Bones, Zebo, and Monaghan: First Playthrough Diary

Started by Ulkhak47, August 18, 2021, 07:31:51 AM

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Ulkhak47

After watching several tutorials and let's plays (Pete Complete's Ice Sheet Survival being a classic), I decided to buy Rimworld today, and thought it might be fun to keep a detailed diary of my first playthrough. I am not using any mods and I haven't bought any of the DLC, so this is going to be a vanilla run. I'm going with Cassandra Classic for the storyteller, and Adventure Story difficulty, which I imagine ought to be forgiving enough for a beginner but still challenging enough to be interesting. The only non-standard thing I've done is disabled insects, because I've been told they're more annoying than fun. For a bit of narrative flavor, I'm RP'ing this diary as belonging to Dr. Yuna "Bones" Avila, who will describe things and narrate events in the first person. I probably spent about an hour clicking random to get a good roster of colonists together, and they still have a few deficincies between them, but I think I've got them to a good balance of useful and interesting.




2nd Aprimay, 5500ce or thereabouts, sometime in the morning

Well, this sucks.

Dear posterity,
My name is Dr. Yuna Avila. I've crash landed on an alien planet in the outer rim, and this notebook I've found in the wreckage is going to be my diary now. I am was a passenger on the starship Thetis, which seems to have experienced some kind of critical failure over Niyat Major and is now laying strewn in pieces for about as far as I can see in any direction. I've touched down safely with two other passengers, both male, one in his late fifties called Sgt. Monaghan and another in his early thirties called Zebo. We haven't talked much except to introduce ourselves. We've spent the past hour or so sifting through the wreckage to take stock of our supplies, and I'm using this bit of writing as an excuse to take a short break. To somewhat justify my vanity in keeping a diary under these circumstances, I'll also use this book to keep a running tally of our provisions, for however much longer they last. That said, I'd better get back to work.

***

It's evening now, and we've all laid down to bed. I've always been a bit of a night owl, so I'm going to stay up writing for a bit. We haven't found any other people, but Monaghan did find a red monkey of all things in another escape pod. The two seem to have bonded, and Monaghan has named the monkey Elias. The first order of business was to site a camp and build shelter. We've landed in the middle of a thick deciduous forest near a river and some small hills. Monaghan didn't have to look around for long to find a suitable place. To the southeast was a crescent shaped hill with a nearby pond and, on Zebo's apparent authority, very fertile soil nearby. They both seem quite enthusiastic about the spot. As an Urbworld gal it all looks like woods to me, but I've elected to take their word for it.

We started by setting up a lean-to in the crook of the hill, and that turned out to be the easy part. It's nothing sophisticated but it should keep the rain off our supplies. The bitch of it was hauling those supplies bit by bit all the way back from the crash site, which ended up taking the rest of the day. Still, having too many supplies isn't the worst problem to have. We're all bunked down together on the floor next to our provisions. Tomorrow the plan is we build another lean-to right next to this one to serve as our living and working space. Even now it's hard to imagine living and working here.

In the course of our toils, I've gotten to know my companions a fair bit.

Sgt. Ryan Monaghan
Biological Age 58, Chronological Age over 2,000
He's a tough old fossil, a retired space marine for some interstellar navy that hasn't existed in over a thousand years, brought up through the ranks from adolescence, back before they started literally growing 'em in vats. He hasn't known any other life. You look him in the eyes, and the lights are on but nobody's home; he's got a mind of barbed wire and bayonets, the world of the abstract concept seems completely foreign to him. He keeps busy at least, seems to like working with his hands. He's apparently got a wife out there somewhere, or used to. They were coming out here to start a ranch and live out their retirement together. I don't think she made it off the ship. Sarge seems to be taking it in stride, but who can really tell?

Zachary "Zebo" Edson
Biological Age 30, Chronological Age 58
A fish out of water if ever there was one. Grew up as a medieval peasant on some feudal backwater planet, with no concept of space travel, germ theory, or the number zero. Then one day some spoiled teenagers from the next planet over came cruising by on a lark to beam up a cow, and ended up beaming up the cowhand by mistake. On return to the space station they found Zebo cowering in the cargo hold, bewildered and terrified. The station authorities determined that returning him to his planet might have an undue influence on the development of his home society, and that the memory-wiping department was already over budget for that quarter. So the hapless Zebo was kept aboard the station and pressganged into kitchen duty, slinging up burgers and fries for surly starpilots, day and night. Better than shoveling dung, I guess. He's got about all of the social graces that both peasants and fry-cooks are known for, but I don't think I have it in my heart to blame him. I don't think the poor guy has ever gotten over that initial shock. There's a sort of gloomy, slack-jawed, low-level horror that comes off of him, if I had to put words to the vibe I'm getting. He's healthy and a hard worker though, and that's all we can ask for out here. Not too hard on the eyes, either.

Dr. Yuna Avila
Age, none of your business. ​
That's me, just a simple woman making her way in the universe. Since I've done the same here for my new pals, I suppose I'll write a little about me for whoever finds this book next to my sun-bleached skeleton in a hundred years. I come from an Urbworld. When I was a kid, I had a rare illness called Chronic Osteophagia; in laymen's terms, some mutant super-germs were slowly eating away my skeleton from the inside. I probably spent more of my childhood in the hospital than out of it, as one would imagine. Between quaruntines, test batteries, and doctors screaming "Oh god, Oh God, The Horror!", I at least managed to get a fair bit of reading in. I went through a geology phase for a while, but eventually I settled on a deep and abiding love of medicine. I suppose you pick up a different perspective on the human body when you spend your formative years having your own devoured on the microbial level. About two months too late for senior prom, the eggheads finally worked out how to kill the infection and reverse the damage, and I think I got more bone back than I lost. If nothing else, I've got a mean right hook to thank them for. My folks were bankrupted by the cost of my treatments, so traditional medical school was out of the question. I picked up steady work as a mail carrier during the day, and spent nights working through a medical correspondance course. After more years than I'd care to admit in writing, I'd saved up enough money to book passage on a starship to the outer rim so I could go out and ply my vocation. Strictly speaking I'm not actually a doctor in the accredited sense, but I've studied enough to be one, and out here I'm about two dozen lightyears too far away for any snobbish diploma-jockey to tell me I haven't. I'm the closest to the real thing these fellas have got right now.

As promised, our current provisions:

Silver 800
Medkits 30
Components 30
Steel 266
Wood 253
Packaged Meals 44




3rd Aprimay
We've finished the second lean-to and begun furnishing it. We each finally have something like beds to sleep on and a table to eat off of. Monaghan went out ranging and saw all kinds of wildlife; Gazelles, Turkeys, Alpacas, Donkeys, Megasloths, even a couple of grizzly bears. He thinks he'll be able to shoot more than enough food for all of us. Before we could start thinking about bringing in raw meat however, we had to make some changes to our store room. I haven't come dozens of lightyears and survived a spaceship wreck to die of food poisoning. So, we've already started converting our first shack into a refrigerator. Monaghan was out ranging most of the day, so the building work was down to Zebo and I. He doesn't seem to understand on a technical level exactly how refrigeration works, but having explained it to him in simple terms, he seems to have a good enough concept of it to be getting on with. With the walls shored up and the makeshift cooling unit in place, all we need now is power. I've started sketching out plans for a generator using the components we have one hand, and it'll have to be wood-fired. We don't have the components to make batteries, so wind-power is out for the time being. With all of the building going on our wood supply is next to nil, so we'll have to spend the better part of tomorrow chopping down trees to fuel the generator.

