Turn 7 (Year 2, Winter)

The plans for refugees are coming along nicely. We’re still trying to work on more plans for accommodating them. We’re not sure what the fire elf gardening advice will entail, but we’re trying to get the dry farm ready in preparation.

To do that, we’ve moved our nomadic settlement back to the farm.

Economic

We use the Investment trapping of the Infrastructure skill to try to restore the ranch/farm that we found. If we can get it prepared, maybe we can plant things this coming year.

Roll: Skill 1 dice + 1 ability dice + 1 upgrade

Results: 1 advantage, 2 successes, 0 triumphs

I’ll also use a fate point to motivate this aspect to complete our trade with the winged elves. We’re sending them mostly completed blankets and cloth this time, with some samples of yarn to try to encourage more diverse future trade. We use the Merchants trapping of the Trade skill.

Roll: Skill 1 dice + 1 ability dice + 1 upgrade

Results: 3 advantage, 0 successes, 0 triumphs

Political

Just for a change of pace, we’re… doing the same thing as always, j/k. We use the Cloak & Dagger trapping of the Spycraft skill to keep an eye out for coyote elves or wolf elves or whatever the fuck else.

Roll: Skill 2 dice + 1 ability dice

Results: 2 advantage, 2 successes, 0 triumphs

Military

Now that we’re going to be working on that farm/ranch, we want to check out the immediate area. We use the Pathfinders trapping of the Reconnaissance skill to explore the area around the ranch. We investigate the southwest, west, northwest, and north squares.

Roll: Skill 2 dice + 1 ability dice + Machakw Pathfinder boost die

Results: 1 advantage, 1 successes, 0 triumphs

Mental

We’re still investigating sources of food. If there was a dry farm here, surely they were growing something on it. Maybe the Machakw raided plants from local farms at some point? We use the Research trapping of the Academic skill to continue investigating edible plants.

Roll: Skill 1 dice + 1 ability dice

Results: 0 advantage, 3 successes, 0 triumphs

Turn 7 Results

Event- Fire Elf Consultants- The team of fire elf agricultural experts arrive early in the season, lead by a fire elf woman you haven’t met before who goes by the name the Smoke. She’s not like… wearing a mask or anything. It’s just a nickname. Her real name is Vita. Please call her Vita, actually, her team is just poking fun at her. She’s pretty nice, as it turns out.

After a brief survey, the fire elf research team reports that you’re actually in a far better situation than you think you are. Your biggest advantage is the Coldwater river. It is a source of fresh, clean water that is also mountain runoff. This means not only is it a readily usable water source, it’s also highly drought resistant. They come up with a plan to use the Coldwater as a source of irrigation and water storage that should be able to enhance your ability to farm in the areas around Riverhaven.

The fire elves get along well with the dreamdust elves, and end up leaving you with several quite helpful plans. In addition to the plans for irrigation and water management, they leave you with example plans of Surt’s own Aqua Via that could be modified to deliver fresh clean water directly to Riverhaven, as well as cool houses. They also deliver some plans and formulas for alchemical purification and enrichment filters. Some of your growers believe these could be modified to support some of your more, ah, exotic crops with precise growing conditions.

You have been given the Agricultural Plan temporary aspect, which will last until you Invoke it to enact one of those plans. Also remember- that invoke is free!

Economic- Ranch- Things go well at the farm. Your nomadic settlement nestles in well and begins fixing the place up. They actually have a pretty solid plan for the place. Instead of making it a traditional farm, they make it more of a freestanding outpost. They set plenty to grow there and secure the water source, as well as make sure the housing is dependably reinforced. This way, even if it is left unoccupied for a season or two, it will almost certainly be safe to come back to. It will also almost always contain a source of water, some food, and solid dependable shelter.

Your nomads are settling in well here, despite the initial eerie feel of the place. They have successfully replaced the Abandoned Farm aspect with Nomad Outpost. If you ever place a permanent settlement here, this can be converted to a fully functional farm again. For now, it’s a place of temporary safety and comfort.

Very temporary, actually.

Wait, what’s that sound?

