3 MNT newborns were boys and now 3 more.  All well and good, but we needed some baby girls or there was bound to be trouble in the years ahead.

 

Chapter 5

  The medical clinic was completed by spring of year 5 and was ready and waiting if needed.  We were anticipating our 1st apple harvest this year and hoping an apple a day would keep the doctor away.  Our wide assortment of foods would certainly help with that.  The gatherer's hut was completed and Yoselynn collected all she could while tending a newborn, another boy.

  In July, 2 more nomads arrived, Websterlin and Shie.  They said they lost their fruit and grain crop 3 years in a row to unexpected early or late frosts and snowfalls. They weren't educated but they could tend our apple orchard and the new crop field that was being cleared.  The location of the new log house that was being built would suit them just fine.  They said we could expect more arrivals, the surrounding areas were not as protected from the elements as our NMT valley seemed to be.  The couple was also impressed with our green house where Theree was now the botanist. 

  Well, we could certainly use more help and would welcome more newcomers.  Our Furmani was looking forward to getting out of school but Xzavie just became our 2nd student.  We would have a long wait for educated workers.  We had to wait now for work stoppages in order to be able to collect needed herbs and stone, having to go farther afield to find both. The search however led to 2 amazing discoveries that stirred the dwarven instincts in all of us.  South of town we found what appeared to be a large stone foundation, and a much smaller ruin was found to the north by the river.  The men began clearing the areas and gathering some stone samples.  Hendel said they needed a special building to store and study these stones and develop special tools to restore these sites.  I didn't see that happening anytime soon.  We still had much to do and haven't even begun looking for precious metals or gemstones.  We had all we could do trying to produce enough food and tools and baby girls.

 

 

Chapter 6

 

  The first child born in year 6 was a girl, another boy was born a month later.  In July another couple joined our North Mountain Town, Nest and Elouis.  We now had 19 adults and 19 children.  A second Izba was built next to the first one where Coretha still waited for Furmani.  She was now the shepherd tending our 14 sheep.  Since the newcomers had to wait quite a while for their house to be finished, we decided it was time to build a hostel.  

 We also decided to build a bridge across the river.  There was a great deal of surface stone to be had over there should the need arise, at present Olandy the forester was bringing in a small but steady supply of stone.  Digging the foundation for the bridge stirred up a deposit of small colored stones which stirred up quite a bit of talk amongst the menfolk.  Princent, the fisherman, said he often saw small colored bits of stone sparkling in the sun as they were being swept along by the river's current.  A placer mine was build downstream of the bridge with hopes that the current would be slowed a bit by the bridge's foundation.  Both were completed in the spring of year 7.  There was already talk of building a 2nd placer mine upstream by the river bend, others talked of that being a good spot for a full-size fishing pier.  There was also talk of building a trading port, we had a good supply of seedling now for trading.

  That spring more NMT baby girls were born.  Orlandy and Yoselynn had a girl they named Lizbetha, and Nest and Elouis in the Izba had a girl they named Zelrah.  Next door to them, as expected, as soon as he graduated from school, our Furmani married and moved in with Coretha.  Our 3rd son, Rothannie, now 3 years old, wanted to know if his brother and Coretha would be out in the cabbage patch looking for a baby cuz that's where his best friend, Conniel, said babies come from.  Hendel and I agreed it was way too early for "that" talk.

Chapters 7, 8, & 9

 

Chapter 7

 

 Year 7 continued much like any other year.  In August Ramian and Romonika arrived at the chapel.  We made them welcome.  A 3rd Izba was being built for them.  Having 2 new laborers meant Suelo could go back to work at the tailor shop.  Towns people were still taking turns working at the charcoal pit, the bloomery, and blacksmith.  The crops were harvested just before the first snowflakes began to fall.  The apple orchard produced even more apples than it did the year before.  That winter's building projects included another stone house by the pond and a hunter's lodge in the forest.  It would be a prime location since there were several herds of reindeer and black grouse in the area.