I hope Zebo and I are working together again, I think I'm beginning to grow fond of the mopey yokel.


Silver 800
Medkits 30
Components 25
Steel 240
Wood 36
Packaged Meals 41


4th Aprimay
We didn't make it very far into the woodcutting. Once we had finished building the generator and connecting it to the cooling unit, Zebo was so excited that he wanted to build an electric stove right away. I couldn't help but admire his enthusiasm and oblige him.

A another chunk of space debris crashed down nearby. I wonder how much of the ship is still up there in orbit?

Just after dusk, we met our first new human in several days; decades, really, if one counts the time in chryosleep. She wasn't Mrs. Monaghan, sadly, she was a native from a nearby tribe. Her name was Breiabebailer. She was in her late forties with a shaven head, dressed in a sheepskin that only went over one shoulder, carrying a shortbow and a bag of pemmican. Her people are called the Brio Union and it seems we crashed down in the land between two of their villages. The spacewreck itself was seen in the sky from miles around, and the debris has continued to shower much of the continent.

She was kind enough to tell us of our surroundings. This region is called the Binhenera Forest by the locals, and lies between three mounted ranges: the tropical Leora Range to the west, the desert-like Endless Wormleg to the east, and the arid shrub Baasica's End to the south. The woman assured us that her tribe are a peaceful people, but warned that there are a few nearby tribes who aren't; the nearest are a group of infamous raiders called the Raven Men. After some discussion, we thanked the kind visitor and invited her to stay the night with us before she returns to her village.



Silver 800
Medkits 30
Components 22
Steel 119
Wood 49
Packaged Meals 35


Postscript:
Zebo kissed me today. I wasn't expecting it, but I did kiss him back...after all, why not? He's not exactly sophisticated, but I didn't come out here for sophistication. He's sweet, and sad, and he adores me. I can't help but find it romantic how we've found eachother like this, out here at the end of the universe.

We're still sharing the second shack with Sgt. Monaghan and the local woman, otherwise things might have gone farther than that. I'll see if we have time to start planning out some proper, private, sleeping quarters tomorrow.

5th Aprimay
The visitor was on her way again by dawn.

Talk of the nearby raiders has put Monaghan on edge, so all of our other projects are being put on hold until we can set up some preliminary defenses. We're down to two-thirds the food we landed with, but as Monaghan says it won't matter how much food we'll have in two days if we're dead by tomorrow.

No sooner had he said this than a rabid hare came charging at the old space marine from out of the forest. Monaghan unslung the bolt action rifle from his shoulder, took aim, and fired. The first shot missed. The hare kept running. Monaghan cycled the rifle, aimed and fired again. The bullet whizzed by and the hare kept running. The grey-bearded soldier prepared another shot, took careful aim until the animal was almost on top of him, and fired a third time, killing the little furry beast. With the menace dealt with, we were all able to return safely to our work.

The acquisition of the rabbit meat gave us an excuse to fire up our generator and refrigerator, and before long, Zebo was frying up some fresh rabbit chops.

We got in a good start at fencing off the perimeter, I imagine it'll be finished tomorrow. The plan is not to enclose our entire camp, but to block off every approach but one and funnel any would-be attackers through a heavily defensible bottleneck where we can shoot them like fish in a barrel. Or rather I should say, while Zepo and the Sargeant shoot them like fish in a barrel. We only landed with two guns, and I'm the medic, so it makes sense to keep me behind the line of fire. I've got a plasteel knife, so the plan is I can at least defend myself if the pirates make it past the boys.

Speaking of the boys, Monaghan made a pass at me today while we were alone working on the fence.  I let him down easy, of course, the man's old enough to be my father. I didn't tell him that Zebo was also part of the reason I said no, but I didn't have to because he didn't ask. He just nodded and went back to his work. Now that I've had a few hours to mull it over, I think he must still be processing the loss of his wife. He has barely stopped working and fidgeting since we landed without her, I wonder if he's always been like that or if he's been trying to distract himself. Grief does strange things to people, maybe he was emotionally confronting that loss of intimacy and I was the only woman at hand he could try to replace it with. Then again, psychology was never a strong subject of mine. Maybe he just thought I looked smokin'.

Silver 800
Medkits 30
Components 22
Steel 119
Wood 208
Lightleather 11
Packaged Meals 30


6th Aprimay
We've finally finished our defences, or the first round of them anyway as Monaghan would have it. As we lay down our hammers and axes to look out over what we had wrought, the old soldier got the idea in his head that since we were going to be here a while, our little group ought to have a name, and so should our couple of lean-to's with the fence around them. He managed to convince me that it wasn't as silly as it sounded at first, since we would need something to call ourselves if we were going to be trading with other tribes. I suggested Fort Shipwreck or Fort Stranded for the name of our new home, but we ended up settling on the nicer sounding Fort Traveller. As for our group, since we've landed in the Binhenera Forest and we're all looking out for each other in common, we're henceforth to be known as the Binheneran Commonwealth. I still think it's a bit silly.

Anyway, now that Monaghan is satisfied we won't be murdered by pirates in the night, we can get back to the main task of growing our food stocks. The mad hare was gone almost as soon as it hit the fridge, and we're now down to almost half our original supply of survival meals. Tomorrow Zebo is going to start a rice patch, Monaghan is going hunting, and I'm going out to scavenge whatever more spare parts I can find.

In other news, a wild raccoon has taken a liking to us (or at least our rubbish heap). We haven't decided what to do with him yet.

Silver 800
Medkits 30
Components 22
Berries 1
Steel 119
Wood 545
Lightleather 11
Packaged Meals 28






Ulkhak47

7th Aprimay
We had another visitor today, this one was less friendly. It was a woman in her fifties, completely nude and wielding a stone club. I was the first to see her, I was out far across the river, salvaging more steel from the wreckage. She came from the west, and didn't hesitate to charge at me with a fierce battle cry. Her intentions were obvious. I had a knife on me, but I didn't want to put myself in swinging range of that savage and her club. It was all I could do to drop what I was carrying and run for my life. Zebo and Monaghan were asleep at the time, but my screaming woke them up. Zebo rushed out first, and once I'd run past, gave the crazed naked woman all six chambers of his revolver. She fell in a bloody heap not two paces from him. Once I'd gotten my wits about me I reemerged from my hiding place and gave the woman a cursory examination. Zebo had put pour bullets through her torso, one of them through her heart. I didn't like her chances of recovery, and even if I could have saved her, we didn't have the facilities to hold her prisoner. So Monaghan did the only thing that could be done. He put the barrel of his gun to the woman's forehead, and gave her two more bullets.

At dinner that night, Monaghan in not so many words called me a coward for how I behaved. He isn't wrong, but I don't think he would have said it if I hadn't rebuffed his advances yesterday. It was designed to hurt, and it did.

In happier news, Zepo's planted our first rice crop, and Monaghan's shot several boars, so I think our food troubles are soon to be over. I managed to haul a fair bit of usable steel before I was interrupted.

Tomorrow I think I'll set about planning some more permanent, private, living spaces.

Silver 800
Medkits 30
Components 22
Berries 1
Steel 267
Wood 817
Lightleather 11
Packaged Meals 23

8th Aprimay
Two women from the Brio Union visited today with goods to trade. They didn't want very much of what we had to offer apart from the silver we landed with, about half of which I exchanged for a steel spear, some herbal medicine, and a large sack of pemmican.

We've finished a new pair of cabins lining up against the western fence. When I explained that Zebo and I would be sharing one, Monaghan just grunted and remarked that it was less work for him.

