Dungeons and Colonies 29

War!

As soon as I swam up the fountain, I was assaulted by a hoard of undead.  Even with my faithful sword and sturdy armor, I was forced to retreat to a less accessible part of town that forced the enemy to come at me in lower numbers.  I fought hard, but the undead just kept coming.

I fought hard and eventually cleared the courtyard.  The buildings were still full.  It looks like the church and several of the homes are infested with them.  Even on the rooftops.  I broke through the door with a crash and found four skeletons in the living room.  I shattered their bones and rendered them lifeless once again.  With the room cleared, I next saw the ladder to the roof and what awaited me at the top.

There was no way I'd be able to get to the top of this ladder quick enough to not get my head chopped off at the top.  Several unholy enemies were up there, and I swear they were grinning at me, daring me to try.  There was only one thing I could think of that I could do.

 It scared me a little.  Yes.  Because while I was in this town destroying all the undead, many of them were dressed in regular clothing, the kind of clothing a colonist would wear.   I started thinking, what if someone had to do this for my colony one day?  Going from John's field to the town hall, killing former colonists in large numbers.

Would someone have to do this to my own place one day?  I mean, I really only lived in a hotel room, but it could be stuffed full of evil one day, and one day someone might be leading a line of black powder up my stairs.  Besides... the colony, the whole thing kind of felt like my home... Would anyone see my ruined room and think "someone lost something precious to them today"

With that dealt with, I next cleaned out the church.  On the second floor I found something very familiar.  Another book of spells and enchantment!  I was in the right place, the evil pirate wizard had to be here somewhere.  The long threat to the colony that started the day I saw the pirate ship off the shore would finally end this day.

Next I went to the walls and found the last open resistance against me.  Several archers were walking the walls, and several times they almost shot me off.  I ran and I dodge arrows and was able to send them over the edge and crashing to their death.  Looking for more, I saw him.  The evil wizard.  He was in the town hall, on its highest floor, and he was looking at me through the window.

I came up the stair way with sword drawn.  As soon as he saw me, he threw corrupted ender eyes in my direction.  They would hit me tremendous force and break into thick shadows that crackled as they coursed over my armor.

I shrugged aside the pain, and the adrenaline pumped through my veins allowing me to come at him with full force.  He opened his robes and threw bones out upon the floor.  As we fought, the bones assembled and grew, what was just a knuckle bone suddenly was a full skeleton!

He cursed and he spat at me, but I never stopped.  He was beaten down and lay slain at my feet.  The wretched evil that he was would be finally gone.  This was the town's most well defended place, whatever was drawing the undead here would surely be in this room.  I looked around and found a stone out of place. I pressed the lever near it and soon a door opened in the false chimney.

Among the riches, I found it.  A giant diamond, easily the size of 9 diamonds put together.  This was a sacred thing and I could feel the energy inside it.  Removing this from its rightful place probably awoke the evils that now invaded the town.  This was not all though, one more thing had angered the spirits.  The Palace.

S.

Dungeons and Colonies 28

Assault Part 1

I was not sure what this book could do, but I was able to read the notes and findings of its former master.  In his notes, he explained that it would take the knowledge that surrounded it and be able to grant grand powers to those that said the right incantations.  Those incantations were jumbled in speech which I did not know.  I took my diamond edged sword, placed it before the alter and recited some lines.  The book swung open by itself, flipped through pages and stopped upon a holy symbol.  Books on the shelves flew open and in the air, and formed in the symbol of a saint.  In the distances I heard the shriek of a thousand undead, crying out in terror as they knew something had happened that will cost them dearly.

Across the blade's length were etched runes, and even though I could not read them, as my eyes moved across them I heard whisper "Hand of God" in my mind.  I climbed from the secret chamber and found that outside all the villagers were coming out to see what was going on.  I asked them all to go to bed, and to meet near the shore at noon, and I would have news for them.