  In March of year 8, Furmani became a father, to a baby girl they named Beatrina, and a brother to our 4th son Terrel.  NMT's population had grown to 45, 22 adults, 8 students, and 15 young children.  And that was before Travonte, Haroleen, and their 2-year-old daughter, Ilia, arrived.  They would move into the 2nd stone pond house as soon as it was completed.  Travonte would make cheese in the new dairy hut. He said we might want to consider a bigger pasture for the dairy cows.  We had many things to consider as year 8 drew to a close.

 

Chapter 8

 

  One thing we failed to consider was that grain from our one crop field was not reaching folks living by the pond or forester's lodge.  In spring of year 9, barley was planted in a field near the river behind the stone houses.  We also started giving more thought to the river itself.  In all this time, not one river boat merchant has come down this river.  Was there perhaps a fork upriver that boatmen were going down instead?  We had no way of knowing.  Should we build a trading post not knowing if a merchant would ever come to call?  Without one we were isolated from the rest of the known world, receiving no news or information or goods we could not produce ourselves. To date, our North Mining Town has done very little mining or exploring outside our immediate vicinity.  We've barely even ventured far past the bridge we built over the river to the west, but now it was time to see what was upriver to the east.

  A couple of the men went upstream as far as they could before they were stopped by high mountains on either side of the river.  They thought there was a good spot for a lighthouse and there was plenty of surface stone to build one.  If built high enough, a signal fire should be visible from quite a distance. They did not think the big stones they saw in the water would prevent boat traders from navigating down this river.  So that spring, it was decided, we would start constructing a lighthouse upriver and a trading post in town near the greenhouse.

 In July, 5 more northerners came to town, a young man age 21 and a couple with 8-year-old twins.  Like the others they could shed little light on the river or surrounding area, they came overland from a small mountain valley with only a small stream.  The young man, Wenden, was their fisherman.  He said he would enjoy catching trout from the point and we thought that was a good idea.  With the new arrivals and last 2 babies born, we again had more children than adults, 27 adults and 30 children, 9 of them were students, 4 of which would be finishing school soon.  

 

 So, besides a fisherman we gained a 2nd builder and a laborer.  As soon as the crops were harvested, all nonfood producing work stopped except for the greenhouse, in order to have more laborers to collect stone and deliver supplies for our 2 major building projects.  It was rough going with the cold and the snow and the winter wind.  Because of the long distance to the lighthouse we were concern the farmers would be late returning to their fields in spring, and there were more mouths to feed.  Hendel and I had another granddaughter, Nora, who was born just before year 9 ended.

 

Chapter 9

 By March of year 10, a house was completed and Wenden, the fisherman moved in leaving the family with twins still in the hostel.  Drucile was about to give birth and did not want to move just yet.  A second floor would be added to Wenden's house for the family when they were ready.  The baby girl, Antha was born in the hostel in April and in July their 2nd floor house was finished.  They moved out of the hostel just in time for the new arrivals, Camil, Hayde, and Selen, to move in.  We thought it was a shame they did not arrive sooner so 11-year-old, Selen, could have gone to school. She didn't mind going to work as a laborer and thought it was fun gathering building materials for the stone house being built by the pond for her family. 

  Myrone completed his education and began working as the smelter at the bloomery but stopped work to help deliver building supplies also.  The lighthouse was finally finished in September.  It was an impressive looking building indeed.  With the remaining building projects close to home, the blacksmith and tailor could now return to their jobs.  The crops would be harvested soon and the farmers could take their places as temporary laborers.  The barley farmer was the only farmer who had not returned to his field soon enough in spring for a full harvest but the lost grain was only a minimal amount.

 The trading post was finally finished in November, 800 seedlings would be transferred to the facility in anticipation of a river boat arriving.  The stone house by the pond was also finished and Selen rested from her labors long enough to help keep the younger town children occupied by building snowmen with them.  The building of a viking storage vault had begun and was completed way before year's end.