I still can't stop thinking about that woman who attacked us. I doubt she'll be the last. We've thrown up a little stockade down against the south wall in case we want to take the next one alive.

We've gone and used all of our wood again on the construction, so we'll need to clear a bit more forest tomorrow to keep our generator fed.

Silver 406
Pemmican 46
Medkits 30
Components 22
Steel 106
Pigskin 134
Wood 0
Lightleather 11
Packaged Meals 19
Simple Meals 29


9th Aprimay
It's getting hot out, mercifully we've just gotten some rain. Zebo and I have moved in together, and we've already gotten rather comfortable...twice!

The generator is stocked and running again, but we're once again out of lumber. I don't think we can put it off any longer, we need to work out some way to build a functioning battery so I can throw up a wind turbine. Monaghan was kind enough to put together a study desk for me the in the workroom so I can start sketching something out whenever I'm free.

Speaking of Monaghan I haven't seen him all day, and it's getting late now. Has he been out in that rain this whole time?

Silver 406
Pemmican 46
Medkits 30
Components 22
Steel 189
Pigskin 134
Wood 0
Lightleather 11
Pork 5
Packaged Meals 19
Simple Meals 28


10th Aprimay
I finally caught sight of Monaghan again. In the small hours of the morning he wordlessly dragged some scavenged steel and components into the storeroom and trundled off to bed; he must have gone all the way across the river for it..

It still hasn't stopped raining. Good for the rice, I guess.

Zebo has asked me to marry him, and I've said yes! I suppose this is all a bit sudden, but we're already living in what he was brought up to understand as a common law marriage, and it's not like I have to keep my options open, so why the hell not? We haven't worked out the details yet. I don't suppose it'll be much of a ceremony, but we'll have each other. That's enough!

Silver 406
Pemmican 46
Medkits 30
Components 28
Steel 189
Pigskin 134
Wood 226
Lightleather 11
Pork 5
Packaged Meals 19
Simple Meals 23


11th Aprimay
It's finally stopped raining. Monaghan's shot a few donkeys, I've gotten started on my research, and Zebo's walled in the vegetable patch, which is finally ready to harvest. We've brought in a good haul of rice, and Zebo's already incorporated it into his cooking. It's nice to have variety for a change.

Our stores are so full, I've decided I don't need to keep a running tally of it all anymore. Knock on wood, but I think we've been through the worst of it.



Ulkhak47

12th Aprimay
A giant sloth took up residence inside our compound a few days ago. It wasn't bothering anyone, so I didn't think it was worth mentioning. Today Monaghan took a break from hunting gazelle and tried his hand at taming the great beast. He gave it rice to eat and tried getting it to sit, but he only ended up provoking the animal. Despite being peaceful herbivores, megasloths boast long sharp claws and powerful muscles. It charged Monaghan and tore at him with its terrible claws, but Monaghan was protected by his flak armor so instead of being torn to shreds he only suffered some extensive bruising. Zebo and I rushed to help when we heard the commotion. Monaghan was trying to free the rifle from his shoulder but he was pinned under the creature. Elias, Monaghan's pet monkey, was beating and clawing at the sloth to rescue his human, until the beast responded with a slash of its terrible claws and practically tore the little monkey's foot off. Zebo pointed his revolver at the beast's flank and squeezed the grip until the gun clicked on an empty chamber, and the megalsoth still wasn't dead. Remembering the shame of my cowardice when the tribeswoman attacked, I ran at the animal with my plasteel knife. What happened next was a bit of a blur. I flurried my knife at the animal in a frenzy, and my whole world was fur, and steel, and blood, and pain, and gunshots. At some point Monaghan managed to crawl back far enough to free the rifle from his shoulder and level it at the monster. In what felt like ten minutes, but must have only been about ten seconds, the beast was finally down. I held the bloody knife in my hand, sweat beading down my face, a dull ache and the warm trickling of blood down my left leg where the megasloth had sunk its teeth. It took me a few moments to get my bearings again. I asked Monaghan if he was alright, even though I could tell that he was injured, but he ignored the question, instead ordering me to help Elias. The little red monkey was in poor shape, moaning feebly in a pool of blood. My medical instincts kicked in and I ran to the storeroom to fetch the supplies I needed. As I did so, I was conscious of Monaghan walking up to the incapacitated animal and hammering down the butt of his rifle into its skull until he was sure it was dead.

I had to amputate what was left of Elias' mangled foot and tail, but I think he ought to survive. When I was done, Monaghan did what he could to patch up my leg. It wasn't the most artful job in the world, but I don't think I'll bleed to death. The last I saw of him before I limped into my cabin, he was carrying Elias off to his sleeping spot in the workroom.

I awoke several hours later with a fever. Monaghan was cleaning my wound and administering a salve. Looks like my leg's gotten infected. I could smell Zebo's cooking on the other side of the room. After giving me a new bandage, Monaghan brought me some food and water, and left me to rest. I asked him how he was feeling, he just told me not to worry.

For a moment I wondered why Zebo hadn't been the one to treat me, before I remember that he still hadn't quite mastered the concept of germ theory, and realized I'm quite better off leaving the job to Monaghan. Zebo doesn't know anything about modern medicine, but he does know that he knows nothing, and that's something.


13th Aprimay
I woke up sweaty and a little delirous when Monaghan came to bring me breakfast and give me clean bandages. My leg feels like it's going to fall off, and I should know. I've taken something for the pain and to help me back to sleep, here's hoping I feel better when I wake up again.

***

I don't, not in the fucking least. I need to do something, I knew I should have bandaged it myself in the first place, damn it. It's starting to smell. If I don't save this leg nobody will, and if I can't, it'll have to come off.

I want Zebo. I don't know where he is right now.


14th Aprimay
After I'd done all I could to help myself last night, my fever broke sometime in the small hours of the morning. I had some breakfast at the usual time, and by lunchtime I was feeling well enough to limp over to the research table to try and get something like useful work done. I was out of commission for three days. As I'd hoped, Elias has survived for now, but the poor thing'll never be the same. He used to follow Monaghan around everywhere he went, I think those days are over now. The old marine comes in to visit him often. The two of us have gotten to talk a good deal more than we have in the whole time since we landed. I think I can say our past squabbles are well behind us.

While I was out, the boys installed a second cooling unit to the store room to prepare it for summer, and the old marine has managed to cobble together a primitive sewing machine, only to discover that we don't have enough power to make it run. It would be nice to have some new clothes and put all those furs we have to use, but I don't fancy the prospect of having to keep a second generator stocked with fuel, so battery or no, I think I'll put up a wind turbine soon. We don't have the metal for it right now, so I'll have to send Monaghan out scavenging tomorrow.

I heard a distant explosion late in the evening. Apparently a boomrat had gotten a little too close for comfort, so Monaghan shot it. Shortly afterward, I smelled smoke and saw a red glow over the western wall. We all ran out and put the fire out as quickly as we could, me limping, the boys running. Our whole compound is made of wood, if the forest had caught fire that would have been the end of Fort Traveller. Tomorrow I'll make a point of clearing some of the vegetation around the outer wall.


15th Aprimay
It's good to be back sharing Zebo's bed again. We still haven't decided when to get married, but I hope its soon.

Monaghan shot a grizzly bear today. It settled into our compound while I was recovering, and the boys were hoping for it to clear out on its own while doing as little as possible to provoke it. It hadn't attacked anyone yet, but the last thing we wanted was a repeat of the megasloth debacle. If it hadn't cleared off by tomorrow, the plan was for the boys to take up distant firing positions at the fort entrance, and draw the animal out if not kill it outright. I was to barricade myself in my cabin while this was going on so that I could tend them if they got injured. I didn't like this plan, for the record, but it ended up being unnecessary anyway. Apparently having gone too long without a meal, the bear began bounding after our new pet racoon. The bear didn't make it more than a few yards before Monaghan unshouldered his rifle, took quick aim, and put a bullet through its brain. So much for all that.