In the morning I gathered my belongings and stood out on my balcony to take one last look at the home I had helped made.  I was sure that it was in capable hands.  Jim would soon be elected Mayor, and he would lead to continued success.  The wives that once barely had enough material to patch their dresses now clothed themselves in fine dresses that were only matched by their own beauty.  Homes were no longer hovels, they were finely made with carpets and feather beds.  What was once but a small inland beach was now a grand town of commerce and join.

The townsfolk gathered as I had instructed them.  There, on the beach, I showed them the weapon that was given to me.  They each said they too had visions of the saint in their dreams before they awoke.  I told them that I had a feeling I was supposed to destroy the invaders at the other town and the palace, before they came here.  I did not know if I would be coming back.  Jim wished me well, John had to be restrained by his family.  He wanted to go with me, claiming he had enough of farming.  He said his son-in-law could take care of the family and that he would rather go in my place, enough young people had died.  I said my farewells, and gave my will to Jim.

After two days travel by boat and stream, I found the town and the palace close to each other on the shores of a river.  The grand arches and doors into the town had been walled up, and sure enough, at night I could see the walls guarded by legions of undead in armors and armed with weaponry.  During the day, when undead were scared to come out, I looked along the wall for a place that I may put TNT and blow open a hole.  As I was looking, I found something else.

A door leading down into the sewers.  Maybe this would be a better way than trying to blow a hole in the wall...  Reluctantly I made my way down the ladder and found myself in dark lit water. 

Down in the dark, the undead are relentless.  Skeletons in the armor of the noble's guards.  They wield swords, they hold shields, they wear helmets.  The Hand of God strikes them as if were made of lightning, and the bones cleave with the crack of thunder.  I feel the sword is glad, it is happy to be doing what it was made to do.  For days I spend down there in the dark cutting down the undead until I am starving.  As my arm tires, the sword grows lighter, and it seems somewhat disappointed in the lull.

I find a quiet corner, and hide while I nurse my wounds and eat so that I can have the energy to go on.  Finally, on the dawn of the 3rd day, I come to where the town's fountain drains into the sewer.  The opening is enough for me to get through.  I prepare to ascend into the village.

Dungeons and Colonies 26

Proof that Notch Loves Us.

We all know the drill by now.  Here's the spot.  I'm gonna clear it and build something here.  I guess I should say this is behind the inn and the barracks, but not as far as the lumberjack and hunter's tower, and that's the usual, same beginning before a build, same process(moo), same...(moo) same... hey, hey WTF? (moo)

How long has that cow been in this tree??

GET OUT OF THAT TREE!  MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.  Well, just kidding.  Obviously this cow was hiding from all the town wives that like to punch cows to death, so I lead him to the cow promised land in a valley far from the colony and let him live the rest of his natural cow life.

The building I am making is pretty much a squareish rectangle, and so looks kind of boring.  I started with design first before function in this new building.  The windows are nicely spaced, the framing is nicely set up, and the lines are broken by different materials used all around.  You can see the barracks peeking over the top of the frame.  This building is important, we'll keep it well guarded.

In the front I create a pointed arch above the door.  I take cobblestone and start working my way back along the arch to create the roof.  I need this arch in the ceiling because I have plans for a sort of double deck inside of this building.  Design first, but functional also.

And here we have the inside of our brand new BREWERY!!  The life blood of the colony, the heartsource of morale, the warm sun in a blizzard.  Even those stick up the butt puritans that settled somewhere else had vast reserves of brew.  Now we can make our own.

Here's the first part of our tour.  This is our boiler, where we boil the grains in preparation for the next step in the process.  There is a large chimney that collects the smoke from our wood fires.  Like most beer of this old type, it has a slight smokey flavor to it due to the fuel used in this process.  We minimize this with our chimney design.

Here on the second deck, up high, is where the next process occurs.  This is a large tub where we put the boiled wort.  In the back we have a series of doors that opens to the air overlooking a crystal clear spring.  The water for the beer comes from that spring and is kept free of scum and dirt.  The doors and tub create an open air fermenter, like those found in the Senne valley in real world Belgium.  A lambic style.