Chapters 10, 11, and 12

 

Chapter 10

 Our North Mining Town had certainly grown and expanded in 10 years' time and there was plenty of room for more to the southeast, the west, and to the north.  The lighthouse was as far northeast as we could go.  In January, Hendel, now a builder, thought there should be an arrow signpost build by the lighthouse in case any weary travelers came over the mountains there.  He would also relight the signal fire.  It was a considerable distance and I worried about him going there alone in January, the middle of winter.  

 Hendel returned sooner than expected.  He re-lit the signal fire, there was always plenty of firewood laying around under the trees, and he had just finished erecting a small wooden signpost pointing to NMT when he spotted a riverboat.  He waved to the boatman and took off running back to town, he arrived back weeks before Izeth the food merchant arrived at our dock in February.

  Izeth had many of the foods we were already producing and our food supply was good so there was nothing we needed.  We did notice he had butter, salt, nuts, and butchered meats.  He said he only had small homesteads on his route so far, they either needed food or they needed coats or tools, so there was a good market for those items.  If our seedlings were mostly fruit tree seedlings they would also be a good trade item.  He confirmed what we already knew, the river and the climate were changing, and there were a lot of people on the move.  And yes, there were many forks in the river, both upstream and down.  That would explain why he was able to return so soon come July.

  By then we had 3 more new residents in the hostel, and an apothecary built. When Hendel returned from the lighthouse, I noticed he was not in the best of health and neither were many other citizens.  Like us there were few if any herbs in their pantries.  We took to the woods on each side of town to collect some but there weren't too many to be found.  A very attractive looking apothecary was built south of town and it was immediately a very popular place to visit. 

  The last projects of year 11 were a jade quarry and a bridge over the river to the north.  The mountain range there was close enough yet far enough from town to be a good mining site.  But since bits of green stone were found in the soil when constructing the new houses in the area behind the orchard, we dug a quarry there and thought the jade would be a good trade item.  We moved our surplus iron ore to the trading post along with some bloom, rough gemstones, and the jade just to find out their trade value when the next merchant would come to call.  

  We got good information on trade values when Ewel the export merchant arrived that winter. There were some buyers for precious minerals and gems downriver, none up here in the north as we could see by his inventory. He said there was actually a Mountain Mines town some distance southeast of Smallville that was doing quite well producing and selling statues and jewelry.  What was amazing was that town had been founded by a group of children from the north some years ago.  We found the merchants information interesting and helpful.  We realized that values may vary depending on the merchant, but we could also see that tool making was the way to go.  We were sorry he had no dalers or pennings for trade, we would need those coins if we hoped to trade for seeds or livestock in the future.   

 

Chapter 11

  We had a special town hall meeting shortly after the export merchant left.  We thought it a good idea to build a gem smith to polish our small stash of rough gemstone to increase their value.  A worker would only be needed in winter, not year-round at this point.  What was needed was more housing; there were several young adults still living at home with their parents who wanted to marry and start families of their own.  A 2nd story and another house would be built by the quarry, another stone house by the pond, and single-family house across from the apothecary.

 The main topic of discussion was expanding into mining and tool making. Would we have enough workers for such an operation?   A large mining development across the river to the north would seriously limit future food production which would be needed as our population continued to grow.  Would the remaining land across the river to the west be enough for added crops and livestock?  We could of course increase the number of hunters, fisherman, and gatherers as our population grew and there was always trade.  Thanks to our lighthouse, more riverboats were finding their way to our port.  Milbur, one of the last nomads to arrive, pointed out the fact that we did not find out the trade value for the various types of coats our tailor was producing.  He was a trapper by trade and said we might want to consider furs for coats or trade goods.  I said I would rather go naked than have an animal killed just for its fur coat, Hendel said "okay, everyone close your eyes."  Milbur said he could make traps that were quick and painless and we should get some idea of the output of furs in this area and their trade values, in case we desperately needed to trade for food.