Not two hours after that, we heard a commotion from over the south wall, some loud cursing and a cry of pain followed by a high pitched screech. The boys ran out of the west gate with their guns at the ready, and saw a teenage boy in a bowler hat, a yellow leather vest, and brown leather pants, wielding a bloody bloody steel knife. The boy ran at them. They hurled lead at him, but the boy was nimble and somehow managed to close most of the distance between them unharmed until Monaghan finally managed to wing him in the leg, but he still kept coming. He made it in stabbing range of Zebo, who got off a point blank gunshot into the crazed teenagers gut, before he in turn grabbed Zebo's gun hand and stabbed him in the chest. In an instant I found myself leaping at the teenager from the side, he never saw me coming. I drove my plasteel knife between his ribs, and he was dead before he hit the ground.

Not yet stopping to think about what I'd just done, I rushed to Zebo's side to tend to him. Thankfully he's only taken a fleshwound, but after what happened to me I'm not taking any chances. He's resting now.

I took a look at the boy I killed. I've never had to kill anyone before, not personally. He was just a boy, fifteen, sixteen at the most. I can't imagine what desperation drove him to a raiders life, or what insanity compelled him to run into a hail of gunfire like he did with nothing but a knife. I'm glad I stopped him from doing more harm, but I wish I hadn't killed him. I wonder if he has any family who'll miss him out here on the rim. There's a tattoo of a raven on his forearm, from that I deduce he's one of the Raven Men that the tribeswoman warned us about all those days ago. The only thing of value we found on him were a few rolls of smokeleaf.

When I wandered out around the southern wall, I found the corpse of our pet racoon, the same one Monaghan had saved from the grizzly bear not three hours before. The boy had had a fresh and nasty looking bite on his leg when I examined him, and this explains how he got it. The sight of what the raider had done to the little animal went some ways to assuaging my own feelings of guilt. The poor creature was missing an eye, two of his paws had been hacked off, and his throat was slashed open.

We'd saved him, and he tried to save us. We never got around to giving him a name, but we all agreed it was only right to give our brave little warrior a proper burial.


1st Jugust
It's hard to believe that it's been a full quadrum already. I suppose this little hillside shanty town really is our home now.

We got the wind turbine up and running in the early hours of the morning, and Monaghan has already gotten to work making some new clothes.

A large caravan paid us a visit at midday, they weren't tribespeople or pirates like we're used to though, they were 'civilized' folk from someplace called West Kaia. They had a pair of trained arctic wolves and a pack-muffalo to carry their supplies, but most of their goods were walking themselves along on two legs; slaves. The guards were all heavily armed, some with shotguns, some with assault rifles. There was one old lady with them who was carrying an unlit molotov cocktail.

I talked to their leader, a well-dressed woman about my age called Tigress, and she told me about her 'wares'.

The first was a fierce-looking man in his early twenties, apparently a captured bandit. He seemed like he'd be useful in a fight, but probably more trouble than he's worth otherwise.

The second was a gorgeous rail-thin woman in her early thirties, as naked as the day she was born. Tigress euphemesitcally referred to her as a Courtesan. She made a point of telling me that she was a quite experienced sex slave, but that she wasn't much use for any other kind of work.

The third was a half-naked teenage girl with a shaved head, wearing nothing but a ratty pink shirt. I was told that she was a former factory apprentice.

Every moral bone in my body screamed at me to sock that Tigress woman in the face and free all of the slaves by force, but that would have been suicide. There were too many guards and they were too well-armed.

I would have liked to at least buy the freedom of both women, my gut wrenched at the thought of leaving the 'courtesan' in her present condition, but in the end I've never been good at haggling and we simply hadn't got very much that those slavers wanted. So with all of our remaining silver, all of our remaining packaged meals, the young raider's smokeleaf, a few components, and more than half of our medicine, I could only have afforded one of them. That's apparently what a human being goes for, out here on the rim. Part of my decision, I think, was practical; the younger one, if she decided to stay with us, would be better suited for the kind of work that needs doing around here. As I looked at the younger of the two, my mind wandered back to the boy I'd killed only yesterday, and began to dwell on my regret. There aren't many things more shameful than a young life wasted before it's begun. So whichever the reason, I made the only decision I felt I could, and I paid the vile woman for the young girl's contract.

I took her inside and explained to her quietly that we weren't slavers.  I told her that if she wanted to wait with us until the caravan had left and then be on her way with some food and supplies, she was free to go. On the other hand, if she was willing to pull her weight, I told her she could stay with us as long as she wanted. Seeing as she didn't fancy her chances out there on her own, she reckoned she'd stay with us awhile. I could tell she was holding back tears, and I gave her a hug.

And just like that, Fort Traveller's had a new colonist.

Amelia "Engie" Flais
Biological Age 19, Chronological Age 201
She was born on one of those smog-choked factory planets. She was raised in a steel foundry, one of the 'valve-rats', children that cheapskate industrialists send to scurry around in the gaps of the machinery where fullgrown mechanics are too big to fit. Her mother died when she was very young in some horrible industrial accident. She never knew her father, although common gossip had it he was the chief foreman. When she grew too big to be a valve-rat, she was promoted to apprentice. If the baseline conditions of the factory weren't horrifyingly dickensian as they were, her master was a mean old drunk who never explained anything to her but was always ready smack her around if she got something wrong. She was so desperate to find a way out. When a scruffy looking starpilot in an alley behind the spaceport offered her passage to the outer rim for so cheap a price even her meager savings could afford it, she naively leapt at the opportunity without question. It was a trap, of course. When the ship landed, she and all the other penniless female passengers who'd been lured aboard with promises of a fresh start out on the rim were immediately sold into slavery. The rest is history.

When Monaghan came into the room and looked at our new comrade, I took the initiative of explaining the situation. He looked her up and down and asked me how much she cost, which I told him.  He looked her up and down again and grunted at me reproachfully, either for spending too much or not getting the 'courtesan' instead, or maybe both, I'm not sure. Nevertheless, he wordlessly walked over to his tailoring bench and handed Amelia the pigskin leather shirt and fur trousers he'd been working all morning on. She smiled and thanked him. When she'd gotten into her new clothes, Monaghan told her that he was going back out to scavenge for parts and that she could come along if she wanted to start earning her keep, and the last I saw of them they were going off together into the woods.

We've still got a few spare beds in the workroom, but I think tomorrow we should start building Amelia her own Cabin.


Ulkhak47

#3
2nd Jugust
Engie's a nice girl. She's been spending most of her time with Monaghan, but she gets along with everyone. We're well on our way to finishing up her cabin.

The raven men sent us another raid today; first a teen boy, and now an old woman over seventy. The action wasn't much to write about, she moved slow so we spotted her from a long ways off and Monaghan and Zebo took up some good firing positions. I had Engie grab a spear and hide with me behind the corner in case we were needed. Zebo shouted at the old woman to stop or else they'd shoot, but she kept coming slowly on, nothing but a rusty knife in her hand. Monaghan landed a gut shot right away, and then put a bullet through her head, but amazingly she kept coming. Finally Zebo got her in the leg, and that sent her down.

