Chapter 1: Landfall

[matt_s]

Stavard certainly agreed with their view of the precautions, and added,

Farming will take time and by the time the harvest is realized our time here may well be near over. I will expend my efforts on getting our fishing flotilla set up, and get some nets woven and spears made for that purpose. Hunters can supply bait for the fish as well from the miscellaneous offal the butcher leaves behind. Many of the sailors are adept with a needle due to the need to keep their clothes in good order, put them to work on nets and other textiles I say.

 

 

 

[TheWhitefire]

Harlan sighed. "Stavard, we're making a settlement. Even if the ship is willing to take us back, we'll need to make sure we can provide ongoing support for any future settlers. And that means farms. Besides which, some crops we can haul in inside of a season. Better we get them in the ground now and not need them, than to find out we need them six months from now when it's too late to plant them." Harlan shrugged. "Otherwise, you're not wrong. Hunting, fishing, and forage will need to serve us in the meantime. And while I have some medical supplies, we'll need to find a way to get more. In particular, I'll need clear alcohol to keep my equipment clean."

[8w_gremlin]

Brother Koji

"Yes, Harlan, we are making a settlement, which will take time and planning. Your suggestion to farm where the trees grow is fine, but we still need to fell the trees, haul out any stumps, clear the ground of rocks, till the soil, and irrigate it, before we even get to planting." 

"Stavard and I are trained in this, after we are protected from the harsher elements, more than our tents and canvas provide, we'll look at building a fishing fleet of a few boats, that way we'll be able to feed the settlers." Koji looks over to Stavard "We stick to the plan until the plan needs to change." he refers to the long conversation had on the ship about the best use of resources and how to feed the population. 

"Granted the winged fire breather will be an issue, and I'm, sure Harlan and the other hunters will do their job, in both hunting and defending the settlement. I have faith in the Father, and he has brought you here, so I have Faith in you all. " 

He turns back to Stavard, "What's next on the list of things we need to construct, we made good progress, but more people need shelter, and food production is becoming an issue." 

Turning to the scouts, "Did you find a good place in the lagoon where we could set up a boathouse and jetty? Or could you keep an eye out for such a place, I'd like to mark things on our map" he folds out a large piece of vellum where he has drawn the basic shape of the land around. 

 

OOC, Mechanics

Can we get a map of the local area, real basic so we can plan things out a bit. thanks!

 

[matt_s]

Folks would rather sleep shoulder to shoulder than sleep hungry. We need fishing and hunting, well I bet trapping is probably a better bet, anyways we need that type of gear yesterday. I can help get that started certainly. At this stage, we can use lighters, that is to say small boats launched from shore, instead of a real jetty. Haul them up on the beach above high water mark with block and tackle and tie them off just to be safe when we're through fishing.

 

Alcohol, well see what you can do with the ship's grog that we still have. Maybe there is something you can distill here, but you might have to make due with boiling your instruments I am afraid.

If you do set up a still, we have to be careful it does not compromise good order and discipline. A rum ration can ease the stress of the frontier as it does the stress of a ship, but it is temptation to some.

[Powderhorn]

John Hurley, Militia "Captain"

        "I personally would prefer a full belly - but I do wonder more about this beast of yours.  If it hunts from the air, how does it decide what to eat, or what to cook, or what to kill for fun like a stray cat?  Why the deer and not you?"

        "As for building - if it hunts from the air, could we perhaps make our buildings look like the ground, from above, that is?"

 

[SirLoganofGilead]

Oliver listened to the back and forth without many opinions here.  They had managed to get the basics for the first few days.  They would need the same things over and over.  Water, Shelter, Food, and fire.  It did not make much difference to him what order they got them in at this point or how they did it.  He would pitch in wherever needed.  One thing they also needed faster than expected was security.  It might be time to start scouting where they were so they knew some of the lay of the land.  "Maybe a small contingent of us should go with the cartographer and start getting a better idea of what's here.  Maybe we can learn more about the beast, maybe we can figure out where it hunts and lives.  We may need to slay that thing someday...it would feed a large group for a long time."  

 

Oliver stops and looks at the sky.  "I assume most of our temporary structures will be thatched in brush.  So they should look somewhat like tree cover for a while.  We could also build some structures and sleep in hammocks in the trees for a bit, to see if it attacks the new structures.  I also really want to start getting everyone trained more effectively on firearms, figure out who the best shooters are and teach them a bit about rifle fire as well."