 

  As suggested, we moved an assortment of textiles to the trading post and when Ewel the export merchant returned in July we discovered our reindeer parkas had a trade value of 36, the winter coats 48, and Nordic wool coats were worth 56.  Hmm, as good if not better than tools, but our men were dwarves and dwarves mined and made tools.  So that is what we will do.

  It was also pointed out at the meeting that we were in need of stone and as yet had done nothing about restoring the 2 strange stone foundations we had discovered.  We certainly had a lot to do.  We collected stone, built a fishing pier, and laid the foundation for a hunting lodge by the quarry.  Xzavie the stonecutter said the reindeer herds were out of control, he even had to chase some out of the quarry.  A trapper cabin and gatherer's hut were being built southeast of town along with 2 Izbas.  A second story was built above the house by the apothecary and there was still more to do.

 

 

Chapter 12

 

 

  Dormani, the resource merchant, came by just before the end of the year 12.  He had nothing we needed at the time but we saw his trade values were lower for everything except our seedling.  By spring the gatherer's hut by the trapper's cabin was completed and so was the hunter's lodge by the quarry.  The reindeer however still cut through the quarry going from one grazing spot to another. We wanted to be sure our food and tool supply was stable before we expanded our mining operations.  We were still producing more food than we used and our overall health had improved.  Our population was 81, 43 adults, 6 students, and 32 young children, 43% educated.  Wardo, Killard, and Jaquelynett who worked in the charcoal pit, bloomery, and blacksmith were all educated.

 

 In July of year 13, 4 nomads arrived. One of them had experience as a statue carver so a carver's workshop and a house for the family of 3 was built by the jade quarry.  We hoped Ambrosendo still in the hostel would hook up with one of the single girls.

  We again needed stone.  After the crops were harvested and we had more laborers, we collected more of the stone by the lighthouse.  We also built a 3rd bridge across the river to collect the stone on the other side.  A group of us went over to see just how much stone was there by the foot of the mountain and low and behold we find another half-buried stone foundation.  By the size of it I thought there may once have been a large church standing here.  We collected some of the stones and kept them separate from the rest that we had gathered.  When it began to snow, I was about to head for home but paused to watch a most delightful sight.  A small flock of black grouse disturbed by our presence, headed for the group of trees some distance from where I stood, their white tails bobbing up and down as they hurried on their way.  I was pretty cold by the time they were out of sight; they were probably as eager for spring to arrive as I was.

 

Chapters 13, 14, & 15

 

Chapter 13

 

  By spring of year 14, a special workshop center was built to study the stones we had collected from the 3 stone foundations.  Websterlin would develop special tools so the sites could be restored.

  In July, 2 more nomads arrived at the chapel, Kellyn and his wife Belin.  He was forester so they were used to living off my themselves.  They wouldn't mind living in the northwest forest where we thought to build a forester lodge and probably another gatherer's hut.  They went up to take a look and made another discovery. Tucked away behind the trees at the base of the north mountain range they found an old mine tunnel.  The tunnel itself had long since caved in but they found numerous mine carts just inside the entrance.  These carts must have been used to move ore along tracks from the back of the mine to the entrance.  Some of the carts were in pretty bad shape but some could still be used if for nothing else than for storage. 

  Two different food merchants came by this year, Ofelicia and Gladyson.  We thought their prices were a bit high, especially for fruit but that was to be expected up here in the North.  When Dormani the resource merchant returned in October we learned our furs had a trade value of 18, fur coats 66, and our jade statues were worth 80.  We could buy a lot of food with those.  And we were worried about our food surplus.  Our harvest total wasn't bad but could be better and we had not spent as much time collecting wild foods as we did before. All the new houses must be lowering our surplus.  