Zebo carried her down to our purpose-built stockade, and I did what I could to treat her injuries. It had to be done, but I'm growing worried about our dwindling medical supplies. The leg and head wound turned out to be superficial, but that first gut shot tore one of her kidneys to shreds. I think she ought to survive for now, but I don't know what we're going to do with her. I'll have to talk to her tomorrow when she's awake and get a better read on her.

In other news, we've tamed a rat. We've named him Ratcliffe.

I was cleaning in the store room this evening when I noticed something; shiny, yellow, metallic streaks in the rock wall of the hillside, just barely visible in the dim light from the single lamp in the room. If I remember anything from my teenage geology phase, I think it might be gold! I'm going to try and mine some of it out tomorrow, here's hoping I don't start a cave-in.


3rd Jugust
I was right, it IS gold! I reckon I've got over a grand's worth here, and I still haven't gotten it all out. We'll be in much better shape to trade when the next caravan comes by.

We've had another rice harvest, and Zebo's started a new patch for growing healroot.

It's hotter than hell outside. We haven't got a thermometer, but it must've been well north of a hundred degrees. When Monaghan came back from metal-scavenging I could tell he had the early signs of heat stroke.

The old raider woman still isn't talking.


4th Jugust
We had a friendly visitor from West Kaia stop by in the small hours of the morning, older guy called Teddy Parsons. Monaghan traded away some of our gold for some medicine, components, and all the silver the man was carrying on him.

The old raider woman's finally awake and off of death's door. The name's Emma Lillebakken, as it happens. Grew up in a caveworld, spent most of her adult life as a prostitute. The last in her long line of pimps left her stranded out here, written off as as an old used-up asset. She wandered on her own for a while doing whatever she's needed to to survive. She hasn't forgotten her 'courtesan' charms, and she's gotten quite handy with that knife of hers, but those have been her only assets; she doesn't know any trade and at this point she's too old to learn one. She fell in with the Raven Men only recently, who apparently sent her after us as a kind of initiation rite. That was also the same reason they sent that boy all those days ago, as a test to prove himself worthy of joining up.

We were split on what to do with her. She's killed before and would have killed us if she hadn't gone down first. Then again, she was clearly desperate. Life's done hard by this woman, maybe she deserves a little compassion. On the other hand, with her bad back and lack of work experience, she'd be of practically no use to the settlement if we let her stay, just another mouth to feed and a head to shelter. In the end, we decided that she didn't have to die, but she couldn't stay here. We've already done more for her than most would have. We'll give her freedom, what she does with it is up to her. Once she's well enough to travel, she'll be on her way.


5th Jugust
We saw Emma on her way in the morning. Once she'd left and was well out of sight, we began work renovating our defenses. Our current setup has kept us relatively safe from lone naked cannibals, teenage boys, and old ladies, but it's only a matter or time before someone sends a real raiding party after us, so we need to be ready.


6th Jugust
We finished our new entrance; a long, narrow, winding corridor lined with a few rudimentary stone traps, funneling out into a spot just within range of a fortified firing position. It's still not a fortress by any means, but Monaghan reckons it should be good enough against a handful of attackers.

For the first time in awhile I had time to get some research in, so that was nice.

We've finally run down to the last of our uncooked meat in the freezer, so Monaghan's going to go out hunting again tomorrow. Engie's eager to go with him, but we've still only got the two guns, so Zebo's agreed to loan her his pistol.

I know Monaghan had his doubts about Engie when she arrived, but it really looks like he's taken her under his wing now. Maybe to him she's like the granddaughter he's never had.






Ulkhak47

7th Jugust
Another slaver caravan arrived today, this time from the Brio Union. They were led by a teenager with a wolf-pelt headdress called Mule. Why do slavers always go by animal names? Just like the last caravan, this one brought three slaves for sale, all of them naked this time, and one of them was the exact same one who was in the last caravan, a captured forest bandit in his early twenties called Dan. It seems like Tigress offloaded him onto the Brio Union tribe when she couldn't pawn him off anywhere else, and the Brio Union only bought him to turn around and try to flip him for a profit.

The other two were an old former housewife, and a middle-aged caveman. The housewife highly skilled but consequently out of our price range, and even the least useful of them would have cost all of our gold and most of our medicine and components, so in the end we decided not to buy any of them. I let my feelings get to me the last time, when I bought Engie's freedom, but slaves are common out here on the rim and I can't keep trading away all of our supplies out of pure sentimentality.

Zebo discovered some Ambosia bushes west of the fort, hopefully we'll be able to sell some of it next time traders from West Kaia come by.

Engie came back from the day's hunting hauling a doe carcass across her shoulders, with a big smile on her face. The carcass was shot all to hamburger already, I suppose that's what happens when an inexperienced shot tries to take down a deer with a revolver, but the meat should still be usable at least.


8th Jugust
A massive heat wave started today, accompanied by a dry lightning storm. We could see small fires dotting the landscape in all directions, but thankfully the rain came in to put them all out before any of them reached the base.

We've installed passive coolers in all of our bedrooms to deal with the heat.


9th Jugust
In the early morning, a rabid deer and a hostile tribesman both simultaneously made an assault on our fort, both of them dying horribly to Monaghan's ingenious spike traps before we even had to fire a shot. The deer will make a nice stew, and the tribesman was carrying a bow and a good ammount of herbal medicine. The traps did their jobs admirably, but are now pretty much destroyed and will need to be replaced.

Engie gave Zebo his revolved back and taken up the bow as her own.

We're almost up to more food than we know what to do with, now. All four of us could probably eat for a couple quadrums before running through our current stocks.


10th Jugust
This fucking heatwave. Day or night, rain or shine, it's too damn hot out to work outside for more than an hour or too. It's gotten so bad that the inside of our freezer feels like a mild spring day. Of course we haven't got any wind with this heat, so we don't have the spare power to accommodate yet another cooling unit. We've had to turn off all of our electric lamps to give us enough juice for another cooler. If we hadn't done that, almost our entire stockpile would have spoiled in a matter of days.


11th Jugust
The heat wave's finally behind us. I woke up this morning NOT soaking in my my own sweat for the first time in several days. Hallelujah!

I've finally figured out how to build put together a working battery today. Once Monaghan had that built, our days of wind-dancing were behind us.

This heatwave was a wakeup call, though. We were almost on the brink of starvation. The only food that would have survived the inadequacy of our cooling system was that Pemmican we bought off of that tribeswoman back in the spring; it's said that they've found surviving Pemmican on the surface of glassworlds. For my next research project, I'm going to analyze the stuff and work out how we can make our own. I would hate to say goodbye to Zebo's cooking, but it can't hurt to build up a contingency supply.

In the middle of a rainy thunderstorm this evening, another idiot tried to attack us. It was a big twenty-something lug, completely nude, with a wooden peg leg. The first trap he blundered into, his peg leg was snapped, torso was punctured, and his right arm was sheered clean off. Monaghan has forgotten more than I'll ever know about awful shit you can do to people with some rocks, a paperclip, and a bit of string.

A first for the settlement, at that point the raider thought better of the situation and tried to run away. Engie had other ideas. Before any of us knew what was happening, the teen girl was running our after the crippled bandit with the old looted bow in hand. Monaghan was fairly sure she could handle it herself and argued against going after her and "cramping the girl's style", but after about a minute he relented and we went after her. When we caught up to them, Engie was standing triumphant a couple yards from the dead raider, a single arrow in his chest. There were about a dozen other arrows sticking out of the grass nearby at wildly disparate intervals, indicating to us that Engie had spend a good long while missing her target before landing the last shot. Still, she was beaming with pride, not at all perturbed by having just taking a man's life.