[8w_gremlin]

Brother Koji

"Thatch will require us to harvest a lot of local water reeds until we get some wheat growing, then we can use some of the straw, but that will take a season or two to get up and running. We are getting a lot of reeds from around here and we're building roofing with that at the moment. But it's not great. I'd love to get some slate, if I could, or perhaps with a kiln up and running some tiles."

Koji pauses "Um thatch despite what you have led to believe is remarkably fire resistant, it's usually the wooden frame that starts to burn first. We also need clay to make some wattle and daub, and to plug the spaces in the planking. The lagoon and the forest provide a lot of resources, so this is good." 

He continues to listen to the back and forth of the others, "We can try and make the thatch look more natural from the sky, we can use some of the plant fronds and branches for some cover, but we'll have to replace them every so often. I'm no professional hunter, but wouldn't a predator like that use sight, sound, and smell, fifty humans would make a large stink and be fairly noisy."

"As for feeding Stavard do you want to do the boats etc, perhaps simple nets, and use tidal fishing traps or would you like me to do that? We have a lot of colonists that can help, and we need to be careful of the foraging we do, we need to record what is good and bad. "

[matt_s]

Stavard nodded along to Koji's points. All sound and well-considered.

How's this for food production - the two of us team up and get a class of sorts together, training and observing some of the folks here in making nets, small boats, and other fishing gear and sundry? We see how it is going, and then assess what the best next step is.

 

Yeah, I reckon camouflage is right out. I think intimidation by virtue of numbers is our best defense, frankly. Predators are a touch cowardly by nature in fact, there's no sense in dying trying to get dinner after all. If we are prickly enough, we might be safe enough in the settlement. But of course parties venturing forth, there can be no such guarantees.

[Powderhorn]

John Hurley, Militia "Captain"

        "These sound like good plans.  It seems likely most of our resources can be sourced from here, such as clay and plants.  I think making the place into a bit of a hedgehog is something I can help to assist with, but I think that the weak spot, resource-wise, will be metals.  We can smelt and resmelt everything we have, but each thing we melt down takes it out of circulation to make something else.

          Would it be possible to start a mining expedition?"

 

[matt_s]

That is something we will to do eventually of course, but more pressing matters need attending first. Our search expeditions should include checks for iron ore, but to create iron or even steel takes almost a forest worth of wood, and near to an army to chop and charcoal it. Lack of good clothing, even in a warm climate, will cause us trouble far before a shortage of metal, let alone lack of food, medicine, or clean water.

And in terms of things we could import from the mainland longer term, metal is probably one of the more useful by weight.

But for now, shelter - seems to be halfway sorted - food, and sanitation are what we must prioritize.

[8w_gremlin]

Brother Koji

"let us adjure into the longhouse, and discuss this over some holy mead" as Koji lead them into the thatched long house that has been built it's simple structure protection from the elements, the communal cooking fires, protected with some ingenious fired clay brickwork, provide warmth and food.

With a small blessing the barrel of sea water is purified and changed in to a holy mead, capable of healing and providing sustenance for a person for a day, he pours out several wooden cups and hands them to all of you. "a celebration to our first few nights here, the finding of the great beast, and now the hard work begins"

Over the next hour or so he goes over each of you needs, wants and desires, what the requirements are and compiles a ledger of a program of work. He makes sure that he has taken all of your points and tries to be the neutral party in any disputes, directing those ideas that require more elaborate work or explanation to one side.

He hands the plan around for all to ratify "Have we captured everything we need to do? Is there anything we've missed? "
 

OOC

Koji has the following which I'm hoping has some bearing on the matter.
Administer - 0
Convince - 0
Craft - 2 (equivalent)
Lead - 0
Survive - 0
Trade - 0
Work - 0

 

[TheWhitefire]

"I'll help plan the latrines and the camp over all. Get my clinic set up properly, make sure everyone is healthy. I can cook too. Well, probably. Never really tried cooking much if I'm honest." Harlan says, leaning back in his chair.

[SirLoganofGilead]

Oliver nods at the others ideas. "What with the new threats here, I am going to train a small special unit of people. They will be highly trained and ready to take on whatever comes our way. With them we will start scouting some of the dangers in the immediate area. It may help us learn the best ways to set our defenses, but will also let us start going on offense as well." For maybe the first time since they got here the rugged man has small smile on his face.