 We needed to produce more food so we started construction of a hunter's lodge and fishing pier up in the north but by spring of year 15, our surplus was the lowest it had ever been.  We began collecting wild foods as soon as they began to appear but still our food supply dropped even after Fishermo and Leandria arrived in town and began fishing and gathering in the north.  Our food supply was critically low when Izeth the food Merchant arrived, he couldn't have come at a better time.  We traded the furs, fur coats, seedlings, statues and other trade goods for all the mutton and rye that he had.  Hopefully we bought enough to tide us over until harvest time.

Mod Note:  Red's Old Bakery mod was added to the map, it was not used but added need for salt.

 

Chapter 14

 

 By spring of year 16, we had given some serious thought to extending our food production.  We built a flour mill across the river and planned to clear a field for another rye crop. That was one very nice-looking flour mill.  As soon as the snow melted we began clearing a larger pasture for our milk cows.  If a seed and livestock merchant didn't show up soon, we would move the herd to this pasture.  We could then buy more cows for the original pasture by the dairy hut if we had enough dalers.  What laborers we could spare became hunters, gatherers, and fisherman.  We also added a 2nd miner to the jade quarry.

  When Skylan the export merchant arrived in May, we were surprised to hear there was a group of weary travelers seeking shelter up by the lighthouse.  Skylan said he hadn't seen them at first because of the large herd of deer.  When he did see them he tried to wave them in this direction but didn't know if they saw him.  They were sure to see the signpost so hopefully they will show up in town soon.  Before he left, we made a trade.  We now had 20 dalers and 5 pennings.

 

  The 7 weary travelers made it to town but did not stay, after they heard what we had to say.  All but 1 was middle aged.  They came from farther north and were looking for their 10 children who would be in their late 20's now.  They were miners who were barely surviving when they decided to send their children south, they stayed behind to care for the sick and elderly.  That was 10 years ago, or as one of the mothers said, 10 years, 3 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days to be exact.  We told them that we heard of a Mountain Mines town that was founded by children some years ago.  More than that we didn't know but surely they could learn more in Smallville.  We gave them food and supplies and told them to go southeast to the Smallville sign and then east over the mountains.  We wished them safe journey and luck in finding their children.

  In July, 2 more travelers arrived at the chapel and decided to stay, Callison and Guadalyn.  Callison said he'd be happy to work in the new bakery but we knew, didn't we, that if we wanted to bake bread with good flavor and keeping quality we would need salt.  When Dormani the resource merchant came in November, we traded for enough salt to get the bakery up and running, we had a good supply of rye flour.  There was room next to the bakery to build a salt mine.  Would NMT ever get around to doing some serious Dwarven mining?

 

 

Chapter 15

 

  Now was the time, year 17, we dug our first coal mine, a bell pit.  It took 3 miners to operate but it wasn't long before they brought up the first bucket of coal.  It wasn't long after that when Ston, the archeologist, found the last one of the matching stones and sent it over to the small stone foundation for the builders to reconstruct.  

  During this time we also traded for more dalers, and 5 nomads with 1 child arrived in town.  This was followed by an outbreak of yellow fever, but the clinic was opened immediately so the disease was quickly brought under control with only a few patients and no fatalities. Skylan the export merchant returned but we still had not had a seed or livestock merchant come to our port.  We hoped a food merchant would stop soon; our surplus was not good even after the harvest was brought in.  We lost part of the rye crop to an early snow.

 Ston finally found time to go exam the restored historical site.  Unless we unearth more of the matching stones, this was as much as could be restored.  He thought this ruin was a burial site or some type of memorial to fallen soldiers.  He found some metal fragments embedded in these stones that might have been from crude weapons. There were also numerous bone fragments.  The stone table may have marked a mass grave or been used to display war memorabilia.  We thought it fitting to build a small memorial chapel at this site and made yet another surprising find when digging the foundation.  The builder saw something sparkle in the new fallen snow when the sun broke through the clouds.  It took a while to dig it out of the frozen soil and polish it up but Ston's assumption about the ruin was proven correct.  The old sword fit perfectly in the top of the stone table.