Like I've said: Engie's a sweet girl, under normal circumstances. But she has got a real bloodlust to her. I hope to God I never find myself on her bad side.

Ulkhak47

12th Jugust
Not much happened today.

A fog's rolled in. I've been able to spend most of the day researching. I took a short break to start sketching out an expansion to the living/workingroom.

It's nice to have a quiet, boring, day for a change.


13th Jugust
Fog's lifted.

A pair of thrumbo's wandered through the area. We decided not to bother them.

Engie and Monaghan finished rebuilding the traps in the entryway and added a couple more for good measure. We've also finished the workroom expansion.


14th Jugust
The store room, which looked like quite a vast cave when we got here, has started to get a bit full, so we've roofed over another stretch of hill south of the workroom to store some of our non-perishables.

Engie was complaining a few days ago that her shortbow was cracked, so today Monaghan made her a new, much nicer one.


15th Jugust
Monaghan's made us all some rather fetching cowboy hats, which'll be a great relief working out in the sun all day. He hasn't made one for himself, though, preferring to keep his old flak helmet.

Monaghan and Engie have been out hunting wild boar.

I took a break from researching (how nice it's been for RESEARCHING to be the main activity I take breaks from) to go poking around the other sides of the hill, to see if there were any other ore deposits, and sure enough, most of the south face looks like it's made of steel! Not ore though, mind you...compacted steel. Like either crushed together at a scrap yard, or maybe part of some ancient ruined structure. It's strange to think these woods, which looked nothing so more than virgin wilderness, must have once contained some kind of advanced civilization. I've found myself wondering whatever happened to them, and if the same's going to happen to us. Not if I've got anything to say about it.

In any case, I've started mining the steel out of the hillside, it's slow-going, but there should be a pretty good haul here.


1st Septober
Another quadrum's past, I reckon it's fall now. It's still hotter than hell outside, but I'm guessing it'll cool off a bit over the next while.

Ratcliffe wandered into one of our traps. There wasn't much left of him when we found him, but we buried what we could of him next to the Racoon, behind Monaghan's cabin.

A message cannister landed in the middle of the courtyard just after sunset, probably intended for someone else. It gave the location for a reinforced mortar barrel not far from where we are. Monaghan wants to go after it. I told him he was crazy. He said it would be a hell of a thing if we could get a mortar up and running, and even if we couldn't, it would be better not to let that kind of firepower fall into the wrong hands. Besides, it'd be worth a fair bit of money if we needed some down the road.

He's setting off tomorrow before dawn with some medicine, pemmican, and rice. Engie wanted to go with him, but he refused. Told her if something didn't happen and he didn't come back, the rest of us would need SOMEONE there who could shoot worth a damn. Besides, someone needed to keep an eye on Elias.

He's a grouchy old bastard, but he's got a good heart. I hope he makes it back okay.



Ulkhak47

2nd Septober
Monaghan set out early this morning. Some more space wreckage crashed down nearby, but apart from that not much happened today.


3rd Septober
Another patch of Ambrosia bushes seems to have sprung up north of the fort.

We haven't gotten to the worrying stage about Monaghan, he's not back for another couple days, but I think we're all missing him. I decided to put in another workdesk for him, for when he gets back, somewhere to do his whittling and whatever other old-man arts and crafts he does.


4th Septober
Rained and thundered today, and the healroot harvest's come in.

I think I've finally worked out the secret of pemmican. I had Zebo cook me up a batch to my specifications and it seems close enough to the real thing. I've suddenly realized that our only rifle walked off the map with Monaghan, leaving us with a revolver and a couple poxy short bows. I think for my next project I'm going to work on designing a more substantial kind of bow so we can better arm ourselves in the future should we need to.


5th Septober
Monaghan's alive! He came dragging the reinforced mortar-barrel into camp with him about midday. He was obviously quite tired and a bit injured. I asked him if he ran into trouble, he said someone was waiting for him at the stash site. Monaghan walked away, the other guy didn't. That's all that matters. As his doctor I gave him an immediate perscription for some bed rest, he looked like he needed it.

A couple of hours later, we heard a pair of dull thuds and sharp screeches out by the north gate. A couple of rabid hares fell afoul of our traps. More meat for the stew of course, but Engie's understandably annoyed that she'll have to put some new traps back up again.


6th Septober
Monaghan's back to his old self again. A heard of wild muffalo have wandered into view of the fort, and he's gotten it into his head to try and tame a few of them and get a ranch going. Because that went so well last time.

Ulkhak47

#7
7th Septober
A caravan from West Kaia came by today, not hocking slaves for a change. Their leader was a strange girl about Engie's age, wore a blue bowler hat and called herself Eggnog. She had a bunch of exotic offworld luxuries for sale. We ended up selling our gold and the reinforced barrel for some extra components, some glitterworld medicine, and some hyperweave.

8th Septober
Something curious happened today, Zebo and Monaghan were working along in their respective tasks when, at the exact same time, they both felt an overwhelming sense of calm come over them, as if some incorporeal psychic arms were giving their brains a hug. Neither I nor Engie experienced this phenomenon. I've heard stories of deep-space psychic satellites that beam emotions at people, maybe this is one of those. Either that or they both decided to sneak some Ambrosia when no one was looking, and gotten some resulting memory loss as a side effect.

Another raider tried to break in again. This one wasn't a pirate or a tribesman though, this fella came from a real settlement. He had proper clothes, he had some drugs and some modern medicine on him. Civilized or no, he must not've been the brightest bulb in the box, all he was armed with was a molotov cocktail. Great, you could set our base on fire, what was your plan after that, jackass? I considered the possibility that his people sent him here to just set the fort on fire and then run away, but then he could have just tossed the incendiary in from the outside, not try to run in through the main entrance like he did.

He was pretty much eviscerated by the first trap, so not much of a fight to report. Thanks for the medicine, you stupid bastard.

In other news, Monaghan managed to tame a Muffalo without pissing it off too bad. We've got a small temporary pen set up for it, but we're going to need to put up a real one soon, and that means expanding the outer fence. As usual we haven't got much wood on hand, so the next few days are going to be a lot of logging.


9th Septober
I've got a working prototype for a recurve bow now, but I think I can still do better. I've also started mining out some more of the hill side to make more storage room. Other than that not much happened today.


10th Septober
It's finally started to get something like chilly out now. Whatever psychic space beam was hitting the boys seems to have turned itself off now.

Monaghan made Engie another new bow, this time according to my new recurve design, and Engie sewed Monaghan a new duster with the hyperweave we traded for. I never thought blue would be his color, but it I think it really does suit him.


11th Septober
We've finished the southern fence expansion. It was a big undertaking, but now it's done, we've increased the fort's footprint by about half; plenty of room for Monaghan's muffalo ranch and whatever else we end up building there.



Ulkhak47

12th Septober
We had a lunar eclipse today. I had to remind Zebo not to look right at it, but otherwise it didn't affect us much. I imagine some folks at the next colony over might be hopping mad that they've lost solar power, and I can only imagine what this means to some of the tribal folks out here.

Seeing as we've got half a year's worth of Pemmican now and still have more raw food than we know what to do with, Zebo is throwing caution to the wind and cooking us some real food; double servings of the choicest cuts. He really is an excellent cook when he doesn't have to hold back.

Monaghan's got two Muffalos now, with a third well on the way.


13th Septober
Monaghan and Engie went out hunting boar today, apparently she's become a bit of a crack shot with that bow.