Economic- Trade

Event- Coyotes

Your pathfinders, escorted by Machakw and some of the spyhunters you had sent out, rush into the settlement. They shout warnings to the elves within. Coyotes are coming. A lot of Coyotes. There are horse riders approaching your position. Fast. Very fast. Too many of them, at least a hundred. They are armed, and they are closing in right now.

Your rangers are all stationed in Riverhaven. The only protection the nomads have is a couple dozen caravan guards. It won’t be enough, not for riders armed with polearms. By now, they can hear the hoofbeats, yips, and yells of the Coyotes. There is dust on the horizon. The nomads, pathfinders, and spyhunters quickly decide that their only option is to flee.

The nomands gather whatever they can carry and make a run for it. The Coyotes hit the settlement before they’ve managed to clean out. They move fast - too fast. Nomads who were there when they hit report that the Coyotes riding skill is like nothing they’ve ever seen before. They ride thin, lithe horses that are incredibly fast and agile. Far faster than a normal horse, they move so rapidly it is extremely difficult to evade them. Essentially impossible on foot.

It is a small mercy that the Coyotes appear more interested in taking valuables than killing. They go directly for whatever seems most valuable, and attack anyone in their way. Several guards who fight back are killed, but when civilians drop what they’re carrying the Coyotes simply let them go.

The nomads escape the carnage with few deaths. The warnings they were given provided them just enough time to escape with their lives. When they return, nearly everything they had left behind is gone. The textile shipment they had been preparing for the winged elves, their valuables, tents, drugs… anything that wasn’t nailed down, which is just about everything for them. The Nomad Outpost still stands and your nomadic settlement is intact, but the damage done is palpable.

You have lost the Textile Shipment aspect you had gathered for the winged elves, and you have taken two points of economic stress from the critical supplies that need replacement after the raid.

(Note: This was a targeted attack, not an ongoing series of raids like the last one. The stress will begin healing next turn.)

Political- Your spyhunters were prepared and looking for Coyotes, and boy howdy did they find them. They were mostly deployed to the east, where Coyotes have normally been seen coming from. Several, however, were deployed to the west because Coyotes seem like clever critters.

They were right. The attack came from the west. Your spyhunters were your first line of warning. They were able to save many lives by being able to deliver their warnings before the Coyotes actually got there. Coyotes, however, move so quickly that the warning barely got there before they did.

Military- Your pathfinders are also critical in mitigating some of the damage from the raid, including the Machakw. Unfortunately, they weren’t any to get any actual pathfinding done. They had just begun their pathfinding when the Machakw scouts noticed the dust on the horizon. The Machakw immediately informed the rest of your pathfinders of what was happening. When you see the dust, the Coyotes are moments away.

The pathfinders believed them, and immediately changed course to warn the settlement. This, as well as their actual physical help in getting people to safety, saved lives doubtlessly.

In the aftermath of the raid, while the pathfinders are helping the nomads pick up the pieces, the pathfinders talk amongst themselves for several hours. When this time is up, Tik’Tak approaches the leader of the nomadic settlement.

“We are staying,” He tells them, “You helped us, and now we will help you.”

The Machakw pathfinders have finally made their decision, after several seasons of just kind of hanging around. They’re throwing their chips in to help the dreamdust elves with what is sure to be difficult seasons to come.

You now have the Civilization Aspect Machakw Scouts. These scouts live among the dreamdust elves, are part of your command structure, and travel with your own pathfinders and rangers. They provide a bonus die on any reconnaissance check made in their home territory, which is pretty well everything in the scrublands.

Mental- And, to end things on a happier note, the farming researchers you put to the task get along swimmingly with the fire elf research team. The fire elves were apparently not expecting you to be nearly as well prepared and informed as you actually are. Your research team learns much from the agricultural experts, and they are also able to apply much of their own extensive knowledge of desert life and ecology to the information you are given. They apply their own skillsets extremely well, and more than demonstrate that you aren’t clueless nomads. Your own research into the farming finally hits a breakthrough, giving you an Upgrade on your next check to establish farming.