  The restored ruin and memorial chapel would honor all these and other brave soldiers everywhere who died defending their homelands or were weary travelers far from home who gave their lives for the good of all.  They did not die in vain and will never be forgotten.

Chapters 16, 17, and 18

 

Chapter 16

 

 

  In spring of year 18, we planted more rye instead of potatoes and we cleared a new field for even more.  The new rye field got planted a bit late so we assigned a 2nd farmer to the 2 fields on that side of the river.  We also split the milk cow herd, moving some back to the old pasture.  The dairy hut was again making cheese.

  A 2nd charcoal pit and blacksmith were built across the river to the north.  One blacksmith could not keep up with making steel, iron, and iron tools and often having to wait for charcoal.  

  The year was almost over when finally Beaula, the seed and livestock merchant arrived.  Although we would have liked more sheep, the merchant had nothing we needed and if he had we would not have had enough dalers and penning.  We were delighted to learn he would accept not only our seedlings, but also our amber and jade statues.  We did not mind quite so much now that the export merchant brought us more unnecessay luxury items than dalers and pennings.  We must get word to wise Nordic woman @nilla about this discovery. The boatman said he heard of her and believed she has temporarily left the North and was somewhere called Osborona.  It was not on his trade route but he would spread the word to the other boatmen and hopefully the information would reach her.  We also hoped it would not be quite so many years before a seed and livestock merchant reached us again.

 

Chapter 17 

  By June of year 19 our food supply was then extremely low.  Kellyn dropped what he was doing to go hunting but by the time he got to a good spot the deer had all left the area.  We immediately began to gather wild foods; we loved the assortment of mushrooms.

  A tunnel mine was built and it was decided that since we needed stone, the loose stone would be cleared out of the mine first.  We were short of laborers even after a group of 6 arrived in July.  In August, Tani the export merchant arrived but again he had no dalers.  

  In November we had another disease outbreak, this time scarlet fever.  Again there were few patients and they recovered quickly.  In December our population was 145, 70 adults and 75 children to feed.  When Elio the food merchant arrived we bought beef, barley, rye, and beans.   We built an old salty next to the salt mine and planned to make salted beef.  The year ended very cold and snowy.

 

 

Chapter 18

  Spring of year 20, we began construction of another fishing pier.  And when Elio returned we bought cabbage, squash, and all the trout he had.  He had quiche and omelets but no grain.  Despite the snow, the laborers managed to deliver the first batch of sorted stones, that Websterlin called artifacts, to the site of the large ruin across the river.  The foundation had been restored.

  In May, 7 weary travelers saw the lighthouse from a distance, they didn't want to stay, just wanted to know what was to the south, they were sick of the cold and snow.  We directed them to the Smallville sign.  It had been a cold snowy winter and spring and the year ended the same way.  

  Our mining operation did take a couple of steps forward.  A small iron mine was built next to the old collapsed mine.  The old carts found inside were coming in handy.  We just wished we had more tracks to make them easier to move.  We used what few track pieces we found to keep the wheels from sinking into the ground and tipping the carts sideways.  We also constructed a coke oven.  Despite the thick black smoke, folks didn't mind being near it.  It gave off a fair amount of heat, and it had been a cool rainy summer.  The stone cutter wasn't real happy working outside in an open quarry, the tunnel mine where we were getting stone from was being converted to a year-round mushroom farm.  Hayde thought it would make the stone cutter happy if she made some old-fashioned stone tools for him, she set up a small workplace across from the log pile.

  Renovations were also taking place in the main part of town.  Due to low production and trade value, the gem smith was shut down and demolished.  A tailor was built in its place.  We had enough leather, reindeer hides, wool, and furs for 2 tailors.  The archeology center was next to go and would be replaced by houses.  All the stones artifacts had been sorted and delivered to the last 2 sites.  The site next to the center was completed first.  Websterlin thought the standing stone structure was quite old and probably quite sacred.  Being a typical dwarf he said it was probably built by those tree-loving elven druids who knew nothing about mining and tool making just stood up a bunch of stones.