This is the area below the tub.  If you look, you can see tubes that lead from the tub, and into cauldrons.  These cauldrons are highly polished and disinfected.  There are two spouts for rapid draining.

From the cauldrons, the now fermented beer is emptied into these large oak barrels.  Here the beer ages and ferments further until it creates the kind of beer we're aiming for.  Some is an apple flavored brew, somewhat like a cider mixed with a light ale.  The other is for whatever non-fruited beer we make.  Darked roasted for a Guinness like stout, reddish brown roast for a nice red ale.

The colony brewery.

S.

Dungeons and Colonies 25

My new home.

This is the area right next to the dock, but a little more inland and a little bit higher on a hill.  This is where the new Inn will go.  This will give sailors a place to stay if they can afford to stay off ship.  I set the big tree on fire because I hate messing with big trees, they are a hassle.

Like with the Mayor's home, I start with function over form.  I start by making the lobby.  I have an idea of what I want to do with the place, a sort of tower with a lobby attached to it, done in a way I have not attempted before.  I feel like it would make the thing unique and actually fun to build

I make a hallway where everything is going to connect up.  I'm going to start from the bottom up, so I dig downward and start opening up a hole.  I line the hole with cobblestone so that dirt walls do not show.  The roof of this hole will serve as the flooring for the first level of the Inn's residency tower.

Here is the hallway.  As you can see I have 3 levels of habitation, and 3 classes of areas available.  Down below is a room of bunks with one semi-private bunk.  They are cheap, but better than sleeping on a boat.  Above them is a second section with 3 private rooms.  They are small rooms, just enough space to throw your junk on the floor and sleep privately, away from snoring sailors that smell like rum.

   

The basement area, 3rd Class.  I used the class designation because of its nautical passenger ship connotations.  Each bunk is doubled and has a latter next to it so people can reach the top.  Some people call these "coffin" hotels, because traditionally the bunks were carved out into the wall and you slept in a hole that felt like sleeping in a coffin.  Mine are a higher class than that, allowing you to stretch out and get some better air circulation.

The single Penthouse suite has two rooms to it.  Past the door and up some stairs is the first class seating area with plenty of room and light coming in through the windows.  Around the corner is the bedroom with good views of the balcony garden.

Out on the balcony, the Penthouse has views of the docks and much of the rest of the colony.  On either side of the balcony is a small garden just outside the windows.  Some times of the years there is fruit the blooms that is native to the New World, a nice little treat for any high paying visitors.

Here we see the entirety of the brand new Inn.  Compact is footprint though with plenty of space for travelers.  I like the Penthouse so much that I take a bit of my booty from adventuring and purchase the Penthouse outright, though I do say that I would stay in a Private room if we need to house a captain that could benefit the colony financially.  What? You didn't think I'd just up and make myself Mayor did you?  The Mayor's home is just too much space for me.

S.

Dungeons and Colonies 24

Hey, where's Jim?

I am not the only one that has been busy building.  Nothing makes the colony larger like a fast builder, and Jim has been building and building and building.  In the time it takes me to make a single Church, he can have an entire new section of the colony built.  This is what he was doing while I was working on the docks.

Just past the docks, up the new staircase I made, Jim got started on making a market.  The market is on this side so that new people do not have to walk through our entire colony to get to the goods and trades we have for sale.  Also... and I thought this was genius... the smell of the fresh baking bread nearby would make visitors hungry and buy food while shopping.

As you can see, he was building a fountain.  I like fountains and thought this would fit in nicely right here, give visitors a source of fresh water, and give a cooling effect on a bustling marketplace.  There's another reason I wanted a fountain here, and old Jim did not know my plans...

The Jim Robinson Plaza was dedicated and opened with Colonist-only celebrations in honor of the town's most popular citizen.  When things are broken, Jim's there.  When someone needs a chicken or dog coop, Jim's there.  Everyone in town is living in a home built by Jim.  It seems only fitting he should be immortalized, and every new visitor should know that the colony is here because of Jim.  

