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Update 4: Silver And Gold, Curses And Construction (Turn 9 - 27)
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Turns 9 & 10
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At the eve of the first night, the ever resourceful people of Goatmurdered turn their focus towards collecting silk.
Since it seemed to be everywhere,it was a reasonable choice.
Unsure of how stable our hold was on the land, the wandering expedition was sure to clear out any enemies still within sight.
Returning more of the undead back to the earth yielded crucial equipment to maintain offense against enemy threats- a shield of dark wood, in the highest quality and a bone necklace imbued with the instincts of a predator.
They made sure they broke some of the bones before they buried them- a grim task indeed, but hopefully the Darkness could not make anything of them now.
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Turn 11
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After dropping off more of their spoils of war, they noticed a spider nest had formed at the inlet not far away.
They dispatched them easily and found a crossbow, still in passable shape. From there, they headed back to the north east, keeping their bearing by use of the moon.
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Turn 12
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With time, comes experience. Samovar had grown noticeably stronger thanks to his time in the wilds, while Rocket Baby Dolls had grown better at deflecting blows.
Back at home, Drakenel was becoming more resistant to the commands put forth by the queen of the kitchen.
Willfully, she snuck from the kitchen and started using what spider silk they had in the village stocks to sew new clothing. Besides, making bigos every day and every night was getting a bit dull.
Meanwhile, the expedition had set down and went to gathering spidersilk.
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Turn 13 & 14
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And so they, camped, gathering. Spidersilk wasn't easy to gather, nor find sometimes. The only who was any good at the job was Old Grey Guy, while the others went to gathering things they knew a little bit better.
None of them were well trained regarding it, but everyone made an effort nonetheless.
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Turn 15
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Travelers? It would seem the people of Goatmurdered weren't the only ones left in this wasteland.
Although not even Black Robe could convince them to stay (perhaps it was a reason not to), they did give directions to an old herbalist who lived not too far from the town. She didn't work for free, but if anyone needed to be saved from poison or mortal wounds, she was a definite choice.
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Turn 16
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As the sunrise began, Drakenel had finished her project of fancy clothing. It was deemed to be quite useful for the silk itself was not only comfortable, but surprisingly durable.
It is by no means a set of plate armor, but it's light and it'll do. It ends up heading to Arzaac as she's least strong of everyone in town, and it's likely it would be the only armor she could wear for a long time.
Yet, this was not the only product made that day, for in fact they had come up with new plans. How Drakenel managed to draw designs for a watchtower from a silk shirt, nobody knows, but the plans were all laid out. In the process, the village began considering some new ideas, inclined towards more self-defence.
The first, the possibility of a Palisade, making it harder for their town to be breached by the dark creatures outside. Defending would be a good bit easier that way.
The other is that of a Barracks, helping organize their admittedly small military. This way, the children wishing to be fighters would have the training they'd need to excel.
For now, decisions on that would wait as would the production of bigos. Black Robe took to reapplying her skills to build a pasture so that the town could manage their own animals in the future.
Of course, Black Robe did this merely to have a meat supply in the future. The last thing she'd tolerate is for the work in the kitchen to stop. Goatmurdered may be trying to survive in a harsh world, but damned be the Sun if they won't be eating good while doing it.
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Turn 17 & 18
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Seeing as the sun had risen, the expedition that had been gathering through the night finished collecting what they could (which wasn't much) and set back out to clearing away threats. Gathering silk almost seemed easier when they were just stabbing the spiders instead.
Heading eastward, they spotted not only a spider's nest, but also what could be common fruit on the horizon. That would be a lot easier to gather, for sure.
They also spotted the Herbalist's Hut, well camouflaged in the dark swamps. Perhaps they scared the beasties away by appearing to be a Baba Yaga- or at least that's a possible theory. The one thing they knew for sure is that it was a pain to get to given all the forest, hills, and swamps.
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Turn 19
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Another silk shirt was made, and their silk supplies depleted already, the inventive Drakenel set out secretly to make a new pair of tools from some supplies they had. They'd be nothing exceptional, but they'd help out if all these buildings they'd thought of would get made.
In the meantime, the expedition slew a spider nest and found a very small supply of flour. Either that or it was a small bundle of wheat. The sources aren't necessarily clear.
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Turn 20
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#30
While spider bakeries are being crushed an indeterminate distance away, some snakes eerily stare down the citizens of the town, but do not enter.
Meanwhile, more spider nests get crushed. The lack of silk and presence of more baking materials only leads to confusion.
In the taigas beyond the cold, dark swamps, the expedition finds some small ruins during their mission to remove the overgrown creatures from Thea's lands.
Getting into fights seemed to be a common thing in these times.
Though, each and every fight is somewhat different than the last. Now skeletons are brandishing spears of good quality against the six explorers.
And it seems the rats move swifter than ever, often taking first action.
For our team, it is nought but a mere nusiance, however. Claiming the dark wood spear from the skeleton, the team finds a sizable stash of gold!
And yes, weapon wielding enemies are calculated in having they items they drop. It's quite neat.
This dark wood spear, called a Thorn, is the same kind used as used by Fat Samurai. Rocket Baby Dolls picks this one up and Old Grey guy trades in his greataxe for the pike Dolls had before.
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Turn 21
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At moment the spear was traded, Black Robe finished the pasture and the enigmatic Theodore reappeared with a puff of smoke.