  I, of course, defended the elven druids who were quite knowledgeable especially about things pertaining to mother earth, and the seasons of the year, and sun and the moon.  They were a knowledgeable priestly class of people.  The standing stone structure was simply beautiful and had a sacred grounded to the earth feel to it.  You could almost feel the warmth of the summer sun even in the midst of winter's cold and snow.

Chapter 19, 20, and 21

 

Chapter 19

 

  Season come and go and so do boatmen.  In August of year 22, Izeth returned, we brought chestnuts, squash, and bread.  He again had no grain.

  The blast furnace's construction was finally completed, it was an imposing structure.  Coke or charcoal would be used to turn iron ore into iron and take some of the workload off our blacksmiths.  They could devote all their time to tool making.  

  The 3rd and last historical site was restored as much as was possible.  It was once a magnificent church.  We had no idea when it was built or by who, we found no evidence of prior settlements here in this valley, only the 3 sites.  The builders said it was structurally sound enough to use as a place of worship if we so choose.  It may be safe and sound but no one was brave enough to climb up the tower staircase.  The view was bound to be spectacular as was the church itself.

 Not far from the church, the old salty was demolished and an old smokery was built in its place.  We would smoke beef and looked forward to smoked fish to go with our rye bread.

 The following year, year 23, we debated over what type of clay pit to build, we had a choice of 2, likewise should we build a kiln or a brickyard.  Our need for brick and roof tiles was small so we choose the small clay pit and kiln. The simpler structure would not need building materials to be delivered by a boatman.  To date the boatmen had only a few bricks and no roof tiles at all so we would have to place a special order.  For a bigger mine we would need candles.  Before the end of the year, Havenia the resource merchant brought about half of what we would need.

  By then we had built 2 log cabins where the archeology center used to be.  The placer mine was scheduled for demolition next.  We now had 51 families but only 41 homes but we also needed another school and more food.  The school and a mill were built over by the pond and memorial chapel.  We still had much we wanted to accomplish in our NMT.

 

 

 

Chapter 20

  By spring of year 24, we had a bridge built and another rye field cleared and planted across the river from the new mill.  It wasn't long before the 1st of 2 Nordic style houses were built.  Our food supply in June was again critically low, we added 2 more fisherman and gathered as much wild foods as we could find.  We did have a good harvest that year and traded for even more rye and eggs when Ofelicia the food merchant came to call.  The output from our mines, quarries, and blacksmiths was also good.

  A house was built where the placer mine use to be, and then it was upgraded with bricks and roof tiles.  It was a very nice-looking house.  The house next to the statue carver was upgraded next but with a slightly different roof color that also looked very nice indeed.

 

  It was another cold and snowy December but our food and fuel supplies were good.

 

 

Chapter 21

 

  In March of year 25, Tani the export merchant actually had some dalers to trade, we traded amber for the dalers he had.

  In May, 25 nomads arrived at the lighthouse but did not want to stay.  It was a beautiful day, a little cool for May but it nice and sunny.  It wasn't warm enough for them, they were headed south.

Shortly after the summer solstice in June, 7 nomads arrived at the wooden chapel, 5 adults with 2 children.  They gained a new home, we gained a hunter, fisherman, and laborers to help gather wild food.  

 In September there was an outbreak of typhus.  The crops were harvested before the 2 patients were healed.  The harvest was good and this year we produced more than we used.

  In December NMT suffered its 1st lost, Yoselynn the hunter died of old age.  She was one of the nomads who arrived in year 4.  So after 25 years we had a population of 190, 95 adults, 31 students, and 64 children.  

  Yes, weary traveler, our North Mining Town did quite well for itself.  We restored 3 amazing ancient historical sites, we managed to keep everyone warm and well fed, and produced a surplus of clothes and tools for trade.  We all know that no one can make tools like a dwarf in the North.  

 

The End