14th Septober
A traveler from the Brio Union passed by today. He passed on a message from their chief, the awesome-named Riesling Bacchus, that there's rumor of some valuables stashed nearby. I asked him why, if that's the case, Riesling didn't want to go after them himself. The man said that he didn't know exactly where they were, and the treasures aren't worth the hassle to go looking for, but he thought they might be worth it to us. Also, there were some mad dogs in the general area, and if we happened to clear them out at the same time, we'd be doing him a solid.

Monaghan wants to go out again, and this time I agree. We've got just about all the supplies we need at the moment, but after that last caravan we're flat broke on things to trade. This time when Engie asked to go with him, he said yes, on account that the treasures sounded heavy, and he didn't want to have to carry them while looking out for hostiles at the same time. That was his excuse, I think really he could tell Engie wanted to go and, seeing as this was a lot closer to home than the last outing was, decided to oblige her.

They left around midday. All going well, they ought to be back around that time tomorrow. Even though it's only half a day out in either direction, I made sure to send them off with three days worth of food including Pemmican and a good supply of medkits.


15th Septober
An alpaca wandered into our traps early this morning, it's very badly hurt. This one wasn't rabid though; it seems like it was a tame livestock alpaca who was either lost or abandoned out in the woods, and came calling on us as the first signs of civilization. I've patched it up as best I can, if the poor critter makes it through recovery I think we'll add it to the ranch.

Not long after that, yet another animal fell afoul of the trap corridor, this one was a crazed stallion, and it was dead almost instantly. More meat for the pot.

Zebo and I got to talking, and we decided that if Engie and Monaghan made it back safe, we'd finally tie the knot once they did. We're tired of waiting for the right moment.

Engie and Monaghan made it back to the fort right on schedule and totally unharmed. The mad dogs they encountered were just a trio of yorkshire terriers, nothing they couldn't handle. Fortuitously, they ran into a Brio Union caravan on the way back, and traded away the treasures (a couple of statues apparently) for silver right away.

I, Dr. Yuna Avila, married Zachary Edson today. We had a ceremony down by the waterside. We only had Engie and Monaghan in attendance and there wasn't much of a reception, but we didn't care. We're married now; I've got him, and he's got me, and I can't think of anything more wonderful.

Bones + Zebo 4 Ever


1st Decembrary
Another Quadrum come and gone, it's the first day of winter now. Getting quite chilly out, you can just about see your own breath in the mornings and evenings now. I don't reckon it'll get very far below freezing this year, but just in case Monaghan's gonna make us all some warm leather jackets.

We had a couple visitors from West Kaia drop by, wasn't a whole caravan but they still had some things to trade. Conveniently, they were in the market for some Ambrosia, which we had a shit ton of, so we bought out their medicine, packaged meals, components, and a revolver (now Engie can have one of her own), and still managed to clear them out of a couple hundred pieces of silver.

Monaghan went out and found another tame Alpaca, probably the mate of the one who stumbled into our trap, has has them both penned together now.


Ulkhak47

2nd Decembrary
In the early morning we heard a loud crash out in the woods. When we all went to investigate, we found a half-naked woman in the wreckage of a transport pod. She looked about thirty, with very pale skin and a mohawk. She was in a bad way from her landing. Just as I was getting ready to examine her however, a pack of manhunting hares came rushing out of the undergrowth. Engie and the boys managed to fight them off, but not before the mad rabbits gave Zebo a few nasty bites. Still, he wasn't on death's door or anything, but the woman was; she'd sustained a number of bad internal injuries but most alarmingly she had a nasty headwound that was bleeding fast.

I got her back to the base and tended to her injuries. After I'd gotten her out of her remaining tattered clothing, I noticed a number of tribal tattoos that marked her a member of the Brio Union tribe. How did they get ahold of a transport pod? However they managed that, they must not have mastered the technique since this one malfunctioned so catastrophically.  Not taking any undue time to gawk, I got her cleaned up, bandaged, and left her to rest.

Zebo's not too badly hurt but he's in a fair bit of pain. I bandaged him up, gave him some aspirin, and told him to take a nap. He was back up and working again in a couple hours.

In the meantime we had a turkey wander into another trap. We almost don't have to hunt anymore with how often that happens.

That Alpaca that did the same thing awhile ago has recovered spectacularly, in fact Monaghan says she's gotten pregnant. Gonna have to build them a bigger pen.


3rd Decembrary
Got the Alpacas into a bigger pen.

I think I've finally perfected my bow design. Now that we've gone as far as we can with primitive weapons, next up on the research front is to get together with Engie and start figuring out how to put together a working smithy.

The crashed tribeswoman is well enough to talk now, although she's a bit hazy. Says her name is White Laas, and that she was trying to get from the village of Cairaen Bramble to Basculo Pit. Apparently the tribesman traded for the pod launcher with West Kaia, but still haven't worked out all the kinks yet. I didn't spend too long pestering her with questions though, the woman needed her rest.

4th Decembruary
Around dawn, we spotted a pair of figures approaching the fort on the horizon. They weren't coming straight at us or travelling through, they were skulking around like they were trying (badly) not to be seen. We didn't see the sense in going out and meeting them on their terms, so we elected to stay inside the fort and wait for them to make the first move.

After a few hours, they worked up the gumption to make a charge at the main gate. Bad idea. First one made it two paces into the corridor before crossing a tripwire and getting impaled sideways through the arm and heart by a sharpened rock spike, dead before he knew what hit him. The second one got wise real quick and ran for the hills. Engie ran after him like last time, but didn't manage to catch up to him. She came back almost disappointed that she didn't get to kill anyone.

All the dead guy had on him was a rusty old knife and some medicine. His tattoos told us everything we needed to know, he and his friend were Raven Men. Although the stiff wasn't better armed than the last few yahoo's we've had, Engie said the one that got away was packing heat for a change. Looks like we've graduated from a hazing ritual to a legitimate low-level target now. I don't think Engie's bloodlust is going to go unsated for too long.

Not long after that we had a big hunk of space junk come crashing by up to the north, Engie and Monaghan went out on a salvage mission. There's something going on with those two, and I don't know what it is. She's still closer friends with him than she is with me or Zebo, but there's some kind of tension that's developed in the last couple days. They won't talk about what it is, and I haven't asked.

In other news, one of the Muffalo's gave birth today, poor thing came out sickly though.


5th Decembruary
Rained today.


6th Decembruary
White Laas is finally back on her feet and back out on her way again. It's a shame she didn't decide to stay with us, she was apparently a skilled excavator, but it's not the end of the world.




Ulkhak47

7th Decembruary
Gotten real damn cold all of the sudden, it was definitely below freezing when I woke up this morning. I didn't think we'd have to given how ungodly hot it was here in the summer, but we're putting in some space heaters in every cabin now. The warmth of my husband's embrace is a wonderful thing but it just isn't cutting mustard anymore, temperature wise.

The Muffalo calf has recovered from its illness.


8th Decembruary
Another transport pod crashed nearby. This wayward passenger wasn't as badly hurt as the last one, just a cracked bone in one leg and a nasty gash in the other. Was screaming and hollering in pain, mind you, just wasn't all that close to death. He was a bearded man about my age, from the looks of his clothes he was from civilized folk. I got him back to the fort and treated him as best I could.

When Engie came in to take a look at the new arrival, she seemed to recognize the man and it was all I could do to stop her from clawing his eyes out. It seems they'd met before.