This is the area just beyond the church.  After I had made the area, landscaped and built the church, it was Jim's turn.  The colony has several new colonists that are currently living in the town hall or with other colonists as guests.

In practically no time, Jim made a new neighborhood, doubling the colony's capacity for permanent residents.  I did help with the decoration and the roads while Jim built the homes.

This new neighborhood changed the colony and gave us a problem.  The outer boundaries of our colony were no longer far away.  So I had Jim build Christopher a lumberjack cabin further into the forest, and behind it he built a hunter's watch tower.  From the top of the tower you can still see the colony, so it allows the hunter to keep an eye pretty much everywhere colonists would go.

Jim has one last big project this week.  The colonists are getting ready to invite tourists and sailors traveling from the Old World.  The hunter does his job when it comes to natural threats, and I do some work on the big threats away from the Colony, but the day to day workings of the colony needs a closer eye.  So before we officially start sending out word, the Colonists demanded Jim build a barracks and that we hire some guards to police the streets.

A view from above the barracks, you can see what the main part of the colony looks like today.  On the right is the Mayor's Mansion(still not elected yet), Craft Row below it, and the Church just behind that.  A bit further down and you see the new neighborhood.  Above the barracks you see Old Town, the original home area of the original 4 colonists, and you can see the town hall poking up right in the middle.  The bakery, farms, Docks, and a mysterious building are on the left.  What's that building?  Next time.

S.

Dungeons and Colonies 23

Salty Dogs

The Colony is expanding.  We have more citizens and more structures, and a surplus of goods.  We have had several visitors by boat and even a repeat ship that was here a few months back.  The colonists think we need to welcome guests and traders in a more official capacity.

We have two shorelines for the Colony.  This side is the side near the windmill.  The other shoreline is sort of the Colonist's recreational beach, and so I do not want to mess that side up.  What we need is a dock, and I think this area is perfect.  Coming from the sea, it is a easier to access area, it is in a nice harbor configuration so that the water will be tame even when the ocean is choppy.  I do already have a stone wall lining it, as this was where I was once going to have animal farms, but that just did not work well with our colonists.

Docks need... well they need docks.  I take 8 large tree trunks and I sink them into place.  This is going to be Dock #1 and will be the largest of the two planned docks.  I clear out the sand near it and install some stone connectors to the shore.  Next I start sculpting the area near the dock, holding back some sand with stone walls and adding some wooden walkways.

This is the 2nd dock and it is kind of hiding the larger dock from sight at this angle.  Here you can see how I am making a boardwalk around the shore area of the dock.  The stone will protect the wood from water surges, and the wood is treated so that it does not swell from all the humidity.  This smaller dock is for smaller boats.  The shore is much more shallow this close to the colony, so only shallow draft vessels can fit here anyway.

On the reverse view, we see that I have finally made a walkway up to the colony from this beach.  The little pool there on the left is where I always docked my little canoe in all my travels around the surrounding land.  I just hopped up some rough rocks back up to the colony.  Now I actually have steps.  Yay for progress.

Here we see the land behind the large dock.  It has a boardwalk area that leads to an elevated walkway.  I was not sure what I would be up here, but necessity of dock operations means that I need a cargo area.  I added the fences there just to break up the texture a bit.  So much stone just starts to blend together.

I chose an open air hold instead of a large warehouse.  If a ship needs long term, more secure storage, well we have payment options.  Otherwise they can load and unload things from this area.  Lastly, no dock is complete without a place for sailors to wet their whistle.  Its best to keep these things in one easily managed(and policed) area.

I make an entrance from the boardwalk, easily accessible from either of the docks.  The area is not the largest, so I create an "L" shape so that the building and push farther back.  Inside I line the floors with some stone brick.  Chairs, tables, booths, lots of places for sailors to gather and socialize.  I create a long bar that stretches to either side of the "L".    There we put a few kegs with spouts and pour levers.

And so we have our completed docks.

S.