The words he spoke are very true: it is possible the people of Goatmurdered could simply flourish in spite of the Darkness to overcome-
:hmmyes:
Ah, and he brought some quite decent supplies as a gift. There's better, but this is better than we got last time. 5 Silver is enough to make a quite good weapon, probably a one handed sword or spear.
Whether it was from the combat or Theodore's timely visit, the people of Goatmurdered had become somewhat more experienced.
Those on the road found some good benefits. Samovar evidently had some time to think on how to craft better, Shei-kun was becoming more interested in tactics for the sake of defending her friends, while Pharnakes was looking somewhat prettier, perhaps due to those little herbs she keeps picking and never tells anyone about.
As for those in town-
: Oh! I didn't know you did sewing too! Um, are those little dolls just pincushions?
: Yes, they are. Say, shouldn't you be helping me in the kitchen again? All that sewing must be hurting your back.
: Er, yeah, how did you- Wait is, uh, that moldy garlic I smell?
: ...Of course not. I'd never use moldy garlic.
: *Notices designs carved out in the floorboards* 
- it would seem Black Robe's unnatural charisma and presence possibly had a more different origin than anyone had imagined. Drakenel only suspected this, knowing the most about folklore, but something unusual was going on back at town.
In the meantime, Anonymous gained ever so slightly more resolve to pick carrots and cabbages.
Determined to stay away from the kitchen, Drakenel quickly began work on a new watchtower. Making sure (more) threats didn't get into the town was a top priority. Besides, nobody has to know she built it just so she would have a quiet place away from the kitchen.
Killing two Vily with one stone, really.
She also realized this wouldn't work forever, despite her intentions, so she also drew up plans for a smithy to be made sometime soon. Drakenel was practically the chief architect at this point, though she had to convince Anonymous to not plant cabbages there before she built it.
Both Drakenel and Robe had ideas for making a spiritual monument. Black Robe claimed her totem would have something to do with Horos, while Drakenel had ideas of honoring the Cosmic Tree.
Arzaac, during all of this, was still chopping wood and wondering precisely why she wasn't building any muscle.
Meanwhile, the expedition was fighting BEES. Flimsy things, but rather quite dangerous through their spearing techniques and high poison.
They spoke of fighting things called "jerk birds", which we can only assume was a term used for both swift bats and crows. These creatures would swarm you before you ever had a chance to realize it.
Pharknakes got stung by one of the bees during all of this, but its a good thing her beauty herbs were also medicinal.
In the northeast, the journeys of the expedition proved fruitful in locating new resources. Quite a lot of meat was here, but there was also a direct source of the poisonous and tough dark wood.
Two new things is the presence of Elven Wood (lower right), a highly lightweight and pretty wood. There's also a silver vein not too much farther away (upper right)!
Looking to bring back the news, the team clears out a wolf den along the way. It nets the team a little bit of usable food.
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Turn 22
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Traveling home through the mountains, our kind-hearted adventurers go to bury another corpse-
: Aw, son of a striga-
Despite being incorporeal, the adventurers don't have too much trouble dealing with these wraiths thanks to their expert teamwork.
: We have the numbers, they stand no chance!
...And spears.
It's a good thing too, because wraiths were known for being rather lethal enemies for inexperienced or unarmored warriors. Rather durable and deep cutting with their horrible clawed hands, they're the fear of every new soldier.
The only thing of value the spectres defended were was this club and a barely useful gathering basket. Likely enough, somebody already robbed their corpses and that's why they were angered.
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Turn 23 - 26
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The trip through the mountain is arduous, but not out of the question. Even with the large supply of food that our adventurers have found, the going is slow.
: ...Oi, trust me, you want to stay out of that kitchen.
: Sure. Thanks for the heads up. So, what are we working on?
: Oh, um... It's a silk shirt, but I was putting some gems in it... and uh...
: Gotcha, but why are we doing this all the way up in the watchtower?
: Trying to stay as far away from the kitchen as possible.
In time, they make it back to town and hand off all the supplies and loot they managed to scrounge up from their adventures so far.
Looking to get a little more spidersilk, An Anonymous Idiot trades places with Pharnakes to give the expedition a hand with gathering.
And so they pitch their tents, not too far away.
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Turn 27
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But soon, a familiar face arrives again.
+ 2 XP + 1 Science Progress
Theodore's map leads to somewhere not too far away, but it is already dusk. Our expedition sits trying to gather a bit more spidersilk for the town, while the town searches for new projects to work on.
The product of Drakenel and Pharnakes's work is this silk tunic, made with the Malachite gems Theodore gave us. Horos has blessed it with the power of increasing one's capabilities to crafting nearly as efficiently as just having average quality tools.
The production of Goatmurdered will be greatly boosted thanks to this, but tales of that will have to wait for now. I've got a craving for some lezco, and I've told more than enough for the day.
Next Time: Maybe A Notable Event Actually Happens For Once?
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We have another research point available, which means it's again time for some voting.
First vote is what do we do with our research point?
Of note:
We've already unlocked Spidersilk, the Watchtower, and the Smithy.
This has opened up access to Palisades, Barracks, Totem, and Blessed Tree Symbol.
We've also found sources of Silver, Elven Wood, and Dark Wood not too far away.
We haven't researched anything armor or weapon-wise yet, so don't be afraid to throw a vote that way.
Second vote is what shall the expedition do?
Shall they stick around and gather silk, go out and do a bit more adventuring and locating materials, or check out this location on the map that Theodore told us to go to?