See, as it happens, when Engie first woke up out on the Rim and got sold into slavery by that asshole starpilot, it wasn't that Slaver Tigress who bought her first, she got Engie second-hand. Her first owner was this very schmuck we just pulled out of the crashed transport pod. It's a small rimworld after all. He's an artist of some kind called Joshua Hamby, but he goes by his byline Zug. In his defense, it seems he's the sentimental type and that he bought Engie for the same reason we did, to free her. He gave her a place to stay, and in a few weeks he asked her to marry him. He was twice her age and the only thing keeping a roof over her head, so I I wouldn't exactly call the consent situation of that relationship ethical. And anyway, dumb bastard didn't even hold up the one most basic part of the bargain, because it turns out he borrowed the money to buy Engie's freedom, and when the next quadrum rolled over, he still hadn't sold enough of his crummy artwork to cover the debt. So his creditors 'repossessed' Engie and sold her on to Tigress to get their money back.

Now here he is a year later, bleeding and groaning under our roof. I managed to convince Engie not to kill him, for now at least. The authorities of West Kaia are probably gonna have a good guess as to where he landed, and we don't need to be pissing them off like that right now. Also, I'm not particularly on board with cold-blooded murder in general, but I figured that wouldn't do much to convince her so I mostly mentioned the first thing. 

9th Decembrary
Another day, another wayward soul finds their way to Fort Traveller. She came wandering out of the woods, bundled up in raggedy layers to keep off the cold, looked half starved to death. She was a big lady, I mean big and burly. Mid-thirties, light skin. She told us she was homeless and had nowhere else to go, and asked if she could join us. I told her if she didn't mind putting in an honest day's work now and then, she could stay as long as she liked. Just like that, we've got another colonist.

Nelly "Smarty" Wells
Biological Age 36, Chronological Age the same. This one's a bonafide local, never been up in a starship.
She was raised by civilized folks in an outpost up north. When she was eight years old all of her family and neighbors were massacred in a genocidal raid by another tribe. She was the only survivor as far as she knows. She was found amid the blood and guts and burnt out rubble by a different, peaceful, tribe several days later. To this day she has a revulsion at the sight of blood, and an instinctual aversion to violence of any kind. The tribesmen brought her up as their own, and she grew big and strong, mostly working as a lumberjack (great news for us). The tribesmen called her 'Smarty', on account that she knew how to read and wasn't shy about sassing her elders. In her adulthood, she met a man from West Kaia called Craig, they fell in love, and got married. Rather that pick either the tribe or the town to live in, they decided to travel the world together, and they did for awhile, until they got separated in a snowstorm last winter. She hasn't been able to find him, and when her food stores ran low, she had to give up her search and just focus on trying to survive, which brings her a couple quadrums forward to now.

I reckon once she's situated and gotten something to eat, she can get right to work cutting down some trees so we can throw a new lodging up for her.

In other news, we had a baby alpaca born today.

We've also started tiling the common room with stone floor to make the place feel a bit more homy. Looks like we underestimated the ammount of stone we'd need to do that though, so we've had to stop partway until Engie cuts us up some more.


10th Decembruary
Engie only got a few tiles finished before she decided to start putting them in, specifically right under and around Zug's sick bed, in what I can only interpret as a passive aggressive bid to 'inadvertently' wake him up and jostle him around painfully. I let the girl have her fun. Magically, later in the day he decided he was well enough to head on back down the road. Probably a good call for everyone involved.

Rained something fierce today. Both the adult Alpaca's have got the flu.

Late in the evening, a mad turkey went after smarty, who was out cutting wood at the time. Instead of fighting back and defending herself, she had some sort of trauma response and ran away, but not successfully. The crazy bird caught up to her and tried to scratch her to ribbons; from her cries of terror it sounded like it was succeeding. Engie happened to be nearby and tried shooting at it, but couldn't land a hit before it was scratching and pecking at her too, and she had to just strangle it with her bare hands.

Neither of them were mortally injured or lost anything important, but Smarty was incapacited with pain almost immediately and had to be carried back to the base. For a woman her size, she really can't handle pain very well. I don't suppose I should judge.

They're both patched up and resting now.

11th Decembruary
I went out this morning to haul in the carcass of that mad turkey, and I wasn't five steps out of the door when a whole pack of manhunting racoons came scurrying at me. I ducked back inside and waited for them to run into our traps, which they of course did, one after the other.

We had another baby muffalo born. Monaghan's going to have to expand their pen, there just isn't enough grazing for them in their current space.

By the afternoon Smarty was back up and working again, the only thing still wounded was her pride.

We had another caravan from the Brio Union drop by. For a change of pace, we were the ones with lots to sell and they didn't have very much we wanted to buy. We cleared out our inventory of spare clothes, looted weapons, and the like, and bought out their whole stock of herbal medicine and still walked away with an extra two-hundred silver.


Ulkhak47

#11
12th Decembruary
A gazelle wandered into one of our empty pens today. It's no good for wool or mlk and we haven't got a mate for it, so before long I imagine it'll end up in the pot, but for now it's not hurting anyone to let graze in peace.

We had another raid from civilized folks, a pair of them. First one was a middle-aged woman carrying a revolver and the other was a portly young man carrying an auto-pistol. Both of them were wearing flak-vests, not that they did them much good. To spare the gory details, neither of them made it past the traps. All in all it's starting to get a bit routine, having strangers try to murder, rob, and do heaven knows what else to us, only to die horribly to some primitive deadfall traps. The only concerning thing now is that between these two and that pack of raccoons from the other day, pretty much all of our traps have to be rebuilt now, so if someone else decides they want a piece of us before that, they might just get it.


13th Decembrary
I've finally got together what I think should be a half-decent blueprint for a makeshift forge. We're pretty quickly running out of spare room inside the fence and I don't want to put something like this way on the south side where it could cause a fire without us noticing, so me and Smarty are digging out a new room for it in the side of the hill. When I'd gotten about halfway through where I wanted to mine out, I struck a deposit of ancient compacted machinery and managed to salvage a few working compnents from it.


14th Decembrary
We've finished mining out the forge room and put the forge together. Engie says the first thing she'll do with it is make me a proper weapon. Won't that me nice!


15th Decembrary
Spotted an old man running away from a big group of pirates, reckoned we'd help him out. Looks like they've got a mor-



Curator's Note: That is where the Diary of Dr. Yuna "Bones" Edson, nee Avila, cuts off, on the fifteenth of Decembrary 5500, two days before the first anniversary of her crash landing, most likely dying with the rest of her fellow colonists, at the hands of the Raven Men or some other such group. This book was found in the ruined remains of Fort Traveller circa 5582. Most of the timber structure had by that point collapsed or rotten away, but by chance the diary was found in miraculously good condition under a bed in one of the cabins, where it had likely been hurriedly stashed mere minutes before its author's untimely death. Interestingly, a number of stone traps were found still in lethally working order where the diary says they ought to be, which would indicate that either the militia of Fort Traveller went out to fight off their attackers in the open and the fort's defences didn't see any use in the engagement, or that the Fort remained occupied for some time after the attack. In any event, no human remains have ever been found near the site; it's possible that Dr. Edson and the others survived the attack and were merely taken prisoner, but then again corpses left out in the open would have long been carried off by scavengers by now, so it's impossible to say with any certainty.

What is certain is that this diary provides invaluable insight into the early days of "The Old Rim" as it is now called, how people lived, struggled, and died in that savage time, two centuries and two dozen lightyears from civilization.

The new docuseries Fort Traveller: Mysteries Revealed will air on NMO starting 5th Jugust at 8PM Tallchest Sea Time.





Really, Cassandra? That's what you call a three-star difficulty quest?

That aside, I had fun! If anyone's been reading along, I hope you've enjoyed doing so!